IMP41

==Chapter 41 - Important People==
The Triad
Tharkad System
Lyran Commonwealth
November, 3097
[Tharkad City, outsider the Triad...0700 AM]
Sunrise over the Triad showed street fighting outside the Royal Palace, as elements of the 1st Royal Guards clashed with elements of...the 1st Royal Guard.
Inside, things were even more confused.
Andrew found himself amid the rubble of the Throne Room itself, the defeated hulks of two other Hauptmann Omnimechs. Also in Royal Guards colors, laid out as loyal elements of the LCAF were mopping up.
But Milena was safe.  Her protective detail weren't the men he'd left with her.  hey were regular infantry grunts led by a pair of women who, like his beloved, were not in any approved LCAF uniform.
He recognized the smaller one. "Lieutenant Ngo, report?" he asked, using the commo channel.
"Sir, thank god you're safe.  Your father is dead, sir."  Her intonation was flat and emotionless as a corpse.  Her pajamas, where they showed past the flak jacket and comm-enabled helmet, washed red in several shades of 'blood spatter'.
"I've been informed," he said.  "What is the situation?"
"Confused, Sir.  We hooked up with a couple of platoons who lost their leadership in the coup or whose leaders were part of the coup attempt.  A squad of loyal armored troops have re-secured the command center and we've got high value Prisoners with nobody to hand them to, sir.  Now that you're here, sir, I can hand off to you, ayeh?" asked Amanda Ngo
"Hand off?" asked Andrew
"Command and control, Sir. Irena and I have been coordinating squads and leaderless platoons all over the complex. Now that you're here, we've got a proper ground forces officer to take command, ayeh sir?"
"Stay at it, Ngo.  Van Oosten, are the prisoners cooperative?"
"After what Amanda did to Lt. General Wood?  Ayeh sir, very cooperative." Lt. Van Oosten said.  She had the same empty, dead tone in her voice.  Andrew increased video gain.  The young, blonde woman's eyes had a distant, almost psychotic, stare.
"What did you do?" questioned Andrew.
"I compelled the General to provide identification of troops supporting the coup attempt on site, sir." Amanda's voice was still flat.  "I used a kitchen knife and some soap, and the battery pack from his laser pistol.  No enlisted personnel were involved in the interrogation."
Andrew winced.  Torture.  She tortured the man.
"What else did you get from him?" he asked.
"The coup attempt was intended to place former Archon Prince Victor Ian Steiner-Davion back on the throne.  His answers were contradictory, sir: Either they wanted Victor on the throne as a war-leader against the Clans or because of his ties to Devlin Stone's Republic of the Sphere."
"Where is the general now?" he asked.
"He... may recover in time, Sir.  Shall I send an NCO detail to retrieve him from holding, sir?" Amanda asked.  "We didn't toothpick him."
Thank god!! "Maintain position for now, I'll see about getting you two a proper relief."
Morally, Andrew knew he needed to have the both of them relieved, and placed in custody.  He couldn't afford that tactically-Ngo and Van Oosten had, between them, gotten resistance organized and had been key to his own victory in retaking the palace.
They saved Milena. thought Andrew.
It was a dilemma he could put off, at least, for a little while.
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