Chapter 14

Note: About time I come back and finish this story. Some time ago this story is set up to merge with Ulquiorra9000's old Prodigy universe, but since Ulquiorra9000 rebooted Prodigy to exclude this part, some of the events didn't make sense anymore. Therefore I am converting this story back to its original form the way I intended it to be written. Nobody left Solaris, and the mechjocks at Ground Control Stable will battle their way through Word of Blake occupation of Solaris VII. Sorry for the inconvenience, you have to go back to Ch.14 again.

Sutter Warehouse, Montenegro,
Solaris City, Solaris VII,
Freedom Theater, Lyran Alliance,
January 16, 3068

The Bertoli Mafia compound was calm. Armed sentry patroled outside, guarding the warhouse block like a bull watching out for wolves. Due to recent intrusion, the mafia had doubled the guards. Half of them looked relax, enjoying the night with cigarettes and liquor. The rest of them combed the vicinity as if they already knew what was going to happen.

Two trucks sneaked through the night and parked about 1 kilometer away from the compound. Several armed soldiers jumped off the truck, followed by a man in a drab cloak. He cued his troops, and they opened the truck container. Four Achileus battlearmors stepped out of the containers. They were not as big as Elementals, but their weapon systems were no less impressive. Each battlearmor carried a large-caliber machine gun and a flamer, a deadly combination for unarmored targets like the mafia thugs. The stealth armor would make them invisible on radar, although it would be superfluous against the mafia.

"No prisoner, no eye witness," the man in the drab cloak shortly barked. The Achileus knew what it meant. Two of them charged the warehouse complex head on, while the other two used the night as their cover, creeping to the back of the complex, presumably cutting the exit.

It didn't take long until the thugs saw the two mechanized soldiers coming at them. They quickly fired their guns, blanketing the two Achileus with bullets. The night went alive with muzzle flashes, and the sound of ricocheting bullets blended with shouts and yells from the thugs, as they poured their bullets unto the battlearmors.

But the bullets were not strong enough to breach the armor of the Achileus. The two battlearmors marched onward, seemingly undisturbed by the tin hail, then fired their own weapons. The rattling sound of 50-caliber machine guns swallowed the sound of thugs' weapons, and the bullet traces blitzed even brighter than the Rorynex muzzle flashes. The bullets went through the mafia hordes without opposition. Yells of commands turned into mortal screams as the Achileus mowed down the mafia.

The fight woke the entire complex. Some thugs came out with RPG and shoulder-mounted SRM, but the other two Achileus cut them short. Their flamers blazed like fire-breathing dragons, torching the thugs. Some of them were still trapped inside the warehouses when the Achileus decided to burn everything. Tongues of flame turned the night into day, and the escaping thugs were quickly swept by the Achileus machine guns.

The man in the drab cloak watched as the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Satisfied, he called his troops back and mounted the trucks. The Achilleus quickly left the burning warehouse and regrouped at the trucks. As the trucks rolled into the night, sirene from cops and fire trucks screeched.

Horziba Manor, Montenegro,
Solaris City, Solaris VII,
Freedom Theater, Lyran Alliance,
January 16, 3068

Young and ripe. That was how Mac would describe the two call girls sleeping in his bed, one on his left, the other on his right. Mac had heard about their reputation for some time, but it was the first time he actually asked for their service. And boy did they deliver. It was the wildest night he had been for a long time.

It was still early in the morning, but somebody rapped Mac's door with troubled urgency. With a grumble Mac got up from his bed and limped away toward the door. He opened the door, expecting some punk asking for money, but ended up dropping his jaw. Standing on the door was Omar, his new stable master. Blood soaked his white suit, and his breaths came in wheezing gasps.

"You…" Omar struggled for air. "You… you did this…"

Mac was still confused when Omar drew his pistol with his bloody hand. He tried to aim the gun at Mac but he lost his footings, and stumbled on the floor. The gun clattered, waking up the call girls. Upon seeing a bloodied man on the floor, the girls went into hysteria and escaped through the back door, leaving pieces of their clothings all over the place.

"What happened?" Mac stood befuddled. "Who did this?"

Omar didn't answer. He vainly took several deep breaths, wheezing in his death throes, then stopped moving. It was difficult to see what exactly happened to him, but judging by the amount of blood, Mac would guess that he was riddled by large-caliber bullets.

Panic, Mac hauled the body to the living room and closed the door. He sat there for a moment, thinking what he should do. He was afraid that whoever killed Omar would kill him too because of their relationship. The police would not believe him. It would be nice if he had somebody to help him. But Mac didn't have anybody. The only one he could ask for was Amber, but after what happened with them, he wouldn't expect Amber would help him.

In the end Mac decided to leave his place. He packed some clothes and left the apartment building.

Sandway Building, Montenegro,
Solaris City, Solaris VII,
Freedom Theater, Lyran Alliance,
January 16, 3068

The spiteful ring of his comset forced Jeremy to wake up. It took him almost a minute to wash away the throbbings in his head. As it subsided, another throbbing kicked in, this time from his wrist. The purple blotch on his wrist quickly reminded him of the encounter with Amber, starting from an angry swordfight and ending in an angry – but pleasureable – kiss.

Then guilt started to seep in.

Why? Why did he do that, especially during his relentless attempt to win his fiancee back? Jeremy felt disgusted. He felt like he had betrayed Evee. Perhaps he had not been with a woman for too long. Perhaps he was thinking with his dick rather than his head. Or perhaps he started to realize that his chance to get Evee back had been stagnant, and he tried to fill in the hole in his heart with anything available.

Amber was a good mechwarior and she had high moral standard. Jeremy had grown some respect for her. And she was smoking hot. Her face, her shoulder, her breasts, all blended in a perfect harmony. But Amber couldn't be a substitute for Evee, not even close. Everything in Evee emanated grace and paramount. Under absolutely no circumstances Evee would sleep with some asshole like Mac.

Jeremy buried his face in his palms in frustration. Then Jeremy realized that his comset had been ringing for a long time. Slowly he reached for the comset and replied unenthusiastically, "Yeah."

"What the hell took you so long?" Kilroy burst from the other end. "Are you with somebody?"

"No," Jeremy cringed. "What do you want?"

"Turn on the TV," Kilroy replied in a rush. "Just watch the news."

Jeremy shambled under the blanket and bedsheet and his own clothes until he found the remote, then popped the TV on. The news was broadcasting a man trying to address the situation. He was in his mid forties, dark hair brown eyes with a drab cloak, and there was an insignia of a sword in his left chest. Jeremy quickly recognized it as a Word of Blake insignia, and he immediately had a bad feeling about it.

"My name is Precentor Adhem," the man on the TV said. "I am the Word of Blake lead cooperative here in Solaris. As of this day, Word of Blake has seized control of Solaris VII. We are here to clean the world of Solaris from the corrupt Lyran operatives and mafia infidels. I urge the citizen of Solaris City to accept this shift of power and give support to the new government. Cooperation with Word of Blake will be handsomely rewarded. Resistance is punishable by death."

"No! It can't be!" Jeremy exclaimed. "How can Peter Steiner-Davion allow this to happen?"

"I don't know, but we're lucky the Blakes didn't nuke us," Kilroy replied. "Let's listen to this guy on TV."

"Word of Blake has a new ranking system," Adhem continued. "From this point on, Solaris Gaming Commission is disbanded. All access to Class-6 arenas is revoked. Only those who pledged allegiance to Word of Blake are granted access to fight in Class-6 arenas. This is done to ensure that the fights are not affected by corruption. All game schedules and rankings of players are determined by the Word of Blake. Any other systems will not be recognized and are punishable by death."

"Punishable by death? They can't do that!" Jeremy screamed. "They can't just redo Solaris tradition that has been around for hundreds of years! This is Solaris!"

"Jeremy, they just did," Kilroy sighed. "You heard him yourself. Either submit to this new system or become a fugitive and being hunted down by Word of Blake agents for the rest of your life." Kilroy paused for a brief moment. " Major Tom wants us to gather at the stable to discuss this new development."

"I'll be there," Jeremy cut the comlink. He gathered everything he could put on, then left the apartment building.

Ground Control Stable, Montenegro,
Solaris City, Solaris VII,
Freedom Theater, Lyran Alliance,
January 16, 3068

The Word of Blake occupation of Solaris VII brought unrest to the entire planet. Most mechwarriors hated the new gaming system because they could not fight in the Class-6 arenas unless they joined the Word of Blake stable. Some mechwarriors did join Word of Blake, but most of them didn't.

Once again Major Tom called for general meeting to discuss the future of the stable. "As we all know, the Word of Blake controls pretty much every aspect of Solaris, including the game world," Major Tom said. "Right now only Blake-supported mechwarriors and stables are allowed to fight in the Class-6 arenas. Without the money from Class-6 games, we will not have enough to support the stable. Therefore I am thinking of joining the Word of Blake."

"That is absurd!" Kilroy was the first one to object. "Word of Blake is not a good faction. They have no regards on humanity, much like the Clans. They nuked Outreach, Tharkad, New Avalon, and several other worlds."

"I agree with Kilroy," Amber added. "Religious zealots are not good for the future of our stable. And I heard some rumors that they pray to their battlemechs."

"Their principle is good," Stan pointed out. "Some personnel might take Jerome Blake's teaching to the extreme level, but overall they're not bad. Obviously they do not pray to their battlemechs."

"I have yet to see a Word of Blake that is not an extremist," Jenny said bitterly. "If you interpret Jerome Blake's teaching correctly, you won't justify the use of nuclear warheads and biological weapons."

"Good point," Major Tom said. "But now is not the right time to talk about ideology. This stable is almost bankrupt, and the only way to save it is by making alliance with the Word of Blake. You don't have to agree to their principle. We are simply surviving."

"As a former Marik soldiers, it may be easy for you and Stan to accept the Word of Blake," Jeremy noted. "But for the rest of us, it is inconceivable. Each of us has a code of honor, and none of them include weapons of mass destruction. Accepting the Word of Blake would be against our principles."

"Do you have another way?" Stan snorted curtly.

"Not at the moment, but if I have more time then I might think of something," Jeremy replied. "I mean, The Word of Blake had illegally changed the rule of the game. As the only sanctioning organization for hundreds of years, Solaris Gaming Commission will reject the Word of Blake ranking system. Why don't we just wait until the SGC make a move?"

"We can't wait," Major Tom said. "You have bills to pay, and you need salary to pay your bills. Without reward and salvage right from Class-6 arenas, I don't have enough money to pay salary. I don't even have enough money to keep the battlemechs in nominal conditions. Without money, you all will leave."

"If you ally with the Blakes, I will leave," Kilroy snorted. "I'm not working for those sonsofbitches!"

"I'll leave too," Jenny added. "Money is one thing. Shedding moral for money is low. I'm not doing it."

"If it's about money, then you can have mine," Jeremy proposed. "I will move in here to Ground Control. Therefore I don't need to pay rent anymore. All you have to pay me is food. Sell the Chameleons. We don't need them right now. Then stay away from Word of Blake and keep Kilroy and Jenny."

"You?" Stan scoffed. "You want to stay at Ground Control without pay? Don't insult my intelligence, Jeremy! You were an heir! You had a lot of money! You don't have business in Solaris VII in the first place! And now you're telling me you want to live like a beggar? What is it in you?"

"Look, Stan, I have my own agenda at Solaris, and believe me, it'll be easier for me to fulfill my goal if Ground Control becomes Blake's ally," Jeremy snarled. He started to get irritated by Stan's constant hostility toward him. "But Kilroy and Jenny are good people that have been loyal to Ground Control for years. If you are seriously thinking of trading Kilroy and Jenny for an alliance with the Word of Blake, maybe you're the one that should leave Ground Control."

Stan rose and quickly powered his way towared Jeremy with every intention to hurt the young man, but his move was halted when Amber stepped in between the two.

"I will do the same," she said haughtily. "I will move in to Ground Control, and keep my salary to run the stable."

"We will stay here too," Mickey and Hyolee stood behind Jeremy. "Not that you have to pay me a lot, but every little bit helps."

"I will stay, and I think Jenny will too," Kilroy joined in. "I don't care about salary. I will work for you free. Just give me a place to sleep. But for the love of God, forget the Word of Blake. They represent all that is wrong with humanity. I will not work for them."

Major Tom looked at every one of them, then stared intently at Jeremy. "If you want to crawl from blood pit to blood pit, then fine. We'll keep independent. But since you're asking for this, I don't want to hear anybody whining about money or glory. We aren't going to get any of that. Especially you, young man! You started this, so I expect you to finish this."

"Let's do this the right way," Jeremy flashed a smile. "To hell with Word of Blake."