Chapter 25
Review Corner:
Mobmal: Unfortunately no exoskeleton suit included. It'll be just a straight-up mech vs mech fight, I can tell you that much.
Indrahar Hospital, Ishiyama,
Solaris City, Solaris VII,
Freedom Theater, Lyran Alliance,
July 31, 3069
The hospital was as busy as always, but it wasn't hard for Jeremy and Amber to find Stan's room. He was lying on the bed, wrapped in bandages, with catheters and IV lines going in and out of his body. His eyes were open, but it was clear that he was in and out. Only Major Tom was inside the room with Stan. Mickey, Hyolee, Jenny and Kilroy watched the development from a small glass window on the door.
"How is he?" Jeremy said as he tried to get a glimpse of Stan through the small window.
"Burn injuries and smoke inhalation, nothing serious," Jenny tried to lighten up the mood. "Stan's a warrior. He'll get through this."
"I can't believe Mac did this to us," Hyolee said, holding back tears. "He was one of us…"
"He's not," Jeremy spat. "He was never one of you, and now that he had joined the Word of Blake…"
"He what?" Kilroy and Jenny yelled almost unisonly. "Do you know something we don't know?"
"We… we ran into him when we were shopping yesterday," Amber tried to explain calmly but she couldn't hide her guilt over the situation. "Like Jeremy said, Mac had switched side to the Word of Blake, and that wasn't the worst part. The Blakists did something to Mac. They turned him into a cyborg."
"Yeah, right, cyborgs," Kilroy scoffed. "Where do you think we live in? Mystery Science Theater?"
"I was as close to Mac as I am to you, Kilroy, so I knew what I saw," Amber replied, undeterred by Kilroy's slur. "Jeremy stabbed him in the chest, but he shrugged it off like the katana was just a pinprick. I had a chance to kill him but I didn't. I should've killed that bastard."
"It doesn't matter now," Jeremy held Amber's shoulder. His tone was completely different than the day before when he confronted Amber about this exact matter. "Even without me trying to kill him, he was going to raze Ground Control anyway."
"But cybernetic technology isn't that great, not that I know of anyway," Jenny sulked. "It can be implemented but it needs years of adjusting for the organism to adapt to the robotic parts. How long does Mac have that thing? Six months? A year, at most?"
"We don't know what the Word of Blake is capable of," Jeremy said. "I mean, five years ago nobody would think of the Blakes as a major power in the Inner Sphere. Now look at them, they occupied key worlds of the Successor States. They're taking the war to the Clans. This can't be happening if they are technologically retarded, don't you think?"
"So Mac gains new power and allies with the Word of Blake… what can we do about it?" Mickey sighed in exasperation, almost rhetorically. "I'm almost mad at myself to think that he would walk away unavenged, but everything points to that direction. We don't even have our mechs anymore."
"How bad are they?" Jeremy turned to Kilroy. "Can we get anything out of them?"
"The Cyclops is done," Kilroy explained. "Mac gutted the poor thing really good. Buying a new one is probably cheaper than trying to get it up and running again. The others are in pretty bad shape but still repairable."
"Then junk the Cyclops and use the money to buy parts to fix the rest," Jeremy said. "I'll talk to VEST if they can chip in for the Apocalypse. After all, the mech's still theirs and we didn't ruin it."
"What are you trying to do?" Amber shot a suspicious look at Jeremy. The intensity in Jeremy's voice led her to believe that he was thinking the unthinkable.
"Mac thinks he can destroy us by smashing the Ground Control complex," Jeremy's eyes flared with vengeance. "I'm going to prove him wrong. Get the mechs up and running again and get back to the arena to show him that he had done absolutely nothing to us!"
"Matches? After all Mac did to us, you're still thinking of arena matches?" suddenly Major Tom rolled out of Stan's room right toward the middle of the group. "If you want to get to Mac, you have to fight him for real."
"What? You mean fighting in the street?" Kilroy blurted. "That's crazy! We are not capable of doing that! We are game fighters, you know! We play by certain rules."
"Besides, we are not used to working together as a team," Amber added. "We are individual fighters inside the arena. Fighting outside the arena is different."
"So your plan is just basically keep fighting in the arenas and let everybody know that you can take blows from Mac, and hope that one day you can get him in a match," Major Tom scoffed. "How long do you think you can do that? And bear in mind that Mac had sided with the Word of Blake. The Blakists will protect him with bogus matches and fixed conditions that will make him untouchable in the arenas. If you're ever in a match with him, they will make sure you fight him with your hands behind your back."
"Then what is your plan?" Jeremy snarled. "Do you have any plan at all, or are you just going to lash at somebody that does have a plan?"
"Mac is riding his alliance with Word of Blake," Major Tom explained. "He is the poster boy for the Blake's newest technology, so the Blakists will protect him. But, if you prove that keeping Mac is more detrimental than beneficial for the Word of Blake, they will dump him, or better yet, dispose of him."
"And just about how will you do that?" Jeremy spat his skepticism.
"Alright, my plan is to attack Word of Blake chain of supply," Major Tom explained. "Their supply dropships arrive regularly each week. Attack them, destroy them if you can, but do not risk yourself more than you need to. Your objective is to make the Word of Blake aware that this is a retaliatory attack from what Mac did. They knew that his attack on Ground Control was not authorized, and if they realize that his action costs them a dropship, they will reconsider Mac's involvement in their plan.
"Before you complain about fighting in the street, some of us have real military training. A few of us served mercenary units or worked for great houses before. Stan and I served the Free World League long time ago. If I could I would teach you how to work together as a team. But as you can see, both of us are not fit for mech fighting anymore."
"I was a paramilitary at Styk during Liao invasion," Amber stated. "But we didn't have a structured group back then. We were like a pirate band, and all coordinations were done by the Lindon's Battalion operatives."
"I'm just a Solaris mechwarrior, man," Mickey said. "I don't know anything but to fight."
"I've led a mixed battalion when I was in New St. Andrews," Jeremy recalled. "But I was beaten by a company-sized army. I am not qualified to lead anything, least to say the Word of Blake."
"You know better than any of us," Kilroy replied. "And we know we can trust you."
"Yeah," Mickey added. "We are inexperienced but we are fighters. We can take care of ourselves."
"Real battle is nothing like Solaris game, Mickey," Jeremy said. "You make the wrong decision, somebody else will pay the price, and you have to carry that guilt for the rest of your life."
"Just believe in yourself," Amber said, patting Jeremy's shoulder. "We believe in you."
"There is no one else that's more befitting to lead this mission than you," Major Tom rolled closer to Jeremy. "Mac wreaked havoc looking for you. You have been the epitome of his downfall, and he was looking for closure. Show him you're still around to rob him from everything he holds dear, and he will come right at you with all guns blazing. And when somebody attacks you in a fit of rage, he's prone for counter attacks."
The image of his battalion getting razed by a mere company of battlemech was still fresh in Jeremy's mind. He thought he could leave it behind for good. But no matter how reluctant he was to revisit that part of his life, he knew he had to. Mickey had no experience in an organized fighting unit whatsoever. Amber might have some, but a paramilitary wasn't a role model for organized fighting unit. He was the only one that had experience in leading a battle group.
"Alright, I'll do it," Jeremy sighed in the end. "But I want to run several things before we go out. If I am to lead you to combat, you have to learn to do things my way. I am a very authoritarian leader and I don't take 'no' for an answer, but it's the only way for me to bring you back alive."
"You have plenty of that while I'm fixing the mechs," Kilroy said, smiling. "Whatever you do, promise me one thing: kill that bastard for me."