BattleTech: Hector by Jason Schmetzer

Author:Jason Schmetzer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 2012-02-12T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Erewhon River Floodplain

Hesperus II

Lyran Commonwealth

22 June 3019

Kenner stood in the shadow of Chieftain and watched the technicians crawl across the gantry surrounding his ’Mech. The Marauder II was beat-up, and its arm hung limply where the actuators had shorted out after being submerged in the river. The PPC could be cleaned and salvaged without being replaced, Duvall had told him, but it would be an iffy thing. Kenner stared at the limb without really seeing it. His mind was elsewhere, which was why it took Kaley Cross saying his name three times to get his attention.

“Sorry,” he said, looking down. “I was somewhere else.”

She stepped beside him and looked up at the Marauder II. Kenner watched, seeing the way her eyes moved across the damage and the access ports the technicians had opened, tracing the damage and the repair status without actually climbing into the ’Mech to see. “Water damage is time-consuming,” she finally said, “but not critical. You mostly have to wait for things to dry out.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and then looked back at the ’Mech. “Which is why you’re out here, instead of in the bay cradles inside.” She jerked her chin toward Chieftain. The DropShip’s ’Mech bays doubled as repair cradles, and many of the Able Battalion ’Mechs that had survived the first trip across the river were inside, being frantically repaired from the meager supply of spare parts available.

“I messed up today,” he whispered.

“What?”

“I got a lot of Dragoons killed,” he said. He stared at the Marauder II, feeling small. He wanted to recapture the way he normally felt when he looked at his ’Mech, but he felt nothing. Not powerful. Not alive. Just stupid. “My pride kept us on the other side of that river today, nothing more. If I’d been smart enough to realize that we were cut off and alone just a few minutes earlier, Dumphries and the others would still be alive.”

Kaley reached out a put a hand on his shoulder. “That’s not true, Luke,” he said.

Kenner frowned and looked down at her hand. “Isn’t it? I was in command. They’re dead.” He reached up and pried her hand off of his shoulder and lowered it, slowly. Part of him wanted to hold on to it, but he forced himself to let it go. She made her decision.

“You did what a good officer does, Luke,” she said, tucking her hands into her armpits. “You followed your orders, and you saved your people when your orders were hopeless.”

“Not all of them,” he said.

“Unity, Luke!” She slapped her arms down and then brought one back up to slap him in the shoulder. “You want to blame somebody? Go blame Charleton, for turning around mid-river. Go blame the Gammas, for getting pushed back into the water. Go blame that Epsilon battalion for turning back without even broaching the other side.” She stared at him, waiting. He didn’t say anything. “You did your job, Luke.”

Kenner closed his eyes.

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