Let us clear up this nonsense about how after the Clans wipe out the real fighters, that a rebellion is somehow going to surplant them. These are small portions of two rebellions/resistance as the whole thing would be too huge to paste here.
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"This is Star Colonel Aidan Pryde of the Nega Garrison Cluster," Aidan announced. He could see by the man's startled reaction that Joanna must have turned the speakers up to full volume so that his voice would no doubt resound across the clearing, shaking buildings and unsettling eardrums. It was a good ploy and might help achieve Aidan's goal of ending this uprising bloodlessly.
"Identify yourself, rebel!"
For a moment it looked like the unshaven ice ferret of a man was ready to disappear behind the wall, as people often did when confronted by ghostlike visitations. Then he seemed to get command of himself, slowing raising the bullhorn to his mouth. With his face so enlarged in the viewing area, it was
disconcerting to hear the weak and tinny voice coming from it.
"I am Jared Mahoney. I am a survivor of the Vreeport militia and, as such, represent the community in dealings with oppressors like you."
Aidan winced, first at the fact that, like all Inner Sphere citizens, the man had a surname, one that was merely passed on through generations without being earned in a Bloodname battle. Though he realized that naming customs were different here, Aidan did not like to think of anyone other than a Bloodnamed warrior having a surname.
"Jared Mahoney, I order you to end this uprising and surrender to the BattleMech Star that you see near the walls of your city. Those five 'Mechs could level your small community in mere minutes. Your continued resistance is useless."
"But you are making slaves of us!"
"Bondsmen are not slaves. Their duty to us is only temporary. Slaves are purchased and are theoretically slaves for all their—"
Jared Mahoney's voice grew fierce. "Do not try to dazzle me with semantics!" he shouted. "We do not wish to leave Quarell, but you take us. That is slavery, no matter how you try to rationalize it."
"I am willing to discuss the matter with you, Jared Mahoney. However, I must remind you that we have the destructive power to make all negotiations meaningless. Surrender yourself and your people."
Inexplicably, Jared Mahoney did not reply immediately. While still trying to juggle the bullhorn with one hand, he reached down with the other arm to pick up two children, a boy and a girl. The children were as red-faced as the man.
"These are my children," he announced. "My son and my daughter. They are innocent. Would you kill them, merely to assert your authority?"
Aidan cut off communication and turned to Melanie Truit. "Why would he want us to kill his children?"
"He doesn't want you to kill them. He has no understanding of Clan concepts so he cannot understand that the innocence of his children is of no consequence to a Clan warrior. By displaying them, he thinks that you will back off and not kill anyone else in order to protect the children."
Aidan shook his head in puzzlement. "I do not wish to kill any of them, children or adult. But there is nothing in our Clan way that says I must have an emotional response to the idea of children as hostages, especially when they are merely the enemy's children."
Jade Phoenix Trilogy - Falcon Guard
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One of the armored warriors stepped forward. "People of Uramachi precinct, we have traced a criminal to this place. He committed the most wasteful and careless act of planting a bomb in a place where civilian and military personnel were present. The explosion caused great loss of life—both to our peopleand to yours. This will not continue."
The infantryman pointed to the hovel nearest the Daishi. "If the individual responsible is not turned over to us in the next two minutes, everyone in this house will die."
Shin cuffed Motochika roughly. "Fool, see what you have done?"
The younger man looked at Shin as though the Mech Warrior were mad. "You don't expect me to go out there, do you? I struck a blow for our freedom. They're bluffing. They won't destroy that house."
Shin stared hard at the man beside him. "You best hope they don't. If they do, and if you refuse to turn yourself over, I'll shoot you myself and dump your body in the street."
As the deadline neared, faces appeared in the windows and doorways of the street, including the house designated for destruction. The Smoke Jaguar infantryman bowed in the direction of the street, then turned toward the dwelling. At the same time, the Daishi swung its elbows back and locked its weapons down on the wood-scrap and tar-paper hovel.
Motochika turned away, but Shin grabbed a handful of his hair and forced him to look out the window.
"Watch!"
At the large laser's hellish touch, the hovel exploded into an instant bonfire. Crackling flames appeared from everywhere at once, rising above the DaishTs head, then dropping down again as a hail of autocannon slugs flattened the building. A woman, her hair and clothing aflame, dashed screaming from the door, but one burst of laser bolts from the invader infantryman silenced her cries forever.
The acrid scent of singed hair and burning flesh made Motochika tear away from Shin's grasp and vomit in the corner. Shin ignored him as the Daishi stepped forward and snuffed the flames beneath its flat metal feet. The infantry spokesman again addressed the street.
"People of Uramachi precinct, we have traced a criminal to this place. He committed the most wasteful and careless act of planting a bomb in a place where civilian and military personnel were present. The explosion caused great loss of life—both to our people and yours. This will not continue."
The soldier pointed to the next hovel. "If the individual responsible is not turned over to us in the next two minutes, everyone in this house will die."
Shin's mouth went sour. "The same words, Motochika, and the same gestures. Are you going to take responsibility for your actions, or are you going to let more people die?"
Motochika, still holding himself on hands and knees, looked weakly over his shoulder at the Kuroi Kiri MechWarrior. "No one else has dared to strike at them as I have. The Old Man authorized expeditions to steal weapons and supplies from them, but we have never hurt them. While he has been content with
thievery, they have been kidnapping our people. If I am the only man with true courage, I cannot allow myself to be sacrificed because no one else will actually fight these invaders!"
Shin fought to control the fury Motochika's words aroused. "What courage does it take to plant a bomb and kill innocents as well as the guilty? You are nothing more than a common murderer! And how is it you claim courage when you huddle here like a whipped cur? There must be more than courage. There must be intelligence and honor in your actions. You are a child striking out blindly, then expecting others to take responsibility for your mistakes."
Blood of Kerensky Trilogy - Lethal Heritage
Long story short, Aidan felt sympathy for the people & did not wish to handle the matter in usual Clan fashion.
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"There is an uprising in Vreeport," he said. "Some citizens who have found a cache of Inner Sphere weapons are now perched on the city walls, shooting at any warrior who comes near. And there seems to be a BattleMech standing in the middle of the fortress. That's all I know so far."
Aidan sighed. It was the normal kind of mop-up operation that had apparently become his specialty.
"Can we negotiate with them?"
"It has been tried, according to the report. There seems to be only one choice."
"Annihilation?"
"Yes."
"Well, perhaps that will not be necessary. Let us go. Star Commander Joanna, now may be a good time for your Star to get its feet wet on Quarell. This mission is yours."
Joanna touched Aidan's arm as he walked by.
"We are eager for battle, Star Colonel, but the general directive says to be merciless in dealing with uprisings."
"That is true."
"So why not annihilation? This is apparently only a small guerrilla band."
"They are our enemy, yes, but that does not make them less human. We must treat them with the same respect we give our foes in BattleMechs."
"But do we not strive to annihilate them?"
"Only when we have to."
In the Falcons' case, they ended up having to kill the civilians. Now on the flip side, the Jaguars just started killing people from the get go. Now this has been seen in many movies so I am sure you are familiar with it, a guy with a gun is surrounded by a mob of people. He is usually an officer of the law. The mob wants to lynch the criminal & the lawman refuses to oblige. They threaten to rush him as he cannot possibly stop them all. I think the best example was Kevin Costner as Wyatt Earp. He said something along the lines of I got me a six-shooter, so y'all are gonna get me but which six of you gets taken out before that happens? Nobody rushes in.
Now instead of the muzzle of a six shooter Colt, you imagine the muzzle on the arm of a Dire Wolf. Get the point?
Edited by Jaroth Winson, 23 October 2012 - 09:09 AM.
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IceSerpent, on 22 October 2012 - 08:26 PM, said:
