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Monkey Wrench, The
Sometimes help comes from the strangest places
by Camille Klein |
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Harlech, Outreach
7 November 3059
Captain Donna Wilson was not a happy woman.
Her XO had just been arrested for starting a bar fight-again. Kern Verrik wanted to fight Jaime Wolf in the worst way, and had made the mistake of assaulting an off-duty Elemental who laughed at his "grudge match" challenges. The Elemental-and a few of his friends-responded in kind, and the Yellow Dog Tavern degenerated into what amounted to an enclosed battleground.
That in and of itself would not have been so bad. What made the situation so unpleasant was the fact that Captain Wilson didn't have the money to pay Kern's bail. She sat in the small booth staring into space-or rather, sulking into space.
"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" The young woman indicating the seat across the booth shook the commander of Wilson's Hussars out of her reverie. Donna put her feet up on the seat and curtly said, "Yes. Now go away."
The young woman looked down at the now "occupied" seat and quietly replied with "All I want is sixty seconds of your time, Captain. If you don't like what you hear, then I'll go away and bother you no more."
Donna looked up at the interloper and studied her for several long moments. Removing her feet from the seat, Donna indicated for the stranger to sit and said, "All right. You have sixty seconds to tell me what you're here for. And it had better be damn good."
The strange woman sat. She was dressed like a House negotiator, but her demeanour suggested otherwise. She had two small pins on the lapel of her black suit-the first was a small scarlet pin in the shape of a hawk's head. The second pin, slightly larger, was a tiny gold monkey wrench. The woman's auburn hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, with a few stray strands framing her face. Her facial features-an odd mix of Middle-Eastern and Asiatic-suggested that she might be Kuritan, but her accent sure as hell didn't sound Drac.
"Care for a drink?" Donna shook her head. The woman ordered a drink for herself and looked carefully at the mercenary commander she had traveled a long way to see.
The woman clasped both hands in front of her on the table and said, "Captain, my associates wish to help your unit. They know that you and your warriors, though suffering from a long run of bad luck, are still very good. You show potential, and my associates wish to help you develop that potential. To that end, they are willing to give you what your unit needs to come up out of its slump." The strange woman smiled slightly.
Donna chuckled. "They are, eh? And who would be desperate enough to hire a bunch of down-on-their-luck schmoes like Wilson's Wimps, Miss..."
"Harah. Call me Harah. I represent a mercenary unit that has some considerable backing-and that would like to help you." Harah took out a small scarlet leather case and took a business card from it. She passed the card across the table.
Donna took the card. She evenly said, "I'm listening" as she took a look at the business card. The off-white card had a gold monkey wrench in the upper left corner, with the words "Murphy's Wrath" emblazoned in the center. Underneath was the motto "Whenever something can go wrong, we will make it go wrong. Specializing in insurance operations, problem-solving, and elaborate practical jokes."
Harah calmly said, "My associates are prepared to offer you complete repairs and upgrades on your BattleMechs and your dropship. We will also pay for simulator time, spare parts, and sessions on the open proving grounds. Furthermore, my associates will also pay to put your warriors through advanced training at the Outreach Mercenary Training Command, should you so desire." Donna looked up to see Harah staring at her intently. "My associates are serious about this, Captain Wilson. They want to help."
Donna Wilson sat up and leaned across the table. "I wasn't born yesterday, Harah. There's a catch to all this, I know it."
Harah smiled again. "Yes, yes there is a catch. However, my associates and I feel that the catch is very minor compared to what we are offering."
"So what is it? What's the catch?" Harah pulled a small sheaf of papers out of her briefcase and placed them on the table before Captain Wilson.
"A merger between my associates and Wilson's Hussars. They have three full companies of infantry and a company of armored vehicles-that's nothing to sneeze at. You would retain full command rights over your MechWarriors, and you do have an escape clause. You can get out of the merger after two years if you so desire, and my associates will hold no ill will towards you-nor will they expect repayment of anything given to your unit."
"Why two years?"
"My associates are pretty sure that you and your people might want to go through the OMTC. A two-year program will enable you to get in training and a few missions with my associates-if, at the end of two years, you're not satisfied with things, you are free to leave. No questions asked, no grudges held. My associates will even give you a severance bonus of three hundred fifty thousand C-Bills as a way of thanking you for working with them."
"This sounds far too good to be true. I'm sorry-I won't let my people get burned again."
Harah shook her head. "It sounds too good to be true, but I assure you that it's quite on the level. My associates are genuine. In fact, the severance bonus is already on bond with ComStar." Harah smiled again.
"Please, Captain. Take the contract. Read it over, get an attorney to look it over if you want. If you like it and decide you want to accept my associates' offer, I can be reached at the Jade Garden hotel in room 23."
With that, she moved out of the booth and picked up her briefcase. "Good day, Captain. I look forward to speaking to you again." As the strange woman walked out of the bar, Donna Wilson stared down at the contract in her hands. She started to slowly read through it as Kern Verrik came into the bar.
"Cap, you won't believe what happened to me today...."
"Later, Kern. Right now-" Donna looked up. "Wait a minute. How the hell did you make bail? We barely have enough money to pay for our next month's listing in the Hiring Hall."
"That's what I was going to tell you. Some guy in a suit showed up and said that he was sent to post my bail." Lieutenant Verrik seemed rather excited. "He also said that one day I'd get my grudge match-isn't that just the damnedest thing?"
Donna nodded briefly and went back to reading the contract. "Say, Kern..."
"Yeah, Cap?"
"The guy who posted your bail. What did he look like?"
"I told you. He was wearing a suit. Dark suit, tie, short hair. Looked really sharp."
"Did he have any pins on his lapel?"
"Yeah, one-a little monkey wrench. Said that his associates wanted to help the unit out and that they had sent him to make my bail. Why?"
Donna put the contract down and looked her XO right in the eye. "I think we've found ourselves our new best friends. Get the gang together and meet me back here in two hours. And Kern-don't try bashing any Elementals while I'm gone." With that, Donna got up and walked out of the bar, contract in hand. As Kern sat in the booth trying to puzzle out his CO's comments, a waitress came by and set a drink down in front of him.
"Compliments of the gentleman in the suit." Kern looked over at the bar and saw the gentleman who bailed him out of jail earlier smile and raise his drink in a toast.
"Today has been, without a doubt, the single weirdest day of my life." thought Kern as he lifted his drink to return the toast. |
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