[b][i]Andrew Rivers[/i][/b] [b]SIX DAYS AGO[/b] The plan was simple: Once the Espian Guard declared their intentions, Andrew was going to get a bulletproof vest, comms unit, and a gun plus ammo from the armory, make his way to his motorcycle, and as the enemy focused on the Battlemechs, ride via devious routes and shortcuts to the nearest city, where for a few brief hours, anyone who was out in the streets was a friend by default due to being an enemy of the new regime. Then he was to go around, avoiding patrols and looking for would-be rebels until invited by the latter to join them. Each stage of the plan just barely succeeded, luck and sheer audacity saving his life until he was gestured to get down from his motorcycle and get into an alleyway by some 'armed workers' in the Industrial District of the city he was in. Then he was grabbed, blindfolded, and tied to a chair by the 'Partisans' after accepting their invitation to into their safehouse, his weapons and gear stowed away on a nearby desk. Guess the recent planetary garrison was hated that much, after all. "Why did you come here, merc kid?" a woman's voice, wizened with age, echoed at him. "Haven't your people done enough? Why put us in more danger?" Andrew answered, "What's important was what my people [i]didn't[/i] do, miss. We didn't shoot at your protestors. We didn't burn any houses or damage any property. And above all, we're not on the side of the new regime, considering the fact that they're scapegoating us. And while it paints a target on your back to give me shelter, you're already fighting... [i]Them[/i] anyway. Now, I'll be blunt; you'll need Mechs if you're to get your planet back from the 'New People's Democratic Republic' - Our group will have them if they survive but they're going to need [i]everything else[/i]." The old woman was curt, "So you're saying we need each other. How's a child like you going to make a deal?" Andrew tilted his head slightly, only to find himself pulling on the ropes. Nevertheless, he said, "My father's a Mechwarrior and I have his number on my communicator. If you have an encryption specialist, bring them in - I can open a channel within the day." He then said confidently, "If this fails, you can take me out back and shoot me behind the head." [b][i]Raven Rivers[/i][/b] [b]FIVE DAYS AGO[/B] Katrina, his wife, had been captured. Andrew was probably in the enemy hands as well. Raven cursed himself for not being able to get them out sooner, and had been addled by fear and uncertainty ever since. He could imagine the civilian contingent of the Green Knights being executed, including the children; maybe they'd even execute the kids first to 'send a message'. Andrew would probably spit at them till the end, and they'd shoot him first, or maybe they'd gas him and the smaller children as it'd be 'less painful' - No, he couldn't allow it to happen, even if it meant betraying the team, even if it meant betraying his friend, the Colonel himself. He knew it was selfish; he knew that other people had their civilians captured as well, that to rescue Katrina and Andrew, he'd be throwing them to the dogs. But he could not allow his wife to die, and his son, his stupid, arrogant son, to end up as corpses. So Raven Rivers got up from where he had been sitting down on his bed and went to pick up his communications unit; if he could sneak into the comms suite, he could prepare to hand the others over to the enemy; sell their lives for his family's. Thankfully for the Green Knights, the comms suite was guarded, and he had to return to his room to drown in dark thoughts... [b][i]Andrew Rivers[/i][/b] [b]FIVE DAYS AGO[/B] The adrenaline had lifted, and Andrew had been given new clothes before being locked up inside a room, his pitch apparently a failure. His gun, his bulletproof vest, his kevlar jacket, and his communicator had been taken away, leaving him alone with himself, a small bed, and time to process what had exactly happened. He had not moved quickly enough to get to the armory, then the motorcycle, before the fighting started, not just outside the dropships but within them. The Espian Guard, the enemy, was deliberately targeting the Green Knights' civilian contingent and shooting to kill at those who ran, those who would not let themselves be captured, and those who did not surrender promptly enough. Estrella and Cody were two of his childhood friends who had a similar idea to him but less luck; they had been shot in the head and left to rot on the way to the motorcycle bay. Luna and Adrien were luckier; he only had to see them led away in chains as he crouched behind the motorbikes to free its own from their restraints. And lastly, there was one of the technicians, a young woman only slightly older than him who sacrificed her secrecy to open the bay's doors so that he can escape - What had happened to her? But the atrocities and the callous disregard for others' suffering didn't stop with his family. As he drove through the streets of the city, he could glimpse men and women being shot at just because they were out in the alleyways at night (children were merely bundled off to prison transports for now). As he continued on while witnessing the purge of the 'Espian Guards' opposition, it all became a blur of fear, threat, and the underlying shadow of brutality. And now he was a prisoner of the very people the Green Knights needed to ally with; he knew enough to guess that the Colonel won't let all of them die so easily. [i]Mom, Dad, I need you,[/i] were his thoughts as he curled up on the bed, weeping into his pillow. [i]Ziska, Reya, Tarak, Everyone Else, hang in there; I'll try and find a way to help you guys.[/i] He had to do a thing most unnatural for teenagers - Be patient. He had to gain the rebels' trust, he had to get them in contact with the Green Knights, he had to... He had to... He had to grow up. [i]Wunderkind, my foot,[/i] he said to himself. [i]I can't even keep my friends safe or make their death mean anything.[/i] Then another thought, [i]Why can't I hate the people who did this to them? To me? Well, I do hate them, but I just want to stop them, not kill them. Revenge won't bring my friends back... And I just want them back.[/i] [i]You never spent that much time with them, anyway,[/i] was one last thought. [i]You wanted to be Ziska's 'student' and the best and the center of attention. So why want them back now, when you threw them away?[/i] The boy sobbed harder in response to that, his bravado forgotten for the time being.