"Operations" (Part 11)

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• Date: March 15, 3030; 05:30 Local Time
• Planet: Anywhere
• Location: Aquaphos Water Plant, Leopard-class DropShip "Shadowfox"

It had changed into a dull assignment now, no more attacks for now and it was apparently overdue for the JumpShip to return. Mikell was partly sure they wouldn't be coming back, but he kept everyone ready just in case. Jade had the information dissected and had reported back it all seemed legitimate, and also how the reported BattleMech escorts showed no known paint schemes from the records he had sorted on Galatea. Louis had finished reassembling the few Light 'Mechs he could fix, and Reginald had been helping Olivia train some people for the facility security force. After all, they weren't going to need those 'Mechs, and Mikell had his eyes out for other things rather than more scouts. Especially since he didn't have the money currently to really pay to keep them, it was worthwhile to pass them on and train someone to defend the area. If they were lucky, they'd never have a problem with pirates again. Hell, he might make it a future project, send Priam Company members here to train up people every five years or so; it'd be worthwhile to leave someone trained to protect the planet.

The earpiece vibrated briefly, stirring Mikell out of his thoughts. "Sir, got a message for you." Elly was speaking slowly. "It came via courier ship, instead of HPG downlink. It's from Janus, I think."

"You think?"

"Do you know anyone else who would be trying to reach us this way?" She sighed. "I downloaded it so you could read it. It's text only."

"Right, could you shoot it over to the briefing room? And page Reginald and Olivia." He hurried to the room, opening his jacket along the way before settling in before the table to watch the transfer happen.

Olivia walked in, with a cup in her hand, and scowled. Okay, boss, new rule. Just going to put it out there and suggest it."

"I'm listening." He rubbed at his eyes, and watched her sit down on his right.

She narrowed her eyes and turned the cup upside down over the table, shaking it. Nothing came out, and her voice turned to a low snarl. "We don't take another job where my coffee freezes before I can stir in the sugar."

"Did you get that from the 'Mech Bay?" She looked at it and nodded. "Bad news, Olivia. That's not coffee. That's something one of Louis' techs came up with which begins as instant coffee, and somehow doesn't freeze as readily. Of course, that's if you take it in the small cups set next to the coffee maker."

"Those are called 'demitasse' cups." Reginald said as he walked in, then shut the door behind him. "And even that is too much of that stuff. Olivia, are you really touching Louis' coffee maker?"

"Wait, that's his?"

"It has a red decal on it."

"Uh. No it didn't."

"Pretty sure it does. It even had text this time." Reginald sat down and sipped from his cup. "Warning, do not drink. Do not touch. Do not consider tampering with the settings." Mikell hid a smirk behind his hand.

She froze, and her face screwed up into a grimace. "Oh god, you mean it's engineer coffee?!"

Mikell couldn't help it, he chuckled and leaned close to her. "Technically still coffee."

Olivia grabbed his fingers and pointed them at her head. "Shoot me, please, shoot me!"

"Stop it. You're embarrassing yourself."

"So what are you drinking, Reginald? It's not the coffee or whatever that stuff is."

"No, it's from the factory workers. I'm pretty sure the stuff could degrease the bearings on the Orion's shoulder joint."

"Pour me a cup."

"All out, sorry." She glared daggers at him, which he ignored, and looked to Mikell. "She woke me up first, and I need to apologize to someone about the bullet dent near the door frame."

Mikell glanced between the two. "Oh good, you still sleep with it at arm's reach. I had to stop that after almost shooting Aubrey last week."

Reginald lifted his eyebrows. ". . . why?"

"I might actually have hit someone."

"Isn't that the point?"

"Someone important."

"Not if you were aiming it properly."

"If I shoot in my waking moment, aiming is usually a matter of muscle memory."

"So what you're saying is you're not aiming it properly."

Olivia planted her hands on the side of the table. "All that matters to me is I am up, before six hundred, and the sun hasn't yet set. And the only coffee around here is either in the factory or made by the techs."

Reginald smirked. "Kelly has some."

She sank into her chair and pointed her finger at him accusingly. "You are a cruel, cruel man, Reginald Brand."

"And yet you are crazy enough you almost considered waking her up for it. You do know she doesn't have a gun under her pillow, she has knives."

"Can we get back on task?"

"We never started." Olivia muttered.

Mikell held up his hand, and tapped open the file as he began to read. "Mister Templar sends his regards to us, and after word got back to him we'd completed the combat and neutralized the pirate hideout here. He's ready to deposit payment for the contract, and offers another one-"

"Nope."

"-which comes with no strings in regards to what salvage we can keep." He continued and kept reading. "We're needed to go to a planet called White Reach in the Virginia Shire, as soon as we can repair and restock from this contract. He wants to assume we will arrive there before September next year. All transit fees are paid for between Twycross and White Reach. All paperwork for our operation there under the auspices of-" He stopped and narrowed his eyes. "Director Templar, Lyran Intelligence Corps, will be filed with the Margrave and Duke of Skye within a few months and copies furnished for us to electronically sign on Twycross before the contract is made official. We will receive twenty million up front for expenses, deposited in a local account on the planet."

"Twenty- you're serious? That's Atlas money." Reginald looked at Olivia, who was just staring at Mikell. "What did we do to earn this? What's the catch?"

"Ah, here." Mikell pointed a finger at Reginald. "It's right here."

"Why did I ask a question I didn't want an answer to?" He sat back, sighing.

"According to the intel he's going to have shipped to Salmacis as soon as it's compiled, White Reach has been attracting mercenary attention and there's a growing issue with a couple groups who landed and are not submitting to the authority of the planetary senate. Furthermore, they appear to mostly be connected- oh that's unfortunate." He coughs. "One with the Free Worlds League, one with Federated Suns, and apparently a contingent of former Lyran forces who decided to quit being members of the LCAF and start their own mercenary band. So far. Also, unmarked people who aren't answering to who they're with."

"Oh. Great. We're dropping into a war zone. War's over, but fighting is still going on." Olivia planted her forehead against the edge of the table. "Why us?"

"We have the misfortune of being good." Reginald muttered across the table.

"Can I be crap now, go back to not having to deal with this?"

"You pitched this idea." Mikell added mildly, and laughed as she lifted a hand in a rude gesture. "Okay, it won't probably be as bad as that. He just wants us to be on the ground before official channels do something about it, since he doesn't want things to spiral too far out of hand."

Reginald sighed, and shook his head. "If he's got three groups from different States in there, and some unknowns? It's out of hand."

"Twenty million in advance." Olivia muttered.

"It's not about the money. They wouldn't be paying that much unless this was a deep pit of snakes we're falling into. And if there's Combine forces involved, that's even worse. We just stopped fighting." He lifted a hand palm-up. "So, my vote is we think very hard about this before we say yes."

"Luckily, we don't have to decide until we get the official contract on Twycross." Mikell closed the file down. "But I'm thinking this is both too good to be true and too good to pass up. With this, we could possibly move up in things. And." He lifted a finger. "This will almost offset the amount of money I burned getting us started."

"Oh, why are you going to bring that up?" Olivia groaned.

Mikell leaned forward. "Because this stuff costs, Olivia. Everyone has to get paid, and everything has to be paid for. We're not the Dragoons, who have lots of contracts and extra things helping them fund their misadventures. We're not McCarron's Armored Cavalry, the Eridani Light Horse, or the Northwind Highlanders, who both have implicit backing from the great Houses and the Successor States." He spread his hands. "We're small fish. People like us come and go in under a decade, because of losses and costs. Unless we can pull this off." He sighed. "If we can make this work, and we can make a name for ourselves?" He looked upwards at the ceiling of the briefing room. "We might have a chance to actually retire."

They were all silent for a while, then Olivia looked at Reginald. "What, you thinking of retirement too?"

"I'd like to live long enough to retire. I'd also like to have money to retire on." He shrugged. "We all agreed to this."

Silence fell again, and Olivia snorted and sat back. "All right. But first thing first, my share starts going towards the Warhammer. If fecal matter hits rotating air mover, I want to own my 'Mech so I can pull out."

Mikell shrugged amiably, and leaned forward. "Let's inform our hosts we're no longer under contract, set up extra time for training their forces, then we can get out of here and head for Twycross."