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msn-04iinightingale · 4 months

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Freeborn

March 20th, 3050 Anywhere Asteroid “Paydirt” in orbit around “The Big One” (Gas giant located in Anywhere System) Mulligan Mining Group Asteroid Colony

Star Commander Bridget Hazen guided her Summoner out of the drop ship along with the four other members of her Star. She smiled in the cockpit of her mech. Finally, she was given a target to capture.

Finally, she could prove herself worthy not only of command, but of her blood name.

Her smile became a frown. It had not be easy by any measure, getting to where she was now.

She was, after all, Freeborn, and as such, was seen as, lesser, within her Clan.

She would show them. She had fought every step of the way, pushing herself harder, farther, more effectively than the other members of her sibko. She clawed every scrap of honor and respect that she could from those around her, culminating not only in her rank of Star Commander, but in gaining her bloodname. And not just any blood name, but the bloodname in her mind.

Hazen.

Many had scoffed at her even attempting it. She was freeborn, after all.

But, were the founders not Freeborn? Was Elizabeth Hazen not born of a man and a woman and not an iron womb? Was The Great Kerensky himself not born as she herself was? She ignored the scoffers.

Still others had challenged her to prevent her from even trying. She had beaten them all. One after the other she had outfought, outthought and outlasted those who would prevent her from claiming it. She would do the same, to anyone that got in her way. That included any other Clan that challenged Jade Falcon to their rightful place as ilClan. Her frown deepened, as she remembered the narrow victory they had achieved over Clan Wolf in their Trial of Refusal over beginning Operation REVIVAL. Disgraceful.

Operation REVIVAL was her chance, finally, to show she was worth her blood name. To prove once and for all that she was worthy of standing side by side with her peers, those Trueborn warriors who have so far sneered and dismissed her as…

Freebirth.

She shook her head, short black hair tied back into a tight ponytail to keep it from her eyes the color of jade. No more distractions, it was time to claim her first victory. The mining asteroid would not have been her first choice of target, but she did as she was commanded. It would be the first step to ultimate victory.

Her sensors indicated that the opposing force, four battlemechs, mercenary scum no less, all this little rock could muster against them. They had, she had to admit, at least had the honor to accept their formal batchall.

Bridget thought back to the communication earlier.

She stood on the bridge. They had just arrived into orbit over the asteroid. Bridget waited as the comms officer opened a channel with the Spheroid colony. She cleared her throat, squared her chest, and spoke.

“I am Star Commander Bridget Hazen, commander of the Raptor Claws of Clan Jade Falcon. I bring with me one Star of Clan Jade Falcon’s finest warriors and a Broadsword dropship. I seek to claim this mining colony and all resources to be found upon this asteroid. What forces dare defend this world from the steel talons of the Jade Falcon?”

Her chest swelled with pride. She had spoken perfectly. Now she just had to-

“This is Commander Owen, Barghest Company. We will defend this colony with one full lance of battlemechs, and a Leopard dropship. We choose to meet you at the following coordinates, 48.73, 6.23. If victorious we will claim all Jade Falcon equipment, including personnel. Do you agree to these terms, Star Commander Hazen?”

She was momentarily wrong footed. Was this Spheroid actually following the proper protocol for a formal batchall? She weighed the options in her mind. The colony produced, according to her intel, materials essential to the production of fusion engines. An important resource for the production of more battle and omnimechs. One star and dropship against the resources gained by capturing the facility…

“Aff, Commander. Well bargained and done.” She replied.

“Well bargained and done. See you on the field, Star Commander.”

She had heard on the chatter web that there were Spheroids that only claimed to accept, before labeling themselves as dezgra by going back on their word. She wondered if this “Owen” would do likewise, or if he would be a man of his word. It mattered little. She would win. Perhaps, if he impressed her, she would claim her first bondsman.

She returned to the here and now. She had glory to take in battle. For her Clan, her Khan, her Galaxy, her Star Colonel.

For herself.

“All units, form up on me. Let us show these Spheroids the proper way to wage war.”

“Aff, Star Commander!” four voices called in unison.

—

Bridget triggered the LB 10-X Autocannon, sending another canister shot at the enemy Marauder. The pilot of the Marauder with the grinning shark mouth and eyes juked to the left, using its jump jets and the relatively low gravity to move like a mech half its weight, letting easily half of the shot miss, the other half ablating armor on the right arm and shoulder. The Marauder responded with a Gauss Rifle shot, which gouged a furrow in her left torso armor. This Owen was good. Very good. She hated to admit it, as she launched a volley of Clan LRMs at him, forcing him to duck around a large outcropping of asteroid to avoid the, but he was perhaps one of the best she had faced.

She glanced at her wireframe, fighting back the feeling of worry as she saw the amount of orange and red on her 'mech. She had not been pushed this hard since she had tested for her bloodname.

Triggering her own jets, she sought to gain the higher ground on the outcrop, and fire upon him from above. She had to finish this quickly, two of her star were already down, and one of the other two was heavily damaged, a Nova, engaging a Black Knight and Wolfhound amongst the craters and rocky crags. The other, another Summoner, was relatively undamaged, and had finished running down a Phoenix Hawk.

Bridget returned her attention to the battle at hand. Her warriors would have to fend for themselves until she was-

The twin ER PPC blasts hit her side torso, the one damaged by the Gauss round earlier, her wireframe flashing from red to nothing. Then the Gauss shot came, having been fired simultaneously to the PPC’s impacting. The slug punched through into the Summoner’s inner structure, piercing engine and gyro before lodging fast in the inside of the opposite side armor.

She fell.

Her last sight before she hit the surface and blacked out was the damaged Marauder watching her fall.

—

She awoke slowly. She was…in a medbay, it looked like. Her body ached like she had gotten into a fistfight with an Elemental.

“Morning. Or, afternoon, hard to tell on this rock.” came a voice across the room.

She groaned, and sat up, head swimming.

“Where…” she began to ask, then she saw it.

The cord around her wrist.

“Neg…this is…”

“That, is a bond cord. You, Star Commander Bridget Hazen. Are now, my bondsman.” The owner of the voice, a scruffy looking man in a long coat with a far too large pistol on his waist was sitting on a chair, causal as can be.

“Needless to say, you lost.”

Bridget sagged. She couldn’t help it. She had failed. Not only her Galaxy Commander but her Khan, and even her Clan. She couldn’t even commit bondsref without losing what little honor she had left at this point. A bondsman, to a Spheroid no less.

“…”

“The rest of your star, the ones that survived, have also been claimed as Bondsmen.”

“..why?”

“Hm?” the man asked, tilting his head slightly in curiosity.

“Why have you claimed me and mine as isorla? We failed.”

And I am but a freebirth…

“Ah…I see…” the man said, leaning back as if in deep thought.

The silence stretched for several seconds.

“…because,” Owen McEvedy said, “Because I need pilots like you. You’re good. Damn good. Better than a Star Commander of just a Star of battlemechs. And like I said, I need people like you, with your skills.”

She had to admit, it caught her off guard. She momentarily forget herself, and let slip another question.

“Why?”

Owen was quiet for another few seconds.

“Because I…” he said, “…am going to hunt some Wolves.”

Bridget Hazen let herself smile slightly.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all…

#revivalposting #battletech #mechwarrior #oc rp #operation touchdown prequel sorta

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inner-sunshine · 5 years

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The Freebirth of Baby A:

After an eventful day of sightseeing in San Francisco with my husband's family, the night of April 25th was a bit restless for me. I was pretty worn out from walking all day, uncomfortable from being, at this point, 41 weeks 2 days pregnant.

I woke up multiple times in the night, experiencing a lull of back pain and overall tightness in my stomach muscles.

Weeks before this night, I had been excited, ready, then put off when my previous (what I didn't realize was prodromal and perfectly normal) labors fizzled to nothing.

However, something was different about this night. Falling asleep felt instantaneous, like my body needed me resting, yet I woke up a few times to use the bathroom- my body cleaning itself out to fully prepare.

I woke the morning of April 26th with what I recognized were actual waves- contractions. They weren't regularly spaced nor very painful, moreso uncomfortable, like gas pain.

Hosting company, I cooked breakfast for everyone occasionally pausing to acknowledge the waves of my womb.

My mother-in-law noticed something off about me, I think how I was more into myself than my usual social self, and I told her I didn't want to jinx anything, but I thought I was in early labor.

My husband's family wanted to continue sight-seeing parts of the Bay Area (they were visiting from Chicago where we are originally from) and left the house about midday. Only my husband, L & B (my sons), and myself remained.

Looking back now, I'm thankful that they wanted to give us some space because I needed a few hours to get into a more internal mindset to keep my goal on track -- delivering my baby at home.

The boys played while I bounced on an exercise ball, opening my hips and swaying with the waves of contractions. At this point they were still pretty far apart, about 12-15 minutes, and pretty short in length.

After nearly 2 hours of that (about 2pm), I was becoming impatient and a little frustrated because not only were my contractions not picking up, it almost felt like they were slowing down. (Though now, I feel this was all in my head)

I told my husband I wanted to go out and walk around, coincidentally it was when Toys R Us was closing all their locations and the one local to us was having a huge sale, so we went. I figured we could get something for the boys to get involved with in case I either A; do have the baby at home, or B; need to transfer and my MIL has to take the boys. I paced around the store while the kids picked out play doh, toy trucks, and sidewalk chalk.

Leaving the store I tell my husband I want to go home, right now. We had planned maybe stopping somewhere to eat, but even though my contractions hadn't changed much, something changed within me and I just wanted to be home. I followed my instincts.

We got home, a bit after 3, B was really weepy so I decided to lay down and try to nap with him. We were both tired. My body told me to rest and I obliged. I was (well, tbh, still AM) breastfeeding B and thought getting a quick feed in would probably help me progress and relax us both. B fell asleep, and so did I.... for about 20 minutes.

I woke up to contractions that felt a lot more intense than they were previously. I decided to get in the tub to get some relief, especially for my back, for me, is where I feel most of my labors. I timed a couple contractions and they were only about 10 minutes apart. I thought I had a ways to go, hours at least- and by this time it was about 4:30 PM.

I'm not one to condone cervical checks during labor, to be frank, they don't mean anything progress-wise and can potentially irritate an already busy cervix. Alas I was curious, so while in the tub I checked my cervix and to my surprise-- it felt incredibly high up, so high I couldn't even reach it to see how dilated I was. I was so frustrated, at this point I really thought baby wasn't going to be born until after midnight.

I started feeling a little discouraged; I was tired and thought I hadn't even made it halfway, I cried a little. Then, I laid in the tub and just closed my eyes, trying to ground myself while breathing as deeply as possible. My favorite birth affirmations filled my mind and I calmed myself down, confident again.

About 5pm now, my husband's family returns from their outing and I was still in the tub... just as things totally pick up.

Within 20 minutes my contractions went from 10 minutes to 4 minutes apart and they lasted about 50-70 seconds long. It started becoming difficult to communicate through them, all my focus was on breathing and resting in between. I opened the drain of the tub and turned the faucet on as hot as it would go directly on my back as the pressure became more intense.

The boys came into the bathroom to see what was going on and my husband explained that the baby in mommy's belly is going to come out. L asks if it hurts. I say yes, but I am going to be okay once the baby comes out. They sat and watched for a little while, then went back to play with their cousins.

A powerful surge washed over me and I instantly felt nauseous, I knew what this was and what it meant -- I was in transition; the baby was definitely coming and SOON. (As I said before, this is why one should always decline cervical checks during labor, upon checking my cervix and feeling I had "not progressed" it threw off my whole mood when really I was only about 30 minutes from hitting transition)

I popped out of the tub and vomited into a bowl that my husband brought into the bathroom earlier. He was incredible. I cannot even explain to you how in sync he was to what I needed, without me even saying a word. Indescribably linked.

I stayed on the bathroom floor for maybe 2 contractions after hitting that transition and my instincts spoke to me again. I needed to be somewhere soft. Baby was coming and needed to be caught somewhere more suitable. I obliged and after my next moan through a surge I told my husband I needed help getting into bed.

Mind you, I had planned to have the baby in my bathroom. I had deep cleaned it, set up the space and supplies so everything was accessible in that room. Still in only a few minutes, my husband had all my towels layered on my bed & a bin of supplies on my dresser. Between surges I quickly crouched on my bed on all fours; what was comfortable at the time.

Literally the next surge was so intense and had more pressure behind it that my water broke into my hand. It was warm, I looked down to check it's color -- clear, almost tinged pink. No meconium, not that it is necessarily bad to have stained waters (it's really a non issue), but it was something I wanted to pay attention to, personally, being over 40 weeks.

My next 2 surges brought my body into FER (Fetal Ejection Reflex) and I was pulled into a more tripod stance, on my knees with my left hand supporting me and my right hand covering my vaginal opening, ready to catch.

I stopped being aware of what was going on around me, my eyes were probably open, but I wasn't seeing anything or processing anything other than the visualization of my baby's descent out of me and into this world.

Surge came and I felt the top of a head pop into my palm. I lightly smoothed my fingers over it, it was soft, warm, and I felt hair! So much hair. I say out loud; "I feel a head and it has hair!" My husband was behind me with his hands on my back, he says; 'I can see it! Almost here! Come on, boo!'

I'm in a lot of pain here, the "ring of fire" is in full force and my surges are at their most intense with maybe 10 seconds of break in between.

1st surge after crowning: I deep belly moan and FER pulls my body together. My hand now completely cups baby's head. My vaginal opening is b u r n i n g .

2nd surge after crowning: Deep in my belly once again I moan like a cow as my body pushes for me. My hand leaves baby's head as I feel it pass, then shoulders and in one fluid motion baby is out -- 5:40pm -- I lean behind it to get a look & assess.

I notice it is grey-purple in color, grimacing, and hands & legs were moving. Very good signs. Babe only had vernix in their hair and under their neck, but I think that's because babe was so far along gestationally, their fingernails were pretty long already too.

I pick baby up and open their legs to find I gave birth to yet another boy. "IT'S ANOTHER BOY!!!" I yelled. I hold him to my chest upright and rub his back to see if I could get him to cry, he had not yet, though I could see him grimacing and hear him clearing his airways to breathe. It kinda sounds like when we have congestion in our throats right after coughing.

After a small snort and cough, he lets out a nice, loud cry and I laid on my back completely soaking in the rush of endorphins exploding in my brain.

I did it! I grew my baby and delivered him... me and my husband... Just as he was made; he was born. In the bed that we still sleep in together.

L ran in shortly after hearing his brand new brother cry to come take a look at him. He tells his grandma that mommy's baby came out!

Baby A latched right away and I began to feel my stomach tightening again; it was time to deliver the placenta. I laid Baby A on the bed, squatted and pushed with the smallest amount of force and it came right out. I placed it in a bowl we had put aside and sat on a fresh towel to monitor my bleeding. I relatched Baby A and inspected my placenta (for science lmao) while I waited for Baby's cord to turn completely white and limp -- the ideal time to cut. It took probably a solid 20 minutes.

I sterilized a brand new pair of kitchen scissors (I literally bought them just to cut the cord) with rubbing alcohol and cut Baby A's cord, leaving about 2 inches still attached. I took a piece of thick sewing thread, dipped it in the rubbing alcohol and tied the cord as tight as I possibly could manage about 1.5-ish inches away from what would one day be his belly button.

There he was. Guided by the voice of his father, born into the hands of his mother, and immediately greeted by his older brothers; in the sanctity and safety of his own home. Just as he should have been.

Born 4/26/18

5:40pm

9lb 15oz, 21.5in

"the birth of you was nothing like the birth of me" ❤

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