The last 18 months or so have been a pretty much unending nightmare.
My wife left me. The less said about that, the better.
My Ulcerative Colitis went into overdrive and it put me in the hospital some four or five times in that year-and-a-half. I had surgery two months ago to correct it and, while I feel now great, I'm having to get used to shitting into a bag.
And, as everyone has noticed, we've been hammered by COVID-19 and all the horrors of the year 2020. No need to expound upon this; we're all dealing with this in some form or another.
But, suffice to say, I haven't done any work on any of my fiction until just recently. I'm actually pouring a lot of my processing of these recent events into my writing and I've added about eight pages to A Hero's Homecoming in just the last week or so, which is pretty impressive given I'd largely abandoned it (and pretty much every other story) over a year ago.
But I'm hoping to keep at it. Knowing me, it's more likely I'll work in one giant spurt before leaving things fallow again (That seems to be my pattern. Damned ADHD keeps me from finishing just about anything.) Hopefully however, that spurt will at least finish A Hero's Homecoming.
FYI, I made some edits to the earlier parts of A Hero's Homecoming, so even if you've read Parts 1 and 2, there is some new material there.
Friday, June 26, 2020
A Hero's Homecoming Part Three
Summer
Prefecture VIII, Republic of the Sphere
13 August 3134
Sunday morning. Two months into their journey. Max woke up as the duty shift bell rang, roughly 8 in the morning. He got up and went over to the small shrine he’d erected in the corner of his room and knelt down. He lit a candle and began to pray.
“I thank you, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil....”
A loud knock at the door interrupted his prayer. Max stood up and went to the door. It opened to reveal Amon Kivisto, one of the mechwarriors from Bravo lance. “Hey, Pendragon, good morning.” The burly man bellowed. With his bushy beard and unkempt hair, Amon very much looked the part of his callsign: Viking.
“Um...” Max began.
“I caught you praying. Sorry. Finish, and then we can talk.”
Max returned to the shrine and finished his prayer while Amon waited patiently in the doorway. He extinguished the candle and Amon spoke again.
“So, Christian, what do you pray for?”
“Oh, the usual. Thanks for another day of life. Safe journeys as we travel through space. Fortune and wellbeing for my family back home. Victory over my enemies in battle. That sort of thing.”
“No ‘please have Lilly stop teasing and finally put out’?” Amon growled mirthfully.
“Ok, that too.” Max laughed. “So what do you pray for, Pagan?”
“Much the same. Safe journeys through space. Good fortune for my family. Victory over my enemies.” He paused. “And for Lady Viking to put out more.”
From behind Amon came a rough, but playful shove, from Kalle, Amon’s wife. “I hate it when you call me that.” she grumbled.
Kalle was another mechwarrior in Bravo lance; callsign “QueenBee.” She was Amon’s wife and the two of them had joined the Bombardiers several years ago. Both were from the Rasalhague Dominion and both were religiously Neo-Pagan. When they discovered Max was religious, albeit a different religion, they adopted him as their best friend. They would frequently have playful “theological discussions” similar to this conversation on prayer.
This had been the way of things over the past two months. Max had settled in nicely with his comrades. He was closest to Amon and Kalle, but had struck up friendships with most of the company. In his own lance, besides Behemoth, was also Crapshoot, the Davion gambler who piloted the Warhammer he’d first seen on arrival, and Topaz, an amber haired beauty from Kurita space. There was also Rampage and Dogfight in Bravo lance, also both from the Draconis Combine.
How so many folks from the far side of the Inner Sphere had ended up in a mercenary company that worked primarily in the Outward Periphery was a mystery to Max for a while, but it soon became clear. War and conflict was a rare thing in the post-Jihad Inner Sphere. Militaries had downsized and the Pax Republicana reigned, thanks to the dominance of the Republic of the Sphere and its laws. Those inclined to the military either found themselves stuck in boring garrison duty in their homelands or sought out the more violent frontiers.
Charlie lance was made up of Periphery natives whose families had likewise been members of the Bombardiers for several generations. Windchill and Scrap Iron were both from the Periphery frontier, their grandfathers had been pirates who wanted a more legit line of work. Flash was from a family that fled from the Outworlds Alliance as the Snow Raven Clan took over, stealing a then-brand-new Arbalest Battlemech as they did so. It had been passed down and was still in good condition, despite it being the only Clan technology mech in the unit. Livewire was the final pilot in the lance; her mother had been exiled from the Magistry of Canopus for marrying the wrong sort.
“So what brings you to see me this fine Sunday morning?” asked Max.
“Breakfast.” said Amon hungrily. “You know the jumper makes special breakfast on Sunday.”
“That we pay for.”
“Perk of a long journey. Me hungry. Eat now!”
Max followed Amon and Kalle through the Argo to the airlock that connected it to the jumper. They’d been at the nadir point of Summer for about a day as the jumpship recharged its hyperdrive for the next jump. They passed through the airlock and then made their way towards the grav deck of the jumpship.
Max stepped onto the grav deck and felt the comfortable feeling of gravity take hold. It was fake gravity, of course; generated by spinning the circular grav deck around to produce centrifugal force. But it was the only source of anything resembling planet-like conditions in space. The Argo had its own grav deck, but couldn’t deploy or activate it while attached to a jumpship. So he and the others in the Bombardiers had been spending a lot of time aboard the jumper to avoid going too crazy.
The jumpship crew had set up a spread for them and their own crew. Fresh eggs, sausages, bacon, cereal; a pretty typical Western European style breakfast buffet. Fresh food like this was often hard to come by during space voyages and so this was quite the treat to the people living aboard these spacecraft.
Amon and Kalle headed immediately to the line, leaving Max behind in a famished rush. That gave him the freedom to scope the room. It was as close to “outside” as one could get on a jumpship. There was no ceiling; Max could see straight up the 200 meters or so to the other side of the ring-like grav deck and see the rooms there from the top down. The ground was grass, planted in special hydroponic bins that cycled the water efficiently. It kept the air fresh and clean smelling. The space was illuminated by panelled lights on the side walls, doing their best to mimic natural sunlight. Despite the curvature of the space, unavoidable on the grav deck, it felt like a picnic at a park.
Aside from his surroundings, Max also took stock of who else was present. He saw Crapshoot and Topaz sitting together, playing cards with a few of the jumpship crew. He saw Behemoth in line ahead of Amon and Kalle. And then he saw Lilly, sitting alone, presumably waiting for her sister. Max smiled and headed over to chat.
Lilly suddenly looked up from her food and looked around hurriedly. Max wasn’t certain she saw him approaching, but he could tell something was amiss. Lilly had a pained look on her face and she jumped up from the table and ran towards a nearby exit as fast as her short legs could carry her.
Curious what had happened, Max followed. “It’s probably nothing.” he reasoned. “Maybe she got her period unexpectedly. Or maybe something she ate didn’t agree with her. Too many reconstituted meals and your belly becomes unused to decent food.”
Max stepped inside the room, which was really a short hallway that to led two restrooms and also to an airlock that led you back to the rest of the ship. Rather than intrude further, Max merely waited for Lilly to emerge.
The minutes ticked by and Max was beginning to worry. Then the door to the women’s room opened. Lilly was standing there, holding her coveralls against her chest but otherwise wearing nothing. The smell of feces was pungent in the air.
Lilly saw Max standing there and went pale white in horror. “Oh, my God, Max...” she darted back into the bathroom. “What the hell?” she growled, more mortified than angry.
Now it was Max’s turn to be embarrassed. “You dashed out of the breakfast awfully quick. I came to check on you.” he explained. “Sorry if I embarrassed you.”
Lilly poked her head out. “Um, that’s okay.” she said, her tone more even now. “I had a bit of an accident.”
“So I guessed. What can I do to help?”
“Devil’s choice.” she replied, more musing to herself than to Max. “Run all the way through the jumper back to the Argo with no clothes on or have some guy fetch some fresh ones from my quarters.”
Max was mildly unsettled by being referred to as “some guy.” It hurt a little that after two months of playful banter and flirting, which everyone on the ship had noticed, that they hadn’t progressed to actually dating. And now here again was another reminder of the distance that still lay between them.
“I’ll need to bypass code to your door.” said Max, taking the initiative. Each personal quarters on the Argo had thumbprint lock that normally only opened for the people who lived there, but there was always a numeric code to unlock the door in case of emergencies.
“10191.” Lilly admitted. “Just don’t snoop too much.”
“You should be more trusting of me by now.” Max thought to himself. He headed out the airlock and made his way back to the Argo. He knew where Lilly’s quarters were; as head tech, she was one of the few members of the Bombardiers to have private quarters. (Max, for instance, shared his with Crapshoot.)
Max had not been in one of the Argo’s private rooms and he was duly impressed as the bypass code let him inside. Lilly’s room was expansive, larger even than the space he shared with a fellow mechwarrior. He floated over to her wardrobe and found what he needed. Although tempted, he decided against snooping into her personal effects. Most of what was out in the open was what he expected from Lilly. Mounted to the walls were a motivational poster, a few pieces of art, and a concert poster from some Periphery rock band he’d never heard of that was signed by the band. On her bookshelf were some technical manuals and a few novels. One book however did catch his eye. A medical self-help book titled “Living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.”
“Well, that explains the accident. Damn, that’s probably a secret Lilly wanted to keep to herself.” Max thought. He gathered up what he came for and made his way back to the jumper.
When he arrived back at the restrooms, he knocked on the women’s room door. There was no answer. Max dared to peak inside. He saw Lilly’s soiled underclothes on the floor and her feet under the stall walls. Grotesque sounds and grunts of pain filled the air.
Max withdrew back to the hallway to give her privacy. After a few minutes, she poked her head out.
“Did you hear all that?” she asked pointedly.
“It sounded like you were giving birth.” commented Max. “Or something equally painful.”
“That’s what it feels like sometimes. Thanks for my clothes.” She took the proffered bundle.
“You okay?”
She withdrew and answered through the door. “I will be. This is why I hate long space voyages. Too long in zero-gee and my gut goes haywire.”
“I saw the book in your room.” Max confessed. “About your disease.”
“You were going to find out sooner or later.” Lilly admitted. She emerged, looking better but very drained, as if the illness had sucked all the energy out of her. “It’s an incredible nuisance.” She confessed.
“I imagine it’s more than that. You look like hell.”
“Thanks.” She said flippantly. “Yeah. I can bleed to death. I can develop cancer. It’s a whole bundle of fun.” She paused and let out her breath in frustration. “It makes my life hell. And zero-gee is a guaranteed trigger. I hate long trips.”
“They ain’t fun for us who aren’t struggling with major illnesses either.” commented Max. “Crappy food. Stale air. Always being a little queasy because your body can’t tell which way is down.” He reached out and touched her shoulder affectionately. “Hey, whatever help I can be, just ask.”
She reached up and took his hand. “Thanks. I appreciate that.” She replied with a smile.
“I don’t guess you’re eager to go back to breakfast.”
“To eat? After that? God, no. But I’ll keep you company.”
“I’d like that.”
---
When they returned to the breakfast, the tone in the room had changed dramatically. There was tension in the air and everyone was speaking in frightened, hushed, tones. Max began asking a few questions and discovered that in the time he’d been helping Lily, two Jade Falcon jumpships had jumped into the system.
“So far, they’ve ignored us, seeing us as a civilian transport. I guess they don’t realize the Argo is a military ship.” said Behemoth. “Regardless, the jumper crew is very eager to get us on our way.”
“The very people we’re being paid to attack have come to us.” mused Lily to her sister. “I don’t guess we could go after them here and claim our pay.”
“That’s not how it works and you know it.” said Max.
“I just want out of space. Get a planet under me again.”
“Yeah, but one with an invading Jade Falcon army is not my idea of a sanctuary, no matter how bad you might be feeling.” Behemoth looked over at Max, gauging his reaction to her allusion to Lily’s medical condition.
Lily interjected before Behemoth could determine anything. “He knows. Caught me exploding all over the grav deck bathroom an hour or so ago.”
“You’re having symptoms already? Off to the infirmary with you, little sister. Pendragon, make sure she goes. That’s an order to you both.”
---
“Well,” began Dr. James Murad, the Argo’s Chief Medical Officer, “It’s what you expected. A flare. We’ve got a stock of steroids to keep the symptoms in check but we’re still a good two months before we’re planetside.”
“In other words, we’ll run out before we get to New Belfast.” sighed Lily.
“Any way we can get some more?” asked Max.
“Maybe,” said the Doc. “If a ship at one of the jump points going forward has got some to trade.”
“That’ll be hard if the Falcon’s have invaded this far. Our proposed course to New Belfast takes us right through the same systems they would have used to get to Summer.” mused Max.
“It’s a gamble no matter...” Dr. Murad paused as the ship shuddered. “That was a jump.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure our jumper was not eager to stick around any longer with a military dropship attached in the midst of an enemy raid or invasion.” said Lily.
A minute or so later, Behemoth joined them in the sick bay, “So, Doc, how is my sister?”
“Pretty sick. We’ve got the stockpile of medicine you both requested ready to go, but it’s not likely to last the whole journey.” replied Murad.
“The jumper captain just brought us to Lyons. I’ll see if we can trade for some more.”
“Any Falcon presence here?” asked Lily.
“Not yet. But I doubt we’d have to wait long. I'm shocked they’ve invaded this far already.” She paused. “That’s probably why we’ve been hired to hit one of their worlds. They’ve probably stripped every planet in their occupation zone to build up a force to take on both the Lyrans and the Republic.”
“One can hope.” Lily replied downtrodden.
“Either way, I want out of their path. We’ll take the Eastern corridor to New Belfast.” Behemoth said.
“That’ll take us through Clan Ghost Bear space. I’ve heard they have little patience for mercenaries.” said Max.
“They’ve mellowed somewhat since absorbing Rasalhague. Our business isn’t with them so I don’t expect trouble. Besides, moving through Clan space might get us better medicines to treat Lily’s illness.”
“True.” agreed the doctor.
“Well, I’m due a conversation with our captain.” said Behemoth. She looked at Max and gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder. “I’m going to guess you don’t need another order to keep an eye on my sister, do you?”
“No.” said Max. Behemoth smiled and walked away.
“So how much have you told her?” Max asked Lily. “About us?”
“I haven’t needed to tell her anything. The whole damn crew knows I like you.” confessed Lily.
“Then why aren’t we a real couple at this point? You’ve been flirting with me for two months.” Max asked her pointedly.
“It’s fun.” Lily answered. She took his hand and gave it an affectionate squeeze, and then put her head back. “Whatever you gave me, Doc, is starting to kick in.” She said. Max looked at Murad.
“Just a mild sedative to let her rest.” said Murad, answering the unspoken question. “I know what she’s like on steroids. Bouncing off the walls and doing far more than she should in her condition. I’ll be in my office if you two have any need of me.” With that, the doc departed.
Lily smiled at Max. “Stay here until I fall asleep.” she purred.
Max leaned forward to give her a peck on the forehead. Lily, not so slowed by the sedative to miss what he was doing, jerked her head up so her lips caught his. “Don’t need any of that weak sauce stuff with me, Cowboy. If you want to kiss me, kiss me.”
“Is this what you were waiting for all along? Me to just take the initiative?”
“Yeppers. You’ve proven a lot more patient than all the others.”
“Others?”
“You ain’t the first rookie I’ve had a fling with.” she admitted.
“I’m not a rookie.”
“Twenty plus years in a battlemech doesn’t make you an expert in romance. You’re still a rookie.”
“So that’s why you call me that. You’re around ten years younger than I am and you think you have more experience with love?”
“I know I do. I’ve left the door open for you so many times now and you’ve not walked through it yet. A smarter man would have by now.”
“You think I’m clueless?”
“Somewhat. Intentionally so. The real story is that you’re cautious. Someone burned you hard once and you’re afraid to try again. Whoever she was, I’m not her.”
Max had to admit Lily’s intuition was spot on. Ever since Ashley Madeira broke his heart, he’d been reluctant to engage in any romantic gestures towards women. And that was a long time ago now. Max growled at himself. He should be over that by now, but he wasn’t.
He was about to speak again when he realized Lily had drifted off. “I guess it’s time for me to give myself a kick in the ass.” He whispered to her sleeping form. “Yeah, I got some wounds that ain’t healed up yet, and maybe you’re what I need to put all that behind me.” He leaned in and kissed her and then headed for the bridge.
---
Max floated onto the bridge. Behemoth was staring out into space and barely registered his arrival.
“The flares have been getting worse.” she mused. “Lily had one on our last assignment. Nearly bled to death. We spent most of our stored blood supply keeping her alive. One could argue that was why Catalyst died.” She turned and looked at Max. “Your predecessor.”
“That’s the sort of thing that might make a team angry. You made a call to save a family member over a mechwarrior.” Max wondered aloud.
“Nobody liked him. And everyone loves Lily.” said Behemoth with a smirk. “And that’s not exactly the real story anyway. It was a lot more complicated.”
“It always is.” said Max. “I can see why everyone likes your sister though. Cute. Charming. Always chipper and optimistic. Got a goofy sense of humor. What’s not to like?”
“You missed mentioning that pair of DDs.” said Behemoth with a smile. “I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
Max crossed his arms in a faux-perturbed fashion. “I’m certainly hoping that isn’t a reason everyone else likes her. I’d rather have that one for myself.” Max and Behemoth shared a laugh.
“She’s very fond of you, Pendragon.” said Behemoth, turning serious again.
“I know. We just talked about that a bit.” he replied.
“And what do you think of her? You seem awfully reluctant to accept what she’s offering.”
“Well, as she’s rightly observed, I’m a mite inexperienced in these things. I ain’t very good at catching even the low-flying clues. And a lot of that is because I didn’t want to. Got some bad history.”
“She won’t do wrong by you, Pendragon.”
“Not intentionally. That disease of hers, on the other hand, might make the decision for us.”
“So you’re just as worried about her as I am. Yeah, I guess she told you that her disease can kill her and, as I just mentioned, it’s already tried once. That time we were planetside with full hospital facilities. This time, we're out here in the void.”
“Is there any cure?”
“One that doesn’t involve carving her up like a turkey to remove half her digestive tract? There used to be as I understand it, back in the Star League days. But for all the things we’ve recovered since the Helm Memory Core was found a hundred years ago, our medical science is still lacking. If we were on Terra, New Avalon, or Tharkad, the doctors there might be able to do something. But we’re all Periphery rats. We get by with what we have.” She paused. “Or not.”
Behemoth was silent for a good while. Then she began to speak again. “I took this job to get us out of the Periphery. I had hoped, perhaps foolishly, that I’d have enough time to finish this job and then leverage our Republic benefactors to help Lily.” Her voice began to quiver with fear and sadness. “I just needed a few months. I guess we weren’t going to be that lucky.”
“Well, this ain’t the first hopeless cause that I’ve embraced.” said Max confidently. “She’s tough and I’ve got an idea that might help her out.”
“I’m listening.”
“Look, we’re heading to a world that’s been in Clan hands for around 50 years. If there’s one group in the Inner Sphere that still remembers the science and technology of the Star League, it’s the Clans. How much operational freedom do we have on New Belfast?”
“We’re to meet with a rebel cell when we make planetfall. Our operations are to coordinate to some degree, but not completely. We should have a good bit of independence. What do you have in mind?”
“Well, something they used to do during the old Succession Wars. Back then, knowledgeable scientists became a rare commodity and it was not unusual to send a BattleMech force to capture one. I say we do the same. Find us a Clan doctor who can treat Lily and kidnap him.”
“That might just work. I knew there was a reason I liked you. Maybe our employers were right about all this destiny crap. Maybe you are meant to be here.”
“Maybe. Thanks for listening.”
“She is my sister. And if you save her life from this thing, I’ll give you whatever you want.”
“I’ve got a job, a new BattleMech, and while I may have been clueless up until now, I know now I have your sister. Ain’t much more you could offer me. But if I hope to keep the latter, I have to do this.”
“You’ll have operational command, Pendragon. We’ll do this. We’ll find us a doctor and get Lily cured.”
Prefecture VIII, Republic of the Sphere
13 August 3134
Sunday morning. Two months into their journey. Max woke up as the duty shift bell rang, roughly 8 in the morning. He got up and went over to the small shrine he’d erected in the corner of his room and knelt down. He lit a candle and began to pray.
“I thank you, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil....”
A loud knock at the door interrupted his prayer. Max stood up and went to the door. It opened to reveal Amon Kivisto, one of the mechwarriors from Bravo lance. “Hey, Pendragon, good morning.” The burly man bellowed. With his bushy beard and unkempt hair, Amon very much looked the part of his callsign: Viking.
“Um...” Max began.
“I caught you praying. Sorry. Finish, and then we can talk.”
Max returned to the shrine and finished his prayer while Amon waited patiently in the doorway. He extinguished the candle and Amon spoke again.
“So, Christian, what do you pray for?”
“Oh, the usual. Thanks for another day of life. Safe journeys as we travel through space. Fortune and wellbeing for my family back home. Victory over my enemies in battle. That sort of thing.”
“No ‘please have Lilly stop teasing and finally put out’?” Amon growled mirthfully.
“Ok, that too.” Max laughed. “So what do you pray for, Pagan?”
“Much the same. Safe journeys through space. Good fortune for my family. Victory over my enemies.” He paused. “And for Lady Viking to put out more.”
From behind Amon came a rough, but playful shove, from Kalle, Amon’s wife. “I hate it when you call me that.” she grumbled.
Kalle was another mechwarrior in Bravo lance; callsign “QueenBee.” She was Amon’s wife and the two of them had joined the Bombardiers several years ago. Both were from the Rasalhague Dominion and both were religiously Neo-Pagan. When they discovered Max was religious, albeit a different religion, they adopted him as their best friend. They would frequently have playful “theological discussions” similar to this conversation on prayer.
This had been the way of things over the past two months. Max had settled in nicely with his comrades. He was closest to Amon and Kalle, but had struck up friendships with most of the company. In his own lance, besides Behemoth, was also Crapshoot, the Davion gambler who piloted the Warhammer he’d first seen on arrival, and Topaz, an amber haired beauty from Kurita space. There was also Rampage and Dogfight in Bravo lance, also both from the Draconis Combine.
How so many folks from the far side of the Inner Sphere had ended up in a mercenary company that worked primarily in the Outward Periphery was a mystery to Max for a while, but it soon became clear. War and conflict was a rare thing in the post-Jihad Inner Sphere. Militaries had downsized and the Pax Republicana reigned, thanks to the dominance of the Republic of the Sphere and its laws. Those inclined to the military either found themselves stuck in boring garrison duty in their homelands or sought out the more violent frontiers.
Charlie lance was made up of Periphery natives whose families had likewise been members of the Bombardiers for several generations. Windchill and Scrap Iron were both from the Periphery frontier, their grandfathers had been pirates who wanted a more legit line of work. Flash was from a family that fled from the Outworlds Alliance as the Snow Raven Clan took over, stealing a then-brand-new Arbalest Battlemech as they did so. It had been passed down and was still in good condition, despite it being the only Clan technology mech in the unit. Livewire was the final pilot in the lance; her mother had been exiled from the Magistry of Canopus for marrying the wrong sort.
“So what brings you to see me this fine Sunday morning?” asked Max.
“Breakfast.” said Amon hungrily. “You know the jumper makes special breakfast on Sunday.”
“That we pay for.”
“Perk of a long journey. Me hungry. Eat now!”
Max followed Amon and Kalle through the Argo to the airlock that connected it to the jumper. They’d been at the nadir point of Summer for about a day as the jumpship recharged its hyperdrive for the next jump. They passed through the airlock and then made their way towards the grav deck of the jumpship.
Max stepped onto the grav deck and felt the comfortable feeling of gravity take hold. It was fake gravity, of course; generated by spinning the circular grav deck around to produce centrifugal force. But it was the only source of anything resembling planet-like conditions in space. The Argo had its own grav deck, but couldn’t deploy or activate it while attached to a jumpship. So he and the others in the Bombardiers had been spending a lot of time aboard the jumper to avoid going too crazy.
The jumpship crew had set up a spread for them and their own crew. Fresh eggs, sausages, bacon, cereal; a pretty typical Western European style breakfast buffet. Fresh food like this was often hard to come by during space voyages and so this was quite the treat to the people living aboard these spacecraft.
Amon and Kalle headed immediately to the line, leaving Max behind in a famished rush. That gave him the freedom to scope the room. It was as close to “outside” as one could get on a jumpship. There was no ceiling; Max could see straight up the 200 meters or so to the other side of the ring-like grav deck and see the rooms there from the top down. The ground was grass, planted in special hydroponic bins that cycled the water efficiently. It kept the air fresh and clean smelling. The space was illuminated by panelled lights on the side walls, doing their best to mimic natural sunlight. Despite the curvature of the space, unavoidable on the grav deck, it felt like a picnic at a park.
Aside from his surroundings, Max also took stock of who else was present. He saw Crapshoot and Topaz sitting together, playing cards with a few of the jumpship crew. He saw Behemoth in line ahead of Amon and Kalle. And then he saw Lilly, sitting alone, presumably waiting for her sister. Max smiled and headed over to chat.
Lilly suddenly looked up from her food and looked around hurriedly. Max wasn’t certain she saw him approaching, but he could tell something was amiss. Lilly had a pained look on her face and she jumped up from the table and ran towards a nearby exit as fast as her short legs could carry her.
Curious what had happened, Max followed. “It’s probably nothing.” he reasoned. “Maybe she got her period unexpectedly. Or maybe something she ate didn’t agree with her. Too many reconstituted meals and your belly becomes unused to decent food.”
Max stepped inside the room, which was really a short hallway that to led two restrooms and also to an airlock that led you back to the rest of the ship. Rather than intrude further, Max merely waited for Lilly to emerge.
The minutes ticked by and Max was beginning to worry. Then the door to the women’s room opened. Lilly was standing there, holding her coveralls against her chest but otherwise wearing nothing. The smell of feces was pungent in the air.
Lilly saw Max standing there and went pale white in horror. “Oh, my God, Max...” she darted back into the bathroom. “What the hell?” she growled, more mortified than angry.
Now it was Max’s turn to be embarrassed. “You dashed out of the breakfast awfully quick. I came to check on you.” he explained. “Sorry if I embarrassed you.”
Lilly poked her head out. “Um, that’s okay.” she said, her tone more even now. “I had a bit of an accident.”
“So I guessed. What can I do to help?”
“Devil’s choice.” she replied, more musing to herself than to Max. “Run all the way through the jumper back to the Argo with no clothes on or have some guy fetch some fresh ones from my quarters.”
Max was mildly unsettled by being referred to as “some guy.” It hurt a little that after two months of playful banter and flirting, which everyone on the ship had noticed, that they hadn’t progressed to actually dating. And now here again was another reminder of the distance that still lay between them.
“I’ll need to bypass code to your door.” said Max, taking the initiative. Each personal quarters on the Argo had thumbprint lock that normally only opened for the people who lived there, but there was always a numeric code to unlock the door in case of emergencies.
“10191.” Lilly admitted. “Just don’t snoop too much.”
“You should be more trusting of me by now.” Max thought to himself. He headed out the airlock and made his way back to the Argo. He knew where Lilly’s quarters were; as head tech, she was one of the few members of the Bombardiers to have private quarters. (Max, for instance, shared his with Crapshoot.)
Max had not been in one of the Argo’s private rooms and he was duly impressed as the bypass code let him inside. Lilly’s room was expansive, larger even than the space he shared with a fellow mechwarrior. He floated over to her wardrobe and found what he needed. Although tempted, he decided against snooping into her personal effects. Most of what was out in the open was what he expected from Lilly. Mounted to the walls were a motivational poster, a few pieces of art, and a concert poster from some Periphery rock band he’d never heard of that was signed by the band. On her bookshelf were some technical manuals and a few novels. One book however did catch his eye. A medical self-help book titled “Living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.”
“Well, that explains the accident. Damn, that’s probably a secret Lilly wanted to keep to herself.” Max thought. He gathered up what he came for and made his way back to the jumper.
When he arrived back at the restrooms, he knocked on the women’s room door. There was no answer. Max dared to peak inside. He saw Lilly’s soiled underclothes on the floor and her feet under the stall walls. Grotesque sounds and grunts of pain filled the air.
Max withdrew back to the hallway to give her privacy. After a few minutes, she poked her head out.
“Did you hear all that?” she asked pointedly.
“It sounded like you were giving birth.” commented Max. “Or something equally painful.”
“That’s what it feels like sometimes. Thanks for my clothes.” She took the proffered bundle.
“You okay?”
She withdrew and answered through the door. “I will be. This is why I hate long space voyages. Too long in zero-gee and my gut goes haywire.”
“I saw the book in your room.” Max confessed. “About your disease.”
“You were going to find out sooner or later.” Lilly admitted. She emerged, looking better but very drained, as if the illness had sucked all the energy out of her. “It’s an incredible nuisance.” She confessed.
“I imagine it’s more than that. You look like hell.”
“Thanks.” She said flippantly. “Yeah. I can bleed to death. I can develop cancer. It’s a whole bundle of fun.” She paused and let out her breath in frustration. “It makes my life hell. And zero-gee is a guaranteed trigger. I hate long trips.”
“They ain’t fun for us who aren’t struggling with major illnesses either.” commented Max. “Crappy food. Stale air. Always being a little queasy because your body can’t tell which way is down.” He reached out and touched her shoulder affectionately. “Hey, whatever help I can be, just ask.”
She reached up and took his hand. “Thanks. I appreciate that.” She replied with a smile.
“I don’t guess you’re eager to go back to breakfast.”
“To eat? After that? God, no. But I’ll keep you company.”
“I’d like that.”
---
When they returned to the breakfast, the tone in the room had changed dramatically. There was tension in the air and everyone was speaking in frightened, hushed, tones. Max began asking a few questions and discovered that in the time he’d been helping Lily, two Jade Falcon jumpships had jumped into the system.
“So far, they’ve ignored us, seeing us as a civilian transport. I guess they don’t realize the Argo is a military ship.” said Behemoth. “Regardless, the jumper crew is very eager to get us on our way.”
“The very people we’re being paid to attack have come to us.” mused Lily to her sister. “I don’t guess we could go after them here and claim our pay.”
“That’s not how it works and you know it.” said Max.
“I just want out of space. Get a planet under me again.”
“Yeah, but one with an invading Jade Falcon army is not my idea of a sanctuary, no matter how bad you might be feeling.” Behemoth looked over at Max, gauging his reaction to her allusion to Lily’s medical condition.
Lily interjected before Behemoth could determine anything. “He knows. Caught me exploding all over the grav deck bathroom an hour or so ago.”
“You’re having symptoms already? Off to the infirmary with you, little sister. Pendragon, make sure she goes. That’s an order to you both.”
---
“Well,” began Dr. James Murad, the Argo’s Chief Medical Officer, “It’s what you expected. A flare. We’ve got a stock of steroids to keep the symptoms in check but we’re still a good two months before we’re planetside.”
“In other words, we’ll run out before we get to New Belfast.” sighed Lily.
“Any way we can get some more?” asked Max.
“Maybe,” said the Doc. “If a ship at one of the jump points going forward has got some to trade.”
“That’ll be hard if the Falcon’s have invaded this far. Our proposed course to New Belfast takes us right through the same systems they would have used to get to Summer.” mused Max.
“It’s a gamble no matter...” Dr. Murad paused as the ship shuddered. “That was a jump.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure our jumper was not eager to stick around any longer with a military dropship attached in the midst of an enemy raid or invasion.” said Lily.
A minute or so later, Behemoth joined them in the sick bay, “So, Doc, how is my sister?”
“Pretty sick. We’ve got the stockpile of medicine you both requested ready to go, but it’s not likely to last the whole journey.” replied Murad.
“The jumper captain just brought us to Lyons. I’ll see if we can trade for some more.”
“Any Falcon presence here?” asked Lily.
“Not yet. But I doubt we’d have to wait long. I'm shocked they’ve invaded this far already.” She paused. “That’s probably why we’ve been hired to hit one of their worlds. They’ve probably stripped every planet in their occupation zone to build up a force to take on both the Lyrans and the Republic.”
“One can hope.” Lily replied downtrodden.
“Either way, I want out of their path. We’ll take the Eastern corridor to New Belfast.” Behemoth said.
“That’ll take us through Clan Ghost Bear space. I’ve heard they have little patience for mercenaries.” said Max.
“They’ve mellowed somewhat since absorbing Rasalhague. Our business isn’t with them so I don’t expect trouble. Besides, moving through Clan space might get us better medicines to treat Lily’s illness.”
“True.” agreed the doctor.
“Well, I’m due a conversation with our captain.” said Behemoth. She looked at Max and gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder. “I’m going to guess you don’t need another order to keep an eye on my sister, do you?”
“No.” said Max. Behemoth smiled and walked away.
“So how much have you told her?” Max asked Lily. “About us?”
“I haven’t needed to tell her anything. The whole damn crew knows I like you.” confessed Lily.
“Then why aren’t we a real couple at this point? You’ve been flirting with me for two months.” Max asked her pointedly.
“It’s fun.” Lily answered. She took his hand and gave it an affectionate squeeze, and then put her head back. “Whatever you gave me, Doc, is starting to kick in.” She said. Max looked at Murad.
“Just a mild sedative to let her rest.” said Murad, answering the unspoken question. “I know what she’s like on steroids. Bouncing off the walls and doing far more than she should in her condition. I’ll be in my office if you two have any need of me.” With that, the doc departed.
Lily smiled at Max. “Stay here until I fall asleep.” she purred.
Max leaned forward to give her a peck on the forehead. Lily, not so slowed by the sedative to miss what he was doing, jerked her head up so her lips caught his. “Don’t need any of that weak sauce stuff with me, Cowboy. If you want to kiss me, kiss me.”
“Is this what you were waiting for all along? Me to just take the initiative?”
“Yeppers. You’ve proven a lot more patient than all the others.”
“Others?”
“You ain’t the first rookie I’ve had a fling with.” she admitted.
“I’m not a rookie.”
“Twenty plus years in a battlemech doesn’t make you an expert in romance. You’re still a rookie.”
“So that’s why you call me that. You’re around ten years younger than I am and you think you have more experience with love?”
“I know I do. I’ve left the door open for you so many times now and you’ve not walked through it yet. A smarter man would have by now.”
“You think I’m clueless?”
“Somewhat. Intentionally so. The real story is that you’re cautious. Someone burned you hard once and you’re afraid to try again. Whoever she was, I’m not her.”
Max had to admit Lily’s intuition was spot on. Ever since Ashley Madeira broke his heart, he’d been reluctant to engage in any romantic gestures towards women. And that was a long time ago now. Max growled at himself. He should be over that by now, but he wasn’t.
He was about to speak again when he realized Lily had drifted off. “I guess it’s time for me to give myself a kick in the ass.” He whispered to her sleeping form. “Yeah, I got some wounds that ain’t healed up yet, and maybe you’re what I need to put all that behind me.” He leaned in and kissed her and then headed for the bridge.
---
Max floated onto the bridge. Behemoth was staring out into space and barely registered his arrival.
“The flares have been getting worse.” she mused. “Lily had one on our last assignment. Nearly bled to death. We spent most of our stored blood supply keeping her alive. One could argue that was why Catalyst died.” She turned and looked at Max. “Your predecessor.”
“That’s the sort of thing that might make a team angry. You made a call to save a family member over a mechwarrior.” Max wondered aloud.
“Nobody liked him. And everyone loves Lily.” said Behemoth with a smirk. “And that’s not exactly the real story anyway. It was a lot more complicated.”
“It always is.” said Max. “I can see why everyone likes your sister though. Cute. Charming. Always chipper and optimistic. Got a goofy sense of humor. What’s not to like?”
“You missed mentioning that pair of DDs.” said Behemoth with a smile. “I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
Max crossed his arms in a faux-perturbed fashion. “I’m certainly hoping that isn’t a reason everyone else likes her. I’d rather have that one for myself.” Max and Behemoth shared a laugh.
“She’s very fond of you, Pendragon.” said Behemoth, turning serious again.
“I know. We just talked about that a bit.” he replied.
“And what do you think of her? You seem awfully reluctant to accept what she’s offering.”
“Well, as she’s rightly observed, I’m a mite inexperienced in these things. I ain’t very good at catching even the low-flying clues. And a lot of that is because I didn’t want to. Got some bad history.”
“She won’t do wrong by you, Pendragon.”
“Not intentionally. That disease of hers, on the other hand, might make the decision for us.”
“So you’re just as worried about her as I am. Yeah, I guess she told you that her disease can kill her and, as I just mentioned, it’s already tried once. That time we were planetside with full hospital facilities. This time, we're out here in the void.”
“Is there any cure?”
“One that doesn’t involve carving her up like a turkey to remove half her digestive tract? There used to be as I understand it, back in the Star League days. But for all the things we’ve recovered since the Helm Memory Core was found a hundred years ago, our medical science is still lacking. If we were on Terra, New Avalon, or Tharkad, the doctors there might be able to do something. But we’re all Periphery rats. We get by with what we have.” She paused. “Or not.”
Behemoth was silent for a good while. Then she began to speak again. “I took this job to get us out of the Periphery. I had hoped, perhaps foolishly, that I’d have enough time to finish this job and then leverage our Republic benefactors to help Lily.” Her voice began to quiver with fear and sadness. “I just needed a few months. I guess we weren’t going to be that lucky.”
“Well, this ain’t the first hopeless cause that I’ve embraced.” said Max confidently. “She’s tough and I’ve got an idea that might help her out.”
“I’m listening.”
“Look, we’re heading to a world that’s been in Clan hands for around 50 years. If there’s one group in the Inner Sphere that still remembers the science and technology of the Star League, it’s the Clans. How much operational freedom do we have on New Belfast?”
“We’re to meet with a rebel cell when we make planetfall. Our operations are to coordinate to some degree, but not completely. We should have a good bit of independence. What do you have in mind?”
“Well, something they used to do during the old Succession Wars. Back then, knowledgeable scientists became a rare commodity and it was not unusual to send a BattleMech force to capture one. I say we do the same. Find us a Clan doctor who can treat Lily and kidnap him.”
“That might just work. I knew there was a reason I liked you. Maybe our employers were right about all this destiny crap. Maybe you are meant to be here.”
“Maybe. Thanks for listening.”
“She is my sister. And if you save her life from this thing, I’ll give you whatever you want.”
“I’ve got a job, a new BattleMech, and while I may have been clueless up until now, I know now I have your sister. Ain’t much more you could offer me. But if I hope to keep the latter, I have to do this.”
“You’ll have operational command, Pendragon. We’ll do this. We’ll find us a doctor and get Lily cured.”
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