AUTHOR'S NOTES: Somewhat talky chapter here, but I didn't want Sheila to get through this with a Coke and a smile. She has a concience, and I've read too many Mary Sue fics where the main character basically commits genocide and shrugs it off as being "necessary." (And I really, really hope Sheila doesn't come off as a Mary Sue. I'm not even a girl.) I also hope Max doesn't come off as too cliché. After you read MIIO's cover story, hopefully that explains some of his anger, but I also thought I'd written him a little too laid back in earlier chapters.

Also, I'm not going into an aspect of Senefa's sexuality for titillating purposes. As Phelan Kell found out, the Clans have some (to a resident of the Inner Sphere) strange ideas when it comes to sex. Her admittedly brief consideration of comforting Sheila to me is just an affirmation of their close friendship. Besides, I'm not really into yuri (much less yaoi)…BTW, the Clan saying "Only a fool fights in a burning house" is a Klingon saying, but that does sound rather Clannish.

And there's a little bit of 'Mech porn at the end for you tech types.

REVIEWER'S CORNER: Moisin: glad you liked that. As far as "movietizing," check out the last 15 minutes of The Wild Geese and the last 30 minutes of The Odessa File for some very similar confrontations. I admit that I ripped those movies off a bit. Originally, I was going to have someone else kill the guard Sheila knocked out, but then decided that Sheila's got enough on her concience.

Panzerfaust: Well, Sheila's already done the OPFOR thing. Probably not. The Snowbirds are going to be pretty busy fighting the Clans.

Kat: glad you liked Rhonda Snord showing up. She's a great character; I wish Battletech would do more with her.

4477 Thire and Noveltigger: thank you very much! 4477, your "Spirits" short story was a great inspiration.

GreenKnight: I've sent you an e-mail with my reply to your idea for a soundtrack. Per your suggestion, I'm adding a new feature to my stories…

STORY SOUNDTRACK: …this one. I love listening to music when I write, so here's some suggestions for this chapter: "The Captain of Her Heart" by Double for the first part, and "Arrival to Earth" from the Transformers soundtrack for the second.

Reichenberg DropPort

Sudeten, Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth

30 August 3051

The moment when Sheila stepped off the boarding ramp from the DropShip, she knew she was in trouble. She had half-expected a welcoming committee from the Snowbirds, who after all hadn't seen their commander in almost three months. Instead, there was only Max, and he looked angry. He did kiss her, but it was a kiss devoid of the usual passion, and carrying her bags seemed more perfunctory than anything else. They exchanged greetings, but when Sheila tried to say anything more, Max simply told her, "Not here." So they said nothing on the way out of the terminal, meeting a waiting hoverbus that had Sentinels sigils hastily painted on it.

As they pulled out of the terminal parking lot, Sheila saw long lines of civilians, most carrying suitcases and children, waiting in roped off areas, waiting in line, waiting in line to get into line. In the city itself, virtually all the traffic was either military or requisitioned vehicles like the hoverbus. Roadblocks were up, and there were fully-armed Lyran infantry everywhere. Sudeten was being turned into an armed camp, prepatory to the renewal of the Clan offensive that everyone knew was coming, just not when.

Since Max was still stonily silent, Sheila watched the news reports on a television in the nearly empty bus. Like the ones shown on the DropShips she had taken from Tharkad to the waiting JumpShip and thence to Sudeten, the big news was the death of Duke Samuel Bonner at the hands of Clan assassins. The news had stunned the Inner Sphere as it spread like waves from Furillo. The Clans had struck from beyond their occupation zones. Ryan Steiner had appeared on the holovids, looking terribly shaken. For months, he had been assuring his constituents that the Clan "problem" was isolated and no real threat to Skye, and that Hanse Davion's measures to reinforce the Clan front had been unnecessarily provocative. Now the Clans had killed one of his closest allies. Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner-Davion had issued a joint statement from Outreach, expressing sorrow for Bonner. That had been when Sheila and Senefa had returned to Tharkad. By the time Sheila's DropShip had begun landing on Sudeten, the rulers of the Federated Commonwealth had revealed that Bonner had made contact with Clan Jade Falcon, floating a peace offer, and they had killed him for it. "This proves," Melissa had said angrily, "that we are dealing with an enemy that knows no mercy, no peace, only war." Polls prominently displayed on holovids and in newspapers showed that Bonner's death had caused support for the defense of the Clan frontier to go up sharply, and recruitment offices in the Tamarind and Skye Marches reported a huge influx of new volunteers, mostly from the ranks of the Free Skye Movement who heretofore had been tepid in their support. Ministers in the Lyran Estates General who had condemned the war—none of whom were from planets in the Tamar March or anywhere else near the occupied zone—were suddenly very silent.

Sheila felt very alone, and not because Max was upset. The mission had gone exactly as planned. Other than one minor wound among the Black Foxes, none in the assault team had been injured. None of the attendees at the summit had been hurt. Of all the billions of people in the Inner Sphere, the true nature of Duke Samuel Bonner's death was limited to less than twenty people, only three of which—Sheila, Senefa, and Rhonda Snord—were not members of the Black Foxes. In her debriefing on Tharkad with Simon Johnson, Sheila had been careful to leave Rhonda Snord out of it; she was afraid Johnson would kill her to keep the secret safe. Only Senefa knew about Snord, and Sheila knew that, ironically, her former worst enemy was now the person she could trust the most. Rhonda, for her part, was keeping her word: she was telling everyone that she was sure it was the Clans, and had even dropped another bombshell on the media by revealing her unit's ties to Wolf's Dragoons and the Clans. As Johnson had said, it was ironic that Bonner was doing more for the realm dead than he ever had alive. But only one person had pulled the trigger, and only one person had to live with that fact.

They reached the hotel that had been given over to the Sentinels. Once more, Max perfunctorily took her bags and they silently took the elevator to a room on the 14th floor that had been set aside. There was a fruit basket waiting in the room, from Senefa, who had reached Sudeten a few days earlier. Johnson had felt it was best for the two to travel separately, in case someone made the connection that neither had been seen on Tharkad for almost a week. Of the Black Foxes, Sheila never saw any of them after they had dispersed at the rally point on Furillo, and she was quite sure she never would again.

"The Snowbirds don't know you're here yet," Max said suddenly, actually making Sheila jump a little. "I told them you were coming in on the late flight down." He closed and locked the door behind them. He then walked past her and opened the curtains, revealing a spectacular view of the Reichenberg skyline in the weak sunlight of Sudeten.

Sheila sat down on the bed, gratified there was only one in the room, which at least implied that they would be sleeping together. She cradled her arm in her lap; her left shoulder was hurting. Riva Allard had cussed her out for overexertion too soon before she left Tharkad: the official explanation was that Senefa had talked Sheila into going skiing. In her luggage, Sheila even had used lift tickets and reciepts for ski rentals, along with those for hotel rooms and dinner. If asked, the hotel staff would even confirm that Sheila and Senefa had been seen in the dining room and had broken equipment in the gym. Allard would never know that, thanks to her brother, MIIO had provided all of that, including the hotel staff, who were Loki agents; the ski lodge was a traditional hangout for the Steiner royal family. "So," she said into the silence, "are we going to just sit here and quietly brood at each other?"

Max stayed at the window. "You tell me. You're the one who suddenly was struck mute."

"Max…"

"Don't, Sheila." He turned to her, knowing he was being unreasonable but not really caring. "I came back to the hospital and you're gone. Nobody knows where you are. Finally, I get a call saying you've gone skiing with Senefa. I placed calls to the hotel, Sheila. The front desk staff confirmed you were there. 24 hours later, I get orders to report back here to Sudeten ASAP. The next thing I hear from you was your message three days ago." His fists balled. "Sheila, I'm your husband. I can understand if you wanted some alone time with Senefa--"

"Alone time?" Sheila shot to her feet. "You talk like Senefa and I are lesbians!"

"Are you?" Max asked with bitterness.

Sheila looked horrified. "What the hell kind of question is that?"

"Again, you tell me. You spend a lot of time with her—a lot of time for someone who once promised to kill you. In fact, you spent more time with her in the hospital than you did with me." Max sighed, looked down, and shook his head. "Good God, Sheila. We sound like my parents."

Sheila sat back down on the bed, heavily. Mira and Todd Canis-Vlata had experienced a very rocky marriage, mainly due to Todd's drinking. Arguments were frequent and vicious. It was more than that: Mira had a vindictive streak, and had taken lovers in revenge for her husband getting drunk every night when he wasn't out on a mission or helping around the 'Mech bays. That had led to Todd having an affair in retaliation for Mira's infidelity, and Max had been very happy to leave for the New Avalon Military Academy when he was fourteen. Lately, Mira and Todd had forgiven each other and begun to rebuild their marriage; ironically, the Clan War had driven them back together much as it had driven together Sheila and Max. "You're not a drunk, Max," Sheila said quietly. "And I'm not having an affair with Senefa. Maybe she's a switch hitter—the Clans don't seem to have much in the way of sexual taboos—but I'm not. And even if I was, I would never, ever run around on you."

Max's anger had not abated. "That's good to hear, Sheila, but I still can't believe you did that. Unless, of course, that's not what you were doing."

"I don't understand."

"Yes, you do." Max reached into the complimentary basket of newspapers—Sudeten still had paper—and held up the front page. It read DUKE BONNER SLAIN. "You and Senefa suddenly disappear for a few days on a skiing trip. You don't ski. And then I find out that Bonner got cacked by Clan commandos for trying to make a peace with them—when Senefa told me straight on the Minerva that he was working to basically betray the Federated Commonwealth. I put two and two together."

Sheila was white as a sheet. "Max," she whispered, "shut up, for God's sake! If this room's bugged—have you told anyone?"

"It's not bugged. I had Nicia check it. With all the Liao spies running around the Sentinel 'Mech bays these days, she checked, no questions asked. In fact—" Max pointed to a small device that looked like a cell phone "—I had her whip up a white noise generator. And I haven't told a soul. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not stupid, and I know if I leaked what I suspected that I'd probably end up in the local river with ferrocrete galoshes."

Sheila leaned forward, covering her face in her hands. "Oh shit…if you've figured it out, that means someone else will…"

"I doubt it. Remember that Senefa basically spilled the beans to me first. I knew already. Plus I heard from Marion that the Liao agent they captured—the one who sabotaged your jumpjets—that Bonner was ass in glove with Romano." He raised a hand as she suddenly looked worriedly at him. "The only one who knows what the Liao dude said is me, Marion, Elfa, Tessya, your dad, and my mom. Well, probably my dad does too, and maybe your mom. But that's it. Calla even threw Maysa out of the 'Mech bay when the Liao guy started screaming uncle. The only reason Marion told me was because she felt you should know who set you up. She doesn't know about Bonner and the Clans; she thinks it was Romano trying to get at Marion through you. Which may still be true."

"That's still too many, Max."

Max shrugged. "No point in worrying about it now. Your dad thought what the Liao guy said was so secret that he didn't even fax it to Outreach, and he definitely didn't send it ComStar. He sent my mom, personally."

"I knew that part. Simon Johnson told me." At Max's wide eyes, she nodded. "Yes, the Simon Johnson, top spook in the LIC." Sheila took a deep breath. She had to tell him. "Max," she said, patting the bed next to her, "please sit down."

He shook his head, though he did walk over to her. "No, Sheila. Not while we have secrets. I've told you everything about my life, even about that little incident I had on Shensi where I killed another boy. The only people who know about that in the Sentinels are my parents—"

"Dammit, Max!" Sheila shrilled. "I—I want to talk about it! I'm just afraid! I'm…" Sheila burst into tears and buried her face in her hands, sobbing. "I just can't…"

Max felt crushed. Now he had hurt her. "Sheila, I…" He sighed again. "Shit." He sat down next to her and pulled her into his embrace. "Baby, I'm sorry. Jesus God, I know better than that." He cradled her, rocking her gently, smoothing her hair, which was starting to unravel from its ponytail. "I love you, Sheila. I just don't want us to end up like my folks, hiding things from each other."

"I killed him, Max, I killed him," she sobbed into his shoulder.

That took him aback, the last thing he had expected from her. "Killed? Killed who?"

"Bonner." Sheila pulled back a little to look her husband in the face. He wore an expression of shock, which she expected, but did not try to pull away from her. "I guess you'd better explain," he merely said.

"You're right, Max; you're right about all of it." She shuddered and lay against his chest, sniffling back her tears. "Johnson brought Senefa and I on as consultants. Senefa's the resident expert on the Clans, of course. They wanted it to look like Bonner had been killed by the Jade Falcons, and of course they needed Senefa for that. The Black Fox commander said that Senefa might as well accompany them on the mission, once they saw how good she is." Her voice was barely a whisper. "He said I wasn't good enough, and he was right—but then they found out about that LCIA summit and were afraid they would have to cancel the mission. So I volunteered to go in disguise." She told him about her infiltration, about Snord, Hogarth, and then Bonner. "It wasn't the way it was supposed to happen. One of the Foxes was just supposed to gun him down cold; no explanation, nothing. But I wanted the bastard to know, Max. I wanted him to know it was me, the one who he had sold out. Just like in the holos. He wanted to kill us; hell, he was just as responsible for Terry Nutter, Art McKenna, and Tinyak Fernplanter. And I killed him back, Max—one through the eye." Sheila made a choking noise. "I thought it would feel good, Max. Or something. But I…heaven help me…I didn't feel a d-damn thing!" She began to cry again. "T-That's what hurts so much, Max!" she said between sobs. "He didn't feel anything! Bonner even saw what he was doing as patriotic! He tried to fucking buy me off! I'm just like him…I'm just like him!"

"No, you're not." Max lifted her chin and kissed her. "You know why? Because you care. You think if he'd iced you, he'd be sitting there bawling his eyes out? I kinda fucking doubt it."

"That's not the point," Sheila insisted. "Max, I just shot him down. It wasn't like the Elemental in Fort Pilum. You were right; that was self-defense—"

"And this wasn't?"

"No! He was unarmed!" She wiped at her tears, which further smeared her makeup. "Just because I feel bad about it doesn't make me right. I murdered him, Max. Nobody else. Just me. And when I see the shit on the news and in the papers, it makes me want to throw up. They'll never know the truth, Max, and if they did, they'd want my head on a plate. Maybe they'd be right. I basically did Hanse and Melissa's dirty work for them." She sniffled. "You probably hate me now…"

"Now that's enough." Max poked her in the chest, hard. "Sheila, I love you. That won't change. Ever. You know what was going through my mind when we took our vows back on Outreach?" She gave a minute shake of the head. "I was thinking, 'I'm not gonna be like my dad. I'm not gonna fuck this up.' For better or for worse, Sheila. I meant those words. And you know what was going through my head when I heard Bonner was dead?" He waited until she again replied in the negative. "'Serves the bastard right.' Like you said—he tried to kill us, so you killed him back."

"But I murdered him, Max. I killed an unarmed man who was pleading for his life!"

Max was quiet for a moment. "Okay, fine. You murdered him. If you hadn't, someone else would've—"

"No, Max. Don't even say that. That's the same moral equivalence bullshit that allowed the Falcons to explain away Front Royal."

"Okay, fine," Max repeated. "Let's say nobody killed him, or maybe you took his bribe and left him alive. Do you think he'd have gone straight? You think he would've marched down to the local court and turned himself in? You know he wouldn't have. He would've probably contacted Romano Liao and had more Maskirovka assassins after us this very second. The man had no scruples, Sheila. At the very least, he'd still be trying to screw us over here at the front. Okay, he didn't find the right guy in the Jade Falcons, but eventually he would've found someone who would listen," Max said, unconciously repeating Melissa Steiner-Davion weeks earlier. "And then what? We lose the war, and probably either get killed in the process, or stuck in some hellhole POW camp. Or Bonner has us killed so we can't talk. Either way, a lot of people die because Bonner doesn't like Hanse Davion and is willing to betray his own countrymen to get what he wants. And you can bet that when the Clans turned on him—and eventually they would've—he would've betrayed more people and gotten more people killed. People like Bonner will feed the tiger as long as they can, Sheila."

"So…you're saying…he's better off dead."

"Pretty much, yeah." Max kissed her forehead. "Sheila, I can't say 'it's all good' and then rip off your clothes and have mad monkey sex with you, and you'll instantly feel all better. Well…I could, and I probably will, but the only person who can forgive yourself is you. All I'm saying is that leaving Bonner alive would've been worse than killing him. Maybe I'm just trying to justify it to myself to make us both feel better. I don't know. I'm sorry you had to kill him, but it was the only way. He started this, Sheila, not us."

Sheila put her arms around her husband. She knew that Max was probably right, but it still remained that she had killed someone in cold blood, not in a 'Mech or a hand-to-hand fight. She knew that someday she would be able to live with that, and someday maybe even forgive herself. But it wouldn't be today. "Max…" she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Just hold me, okay?"

"Sure, Sheila. Always."

Sentinel Base Sudeten

Sudeten, Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth

30 August 3051

Senefa Malthus tensed up and seriously considered returning back to the hotel. Berating herself for showing fear most unbecoming of a Clan MechWarrior, she squared her shoulders and walked into the 'Mech bay, half expecting to be ambushed at any moment. The message from this Master Tech Nicia Caii was to report down to the main 'Mech bay at her convienence. Senefa did not want to admit that it had taken her the two days she had been on Sudeten to summon up her courage to do so. Surely the Snowbirds and the Sentinels were not that ready to forget and forgive. She had no trouble getting on the base, with barely a second glance from the SLI guards, and had walked unmolested to the bay. Still, that did not mean that there could be a nasty "accident" waiting for her. There was an old Clan saying that only a fool fought in a burning house, but Senefa could be stepping into a firestorm.

She was now more or less free. Simon Johnson had assured her that neither MIIO nor the LIC had any further need (or use, Senefa figured) for her, so she was cleared to leave Tharkad and go wherever she liked. Of course, she had already made that decision, and told Johnson she would be leaving for Sudeten presently to join the Sentinels. Johnson had reminded her to keep quiet about the Bonner affair and let her go with a wish of good luck. Though she had been escorted from the Triad to the hotel and thence to Tharkad's DropPort by Lohengrin guards, after that, she had been on her own. She had arrived on Sudeten, processed her paperwork, and found herself assigned a room in the same hotel Sheila would be staying in. Waiting for her was a set of fatigues, which she now wore, with her name printed on the left pocket—MALTHUS—with single stripes on blood-red collar and shoulder tabs. From what Sheila had told her, the red stood for MechWarriors, which was a tradition that dated back to the Star League, and the single stripe denoted a MechWarrior. She had felt a little let down at that—Senefa enjoyed command—but figured it was too much to ask to start out anywhere but at the bottom. At least she had a 'Mech, though only heaven knew what she had been assigned. It wasn't one of the Snowbirds' precious few OmniMechs, of that she was certain. Other than that, there was a letter welcoming her to the regiment, informing her of her pay, a handsome sum of 600 C-Bills a month (which would take some getting used to; Clan MechWarriors did not draw a salary, having everything paid for); her assignment to the Heavy Lance of the Snowbirds Special Missions Combined Arms Team, which implied that she was getting a heavy 'Mech; her room assignment, and instructions to report for duty in 72 hours. Nicia's message had come before that deadline.

Whatever surprises her sudden acceptance to a unit she had done her best to defeat held, the 'Mech bay was wonderfully familiar. To a stranger, the smell of lubricants, burned metal, cordite, missile propellant, sweat, grease, dirt and ozone was a gross miasma. To Senefa, it was like coming home. She had not been in a 'Mech in almost three months, the longest she had been without a machine since she had left the sibko and become a MechWarrior five years previously. The sight of the giant 'Mechs in a long, serried row in the cavernous bay, the hiss of welding torches and the clang of tools, the calls and curses of techs which were no less familiar despite their not being Clan, filled her heart with something very close to love, as she understood the term. No one paid her the least attention, and Senefa realized that none of these people knew who she was: she was just another MechWarrior. To test her hypothesis, she asked a passing tech where the Master Tech's office was. The man balanced the heavy wrench over his shoulder and pointed to an open door about fifty meters away. She felt his eyes on her as she thanked him and walked on, then smiled when she noticed him leering as she walked away. The tech wasn't looking at her as Senefa Malthus, ex-Clan Jade Falcon MechWarrior; he was appreciating a well-toned female MechWarrior bottom. Well, some things are universal, she thought with a small chuckle. I suppose I should find out what the local custom is for coupling, in case I should get interested in someone. Sheila seemed to have some bizarre feelings on the matter.

Senefa thought briefly about her friend. It was hard enough to think of Sheila Arla-Vlata as a friend, but she was, possibly the only one Senefa really had now. She had informed Senefa and the Black Foxes that she had killed Bonner, which Nelson had verified before they left the mansion. Nelson had merely told Sheila "well done" and left it at that, but despite the dangers of security, Senefa had stayed with Sheila and they had left Furillo together, posing as sisters—which was no great trouble, given their close resemblance, though it hadn't been until they reached Tharkad that Sheila had gotten the bleach out of her hair. She had been thoroughly depressed and subject to uncontrollable crying, which mystified Senefa. Sheila had gotten her revenge: maybe it wasn't as cut and dried or as honorable as a Circle of Equals, but it was certainly nothing to feel remorse over. Had Sheila been a member of her sibko, Senefa might have even considered coupling with her to comfort her friend, but Sheila and Max were "married" and devoted to each other, so Senefa had quickly dismissed the idea. Nonetheless, it had brought home the fact that Senefa was a stranger in a strange land, and she could not express her relief at being able to get back into what she had been literally born to do.

She walked into the office and saw a figure partially obscured behind a large easel and several rolls of paper. "Excuse me," Senefa spoke clearly, "is Master Tech Nicia Caii here?"

"Just a sec," said a disembodied voice, then the figure came around the easel. Senefa was surprised to find herself staring up at what had to be Master Tech Nicia Caii; she wore the pocket-covered overalls that was another universality with techs. Senefa was nearly six feet, and Nicia had at least seven inches on her, and her slimness and bald head made her seem even taller. Nicia wiped her hands on a rag. "You must be Senefa Malthus," she said with a smile, and stuck out a hand. Senefa took it, impressed at the grip. "Pleased to meet you."

"That surprises me," Senefa replied.

"Why? Oh, because you were a Clanner." Nicia dismissed it with a wave. "No big deal." At Senefa's raised eyebrow, Nicia spread her hands in a shrug. "Look, Malthus, we've got MechWarriors from every House and Periphery dirthole in the Inner Sphere here. The Sentinels have fought against just about every one of 'em's home realm. During the Ronin War back in '44, we were fighting a Kurita unit alongside a Kurita unit, the same damn Galedon Regulars we'd fought against in the Fourth War. It happens. Come on."

Senefa followed Nicia out back out into the 'Mech bay. "Then…I should not worry?"

Nicia looked back over her shoulder. They had to raise their voices over the constant din. "Well…I'd watch your back if I was you, until people get used to you. Wounds are still fresh. Still, the word's gotten around that you told your Clan to shove it after Front Royal, and everyone knows how you busted Sheila out of jail. That means a lot to us, and not just the Snowbirds, and not just because Sheila's the CO's daughter.

"The first thing you should know, Malthus, is that the Sentinels are a family. We ride together, we die together. I grew up in these 'Mech bays. So did Sheila. You can talk to some old heads like Jaggar or Shikari or Kaatha and they'll tell you how they bounced Sheila on their knee. A lot of this regiment sees Sheila as their daughter too, and you saving her means a lot, like I said. So I don't think you have much to worry about." Nicia laughed. "Of course, from what I hear, you can handle yourself pretty good, so I think peeps are going to think twice about taking a swing at you. Ah, here we are."

"Where is here?" Senefa wondered. It looked no different from any other part of the 'Mech bay.

"Your 'Mech." Nicia pointed upwards. Senefa followed her finger. The shape was somewhat unfamiliar, but after a moment she classified it. "It's a Thunderbolt," she said.

"TDR-7AS," Nicia said formally. "Modified off a standard TDR-5S chassis." Nicia motioned her closer. "Now you used to drive a Thor, right?" It took Senefa a moment to remember the Inner Sphere name for the Summoner. She nodded. "Right," Nicia continued, "now the Thor has that funny offset cockpit because of the way the missile drum is placed. Well, the T-Bolt has the same thing. Figured it was as close as we could get."

"Certainly," Senefa agreed. The Summoner had actually been based off the venerable Thunderbolt, just as the Timber Wolf was a modification of the Marauder.

"It would be tough to get used to having a centerline cockpit, so this is what I figured would be best once I heard you'd be joining up. Now there's some things you're going to have to remember." Nicia ticked the points off her long fingers. "One, you don't have the range you once did, with one exception—this baby." She slapped the massive weapon barrel that was attached to the Thunderbolt's right arm. "That's a Gauss Rifle. We had to replace the large laser and put in a shitload of counterweights, but now you've got a weapon you can reach out and hurt something with. She's got the same range and hitting power of the Gausses you're used to."

"I see," Senefa observed. She actually preferred PPCs to Gauss Rifles, since the latter could fry the pilot's brain with feedback if they exploded, which they did with alarming regularity in battle, but the Gauss would give her equal firepower and range with Clan opponents. "How many rounds do I have?"

"Sixteen. You'll have to watch what you shoot at a bit."

"Aff." Senefa tended to hit what she shot at, so that was fine. "What is next?"

"Well, some bad news. The standard 5S carries a LRM-15 canister. We had to downgrade that to a LRM-5. The other missile ports are dummies to make the bad guys think you're carrying a '15. Still, they'll figure it out pretty quick." Nicia walked up to the Thunderbolt's wide feet and slapped a bulge near it's ankle. "This is why. Your Thor used to jump, so we installed jumpjets. Don't worry; this is a standard mod to the T-Bolt. The Eridani Light Horse have their T-Bolts modded this way. Now you won't have quite the mobility of a Thor, as your top end is going to only by 68 klicks an hour and your jump cap is only 120 meters. Still, most opponents won't be expecting you to jump on them." She motioned Senefa to follow, and they went around the rear of the 'Mech. "See those ports? CASE protection. You take a shot into the LRM ammo bin, and it'll blow out those ports there and direct the blast away from the 'Mech's insides." Nicia smiled. "Sorry. I forgot you Clanners already have that tech built in. We folks in the Inner Sphere have to actually install it. Costs half a ton of weight, but it's worth it, as you know."

"Aff." Senefa's life had been saved on several occasions by the CASE equipment. It still crippled the 'Mech and the force of the explosion of several rounds of missile or cannon ammunition could still knock a MechWarrior unconscious, but it made the difference between limping home and being forced to eject. She followed Nicia as they completed their circle of the Thunderbolt. "Secondary array?"

"Three medium lasers. They don't hit as hard or have the range of Clan mediums, but they're actually more heat efficient." She pointed to a rectangular block set opposite of the cockpit on the blocky torso, dotted with three laser ports. The Thunderbolt was not built for aesthetics, but for hard use. "Now you've got double heat sinks on this baby—we're trying to refit all our machines with 'em—so heat shouldn't be a problem. You can fire everything, jump, and even take an engine hit and she won't overheat on you." Nicia put her hands on her hips and grinned. "She's got eleven and a half tons of armor. Bit less than I'd like, but Thunderbolts can take a beating. So. What do you think?"

Senefa knew that Nicia had probably worked on this machine herself. She inspected the craftsmanship of the welds on the Gauss Rifle, the extra effort put in to dummy up the LRM-15 circular missile launcher as opposed to just settling for the square-shaped LRM-5 launcher, even the three shades of gray and black camouflage scheme and Snowbirds crest painted with care onto the 'Mech. Nicia was an artist, as much as Michelangelo, and she regarded the Thunderbolt as a masterpiece. And she was entirely correct. "It is exquisite. I am much honored, Master Tech," Senefa said respectfully. "I would have been satisfied with less."

"Maybe that goes in the Clans, but here in the Sentinels we try to give you the best." Nicia slapped the Thunderbolt's foot. "So, do you want a name on her? The boss says we can't put artwork on the 'Mechs because it takes too long to repaint—though our aerojocks and jockettes love to paint buck naked chicks and dudes on their birds."

"A name?" Senefa asked.

"Sure. A 'Mech without a name is just a 'Mech. These big bastards need a personality. Who wants to fight for Serial Number TDR-5AS 708466?"

Senefa had to think about that one. The Clans only occasionally named their 'Mechs, and then usually only Bloodnamed warriors of higher rank who would be permanently assigned a 'Mech. She knew that Sheila had Clan Eater painted on hers, and that Max Canis-Vlata had 6 Months in Sick Bay painted on his missile launcher, followed by Burial at Sea on his PPC. Nearly all the 'Mechs she had seen in the bay had some sort of name. "How about Senefa's Stomper?" Nicia suggested. Senefa shook her head; that was too juvenile. "How about a phrase in Latin, right here?" Senefa asked, pointing to the Gauss's barrel.

"Have to be back on the housing, otherwise the carbon scoring will blot it out after a few shots, but sure. Anything in particular?"

"Oderint dum Metuant."

Nicia scratched her head. "Don't know that one. I know Noli non illegitimae, carbor undem est." Senefa mentally translated: don't let the bastards get you down. "What does it mean?"

She smiled a predatory smile. "Let them hate so long as they fear."