BattleTech: Redemption Rites by Jason Schmetzer

Author:Jason Schmetzer
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 2022-05-05T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

HODSON

LABOUCHERE

FREE WORLDS LEAGUE

10 JANUARY 3152

“What do you mean, they’re gone?” demanded Colonel Margret Goodwin, commander of the Seventh Tamarind Regulars. She stood in the center of the former Wolf constabulary in Hodson, in her dress uniform, watching the DropShips of her Third Battalion unload on the large flatscreen.

Goodwin had been furious when the Dragoons used their pirate point, and more furious still as her inbound ships intercepted broadcast reports of the short, sharp battle. Sure, the duke’s contract with the Dragoons was for them to be the assault force, but she’d never seriously expected them to go into combat without her battalions. She was their employer, for the Lord’s sake.

She was a colonel.

“The Dragoons apparently lifted off about 2000 hours local on the fourth,” said Force Commander Javits, Third Battalion’s CO.

“We were still six days out on the fourth!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Where is—” Goodwin looked around, searching for the former Wolf police captain. “You—Jurgen. Get over here.” She waited until the giant man got closer, then speared her finger at him. “Where are the Dragoons?”

“Gone, Colonel,” Jurgen said. The man had a perpetual frown and a voice that hinted at a hidden anger, but thus far had cooperated fully. “They defeated Star Captain Thabo, claimed the planet in your name, and then departed.”

“My name.”

“Aff. We had already detected your flotilla in transit. Major Tetsuhara told us you would begin our transition into the Free Worlds League, and told us to wait for your arrival.”

Goodwin stared at him. She blinked. Then she looked at Javits. “You’re sure?”

“Telescopes have them burning for the nadir point,” Javits said. “Jump point tracking has held a Dragoons JumpShip there since the first. Odyssey-class, if it matters.”

“I see,” Goodwin said, even though she didn’t. She’d never heard of an assault force departing before the garrison had touched down. Not ever. But it had happened, apparently, and now it was left to her to deal with it. She shook her head sharply, once, to settle her thoughts, then looked to Javits.

“Expedite your unloading,” she told him. “I want to get after them before this happens again.” It was Javits’s job to hold the planet, now that it was a Free Worlds possession again. Goodwin had responsibility for the Dragoons’ whole assault plan.

“Again…” Javits repeated, with a glance at Jurgen. They both knew where the Dragoons were headed next. And now they had a head start.

“Again,” Goodwin said. “Commander Jurgen, you are temporarily left in control of the planetary constabulary, until proper officers can be sent forward from Tamarind. You will ensure the smooth transition of power away from the Wolf Empire and to the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey, in the name of the Free Worlds League. At the first sign of resistance, I will have you shot. Is that understood?”

“Aff, Colonel Goodwin.”

“Good.” She looked the man up and down. “The days of your Empire trampling on the rights of free citizens of the Free Worlds League are at an end, Commander.”

“So said Major Tetsuhara,” Jurgen said, a bite of defiance in his word, “when she told us to wait here for the nannies to arrive.

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