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In an effort to break up a little writers block, and satisfy the urge to go diving in to my gaming footlocker, the following is the start of a larger project that has grabed a chunk of my mind and worked it's way out of the knots. Be warned, it's very rough.

This is actually the beginning of a crossover that is posted here if you don't want to wait for the rest to come in it's own sweet time. Hope you like it.

######

Lawndale
Trent, Bolan Province, Lyran Alliance
February 12, 3059

"Daria! Quinn! Hurry up! We don't want to be late!" Helen shouted up the stairs before going back to her cell phone. “No, Eric, I’m sure they have all the representation that they’re going to need. . .Yes, Eric, I’ll ask. I have to go, Eric, or we’re going to be late for their arrival. Yes, good-bye.”

Helen hung up her cell phone and looked up the stairs as Daria and Quinn were walking down.

“I don’t see why we have to go to this stupid thing, anyway,” Quinn was saying as she walked down the stairs. “I mean it’s Saturday! Don’t these people have anything better to do on a Saturday?”

“Evidently not,” Daria said from a few steps behind her.

“C’mon, girls!” Jake said enthusiastically as he pulled on his jacket. “Don’t ya want to be there when the big guys arrive?”

“We’ve seen ‘Mechs before, dad,” Daria said flatly. “We’re go to a MechWarrior academy, remember?”

“Yeah, but these guys are supposed to be pretty tough,” Jake said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Jake, they’re mercenaries. They’re only as tough as you pay them to be.” Helen slung her purse over her shoulder. “Now, let’s get going. We have to pick up Jane before we go downtown.”

“Ya know, I wanted to be ‘MechWarrior, but --”

“But Grandpa Morgendorffer wouldn’t hear of it,” Quinn picked up over Jake.

“If the infantry was good enough for old Mad Dog, then it was good enough for little Jakey, too,” Daria chimed in.

“We know, Jake, we know,” Helen said as she opened the door. “We’ve heard it a thousand times.”

“Oh.” Jakes shoulders slumped. “Well, I would have made a darn good one.”

The four of them walked out the door as a battered black hover-van pulled up to the curb. One of it’s fans was rattling like someone had thrown a double handful of ball bearings into a clothes dryer. A thin wisp of black smoke mixed in with the dust cloud as the driver throttled back and let the van settle to the ground.

“Oh my, that doesn’t sound good,” Helen said, eyeing the van.

“It never has,” Daria replied as the van’s side door opened.

“Thanks for the ride, guys,” Jane called over the rattle to the other four passengers.

“Any time, Janey,” Trent said as he watched his sister jump over the van’s flapping skirting to the curb. “We’ll be in Swedesville for the next couple of days.”

“I’ve got the number for your hotel, Trent,” Jane said as she slid the door shut. “Try not to sleep through the gig, okay?”

Trent chuckled, then coughed. “Don’t worry. See you in a couple of days.”

The rattle doubled in volume as Max applied the throttle. The battered old hover-van known as The Tank lifted off the ground on a semi stable cushion of air and headed off down the street.

“And remember to stay off of main street!” Jane shouted after them, but the broken fan was making too much noise for them to hear her. “Oh well.”

“Hey, Jane-o!” Jake greeted her. “Ready to see the big boys march through town?”

“Ready and raring, Mr. Morgendorffer,” Jane said as she walked up to the group. “Hey, Daria. Tom said he’s going to meet us on the parade route, okay?”

“Um, okay, sure,” Daria said slowly.

“Doesn’t he go to Fielding Academy?” Helen asked as they walked over to the Morgendorffer’s sedan and began to climb in. “Isn’t that Lawndale’s chief rival?”

“Yeah, if you listen to Kommandant Li. She’s had something against them ever since she came on as the academy’s headmaster.” Jane slipped into the back seat between Quinn and Daria. “I think it had something to do with how she left the military or something.”

“Why didn’t they just put both schools together?” Jake asked as he turned the engine over and backed the car out of the driveway.

“I don’t know. I guess it’s because Lawndale gets its funding from the Bolan Academy budget, while Fielding’s a privately funded outfit. I really don’t understand it at all.” Jane shot a sidelong look at Daria.

“Besides, dad, you could buy your own ‘Mech for what the tuition at Fielding would cost,” Daria said, coming to Jane’s rescue and eliciting a weak laugh from her father.

“Yeah, and they make you ware those ugly school uniforms too! Ugh!” Quinn shuddered. “I look terrible in Steiner blue!”

=====

“Aren’t you ready yet?” Linda Griffin sharply asked the holocamera operator adjusted his tripod on the rough roof of the office building that she had chosen to cover the mercenaries arrival and parade from.

“Just about,” he replied patiently.

“Well, hurry up. They'll be here any minute.” Linda looked down at the spectators lining the length of Main Street, three stories below where she stood. She had a bird’s eye view of the main route that the new mercenaries were going to take, and the height of the building’s roof would put her and her camera man at about elbow level with the massive BattleMechs as they walked by on their way to the Lawndale MechWarrior Academy.

She frowned slightly to herself as she looked down the length of the street. Ordinarily, something like this wouldn’t have garnered more than a small article in the local newspaper. mercenaries usually arrived at the main spaceport in Leeville, almost a thousand kilometers from Lawndale. Somehow, though, Li had gotten them to come to Lawndale and do double duty as instructors for the academy while they took over garrison duties form the last bunch of mercenaries to land on Trent. She also wanted their arrival to be very public in order to draw attention and prestige, and hopefully more rich students money, to the LMA.

And in return, my Sandi will get the position that she so richly deserves, Linda thought to herself with a cocked eyebrow. And she damned well better appreciate it, too.

Linda looked up just as the gigantic humanoid form of one of the mercenary BattleMechs stepped into view at the head of the street preceded by several police vehicles. There were only a couple of streets in the city that were rated to handle the hundred ton bulk of the giant war machines without buckling under their weight. They happened to intersect right in front of the building that Linda and her camera operator occupied, and they could film the 'Mechs as they walked all the way to the academy grounds.

"They're here!" Linda turned and grabbed her electronic clipboard and microphone from the building's parapet. "Start shooting!"

"Right," the cameraman said lazily as he slipped a disk into the camera and started recording.

Linda took a deep breath and quickly composed herself as the camera focused on her with the 'Mech framed over her shoulder. She pasted her anchorwoman's smile in place and looked into the camera unblinking lens.

"This is Linda Griffin for KSBC and the Alliance News Networks reporting from atop the Furguson building in downtown Lawndale," she said with slick professional smoothness. "In what has become the media event, the arrival of the mercenary unit known as Stewart's Rebels has become something of a holiday. As you can see behind me, Main Street has been closed for their arrival, as well as the main thoroughfare through the business district, in order for the BattleMechs to pass though town from the Middlebury Spaceport to our own Lawndale MechWarrior Academy. Once there, they will take the dual positions as local garrison force of the Bolan Province Militia and combat instructors for the Lawndale Adacemy's own cadets.

"For those of you interested, we have a little history of those who will be teaching our fine young men and women the finer arts of BattleMech piloting." Linda glanced down at her clipboard. She didn't really care about the unit's history, but it was her duty to put it out there for those who did. "Stewart's Rebels were formed form elements of the Englin Militia and the Fifth Republican Guard after that world's government was fractured during the recent Marik - Liao invasion of the Sarna and Capellan marches in 3057. Once Englin's independence was ensured, the founding members left for the mercenary world of Outreach, where they took on several more members, as well as a short contract on the periphery of the Draconis Combine. After the completion of that contract, and another short span of recruitment on Outreach, their contract with the Lawndale Academy was negotiated by our very own local business magnate Andrew Landon and Hauptmann Diane Bennett, aide to academy headmaster, Kommandant Angela Li."

Linda glanced at her electronic clipboard again. The image that the camera was taking was repeated on the clipboard's surface, and she used it to see the slow progress of the 'Mechs behind her. In the disgustingly small image, the lead 'Mech now stood almost as tall as she was, even though it was still several blocks away.

"The lead 'Mech in the group is about half way down Main Street at this moment," Linda said as she turned to look over her shoulder as the cameraman zoomed in on the lead BattleMech. Once she was out of the image, Linda referred to her notes more often. "Fittingly, this 95 ton Cerberus is piloted by the battalion's commander, Major Gabriel Stewart, one of the founding members and formerly of the Englin Militia. 'Mechs like this one, as well as the Highlander that you see behind it, were captured form renegade Word of Blake forces that were assisting the Fifteenth Marik Militia in the battle for Englin. A number of other unusal designs form the core of the mercenary battalion, including such exotic designs as the Toyama and Buccaneer, all of which we will have a chance to see in close detail as they pass by our vantage point, here atop the Furgeson building...."

=====

"...As we watch our new instructors proceed down Main Street, I would like to go over some of the Lawndale MechWarrior Academy's short but wonderful history.” Linda slipped back onto the screen without missing a beat. “Founded nearly ten years ago by a group of concerned business professionals, including Andrew Landon whom I mentioned earlier --"

Linda griffin's voice was cut off as Kommandant Angela Li, Headmaster of the Lawndale Academy pressed the mute button on her remote control. Griffin's talking head continued to blab away silently from the flat monitor embedded in her office wall. The other two occupants of her office exchanged glances as Li frowned at the trideo monitor.

"Hauptmann Bennett, I thought I asked you to contract hardened, experienced mercenaries for our instructors, not some rabble spun off a rebellion and bandit hunting," Kommandant Li said with a frown. "Not only is that bad enough, now I have to hear from a news broadcast that they are not even under my exclusive command. I would suggest that you explain yourself!"

"Kommandant Li, this was the only way that the Bolan Academy and Province Militia would agree to subsidize the contract," Bennett explained.

"Mrs. Bennett --"

"Ms. Li, what Mrs. Bennett and I basically did was set up the mercenaries as the local garrison and you as their liaison officer to the BPM," Andrew Landon quickly covered. "That way, you get your instructors and the militia gets its garrison. You retain overall strategic command of whatever situation might come up, while they handle the tactical details."

Li's frown slowly faded, though she wasn't completely happy with the situation. It was doubtful that anyone would be targeting Trent for anything other than an interstellar weigh station. Most of the planet's exports were in the form of smelted ores that were shipped to the 'Mech factories on Hesperus II and Furillo, where they were reprocessed into the materials that were made into armor, 'Mech skeletons, and weapons. Both planets, Hesperus especially, boasted defense forces far beyond anything that a world like Trent could muster, so any trouble in the region would be short lived.

Of course, should anything untoward happen, I could possibly end up in a very advantageous position, Li thought with a slight smirk beginning to form. She quickly wiped it away and shifted her focus to the matter at hand.

"Very well, then. Mr. Landon, I'll take you at your word," Li said as she glanced up at the wall monitor, where the great hulking form of a Charger was walking past Linda Griffin's camera. “As I am to be their liaison to the Bolan Province Militia, Hauptmann Bennett, you shall be their liaison to me.”

“Um, that’s not exactly what we had agreed upon,” Bennett said uncertainly.

“Your contract stated that they were to have a Lawndale MechWarrior Academy liaison, did it not?” Li asked archly. “Was I specifically named for that positon?”

“Well, yes it did, and no you weren’t, Kommandant, but --.”

“Very well then, it’s done.” Li turned back to Andrew Landon. "Speaking of which, Mr. Landon, I take it that you and the other directors have procured the equipment that our cadets will be training with?"

"The word from Furillo is that the refurbishing will be completed in the next two to three weeks, and everything will be here by the end of next month."

"Everything?" Li asked, looking at Andrew over her square glasses. "The security measures? The new simulators? All of it?"

"Don't worry, Kommandant Li, everything will be there," Andrew said reassuringly. “We even managed to get most of the specific types that you asked for. There’s nothing to worry about.”

"The reason I ask, Mr. Landon, is that not a month ago, did we not see several dozen 'Mech transport vehicles going back and forth from Fielding's hangar facilities?"

"Several of Fielding's owners are invested heavily in the military - industrial complex, so it would stand to reason that they would have better access, in relatively small quantities, to the same things that we are getting in one shipment." Andrew leaned back in his chair. "And they have to pay their instructors out of pocket, where we don't, and we have twice the number that Fielding does."

"Yes, there is that," Li said with a small smile as she turned the sound from the monitor back on. “Their lead formations will be here in a few minutes. Let’s watch their parade while we can, shall we?”

=====

“Wow! These guys are huge!” Jake said in an awestruck voice as he filmed the mercenaries passage with a mini-holocam.

“They are quite impressive, all right,” Helen agreed as a foot the size of a hover-car was planted in the street only a couple of meters from her. “I guess I can see why you would want to pilot one of these things, Jake.”

Daria and Jane exchanged a look as Helen shook her head and continued to watch the procession. She’d never get it, they both knew, but she didn’t have to.

“C’mon, I told Tom to meet me over at ‘Drugs ‘n’ Stuff,’” Jane said, pointing that way with her thumb.

“Mom?” Daria asked.

“Sure, girls,” Helen responded absently as another ten meter tall monster started walking past.

Daria rolled her eyes as she and Jane headed off down the block.

"I don't get it," Daria said as they walked. "Why the big turn out for something like this?”

“If I had to bet, I’d say it was all Ms. Li’s idea,” Jane said. “Probably all in the name of exposure, too. Anything to turn the public’s attention away from Fielding Academy and onto Lawndale. She probably has deals with holo-vid networks to cover the whole thing, too.”

“That would figure. Speaking of exposure, what are you going to do when she finds out that you’re dating the son of Fielding MechWarrior Academy’s biggest financial backer?”

“Oh, she’s not going to find out.” Jane waved her had dismissively. “And if she does, who cares? It’s not like I was dating a Davion, or something. Besides, I don’t buy that rivalry drek she puts out anymore than anyone else does.”

“The problem is, she does. And so do a lot of the cadets from Fielding. If either of you get found out, both of you would most likely be expelled.”

“They won’t expel Tom. His old man’s got too much pull.” Jane sighed. “I’d be out on my butt, though.”

Daria didn’t like the idea of Jane being expelled just because of who her boyfriend was, never mind that she didn’t exactly like the guy. As far as she was concerned, he was just another rich kid who was slumming it in one of the more esoteric parts of town when Jane met him. If the subject of Jane and Tom ever did come to light at the academy, assuming it didn’t get her expelled, then it would be one more thing separating her and the other cadets. Outwardly, Daria didn’t react to the thought, but inwardly, she wouldn’t shed any tears if something were to happen to separate them, and she’d have her best friend all the way back.

“What about your parents?” Daria asked, though she already knew the answer. “Would they be able to do anything?”

“Like what? I’m not even sure if either one of them’s on Trent right now.” Jane paused for a second, then chuckled. “There’s an image, huh?”

“That’s got to be confusing. What ever possessed them to name your brother after the planet?”

“Got me. Back to the point, I doubt that my folks would do anything even if they could.” Jane shook her head. “The first time I saw one of those things, I was four. I don’t even remember what kind it was, but I knew right then and there . . . that was it. That was what I wanted, and it never went away, either. I’m the only one in my family to ever try to become a MechWarrior, did you know that?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“I figure it’s going to be the only way I ever get off this rock. Yeah, okay, I can paint and I can sculpt some, but neither of those is going to get me out of here, so what the hey?” Jane shrugged.

Daria just looked at the sidewalk as they walked. She wasn’t in any position to question someone else's motivation for doing what they did. Daria had her own reasons for becoming a MechWarrior, despite the line of bilge that she used to sell her parents on the idea.

“So where is that thoughtless delinquent?” Jane asked as they came up to ‘Drugs ‘n’ Stuff.’ “I thought I asked him to meet me here.”

Daria shook herself out of her funk. “There’s another drug store at the other end of the street. Maybe he’s up there.”

=====

The Chief Instructor Pilot of the Lawndale MechWarrior Academy stood on a second level balcony and watched as the leading BattleMechs of the mercenary battalion filed into the enormous hanger. The building itself was shaped like a massive five story “V,” the arms capable of sheltering twenty four of the predominant war machines of the thirty-first century, while the apex was dominated by levels of parts and munitions storage and topped by the exercise range control room. Though it was hardly state of the art, it had still cost a major chunk of the LMA’s budget, not to mention the mountains of C-bills poured into the project by the academy’s civilian backers.

“Come on, people! Move like you actually have a purpose for once!” The man’s right eye was practically bulging out of his head.

Retired Haupmann Anthony DeMartino glared down at the few permanent technicians and assistant technicians (or astechs) as they lackadaisically moved about the big hanger. The massive assault ‘Mechs could have squashed any six of them flat with out the MechWarrior inside even noticing as he followed the bay’s flashing indicators to his or her assigned cubicle. Even though there was enough room to walk the ‘Mechs in two abreast, the techs and ‘MechWarriors took their time and slowly marched in single file.

DeMartino watched as the first ‘Mech to enter the building, the mercenary commander’s Cerberus, gingerly back in to its assigned cubicle and slump slightly as it’s fusion engine was shut down. A few moments later the faceplate gently swung out and to the ‘Mech’s right, the heavy tromp of ‘Mech footfalls drowning out the hiss of escaping pressurized air. The MechWarrior inside removed the bulky neurohelmet that he wore and set it on a shelf above and behind his control / ejection couch, removing a small duffle from the same place. Spotting DeMartino, he touched his forehead in a quick salute as one of the academy astechs swung a boarding platform out to the assault ‘Mech’s chin.

DeMartino shook his head as the younger ‘MechWarrior spryly disembarked his ‘Mech and quickly threaded his way down two levels of catwalks and headed for where he was standing. The brown haired man had to be twenty or thirty years his junior, DeMartino’s thought to himself, but once he saw into the younger man’s eyes, he saw a man that had been under fire and had not enjoyed the experience. The ‘MechWarrior stopped a few paces away, set his duffel on the catwalk, and came to a decent imitation of attention.

“Major Gabriel Stewart, commanding officer, Stewart’s Rebels, reporting for duty.” Stewart said with a crisp salute, which he held until DeMartino returned it in kind.

“Welcome to Lawndale, Mr. Stewart,” DeMartino replied. “My compliments on the your expert handling of your ‘Mech. As Chief Instructor Pilot around here, it’s refreshing to see such skill.”

“Skill is a relative thing, Chief,” Stewart replied, picking up his bag.

“Hauptmann, actually. Retired.”

“Really? What unit?”

“My last unit was the Seventeenth Skye Rangers. Served with them against the Jade Falcons during the invasion.” DeMartino turned and looked back out over the massive hanger. “Retired in Fifty-Six.”

“Damn, that’s some rough combat.”

“I lived through it, Major. A lot of other kids didn’t.”

“Fair enough,” Stewart said solemnly. “Any place I can change clothes before we meet with the headmaster?”

DeMartino turned slightly and looked Stewart over once. Stewart was wearing a bulky cooling vest and shorts that covered his thighs, more or less standard fare for a cockpit that could become an oven in combat.

“First floor. Through the double doors on the right,” DeMartino said as he turned back to the hanger as a massive Grand Titan assault ‘Mech slipped into it’s cubicle next to the Cerberus.

Stewart saluted again, then turned and left DeMartino to his thoughts.
DeMartino watched as the Grand Titan pilot climbed out of her ‘Mech and took the catwalk stairs all the way to the ground level, where she met Stewart. The two spoke for a moment, then together they headed out of the double doors on the floor below where DeMartino was standing.

“The younger they get, the older I get,” DeMartino said to himself before he went back to loudly berating the hanger crews.

=====

“Welcome, Major Stewart! Welcome to Laawndale ‘MechWarrior Acaademy!” Kommandant Li gushed as she stood up behind her desk. She hadn’t even given him time to do his ‘reporting for duty’ line. “Please come in! Take a seat! Such a pleasure to finely meet you, Major! And you’re companion would be Mrs. Stewart, perhaps?”

Gabriel and the raven haired, wisp thin woman standing next to him exchanged a look that broke into an amused chuckle. Hauptmann Bennett and Mr. Landon smiled to themselves, while Li looked momentarily confused.

“I’m afraid not, actually,“ Gabriel chuckled, adjusting the gray denim jacket that he wore. Antonia wore a similar jacket, and both had stilyized ‘R’s on the left shoulder. “Kommandant Li, allow me to present my cousin and battalion executive officer, Captain Antonia Marcus. Her husband happens to be my chief tech.”

“Ah, I see! A little nepotism in the ranks, mm?” Li’s polite chuckle at her own joke was ruined by a semi-quiet snort. “A pleasure to meet you, captain.”

“All mine, I’m sure,” Antonia replied in a dry tone as Mr. Landon stood and offered her his chair, which she accepted with a smile.

“I understand that you’ve already met our Hauptmann DeMartino, yes?” Li asked as Gabriel took the remaining chair for himself.

“Yes. He told me that he saw action against the Clans while with the Seventeenth Skye. I’m looking forward to working with him.” As he sat, Gabriel pulled a folded sheaf of papers from the inside pocket of his jacket as he did so. “Your Hauptmann Bennett here gave us a detailed copy of your curriculum. I understand that your training cycle starts on the fourteenth?”

“Yes, you see our local year runs almost four hundred and fifty days, though are days are quite close to twenty-four hours,” Hauptmann Bennett explained. “Our summer break actually started around last Christmas.”

“You give your cadets eight weeks leave?” Antonia asked.

“Closer to ten, usually, but the last winter was unusually bitter,” Landon put in. “The academy was shut down for two weeks, so the balance of the time had to come from somewhere.”

“We were hoping for another week to get settled in,” Gabriel said with a shake of his head.

“Yes, about that.” Li looked at the two mercenary officers over the tops of her glasses. “I was under the initial impression when this was proposed that you would only be bringing your ‘Mech battalion. We weren’t quite prepared to house almost five hundred people on a few days notice.”

“Kommandant Li, our battalion consists of our ‘Mechs, a reinforced armor and infantry company, and an aerospace group, plus techs and a few dependants. All of this was communicated to you before we left Outreach.” Stewart pointed out with a raised eyebrow. “You’ve had two months to be prepared, and yet you say you’ve only had a few days notice?”

“Major, please, you misunderstand. The funds only became available after you arrived in the system. We were able to acquire sufficient lodgings for all of your unit as well as your DropShip’s crew at Le Grande Hotel for your stay in Lawndale.” Li shot a glare at Bennett, who wilted slightly. “They were more than happy to have you.”

“The place is magnificent, Major. One of the best in Lawndale.” Landon smiled beneficently.

“Well, now that that’s settled, there’s the matter of the curriculum.” Stewart said, handing the papers he was holding to Kommandant Li.

“Is there something wrong with our curriculum?” Li asked bitterly.

“Technically, no,” Antonia said. “But it is lacking in a few of the more operational aspects of --”

“Live fire exercises?” Li’s jaw nearly hit the top of her desk as she read. “Small arms training? Mock combat exercises? Major, I don’t know where you think you are, but we do not have the funds to cover the kind of expenditures that something like this would entail, nor the damage that untrained pilots could potentially cause!"

“Ms. Li, our primary job is as part of the planet’s garrison, which is all fine and good, it’s an easy job all things considered.” Gabriel fixed Li with an unblinking look. “But my secondary job is to teach your cadets how to be ‘MechWarriors, not some high priced color guard, and we’ll teach them how to be the best damned ‘MechWarriors that we know how to. And as for funds and expenditures, your Mr. Landon here tells me that you’re expecting enough ‘Mechs and supplies and ammunition -- live and otherwise -- to equip a full battalion yourself. Not to mention the several dozen square kilometers of training ranges that you have control over, which will be a great plenty of room to teach these kids what’s what without their putting a foot through someone’s roof.”

“That’s what simulators are for, Major,” Li said as if talking to a dolt.

“And if these kids get attacked by a company of simulators, I’m sure that they’ll do just fine. But real battles aren’t fought in sim-pods, and these kids need to know what it actually feels like to get out there and fire these weapons.”

“We do have ‘Mechs for training, which all our students have had time in.” Li’s look turned smug.

“Yes, eight Chameleon training ‘Mechs.” Antonia pointed out as Li’s expression turned even more smug. “According to my husband --our chief tech, remember him? -- the only time that anyone’s spent in them in the last six months is to polish the control consoles and wax the armor. He’s not even sure that they’ll start.”

Li’s face dropped like a rock.

“Kommandant Li,” Gabriel said. “If all you want us to do is pat these kids on the head while they shoot at each other with water guns, then we’ll pack up and head over to Leeville, and deal with the repercussions later. Now, if you want us to teach these kids, I mean really teach these kids, then your financial backers won’t mind paying up the C-bills to do it with.”

“Very well, Major,” Li said, harshly reminding him of whom was actually supposed to be in charge. “I’ll bring it up with our Board of Directors. Anything else?”

“No, ma’am, other than to say it’s going to be a pleasure working with you,” Gabriel said as he and Antonia stood and snapped off crisp salutes.

“Likewise. Dismissed.” Li slumped into her chair as the two mercenaries walked out of her office.

“Angela,” Bennett said softly as she leaned forward in her chair. “I did try and warn you about --”

“Oh, shut up, Diane.” Li glowered silently for a moment. “What will this do to our plans?”

“It’s not a big setback, but it is one nonetheless,” Landon replied, taking his chair back.

Li said nothing, her eyes narrowed in thought.

=====

Daria walked into her bedroom and slumped down in front of her computer. She has spent most of the afternoon with Jane and Tom once the parade of BattleMechs had finished winding its way through town. Eventually, Daria decided to leave the two to their own devices and return home, coming up with some lame excuse that she had forgotten thirty seconds after she walked away. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with Tom tonight, even though she was beginning to enjoy their debates on the Steiner / Davion schism that was beginning to show up in the news from time to time.

Daria shook her head, trying to clear it as she flipped the switch on the front of her computer. While waited for it to boot up, her eyes fell on the only two extraneous items that she kept on her desk any more: a data disk and a framed photograph of a brown haired woman sitting on the shoulder of a BattleMech.

Picking up the disk, she tilted it from side to side, watching the rainbow pattern of light that played off its surface. She had never been able to make it all the way through the message. Sometimes she would close her eyes and just listen to the audio, other times she’d mute the sound and watch the image. Once, she had just stared at the disk for over an hour without putting it in the computer.

But never, not once in all the times she tried, had she been able to get all the way through the message.

Tonight would be just like all the other nights, Daria knew as she slipped the disk into the computer, but she would try again anyway. After a moment, the mailed fist emblem of the Lyran Alliance appeared on the screen, next to the Comstar insignia. Taking a deep breath, Daria pressed the ‘play’ button on her computer keyboard. The date, a date from just under a year ago, flashed momentarily on the screen before being replaced with the image of the woman in the photograph.

“Hey, my favorite niece . . .”


########

_________________
I'm out of my mind. Please leave a message

A little background and a few intros in this one. Still rough, and comments are welcome.

Lawndale MechWarrior Academy
Monday, February 14, 3059

The academy's main auditorium was only about half full as the third and fourth year cadets sat in pairs and groups spread out through the large room. The insignia of the academy, a great golden lion's head over a round field of Steiner blue and bordered in gold, dominated the walls while a giant banner with the Lyran Alliance mailed fist dominated the stage. A podium and a row of chairs sat before it, a couple of the new instructors, as well as several of the academy professors either stood or sat. The constant, low level rumble of conversation filled the room as the cadets theorized about the new additions to the faculty.

One group of cadets sat near of the middle of the auditorium, not pointedly trying to ignore the people around them, but doing a good job of it anyway. The four had become fast friends on their first day at the academy and had seldom been seen separated since. It had taken one of that year's senior cadets barely five minutes of listening to them talk that first day to brand the four of them as a lance of self-indulgent fashion mavens. The four girls took the moniker ’Maven Lance’ immediately to heart, mostly as a gag to honk off the upperclassmen, but it quickly took on a life of its own when they discovered that fashion was indeed a common compulsion among them.

"I can't believe that this place is so last year in style," Sandi Griffin, the little group's self-proclaimed leader, said dourly as she flipped through the fashion magazine she had spread out on her lap. "They can send something as unimportant as the news between planets, but they can't send pictures of the latest party dresses?"

"All that technology and they can't use it for something that really matters," Quinn said as she stopped flipping pages in her own magazine. "I mean really, who cares what was the rage on Tharkad eight months ago? We need to know what's current now!"

"It's just awful, Sandi!" Stacy Rowe said as she closed her magazine and slumped in her seat. "How are we supposed to stay current?"

"Yeah, it's just to sad," Tiffany said in her almost glacially slow drawl.

"Well, not to worry girls," Sandi closed her magazine with a slap. "The newest issue of Waif: Tharkad will be arriving today and we can maintain our position at the head of the stylistic hierarchy of Lawndale Academy."

Quinn kept flipping pages in her magazine, tuning the other three out as they started in on someone’s choice of clothes. Thankfully, Lawndale Academy didn’t insist that the cadets wear uniforms, though they rightly could have much to the cadet’s displeasure. That only happened on days that some Alliance grand high muckity-muck came and inspected the academy, something that had only happened twice since the place had been opened.

Closing her magazine, Quinn idly glanced around the room. She easily picked out her sister and her friend in their usual places, only a few rows from the front. Her attention was drawn to one of the new instructors, obvious in his denim gray jacket, and a girl about Quinn’s age leaning on a table laden with computer disks next one of the sets of stairs that led up to the stage and involved in a heated discussion.

“Is she new?” Quinn asked aloud. The other three to look in the direction she pointed.

“Oh no! She’s arguing with one of the new instructors!” Stacy said fearfully.

“So?” Sandi said dismissively, going back to her magazine.

“Hey, she’s wearing the same kind of jacket he is,” Tiffany pointed out.

“Hey, yeah.” Quinn’s eyes narrowed as she watched.

The young girl’s hair was almost the same shade of brown that the older man’s was, but shot through with a lot of dark red and cut close to collar length. There was enough similarity between their features that Quinn concluded that she must have been his daughter.

There was a sudden shift in the girl’s posture as the instructor appeared to deliver some kind of ultimatum, pointing at the double doors off to the side with his thumb. Quinn could read the aw c’mon!! on the girl’s face and lips from a dozen meters away, but this kid obviously didn’t know how to play her dad all that well. She appeared to make one last feeble protest, and was evidently told to take it or leave it. She took it, stomping over to a seat in the first row and slumping down into it with the top of her head barely poking up over the back.

“I wonder what that was all about?” Stacy asked when it was over.

“Got me,” Tiffany said slowly.

“Who cares?” Sandi fixed the two girls with the same glare. “It’s not like it matters any to us, does it?”

“Well, she is wearing one of the mercenaries jackets,” Quinn repeated Tiffany’s observation. “And it looked like that guy she was talking with was her father.”

“Are you suggesting that we associate ourselves with a teacher’s kid?” Sandi’s voice suggested that she’d rather wear burlap first.

“Well, even if she is a teacher’s kid, it might be a good idea to make friends with someone who can get a hold of things like tests and exercise schedules and whatnot. Besides, she’s obviously not going to make any other friends after that.”

“So he would owe us for our charity in taking his little daughter under our wing,” Sandi concluded thoughtfully. “Hm. Perhaps it is time that we took on a fifth member.”

“A-ten-HUTT!” One of the senior cadets voices blasted across the room as Kommandant Li came in through the back doors of the auditorium. Lazily though it was, all the cadets in the room came to their feet and remained standing until Li took to the stage and walked up to the podium.

“At ease. Be seated.” Li took in the faces scattered throughout the room. “Cadets, I welcome you to the beginning of your third and fourth years. It is this year that you will truly begin your training in your chosen calling as MechWarriors, and I know you will be successful in that calling, and thus bring glory and honor unto yourselves and unto the Laaaawndale MechWarrior Acaademy! As we have many great things to accomplish this year, I shan’t repeat my most interesting opening remarks from this morning’s induction ceremonies. However, at this time I would like to introduce the head of our newest additions to the faculty and staff of the Lawndale Academy and commanding officer of Stewart's Rebels, Major Gabriel Stewart.”

Li stepped down form the podium as the man that they saw arguing with the new girl took her place. There was a scattering of applause as he looked out over the room.

In their row, the members of Maven Lance all exchanged surprised glances. The new kid’s father was the major??

“Thank you, cadets, for that warm welcome.” The major took a step back from the podium and crossed his arms. “In a few moments, I’ll be introducing some of my officers to you, however in the meantime, wile I’m up here flapping my jaws and pushing a bunch of hot air around, some folks are going to be passing out some data disks for you.”

Sure enough, several other people, also in mercenary gray, had picked up several stacks of disks from the table. As the major continued to speak, they delivered them in bunches to the cadets sitting at, or close to the heads of the rows, where they were passed down.

“These disks contain the curriculum for this training cycle. It’s been modified somewhat from the last cycle to reflect some of the more practical aspects of what you’ll be facing as MechWarriors, should you decide to continue on to more formal training. First, let me make clear that we won’t be supplanting your usual faculty. The new classes will take place under their oversight, but let me make one thing clear: you will know what it takes to be a MechWarrior and, by the time this cycle is over, we’ll know if you have it or not.”

A nervous rumble passed through the room.

“With Kommandant Li’s approval, I have the privilege of announcing that, sometime in the last week of March, the Lawndale Academy will be acquiring thirty-six new and refurbished BattleMechs for your training. And I don’t mean a bunch of Chameleon trainers, either, I mean real ‘Mechs. As of this moment, you are all qualified to pilot them. Weather you stay that way is up to you, ladies and gentlemen.”

The rumble went from nervous to excited as speculation among the cadets began to take hold.

“There are almost two hundred of you in this room right now, and only thirty-six slots to fill. While I know that three or four of you have machines that are owned by your families or supplied by others, this is absolutely no guarantee. Those ‘Mechs have an equal chance of standing in those repair cubicles for the entire training cycle as you do of earning them.” The major paused as silence once again reigned in the room and several students exchanged looks. “Over the next six weeks, you are all going to going to see a lot of the inside of the simulators, a lot of your instructors, a lot the insides of your classrooms, and a lot of each other. You are going to be taught, trained, tested, re-taught, cross-trained, and re-tested, and by the end of March, you’ll know whether or not you belong in a ‘Mech cockpit. And so will we.” The major seemed to look every cadet in the room in the eye at once. “The School of Hard Knocks starts today.”

The four girls of the Maven Lance bit their lower lips as they were handed their disks.

“Let’s go and meet the new kid after this is over,” Sandi said quietly as she looked at the laser disk she was handed as if it were a live grenade.
The other three just nodded.

=====

Jane leaned over Daria's shoulder, looking at the flat computer monitor built into the desk's surface as Daria went through the curriculum disk that had been passed out earlier. Though the class was waiting for O'Neill to arrive and conduct the usual abbreviated first-day session, most of them were doing what Daria and Jane were doing.

"That major wasn't kidding when he said 'school of hard knocks' earlier," Daria said as she clicked through the pages. "Not to mention hard work. Look, all next week is booked up with familiarization runs in the simulators on top of the usual class loads."

"There's at least two exercises a day scheduled for the week after that," Jane pointed to the screen. "Field repair, strategy and tactics, 'Mech recognition." Jane shook her head. "Oh man."

"There's a lot of dissimilar combat training in the simulator exercises," Jodie Landon said from across the aisle. A look of worry crossed her dark skinned features. "Lots of light-versus-heavy stuff."

“Your dad’s been getting you lessons in that old Marauder since you were old enough to see over the controls,” Jane said, glancing at the other girl. “Like you’ve got anything to worry about from a light ‘Mech.”

“With all of this, when am I supposed to sleep?” Jodie asked, almost desperately returning Jane’s look. Jane didn’t have an answer for that one. Jodie has almost as many extra-academy duties, all imposed by her parents, as she had classes.

"There's classes on escape and evasion, maybe you can use that to get out of the after school stuff." Michael "Mack" Mackenzie, said from the desk behind Jodie.

“Yeah, right,” Jodie said dryly. “Look at this -- Logistics, Small Unit Tactics, Large Unit Tactics, Military History, MedTech, Military Protocol --”

“Man, how are we supposed to remember all this?” Kevin Thompson asked form a couple of rows over.

"Hey look babe! They even have classes for people with small arms," Brittany squeaked to Kevin.

"But, my arms have always been this size," Kevin said with a confused look on his face. “It must be for short people or something.”

Mack gave his friend a look of long sufferance. He actually debated with himself for a moment about telling him what small arms training really was. As much as Mack liked, well, tolerated Kevin, anyone who would even think of trusting him with a weapon, never mind a ‘Mech, would have to be truly mental. For Kevin’s own safety, and probably the rest of the academy’s, Mack resolved to have a talk with a couple of the instructors, assuming DeMartino hadn’t beaten him to it already.

"I swear, if he were any more dense, he'd have his own gravitational pull," Daria said with a shake of her head.

"He's got a head like a black hole, all right," Jane agreed as she took her own seat.

"It's a good thing football is popular around here. I don't think there's any call for a village idiot in the thirty-first century." Daria ejected the computer disk and dropped it into its protective pouch, before stuffing it in her jacket pocket. She knew that the road that she was going to be traveling was going to be a hard one, so all this did was give her a map.

Daria’s musings were cut short by the classroom door opening to admit their instructor, a civilian who, for Blake knew what reason, Li had made responsible for the Leadership Training courses. Unfortunately, the boyish faced instructor’s technique meant that he couldn’t lead a landed fish back to a lake with a net. At best, he was a walking example of how not to lead a combat unit, and at worst, was a joke around the academy. However, it was a whispered joke, as it was widely known that he and Janet Barch, the Science and Technical instructor, as well as hard bitten enough to make a bed of nails look fluffy, were an on-going item.

“Good morning class,” O’Neill said as he walked into the classroom. “Now, if everyone will please take their seats, we’ve only got a short time today. So, first of all, does anyone have anything to say about the major’s comments at assembly? Anyone at all? Yes, um, Kevin?”

“How come that major guy changed the name of the school?” Kevin asked seriously.

“Changed the name of the school?” O'Neill blinked in confusion.

“Yeah, he said it’s the school of big rocks now or something. Are we gonna have to get new uniforms?”

“Head like a black hole,” Jane muttered to Daria as she tried not to laugh out loud.

=====

The four members of Maven Lance walked down the corridor, searching for the new girl that they had seen in the auditorium earlier that morning. All four of them had been over the new curriculum and all were convinced that the new major was out send them packing.

"I can't believe what that major expects us to do just so we get to be MechWarriors," Tiffany was saying as the four of them searched the faces around them.

"We've got to find that new girl or we're finished," Quinn said worriedly. "Have you heard how hard it is to get a job in the private sector?"

"There she is!" Sandi spotted the new girl in the merc jacket rummaging around in a locker a little ways up the corridor.

"Oh good," Stacy said with a sigh. "I thought we were goners!"

The friends walked up behind the new girl as she was taking a couple of books and a stack of computer disks out of a shoulder bag that was sitting at her feet. She roughly stuffed the disks and books onto one of the locker shelves, muttering to herself under her breath as she worked. Completely oblivious that someone had just walked up behind her, she bent at the knees and waist to get her bag off of the floor.

"Hi there!" Stacy said brightly.

BANG!! The new girl about leapt out of her skin and hit her head on the open locker door.

The four girls jumped back, gasping as the new girl grasped her head with both hands and tried not to scream too loudly through her clenched teeth.

"Omigodareyouokay????" Stacy was convinced she'd just killed the only chance they had.

"AARRRGH! No I'm not freaking okay, you bloody half-wit -- I've got a damn concussion!" She stood up more slowly this time, turning around and leaning against the lockers. Hands still clamped over her head, she looked at the four, her face screwed up in anger, surprise, and pain. "Blake's Blood, woman, don't sneak up on people like that!"

"I - I - I - I'm sorry! I - I - I - I didn't - I mean -" Stacy's eyes began to gush tears as she tried to speak.

"You don't have to get hostile, we just wanted to say 'hello,' " Sandi growled, angry at the way their fortunes had suddenly reversed before they even had a chance to even go forward. She looked from the merc girl to Quinn and Tiffany, who were trying to calm a near hysterical Stacy. "And we didn't sneak!"

"Hello, then." The new girl took one hand off her head and slammed her locker, continuing to massage the impact point on her skull with the other. "God, if you four are the welcoming committee, I'd hate to see what this place does to cadets it doesn't like!"

"It promotes them."

Sandi, Quinn, and the new girl turned at the sound of the new voice. Quinn’s eyes got wide momentarily as Daria and Jane walked up to the lockers.

Oh great! Quinn thought. Daria’s gonna wreck this with out even knowing she’s doing it!

"Excuse me, but you're on my locker," Daria said reasonably.

"Sorry. I'll move as soon as I can see straight." The new girl winced. "I've got a splitting headache, thanks to these four. We've just met."

"You must be especially susceptible, most people actually last close to five minutes," Daria said with a smirk.

"What's happened to her?" Jane asked, looking at the blubbering Stacy with a raised eyebrow.

"I did.” The new girl dropped her hands and stood upright. She looked a little sheepish. “She said 'hi' and I jumped and cracked my head on the locker door. I went off on her and things kind of went down hill from there."

"Well, let's get things going back uphill," Jane said with a smirk. "I'm Daria, this is Jane."

"Very funny." Daria rolled her eyes. "It's the other way around, actually."

"Doesn't matter, there's four of you anyway. I'm Maria Stewart, by the way." Maria winced as she rubbed the bump on her head.

"And we are the Lawndale MechWarrior Academy's Maven Lance," Sandi said, drawing herself up a little straighter and proceeded to make introductions. "I'm Sandi, and this is Quinn, Stacy, and Tiffany."

"Hi," Quinn and Tiffany said while Stacy continued to blubber and stutter.

“Maven Lance?” Maria asked, eyebrow raised.

“Also known as the four horsemen of the fashion apocalypse,” Daria said dryly as she worked the locker’s combination lock. “The universe s going to collapse in on itself any time now.”

“You know, nobody asked you to butt in.” Sandi frowned at Daria. “ Like, this is a private conversation.”

“Not assault and battery?” Daria didn’t even look up as she opened the locker door.

Maria tried not to chuckle as she looked at Stacy. The other girl was about as close to regaining her self control as Maria was to her home world of Elgin. She really didn’t have much reason to say what she did, but dammit that hurt and whether they had meant to or not, they had snuck up on her. Maybe it was time to patch up the situation.

"Hey, Stacy, right?" Maria stepped forward and placed her hands on the distraught girl’s shoulders. "Look, it's okay, okay? No harm, no foul, all right?"

Stacy looked at Maria through her tears and, for a moment, tried to control her self. It lasted exactly one half second.

"BWAA-HAA-HAA-HAAAAAAA!!!!" Stacy threw her arms around Maria and bawled into her shoulder.

Maria looked at Daria and Jane with a tormented expression. "Is it too late to transfer out of here?"

=====

The day had stumbled through to its inevitable conclusion, and the cadets of the Lawndale MechWarrior Academy dispersed through out the city to their homes. Daria and Jane had explained to Maria that the academy was either too cheap or too lazy to construct actual dormitories for the cadets. This didn’t bother Maria in the slightest, since she had her own room at the Le Grande where the rest of the Rebels were bivouacked. Within a week, it would degenerate into it’s own dormitory atmosphere quickly enough.

Maria had decided to stick with the two girls for a while in an effort to stay out off extended contact with the four girls that called themselves Maven Lance, who were constantly hovering on the edge of her peripheral vision. Stacy, the one who had freaked out when Maria hit her head, was still blubbering apologies in between bouts of near hyperventilation, while the other three tried to split her off from Daria and Jane for who knew what purpose. This was reason enough to hang out with the other two girls, for now anyway.

The three ended up at a pizza place that was only a few blocks away from the Lawndale Academy that was consistently frequented by it’s cadets, as well as the occasional cadets from Fielding Academy who were out slumming. So far today though, the civilian garbed LMA cadets had the run of the place.

“You know, this isn’t bad,” Maria said as she put the slice of pizza she had just bitten into back on her plate. “Something’s missing though.”

“What would that be?” Daria, sitting next to her, said after swallowing a similar mouthful.

“A grease filter.” Maria grabbed a couple of napkins and pressed them onto the top of the slice.

“What?” Jane asked in mock surprise. “They’ve been using the same grease here for two generations! It’s a Pizza King tradition.”

“And it explains why it’s so cheap, too.” Daria took another bite.

“That’s one word for it.” Maria took the sopping napkins off her slice, wrapped them in a third and set the whole mess aside before she continued eating. “So, besides eating well lubricated pizza, what’s there to do for fun around here?”

“I try and avoid fun,” Daria said flatly. “If I try and enjoy myself, people will think I like it here.”

“Ignore her, she loves it here and she knows it,” Jane said, drawing a dirty look from her friend. “There’s three or four clubs around here. My brother’s band plays at a couple of them, and they’re actually half decent.”

“Notice she doesn’t say which half.”

Maria had to chuckle as Jane stuck her tongue out at Daria before continuing. “Other than that, there’s the mall, movies, and Sick, Sad World is usually a good way to kill an evening, which is what we usually do.”

“Yeah, I caught a couple of shows on the DropShip during our flight in. Very strange.” Maria looked up as a young man with dark brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and carrying his own slice of pizza and handful of napkins walked up to the table where they were sitting.

“Hey Jane, Daria,” he said.

“Oh my gosh! He actually found the right side of the restaurant!” Jane smirked up at him as he rolled his eyes and sat down next to her.

“You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” He asked, suddenly noticing that there was a third at the table. “Oh, hello.”

“Maria, this is my boyfriend Tom Sloane,” Jane said by way of introduction. “Tom, this is Maria Stewart.”

“A pleasure,” Maria said before chomping into her pizza again.

“Ditto.” Tom inclined his head slightly.

“Uh, no offence, Tom, but should you really be seen around here?” Daria asked, glancing around.

“Daria,” Jane said with a sigh. “You worry too much.”

“What, you’ve got lice or something?” Maria asked Tom.

“I go to the Fielding MechWarrior Academy across town. There‘s been a bit of a rivalry between the two schools since LMA opened.” Tom explained. “Daria, you don’t have to worry about me cramping your style, okay? I left my uniform at home and no one here’s going to recognize me well enough to make me for a cadet at Fielding anyway.”

“Ah, that rivalry thing’s all crap anyway,” Jane said with a frown. “A product of the Li propaganda machine.”

“Headmaster Carstairs feels the same way, from what I hear.” Tom took a couple of his napkins and started daubing the grease of his own pizza as he spoke. “Problem is, it’s making some of the more reactionary cadets a little antsy.”

“Put up or shut up?” Maria asked.

“Pretty much.” Tom looked at Maria for a minute. “Maria Stewart of Stewart’s Rebels? Would the theory of relativity apply in this situation?”

“Her dad’s their boss,” Jane said.

“My who’s their what??” Maria almost choked on her pizza as she laughed. “Oh ho-ho! So that explains the Mavens!”

Jane and Daria exchanged confused glances, while Tom just raised his eyebrows.

“You get the feeling we’re missing something here?” Jane asked Daria.

“Yeah, I do.” Daria turned to the other girl. “What’s so funny?”

“You people think Gabe’s my dad?” Maria asked the other three.

“’Gabe?’” Tom asked disbelievingly.

“Yeah, the major? Gabriel Stewart?.” Maria shook her head. “No, no, no. Gabe’s my oldest brother, not my father!”

“That’s quite the age spread,” Tom said.

“Well, dad’s been married twice, so technically he’s my half brother. But still...” Maria chuckled again.

“So, how big is your family?” Daria asked.

“Well, there are -- there were -- nine of us.” Maria looked at her plate for a second. “Gabe and Rich, the captain in charge of the third company, they’re my oldest brothers. There’s two other brothers and three sisters back on Englin.”

“Thank god I only have to deal with Quinn,” Daria said with a shake of her head

“Wait, that only makes eight, counting you,” Jane said after a quick mental count. “What happened to number nine?”

“My younger brother Samuel was killed while the Fifteenth Marik Militia was on Englin during the Marik -- Liao invasion.” Maria looked at her plate for a moment, then pushed it away.

“So, how did he --ow!” Tom looked at Jane, who was giving him an angry stare. “You kicked me.”

“Jane, it’s okay.” Maria said patiently. “The short version is that Sam was killed by the Blakists when survivors from a big a battle filtered onto our dad’s land-hold. When they started shooting the militia wounded, Sam went after the Precentor in charge with a two-by-four. The Precentor shot him.”

“You saw --?”

“No, but I heard from one of my sisters. Me, Gabe, Rich, and a bunch of other militia MechWarriors and techs got stuck in Englin City when martial law came down right after it happened. Basically, we snuck into the ComStar compound, which was under Word of Blake at the time, hotwired a company of ‘Mechs and a half a dozen supply trucks and headed for the hills. We hooked up with a couple of other militia units on the run and played guerrilla for six months.”

“Hold it, you mean you’ve already fought in a ‘Mech?” Jane asked wide-eyed.

“Not hardly! I held flashlights, rolled bandages, washed bottles, shagged wrenches, whatever.” Maria scratched her ear. “Glamorous it was not.”

“So, how did you come to be here?” Tom asked.

“By JumpShip,” Maria responded immediately, smirking. “After everything was over on Elgin, they packed up and left and I went with them. Everyone’s been teaching me piloting and mechanical stuff, but when we got here, Gabe decided that I needed actual academy time.”

“And you’re here?” Daria cocked an eyebrow.

“No offence, but I‘d rather be learning this stuff form the guys on the sharp end of the spear.” Maria shrugged. “Gabe didn’t say anything in his speech today, but the Rebels are up to battalion strength in ‘Mechs for the first time. Ever. We -- excuse me, they need to train just as much as the Lawndale Cadets do.”

“And what better place to do it than at an academy,” Tom said with a slight smile.

“Exactly,” Maria said, smiling back. Damn, he’s actually kind of cute.

_________________
I'm out of my mind. Please leave a message

=+=+=+=+=

Thursday, February 24, 3059

“Simulation. A process designed to demonstrate, resemble, or otherwise emulate the live combat environment which you will, no doubt, someday encounter.” DeMartino had looked out over the auditorium at the newly separated cadet companies. “Starting today, each and every one of you will be required to go through a simulated practice run with our new instructors so they may familiarize themselves with your lack of skills. Hopefully, you’ll pay more attention to them then you do when you’re in class!”

Anything after that, Daria has simply tuned out, listening only for the day and times that the company she had been assigned to would be going through the simulators. The mercenary instructors had evidently gotten together with the L.M.A. staff and very deliberately broken up the groups, cliques, and parings that had formed up over the last couple of years. For the simulations, Jane and Daria had been put in different companies, with the Maven foursome had been split up and spread out over four others. In other circumstances, Daria would have wondered how Quinn would have gotten on with out her fashionista friends, but she couldn’t muster up the desire to care.

Over the next three days, Daria watched as companies of cadets walked into the simulation chambers, only to come out drenched in sweat. When Jane had gone in, Daria waited outside the room, watching as the mercenary and academy technicians installed new simulators in an almost identical room across the corridor. When Jane had come out, she looked as though she had just run a marathon flat out.

“Oh, you’re gonna love it, amiga,” Jane had said, leaning against the wall as she unzipped her cooling vest. “These guys weren’t kidding when they said it was the school of hard nocks.”

“What did you have to do?” Daria had asked.

“We got to fight, Daria.” Jane’s grin was almost feral. “Not some simulated bad guy, but another student!”

“Who did you fight?”

“Upchuck, and I kicked his ass!” Jane had practically floated down the corridor when she left.

The next morning, the call had come for Daria’s company to take to the simulators. The other company that had been called in was the one Quinn had been assigned to.

“Ugh, they don’t expect us to actually ware these things, do they?” Quinn as she pulled the utilitarian looking cooling best out of her locker, which was right beside Daria’s. “I mean it’s so bulky! And ugly! Don’t they come in any other colors? And these boots!”

“Quinn, when a BattleMech moves or fires it’s guns, it generates heat. A lot of it.” Daria explained as she put her jacket into her own locker and exchanged her green t-shirt for the oversized one she wore for P.T. “Without that vest, you’d fry like an egg on a hot-plate.”

“Don’t they have air conditioning?” Quinn asked as she reluctantly began to change her own clothes.

“Aunt Amy once told me that when you’re in a fight, the cockpit turns into a sauna run wild in a cement mixer, to use her exact words. Without the boots -- or the helmet -- you stand a good chance of breaking something.” Daria pulled a pair of loose running shorts on under her skirt before removing it. “Besides, without the helmet, your ‘Mech would fall flat on it’s face before it took it’s first step.”

“Well,” Quinn said slowly as she began to change as well. “You’d think that they could make them smaller.”

“Yeah, you’d think.” Daria pulled on her own armored boots and cinched them up around her calves. “Quinn, this is all first year stuff, and you’ve been in the simulators before.”

“Duh, Daria, but they’re, like, not real.” Quinn glared at the big neurohelmet that took up most of the top shelf of the locker. “How come we have to ware this clunky junk for something that doesn’t mean anything anyway? The helmet weighs a ton and it ruins my hair, the vest makes me look bloated, and the boots --”

“Quinn, one day it will be real, and you’ll be glad to have all of it. You accepted that when we signed up for this.” Daria pulled on her own cooling vest and zipped it up. “Now hustle up or they’re going to start with out you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Quinn said as Daria grabbed her neurohelmet from her locker and walked out of the room.

Daria joined the trickle of cadets walking through the corridor to the simulator room, getting a thumbs up from Jane as they passed each other. Simulator time had been fairly lacking, due to the fact that DeMartino was, technically, the only qualified instructor in the academy. Now that there were more instructors, larger exercises could be monitored.

Passing through the double doors to the simulator room, Daria was immediately pointed to one of the giant, egg like simulators on one side of the room. The pod was mounted on a rotating gimbal-and-ring arrangement and could simulate every move a BattleMech might make, including dumping a pilot on her head if she wasn’t strapped in tight enough.

“Hey, I’m Rhonda,” the tall, leggy blonde ‘MechWarrior in a mercenary jacket said as she pulled her head out of the interior of the simulator.

“Cadet Daria Morgendorffer,” Daria said mechanically as Rhonda turned around. Daria saw that the tails of the MechWarrior’s shirt, what there was of it, were tied in a knot just blow her chest, exposing her midriff and navel, pierced with two big silver rings. Daria tried not to roll her eyes.

“Save the formalities, hon. The boss runs a fairly loose crew where the rank and file are concerned.” Rhonda said with a smile. “Why fight a good thing?”

“Yes, ma‘am.” Daria didn’t believe it for a second.

“You pile in and get set up,” Rhonda said, taking Daria’s neurohelmet from her. “I’ll be running your evaluation from the control room.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Daria said as she climbed into the dimly lit simulator, taking a seat on the control couch.

“We’ve got you set up for a standard Chameleon, so there’s not going to be too many surprises. And drop the ‘ma’am’ stuff, okay?” Rhonda handed Daria her helmet before swinging the gull-wing like door down and sealing the pod.

You have got to be kidding me! This is going to be like being evaluated by Brittany! Daria thought as she pulled her regular glasses off. She replaced them with a pair of tight fitting wrap-around glasses that fit snugly up against the skin around her eyes before hooking up her five-point restraint and cinching it down.

She put her helmet on and cinched the chin strap tight so that he face was centered in the visor covered hexagonal opening. A bundle of cables, wrapped with a thick elastic band hung from the extended chin. Daria removed the band with a sharp tug and let the cables drop into her lap. Four thin cables of varying length had medical sensor pads attached to the ends, which she attached to her upper arms and inner thighs. The fifth, thicker cable, she plugged into a port on the console by her left arm. The whole setup would transmit her sense of balance to the BattleMech’s gyros, or in this case the simulator’s computers, and keep her ‘Mech on its feet.

Daria took one last cable from a pouch on the right side of the command couch’s seat and connected it to a valve on her cooling vest’s bottom right side. Almost immediately, Daria felt the movement of coolant through the dozens of tubes that ran throughout the vest’s lining. It was very creepy.

The sim pod’s consoles could be reconfigured to roughly mimic almost any cockpit configuration, and in the Chameleon was the one everyone knew inside and out. Daria could have gone through the start-up routine almost without looking. First, the big switch for the power plant, back by her left arm. Then she went around the cockpit and brought up communications, sensors, weapons, and life support. Monitors and the ‘Mech’s heads up display, which compressed three hundred and sixty degrees of view into one hundred and twenty, all flickered and came on with the school's lion head crest. Daria immediately adjusted it, shrinking it into a thin band above the forward “canopy,” where it would serve as a high tech rear view mirror. A compass strip across the top of the display, along with a pair of pocket watch sized targeting crosshairs remained in front of her.

“Hey, that was fast,” Rhonda’s voice crackled in Daria’s helmet speakers. “You all ready?”

“Ready when you are.” Daria’s voice was flat.

“Okay, then.” The lion’s head insignias vanished as the monitors to their normal status displays. All around her, the image of the ‘Mech hangar faded into existence. “First thing we need to do is get out of the garage. The doors are on your right, so step on out of the gantry and take her outside. Keep right and watch for incoming traffic.”

“Roger.”

Daria put her feet on the two heavy pedals in front of her and pushed them ahead slowly until the pod lurched slightly, indicating that the Chameleon had taken a tentative step. She quickly switched one of her secondary monitors so she could see down in front of her ‘Mech’s feet from approximately eight meters up in the air. When the flashing indicators set in the hangar’s floor came into view, she throttled back to a stop and turned it to the right by pushing on the right foot pedal, letting it up when the hangar doors came into view. She let her ‘Mech stand there for a moment as another Chameleon was walking, more like limping, into the hangar. It’s simulated armor had been savaged, and it’s right arm was missing from the elbow down.

Jane was right. They do run you into a fight. Daria squinted at the other simulated ‘Mech, wondering who was controlling it. Did you win or lose?

As soon as the other Chameleon was clear of the doors, Daria pushed the pedals down again. Her Chameleon slowly walked forward, stepping out into the simulated environment. With the top of the line simulators, pilots wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the real world and the computer’s environments. Lawndale’s weren’t top of the line, but they were close. Items in the far distance didn’t show a lot of detail, but were colored shapes and the details would snap into focus as you got closer.

Someone must have updated the programming, Daria thought as she examined the scenery, noting that the details were visible at longer distances than before. She saw a Chameleon a few dozen meters to her left, flat on it’s face and struggling to get to it’s feet. Now that has to be Kevin.

“Very smooth,” Rhonda’s voice cut into Daria’s thoughts. “Okay, move up to the big red flags ahead of you and bring her to a stop. You’ll pick up your first navigation point there, and then we’ll go for a little walk.”

“Roger.”

For the next fifteen minutes, Daria walked and ran her Chameleon through it’s paces on Rhonda’s instructions. Up a hill, through a valley, around an obstacle course, and then into a firing range, where Daria used her ‘Mech’s single large laser to snipe at targets nearly four hundred meters away. Then she switched to the two medium and three small lasers, as well as a pair of machine guns, to work on targets closer in.

The simulator had worked as advertised, tilting and jolting Daria as her ‘Mech moved through the course. Vents built into the pod poured heat into the confined space in response to her weapons fire, simulating the demands that would be put on the fusion power plant that would be beneath her in a real ‘Mech. By the time she was done, the cockpit temperature was almost a hundred and twenty degrees and Daria was sweating profusely.

Daria smiled nastily to herself, imaging what Quinn was going through. She’d be cursing her instructor by now, Daria thought.

Following Rhonda’s navigation route, Daria marched her ‘Mech at a fast walk into a wide flatland.

“Okay, tell me what you see,” Rhonda prompted.

“A whole lot of nothing,” Daria said, looking around as her ‘Mech crossed the landscape. “A couple of small rock formations, some clumps of trees, a small lake. Nothing special.”

Daria momentarily wondered what she was supposed to be looking for when her targeting system suddenly chirped for attention. Her heads-up-display painted another ‘Mech in the distance, also walking into the same landscape that she was on.

“Wait, there’s another ‘Mech out here,” Daria said as she slowed her ‘Mech down to almost half it’s walking speed. Reaching for her sensor console, she pushed the zoom factor all the way up and centered the opposing ‘Mech in her view strip. “Another Chameleon. Eight hundred meters out.”

“Very good, that’s your enemy,” Rhonda said. “Prepare to engage.”

Daria’s heart pounded in her chest and her heat fatigued muscles came back to life with a wash of adrenalin.

“Roger that.” Daria grabbed her weapon control joy sticks, her fingers unconsciously flexing around them as she quickly considered her angle of approach. “Just out of curiousity, who’s driving the other ‘Mech?”

“I’m not supposed to tell you till afterwards.”

“Fair enough.”

“Attack your target in three...two...one... Go go go!”

Before the first ‘go’ was completely out of Rhonda’s mouth, Daria shoved the foot pedals to their stops and her Chameleon burst into a hard run. The pod lurched and bounced as the ‘Mech hit it’s top speed of almost ninety five kilometers per hour. The other ‘Mech started running as well, turning into Daria’s approach so that they were practically on a collision course.

The range between them rapidly went from being measured in hundreds of meters to dozens as both Chameleons fired their large lasers. Daria’s shot missed, while her opponent’s carved a half ton chunk of armor out of her left torso, reducing coverage there by two thirds. By the time Daria recovered from the impact the other ‘Mech had passed by on her left. Daria spun her ‘Mech around, going from a hard run to a backwards walk and firing her large laser again, catching her opponent in the back of the right leg.

“Come back here, you chickens**t,” Daria growled as cockpit heat rose. She threw her ‘Mech back into a forward run, perusing her opponent as it raced towards one of the rock formations.

Suddenly, the other Chameleon’s back and leg mounted jump jets fired, throwing the fifty ton giant into the air and over the rock formation and out of sight.

Glancing at her own heat levels, Daria decided to push her heat curve and stomped on the big jump jet set in the cockpit floor, slightly off to the side of the control pedals. Heat flowed into the cockpit like a blast furnace as her ‘Mech leapt into the sky and over the rocks.

The other Chameleon was already back-walking out of the area, it’s torso turning to track Daria’s leap. Lasers and machine gun tracers flashed past, but only the large laser hit, taking another half ton chunk off of Daria’s left arm armor. Daria left her own large laser out, instead peppering her opponent with the medium and small lasers and machine guns, whittling armor from the torso and generally chewing up the ground all around it.

When Daria’s ‘Mech hit the simulated ground, it felt as if the pod had been kicked by a giant. If she hadn’t been strapped in, she would have gone right through the forward screens. As it was, her Chameleon stumbled hard, but Daria’s body language translated through to the gyros, as well as fast work on the foot pedals and joysticks, kept it on it’s feet.

“Oo-hoo! Ouch!” Rhonda’s comment was barely acknowledged as Daria pursued her opponent, who was trying to turn and open the distance again.

Oh no you don’t! Daria thought, triggering her large and medium lasers again, as well as her machine guns. One medium missed entirely, while the other cored into the right leg, finishing off the armor and slicing into the internal workings. The large laser melted armor off of the right side while the machine guns nicked armor off of the right arm and head.

“Yes!” Daria crowed in the sweltering confines of her simulator while her opponent’s ‘Mech raised it’s right arm and fired the large laser at point blank range. Daria’s sim screens went white and the simulator got another hard kick, this time from the front.

Daria bit off another curse as she blinked against the sudden blast of light. Purple stars flooded her vision as alarms screamed in her ears.

Head hit! Great, a well aimed rock could get through my armor now! Daria shook her self back into the here and now, backing her ‘Mech off and letting her opponent open the range, her return laser shot missing wide. She turned her ‘Mech and pushed it back to a run, going around the opposite side of the rocks. Her opponent was running hard, coming around for a long range attack.

Daria twisted her joysticks hard left, her ’Mech’s torso mimicking the maneuver and bringing her large laser back into play. Both ‘Mechs fired simultaneously and Daria’s ‘Mech jolted as the other Chameleon’s laser cracked the armor over her left torso, digging into the ‘Mech’s internals and destroying the small laser there. Daria’s laser found the other ‘Mech’s exposed right leg, turning leathery looking myomer pseudomuscles into burning chunks and reducing the exposed knee to a molten heap of slag.

“Okay, knock it off, knock it off,” Rhonda’s voice cut into the fight. “Fight’s over. Break off.”

“S**t!” Daria whispered as her weapon indicators all went dark at once as Rhonda shut them down.

“I heard that.” Rhonda chuckled. “You gave as good as you got, Daria. Pick up your nav points and come on home.”

“Right.” Daria slowly turned her ‘Mech as she watched her opponent do the same. Evidently, the cadet’s instructor had negated the damage to the ‘Mech’s knee so that the cadet could control it more easily.

“One more shot,” Daria muttered as she bought her ‘Mech back up to a walk and centered it on a flashing arrow head in her HUD. “So, who was I fighting? Or do I have to wait till I get out of this thing to find out?”

“Nah, I can tell you now,” Rhonda replied. “It was a Cadet Quinn Morgendorffer. Any relation?”
~~~~~~

#####

Daria slumped tiredly on the locker room bench as she unzipped her cooling vest. Her hair was sweaty and matted to her scalp where it didn’t hang in strings. Her gym clothes were drenched in sweat and clinging after her brief time in the simulator. Daria felt both exhausted and exhilarated at the same time, now understanding Jane’s feelings from earlier in the week.

“Hey Daria!”

Turning at the sound of her name, she saw Jane and Jodie walking around the row of lockers.

“Judging by the gleam in your eyes and the smell in the air, I’d say that you just came from the simulators,” Jane said with a smile as she sat down next to Daria.

“What was your first clue?” Daria tiredly slipped out of her cooling vest as she spoke.

“They didn’t really make you go up against another cadet, did they?” Jodie asked.

“Yeah, and you’ll never guess who.”

The locker room doors suddenly crashed open and Quinn came around the row of lockers a moment later. She looked just as wrung out as Daria did, her hair similarly matted and darkened by sweat to nearly a burgundy hue.

“Dammit, Daria, do you think that you could have made that thing toss me around any harder?” Quinn aid raggedly. “I practically cooked trying to fight you off back there!”

“Quinn, I didn’t even know it was you until the instructors broke it up.” Daria sounded tired as she bent to un-cinch her boots. “Besides, after that head shot you tagged me with, you haven’t got much room to complain. I’m still seeing spots.”

“She got you with a head shot?” Jodie eyes were wide.

“Oh, don’t sound so shocked. She practically burned my leg out from under me afterwards.” Quinn pushed past Jane, pulled her locker open, and quickly pulled off her vest. “Ugh! I’ve got to wash my hair before it’s totally wrecked! Where’s my herbal conditioner?”

“Well, she’s got her priorities straight,” Jane said, rolling her eyes. “So what did you --”

“Oh dammit!” Quinn stood up, looking at the ragged nail on her left hand’s middle finger. “Dammit, dammit! Daria you made me break a nail in that stupid simulator!!”

“And no time for a manicure before class,” Daria said flatly. “The horrors of war have reached Lawndale. What ever shall we do?”

“Ooo!” Quinn growled, angrily grabbing a towel and oversized toiletries bag from her locker before storming off.

“I thought our opponents were supposed to be computer generated,” Jodie said after Quinn was out of ear shot. “Why are they making us engage other cadets?”

“Offhand, I think they want to see what we’ve got in the way of skills,” Daria replied as she put her boots in the locker. “Computer generated enemies can’t be as unpredictable as a real one can.”

“I guess you’re right,” Jodie said after a moment.

“So, how’d you do against the little princess?” Jane asked eagerly.

“Like Quinn said, I had almost taken her Chameleon’s leg off when the instructors called the fight.” Daria looked off into space for a moment. “A little luck and one more solid hit and that would have been that. It would have gone either way.”

“So you fought a draw.” Jodie sat down next to Jane.

“Looks like it.” Daria took a towel and her own shower kit out of her locker. “I think I’m gonna like this.”

~~~~~~

“So, amiga, another day, another C-Bill,” Jane said as she and Daria pushed their way out of the academy’s front entrance. “What do you say we take that C-bill and grab some pizza?”

“Actually, there’s something I have to do first. I promised a sick friend that I’d visit. Can we do this in a couple of hours?”

“Yeah, sure. Mind if I tag along?” Jane asked as she and Daria started up the street. “W can be pretty good in the ‘cheering up’ department when I want to be.”

“Um, actually, Jane, this is something I’d kind of like to do by myself.” Daria looked at the toes of her boots foe a moment as they walked.

“Oh, okay. Sure, we can meet up at the pizza place in a couple of hours then.”

“Thanks, Jane.” Daria turned and set off in the opposite direction at a brisk pace that was almost a slow jog.

Jane stood there and watched as her friend walked away, concerned and curious.

“Hey, Jane,” another voice said, drawing Jane’s attention away from Daria’s retreating back.

“Oh, hey Maria.” Jane shook herself back to the present and greeted the mercenary girl. “What’s up?”

“Heading back to the hotel.” Maria adjusted her duffel bag over her shoulder as she looked the same direction Jane was. “Where’s she off to so fast?”

“Something about visiting a sick friend.” Jane looked back in Daria’s direction.

“What’s this friend got?” Maria asked.

“Got me. Daria’s never told me.”

“Well, lets go find out.”

“What?” Jane cocked an eyebrow at Maria.

“Let’s follow her and find out.”

Jane shook her head slightly. “Maria, one thing about Daria is that she doesn’t tell anybody anything until she’s ready. Or until it practically explodes out of her ears.”

“Or until it’s about to blow up in her face?” Maria asked with a half smile.

“She’s never really had anything do that, but that would make sense for Daria.”

“Jane, I don’t mean to be morbid, and I’m surprise that you haven’t thought of this, but what if she’s the sick friend?”

“What?” Jane looked at Maria in surprise. “She and I have been friends for two years and then some. Something like that she would have told me.”

“Well, then, do you want to know what’s going on or not?” Maria asked.

“Well, yeah, but --”

Maria grabbed Jane’s arm and towed her in the direction that Daria was going.

“Then, come on,” Maria said as she pulled. “The worst she’ll do is yell at us.”

“And after she gets assigned a ‘Mech?” Jane asked, freeing her arm and matching Maria’s pace.

“Stomp us into a bloody smear on the roadway.”

~~~~~

Hanging about a block back, Maria and Jane followed as Daria lead them through town. Daria didn’t give any indication that she knew she was being followed, but she did keep up a brisk pace as she went. Only once did Jane and Maria have to scramble to catch up when Daria turned a corner and passed out of their sight for a few moments.

“There she is,” Jane said as she and Maria rounded the corner and regained sight of Daria.

“Let’s wait a second,” Maria suggested. “We don’t want to get too close and spook her.”

“I’ve had some crazy ideas, but this takes the cake.” Jane muttered. “Daria’s going to be so pissed at us.”

“I don’t know. Look where she’s headed.”

Jane looked in the direction Maria pointed. “Cedars? The hospital?”

“You tell me, you live here.”

“Maybe she really is going to visit a sick friend,” Jane wondered.

“You hope. Come on, before we loose her again.”

Daria led Jane and Maria right up to the main entrance of the building before she disappeared inside.

“Crap, come on!” Jane sprinted ahead of Maria, who started to fall behind after a few running steps. She beat Maria to the automatic doors easily, slowing only long enough for them to slide open, before sliding to a stop at the hospital lobby. Jane looked around quickly, but Daria was nowhere to be seen. “Damn!”

“Well, we can always wait for her to come out,” Maria said, panting as she caught up to Jane.

“Do you really want to be waiting here when she catches us?” Jane asked.

Maria looked around the lobby for a moment, her gaze falling on the receptionist’s station. A couple of silver haired hospital volunteers sat behind the high counter. On the table behind them were a row of monitors, each one showing a nurses station on a different floor. She snapped her fingers as inspiration struck home.

“What?” Jane followed as Maria walked over to the desk.

“Excuse me,” Maria said to one of the ladies sitting behind the desk. “We’re trying to catch up with a friend of ours. Brown hair, green jacket. Did she just come in?”

“Oh, yes,” the old lady said. “She comes here a lot, you know. Just got on the elevator a minute ago.”

“Do you know what floor she was heading for?” Jane asked.

The old lady just shook her head, but Maria wasn’t paying attention to her, but to the black and white screens behind her. Maria tapped Jane’s arm when she say Daria walk through one of the monitor’s field of view.

“There she is.” Maria pointed. “Ma’am, what floor does that third one show?”

“Third.”

Duh. “I know where she’s going now. Thanks.” Maria led Jane off towards the elevators.

“You know where she’s going? How?” Jane asked in a whisper.

“I have no idea where she’s going,” Maria replied as they got to the elevators and she hit the call button. “But we have narrowed it down to one floor without being asked a lot of questions.”

The two girls made the ride up to the third floor in silence. Getting out, they were greeted with a sign that read ‘Extended Care Unit.’ Jane repeated the line Maria used at the lobby desk, and the bored looking male nurse at the desk just pointed down a corridor with his thumb. Maria and Jane exchanged a look and quietly went in the direction that they were pointed.

The two girls walked as quietly as the could, unobtrusively glancing in doors that were cracked open until they got to the end of the hall. Walking back the way they came, they repeated the procedure, but still found nothing.

“I don’t get it. She must have come this way,” Jane said quietly.

“That guy didn’t exactly look like he was paying attention to who was coming or going,” Maria replied. “Let’s try the other side.”

As Jane and Maria started to walk back towards the elevators, one of the closed doors opened and Quinn quietly walked out of the room and closed the door behind her as quietly as she could. Looking up, she spotted Maria and Jane and jumped slightly, putting her hand to her chest.

“What are you two doing here?” Quinn whispered harshly.

“Trying to find Daria,” Jane replied. “We followed her here. Now what’s going on?”

“It’s none of your business, that’s what! Daria’s gonna freak when she sees you.”

“Quinn, is Daria sick?” Jane asked with a frown.

“No, she’s not sick.”

“Then what goes on?” Maria asked.

“Nothing. Now get out of here -- no, wait!” Quinn grabbed Jane’s arm as she started to reach around Quinn for the door. Quinn looked at the door for a second, then back to Jane. “Look, if I tell you what’s going on, will you promise to get out of here and never, and I mean never, mention to Daria that you were here?”

“Deal.” Jane said.

“Done and done.” Maria affirmed.

Even more quietly than before, Quinn turned and opened the door to the room she had just left. Peering over her shoulder, Jane and Maria saw that Daria was sitting with her back to the door and talking with a woman in the hospital bed who appeared to be asleep. A white tube had been inserted into one of her nostrils, and the wires from a wall mounted vital signs monitor ran under her collar and to her wrist. When Daria stood up, Jane winced, afraid that they had been caught, but Daria merely pushed a lock of the woman’s hair from her face and sat back down again. As Quinn closed the door, Jane noticed that the woman’s hair was almost the same shade as Daria’s.

“Who is that?” Maria asked. “Daria’s mom?”

“No, that’s our Aunt Amy,” Quinn said quietly as she led the two others away from the door so they could talk.

“That’s the Aunt Amy that Daria always talks about?” Jane glanced over her shoulder at the door. “What happened?”

“She’s been like that ever since they brought her back from some planet called Coventry,” Quinn explained. “I don’t know exactly what happened, but from what I’d heard mom and dad say, her ‘Mech’s missiles got blown up. The shock knocked her out and. . . well, she never regained consciousness.” Quinn looked back down the hall. “When the thing on Coventry was over, the military shipped her back home. Mom and dad set her up here, and Amy’s disability pays for most of the bills.”

“Damn, that’s rough,” Maria said quietly.

“Aunt Amy is why Daria wants to be a MechWarrior, you know,” Quinn said as they got to the elevators.

Jane hit the call button. “What do you mean?”

“Even I know it’s impossible, but Daria wants to find the Clan MechWarrior who did this to Aunt Amy, and then kill them. Literally."

_________________
I'm out of my mind. Please leave a message

[Beavis]
Diarrhea cha cha cha Diarrhea cha cha cha
[/Beavis]

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Chicken go cluck-cluck, cow go moo. Piggie go oink-oink, how bout you?

Here's some more of my story. Comments welcome!

=+=+=+=

Lawndale MechWarrior Academy
Wednesday, March 16, 3059

Sandi Griffin winced as the simulated Shadow Hawk she was piloting was slammed to one side by a volley of autocannon fire. Wrenching her ‘Mech around, she brought her weapons to bear on the offending enemy ‘Mech that had just cost her most of the remaining armor on her right side. She barely waited for the tone of a weapons lock before triggering her own autocannon and a volley of twenty long range missiles.

“Ambush!” Somebody yelled over the radio chatter. “It’s an ambush!”

No freaking kidding! Sandi thought as she looked for any signs that she’d hit her target.

The simulated mission that they were running was supposed to have been fairly easy: follow a set of navigation points and search the hills for two lances of “Bad Guys” that were supposed to be waiting there for them, take them out, then return to base. However, Mr. Demartino hadn’t told them everything. The two lances that they encountered just after entering the hills kept hitting and running and had lead the entire company off of the plotted navigation route. Over the next half an hour, the cadet company had burned off most of their ammunition and had only disabled two of the mercenary “Bad Guy” ‘Mechs to show for it. Three of their own had been taken out, including the cadet who was in charge of the company for the simulation.

Teddy Wazniak, you idiot, Sandi thought. If I was in charge ...

Wazniak had let the mercenaries lead them all into a field of craters, where a fresh, undamaged lance was now cresting the lip of a large caldera and pouring fire into the disorganized cadets.

“Oh great! Assault ‘Mechs!” Sandi heard someone else call out.

Sandi looked at her HUD with wide eyes as her computer finally started painting identifications on the ‘Mechs she was facing down. The ‘Mech she had just exchanged shots with, a Toyama, was being followed by a Grand Dragon, which was cutting into a near-by Bushwacker with Particle Projection Cannon and long range missile fire. Behind them, a Hatamoto-Hi and a Charger were slowly plodding along and sniping away with PPC and long range missiles, both of them getting hits more often than not.

“Angie, quit fooling around and help me with this Toy-mama, or whatever it is,” Sandi snapped. No one wanted to follow her orders today.

“Uh, yeah, okay,” Angie replied through a wash of static as one of the Hatamoto’s PPCs disintegrated the last of the armor on her ’Mech’s chest. “Aw, crap! My missile launcher is out!”

“Who cares, just shoot!” Sandi hit her weapon triggers again, this time adding her Shadow Hawk’s arm mounted medium laser to the barrage. The Toyama had closed to about two hundred meters and that had allowed Sandi to use all her weapons, though much closer and her long range missiles performance would begin to suffer.

The Toyama side stepped the tracers form Sandi’s cannon, but dodged into the heavier burst from Angie’s. This time Sandi could see her missiles hitting fresh armor, while her laser cut a line up the heavier ‘Mech’s right leg. The Toyama responded by raising it’s weapon arms and concentrating all it’s fire on Sandi. The two large lasers that made up the right arm and the big LB-10X cannon that made up it’s left both poured streams of fire and energy into the Shadow Hawk. PPC and missile fire from the two assault ‘Mechs on the ridge tracked in on her with uncanny accuracy, compounding the damage done by the closer ‘Mech.

The simulator turned almost forty five degrees on two axis, and Sandi knew her ‘Mech was going to fall no matter what she did to prevent it, though that didn’t stop her from trying. What did stop her, though, was the earsplitting screech that was the simulator’s way of announcing that one of her ammunition magazine’s had just been blown to hell and gone, and the rest of her ‘Mech along with it.

The monitors and screen within the simulator all turned a dark crimson as the pod gently righted itself and settled down on it’s gimbals. To make matters worse, the words ‘YOU HAVE DIED’ appeared on all the screens, as well as in the pods wrap around view of the outside.

“No freaking kidding,” Sandi muttered to herself as she pulled her helmet off and blew a strand of sweat drenched hair out of her eyes.

An hour later, Sandi got to watch her demise on the battlefield yet again, this time on the big monitor in the front of the classroom nearest the simulator room. Direct fire form the Toyama, Charger, and Hatamoto had simply deluged her Shadow Hawk until her short range missile magazine, perversely mounded right under a Hawk’s engine, had been hit and exploded. Bits of ‘Mech were spread over a hundred meter area as the Toyama turned on another target without giving Sandi’s simulated pyre a second glance.

“So, what should you have done here, Ms Griffin?” Demartino asked her as the image froze on the screen.

“Died more neatly?” Sandi asked gruffly. Like the rest of the people in the classroom, all either cadets or Rebel MechWarriors, she still wore her cooling vest, t-shirt, and shorts that she had worn into the cockpit. She wrinkled her nose at the smell in the room. God, they could have let us shower first!

“Very amusing,” Demartino said above the chuckles from the others in the room. “However, the correct tactic in this case would have been to pull back and stay out of range of the two assault ‘Mechs supporting the Toyama and Grand Dragon.”

Demartino pressed a button on his desk, and the recording of the battle resumes. The Toyama had turned it’s firepower on Angie’s Centurion, only to be caught unaware by cannon and missile fire from a fifty-five ton Bushwacker that was running up to support the two beleaguered girls. The autocannon’s of the two cadet’s ‘Mechs combined to send the Toyama’s right arm with it’s two heavy lasers, dropping to the battlefield as no more than salvage to be collected later.

“And what should Lieutenant Brooks have done?” Demartino asked as he froze the image again.

“Died like he was supposed to,” Teddy Wazniak said, slumped in his desk on the other side of the room.

“Pulled back so the assault ‘Mech’s could support him?” Angie asked tentatively.

“Correct, Ms. Clark.” Demartino actually smiled slightly. “I’m glad to see that someone is actually getting something out of this. The problem is that, if this were real, none of you would very likely be around to use that knowledge! Lieutenant Brooks?”

A tan, well muscled MechWarrior got up from his seat in the back of the room and walked to the desk, an electronic clipboard under his arm. The eyes of every one of the female cadets, as well as a couple of the Rebel MechWarriors, locked in on him as he walked past. He had left his vest on the desk and was clad in black shorts, t-shirt, and MechWarrior boots. If he noticed all of the attention he was drawing from the ladies in the room, he didn’t give any indication of it.

“Losses to the cadet company were as follows, seven ‘Mechs down but salvageable, three destroyed, two captured with five cadets killed, the rest either missing or prisoners.” Brooks looked up at the assembled class, more subdued now that the butcher’s bill had been stated so succinctly. “While Ms Li is writing letters to your next of kin, what did you do wrong?”

“We should have stayed on the nav course,” a cadet named Evan said.

“Wouldn’t have done any good.” Brooks pressed several controls on Demartino’s desk. Behind him the screen changed to the briefing mat that they had used before the simulation started. This time, Rebel ‘Mechs were highlighted in red, and the Lawndale ‘Mechs stood out in blue. The path they planned to follow, a curved green line, looped around the positions the Rebel Mech’s held. “We were inside the curve of your planned course. You had no choice but to follow the two lances, because that was the only way to satisfy the victory conditions of the simulation. What you didn’t have to do was follow them like a flock of starving gulls after a minnow.

“All of your ‘Mechs were very ammunition dependant, one thing nobody seemed to notice, and we used that. The other thing you missed was that we’ve used this ambush tactic, or variations on it, four times. Personally, I didn’t expect to get away with it twice! Don’t you people talk to each other?” Brooks shook his head at the silence from the cadets. “All right, gun bunnies, listen up. One of the best weapons you’re going to take with you into a fire fight is intelligence. And I’m going to give you some right now.”

Brooks turned and changed the image on the screen, once again showing the Toyama, Charger, Hatamoto-Hi, and Grand Dragon marching over the lip of the crater, weapons blazing. The image froze and zoomed in on the Hatamoto, the samurai armor-like lines of it’s design filling the screen.

“This is a Hatamoto-Hi Command and Control ‘Mech, something we picked up during our last job in the Draconis Combine. This ‘Mech carries a C-Three master computer that ties the sensor and communication systems of a whole lance of properly equipped ‘Mechs together and lets them share their targeting data.” Brooks turned back on the class. “This ‘Mech and the Charger were using the targeting systems of the Grand Dragon and the Toyama to fire their weapons as if they were three hundred meters closer to their targets.”

“You cheated!” Sandi sat bolt upright in her chair. “You set us up in ‘Mechs that were junk and didn’t carry any decent lasers or anything! You tricked us into wasting all our bullets so we couldn’t fight back, and then you pulled this computer thingamajig out and say that you can use the other guys stuff to shoot your own guns with! You cheated just so you could make yourselves look good and the rest of us look bad and we’d have won if you had made it a fair fight!”

The more Rebels experienced MechWarriors shook their heads while the Lawndale cadets muttered their general agreement. Brooks just looked over the group, hands on his hips.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the new Duchess of the Bolan Province.” Brooks smiled wryly, gesturing at Sandi. “Let me tell you something, ‘Duchess,’ there’s no such thing as a fair fight. All your ‘Mechs, while ammo dependant, were designs that move fast and hit hard at range, something none of you cared to take advantage of. A little more patience, a lot more team work, and some communication with the other cadets in this school, and this battle would probably have turned out very differently.”

“In other words, cadets, you didn’t bother to try and figure out how your comrades got trounced,” Demartino said. “Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. To put it more simply for those of you who can‘t spare the attention, fail to learn from other’s mistakes and you’re going to make the same ones. Speaking of which, Mr. Wazniak, lets take a look at your performance.”

~~~~~~
“...And then, they made us sit there and go through everybody’s performance, picking out all of their mistakes and trying to make everyone look bad,” Sandi said to Quinn, Stacy, and Tiffany a couple of days later.

They were walking out to an ad hoc small arms range with the members of a couple of other companies. After two weeks of learning how to breakdown and repair various types of small arms, some students had been wondering if they weren’t training for the infantry instead of being MechWarriors. Now, under the watchful eyes of some of the mercenary infantry officers, they would actually be handling weapons for the first time. As could have been expected, all the guys were in a lather about.

“Maybe if we found some different kind of shoes to go with the vests,” Stacy suggested. “Or if we got them in different colors.”

“Stay-seee! I mean they picked out every little stupid mistake that everyone of us made and went out of their way to, like, embarrass us!” Sandi rolled her eyes in annoyance. She was still mad that someone had gotten into her locker and stenciled the word ‘Duchess’ above the faceplate of her neurohelmet. If I ever find out who did that . . .

“I can’t believe that major guy lets them get away with stuff like that,” Quinn said. “They did the same thing to us yesterday when they made us fight in that swamp. It’s a good thing Ted Wazniak told us about that computer ‘Mech, or we’d have gotten clobbered.”

“Yeah, Angie told me about it this morning. I don‘t think our company is going up against it though.” Stacy looked around as they walked, noting a group of engineering vehicles and DiggerMechs busily flattening out a small mountain top almost half a kilometer away.

“Sandi, how come you didn’t tell us about the computer ‘Mech?” Tiffany asked in her slow cadence.

“Hey, yeah, how come?” Quinn asked as well.

“Because, ladies, I had other, more important things on my mind than what some money hungry mercenary thinks about how I pilot a ‘Mech.” Sandi frowned.

“All right children, shut yer traps and listen up!” The harsh voice of the small arms instructor overrode the conversations that were winding down as they came to a row of six widely spaced tables. Standing by each one were two members of the Rebel’s infantry contingent, each wearing a tan-khaki-green camo pattern fatigues and gun belts.

“This is the first day that you’re going to be using live ammunition with these weapons,” the instructor said into the silence. “A screw up today will not just mean a black mark in your grade book, it will also most likely mean that someone will have gotten hurt. A screw up today will also mean I’m gonna smack you up the back of the head. So don’t screw up.” The instructor turned to the men and women at the tables. “Ladies and gentlemen, demonstrate your skills if you please.”

Almost in unison, the twelve soldiers turned and each pulled a semi-automatic pistol from their holsters. Sounding like a massive string of fire crackers, the soldiers fired six rounds each in rapid succession into targets hung on a thick wall of lumber and sandbags about ten more meters away. About half of the cadets winced or plugged their ears for the three second fusillade. When the shooting was done, the soldiers holstered their weapons walked out to retrieve their targets. On returning, they each held up the target they had been shooting at. Each target had six holes punched in it and, in most cases, all of the holes were within five centimeters of the bulls eye.

“You children may think that you’re going to be experts in ‘Mech to ‘Mech combat,” the instructor said as he turned back to the cadets. “These people are experts in using their side arms up close and personal, and you will listen to them.”

After that, the instructor started calling out names and each cadet in turn went to where one of the soldiers was standing. Each soldier, with varying degrees of patience, walked each cadet through the procedures of loading a clip with six rounds, proper handling and aiming, and then firing the six rounds at the target. Once all twelve pistols were cleared and safely back in the soldiers’ holsters did the cadets walk out to collect their targets.

Most of the cadets had never fired handguns before, and their accuracy showed it, as had their tentative attitudes. Tiffany had picked the weapon she used up with her thumb and pinky with a comment of “Ewww!” Still, she had managed to put four of her six shots into the dinner plate sized target. Quinn performed similarly, with four out of six on target, while Sandi got five.

A discussion buy the targets held up the next group for a few moments as Stacy and her instructor slowly walked back to the firing line, both beaming.

“What goes on, Guthrie?” the chief instructor asked the infantryman.

“Looks like we got us a real Deadeye Diva here, sir,” Guthrie said as he held up the target. The six holes in the target were all within six centimeters of the center, with two of them bracketing the bulls eye.

“I’ll say we do. Excellent shooting, Rowe.” The instructor clapped her on the shoulder once. “Out-damned-standing.”

Not even Sandi’s sour look could wipe the grin off of Stacy’s face.

“Whoaaaa,” Tiffany drawled in surprise.

“Wow, when did you learn to shoot like that?” Quinn asked, looking forlornly between her target and Stacy’s.

“Yes, Stacy,” Sandi sneered. “Where did you pick up such a questionable skill?”

“Well,” Stacy started to answer but was cut off by the decidedly premature sound of a weapon being fired.

Every eye on the field was drawn to the table at the end of the line, where Kevin Thompson was looking wide eyed at the smoking hole he had just shot in the table between himself and another cadet.

“Sawwwreeee!” Kevin said sheepishly as the infantryman yanked the pistol out of his hand and cleared the weapon’s chamber.

“Goddamit Thompson I told you to leave that weapon on safe!!!” The infantryman roared in Thompson’s face.

“Don’t worry man, I’ll get it right when it counts,” Kevin said with his most disarming grin, which was promptly wiped off of his face by the instructor’s hand meeting the back of his head with a resounding THWACK!!

“OW!!” Kevin wined, rubbing the back of his head.

The four girls, as well as the rest f the class could only watch in sympathy as the instructor rained expletives and insults down on both Kevin and the infantryman for a full five minutes before class continued.

By the end of the day, word of Kevin's foul up, as well as Stacy’s accuracy, had spread around the school. Only Brittany had seemed to show any sympathy for her boy friend, while the rest of the cadets ducked and hid behind obstacles, pleading ‘don’t shoot’ as Kevin walked by. Stacy’s notoriety had spread equally quickly, and by the next morning, someone had stenciled “Deadeye Diva” onto her neurohelmet.

~~~~~~

Daria had let Jane and Tom drag her out to the Zon that night, the grungy club on Degas Street where Jane’s brother Trent and his band Mystic Spiral were playing. For a Friday night, most of the crowd consisted of cadets from the Lawndale Academy, as well as the usual spread of styles that the people who lived on and around Degas Street seemed to sport, most of which involved black. Tonight, the place even seemed to attract a couple of the ‘MechWarriors from the rebels. Though most of them had left their usual gray livery behind tonight, Daria immediately recognized Rhonda, the MechWarrior who evaluated her, in a small group in a booth at the end of the bar.

“Are you a lucky little lady in The City of Light, Or just another lost angel...City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, woo! C'mon! L.A. Woman...”

Daria shook her head at the band’s choice of music. Some off world huckster had sold Max, the band’s drummer, a batch disks that had music and lyrics that he had claimed were over a thousand years old. Max had jumped on the deal, thinking that he was getting something special, and had convinced the band to try and learn a couple of the pieces. Now that was all that they played, but with their own particular grungy twist.

"People in the twentieth century didn’t actually listen to this stuff, did they?" Daria asked Jane as the duo collected their sodas from the bar. She had to almost shout to be heard over the band.

"Well, that's what Max said the guy who sold the stuff to him said." Jane replied as they walked across the floor to where Tom was holding a table for them.

“You’re sure this is authentic, twentieth century stuff?” Tom asked as Jane and Daria took their seats.

“Could be, knowing this place.” Jane held up her glass and eyed the contents critically.

“I meant the music.” Tom shook his head.

“We were just talking about that,” Daria said. “It sounds like something that they should be playing in brew pubs. At least it’d be a step up from this place.”

“You mean there’s something lower?” Jane asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Tom shook his head and chuckled to himself. The repartee between Daria and Jane had always kind of surprised him. The two girls were definitely cut from the same cloth.

Tom’s musings were cut short when he spotted four new arrivals walk into the club. Each of them wore the uniform of the Fielding MechWarrior Academy cadets, deep green with Steiner blue along the cuffs, collar, and in a stripe down the outside of the trouser legs. Tom had to resist the urge to slouch down behind the table to get out of sight.

“What’s wrong?” Jane asked, seeing Tom suddenly freeze. “You thought of something worse that here?”

Daria looked over her shoulder in the direction that Tom was looking. “Ah ha. Bandits at eight o’clock.”

Jane looked turned around and looked, quickly spotting the four Fielding cadets. Other Lawndale cadets had spotted them as well and, while they weren’t being openly hostile, the general vibe of the room was definitely not a welcoming one.

“What are Fielding cadets doing in the Zon?” Jane asked. “They’ve never come here before.”

“I don’t know, but I can bet that it’s going to be trouble,” Tom said with a grave certainty.

“How do you figure?”

“The one that came in first, his name’s Roush.” Tom nodded at the leader of the intruding foursome. “Remember how I told you that some of the Fielding cadets are a little more willing than others to buy into that inter-academy rivalry stuff? Roush just doesn’t buy it, he sells it to who’s ever listening.”

“Oh.” Daria’s eyes narrowed. “So they show up in full uniform hoping to provoke something.” She looked back at Tom. “And if they find you smack in the middle of the enemy camp, it’ll definitely provoke something.”

“Daria, it’s okay. I’ve got just as much right to be here as they do. As long as everyone stays calm, nothing’s going to happen.”

“Can you guarantee that?” Daria frowned at Tom.

“You mean right this very second?”

“Great.” Daria looked back over her shoulder, then at Jane. “He needs to get out of here before you two get into some serious trouble.”

“Daria, there’s thirty people between us and them,” Jane said relatively quietly. “They’re not going to spot Tom. And even if they do, who cares?”

“Oh, I forgot, Tom’s untouchable,” Daria grimaced. “You aren’t though. Li would have your academic head mounted on her wall.”

“I don’t think I’m the one that they have their sights on,” Tom said as he watched as the foursome crossed the bar and headed in the general direction of the group of mercenaries. “Typical Roush. Always has to go after the flashiest targets.”

The four Fielding cadets cruised through the crowd and attempted to entrap the four Rebel MechWarriors in their booth. Tom, Daria, and Jane watched as the expressions of the MechWarriors went from curiosity to bemusement as what had to be not-so-pleasant pleasantries were exchanged. Rhonda appeared to chuckle as she shook her head and shifted in her seat, as did the other three sitting at the table.

“What do you think he’s saying?” Jane asked as they watched the byplay.

“Knowing Roush and the crowd he runs with, one of them just stuck his foot in his mouth.” Tom said, trying to watch and be unnoticed at the same time.

“I’ll bet you twenty that one of them tries to help him wash it down and he chokes on it.” Jane said with a smirk.

“No bet.” Daria said as she watched one of the Rebels frown as the Fielding cadets shared a laugh. It seemed that the frowning MechWarrior cut the laugh off with a return of his own. “Oh, here we go.”

The flurry of movement caught everyone’s attention at once. A collar was grabbed, a punch was thrown, and a Fielding cadet staggered back with blood streaming from his lip before any of the MechWarriors had even finished standing up. One of Roush’s cronies reached under his jacket for something, and that sparked another rush of movement that everyone flinched at. Before the Fielding cadet could take out whatever it was that he was reaching for, two of the Rebels had each pulled some kind of weapon. The one with his hand in his jacket was getting an all too close look at the sharp edge of a Japanese short sword that one MechWarrior had pulled from a tear-away pocket on his pants. Roush, however, was staring cross-eyed at a small, snub-nosed, hold-out pistol that Rhonda had pulled from only God knew where and stuck in his face. Silence dropped in the club as if someone had thrown a switch, and even the band stopped playing after a couple more bars.

“Whoa,” Jane whispered.

“Listen, junior,” Rhonda said in a conversational tone that was loud and clear in the sudden quiet. “For someone just barely out of short pants, you’ve got one hell of a case of testosterone poisoning, you know that? Go back to your playpen before you get yourself a booboo that your mommy can’t fix.”

“You...You haven’t heard the last of this!” Roush stammered, trying to get some of his bravado back.

“I bet I have.” Rhonda smiled sweetly. “Now blow. You’re holdin’ up the party.”

Roush slowly took a couple of steps backwards under Rhonda’s watchful aim, while the one with his hand in his jacket moved his arm very slowly back into full view of everyone. Once it was clear that Fielding cadets were on the way out the door, Rhonda and the other MechWarrior pocketed their weapons and returned to their seats like nothing had happened.

“Hey, maestro!” Rhoda called, turning to look at the band standing slack-jawed on stage. “It’s a little quiet in here, doncha think?”

“Uh, yeah,” Trent said slowly. He turned and spoke to the rest of the band for a moment. Max rapped his sticks together, counting a beat as Trent returned to the mic and the band started on the opening bars of their next piece. “You know that it would be untrue, You know that I would be a liar, If I was to say to you, Girl, we couldn't get much higher, Come on baby light my fire...”

“Wow,” was Daria’s only comment.

“You always hear that MechWarriors and mercenaries are supposed to be tough, but . . .” Jane shook her head. “Blake’s blood, they moved fast!”

“No kidding. I don’t think Roush’s going to be dumb enough to try something like that again for a long time.” Tom watched as his four erstwhile school mates made their way to the door with a lot of looking over their shoulders at the MechWarriors and the surrounding patrons. Tom couldn’t be sure, but he thought that, for an instant, Roush looked directly at him just before walking out the door.

Oh, crap.

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I'm out of my mind. Please leave a message

It's really neat, but I'm missing out on half of the references because I never watched Daria and only remember her from Beavis and Butthead.

It has been an interesting and enjoyable read so far and I encourage you to post more, or at least PM it to me.

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Chicken go cluck-cluck, cow go moo. Piggie go oink-oink, how bout you?

I rather Like it....

And I cannot believe you'd let Kevin near a Firearm.

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war is not violence and killing pure and simple; war is [i]controlled[/i] violence, for a purpose. The purpose of war is to support your government's decision by force. -Sgt Zim

Here's a quick listing of the major Daria characters.

The site's kind of 'everything you wanted to know about Daria but were afraid to believe it exhisted.' Lots of great information and enough fan fic and art to ground a dropship.

Check it out, if you're interested! He gets near a lot more than that!

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I'm out of my mind. Please leave a message

Yeah- Only time I'd let him near a mech is when he is with the Enemy- Hopefully he'll annilhate them through stupidity.

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war is not violence and killing pure and simple; war is [i]controlled[/i] violence, for a purpose. The purpose of war is to support your government's decision by force. -Sgt Zim

well I read up ahead and I really like the devlopement of the plot, plus you did good work with the characters as they grew in thier own ways. Very good... more, please.

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war is not violence and killing pure and simple; war is [i]controlled[/i] violence, for a purpose. The purpose of war is to support your government's decision by force. -Sgt Zim

Here's some more from 3059. Enjoy!


Wednesday, March 30, 3059

“...Once again, these confrontations between our fair cadets of Lllawwwndale Academy and those of Fielding have resulted in temporary suspensions of cadets from both institutions.” Li looked up from the podium and over the cadets gathered in the auditorium. “Students, we must hold ourselves to surpassing the standards of behavior of those at Fielding who would fancy themselves our betters. The responsibilities that you will bear as MechWarrior cadets will leave little opportunity or tolerance for mischief.”

In their seats practically at the back of the auditorium, Daria and Jane exchanged a dry look. Both of them knew that most of the incidents had been nothing more than shouted insults and thrown balloons filled with marker dye, or paint at worst, at least up until a couple of nights ago. Kevin, Brittany, and a few members of LMA’s impromptu football team had a run in with a similar number of cadets from Fielding in the parking lot of the local theater. Shouted insults and a few references to Kevin’s marksmanship skills had quickly degenerated into thrown punches, black eyes, and bloody noses. Twenty-four hours suspension from the simulators had been immediately passed down by Ms Li for all involved, all with a wink and a nod. None of the students were scheduled for the simulators until the middle of next week.

“Finally, the piece de resistance that you all have been waiting for these past few weeks, as I know I have -- The arrival and assignment of BattleMechs to their Cadet MechWarriors.” Li looked up with a wicked smirk as applause and cheers spontaneously burst out, holding up her speech for a good minute. “Settle, cadets, settle! Cargo DropShips graciously lent to Lawndale Academy from Taylor Mining and Landon Consolidated Shipping, as well as the DropShip MegaDeuce, provided by our mercenary instructors, will be making planet-fall at oh eight thirty tonight at the platforms that you have no doubt seen being constructed in the flatlands behind the campus. From there, our new equipment and supplies will be transferred to hangar and storage facilities around the academy grounds.

“Over the next two days, while the Ms. Barch’s technical staff prepares and evaluates our equipment, your academic and simulator performances will be evaluated in order to determine which of you will be promoted to a BattleMech. During those two days, you will be called to the simulator rooms in order to determine security procedures and access codes for the ‘Mech you may be promoted to. And then, in a public ceremony on April the first, those cadets who will be promoted to BattleMech Duty will be named, as will their positions in the Lawndale Academy Training Battalion.”

Sitting in a row behind Ms Li, both Hauptmann DeMartio and Major Stewart looked up sharply at Ms Li’s pronouncement, then leaned together in whispered conversation.

“I wish you all Good Luck. Dismissed!” Li took a couple of papers off the podium and proceeded off stage while the students came briefly to attention, then started to file out.

“A public ceremony to announce ‘Mech promotions?” Jane said as the walked through the auditorium doors. “Nothing like turning up the pressure.”

“Pressure?” Daria sounded rueful. “It’s going to be bedlam when certain parents find out their kid didn’t make the cut.”

“Assuming they decide to show up,” Jane looked at her boots as they walked.

“Still no word from your mom or dad?”

“Last I’d heard, mom was studying new pottery techniques somewhere in Texachusetts,” Jane said, referring to Trents other major continent. “Dad is supposedly still on his way to Trell I so he can take holopics of that super-storm there, whatever it’s called.”

“The Diabolis?” Daria shook her head. From what she’d seen of it in her studies, the best way to photograph that monster was from orbit.

“Whatever. At any rate, mom said she’d try to be here, but I’m not gonna hold my breath. Trent and the guys will be there, though.” Jane smiled slightly. It was better than nothing. “So, how do you think you did?”

“Well enough to get a ‘Mech posting, I’m sure of that,” Daria said. “You?”

“Okay, I guess. Not good enough to get a lance, but good enough to get a ‘Mech, I think. Thanks to you, that is.” Jane looked at her friend. “If you hadn’t been helping me with cryophysics, I wouldn’t stand a chance. My math skills just aren’t up to it.”

“Least I can do for someone who’s kept me sane for three years.”

“Don’t mention it.” Jane looked over at Daria. I wish you’d mention the fact that you’ve been to your aunt’s hospital room every other night for the past month. “So, you gonna go and watch the landing tonight?”

“I don’t know,” Daria said with a sigh. “You see one thirty story sky scraper drop out of the sky and soft-land in your back yard, you‘ve seen them all.”

=+=+=+=+=+=

“Ms Li, are you really sure that a public ceremony is the most prudent course of action?” DeMartino asked as he and Major Stewart followed her into her office.

“Why, Hauptmann DeMartino, whatever could you mean?” Li asked as she sat down behind her desk. “Surely the our cadets and their parents would like the community to see just how proud they are.”

“Agreed, but in a public ceremony?” Major Stewart asked again. “These kids have been competing with each other for a ‘Mech position for almost a month and a half and only thirty six of them are going to get one. Don’t you think that this is tantamount to publicly embarrassing the cadets who aren’t going to make the grade? Not to mention what their families might think?”

“Actually, I consider it a motivational exercise for the next group of cadets to perform to their utmost.” Li leaned back and crossed her arms. “Besides, Linda Griffin is already going to announce the landing and promotion ceremony on her station’s midday news broadcast.”

DeMartino and Stewart exchanged a worried look.

“Kommandant, are you sure that’s a wise idea?” DeMartino asked cautiously.

“Wise or not, the announcement is going to be made. So, as you can see, it is entirely out of my hands.” Li smiled slightly. “Though I must say, Anthony, I find this sudden lack of faith in my judgment more than a little disconcerting.”

“Angela,” DeMartino started.

“Kommandant, if I may,” Stewart also started.

“Gentlemen, it is your job to train our cadets in the ways of BattleMech warfare, while it is mine to see that only the best trained and educated of those receive the responsibility for those machines.” And if they happen to be from well connected families, who cares if they aren’t the best and brightest. Unless they want to see their kid Dispossessed before they even graduate... “Now I know that you have several hundred sets of scores to go through before the end of the day, so I’ll not keep you from your work any longer. Dismissed.”

DeMartino and Stewart stood their ground for a moment as Li pulled a file out of her desk drawer and made a point of ignoring their presence in the room. After a moment, the two men left the room, Li watching their retreat over the rims of her squared off glasses. As soon as they were out of the office, she touched two controls inset on the top of her desk, closing and locking the door, before picking up the telephone’s handset and dialing a number from memory.

“Mr. Lamm please,” Li said when someone picked up on the other end of the connection. “Leonard, Kommandant Li...Everything will be arriving tonight. I believe we can start building our inventory in about two weeks when the live fire exercises start...I believe we can start making sales by the end of next month, yes...No, that will be decidedly more difficult...Really, Leonard, I’ve spent enough years in the Inspector General’s office that I’ve seen all the mistakes that can be made in a venture like ours, and I’ve a contingency plan in place for all of them. Patience must be the watchword here... Excellent. Now, about my cut of the profits. I believe that sixty percent is more than fair for the risks I’m taking...”

=+=+=+=

“...Anyway, we’ve got this new guy, Trevena, just took command of Second Company over in One Batt a couple of months ago.” The image of Amy Barksdale on Daria’s computer screen shook it’s head. “I’d love to know who he cheesed off to get put in charge of a company of all light ‘Mechs. Don’t play poker with this guy, Daria, let me just say that straight off. From what I hear, he’s got some kind of scam going to get them re-equipped. A friend of mine over in One Batt said that he wants to make them the ‘best equipped screwballs he can,’ or something like that. I’m almost tempted to put in for a transfer to the One-Two just out of curiosity --”

Daria’s finger stabbed down on the ‘stop’ button on her keyboard, unable to watch any more. The image froze for a second and then disappeared as she removed the message disk from her computer’s drive and gently put it back in its protective case.

She had been over to the hospital after classes had let out that day and visited her aunt’s hospital room. While she was there, she told Amy about what had been going on at the academy and mentioning the sparks that were beginning to fly between Fielding Academy and LMA. A physical therapy nurse had come in while Daria was there, and she discovered that the therapist also talked to Amy as she worked her arms and legs so the muscles wouldn’t atrophy. Daria had helped out with Amy’s therapy once in a while, but found that the entire procedure was a little disturbing as she showed no outward reactions to the moving of her limbs or someone else adjusting her sheets and body to prevent bed sores.

Aunt Amy may as well be a vegetable for all the reaction she showed, Daria thought as she leaned back in her desk chair. But she is breathing on her own. There is some brain activity. I know she’s in there someplace. I just wish she’d come back out, just for a while.

When Daria had left the hospital that night, she had discovered Jane, sitting on a bench outside of the main entrance, waiting for her. Jane didn’t explain why she was there, but just said that she thought Daria might want some company walking home. And, in truth, she did.

A knock at the door shook Daria out of her revere with a slight jolt.

“Daria, are you in there?” Quinn’s voice filtered through the closed door.

“If I said ’no,’ would it make any difference?” Daria asked sullenly, prompting Quinn to open the door and walk into the room.

“You’re still trying to watch that disk?” Quinn asked, looking at the message disk case on the desk top.

“Yeah, I thought I saw it move earlier and I think I’ve almost got it trained to play dead.”

“Ha.” Quinn sighed. “Daria, I hope she wakes up too, but you’ve got to let this thing with Aunt Amy go --”

“How about I hang you off the top of the ‘Mech hanger by your heels and let you go?” Daria said flatly. “Did you have something specific you wanted to talk about, or do you just want to torment me for the rest of the night?”

“God, Daria, lighten up. Jane and her brother are here, and mom and dad want to go over to the academy and watch the landings.”

“You’re going with mom and dad?”

“Are you kidding?” Quinn turned and headed out of the room. “Calvin’s giving me a ride over.”

Daria left the house and walked out to where Trent and Jane were waiting in his blue bomber of a ground car. It’s engine sounded only slightly better than the fans on The Tank.

“Hey,” Jane greeted Daria as she slid into the passenger seat and closed the door.

“Hey. Ready for the big event?” Jane asked as Trent pulled away from the curb.

“Ready as I’m going to get,” Daria said.

“Don’t see what the big deal is,” Trent said as he drove. “We’ve seen space ships land before on three-vee.”

“We’ve seen shuttles land before, Trent,” Jane said. “This is something totally different. Normally, when one of these big boys lands, the whole planet is in trouble.”

“Sorry. Just another space ship to me.” Trent shrugged.

“Then you, dear brother, are in for one hell of a surprise,” Jane said as she and Daria exchanged a smirk. “What kind of ‘Mech do you think you’re going to get?”

“I don’t know. They haven’t really tested us on any specific designs, more like general capabilities.” Daria thought for a moment.

“Yeah, I seem to keep getting medium fast-movers,” Jane said thoughtfully. “What about you?”

“Heavies designed to stay in a fight, usually with lots of energy weapons.” She looked at Jane. “Curiousier and curiouser.”

The two sat and contemplated for the rest of the trip to the academy grounds, until Trent let them off at the main entrance, then went to find a parking place while the girls went inside.

The girls walked through the building and out to the temporary bleachers that had been set up in the lee of the massive BattleMech hanger. Other cadets and families had chosen to bring portable lawn furniture and picnic blankets, turning it into an excuse for a minor holiday. Most of the instructors, mercenary and otherwise, had turned out to watch the DropShips land, with the exception of a few instructors and cadets who were in the exercise control room. They would be using the campus’ monitors and sensors, acting as ground control for the approaching ships. Two big speakers had been set up on stands, and every once in a while, a bit of radio chatter could be heard.

“Where do you think they’re at?” Jane asked as they climbed to the top row of the bleachers.

“I don’t know,” Daria said as she sat down. She looked up into the post twilight sky as stars were beginning to peek down. “Look for three stars falling in formation, that ought to be them.”

The girls watched the sky for about twenty minutes, until Trent joined them.

“Fall asleep?” Jane asked.

“Nah, just couldn’t find a parking place,” Trent said as he sat down. “So, where’re they gonna land?”

“About a click and a half thataway,” Jane said, pointing off to three well lit areas in the distance. Blue-green lasers drew lines straight up into the sky from the landing pads, fingers beckoning approaching ships to the correct location.

“Why so far?”

“Anything inside of two hundred meters of these big boys would be fried in a second,” Jane said. “I told you, these things ain’t shuttles.”

“So, where are they?” Trent said, looking up in the direction that the girls were looking.

“I think...there,” Daria pointed. “Those three dots in a diagonal row? Watch them against the stars in the background. They’re moving.”

“Hey, yeah!” Jane squinted. “Does it look like they have company?”

Daria squinted through her glasses and tried to make out what Jane was looking at.

“I don’t know, I can’t tell.”

At that moment, someone turned up the volume on the speakers down by the bottom of the bleachers.

“Lawndale Control, MegaDeuce, we have visual on your landing beacons,” a man’s voice punched through the static. “Landon’s Pride and Vivian III report same.”

“MegaDeuce, Lawndale, roger that. We show all ships in the pipe, five by five,” Major Stewart’s voice boomed in reply.

“All ships, begin landing burn in three minutes,” a decidedly young voice cracked.

“Was that Ted?” Jane asked, looking briefly at Daria.

“Sounded like it.” Daria didn’t look back, but kept her eyes on the descending ships.

“Hey guys, mind if we join you?” Someone asked about a minute later.

This time, Daria looked down from the sky and saw Jodie and Mack coming up the bleachers, Maria Stewart a couple of steps behind.

“Sure, pull up a bleacher,” Jane said. “Hey, Jodie, was that Ted DeWitt-Clinton we heard on the speakers a second ago?”

“Sure was,” Jodie said as she sat down next to Daria. ”Evidently the major thought that he’d do good in control and communications.”

“Your brother does know that he’d been home-schooled up until a last year, right Maria?” Jane asked.

“Yeah, he knows,” Maria replied as she sat and lay back to watch the sky. “And, yeah, I think Gabe's nuts too.”

The group waited a long three minutes, watching as the three points of light grew to become three roughly spherical shapes. At the end of Ted’s broken voiced countdown, the main drives on the three DropShips flared brilliantly, casting an artificial twilight over the area. Light from the glow reflected off of six more dots that were slowly circling the descending points of light.

“What’re those?” Trent asked, spotting the smaller flecks of light.

“Just watch,” Maria said with a knowing smile. “And you might want to plug your ears in a minute.”

“Why?” Jodie asked.

“Lawndale Control, Viper One,” a woman’s voice said over the speakers. “We have good drives on all droppers, and the pattern is clear to touch down. Request separation and RTB with flyby.”

“Seperation and RTB granted, Viper one,” Major Stewart replied. “Commence your flyby.”

“Viper group acknowledges all and suggests you duck.” The channel closed with a pop.

The six smaller dots suddenly developed their own drive flares and began to descend at a positively frightening rate. Only a few people had spotted the six smaller craft before, but now that they were obviously moving under their own power, surprised fingers were being pointed at the high speed dots.

“Maria...?” Mack asked hesitantly.

“The ‘Vipers’ are our aerospace squadron,” Maria explained with a smile. “They signed on right before Gabe got us into this contract. Let’s just say that, since the ‘Mechs got a parade, the flyboys want their time in the lime light too.”

The six fighters pulled into an off balance wedge formation as they dove, with two fighters off of the leader’s left wing and three off her right, and began to pull out of their dive. They leveled off a mere three hundred meters from the ground, flying as if they were connected by an invisible string to the leader. Engines screaming, the fighters descended to practically rooftop levels and passed over the crowd below, mere blurs to be tracked by rapidly twisting heads. Almost a full second behind then, the displaced air from their passage combined with loose dust, leaves, and a blast of oven like heat to physically swat at the assembled crowd. Cheers and applause quickly replaced the banshee howl of aerospace engines.

“Those were Shilones!” Someone in the crowded bleachers shouted.

“No way!” Mack said, straining to see the fighters as they pulled back up to a safer altitude and headed towards the airfields at nearby Middleberry. “Kurita designs this far from the Combine?”

“Yep, Shilones,” Maria confirmed. “Four of ‘em. And two Stukas to back them up.”

“Holy Cleveland, that was loud!” Jane said as she turned back around, wiggling one finger in her ear in an attempt to alleviate the ringing that was left behind. “Almost as loud as one of your gigs, huh Trent?”

“Ha,” Trent said dryly as he leaned back to watch the DropShips descend.

=+=+=+=+=+=

Tom Sloane adjusted the focus on the electronic telescope he had set up on his family home’s balcony. The three bright lights of the DropShips were presented in much sharper relief through the eye piece of the scope than could be seen from the ground. A trideo set that had been pulled outside showed KSBC’s coverage of the landing from the LMA campus, but their camera’s view wasn’t much better than the unaided eye from the ground.

“C’mon, quit hogging the telescope and let me have a look.” Elsie, Tom’s younger sister, stood nearby with her arms crossed and tapping one foot.

“All right, all right,” Tom stepped aside and let Elsie take his place and bent over the eyepiece.

“What kind of idiot stunt was that fly over supposed to be, I wonder?” Angier Sloane said, stretched out on a chaise lounge, sipping his drink. “That kind of foolishness is going to get somebody hurt. You’d never see anybody who works for GS&P doing that and keeping their job for very long.”

Tom just shook his head as he waited to get the telescope back. Even though the elder patron of the Sloane family was the number two partner in Grace, Sloane, and Paige Minerals & Metals, Tom could tell by the sparkle in his father’s eyes that he was just as impressed by the flyover as anyone else would have been. But, when one was on the very top level of a multi-planetary mining corporation, you had to keep certain things like that under your hat.

“I thought it was pretty cool, myself,” Tom said. He had no problems admitting to things like that.

“You would,” Elsie said, standing up from the telescope. “Damn, those things are big.”

“Elsie, language,” Kay Sloane said form a similar lounge chair next to Angier.

“You’ve seen DropShips before,” Angier said.

“Cargo DropShips, yeah.” Tom bent back over the eyepiece and refocused the telescope again. “This is a military DropShip, though.”

Tom centered the telescope on the largest of the three descending ships. Rotating slowly on a column of fusion driven flame, it displayed the ships insignia painted on four sides of it’s massive egg shape: a hand of five playing cards, four deuces and a joker made around the stylized ‘R’ that was the general insignia of Stewart’s Rebels. Tom had done a little research and found out that the MegaDeuce was an Excalibur-class ship that had been heavily modified to carry a huge amount of war material as well as the Rebel’s battalion of ‘Mechs and expanded vehicle / infantry company. The only thing that came close to that kind of capacity was the venerable Overlords fielded by every army in the Successor States.

“Taylor and Landon are going to milk this for all the publicity they can, I suppose,” Angier said sourly. “Nothing like a little free advertising during a public spectacle.”

Tom watched through the scope as massive maneuvering thrusters fired in short pulses, arresting the ships slow rotation. Gigantic doors on the sides slid aside, allowing eight massive landing legs to unfold and lock into position. Pulling the zoom back some, he saw that the other two DropShips had deployed their landing legs as well.

“Landing gears are out,” Tom reported, turning to watch the trideo screen. “Touchdown ought to be any time now.”

All four of them watched as the monolithic starships descended to within a few hundred meters of their landing pads, slowing their falls to a mere crawl of a few meters per second. Tom didn’t need the trideo to tell him that anything within a two hundred meter radius of the landing pads would have been incinerated or blasted flat by the millions of tons of thrust that the ships had to generate in order to stay aloft. The view on the screen changed to a helicopter mounted camera for the final two minutes of their touchdown.

It was almost anticlimactic when the first of the great ships' landing legs kissed the surface of the ceramic / ferrocrete landing pads. The massive thrusters were quickly throttled back to zero as each fully laden ship gently settled to the ground on equally enormous hydraulics. The rumble was audible even as far away as the Sloane house. When the smoke and dust finally cleared, it looked as though three new, ovoid buildings had grown from the disturbance to raise almost a hundred meters or more into the air.

“So, now the Lawndale MechWarrior Academy as a brand new battalion of ‘Mechs, as well as enough material and parts to keep them going for years.” Angier looked at the screen expressionlessly, then shook his head. “What a waste.”

=+=+=+=+=+=

“The unloading hasn’t even begun yet, and already I don’t like what I’m seeing here, gentlemen,” Li said as she paced around her office. She practically threw the note’puter onto her desk, causing both Mr. Landon and Mr. Taylor to jump slightly.

“Angela, we did the best we could with what we had,” Landon said defensively. “Besides, we had to make it look like we were equipping a training battalion, not an assault company!”

“That’s exactly my point! I only see seven heavy designs on this manifest, only one of which is anything near current! And no assault types!” Li sat down in her chair and slouched for a moment.

“Kommandant, you talking about a hellacious amount of money here, even if most of it came from outside sources,” Taylor said defensively. “Okay, so it isn’t a battalion of Atlases, but a lot of these ‘Mechs are carrying some cutting edge stuff! The Galowglas and that Enfield are practically brand new!”

“Mr. Taylor, a lot of these ‘Mech designs are a hundred years old or more.” Li leaned forward angrily. “I don’t care how they’ve been refurbished, an old design is an old design!”

“And the reason they’ve been around so long is they’ve been proven reliable time and again.” Landon sat up defensively. “The basic design for my old Marauder has been around since the twenty-six hundreds, and it’s still one of the best in the field. Even the Clans think twice before taking one on!”

“Gentlemen, the point I’m trying to make is that we cannot sell what there isn’t a market for,” Li said with a sigh.

“Then I think you ought to find one, Ms Li,” Taylor said hotly as he stood and leaned over her desk. “We’ve both got some serious money invested in this little enterprise of yours, not to mention what we lost by donating the use of our cargo ships to you for the run to Furillo.”

“Money you can make back in a few months once you start exploiting that germanium deposit your geologists found under the old quarry?” Li looked up at Taylor with a cocked eyebrow.

“How did you know about that?” Taylor turned pale. “That’s supposed to be a secret!”

“The potential worth in that deposit is enough to make your company a handsome profit, Mr. Taylor, and with the smelter complex you’re building out near Highland, it may be even enough to displace GS&P in this star system.” Li’s cocked eyebrow turned into a frown. “It would be a pity if they found out about it before you were ready to move, would it not?”

Taylor swallowed hard and sat back down.

“Gentlemen, all three of us have been practically handed a license to print money. In a month or so we can begin to move, but it must be done slowly and it must be done with merchandise I can actually sell!” Li steepled her hands fingers in front of her and glared at her co-conspirators. “Patience is the watchword here, gentlemen. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must contact my people and see what I can salvage from this fiasco.”

Taylor and Landon stood up and started to walk out of the room, though Taylor stopped at the door. He turned, as though to say something, but the look Li was giving him was enough to make him think better of it and continue on out.

Li actually managed to suppress her chuckle until after the door had close behind them.

_________________
I'm out of my mind. Please leave a message

Here's part 6, up in full.
Friday, April 1, 3059

Daria resisted the urge to look over her shoulder at the crowd of parents and spectators that had gathered in the Academy’s auditorium. It was bad enough that the whole thing had to be public, but Li had required the cadets to present themselves in their academy blues as well. The two hundred or so cadets eligible to be promoted for ‘Mech duty took up the first eight rows of the auditorium, while the rest of the crowd took up the rest and lined the back walls.

Daria silently wondered if Li could have made this any more uncomfortable. Her hair was pulled back into a formal bun low on the back of her head and tied off in a Steiner blue scrunchie that matched the color of her uniform jacket. Gold piping trimmed out the hems, cuffs and mandarin collar of the heavy jacket while metallic silver epaulets sat on the shoulders. The collars and cuffs of stark white shirts poked out from under the jackets, and matching trousers were tucked into polished boots. The blue and gold lion’s head academy insignia on the left breast of the uniform jacket completed the look.

At least my feet are comfortable, Daria thought as she glanced down at her usual footwear. This damn uniform itches like crazy.

“Damn, I hate these uniforms.” Jane was sitting next to Daria, pulling at the collar of her uniform with one finger. “I’m going to be one big, head to toe rash because of this thing.”

“It won’t be for much longer, Jane.” Daria glanced at her friend and resisted the urge to pull at her own collar.

“A-ten-SHUN!”

It seemed to Daria that cadets came to their feet a little more smartly than usual. Maybe it was the uniforms, or the crowd of parents and on lookers behind them, or the buzz of anticipation that hung in the air.

“At ease. Be seated.” Li took her place behind the podium on the stage. Her own dress uniform was that of an officer in the Lyran Alliance Armed Forces. The black spear-point rank device of a Kommandant gleamed at the collar and cuffs of her uniform jacket. In place of the school’s insignia, she wore the mailed fist emblem of the Lyran Alliance on her epaulets and jacket.

“Cadets of the Lawndale MechWarrior Academy, family members, and honored guests, Welcome to the induction of the first Laaawwwndale Academy Training Battalion.” Li paused for the brief round of applause. “Those cadets that we name today have proven themselves ready for the awesome responsibility that comes with being conferred with the mantle of MechWarrior. It will be your responsibility to hold yourselves to the utmost standards, and to bring honor and glory unto yourselves and unto Laawwnndale MechWarrior Academy!”

There was another brief round of applause, probably more from relief that it was a short speech than anything else. O’Neill and DeMartino rolled out a small table that held three short stacks of leather bound folders.

“Cadets, after I call your name and position, you will proceed to the main hanger, where your BattleMech awaits for you to complete the security procedures begun two days ago.” Li reached out and picked up the first of the leather bound promotion certificates. “Ladies and Gentlemen, the following cadets have shown the skills and aptitude necessary to be promoted to the rank of Cadet Captain . . .”
=+=+=+=+=
“...Promoted to the position of Cadet Captain in charge of Gold Company -- Ms. Jodie Landon.”

Jodie crossed from the main building and entered the ‘Mech hangar, looking at the small note that had been protruding from the edge of her certificate folder. It read simply “Bay One.” Standing in the bay, as she had known it would be, was the massive insectoid form of her father’s Marauder. The heavy ‘Mech had been repainted in the blue and gold of the LMA and the round lion’s head insignia of the academy had been done on the left leg, painted in two tones of gold and outlined in silver. The right leg displayed the stylized rocket emblem of Landon Consolidated Shipping.

Probably supposed to remind me of all the ‘hard work and sacrifice’ it took to get me here, Jodie thought as she ascended the gantry stairs. All my hard work and sacrifice, that is.

Topping the boarding catwalk, Jodie slipped into the open cockpit of the machine and let the Rebel technician help her slip on her neurohelmet and connect it to the computer. Just confirming the security access procedures didn’t require the full interface, just the helmet and a sealed cockpit. With practiced ease, she flipped through the startup sequence.

“Marauder Five D security sequence activated,” the computer’s androgynous voice said in even tones. “Identify yourself.”

“Cadet Jodie Landon, Lawndale MechWarrior Academy,” Jodie replied.

“Voiceprint match confirmed. Initiate authorization crosscheck.”

Jodie smirked wickedly to herself within the confines of her cockpit.

“All work and no play makes Jodie into her parents.”

“Crosscheck complete. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow ye go to war.”

Jodie smiled to herself and leaned back into the control couch as the Marauder came to life around her.

=+=+=+=+=

“...Promoted to the rank of Cadet Captain in charge of Red Company -- Mr. Michael Mackenzie.”

Mack walked into the hanger just as Jodie disappeared into the cockpit of her Marauder. The note in his folder directed him to bay thirteen, and though he wasn’t exactly superstitious, it did make him wonder. When he got to the bay, he found himself at the feet of a massive, very humanoid looking Crusader, and looking up in momentary wonder.

The shoulders and lower legs of the machine were bulked out with long and short-range missile launchers, while huge collars on the forearms housed medium lasers and a flamethrower. The main view port in the ‘Mech’s head was a round window of armored glass, giving the ‘Mech a distinct Cyclops-like appearance. Emblazoned on the left side of the Crusader’s chest was the Red Company insignia -- the lion’s head roundel of the academy over a red background.

“Sweet,” Mach chuckled to himself as he took the catwalk stairs two at a time.

=+=+=+=+=

“...Promoted to the position of Cadet Captain in charge of Green Company -- Mr. Charles Ruttheimer, the third.”

Daria and Jane looked at each other in disgust as Upchuck’s rank and position was announced. He walked to the stage with an affected swagger and a grin that bordered on a leer as he collected his promotion certificate and left the stage for the ‘Mech bays.

“Damn, Daria, I would have thought that you were a shoe-in for one of the command spots.” Jane slumped in her chair and shook her head.

“Must be nice to have money as well as political influence,” Daria replied as the lance commanders for Gold Company were announced. She watched as Andrea and Robert each in turn took their certificates and left for the hangar. “Hopefully, I’ll be in Mack’s Company.”

“Second the motion.” Jane surreptitiously crossed her fingers. She didn’t care if she ended up working for Upchuck, she just wanted a ‘Mech.

“Promoted to the position of Cadet Lieutenant, Second Lance Red Company -- Ms. Daria Morgendorffer.” Ms. Li looked up at the assembled cadets and waited.

Daria rose to her feet amidst the polite applause of the crowd, punctuated by her father’s wild cheering (“Yeah! Way to go, Kiddo! Take that, old man!”) and an almost painful clap on the shoulder by Jane.

“Way to go, amiga!” Jane said in her ear over the crowd.

“I’ll wait for you at the ‘Mech bay,” Daria replied before she worked her way out of their row.

With a precise measured stride, Daria walked up the stairs and across the stage. She saluted Kommandant Li as she collected her certificate. Turning slightly, she saluted Major Stewart and Hauptamnn DeMartino, both of whom she thought deserved the gesture more than Li did. She turned and left the stage, going through the side doors of the auditorium as Li announced the name of the next Cadet Lieutenant.

Daria walked out of the main academy building and crossed the open area between it and the entrance to the ‘Mech Hanger. She waited just inside the double doors as Brittany followed her out a few moments later, waving hi as she walked past Daria. A few moments later, Sandi Griffin came through the double doors, her nose high in the air.

“What’s the matter, get lost or something?” Sandi sniffed as she walked past Daria.

Daria just rolled her eyes and ignored the fashionista cadet. If she had her progressions right, Sandi was assigned to Upchuck’s command, and most likely wasn’t too happy about that situation at all. Slumping on the doorframe, Daria waited as almost a half a dozen other cadets crossed into the ‘Mech bay to claim their assignments. Some of the other cadets looked at her curiously as she waited, while others just ignored her completely.

“Waiting for Jane?” Maria Stewart asked when she came through the doors and saw Daria stand there.

“Uh-huh,” Daria nodded.

“Tell her I said ‘congrats,” Maria said as she passed. “And congrats to you too on the lance command.”

“Thanks, Maria. I just hope Jane gets a spot.”

“She will,” Maria said with a smile as she walked away.

Daria silently waited as a couple more cadets came through the doors before Jane came in waving her assignment slip in the air.

“I’m in your lance!” Jane said with a grin as she walked up to her friend. “Second Lance, Red Company!”

“No way!” Daria opened her certificate folder and took the slip protruding from the edge. “Bay seventeen.”

“Bay eighteen.” Jane held up her slip of paper. When Daria took it out of her hand, Jane came to attention and gave Daria a palm out salute. “Cadet MechWarrior Jane Lane reporting for duty, Lieutenant Morgendorffer, ma’am sir!”

“Oh,” Daria blushed and almost sputtered. “At ease, you fruit cake!”

“C’mon, amiga, let’s go get our rides.” Jane laughed as she put her hand on Daria’s shoulder and guided her along the corridor.

The two friends walked side by side down the row of ’Mechs, Jane counting off bay numbers in a whisper. Most of the cadets that they saw in that wing of the hangar were engrossed in examining their own BattleMechs to pay attention to two more cadets walking down the length of the hangar.

“...Fifteen and sixteen,” Jane whispered. “Seventeen and eighteen...Holy crap!”

Daria looked up at the humanoid shaped war machine that stood in the cubicle before her. The BattleMech was as sleek and streamlined as one could make such a construction, giving the impression that it was impatiently waiting to be released from it’s cubicle, with or without the MechWarrior on board. The right arm was merged with the large rifle like housing for a Particle Projection Cannon, and the muzzles for two large lasers protruded slightly from the ‘Mech’s right flank. Two more barrels for medium lasers were set into the back of the left forearm, slightly back from a clenched battle fist that appeared to be the size of a small car. A final, smaller laser was set into the bottom of the ‘Mech’s spherical head, giving it the appearance of a puckered mouth.

“That’s a...What the hell is that?” Jane said, looking wide eyed at the ‘Mech.

“A GallowGlas.” Daria sounded awed. “Next to Jodie’s Marauder, it has to be the most sophisticated ‘Mech here! This can’t be right!”

“Somebody gives you the hottest ride in school, and you’re arguing?” Jane gave Daria a gentile push towards the stairs. “Get up there, woman!”

Daria took a couple of steps up the stairs before she turned back to look at Jane, only to find that Jane was taking the stairs next to her ‘Mech two at a time. The ‘Mech, a Phoenix Hawk, had an almost feminine shape to it and carried one of its main weapons, an extended range large laser, in a pistol-type mount in it’s right hand. Daria knew that a similar laser was mounted in the left forearm, next to a medium laser which had a twin mounted under the right forearm, next to a machine gun. The overall design of the Phoenix Hawk had been around for centuries, Daria knew, and was considered one of the best medium designs ever made.

As much as she wanted to stand and gawk, Daria turned and patiently walked up the stairs until she was at the cockpit level of her new ‘Mech. The technician there directed her to an open hatch on the back of the ‘Mech’s head, where she slipped in and sat down in the control couch. After she replaced her usual glasses with her smaller, tighter, wraparound pair, the tech helped Daria as much as she could with her neurohelmet and pointed out which console was what before leaving the small space and closing the hatch behind her. Once she left Daria slowly and deliberately brought the GallowGlas’ systems up for the first time.

“G-A-L dash One-G-L-S security sequence initiated,” a pleasant female voice said. “Please identify yourself.

“Daria Morgendorffer, Cadet, Lawndale Academy,” Daria said.

“Voice pattern match, positive,” the computer responded after a moment. “Initiate authorization crosscheck, please.”

Daria closed her eyes and took a slow breath. While voice patterns could be faked, the crosscheck was the key that permitted only the MechWarrior authorized for that particular machine to bring it fully to life.

“Si ultionis est dulcis tunc permissum is exsisto mei,” Daria said slowly.

“Authorization crosscheck, positive,” the computer responded pleasantly. “Welcome Aboard.”

In the private confines of the cockpit, Daria smiled.

=+=+=+=+=

“It’s ugly!!” Sandi complained at the top of her lungs to her mother during the reception that was taking place in the ‘Mech hangars after the ceremony.

“It’s a heavy BattleMech. They’re all ugly.” Linda’s tone spoke of strained patience with her daughter.

“But this one’s a . . . a barrel with legs! Look at it!” Sandi gestured angrily at the ‘Mech in the cubicle behind her.

The JagerMech that was standing there in LMA blue and gold matched the description Sandi had made of it perfectly. It’s cockpit / head was actually below the thick shoulders, evidenced by the row of view poets across the ‘Mech’s torso. From those shoulders hung blocky arms that ended in the over - under muzzles of light and medium autocannon. The blade like antenna of the target tracking system was perched above the ‘Mech’s shoulders like an afterthought.

“It’s better than nothing at all, Sandi,” Linda said hotly. “I suggest you get used to it!”

“Get used to it?! It’s an outdated piece of junk!”

“Lower your voice!” Linda hissed.

“You told me that I would get a position of authority around here, mother. You told me that I would get a modern BattleMech worthy of my skills. You told me--”

“I told you that Kommandant Li would see that you got what you deserved in order to graduate from this academy!” Linda shot back at her daughter. “You deserve to be someplace better than this pathetic excuse for an academy, but this is the best we’re able to do for the moment, so I suggest that you quit your wining and make the best of it!”

“Wow! That’s a Blackjack!” The excited voice of Quinn’s father blasted out over the low conversations in the bay.

Both Griffin women turned and looked with disdainful sneers as Quinn and her parents walked down the center of the bay.

“Yeah, but it’s different. It‘s a BJ-3,” Quinn explained. “It’s got these big PPC cannons in the arms instead of the lasers. Cool, huh?”

“Quite impressive, dear,” Helen said, looking up at the gigantic machines around her.

Sandi glance up at the ‘Mech in the bay opposite her JagerMech. The Blackjack was twenty tons lighter and roughly shared the barrel-like silhouette of the heavier ‘Mech, though the medium’s head was actually above the shoulders and the arms ended in single weapon muzzles.

“See?” Linda invaded Sandi’s thoughts. “They know how to make due with less.”

“Quinn, do you think that you could get your old man a ride?” Jake asked with a hopeful smile.

“Uh, I can ask,” Quinn said slowly.

“Wow! Is that a Blackjack too?” Jake looked up at the JagerMech.

“No, daddy, that’s Sandi’s JagerMech,” Quinn explained patiently. “She’s the only third year cadet to get a heavy ‘Mech and a lance command! Isn’t that incredible?”

Sandi blinked at Quinn’s pronouncement. The only third year?

“So, what did your other friends get?” Helen asked.

“We all got spots in the same lance,” Quinn said. “Stacy got that Wolverine over there, and Tiffany got the Hatchetman next to my Blackjack.”

“Impressive,” Helen said, looking across the bay at Linda.

“Why Helen!” Linda said as if just noticing them. “Congratulations on Quinn’s getting a medium BattleMech.”

“Congratulations to Sandi as well,” Helen said as she crossed over to Linda. “Getting a heavy ‘Mech like that is a big responsibility to live up to. Almost too much, one might say.”

“Well, apparently the Major in charge of the mercenaries felt that my Sandi had advanced further than the others in her class had,” Linda said smoothly. “After all, she’s always been quite the over achiever. Yet I don’t see your other daughter anywhere, Helen. Where could she be?”

“Daria is over in the other ‘Mech garage with the rest of her company.” Helen said with a slyly cocked eyebrow. “According to Mr. DeMartino, her GallowGlas is the most sophisticated ‘Mech here. Apparently it’s causing quite the stir.”

“It’s ‘Mech bay, mom, not garage,” Quinn corrected with a roll of her eyes.

“Perhaps I ought to see this supposed super ‘Mech for myself, mmm?” Linda said dismissively as she turned to walk off. “And maybe I ought to have a few words with Ms Li as well.”

=+=+=+=

“Hey, Daria, congratulations on getting the GallowGlas,” Jodie was saying as she looked over the heavy BattleMech. “The major was right, that ‘Mech’s got to be the hottest property here.”

“I don’t know,” Mack said. “I haven’t even taken that Crusader out yet, and I wouldn’t give her up for anything.”

“Hey, a ‘Mech’s a ‘Mech,” Jane said, leaning on the foot of her newly assigned Phoenix Hawk.

“Yeah, I believe that,” Daria said, smirking at her friend. “She sat in her cockpit longer that I did, and when she finally got out, I saw her kiss this monster on cheek.”

“Now don’t you go calling him a monster,” Jane scolded. “He’s very sensitive about the way he looks.”

“Him?” Mack cocked his eyebrow.

“Yes, him.” Jane smiled, looking back and up at her ‘Mech. “In fact, I’m thinking of spiffing up his paintjob a little.”

“Li’ll never let you get away with it.” Jodie shook her head.

“Who said I was going to ask permission?” Jane asked rhetorically. “Besides, you can’t say you’re not thinking of some additions to your own paint jobs.”

“Unfortunately we don’t own the ‘Mechs, the academy does.” Daria turned and looked across the bay at her GallowGlas for a long moment. “There is one thing I’d like to do though...”

“What?” Jane looked way to eager.

“It’ll wait a little while.”

“Party pooper,” Jane sniffed.

Mack shook his head as the three girls chatted about nothing in particular and looked around the ‘Mech bay. Almost every where he looked, there were groups of cadets and parents congratulating each other and going on about the ‘Mech they had been assigned too. Even though there were a lot of cadets present that didn’t get ‘Mech assignments, they would still get time in the Chameleons and simulators, as well as the occasional check ride in the BattleMechs. Even though there were no obvious hard feelings from the unassigned cadets, Mack knew it was inevitable that some of them would pull out of the academy and peruse other goals.

Except in one case, Mack thought as he spotted a slump-shouldered cadet walking down the ‘Mech Bay.

Only a few of the cadets stopped to greet Kevin as he went by, looking wistfully at the massive war machines around him. His fair to middling performance in other areas hadn’t been enough to cover his plummeting scores in ‘anything having to do with Mech operations, something that had become common knowledge for the whole academy.

“Speaking of party poopers,” Mack said, nodding in Kevin’s direction when the girls looked up.

“Poor Kevin,” Jodie said sadly.

“They’re not really going to wash him out of the academy, are they?” Jane straightened up from her seat on her ‘Mech’s foot. “I mean, he didn’t do all that badly, did he?”

“Jane, remember that urban combat sim about two weeks ago?” Mack asked.

“Yeah.”

“He stopped his ‘Mech at an intersection and waited for the signal to change before going through,” Mack explained. “He got himself shot in the back by one of the instructors while he was waiting for the light.”

“Oh,” Jane said sadly.

“Uh-oh,” Daria said as a balding man with a bad comb-over came walking angrily past the foursome. “Isn’t that Kevin’s dad?”

“Uh huh.” Mack looked past Kevin. “And there’s Major Stewart talking with Ms Li.”

“This isn’t going to be pretty.”

=+=+=+=

“And when do you believe that our cadets will be able to take to the field?” Ms Li was asking Major Stewart as they slowly toured the reception.

“Well, I figure on about a week of familiarization runs,” Stewart replied. “Start of next, we begin expending some practice ammunition on the targeting ranges. Then the week after that, I think we can start talking about scheduling --”

“Hey! Major Stoop!”

Major Stewart turned slowly, his right eyebrow climbing as he located the loudmouth that was shouting across the ‘Mech bay. Kevin was following along behind, looking a little worried.

“And that would be Mr. Thompson’s father,” Ms Li said sourly.

“Oh yippee,” Stewart said dryly as Mr. Thompson came stomping up to him. “Is there something I can do for you, sir?”

“I’m Doug Thompson. What the hell gives you the right to wash out my boy Kevin?” Doug practically shouted in Stewart’s face. “He busted his hump just as hard as any of these other kids in here! Where do you get off telling my kid he ain’t good enough to be a MechWarrior!?”

“Mr. Thompson, I have no say in weather or not your son stays in the academy,” Stewart said calmly. “All I do is make my recommendations to Hauptmann DeMartino and Kommandant Li. And it was my recommendation that, due to your son’s scores -- or more precisely, his lack of them -- that your son not be considered for a ‘Mech assignment.”

“So, he’s no good with the books! Neither was I and I turned out all right! He’s good in the cockpit, and that’s where he belongs!”

“If your son’s skills in the cockpit are supposed to impress me, then I suggest you think again.” Stewart crossed his arms. “During his first orientation, he took off his neurohelmet while his ‘Mech was at a run because he said it itched and dumped his ‘Mech square on it’s head. Lucky for him it was only a simulator run. During the course of his small arms training, he nearly shot himself or another cadet in the foot four times because he was showing off like some kind of cowboy.”

"Okay, I see where this is going.” Thompson looked Stewart squarely in the eye. “How much?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’re a mercenary, ain’t ya?” Thompson reached into his hip pocket and pulled out a sweat stained wallet. “How much to get my boy into a ‘Mech?”

“You’re serious?” Stewart took a step backwards and glanced quickly at the crowd they were drawing.

“Dad, don’t make it worse,” Kevin said from behind his father.

“Shut up, boy, you’re getting a ‘Mech,” Doug said over his shoulder to his son, then turned his attention back to Stewart. “So how much, mercenary man?”

“Look around, Mr. Thompson, and tell me how much the life of one of the other cadets is worth. I’ll bet that you can’t name a number high enough. Your son tried, but he doesn’t have the skills and he didn’t make the cut. It’s that simple.”

“Oh, he’ll get it right when it counts!” Doug started to wave him off.

“No, Mr. Thompson, that won’t float,” Stewart cut in. “I can’t wait for him to ‘get it right’ when the lasers and the led start flying. By then, it’ll be too late and someone will have gotten killed because your kid pulled his helmet off to scratch an itch. The time to get it right is long gone.”

“Excuse me, Major Stewart, but I don’t think that’s exactly fair,” someone in the crowd said as they pushed forward.

“And what’s not fair about it, Cadet Mackenzie?” Kommandant Li asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Ma’am, Kevin’s a good kid with a lot of heart,” Mack said, looking between the two officers. The other cadets who didn’t get promoted are still going to get simulator time and time in the training ‘Mechs. I just think that he ought to get the same shot they do.”

“Unfortunately, Cadet Mackenzie, Mr. Thompson has had his chance. Even if I were inclined to give him another, it would seem that he would require a great deal of assistance.” Li glanced at Kevin. “All our staff and Major Stewarts people are going to be busy training those cadets that did get promoted, and that’s on top of the Major’s garrison duties. I’m afraid that we don’t have the staff to accommodate a special case.”

“Wait, Kommandant,” Jodie said as she stepped out of the crowd and stood by Mack. “What if some of the other cadets were to help him?”

“Are you two volunteering?” Stewart asked.

“Uh--”

“Excellent!” Li cut in. “Cadets Mackenzie and Landon, you will see to the tutoring of Cadet Thompson in addition to your own class loads. Major Stewart will clear you for the additional simulator times. This philanthropic venture will look very good in your records!”

“Uh--” Mack tried to interrupt.

“In sixty days time, Cadet Thompson will present himself to Major Stewart for re-evaluation of his performance.” Li smiled to herself as she turned away. “Resume the festivities!”

Jodie and Mack stood slack jawed as Li disappeared into the dissolving crowd. Both of them yelped as Kevin got between them and threw his arms around their shoulders.

“Awright! This is gonna be great guys!” Kevin said overenthusiastically. “Thanks you guys!”

Jodie looked sheepishly at Mack as a rejuvenated Kevin practically bounded away.

“Sorry,” Jodie said guiltily.

“My dad always said the first rule of the military was ‘never volunteer for anything,’ “ Mack said with a shake of his head.

“Did he say anything about being drafted?” Jodie asked.

“Nope.” Mack sighed. “I wonder if it’s too late to defect to the Free Worlds League.”

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