THW-2

==The Highlander WayPart 2 “Whats mine is Mine!”==
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Unknown location
Prefecture IV, Republic of the Sphere
June, 3132
Jacob Bannson reviewed the list of Corporate assets on the myriad of worlds within Prefecture IV and outside it, identifying only the list of factories that only he, and a small handful of people he could trust.  Which are very, very, few who would know of the true nature of their manufacturing abilities.  “Its time to resurrect an old giant!”  Jacob said.  Pushing a button on his desk Jacob spoke into the intercom on his desk.  “Harris!  Pull up the personnel roster for Raelion Technologies Inc. specifically the ‘Echo’ Division.”
Harris, a young man in his mid-to late twenties sat in a receptionist nook located just outside  of Jacob Bannsons office.  looking up from his noteputer's screen he thought for a second.  “Yes Sir I will have that for you in just a moment sir…”  Looking back at the screen his fingers danced over the keypad of the computer like a tap dancer on ‘Hyper’.  “Sir, I found them however, the personnel from that facility have been either transferred or have retired… would you like for me to print that file out for you?”
“Negative!  Transfer that file over to my computer.”“Very good Sir, the file is transferred.”“Harris, place a call for all the Trustees to meet me for an Emergency Meeting in one hour…  Hmm… My office.”“Yes Sir, would you like that done with ‘Secure Wide Broadcast Dispersal‘?”“Yes, and let me know when everyone has responded.”  
“Very good Sir, message is being broadcast now…  It may take some time for everyone to check in.  As soon as I have one hundred percent responses I will notify you then, sir.”
“Good… in the meantime contact Colonel Torey and have him report to me immediately in my office.  Then I want you to pull up a list of Mercenary Forces seeking contracts.  Especially those currently operating outside the Republic and report to me as soon as you are finished.”
“Yes Sir”  The young man stood up & took the compact portable noteputer and set out to his tasks.
Jacob returned to his computer console and pulled up the file Harris transferred.  After a few seconds of scanning, selected the names that appeared and executed a series of transfer orders.
He then pulled up the star charts for  the “Caledonia” system.  Locating a distant Planet on the farthest orbit of Caledonias sun he recalled the planets statistics.   “Perfect!…  Lets see, is it still there?…  Yes!”  A long ago deserted orbital ore processing station still orbited the planet, at least that is what the most recently downloaded info indicated… About Six months old.  But it is doubtful if the stations orbit would have decayed in that short of time.  A plan was forming in his head.   “I hope those displaced Scots haven’t discovered what REALLY lies beneath that old factory!  But just in case…”   Jacob executed a few more keystrokes and closed the computer file.
Colonel Jack Torey stood outside Jacob Bannsons office door waiting for Harris to receive acknowledgement from the Boss that he had arrived as requested.
A disembodied voice came from a speaker on Harris's desk.  “Thanks Harris, tell Colonel Torey to come in.”
Colonel Torey looked into an optical scanner and pressed his hand on the reader panel to the right of the door, a series of light indicators that were set above the panel came to life and glowed yellow then turned green.  The door slid open with a hiss and he entered the large wood paneled room.  The war-worn Colonel looked years older beyond his true age of 45 by at least a decade.  At about five feet from Jacob Bannsons rather large and ostentatious desk he stood at attention then saluted his Commander in Chief. 
Jacob half heartedly returned Colonel Torey‘s salute, and immediately proceeded to address the purpose of his Field Commanders visit.
“Jack, I have a rather delicate assignment for you.  This must be prepared and executed with the utmost secrecy!   I need the best people you have for this mission, and I need them now.”
“Now, here is the plan.”  Jacob powered up the Holo Projector which revealed the planetary system for Caledonia.  “I want you to take with you a force consisting of the best from elements of the ‘First Scourge’ and ‘The Band of Five’  along with several Mercenary units which I am working on acquiring as we speak.  You will also be transporting some civilians with you.  You will go to the ‘Caledonia’ system in the Lyran Commonwealth, once there you will establish a base at the old derelict ore processing station in orbit around this planet here.  You will need to restore power and life support to the station before you can proceed.  Once you have established a base there, leave with your force to the planet ‘Caledonia’.”
“Your Target is the City of Glenbury which is on this continent in the northern hemisphere here.  I doubt very seriously if you will meet very much resistance from the local Militia on planet.  Most are descendants of former Northwind Highlanders who’ve chosen not to stay on Northwind over 60 years ago.  And I doubt if they have had much of an opportunity to do much to hone their fighting skills lately.   I need for you to take possession of the factory campus there.  Be sure to establish a defensive perimeter around the town after you have completely secured that factory.  Once that has been done, send for the civilians.  Keith Dons will head up the civilian contingent and he will proceed with re-activation of the factory.  Do you understand your orders, Jack?”
“Yes, Sir.”“Do you have any questions?”
“Yes, Sir… What is the estimated departure time frame?  And what Aerospace resistance do you think we will encounter going in?”
“Jack, I need you to assemble your units, and depart within 48 hours.  I will arrange for the Mercs  to rendezvous with you as soon as I have them in hired.  As far as Aerospace assets go… The only ones that I know of are those belonging  to the Lyrans, and they won’t bother you if you come in under the cover as a civilian Dropship.  Prepare for possible ‘Mech-to-Mech encounters as well as Armored, and Infantry assets from the Planetary Militia.  I rather doubt if there will be any real ‘Combat’ ‘Mechs in their forces, most are probably 3050 era models at best and in poor shape maintenance wise,  but you never know. Personally, I think most of what you should face are civilian ‘Mechs or Civ-mods.  But, I want you to only take ‘Combat ‘Mechs with you as your primary Strike force just-in-case!  Use the ‘Civ-Mods only for reserves and perimeter defense.  Is that understood?”
“Yes Sir”
“Now who do you have in mind for commanding the ‘Alpha Strike’ team?”
Col. Tory replied. “Sir, I was thinking of Lieutenant Elfreda Vasquez.”
Jacobs face soured for a moment and replied.  “Jack, isn’t she just a little too Green for this kind of mission??”
“Sir, I beg the Commanders pardon but, Lt. Vasquez has bested everyone in her unit when it comes to ’Mech' ops.  She has out shot, out maneuvered and out gunned everyone she has faced… And I am embarrassed to say this Sir but she even bested ME!”
Jacob shot his Top Military Leader a shocked and puzzled look of disbelief.  “You have got to be kidding me!…  You!… Were Bested by a Recruit?  I don’t believe it (laughing)  The GREAT Colonel Jack Torey!”   Jacob was now engulfed in uncontrolled fits of hysteria, laughing so hard he knocked over a crystal replica of an Atlas figurine which shattered on the floor.  The shattering of one of his most prized possessions brought Jacob back to his senses.  “Jack, this I have to see to believe!”
Col. Torey moved to the large HoloVid Display.  “Sir if you will permit me?”
“Absolutely, I have got to see this.”  Jacob kicked aside a rather large piece of the broken crystal Atlas as he walked over to stand next to the Colonel.
Col. Torey entered several key commands into the HoloVid control panel and soon a battlerom video, which appeared to have been taken from a Referee Mech flickered to life.  A Tactical display also appeared on the lower left corner of the screen which displayed icons for  the opposing forces, green for “Alpha Team” and red for “Beta Team”.  “Now, this is Lt. Vasquez here, notice how she optimizes natural terrain features to minimize her ’Mechs EMP signature.  She then deploys her forces so that optimal fire power can be delivered to these areas here.  Here is my ’Mech,  I was maneuvering to flank her position over here.  Now watch this…”
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As if out of nowhere a flash of brownish gray and what appears to be the markings of Lt. Vasquez's Black Hawk landed directly behind Col. Torey's Catapult, then a series of bluish green flashes and Col. Toreys ’Mech stumbled forward as if the Mech was drunk.  Torey managed to  regain control of his Catapult and started to run to get distance from the deadly Black Hawk, turning as he went as well as twisting his torso so Vasquez could not get a full back shot on him again.  All around him Toreys Lance was engaged with  Vasquezs Lancemates.  The sudden flash of bluish green light and impact from the powered down ‘large laser’ impacted Toreys Catapult again but this time in the birdlike pivot points of his Mechs left leg.  Simulating severe damage to actuators and Myomer fiber.  Torey took several steps backwards and nearly stumbled again.  Chancing a un-aimed shot with the Ares LRM Missiles the Catapult reeled as the angry swarm of missiles left their nest.
Twenty angry hornets left the hive but only six hit their target.  Colonel Torey interjected <<“The only thing I was thinking at the time was, Damn!  I have to get her off me!  And quick!”>> Returning to the video screen;  Vasquez's Mech buffeted from the impact but she maintained control of her Blackhawk even after losing several tons of armor from her right torso.  Vasquez responded with two more controlled bursts from her pulse lasers and scored yet another hit in the same leg area she hit before.  This time Torey not only lost more armor but his Mech was heating up pretty badly and shut down was becoming eminent.  The Giant Behemoth seemed to lean toward the right then suddenly the left leg actuator seemed to give way, but when Torey tried to compensate for it the Catapult fell on its left side very hard.  <<“This is when I hit the shutdown overide…  A fraction too late!  My Mech overheated and I had suffered a core breach from the fall.  For all purposes my Mech exploded.  The entire action took approximately less than Two minutes sir.”>>
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“Well I’ll be a son-of-a…”  Jacob stared at the frozen HoloVid image with the word DEAD in flashing red letters superimposed over Col. Torey's ’Mech.
“Sir, I am glad this was only a simulated exercise otherwise you and I would not be having this conversation right now!”
“Perhaps I should promote Vasquez to Colonel and demote you to Lieutenant there, Jack!” Bannon chuckled as he spoke.  “Where did she come from?”
Col. Tory shuffled nervously before he answered.  “Well sir… She… Shes my Daughter.”
“What??” Jacob shouted.  “Your Daughter!  Since when did you have a Daughter?…”
“Sir… If I may explain…  Elfreda Vasquez is my Daughter from before I came into your employ Twenty Years ago.  You see, while still a member of the Merc unit “Storm Demons” I fell in love with a local woman on Liberty. I found out she was pregnant just before we left the Planet  and I’ve had no opportunity to contact her since our missions kept us pretty busy… With Planet hopping, and changing employers...  I had no idea what had become of her or the child she was pregnant with.”
“Last year…  Elfreda showed up claiming she was a Mechwarrior from Liberty and was looking for a Job, and heard we were hiring.  Her preliminary Mech aptitude scores were pretty high, and, when we put her in the simulators it was as if she was a born Mechwarrior.   I did a background check as per our customary procedures however, I dug a little deeper than normal for her.  At first I thought she might have been a Republic Knight Errant plant or something.  But when I traced her movements to get here everything confirmed that she did come here from Liberty.   Evidently, She had applied to the Republic as a Mechwarrior-in-Training but was turned down flat… Her past exploits on Liberty were hardly glowing or within the law.”
“The more I dug into her past the more I was convinced that she is my Daughter.  The Woman that I had an affair with… Her last name was Vasquez, and Elfreda was her Sisters name…”
“Well Jack… It would seem that she either inherited your Mechwarrior skills through genetics or she got her Mech training and experience somewhere, and I have my own suspicions of her but… Alright Jack,  I will approve the promotion to Captain for her, and she will lead the Strike team…  But Jack?…”
“Yes Sir?”
“I want her watched very closely.  She is just a little to good for a green Mechwarrior recruit for my comfort… Ok?”
“I understand Sir… I…”
“Nothing personal, Jack.  I just have an odd feeling about her…  Watching Vasquez in that battlerom… I… I have never been fearful of anyone until I saw her in action, she‘s more ruthless than Dagger Di Jones!.”
Colonel Torey did not have any suspicions about her, he had hard evidence regarding where her experience and previous training came from.  But Jacob will not like where she got it from either!   What nagged at Jack mostly was not disclosing that little tidbit of information to his Commander-In-Chief.   But now would not be a good time,  he needed her for this mission.  Especially if he plans on pulling it off.
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