InaG Chpt 11

==It's not a Gundam - Chapter 11 - The King and The Emperor==
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===Breakout===
Outside of Nova Roma
Alphard, Marian Hegemony
May 3025
Pure chaos reigned outside. Gunmen mixed in with the refugees began shooting left and right, cars exploding in the middle of the base, or in the case of a pair of trucks pulled away tarps as fully loaded autocannons began sweeping the horizon with shells.
 
People were dying. Plenty due to being caught in the crossfire as Coalition and Marian troops began to trade shots.
 
Immediately I acted. The Haros read my orders and the Haros obeyed. They slotted themselves into their drones and rushed out to put an end to the trojan horse that Comstar plotted
 
Biggs tapped his earpiece and scowled, "Movement. Marius is sallying out."
 
I grimaced, "How many?"
 
"All of his forces."
 
The Ptolemaios shuddered as explosions rocked the hull. Loud ones that almost made me lose balance. The cameras for my ship showed everything, or rather nothing: a dozen outlines barely made out in the darkness. A dozen invisible figures who moved distorting the light around them.
 
"Sneak Suits." Dote frowned.
 
"Worse."
 
The ship shook again. Even more than it did before. The Ptolemaios' hull plating was tough but it could only take so many breaching charges.
 
"Most of our Mechs are still stuck in their bays. The Ptolemaios also." Biggs spoke, "If the Marian main force arrives-""Most." I looked to the Loto, "Not all."
 
It was only fortunate that it became fully fueled and fully loaded.
 
"Zako Squad," I shouted. "Get them off my ship."
 
The Zakos as one saluted. They were childish and clumsy, but in that moment I could see the glowing pink Mono-Eye flash red. They didn't give a verbal tic. They were silent as the grave as they grabbed their guns and axes.
 
"Biggs tell Orbit to drop as fast as they can. Get our scouts consolidated ... I'll hold them off. Ms. Dote-"
 
"Already on it." She said, eyes narrowed with determination.
 
She drew a gun. It was stubby, pink, and covered in glitter, but it was a laser that could pop a man's head. The notches said she wasn't JUST a secretary.
 
"You handle the Romans out there. I'll help deal with them here."
 
I nodded and climbed into my newest Mech. As it powered own I saw the displays come alive with data of the battle raging inside my base and what was coming toward us.
 
The entire Nova Roma garrison and dozens more Marian blips that weren't there before all converging on our Dropships.
 
"And one more thing," she said, "I like a movie and a meal."
 
"...Yes, Ma'am."
 
The cargo bay doors slammed open as Zakos and a veritable swarm of Haros rushed out to battle Romans and Cultists. I pushed the Loto forward. Rubber tracks met the road and I rocketed out onto the open field.
 
I slammed into one of the hidden Marian technicals tossing it aside as the Loto'smachine Gun shredded a second.
 
The rest I would leave up to my friends. A Zako wrestled with a Tornado-wearing ROM Commando, Biggs and Wedge fought back to back, Gluck and the Knights of St. Cameron drew vibro-swords as they charged an equal number of Marian soldiers wearing armor beneath their rags. As I sped toward the last of the Marian Legions I could see Mack with a double-barreled shotgun in one hand and a broken beer bottle in another.
 
I was joined by our scouts: tanks and hovercraft. Altogether cheaper and more efficient to the field than Battlemechs. They were mostly Condors and Vedettes rebuilt to be good-as-new and then some. Now they were all I had available on short notice.
 
In the distance I could see the familiar blue dots of Marian Battlemechs. Not only did they make a joke of Rome ... they chose blue instead of red for their forces.
 
"It is the last chance to run." I spoke.
"With all due respect, sir." A Junker spoke, upgraded Ontos keeping pace with its allies, "I'm not going anywhere."
 
His sentiments were shared. A chorus of agreements filled the radio channel.
 
You've won them over either way. They'll listen to you. They WANT to listen to you. Your responsible. Someone has to be.
 
I sighed. When this was all over ... I'll have to figure out what Secelia's favorite food is.
I tapped a button as a Haro-manned UAV drone shot up into the sky far above and ahead of us.
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===Confronting the son of the Imperator===
This was it.
 
All the fog of war was gone. I could see my enemy. And they could see me just as well. The board was set and Marius had more pieces than me.
 
But in the back of my head, a little voice said it was more than enough. I was inclined to agree.
 
We had a greater reach than he.
In Gundam, railguns were replaced with beam weapons. Linear Rifles were old tech. But here in Battletech? A Gauss Rifle was always handy. A full line of magnetic slugs slammed into the approaching Marian ranks. They didn't think much of us trying to charge them. They didn't expect us to be so accurate at long range either.
The compact Minovsky Reactor did it's thing. As LRMs began to rain down on us they missed by a mile as Minovsky particles disrupted their targeting and communication systems. What did hit splashed off E-Carbon plating. With the drone above us acting as a relay and eyes in the sky we weren't as blinded as them. The Loto's twin cannons boomed, it's shells reaching hypersonic with a loud shrill whistle. A Praetorian Centurion fell as it popped the cockpit, a Cicada fell as it's legs was blown right off.
My weapons were joined by lasers, missiles, and the occasional burst of bullets. I fired again and again. Those who had LRMs, Grenade Launchers, or mortars filled the space between us and the Marians with fire and thunder, forcing their Centuries to disperse or be pummeled shell after shell.
 
We fired off our smoke and activated our ECM to blind them further. As the Hovertanks weaved around to strike form the flanks, he tankers, stupidly brave as they were, decided to brawl. Like packs of wolves and sharks, they cut down lone and isolated Battlemechs. It was all themselves. I only gave them information about the greater battle around them. Between the smaller profile and the visual and electronic screen, the giants were blind ... and their Achilles's heels were exposed.
 
"EXARCH!" Marius roared.
I saw his mech for what it was: A Black Knight.
A rare Frontline-Command Mech ...outside of Comstar's stockpiles. It read as such: BL-6b-KNT. A Royal model. But it had been changed. For one the Knightly appearance was modified to make it look more Roman than a Centurion. Second was all the small turnings and likely costly refinements that made it more deadly. Third was the sword; it was pointed right at me.
 
Kill him. WE won. Kill me. THEY won.
 
"Face me like a man you coward!"
 
I took his challenge and willed the Loto forward.
 
He fired his energy weapons. All eight of them. It was no Kira Yamato Laser Boat. But it was a threat to steer clear off. My machine swerved to the left, as the beams clipped the Loto. The armor melted, but not enough to keep me down. My shoulder machine gun barked, sending a stream of lead down range toward the Black Knight's head. Instinctively Marius raised his free hand to defend himself. The arm wielding the ER PPC lashed out instead. I slammed hard right to avoid the sweep of the crackling beam.
 
The moment the displays said my cannons were loaded I fired. One after the other point-blank. The Black Knight stumbled as I drifted to it's flank.
 
Marius roared in rage and frustration. He ignited jumpjets that I am sure were NOT standard to any Black Knight nearly crushing me with a heavy stomp.
 
He swung his clearly Endo-Steel sword, digging a deep trench in the earth as he missed.
 
He was distracted. I wasn't. The battle was shifting, slowly, but surely in my favor as the Legions had no commander to lead them.
 
"I am the son of Emperors!" Marius roared, a lucky laser cutting apart a cannon.
 
I barely dodged a sword swing but lost the second gun as well
 
"You are a nobody in the face of Rome!"
 
More of our dropships were starting to come down, the men back at base were also routed and whatever my allies could get was scrambling to join us. I could trust my people. Marius couldn't. And that was why he was going to lose.
 
"You think some tank can defeat me!?"
 
My machine gun barked, once again to distract him. Marius by now was raving mad. Whatever poison that Comstar filled his ear with had gotten to him. I had to end this. Before he got lucky.
 
So I did the dumbest thing a tanker could do when fighting a mech: ram it.
 
I used the lip of a boulder as a ramp and I flew off it with the speed of a race car ... and happy to know that the Loto's front bumper was also it's feet. I was thrown into my seat the moment a Quadvee and an Assault Mech collided.
 
As the Black Knight stumbled back, gyroscope trying and failing to regain it's balance; the Loto transformed. In place of a tank was a mech. The front half turned to legs, the turret becoming it's torso. I raised the missile launchers to the side, pointing all 24 One-Shot SRMs at Marius head...
"This is no Tank Marius! No Tank!"
 
 ...and squeezed the trigger.
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===Ashes of Victory===
The laser blasted the gun in the Marians's hand. The heavy-end of the pistol slammed into the Marians' face. The Marian fell with a painful grunt and wheezed as Secelia stomped on his chest with the weight of a fashionably heavy boot and pointed the business-end of the laser between the man's eyes.
 
He held his hands up as Secelia looked on with disgust. This was the last of them. Holed up in a crack between a Dropper's landing gear as angry Nova Romans tore apart the few that failed to surrender to the coalition troops in kind.
 
"Take him away." she sniffed the air and scowled, "And get him some new pants."
 
By her command, the FWL-hired mercenaries grabbed the defeated man and dragged him to the brig. More for his safety than others.
 
This wasn't her first battle. Between her duties in the Inner Sphere and some darker memories of her past life, she had gotten used to pointless, violent deaths. That didn't mean she liked it.
 
Around the forward base were plenty of men, women, and children who had been cut down. Killed in the crossfire and considered acceptable casualties for the Marians. Even the most hardened of the mercenaries she had hired didn't want to see this. Even covered up the sheer number of lifeless figures was sobering.
 
The Cavaliers as a whole looked upon everything with stricken faces. Some were more vocal in their outrage.
 
"Dishonorable!" Mashymre spat, "Disgraceful! What kind of animals did the Marians raise!?"
 
"Too many...." Gluck mumbled, dazed and walking with a limp, "Too many..."
 
"Ms. Dote." Jake Mason approached her, "I've made a decision."
 
Dote frowned, "What would that be."
 
"Our bonus." he said, "Please give it to the victims."
 
His eyes met those of other mercenary officers. Most nodded, and others answered with a sigh or shrug.
 
"I will." she answered back, "...Thank you."
 
Eventually, the reinforcements returned with Exarch and the scouts in tow. The once pristine freshly created tank was scarred like it had gone through a wood chipper and spent an hour in a fireplace. But the Loto still moved under its own power and its pilot was still in one piece.
The Exarch climbed out, frozen at the sight of so many dead and injured before he visibly shrunk with exhaustion.
 
"The Imperator is dead." Exarch sighed, "It's over."
 
For a victory, it didn't feel like one.
 
"The original plan..." Gluck spoke, "was to take Alphard and capture Marius. Without the Capitol or the Hegemony's leader the Legates and Principes would collapse into infighting. But if we left them as-is..."
 
"More blood to be spilled." Cello grimaced.
 
More fighting to be done. The looks of the Junkers, the Militia, and the Mercenaries said that they were exhausted mentally and emotionally.
 
Fighting faceless enemies separated by walls of metal with rules of war enforced by the great arbiter that was the MRB made it harder for them to see the brutality of war until they saw it right in front of their eyes.
 
"...A friend of mine." Secelia started, "Said that If you run one, you gain one. But if you move forward you gain two."
 
The eyes of her peers turned toward her, Exarch's included.
 
"When you run, you gain one by not losing." she continued, "But if you move forward... Whether you win or not ... there are two things you gain ..."
"...Experience and Pride." Exarch stood up, firm and resolute as the day she met him.
The Exarch climbed up atop the Loto, eventually, the crowd noticed the man who led them to victory was now ready to speak. They expected him to boast his victory like any conquering lord, or to thank them for their service or even an apology as they were the witness of a massacre at their feet. Instead, they saw a man battered and weary but still standing, still ready to fight. A man worthy of being their leader.
 
"For the better part of a millennium, you assumed that any land you had could be lost at any time, and if that happened, you would just start over somewhere else. But there is nowhere else this time. Our place is here, on this planet. Marius isn't the first. Or the last. If we didn't stand against him now then what would we do with the next Marius? the next Amaris? Or the ones after that!?
 
Our ancestors built a place for themselves here thanks to their indomitable spirit and the strength of their resolve. Now it is time to find that SAME resolve to protect what they struggled to build.
 
To all the people of Alphard, the Periphery, my family in the Junkers, and our friends from farther way: if you can hear my voice, then I ask you to put aside your differences and stand with me as one.
 
Let's show them what happens when they threaten our home!"
 
The crowd cheered. All sense of defeat, tiredness, and terror had left them. If only for a few moments. Civilians raised their fists, Soldiers their swords and guns.
 
Secelia smiled. She knew she had good taste.
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===Judgement===
Cameron. Kerensky. Whoever the man was it mattered little. The Star League was gone. The SLDF deserted. Jerome Blake stayed. His Blessed Order stood while the rest of the Inner Sphere had descended to barbarity. They would stand when this Exarch was all but forgotten.
 
A shame really, he could have used a man like Exarch.
 
In ROM Agent Well's hand was the cracked, sparking remains of one of the robots that The Exarch possessed.
 
"...We'll see what secrets you have in your memory my friend."
 
He turned away from the light of the civilization as he melted back into the dark.
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Chapter 11