DMHFV36

=Chapter 36=
==Dead Man's Hand: Family Values==
Dinh Ngo Medical Center
Hue, Kowloon
Bucklands Province
Lyran Alliance
20th September, 3058
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"This part never gets any easier." Henry sat in one of the chairs that filled the waiting area, a now tepid cup of tea in his hands.
"I don't think it's supposed to." Joker sat in the far corner with a sleeping Alexis in her arms, "Although, I do feel more than a little responsible for all this."
"You are, and at the same time you are not." Nathan Roshak continued pacing back and forth, as he had since Liz had been wheeled into surgery, "Elizabeth has been hospitalized no less than seven times since I arrived on Kowloon."
"How many of those carried the risk of her putting a bullet through her head if things went wrong?" Joker asked, darkly.
"More than you'd think." Henry replied, setting his drink aside, "Liz, Patrick, and I grew up on stories of what our great uncle went through. Ever since she was first diagnosed, I've known that she'd never let herself go out like that."
"God, you two are depressing to be around." Joker complained.
"You're free to leave, if you want." Henry offered, "You don't have to be here..."
"No, I got your sister into this. I owe it to her to see it through to the end." Joker shook her head, "Besides, the others are off taking part in another Morality Inspection, and I've still not been cleared for that kind of work."
"They allowed you to pilot an OmniMech, but not kick down a door?" Nathan Roshak asked, surprised.
"Dr Wah deemed that piloting a 'Mech is done sitting down. Therefore wouldn't put too much strain on, well, the parts lil Alexis here did a number on." Joker looked down at her daughter, "She's only just given me the all clear to get laid."
Silence filled the room.
"Oh for God's sake, we're all adults here!" Joker rolled her eyes, "You're on the way towards becoming a father yourself, Henry. And you, Mr Big, Tough Star Colonel, come from the most sexually liberated society this side of Canopus! So don't try and play the blushing virgin to me."
"I do so enjoy your visits, they keep things from becoming boring." Henry shook his he'd with his smile, "Have you decided what you're going to do, if this all works?"
"Who wins the big prize, you mean?" Joker shrugged, "Way I see it, from what little I could actually understand it's a team effort. So neither Clan Jade Falcon nor Clan Wolf-on-Holiday really cracked it on their own. It was only when they put their collective heads together that anything actually came about. So, I guess...they both win? There's two ovaries up for grabs, so I guess they get one each?"
"I doubt either will be truly happy with that. But, the half they get is half that the other does not. " Nathan Roshak offered, "Its unlike the exiled Wolves, the Jade Falcons will be able to lay claim to the fact that it was their scientist who helped find a cure to a disease that even the Star League could not. While the Wolves had to ask the Inner Sphere for even more help."
"I don't remember you being so... introspective." Joker cocked her head to one side, "Maybe Liz beat some sense into you after all?"
"Clan society is at its core, all about bragging rights." Henry explained with a chuckle, "To be able to finally add the Kerensky Bloodname to their own, and have the glory of having done the impossible? Well, they'll be metaphorically dining out on that for years."
"See, this is why I'm a Mercenary; I do the job, I get paid." Joker shook her head in disbelief, "Let someone else worry about honor and glory."
"You may not believe me or even care, but you have brought both honor and glory to your name." Nathan Roshak assured her, "While I am sure that it would never be publicly acknowledged, no Clan would go to this much trouble to secure your legacy if they did not think it was a price worth paying."
"Well, don't expect me to be trading in on my mothers name any time soon. Not everyone in the galaxy holds it in such high regard." Joker warned, "Kowloon isn't the only world that remembers the iron fist nestled inside the velvet glove of the Star League."
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Category:Dead Man's Hand: Family Values
Category:Works by JA Baker