AWF Chpt 47

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=Chapter 47=
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==A Warrior's Family==
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===Dining with the Devil===
Monhegan
Federated Suns
December 3029
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Tempes approached the officers. He knew he had surprised them, he preferred this. He wanted them to be off balance. He was annoyed he even had to be here. He smiled politely, "I'm sorry I did not intend to startle you." This was a lie, one of many he assumed he would be telling tonight.
"I apologize, Sir." Anastasia looked ashamed of herself, "I did not mean to offend."
"Oh, I couldn't hear what you were saying, child. My cane was making too much noise as I came up the ramp." Tempes replied. This was another lie. He didn't mind her statement though. He hated the simpering fools that always spoke of "Blake's will" and "Blake's blessings". Tempes certainly believed Blake's teachings, and zealously worked to protect humanity from itself and preserve knowledge and technology by ensuring that the Succession States ultimately weakened each other, thus allowing ComStar to recreate the Star League, but he was far too practical to assume Blake was some prophet.
"I'm sorry, I've haven't met many of your order, but I thought you wore robes all the time." Hap said.
"Ah, yes. I've found sometimes my robes can be a bit of distraction." This was actually a true statement, but probably not for the reason Hap or Anastasia would have guessed. "When I'm with my sisters and brothers it is good and acceptable to be in robes. This is so as we know each other's ranks and roles by the subtle colors and embroidery of our robes, but here this suit is more practical."
The real reason Kristoff Tempes chose to wear a black suit was because he could not bear to wear the yellow robes that would be appropriate for a representative of the MRB. He was a ROM Demi-Precentor and it was humiliating enough to impersonate an MRB representative let alone wear their robes. Further, depending on the events of the night, ComStar may need the ability to deny that a member of their order had even visited McFinnigan and Sons mercenary company.
Tempes smiled kindly as he looked at the reason he was here, Anastasia Capetian-Vallois. This child had somehow cheated death, and then turned up at the doorstep of ComStar. The local fools found that she was mistakenly reported dead, and managed to give her enough clues to know that she was of special interest to them. To make matters worse one of the ROM agents surveilling her, was nearly caught and lost the memory card from her camera. Tempes was so furious he nearly had the ROM cell liquidated. The hit team that was originally tasked with killing her were given an opportunity to redeem themselves, and Tempes had enough respect for the local cell's director to give them a second chance as well.
The ROM Precentor, had ordered Tempes to ascertain how much the Mercenary company knew, and then determine who would die, and how the survivors would never suspect ComStar. He was instructed to plan the execution of young Lady Vallois personally and visit the company himself. These orders were meant to punish him for his sections failures, and shame the other members ROM. Today he would come and see everything for himself, tomorrow he would plan the perfect execution, and then resume ensuring the great houses did not achieve a technological edge over each other or ComStar.
Tempes could end her life right here and now. His cane had a sword, and with one quick motion he could disable Hap and stab Anastasia. In seconds they would both be bleeding to death, but he chose not to. It had been sometime since he had personally executed anyone. The agent sent to kill her father had underestimated him, or his wife's security, and it had cost him his life. ROM policy mandated that these sort of operations be done with the utmost finesse and deniability. He was here to plan, not execute, but the ease of ending it all was tempting.
Tempes nodded to Hap, "Captain, I believe you were about to open the door, perhaps-"
"Oh yeah, sorry." Hap started to type his access code, "You just seemed to appear out of nowhere."
"Yes, I'm often told that." Tempes replied, or at least he was back when he was part of a hit team.
The door lock buzzed and Anastasia opened it. Tempes stepped inside as the junior officers followed.
"I'm sorry, but we have to climb stairs now. The company has done a lot to modify the shuttle, but they haven't extended the elevators to the bottom decks." Hap said apologetically.
Tempes shrugged, "lead on." As he walked up the stairs he wondered about the modifications. There was another incident with this company and a rogue adept. It wasn't exactly handled to ROM's satisfaction. If Tempes saw an opportunity to correct that wrong he would do it as well.
Tempes could see the ship was well maintained. This section had been recently painted, and there was good welding and professionally installed conduit that protected some electrical modifications or repair. Tempes was slightly impressed. He had been on ComGuard ships that were not kept to this standard.
Tempes easily kept up with the two young officers, and soon they had ascended to the main deck and used the elevator to take them to the command section of the drop shuttle. Anastasia led them down a short flight of stairs and through a set of double doors. On the outside it appeared to be a standard crew door in a standard drop ship hallway. When they stepped through the door it felt like they had been transported to a luxury cruise ship. The room was appointed with dark wood accents, highly polished brass, and a thick red carpet. There were a few tall tables with trays of fruits, cheeses and meats, and a bar in the corner manned by twin redheads with mischievous smiles.
Tempes quickly looked at the occupants of the room. On his trip to Monehegan he had studied everything ROM could provide on every member of McFinnigan and Sons. The room contained the company's leadership and their spouses, and Tempes easily recognized all of them.
The men were wearing kilts and dress jackets with their various medals, badges, and awards from their previous military careers neatly pinned on the jacket's breast. The ROM reports even explained that the McFinnigan and Son's tartan was associated with one of the Irish enclaves that had migrated to Donegal. The reports implied there were a Scottish traditions mixed in with the McFinnigan's "Irish" traditions, but it was all Celtic, and the McFinnigan Clan, by all accounts, wallowed in all things Celtic.
The commander was easily recognized. The short Kelly McFinnigan had a loose circle around him as he stood at the bar carefully pouring out samples of Scotch as he told stories about each bottle. Near him was his XO talking to a Leftenant Colonel in a poor fitting Davion dress uniform. Tempes didn't recognize the man or his medals so he assumed he was the commander of the local militia. McFinnigan's nephew, Patrick, sampled the scotch and added commentary to his uncle's stories. Beside him Fiona McFinnigan, a distant cousin to Kelly, was shaking her head as she sipped her scotch. Next to her was a short woman of Asian ancestry. Tempes knew she was the company's supply officer Jin-seon Jessica Lan. She was from the Capellan Confederation but her ancestry was from Terra's Korean peninsula.
The support leadership were also present. The tall master pilot with his bushy short cropped mustache, Matthew Mitchell, was a classic Steiner officer of Germanic descent. There was also the powerful master tech, Eric Heilezberg, he had been Kelly's personal mech tech going back to when Kelly was a junior officer in the Donnegal Guards. The husband and wife medical doctors, Jackson and Leslie Morgan, sampled the liquor and contributed to the conversation. Coming from the highly structured and ordered ComStar sect, Tempes found the support staff mingling with the warriors to be distasteful.
The tall dark skinned First Sergeant was talking with a man in an AFFS uniform. Yorik Tomax was a consummate professional and maintained the discipline of the company, at least when it came to combat operations. McFinnigan and Sons were notoriously unruly outside their cockpits, but, by all accounts professional mechwarriors on the battlefield.
The man in the AFFS uniform was Major Don Braun. He had an eye patch over his left eye, and his right sleeve was neatly folded and pinned up. He wore the sunburst vest like Hap and Anastasia over his dress tunic, but he had several more medals and ribbons, and on his right breast was a black disk with a golden sunburst. He had won the Federated Suns Star on Rigil Kentarus, where he led a lance that had single handedly delayed two Kuritan 'mech companies so the AFFS forces could rally and hold a strategic air field. His lancemates had been killed and he was grievously injured. He could no longer pilot a 'mech so the AFFS high command had placed him in charge of a program where Jr. Officers are embedded in Mercenary units.
Standing where Braun's right arm would have been was Henna Duke. Tempes could immediately see from her body language and her closeness to the man that she was literally his right hand woman. She had been Braun's physical therapist as he learned to walk on two prosthetic legs. In a story that was ripe for making into a Holo they had fallen in love and were engaged to be married.
While the men wore kilts the women had chosen their own attire. The eldest McFinnigan woman, Elinor, was wearing a richly embroidered green dress that seemed to have a built in cape and high collar. The embroidery was gold, jade and cobalt thread that complimented the colors of the McFinnigan tartan. Even to Tempes, she looked like a queen. Her daughter, Roweyna, wore a similar green colored traditional Irish dress. It lacked the embroidery of mother's dress, but it had an intricate bodice over an extravagant and frilly white blouse. Fiona wore a similar dress but she had a bar of small medals pinned over the right breast of her bodice. There was another young woman with the same type of dress, and bushy red hair. Tempes couldn't place her as leadership so she was likely someone's date for the evening, probably the Militia leader given her proximity to him.
Aside from the Irish themed dresses, the blonde former Maskirovka agent, Tatyana Fletcher, had a short red cocktail dress that left little to the imagination. The supply officer was dressed in a simple business suit with Capellan decorations pinned to her suit. The Company's female doctor had a blue gown that complimented the blue in the kilt's tartan that her husband and the other men wore. Major Braun's fiancee wore a bright yellow dress that complimented his uniform.
Tempes was brought out of his reflections by Hap slightly bowing to whisper to Anastasia, "Thank you."
She looked at him questioning. Hap saw her look and whispered, "If you hadn't gotten us reinstated I'd be wearing a kilt right now."
Anastasia deadpanned, "oh you'd look fine in a kilt, you have the legs for it, and it looks like I could have worn any ball gown I wanted, or one of those dresses like Rowyena, Kitty, and Fiona have."
Roweyna saw the new arrivals and approached them, "Hap, Anastasia, who did ye have here?"
Hap motioned to Tempes, "This is Kristoff Tempes. He is our MRB representative. Mr. Tempes this is Rowena McFinnigan, the company's legal counsel. I'm sure you've spoken before, over-"
"We have not." Roweyna said suspiciously, "Yer not wearin' a robe. I've never seen yer lot not in robes."
"How would you know?" Tempes said dismissively. "You've likely seen hundreds of us and didn't realize it." Tempes lied. Odds were good if she saw ComStar members not in robes they were ROM. And if she had encountered ROM she'd be dead.
"I went to a Catholic Girl's school, Mr. Tempes," Roweyna replied, "a nun out of her habit is still a mean-spirited woman lookin' to put the fear of god into wayward young ladies. While talkin' nonstop of God's grace. Ye may be able to take off yer robes, but the blessins and will o' Blake would still be on yer lips."
Tempes smiled. "You do speak the truth of Blake, my child. Blake's words are ever on my lips. I thought I would forego the robes for just one night. We are, of course, allowed to dress in the fashion of the world when we're away from the Order's holdings. Sometimes, it is even encouraged for our safety."
Rowyena looked even more suspicious, "Ye feel threatened here?"
Anastasia cleared her throat, "Mr. Tempes, Sir, are you sure you don't prefer Adept?"
"Mr. Tempes is fine." Tempes replied, "Again you're not part of my order. You wouldn't expect some civilian to know your proper military rank, would you, Subaltern?" Tempes had worked too hard to be a demi-precentor to be called, 'adept' by the likes of Anastasia Vallois. He was also seeing how Rowyena's suspicious nature might make presenting himself as a demi-precentor difficult to explain.
Rowyena's eyes narrowed, "I think I'm going to need to see some papers from you."
"Of course." Tempes reached into his jacket and pulled out a tightly folded bundle of papers on official ComStar letterhead. They included a letter of introduction, a memorandum of purpose, and other documents that had specific information about the company. It would persuade a suspicious lawyer.
As Roweyna looked over the papers Kelly McFinnigan and Major Braun approached, "Captain Calahad, Subaltern Lady Vallois this is Major Don Braun, our AFFS contract representative and the man you actually report to." McFinnigan said.
Hap started to reach to shake the Major's hand but caught himself. The slight gesture was not missed on Braun and he made a subtle wave with his left hand, and smiled wryly. "I'm glad to finally meet both of you, I wanted to talk to you before the evening started." He nodded toward a corner of the bar.
Roweyna continued to scan the papers. Without looking up she told her father, "This is Kristoff Tempes, the representative the MRB sent to us."
As the AFFS officers retreated to the corner of the room Kelly looked up from reading over his daughter's shoulder. "I'm Kelly McFinnigan, owner and commander of this company." He paused and looked Tempes over carefully, "I daresay we've never met a ComStar representative like yerself."
"You really haven't." Tempes smiled uncontrollably. This was almost too rich for him.
"No. Most are either true believers constantly tellin' us about 'Blake's good will', or the evil bureaucrats that jest count numbers of things," Kelly said, "but ye have a certain look and smell about you."
That was an odd statement. Tempes didn't like the look in Kelly's eyes. "Oh?" Tempes asked.
"Perhaps ye'd like a drink. I'd like look over these papers." As Kelly spoke Roweyna handed him the papers she had already read. Kelly nodded toward the bar.
Tempes shrugged. They could look over the papers all night, they wouldn't betray who he was. The dossier on McFinnigan had mentioned he collected Scotch and Whiskey from all over the Inner Sphere. Tempes wouldn't consider himself a connoisseur of either liquors, but if he had to be here he may as well enjoy himself. Kelly followed Tempes as he chose a spot near the Federated Suns Officers.
"John, give Mr. Tempes a glass from the blue bottle. Ah bit o' Macallans to start his evening." Kelly said as he continued reading. The twin nodded and carefully poured Tempes a small glass.
Tempes sipped his scotch and eavesdropped. "So the reason why I'm here, and not Lady Cunningham is because you two are part of a special program." Major Braun said, "The High Prince thought it wise to give promising Jr. Officers, like you, Captain Calahad, an opportunity to get experience with a mercenary unit in deep penetration raids, long range reconnaissance, quick strikes, and similar skills."
"I don't think I've heard of this program." Hap said.
"It's limited and not well advertised." Major Braun said. "So far it's just a hand full of Jr. Officers embedded with Eridani Light Horse, Lindon's Company, and Markson's Marauders. It's considered a broadening assignment but it's only for young officers that excel at raids and armed reconnaissance. Looking over your evals, you're a good fit for this. The RDMM commander and even your TAC officers at Albion thought you would benefit from this program, and then do well in a unit like the Ceti Hussars."
Major Braun took a sip and then continued, "I oversee the officers in the program and work directly with the mercenary company. I've read the reports from this company and this is a good unit for you and the program. I've even heard you just came back from a raid."
"Yes." Hap nodded, "I'll have the report typed up, but it's on-"
Major Braun shook his head, "Actually, Commander McFinnigan tends to do a good job of having his people review missions and work on performance improvement. The video and reports were sent once your drop ship got in system. I've seen the footage. It was a good choice to break contact with the Goliath, and I apologize our intel was a little spotty on this operation. That Goliath did look like a tank from the probe's imagery.."
"Thank you, Sir." Hap said.
Major Braun took another sip, then turned so he could see Anastasia better, "As for you, Subaltern, you have a choice to make. You can stay here, or come back with me to New Avalon. I think we can all agree. You're a lot more valuable to the Federation continuing your father's research."
"It is my choice." Anastasia said, but it almost sounded like she was asking.
"When this was discussed, your mother, the Countess, made it clear this would be your decision, but it seemed to me she would prefer you weren't in a line unit." Major Braun said, "but yes. It's your choice."
The room grew quiet as everyone waited for her answer. Tempes doubted anyone knew the true significance of her choice, though. ComStar had intercepted transmissions about this, and knew if she chose to return to New Avalon that would put Anastasia in one of the few places in the galaxy that ComStar struggled to access, and her technical acumen was a potential threat to ComStar's plans. This meant Tempes would have to ensure she died tonight. It was the other reason Tempes was not in his robes.
The plan was to have a ROM agent perform a very sloppy break-in of the barracks, stab her to death and any witnesses. Then the ComStar office would report their MRB rep was dead, robbed of his papers, and create a murder scene with a homeless man clothed in bloody adept robes. McFinnigan would report a strange person claiming to be an MRB rep visited them, but he wasn't wearing the usual ComStar robes. They'd kill a few more short brunettes or women in mercenary units, make it look like a serial killer's work. The result would be the local constabulary chasing ghosts, rumors, and Tempes would disappear while no one suspected ComStar.
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