Interlude
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Imperator Pax
Talon Master
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Interlude
Beauregard Alexander, captain of Easy Company groaned at the summons. It directed them to the HPG station... them being the triumvirate of officers that had been assembled to coordinate their operations for the defense of Luxen.
If the only thing he had to complain about was that the boss hadn't been thinking and the drunk monk had been doing his job when they had recorded the company name as Shepherd's company it would have been a good day... but he'd stopped having good days weeks ago. Months really. Luxen had an HPG, which meant it was a target, but that had been apparent before the boss had left.
He kicked slightly back from his desk and put the pen away knowing that the other two would be here soon.
His office was part of the star port complex it meant it was in a nice central location easy to navigate a problem. Anything that appeared at the jump points he knew about it. If anything came in through the planetary government or the HPG station simple phone call. It made coordinating things... in theory easy enough.
Kelly had been on the wrong side of the marik civil war, but so had a lot of people. Beau figured that he'd been luckier than most...the fact he was currently in command of the Regiment's Independent Fire Support BattleMech Company was plenty proof of that. Still, the boss wasn't here, and that left him back against the wall with the canopians, the azami liaison and comstar all wanting part of his time... never mind whoever else might want part of it today... and there was the fact he was himself ex FWLM.
The door way opened and let the two in.
Beau looked at both of them and started with his Canopian equivalent, since she was scrutinizing her note computer one handholding the stylus to the point her knuckles were white, "How bad is it Captain Short?"
"I don't know,"
It was an honest answer, but one that worried him more.
The Azami officer of the watch shifted. He wore SLDF khaki, the uniform of an SLDF regular which was normal. The tanker officer was however carrying a slung submachine gun despite them being in garrison and behind tanks and PBI from the Luxen Volunteers. Ordinarily he'd have been busy helping the Militia with their Marsden II tanks.
He shook his head mutely signally that this hadn't come through his chain of command... or if it had then the Azami elders hear on Luxen hadn't told him. That was a possibility that they hadn't told their own captain... Beau had gotten used to watching the elders just call the boss up directly... which wasn't much different than the normal way the canopians worked... or really any political system back home... it was about who you knew.
"Have we heard anything from ComStar?" he asked.
"Officially no," The Azami man answered. "I have heard however their complex is, buzzing." The robes were generally all about pretending the only thing they cared about was keeping the HPGs working and being neutral... but since the-, "It is possible there has been another atrocity." That there was some news fresh out of hyperspace still didn't mean it couldn't have been Canopian High Command, but they wouldn't know until they asked. "They have reduced traffic and increased security."
"Lets go see." Beau announced glancing between the two with a shrug and nonchalance that was mostly an act... "It could be good news after all."
Still gripping her stylus Short looked at him like he'd lost his mind, so he shrugged again. The Azami tanker glanced at his idle sketches of nesting arsenal ravens back home. The nesting birds building formidable redoubts against the snow. All stocked up with food and packed with material against the bitter cold. "I am preferential to Captain Chang's Clan Fox suggestion, myself." The tanker remarked.
"Yeah, a lot of people are," He wasn't opposed to Bubble's idea, certainly most the Azami seemed to hew towards her ideas of "I mean we engage in a lot of maneuver warfare, at least as much as we do for prepared defenses." It was a purely benign rivalry across the regiment, those involved in it mostly picked a mascot or talked about one strategy or the other in broad strokes... if anything "Its the guys outside the unit who take it more seriously."
"I've noticed that," Short remarked having eased her grip on the stylus as they walked down towards the ferrocrete blacktop of the spaceport, where aan open top jeep was waiting. "its reached popular media on Luxen with the company observers." There were still plenty of those even with the boss and most of the regiment off world.
"Yeah the Fed Suns, well Northwind talked about it." He remarked nodding to their driver, Beau catching the corporal's grin and buckling up as a precaution He was glad since just as soon as Short was aboard the driver gunned it and sped them past the Magistracy's contingent of Merlin Heavy BattleMechs towards where the Comstar HPG station was nestled.
Friar Tuck, their liaison on Luxen, was waiting with cold beer. The man was drinking already, but that wasn't anything unusual. The other robe to him had coffee, and spare hot coffee for Short and the treadhead. Tuck took a long pull from his beer, "The Precentor is still trying to find our boy, but well, we'll give them another couple of minutes, and see ourselves in."
"They don't know where the boss is?"
"Its nothing to worry about," Beau wasn't worried, "Just somewhere on the periphery without a station. I'm not worried."The MRB liaison stated before taking another drink... and a few minutes later they were lead in to a room with an active star chart of the rimward periphery.
.
"We couldn't locate Colonel Shepherd. He hasn't reachedanother station since the news came in..." The Precentor looked at Tuck, and then to Beauregard, "We've contacted Colonel Hammer, and Major MacKay with the latest."
"What about Soren and Septim," Bardiche was a whole Battalion of Mechs after all... whatever this was about... and Tuck glanced at him. "What?"
"Bardiche, under Colonel Holmgren is currently engaged in action. They're fighting as we speak on Farandir," The company liaison stated, "The fighting is heavy."
There was a cough from the precentor, "As for the other Light Horse Regiment," He choked slightly, "Force Major King reported receipt, but that Colonel Bey wanted orders from Colonel Shepherd directly." And that was the indication that this was worse than just Bardiche had had things drop into the pot.
Beau felt his mouth dry, "What are we looking at?"
The other precentor in the room, the man who had been silent up until this point looked him dead in the face and then looked at the floor. Then in a quiet voice, "Leviathan's mass driver is operational." He remarked before looking up to the Precentor Luxen, but Beau caught the Azami officer's expression change in his periphery, "It was used against one of our sister stations they were able to broadcast the message to us as the beast made orbit and fired." When the Precentor Luxen didn't take the hint, "We haven't informed the planetary government yet." He took a breath, "Show them the footage Precentor Luxen."
Beauregard Alexander, captain of Easy Company groaned at the summons. It directed them to the HPG station... them being the triumvirate of officers that had been assembled to coordinate their operations for the defense of Luxen.
If the only thing he had to complain about was that the boss hadn't been thinking and the drunk monk had been doing his job when they had recorded the company name as Shepherd's company it would have been a good day... but he'd stopped having good days weeks ago. Months really. Luxen had an HPG, which meant it was a target, but that had been apparent before the boss had left.
He kicked slightly back from his desk and put the pen away knowing that the other two would be here soon.
His office was part of the star port complex it meant it was in a nice central location easy to navigate a problem. Anything that appeared at the jump points he knew about it. If anything came in through the planetary government or the HPG station simple phone call. It made coordinating things... in theory easy enough.
Kelly had been on the wrong side of the marik civil war, but so had a lot of people. Beau figured that he'd been luckier than most...the fact he was currently in command of the Regiment's Independent Fire Support BattleMech Company was plenty proof of that. Still, the boss wasn't here, and that left him back against the wall with the canopians, the azami liaison and comstar all wanting part of his time... never mind whoever else might want part of it today... and there was the fact he was himself ex FWLM.
The door way opened and let the two in.
Beau looked at both of them and started with his Canopian equivalent, since she was scrutinizing her note computer one handholding the stylus to the point her knuckles were white, "How bad is it Captain Short?"
"I don't know,"
It was an honest answer, but one that worried him more.
The Azami officer of the watch shifted. He wore SLDF khaki, the uniform of an SLDF regular which was normal. The tanker officer was however carrying a slung submachine gun despite them being in garrison and behind tanks and PBI from the Luxen Volunteers. Ordinarily he'd have been busy helping the Militia with their Marsden II tanks.
He shook his head mutely signally that this hadn't come through his chain of command... or if it had then the Azami elders hear on Luxen hadn't told him. That was a possibility that they hadn't told their own captain... Beau had gotten used to watching the elders just call the boss up directly... which wasn't much different than the normal way the canopians worked... or really any political system back home... it was about who you knew.
"Have we heard anything from ComStar?" he asked.
"Officially no," The Azami man answered. "I have heard however their complex is, buzzing." The robes were generally all about pretending the only thing they cared about was keeping the HPGs working and being neutral... but since the-, "It is possible there has been another atrocity." That there was some news fresh out of hyperspace still didn't mean it couldn't have been Canopian High Command, but they wouldn't know until they asked. "They have reduced traffic and increased security."
"Lets go see." Beau announced glancing between the two with a shrug and nonchalance that was mostly an act... "It could be good news after all."
Still gripping her stylus Short looked at him like he'd lost his mind, so he shrugged again. The Azami tanker glanced at his idle sketches of nesting arsenal ravens back home. The nesting birds building formidable redoubts against the snow. All stocked up with food and packed with material against the bitter cold. "I am preferential to Captain Chang's Clan Fox suggestion, myself." The tanker remarked.
"Yeah, a lot of people are," He wasn't opposed to Bubble's idea, certainly most the Azami seemed to hew towards her ideas of "I mean we engage in a lot of maneuver warfare, at least as much as we do for prepared defenses." It was a purely benign rivalry across the regiment, those involved in it mostly picked a mascot or talked about one strategy or the other in broad strokes... if anything "Its the guys outside the unit who take it more seriously."
"I've noticed that," Short remarked having eased her grip on the stylus as they walked down towards the ferrocrete blacktop of the spaceport, where aan open top jeep was waiting. "its reached popular media on Luxen with the company observers." There were still plenty of those even with the boss and most of the regiment off world.
"Yeah the Fed Suns, well Northwind talked about it." He remarked nodding to their driver, Beau catching the corporal's grin and buckling up as a precaution He was glad since just as soon as Short was aboard the driver gunned it and sped them past the Magistracy's contingent of Merlin Heavy BattleMechs towards where the Comstar HPG station was nestled.
Friar Tuck, their liaison on Luxen, was waiting with cold beer. The man was drinking already, but that wasn't anything unusual. The other robe to him had coffee, and spare hot coffee for Short and the treadhead. Tuck took a long pull from his beer, "The Precentor is still trying to find our boy, but well, we'll give them another couple of minutes, and see ourselves in."
"They don't know where the boss is?"
"Its nothing to worry about," Beau wasn't worried, "Just somewhere on the periphery without a station. I'm not worried."The MRB liaison stated before taking another drink... and a few minutes later they were lead in to a room with an active star chart of the rimward periphery.
.
"We couldn't locate Colonel Shepherd. He hasn't reachedanother station since the news came in..." The Precentor looked at Tuck, and then to Beauregard, "We've contacted Colonel Hammer, and Major MacKay with the latest."
"What about Soren and Septim," Bardiche was a whole Battalion of Mechs after all... whatever this was about... and Tuck glanced at him. "What?"
"Bardiche, under Colonel Holmgren is currently engaged in action. They're fighting as we speak on Farandir," The company liaison stated, "The fighting is heavy."
There was a cough from the precentor, "As for the other Light Horse Regiment," He choked slightly, "Force Major King reported receipt, but that Colonel Bey wanted orders from Colonel Shepherd directly." And that was the indication that this was worse than just Bardiche had had things drop into the pot.
Beau felt his mouth dry, "What are we looking at?"
The other precentor in the room, the man who had been silent up until this point looked him dead in the face and then looked at the floor. Then in a quiet voice, "Leviathan's mass driver is operational." He remarked before looking up to the Precentor Luxen, but Beau caught the Azami officer's expression change in his periphery, "It was used against one of our sister stations they were able to broadcast the message to us as the beast made orbit and fired." When the Precentor Luxen didn't take the hint, "We haven't informed the planetary government yet." He took a breath, "Show them the footage Precentor Luxen."
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