OBT Forum

Periphery Redemption

Chapter 7

The Weber Estate, Raldamax
Outworlds Alliance
19 August 3003

   The Battle of McFarland’s Agrostation became legendary as soon as the last shot was fired.  The news on the trivid ran stories about the fighting for weeks.  Militia troops and locals who had fought back against the pirates became instant celebrities.  The pirate trials started a few weeks after the raid and kept the entire planetary population glued to their viewers for days even though everyone knew what the outcome would be.  Joe was surprised when the verdicts came back uniformly as 10 year sentences to the penal Agrostation at Monsoon Rift.  It was only after John explained that the penal colony was located in one of the worst locations on Raldamax, on the flood prone New Ganges in the heart of the geologically unstable Monsoon Rift sandwiched between the Bitterheart Mountains and the Great Waste Desert, that he understood that the pirates had basically been given a death sentence.  But the stories that got the most attention in the first days after the attack were the ones about the pair of mysterious mechs that had sent the invaders into retreat.
   Joe and John had lost the camera crew that was following them when they reached the Encircling Mountains north of Calverton.  They had then made their way east staying in the mountains until they were north of the estate.  They didn’t arrive back to the barn until late the next morning, extremely tired and hungry.  After stowing the mechs and getting something to eat Joe and John started to implement the plan they had come up with during the long march home.  Joe took off on his motorcycle for Big Jim’s with a very large envelope and a question for Billy.
            The plan was actually very simple.  They would get Billy, who was more then happy to escape his life as a grease monkey for that of a mechwarrior, to pretend that he was the pilot of the Rifleman using a cover story that was basically the story of how Joe met John.  Joe would pretend that during his travels across the Inner Sphere he had met and befriended an eccentric tycoon who had willed him his vast fortune and a couple of mechs with the stipulation that he retire to some remote location and not use the war machines for any aggressive purposes.  John, in the mean time, would contact all his connections in the planetary government, and beyond, so that they would go along with the story.  To cover all their bases Joe was to give Big Jim a large payment to buy his silence.  As it turned out Big Jim took the money, turned the shop over to Little Jim, and retired to the tropical resort town of Adelaide down on the Southern Peninsula.  It was also decided not to worry about Little Jim because he would be too happy and too busy running the shop to get involved; and even if he did talk it was highly unlikely anyone would believe someone who was known to smash beer bottles on their head on a dare.  But even with help from the planetary government, which meant that reporters got little to no help from officials, it only took news crews three days to track them down. 
            The crews descended on the estate looking for any information they could find.  Planetary officials and militia officers arrived shortly after and made their way to the house.  After John talked with them for a few minutes it was decided that Joe and the planetary governor would address the crowd while the militia officers and a visibly uncomfortable Billy would stand in the background.  The governor started off by explaining that he and others had known of Mr. Castiglioni’s presence on Raldamax and that he was in possession of battlemechs.  He also explained that the planetary government was not concerned by this situation since Joe had made it clear he was not interested in military conquest.  They had agreed that he would be allowed to keep the mechs and that he would also be allowed to hire on techs to maintain them in case they were needed in an emergency; an act of forethought that had just proven itself.  After making a few more statements about the aftermath of the attack and answering a couple of questions the governor turned the hastily erected podium over to Joe.  He made a brief statement about why he and his tech had used his mechs to fight the pirates and then started to field questions.  The reporters asked everything from where Joe was from to what mechs they had used to why he had settled on Raldamax.  The surrealness of the moment made all of his answers sound plausible and when the questions became too searching the planetary governor stepped in to spring a surprise on Joe.  Turning to the head of the militia the governor announced that Joe and Billy were being made official members of the planetary militia with the ranks of supervisor and defender respectively.  He then handed Joe and Billy their rank insignia and added that the Alliance Military Corps might have more honors to bestow on the pair he dubbed “The Heroes of Raldamax.”  And with that announcement the governor proclaimed the news conference over.  The small group headed back to the house followed all the way by the yelled questions of the reporters.  Inside the governor thanked John for his part in defending Raldamax.  Strangely it was Joe and Billy that felt bad about having to hide his role in the fight against the pirates and not John.
            It took a few days for all of the news crews to leave the estate and end the wall to wall coverage of the front of the house; which was pretty boring because no one went outside after the news conference.  Besides, the reporters had to get back to Calverton to cover the upcoming pirate trials.  About a month later the planetary governor arrived back at the estate with a chairman of the Alliance Ground Defense Arm.  Joe, John, and Billy had seen the chairman on the trivid the day before.  He had been at a ceremony to honor the planetary militia and to present awards to several militiamen.  Now he was at the estate to bestow the same award, the Pitcairn Star, to Joe and John.  However, that wasn’t his only reason for visiting.  The chairman also announced that Joe, John, and Billy would be made members of the Alliance Mechanized Corps and attached to the Command Battalion of the Alliance Borderers; though John’s position as a supervisor was only considered ceremonial because of his need to remain anonymous.  The chairman also announced that the Grasshopper, who’s pilot had turned out to be the captain of the pirate band, was being turned over to them and that they were to train Billy and at least one other candidate to pilot the lance-sized force they were now able to field.  Holding the box with the small, green disk inside which represented his new rank apparently had a strong effect on John because he heartily accepted the orders and promised the chairman they would have a fully functional lance in under a year.  The Alliance officer thanked John and then congratulated the group again before he and the governor made their exit.  As soon as the party of officials had shut the door Joe, John, and Billy, who had already taken up residence on the estate and begun training in the Wasp, started making plans for their unit.
             It took them less then a year to get up to operational strength.  Joe took over the Grasshopper once it was fully functional again.  Billy moved up to the Enforcer once he got the hang of piloting a mech.  John stayed in the Rifleman.  The planetary militia had sent them dozens of files on possible candidates for the last slot in the new lance.  They finally settled on an armor personnel carrier driver named Hannah Schultz.  She was still relatively young at 23 and had been awarded the Pitcairn Star for her actions during the pirate raid.  Once she passed the interview with Joe and Billy she was introduced to John and let in on the real story of the Battle of McFarland’s Agrostation.  By August of 3003 the unit was fully manned, training hard, and able to at least meet the minimum proficiency standards set by the Alliance Ground Defense Arm.  But even during the best of times tragedy can strike.
            That morning John had stayed behind while Joe, Billy, and Hannah, who had also taken up residency at what had been unofficially dubbed Camp Weber, headed out to do routine maintenance on the mechs because he said he wasn’t feeling well.  Since the AMC wasn’t the most organized or efficient military organization known to man, they hadn’t officially recognized the “Heroes of Raldamax” as an active unit and therefore hadn’t assigned them any techs or support staff.  That left all work, from maintenance to housekeeping to paperwork, to the new mechwarriors.  By noon they decided to head back to the house for lunch.  When they got inside they found Jon in his chair in the den.
            “Some people will say anything to get out of honest work, won’t they?” joked Joe as he walked into the den.  It was only then that he saw how pale John’s face was.  “John?” He didn’t respond.  When Joe tried to wake him by giving him a nudge he noticed that John wasn’t breathing.  He grabbed his wrist to check for a pulse and didn’t find one.  “Billy!  Get on the vidphone.  Call Director Musyimi and tell him to get a VTOL here ASAP.  Tell him to commandeer one if he has to.  Tell him we need to get John to the hospital in Calverton.”
            Billy bolted for the vidphone while Hannah helped Joe lay John on the floor.  They started CPR but never got a pulse.  Director Musyimi, the new commander of the planetary militia, got a commercial VTOL to the estate in under an hour but it was no use; John was gone.
            Joe rode with the body on the trip to Calverton.  At the hospital he met John’s doctor who happened to be there to perform surgery on another of his patients.  Talking with the doctor Joe found out that John had been diagnosed with a serious heart condition several years before.  He had never mentioned it to Joe, probably because he didn’t want to worry about it.  Joe thought that was probably the right strategy because if he had known about the condition he would have fought harder to not get involved in the pirate attack.  The doctor said it had just been a matter of time before his heart went and that John had decided to make the most out of his life.  That had been about the same time he started his project to rebuild mechs.  Joe thought it must have been some kind of cosmic plan that John would die once his mechs were complete and manned by able pilots.  The thought made him smile.  Billy and Hannah got to the hospital several hours later to pick up Joe. 
            The next day was somber and no one felt like doing much.  A knock at the front door broke the silence that had descended over the house.  A squirrelly looking little man in a gray suit stood nervously on the front steps holding a large portfolio under his arm.  He introduced himself as Mr. Weber’s lawyer and said he was there with his will and personal papers.  Joe showed him to the den where everyone had been sitting around thinking about John.  Billy had only known John for a few months and Hannah for a lot less time then that but they had both become close to the friendly old tycoon from the Lyran Commonwealth.  The lawyer took a disk from the portfolio and put it in the trivid.  An image of John sitting in an office in front of a wall of bookshelves appeared.
            “This is the last will and testament of Jonathan Eugene Penrose Weber made this day October 3, 3001 in the presence of my lawyer, William Catherson.  If you’re watching this Joe it means I’m dead.  Sorry about that.  I hope it wasn’t too dramatic,” chuckled John.  “Anyway, let’s get down to business.  Basically it’s all yours, Joe.  The mechs, the estate, everything; except for a few donations I have listed among my papers.  Mr. Catherson has all the financial information you will need; accounts, investments, land titles, etc.” said John as he paused for a moment.  “You know I don’t like to talk about these kind of things so I’m going to keep this short.  Have fun, Joe.  And find someone to share it all with.  That’s about all the advice I can give.  Now I’m going to apologize for what’s about to happen which is you’re going to have to spend a few hours with a lawyer, no offense William, and sign a lot of papers.  But I think that’s a small price to pay to become one of the richest men in the Inner Sphere, isn’t it?  Anyway, good bye Joe.  Hopefully I’ll see you again on the other side.”  And with that the recording ended.
            Joe fell back into his chair glassy eyed.  Billy and Hannah stared at each other.  After giving them a few moments Mr. Catherson started pulling files from the portfolio and going over their content with Joe.  Bank accountants, deeds, stockholdings, and countless other things had to be signed over into his name.  Donations were to be made to several humanitarian and research foundations throughout the Inner Sphere.  It took several hours to go over everything.  Finally they got to John’s final wishes.  He wanted to be buried in the garden behind the house and he wanted all the land around the estate to be given to the farmers who worked it.  Once Joe put his signature on the last document Mr. Catherson put in front of him the lawyer packed up the portfolio, made his good byes, and left.  Joe and the others were still in a haze when the vidphone rang a little while later.
            On the line was Director Musyimi.  He wanted to inform Joe that the planetary militia wanted to give John a funeral with full military honors.  Joe thanked the director for the offer but informed him that John was going to be buried on the grounds of the estate.  The director said that wasn’t a problem and that the body would be given a military escort to its final resting place. 
            “I think John would appreciate that, director.  When would you be able to get everything organized?”
            “Everything is ready.  We can hold the funeral tomorrow if you wish,” informed Director Musyimi.
            After discussing the details it was decided the funeral would be held the next day in the afternoon.  A crew would arrive early the next morning to prepare the sight and militia troops would handle the proceedings.  Joe thanked the director for the militia’s help and said he would see him tomorrow.  Once the call ended the silence returned to the house and didn’t lift again until the next day.
            The morning broke clear and cold.  Snow had fallen over night covering the landscape in a blanket of purity.  Three men assigned by the director arrived before 8:00 to prepare the grave site.  The militia escort arrived at 2:00 and placed an honor guard around the casket.  Joe, Billy, and Hannah put on their dress AGDA uniforms for the first time and got ready to receive the dignitaries that were expected to arrive.  Every leader, person of note, and professional acquaintance of John’s on Raldamax, all 11 of them put together, came to the funeral.  The head chaplain of the militia led the service while Joe gave the eulogy.  Once he finished a lone bugler began to play as the honor guard fired the salute.  The whole ceremony took around 30 minutes.  After the chaplain gave the benediction most of the funeral goers approached Joe, Billy, and Hannah and said a few words before leaving.  In less then an hour they were by themselves again.
            “So what do we do now, boss?” asked Billy as soon as they got back into the warmth of the house.
            Joe didn’t answer right away.  He was staring out the kitchen window at the grave of his friend thinking about everything that had happened to him in the last 9 years and how his life had come full circle.  He was a commanding officer again.  He was a mechwarrior again.  He had his own mech again; as a matter of fact he had four.  He was now unbelievably wealthy.  But most importantly he had friends again that loved and respected him.  He had been reborn.  After a few more moments in which he thanked John for everything he had done for him, Joe turned to Billy and Hannah.  “I think the next step is pretty obvious.  We’ve got to find a new “Hero of Raldamax”.”