Ghosts of Yesterday

The Comstar Adept knocked quietly on the door.  This was not going to be a pleasant conversation.  The door opened quickly and the assembled Jade falcon officers stared at him blankly. 

“A thousand pardons for disrupting your operations, but I fear we may have a situation.”  He said quickly as he stepped into the room. 

“explain yourself quickly, priest.” The Star Captain said quickly.  The larger red-haired woman turned off the visual displays while the very large blonde woman stared through him. 

“As you know, our blessed order maintains a small force of warriors to see to the defense of our sacred stations.  One of our warriors has taken a turn for the worse.”

“In what way?”

“He has cancer, located in his brain.  Our holy order has many wonder workers in its ranks, but this cancer is beyond our ability to treat.”

“You want to offer this freeborn up to us for treatment, quiaff?”  The Star Captain asked him.

“That would be the simplest answer, yes but we have moved beyond that possibility.”

“I grow very tired of your long explanations.”

“He has taken a battlemech and has taken a position between our secondary relay facility up in the mountains and our primary broadcasting station.  A rockfall damaged the lines between the two facilities, and we are operating under reserves until we can get the lines operational.”

“Speak plainly.” 

“He will not allow our people to get close enough to fix the lines.  Someone has to removed him from that pass.”

“And you do not do this yourselves because?”

“He is a well-respected commander, and is the finest mechwarrior in our command.  It would cost many lives to dislodge him from that position, and I am not certain my warriors that remain would turn their guns on one of their brothers.”

“So, what precisely do you want us to do?”  The Star Captain asked, bridging her fingers in front of her face.

“Give him the soldier’s death he so richly has earned.”  The adept almost couldn’t say the words.  That caught everyone in the room off guard.  “He has been my friend for almost twenty years and has been an exceptional warrior in the times it has been needed.  He will not die in a hospital bed, hooked up to machines.  He refuses the treatments we do have.”

“I will do it.”  One of the officers said firmly. 

“If you desire, so be it, Bekker.”  The Star Captain said quietly. 

“What kind of a battlemech is your priest driving?”

“An Atlas…”

“I may need to borrow a heavier battlemech for this.”  That brought a chuckle from the rest of the room. 

“Take your star, deal with the problem and get the facility back online, quiaff?”

“Aff.” 

Bekker and the rest of his star suited up and they were joined by a star of elementals.  The Adept followed behind them in a hovercar emblazoned with the Comstar insignia on the hood.  They got closer to the area where the Atlas was supposed to be and sure enough, standing in the middle of a narrow pass in the mountains was a pristine white Atlas with a Comstar insignia painted on its right leg. 

“This is Star Commander Bekker of Clan Jade Falcon.  Warrior, you are ordered to stand down and allow the Comstar personnel to complete their work.”  Bekker said quickly through the comms.  He had borrowed Mackenzie’s Summoner for the day. 

“This is Major General Nicholas Kerensky of the 146^th Royal Battlemech Division.  I hold this pass, you can leave now or be destroyed.”

“Could you repeat that for me?”  Bekker said quickly, trying to process the words.  Questions started lighting up his comm system. 

“This is Major General Nicholas Kerensky of the 146^th Royal Battlemech Division.  I hold this pass, you can leave now or be destroyed.” 

“Oh, okay that’s what I thought you said.  Hold that thought for just a moment.”  He opened a comm channel to the Comstar adept.  “Is your friend…delusional?”

“He has…episodes where he forgets who he is, or what is he doing.  Right now, in his mind he is probably reliving some ancient battle.”

“You should probably have mentioned that before we left.”

“I am Mechwarrior Bohannon, pilot of the Timber Wolf bearing the designation Zero Seven.  I challenge you to honorable combat, Nicholas Kerensky.  In this solemn matter, let none interfere.”  The Timber Wolf stepped forward after its elementals had hopped off.  The Atlas extended one of its giant metal fists and beckoned the Timber Wolf forward. 

“Bohannon, this is not the time to be brash.”

“I will not tolerate this stravag making a mockery of the Founder!”  the PPCS in the Timber Wolf’s arms raised and discharged two bolts of man-made lightning.  One struck the Atlas in its leg, burning away the white paint and the Comstar insignia.  The Atlas returned fire, with a barrage of missiles flying from the launcher built into its shoulder.  The bolt of a PPC burned its way across the distance, but the sound of a Gauss Rifle slug hitting the Timber Wolf caught Bekker off guard.  He started running sensor sweeps immediately, but could not get a firm reading on the Atlas.

The Timber Wolf rocked under the impact, and its right leg was exposed down to the Endo Steel bone.  The Gauss Rifle had struck there, as had the PPC.  The missiles had impacted the right leg and stippled their way up the battlemech’s body into the right torso.  The Timber Wolf shook for a moment but stayed up right. 

The Timber Wolf pushed itself into a loping run, trying to get an angle of attack on the Atlas.  It triggered the PPCs again, and Bekker thought he was trying to get a lock with his SRMs, but he didn’t see the launch tubes open.  One PPC struck the Atlas in its shoulder, shearing off nearly a ton of armor, but the other bolt went wide.  The Atlas turned just slightly and fired the missiles, the PPC and the Gauss Rifle again.  With a sickening thud, the Timber Wolf’s leg sheared off at the hip and it tumbled forward.  The missiles rained down into its right torso, and it looked like something had gone internal.  The telltale detonation of CASE told Beker that the ammunition had detonated.  The Timber Wolf did not try to rise. 

“Bohannon, are you alive?” Bekker asked him.  “Point Commander Sullah, check on the Timber Wolf.”  He heard a clipped reply but the Elementals slowly advanced on the downed battlemech.  The Atlas paid no attention to them and Bekker received a clipped Combat Ineffective reply from Sullah.  Bekker shook his head and opened a comm line.  “Star Captain Luna Hazen, you are going to want to come see this one.” 

A half an hour later, Luna had gathered her full command and the entire trinary had moved into position to see what the nature of the disturbance was.  The Atlas was still standing tall, like some ancient statue of a war god. More of its armor was missing, and in a few places the internal structure was exposed.  It stood defiant. 

Scattered around it were the remnants of Bohannon’s Timber Wolf and Kalinkov’s Storm Crow.  Both pilots had been evacuated by their attendant Elementals, and Bekker was trying to hold the other two members of his star in check to keep them from going off and breaking Zelbringen. 

“What precisely is the problem, Bekker.” 

“Ask him.”  The Summoner pointed at the Atlas. 

“Mechwarrior, this is Star Captain Luna Hazen of Clan Jade Falcon.  Stand down and allow the Comstar personnel to perform their duties.”

“This is Major General Nicholas Kerensky of the 146^th Royal Battlemech Division.  I hold this pass.  You can leave now or be destroyed.”

“Wait, what?”  Mackenzie chirped over the comm.  She was in Bekker’s usual ride and hadn’t quite figured out where everything was. 

“Major General Kerensky, please stand down.  We are here to relieve you.”  Luna said quietly.

“Elizabeth…is that you?”  The Atlas pulled back into a defensive stance, putting its back deeper into the pass.  “Where is Aaron…where is my father?”  The Battlemech raised its arm, levelling the Gauss Rifle at the chest of her Timber Wolf.  “Where am I?  Cal Jorgensson, your warriors have violated the Circle of Equals!  You have broken with our ways…”  The Atlas raised its other and then went completely limp.  The Mech slowly teetered backwards and fell into a rocky outcropping.  It looked almost peaceful, like an ancient king on his throne.

“Bekker, would you explain to me how that warrior held you off for nearly a half an hour while losing armor and ammunition?”

“He fought with honor, I would not break Zelbringen against such a man, even if he was delusional.” 

“Extract him from his battlemech, bring him with us.  Return the battlemech to the custody of Comstar.”

“Aff ma’am, it will be done.” 

“All right, have recovery teams pick up the Storm Crow and the Timber Wolf.  Everyone else, back to base.  You have all had your fun for the day.”  Luna said quickly before turning her Timber Wolf around.  The rest of the unit formed up behind her and followed her back to the Mechbay.

Jade Falcon HQ

“You can not call him Nicholas Kerensky.  The neighbors will catch on.” Bekker said to the doctor.  The doctor raised an eyebrow at him and Bekker shook his head.  “You are absolutely no fun.” 

“Where the fuck am I?”  The mechwarrior had started to move slowly, pulling his hand up in front of his face.  He had short cropped blonde hair and almost glittering blue eyes. 

“You are in a medical facility on the planet Apollo.”  The doctor said quietly.

“Can you tell me your name?”  Bekker asked him quietly.

“Why are you whispering?”  The warrior asked the two of them.

“You have head trauma from the fall your battlemech took.”  The doctor responded.

“What was I doing in my battlemech?”  The warrior rubbed the back of his neck.  “And why do I have this wrapped around my wrist?” 

“Your name, Mechwarrior?”  Bekker asked him again.

“Aaron Pryde, Demi-precentor Comguard.  Who in the blue piss are you?”

“I am Doctor Farah, this is Star Commander Bekker, and you have been taken as a Bondsman to the Jade Falcon clan.”  The Doctor answered him.

“I had another episode, didn’t I?”

“You call that an episode?  I would very much like to see one of your movies.” 

“That’s not funny.”

“It was a little bit funny.” 

“I need to get back to my unit.” 

“There is a problem with that, Aaron Pryde.  You have refused all treatment for your tumor with Comstar, quiaff?”

“What, yes, there is nothing that can be done.  I have about six months.” 

“It is a very aggressive form of cancer, and it will take time, but I think your prognosis for a recovery is good.”  Farah said quietly.

“What?”

“You are very lucky we found you when we did, Aaron Pryde.  Welcome to the Jade Falcons.” 

“Can you give me something for the hallucination I am having?”  Aaron looked over at the Doctor.  She smiled and pushed a sedative into his IV drip.

“Get some sleep, you will need your rest.”

“Thanks Doc…”  The warrior went back to sleep.

Elsewhere

Ayat had her arm wrapped a much younger look man and Mackenzie could not help herself.  “Ayat, if you keep stealing children from the locals to bring back to the barracks to couple, people will start to talk.  Why did you dress him like an aerospace pilot?” 

The blue haired kid stared up at her with a mix of confusion and borderline anger.  Ayat squeezed his neck gently.  “That was an attempt at humor, was it not, Mackenzie?”

“Yes, Ayat, that was an attempt at a joke.” 

“Because Spheroids have an issue with people of varying ages coupling.  I look old enough to be this one’s parent, that is the crux of this joke, quiaff?”

“Aff, Ayat, you got the joke.  You clubbed it to death after you ran it to ground, but yes, you got it.” 

Ayat nodded at her.  “Very amusing.  Mackenzie, this is Star Commander Millhouse.  Star Commander Millhouse, this is Star Commander Mackenzie.” 

“What is he the Star Commander of, our unarmored pillow fight star?”  Mackenzie smiled at the younger officer.

“I am the Star Commander of the Aerospace star, Mackenzie.” 

“How old are you?” 

“Seventeen, why?”

“Are you even legal?”

“Legal for what?”  Millhouse asked her quietly. 

“Oh, never mind, it is an inner sphere concept that is chalcas to us.  I offer surkai for my semi clever joke.” 

“I need to get back to the squadron briefing, I look forward to seeing you again, Mackenzie.”

“Dinner maybe?” 

“Sounds good.”

“Oh, Mackenzie, you had a package arrive for you.” 

“From who?” 

“No name on the box, just your name on the outside.  I had it delivered to your quarters.” 

“You have my thanks, Ayat Icaza.”

Mackenzie stopped by her quarters and found Pryce relaxing quietly in one of his meditative poses.  The red wrapping on his arm had been removed and the skin was patching in nicely.  A few more days and he would be combat ready, well, ready enough to return to the sparring grounds.  He nodded at her when she came in, but didn’t move from his position.

“Good afternoon Mackenzie. You had a package arrive.” 

“That is what Ayat said.”

“Very good.” 

“Why are you meditating?”

“It calms my memories and helps me to sleep at night.”

“The dreams bothering you again, quiaff?”

“Aff and neg.  It is not the dream that bothers me, it is the memory of what I chose to do that haunts me. I fear I will carry these scars in my soul for the rest of my life.” 

“Would you like to talk about it?” 

“I would not burden you with my pain.  I have burdened you with enough since I met you.” 

“If you want to talk about it, I would listen.”

“I know you would.  I appreciate your willingness to share that burden, but I could not impose on you further.” 

Mackenzie smiled at him, and even with his eyes closed he returned the gesture.  She picked up the box and turned it over a couple of times.  It was made of simple fiberboard and it felt heavier than she thought it might.  “Any idea what is in this?” 

“Neg, but the person who delivered it was chuckling as they left.  Perhaps an aspect of humor I have not learned from the inner sphere yet.”

“I wonder what’s inside?”  She slid her combat knife out of its sheath and removed the tape keeping the box shut.  Pryce had stood up and was wiping his shoulders and chest with a towel.  She opened the box in a moment, blushed, and shut the box again.

“What?” 

“Oh my…”  She said to herself as he sat down next to her. 

“Now I am intrigued” He smiled at her and she handed him the box.  He opened it and picked up the card.  “Coupling Aid?”  he read the card out loud.  She was almost hyperventilating with laughter.  “This appears to be a harness of some kind…”  He looked up at her.  “I think we both know what that is for.”  He pulled a small bottle out of the box.  “That was considerate.” 

“You know what this for, quiaff?”  She giggled uncontrollably. 

“It is not the first time I have been exposed to one of these, aff.”

“Someone thinks they are hilarious.”  Mackenzie chuckled. 

“Do you want to break it in before dinner?”

“What?”

“What is that thing you keep saying…This is not my first rodeo?”    That caused her to laugh even harder.

“That is the most amazingly inappropriate thing you could have said.  It’s perfect.” 

“My original question stands; do you want to give it a try?”

“I honestly do not know, I never used one before.” 

“Shall we give it a try then?”

“Sure, I’m up for a ride.”  

Annabelle’s shuttle

Jaxun had stared at the datafiles in front of him for what felt like hours, but he had made a breakthrough.  He had always wondered how the neurohelmet interface worked and he had read stories of Mechs picking up the mannerisms of their pilots, and mechs that seemed to respond faster.  It had been something that had fascinated him as a child and now he was in the position to actually study that aspect of Star League technology.  Annabelle had left him in the office while she worked on something else in the quarters they shared. 

“Annabelle, I believe I have made a discovery, “He was smiling as he stepped through the doorway into their quarters and his grasp of language suddenly stopped.  She had her back to him and was wearing an exquisite green robe that hung loosely from her shoulders.  She turned to answer him and he saw one of her legs emerge from under the robe.  She was wearing stockings the same shade of green that went all the way up her legs. 

“What did you discover, Jaxun?”  She had turned to face him, and she was having a bit of a problem walking.  He just stared at her, trying to form words.  She slowly balanced her way across the room and stumbled as she was about to make contact with him.  His hands caught her gently.  “I intensely dislike these heels.”  She kicked them off of her feet and let them sail across the room.  

Jaxun’s brain still wasn’t communicating with the rest of his body.

“you like my artificial plumage, quiaff?”

“Aff.” He finally managed to exhale.  “It is perfect.” 

“Now as soon as you decide on a research topic, you can see what else is underneath this robe.”  She teased her fingers down his chest.  He slid his arms around her waist. 

“I have decided.  That is the discovery I was coming to tell you about before you stole my ability to reason.” 

“So this has had the desired effect?” 

“Why did you do this?”  He sat down on the bed and looked up at her.  She smiled back down at him and ran her fingers over his shoulders.

“You were very evasive about whether or not you would want me to wear something like this.  That inspired some curiosity and then I resolved to see if  I could elicit a response from you with it.  Judging by your response, it has elicited one.”  She pushed him back onto the large bed they shared and the robe opened. 

“It looks wonderful on you.” 

“Thank you, but first things first, what do you want to research?” 

“Neurohelmet interface technology and how some mechs interface differently with their mechwarriors.”

“It is a fine topic, I congratulate on your selection of a topic.” 

“How did you know this color?” 

“I tried to match it to the shade of your tattoo, your sister was very helpful.”

“My sister helped you with this?”

“Aff, she is agreeably cute.” 

“Remind me to get her a present.”

“You should focus more on unwrapping yours, worry about hers later.” 

“Aff.”  He pulled her gently down into his arms.

Later that day

Jaxun had gotten dressed after an extra long shower and made his way to the HPG station.  This wasn’t going to be an easy call for him to make, but it needed to be done.  He knew the codes he needed and asked the Precentor to dial the address exactly.  It took almost fifteen minutes to get a signal through but he was pleasantly surprised by what he saw. 

“Greetings Star Commander Jaxun.”  The voice greeted him.  It was soft and melodic like he remembered it.  A part of him desperately wanted to reach through the screen to wrap his arms around the woman.  Her eyes were damp, something was wrong.

“Greetings, Amelia, how are you?” 

“Things are not good here, Jaxun.” 

“What’s wrong? What can I do?”

“Ivan took a massive dose of Necrosia a few days ago and he has been in a medically induced coma ever since.  We are currently held up somewhere while the Scorpion medics take their time to try an experimental therapy to try and revive him.” 

“When did this overdose happen?”

“Four days ago.”  Jaxun’s heart sank.  That was the first night he’d 

taken Necrosia.  What had Ivan done…

“Can I help?”

“Not right now, he is stable, but I am more scared than I have been in a long time.  How is your Seeker candidacy going?”  She changed the topic.

“How did you know about that?” 

“I was with Ivan when he made the formal request and scared the Goliath Scorpion Khans half to death.” 

“That sounds like him.  Why did he make the request?”

“It was a matter of honor for him.  Jaxun, as much as I love to talk to you, what’s going on?”

“I was hoping to speak to Harlan Meyers, I need to discuss something with him about my seeker candidacy.” 

“He is not here right now.  I will get a message to him and have him make contact with you, if that works.”

“That would be fine.”  Jaxun swallowed hard.  “If you need me, I will be where you are as fast as I can.  Just say the word.” 

“Neg, my boy.  You have responsibilities where you are that require your time.  Your uncle has a plan, and while I consider it patently insane, it is more of a plan than I had before.  Take care of your sister for me, okay?”

“Aff, Amelia.  I love you, I will see you when I can.”

“I love you too.”  The line clicked off and Jaxun went off to find his sister.  This wasn’t good.  Ivan and Amelia had taken them in when their parents had returned to Clan Wolf.  He didn’t like the idea of either one of them being in pain…

Mess Hall

“I think this is the first time we have all been together since we arrived on Apollo.”  Mackenzie said quietly to her friends.  She was right though, with the exception of Luna Hazen, who always ate in her office, all of the rest were here.  Bekker was sitting in his own little section of their big table.  Ayat was sitting on one side of him, and Farraday had taken up a spot on the other.  Millhouse was sitting next to Ayat, and he still seemed cartoonish.  Mackenzie was sitting next Farraday, as she usually did when they were together and Pryce sat next to her.  Annabelle sat on the other side of Pryce and there was a little spot between her and Millhouse. 

Jaxun appeared about halfway through the meal and Mackenzie didn’t like the look on his face. Something was up.  He sat his tray down between Millhouse and Annabelle and she slid almost on top of Pryce to make enough room for him to sit down.  Millhouse bristled at the sudden appearance of an Elemental in his personal space but Jaxun gave him a look that suggested that conversation line would not turn out well. 

“Jaxun, What’s wrong?”  Mackenzie asked her brother. 

“Not here, I will talk to you about it later.” 

“Do we need to have a conversation right now?”  His sister pressed again. 

“I fear it will not help.”

“Jaxun, what is wrong?”  Annabelle asked him.

“My uncle is gravely ill.”

“How gravely ill?”  Mackenzie asked him.

“Medically induced coma, experimental treatment gravely ill.” 

“Oh…fuck, that’s bad.”

“Your uncle is a tough man, if anyone can survive this predicament, it is him.”  Ayat nodded at the two of them. 

“He is trueborn.  He is one of ours.”  Farraday said.  Jaxun knew what she meant.  He was a trueborn elemental, and they were renowned for their durability and their ability to shrug off everything the universe had thrown at them.  “He will live.” 

“From the stories I have heard, he survived the frozen plains of Misery missing his arm.  He will be fine.” Bekker tried to be supportive of the younger warriors.  He was raised a Ghost Bear, he knew how important family was to some.   

“Does Amelia know?”

“I talked to her.” 

“How is she holding up?”

“As well as anyone could hope, I think.”  Jaxun answered his sister.  His dark mood cast a pall over the table and little conversations broke out, but the sense of belonging seemed to fade.  “Excuse me, I am suddenly not feeling very hungry.”  He said to the table and returned his tray to the station where the Laborers cleaned them. Annabelle got up a few minutes later and returned to her shuttle, expecting him to be there.  He wasn’t.  She sat on their bed for a moment, unsure of why she was crying.

Later

Mackenzie walked into Jaxun’s quarters in the Falcon barracks and he was where she knew he was going to be.  He was sitting at the desk with his feet up, a book draped over his face.  Mackenzie smiled at the picture of Hayden that sat on his desk.  It felt like a lifetime ago that she had made that trade for Hayden. 

“You want to talk about it?”

“Just one of those things.  I always knew that this lifestyle, this way ends up one way for us.  Death on the battlefield, that is what we aspire to as the children of Kerensky.”

“Ivan is an impressive figure, but he is a very old man.”

“That is just it.  I always looked up to him because he found a way to escape the battlefield.  After mom and dad left, I would spend hours working on a project here, or a question there with him.  I knew that he would always be there if I ran into something I could not figure out.  Even now I find myself staring down a dozen different questions that I know he could answer.” 

She sat down on the desk next to him.  She put her hand on his shoulder and smiled.  “That way he could just cut through the heart of anything by staring at you with those big green eyes and a shake of his head.”

“Absolutely…I remember the time I almost blew up the garage…”

“Which time?”

“The first time, before he banished me to one of the workshops out back.  I only almost burned down one of those…”

“Oh…your stealth field thingy.” 

“Yeah, he sat with me in the hospital and just talked with through what I had probably done wrong.  He was not judgmental, like mom could be when I made a decision she did not approve of.”

“Like your shamrock?”

“Oh my god, I thought mom was going to kill me.”

“I heard that dad and henry had a side bet going to see whether she killed you or Ivan first.”

“He was really good to us, quiaff?”

“Aff.” 

“How do we make this right?”

“Jaxun, as much as you want to reduce this to a mechanical problem we can fix by replacing the right part, people don’t work that way.”

“I guess.  I just never imagined being alive in a universe that he was not a part of.”

“Did I ever tell you about the sex talk he gave me?” 

“No, but I bet it was more stilted than the one I got from Amelia.” 

“Maybe a little bit.  ‘Do not get pregnant, otherwise enjoy yourself.’  I had just gotten into a fight at school again, and he was trying to help.”

“’Jaxun, so help me god if you knock a girl up I will cut your balls off.’”  Jaxun did his best impersonation of Amelia and the two of them laughed.  “Did you ever feel like we were raising them?”

“Only a couple of times, and that was mostly when Ivan or dad found some aspect of Inner Sphere culture that they felt silly asking Mom or Amelia about.” 

“Groupies was hilarious to try to explain to Ivan after he got the band back together.  The first time a girl my age threw herself at him after a show was an experience for him.”  Jaxun laughed again. 

“He and Amelia were  always sneaking off to have sex when they thought we weren’t around.” 

“It was kind of adorable at their age that they were still so in tune with each other that they were still fooling around like a couple of kids.” Jaxun smiled to himself and wiped the tear from his cheek.

“You remember the time we discovered the eye bleach file?”

“Oh my god I had forgotten about that.  We were trying to find out something awesome to get Amelia for her birthday for that first year we lived with them.”    

“You thought you were so smart to break into his computer.  It took fifteen minutes to find that Amelia directory.”

“To be fair, when I opened a file that was labeled birthday surprise, that was not what I expected to see.”

“it wasn’t as eye opening as the one mom made.”

“Wait, what?” 

“Back when they were on Zathras, dad had to go back to the Combine to help with a training mission, so mom put together a going away present for him.” 

“How did you find it?” 

“It was saved on dad’s communicator.  One day I was messing with it and I found the video.”

“That sounds like dad.” 

“Mom looked really good.” 

“Mackenzie!”

“What, I am not saying anything creepy, but Mom took pretty good care of herself.” 

“Do you think we will be having this kind of fun when we are older?”

“Honestly, Jaxun I don’t know.  But it is good to have you back a little bit.  I missed being able to talk to you like this.”  

“I missed you too.”  Jaxun smiled at this sister and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.  His communicator flared and it was a transmission from the HPG station.  “Well that is odd.”

“What?”

“Coordinates to a planet near here.  And what looks like a note.  ‘come when you can’ signed -HM.’ That was faster than I expected.”

“What is Harlan up to now?”

“I asked for his help with my Seeker project.”

“Oh right, your super secret Seeker thing.”

“Mackenzie, how did Amelia know I had been considered for the position of Seeker?”

“Ivan probably told her?”

“Mackenzie…”

“I hate the way people emphasize the Kenz portion of my name when they ask that question.”

“Sister, what did you do?”

“I asked Ivan for help with a problem I was having.  He said he would make some calls.” 

He was about to press the question again when he heard a soft knock at his door.  “Come in.” 

Annabelle stepped through the doorway into his office for the first time.  Mackenzie smiled at her and hopped off the desk.  “I offer surkai if I am disturbing the two of you.”  She said softly.  

Mackenzie shook her head and walked past her towards the door. 

“No surkai needed, he is all yours again.  I just needed some time with my brother.” 

“Thank you.” Annabelle nodded to her and moved out of her way.  Mackenzie shut the door behind her on the way out.  She studied him quietly and sat down on the desk.  “We should talk.”

“I am sorry about earlier.  I was taken aback by the condition of my uncle.  If I made you feel bad, I humbly offer my surkai.” 

She shook her head and frowned.  “I do not understand this attachment you have to another person, this family you have.  I see that it pains you greatly, and I wish I could make you not feel that pain.” 

“I was born in the Inner Sphere to a happy couple with friends.  It is not the Way of the Clans, but it shaped me into who I am.  Being part of that relationship means that I have connections to others and I have feelings for them.  I do not wish to see you suffer for my pains, Annabelle Kirov.” 

She shook her head again.  “When it is just the two of us, you can call me Annabelle.” 

“as you like, Annabelle.”  He extended his arms softly around her waist.   She looked over the small office and studied it.  He only had a few possessions and her eyes wandered over each of them.  She picked up the small framed picture of Hayden and Jaxun.  

“Who is she?” 

“Hayden Shields.”

“A pet from home perhaps?” 

“We attended the academy together.” 

“You do not have pictures of your sister on your desk, quineg?”

“Neg…I do not.  “  He let out a low sigh.  “We were young and I was not…competent at courting.” 

“But you wanted this one?”

“I think so.”

“Is Hayden the name you said was the girl in your vision?”

“Aff.”

“And you said you were in garden, with her?”

“Aff, why?”

“This picture was taken in a garden.” 

“You are right.  I was visiting Hayden’s home for the first time.  I met her mother and her sister took this picture.  Let me see that.” 

“Aff.”  She handed him the picture.

“This is the garden from my vision.”

“What planet is this?”

“Radstadt.”

“Then it looks like you will find answers on Radstadt.” 

“Perhaps we can find them together, quiaff?”

“Perhaps.” 

Elsewhere

“This is Precentor Black to station chief.  Operation Velied Truth was a partial success.  We could not provoke the Jade Falcons into killing the Demi-Precentor as we had originally intended, but he hast been taken into their custody as a Bondsman.  Current reports indicate that he is receiving treatment for his cancer.”

“Have the Jade Falcons discovered his programming?”

“Not yet, but he is currently in their facility, if they follow their typical program, he should receive mental conditioning by the end of the week and I suspect the results will be explosive.  His operational equipment has already been secreted into their facility by our people.”

“Very good Precentor.  Keep us informed.  Carry the Word of Blake in your heart and help us remove this scourge from the universe.”

“So it was spoken, so must it be.”