WorkMech Union Hall, Capital
Itrom
Aurigan Reach, Outward Periphery
6 December 3120
Max spent less than 5 minutes at his home, grabbing his Winchester rifle and an overnight bag of clothes. There were a few other items he still needed at his office at the Union Hall, so he headed there next, praying he was still one step ahead of his pursuers.
When he marched inside, he was surprised to find the place was packed. As he rushed in, every single face in the hall turned to look at him.
“What’s going on?” asked Max tepidly.
“You don’t know? You were there.” said one.
“It’s all over the tele. Look.” said another.
Max’s eyes moved up above the bar to the vidscreen there. Playing on a loop was video from the mayor’s office, showing the attack on the teen and Max’s intervention. It showed the guards attacking the crowd, shooting several. Someone had been recording the whole thing and had managed to get the recording to the local news.
Max sighed in defeat. If that was running on all the news stations now, he’d never get off planet with his face seen by everyone on Itrom.
“If they can do that to a group of peaceful protesters, they can do that to anyone.” said another WorkMech pilot. “Mayor Madeira has gone too far.”
“She’ll be gunning for me.” said Max. “No sense all of you getting in the middle of this.”
“You think so?” said Zhang, one of the pilots who was also a native Capellan. “No way the Duke won’t get involved now. She’s going to go out with a bang. Send her goons to do as much damage to my people as she can before the Duke removes her from office. We have to stop her.”
“How?” asked Max. “Her goons will have mechs. WorkMechs for sure and maybe even armed SecurityMechs. They’ll just walk right through us. Hand weapons are no good against mechs.”
“Then we go after her.” said Zhang. “Place her under arrest in the Duke’s name and demand her thugs stand down.”
The crowd roared with enthusiasm at the idea. Several raised weapons in the air, showing that they had come prepared for a fight. Max felt queasy at the whole idea. This was going to get ugly. He’d already killed one person and seen several others get wounded because of him. That was more than enough.
“I’ve seen enough death for a thousand lifetimes.” he pleaded to no one in particular and everyone all at the same time. “I’ve already shed blood once today. Don’t do this.”
“How did you think this was going to end?” said Zhang.
“I won’t have others die for me.” retorted Max.
“It’s not about you, Max.” said Zhang. “It never really was. It’s about Madeira and her blind hatred of my people. A hatred that you knew would not stop with a few stolen homes. A hatred that’s not going to stop with the handful of people her guards shot this afternoon. A hatred that’s not going to be scared off by you killing that man or by the Duke and his authority. There’s only one way this ends: In blood. It’s not the way I’d want it either, but we have no choice now. We fight.”
With that bold declaration, the ground shook. “I know what that is.” said Max. They all did: The footfalls of a mech. “Looks like the fight has come to us.” He dashed to the door and looked outside.
Closing on the Union Hall was a large Carbine-class ConstructionMech. At its feet were several of Ashley’s personal security force, all bearing assault rifles. Max glanced up at the mech. As he’d feared, the mech had been modified with what appeared to be a machine gun array.
“We are way outgunned.” he mused.
“We die fighting or we die running. Not much choice now.” said Zhang grimly.
“No!” said Max. “Go out the back. Half go left, the other half go right. Use the back alleys. Climb to the roof tops. Stay out of the open and snipe at them as best you can. I’ve seen infantry fight BattleMechs before. A stand-up fight never works, but if you go where they can’t, we can win this.”
“We’ll do it your way, Max.” said Zhang. “After all, you were a mechwarrior once. You know more about this kind of fight than any of us.” He turned to the group of men and women behind him. “You heard him. Out the back. Take to the alleys and rooftops. Go!”
The WorkMech pilots poured out the back door as the ConstructionMech opened fire with its machine guns. The heavy .50 caliber rounds, still popular over a millennia after their introduction, tore through the building’s exterior with ease. The mech’s pilot, however, had thankfully aimed too high and the bullets shredded through the upper part of the ground floor and the lower part of the upstairs, well over the heads of everyone trying to exit the building. Max doubted the pilot would make the same mistake twice. He followed his allies out the back door.
The Union Hall was surrounded by a number of brick and stone buildings, none of which would stand up to much pounding from that machine gun array. Nor would they last long if that 30-ton mech decided to simply walk into one. Regardless, the WorkMech pilots of his union had taken his commands and were scattering about, some going high, others hunkering down behind dumpsters and other detritus in the alleyways. Max pulled out his Winchester and headed towards the nearby Catholic church, an imposing stone edifice with a slanted tin roof.
The air filled with the crack of rifles and the booms of shotguns as the union members opened fire on Ashley’s militiamen. This was answered with the rat-a-tat of automatic rifle fire. Max tried not to think about his friends dying in the exchange and he reached the church. He slung his rifle over his back and began to climb. The ornate stone walls were easily scaled.
The sounds of battle continued, joined periodically by the roar of the mech’s machine gun array. Max made it up to the bottom of the tin roof and brought his rifle around. He looked through the oil lens at the battle below.
Several of the militiamen were down; the rest had taken cover themselves behind parked cars and whatever concealment they could find on the street. Many were shooting upward at the roofs of nearby buildings, trying to keep the union members who were sniping them from above pinned down. The Carbine swung one of its massive arms across the roof of an adjacent building, knocking two of Max’s friends off. He watched them fall to the pavement below. They landed with a crunch and did not get up again. Max zoomed in on them. One of them was Zhang.
“You son of a bitch. Time to even the odds.” He brought the Winchester around to aim at the big glass cab on the ConstructionMech. Unlike the glass on Ashley’s office or that of combat- capable BattleMech cockpits, Max knew this glass was not armored. It was thick; thick enough that it would take more than one shot from his puny rifle to penetrate, but he had to try.
Max squeezed the trigger and saw the cockpit glass spiderweb under his sights. The pilot suddenly realized his danger and made to turn, but Max cocked the lever-action weapon and fired again. A second spiderweb appeared next to the first, but he still hadn’t penetrated. Through the oil lens, he could see the pilot looking frantically for the sniper, but for whatever reason, he didn’t seem to be able to find Max. Max cocked his gun again and lined up the sights with the first spiderweb. If he hit the same spot, he could get through.
He fired a third time. The round struck very close to the first, close enough that the glass came apart. Max cocked and fired a fourth time. This time, the round sailed clean through the broken glass and struck the pilot in the chest. Max watched the pilot slump over and the mech came to a halt.
It took about five seconds for the militia commander to realize what had happened. Pinned down by sniper fire and harassed from the alleyways, she wisely decided to withdraw. As Max slid down the rain spout to the ground, he could see the commander barking orders and Ashley’s thugs retreating. At this distance, he couldn’t be sure, but he was pretty confident the commander was Bobbie.
Max headed towards the street and came out in front of the bullet-riddled Union Hall. A dozen or so of Ashley’s private army lay dead or dying on the pavement before him. Another dozen or so of his fellow WorkMech pilots emerged from their hiding places. Some were wounded, but most looked okay.
“How many did we lose?” asked Max.
“Ten or so. Maybe more.” said the first pilot to reach his side. “I didn’t count. They got Zhang though.”
Max nodded. “I saw. Alright. If any of your cars are still intact, get in them. We need to get to Ashley before her goons regroup.”
“Roger that.”
Mayoral Office, Capital
Itrom
Aurigan Reach, Outward Periphery
6 December 3120
The sun had begun to set when Max and his fellow WorkMech pilots arrived at the Mayor’s Office. To their surprise, the office was abandoned, empty.
“Shit.” Max mused. “I figured she’d use her office as a base to coordinate her militia. It’s pretty damn secure.” As if to demonstrate, Max drew his pistol and fired a round into the glass. The bullet flattened against the armored glass and bounced back, barely leaving a mark.
“She could be anywhere.”
Max sighed and rubbed his forehead. The ground began to shake again. He looked about and groaned. “Or she could be coming straight for us. And this time, I doubt it’ll be a tricked out WorkMech.”
“Nope.” said a union member, pointing down the street.
At the far end of the street, about five or six blocks distant, a COM-2D Commando, a BattleMech, came around the bend. Bearing colors similar to the militia uniforms, everyone knew immediately who it was and who it was coming for.
“There’s Lady Madeira.”
“No,” corrected Max. “That’s my sister. Ash pilots a Caesar, a heavy mech. That’s a light, like the Valkyrie Bobbie used to pilot in the war.”
“Light mech or not, it’s still more than we can handle.”
“Agreed. Take cover!!!” The WorkMech pilots scattered and ran.
A volley of short range missiles launched from the Commando and rained down on the street around the union trucks and cars. The civilian vehicles, never designed to take hits from military grade weapons, exploded spectacularly.
Max was thrown off his feet and landed hard on the pavement of a nearby alleyway, but managed somehow to have avoided the worst of the blast. Many of his fellow pilots were not so lucky.
“This is a massacre.” he lamented. “Exactly what I feared.”
A bloodied, but still mobile, pilot moved up near him. “Can we shoot the cockpit? Like you did with the Carbine?”
“No, you saw me hit the office window. That’s the same sort of glass on that mech’s head. Our guns are useless.”
The air filled with the sound of autocannon fire. Max perked up at that. “Wait a minute. A Commando doesn’t carry an autocannon.” He picked himself up and moved cautiously to the end of the alley.
A second mech had entered the fray. Max recognized it immediately: An HCT-5DD Hatchetman, the roar coming from its torso-mounted Rotary Class Two autocannon. Max knew the mech. It was Roger.
“It’s the Duke. He’s sent in his personal guard.” said Max.
Bobbie’s Commando came about and launched another volley of SRMs into the Hatchetman. The heavier mech weathered the attack and advanced on the Commando, lancing the light design with its laser.
“Come on, Bobbie.” mused Max aloud. “You’re way outgunned. Stand down.”
Bobbie began to backpedal away from the Hatchetman. Her design, while lighter in armaments and armor, was much faster. Or at least it was faster when it was going forward.
Roger advanced, trying to bridge the gap between the two of them to bring his mech’s infamous hatchet to bear and end the fight quickly. Two BattleMechs in combat in the middle of a populated city like the Capital was just asking for serious collateral damage and casualties. Even given the lateness of the hour, there were still people out and about on the streets.
Bobbie kept her distance and fired another missile volley. This one went wide and slammed into a nearby office building. Max let his out breath in thanksgiving that this battle was taking place after business hours were over. The Commando moved right next to where Max was hiding and fired again.
“This has to end.” said Max. He ran out into the street, right in front of the Commando.
“Stop!” he screamed as loud as he could. “Bobbie, stop this now!”
The mech paused and looked down. By some miracle, she’d heard him.
“It’s over, Bobbie. Ashley is finished. Don’t throw your life away for her.” he yelled. Behind him, he could feel the ground shaking as the Hatchetman continued to slowly advance. But Roger wasn’t firing. He too had seen Max run out into the street and was now waiting to see what would happen.
“Stand down. Please.” Max pleaded. “For God’s sake, stand down.”
The Commando moved its right arm to aim at Max. “Don’t do it.” Max said. “Roger’s in reach. You shoot and he’ll crush you like a grape. Enough have died. Stand down.”
There was a pause that seemed an eternity. Max and Roger waited. Then came a loud hum, the sound of a mech fusion engine shutting down. Bobbie had surrendered.
“It’s over.” said Max, sighing with relief.
Ducal Palace, Capital
Itrom
Aurigan Reach, Outward Periphery
7 December 3120
Max sat in the lounge of the Duke’s palace. Roger had taken Bobbie into custody but also demanded that Max accompany him back to the Duke. He was brought to the palace and left alone in a room with an armed guard. He felt a prisoner, but he was too tired to protest. As time wore on, Max fell asleep.
When he awoke, it was the next morning. Roger was there, dressed in his field uniform. “I let you sleep.” he admitted. “It seems you needed it.”
“Last night was more intense than anything I experienced on Laconis.” admitted Max. “What’s going on?”
“Good news first. Ashley’s been arrested and stripped of all authority and position here on Itrom. She’ll be on the first dropship back to Guldra.”
“Typical. As a noble-born, she gets a slap on the wrist.”
“Can’t say the same for her militia. They’re facing some pretty heafy prison sentences for their part in this.”
“You said ‘good news.’ What’s the bad?”
Roger sat down. “Ashley’s little vendetta against the Capellan refugees caught the Duke flat footed. He never suspected a thing. This whole incident has made him look the fool in front of his fellow Aurigan nobles and he’s not happy.”
“That’s his own damn fault.”
“I won’t disagree with you on that. But he’s looking for someone to blame besides Ashley and her people and he’s picked you.”
“Hence the armed guards outside this room.”
Roger nodded.
“And I’m just a peon commoner with no power, authority, or anything else to protect me from his wrath. So what happens now? Prison? Or worse?”
“You’ve been formally charged with insurrection for causing a riot.”
“I didn’t shoot first.”
“Technically, you did when you gunned down Ashley’s thug at her office. The Duke has seen the footage. He says that’s what set all this off. That’s why he blames you.”
“What was I supposed to do instead?”
“Come to him. Alert him to the problem.”
“And that boy would have died. And again, I’m a peon commoner with no power or authority. Why would he listen?”
“Don’t go looking for fairness in this, Max. There isn’t any. The Duke’s expectations are completely unreasonable. You did what you had to do, but sometimes, even doing the right thing has consequences.”
“Fuck me.” Max swore in frustration.
“There is an out.”
“And that is?”
“There’s a dropship at the spaceport, headed for the frontier. It’s next destination is Heroditus and then Detroit after that. If you get on it, the Duke nor his people won’t stop you.”
“Exile.”
“You’re a trained WorkMech pilot with a single tour in the Aurigan military. Mercenary units could use you. Or if you want to continue in civilian life, a good WorkMech pilot is an asset. Your call, but if you stay, you’ll go to trial. And no jury is going to defy the Duke on this.”
There was silence as Max considered his options. Then Roger spoke again. “This may be your opportunity, Max. After what we talked about the other day. You want to change the universe. You won’t do it as a ‘peon commoner,’ as you call it. But as a mercenary mechwarrior, especially if you can work your way up to command your own unit, the possibilities are endless. Your heroes: Morgan Kell, Jaime Wolf, Grayson Carlyle, that’s what they did and each of them changed the face of the Inner Sphere in their own way. You could do the same.”
“Doesn’t seem I have a lot of choice.”
“Greatness isn’t born in people, Max. It’s thrust upon them. This is your moment. I suggest you take it.”
Max stood up. “Can I presume I have time to pack my things?”
“I believe you already did that. You were planning to flee off-world when Ashley launched her attack. I think you’ll find I fetched everything from your union hall last night. It’s in the corner behind you. Go. Find your destiny in the stars.”
“You never struck me as a poet or a philosopher, Roger.”
“I’m not. But we all spend our lives trying to find who we’re meant to be. I suspect you’re about to find out. Go.”
Max stood up, gathered up his rifle and gear, and he and Roger walked out of the room.
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