It’s a Peaceful Life (Battletech AU/SI)

[Sogen]

Huh, yet another way this version of Mark is a bit different from the others.

 

[Inbredmartian]

Time to leverage your connection to the great Fox to get that eye fixed and follow your broken Wifu into the militsrybold boy. And the Davion's just so happen to have a unit with a history of putting husband and wife together….i really hope this happens now, that'd be so cute. And I laugh at the image of their kids running around in urbies because they need a mech that they can catch them in but is tough enough to help out around the farm as well

 

[Baldrick the Wise]

He already has a farm, no need to buy another one against the Clans.

 

[MarkWarrior]

"Hey, Luke," I pulled the older man in for a hug, noting that he seemed to have aged another few years in the last six months. "You doing alright?"

"I'm tired," he grunted. "I didn't think that I'd ever get reactivated, and I had forgotten how much it wears on you."

He gestured for me to take a seat at a table, a sigh escaping his lips as he reached into his shirt pocket for a cigarette that wasn't there.

"I'm probably going to close up shop and retire in the next six months," he confided in me. "I'm old, I'm tired, and I want to spend a lot more time with my kids. Cheryl agrees with me. We're planning on looking around your area for any good deals on property."

For a moment, Luke's attention wasn't in the present, it was somewhere in the distant past before he shook his head and focused back on our conversation.

"A lot of things I thought I'd dealt with are starting to eat at me again," Luke's brown eyes were filled with an emotion I couldn't describe, but I identified with. "I don't want to leave you hanging though. I've got enough money. So, if you want the bakery, it's yours. Just let me know and I'll have the documents drawn up."

I mulled over the thought in my mind, testing and seeing if I liked the idea before speaking out loud.

"How about this," I replied. "Leave it in your name. This is a family business, it should go to your kids and grandkids. We both know that Alvin and Alyssa love the bakery. They should get the chance to decide its future. I'll run it if you want, or you can leave it close up. But I'm not going to take something away from you or your family. Not after everything y'all've done for me."

"I appreciate the sentiment," Luke leaned back in his chair. "But Mason's jump infantry, and Alice isn't interested in any businesses. Not with having four kids with one more on the way."

"Just take some time to think about it," I drawled, a bit of emotion rapidly forcing its way up my throat. "You've always done right by me. Let me do the same for you and yours."

"Alright," Luke nodded after a moment, swallowing. "I'll discuss it with Cheryl and Alice. Mason got deployed with the rest of the units rotating up north. So, he's not going to be able to weigh in on this. But for now, we should probably get started on getting everything back up and running."

We weren't opening today, instead we were inspecting machines, checking the gas levels, and doing general maintenance before ordering the supplies that would be needed to bring the bakery back to life.

---

It was almost funny, Kat realized as she crawled through the mud before clambering over an obstacle in the abbreviated boot camp that was the introduction to NAMA. Just how much easier this was than being kept in that cold room.

The lack of privacy might be the same, but there was something great about the structure and order that was present in everything that the Drill Instructors worked them through. Everything they told them to do had a purpose and was carefully sculpted. The DIs knew exactly how far to push someone and test them without breaking them down.

Sure, this wasn't the full experience that she'd have gotten upon enlisting. But according to her father, this was more to gauge where the cadets were physically and mentally. Not to break them, but to see what they understood and where they could be best used. Young officers were supposed to be a bit wild, to see fresh new tactics and look at things differently. Their reckless nature balanced out with the seasoned and measured calm of senior noncommissioned officers.

Kat might be covered in mud, and feeling cold as a bit of wind chilled her, but this was nothing compared to the constant cold and bright white of the room she'd been kept in.

"Good work, Cadet Davion! That was your best time today!" A drill instructor nodded. "Drink water and go stand with your squad."

"Yes ma'am!" Kat yelled and then jogged over to where the overachiever was waiting.

"Here," the Squad Leader passed her a canteen. "Drink up. We've got a long day ahead of us."

Kat gratefully accepted and sipped at the lukewarm water, the liquid soothing her warm throat.

There was no conversation beyond that, the FedCom was moving into a wartime footing as the few transmissions and leaked Battleroms of the invaders made their way onto various media outlets. Which meant that everything got streamlined. Officer training went from two to four years, to a stripped down year, year and a half. Enlistedmen and women still went through standard boot camps, but their job specific training was also streamlined. Anything you didn't pick up at your school, you were going to be learning en-route to, or in the field.

Kat slowly drank more water and waited for the rest of her squad to finish the obstacle before a drill instructor strode over and led them through some stretches before taking them on a run.

Here, it didn't matter that Kat was a Davion. In fact, being a Davion in a Federated Suns military academy meant that you were expected to perform above whatever expectations that were set.

So, despite what seemed like Chaos going on around her, Kat felt more at peace here than she did in the Mountain. Here in the mud, getting her own hands dirty was more satisfying than all of the economics and sociopolitical courses she'd taken over the last few years.

---

"Why are you here?" Katherine asked Melissa, the doppelganger set the book down on the bedside. "What's the point of spending time with me at all? I'm a security threat."
"You are," Melissa agreed, a warm smile never leaving her face. "But you have the potential to be more than that."

"In what way?" Katherine scoffed. "I'm fucking compromised. None of my memories are real, nothing I remember doing even mattered at all. And God knows what else is fucked up with me."

"None of that was your fault," Melissa chided gently. "Do you think that we executed Hanse's doppelganger when he returned? No, it took years of dedicated therapy and deprogramming, but he now has a life again. We may never restore everything that he once was, but he built himself back into something again."

Melissa sat down next to Katherine, ignoring the pointed look the security guard gave her and pulled the younger blond in for a hug.

"We have the resources to try and help you. But it's up to you to take the first step. I, for one, am glad to have another member of the family. Even if how we got you was a little odd."

Melissa kissed the doppelganger on the head and stood up.

"Just think about it," She said as she exited. "It won't be an overnight change, but given time. I think that we can help you find a place to fit in around our craziness."

The door slid shut behind the Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth, leaving the clone of Katherine Steiner-Davion to her own thoughts.

 

[jokarun]

Its actually such a nice gesture of comstar to give Melissa another daughter to dote on.

 

[Sogen]

Its actually such a nice gesture of comstar to give Melissa another daughter to dote on.

Click to shrink...

Especially since most of the kids are on New Avalon with their father, gives her some company while she's on Tharkad.

 

[Baldrick the Wise]

It shows what Katherine went through when basic is a therapeutic experience.