Chapter V

Seconds later, the other troopers in the team that pretended to be part of the Star League were standing there, clearly unsure what to do with themselves.

"Rest assured Colonel, we won't take you anywhere against your will. What I want you to do is to listen to my commander when he arrives. If what we fear is correct then we can't expect you to take our word at face value, even if we are wearing Star League uniforms."

It was blatantly obvious to anyone there in that moment that Martinez felt very uncomfortable at having a considerable amount of firepower aimed at himself. It was something Grayson could understand in a fellow soldier and since the Mech alone could pulverize their new acquaintances, he had his own people lower their guns. He had never drawn his own pistol, but now removed his hand from the holster.

"So how long will we have to wait?" Lori asked with a voice that betrayed little emotion, but by the way she held onto Grayson's hand behind this back told him that she was, at best, worried where all this would go. Grayson had no idea what the hell was going on here, or who these people really were. He returned the pressure of her hand as reassurance as they waited.

"Not at all, Ma'am. My CO is willing to meet you at the entrance."

Grayson and Lori exchanged a glance. "Entrance to what, Sergeant?" After all, these people had to come from somewhere. His bet was still on a ship parked somewhere where his own overflights hadn't seen it. They had only mapped a fraction of the planetary surface so far. But given the gear they seemed to have, why not simply ambush the GDL? Why would they reveal themselves like that?

"The entrance to... Well, it's best if he told you. You wouldn't believe me unless you could see it. Corporal Taylor here and the rest of my men will stay here... as collateral."

Instead of saying something, Grayson looked Lori who in response squeezed his hand and nodded in acceptance. She was visibly unhappy about his going off alone, but she knew that he would depend on her to look after their people if something happened to him. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before whispering: "I trust you, Gray. Don't you dare not coming back to me."

He smiled and was about to turn away when she added "I love you." to that.

"I know. Tell the rest of our people to be on alert." he replied with a grin.

Martinez led him further up the partially overgrown road and stopped at a small ferrocrete bridge that was almost groaning under the weight of one of the massive trees that had fallen on it at some point during the last few decades. On the other side he could see a manhole cover. A small river, maybe five to six metres wide, flowed beneath the bridge, and Grayson guessed that it probably fed into the lake where they'd first landed, tunnelled over or just hidden from sight by the vegetation. Either way, Martinez revealed a small control panel on his lower left arm. He tapped a few buttons and then Grayson watched with awe.

A hundred metres or so away from the bridge on the far side of the river from where they were standing, Grayson could see a waterfall coming from a cliff-face high enough and then some for an Atlas to take a shower underneath it. Up on the cliff, the river was divided by a rock of some sort.

Just beside the waterfall, there was a large, flat rock that looked like it had broken off the cliff at some point. Directly above it, there was a almost sheer wall. Except that said wall now opened up to reveal a dark, gaping black hole, one that instantly reminded from the entrance on Helm. When the massive gates stopped, the gap was wide enough that any two Battlemechs Grayson cared to name could easily walk through side by side.

"My team used a different entrance to get out earlier, but this it the main access point."

Before Grayson could say anything, he could see a man walk out of the looming darkness of the cliff and cross over to them.

In spite of his not very conventional childhood, Grayson had enjoyed a varied and in-depth education, something that had of course included galactic history. Between that and the last year of his life, he could easily see that the man was wearing the uniform of an SLDF General complete with the sword, though there were some non-standard parts. For one, he was missing the sash that would normally have denoted his planet of origin or the military school he'd gone to, for two he was wearing a distinctly non-standard black beret with some sort of silver insignia Grayson was unfamiliar with over the right eye. Other than those things, he could have stepped out of any history book.

The General came to a stop in front of them, hand extended in greeting. "Colonel Carlyle, I presume? I am General Edward John Hackett."

"Grayson Death Carlyle, Gray Death Legion." He took the hand that was offered, also taking the time to study the man in front of him.

By his estimation, Hackett was late forties or early fifties, and at roughly two metres tall, his slightly greying hair, chisled face and stark blue eyes he cut an impressive figure. By the way he carried himself, Grayson could see that the man had seen his fair share of combat action. Here was an officer who had risen through the ranks the hard way. Dad probably would have liked him.

Hackett looked at Grayson with an inquiring look. "That is not a unit I'm familiar with, but from what Sergeant Martinez tells me, our information is somewhat out of date. A Code Andromeda was a codeword. It means that we were in the facility for longer than the fifty years it was supposed to last."

Grayson internally debated what to say next for a while, but eventually he decided to answer the unasked question.

"Obviously I can't decide when exactly you cut yourselves off from the outside world, but the year is 3029. The Star League fell in 2781."

Hackett visibly fought to keep his composure. "How?"

After quickly outlining the events of what had happened, Grayson could almost see Hackett age ten years before his very eyes.

"This... project was meant as a nucleus. When we went in..." he swallowed. "When we went in after Kerensky took the Rim Worlds Republic, the idea was for us to help rebuild what remained of the League. Now..."

He had to be pulling himself back together, because he flashed an obviously fake grin. "It seems that we have a lot of things to talk about Colonel."

"I'd say, General. Just what do you have down there? And who are you people?"

The General replied with a barking laugh. "I think the Director would be happy to give you a tour. She designed most of all four facilities after all."

"Wait? FOUR?" Grayson couldn't fanthom four facilities like the one on Helm on the same planet.

The General grinned. "This one is by far the largest, the other three are effectively... storage if you will. This one does that too, but it holds all the other facilities we're sure going to need in the not too distant future. Director Jackson can explain all this a lot better than me, but she is overseeing getting the rest of the maintenance and medical staff out of cryo first."

"Just... how many people do you have down here?"

"All together?" Hackett asked, "Assuming that not too many of the pods have failed, around forty thousand. Technicians, scientists, agriculture specialists, soldiers. Everything you need-"

"To establish a colony."

"Perhaps even more than that." Hackett added, obviously not minding the interruption. "The people, the equipment and then some."

Grayson couldn't help but wonder what exactly those people had stashed away down there. "So, what are your intentions towards my people? How do I know I can trust you?"

Hackett grinned. "To be fair, you can't, not really. I'd rather you just did anyway, but if you want an answer.."

The grin faded. "All our plans depended on the Star League still existing in some form. I would never have expected that Kerensky would abandon humanity like he did."

The history geek in Grayson couldn't resist asking. "You knew him, General?"

"Not that well, but I did a tour on his staff a few years before the Amaris Coup. He was always quite convinced of his own wisdom. It didn't help that he was really, really good at his job, so there was some merit to that."

Hackett grunted and glanced down towards where the forward party was waiting.

"Colonel, your unit... you don't belong to any military unit I'm familiar with and unless one of the Great houses has died out, you don't use any of their insignia. Mercenaries?"

Grayson nodded. "Yes, though we are here on our own bill. No one paid us to come."

"I thought as much." Hackett replied with a nod. When Grayson gave him a quizzical look, the General elaborated. "We've taken the liberty and listened in on your comms traffic. That and other... characteristics of your unit make it somewhat obvious."

The General seemed to ponder something for a while.

"You probably looked at looting an unmanned supply depot, didn't you?"

With a sheepish grin Grayson could only agree. "We did that on Helm."

Hackett looked up, obviously there was a story to be had there. But before Grayson could ask, he shook his head.

"Since that's certainly not going to happen, don't you want an alternative?"

"So what do you propose?

"You work for us. Despite the size of the project, our military force is small, and we can use any additional defence." Hackett replied, "Something else would be that you would bring us up to speed on the Galaxy."

Grayson nodded and turned into the Colonel of a Mercenary unit almost desperate. He certainly wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to salvage something from the mess he'd led them into that had wiped out what funds they'd had. "The Star League Dollar is entirely worthless now, so some other form of payment would have to be arranged."

"Director Jackson will probably complain about this, but would you accept spare parts and generally logistics support? Effectively anything we can do to help your unit in return. And Colonel, given what I've seen of your BattleMechs, you need it." Hackett sighed again. "Beyond that... we will have to come to some sort of agreement, but I think I can offer you... if what you told me is correct, the inner sphere would be a prime market for factory-spec Mech components. We have enough parts of every kind here to build a small army. Stuffing a JumpShip full with them barely scratches the surface. Beyond that... I'm certain we will find something that will suit you."

The Star League General looked on as the Mercenary Colonel as the younger man thought about the offer he'd just been given. Within seconds, Grayson had visions of factory-fresh Mech parts, fusion engines and fresh coats of paint. As someone who had dealt with lacking spare parts and lostech all his life, he couldn't refuse. Yet...

"I'll have to discuss this with my people first."

"Fair enough, Colonel."

Not entirely sure if what he was about to do was a good thing, Grayson raised his radio. "Allow me, General."

"Grey One to Two. Lori, I think we've made ourselves some friends."

'In summary. the first meeting between Grayson Death Carlyle and General Edward John Hackett was one that would end up having massive repercussions in the Inner Sphere and beyond. It's impact has often been compared to, somewhat ironically, the complete collapse and disintegration of the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth during the Clan invasion, or the Blakeist terror attack on the Liverpool conference. Even though both these are somewhat improper comparisons, the impact the meeting would have on the settled galaxy as a whole cannot be understated, especially when one considers the reaction of some elements of the Clans once they became aware of the remnant's existence. In any event, March 30th, 3029 has certainly earned it's place in the history books.

From the trash heap of history – The Star League Remnant Volume I

Samuel McCall, Black Pawn Publishing of New Providence, 3147

tbc

In case anyone is interested, the General is wearing replica of a Royal Tank Regiment beret on his head. That said, while the headwear is unashamedly rule of cool, for the rest there is a method behind my madness. Though why a set of uniforms supposedly designed for efficiency doesn't seem to include something as pedestrian as a nametag on even the most basic on-duty wear I'll never understand. (In-universe at least. Out of universe.. the designers clearly weren't military persons.) Oh btw, I'm using the US spelling for names and stuff, but in flowing text, I will apply the Queen's English.