Kaeda "Shadow" Hawke, 3027.

Commander's name: Kaeda "Shadow" Hawke
Origin: Deep Periphery
Origin Story: Lone Survivor, Betrayed, House and Family Destroyed.

--
When Commander rallied all senior officers chiefs and me, I didn't expect to hear what she said.
None of us did.

"Darius. Amir. Sumire. Yang. Farah. Jessica. Hunters... Damn, I'm bad at long speeches, so I'll cut it short. I quit the company. Amir will take the lead from now on."

A moment of silence. The shock.

Sumire was the only one to say in the next ten seconds: "Shadow. Kaeda... You - *what*?"

Shadow left us. After the heated dispute, a million rough questions - damn, Yang nearly broke that table - she did quit anyway. The damn girl never told for how long. As also she never mentioned where exactly.

She took only her prized Highlander, leaving the *Argo* and full three lances combat-ready 'Mechs, probably the best three lances in the whole Reach. Hell, maybe even in the whole Inner Sphere - we could easily compete with Dragoons or even Kell Hounds, would we be limited to a battalion only.
45 million C-Bills, enough to wage a small war, *Argo* flying as smoothly as if it just left the scaffolds. All the doors to wonderful discoveries and possibilities are as open as ever, and yet she leaves now, barely three months after the coronation of Lady Arano.

And she does this to us.

No one but me knows why. She told everyone that she was tired. Indeed, her vengeance and search for retribution for yet *another* family betrayal were all that was driving her firm these two long years of the Restoration Campaign. Beacon of Hope they called her, yet she never truly cared. I saw her eyes after the battle at Arano's tourney grounds - they were empty. Same they remained when she watched a video that Lord Madeira managed to get for her, with the final hours of Santiago Espinosa. She watched them all without a flinch.

And a few days ago I suddenly saw that fire, calmly burning in her eyes - for the first time since the Coromodir final battle.

A year and a half ago, after Kaeda without hesitation put a bullet in a shadow from her past in that bar, she told me: "I killed him once in the past, and now he comes back, running from the Devil. Makes me wonder, who else managed to sneak out of the graveyard. Not sure I'm happy with that zombies suddenly popping up."

We had a conversation, me and her before she left on nearby JumpShip. Kyone was staring blank onto the nearby wall, examining it as if trying to remember the amount of time and effort we put into making this section of airlocks even usable. I felt glad for her - girl, finally, found her purpose, stopped being an actual ronin. Not the first time I see people changing this much after their lives are saved on the battlefield.

"Lord Madeira dug something", she said. "Something *big*. And I can't engulf all the Moonlight Hunters into this. This is too big. At least not now."
"Boss, we made it superclean on Smithon - where probably no one else would be able to. We survived Artru, beaten Ostergaard ass and that Espinosa bitch *twice*, damn - we've been through hella lot of seemingly impossible drops and you what, just call something *big* and leap outta there in a middle of nowhere with no explanations?"
"This isn't about our company, Darius. This is about me - and me only. I can't resurface there as a Shadow, the Mercenary Commander, and I will never stake the safety of *you* people for *my* private reasons. The past leaps on me, and it's time for Lady Hawke After all, they called me once the Devil for a reason, and I *will* remind them *why*."
"I see that you won't change your decision, will ya?"
"Yeah, you know me. I won't."
"Maybe you'll take Leopard, Sumire, and at least one lance as a sup-"
"No. We talked about this already. I will take only Kyone with me. Should... something unpleasant happen or things will change, she'll come back to the Reach. Make you know."
"Why not just use the HP- Oh. I see. It's *that* big?"
"Exactly."
Awkward pause as we look at one another - all wanting to say things we might regret later. I hate those.

"Farewell, and... Tell Amir, Sumire, and the other Hunters to shoot fast and stay safe. And not a word about this, for now, you hear me? Please, Darius. This is important."
"Sure thing, Kaeda. No goodbyes either, and.. be careful out there."

Airlock closed behind her and Ronin. It was a strange feeling - she was out there, going on a new adventure or enormous danger, without us even knowing which one was bigger, and for the first five years and a half we truly left without our Commander. Sure thing, Dekker is capable and will get the job done, but... Hells!

--
"So, she went to the homeland?"
"Sumire? I thought you'd be at Coms."
"Yeah, me too. Figured that she'll say something before leaving. Glitch told me she saw you going to the airlocks section C, so I came up running. Well?"
"Mhm, you're right. She said it's something big, size of shit enough for her to cut and run there on her own. Worrying for /us/, my ass."
"That's all?.. Damn, we shouldn't let her go. If that shit is bigger than our three lances and storage full of supplies enough to engulf an entire system in flames - she's in a big shit indeed."
"No arguments here. But you know her, hardly an Atlas would stop Kaeda once she came up with something. She told me Kyone will contact us if shit is gonna overflow, so... Least we can do - is to keep this sinking hole floating, and be ready. "
"That's right. I'll go get the others while you explain what exactly happened. We have a foolish noble Commander to watch now."

Either way, we are Moonlight Hunters. And plausible deniability - is our speciality.