... short commercial break ...

Regina steps into the frame.  Her hair is worn up in a black old maid bun.  She's wearing clunky black framed glasses, worn low on the tip of her nose so she can actually see with her 20/20 visions (she heard glasses makes a person looks smarter...).  Over a conservative white blouse (it's conservative cause it's actually buttoned up to her neck) she wears a black university graduate style robe over.  A yard stick is in her hand which she has in her right hand taps lightly on the open palm of her left hand.

"Today's lesson is physics.

 Energy can neither be created... nor destroyed... merely converted from one form to another, or transfers from one medium to the other.  Observe...  A standard solar collector might gather energy to store in a normal everyday power cell used to power your head set, or laser pistol, or some other productive use.  However... if you gather it, and walk away to read the words of Blake... you over charge the battery to explosive effect."

Behind Regina a cartoony illustration slides along as she speaks, first of a sun, with little squiggle lines shining on a dish collecting it's energy into a square with a +/- end to indicate a battery.  As Regina finishes her dialogue the battery explodes.

"Such is the situation our little mechwarrior finds herself in."

Regina swats a school table with the yardstick, making a sharp snapping sound.

"The lesson of the day.  Anything to excess is bad.  Even... the blessed words of Blake... should be taken in moderation.", Regina looks away to one side as if she's uttered blasphemy when she says her lines.

"We now return you to your regularly scheduled smut... I mean... Program... Program, definitely program.", Regina corrects herself waving to the camera man to cut.

... Screen fades to Black ... Suggested sounds of Regina's activities with Morgan play against the black screen ...
This message was last edited by the player at 18:13, Fri 19 Dec 2014.

Luc listened to the news and looked around the room for Morgan for the third time.  The boy had connections that he would never have and that was why he'd made him XO in the Ironswords over Olaf.  With a shake of his head after listening to Penny he used his comm to send a message, "Olaf.  I don't know where Morgan is but considering we're dropping sooner rather than later...round up the men.  You're the XO and when I find Morgan I'm going to break his neck if he hasn't had it broken already.  Hassan and Malcolm will work in mine, Roger and Greyson in yours.  Get it ironed out."

Looking back to Penny and Pax he shrugged while switching the cigar he was idly chewing on to the other side of his mouth, "Logistics always seems to be a bitch."

He pointed at the existing data, "You've got defenders in the city, what counts for guerrilla warfare in thse parts at the port and babies defending the keys to the warheads.  If we go in as one, the port would be the best place to do the most damage with a hot drop in.  Though with close buildings most of what will be my second lance won't be able to use their LRMs.  If we split into three to tackle each one the Pussycats would do the best in the city with no intel.  Your EW would be the make or break to not only figure out what's going on but who to save and how to best do it.  Lancers could flit at the port and draw off enemies to ambush.  Ironswords could then drop at the school and take advantage of their LRM's to rain death down as they tried to come after the cadets...cause those girls are next to worthless in those things."

He'd been up to his neck in company supply requisitions all morning; put in the effort as best he could until he felt as if his eyes were bleeding.  The heavy stack of paperwork had been set aside for an hour or two as he went to hit some heavy weights then finish off a workout with the heavy bag.  It was between rounds with the bag that Olaf got the call from Luc.

"Ain't seen his highness since this morning, boss.  He umm... bowed out of sim time and left the company deck shortly after breakfast.  With Reggie."  Slipping on a t-shirt he thought he heard a growled curse as the comms channel closed.  Grabbing his water bottle he headed off into the belly of the ship to rally the troops, crack the whip on the techs and get himself on to the briefing room.  It sounded like things were moving fast and the mercs were in for another round much sooner than anticipated.  With at least two major changes to the roster it would be another first run out with fresh faces.  New talent and probably new egos.

Just another day in the Ironswords.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 20:08, Fri 19 Dec 2014.

... Suggested sounds of Regina's activities with Morgan play against the black screen ...

... Audio fades to silence and Regina fades onto the screen still wearing her instructor/professor clothes ...

"Now... that we have it straight that energy can neither be destroyed or created, we shall look at how we use it.  Observe.  This simple stove is powered by this ... simple power cell."

Regina steps to one side and shows a field stove, simmering some sausage and eggs in a common field kit, easily recognizable to any soldier that spends time in the field.

"Observe how the slow draining of power from the cell is constructive, when drawn out over a long period of time, such applications can be beneficial...", Regina kneels and sticks a fork into a piece of sausage and nibbles on the tip, arching an eyebrow she adds, "... and tasty."

"Right that same power cell... ", Regina stands and shows off a simple common power cell found anywhere in the inner sphere, "... can also be expended in a short burst... "

Stepping back, Regina slips the power cell into a laser pistol and aims at the flying pan before snapping off a few shots.  Predictably the food flares up and quickly becomes cinders, as a hole is burnt through the thin metal of the field pan.  Regina picks up the pan and holds it infront of her face.  You can clearly see the hole burnt through it to the other side.

"The same energy... released over a short span of time... not so tasty.", Regina lets the pan slip out of her hand while stepping away from the mess she just made.

"The lesson of the day.  Friends... shouldnt let friends... play with loaded laser pistols, when they're trying to cook some eggs.", Regina unloads the Laser Pistol and drops the Power Cell and Pistol on the ground, and starts to stride off screen.  As she struts she pulls a few hair pins out and takes her glasses with a flourish.  A shake of her head, has her hair shake loose of the confining bun back into their normal style.  Finger tear the blouse off which is shed along with the dark robes, and you have a brief glance of Regina exiting off the screen in her plugsuit.

... Screen fades to Black ... Suggested sounds of Regina's activities with Morgan play against the black screen ...

This lasts for a few more seconds before, there's a masculine cry of anguished pain.

"Oh Shyt!  Lucius is gonna kill me!"

Screen credits start to roll by as the program draws to a close.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:41, Fri 19 Dec 2014.

   Teri looked for Penny to share her good news.  "I didn't get a chance to share this with you earlier.  I was working on Bad Kitty.  I received a message from my family that wasn't the usual stop-throwing-your-life-away-and-come-back-home-o-gram.  It seems that someone I never met married somebody else I've never heard of before.  I've been advanced, or promoted, or something.  In my family, that means when it's time to take out the garbage can, I get the side with the cleaner handle."

"That sounds like really great news, we should get Lily to film a short clip on this, we might be able to use it on a documentary on the show."

Penny looks around for Lily, her gal friday that usually handles her camera work.  After a brief look of confusion, Penny seems to get excited.  A small gaggle of girls descends around Penny and Teri.  There's much giggling and excitement as Penny seems to know the new arrivals.

After a brief moments, Penny remembers her manners.  "Girls... Meet one of our Pussycats in training, Dame Knight... Though she was just about to tell us that she might be moving up on the food chain."

"Teri... meet... Randy... Brandy... Mandy... and Sandy.  The Pussycat Quadruplets...", Penny gives them all a puzzled look and a shake of her head, "What the hell are you doing out here?"

"Rick thought you were getting lonely out here, so he sent out a few of the Pussycats 'A' Team, to keep us company... and you know... help with the rating.", Lily comments as she continues filming.

"Rick's a Dick.", Penny comments on camera looking straight at Lillian.

"Great, i'm going to have to edit that out later, you just love making work for me dont you?"

"We'll have to introduce Teri to some of the girls, and split the talent between us.  It sounds like it might be messy down there, so... not all glitz and glamour, but we'll try and keep it light and have fun.  Pussycat primp!"

At Penny's last comment all the girls strike a pose for Lily's camera.  If Teri is slow to act, Penny will pull her into the picture with a (maybe, too) friendly hug for the camera.

Midway through his errands headed toward the mech bay, Olaf passed the impromptu on camera grab-assing.  "Looks like next season will be one to watch." he said flashing Penny a mock salute on his way past the group.

   Teri was blindsided by the arrival of the... Pussycat Quadruplets?   The Mercenary and apprentice tech known as Catgirl knew the well worn, grease stained coveralls she wore while servicing the fittings on Bad Kitty's leg actuators suffered greatly when compared to the sparkly ensembles worn by the quadruplets.  Teri tried to brush an errant strand of hair out of the way, but only managed to smear a bit of grease across her cheek.

   "Ummm, Penny?  This miiight not be the best time for an interview."  Teri shuddered to think how her scruffy mechanic's attire would be received by her family.  When Penny's other crew struck some kind of pose on cue.  Teri just stood there with a puzzled look on her face.

Pax also looked over his copy of the reports coming in.  "Penny, I want to hear your ideas, your battle plan worked out very well in our last battle." 

Looking over to Lucius, "I was thinking the same thing for the Lancers, Burner.  Holding ground and protecting a static target is a tall order for a fast unit. "

{In the Strat. Meeting with Lucius and Pax}

Penny purses her lips thoughtful for a moment before answer.

"It's a mess down there, i think we shouldnt drop so spread out and thin ourselves out.

 When you have half a dozen bush fires going, and you try and put them all out with finite water... you're going to burn off the water, and do absolutely nothing, but waste your resources and watch it all burn down.

 Throw everything you have at on point and you might get one or two of the fires out before youre out of water.

 Spaceport looks like the most hostile, but if we drop there, we can maybe surprise them and hold them off long enough to get our mule down along with all our transports.

 From there, we can move out into the Eden and work through the city to clear it as we go, marching all the way to the Academy."

Penny shrugs, "If it were up to me, we'd drop on the Spaceport in force.  It sounds like theres little local support there, so we can support each other."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:23, Sun 21 Dec 2014.

To the unit commanders, "I do like the idea of us amassing in force and blasting the attackers back to where they came from.  Been awhile since we were all together taking out the trash."  Pax finished with a large wolf smile.

"Tactically it's sound, but if we do it there won't be an Academy except for the dead cadets, destroyed buildings and the straggling Bull looters.  After working with them for such a long time now I've grown kinda fond of them...even if they are horrible pilots they've got heart and I don't want to see that many young snuffed out." chewed Luc over the predicament.  For as much gruff as he was he had come to appreciate their ideas and even their technically faulty tech.  They were thinking forward instead of statically or backwards.

Looking at the maps he added, "The Lancers and Brigade all have fast or maneuverable rides.  You could attack and fade at the spaceport well together and once they mass their counterattack can fade away.  Half of my guys are too slow and would be overrun in dropping on a spot we can't hold longer than enough time to offload the transports.  Let's split in two.  You two at the port and the Ironswords at the Academy.  Hell even dropping one blade at the Academy would make the difference needed in a rally point while the other drops with you."

"Spaceport is going to be messy.

 We're going to need muscle there, or we might as well not show up at all.

 If were not going to all drop there, we can all aim for the School.  It'll mean giving up the spaceport, and conventional support till we can find a place for the dropships to land (no salvage), but it'll keep use concentrated and prevent the ugliness that happened on Charleston."

Penny wasnt there, but had heard stories of the ineffectiveness of the Freelancers during the Normandy incident.  She had no intentions of being mired in a situation like that with less than the full weight of the Freelancers.

Luc chewed his cigar again not wanting to leave those kids to their fate before adding, "Let's hit the Spaceport.  We'll tell the Omni folks know that we're hitting it in full force and they might be able to divert some assets to help the kids out at the Academy.  It won't be us but it might be enough.  I hope it's enough..."

He grumbled unhappily at the facts.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:42, Tue 23 Dec 2014.

Pax was glad they could agree on a plan without spending endless hours debating a plan.

"Its agreed then.  We hit'em hard, get our supplies unloaded, and then link up with the defense forces to kick these guys back into space."

As the Merc leadership deliberates and settles on the airport, the plans quickly go into effect on what needs to be done...

(To be continued in missions...)

Adam watched as the purchases that he had made from the profits of Charleston were rolled up to the storage bins by his Hatchetman.  He waved his hand at Max while asking, "So how does that Sixer look from Plenty?  She's got some damn perky guns that are nice to look at so tell me she keeps the metal ones in good condition."

Max shook his head, "Flawless.  Doesn't look like this thing so any wear at all.  I'm going to work on those housings to make sure if you need to hot-swap it in it'll go as smooth as possible.  So leave me to me work and quit interrupting me with any number of the pin-ups you have of her...just cause you were both on Solaris doesn't mean she'll give you any more time of day like that Day sister did."

Adam waved him off with a grumble and he went back to reading in his makeshift hammock.

Svend undid the strap of his duffle at the bottom of the shuttle ramp. It had been a shell of a ride from Solaris to the Periphery but he was glad he was here. Work was getting scarce after his incident and word was the outer planets were rife with conflict and knee deep in mercs. He smiled as he saw his contact for the system and dug out a few bottles from his bag. They were Solaris brewed and had made the journey along with the meager possessions Svend could afford to cart with him.

Tossing one of the bottles to the man in the hammock, Svend smiled wryly as he spoke. "Just like I promised, one beer when we see each other out here. It's even that arena swill you like so much."
This message was last updated by the player at 04:02, Fri 26 Dec 2014.

Taking the beer in the gut Adam looked up from his old school paper magazine and let out a laugh, "Gods above and below it may be donkey piss but I can't help but loving it."

Moving the drink to the side he stood up and tossed out his still living hand for Svend to grasp, "Good to have you out here old man.  I know these Eden girls need all the help they can get.  Bulls came for their homeworld...if they are making a real push to conquer it it's going to be a messy fight, but messy is what you and I are good at."

Svend smiled broadly and clapped his hand hard in Adam's for a hardy shake. He set his bag down and pulled out a bottle of his own, brandishing a bottle opener as he did. He made a motion to open Adam's first and took a seat on his bag. Once settled, Svend raised his own bottle for a cheery toast. "How do we always end up in messes like these? I didn't think it was this bad out here. Hell, they hired you didn't they?" , he said with a chuckle.

He looked very interested in his beer for a long moment before taking a more serious tone. "Shoot straight with me here, as one stand up guy to another, has it hit the fan yet? Are we seeing any major plays from the big houses?"

Adam shook his head as he drank from the beer with a sigh of contentment, "Not that big of shit hitting the fan no, but The Taurian Concordant has mobilized a hell of a lot in the last year to seemingly try to undermine and destroy these Eden girls.  My guess is they want to subjugate them and take over their production facilities...you know these Bulls...wanting to play like the big boys but never quite making it."

Svend was happy to hear none of the great houses were in deep. That meant they actually had a chance to do some real good instead of getting bombarded by never ending troops and lances. Svend nodded at Adam a few times in understanding before the wry smile came back, "Good thing I brought stuff for a BBQ!"

   Teri saw that the Pussycat Quadruplets were distracted when Penny became involved with a discussion of mission tactics.  Teri took a couple of quiet steps backward to disengage from this ambush.  When she was clear, she turned and went back to the mech bay.  Bad Kitty had just had a major refit.  Teri needed to know beyond the faintest shadow of a doubt that her ride was in tip-top shape for the messy upcoming run.  She picked up the grease gun.  Those leg joints weren't going to lube themselves.

A pleased rumble came from Adam, "I haven't had good barbecue since Solaris."

He sat down on the edge of the hammock between his Hatchetman's legs and pointed to one of the ammo boxes that contained some of the new cluster munitions he had bought for Svend to sit on, "Course you're going to be a lot more busy than I am.  You're going to be full time Ironsword last I caught wind.  They get the job done but they are in the thick of it."  When he spotted Teri roll back into the bay to work on her Panther he made an off-handed wave.

Svend gave a knowing smile. "Every time I ride, I'm always in the thick of it. Saves me the trouble of looking for it. Plus, as a parting gift, the sponsors gave me some nice tech to play with out here. Nothing too fancy but the Lady Luck is not standard anymore," he finished with a cocked eyebrow as Adam waived. He chuckled again and dug out a pack of cigarettes, offering one to Adam.