Resurgence - Shadowed Depths

April 3150
Terra
“Welcome Jonah, have a seat.” Stone sat, the thousand mile stare extending far past his office.
“Thank you Exarch”, Jonah stated as he sat down. Not the Exarch’s office but still comfy enough.
“It looks like it actually may happen.” Stone said solemnly, his hands clasped on the desk.
“Sir?”
“The Republic is on its last leg, Terra is all but lost.” Stone broke his stare to make eye contact with Levin.
“Exarch”, replied Jonah, “We may lose Terra but, not ourselves, not the flame of hope you gave us!” he said passionately, attempting to restore the resolve of their aging leader, Devlin Stone.
“We should have stuck to the original plan. Send the entire headhunter formation and Old Guard to take out Malvina.”
“It is more important to focus on what we can save now, Exarch.” Jonah Levin replied.
“You’re right Jonah, I got myself sidetracked, the effects of the cryogenic sleep continue to wear on me.  Anyway, the purpose of this meeting: Shadowed Depths.”
“I was denied access to the facility referenced in the documents I could access, which weren’t many.”
“Yes, Jonah, I am the only RAF member allowed access, not even Paladins and Ghost Knights are there.”
“I would add that what I could access there was unnerving to say the least, Exarch.”
“Rightfully so, it should be, they are in charge there as per our deal.” Devlin responded cryptically.
“Well Exarch, whatever is happening there won’t be our concern for long it seems, the way the invasion is moving along.”
“Don’t be so confident in that idea, should we lose Terra you will need to get our survivors out of the Inner Sphere.”
“What?” asked Jonah, having not heard this thought process before.
“Projections placed the rest of them returning by 3145 at the earliest.  While crushing Clan Wolf and showing the Inner Sphere the might of the Republic was vastly important, should we have attained victory, history will soon repeat itself.  They will not tolerate a Clan controlled Terra.” Stone continued in his cryptic statements.
With a concerned, yet curious, look on his face, Jonah Levin remained quiet, sitting back in his chair, watching Devlin Stone. 
“Ghost Knights in the Federated Suns, Capellan Confederation, and Free Worlds League confirmed decades ago there were deep cover Blakist agents working their way in among the factions.  It is very likely happening in all the nations of the Inner Sphere.  However, these were something else, we have never been able to get our hands on one. There have been a couple dozen attempts but, something always seems to go wrong.”
“Hidden HPG messages were routed to worlds Rimward of the Inner Sphere, and I mean deep periphery.  There were various expeditions to find possibly habitable worlds, and while a great success, did not locate any Blakists, and some teams never returned.”
“No, they really are out there?” Levin asked with a very serious look as he leaned forward in his seat, holding eye contact with Stone.
“Yes, and growing far more powerful.” Stone responded.
“Why isn’t this massive news being shared with the Clans and Great Houses?” Levin borderline shouted, confused anger finding its way into his words.
“Because, the Houses and Clans would not believe us!” Stone raised his voice in return.  “They would immediately think we are trying a last ditch effort to save Terra. Even worse, what their conclusions would be if they found out Terra itself was a Hidden World!”
Levin recoiled at that final statement, “How could that be possible?”
“Have you ever heard of the “Hollow Earth” theory?” Stone asked.
Levin slowly nodded yes.
“It has always been quite the fascination in science fiction and exploration films.  Turns out, there’s at least one place in the planet that it is real.”
“So, apart from the facility I cannot access that is run by fanatical Blakists, they discovered the “Hollow Earth” is real? Asked Levin.
“Yes.” Stone said quickly.
“So, what is this deal, Exarch?”
“We let them live and they help us deal with Comstar, as they did.  In the event that the Blakists do return in force, they would receive safe passage from Terra.  Given the vanished Shadow Divisions, fleets, militia regiments, there were thousands and thousands of survivors fleeing.  They also fled to the periphery, where they have a nearly infinite source of personnel for their re-education camps.  I have since discussed altering our original deal.  If we lose Terra, all you have to do is transmit a message and they will awaken and surge forth from their cryogenic facility, otherwise they will emerge when the actual invasion fleets arrive.”
“This decision on when to transmit will be up to you Jonah, I will not be accompanying our survivors on the hidden fleet.” Stone finished.
“Not coming with us?” Levin responded in shock.
“No, My age has severely caught up with me, I did not get all the upgrades the Blakists got to their cryo pods over the years.” Stone chuckled.
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Category:Resurgence
Category:Works by Minis&Dumbbells