WP3025 Chpt 23

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==Chapter 23 - Winged Praxis (Battletech 3015 CYOA)==
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===Cultural and political Briefing===
Dropship Queen Anne, Planetary Transfer Burn
Fanardir System
Magistracy of Canopus, Periphery
23rd March, 3015
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I tried to keep the scowl off my face as my people filed into the ready room. It wasn't really sized for what we were doing, but unlike Siduri's conference room, it was ours. The pilots gravitated towards the comfortable chairs they took briefings in, while the other staff took positions in the chairs around the perimeter of the room, including a couple of folding chairs we wedged in. Things were…snug. 
 
"Tell me we're not briefing a strike, boss," said Socks with a mournful look at his wrist. "Let me get in on the fun."
 
Despite myself, I chuckled. "Why would we be planning a strike on Fanardir?"
 
"So…I was really drunk and I got thinking…"
 
"First mistake." said Vixen.
 
"The drinking, or the thinking?" asked Terri. 
 
"Are we pilots, or aren't we?" asked Socks. "Obviously the thinking. But maybe this is some Eagle Corps trickiness. I mean, why would the FWLM give up our august selves?"
 
I rolled my eyes. "Poor taste, obviously."
 
"Oh, of course," he said. "So, this is obviously a long con to get a black unit into the MoC's borders for a series of objective panty raids."
 
There was silence for long moments, broken by a cough from Candy. "You know," said the large black man, "Back home, they had vending machines for that…"
 
"Moving swiftly onwards," I said before we could get into a discussion on the contents of Combine vending machines. "We are not here on behalf of the League, nor are we here for raids, objective or otherwise. The contracts stand, we're here for escort and training duty. We do have an airshow to perform over Fanardir, but that's not our subject today."
 
"What is?" asked Jai from one of the folding chairs.
 
"Cultural and political brief, followed by senior staff roundtable." I replied.
 
The whole room groaned.
 
"I know, I know." I said with placating hand gestures. "Look, no slides for the brief, and I'm going to get the boilerplate out of the way first."
 
"I've heard that before," said Candy. "Hell, I've said that before."
 
"I can get Cliffhanger to go get the slides for this." I replied.
 
"I'll be good." said the big man.
 
"Right." I tapped on the lectern. "So, boilerplate. The MoC has a reputation. I'm sure you all know it. Canopians have more fun, Canopus marching powder, so on and so forth. It's at least partially true, and I'm not going to say don't go to the bars, casinos, or cathouses. So long as you keep it legal and are available and sober for duty, what you do is between you, your deity, and whatever romantic partners you might have." I looked at my pilots. "Now, pilots, we're looking at an eight-hour bottle to throttle, claro?"
"All except for the last word." razzed Socks.
 
"Not twelve?" asked Cliffhanger, citing the FWLM standard.
 
I shook my head. "Canopus has the good detox drugs. We'll be doing tests preflight, and if your BAC is too high, you're taking them. Supposed to be pretty unpleasant, but I'm not your dad. Make your own choices, deal with the consequences."
 
"Couldn't you just party, and take the detox right before the flight anyway?" asked Ikshita.
 
"They're not magic," I said, "And the drunker you are, the worse it's supposed to be. Eight hours should keep things safe. Again, not your dad."
 
"That would be a trick." mumbled Candy.
 
"Who knows what a misjump could do." replied Kalpit.
 
I ignored them. "So as far as I can understand it, the culture here is dominated by the New Hedon movement. Back of the envelope, they believe the Sphere is fucked, it's not possible to fix it, and because of that, they might as well have fun on the way out. Pleasure is moral, suffering is immoral, and they look at that from the individual stance."
 
"How haven't they collapsed yet?" asked Kalpit, looking horrified.
 
"Good question. Short answer is tourism and a robust medical sector that outdoes pretty much everyone outside of Terra. Longer answer is that the New Hedonists aren't in charge, and the people who are make themselves work to support the Magistracy if they want to keep their privileges. I know you've all heard that they're a matriarchy. They believe that women are naturally more aligned to caring for the state than men are." I shrugged. "There's also a pretty credible economy that they're sitting on, for a Periphery state. Apparently, Melissa Humphreys did pretty good work for them."
 
"I wouldn't say that in front of a Canopian," said Vixen.
 
"There are reasons my lawyer isn't here," I said with a chuckle. "So, to recap, do what you like on your leave, but keep it safe, sane, and consensual, and be ready for duty when you get back. Expect the locals to be even more of free market lovers than we are…" 
 
The room laughed. Terri's expression twisted.
 
"…in the economic sense!" I snapped. "Reprobates."
 
"Probably also in the other sense," said a wag at the back.
 
I shook my head in exasperation. "Probably, yes. They'll make it clear. Anyway, don't make me come after you like I did in Yanchep, especially if you're at fault. We're probably going to be in the Magistracy for a while, and they already have a chip on their shoulder about Spheroids in general and Leaguers in particular. Got it?" I waited for the nods. "Good. Now, the next one is for pilots and senior staff, so, techs, crew, you can get back to your stations. Read the primer on the Magistracy, especially the men. I got a real bad shock lately, and I'd rather you not get it in person yourself. Just know that it's all accurate. We cross-checked with Canopians and people who have been here before. Even the stuff that sounds ridiculous is true."
 
Most of the enlisted filed out, except for Kalpit, our chief tech. The officers stayed behind.
 
"So, what are we talking about?" asked Jai as he moved to an emptied chair closer to Kalpit.
 
"Marriage and my relatives." I said. At the blank looks I got, I sighed. "I promise, it's relevant."
 
"Don't tell me there are slides for this." whined Socks.
 
"Okay," I said, clicking the screen on. "I won't tell you."
 
"You suck, Duster."
 
I ignored my friend. I had brought the evil of slides, after all. It could have been worse. I could have still had access to PowerPoint. "So, first thing, apparently Canopian noblewomen can force single men to marry them."
 
Backs straightened in shock around the room, and exclamations of disbelief filled the air, mingling with profanity. Only Terri and Cliffhanger didn't join in. I had expected that from Terri, as we had already discussed this…but Cliffhanger was a surprise.
 
"You're joking, right?" asked Vixen, once people had calmed a bit.
 
I shook my head. "`Fraid not. I got this from Ms. Kasparova, then checked with Siduri's engineer and Marc. It's apparently something meant to reinforce their houses…and probably keep down on male nobility as well, come to think of it."
 
"Huh?" Socks's face was a study in perplexity. "Can you explain that, Duster?"
 
I nodded. "Canopians can only become nobles by providing a meaningful service to the state. So, if a guy wants to do that, he needs to aiming for something big, because matriarchy, and that means having resources. If he's got resources, he becomes a target for acquisition." I waved my hand in a tossing gesture. "Apparently, it's considered some sort of honor to be picked for one of these marriages. Whatever."
 
"What about military service?" asked Vixen. "Heroism?"
 
I nodded. "It can happen, but it'd require something like a corporal would do to get inducted into the Order of the Saber."
 
She whistled. "Okay, so it's rare."
 
"And it's never posthumous," I said. "I might be exaggerating a bit, but not by much. And it is easier to catch the Crimson Council's attention as a female soldier." I shrugged. "We're getting off topic."
 
"No, wait, Sir." said Jai. "Okay, some Periphery neobarbs have some weird customs. We should expect that, but are you saying they can do this to foreigners too?"
 
I frowned. "I wouldn't make the mistake of thinking of them as neobarbs, Saidu. Or especially calling them that."
 
He stiffened. "Yes, Sir."
 
"But to answer your question, yes." I clicked through a few slides to a relevant one. "It's apparently not common, no one wants to kill trade off, and all nobles are exempted, but it's been known to happen when the prize is tempting enough, or if the lady is greedy and stupid enough." I jerked my head to the slide. "It's also really easy to get Canopian citizenship or be sponsored for it."
 
He read the slide. "Really? Just claim to be oppressed and get citizenship?"
 
"On political, religious, or social grounds." I confirmed. "Oh, you have to 'prove' it, and heinous criminals are sometimes extradited, but it's really not hard to prove oppression in pretty much any state." I watched that sink in. "And for the sponsorship thing, a Canopian noble's word counts as proof."
 
"And then you're not a foreign national anymore." said Terri, darkly.
 
I nodded. "Really, there's a lot to be admired about their easy citizenship process. It can do a lot of good. There's a lot of oppression going around, and this provides a safe harbor for people who are being treated unfairly. And as far as I can tell, they really mean it, really believe in the idea behind it. But like everything, some pendejo figured out how to game it."
 
"So," said Socks, as everything sank in, "you're saying that if someone knew how you got bounced from LMS…"
 
"She could argue that I was unfairly treated by the FWLM, the League, and it's nobility, and get me citizenship like that." I snapped my fingers to demonstrate. "Or she could if I wasn't already a dual citizen. If your parent served the state, there's bloodright citizenship."
 
"Do you think it's a risk for you guys, sir?" asked Ikshita. "You said it's rare."
 
I shook my head. "Not for the rest of the men, no, though I can't say it won't happen for certain if some lady wants leverage on the unit. But for me…" I trailed off.
 
Vixen nodded. "I can see it. You're legally a Canopian, from the League, and you just came into a bunch of stuff that used to be a Canopian citizens. They probably don't want to let it go."
 
"House Centrella or their allies might make a play." said Cliffhanger.
 
"Or rivals of House Landynski," I said. "Or maybe one of the internal players' allies. There's a lot of options."
 
"Wait," said Socks. "Why is this a big deal?" He turned around in his seat to look at Terri. "Why don't you just marry him? It's not like you two weren't doing that dance already."
 
"Because I'm the heir to House Tomlinson," she spat. "I'm a League noble."
 
Before Socks could set Terri off further, I cut in. "Kasparova thinks that it's a good idea for me to be married, but not to Terri."
 
"That's fucked, Duster." Socks said.
 
"It makes some sense," said Cliffhanger. "The Canopians aren't going to be happy that a League man is going to be getting his hands on a bunch of what they think is their money and resources. For a noble house so close to the Captain-General to have their hands on it would be worse from their point of view."
 
I nodded. "That was the gist of what I got from Kasparova once I calmed down some. Apparently, she thinks it might incite Canopians to try legal means to snatch the inheritance. It probably wouldn't work, but extralegal means are also something we need to consider. And it would probably sour House Landynski on us."
 
"Do we care?" asked Jai.
 
I grimaced. "We probably do. They've currently got their hands on and are running a jumper and a dropper for us. They're also our current employer."
 
Ikshita cocked her head to the side. "I thought we were working for Bankhead Lines and Resande Shipping."
 
"Bankhead is majority owned by House Landynski," I said. "And Resande Shipping does a lot of business with the Landynski. Marc is doing a run for them right now."
 
"Ah," she said. "Guess we shouldn't mess with the meal ticket."
 
I gave a rueful smile. "Not a great policy, no. And there's reasons to keep them sweet in the medium and long term, too. First, we still have to stand up the rest of the unit once we get our hands on the shinies, and that'll be a hell of a lot easier if we've got some local allies, and the MAF isn't thinking about making some hostile acquisitions."
 
"We could run once we get them." suggested Jai.
 
"Through the MAF?" asked Terri. "They're not a Great House, but we can count on five fighters and a light DropShip right now. I don't like it, but we probably do need to keep them sweet for a while."
 
I nodded. I knew Terri would support me on this, much as it tore our guts out. "There are the long-term considerations too. I've got some land in the Magistracy, which we might be able to use for business and basing. And going over my father's files, there might be more things in the vicinity that we should check out. Might have something to do with the source of the materiel."
 
"Lostech?" asked Kalpit with a look of unalloyed glee. "He was a prospector, right?"
 
"Maybe," I equivocated. "He was, but I'm not sure yet, and even if I was, OpSec, yeah?"
 
"Sure, sure," he said, with visions of Star League treasures dancing in his eyes. "Lostech…"
 
Vixen leaned forward in her chair. "How much do we trust Kasparova? She's the one pushing for you to get married, and not to the obvious choice."
 
"Part of why I'm bringing this up to y'all," I admitted. "I think she's mostly on the up and up. She does have a professional obligation that she takes pretty serious, and her motives behind that at least align with our needs in the short term." I ran my hand through my hair. "She admitted recently that she was friends with the mother of the new Contessa. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure that she's a bit like an aunt to Sahar." A rustle spread through the room at that news. "I think that Sahar's needs and ours overlap for the moment. And there might have been some plotting on my father's part here alongside the old Contessa. Not sure about that yet. There's some other stuff. House Landynski has their hands in the aerospace game, and they've got some connections to Majesty Metals. That could be useful to us."
"That's one way of putting it," said Candy. "Suppose it doesn't hurt to be standing up a unit in a state that could use a little extra combat power either. If we're big enough, we could be set for contracts."
 
"I've talked around this with most of you," I said, "But let me make it clear. If I'm right, we're going to end up being quite a big deal out here."
 
"How big are we talking?" asked Vixen.
 
"Me being a Colonel might turn out to be appropriate," I said. "I think we're looking at multiple battalions of force."
 
"And here I was hoping we'd be the next coming of the Dragoons." she snarked, even as her eyes remained bugged.
 
"Sorry," I riposted. "Just a boy from Cerillos, not a mystery merc from Lord knows where."
 
"That's quite a force we're putting together," said Cliffhanger. "It'll probably take some time. More reason to not rock the boat."
 
"At least we'll have enough people." said Socks.
 
Jai frowned. "You're sure about that?"
 
"Rancher kids, left leg and favorite gonad." I reminded him of an earlier conversation. "We'll have plenty of mech jocks and aspiring mech jocks. And Southwesterners, as a rule, can shoot. Besides, I imagine we'll be able to make up numbers with disaffected Canopians and down-on-their luck mercs."
 
"Tourism will help us there," pointed out Candy. "I'll bet plenty of mercs come to Canopus for R&R and don't budget accordingly."
 
Vixen snorted. "Probably the gambling that gets them. We'll probably also see the war shed mercs we might be able to snap up."
 
"All true," I said. "Which makes me think our biggest problem is going to be training. I know I've talked with the pilots about wanting to put together a solid aerospace component, which is probably going to mean setting up our own training program."
 
"Do we think you came into some spaceframes?" asked Vixen.
 
"Father said combined-arms unit, so maybe." I said. "Even if we don't, the Magistracy makes the Sabre, and House Landynski is up to its eyebrows in the maintenance of the remaining Dragonflies. I think we can secure something." I turned to Ikshita. "I know you were making process on an armor primer. How's that been progressing?"
 
"Well," she said. "With the caveats that I didn't finish the course, don't have live-fire experience, and I don't know what kind of armor we're going to have."
 
"I hadn't seen combat until the Battle for New Olympia," said Cliffhanger. "Teaching is its own skill, and theory is often sufficient for it. Veterans tend to deviate from teaching doctrine in ways that worked for them, but won't for a military, or a unit as a whole."
 
"I just feel like I'm underqualified for the role." she said.
 
"You're the best we've got at the moment," I said. "I'm asking for what you can do, not what you can't. Jai?"
 
He smiled. "Getting the chance to drill the crew as marines was good practice. I think we'll be fine. We'd really be better off if we got a medic, though."
 
"Agreed," I said, "but we're going to be recruiting in the Magistracy. We should be flush with options. Kalpit?"
 
"I think I'm getting the hang of it," he said. "I didn't have any officer classes like the rest of you."
 
"No one's bird exploded under them." pointed out Socks. "So, you're doing something right."
 
"I am working with people who know how to work on fighters." he pointed out.
 
"We didn't," said Jai. "You're doing fine."
 
"You are," I said. "Far as I'm concerned, unless something changes drastically, we'll be keeping you in the top tech slot. We'll reassess when we're bigger, but I'm happy with your performance so far."
 
"We don't have a mech trainer." pointed out Cliffhanger. 
 
"I'm less worried about that, but it's a point to consider. We'll discuss that later, during one of our sessions." She nodded, and I continued. "Getting back to the local situation, since we're going to be stuck in it for a while, I want your takes on the marriage issue. If you've got a solution I haven't seen, feel free to pipe up. And let me make it clear, don't put yourself in a position you don't want to. If I have to, I'll find my own solution."
 
"I'm still on the 'screw their sensibilities, marry who you want' ship, boss," said Socks. "I know they'll be unhappy, but aren't they all about free love and doing what's good for you?" He smoothed his mustache. "Freaking hypocrites."
 
"The Inner Sphere is filled with hypocrites," said Candy. "The issue is that they tend to have power. I think you're right, Duster. Your lawyer probably is telling the truth, and probably is roughly on our side. I don't know who you should marry, but we need to get you hitched, at least on paper."
 
"The obvious question becomes who to," said Vixen. "Since we're trying to not piss off the Canopians too badly."
 
"Obviously not me," spat Terri. "Since the bitch is straight up saying I'd be a problem." She folded her arms over her chest and sank down in her seat, thunderclouds rolling across her face.
 
"That's actually a point," said Vixen. "We don't have any women on staff that aren't from the League. Do we think that any Leaguer would cause trouble?"
 
"What about your lawyer?" asked Ikshita.
 
"I don't know that I trust her that much." I said. "Not with the kind of leverage that could bring, along with her knowledge of Canopian law and her own agendas with everything going on." I quirked a small smile. "Besides, she already indicated she isn't interested in me."
 
"Well, shit, don't listen to her, Duster, you're not that bad looking." said Vixen.
 
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." I said dryly.
 
"What about that Capellan woman?" asked Cliffhanger. "The doctor?"
 
Terri spun around in her seat and glared daggers at Kumari. "The spy? Really?"
 
"She's one of their cultural ambassadors," the instructor said patiently. "The Maskirovka doesn't like to use them as covert agents. It works against their diplomatic utility. She would defuse the League connection, and place Colonel Zalman as a person who values interstate ties."
 
"Trust a Capellan?" asked Jai. "Really?"
 
"She's also a doctor with previous jump infantry experience." said the older woman. "That could be valuable for the unit as well." As Jai got a thoughtful expression on his face, she turned to me. "You also have previous connection with her. It's an option to consider."
 
"I don't like it." grumbled Terri.
 
"You aren't going to like any option." pointed out Candy.
 
"Would you?" she exploded. "Of course I don't like this! But I'm here and doing my best to support my comrades!" She stood up and stalked over to Candy. "Would you like it? Huh? Fuck off, Rokuro!" She stomped over to the door, smacking her balled fist into the controls. "Don't choose the fucking spy, Gid," she said, then was gone.
 
No one said anything for long moments. Then I turned off the screen.
 
"Give me your ideas, even if it's to just find someone on Fanardir who knows the score," I said quietly. "We'll go over more of the local situation later. Dismissed."
 
I didn't look at their faces as they filed out. I couldn't bear to see them.
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