BattleTech by Adam Sherwood

Author:Adam Sherwood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Rain pattered on the cracked, blackened cockpit window. Arra’s Cyclops was dark, dead, still. Only the emergency life support in her cockpit still functioned, as far as she could tell. Her vision was blurry, with blotches of blindness in it that would not go away. The air felt strange on her skin. At least she had managed to don the breather mask before she blacked out.

She still lay sideways, strapped into her seat. Her eye caught a profusion of personal effects scattered on the instrument panels beside her, strewn from the open locker above her head. Photographs, protein bars, a bracelet her mother gave her with a miniature blue-green globe of Somerset.

The command channel crackled again. “To all Lyran forces, this is the LCS Wagner. Do you read?”

A voice from somewhere answered, “LCS Wagner, this is Leutnant Stacy Carina, acting commander of Ghost Company.”

“What is your status, Leutnant?”

“Three of Ghost Company remain, as near as I can tell, ma’am. Zephyr is gone. So are the civilian salvage and scientific teams. If only you’d come a day sooner… Boy, did we have a prize.”

“And the Kali?”

“Blown up, ma’am. At least the important stuff.”

Arra reached for the emergency beacon. Her hands trembled so badly she missed the button five times.

“Wait!” Carina said. “Ghost One is back online! Hauptmann, are you there?”

It was more work than it should have been to speak. “…I’m here.”

“Hauptmann Jackson, are you there? Over!”

“I’m here!”

“Are you there?”

Maybe her transmitter was out.

“We’ll get a rescue team down there as soon as possible, Leutnant. Hang tight. The bad guys have bugged out.”

Nestled in a corner of the instrument panel was an orange plastic water pistol.

She recognized it instantly. But it couldn’t be here. It wasn’t possible.

With nerveless fingers she groped for it.

One of her eyes wasn’t working right.

She dragged the old toy into her field of vision, unable to turn her head. It weighed a thousand kilos. There was a note tied to it. She blinked and squinted and tried to focus her eye.

Dearest Arra,

I stole this from your collection when we were ten. I don’t know why I never gave it back. I forgot about it for a long time, and then my mother found it in some old things after you left.

I wish I had been a better friend. I wish we’d have had more time. I’m sorry.

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