Cliffhanger's Choice (Winged Praxis Story)

==Description==
Bases on the events triggered in the Winged Praxis (Battletech 3015 CYOA) main story around events of Chapter 4, focus on the pilot Captain Kumari that goes to explaining why in the hell an instructor pilot went merc, and why she acted the way she did.
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==Story==
Lloyd Marik-Stanley Aerospace School
Republic of Kasnov-Greenland, New Olympia
Marik Commonwealth, Free Worlds League
January 5th, 3015
Captain Kumari suppressed a growl as the pair of Ferrets VTOLs disappeared into the early morning haze, rotor sounds becoming a syncopated beat as the echoes off the mountains bounced their way to her even as the VTOLs left her sight. That had gone badly.
 
Not that she didn't understand why. Like she had told the prickly cadet, Zalman had been an idiot for punching the Liszt boy, and on camera, no less. But she got it, really she did. If she counted the number of times a noble had begged for a punch in her career…her fist tightened. It made a mockery of the Free World League. This was the land where anyone was supposed to make it on their own. Here you stood or fell on you own merits, unless you had one of those damned titles.
 
The Regulan relaxed her hand, flexing it to get rid of the little crescents where her nails had dug into her palm. Zalman wasn't her problem anymore. He wasn't her responsibility either, nor was he her comrade. The FWLM had thrown away as fine a natural pilot as she'd seen, before he could be honed into a superior soldier, taught to think tactically, rather than just aggressively. He wasn't her student anymore. But he still felt like her failure.
 
She turned away from the orange-lit mist. She had papers to grade, training flights to plan, discipline to maintain…she stopped on her first step as she saw Commandant Lastrade standing there with a conflicted look on his face.
 
"Cliffhanger," he said, signaling that this was an informal talk between pilots, ignoring rank.
 
"Inspector," she replied, wondering what was going on.
 
"Bad business," he said, walking off towards the ASF hangars with his hands in his flight jacket's pockets.
 
Loren followed him. "Yeah," she said. "Bad business." They walked on a few more steps. "Inspector," she said. "You know that was wrong…"
 
"What would you have me do?" he asked, a tinge of heat in his voice. "Duster busted that punk's nose and said so. He challenged him to a duel. You know we have regs against that for a reason."
 
"He was provoked," she said. "You heard his…"
 
"It was his duty to not fall for that!" snapped the Commandant. "That's the point of those regs. That prig Halkias was right, they did have a case for conduct unbecoming. And that bet…"
 
"It was a fair bet," she objected. "He didn't even bring up the neurohelmet."
 
"Tell me you don't think that wasn't a set-up, Cliffhanger," he challenged, turning on his heel to face her. "Tell me you don't think he and Tomlinson weren't planning exactly that sort of stunt." When she didn't say anything, he shook his head. "We all know he's been angling to backdoor into the Marik Guards, for all that it's a waste of a fine pilot. And we all know just how infatuated Tomlinson is with Zalman. She didn't get Named T-bone for that traffic accident."
 
She shook her head. That callsign had been hung on the Tomlinson girl for her hunger for a cut of Cowboy, for all that people had made the excuse of her misadventure behind the wheel of a jeep. "I know," she said.
 
"Okay, he was honest about all of his actions." said Inspector. "Great. Those two dropped a shitstorm on my desk, exactly when I didn't need it. Two heroes of the Battle of New Olympia, preying on another one…"
 
Kumari opened her mouth to object, then closed it.
 
Her CO nodded, knowing what objection she had just bit back. "Yes, Allison hung us out to dry with that damn backline raid. We had local air superiority and our strikes were doing more damage than any of the bugmechs could dream of, even with that Rifleman doing his best to lock down the skies." He made a throwing away motion. "We could have hammered the Rose under if the mech jocks just accepted that they were the support element, that they were meant to hold ground, and kept it in their pants. Granted."
 
Deep within her, Kumari could feel the anger smoke. "We lost too many people for that, sir." As soon as she said it, shame burned on her face. It wasn't Lastrade she was angry with.
 
Inspector gave her a gutted look. "You think I don't know that? Really?"
 
Loren looked away. "No," she admitted. "No, I don't, Inspector."
 
The moment stretched out, rotor echoes dying away.
 
"The issue is that we won," said Inspector, leaving the awkwardness behind. "Or, AMI did, anyway. Sure, we could have won cleaner, more completely, if they'd not gone haring off against a target that was no factor, but we loyalists did win. And AMI were left standing. Did you read the Liszt boy's file?"
 
She shook her head. "I was busy with my students."
 
The Commandant quirked a smile at that. "As you should. Anyway, he was on that raid. Covered himself in glory doing it, too, and in later operations. In fact, he was the one who ended up driving off the Rifleman near the end of operations, before the Lancers showed up."
Cliffhanger raised an eyebrow. The Rifleman had been the core of the Militia's air defense. When it had been taken out of the picture, the feather-packets staging from improvised airfields that were all that was left of LMS's fighter force had been able to make a few contributions at the end. "Was he?"
 
"Yeeeeppppp," drawled Inspector. "You could say he's damn near AMI in miniature, as far as the battle went. Media did, too."
 
Loren nodded. The media would love promoting the story of a noble-born mechwarrior, especially when he had apparently earned some of the praise. "I see," she said.
 
"Not sure you do," said Inspector. "See, things are still tense here, what with Prince d'Andre's little neutrality stunt. Matthias is leaning on him hard, for obvious reasons, but if it got out that LMS students are sore enough at AMI to be stealing," he held up a hand, "and don't insult yourself by believing it'd get spun any other way, items worth millions of C-bills from bona fide heroes…" he trailed off.
 
"d'Andre might think we were disillusioned enough to support him in a struggle," said Cliffhanger.
 
"Especially when there is enough bad blood that my instructors," he nodded at her, "are legitimately angry at AMI. You aren't the only one, Cliffhanger." He flicked his hand to encompass the school, then again to gesture at himself. "But it's my…our jobs to keep things stable here. Christ, I did everything short of handing Zalman a pair of wings as he left."
 
Loren bit her lip, growled, and kicked at the tarmac. She knew he was right. But… "Are you really going to tell me that noble crap didn't have anything to do with it?"
 
"Of course it did," said Inspector, opening a side door to a hangar. "And it has all to do with this." He slipped in, leaving her to follow him.
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The hangar lights were dim, left at a standby level that kept people from barking their shins without stressing the bulbs like the full maintenance lights would. Loren took a second for her eyes to adjust and looked around.
 
There wasn't much to see. A couple of spaceframes sat under tarps, looking like mediums. Damaged ones, judging by the stains and slicks beneath them, and the asymmetry of the cloth. Tool lockers ran around the edge of the building, as was FWLM standard. Rolling ladders were racked where they should be…
 
And an almost aggressively plain looking man in LMS janitor's togs stood in front of them, hands folded atop his mop, chin resting on his interlaced fingers. An incongruously smug smile spread his lips nearly ear to ear. His nametag read B. Clarke. Captain Kumari would have bet geraniums to germanium that his real name was no such thing.
 
Inspector nodded to the man, a little stiffly, and beckoned her over.
 
"Sir," she said to the commandant. "What's going on here?"
 
"Oh, I'm not here to check on formality," said the supposed janitor. Despite his voice being nothing but non-descript, Loren couldn't help but feel like it was somehow oily. "I'm interested in maintaining safety. Go ahead and indulge in your charming pilot camaraderie."
 
Inspector and Cliffhanger exchanged looks. "If you're what I think you are," said Kumari, "You know I have opinions about respect through formality."
 
"And in using formality as a rebuke, when the time is right," said the man, correctly. "I am. And this is an informal meeting to see if you won't help me deal with a threat to the League. Call me Ben."
 
The woman looked over to her CO, who was letting this man direct things. "Inspector talked to me about the tensions in New Olympica," she said.
 
"Oh, I'm not referring to that. That's handled. Really, ending up with egg on both school's faces is the best thing that could happen there. d'Andre might be a coward, but that's not such a bad thing. You can't rely on him in a fight, but he's reached the limits of his ambition. He won't be restarting the insurrection here, not unless Matthias pushes him. And with this scandal, he'll think twice. Shouldn't even need a discreet word in his ear."
 
One which, if necessary, another janitor would provide, thought Kumari. "So what are we talking about?"
 
"Tomlinson, of course. You must know she'll be resigning her commission soon." The janitor spun the mop on its base.
 
"She wouldn't." objected Kumari, only to stop as both men shook their heads.
 
"We talked about it outside," said Inspector. "She's up to her eyeballs with starting this whole mess, and she's not the type to back out now. Not much give up in that girl."
 
"She has a duty," said Loren, stubbornly.
 
"Several," said the janitor, flatly. "Duty to the League, duty to her House, duty to her comrades. But she's a noble, Captain. It benefits us that they come with their own equipment and early training, but you know that nobles don't need an academy transcript to serve the nation. They can go mercenary, administer their House's holdings, go into politics. That Liszt boy is going to end up out on his ass, and while a dishonorable discharge isn't good for him, he'll land on his feet eventually."
 
Cliffhanger felt her molars grinding. It wasn't anything she didn't know, but to hear it so flatly, with so little care for the injustice? Hadn't Tomlinson been one of the good ones?
 
"Now, Tomlinson is a different case," said Ben, ignoring her annoyance. "You were running the debrief when the Canopian showed up, right?"
 
Loren nodded. "I sent her with Zalman to make sure he got there. Hearing that his mother went missing did a number on him."
 
"Well it meant that she was there to hear that Zalman's become independently wealthy, a Jumpship owner, and has the seed of a mercenary force coming to him," said the janitor.
 
"And I wasn't told?" asked Inspector. "We could have made more of an effort to secure that."
 
Ben shook his head. "No need. Zalman's dossier is clear. Left alone he'll end up settling in the Trinity Worlds. It'll reinforce the border with the Elsies and the Circinians. Besides, the inheritance is in the Magistracy. Him getting there sooner and not associated with the FWLM makes it more likely that some greedy bint doesn't snatch his inheritance out from under him."
 
The commandant growled, but didn't say anything further.
 
"If he's going to end up on his homeworld," said Loren, reflecting that this agent was probably exactly correct about Duster, "why are we talking about this?"
 
"Because the important one isn't Zalman. It's Tomlinson." The man spun the mop again. "Now, she's loyal to a fault, but her first loyalty is her House. Or to Zalman, the analysts aren't sure."
 
"You really think that she's that loyal to him?" asked Inspector.
 
Ben shrugged. "She's barely out of her teenage years and anyone with eyes can see she's smitten with the boy. Besides, your own headshrinkers project there's a significant degree of traumatic bonding between the two of them after their experiences in the Battle of New Olympia. But that's for the analysts to hash out. What I know is that she argued with her daddy. He wanted her to cut Zalman loose. She threatened to quit if he forced the issue." Again, he shrugged. "And I know she's got a draft of a letter just waiting to make its way to the HPG, outlining what Zalman just had dropped in his lap, and that Sir Jason should try and make Zalman into an ally. Lots of stuff about up-and-coming nobility and marriage alliances."
 
Inspector and Cliffhanger exchanged looks, Lastrade not able to suppress the chuckle at the thought of the commoner being elevated to the nobility. "Oh, Duster'd hate that," said the laughing man.
 
"It's not like he's any less besotted with the girl," said Ben. "But the point is that Sir Jason will go for it. Which pits House Tomlinson against House Liszt, because of this scandal, and that could lead to instability in the post-war government, all because Daddy couldn't say no to his little princess and Baron Liszt still has ambition to spare."
 
"It seems premature to plan for what happens after the war," said Kumari.
 
"Please," said Ben. "Anyone with eyes knows that Anton's finished. It's all over but the screaming. And planning for the peace is the most important thing we can do."
 
"So what do you want me to do?" asked Kumari. "Write letters to the two of them? Tie up Tomlinson before she can hand in her resignation?"
 
"I want you to quit." said the janitor. 
 
The words hit like a fist to the gut. "What?"
 
"Tomlinson will almost certainly try and pull together a band of mercenaries to follow Zalman. She'll want to keep her fighter, and with Sir Jason's financial backing, it'll be possible. I want you to join up."
 
"I don't own a fighter,." she objected.
 
"That's not your value," said Ben. "Both Zalman and Tomlinson see you as a mentor. They'll follow your advice, defer to your thinking, even. Besides…" he gestured to the two tarp-shrouded spaceframes, "...you can."
 
Inspector gave her a conflicted grin. "Two of the Corsairs from the Rose's wing," he explained. "Between the two of them, I'm certain there's at least one flyable bird."
 
"Do you want me to do this?" she asked him, disbelieving.
 
Her CO shook his head. "Hell no. You're one of the finest instructors I've ever had the pleasure of working with, but the League asks all sorts of things from us."
 
"Defusing coalition tensions, better securing our coreward border," said Ben. "And a chance at glory and riches."
 
Loren frowned at that, looking back at her fellow pilot. He spread his hands. "I know you've always wanted the chance at a real active-duty posting," he said, knowing that riches were irrelevant to her.
 
But a chance to fly as the fighter pilot she was? She hadn't faced enemy fire before the Battle for New Olympia, and it had burned at her. Did she want more combat flying?
 
"What do you want me to do?" she asked quietly.
 
"When Tomlinson reaches out for mercenaries, tell her that there's a fighter you can lay claim to, but you need help financing it. You can also point out that there's a patrol tug in-system that you can use for a base ship."
 
"No," she said. "What do you want me to do?"
 
"Ah," said Ben. "I want you to continue to teach Zalman, remind him of his home in the League no matter how far he strays, and keep him friendly with House Tomlinson…but not bound to them. If Sir Jason can't count on him implicitly, he won't rock the boat too much, and things stay safe. The League stays strong."
 
Loren thought about it. She thought about it long and hard.
 
"For the League."
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--FINI--
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Cliffhanger's Choice
Cliffhanger's Choice
Cliffhanger's Choice