Interlude 138 - 139: On the Path of Vengeance
NorCal CBT
Interlude 138 - 139: On the Path of Vengeance
Date/Location:
August 3064 / Furillo, Federated Commonwealth (Class B)
Defiance Industries Furillo Factory Storage Yard, 13th August, 00:35 Local Time
After her debrief with the allied DMI, Miss Black carved out a space for herself in an office of one of the captured administrative buildings. In the dim light of the office’s overhead lights she’d been working through after-action reports, MRBC forms, and all manner of company internal administrative paperwork late into the night when she was startled by a question seemingly asked by the darkness surrounding her. “Miss Black, can we talk?”
As Miss Black snapped upright in her seat, Everest Thames stepped out of the shadows and into the dim light of the office. Her surprise immediately gave way to outrage and her shocked face immediately furrowed into a frown. “XO, you’d better have a damn good explanation for your disappearing act earlier today. I spent an hour looking around for you after the debrief with DMI, and after you ignored all of my calls and messages, I was forced to do all this paperwork by myself! Now tell me what’s so important about the Lyran First!”
Everett calmly walked across the office, grabbed a chair, and dragged it across the room to sit beside Miss Black’s desk. “Let me tell you a story about a young Everett Thames,” he said as he settled into the seat.
“At the beginning of the Clan Invasion, my company was already contracted to the Lyran First Regulars as scouting and light skirmish auxiliaries on Ridderkirk. It was a good assignment too–the only issue we had was the First’s second-in-command, a social general. I’m sure you know the type–a noble that bought his way through the academy and brought a hyper-inflated sense of self worth with him wherever he went. His name was Wendelin Ming Han Hildebrandt zu Zhongshan. He was always trying to insert himself into the current situation and make himself seem important, but since the company CO knew how to keep him in check I didn’t worry about it too much. That is…until the Wolves arrived. The CO had been in a traffic accident a few days before and so was in a coma when they arrived. That meant that Wendelin, as Colonel and second-in-command, was in charge. To say that he was inept would be an understatement. He ordered the bulk of the First to engage the Wolves in a stand-up fight on open ground, thinking that he could cinch honors for himself by defeating the Wolves before they could reach better terrain or the capital where we were operating from. When that inevitably failed, he ordered my lance along with some of the First’s other scouts to meet the Wolves in the forests outside the city and try to lead them on a chase before doubling-back to the drop port for extraction. Only my lance and two of the First’s scout mechs made it back to the city, and we arrived just in time to watch the drop ships take off without us–the Colonel had used us to buy time for his own escape. In the aftermath I did the only thing I could–I surrendered. And as we lay rotting in prison for months after that I made a promise to my crew: If we got out of there we’d go after that son of a bitch.”
Miss Black, who had been listening with rapt attention, leaned back in her chair with her fingers steepled in front of her as she processed all that Everett had told her.
“I understand the desire for revenge, Thames,” she said as her gaze lowered from the ceiling above her to focus back on him, “but you can’t just abandon your post to pursue a personal vendetta like that.”
“What if I told you I was able to land us a potential new contract while looking into this?” Everett asked.
Miss Black scrunched up her face in confusion. “What interest could anyone have in this grudge of yours, Thames?” she replied.
“On Ridderkirk, Wendelin loved to talk about how his uncle had just been appointed Duke of Zhongshan–he wouldn’t shut up about it. I looked him up after I got out of Clan Wolf captivity and I’ve kept tabs on him ever since as a potential avenue of gaining intel on Wendelin. His name is Klaus-Jürgen Wei Tan Hildebrandt zu Zhongshan, and he’s been the Duke of Zhongshan since his retirement from the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces in 3049,” Everett explained.
“You haven’t answered my question, Thames,” Miss Black stated flatly.
“Bear with me–I’m getting to that. The Duke has been using his influence since the beginning of the Fed-Com Civil War to garner more support for Katrina Steiner and her Loyalists–most of this has been done in the form of numerous balls and parties he’s been hosting at various locations in the Melissia Theater of Lyran space. It just so happens that the Duke is planning to host his largest event yet at his villa on Zhongshan in October. I spoke with that DMI spook, Captain Taro, and explained that we may be able to infiltrate this event and provide the Allies with intel on some of the Loyalists’ deployments. He agreed to look into writing up a contract once he had spoken with you.” Everett paused to take a sip from a small hip flask that he produced from inside his jacket.
“You think that my status as an honorably discharged Hauptmann is enough to get us in the door?” Miss Black asked.
“That is the idea, Miss Black,” answered a voice from the darkness. Captain Taro silently entered the dim light of the room.
“Ah, Captain Taro, right on time,” Everett said as he turned to greet him.
“Thank you for inviting me, XO,” Captain Taro replied. “Yes, Miss Black, the Loyalists are just as hungry for materiel and personnel as we are, and they will be even more so once they learn that we’ve captured this facility. Just mentioning that you are a mercenary company looking to support the Loyalists should make you very popular with the nobles,” he continued as he crossed the room to stand in front of Miss Black’s desk.
“Very well…” Miss Black said as she leaned forward and placed her steepled hands on her desk, “but what about our latest assignment? Won’t anyone looking at our MRBC record see that we’ve taken a contract with the AFFS recently?”
“I actually spent part of the last ten hours writing up alternate paperwork that would make this look like an operation executed by Fortune’s Favorites and The Catalan Company as separate companies operating outside of Acme Amalgamated, so no one will know we were here if they look up our MRBC record. I did send Crowder and Murphy a little something for the trouble,” Everett said with a grin.
“And if the MRBC comes asking questions? What then?” Miss Black asked as her brow furrowed.
“Since the paperwork was submitted by me, I’ll take the fallout personally and make sure it doesn’t affect AA,” Everett replied.
Miss Black leaned in and brought her face to her steepled hands in contemplation and her gaze shifted out into the darkness. After a moment’s silence she straightened up and turned her gaze back to Everett and Captain Taro.
“Let’s do it. I’ll get to work dusting off my formal uniform,” Miss Black said with a small grin.