Dragon of the Reach

Rumors Abound

Disclaimers: I do not own Battletech

A/N: Not going to lie. This story was on the backburner until I received a great review from BG-4U on Fanfiction.net in regards to it so I thought I should finally get around to at least releasing the full chapter. The sad part is though is that due to connection issues, I won't be able to update the story on Fanfiction.net for awhile.

Chapter 11

Rumors Abound

The High Lady of the Reach quietly made her way through the empty hallways of the Argo in the early hours of the night cycle. The majority of the crew was asleep besides a light skeleton crew of watchstanders, the aerospace fighters crew who were on alert status just in case something happening in the midst of travel, and those who had difficulty sleeping. Kamea herself was of the last group as the ship got closer to Itrom with every passing day and she had still yet to decide how to greet Finn Gallas when they did.

Should she show up in a single landing craft on a landing pad with only Alexander by her side as a show of trust to the current head of House Gallas, maybe with only a small squad of Royal Guards behind her? Or should she land outside the city in her King Crab along with nearly the entire complement of battlemechs onboard the Argo as a show of force?

The later option would definitely send a strong message across the rest of the Reach.

Speaking of strong, would Nico disapproves of such a measure? For someone who used to be a mercenary up until awhile ago he sure was taking quite the anti-aggression approach.

"Perhaps I should inquire him about this before-", she thought to herself before ears pick up someone talking just around the corner.

"I bet you they're fucking."

Kamea came to a complete halt. Not because of the use of vulgarity or whatnot since she had gotten use to that while on the run and during the war but because the phrase just seem so out of place in the now nearly empty hallway.

"You think so? She is always with him whenever I see him nowadays, so I wouldn't be surprise if they were", another voice chimes in.

"But wouldn't they get in trouble if they were?", a third voice says, "You know, that whole fraternization thing they told us about?"

"Who are they talking about?", Kamea wonders, keeping perfectly quiet in order to listen in. If something as unprofessional as fraternization was going on what was basically the flagship of the Aurigan Reach she would definitely inform Nico to put a stop to it.

"Ha! And who exactly is going to stop them?"

"Is it someone who think they are above military law? One of the high noble officers who came aboard with me?", Kamea thought, mentally going through a list of possible high noble offenders who thought such things such as the Aurigan Military Code did not apply to them.

"You're right. He's the Dragon of the Reach and special forces to boot. He only answers to the High Lady and she is definitely not going to be firing him."

Kamea's eyes widen in shock, "Nico?"

"Especially since she's the one fucking him!", a fourth voice says and a roar of laughter is heard throughout the hallway which drowns out the sound of the rapidly moving footsteps heading in the other direction.

The sounds of flesh hitting the punching bag echo throughout the empty gymnasium as Nico's fists tore into it, just as they have been for the late hour. It has been nearly four weeks since the Argo departed and they were scheduled to arrive at their first stop, Itrom, in less than forty-eight hours. The entire crew has been going through constant drills and scenario breakthroughs in order to perfect the CAL but there were still a large amount of hiccups.