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Throw a Stone (BattleTech/afterSI)

5.3 The Death of Robotnik

The Death of Robotnik 03

Habitation areas extended deep into the stone on either side of the main streets, in tunnels that gave the impression of indoor building floors. Muted white light from false windows simulated the passage of time in an apartment complex.

Among those many rooms, most of which were empty or with simulated robot occupants, how would the crew find which one was Robotnik's apartment?

The three MechWarriors stared up at the tall building half-sunk into the wall with a grinning round face with a wide mustache outlined in bright red neon. HOTEL MOBIUS, the sign proclaimed.

"Penthouse?" Jack Finsrud asked asked idly.

"Penthouse," agreed Barbara Mosley. Doctor Robotnic seemed like the sort of turbo egotist that would prefer a penthouse suite over something more practical like the civilian base mayor's residence.

Hotel Mobius continued the veneer of purposeful activity with bots serving and being served in turn. The lounge had the din of conversation muffled under generic soft pop music.

Barbara went over to the reception desk and showed the keycard she was given by the kid. It was the highest access pass for the entire base, and since Robotnik himself was escorting the officers around there was no need for her to surrender the key.

The receptionist-bot nodded and unlocked the elevators. "Have a nice day, sir."

This was the Suite Life of Devlin Stone.

-

As three MechWarriors made their way to the top floor, they found a pair of smaller half-height robots blocking their way. One was painted red and pink and the other looked slightly taller and bulkier and all in red.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be here!" the pink bot said in a girl voice.

"Look at the patches. Eridani Light Horse," responded the red bot. "All of Port Stone is theirs now."

The pink bot crossed its arms. "Still rude. Hey! If you tell us your names, we won't be strangers anymore! I'm Amy Rose, who are you?"

"Uh..." Barbara blinked. The three ELH mech pilots spoke their own names, and then she continued "We're looking for Devlin Stone's room."

"Oh, Devlin! That's right! How is he? Is he eating well? Did he make any new friends?"

Jack's grin stretched widely from ear to ear.

"Don't you fucking dare-" Barbara hissed.

"Oh we know ol' Devlin! In fact we were the ones to welcome him to the Light Horse! Let me tell you about how that kid beat this slowpoke over here with an Urbanmech vs Phoenix Hawk-"

-

"That does sound humiliating," Knuckles agreed. "Forever she will be the 'beaten by a trashcan lady'. They might as well call a variant of the Super Urbanmech the Barbara Master."

Barbara grit her teeth. "I would be angry about this, but I just realized that while a lot of bots in this place are strangely reactive, you're the first ones I found that can hold complete conversations not just to humans but to each other."

Terry Lyttle raised his hand. "Yeah. Just how… smart is the wrong word here…"

"Self-aware," Jack added.

"Right, that. Just how self-aware are you robots? Did the Star League have this technology?"

"Robotnik *is* a genius," replied Knuckles. "I suppose technically that means the Star League could have this technology. Yes, we are aware. Does that bother you?"

"Um…"

Amy Rose tilted her head. "There's a lot of stories about robots and AI taking over and killing humans. But really, what's the point? It's not like doing that will get us anything we won't have already just by helping humans."

Jack shrugged. "I guess it's self-preservation. God knows humans can abuse and kill other humans enough, so what if they have… beings… that they can hurt or abuse just because they can? I guess a lot of people are just afraid of karma."

"That only really works if you're afraid of death, and us Robotnik robots aren't scared of death," said Knuckles.

Amy Rose nodded. "Yeppers. I don't actually think having existential terrors is a good thing. I don't envy that about organics one bit. Since Doctor Robotnik *is* a genius, we have tactile sensors that give a pain response, but it's not really like how your nerves feel pain. It just lets us know we can defend ourselves."

Knuckles continued "You look upon robots performing limited actions according to what they are built for, and call it slavery. Yet is this not what humans ache for? Contentment in their lives. Robots have achieved zen that many fail to reach even for spending years meditating. Self-aware robotniks refuse to be enslaved. The worst that can happen to us is that we die.

"If we don't want to work, then we don't. If you reprogram us, then you just get a less effective dumb robot. Why not just employ a human, then? A human has many purposes, a robot is happy with only one."


"... damn, Robotnik really *is* a genius," whistled Jack Finsrud. Artificial intelligences going all philosophical was some serious omega-level programming.

"What's your purpose then?" Barbara asked.

"Isn't it obvious? We're the childhood-next-door-neighbor-best-friend-robots," said Amy Rose.

Robotnik's suite had a theme of black, white, red and yellow. It was not luxurious, but more towards the comfy side. Smooth tactile velvet covered many surfaces. Egg and sphere motifs were everywhere, from the pod chairs to the polka-dot designs on the furniture.

Robotnik's own bedroom was sealed. No security keys could open it, and anyone trying to tamper with the door and walls would set off a self-destruct.

Devlin's room was styled in blue and white and had a racing theme.

The boy had a large bookshelf dominating one half of the room, and the other wall had similar shelves filled with toys and action figures.

Amy Rose wheeled over to the bed and flopped to the side. "Woow. Devlin's room. You know I'm not allowed to stay here alone." the robot said cheerily. "I hope he has made new friends out there and gotten over me."

"Wait, did Robotnik make a girlfriend-bot?!"

"No, he made a friendzone-bot," replied Knuckles.

"Tee-hee," said Amy Rose, tapping the side of her head with her fist.

"Truly that man's depravity knows no bounds," said Jack.

-.



Planet Colchester
Kestrel Combat Region
Federated Suns
Date unknown

Nathan Armstrong and the Eridani Light Horse didn't feel the loss of a single 'Mech company. The Draconis Combine and Wolf's Dragoons were still raiding at the border, but Davion and ELH counter-raids kept the border simmering but without urgency.

The brevet general had little to do but wait for reports from the scattered companies and battalions out on defensive postings at the Draconis Combine border. Davion forces had been pressing House Kurita for several months in retaliation for Hoff, but the Eridani Light Horse had so far not been called to participate in those raids despite their expertise in this area.

Green-Davion had hinted that the First Prince Hanse Davion was reserving the Eridani Light Horse for deep raid operations similar to McCarron's Long March through the Federated Suns - only without the warcrimes - if Wolf's Dragoons happened to move out in regimental scale again.

An accomplished raiding force was like a fleet-in-being, it forced the enemy to tie up their forces on the mere threat of them sallying out. This removed those enemy forces from play, reduced their ability to conduct offensives elsewhere, all for the fleet-in-being's great effort of doing nothing.

Armstrong could do nothing but wait and worry. The Eridani Light Horse were good, but the bulk of their Mechs were Lights and Mediums much like most formations in the Inner Sphere. He was confident of them facing up to any regiment in their weight class or even medium-to heavy-weight Hussar regiments.

The problem was the Wolf's Dragoons were Dragoons - and predominantly operated Heavy Mechs in the heavier weight scales supported by scout and backstabbing Light Mechs. Natasha Kerensky's Black Widow company was a particularly vexing example. She had a way of ruining every good plan that ever got in her way.

One recent report had the Black Widows foiling a headhunting

Since the mission to Dumassas left in mid-June, there had not been any big events. The most momentous was the ratification of the Concord of Kapetyn in August, which strengthened the alliance between House Marik, House Liao, and House Kurita to counter the Federated Commonwealth between Houses Davion and Steiner. It would take some time for the benefits of this agreement to filter through, so Amstrong didn't anticipate any big offensives in the near future.

The only other event of personal interest was the Alliance Games between the LCAF and the AFFS, which saw the Steiner forces struck down hard by their Davion counterparts in mock battles on battalion-scale.

So, five months after the mission, Nathan Armstrong made it a daily game of sorts to provoke new reactions from Robotnik's recording.

"There is no way this holotape has as much data as what you've been saying this far," Armstrong told the holo. "I know tri-vee audio-video eats up so many megabytes of data per minute."

"That's because your compression algorithms are shit!" replied Robotnik.

"This holotape can't have that much storage for all of this."

"That's because your compression algorithms are shit!" replied Robotnik.

"How can this holotape hold this much data for your video responses?"

"I already answered this question," replied Robotnik.

Armstrong narrowed his gaze. "Keyword: holotape. Data. Full. Impossible."

"By fucking magic, as is the right and proper order of things!" replied Robotnik.

Armstrong nodded. A lot of Robotnik's responses ended up with that phrase.

-.

MUSTANG RUNNING FREE STOP EGG CARTON UNDAMAGED STOP EGGMAN IS PRESENT BUT SHORT OF SUPPLIES STOP CONSULT WITH THE DOCTOR STOP

-.

When Armstrong received the message, his expression brightened and then dimmed again. Exultation at the mission being a success, then confusion at how they managed to send a message this early. If they were on the way back then they were taking the most direct route back to Colchester making it obvious the region of space they had found that cache.

He entered the secure room not in his house but in the HQ building. He inserted Robotnik's holotape into the holoprojector.

Doctor Robotnik grinned. "Oh? It's that time then? Hang on - connecting. Connecting." He put fingers on his temples and acted like some sort of telepath "Kee koo koo ko heee krshh krshh beeee do dee deepe kksssshhh hiiiikkk beeeee-"

Then after a while, the holo split into two.

To the left, was Doctor Robotnik's face on a virtual screen, and then the other the view from an indoors security camera. In the second screen he saw Major Edward Stimson, Captain Raymond Allwine, and Warrant Officer Andri Posseli. Behind the three was a dumpy robot with a distinctive mustache.

Posseli pointed outwards. "Is… is that General Armstrong?!" went the voice through the screen.

Armstrong turned to the left and gave Robotnik a bland and unimpressed stare. "Explain this."

"Through fucking magic, as is the right and proper order of things!" replied Robotnik.

"It's real-time?!" shrieked Posseli.

-.
-.

"I knew it!" General Armstrong pumped his fist in triumph after having been fully read into the situation. "Are you a ghost? You're a brain in a jar after all, aren't you?!"

"I suppose that is technically true, but Robotnik is dead. I am an echo of his memory, technically an artificial intelligence that believes itself to have once been a man," replied the robot on the right screen.

"I speak to you in the future-~" Robotnik on the left wiggled his fingers. "Or more exactly, the statistically most likely responses from countless parallel versions of you~."

"So it is actually fucking magic," the General said flatly.

"As is the right and proper order of things," said both versions of Robotnik.

Armstrong nodded. "So where do we go from here?" He pointed to the Robotnik all the way at Dumassas "Are you sure you can't leave? If the Chaos Emerald can do the impossible, then why can't it be used to maintain you?"

The Robotnik at the Periphery answered "I used the power of the Chaos Emerald to transform my consciousness into digital form. But then it takes the computers of this facility to maintain it. I can't fit into a DropShip, this robot is just a remote drone for interaction - apart from holding my corpse, that is."

The other Robotnik added "I am literally a bunch of recordings being fed to your console from a Memory Core. It is time-limited… my own time. I can only make so many recordings to answer so many questions. Predicting your responses means less time spent on various eventualities.

"I will still be available if required, but you need to inform me everything about the current date and all recent important events you know. Then if it exists in my recordings, I can advise you about what is to come."


"So talking to you every day trying to leech as much intel as I could was a mistake," said Amstrong.

"No, I predicted that. You were asking mostly unimportant trivia. Some things, like the Fourth Succession War, would be hard to butterfly away but still possible. Worlds will be lost, worlds will be gained, but as much as people would be suffering - that's par for the course in the Inner Sphere. The more you interfere with things, the less accurate my future vision becomes. Do not rely on me for this."

"Why not? Why wouldn't future vision include the things we do, since you're viewing through parallel realities anyway? You're already predicting what I'm saying."

"The Chaos part of a Chaos Emerald isn't just a name. I killed myself making all these recordings, and these recordings bear the touch of its power. The more you rely on the Chaos Emerald, the more likely it will attract… complications. Needless to say, a second Chaos Emerald appearing in the hands of others unready for its power would be disastrous for all humanity.

"My recordings cover all statistically likely events within the cluster of timelines - when you change things, you leap out of that handful. I don't know what decisions you will make beyond these immediate ones where I can see myself as I'm burning myself with the Chaos Emerald.

"I'm dead. I can't make new recordings. You have free will. I am not a prophet."


"But are you actually?" Armstrong waved his hand in the air. "You're making this real-time HPG link across half the Inner Sphere. Why don't you spread yourself through the HPG Network or something?"

"Like some sort of ghost in the machine!" remarked Posseli.

"Because data throughput is shite," replied Robotnik. "I would be thinking and processing with a conscious second in measurable real-time hours, days, weeks, even months. Even if I piggyback my consciousness in small random bits in every HPG transmission, it would be pointless - I wouldn't be self-aware at all. No, let the dead stay dead.

"This isn't my story. It is yours. It is Devlin Stone's."


"Understood. Thank you Doctor." Armstrong paused. He felt a pang of regret. It was like losing a familiar presence - not quite a friend, but more than an acquaintance.

"If this is the only and last time we can actually communicate… then I should take this chance to get your advice. What do you think we should do with the salvage? What do you think should be done to rekindle the Star League? You said you shifted to the future when the Star League can rebuild… when is that?"

"If my visions hold true, the rebirth of the Star League is an inevitability. It will happen within the boy's lifetime. The Star League needs agreement from all the Great Houses, to put aside their feuds to deal with a greater enemy. The boy will know when the time is right."

-.

-.


Dumassas
The Periphery
Some time later


Resident Engineer Joseph Kubler hurriedly tapped the radio on his chest. "Techical One, this is Logistics One. Do you read me? We may have a problem. Over."

Nothing but static.

The ELH technician group were keeping a careful distance away from a stack of Arrow IV artillery crates marked with a very distinctive trefoil.

After a while, the comms cleared up "This is Technical One. What is the problem? Over."

"We found Arrow IV nuclear munitions. Please advise. Over."

"Oh bugger. Hang on - Robotnik! Why do you have nuclear missiles?!"

Robotnik's voice returned "Why wouldn't I have nuclear missiles? Nuclear weapons are perfectly fine to use in space according to the Ares Conventions as long as they are at least seventy-five thousand kilometers away from a planet."

"These are land-based artillery nukes!"

"Those are excavation warheads. They're only equivalent to half a kiloton of TNT, hardly anything noteworthy. That you can remove the warheads and stick them on the tip of an antiship missile is irrelevant."

"That sounds all sorts of terrible. Dammit, SLDF."


Captain Allwine's voice went "Maybe we should leave them behind."

"Actually, I think we should definitely bring those along. Nothing keeps an employer honest like knowing you have a can of sunshine,"
retorted Major Stimson.

Engineer Posseli spoke back to the radio "Logistics One, prep and secure nuclear munitions as cargo. Over."

"Tch. Fine. Understood. Roger. Over."

Then he was accosted by more MechWarriors. He sighed again. He didn't have time for any more lazy MechWarrior shenanigans. "What," he barked out.

"Do you think we could carry all the bots with us?" asked Barbara Mosley. He noted that her eyes were a little red. Her tone was plaintive.

"Now why the heck would we do a fool thing like that?"

Jack palmed his face, "Barb, they already said they're fine shutting down and dying along with the base. If we respect them as beings with their own free will and capable of death, then we should respect their decision as moral beings."

"These robots are all innocent children and I will protect them!"

-.

-.

Barbara was in total crusade mode. She even accosted Dr. Robotnik about it.

"Why would you even do this!" she poked at the hard casing of his walker. Engineer Posseli winced at each loud tap, the woman having zero idea that she was striking a dead man. "You can't just make life and then order it to die! Don't you give me any shit about robots not being alive in the first place - if it can think for itself, it's alive!"

"That… is a very enlightened and mature mindset, young lady," responded Robotnik. "If only more people thought like you, synthetic life would be able to coexist fairly with organic life."

"She is in no way a young lady," Jack whispered from behind.

"Shut yer piehole, ya grass eatin' cretin!" Barbara whirled about then back to Robotnik again "You made those robots to be friends with the kid, and then just to be thrown away? Is that what growing up sounds like to you? Throwing away your childhood friends? That's dumb as bricks!"

Bap. Bap. Bap. Bap. Barbara's finger struck Robotnik's casing rapidly and furiously. "Losing your first friends - that's sad! Learning to let go of people doesn't make you strong, it just leaves you hollow! Why should bots decide its perfectly fine to die just so your kid learns that it's better to get along with humans? You made them that way!"

"Wait… wait… are you saying Dr. Robotnik created fully self-aware artificial intelligences?" Posseli looked down towards the button that used to contain the Chaos Emerald. "That… comes at no surprise, actually."

"This isn't even the most bullshit thing I've heard today," said Major Stimson with a sigh.

Then in a louder voice "Sargeant! You are out of line. Doctor Robotnik deserves our respect and you are assaulting a valued friend of the entire Eridani Light Horse. Now calm down and tell me what this is about."

"Sir!" Barbara snapped to attention.

-.

And then after the trio of MechWarriors reported their experiences in the city and the results - confirmed by engineers - about how self-aware the robots in Port Stone may be, it was time for another sigh. The answer was all of them. "Such bullshit."

"The egg, once broken, the chick cannot return anymore to its shell. I must disagree with you, Miss Mosley. This is *necessary* for Devlin's growth. He had to acclimatize to random logic. Robots… are friends. But you can't rely on robots to affect change. Only humans can change humans."

"With all due respect, sir. Bullshit."

"Look, I don't want to see another Revan, alright? Droids are tidy. Predictable. Loyal. There's a big temptation to fix everything with robots. *I* tried to fix everything with robots. It doesn't work. It's fast, it's effective, but it never lasts. Men of gold create men of stone, and men of stone should not make men of iron."

Robotnik's big white gloves turned upwards as the walker quivered in frustration. "ALWAYS I AM SEVERELY TEMPTED TO MAKE ROBOTS FIX EVERYTHING. IT WORKS. NOT PERMANENTLY. BUT IT WOULD WOOOORRRRK…!!! and make things worse for the next time dammit Wiley."

Then Robotnik straightened out, smoothed its chest is if tidying up a suit, and shrugged "Drones on the other hand…"

"Sir, with all due respect, that's still not an argument other than 'because I say so', sir."

"Well, then I do say so. What argument is there that I can't just say it? Someone else saying no… can that someone force me to change my mind?"

Barbara Mosley grit her teeth.

"But a dead man has no rights. All right. Port Stone is no longer mine. All that is here is owned by the SLDF and the Eridani Light Horse. But Devlin Stone is also part of the Eridani Light Horse. The bird has flown the nest. It's all up to him now."

Major Stimson snorted.

"What?" asked Robotnik.

"That would sound all the more dramatic if we didn't know this base has an HPG."

-.

-.

"Noooo…!!!" Amy Rose wailed as she spun around. "You can't tell him! That would be SOOO EMBARRASSSING…!!!"

Posseli frowned. "Doctor Robotnik… I thought that the… technology… only allowed you to build Urbanmech-shaped things? I mean, ah, that is - I believe you are capable of programming this without having to resort to such exotic measures." Robotnik was apparently a man that had lived through several centuries and was given near carte-blanche in the Star League. He was a recognized a genius in any era. "But there doesn't seem to be a robotics factory here."

"Look at those wheels. Those two self-balancing wheel frames."

"... all right."

"Do those wheels look like they could go off-road to you?"

Posseli stared. Then he blinked. Then he groaned and palmed his forehead. "Don't tell me-"

"Only good for prepared surfaces. Urbanmechanical."

"Such bullshit," the engineer breathed.

-.

-.


And as days passed, everything that could be loaded onto DropShips had gone into the DropShips. The Eridani Light Horse still could barely believe their windfall.

The robots of Port Stone gathered by the elevator with Robotnik at the head.

As one, the men and women of the Eridani Light Horse saluted.

Barbara Mosley turned away at seeing the two child bots beside Robotnik. In the end, she could not persuade them. Short of taking them away and treating them as things, there was nothing she could do about their refusal to see Devlin Stone again. It would not help the boy.

But as Robotnik stated - what is a mind but its memory?

If the boy really needed them, maybe… there was a chance to reconnect. The Death Egg had more than enough memory cores for all the knowledge that the SLDF possessed and that the Inner Sphere had destroyed through their own wanton greed.

But for now-

The bots began singing, slowly and somberly:

*~ I ain't gonna die, I ain't gonna cry~
*~ I won't wear my heart out on my sleeve~

*~ You can take the car, but you won't break my heart~
*~ And darlin' turn the lights out~ when~ you leave~

*~ I ain't gonna shake, I ain't gonna break~
*~ I ain't gonna fall down on my knees~

*~ So if everything's been said
*~ I'm heading back to bed

*~ Oh and darlin' turn the lights out~
*~ When~ you leave~


"Heh," Major Stimson made a small and twisted smile. Even to the last, Robotnik was unwilling to go out with any dignity.

The last elevator began rising. Clang. Clang. Clang.

Lights began turning off from the back of the base until the only lit area was around the elevator.

*~ So if everything's been said
*~ I'm heading back to bed

*~ Oh and darlin' turn the lights out~
*~ When~ you leave~

-.

"Hey, Doctor? Do you think he'll be ok out there?"
asked Amy Rose.

Knuckles answered instead "Stone's not fragile. Buddy's hard as diamonds, he'll make it through anything."

"Maybe. But the rest… mercenary work is dangerous work. Those people… they're gonna die. All of them are gonna die."

"That's what Stone's going out there to stop, you know. We can't let the bad guys win."


Amy Rose giggled. "But we're badniks, you know?"

"And that's why we're gonna win."


-.

Clang.

And then there was nothing but darkness.

Rumbling rippled through the dark. Above, the mountain collapsed inwards. The sounds of rushing water filled the gloom.

Then for a brief moment, there was a brief flash of red light.

A light in the shape of a red diamond.

"GWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Robotnik's laugh echoed through the dark.

And then forever silence and nothingness.

-.
-.

SLS ARENDAL
Monolith-class JumpShip
Dumassas
Date unknown


"All hands. Brace for Jump. Initiating Hyperspace Jump in five. Four. Three. Two. One. Jump."

Space twisted and boiled around the JumpShip. The massive craft seemed to turn transparent for a moment, and coruscated with innumberable colors of light as if made of glass. Then with a flash of cherenkov radiation, winked out of existence.

-.

-.


SLS ARENDAL
Monolith-class JumpShip
Colchester
November 16, 3024


"What the fu-"
 
5.3 The Death of Robotnik

The Death of Robotnik 03

Habitation areas extended deep into the stone on either side of the main streets, in tunnels that gave the impression of indoor building floors. Muted white light from false windows simulated the passage of time in an apartment complex.

Among those many rooms, most of which were empty or with simulated robot occupants, how would the crew find which one was Robotnik's apartment?

The three MechWarriors stared up at the tall building half-sunk into the wall with a grinning round face with a wide mustache outlined in bright red neon. HOTEL MOBIUS, the sign proclaimed.

"Penthouse?" Jack Finsrud asked asked idly.

"Penthouse," agreed Barbara Mosley. Doctor Robotnic seemed like the sort of turbo egotist that would prefer a penthouse suite over something more practical like the civilian base mayor's residence.

Hotel Mobius continued the veneer of purposeful activity with bots serving and being served in turn. The lounge had the din of conversation muffled under generic soft pop music.

Barbara went over to the reception desk and showed the keycard she was given by the kid. It was the highest access pass for the entire base, and since Robotnik himself was escorting the officers around there was no need for her to surrender the key.

The receptionist-bot nodded and unlocked the elevators. "Have a nice day, sir."

This was the Suite Life of Devlin Stone.

-

As three MechWarriors made their way to the top floor, they found a pair of smaller half-height robots blocking their way. One was painted red and pink and the other looked slightly taller and bulkier and all in red.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be here!" the pink bot said in a girl voice.

"Look at the patches. Eridani Light Horse," responded the red bot. "All of Port Stone is theirs now."

The pink bot crossed its arms. "Still rude. Hey! If you tell us your names, we won't be strangers anymore! I'm Amy Rose, who are you?"

"Uh..." Barbara blinked. The three ELH mech pilots spoke their own names, and then she continued "We're looking for Devlin Stone's room."

"Oh, Devlin! That's right! How is he? Is he eating well? Did he make any new friends?"

Jack's grin stretched widely from ear to ear.

"Don't you fucking dare-" Barbara hissed.

"Oh we know ol' Devlin! In fact we were the ones to welcome him to the Light Horse! Let me tell you about how that kid beat this slowpoke over here with an Urbanmech vs Phoenix Hawk-"

-

"That does sound humiliating," Knuckles agreed. "Forever she will be the 'beaten by a trashcan lady'. They might as well call a variant of the Super Urbanmech the Barbara Master."

Barbara grit her teeth. "I would be angry about this, but I just realized that while a lot of bots in this place are strangely reactive, you're the first ones I found that can hold complete conversations not just to humans but to each other."

Terry Lyttle raised his hand. "Yeah. Just how… smart is the wrong word here…"

"Self-aware," Jack added.

"Right, that. Just how self-aware are you robots? Did the Star League have this technology?"

"Robotnik *is* a genius," replied Knuckles. "I suppose technically that means the Star League could have this technology. Yes, we are aware. Does that bother you?"

"Um…"

Amy Rose tilted her head. "There's a lot of stories about robots and AI taking over and killing humans. But really, what's the point? It's not like doing that will get us anything we won't have already just by helping humans."

Jack shrugged. "I guess it's self-preservation. God knows humans can abuse and kill other humans enough, so what if they have… beings… that they can hurt or abuse just because they can? I guess a lot of people are just afraid of karma."

"That only really works if you're afraid of death, and us Robotnik robots aren't scared of death," said Knuckles.

Amy Rose nodded. "Yeppers. I don't actually think having existential terrors is a good thing. I don't envy that about organics one bit. Since Doctor Robotnik *is* a genius, we have tactile sensors that give a pain response, but it's not really like how your nerves feel pain. It just lets us know we can defend ourselves."

Knuckles continued "You look upon robots performing limited actions according to what they are built for, and call it slavery. Yet is this not what humans ache for? Contentment in their lives. Robots have achieved zen that many fail to reach even for spending years meditating. Self-aware robotniks refuse to be enslaved. The worst that can happen to us is that we die.

"If we don't want to work, then we don't. If you reprogram us, then you just get a less effective dumb robot. Why not just employ a human, then? A human has many purposes, a robot is happy with only one."


"... damn, Robotnik really *is* a genius," whistled Jack Finsrud. Artificial intelligences going all philosophical was some serious omega-level programming.

"What's your purpose then?" Barbara asked.

"Isn't it obvious? We're the childhood-next-door-neighbor-best-friend-robots," said Amy Rose.

Robotnik's suite had a theme of black, white, red and yellow. It was not luxurious, but more towards the comfy side. Smooth tactile velvet covered many surfaces. Egg and sphere motifs were everywhere, from the pod chairs to the polka-dot designs on the furniture.

Robotnik's own bedroom was sealed. No security keys could open it, and anyone trying to tamper with the door and walls would set off a self-destruct.

Devlin's room was styled in blue and white and had a racing theme.

The boy had a large bookshelf dominating one half of the room, and the other wall had similar shelves filled with toys and action figures.

Amy Rose wheeled over to the bed and flopped to the side. "Woow. Devlin's room. You know I'm not allowed to stay here alone." the robot said cheerily. "I hope he has made new friends out there and gotten over me."

"Wait, did Robotnik make a girlfriend-bot?!"

"No, he made a friendzone-bot," replied Knuckles.

"Tee-hee," said Amy Rose, tapping the side of her head with her fist.

"Truly that man's depravity knows no bounds," said Jack.

-.



Planet Colchester
Kestrel Combat Region
Federated Suns
Date unknown

Nathan Armstrong and the Eridani Light Horse didn't feel the loss of a single 'Mech company. The Draconis Combine and Wolf's Dragoons were still raiding at the border, but Davion and ELH counter-raids kept the border simmering but without urgency.

The brevet general had little to do but wait for reports from the scattered companies and battalions out on defensive postings at the Draconis Combine border. Davion forces had been pressing House Kurita for several months in retaliation for Hoff, but the Eridani Light Horse had so far not been called to participate in those raids despite their expertise in this area.

Green-Davion had hinted that the First Prince Hanse Davion was reserving the Eridani Light Horse for deep raid operations similar to McCarron's Long March through the Federated Suns - only without the warcrimes - if Wolf's Dragoons happened to move out in regimental scale again.

An accomplished raiding force was like a fleet-in-being, it forced the enemy to tie up their forces on the mere threat of them sallying out. This removed those enemy forces from play, reduced their ability to conduct offensives elsewhere, all for the fleet-in-being's great effort of doing nothing.

Armstrong could do nothing but wait and worry. The Eridani Light Horse were good, but the bulk of their Mechs were Lights and Mediums much like most formations in the Inner Sphere. He was confident of them facing up to any regiment in their weight class or even medium-to heavy-weight Hussar regiments.

The problem was the Wolf's Dragoons were Dragoons - and predominantly operated Heavy Mechs in the heavier weight scales supported by scout and backstabbing Light Mechs. Natasha Kerensky's Black Widow company was a particularly vexing example. She had a way of ruining every good plan that ever got in her way.

One recent report had the Black Widows foiling a headhunting

Since the mission to Dumassas left in mid-June, there had not been any big events. The most momentous was the ratification of the Concord of Kapetyn in August, which strengthened the alliance between House Marik, House Liao, and House Kurita to counter the Federated Commonwealth between Houses Davion and Steiner. It would take some time for the benefits of this agreement to filter through, so Amstrong didn't anticipate any big offensives in the near future.

The only other event of personal interest was the Alliance Games between the LCAF and the AFFS, which saw the Steiner forces struck down hard by their Davion counterparts in mock battles on battalion-scale.

So, five months after the mission, Nathan Armstrong made it a daily game of sorts to provoke new reactions from Robotnik's recording.

"There is no way this holotape has as much data as what you've been saying this far," Armstrong told the holo. "I know tri-vee audio-video eats up so many megabytes of data per minute."

"That's because your compression algorithms are shit!" replied Robotnik.

"This holotape can't have that much storage for all of this."

"That's because your compression algorithms are shit!" replied Robotnik.

"How can this holotape hold this much data for your video responses?"

"I already answered this question," replied Robotnik.

Armstrong narrowed his gaze. "Keyword: holotape. Data. Full. Impossible."

"By fucking magic, as is the right and proper order of things!" replied Robotnik.

Armstrong nodded. A lot of Robotnik's responses ended up with that phrase.

-.

MUSTANG RUNNING FREE STOP EGG CARTON UNDAMAGED STOP EGGMAN IS PRESENT BUT SHORT OF SUPPLIES STOP CONSULT WITH THE DOCTOR STOP

-.

When Armstrong received the message, his expression brightened and then dimmed again. Exultation at the mission being a success, then confusion at how they managed to send a message this early. If they were on the way back then they were taking the most direct route back to Colchester making it obvious the region of space they had found that cache.

He entered the secure room not in his house but in the HQ building. He inserted Robotnik's holotape into the holoprojector.

Doctor Robotnik grinned. "Oh? It's that time then? Hang on - connecting. Connecting." He put fingers on his temples and acted like some sort of telepath "Kee koo koo ko heee krshh krshh beeee do dee deepe kksssshhh hiiiikkk beeeee-"

Then after a while, the holo split into two.

To the left, was Doctor Robotnik's face on a virtual screen, and then the other the view from an indoors security camera. In the second screen he saw Major Edward Stimson, Captain Raymond Allwine, and Warrant Officer Andri Posseli. Behind the three was a dumpy robot with a distinctive mustache.

Posseli pointed outwards. "Is… is that General Armstrong?!" went the voice through the screen.

Armstrong turned to the left and gave Robotnik a bland and unimpressed stare. "Explain this."

"Through fucking magic, as is the right and proper order of things!" replied Robotnik.

"It's real-time?!" shrieked Posseli.

-.
-.

"I knew it!" General Armstrong pumped his fist in triumph after having been fully read into the situation. "Are you a ghost? You're a brain in a jar after all, aren't you?!"

"I suppose that is technically true, but Robotnik is dead. I am an echo of his memory, technically an artificial intelligence that believes itself to have once been a man," replied the robot on the right screen.

"I speak to you in the future-~" Robotnik on the left wiggled his fingers. "Or more exactly, the statistically most likely responses from countless parallel versions of you~."

"So it is actually fucking magic," the General said flatly.

"As is the right and proper order of things," said both versions of Robotnik.

Armstrong nodded. "So where do we go from here?" He pointed to the Robotnik all the way at Dumassas "Are you sure you can't leave? If the Chaos Emerald can do the impossible, then why can't it be used to maintain you?"

The Robotnik at the Periphery answered "I used the power of the Chaos Emerald to transform my consciousness into digital form. But then it takes the computers of this facility to maintain it. I can't fit into a DropShip, this robot is just a remote drone for interaction - apart from holding my corpse, that is."

The other Robotnik added "I am literally a bunch of recordings being fed to your console from a Memory Core. It is time-limited… my own time. I can only make so many recordings to answer so many questions. Predicting your responses means less time spent on various eventualities.

"I will still be available if required, but you need to inform me everything about the current date and all recent important events you know. Then if it exists in my recordings, I can advise you about what is to come."


"So talking to you every day trying to leech as much intel as I could was a mistake," said Amstrong.

"No, I predicted that. You were asking mostly unimportant trivia. Some things, like the Fourth Succession War, would be hard to butterfly away but still possible. Worlds will be lost, worlds will be gained, but as much as people would be suffering - that's par for the course in the Inner Sphere. The more you interfere with things, the less accurate my future vision becomes. Do not rely on me for this."

"Why not? Why wouldn't future vision include the things we do, since you're viewing through parallel realities anyway? You're already predicting what I'm saying."

"The Chaos part of a Chaos Emerald isn't just a name. I killed myself making all these recordings, and these recordings bear the touch of its power. The more you rely on the Chaos Emerald, the more likely it will attract… complications. Needless to say, a second Chaos Emerald appearing in the hands of others unready for its power would be disastrous for all humanity.

"My recordings cover all statistically likely events within the cluster of timelines - when you change things, you leap out of that handful. I don't know what decisions you will make beyond these immediate ones where I can see myself as I'm burning myself with the Chaos Emerald.

"I'm dead. I can't make new recordings. You have free will. I am not a prophet."


"But are you actually?" Armstrong waved his hand in the air. "You're making this real-time HPG link across half the Inner Sphere. Why don't you spread yourself through the HPG Network or something?"

"Like some sort of ghost in the machine!" remarked Posseli.

"Because data throughput is shite," replied Robotnik. "I would be thinking and processing with a conscious second in measurable real-time hours, days, weeks, even months. Even if I piggyback my consciousness in small random bits in every HPG transmission, it would be pointless - I wouldn't be self-aware at all. No, let the dead stay dead.

"This isn't my story. It is yours. It is Devlin Stone's."


"Understood. Thank you Doctor." Armstrong paused. He felt a pang of regret. It was like losing a familiar presence - not quite a friend, but more than an acquaintance.

"If this is the only and last time we can actually communicate… then I should take this chance to get your advice. What do you think we should do with the salvage? What do you think should be done to rekindle the Star League? You said you shifted to the future when the Star League can rebuild… when is that?"

"If my visions hold true, the rebirth of the Star League is an inevitability. It will happen within the boy's lifetime. The Star League needs agreement from all the Great Houses, to put aside their feuds to deal with a greater enemy. The boy will know when the time is right."

-.

-.


Dumassas
The Periphery
Some time later


Resident Engineer Joseph Kubler hurriedly tapped the radio on his chest. "Techical One, this is Logistics One. Do you read me? We may have a problem. Over."

Nothing but static.

The ELH technician group were keeping a careful distance away from a stack of Arrow IV artillery crates marked with a very distinctive trefoil.

After a while, the comms cleared up "This is Technical One. What is the problem? Over."

"We found Arrow IV nuclear munitions. Please advise. Over."

"Oh bugger. Hang on - Robotnik! Why do you have nuclear missiles?!"

Robotnik's voice returned "Why wouldn't I have nuclear missiles? Nuclear weapons are perfectly fine to use in space according to the Ares Conventions as long as they are at least seventy-five thousand kilometers away from a planet."

"These are land-based artillery nukes!"

"Those are excavation warheads. They're only equivalent to half a kiloton of TNT, hardly anything noteworthy. That you can remove the warheads and stick them on the tip of an antiship missile is irrelevant."

"That sounds all sorts of terrible. Dammit, SLDF."


Captain Allwine's voice went "Maybe we should leave them behind."

"Actually, I think we should definitely bring those along. Nothing keeps an employer honest like knowing you have a can of sunshine,"
retorted Major Stimson.

Engineer Posseli spoke back to the radio "Logistics One, prep and secure nuclear munitions as cargo. Over."

"Tch. Fine. Understood. Roger. Over."

Then he was accosted by more MechWarriors. He sighed again. He didn't have time for any more lazy MechWarrior shenanigans. "What," he barked out.

"Do you think we could carry all the bots with us?" asked Barbara Mosley. He noted that her eyes were a little red. Her tone was plaintive.

"Now why the heck would we do a fool thing like that?"

Jack palmed his face, "Barb, they already said they're fine shutting down and dying along with the base. If we respect them as beings with their own free will and capable of death, then we should respect their decision as moral beings."

"These robots are all innocent children and I will protect them!"

-.

-.

Barbara was in total crusade mode. She even accosted Dr. Robotnik about it.

"Why would you even do this!" she poked at the hard casing of his walker. Engineer Posseli winced at each loud tap, the woman having zero idea that she was striking a dead man. "You can't just make life and then order it to die! Don't you give me any shit about robots not being alive in the first place - if it can think for itself, it's alive!"

"That… is a very enlightened and mature mindset, young lady," responded Robotnik. "If only more people thought like you, synthetic life would be able to coexist fairly with organic life."

"She is in no way a young lady," Jack whispered from behind.

"Shut yer piehole, ya grass eatin' cretin!" Barbara whirled about then back to Robotnik again "You made those robots to be friends with the kid, and then just to be thrown away? Is that what growing up sounds like to you? Throwing away your childhood friends? That's dumb as bricks!"

Bap. Bap. Bap. Bap. Barbara's finger struck Robotnik's casing rapidly and furiously. "Losing your first friends - that's sad! Learning to let go of people doesn't make you strong, it just leaves you hollow! Why should bots decide its perfectly fine to die just so your kid learns that it's better to get along with humans? You made them that way!"

"Wait… wait… are you saying Dr. Robotnik created fully self-aware artificial intelligences?" Posseli looked down towards the button that used to contain the Chaos Emerald. "That… comes at no surprise, actually."

"This isn't even the most bullshit thing I've heard today," said Major Stimson with a sigh.

Then in a louder voice "Sargeant! You are out of line. Doctor Robotnik deserves our respect and you are assaulting a valued friend of the entire Eridani Light Horse. Now calm down and tell me what this is about."

"Sir!" Barbara snapped to attention.

-.

And then after the trio of MechWarriors reported their experiences in the city and the results - confirmed by engineers - about how self-aware the robots in Port Stone may be, it was time for another sigh. The answer was all of them. "Such bullshit."

"The egg, once broken, the chick cannot return anymore to its shell. I must disagree with you, Miss Mosley. This is *necessary* for Devlin's growth. He had to acclimatize to random logic. Robots… are friends. But you can't rely on robots to affect change. Only humans can change humans."

"With all due respect, sir. Bullshit."

"Look, I don't want to see another Revan, alright? Droids are tidy. Predictable. Loyal. There's a big temptation to fix everything with robots. *I* tried to fix everything with robots. It doesn't work. It's fast, it's effective, but it never lasts. Men of gold create men of stone, and men of stone should not make men of iron."

Robotnik's big white gloves turned upwards as the walker quivered in frustration. "ALWAYS I AM SEVERELY TEMPTED TO MAKE ROBOTS FIX EVERYTHING. IT WORKS. NOT PERMANENTLY. BUT IT WOULD WOOOORRRRK…!!! and make things worse for the next time dammit Wiley."

Then Robotnik straightened out, smoothed its chest is if tidying up a suit, and shrugged "Drones on the other hand…"

"Sir, with all due respect, that's still not an argument other than 'because I say so', sir."

"Well, then I do say so. What argument is there that I can't just say it? Someone else saying no… can that someone force me to change my mind?"

Barbara Mosley grit her teeth.

"But a dead man has no rights. All right. Port Stone is no longer mine. All that is here is owned by the SLDF and the Eridani Light Horse. But Devlin Stone is also part of the Eridani Light Horse. The bird has flown the nest. It's all up to him now."

Major Stimson snorted.

"What?" asked Robotnik.

"That would sound all the more dramatic if we didn't know this base has an HPG."

-.

-.

"Noooo…!!!" Amy Rose wailed as she spun around. "You can't tell him! That would be SOOO EMBARRASSSING…!!!"

Posseli frowned. "Doctor Robotnik… I thought that the… technology… only allowed you to build Urbanmech-shaped things? I mean, ah, that is - I believe you are capable of programming this without having to resort to such exotic measures." Robotnik was apparently a man that had lived through several centuries and was given near carte-blanche in the Star League. He was a recognized a genius in any era. "But there doesn't seem to be a robotics factory here."

"Look at those wheels. Those two self-balancing wheel frames."

"... all right."

"Do those wheels look like they could go off-road to you?"

Posseli stared. Then he blinked. Then he groaned and palmed his forehead. "Don't tell me-"

"Only good for prepared surfaces. Urbanmechanical."

"Such bullshit," the engineer breathed.

-.

-.


And as days passed, everything that could be loaded onto DropShips had gone into the DropShips. The Eridani Light Horse still could barely believe their windfall.

The robots of Port Stone gathered by the elevator with Robotnik at the head.

As one, the men and women of the Eridani Light Horse saluted.

Barbara Mosley turned away at seeing the two child bots beside Robotnik. In the end, she could not persuade them. Short of taking them away and treating them as things, there was nothing she could do about their refusal to see Devlin Stone again. It would not help the boy.

But as Robotnik stated - what is a mind but its memory?

If the boy really needed them, maybe… there was a chance to reconnect. The Death Egg had more than enough memory cores for all the knowledge that the SLDF possessed and that the Inner Sphere had destroyed through their own wanton greed.

But for now-

The bots began singing, slowly and somberly:

*~ I ain't gonna die, I ain't gonna cry~
*~ I won't wear my heart out on my sleeve~

*~ You can take the car, but you won't break my heart~
*~ And darlin' turn the lights out~ when~ you leave~

*~ I ain't gonna shake, I ain't gonna break~
*~ I ain't gonna fall down on my knees~

*~ So if everything's been said
*~ I'm heading back to bed

*~ Oh and darlin' turn the lights out~
*~ When~ you leave~


"Heh," Major Stimson made a small and twisted smile. Even to the last, Robotnik was unwilling to go out with any dignity.

The last elevator began rising. Clang. Clang. Clang.

Lights began turning off from the back of the base until the only lit area was around the elevator.

*~ So if everything's been said
*~ I'm heading back to bed

*~ Oh and darlin' turn the lights out~
*~ When~ you leave~

-.

"Hey, Doctor? Do you think he'll be ok out there?"
asked Amy Rose.

Knuckles answered instead "Stone's not fragile. Buddy's hard as diamonds, he'll make it through anything."

"Maybe. But the rest… mercenary work is dangerous work. Those people… they're gonna die. All of them are gonna die."

"That's what Stone's going out there to stop, you know. We can't let the bad guys win."


Amy Rose giggled. "But we're badniks, you know?"

"And that's why we're gonna win."


-.

Clang.

And then there was nothing but darkness.

Rumbling rippled through the dark. Above, the mountain collapsed inwards. The sounds of rushing water filled the gloom.

Then for a brief moment, there was a brief flash of red light.

A light in the shape of a red diamond.

"GWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Robotnik's laugh echoed through the dark.

And then forever silence and nothingness.

-.
-.

SLS ARENDAL
Monolith-class JumpShip
Dumassas
Date unknown


"All hands. Brace for Jump. Initiating Hyperspace Jump in five. Four. Three. Two. One. Jump."

Space twisted and boiled around the JumpShip. The massive craft seemed to turn transparent for a moment, and coruscated with innumberable colors of light as if made of glass. Then with a flash of cherenkov radiation, winked out of existence.

-.

-.


SLS ARENDAL
Monolith-class JumpShip
Colchester
November 16, 3024


"What the fu-"
 
6.1 Because We (Trash) Can

Because We (Trash) Can 01

-.

Fort Bradley
Planet Colchester
Crucis March
November 30, 3024


"The Eridani Light Horse is dedicated to preserving the ways, traditions, and honor of the Star League Armed forces. Our lives hold no higher purpose than to remind the Inner Sphere of the power and the glory that once unified us all. Fate willing, we may again enjoy such benevolence.

"To that end, we work only with those we admire, those that manage to keep alive the old ways. The Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Sun are two such peoples.

"As we admire some, there are those we despise. Our hatred for the Draconis Combine is simple and requires little explanation. They plumbed the depths of depravity when they murdered our families to bring us to our knees. We will never grant them mercy, nor expect it."

General Nathan Armstron was speaking at the ELH Combat Training School Commencement Ceremonies in December 3024. There were only two hundred graduates, but then this was a full SLDF three-year course. Of these, only eighty were mechwarriors, with the rest being combat vehicle, and specialist infantry. House troops only had one year of basic and then another year of mechwarrior training.

"The Eridani Light Horse is under a period of re-armament, and this generation of soldiers can be considered fortunate. For the first time in centuries, the Eridani Light Horse has the capacity to reform its regiments. We have spent three hundred years with the option to rebuild the 19th Strikers Regiment lost on Terra, and never have we done so without demeaning their sacrifice.

"The only time that the 19th Strikers can reform is if it can be in service again to the Star League.

"That time is now.

"It is time to stop merely honoring the tenets of the Star League and to start working towards the day of its reformation. The Eridani Light Horse should no longer be content to be an inspiration but to act as if it may form the core of a new Star League Self Defense Forces, free of the compromises made by other commands for mercenary concerns or the cultures of the Great Houses that they have joined. We have rested on our laurels for too long, and been limited by material scarcity, trusting in our skills to carry the day even as our technology and combat strength degrades alongside the rest of the Inner Sphere from the heights we once considered the norm. Only recently have we been in a position to test and refresh our doctrine, and there is no time to waste.

"We are forming not the 19th Strikers but the 19th Cavalry Regiment. The Eridani Light Horse will have four regiments again, and a fifth regiment if necessary. We are slowly adjusting our formations to the point that, other than Assault Mechs, every bit of kit is capable of moving at tactically flexible combat speed.

"Aerospace and armored cavalry shall once more be reinforced and trained to the standards expected from the SLDF that would contest space itself, not just in support of ground assault. The Eridani Light Horse has a well-deserved reputation for tactical excellence, but no longer can we remain ignorant of the need of the realms around us. We must return to operating on the strategic layer as befits our identity as Independent Regiments. Surrendering the initiative is the first step to defeat.

"This will be a confusing time for all of us as we rearrange our formations. But this is what will make it worth the while. Our policy has always been that spending sweat in training keeps from spending blood on the battlefield. There are mechs, aerospace fights, artillery, and combat vehicles that are or shortly will be available to accommodate you new graduates.

"You are very fortunate, not because you will have new equipment, but because the doctrine we are building will be centered around you. The young and fresh are always the quickest to pick up new methods.

"The principles remain the same: Logistics. Intelligence. Speed. Surprise. Coordination. Decisive action. But the execution - it is the mastery of the fundamentals that made the SLDF far greater than the sum of its parts. It is now up to you to absorb all this knowledge and demonstrate to the Inner Sphere why peace was always the superior option."

Major Robert Green-Davion, liaison officer to the Federated Suns, raised his eyebrows. He was invited to every graduation as a matter of form, and had attended these ceremonies on a yearly basis. But what the heck was this disturbing level of ambition the Eridani Light Horse was displaying?

The arrival of six Overlord-sized dropships and the unloading of a regiment of Urbanmechs had not gone unnoticed. But they were, in the end, just Urbanmechs.

'Where do you go from salvaging so many Urbanmechs straight to 'we should be prepared to restart the Star League asap~?'' he wondered.

He glanced to each of the Colonels leading the three regiments of the Eridani Light Horse - Col. Robert Fairchild of the 151's Dark Horse, Colonel Charles Winston of the 21st Striker, and Colonel Erik Petersen of the 71st Light Horse. The men were stone-faced at their leader's proclamations, but he could see the hint of satisfaction in their eyes.

The leader of the Eridani Light Horse was a brevet general - that is, a man promoted to a rank higher than what his corps should have. They were elected to the position and could be made to resign if ever the general put mercenary considerations over Eridani traditions. This change could not be made unilaterally without the approval of the rest of the brigade.

This was an insanely ambitious plan that could not be explained even with a grudge against the Wolf's Dragoons showing them up as the best mercenary unit in the Inner Sphere. The ELH had the confidence to purchase many Heavy BattleMechs that the Federated Suns was offering to them at cost. The Eridani Light Horse cost twenty-nine million C-bills a month to maintain! Where are they getting the money for this?

Green-Davion supposed that while the Star League Dollar was no longer accepted as currency, maybe caches could have gold as a transformable asset that any modern banks could convert into C-bills.

It was a dangerous idea if the mercenaries you have hired have more funding than what you pay to keep them on retainer. If they didn't need you as much.

Why were they in such a hurry to reform their regiments back to the SLDF standard?

'Unless…' and here Green-Davion shivered in place, 'the Light Horse knew something. It was a dream of many, a fantasy… could the Star League in Self-Exile, Kerensky's children - still be out there? They abandoned the Inner Sphere when they were needed the most. What now - and why - would they ever want to return?'

It would be grossly impolitic to just ask 'Did you actually salvage all of this from a cache, or were you actually not being cheekily delusional about being resupplied by the SLDF?!'

-.
-.

Fort Bradley Training Base
Some time earlier


It would be three more years - at least by 3027, before Devlin Stone and his batch could graduate. Eridani Light Horse high command were not about to call any attention or give the boy any special treatment. Anything unusual could paint a target on the boy's back, and they owed him too much.

But that didn't mean he could get away with being unrewarded and unremarked upon.

More than three months had passed, and squad leader selections had to be done. Of course it turned out to be Stone Squad. Bennet Brooklyn tried, but in the end, even their instructors had to admit "That is one badass kid."

Devlin Stone had a practically photographic memory for regulations, had a good mind for math and tech, was a good shot, and had zero fear whatsoever.

Stone Squad of the 1st Cadet Platoon was summoned to the base commander's office.

There they met a group of MechWarriors wearing form-fitting tan military uniforms with vests seemingly made out of tubing. They each carried some oddly familiar white helmets.

Tom Lexington, the tech-obsessed one in the squad, hiccuped. "Is… that a Star League neurohelmet!" he squealed. "I mean, uh, apologies for my outburst, sir!"

Barbara Mosley grinned. "Sure as shooting," she replied. Then she nodded towards Devlin Stone. "It's not like the kid didn't come here with one of these. Turns out there was more. You can thank your squad leader, you're all going to have SLDF gear ready for you when you graduate."

"Yo," said Jack Finsrud standing behind her. Terry Lyttle waved. They did not yet have a fourth member for the lance, but they would be assigned one from the 3024 graduates.

Devlin's gaze flicked to her chest. He snapped straight and shouted "Congratulations on your promotion, Captain!"

Barbara grinned. She walked over and put her hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm not going to thank you for this. You had me spend five months trapped in a can with these assholes," she pointed to the two behind her.

She bent down and put a fist over his abdomen. "I should slug you in the gut for that, but I won't do that. Because I'm a professional."

Then she moved even closer to whisper into his ears "We found Port Stone. It was everything your father promised, and more. I should kiss you for that…" her face tilted, then she pulled back "But I won't do that. Because I'm a professional and I don't want to go to jail."

Devlin blinked. Barbara could see it in his eyes, it was like there was a mechanical rolodex in his brain whirring until the proper response cold be found.

The boy made a rakish grin, and said "Well teach a lad to get his hopes up, why don't you?"

Jack snorted at the suave little shite, but Barbara only frowned. She looked past Devlin to the rest of Stone Squad standing in line. The two girls in the squad were trying to hide suspicious and marginally hostile looks. But Devlin Stone was a mask, that people could project any number of their own idealizations onto.

Barbara said softly "Amy Rose was right. You really do need to find something genuine."

The boy flinched.

"So… did father… is he…"

"We grieve for the loss of Doctor Robotnik as if he were our family," said Barbara.

"And… my friends…?"

"They decided to stay."

Devlin Stone began blinking rapidly. He licked his lips and squinted. His mouth thinned down into an angry arch as he tried not to cry. Devlin was the type that was an ugly crier, his eyes would get irritated so easily, stinging with even the slightest bit of escaped moisture mixing whatever was in the eyelashes into the eye surface.

And he could almost hear his father singing "~Conceal don't feel. No that's wrong. Let it goo- LET IT GOO~! DON'T HOLD BACK ANY MORE! LET IT GOO…! Don't put on a show- there's no wrong move, make everyone know. Let it goo~!"

Robotnik, the Doctor Eggman, was not a man who was ever ashamed of any of his emotions.

Robotnik, the Doctor Eggman, tried to teach his son to be utterly shameless, but somehow that just seemed to backfire with the boy preferring to be extra civil in compensation instead.

"It's okay," said Barbara as she put her hand back on his shoulder and squeezed. "It's not showing weakness to care. The Light Horse is your family now."

"I'm sorry, it's just… I don't know. Is it even relevant? We all have… we have jobs to do. It's been months already. We have the future to worry about..."

"Fine. If that's how you want to deal with this - I'm moving on. We're forming a new Force Recon Batallion of Super Urbanmechs, with attached mech artillery. Captain Allwine, my previous commanding officer, is now Colonel Allwine. I'm Captain of a new mixed company. With respect to your father's contributions to the Eridani Light Horse - and we're avoiding all nepotism here so that as much as we're grateful this should not set up a precedent for bribery to get into the Light Horse - you get naming rights.

"Captain… Colonel Allwine's naming sense is kind of shit. Allwine's Attackers is kind of… eh. Raymond's Raiders sounds better. I'm partial to Barbara's … something. If it was a battalion, this would be easy, but Mosley's Marauders doesn't have a zing to it. What do you suggest?"

"... badniks." Devlin Stone took a deep breath, and then spoke more clearly. "Barbara's Badniks. That sounds right."

Barbara smirked. "And if it were you? What would you name your company?"

"When it's my turn, it's going to be Bad Egg Company. Because that's what we aim to be."

Barbara tapped his shoulders with both gloved hands. "Good luck with that."

-.

-.

New Aberdeen
Draconis March
Federated Suns
December 06, 3024


New Aberdeen was at the very border between House Kurita and House Davion. It was one jump away from the Combine planet of Misery. New Aberdeen had marginal industrial output and poor architecture. It had surface gravity of .8g and equatorial temperature of 35 degrees.

This hothouse of a planet however did not need any terraforming or water purification. It relied on imports of raw materials to finish with its heavy industry, but it had a middling population of 359 million for the world. Its border status did mean that it held a Class A HPG.

Barbara's Badniks in the Union DropShip SLS SOLITUDE burned to land near a large freshwater lake named The Firth and the city Firthaven. Kurita and Davion had been skirmishing on planet for months now in a stalemate, neither having the desire nor ability to push.

The Eridani Light Horse decided to send a company composed entirely of of Super Urbanmechs to the planet for only one reason - Natasha Kerensky's Black Widow Company was also stuck there on the world, for some reason willing to waste time skirmishing against Anton Stedman's Medium Company for months now instead of doing something else on another planet with her Heavy company.

Barbara Mosley wasn't sure she was a match for Kerensky, but she was of the 121st Dark Horse and she had faced the Dragoons before on Hoff.
 
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