Scavenged Restoration 49 (Patreon)

Commissioned by RoyalTwinFangs

Scavenged Restoration

Chapter 49

-VB-

Tormano Liao took a deep breath within the Thunderbolt II prototype. A supposed successor of the new Thunderbolt types that used Star League-era technology for an upgrade not just to what it can equip but to its base model. Of course, this mech had been made and put together by hand, not built in a factory. Its factory-made kin will use off-the-shelf parts while also using the cutting edge Star League technology for its internal, of course, because that was what his brother had dictated.

Personally, Tormano didn’t like that. He expected his brother to put some focus into the quality of new mechs, not create another slightly better Cataphracts… even if he really did appreciate the Cataphracts and would never ever give up his own Cataphract. He would privately critique the Cataphract for lacking the grace and dignity required out of a Capellan homegrown mech, but he will never do so publicly and rise to its defense should it be needed in his presence. 

This mech was a test bed, after all, but it was a mech that he found himself interested in.

And today, he was going to test it out. 

Up against him was a Cataphract and a Spider. 

The message was clear: Thunderbolt II must be stronger than the Cataphract. 

This match was, of course, done with training software instead of real ammunition. Not even the most callous of Capellan bureaucrats would so needlessly risk the lives of the confederation’s mechwarriors.

The Draconis Combine might, though.

“Mechwarriors, please start up your mech,” the engineer in charge of the test asked over the radio.

Tormano inserted the key in, typed in the code stickied onto the board, and waited. 

The engine rumbled to life, and the mech began to report. 

“Reactor: Online. Sensors: Online. Weapons: Online. All systems are nominal.”

“Ready,” Tormano replied and heard the mechwarriors in the Cataphract and the Spider confirm their readiness. 

“Then good fight out there. Remember, no fisticuffs!”

The mech bay opened, and the noon sun poured into the dark mech bay. Tormano squinted momentarily as he pushed his mech out of the bay and into the clearing. He quickly made note of the arena. There were rocky hills to the left, a forest in the middle, and a shallow body of water to his right. 

The mech’s sensors locked in on the two mechs on the other side of the arena. 

The Spider was quick to move. It pushed its eight jump jets into action and began to circle around from the hill. The Cataphract, on the other hand, chose the narrow open area between the forest and the lake to push through. 

Tormano immediately opened up with an LRM-15 barrage as he moved towards the furthest edge of the lake to pull the Spider out of the forest and hills where it had plenty of cover to hide behind. Doing so would hopefully bring it out into the open where he had a better chance of taking it down. 

While no LRMs left his mech’s actual LRM launchers, his controls registered the fire and transmitted the data to everyone as well as showing a pixelated missile flying over the arena over the training screen added to the mechs for this session.

The Cataphract tanked half of the LRMs while the other half missed the sprinting heavy mech. 

And then the heavy mech was in his range. 

He opened up with the Thunderbolt II’s double Extended Range Large Lasers, one under each of its arms, and blasted the Cataphract. Again, his actual lasers didn’t fire but there were two flashes of light on the training screen as his lasers burned into the Cataphract’s heavy armor. 

The Spider chose this moment to intervene. With him focused solely on the Cataphract, he didn’t expect the nimble light mech to have flanked him all the way around the arena. The light mech opened fire with its double medium lasers, and they burned at the Thunderbolt II’s left side just shy of hitting the rear armors.  

He turned his hips around so that he now had both of the mechs facing his front. 

The Spider gave chase for his flank, using its jump jets to try to fly over him. 

But Tormano turned right to it and opened up with Thunderbolt II’s triple Medium Pulse Lasers. The lasers buzzed the Spider, and it immediately went into low armor. Knowing fully well that most of the missiles wouldn’t hit, he fired the LRM 15 on the Spider. The Spider panicked and tried to back away, but it was in the air and couldn’t meaningfully dodge. Even so, two-thirds of the missiles missed, too slow to catch up to the quick light mech, but five of them still struck it all over its front. 

His mech pinged, telling him that the Spider was in critical condition. One good hit would do it in. 

And that’s when the Cataphract came to the Spider’s rescue. 

It opened up with its own Large Laser and AC/10. Both attacks struck the Thunderbolt II’s right side, damaging the right arm and right leg’s armors, but the armors both held up admirably well. 

Wasting no time, Tormano turned right around to face the Cataphract and opened up with everything he had at the ready. The Thunderbolt II screamed at him about the heat as Medium Pulse Lasers, ER Large Lasers, and even the LRM 15 fired together in an alpha strike just as he ordered, and the slower Cataphract tanked it all. 

But not without cost. 

The training computer marked the Cataphract’s Large Laser and left arm as disabled as well as having no armor on its left torso. 

Sensing a weakness, Tormano fired again… But did not expect for his own mech to lurch when the Spider that he thought had run had come back to strike at his weak rear armor. He had to make a decision. Fast. 

And he chose to press his advantage and charged toward the Cataphract, once again opening up with his Medium Pulse Lasers. The buzzing lasers burned at the Cataphract’s weakened center torso armor and then broke through. 

The Cataphract mechwarrior retaliated with an AC/10 fire and four Medium Lasers, and Tormano’s mech screamed at him that his own left torso armor was now close to zero, blinking in red. The rest of his front armor had fallen from green to yellow as well.

No matter! 

Then the mech screamed at him again, showing that his rear armors were gone from the Spider’s constant Medium Laser burns.

‘Better a Spider at my back than a Cataphract at my back,’ he thought before opening up again with all of his lasers. His mech’s heat rose dangerously close to the shut down level, but this strike did the trick. The Cataphract’s center torso burned away, and then its internals lit up as the five laser combo struck the engine and shut it down. The training software recognized the kill strike for what it was and forcibly shut down the Cataphract. 

And then the Spider was left by itself. 

Tormano turned to shoot… but the Spider had already jumped over his head to what it had assumed was its rear. But Tormano had feinted his turn. He stopped the slow turn and turned faster than before right back around as the Spider landed, and it looked up at him with the mood of someone who knew they fucked up.

With just the Medium Pulse Lasers, he laid down fire… and the Spider came to a screeching stop as it too got locked up by its training program. 

Tormano gasped and panted inside the hot cockpit, which also had been part of the training simulation. He looked down at mech display and grunted. An average of yellow armor across against a heavy and a light mech. This was a good result as far as he was concerned. 

And now, it was time for the post-sim debrief. 

---

“I can’t tell if the Cataphract is tough for its weight class or if the Thunderbolt II is striking harder than its weight class,” the lead engineer for the project from Earthwerks Limited hummed as he and the rest of the crew present watched the training battle in repeat. 

“The Spider did well. It showed how weak the Thunderbolt II’s rear armors are. And the CASE didn’t even come into play because the Cataphract mechwarrior didn’t even bother to aim for the LRM launcher,” someone else noted. 

“I think the Cataphract mechwarrior did the best he could considering the circumstances,” Tormano interjected, and the room turned to look at him. “He knew as all of us did that the LRM launcher and its ammunition had CASE. Striking at it might remove the LRM out of the play, but that would limit only a small percentage of the overall damage the Thunderbolt II can put out. And at close range, the LRM was already at suboptimal range. So he went for center torso to take me out of the fight as quickly as he could.”

“The prince is correct,” the Cataphract’s pilot, an older mechwarrior employed by Earthwerks, nodded. “Even though the Thunderbolt II’s center torso armor is the heaviest set of armors, the Cataphract had enough firepower to punch through it in just a few hits. So I chose to focus there, but my aim was a little off and got his left torso instead.”

“Which was also where my Medium Pulse Lasers were,” the engineer hummed. 

“Yes, but my strikes were just strong enough to take out the armor and not the internals.”

“That’s the Thunderbolt II’s fourteen point five tons of armor coming into play,” the lead engineer grinned. “Even an AC/10 and four Medium Lasers pounding at a location won’t so easily destroy the armor layers.”

“Damn. That’s at least three tons more armor than the Cataphract,” Tormano muttered. He knew the Thunderbolt II had been heavily armored but the maximum armor allocation? No wonder he only ended up with moderate armor damage; any other heavy mech would have been in the red or missing armor.

“And since the armor is not ferro-fibrous but normal standard mech armor, we can easily replace it as well.”

Tormano blinked. “What if it had been ferro-fibrous armor?”

“Then we would have had enough tonnage left over for minor engine improvement or more heat sinks.”

Tormano nodded. 

The Double Heat Sinks that the Thunderbolt II had been the key reason, in his opinion, as to why he had won against the Cataphract. They allowed him to continuously fire his heat intensive lasers. Had he been limited to single heat sinks, then he would not have been able to do so. Adding a bit more Double Heat Sinks and a bit more ammunition could make the Thunderbolt II a monster on the battlefield… but its manufacturing, armor replacement, and usage would become more problematic as a result. 

He shook his head. No mech could be perfect. Not even the Atlas was perfect and that battlemech had everything. As such, it was better to leave the Thunderbolt II as it was. It was already better than the original Thunderbolt, too. And that was good enough for the confederation. Perhaps individuals would “bling out” their mechs for protection and firepower, but the confederation as a whole couldn’t afford to put ferro-fibrous armor on everything. 

He certainly would outfit a Thunderbolt II once he got his hands on one, though, just as he had for his Cataphract. 

Then someone knocked on the door to the meeting room and opened it. It was one of the lieutenants of his regiment. Why was he here? 

“Prince-Colonel?” he asked after him, and Tormano raised his arm to let the man know where he was among the two dozen engineers, other mechwarriors, and designers. “We got a message from the chancellor. He wishes you to return to Sian for a peace negotiation between the confederation and the magistracy.”

He blinked in surprise. 

“Me?”

“Yes, colonel.”

Why would Willian need him? 

… But Tormano wasn’t going to reject this chance. After all, having a hand in politics now will only ensure that he would be able to gain more power later. Saying that he had a hand in the Magistracy-Confederation peace negotiation would only bolster his reputation.

“Very well. Ladies and gentlemen, my brother calls me,” he said as he stood up. The rest of the people stood up with him and saluted him. He saluted them back and left. 

-VB-

After just a month of traveling, he found himself back on Sian.

“Chancellor,” he greeted his brother. 

“Prince-Colonel,” he greeted back with a smile. 

The smile made Tormano pause. It was a strained smile but the strain was from exhaustion and frustration not aimed at him but simply shimmering underneath the exterior. 

“Did something serious happen?” he asked. 

William looked at the currently small court and dismissed them. The three Prefectorate members stood up, bowed, and left the hall from that single gesture. Once everyone was out, he finally sighed. “Not significantly serious but enough that I asked you to come for advice.”

He blinked. Well… if his successful brother wanted his advice, then he would certainly give it! It felt good to be acknowledged like this. 

“And what could I help with?” he asked as respectfully as he could. 

“The upcoming negotiation.”

Well, he knew that. What exactly about it?

So he just raised an eyebrow to tell his brother to keep explaining. 

“The Maskirovka agents within Magistracy has noted that several prominent and beautiful women have been called up by Magestrix Centrella during her journey.”

Tormano blanked out for a while before he raised a hand and facepalmed. 

“She’s going to try to seduce you, isn’t she?”

“There is not an insignificant chance that she is after that, yes,” he agreed with a sigh. 

Tormano thought about it. 

… Would it be bad? 

Sure, Tormano wanted to be the chancellor himself, but not if it was going to hurt his family in its current state. Dad and Roma-Bitch were dead, and the confederation was in the good hands of his traumatized siblings. He was the officially the second in line for the chancellorship, but, again, if he became the chancellor, then something went really wrong with the confederation. 

For the sake of the confederation, his brother needed to start making heirs, because Tormano also wasn’t comfortable with Candace’s bastard son, especially because his father was a Davion loyalist-spy. 

… It was possible that the boy would grow up to become a true Capellan in everything but blood, but it was the nature of children to long for both of their parents, and for boys, longing to be like their father was simply the natural part of being a child. Because of that, Tormano simply couldn’t bring himself to fully trust him until the boy proved himself.

And if that meant killing his own father in the battlefield, then so be it. 

“I think you are thinking too hard about this, brother.”

“What?”

“You need an heir.”

William stiffened. 

“And considering that good Capellan women can’t seem to make you want to have heirs, I will not deny the Canopians from trying,” Tormano replied. Then he hesitated. He knew he shouldn’t speak so ill of the dead woman but … someone needed to say it. “Brother, it’s not to let go of her.”

In an instant, the chancellor’s eyes hardened and became wrathful.

Tormano wanted to flinch but he held his ground. 

“You are the chancellor of the Capellan Confederation You cannot allow yourself to be tied up only in love. You have a duty to the state, one that we, your family, have allowed you to ignore for half a decade.” Then he threw his hands up as his own frustration over the issue started to bubble up. “If you don’t want to get married, then fine! Don’t get married, but you must have an heir!” 

“Kai is an acceptable heir -.”

“If that boy becomes the chancellor without himself being the person who kills his own father, then he will get assassinated and you know it.”

William’s lips trembled. 

Trembled as he tried to keep it from becoming a snarl. 

“Brother, please,” he continued, even though he felt like he was definitely pushing this issue. But who else but he and Candace can push this issue? “You’re almost fifty soon. Do you want your heir to grow up with a grandfather as their father? Or not have the experience of being in the field with their father? Or -.”

William raised his hand.

Tormano stopped himself.

“I know,” William said loudly. “I know,” he repeated quietly. A sigh escaped his lips. “You’re lucky.”

Tormano nodded. He found his love and defied even his father. Romano hadn’t cared about him because he had been “the dumb younger sibling.” He had nightmares about what happened to William’s woman happening to his wife. 

… Actually, he only remembered now but he used to have plans for assassinating Romano as a counter to her entire … her-ness. A mutual assured destruction. Plans that he never put into action because he chose to run instead of stay. 

William chose the confederation and that was what cost him his lover. He could have run like he did to the edge of the confederation space, but he hadn’t. He had stayed and suffered for it. And despite that, William stayed once again. He forgave but didn’t forget, and rolled up his sleeves for the sake of the confederation. 

Tormano… He knew he couldn’t do that. 

His current place as the Prince-Colonel was good enough for him. He was the Hero of Styk, had the ears of the chancellor, and made more money these days than he knew what to do with. He did not want to pay the price William paid so… He supposed this was as far as he went up the ladder. Perhaps a governorship in the future? Maybe. 

“So?”

“.... What?”

“Are you going to start looking at girls?”

“... My heart still hurts, asshole.”

Tormano chuckled, though he still felt sad on behalf of his brother. “You’ll get through this. You’re the toughest out of all of us, after all.”

William snorted. “Am I or am I just spiteful about how life fucked me over?” Then he sighed. “... I am halfway to considering surrogacy or something. That’s the bare minimum I will do.” 

“I’m not so sure if you can hold onto that. Canopians are called pretty for a reason~,” he replied with a grin.

The chancellor just grumbled. “Beauty is only skin deep. And Canopian skins are made out of C-Bills.”

“And maybe you will find someone who is beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. Or awaken a random fetish you didn’t know you had. You never know with those gambling girls.”

“... Speaking of gambling, what’s this about your recent gambling debt?”

Urk.

“Should I tell your wife?”

“Please, God, no!” It was started off as a harmless bet inside the regiment!” 

“Oh ho… So now you are implicating your entire regiment into this? For shame, brother.”

“Will, please -!”

His brother burst out laughing, and despite the panic he felt, Tormano supposed this was the best he could do.