LUU Chpt 1-5

==Let Us Unite - Chapter 5 -==
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===The Batcave===
Location: Outskirts of Halifax City - Northwind, Federated Suns
"Welcome to Grandma's house," Bryn flipped a switch, bright lights flickering on as an old fusion engine rumbled to life. 
 
"Holy shit," Lieutenant Brown swore as the hallway opened up into a vast cavern. "You dug up the motherfucking mountain."
 
"Not exactly," Bryn shrugged. "This was one of DoME's projects long before we built the connecting tunnel from the cabin. What started as an evacuation city and underground aquifer was soon repurposed for a training and intel-gathering facility. Technically, 'Grandma's House' is just the cabin that leads to this facility. The training portion of the facility," his hand waved over at the underground city that was lit up and showing in the distance. "Is called the Black Watch School of Urban Combat. But we generally just called it the 'School'. But we're not here for School, we're here for something else entirely."
 
So the two men began moving through the facility, the Lieutenant taking in everything with a look of awe as the broad spaces of the cavern began to narrow. With helpful maps and signs explaining what certain locations were. 
 
"This facility spent forty years being expanded," Bryn explained. "We wanted to make sure that our training and intelligence was top-notch. Unfortunately, all of the training and intelligence in the world matter little if the very person that you're charged to protect is a fool."
 
Then they finally reached the far section of the facility, the sign on the floor and above the doorway helpfully indicating that this was the 'Computer Room'.
 
"Welcome to the Batcave," Bryn snickered as the door slid open, revealing a massive computer with a multitude of screens. "Or at least that's what I always called it."
 
"I don't actually get that reference, sir," Lieutenant Michael Brown raised his eyebrow. "Why would you call anything a Batcave?"
 
"Uncultured swine," Bryn shook his head as he moved to the computer and pulled a small sheet off of the chair, dust falling to the ground before he shifted to do the same to the computer screens. "Dust, it doesn't matter where you are, it gets everywhere."
 
"So what's special about this computer? Why is this one more important than any of the others?"
 
"For one thing," Bryn's fingers began flying across the keys as he navigated menus and began opening several screens. "It's an observation device that's tied into every single one of the major planetary systems in place. Including the HPG that's here, so it's been collecting data since the fall of the Terran Hegemony."
 
Michael's eyes widened as he realized what that meant. 
 
"Also, there's one other thing that this computer has access to," Bryn stood up, moved to a nearby storage container, and began pulling out a data storage device. "While Bolthole has a Prometheus Core, this has something a bit different," the Major plugged the device into the computer and began downloading the data before standing up and wiping his hands off. "It has all of the old data that both the SLIC and THIC gathered from all of the nation-states that existed before the Fat Bastard tried to kill us all."
 
"What do you mean data gathered from the nation states?" Brown asked. 
 
"It'd take a while to explain," Bryn shrugged. "It'd be so much easier if you actually understood what I meant when I said Batcave."
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===Molding Civilians into Soldiers===
Date: September 1st, 2856
Location: Bolthole, Terran Hegemony
"Everyone on the line!" Drill Instructor Shane Matthews yelled, the barracks room echoing as the recruits stumbled out of bed and put their heels on the back of the yellow line. "It seems that some of us, have decided that lights out means we can do whatever the fuck it is that we want!"
 
He walked back and forth, eyeing each of the recruits, his eyes blazing with fury.
 
"I am here to remind you, that your time, does not belong to you! No, all of your time belongs to me. And then, after I am done with you. If someone should decide to grant you liberty, then, and only then, will you be allowed to have your own time. And because someone decided to sneak out of the barracks, we will now be training!"
 
"Put your PT gear the fuck on!" the other two Drill Instructors moved through. "Hurry up!" Sanchez glared. "Get out of my fucking barracks, now!"
 
"Yes, ma'am!"
 
After the recruits had headed out into the darkness of the early morning, Matthews pulled the last of the three Drill instructors to the side. 
 
"Take them through the anti-mech courses," he ordered the younger man. "I'll meet you there."
 
"Understood, Staff Sergeant."
 
After the room had emptied, the old man sighed and glanced around at the barracks, removing his cover and scratching his bald head for a moment before setting the 'Smokey Bear' back down and reseating it. 
 
"It wouldn't do to let them think I'm anything less than invincible," Matthews groaned before setting his expression and heading out at a jog. He had over half of the recruits convinced that he had superpowers. And it wouldn't do for the rest to be unconvinced.
 
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===Hardening of Royalty===
 
"Today you will be running anti-mech drills!" Matthews stepped out of the darkness, surprising the recruits as his voice boomed throughout the field. "You know your positions, now move!"
 
"Cameron!" the Recruit platoon leader yelled. "You're in charge of Bravo, I want you to flank around to the south!"
 
"Copy that, " the young woman replied, turning and issuing orders to the men and women that were under her command. "Everyone grab an SRM, we're going to need to hit it all at once."
 
Half of the group of twelve grabbed the launchers, the other half each grabbing a backpack of reloads and swinging it onto their backs before following the Cameron around. 
 
"Wait for it," Elizabeth muttered as she pulled a missile out of the pack and loaded it into the launcher. "It doesn't know that we're here yet."
 
As she spoke, the Wasp turned around, its searchlight scanning the perimeter.
 
"Get down, hug the earth," the squad laid down in the muddy ground of the training area, their drab green blending in as the searchlight passed over them, the torso of the 'Mech turning before it stomped towards a squad that wasn't as well hidden.
 
"Its back is turned, hit it in the rear armor once you've got good sight acquisition," Elizabeth ordered, shifting to a position to help with reloading the launcher. 
When the Wasp had focused on the other squad, Elizabeth gave the order, and the six manpack SRMs left the manpack launchers, four of the six missiles rocked the light 'mech forward, the pain rounds shattering red against the rear. 
 
"Reload and hit it again!" the teams reloaded and fired the launchers one more time before falling back and into a bombed-out crater that was full of mud from last week's rain.
 
"Stay still," Elizabeth dragged one of her squadmates into the crater and the mud. 
 
The light 'Mech had ignited its jump jets and moved to where it thought the missiles had come from, its legs stomping next to the crater as it moved past. 
 
"Reload," Elizabeth ordered. "Hit it again while it's close."
 
The missiles fired again and when they hit, a flare was launched out over the field, the bright light creating what felt like a second sun in the sky. 
 
"The scenario is ended!" Sanchez called out. "Fall in for debrief!"
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===Reports from beyond the Sanctuary===
"Staff Sergeant," Colonel Schmitt leaned forward across her desk. "How is the training of our civilians going?"
 
"Surprisingly well," the man scratched the center of his balding head. "I think being attacked in the palace must have lit a fire underneath our Director-General-to-be's ass. Because she's thrown herself into training, and while I didn't make her platoon leader, she's distinguishing herself very well as the 2IC. We're about to move on from basic infantryman's training and into more technical skills."
 
"Do you think that she'll be ready for actual combat?" 
 
"I think that it will be necessary. If she's not willing to become blooded and learn how the forces work, I think that you'll have a bunch of different folks deciding that the Camerons are dead and gone and that there should be a new dynasty in place."
 
"That's treason, Matthews." Hanni glared. 
 
"It's the truth, Hanni, and you know it," Shane sighed. "I'm old enough to remember what Jonathon Cameron was like, and just how far Richard fell from the tree that was his father. Richard took all of the hard work his father did and not only spat on it but stomped it flat into the ground. So don't give me that bullshit. I'm Black Watch too, and if not for the sheer tenacity and fucking grit that Elizabeth is displaying in training I'd have given up on the entire dynasty and stayed retired."
 
He paused, a scowl on his face as he looked out the window at the gorgeous skies of Bolthole. 
 
"Hanni, we're going to turn her into a wartime leader. And it's going to kill every ounce of innocence that remains in her soul. God have mercy on us. But if we don't, then the future of the Terran Hegemony and the Star League dies right here and now."
 
"Fuck me," Hanni leaned back in her chair before standing up and heading to a nearby cabinet. "I'm getting a drink, what's your poison?"
 
"Whiskey."
 
The current leader of the Hegemony armed forces in the system pulled out two decanters and poured the golden liquor into them, 
 
"We're going to hell. You know that, right?"
 
"Heh. That would require us dying first. And last time I checked, ain't nobody managed it yet."
 
"To the Black Watch, too angry to die!"
 
"Amen."
 
The glasses were clanked together as the officer and noncom turned to look at the work being done around them. 
 
"We got a preliminary report from Major Capell." Schmitt finally spoke as she sipped her whiskey.
 
"And?" Matthews straightened up in his chair.
 
"It's both worse and better than we had ever expected. The Star League, it's shattered, just like we predicted. Only difference is that none of the predicted factions formed. So they're all at each other's throats. There's destruction on a scale that we never expected. And worlds are missing, or even just gone. The Hegemony? Its pieces are scattered to the winds of the various nations. We have our work cut out for us if we want to reestablish the full nation that we hail from."
 
"If it were easy," Matthews grinned as he tossed back the last of his whiskey and stood up.
 
"Then it wouldn't be Black Watch," Hanni responded to the adage. "Where are you going?"
 
"To finish training the Black Watch candidates down there," Matthews's grin turned savage. "I've been gone for a couple of hours, and their classroom time is up. Which means that it's time for me to make an appearance."
 
"Keep me posted."
 
"Wilco, Colonel," he opened the door before looking over his head. "They haven't beaten us yet, and as long as we draw breath, the Hegemony lives. It was never the planets, it's the people that dwelt within the nation. I'll do my best to remind our Director-General that soldiers, politicians, and public servants are just that. Servants of the people. But while I do my job, I need you to get things ready. Because Elizabeth Cameron isn't going to want to remain still. She's got a fire, and is going to need something to do."
 
"Understood, Sergeant," Hanni nodded. "Now you should get to your recruits. I'm sure they're missing your guidance already..."
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