The little shop hummed with a variety of sounds. The old juke box still ran old terran records, and was currently playing something from the early 21st century. Mechanical sounds cut in occasionally, as the sounds of an arc welder interrupted the music. The third sound that echoed around the chamber was the soft snoring sound of some animal. Harlan smiled over at the sleeping dog. He’d gotten a set of dog sized welding goggles for Roxy about the time of her last growth spurt. Teaching her to wear them had been a very different matter. She was sleeping in the passenger seat of the car he was rebuilding a door for.
“Worst guard dog, ever.” he chuckled to himself as he kept working the machining process. Roxy was a bulldog with a bit of an owner problem. He spoiled her, and she was just a bit overweight. She however seemed completely okay with the noise the shop generated and the heat from the equipment didn’t seem to bother her at all. He’d gotten her the goggles so he could keep her eyes good and sharp.
He was between jobs and knew that this peace and quiet couldn’t last. The invaders were coming from the periphery, and he knew what that meant. Orders would be coming sooner rather than later, and these days of exploration and adventure would be coming to an end. He chuckled softly to himself. If the kid that had entered the Inner Sphere in 3030 could see the man he was now, he was pretty sure they wouldn’t recognize each other. Lord, it’s been twenty years and we’re still having a good time…
The message light kicked on at some point and he had finally noticed it. He set the tools down and gave Roxy a scritch right across her slightly chubby tummy. The dog let out a longer groan but didn’t move from her perch. The computer had one message stored in the recorder and he hit the playback button.
“This is Precentor Grey, i am attempting to get in contact with a Mr. Harlan Myers. If you would contact the HPG Facility at your earlier convenience and can verify your identity, we have a message for you from offworld.”
“Well that doesn’t sound troublesome at all.” He slipped the shirt on over his head and ran his fingers through his greying hair. He slid the necklace back in place around his neck and let out a soft chuckle. He hadn’t worn his codex in years, but he kept it up to date and it was usually hanging from one of the compartments of the cockpit of his Thug. Something about today had convinced him it was time to make sure it was closer than that. He opened the comm channel to the HPG station and waited until the Precentor appeared on his screen.
“Mr. Meyers?” The Precentor said with an upbeat tone to his voice. He was a younger than Harlan expected.
“This is Harlan Meyers, how can i help you, Precentor Grey?”
“If you’ll transmit your proof of identity, I have received a message from offworld.”
Harlan nodded and transmitted his Federated Commonwealth citizenship documentation. A moment later, the Precentor nodded and confirmed the authenticity. “Very good, sending your message on.”
“Thank you, Precentor.”
The message came through without a hitch. It was however, audio only with an attached datapacket.
“Harlan, my eternal friend. Our time is rapidly drawing to a close, and i will need you to disperse this to the rest of your command. All current operations have a three month window to complete. We are going home, and our long labors have come to an end. Currently, we have accords in place to cross the lines, and guaranteed safe passage by the Illkhan. Collect your intelligence reports and if you deem it necessary, share with the clan units you are sheltering with. I am dispatching the Skulls to ready our ships for transport, and the other clusters are likewise being activated. This is a mandatory recall, and I will be joining up with the rest of us sooner, rather than later. Your rally point is Anywhere, and it’s currently a possession of the Jade Falcons. They have acquired several bondsmen i have an interest in.”
“I know i am asking you a lot, Harlan, but there are some mercenaries who’ve recently evacuated anywhere in good order with what was left of the 2nd New Ivaarssen Chasseurs. Find them, see if they want to tag along on our little expedition. I think you might like Percival. You have my full faith and access to our funds to secure whatever additional resources you might need. I hope to see you soon, friend.”
The message ended there, and Harlan had to smile. Ivan was the old man of the mountain, and hearing his voice after so long hit Harlan hard. Ivan had been the first one of them to cross over, coming with the Dragoons in the early days of the scouting mission. He’d been in the Inner Sphere for 25 some odd years before the clan’s Khans had requested he take on a bunch of young and ambitious seekers. They added some Watch operatives to help keep some semblance of military pretext to the mission, but that’s not why they were here.
They were seekers to the bone. They sought out the relics of the old Star League to search out the historical truth of that lost age. Each of them was an expert on at least one topic, and some of them, like Ivan, could talk about a lot of different areas of League history. Harlan’s area of expertise was the Advanced Combat and Maneuvering program. The Gunslingers…
Harland had spent a lot of time tracking down that historical bit of detail, and had even been the remains of the War Academy of Aphora on Venus. He’d put together dozens of documents and written extensively on the topic. He liked the Gunslingers of old. They were the precursors of the clan honor code...zelbringen. One Mechwarrior vs. another with the weight of a world resting on the outcome of those battles…
I wonder...how i would hold up with those warriors Harlan thought again. He’d had that thought thousands of times in his life, and it’s why he chose to study those warriors and their methods. After his last research project, Ivan had given him permission to wear the Gunslinger medal he had recovered from the Periphery, and the permission to paint the insignia on his battlemech. He’d never been so proud…
That thought faded from his mind as he started looking through the datapacket. “Hmm...a fox, a cat, and a priest...oh and a kid who knows everything.” he let out a sigh. “Well, I’ve done more with less.” He triggered the ship’s internal comms “Captain Reece, this is Harlan.”
“Evening, Sir, what can i do for you?” The chipper voice of the young woman piped through the speakers.
“Get ready to get the ship underway. Contact the Bonaventure and let them know we’ll be engaging their services again soon. We are heading towards the periphery edge of the Federated Commonwealth.”
“Any particular destination in mind?”
“We’ll start at Arc-Royal, if i were a mercenary running from trouble, there are a lot worse places to end up.”
“Excuse me, sir?”
“Nothing, Reece, just get us ready to go.”
“Aff, sir.”
“We aren’t coming back, so if there’s anything or anyone you need to wrap up, do it now. I will be in my office drafting orders for the next few hours, so if something comes up, you know where to find me.”
“Aff, Sir, are we really going home?”
“Aff, we are really going home.”
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