Death of Robotnik 2

-.

While the engineers and officers were nerding out over the loot and military hardware, 2nd Recon (Nightcrawlers) Company no longer had to serve as the welcoming committee. Everyone that needed to arrive had arrived, and infantry took over guard duties.

Technicians were still carefully exploring. This place, no matter how welcoming, might still have traps. The Star League, masters of the hidden base, was also known for those too.

Eridani Light Horse personnel were avidly exploring Main Street's restaurants, shops, movie theaters, appliance centers, and in the case of some - jail. They could not loot locations that had bots in them that served as a facsimile of inhabitants. They would call the robot police and turrets would pop up. The technicians were not going to cause an unnecessary bloodbath just because of greed; as if they were locusts of the Great Houses. The SLDF had to act with more dignity than that.

That particular MechWarrior - because of course it would be a MechWarrior who would behave like a loot goblin - managed to abrogate his sentence by suddenly screaming "Diplomatic immunity! Diplomatic immunity!"

So now he was in jail for shoplifting while mayor-bot was waiting for credentials from ambassador-bot. Anyone else trying this shite would just get into the cell until Major Stimson and Doctor Robotnik could get back from their work. The rest of 2nd Recon just pointed and laughed at Lyle Wilson who got football-tackled by security bots. They had video.

"You dared me to do this! Guys? Guys?!"

Look, the Eridani Light Horse were professionals. But MechWarriors were also professional assholes, such has it been for bored soldiers since antiquity.

Apparently taking pity on him, a guard robot handed him a black plastic brick. "Have a Game Gear."

Meanwhile the rest of the 2nd Recon went off to play at the real video game arcade.

-.

-.

The beeps and the boops and the bright neon lights. Truly it was like the 80s never ended. Given that this was the Inner Sphere, it had been the eighties for over a thousand years now.

A few technicians were 'testing out' the software. Fortunately for them there were a couple of disassembled cabinets out back, so they didn't need to take one apart to check the real specs of the machines. Game cabinets were fortunately never lostech, but the arcade also had many 2D throwback games for some reason. There were few holo-tables.

Opening the game cabinets revealed that despite the cathode-ray impression of the screen, the insides were actually mostly empty space. The screens were liquid crystal diode with its video drivers in a protective Faraday mesh. Thin and light for noteputer screens, with deep blacks and high brightness for contrast, sandwiched behind a curved glass lens to fulfill that retro feel. The circuit board was deceptively small; most of that was the protective casing and heatsinks. The board itself was about two inches by three inches.

There were also the usual assortment of games like driving and gun simulators, claw machines, coin traps, pinball, mini sporting games, tabletop games, and dance pads.

"I'm gonna get that stupid hedgehog," said Terry Lyttle as he moved to the exchange desk.

"Tokens are twenty for a Star League Dollar. Twenty to a dollar," spoke the counter-bot. "Win tickets! Get more tokens free! Claim fabulous prizes!" Then faster "This establishment is obliged to inform you that it has an entertainment and not a gambling license. Tickets and tokens are not exchangeable for non-fungible currency. The pawnshop next to this establishment is not related to this gaming arcade in any legal way, shape, or form."

"Hey, where'd you get the Dollars?" asked a freshly-arrived tech.

"The bot *did* just mention a pawnshop," said Rupert Clintmore. "I pawned off my gun."

Barbara Mosley, part of 2nd Recon Command Lance, sneered at the Strike Lance plebe.

"What?" said Clintmore. "It was my hold-out pistol. I bought it with my own money, it's nothing the quartermaster assigned to me. I still have my rifle."

Involuntarily, everyone shivered. All Eridani Light Horse combat personnel were troopers first before their specializations. Hell awaited anyone dumb enough to lose their rifle.

"Well we earned our dollars the honest way," Jack Finsrud arrogantly jabbed a thumb to his own chest. "We farmed."

The tech raised an eyebrow askance. "Like… uh, actual farming?"

"The bots here can pay for doing labor. We picked tomatoes at the greenhouse. Don't worry about running out of crops to harvest. The pots are on this rotating system. You're only allowed to harvest fully grown crops once a day."

Terry Lyttle came back with "Oh yeah, those were some really good tomatoes. I don't know what changed in the varieties we have now growing in hydroponics, but those were the perfect blend of juicy sweet and sour tomatoes I've ever tasted."

Jack added "Well, this is still a planet. Even if it's cold, it has real soil and organic fertilizer compared to a JumpShip's hydroponics bay. Phosphates and stuff."

Barbara added "You could also help out with the kitchens if you want real food. I don't know where they get the beef in this place, but they have some true-blue burgers if you're actually willing to grill them. Yeah, I'm sure it was actual real meat I was working into a patty."

"Wait, you can have Quests here?" asked another one of the newly-arrived techs. "What the heck - this base sounds less like an SLDF base than what someone's idea of a dream SLDF base should be like."

Barbara stared at him pityingly. "Well - yeah. It's a resort. Of course it's a resort. Have you seen the rest of this iceball of a planet?"

Terry added "Plus I think Doctor Robotnik programmed most of the robots here to give his kid something to do while they lived alone in this place."

"You don't think… that Robotnik is actually someone who was alive way back in the Star League days, do you?" asked another technician. "I heard that we got all of this just to have the Eridani Light Horse accept his son. Is Devlin Stone… some sort of secret Cameron or something?"

"I… don't think so? I was there with the original record from Robotnik. He insisted we test the kid to make sure he's not a genetic Cameron or Amaris or something." Barbara shrugged.

Jack pointed with his thumb outside "Besides, it's kind of obvious anyway. Port Stone. Devlin Stone."

"That doesn't quite answer my question if either or both of them were originally in stasis from the Star League."

"Well, think about this logically. If Robotnik was some fella on ice, then one - how does he know so much about the Eridani Light Horse and where we had our home base? And two - who would wake him up from stasis and why only now? And if Stone was the one frozen - why would the SLDF leave behind a kid? There should be more people in stasis."

"Ah, but there is a flaw in your argument, sir-" responded a tech. "Just because we don't find stasis capsules *here* doesn't invalidate the idea that they could have come from some *other* secret Star League base."

"... huh."

"I have decided," Barbara said suddenly.

"You have decided what now?" asked Jack.

"Well, the kid grew up here alone with his father and bots, right? No human contact at all. I'm going to find his room and see just how they did live out here."

"This sounds creepy and stalker-ish and I'm all for it," said Jack. "Let us do this thing."

-.

-.

Meanwhile, back at the starport:

Robotnik's walker paused at the last DropShip's ramp. He said without turning around "You know… it wasn't just technology, it wasn't just military power that won the Star League. It was a golden age not just because the Great Houses had stopped fighting with each other and put that money to work in improving the lives of their people. Just what was it that made the era of the Star League so achingly remembered?"

Allwine was the quickest to respond. "Justice. It was a time when the common man could expect justice. It was not just prosperity that made their lives good. But it was a time when, without the excuse of total war or revenge or noble intrigue, the normal person could expect their rights to be not only protected but respected."

Without looking back, Robotnik continued "Funny thing how the Periphery's right to self-rule and not to be bombarded with weapons of mass destruction is not respectable."

Allwine smiled thinly. "The Star League was not perfect. It did terrible things. But unlike what else we might find now, at least it tried to make up for its sins. People had… faith. That the Star Leage could make things right."

"You know… any House Lord would have given me anything for this cache. But if my goal was just to keep it from them - to give it to someone who would try to disseminate the information for the good of all, did it really have to be Eridani Light Horse? If it was just to send my child to a unit that respects the ideals of the SLDF… why not the Blue Star Irregulars? Why not the 12th Star Guards, who have some of the best techs in the Inner Sphere? There is something else… there's a price to be paid more than just training my son and you getting one extra soldier in your ranks."

"I kinda thought there was more to this than meets the eye, yeah," replied Major Stimson. "Drop the other shoe, why don't you?"

"I chose the Eridani Light Horse because above everyone else, you would *strive* to bring back the Star League. All the good in it. And not close your eyes to the bad parts of its history, and *learn from it*, make the means as good as the ends. That's the price I ask." Robotnik's walker opened its arms out. "If the Star League is ever in the position to reform, then strive to make it happen. And *keep it from dying again* from within. The only threat the Star League could never beat was the sheer IDIOCY of its own rulers."

Robotnik started to walk forward again with slow deliberate steps. "That is the price. And the challenge. Be the good you want to see in all the worlds."

"Challenge accepted," said Stimson.

-.

-.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

Flood lights switched on, illuminating the cavernous heart of the RBF DEATH EGG Factory DropShip. Three levels were visible from the entrance, and where the main elevator of a regular Dictator DropShip would have been, a broad metal pillar ran from floor to ceiling. Radiating out from the central column pillar like the roots and branches of a tree were conveyors and pipes leading into mysterious machinery set into the walls.

Super Urbanmechs were parked to around the first level. Two heavy cargo elevators were aligned to the walls instead, with a rib-like lattice supporting the structural integrity of the spacecraft. The control center at the second floor faced the main entrance.

Cubicle walls retracted and protective panels slide upwards from the central column, exposing pod spaces that contained half-finished Urbanmechs.

"Well what do you know, you're right!" said Robotnik. "It is a mobile factory, capable of designing and producing BattleMechs, all their components and weaponry, and assembling them in situ from nothing more than feedstock raw materials."

"Astounding!" breathed Posseli. Then he stopped abruptly. "Wait a second. If that's true and this is a mobile factory - then… this is valuable beyond everything. It's an entire production line inside a DropShip. Why is it here?"

"It can produce Urbanmechs," replied Robotnik. "It can produce *only* Urbanmechs."

"That… actually, that doesn't matter at all. Super Urbanmechs would be great for garrison work. The SLDF should have taken it with them anyway!"

"Those are good points. And yet here we are."

"Is it because it's broken? But… then what did you use to produce your Ultra Light Mechs? Is there another facility?"

"No, it's this right here."

"Then… Doctor. What's the catch?"

"Because it doesn't work. They couldn't make it work. *I* know how to make it work."

Robotnik lead them towards a service elevator and into the control room.

"They were missing something." Robotnik's walker faced them and then flipped open a panel on the control board. It exposed a recessed hole in the master control console.

Robotnik's walker then put a hand towards one of the big yellow buttons on its spherical torso. The button flipped open and a bright green light erupted from the gap. "They were missing this."

The hard clicking sound of a Geiger counter immediately rang in everyone's ears, as their hazardous environment suits warned them of the danger.

Robotnik's walker brought out a large glowing green gem, about the size of a man's fist, and cut in a classic diamond shape. It brought the gem towards the pit on the console, and green sparks of lightning began to link the empty niche and the green gem.

Then, as if magnetically attracted, the gem slipped by itself out from Robotnik's hand and inserted itself into the slot.

With a hushed whine, machinery came to life. Hissing like breathing. Instrument readouts buzzed into action.

Robotnik's walker slumped as if powered down. And then Robotnik's glowing semi-transparent figure appeared from a nearby holo-projector. He beckoned for them to approach the window and look at the open area below, now lighting up with flickering green light.

Engineer Posseli punched the glass. He couldn't believe was he was seeing.

Below, beams of green light like lasers lashed at the half-built Urbanmech frames. But instead of burning and melting, the laser-like beams left behind them more material. Centimeter by centimeter, layer upon layer, three BattleMechs were being built at the same time.

"This is the nanolathe," said the memory of Ivo Robotnik. "It is enabled by the Chaos Emerald, an object of unfathomable power and mystery that is capable of transforming matter and manipulating time and space." Robotnik turned around to face them squarely, with his hands behind his back and chin raised, in confident parade rest. "And I am absolutely certain that the root of this technology is…not quite human."

"... what," hissed Stimson, even as Posseli whirled his head about so fast he almost gave himself whiplash.

"That is OPERATION SEEDCORN. To go beyond all known space. To confirm the existence of alien life, or at least lost alien civilizations, to brave the utterly unknown. To spread out and search, no matter how long it takes. To use the attractive power of the Chaos Emerald to find more of its kind, and attain power that can be qualitatively considered godlike. And what the 331st Battle Regiment completely did not know about."

"But you know…" whispered Posseli. "How… were you… are you from…"

"Because it is MY operation. It was MY responsibility to see it through. MY duty to protect it from even something as transient as the Fall of the Star League. The Chaos Emerald and its creators could possibly be the biggest boon - or the biggest threat, to human existence itself."

"You're from the Star League!"

Robotnik gestured, and suddenly all three men found themselves floating up as if in zero-gravity. They pinwheeled with their arms trying to control their facing.

"This is not technology. This is power! This is… I suppose phenomena directed by emotions and mental command could be called something like… magic... but all magic is a phenomenon we don't fully understand yet. You can easily apply science to magic, as it is a *process* not a field of study."

"Hahahah oh wow…!" Posseli cried out in absolute joy.

The belly of Robotnik's walker slid open, exposing a gaunt man with goggles and drooping red mustache, frozen over and unmoving in a sub-zero and total vacuum container. Stimson grimaced.

"I am Doctor Julian Ovid Kintobor, and I died three months ago. I began to die from too much direct contact with the Chaos Emerald three centuries ago.

"But the power of the Chaos Emerald commands matter, time, and space, soul, and mind, and it allows me to see the future. To affect the future.

"I tore open space and time to send myself into the future, to a time when the Star League was best poised to rebuild itself. This isn't even the first time I had to do this. I was born in the 20th century, not the 26th. But I missed… I arrived too early. And so as I die, I leave the task undone to my son.

"And to the Eridani Light Horse.

"Only you - above all people, across all of time, only the Eridani Light Horse could I trust with this power. Rebuild the Star League. Defend the Inner Sphere. Cower in fear of the unknown or boldly go where no man has gone before - it doesn't matter anymore.

"The Chaos Emerald is *cannot be destroyed through any physical means*. I had to bring it forward instead of letting it pass those centuries, slowly but increasingly broadcasting its presence in a human sphere ill-equipped to defend itself. Protect the Chaos Emerald. Prevent its power from being abused. And if its owners or more Chaos Emeralds appear - handle it.

"Everyone else would be tempted to use its power to their own ends. I trust the Eridani Light Horse to turn away from power, from might, from luxury, from authority - all that is undeserved and unearned. Only the united and impartial Star League Defense Forces can protect the Inner Sphere from dangers both inside and outside."

"This is waaay the hell above my paygrade," said Major Stimson as gravity began to reassert itself over their bodies, and they smoothly dropped back to their feet.

"Well this escalated quickly," blandly remarked Captain Allwine.

"On that note - do you have anything like codes and pass phrases to identify yourself in a message to Eridani Light Horse High Command that the mission was a success? We can just send an HPG message to Armstrong from here."

"We… we are almost six hundred light-years away from Colchester…" Posseli objected weakly. HPG was limited to around 50 light-years, and messages had to be relayed from one HPG station to another.

"The Chaos Emerald is a stone of infinite power and potency. One light-year is the same as a thousand."