Starborn Smith [Stargate, Battletech Multicross]

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POV: James Cromwell

Here I was. The Cobalt Eye's bridge. This ship had a lot more secrets than I had ever thought possible. Maybe even more secrets than its owner. 

The lights began to come on and the Holotable in the center lit up with an unnatural face. "Greetings, Captain Cromwell." 

The more I heard others refer to me as Captain, the more nostalgic I got. There was a time when the word Captain almost threw me into a blind rage. That had been decades ago now. 

I nodded to the AI. "I was informed you have a recording for me."

"That is correct. This video was only to be played should you perform an exhaustive inheritance test of Arthur Cameron" 

I narrowed my eyes. So that damn bastard wasn't leaving me totally in the dark at least. "Show me the damn thing already."

The Holotable display changed to show a rather foggy recording of Alistair, the prick. "Hello James. If you're seeing this, then I'm dead and you know of my parentage. This video will only have been played after my recording for Arthur. What I left out of that video was my own mothers parentage, and the likely reason that you are here. A copy of this video is hidden in a secret compartment in the gym. You are free to do with the extra recording as you see fit."

I scowled as I waited in silence for the smug bastard to continue. The inheritance test had been damning. "My mother was the bastard child of Takiro Kurita."

I growled, I already knew – I obviously knew – but this made everything so much more damn complicated. It also brought up a lot of questions that I wasn't sure I wanted answers to. 

Alistair seemed to almost laugh – he probably knew I would be close to having an aneurysm. "My mother was raised as a maid. She never knew who my father was; she simply woke up one morning and found that she was pregnant. The very next day, she was suddenly forced to move to the Hegemony at the whim of her employer."

He seemed to let out a deep, frustrated sigh. "I was born and grew up thinking I was a completely normal kid – I was a completely normal kid. It was only when I turned 16 and tried to join the SLDF that they ran the Inheritance test. One minute, I'm going through the sign up procedures, and the next thing I know my mother and I are both on a Dropship and heading straight for Terra."

He seemed to chuckle. "There I was, a completely "normal" person, in a room with Aleksandr Kerensky, highest military officer of the SLDF, and Simon Cameron, the First Lord of the Star League." 

He seemed to stop and let himself think. "My mother was provided with a sum of money and retired to Terra. Me on the other hand, I wanted to serve. When I had first signed up, I expected to join the infantry. Instead, they sent me straighot to Sandhurst, and from there I went straight into active service."

He seemed to be slightly melancholic. "There were some hiccups. When Simon Cameron died, I was recalled to Terra at Kerensky's behest. I was under pretty strict scrutiny for a while when they believed that Takiro might have been responsible. In all honesty, I can say with some confidence that he did it. It just comes down to proof. I made it very clear to everyone that knew me that I had no interest in the position of First Lord, and Kerensky had me shipped right back out to the periphery." 

He let out a bitter chuckle. "The next 15 years seemed to pass in a flash. I was on my way back to Terra for a leave of absence, I got back just a few weeks before the New Vandenberg Uprising. Of course, I immediately shipped right back out. Kerensky gave me my own command and the option to do whatever I believed was necessary."

His face grew even more melancholic than it already was. Everyone from the Hegemony knew what happened next. "Then Amaris decided to kill the First Lord and took the title for himself." 

His melancholia seemed to disappear, replaced with a look of disgust. "Not long after, I got a call from Kerensky. Takiro Kurita, wanted to speak with me to negotiate for his entry into the war on the side of the SLDF. He said that he would enter the war under one condition, that I name myself Director General of the Terran Hegemony."

A sneer marked my face. That would have given House Kurita an actual claim to the position of first lord. 

Alistair continued. "At the time, we didn't know that I was the only Cameron to survive. We had confirmation that Richard Cameron's two children had been evacuated. The Coordinator knew of their escape as well." 

Alistair seemed to smile in a slightly more pleasant mood. "I told the bastard to go fuck himself. The look in his eyes… it was something else. Like decades of plans had gone down the drain with a single word. The prick died a few days later. You know how the rest goes. The Rimworlders had access to a lot of Kuritan equipment, but we could never pin anything on the Draconis Combine. I could spend an hour going over all the coincidences that point at the Kuritans supporting Amaris, probably a lot you weren't even aware about." 

He let out a deep sigh. "We found out that the vessel that had been taking Amanda and Ian Cameron to safety had gotten extraordinarily unlucky. They were ambushed and confirmed destroyed by an RWA fleet, we even had part of the wreckage. By then, it was too late for me to change my mind. Every one of the Great Lords had already nominated themselves for the position of First Lord. When Kerensky decided to fuck off, I decided to follow. Then we ended up in this mess. At least Arthur was born out here, away from the bullshit of the Inner Sphere. 

Now he turned wistful. "I wonder if they're still at each other's throats?"

If Arthur was right, then yes, they were. More than we could have ever imagined to be possible. 

"That's everything. Well, everything of importance. This recording will be deleted as soon as it is over, but there is a copy in my quarters. Feel free to show that to Arthur should he ever need it."

Like that, the holotable deactivated. I closed my eyes. I wouldn't tell Arthur about this yet. He already has enough on his plate; he didn't need even more bullshit to worry about. I left the bridge and returned to work. There was a rather vital meeting in a few hours.