August 7th, 3050
Ludvika, Blackjack V
Ludvika Preservation Park

I watched the back of Holne’s Commando recede.

Activating the radio, I said, “Holne, we've got orders to stay here and screen against any units coming our way."

Holne came on, "I'm not dying next to your faggot ass, Proust. I'm with Lykke and Falk. I don't give a damn what you do, just keep your freak ass the fuck away from us. Don't bother begging, I won't listen."

The radio fell to static. I toggled it to standby, and settled back into the cockpit seat. I willed the feelings of rejection to turn to indifference but fell short at disgust mixed with anger.

Holne’s mech disappeared from view through the trees of the park. On the sensor display the blip representing him moved to the edge and vanished from off his sensor screen.

It wouldn’t work calling a second time not that I wanted to. First Lykke and Falk had abandoned their position, and now Holne.

I knew that the three had technically run away from the position here in the park we’d been ordered to. I also knew that they hadn’t left because they were afraid. It was me who they detested and me they were getting away from.

This left me the sole military unit in central Ludvika, 3rd company 3rd lance, fourth mech. The three lance-mates had gone in the direction of the suburb Boden where 3rd companies 1st lance had orders to deploy. This was closer to the supposed enemy we’d face. No that was wrong. I’d face them alone now.

Who were we facing? No one really knew.

An unknown enemy had arrived in orbit early this morning and had smashed through the meager air defense the Lyrans have here on Blackjack. They had already made planet-fall.

Right now I knew local law enforcement and the citizen militia were assembling. According to the Kommandant here at the school, it was the job of other cadets and myself to buy them time if we couldn't outright defeat them.

Over the last few months, rumors had spread like wildfire of systems having fallen to them. Some of them said the Dracs making a surprise invasion by going around the Razzies through the Periphery. Some even said they were the first aliens humanity had met and they weren't friendly.

I didn't know what to expect. So I waited in Ludvika Memorial Park in my Chameleon mech. It was the basic no frills 7V model at 50 tons. Long considered a training mech and used as such, the Blackjack Training Battalion had several of them. It was jump capable and armed with several lasers and machine guns.

The squawk of his mech's alarm for reactor breach, came on for the umpteenth time since I’d left the hangar earlier. I slapped the override.

"Piece of shit." I grumbled at both my lance mates and the machine.

Nothing came on the radio from my lance mates, or any of the other anywhere. Satcom and Satview had gone down a half hour ago on the move to Ludvika. All I could see was what the sensors displayed and the limited field of view out the cockpit canopy. It wasn't much at all considering how much my mech was in disrepair.

The mag res scanner had been broke for over a week now. An accident is what maintenance had said. Something went wrong while attempting to fix the inoperative jump jet in the right leg. Both devices were waiting on parts that should have arrived by now but had not.

I overrode the breach alarm again.

The containment on the reactor was good. I’d inspected it myself refusing to rely on the word of the maintenance chief two days ago. This was after a simulated fire training session somehow made the alarm occur more often. It was only a malfunction in the sensor, one I'd asked to have replaced three weeks ago when it first sustained damage somehow.

That was the tip of the iceberg. All thermal sensor gun sights were inoperative. The ammo rack for his machine guns could only hold a quarter of the ammo they should. Anymore and there'd be a miss-feed. The armor on my Chameleon's right shoulder and arm had remained unfixed. That was from maintenance fouling the right arms laser while diagnosing a suspected power feed issue. The laser had worked the day before maintenance touched it, and hadn't worked since. The right torso jump jet remained misaligned from the work done on the laser. Jumping with the current jet config made the mech slide to the right instead of an arc in a direction controlled by the pilot. These problems had been cropping up now for almost a month.

The target systems calibration tended to drift every few days to the point where I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. Lucky for me I’d re-calibrated them yesterday morning. Hopefully it would hold in place for as long as it took to stop these invaders.

Somehow with the long shipping time for the parts, other cadets already had their mechs fixed. Some even questionably so. It amazed me, how systems would break on my mech but never sideline it completely. At the same time other cadets with similar issues would get their systems back up and running. Maintenance refused to show me the records of the other mechs. I had my suspicions but never could prove anything.

With the threat of these invaders, every mech available that could be piloted had been put into the field. This included me and my junk Chameleon.

Maybe I could just run away, but to where?

Where could I retreat to? How would I retreat? These were questions I’d asked myself since coming to Ludvika.

I squashed the alarm again.

At least it’s quiet between the stupid alarm, thought Proust. No assholes to mess with me.

A half hour went by with nothing to show, until several smoke pillars reached into the sky. All were from the direction of Boden. It was time.

The radio burst to life. It was an all frequency broadcast with no encryption.

“… overwatch reports one more mech in the forest park at the city center. Belle, Arthur, on me…”

Crap. I didn’t know who the voice was and the names were unfamiliar, but at least they spoke english even if it was with a weird accent. Who ever they were, they knew I was here.

An idea came to me. I needed more weapons if there were at least three of them and nothing said I couldn’t use a tree as a club. I don’t think the city leaders would care about a tree if the planet was saved. The tree I picked uprooted easily. I’d have used two of them but the damage to the right arm large laser also included the release mechanism being stuck. It’d work just as well as a club. If I survived this, maintenance would have to order a new mount and casing for it, either way it didn't matter.

I readied myself. Three blips appeared at the edge of the sensor readout.

The radio came to life again on the same all frequency broadcast. “This is Star Captain Jason Eagle of Clan Jade Falcon. To the lone mech, identify yourself”

The name was a human name. Maybe they were not aliens.

"I am Cadet Proust of the Blackjack Training Battalion.” I responded

The alarm came on again and I overrode it.

“Why are you not with your fellow warriors. MechWarrior Proust?”

“Orders sir. My unit’s orders were to stay here in Ludvika and screen against the enemy, which appears to be you. It would seem that the rest of my lance has run to their fate. Why they left me here and abandoned their orders, I don't have an answer for. You'd have to ask them”

The three blips had stopped out of line of site, and somewhat just outside the tree line of the preservation.

“So you are the last defender of Ludvika? MechWarrior Mendel did not inform us of your existence.”

Proust knew Mendel as the instructor who went with 3rd company 1st lance to Boden.

“That's not my problem Star Captain. I'm here and I stand against you.”

“Are there any other units here?”

“None that I know of. Other than the lance in Boden, and my three errant lance mates, I know of no others here in Ludvika.”

“If that is the case, I issue a batchall against you for control of Ludvika. Do you need an explanation?”

“Yes.” I’d never heard that word before. If I could buy any time at all for the militia being called up I would do it. Having some enemy take the time to talk fit in nicely into that goal.

“A batchall is simple MechWarrior Proust. We bid our forces down to reduce the amount of destruction and damage. At the same time we bring victory and honor with the least resources expended.”

“This is a duel then, but with something hanging in the balance?”

“Yes.”

“Then I accept this challenge, how do we bid?”

“As the one challenged, you get choice in where”

“I think all of Ludvika is our battleground. It's what my orders spoke of to defend.”

“Acceptable. I bid MechWarrior Arthur and he will not use his lasers.”

“I can't accept that.” I felt bile rise in my throat.

“Why not? It is honorable. Do you doubt the abilities of MechWarrior Arthur, or deny him the chance to prove himself in combat?”

"No sir. It’s only that I would be disobeying my orders if I did that. My orders are to screen against the enemy. I can't win against one of you and let the others go somewhere else. I have to stop you if I can here, or chase you down.”

“I understand. Honorable, and perhaps foolish. Are you saying you will fight all three of us.”

"Yes. I must.”

“Then so be it MechWarrior Proust, you will face the three of us in battle for control of Ludvika”

The alarm came on again. I ignored the alarm, pushing the throttle to max, maneuvering through the thick forest preserve towards the nearest unit. The dense forest slowed my progress but allowed me to close with the enemy, remaining unseen till the last moment.

It was an ungainly mech I faced, with no torso and spindly arms and legs. The bulbous cockpit jutted forward. It's right arm ended in a box with a protruding weapon barrel. The left arm didn't match and ended in a small hand actuator with a weapon barrel slung underneath.

Four missiles arced out of a launcher in its torso, and the right arm weapon fired, giving away that it was an auto-cannon of some sort. Only one of the missiles hit, gouging a mark into the chest of my Chameleon.

The feedback through the neurohelmet was high as usual. It felt like something had stung me on my chest.

I brought the tree up and used it as a hammer to swing down into the enemy mech’s right torso. The tree broke. Its upper foliage hanging onto the mech, caught in its shoulder joint. The mech attempted to backpedal unsuccessfully through the preserves thick foliage.

Stepping my Chameleon in close, I body checked the mech with the damaged right arm and shoulder, pushing it back. The enemy mech lost its balance and fell backwards, wedged between two particularly large trees.

Damage warnings kicked off, cutting in over the reactor breach alarm for a second. Another mech, apparently the same type had moved up and fired upon my rear with a laser. Thankfully it was the fully armored left side. My adrenaline competed with the pain of neural feedback.

The third mech, same type as the first two but with different arms, moved in front and raised its gun arm to fire.

I initiated a jump. My Chameleon jerked to the right. Lucky the trees I collided with broke rather than catching I was able to maintain my footing. A silver blur streaked by to my left.

Grabbing another tree I ripped it out of the ground and moved towards the mech which had struck at me from the rear. Using the right arm to provide more cover by holding it in front, I barreled my mech through the forest and closed the distance.

The tree lasted two swings before breaking. The enemy mech attempted to fire, only one laser hit, scoring the left leg.

I turned to face the third enemy and fired both medium lasers, trading fire with it. Whatever the silver flash was, it smashed into my right arm’s shoulder shattering it, leaving it hanging limp. I gritted my teeth through the wash of pain from neuro-feedback.

Only one of the medium lasers hit.

I shouldn’t be feeling this type of damage. One more thing wrong with my mech. The dampeners on the neuro-feedback weren’t set to what they needed to or they’d failed. Every diagnostic and motion sensor was feeding back information to me without being filtered.

Needing to put distance between the them and myself, I moved away through the forest. Finding myself at the edge of the preserve, I abandoned it. The perimeter road would allow me to run fast, re-enter the preserve and engage from a different angle.

Moving full out down the road a few hundred meters, I reentered as damage warnings flashed again. One of the mechs followed me out and fired, scoring a minor hit on the weak rear right torso. It felt like something stabbed in and tore through my own flesh.

“Fuck,” I screamed.

My entry back into the preserve broke line of site with the chaser. and it was the same for me. Every sensor but the visual optics and my own two eyes had failed. A warning light flickered on the control board showing there was a fault in the sensor system.

“God damned piece of shit maintenance techs,” I screamed.

I ripped another tree out of the ground and moved back to the preserves edge. Maybe I could retreat further into the city and reengage. Maybe get a better position.

Exiting the preserve again, I found one of the mechs waiting there. The mech did a quick torso twist, firing its medium lasers. One hit.

Attempting to turn and keep myself on target while closing the distance to the enemy mech proved impossible. The conditions caused my chameleon to lose its footing. The mech's feet slid out from under me and the momentum carried it and I with it a few dozen meters down a side street ending on its side.

The neuro-feedback system insured I felt everything. Double vision and vertigo disoriented me.

It wasn’t too bad. I’d taken more at the hands of my fellow trainees during training. It'd been much worse. I started work immediately to upright his mech and get back in the fight.

The tree was still grasped in my mechs left arm. As the only functional arm, I’d need to to stand. I tossed the tree up past the canopy and began using my left arm as leverage to stand.

The mech I’d faced moments before falling, came around the corner. It stepped in a way the tree I’d had thrown caught between its legs, tripping it to the ground sending it's ugly face into a buildings side.

Now or never, I fought the controls of my mech to get it upright with only one hand and succeeded.

The enemy mech struggled as well to upright itself. I moved in and fired all of my remaining weapons weapons into the mechs rear using just visual sights.

Much to my surprise, they worked. I hit with all remaining lasers and the machine gun. Oh what luck.

I moved out from the side street leaving behind the struggling mech, and found myself face to face with another mech.

I fired all of my weapons again, the risk of actually overheating be damned. None of the medium lasers hit. Both were off target by several meters.

The gun sights had drifted.

I initiated the jump jets, hoping to avoid the silver flash which had shattered my mech’s right arm. Not fast enough. Whatever this weapon was, it slammed into my already damaged right torso, spinning my mech and me in it around.

Lucky for me the neuro-helmet didn’t cover my face and I vomited onto the console.

My mech ended up careening into a building, coming to rest on its back, partially against the building.

The neuro-feedback spiked again, disorienting me. The containment warning continued to flash and warble out its tune. I dry heaved then screamed, "Fuck you, you piece of shit. God damn those assholes for fucking me over with this piece of shit mech. All of you can burn in hell for this."

I struggled again to upright my Chameleon out of the building. This only caused pieces of the damaged building to fall on and around my mech.

The last mech moved up where I could see it and it fired. One of the lasers struck the cockpit, cutting off my view as it polarized. Something smashed into my torso, probably another one of those silver blurs.

The neuro-feedback proved too much and I passed out.

August 13th, 3050
Orbit around Blackjack V
Jade Falcon Union Dropship Pine Thrush

My mech lay on it’s back. If it wasn’t for the harness I'd have slid off the chair into the cockpit ceiling. All I could see were buildings twisted into a looming macabre form reaching up into a hazy azure sky.

"Come on, stand up, stand up you piece of shit," I growled.

Power was still on. Green across the board on everything. The damn mech wouldn’t move.

The sensor display pinged with contacts moving ever closer. "They're coming. Can't stand up. Can't stand up. They're coming. Get up. They're coming. Get up. Get up, Damn it get up." I screamed the last part as the sensor contacts converged.

A shadow loomed over, blocking the azure sky.
.
"Oh god. Oh god. Oh god." A silver flash filled the canopy before the world went dark.

I screamed or tried to, only a harsh rasp came forth as I jumped from dream to reality. .i opened my eyes. My heart raced at the speed of light. Men on each side of me slammed me back down. My left arm felt weird. A woman did something to a machine with a tube running to an IV port on my right arm.

"What what's going on? Where am I? My mech? Who are you?" Each word mumbled out in between rapid breaths. I looked to each person around me.

Derealization set in. The world continued around a second behind itself. The fear and anxiety waited at the edge of time. The expressions of the three there seemed indifferent to my existence. The man on my left crushed my arm in a grip made of steel.

A nurse or doctor, that’s what this woman was. She checked my chest and stomach. I had no shirt on. They could see everything. I could feel her touch but I couldn’t see it until my third try when I successfully looked down. A strange blue worm ran the from above my left breast down to below my belly button.

"What's that?" I said or tried to, uttering only a slur of rasping gibberish. Dry. My throat a desert.

Three more times I asked what the blue worm was. Finally, the nurse broke her silence, "Shut up while I do my work."

The sound took its time to filter in. I quieted, listened, and wondered while I listened and wondered why I wondered. The nurse finished her examination.

She retrieved a cup of water. "Drink," she said. Holding it to my lips. This activity was well within my area of expertise I drank the waters of life. The nurse then moved to the IV

The world swam away into the sea of unconsciousness.

I jerked awake hitting my head on a hard unyielding surface.

"Ow ow ow ow." I rubbed my head. This was no vague and surreal med bay.

"Where am I?" I groaned into the darkness. Feeling around, it was a bunk, one typical of a dropship or jumpship.

Wiping the sleep crud from my eyes, I found something weighed my left arm down. A cast or brace of sorts. Flexing the fingers found them weak. Around my right wrist was a bracelet of sorts. Some sort of cord or rope-like material with no catch or release.

Outside of that, it was only me, a sheet, and a small pillow in the bunk. Whoever placed me here had undressed me, leaving me naked.

I slid open the privacy curtain to see the bunkroom. A few LED's scattered around the room provided a faint illumination with the overhead lights off. Sitting up on the edge of the bunk took some effort. My body felt stiff from an apparent lack of movement. I found my feet rested on the floor. Someone had been kind of enough to put me on the bottom bunk. Standing up I held onto the edge of the bunk above for support.

In the faint illumination, the bunkroom appeared to be one similar to those found on a union class dropship.

Taking my first step to the light switch, I stumbled. This was not from poor coordination or damage sustained to his body. I estimated it was only half gravity. This dropship was in space. I managed to get balance quickly and make my way to the switch.

Dialing the lights up, the room flooded with a soft yellow fluorescence causing me to squint my eyes. Although the bunk room appeared to have been occupied, no one else was in the room at the moment. Thank god no one had to see me naked. I looked down at myself. There indeed was a blue line running down the length of my torso. Feeling over it, it was slightly shallower than the rest of my skin. I was definitely going to scar.

"So much for having near matching breasts."

There were a few other spots on my skin of the same blue. They were mostly contained to my torso and thighs with a few on my arms. The cast probably meant a broken arm. I felt a slight ache as if I had overexerted myself. My fingers felt a bit weak, but otherwise, I could move them, although I couldn’t move my hand at the wrist to check that since the cast locked it in place.

The cord on my wrist consisted of three cords woven together. Each a different shade of green. It was not tight but it was not loose enough I could slip it off. The cord had the gloss of a synthetic and appeared to have been fused shut. Strange, but there must be some reason for this. It didn’t appear to be anything other than a woven bracelet.

I found that a set of clothes had been placed on the single table in the room. They consisted of a pair of boots, underclothes, and a dark green jumpsuit.

Moving over to the small sanitation station in the room, I took a good look at my face. There was a blue mark on my forehead. I ran my right hand over the facial hair. “This has got to go, but I guess it’ll have to wait.”

I should get dressed before anyone walked in. The jumpsuit was like any other I’d ever wore before with the exception, of there being a pin on each lapel. It was a matching set of an unfamiliar green bird posed as if it had swooped down to strike.

My bladder called for my attention. I need to find the head.

Satisfied that everything was in place, I moved to the bunkroom door, opened it, and almost stepped outside. Leaning against the wall of the hallway across from the door was the largest person I’d ever seen. Musclebound didn’t even begin to describe them. I was 1.72 meters at the last physical. I guessed they had to be over 2 meters tall. Their arm muscles were almost as thick as my head. They could have been male or female, I wasn’t sure. It might be pecs, it might be breasts. They have a uniform on, being dressed in a tank top, and dark green cargo pants. I couldn’t see a name.

The person gave me a smirk. "You have never seen an elemental before with her armor off, quiaff?"

"Uhh, No. I don’t even know what an elemental is, and how tall are you?"

"You spheroids all react the same. 2.4 meters."

"Uh. Are you even human?" I had to know.

They laughed. "Aff."

“What?”

"Yes. Aff means yes."

"Huh?"

"You will figure it out. It is good you awoke. I am to escort you to the head and then to the med bay. Come with me."

I didn't move quick enough it seems.

"Do not waste time." This elemental said as they reached out and laid hold of my shoulder. God, the hand felt solid. Her grip pulled me along like I was nothing. Rather than be dragged, I moved. She let go when I did. I rubbed my shoulder. That would probably leave a mark.

The elemental led me to the head. I saw others as tall as this elemental, and others that had builds smaller than me. Seeing the other elementals in comparison, I could differentiate the sexes. My guess was that my escort was a she. I didn’t want to be rude in asking.

The head was typical of a dropship, no different than any other dropship or jumpship I’d been on. She followed me in probably to make sure I wasn’t up to anything. Awkward but expected of whoever these people were considering I might be a prisoner.

After that, she led me through the dropship to the med bay. She sent me through the door, staying outside. A woman, the same one as before I think, was there. She wore a jumpsuit like mine, but with rank and insignia of some sort met me. I think the markings were of being a medic. There a name patch over her left breast. Ellen.

“I am Scientist Ellen. Take an empty bed. Take your clothes off. I need to inspect your wounds." She ordered me.

"Sure thing." There were a few other patients, most of them looking really banged. I went to the nearest free bed. I removed everything but my underwear.

Ellen had followed me. "I said everything. All your clothes. You spheroids are a prudish lot."

"Uh, Okay." My anxiety flipped on. Being naked around others, especially strangers, never felt right. Rather than cause a scene, I dropped my skivvies.

She didn’t seem to care how I looked. "Get up on the bed and lie down".

I did. She pulled out a few packages the size of a candy bar from her jumpsuit and gave them to me.

"Eat these. You need the calories. The medicine you are on has killed your appetite. You do not feel it, but you have not had any solid food in almost three days and have not had anything to eat since the day before yesterday.

Opening the wrapper, I found they didn't look any different than the meal bars I'd seen in the rations we used at school on training exercises. They didn't taste any different than the energy bars and certainly didn’t taste better but I worked on gagging them down.

While eating, Ellen inspected each blue section of skin.

"What's with the blue skin?" I asked between a bite.

"It is a generic artificial skin graft. The color will fade and leave a scar over time. You're lucky or so I have been told. The intake notes for you said that your cockpit canopy shattered. Several pieces cut you in various locations on your body. I did not participate in your surgery, but the notes say you had minimal internal damage. You are up and seem well, so it does appear you are okay. Your only broken bone was a fractured rib which was repaired during surgery to close your wounds. The damage could have been a worse."

"What about this then?" Proust waved his left arm encased in a cast.

"That was from two days ago. You woke up from a nightmare and disconnected your IV by accident. Two warriors had to hold you down until you woke up. That's when your arm broke.”

Proust felt with his good arm the blue mark down his chest.

The woman continued. "You've been implanted with a time release analgesic, which will wear off in about fifteen hours. At that point, don't do anything to stress it out. No exercise, no strenuous activity. Not for 48 hours at least. By then the rib should be solid again. The skin grafts are good as they are now. Other than that fine. Now get dressed."

Not wasting time, I dressed. Just a tiny bit more comfortable. "Where am I? All I know is this is a union class dropship." I asked while putting on the jumpsuit.

"Aff. You are aboard the dropship Pine Thrush. I believe we're currently in orbit around Blackjack V."

"How long was I out overall? What day is it?"

"All I know bondsman, is you have been here for six days after you were pulled out of your mech."

"Why do you keep calling me that? This word bondsman what does it mean?"

"It is your status since you were captured. Star Captain Jason Eagle will explain the rest to you. I am just a member of the science caste and not a warrior."

"Who is this Star Captain?" This was no captain rank I’d ever heard of in any military familiar to me.

"I do not have much time for these questions. Keep them for the Star Captain. We need to go over your medical records."

"Okay," I’d have to bide my time for answers.

"We were able to pull your medical records from the school where you trained. I have not gone over them yet so we will go over them now. Your current identifier is Grant Nicholas Proust. Age nineteen. Birthday is June 19th, 3031. Home planet is New Earth.” The med tech looked up with a curious expression.

"Correct."

"Have you ever been to Terra?" The way she said it, i didn’t think this was on the intake form.

"Yes"

Ellen looked incredulous. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, my father owns several jumpships and dropships." I scowled, not liking the memories this brought up. "Several of the ships had trade routes through Sol system."

She smiled. "Interesting. The records we recovered show you are up to date with required local vaccinations. We have taken the liberty of giving you other necessary vaccinations while you were unconscious. You are on several medications. Dimelriestrol Palmitate, which is an artificial estrogen, and Andrastagone, an androgen blocker. Are you currently taking these medications as prescribed?”

"Um. Yes except for the last six days while I’ve been here." I swallowed nervously. They were going to ask about it.

"Excuse me, Scientist Ellen," a voice interrupted.

I looked up past the nurse to the source. A man, about my height, wearing a jumpsuit with insignia looking to denote being a mech pilot stood there. He looked like a Drac, and had several scars visible on his head and arms.

"Star Captain," Ellen said, "I was just going through in-processing with the bondsman."

"I would like a word alone with the bondsman for a moment then you can have him all to himself."

"Yes, sir.” She set her datapad down on a stand next to the bed I sat on and went into an office.

The Star Captain turned to me. "I know some things may seem confusing to you. I am Star Captain Jason Eagle of Clan Jade Falcon. I am going to make a few things clear on your status. You are a bondsman now and my prisoner. You are not a prisoner of war as you would think. Your status is more than that." he pointed to the green cord on my right arm. "That is your bond cord. Each cord symbolizes the three basic virtues of a warrior. Integrity, Loyalty, and Talent for Combat. Should you demonstrate those in your time of servitude, the corresponding cord will be cut. Until then you are my prisoner and will serve me in the role of a laborer as I see fit. Do you understand, quiaff?

“I’ll admit I’m confused about this, but I guess that’s too be expected. I think the answer you need is aff, quiaff?”

"Aff.” The Star Captain smiled. “You are learning. That is good. You are not familiar with our way of life, but you will have the chance to learn. I promise that if you follow the three virtues while you serve me, I will treat you with fairness. You have impressed me greatly."

I couldn’t help but smile at his small bit of praise.

"I looked over the records recovered by our science caste from the school you attended. I also went over the battleroms of your mech, mine, and those of my two fellow clansmen who engaged with you in battle six days ago. In all, you managed to cripple one mech, and temporarily disabled another. This was while your mech was unfit for combat. Your primary weapon system was inoperative. Your jump system was in disrepair. Your targeting system was malfunctioning. Your armor was below full strength. Yet you still fought like a devil. I had to shoot your mech out from under you to stop you. Given your situation, I agree with your choice to close with an enemy you did not know the capabilities of. Even though it is considered barbaric, your use of a tree as a melee weapon and a means to trip a mech was tactically genius considering the situation.”

I sure wasn’t going to let the Star Captain know it was completely unintentional about tripping the mech. That was pure luck.

“There is something I want to talk with you about. To put it bluntly, you are an oddity. Why was your mech in disrepair, when none of the others were? I have checked the administration and maintenance records for your school. The majority of maintenance logs were logged by you. You did what you could, but without proper maintenance support, you were in effect sabotaged."

And there goes my anxiety. It always returns to this. Why is this always a problem? Why does it matter?

“You should not have been left alone in the park. Your three lance mates were dishonorable when they left their position. If they had been with you to ambush us and they fought as well as you did, we might not be here having this conversation. Why did your lance-mates desire above all else to abandon you and call you what I am told are derogatory names? I could find nothing in the school's administration records beyond hints that you were a problem to them. A few of the other students were made bondsmen by other warriors and I was able to interview them. They did not speak highly of you and seemed ashamed of something but would not admit to what it was. Your tenacity and resourcefulness in the face of certain death are quite at odds with how you are were depicted. Your training scores were mediocre compared to the rest of the school. You still outperformed any expectations they had. Right now you are a bondsman to Clan Jade Falcon. If you commit yourself, there is potential for you to pilot a mech again, to be a warrior. Your future depends on how you answer this. Why did you end up in this situation? What happened that caused you to draw this ill will?” The man paused for me to answer.

“I,” I looked away and stopped. Why? Why did he have to ask that? Shit, shit shit, why can’t anyone just leave me alone about this?

The star captain spoke when I did not. "We are not dishonorable like most in the Inner Sphere. Integrity is the best policy. I have seen your medical records, and there were things I did not understand. I sought an answer from our science caste."

He knows. Shit. I looked him in the eye. "I'm Transgender."

"Is this the truth? Is this why they hated you so much?"

"Yes." I spit out. "Everyone at the school looked down upon me. The dominant religion here is a form of post-Star League orthodox catholicism bullshit. Most of the administrative staff were locals and followed it. The rest of the students picked up on the staff's attitude and saw it as weakness. I'm not from Blackjack, but I am here because of being transgender. My father sent me here, hoping it would fix me, hoping it would cure me." I realized I’d been ranting, and worked on taking deep breaths to calm myself.

The Star Captain laughed and said something I didn’t expect, "Fools. To waste talent such as yours because they are afraid of something so meaningless to the job at hand is ridiculous. Thank you for your honesty bondsman. You fought well on the battlefield. You must serve as bondsman for a time as we all would in a similar situation. I will leave you now to the care of the science caste for your education and recuperation.”

"Will being transgender will be a problem?" I asked.

"Neg. You may be amused by this or not, but we do not care. You will receive what medical care is necessary to maintain your abilities. If you prove yourself, obtain warrior status, and bring honor to the clan, you will succeed. If not, then it is no loss. The only standards and traditions we follow are our own. So long as you are able to perform all your duties and responsibilities as a member of Clan Jade Falcon, then it matters not what you are. I will be seeing you again. I have high hopes for you, and I hope you serve this clan well, no matter what you choose. I have other duties I must go now. I bid you farewell.”

The Star Captain didn’t wait for me to say anything further. He turned and left the med bay. This was so not what I expected. This was great. It was a few minutes before Ellen returned. She continued from where she had left off.

At the end, she surprised me. "None of your records will be official until you confirm them. If there is anything you think should be changed, or added to, you can do so now. This includes your name."

"Won't it be the same as what it already is, what you pulled?"

"It can be whatever you want it to be. I have done what I can to learn of about any medical or psychological conditions of those who fall under my care. Logically I can see there are some things you would consider and desire because of it."

"I'd like to make a change then."

"On what?" The looked at me with no sign of disgust or hatred. She was merely waiting for me to speak. The entire time, this Scientist Ellen had been professional, focused on her work and me as a patient.

"My name. Corinne. Put my name as Corinne. C...o...r...i...n...n...e."

The nurse typed the name into her datapad. "Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of right now."

"Welcome to Clan Jade Falcon, bondsman Corinne. Tell me how do you feel?"

I took in a deep breath. I ran through the events I’d experienced over the last two years up to what the Star Captain had said. "Surprisingly okay, all things considered."