"You are right about resources and the Ironswords are good for that.  Luc secured one of the best quartermasters that could be found in the periphery and some of the best transportation crews...also agree with the indirect fire but you're pushing for almost House level cooperation and that often isn't easy to come by among a bunch of mercenaries."

Adam never was one to sip on hard liquor so for the moment he still just savored the aroma, "I like you're plan though and if you can pull it off it'll be well worth the effort."

He stretched out his hand with the shot glass, "To a profitable relationshp..."

Akarian nodded, it was true, getting that level of coordination out of a bunch of random mercenaries would be difficult, but he could hope. "I agree, the cooperation may not be there, but I'm hoping it is. After all, the more successful missions are, and the less amount of repairs needed, means more profits for everyone. I'd like to believe they'll see the benefit and profit in that proposition."

Reaching out he met the gesture, "Aye to a most profitable and long lasting one" and proceeded to finish the drink.

"If you do get Damien see if he is willing to hunt up some hand actuators for the Whitworth if he hasn't done so much modifications that it can't handle it.  When I took over we kept Big Mac, the massive tractor trailer, but I want to supplement that with something quicker...couple of Karnov's or something akin to that if we've get a rapid response like you.  The more hands the better for salvage..."

He brought the shot glass back and downed the entire thing in one before flipping it over and popping it back on the table.

"I'm going to ask Olaf to do the same but he's got so much extra tech loaded on I don't think he can."

"Good call, we'll certainly want all the salvage that we can pull from the field. Some Karnov's would be a treat, I might contract a Ferret or AMC for some additional fire support depending.

You don't have any leads on Hawkeyes do you? Those seem like they'll be our major supply issue."


Akarian had a few leads of his own he could follow up of course, but the Iron Swords meant resources, and the rumor was Adam had more than one string he could pull so why not put that rumor to the test.

Reaching out he collected the glasses, and started to wipe them out casually, waiting to see what Adam would say.

"I was actually looking at Ferret's not for additional combat support...my ride does that well enough...but for boots on ground to help salvaging after the fact.  If I can get some experienced techs in those squads they could peel off some good salvage for me while I'm manhandling larger stuff with the Hatchetman's hands." he murmured as he asked the question about Hawkeyes.

"Quartermaster Ryann's got some good connections from working with his former unit.  I can certainly have him look but it'll depend on what we've got in the bank.  Luc used most of the unit funds to get Big Mac and that crack team."

Adam had to hand it to Ryann and his contacts...they were good.  Not only had he secured a line on a Karnov UR with some salvage crews but also had found a Heavy Ferret with a salvage crew as well.  With those two units in addition to the Tractor-trailer that had some of the best scavenging teams around the Ironswords would be able to haul away both large and small finds and cover both hot drop raids with the two VTOL's and longer ops with the slower truck.  It really was hard to beat those combinations.

He tapped up a message to send to Piotr and Olaf so they knew about the additional resources...and the amusing fact that if Piotr didn't want to walk himself he could lay down on the trailer and they could drive him around.  Adam also made sure to send a message to Akarian and let him know that the rapid transports had been acquired for the unit.

Luc couldn't believe that they had actually found the one bodyglove that he had worn ages ago for the paintball game between him and that cutie Echo that he hadn't dealt with directly in ages.  It wasn't supposed to be an actual plugsuit but one of the Eden girls had gotten it in her mind that it might be useful to have their leashed Mercs have some of the same tools to defend their home.

Adam had gotten wind of it and pulled a few strings to get them to finish pull it in as a consolation for loosing the Ironswords and had his tech, Brigid hand it over to him.  So there he was, clad in a body hugging glove that was still originally designed for one of their amazonian women...

...it clung in some seriously wrong areas and if he wasn't so confidant and secure in his own manhood being all out for anyone to practically see he would cover up.  Luc though had a cigar in mouth and an occasional grimace as it tugged a little too much for his liking.  Course the most amusing thing was his recent orders.  He was to report to Pax to aid him in drawing the Taurian attention in the city.  Finding the Light Lancers muster point he walked up to Pax and chewed the end of his cigar, "Reporting to duty Grand Moff."

Regina notices Lucius walking around in his new plugsuit.  She was slumming it at the moment, and dressed down.

She had decided to not use her plugsuit for the moment, and there was no practical reason to wear it aside from fashion.  Which seemed passe, since every wet behind the ear cadet on Omni seemed to be wearing some version of the body conforming uniform.

"You're going to hurt yourself in that thing Burner.

 That's got be at least as hard on the boy parts as I am.  If you end up laid out in a hospital for a few months I am totally not at fault."

Regina was dressed in a dingy shapeless jumpsuit that had smears of grease and lubricants from working on her Valkyrie.  There were black smudges on her cheek, that might have look like camo paint, if not for her clothing. Dressed even so, she still seemed to cut a fetching air about her.  That she seemed totally clueless about it only enhanced the aura.

Pausing to stand beside him, she looks about at the busy repair bay.  It was small but well equipped and current in perpetual busy mode.

She looks about leans closer to whisper to Lucius in a conspiratorial tone.

"Doesn't any of this bother you?", there was a slight narrowing of the eyes, and a serious edge to her voice that Lucius had never heard before.

Luc grimaced as it tugged again and shook his head, "Not nearly as hard as you were on Morgan.  You laid that boy out right after I asked you not to Regina."

He tilted his head to respond in kind knowing any other way with her would be useless, "Bother me that I'm seeing so much tech here that I could swear it was the Star League in a tiny microcosm?  Or that I cut such a fine figure when I'm not reeling in pain from my 'man parts' in this thing...gods I hope it helps as much as I've been led to believe."

"Morgan wasn't my fault.  He... was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.", Regina comments in a normal tone, nonchalant.

"Exactly!", she hisses at him loud enough that it barely counts as a whisper.  The noise in the repair bay easily keeps her from being overheard.

"We're in the periphery.  The land of left over make do tech.

 This this stuff is all vintage Blake Era... maybe beyond.

 We're in the boonies... This isnt the NAIS academy.  This doesnt bother you?"

Regina's looks around with narrow eyes, clearly disturbed.

"Then look at them.

 I feel old and over the hill standing next to them.

 You havent noticed that the population's mean age is really really young.  Around here I probably rate close to retirement age.  Where are all the... old folks... and where are all the guys?

 Blake's light, the reason i'm always feeling so Randy is cause theres no one around to roll in the hay with now and then.  All that energy and stress builds up you know?", a small furrow appears between her eyes as she scowls.

It's hard to tell how much of this is serious, and how much of it is Regina being Regina.

"Don't forget the Niops Association.  They are out in the periphery too but they had vintage Blake era aerofighters and mechs." mused Luc.

"It's not hard to hide a single planet in the periphery and if they are mostly self sufficient and scientists like most of these girls are I can understand how they pulled it off...but it's been niggling the back of my neck since we first ran across them that they are actually backed by something bigger like the FedSuns and it's a quiet experiment gone wrong now that the Bulls are coming down."

He chewed on his cigar a moment, "Brigid is a sweet young thing but you are right, finding proper release from that stress isn't easy for you, but the word is called restraint...not that I need you to have that anymore since I'm back to simply worrying about myself..."

"See... that's another thing.

 Aren't they all a little young to be scientist and techs?

 I mean, all the ones i've met and trained under are ancient relics... not..."

Regina waves dismissively around the bay, "... candidates for a Cadets gone wild porn holovid."

Regina makes an aggitated gesture, "See... if they were bubble heads who didnt know anything that would be one thing, but they actually seem to know their stuff.  The cutting edge stuff coming out of NAIS and the memory core doesnt seem to phase them.  They're absorbing it all in and building on it quick, as if they already knew it was there and just waiting to use."

Regina purses her lips and looks displeased, "It goes against the natural order."

"Maybe they are some lost group from Blakes time...a strange disease rendering them virtually unable to have male children and only through preserving medical technology from Blakes time are they able to function and continue on.  More than enough reason to hide from the rest of the Sphere.  Everyone and their 6th cousins would want to assault the place." shrugged Luc.

He let out a good chuckle, "I know...they could make a killing on making porno holovids here."

He sighed and looked around, "Still their house of cards if falling down around them and I'd guess that for as much as they had worked to keep others from knowing about their planet and their technology they probably have an apocalypse  policy to make sure the Taurian's don't take their planet in one piece."

Regina's face darkens slightly, "Habitable planets... really nice ones like Omni... are hard to come by.  If they have a scorched earth contingency plan... it'd be something to worry about... dont you think?  "

"Mateusz, Axel, on me." Piotr said into comms.  When the JWK and Zamiatacz squad leaders showed up, Kaminiski had one simple order.

"24 hour pass for all troops.  Tell the boys that all the local women are fair game for fraternization.  It’s open season to bag as many as they can in 24 hours, but make sure they leave ‘em happy,” Kaminski said with a grin.  ”Fighting is clearly not the only way we can be of use here.  I want House Kaminski to be remembered for our fine service to Omni.”
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 17:04, Wed 01 Apr 2015.

"Of course it's something to worry about, but these girls are methodical like you said and even now they don't sound fazed while it's obvious this is a loosing battle.  Each area is cordoned off from the rest of the wild.  They could scorch the cities and research buildings and factories and the majority of the planet would still be viable." he murmured quietly.

"Either they have alternative sites and this place is just for show or something else is up their sleeve."

"I dont think theyre as sweet and nice as they'd have you think.

 What if the Concordat are the good guys?"

"Never said they were the nice ones, just that they pay well and out here in the Periphery that is a rarity meaning when you get it you have to expect some serious trouble."

He shook his head, "No they aren't the good guys.  They've already done some seriously wrong stuff since we started working out here.  You don't slaughter innocent civilians...on purpose.  Either these girls are good girls or everyone is bad."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:54, Wed 01 Apr 2015.

Regina seems to think about that for a moment and then gives Lucius a serious look.

"Then... what if were the only good guys?"

With that she starts to walk away.  She slides your limited edition word of blake book out of one of the cargo pant pocket along her right thigh and seems to almost immediately lose interest in everything but the book.

"Lieutenant Arnadottir, I was extremely pleased to hear that we would be working very closely together for the next mission,” Piotr said to the recently assigned freelancer after seeing the most recent OPORDER.  ”If there’s anything I can do for you,” or perhaps, to you, Piotr thought, ”please don’t hesitate to let me know.”
This message was last edited by the player at 16:50, Wed 22 Apr 2015.

Svetlana nods with a wicked smile, the Mechwarrior had a rugged look to him.  Some days she liked rugged.  Head on the mission though.

"Yes... It would seem that the unexpected fortunes of battle have Captain Carlyle and Olaf being deployed elsewhere.  Let's do our best to both come out of this intact, and perhaps we'll have a celebratory get together later.  Já?"

"Absolutely.  I'll keep the Champagne on ice,” Piotr said with a confident nod.  He made a mental note to make a reservation for a cozy suite at a luxury hotel… once they kicked the Taurian out of course.

”Mission accomplished Sir.  We took out the women’s dorm of the local university,” JWK Team Leader Axel Wojciechowski said in crisp, clear, English.

”What do you mean you took out the dorm?  You killed them?” Piotr asked, worry and panic evident on his face.

”No Sir, we took out all the women.  Uh.. romantically speaking,” the team leader added sheepishly.

”All of them?” Piotr asked in amazement.

”Yes Sir.  We used para-wing gliders to gain access to the roof.  Uniform for this operation was tailored suits and Oxford shoes.  We silently breached the structure and proceeded floor-by-floor, room-by-room.  Dąbrowski had created files on the entire group, which we reviewed prior to the incursion.  We knew all their hobbies and interest.  Using that intel, we rehearsed making interesting, witty, and suggestive conversion prior to the start of the operation.  When any of us hit heavy resistance, Kozłowski deployed wine or mixed-drinks, mostly Cosmos, but a few Sex on the Beach and Appletinis as well,” Axel said, discussing the operation as clinically as any other military operation he had been on.

The Master Sergeant continued.  ”Krawczyk was quick on the smooth jazz and Sinatra Sir.  I’d like to recommend him for a commendation.  We certainly couldn't have done it without the mood music.  Jankowski deserves a lot of credit as well.  He humped in a twelve pack of fuzzy navel jello shots that saved our bacon on the second floor.  Without those, I'm not sure how we would have handled the Melissa Etheridge groupies in room 202," Wojciechowski said with a curt nod.

"Now if you will excuse me Sir, I need to check on Mazur’s injury.  When he entered the first floor lounge, several of the Tangos appeared to be engaged in a twerking contest.  We weren't able to extract him until after he’d slipped a disc.”  The JWK Commando paused, then added with grave seriousness.  ”The doctors say he may have that smile on his face for the rest of his life,” Axel said, shaking his head.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:53, Thu 23 Apr 2015.

Adam slapped the side of the battle computer in his Hatchetman's cockpit, "Come on you rusty bucket of bolts!" as he hit it again and swore.

He sent a quick communique to Omni Command that both his and Olaf's mechs seemed to have some sort of computer malfunction that was keeping them from advancing towards the Academy and they re-deployed Piotr and Svetlana to back up Akarian's advance out.  He shook his head at the luck...salvage would have been good and instead he was stuck minding the house and making sure the Bulls out there thought there was a 45-ton monstrosity of autocannon death protecting the Arena when in truth all it could do was stomp around a look like it was big and bad.

Moving the Hatchetman around he sent a comm to Olaf, "Take up a defensive pose...Bulls don't know your launchers can't fire for some reason."

"Hello Solaris, Reporting the freshest breaking new to you from around the Periphery.  Taurian Concordat.  Are they the self proclaimed savior and unifying force of the Periphery or are they just another bully with delusions of grandior?  My name is Suzy Cute Chick and like you, I wanna know.  To help answer these questions, I'm switching over to someone that needs no introduction, you know her as Penny Plenty, but today she our war correspondent.  Penny?"



"Thank you Suzy.  Yeah, i gotta tell you, these Taurens are named accurately.  They're like, totally Bull.  I'm reporting to you from Omni, who is currently under attack by the Tauren's in an attempt to instigate literally, a hostile takeover.  Known around the periphery for their cutting tech, and fat back comstar accounts, and utopian like planet, it's easy to see what's motivating them.

I'm reporting to you currently from Omni's Eden Academy, where they school their local militia.  We're just beating them back now.  GO FREELANCERS!"

"That's good to hear Penny... Who exactly are the Freelancers?"

"Some Merc unit i fell in line with.  A bunch of smaller talents, that sign on to get bigger contracts under the larger organized name of the Freelancers.  An interesting notion.  Got a bunch of wartime footage that we'll be editing for a documentary in the near future."

"That sounds like dangerous work Penny.  How are you handling it?"

"I'm doing okay... but those Taurens can be a bunch of pussies... uhm... uh... I meant Pussycats...  Everyone seems to want a peice of Penny.  You know how fame can be, spot a holovid star... shoot at her, get an exclusive few seconds of fame.  Chance to hit the jackpot... if they kill me I'm sure they'll dedicate an episode to it."

"Doesn't sound like much fun."

"It's a blast, but Rick... wants to recall us.  Wants to get his hands on the footage we've shot to start editing.... I think he's just being soft and doesnt want to see anyone hurt."

"So, it sounds like, you'll be recalled soon?  What's the situation on Omni Penny?"

"Messy Suzy... Space port and Eden City were contested between the local militia and the Taurens... right now i'm at..."

* (bzzzztttt...) *

"Penny are you there?"

"Yeah yeah... I'm here some pric... uhm... i mean pegasus out there is messing with my video transmission, i'm going to have to be brief.  The Taurens got no business being here.  They're just a bunch of greedy bastards who got the grabbies.  They give the Periphery a bad name, and that's that."

"Thank you Penny, sounds like you have your hands full.  Come home safe."

"From your lips to God's ears.  Tata for now."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:14, Thu 02 July 2015.