The Mind's Eye

Mackenzie was sitting in her hospital bed for the second day of her recuperation staring at the stack of administrative reports.  She knew that Luna expected her to perform this task to the best of her ability, but she had to admit, pushing paper was pretty fucking boring.  Annabelle was laying in the bed next to her, listening to something that she wasn’t sharing beyond the occasional bit of laughter.  Jaxun said he would be by later, once he had finished some other tasks and Pryce was busy gearing up for his trial of position.  It was time. 

Mackenzie looked up to see another person she had met once but barely gotten to know slip into her room.  He was a Comstar warrior that they had picked up on Apollo, but all she really knew was that he had an extensive form of brain cancer that the Falcons were treating.  His expression brightened when he saw her and then his features twisted in confusion.

“Sasha, what happened?”  He sat down at the bedside next to her and took hold of her hand quickly.  Annabelle pulled her earbuds out and turned her attention to the warrior.  “What happened to you?”

“Sasha?”  Mackenzie blinked at him.  She looked over at Annabelle and she gave her a confused shrug in reply.

“Did you hit your head?”  He asked her.  His accent was so thick she had trouble understanding him.  The accent sounded so familiar to her.

“Obviously, I am having some trouble with my memory.”  She lied to him.  She felt bad, but she didn’t want this to escalate to a violent situation, like when he had nearly shot an elemental in the face during a small arms drill.  He had gotten into some steep trouble for that, and Bekker had promised to keep him away from weapons after that. 

“Sasha, my dear sister.  I am your brother Nikolai.”

“Nikolai!”  She tried to wrap her arms around him in a friendly embrace, but the combination of paperwork and tubing made that trickier.  “What are you doing here?”

“I honestly don’t know.  The last thing I remember was being on 

my way to the spaceport to pick up Anatoly, and then I woke up here.”

“Why were you picking up Anatoly?”

“His flight from Luna was delayed by the snowfall, sister.  He wanted to be home for Christmas, but the weather forced them to turn back around.” 

“What day is it today?”

“December 26^th, 2766.  It’s Boxing Day.”  He answered her. 

“Of course, the weather has been terrible here.” She answered back.  Annabelle was watching the entire conversation with wide eyes.

“Not so bad here in Moscow, but I heard the weather was terrible at the Court of the Star League.  Just meters of snowfall.”

“What are you doing in Moscow?”  She asked him slowly.

“Standing orders, whenever the General is offworld, I am close to the family.”  He smiled at his sister.

“Of course.  It’s been hectic.”

“You did just finish your Gunslinger certification, that makes you the last of the three of us to do it.” 

“Venus is a harsh environment to study in.”  Annabelle added slowly.

“Oh I know, and getting the timing on your jump jets to not miss those quarters is essential.  Have you been through the School?”

“I hope to someday.”  Annabelle nodded at him.

“You’ll see all three of us there.  Anatoly Sokolov, Sasha Sokolov, and Nikolai Sokolov.  Right there on the wall, embossed in brass.”  Mackenzie’s eyes went wide as he spoke.  Annabelle turned her attention back to Mackenzie and gave her a look of absolute confusion.

“That’s right, all three of us.”  She slowly answered him. 

“Hang on.”  He put one hand up to silence her for a second and the other pulled up a nonexistent communicator.  “What, wait?  The capital?  What about the SDS?  I understand, I will be there immediately.” 

“What’s wrong?”

He turned his head slowly, his lip quivering.  “Stefan Amaris has betrayed the Star League.  The Black Watch are out of action and the fighting is breaking out all over the planet.  I need to get to Katyusha and the boys.”

“Katyusha?”  Mackenzie asked him quietly, watching the pain in his eyes. 

“General Kerensky’s wife, sis.  You know that.”

“And that would make the boys Nicholas and Andery?” Annabelle asked him.

“Exactly, Sis, I have to go.”  The warrior started to rise but the Doctor had administered a trauma patch to the back of his neck.  He leaned forward, collapsing against her.  Before the sedatives put him out, he managed an “I love you sis.”  And then he was snoring into her lap. 

“I am so sorry, Star Commander, it was time for his treatment and he managed to wander off from the chamber.  It took us a little while to find him again.  I am terribly sorry if his hallucination disrupted your recovery.”  Farah said quietly as two of her assistants pulled him out of the room and took him back down the hall.

“It is all right.  He was not a disturbance.”  Mackenzie lied to the doctor.

“He has some fanciful hallucinations.  Yesterday he was telling us his name was Devlin Stone and he was trying to defeat the Word of Blake.” 

“The what?”

“I do not understand, it took Star Commander Bekker nearly half an hour to bring him out of the episode.”  Farah answered her.

“Well, he certainly livened up my paperwork.”  Mackenzie smiled 

at the doctor. 

“I will make sure we keep a closer eye on him, Star Commander.” 

“I do not doubt that.”  Mackenzie turned her attention back to Annabelle.  Farah left the two of them and closed the door. 

“What precisely was that?”

“Pryde has episodes where he relives moments and experiences from other warriors.  They are an unrelated mental condition not connected to his cancer.”

“Really?”

“Aff, when we found him the first time he believed he was Nicholas Kerensky.” 

“Well, that is not something you see everyday.”  Annabelle shook her head and pulled up her tablet.  \

“What are you looking up?”

“SLDF service records for the Sokolovs.”

“What?”

“If his hallucinations are based on the lives of others, then I am curious what triggered that specific combination of hallucination.” 

“You think they are based on something real?”

“I have spent enough time with my perceptions altered to give a little bit of credence to people who see things that aren’t there and experience memories they can’t explain.”  Annabelle pulled up the file she was looking for and let out a low whistle.  “Founder’s light, Mackenzie, look at this.”  Annabelle tossed the picture up on the large screen they shared in the room.  It was a dead ringer for her.

“Who is that?”  Mackenzie stared at the image.

“Sasha Sokolov, Captain, Star League Defense Force.  Wow…she looks almost identical to you.” 

“She is an ancestor of mine then?”

“She served in the SLDF with her brothers Anatoly and Nikolai. She was killed on Luna during the Liberation of Terra, her brother Anatoly was killed in the fighting around Moscow in the same campaign.  Nikolai survived and was awarded with a half dozen medals and commendations for his service as a bodyguard for Katyusha Kerensky and her young sons Nicholas and Andery Kerensky.  He joined the family during the Exodus and would eventually become one of the founders of Clan Wolf.” 

“I had no idea…”

“You come from good stock, for a freebirth.”

“You keep saying freebirth like it’s a bad thing, short stack.”

“Oh, are you and Pryce working on figuring out how to make a baby with your coupling aid?”

“How did you know about that?” 

“I heard it from one of the elementals.  Though I do remember enough basic biology to recall that his particularly splendid anatomy is not designed for that specific reproductive act.”

“Eh, we can try until it sticks.” 

“Aff, you certainly can.” 

Later

“Star Captain, can I have an additional moment of your time?” Mackenzie said quietly.  Luna had been visiting her to see how her exercise in paperwork was going and she had found something…unusual. 

“Aff, Mackenzie.” 

“Well, I was looking at our supplies, and we seem to be woefully undersupplied for a mission like ours.”

“Explain?” 

We have plenty of fusion batteries for the Elementals, replacement armor and internal structure, but we have what I would call a near critical lack of ammunition, especially for our largest weapons.  If I read correctly, we are carrying approximately thirty tons of ammunition for the Gauss Rifles and another twenty five tons of ammunition for the Ultra AC/20.”

“That sounds correct.”

“If we have to completely reload our entire units ammunition store, that leaves us with enough ammunition for two sustained fights.  That is not nearly enough, ma’am.”

“Why would we expend all of our ammunition?”

“The theoretical situation exists where we could end up in a situation where our entire magazine is depleted and we don’t have any additional ammunition to reload our biggest, most dangerous weapons.”

“And what do you propose as a solution?”

“We can either pull back and resupply from our own stores within the Galaxy, we can try to raid local supply houses or we can take the bold step of going and raiding for supplies from the Wolves or the Ghost Bears.” 

“Interesting choices.”

“Resupplying from our own stores is the safest option, but it will be a slow process that prevents us from making forward progress.  Local supplies are probably not going to be fruitful.”

“Why not?”

“The Inner Sphere military industry does not currently produce most of the ammunition that we need.  I am not sure there are any factories within five jumps that produce ammunition for gauss rifles, and as far as I am aware, there aren’t factories anywhere that produce ammunition compatible with our missile launchers or autocannons.” 

“So that leaves us to take what we need from the Wolves or the Bears if we wish to advance at the pace we would like to continue?”

“Aff, ma’am.  That is the best conclusion I can make at the current 

time.” 

“Would you two like to earn some gold stars?”

“Excuse me, Ma’am?”  Mackenzie asked her.  Annabelle was listening to something else on her earbuds and hadn’t heard the question.

“I will forward you the details of several clan Wolf units in our near area.  Study them, pick one to challenge for a trial of possession for supplies and equipment.  I want a full briefing by the time you are ready to return to combat duty, quiaff.” 

“Aff, ma’am.”

“Annabelle, when she pulls the earbuds out of her head, can provide you additional details and a resource for planning a trial strategy.”

“Aff ma’am.”  Annabelle agreed, though she hadn’t taken the headphones out. 

“Thank you for this trust, ma’am.”  Mackenzie soluted.

“You are proving to be an exceptional freebirth, Mackenzie.  Keep up the work.” 

“Thank you, ma’am.” 

Luna nodded and left the two of them alone.

“Are you actually listening to conversations going on with your earbuds in?”  Mackenzie asked her.

“Part of the time, I also read lips.” 

“I did not know that.”

“I am full of surprises.” 

“Have you planned many trials?”

“Aff, I can give you some insight.  Though you neglected a fourth option in your recommendations.”

“Oh?”

“Aff, you could have reconfigured your equipment for a strictly energy weapons based engagement profile.”

“Oh fuck that’s right.  I forget we have that capability with the omnimechs.”

“And the fighters too.  You probably have enough ammunition for the elementals to run flamer or machine guns instead of lasers.”

“that’s something to consider for the next time we have to do one of these.” 

Jaxun appeared, carrying a tray for both of them.  Mackenzie set her work aside and smiled at her brother.  “Evening, ladies.” 

“Hey Jaxun.”  Mackenzie answered him.

“Surat.”  Annabelle leaned up and kissed him.  He set the trays down for the both of them.

“Dinner should be excitable this evening.” 

“I do not think that word means what you think it means.”  Annabelle answered him.

“Possibly.”  He sat down between the two of them and opened up the shouldered bag he was carrying. 

“Not eating?”

“Already did.  I thought you would prefer the chicken instead of the vegetarian surprise.”

“What was in the vegetarian surprise?” 

“I think it was some sort of a heavy noodle casserole.” 

Mackenzie bit into her chicken and had to admit that either she was getting used to the food or the cook was getting better at this.  Annabelle didn’t seem to be as much of a fan of it as she was. 

“Mackenzie, have you ever heard of Sasha and Anatoly Sokolov?”  Jaxun asked her quietly.  Mackenzie nearly choked on the piece of potato she was eating. 

“What brought that up?”  She asked him slowly, taking a long drag of water.

“Well, Ivan left us a surprise.”  Jaxun pulled a binder out of his bag and set it on the end of the bed. 

“Sasha and Anatoly were gunslingers, both, along with their brother Nikolai.  Sasha died on Luna, Anatoly died in Moscow during the liberation of Terra.”

“How did you know that?”  Jaxun looked up at her in surprise.

“Pryde was having one of his episodes and slipped away from his tenders.  He thought he was Nikolai.  He mistook me for Sasha.”

“I must admit I did a double take when I saw the pictures.”  Jaxun shook his head.

“What pictures?”  Mackenzie asked him. Jaxun was distracted for a moment by Annabelle trying to hide a small group of peas in her napkin.  The exchange of eyebrows, glances and nonverbal communication ended with her sighing and eating the peas. 

“Nikolai was injured in a bombing attack protecting general Kerensky’s family right before the campaign for Moscow began, and Anatoly was piloting his mech in that battle.  Ivan and the rest of his people found that Black Knight and Sasha’s Excalibur from some scavenge yard around Terra.  Inside the cockpit of the Black Knight was a photo album.” 

“Who are the pictures of?”

“Take a look for yourself, sis.”  He handed her the photo album and she started to flip through it.  Nikolai had taken pictures of all over Moscow before the war had broken out, and he seemed to be a chosen photographer for the Kerensky family.  There were dozens of pictures of the family together ranging from the boys as young children with both parents all the way up to them with the SLDF forces liberating Moscow.  There were also pictures of the Sokolov family from almost three hundred years back.  It was something she wished she had more of with her family. 

“These are neat.” 

“I thought so.  Like I said, I have the Black Knight and the Excalibur in the other dropship, mostly.”

“Mostly?”

“The original DI computers for both are intact, but everything else has been updated with clan technology.  I also have their ROM files for every battle they went through during their service careers.”

“Well that sounds technobabbly.”

“It means they have the original computers that they had when they came from the factory. They have never been tampered with and retain all of their battlefield data.  There are some, including your brother who think that certain machines can form bonds with certain mechwarriors.  These connections allow them to push the performance of those machines to levels beyond what the factory specs say they should be able to achieve.” Annabelle explained it to her, using the distraction to hide some more peas in a napkin. 

“My hope is that once they are reassembled we can try them out and see if my theory is correct.  These belonged to our family, they are very much our legacy.”

“What happened to Anatoly’s battlemech?”  Mackenzie asked them.

“His Nightstar went into the Exodus Fleet and was destroyed in the severe fighting in Operation Klondike.” Jaxun said with a smile.  He also retrieved Annabelle’s peas from her hiding spot and returned them to her plate. 

“So you think there is some connection between us and these ancestral mechs?”

“I think it’s worth investigating.” 

“I have seen stranger things.  There are technical reports of a Battlemaster that is supposedly haunted.”

“Haunted?”

“It has been known to turn itself on while resting in its storage cradle.  Sensor ghosts light up its targeting sensors and HUD, the comm system will occasionally play loud music, and according to the most spurious rumors, the air conditioning system in the cockpit smells like fresh snow.”

“That certainly qualifies as haunted.”  Mackenzie said quietly. 

“I wonder where that Battlemaster is now?”  Jaxun asked Annabelle.

“allegedly, Ivan Kirov took it to the Inner Sphere with him.” 

“He never piloted a Battlemaster to my knowledge.”  Jaxun said slowly, shaking his head.

“Cyclops, Locust, a few spins around the block in Rowdy, but I don’t remember a Battlemaster.”

“Rowdy?”  Annabelle’s eyebrow rose.

“Henry’s King Crab.”

“Oh...the Comstar man.”

“Yes, he and Ivan spent a lot of time together.”

“Lovers?”  Annabelle inquired.

“Maybe?  Henry has a reputation that would fit well with clan cultural thoughts on sex.”  Mackenzie answered her.

“He’s also an expert on Star League history.”  Jaxun added.

“He sounds fascinating.” 

“He and Ivan were bad influences on each other.”

“Bad influences?”

“Henry seemed to enjoy provoking reactions from people, and he brought that trait out in Ivan.”  Jaxun answered her.

“You remember the time they got arrested for picking a fight with that company from Wolf’s Dragoons?” Mackenzie smirked at her 

brother.

“I remember going to my ethics class the day after and Ivan coming in with a split lip, a black eye and somebody else’s blood dried onto his knuckles.”  Jaxun answered her.

“Quineg?”  Annabelle let out a chuckle.

“Aff, Henry came to the first three weeks of his class on Star League era weapon systems wearing his bright orange community service jump suit.”

“I do not understand.” Annabelle said slowly.

“It’s like the Black Band.  He wore it proudly for the first three weeks of classes until some of the other instructors had a meeting with the Dragoon leadership to get his sentence dropped.”

“He wore a mark of shame with pride?  That makes no sense.”

“If you’re not pissing someone off…” Jaxun said quietly.

“You probably aren’t living your best life.”  Mackenzie answered him.

“He sounds very strange.”

“He’s a singular person.”  Mackenzie chuckled.  “Was it true that he took you to a brothel for your sixteenth birthday?”  She asked her brother.

“He threatened to, but Aunt Amelia threatened to release that video of the time he picked up those girls on Canopus that turned out not to be girls.”

“He wouldn’t have cared.”

“No, but two of those girls were relations of the Cantrellas and it would have triggered some sort of armed response that he wouldn’t have wanted to put Whisper through.”

“Whisper?”  Annabelle asked again.

“Henry’s wife and near constant companion for his life of mischief.”

They all had a bit of a hearty chuckle and Annabelle finally shook her head.  “Families are very strange.”

“They can be.  We got very lucky with out family.”  Mackenzie said with a happy sigh.

“Yes we did.”

“I do wonder what happened to that Battlemaster though.” 

The Gambler

“So this is the last bit of cargo we took in on Blue Hole.”  Percival said with a nod.  He was staring at a Battlemech sized shipping crate.  The rest of the Aces were gathered around him, and Heather was reading down a list of shipping container codes. 

“What is it?”  Hayden asked the two of them.

“According to the records, it’s a Battlemaster.”  Percival answered her.  The technicians put their ears up to the walls of the pod and listened for a minute, but shook it off and started unbolting the front face of the cargo pod. 

“Those are handy in a fight.”  Sebastian nodded.  The crew moved the front of the cargo pod out of the way and everyone stopped.  The cockpit lights were on and they could see something flickering across the screens in the reflection.  The external speakers kicked on and they heard a loud scream followed by the words “Welcome to the land of the Ice and Snow, “ at far too high a volume.