(Sigma Mercenaries, Story 0001, Chapter 14: Divergent Planning)
(30 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0430 Hours Local Time)
(Hess' Quarters, Base Boarhound Admin Building, Terra 232)
(Day 13 of Campaign)
The room morning wake-up alarm began sounding at the customary 0430 hours. It only took a few cycles before Toni responded: "Gods, I hate alarms," she grumped.
"No alarm is intended as pleasant, but every day has to start somewhere," Hess said from his bed. "Virtue, half-volume on the alarm until Toni sits up," Sigma one said as he clambered up to kneel on his bed. "Damn, didn't think I put so much work on my right knee yesterday, hurts today."
"What did you do to it?" Toni asked as she indeed did sit up, intent on nothing else but to silence the klaxon that Hess prefered as his morning alarm tone.
"I've been over-mass for years, and when you're my size, your knees and ankles take a beating," the big guy said before he further rotated out of bed and onto his feet. "So, nowadays, when I put too much work on my right knee in particular, it reminds me of that problem."
"Unh, ever thought about correcting it?" Toni asked. "Dibs on shower."
"Have at it, I want to get my schedule sorted out before I do anything." The door alert beeped, which put an end to any such thoughts. "Who goes?" Hess asked.
"Sidonia, sir, time for morning PT," the door intercom answered.
"So much for a shower," Toni groused.
"True," Hess said. He had been hoping that Sidonia would lay off, but knew better than to expect that. "Guess I'll have to do planning from the weight bench." The fact that he had a workout clothes set — t-shirt, BDU shorts, and gym shoes — waiting for him was his little ode to Sidonia's reliability on this subject. Toni had her own such ensemble waiting, though with a sport bra included for good measure. The pair of them took only a couple minutes to dress for the detail, and Hess grabbed up his tablet on the way to the door.
"Morning, sir," Sidonia snapped to attention after the door opened. "Sleep well?"
"Well enough," Hess said. "An honest-to-God day off would be a good relaxation for the body, but not until the critical tasks are done or delegated."
"No rest for the wicked, big guy," Victoria said as she approached. "You know the rules."
"All too well," Hess and Clint said at the same time, in the same tone of voice. "Lead on, Instructor," Hess waved her toward the stairs down toward the basement.
"So, what's the news of the day, sir?" Sidonia asked as they began the trek down ten flights of stairs.
"Don't know yet, just woke up," Hess answered. "We'll be going over that while lifting today, figure I can get my schedule sorted out while pushing iron."
"Multitasking? Works for me, so long as you're putting proper effort into the lift," she said as they passed the third floor headed downstairs. "Doing any contract work today?"
"No, today is a no-contract day, we've done enough for a week's time for now. I have a load of administrative stuff to see to today, so today should be around the base at most," Hess said.
"I'm choppering out to a metal foundry northwest of here, but that's the worst part of my day," Clarence said.
"Paperwork and doctrine for me," Clint said.
"Shit-ton of refugees to process, and payroll to prepare," Victoria half-complained.
"Wow, a boring day," Leonora said with some heart. "Be good to take it easy since this began."
"Well, they'll happen but not too often," Sigma One predicted (not unfairly).
"Once a month or so would be nice," Toni said as they passed the first floor, still headed down.
"We'll just see what we'll see," Sidonia said as she led the way into the halls under the admin building. The group was reasonably silent until they entered the workout room, at which point Sidonia began issuing orders in rapid succession.
And the string of positions culminated with Hess. "I want you to start on the rowing machine, big guy. Toni, pull-down station," Sidonia said.
"Works for me. Base weight or push it?"
"Base weight, then two progressive steps." For Hess, base weight on the row exercise was 300 pounds even, so that is where he set the weight stack.
Only after he had three reps on the first run did he begin on his other objective. "Virtue, what's my schedule for the day?"
"Several important meetings in the morning, first one being immediately after your shower allotment, we have a test-out for the registered position of Defense Mage. Finished his quals yesterday, knows his way around all the basic requirements, ready to drop in the business."
"Excellent, though he probably picked a piss-poor day to graduate, going by the expectation of the Train's fortified zone today."
"I have factored that into your schedule today, you may have to assist in dealing with the Slavers if they are too heavily entrenched."
"Guess I'm going to have to warn the new guy as well," Hess said primly. "Upload his jacket to my tablet, I'll check it out while cooling down," Hess said after he finished his twelfth rep on 'base weight' rowing.
"Uploaded now," Virtue said as Hess stood up from the row position.
"180 second timer, and what was my last max weight for rows?" Hess said as he began walking around, pacing as a cool-down from the exertion of isometric rows while reading the dossier of a Phoenix named Wayne.
"Prior weight recorded was 365 pounds," Virtue said. "Your next matter is a surprising one, Nereus and four unidentified persons for a discussion. Specific matter is not listed. Scheduled time is 0900."
"Huh, wonder what is brewing," Hess said, then shrugged. "Well, we'll know soon enough. Next?"
"Request for meet from two Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty officers included in the refugees from yesterday's hot action against the Slavers, specifically the guy that led the ZAFT captives back through the Train to the ambush point."
"Damn good ambush, please pass my congrats on to Element Commander Christenson," Hess had watched the ambush several times, including slow-motion replays, to get a count on deceased Slavers. They had made a butchery of, or captured, some 40 Slavers, not a small feat by any measure, as well as gained some valuable experience with explosives and ambush tactics. "Anyway, what's the topic in question?"
"Athrun Zala wishes to offer his services as an instructor in Mobile Suit warfare, and Meyrin Hawke wishes to offer her services for Mobile Suit operational control instruction." The beeper on his tablet went off, signaling his appointed time to return for the next set.
Hess set the weight stack for the next set, a power set, and took position. Again, much as with Vash (the Stampede) and Dagger (Princess Garnet Til Alexandros), Hess knew the name from fictional series from his homeworld but would not speak of that reality directly. "Huh. If they check out, more is the better. Any other major business of the day?"
"Yes, we have a procurement request from the Engineering group for five battlemechs, unit type Bushwacker IIM, model bravo-sierra-whiskey dash x-ray-charlie-one. Purchase purpose is for testing and evaluation for dual-purpose design concepts, and of course these machines can be turned around for use in the mercenary unit as needed."
By the time Virtue had finished her explanation, Hess had completed his first of three 'power' sets for the Isometric Row. "240 second timer, please. And on these machines, what is the main driver for them as dual-purpose machines?"
"Each machine carries an array of weapons mostly geared toward high-volume fire against light targets. The primary gun on the XC1 model is the Xigon 'Shotgun' 120mm LB-X autocannon, capable of firing both HEAP shells and cluster shells. The cluster rounds are excellent against exposed infantry and airborne targets. The secondary weapon on the platform is less useful against Infantry, a Series 7N Extended Range Large Laser, though of equivalent range is a pair of Xigon Weapons LRM racks in 10-silo configuration. For close-in engagements, the unit mounts six Savannah Weapons 50-caliber machine guns, of little use against armored targets but murderous on infantry. Munitions on board are two tons shells for the autocannon, two tons missiles for the paired missile racks, and one ton of 50-caliber rounds for the machine guns."
"That's some pretty serious shit," Clint said, looking over Hess' shoulder at the display of the BSW-XC1 Bushwacker IIM. "Definitely dual-use, not sure about battlefield longevity."
"Well, that's what you're tasked for, scrawny one," Hess waved the tablet at him. "We need a logistics group that can do the job and keep these things fighting, even under battlefield support conditions."
"Right, sir," Clint said.
"So, what's the sticker price?" Hess asked as he took seat for the third set on Isometric Rows.
"Per unit price is ten million, five-hundred seventy-seven thousand and some change. Total purchase request for five units and munitions is just shy of 58 million."
The request didn't take more than a few seconds for Hess to mull over. "Authorized, on the proviso that at least three of the five machines are to be in operational service no more than 60 days after reception, with recommendation of all five being in service ASAP. We should have pilots fairly quickly available for them."
"No such concern, sir, I already have a waiting list for Magi pilots willing to train our recruits and willing to sally forth and make some money."
"Also, please inform Jeff that he has discretionary purchase authorization for single machines for evaluation purpose on suitability for dual-purpose or infantry support, but no more than 1 a week until we have more established rotating mercenary formations."
"Understood, sir," Virtue wrote it up for Jeff for his morning briefing, which he would not take until after he was awake in an hour or two and showered.
"So, what's remaining on the list?"
"Nothing else outstanding, though we have an attaboy from ComStar for our contract work yesterday. Apparently…"
-x-
(same time)
(ComStar Main Administration Building, Brasilia, Brazil, Terra 02 (Multimage Star Empire homeworld))
Precentor-Broadcasting Derek Higginson slapped a folder down on Primus Hallestrom's desk. "I think we just stumbled on to a phenomenon, boss. You'll like this."
Elaine Hallestrom picked up the folder and opened to the summary page. It only took her five seconds to digest the gist of it. "Holy transistors, I think you're right. Do we have any embed reports from other merc units to gauge this against?" Primus Hallestrom asked.
"No, we've never had a field-embedded reporter with a merc unit before, and we've never had a reporter whose first day on the job involved shadowing a designated marksman, I checked," by which he meant that he had an AI entity go over the records for it.
"Did we flash this one out, or was it organic searches?"
"We flashed it in certain markets," by which he meant flashed a 'breaking news' marquee or a banner advertisement for it; "but most of the traffic was searches directed at 'mercenary', 'sniper', or 'Sigma'." Precentor-Broadcasting Higginson shrugged. "I guess their unit is making noise, and now plenty more."
"I saw the footage when it came in, Lunete has her head screwed on straight for a field reporter. The fight was in no fashion fair, of course." Hallestrom waved her own tablet computer at the Broadcasting head. "DM rifle against Roman Legion? I can hardly think of a more incongruent battle."
"And assault rifles, and grenades, but Sigma One had a damn good point after he was in the chopper and Lunete asked him about it. There really is no such thing as a fair fight, and Hess is prepared to rig the contracts in his favor however he has to do so."
"I know. The drama of doing a rescue-under-threat is one thing, but I hope he can keep it up in coming years. You know our viewership is fickle," which was largely owed to the primary markets of the Star Empires other than the Mages. The Negaverse in particular and the other four of the big ones to a lesser extent were drama fiends, only the Magi were really consistent as to watching asses get kicked in one-sided competitions, largely due to a cultural thing amongst the Magi. Citizens of the largest Star Empire didn't jive with artificial drama and they viewed fighting fair as a province of Zellbrigen, not as a general fixture of the art of war.
"So, seen his polling yet?" Derek asked his immediate boss.
"No, what's it look like?" Elaine asked in counter.
"Mostly positive, some bitching about him being a fatass, trolls haven't changed since the bad old days of the Internet, but him bringing a sniper rifle to a sword fight and making it work in defense of a kidnap rescue tests very high on the people-love-it scale."
"Internet trolls, ugh," Elaine grumped. She drew her own set of criticisms from the troll farms in the ComStar Interdimensional Forums Services, mainly because her bright violet hair (genetic on her mother's side) and slightly larger than average figure didn't meet up with certain person's tastes. All of which was of little consequence to her, since she had her own proclivities and used them frequently. "So, we've got a Merc who fights really unfair in service of rescuing a damsel in distress, and who knows where this story is going?"
"Don't know, but Lunete reported that there are no contracts on the schedule for the day, so she doesn't know what kind of action she'll get yet," Derek Higginson said. "She did say there may be something breaking loose in the Train today, but she's aware that she's not to release any records of that until word officially breaks of clearing the Trains."
"Damn, now that's a story that could win us some serious brownie points, if only we could tell it." Primus Hallestrom harumphed, but held her tongue on the matter. It would be "abso-fuckin'-lutely ratings gold" (Higginson's description from the day prior) to do a live-showing of clearing the Trains, with the reporter following behind the Train Clearing Teams and seeing all the horror and wonder involved, but she had to respect the mission first in this case. If the Slavers Guild did not know, that made things easier on Sigma, and thus there was benefit in not telling the story.
"Another day, ma'am. I'll have Lunete get what she can from the Trains, but archive the footage until we can safely release it."
Elaine nodded. "Anything else from Sigma?"
"Their day is just starting, so…"
-x-x-x-
(30 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0715 Hours Local Time)
(Hess' Quarters, Base Boarhound Admin Building, Terra 232)
(Day 13 of Campaign)
"This is where it gets tricky," Hess pointed out to Toni what part of the budget was causing consternation. "Right now, because we are ripping off the Star League under official cover of Executor Ruling, we have no food budget for the armed forces. In fact, if you want to count sales of foodstuffs to civilian parties, we're technically profiting. Problem is, the Trains are a finite resource, once they run out the Star League stops supplying the Sustainment Network System. Then we have to start factoring food, water, and fuel in."
"And here's the projected foodstuffs figures for this morning," Virtue piped in with a series of red numbers in the appropriate column.
"That's kinda steep," Toni said with some dismay.
"We're feeding in excess of 4000 persons right now," Hess said. "People, mind you, who are not accustomed to small rations. For whatever other sins the Star League may be guilty, they have kept the Sustainment Network well provisioned, and most of the persons on the Train are willing to exploit it."
"True." The Celestial Phoenix sighed. "So, essentially, at some nebulous point in the future, we will have to cease use of the Sustainment Network and go it ourselves?"
"Did not say that," Hess admitted. "Virtue, projected cost for keeping just this extant segment of the Sustainment Network going, as well as necessary control and cross-dimensional warehousing systems?"
"The warehousing is not available to me, but most of it is functional as a pocket dimension storage system similar to ScrapNet. Assuming similar costs at scale, that will be a rather significant expense on the order of several million C-bills per month. That said, I would expect that by the time we have scrapped down a hundred thousand of the extant Trains, eating a twenty million C-bill operation expenditure will be well within budget if for no other reason than to simplify logistics for fuel, food, and medical supplies."
"Now that's clever. Reduces the Quartermaster burden for food and fuel," Toni pointed out. "How much have you been thinking about this?"
"Once or twice a day since we began the Protectorate," Erich admitted. "Reducing the load on the Quartermasters is part of the equation, but another part is helping to prevent misuse or spoilage of food and medical resources. One thing that Clint came up with as an angle for contracts, actual Honest-to-God humanitarian work in some of the undeveloped shitholes throughout the known universe. A vehicle with a Sustainment Network interface would be an absolute boon for the process."
"Yes, sir, we could nuke the UN at their own fucking shell games and achieve some honest results on the ground," Clint said from inside the doorway. As he approached the desk, he did so with the new test-out in tow. "One thing that chapped my ass over the years, the fucking billions of taxpayer dollars that the United States sunk into the UN shithole of a budget, and damn near zero results to show for it," Clint continued the point.
"Unless you count the periodic 'studies' on a myriad of subjects saying that the US and Europe was doing it wrong as some manner of 'results', of course leaving the question of what the study was about up to the flavor of the week," Hess said in pure sarcasm. The next bit was not in jest: "Under your oath to the Protectorate, Clint, I charge you with ensuring that should I ever make noise about throwing money at something like the UN, you are to prevent it in any fashion necessary, up to and including the use of force."
"Will do," Clint said heartily. "Don't expect to ever have to, but I'll see to it," he tacked on for explanation for Toni and the new guy. If there was one person amongst the Claiborne County Militia that disdained the UN more than Clint, Hess was number one in loathing that institution and Dirk Connell was a close second.
"Regardless, enough of that maudlin subject," Hess said as he stood up and came to attention.
The new guy squared up and came to attention immediately thereafter. "Recruit Wayne Zelbart, reporting for duty, sir!"
"Welcome to the unit, trooper. I've read over your jacket this morning, according to records forwarded to us from the Magi, New Moon and Dark Moon Empires, you've been in and out of the armies of the various Star Empires for millennia, working in several different subsets."
"Yes sir, I've tried to make sure my records are full and complete for Sigma as well."
"Across 32 centuries I cannot but expect gaps, but anything you can provide for recordkeeping would be helpful," Hess waved off any possible conflict due to 'holes' in his history. "So, if I may ask, after having earned citizenship in four Star Empires and a couple dozen worlds, what draws you here to Sigma?"
"Ever hear of the Merienne Accord, sir?" the recruit asked.
"Name's not familiar," Hess said. "Care to explain?"
"Hai," he answered. "Refers to Elonsius Merienne, an Astral Phoenix like myself and a Multimage citizen, who was living on a world with SLDF outposts. One day he crossed paths with the SLDF troops, and they decided they'd beat down this guy on a whim, they didn't know he was a Phoenix but that didn't matter. Merienne used his considerable Psionic talents to kill the SLDF troopers quickly for the unprovoked attack, broke six of their necks in two seconds."
"Hot damn, six necks broken in two seconds? That's hard as fuck," Clint said.
"Go on, Wayne," Hess said, though he silently agreed with Clint's assessment.
"Whole incident was caught on camera, and it sparked intense outrage at the SLDF. The Mages responded to the incident by ejecting the SLDF troops from the world, in more than a couple cases it resulted in firefights between the Mages and the SLDF. The Star League Grand Council responded to having their asses handed to them by posting the Merienne Accord. I don't know the full text of the Accord, but I do know it allows the SLDF to shoot a Phoenix on sight, and allows them to shoot the resultant rebirth egg to ensure it is done right."
Virtue chimed in. "The measure actually provides three specific rulings in addition to the aforementioned shoot-on-sight order. First, persons with the Psionic Talents necessary to kill someone outright are required by the law to take powerful Psionic-control medications to prevent them from using their talents. This regulation is commonly flaunted by all the Star Empires and a plurality of Megacorporations, who employ such powerful psionics for a wide array of purposes."
"Yeah, fuck that," Clint said. "Someone got that kind of talent, we'll pay top dollar if they're willing to make use of it."
"Ten-four to that," Hess agreed with that impromptu policy shift. "Continue, Virtue."
"Second remedy in the Accord is that persons may not claim self-defense against SLDF troops unless the SL Inspectorate General determines that they have a legitimate claim to self defense. This was written as a direct counter to the Mages actively defending Merienne against SLDF reprisal. In theory it gives the SLDF Black Ops groups a window to execute the offender before the matter can come to a full investigation, or for the SLDF justice system to simply bury the offender in bureaucracy with nobody the wiser. The Mages have routinely engaged in limited skirmishing with the SLDF to ensure that they do not enforce this ruling in Magi lands."
"Using a corrupted bureaucratic system as a bludgeon against any resistance? I think we've seen that one before," Clint said.
"Yeah, the IRS had a love affair with auditing we Militiamen because we didn't like them and occasionally said mean things about them," Sigma One groused. "Next?"
"Third is the right of the SLDF to strip accused persons of their properties in Star League territories if they are accused — not convicted — of major crimes against SLDF personnel. This was a dig directly at Merienne, as he had a half-dozen properties in SL territory in addition to a host of properties throughout the other Star Empires, and he loved bouncing from one property to the next at a whim, given he already had accumulated a lot of wealth from thousands of years of corporate work. The provision is written so that the SLDF can seize property anywhere in the member states, but it is largely considered unenforcable outside of specific Star League territory."
"Holy shit, Civil Asset Forfeiture with an interplanetary reach," Sigma One said.
"Yeah, no way in Hell would that be operable here." Clint snorted. "How enforceable is this act?"
"In practical terms, it was neutered at signing when the Star Empires refused to acknowledge," Virtue continued. "In real terms, the Executors have determined that enforcement of the provisions of the bill constitute a War Crime because of the SLDF's role in such injustices, and any SLDF personnel or officers caught utilizing any of the provisions would be slain for their crimes," the AI entity said. "Because of this, the Accord has not had teeth in over 600 years."
"It's still on the books, and I think eventually the Star League is going to become frustrated with the continual neutering applied by the Executors and simply cut loose," Wayne Zelbart came to his angle in the tale. "When that happens, a lot of people are going to bleed unnecessarily."
"And you're in it to either reduce or eliminate the Star League before they go apeshit," Hess said.
Wayne tilted his head. " 'Apeshit' sir? Never heard the term," Wayne said.
"Ah, yes, Avian as a primary, you might never have run into that term before. It's a somewhat rare human colloquialism for someone going completely and violently insane," Hess explained.
"Makes sense, sir, and yes, that is what I'm worried about," Wayne acknowledged the point.
"To be perfectly honest, that is my great worry at this point as well. Sigma is numerically insignificant at this point in time. As I just said to Toni, we have a grand total of slightly more than 4000 persons in the Protectorate overall, including persons who are completely incapable to combat or are unsuited for it. In hard numbers of fightable persons, I would say we could probably field at most two battalions of untrained persons who would not stand up to any manner of coordinated strike. Of persons who could take and deliver true combat punishment, maybe a Company total if we're really lucky."
"Ah, if the Star League swings by in force, we're screwed," Wayne drew the logical conclusion.
"Aye, screwed, hard, if it happens. All credit due to Nereus and the Mages, but it's just not enough when someone goes off the bend and has significant force they're willing to expend to screw someone. We're in the vulnerable phase right now, and will be for some years, but so long as the specter of Magi involvement or Executor reprisal holds the wolves at bay, we can do it. But you want more, I can sense it in your demeanor," Hess prompted the new trooper.
"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Wayne asked.
"Proceed," Sigma One authorized it.
"I do want more. I want the Star League sundered, its worlds stripped out from under them, its criminal armies shattered and broken, the bodies of their illegal guild members dragged into the streets and stacked, and mostly the Star League Grand Council, I want them to bleed for centuries from parts of their bodies that do not normally bleed," Wayne Zelbart said with passion.
"Points for ambition," Clint said with an approving nod.
"Definitely value in having clear goals," Hess agreed with his immediate subordinate. "I can't guarantee when, or how, but I don't expect the Star League will be overlong in coming for our asses. If you're willing to hang in, I can find gainful ways for you to sharpen your skills for when that day comes. Good to go?"
"I'm in, sir. Where do you want me?"
"Defensive Mage Specialist is what you tested out as, correct?" Wayne nodded. "For now, you are an army of one. You'll answer direct to the Command Section until you're assigned in under a more proper unit formation. I'm going to officially give you the next couple days to assemble your gear and prepare for operations, but I warn you that I may have to call upon you if the action in the Train gets too heated for the Rail Guard team."
"Understood, sir!" Wayne said enthusiastically.
"Virtue will go over the remaining detail work with you. Take the next couple hours to prepare your gear set and get ready for battle. Remember, you are a defense Mage, so don't hesitate to carry a little extra ammo in for the battles to come. There will likely be plenty of need for it. Any questions?"
"No sir," Wayne said crisply.
"You are dismissed to collect gear and set up your rig for defense." Hess gave him a salute, but not a common salute, his was more of the Naval Salute from home. Strangely, it was returned by the Trooper perfectly.
-x-x-x-
(30 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0715 Hours Local Time)
(Target Range, Base Boarhound Admin Building Basement 1, Terra 232)
(Day 13 of Campaign)
Athrun and Meyrin both took the few moments to gear up with noise-cancelling hearing protection and eye protection, as was regulation for the METARgraphic range. Even if simulates were the targets here, safety always came first. Once they had their earmuffs on and turned on (to allow easier speaking), the two thumbed open the bay and entered.
"Easy on the trigger, easy," Hess said to Toni and Sidonia. Both of them took their time with their shots, but the results were the same. They were hits, and disabling hits in both cases, but they were off center, both to the right. "Okay, you've got the press going, but it looks like you're too far down your finger," Hess said. "Hold your position," Sigma One said as he approached. "Yep, you're both knuckling the trigger."
Sidonia dropped her aimpoint. "What's that mean, sir?"
"Too much finger into the guard, you're pressing the trigger with the crook of your first knuckle. Anatomically, it's the position your finger gravitates to, the first point where the trigger rests on its own, but it also causes your aimpoint to shift right and slightly low. Bring it back up and safe it."
"Sir," Sidonia twisted back to the target and came back up on the rifle.
"Finger on, please," Hess said. The SSO put her finger on the trigger. "Yes, what I expected to see. Hold one." Hess reached to her finger and pushed it in a small hint with his thumb. "Now, without moving your trigger finger, drop safe and fire two rounds."
Athrun was surprised how well the earmuffs conveyed the sound of the safety coming off, and how well they blocked out most of the bark of the firearms in question. Two shots, both of which registered in the kill zone this time. "Wow, that made a difference, boss," she said as Hess maneuvered around her to Toni.
"Same thing?" Toni asked.
"Yeah, hold one." Hess reached to and pushed her finger slightly inward as well. "The optimal position is halfway between the tip of your finger and your first knuckle. It takes practice, don't get frustrated if you find yourself knuckling the trigger. Took me two years of directed drilling to overcome the same problem. Now, Toni, drop safe and fire two."
The two shots went downrange and landed in the killzone as well. "It works," she said with some satisfaction.
"Aye, it works. Now, you make it work until it works as muscle memory. Four magazines each, Virtue will track your scores while I see to a meet outside. Single and double aimed shots only. If you finish up before I do, step out for some fresh air."
"Yes sir!" Toni said with enthusiasm. Meyrin found herself a bit surprised by that enthusiasm, she had never liked the rifle but she learned it just the same as every other ZAFT recruit. She silently admitted pistols were much more to her liking.
Hess left the two SSOs to their practice and waved the two ZAFT officers out into the corridor, to which they both followed quickly. "Mandatory training?" Athrun asked.
"When I started this conspiracy to clean up this world and scrap the Slavers, I knew I would have to train the hell out of the kids that followed me," he said. "Training is a task that neither begins nor ends, it simply keeps going."
Meyrin could immediately see the light-bulb light up behind Athrun's eyes. "And the more training is needed, the more Instructors are needed," he said as Hess waved them into the next room down, which was for weapons maintenance, cleaning, and storage of live munitions for the range.
Sigma One went to the rack at the back of the room for live munitions and drew out five magazines, long stick magazines that mated up with a mag pouch on his left side and one into his sub-gun on his right side. "And, as these things happen, varied instructors for new and expanding disciplines are needed." His pistol received five magazines for the pouch and one for the pistol, which he armed and holstered.
"You carry a lot of ammo," Meyrin pointed out.
"I used to carry more," Hess admitted. "I've always been a team anchor, the guy that provides the base of fire while the others in the team maneuver. Now, I am a combatant only in extremis, but the duty is the same." After Sigma secured his allotment of flashbangs and smoke grenades, he stretched to settle his armor. "So, according to Virtue, you two have a proposal pertaining to Mobile Suits. I am listening," Sigma One said, which Meyrin found rather heartening. Despite what others had said about Sigma One, she wasn't sure what to expect.
"I've studied what I could about your plan, sir, and I think I have an option for you. This won't help much with the Trains, but for mercenary work and for taking it to the Slavers, you will need armor," Athrun said.
"True," Hess said. "How much armor will be needed is up for interpretation, but the needs drive the equipment selection," Sigma One said candidly. Meyrin saw through it immediately as a probing question, not a transparent one, which made it all the more risky how Athrun answered. He was being tested, and may not have known.
"Or you can allow the equipment selection determine the duty profile, sir," Athrun answered.
"That's an interesting position to take," Hess said with some reservation. Meyrin figured it wasn't what he was expecting to hear, but he wasn't ready to flunk Athrun on grounds yet. "What's your proposal?"
"Before I came in, I checked the available contracts board. There are several asking contracts for small-unit Mobile Army forces. When you pair those contracts with what armor forces are commonly favored by Merc units, you're talking Battlemechs. Have you considered another option?"
"Ground Armor, such as wheeled and tracked combat vehicles, will factor into the plans just as much, if not more than, Battlemechs," Sigma One said. "You propose a different classification of unit?"
"Mobile Suits and Gundams, sir," Athrun said. "I don't presume to be an expert on Star Empire Mobile Suits, but I was a decent pilot in my homeland. Once I learn the machines available here, I think I can structure a force for taking the battle to the Slavers, not to mention what could be done in Contracts."
"Let the force structure dictate the contracts serviced," Hess laid out the crux of Athrun's concept. "A force of Mobile Suits dedicated to servicing the Mobile Army-specific contracts. Still, you're fixated on the Slavers," Sigma One said, and again Meyrin could tell that it was a test, but more to the point Athrun flinched when called on it. "What would drive you to seek to engage them with Mobile Suits? Outside of familiarity of platform, I should say."
Meyrin took this one up when Athrun hesitated. "We were captured by a Slaver Warship, sir, what the Mages call a 'Privateer-class ship'. They killed a lot of our crew," Meyrin said.
"And they killed my fiancee," Athrun admitted. "Does wanting their asses for wall trophies count as a disqualifier, sir?" Athrun asked.
"If it did, I would have to disqualify roughly half of my recruits," Hess admitted. "I'll tell you the same thing the Drill Instructors are passing around the barracks right now. If you want to hate the Slavers, be my guest. Not my place to tell you what to think or feel. That said, the mission comes first, first time, every time. Hate them as much as you want but not when on the firing line, because the missions don't have time for personal shit. If you can cage the rage, your proposal is workable; we don't need loose cannons on deck. Follow?"
"Yes, sir," Athrun said calmly.
"All right. Star Colonel Storme is a Gundam Pilot for the Magi, and apparently a fairly good one. I'm going to have her put you through your paces over the next couple days. If everything checks out, we'll get together and hash out a force structure and requirements. Good to go?"
"If I may ask, sir, what are you looking for in a force such as this?" Athrun asked.
"Reaction speed, flexibility, maneuver superiority, and lateral thinking," Hess rattled off four points at varying speeds, which told Meyrin that the question was not something he expected and had to work out on the fly. "As a mobile force, I don't expect your unit to tank the brunt of an enemy's fury, that is what the heavy armor units will be for. If you can build a mastery of maneuver, it will reduce the necessity of firepower in solving these issues."
"Uh, yes sir," Athrun answered warily, which told Meyrin that he wasn't expecting that kind of requirement — and it rattled his composure. "When do you want me to begin?" he asked in a tone of increasing steadiness.
"Virtue, does Star Colonel Storme have any holes in her schedule today?" Hess asked the ceiling speaker in the center of the room.
"A window is open at 1330 hours, 90 minutes. I'll forward her the proposal and start scheduling operation time on the northern training field."
"All right, Athrun, final go-mission. If you want out, now is the time to say so, otherwise I can only guarantee you some interesting times in the months and years ahead."
Athrun Zala looked to the floor of the arsenal room, nodded twice, and looked back up. "Sign me up, sir."
-x-x-x-
(30 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1100 Hours Planetary Standard Time)
(Empress' Quarters, Multimage Administration Building, Yuhua, Old China Province, Terra 02 (Multimage Star Empire Capital World))
(Day 13 of Campaign)
Whatever else happened in her life, Empress Rini Atrebas always started her days with a solid briefing paper stack covering the important topics of the day. Part of this was to ensure that the Empress was kept abreast of the latest developments and trends in the Empire, but the more immediately pragmatic reason was to ensure that she was never caught flat-footed by the Press. It was a happy illusion, as some reporter always had some screwball question never considered, but those were rare press ambushes.
Of course, international and interdimensional affairs were always on the docket for briefings, and one of those papers covered a rather hot topic in a rather hot location that a lot of eyes were watching. So, she had requested a meet with her most senior Division Commander to take care of the matter preemptively, and ensure that Magi interests were seen to properly in this matter.
Two knocks preceded the door being cracked. "Highness, DC Caecilius to see you," her security chief said. Star Colonel Annabelle Kerensky, a Commando Assault Mage (Transcendent), had served the Empress in one capacity or another for almost a millennia, and headed up her security detail.
"See him in," Rini said without stopping her reading.
"Morning, milady," Gerard said. "Still going through position papers?"
Rini stood up, flipped off her reading glasses, and stretched. "Some days the papers are short, some days not," the Empress said. "Anything major going on?"
"Little bit of pirate hunting going on, nothing special. Biggest news is we just received a report from Sigma that falls into my field. Ever hear of a class of ships called Privateer?"
"You mean the old practice of using civilian-owned ships for raiding, or an actual classification of modern star warships?"
"Actual class of ships," Division Commander Gerard Caecilius said. "Crewed by the Slavers' Guild, they used it to jump a small Monitor, capture it somewhat intact, grab a goodly portion of the crew, and stuff them onto one of the Jumper Trains for retail sale somewhere else in Existence."
"And we know this how?" Rini asked.
"Sigma captured the Train before the involved Slaves could be sold off. One of the Slaves gave us a pretty good overview of the ship and its complement of personnel and craft. From what he gave us, we're estimating below 1 million tons mass but above 600,000 tons, four wings of fighters, capital arsenal, heavy armor, and the facilities to capture and load or unload from the Trains," Gerard explained the high-level details.
"Not a bad haul of intel to confirm a rumor that's been making the rounds for a couple hundred years," Rini said.
"It also effectively confirms that the Slavers' Guild has high-level support from inside the Star League Military-Industrial Complex," Gerald pointed out. "We both know that building any kind of Jumpship or Warship is not a trivial undertaking, equally so for maintaining and staffing it."
"Adds a layer of complexity to Sigma's intention to strip down and destroy the Slavers' Guild," the Multimage Empress leaned back against the desk that her mother had used, and her grandfather before that.
"Within that narrow scope, aff, milady. In totality, it won't make a difference on the ground," Gerard said.
"Okay, before we go further, explain your thinking," Rini said. One thing she had quickly learned about Gerard and Stanythe, the two ancient holdovers from her grandfather's time in Durgan that had become Multimages and continued in the Empire, they tended to think different as a matter of course. Rini had learned quickly to pick their brains for a complete thought process, to make sure she was not caught at cross purposes with her subordinates (the same lesson applied to the other Division Commanders just the same, but mostly to the Techstriker and the Commando).
"The on-the-ground reality is that the division between the Star League and the Guilds is near zero. Killing the goslings is going to require hammering on the geese at the top of the pecking order. The question is, as a matter of policy, how much do we care? Speaking for myself and for a plurality of my men, if Sigma One kicks the whole rotten mess into rubble and memories, I don't think I'd have more than two tears for them."
"As an official matter of policy, we are still a Member State of the Star League. Under that heading, we really can't cheerlead for Sigma One disassembling the Star League. Unless he finds some serious evidence linking the Guilds into the main Star League infrastructure, we can't visibly take his side. On the flip side, we can be exceedingly indifferent to the bemoaning that will inevitably come up when he starts causing some serious damage to their structures."
"So, same policy as prior?" DC Caecilius asked.
"Actually, I think we should step it up. I was intending to have you assign a Phalanx-class ship to overwatch for the Protectorate, but since the OpFor has warships of their own, make it two ships with rotating forces to operate as assistance to our ground teams and training for their Naval and Aerospace concerns."
"Two ships and a garrison complement, can do," Gerard acknowledged the orders. "I'll cut the warning to Vickers within the hour."
"One other thing, Gerard, and you can pass this on to the other DCs just the same," Rini held up a warning finger. "The recent acidic attitude and corrupt taint of the Star League flies in the face of our principles and purpose. As of right now, if the Star League 'liaisons' so much as fart in the wrong tone, they are to be expelled, forcibly if needed. We are a member state, but their bullshit has gone on long enough. There shall be no more patience. If you catch wind of any kind of hard evidence against them, get it into the Courts Martial and get a copy to Sigma to act on. I want a reason to get us out of that clusterfuck, but I want it legitimately."
"I think we have a few angles working on that problem, Empress," Gerard said pensively. "By your leave, Highness?"
"Pass my well-wishes on to Century Commander Vickers and the crew he is assembling, if you will," she said by way of dismissal.
-x-x-x-
(30 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0900 Hours Local Time)
(3rd floor Command Center, Base Boarhound Admin Building, Terra 232)
(Day 13 of Campaign)
"So, we have five BSW-XC1 Bushwackers, which is a solid start, but this is just the beginning," Hess said to Clint and Clarence. "As I discussed with the recent refugee that is offering to train up a Mobile Suit force, the primary purpose of Battlemechs and Ground Armor will be to tank the enemy's major abuse. We use faster and more mobile assets to outflank, harass, suppress, and where possible cut off enemy forces."
"Fire and Maneuver," Clint said. "The better the maneuvers, the less you have to use fire to complete the job," he covered the old-world wisdom on the subject.
"We did a damn good demonstration of that yesterday, our contract to rescue at the Roman Governor's manor. Our maneuver was direct insertion by helo and direct extraction by helo, all we had to fire on were the immediate threats. Saved us having to fire on the local Roman Legion."
"Hell yeah, that would have been a bloodbath of no small order," Clarence said. "Doesn't absolve us of having to do it at a later time, but every time we can skate without killing a large portion of a force, the better."
"Any time we can skate with low or zero casualties, the better," Victoria pointed out the problematic part of the conversation.
"True, in the grand scheme of things, we won't be fighting morally ambiguous campaigns with any frequency. The OpFor is considered expendable, our men are not."
"Definitely, boss," Clint said. "Word is already getting around that the policy is Sigma and Mission first, other considerations if possible."
"Good," Erich said. "We owe a debt of honor to the people, and — " he stopped when the door to the elevator opened. Five persons exited the elevator, one of them being Nereus. "Morning, Executor."
"Am I interrupting?" Nereus asked after he caught sight of the four Administrators and five Secret Service Officers.
"Not particularly," Clarence said. "Policy rehash."
"Was waiting for your arrival, Executor," Hess said. "You have something to discuss?"
"Actually, yes, but before we begin on the substance of the matter, I have some introductions to make," Nereus ushered the group of four forward, and in so doing the four Administrators had a good look at them for the first. Clarence and Victoria both inhaled sharply at the sight of one in particular, Clint snorted, but only Hess remained stone-faced on the consideration that he had guessed this was possible though he never directly expected it.
What are the odds of this? Hess thought but did not say aloud.
Remote as Hell, Toni answered him telepathically.
"One of your rank is easy to guess, Set, the Egyptian God of the Red Lands," Clint said. "The others, I have no honest clue, sorry."
Set chuckled grimly. "I do have a reputation, even in some corners of the future," he said. "And an easily recognized silhouette."
"I can place one other," Hess said. "Nezha, or No Cha as I always saw it written, if I remember correctly my study of Far East mythos a reformed troublemaker later venerated as a divinity of protection."
Said divinity nodded. "Hellraiser as a youth, slightly more temperate in the here and now."
"On the others, I apologize. I was not the most thorough scholar of mythology," Hess said.
"Pair of Norse divinities, Sigma One," Nereus said. "Aegir, Norse divinity of the Seas, and Urd, the eldest of the Norns."
"The Fate of the Past," Victoria said. She knew of the Norns, but not much more in the way of mythology than the bare basics.
"Correct," Nereus said. "And here I thought understanding of the old Mythos was dead in America."
Clarence snorted, now over the initial shock of the matter. "Most of America would be hard pressed to tell Mjolnir upside their asses from a high-voltage line to the face, but there are a few that know at least some of the old tales."
"For some, there is hope," Sigma One said. "Some, a very few, I should say. If you wish, please be seated," Hess waved across the map table to other chairs. All five took seats, Nereus in the center. "Only recently have I become aware of the Executor's Judgment that effectively defrocked the Divinities. Please correct me if I err, Executor, but as a matter of law the decree from Executor Atrebas was that the Divinities 'shall no longer hold dominion and sway over the mortal realms', in his words. Is my read-back correct, sir?"
Nereus took a moment to check the relevant phrasing on his tablet. "Yes, your read-back is precise to the word."
"Well, on that note, I'm willing to push my luck on the letter of the law in this case." Hess tapped twice on the glass surface of the map table, then pointed to the High Executor. "If I had to front a guess, your question of policy would be whether or not the Protectorate would allow the public presence and acknowledgement of the Divinities?"
Nereus looked at Urd. "I warned you," the Norn said with a smile to take the fang out of the rebuke.
"I should have guessed," Nereus said. "Yes, that is the request at hand, with myself acting as mediator for the divinities here and to come. Now, how exactly did you come to that conclusion?"
"Simple. As a matter of policy, everyone has been reading into the Executor's Judgment on the Divinities far more restricted than is actually spelled out in the Judgment. It's the exact same damn fight as for the Second Amendment in my homeland, where everyone reads layers of restriction into a framework that does not exist. At home, the only legally binding part of the Second is 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.' Here, in the Executor's Judgment, the only legally binding clause in Executor Atrebas' command is 'as of this morning, the Divinities shall no longer hold dominion and sway over the mortal realms'."
"Point being?" Nereus asked.
"Point being, words have meaning, in the legal realm words have very specific meaning," Hess said. "This is going to be a case of lawyering grand mal, and at any time I run afoul of other judgments I would like to know, but the operative issue is that Atrebas' orders are very strict and narrow. Outside of the operative clause, there is a helluva lot of maneuver room."
Nereus looked down to his tablet, stared into the screen for a few seconds, then groaned. "Oh. Oh shit, I see where you're going with this."
"Yes, sir," Hess said. "I can understand the necessity of the Exile of the Gods at the time, everyone wanted to get the hell away from the super-powered assbeater that chopped down a goodly portion of the Greek Gods and sundered their control of the mortal realms. Self-preservation instinct at work, distance and obfuscation to make sure you were out of sight and out of mind," Hess explained.
"True, very much true, even we Norse, whom Atrebas always got along with, we made ourselves scarce," Aegir admitted. "Only the Norns, whom Atrebas specifically exempted from the Judgment, remained around the Magi."
"Ah," Nezha half-exclaimed. "So, if the Exile is not applicable, then what?"
"The exile never legally existed, per the recorded Executor's Judgment. All that is binding is the order that the Divinities shall not hold dominion and sway over the mortal realms. Herein comes where the letter of the law has to be enforced to the letter. 'Dominion and sway' is the letter of the law."
"That is lawyering with a razor-thin margin, Hess," Nereus said warningly.
"The question is, High Executor, is there enough margin to work with here? I'll gladly work on the razor's edge for a proper cause, provided the razor doesn't get yanked out from under me."
"What's your intention?" Nereus asked.
"Equal employment and freedoms commensurate with anyone else in the Protectorate. Divinities, Transcendents, other beings may use their individual talents and skills or may withhold as per their preference, in private, mercenary, or governmental function."
"Okay, that is acceptable," Nereus said. "Go on."
Hess sighed in relief. "No Dominion, which references a compulsory reign over territory as the Divinity of control of an area, will be allowed, nor shall divine sway be utilized in a coercive fashion, again outside of mercenary or certain limited governmental function. If people wish to follow the Gods of their own accord, by law I can't stop them, but as an entity of governance and reign it is prohibited by the word of the Judgment and as a matter of course."
"You are referring to the chain of command for the Protectorate?" Urd asked.
"Correct, milady," Hess said. "Even if assigned as Administrator of a world, you would still answer to the command level of the Protectorate for government function. That means, though in command of a given region, it may or may not constitute a dominion under the old law because you would not be the final authority over the region."
"By that example, it would not," Nereus said. "You're going to give me a serious case of gray hair before this is over. Again, I warn you, you're walking a razor-thin line here."
Hess paused, tapped three times on the glass in front of him, and again pointed at Nereus. "I'll take that chance. And I take it not because I have some form of anti-authority complex, but because the Protectorate recognizes no bounds in who among its residents have the freedoms it enshrines. On this matter, I will stand by my principles."
You have pushed my word to the breaking point, Sigma One, but your argument is iron-clad and persuasive enough to fly, a telepathic voice told the persons at the table.
"Who is — " Victoria asked.
"I recognize that voice," Hess said darkly.
"Will Transcendent Eric Atrebas," Nereus said flatly. "I was unaware he was listening in."
I pay special attention to the affairs of the Norns as part of my ancient oath, and I do take note when the Old Gods congregate in any quantity, Atrebas explained at length. Your concept is authorized, but it does not constitute a blank check, Sigma One. I will tolerate lawyering and bending the rules, so long as honor is maintained and the purpose is just. Nereus, make sure it stays on the level.
"Definitely, Highness," the Paladin of the Deep Blue answered for his orders.
"Well, I guess that puts a very loud exclamation point on the razor's line," Sigma One said. "So, where do we begin, Aegir, Set, Nezha, Urd?"
"I'm in this for a job, sir, maybe a permanent residence," Aegir said. "The only dominion I ever had was mixing brew for parties and making noise on the open sea. Like to get back to brewing, but I signed up to learn to do warships."
"Same, sir," Nezha said. "I've spent millennia wandering after the Exile, like to get into modern society on a level footing."
Set snorted. "I'll admit I'm here to cause some evil, but I'm willing to save it for the contract circuit. These grounds aren't all that fertile for rebuilding my old following."
"Points for honesty," Clint said.
"Acquired pragmatism," Set explained his justification. "People don't like general evil, tend to get a bit pissy about it. Most are all too willing to have it visited on others in furtherance of their personal goals, of course. That said, I'm not all evil all the time, reputation aside."
"Bowdlerized reputation?" Hess asked.
"You could put it that way," he said. "A lot of it is being the Divinity of the Sands and the Foreigners, negates a lot of the level things I've done over the years when your worshippers think you're the God of their oppressors."
"Aye, nonsensical to have foreign powers rip up your own following, that's a bit self-defeating," Clarence pointed out the logical failure point of Set being a divinity of the invaders.
"Still, the limits are now circumscribed. If you're willing to play by the rules, you'll get your chance at the cut you can properly grasp. Whether you do it as another bog-standard Joe in the line, or under your proper form and skills is your call. I won't order you to invoke your skillsets, but I suspect we can find use for them if you so desire."
"Will do," Set said, given he assumed (not unfairly) that the bulk of Hess' warning was aimed at him.
"Also, if you know of any other divinities looking for a clean break, give 'em a shout. The welcome mat is out for 'the tired, the poor, the huddled masses'," Hess said.
" '…Yearning to be free,' " Nereus completed the phrase from The New Colossus poem. Despite his prior thinly-veiled objection, he was now smiling.
"Anything else, High Executor?" Hess asked.
"One other, with Urd," Nereus said.
"Very well, Nezha, Aegir, Set, may want to get back to your training units before your DI's start developing any nefarious plans for your return. Dismissed," The Administrators joined the Divinities on their feet and traded salutes in the old Naval fashion.
"Now for the interesting one," Nereus said as the Admins resumed their seats. "Urd, if you would give them the briefing you just gave me, please?" Nereus requested.
"Yes, gladly," Urd looked specifically at Hess. "You are aware that the hope of stealth in terms of disassembling the Trains is blown, correct?"
Hess hesitated on the news, but only for three seconds. "And with that concealment goes the dark secret of slowly annihilating the Slavers' Guild."
"Also true," Urd confirmed. "They will know before the day is up. When it is revealed, you will have some hard questions to answer, but more critically, you will have a major threat."
"First pass guess, not the Slavers," Clint said. "They're hard pressed to organize a straight march to a whorehouse for anything larger than a Platoon of troops," he explained his thinking. "Have to be the Star League. Or maybe a surrogate?"
"Soviets used to love doing that, using Proxies to bludgeon their friends and foes alike. At least until the money dried up," Clarence pointed out.
"The Star League will not directly move on you for years, but they have hundreds or thousands of 'coerced' worlds that will do the job for them. It is they you will need to persuade, either by sword or soul, that the actions and intentions of their paymaster cannot come to pass."
"I will not say this was unexpected, but I will admit this was sooner than I expected it. Murphy's law dictates the enemy will attack under two conditions: when they are ready, and when we are not."
"Murphy's Law," Clint, Clarence, Victoria, and Nereus all chanted in response to Sigma One's recitation.
"The question is, how bad?" Hess asked the Norn of the Past (who, he expected, had a good read on the future just the same as the past).
"Bad enough," Urd said. "Time will change the specifics, as it always does, but expect a directed assault from no less than two Battalions."
"That's a lot of force," Clarence said.
"We'll do what we can, but this is going to have to come down to allies," Hess admitted. "Damn," he groused, looking at the surface of the table and not at any one specific person.
"It's the nature of what you face, Hess," Nereus said. "We will support you, but you have to be willing to hold."
"Oh, I shall. I'm not in this to surrender at the first sign of a shitstorm."
-x-x-x-
(30 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1015 Hours Local Time)
(Secret Service Quarters, 4th Floor, Base Boarhound Admin Building, Terra 232)
(Day 13 of Campaign)
"This is the strangest combat garb I have ever seen, but," Neinke had quickly availed herself of the mirror in the room to inspect herself from several angles. "And ill-fitting in some places, while revealing to a scandalous amount in others."
"It does take some getting used to," Rasine said. "We get the easy side, most of us were born in these kinds of environs, so we live in this dress."
Neinke looked askance at the Secret Service Operator, but said nothing. In addition to the strange 'battle dress uniform', they were wearing similar armor sets as to what the 'Administrators' had been wearing, and with it the heavy arms of the Secret Service and the myriad supplies needed to keep them in action. Neinke had not been issued any gear, but was still wearing her sword belt, arming sword, and dirk. Their weapons, they had explained last night, were geared toward killing persons rapidly, at range and in quantity. Sigma One's weapons were geared towards either killing a lot of persons in close, or slaying one very specific person at ranges that most archers would not be able to discern individual targets.
Neinke had resolved to ask Clint about why one would take an interest in individual troops on a battlefield, since her posting for the day was with the Administrator of TRADOC and his secret service officer for the day, Rasine.
Neinke's day had started blessedly easily, she had come awake when the Secret Service Officers returned from their morning physical training. It was then that she learned she would be preparing for the morning with Rasine, which involved a 'shower' for them, but a more directed bath for Neinke, who had not had a good scrubbing in over a week (and such was noticeable fact to the others. Apparently, in this more modern era, the trappings of noble cleanliness were commonplace for everyone.). They made sure that Neinke had a chance to clean herself up properly, as they had explained she would be in close quarters with people for most of the day and it was considered proper form to keep oneself clean and presentable.
The briefing on the necessity of personal hygiene and the reduction or elimination of disease was short but rather jarring to Neinke. She doubted that there was any intention to embarrass her by bathing with other ladies; in that regard, she could sense the group was actively sizing each other up (and to a lesser degree herself) but the greater concern was making sure they were clean and fragrant for the day. They considered it something of a personal affront to smell like one had been without a proper bath or shower, and Neinke had quickly picked up that a lot of eligible men would not have liked it either. On the flip side, the consideration of disease borne from not properly cleaning oneself did not thrill her in the slightest.
Dressing out for the day did not involve her prior clothes, which would be laundered and returned to her for storage (as 'civilian wear' in their parlance, for wearing off-duty). Rasine had ensured that Neinke had three changes of clothes, sufficient for the next couple days, including undergarments that were unusual and very restraining to her, but entirely logical. The material felt very unusual, not of common cloth, linen, or wool, but something else. The elasticity of the 'sport bra' she had been issued (after two guesses incorrect at her sizing) was altogether more breathable and yet more controlling than her common habit of either binding herself or going free. The culmination in the BDU outfit, both pants and shirt, and a total of over a dozen pockets between the two pieces, was the true kicker of the day. Pockets weren't commonplace on her prior clothes, and she always seemed to have need of more. Proper socks and new boots (these were cobbled with some kind of flexible but very resilient material called rubber and very heavily padded inside) convinced her that the organization Sigma One was trying to build was solicitous to his personnel, something she could not claim either with the Havon Standing Army or the Knights Eloquence.
An army of modern technologies, combat wizards that would make the witches and warlocks at home envious, and a command staff that was not afraid to supply their troops lavishly and train them thoroughly? A nation to be forged in this fashion, conducting mercenary warfare across many parallel dimension, but bringing the profits home to better the lives of the people? It wasn't normal, as far as Neinke could tell. No self-respecting Noble would do something as selfless as the Administrators to do or had already done. And that reality was confusing Neinke.
"Ready to go?" Rasine asked.
"Yes, ma'am," Neinke said. Even if she was confused about this reality, something was still drawing her to it — something she could not yet define.
"Let's hit it," Rasine led her 'shadow' out to the stairs and down to the second floor. The distance through the administrative area was not much, but involved a few turns that Neinke was not sure she could remember in a pinch.
Rasine stopped at a door that was placarded as 'TRADOC Administrator Clint Jamieson', gave two knocks, then entered after a quick check. "Morning, sir. Rasine and one for SSO detail today."
"Morning, Rasine, Neinke," Clint said. "Nothing special today, I have a policy discussion with Century Commander Vickers, should be in about 30 minutes. We're on-call for the possible nasty business down in the Train, may be some barricaded Slavers that we would have to assist in dislodging, Other than that, I'm working on structuring out unit formations."
"Quiet day today? That's a turn from the usual," Rasine said.
"Yeah, well, I keep telling myself I want to reduce the drama in my life, just never works out that way," Clint said. "Before I resume, any questions?"
Neinke weighed the choice of possibly offending one of the Administrators versus the lingering question in her mind gnawing at her thought processes going forward. Less than a second was all she needed on the decision, mainly because she didn't feel that the Administrators were an unreasonable bunch.
"I have a question on motive, sir, if you'll brook a step away from the day's task?" Neinke requested.
"Sure, hit me," Clint answered almost automatically. His response to the coming question was no fashion of automatic:
"What would motivate a governing body to advance the citizens before itself? Or a ruler of such a governing body?" Neinke asked in almost a rush.
Clint was silent for a few moments, considering the bent of the question, before he even opened his mouth. "Being honest with you, I'm not the best person to ask. Clarence or Victoria are both better at explaining this, but I can give you a passable reason." He paused to think about where to go next, then continued. "My home nation, the United States of America, was founded by people who, as one blunt way to put it states, were kicked out of every 'decent' and 'upstanding' country in Europe. The scuzz of so-called 'civilized society', the free-thinkers, the oddball religious sects, some outright criminals, opportunity seekers, adventurers, never-do-wells, outcasts, the best of what most people considered the worst of society, cut loose on a mostly-untouched land. Sure, there were some native Tribes around the new area, but back then 'natives' was a name effectively equal to 'obstruction to expansion'. Make sense so far?"
"Yes, a nation founded by the lowest of a high society," Neinke said. "Not sure how that leads to what I asked, sir."
"The lead-in is simple: a people who are outcast from a society of nobility and class had no desire to make the same mistake in the new world. So, they deliberately didn't echo the old structures and attitudes from the old world. After the New World Colonies took off, though, Europe decided they would force possession of the new world in their favor, and they got downright brutal about it. After a couple decades of increasing suppression and violent dominion, the colonies decided they were done with the bullshit and so began the revolution. Few years of alternating-side assbeating, Europe found itself booted from the New World, and the United States was founded on the premise that government is subordinate to the people."
"That…" Neinke said, but let her sentence trail off. She knew that what she had to say on the matter would be either confusing, or offensive, possibly both, and certainly at odds with what Clint had just said.
"…Is ass-backwards, if you look at the wide total of human history," Clint put one spin on her start. "Yeah, for thousands of years there has always been some kind of upper class and lower class, or a stepped system of Nobility. Big screaming problem with that expectation: the people have to consent to be ruled over, doesn't matter if it is by a representative government or Nobility. If the people say 'no', you have a state of rebellion."
"And rebellions are quashed by the military," Neinke pointed out.
"Until they're not," Clint said. "If the military balks in suppressing a rebellion, the ruling party has a serious problem. And that happens a lot through history. Or, you can cut the upper level out and just have the people elect representatives for them to do the governing business, which is what a lot of modern societies do."
"And this is different how, short of the selection process versus noble peerage or noble bloodlines?" Neinke asked in following. She was seeing a distinction without difference, given the nature of prior Republics in the history of her world.
"Difference is, when you guarantee the rights of the People and restrict the powers of the government, and when the people have easy access to the methods of fighting a sustained and nasty rebellion if needed, the government has plenty of reason to not try mass suppression of the populace," Clint said.
"It's value of life," Administrator Victoria Williams said from the doorway to the office. Neinke had become so engrossed in the conversation that she did not hear the door open. "In a Noble Hierarchy, the implied bias is that the higher up the ladder of nobility, the more valuable the person involved. In practical terms, commoners are inseparable from dirt, expendable as the nobility sees fit and they're glad to expend commoners to achieve their goals. In a Constitutional Hierarchy that recognizes a person's inalienable natural rights, there is no one person that rates higher than the next person. There is no nobility, there is only what you are, and what you can make of your world with your own hands," Victoria explained. "In that sense, by law all persons are equal, but what comes of people afterwards is what they make of themselves."
"Told ya, Victoria and Clarence are better at this than I am," Clint said.
"Better than the Command Administrator?" Neinke asked.
"Yeah, I'd say so," Clint said, which caused Victoria to blush subtly. "Put Hess in front of a technical challenge, he will tear it to shreds in seconds."
"But what he can understand at levels I could only dream about, he sucks at expressing," Victoria said to cover. "Even if he has solved the problem at hand, and the next two problems to follow, you don't get a straight and complete answer out of him."
"It's maddening as fuck, especially when talking computers or firearms with The Boss, but he is an honest and honorable guy. If he's ever going to have a downfall, it's because he cornered himself by not explaining his ideas fully."
"That's what we're here for, to interpret, as well as the other fun stuff." Victoria dropped a folder on Clint's desk. "I wrote up the NATO organization units as it would apply to us, and initial unit expectations. We're going to be Infantry heavy, maybe Mage-heavy, but Armor and Air are going to be lagging for a while."
"I can live with that, so long as we have options against enemy Armor," Clint said. "If we can prevent a tank rush, we win in an even-numbers match."
-x-x-x-
(30 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1130 Hours Local Time)
(Hangar Floor, Battlemech Hangar #2, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)
(Day 13 of Campaign)
"Just so happens that we dodged the shipment surcharge on these beasts by one machine," Lead Engineer Subaru Annoe said. "Any less than four, it's a 50,000 C-bill charge to have them gated in, or 500 to transport to a Dropship and whatever the hell the jumpship fare would be."
"Our luck, it'll be too damn much," Jeff Evans noted. "Might want to keep that in mind going forward, I'll talk to the Boss about it." Chief Engineer Evans was referring to Sigma One's authorization to purchase test machines singularly on a weekly basis, but given the possible penance of shipping and handling charges, it would behoove Sigma to simply buy in lots.
"Five Battlemechs, and he didn't even blink at the request," Subaru said. She had discussed the decision point with Toni, briefly, during a break an hour prior. "That's either a sign of faith, or something else is going on."
"We have a high level briefing tomorrow morning, he may have some new news for us," which was a redundant note from Jeff, more for him to talk himself into some manner of conclusion about the briefing. The urgency of the briefing was listed as very high, which was not something he figured that Hess would issue lightly.
"Toni didn't mention anything when I was talking to her, so whatever it is is both new and important," Star Colonel Storme said as she approached the two Engineers, with two others in tow. "Chief Engineer Jeff Evans, Lead Engineer Subaru Annoe, I have ZAFT Redcoat Athrun Zala and ZAFT Ship Operator Meyrin Hawke here for this run-down."
"Welcome," Jeff said with utmost control. He knew the fictional counterparts to these two very real persons, and much as with Hess and his exploits pertaining to Vash The Stampede, had vowed to say nothing about what he knew or thought he knew of their pasts and futures.
"ZAFT? Never heard of 'em," Subaru said.
"Colony nation around Terra," Athrun explained. "Best analogy I can give you is the colonies around New Earth being a separate governing entity from the planet, at least so far in what I've studied of the Multimage Empire." He was referring to the independent colonies (35 or so) that had broken away from the Mages in centuries past, but maintained a cordial relationship with the parent government.
"Don't know that one, have to look it up," Subaru said, then explained: "I was born out in the northern badlands of the planet Port Arthur to an isolationist tribe, didn't really start learning about the outside world until I started taking CommNet Classes. So I don't know a lot of the juicy stories."
"Didn't know that," Star Colonel Storme said with a nod. "Anyway, you requested a beginner's briefing on standing armor and practices, Chief Engineer?" Gail asked the much younger Engineer Administrator.
"Yes ma'am, before I haul out the checkbook, I want to make sure I'm understanding what is for what," Jeff explained the odd request.
"Perfectly understandable, and this lesson is worth hearing for pilots, operators and engineers, so now would be a good time for it." Storme looked around the bay, settled on something in the distance, blinked to it, grabbed the object, and blinked back to the group. "Here, four load-bearing foldable low tables, these make good substitute seats." She handed one to each of the group, then demonstrated how they unfolded.
"That was surprising," Meyrin said. "How you moved like that," she said as she took a seat.
"Commandos tend to hone their psionic skills down to a razor's edge, give us a leg up on just about any regular enemy formation." Gail Storme took her seat last of the five. "And we'll start with the 'regular' machines, the Battlemechs. A Battlemech is defined as a standing armor unit which relies on myomer for movement, a fusion engine to power, and a gyro to stabilize the machine. Other than Omnimechs, which are a subset of Battlemechs, no other combat machine type uses that combination, but there are civilian 'mechs that use similar structure, and there are some variations in hardware absolutes."
"Always an exception to water down the rule," Subaru said.
"Well, you may be asked to engineer some exceptions. From a cost standpoint, a Battlemech with an internal combustion engine sounds almost insane, but designed right they hit very hard, take fire like a Battlemech, and the price tag will be to your liking. We Magi are barred ICE engines in our combat units, legal ruling goes back to the founding of the Empire, but others have made them work."
"So what's the selling point of Battlemechs over others?" Athrun beat Jeff to the question by a half-second.
"Well, simply stated, the Battlemech is ton for ton the most resilient of the machines in the Standing Armor lineup. They also carry a completely internal weapons load, or some optional external firepower, meaning that disarming a Battlemech takes some serious work on the part of enemy pilots or crews. They are primarily ground units, but can operate in Space, in vacuum on planetary bodies, underwater, and in high or low atmosphere provided they have reentry and landing gear. And before anyone makes noise about wars being won in space, let me remind you that the poor sod infantryman on the ground gets a vote as to whether or not you've won the war. And ground-pounders usually vote against star-jocks that think they can win it all exoatmospheric."
"Good lesson," Athrun acknowledged the point readily. It was a common logical failing he had seen in ZAFT, the belief that they could win simply by keeping the Earth Alliance out of space. Athrun knew the lesson that Gail had just espoused, but her turn of phrase was something new and refreshing on the subject.
Star Colonel Storme drove onward. "In terms of price, Battlemechs are middle-of-the-road. Mobile Suits are cheaper but have less flexibility and resiliency, Gundams are more expensive and not always guaranteed to be the best machines for workhorse roles. Depending on size, design, and focus of a Battlemech, it can fill one role, multiple roles, or be interchangeable. And that leads me to Omnimechs, which are basically Battlemechs with modular weapon pods rather than static weapon systems. Everything is still internal, mind you, but weapons pods can be removed and rebuilt with new combinations of modular weapons components as the mission dictates. The frame and engine of the machine doesn't change, just the gear mounted in it. Other than that, same fare as Battlemechs."
"Price difference?" Jeff asked, immediately intrigued by the thought.
"Omnimechs usually cost about 30% more than an equivalent Battlemech, due largely to the modular nature of the gear and engineering for that modular setup. Still, nowhere near the price of a Gundam in most equivalency."
"More bang for the buck, more staying power for the buck," Subaru summed up the price consideration.
"Yeah, because Mobile Suits often do not have much in the way of bang or staying power," Star Colonel Storme began the third section. "Mobile Suits were designed as a stopgap technology to counter the crippling of beyond-visual-range sensor systems. They needed a platform big enough to handle the heavy guns normally reserved for ground armor, and tall enough to see over and around common obstacles. Militarily, any Standing Armor unit has a weakness for being easily visible at long-ass ranges, unlike ground armor units, but Mobile Suits are the exemplar of that weakness. I am not saying that a Mobile Suit is valueless, just that they have shortcomings. Where the old Nations engineered tall, walking armor to defeat the sensor jamming visually, we went a different route in that we amped up the engine power and fed it into more powerful and more resilient sensor systems. Sure, it costs more in the base unit, but you can take those Bushwacker IIM units, park them on the dorsal structure of a warship that is broadcasting Minovsky Particles, and the 'Mechwarrior can still track and target ADIZ (1) threats around the ship with only minimal degradation of his sensors. You can't say the same about most Mobile Suits, for good reason."
"So what's the value in Mobile Suits, then?" Athrun asked, wagering internally that she was short-selling Mobile Suits as a classification of Armor.
"Numbers," Gail answered. "Mobile Suits are, while not exactly low-tech machines, lower on the technical and complexity trees than Battlemechs. This comes at the cost of arsenal capability and damage resilience, but most Mobile Suits are a fraction of the cost of a similar-tonnage Battlemech. Granted, most of the major manufacturers have increased the damage tolerance of their mainline machines, but there's only so much you can do before you start straying into Battlemech territory, or worse, into Gundam territory, and in those lands, costs go up rapidly. For the price of one BSW-XC1 Bushwacker IIM, you can purchase three OZ-06MS Leo machines, suitable arsenal, and a ration of munitions and spare parts and have some blow money for the tavern that night. The great downside is, if the Bushwacker pilot is competent, I would bet on him winning a skirmish against the three Leos far more often than not."
"And if the MS pilots are good, or better?" Meyrin asked.
"Then it becomes more of a horse race than a one-sided scrapfest. Speaking of scrapfest, we now come to Gundams. First off, I shall say that there are a sodding lot of people throughout Existence that fanboi for Gundams, both inside and outside the military. It is understandable, the big, shiny, nasty, ace machines of the Star Empires and lesser states, of course you are going to grow a killboner when thinking about a Gundam. Problem is, their reputation in the hearts and minds of many does not match the reality on ground. They are devilishly hard to crack, with armor composites usually more resilient per ton than standard Battlemech armor, but not quite up to par with Hardened Battlemech Armor or Ferro-Lamellor. They are also fast, very maneuverable, multi-mission capable, and just plain intimidating to behold. That's the laundry list of advantages, now for the hard part."
"Not sure if my heart can take this," Subaru said with feigned consternation. She was not a Gundam fan herself, mainly because they were outside both her price range and training availability.
"We have faith," Storme said with a smile. "The big, screaming downsides of Gundams are threefold. One, they are rare, and only very rarely do they show up in enough quantity to change the calculus of a properly-planned battle. Again, contrary to common belief, one Gundam does not change a battle unless someone has already done something very wrong. Two, they have limited arsenals, with a few exceptions that are well armed, most Gundams have thin arsenals. It is to the pilot's benefit to learn how to maximize firepower. Third, the price tags on these machines will give you all some serious sticker shock. The cheapest Gundams, the RX-78 Series, starts at 15 million and goes up for a stripped-down machine. The best Gundams out there, the XXXG series, the Gundam Project Gundams, The GX Series, and the later UC-era machines, you can expect price tags from 50 million c-bills per machine up to 125 million or more depending on mod packages."
"And yours?" Athrun asked, waving his finger at the Physalis (Heavy Weapons variant) that she piloted in addition to her Dire Wolf Omnimech.
"The machine itself is 65 million and roughly ten years piloting experience. Arsenal is another 2 million. The special weapons bazooka block on the back is 400 million."
"Nuclear payload?" Jeff Evans asked. Nothing else on her machine would justify such a price.
"Antimatter payload, variable yield from 100 kilotons up to 100 megatons, positive release authorization only. Long story short on the warhead, the Division Commander has to authorize nuclear release before I can fire it," she semi-lied on the subject. Commandos could authorize release from the Galaxy Commander level upwards, and she already had clearance from LC Lightbringer to drop the hammer if someone fired nuclear arms at Sigma.
"Some small amounts of Strategic Deterrence," Meyrin said phlegmatically.
"Some is better than none, especially when dealing with sociopaths like the SL Grand Council," Subaru said.
"And the last class of units?" Meyrin asked, finding the discussion fascinating and germane to her being an operator, two things which didn't happen often.
"Last class is lumped in with Standing Armor mainly because the piloting and control requirements are halfway between aerospace and Gundam. Mobile Armor is the designation, and it covers a wide swath of craft from all environments — land, air, underwater, space, the works. The distinguishing feature of Mobile Armor is they are almost always larger than Mobile Suits, hundreds of tons mass or thousands. The largest commonly-used units, the Big Zam Mobile Armor, is over 4000 tons."
"That's a big target," Athrun pointed out.
"Also a big package of high-density whoopass, capable of turning most Monitors and smaller Warships into swiss cheese in short order, and it has enough low-level weapon systems to deny a large swath of space to an enemy force. Properly supported by allied ships, fighters, and MS, one or more Mobile Armors can make an objective extremely costly or impossible for an OpFor."
"Okay, that's impressive," Jeff said. He knew some of the (fictional) portrayals of Mobile Armors, but in those stories the 'good guys' always won out in the end. Apparently, if what SC Storme said was true, Gundam dominance was not assured, not on these battlefields.
"Price tag to match?" Subaru asked. Mobile Armors were dark territory to her, given her primary training was in Mobile Suit and Battlemech engineering.
"Oh yeah, some Mobile Armors cost more than a small Jumpship," the Star Colonel answered. "The payoff is that a well-maintained Mobile Armor is a generational weapon — you buy it once, you take care of it, you use it smartly, it lasts for generations. We have some Dendrobium Mobile Armors that have been retired because the metal in the frame has aged to the point that it shears from maneuver stresses, which process takes over a thousand years on average."
"Okay, that might be a worthwhile investment," Jeff said. The price tag was steep as hell, but a weapon platform that lasted for thousands of years was not a trifling matter.
"And that's the long and short of the five basic types of mostly Standing Armor. Now, Athrun, ready to begin your paces today?"
The look of consternation on Athrun's face when called to the carpet told enough of a tale.
-x-x-x-
(30 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1830 Hours Local Time)
(Barracks 4-F-11, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)
(Day 13 of Campaign)
"Wait for it, wait for it, bambambam!" Ferdinand half-shouted along with the television replay of the hostage rescue on the Train in car 917. A Slaver had decided to use one of the captives as a human shield, and through some manner of coordination (rumor was telepathic quarterbacking) got the hostage to drop clear so Sigma One had a clear shot at the tango. "Aww hell yes! Ladies and gentlemen, we are serving under a trooper whom you definitely do NOT want to meet in a dark alley, or see on the far side of a battlefield."
Cadet Dyan Minette snorted at the principle of it, but smiled nonetheless at the happy ending. It was one thing entirely to be proficient with small arms, and she did put a value to such skill, but in the end her personal goal was much higher than the common battlefield arms.
The goal of the Minette Family was always, and would always be, a devotion to the art of Mobile Army Warfare. Half-Nymph by birth, as were the others of her generation of the family, she had begun training in the art of Mobile Suit piloting from age ten, two hours a day, every day, until she had been ambushed by Slavers and dragged onto the Train as an unwilling hostage. The others of her family, citizens of the Multimage Star Empire, would not have properly known what became of her but she would contact them and speak of the way forward she had chosen.
Sigma intended to dominate in the small contract business, and for that Mobile Army forces would be a necessity. Dyan intended to put herself foremost amongst the pilots as soon as she could prove herself. And, sadly, that effort would have to begin with Basic Training.
"He's only been in combat two weeks and already Sigma One is dominating. Apparently he's doing something right," Cadet Fay said.
"His foes are doing plenty wrong as well," Drill Instructor Jason Borse said candidly. "Sigma One knows his stuff, but lacks directed practice and veterancy. The Slavers, on the other hand, are punks with guns. They make just about every mistake possible, from incompetence with their arms to poor cover and concealment to inability to put pressure on a foe. They are only marginally above paper cutout targets in terms of difficulty to eliminate, and not much more threatening than street gangs."
"They did still take hits, though, Instructor," Fay pointed out.
"Aff, and let that be a lesson. Even the most incompetent of street gangs, if sufficiently armed and supplied, is still a threat to professionals. It behooves you to put an end to any manner of major threat when it is localized, or even the small threats when you stumble into them. You have to remain diligent throughout your careers, but an enemy only has to be lucky once, quaiff?"
"Aff, sir!" a goodly portion of the barracks responded.
"And they give up the ghost," Ferdinand pointed out the logical happenstance after a few more of the Slavers were slain by the Commandos, leaving the rest to simply surrender in place rather than be slaughtered.
"Put 'em on safe and let 'em hang, this one is done," Pilot Candidate Cosmo said after the Slavers began disarming to surrender.
"Not quite, troop, you never give them a whit until they are disarmed and secured," the Drill Instructor pointed out.
"Right," Cosmos said. He walked into the barracks already largely trained in the arts of piloting Wheeled and Hover vehicles, which made him indispensable to the training platoon for transport.
"We know he is worthy of being followed, no question there. Will he take this all the way is what I want to know," Ferdinand said.
"We shall see, but from what I have gandered he is no pussy on the follow-through," Cadet Desmond of the Chestnuts said from behind the group.
"All is well with your tree tonight, Cadet?" the Instructor asked.
"Still feeling a bit funky from the new soil, but otherwise well," the Dryad said. "He's pulled all of us out of the express Train to Hell, that's a vote of confidence from me."
"Also saved your ass from a casual lumberjack," Ferdinand hoisted a water bottle to Desmond.
"All of my life, I have respected the lumberjack as a career and hobby, but now I'm not so sure," Desmond admitted.
"So long as the lumberjacks stay on the non-Dryad side of the forest, you should be safe," Fay pointed out the logical conclusion of the matter.
"Reminds me of an unsettled matter, you, Desmond, and you, Minette, have not stated your intentions for your duty here?" DI Borse pointed out. "Do you have any, or are you undecided?"
"Mine's simple," Desmond said. "Sigma One needs people on the ground who can understand what's going on and how to deal with it, so that is my goal. And I'll use it as an example to other Dryads, when we find them, of what can be and what a willing society can allow them to do," the cadet said stoutly.
"And you, Dyan?" the Drill Instructor asked.
"If Sigma will have me, I intend to train into every one of the Mobile Army disciplines, and train others to do the same," Dyan Minette said. "It is the goal of my family, mastery of Mobile Warfare."
"A certainly ambitious task," the Drill Instructor said. "You might find your intentions welcomed here."
-x-x-x-
(30 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1630 Hours Magi Standard Time)
(Commando Tribunal Facility, Underground Base Blacksword, Kolyma Mountain Range, Magadan Province, Russian Prefecture, Multimate Star Empire homeworld Terra-02)
(Day 13 of Campaign)
Commando Headquarters Facility Blacksword — "often rumored, wildly guessed at, never properly infiltrated" — was a physically 'stone-gapped' base that was built entirely underground and had no method of access except by way of magic or dimensional shifting. Adding to the security was a conditional Anti-Gate Shell that prevented any kind of magical entry to the area without a Gate Token specifically enchanted to allow access. Necessary tokens were only issued to Star Colonels and above, so Star Colonel Storme had no trouble moving the captive Slavers into holding for the Tribunal. (Persons needing to enter or exit the facility rated below Star Colonel or without such a token had to be escorted in and out by someone who did have the needed token).
Blacksword, so named after the sword carried by Division Commander Stanythe Agrippa, had been upgraded over the years with a detention block staffed by Commandos and plenty of seating. The purpose of the detention block was not for any manner of direct confinement of known persons, it was specifically for use in cases where persons were captured that did not otherwise exist, such as 'unpersoned' or 'disavowed' entities, or for persons captured in the commission of war crimes that needed to be held in theoretically-unbreakable security. By law and by Division Commander oversight, the detention center was never to be used for a Magi citizen unless that person was captured in commission of a war crime.
In this case, the detention center had been activated for both reasons, and a critical third reason: war criminals who did not exist and who had special protections from the Star League. There was no doubt that these persons would be 'disappeared' and 'protected' by the Star League, never brought to justice, should the Star League be allowed to expropriate the prisoners. Hence the use of the clandestine facility and process for it.
Division Commander Stanythe Agrippa entered the ground floor of the active detention wing and whistled at the persons incarcerated within. It was one thing to see the 60 or so names on a screen, another thing entirely to see the collection of rabble in person and know these persons had fucked themselves out of liberty and soon to be their lives. That said, the prison facility still held to the procedures of inmate holding, only two persons to a cell and minimal physical movement allowance for small groups.
"More impressive is that this is just the first Train in what promises to be a long and arduous cleanup project," Empress Atrebas said after she surveyed the captives. "What do we have planned for Sigma for turning this bounty over?"
"Nothing specific yet, I figured we would determine compense based on the quality of intel we draw out of them," Stan said.
"Process?" Empress Atrebas was referring to the process by which the intel would be forcibly pulled from the Slavers. There was no reasonable expectation that they would voluntarily spill their guts, given the expected outcome either way would be death.
"Paired Psionics, Commando Caste and Spec Ops, we're forming up teams now. Long list of volunteers with the needed quals," Stan admitted as the two continued into the room and the detainees started silencing themselves in the presence of a known high official (Rini Atrebas).
"Expected, we've all wanted a clean crack at this scourge for some time," the Empress commented. "Damn good my grandfather has declared open season for at least one group in Existence."
"Once this goes public, and we both know it shall, there will be a lot more 'open season' to go around," Stanythe pointed out. "If we offer our services for 'processing' the captured Slavers, we could certainly provide intel to the contracting parties. And act on it of our own volition."
"Then we shall," Empress Atrebas said.
Stanythe stepped up on a small podium that had been set up for public addressing. By this time, most of the derelicts were silent, making for an easy shout to silence the rest.
"GOOD EVENING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" What few were still talking quieted fast enough. "Welcome to Commando Fortress Blacksword. Suffice it to say, you are no longer on Terra 232, and are no longer within reach of any person who can help you elude the consequence of your career path."
"YOU CAN'T DO THIS! WE'RE PROTECTED UNDER STAR LEAGUE GUILD LAW!" Someone (a lady by guess of her voice) shouted from farther down the line.
"And what exact party in the Star League shall enforce the Guild Regulations?" Stanythe asked in counter. "Your guild buddies? Bring 'em on, I daresay, make my job easier for hunting you cock-sucking barbarians down. The SLDF? Laugh ha ha. The last time any hostile warship tried approaching the Sol orbital plane, it resulted in 3500 years of war that we Magi ultimately won. Or do you believe the Executors would do this detail?" Stanythe pulled a piece of paper from his shirt pocket and unfolded it. "Empress, permission to read through the HPG message?"
"Go ahead, not like there will be much room for complaining after they are dealt with," Rini said casually.
"HPG Message. From Master Executor Eric Atrebas, to Division Commander Stanythe Agrippa, carbon copy Empress Rini Atrebas, carbon copy Command Administrator Erich Hess. In reply to question pertaining to disposition of captured Slavers or other Human Traffickers, it is deemed not necessary for such persons to be tried under the Executor's Tribunal unless you intend to make a public statement of the matter. So long as sufficient evidence of persons operating as Human Traffickers is present at time of capture, they may be dealt with as is appropriate for other War Criminals and logged as necessary. For purposes of the Slaver's Guild, being captured under arms on a Jumper Train or directly in the commission of Human Trafficking or any supporting action thereto constitutes sufficient evidence."
"So yeah, looks like no protections are available for you anymore. Even signing up for the Guild is toxic, that would count as 'supporting actions thereto' by applying as manpower to Human Trafficking," Empress Atrebas said to the assembled detainees, which elicited a cacophony of jeers from their rank. "Hey, go ahead and 'boo' me all you want, it is not my arse that requires positive justification for my actions."
"Oh, it gets better!" Stan waved the documents toward one of the cells. "The message continues: 'Copy on detainee count. Good show for Sigma, they have hit the ground running on this contract. Be advised that I shall announce and publish the contract tomorrow in response to a breach of security, I have sent a heads-up to ComStar for release before the standard morning cycle, Primus Hallestrom has green-lighted the release. For now, Sigma will remain only authorized contractee but may allow subcontracting. Star Empires allowed to clear Trains, may contact Sigma or handle refugees and captives as desired."
"So that fat bastard has the only valid contract to disassemble the Trains? Perfect, we can outdo him by the numbers," one of the Slavers said with a smile.
"Wow, is your IQ truly that low?" Stanythe answered her with a rhetorical question. "Sigma One has already pulled several thousand civilians off the Train, and my operator on the ground says they still have a full day or more ahead of them to finish up the clearing run. So yeah, believe that you are going to outman a group that grows by the thousands, and you shall go to your grave believing an abject falsehood."
What little conversation was still rumbling around the area died abruptly after the gravity of what the Division Commander of the Commandos had declared to them.
"You heard correctly, ladies and gentlemen," Empress Atrebas said. "In the same fashion as pirates, you are afforded no courtesy of lenience or reformation. Any man who turns their hand to purchase on the life and freedom of others without due process or sanction of State is himself considered Dezgra. You will be Reaved for your conduct, but beforehand you will have a chance to determine how you go. First, any of you who believe you have any manner of claim to be freed, you will have your time before the Tribunal. Be aware, though, the protections of the Guild are considered null and void, so do not waste the Tribunal's time if that is your only defense."
"Fuck you, lady, the Star League commands all!" someone shouted.
"The Star League does not command the Commandos, you can rest assured of that," Stanythe assured them that the threat of SL intervention was a no-go. "Again, what part of the Star League is going to force this issue? We Magi have been looking for cause to be rid of the Star League's meddling and leeching for centuries. If this is a hill they want to die on, I will gladly oblige their wishes. And yours."
Empress Atrebas smiled savagely. "Second, if you men willingly divulge your knowledge of the Slaver Guild to our interrogation unit, you will be executed cleanly and seen to. Third, I suspect most of you will take this option simply because. Resist. Fight the interrogation. Kill yourselves in your cells before you face the interrogation. What you choose is your own, I care not about it. But, the same as any pirate captured under the Magi banner, you will not leave custody alive. For you are Dezgra, the eternally dishonored, who shall not be allowed to menace Existence any further."
-x-x-x-
(30 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 2200 Hours Local Time)
(Sigma One's Quarters, Base Boarhound Admin Building, Terra 232)
(Day 13 of Campaign)
As she combed out her hair, Toni had to admit that the Point Commander had been grossly right — it was the stress of the combat that was more exhausting than anything else. The fatigue had been readily visible in the other operators after the battle was done — even in Sigma One's demeanor, much less the rapidly-circulating picture of him resting on the stock of his DMR — but now that she was at ease, the jitters were visible.
The jitters and general feeling of stress was enough to convince her tonight was not an appropriate night for trying to bait the boss, so she departed the bathroom in tank-top and shorts. Doubly so that she had to admit her 'protectee' had done more work during this engagement than she had. In a fashion, Toni had to admit she expected to be outgunned by Sigma One, but she also knew that it was technically her job to do the shooting, and Sigma One's job was supposed to be command and control. Or something like that.
Outside the shower, Toni found the boss at the table, though not doing anything actively he was looking rather serene given the day's activity. "Oh no, you can't be that rock-solid, not after the day we've had," Toni said to Sigma One as he stared into the wall opposite the head of the table.
"Solid? Not at all," Sigma One answered, then held his hand up to demonstrate the stress-related jitters he was still experiencing.. "Just as stressed out as I was earlier. The difference is, a couple hours ago this all looked like an unholy clusterfuck that would be impossible to completely correct. Right now, our fortunes have improved by a wide margin."
"How so?" Toni asked as she took seat next to Sigma One.
"Multiple factors. First, the sheer drive of the people being extracted from the Trains. More so today than in prior days, these are people who have been absolutely raw-dogged by the Slavers, and they want a piece of returning the favor."
"And they'll happily follow a hardass American if you give them the opportunity," Toni completed the thought.
"True, which I shall be working on shortly. Above and beyond stripping down the Trains, we shall be taking it not just to Slaver facilities, but we shall also be striking the Slave Purchasers," Sigma One said.
"Is that legal?"
"Per Judgment of the Executors, it is now," Hess passed her a tablet with the relevant paperwork. "I have one such facility under Ghost recon right now, as something of a bonafide and a statement of intent."
"The Captain from that ship that was jumped? I figured you would want to do that fast, just for the technical aspect," Toni said.
"The technical aspect is part of it, but the primary driver is a moral issue. Yes, I have need of experienced naval crew and officers, especially someone who would be willing to instruct crew and officers, but at the end of the day I'm not planning this for the sole gain of the Protectorate. It is the moral thing to do to rescue a person from slavery, as no man should have purchase on the life of another without consent or due process. And, it is the moral thing to reunite those forcibly divided by such practices, which is why I offer a level return home to everyone from the Trains. Granted I did have to put a moratorium on returning the ZAFT persons home, there is no way to get them home for now that would not result in them being chopped to ribbons on arrival for the foreseeable future."
"Oh, yeah, one bitten twice wary," Toni pointed out.
"More or less, yeah. Not a gamble I want to have on my conscience for now. We'll get them home someday, somehow, and preferably in a safe fashion. And that leads to the second point."
"Listening," Toni said with a smile.
"The kids," Hess said simply. "Roughly half of the people we have pulled off the 133628 Train are below voting age."
"That's a long-term thing more than an immediate gain," Toni pointed out.
"Think the future," Hess said. "Gains today start the ripple of tomorrow. And on today, over the past week, we have freed thousands of youngsters from the Train and offered them a home. Some will refuse, naturally. Others will take it. And I can guarantee you that the amount of Slaver sympathizers in that rank is near zero if not actually zero."
"So, if we instruct them in the truth, that the Slavers are a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Star League, they will know who their ultimate foe is," Toni came to a conclusion on the matter.
"Exactly. It's all well and good that we are contracted to wax the Slavers, but the Guild can be rebuilt — or perpetuated — on the dint of the Star League. The only way to put a permanent end to this is to cripple the parent-guardian group, and for that we will need time and determination. Hence the next generation: those that have known a life of depredation and tyranny of the Star League and its pet organizations will not be so likely to compromise with the Star League — the progenitors of their troubles — when the matter comes to a head."
"And a society is built by the present generation for the next generation," Toni completed the circular premise of the young and the old in a nation.
"The kids of today are the parents of tomorrow, and our duty is to make sure a world is ready for them and their families. Which leads me to my third point: the Trains."
"Okay, this one I have to hear. The major problem is somehow the fix for the problem?" Toni asked.
"Oh yes. The major problem is that as soon as it is widely known what we are doing here, the Star League will restart Train production, they will increase Slaver recruiting, training, and funding, and they will expand their sales models to profit further on the human trafficking. Hell, if they get inventive, they may start cranking out more of the Privateer-Class capture ships."
"Okay, those really aren't good. What possible good could come out of that?"
"It's a match of rulesets. The necessity of their plan is that they cannot ramp up quickly in production or recruiting without making it public they are doing so. If they go public, the Star Empires will flatten them for gross malfeasance, if not the Executors. Therefore, they have to build this up slowly, a Train here, a low-level recruiting drive there. All the while, we are countermanding their expansion first on an even footing, but as we strip down their expansion, we ourselves expand to further fight them. Eventually we pass a certain latching point whereby the Star League has two options: either they go public and powerlevel themselves in attempt to flood us, or they continue as is and watch as our increasing expansion and veterancy simply dismantles the Slavers, the Trains, and the Slaver's Customer Base."
"So which do they choose?" Toni asked.
"Does not matter," Hess answered. "They cannot rush us with enough concentrated force right now to make a difference, at least not from the Slavers. So, by the time they have expanded and prepared enough force to concentrate on us, we will have years of our own expansion to fall back on as a counter. And besides, if a Train full of nothing but Slavers shows up here in the Undercroft, we hose the Train with the guns of an Omnimech, an IFV, or Armored Infantry and sift through the scrap for anything useful."
"Good point," Toni said. "But that doesn't solve the overarching Slaver threat, their Warships."
"And that is the fourth point of hope." Hess slid a tablet over to Toni, this one with something completely different on the screen. "One of the ZAFT mechanics passed me the full schematics of their Warship. Virtue has already disassembled the schematics into a workable production plan, and estimates the per-ship cost just above 1 billion C-bills per ship. Now, what creamed them was the fact they went toe-to-toe in an ambush against a ship double their size, so I am thinking we might want to put three or four of these ships in combat against one Privateer, or maybe something along our own production lines and two of these as escort 'cans."
Toni had taken to the statistics and TRO pages for the design with gusto. "It's also levitator-equipped, so it can be used for atmospheric operations."
"And, given the mass to volume ratio, it is buoyant with trim tanks to allow submerged ops, so it can also serve as a light-duty submarine or stealth-approach attack ship," Hess sighed. "I owe ZAFT a debt for this design, even if it was given to me as ante for ongoing assistance with the Minerva's crew. Simply rescuing the crew is only part of a repayment in this case."
"Build them a replacement for their lost ship?" Toni asked.
"That might be workable, but even then I still feel as if a more would be appropriate," Sigma One said. "I'll have to think about this. Debts of honor are not the simplest debts to gauge — or repay. And thus brings me to part five of our fortunes: the Magi."
"The one variable that checks the Star League," Toni pointed out.
"And possibly the one entity in Existence that likes the Star League less than we do," Sigma One said. "I did not really consciously feel that they would have left us hanging, but today, after having done the slog with the Commandos and the Rail Guards, I now understand that these guys want Slaver asses on pikes as much or more than we do. It's borderline killboner mentality — given cause, I could see the Magi going completely apeshit on the Star League."
"Is this a bad thing? I'm not seeing the downsi — " She stopped herself short after a moment. "Oh, yeah, us."
"Yes, us. If they piss off the Star League enough, we become a soft target for the SLDF to vent frustration on, a way to cheap-shot the Magi without them actually having to risk having their asses beat raw by the Magi. Of course, in a few years that becomes a less attractive option: the faster we gain veterancy and mass, the more they have to throw at us to cause notable damage and depredation."
"So, there's really no change on that front," Toni said.
"There won't be," Hess admitted candidly. "Time and tide wait for no man, but in this case the inverse also applies: no man can force tide or time to alter. Hence, we now have a problem where we have to wait for the expansion, manage it as it happens, and hope it is enough to ensure the people get their hoped-for new home without undue Star League interference. Unless the Magi invest some significant defenses here, we run the risk of being flattened."
"It's a risk worth taking," Toni said abruptly. "Better than the Trains, for sure."
Author's Chapter Afterword:
LONG TIME RUNNIN'!
First off, my apologies for the protracted silence on my writing. I've been writing, but I've also been working my way through Fallout 4 as a way to refresh my mind with new source material. Fallout in general is a pretty solid series to extract missions and concepts from, so expect to see some Contract work in the Capital Wasteland or the Commonwealth. And the factions! Oh man, talk about some interesting rogue's galleries! The Fallout universe has more than a bit of fresh meat to chew, so expect some serious (and a few not-quite-serious) contracts on that note.
(On an aside, the use of Mods in Fallout 4...whoa. 122 mods installed changes a LOT of the game experience, and IMHO for the better. Game's still as challenging as before, and I actually get killed more frequently than I did in vanilla FO4, but using real-world weapons like the BAR and G3 to sort out some enemies is helluva fun!)
Second, I began writing the newest chapters of Sigma right after Christmas, finished up at or around the middle of March because it was a pair of interlinked chapters and then total overall length is at or over 30K words between the two chapters. As of this writing, the next chapter of Sigma 0003 is being beta-checked for accuracy and grammar, and it's a rough one at that. I'm posting this one forthwith, but be warned that a couple of the segments won't make sense until after you've read the corresponding material in the other chapter.
Third, things are advancing apace for Sigma but as was pointed out by Urd, it will get nasty sooner rather than later. The problem with this is that the Star League cannot use their regular formations for the job or the Executors hammer them flat and they start a war with the Magi. So, what you will see a lot of in the coming conflicts is the use of proxies to conduct the battle on behalf of the Star League — nations that are member-states of the Star League, but to which have their own standing armies and not SLDF forces. The first instance of this will begin in the next chapter, due mainly to the Executor's announcement of the contract against the Trains.
There is one major flaw in Hess' end-of-day analysis, though: the expansion rates of the Protectorate versus the Slavers. The Slavers already have a clandestine recruiting apparatus in place, one that is scalable to a degree more than Sigma One is estimating. Whether or not the Slavers actually take advantage of this to create a personnel disparity is yet to be seen, and the dice have not yet determined if they are that smart or not. For certain, if the Slavers play it proper, they could quickly out-man Sigma's fighting forces, but as Hess pointed out, an army does not a nation make. The civilians are the more critical pursuit, and there will be a LOT more of them to join.
As to the ZAFT mention, well, you'll see the bulk of that work go down in the Sigma 0003-06 Chapter that runs parallel to this chapter. Suffice it to say, with a core of hardened ZAFT troops to begin the skillset transfer for Mobile Warfare, not to mention the Magi Commandos, Sigma is going to get a serious reputation for their heavy forces — and this in spite of the primary focuses of the unit.
That's it for this chapter. NEXT UP: Sigma celebrates the first Train cleared end-to-end by the Rail Guards, while the rest of Existence lights abuzz with the details of the contracts. And, not to be outdone, the Star League begins plotting heavy actions against the Protectorate.
Review Replies: Five reviews for last chapter. MUCH THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT!
A Montanan (Guest post): Much obliged for the heads-up on the terminology. In my state it is something wildly different from Fish and Wildlife, so this is one of those things that varies from location to location.
Sajuuk: There will be more medics as the story progresses, and more need of them. The contracts so far have been softball, but that will change.
I have not watched any of the Gundam productions since SEED Destiny, which means I am well behind the curve. Unfortunately, budgetary constraints are interfering with that process, being a homeowner sucks big brass clangers sometimes.
As to SEED and Destiny, well, that process starts as of this chapter — Athrun is willing to train suit operators as a way to earn keep for the trip home, and he wants vengeance for his slain girlfriend, so…
Psyraptor: Unfortunately, I can only answer your first question, as the second question cannot be answered either way (the dice have not yet chosen). As to your first question, the ship itself cannot Transcend but can be enchanted as a Relic — these are two different processes. Paxis itself, and any of the crewmembers, can also achieve Transcendence, though this is not a fast process under normal circumstances.
NHO: You need not apologize for thinking this was a junk series, as it is pretty much the embodiment of a game system I developed about two decades ago. That said, what began as a joke project on my part has become something of an influence on the mainline Multimage Chronicles, or at least the absolute end thereof, and will also echo to a degree in Jokers Wild.
As to the ongoing Secret Service Conspiracies, well, that is one of those plots that the dice determined would happen, and I'm playing it to the hilt because it is a very unusual circumstance and will help guide race relations throughout the coming story. And it will set a tone for the rest of the Protectorate going forward, though you will not see that come into play until the end of Sigma 0002 series.
Guest (NHO Repeat?): The Jumper Trains are a major device here in Sigma, but their genesis will be much earlier, about halfway into the Multimage Chronicles. As to the Star League's gross misuse of the Trains, as this story goes on, you will quickly learn that the Star League is the exemplar of government dysfunction in written form, and as the story develops you'll start seeing reasons to go along with their general failures.
The Gripe Sheet:
No major complaints from the prior chapter. One detail issue on terminology pertaining to civil service departments in the state of Montana. Much thanks to the usual suspects, Takeshi Yamato, Sieben Nightwing, and Necroblade for keeping things in line.
Footnotes:
(1): Air Defense Identification Zone. Typically used as a geopolitical term to describe the airspace territory of a given nation. The Magi use it a little more flexibly, in referring to an area around any kind of national asset (planet, land masses, warships, jumpships, similar) where other craft exist only at the behest of the air defense groups.
Included Works: (New entries in bold)
—Real Life Armaments — too many to name, that is most of the arsenal shown.
—Real Life Combat Gear — the vests and gear carried by the Militia troops are easily constructible from stuff you can buy on Amazon or Cheaper Than Dirt. No, Seriously, Look it up. Do a search for "UTG Modular 10-Piece Complete Kit", and you have a good look at a starter kit for any serious gearhound.
—Real Life Concepts
—Real Life Time Period: 1930s New York City (Shown in Chapter 2, referenced in chapter 3)
—Real Life Equipment: The Caterpillar equipment showcased in the chapters is based on real life designs or equipment from said manufacturer.
—Real Life Mythology: The Phoenix race of beings are derived from the mythological Phoenix (Egyptian) and Thunder Bird (Native American). That said, I have made some serious modifications to the whole principle that will be revealed in coming chapters.
—Real Life Mythology: The first of many Valkyrie have joined the blossoming Protectorate. That said, do not confuse the Valkyrie with the term Valkyria — separate work, separate purpose. (Shown in chapter 7)
—Real Life Mythology: The Dryad featured in this chapter (and in a helluva lot more chapters to come) is a derivation of the ancient Greek mythos around Trees and Tree Spirits. Specifically, the Dryads used in this story are akin mostly to the Hamadryad of older mythos.
—Personal Works: The Star Empires are mentioned briefly here. Additionally, the Magi Empire is named specifically.
—Personal Works: The nations of the Jokers Wild are mentioned in Chapter 6. There is a very good reason for that.
—Personal Works: The Star League is a derivation of the Star League from Battletech, but founded by Queen Sora Serenity (Executor-Queen Sora Takenouchi).
—Personal Works: The Executors are specialized Mages who have transcended a minimum of twice (Gods and Goddesses are a minimum Transcendance of once) and are specially commissioned to defend life and honor amongst the Star League territories or member states.
—Personal Works: The 10mm Kurz cartridge is a shortened / lower velocity / lower weight version of the 10mm BG round, developed by the Magi for 'crowd pleasing' against large masses of Negaverse troops, most of which were unarmored during the Star Empire Wars. It quickly became a favored heavy machine gun round for multiple purposes after the fact. (Shown in Chapter 1)
—Personal Works: Gerald Lightbringer is most famous for his participation in my Jokers Wild series, but his history is far stranger than either story properly shows. (Last seen in chapter 5)
—Personal Works: The last section of Chapter 6 makes it clear that the Jokers Wild, Sigma, and Multimage Chronicles are interconnected at multiple levels. This WILL come back to haunt everyone involved, in multiple ways.
—Anime General: the oddball hair colors, especially endemic to nonhumans.
—Anime General and D&D: the nonspecific concept of Elves, Nymphs, and Sylphs.
—Anime Trigun: Vash The Stampede, Millie Thompson, and Meryl Strife took the wrong train, ended up hanging out, and now are tagging along with the Militiamen.
—Anime Gundam SEED Destiny: Mentioned briefly in this chapter, though more to be seen in Sigma 0003-06 is the presence of Athrun Zala and Meyrin Hawke, as well as a goodly portion of the crew of the Minerva. You can rest assured this is an issue that will echo going forward into the rest of the story.
—Cartoon Publishing Group: Disney Works in general are mentioned here, but have not made an official showing yet.
—Cartoon: Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers is mentioned in this chapter as well, and due to the show mechanics may not actually make a showing except as a show within a story, but you can rest assured that it will influence things going forward.
—Game: Battletech: You are starting to see some serious discussion of Battletech units and force concepts in this chapter. They will become more prevalent as the story marches on. (Happens off and on.)
—Game: Dungeons and Dragons (First Edition): A lot of the spellcraft will be drawn from D&D as well as other sources to be named.
—Game: Dungeons and Dragons (First Edition): The concept of the Dragons of many colors is drawn from the D&D First Edition
Monster Manual. Some mods were made (the Platinum dragon is not unique, and the Eternal Dragon is a wholly new class).
—Game: Final Fantasy IX: The player cast of the game (Zidane, Dagger, Steiner, Freya, Vivi, Eiko, Red, and Quina) were residing in one of the dining cars, but are now members of Sigma's Basic Training Group.
—Game: Infantry Online (Sony Online Entertainment): The CAW from the early section, and named in the stinger, is a different-manufacturer version of the Kuchler A6 CAW. (Shown in Chapter 1)
—Game: Call Of Duty MW2: The Remington ACR in use in this story is based on the Magpul Masada / Bushmaster ACR / Remington ACR in use in said game. Hey, even if it was pooh-pooed in real life, someone in an alternate dimension would do it right, ne?
—Game: Command And Conquer Renegade: The Infantry Ion Cannon (Portable Ion Cannon) is a personnel weapon from Renegade, and is considered a mainstay amongst the Star Empires. (Seen in Chapter 8, to be seen frequently in the future))