Luna and Ayat had finally gotten a chance to talk to Serena about the photo they found at Joe’s. She had been extraordinarily busy supervising the offworld arrivals, and the time that wasn’t spent on them was focused on turning the Merchant and Scientist caste operations towards making Anywhere a viable world for the Clan. She was working with one of her doctors when they’d finally caught up to her, and she was still rehabbing her surgically repaired back.
“Serena, it is good to see you in such good health.” Ayat said with a forced smile. Her injuries had been horrific, and they had taken her from the front lines of the Clan’s military caste. It was a fate none of them wished on their most hated rivals.
“I am getting by, what can i do for you?” The mechanical voice box chirped at the two of them. The technicians had been working on it, and had given her mechanical a slightly higher pitch.
“We were wondering what you knew about the 149th Battlemech Division?” Luna asked her. Her brow was furrowed, and the mystery was still bugging her.
“The Erwin Rommel Division? It is a Star League Defense Force formation. Several notable achievements, though to our people it is significant because it was the only other division to follow the Founder to Strana Mechty. It, alongside the 146th Royal Battlemech Division were the first protectors of the nascent clans, and many of our clan founders came from it.” Each word was punctuate with exertion, as she feverishly worked her muscles and forced her body to bend and flex.
“Why are you pushing yourself so hard?” Ayat asked her softly, watching the broken warrior push harder than she would have imagined possible.
“I have a date tonight, and i want my back in good working shape.”
“You have a date?” Luna asked her with a soft smile.
“He is an old friend from the homeworlds. He brought a package from the Dire Wolf over to one of your mechwarriors.”
“Has he seen you yet?”
“Why do you think i am getting my back in workable shape again?” The Star Captain winked at her friends. The three of them shared a soft chuckle, which didn’t sound quite right coming out of Serena’s voicebox. She tapped the thing again a couple of times and it modulated again, dropping her voice two octaves.
“Do you know anyone who would have Elementals in the Inner Sphere 20 years ago?” Luna changed the topic quickly.
“Well…” The Deep bass voice from Star Captain Serena rumbled and she shook her head. “This thing is a pain in the ass. The Dragoons had several Elementals among their number for their scouting mission, though i am not sure how many of them survived. If i remember correctly, there are stories about the Goliath Scorpions sending Seekers as far in as the Hanseatic League, but i do not know if any of them made it to the Inner Sphere…” She wiped the sweat from her face and tapped the voice box again. This time it shifted up two octaves from her normal voice, and it had a high pitched squeak to it.
“Take a look at this picture, do you know any of these people?” Luna asked her quietly, trying her best not to draw attention to the issues she was having with her voice box. Serena had been quiet before her injury, and it had stolen that calm presence her voice used to carry.
“Well, that’s Gregor Baba, i do not recognize the others.”
“How do you know that’s Gregor Baba?” Ayat asked her quietly.
“I know Gregor Baba intimately, i would recognize him just about anywhere, why?”
“We found this picture in a diner on the other side of the planet. Did you know he was here?”
“No, that’s quite odd. He is a member of the Goliath Scorpion Watch, and he has secrets he must keep for the good of the clan. You can ask him about it.”
“How are we going to find him?” Ayat asked her quietly. “He could be literally Anywhere…”
The high pitched laughter from Serena lasted for nearly a minute. “What is so funny?” Luna asked her.
“He is meeting Mackenzie for lunch somewhere in the capital. He’s the emissary from the Dire Wolf.”
“What does he want with her?”
“She has family in the homeworlds, and Gregor is delivering several things for them.”
“Will he talk to us?” Ayat asked her quietly. She still couldn’t believe that Luna had pulled her into this mystery…
“So long as it does not violate his orders, or otherwise compromise things, he should be more than happy to talk to you.”
“Good, we shall see what we can find out.” Luna said with a smile.
“Try not to keep him out too late, we have an appointment to keep.” Serena smiled and went back to her rehab routine.
Elsewhere
Gregor and Mackenzie were sitting in one of the nicer restaurants in the planetary capital. Fortunately, this place had booths that would accommodate a person of Gregor’s build, and Mackenzie was still managing a great deal of unease. Gregor ordered something local to drink, which felt odd to Mackenzie. It was something that wasn’t on the menu, something only a local should really know…
“It’s good to see you again, Mackenzie Sokolov.” The man said with a stiffness that she hadn’t expected.
“It has been a very long time, quiaff?”
“You do not need to maintain our language practices with me, i have spent a great deal of time in the Inner Sphere.”
“Oh, thank god.”
“I see you’ve grown into a very competent young woman.”
“I remember seeing you on Outreach, how is that possible?”
“I was a member of the Goliath Scorpion Seeker mission that accompanied Wolf’s Dragoons into the Inner Sphere. When my predecessor was killed in combat on Misery, i was assigned the job of keeping the Seekers on track.”
“The Seekers?”
“Ivan’s people, from the lowliest Mechwarrior seeker all the way up to Ivan himself. They are in many ways, the heart and soul of our clan. Archeologists, Historians and experts on the lost Star League. They look back into the past to see the future that our clan, and hopefully by extension, the rest of the clans can strive toward.”
“That sounds complicated.”
“Ivan runs his own operations, and has since i joined the mission. I collate reports and intelligence his Seekers find and report it back to the home office. If they knew exactly who my source was, they would be...disturbed.”
“Why?”
“By the standards of our people, Ivan is ancient. Couple that with a life of Necrosia usage, and Ivan can appear to be extraordinarily unbalanced.”
“He never seemed old to me.”
“He’s as sharp as he was the day he passed his trial of position, i am told, but we as a society believe that without constant trials, we lose our edge.”
“What’s he doing?”
“He ordered his Seekers to withdraw to the Occupation Zone, in preparation for a return to the Homeworlds. They have been gone long enough, it’s time for this mission to end.”
“What about my aunt?”
“Amelia? I have heard she is doing quite well after the birth of their daughter. I suspect Ivan will take them home when he heads that way.”
“What daughter?”
“Vara was born in a hospital on Tharkad in February. You have been a little busy and have been outside the normal chain of information. Which reminds me, i have several packages for you.”
The staff were busy handling everyone else’s orders and eventually they managed to squeeze an order in. Gregor set the heavy case on the table and smiled. “These are yours, and come from many hands within the clans. Take them, and do well by them.”
She opened the case with trepidation, the soft amber glow filling the air around her.
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