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| Grass fires spreading across a wide front in southern Saxony Image taken from Kamenez Weltweit News |
Straight off the bat, I’ll say that I have no idea what prompted the
Royals to turn on the Lyrans and, by extension, us. I have no idea why they
would seize the spaceport and take them and our support staff prisoner.
Unfortunately, the timing of it was far too good for this to be a random,
spontaneous act.
Takahashi’s assault lance had just fended off an ambush that, while
unsuccessful, had also done a good job of damaging their ‘Mechs and slowing our forces. I had to
dispatch Stanley and a number of our support units to meet them, both to effect
repairs and collect salvage. The result was a thinning of our personnel back at
the spaceport, something that the Royals seemed to be well-prepared for. And
then everything happens at once.
First thing we lose contact with the
spaceport; both our ships and the Lyrans, which is never a good start. Then,
far too conveniently to be just a coincidence, we receive reports of a thick
bushfire front moving south towards us, kicking up massive clouds of black
smoke – the sort of thing that
could easily be used to cover an advance. (And given that we were dealing with a
unit called the Incinerators who specialise
in setting things on fire, it was a given that they were doing just that).
We have a hostile force ahead of us and no idea of what's behind, which puts us
in a bad place.
Sending the assault lance crew in on foot
was a risk, but I was low on choices. true, they have a reputation for getting
results by unconventional means (and some interesting skills to say the least),
and with their 'Mechs messed up, they were more useful there then on the
battlefield. I didn't have the troops to spare otherwise either, which meant
that I wasin one of those "no good answers" situations.
It seems to have worked out for them, even
if some of how they got there is a little questionable, to say the least. We
got back one of our ships and most of both our people and the Lyrans. While
that leaves the Royals holding the base, the Duchess, the Snipers, a good chunk of our supplies and Takahashi,
it's still a win. I only pray that he's okay; what Cartwright told me didn't
sound good for him, and leaving him at the mercy of the Royals is not a
situation I'm happy with.
Of course, all this beggars the question as
to why they did it, and what they hoped to gain by turning on the Lyrans (and,
by extension, us). We don't know if they’ve thrown in with the rebels or gone rogue or what, but the weight
of the evidence is leaning towards the former. I can only assume that they were
offered some massive pay-off or inducement along the way, given that they have
a lot to lose from all this. I
really wish Charlie was here. He would have seen what was coming, or at the
very least, had some inkling that something wasn't right
Even though the MRBC's powers to enforce
are at an all-time low (rumours of the Roughriders dispensing vigilante justice
to renegade units notwithstanding), an act like this is hard to justify before
a tribunal. Maybe they were hoping to swing the evidence by eliminating us and
the Lyrans and then making up a story along the way. And while at the moment
the Lyrans are low on friends in the MRBC, they're still a major power and have
a lot of influence, especially in the arms market. We may not like them, but we
do need what they want.
What I gathered from Cartwright and the
others suggested no overt malice on their part towards our people. This seemed
to be more of a 'just doing our job' thing then anything else, but that also
could be skewed by the people they were dealing with. I don't know what Royal's
attitude towards all this was; I admit that I tried to avoid dealing with him unless
I had to, and it was hard to get a read on what exactly he thought of us. He plays
the colourful thug well, but either he’s a lot smarter then he lets on, or there's something else going on.
Speaking of motivation, there's also the
mystery of the Apex to consider. They
clearly prioritised getting it airborne, but we don’t know who was at the controls or where it went, or if there was
anything onboard. If the Royals sided with the rebellion, then delivering the
Dropper back to the Carnivores could be a sign of good faith. Maybe they were
promised that they could keep out ships as a part of their deal if they handed
the Apex over. A Trutzburg is one hell of an upgrade over that flying deathtrap of a
Union, after all.
My other worry is that this was somehow
personal, and what they did was aimed at us as a unit rather than as some sort
of military objective. Feuds have always been a part of the mercenary trade,
and it’s hard to stop them. In
a business where you get paid to shoot at other people, you tend to get a lot
of machismo and a lot of posturing, and that can lead to bruised egos and “accidental” misinterpretations.
If it is, then I
want to resolve here and now, before it spirals out of control. This is
not something I want to have escalate and turn toxic and wind up drop into my
granddaughter’s lap in fifty years.
We have a past history of this sort of thing.
(And I thank god at least twice daily that
one died seventy years back as well)
I’ll have Nikola look into it when he has the time. Right now, we have
other concerns, like salvaging this mess.
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