Sigma Mercenaries 0001R: Initial Public Offering REVISED

by CSS Stravag

Sigma Mercenaries Mainline story beginning, REVISED EDITION. When an unknown train lands on the vegetable garden of an American Militiaman, and the happenings in the train are revealed to be wildly messed up, four Americans swing into action to save lives and bring order to chaos. Along the way, they will meet a very odd and diverse cast of peeps from all over Existence.. (Rated M)

15. Sound And Fury II

(Sigma Mercenaries, Story 0001, Chapter 15: Sound and Fury II)

(31 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0426 Hours Local Time)
(Hess' Quarters, Base Boarhound Admin Building, Terra 232)
(Day 14 of Campaign)

This morning, the sound that woke up Sigma One was not his alarm, it was some manner of other noise produced by the AI. "Unhhh, what gives?" He asked after a few moments to get his bearings. "Four minutes early? Serious?"

"You will want to review the information I just recorded from the ComStar News Network," Virtue opined.

"How bad?" Hess asked as he levered himself up to sitting on the edge of the bed.

"This will complicate matters."

"I'm up, I swear it," Toni grumped from her bed on the far side of the room.

"Good, if this is bad enough, you'll want to hear it as well." Sigma One moved over to his desk and took up the water bottle he had left on it next to his morning supplements and allergy medication. "When Toni's mobile and sentient, roll it on monitor one."

"I don't want to be," Toni grumped. "I vote we remain in bed for another four hours or so."

"Unfortunately, operational necessity has a veto," Hess answered the surprisingly peevish (and definitely not a morning person) SSO.

In confirmation of Hess' theory: "Mornings suck," Toni pretty much catapulted herself to standing and flopped the cover back over where she had been sleeping. "I'm hittin' the shower, hell with working out today. Can you give me the cliff notes afterwards?"

"You may wish to hold a second, Toni, the gist of this is short." Virtue activated the screen in question, and cut into the recording abruptly. Toni simply grunted acknowledgement and leaned back against the south end of the conference table in Hess' apartment, so she could look at the screen.

"...We now take you to Legal Analyst Raleigh Jenoe, who has been reading through the documents since they were released 20 minutes ago." The picture, originally of a fairly standard ComStar newsroom, now cut to something more appropriate for a legal office conference room and cubicle area. "Good morning, Raleigh, what can you tell us so far?"

The presenter, a ComStar Precentor from their legal division, had the appearance of a rather cosmopolitan (for Magi society) Half-Elven lady. "Well, so far we have been able to go through both Contracts issued by the Master Executor, both are fairly simple and straightforward comparative to normal MercNet contract offerings. The first contract is an open-ended Contract issued to the Protectorate of Sigma for the purpose of capturing, clearing, and disassembling the Interdimensional Jumper Trains that are part of the Star League Living Monument Program."

"Is that legal?" The main correspondent asked.

"The Star League Grand Council will undoubtedly shout that it is not legal, and going strictly by their rulings, it is not. However, since the request for service is from Master Executor Eric Atrebas, and is underwritten with support and protection of the Executors, their ground for contesting the Contract is nearly zero. Additionally, the 'refuge in numbers' option the SLGC likes to play is also dead, none of the Star Empires have taken a stance against the Master Executor in any major way, certainly not on this subject."

"And, as is known throughout precedent, the Will Transcendent's word is law, over and above anything else, so the likely course is that the Star Empires will back Executor Atrebas — which means they will at least tacitly back the Contract against the Trains," the main commentator said.

"More than that, the reports from Terra 232 is that the Magi have been involved with the clearing of the first Trains, in a support role if not directly in combat. The question is, there are a hundred fifty thousand Trains, and the Protectorate so far consists of one fortified military base. Can this be done?" the Legal Correspondent asked.

The main commentator turned physically to the side to her in-studio guest. "For that, we turn to our military affairs analyst, retired Major General C. Harald Wentworth of the Negaverse. Harald, what can you tell us so far from what information we have on the Protectorate?"

"Well, we can start by discounting the noise about the unusual political and governmental structure. That is typical Star League and Member States bleating about Magi policy. The top-down military-executed direct democracy is to be expected, and the Protectorate limits and expectations are just as solid as the Magi's limits. So, politically, this is a doable job. On the side of military force, this is something of a startup venture, so I am cautiously optimistic about what is to come. The head of the unit is not a professional soldier by trade — he was a Network Analyst as a profession — but that's not too concerning to me. Technical Analysts are men who specialize in finding problems, breaking them down, and solving them, and the good ones do it as a mindset. Most combat officers will tell you that war is a series of separate but interrelated problems that you find, analyze, and solve to achieve your objective, so he's got at least most of the mindset for the job."

"Is that mindset going to conflict with the Magi forces that he has partnered with?"

"Not likely, if they have a maverick in command of the Magi support troops they should work well together. The more concerning factor here is the refugee situation on these Trains: estimates vary wildly on the quantity and quality of refugees coming off the rails, but the median figure is 500 persons per 200 cars. If Sigma is unprepared for such numbers, they could be swamped quickly."

"Higher than that," Toni said. "Quite a bit higher than that."

"True," Hess agreed.

"The second Contract is going to be a difficult task for any party, professional military or intelligence service or even an elite mercenary formation. First, the Slavers' Guild is an unsubstantiated rumor — if the Executors have filed a Contract against it, they probably exist, but they are not officially recognized by any party. Tracking them down is going to be roughly as difficult as finding cockroaches in a slum apartment — you know they are present, good luck finding them."

"Why would a Guild of Slavers exist?" The legal correspondent asked.

The General snorted. "Could be a couple different reasons for it, extra income, extra manpower, institutional depravity, your guess is as good as mine. Until Sigma turns some of these cats and gets the information out, we won't know. The big thing is that the Executors would not issue contracts for it if they didn't exist, so the likelihood is that this is a no-shit contract. Now, the big hanging question is, how big and how coordinated are the Slavers?"

The program cut out after it cut to the main pundit. "The rest of the program is skewed analysis, given they don't know much about us or about the opposition," Virtue said.

"The oldest story in the information technology trade. Garbage in, no matter the quality of analysis or data processing, will always result in garbage coming out the south end of the north bound bovine grass reprocessor." Hess snorted, but smiled nonetheless. "So, now we're really famous for pissing on the Star League in three phases: first their planet, second the Trains, and lastly the Slavers."

"I like it," Toni said with a mischievous smile. "This is either going to catapult us to superstardom, or make complete and utter pariahs out of us." She headed into the bathroom without a further word.

"So, since I'm up this early and I'm taking a rest day from pushing iron, what's the news of the morning?"

"Your administrative personnel have been busy making discount purchases on ScrapNet, including more than a few battlemechs and omnimechs at cut rate," Virtue said.

"How deep are we talking on discounts, and what 'mechs are involved?" Hess asked.

He silently dreaded the answer, but the shopping finds would not be unwelcome to Sigma One. Nor would be the quantity involved, given the finds in question.

-x-

(15 minutes later)

Megan Reishen stopped at the top of the stairs and took a moment to catch her breath. It also gave her a moment of pause, time to gather her thoughts and compose herself for the coming meeting. The matter wasn't that she was nervous or wary of having to deal with the Command Administrator, it was the sudden and very abrupt nature of the request.

The overarching matter boiled down to reputation. It was not that Hess had a bad reputation; on the contrary, the Command Administrator had a stellar reputation. That was the big unknown, he had been in service for a matter of less than two full weeks and was now widely considered to be one of the most lethal persons in the Protectorate. So far he was holding a reputation of dealing fairly with persons, but how much of that was illusion and how much was reality was yet to be seen. Megan didn't have any experience dealing with him, the highest she had worked with was Victoria Williams, briefly, before being largely left to do her duty in her own way.

A short walk from the stairs to the apartment of the Command Administrator gave her a moment to consider that thoroughly. She had been hired on as a fair wage employee, even if the payday delineation was a bit wonky (few organizations did monthly paydays outside of military concerns, though technically the Protectorate was a government and a military all in one, so…). Sigma definitely had the finance to ensure that the pay obligations were met, at least in the short term, and the ludicrously simple contract load (so far) ensured they would be very well paid so long as things went to plan.

The door was exactly where she expected it, and guarded by one of the secret service officers to boot. Megan didn't know her name, but did know her by sight since she worked with Victoria quite a bit and had seen her at distance very often. Without any idea how to go forward on this, the Administration Specialist simply walked up to the SSO and came to attention as was protocol for Magi citizenry. "Megan Reishen here to speak to Sigma One."

"The Boss is waiting for you, and don't worry about it. This isn't a bad thing," the Secret Service Officer said soothingly before she thumbed open the door to allow Megan to enter.

Megan nodded twice, entered, and stopped almost immediately dead after she took a pace (two steps) into the room. There was a main bed on the left, which she guessed was in use by the Boss, but a secondary bed over to the right by the display cases? Maybe that much of the barracks rumor was true, Sigma One wasn't romantically involved with his chief SSO?

"Good morning," A voice drew Megan's attention to the desk in the center rear of the room, and behind it the visage of the man who was building the most unlikely career opportunity she had ever dreamed of. And, for a moment, she was reminded that barracks rumor held that the man across the desk was likely to side with the humans in any kind of massive race war, though Megan quickly dismissed that thought — he would not be sleeping in the same room as a Phoenix (a telepath) if such was his overarching intention.

"Morning, sir," Megan said with what she hoped wasn't too worried a voice. "Where do you want me?"

"Over here," he gestured to the seats across the desk from him. Reishen didn't dawdle after that, though she did catch the presence of his DMR and body armor on a hangar on the front of the weapons racks to the left of the desk.

"Sir," she said after she took a seat. "I was not informed of the reason for this summons, sir. May I inquire?" she asked in what she felt was a fairly steady voice.

"Some purchase activity run over the day yesterday from ScrapNet and inducted into our holdings," Sigma One lifted a heavy-duty tablet and scanned down the list. "Namely, I show 5 Mad Dog Omnimechs purchased at sixteen percent off, 5 Parrot Gun Artillery 'Mechs purchased ten percent off, 10 Bushwacker IIM 'mechs, the -1GS variant with the Streak LRMs and the gauss rifle, purchased at 27 percent off, and 6 Bushwacker IIM, the standard missile and gauss rifle version, purchased at 25 percent below market price. Did I miss any?"

Megan realized that this could go either way, in that she didn't have a read on what Sigma One intended with such a lead. So, she figured she'd go all in, defend her position, and take a hit if necessary — or back off the defensive posture if she had to. "Well, sir, it's not strictly a 'mech purchase, but we did also pick up ten surplussed Minutemen Battle Armor. Medium battle armor, not far removed from the Elemental of Clan fame, similar performance but does not have the modular primary weapon and adds a set of Mag Clamps to allow it to ride along with vehicles and non-omnimechs."

"Not bad," Sigma One said after he set the tablet down. "Not bad at all."

"So this isn't a problem, sir?" Megan asked for clarification.

"Exactly the opposite, I was expecting to have to pay full price for any such hardware, which is why I wasn't planning on making major purchases yet. Finding snap-sales of some rather impressive equipment is a very good thing, even if it is a little bit pre-abused. No, my reason for calling you here is because I think you just stumbled across something that will help us in the long run."

And with that secondary lead, Megan knew this wasn't a reprimand, but an opportunity. "Buying secondhand equipment on the used markets could be a good way to build up our forces quickly?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of supplemental purchases, not so much as a primary way to build force as a way to acquire secondary units, spare parts, spare chassis, similar. I intend the major action going forward will be the large purchase contracts such as with Boeing-Federated, but adding variety from the surplus units on ScrapNet, purchasing from unit liquidations, similar, that will help with expansion and the Protectorate garrison."

"So, you're thinking about maybe starting a dedicated purchasing group?" Megan asked.

"Both purchasing and sales of outgoing materials, goods, proceeds from the Trains, salvage we receive from Contracts, anything else we come across that can be sold on the secondary markets. And, any time we can do a resale flip of materials for a profit, more is the better." Sigma One leaned back and flexed his shoulders a bit. "This has a lot of propensity to provide extra income, especially after we start building up a crew of experienced personnel. As such, going forward from here, I want a ten percent bounty on profit to be issued to any purchases that are flipped for a profit above nominal market value. No sales below market value unless it would be profitable. Five percent bounty on savings from market value for equipment we turn around for our own use."

"That will make the troops happy, sir," Megan was rightly shocked by the generous offer, but managed to contain herself.

"Question is, can you do it as a primary department function?" Hess asked bluntly.

Megan answered before her mind caught up with the question. "Easily, sir," she said, then decided she'd drive over the uncertainty inherent in what she was feeling versus what her mouth was running. "I'll need to bring in some of the other Administrative personnel to make it happen, but I think I can start this one up easily."

"Approved, but don't deplete HR." Sigma One authorized the move. "Have the recruiting team keep an eye out for anyone with the necessary quals or aptitudes. You'll be reporting directly to Sigma Three going forward, but keep one thing in mind: the bank account is a finite thing, so don't chew through all of it for now. Keep the purchasing thin and practical until we start bringing in more regular contract checks. Preference for munitions, small arms, vehicles, components, supplies. Good to go?"

"Yes, sir!" Megan said with cheer.

"Virtue, Megan Reishen now heads up the Purchasing group. Set up the paperwork."

"Will be waiting for her in the purchasing office, sir," Virtue said. "Second floor, north wall, in case you're wondering, Megan."

"Congratulations and good luck," Sigma One stood and offered a hand for a shake.

Megan gladly took the hand of the Command Administrator. That simple gesture also changed her standing opinion of the command level quite a bit, a change that would make a difference in coming days and weeks.

-x-x-x-

(31 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0630 Hours Local Time)
(Gate Drive Landing Field, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)
(Day 14 of Campaign)

The feeling of arriving at a location without having done anything active on their own part was unsettling to 1 Star, 1 Trinary, Alpha Cluster of the 1st Sigma Protectorate Provisional Commando Cluster. It was even more unsettling to the Star Commander, Lyta Kerensky, as it was normally her prerogative and personal pleasure to provide Gate spell transport for her team to go wherever they were needed, whenever they were needed. Still, there was no denying the arrival — they went from a dark hangar to outside in nautical twilight in less than a full second, and with it, she was now at her assigned post.

"Attention Ground Control, this is Lyta Kerensky, have arrived at landing field and now awaiting movement instructions."

"Copy, Star Commander Kerensky. This is Artificial Intelligence Entity Virtue operating as Ground Control. I have a navigation file waiting on ground beacon 1 channel 12, including revised Boarhound maps and nav points for your transit, how copy?"

"Copy all, standby," Kerensky answered. The ground beacon was easy to identify, it was the only one in the area active, and indeed did have area maps to match the planet and a set of navigation points. "Uploading now."

"Got it," her Star Second reported. "Okay, this is both a generalized waypoint file and walking instructions. Man, I love working with AI Entities."

"All five of us have the files, thank you Virtue," Star Commander Kerensky said after the last of her subordinates' navigation systems finished hot-loading the updates and their nav systems came online again, all seen on her star command MFD.

"Be on the lookout for civilian traffic after Nav Point 5, and throughout your travel for basic trainees on the move. Most of the cadet classes are on the move at this time."

"Aff," Lyta started off the road march for her Star by the nav points — eight in total, with an intended ending point at the southernmost Mobile Suit Hangar. True to warning, the Basic Training units were out in force and the troops were earning their morning sweating the hard way.

"Is this really what the Star League is so bent out of shape about? Sigma One is cleaning up their refugee situation and turning them around into a private army?" Commando Gundam Pilot Lars Mooser asked as he looked around the area of the Admin Building. "Hell, half of everyone in line of sight is below the age of twenty."

"Their panties are in a bunch because of the principle of the matter, not because Sigma One is doing anything particularly right about the situation," the other lady in the unit of five said. Yukiko Kotanshi, the only Newtype pilot in the Star and so far the only such pilot in the command, snorted at the premise of the Star league having their panties in a bunch. Her personal ride, a RX-93 Nu Gundam was painted in a dark blue secondary over desert tan main paintings, as opposed to the black-over-white of the original Nu Gundam. "Great big governments have great big egos, and being told they are doing something wrong by a whelp is not calculated to make them happy."

"Fuck their happiness square in the arse with a pineapple," Commando Gundam Pilot Ricky Leeton grumped. "I don't care how much those egotistical assholes think their shit don't stink. They screwed the pooch royally with the Trains. The Star Empires have told them they screwed the pooch. Their own worlds told them they screwed the pooch. Hell, even Master Executor Atrebas told them they fucked up. They're not listening, and when the Executors go around them to solve the problem, THEN they get all butthurt about it? Fuck 'em with the aforementioned pineapple. While hanging upside-down from their own balcony."

"Tell us how you truly feel, young one," the last pilot in the team to sound off said. Commando Pilot Ulrich, the heavy hitter of the team (piloting a Gundam X, he had the single most destructive piece of kit in the team), was also known as Ulrich The Silent for his laconic disposition.

The team passed by one of the school facilities and could not help but notice the absolute mass of children headed into the school to begin their shot at a normal life… or at least something approximating a normal life.

"Yeah, after looking at this, I agree with Ricky. Fuck 'em all," Lars said.

"I would be afraid to," Yukiko said. "Even with the necessary pineapple attached to a pole. Cross-contamination is a thing, and there had to be a reason why Senator Glivenne is 400 years old with no family, no children, and unmarried."

"Given her attitude could bend steel, her policies and personality are the bane of any rational thought, and her looks are sub-par at the most forgiving appraisal, I could see why no proper man would want that arse." Lyta pointed out to her subordinates. "I'm an equal-opportunity licker, but even that turns me off."

"Coming from someone who boldly goes where even devils fear to tread, ouch," Ricky said with a subconscious cringe.

"Someday, they will cross the line," Ulrich said in part to voice his opinion and in part to change the course of the conversation. They were passing through waypoint four, and the hangar facility could be seen over some medium-rise office buildings in the distance.

"If Master Executor Atrebas called for volunteers to scrap the Star League, I would answer the call," Yukiko said with a smile.

"You'd be joining the queue right behind me," Lyta chided her subordinate.

"Yeah, only after I outran both of you to the line," Ricky needled them. His street name was 'Ricky The Racer' for a very good reason, not the least of which was his personal super-stock muscle car that he drag-raced on his free time with anyone foolish enough to try their luck. The Deathscythe Gundam he was piloting was also souped-up with some of the best engines and thruster packs available, making it fast enough to outpace the mechanical tracking limits of most Mobile Suit weapons and maneuvering systems.

"Little speed demon gonna get in line first, but you're going to need to pack it in big and bad to make noise in that kind of competition," Lars said with a chuckle. "Oh, that's where the Base PX is? Nice, I wonder if they sell salvage from the Trains there."

"What are you thinking?" Lyta asked.

"Once we get situated, we're going to use some salvage material to tweak out our quarters, improve living conditions, what have you. I don't have any faith in the interior decorating skills of the Star League engineers, so I intend to do better."

"Oh boy, another round of redneck re-engineering our quarters," Ricky grumped. "Well, so long as we can work on shower situations, that's what I'm looking forward to. Last time I was in a Star League facility, their showers sucked major portions of ass."

"Single player or communal?" Lyta asked.

"Single, cheap, and mildewed to Hell and back," Ricky explained.

"Utterly unacceptable," Lyta said as they came up on the rear corner of the Mobile Suit Hangar. She had to stop for a group of personnel to cross the road, including one lady in a pinkish-reddish (?) uniform that she did not recognize. The Star Commander grunted at the poor choice of military uniforms, there was no legitimate camouflage reason to wear pink in the military in her opinion, unless you were in a combat situation involving flamingos.

"Want to see what these Trains look like after one has been cleared," Ulrich said after they resumed march. All five pilots agreed to that much of a plan for the coming days.

-x-

As with 99 percent of hangar facilities in Existence, this one was was not just a big metal box for housing aircraft or vehicles. Almost all such buildings had a collection of some combination of auxiliary facilities attached to it, such as workshops, maintenance bays, offices, crew quarters, lounge areas for the maintenance staff, and other sundry accoutrements. So, it was not much of a surprise to Luna to enter the back office area of the hangar and her first check of doors happened to be a mechanic's breakroom with a bunch of mechanics.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, wrong room," Luna said meekly after the conversation in the room dropped off to near-zero.

"Who are you looking for, kid?" An older mechanic asked. Luna guessed him somewhere in the age bracket of 40 to 50, but he wasn't the oldest person in the room by far.

"Star Colonel Gail Storme," Luna said the name precisely, not sure how much offense the Magi groups would take to mispronunciations or misstatements.

"You shall be waiting for a few, she is doing a skull session with the garrison commander and home base," a different mechanic said. Luna still hadn't cleared her mental catch related to nonhumans, so the pointy ears on the lady in question made it obvious that she was dealing with someone not completely human and it caused a bit of hesitation in her demeanor.

"So much for being early," Meyrin complained.

"Well, that's the military for you in a nutshell," Luna grumped. "Every military in Existence probably has the same problem?" she asked as something of a probing question for the troops in the room.

"Hurry up and wait? We Magi excel at it," the hands-down oldest mechanic in the room said. Luna had to admit she had no idea what would be a valid guess at his age, given that he was old, grizzled, and at least partially nonhuman. "C'mon in and grab a seat, kids. You'll be waiting for a few."

Luna waved her small crew of compatriots in and took a seat across one of the cafeteria tables from the eldest mechanic. "Thanks. Lunamaria Hawke, Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty."

"Abraham Einhorne, Magi Commando Support Services Group. If you're here to test in under the Star Colonel, chances are your machine will be under my team, at least until we have the Sigma ground crews trained up."

"That reminds me, the five machines that just came in, are those special forces? They weren't matched at all," Luna gestured at the hangar bay area.

"Yeah, Commando pilots tend to use the best machine they test for, or what fits their style best. We don't have a standardized single unit for the forces, if that's what you're asking," Abraham asked.

"Okay, that doesn't make sense. How do you do logistics if you have a wide array of units?" ZAFT Mechanic Vino Dupre asked as he sat down next to Luna. "I mean, we have a couple units, but even then they share common spares and systems."

"Lot of the same, kid," Abraham said. "The five machines that walked in, despite being designed under five different ethos, all have quite a bit in common since we remanufactured the designs. Second, we have a very accurate and rapid logistics group, they keep us supplied in the field. Third, recycling: damaged parts can usually be remanufactured and re-serviced at the Century level for unit formations, at larger bases on the ground, or in the machine shops in most of our warships. Fourth, practice. Lots of it. You don't even come up for consideration for Commando Support unless you've had ten years in hard ops, and some of us have fifty, sixty, seventy or more years at it."

"Some of us have been around long enough, fixed enough bullet holes, duct-taped and bailing-wired machines together for one more sortie, we know what needs to be done and how to make it happen. Different units are not that big of a deal, so long as your support services are up to the challenge," The elven (?) lady mechanic said as she took a seat next to Abraham.

"Different machines provide different capabilities. Same machine, similar equipment, predictable outcome set," A new voice said from the far side of the room, this one wearing the midnight blue of a Commando pilot. Four more were behind her, and Luna figured this was the formation of machines that came in. "Diverse equipment increases logistic complexity, but makes it harder for an enemy to predict what you can do. They have to plan to your theoretical maximum capability, which means they waste resources and time in places you can work around."

Luna didn't miss that the Mechanics were on their feet and at attention for this new entrant, but she knew it was not the Star Colonel. She joined them on her feet as well, but didn't salute as nobody else in the room did either.

"Wouldn't that make it hard for your manufacturing to keep up, ma'am?" Vino asked.

The officer nodded to the mechanics. "As you were. No outstanding maintenance needed, our machines just came out of D-check (1) last week."

"Thank you, Star Commander," Abraham resumed his seat.

"On your question, mechanic, if we had one or two defense contractors, multiple machines would be impossible," the Star Commander leaned up against one of the columns in the room and set her helmet down on the end of the table. "As it stands, we average 1 minor defense contractor and three parts suppliers per one billion persons per planet. My Gundam was assembled from parts manufactured on sixteen different worlds and assembled in a fifty-square-kilometer mega-factory that I used to live near."

"Okay, that's a different ruleset," Vino conceded after he considered the scale of operations involved.

"Take heart, kid," the Star Commander relented with a smile. "One machine primary forces may be predictable, but that one machine is usually a very stout machine. What did your team operate before you were captured?"

"ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior, and an upgraded version ZAKU Phantom." Vino pulled his maintenance reference tablet from a belt pouch and selected the ZAKU Warrior. "Here."

The Star Commander received the tablet and checked out the specifications with a critical eye. "Not bad. Performance is in line with earlier Gundam units or top-shelf custom Mobile Suits." She passed the tablet on back through her team's ranks. "Pilot becomes the critical factor, in that case. Good machines will get you so far, but you need a good pilot to meet potential."

"We shall learn how good soon enough." This time, Luna recognized the voice of the Star Colonel she only briefly met the day prior.

"STAR COLONEL ON DECK!" Someone shouted from behind Luna, which caused everyone in the room (ZAFT included) to bolt to attention.

"As you were," SC Storme said. "Ah, Star Commander Lyta Kerensky. I knew Personnel had a sense of humor, but I must admit I was not expecting them to send your Star for this go-around."

The Star Commander chuckled. "Time for another round, I'd say. Same rules as last time, Star Colonel?"

"Absolutely," SC Storme said with a rather evil smile. "That aside, Lunamaria Hawke, are you ready to begin?"

"Yes ma'am," Luna answered immediately.

"Crew vehicle six, outside, grab a seat and I will be out shortly." Gail looked to the senior mechanic. "Abraham, I've just been informed that Sigma's purchasing department has acquired almost two full Trinaries of surplus 'mechs from ScrapNet, medium and heavy classifications."

"Damn, that's how you start a party, Star Colonel," Senior Technician Einhorne said with some surprise.

"Get your crew over to Hangar Four and start full workups on them. Focus on the Bushwackers and Mad Dogs first. Also would be a good warm-up for the ZAFT volunteers, get them worked in on ground-based systems and battlemech technologies. Sigma's going to be doing a lot of 'mech work, and ZAFT might want some veteran techs if they decide to buy in."

"Will do, Star Colonel," Abraham said.

"Lyta, get your team squared away and get your quarters outfitted. Training rotations begin tomorrow 0800 hours."

"With pleasure, ma'am," Lyta said dutifully.

"Any questions?" There were no questions after 30 seconds. "Move it up!"

Star Colonel Storme headed back out to the crew vehicle (HMMVW) she was assigned and climbed into the driver's seat. True to expectation, Luna was waiting inside, as was Athrun and Meyrin. "Everyone good to go?" she asked.

"We're ready, sort of," Meyrin said.

"Practice makes all the difference," Star Colonel Storme said. "Now, Luna, I know you're going to ask what that was about."

"That wasn't something I'd've ever expected to see from the Magi," Luna admitted. Despite her short time outside the Train, she already had a decent feel for the Mages as straight shooters and professional. "That was something I'd've expected in High School, maybe College at the latest."

"Close, that rivalry started between us back in our academy days," Gail said. "She was in Mobile Suits, on a track for Mobile Armor quals. I started in Battlemechs, so we were in different classes but the same peer group. Well, we have similar tastes in men, so we have a habit of poaching each other's boyfriends. We've been in the same unit a few times over the years, the last one being two years ago. Our little competition resulted in a brawl that was retroactively declared a Circle of Equals so as to prevent the Galaxy Commander having to file disorderly conduct charges against us."

"Oh," Luna had allowed herself to not expect that kind of petty rivalry, and silently realized that she had figured that an advanced society would have less of such problems, or no such problems.

"Why fight like that?" Meyrin asked, a question silently tugging at all three occupants.

"Part pride of place, part womanly instincts, part population disparity, and mostly just to snipe at each other," Star Colonel Storme said. "Keeps things interesting, and keeps both of us on our toes." The crew vehicle pulled into a parking slot adjacent to the south training field, which already had a building set up on it. "I booked us ahead for today, so the gyroscopic sim pods should be set up and ready. I will be running both of you through your paces, and indirectly on Meyrin as well, to make sure you're ready for ops."

"What's the first expected operation?" Luna asked.

"I would expect either support for a rescue contract, or support for rescuing your displaced comrades," Storme said, then slammed the steering wheel in front of her. "That still chaps my arse, thinking about it. Fucking slavery. We Mages have done our damndest to annihilate the slave trade in every form we find it over the years, busted our arses operation after operation when we find it, and here we find the Star League is running their own racket. If we ever get hard proof that ties it into the main of the Star League, they are done. Burn the accursed thing to the ground on our way through."

"If you do, I'm in," Luna said. She shuddered unconsciously after remembering that she was supposed to be a 'special sale', which said nothing for those who were classified as 'normal sales'.

"After seeing Chairman Durandal and Chief Representative Athha killed in such a callous fashion, I am in as well," Athrun said sharply. He could not forget it, where the lead Slaver from that warship had Cagalli stand in front of Chairman Durandal deliberately, then shot through her throat and into his chest with a large-frame revolver. Athrun knew he would see that horrid sight in his dreams — nightmares — for years to come.

"You have your purposes, this is good. Now put action to your desires, and steel to your targets, but never lose sight of yourselves in the process. Good men and women can go horribly bad for otherwise legitimate reasons, never forget that," the Star Colonel warned the three refugees before she opened her door to step out of the vehicle.

-x-x-x-

(31 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0915 Hours Local Time)
(Hangar FB-1, Base Boarhound northern runway adjacent facilities)
(Day 14 of Campaign)

Victor Rhomson stretched out on the flat ferrocrete surface of the hangar floor, one of his favorite things to do when he could get away with it on a job. Something about the cold, smooth surface helped his back and calmed his nerves after some cutting on a precision job.

"Halfway done on the perimeter cut for the first rune of the day," Victor's younger son, Kyle, said as he sat down on a folding chair he brought specifically for the job.

"Like we told the Rail Guards, this one is the easy one, just doing some angled plunge cuts in the surface of a hangar," Victor said. "They have a separate group in line to fill the rune cavities, I forget what they were intending to use as filler but I think it includes bronze."

"This is the cakewalk. Removing those Star League sigils is going to be real fun," The elder son, Jerry, grumped. "How many do you think we'll get done in a day?"

"Three if we're lucky," Victor grumped. "If it gets to raining, we'll be down to two, one, or none depending on how safe it is."

"We'll be here for a month," Kyle said.

"More likely two, three if the weather gets crappy," Jerry threw out his estimate.

"Any new jobs lined up after this one?" Kyle continued his line of thought.

"Hell no," Victor said. "With how long this could take, I didn't want to schedule anything."

"Good, now's as good a time as any to discuss something," Kyle said.

"We're not taking a vacation on a world in a state of functional anarchy," Victor chided his younger son.

"Not after a vacation, father," Kyle poked his father in the hip with the toe of his boot, then took a drink out of a surplus canteen he purchased from the base PX.

"Then what is it?" Victor asked after a moment of silence.

"Have you looked into how many bases are on this planet?" Kyle asked his father.

"No, why?"

"86 various military facilities for Regiment or larger groups," Kyle said. "Of those bases, some 60 have medium or heavy walls, and another 18 have partial walls that were under construction before the Star League shit trousers and ran home to mama." It was a little-known law on the Star league books that required any permanent military facility above the size of a Battalion to have walls of some kind, and all military facilities had to have perimeter fences.

"You serious?" Jerry said in shock.

"I had the base artificial intelligence entity do the numbers for us."

"That's a lot of sigils to remove from the wall segments," Victor said in understanding.

"More than that, father," Kyle said. "That's a lot of bases that will need more transformation runes. As was pointed out to me, it would be highly impractical to have just a few runes around the world, that would create transportation and usage bottlenecks. Even for avians."

Jerry pulled a snack bar from the end of his lunch pail and took a bite off it. "And, come to think of it, civilian need for those runes will be high as well, if the government is deliberately welcoming the nonhumans."

"Not to mention our usual stock in trade of doing foundations and poured walls," Kyle said. "If Sigma gets off the ground, this could quickly become a boom economy."

Victor was silent for a long minute. "How long have you two jokers been planning this?" He asked his sons.

"Last night, after we were done with our work, we climbed up on top of one of the barracks buildings and did some observing," Jerry explained. "The field, as they say, is a target-rich environment."

"Good mix of just about everything from the Star Empires and a lot of other places, father," Kyle confirmed. "I know you're still thinking about mom, but that ship is long out of the docks."

Victor grunted. "I'm surprised she survived the wreck that killed her second husband," he admitted. In a demonstration case of the premise that human idiocy was not completely bred out of the Star Empires, Victor's ex-wife was riding passenger in a sports car the night the driver ran it off a road, caught air, and struck a crane gantry. The vehicle was demolished, but the passenger side of the passenger compartment was reasonably intact. The driver's side was pretty well crushed by the crane gantry as it collapsed, and with it her second husband.

"We've been following the jobs for five years, father," Kyle said. "I think it's time we think about dropping anchor. Plenty of business to be had on this world, and the way Sigma's transport network goes, we can get easy transport to off-world job-sites if we need it."

"That, and I saw a few ladies looked like they'd be a good fit for you," Jerry chimed in.

"All right, we'll discuss this after our current job contract is completed," Victor relented. "Now break's over, let's get back to cutting and jackhammering."

-x-x-x-

(31 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1000 Hours Star League Standard Time)
(Press Conference Room, Grand Council wing of the Star League Palace)
(Day 14 of Campaign)

Senator Mandy Glivenne switched on her microphone after a moment to adjust her notes and center her soul. This was something she was not looking forward to, deliberately crossing the Executors was not the most prudent way to advance one's career, but defending the policies and institutions of the Star League was a requirement of her position. If anyone was allowed to chip away at the facade, even an upstart such as these Sigma pukes, it would only be a matter of time before actual systemic damage was done to the Star League. Or worse.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," Mandy Glivenne said as a way to silence the press so she could begin her prepared statement. "I am Senior Senator Mandy Glivenne, and today's briefing is on the Contracts issued by Executor Atrebas against Star League assets. Please hold all questions until after my prepared statement."

Mandy took another brief pause, though didn't have to adjust her notes in this case. She only had two pages of major details. "At 0405 Star League Standard Time, ComStar News Network released the text of two contracts issued by Executor Atrebas. These contracts are in violation of Star League Law and are a direct attack on Star League assets and personnel. We, the Grand Council of the Star League, denounce these contracts in their entirety and demand that Executor Eric Atrebas withdraw them immediately and seek restitution from the contracted parties for these actions."

Her pause this time was for a sip of water. "In terms of the two contracts, the more obscene is the contract against the 'Guild of Slavers', which is a non-existent entity. There is no Guild by that name in the Star League registry, and any person who says otherwise is guilty of defaming the Star League. No such fictional entity exists, has ever existed, or shall be commissioned or sanctioned by the Grand Council." Her phrasing was deliberate, as 'Defamation of the Star League Government' was technically a crime, but one that was difficult to prosecute under most circumstances. In this case, however, Mandy intended to ensure that whoever was charged for outing the Slavers would be convicted and penalized to the maximum — or simply disappeared, whichever was more painful in the long run.

"Now, as bad as a contract against a fictional entity may be, the contract to remove the Interdimensional Jumper Trains is both a direct attack on the Star League and an insult to the combined heritage of the Star Empires, but most directly to the Dynasty Star Empire." Mandy stopped to take another sip of water. "The Interdimensional Trains were and still are to a degree a major part of the history and culture of the Dynasty. The Star League decreed them a Monument of the Heritage of Existence in years past, which confers certain rights and responsibilities for these Trains. In no fashion are the Executors allowed, by law or any implied authority, to order the decommissioning of these trains, the policing of their residents, or to penalize or reward any other party for actions pertaining to these Trains."

The gasps from the reaction to Glivenne's blatant challenge to the authority of the Executors were short-lived but vociferous. Even the relatives of the Will Transcendent would not have made such a challenge, but the Senate would? Every press operator in the room knew this briefing would be red meat for the pundits and the talk circuits for weeks.

"Pursuant to this morning's Senate Resolutions, the Executor's Judgment allowing Sigma to violate the Trains is null and void. Any continuing actions taken to impede the movement or destroy the Trains, any action taken to remove persons from the Trains forcibly or by their own choice, any sale or subletting of components from the Trains, or any other actions take to or against the Interdimensional Jumper Trains, shall be met with harsh sanction and possible military action. Additionally, any groups that support persons or entities who harass the Trains shall themselves be subject to sanction, including the Executors."

Mandy Glivenne looked out over the reporters and was rightly surprised by the sheer shock her declaration had made.

-x-

(Same Time)
(2nd floor Conference Room, Base Boarhound Administration Building)

"Whelp, you heard the lady," Clint said. "We've all been bad little boys and girls, tut tut, no snack for us and go to bed early, two weeks without the car and all that," Sigma Two said in clear derision of the speech they just saw.

"I seriously don't believe the balls this scuzzy little bitch has," High Executor Nereus said. "It's almost like she wants Master Executor Atrebas to annihilate her."

"Question," Clarence prompted the High Executor. "Does calling the Will Transcendent by the lower-level title 'Executor' count as a faux pas?"

Nereus frowned. "Technically, yes, especially in his case since he is both a founding Executor and is the Will Transcendent, procedurally, no. It's a nuance, but calling an Executor of any rank simply 'Executor' is not going to invoke trouble."

"Calling an Executor out in such a blatant fashion is going to invoke trouble," Century Commander Jeffrey Vickers said from the doorway to the conference room. "Calling out the man who built the Executors, the husband of the lady who built the Star League, and calling out the Multimage Empire? That is about a half-step short of a straight-up death-wish."

"I have an incoming call from the Protectorate Affairs Office of the Multimages," Virtue said.

"Move the conference to the side monitor and accept the call," Hess ordered. The screen switch took half a second, and Hess was treated to a new view of Multimage offices that he didn't object to. At least some of their facilities weren't government chic.

The person at the desk was nothing to sneeze at, either. He was on the thinner side for Magi Trueborn pilots, but not thin enough that he would be mistaken for an average joe. The facial tattoos for their Enhanced Imaging systems amplified the tale. "Morning, Command Administrator Hess. I am Century Commander Wade Yanez, Multimage Protectorate Affairs. I take it you are aware of the press conference going on right now on Luna Zero?"

"Watching it live on another monitor, Century Commander. You're probably apprised of the rest of my Command Staff?" Hess prompted him to see if further introductions were needed.

"Aff, Century Commander Vickers and Star Colonel Storme have kept us in the loop as to the goings-on in the Protectorate. From the Protectorate Affairs Office as a whole, we salute your efforts and are pulling for your continued success," CC Yanez said sincerely. "Do you know when the second train will be cleared? The 133628 Train?"

"Sometime this evening, Century Commander. Assuming average clearing pace for the team, I'd guess around 2030 Local time," Clint handled the answer for the boss. "You've seen some of the video highlights from it?"

"I have seen some, but I can not wait to see the general public opinion when ComStar starts making the video footage known far and wide. I strongly suspect public opinion will not side with Senator Glivenne when it is told what was going on in the Trains."

"Sirs, sorry to intrude, but we have another call coming in from Multimage territory, from the Administration Building, and we have a call coming in from the Executor's Router on Luna Zero," Virtue said by speaker and to the Century Commander across the link.

"Hot damn this is a busy party line," Clarence said.

"Speaking thereof, can we party line the call, Virtue?" Hess asked. The look of consternation on the Century Commander's face was pretty quick to appear, but just as fast to disappear.

"ComStar's systems are not optimal for this, but I can handle it all locally," Virtue said.

"Be aware this is not a toll-free line," Victoria said in sarcastic mimicry of some of the commercials she used to disdain on television back in the USA.

The monitor split into three panels to accommodate the two incoming lines. The two persons that appeared on the incoming lines were the executive receptionists for the Master Executor and the Empress of the Mages, and they were initially shocked to find themselves on a party line. "Oh, Mika! Wasn't expecting this!" the receptionist for the Executors said.

"Executor Jaspene! Guess we all had the same plan at the same time. Command Administrator Hess, are you in a position to receive a call from the Empress of the Mages?"

Hess was on his feet, as were the other Administrators, the High Executor, The Century Commanders, and the new arrival Star Colonel Storme.

"We are ready," Hess said stoically. This was indeed getting crowded, and he was starting to get a bit nervous even despite the prior assurances of ass coverage.

The right-side panel switched view to another executive desk, this one rather old and extremely beautiful, and the person behind the desk was someone that Hess had seen a few holo-clips of but not yet dealt with in any fashion. "Command Administrator Hess, I believe?" Empress Atrebas said.

"Yes ma'am," Hess said immediately.

"And, If I don't miss my guess, the others with you are your immediate Administrators," she said in continuance. "Executor Jaspene, I daresay my grandfather is holding on the line?"

"Yes, Empress," the Executor-Receptionist said.

"Let's make this a proper party line, then, if you are willing, Command Administrator."

"I'm in," Sigma One said simply. The view changed over to the Master Executor's more plebian desk and office.

"Not often I am directed into a party line, but it appears we all had the same idea," Master Executor Eric Atrebas said with a crooked smile. "Morning, Rini, or is it evening in Old China?"

"1930 hours, Grandfather," Rini said with her own smile.

"And the third pane is the Protectorate Affairs Office, if I remember my decor properly," Eric continued.

"Aff, Highness. Century Commander Wade Yanez. Was calling Sigma to discuss procedure and policy for this Senate blunder when you broke in, sir!"

"Same plan over here, Grandfather," Rini said.

"Truly a case of the same plan at the same time in three places," the Master Executor said. "Still, mine will be the short one so I'll start off. First, I wanted to reassure Sigma that the Senate does not have the authority to annul a Contract issued by the Executors, certainly not a Contract I have signed off on, and trebly so for a Contract to correct their interdimensional fuck-ups. If the Senate wants to say otherwise, they can come over to my office and try to do something about it, or I will swing by their house and make some noise, whichever they prefer."

"Now that I'd love to see, sir," Clint said.

Atrebas chuckled at the comment from the TRADOC Administrator. "Second, this line of horseshit the Senate is running about sanctions, they are already denied that authority by my order. If they do so, my recommendation is you immediately report them to ComStar's Financial clearing house as a fraudulent entity and then get on the horn to both we Executors and the Mages so we can follow up on the reports."

Empress Rini Atrebas straightened up a bit in her chair. "I'll talk to Primus Hallestrom, give her a heads-up on the situation," the Empress said. "ComStar likes the Star League about as much as we do, they'll play ball if we have to hit back on them."

"Figure a decade or two of asset freeze on the General Fund should get their attention," Master Executor Atrebas said. "That will also make it much more difficult for them to stir shit going forward if they can't pay their day-to-day bills."

"If they do take that kind of kick in the wallet, sir, what's their exposure and their options for working around it?" Clarence asked.

Master Executor Atrebas grunted. "Not sure on the exposure side, Executors don't normally dabble in interstate finance. Rini?" Eric asked.

"I'd have to look, Administrator Williams, but loss of access to their ComStar holdings would cut off any manner of electronic payments into or out of Star League accounts. Now, we are aware they have slush accounts through holding companies and similar, but those are a trickle compared to their day-to-day operating accounts. At best, that is a five percent solution to a near-full economic embargo."

"And that could cause trouble with their held planets, Empress," Century Commander Yanez said. "If they sustain too much of an embargo for too long, and they are not smart about how they conduct themselves in a pinch, they could end up with worlds in rebellion," CC Yanez explained.

"I do not see that as a problem," Eric Atrebas said bluntly. "It would force me to order in the Member State Star Empires to bring order to chaos, much as I have commissioned Sigma on Terra 232."

"And the more planets they lose, the less economic drive they have and the less justification they have for taxing the Star Empires," Rini said with some cheer.

"And the loss of worlds, personnel and revenue makes it more difficult to finance a campaign against states they disapprove of," Hess drew the inevitable conclusion. "Not that I would wish financial annihilation on anyone, mind you. I have seen what happens to nations that self-destruct economically. It's a hell of a nasty way to starve to death."

"Too true," the Master Executor acknowledged. "Still, that is the gist of the Executor's position, Sigma One. I will issue a stern rebuttal of the Senate, and warn them that I can annihilate them a lot faster than they can do so to the Executors, but it will fall on deaf ears. I suspect they will only get the message after I have artificially colored a certain fountain red, so my standing advice to Sigma is to keep your eyes up and your arses down. This will get messy before it solves itself."

"Will do, sir!" Hess said.

"Have a good afternoon, everyone. Atrebas is out." The feed from the Master Executor cut out, and the view pane merged in to a dual-split.

"As to our side, Sigma One, in no fashion do I intend to pull back support for the Protectorate," Empress Atrebas said. "I have committed two Phalanx-class ships to naval defense and aerospace training cadre duty for the foreseeable future, though I am not apprised of a timeline for their arrival in system."

"That's some serious firepower," Star Colonel Storme said.

"This is a serious posting and a serious duty," Century Commander Vickers said from the corner of the room. "And, hacking off the Star League by proxy is its own goal in and of itself. Not trying to offend or belittle the mission here, Command Administrator."

"No offense taken, Century Commander. I expected this to a degree, it is fairly common practice on my home world, the major states using proxies to achieve certain goals. I'm not being cynical in saying so, but…"

"Question is, do you object?" Empress Atrebas asked, which was in her intention a multi-faceted question.

"Honestly, not really, so long as we're smart about it. I, personally, have no love for collectivist and statist governments, and you'll not find much love for the Star League in amongst the general population of Sigma. Can we bring anything to the table right now? No, not after two weeks on the job, at least not enough to make a notable difference. Outside of what little we are doing with the Trains and on the minor contract circuit, we're pretty well tapped for the time being. Building up, resettling refugees and returning some persons home, those are the major tasks that will occupy us for the foreseeable future. Eight to ten months from now, though, we can start making some serious expansions here on Terra 232, and that will piss off the Star League when we beat them at their own game."

"And that is more than enough, Sigma," Rini said. "My grandfather is right on this matter. These Trains are a known detriment to Existence. The Slavers are a known detriment to Existence. The affairs on Terra 232 are a sheer dishonor and stain on the reputation of the Executors and the Star Empires by indirect association. Your correction of those problems is more than enough to justify your actions. Don't worry about the ongoing thing with the Star League, that will come to a head in the future, when we all are better prepared to solve the problem. If you can clean up the Trains and Slavers, you will have done a duty for Existence well in excess of any expectations or criticisms. You keep on, Sigma, and we Magi will run interference for you, of this I swear."

"We're not going to give up, Empress," Victoria said staunchly. "We'll do what we can."

"At the end of the day, that is all any of us can do," Empress Atrebas acknowledged the point. "Century Commander Vickers, in light of the renewed threat to the Protectorate, I will have your Century expanded to a Reinforced Century designation. Expect a call sometime today with details for the incoming Galaxy."

"Aff, Highness," CC Vickers said. He concealed his surprise on the matter readily, as he was not a senior Century Commander by any stretch of imagination and Reinforced Centuries normally fell onto the top 5 percent at most. Most Centuries were formed of either 4 or 5 Galaxies of forces — anywhere from 800 combat points (individual combat units, such as a single Battlemech or a point of five Armored Infantry) on the thin side to 1875 on the heavy side, with a practical expectation of 1500 to 1600 combat points per Century. By the numbers, the Invading Clans of the 3050s did not muster a whole Century into the field per Clan for Operation Revival, and Jeffrey Vickers already commanded that much on paper if not in reality.

The change over to a Reinforced Century changed the equation massively. By changing to Reinforced as a designation, all his subordinate formations above the Trinary level would expand to a Base-six calculation, rather than the typical Base-five the Magi used in day-to-day affairs. Therefore, all Clusters would comprise six Trinaries (90 units each), all Galaxies would comprise 6 Clusters (480 units each), and the Century itself would form out to 6 Galaxies (2880 combat points). It wasn't a complete doubling, but the practical operation normal staffing for his unit would come out to roughly 2500 combat points, more than enough combat force to challenge any practical force thrown at a single planet, and easily enough force to take six to eight planets at nominal garrison strength. On the prior comparison to the Invading Clans of the 3050s, Vickers' Reinforced Century could muster more combat force than two of the Clans' invasion forces in question.

And Empress Atrebas wanted that force on one planet, to guard one Protectorate. The implication in that kind of equation was stunning to Vickers.

"Century Commander Yanez, I'll leave the finer points of policy for you and Sigma to hash out. Report back to me when you have everything in order."

"Aff, milady Atrebas," the Protectorate Affairs Century Commander said.

"Good luck, Sigma. The eyes of many worlds are watching," Rini said.

"They'll get a good show tonight, the clearing is supposed to finish up for the second Train," Clint said. "And ComStar will get a lot of footage from the Train for it."

"I will need to find some popcorn, then," Rini said with a bit of humor to voice.

The conversation ended a couple minutes later, but the lasting effect of their discussion would go a long way into the future.

-x-x-x-

(31 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1315 Hours Local Time)
(Northern METARgraphic field, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)
(Day 14 of Campaign)

ComStar Field Reporter Lunete Ueda didn't have to go far to find something of interest in the Protectorate, and today she decided about looking into the basic training crews that were being hosted by the Multimages to whip volunteers for the Protectorate into something approximating an actual army. The training work was a base-wide thing, training units could be found everywhere on the grounds of Boarhound, but the largest amount of the action centered around the northern and western METARgraphic fields, whose nanomachine-and-hologram simulation systems could amplify training gains with more varied and realistic simulations.

So, when she went looking, she was not overlong in finding something worth listening to.

"A solid question, and a necessary one, Cadet Bijon. Please repeat the question a bit louder for the team," the DI said.

"Ma'am!" One of the cadets stood up and came to attention smartly. "What is the value of studying the ways of the militia, if we are not going to be militia?" This time the question was loud enough to be heard by the entire group, and by Lunete's camera.

"Thank you, Cadet," DI Venorse answered. "There is a seldom-discussed principle in the existence of militaries throughout Existence, called espirit de corps — the soul and spirit of the army itself, and of the smaller formations. The spirit is formed of many things, but the biggest three are the spirit of the nation itself, the morale of the nation and the troops, and the traditions of the nation and military. To short-answer your question, Cadet Bijon, the traditions of the militia are the tradition under which the Sigma Command trained, and that tradition is one that is necessary for the Protectorate. This is a dangerous nation in a dangerous time, serving a dangerous purpose, and at the end of the day every man, woman, child, and elder is at risk from it. A militiamen is always ready to defend his or her homeland, to the point of the best of the best were called Minutemen, citizen-soldiers ready to act in a minute's notice."

The Drill Instructor started pacing in front of the cadets. "Now, the next question in line is what this would have to do with you. This is a formation comprised of mostly Regulars, chances are you won't fall to Militia detail until after you have retired from the mercenary unit. Well, again we delve back in the American tradition, this time to a battle from the founding of the United States. The Battle of Trenton, fought in the morning of 26 December, between the Colonial Troops — including a hefty amount of militia forces — and professional soldiers serving under the British. The German mercenaries holding the town had spent the prior days drinking, carousing, wenching, making asses out of themselves to an extent that even the worst regular troops would find disgusting. Overnight, they were undisciplined in their drink and utterly unprepared for any sort of combat. The morning to come, they were caught defensive by General George Washington and could only put up an uneven counterattack against troops they should have defeated. Because they were undisciplined, because they were unprepared to act immediately, because they had allowed themselves to grow drunk and fattened off the lay of the land, they failed their contract to the Crown, but they also failed themselves to an even worse degree. Their failures are a cautionary lesson that echoes throughout history time and time again, but it is also a showing that the common citizen-soldier can defeat professionals with proper planning and tactics. And it is that spirit, the belief that every person in the Protectorate has the potential to stand in defense of themselves and others, that is why the focus on the Militia ethos. It may not make a huge difference today, or even in a few years, but in a generation or two it will make a massive difference."

"What value are militia troops against a regular army, ma'am?" Another of the cadets asked.

"That question has been raised with the Command Section, and the answer from Sigma Two was quite unequivocal." DI Venorse chuckled grimly. "He wants the same access to the implements of tactical warfare for everyone in the nation, be it a lowly pocket pistol, a magicked sword, a light machine gun, a tank, a helicopter, Battlemechs, Mobile Suits, what have you. If you can afford it, you can have it, and you can train on it to your heart's content. By that metric, if you're on the up-and-up with your gear, when the Militia is called to duty, you would be more than adequate to the job. Remember, sim technology is big and plans are in the works for growing the availability of sim systems in Sigma, so you have near-zero training costs with pretty much anything you wish to use."

Lunete reflected that the policy wasn't much departed from the Magi's policy on personal armaments, and the Mages had a long history of stopping aggressor parties butt-cold in their tracks with the militia, then blowing through the survivors with the regular formations and taking the battle into enemy territory. Some estimates on Negaverse casualties from the Star Empire Wars era ranged upwards of 45% casualties due to Militia action. For certain, calling militiamen 'farmers with pitchforks' was nothing short of grossly underestimating your foe and likely a serious detriment to anybody who tried to put such an estimate into action.

"Further questions?" DI Venorse asked. Nobody asked a further question. "All right, packs on and start your climb! You have eight floors to ascend, collect your gear at the top station, and back down to the ground floor! Move it up!"

The Cadets picked up their weighted backpacks and started up the stairs, leaving DI Venorse and Lunete the only two remaining on the ground floor.

"Basic Training amongst the Magi is typically sixteen weeks, with a washout rate of around 30 percent," Geri Venorse said. "It is a different world here, with some standards that almost seem soft to we Magi, and some standards that are abysmally harder than we Magi train for. And their training keeps going until they wash out or they achieve standard."

"How much of a difference will it make in the end?" Lunete asked.

"For what they train, duty in the mercenary formations? They will be ready to hit the contract circuit at a dead sprint, doubly so that this is not a traditional mercenary formation. And those who face off against the mercenaries on the far side? They will learn to fear."

"And the Star League?" Lunete asked.

"Pfft," DI Venorse sputtered. "Their regulars are hard-pressed to conduct a road march in good order to a whorehouse. They can be a threat, but it will take numbers and resources well in excess of the match-up on paper. And we Magi will not take kindly to the Star League threatening a Protectorate under us."

"Any thoughts at large for the audience?" she asked.

"Only a standing lament that I will likely not be the one to PT Sigma One's arse when time comes that he can do a full basic course, assuming he ever can spare time for it," Geri Venorse said with some humor. "As command-level, he would be a very worthy and very dangerous adversary, but he has paid for it by letting his physical condition go. The instructor that does get him assigned to his or her Basic unit is going to have a workout with him."

"And his skill behind the rifle?" Lunete wondered why such a divorce between his combat record thus far and the opinion of the DI.

"Remember what I said about Militia? The Callsigns are solid examples of it, and in a rifle match Sigma One would be an exceptionally dangerous foe. Alpha doesn't always translate to beta, ergo skill with small arms doesn't always translate to physical prowess, and this is also an exemplar case for it."

"Thank you for the quick and impromptu interview," Lunete said.

"A pleasure. If you want some juicy footage, swing back by around 1400, my crew is scheduled for rifle and pistol time here on the holo-field."

Lunete's take from the conversation was being live-dumped to the ComStar servers, and would be made available as a streamable video clip. In hours, millions of persons would get a glimpse of the training and the philosophy, and there would be some who offered to sign up for Sigma.

-x-x-x-

(31 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1530 Hours Star League Standard Time)
(Personal quarters of Senator Mandy Glivenne)
(Day 14 of Campaign)

"Are we all here?" Mandy asked after the last entrant took a seat on the couch in her quarters. Being a senior Senator, she had her choice of a standard apartment or one of the larger suites, and naturally she chose the better accommodations.

"This is it, nobody else wanted to sign on after the Master Executor's rebuttal," Junior Senator Amise Orvanne said. A representative of the Dark Moon Star Empire, she had started out a staunch nationalist but quickly became a proper Star League advocate after some exposure to the faults of the Star Empires and the good that the Star League could do.

"We need to shut up the Executors and shut down this upstart Protectorate if we expect to move forward on Star League supremacy," Senator Kyleigh Asari said. She hailed from one of the minor states, but the state was pacificistic so it would not volunteer to provide the manpower for this operation.

For the muscle needed on this tasking, Mandy had selected a particularly hot-blooded Senator from an otherwise hot-blooded planetary governance, one that had desires to become a minor Star Empire. "I have already spoken to my brother, he is reviewing options and believes the Duchy may wish to take you up on the offer, Senator Glivenne." Senator Maria Nuone, sister to Regent Ulysses IV (Ulysses Nuone), did not mince her words and for obvious reason. She was a straight-shooter, but uneven of temper, which made her something of a maverick in the Senate.

"It is a generous offer, and it gives the Duchy a foothold on a second planet — the first step necessary to becoming a Star Empire," Mandy pointed out.

"It also corrects a stain on the honor of the Dynasty," the senator from the Dynasty Star Empire said. Zoey Hajin, a long-service Senator from the Dynasty, was only a couple seniority ranks away from being listed in the 'Senior' group. "We surrendered the Trains to the Star League to keep the heritage alive. It is a dishonor to have them scrapped down in such a callous fashion," she said, which was her position but not strictly the position of the Dynasty. She did not know that Empress Atrebas of the Mages had couriered several sets of photos and documents to the Dynasty, specifically to her Great Uncle Talpa, to explain what the row about the Trains was.

"How much coverage can we expect?" Maria asked the other Senators.

"The Senate shall side with your efforts on Terra 232, but be aware that if you fail, we cannot provide material support. The Master Executor is insane enough that he will enforce his orders of SL non-involvement to the letter, but he cannot stop the Senate from siding with the Duchy in such a conflict."

"And the Command Administrator, this Hess guy?" Senator Kaitlyn Sereneia asked. "Do we want to drag him to the gallows for this insult, or do we kill him outright and parade the body as a warning to the next upstart?"

"Kill him, immediately," Mandy Glivenne ordered. "If he is captured alive, the Executors or the Mages may try to mount a rescue mission, which would be inconvenient and may touch off a war. At least with the dissolution of the Protectorate and the death of its command staff, there shall be no ongoing cause for war."

"Giving those arrogant Multimages a good ration of comeuppance will be well worth it, and go a long way to reasserting the dominance of the Star League in the affairs of the Many States." Amise sipped at her chai tea and smirked. "The impossible Star Empire. How the hell that ass-backwards institution rose from an itch in Atrebas' brainpan to the single most powerful government in Existence is beyond me."

"Two parts luck, five parts dumb luck, and five parts coercion," Kaitlyn grumped. "It is impossible for them to have built to the size they have without a lot of coercion," she threw out her personal guess, which had no bearing on the actual history of the matter. Hers was an opinion that big nations, big corporations, and wealthy persons always achieved such successes by destroying or subsuming other, lesser beings.

"Well, this attempt at creating a new point of expansion shall be put to an end soon enough," Zoey said. "I look forward to the ComStar reports of your brother's forces running roughshod over them." She saluted Maria with her water glass.

"I'll be sure to get you the first cut of footage when our men find and eliminate that damnable Command Administrator. Helmet cameras and all that," she said with a smile, which told Mandy that the senator from the Duchy was not entirely sane to enjoy such things.

-x-

(Same time)
(Office of the Will Transcendent, Temple of the Executors)

As usual, Eric Atrebas knew who was on the far side of his office door by way of the knock pattern and the faint hint of distortion caused by her magic aura. "It's open, Tomoe-san," Atrebas said loud enough to be heard by her.

"Master, I think we have collectively set off a chain of events that will result in great and terrible happenings in the next couple of weeks."

Atrebas looked up from his paperwork and raised an eyebrow. "This is, I believe, in the job description? Or is something more specific at hand?"

"Sigma," Hotaru said simply.

Atrebas dropped his pen and leaned back from the desk. "Talk to me."

"A conspiracy has just formed in a small group of the Senate to entice one of the minor member states to assault and capture Base Boarhound, and thereby eliminate the Protectorate in its infancy," Hotaru explained.

Atrebas scrunched his face up and nodded twice. "Some of them are truly dumber than all of them, and no person in that fouled tribe is accused of being a genius," the Will Transcendent grumped. "Do they honestly believe I will forgive and forget, much less my granddaughter?"

"Oh yes, they believe it," Hotaru said with a sigh. "As you said, nobody in their ranks is up for Mensa participation."

"Do you have names?" Atrebas asked.

"Their conspiracy created an echo in Fate that I cannot ignore, for they will succeed in changing the course of many lives, many histories. I know it all, because we will want to intervene and give ourselves the best possible outcome," The Master Executor of Silence said as she took a seat across the desk from her immediate superior.

"Good. Keep those names close, for when the time comes I will demonstrate the price of conspiring against honorable parties and honorable goals. Now, what can you tell me of this assault action, and what assets will we need to stage for intervention?" Atrebas asked.

"You and I shall be the only Executor response needed, above and beyond Nereus who is already in position. The other major asset needed shall be your granddaughter, and here is my present thinking on how we need to go about this…"

Hotaru's briefing would last an hour, go through two change recalculations, and would result in an optimal solution for everyone involved. It would not be easy, but no proper uphill struggle is ever easy…

-x-x-x-

(31 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 2045 Hours Local Time)
(Admin Mess Hall, Boarhound Administration Building, Terra 232)
(Day 14 of Campaign)

Lunete certainly didn't want to miss the big story of the evening, the Rail Guard Team 1 mini-party for finishing their first Train, so she followed Sigma One up to the cafeteria to watch the coming event, though in this case she would not be making much noise in the matter.

Of course, her resolution to just watch and record did not last long. "Jamison Whiskey?" Lunete asked Sigma One as he finished pouring the last shot.

"It's decent Irish whiskey," Hess said. "I'm more of a fan of a good kentucky bourbon, most of those were made within driving distance of where I lived, but I didn't see any of my personal preferences in the dispensary list for the Train Supply Network, so…" Hess shrugged, which caused his gearset to rattle.

"How worried are you about the Star League's threats on sanctions?"

"Near zero. Yeah, sanctions might scare off some of the more skittish clients, but the big players — and especially ComStar — have already sworn they will not stand down on this matter. So, barring that changing, I'm not going to lose sleep over what Glivenne had to say."

"So, you said earlier that 6000 plus persons were pulled off the Train. How soon do you think you'll be moving them out?" Lunete continued the impromptu interview.

"Thinking about starting the process tomorrow morning, get the first group of refugees moving outward into the structures immediately around Boarhound, and get the couple minor businesses in the area started back up." Sigma One waved at the far door, which was temporarily outside Lunete's view until she shifted around and saw the entrants.

"Hey hey! This where the party's at?" the youngest member of the Rail Guard team asked.

"Such as the party is," Sigma One said. "Gather 'round, troops."

"Whiskey shots, interesting," Lieutenant Christenson said. "Figured you for more of a beer guy, sir," she prompted him.

"Get along better with whiskey and vodka, to be honest," Hess said.

"Have alternates for us, sir?" Scarlet waved a finger between herself and Camille.

"Aye, I suspected you'd ask," Hess pulled back their shots and provided each with a bottle of apple juice.

"So, what's the toast of the evening?" Cedric asked.

"To a successful clearing operation, an intelligence haul, thousands of persons rescued and in decent health, and most critically to the good health and survival of the Team," Hess offered.

"And to one hell of a payday," Carl said.

"Keeping up the reputation of dragons and fortunes?" Pete asked, which caused Lunete to freeze up instinctively. It wasn't exactly racist, per se, but it was at least an old legend that dragons liked some treasure, and some dragons like a lot of treasure.

"Not draconic in my case," Carl poked the much-younger Elven trooper. "I just like to get paid for hanging my tail out in the breeze like that."

"Not at all untoward an expectation," Hess said. He raised his shotglass in toast. "So, to a successful clearing op, an intelligence haul of no small rapport, thousands of lives saved, redeemed, rescued, to the continued safety and survival of the Team, and to one hell of a payday when we finish scrapping the Train."

"Hear hear!" Megan was the first to toast in, but the entire crew wasn't slow on the take.

"How much of a payday are we looking at, sir?" Ikuno asked.

"Oh, there will be a good payday for the team, rest assured," Sigma One said. "The Train's by-size cut is 13 million on confirmation of final scrapping. That process begins tomorrow, and depending on how many teams Mosley puts together, could be upwards of a month before it is done, or it could be in a couple weeks. We'll see soon enough. Material salvage from the Train should be another few million, the total haul from the Train should be around twenty million. Now, by contract payment requirements in Sigma, you get a quarter of the take split between active troops, and there is some play in there for the Commandos assisting us, the Militia and Ranger Teams assisting us, and so on, but overall I'd expect the haul for your team to be in excess of five million, probably closer to six or seven million split between you guys."

"Hot damn," Harold said.

"Huh," Hess said, looking past Scarlet toward the far door of the cafeteria. "Friends of yours?" His comment caused everyone to look in that direction.

"Mine, that's my girlfriend, and is that her sister?" Quintin asked.

"Yeah, it is," Harold admitted. "Who happens to be my date for the evening. Mind if I wave her over, sir?"

"Not a problem, we aren't discussing anything classified," Hess waved the two ladies over.

The conversation halted for the two ladies to join the crew. The younger sister simply joined Harold, but the elder sister hugged and kissed Quintin. "Heard you were done with the Train!" she said after a moment.

"Erica Coddie, this is the boss' boss, Sigma One," Quintin introduced her.

"Hello, sir!" She said in a rush.

"And this is Cathy Coddie," Harold introduced the younger sister.

"Sir!" she nodded.

"And welcome to both of you. Have apple juice, water or whiskey, if you're so inclined," Sigma One said.

"I'll do a whiskey mixer, thanks sir!" Cathy said.

"Same," Erica said.

"Good, 'cause as much as I can do straight whiskey shots or whiskey on the rocks, I much prefer a whiskey sour," Hess produced three tumblers, added a couple ice cubes to each, then did a 30-70 blend of whiskey to sweet-and-sour mixer. "Anyone want refills?"

"Definitely, sir!" Scarlet waved her empty apple juice bottle at Sigma One.

"I think I'd like to try one of those, sir," Megan pointed to what he was drinking.

"I'm game," Quintin said.

"Same here, sir," Ikuno nodded. So it went with the entire team, their second round would be mixed drinks.

"So, herein we toast the future," Hess said after providing the drinks requested to the persons. "We're down two Trains. We have over 150,000 still to go, given that I thoroughly expect the Star League will start commissioning new Trains just to spite the Executors and piss on our efforts. So, what are the next steps?"

Megan slugged the whiskey sour. "Next step, we're taking a bit of a break from active ops. Seven days in clearing is a hell of a lot of effort."

"Granted, readily," Hess said. "Take three to five, we'll reevaluate after that. Following steps?"

"Need to do some dedicated marksmanship training and practice for all of us, and get our choice of personal arms squared away. The UMP40 is good for a starter weapon, and sub-guns are really good for the close quarters of the Trains, but we're about fifty-fifty already."

"Agreed, subs are a good base weapon, but you need varied capabilities," Hess said. "I'll make sure you have access to what you need, when needed. And you, Scarlet, the 40mm grenade launcher is a good touch, but a single-tube weapon would be a bit more flexible rather than the six-and-done of the Milkor."

"I was thinking about special munitions earlier today, sir," Scarlet admitted. "Maybe an ACR and a M203?"

"It's an option," Hess said. "Still, I expect the two of you are probably headed for maternity leave before we are ready for the next Trains."

"Yes, that we are," Camille said.

"And here again, to the future," Sigma One raised his glass for toast. "For those here already, for those yet to be rescued, for those soon to be born, and for many more to come. For these things, we stand where others will not, we fight where others would allow depredation, we succeed where others have already given in to despair or are wont to allow the problem to continue. We owe nothing less to those yet to come."

"Hear hear!" The entire group, Coddie sisters included, joined the toast. They finished their drinks and set the glasses down on the counter Hess was using as an impromptu bar.

"Thank you, all of you, for being the leading edge of this effort," Hess said.

"Team attention!" Megan ordered. The crew, including the Coddie sisters, all came to attention and saluted.

Hess returned the salute. "Team dismissed."

-x-x-x-

(31 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 2100 Hours Star League Standard Time)
(Personal Quarters of Mandy Glivenne, Star League Palace of the Grand Council, Luna Zero)
(Day 14 of Campaign)

The paperwork of the day continued to haunt her, mainly because with any major conspiracy the chief conspirator had to arrange things at least until those things were in motion. So, much as she needed to finish the motions and bills for the next day, she was still staring at the last pages of it.

Of course, being the person that coordinated the motion of the conspiracy, she would be the person to do the final go-mission, and she knew it. So, when Senator Maria Nuone called her at 2100SST, she was surprised by the ring but not surprised at who was on the far side of the link.

"Maria, how goes the planning?" Mandy asked.

"I think we have everything squared away, Senior Senator. Would you like to talk to my brother about it?" Maria Nuone asked.

"Certainly," Mandy sat back and dropped her pen. The screen switched over to a split-screen, one of the junior Senator and the other of a guy that bore a definite family resemblance to the junior Senator. "Regent Ulysses VI, I have heard much of you from your sister," Mandy started the show.

"And I of you, Senator Glivenne," Ulysses Nuone said with a bow. "Thank you for the audience."

"What news do you have of your world and your intentions, Regent?"

"Your plan has been heard by the noble houses of my world, and we are in accord. If you still intend to drive over the Executor's objections and blustering threats, we are ready to take the action to this pithy Protectorate."

"We have the final authority on the affairs of the Star league, and by force of law we have the authority over the subordinate states, including their protectorates," Mandy Glivenne said with finality. "They shall be reeducated in this requirement of the treaty as we have amended," the Senior Senator said coldly. "You will be honored and protected for this decision, Regent Nuone."

"I have little concern the Protectorate has the ability to come after us," Ulysses said bluntly. "The greater worry is the Mages, if they decide to act on their agreements rather than stomach the loss and continue on."

"If they act against your group for an action sanctioned by the Grand Council, they will pay dearly for such a transgression," Mandy said. "How soon will you begin?"

"I am assembling teams and have requested a Jumpship to transport the assault team. Additionally, we have hired on another mercenary unit, one that has no love for the disruptive practices that Sigma has injected into the normally tidy mercenary network. They will show no mercy to the mercs and to the Mages that stand guard over the Protectorate."

"Good, it is time that a lesson is delivered properly on the cost of defying the Star League. I wish you luck on your campaign, and I will have the committee for clandestine operations sign off on the warrant to deal with Sigma. You will receive a copy of it within the next couple days."

"Understood, Senior Senator. If you will excuse me, I have preparations to make for the campaign," Ulysses VI said.

"Good luck, Regent," Senator Glivenne killed the connection, then allowed herself to smile. The die was cast and the players were in motion, now the Star League would soon reaffirm its superiority over the member states and especially over little minor holdings that dared to defy the Senate.

-x-x-x-

(31 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 2330 Hours Star League Standard Time)
(Undisclosed location, uninhabited instance of Terra, outside all Star League and Star Empire territories)
(Day 14 of Campaign)

It was not known outside of the circles of the Executor Lords and Master Executors, but some Executors kept an 'archive' of relics for use as changing situations demanded different tools. A more proper term for some of these archives would be 'armory', given that the largest share of relics (over 80 percent) are weapons or armor.

Known to only three Executors, though, was the existence of Hotaru's Archive, and that was deliberate on their part. The secrecy and the security measures were sacrosanct, a necessity of the grim purpose to which the devices were beholden. The devices contained within held such a power that nations, Empires would have killed to have possession of them. Even, as these things happened, the Star Empires and the Star League would want to forcibly take possession, not because of their inherent power, but because of the true purpose and side effects of these devices.

And now, Hotaru knew the time was at hand to begin the use of these archived Relics.

The temple in question was monolithic, built in a style similar to that of the old Aztec stepped pyramids. Over the centuries, it had grown over with moss and vines, a product of the rainforest environment it was built in, and was fitting for inclusion in an Aztec city except for it's wildly different decoration and purpose. These were not temples to divine beings, for the creator of this lonely outpost was beyond the position of divinity.

Access to the structure was held by a permanent shell barrier that could only be crossed if someone had a marker relic or knew the necessary dispelling words. Given the shell barrier was put in place by Hotaru, she knew well what it would take to dispel it — and, as these things happened, it was no longer needed as of a few minutes into the future.

The barrier was also clearly delineated, a swath of jungle had been stripped back and covered with titanocrete dyed with warning chevron paint. It was a deliberate action to approach without understanding one was about to cross a hazard, so…

Hotaru stepped up to the barrier and cleared her throat. "Be wary the past as one records the future. Be mindful of the future as one records the past. Be honest in the history of all that one has become."

At the end of her pass-phrase, which was also the guiding principle of the facility and the entities within, the shell flashed bright white, then disappeared. Hotaru walked across the chevron thresholds and continued the 300 meter walk to the temple entrance. Silently the Sovereign of Silence wondered to herself if, after all was done and Ragnarok was concluded, if any of the survivors would stumble across this planet and understand the significance of this lonely site?

Hotaru was greeted at the doorway by the one permanent resident at the facility. "So, it is time?" Master Oracle Andiana asked simply.

"If we do not begin now, we may win the war and never be known for it," Hotaru answered the question from the Master Oracle.

Andiana nodded once. "I am ready, Master Executor."

Hotaru waved her to take the lead into the inner sanctum of the temple, and with it she steeled herself to what she was about to do. Andiana was one of four surviving individuals of a race that predated the entire pattern of conflicts that the Star Empires knew as 'Ragnarok'. One of four survivors at this point, having known her few remnants to be dwindling with each repeat of the cycle, Hotaru could never imagine seeing a once-great race of beings crash into near-nothing in the span of less than a year, then spend the next 800,000 years dwindling from thirty to four. This was the last cycle, the Norns (the other three survivors) would not tolerate another repeat, therefore the problem had to be solved now, permanently, or allow it to annihilate Existence.

"We have fought against the Eternal Darkness for eons after eons, and now we stand on the edge of the final gambit," Andiana said. "Tell me, Sovereign of Silence, has it all come to naught?"

"The decision tree is not completely run, but we are on the proper side of a solution." Hotaru sighed and leaned back against one of the columns in the room, one of the few that was not being used as a hanging station for relic weapons and items. "There are precious few decisions that could lead us back to an annihilation scenario, and one major decision point that could render Existence well-defended against the coming storm."

Andiana sat down on the edge of the center altar and chuckled grimly. "In our hubris, we allowed another party to create the Eternal Darkness. We paid for this failure with the bulk of our race, and now the last few of us will give it one last shot to do right where we should have done so seven cycles ago. Eight hundred millennia ago."

"Many worlds, many races have paid the necessary toll, a stalling tactic to build forward and hopefully find a proper solution." Hotaru recognized the voice of the second Norn, Verthandi, and was unsurprised to see Skuld with her as well. Urd, the third of their rank, was already known to be in the center of the coming storm. "And we Norns have paid with our lives two at a time to seal back the Eternal Darkness for a period of time."

"Even now, we can't see the outcome," Skuld grumped. "Has your sword given an answer?"

"As of right now, something will survive," Hotaru allayed their fears. "There will be modifications, as the remaining time winds down, but the scenarios crossing us back into annihilation are few and easily avoided."

"And that brings us to your request," Verthandi stepped into the room and sat down on the altar next to the one surviving Great Oracle of their mutual race. "Protectorate of Sigma."

"All three of you shall be deployed to the new Protectorate," Hotaru said evenly. "They are the decision point of most importance to come, and it would be best served to ensure the decision falls in our favor. And, as these things happen, you will witness history made time and again, participate in those histories, even find some measure of personal happiness in this most darkened hour."

"It shall be our last posting?" Andiana asked.

"This is where the Chronicles will be fulfilled to the greatest degree, where you will venture out to places where we Executors do not go. You will meet people, see places, do things that are unseen to the normal denizens throughout Existence. From it all, you will record the lives and times of the Star Empires and innumerable others."

"And when it is done, we will be the history of the worlds we failed to protect by failing to stop the creation of the problem." Andiana sighed. "We lived where we should not have, and where others rightfully should have been spared."

Hotaru figured there was no need for such self-defeated thinking. "You lived because you knew what had to be done. You created the preconditions by which we exist now, and indirectly have made our victory possible. There is no need for you to despair of what has been, but to embrace one last moment of life and the living before we finish the war started against you."

"Thank you, Master Executor. For all we have done, you have stood with us when no other would." Andiana stood and embraced the physically smaller Tomoe. "I am ready for the transfer."

Hotaru removed a sword from it's hanging display on the wall. The sword was of the bastard sword style, large enough to be usable two-handed but feasible for single hand use as well. The blade was a single blade type, not split into two halves length-wise as was common for the other Chronicle Relics, but the form of the blade was perfect for the embedded gemstones — five embedded topaz gems in a 5-centimeter length oval cut — that decorated the blade down the length of it, along with the platinum hilt and ornate handle. It was a sword fit for an Emperor just on material and craftsmanship, but would be a blade destined for use by a man who would refuse such a title and alternately earn it many times over.

The enchantments to the blade were the greater factor than simply the material. Each of the relics carried a suite of enchantments centered around combat survivability and the use of time magic, but the critical set — the true reason why the Chronicles relics existed — was the Chrono Recorder enchantments. A combination of limited foresight to the future, absolute sight to the present and the past, and the ability to record that history in permanent form in the enchantments centered on the gemstones, was what made the Chronicles necessary to the effort. With these relics already forged, and some more to come, the history about to be slain by Ragnarok would be recorded and remembered for whomever survived and found the place it was buried.

Andiana stepped up on the center platform and bowed to the Norns. "Stand back, I don't want you to take a hit from this."

"Meet you outside, Hotaru." Verthandi and Skuld both bowed to the Master Oracle and headed out the rear entrance to the temple.

"Ready?" Hotaru asked the ancient researcher.

"I cannot dwell on my mortal form when this last duty is at hand." Andiana laid down on the altar and put the hilt of the sword on her forehead, with the blade running down the length of her body and down between her legs. "Please begin."

"Ancient Runes of the Silent Divine, awaken the power contained upon this altar," Hotaru said simply. The perimeter of the altar flashed white with a thousand characters from a language forgotten to this time period, and with it the embedded magicks took hold.

The transfer itself only took a few seconds overall, and with it Andiana took her final breath as a living being of a forgotten race.

It is done, Hotaru next heard from her by telepathy, her mind and soul now ensconced in the sword. What is the next step?

"Our next major move is in a few days, when the preconditions for a decisive battle have been laid." Hotaru removed the sword from where it was laying on the former physical form of the Master Oracle. "That battle is where the first of the Chronicle Relics will be deployed — specifically, you."

Now we will make a difference, the new mind of the Chronicle Sword said with gusto. Chronicles, box up and be ready for this last trial!

An ornate magic box in the northwest corner of the room opened of it's own volition, and flashed several dozen times rapidly, each flash representing the arrival and stowage of each Chronicle Relic that was prepared for deployment. All told, 72 were stowed for transportation, but Hotaru knew there would be more prepared in coming years, decades, centuries. The Master Executor closed the box and picked it up by it's carry handle.

Outside the temple, Hotaru reactivated the barrier shell and stepped through a Gate spell to her Executor quarters. It would not be needed, but to defend the historical site she would leave the barrier up. It would fade in time, and maybe the site would be found by some manner of survivor in millennia to come.

---

Author's Chapter Afterword:

Fifteen chapters in, and now you see a side of the Star League that I have only partially hinted at over my prior works that occur in this time frame or later.

The consideration here is simple: if you look at all governments through a certain lens, they eventually come to exist to take power and maintain power. This has been the case throughout recorded history, and shows precisely zero likelihood of changing in any future scenario going forward. As such, when writing future governments, one has to consider that is the main motivation of those in power, and the Star League is only a more blatant example thereof. Using proxies to maintain that power is going to be a big theme in the Sigma stories going forward, so…

I should also mention that such a behavior will be demonstrated by Sigma as well, but as Sigma was founded more as a rescue operation than a straight government, the course taken and the disbursement of power in Sigma's case will be a bit different. Remember that in nations governed by highly-restrictive constitutions, the on-paper assumption is that the civilians under such a system will hold a modicum of power, and is both the case for Sigma and the Mages that backstop them.

Also, this chapter wraps up the operational side of the first Train clearing. As shown, there will be more — lots more — of the Trains to deal with, and Sigma will be at the forefront of it but they will not be the only ones pursuing the massive task. Some will do it for the humanitarian reasons, others will be doing it for the payday, and still some for the purpose of pissing on the Star League, but the task has to be done and Sigma will not be alone on the matter.

The one other major point I have to mention is the opening segment, with the Purchasing Administrator. Throughout the Star Empires, there are a lot of examples of old hardware from both the Star Empires and from other histories, and a goodly portion of that is always on sale. Sigma, with a contract base that spans from ancient Egypt all the way to the Successor States and the Star Empires, will have access to and will collect an absolute shit-ton of hardware from every era. Purchasing and selling components, units, personal equipment will be huge business for Sigma, especially for museums, antiquities dealers, and archaeologists looking to study the real deal as it was captured by interdimensional mercenaries. It's something of an unanticipated angle of business, but altogether one that will help finance Sigma's projects going forward.

On the writing front, these past couple months have been a bit rocky for me, lots going on at home and work that I can't really discuss at length but to which I am trying to navigate and push out new chapters. I have a chapter of JW2 awaiting beta right now, so that is going to be my next drop in a week or two, and right now I am debating if I want to just go forward on the last chapter of JW2 or if I want to do a chapter of AAA or NSS for release. I could also start up on MMC2, but I'm holding that back for the time being for me to completely sort out the storyline before I press forward. I have the high-points determined, don't have the general flow sorted out and diced out.

That's it for me for today. NEXT UP: Sigma settles down a bit now that the first Trains are cleared, and the people begin moving outward from Boarhound to begin resettling the land and drawing up new lives. While the Commando Ghosts do recon on the world where the Minerva crewmembers was sold off, the Star League's forces prepare to bring the invasion to Terra 232.

---

Review Replies: Eight reviews for last chapter, which is FAR more than I expected. MUCH THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT!

Psyraptor: The present-form Archangel from AAA could smoke a Privateer, as could the Minerva if the pirate ship was known to be a hostile entity and the Minerva shot first. Surprise and initiative go a long way to deciding a battle if you have the ability to do a fast knockout in the moments after you cold-cock someone, which the Privateer has that ability in the CE universe.

Guest: Quite true on the lawyering tactic, and thankfully Hess will have to do precious little of it. As to Atrebas' enmity with the Gods, the largest portion of that is with the Greek Gods, and those who truly drew his ire have been annihilated long before the time of Sigma. The Norse gods, the Japanese Gods, and the Chinese Gods are three pantheons that Atrebas had no real beef with, though to eliminate the restraints holding back his lands Atrebas had to order them to stand down as well. They will earn a chunk of redemption in coming stories, even some of the Greek Gods that were not directly involved in the depredations against the Magi.

The major net positive the Star League has to their name is they have been the major brokers of peace and diplomacy between the Star Empires both in their original form (First Star League / Silver Millennium) and their present form (Second Star League). A large part of the present-timeline peace and goodwill between the Star Empires and independent states is due to the Star League's past and ongoing efforts to keep the peace and resolve conflicts before they go to guns. It is easy to confuse their present incompetence for institutionalized incompetence going back through its history, but the failures of today are only the culmination of a slow slide into degeneracy, in centuries past it was not so. Arrogance and decadence are cumulative, as these things happen.

Your third question was answered properly in this chapter, but in recap, yes, she was slain in a particularly vile fashion, along with Chairman Durandal. As to Sergeant Foley's team, they are still somewhat on the fence, but that will change in a hurry as a few more scenarios are cleared up in coming chapters.

Sajuuk: I think I will be purchasing outright the next Gundam series I intend to watch, I seem to like all of them.

Hellhound D.O.W.: Got a few good questions here, so:

1: Yes, but not immediately. Sigma is still gearing up, more exotic medical technologies are still yet to migrate into the Protectorate.

2. I haven't even begun pushing the bounds of magic yet, so stay tuned on that note.

3. I can't go too far into details on divine and demonic beings, as that would constitute spoilers for upcoming MMC and JW material, but you can rest assured that there are still more powers out there that I have not yet written about.

4. If you have a JW design, send me a PM or drop it in review for the next JW chapter and I'll see if it makes sense to add to one of the factions.

Thanks!

KPheonix: I'm surprised you still haven't gotten a handle on the login / logout issues with FFN. Have you tried to engage their tech support?

NHO: The Star League still exists because, at this point in the story, as much as they are screwing the pooch on such matters, taking them out of play will be more costly in terms of lives than simply leaving them in place. Be aware, though, the latching point for where they have outlived their usefulness and the casualties to be paid are minimal is close at hand.

NHO Round 2: WD and GDL are two of the major merc outfits that will start looking into the small contract circuit, and they have the resources to make a fast move into that market, but keep in mind that the bread-and-butter of the massive merc units is in large contracts, mid tens of millions and up into the hundreds of millions. The gap that Sigma is exploiting exists because of that mindset, though as you point out some of the formations will be smart enough to see the knife used against them on this matter.

Korriganatar The Nightshadow: Thank you for giving me a re-read on AAA! Always trying to keep my stories moving.

As to the AAA making cameos in my other stories, no comment :)

On the matter of the reincarnation issue, well, let's just say JW Set 5 will be VERY enlightening to more than a few of those entries.

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS! Glad to keep getting the good solid feedback on these stories.

---

The Gripe Sheet:

No complaints standing. Much thanks to Necroblade, Takeshi Yamato, and Sieben Nightwing for editing and keeping me on the proper path.

---

Footnotes:

(1): D-Check is a level of maintenance check expressed in aerospace terminology, in this case also used by the Magi for their ground units. It corresponds to a five-tier maintenance schedule, A-Check, B-Check, C-Check, D-Check, and E-Check, each level increasing the complexity of maintenance tasks and time taken to perform the check. A-Checks last a day or two for Mobile Suits and do mostly basic non-routine servicing on the aircraft. B-Checks get a little more in depth, servicing and replacing some minor components, and can last up to a week. B-Checks would be performed at the Cluster level maintenance facilities or a contractor. C-Checks can last upwards of a month for Mobile Suits and cover everything from engine shielding replacements to minor system overhauls and upgrades. D-Checks are handled at the Century level for maintenance, often times in dedicated depots, and provide for frame overhauls, major system upgrades, armor segment replacements, and battle damage restoration. E-Checks, the most involved of repairs, are commonly handled by dedicated MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) groups or by the manufacturer themselves, and pretty much constitute stripping a machine down to bare frame and rebuilding it to factory-new specification. In Mobile Suit terms, this can last over two months depending on the machine complexity and modifications needed.

(A planned new check designation for Sigma in coming years is what is called a R-Check, which takes an existing MS or Gundam frame and rebuilds it in a different or upgraded specification. A good example of this would be taking the MS-05 Zaku 1 and rebuilding it to the MS-06 Zaku 2 specification, which would use the same frame but upgrade the largest part of the engine, cockpit, armor, and electronics for the new designation.)

---

Included Works:

—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 chapters 13 and 14, 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))