DMHT4

=Chapter 4=
==Dead Man's Hand: A Taste Of Ashes==
DropShip Bloody Dagger
Inbound, Sweet Water
Coventry Province
Federated Commonwealth
9th July, 3057
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"Nice and easy, you stupid bitch!" Doolally smacked the young woman chained to the navigation console around the back of the head, "Don't forget, you'll die with the rest of us if they see us coming!"
The navigator whimpered, but kept her mouth shut: she'd lost track of time since the cargo DropShip she'd been apprenticing on had been taken by pirates, and had soon learned that there simply were no right or wrong answers. Best to keep her head down, do what they asked of her, and hope that nobody would get bored and decide to visit her cell that night for some... entertainment.
It hadn't even been Doolally's gang that had originally captured her, but as someone at least partially Guild trained, she was considered a high value commodity amongst the pirate community based out of The Rack and other nearby systems. As such, she'd been singled out while the rest of the crew had been tossed out of the airlock, one-by-one, while she had been forced to watch. Then she had been informed that she was little more than an organic flight computer as far as they were concerned, but so long as she did her job, she'd live. She didn't know the exact details, but evidently her original captors had gotten into a drunken game of Fizzbin that had ended up with her being put up as collateral, only for her captor to come up one Duce shy of a Royal Fizzbin.
Since then, she had found herself at the tender mercies of 'Baron' Doolally and his crew.
Part of her wanted to make a mistake, something small enough that the pirates might not notice it until it was too late, and would make all the pain and suffering end, even if it meant her death. But another part of her really, really wanted to go on living, to find a way to escape, to get word out, see retribution done.
"Better. Better." Doolally rubbed her shoulder in a way that made her shiver uncontrollably, "We wouldn't want to ruin the surprise now, would we?"
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Bluebell, Sweet Water
Coventry Province
Federated Commonwealth
10th July, 3057
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Joker felt odd: at the same time, she felt light enough that she was in danger of floating away, and yet like she was on the verge of being violently physically sick.
She'd asked Kobe to meet her at a small cafe, with the intention of accepting his offer to move into his apartment. He discussion with the rest of her team a few days prior had set in motion a chain of events that had ended with her requesting a meeting with Bartholomew 'Doc Bart' McCabe, the aged noble ruler of Sweet Water. Joker found herself liking the old man: a veteran of both the Fourth Succession War and the War of '39, he'd been a respected Mechwarrior and Battalion commander in the 3rd Royal Guards, before returning home to take up his responsibilities as Duke of an entire world. He looked like something out of the history books, with his finely tailored suits, broad rimes hat and immaculately maintained mustache. He also had a tenancy to wear spurs on his boots, but wow betide anyone who made the mistake of calling him a Davion.
No, Doc Bart considered himself to be every inch a Lyran Gentleman, all be it one who spoke German with a most peculiar accent.
Age may have slowed him down a little, and with the loss of both of his sons to the Clans, he had taken a step back and passed much of the day-to-day running of Sweet Water, such as there was, to his daughter, Eliza McCabe, but his mind and wit were as sharp as ever. He'd taken the opportunity of her visit to talk shop, eager as ever to speak with a fellow Mechwarrior, especially one who had, in his words, confounded the accused Clans time after time, but she had eventually managed to steer the conversation around the the prospect of making Dead Man's Hand's contract more permanent. The Duke had been surprised, to say the least, but had quickly agreed that the local militia would certainly benefit from the permanent addition of four experienced Mechwarriors and their machines.
Necessity had long ago stripped Sweet Water of its garrison of regular troops, but Commonwealth law permitted the raising of a Ducal Guard. It had been centuries since the McCabe family had seen the need, but it would allow for the permanent addition of the four mercenaries to the militia without the need for them to sign their BattleMechs over. Where they would no doubt have been immediately requisitioned by the quartermasters office 'for the duration', a legal technicality that had seen more than one family stripped of their ancestral 'Mech. The new position actually paid less, but the militia would accept full responsibility for the maintenance of their 'Mechs, so they'd come out ahead in the end.
Now all she needed do was give Kobe the good news..
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