"Just started running and it has worked out so far." came a slightly strained, but light hearted reply.  Feeling more comfortable with Lucius, David and Emily, he added: "Remind me to fill in the blanks over a couple beers sometime between missions.  For now, we've probably got enough to think about with the Bulls and Pussycats, not to mention a Scorpion with a bit of a heartache."

Emily was thoughtful for a moment as she processed the conversation and watched Hassan go.

"I think... you are either mistaken or teasing me.", she regards Lucius and Olaf.

"Most certainly that was at best an uncertain attempt at engagement in social activities.  If he was more inclined to such operations a more firm attempt would have been made.  Mechwarriors are not known for being sensitive shy sorts.  More likely your lancemate suffers from social trauma.  Which if i understand the laws of male bonding is your duty to correct over an evening of carousing and merry making to acclimate and make him feel welcome."

"or... so i surmise, from what i recall of my readings from, 'Hansen's roughriders guide to bareback riding.'", Emily's lips quiver slightly into a smile hinting at private amusement.

"Oddly enough... the book had little to do with riding animals...but did make for interesting reading."

Emily nods her head slightly and moves off to mull things over, and perhaps refresh her memory of the book, while... perhaps... forgetting that she was suppose to check on an order of ammo and armor for Lucius.

Elsewhere on Eden...

In between matches, Ziro wanders the corridors of the facility, contemplating relativity. In the last few days he's experienced the same eternity every child who's ever ordered something from the back of a cereal box knows intimately. Six to eight weeks may as well be, 'after the universe has collapsed into a single point and been born anew. Or dissipated, depending on your thinking. Ziro explained this, at length, to one of the technicians after he'd been chided for checking 'seven times in one hour' at the 'mech bays to see if his Hunchback had arrived.

"You see, you say it's been five minutes, but it feels like seven hours. So. I mean, it seems reasonable. Besides, all this extra time I'm experiencing is probably fighting entropy somehow, you know, keeping the universe going. So long as there are products and people awaiting their delivery, we are saving the cosmos itself!" Ziro pauses, and tries to reign in the wild-eyed expression on his face. "Er. But. Today I was wondering if you could direct me to Darius Hawke... I'm to join his new unit. I have this letter and everything."

Ziro holds up a very fancy letter, emblazoned with a wax seal. It looks very official.

Bonnie was not in a good mood.  Just as she had gotten all the paperwork squared away for Arms Inc, thier unit commander decides to pack up and boost home to Steiner Space.  Normally she would be okay with that.  She would return back to the academy and back to working on her advance thesis on the application of white phosphorus rounds for auto canons.

While there was no denying how lethal they could be as munitions, there was the not so small problem of dealing with munition hits.  The erosive nature of the munitions made effective use of CASE to eliminate the threat a very serious problem . . . There was also the volatile nature of the munitions themselves they tended to go off in the clips when exposed to excessive heat.

Bad was bad... now there was this ... this... 'merc' with the attention and life span of a fruit fly irritating her about... some mech with a phallic sized gun on it's shoulder being shipped to Omni.  Really what the hell was he compensating for???

"Real Zero.

 For the last time, the HBK-4G has still not arrived.  Nor will it be arriving anytime soon.  As i've told you before, about a dozen discussions ago, i've spoken with the spaceport and no new dropships are expected for a few days, and that the port is actually 'closed' for the day.

 So....", Bonnie makes a shooing motion at Ziro, "Go... be free, go find something else to do for 24 hours.  Leave me alone.  I want to finsh this last requisition order for armor that Baron Hawke wants and then close up shop for the day."

"Well, maybe the port is just 'closed' for the day because they needed to make arrangements to bring it in. You never know. I mean, it could be a stealth dropship that arrived without anyone er..." Ziro trails off, finally actually hearing the things he's saying. That wild, earnest hope hasn't left his face, but it is now kept company by crestfallen embarrassment.

He clears his throat.

"Er. Right. It's not here today then. That we know of. Sorry to keep pestering you about it, I am just excited!" Another click of recognition. "Did you say he's a Baron?"

Ziro stared again at the letter, looking at the seal emblazoned upon it.

"You signed on to work with the man, and you dont even know he's a Baron?", she doesnt say it, but the look gives you a hint at the low opinion youre scoring on your mental prowess with her.

"Perhaps.

 You should go acquaint yourself with your company commander, and save yourself further embarassment."

Ziro gets the feeling that the assigned tech for the War Hawks, is not the most friendly persona they could have ended up with, or maybe it was his insistent presence that was putting her in a foul mood.

Someone in the front office must have had a pretty twisted sense of humor.  All Bonnie wanted to do was sit in a dark corner of some mech bay, and spend her time surfing through through information on the latest and greatest equipment that the inner sphere was capable of producing.

The discovery of the memory core was causing quite a stir, and she could see how it might be a big deal to them.  It wasnt quite 'old' news to everyone one, and now with the entire weight of the inner sphere behind it, advancements on how to kill each other were making a quantum leap.

Someone needed to track it, and it looked like her thesis paper on it, was going to have to wait.  First it was Arms Inc... a unit of psychopaths no doubt... then it was the War Hawks... barbaric sounding name that it was, it was preferable to ... Knights of the White Moon....

What the hell sort of name was that?

There was a little desk card slipped into the slot on the side of her desk that stated what it was Bonnie was suppose to do around the Tech Bay.  The way things were going, she was going to need a new Desk card.  Bonnie was going to delay it as long as possible.  God forbid it looked like she might actually care.

Written on the side of the card was "Bonnie, Techncian for..."  Under her name Arms Inc. was written but crossed out, with the War Hawks written under it.  Bonnie took a moment to draw a big 'X' through the names of the War Hawks and scribbles Knights of the White Moon under it.

It was then that it occurred to her that she had reached a new low.  She was offically a Moonie.  Blake help her, she couldnt wait for this unit to wipe out and hope for a better one.  She was answering to someone with the callsign: Quixotic.

Super.  They probably made blood sacrifices to Aztec goods.  Bonnie reaches over and turns out the desk light.  Maybe if it was dark no one would notice her and they would leave her alone.

This takes place after Mission 11, and is a preview to the Next contract, which should start with Mission 14.

Echo was looking over the logistical nightmare that was the unit readiness report.

The excursion to Charleston had gone badly, perhaps the worse that the Freelancers have suffered to date.  While some objectives were achieved they were gained at significant cost.  The trailed of blood and sweat left in the wake was proof enough.  She was going to have to talk to Pandora about doing something to get the unit back on their feet.

They had a symbiotic relationship with the mercenary unit.  They provided season mechwarriors, and Omni provided the best equipment produced in or out of the periphery.  The loss of Arms Inc, the Warhawks, and the Valkries was bad news individually, together it was a terrible toll on the Freelancers core units.

As the they made the jump home, Echo received the first of many surprises.  She loved good surprises, hated bad ones, and unfortunately most of these were bad.

The dropship Aurora was in the area, along with the 101st airwing, lingering near the jump point.  Olympus which was usually in orbit to monitor traffic was no where to be found.  The message from the Aurora was brief.  A mere three words, and yet it's meaning spoke volumes filling Echo and the Crew of the Botany Bay with a ominous sense of dread.


This message was last edited by the player at 17:11, Mon 06 Oct 2014.

"Rick, I know you think it was a brillant idea to send me out here and do a show with a real merc unit, but how am i suppose to do a show alone out here?  I mean it's just me and Pepper.  I could really use a little help out here."

{brief pause}

"I dunno... how about some of the Pussy Cats?  Round a few up, pack them up, and ship them out?"

{brief pause}

"Which one's?  It's sort of rough out here, make sure they're more than eye candy.  It hurts ratings when they start showing up dead.  Bright... Versatile... the ones that look good toting big guns inverse to the amount of protective armor they're wearing."

{longer pause}

"Uh huh... uh huh... sure... make sure they have transport.  Quick transport.  Yes... Pepper can help organize them when they get here.  Do i need anything else?  A pay check would be nice.  Comstar still hasnt forwarded my paycheck... uh huh... in the mail you say... This better be worth the rating Rick."

{End conversation fade to black}

Luc had the titanium case with him this time since he had finally finished carefully reading his latest acquisition.  The dry air was actually good for the book compared to the more humid Eden atmosphere.  It was...different...to say the least and he had no doubt that it was worth the price he paid.  Heading around the corner he spotted Regina 'blessing' some of her missiles with her paint again, "Hey Reggie.  I'd been looking for this for some time and finally get my hands on it for my collection.  Though you might enjoy giving it a read.  You can get it back to me when we make it back to Eden or when you're done reading it..."  Flipping the case up he depressed the gene-key lock and the lid popped open slightly.  Spinning it around he let her open it up to see what he was talking about.

Regina looks up with a curious gaze, one eyebrow arched.

"Whatcha got there Burner?", she asks as she puts the tin of paint and her brush down.

There were smudges of comstar blue paint on her left cheek/chin, but it didnt matter, that just added to her charm.  Truth be told, Regina could make just about anything look good, and it was a wonder that Penny hadnt started catching her on camera and pitching to make her a Pussycat.

He grinned, "I may not be a follower like you are, but I know that you take it seriously.  So I thought I'd try to get a better understanding of where you were coming from."

He pulled open the case so that she could see what was inside, "I thought that now that I've read through it once I'll think about it and let you take a crack at it.  Maybe quiz me from time to time or help me understand bits and pieces."

Regina tilts her head a little and looks the book over, her eyes look a little glazed over, and her lips purse a little into a little 'O'.  You have to look away a bit, Regina probably didnt mean anything by it, but she just had a way of oozing a sensual nature that should be part of the Ares Convention ban.  It was a small wonder that Alexi was a hapless victim, one that still hadnt recovered to Lucius' knowledge.  It was a good thing they didnt have 'that' sort of relationship too. Lucius might end up 'broken' too, of course the effort might be worth the breakage, one never knew.

Regina wipes her hands on her thighs, leaving streaks of blue on the jumpsuit before letting the tips of her fingers brush lightly over the gilded cover, and you can tell it looks like she's having a little bit of a religious moment.

"Okay Burner, I'll give it... a look over and let you know what i think.", with almost comical care, Regina packs up the book and wanders off.  She's not seen for ... days it seems after this.

Luc certainly couldn't help but think it might be worth being broken by Regina.  He'd be lying to himself if he didn't admit it, "You do that Reggie.  I'm glad you...like it..."

The Charleston contract, so far, has been one difficult mission after another.  They were sorely looking for some good news.  An Omni scout, with the Callsign 'Whisper' was giving the briefing.  Though she was a mechwarrior, she is also a member of Pandora, Omni's department for Covert affairs.

"It hasnt been easy so far, but now that we've establish a logistical base, we have supplies, and a way off this dust ball.  We're not going to be here long.  The Concordat is already mobilizing and we need to be boosting off to space before they get here.

 We are here to raid, though, and Pandora has been gathering intel on local supply bases where the Concordat is keeping supplies.  We're going to raid these bases and see what they've been hording.  Omni will be providing your units with transports, you break it, you bought it.  The cost will be coming off the end of your contracts.  Use them well and they'll pay for themselves off the booty you haul out.

 We'll be conducting night time ops for the raids.  That's a boon and a curse.  We wont have to deal with the hot climate during the ops, but it'll be dark, and night time fighting rules will be in effect.  Bases will have up to a company of conventional units, though their readiness will be in doubt.  There are static defenses... a Platoon of infantry... and possible patrols of mechs that you will have to deal with.  Clear the defenders, call in the transports and clear out before the reinforcements show up.

 It'll be a simple smash and grab operation.  Doesnt get easier than that.  Questions?"

Luc chewed on his unlit cigar, "Yeah, which one is ours and which of the patrol lances are in the region so we know what to expect?"

He pointed to the map that was laid out.  There was a lot of territory there and after talking over the situation with the other units an...arrangement of sorts was worked out.  All of his fast movers had been moved out from his direct command and the heavy hitters had been centralized with him.  Viking's Hunchback and Whisker's Vindicator were under his direct control with Berserker's Whitworth pulling a trailing spot as the Ironsword's newest Logistics Officer.

Luc looked over to his 'new' XO under the Ironsword aegis and still wasn't sold on the man but he had connections that he couldn't deny.  Connections that might help them weather the coming storm as he added, "Morgan...I'm going to take Olaf and Adam to try and draw the largest assets our way once they know we're hitting our designated warehouse.  You take Quentin to stay fast and light."

Olaf looked up from the supply requestions and commodity holdings he had just begun to review, suddenly missing Emily for more than her flighty and flirtatious nature.  Setting the data screen aside, he paged through the mission briefing and nodded at his commander's comments.

"Looks like we're the heavy hitters now," he said, not relishing the idea of the barely medium weight lance being the heaviest involved in the raid.  "Once we get into the thick of it, the fast movers should be able to wreak havoc while we give the bad guys something to shoot at.  Sounds like good fun, let's suit up."

The Mercs had gotten their first taste of raiding Charleston, and while there were some snags, for the most part it was nice to get a little bonus loot from doing good work.

There was however now a problem.

"We're on the clock.  Something's gone wrong on Omni.  We've just gotten word that Olympus had gone silent.  Olympus never goes silent.  It over watches all traffic to and from the planet and acts as a beacon to help guide merchant drop ships in, and guide drop ships out to avoid accidents.  It's sole purpose is to be noisy."

Ghost purses her lips unhappily.

"We're not sure what this means, but were making an educated guess that it's not good.  We need to mobilize off Charleston and head home ASAP.  We're making preparations to dust off tonight.  That means that if you're motivated, you have time for one more raid."

Ghost quirks an eyebrow and waits for input to see if the mercs want to go shopping again, or if they've had enough and are ready to dust off for Omni.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:09, Tue 09 Dec 2014.

Mechwarrior Hassan al-Nasir roamed the corridors of the dropship, manila envelope clutched tightly in hand.  He was grinning from ear-to-ear, which was a rare for anyone from the Draconis Combine.

”Morning Lieutenant,” he said, stopping to see Luc.  ”Sir, I hate to bother, but I need to know who handles unit paperwork.  I have something I need added to my file.”  It was clear that he was excited by whatever he was carrying.

Chewing on his cigar he grinned at Hassan, "Sorry that things didn't work out for you in the Legion, Morgan looked like he had some good backers and potential...but it's good to have you back in the fold."

He held out his hand to Hassan and added, "For the moment me since the new quartermaster is still getting settled in.  What have you got there?"

Hassan pulled out a sheepskin like paper from the envelope and set it down with pride in front of his unit CO.

---

                              ComStar

                 General Equivalency Board

                              of Terra

This Certifies that Hassan al-Nasir has satisfactorily completed
the Course of Study in accordance wtih the requirement for graduation
of General Equivalency and is therefore awarded this

                   General Equivalency Diploma

Give on Terra this twentieth day of November, thirty twenty nine.

_Horland Madock_
Precentor, Eta (Distance Learning Division)

---

"I've been taking distance learning courses and studying between missions for a while now," Hassan said.  Mechwarriors never had a lot of free time, so it must have been difficult for Hassan to fit in all the studying required to earn his GED.  His only prior schooling was his time at the madrasa and martial training at Sun Tzu School of Combat.  Neither emphasized a well-rounded education.

"On the Azami worlds, it was enough to be able to fight and recite the Quran.  But out here things are different.  And since I can't go back, I must learn to adapt.  Part of that is filling in all the gaps about science, math, literature, and social studies." Hassan said.  The young mechwarrior seemed fully committed to his new life as a mercenary.

"I think that much of what I have learned will help both in and out of combat.  My sensor score increased in the simulator after I finished the science material.  And the social science course included a section on feminism, so already my daily interactions with most of the female crew have improved."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:40, Wed 17 Dec 2014.

Luc read the paperwork and smiled before looking up to Hassan and stretching out his hand to shake his, "Congratulations Hassan.  Well done indeed."

He folded it carefully back up and added, "I'll make a copy and give you back the original to keep.  That's quite an accomplishment considering how time crunched we are around here...and I have noticed the women on board acting a bit different from before."

He moved the cigar from one side to the other with a knowing look, "Does this mean you might try and ask her out finally?"

"Actually, I was going to try to buy her," Hassan said.  For a moment, it was easy to think that all those social studies classes hadn't 'taken'.  "Sorry, I mean, hire her," Hassan said, a bit flustered with his words.  English was after all his third language.

"With the restructuring of technician services, I wasn't sure if the unit itself would still have a tech, or if everyone was expected to provide their own.  As you know, the women of Omni have very nice... reputations" Hassan said, almost blushing.  "As technicians of course."

"In any event, I will keep things professional if she works for me, or the unit." Hassan said with a nod.  Luc could sense that Hassan wouldn't let a personal relationship interfere with unit operations.

"Of course, if she doesn't work for either, then that is something all together different."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:53, Wed 17 Dec 2014.

Luc let out a good laugh and patted Hassan on the shoulder, "I know what you meant, but that was too perfect to not have a good laugh over."

He nodded his head though with a knowing grin, "I'm well aware of their very nice...reputations.  I had one in mind as well that I worked...well with before.  Of course because I happen to be piloting one of their power loaders her knowledge of them would be very helpful in keeping it running..."

He leaned back a little, "I've been working on hiring individuals to handle the overall unit and keep things running on the administrative side.  Reginald Ryann used to work for the Grave Walkers and found himself out this way so I brought him and his team on board...but a personal tech to help you out will make repairs much easier."

He smiled though at the end, "What you do with your personal life isn't my business, and even if she does work for you there isn't anything that says that you couldn't fraternize with her and make it work.  Long as it doesn't impede your performance out in the field you can do just about anything you want Hassan..."

Gives Hassan, Lucius, Olaf, Penny and Regina each 1xp for RP and closes the thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:14, Fri 19 Dec 2014.