WoWS3 Chpt 5

<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
==Weapons of War Saga: The Final March- Chapter 5 - ==
-----
===Cold Orders of Extermination===
Command & Control (CIC)
Aegis-Class Cruiser, CJFS Red Talon
High Orbit above Apostica, Lyran Commonwealth
June 23rd, 3142
----
Malvina looked at the projection of the world below her.
“They continue to resist us. We must send a message. Those who refuse to submit shall receive no quarter.” Malvina narrowed her eyes.
“Chingis Khan?” Beckett Malthus controlled his tone carefully to ensure he was seeking clarification.
“Poison their wells. Even the ones our Warriors say they can control and prevent theft from. Choose something we can remove from the water supply safely but something they cannot. That way those who submit and do as they are told shall continue to eke out their miserable existences on this desolate rock.” Malvina said after a brief moment.
“And those who do not will die of thirst.” Beckett completed.
“You are learning. There is hope for you yet Beckett Malthus.”
“What of the reports from closer to Terra? Surely we should do something about that situation before it gets too far out of hand.” Beckett again measured his tone to avoid appearing to question his Khan.
“The Republic is simply desperate. This Eternal Princess is merely a fabrication. Helena Cameron never survived the Usurper.”
“The DNA evidence… Our own sibkos… Forgive my confusion my Khan.”
“It is understandable. Quite simply put the DNA from the Roberts girl was simply misidentified, she is really from a far less prominent Cadet Branch and the DNA from the supposed Helena Cameron, too perfect. I do not know where they got it from but it is clearly a ruse. As for our sibkos raised from those giftakes they have proved wanting. I want them reaved. All of them. For those that have already gained a rank I will allow them the small measure of honor of a death in battle. We shall begin our next stage of operations… Here. Timkovichi. Put them in the fiercest fighting until they all die honorable deaths on the Battlefield.” Malvina answered flatly.
“I see. We continue to secure our flank while keeping our Warriors sharp as well as give our industry time to produce more war material for our forces.” Beckett studied the map.
“Aff. It will not be long before the weak willed Lyrans shatter under our attacks. Their precious Exiles and Kell Hounds cannot hold us back much longer. Their arrogance in thinking they can collar another Wolf pet will be our opportunity. Eventually they will get bit. But that will be as it should as the Wolves are the only worthy prey between us and Terra. So we shall dance this dance. Until the Wall comes down or we defeat the Wolves. Whichever comes first.”
“Then we deal with this Eternal Princess after we become ilClan.” Beckett nodded.
“Aff. We shall teach this imposter an important lesson.”
-----
===Pent up Frustration===
Kolossus Station 
Kolossus System, Deep Periphery
August, 3142
----
"They murdered the children!!" Perversion howled.
"Of course they did." Primary stated. "Why wouldn't they?" There are side-effects to calving your consciousness, Primary, the original scan of Amanda Roberts, was almost emotionless-the process to create her copies left her drained in ways only Kolossus could fully understand.
That the copy made from her darker lusts and fantasies was nearly incoherent underscored the violation that Perversion was feeling. "Phillipa, look at me…they reaved them all?"
"All."
"Well, we won't be fighting family then. I take it they found you, or you wouldn't have needed to be picked up in data form."
"I failed to stop them." Perversion moaned.
"You couldn't have, not with the resources you were given. Small Matters already submitted your recovery report."
"There must be a PRICE!" Phillipa demanded.
"There will be, but we need time to prepare." Primary told her, "Do you want a new body?"
"Only if it helps me kill the Mongols." Perversion stated. "I need nothing else."
"Time. For now, stay in the server and learn." Primary told her, "Kolossus has a long term strategy in mind, Helena's gearing up for war, we can't afford to show our hand too obviously just yet…"
"I want vengeance!!"
"You'll have to settle for Justice. I need to log and have a speak with Kolossus in private. Don't try to slice in, I don't want to go through the process of making your replacement."
Amanda stood up from the interface chair, and disconnected. "You felt that, right??"
"Kolossus felt it." 
"It may be time for me to leave retirement behind, Kolossus, but that's going to need a bigger ship than the Tiny Armature series."
"Kolossus would prefer it if Amanda-Primary would stay and recover more. Amanda Primary stills has significant emotional damage from the process of creating her copies…and the Envoys are more useful to the war effort if they remain…unknown."
Amanda sighed, and went to the kitchenette to make a small breakfast. "Kolossus is right." she nodded, "but it hurts…"
"Yes." it agreed
"but…I feel…motivated for the first time in years…" she said.
"A sign Amanda-Primary is recovering from the process." Kolossus validated, "but Amanda-Primary is not in good shape to leave the Station yet."
She filled a cup, and savored reality a moment, before sitting at the kitchenette's table. "So…no more visits to the comfy chair then?" she asked.
"Kolossus would prefer not to let Amanda-Primary to engage in a self-destructive process again. There are forty Envoys in the field and twenty more awaiting deployment, this has left Amanda Primary almost drained of emotion and volition. Kolossus would prefer if Amanda Primary would take time to recover herself from the psychological trauma before attempting any new divisions."
"Out of our most recent batch, who's fit?"
"Famine and Atrocity have higher than average aggression factors, they are adapting to simulife training fairly well, and they are…more physically oriented than your first five batches."
"Start them on simulife briefings regarding Clan Jade Falcon, the Mongol movement, and recent events as we know them." Amanda instructed, "contact Perfidy and who do we have in the zone held by the Hell's Horses?"
"We do not."
"Pity…adjust Famine's biological avatar…um…ethnic shift, increase factors for a western Asian subtype, but increase muscle mass and dietary efficiency, give her the full packet on what Pestilence is doing with Helena, and then slip her into one of Helena's recruiting drafts."
"Is that wise?"
"Armies need soldiers, Famine's got martial inclinations and she's a physical fighter, we'll call it an early Landing-Day gift. Have our network slip the stats to Helena at Lazarus ahead of her."
"What about naming her?" Kolossus asked.
"I've about used up 'p' words, haven't I?" Amanda rolled her eyes and then…"Freya? No, that's too nordic…Felicia it is, then. Felicia Noor."
"And Atrocity?"
"Make her look like a Hazen." Amanda said savagely, "Maker her like she could be Malvina's ****** sister."
“But not her twin, as that could lead to complications.” Kolossus clarified."I want her to look enough like the bitch to cause SOME complications…like, at a distance maybe, in bad light." Amanda agreed, "She's going to be deployed to play head games with the Falcon rear area. Red Corsair stuff."
“Ah Kolossus understands now. Kolossus believes this was in bad movie Kolossus once watched. But this time Kolossus is involved so this plot will work.”
Amanda sighed and settled back, feeling the exhaustion again. "You're right, I'm still too drained to play." she shook her head. 
"DO not forget to eat, Amanda." Kolossus told her.
"Right. Eat…" she proceeded to do so lethargically and mechanically.
-----
===Setting sights on the First Target ===
Helena’s office
New Lazarus, Inner Sphere Location Classified
August 24th, 3142
----
“Well this settles who I want to hit first, but they are too far away as yet. It’d be a disaster sending out a deep range strike at this point.” Helena Cameron clenched her fist.
“So what do we do in the meantime?” Dave Foster asked.
“Unfortunately the only thing we can do. We keep training and building up. Then soon we start doing the same thing they are, secure our flanks. I hate this feeling. I know there are plenty of reasons not to do what I want to do right now but it all still makes me feel so…inadequate.” Helena seethed.
“Aff, but focus on that. We do have reasons to wait. We’re in no shape to support an operation that far away from here, at least not yet. Not one that will mean anything. But we will have our opportunity. I suspect sooner than any of us suspects.” Dave nodded.
“Repeating me?”
“Aff. You need it. You’re too much like Amanda in that regard. But unlike her when someone else says it, well you tend to accept it a bit easier. Not much mind you.”
“Thanks, Dave. It’s weird. As much as I’m far older than you I’m starting to feel like you’re the Dad I never had. I was far too young to have anything, but an idealized version of Simon to work from.”
“Director-General… You honor me.” Dave Foster nearly stammered.
“Now I believe we have a lot of work to do. The Wolves and Falcons are not going to be content to shred the Lyrans and Mariks forever to secure their flanks and this internal spat with the Combine likewise isn’t going to last forever. Hell about the only small miracle that might actually last for a bit is Daoshen for whatever reason still seems more focused on the Davions.” Helena sighed.
“I must admit I am curious as to why you seem so much more interested in reclaiming your birthright. You tried to shirk it, deny it, and all but abdicate it.” Dave probed.
“I did indeed. What I have come to realize is that it is the ultimate game, who rules over the rest. Losers often perish but those who try to not even play the game often face grimmer fates. So if I am to be able to look myself in the mirror after all I have done and asked of others, I must now play the game for real. At least this way I might actually be able to make a government that isn’t based on violence or oppression but will still withstand the test of time.”
“You’ve been watching that old holovid again haven’t you?” asked Dave
“Guilty. I have to allow myself some hobbies and I enjoy it.”, Helena admits.
“Aff. I suppose you do.” Dave chuckled.
----
===Birth of a tool of Revenge===
Production Floor 172 
Kolossus Station, Periphery
August 30th, 3142
----
The body decanted, and was laid across a table.
Laser scalpels and robotic arms performed the final surgery.
The assembled unit would have to spend time in physical conditioning, of course, but the principles were something known to Kolossus…and Murakami, and only lightly suspected by Helena.
The dual triple-core brain chip was placed, artificial neural fibers already laid for it.
Atrocity took her first breath in physical reality.
“IT’S ALIVE!”
“Kolossus…” Atrocity groaned.
“Kolossus could not help Kolossus. It has become tradition now.”
Atrocity got to her feet, and said "Mirror."
One of the robot arms brought up a full-length mirror.
"Kolossus…why do I look like Elizabeth Hazen?"
"You have been paying attention to your lessons, or you wouldn't have noticed it." She turned to see…Primary.
Primary looked like hell. Bags under her eyes, streaks of gray in messy hair, a slump in her shoulders, stress and worry creases worked into a face prematurely aged.
"I was…Jesus, Prime, you look so much worse in person!" Atrocity blurted, then covered her mouth, "Sorry..?"
"No, I do. As to why, that's a memory you didn't retain, with good reason. What's your name?"
"Allie." Atrocity responded, then looked surprised, "Really? Allie?"
"Allison." Primary told her, "I picked it for you before the process, glad that part took. You're one of the problem fragments, Allie. But in your case, the lack of subtlety is an asset."
Atrocity straightened, "Because I'm a Club, not a scalpel!"
"Precisely. You're going to help bash Malvina's Mongols in the teeth, and you don't have to worry about doing anything that lasts past that point, unless you want to."
"I'm…revenge!!" 
"Atrocity. Yes. Vengeance for the victims. You're going to get things Kolossus doesn't like to give out to anybody." Primary told her. "You'll use all of them."
“Heh. So I get to play with the party favors. Nice.”"Allie, you get to bring all the party." Primary told her, "All the party and make it loud."
“Oh it’ll be loud, that’s for sure. I’m pretty sure we’ll be getting noise complaints light years away. Physics be damned.”
"Speaking of damning physics, come with me." Primary said.
The two walked to a lift to the near-surface levels.
"Dock…thirteen?"
"It's symbolic."
What rested in the release cradle was long, and dark…and big.
"What is this?"
"Prototype. You're taking it out no-flags." Primary told her, "Just you, the ship's AI network, and enough drones and robots to recreate a Terminator franchise."
“Which AI framework?”
Primary reached up, and tabbed a panel on the causeway.
"WHAT???" the voice on the speaker sounded…off. Irritated, angry, and young.
"Potent Tool, meet your Captain, Allison, this is Potent Tool, and no, I didn't get to name him."
"It needs something…" Atrocity mused…"Kolossus, Tool…how would you feel about a special roundel?"
"Oh? How special?"
"Wolverine's face in side profile, crossed slashes like claw marks. It'll get all their attention."
"That might be a little too much attention." Primary said. "Pick something else."
“Then the ancient Scottish crest of House Cameron superimposed over the Star League symbol. A reminder of the oaths they broke and who they just betrayed.”
"That works." Kolossus ruled.
Primary reached into her stained coveralls. "Blah-blah-blah, honor, blah-blah-blah Glory, here's your knife…" She pressed a vibroblade bayonet into Atrocity's hand, "Go kill things. Run it however you want once you leave the dock, but kill the enemy and make them pay. You won't be retaining return data for Kolossus once you jump out. The only way you can come home, is if we call on you, do you understand why?"
"Because if I know it, they can potentially rip it from me, or the data centers on the ship." Atrocity confirmed.
"Precisely. Keep your backup updated in case you're killed, so we can bring you back."
"How many of me are out there?"
"Just you." Primary said, "I can't…you're lucky you don't remember what I had to go through making you, Allison…it was bad, okay? Just…do your best." she said, and Atrocity could see the fatigue taking over.
"I will, Momma." she reached out and hugged her progenitor. "I'll do my best, you'll be proud of me."
----
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
05