//------------------------------//
// Preparations for the Future 
// Story: The March of the Giants 
// by LindwurmProto 
//------------------------------//

Pulses of laser fire streaked across the surface of the moon as two battlemechs maneuvered between the craters and the hills moving at speeds most tanks would never be able to fire on the move. One was taller in height and moved rapidly on its digitigrade legs while using the multi-barrel cannon on its right arm to spit out multiple rounds of heavy Ultra-AC/10 rounds at the other target while using the ‘head’-mounted snub-nose PPC to keep the enemy moving as well. From two of its Multi-Missile Launcher (MML) -5, ten missiles leapt upwards at an extreme angle and homed in on the other mech with their deadly payload. As the LRMs were shot down by rapid bursts of anti-missile laser fire, six short ranged missiles that had been fired seconds later from the Streak SRM-6 tubes impacted the heavy armor of the opposing mech as it returned fire with its own barrage of weapons. Its two UAC-5 spat out a burst of shells that just impacted the last location the first mech had just been and fifteen LRMs shot forth from its left shoulder on its deadly trail of fire where only six impacted the larger mech, stumbling it slightly. As the Seraph Heavy Omni-Mech fired its UAC-10 again, it impacted the right thigh of the Clan Thor II heavy omni-mech with such force to cause the faster mech to stumble long enough for the Seraph to stop in its track and unleashed a withering barrage of PPC, autocannon, and missile fire into the opposing mech’s torso while simply ‘tanking’ the return fire from the Clan mech long enough for the Clan mech’s torso to tear itself apart from a reactor housing breach. 

As the ensuing nuclear explosion occurred on the surface of Equis’ moon, Patina sat in her cockpit drenched in sweat from nearly overheating her mech from the batchall. She knew that the ‘deal’ would not come without any repercussions. They had to win two of three trials of combat against the warriors of Clan Sea Fox and this was the last of the three matches. It had the OvKhan she had been against, and she had won thanks to the sheer firepower her mech carried. The first match, which had been Magica in her Rusalka Medium Omni-Fighter, had gone against Star Captain Renis Sutherland in his ten ton heavier Ostrogoth. In a show of experience and age, The Star Captain had out-maneuvered  Magica despite her lighter and better armed fighter, thus resulting in her loss. This was followed by a battle armor showdown between Myxine in her quadrupedal Rottweiler Battle Armor against Star Commander Jack Oshika and his Black Wolf Battle Armor. Despite Myxine’s lack of proper combat experience other than simple training against virtual or even ‘live fire’ training against Patina and her insane ‘drones’ who piloted light mechs to make sure she could operate the battle armor as effectively as she could. She only won because she had gotten off an absurd shot with her mounted light gauss rifle while she had her battle armor shut down as to not show her heat signature to the clanner. She had hidden and had used her under-suit’s own battery to shoot the weapon at the searching Star Commander’s battle armor’s reactor. Many of the clanners had considered Myxine’s actions unhonourable, but refrained from commenting as the Star Commander himself had said that it was his fault for underestimating those that used weapons similar to them. And now that Patina had won her duel…

“Impressive! Impressive!” Patina could hear the ejected OvKhan’s voice. “Excellent show of mobility and force! It almost reminds me of fighting those crazy blakists again!” He laughed openly as a wheeled vehicle came to pick him up. “As you and your ‘clan’ have won the Batchall, we shall be negotiating what can be used as currency and we shall open up a trade route here. Of course, we will be informing our saKhans and our Khans of your existence now that it is confirmed; I shall put in a good word to introduce you to the wider universe slowly, but surely.”

“I thank you, OvKhan Jackson Sennet. Can I expect negotiations to begin soon to determine what can be used as currency and products?” Patina spoke calmly as she piloted her mech to the underground base’s mechbay. As she received the OvKhan’s acknowledgement, Patina sighed as things went far better than it could have gone. She wasn’t even going to care about what could have happened if she had lost this duel. “And now to hope that negotiations will go as smoothly as possible as this duel…”

(<(<(<(<(<(<(<(<(<(<()>)>)>)>)>)>)>)>)>)>)(<(<(<(<(<(<(<(<(<(<()>)>)>)>)>)>)>)>)>)>)

“C-bill is the most ridiculous form of currency that I’ve ever heard.” Myxine muttered as she noted the value they had accumulated after selling two fabricators, figuring out an initial exchange rate from bit to C-bill, and even purchasing a industrial-mech called the D-M3D-3 or better known as the Diomede to aid in their construction efforts on the moon. The Clan personnel were impressed with how quickly the Changelings built their ‘base’ on the moon. Thankfully, she had also bought several Inner Sphere manuals that the Clan had on their archives on tactics and doctrines of engagements. “But if that is what the larger galaxy uses, then we really have no choice to change to that.”

“Don’t know why they had a 100 ton industrial-mech, but it's going to make our construction efforts so much easier.” Magica sighed as she picked at her bowl of noodle with a fork. Being in charge of making sure everything is sound and not going to collapse or break to send many to their death to the vacuum. “Patina, how do you think they are going to introduce us to the wider universe?”

“They’ll take it to the most honorable Clan there is and then…” Patina sighed as she looked at the vid screen displaying the Clan JumpShips and WarShips moving to the next jump point. Her meal of a sandwich left untouched.  “I also asked them to keep it quiet from the Inner Sphere for now.”

“Not a bad choice considering what I’ve managed to translate on what is happening in the Inner Sphere.” Myxine commented as she bit into her own sandwich with a gusto. “But I’ve got some bad news.”

“Great. What can go wrong now?” Patina groaned as she drank a cup of love-mixed strawberry smoothie. 

“Calliphora wants a meeting with us three due to what is happening down on the surface.” Myxine continued as she drank a cup of water. “I’ve told her that it will take us a better part of four months due to where we are, but we are going to have to go back down.”

“Damn it.” Patina’s head thumped heavily onto the table as she tiredly looked at the flashes of light that denoted the Clan ships leaving. “At most, they’ll be back in a year, so we have some time to prepare for their arrival. If we leave half of our drones here to continue construction, we’ll have this place ready to greet our ‘partners’ when they return.”

“So, what’s going on the surface? You must have gotten some information.” 

“You are not going to like what is going on…” Myxine’s ominous reply sent chills down Patina’s back. 

(<(<(<(<(<(<(<(<(<(<()>)>)>)>)>)>)>)>)>)>)(<(<(<(<(<(<(<(<(<(<()>)>)>)>)>)>)>)>)>)>)

The meeting with every queen was a mess and a half nearly five months later. Ambrosia’s methods on sabotaging other nations were rather unneeded as they seemed to be tearing each other apart on their own or just being complacent with what they have. Some of the biggest news were of no surprise for Division Two as they had orchestrated a few of it themselves. Luna’s new country, Lunar Novus, was not a surprise; but the strange crystals they had dug up was a mild surprise as the island was frequently touched by Chaos. One thing they had chosen to act upon that information was to look for similar crystals as the territory they possessed was even more chaotic than the islands Princess Luna claimed for herself. 

The other issue that even Patina did not know was the absurd amount of energy released in the capital of the Griffin Imperium. For the brief second that it had been at its peak, various sensors had put the output of the energy to be beyond what they have in stock and Calliphora had used the chance to implement a massive build up of arms to protect themselves while inquiring Patina if there was something that can be ‘trump card’. Several options were offered and discarded, but they simply settled on something that was simple in concept and application that also wouldn’t destroy and poison the land. 

And another issue was the reports of an increasing amount of building troop strength at two aerial military harbors within the Griffon Imperium as well as the bridgehead where the Griffons had trains that traveled to and from the Crystal City. It only meant one thing and the Changelings were more or less going to be observing the battle that would unfold eventually. 

That and there had been several attempts of thievery against them by other Changelings that they knew nothing about. Capturing them was nigh impossible due to the fact that they simply melted into the shadows. What they had taken was nothing more than some of the first needler rifles without the harness with only enough ammunition for a single skirmish against an understrength Equestrian platoon, but with a tracker built into the box and weapons. But none of the Commonwealth could have expected such an extensive society that was protected by Changelings. No contact was made, but considering the orbital images of a small community of ponies, rogue Griffons, the so-called Shadowlings, and other species was a startling discovery near the Zebra Nations. Not to mention the fact that they had apparently stolen weapons from the Griffons and were using it to defend themselves against ‘peaceful’ Griffon Imperium’s colonists was telling as to why they needed weapons, but it boggled their minds as to why they didn’t ask. 

The last proposal was from Patina and her Division that they should move all of the Commonwealth to space and onto the moon where they could settle down and avoid all the chaos that was about to occur. It wasn’t outright rejected, but it had been put on the backburner due to the fact that many were simply afraid of the concept of living amongst the void. 

And even as the meeting was adjourned, neither Myxine, Patina, or Magica spoke about the humans they had met months ago. That would be addressed later as decided. And as the trio of Queens returned to the moon weeks later, they immediately threw themselves to completing the to-be fortress on the moon and planning future expansions for the rest of the Commonwealth when shit really hit the fan. 

But for now… They would build on their current might and send ‘hidden’ expeditions to the rest of the world to gather other Changeling hives that existed. If they could find them... Then they could find them.

And whether they liked it or not, they would be dragged into the future that their world faced.