Anywhere
Tamar March
Federated Commonwealth
10 March, 3050





     Fiona drifted slowly into consciousness, for a time staring at the ceiling and trying to discern some meaning from a bolt. Then suddenly, she became aware of the presence of someone else, and she jolted fully to consciousness. She was in a hospital bed, she could tell that much. She had an IV in her arm, and some kind of bandage on her head.

     The presence that had pulled her from her dream like state was a large man standing at the side of her bed. No, he was not just large, he was massive. She had never seen someone like him, massively muscular, yet with a proportional frame to support the bulk. It was as if he were out of some supernatural tri-vid.

     She tried to blink away her confusion. "Where am I?"

     The mountain of a man looked down at her, seeming to take her measure. She felt like a child in his presence, small and vulnerable. "I am Star Commander Lovvins. You are in the medbay of the Jade Falcon DropShip Blood Castle.

     She looked at him, doing her best to hide her intimidation. "You are one of the Super Infantry that defeated my mech. I assume I am a prisoner now."

     The giant stroked his chin. "Aff, I am the warrior that downed your mech. And we are called Elementals. But neg to the second part of your question. You are not a prisoner. As far as I can determine, you have fought honorably at every encounter with our forces, so I have granted you the honor of being claimed as a bondsman."

     She took a deep breath. "I don't know what that means. It sounds like some kind of prisoner to me."

     "Our ways must seem different to you from the Inner Sphere. There is a distinct difference between a bondsman and a prisoner. The cord you wear around your wrist signifies your status as a bondsman."

     She glanced down at her arm and saw a three-braided cord wrapped around her wrist like a bracelet.

     "Each strand signifies a virtue that you must demonstrate before returning to your status as a warrior. They are loyalty, integrity, and battle prowess. A prisoner, or a simple bondsman of a lower caste would simply be assigned to some duty to perform. But you are a warrior taken as a bondsman. You are a part of Clan Jade Falcon now, and with effort, you may someday reclaim your place as a warrior."

     She shook her head. "So, you defeated me, now I fight for you? That sort of thing?"

     Lovvins chafed at the comment. "Neg, what you speak of is like some mercenary scum or sellsword. This is different. You do not work on our behalf, you join with the Clan and become one of us though service."

     She steadied her expression. "And if I refuse?"

     Lovvins folded his massive arms over his bulky chest. "I do not grant you the rite of bondsref, so you may not kill yourself. If you refuse the honor, you would be treated harshly and assigned to some lower caste. But you will not refuse."

     She sat a little bit straighter at his last comment. "What makes you so sure of that?"

     He smirked slightly. "I have a question. Most of your comrades on this world fought like dishonorable rabble, ganging up on opponents, interfering in honor duels, fleeing like cowards. You chose to fight in a civilized way. Why is that?"

     She furrowed her brow. "There wasn't much civilized about it. All our tactics were based on fighting an opponent of roughly equal strength. But you guys, whoever you are, you're different. Your mechs run faster, cooler, and shoot farther than normal mechs. That means the rulebook had to go out the window. What I noticed was that you guys liked to fight neat, defined battles. I was just looking for a way to survive. That meant narrowing it down, limiting all the variables, keeping the scope small. I figured all I had to do to work within you guys rules was to win, and leverage that win to keep on surviving."

     Lovvins smiled coyly. "And that is precisely why you will not refuse. You faced an overwhelming obstacle and you reacted as a warrior, you adapted and fought to survive. And that is what you will do now. You will adapt, fight, and survive."

     She leaned back and closed her eyes briefly. "What if I don't want to fight?"

     The gargantuan man shrugged. "It is not in your nature. Once you were defeated the first time, and managed to survive, you could have just walked away and blended into the population. But you did not. You chose to fight to survive as what you are, rather than accept and easier life as something you are not. That is why you will fight to be the best Jade Falcon warrior that you can be, for a freebirth, of course."

     She shook her head. "This is a lot that I don't understand, I need some time to process this. What's going to happen in the short term?"

     "Neg, philosophizing over your fate is something for the artisan sub-caste. You will face your fate and make your decisions as a warrior. Your training will begin tomorrow. But first, there is something I need from you."

     "And what is that?"

     "I require all the information you have on the whereabouts of this resistance rabble. We must crush them quickly so that we can make preparations for the next wave of our invasion. Our Star Colonel will be pleased if I am the one to deliver him that information and end this foolishness."

     She shook her head. "You know I can't give you that. I can't just betray the people I fought with."

     The Elemental's expression soured. "They are not your people anymore. You are Jade Falcon now. Besides, our scientists can easily pry that information out of your freeborn mind."

     She stunned herself with her sudden courage. "Then that's what you'll have to do. You say these bracelets are about integrity and loyalty, how can I just turn on everything that I fought for?"

     He stared deeply into her eyes, unnerving her, though sh fought her best to remain in control. She could not be entirely certain, but she thought she caught a faint glimmer of respect in his gaze before he turned to walk away. "Very well. Your training will be delayed until after our scientists can interrogate you. Take comfort in the knowledge that you will probably be recovering when we crush those bandits that you fought to protect."