HidHop-I2

==Interlude – Kept promises==
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===Keeping Promises===
10/11/3051
A pair of weary wildcatters walked beside their rickety mule carts toward King Grimm’s old shuttle strip which had seen kilotons of gold taken off-world leaving pollution and ruin behind. 
“I tell ya, Ez. I think they was spinning a tall tale. Off-worlders on this side of Elissa?”
“Eli and his brothers said it was true.”
“Yeah, he’s known to spin a yarn every once in a while.”
“Well, where’d they come from then, Abe?”
“I don’t know I just want to see if they were truthin’ about some reward.”
“You didn’t trust Wolfgang? He seemed a charmin’ fella.”
“Yeah, that’s why I don’t trust ‘em. Charmin’ fellas can get away with a lot by taking advantage of suckers like ya.”
The Rim World’s Republic flag once more waved above the beacon and at the base of it was a metal chest with a small triagonal pennant affixed to it with a red and black dog head’s on it. An envelope was taped within a weatherproof cover signed with ‘From Wolfgang.’
Abe opened the envelope, “Hmmm well that’s interesting. It’s a combination.”
He spun the wheel and the lock released from the hasps. The heavy lid lifted to reveal stacks of neatly wrapped silver rounds and vials of gold dust. One of the smaller stacks had a further note attached to it ‘For Rebecca, daughter of Eli. We’ll be back so keep your promises.’ 
Another note was at the bottom of the chest stamped with the same logo as on the flag and chest, ‘Don’t spend it all in one place, you’d probably break the economy. 
The Kell Hounds thank you for your service.’
Both looked toward the haunted hollers, “I guess that vein’s not as played out as everyone suspects. There was still gold in them hills.”
Ezekiel lifted the vials and watched the gold dust flow like an hourglass. “Seems we’ve struck the motherlode.”
They looked into the sky and gave a salute, “Glad to be of service Wolfgang and friends.”
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===Bring a Gift to a frustrated Lady's Quarters===
10/15/3051
The Junkyard’s Wardroom was far to empty for the size of their unit. Their officer group was only 2/3’s what they started and that included Diana.
Jackson lifted the plastic from his microwaved meal, the steam from the vegetable curry. Captain Wilson and the other fallen’s tags hung from the wall, gone but not forgotten. “Diana said she requested the tags and our effects because you would have done the same.”
Phelen sat alone across from him on the metal table. “I would have. She said that?”
“Indirectly. I heard it from Melanie. Diana has been holed up in Captain Wilson’s old room for the past few days.”
“I’ve been busy onboard the others, so I didn’t notice it. This is a bit of a transition for everyone. She’ll get over it eventually.”
“Some of our people are concerned at what she ‘might’ be doing in there.”
“I guess I can understand that but why do I have to talk to her? That should be your job.”
“No one else is brave enough, yet they are all impatient. I’m asking you to do it before I order you to.” 
“Fine, I’ll do it but if she is going to kill me it is going to be on a full stomach.” Phelen ripped open the mylar bag of the Clan sourced ration ‘Goliath Gumbo’ out of curiosity and spooned out an indeterminant orange-red glob. “It’s not bad. Just needs some hot sauce. Six out of ten. Melanie wouldn’t have mentioned what Diana’s favorite meal was, would she?”
“Why?”
“It’s always nice to bring a gift before visiting a lady’s quarters.”
Jackson let out an exasperated sigh, “Just get her to come out and stop worrying people. I don’t care what else you do.”
Phelen walked out of the Wardroom and down a steep set of stairs the dropship’s dim interior lighting gave it a twilight feeling. The ship’s clock was currently reading ’03:48’ so the corridors were empty, liminal spaces, almost without shadow. Light shone through and the sounds of movement could be heard behind the ajar door. 
He entered and immediately found himself with the narrow point of a Katana blade held by a crouching Diana. His hands raised to show the ration pack and heater he held, and she lowered the blade, “You are right, I should have knocked. I apologize.”
She stood up and sheathed the sword holding it just slightly above her drawstring trousers. He was glad that she had a top on because that would have been even more embarrassing. “Why are you here, Phelen?”
“I was bringing you, Breakfast, I suppose. Why are you swinging a sword around in your quarters and not asleep?” He looked around to see that the bed was still made to military perfection and the desk looked just like Mike would have left it, in shambles.
“Precisely to get to sleep. I do not like being confined or not having control of my situation, even if it must be endured.”
“Practicing sword fighting helps you sleep?”
In a single fluid move she drew the Katana and sliced the top three lines off a piece of paper without bending it, “It gives me a sense of control.”
“You can exit the room. It might ease your worries of confinement.”
“Your people follow me; they suspect I am here to sabotage you. No matter what I do they treat me as an enemy.”
“Maybe it has something to do with you swinging a sword around or walking around wearing your gun belt.”
“I would be a poor Warrior to be caught unarmed should combat arise.”
“I think you could take any of us un-augmented, except maybe Vance.”
“He has an old sport’s injury on his right side,” she jabbed her left hand forward in a way he had only heard pillarine nuns could, “one good strike and he would be rendered harmless.”
Phelen placed the meal pack and heater onto the one clear space on the desk, “Perhaps keep that to yourself. Why a Katana?”
Diana showed the fine polished blade engraved with the Jade Falcon logo at the base. She then re-sheathed it with practiced ease and silence. “Rather than some other bladed implement? I am proficient in a wide range of weapons. However, this Katana was artisan forged by Clan Nova Fox and presented to my mother along with my gene-father and.” 
She paused for a moment and Phelen saw a tick. Diana loosened her grip to put her fingers closer to the bracelet she had been so eager to reclaim. “Aunt’s gifftake. They were the last Jade Falcons to fall in battle during the Wolf War. 
Both were scarcely out of Sibko, but they won the Nova Fox’s enduring respect enough to honor their last requests to present the copy of the Remembrance held by Falconer Joanna, the strict mother slash drill instructor to my mother’s sibko, and the gifttakes.”
“We had one of those too on Outreach. Ranna said she was her grandmother, but I never saw the resemblance. Maybe she took after her father. I never met the man, which was probably for the better.”
“You speak of this Ranna in a special way.”
“I keep forgetting that you are in fact an intelligence agent and I am sometimes a bumbling idiot. Yes, she is, we were fierce rivals in Sibko but, the real battle was to see who would end up on top.”
“Who was victorious?”
“We liked to keep it interesting. It was just warming up after all. We both won in the end.
Wildly digressing from this topic. What is a Remembrance?”
“It is the epic poem of my people, detailing the history of our blood-heritages, and events from our perspective dating back to the War against the Usurper. Mine maybe one of the few to survive the Steel Viper’s purges.”
“Poetry?”
“Do you think we are unsophisticated barbarians, Phelen Kell?”
“No, but reading poetry puts me to sleep.”
He saw Diana tilt the sword down, eyes fixed firmly on him as she slowly drew the sword but not before he closed the door behind him, breathed a sigh of relief, and returned to the bridge.
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===Dating Advise===
10/03/3051 | DropShip Junkyard
Kai Allard swung himself through the dimly lit Jarnfolk ship navigating the serpentine corridors by curious runes. He paused and studied one the strange fluorescent runes painted on the bulkhead. Each was composed of seven different components, an odd calligraphy for an unusual and somewhat alien people. 
Lost in thought he didn’t hear anything but felt a brush on his shoulder, he whipped around anchoring himself on the grid of netting ‘beneath’ him to strike out but found Diana ‘upside down’ relative to him. She ducked and his fist passed through strands of hair before his arm was gripped upward in an elbow bind. Kai pulled his arms together to pull her toward him and avoid an elbow lock. They came face to face upside down in the corridor with arms interlocked.
She smiled and pulled herself closer before speaking in whisper. “This is fun, want to continue? My quarters have plenty of room.”
Phelen Kell sorted through reports from the Kell Hounds prior to departing the Free Rasalhague Republic and Diana’s more recent reports from the other side. It wasn’t looking good for the LCAF but surely Melissa and the Generals would be able to redirect the military to blunt the Clan’s advance. Kai slipped through the hatch into the Wardroom, finally a welcome distraction.
“I have a question.”
“Regarding?”
“Diana.”
“What did she do now?”
“Me and her got in a bit of a tussle on the Jumpship.”
He looked Kai over, if anyone could beat Diana in a fight it would be the Wushu Champion and one of the most skilled MechWarriors in the Hounds. Kai didn’t have any injuries from getting in a fight though.
“What kind of tussle?”
“I’m certain she is hitting on me. Said something about coupling.”
“So?”
“I was just wondering…”
“We’re not together, if that’s what you are asking.”
“Okay, talk to you later.”
Kai was at the door when Phelen spoke again, “Word of caution though."
“Yeah.”
“Use Caution.”
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===Fates Entwined===
11/29/3051
“Are you comfortable?” Diana sat opposite the ‘Mimir’ agent of station onboard Outpost’s Nadir transfer station. The light was blinding and although they were on a grav deck it was still only 0.5g due to the small size of the station.
“Besides my hands being cuffed behind me?”
“A necessary precaution.”
“No, I am used to being on the other side of the table. I did not help the Kell Hounds escape Elissa only to go into another cage. I was told this was the Free Rasalhague Republic.”
“Free of foreign influence but not free.”
“Sounds like false advertising.”
“Your Clans pose a dire threat to us.”
“I am aware, but I do not think you will be able to do much about it. Neither will I but I will not allow them to go unopposed. It is in my nature to fight, and we are on the same side now.”
The agent pulled up her information taken from the Kell Hounds, “That remains to be determined, Diana the Steel Viper.”
She glared at him, “Pryde.”“What is it?”
“Diana Pryde, and I am Steel Viper no longer.”
“Then what are you?”
“I am Jade Falcon.”
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===Conspiracy===
10/10/3051
First Prince Ian Davion & Chancellor Tormano Liao looked up from each of their desks full of papers from their various ministries to see representatives of Precentor-Advocate New Avalon Rosaline Mataraci and Precentor-Advocate Capella Jian Feng enter their offices. As the deputies of the Advocate-Precentors, they wore a platinum pendant handing from a delicate chain over white robes with gold and red stripes along the sides instead of the rich vermillion and gold of their superiors.
The Precentors gave a curt bow to the Successor Lord, “You summoned me?”
Each Successor Lord paused for a moment to read the body language of the Precentors who knew exactly why they were being summoned. However, COMSTAR trained their people well and they showed no sign of discomfort. Their masters reported directly to Primus Waterly, so nothing would break or betray a lifetime of indoctrination within the Blessed Order.
Both men stood and looked out the window over their capitals, “Why is it that the Blessed Order has redirected a third of the White Star fleet in my realm anti-Spinward? 
There are not enough Outworlders to replace them so worlds will go without their normal trade. Stranded dropships or cargoes will be nothing but cost. Cost I will have to bear.”
A slight pause told volumes, “We are redirecting jumpship load. It is only a temporary measure, Your Highness/Celestial Wisdom.”
“How temporary?”
“Unknown.”
“Then how can I be certain that it is temporary?”
“You will have to trust us.”
Each of them nodded slightly before turning on their heels and approaching the Precentor. “I wish to issue a formal complaint to Primus Waterly. We have upheld our obligations to the Order and all our accounts are current. This is a breach of contract.”
Both Precentors tapped something into their comm-pads, “Your complaint has been logged; further information will be forwarded to you as it becomes available.”
“I will expect it promptly.”
“I cannot promise that Your Highness/Celestial Wisdom.”
They both paused and responded firmly, “I will expect it promptly.”
Then waved a hand laden with rings of gold and gemstones, “You are dismissed, Precentor.”
The Deputy Precentor-Advocates bowed slightly and exited to be escorted out by the Huscarls/Hussars. First Prince Ian Davion/Chancellor Tormano Liao returned to the window. “Something is wrong and COMSTAR knows it.”
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