Test of Faith - Chapter Five
4TCR Barracks Complex
Outskirts of the Forbidden City
Sian
Capellan Confederation
24 March, 3075
The 4th Tau Ceti Rangers had taken to having a kind of impromptu parlor and lounge immediately inside the entrance to what was supposed to have been their temporary barracks on Sian. That had been five years ago. The temporary barracks had become their home for the last trying years of the Jihad, as they came and went in the struggle to survive the conflagration sweeping the entire Inner Sphere.
Having passed inspection at the outer checkpoint, Acadia McCarron pushed through the swinging doors into the lounge with a burst. She spun around in an energetic and almost flamboyant way, letting her hair swirl around her with it's alternating streaks of her natural raven-black color and the brilliant sapphire blue that she had taken to dying her hair in. "BAM! Count 'em people, FIVE toasters burned on that last raid. In a Phoenix Hawk!"
She hadn't expected a chorus of applause, but usually people at least played along somewhat with her particular style of braggadocio. This time it seemed to fall as flat as a bad joke told to a room full of DCMS warlords. Her eyes darted around the room. Some people forced a smile, others deliberately avoided her gaze. Something was wrong. "Tough crowd," she muttered under her breath as she passed through the room and took the corridor towards the command center.
She didn't bother showing her ID badge to the desk officer, and for the first time she could remember since this particular man had been assigned to the post, he didn't seem particularly flustered by her ignoring of protocol. She passed a bend in the corridor and the entrance to the command center came into view. In addition to the regular guard posted at the door, who she recognized, there was also a Death Commado standing watch, meaning one or more of the Strategios were inside.
She reached the door and moved to enter, but the Death Commando barred her way with his arm. She gave the man an exaggerated eye-roll, and produced her ID badge from her shirt pocket. As he examined it, she turned to the other guard. "What's going on, Pete? Something is off around here."
The sergeant's eyes looked away for a second, and his facial expression did not bode well. "You're gonna have to talk to Ork or your dad about that one. Sorry, little lady." She frowned. The Death Commando handed her badge back to her, and the 4TCR sergeant opened the door for her.
The command area was fully staffed, and most of the senior officers were standing around the center table holomap with one of the Strategios. The map was focused, as it seemingly always was, on the Confederation border with the Word of Blake Protectorate. She approached the small crowd of people and waited for a pause in the speaking.
"So, anyone want to tell me what's going on around here? You all look like a Tetatae ate your cat." At her words, all the eyes in the room darted back and forth between her and Ace. Well, all except for the Strategio Jiang-jun, who gave her a foul look of displeasure, and Ace, who gestured for her to join him in his office. She followed him in and closed the door behind her. She wasted no time getting to the point.
"So.....what the hell is going on?" She could tell from his hesitation that something was seriously wrong now. She waited impatiently with her arms crossed across her chest.
Ace let out a deep breath, then started to speak. "Acadia, your mom didn't make it back from the raid on Pleione."
She cocked her head to the side and blinked, as if confused. "What do you mean she 'didn't make it back'? She's.....she's dead? Is that what you're trying to tell me?" Her mind raced uncontrollably. It couldn't be true.
"We don't know." He was purposely making his statements short, and it was annoying her.
She furrowed her brow, and raised her voice slightly, "What do you mean you don't know? How can you not know? I know the force made it back, I saw the Yong Huo parked on the tarmac as I came in. So how can you not know?" She gestured in the direction of the spaceport as she spoke to emphasize her point.
Ace ran his hand through his hair. "The raid went bad. At least part of a Shadow Division was also on the planet, and they had to break off the attack early. Your mom's company nearly got cut off heading back to the exfil point. They were taking heavy losses and weren't going to make it to the LZ, so she made a choice. She turned and delayed the pursuers, and the rest of the guys made it to the dropship. Last readings were her mech shut down and then went off the grid just as they lifted off."
Acadia took a second to soak it all in. "So then, she's probably still alive. I mean, they would have taken her prisoner, right?"
"With the Blakists......we just don't know. We know they took a few of our people prisoner earlier in the fight, but who the hell can figure these robes out."
"So when are we leaving to go get her back?" Acadia's mech hadn't taken too severe damage in her last fight, they could have it ready in time for her to join the rescue effort. That must be what they were planning outside with the Strategios.
Ace looked down and to the side, and closed his eyes. "We're not."
The two words hit her like the fist of an Atlas. "What?!" She shouted, her composure shattered and anger spewing out. "What the hell do you mean we're not going to get her? We can't just leave her there. This is crazy!"
He held up his hand to stop her tirade, and the angst weighed on his face. "We can't mount a rescue mission. Not for one person."
She stormed closer to him, pointing angrily at him as she continued to yell, heedless of what anyone outside in the command center might hear. "What is wrong with you? We have to. She would go back for you."
"No, she wouldn't. Not in this situation."
She was up in his face now, and she hit him in the chest with her open palm. "That's crap! You know she would. Look, this isn't like she got captured by the DavRats and they're going to ransom her back or something. Do you have any idea what those freaks are probably doing to her right now while you're doing nothing? They're probably frakking torturing her right now and you're going to write her off? Like hell!"
Having faced considerable of her fury, Ace raised his voice in response. "You think I want to? You think I have any choice? Even if right now we break every rule and go back for one person, I can scrape together maybe a battalion worth of mechs and support. They've got three whole damn militia divisions on planet, plus however many of their cyber-freaks they decided to bring. How am I supposed to crack a malfing Star League fortress with those odds? I can't."
"You can't just leave her there, we're talking about my mom!"
"I have no choice!"
She smacked him in the chest one last time, "Stroke off!" and with that she stormed out the door slamming it behind her and running out of the command center.
*****
As Acadia left, Cat entered the command center, just in time to witness the tumultuous sendoff. The officers gathered outside were silent, not knowing what to do or say. And who could blame them. Cat made her way over to the XO's office and knocked on the door gently before entering and quickly closing the door behind her.
"I take it delivering the news did not go well?"
Ace laughed in frustration. "Yeah, you could say that. But," he paused for a moment, "I can't blame her. Hell, I'm angry at myself, how can I blame her for the same."
Cat took off her coat and hung in on the back of the door before taking the seat opposite the XO's desk. "If it is any consolation, you are making the right choice. That is the simple truth."
Ace walked over to the storage cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Scotch. He poured two glasses, handing one to Cat before taking a swig himself. "No, it's the wrong choice, but it's the only one I have."
"She will come around to understand it in time."
Ace scoffed, "I'm not sure I understand it. But I understand that she sure as hell won't"
Cat leaned back in the chair and crossed her legs before taking a long, slow drink of the Scotch, giving it ample time to slightly burn in her mouth. "Look, I know that I am the last person in all of the universe to comment on parental/child relationships. But I do know that girl well, and she will adapt."
Ace took another drink from his glass. "She had a good teacher."
Cat smirked slightly. "I taught her to pilot a mech. You two taught her how to be a good person. There is one hell of a difference."
He appeared to think long and hard on his next words, and Cat was not inclined to rush him. "We both know that she is very much her mother's daughter. And so I've been asking myself, what would Faith have done if she were in this position 25 years ago. And the answer I'm left with, is that she would have gone after her mother."
Cat looked him in the eye. "And so you are convinced that Acadia will also?"
He met her gaze and she could see the resolution in his eyes. "Yes. I'd stake my life on it. And so I'm going to ask something of you, Cat. Probably the hardest thing I've ever asked."
Cat preempted what she assumed he was going to say next. "Ace I can try to talk her out of it, but if she is determined, I am not sure what I can do to stop her that you cannot."
He held up his hand to cut her off. "I'm not going to ask you to stop her. I'm going to ask you to go with her. Hear me out. She's young, she's brash, and she's bold. But she's also smart. She knows that she doesn't have the contacts or the skill set to pull off any kind of rescue mission on her own. But she knows someone who does. You."
Cat was thrown for a loop with the direction the conversation had gone. She had never in a million years imagined that Ace would want her to go along with such a long shot of a plan. She took a moment to think and recover her wits. "I think you overestimate my abilities."
He smiled. "No I don't. Look, I'm not saying it's easy. That's why I said it's the hardest thing I've ever asked of you. Odds are this is a one-way trip. And you should also know, there's a deadline. That planning session out there is a briefing on a new campaign set for July. One of the worlds being hit is Pleione. But it's not an invasion or a raid. It's a strike mission. They're going to go in, hit the Blakists on the ground and in space with everything they have, and jump out. We're talking WMD deployments here. If they've got Faith, they've got her in Thunder Rock. And that fortress is coming down. So.....you in?"
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