ASO Chpt 8

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==Chapter 8 - Formation - Aurigan Sentinels (BattleTech CYOA)==
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===Visions and Dinner===
Cordia City, Coromodir
Aurigan Reach, Aurigan Coalition
28th August, 3020
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Returning home after everything that has happened is surprisingly awkward. Moana should be with the ACM while Malia and Melika should be away at university with only Mum being at home, but I have been reliably informed by Mum that all three of my sisters have made a point to be there for my return. Part of me is pleased that they all will come to see me, but the increasingly cynical part of me is wondering if they came to see their sister or if they want to interrogate me on what I found.
 
I know that Moana certainly has questions for me and I’ll have to answer them. Hopefully, my sister will be willing to take them in private, which looks likely given how discreet she has been about the situation so far.
 
“Elizabeth!” exclaims Mum as I walk into the wide open living room of the Kalani mansion with my mother noticing my arrival before any of my sisters.
 
“Liz!” exclaim Melika and Malia as my youngest two sisters rush me and begin bombarding me with questions.
 
All of them are about what I've been up to and what I found with the exception of Melika asking if she can be one of my MechWarriors, which Mum and I shoot down on the basis of her age and lack of training. Unsurprisingly, my return and the motherload that I brought home had garnered lots of attention and had been the biggest item in the media cycle for the last month. And with yours truly unavailable for any interviews, the attention of the media and the general public had fallen on my family.
 
Thankfully, nobody has said bad things about me and my family has been supportive of me. Not that I need their support to carry out my goals, but it would hurt to lose my family. I’ve already lost the family that other me had back in the twenty-first century, I don’t need to lose the one that this me has in the thirty-first century. Not any more than I already have with the loss of Dad.
 
God, it has been over half a year since Dad died. It didn’t really feel like it while I was away from home with everything to keep me busy, but returning just reminds me that Dad is gone and won’t be coming back.
 
“Elizabeth, are you okay?” asks Mum as she notices my budding distress.
 
“No, I need some space,” I reply bluntly, “Things have been stressful and coming back here just reminded me that Dad is dead.”
 
And just like that the mood drops as my words sober up the room.
 
“Girls, give your sister some space.” says Mum and my youngest two sisters back off.
 
“Thanks,” I mutter, “So…uh, how long until dinner?”
 
“I wasn’t sure when you would be arriving so I’m leaving cooking to the chefs tonight,” answers Mum, “They haven’t started yet, but I’ll have them begin whenever you want. Or they can whip up a quick snack if you are hungry right now.”
 
“I’m fine, I just wanted to get an idea of the timing,” I tell her before eyeing her, “So not to be rude, but there is something I need to discuss with Moana. Preferably sooner rather than later.”
 
“Then I’ll let you two find somewhere private,” says Mum while Moana stiffens at my words, “Malia, Melika, both of you will be coming with me.”
 
“What?” exclaims Melika, “Come on, Mum.”
 
“Liz and I can go to the study, the rest of you can stay here,” says Moana rigidly.
 
“But-” Melika starts to protest before Mum shushes her.
 
I follow Moana as we go halfway across the house, neither of us speaking until we reach the study.
 
“So where do you want to start?” I ask as Moana closes the study doors behind us.
 
“How about at the beginning?” suggests Moana with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
 
“I suppose that would be at the very start of the year, the day when I left for the expedition,” I say, “Long story short, I had a vision like the Blakists claim Jerome Blake did or like that one Cameron. I think he was behind the Castle Brians.”
 
“You have gone insane,” says Moana bluntly as she folds her arms.
 
“Oh, I’ve definitely gone insane,” I agree easily, getting me an annoyed look from my sister, “Basically I had a vision of a future that may or may not have some truthfulness to it. I haven’t had a chance to confirm it either way yet since I’ve been busy on the expedition, but if there is any truth to what I saw, I couldn’t just let that knowledge die with me if anything happened to me.”
 
“Your notes sounded like a fairy tale,” says Moana, “Lord Espinosa betraying his niece, ComStar secretly being evil, the SLDF coming back to conquer the Inner Sphere with super LosTech, the Lyrans and Feddies joining together via arranged marriage and more.”
 
“We’ll see how things turn out,” I say, “As I said, I haven’t been able to verify any of it yet. Except for the battle armor.”
 
“The what?” demands Moana.
 
“Like Nighthawks, but better,” I explain only to get a blank look, “It’s basically to do with that exoskeleton myomer patent I filed. My vision showed me enough that I was able to figure out the trick to make exoskeletons wieldy enough to use on the battlefield. Though I’ll still need endo-steel to make proper battle armor rather than combat exoskeletons.”
 
“I’ll assume that makes sense to you,” says Moana with a sigh, “So your mad visions aside, what else are you up to?”
 
“Trying to secure the future prosperity of my home,” I answer, “All of the loot from the expedition has given me the means to do that and with local politics and laws being what they are, an Aurigan Coalition-aligned mercenary unit is my best way of doing that. I don’t have much power right now, but if I can leverage my current windfall into being the proven leader of a loyal and powerful mercenary unit, then a lot more doors are open for me. Especially since I’ll have Kamea Arano and Victoria Espinosa in the unit.”
 
“What?” exclaims Moana and I wince at the reaction, “What did you just say?”
 
“High Lord Arano and Lord Espinosa asked me to make room for their daughters in the Aurigan Sentinels,” I explain, “Because I have spare Assault ‘Mechs for them to use and since we’ll be mercenaries, they’ll have more of a chance to prove themselves on the battlefield than they would usually get.”
 
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” says Moana, “You just-what the hell, Liz?”
 
“I didn’t exactly plan for it.” I protest, “I’m just doing my best to take advantage of the opportunities that come my way.”
 
“I don’t know what to make of this,” says Moana, “I’ve just got settled into a new status quo after Dad died and I inherited everything, only for you to come back and make another equally big mess of things.”
 
“I’m afraid this isn’t the end of things,” I inform her, “I’m going for some industrial outreach that should shake things up and I’ve asked High Lord Arano if I could have you in my unit.”
 
“You did what?” exclaims Moana as she stares at me.
 
“I trust you and I want you to have my back, so when High Lord Arano and Lord Espinosa asked me to accept their daughters into the Aurigan Sentinels, I asked if I could have you as well,” I explained, “Neither of them had a problem with that and I doubt there will be any issues with arranging it. It isn’t like the ACM will miss a rookie Bug ‘Mech pilot.”
 
“I-I don’t know what to think anymore,” mutters Moana as she sits down and slumps in the chair, “If I didn’t know you better, I would think you were deliberately trying to cause problems for me.”
 
“I’m really not,” I assure her.
 
“I know, I know, it’s just this is all insane,” says Moana, “And here I thought joining the ACM and being the baronetess would be the biggest adjustments.”
 
“Well, on the bright side, you will get a better ride than the family Locust,” I point out, “I’ve got a couple of companies of Assault-grade ‘Mechs that need MechWarriors.”
 
“I might take you up on that,” replies Moana, “Atlases and Highlanders right?”
 
“A dozen of each, all standard SLDF variants,” I say, “No royals apart from a squadron of AeroSpace Fighters, but a fair few machines have some LosTech in them. I’m going to sell most of them, mind you.”
 
“You can’t keep dropping bombshells like that on me,” protests Moana with a groan, “Okay, okay, but seriously, what the hell? You found invaluable and irreplaceable LosTech and you want to sell it? What gives?”
“I have a surplus of LosTech and a deficit of C-Bills,” I answer bluntly, “And the irreplaceable aspect is part of the problem. Some of what I found is too fragile to really be useful. Like the VTOLs as they have their uses, but they are too fragile to make proper use of. It would be one thing if I could replace them, but I can’t. I also can’t think of any future battles where they would be more valuable than selling them now for a small fortune.
 
“Similar issue with the Padillas as while the Arrow system is awesome, I have very limited ammo for it. I’ll be able to make use of it for a handful of battles at most and then bam, they are next to useless until someone puts that particular brand of LosTech back into production. Meanwhile, I have a very urgent need for C-Bills if I am to have the finances to put all of the hardware I found to work. I could take out loans, but I would rather sell the LosTech I can’t make use of.”
 
“Okay, that makes sense as insane as it sounds,” says Moana, “What exactly do you intend to do with the small fortunes that you intend to make?”
 
“Support the Aurigan Sentinels, have a healthy war chest for emergencies and start my own businesses in that order,” I answer.
 
“I take it that the Aurigan Sentinels is what you’re calling your merry band of mercs?” inquires Moana.
 
“Yeah, it is,” I confirm, “I like the sound of it and fits my intentions for my mercenary career.”
 
“It beats calling them Nora’s Nightmares,” says Moana before backtracking, “No, wait, Nora’s Nightmares actually sounds pretty cool.”
 
“I’ve already registered my unit as the Aurigan Sentinels,” I inform her, “I did it this morning before coming here.”
 
“Huh, you didn’t mention that earlier.” says Moana.
 
“It didn’t come up.” I say with a shrug before getting back to the serious talk, “Mo, can I count on you to have my back? I know that you are younger than me, but I’m jumping into the deep end when it comes to politics and noble life, while Dad taught you the ropes growing up.”
 
“Of course, you can, Liz,” answers Moana, “As long as you don’t do something stupid like treason or attacking ComStar, I’ll have your back. Just try to give me some heads up before springing any more major surprises on me.”
 
“No promises.” I warn her and my sister just sighs.
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==Author's Chapter Commentary==
; A Word from the Author: Right, this is mostly character development rather than plot progression. Setting up Elizabeth’s family and building up Moana’s character. Also, for the record, Moana does think that Elizabeth isn’t fully right in the head, but she came back with a battleship and the LosTech find of a century so she is giving her half-sister the benefit of the doubt. Especially since claims of having visions aren’t unprecedented in the setting even if said visions aren’t usually considered credible. After all, ComStar and the Blakist religion are built around Jerome Blake’s supposed visions.
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