BattleTech. Forever Faithful by Blaine Lee Pardoe

Author:Blaine Lee Pardoe [Blaine Lee Pardoe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

That night, sleep eluded Baldur. It was nothing new—he had suffered from sleeplessness before battles in the past. What made this different was the location. This was not Tukayyid—this was Huntress. Fighting to protect this planet was the last place he had imagined himself. In my anger against the Smoke Jaguars, I always thought I would come here to fight them. Now, I find myself fighting to keep a part of Huntress against invaders. The universe has a perverse sense of humor.

He got up from his hard-shell shelter and went for a stroll. He thought back to when he had trained in this desert before. He had not done well in those tests. The desert was constantly changing; the terrain folded in on itself and reshaped itself in the winds. The cool air of the dry night felt chilly, but he ignored the goose bumps. The Star League encampment was quiet for the most part, lit by a few solar torches on poles around the camp. There were other warriors out in the night—going for their own private walks.

Baldur came around one of the domed tents and saw the hulking figure of Paul Moon standing there, staring into the darkness of the desert. When he saw him, Baldur took a step back. The last person he wanted to see or speak with was the beefy Elemental warrior.

Before he could retreat, Moon turned to him. “Baldur of the Nova Cats—you cannot sleep either, quiaff?”

“Aff,” he replied, taking two steps forward. Avoiding conversation was now impossible, given that Moon had fired the first salvo. “It is not uncommon for me before a battle.”

“I used to sleep like an exhausted sibko student before a fight, but not tonight,” Moon said, turning his gaze back to the barren landscape.

“Your troops are ready for the coming fight?”

Moon almost shrugged. “Aff and neg. While they all look forward to being in the battle, some are looking for honorable release. They feel dying is all they have left. I worry about them the most.”

“I understand,” Baldur replied. “Their Clan is gone. If they do not die in battle, they run the risk of being isorla to the Goliath Scorpions.”

“My entire Clan was made isorla of the enemy—a prize of war. We have paid that price once. Most do not want to face that again.”

“Huntress is untenable. If it is not the Goliath Scorpions, it will be others. You must know that.”

“I do,” Moon said, turning back to him. “I am seeking a solution, but it is proving as elusive as trying to capture the wind.” As if to emphasize his point, a cool breeze whipped between the two warriors.

He struggles with the same problem Inanna and I are—how to save what was our people. “I too have been studying the problem of preserving your former Clan. It is…complicated.”

“I heard what you did for the children from the sibko,” Moon replied, looking intently down at him in the near darkness. “You and Inanna took them into your ships, gave them food and shelter.

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