Chapter 38
Southeast of Mach 'Beh
Emily had been a part of surrender negotiations before, but both times they were over a secured channel. She'd never done this in person. The pleasant breeze of the cooling evening gave everyone goosebumps, having just crawled out of a hot cockpit but still feeling the stimulating chill of cooling vest, still being worn by most people currently at this meeting.
This "meeting" was a small circle of mechs from the leaders of the Renegades, Coyotes, Roughriders, and the 2nd Legion of Vega they all had been fighting up until now.
Everyone was looking north as the hover car for Jonah Orlianne, commander of the planetary militia, was just pulling up. He courteously stopped the vehicle far enough away so nobody would get covered in dust to add to their layers of sweat and grime, and jogged to the group. While he did, it give Emily a moment to glance back at what was left of her company.
The Coyotes had a lance of half-functioning medium mechs. All their lights were in various stages of down or out, and were salvageable, but some were a total loss, like Nymph's Mongoose and Romeo's Fire Javelin. Romeo had a hairline fracture in his left forearm. Clothesline had bit his tongue badly when his Wolverine was knocked down and didn't enjoy talking much right now. Every female pilot under her command had at least light bruising in the chest from various impacts, and several pilots of both genders had cracked ribs.
Bullhorn lucked out on that one this time, but he was once again dispossessed until the Coyotes found new rides. Emily was grateful the money the original four of them had pooled together was stashed to cover the eventual loss of all of the 'mechs they had hired.
Emily's Catapult was about as worse for wear as the rest of the mechs on the field, except that aside from some secondary components and some heat sinks, all her systems were functioning. She probably had a half a ton of armor somewhere around her legs and some on the back of the blimpy torso, but that was about it. Everything else was covered in various forms of burn scars and pockmarks that made her entire chassis look like it had become some kind of metallic mountain range.
Now all I need is a coolant river to flow through it and the picture is complete, she thought, smiling. Pearl had caught the gesture and winked quietly. She winked back. The two of them represented the Coyotes, and Lapointe and Dusselhoff, Whisper and Sphinx, represented the Roughriders, along with the least-grimey of them, a male she didn't recognize that was representing their aerospace assets.
Next to Emily and Pearl was Romero and his XO, who opted to remain nameless.
Orlianne arrived with the group and nodded his head in salute to everyone he recognized, then addressed everyone. "I'm glad we could find an end to this war without everyone going home in a coffin." He extended his hand to a solemn-looking Oka Kuri, who was more than happy to get off this planet as soon as possible. "I represent the government in this pow-wow, so direct any questions regarding that to me."
Kuri accepted and began. "Under the Ares Conventions of War, I, Sho-Sho Oka Kuri, offer these terms of surrender. We relinquish all our ground-based assets and the downed Overlord, but keep the second dropship, the Akemi Ayame, which is "Bright Iris" in English. We will use that ship to transport dead and wounded, along with all our ground personnel and any needed provisions for a return to Combine space. The mechs, and any spare components and ammunition still inside the Akemi Ayame, are yours to distribute as you see fit, Hauptmann-Colonel."
Lapointe nodded. Romero looked like he wanted to say something but kept quiet for now. Lapointe checked his watch and began. "You have twelve hours to relinquish what you have offered and be out of Suk II's orbit before we will fire on you again. Any attempts to do otherwise will be met with the same force you have seen today." He gestured at the ground. "You can unload and leave everything here. We'll handle local transport. We will board the Akemi Ayame for inspection that everything relevant has been removed in ten hours.
Dusselhoff piped up. "And that gun-cam virus still swimming around in all our equipment. We want it gone within two hours. Every unit you hit, including the militia." He stabbed a finger at the ground. "We want it gone, and we want proof of it being gone, or we open up on your men whether they're in a mech by then or not, and nobody goes home."
She smiled, but a crack in her chapped lips ended that fairly quickly. She turned to Kuri. Everyone else had already been introduced, so she got right to the one question that was burning inside her, the Coyotes, and everyone else that had just fought him today. "Sho-Sho, just one question. We know you were doing this for personal glory, but also for strategic and industrial value for the combine, so that question's rhetorical."
She tilted her head at him, and put her hands on her hips, leaning in angrily. "Were you and Alvarez from the Ministry of Safekeeping in cahoots this whole time? Was you two responsible for the gun-cam virus and the attacks on our water treatment plants?"
Kuri waited for a moment, then bowed his head with his eyes closed. "Yes," he said. His eyes remained shut. "Orsula Alvarez and I had been working out this campaign for about two years, now. The water treatment plants weren't my idea, but they served my purpose of keeping Suk II's defending forces spread out long enough to attack. However," he said curtly, "the commando operations seemed to be answering to her, or someone else on-planet, moreso than me. My explicit orders to them before they arrived in January were to avoid civilian casualties."
Kuri's hands balled into fists. "It would seem the Minister of Safekeeping was more interested in creating disorder through mass casualties and swaying public opinion towards the Combine so she could remain in a position of power when we took over. Things did not go according to plan. In the end, the guerilla forces we sent to help ensure our victory eventually became our demise. If they hadn't rallied behind us, we would have smashed through the Roughriders while you were still unable to shoot properly, and then turned on your supporting forces.
He shook his head. "The timing was tighter than I'd have liked, but that was mainly due to the Coyotes in Paphos forcing us to take an even longer route, and being unable to land directly in the capitol due to the Roughrider's positioning. In the end, my own greed, and Alvarez's heavy-handed tactics were our undoing. Either you will detain me, or I will return to Rassalhague to commit seppuku in front of my Warlord."
Orlianne held out his data pad. "Current civilian casualties since this conflict began are over six-thousand, most of which coming from the treatment plant explosions." He put it away. "Don't worry, commanders. Alvarez has already been detained in her own private little cell. Suk II has their own brand of justice, and she'll probably swing from a ferro-lasso before the end of the week, now that we have confirmation. Thank you for that, Sho-Sho." Kuri simply nodded slightly.
"However," Orlianne continued, holding up a hand, while nodding back at the hover car. "However, due to your actions contributing to the deaths of thousands by your own admittance, the government of Suk II is placing you, Oka Kuri, under arrest for violations of the Ares Conventions of War you so mentioned a moment ago. Your war trial will be pending." Two large men with almost-as-large automatic pistols left the hovercar and jogged towards the group. "These two men will take you into custody. If anyone else has anything they want to say to the Sho-Sho, now would be the time."
Kuri nodded and looked to his XO, exchanging a few things in Japanese Emily didn't understand. Probably making sure he sticks to the terms of the surrender, or at least he'd better be. His XO shook his hand and turned to walk back towards where the 2nd Legion were gathered to pass the word. Not far from each other, the Akemi Ayame stood like a memorial to its fallen partner.
"If you'll excuse me, gentlemen. I have city riots and looting I need to finish stomping out. Well done today, Roughriders. Renegades. Coyotes." Orlianne shot a wink at Emily. "The 3rd Cav sends their regards, Major." He finally grinned at her and walked back to his hover car, behind the two burly men and Kuri, now in cuffs.
Following that, salvaging operations were extensive, and the Coyotes offered to help out for a small percentage. Wounded were tended to. Friends and comrades were buried. Liquor and beer of every flavor and alcohol percentage was drank. C-bills were exchanged, and the Coyotes' private accounts received another nineteen million of them.
Long, laborious hours later, and after all the mechs and personell from the downed Overlord were pulled out, along with survivors, the Akemi Ayame lifted off to parts unknown. Emily didn't care whether it went or stayed. They were just doing their jobs. It's the people at the top that deserve judgement. A large audience gathered outside the danger zone of the dropship's engines to send much more heartfelt goodbyes in the form of various gestures. Some involved middle fingers, some involved butts or genitalia.
The kind of farewell expected from planet on the border of two superpowers in the Inner Sphere that hated each other.
