Operation Black Lotus

Fahrin City, on the Crimson Strait, lies under the shadow of dishonorable traitors.

It was so clear.  The signs, the warnings.  Zvolimir wondered why he hadn't seen it before.  It had to be right here, right now, he thought to himself, then he switched from the wide band to the Gatekeepers comms frequency.

"Goose is a traitor. Prepare to execute him as soon as the company drops."

The other Gatekeepers blanched, and checked their comms even though they were all (to a man) absolutely certain what Zvolimir had said.  They weren't even really surprised - the superstitious L.C.C. grunts didn't call him "the Blackhand" for no particular reason.  There was, however, a brief ripple of concern that seemed to resonate on the silent comms channel.  The voice quiet lasted for just a moment.

"I don't think the Partisan Brigade is going to like that."  Jerry Wargate commented, his voice with only a tinge of concern in it.

"To Hell with them," spat Blackhand, "he challenged you openly.  You cannot defy the rule of House Liao - that's what this pogrom is about."

"Yeah.  Frak 'em."  Uglygreen was already readying his guns, even though the order to go weapons hot hadn't been given formally yet.  At least, not to the rest of the company - the Partisan Brigade they were assisting in this operation hadn't heard any of this exchange.  Yet the Gatekeepers knew what was happening - the order to execute the infiltrator had been given, and that meant weapons hot.

"You don't want to question him, or anything?"  Jerry asked, a slight laugh in his voice because he already knew the answer.

"No."  Uglygreen and Blackhand answered at the same time.

It didn't matter anyway.  The enemy company was a mercenary brigade that actually had the temerity to fly several different House flags, including Liao, while subjugating and pillaging the colony.  Given the situation, that their company was dropping on the other side of the ridge and an enemy had been made amongst their ranks, there was no other choice.  They all knew that putting Goose out of action before he could do serious harm to the operation was paramount - this was a lesson the Gatekeepers had learned the hard way.

"Come at me, bro."  Goose's voice came over the Partisan channel.  Everyone heard him.  This was the tail end of the exchange that started all of this.  It didn't matter at this point if Goose wasn't an actual traitor - he had spoken against the House and the Gatekeepers.  Though the other Gatekeepers didn't really notice, Blackhand was a hardliner.  He couldn't accept anything less than the death of the seditionist.

"Don't say anything."  Blackhand urged his Gatekeepers as Goose's Stalker wheeled around to start tracking Jerry's Jenner.  Goose's weapons went hot, and Jerry kept still.  The other Gatekeepers began to move into an attack position while the Partisan Company advanced toward the actual enemy.

All of a sudden, Gearstripper emerged from behind the huge drilling rig.  His Catapult's missile doors flew open, and short ranged missiles began to stream into the back of Goose's Stalker.  Without a word, the Gatekeepers closed on the Stalker, with Blackhand's Spider and Jerry's Jenner bathing the hull in flamers.  Uglygreen's Cataphract had moved to the flank, and opened with everything.

In a short moment, after firing precisely once - Goose's Stalker overheated and shut down.  Too many flamers on the hull and an energy based chassis didn't work too well for him in this situation.  A few moments later, and large chunks of the structure began to fail.  It was all over in less than 15 seconds.  Goose went down.

The Partisan Company saw everything.  They heard Goose's talk, saw his weapons track and as they advanced toward the enemy watched Goose advance toward Jerry.  They instantly got the report from their command computers that Goose had been destroyed and knew exactly who did it.

Despite this, not a single member of the Partisan Brigade said a damned thing.