IBC Chpt 4-1

==Iron Blooded Commander - Chapter 4.2 - From the Ashes, Flowers bloom==
<<Next Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
----
===A Cold Comfort===
Starboro City HospitalZaniah III, Lyran Commonwealth3020
I slowly came awake. The soft beeping of a heart beat monitor, and quiet conversation lulling me from my dreams. The bright lights stung my eyes when I finally managed to get them open. 
 
I wasn't alone. The room was actually quite full. More than a few of my kids were on beds, in the room, chatting or spending time together.
 
I survived.
 
"Fuck." I croak out.
 
The noise caused a flurry of activity as everyone jumped forward to check on me. I eventually waved them off, with my left arm, as my right was in a cast that was pretty hefty, "Water."
 
After my throat was wetted and I was able to talk. "Where are we?"
 
"The hospital, Benny brought everyone that was too injured for us to do anything with here." A girl informed me, she was sitting in the bed next to me, her arm just as broken as mine. Ah, After a second I recognized her. Melissa, one of the drivers for the supply department.
 
Before I could ask the big question on my mind Benny walked in. He had a bandage around his head but otherwise seemed fine. "Glad to see you awake Commander."
 
"Benny… How many did we lose?"
 
He hesitated. Before sighing. "I should have expected you to ask that first thing. Twelve we lost twelve."
 
"So… So many?"
 
"Half of that is from Rough Squad… They went a little wild."
 
"Half! There are only twelve people in Rough Squad! What did those idiots do!?"
 
"They decided to capture a mech." Benny offered solemnly. 
 
I went silent at that. How else could I respond? Did those idiots die because I kept the fact that I could create 'mechs a secret? Was this all my fault? It hit me hard. 
 
"Vicky, it's not your fault. Rough Squad… They wanted to make their mark. There is nothing you could have done. Not even you."
 
"I'm their Commander, Benny. It's my job to keep them alive. I failed."
 
"Vicky, we won. We beat a League raid, the factory wasn't even touched. We didn't sign up for a safe job. Death… death happens. Better to die once following what we believe in than to live a long life for nothing."
 
"That.. Benny, they died! I lead them straight to their deaths! Twelve of my kids!"
 
He put a hand to my lips before I could keep my rant. Idly he brushed the tears dripping down my eyes, "No. Twelve of your soldiers. Men and women that picked up weapons and chose to fight. Chose to believe following your path is a path worth walking. Danger and all. They aren't the only ones. We won. That has more of an effect than you think. We had a hiring surge since the battle. There is more than just the one orphanage on Zaniah, the others? We've had kids show up hitchhiking traveling from all over. The Zaniah news is going crazy. The Iron Blooded Orphans are being mentioned everywhere. This is the first raid that has been stopped from trashing a factory in almost two decades."
 
"Their lives...isn't worth that." 
 
"Vicky… You were always pretty sensitive, but you know… We all think our life is worth that. I would happily sacrifice my life to keep some asshole Leaguer from trashing more factories, from destroying what little we have left… Maybe your view is a little skewed, but saving that factory was huge, important."
 
I blinked through the tears raising my eyes from where I had been glaring at my blanket, unable to look him in the eye. "Don't say that."
 
"It's true though. We all have things we are willing to die for. I want to stop the fall of the Inner Sphere. If the SLDF was around, I would have joined in a heartbeat. Gauge? Man, he is more obsessed with tech than I am. I think he took the fact the raid was aimed at a factory pretty personally. Hanna? She just wants to kill the sort of people that killed her parents… Rough Squad? They wanted glory. A chance to make their own path in the world. A way to say that they matter. That they exist."
 
"They do exist! They! They are my soldiers, my family! They died, Benny!" I yelled.
 
"Commander, that's why we follow you. Not because you paid for this, but because as we've learned over the months we have been working together, you care about us as people. So don't… Don't break down over this. None of them would want you to stop walking this path because of that, because of them."
 
"FUUUUCK!" I screamed at him, why couldn't he just agree, why couldn't he see what a waste it was!
 
His arms were warm though.
----
===Aftermath Report===
StarportPerspective shifts
It took a few hours for me to calm down. During the process Benny talked to me about everything that happened, from Rough Squad's crazy success in stealing an active Battlemech, to the second in command of the raiders calling it off once their leader in the Awesome fell. By then my bed had been invaded by the kids in the room. Benny took up a chair, but I had Melissa sitting beside me, using her one unbroken hand, to play with my short hair. Others lounged on my bed. Just being around. I was ending up with a ton of little braids, but frankly, I didn't care. It was nice to have the company.
 
"So we have been getting calls from the Governess. She seems pretty… Upset. [ComStar]] messaged us and let us know her arbitration has been rescinded, apparently, that recording you took of your conversation with her was all the proof ComStar needed to determine the Governess was up to something. Demi-Precentor Franks has been in touch, he called himself.. So yeah, apparently your arbitration is just waiting on you for determination of what you want to do."
 
"I see." I huffed, yeah I expected in the end ComStar would side with us over this, we fought. Really when it comes down to it, regardless of what the Governess might like to say we had stood and fought. Damn hard for a green barely registered company. 
 
The MRB appreciated that. Plus the recording of her needing to give me the defense frequency before the battle rather tidily proved something fuckery had been going on.
"The Governess has requested a meeting with you, I believe her exact words were 'before the Commander meets with ComStar preferably.' So what do you think?"
 
"I think that the Governess wants to sweeten a deal so we don't utterly torch her to the MRB. No Merc wants to work with someone that purposely tried to screw over a merc company." I tell them leaning back on the large pillow I was resting on. "Depending on how she does this, I might let it go with a few stipulations."
 
"Really? But fuck her!" Melissa said from beside me. "That bitch tried to get us killed, she gave us bad water! And lied to the MRB!"
 
"Yeah, but what's more important, a spot of justified revenge, or doing what's best for all of us?"
 
"I don't like it, Commander. Bitch should get what's coming to her." Melissa huffed.
 
"Oh she will, exactly where she will like it the least. Her pocketbook."
 
"Eh, I'd rather shoot her, but I guess you're the boss." She offered finally as she finished a braid. 
 
"Alright. Other than the arm I'm basically good to go at this point."
 
"And the concussion." Benny added which I promptly ignored. I had a nasty cut over my right eyebrow now, I was pretty sure it would be a bitching scar, Mechwarriors all had scars, it was just part of the job.
 
"Good to go! So let's get that started. Benny, she is paying for all this already right? I don't have to really escalate things do I?"
 
"No. The Governess paid for medical injuries in the line of duty according to contract, I don't think the people of Zaniah would have accepted turning us away anyways. Seriously, we have been in the news every day since the raid."
 
"Good. Good. That... That's a relief." I exhale letting that tension go. At least my kids were being taken care of. "Let's get me a shower, and then a change of clothes, and let's go see the Governess, I'm getting antsy sitting around."
 
"Don't think the doctors will be happy with you running around so fast, Vicky, you should take it easy, the Governess can wait."
 
"Well good thing they aren't my doctors then, C'mon help me up."
----
===Face to Face with the Governess===
I checked on every injured Iron Blooded before heading out. Thankfully the worst were just broken bones. Poor Carl had a fracture in his leg after taking out the Firestarter. The explosion had been bigger than he expected. But he seemed quite pleased at how it turned out.
 
Not every infantryman gets to tell the story of how they legged a 'mech regardless of size.
 
Showered, and wearing actual clothes again, I sauntered out of the Hospital, the doctors blabbing when to come back to get the cast off and irrelevant details at me, but I was too focused. This was too important.
 
Officers jacket over my shoulders, necessary now because of the broken arm, I must have made quite the sight because the Iron blooded were grinning and happy when I walked past them out of the hospital.
 
Benny was my chauffeur today as he pulled up in our customary Norman trucks, he was mother henning pretty bad and I was doing my best to ignore his concern.
 
During the drive he was the first to break the silence. "There is a problem you need to be aware of, Commander. Lenden… Well, The contract's salvage clause, it doesn't exactly give us much wiggle room. Lenden hasn't turned over the Hunchback he captured. There hasn't been more than a single request for it, but… He isn't going to want to hand it over."
 
I nodded my head. "I see. That's fine. He won't have to. I promise I'll do everything I can to make sure that 'mech stays with us."
----
 
The silence in the car stretched on until we pulled up to the Governess mansion, and it was her mansion, her personal residence, that I had been invited too. It was massively opulent. 
 
More than anything I had seen in either life. The sheer wealth exuded on the building was almost sickening considering I had seen the fringes. The edges of the world where life was long dead. 
We were escorted inside by a butler of all things, into a very comfortable sitting room. If I could have, I would have brought a sensor and copied the couch. It was that comfortable. 
 
"I like this couch." 
 
"Yeah, it's amazing. I wonder how much it costs?" Benny asked. 
 
"Probably a lot, bet we could afford one."
 
"I am afraid that couch would be beyond even you Commander Eisen-Blume, it has been in my collection for some time." And there she was. Entering the room seemingly without a care in the world, a tea set was carried in by a butler and three cups were set out for us. 
 
"Governess Alessa… Well you are the one that requested this meeting, are we finally having that overdue conversation?"
 
"I did, and in a way yes. We are. You are… More perceptive than I had given you credit for. My fault I admit. I allowed my greed to overlook how dangerous someone would have to be to put together a company such as yours. Especially at your age."
 
"Am I just here for you to compliment me?"
 
"No. No, not at all.. I am here to offer an apology, and to hopefully settle the matter with the MRB." 
 
"Makes sense. You basically already got what you wanted in the end. An assault mech. Quite the catch for the son of a Governess."
 
She stilled for just a moment before nodding. "Yes. Arthur has already claimed it, although Vincent is quite incensed."
 
"Yes, I suppose either son would be frustrated if they couldn't pilot it." I eyed her as I gently threatened her. If I claimed the Awesome as the cost to balance the books, how would she react, I couldn't help but wonder.
 
"Perhaps. Although I am sure arrangements could be made for something other than an already claimed and legally salvaged mech.
 
"Perhaps." I let the silence spread for a few moments.
 
"You are a difficult young woman to work with Commander."
 
"You think so? I would say you are the difficult one to work with Lady Alessa."
 
We eyed each other, her over a tea cup, me simply over my nose. Wasn't a huge tea fan. So I was gonna pass, but she could think it was a snub all she wanted.
 
"The MRB has already made their decision. I know Demi-Precentor Franks has been kind enough to alert me that my arbitration request was declined. While yours… Well we both know what sort of position this leaves me in." She said, sipping her drink.
 
"And now you want to do anything you can to salvage your reputation… And hopefully keep the MRB from cracking down. After all, right now you are the Governess with the foresight to hire us, but a week from now, you may be the Governess that tried to betray her own mercs before a league raid, one in which the mercs despite being betrayed went out and fought anyway. The fact we are children, and orphans. Well, that's used against us when trying to get people to treat us with respect, but no one likes the idea of betraying orphans. Do I have that about right?"
 
She was silent for a long while. "Quite. And perceptive again. Yes, Commander, I am here to discuss what it will cost to settle this… disagreement, no, this betrayal between us… Internally."
 
"You are in luck, Governess. I am in the market for a settlement, and if you agree to my terms. I don't believe this will even mean the end of our working relationship."
 
A quiet look passed over the Governess's face, I had no idea what it meant, but a moment later she sat the teacup back on the coaster.
"Well, Commander. Don't keep me in suspense."
----
===Contract negotiations===
So I fleeced her. I fleeced her so hard in the end she thanked me for it. The best part? She thought she had tricked me.
 
God, I love out of context problems. She never even knew what it was I was aiming for to begin with. She thought I was a normal mech company. That I cared about getting the best, mechs I could. She couldn't understand that I couldn't care less.
 
In the end, the agreement was simple enough.
 
Despite our low salvage contract. The Hunchback 4P that had been taken in battle would not be treated as salvage, it would simply default to Iron Blooded ownership. No negotiations regarding it were allowed.
 
The second was permanent ownership over the military installation dubbed Red Base. It was now a Landhold under my Mercenary Company into perpetuity. A permanent base that belonged to us, right on the border of Lyran and FWL space. Well as long as I remained a Lyran Mercenary, and didn't ally with an enemy state. The LCAF didn't usually take kindly to that.
 
Finally, our original contract had been thrown into the shredder and a new one was created, following far more generous terms. The pay wasn't much better than it had been before on the outset, but that was never the reason for us coming here. Instead we got our salvage rights upgraded a hefty amount. If we took down the metal, without any assistance from the Zaniah Planetary Defense group, then it was almost guaranteed to be ours, except for some specific circumstances. 
 
We had also been given access to the LCAF 'company' store. The access went through the Planetary Defense group. If we needed to order some equipment, we could place the order and the LCAF would get it to us if possible. Paying in full of course.
 
Very useful. Especially since that went both ways. I could now sell salvage directly into the network. 
 
And of course all of our munitions would be 'reimbursed' from our battle. That was quite a few tons of LRMs she was on the hook for. I was kind enough to accept a cash payment for 90% of the tonnage, since that was a lot of LRMs to just have on hand. Especially for a military force that doesn't even have any equipment that uses them.
 
Finally? Well let's just say that she was paying out a hefty chunk of change to pay for the equipment of my mechs. My Locust was trashed, one of my Centurions had a broken Fusion Engine. 
 
That wasn't cheap stuff. So she would pay the cost for parts. Which I wouldn't bother to purchase, and so a good amount of cash was flowing into our coffers.
 
That really was it.
 
I hadn't requested the Awesome or fought over the Firestarter remains that we managed to claim. Or any of the other mechs. It had amused me to brush aside every mention of the salvaged mechs once I confirmed Lendens mech was ours, her confusion almost had me breaking out into giggles. Almost.
In the end I got what I wanted, ownership of our home. The right to defend it, and for as long as the contract between us continued, peace.
 
Peace was more valuable than anything else. And as a wise Ferengi once said. Never pay more for something than it is worth, Third rule of Acquisition. If I had tried to fight for the Awesome, or tried to get more money out of her, or any other mech, it would just increase the price of peace between us, make that peace rocky and dangerous. Instead? She thought I was terrible at negotiating, and she got everything she could ever want. A mech for her son, a working factory, the happiness of her population. And of course a Merc Company based out of her home that lived near her precious factories.
 
We got our own home. On a planet where the Governess owed my company a huge debt. She can't move against me now. Her reputation had shot up on the planet. We had done something great, and it was the Governess that brought us in, she was the one that saw something in our company. So her reputation was gold.
 
Her foresight was being praised all over the news. Although I am sure most of that was state issued, but it was still the sentiment that was spreading. Now that we were heroes, and she was a wonderful leader, she couldn't touch us. The crash of an uplifted reputation if she did and it got out?
 
Besides, She had earned enough salvage, and hadn't had to pay the millions it would cost to fix her factory, or simply out of lost profit. With that one raid turned away. We have probably completely changed the course of her future.
 
And ours.
----
===A peak behind the curtain.===
Governess Private Office 
Baroness Maria Alessa quietly sipped her tea as the girl left. What an utterly mad situation. How could anyone have planned for this? For this child?
 
"What are your thoughts, Uncle?"
 
General Faulker was a family friend, an older man that had never gone to war in his life, but thanks to his family's former wealth he had been a "Social General." For the Commonwealth. Of course his family's finances burned away when her parents were killed by a League raid, he had spent the majority of his fortune on defenses for her planet, his only way to get back at the ones that killed his loved ones. The man acted as if she was his niece or a daughter to watch over, as he had no children of his own. 
 
His support is all that kept Zaniah safe some years ago. It was why despite his finances in ruin, she made sure he wanted for nothing, and gave him something to keep himself occupied. It was the least she could do for her honorary uncle.
 
"She… makes me uncomfortable." He finally offered, as he settled into the couch across from her. He had been watching and listening to the whole conversation with Commander Eisen-Blume. "I've known child soldiers before, but never one so young in command. They usually don't act that knowledgeable. She acts more like she is forty than fourteen."
 
"My thoughts as well. It's… discomforting under her blue eyes, don't you think?"
 
"Oh yes, she looks right through you, like she knows more than you ever could… But enough joking. She did us a favor… Not just with the battle, if we hadn't been checking every incoming dropship to try and find her supplier we never would have noticed the raid so early."
 
"It irritates me that's true." She offered, taking another sip of her tea. "We still haven't found anything about who could be supplying her equipment? Two Centurions don't appear out of nothing, Uncle."
 
"No no. Not a thing, we haven't found any hint of a dropship landing that could have supplied her. Or kept her supplied. Either she has the craziest dropship captain in the world, going through pirate points without our notice, which.. Is possible, my dear. Our eyes in the sky aren't what they used to be."
 
"No, but still I refuse to accept that we missed that entirely. She was cut off. The entire company was. Not once did they ask for supplies from us, like their contract said they could. No complaints about the food or water… we got confirmation on that rumor didn't we?"
 
"Yes. Somehow water trucks have been leaving the base and selling water to the area. Cheaply I might add. Talked to a few that said money wasn't even always involved, just trading for food or other supplies."
 
She sets her tea cup down before she threw it. "Nothing makes sense."
 
"Oh it does if you consider that we were outfoxed. The girl was a step ahead every step of the way. We thought we were strangling her effectiveness, but she bypassed us at every turn without us even thinking to look into it. The fact she doubled her mechs… Old Franks isn't pleased. Even if she stops the arbitration we both know ComStar won't forget this. Finding new mercenaries may be more difficult in the future."
 
She snorted. "We couldn't afford them anyways." She looked out the window into the clear sky. "How is our tank company?"
 
"Damaged, but recoverable, we only lost two instead of all of them. Thanks to the Commanders warning."
 
Alessa clicked her tongue, an old habit she had never quite broke. "I don't understand her! We were concerned about her being a spy, or a plant, after we found the additional mechs, but that doesn't fit! She fought too hard against the raid for that. Saved some of our defenses. Nothing that girl does makes sense. It's like interacting with a damned devil. Whenever I assume she is going to do something, she does the opposite! Whenever I think I know what her story is, I'm wrong!"
 
"I still can't believe she asked for so little. She could have demanded the Awesome… You know that."
 
"And I would have been forced to give it to her, yes. ComStar would have gladly bent us over... A barrel, Uncle. Don't give me that look." She huffed a laugh as her Uncle's irritation continued. 
 
"A lady doesn't speak like that… But yes. We were in trouble there. And… The sword of Damocles has been lifted… For a pittance. No one acts that way my dear, not unless they want something."
 
"The question of what that girl wants has been eluding me for over a week, dear uncle. A long sleepless week. We must have a traitor, uncle. It's the only thing that makes sense. No other way for a dropship to have landed without us knowing about it."
 
"Perhaps, but looking for traitors means you inevitably find them. Whether they are there or not."
 
"What choice do I have! A child made a complete fool of me! Then had the audacity to save us. To save my world! How else can I react? How am I supposed to act? She should be an enemy, I know how to deal with them, but she carried a dagger at my back, but offered no threats to use it, she basically handed me the blade when she walked out."
 
"Hmmm. Difficult, perhaps stop getting caught up in her then. Young Arthur now has his mech, and we can fix something for little Vincent now. Maybe even repair a few others and create a full Lance. With that, your holdings have already improved drastically. The factories weren't damaged, which is a first in some time. How about instead of plotting for her. Just wait. Wait and watch, and only plan when action needs to be done. For now… Well. I have some old contacts with LIC. I've sent them an update on what happened here. The young girl will be watched. If she is a spy, or a plant by the League? They will find out, and make sure she has a swift end."
 
She took a deep breath picking up her tea and sipping on the cooling liquid. "Wait and see, Uncle? That is your advice far too often."
 
"And yet, it always seems to be the intelligent choice."
 
She bit back a snort. "Sure it is."
----
===Saying good buy to our fallen Soldier===
Of course the Demi-Precentor was quite interested when I called him not long after telling him the arbitration was being canceled. But I didn't bother to hide the fact that I had made a deal with the Governess that in my eyes had balanced the issue.
 
He was quite pleased to not have to do anything further.
 
After stopping by the Hospital once more, to check on everyone, I did have something I needed to see.
 
Our Mechs of course still belonged to us, even if they were damaged, but walking into the underground mechbay to see the hulks of our former rides? It was sad. Like watching a beached whale. Or an old lion finally running out of steam.
 
My Locust was nothing by scrap at this point. The massive shattered dent that made up the entire right side of the mech both from my charges, and getting struck by a battlefist showed just how much abuse she had taken. 
 
"She was a good mech."
 
Gauge had joined me. Unlike Benny who had been watching over the members of the Iron Blooded Orphans, Gauge had been overseeing their mechanical side. The damages we had taken were quite immense after all.
 
"It still is! We can fix it up!" Gauge was a bit more hopeful than I. 
 
"No. Move her over into my private bay. I'll… Create her replacement and let her rest. She did well."
 
"It's a mech, Vicky. Stop treating it like a fallen soldier." Gauge scoffed as he poked my shoulder. "It'll take a while obviously, but we can fix it. If you want to get something new, keep it anyways, we can use it as one of the benefits for our repair team. When they fix it someone can pilot it. Win win. They get more training and a reward for doing well."
 
"My Poor fallen soldier, she was such a good girl, Gauge." I continued to over-react. 
 
His look of disgust tore a laugh from me, probably the first one I have had since I woke up. "I can't deal with you while you are acting like this." He huffed as he stomped away. 
 
I smirked before turning back to my mech. I couldn't help but put my hand on her shattered armor, feeling the texture of the plates so battered as to be useless. "We were a good team. Thank you… But I guess it is time for me to move on."
 
Although that would have to come later. Before anything else, I only had my Noteputer Nanoforge left. First I needed to replace my ride, so I could get back to building what we needed. So with that I turned away from my first mech. And headed to my private Mechbay. I would need a new mech, and I reminded myself, I would have to yell at Gauge to remove any of the Lostech from the old Locust. They couldn't use a Nanoforge anyways, so might as well get them to replace it with a medium laser. 
 
It would be good practice.
 
I waltzed into my private sanctum, With a few button presses I pulled up something I hadn't done anything with before. 
 
"Centurion-NFX, huh? Well, let's see what piloting you is like."
 
And in a burst of green light it began.
----
===The Punishment Fit the Crime===
Lenden was my next stop once I left my Noteputer to build. He was easy enough to find. The entirety of Rough Squad, what was left of them were surrounding the scorched mech that had caused so many problems.
 
And had saved my life.
 
"Commander on deck!" The call went out as I approached, from none other than Lenden himself, which was a surprise. Rough Squad, and it's leader weren't known for their discipline. I saluted. "At ease, Rough Squad." I called out as I watched the six boys all standing around a neurohelm.
 
I had been planning on a memorial of course. I would have to do something for those we lost, but I see now that I was beaten to it.
 
The old neurohelm I had hated so much, the thing gave me a headache just looking at it, but now? It carried the names of each of the fallen etched into it.
 
"We added their names after the battle. This thing? It was our hope. A promise showing we could be Mechwarriors too. By our own strength, our own will. They will always be with us."
 
I took a shuddering breath.
 
"I can't condone what you did. Not now, maybe not ever, even if you did save my life Lenden… No I won't say anymore. You all did what you thought was right. What you thought you needed to, and who am I to say you were wrong." Even if I am thinking it.
 
I put my hand on the neurohelm, thinking of the boys that had sacrificed everything to wear this stupid thing.
 
"Are you going to be the pilot of our Scorchback?"
 
Lenden blinked at me for a minute before getting the joke, as he turned to his Hunchback that had been burned so much, none of the original paint remained. Just a black and gray soot that coated every inch of the mech. "Yeah. The boys agreed I would be his pilot. But with him I'll work hard. Each of us will get a mech… working together… I heard uh… The military jerks, they've been poking around, making noise about him. My Scorchback… What-?" he asked, unable to really ask the question. If after everything they had done, would I have to give away the mech they had died for.
 
"He's yours. The Governess forfeited any salvage claim to him this morning. Go talk to Gauge, we will need his computer reset and probably stripped out to set him up for you as a permanent pilot. Mechwarrior." I left him with that, watching the pride bloom in his breast. 
 
"Oh, And Lieutenant. Pick a last name… Also if you ever do something so stupid again, I'll kill you myself."
----
===Weight of a decision===
I had figured I would deal with a lot of tense situations after I woke up. People mourning over their friends. Their family. I had fully expected to have to comfort someone crying eventually.
 
I just… Really?
 
"C-commander! I'm s-so soo sorry!" Elias was not a small guy. He was probably one of the tallest teens, the boy's parents were probably from Rasalhague considering he looked like a young viking.
 
The fact his arms were weakly folded over my shoulders as he bawled into my shoulder in regret really made this scene uncomfortable.
 
"Elias… It's fine. I ordered you to scrap them in case they were ever lost."
 
"But Com-mander!" He hiccuped, trying to stem his runny nose, "The lostech, I destroyed it! If, if, I had just used my head. We wouldn't have lost them! I could have held those mechs off all day if I just used my head!"
 
"It's okay, Elias. We all made mistakes, but you survived, you got your unit through the battle alive, that's what's important. We can replace equipment."
 
"No! We, you can't just replace lostech, Commander! I can't even imagine how much those scanners were worth! Millions!? Billions? I ruined them! I destroyed them, because I messed up!"
 
Awkward. This was so awkward. How do I explain this? How do I get him to realize the sensors he broke are worthless to me? That I valued their life an infinite times more? "No. Elias, you listen to me. You are alive. You learned from this battle right, you just said you know you made mistakes, in the future will you make the same mistakes again?"
 
"No! Never! I'll stagger fire, aim at different mechs, hold fire when they are in cover so I don't waste ammo. Have one of the carriers reload while the others keep overwatch, that way I can keep firing and they won't know when it's safe to move… I'll. I'll!"
 
"Good. That right there, is worth more than any lostech, Elias. You earned something that we are so desperate for. The entire reason we are on this planet. Experience. You just went from a completely green artillery officer. To something more. Something valuable. The loss of the carriers? A small price to pay for that."
 
"Vicky!" Elias bear hugged me as he continued crying. Damnit. Fission mailed I guess. I'll get them next time.
----
<<Next Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
Chapter 4-1