Chapter Fourteen - To Northwind

ISF Headquarters, New Samarkand 
Galedon Military District, Draconis Combine
2 August 3053

“We have embarked upon a grand crusade. Davion has at last seen the Dragon’s wisdom and stands us with on the course to our grand destiny. This is the true nature of the Star....” Takashi Kurita’s stirring words were meant to persuade the members of the 1st DEST mech regiment. To listen, one would think that Victor Davion had surrendered to Takashi, and in turn, Takashi had been grateful enough to allow Victor to administer his worlds in the name of Kurita. It was the kind of propaganda that would have made every loyal patriot of the Federated Commonwealth want to jump ship to Duke Ryan’s cause.

“Takashi’s trying make us think Prince Vic’s a Kurita vassal now.” said Javier incredulously. “I doubt it’ll work.”

Gwen ignored him as the speech continued. “But, Davion’s children are disobedient to their wise father. I have petitioned Prince Victor time and again to do something about the rebellious forces that continue to assail the Dragon’s worlds. This will go on no longer. Since he has failed to take action, I will. You will be my messenger to the forces of the rebel Duke Ryan Steiner. We will not tolerate the presence of his Conspiracy forces on Kurita worlds. At present, the Northwind Highlanders are spread out in an invasion of nearby Davion worlds. Their precious homeworld is thinly guarded. You shall attack and take the planet Northwind for the Dragon. Its possession will be compensation for Victor’s failure to heed my voice. Go now with the blessings of the Dragon.”

“Northwind, huh?” said Javier as the group began to depart the audience hall.

“This is everything that Victor fears.” Said Gwen. “We land Kurita troops on Davion and Duke Ryan has all the propaganda he needs to expand his rebellion into all out war between the Combine and the Commonwealth.”

“You didn’t truly think old Takashi was going to just let the Conspriacy off the hook. They hold Al’Nair. The time for temperance is probably past.”

“This is a formula for disaster.”

“Is it?” said Javier. “He’s sending the DEST regiment. Black ops troops.”

“Suicide troops. The objective here isn’t to hold Northwind. It’s to get the Highlanders back on Northwind and out of Victor’s hair.”

“Takashi’s purging us.” said Gwen. “He knows we were intent upon stopping the conference at Dieron. Now he intends to give us an honorable demise holding back four times our number in enemy forces on that planet.”

“It would seem so.” Said Javier. “We had best make some sort of escape plan, now shouldn’t we?”

Nadir Jump Point, Quentin
Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine
15 August 3053

“I may get to like this alliance.” Said Yuri as she looked over the floor plans projected onto the wall of the dropship’s small briefing room.

“So this is Tara, the Highlander’s Castle Brian.” Said Javier.

Castles Brian were mech-sized forts located on a number of Inner Sphere works. Built during the Star League era as fortifications for Star League troops, the bases were nearly impregnable. Most had been destroyed during the Succession Wars, but some, like Tara, had survived to the present day. The Star Swords had used such a structure in their defense of Garrison.

“That’ll be the Highlanders base of operations.” Said Gwen. “It’s located in the heart of Georgia, the planetary capital. Most of the Castles Brian were in outlying areas on other worlds.”

“Georgia grew up around the castle, rather than the castle was deliberately built inside the city. It does make our job tricky however.” Said Yuri. “All those city streets will make a coordinated mech assault on the complex tough.”

“Perhaps something subtler is in order.” Said Gwen.

“And that is?” asked Yuri.

“Well, we were given several of the new Kage battle armor suits. Why not use them here?”

“Are you suggesting we try to take over the castle with infantry?”

“A commando raid at night. Take out their command and control center with a lightning strike.” Said Gwen. “We could do it.”

“The only one familiar with battle armor unit tactics is me.” Said Yuri. “But I should lead the mech assault.”

“There are others who can lead the mech attack.” Said Javier. “Only you can lead the infantry raid. It’s probably best that you delegate the command of the mech attack to someone else.”

Yuri nodded. “You’re probably right. We can’t do anything if Tara remains operational. This is our best bet for taking it out.”

Tara, Georgia
Northwind
Conspiracy Occupied Zone, Federated Commonwealth
23 August 3053

Gwen hadn’t quite gotten used to the Kage suit as she marched through the thick underbrush that surrounded Tara. The Castle Brian had long since lost any semblance of a solely military fortress. Due to its urban location, the small strip of land around it had taken on the aspects of a city park.
Compared to the plans of Brian Castles she’d seen (and even to the Clan derivation, the “Brian cache”,) Tara was not large. It’s ferrocrete walls reached 10 meters into the sky; four towers marked the corners of the square fortress. Those towers contained lethal anti-personnel and anti-mech weapons. Each of the castle’s walls contained recessed bays loaded with mech-class weapons as well. A mech attack against the fortress was a problematic at best.

Having seen the fortress, Gwen now regretted her idea of a commando raid. Two squads of Kage troops, only 8 troopers, were all that could be mustered. Most of them had only rudimentary training in the use of the new battle armor.

“Squad one, stand by.” Came Yuri’s order. She was in the lead suit, carrying the squad’s only anti-mech weapon, a small laser. By comparison, Gwen carried a LAW rocket underslung on her left arm and carried a normal Mac-14 heavy submachine gun in her hands.

“Squad one, go!” said Yuri. She ran forward, carefully avoiding the spotlights from the towers. Kage suits were developed with special stealth capabilities similar to sneak suits. Unlike them, it took too much power to use the special light distortion technology that produced near invisibility to the naked eye. Gwen almost preferred that ability over the increased armor her Kage suit gave her.

Gwen followed behind her quickly. Following her came Javier and Khamul, an ISF DEST trooper from Marduk. Javier carried the DEST trooper weapon-of-choice, a blazer, a viscous double-barrel laser rifle. Khamul carried a powerful Imperator personnel assault cannon, an anti-tank rifle.

Castles Brian were nearly impenetrable. Like castles of Terra’s medieval period, they were designed to be nearly impossible to storm. Instead of moats and iron portcullises, these 25th century wonders used elaborate ferro-fibrous bulkheads, poison gas, and anti-personnel gun bays in the ceilings.

Gwen rocketed up to the roof, using her suit’s jump jets. She and Yuri touched down together. There was no one around. “Hayaku!” said Yuri. Her suit’s sophisticated sensor system had detected a pair of guards on the other side of the castle’s central tower, its “keep.”

Gwen ran for the nearest tower. “Squad two, hold position and stand by. Enemy contact imminent.” Warned Yuri. Javier reached the tower first and opened the door.

“Go!” he said to Gwen. He and Khamul took up positions, using their suits’ computers to aid their aim. Their suits were too slow to get to cover before the guards could see them.

The two guards cleared the keep. Javier squeezed the trigger on his blazer. Twin bolts of crimson light shot out and struck the lead guard in the chest. The beams superheated the water in his flesh and his chest exploded in a gory display. Khamul blew the other man in half with a shot to the abdomen.

“Alarm?” asked Khamul.

“Ie. Threat eliminated.” Said Javier. “Squad two. All clear.”

“It won’t be long before that patrol fails to check in.” reminded Khamul.

Javier nodded, not that Khamul could see him inside the battle armor. “Let’s get going then.”

Yuri had been thinking the same thing. She and Gwen had made short work of the two guards in the tower. “We don’t have much time.” She said, bringing up the building’s floor plan on her faceplate. “Follow me. Eliminate all opposition.”

Yuri rapidly descended the stairs into the bowels of the fortress. Her destination was the base’s fusion generator. Robbed of power, the fortress’s anti-infiltration measures were useless.

Activity in the base was at a minimum. No one expected an attack. Yuri’s dropship had sped on ahead of the rest of the regiment and arrived on planet two days before the rest of the unit. As far as she could tell, none of the Highlander knew they were coming yet.

Just short of the power plant, a pair of Highlander foot soldiers walked out right in front of the squad. The sudden contact surprised both Yuri and the Highlanders, so there was a half second of hesitation on both sides. One of the troopers cried out “Intruders!” at the top of his lungs before Javier silenced him. Yuri gutted the other with her vibrokatana. With that, a klaxon sounded.

“Hayaku! Before they engage the bulkheads.” Said Javier, dashing forward as fast as he could go. He dove into the power plant room just as the bulkhead closed behind him. He was alone, separated from his squad.

“Javier!” cried Gwen in dismay.

There were around a half dozen men in the room, all of them armed. Javier reached on his belt, grabbed a power pack, and slapped it into place on the blazer. “Who wants some?” he asked boldly.
The guards drew their handguns and opened fire. Their anti-personnel weapons ricocheted harmlessly off the surface of the battle armor. Javier squeezed the trigger on his rifle, exploding an enemy soldier. Against an unarmored target, the blazer was not a very clean weapon. The gore it often produced was half the reason the DEST troops used it; pure intimidation.

One resourceful guard dove behind a control panel. Javier knew he had to be careful how he placed his shots. Unable to hit the guard without damaging the panel, Javier discharged his weapon into another guard and then discarded it. He drew his vibrokatana and turned it on.

He dashed forward, cutting down two troops in rapid succession. The one who had taken cover popped up. On the end of his pistol was a small egg-shaped object, a pistol grenade. He fired, landing the grenade dead on in the center of the battle armor. It detonated and knocked Javier against a back wall.

Stunned, Javier tried to stand back up, but his suit failed him. His HUD registered a power loss to the leg myomers, making him a paraplegic for all intents. The smart guard stepped forward from his cover. Javier suspected he’d faced battle armor before, perhaps when the Highlanders had been posted to Twycross on the Jade Falcon front. He spotted his blazer off to his right. Unable to muster the energy to stand, he rolled himself over to his rifle. Realizing his mistake, the guard turned to dive back behind his cover. He wasn’t fast enough and Javier shot him in the back.

Javier released the clamps on his suit and let the heavy armor fall off of him. Again able to walk, he made his way over to the door and used the manual override to open the bulkhead.

“Your suit?” asked Yuri as she entered.

“Leg damage. Couldn’t walk.”

“We’ll have a look at it later.” She paused. “I see you took care of all resistance.”

“Piece of cake.” Said Javier casually, making an “ok” sign with his hand.

“Let’s get set up. Randolf, override all bulkheads between here and the command center and then cut the power to the entire fortress. Squad two, you’re with me. Squad one, hold the powerplant until I give the signal to restore power.”

“Yokai, Sho-sa Noriko.” Said Javier.

---

“No doubt about it, sir. Radar detects two Overlord and two Union dropships inbound.” Said Lance corporal James Donovan.

“A Davion attack.” Mused the base commander, Major Roger MacDougal. “Called our bluff, didn’t they, laddie?”

“Aye, sir. They knew only the 2nd was still here.”

“It’s a diversion though.” Said the major.

“Sir?”

“That’s less than a full regiment of troops coming at us. That’s not enough to take us out, especially with Tara fully manned.”

“You can guess that part of the missing company is what’s set off the intruder alarm.”

“But, they’ve been contained. Have you located them on the sensors yet?” asked the major of another solider.

Lance Corporal Erin McCord continued to scan. “Nay, sir. They’ve stealth suits or something. I can’t get a fix on their position.”

“Then we’ll have to find them on foot. Assemble delta squad. We’ll hunt them down like rats.”
With that, the power went off.

“What the hell?”

“Power failure, sir. Switching to back-up.” Said James.

“We can’t run the defenses on back-up.” Reminded Erin. “The old Star League system could, but not the one we had to install ten years ago.”

“Shit.” Swore MacDougal. “Now what?”

He never got an answer. The bulkhead that separated the command center from the hallway glowed white hot briefly before exploding outward into the room. Splashed with the molten metal, MacDougal went to the floor screaming from his burns.

McCord jumped to her feet and started to draw her weapon. Inside the destroyed doorway were five jet-black robot-like figures. A blazer bolt flashed out and hit her in the abdomen. The results were as expected.

Donovan also tried to stand, but a quick machine gun burst cut him down before he even cleared the seat.

“Command center secure.” Reported Yuri. “Gwen, restore power.”

A few seconds later, the lights came back on.

“Mission successful.” Reported Yuri. “We have control of Tara.”

“We still have nearly 500 Highlander infantry and armor personnel within.” Reminded Khamul.

“Not for long.” Said Yuri. “Seal off the power plant and command center.”

“Can’t. You destroyed the door.” Reminded Javier. “The Kage suits are airtight.”

“Good.” She said. “Activating anti-intruder nerve gas now. Flooding the entire complex, save the power plant. They’ll die in their sleep.”

Second Kearny Highlanders 3rd Battalion Base Camp, outside New York
Northwind 
Conspiracy Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
30 August 3053

Major Ian O’Malley sipped at his morning cup of coffee. His calm demeanor covered the apprehension he felt inside. “Still no word from Tara. It’s been nearly a week. But there’s been no alarm from civilian circles. No reason at present to suspect an enemy attack, except the loss of contact with headquarters.”

“We’ve sat on this for four days now, Ian.” Reminded Lieutenant Malcolm Rose. “We should send someone back to Georgia to see what’s wrong.”

“Aye, that we’ll do. Order Delta flight to ready. I want them en route within the hour.”

“Aye, Major.”

“Sir, radar reports several contacts grounding 200 kilometers north of here.” Cried an out-of-breath corporal as he ran up to the two men.

“What?” said Ian in surprise. It was his worst fear. “What are they?”

“Dropships, sir. Two Overlord and two Union.”

“Tara has been taken.” Said Ian. “Cancel that patrol and sound general quarters.”

“That’s impossible. Tara is impenetrable.”

“Not our concern for now. We have a hostile force on-planet. We’ll deal with Tara later.”

“Davion bastards.” Though Ian as he marched his Victor through the heavy rainforests that filled Northwind’s equatorial regions. “I knew they’d come calling the instant we spread ourselves too thin. Unlike even Duke Ryan’s Skye natives, no force in his army has such an attachment to their homeworld as we do. We left ourselves vulnerable and now we get to pay for that mistake.”

“Forward scouts report first contact with enemy force. Enemy force identified as Draconis Combine, exact designation unknown.”

“Kurita?” exclaimed Ian in horror. “O’Malley to Cochraine. You there, Colonel?”

“Aye, I’m here, Ian. We’re an hour behind you, but we’re coming.”

“Confirmed contact with enemy force of roughly regimental size. Scouts confirm enemy is Kurita force of unknown designation. Do you copy?”

“Aye. Give him hell, Ian. We’ll make them rue the day they dared set foot on our soil again.”

Ian pushed his mech’s throttle forward. “Kenny’s company, with me. Orlando company, take the right flank. Williams company, stay in reserve. I want to probe these guys to see how tough they are.”

“Roger.” Came the response from the company commanders.

Ian cleared the ridge and looked down on the advancing column of Kurita forces. His heart faltered for a second. He saw Wolf Traps, Maulers, Hatamoto Chis, Katanas, and Crabs. All Star League level technology designs. This was no ordinary Kurita unit, but one of their elite. The kind they’d been upgrading to take on the Clans.

Now the Highlanders were not shabby on the technology either. House Davion, though now an enemy, was good to them during their tenure on Twycross. Roughly a third of the Highlander machines in the 2nd Kearny were also upgraded. Still, the gap between the technological level of the two units was vast.

In their favor was the new Highlander factory refit, a mech no outsider had yet seen. The Highlanders had been working on repairing the Cosara Weaponries plant in Londonshire over the last thirty years. Although not fully operational as yet, it was capable of refitting the Highlander’s retrofitted CRK-5003-0 Crockett mechs back to their Star League glory. Rather than simply rebuild the Crocketts into the known mech of antiquity, the Highlanders choose instead to refit it with different weaponry than before. Rather than the mix of laser, SRM, and autocannon, the new machine carried a gauss rifle, an LB-X autocannon, and a 20 rack LRM. It was christened the BKW-5R Black Watch, after the famous (to some infamous) Scottish military unit of the 17th century.

Also in their favor were numbers and the home-turf advantage. However, with Ian’s battalion the first and so far only to make contact, he faced off with a numerically superior foe.

“Okay, lads, let’s find the soft spots.” Said Ian, firing his jump jets. He dropped the sight of his autocannon on a Kurita Panther and pulled the trigger. The light mech blew apart under the viscous impact.

The Kurita machines returned fire, reminding Ian of their potency. He had claimed a kill with his first shot, but no other Highlanders did so. The Kurita forces however, knocked out two Highlander mechs in their first barrage.

Ian began to sweat and not from the heat of his mech. He watched as the Kurita mechs returned fire in short controlled volleys, conserving ammunition and preventing heat spikes. “These are elite troops indeed.” He thought. “We don’t stand a chance.”

As if to confirm Ian’s deductions, a Kurita Mauler launched a savage LRM volley into one of the new Black Watches. The missiles staggered the prototype assault mech, and the Mauler gave no quarter. Two large lasers sliced into the Black Watch with lethal precision, crippling the expensive assault mech in a matter of seconds.

“This is too much.” Said O’Malley. “O’Malley to all units, fall back to Nav Sigma. Orlando, move in on the flank and get some of the pressure off of us.”

“Roger, Major.”

The battle was barely three minutes old when Ian sounded the retreat. Orlando company’s flanking maneuver minimized their losses, but the Kurita unit gave no quarter. As Ian made good his escape, he watched bitterly as the Draconis mechs cut down the slower and weaker Highlanders as they tried to withdraw.

“This isn’t just war. It never is with Kurita and us.” He thought. “Like before, this is genocide.”

Tara
Northwind
Draconis Combine Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
4 September 3053

“So where did they go?” asked Yuri.

“Retreated deep into the Northern Forests.” Said Javier. “The foliage is thick up there. It will be some time before we can flush them back out again.”

“Time enough for the other regiments to arrive?”

“I would assume so.” Said Javier.

“Then we hold position here.”

“A valiant last stand?” said Gwen sarcastically.

“Why not?” Said Yuri. “In truth, I’m amazed we’ve been allowed to live this long. We were, after all, a part of Director Indrahar’s plot to kill the Coordinator and disrupt the Alliance Conference.”

“Javier and I are among the Dragon’s adopted children.” Said Gwen. “The culture we came from had a law against the useless waste of lives and equipment. This whole operation is nothing but.”

“You surrendered that culture when you came to be a part of the Dragon.” Reminded Yuri. “It is not for you to judge the worthiness or unworthiness of our superiors’ motives. That was the Director’s sin.”

“We’ve done what they asked of us. No sense in us staying here to be slaughtered.”

Yuri let out a sudden yelp as her muscles all contracted at once. She dropped to the floor as Javier revealed the stun stick he was carrying.

“Now is our chance.” He said. “And, as you so aptly put it, no sense staying here.” He pulled Yuri over his shoulder. “She was not going to listen to reason no matter how sound your arguments, Gwen. Signal the others. Order them to abandon the Castle and make for the outlands. They are to continue the fight as they best see fit. Quickly now. We want to be out of here soon. Before the Highlanders come calling and realize the extent of what we've done here.”

Exiletown, Georgia
Northwind
Conspiracy Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
9 September 3053

Javier, Gwen, and Yuri made their way quietly and quickly through the streets of Georgia’s Exiletown neighborhood. This worn-down ugly section of town was sandwiched between the city spaceport and its seaport. A sign of the times, a large number of refugees had flooded into the city. Most of them lived in squalid conditions in this area. Because of its populace, the area had become known as “Exiletown.”

A Highlander Warhammer marched down the street, its shoulder-mounted searchlight scanning the late night sky. The Highlanders had struck the DEST regiment just a few hours earlier and the battle was now over. They all knew it had been a slaughter. Yuri would be dead, had they not taken her along. Despite the inevitability of her fate, Yuri had been anything but cooperative. Still she followed along, quiet in her anger.

Javier and Gwen both knew what they were searching, but didn’t know exactly where to find it. They had reports of a Davion intelligence operation here, run by two men. One, a Davion loyal Northwind native named Kyle MacDougal. The other, a seasoned deep-cover operative for DMI named Nathan Bairn. MacDougal ran a pub on the edge of Exiletown, but neither Gwen nor Javier knew exactly where.

A homeless man shambled towards them from around a nearby corner. Wary of the patrolling Warhammer and of the approaching vagrant, Javier grabbed Gwen and Yuri and moved towards the doorway of a nearby building.

“You needn’t bother.” Said the hobo. “All the places in that building are taken. Folks are territorial around here. You’d best not try to cut in on someone’s spot.”

“We’re new here.” Responded Javier.

“I gathered.” Said the bum. “Your clothes are too clean for you to have been here too long.”

Javier glanced up impatiently at the Warhammer. The spotlight flashed down onto the street and crept towards them.

“Don’t mind him.” Said the bum. “Try to run from the light and he’ll think you’re in some kind of trouble. Most people ‘round here don’t much care about the mech patrols.”

“You heard about the Kurita attack?” said Javier, pensive as the spotlight flashed over them.

“Aye. And the Highlanders are back. So what?”

The Warhammer began to move on. “See? What did I tell you?” said the bum.

“Thanks for the advice, Mr….”

“Bairn. Nathan Bairn. I believe you’ve been looking for me.”

“You knew?” asked Gwen.

“HQ sent me information on all known ISF operatives serving with the 1st DEST. Wasn’t much, but it did have you three.” He looked at Javier. “You’re a hard face to forget.”

“We were looking for MacDougal’s pub.”

“I’m sure you were. You’re not even close. I spotted you two five blocks back and have been shadowing you ever since. You two aren’t very good at this field work if you only spotted me after I came out in the open.”

“We’re not field ops, nor do we pretend to be. We’re commandos and mechwarriors.”

“I know, which is why you have me. Someone has to keep you out of trouble.”

“So what’s the deal? You going to harbor three Kurita fugitives from the local authorities?”

“Enemy of my enemy.” Said Nathan. “I’ll find a place for ya, but you’ll have to work off your rent.”

“I think we can manage that.” Said Javier. “Now, let’s get someplace a little less public.”

MacDougal’s Tavern
Georgia
Conspiracy Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
9 September 3053

Kyle MacDougal had been a simple man. A Northwind native, he’d fought for Hanse Davion in the ’39 War. The Kurita forces on Quentin nearly slaughtered his unit to the man. He hated Kurita for that. Given this vendetta, one might have thought him to be a poster boy for Steiner’s conspiracy.

However, Kyle’s loyalty to his Prince far outweighed his dislike of the Draconis Combine. He was no fool. He saw Steiner’s revolt for what it was, a power play by an ambitious noble. It had nothing to do with the alliance with Kurita at all.

So, when he was approached by Nathan Bairn, a DMI agent assigned to Northwind, about forming a resistance movement, he agreed. His pub was a perfect front, coincidentally located on the border of the growing slum known as Exiletown. The Highlander security forces stayed clear of the area, giving Bairn and MacDougal a good bit of freedom and security. He had gone along with Bairn’s suggestions, modifying the building to act as a base of operations. The mission was a bigger task than MacDougal had expected, but he said nothing in complaint. But when Bairn suggested they assist the ISF attack, he put his foot down.

“You must be mad. Those ISF fanatics aren’t here to sign up to help us.” He argued. But Bairn disagreed. Bairn figured that if any of the agents survived, they would need Bairn and MacDougal’s help. Bairn suspected those survivors would make for Exiletown, so he donned his favorite disguise, that of a homeless man, and went out. It was the origin of his nickname, “Bum.”

Kyle had not expected him to return with anyone, but Nathan appeared in the bar some hours later with three people. One was a young Caucasian woman with red hair, the other a scarred man with blond hair. The third was an attractive Japanese woman. Only the last looked typically “Kuritan” as Kyle would have thought, but they wore the black uniform of DEST soldiers.

“I found these three.” Said Nathan. “They claim they’re the only ones.”

Kyle merely grunted a response and offered his partner a beer. He did not offer anything to the ISF agents. When they gave no reaction, he spoke. “So what do we do with them now?”

“We’ll need military officers once our insurrection reaches its boiling point.”

“You’ve got me.” Argued Kyle.

“You were a grunt, Kyle, not a command officer and I’m a spy. We’re not qualified.”

“You trust them?”

The Japanese woman spoke up, first time she’d said anything since Nathan had found her. “What benefit would there be for us to betray your organization? We came to fight the Highlanders. That is, I presume, what you are planning?”

“Maybe.” Said Kyle. “Maybe we’ve got plans of attacking the Combine.”

The woman laughed. “Your attempts at deception are laughable. Hasn’t Bairn-san taught you any better?”

Even Nathan found Kyle’s attempt to misdirect his charges amusing. “Face it, Kyle. You weren’t cut out for this business.”

“You hired me.”

“Ms. Noriko is right. The ISF has nothing to gain by harming us. I say they’re in.”

“Very well. But I don’t have to like it.” Said Kyle.

“Friendly fellow,” said Javier.

“Your kind aren’t exactly well liked where I come from.” Said Nathan. “He was surprisingly restrained. Come with me. I’ll show you some rooms. We’ll need to get you some civilian clothes. You’re probably tired so I’ll give you the rundown tomorrow after you’ve rested.”

“Yes, rest would be nice.” Said Gwen.

“Welcome aboard the resistance!” said Nathan with a sly grin.