"The Call: Nikolai"
Originally created by Matt Shimkus
(Warning: Spoilers follow for those who have not yet seen Episode 18 "Apollo, Pt 2")
December 3050
She stormed out of their office. Stormed.
Kade hadn’t stormed since the time she caught Mackenzie being, well, indiscreet with 2nd Lieutenant Von Carstein the summer before the young woman’s first year at the academy . . . in her workshop. And now here she was, storming through their kitchenette. Storming around their living quarters. Positively tempestuous. Hurricane-like. If Nikolai weren’t concerned about how upset she was he’d be all. About. This.
But Nikolai was concerned. First storming, but now she was also crying. Tears are a normal stress response, but Kade’s past had taught her to bury all that deep inside her and just keep on with things. Crying was an obvious tell with Kade that something was seriously wrong.
How had it all gone so seriously wrong?
----------
Nikolai and Kade had been to Strana Mechty, and had set foot on several Clan Wolf worlds since their return to Clan Space. Nikolai was able to ‘tour’ Clan space and see firsthand how things had changed since his departure in his youth. He’d introduced his wife and youngest son, Anatoly, to a whole new world, a new culture with new expectations and its own unique worldview, so foreign to them.
Eventually, time came to get to work. Nikolai knew that younger MechWarriors had already bid and challenged their way to the front line of the invasion, but a private discussion with the Wolf Clan Khan, Ulric Kerensky, set his path toward strengthening Clan Wolf’s intelligence and reconnaissance arm: The Watch. An assignment to the Wolf Facility on Tiber was prestigious, but hardly action-oriented. Primary Facility 5 was ‘business up front’: an important development hub for Clan Wolf military hardware, but the party was in the back. It was also now the primary facility to train and coordinate the Clan Wolf Watch in the Clan Homeworlds, and prepare new field operatives for the soon-to-be Wolf Clan Occupation Zone in the Inner Sphere. Nikolai was being given a chance, and an office with . . . a desk.
A desk.
This, in and of itself, meant nothing, but the implication that he’d needed one was an injury to his pride that still smarted nearly a year later. He had been doing doing important work as one of the few Clan Wolf warriors to return from the Dragoons. He had been the ONLY human intelligence officer that returned to the invading clans from deployment in the Inner Sphere. The rest were signals snoops doing two-year deployments at listening posts on asteroids, or some such glorious job. Or they were Natasha Kerensky herself, chomping at the bit for a trial of position. Now, he spent all his time in meetings, or training new operatives, or . . . or sitting at that desk.
Nikolai was an oddity among Clan warriors. He was an outstanding BattleMech pilot. He was a passable aerospace jock. He knew his way around elemental armor. Over the years, he had become a legendary ‘scout’. Being a scout was what was what had earned him his bloodname and his reputation.
Scouting covered all manner of sins to the strict Clan mindset, all the things that ‘The Great Founder’ found so distasteful: reconnaissance, surveillance, espionage, assassination, burglary, clandestine operations, counterintelligence, internal affairs. His time with the Seventh Kommando and WolfNet was an extension of his career as a soldier for Clan Wolf, and underneath everything, it was what had shaped his life in its entirety. That, and his genetics. Having Andery Kerensky and Dana Kufahl as ‘parents’ was a burden and a blessing. With everything he knew about Khan Kufahl of the Coyote Clan, he assumed that he took after his father.
His assignment wasn’t something you could do exclusively from a desk. Oh, you could have a lot of fun with a desk and improper company, but just a desk? . . . Meh. So, Nikolai had taken special joy in the time when he could take operatives in training, his ‘Wolf Cub Scouts’ on field exercises. Anything to relieve the monotony of reports, observations, data collections and all the digital paperwork that kept him in that room, at that desk.
And then the word came from one of his contacts assigned to the Falcons. His son, Jaxun, had been captured after a successful trial of grievance, initiated by Jaxun himself, against the entire Jade Falcon invasion force on Erewhon V. It was the proudest Nikolai had ever been of his eldest boy. The bedtime stories had sunk in. Nikolai’s subtle ‘encoding’ of his language to allow his children to thrive in Clan society had worked.
And what courage! A Trial of Grievance! It was so much more than Nikolai had ever dared hope from the gentle giant. He knew his son had the requisite controlled aggression to be a great warrior. He knew his son was incredibly intelligent, with a gift for mechanics and engineering, but the bravery of disobeying an order to put himself between his comrades and destruction . . . where had that come from? It wasn’t something he’d ever seen from the boy before Jaxun left for the academy.
Jaxun was softly spoken, but not timid. He was a child that actively cared for others. He was keenly aware of his size and strength, and did his best to ‘shrink’ himself in the company of others. He looked out for his big sister and his little brother with equal energy. Maybe it was selflessness? He was too much like his mother. Or maybe his namesake. Jaxun couldn’t have received that attribute from his father.
About two months had passed since Nikolai, Kade, and Anatoly had settled on Tiber. Nikolai kept busy in his duties with his ‘Cub Scouts,’ and Kade was helping her technicians develop and refine a new 40 Ton OmniMech design, codename: Pouncer. All the while, they allowed themselves to be comforted by the news that Jaxun was alive, well, and apparently thriving as a bondsman to Clan Jade Falcon. Nikolai believed eventually, he’d make his way to the Wolf Clan. It was where he belonged. Perhaps, even, if there was a break in the course of the invasion, he would be allowed to challenge the Falcons for his son and bring him into the pack.
All that changed when he was notified of the call. There was to be a special HPG transmission from the Jade Falcon Khanate to the family of Jaxun Sokolov. The Falcon messenger chose his words well. Not Nikolai Sokolov, or Nikolai and Kade Sokolov, or Star Colonel Sokolov, but the family of Jaxun. Something had happened. He knew it. He tried to prepare Kade for bad news. She, of course, wouldn’t hear of it.
When the call began, he couldn’t believe his eyes. It was his son, Jaxun, flanked on either side by the Jade Falcon Khans. And at the same time, it wasn’t his son. The boy’s voice rang hollow in his ears, rehearsed. Something had gone terribly wrong.
“Greetings, Star Colonel Sokolov and Technician Kade. I wish for you to know, for your benefit, that I am unharmed, and, as you can see, quite well. I have accepted my place here among my eyrie in the Jade Falcon Clan and have tested into the Warrior caste as an Elemental warrior.”
Nikolai could barely believe the size his son had put on in two short months. It could only mean that the Falcons had augmented his genes. No mere program of exercise could explain the sheer bulk of the young man. It didn’t even sound like him. The lyric quality of his voice was gone, but it wasn’t halting, nor smooth. His eyes betrayed a kind of conditioning-- his gaze was almost too steady.
“I will be joining Khans Crichell and Malthus in the Turkina Keshik, leading the charge to purify the Inner Sphere and make way for the restoration of the Star League. Our crusade is nearly upon us, and I wish you success in the days to come. This will be my last communique to you. If you have questions of me, please speak them now.”
Kade began trembling. She cried out to her son, pleading with him to look her in the face, to recognize her, to remember his past-- all to no avail. That’s when the storm began to gather speed.
Nikolai didn’t dare console his wife in this moment. It would bring everything to a halt. He thought quickly, and stepped forward to be clearly seen by his son and spoke. “The strength of the wolf is the pack. Silently it will elude the falcon. Swiftly it will outpace the jaguar. With power it’s jaws will crush its enemies. Dragons and eagles, fists and swords it will not fear. The strength of the wolf is the pack.”
His son blinked.
Nikolai began again. “The wolf of Strana Mechty does not fear the dark. The dark is the wolf’s friend. At night can the wolf truly be itself. Night screens us from the eyes of our enemies. The darkness covers us in protection from those that wish us harm. From the dark can we hunt our prey. In the shadows we strike fear into our foes. The comfort of the dark is our sword and shield.”
Jaxun’s face relaxed from the taut expression it had held, and his gaze began to refocus itself onto Nikolai. It was now or never.
Nikolai began to sing, softly, like a lullabye:
“The Exodus we chose to make
A new and different road to take
Our honor it would test and then
Far away we begin again
Now hear us as we call to thee…”
On the last line, Nikolai saw his son begin to mouth the words his father sang:
“...for glory is our destiny.”
It must have worked. If Nikolai was a praying man, he would’ve prayed that it got through to his son. The young man was under some heavy reprogramming by the Falcons, but that might’ve just put a crack in the dam the bastards had built for his boy’s personality.
As the two Jade Falcon Khans stepped forward and guided Jaxun to stand behind them, Nikolai had to hope it would be enough. He doubted he’d get direct access to his son again, as long as he was with the Jade Falcons.
Khan Crichell spoke.”Nikolai Sokolov, this is the last you will likely see of this young man. He is no longer yours. He is ours. He will soar as we will soar, over the ashes of the Inner Sphere to the heights of glory as we supplant all other Clans to reform the Star League on Terra. Warrior Jaxun, who is your family?”
From behind the two stern men, the voice of the giant young man called forward “The Falcon Clan, no other!”
Kade sobbed. Nikolai felt something twist in his mind. It was the same twist he felt when Anton had his first wife killed. It was the same twist he felt when he heard the ‘retreat’ order on Hesperus II. It was the same twist he felt when he was on Zathras and received the transmission about Misery. It was the twist he felt when Garillac burned the bar down. It was now the twist where his son broke his love’s heart because he’d been brainwashed by the Jade f@#&!ng Falcons.
Words came pouring out of his mouth. Words he couldn’t stop. Words of anger. Oaths. Pledges. Vulgarities. He impugned the honor of two Khans of the Falcon Clan, their founders, and their entire genetic legacy. Words that could start a war. Words he would rather die than take back.
Kade stormed out. Nikolai ended the transmission.
Originally created by Matt Shimkus
(Warning: Spoilers follow for those who have not yet seen Episode 18 "Apollo, Pt 2")
December 3050
She stormed out of their office. Stormed.
Kade hadn’t stormed since the time she caught Mackenzie being, well, indiscreet with 2nd Lieutenant Von Carstein the summer before the young woman’s first year at the academy . . . in her workshop. And now here she was, storming through their kitchenette. Storming around their living quarters. Positively tempestuous. Hurricane-like. If Nikolai weren’t concerned about how upset she was he’d be all. About. This.
But Nikolai was concerned. First storming, but now she was also crying. Tears are a normal stress response, but Kade’s past had taught her to bury all that deep inside her and just keep on with things. Crying was an obvious tell with Kade that something was seriously wrong.
How had it all gone so seriously wrong?
----------
Nikolai and Kade had been to Strana Mechty, and had set foot on several Clan Wolf worlds since their return to Clan Space. Nikolai was able to ‘tour’ Clan space and see firsthand how things had changed since his departure in his youth. He’d introduced his wife and youngest son, Anatoly, to a whole new world, a new culture with new expectations and its own unique worldview, so foreign to them.
Eventually, time came to get to work. Nikolai knew that younger MechWarriors had already bid and challenged their way to the front line of the invasion, but a private discussion with the Wolf Clan Khan, Ulric Kerensky, set his path toward strengthening Clan Wolf’s intelligence and reconnaissance arm: The Watch. An assignment to the Wolf Facility on Tiber was prestigious, but hardly action-oriented. Primary Facility 5 was ‘business up front’: an important development hub for Clan Wolf military hardware, but the party was in the back. It was also now the primary facility to train and coordinate the Clan Wolf Watch in the Clan Homeworlds, and prepare new field operatives for the soon-to-be Wolf Clan Occupation Zone in the Inner Sphere. Nikolai was being given a chance, and an office with . . . a desk.
A desk.
This, in and of itself, meant nothing, but the implication that he’d needed one was an injury to his pride that still smarted nearly a year later. He had been doing doing important work as one of the few Clan Wolf warriors to return from the Dragoons. He had been the ONLY human intelligence officer that returned to the invading clans from deployment in the Inner Sphere. The rest were signals snoops doing two-year deployments at listening posts on asteroids, or some such glorious job. Or they were Natasha Kerensky herself, chomping at the bit for a trial of position. Now, he spent all his time in meetings, or training new operatives, or . . . or sitting at that desk.
Nikolai was an oddity among Clan warriors. He was an outstanding BattleMech pilot. He was a passable aerospace jock. He knew his way around elemental armor. Over the years, he had become a legendary ‘scout’. Being a scout was what was what had earned him his bloodname and his reputation.
Scouting covered all manner of sins to the strict Clan mindset, all the things that ‘The Great Founder’ found so distasteful: reconnaissance, surveillance, espionage, assassination, burglary, clandestine operations, counterintelligence, internal affairs. His time with the Seventh Kommando and WolfNet was an extension of his career as a soldier for Clan Wolf, and underneath everything, it was what had shaped his life in its entirety. That, and his genetics. Having Andery Kerensky and Dana Kufahl as ‘parents’ was a burden and a blessing. With everything he knew about Khan Kufahl of the Coyote Clan, he assumed that he took after his father.
His assignment wasn’t something you could do exclusively from a desk. Oh, you could have a lot of fun with a desk and improper company, but just a desk? . . . Meh. So, Nikolai had taken special joy in the time when he could take operatives in training, his ‘Wolf Cub Scouts’ on field exercises. Anything to relieve the monotony of reports, observations, data collections and all the digital paperwork that kept him in that room, at that desk.
And then the word came from one of his contacts assigned to the Falcons. His son, Jaxun, had been captured after a successful trial of grievance, initiated by Jaxun himself, against the entire Jade Falcon invasion force on Erewhon V. It was the proudest Nikolai had ever been of his eldest boy. The bedtime stories had sunk in. Nikolai’s subtle ‘encoding’ of his language to allow his children to thrive in Clan society had worked.
And what courage! A Trial of Grievance! It was so much more than Nikolai had ever dared hope from the gentle giant. He knew his son had the requisite controlled aggression to be a great warrior. He knew his son was incredibly intelligent, with a gift for mechanics and engineering, but the bravery of disobeying an order to put himself between his comrades and destruction . . . where had that come from? It wasn’t something he’d ever seen from the boy before Jaxun left for the academy.
Jaxun was softly spoken, but not timid. He was a child that actively cared for others. He was keenly aware of his size and strength, and did his best to ‘shrink’ himself in the company of others. He looked out for his big sister and his little brother with equal energy. Maybe it was selflessness? He was too much like his mother. Or maybe his namesake. Jaxun couldn’t have received that attribute from his father.
About two months had passed since Nikolai, Kade, and Anatoly had settled on Tiber. Nikolai kept busy in his duties with his ‘Cub Scouts,’ and Kade was helping her technicians develop and refine a new 40 Ton OmniMech design, codename: Pouncer. All the while, they allowed themselves to be comforted by the news that Jaxun was alive, well, and apparently thriving as a bondsman to Clan Jade Falcon. Nikolai believed eventually, he’d make his way to the Wolf Clan. It was where he belonged. Perhaps, even, if there was a break in the course of the invasion, he would be allowed to challenge the Falcons for his son and bring him into the pack.
All that changed when he was notified of the call. There was to be a special HPG transmission from the Jade Falcon Khanate to the family of Jaxun Sokolov. The Falcon messenger chose his words well. Not Nikolai Sokolov, or Nikolai and Kade Sokolov, or Star Colonel Sokolov, but the family of Jaxun. Something had happened. He knew it. He tried to prepare Kade for bad news. She, of course, wouldn’t hear of it.
When the call began, he couldn’t believe his eyes. It was his son, Jaxun, flanked on either side by the Jade Falcon Khans. And at the same time, it wasn’t his son. The boy’s voice rang hollow in his ears, rehearsed. Something had gone terribly wrong.
“Greetings, Star Colonel Sokolov and Technician Kade. I wish for you to know, for your benefit, that I am unharmed, and, as you can see, quite well. I have accepted my place here among my eyrie in the Jade Falcon Clan and have tested into the Warrior caste as an Elemental warrior.”
Nikolai could barely believe the size his son had put on in two short months. It could only mean that the Falcons had augmented his genes. No mere program of exercise could explain the sheer bulk of the young man. It didn’t even sound like him. The lyric quality of his voice was gone, but it wasn’t halting, nor smooth. His eyes betrayed a kind of conditioning-- his gaze was almost too steady.
“I will be joining Khans Crichell and Malthus in the Turkina Keshik, leading the charge to purify the Inner Sphere and make way for the restoration of the Star League. Our crusade is nearly upon us, and I wish you success in the days to come. This will be my last communique to you. If you have questions of me, please speak them now.”
Kade began trembling. She cried out to her son, pleading with him to look her in the face, to recognize her, to remember his past-- all to no avail. That’s when the storm began to gather speed.
Nikolai didn’t dare console his wife in this moment. It would bring everything to a halt. He thought quickly, and stepped forward to be clearly seen by his son and spoke. “The strength of the wolf is the pack. Silently it will elude the falcon. Swiftly it will outpace the jaguar. With power it’s jaws will crush its enemies. Dragons and eagles, fists and swords it will not fear. The strength of the wolf is the pack.”
His son blinked.
Nikolai began again. “The wolf of Strana Mechty does not fear the dark. The dark is the wolf’s friend. At night can the wolf truly be itself. Night screens us from the eyes of our enemies. The darkness covers us in protection from those that wish us harm. From the dark can we hunt our prey. In the shadows we strike fear into our foes. The comfort of the dark is our sword and shield.”
Jaxun’s face relaxed from the taut expression it had held, and his gaze began to refocus itself onto Nikolai. It was now or never.
Nikolai began to sing, softly, like a lullabye:
“The Exodus we chose to make
A new and different road to take
Our honor it would test and then
Far away we begin again
Now hear us as we call to thee…”
On the last line, Nikolai saw his son begin to mouth the words his father sang:
“...for glory is our destiny.”
It must have worked. If Nikolai was a praying man, he would’ve prayed that it got through to his son. The young man was under some heavy reprogramming by the Falcons, but that might’ve just put a crack in the dam the bastards had built for his boy’s personality.
As the two Jade Falcon Khans stepped forward and guided Jaxun to stand behind them, Nikolai had to hope it would be enough. He doubted he’d get direct access to his son again, as long as he was with the Jade Falcons.
Khan Crichell spoke.”Nikolai Sokolov, this is the last you will likely see of this young man. He is no longer yours. He is ours. He will soar as we will soar, over the ashes of the Inner Sphere to the heights of glory as we supplant all other Clans to reform the Star League on Terra. Warrior Jaxun, who is your family?”
From behind the two stern men, the voice of the giant young man called forward “The Falcon Clan, no other!”
Kade sobbed. Nikolai felt something twist in his mind. It was the same twist he felt when Anton had his first wife killed. It was the same twist he felt when he heard the ‘retreat’ order on Hesperus II. It was the same twist he felt when he was on Zathras and received the transmission about Misery. It was the twist he felt when Garillac burned the bar down. It was now the twist where his son broke his love’s heart because he’d been brainwashed by the Jade f@#&!ng Falcons.
Words came pouring out of his mouth. Words he couldn’t stop. Words of anger. Oaths. Pledges. Vulgarities. He impugned the honor of two Khans of the Falcon Clan, their founders, and their entire genetic legacy. Words that could start a war. Words he would rather die than take back.
Kade stormed out. Nikolai ended the transmission.