Chapter Fifty-Seven: Moving forward
Aboard the Agro, Kentares, Federated Suns August 14th, 3012
"What did you do to yourself while you were gone?" Dr. Hale asked me. "You have some small fractures that were never treated in your back, you're missing an eye, and I see some recently torn muscle tissue."
"I have no idea where the fractures came from." I told Dr. Hale the truth, trying to avoid some uncomfortable answers. "And it's not like Mithril was designed with Naval Autocannon in mind."
"Well, seeing as we started on your eye back in June, it'll be finished in two weeks and we can go in and do surgery to restore your vision." Dr. Hale sighed. "Frankly Hull, you need some anti stress treatments. You've been driving yourself non-stop for too long." She wrote down some notes. "I'm going to recommend that you keep doing whatever it was that lowered your overall blood pressure and other signs of stress recently." I did my best to keep a straight face. "We'll get you under for surgery in two weeks to fix the fractures and your eye."
"Is that everything Doctor?" I asked. " I need to be in top shape come January."
"You'll be fighting fit by November if you actually follow the guidelines we give you." Hale said. "You have subordinates, delegate more and do less work yourself." She gave me a slight glare. "When was the last time you went to the gym? Nevermind, start hitting the gym again, your overall physical condition needs to get back to its peak." She gave me a list of vitamins I needed to start taking.
"Mark, you're not in your twenties anymore." She finally said, "You're nearly Forty and you need to start thinking about settling down and starting a family. Even with longevity treatments you won't live forever after all."
"I'm working on it Doctor, I'm working on it." I stood up to leave. "Is there anything else I need to be wary of?"
"No excess amounts of alcohol, no drugs that aren't prescribed." She sighed, "If you actually had some of those vices your overall stress level might be lower."
"Whatever workout or thing you did this week to release stress, you need to be careful, there were a lot of small muscle tears and we can't fix those." She said, "Now get out of here, I've got other patients to see."
August 28th, 3012
"The surgery went well." Dr. Hale told the assembled senior staff and officials. "Now, I know that he's been delegating a lot more than he used to, but I need someone to step up and keep him from doing anything more strenuous than lifting a pencil for the next three weeks"
"I'll take care of it." Natasha volunteered. "I'm currently on his bodyguard detail anyway."
September 8th, 3012
"I'm not helpless Nat." I told my lover. "I can walk to the mech bay by myself."
"Nope, I've been assigned to your bodyguard detail by Colonel Sheppard." Nat smirked at me. "I told you I was never letting you go."
"Most people don't take it so literally." I said, entering the Mech bay. "Lieutenant." My voice hardened. "What the Hell did you do to my Warhammer?"
"I Used it in a Trial of Refusal against the Wolf Brothers." Natasha said in a tone that was low enough I couldn't make out what she said.
"What was that Lieutenant?" I asked. "I used it in a duel against the Wolf Brothers Sir!"
"Well, make sure you don't do things like that with my mech too often." I told her, "I mean, you've got a Marauder of your own."
"Yes sir." She replied, still at attention reflexively, and I continued walking deeper into the bay.
"Mac!" I yelled. "Can you have someone bring Natasha's Marauder up to the front for me?"
The big burly Irishman wrapped me up in a bear hug. "It's grae to see yae a gain." He set me down and patted me on the back. "I'll hae somone bring it rae up." He called for tone of the Astech assistants to have Nat's Marauder brought up.
The giant of a man patted me on the back again and zoned in on his next project.
"How can you understand him?" Nat asked me. "His accent is so thick."
"Natasha, he was one of my first hires, and I've been working with him for almost ten years now." I scolded. "If I couldn't understand him anymore I would have a serious problem."
Then, before she could chime in, her Marauder walked up and stopped. An Astech assistant popped open the hatch and climbed down the ladder, seemingly in a hurry to get back to whatever job he was doing before.
"What did you do to my 'Mech?"
"I'm sorry Lieutenant, I think I misheard you." I said.
"What did you do to my Mech Sir?!" Echoed in the mech bay.
"Well, seeing as both of my Highly customized Royal Warhammers are damaged nearly beyond repair…. I needed something to use as my ride."
"What do you mean Both of them?" she asked. And then turned around to see what I was pointing to behind her. "Oh." Her mouth hung open for a second.
The Warhammer I had set up as my backup and brought with me to Versaille/Taussen was intact apart from the Naval Autocannon shell lodged into the cockpit.
"How are you alive?" She asked, after she had recovered her composure.
"By not being in my mech." I shrugged. "The piece of Shrapnel that took out my eye was from the cockpit."
"And you are not angry?" She asked.
"Of course I'm angry." I let some of the rage that was seething beneath the surface bubble to the top. "But there's nothing I can do about it right now." I let the anger subside again. "Now, go take a look at your Marauder."
"What is that?" She asked after several seconds of inspecting and muttering to herself. "It's not an Ultra-AC/5, and there's no way it's a LBX 10…" She stopped walking "Is that al LB5?" She asked incredulously.
"Yep, Mac's personal prototype." I patted the leg of the Marauder. "You can take it out for a test drive when you're off duty later."
November 10th, 3012
"We need to get up." I poked Natasha in the side, only for her to groan and roll over. "We have to load up on the Messenger and go to New Avalon for Hanse's wedding."
"Sleep." She groaned and stole the blankets.
"Nope, the alarm went off and it's time to go." I got up and ripped the blankets off of the bed. "Get up Nat, I know you hate waking up, but if you don't get up now I'm going to have to take drastic measures."
"Fine," She sat up. "I'm up, I'm up." She eased herself out of the bed and got dressed. "We packed everything last night right?" She asked.
"I got everything I needed done, and I think you just threw some clothes in my rucksack." I told her as I dressed in my uniform.
"I am only coming as your plus one." She said, "And I can get a dress made and fitted easier on New Avalon."
"Point, I'm pretty sure the Davions have a whole team dedicated to that sort of thing anyway." I said, and we began to walk out of the house. "I heard that Archon Steiner is invited, so we'll see how everything goes."
We continued discussing the wedding until we had made it onto the Messenger. "We did get Hanse a wedding present right?" Nat asked me as we boarded the Dropship.
"Of course I did, I'm not an idiot." I replied. "I've got plenty of things to offer currently."
November 24th, 3012
Full contact sparring with Natasha Kerensky sucked, even with safety equipment on. She was vicious, and wicked strong. The only thing I was ever able to leverage against her was my weight and height advantages. Grappling was typically where I was best, but she knew all of my tricks by now and squirreled out every time I tried something new.
"Tap Natasha," I finally had her locked into an arm bar. "I don't want to break your arm." After several seconds of me testing her pain levels, she finally tapped.
"That is what? Dead even 20 to 20?" She asked me as she bounced back onto her feet after I let go.
"Sounds about right." I muttered. "I still have the wins in Mech combat and sims though."
"Well, let me try again in the sims." She responded. "I'll get you this next time as long as you're not cheating with that stupid Lostech Bullshit."
"Nat, I beat you last time in an Urbanmech." I told her while laughing. "And you were in an Atlas."
"Shut up and meet me back on the mat." She slugged me in the shoulder. "I'm gonna drag my score up somehow." She wagged her eyebrows at the double entendre.
"I don't share." I told her as I got back on the mat. "You know that."
"Yep, and there's no way I am letting you out of my sight again after the Versailles incident." She responded. "Now lets fight."