“Do you want the Urbie?” James asked, offering John an option to join them in the assault.

John facepalmed, his memories telling him exactly what that mech was. The Urbie, rather the UrbanMech, was designed to fight in a city, where its small size allowed it to move up and down alleyways between buildings to ambush its targets and withdraw. It was heavily armoured for a thirty-ton mech, and had a 120 mm autocannon that could worry any mech*. Its main problems were that it didn’t have much ammo and was slow, very slow. A man on a regular bicycle moved faster than it could at full throttle. In an open field, it was as good as dead. 

“Is this your idea to keep your job a bit longer? Because that is a good way to maintain your job security.” John deadpanned.  

“Ah, they are just pirates. You will be fine. Besides, by the time you catch up, the battle will have already started, and you get to sneak in and save the day.”

“Well, let’s see if they can delay one more day. I would rather be in that Marauder or even Suzy Q. Or hell, even that Griffin if we can get its powerplant to start up again.” John said, pointing to the side of the hangar where the four ‘Hanger Queen’ mechs were standing. His Hunchback was also there, along with two Phoenix Hawks, but those three were having issues with their Gyrostabilizers and were unable to move without falling over.

Wait, Phoenix Hawks? Is this world where whoever wrote Infinite Frontiers got the name for my ship? Stop it, not important right now. 

“Well, we can try. The meeting is after lunch tomorrow at 1300, so meet me at his office a few minutes prior. Probably best you start joining me for these meetings anyway, since it will be your job shortly.” James said, then yawned. “Damn it, it’s getting late. I am heading home. Need to get my beauty rest, ya know.” He gave John a wink and then departed, leaving John alone with his thoughts. 

They need to get some recon over the area before I make any decision about riding in that bullet sponge.  

Blackcat Bar

“John! Come join us!” Freddy called out to him as John walked through the bar toward the stairs that led up to the apartments. Darla and Jerome were beside him in their usual booth, empty plates still on the table from their supper. 

“Sure,” he replied, sitting down next to Freddy, “Though I can’t stay long tonight. Got a big day tomorrow.”

“Oh, do tell? Is the old man finally going to retire?” Darla asked, sliding him a beer.

“Well, actually,” John said, then proceeded to fill them in on the plan to assault the pirate base in a couple of days.

“My man! Getting promoted out of The Dispensables already. Now, you can give us some of those sweet gigs the command lance always seems to get.” Jerome said with a laugh. 

“What sweet gigs? Going to Oberon to parade in front of the King every year with the rest of the units in the confederation?” John replied, taking a swig of his beer. “I will gladly send your dumb asses to go kiss his butt for us.”

They all laughed and shot the shit for a few minutes before Darla asked him something he hadn’t even thought about. “So, when are we getting your replacement? Getting mechwarriors who know what the hell they are doing to come out here is a pretty long process. I still have no idea how they even found you all the way over on the other side of the Innersphere.”

“I actually might have someone lined up already. She is a bit younger than our usual stock, but she seems quite competent. I can’t share her story yet, but she has a bone to pick with the pirates here on Blackstone. I should know in a day or two what her plans are.” John said, laying some groundwork for Lucy. 

“A woman? Did our little Johnny finally find someone who piqued his interest? Hell must have frozen over.” Freddy chuckled, elbowing John in the ribs.

“Ah, shut it, ya old coot. Anyway, if things go well, I’ll bring her by tomorrow.” He replied. If things went well, this would be her foot in the door. If not, once they rescued her daughter, they could leave, and no one would really question it. Living so far away from normal civilization wasn’t for everyone, and short of living on an asteroid or on a toxic world, you couldn’t get much farther than Blackstone. 

“That wasn’t a denial,” Freddy replied. Then, with a mock disappointed tone, he continued, “It is a sad day now that John is off the market. I was going to set you up with a pair of sisters who keep asking about you, too. I will have to console them later about their loss.”

“You are so full of shit, Freddy. Besides, why would I want your sloppy seconds? The last thing I want to hear at the dinner table would be your questions about our sex life. Though it might be fun to hear from them about that stubby nub you call a dick. All five centimetres of fury.” John replied, ribbing the man back. He wasn’t sure how long that was, but he remembered some pirates saying that on the radio back in Infinite Frontiers. 

Actually, increasing his intelligence stat was letting him remember a lot of things from the past. He was really regretting not doing that sooner. He would have to sit down and actually go through all these stats and skills at some point soon, and get an idea of what they really did for him. 

John hung out with his lance mates for a few more minutes, then excused himself. He needed a shower, get some sleep, and to check whether Lucy had woken up yet. They had a lot to talk about, and now less time to do it in.

He made his way upstairs and slowly opened the door to his apartment, ready just in case Lucy was awake and had discovered where his knives were. He didn’t think she would stab him, but she was somewhat delirious and under duress when she agreed to help him back in the infirmary. 

Thankfully, she appeared to still be asleep, so John just got cleaned up himself and then sat down on the threadbare recliner in the corner. With a quick glance at Lucy, he nodded to himself. He would go join the rescue efforts even if it was in that damn Urbie, and bring this woman’s child back to her. His mind now quieting down, he slowly drifted off to sleep to the sounds of muted music from the bar below and the surf breaking on the nearby beach.  

John woke up the next morning to the sun on his face and the smell of coffee and… pork cooking? He blinked the sleep out of his eyes a few times and looked over at his kitchenette. Lucy was facing away from him, cooking something on the dual burner hot plate he had over there, and a fresh pot of coffee was brewing in the machine. His memories told him he had food here, but he mostly used the restaurant downstairs for his meals since he wasn’t a fan of doing dishes. 

“Good morning, Lucy. What are you doing?” He asked, setting the recliner upright.

She jumped at the sound of his voice, then spun around and bowed her head towards him. “Good morning, Ojiisama. Please, don’t get up, breakfast will be ready shortly. What do you take in your coffee?”

“Ah, just a little whitener and sugar.” He replied, confused at her change of attitude from being on the gurney yesterday. 

What is an Ojiisama? I really should have asked more questions about these Japanese titles from everyone in High School of the Dead.

She nodded, then quickly poured him a cup of coffee and brought it over to him, bowing yet again. “Breakfast will be simple; there was not much to work with in the cupboards here, but I did the best I could.”

“Thank you.” He said, taking the mug from her. “You didn’t need to do this.”

She paused, then looked up at him, her black orbs burrowing into his eye. “Yesterday, I was a dead woman. Today, I am whole. I don’t know how you did it, but I owe you my life. So please, let me take care of you, Ojiisama. My honour demands no less.”

John blinked at the intensity of her statement. “Okay. Please continue then, but we need to talk after breakfast.”

“Of course.” She said again, bowing once more, then returned to the kitchen.

John took a drink of his coffee, surprised that it tasted better than his usual coffee. He wasn’t sure why; he only had one type of coffee grind in the apartment.

He looked over at Lucy again, who was humming happily in the kitchenette. She had showered and was wearing the clothing he had purchased yesterday. Her long, raven black hair, which went nearly down to her butt, was tied up in a large bun on the back of her head, with several sticks of some sort holding it there. He wasn’t sure whether that was part of the makeup kit he bought, but it gave her the appearance of the Japanese women he often saw in period movies. Her makeup was light, but was more than enough to make her look remarkably different than the pirate she was yesterday. The only indication he had that it was her was the shock collar around her neck. 

Yeah, that goes now.

He stood up and walked up behind her, pulling the collar’s fob out of his pocket. Following this body’s memories, he held down the cancel button on it for five seconds, then punched in a sequence on the other buttons. The collar released, falling to the floor at her feet. She looked surprised at that, then turned around and looked at him questioningly.

“You didn’t stab me in my sleep; that is a good enough reason for me to release you. By the way, my name is John. Not Ojiisama. Not sure what that even means.” He said, turning back to his chair. He didn’t bother activating his Scouter skill; the joy and relief on her face were all he needed to know.

“It means honoured grandfather. I meant no offence, but I didn’t know your name, John-sama.” She replied.

“Ahh, no offence taken. I was… rather, I am old enough to be a grandfather.” He said, sitting back down. 

She finished cooking their meal, then sat down on the small futon beside his chair. It was a rice dish shaped like a wedge, filled with lightly seasoned pork. At least he thought it was pork; it might have been some strange mystery meat. It was very good, though his memories of the orc tainted the flavour for a moment, causing him to frown.

“Is the onigiri not to your liking? I am sorry, John-sama. I can make you something else if you wish.” Lucy said, having caught the frown on his face.

“No! No, it is excellent. I just remembered something that was distasteful; it has nothing to do with your cooking.” He said quickly, then devoured the food in front of him. It was really good.

“So, Lucy,” John said after he finished the last onigiri. “I don’t know your whole story, but from what I gather, you were working with the pirates under duress to protect your daughter.”

“Yes.” She said, then looked down, wringing her hands together. “Listen, I want to tell you our story, at least part of it anyway. But I need you to promise it won’t leave this room. I cannot have my Uncle find us out here unprotected.”

“I promise I won’t say a word.”

She filled John in a bit about her past. Her time in the military, her now deceased husband. How they had to run from the Draconis Combine, how they had lived on dropships for the better part of two years before they got captured by the pirates. How she had been forced to pilot mechs for the pirates, else they would kill her daughter, or send her off into slavery. She started to cry part of the way through her story, so John knelt on the floor beside her, holding her hands while she finished.

“Do you really think you can save her?” She asked.

“I do. We need to do some recon, but we have eight mechs ready to attack their base. I am going to a meeting after lunch to discuss the timetable. Right now, they want to go tomorrow, though I am pushing for the day after so we can have that Marauder ready.”

“What? Why not go tomorrow?”

“The only other mech we have that works is an UrbanMech. Without knowing their numbers, I would rather not take such a slow mech in case we have to retreat.”

“I’ll pilot it! Please, if you won’t do it, let me!” She said, nearly begging John. 

Just then, a phone rang, causing John to jump a little. He was confused for a moment, then remembered that they didn’t have any cell phones on Blackstone, just old landlines. He went over and answered it. “Hello?”

“John, get over to the hospital. It’s urgent.” Jerome said, speaking loud enough that John had to hold the phone away from his ear.

“What happened?” He asked, now concerned that something had happened to Darla.

Jerome said something, and John just facepalmed. After saying he would be right over, he hung up and turned to Lucy. “We need to head over to the hospital, one of my lance mates got injured. As for the battle, I’ll pilot the garbage can if you can pilot a Black Jack.”

* – The Wiki describes autocannons as anywhere from 23 mm to 203mm, with different manufacturers making different calibres.  They dumb this down in the game by calling them AC/2, AC/5, AC/10, and AC/20.  So the Urbie has an AC/10, while the Black Jack has a pair of AC/2s, and the hanger queen Hunchback has an AC/20. Also, if the Pelican shows up, I am considering its autocannon to be a variant of an AC/5 called LB-X, since its dispersal pattern is similar to a shotgun, though it isn’t a true cluster munition.   

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep