The Dying Time: BattleTech Legends, #52 by Thomas S. Gressman

Author:Thomas S. Gressman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 2016-11-22T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Gray Death Legion Compound

Maria’s Elegy Space Port, Hesperus II

Skye Province

Lyran Alliance

01 July 3065

Lori sat in her office chair, leaning on the top of her desk with her chin cradled in her hands. The only source of light in the room was the digital clock on the wall. She stared at it as it clicked from 0329 to 0330.

Another minute of her life gone, she thought, feeling the first edges of despair touching her heart. She tried to tell herself again that the battle at the Doering plant was not the first engagement the Gray Death Legion had lost, nor was it likely to be the last. But here on Hesperus II, in the early morning hours of the first of July 3065, it felt like the world was beginning to wind down for her. Grayson, her husband of forty years, was gone. Before she had had time to properly mourn his passing, the Legion had been sent off to war. Then, Julio Vargas, that smiling, daredevil Spaniard, was taken from them. It seemed the Legion’s phenomenal luck in battle was running out. Who would be next? McCall? Devin? Dan Brewer? Maybe she herself.

Lori felt the weight of the years pressing in on her. She had been a warrior all of her life, and a long, hard life it had been.

Yes, you have been a warrior all of your life, a voice in her head said. And a warrior doesn’t sit in the dark and mope. Now, pull yourself together, go out there, and lead your troops.

The words and tone of the silent voice were so familiar that Lori shot from her chair, turning it over in the process. She slapped on the desk light, and glared around the office, as though she expected to see her husband standing in the corner, looking at her with that infectious, crooked grin.

But she was alone. Lori righted her chair and thought about dropping back into it. But the words kept echoing in her head, “Go out there and lead your troops.”

She snapped off the desk lamp and made her way to the door in the dark. She would go out there and lead her troops. She’d lead as Grayson had always done, by example. Right now, the example her troops needed was one of a sensible commander, and a sensible commander would go try to get some rest.

The Legion would patch itself up and begin again in the morning, just as it always had done.

Lori made her way through the darkened corridors of the Legion officers’ quarters until she reached her suite. Keying in the combination to her door, she slipped inside. Without turning on the lights, she passed into the bedroom. Pausing only long enough to remove her jacket and to pull off her boots, she threw herself onto her bunk. Almost at the same instant, the comm buzzed.

She sighed and sat up, slapping the answer stud.

“Yeah?” she mumbled. “And this had better be important.”

“Colonel, I’m sorry to disturb you.” It was Chief Sellars.

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