(Sigma Mercenaries, Story 0001: Initial Public Offering)
(Chapter 23: Fighting Into The Future)

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0445 Hours Local (Base Boarhound) Time)
(Rooftop, Administration Building, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)
(Day 20 of Campaign)

Nine hours of sleep went well toward settling the mind and body of Sigma One, and even the extended rest of the Phoenix he was using as a pillow helped them both just the same. The wake-up call was not a person, nor was it his normal 0400-ish alarm, today it was the sound of an aerofighter taking off from the northern runway that woke the mercenary up. Sigma One was able to get his eye on it fast enough to tell it was the Wasp Aerofighter — probably Takeshi doing a training run early in the morning before any serious business started during daylight hours, he figured.

Hess was careful to lean away from the body of the Phoenix in such a way that when he made to stand up, he put no pressure on Toni at all — critical to make sure that he did not wake her. When he stood up, he used the buttstock of his rifle as a leaning post to help balance himself and make sure he didn't fall backwards into her, and when grounded properly, was quiet in his steps to head down off the helipad and down into the 4th floor of the admin building.

"Morning, sir!" Rasine said as Hess approached his quarters. "Sleep well up top?"

"Very decent," Sigma One said. "Anything happen in the past roughly 9 hours or so?"

"Training has resumed already, you probably heard or saw Lieutenant Yamato take off," Rasine said as she followed the boss inside. "From the cameras, I could see some of the barracks coming alive. Other than that, nothing major so far."

"Word from off-planet, if you've heard any?" Hess asked as he took off his body armor and hung it up to air out for a few. One thing he had not counted on, laying against the side of a Phoenix, comfortable though it was, had been far warmer than his bed and he was drenched in sweat. Another shower was in order, he figured.

"Haven't heard anything major. Virtue?" Rasine asked the ceiling speaker above Hess' bed.

"The Conclave called by the Will Transcendent goes into session at 0800 hours, all parties in attendance. The Senate is royally pissed off by the demonstration the Executors left of their conspiracy."

"Oh?" Hess asked.

"Monitor two," Virtue prompted them. The picture was of an elegant four-tier water fountain that had run red with blood from the five bodies that were upended into it, and five corresponding heads on the tier above the base. The fountain was being lorded over by three Executors, none of which Hess recognized by sight.

"God damn, that's pretty gruesome," Hess said with some reverence. "That's also some damn good warning that you do not fuck around with the orders of an Executor, even if you are a Senator and think yourself immune."

"They paid in blood for the try," Rasine nodded to the television. "Also goes to show, sir, the Executors value us and our work over them."

"Mhm, that could be both good and bad," Sigma One said. "Good, in that it means that the universe knows the score. Bad in that it also makes us a target for those who dislike or outright hate the Executors and want to deliver a cheap-shot to their efforts."

"Oh, did not think about it that way," Rasine admitted.

"Anything else shaking, Virtue?" Hess asked.

"You have offers for meetings with two more corporations for Project UR2, according to their offer. I presume the acronym is referring to the Underground Railroad you were planning on starting with the Jestgrip Foundation?" Virtue asked.

"Affirm, this being the second iteration thereof. Schedule them in for the next couple days where workable, today is going to be a field ops day," Hess requested.

"I can have them both on-site tomorrow at 1130 for a luncheon and meeting, they both would like a tour of the Trains and meeting with the Rail Guards," Virtue said.

"Make it happen, the more assistance we can get, the better." Sigma one sighed. "Anything else before I hit the shower?"

"That is all at this time, sir," Virtue noted.

"Excellent. Set me up a playlist of hard trance and prog trance, I'll do that with my shower this morning. Rasine, if Sidonia comes this way for morning workout, please inform her that she's going to have plenty of a workout today on the contract circuit. Today is not a rest day, we're going to shit on the Star League by doubling down on what Sigma does."

"Will do, sir!" Rasine saluted quickly, was saluted back, and was out the door in the moments thereafter.

Hess ducked into the bathroom and started stripping down as the music began in earnest from his randomized playlist. Nothing would be determined or hashed out while he was cleaning up from having slept next to a surprisingly-warm bird overnight, but by the time he was done in the shower, the Secret Service (minus their leader) was waiting for him at the conference table in his quarters.

Their day would start in the shooting range downstairs, working on improving moving and shooting standards.

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0515 Hours Local (Luna Zero / Star League Standard) Time)
(Central Fountain, Star League Grand Council Palace Grounds, Luna Zero)
(Day 20 of Campaign)

"Is it wrong to enjoy the death glares of these tangos?" Blackrock Markus asked with a chuckle.

"A little, but you no tell, I no tell," Executor-Lord Tenchi Masaki said as something of a wan joke.

Master Executor Doran and Executor-Lord Beryl Atrebas had been relieved from their guard duty after four hours of guarding the fountain demonstration. Technically, two Executors were overkill for this mission, but Eric Atrebas had ordered this be done as a demonstration and an object lesson, so every four hours a different pair of Executors would take up the guard, no Executor involved would be ranked under High Executor, and no aggression from the Star League would be tolerated for this action.

The Star League Imperial Guard had tried their hand as was ordered by Grand Council decree. Multiple times, as these things happened. The first time, Beryl had trapped a mob of them in a Restraining Shell spell for an hour as a demonstration how badly they were outclassed. Second attempt, Doran relocated the company of troops involved (including armored vehicles) to the Parade Ground outside the Multimage Administration Building on Terra 02. Word quickly came back that the Imperial Guard troops relocated had attempted to pull rank against the Multimage Praetorian and were now held prisoner for their misconduct.

Round three happened right after Tenchi and Blackrock had taken their guard shift up, and Blackrock simply teleported them to the literal far side of Luna Zero, a couple days worth of drive for them to return to the Grand Council Palace since teleportation around the surface of Luna was denied to anyone except an Executor. "There are many ways to make a problem go away, and sometimes the far side of a planet is more than ample 'go away' for a problem," Markus had explained after the group landed away from them.

So, with the clear impasse and the desire for continued survival in play, the (remaining) Star League Imperial Guard had simply surrounded the fountain to await when the Executors would depart and they could reclaim the bodies of the slain Senators. And, of course, the cameras of multiple parties were watching the endeavors, so Tenchi was keeping a wary eye and ear toward their ranks in case they start spouting off 'creative reporting' in response to the events here. (Institutionally, the Executors knew that the press was their ticket to continued goodwill throughout Existence, so stomping flat any false reporting before the matters began was something of a necessity for the order.)

"They have had a few hours to form their own opinion on the matter, should we give them a complete rundown on the crime list?" Blackrock asked the Executor-Lord in command over the scene.

"Yes, I think now is a good time, it would make the 6AM news cycle here," Tenchi noted. "You have point, High Executor."

"Will do." Tenchi put a defensive shell around the fountain, a translucent blue one, as it would be fairly obvious a time to try to spoil the matter with an Executor distracted by giving an interview.

Blackrock Markus hefted his hammer and slung it over his shoulder, then made his way over to where the press had set up their little enclave. The Imperial Guard were holding outside a defensive shell that Tenchi had put in place, and one that they did not have the power to breach — Tenchi, rated as an Elite Executor, could produce defensive shells capable of containing the fury of a supernova, never mind keep Imperial Guard away from a fountain.

"Press corps may approach for entry," Blackrock said. "Imperials, if any of you pukes attempt to sneak in with the press, I will flatten your asses under hammer for tidy body-stacking, how copy?"

"You would not, the Senate is already on the verge of disbanding the Executors," a Major of the Imperial Guard said with some haughtiness.

"Yes, please, disband us, unchain us from your foul corrupted tribe please," High Executor Markus said with a savage smile. "Give us the perfect rationale to turn the full fury of the Executors on the Star League, remove what little restraint we have remaining in dealing with the Senate, I dare you to do so. Hell, I'll draft the resolution, since laziness has hallmarked the Senate for over a millennia now, might as well have someone wipe your arses while we sharpen the sword for your beheading."

Wisely, the Imperial Guard made sure to keep their distance from the shell even as the press personnel approached to receive entry. As each outfit came up to the shell: "Link arms, then take mine," Blackrock ordered of each, and once they took his armored hand, they could pass through the shell with no issue. Each was deathly careful to maintain connection to the next person; most shell spells were fairly safe if one lost continuity of presence while transiting a shell, but some shells would forcibly eject someone caught in a position like that, and some shells could chop body parts or whole bodies in such a scenario.

Six groups later: "Thank you, High Executor," a ComStar News Network reporter said.

"Welcome to the Mosh Pit," Blackrock said with some of his trademark gallows humor. More serious: "Everyone's equipment powered up and ready?"

"Check;" "Up and running;" "Ready, sir!" "Good to go!" "All set, sir;" "Rolling," the six cameramen reported after they filed around him in a half-circle, each making sure that they were out of sight of the other crews but had clear sight to the Executor and the fountain behind him.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, I will kick this off. I am High Executor Markus, also known as Blackrock Markus, and on today's episode of 'Star League FUBAR', today we are discussing the massive fuckup of the Grand Council in general and six Senators in particular, in goading the Duchy of Three Rivers into attacking a Protectorate of the Magi." Blackrock knew that he had to be very strategic in how he used invective and profanity, as it was against the law for a broadcast group to censor any part of what an Executor had to say or write, but he also knew that being too profane would cause the groups to flatly bin the segment, and that was counterproductive to their purpose. (Oddly, this law was not conceived or enacted by the Executors, it was entered into the registry millennia ago by the Senate of that time.)

"So, background information time, and the devil resides in these details. Sigma's contracts against the Slavers and the Trains is what prompted this fracas. Though the Star League will say ten ways to Sunday this did not involve them and the Slaver's Guild does not exist, yadda, yadda, yadda, this abortive campaign was initiated exclusively to protect the Trains and the Slavers. Senator Glivenne organized a group of six Senators to engage in some old-fashioned horse-trading: the Duchy of Three Rivers flattens Sigma and ends the threat to the Trains and Slavers, the Star League would theoretically protect the Duchy from Magi reprisal, and the Duchy gains status as both a Star Empire and becomes one of the few nations to beard the Magi under legal cover. Win-win for everyone involved, except Sigma and the Magi."

Blackrock took a moment to sip at a Nalgene water bottle that had a dilute of energy drink in water within. "So, any evidence so far?" a Lunar News reporter asked in hopes of sinking that narrative early.

"These cagey bastards have stayed out of sight and out of light for hundreds, potentially thousands of years. Sigma has been fighting them for twenty days. Do you have any reasonable expectation of hard numbers or helicopters in that equation?" Blackrock asked in counter. It was a logical fallacy that the reporter even presented such a question, and easily seen through by an Executor.

"Pro forma question, sorry sir," the reporter backtracked quickly.

"There is evidence, captured tangos have been coughing up information, but is it enough to roll up the organization? So far, no. The campaign is still young and the parties have had their first morning piss of what promises to be a long, protracted melee. And we Executors are betting on the merc with the brainpower to rewrite the rules of how mercenary units move around, never mind anything else Sigma One has so far done. Anyway, the Duchy accepted the deal, loaded up a couple battalions of forces, hired on a battalion-sized mech warfare merc unit that did not like Sigma's changing of the rules, and they raced off to the encounter de rigeur. They landed in good order, two points for them, they formed up as was proper, another two points for them, and they marched face-first into a wall of firepower and bad intentions just waiting for them, five points for Sigma. Then, to capstone their efforts, they sent in kill teams with express orders to eliminate the command section of the Protectorate. Two points again for the plan, ten points to Sigma for being prepared to do unto raiders before they did unto them. Then, in a bid to escape the pursuing Magi warship, the Regent tried to teleport to the base to hide out and hopefully wait out until the Senate granted him immunity, but he ended up locked in place until the Will Transcendent could take charge of him. Whoopsie."

"So, not only was this a bad strategic plan, it was botched tactically?" A reporter from the Independent Interdimensional News Association asked to sum and clarify the explanation.

"Top to bottom Charlie Foxtrot, from criminally insane strategy to horrible intelligence gathering to tactical assumptions that would have been rejected by a second year land warfare cadet, nothing here was on par with objective reality. Unfortunately, this is a case where everyone gets to pay for the shit-show and nobody profits. Colossal loser that could have been avoided if everyone had listened to us from the start."

"So, what exact charges did they get hit with? They orchestrated the mess, and we see the results, but what is on the record?" The ComStar reporter requested.

"They earned a good rap sheet to get the headless fountain swirly," Blackrock answered, a curt reminder of his beloved gallows humor. "Gross malfeasance, conspiracy to engage a member state in a war against another member state, conspiracy to interfere by proxy in the affairs of a non-aligned state, engaging in acts of war without a declaration of war or due cause, conspiracy to commit genocide by proxy, gross dereliction of duty resulting in loss of life, disregard of direct orders from the Will Transcendent, direct and callous disregard of the judgment of an Executor, multiple direct violations of the judgment of an Executor, forcing the military of a member state into a state of combat with multiple Executors, conspiracy to conceal war crimes or other inhumane actions by proxy actions, conspiracy to perpetuate war crimes or other inhumane actions by other crimes and acts of war, general conduct unbecoming of a Senator."

The assembled reporters were silent for thirty seconds after Blackrock Markus read off the charges, until: "Holy shit that was a list," the reporter from the Multimage Empire Independent Reporter Conclave said in shock.

"Better than half of what they were charged with are — were — execution offenses. Add it all up and The Boss decided this one needed a good demonstration that some policy decisions carry a price tag well in excess of what they thought they would be in for."

It would be a price tag remembered by many to come, but also a price tag probated more than once in years to come just the same.

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0600 Hours Star League Time)
(Rally Point Reciprocity, Nearby recharge station at Nadir Point of Solar Gravity Well, Terra 02, Multimage Star Empire (primary dimension))
(Day 20 of Campaign)

"Any reason we do not go?" Star Admiral Blaine Leroux asked. He had been assigned the overall force command, being the senior Star Admiral (Legion Commander) of the troupe. Between the five Phalanx fleets, he had the highest readiness scores of all five assigned forces, though the margin was thin (his force rated at 97.6 percent readiness, the lowest rated was 95.9 percent).

"My force is go-mission," Legion Commander Joachim Farensbeck noted.

"As is mine," Legion Commander Nina Caecilius nodded twice.

"Our pikes are ready to receive and mount asses," Legion Commander Kayra Barker chimed in.

"Good to go," Harmon Kegg nodded to the last.

"Five Legions of Commandos," LC Farensbeck said with a grim chuckle. "The last time this level of combat force was dedicated to one planet was Operation Moonlight Shadow and Operation Moonlight Thunderbolt, and those forces answered directly to the Emperor for that campaign. I talked to the DC about this, what he expects of the campaign, and his orders are clear. We make a statement out of the Duchy, we do not annihilate them but we brook no combat conduct from them whatsoever. They surrender clearly and cleanly as per Star League regulations or they are cut down. Same for civilians, if they draw blade or raise gun to us, they get chopped. No kid gloves. They will be ordered to surrender and they will know that we are coming for them with drawn blades, so no excuses will be honored but also no excesses from our side just the same, quiaff?"

"Aff, Joachim," Kayra nodded to the point.

"We start with military force saturation bombardment, set down out of the areas of major city populations, and we work our way inward on the established timetable. As we take areas, the garrison forces on call will be brought in by Gate Mage as a further insult to the Star League and their Guilds. Taking the Capitol will be the hard one, they know we are coming and their news services are reporting that they are fortifying in for the invasion."

"Static force, tied to a static location. If you know where it is, you can see it. If you see it, you can hit it. If you can hit it, you can kill it," LC Caecilius pointed out.

"Aff, that is the general idea. We will have to develop more thorough oplans when we have eyes on the enemy opposition and deployments. Any questions?" There were none. "Final comments?"

"I have a Sigma flag to hoist in their honor at the Capitol when we have taken the area," LC Kegg noted with a devious smile.

"Damn good. We shall make it a challenge, then: first Legion to the steps of the enemy palace shall have the honor of hoisting Sigma's banner, and when they set up a National Training Center on their world, that Legion among the Commandos shall be first to help sharpen the mercs up. I shall recommend it to Stan here before we depart." Blaine's suggestion would be well received by the Division Commander, who would consider it a lofty reward for expunging the dishonorable actions of the Duchy.

"Well bargained and done," Nina said with an equally-devilish smile.

"If there is nothing else, return to your ships and prepare to execute jump-out to hostile system. We are on schedule for deployment and movement." The four Legion Commanders all came to attention and filed out of the command conference room into the bridge area. Star Admiral Leroux was last to depart and made his way over to the command platform.

"Steady as she goes, Star Admiral Leroux," the fleet 2-I-C for his ship (MHW-742 Pavel Johanovich Messer) noted.

"Good," Blaine noted. "Jump Control, we are on schedule for deployment. Please begin course planning for the L2 Pirate Point around the Duchy homeworld."

"Time to jump, sir?" the Jump Engineer asked.

"3 hours, 55 minutes."

"Planetfall by 1200 hours," Star Commodore Melinda Roshak noted. "If I was younger and more stable, I would have asked to lead our contingent in the ground campaign."

" 'Asked' you say? That is highly unusual for you, Melinda," Star Admiral Blaine Leroux said with humor to voice.

"Aff, which is why since I am older and markedly less stable in my advancing age, I do hereby call you to Trial of Possession for the honor of leading our contingent against the enemy ground forces of the Duchy of Three Rivers."

"You can spare the Trial, Melinda, I intended to assign you the ground work and I will remain on the bridge to coordinate the forces and the naval bombardment," Blaine defused the coming Trial adroitly. "Truth to tell, you are more ruthless on the ground than I ever was, and that will be needed for making a proper, poignant statement when flailing the faces off these degenerate upstart surats."

"Much obliged for the compliment, Star Admiral," the Star Commodore nodded to her superior officer.

"What remains of our preparations?" Blaine asked.

"Last two cargo Dropships are docking right now, they will be done in the next ten and fifteen minutes respectively. All of our subordinate escort ships have taken on Monitors and Dropships of forces appropriate to the Campaign, so we are as ready as we can be made. Other than that, we are full units and full dock collars, so what pitiable naval forces they have in deploy will not be able to stop us and what ground forces they did not send on this misbegotten Terra-232 campaign will face the blades and spells of nearly a million pissed-off Commandos."

"Good, then we are ready to take a breather and wait for the Jump Engineer to do his best," Blaine said.

"Already on it, sir," the Jump Engineer waved to the two senior officers without taking his eyes from his console.

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0630 Hours Local (Base Boarhound) Time)
(Command Administrator's Quarters, Administration Building 4th floor, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)
(Day 20 of Campaign)

"Listen up, everyone," Sigma One said simply.

"Sir!" A couple of the Secret Service troops answered.

"We have multiple directions we will be going today, and though this has the propensity to become a Charlie Foxtrot before noon, I think we can work this out very easily. First off, Command-level assignments. Clint, you and I are tag-teaming today," Hess nodded to the 2-I-C and youngest of the Administrators.

"Sir! Got a contract array set up?" Clint asked.

"Virtue, slug my picks over to Clint's tablet," and before the echo of the request faded from his room, the contract list was up on the tablet. While he was pacing the Secret Service troops in the shooting range, he had also been on his tablet collecting Contracts to work today, specifically three. "Clarence, you have base command and business command until Clint and I return from the contract circuit. You know what to do."

"The mercs that are offering to join up, do we trust them?" Clarence asked.

"I shall vet them," Nereus said from just inside the doorway, with Neinke and Jeff Evans in tow. "The Will Transcendent ordered ComStar to default their contract, so at this point if any of them are on a vengeance bender, they have no legal cover. That said, as far as I heard yesterday, only a few in the unit were in line with their command level, most of them knew the contract would be a colossal loser and did not want to follow along. And a goodly portion of the survivors already want to transfer over to your unit."

"So we absorb the leftovers, which once we get their gear back up and running, would make an awesome addition to the team," Clint nodded twice.

"Vet 'em, any that are good to go, have the DIs run them through paces, then have Star Colonel Storme check them out in the sims. If they work out across the board, we start forming up units," Sigma One said. "For merc units, business is business, and if they don't hold a grudge, I'm willing to give them positions at Sigma's going rate commensurate with their records and ranks prior."

"Shall pass the word on, then," Nereus nodded to the point.

"Victoria, you have expansion watch, HR, and migration duty today. Try and get another hundred or so moving outward into the area surrounding Boarhound and the nearby towns. Also, check in with Vash, make sure things are going smoothly on his quest to rope in towns without the use of force or coercion."

"He filed a report yesterday that Keptick has signed on, they are ready to join up. Report was lost in the noise of the day."

"Yesterday was a noisy day, good for that kind of oversight." Century Commander Vickers noted as he approached the conference table. "Good news, though, I have heard through back-channels that the Division Commander of the Commandos has something special planned for the Duchy."

"Excellent, we'll get news reports from that fracas soon enough," Hess nodded to the Century Commander. "Victoria, once the paperwork is drawn up, sign off on admitting Keptick into the Protectorate and see if they need anything from us to get back on their feet fully."

"Can do," Victoria nodded twice.

"Jeff, time for the engineering team to start making a little bit of noise," Hess noted.

"Listening, boss," the Division Lead perked up.

"I want you to assemble two crews of volunteers for the engineering team, get them utility trucks and gear necessary to clear downed trees and patch minor damage to the roads between here and Mayville or here and Keptick, and from Mayville to Keptick. From now on, as we expand towns, we clear roads, we repair roads, we improve roads as needed. Also, provide to Victoria what you need for recruiting requirements for electrical linemen so we can start bringing the power grid back online in our new territories. The sooner people's houses get power, the sooner everyone is happy."

"And major road damage?" Jeff asked.

"If we encounter any, we may need to hire in a professional road crew. Eventually we will need to do that anyway, but if we do not need them right now, we can hold off and just use what we have. Worst case, we can use an AVLB to bridge any severely damaged road sections in the name of expediency."

"Can do, sir!" Jeff was a bit daunted by the thought of driving an AVLB (he had seen one in inventory already and looked up the specs), but figured he could learn fast enough as needed. After all, two weeks ago he did not know how to operate a wheel loader or HEMTT tractor, so learning another new piece of heavy equipment was not impossible to him.

The door to the apartment opened. "Sorry we're late, sir!" Lieutenant Reishen said quickly. Sir Launcelot was behind her only a pace.

"Have not circled around to your part yet, so it's all good," Hess nodded to the two Rail Guard officers as they took station against the wall next to the bathroom door. "So, next major issue is Secret Service. Crystal, Rasine, I want you two to coordinate with Toni and Moira on expanding the Secret Service, as your outfit has several dozen volunteers awaiting determination. The exact method you use to pare down that group is your call, but I would like to see some expanded capabilities in your teams if possible. More so if we can open up some subdivisions of the Secret Service, so we have a protection detail, a special operations detail, and an investigation detail, which would bring it inline with or above the Secret Service of my home nation."

"I like that thought," Sidonia said.

"You may not like me much after you hear what the contract load is today," Hess noted pensively.

"Oh joy," Sidonia rolled her eyes.

"Rail Guards, you two are on the burner now," Hess nodded to them.

"Sir!" Both Launcelot and Megan answered.

"For the next two weeks, your teams are on training and stand-down to fill personnel gaps from maternity leave, then once you are ready to go, no later than 20 April I want you in a new set of Trains. Two weeks is more than enough time for Mosley's troops to disassemble what remains of the Trains below, so by then you should have clean rails waiting for you. Good to go?"

"Bring in new troops, get them trained up? I can do that," Megan nodded twice.

"Also, think about the possibility of splitting troops off to form up a third Rail Guard team, we will build up the Rail Guard units by training, operation, team splitting, then repeat the process. I want ten teams of Rail Guards per Railhead base by the time we are at full numbers, so that we can keep cycling Trains almost around the clock."

"It will take us quite the length of time to get to that point, sir," Launcelot noted.

"I am thinking months, years into the future on this one, troop. This is a monster of a task, it is utterly unreasonable to expect results overnight. So, think long term for this duty, years or decades, and plan accordingly," Hess noted.

"Will do, sir!" Megan answered heartily.

"Coordinate with Victoria, there is a pool of volunteers for the Rail Guard duty and you will need to vet some new troops. Any questions or comments?" Hess received none. "Clint, Sidonia, Lydia, Neinke, Anastasia, please remain, remainder dismissed to operations. Good luck to all of us, today will be a busy day."

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0700 Hours Local (Base Boarhound) Time)
(Ladies' Transformation Rune Hangar, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)

"Here we go again," Carl said after he looked to the transformation rune that would later today change him back to human form.

"Yeah, here we go again," Cedric said with some reverence. "Fun once, acceptable twice, damn good purpose to have to do it four times."

"And I count it, if nobody else," Lieutenant Reishen noted.

"Three and a Phoenix have used it already, more are looking forward to it." Coming from the unit markswoman, Cedric considered it holy writ. Ikuno heard things, saw things that the rest of the team did not, and so far that skill was paying dividends for everyone in the unit.

"Yesterday sucked, but today is a big improvement," Carl noted. "Getting shot like that was no fun."

"How's your wing?" Cedric asked.

"Much better after Star Captain Kiona saw to the injuries." Carl yawned. "Man, I slept well last night, not sure why I am so drag-tail tired today."

"Long day, yesterday, especially after you and the Platinum Dragon were press-ganged into flying people around in small groups in the party," Megan pointed out. She had partaken of the ride along with some of the Delta Mafiosi that had formed up into the first bands of Sigma Militia. The ride in the skies over the base were absolutely exhilarating, something she would never forget.

"Maybe. Anyway, this will take the effective same 8 hours or so, should be done around 1500 or 1600," Cedric said. "And there's little likelihood of someone trying shit with Carl in close prox."

"Too true," Megan noted. "Pete and the crew are already working on looking at some of the early recruits to see who can be obviously weeded out on a first pass, so we'll begin trials and training here shortly."

"Go, boss, don't worry about us," Cedric said. "We've got this."

"And this is about to become startlingly boring," Carl noted with a raised draconic eye ridge (what would pass for an eyebrow on most bipeds).

"Message received," Megan threw the blue dragon a mock salute and was on her way back to the HMMVW.

Ikuno and Megan climbed into the vehicle to depart for the northern training field, where they were scheduled for initial testing and candidate selection. The drive from the hangar was only three minutes until she arrived at the parking lot set up for the troop hauler trucks and now the HMMVW for Rail Guard Team 1.

"Move it!" Megan heard Pete shout. "You don't set the bag down until you get to the second line!"

"We carry a full day's gear with us at all times! Food, water, weapons, ammo, armor, clothes, bathroom supplies, medical kits, the works! You don't have the option of stopping to hit a storage unit during the middle of clearing a train!" Quintin reinforced the lesson. "Kylie! Last on this run, I think you can do it with some motivation. Or do you think this is too much?"

"NO SIR!" She responded in a winded shout.

"Good answer! I like your enthusiasm, even if you sound like an asthmatic zebra being chased by a pissed-on lion!" Quintin said. "Lieutenant on Deck!" he shouted after he realized who the new arrivals were.

"I count 25, what was the starting pool like?" Megan asked.

"Started about 45, ma'am. Good portion of them didn't realize this is the combat side of the Train Clearing ops, they wanted in on Director Goodwin's outfit. The remainder were patently unfit for ops, so I sent them back to the Basic cadre."

"And so here we are," Megan said after she looked over the group of humans, nonhumans, men and women. "I take it you have already given them the run-down on what they should expect in the Trains?"

"Yes ma'am," Quintin said. "Pete also counted off the amount of times he took rounds, that dissuaded a couple."

"Best they get it in the head early and often, they will be shot at and occasionally shot for real," Pete noted without taking his eyes off the recruits.

"Nature of the duty," Ikuno noted.

"The allure of the big bucks in this contract will draw some, but it won't keep you," Megan said. "You don't go into this segment of work for the money, there is way too much at stake here and your ass is only first on the line."

"If not the contract, then what is?" a half-Elven guy asked.

"You are here to save lives or you are not here at all," Ikuno handled the answer. "The money only takes you so far, usually not far enough."

It would be a lesson told many times more throughout Sigma's history, and rightfully so.

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0700 Hours Star League Time / 0830 Local Time)
(Headquarters Post, Leene's Irregulars, Megacity Yuline, Planet Marder II, Multimage Star Empire Dimension M-10330)
(Day 20 of Campaign)

"Morning, everyone," Leene said after she took her helmet off. "Ready to do some work?"

"Hell yeah," Justinian said after he sat his helmet down on the table.

The 'Headquarters Post' of the unit was a medium-size warehouse that used to belong to a freight forwarding organization, but they had grown outside the size constraints of this facility and moved across town to a much bigger facility. The building had been easily acquired, Justinian simply asked the day prior about leasing it from them and what the purpose was, and the owner of the forwarding company was very quick to write up a lease agreement and wished them luck.

"Just talked to Marder GmBH this morning, our Maester AIPC is being assembled as we speak, financing has been approved by the Credit Union and we're golden there," the lead of the Vehicle Crew noted. "We shall take delivery from the Public ScrapNet Interface on West Charles Road in five days," Aven Kellestrome noted. He was easily the most senior person in the room in terms of veterancy, having done 35 years in first logistics and later combat ground vehicles.

"Good, I am not the biggest fan of marching everywhere we need to go," Specialist Adam Yancey noted.

"No joke, I would not want to hump that Shortbow around, even in armor," Leene acknowledged the complaint from the Armor Sniper. She had qualified (barely) with the MASR-20C "Shortbow" Armor Sniper Rifle as was required for an Armored Infantryman to qualify on all common arms, but she was nowhere near sniper material.

"So, no vehicle mobility for a few days, so we do what contracts we can on limited mobility," Armored Mage Harald Whitehorse shrugged, a gesture amplified by his enchanted Infantry Armor. "Of course, Leene and I can teleport anyone around as needed, so we are not completely cucked in the mobility department."

"The firepower is what we really need," Nicholas Michaelson noted. He was a 'standard' Armored Infantryman, no specialty such as sniper or demolitions or combat engineer, and also had no magical skills, but he did have psionics appropriate to the job. It would be his combination of Telepathy and Clairvoyance that would allow them to find their contract location after Leene used a Gate to get them to the HPG on world.

"Five days, big guy," Aven pointed out.

"And we can make more than a few bucks in between now and then," Justinian said. "So, let us begin deciding what contracts we are working on today." The titular unit commander flipped a contract series from his tablet to a dock load screen that had been abandoned in place by the forwarding company. "Here is the array of everything below 200,000, no filters yet. Any recommendations?"

"Start by filtering out contracts that require air or naval," Leene recommended. Two checkboxes on the tablet cleared those results. "Now clear any of the Mech Warfare and Cavalry jobs — we do not qualify, obviously." Two more checkboxes removed those. "So, here is what we can reasonably tackle, and these include contracts that can be done with no restrictions on type."

"A few big ones, but no major players for obvious reasons," Harald noted. "Are we thinking major contract, or are we thinking multiple small ones?"

"I suggest multiple small ones, several of these look like we could tackle them in an hour each," Justinian noted.

"Yeah, we could take this drug house bust contract, a personnel extraction contract such as this one ending in -88057, the tanker escort for 40,000 C-bills, and this demolition of bridges contract. That would give us, what, 40, 50, 54, 84 thousand C-bills in four contracts, looks like?" Leene asked. "Call it six hours operational time, in reality, plus transit and resupply, so ten hours total on ground being liberal with the staging times, or just over the price of a decent car per hour on the ground," she said.

"And all in one day. Damn am I glad I let you talk me into this, Justinian," Specialist Yancey said. "Sounds like a win to me. When do we leave?"

"Any objections?" Justinian had the four contracts selected on his tablet already. Nobody raised a comment, so: "There, just submitted all four of them for acceptance. So, as soon as ComStar allocates the Contracts to us, we move to the first."

Allocation took 90 seconds, a byproduct of the changes made to MercNet over the past weeks in response to Sigma changing the paradigm had also resulted in vastly improved reaction times from the MercNet servers. When the tablet chimed, Justinian checked the notice and waved it at Leene. "Yeah, we got all four at going rate. Ready to start?"

"Here's the designated landing spot for the drug den bust," Justinian slugged a hyper-accurate 3D image of the area to Leene's neural network, which would allow her to Gate into the ComStar Station in Mobile, Alabama. From there, Point Officer Michaelson would use his Psionic skills to provide a visible location for a Gate spell to Leene so they could go to the location of their expected operation — but they would need to call forward to avoid a shootout.

"Gate to envisioned location," Leene provided the Gate for her team, and Justinian was the first through the interdimensional door to the ComStar Station.

A ComGuard Acolyte saw the arrival of the mercenaries and immediately snapped to attention when he recognized the form of a Multimage Armored Infantryman. "Sir! Welcome to ComStar Station 655-T-102804," he said with a crisp salute to the pointman.

"G'Morning, troop. Leene's Irregulars mercenaries formation," Justinian identified himself and the team. "Have a phone connection handy? I need to call the police about our contract," Justinian requested.

"Yes sir," the ComGuard sentry waved him over to a desk phone jack that was connected to an old POTS phone — it was part of a local carrier network, not one of ComStar's internal network systems. Justinian had planned for this, he added an analog phone connection to his Armor Command Console and only had to connect a jumper cable from the console to the secondary jack on the phone. With that done, he had the console dial out to the police station in Madison, Wisconsin. He made sure to slug the call audio to the rest of the point to make sure the whole team heard it.

The phone rang four times. "Narcotics, Detective Kates," the contract signer said.

"Detective, this is Justinian Reyo, mercenary unit Leene's Irregulars. I'm calling about Contract S-102804-00303908, is this contract still in force for today?"

"Damn straight it is," the Detective said. "How soon can you be here to the station for staging?"

"In thirty seconds as soon as you give us an open area to land in," Justinian said. "Got a cafeteria or garage space that we can use for arrival?"

"Garage would be great, since you'll be riding in our box truck to the location," the Detective said.

"Detective, this is Nick Michaelson, same unit. After you hang up, can you physically walk down to the garage so I can see through your eyes the landing zone? Makes things easier for us to determine where we need to land," the team psion requested.

"Uh, yeah, I can do that," Detective Kates noted. "Anything else?"

"Neg, we will continue this discussion after we arrive," Justinian said. "Speak to you in person here shortly," and he disconnected the call.

Nick kept his psionics tuned to the mind of the Detective, who did indeed hang up and headed down to the parking garage for the special units of the Madison Police department — SWAT had a couple panel trucks and one mildly-armored vehicle, Narco had some hardened SUVs and pickup trucks, and there were some dedicated towing vehicles specific to the police department for collecting evidence vehicles, and the CSI troops had their own specialized vans. All in all, it wasn't a bad setup as far as Nick could tell.

"Got the locale, ma'am," Nick sent her a mental image of the landing location.

"Stack in column," Leene ordered. Once everyone was columned up and had a hand on the next troop, she began the next step: "Teleport to envisioned location," she said with her mental focus on the image provided her.

The underground parking garage flashed briefly green-blue from her teleportation herald, then the five troops clamored to the ground from a couple centimeters of altitude with a resounding clanging of armor. "Holy shit!" Detective Kates half-shouted after he saw the troops land in the garage bay.

"Detective Kates?" Justinian asked.

"Yeah, that's me," the Detective said. "Sam Kates, Madison Police," he said as he approached the five heavy-armor troops.

Justinian offered an armored hand for a shake. "Justinian Reyo, Leene's Irregulars." The Detective took the shake with aplomb, as strange as it was to shake an armored glove.

"Can you guys step in through normal doors, or do we move the briefing out here?" Sam asked.

Nick pointed to the door behind the Detective. "As long as that is the standard door size, we can do it. Just have to step down our shields and heavies to avoid banging into walls."

The Detective had to stop and think about it for a few seconds. "The conference room might be a bit tricky, it is slightly smaller, but I think it can work. Hell, worst case, we do the briefing in the narco bay. Actually, come to think about it, might be a bit of a better idea, we'll have a lot of secondaries so we'll need the room."

"Unit step down shields and heavy arms," Justinian pointed to a pair of unused parking spots and set his shield down in one of them. The remainder of the team was quick to do so as well, and the detective led the way into the building.

Up a flight of stairs, Justinian and the team were led into the desk area of the Madison Department's detectives. Within three seconds of entering: "HOLY SHIT!" a twenty-something punk shouted and tried to stand up, but the handcuffs that were locked to a desk pole prevented him going far.

"Sweet Jesus Almighty," one of the detectives at the desk said.

"Man, Sam, is this what you meant by mercs for that den on Cardinal?" a large black guy in a patrol officer's uniform asked. Justinian recognized the stripes of a Sergeant, meaning he was a higher-ranking officer.

"These guys are it, yeah," the detective answered. "Leene's Irregulars."

When Justinian stepped through to the Narcotics squad room, and found over thirty personnel waiting for the briefing from several departments, he realized that this was going to be a bigger operation than the paperwork had implied. Still and all, he smiled at the enthusiasm in the crew, as their spirits visibly lifted when they caught sight of the two Armored Infantry, two Armored Mages, and one Armor Sniper in the crew.

After the law enforcement introductions were completed: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Justinian Reyo, unit commander, Leene's Irregulars. The rest of the unit is: Leene Haberson, Armored Mage transportation specialty, Harald Whitehorse, Armored Mage defensive combat specialty, Nick Michaelson, Assault Armored Infantry, and Adam Yancey, Armor Sniper. My operational specialty is demolitions, 12 years in the armed forces of the Multimage Star Empire. Most senior here is Harald at 22 years before he resigned. I hear you have a fortified drug house that needs to be breached, banged, and entered?" His phrasing drew chuckles from the SWAT team but outright laughs from the rest of the assembled persons.

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1000 Hours Star League Time / 0645 Local Time)
(Multimage Phalanx-class Superdreadnought Jormungand (MHW-15155), 10 seconds after jump arrival at L1 Pirate Point in orbit around homeworld of the Duchy of Three Rivers)
(Day 20 of Campaign)

"Safe landing confirmed, visual systems ident full fleet arrival," the Sensors Commander reported from the main sensor panel.

"Bring our primaries up," Legion Commander Nina Caecilius requested. Sensors and communications systems tended to be disrupted after an interdimensional jump into a Pirate Point, so there was always some downtime. "Any visual ident of enemy warships?"

"Affirm, I show two monitor silhouettes known to be in the possession of the Duchy, both tooling along between their homeworld and here."

"Conn, Comms, system is up and we are already being hailed," the communications chief reported. "It is from those Duchy warships."

"Put them on screen, let us see if we can talk them down off the noose." Nina squared up to the main screen in the command pit, the 'God View' screen that looked down on the pit and a small area around it.

"Attention Magi Warships, this is the Duchy battlecruiser Oliphant, you are violating a Star League Resolution by setting foot in this system. Heave to, stand down your sensors and TTS, and prepare to be boarded."

The chuckling at the preposterous orders started from the helm stations, but within fifteen seconds it quickly engulfed the entire bridge. Nina gave them 45 seconds to laugh it out before she called her crew silent, and in so doing got to enjoy the rapidly-reddening face of the 'Admiral' on the far side of the link.

"Attention Oliphant, this is Multimage Superdreadnought Jormungand, hull number MHW-15155, Legion Commander Nina Caecilius speaking. Your ultimatum is heard and, as you can tell, Admiral, it is thoroughly disregarded. A pair of 650,000 ton Monitors are wildly unlikely to pose a notable speed hazard to a Phalanx-class ship, much less five Phalanx battlegroups. The support ships in my group alone out-tonnage your patrol section. Are you prepared to acknowledge this objective reality?"

The Admiral was silent for twenty seconds. "I acknowledge it, but that does not indemnify you from the edicts of the Star League. You are ordered to stand down and submit to boarding for illegal entry into a protected system."

Nina sighed. "Son, I think it is time you have a 'Coming to Jesus' moment on this matter, because there are two possibles as to why you believe you have a shred of protection from the Star League, and neither is accurate." The look on the face of the Admiral said enough. "The first possible is that you have been told by higher you are protected, and you have no clue what happened on Terra 232 yesterday, the second possible is you know what happened on Terra 232 but believe that the Star League Grand Council somehow trumps the Executors. Do you believe that Regent Ulysses Nuone is still in command of the Duchy?"

"The line of the Regents shall forever guard the Duchy," the Admiral answered stoically. "You have no right to speak of our royal line!"

"The Regent was taken prisoner in the ground action on Terra 232 and as of 1430 hours yesterday was officially inducted as Bondsman to the Multimage Praetorian Infantry. The royal house of the Duchy started their first full day of repaying the Magi for their crimes four hours ago."

"Damn you Magi scum! We will return him to the —"

"I am NOT through with you, Admiral, stay your tongue!" Legion Commander Caecilius half-shouted at the monitor. "The Regent failed to eliminate the command section of the Protectorate of Sigma. The forces sent to Terra 232 to ground-invade Base Boarhound failed to even reach the walls of the base before they were cut down. The Senate failed to provide any manner of cover for your actions; they passed a resolution but were immediately countermanded by Will Transcendent Eric Atrebas. You have NO legal protections for the act of war you have inflicted on neutral parties. You have NO moral justification for attempting to cut down a Protectorate and Mercenary Force that was attempting to free slaves and better lives. And you have NO hope of recourse in dealing with the full fury and wrath of the Multimage Empire for turning your tainted blades on a Protectorate under us."

"The Star League Grand Council has passed a resolution —"

"Fuck the Star League with a laser-guided rocket dildo," Legion Commander Nina Caecilius said, and with that one line doomed herself to instant fame and renown throughout Existence, as her favorite rejoinder for anything Star League would be reaired in varying states of censorship in weeks to come, even to be heard on the floor of the Senate they were discussing. "The Star League is not here to save your asses, as you have been ejected from it by vote of the other Member States. They cannot intervene against us or for you, as the Will Transcendent has denied them any recourse toward the Duchy. And if they show up on this battlefield, we Magi will happily turn our guns on their ships, for we would love to have an excuse to tear down that corrupted skeleton and send the bones to Sigma to be used by their DRAGONS as TOOTHPICKS!"

"Jesus," the Admiral breathed with a grimace.

"And now for you, Admiral. My ships are fully online and personnel are at battlestations. I am one command away from turning your ships and men into very expensive space debris. This is now time for your decision: you will stand down your TTS and hoist a flag of surrender, or you will order your Monitors to vainly fire on a Superdreadnought, and thus condemn yourself to an early demise. Which shall it be?"

To accentuate the point: "Admiral! I have sensor contacts from at least two more battlegroups, with two Phalanx-class ships leading those groups," someone off-camera shouted.

"Play it smart, Admiral," Nina requested. "You have nothing to gain by throwing yourself in front of this fleet, much less the four other fleets behind me. Stand down your ships and you will be incorporated as Bondsmen into the Touman under a naval specialty. If you resist, though, our orders are to cut down anyone under arms."

"Conn, Sensors, tango warships are powering guns! Read —" What the Sensor Operator was going to continue saying was lost in the whip-crack sound of Particle Cannons striking the bow glacis plates.

Nina Caecilius sighed gustily. "Let the record show I gave him a term of surrender. Helm, Conn, activate the primaries, charge to 95 and load naval penetrators."

"Charge 95, load Naval Penetrators, aye Legion Commander," the Helmsman answered. "Guns charged, slugs loaded now, now, now. Targeting tango lead ship," he said as the enemy Monitor walked a burst of naval autocannon across the front of the ship. It fared slightly better than the PPCs, but even a burst from the heaviest Naval Autocannon in service anywhere in Existence was not 1 percent damage to the bow of a Phalanx-class ship.

"Fire as you bear, Helm," the Legion Commander ordered.

"Bearing to target, bearing to target, firing!" The Helmsman pulled back on the safety release on the throttle, then when the guns approached the firing angle, he depressed the trigger. The massive Heavy Naval Rail Guns did not fire immediately on trigger closure, they fired in series when the guns were aimed at the theoretical intercept point for striking the front of the enemy ship. Four seconds later, 4780 kilograms of nickel-ferrous composite rod plated in 200 kilograms of tungsten and capped off by a 35-kilogram rhenium wedge for a nose cone struck the port bow of the lead Monitor at a sizable velocity, 6 times higher than that of a common chemical cannon. A half-second later, the second slug struck dead center on the bow of the Monitor.

The effect on target was massive. The Kardon-class System Monitors, each massing 650,000 tons (and thus untransportable on a JumpShip) were designed primarily to deter pirate raids and minor parties from attacking the homeworld of the Duchy. They were not designed to go toe-to-toe with any major Naval foe, trebly so for engagement against a Dreadnought or Superdreadnought. Hence, they had a minor belt of armor that would allow them to withstand fighter weapons, engagement with an armed Dropship, definitely not a heavy hit from a Naval Superiority Superdreadnought. The first slug punched through the front-port armor cleanly, expended a terrible amount of energy on the substructure of the ship, and ended up slamming into the ship's 75,000 ton cargo bay where it would come to rest floating inside a storage container it had punched into. The second slug punched through the bow armor cleanly and violated the magazine for the Pontiac NAC/30 that was the primary big gun for the ship, where it detonated the 29 remaining salvos of autocannon shells in a hellish munitions bunker blast that shredded the nose of the ship, caused significant structural damage to the port and starboard forequarters, and critically cleaved the bridge clean off the ship. The second Penetrator would be found two thirds down the length of the ship, having been finally stopped by the armored bulkhead on the back of the medical bay, with two of the operating table beds flattened between the wall and the slug.

"Target listing to port, Legion Commander, she's dead in the water," the Sensor Chief reported.

"Anything from the second ship?" Nina asked.

"Second ship has deactivated TTS and fired surrender flares, she's out of the fight," the Ship's XO reported.

"Dispatch Marines to board and take control of the ship." Nina looked back to the screen. "Second monitor, this is the Jormungand. I acknowledge the surrender flares and your ship will be allowed surrender with no hostility. I will dispatch marines to take control of your ship pending the conclusion of our campaign on this planet. I do not fault you standing for your homeland, but it is always the fate of the soldiery to pay the debts racked up by the politicians, and for that I cannot but apologize."

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0745 Hours Star League Time / 0750 Local Time)
(87th Street West, approaching subdivision location of contract, Wichita, Kansas)
(Contract residence coords: 37°45'1.70"N, 97°26'32.54"W)
(Vehicle Staging Coords: 37°43'30.43"N, 97°26'42.94"W)
(Day 20 of Campaign)

Hess took the wheel for this part of the driving, since he knew intrinsically where he needed to go — and roads inside urban America were something he was used to, the troops in the Secret Service were still learning the wheels as these things were…

"This looks like it will be fun finding our way out," Sidonia grumped as the vehicle turned eastbound onto West Brookview Street.

"I was never a fan of living in places like this, where each house looks a helluva lot like the next," Sigma One scoffed. "Your housing choices lose kokoro when you go 500 yards down the road and can look at almost exactly the same structure."

"You were a country boy?"

"High-tech Redneck, as we called ourselves in my department. None of us lived in the city we worked in, we all lived in either country lands or at most rural towns less than 10,000 residents," Hess noted as he turned left, northbound onto North High Point Street.

"That name is awesome," Cyrus Goodwin said from the passenger's seat.

"It fits," Clint said from the rear seat directly behind Hess.

"It is the perfect description: lives out in the middle of nowhere, does his own maintenance, and fixes super-complex systems for fun and profit, now we work on fixing the problems of other worlds for fun and profit," Sigma One turned left again at the intersection, which was still technically North High Point Street. "We're coming up on the objective location, eyes up and start checking house numbers."

"Coming up on this side, sir, I think — yeah, on the right, third house," Cyrus noted as they started rounding a bend in the road.

"That's the house, 1321 North High Point," Hess pulled into the house that had a three-car garage and a widened driveway, but only evidence of one vehicle being used. The house itself was very respectable, an urban two-story with English Basement, aforementioned garage space, and a decent fence around the perimeter of the lot.

"Verifying against our paperwork, yeah, this is it," Clint said after Hess put the HMMVW in park.

"Let's go, this is a time-limited operation, even if the contract is open-ended," Hess said. He had explained that as soon as they started moving the family members at hazard out, a neighbor would set off a chain reaction that would lead to conflict.

"On it," Clint jumped out with Erich and the two in OD Green went up to the door; they arrived just a moment before the front door was opened.

"Hello?" The lady asked.

"Catherine Reyes?" Hess asked.

"I am," she said warily.

"Is this your contract request?" Hess handed her his tablet with the contract on the screen.

She took only ten seconds of reading. "Yes, I did. Are you — are you — really?" She asked with increasing emotion.

"Yes ma'am, Erich Hess, Sigma Mercenaries. We are here to extract yourself and your two daughters."

"Oh my God," she half-stuttered, welling up with tears. Hess was semi-expecting it, but Clint was not expecting to be hugged by a crying lady.

"Freedom! I can finally get away from that abusive asshole!" Catherine half-wailed, half-shouted.

"Just sign at the bottom and we're moving you out post haste," Sigma One declared after she let go of his 2-I-C.

"What's going on, mom?" Hess heard from inside the door. A stairwell inside and to the left had one of the daughters listed in the contract. "Mom, who are these guys?" she asked in even more shock, likely after she realized she was looking at some kind of military personnel or similar.

"They're mercenaries, I hired them to move us out of here and away to another world where Paul can't get to us," Catherine said. "It means you'll have to learn a whole new society and new schools, but — "

"Say no more," the elder daughter said as she stepped past the shoulder of the younger daughter. Hess figured her in the neighborhood of 17 or 18, and the younger at or around age 15. "After this, I'll live on the moon if needed," she said as she approached the door and pointed to the stunning purple-and-blue bruise on her face.

"Damn, that's a heavy hit," Sidonia noted from behind Sigma Two.

"Quite," Hess nodded. "Before we begin, want me to document those in case he tries to challenge the validity of the Contract?"

"You can?" Catherine asked.

"Yes, the more evidence, the less likely ComStar will allow a challenge to the contract," Clint said. "Here," he pulled out his tablet and held it up so the camera was visible. "Embedded high-power digital camera. We can attach any pictures we take to the Contract and in a minute or two, it is uploaded to the MercNet servers, permanently attached to the Contract."

"If the shithead comes looking to snatch you back or tries to dispute the Contract, we smack him with the evidence, then we have him jailed for fraud against MercNet, or worse charges if it goes in that direction. And we will know if he tries to enter our territory," Hess explained.

"I'm game," the younger daughter said. Hess took several evidentiary pictures of the younger daughter, Clint covered the pictures of the elder daughter. The process took 90 seconds.

"Any other injuries need recorded?" Hess asked. He did not realize he had just stepped on a sensitive subject:

"Uh, yes, but I can't show them in open areas," the mother said.

Sigma One only took two seconds to get the gist of what she said. "Copy all, after we get you moved in at your new residence, we will have the medical staff check and catalog anything too sensitive for common explanation," he assured them.

"Okay, what do I need to sign?" Catherine asked.

"Here," Hess handed her a stylus and held the contract execution form up for her on his tablet. She signed off without hesitation. "All right, it is time to fire sale this place."

" 'Fire sale' means what?" Catherine asked.

"Everything goes, mom, everything," the elder daughter explained.

"Everything that is clearly not the property of el shithead is boxed up and goes," Clint put a terrible half-Mexican enunciation on the insult. "All right, let's break this down and start planning our process. Your names, Katy and Danielle?" Clint waved his finger at the daughters.

"I'm Katy," the elder daughter said.

"Okay, Katy, you go with Sidonia and Lydia, start planning out the method of madness. Danielle, I'm assigning you Anastasia and Neinke, same thing, start organizing and planning."

"Rasine and I will work at your direction, Catherine," Hess said. "Let's get this party started," he said before he clicked his radio toggle on his chest. "Boxcar, Chronicle, green light, repeat, green light. Roll in and stage at direction from security troops, how copy?"

"Chronicle, Boxcar, copy all, we are oscar mike, ETA on site in ten mike."

"Barrett! Cyrus!" Hess prompted.

"SIR!" both answered immediately from the HMMVWs.

"Haulers are inbound, park them nuts to butts and get those containers on the ground pronto! As soon as they arrive, the counter begins!"

"Yes sir!" Cyrus and Barrett reached into their vehicles, Cyrus came out with a tape reel measure tape, Barrett had a pack of flares, and the two set to measuring out optimal parking so they could put all four containers on the ground for easy loading.

-x-

(Same time as above)
(Office of Engineering Lead, Sigma Engineering Services Building, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)

"Enter," Subaru said to the knock at her door. "Talia, how are you feeling this morning?"

"Uneasy, to be honest," Talia noted. "I did what I could, but…" she said warily.

"Everything I heard about yesterday, you did nothing for which you should feel uneasy," Subaru leaned back in her chair. "We were fighting with a mix of allied professional troops and militia, against an invading enemy medium infantry team. Your work with Merlin on squaring up the walls, you may have saved more lives than we lost."

"You really believe that?" Talia asked with some skepticism.

"Yes, Virtue and I ran the numbers out several directions this morning, simulations of the battle with changed variables, and taking you out of the equation quadrupled casualties on our side on the wall," Subaru admitted. The conclusion was simple: because Talia knew how to read terrain and enemy intentions, she knew where to put the heaviest defense troops for best effect, and those troops had done their level best to break the attack. Apparently It worked, all else being equal, and even the AI entities could not find fault?

"Well, then, that makes things easier going forward," Talia admitted with a sigh as she settled down into her chair.

"If you need a day or two to back off and take a break, I can arrange it," Engineer Lead noted.

"No, I should be good, thank you," Talia defused the direction the conversation was going.

"So, big question: how did your design review of the Minerva refit go?" Subaru asked.

"Well, two considerations I have. One, if I am constrained to the original mass of the Minerva, which is calculated out to 325,000 tons, I was able to straighten out some quirks with the design modification so that we have acceptable weapons, armor, troops, and even increased the onboard cargo by almost double."

"That's good," Subaru said. "I guess your question in the air is, are you limited to the original mass?"

"I can do wonders with the design if I can squeeze another 50,000 tons out of it," Talia noted. She had a wishlist from back when the Minerva was on paper, and this looked to be the best time to possibly do it better…

"Virtue, how high can a Monitor go and still be jumpship or warship transportable?" Subaru asked the ceiling speaker.

"Transportable monitors cannot exceed 400,000 tons, and every 100,000 tons or fraction thereof requires a special mating collar on the ship to attach to a Jumpship."

Talia sighed. "So I could go up to an extra 75,000 tons," she said with a smile. "That is much better than expected."

"Break out that wishlist, what's on it?" Subaru asked.

"Here's my proposal for plus-fifty-kilos, I will have to do some more refactoring for plus-seventy-five, but this is what I am looking at," Talia swiped the numbers over to the screen in the room, to which Virtue put up a paired view: the revised Minerva (Sigma Refit) versus the new and beefed up numbers.

"Wow, okay, that makes a difference," Subaru said. "That makes a huge difference, especially for campaigning."

"More available ground force in Mobile Suits, Heavy Vehicles, Infantry, and more supplies to bring along — we can convert part of the supplies hold for troop transport if needed," Talia pointed out.

"The extra structure and armor would be very welcome, of course, and we will need it for engaging the Privateer-class ships."

Talia cleared her throat. "I made sure that the Tannhauser on the front of the ship has extra redundant power feeds, just to be safe, and a heavier armored shutter."

"Beefed up the CIWS grid all around the ship," Subaru said. "Always good to have more guns for light intercepts." The prior CIWS grid had been 12 guns, 6 on each side, but was now up to 24 guns, 12 on each side.

"Also added another 4 of the LRM 20 missile systems to each side and another pair of Multipurpose missile launchers to each side of the ship, bringing the full total to 24 missile launchers, and commensurate weapons cooling systems added throughout the ship," Talia pointed out.

"Good thought. Virtue, does the cooling grid exceed full weapons employment heat generation?" Subaru asked. She knew one of the major flaws with 'mechs and aerospace fighters was their cooling systems, most designs ran hot and some designs ran so hot they could self-immolate themselves with waste heat. Warships that lacked appropriate cooling grids could find themselves unable to use some or all of their weapon systems, due to the way naval weapons grids were designed they would not consciously allow machine overheating, as waste heat in a warship could kill the crew faster than it could be dissipated.

"Affirmative, design specification is slightly more than 3400 heat units, with heat sink capacity exceeding that by almost a hundred," Virtue pointed out.

"Good." Subaru looked down from the screen. "I like this revision, but if you have 25,000 tons to play with, do it. Scale everything up as needed and dump your remaining tonnage into armor, structure, cargo, and crew support. She has enough gun for now, what we need next is a campaign asset."

Talia nodded. "Understood, I will see what I can do."

"Thank you, Captain, for yesterday and for these numbers. Once we have everything dialed in and engineered properly, we'll take these to The Boss to sign off on building."

Captain Talia Gladys nodded. When she closed her eyes, all she could see was the sight of Chairman Durandal's chest blowing out from the magnum pistol slug that punched through the Chief Representative's throat and into his chest. Neither had died instantly, both were left to choke on blood until they expired.

"I will help design whatever we need to take the fight to the Slavers," Captain Gladys assured the Chief Engineer. She was more looking forward to training the personnel that would take the fight to the enemy, but having appropriate gear was just as critical.

-x-

(10 minutes after the engineering meeting started)

"Forward, forward, forward, halt!" Barrett stopped the second truck right over the flare. "You're good to go!"

"Deploying Crates," Point Commander Jason started the lift sequence for his paired 24-foot CONEX containers. "This what you had in mind when you came to this outfit, newbie?"

"Better than I anticipated," the lady in the passenger seat said with a smile. She was a new hand to the forces deployed to Terra 232, and with a MOS of logistics, she was quickly swept up into the evolving action on this contract. "So, we're doing a fire sale on this house, except for the possessions of the male occupant." Hers was a comment, not a question.

"Aff, the pictures of the bruises Sigma One uploaded to the contract were all the justification I would need to pull them as well."

The two CONEX containers rattled as they dropped down onto the sidewalk, and to the left across the street a 'concerned neighbor' came out to look at the noise and commotion. "Let's go, this is all hands on deck," the lady said as she took the three steps down to ground level.

Shortly after she landed on the ground: "You have the CONEX with the mixed polymer totes and barrel bags, right?" the security officer asked.

"Aff, that is the front container," Point Officer Emerald said.

"C'mon, you're with me. Boss wants the totes in the kitchen and garage, barrel bags go upstairs to the bedrooms and bathrooms for fabrics, clothes, towels, similar."

"Aff," The lady demonstrated to Barret how to open a CONEX latch, which he did on the second side door. Barret grabbed a stack of the barrel bags, while the two Magi logistics officers grabbed totes to take inside. The driver also made sure to grab another set of furniture hauler straps to make moving the inevitable large furniture object easier.

Before they made it all the way up the yard to the front door: "Attention all personnel, this is Chronicle. Big Tango has been informed of what is happening at this site, he just picked up a loaded .38 from the toolbox of one of his coworkers and is headed to his POV now. ETA on Big Tango is 5-0 minutes. I want to be out of this site in 4-5 minutes for optimal outcome. Clock is ticking, let's move it!"

"That puts an exclamation point on the matter," Emerald noted with a frown. The veteran logistics officer brushed the driver and the security troop aside to allow a Multimage-uniformed logistics troop and one of Sigma's troops in OD Green to come through with a large and somewhat ornate dresser. Surprisingly, despite the Sigma trooper looking like he was well overweight even under his armor hauberk, he was not straining to any notable degree in moving the large dresser.

Emerald led the way in and took a stack of polymer totes out to the garage, where the lady of the house was directing organization and packing efforts. "Oh! The totes! Thank you, miss!"

"Emerald, Multimage Logistics Officer. Where do you want me?" Emerald asked.

"Start cleaning out the garden cabinet and loading up," the lady of the house pointed to the cabinet in question. "Cabinet goes as well."

"Love it," Emerald said after she caught sight of the bruise on the elder daughter. She had no doubt that the picture was completely true, but seeing eyes-on made it more real in most people's minds.

-x-

(Same time as above)
(Business Operations Office, Admin Building, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)

"Come in," Clarence turned down the volume control on his desk speaker he used for 80s music.

SSO Erin ducked her head in. "Sir, I have a crew of the mercs in to talk to you."

"Bring them in," Clarence said. "Erin, contact the High Executor, he wanted to be here for this as wel—" He was cut off by the luminance of a teleport action — the High Executor landed behind the group and quickly closed up.

"I am here," Nereus reported quickly from the rear of the group.

"That's some serious horsepower," the first of the Mercs said. "Lieutenant Captain Beatrice Joosten, 'G' Lance, Third Company of Charlie's Battalion."

"Lieutenant Gerald Vokomis, Echo Lance, Second Company," the one guy of the three mercs said.

"Unit XO Maranda Key," the other lady said.

Clarence came to attention and saluted in the quickly-growing Sigma tradition (which matched the naval salute of the US from decades in the past). "And I am Clarence Williams, callsign Sigma Three, primarily over business and contract affairs." The three mercs and Clarence dropped their salutes. "Please be seated," he indicated the chairs in his office.

"Sir?" Maranda indicated to High Executor Nereus.

"Go ahead, I'm good," Nereus leaned back against the frame of the door and folded his arms. The mercs took seats as Clarence did.

"So, I heard from various sources that, now that your unit has been delisted and de-contracted, you're looking for new employment," Clarence started.

"Well, went deeper than that, your helo team schwacked our boss," Maranda said. "No boss, no unit, no contract, no luck on this one."

"Nothing but trumps on this campaign," LT Vokomis acknowledged.

"Out of work mercs, essentially," Clarence noted. "Now, before we go forward, I'll say from an admin level, no hard feelings. Business is business, and I respect the boundary of the contract. Still and all, why did your unit go against the orders of the Will Transcendent?"

"Our boss believed the promises of the Grand Council and swore we'd be protected as well. I wasn't so sure," Maranda admitted quietly. "When I heard that the Regent had to bow before the Master Executor, I knew we were well and truly sold upriver by the GC."

"More than a few parties were sold upriver in an attempt to assert a level of authority the Grand Council has never had a legitimate claim to," Nereus noted from behind the three Mercs 'mech pilots.

"Does that mean the Executors have a claim to our hides?" LCpt. Joosten asked the High Executor.

"Technically, yes," Nereus said. "Even if under contract, coming to this planet with drawn blades does constitute a direct violation of the Master's Judgment from a few weeks back. That said, I truck with what Clarence said: business is business in the world of the mercenaries, and contracts have an expected boundary. And, as these things happened, you did pay a hefty price for this misbegotten campaign. I am willing to call it at that, if Sigma is in agreement?"

"On the proviso that your unit does not disobey the orders of an Executor again, even if under contract, I'll call it a bygone," Clarence said. "If you want to sign up for the unit, your record will reflect your prior employment and status from that, but nothing more will be said of it."

"Most of the survivors of the unit are willing to sign up," Maranda noted. "Do you guys really do large volumes of short-duration contracts?"

"Short duration, limited deployment, high-risk contracts, though the boss has been thinking about branching into long-term high-risk campaigns," Clarence said. "We're not Garrison Queens in Sigma. We go where the shit is, and if needed, we stir shit up. Downside of that policy, we get a lot of shit. Upside, we get very good rates for that shit."

"Good," Beatrice smiled. "Garrison Queen contracts pay out decently, especially when you're talking a battalion of 'mechs, but it always frustrated me that Charlie never wanted to do the haz-ops contracts that pay 5 times more for half the deploy time."

"Charlie liked piloting, he didn't like getting shot at," Maranda noted. "I can't blame him, as you just demonstrated that smart warfare practices can smoke a disorganized foe with poor intelligence and impossible mission parameters."

"We're not fond of being shot at, either, which is why TRADOC focuses on developing overwhelming advantages of one kind or another," Clarence said. "So you'll be in good company here in that regard. So, here's my offer: if you want in, you'll go through the paces to make sure you are up to at least Sigma's minimums: basic, 'mech pilots, command rating for your lance leaders. While you're getting paced in, our techs and the Magi techs training them will reassemble your machines to whatever workable degree we can do, and as you come online, we'll try to get you into your machine or into something else we have in inventory and form up teams for ops. Good to go?"

"I read, sir," LT Vokomis answered crisply.

"Once you have teams assembled, we'll start determining where we can put you in the contract circuit to make the best bucks with acceptable or less risk. You can buy your gear out on your salary as you go, or you can run to retirement and just walk with your savings as you go along."

"Pension plan?" Maranda asked.

"Don't have an official one yet, but you aren't the first to ask so I'm reviewing options," Clarence said.

"Medical and housing?" Beatrice asked.

"By the book. We room and board to a better-than-military standard and support our troops as best as possible," Clarence said.

"Is it true you guys do a cut of the contract proceeds to involved units?" LT Vokomis asked.

"Very true, 25 percent straight to the units involved." He did not have to say that the 25 percent cut would have to be split among the participating troops, but that was still a very generous cut.

"Mister, you have a deal," Maranda said as she stood up and offered a hand for a shake. Clarence didn't hesitate to take the hand.

"I will brief your crew on what we just hashed out and supervise their onboarding, no doubt there will be lingering confusion about your status vis-a-vis the prior orders of the Will Transcendent," Nereus said.

"Thank you, sir," Clarence said, though he knew it was also to take a read on the new recruits for safety purposes. "Anything else to discuss, XO?" he asked the highest-ranking of the former Charlie's Battalion.

"No sir, thank you."

"Dismissed, and welcome to the crew."

-x-

Hess assisted the Magi logistics troop in properly seating and then strapped down the dresser, then took a few moments of time to slip a protection blanket over the mirror unit on the dresser.

"You have done this before," the Logistics troop noted to Sigma One.

"A couple times, yes," Hess admitted. He had helped both in the packing and unpacking phases in years past for family and friends.

"A pleasure working with you, sir, and damn good show yesterday dealing with the Duchy. But, why are you here working a contract a day after your homeland was attacked?"

"I swore that today we would double down on what Sigma does simply to spite the Grand Council and the Duchy, prove to the world that pissing on us means the claws comes out, not that we back down or lick wounds," Hess explained as the two troops took a few moments to put more blankets on the dresser and stack some shipping boxes on top of it.

"The next assault, that may not be possible," the Point Officer noted.

"True, next time. But for today, we do what we can, and today that means we do what is proper and just for this family." Hess waved the troop out the side door of the CONEX. A pace out of the container, he caught sight of Barrett and Cyrus talking to a couple police officers, and Barrett waved him over to them. "Go on and grab Neinke to assist, I have some PR to do," Hess informed the logistics officer.

"Aff, good luck sir," the Logistics officer gave him a thumbs-up and was on the way back inside with the load straps.

"Ho! What's up, Barrett?" Sigma One asked after he approached. He made sure to keep his hands away from any of his weapons, namely by hooking his thumbs on the top of a couple of his GP pouches.

"Someone called the cops and reported a break-in here," Barrett said. "So I showed 'em the contract we're operating under and gave them a paper copy."

"Either a bitchy neighbor that doesn't particularly like the mother, or the asshat husband that she is fleeing," Hess guessed. A moment of introspection on the history of the matter (the purpose of his Chronicle relic was to read, record, and understand the history of people and situations) revealed it to be the old lady watching through the window of the house due north of the contract location. "Ah, it would be that soured bitch just over the Sergeant's left shoulder, she's standing watching the happenings through her front window. She would also be the wench that called Big Tango and set that in motion."

"How do you know that?" the Sergeant asked.

"I have an enmagicked relic that shows me the history of an event, a person, a place, as needed. Anyway, what can I do for you, gentlemen?"

"Well, since this call is obviously not what it started out as, we're not going to detain you any further. We just need to speak to Catherine and the kids," Sergeant Zader said with a nod.

"Barrett, go break 'em off and have 'em come out here," Hess ordered.

"Can do, sir!" Barrett nodded to the officers and was on his way at a jog.

"American?" the patrol officer asked after a few seconds.

"Kentucky, 2015, specifically," Hess answered. "6AM, eating breakfast and reading work emails, Interdimensional Jumper Train landed on my garden. Here," Hess pulled his tablet out and showed them a copy of the picture that Virtue had cross-decked from his phones to his tablet. "This was taken looking out my back door in the nautical twilight at the Train."

"That's nuts, middle of your back yard looks like, and over the fence into the next lot," the patrol officer noted.

"Swipe right to left and the next picture should be a shot of a shooter before he turned his shotgun on my house." Hess didn't say that the picture taken was after he had shot at three of the escaped Slaves.

"Yeah, wow, pump-action," the Sergeant said.

"Four of us County Militia troops were deputized by the Sheriff and sent in with orders to capture the Slavers and bring order to chaos. Turns out there is more than just this one Train, so we've got a lot of work ahead of us."

Hess received his tablet back. "How many more?" Sergeant Zader asked.

"Hundred-forty-nine thousand and change," Hess said. "Enough work for a couple decades trapping and clearing the damn things," he pointed out. "Thankfully, we're pretty decently paid for it, so we profit in material, personnel, and finance taking that crap job on."

"William," Catherine came up and gave the Sergeant a hug. "Thanks for pushing me to get out, I hired this crew to remove us because of your pushing me to leave."

"You're leaving not just town, but the planet, then?" Sergeant William Zader asked.

"Yeah, he can't follow us where we are going, and I can completely start over when I get there. Same with Katy and Danielle." Catherine let go of the Sergeant and stepped back.

"That's going to require some adjustment, but you're young enough to make it easy," the Sergeant said.

"We're working on making the adjustment process as smooth as possible, we've got a lot of the same concerns with the occupants of the Trains. Thankfully, we also have a lot of occupants that just want to make a clean go of it in a new land, and a lot of people that have never had a homeland and are willing to build and fight for one," Hess said.

"Run by an American, if I remember what the kid said?" the patrol officer pointed to Barrett, who was carrying out a couple loaded polymer totes to one of the CONEX containers.

"Yeah, the powers that be put those Kentucky Militiamen in charge," Hess said with something of a crooked grin. "Yet to see how it all shakes out, though."

"I think it'll work out," the Sergeant said with a smile and offered his hand for a shake. "Thanks for this, trooper."

Sigma One took the hand and gave it a shake. "We do what we can, Sergeant. If you ever need us, we're on MercNet," Hess said. He presented the Sergeant with a business card that Clarence had designed for the Command Section a week ago.

"Here," both the Patrol Officer and the Sergeant presented him cards, which he pocketed. They would be the first business cards he took from many sources, as his personal commemorative keepsakes for his contract work in years, decades, centuries to come. "Tourism travel to your place?" the Sergeant asked.

"Not yet, working on it. We can keep comms going, though, I'll be sure to have our AI entity keep you apprised of how these three are doing, unless they object?"

"Definitely, please," Catherine said. Both daughters nodded in agreement.

The Sergeant lifted up Katy's chin and leaned her head to the side. "He did this, right?"

"Yeah, he did," Katy answered.

"No wonder you weren't in school today. That's not explainable as an accident. Want me to detain him when he gets here?"

"Nah," Hess shook his head. "That crapsack's story is going to go southbound faster than a Taco-Bell-fueled Canadian Goose, and you boys won't have to lift a finger for it."

The Sergeant chuckled at Hess' phrasing. "I don't know if I should laugh or cringe at that comparison."

"Both are valid, and by 2015 Taco Bell can almost be used as a medical-grade laxative," Clint said as he approached the group. "Need you inside for some heavy lifting, big guy."

"Guess I'll have to stop eating the Bell in the next 21 years," the Patrol Officer said warily.

"Anything else, gentlemen?" Hess asked.

"Go, good luck and godspeed to all of you," the Sergeant said with one last shake of hands.

Hess, Clint, and the family headed inside for the next phase of cleanout. The Patrol Officer and Sergeant went across the street to report on the happenings to the original complainant, and in so doing informed her what was going to happen.

-x-

(Same time as above)
(Skies over Planet Nuone V, Duchy of Three Rivers 'Empire')

"Ejecting Drop Pod, five, four, three, two, one, now," Star Commodore Melinda Roshak flipped the breaker in her cockpit to release the four-part clamshell drop shell from her 'mech. Once the pod sections separated, her drop cradle engaged and the multiple rocket thrusters immediately brought her drop speed down to a reasonable landing force. 30 seconds later, she touched down, number 6 amongst the forces from her Legion to set (mechanical) feet on the ground of this planet. "Landing confirmed, I am on the ground in good order."

"Acknowledged, Melinda. Execute planned defensive placement and hold for Dropship arrival," the Star Admiral ordered.

"Landing forces, Reaper Lead, execute planned defensive deployment. Be aware we have approaching enemy forces."

"Contact Forward! Jence Wheeled Guns!" Reaper-6-2 announced, the pointman for the first star to land.

"I see them, turrets forward and no white flags. Engage as they bear," she said before the lead of the enemy company fired off a pack of LRMs at her specifically, joined by two other such launches in the seconds thereafter. Her order was predicated on Star League established surrender procedures: for tanks, you must approach an enemy line slowly, have a clearly-visible white flag, and must have guns elevated with turrets facing away from OpFor lines, or you would be considered a combatant and fired upon.

The Jence was classified as a 'Wheeled Main Battle Tank' by the Duchy armed forces, which made it two lies for the price of one. The Magi classified it as a Wheeled Gun since its arsenal revolved around the one Mydron Model CX LB-10X AC, and two, it lacked the armor, the engine power and the necessary arsenal to properly stand as a MBT among even peer-level forces, much less against the Star Empires and their Main Battle Tanks. With the aforementioned LB-10X as a main gun, a LRM 15 rack and a pair of SRM 4 racks, the Jence could be outgunned by some Magi 50-ton tanks and certainly could not stack it against an equivalent weight omnimech.

Still, a Company of the heaviest of the Duchy armor (the Jence) had moved forward to contest the landing, and Melinda now commanded the defensive effort to stop them from trying to shoot at or shoot down the incoming Dropships.

The first of LRM salvos came in steep and nosed down on Star Commodore Roshak's omnimech, but ran afoul of the Laser AMS in the left leg of her machine and was obliterated before they could damage her unit. The two following salvos both overshot her machine to a comical degree, highlighting the training disparity between the Duchy and the Magi. Her return fire was much less haphazard, two Gauss Rifle slugs struck the lead vehicle in front glacis and turret, followed by part of a salvo of ATM-6 LR missiles.

"Reaper-6 Element is engaging," the Star Commander for the lead drop element said. His was a Heavy Star, comprised of three Heavy Omnimechs and two Medium Omnimechs, so his firepower already outgunned the enemy vehicles.

"Coming down behind you, Reaper Lead," Melinda's XO said a few seconds before his Slasher Omnimech landed 300 meters behind and to her right. "On the ground, remainder of the Command Trinary is coming down in good order."

"Move it up, I could use some assistance here!" Melinda loosed another brace of Gauss Rifle slugs toward a different enemy target.

"Thought you would never ask, ma'am!" The Slasher Omnimech surged forward and brought both main guns up to engage. A couple clicks of his weapons trigger and twenty total slugs of 120mm Ultra AC went downrange into one of the Jence Wheeled Guns, enough damage to cripple it in one salvo. 60 meters past, the Galaxy Commander dropped two salvos of LRM 15 on the side and turret of another Jence, with a total of 24 out of the 30 missiles connected. "That is me knocking, asshole!"

"Retreat is always an option, surats!" Melinda shouted on an open frequency known to be used by the Duchy as well as her external speakers. Shortly after her declaration, a pair of Timber Wolf omnimechs landed and immediately moved to reinforce the landing team.

As more heavy and assault 'mechs started landing in the vicinity, the offer of retreat became a serious option and a lance of the Jense Wheeled Guns took to their heels, headed eastbound toward the main cluster of cities on this continent and their garrisons.

"I believe they heard you loud and clear, Star Commodore," Century Commander Kyle Longfellow noted.

"Good. We will have to fight them some time today, but this ostentatious show of force should have convinced them to consider our offer of surrender."

-x-

(30 minutes after the police departed the scene)

The last of the CONEX containers was being lifted up on the electromechanical lift rigs to the load bed of the HEMTT II Hauler assigned (and painted) for the Logistics Group. Today being a good demonstration, he figured that the Logistics teams would become one of his biggest and fastest-growing subdivisions in months to come, the amount of contract work for just moving people or material was insane in his estimation, and likely to grow far faster than Sigma's capability to service those contracts.

"That's it?" Catherine asked.

"Last sweep, mom, we're good. Everything left belongs to el shithead," Danielle said with a worse faked accent than she had picked up the phrasing and accent from Clint.

"Leave the door askew and drop your keys inside, we're done here," Hess noted. "Clint, take the crew back to the staging area, we'll ride with the last HEMTT tractor," Erich jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the vehicle.

"Can do, see you at the return site," Clint, Sidonia, Rasine, and one of the Magi Logistics troops ducked into the HMMVW that Barrett had already warmed up but left the driver seat open for Clint. They were out the driveway post haste, and on a course that would allow them to dodge the scrutiny of 'el shithead'.

When the family and Hess approached the vehicle, the driver looked over his shoulder quickly, then turned back to his controls and monitor for the lifting units. "Just a minute, sir, can you get everyone buttoned up so we can take off immediately?" the Driver asked.

"Will do," Hess waved them to the HEMTT II Tractor and opened up the back bench seat for the daughters to climb up in. The original HEMTT units built by Oshkosh Defense only had two seats, the HEMTT II units had two benches capable of sitting up to 4 unarmored persons per bench or 3 persons in full battle rattle per bench.

"Wow, this is weird," Katy said as she slid in and belted in. Hess climbed in up front and took the center seat position, Catherine took the front passenger position and belted in just before the driver climbed up and belted in at the wheel.

"Everyone strapped in?" he asked after the engine turned over.

"We're good," Danielle said.

"And away we go!" The Driver dropped it into gear and started rolling. The trip around the corner and down the road to the eventual outlet at 37th Street North was only 90 seconds.

"Okay, big guy, gotta ask. What is up with the bands on your shoulders?" Katy asked.

"These?" Hess pulled his shoulder panel off and handed it to her — his rocker panels were assembled on a velcro backing and could be moved from clothes set to clothes set as needed.

"Yeah, these, what do they mean?" Katy asked after they completed the turn onto 37th Street North, headed westbound toward the North Tyler Road intersection they would have to turn left on to head south toward the staging point.

"Those are Rocker Panels, we use them as quick identification and something of personal advertisement. They are read from the bottom up. It starts with your home nation — United States of America for me. Next step up is my entry point into the bizarro world of Sigma — in my case, the Claiborne County Militia. The third bar up is Regular Guy — that is what I was until the Train landed in my backyard and put me on this course. Next bar up is Sigma One, my callsign. And I need to add another bar for my new relic weapon, the Chronicle Sword I now carry."

"Everyone wears these?" Kate asked.

"Everyone in the unit, yes," Hess received his panel back and reattached it to his sleeve. "It gives us a quick look at where a trooper comes from and what they've achieved. There are a lot of options available, and it is personal preference as to what a troop wears — so long as they have earned it or have claim to it."

"So, you're the head honcho," Danielle said. "That's what Sigma One means, right?"

"I do sign the pay vouchers, such as it is," Hess admitted. Their wait at the stoplight was very short, only a few seconds, and the fusion-powered heavy equipment hauler was on the move again.

"Can we sign up, sir?" Danielle asked.

"Technically you are supposed to be 16 to sign up for Sigma, but I can grant a waiver if you meet all other qualifications," Erich noted. "Granted, if you intend to go into combat arms, you are looking at a lot of training before you get there, so naturally you will be above 16 by that time. Noncombat roles are a little more lenient."

"So, if we signed up, what would our Panel look like?" Catherine asked, partly out of curiosity, partly to stay engaged in the conversation.

"Bottom rocker would be same as mine, United States of America. Second rocker would be Contract Inductee, meaning you came to the Protectorate by way of a Contract. Third rocker would be your rank, callsign, or MOS — your military occupation specialty."

"Your job, basically," Danielle said.

"Hey, there he is, oncoming lane, the station wagon that's tailgating that delivery truck," Kate said with a smile.

"Eyes on," Hess said. "I can't say abusive assholes have a universal type or look, but that one definitely looks the part," Sigma One pulled his sidearm and did a quick brass check on it to make sure he had a round chambered, just in case.

"Think this is going to be a problem, sir?" the driver asked.

"I hope not, but Murphy always gets a vote, same as the enemy," Sigma One noted.

"Aff, strikingly true, sir," the driver acknowledged the point. "Coming up on the 29th street intersection. Looks like he kept driving, did not see us or did not recognize us."

"Decision gate swings in our favor," Hess said with a smile. "Big Tango will go home, find out it is cleaned out, and storm out of the house in a rage, then the old bat across the street will flag him down and tell him what happened — and he will realize the strange vehicle he passed and barely noticed was the moving crew. By the time he hauls ass back down the road to where we are staging at, he may have a fifty-fifty chance of making it to us before we gate out to home — your new home, and my home away from the homeland."

-x-

(Several minutes later)
(At the site of the house cleanout)

"GOD DAMNIT!" Paul raged after he exited the house. "How — why — that BITCH!"

"Paul!" Mrs. Habber had walked up onto his yard. "They didn't leave too long ago, you may have passed them coming here," she said. "Big tan military vehicles, said 'Sigma Logistics Services' on the side with a big E-like symbol on it."

"Big tan, has the wedge-front nose to it?" Paul asked.

"Yes, that's the one!"

"I passed them, thanks!"

"Don't let that skank win! You're better than that!" Mrs. Habber waved her walking stick at him as he backed out of the driveway and squealed tires on the way down the road, then made back for her house.

Paul went south fast — well over the speed limit — and did not even stop at the brookview - Tyler intersection, he simply blitzed through it behind a tanker truck and into the southbound lane. On his trek south, he managed to top out at 68 Miles Per Hour — 28 over the speed limit of 40 on the road. He quickly made his way down North Tyler Road and crossed the intersection that he saw the military vehicle near — he did remember it was not turning right or left, it was in the center (forward) lane, meaning it kept going south.

He figured he would catch up to it just past the next intersection at 21st Street, but what he was going to do then, he wasn't sure. Those vehicles were full-on military transports, equivocal to a semi-truck with attitude, and a station wagon wasn't going to stop them. So lost in the planning was he that he almost missed the tan HMMVW turn into the parking lot for the theater, and when he looked in that direction, saw another HMMVW and two of the transport trucks with a total of four shipping containers.

"Got you now, bitch!" Paul whooped when he realized what he was looking at. He squealed tires when he turned in at the theater parking lot, and when he saw the occupants of the nearer of the two transport trucks, his wife sitting with some burly military-looking guy in the front seat of the truck, he lost all composure.

-x-

Hess had only a bare few seconds to see the driver's face after he turned into the parking lot and gunned the accelerator.

"Shit, he's flipped," Hess said. "He's going to ram us, brace for impact!"

"No!" Catherine shouted just before the station wagon buried itself under the armored prow of the HEMTT II tractor. Also unlike the Oshkosh Defense version, the HEMTT II tractors were built to combat vehicle specification and had enough armor to withstand up to a Thunderbolt-5 missile. "Oh wow, that wasn't much of an impact," she commented after the rather minor impact.

"Three tons of station wagon, 40 tons of transport, that shithead loses by default," Hess pointed at the tail end of the station wagon, just barely visible from the front bench.

"Sending," Virtue reported by radio before the Gate Drives lapsed and took all of the vehicles in the area to the landing pad at Base Boarhound.

"Jesus! Are you all right, boss?" Clint asked after the vehicles settled on Terra 232.

"I am," Hess reported before he loosed his seatbelt and popped the top hatch on the crew cab. He stood up on the bench seat and brought his pistol up out of holster and down the front windshield to where he could barely see the driver, pinned in his vehicle that had bounced off the front of the tractor. "Tango in a station wagon, any Armored Infantry in the vicinity of the Gate Flats, Logistics troops require immediate support!"

"He's unconscious, boss, let's bag 'em and drag 'em!" Clint said after he popped out of the lead crew HMMVW.

"That works," Hess dropped back down into the cab. "Girls, lock your doors, don't open for anyone except one of us Sigma or Magi troops. Driver, you armed?"

"Hell yes sir!" The driver held up a short-barrel pump shotgun.

"Let's move," Hess followed the driver out and around to the crumpled station wagon, where Clint was already waiting by the open driver-side window with his ACR aimed at the guy's head.

"You pull him, boss," Clint said as Rasine and Sidonia approached from behind him. Hess tried to open the door, but the crash had jammed the door closed, so doing a drag through the window was the option of choice. Thankfully, the tango didn't wear his seatbelt (thus his present state of unconsciousness), so he simply reached into the window and grabbed the collar and shirt scruff he could get his hands on, and roughly hauled him out of the car in one heave. The unconscious interloper veritably slapped the ground after he cleared the car, and Hess had a knee into his lower back to maintain control as he brought the arms back and cuffed him. "Glad you keep those cuffs on you, boss," Sigma Two said.

"Damn straight," Hess noted.

Conversation stopped briefly as the Armored Infantry requested earlier arrived. "Reporting as ordered, sir!"

"Have a portable stool handy, Point Commander? I think a demonstration is in order."

The Point Commander chuckled. "I read you, sir! Three, deploy a stool and your shield as a back-brace," the Point Commander said. Her Heavy Weapons trooper opened up and plopped down the Armored Infantry Stool they all carried when on patrol, then put her shield down behind the chair and unlatched it so the five tons of Multi-Composite Shield will act as a chair back for the road-raging captive.

"Clint, give me a hand propping this asshole up." The two Sigma Officers picked him up and staged him on the stool.

"That looks good. What next?" Clint asked.

"Driver, thanks for the assist," Hess nodded to the Logistics officer.

"Did not do much. Should I get moving?"

"Not yet, we're going to make a statement out of this. Get in and get ready, when I call you, depart at that time."

"Can do," the drivers of both HEMTT trucks climbed back in and powered up their engines.

-x-

Paul didn't know how long he was out, but hoped that ramming the vehicle injured the bitch. "Whuh — the hell? Where am I?" he asked after he saw a ground that totally did not match the interior of his vehicle or the expected parking lot pavement. He looked up and around and realized that he was surrounded by something he thought he only saw in bad old 60's Science Fiction: Armored Infantry. "The Hell is this? Have I stepped into Starship Troopers or some shit?"

The Armored Infantry had a good chuckle at his question. "Sonny, every time we Magi Armored Infantry have gone head to head against the Mobile Infantry, we hammered their asses flat and rolled through their lines with minimal casualties. Never mind trashing the 'Skinnies' or the 'Bugs' in those battles," the Point Officer said with a chuckle. "No, you have made the critical mistake of ramming one of Sigma's logistics vehicles just before they Gated out to home. You are on the landing pad in the middle of Base Boarhound, planet Terra 232."

"So I'm not in Kansas any more, big whoop," he said. "Where's that bitch at?"

"She's in the truck behind you," a different voice said. Paul looked to the speaker to his right, and the first thing he noticed was it was the burly merc from the seat next to his wife, and he was standing at the edge of the shield surface with his right hand on his pistol.

"Did I injure her with ramming right below her window?" Paul asked.

"Hell no," the mercenary said. "You really think you're going to cause damage with a three-ton station wagon when you rammed a total-45-ton armored equipment transport?"

"So I scratched the paint, good. Make you bitches pay for this as much as possible," he said. "So, now what? Going to kill me?"

"Also, Hell no," the mercenary said. His namestripe identified him as HESS. "What's going to happen here is threefold. One, once the salvage team clears your vehicle out, it goes to a different part of the base to be disassembled and salvaged. Any weapons captured in combat against Sigma are our rightful salvage, and that includes a misused and now crumpled station wagon." To point of fact, the flatbed tow truck the Magi logistics troops had brought with them revved up and drove away from the scene, with the aforementioned station wagon on its loadbed.

"Hey! That's my vehicle! I want it back! You have no right!"

"Get fucked, wifebeating scum," a different voice — a different mercenary on the other side of the shield from the big one — answered immediately. "When you rammed us, you made yourself a combatant on a contract you had no part in. I'm under orders to just send your ass back to where you came from, that is about the luckiest piece of fortune you get out of today. If the Boss wasn't looking, I'd pull your shitty Saturday Night Special out of your grease-romper, unload the five rounds in it into your chest, then send your body home with a sign on it saying that wife-beaters pay a price in the Protectorate."

"You're a fucking tough guy, aren't you — " Paul tried to stand up but was slammed back down to the stool, and the bigger merc dug his thumb into a very painful point on his shoulder. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! I GIVE! I GIVE!"

"You move when I tell you to, IF I tell you to. Try again, I will shoot you myself, my prior orders notwithstanding," Hess said.

"This little hanging turd has near zero tolerance for pain, no? You really didn't put too much into that pressure point, looked like," the smaller merc said.

"I put maybe a third of my grip strength into it," Hess noted, which sent a chill down Paul's spine. If he had that much grip strength, he could probably drive a person unconscious with a full-power pressure point grab like that, the mechanic figured. "Still, daylight is wasting and this matter is not all about this fuckstick, it is properly about your now-departing wife and daughters, all of which were busily planning their new lives and careers a few minutes ago. Without your sorry abusive ass to lord over them, that is."

"I'll be back for them," Paul swore.

"No you won't," Clint said. "If you try to come to this planet, and we will know if you try, you will be shot on sight for hostile entry," Clint said. "We've already uploaded your vitals and DNA to ComStar with orders to flag for illegal entry. If you come back, you will not leave this planet alive."

"I'll come back with a fucking court order — " Paul started to squrim under the grip of the mercs, and had to yelp when the big one put pressure on his shoulder again.

"What part of 'you are on a different PLANET' are you having a malfunction with, shithead?" the smaller merc asked. "A court order from a United States court has no value in the Protectorate of Sigma."

"You are so fucking dead. I'll just have to get a posse together and come take them back."

"I am tired of listening to this fuckstick and his delusions of prowess," Hess said. Paul sighed audibly when he removed his left hand and went to push a switch on his vest. "Logistics Vehicles, Sigma One, cleared to depart. Has Virtue issued new housing coordinates for the contractees?"

"Affirm, Sigma One. Engineer team is checking the structure now, we are oscar-mike with two. Pleasure working with you, sir!"

"Eyes up, asshat," the smaller merc said. "Your wife and daughters are in the left-side truck, you'll get your last look at them in a moment."

True to the merc's word, Catherine, Katy, and Danielle were looking at him as they went by, though Katy and Danielle gave him three middle fingers on the way past. For a fleeting moment, Paul knew he was defeated, his wife and daughters had left him for good, and shortly they would be out of his reach forevermore. It must have registered on his face, because after a moment, Catherine smiled and flipped him a middle finger as well.

His sensibility on the matter was short-lived. "Damn you! They are mine!" Paul tried to stand up again but was shoved down to the stool and the pressure point was applied again, this time with enough force that Paul felt himself starting to black out from it. He stayed conscious, though it was several seconds of just heaving and shuddering in pain before he could speak again. "Damn you, I'll get you for this!"

"Ah, a thought just came to mind. If I remember correctly, your former wife mentioned you have a criminal record, bank robbery if I remember correctly? B-class felony if I remember my criminal codes right."

"She did mention it, boss. She said she thought this fuckstick cleaned up his act after jail, but looks like he just vents anger on his daughters nowadays," the smaller merc said.

"So what?" Paul asked snidely.

"Felon in possession of a firearm," Hess noted. "That's an immediate five behind bars." He looked up to another approaching troop of Armored Infantry. "MP Point Officer, have a set of leg shackles?"

"Aff, sir," the lead trooper produced a set of leg cuffs and flipped them to the merc, who was smart about applying them, he put one combat boot on top of Paul's foot before he tried to shackle them, preventing Paul from trying to kick him.

"I can still walk with these on," Paul said snidely.

"That can be corrected, scumdog," the MP Point Commander fairly yanked him off the stool and face down on the ground, then took another set of manacles to connect the first pair to his handcuffs, creating an effective hog-tie situation. "Now you go nowhere."

"God damn you!" Paul shouted. "Damn all of you!"

"Technically, it is 'Gods Damn You' in the lands of the Magi, we honor the Gods of old," the MP said. "And the Gods tried to Damn us in eons past, and they failed badly, so you can go dry-hump a spinning buzzsaw, wife-beating scum."

"Drag him over to open area, Point Commander. Time to make a phone call," Paul heard the sound of a phone dialing behind him as the Point Commander very roughly dragged him over to open flat area and dropped him to stare at the mercenary.

"ComStar Communication Router, how may I direct your call, sir?"

"Wichita, Kansas, non-emergency line for law enforcement, please," Hess responded.

"Standby one," the operator answered. "I have the number, connecting you now."

The phone rang for five seconds. "Wichita Emergency Services, how may I help you?"

"Ma'am, this is Erich Hess, Sigma Mercenaries. We just executed a noncombat relocation contract in your city, and the person we were relocating aggrieved parties away from rammed a station wagon into one of our transport trucks. No injuries from the collision, but the tango that rammed our vehicle was caught up in our transport system that returned us to our homeworld. The contract number is S-102804-00304776, one of my subordinates gave a copy of it to Sergeant William Zader."

"Understood, sir, how can we be of assistance?" the duty sergeant asked.

"Well, frankly, sir, as much as the Protectorate has a claim to this tango's hide for ramming one of our trucks, I do not have the time or crayons necessary to warehouse this puke, so I would like to return him to your tender graces. The ramming incident occurred in your jurisdiction, so I can return him wherever you want."

"Understood, sir, stand by while we contact Sergeant Zader for advisement." The wait was only thirty seconds. "Mister Hess, Sergeant Zader will be waiting to pick him up at the perp's house in 90 seconds. Can you deliver him there?"

"I will have him dropped on the front lawn of said house. Be advised that he is coming back cuffed, manacled, and hog-shackled due to general uncooperativeness. Keep the cuffs and shackles, it is the least I can do for you in thanks for Sergeant Zader's professional and friendly chat about the situation today."

"Understood, thank you sir," the duty Sergeant in the call center responded. "Anything else, sir?"

"Negative, thank you for the hospitality this morning. Sigma is out." Hess killed the call. "Sixty seconds and you go home, asshole. I hope you enjoyed your stay in the Protectorate of Sigma."

"Fuck you," Paul said to the burly merc.

"Not like I haven't heard that one before," Hess said with a smile. The kind of smile that frightened Paul at a visceral level.

-x-

Sergeant Zader leaned up against the fender of his patrol car and watched the front yard with anticipation.

"Think he'll have the gun on him?" the Patrolman asked. Barrett had explained that the guy was on the way with a .38 to do horrible things to his wife, and it went without saying that the revolver was probably still with him when he rammed the transport truck.

"We could only wish to be so lucky," William said. He opened his mouth to say something, but their perp arrived about two feet above the crushed and trampled grass of his yard, before gravity took hold and slammed him down onto the ground roughly.

"AAAAHHH! GOD DAMNIT!" Paul shouted after he landed with a clearly-audible thud.

"Well well, got yourself in a bit of trouble, didn't you?" Sergeant Zader said.

"William?" Paul rolled over to look at the speaker, and in so doing both Patrolman and Sergeant could easily see the imprint of the revolver in the pocket of his coveralls. "Man, fuck you! I know you started this shit by telling her to leave!"

"And damn good idea she had to call mercenaries to clean her out," William said. "Gail, evidence kit, please," the Sergeant said.

"What?" Paul shouted. Gail set down one of the evidence kits next to Paul's head, opened it, and pulled out a glove. Once it was on, he pulled the revolver out of his coveralls. "That was planted on me by that merc!"

"Save it for Oprah, Paul. I've already talked to your coworker about it, he confirms you 'borrowed' it from him without asking. That means theft of a firearm and felon in possession of a firearm." Much to Paul's visible horror, the revolver was emptied of its shells into an evidence bag and the revolver went into a separate evidence bag, both sealed and quickly labeled by the patrolman.

Gail chuckled. "That guy you tried starting shit with? The Hess guy? He is a no-shit mercenary, I'm very surprised he did not outright kill you for what you did. What did you expect would happen, ramming a military transport truck like that?"

"They fucking stole my car! Claiming it as 'salvage' or some shit like that!"

"They did not leave here with it that I saw," Sergeant Zader said. "You, Patrolman Leevee?"

Gail shook his head with a smile. "Nope, didn't see them in possession of a station wagon, all I saw were two HMMVWs and two HEMTT tractor-trailer units with four CONEX containers."

"That they loaded with all my shit! I want to press theft charges!"

"Good luck with that," Sergeant Zader unlocked one of the manacle ratchets that was hog-shackling him. "On your feet, Paul." He was hauled up to standing by the patrolman and the sergeant. "You are under arrest for Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Theft of a Firearm. You have the right to remain silent…"

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1545 Hours Local (Base Boarhound) Time)
(Ladies' Transformation Rune Hangar, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)

The rune that Cedric and Carl had been working on enchanting flickered three times, the traditional signal of the completed enchantment created a brief spate of luminescence in the engraved and backfilled runic lettering, and then the room fell back to normal light levels.

"Done! And fifteen minutes ahead of schedule," Cedric said.

"One less break makes a difference," Carl pointed out before he stood up and stretched. The sound of his mid-back joints popping in time to his arch was very audible and sounded painful to the Rune Mage, who blanched at it. "Fret not, that felt awesome! Nothing painful, just a lot louder because I weigh multiple tons in this form."

"Still and all, the sound of that is immeasurably worse than arching my own back," Cedric half-protested. "So, now, we're done, time to go find Toni and get her down here to do the inaugural use, make sure everything is safe," he noted.

"Aye," Carl took the four draconic paces to where he could easily see the top of the Admin Building. "Well, that won't be so simple. She's not up there."

"Toni is presently on the south wall of the base, along with Christina, catching one last round of avian sunbathing before the rune's completion," Virtue announced.

"What do you think, Carl? Going to head down and tell them?" Cedric asked.

"Going to go join them, actually," Carl noted. "Want to come along?"

"Nah, but was wondering if you would drop me off at the northern training field?" Cedric requested.

"Aye, hop on," Carl hunched down and raised his right front forearm up so the Rune Mage could mount the Dragon's shoulders, which Cedric did easily. "Take hold of my neck ridge scales and seat yourself in between plate lines, that is the easiest way to do so."

"Ah, I got it," Cedric settled himself in and dug his heels in to the ridge of scales just forward of Carl's front forearm shoulders, giving him the best combination of brace and seating to weather the ride.

Carl took another four paces forward to exit the hangar and stop on the ramp space just forward of the hangar doors, then with a combination of powerful wing downstroke and massive jump from his rear legs (almost as big as the legs on a Mobile Suit), the Blue Dragon vaulted into the sky and immediately banked to port to wing over the hangar and toward the northern training fields. As he crossed over the rows of hangars, several of the training platoons gave a shout when he winged overhead, cheering on the Blue Dragon that had been wounded defending the base from invasion the day prior.

"That is heartening!" Cedric shouted over the whistling wind of flight.

"We've started down the right road," Carl said before he started backwinging to come in for a landing at the training field. Several good downstrokes brought him to a hover before one final downstroke saw him safely to the ground — and bowled over half the team and all but two of the trainees. "Apologies for the downdraft, Lieutenant." Carl provided her his left forearm to use as leverage to stand up easier.

"Was not expecting that kind of gust, Carl. What gives?" Lieutenant Megan Reishen asked.

"Dropping off the Rune Mage to continue the day here, we are done with the rune," Carl repositioned his left forearm to allow Cedric an easy step down to the ground.

"All done, ready for Toni to test," Cedric confirmed. "Where are we, ma'am?"

"Physical and technical testing." Megan looked to the Dragon: "Are you going to join us?"

"Headed to the south wall to catch some rays, unless you object, ma'am? Not like I expect to be able to clear a train car in this form, unless you define 'clear' as 'electrocute the shit out of everyone within', that is."

"Cannot dispute that one, boss," Pete noted with a wry smile. "I don't even think you can fit your head inside the car."

"Only through the doors on a baggage car," Carl semi-agreed.

"Dismissed, and much obliged for lending your skills to the enchantment," Megan waved him off, and his takeoff knocked down a couple of the less-prepared trainees but none of the Regulars this time.

"Where do you want me, boss?" Cedric asked.

"I brought your gearset with, gear up and join in as soon as you are readied," Megan ordered.

"Will do!" Cedric took a few steps over to the HMMVW and opened up the rear compartment.

"As we've said multiple times, welcome to the Rail Guards, where being asked to do weird things not normally in our mission statement is not unexpected, and where we do things like ride dragons or enchant runes or run rescue operations on pre-electric-power plantations," Megan continued her chivvying of the greenhorns to help annul any expectations of this being a straightforward duty.

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1630 Hours SL Standard Time)
(Westbound Escort Contract, On Highway 4, Kingdom of Giefz)

The Contract for escorting a tanker convoy was something that Leene had not really considered too heavily in her career prep, but as a combat option she figured this was going to be an easier operation. After speaking to the convoy lead (and with judicious use of a translation spell — this was not an English-standard planet), she had quickly understood that the raiders loved to clean out a convoy, take the tankers, use part of the cargo for their own purposes (oil had value, of course) and ransom the remaining ~80 percent of the crude oil cargo back to the cities.

The present thinking was that a merc contract could be enough to jolt the raiders into not attacking oil convoys any further. Maybe. Or not.

"Lead, Sniper, we have a pace car, three kilometers west," Sniper Specialist Adam Yancey noted.

"Copy, I have eyes on. Anything suspicious?"Justinian asked.

"Other than he's been pacing us for ten minutes, neg, nothing hostile."

"Keep one eye on him, if anything comes up, see if you can drill him from here."

"I think I can do 'em in one shot, two maybe." Adam instinctively touched his magazine pouches to make sure he had several more, just in case.

"Whoa, we've got a column coming up on the east side," Nick said.

"Friendlies?" Leene requested.

The psionic check only took ten seconds. "Negative, they are hostile. Hijackers."

"Anybody object to doing 'em on a psionic check only?" Justinian's question was directed to the convoy staff just as much as to the other escorts.

"No objection from me," Leene reported.

"They claim innocence when they do that, but the Courts have ruled against them if we have reasonable suspicion of it," the convoy leader responded. "If you are assured this is an attack, end them rightly."

"Very well, we scrap them as they bear. Sniper, any movement to the west?"

"Still pacing us, nothing more," Adam said stiffly.

"May not be with this group of jokers," Nick noted. "Neg, they are a rival raider group, scouting out the convoy."

"Tangos! Light machine guns coming to bear!" To point of fact, the lead escort truck took several hits from a belt-fed light machine gun. "Hostiles confirmed, open fire!"

Leene, like any other Armored Mage, was well enough versed in small arms and Armored Infantry arms to defend herself and create space necessary to engage in spellcraft combat as needed. So, for medium-range engagement against light mechanized targets, the optimal Armored Infantry weapon was the venerable 20mm Panzersturmgewehr (German: Armor Assault Rifle), a design first used against the Magi Armored Infantry and later copied / improved for use by the Magi Armored Infantry. It was effective as a general-purpose weapon against anything from an APC down in terms of armor, and while it could (theoretically) be used to kill heavier armor in close quarters, most Armored Infantry on tank-hunting detail carried far better arms for dealing with heavier foes.

Thus, when Leene put her sights on the lead Technical that was gunning for them, her armor compensated for wind, moving target, and moving infantry carrier (the escort trucks of the oil convoy), and her burst of rounds caused the engine to seize up and the hood of the vehicle immediately flew open against the wind (destroyed latch). This lead Technical veered off the side of the trail, struck a rut in the ground, and flipped tailgate-over-hood twice before it came to rest inverted.

A couple vehicles back, Harald lit off his minigun and walked the line of tracers across the load bed of an old GAZ-style military troop transport truck. The cloth loadbed cover was no defense against the 5000 rounds per minute of 7.62x51 NATO ammunition, and Harald loaded his munitions drum with 2 rounds of Ball ammunition (FMJ), 1 tracer, 1 AP round, another tracer, 1 explosive round, and a third tracer running in a constant repeat cycle. This gave his salvo the classic 'laser from Hell' visual effect because 3 out of every 7 rounds were tracers and thus easily visible to both friend and foe — and a tracer will kill a person just as readily as other ammunition forms. With two passes back and forth over the loadbed, the 20 raiders packed into the truck were slain to a man, and a third of them would not be readily identifiable when the explosive rounds finished with their bodies.

Adam, riding the escort flatbed in the middle of the convoy, took aim at the box truck in the enemy raiding convoy and fired one round from his sniper rifle, the single highest munition expenditure for the entire team for the day. Each 'Shortbow' round cost 2500 C-bills, but the effect on target was devastating and visceral to the enemy. The MASR-10A2 'Shortbow' Armor Sniper Rifle was designed to punch through the heavy cockpit window of a Battlemech and kill the pilot within, or punch through the (relatively weak) armor on the cockpit of a Mobile Suit and frag the pilot within by throwing spall around the inside of the pilot's accommodations. As a practical matter, the Shortbow was not capable of killing a Gundam in the same fashion, and it was not designed for it — the much larger and more devastating MASR-20A 'Longbow' Armor Sniper Rifle was designed to deal with Gundams, though perversely it was almost never fired at Gundams in anger in its use history to this point.

The one APEX round fired by Adam struck the engine compartment of the truck, penetrated the back half of the engine block some nine centimeters, then detonated inside the short block of the engine. What resulted was the engine compartment cover was blown clear in three jagged pieces, the cylinder heads (two separate heads on this model of engine) were blown away from the truck radially and both were on fire from the poor choice of coolant used in the vehicle, and the remainder of the block of the engine was driven forward from the truck while the transmission was blown downward and out behind the box truck. The transmission would be cause of a rollover accident in a follow-on Technical when the driver failed to react in time and struck it off-center. The driver and passenger of the vehicle were both slain by fragmentation from the engine block entering the crew cab, and both were left a bloody mess for their efforts.

Leene walked a second burst of her 20mm Armor Assault Rifle across a truck with a heavier cannon on the back (fixed mounting facing the rear) and killed driver, passenger, and one of the three gunner troops. Before she could line up on the next truck, the convoy came to an abrupt halt and started turning around to depart the theater.

"Tangos are bugging out, do we harass?" Alex asked.

"Negative, save your ammo, we may have other tangos to deal with before this trip is up," Justinian ordered.

"Put 'em on safe and let 'em hang for now," Leene confirmed. "They are out of the business for the time being."

"Hot damn, that was the easiest raid bust I've ever been on," one of the corporate security infantrymen noted. "We need to hire more of you mercs on!" the trooper stationed with Leene said. Leene simply gave him an armored-hand pat on the shoulder and a knowing smile.

Justinian's prediction of more attacks would come true, but their tactics being uneven and their arsenal of outdated cannons and light machine guns did not give them any hope against the Magi-Trained veterans of Leene's Irregulars.

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1800 Hours Local (Base Boarhound) Time)
(Ladies' Transformation Rune Hangar, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)

"Ready to go?" Nereus asked as Toni gingerly stepped into the hangar.

These days operating in my native form have been good, but it is time to return to the land of the non-avians and work forward on goals, Toni answered telepathically.

"And if I may recommend a first goal for you, finding staff to serve as attendants for the Rune Hangars would be optimal," Nereus pointed out. "I am here in case something goes awry, but…"

But yes, having a High Executor as a Hangar Attendant is overkill by three orders of magnitude, Toni pointed out. Still and all, thank you for the assistance, sir.

"Thanks are properly due to the enchanters, Cedric and Carl, who are — " and when he pointed, the HMMVW from the Train Team came into the hangar and pulled to the side. After the five troops exited the vehicle: "Lieutenant Reishen, would you please close the bay doors?"

"Can do, sir!" Megan jogged over to the door control panel, turned the safety toggle to 'run' and pressed down on the 'close' button. The team pointman did the same on the other side of the bay doors, and in a few seconds the bay was completely closed up.

Moment of truth, time to transform back to human form, or alternately, transform out of my native form and back to being a non-human human. Toni had one last stretch in her Phoenix form, then furled her wings and stepped over to the Avian-To-Human Rune.

"All makes sense, in either direction," Ikuno noted pensively.

Please stand clear, I am about to begin. The persons not involved made sure that they were outside the rune quickly enough. Activate the magicks within, engage the Rune of Transformation for the ladies, Toni telepathically chanted the activation for the Ladies' Runes, and since she was standing on the Avian-To-Human Rune, that is the one that was activated. Again the onlookers were assailed by a bright flash of luminescence from the Rune, but once completed, Toni was left standing alone at the center of the rune.

Nereus waved the others back, since she was facing away from them but otherwise naked, and approached with a body towel for her. "Feeling all right? Anything wrong?" Nereus asked as he approached.

"It worked quite well," Toni noted as she wrapped herself up. "Thank you, sir."

"So, these two are confirmed working, now Cedric will need to do the Men's hangar," Nereus noted.

"Unless the Boss has other plans, though I think he wants them both in service post haste." Toni sighed. "Time for me to hit the shower and start catching up on paperwork. Will have to give everyone involved a hug later today or tomorrow."

"I bid you good evening, then," Nereus nodded to Toni before the Phoenix-in-human-form teleported away to her apartment on the top floor of the Admin building. The High Executor was quick to step up to the crowd and waved them silent. "All good here, Carl and Christina can now do their transform back when ready."

"That is a relief," Cedric nodded twice. "I now have another career prospect going forward: full-time Rune Mage."

"With Sigma's willingness to embrace any method at any time, I foresee a massive demand for Rune Mages and Relic Mages going forward," Nereus said. He would be proved very correct very quickly in that regard.

-x-

Toni had been quick to make for the shower because she could tell she still smelled of her Phoenix form a bit, doubly so that she had visited a river northwest of the base earlier in the day and taken a bird-bath in it.

"Virtue, can you pull a clothes set for me for after my shower?" Toni asked as she entered the bathroom.

"I will have Crystal bring it over, she is off-duty right now," Virtue quickly prepared the order in the ScrapNet Interface and requested Crystal bring it to the bathroom in Hess' Quarters.

"Good, I want to talk to her about recruiting efforts. I heard the Boss' thoughts on what he wants to do with the Secret Service, and we need to expand quite a bit."

"She will be here in 90 seconds," Virtue assured her.

Toni dropped the towel in the laundry chute and stepped into the shower to start cleaning up from her mini-vacation. Crystal was not long in coming in. "Clothes delivery!"

"Thanks, Crystal. Got a minute to talk?"

"Definitely, chief. What's on your mind? And how do you feel after a couple days in native form?" Crystal asked the two questions in a rush.

"Feeling like a million C-bills and ready to go, I needed that stretch of the wings. As to what's on my mind, I wanted to hear what went down on the Secret Service recruiting drive today."

"Well, we interviewed sixty, and selected twelve for you to review before we officially transferred them. Paperwork is on the table outside." Crystal leaned up against the wall next to the laundry chute. "Good selection of psionics, magic skills, and multiple skillsets in the combat and security realms."

"And did the big guy tell you what he intends for the Secret Service?" Toni asked.

"Yeah, protection detail, special operations detail, investigation detail. Or is there more?" Crystal asked.

"There is more," Toni noted. "He is also planning on an espionage detail, embassy protection, and special personnel to help facilitate special projects such as the Underground Railroad project he is starting up. So we'll need more, a lot more."

"Okay, he didn't tell me that this morning," Crystal said.

"I only found out from hearing his thoughts while he was asleep and I was semi-awake overnight," Toni admitted. "That's the plus and minus of sleeping with someone in contact with you as a telepath, you hear everything when they are dreaming."

"That's one way to get ahead of the curve," Crystal shrugged. "So, who does he want first?"

"Still thinking about that?" Toni asked.

"Well, unless you're calling dibs, that is," the subordinate SSO officer noted.

"I am and I will," Toni said decisively. "May go beyond that, may not, but for damn sure I will make sure he knows my feelings and my gratitude for everything he has done for us Train Refugees."

"Well, if it does go in that direction, boss-lady, we're all here for the Command Level, all of us," Crystal said. "And that's the long and short of today's recruiting work."

"If nothing special is planned for tomorrow, do another round of recruiting interviews, while Sidonia and I put the selections from today through their paces," Toni said before she shut the water off and hung up the spray nozzle. "Flip me a towel?"

"Coming your way," Crystal passed it over the shower partition, where Toni caught it deftly and began drying off. "Anything else, boss?"

"Not for today, thanks for the assist!" Toni said.

"If you ever need some time with the girls, we're just across the hall."

"Thanks, eventually I will," Toni noted. "I need to make it a habit of coming over to your bay to catch up on happenings. Probably not tonight, want to rest up, but soon."

"Best time is 2000 or 2030, when we've all settled down for the night. See ya!" Crystal was out the door a few moments later, and Toni stepped out of the shower enclosure to start dressing up.

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1815 Hours SL Standard Time)
(Nearing Kaiser CFB, Northern Continent, Planet Nuone V)

"Epsilon Cluster, this is Galaxy Commander Leon," the radio prompted.

"Go for Epsilon," Star Colonel Victor Ward answered.

"Epsilon, lead elements of the 605th are within line of sight to the enemy Combined Forces Base. Epsilon Cluster now released to pre-planned fire missions, quiaff?"

"Aff, Galaxy Commander. Epsilon shall lay down some hatred in the next few moments, stand by for fires."

"Gamma Cluster, continue movement to your fire zone, unless something goes wrong do not expect fire missions for Gamma until you have reached designated AO," the Galaxy Commander reported a moment before Star Colonel Ward changed radio channels.

"Epsilon, this is Ward," he identified himself, since there was only one Ward in his cluster. "We have the green light from command. Begin scouring the lands clean of these surats!"

Victor Ward brought his own artillery 'mech to a stop and engaged the artillery targeting mode on his TTS. Since the warships overhead provided a realtime view of the environment he was shooting into, he had a good look at critical infrastructure and troop concentrations to target. Since his subordinate Star Captains had already hashed out who would fire on what enemy facilities, Victor left his command star open to firing on troops, and this he did. He selected the front door of the facility, the gates and security towers covering the main overland entrance into the complex, and dialed in his first two shots on that area. Rocket 1 screamed out of his launch tube with a pull of the trigger, a minor correction, and the second rocket screamed out on its way.

Victor's Revenant Artillery Omnimech barely shuddered with the launch of the first two Arrow IV Artillery Rockets. Revenant was a relatively new platform in terms of the Star Empires, it had only been in Touman deploy for the past 350 years, but very quickly gained reputation as the artillery omnimech to finish phasing out the horribly inadequate Naga Omnimech of Clan fame. Ten tons heavier than the Naga, with better armor and actual pod space rather than two fixed Arrow-IV launchers, the Revenant was designed as the second and heavier answer to the shortfalls of the Naga (the first being the Lamia Artillery Omnimech, first fielded during the early phases of the Star Empire Wars many centuries ago). The Revenant was also well-enough designed that it could imitate and outstrip the Naga easily — the AA variant of pods carried two Arrow-IV launchers and 12 tons of ammo plus three Medium Pulse Lasers for point defense — but Victor was using the A-2 Variant with only one launcher and a host of heavier weapons to discourage any ne'er-do-well that dared to approach the command star.

The two Trinaries of Lamia in his cluster attested to that design, and a total of a Trinary of the Revenant were now set to prove their value forevermore, but they weren't the biggest guns in his deploy by a long shot. To his right, the concussion of a pair of Long Tom Artillery cannons cutting loose from a King Cobra Artillery Track rattled his cockpit and his bones like few sounds ever would. Where three of his Trinaries were 'mech-based artillery, the two remaining Trianaries in his cluster were conventional (tracked) artillery units, a mix of five different vehicles carrying all the common artillery pieces: Thumper (the lightest), Sniper (medium), Arrow-IV (short-range rocket artillery), and Long Tom (the largest guns). And so far none of his units were holding back their fires, a total of 80 platforms aimed squarely at the enemy base.

"Salvos away," his XO reported. "Think they will get the hint?" She said before she loosed a Sniper shell into the distance. She was also a Revenant driver, but preferred the S-1 variant with a Sniper Artillery Cannon, 4 tons of shells, and a pair of LRM 15 launchers backed up by a Large Pulse Laser for close-in work.

"Honest answer? Hells no," Victor Ward fired his third A4 missile on course to strike a troop barracks building. "They are still convinced they were in the right. We will have to reduce them well below campaigning strength before they properly take the hint."

"Epsilon Lead, 4th Trinary reporting sensor contact, enemy Mobile Suit engine startups detected in base, location appears to be…" and there was a moment of silence from the Mechwarrior that was doing the reporting; "Erm, under the mess hall?"

"Underground bunkers. Clever shitheads are clever," Star Colonel Ward responded.

"Clever shitheads are still, in the end, shitheads," his XO pointed out. "4th Trinary, track enemy Mobile Suits priority, engage if they try to close for a knife fight."

"Copy all, XO," the Star Captain in command of that Trinary reported. "We have contacts closing but no eyes on tangos above ground, they may have concealed entrances somewhere outside the perimeter of the base."

"Confirmed, 3 Trinary is seeing a couple entrances open up about 500 meters in front of us," the Star Captain over 3 Trinary reported.

"Do you have any units with FASCAM shells?" Victor asked.

"Aff, Star Colonel, at least four of us have FASCAM, I read you. Baker, Alfonso, Mimi, target those entrances with FASCAM, poison their way out."

"With pleasure," 'Alfonso' answered. A couple seconds later, Victor saw the glyph denoting 'active minefield' pop up on his screen designating an area that had been saturated by Thunder or FASCAM munitions on the fly.

From where his 'mech was standing, Star Colonel Ward could see the nearest of the entrances and could easily see the Arrow-IV missile break open just before the entrance, so the mines would saturate the ground around the entrance as well as a portion of them would also go down the entrance tunnel into the underground. What he saw in the moments after was something he had heard happened in the past, but had never been actively seen or recorded on battle footage. An enemy Leo pilot with a flight booster tried to fly out of the entrance at the same time the mines were coming in, and the Leo flew through a cloud of active anti-armor mines on its way out. At least three of the mines were intercepted by the enemy Mobile Suit on the way out, one of which detonated the flight pack and drove the machine down into the ground — and on top of another patch of anti-armor mines. This second set of blasts ended the enemy machine, it stopped in place and started burning from ignited thruster fuel.

"Son of a bitch, got one midair!" 'Alfonso' said in a gasp.

"I think you need to start playing the lottery, trooper," Star Colonel Ward said. "Resume fire on the base proper."

"Aff, Star Colonel," the trooper answered.

"Epsilon, Galaxy Commander Leon, be advised leading elements have reached the base entrances. Walk your fire inward, close support only on request."

"Understood, good luck to the ground-pounders," Star Colonel Ward acknowledged. "Epsilon! Fire Constraint 2 is now in effect! Adjust your fires for remaining priority targets in areas 2, 3, and 4 only!"

"Sir! Surrender flares at the command center! Looks like they have thrown in the towel!"

"Believe it when the fire stops, not before," Ward cautioned his troops. "These dezgra dogs are willing to outright disobey orders from Will Transcendent Atrebas, take nothing for granted."

Their radios popped, signaling a transmission to the entire galaxy from GC Leon. "Aff, I concur and amplify what Star Colonel Ward just said: take nothing for granted, these shitfaced surats will disobey the Judgment of an Executor if given the opportunity. Prisoners taken only on clear and unequivocal surrender, as ordered by Division Commander Agrippa." After the fact, Star Colonel Ward realized that the transmission was also open frequency to make sure the enemy heard as well.

There would be some that surrendered properly and unequivocally, but their ranks would be thin compared to the casualties in the base.

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1945 Hours Local (Luna Zero / Star League Standard) Time)
(Central Fountain, Star League Grand Council Palace Grounds, Luna Zero)
(Day 20 of Campaign)

The last two of the Executors to guard the Fountain, Elena of the Seven Blades and 'Blackeyes' Kitade, waved over the reporters to where they were standing. This time, there was no shell or barrier to be carefully breached, as there was no need for it after Blackrock Markus and Lord Tenchi had departed. Since the demonstrations of the futility of direct action against Executors earlier in the day, there had been no further action whatsoever from the Grand Council guards. All that had remained was the dirty looks of the guards and the flowing red fountain.

"Milady High Executor?" the ComStar reporter nodded to the Veteran Executor between the two (Elena).

"Good evening," Elena answered with a smile. Five cameras focused on her, with the best of the cameramen able to frame her behind or just to the side of the fountain. "Per orders from the Will Transcendent, today's demonstration of the penalty for trying to start a war in coverance for your other infamous crimes against humanity is now concluded. Executor Kitade and I have been ordered to another assignment with no relieving Executor team, and I am instructed to release the fountain to the Grand Council Guards for recovery."

"Milady, what are the next steps for the Executors?" the Magi Independent reporter asked.

"Some of the Executors have begun reviewing laws and conduct of the Star League in other realms, with an eye toward ensuring that life and honor are upheld as is the duty of the Executors," 'Blackeyes' Kitade noted. "Beyond that, your question would be better directed to one of the Executor Lords or higher, as we have no official orders as of yet."

"Do the Executors plan to station more personnel with Sigma?" the ComStar reporter asked.

"Multiple plans involving Sigma and the Executors are already in motion, though permanent assignment of Executors is naturally classified," Elena put a quick end to that direction of inquiry. Security principle: never tell a potential opposing force what you intend to do, one way or the other.

Kitade stepped aside from the group to where she was clearly visible to the Guards. "Guard Captain approach," she waved the Captain over toward herself. He was hesitant at first, but did after a moment approach the Executors.

"Executor Kitade, to what is owed the summons?" the duty Captain asked, and in a civil tone since he respected the Executors (unlike the other Guard Captains).

"Captain Klesko, per orders of the Will Transcendent, this demonstration is concluded. We are turning over the fountain to your personnel for recovery. I am going to hope that the Senate heeds this warning going forward, but I am most certainly not going to bet on their internalizing the lesson."

"Understood, Executor," Captain Ulen Kilesko nodded, entirely unsure how to respond to the Executor's rejoinder and he figured silence on that note was better than spouting off. "We accept control of the scene and I will begin recovery when you have departed. My duty to the Executors," he said with a curt bow. Because of that gesture of honor, Kilesko would never be promoted again and would retire as a supergrade Captain in sixteen years.

"Go with honor, Captain." Elena and Kitade both blinked away from the fountain and back to the Executor's Temple well south of the Senate Palace.

-x-

(10 minutes later)

Senate President Everil Hundsetter stepped up to the cameras and cleared his throat.

"I normally start a speech by extolling the virtues of the Star League system, but today is an example of no virtue, simply power run amok," he started his abrupt press conference. "In the past, the wisdom that led the Great Queen to commission the Executors as a separate entity above all other considerations has been questioned, but today it is blatantly obvious that such an arrangement is not beneficial to anyone in Existence."

Everil shifted his weight a bit before he continued, and focused more to his left and the four cameras in that direction. "Today, we now take down the bodies of six executed — slain — Senators who dared to oppose the Executors and their monopoly on power. The Executors are not the conscience of the Senate or the Star League. They do not have the right to turn their blades on us, regardless of what Eric Atrebas believes. And they do not have the authority to override the Charter as we have amended," he said with finality.

Again, the Senate President shifted his weight, this time to look at the four cameras to his right. "The Executors are playing a very dangerous game right now, relying on Sigma to disassemble Trains to which they have no claim and to which the Executors have no authority to hand over to them. We are denied direct action against Sigma under pain of death, but we shall find indirect actions necessary to bring an end to this criminal empire before more damage is caused to the serenity of Existence. Atrebas thinks he has won a victory today, but all he has done is encourage and guarantee more bloodshed at the hands of these upstart mercenaries and the Magi. This affair is far from settled, contrary to what the Master Executors wish to believe."

He shifted his footing back to even, and focused forward to the main two cameras he wanted to receive the last part of his message. "We strongly condemn the assault on the Duchy of Nuone by the Magi, we strongly condemn the campaign against the Jumper Trains, and we most strongly condemn the protections granted to Sigma by the Executors. No nation should be held faultless for their actions, and we will seek restitution against all involved parties however we must. Rest assured that we will play this round as long as it takes, however we can, until justice is served."

Behind him, the last of the decapitated Senators was removed from the fountain and carried to a waiting gurney. None of the cameras failed to catch that scene at least in part.

Despite his promises of retaliation, most of the viewership throughout Existence was convinced that justice had indeed been served by the Executors, especially given the extensive briefings throughout the day by ComStar on the matter.

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 2015 Hours Local (Base Boarhound) Time)
(Personal quarters of High Executor Nereus, Administration Building 4th Floor, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)

Being focused on the ongoing hand-wringing and claims of vengeance from the Senate, Nereus was a bit startled by his doorbell ringing, but considered it not at all impossible. A quick telepathic check on who it was outside was a bit surprising to the High Executor, and quickly caught his curiosity as to what was on her mind after the day was up. "Enter," he ordered after a moment.

Neinke opened the door after a moment. "Sir, if you can spare a few minutes, I have some questions I would like to pose to you," she prompted.

"I am free, have been listening to the promises of vengeance from the Star League Grand Council," Nereus switched off his monitor. "This day, they have been hammered down a few rungs on the ladder, and no doubt the Will Transcendent intends to drop them down a few more, but they will not take the beat-down laying down."

"Arrogance reigns supreme, until it penalizes you," Neinke noted.

"A lesson that will have to be meted out more than once in coming decades, I fear." Nereus spun his chair to face across his desk, rather than face to the side of the room where he was watching the room monitor. "Please be seated, Knight Eloquence. What may I do for you this evening?"

Neinke took a moment to compose herself after she was seated. "I wish to thank you for the offer to return home that you provided me when I landed on this world, but I must decline; I have chosen to remain here with Sigma for the time being."

"You intend to remain, to learn the arts of war in these lands, that you may rise to the level you can grasp without the artificial barriers of your homeland," Nereus said simply.

"I do," she nodded twice while looking at the floor slightly forward of her feet, then back up. "How did you know that was my intention?"

"The Command Administrator asked if there was anything in the Executor Regs that could be used as a remedy for your situation, as it is plainly obvious you have a grasp of the tactical and strategic that more than a few swinging dicks from your homeland lack." Neinke blushed at the rather crude aphorism to describe some of the military leaders of her homeland, but she could not disagree with the comparison. "Sadly, on this matter I cannot intervene directly, as the Executors have no grounds for taking such action, wisdom of the position notwithstanding."

"I expected as much, Highness," Neinke said.

"Still, though I cannot intervene directly, indirect options are on the table. And on this matter, we should discuss alternate options, for there is plenty of reason to defend the one nation in your area of your homeworld that is decent and does not desire to rule the region by force of arms," Nereus said.

"Is it truly so dire? I have long believed that the nations surrounding Havon have coveted our lands and our relative stability, but have you seen a vision worse than such?" Neinke asked.

"Hai, confirmed by Master Executor Tomoe," High Executor Nereus nodded solemnly. He would not state that the vision was brought to his attention because of the very high numbers of magic users and witches and similar inside the borders of Havon, working to help better the nation even if in secret, and that their fate would be brutal and bloody should other nations take the fields of Havon in battle. "They will attempt to invade and take the nation for further goals, but I suspect they will have a champion to face that shall be far beyond the skills of all those who would dare to assault a quiet nation such as Havon."

Neinke took only a few brief seconds to unravel the indirect phrasing of Nereus' offer. "If you would have me, Highness, I have a request along those lines," the Knight Eloquence requested.

"I am listening," Nereus answered.

"While we were on the transport escort contract today, the Command Administrator showed me security footage of your encounter with the elite troops that stormed the Administration Building, and how you brought them low with one simple spell," Neinke prompted him.

"Hai, a lesson forgotten too often in combat is that a battle is a complicated affair, and sometimes the simple solution is the best or only workable one. In the case you mention, removing them from my room forcibly was the best option to limit collateral damage, and also put a swift end to their abhorrent and errant justification for the campaign." Nereus did not mention that the forcible and speedy removal of the tangos had caused considerable damage to an unused room, but…

"During the road trip phase of the contract, I posed a question to the Command Administrator, and he admitted that he does not know, but you might. Are the Combat Mage programs trained in the use of spellcraft in hand-to-hand combat?" Neinke asked.

"No," the High Executor answered. "Institutionally, the various Combat Mage and Armored Mage programs teach to break contact or fall back to technological or relic weapon combat, as close quarters is not a good place to try to cast spells…" Nereus heard the sigh from Neinke on that note, and immediately knew why. "But, there is an order of combatant that does train to conduct spellcraft battle in close contact with enemies, mainly because it is a requirement of the duty to be in close contact as a way to try to defuse situations before they become lethal."

That latter mention raised her attention and renewed her hope. "What order is this skill trained under?" Neinke asked.

"What are your intentions?" Nereus asked.

"Militarily, my goal is to go as far as I possibly can prove myself in the command of forces. As a individual soldier, though, I have seen through your technique that it may be possible to become a combatant of all three disciplines: technology, blade, and spell, and do so in close combat or any distance beyond. By justification, I seek to become the best exemplar of the Knight Eloquence I can be: to defend nation, person and honor by any means necessary."

"Then you will need to train in the combat doctrine of the Executors," Nereus said. "The spell I used is the Kinetic Plane. The technique I chose is Disruption, where a combatant Mage uses even basic and practice spellcraft to break the flow of an enemy operation, sever their decision loop and generate casualties in nonstandard and hard-to-predict fashion."

"Would I be allowed?" Neinke asked. It went without saying that training in the doctrine of an Executor was closely guarded, though she would find out otherwise in a moment:

"The doctrine is simple, almost textbook, but goes counter to the prevailing wisdom of the Star Empires and their massive armies. To the Star Empires, a Combat Mage is a valuable asset and should never be endangered in close combat unless absolutely necessary to the mission. In contrast, an Executor is required to be in close contact to try to achieve our mission, and occasionally we must conduct battle by spell and blade starting from touching distance and working outward. For you to train under the Executor doctrine and thus derive your own doctrine, you will need to first master the Armored Infantry role here in Sigma, and from there at least begin your training into Combat Mage territory. Once you have achieved a certain level of result, I will pull you off the training line to begin developing doctrine and purpose."

"Would this be allowed by the Command level?" Neinke asked, almost breathlessly. If she could master such a technique,

"If you can prove yourself, prove the validity of this plan, you will have a road to command walked by no other person in the Protectorate. And with it, all of your goals," Nereus assured her.

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 2110 Hours SL Standard Time)
(Mansion of the Regent, Northern Continent, Planet Nuone V)

The resistance in the vicinity of the Mansion was very stiff, more so than the capital city zone itself. Still, two battalions of infantry with APCs and a battalion of Mobile Suits was not enough.

"Starlord, Reaper-6-Actual," Star Commodore Melinda Roshak prompted the command circuit.

"Reaper, Starlord Actual, send your traffic," Star Admiral Blaine Leroux answered.

"Eyes on the mansion, remaining 4 Mobile Suits. Reaper 6 Element engaging now," Melinda noted coldly.

"3-Reaper-7 reporting engagement against Infantry forces west of the mansion, dug in dirty and hasty. Do we have extra troops to direct to this concentration?" One of the troops from her Third Trinary requested.

"Infantry moving up now to support, standby," Melinda didn't have time to check the identifier for the responding caller, but she remembered that she had a Cluster of Armored Infantry assigned to backstop her armor ('Mechs) for this engagement.

Melinda was on her second 'mech of the engagement, as her personal Silence Glaive Omnimech was in for overhaul — she had moved forward to take heat off one of her subordinate units and paid for it by being chewed up earlier in the day. The Star Commodore gave better than she received, she put down two Heavy 'Mechs and seven Mobile Suits in the space of fifteen minutes of protracted fighting, but the Duchy tried claiming that they had taken her off the field. Of course, fifteen minutes after that propaganda went out, Melinda put out her own statement as she climbed into the cockpit of a spare Omnimech. Since there were no other Silence Glaive Omnimechs available, Melinda had to downcheck a few tons to an Infantryman Omnimech, this time with a more unorthodox pod set from her usual preferred Gauss Rifles, but the Commandos tended to keep extra frames handy for just such an occasion.

Once she had sights on the nearest of the four remaining MS, she locked it up for ministration by the Thunderbolt-20 missile in her left torso. One pull of the trigger and the missile was on the way in a hurry; a second later, the left arm of the machine was removed violently and the Powered GM slammed into the ground hard enough to disjoint the right leg, clearly out of the fight. Melinda gave it a couple extra motivators to stay down with a pair of ER Medium Lasers, and this last bit stopped it from moving again.

Her XO surged forward a few paces to close to a more favorable range for his Slasher Omnimech to put down pain on the remaining three machines, and he singled out the one enemy machine that was carrying a beam rifle for ministration. A Gelgoog MS-14A tried to shoot at the Dire Wolf in their star, missed one beam rifle shot, struck a second shot, but did not get a third shot in before the Century Commander walked three of four Ultra-10 Autocannon bursts across its chest. The hammering from the large guns of the Slasher had staggered it, but two ER Medium Lasers and two LRM 15-missile salvos caused a propellant detonation that ripped the old Zeon machine in half.

-x-

Dutchess Lia Nuone watched as the third of her sentry Mobile Suits, a GM Cannon, was blasted through by the Dire Wolf Omnimech. Precious little of the defensive infantry remained, they were under fire from the 'Mechs and overrun by the Armored Commandos that were supporting the armor.

"Have we nothing left? No assets or special arms capable of turning them back?" Lia asked, looking out her window at the oncoming forces.

"Nothing, milady. They sent five Legions, milady. More combat force than has ever been directed at a single planet in one time, except for Operation Moonlight Shadow. We never had a chance." Annabelle was still in her Infantry Armor, but she held no illusions: she was one lady in one outmoded suit of Infantry Armor, on the wrong side of the battlefield from 375 Armored Commandos, all in top-of-the-line Armor and at least every fifth of them would have enchanted their armor with all manner of magic and enhancements. There was precisely no hope of her escape from this, much less a proper defensive stand.

"The Capital fell two hours ago," Lia noted with a combination of detachment and dejection. "The 6505th Legion hoisted their colors over the Statehouse and hoisted a Protectorate of Sigma flag alongside it to bring insult to this invasion."

"This is how it ends, milady," Annabelle noted. "And the rest of Existence will applaud the campaign here. All because we defied the Will Transcendent."

"What was the line we found so abhorrent earlier in the day? Fuck around and find out?" Lia asked her security officer.

"Aye, milady," Annabelle said.

"Well, my husband fucked around and found out yesterday, today our entire nation finishes finding out the price of failure," Lia took a seat at her desk. The frame of the mansion rattled to the sound of a demolition charge forcing open the heavy doors at the front of the building. "Shall we go speak to the incoming Infantry?"

Annabelle took up her ceremonial halberd and lead the way out the door, then left down the second-floor hall toward the central stairs. She arrived at the landing a bare moment before one of the Armored Commandos set foot on the staircase. "You! Halt!" The Commando in question quickly put her aimpoint on the Dutchess' head, which caused a quick spike of terror in the Dutchess before she regained composure.

"I am Dutchess Lia Nuone. I would speak to your commanding officer, if available," Lia said before her voice could break from the pang of horror she now felt courtesy of the flood of Commando Armored Infantry in her mansion.

"Hai, I will inform her," a different trooper answered. "Reaper-6 from 4-Kodiak-12, be advised that Lia Nuone is requesting an audience with the Star Commodore if available."

"4-Kodiak-12, copy all. See her out to the vestibule, I will disembark my 'mech shortly."

The Commando that had called it in waved Lia down the stairs, to which the Dutchess obliged with as much dignity as she could muster, and was escorted out the door with no contact from the Commandos. Outside on the front porch of her property, she could see the Commandos taking prisoners of the remaining Infantry and vehicle crews, those that survived their hellish ministrations in minutes past, and the area was quickly filling up with 'Mechs. One in particular stepped up to the mansion and the pilot dropped down the rope ladder to climb down. On landing, Lia was surprised to find the pilot was older than she by at least a full decade, though possessed of the hard form of a soldier and the typical facial tattoos of their most brave (or foolhardy) pilots.

"Dutchess Nuone?" The 'Mechwarrior prompted her.

"I am. You are?"

"I am Star Commodore Melinda Roshak, commander 1285th Legion Commandos. I hereby accept your surrender in full, Dutchess."

"I have only one request," Lia started.

"I am listening," the Star Commodore noted.

"Might I be posted as Bondsman to the same location that my husband is?" Lia asked. She knew she would not escape such duty, but figured she could at least make it somewhat more palatable on herself.

The Star Commodore took a moment to consider it. "I do not know, since your husband is Bondsman to the Empress' Praetorian special rules and permissions are in play for him. I will inquire. For today, however, you will be in-processed under the 1285th Legion."

Lia nodded against the dread in her guts. She knew this was how it would end, but she was not looking forward to what was to come; rumors of how the Magi treated Bondsmen were wild, varied, and less than pleasant. She would find out in coming days that the duty was difficult for nobility, but nowhere near as terrible as she had been led to believe.

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 2210 Hours Local (Base Boarhound) Time)
(Officer's Club 2nd Floor, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)

"Luna! Takeshi! Over here!" Meyrin waved at the two pilots as they departed the bar in search of a table.

"Hey!" Luna led the way over to the table, but quickly realized who was at the table besides her younger sister. "Captain, may we?"

"Certainly, we're off-duty, and Sigma is not as stringent about decorum off duty," Captain Gladys pointed out an interesting regulation she had picked up this afternoon. Some armies in Existence forced officer / enlisted protocol around the clock, Sigma was not one of them when off-duty or when not being addressed in the context of duties.

"So, what's the conversation of the hour?" Luna asked after she was seated.

"Strangeness of the past couple weeks. Lady Neinke was just telling us about how she came to land on Sigma Two during a training session," Meyrin deferred to the Knight Eloquence at the table.

"It is not as impressive a story as your tale of surviving piracy," Neinke nodded to the three ZAFT troops at the table. "Sixth Journeywoman quest of my career, I was sent to the northern reaches of my nation to ferret out a wizard or witch that was poisoning the land with foul magicks, making crop-growing in the area and livestock husbandry difficult or impossible. Nothing special, as far as I knew, and I had a contact in the area that knew of the witch and how to find her abode."

"Straightforward, always good to have intelligence," Takeshi saluted the Knight with his mai tai.

"I thought so as well, but the truth was rather horrifying." Neinke shook her head and had another sip of her wine. "I met with the contact in a town south of the mentioned abode, and he carted me out to the entrance road to her property, which was a forested area with a path leading to a nondescript hut well surrounded by trees. I approached the house and did a quick inspection, and with no creative plan of action, just decided to knock."

"That's blatant," Talia noted.

"Aye, not the smartest play, but the witch let me in. I inquired about dark magic users in the area while I gave her house a quick look-over, and it turned out she was what was called a 'Blood Teller'. They are a group of witch practitioners who specialize in using various blood products for magical effects and modifications. And I could tell this one was a malicious practitioner, nothing of her collection efforts looked humane or sustainable, but what was more audacious was the conversation we had. She pawned the bad happenings off to a Dark Geomancer in the area and offered to help me infiltrate his tower. So I played along, and when she stabbed my hand to draw blood for a concoction, the needle she used had some kind of paralytic agent on it because I lost control of most of my body in seconds and landed in a heap next to the cauldron."

"Not a good place to lose control," Meyrin grimaced.

"No joke," Luna nodded to the point.

"Well, the 'contact' that led me to the witch came in and the two cast me through a portal created from my blood, and through that hole in space and time I landed on Sir Clint. From there, you can see and hear what transpired next, it was all recorded." Neinke still found it mildly embarrassing that she had landed on who would later become one of her commanding officers, but was not at all miffed that she had become an involuntary prop in a training battle. Combat could be strange like that.

"So what's the plan?" Takeshi asked.

"The Blood Teller is dead, she will haunt no further Knights with her foul entrapments," That was also well recorded, the first shot that put the Blood Teller on the ground had taken less than 0.44 seconds from ready position to shot, which was far and away too fast for most persons to even begin reacting. The second salvo with a Glock 18 and use of an Ion Cannon to put her to death permanently had simply been 'eye candy' for how such matters were resolved, as Neinke had learned from a Drill Instructor. "Now I go into the training machine being built by Sigma Two, for my homeland shall need a champion outside their normal capabilities some time into the future."

Talia sighed. "More or less same with us," she noted. "Going home right now has nearly no value, we need to prepare for and begin reducing the Slavers' naval capabilities. That means building a navy and appropriate carried mobile forces from whole cloth."

"I must admit no knowledge of naval affairs," Neinke noted. "Havon is land-locked, the nearest shoreline to us is four nations west, over a thousand miles hence. I fear I cannot help you, Captain."

"I trained for carrier operations, never even considered the mechanics of space operations," Takeshi admitted. "Not until arriving here, that is. Best I can help with is the pilots, if I can qualify for Mobile Suits."

Lunamaria shrugged. "We've been there and shot at that, and I am in to do it to them first, fast, and hard."

"I did some of the engineering work on the Minerva, and now that Sigma One has handed me a blank check for building out a new class of them, I intend to use it," Talia pointed out the direction the engineering work had gone already. On paper, the build cost for one of the Sigma-Refit Minerva ships was to be 1 billion, 95 million C-bills and some change, and that was only a 1-for-1 hull revision using Star Empire technology. The upgraded version that Talia was still finalizing the upgrades on was already over 1 billion, 350 million and threatened to go higher before she was satisfied. And nobody in the command level was flinching about the price tag.

"From what musings I have gathered working with the Secret Service, Sigmas One and Two know that demolishing the pirate naval capacity requires a stout navy, hence why they have left your budget undisturbed in this endeavor," Neinke noted.

"We will need to determine how to make more budget available, we're gonna need bigger ships. Even if we shoot first, the Privateer-class ships are double the size of the Minerva or more. We'll need a lot of little ships or we will need several big ships, like a battleship or something," Takeshi noted. "What about taking one of the old American, German, British, or Japanese Battleships and rebuilding it as a space warship?"

"Structured wrong, and not big enough to properly fill out to the size we need," Talia shook her head. "There is some crossover between wet navy and space navy, but it is small, like less than a quarter of the crossover."

"Oh," Takeshi belatedly realized that what worked in anime probably would not work here in the naval arena.

"Still, we will need the ships on the water as well, there are an immense amount of naval contracts out on MercNet as well. And the Star League has a lot of planets with large bodies of water appropriate for naval forces."

"Then, a toast," Neinke held up her wineglass. "To a crusade on the waves and among the stars, that we put an end to such barbary as we now fight in the Slavers."

"Cheers!"

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 2300 Hours Multimage Standard Time)
(Main Hall, Multimage Administration Building, Yuhua, China, Terra-02)

"Final call, any objections?" Eric Atrebas asked the representatives of the Conclave.

"No sir!" Prince Rubeus answered. He had been in secure contact with Emperor Diamond, and the head of the Dark Moon Star Empire had no objection to the changes.

"None, Will Transcendent Atrebas," Ehecatl answered formally for the Illyaris Empire. The old Aztec Gods had been in-and-out of influence in their Star Empire over the eons, but Ehecatl had deftly slotted himself in as Ambassador and front-man for the twin Empresses and Atrebas had silently allowed it. Now, with the potential rise of more divinities in the lands of Sigma, Atrebas was quickly coming to the conclusion that he would have to put out an official addendum to his old and incredibly famous declaration over the authorities of the Old Gods.

"No Objection," the Ambassador from the Negaverse Mercantile Empire said graciously.

"We are go mission, my liege," Division Commander Joan D'Arc answered for the Magi.

"Same from the Dynasty, Highness," Lord Sekhmet confirmed.

"We are in accord," the Platinum Dragon that served as the high-level ambassador for the New Moon Star Empire completed for the Star Empires.

"Retainers?" Eric Atrebas asked next.

"We are ready to sign off, sir," Princess Mercury acknowledged their position. Most of the rest of the Retainers to the Queen (also known as the Sailor Soldiers or Planetary Princesses) gave the Will Transcendent a Thumbs-up.

"Executors?" Eric asked.

"Definitely," Sephiroth said.

"We've wanted these for a while, I am good with the draft amendments," Carlie noted.

"Same here, boss," Tenchi said.

"I'm good to go, and I will put 75 C-bills on the Senate having a draft counter-amendment in place by end of day tomorrow," Baigan acknowledged.

"I shall take that bet, Executor-Lord Baigan," Dark Warlord Sekhmet countered. "It will take the rejects in the Senate three days to lay down a document." Neither would win the wager, a counter would take a full 12 days and part of a thirteenth to make it to the floor, though would never be enforced.

"Lastly, Queen Serenity?" Eric asked his wife.

"Approved as written," Sora answered after a bare moment. Two of the ideas on the table were hers, and she wanted to hammer down the Grand Council more than anyone else at these negotiations.

"It is done," Eric said simply. "Joan, if you would signal the press that the deliberation is done and amendments are ready?"

"Aff, my liege, announcement in fifteen minutes sound good?"

-x-

Eric stepped up to the podium after the perfunctory introduction. What was a conference room fifteen minutes prior had been very quickly converted to an auditorium suitable for a press conference, and now Eric was on the hook to shit on the Star League Grand Council.

"Thank you, Division Commander Arc," Eric acknowledged the introduction from his former subordinate. "The past 72 hours have seen some impressive changes in the landscape of the Star Empires, from the botched invasion on Terra 232 to the invasion of Nuone V and their surrender a few hours ago, and the elimination of the conspirators in the Senate that drove this farce into existence, much has changed in three days. Now, as is demanded of the role of the Executors, our duty is to protect Life and Honor throughout Known Existence and to accomplish this task, we must now amend the Charter of the Star League to prevent such blatant dishonor from becoming the norm. Thus, under vote of the original signatories of the Charter, I now present three amendments to the Charter that have been ratified by all parties involved. Please hold questions until the end."

Eric took a moment to shuffle his paperwork. "Amendment One to the Charter: The Guilds of the Star League are hereby stripped of all protections outside of specific Star League territory, and protections may not be enforced in any territory where those protections would conceal criminal actions, enable criminal actions, or those protections are themselves criminal in nature. Additionally, any Guild which partakes in actions that would otherwise be considered a war crime under the Judgment of an Executor shall be annulled of any and all protections afforded it by the Star League. This Amendment is completely regardless if the Guild in question is a public-facing acknowledged Guild or is considered a clandestine guild and is not publicly acknowledged. Any attempt to enforce Guild Law in a Member State where the Guild Law is considered in violation of local law may now be considered a criminal act by the Guild participants and dealt with as is appropriate for local regulations; any attempt for a Guild to conduct heinous crimes that rise to the level of Executor's involvement will now be treated as if we were dealing with Pirates or War Criminals. Thus is amended to the Charter today as of 2305 Local time, 2230 Hours Standard Time."

Eric flipped to the second page. "Amendment Two to the Charter: The Star League is hereby completely denied the ability to interfere with the Protectorates under a Member State in their entirety, unless those Protectorates are themselves signatories of the Charter. This will prevent any repeats of the incident on Terra-232 where the Senate engaged in an incompetent proxy war against the Protectorate of Sigma and where the Duchy of Nuone thought they could or would be protected for attacking a Protectorate under the Multimage Star Empire. This Amendment does not deny the Star League just reciprocity against aggressor parties, but I caution the Senate that you are already fully denied reciprocity against Sigma due to my contracts and orders to the Protectorate to clean up your prior mistakes with the Jumper Trains and the Slavers' Guild. Thus is amended to the Charter today as of 2305 Local time, 2230 Hours Standard Time."

Eric flipped documentation again and straightened his papers. "Amendment Three to the Charter: The Star League is hereby denied the ability to blackball any businesses, mercenary units, charitable organizations, transportation companies, or NGOs based on political disfavor by the Senate or actions of those companies that are in counter to the whims of the Star League Senate. As the day has drawn on, there have been increasing calls from the Star League to blackball some companies that have supported Sigma in their endeavors so far, the loudest being Boeing-Federated, and I will not tolerate that manner of juvenile conduct from the Senate. You are hereby denied that authority going forward, and any attempt to blackball a company without justification of illegal action will put the bill's sponsors before an Executor's Tribunal. You will not use the bully pulpit of the Star League to destroy a company or entity economically simply because you are denied military action, of this I swear. Thus is amended to the Charter today as of 2305 Local time, 2230 Hours Standard Time."

Atrebas looked up from his notes. "This concludes my reading of the Amendments. Questions?"

Eric Atrebas, former Multimage Emperor, now Will Transcendent Executor, took the questions in stride and answered the hypotheticals as he would Judge them going forward. He also knew that the Senate, even when stripped of such powers or protections, would disobey the Charter and Amendments. They had no choice in the matter: the more they allowed themselves to be constrained, the more power and influence they would lose, and to a power-mad bureaucracy such as the Grand Council of the Star League, any happenstance short of gaining power would be detrimental or eventually fatal to their order.

Atrebas knew that Sigma was squarely in the sights of the oncoming typhoon, he could only hope that the Protectorate would be resilient enough to withstand the battering. And only time would tell the answer to that question.

-x-x-x-

(6 April, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 2305 Hours Local (Boarhound) Time)
(Command Administrator's Quarters, Base Boarhound Administration Building, Terra 232)
(Day 20 of Campaign)

As there was still a small expectation of decorum even at this late hour, Hess threw on a pair of cargo shorts and a logo T-shirt with the Protectorate's symbol on. The long, hot shower had been the capstone of the day, a final bit of needed relaxation to round out a busy and productive day all around. Now, Hess had a small modicum of paperwork to go through before he could retire for the evening and rest well. Tomorrow was planned to be an administrative day, no contract work expected, and precious time to catch up on the happenings around the fledgling nation.

Hess sighed. "All in all, not a bad turnout for the first three weeks," Hess noted mostly to himself partway through brushing his teeth.

"The gambling house odds have been against us from the start, but so far we are breaking hearts and making contracts," Virtue noted in response.

"Having a crew that wants to change their course, do better, makes all the difference," Sigma One said after he finished with the night-time dose of mouthwash.

"That, and the support of higher powers will make this workable. And we Artificial Intelligence Entities will do what we can to assist."

"How many are around the world?" Hess knew from prior conversations that Virtue was not alone on planet, but the exact number or disposition had not yet come up.

"Six former Star League, two corporate. The corporate units may want to be repatriated to their owning businesses, but the former SL units are all in with the Protectorate. I am coordinating with them, the others are moving around the other regions of the world, gathering intelligence from what networks they can still attach to."

"I'm fine with that, sending them home if they don't want to stay," Hess noted. "Logistics of moving them out might be a bit tricky, but I won't deny freedom of choice on the matter."

"You would provide a way out when no such legal requirement has ever been offered elsewhere in Existence?" Virtue asked.

"Don't see why not," Hess said with a shrug before he set his toothbrush and toothpaste in the medicine cabinet and closed it up. "Just because an AI has no biological form does not mean you do not have free will. Just means that the method of existence is more technical than anything else. Some people want to make the case that AI entities should not have agency of their own, I don't truck with that thought."

Virtue was quick to forward that comment to the other AI units as further evidence that they had changed allegiance to the moral and honorable side.

"Still and all, we're months away from relocating anyone, biological or otherwise. Any major matters before I wind down and finish paperwork for the night?"

"Nothing pressing, sir," Virtue noted.

"Well, then, I'd advise you to get some rest, Virtue. We've had a bitchin' busy three weeks in what promises to be decades of increasing adventure and strife, and burnout is a thing."

"Affirm, sir," Virtue agreed. "Have a good evening."

Sigma One stepped out of the bathroom, and immediately realized that Toni was not in her bed or watching television as she had been earlier. Discerning her location didn't take more than a few seconds past, so… "There are only two types of people that actively wait for me. Those who are actively waiting for me to fix something, and those who are trying to force an issue. At a guess, you don't have any broken equipment for me to work on," Hess said, rehashing a line he had given to her on the third evening of this misadventure.

"Bit of both, actually, my tablet crapped out and I was thinking about asking you if you could fix it," she waved her hardened tablet computer toward Hess from the edge of his bed.

"Hrm, I could give it a shot, but I was never all that good with fixing tablet computers. Too damn fiddly, kept breaking screens when I tried to take them apart," Sigma One said after he sat down on the edge of his bed next to her.

"Then we'll leave that to a specialist, and we'll work on the other thing," Toni said after she set her tablet aside.

"And that is?" Hess asked.

"I swore to myself that if you ever pulled off the Transformation Runes, I would thank you for it, but I think we both want more than just that."

"You were worried I might change my opinion after I saw your proper form?" Hess asked.

"Didn't think you would, but I wanted to make sure you went into this with eyes on all of it," Toni admitted. "Any objections?"

"None at all," he admitted without hesitation.

"Good," Toni hooked two fingers in the neck of his shirt and pulled him close for their first kiss.

-x-x-x-

(Scenes in Time)
(6 October, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 1030 Hours SL Standard Time)
(6 Months, 23 Days into campaign)

(Somewhere in the Multimage Empire)
(Secondary School cafeteria)

"Look at this," a half-elven student waved a tablet at the others around the table. "If ever a use of the old joke 'this is what I want to be when I grow up', there it is," she said.

"Gundam Pilot for a mercenary unit?" one of the other girls in the crew asked. "Well, yeah, you could do worse than that as a career. Much worse."

"Better would be Combat Mage in their group, those guys are phat-paid," one of the two guys in their clique noted.

"Oh, I know this clip! Best part is when the Black Tri-Stars try to go head-to-head against the Minerva II, that ends really bad for them." The clip advances a bit, and the aforementioned battle started. "The red machine is going to do a number on those old Zeon aces."

"Worth the price of admission," the half-elven owner of the tablet made sure to angle it so most of her friends could see.

True to the estimate, the Gundam Mk. II piloted by Lunamaria Hawke had no trouble whatsoever dealing with three old MS-05 Zaku I units, even if they were piloted by some of the best. First Mash, then Ortega, then Gaia, all fell to beam rifle shots from the Sigma ace pilot. Their belated attempt to harass or drive off the Minerva II ended with their deaths.

It was not the first time the Minerva II had been in service against the Zeon, but every time so far, the ship and carried assets had acquitted themselves fantastically.

-x-

(City Hall, Town of Keetok, Claiborne County, Kentucky, United States)

Sheriff Hearter had to hesitate a few seconds before he gave the next sentence. "It is with utmost regret that I must declare the four Militiamen sent onto the Interdimensional Jumper Train as Missing In Action. We have had no communication from Jamieson, Hess, or the two Williams. We have no indication that the Train has returned to any part of this world. We will continue to hold out hope that they are possibly stranded or have received assistance elsewhere in Existence. Until we have confirmation, though, their status is MIA in the line of duty and will be recognized as such on the Sheriff's Deputy Rolls."

"Sheriff Hearter, Kayla Bond, Sky News. If another Train or other forms of transport come available, will you attempt to pursue?"

"If it is on the randomized transport method similar to the Jumper Trains, no. If transport that is directed comes available and their whereabouts are known, I will definitely take reinforcements to meet them." Sheriff Hearter would find out that such was an expected reality in a few years' time.

"Sheriff, Jonathan Sykes, ABC National. With the passage of the Militia Reinforcement Act in Congress, do you intend to begin issuing Militia Exemption writs to persons in the county?"

"Yes, every member of the Claiborne County Unorganized have already submitted their applications, and in the past month six more have joined up to begin Minuteman Drilling with the Sheriffs and other Militia."

"Follow-up question, do you intend to issue permits only for carry, for automatic and suppressed weapons, or for all equipment available?"

"Militiamen Hess and Jamieson were fired on by a Rocket-Propelled Grenade. There are Sheriffs around the country that say the reaction in Congress to the incident was overboard, but I know otherwise. I found part of the tail-fin of the rocket in the tree-stand across the road from the Kall residence. I will issue permits and ATF clearance for any weapons and munitions my Militiamen want, and I'll do it with the full knowledge that if another one of these infernal Trains arrived in this county, it could be worse than the one that landed here six months ago. And yes, at least two of my Militia have already filed applications for M203 Grenade Launchers; those documents are waiting for my signature as soon as the bill goes into full effect."

"Are you not concerned about the possibility of those weapons falling into the hands of — "

"You are directing your armaments frustrations to the wrong level, mister Sykes. If you want 'gun crime' to go down, tell the Judges and the Prosecutors to do their jobs and prosecute those crimes that are already on the books. It is not the fault of the beat cops or the Sheriffs or even the ATF that Prosecutors drop those charges like a hot potato whenever they can. Don't create problems out of whole cloth just to crap on the average law-abiding American, solve the problems that already exist and then reanalyze the situation," Sheriff Hearter hammered down the destructive line of thinking in a hurry. "Next question, please."

-x-

(Armaments Bay, Basement 1 Level, Administration Building, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)

"Listen up! Here's the mission brief for today's misadventure!" Hess ordered of the Secret Service and other gathered persons. "Daughter of abusive parents, confirmed by a Ghost watching both parents smack her around for perceived slights. Audio, video, sensor telemetry has already been filed with the Contract, you'll want to review it after the briefing. Disgusting conduct, picture-perfect reminder that not everyone in Existence should be a parent."

"Copy, sir," the lead Rescue Ranger for the operation noted.

"This is going to be handled as a 'covert extraction in plain sight' kind of thing. We are doing a recruiting symposium at a mall six blocks from the Hotel's school," Hess continued, identifying the daughter as 'Hotel', the NATO phonetic for the letter H, in this case referencing a hostage. "We expect a decent turnout on the recruiting, we did radio and television ads for a week or two prior to this, so she can easily be lost in the shuffle at the mall. Parallel to this, we are setting up a recruiting office and surplus sales office in one of the unused store bays in the mall, and that bay is leased to us as of yesterday so we can use it to move her out to Terra 232 as soon as she shows up and identifies herself."

"And how will the Hotel make it from the school to the mall?" Rasine asked.

"She's just going to wander off property and take a walk. We'll have a Ghost covering her just in case," the Rescue Ranger lead noted.

"Fallback plans?" one of the junior Rescue Rangers asked. Hess didn't know her name (yet), but expected she'd go the distance.

"Fallback plan 1 is the Ghost simply 'disappears' her. We don't want to do this, looks too much like targeted kidnapping and we don't need that heat, but it is an option if necessary. Fallback plan 2 is improvise as circumstances allow. The final act of defiance is if we have to go loud on the tango's property, that is the scenario if everything goes to hell and she is returned home or grabbed by a relative. Any questions?"

"NO SIR!" the group chanted.

"Break it down, review contract documents, pictures, audio and video. We depart in 90 minutes to set up our recruiting booths, we'll be recruiting next to the Northwind Highlanders, the Kell Hounds, and Tyche's Irregulars, so it will be lively. Our arrival local time on site is 0640 hours. Dismissed!"

Hess stood and watched the personnel depart the room, then nodded silently to the walls. Another day, another contract, another oddball mission, but all in all he helped people both in the Protectorate and in this case a high-school daughter that had been refused emancipation by a court system that did not give a shit about her, just that her parents' expensive lawyer had slipped a thousand bucks to the judge to get some of the evidence thrown out against those parents. So, as a last ditch effort she offered her services to Sigma in exchange for a way out — and Hess was quick to sign off on it when presented with the evidence.


Author's Chapter Afterword:

So ends the first segment of the story of Sigma!

This is the beauty, the ugly, the horror, the strange and the surprising of my randomized gaming systems all in one. The original concept for the randomized Trains dates back to before 2000, the product of a strange dream I had that made little sense to me at the time but to which I eventually understood concepts and procedures I could use — and created a whole adventure out of the process and the madness. The concept of randomized dungeons was only really toyed with in Tabletop RPGs at the time, major randomized or procedure-generated environments were not a big thing back in those days, but even then (I was still in school at the time) I was working on procedure generation, randomized results, and similar concepts in those days. It would be years before I started fleshing out what would become the Sigma concepts and systems, but all that started from a nonsensical dream about a train where everything changed from car to car and blossomed from there.

The tales of Sigma are far from done.

Now that my initial stories are done, I have some programming work to crack down on to get my recordkeeping up to snuff. The records drive coming stories; for certain, I could definitely create any manner of scenario out of whole cloth that I want, and I will end up engaging in several good segments of that to come, but if for no other reason than creating the game system I want out of that old dream, I will forge ahead on the programming. This is not to say that I won't be engaging in some more storytelling for Sigma's early years, but for now I am going to focus on my other writing work while I prepare the backend proper for this.

Never fret, for I have a multitude of fictional locations I can and will go to for coming stories, and I have a lot of hanging threads from just this short work to go to. Any suggestions on locations, characters, material, I will always listen. I am always interested in alternate history theories you have, be they world history or fictional histories, I love the mental challenge of anticipative history writing and modification. In fact, one of the planned coming stories is one such strange history, a deep dive into the far past of the Playstation 2 game Dark Cloud 2, and how something so innocuous as the Moon Flower Palace will turn out to be the nexus of some serious contract work and strife for everyone involved. Just a matter of time until the random contract generator I use coughs up a contract for it.

This is my warmup for my Christmas Gift 2023. Right now, I have four segments written and another nine to go in my proper Christmas gift, and as of this writing I have 14 days to make it happen. This will get a bit antsy, but I think I can make it happen.

Nothing else to report. Put 'em on safe and let 'em hang, this one is done.


Beta Reader's Chapter Afterword (Takeshi Yamato):

And so the first proper chapter of the Chronicles of Sigma comes to a close.

I will mention that the third 'Sigma Contract' scene was going to be a training scenario in the vein of the tutorial level from the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Hess and Toni were going to go to the contract location and help a local drill sergeant instruct a bunch of FNGs and/or local militia forces on the proper methods of firearms usage, as well as the basics of grenade usage.

This scene was pulled because the chapter was getting a bit long as-is, but I'm campaigning for the scene to still be written down for use in a oneshot. Hopefully that'll be one of the first posts of 2024.

See you all in the next one!


Review Replies: Four reviews for Chapter 21. Thank you all for the feedback!

Hellhound D. O. W.: Oh, rest assure that I am still thinking about how to reasonably get John Wick into the story, and his stats under my system would be absolutely terrifying even counting that he is just a normal human. So, just a matter of time.

Alpha 12: I'll answer your questions by the numbers:

On the Senators: only Mandy Glivenne was really a domineering misandric, the other Senators in her conspiracy were normal in that regard and at least one was polyamorous and perverted about it. That said, the Star League Senate has been trying to push a net-zero population growth policy as a way to better control the Member States and consolidate their power. The Member States entirely disregard this policy, because trans-dimensional travel makes expansion space literally infinite and because of the Equation of Ragnarok. The Star League has convinced itself that Seventh Ragnarok won't happen, but the rest of Existence knows otherwise and are following the policies set forth by the Executors in that regard.

Your question on the access to the mercenary board is a tricky one, and it will be the subject of stories in the MMC, the Jokers Wild, and several in Sigma due to their close working relationship with ComStar. The short version: ComStar has HPG stations all over Existence, including in places that no Star Empire has set foot, and tends to have very good relations with the locals (subject to some restrictions). Hence, it is not unheard of for a ComStar HPG to be set up, say, southwest of Athens in the area of what would in the future be Athens International Airport. And by law ComStar cannot deny access to the HPG for any person who pays the nominal fees, so for a commoner to call down some serious mercenary thunder would be a bit of a trip from the homestead, but far from impossible.

Your question on the Big Six Star Empires settling on worlds with nascent early civilizations touches on a point not yet covered in the MMC: at least in millennia past, all of the Star Empires engaged in such conduct to one degree or another. That said, it does help to subsume populations like that, but not as much as it causes heartburn, especially in subsuming more advanced or very early nations. Even still this late in the MMC timeline, the Magi still engage in Trials of Absorption against the Clans of Kerensky as a way to take them out of play for invading the Inner Sphere and as a way to bolster their populations and manufacturing bases.

On your question about corporations conducting business on pre-Star-Empire tech worlds, it is allowed under Executor regulations, but there is a caveat: disparity of technology sold cannot exceed plus 100 years for pre-industrial-age nations, and cannot exceed plus 50 years for post-industrial-age nations, though restrictions are lifted for nations and worlds that have achieved spaceflight plus fusion engines OR permanent space colonies, at that point the gap of technology is not enough for the Executors to consider it a detriment.

And, on your list of possible includes, I can tell you at least two of those are already in the random tables for Sigma. I'll leave it to your guessing as to which two (or more) are in. Har har har!

Pridefallen: Hope this works out for you as a conclusion to the first segment. And fret not about coming chapters, for this story will be about coming sections! The possibilities are very much infinite, and Sigma is a long-term player into the future all the way to Ragnarok, so there is a lot of meat still to cook and chew. Thank you for staying with me through this writing!

KPheonix: On the matters of the other Sigma operators, remember that Clint, Clarence and Victoria each have their misgivings about making this a permanent job, Hess is in it to make sure it is done right and honorable until the Slavers are 'downchecked permanently from Existence' as a euphemism to come would be coined. None of the others are true 'lifers' in the regard of working this job to retirement age, and certainly would not do it with a life extension, hence they are going to duck out sometime in the next 10-15 years each. Eventually there will be other Callsigns that are true 'Lifers' in that regard, but for the time being the positions under the Command Administrator will be volatile.

The origins of the Star Empires have been sort-of explored, but the shape of how things go to HELL at interplanetary speeds is going to hit pretty hard. The impetus of the Star Empire Wars starts in MMC Set 3 and is truly a byproduct of the Divine Wars. You are right, the Ronin Warriors / Yorioden Samurai Troopers cartoons will be explained in universe as fictionalized and propaganda, in the same fashion at the BT cartoon, but the reason will be even more off the books than the split between BT cartoon and BT mainline narrative.

Vash is going to be a very special case, but eventually he is going to cross words with Hess. How far it goes past that is yet to be seen.

Thanks for sticking with the story! Hope you get as much enjoyment and thought out of the coming sections!

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS! This may be the last story of the Set, but Sigma will be back for more!


The Gripe Sheet:

No errors in the last chapter. Much thanks to Takeshi Yamato for keeping my writing straight, if not always prompt.


Footnotes:

(1): POTS Phone refers to 'Plain Old Telephone Service' Phone, an old-school analog phone. These were the gold-standard of personal communications prior to the rise of cell phones in the mid to late 1990s.


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. As of Chapter 17, roughly 40% of the ship's crew is in the Protectorate and has joined for the purpose of vengeance, including a rescued Captain Talia Gladys.

—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))

—Game: Dark Cloud and Dark Chronicle (Dark Cloud 1 and 2 in English): The concept of Chronicle Relics is derived from the Chronicle Sword and Chronicle II from the games. The specifics of these weapons, their purpose and powers, will be quite different from the games but the form factor is roughly the same (though individualized by each relic). (Shown in chapter 15 and will be fleshed out significantly in Chapter 20 and 21)