TEXT: BATTLECORPS
  THE DRAGONS  
  OF DESPAIR
  by Kevin Killiany
  Chapter Seven
  
  BATTLECORPS
  Dragons of Despair • Page 2
  MindMASC AND NEUROHELMETS DON’T MIX!
  Following reports of fatal and near-fatal accidents involv-
  ing MechWarriors who may have been using the performance 
  enhancer MindMASC, the Ministry of Health has conducted 
  extensive tests on the drug’s effects regarding BattleMech 
  operation.
  The tests demonstrated that in forty-two percent of the 
  cases MechWarriors UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF MindMASC 
  EXPERIENCED PANIC ATTACKS, SCHIZOPHRENIC EPISODES, 
  HALLUCINATIONS, or CATATONIC FUGUES.
  Though the exact mechanism is not understood, evidence 
  indicates the chemical changes to the pilot’s neurosystem 
  that heighten perceptions trigger a sensory feedback loop 
  when the neurohelmet is engaged.
  Therefore, by order of the Archon:
  • Use of MindMASC as a performance enhancer is forbidden.
  • No MechWarrior may operate a BattleMech within sev-
  enty-two hours of ingesting MindMASC.
  • MechWarriors reporting for duty will be randomly tested 
  for MindMASC.
  • Any MechWarrior reporting for duty who tests positive for 
  MindMASC will face thirty days’ detention and forfeiture of pay.
  (Post in all common areas.)
  
  BATTLECORPS
  Dragons of Despair • Page 3
  Chevalier Planetary Evaluation Base 
  Despair, Ender’s Cluster 
  Lyran Alliance 
  23 October 3057
  “She’s not responding,” Caradine’s voice said from the speaker.
  “I can hear that,” Britto’s recorded voice answered. “When did 
  she go off?”
  “Ten minutes ago. She just went dark and headed out of the pa-
  trol area.”
  “I knew something like this—Damn! What is she shooting at?”
  “I’ve got nothing. Only thing out there is her and the sensor ar-
  ray.”
  “Damn it!” Britto shouted, overloading his cockpit mic. “The cra-
  zy bitch is shooting the array! Atreus, cease fire. Atreus! Damn it, 
  respond! What the hell are you doing?”
  Her eyes focused on the wall above his head, Lex tracked Britto 
  with her peripheral vision as he reached forward and pressed 
  the stop button on top of the crystal reader, ending the radio log 
  playback. The light atop the second machine continued to blink, 
  signaling everything the four MechWarriors said and did was be-
  ing recorded.
  Only the four Florida MechWarriors were present for what Britto 
  had called a preliminary hearing; a hearing that would have been 
  a court-martial if he’d had the authority. They wore full dress blues 
  and reds for the occasion; academy rags in place, all ribbons pres-
  ent and correct. 
  Lex was very aware hers was the only tunic completely devoid 
  of combat ribbons. She’d been surprised to note Aldicott was vet-
  eran of nearly a dozen major battles, though she did not break 
  attention to read which ones. Britto and Caradine both carried two. 
  Probably earned on their tour with the Nagelring training battalion 
  and probably earned together. 
  Her own tour with the Buena battalion had been completely 
  uneventful. She had stood garrison watch faithfully. Those three 
  months of inactivity had taught her patience, convinced her she 
  would never master the harmonica and enabled her to become 
  
  BATTLECORPS
  Dragons of Despair • Page 4
  adept at cataloging minutia. She had never once brought her 
  weapons on line, much less fired them at an enemy.
  Nor had she ever imagined standing here with her eyes fixed on 
  the wall above her accuser’s head.
  Britto was seated behind a table in what may have once been an 
  employee lounge, but was now the hearing room for the review of 
  Lex’s actions. He was flanked at the table by Caradine, looking un-
  comfortable, and Aldicott, whose face was schooled in the sleepy 
  mask Lex suspected he used to hide his thoughts.
  There was no precedent for a hearing at the lance level: Lex felt 
  vaguely as though they were all playing dress-up. But Britto’s 
  recording of the proceedings would be bundled with the com-
  munications log they’d just heard, along with all relevant sensor 
  recordings, and sent to Florida Command for review and determi-
  nation.
  The silence stretched.
  “My own radio log—”
  “With only your own voice despite heavy radio traffic at the time,” 
  Britto cut her off, “was clearly fabricated while you waited for us 
  to arrive. If you’d had the tech skills, you no doubt would have 
  come up with something better than an ‘energy spike’ that wiped 
  your sensor logs.”
  “Willie—”
  Britto rounded on Aldicott, his glare stopping the older leftenant 
  mid-word.
  “At least pretend to have some respect for your uniform while 
  being recorded, Leftenant Aldicott.”
  If anything, Aldicott seemed to become more sleepy.
  “I proved my respect for my uniform and for my nation,” he said 
  languidly, “back when you thought all you did was pee with it.” 
  Lex blinked.
  Whatever Aldicott had done to screw up his career to the point 
  that he was in the Florida taking orders from someone two years 
  out of the Nagelring, there was no arguing with the combat rib-
  bons on his chest. Britto wisely decided not to contest the point.
  
  BATTLECORPS
  Dragons of Despair • Page 5
  “And before you make charges about her recordings, send them 
  along with yours and let the tech experts see if those time stamps 
  are phony,” Aldicott went on. “If there’s a chance she was inside 
  some sort of ECM blanket, we need to know about it.”
  “And there is at least one unknown BattleMech on Despair, sir,” 
  Lex interjected. “That poses a potential danger that should at least 
  be investigated.”
  She felt Britto’s eyes on her, but stayed at full attention; eyes on 
  the wall.
  “We have only your vague assertions about half remembered, 
  unclear readings,” Britto said. “Readings which prompted you 
  to destroy a clearly marked sensor array and create a substantial 
  hole in this research colony’s ability to protect itself against the 
  very real threat of local dinosaurs.
  “The purpose of this hearing is to investigate the only real danger 
  to this mission’s success,” he leaned forward. “You.”
  “Sir—”
  “Your first—your only—time in combat,” Britto cut her off, “you 
  panicked.”
  Lex felt her jaw unhinge and clenched it tight.
  “Willie,” Aldicott said, a warning in his voice.
  “Leftenant Atreus lost control of an IndustrialMech while running 
  away from the enemy,” Britto’s vitriolic tone pulled Lex’s eyes from 
  the wall. The leftenant was regarding her with cold disdain. “In her 
  panic, she collided with him. She managed to pass the sorry inci-
  dent off as a victory only because she cracked his canopy while 
  flailing about in blind terror.”
  Lex felt a cold knot twist her gut even as hot blood rushed to her 
  face. She unclenched her fists.
  “That is a lie,” she said, proud she didn’t scream the words.
  She was aware of Caradine to his left, still silent but now posi-
  tioned to intervene if the confrontation turned violent. She thought 
  Aldicott might have been smiling, but she didn’t look to verify.
  For his part, Britto took careful note of her stance and her ex-
  pression. Then, with a great show of unconcern, he leaned back in 
  his chair, stretching his legs out under the table.
  
  BATTLECORPS
  Dragons of Despair • Page 6
  “Leftenant, the only lie was the cock and bull story you sold those 
  ignorant miners,” he said conversationally. “The fact that a career 
  diplomat who’d never worn a uniform and a broken down infantry 
  hauptmann who’d been lured out of position by a local…wom-
  an…working for the pirates believed it doesn’t make it any less 
  ludicrous.”
  Lex had the wild thought he’d rehearsed this speech.
  “Sir—”
  “Leftenant, the only reason you’re still wearing a uniform is 
  pirates don’t make gun cam recordings of their raids,” Britto’s 
  backhand wave was dismissive. “At Viborg, you were a pathetic 
  screw-up who got lucky.”
  Shedding some of the pretense of ease, he leaned forward again, 
  drawing his feet under his chair. Lex expected him to rise, but in-
  stead he rested his arms on the table, interlacing his fingers.
  “Now, here, you are a pathetic screw-up who is not so lucky,” 
  he said. “We have complete recordings of you abandoning your 
  post—running away and firing your weapons in another fit of blind 
  panic.”
  “Be sure the complete record of this hearing goes out with the 
  ‘Mech logs, Willie,” Aldicott said. “That last bit is sure to become 
  a textbook example of presiding officer impartiality.”
  “This isn’t a formal hearing,” Britto snapped, evidently forgetting 
  that was precisely what he’d called it at the beginning of the re-
  cording. “I’m speaking as lance leader evaluating an officer under 
  my command.”
  “The Nagelring trained you to include histrionics and unfound-
  ed accusations when presenting performance reviews?” Aldicott 
  asked in mild amazement. “A subtlety of command to which we 
  stolid Coventry graduates can only hope to aspire.”
  Britto opened his mouth, then shut it again, regarding the blink-
  ing light of the recorder on the table in front of him.
  “My distrust in the veracity of her previous record is based on 
  my personal observations of Leftenant Atreus both in training 
  and in the field,” he stated formally; for the record. “Observations 
  wholly supported by her unprofessional and dangerous derelic-
  tion of duty this morning. It is my strong recommendation that 
  she be reassigned to a non-combat position before her cowardice 
  
  BATTLECORPS
  Dragons of Despair • Page 7
  costs valuable lives. I would further recommend she be dispos-
  sessed and the Nightsky erroneously placed in her possession be 
  assigned to someone worthy of a BattleMech.”
  Britto reached forward then paused, his finger over the record-
  er’s shut off button. He looked up at Lex with an expression of 
  mild inquiry.
  “Any final pleas?”
  Lex held his gaze and forced her anger down, washing any sign 
  of her rage out of her features, her body language. There was no 
  winning this fight, either in this room or in any court of Britto’s 
  peers. Her only hope lay in the forensic techs confirming her re-
  cording was authentic.
  And, maybe, finding more evidence of the mystery ‘Mech here 
  on Despair.
  If there really was a ‘Mech, part of her mind whispered.
  For his part, the lance leader seemed to mistake her self-control 
  for defeat. He shut the recorder down with a crisp tap and leaned 
  back in his chair with a more genuine air of relaxation. His smug, 
  self-righteous smile made it clear he believed her inability to rebut 
  the charges proved his point.
  Lex redoubled her effort to keep her face devoid of expression.
  “Justice would require you be confined until your court-martial,” 
  Britto said. “But your little panic attack has made our mission here 
  more difficult. There is now a hole in the automated detection pe-
  rimeter; even with the remaining sensors repositioned, there’s a 
  twenty-four degree arc to the northeast that can’t be covered.
  “That is your patrol area for the duration: as far out as communi-
  cation allows. Count trees, play tag with dragons, I don’t care. Just 
  don’t go near anything remotely valuable.”
  Britto smiled slightly at his own wit. Then his face grew cold.
  “And for God’s sake stay out of the way of anyone who has the 
  right to be here.”
  
  BATTLECORPS
  Dragons of Despair • Page 8
  Dear Loyal Georgie Has the Answers Viewer:
  Thank you for your kind letter about episode 348 entitled 
  The Big Race. 
  In this episode Georgie convinces Hilary that licorice jel-
  lybeans are really MindMASC, and will enable her to win the 
  charity marathon. Feeling guilty about her win, Hilary reports 
  herself to the authorities. Much merriment ensues as Georgie 
  tries first to evade the law then to talk his way out of trouble. 
  In the end, Hilary learns that all anyone needs to be a real 
  winner is to believe in themselves.
  We understand your concern about the issue of use of 
  MindMASC raised on the show.
  We want you to know we have taken your insights to heart. 
  In response to your letter we have increased the number of 
  anti-drug public service announcements during our broad-
  casts by five percent.
  We hope this sets your mind at ease and that you and your 
  children will continue to be loyal viewers of Georgie Has the 
  Answers.
  Sincerely,
  Rhonda Lisa Grits 
  Loyal Viewer Relations,  
  Commonwealth Children’s Broadcasting, 
  Proud Home of Georgie Has the Answers
  
  BATTLECORPS
  Dragons of Despair • Page 9
  Chevalier Planetary Evaluation Base 
  Despair, Ender’s Cluster 
  Lyran Alliance 
  24 October 3057
  A thermal flare and heavy metal jumped to treetop height.
  Not again.
  Lex fought down a spike of fear and brought her weapons on 
  line, tracking the ascent with her large pulse laser. A glance at her 
  Guardian ECM confirmed all green. No jamming signal.
  “Atreus to Aldicott—”
  “Don’t shoot. It’s me,” Aldicott answered. The flare faded as his 
  ‘Mech descended toward its launch point. “Damn interference. If 
  I’d known you were that close I’d have given you heads up.”
  “What are you doing?” Lex made no effort to mask her annoy-
  ance as she powered down her laser.
  “Conducting experiments,” Aldicott said blandly. “This seems to 
  be the place for it.”
  Lex tried to not read too much into his tone as she powered 
  down her lasers. She suspected asking for details would result in 
  equally bland non-answers. With a sigh, she altered course to go 
  see what he was up to for herself.
  Britto’s order that Lex stay away from the base had been spuri-
  ous, of course. The entire lance was needed for at least two ‘Mechs 
  to be on twenty-four hour patrol. He had made no adjustment in 
  the duty roster and she had tacitly kept to her slot in the rotation. 
  She spent almost all of each watch in her Nightsky, and made 
  every effort to avoid Britto when she wasn’t. Fortunately their 
  watch duties did not overlap. 
  Aldicott seemed less likely to indulge his skewed humor than be-
  fore, though that may have been Lex’s imagination. On the whole 
  he seemed no different either on duty or off. 
  To a lesser extent, the same could be said of Caradine. In the field 
  she continued her adherence to strict protocols and off duty the 
  women seldom crossed paths—not difficult as Lex had been spend-
  ing as little time as possible in the residence dome the lance shared. 
  
  BATTLECORPS
  Dragons of Despair • Page 10
  Nick’s quarters were on the far side of Chevalier Base.
  Aldicott’s Hatchetman stood at one side of a small clearing, evi-
  dently surveying the ground, its head tilted to one side. Lex knew 
  the modified silvery sphere extending from the side of its crested 
  head housed the same Artemis sensor suite that was mounted 
  above and behind her own cockpit. She doubted aiming it toward 
  the ground increased its efficiency significantly.
  Examining the area herself, she saw a charred circle about ten 
  meters across to one side of the clearing. Looked like SOP for kill-
  ing a scavenger, then burning its remains to ash. In the center of 
  the clearing was the double crater of the Hatchetman’s twin jump 
  jets surrounded by radiating bands of charred vegetation. The jets 
  had burned meter-deep holes in the loam and peat.
  “You’ve got a large laser,” Aldicott said. “Would you do me a 
  favor and shoot into the ground? As near those jump marks as 
  possible.”
  Without a word Lex brought her weapons back on line. Dialing 
  the large pulse laser under her main trigger, she fired at an un-
  touched patch of earth. The double-tap of coherent light flash 
  burned the ground cover to fine ash. Seconds later the steam and 
  dust of vaporized soil dissipated to reveal a cylindrical hole—per-
  haps half a meter wide and too deep for light to reach its bottom.
  Aldicott grunted.
  “What?” Lex asked, cursing the defensive note she heard in her 
  own voice.
  “I played tag for a while with one of the picket arrays,” he an-
  swered. “It threw back my targeting sensor, but it really wasn’t all 
  that confusing. Of course, I knew what it was going in.”
  He paused, but Lex remained silent.
  “So I looked over the north-northeast array site,” Aldicott said. 
  “The jungle vines had pretty well covered everything, and these 
  little fern things were already nearly a meter high. Apparently 
  charred earth is just as good for them as any. Makes sense on a 
  volcanic world, I suppose. I made recordings.”
  The Hatchetman straightened from its examination of the ground.
  “Which I just did here as well,” Aldicott said briskly. “Now all we 
  have to do is come back in three days and record again and see 
  
  BATTLECORPS
  Dragons of Despair • Page 11
  what there is to see. We should just have time before the supply 
  ship lifts.”
  “You’re saying you think someone may have jumped out of the 
  way during the sensor white out?” Lex asked.
  “I’m saying I don’t know,” Aldicott answered. “I just think it’s a 
  bet Willie is overlooking.”
  Lex opened her mouth, then shut it again.
  Aldicott’s studied blandness made it too easy to read layers of 
  meaning into everything he said. Lex steeled herself and risked 
  taking them at face value.
  “I’ve been ranging a bit farther north northeast than standard 
  patrol,” she volunteered. 
  “As have we all,” Aldicott answered. “I just wish we’d thought 
  to scan the ground when we found you instead of gaping at the 
  melted sensor array like freshmen at a peep show.”
  The most experienced MechWarrior on Despair was taking the 
  possibility of her mystery ‘Mech seriously; even when she was 
  having her own doubts. She refrained from reading too much into 
  that.
  “I’m off.” Aldicott’s voice broke in on her thoughts. 
  Lex realized she’d been standing immobile for uncounted sec-
  onds.
  When not running through the woods firing blindly, Leftenant 
  Atreus has been known to stand staring blankly into space for pro-
  tracted periods.
  “Right,” she said, striving for a note of brisk efficiency. “Tell 
  Caradine I’ll be deep on the east side checking those motion read-
  ings.” 
  “Happy hunting,” Aldicott signed off.
  Lex decided to eschew her usual habit of forging a new path on 
  each circuit. Following the trail the patrolling ‘Mechs had worn 
  through the jungle would get her to the northeast sensor array 
  with less thought and effort.
  The station immediately to the east of the one she’d slagged last 
  week had been reporting ghostly movements for the last several 
  
  BATTLECORPS
  Dragons of Despair • Page 12
  hours. Either several large tonners moving past at extreme range 
  or one grazing back and forth at the edge of detection. Or some 
  combination of those two possibilities.
  While she could simply wait for whatever was out there to move 
  toward the Base before taking action, moving out to investigate 
  made more sense. The farther from the perimeter, the smaller the 
  needed course change. Plus, if it was one of the rare herds—more 
  than a single ‘Mech could handle—the sooner she called for back-
  up the better.
  Tapping into the sensor array’s broadcast, she took a bearing on 
  the suspicious readings. They covered a narrow arc about three 
  klicks past the rated range of the sensors. Not too unusual, given 
  the vagaries of Despair’s chemical soup atmosphere.
  Setting course for the center of the arc, Lex stepped alone into 
  the jungle.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/BattleTech [multi]/EXTRA/Novels/Battlecorps Novels/Dragons of Dispair Chap 07 - Kevin Killiany.pdf