Hefusts Explores the Inner Sphere

You accept the small cube that the duke's courier presses into your hand, and then push off from the airlock, enjoying the zero-gravity environment of the moment. Soon enough, the craft would resume a parking orbit spin to support an overwatch. It was a good change of pace from the oppressively heavy gravity of Duran. Whatever message the duke had for you, it was so sensitive that the duke had been unwilling to broadcast it, sending a physical datacube into orbit on a shuttle instead.

The duke had also sent a load of fresh vegetables and meat, nominally the excuse for sending the shuttle and a welcome gift given the monotony of shipboard rations. Hydroponics was a difficult art sometimes. You spare a brief moment for regret for the aggressive vines you'd ordered burned off the outer wings of the UCSR shuttle, and then make your way to the command center, sitting down in your private ready room before opening your hand to reveal the datacube. Slotting it into the console, you find that it contains a holomessage and an encrypted data dump. You push a button, and a small copy of Fred appears.

"My house security team has uncovered a number of unsettling facts about my would-be assassin," he says, without preamble. "He was fify-five years old and originally came from Furillo. In fact, he was in one of the Furillo BPM militia's Special Response Teams from 2976 to 2978, after which he abruptly retired early, moved to Tharkad, and became involved in trading and breeding horses. He did quite well, facilitating the sale of a pair of Paso Finos to Archon Giovanni's stables in 2980. He left the horse business permanently and abruptly in 2981."

You pause the recording and pull up your private notes. As you thought, Furillo is one of the personal holdings of House Steiner, the homeworld of Alessandro Steiner and his personal playground until the year 2980. 2980 was, of course, the year that Alessandro became Archon after Giovanni Steiner died in an equestrian accident. In 3001, the duchy of Furillo was inherited by a then-seventeen-year-old Iris Steiner, Fred's second cousin - the granddaughter of Daniel Steiner, who had been Giovanni's brother. The speed at which Steiner generations pass surprised you a little when you started going through the family tree - Daniel Steiner died at the age of 35, and his son Raymond only lived to see 37. Furillo makes this seem like a family affair. You unpause the video.

"He received a suspiciously large payments from two different sources shortly before traveling to Duran. One payment was linked to a discretionary expense account associated with Kelly Communications of Gallery. The other was a transaction denominated in C-bills, likely of international origin. He kept a coded diary." Fred frowns. "The investigators from my house guard believe he was hired to kill me by two different parties. Queries to the LIC have been met with uninformative responses. I cannot trust the central institutions of the Lyran government."

You pause the message again. The sitting Duchess of Gallery is Nondi Steiner, although she's expected to pass her title on to one of her children soon. Her husband, Jack Milby, is a wealthy Gallery industrialist who - among many other holdings - owns a seven percent share of Kelly Communications. You rub your forehead. It's a coincidental tie, but a suggestive one.

"Months ago, you fought against my forces in the Dorman System. Now I beg you to help me in this struggle against unknown enemies. I regret that I am unable to present my request to you in person, but my world is in danger of attack and I'm afraid a straightforward trip to Tharkad will provoke an pre-emptive strike against my base of support here on Duran. I will be in an unassuming cargo ship that you are instructed to seize in lieu of delinquent payment. My body double on Duran will angrily confirm the seizure as settlement of our debts and ask the Duke of Summer to assist him on Duran. You must see me safely delivered to the capital on Tharkad. This is my most desperate hour. Help me, Henry Harrison. You're my only hope."

The image of Fred fizzles out, replaced by a floating string of text and numbers, which you jot down on a piece of paper. This turns out to be the decryption key for the data files, which include a much longer written proposal with more details. Fred doesn't just want to be delivered to Tharkad; he wants to have a hidden force of BattleMechs ready to perform critical special operations. His salvaged Warmaster and three other BattleMechs are packed as cargo on the civilian ship, along with a team of loyalists. He's offered a generous array of incentives for you - on the personal or political level.

This is possibly an epilogue moment for this particular spin-off quest, but some closing decisions are still warranted, I think.
Fred's plan is already in motion, the innocuous-looking cargo ship chugging along towards the jump point.

Loose ends to address:

• Nudezretians:
  • Leave the Nudezretians landed on the planet (most notably Cretu forces) behind and in the dark.
  • Tell the Nudezretians that this is their last chance to ride out of here.
• JumpShips:
  • Take the Obelisk to Tharkad.
  • Make Fred arrange for a separate JumpShip. Send the Obelisk home with critical information.
• Sudden yet inevitable betrayal.
  • No betrayal. You're going to back this play he's making. The potential benefit to Hefusts is too great.
  • Abandon your homeworld. You're looking forward to becoming a Lyran duke.
  • Betray Fred immediately by taking the cargo ship and jumping home.
  • Drop Fred off on Tharkad and then head back to Hefusts.
• BattleMech shenanigans
  • Take the opportunity to steal Fred's trophy Warmaster.
  • Try to equip Fred's BattleMechs with stealth systems en route, he's going to need it.
  • Lend Fred and his trio of loyal hand-picked MechWarriors stealth BattleMechs if there's a covert mission.

A 5-person vote looks pretty decisive to me, given the track record. Any objections to closing and moving forward with writing the epilogue to tie off this side quest?

Alright, looks like it's pretty unanimous.

Pilot Wendell Sanders-Harris buttoned up in his cockpit. He was glad to take off into space again. It'd been damnably hard to avoid that Anya girl planetside, but it would be effortless in the cockpit of his Solidarity starfighter - and the flight would be a long haul alongside the shuttle back catch up to the Hefustians. He would be separated by cold hard vacuum from the shuttle full of unwelcome reminders of his infidelity to his wife. His now-former wife, Katherine Hodge-Smith. Or rather, legally, his never-was wife, a solution that Colonel Ludmilla Taylor-Smith pointed out would avoid charges of adultery.

Not that they'd been close, but she was well-connected, and their marriage assignment was one with strong prestige potential. They'd been assessed a high reproductive quota even before having a first child. The annulment papers that Colonel Ludmilla Taylor-Smith had prepared put an end to all that. Now he was legally married to a woman who was so stupid that she could barely speak English. His child would probably end up working as a janitor or something.

Hopefully the new trainee copilot that Major Ina Bailey-Richardson had assigned him wouldn't be too chatty. Wendell was looking forward to several days of peace and quiet. He looked over, watching as the trainee finished climbing the ladder up into the cockpit. The baggy flight suit was clearly too large for the pudgy little guy. Probably wouldn't pass fitness standards once they were back in the Union.

"I is say checklist interior now," a feminine voice said, crackling into his ears. "Husband Pilot Wendell, is the objects loose or objects foreign in the cockpit?"


There was a knock on the office door. "Enter," said Major Giorgio Kontos.

"Sir, what's this about the Obelisk leaving the system?" Captain Leo Tsakalotos held a crumpled flimsy in his hand.

"Nothing to worry about, we have other commitments now." The major smiled. "Cretu is on the cusp of claiming its first extrasystem territory. I was just talking things over with the Duke of Summer, and it was really quite an eye-opening experience. He helped me put things into perspective."

"Sir," the captain said. Then he paused, sucking in a long breath in and out. "If we do not go home, this all means nothing. My men have been waiting for two years. Two years, loyally waiting to bring Cretu's greatest prize home while the Nukashubans laughed at us."

"About that. I have good news. It's a rare sort of ship, something of a collector's value on it, and the Duke of Summer offered to lend his technicians to take a look at it to service the engine and check it for problems. He's willing to trade a dreadnought for it, and a pile of cash besides, if it's in good condition." Major Giorgio Kontos smiled.

Captain Leo Tsakolotos grimaced. "You haven't agreed to anything yet," he said.

"No. But the Hefustians have burned their bridges with our new allies, and the Inner Sphere has plenty more jumpships. We can book passage back to Dorman's World soon enough." The Major nodded. "So, it doesn't even matter that I had the fuel tanks of the Prize drained and the engine opened up for deep inspection, and that it can't fly right now. We've more important things to do than race home."


Aldo Lestrade fumed. He'd stayed too long. He should have left when the lion's share of the Periphery mercenaries fled, and now, it felt like he was wasting his time. For the last three weeks, Frederick's secretary had made it much more difficult to get in to see him, and Frederick himself had been shockingly resistant to Aldo's charm on the occasions when he'd been able to talk with him. Sure, on the surface, Frederick was polite and agreeable, but every time a concrete course of action was put in front of him, he agreeably tabled it for further study and then did ... nothing.

It was a striking change in personality, all the more striking because Frederick had previously seemed to have less depth than his rooftop koi pond. Aldo stared glumly at the koi pond, the decorative mosaics at the bottom clearly visible. Suddenly, there was a low rumble. Concentric ring waves raced inwards from the edge of the koi pond as the fish darted around in panic. Aldo sipped the glass of white wine in his hand and frowned.

The servant manning the bar on the rooftop put a hand up to his ear and turned pale white. "He's dead," the servant said, looking over at Aldo. "They killed him. He's dead."

"What?" Aldo blinked.

"The duke is dead," the servant said. "His new Zeus, the one that arrived on the ship from Hesperus II yesterday, the special prototype with the binary laser. The cockpit was rigged."

"That was a personal gift from the CEO of Defiance Industries," Aldo said. His frown deepened, in thought more than in sadness.


"The major was so distraught by the duke's death that he wasn't watching where he was going," Captain Tsakalotos said. "Unfortunately, in his condition and late at night, the cliff's edge was not visible. Do I have that correct?"

The sergeant nodded. "Yes, sir. Not a man will question that, sir. Not after you showed them what you showed me from his desk."


And with that, folks, we're closing up the side quest. Hope you enjoyed this little jaunt. How things shake out on Tharkad will depend partly on what happens in the main quest next. Fred is presumed dead, incognito, and has stealth BattleMechs to help him in any ... energetic discussion.