Chloe never imagined that she'd be targeted by the rebel movement. After all, she'd been one of them.
Well, that'd been back during House Hessin's regime and she'd always was more a sympathizer than active insurgent. Somebody who worked in the government administration, where she conveniently made sure a few extra ration packs went missing now and then. To take up arms herself was beyond what the administrator could muster. The most daring she'd ever gone was providing the delivery schedule for logistics shipments to the local garrison base.
She hadn't the courage or mettle like those who risked their very lives to undermine the tyrants.
Perhaps that had been why the Half Committee's invasion was such a bitter pill to swallow. All their efforts over the years had yielded nothing substantial, frustrated by the oddly effective suppression of House Hessin's forces. But then all it took was a single foreign force to kick in the door and suddenly the entire rotten structure collapsed, almost invalidating the sacrifices made over the years. It could even have played a part in coloring her biases then, as she wanted them gone and her old comrades in the rebellion properly honored.
But, as she was finding out now, it looked like the rebellion she once supported wasn't just anti-oppression. It was just anti-establishment, maybe.
The armored vehicle she and the other delegates came under fire, bullets pinging off the protective plates much like wind chimes swaying in the breeze. Her heart froze with the chill of death seemingly looming over, the feeling was shared among the other representatives. They become rooted in place, unable to comprehend that they were now in danger.
Yet their protectors did not, springing to action with practiced ease and well-worn experience.
"Convoy's coming under light arms fire! Seeing advancing individuals at 235!"
"Confirmed visual, looks like robotic infantry. Opening fire with mounted machine gun." A thick thump echoed out, the pounding of a war drum that helped the civilians inside recover from the shock of being shot at. "They're going down, looks like very rudimentary constructs."
"Copy your last, keep moving. More contacts nearby but route ahead still reporting clear. Get the VIPs out of the danger-zone now. Watch your fire everybody, make sure to not fire upon civilians."
"Wilco. Maintaining cruising speed."
She realized then that not once had the vehicle stopped in panic or fear of what came next. The driver and his gunner worked with cool focus, seemingly unaffected by coming under fire. They were also equally unaffected when one of the less composed representatives leapt out of their seat to bellow at the soldiers. "Get us out of here! Floor it!"
"We're maintaining the convoy to keep overlapping fire."
"Can't they move any faster?!'
"Well, we'd leave the mechs behind and I don't know about you, but I really like having them around. Especially when they're slowing slightly to carry out search and destroy on those contacts. Oh, would you look at them go."
The gunner tapped a few buttons. A projector fizzled to life in the back of the armored vehicle, maybe something that would've been used as a briefing aid for soldiers. Now though, it was being used to provide a view of the surrounding outside, showing the ambush that was happening.
Well, that was a very generous term to call the attack as such. It was more like sporadic fire that came from jerky, halting robots with pipe guns welded to their frames. They didn't look very impressive.
But Chloe bit back a curse all the same, because she thought she recognized them. Those were the former civilian frames that the old resistance movement had dug up and begun to convert, hoping that the jury-rigged machines could help pad out their forces. Something she could stomach, as it was certainly not one's life at risk- though she still despised the idea of needing an armed revolution.
Yet when House Hessin was so oppressive in silencing criticism, then there had to at least be some recourse. And those units had been the answer, supposedly. Even if she had never seen them before, the fact that they possessed a sloppy emblem of those cells on their chassis indicated their allegiance.
At least, for a few seconds, before rounds ripped right through them. Their metal frames might as well have been made of sticks with the way high-velocity rounds ripped them apart, hitting harder and quicker than what one ordinarily expect of any mounted heavy weapon. Unless said weapon actually was now just a 'mere' handheld in the hands of a much greater one.
The administrator's teeth clenched when she saw them move up, acting almost like a soldier except that its cover was now the size of building blocks. Mechs, perhaps a squad of them, advancing at a decent pace to sight and fire upon threats to the convoy. The giant assault rifles in their hands demolished their mechanical foes with ease, almost like steel boots stomping upon metal ants with very little resistance.
Overkill. There was no other way to describe it. Were it a life...
Then Chloe's eye caught sight of a slightly larger robot than normal. No, wait, it was just its arms. Because it mounted- "Missile launcher!" she barked and this time, the driver wasn't so calm when he yelled into the radio.
"Woah, woah! Rocket, rocket, at 292-!"
The warning came just in time for the attacking bot to raise its arms and fire. Their arms were destroyed instantly from the backblast, but the deed was done. Those explosive payloads were in the air, hurtling right towards the convoy!
Then a shape interposed itself between the projectiles and the vehicles, a mech that raised an arm to try and help tank the shots as best as possible. There were explosions and the feed glitched out of a moment, leaving the representatives waiting there with bated breath. They were keenly aware that perhaps the only reason they still were whole and hearty was because of that mech's sacrifice.
The camera finally refocused and showed that the Everest still stood. Parts of its surface was blackened and scorched, with an arm entirely missing, the sacrifice it paid to take the hits. But it still had the other that they used to fire their rifle one-handed into the remaining robots, still fighting even as the radio chatter erupted with cheers.
"That's the stuff!"
"Hell of a block, Major!"
"Let's send them packing!"
There were a few more tense minutes as the convoy continued to roll along, but that seemed to have been the most intense of it all. The gunfire petered out and the mechs stopped shooting back, instead focusing on keeping pace with the wheeled vehicles. Chloe noticed that the damaged mech was still in formation even, though notably a little back and guarded by determined comrades that seemed more than ready to take the next rocket if need be.
Hopefully, they wouldn't have to, especially as it seemed to be all over. Leaving the representatives of the forming government to sit in silence as they beheld the demonstrated might of this foreign military on their soil. Something that far exceeded any sort of organized resistance that they might have possibly helped, or even private army that their former masters had employed.
...Had the rebellion movement had this sort of professionalism to it, would there have been so much less suffering? Less pain over the years? They called it a job, which she had criticized as a quite lacking motivation. But where had all that eager motivation for overthrowing House Hessin gone?
That rebellion leader was always talking about how a show of force was all that would be needed. And it would come in time. But it never did.
Not a single one of the delegates present wasn't pondering on how best to employ these professionals, including the leader of the reformists herself. To secure peace...perhaps then, it is important to have those who enforce it be the very best, instead of simply the passionate. And no other halfhearted showcase would suffice.
Commander Moores promised a shield, not a sword. What else could she describe the way how the mech protected them?
Ughhhhh
What a near-disaster. But Major Rowles and her command absolutely pulled through. She deserved a medal for that.
Oh, but it'd probably be in poor taste to award her something from Half Committee, especially given that we weren't a part of them anymore. Or even wanting to brag about our former connection to them. I supposed I'd have to petition the new administration to come up with a new system. Actually, wait, hold on.
That was assuming that I'd even have a voice in the next administration, or even be around for it. Given that the current political winds seemed to favor sending us into exile. Bah.
You know what? If that happened, I'd just declare a government-in-exile of my fleet and soldiers and award Rowles for her actions myself. I don't care if it was petty, she deserved the recognition dammit.
I shook my head and pushed those thoughts out of my mind as I read through Veronica's summary of the ambush. The convoy had stopped in a safe spot to get our bearings while assessing damages. While the attack seemed to be mostly a wash, the fact it had even occurred in the first place was something that had me a little wary of further surprises.
My NHP voiced her thoughts on the matter aloud, giving a verbal summation of her own report. "All in all, the attack was totally ineffective. We suffered no losses in exchange for elimination of several improvised robotic infantry."
"That's good at least, though I wouldn't say that we didn't at least bleed a little." It was mostly just surface-level damage, but that still was metal that we'd have to replace. If the worst of it was just a blown mech limb to replace, then I guess it was right to call the expenditure cheap even accounting for spent ammunition. "How did we miss them until they got close enough to surprise us?"
"Investigation is still ongoing by follow-up units, but initial findings have supported a few theories. The strongest of which is that these were planted ahead of time in a dormant state, then activated via proximity motion-sensors when our convoy came close enough. This is consistent with the lack of active data flow, indicating full autonomous control."
I clicked my tongue loudly. "So they were just operating on hunt-and-kill programs. No other guidance."
"Affirmative."
"How did they know what route we took then? It's possible they perhaps knew about the secondary location ahead of time in the event of loose lips, but I plotted the convoy route myself this morning. There was no way they'd know what road we'd take." Not unless we had an active traitor among us, which was a thought I didn't want to entertain.
If only because it felt like leading a purge of my command felt like a step to becoming a tinpot dictator.
"My apologies sir, but I am lacking the necessary data to present a sound possibility regarding how perhaps that has occurred."
"I see." I pressed my lips together before shaking my head. "Continue the investigation, but I want security tightened up. Make sure there's no unauthorized transmission among our forces, stress that this is mission-critical now. I hate to clamp down on idle chatter, but until we are sure the threat is gone, I want a tight ship."
"Aye-aye, sir. With your permission, I'll brief an advance team to perform a thorough sweep of our secondary conference location in case of another ambush."
Hm, I should have done that ahead of time with the convoy perhaps. But I think I was just being too hasty in trying to resume the conference. "Do it. I'll have a chat with the representatives in the meantime, brief them on what's going on."
That admittedly wasn't really quite necessary, but I felt like as the chairman, I had an obligation in making sure they knew what was going on. It also was probably a good example to set, that the military would report to the civilian government what was going on especially as it was regarding their personal safety. I walked from my command vehicle and over to where the delegates were taking the chance to stretch their legs, under the watchful gaze of Rowles' mech squad.
Kyle was the first to notice my approach, and loudly proclaimed. "If it isn't the one who saved our lives, once again!" He rushed forward and firmly gripped my hand in a passionate handshake. "First, you saved our livelihoods- now, our lives! When are we not ever going to be in your debt?"
I put on my best grin, trying my best not to wince from the miner's grip strength. "Just doing my job in making sure you all remain safe. On that note, is anybody hurt?" I called out. "Even if it's just a slight bump, we do have a few medics among us to have a look."
A chorus of negatives answered that question. After Kyle finally let go of my hand and stepped back to join the others, I quickly delivered a summary of the ambush and the safety procedures I would be taking, something that seemed to thankfully go down well with the committee. Though I suppose that was to be expected, given that these were all sensible safety measures. "...So I beg for your patience as the vanguard teams conduct a very thorough search to make sure there isn't any nasty surprises for us." I inclined my head slightly in apology. "Rest assured, I do not wish to delay these very important proceedings any longer than necessary."
"About that," my most vocal critic among the representatives said, causing me to cringe slightly as Chloe looked upon me. "We'd like to talk to you about something. Without any of the cameras present."
Ah, right, the CBS media teams weren't present. Meaning that we haven't an audience to debate in front of. I raised my eyebrow, slightly intrigued at what sounded like a backrooms deal. But one that seemed to be shared among all the local representatives at that.
How curious. I guess it wasn't underhanded if it was something everybody agreed to? "Go on."
"Quite frankly, all of us have been very thoroughly impressed by the...effectiveness of your forces. Even me," she admitted with a light flush, an actual submission of her pride. "I concede that I had perhaps thought you perhaps only slightly better than those in employ in House Hessin. I see now that even if they were perhaps as well-equipped and well-trained as they should have been, your forces would have still likely rolled over them."
I blinked and considered her words internally. I mean...I guess if there was one thing SecComm had been really good at, and one thing that the Half Committee had definitely inherited, it was knowing how to fight. All sorts of ugly morality aside.
"Moreover, we also have to contend with the fact that there perhaps is a very hostile insurgency movement in our home that seeks to do nothing but destabilize our work." Chloe looked to the others and received shared nods, all of them assenting in this decisions. "So then, I think it's in all our shared interest that we perhaps...forgo the proposal regarding the continued presence of your forces.
"And instead move to hold a very quick vote to establish guarantees that the Seventh Expeditionary Task Force will have a route for naturalization to become citizens of Cavia. Barring some restrictions perhaps, like size, but we agree that can be a matter of debate within the new administration. Something to establish when the waters are far calmer.
"For now, we wish to welcome everybody in your command to at least find homes here, one way or another."
My jaw dropped slightly at the near-180 turn from Chloe. No, wait, it wasn't just her- all the reformists seemed eager to vote along with her on the matter. The progressives naturally had supported me all this while and so didn't have anything to change. With two of the three blocs agreed, the centrists then shrugged their shoulders and voted along to make it a truly unanimous agreement.
What a landmark agreement.
Which made me realize that they were looking at me expectantly. Wait, shouldn't this- ah. So this was why they wanted to hold the vote behind closed doors, so to speak. The people the reformists represented were probably going to take a bit more convincing perhaps, not being a direct beneficiary from my forces saving the lives of their representatives. So if they voted to accept a foreign military, those constituents were going to have very pointed questions.
This way, where the motion was instantly approved on and hurried along to other topics of discussion, the reformists didn't have to publicly reveal their support for having a professional military. Hmph. For a moment, I had a selfish moment of wanting to force them to cast the vote in front of the cameras, to admit their defeat in this regard.
But as gratifying as that would be, I wasn't the one to hold grudges that way. Especially since that sounded like a fantastic way to invoke bad blood, sour agreements, then have my head impaled by a Lancer. Not necessarily in that order.
"Very well. I call this vote into motion then, regarding the proposed naturalization of the Seventh Expeditionary, formerly of Half Committee. All those who support this motion say aye."
"AYE!"
"All those opposed, say nay."
There was none and the motion was thus carried. Just like that, I suppose I was naturalized now. Without a citizenship test as well? That felt like a real cheat right there.