Blood of a Warrior (A Battletech Quest)

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1.

STRANA MECHTY, CLAN HOMEWORLDS
DEEP PERIPHERY
21 OCTOBER 3030

Life.

Life is defined by struggle. The struggle to survive, to overcome adversity, to master every obstacle set before it. Since the dawn of time this has been an immutable law of the universe, applied without exception in every form, from the most insignificant single celled bacteria to the mightiest of conquerors. The strong prevail, and the weak are forgotten.

So it has been for you.

Though you have yet no conception of it, your journey to this moment has been an odyssey of struggle and strength. A tale millennia in the telling, that has stretched across the stars themselves.
When life arose from the sea, and conquered the land, when the first hominids walked upright and strode across old Terra, when the ancient empires of man clashed and sharpened themselves upon each others swords, before launching heavenwards to carve glory from the void itself. They were laying the way for you.

For without their primordial strength to serve as a foundation there would have been no mighty Star League to unite humanity in one brotherhood, no Great Father to lead us upon the Exodus Road, no Founder to free us from the weakness of the old societies.

The strong prevail.

And so have you. From the thousands that raised their voices in support of our way, who have honed themselves in the trials. It was your gene father and mother who proved themselves as worthy above all others. It is their blood that will run in your veins, their strength that will serve as a blueprint for your own.

Even then you have already proved yourself exceptional in the company of your unnumbered siblings who will never be. Here in this birthing centre you have been chosen as the most promising individual out of a dozen fertilized embryos, tested for and marked as possessing only the most worthy of characteristics.
Your gestation within the technological marvel of the iron womb under the careful supervision of the scientist-caste geneticists was a trial you overcame, where so many others faltered and were recycled.

To reach this moment, you have already proven yourself in a thousand ways, and reached a pinnacle of humanity untouchable for so many others. This however is not the end of your journey. The greatness to which you will aspire has only just begun.

Now as you are decanted from the cask of amniotic fluid that until now has been your world, take your first breaths of this air. Let us hear your warrior's cry as you announce yourself as the newest member of our clan.

Ahead of you lies a life of trial and struggle. A worthy path upon which you will prove your spirit and and the strength of your blood. Your victories will not only be your own, but a testament to all those who have come before you. Those uncountable heroes whose triumphs have places you here in our hands.
It will not be easy, and none here would wish it to be so, for only the mightiest may stand to be counted at our side.

But I know in my heart that you will succeed. For you were born beneath the symbol of the...


[ ] Wolf

With pride and tenacity, your forebears have ever strived to lead by example.


[ ] Falcon

Fierce ambition, tempered by strict traditionalism drives your blood to excel.


[ ] Jaguar

Your kin bring an unmatched ferocity against which few foes can stand.


[X] Bear

Patience in the hunt and devotion to family has kept your ancestors strong.


Your inheritance is victory, you are bred for combat, to be an apex predator in an age of interstellar war. You are a child of Kerensky and a trueborn warrior of the Clans.

Seyla.

 

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2.

STRANA MECHTY, CLAN HOMEWORLDS
DEEP PERIPHERY
5 JULY 3034

You are the newest cub of Clan Ghost Bear. An heir of Tseng and Jorgenssen. The Clan you have been born into is named for a mighty predator from the polar regions of Strana Mechty.

At the founding of the Clans when Kerensky himself ordered Sandra Tseng and Hans Jorgenssen to separate as part of his grand design for our new society, they found their love for each other was too strong to be broken even by loyalty to their leader. Rather than refuse the Founder directly, the pair fled into the wilds of Strana Mechty, determined to die together.
However at the brink of death they were taken in by a mother Ghost Bear who treated them as she would her own cubs, bringing them food and keeping them warm until the future khans were nursed back to health.

So it has been ever since within Clan Ghost Bear. ilKhan Kerensky recognized the unbreakable bond between Tseng and Jorgenssen and reversed his decision, allowing them to take the Ghost Bear that had been their salvation as totem for the clan they would found under his aegis.
Each member of our clan, from the youngest trueborn to the bondsman taken as isorla is part of that same bond, the same family. We will defend and protect our kind to the death.

With time, and in the care of the creche-workers you have grown from the mewling babe still slick with the fluids of the iron womb. A scientifically designed regimen of stimulating activities and environments has strengthened your body and brought forth the sharp eagerness of your infant mind. But where such sterile efforts alone would be sufficient for other Clans, for we of the Ghost Bears they would be worthless without the nurture and support that only a family can provide.

It was among the laughter and happiness of your carers and creche-mates that you took your first steps, and spoke your first words. They taught you the words of the Remembrance through song, and you relished hearing the rhythms and stories of the Exodus, the founding of the Clans, and the trials of the Golden Century. Tales of great deeds accomplished by those that came before you, and the vile enemies they overcame.

By your third birthday the training for your future had begun, the first exercises were playful, games of chasing and catching, overseen and guided by grizzled solahma warriors, Men and women too old to contribute their skills on the battlefield, but who still had a place to kindle the skill of the next generation. They were strict but, gentle, their white hair reminding you of the tales of the ghost bear.

As you began the long task of mastering and improving your physical capabilities, at the same time did your awareness of self blossom into being. For it is not enough for a warrior to be perfect in body and strength, there must also be a mind and a will to direct it.
So you also began to know yourself.

You are...

[X] Write in a Name (single first name only) and Description (eye colour, hair colour, gender, general size relative to other creche mates) Roland
-[X] His dark hair kept trimmed close and tight, his grey eyes watching everything around him. Roland cuts an "average" figure of fitness, finding himself at neither the low or high end for his gene-stock (which makes him small by Ghost Bear standards in some respects). He's all sharp angles and elbows right now, but given time to grow into his frame and face, he will be a striking figure for the clan. Some speculate his gene-lines carry a bit of the Wolf, but only his Codex and the Scientist Caste know for sure.



Pick two positive starting traits:

[ ] Gregarious- You enjoy the company of others, and naturally work well in a group.
[ ] Ambidextrous- you have the good fortune to be equally capable with either hand.
[X] Fast learner- You quickly grasp each new concept and task set before you.
[ ] Attractive- Even at a young age those around you remark upon your fine features.
[ ] Easy going- You get on well with others, even those with 'strong personalities', though some might think you a bit of a pushover, and that you lack focus.
[ ] Heightened Senses- You have keen eyesight ans sharp hearing, able to pick out small details even at great distance.
[X] Patient- You prefer to wait for the opportune moment to act.
[ ] Exceptional Strength- Perhaps from some elemental blood in your heritage you display a greater than average strength even at a young age.
[ ] Exceptional Reflexes- Even the quickest of your peers can find it hard to get the drop on you.
[ ] Exceptional Dexterity- Your fine motor skills are highly developed, and you are already capable of intricate tasks.
[ ] Exceptional Intellect- You have the ability understand concepts a a higher level than most.
[ ] Lucky- Things just seem to have habit of going your way.

Pick one negative starting trait:

[ ] Introvert- You shun the company of others, and prefer to keep to yourself when possible. (Cannot be taken with Gregarious)
[ ] Slow learner- You often struggle to understand new things at first, but through determination you get there in the end. (Cannot be taken with Fast Learner)
[X] Stubborn- You find it hard to get along with other strong willed people, but when you set yourself to a task you see it through to the end. (Cannot be taken with Easy going)
[ ] Ugly- You have a face only a mother could love, a pity you don't have one. (Cannot be taken with Attractive)
[ ] Impatient- You often rush into situations without thinking matters through (Cannot be taken with Patient)
[ ] Inferior Strength- You have been noted as being somewhat weaker than expected for your phenotype. (Cannot be taken with Exceptional Strength)
[ ] Inferior Reflexes- You are slower to react than most of the others. (Cannot be taken with Exceptional Reflexes)
[ ] Inferior Dexterity- You find fine detail work difficult, and need extra practice to instil muscle memory. (Cannot be taken with Exceptional Dexterity)
[ ] Inferior Intellect- You can grasp the basics of what you have been taught, but the interconnections with other areas often escape you. (Cannot be taken with Exceptional Intellect)
[ ] Unlucky- While not exactly clumsy or accident prone, things have a tendency to break or go wrong around you. (Cannot be taken with Lucky)

 

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3.

STRANA MECHTY, CLAN HOMEWORLDS
DEEP PERIPHERY
5 July 3039

You are Roland of Clan Ghost Bear, even by the age of eight your training has greatly intensified, allowing you to develop skills far in advance of your distant peers in the Inner Sphere. The childish games have given way to cross country marches, runs through the assault course and organised combat drills. Your have been taught the basics of martial arts, and small arms marksmanship.

And yet for all the focus on physical skills, the developmental of your intellect has been by no means neglected. Beyond the study of the Remembrance, you have been introduced to strategy, mathematics, literature, military history, and in accordance with Ghost Bear philosophy encouraged to explore artistic endeavour.
Your instructors have expounded on the moral supremacy of Clan society and highlighted the failings of the inferior neo-fuedal empires that hold the Inner Sphere within their oppressive grip.

You have adapted excellently to the increasing severity of the education program, your natural aptitude and measured temperament well suited to tackling each challenge you are presented with. There are others amongst your creche who do not fare quite so well, and the instructors are quick to dole out encouragement exercises to remind those that lag behind to redouble their efforts. You notice that a couple of your creche-mates how lag too far behind disappear from the group. When asked, the lead instructor simply states that they were transferred somewhere more fitting to their capabilities.

No one talks about the missing after that, soon it is hard to even remember they were there at all.

Now that you are old enough to understand, the true meaning of your codex, the metal band that has been attached to your wrist since birth, is revealed to you. How it contains a record of your genetic lineage and identifies your place in Clan society. Thorough it you learn of your gene-sires, the fallen blood-named warriors who contributed to your genetic composition. Your blood heritage is that of:

[] Gene-mother Khan Michelle Tseng and Gene-father Star-Colonel Adrian Kabrinski -A prestigious blood lineage drawing from a former Ghost Bear Khan of the early 31st​ century.
[] Gene-mother Galaxy Commander Ada Hawker and Gene-father Star-Captain Weylan Ortiz- A well known mechwarrior blood-lineage, though the Hawker bloodname is shared between several other clans.
[] Gene-mother Star Commander Zira Noble and Gene-father Star Captain Yongjin Scott- A lesser known blood-lineage with few deeds of renown, but your Gene-mother supplied a giftake after falling heroically in battle.


You study their deeds and achievements, and are exhorted to follow in the footsteps, to aspire to win glory in the clan, to earn your own bloodname, and so pass on your genetic legacy to the generations that will come after you. Each of your friends within the creche dreams of earning fame and rank on the Battlefield and ascending to khanship.

Despite the increasing tempo of training you are not entirely deprived of time to yourself. You are permitted one afternoon of liberty per week. The responsibility to use this time productively is left up to you, and many of your creche-mates come to believe that it is another kind of assessment.

Though what exactly the cadre of warrior-instructors and scientist-caste overseers might be expecting, none of you are quite sure. Personally you decide to engage in...
[] Physical training- You spend as much time as you can within the gymnasium facilities honing your body in preparation for the rigours of Sibko life.
[] Artistic endeavour- Inspired the famed works of Ghost Bears past, you further explore the arts, seeking to find the style that will define your future works.
[] Socialising- You prefer to spend time with a group of your peers, getting to know them outside of the lessons and exercises. The bonds built here may serve you well later.
[] Games of Skill- You challenge any who will accept to contests of skill and prowess. With no possession or currency to bet with, your wagers are primarily the exchange of chores and duties.
[] Marksmanship- You dedicate yourself to improving your mastery of weapons, spending as much time as you can at the range and familiarising yourself with the weapons on offer.


Overall you get the impression that your teachers approve of your progress, and this knowledge instils a pride in your accomplishments that drives you to strive for yet greater achievements.
However towards the end of your time in the creche, one incident does occur shortly before you are due to be assigned to your training Sibko, that marks you out from the other children and gives cause for the instructors to pay you closer attention.

It happened...

[] On a wilderness survival training exercise.
[] During an excursion to Katyusha City.
[] In the mess hall, the day of an inspection.
[] The night before the graduation ceremony.



AN: A few choices to make here, so we can get things move forward quickly.

Lots of good characters made, the ones that didn't win the vote will likely appear as fellow Sibbies in future updates.

 

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4.

CGB COLD WEATHER TRAINING AREA GAMMA, NOVY TERRA
STRANA MECHTY, CLAN HOMEWORLDS
DEEP PERIPHERY
12 AUGUST 3040

Your foot crunched lightly in the snow as you stepped out of the tree line. The sun was getting low in the sky, and the fresh snow from last night, that had softened in the glare of midday, was now beginning to form a harder crust on the surface that made a satisfying sound each time your insulated boots broke through it.
Ahead the largish clearing between the trees was cast in a pinkish-orange glow from the sun setting behind you, pierced by the jagged blue shadows in the lee of the stand of pines that you had just left. You could just about make out the shapes of Leonid and Rikke crouched in the gloom beneath the branches on the far side. Leonid had just given the all clear sign; so you, Timur and Sayaka were now carefully making your way across the dead ground to join up with the rest of your squad.

Your entire training creche had flown in to this area of the Gostro Plateau early yesterday monring. The exercise your instructors had set for you was simple enough, a test of over land navigation and wilderness survival skills.
You had actually been to this area before, on group camping trips. Though each of those times had been accompanied by the adult guides and instructors as they taught you various survival skills and supervised unit cohesion activities. Now however you were on your own.
The creche had been split up into squads of five and driven out to widely dispersed points around the edge of the valley. Your objective was to navigate the two day hike across the training area to the rendezvous point without assistance. Successfully completing the task was part of your graduation into the Sibko program, to prove that you were independent and capable enough of taking on the challenges of true warrior training.

Each squad had been issued a set of survival gear for the journey, though only the minimum of what you would need. A Clan warrior must learn to conserve resources of course. Instructor Gustav had picked Leonid as the squad leader, and he had divided up the equipment between your packs. Timur carried the five sets of cold weather rations rations and chemical stove, Rikke got the compact tent you would sleep in over night, Sayaka the first aid kit, and map. Leonid of course kept the survival knife, compass, and flare gun for himself.

The two flares issued with the gun would be your squad's one way of calling for help once the excessive began. The instructors had made it clear that it should only be used in a true emergency, and heavily implied that using it would be an automatic failure.

You were given the rifle. Some might have thought that carrying the firearm to be the best option out of the group. You knew better.
Not really a true weapon, it was a bolt action model intended more for the labourer caste wardens who kept predators away from remote farms than actual warriors. It was heavy and awkward to carry over your shoulder by its single strap. The stock kept bumping against the back of your leg as you walked, which was irritating over a short distance, and maddening on long hike. You were certain that Leonid had chosen you to carry it for just this reason.

Both you and he had been the expected picks for squad leader during this excersise, and had known it ever since the lists dividing everyone into squads had been posted in the crechehall the week before. You had both stepped up attempts prove yourself to Gustav and the other instructors, eager to get the command slot, even if it was just for a two day hike. Leonid had got it, not you, and now you were sure he had given you the worst job just to rub your face in it.

Others might have been angered by that, and acted out pettily to undermine their leader's actions. You saw there was little point, that would be what Leonid wanted after all. Instead you had stoically shouldered your burden and fallen in with the rest. That had been eighteen hours of hiking ago, and now a small part of you was beginning to ponder ways to get back at the other boy.

Not now though. You could wait.


You ducked under a pine branch laden with snow and crouched down next to Rikke, Timur and Sayaka joining you in quick succession. Rikke twitched her head, flicking the bangs of her blonde bob to the side as she did so, and snorted.

"Glad you slowcoaches could make it. My feet were starting to go to sleep." Sayaka stuck her tongue out in reply, whilst Timur merely grunted.

You ignored her, and stepped over to where Leonid was busy, seemingly peering into the darkness between the trunks of the forest ahead. His face did not betray whatever thoughts were swirling around in his big dumb head, but you felt that the way he did not even acknowledge your presence was a calculated snub.

Not wanting to give him the satisfaction, you said nothing

For a moment there was no sound amongst the group, and you listened to the wind as it whistled gently through the needles of the pine trees above you.
Eventually Sayaka, ever the impatient one, broke the tension with a groan and pushed past you, the braid of black hair thumping imagist her shoulder as she went. She nudged Leonid to break him out of his reverie.

"Which way next then?" She asked, the tone of exasperation clear in her voice.

Leonid snorted softly, the warm air blowing out of his nostrils, billowed out in a pair of small clouds that reminded of one of a cow you had seen once during an excursion that had passed through an agri-farm. You thought it was a fitting comparison.
Oblivious to your mental image of him with horns and eating grass, Leonid flipped open the compass and examined the needle as it quivered beneath the thick dome of plastic in the fading light. After a moment he twitched his head and looked in a different direction of to the right.

"That way." He nodded.

"You want to look at the map first Quiaff?" Questioned Sayaka, pulling the rolled sheet of plastifilm out of a pocket of her pack and proffering it towards him.

"Neg. I do not need to." He shook his head. "I know where we are going."

Without waiting for anyone to respond his stood and began to stride off in the direction he had indicated.

"Ugh." Sayaka rolled her eyes, and went after him, followed closely by Timur.

As Rikke went past she glanced you out of the side of her eyes. "Are you going to sit there and grow roots, quineg?"

Taking a breath you got up and followed as well, taking the rear position in the column.


After a while of walking, Timur eventually found the lack of conversation too boring, and spoke up.

"What I do not get is why we have to do this stupid exercise anyway." You knew where this was going. It was the same complaint he had made during the flight yesterday.
"We are gonna be mechwarriors right? So why do we need to march through the snow in the dark? When I get my mech I will have a navmap and be able to run though this dumb forest faster than a ground car. I will never have to to hike again."

Rikke clipped him over the ear.

"Ow!" He spun round on her. "What was that for?"

"If you do not complete this exercise you will never be a mechwarrior, idiot."

"But walking is for Elementals. Not us." Timur continued.

Sayaka turned on him " And what happens when the great ristar Timur gets his gyro blown out and has to eject? Going to walk back to the dropship, or sit there in the wilderness and die quiaff?

"Neg." He grumbled, looking down. Obviously wishing he had kept quiet

"Good. Now shut up before you attract the wolves with your whining."

"Wolves?" Timur's brown eyes widened slightly. "There are no wolves here are there?"

Technically he was right, the warders who maintained this training area for the Clan were supposed to keep predators like the fearsome Strana Mechty wolf away. However it covers a large area, and there was always a chance that a small pack could find their way in between sweeps. This was part of the reason each squad had been issued a rifle. Though typically it would be completely unnecessary, if you were to encounter even one of the large wolves that made this continent their home, it could mean the difference between life and death.

You decided that keeping Timur quiet for a bit would be a good idea.

"Aff. Why do you think I have this thing." You said, hefting the rifle slightly of your shoulder by its strap.

He closed his mouth audibly.

"That is enough chatter now." Leonid spoke up from the lead. "We have another nine kilometres to cover before dark."


The five of you continued in silence for another few minutes, as you went the ground beneath your feet began to get steeper, and the trees cover became sparser. Patches of scree and loose rocks littered the area around you, and solitary boulders, ranging from football size to ones taller than you were dotted seemingly at random between the trunks. You all slowed slightly to take more care with your footing, and every so often a pebble or too dislodged by an errant step would bounce away down the slope to clatter against a tree or other rocks.

Suddenly Rikke stopped in front of you. You opened you mouth to tell her to keep moving, but she held up her hand to pre-empt any words. Cocking her head slightly she turned to face slightly towards the left.

"Do you hear that?" She asked.

Timur, Sayaka and Leonid each noticed that the two of you had stopped, and turned around to see what was going on.

"Hear wha-" You began to say, and then stopped. Because you did hear it. "Aff. I hear it."

It was faint, coming from somewhere to the North, further down the slope that you were currently descending.

If you concentrated hard it sounded almost like...

"Wolves? Is it wolves?" Asked Timur. A tinge of worry in his own voice.

Rikke shook her head. "Neg. It is someone shouting."

You heard it again, it was louder this time.

"It sounds like they are in trouble." Said Sayaka. "We should go and look."

You all looked at Leonid. He was the leader, so it was his decision. "Aff." he said. "We are going that way anyway.

You squad made it's way further down the slope, where the boulders became more frequent, and jagged outcrops of bedrock began to appear, thrusting through the carpet of snow and pine needles. Up ahead you could see an area where the ground dropped away into a gulley where the water from a spring had cut through the hillside. Crumbling walls of weathered rock lined the edges, and further down a couple of trunks from fallen trees were wedged inside it at odd angles.

The cries were becoming louder now, and you were certain they were coming from inside the gulley. Stopping near the edge the five of you peered down, and in the gloom you saw their source. It was one of your crechemates, from another squad.

Rikke peered down. "I think that is Ulyana. She looks hurt."

The girl noticed you all standing on the edge of the cliff above her, and called out. "Please. Please help."

At first you had thought that she was simply lying propped up against one of the fallen pine trunks, but as your eyes adjusted you saw that the sharp spear of a broken branch was thrust through her side, and coated with dark blood.

Sayaka gasped. "She is injured, we need to help her. Don't worry Ulyana we'll come down to you!"

Sayaka moved towards the edge of the gulley, and crouched down, ready to start climbing. Leonid caught her by the shoulder and dragged her back.

"Neg." The bigger boy rumbled, staring down at the impaled form of Ulyana.

"What!" Sayaka shouted. "But she is really hurt!"

"Please!" Ulyana groaned again. She sounded weaker. This was not good.

"I said Neg." Repeated Leonid. "We cannot help her. It is too risky to climb down, you might fall, and be injured just like her. I am responsible for this squad, I will not allow it."

"Then we go back up the hill and down the gulley." She replied, her voice filled with determination.

Leonid shook his head again. "That would take too long, she is badly injured we would take too long getting her off the tree, and even if we did she would slow us down on the route to the rendezvous. We would miss our time window and fail the exercise."

Sayaka's mouth hung open as if she did not believe that Leonid was saying these words.

You looked down at Ulyana, who was no limply reaching her hand up towards the five of you. Though your creche was quite large with fifty other children in total, you knew her quite well. She often sat on your table in Instructor Julia's art classes. She had light brown hair, always worn in a tight braid, and freckles all over her face. She smiled a lot, and her amber eyes lit up with happiness when she got excited about something. You liked her.

"Fine then." Sayaka's lips formed into a tight line. "You go on, but I have got the aid kit, I will go and help her myself!"

She made to start walking back up the hill, but Rikke quickly stepped in front of her, and Leonid grabbed her arm with an iron grip.

"Hey!" Sayaka shouted at them, and tried to wrench herself free, but Leonid held on tight.

"The exercise was for all the whole squad to reach the rendezvous. We either all complete it, or none of us do." Rikke spoke calmly, as if reeling off facts in response to a lecture question.

"But what about Ulyana's squad? They have left her." Timur spoke up finally.

Leonid look darkly at him. "Then they have already failed. I am squad leader I will not let us fail too."

"Wait. The flare gun." Timur said quickly, seeming to try and find a solution that would keep everyone happy. "We fire off a flare and the instructors will come get her. We can carry on to the end and make it in time."

Rikke shook her head. "Neg. We cannot do that either. Using the flare gun is an automatic failure. I will not sacrifice my future as a warrior"
She looked down at Ulyana in the gulley. "With this injury and failing the exercise she will not make the sibko anyway. Better she die here."

"But if we fire it and leave now they wouldn't know it was us." Timur reasoned. His voice was beginning to sound pleading. "Come on we have to help her. She is family!"

"The quartermaster checks our equipment when we had it in. They will know it was us, and we will be punished all the same." Said Leonid slowly, as if he was talking to someone from a much younger creche.
"We have wasted enough time, we will keep going. Sayaka you will mark this location on the map, when we get to the rendezvous we can tell them where Ulyana is, they will retrieve her.

Both Timur and Sayaka looked at you for support. "You can not let them do this." Pleaded Sayaka, her light green eyes now edged with water.

"I am squad leader, my word is final." Growled Leonid. He let Sayaka go and turned to continue walking down hill.

Below you in the gulley Ulyana called out again, a barely intelligible cry of fear and pain. "No! Please."

What will you do?

[ ] Leonid and Rikke are right. You must continue on. Completing the mission is your first duty as a warrior.
[X] Sayaka and Timur are right. You must help Ulyana. To hell with the mission, family comes first!
[ ] Demand a trial of Grievance with Leonid for command of the squad.

 

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[X] Sayaka and Timur are right. You must help Ulyana. To hell with the mission, family comes first!


5.

CGB COLD WEATHER TRAINING AREA GAMMA, NOVY TERRA
STRANA MECHTY, CLAN HOMEWORLDS
DEEP PERIPHERY
12 AUGUST 3040


You looked at Leonid, his steely glare reflected back at you. He knew what you were about to say, he was daring you to say it.

"No." The words made Rikke look at you sharply. You turned you eyes to her. "I will not leave her behind. Let Sayaka go, we will help Ulyana. You can go on to the rendezvous without us."

"Stravag!" Cursed Leonid. "I already told you, we do not have time for this!." He took a step towards you, his fists curled into tight balls, and arm already tensing, as his shoulder rolled back.

In a smooth, practised motion, you swung the rifle off of your shoulder and racked the bolt, loading a single cartridge from the magazine into the weapon's chamber. Leonid stopped cold, but his eyes burned with barely contained fury.

You stared back at him.

"Let her go Rikke." You ordered, without taking your eyes off of Leonid. The other girl loosened her grip for just a moment and Sayaka took the opportunity to quickly shake herself free. Rikke scrabbled to grab hold of her again, but Sayaka dodged away, stepping backwards to stand by your side.

"Traitors!" Spat Rikke, acidly.

"We are Ghost Bears." Retorted Sayaka. "We do not abandon each other. Not ever."

"The mission always comes first, you stupid little su-" Rikke began before Leonid cut her off with a raised hand.

"That is enough. We will go." He turned to look at Timur. "Come on."

Timur shook his head. "Neg, I am staying with them."

Leonid growled in frustration. "Useless! Have your way, we will not be a part of this." He turned to continue walking down the hill, and Rikke began to follow him.

"Wait!" Sayaka blurted out. "Leave us the flare gun so we can get help for Ulyana. She won't be able to walk out of here."

Leonid snorted derisively. "No. This is your folly, you can deal with it on your own."

"The tent then. We can make it into stretcher to carry her." You interjected. "Timur can swap his pack with Rikke."

The two looked at each other, before Leonid slowly nodded. "Fine, see how far that gets you."

With an expression full of resentment Rikke unclipped her pack, and shrugged the straps off of her shoulders into Leonid hands. The larger boy stomped over to you, as Rikke snatched the pack that Timur offered after taking it off his own back.
Leonid stopped just short of you, holding the bag out for you to take. You took the strap in one hand, but the other boy held his grasp tight. He leant forward and growled into your ear.

"I will enjoy watching the instructors break you down to the Labour caste for this."

You pulled hard on the strap, and after a moment of further resistance Leonid let the tent bag go. The released tension pulled into into your chest with a thump.

The exchange completed both Rikke and Leonid turned and left without another word. The three of you watched them go for a few metres, perhaps unsure whether they would change their minds, before turning to your own task.


Fortunately you did not have to walk far back up the hill, to enter the gully. Perhaps twenty metres back the slope flattened out your side enough for the three of your to get down by making careful use of rocky handholds and the occasional tree root.
Once down into the channel you picked your way over and around the debris that littered its floor as quickly as you could. As soon as you reached the tree Sayaka rushed forward, already hauling her bag with the field aid kit off her back and kneeling down beside Ulyana's stricken form.

The other girl was visibly weaker, barely able to groan in pain. Up close her injury looked even worse. Blood soaked her coat where the branch poked out between her ribs. Knowing that every moment could be the difference between life and death, the three of you immediately set to work applying all the emergency medical skills you had been taught.
Sayaka packed the wound around the jagged branch that impaled Ulyana's side with absorbent foam and gauze, whilst Timur retrieved one of the pre-measured anaesthetic patches from the kit and carefully applied it to the girl's neck. Her panicked breathing soon slowed, and her head lolled to the side, her eyes going unfocused, as she mumbled barely audible words of thanks.

Sayaka placed her ear against the achingly slow rise and all of the wounded girl's chest and listened for a moment. "I do not hear any wheezing. I think it might have missed her lung."

That was good, this far from an aid station and with only the meagre supplies your had with your, a punctured lung would probably mean Ulyana's death no matter what you did.

Now you had to figure out how to get her out of here. Had Leonid given you the flare gun, it would have been a simple matter of firing off an emergency flare into the darkening sky and waiting for help to arrive from an VTOL. Without it you were now on your own.

"We can not remove the branch. She would bleed to death." Stated Sayaka grimly.

"We can't stay here." You said. "Even if Leonid does tell the instructors where we are, it might take them a day or more to find us..." You trailed off. You all knew that she was unlikely to last that long.

"We cut it off then." Said Timur confidently.

"With what?" Countered Sayaka. "Leonid had the knife."

"This." With a flourish Timur pulled a thin metallic chain out of a pocket of the aid kit, on each link was a small flat nosed blade. It was a hand chain saw, designed too conduct field amputations if there was no other option."

You smiled at him. "Good thinking."

Working carefully around Ulyana, so as to try not to disturb the piece of tree stuck inside her, Timur bent down and looped the chain around the the branch behind her back where it was still connected to the rest of the trunk. Meanwhile both Sayaka and you helped to support the injured girl so that when she did come free she would not fall.
With a nod to show you were ready, Timur began two rock the chain blade back and forth against the wood, each pull biting away more material. Ulyana shivered and groaned from the vibration, and Sayaka squeezed her hand reassuringly.

It took ten agonizing minutes for Timur to cut all the way through the branch, and by the end the blades, designed to cut through soft bone rather than frozen wood, had been blunted to near uselessness. Timur's hands were rubbed raw with blisters from grasping onto the small handles, but he grinned in satisfaction as the chain broke through the last fibres and pulled free.

After that you all worked together to lash the poles and fabric from your tent into a stretcher, that you could use to carry Ulyana. It was actually designed with exactly this kind of secondary purpose in mind, and assembling one like it had been an activity you had practised on several of the outdoor camping excursions that the instructors took you on each year.

Lowering the injured girl onto it it was another matter. The piece of branch sticking out of her back pressed into the fabric, causing her to whimper in pain when you tried. With few other resources available, you bundled up your coat and used it to support her body, so that the spike did not touch the canvas beneath.

By the time you had finished, the last rays of the sun had long slipped below the horizon, and the inky blackness of space stretched above your heads, pierced by the twinkling stars that spread across the sky. Reaching the rendezvous on time now would be almost impossible, doubly so carrying Ulyana on a stretcher between you.

Even so you had no other choice but to try.

It took all three of you to manuever the stretcher around trees and boulders in the gulley as you followed it downhill. Pushing and pulling over every obstacle, Ulyana letting out gasps of pain in her semi-conscious state every time she was bumped against something.

Eventually the rock walls either side began to dop away, and the channel you were in began to shallow out as you reached the bottom of the hill, coming out into a thicker forest of trees that clustered along the edges of the valley floor. You took turns, with two carrying the stretcher and the third in front, picking out a clear path between the shadowed trunks. Time began to blur a little as you hiked onward though the seemingly endless trees. With only the illuminated compass dial for reassurance that your were going the right direction.



"Do you think she was right" Timur spoke up.

You had all talked sporadically along the way, keeping your spirits up with mostly meaningless and idle chatter. About other children in the creche, the instructors you disliked, or your favourite characters from Clan Spaniel. (Star Commander Rex, was yours of course.)
Anything to try and keep Ulyana awake. She had been drifting in and out of lucidity the whole way, mumbling replies to the questions you had asked he, little of which made much sense. It didn't matter, you all knew it would be really bad if she fell asleep.
Timur of course was the one to break the pattern.

"About what?" Asked Sayaka.

"That they will fail us, for not getting there in time." He replied.

"Having second thoughts?" She said sharply.

"No.. no." Timur paused, searching for the right words. "But, it is just the idea of not being a warrior. It, worries me."

"To late for worries now." She retorted with a dry laugh.

You glanced over your shoulder at them. The same thought, and Leonid's spiteful parting words, had been swirling around you head too. You knew the many warrior-cadets who did not make the cut in training ended up in the Labour and Technician castes. Some of the the other kids spoke about it in hushed tones when they thought the adults were not listening.
You had learned about the other castes of course, and even gone on field trips to see some of the vital work they did for the benefit of the clan.
But the truest and greatest service possible was always to fight in defence of others. To be a warrior standing tall against the chaos and barbarism that threatened to destroy humanity.

It was what you had been training for your entire life. The only thing you could ever remember truly wanting. Could you be anything less than that?

Tilling fields, or fixing machinery. Never to earn a bloodname?

You swallowed.

"It doesn't matter. The Clan protects it's own, that is what we have done . If it is decided that we should not be warriors, than that is what will be best for everyone." |You tried to put as much certainty into the words as you could muster.

You hoped those words were true.

You decided to break this thread of conversation.

"Timur you have been carrying for a while. Swap with me."

Timur nodded in thanks, and both he and Sayaka carefully lowered Ulyana down to the ground to allow you to take over his position. As you passed the rifle over to the other boy, and then bent down to pick up the stretcher poles, you heard Sayaka gasp.

"Ulyana! She has stopped breathing!" What felt like a shot of cold ice surged through your veins.

Timur dropped the rifle into the snow with a crunch and scrambled for the aid kit, whilst Sayaka had already started CPR compressions on the other girl's chest. A terrible part of you considered how awful it would be if she died, and you had thrown away you chance at glory for nothing. It was not fair.

Sayaka's arms got tired and you took over compressions. Mechanically pumping up and down, to the rhythm of a song that the Med-tech instructor had taught you during one of the training classes. Interspersing each set with breaths into her pale lips. Trickles of blood seeped out of the bandages stuffed around the broken off branch every time she pushed down her hands, It stained your hands red.

"Roland!"

You kept pumping up and down, trying not to flinch each time you heard an awful crunching sound as her ribs were depressed.

"Roland!" Sayaka yelled again.

You shook your head, and kept going. You had to keep going. You wouldn't give up.

Not ever.

A light swept across your face, and strong hands lifted you away from Ulyana. You tried to fight them off and get back to her. Gently, but firmly they set you down and held you still.

"That is enough boy. You did your part." Instructor Gustav's low voice echoed in your ears.

Around you the instructors and med-techs gathered around the stricken girl, speaking to each other quickly and calmly. Timur and Sayaka stood off to one side, each with their own chaperones.

In the distance you could hear the loud, steady whine of an approaching VTOL's engines.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Senior Instructor Star Captain Gabrielle Kabrinski stood ramrod straight in front of you. Her graying hair was tied up into a braid that circled the top of her head like the crowns of ancient queens you had seen in some historical reference books.
Toweringly impossibly tall over you, with broad shoulders and well muscled arms, the Star Captain had been an Elemental before ageing out of front line service, and opted to command a training creche rather than transfer to a Solahma infantry unit.
For most of your time in the creche she had been a distant impossibly stern figure of ultimate authority. The person to which only the most serious of infractions were reported. Standing before you in person for the first time, she was no less intimidating.

The rest of your squad, not just Sayaka, and Timur, but Rikke and Leonid too, stood beside you in rigid positions of attention. Nobody daring to even move a muscle as the Star Captain regarded with searching eyes.

After what seemed like an hour she finally spoke.

"Training Creche 14 Beta Squad 2. I am disappointed. The independent navigation and survival exercise was meant to be the culmination of the tests before your entrance into the Sibko. An opportunity not only for you to demonstrate the skills you have learned so far, but also your ability to work together as a unit.
That this cohesion was broken, even in the face of exceptional circumstances is deeply troubling. You are Ghost bears, not a squabbling pack of Fire Mandrills! You are expected to uphold and defend the unity of our family.

I have reviewed the situation, and I do not believe that the Clan would be best served by the loss of four more potential warriors. The loss of a whole squad in a single exercise is heavy enough for this creche, another would be too much. But make no mistake, there are others who would see all of you relegated from the warrior caste for what has occurred."

Your mouth was dry. The whole of Squad 5; Isobel, Marian, Ivan, Dirk, and of course Ulyana had been conspicuously absent from the crechehall since your return from the Training area. Abandoning their team mate had obviously been seen as a total failure in the eyes of instructor staff. The Star Captain's words only confirmed it.

"I see the merit in each of your actions, and in light of that I have decided that you will not be ejected from the warrior caste, and that your training will continue. The official report will read that Leonid split the squad to ensure help was sought for Ulyana, whilst Roland lead another group in providing immediate aid for her. Unity was m,maintained, and the best outcome achieved given the circumstances. None of you shall say any different, quaiff?

"Aff Star Captain!" You all yelled in reply.

"Good." She murmured. "This is the decision that should have been made, and it is by the Founder's providence alone that in your quarrelling you arrived at it anyway. You shall all count yourselves fortunate."

"Leonid, Rikke. Your actions were in concordance with the strictest interpretation military regulations. The mission does come first, and it is likely that as warriors you may one day face a situation where members of the Clan must be sacrificed for the greater good. However that was not the case in this instance. A cadet training exercise is not a campaign
Whilst I will not find fault with your judgement as Squad leader Leonid, I will encourage you both to attend supplementary sessions with Oathkeeper Harold. The Way of the Ghost Bear encompasses far more than regulations, he will help you understand that more fully.
You may go."

"Aff Star Captain!" The both yelled.

They left. Though not without shooting dagger like glares at each of you as they walked past. Leonid reserving his full displeasure for you.

The Star Captain waited patiently for them to exit the room before turning her eyes back to you.

"As for you. You upheld the spirit of our Clan in stopping at nothing to save Ulyana. I have received a commendation on your behalf from not only Instructor Gustav, but also Senior Med-tech Loren, that without your actions Ulyana would almost certainly have died.
That commitment to each other is what sets us Ghost Bears apart from the other clans. Nevertheless are some in our Can, and many without, who will view what you did as an act of weakness. Eyes will be on you now, and your performance from this point onwards must exceed exceptions to remove any doubt of your capabilities.

Disobeying an order from your superior is a serious infraction. Despite your intentions, your actions must have consequences. Therefore your punishment will be to...

[] Repeat your final Creche Assessment- This will be recorded on your Codex, and will be viewed negatively by any future superiors.
[] Join a Labour work detail- You will have to work several set hours every week with the labour caste. Negative stigma associated with this, and will reduces your free time. Not recorded in the codex.
[] Perform an act of Surkai for Leonid- You will make a formal oathbound apology, at some point Leonid will ask you to do something and you cannot refuse.

"You will carry this out without complaint, am I understood?"

"Aff Star Captain!" All three of you shouted in unison.

She brought her hands together and nodded. "Very well. You are dismissed cadets."

All three of your turned to leave the Star Captain's office, but Sayaka hesitated, and stopped.

"Permission to speak Star Captain?"

"Granted." There was a warning edge to her tone.

"What about Ulyana? Will she be okay? Where is she?"

The woman's eyes softened.

"Thanks to you three the med-techs were able to save her life, though not without issue. She is stable for now at a special recovery facility at Katyusha city. I am afraid that her injuries were severe enough that she will not be able to continue in the Sibko program. But she will no doubt find fulfilling service in another caste once her recovery is complete.

Go now children, I have work to do."



AN: Writer's block sucks...