Chapter 21
Uncharted Wilderness
New St Andrews IV, The Periphery
Rimward of the Circinus Federation
9 June 3077
The Blossom flew over the trees, going as fast as Marie could manage. She had no destination in mind, all she could think was to get away. Behind the command chair Rachel stayed quiet, watching the landscape fly by on the viewscreens.
After some time Marie began noticing familiar terrain under her. Her eyes picked out a clearing, and she banked the AirMech towards it. Her hands were starting to shake as the post-battle crash was hitting, and she knew she had to be on the ground before it got bad. Even so, she made herself do a quick flyover to make sure the area was clear before she looped around and came in for a landing.
Her chest grew tighter as the AirMech descended. By the time the Blossom's feet hit the ground she could barely breathe. The Blossom stumbled on the landing and teetered on her feet for a moment before crashing to a halt. Marie sagged in the command chair, hugging herself and shivering.
She felt her mother's hand touch her shoulder. "How are you doing?" Rachel asked, finally breaking her long silence.
"Terrible," Marie whimpered. "What just happened, mom? Are we dead?"
Rachel squeezed Marie's shoulder. "I don't think so. Not yet anyway."
Marie shook her head and turned in her seat to look back at her mother. "What are we supposed to do now?"
Her mother managed a small smile. "One step at a time. What do you have in mind?"
"I don't have anything in mind, mom!" Marie snapped. "Everything's gone crazy all at once! What the hell am I supposed to do?! That was our friends and all the backup, not to mention the only way off this rock. Caradin's sold everyone out for herself and I've got nothing to show for it!"
"Stop." Rachel's order was sharp and firm, even though she kept her gentle grip on Marie's shoulder. "Close your eyes. Take a breath. Count to five." Marie did as she was told. "Now tell me, what do you have?"
Marie pulled her helmet off and ran her hands through her sweaty hair. "I got one beat-up 'Mech…one really beat-up 'Mech," she corrected as she glanced at the wireframe display. "Aside from that, I've got two guns. And we might have food…" she added, pulling open the compartment for emergency supplies, only to find it empty save for a spare pack of cigarettes and a book of matches she'd left there weeks ago. "Or we can just starve, that's fine, too."
"Hey, listen to me," Rachel interrupted. "We're still alive. You got us both out of there. You did great."
Marie laughed bitterly, but still felt a lump in her throat at her mother's words. She managed a nod in response.
"We'll get through this. We have to," Rachel said. "Now one step at a time. We need to make sure everything's running, right?"
Make work, Marie thought to herself. She looked at her mother; gone was the weak woman who'd cared only about living a safe, quiet life. Rachel's expression now was the hard look of a DropShip captain putting her crew in their place. She'd seen her mother like this once or twice; on any DropShip crew there would eventually be someone who got depressed or frantic from cabin fever, borne of weeks and months crammed into tight quarters floating through the inky void of space. Rachel's go-to move was always to give the person a nonsense job, like doing diagnostics or counting boxes of supplies. Work for the sake of work; anything to get your mind off of the stress. Marie knew that was what her mother was doing, but at the moment she welcomed the distraction.
She tried to concentrate, though she had a behind-the-eyeballs headache that was promising to get much worse before the day was over. She looked over the control board, doing a diagnostic check by rote. Her heat sinks were all right, despite the workout. Ammo reserves were above ninety percent. Fuel…was low, evidenced by the blinking warning light next to the gauge. Her armor was beaten up, ground down to almost nothing in multiple places. By some miracle there was only minimal internal damage, but she guessed that would change the next time someone shot so much as a handgun at her.
"We're still functional, but I'm going to need a refit before I go anywhere," Marie summarized. "Sensors are clear. All that's left is us, and…" she trailed off, her eyes flickering to the viewscreen. "…I guess we should see if Wolfgang's still alive."
"You didn't kill him?" Rachel asked.
"Didn't see the point," Marie mumbled.
She pulled her neurohelmet back on, re-establishing her link to the Blossom. Under her control the AirMech lifted her hands up to cockpit eight meters off the ground. Mentally bracing herself, Marie lifted the top hand away.
Wolfgang was still there, his command chair lying on its side in the upturned palm of her hand. He winced as the sunlight hit his eyes and drunkenly lifted one arm to shield his face. Marie felt a slight bloom of relief mixed with disappointment at the sight. She gingerly leaned the AirMech over to set him down on the ground. He made no move to get up, lying there half-insensate.
"He's hurt," Marie said. She checked next to the command chair, finding the 'Mech's first-aid kit was still there. It was better than nothing, at least. After a last glance at the sensors to confirm no one was nearby, she pulled her helmet back off and unbuckled herself from the command chair.
"Slow movements. He's not getting any worse, and you're helping anyone if you fall off," Rachel warned. She waited for Marie to nod in acknowledgement before opening the hatch and stepping out onto the Blossom's shoulder, with Marie close behind.
"All right," Rachel said approvingly. "So now we – "
Rachel cut off as Marie grabbed her arm and pulled her into a tight embrace. Rachel returned the hug, holding her close.
"It's all right," Rachel whispered, stroking her hair.
Marie nodded but did not let her go. "I don't hate you, mom," she breathed into Rachel's shoulder.
"I know. I know. But they didn't. I needed them to see I wasn't afraid. I needed you to see it."
Marie nodded again. "I'm sorry, mom," she whispered.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, until Marie felt like she could breathe again. She pulled away and rubbed at her damp eyes. "Next steps, right…" she said quietly. She reached inside the cockpit and hit the button to unreel the ladder to the ground.
The two of them carefully made their way down the ladder. Marie looked around them as she descended. She'd set them down in the clearing that had held the pirate camp just a week and a half ago. The place had been mostly stripped, but there were still a few scraps of wreckage lying around that had been deemed not valuable enough to be worth salvaging. Aside from that, they were alone.
Marie's breath caught as she reached the ground and got her first look at the Blossom from the outside. The computer readouts hadn't done the damage justice. The LAM's shoulder was crumpled up like a paper cup, and the nosecone had been knocked crooked. She didn't even need to check if the landing gear was out of alignment: the wheel was hanging out of the nose, dangling by the mangled remains of the patched-together strut. The back of the 'Mech was no better, scorched black from the explosion and dented from Rifle rounds and missile impacts.
Seeing her wilt at the sight of the 'Mech, Rachel touched her arm encouragingly. Marie responded with a strained smile. She put the Blossom's condition to the back of her mind and pulled out one of the guns from her waistband, wordlessly handing it over to Rachel. Then the two of them moved to Wolfgang's ejection seat. The man was still strapped in, lying on his side. Marie knelt down next to him while Rachel took up a guard position, watching him like a cat eyeing a wounded bird.
"Still ticking?" Marie asked.
Wolfgang groaned; she couldn't even see his face through the spiderweb cracks in his neurohelmet visor. Marie took pity on him and lifted the heavy helmet off of his shoulders, tossing it away. Wolfgang achily tried to push her away with one arm while his other arm hung limply at his side.
"Crazy bitch," he muttered.
"Really? That's how you want to start this?" Marie asked.
He groaned. "Just hang on, girlie. My brain's still rattling from that ride." He held his good hand to his forehead, blinking hard. He clumsily started to fumble with the straps on the command chair, trying to free himself.
Despite herself Marie felt a pang of sympathy for the man, watching him struggle. There wasn't a lot of padding in the Blossom's armored palms. She had tried to keep the hands steady, and Wolfgang had had the command chair and the neurohelmet to shield him from the worst of the bumps, but he still would have been rattled around like a pinball on the ride here. From the look of him, he had a broken arm, and maybe a concussion.
"You caught all that, right?" she asked him. "Did you get to hear what your boss thinks of you?" Wolfgang didn't answer, but from the more deliberate motions of his hands and the way he set his jaw, she could see he knew. "And you're not going anywhere for awhile, so how about answering questions. How long did you know Caradin was planning this?"
Wolfgang smirked. "What, you're a master interrogator now after tripping up some pirate whore?"
Marie slapped him hard enough that his head twisted to the side. He winced, then looked back at her, flexing his jaw.
"See, that's more like it," he growled. "Put your weight behind it next time."
Marie considered taking him up on the suggestion, but held herself in check. "I just want to know what you do. Does that really cost you anything?"
He growled in response. "You're talkin' to the wrong guy. I don't ask questions. That's the rule of getting by in this unit."
Marie spread her hands. "That's the trick? You just look the other way while your boss sells out innocent people?"
"I wanted to get paid," he groaned. "Believe me, whatever's coming down on me for this, it's better than what happens if you tell Holly Caradin 'no.' So if you're gonna break my neck too, you better just get it over with."
Marie flinched at the implication, but gathered herself. "I'm not going to hurt you anymore. I've got better things to do. But I don't have to help you, either," she said evenly. She made a show of looking around, seeing it was about noon. "You've got about seven or eight hours before nightfall. How far do you think you can you walk?"
He grumbled to himself. "You got cold fast, girl. You're gonna leave me out here after killing the sarge and moppin' up Hoshino?"
"I didn…" Marie began, catching herself as she saw Wolfgang was suddenly paying much closer attention. After a few seconds' pause she relented. "Hoshino was still alive, the last I saw him. But he'll have a lot of explaining to do."
"Not the mercy you think it was," Wolfgang grumbled, but Marie still saw him relaxing slightly.
"Careful, I might start to think you actually have a friend," Marie commented. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, processing something. Meanwhile Wolfgang managed to loosen the last straps holding him down and he fell out of the seat, tumbling onto the ground with a groan of pain. Still crouched next to him, Marie watched him struggling to get up to his knees.
"You were trying to warn me, weren't you?" she asked. "When you were telling me I'm a temporary, that I'm not wanted…you were trying to get me to quit, weren't you?" Wolfgang said nothing to that. "You couldn't just tell me what Caradin was like, you knew she was going to listen to the cockpit recorders. But you were still trying to warn me off."
Wolfgang sneered at her, though the expression was spoiled as he winced in pain from his arm. "Don't act like you know me, girl. It wasn't Holly that just blew up my 'Mech and rattled me around on the way here."
Marie ground her teeth, the accumulated frustration and fear boiling up in her. She drew back to slap him again. She glanced up at movement, to see her mother quietly raising her hand for calm. Marie lowered her arm and took a second to collect herself before opening her mouth again.
"Can you tell me why you stay with her, if you know what she's like?" she asked. "Hoshino was talking like he had no choice, like his family was in danger. How about you? Does she have something on you?"
"Don't act like you care," he said. At Marie's silence, he grumbled. "Holly told you how she likes picking up strays. Sounds real nice, don't it? But what it really means is she hires people who got nowhere else to go. That's her move, kid. Make you feel like you won the jackpot, and then once you're committed she makes sure you know she's in charge. Of everything. She knows what you're doing, she takes no talkback, and you're nothing without her." He shook his head. "After a while you just stop asking questions. It's easier."
"That's it? It's just easier to go along with her?"
"You ever been married, kid? It's the same deal. With Holly I had a 'Mech and a paycheck. Now look at me. No Holly, no 'Mech…no arm," he added, shrugging his shoulders and grimacing at the pain from the movement. "…and a rookie who's either about to shoot me or leave me out here to rot."
"I told you, I'm not going to hurt you," Marie said. "But you see what your loyalty got you. Caradin doesn't care what happens to you, but maybe I do. I'm giving you a chance to help me out here."
He turned his head and spat. "I must've cracked my head pretty hard back there. Sounds like the girl who was ready to squish me wants to play friendly now."
"Well I didn't, and now we're here," Marie said. "And we're both running out of friends. Caradin doesn't deserve any loyalty from you right now. Why don't we help each other out?"
He glowered for a moment, but looked away. "Why, what're you offerin'?" he finally asked.
"I vouch for you when they're looking for people to hang," Marie said. "If you're telling the truth about Caradin, and I think you are, then you didn't have any choice about breaking contract. And imagine how it'll look when you help stop her from getting off-planet."
He winced. "See you had my attention for a minute there, but now I know you're nuts. You're actually planning on going back into all that? You noticed you're outnumbered, right?"
"I'm figuring it out," Marie shot back defensively. "I know I can't let Caradin get off this planet after doing this. She's gathering up people like cattle to sell off to pirates. Not to mention pointing a gun at my mom and locking me in a room with…" She shook her head. "I'll call Meridian. They couldn't get much of their hardware to the spaceport before Caradin went rogue, so numbers won't be a problem. If I go to Plant One I can explain things, show them the Blossom's recorders."
Wolfgang smirked again. "What recorders? Sarge pulled 'em, remember? And I put dummy recorders in that thing myself. 'Mech'll start up, sure, but you ain't recordin' nothing. No comms either, so you just gotta walk right up to Meridian's front door and say hi. But leave me here when you do it, because I bet you my left nut Holly's on the horn with them right now, telling them how her unstable rookie's gone rogue and thrown in with the pirates. How you blew up their equipment and got us captured, and she's desperate to warn our poor client before you try to attack them next. You show up at Plant One, they're gonna shoot first and ask questions after you're dead."
Marie clenched her fist in frustration. "Fine, they don't have to take my word for it. I set all the prisoners free too. They would've gotten to motor pool – "
"Yeah, I thought I heard a few tires getting blown," Wolfgang interrupted. "LT had 'Mechs patrolling the spaceport, how far do you think a handful of stolen jeeps got? You've seen what Holly thinks of groundpounders and loose ends."
Marie blinked, the image of the dozens of scared faces from the makeshift prison at the spaceport flashing into her mind. She was speechless for a moment, before Rachel spoke up.
"She didn't shoot me," the woman said. "She had every reason to shoot me, but she didn't because she wanted to sell me. I'll bet she wants the same from everyone else at the spaceport."
"Yeah…" Marie agreed, pushing down the memory of her mother with a gun to her head. "Caradin won't just shoot everyone, she wants to sell them. She wants to get paid from this. Especially now that she's short two 'Mechs. Three, if Katamari didn't survive the blast."
"And right now she thinks you're in the wind. You've got the element of surprise," Rachel added on.
Marie thought about that. "The Blossom won't last long like she is, but Caradin's not in a great spot either. She'll need the Circinans if she's going to hold the spaceport against anything. And their stuff is torn up, too," she said. She'd only glimpsed the Vulcan and the Valkyrie, but she remembered both showing up as damaged on the Blossom's readouts. "If I can come in from behind, stay airborne and stay out of her range…"
"I think I need to stop you there, seein' as we're trying to help each other out," Wolfgang interrupted. "You know Holly don't just have 'Mechs, right? She's got tanks, too. And if the crew at Plant Two is back to work, she'll have a couple aerospace fighters real soon."
Marie cursed under her breath. She'd forgotten about that. "There goes air superiority," she muttered. It was the one advantage the Blossom offered them, and Caradin could already outmatch it.
"Bet you regret letting the pilots live now," Wolfgang quipped. "And as for wanting to keep prisoners alive, see how fast that changes if you try making any move against her. Holly'll line 'em up against a wall for you to see, just before she guns 'em down."
"What, is that pillow talk from her? Those people are unarmed!" Marie snapped.
"Yeah, they are. And you set 'em free, which means they meant something to you. That's Holly for you, kid. She finds out what you care about, and she'll take it from you, just so you know she can. If you really care about yourself or any of those people back at the spaceport, you'll stay away."
"I just said I won't let her get away with this."
"Then you're gonna die," Wolfgang responded flatly. "'Cause even if Holly's feelin' very merciful about the prisoners, and even if you can somehow take out everything she's got before getting' shot to pieces yourself, the fight's still over the second that goddamn Overlord comes down. That thing can knock down a whole company of 'Mechs without breaking a sweat. So what's your plan, kid? How do you plan to take on all of that trouble with just one 'Mech?" He turned his head, considering the Blossom. "Make that half a 'Mech."
"Wolf, if you don't want to help just say so," Marie snapped at him.
"I am helping, girl," Wolfgang answered. His eyes were hard and there was no trace of a smirk on his lips. "Holly's got you outnumbered and outgunned. You go after her now, you're just making the cleanup easier, making sure you can't report on her any more. She's already beaten you, and you just don't want to admit it. So how about this for a plan: hunker down here, and once Holly's gone, you stick your head out. Who knows, maybe you'll even find someone who'll listen to your side of the story. It's way better odds that jumping into a fight you can't win."
Marie shook her head. "And you're just fine with her dragging off everyone at the spaceport?"
Wolfgang gave her a cold look. "It's war, girl. You figure out real quick you can't save everyone out there. Sometimes you just have to accept that you've lost. You don't owe these people nothing, and jumping back in'll probably just make things worse for 'em. You got your damn toy 'Mech back, and you got yourself and mommy away from that mess. So drop the hero act and walk away while you still got something left to lose."
Marie stepped back from him and looked at Rachel, who quietly met her gaze, her face sympathetic but unhelpful. Then she looked back at Wolfgang, who was wearing a similar expression. She clenched her fists and stepped back from him, storming off back towards the Blossom.
Hours later, Marie sat down for what felt like the first time in a week. Rachel had volunteered to patch up Wolfgang. The first-aid kit hadn't given her much to work with, but at least it had some painkillers. After he'd been tended to she had tied him up, using a piece of cable she and Marie had pulled out of the wreckage around them.
Marie sat on a ruined BattleMech hand actuator. She guessed it was from one of the pirate ForestryMechs, but the metal was so beaten up she couldn't be sure. Standing guard at the edge of the field, the Blossom seemed to fit in with all the scrap. Every time Marie looked, she winced in sympathetic pain at the damage. She'd settled on turning away from the LAM and putting a cigarette in her mouth.
She did not look when Rachel walked up to her. The woman sat down on the 'Mech hand next to her, silently waiting.
"I did everything I could for the Blossom. She can still fly, but I don't know if she can change modes without jamming. And I can't do anything about the stuff that was pulled out, not without spare parts," Marie finally said. She took another drag on the cigarette and finally looked at Rachel. "We've got a comms array, but no way to send or receive. We're alone."
"All right," Rachel quietly replied. "So how about you? How are you holding up?"
Marie shook her head, though the movement made her dizzy. She'd taken some of the painkillers too, but a migraine had still settled in, and it was hitting her pretty hard.
"Feels like my brain's trying to gnaw its way out of my head. It's what I get for piloting right after rewiring my equipment," she answered with a gesture towards her neurohelmet next to her. "I've been tweaking that, too…maybe it won't kill me the next time I go up."
"Are you going to go up again?" Rachel asked.
"Mom…I can't just leave it like this. If I let Caradin get away, she'll go do this on another planet. Don't tell me you're going with Wolfgang's plan, there's got to be an answer!"
Rachel calmly nodded. "All right, I'm with you. So what are you going to do?"
Marie was quiet for a second before helplessly shaking her head. "…I don't know, mom," she answered, her voice breaking. Rachel sidled closer and pulled her into an embrace.
"Sorry," Marie whispered. "I'm trying my best, I really am…"
"It's all right," Rachel said. "It's hard to keep it together sometimes, when everything's falling apart."
Marie did not move to pull away. "That's what you've been doing, isn't it? Just keeping it together. Ever since we lost dad."
"Even before then. That man drove me crazy sometimes," Rachel said with a chuckle.
"How do you do it? This whole time, I mean…"
"I had to," Rachel answered honestly. "Believe me, I was ready to fall apart a few times. But I'm not the only one who lost something. You and your brother are all I have left. The least I can do is show you how to keep standing. Even if the two of you make it really hard sometimes."
Marie laughed a little at that before a more somber feeling fell back over her. "I knew Caradin was trouble," she admitted. "There was something off about her. About all of them. But I was thinking, this is my chance. Maybe it wasn't perfect, but I had to take it, you know?"
"I know too well."
"I thought if I can just get started here, I can go on to something better," Marie went on. "Find someone good to work for. Maybe even start my own…" She swallowed. "…I was going to restart the Black Thorns," she finally admitted.
Rachel smiled in quiet sympathy. "I guessed as much from your passcode," she said. She squeezed Marie. "Daniel said the same thing, you know. Just before he left."
Marie pulled away to give her a sad look. "I tried to stop him, mom. I thought I'd convinced him to at least wait until I was ready to go with him."
"He didn't want to put you in any more danger," Rachel said. "He'd seen you claw your way back from getting crushed, he wasn't going to put you through that again."
"Mom, it was my idea to go out that day. I dragged him along!"
"That's not how he remembers it," Rachel said with a shrug. "He's your father's son. He'd rather take everything on himself than put his family in danger. And once he had a dream in his head, he wouldn't give it up." She smiled sadly. "It would've been nice if he'd told me he was cleaning us out, but he had a plan. He was going to start the Thorns up again and then we could join him, and he'd keep us safe."
Marie shook her head at the admission, her shoulders slumping. "Guess that didn't work out," she muttered. "So Daniel was dad's kid, huh? What does that make me?"
The bittersweet smile stayed on Rachel's lips. "You're a little more like me," she answered. "Gambling your life on crazy things, buying old lumps of machinery you want to pilot," she said with a tilt of her head towards the Blossom. "…but I see your father in you, too. He never gave up, even when everyone was against him. I can tell you're not going to, either."
Marie let out a sad chuckle. "That explains why Daniel's still hasn't come back. We Roses don't know when we're beaten."
"McClouds either," Rachel added on. "I've lost a lot in my life, but I know what to hang onto."
Marie nodded mutely and took a long breath, thinking about something. "Do you think he's still alive?" she asked.
"Oh honey…I'm sure he is. I heard from him just a month ago. He's still working away, I think over in Steiner space."
Marie sighed. "Not Daniel, mom," she corrected. She glanced at her neurohelmet. "Him."
Rachel looked at the helmet, and the Black Thorns logo on it. "…I don't know," she finally admitted. "But if anyone would still be alive after everything that's happened, it's your father."
Marie nodded somberly, before meeting her mother's eyes. "I hear him sometimes, you know. When things are really bad, like I'm about to die…I can hear his voice. Telling me what to do, telling me it'll be all right. It's stupid, but do you think he's watching all this?"
Rachel squeezed her hand. "Maybe he is. You know if he's alive he'd be doing everything he could for you."
"…I hope he is alive," Marie admitted, and lowered her eyes. "Because I could really use some help right now."
Her mother held her close. The two of them sat like that for some time, until Marie started hearing another voice.
"…cLeod, are you…" a distant, staticky voice called out. "MacLeod, do y…ead?"
Marie's eyes widened. "Oh god, I'm losing my mind…" she mumbled.
"No, I hear it too," Rachel said.
She released Marie and the two of them looked around for the source of the noise. They both looked at the neurohelmet as the voice crackled again.
"MacLeod, if you can hear me, respond." The voice was clearer this time; she could recognize Melody's voice.
Rachel and Marie looked at each other. "It must have an internal communicator," Marie hastily explained, quickly getting up to go over to the helmet.
"Be careful, you don't know who's listening," Rachel warned.
"What else do I have to lose?" Marie whispered back, before she pulled the helmet on. "Mel," she said simply.
"Oh, thank Blake," she heard Melody breathe in response. "I don't have long. Where are you?"
"The middle of nowhere."
"Cute. You're close by if I can hear you. My team's leaving Plant Two right now, and I need to rendezvous with you."
"…why?"
"Because I owe you one. And I don't want to drive to Plant One just to get shot." There was a hiss of static. "If what I'm hearing is right, you're not in a great place either. You pick a spot, we'll meet you there."
Marie hesitated a few heartbeats, turning the offer over in her head. "…The place I met Javier," she answered, remembering the name of the Chameleon pilot.
"Got it. We'll be there."
The connection ended, and Marie pulled the helmet off. She looked at Rachel. "I have to get ready," she said.
"Was that the pirates?" Rachel asked skeptically. "Are you sure about this?"
"No," Marie answered with a bitter laugh. "But I'm running out of ideas. And if I hurry, I can get this thing patched into the Blossom's comms array. If I boost the signal power enough I can get a message to Plant One. Can you keep an eye on Wolfgang while I get set up?"
Rachel nodded and stood up. "Let's go."
They moved away from the 'Mech hand and towards the Blossom. As she walked, Marie tucked her neurohelmet under her arm, holding it tightly.
"Thanks, dad," she whispered.
A few hours later, Marie and Rachel were sitting back in the Blossom's cockpit. Since Melody's message they had been getting ready for the pirates. They'd secured Wolfgang on one side of the clearing, and had done what they could to get the 'Mech in order. Now with their preparations done, all they had left to do was wait.
Marie twitched when the sensors beeped with new contacts. A few minutes later the trees parted, admitting a handful of light trucks, some of which had been hastily refit as technicals with heavy guns in the beds. They were escorted by a pair of Scorpion tanks, and behind them loomed a Chameleon. Guess it wasn't too hard to rewire that thing after all, she thought.
The vehicles stopped a few dozen meters from her, pulling into a loose defensive formation. She tensed, watching the people on the guns. The 'Mech and the tanks were the biggest threat, but massed power from the technicals could be a problem too, especially with the Blossom as damaged as she was. She gingerly kept her fingers off the triggers.
"MacLeod, is that you?" Melody's voice asked over the comm. Thankfully the old Phoenix Hawk electronics had been able to interface with the Clan equipment in her helmet, letting her connect the helmet's communicator with the 'Mech's more powerful comms array.
"It's McCloud," Marie corrected. Her eyes swept over the screens, eventually picking out Melody standing up in one of the trucks, a portable handset to her mouth. "And tell your guys to stand down. I've had a really long day already."
"You and me both," Melody answered tensely. "I'm not sure what you're up to, but your friends aren't helping things. Do they actually think they're hiding back there?"
Marie smirked. She wasn't really surprised. Meridian didn't train their people in the art of stealth. She switched to a different comm channel. "Come on out, guys."
A trio of Arbiters stepped out of the trees, flanking the Blossom. The pirates tensed at the 'Mechs' appearance, and the tanks' turrets rotated to aim at them. Still, Marie raised the Blossom's hands up to signal for calm.
"They're just here to watch," she said over the loudspeakers. "Right, guys?"
"Aye, lassie," Bower's voice announced out of the lead Arbiter. He pointed his 'Mech's finger accusingly at the vehicles. "If it were up ter me, I'd deal with ye lot right now. But the lassie wants ter talk. We owe her tha' much."
Marie smiled a little at the sound of the man's voice. After wiring up the comms she'd been able to get a staticky connection with Plant One, only to find Wolfgang's cynical prediction had been true: Meridian's people had stonewalled her with excuses that they didn't know whether to believe her. Bower, however, had called her on another line and told her that he had a security team ready to come out to meet her. Marie had crossed her fingers and told him where to come. Then less than an hour ago he and his three Arbiters had come crashing through the woods.
"We're here ter help," he had said. "The boss's are nae sure who ter trust right now. But some o'us remember the lassie who saved our people from burnin' ter death in a pirate raid."
Marie had wanted to hug the man. She was sure he was getting himself in hot water coming out like this, but he still radiated confidence that she really needed right now. She switched the comm back to the general short-range channel Melody was using.
"All right, Mel, let's hear it. What do you want?"
Melody still looked worried, but after a few seconds she finally raised the handset back to her mouth. "I heard a few rumors about you, sounded like you were in trouble. And I owed you one for stopping your psycho lieutenant from killing us. I've got a few loads of the salvage you had us pulling up," she added, jerking a thumb towards the trucks. "I don't like owing people things, so I figured I'd square up."
Marie's brow furrowed as she considered that. She switched back to the channel with the Arbiters.
"Are ye sure of this, lassie?" Bower asked. "I did nae like it when ye told me who was comin', and I like it even less now that I see 'em. This lot's nae trustworthy."
"I know. But right now I need all the help I can get. They're here and they're not shooting us, that's something."
She bit her lip, debating something internally. She, her mother, and Bower had spent the last half hour trying to come up with a plan. They had some idea of what to do, but Marie knew they needed more information. She hoped Mel could get them that much at least. She switched back to the general channel.
"All right Mel, let's see what you have. Come over here. Tell your guys to stay back."
The pirates nervously considered the four 'Mechs arrayed ahead of them. Melody herself looked a few shades paler. Still, after a few seconds she nodded and waved out the other men in the truck she was in, and drove herself towards the Blossom and the Arbiters.
"Eyes open," Rachel warned as Marie unbuckled herself and locked the Blossom's legs. Marie nodded and gestured toward the hatch. The two of them climbed out of the cockpit and made their way down to the ground. Next to them, Bower climbed out of his Arbiter, apparently not wanting to be left out. Marie quietly prayed the pirates weren't setting them up, or that at least the two remaining Arbiters could keep them in line. Melody coming over to talk was a good sign, at least.
After all, what's the worst that could happen? she thought sarcastically.
As they walked over to meet Bower, Marie couldn't help but notice how her mother was standing up straighter and moving more confidently than usual. The woman looked full of energy, like she'd been a decade ago when she'd still been riding through space alongside MechWarriors.
"Don't tell me you're enjoying this?" Marie whispered to her.
"Maybe a little," Rachel answered with a hint of a smile on her lips. "I'd thought this part of my life was over. It's good to be reminded what it's like."
Marie said nothing, but she felt her spirits buoyed by her mother's attitude. She took a breath to steady herself as Melody's truck pulled up to them.
"Guess that answers whose side you're on," Melody commented with a glance at the Arbiters as she stepped out of the truck.
"Their bosses are still figuring things out. But these guys have their heads on straight." Punctuating this, Bower squared his broad shoulders, giving Melody a nonplussed look.
Melody's face tightened and she nodded. "I'll bet they do." She tilted her head at the truck behind her. "Like I said, I'm here to balance out the books. I heard what happened at the spaceport, and it sounds like you needed some help. We got me and a few other techs with us, along with your salvage parts, if you're looking." She looked up at the Blossom. "What'd you do, fly her into a wall?"
"Sort of. The wall lost," Marie answered.
"Looks like you both lost. How's the knee, by the way?"
"It's, uh…fine. I landed on it pretty hard getting out, and there's some armor damage, but it should be good."
Melody rolled her eyes. "I meant your knee, dummy."
"Oh, uh…fine, yeah. Plenty of power. Yeah." Marie closed her eyes and tried to re-focus. "Look, I'm in the middle of the longest day I've had in a very long time, and I'm getting really tired of people not being straight with me. So what do you want?"
"…all right, I'm in a tough spot myself. All of us are," Mel answered after a moment's nervous hesitation. "The boss is saying we're on the hook to pay back what we cost him. All the stuff you and yours blew up."
Marie crossed her arms and kept her composure, remembering all the stories of dead farmers and burned Meridian security. Still, she imagined Melody had taken some flak personally, having accidentally given up how to find the rest of the Circinans.
"He's sending us to hit Plant One to try and balance things out," Melody went on. "But we all know how that's going to go."
Marie nodded. If the equipment behind Melody was all the Circinans had, a strike on Plant One was practically a suicide mission. The Chameleon might put up a fight, but it wasn't meant to be a frontline unit. Even Meridian's lackluster equipment could blast the group apart.
"So what's your plan then?" Marie asked.
Mel shrugged helplessly. "Go die at Plant One, or go back empty-handed and have the boss take a debt out of us," she answered, a bitter tone entering her voice that left Marie wondering what that debt would involve. "The best any of us could come up with is disguise ourselves as a delivery convoy and hope Meridian's dumb enough to let us in the front door. No offense," she added with a glance at an annoyed Bower. "Then I heard about this lunatic who just blew up the spaceport, and I thought, maybe if I fill up our trucks with the salvage and repair parts, she might help us out," Mel went on, holding up her hands in defeat.
Marie shook her head. "What are you expecting me to do?"
Melody smirked at that. "Well I can guess you're not planning on just hiding out here until things die down. That would be too smart." She looked back up at the Blossom for a moment before putting one fist on her hip. "So here's the deal: if me and the guys can get your 'Mech patched up, you shoot up some of our rides when we're not in them. We go home and tell the boss we tried our hardest and barely got out with our lives. He won't be happy with us, but you can go do whatever crazy thing you're planning, and then we'll be so busy cleaning up after you that he won't have time to punish us. How's that sound?"
Marie considered the offer, and exchanged looks with Bower and Rachel. Finally she looked back at Mel.
"It's a good start," she answered. "Do you think you're up for it? The Blossom's not a standard 'Mech."
Melody waved her off dismissively. "Scrap parts, no plans to work from, and no roof over my head? Where I'm from that's a Thursday. And you're able to keep that thing flying, so how hard could it be?"
"Uh huh," Marie answered, irritated. "Now what else can you tell me about your people?"
"We're tired and ready to leave. It wasn't our call to be here in the first place," Mel answered matter-of-factly. "But you're not asking about the support team, are you?"
Marie shook her head. "You guys have an Overlord DropShip coming down real soon. What can you tell me about it? Do you know when it's landing?"
"I know it's is my ride away from here, and I want to be on it, alive and in as few pieces as possible," Melody answered with a dismissive shrug. "I ain't your prisoner anymore, sweetheart. What's this worth to you?"
Marie ground her teeth in consternation before she reached into her uniform pocket and removed a credit chip, handing it over to Mel. "That's most of what I've been able to save out of my paycheck. Help me out here, and it's yours." She tried to block out the tension she could feel coming off of Rachel behind her.
Mel took the chip and slid it into a datapad, raising an eyebrow at the amount. "This is all you got paid to come after us? I don't know whether to be insulted or feel bad for you." She considered it for a few seconds before pocketing the chip. "You're lucky you're cute. All right. The ship's called Deadfall. And she's expected in two days."
"And how bad will it be when Deadfall gets here? Is she bringing companies of 'Mechs onboard?"
"They don't keep me in the loop on these things, but the boss would rather keep the teams busy. Yeah, the ship'll have some 'Mechs onboard, but they'll be getting maintenance and repairs. Keeping the LZ safe is on us." She tilted her head pensively. "Now if you're done pumpin' me for information, let me offer you some free advice. Whatever you're thinking of doing to the DropShip, stop thinking it. Deadfall's an old ship, but she rides heavy. And the captain's a right asshole. As far as he's concerned, you're either cargo or you're in his way."
"Just like every other DropShip captain," Marie muttered. "Sounds like he loves his ship. What would he do if his LZ was suddenly in danger while he was coming down?"
Melody raised her eyebrows, not just at the question but at how Bower flinched when Marie asked it. "Careful there, I might think you're planning something really dumb," she warned. "Yeah, captain makes sure we all know his ship's more valuable than all of us put together. I'd rather not find out what would happen if he has to choose between picking us up and keeping his ship safe."
"How about the aerospace fighters, then? Could I convince you to keep those grounded?"
Mel shook her head. "Your pocket change doesn't go that far. Boss already had me check both over before I came here. For what it's worth the one's still bent in half with your footprints in the wing. But I know I'll catch hell if there aren't two fliers in the air by the time Deadfall's coming down. So if you want me to fix your 'Mech, I should probably get started before you make me too nervous about what you'll do with it," she said, turning away to head back to her truck.
"One more thing," Marie asked Mel's back. Melody's shoulders slumped and she turned to look back at her. "The Circinans are rounding up civilians to take back with them. I heard they force prisoners to work for them. Is that true?"
Melody blinked, caught off-guard by the question. After a few seconds she nodded. "Yeah," she answered quietly. "Especially if you're a pretty one. They find uses for them real quick. And if you're unlucky enough to get your face blown off in an Inferno explosion, you'd better pray you've got some other skills, or else it's the airlock for you."
Marie's eyes lingered a moment on Melody's cheek and bare arm, the old burns half-hidden under her tattoos. "You don't have to go back to them," she said.
"And what, go to the people who'd string me up?" Mel asked. "Blake save you, your heart's in the right place, but if you're going to try something with Deadfall, I wouldn't bet on you being around in a few days to stand up for me. So why don't we stick with the deal where I fix your flying 'Mech and then you can go cause enough trouble that the boss remembers why he hasn't shot me yet?"
Marie mutely nodded in response, and Melody turned away, lifting up her radio handset to call in the rest of her team. A few seconds later Marie heard the others trucks' engines revving up and the vehicles making their way over to the Blossom. Meanwhile Marie headed back over to Bower and her mother.
"Tha' were risky," Bower warned. "If the lassie guesses what you're plannin'…"
"I had to push," Marie answered. "And even if she guesses, she won't say anything. It works out for her if we cause trouble before we all die horribly." She let out a heavy breath. "So she's wrong, right? We'll survive this?" Rachel and Bower both nodded in response.
The plan was simple enough: a strike on the spaceport was their only chance to keep Caradin from getting off-planet with her prisoners and loot. They couldn't go in too early, or else the pirates would just fade into the woods like they'd been doing since the beginning, probably retreating to a backup LZ. But if Marie and Bower's people hit the spaceport while the DropShip was coming down, Caradin wouldn't have time to retreat. On top of that, as heavily armed as an Overlord was, its weapons were meant for use on the ground. During a descent the ship was vulnerable, and the captain would know that. If he saw the spaceport coming under fire during his descent, he might abort the landing altogether, and make good on the threat of "have an LZ ready or get left behind" the pirates were working under. Rachel herself had confirmed, DropShip captains had abandoned LZ's for less.
"She didn't say anything too bad," Rachel commented. "If anything it's better than we were expecting. An older ship, no 'Mechs to drop, and a captain who's full of himself."
Marie nodded as she chewed one finger in consternation. "Caradin's out of her element on this. She's used to high-mobility scouting and interception, not defending a single location. And she's not a tactical genius, either. She didn't figure out I had the Blossom's security key in my legs."
"So what's wrong?" Rachel asked.
"…I wish we had more of a plan," Marie answered, holding up her hands. "This is our chance to really catch Caradin off-guard. We need to give her something she doesn't have an answer for, throw her for a loop." She thought for a moment. "Let's see if Wolfgang can tell us how Caradin would defend the spaceport. I've got mobility at least. If I hit the right spot I can make her split up, get her off-balance somehow…at least keep her too busy to start shooting prisoners out of spite."
"What about the aerospace fighters?" Rachel asked.
"With any luck they're down to just one. And I can stay low, hop between cover spots. The AirMech can turn sharper than the fighters. And it'll keep them off of Meridian's people." Marie shook her head. "I've already blown up half the spaceport, I'll just keep shooting buildings until Caradin gets annoyed enough to do something dumb."
Next to her, Bower lifted his chin confidently. "Aye, lassie. And the Meridian Armoured Defenders will have your back on this. I'll call up ev'ryone I can. We'll show your traitorous lieutenant what for! Would nae be the first time Periphery men n' women've stood up to someone stronger'n them."
Marie smiled at him in appreciation. Still, something tugged at her mind. A flicker of an idea that had been growing for the last few minutes. As her eyes moved down to the truck full of salvaged parts Melody was driving, the idea came to the forefront of her brain. Marie stood there a moment, quietly considering it. She slowly turned and looked back at Melody's people, seeing some of them were already moving up to help with the repairs while the Chameleon and the technicals waited by the edge of the clearing.
"What is it?" Rachel asked, seeing her daughter's distraction.
"Just a thought…" Marie mumbled in response. She looked at Bower. "How much do you trust me right now?"
"At least as much as ye deserve," Bower answered. "I've got yer back, lassie."
"Hang onto that," Marie told him. "And call up your factory, see if they can fast-track fabrication on something for me. We really need to sell this attack as a big deal." Bower nodded in response to that, while Marie headed after Melody.
"Hey, Mel? What if you didn't have to go back to your boss completely empty-handed?"
*End Chapter 21*
Thanks for reading!
Battletech and Mechwarrior are the property of Catalyst Game Labs.
Rachel McCloud, the Bristol, Marie Rose (Sr.) and the Black Thorns are creations of James Long, who among other things wrote Main Event and DRT for the Battletech universe.
Image of the Marie on the hand actuator comes from Hatchy: /Hatchy86753o9
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