WP3025 Chpt 11

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==Chapter 11 - Winged Praxis (Battletech 3015 CYOA)==
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===Flashback to the Garden of Gods - Militia vs LMS: Anton's Revolt Scramble!===
Republic of Kasnov-Greenland, New Olympia
Marik Commonwealth, Free Worlds League
16th October, 3014
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The scramble siren cut straight through the thin strands of dreams I had drawn around myself after landing from my previous sortie. 
The previous week had been a grinding slog of strike mission after strike mission for us Sabre and Cheetah pilots. Our self-escorting nature and our ability to outrun anything the 18th Marik Militia had available to it, even with a full load of bombs, had made us the main offensive punch of the academies, frequently landing for a hot regas and bomb up before heading back out to rain hiex on the invaders.
Following the hot work of the first few days where we had taken such a toll on the heavy fighters of the Militia, the Rose's commander had grounded her remaining Rievers and restricted her few medium fighters and Eagles to providing top-cover for the savaged ground forces. It was an imperfect solution, as while the CAP could sometimes force us to turn tail and run with their big beams, all too often our superior thrust and some coordination allowed us to sneak in a bombing run on the Mechs and armor they were trying to protect.
The Militia pilots must have been climbing the walls, not being able to press the attack on us, but given the losses they had taken early on, Freeburg wasn't taking any chances on losing fighter cover completely. And that would stick in the craws of her combat pilots, being told they weren't trusted to win against cadets and rusty instructors.
Of course, I had the kill tally to say that Freeburg might have been right to hold her fighters back.
Rolling out of my cot even as the siren gave way to a strident "Scramble, scramble, all pilots to your fighters!", I jammed my feet into the unfastened boots I had left next to my bunk, smacking and spinning the ratchet to tighten them over my sweat-soaked flight suit that I hadn't bothered stripping off before falling unconscious to the cot. Plucking at my undershirt, I indulged in the luxury of replacing it with a fresh one before obviating it as I untied my flight suit's sleeves from about my waist and slid back into it fully. I grimaced at the clammy feeling before dry swallowing a pair of pills for alertness. 
"No time for coffee," I groused as I ran for the harness room, zipping up the flight suit on the way. "Lousy Militia."
One of the first-years acting as ground crew held the room's door open, saving us precious seconds as we sprinted down the halls to our parachute harnesses, survival vests, neurohelmets, and anti-G equipment.
 
Rigging out and harnessing up was a welcome break from the sprint. For speed, we were dressed by more first-years, only responsible for the last round of safety checks. I felt the pills kick in as I checked my service automatic, the clacking of the slide gaining an element of sharpness and solidity that had been missing from the magazine release. Observing that the slide had gone into battery on an empty chamber, I reseated the magazine, safed it and reholstered it. Back home on Cerillos, I would have scoffed at carrying a pistol with an empty chamber. But a cockpit was no place to carry cocked and locked.
 
One last check of my harness buckles and I was back off at a sprint into the early morning air of the New Greenland mountains. I vaulted into 216's open cockpit, connecting my neurohelmet and slapping the scramble switch. I knew from a glance that I was carrying a full load of rocket pods, but in the rush, I hadn't got the chance for a proper walkaround. On the security check, I hesitated for a moment before giving the scramble code, which Betty confirmed.
Mumbling a quick prayer that haste wouldn't kill me, I toggled switches and buttons, bringing my fighter to a combat configuration around me. As the HUD and MFDs glowed to life, Betty reported status. <{"Reactor, online. Torches, online. Weapons, online. Sensors, online. All functioning systems, nominal."}>
I thumped the left side of my cockpit where a new laser and armor replaced the weapon and protection I had lost on the 10th for luck, then waved for the ground crew to clear out, bringing the canopy down as they did, toggling the comms. "Duster, up and green with rocks. What's the brief?"
(("Duster, Cliffhanger. You're with me. In the air immediately."))
I blinked in surprise. Captain Kumari was flying one of the Cheetahs LMS had. While we both were flying light fighters, she had more thrust available than I did. Doctrine said that where possible, air lances were made of the same spaceframe. "Copy." Looking about to make sure the ground crew had gotten to a safe distance, I brought up the RCS and pogoed off the ground in a roar, before opening up the throttle to get wind over my wings. "Flying." I blinked my formation lights on and off, then formed up on a silhouette that flashed lights back at me.
 
"The 18th is pushing, and AMI does not have the force in place to provide more than a token resistance."
 
I opened my mouth to ask why, then I remembered, mouth shutting with a click. Recon had pinpointed the Rose's improvised airstrip yesterday, and the more capable Battlemechs had been diverted to try and catch them on the ground, hoping to tip the balance of power in the air further in our favor. Which left us with Stingers to hold the line against whatever the Militia was bringing against us. If we lost LMS's facilities... 
"Well, we've been doing most of that work anyway," I said with as much casual affect as I could muster. "What's a bit more, right?"
"Good attitude." said Cliffhanger. "Our job is simple. If Kallon made it, we use our rockets to kill it. Then we get a reload and we do it again."
 
"Kill Kallon, repeat." I said, toggling the HUD to ground attack. "That is simple." That it was anything but easy went unsaid.
 
"Our element will be responding to Gauntlet. I'm one, you're two. Other rocket fighters will join as able. No heroics. Smash it in one pass then back for more rockets, clear?"
 
I flipped the master arm and the rockets came alive on the MFD. "One pass, haul ass. I read you, lead. We'll stop `em."
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===Fashback to the Garden of the Gods - My Nemesis===
Republic of Kasnov-Greenland, New Olympia
Marik Commonwealth, Free Worlds League
17th October, 3014
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We weren't stopping them, I saw, as I orbited high above the 18th​, looking for a certain heavy mech.
I didn't know just how much I could hate someone.
But whoever was in that Rifleman, I hated them with every fiber of my being.
On the 10th, they had been an obstacle. An enemy combatant who fought me as I fought them.
Today?
Today, they were my nemesis.
I probably wasn't the only one who felt that way. God knew that whoever was driving that Rifleman was the linchpin of the Rose's assault. Even as we smashed every Partisan AA Tank the Militia had brought, losing three fighters in the process, they had whipped together an air defense network out of LRM carriers and missile Onto tanks, coordinating the missile fire so that it was death to approach their canyon.
Even coordinated multi-axis strikes weren't enough. Slant had found that out the hard way.
This one Mechwarrior and their ability to coordinate unsuited platforms were restricting us to little more than inaccurate high altitude bombing.
Snarling at the thought, I flipped my fighter onto it's back and pulled, aligning my nose towards the spinning sensor bar that was giving us so much trouble down below. Looking in my right MFD, my telephoto camera showed me the dot of a neurohelmet beneath a transpex canopy.
Salvoing off my rockets well beyond effective range, I willed one to smash into that little dot. To crash through the transpex and pulp that pinche cabron. Sure, the spread would be wide. I only needed one.
 
The MAWS wailed as I pulled out of the dive, LRMs reaching up to swat me for my impudence. I shoved the throttle forward and ran for home, leaving the climbing missiles behind. Maybe the rockets would hit. Maybe we could save this.
But the D2j on my LRHAW remained bright as ever, and the friendly icons on my HSI map kept on falling back. Our raiders had better get back soon.
Somehow, I was sure they wouldn't be in time.
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===Reckoning with Terri===
Dropship Siduri, Zenith Jump Point
New Olympia System
Marik Commonwealth, Free Worlds League
20th January, 3015
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Socks thumped my shoulder and left me at the door to the number two small craft bay, off to chat up a chef.
 
I wished him luck and considered the bay, which was the most convenient to the main craft hatch. It was a good move on the captain's part to put the tug and fighters here. It might have slowed down shuttle launches a bit, but if the fighters were needed, they'd need as few complications on launch and recovery as possible, especially when operating from a docked tug.
 
…and I was stalling.
 
Dammit.
 
I tapped in the code I had been given, waiting for a second before the lock clunked open. Taking a last breath, I swung the hatch open and stepped through. On trained reflex, I closed it behind me.
 
It looked like many other smallcraft bays with a patrol tug docked that I had seen during training. It was perhaps a little cleaner, a little better maintained. The tug certainly looked less than polished in comparison, to say nothing of the patchwork Corsair on the upper level. Its pilot appeared to be working on it, unidentifiable in a welding mask and jumpsuit. I shielded my eyes from the arc flash and showering sparks, but I really didn't have much attention to spare.
After all, Terri was there, leaning against her Stingray.
 
A gale of emotions swept through my head and chest.
 
She was here. My eyes took in her wavy honey blond hair that I knew was undercut behind longer tresses to gain every last point of neurohelmet connectivity, her slender limbs that hid wiry muscle, her blue-grey eyes that could read a threat board in a flash, her expressive cupid's-bow lips that I had seen smile after smile on, each one different and unique for the moment, that I wanted nothing more than to kiss right that very moment.
She was here!
 
And I had hurt her.
 
Even as the emotions roared through my head, I could see them howling behind her eyes as well. I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it as words utterly failed to materialize.
 
She broke the silence. "Hey."
"Hey," I replied.
 
We fell back into awkward silence, both fidgeting. Fuck this barely out of teen years bullshit!
"Terri." I started again.
"Gid," she said at the same time. We both stopped again. I closed my mouth and gestured for her to go on. Her brow furrowed and she let out a little laugh that didn't match the turmoil in her eyes. "You know, I had it all planned out," she said, running her hand along the leading edge of the Stingray's canard, focusing on her fingers instead of me. "I was going to hop out of my fighter, pull off my helmet, and say 'told you I'd catch up to you'." She looked up at me with a wavering smile. "Stupid, right?"
 
I felt like I had been hit right in the gut, but I shook my head. "Stupid and hopeful ain't the same thing, Terri."
 
"Oh, come on," she said with a mocking laugh. "Why would you be in the bay as we docked?"
 
"Yeah, they tend to look poorly on passengers hanging around during docking," I admitted. "If nothing else, it's a mite hard to breath."
 
"You see?" she said. "Stupid."
 
"I still think hopeful is a better word," I said. "I know I woulda liked to be part of that scene."
 
"Yeah." She looked away. "Guess you weren't expecting to see me so soon."
 
"No," I said. "I surely wasn't." I looked down at my boots. "Not gonna lie, there was a part of me that was convinced I had convinced you to stay at LMS and even if you hadn't. I figured there was no way I'd see you until Canopus." I shoved my hand in my pockets. "I was expecting the best I'd get was some messages through Comstar."
 
"I told you I'd catch up to you!" I looked up to see angry tears in Terri's eyes.
 
"You didn't say when…" I started, then shook my head. "Yeah, you did tell me. And it was shitty of me to even think that you'd change your mind. You've earned miles more trust from me than that. I should know better than that. You say you have my back, you have it. I'm sorry."
 
Whatever Terri had expected out of my mouth, it wasn't that. She stood there for long moments before her lips moved. I couldn't hear the ghost of a 'thank you' that passed her lips, but I could read it there. She closed her eyes and drew in a breath. When she opened them, she gestured to the tug's hatch. "Come on."
 
I followed, entering into the cramped cabin, sealing the hatch behind me. Spotting a telltale, I raised an eyebrow. "2G?"
 
"Yeah," she said. "Only way to catch up while you were still in system. Got us the contract. Haven't reset it yet." She shook her head, sitting down on a bunk. "Not important. Gid, what the hell were you thinking?"
I blinked. "I thought we went over this. I didn't figure I would see you for months, if at all. I was wrong to think that but…"
 
"Not that," she said with a chop of her hand. "I know we're not exclusive," she frowned and looked aside. "Not anything, really." I opened my mouth to address that, but she moved on. "But you're not being careful."
 
"Mierda, I'm not," I protested, offended. "There's no danger of me knocking her up."
 
"Good, but that's still not what I'm talking about. She's a Capellan. How are you sure she's not Maskirovka?"
 
"Why in the hell would the Mask bother with me?"
"Mother of God, you're being dense. Gideon, you own a Star Lord and an Invader. Free and clear. There are merchant concerns that would happily commit massacres for that.Hell, a Star Lord is a strategic asset for a Great House. And there's the four spheroids packed to the gills with military equipment."
 
"Okay, fine," I said. "I'm rich now. That still doesn't explain why I'm a Mask target now."
 
Terri scrubbed her hands across her face. "No Gid, you're a noble now. One who looks like he has reason to hate the League."
 
I blinked. Blinked again. "I'm not a noble."
 
She shook her head. "Yes, you are. Or you will be. Do you remember what I said you could do with a loaded Union? Back when you found out about your inheritance?"
 
I thought back. "Try for a barony?"
 
"Right." She pointed right at me. "With those two Jumpships, whatever DropShips are hanging off the Star Lord, and what's in those DropShips, I guarantee that you will be offered a barony by someone, if not more. That's a lot of power that people want to get on their side. Hell, that's what half of the mercenary commanders in the Sphere are trying to do, get powerful enough to be offered a landhold and establish a house of their own."
 
The weight of the inheritance resettled on my shoulders, and I got a sick feeling in my stomach. "Oh."
 
"Yeah, oh," she said, looking pleased that she finally got through to me.
 
I thought back. "No, it still doesn't make sense for me to be a target. I haven't talked about what I've come into with anyone but you, and I know you didn't share."
 
"My father knows some of it," she admitted. "I told him about the Invader and that you had a seed for a mercenary unit."
 
I grunted. "Still, he's not a Mask or LIC agent. The only ones that might be taking a look at me would be SAFE. And even if I ran across an agent, I've only copped to having a mercenary unit to build. No specifics."
 
She nodded. "That's good at least. You're still someone that they may want to cultivate, but you won't be quite as much of a priority. But Gid, you need to start thinking about this. Even just your money is going to make you a target, if not for spies, for social climbers."
 
I nodded. It was a foreign concept to both of my frames of reference to be such a high-value target. I sighed. "I really should have asked you to come with me Terri. I'm no good at thinking like this."
 
"I was practically begging you to." she said, tartly.
 
"Yeah," I said. "Stiff-necked about things."
 
"Oh, I know. And you'll learn." She smiled a bit. "It's not like you're completely without a brain."
 
"I just don't use it much."
 
"Pull the other one, it's got bells on." She leaned across the cabin and gave me a shove.
 
I smiled, in spite of myself. "It's good to have you here, Terri. So…"
 
"So what?" she asked, smile going a bit fixed.
 
I paused. We were at a comfortable place. Terri was concerned for me, but watching my back like old times. We were happy to see each other. It was good enough. Things were stable.
 
That was a pack of excuses and lies. I nodded and forged ahead.
"What about us?"
 
Terri's face collapsed, and her shoulders slumped.
 
"I know we never made things exclusive." I said. "I know we never set terms. But I know that we were something. Something a hell of a lot more than just a fling."
"The first thing that went through my mind." Terri whispered, "When that lawyer told us about your inheritance? It was: 'Oh my God, I might be able to marry him.' " 
 
Again, I felt like I had taken a shot to the gut. To my local self, Terri had always been off-limits for dreaming about a future with. We had both been entirely clear on that. It was half of why we hadn't ever set terms. It hadn't kept us from spiraling together, from being exclusive, even if we said we weren't. 
"And then Liszt showed up." she went on.
 
"Coño," I muttered. "And then I was a disgrace to be thrown to los lobos."
 
She nodded, looking ashamed. "My father told me to just let the court martial happen."
 
"You didn't," I pointed out.
 
"For all it mattered," she muttered. "You were cashiered and Liszt is probably going to walk. The only reason I didn't get disowned was that I finally got father to listen about your inheritance. I think he thinks you'll feel indebted to him for letting me sign on with you, after he cut you loose like that."
 
I shrugged. "Indebted to you, sure. He can pound rocks." I sucked my teeth and quirked a smile. "And while I'm not happy about leaving LMS, it does set me free in a way."
 
"Are you saying this is better than being able to graduate?"
 
"Who can say?" I frowned. "I've got no idea what would have happened to me if I was in the FWLM and it got out that I've got this inheritance." My fists tightened. "What it wasn't was right.
 
That hung in the air for a second before I shook my head. "But that's not what we were talking about."
"I don't know." said Terri.
 
"Wha…"
 
"What you were going to ask," she said. "Where are we? Or what. I don't know." She wrung her hands. I didn't know if I had ever seen her do that before. "You didn't do anything wrong."
 
"Terri, I…"
She cut me off. "No Gid. This is important to me. For me. You didn't do anything wrong. I can't think of the guy I trust with my life, the guy I've considered marrying, the guy I'm going to be serving, betraying me. That would be too much." She forced a smile. "You just hurt me."
 
"That feels like the worst part," I admitted.
 
"Hurt happens." she said.
 
"Wish it hadn't."
"Yeah, me too. But hurt I can deal with." She spread her hands. "I'm still your wingthing. I'm still your friend. I still want what I want. But I don't know where I am and what I can be. And I don't think you know either."
 
It was truer than I wanted it to be. "You're probably right."
 
The pilot swagger spread back over her face. "Usually am." She let it drop for a sincere expression. "I think we owe it to each other to figure out where we are and what we can be before we answer your question. Fair?"
I nodded. "Exceedingly."
"Good," she said, then kissed me.
 
Despite everything, in that moment, I couldn't find a single reason to object.
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