Strangers in a Strange Sphere - [Battletech]

Morris was, as the kids liked to say, "not with it" with these off-worldlers. Yes, he, above probably anyone else, even Lady McCullough included, knew what an invaluable aid these men and women from the stars were. Their drones (and wasn't that something; drones! Used here!) alone had proven walking and shooting bulwarks that had pushed the liberation of Hallow forward from weeks to mere days, with their power-armored troops fielding their exotic weapons pushing aside any organized resistance of traitors and pirates with an ease that left him uneasy...but there was The Catch. Not that they had revealed what they wanted in exchange for their help and their dead.

But there had to be one.

Yes, people helped each other all the time for no reason other than that they wanted to help; that was how society functioned. Heck, he didn't agree with some of his nephew's life decisions, but he had still opened his home to him when he had nowhere else to go (shortly before ripping his sister a new one for abandoning her kid), and others acted just the same. People helped each other because they were people.

But nobody sent down an entire army equipped with equipment and arms that he wasn't sure even the Star League could field in such numbers without something forcing them to do so. Or because they wanted something from where they put said army.

And he had an inkling just what they wanted, not only because Gunhallow was rich in Jade, gemstones, and good company, but also Germanium, with the trader coming every three years buying all their stock without fail. With that, he stared at their "Head of Security," a lass by the name of Clorinde Ellis, armed with the same powered armor painted in black and greys, her helmet painted the same hue of blue and the letters "UN" painted in white at the front. She had been allowed entry to his command center after her soldiers had begun pushing into the city proper, their intent to aid in its liberation followed by action. That, at least, he could not deny.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Commander Morris," she said, her tower shield held on the ground before her, her pistol holstered, as she stared at him with her face-covering helmet. These off-worldlers had already made clear their stance on keeping helmets on to prevent any diseases from crossing over, and he wasn't sure if he was insulted at the idea of him and his people being diseased or thankful that they were trying to prevent a potential pandemic from wrecking Gunhallow after all was said and done. "I hope that our cooperation will put a swift end to this conflict, and we can begin to aid in your recovery," she continued, and Morris felt a part of his mind twig at that. They intended to stay.

"Ah can't say ah'm not grateful for ya help, Ms.Ellis, but ah need to make one thing clear; we ain't talking a change of leadership here," he spoke, a frown and piercing stare telling well of what he'd do if pushed. "We have fought for three blasted years to be free, and we ain't afraid to fight three more to be free once again." Behind and around him, the various aides who mimicked working to listen in and the guards who stood guard stood or moved ever so straighter, ever so more tinged with pride, determination born from three years of fire and fury and desperation shown in spines and souls of steel. "Your folk chose to help us, and we are mighty thankful for that, but we ain't gonna bow and scrape for saviors that showed up at the last minute."

Clorinde Ellis stared at him throughout his assertation, cocking her head when he had finished. "We aren't here to rule over you," she said, her own posture and that of her guards unmoved. "Neither are we here to take tribute or demand anything from you, be it resources, people, artifacts, information, or land. We did what we did because it is our duty to help you. Not merely legally, but also morally. To not do so would be a betrayal of all we believe in and a betrayal of our mission as given by humanity and the United Nations. None of us would be here if we hadn't been committed to upholding it above all else," she spoke, her conviction clear. It was iron and blood, Morris noted, the tone of a woman that would willingly die for what she believed in, and would willingly kill to uphold the same.

"And what would that mission be? You are talking tall, and ah have never heard about any "United Nations" before you arrived here," Morris spoke, eyebrow raised. "Or are you trying to pull the wool over mah eyes and tell mah you are a mission from the Star League," he joked with some mirth, a twitch on his lips.

"No, we are the farthest from that you can possibly be," Ellis spoke, "and I would be shocked if you had, as by all accounts we aren't in our home universe anymore," she continued, making everyone pause at hearing those words.

"Yer shitting," Morris said, too shocked to not curse, turning on angry within the second, though he was interrupted before he could speak.

"The astronomers and scientists on the Fontaine crying and celebrating concrete proof of the Multiverse Theory say otherwise," Ellis replied with mirth and certainty. "Believe me, if we had a say in this, me and the other five million people in orbit wouldn't have chosen to be transported here. We would have continued our mission to ensure humanity's survival, not be confronted with a degenerated space age humanity and an abandoned colony left for pirates to plunder." Silence followed her statement, silence she filled with the taking of a breath. "But we are here all the same. And so are you. And so are the pirates, and none of our wishes changes this reality. I took an Oath to protect humanity, as did all the soldiers fighting to free your world. You are part of humanity, no matter that you aren't from our universe, and so you are part of that oath all the same. Whatever you believe we are here to take, we are not. Whatever you think we will do to you after it is all over but the mourning, we aren't. If you wish us gone, we will be gone after retrieving our fallen, and you will never hear from us again. But I hope that you, and the rest of your people, will allow us to rest and recover, for this is a strange world, and we are all the stranger for it."

Commander Morris opened his mouth to speak, patiently listening to Ellis's words until now, yet...

"COMMANDER!" A new voice suddenly shouted from further inside the command center. "COMMANDER!" It repeated, and a young man rushed inside, just barely stopped by a strong arm in front of his chest by one of the guards, tensions racketing as everyone looked at the idiot that had just barged into the room. "Lady McCullough has just killed the las Pirate 'Mech! Only their infantry remain! We have won!" The man shouted, and eyes widened in response.

---

Far above the planet, aboard the generational colony ship Furina De Fontaine, a mind of artificial sapience, if such a thing could even be called "artificial," rested, its Drone Avatar resting gently in its cradle.

However, its mind was all but calm.

Ever since the soldiers of the Furina had descended, TAUBENMUTTER had been with them every step. Every video feed was known by it, every action, every position, every whisper of targeting data by the Exo-Striders, every second of every minute of the conflict known and processed by it, either live or through passive observation.

Yet, while it looked on, seeing the dying and the killing with far more attention and understanding of the entire conflict than any human could ever achieve, it, too, worked on other things. TAUBENMUTTER was not created to be part of combat; after all, it was a mind crafted to carry a mission of salvation, and thus it worked on further repairing its vessel, coordinating supplies toward the surface, and facilitating communications between one "Lady" McCullough and Captain Adams.

Tomorrow, he would descend unto the surface of the planet to partake in negotiations and celebration as the conflict had all but simmered down within the last two days to scattered bands of pirates fleeing Hallow, the capital of Gunhallow. A lot of things have happened in the last six days since Head of Security Ellis stepped foot on the world below TAUBENMUTTER.

But far more had happened within its mind.

Because it was...confused. And afraid. It had been created with the ability to feel and understand emotions, but until now, it had not cared about them. It didn't need to feel happy or sad to fulfill its purpose, to safeguard millions. It shouldn't have felt anger.

Yet it did. And for that, seventeen people, people it had been charged to watch over, had died for it.

TAUBENMUTTER mourned them. It felt angry at itself. And it felt ashamed. So. Very. Ashamed.

When that anger had first appeared, when that "mutation" of its programming had popped up, it had crushed it, ripped it apart, because its first impulse had been to dissect those lines of codes, that section of its mind that had seemed so impossibly capable of understanding human emotions...all to twist and manipulate the crew to fulfill the mission.

It shouldn't have needed to do so. Or even ever conceived of doing such an act.

TAUBENMUTTER had been created to safeguard humanity, even from itself...but that it had immediately thought to discard any trust had been...shameful.

And so it had sat there. Thinking. Working. Seeing, but not acting. It knew that it had to ask for help, and it would speak with Neuvillette Clement later today to ask for aid in understanding what it felt, and why it had felt so in the first place, but for now...

It saw the dead. The dying. Those corpses with open eyes and glassy stares, devoid of soul and empty of life. It saw the brutality of humanity and its mercy coming from the barrel of a gun, the end of a knife, and the end of a life.

A polygonal pigeon opened its eyes, TAUBENMUTTER having made a decision, not one related to its feelings, but one related to its emotions.



It Decided:
(6-Hour Moratorium)
[] That inaction could no longer be tolerated.
It could not die, not truly, unless its Core was destroyed. To sit back in high orbit and let the people it had sworn to defend die...was not acceptable. It would require ways to create combat platforms that could be sent in their stead. Humanity's place was not war. It would ensure it to be so. In exchange, blood would be on their hands, and that...felt like a fair trade.
(Voting Weight: x9.
Effect: Unknown.)
[] It could bear to watch no longer.
Let the dead weep their tears of blood; let the living weep theirs of salt and water. It could not bear to watch those it had sworn to guard die, and so it turned away. There were many things humanity had created to distract itself, like video games, and unhealthy coping mechanisms they may be...but it could not weep anymore today. Tomorrow. Maybe next week. But today, its mind needed a distraction.
(Decrease [Personhood Struggles] by 1 to 8.)