WP3025 Chpt 29

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==Chapter 29 - Winged Praxis (Battletech 3015 CYOA)==
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===Why I am Here===
Thistledown Spaceport
City of Crimson, Canopus IV
Magistracy of Canopus
3rd May, 3015
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"You must let me buy you a drink," said Marc as he finished up our escort contract with a flourish of a signature.
 
I smiled. "Love to, Marc, but I'm afraid I'm at the Contessa's pleasure at the moment."
 
"Oh?" he asked. "How'd you fall into this orbit?"
 
"Near as I understand it, I'm her step-uncle." I shrugged. "I'm technically here to pick up some inheritance from my father's death, but…"
 
He nodded and clapped me on the shoulder. "Give me a call before you lift, and we'll get a drink in the Mindstar District. I know a few choice places."
 
"Sounds good." I shook his hand, then walked over to where my officers were talking. I caught Cliffhanger's eye. "Do we have good news?"
 
She nodded. "Better than expected. Some of your Trinity worlders beat us here, hopping JumpShips and such. Not many, but apparently they've been making a spectacle of themselves while they waited."
 
I winced. "How many of them landed in the clink?"
 
"More than one, but local laws are…lax." She frowned. "We've already been approached by Mindstar security to see if we want to take them off their hands."
 
I sighed. "If the bribes aren't excessive, I imagine we can work something out."
 
Socks cackled. "They want us to pay their bar tabs."
 
"Lord," I said. "It's worse than I thought."
 
"We also have some more local interest," said Kumari, ignoring Socks and my byplay. "How do you want me to handle things?"
 
I gave it a moment's thought. "We don't have most of what we need to start. For the moment, we'll stage out of the Queen Anne, at least we can get set up in the Adelman Prospecting offices and facilities. I'm inclined to do some hiring on a provisional training base, to start, anyway. Southwesterners to the front of the line, and we will pay those bar tabs. Then they get thrown to Lieutenant Saidu until you can set up the flight and armor schools."
 
She nodded. "Will you want to review the recruits?"
 
I cocked my head to the side. "I suppose I should at least take a look in, but you are in charge of our training command, Captain. If you see potential or a problem that needs to be headed off, I'm not going to be second-guessing you. Just keep in mind that they're likely to be a bit wild."
 
"I taught you." she said.
 
"I know," I said. "I'm positively well-behaved, as far as things go."
 
"What about for recruits with their own machines?"
 
"I'll make time for interviewing them before we lift," I decided. "Particularly if we get any Mechwarriors. You're not wrong that we need to get things started training them. I'm also going to authorize a buy for some training combat vics."
 
"Mechs? Fighters?"
 
I frowned. "If you find a good deal," I hedged, then shrugged. "I trust your judgement."
 
"Yes, Sir. We'll get things going. You should probably not keep the Contessa waiting."
 
I looked over my shoulder to where Sahar was excitedly talking with Phillipa about something or other. "No, I probably shouldn't." I looked over my comrades, thinking about what the best mix of people to bring with me was. Should I go by myself, not risk insulting someone with my choices?
 
Fuck that. "T-bone, Vixen, let's go meet my relatives."
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===How to be a Pilot===
Mindstar Entertainment District - City of Crimson
Canopus System System, Magistracy of Canopus
3rd May, 3015
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Bill was uncomfortable that I had brought along two armed companions with me, but had been overruled by Sahar, banished to the driver's seat. To make up for him, Phillipa shot glares at me whenever Sahar wasn't looking, obviously for bringing Terri along.
 
I was doing my best to act as if I hadn't noticed, watching out the window as the glitz and glamour of Mindstar's hedonistic wonderland slid by outside. There was plenty to distract me out there, a dizzying mix of shows, restaurants, art, activities, gambling, and of course, brothels. Many of the establishments seemed to combine elements of what I would have considered separate categories, and they were attended by an eclectic mix of people.
Even for the great gene-plasm bingo parlor that was the Inner Sphere, you would be hard-pressed to find a crowd with more phenotypes on display than in this one. I regretted that the noise of the hoverlimo and its sealed windows would keep me from listening to the medley of music and language that must have existed outside of our sealed capsule. If it was anything like the sensory overload I was being presented visually…I turned as my foot was kicked.
"Yes?" I asked.
 
Terri had taken advantage of Phillipa's ire with me to slip in next to Sahar and start winning her over, talking about random things that I had tuned out as important to nobles, and not to me. Apparently, the subject had changed, or maybe I should have been paying attention from the start.
 
"I told you he would get distracted," Terri said to Sahar.
 
"In my defense," I said. "It is my first time on Canopus. We didn't have anything like this back home. Not even in Santa Fe."
 
Vixen chuckled beside me. "I've got to agree with Duster here. Across the Sphere, it's a rare planet that fits so much…activity into one location."
 
Sahar glanced out the window. "Well, Mindstar wants to get as much as they can for the dollar. No point in wasting space they paid for."
 
"I guess not," said Vixen. "But what were you saying before we two hicks got distracted?" She threw an arm around my shoulders and squeezed, forestalling any objections from me.
 
"Well," started Sahar, hesitant. "I was saying that I wished that I could learn how to fly, but Uncle Rebin tells me I should wait until I'm older. What do you think, Uncle Gideon?"
 
I paused for a second, my twenty-year-old brain unused to that title. It was a good thing my older self had experienced being an uncle, or the vaporlock would have been so much longer. "Well…" I frowned. What was the right thing here? Rebin was the guy most tied into the military side of the Landynskis' ventures…
 
I looked at Sahar.
 
Thirteen year old girl.
 
Right thing. Not the most optimal thing.
 
"…I started sitting an agromech before I was your age," I said. "Kinda a Cerillos thing. So I can't say kids can't learn how to use complex machines without being some kind of liar. But I didn't start learning to fly till I was eighteen. I know some people start earlier, but can't say as I know just how young people do it." I shrugged. "Still, it seems like you should be able to do something towards it. Ground school, or maybe some simulator time. And it's not like you have to start with a torch job. Light aircraft are a place you could start."
 
"They're boring," she said. "I want to be able to fly up into space."
 
"I did my prifly in an airbreather," I said. "Can't say that was boring." We had all been far too worried about passing to be bored…except for the cadets like Terri, who had already done it on their own. But the fusion-boosted arcjet had been fun in its own right. It might not have been quite the same thing as a proper cyclonic torch, but it was quite the zippy little airframe.
 
The girl was starting to pout. "Look," I said. "I'm sure we can figure out something to get you on the path to flying. Have you done a neurohelmet test yet?"
 
Sahar shook her head. "No, I haven't."
 
"Well, might as well. You need at least some helmet compatibility if you want to fly an ASF." I gave Diane a meaningful look.
 
"We're going to be setting up one for our training programs," she said. "I'm sure we could let you try that out."
 
Sahar's grin was almost blinding. I hoped like hell she wouldn't be disappointed with a low compatibility score. That could be crushing for a child. On the other hand, if she had a high score, maybe we could divert her with dreams of being a 'mech jock. It was probably safer. "Oh, yes. Yes, I would like that."
 
"We can figure out a time that fits for your schedule," said Phillipa. "It might be a while." Sahar looked ready to object. "You know you have responsibilities," she said, gently.
 
"Yes, Auntie," said Sahar. "I know."
 
The pause in conversation hung in the air.
 
I coughed. "So," I said. "What sort of spaceframe would you like to fly?"
 
Sahar's excited chatter about the Dragonfly filled up a good quarter of an hour.
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===Preparing to Meet the Realitives===
City of Crimson
Salonika (Continent), Canopus IV
Magistracy of Canopus
3rd May, 3015
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By the time that we had gotten to the Landynski compound, Sahar had gotten us to recount the mock dogfight over Fanardir, putting a recorded version of the air show up on a screen, letting Vixen and me give our in-cockpit thoughts.
 
It was a good distraction from the expansive slums around Crimson, which reminded me of nothing so much as Las Vegas encrusted with favelas. Things got nicer as you went further towards the city center, but the sprawl seemed to be driven by high end compounds that each grew a ring of low-income 'housing' around it, some of which had been there long enough to merge into one improvised mass. Some of the older portions suggested pictures I had seen of the Kowloon Walled City. Still more of it was being torn down to make room for another new compound, apparently the project of a recently raised Girin that had come out of those very slums.
 
Needless to say, I was all too happy to focus on something other than a reminder of exactly where my new fortune had come from. Especially given the scale of the problem.
 
I found a little bit of sympathy in me for Phillipa's miserable expression at the aerospace nerdery. Most people didn't care about the nuances of different models of fighters, but she was trapped with four people who absolutely did.
 
"It looks like everyone is here," she said, grateful for the chance to change the subject.
 
Sahar frowned. "We were supposed to get back first."
 
"It would have been better," said Phillipa. "But it can't be helped now."
 
I looked out on the drive, spotting a pair of similar limos, one of which was a hover model like ours, and the other of which was a groundcar. "Our fault, I suppose. We're still shaking out admin. I didn't realize we were on a clock." A fancy sports blower had been parked haphazardly near some sort of odd motorcycle-like craft I'd never seen before. But I'd seen a lot on Canopus I hadn't before.
 
"No one told you?" asked Sahar, somewhat petulantly.
 
"Communication has been somewhat…limited," said Terri in an exquisitely diplomatic tone, directing that at Phillipa, who took the rebuke with a nod.
 
"That's four vehicles," said Vixen, "where's the…ah. Well, that's a statement."
 
I looked over to where she gestured. A Dragonfly sat on a heavily reinforced VTOL pad, engines still cooling, by the mirages. "Sure is," I replied, thinking about the fact that we hadn't figured out a uniform yet. At least we were all representing mercenary chic, being dressed in an assortment of FWLM surplus and our own idiosyncratic pieces. "How is this going to go?"
 
"Well, we were supposed to be all set up in the receiving room with you at my side when the others came in," groused Sahar. "Now we're going to have to walk in with them all set up in their places, and it'll be hard for you to jockey for position."
 
"We can't just pick up a quick bodyguard contract to force them out of the way?" I asked with a smile.
 
Phillipa shook her head, even as Sahar's eyes lit up. "No," said Phillipa. "The point of the receiving is your formal meeting with Contessa Landynski, and the rest of the House. If we had gotten here first, we could skip the formalities and have you set up next to Sahar when the others came in."
 
"Now we're going to have to go through the whole thing," groaned Sahar. "Gah!"
 
"Even if we were on schedule, Mr. Barzani would have likely beaten us here." said Phillipa, nodding to the Dragonfly.
 
"Coulda fixed that," muttered Terri under her breath, too softly for the Canopians to hear. "If they weren't so busy with their own games."
 
I very carefully said nothing to that. "What do I need to know?" I asked. "I know FWLM courtesies, but I didn't have much exposure to noble ceremony, much less on this side of the border."
 
Sahar and Phillipa exchanged looks. "Well, they can't expect you to know how things work," said Sahar.
 
"No, but they will make a deal out of his outsider status," said Phillipa. "It may not be fair, but it will happen."
 
"Mierda," I said. "It's not like I'm anything but a Jewish son from Cerillos. Can't hide that."
 
"You do have Canopian citizenship." said Phillipa.
 
"Sure and that's nice, but it is what I am." I insisted. "Pretty it up all you like, there's only so much you can hide the truth." I spread my hands. "It's not like they have any interest in accepting me."
 
Terri placed a hand on my arm. "Three of them might not, but we do have to play to your half-sibilings, remember?"
 
I nodded. "I should have asked this earlier, but do they consider themselves Jewish? Joeseph and Esther, I mean?"
 
"They go to synagogue," said Sahar. "Not very often though."
 
"High holy days," I said with a knowing grin. "Probably Purim too. I bet Canopian Purim are something." Then my grin fell off my face. "And I missed it this year, puta madre! Pesach too, damn it all."
 
"Can someone explain to me why my husband is swearing in tongues?" asked Diane to the other women. "Like, the specifics. I'm used to his general habits."
 
Sahar came to the rescue. "Purim is a Jewish holiday. It's really popular here on Canopus."
 
"We're commanded to get so blitzed that we can't tell the difference between arur Haman and baruch Mordechai," I said. "It's awesome, costumes and groggers. Even the stuffed shirts are down to party. But it was March 28th this year, damn it." I sighed. "Anyway, if they see themselves as Jewish, it probably isn't a bad idea for me to be unapologetically son."
 
"Is this one of those things the gringas aren't going to get?" asked Terri.
 
"In this case, the goyim, but close enough." I turned to Phillipa and Sahar. "Look, I'll be polite, won't spit on the carpet and all that. But if we take too long out here, they're gonna start talking anyway, and there isn't the time for me to cram my brain full of protocol." I shrugged. "They got one over on us. Nothing we can do but play the hand."
 
Sahar nodded, tentatively. "Alright. We'll do that."
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===Arriving to Hostile Stares of Family===
The doors swung wide and I got my first look at House Landynski's receiving hall.
 
I knew, intellectually, that there were much grander spaces in the Inner Sphere. Of course there was the Archon's throne room in Lyran space, with a pair of Griffins standing guard. Even in the Periphery there was the outdoor version of the Cormorant Throne in Aurigan space, and I knew that the Magestrix's throne room would be far grander than this.
 
That didn't diminish the sense of the Contessa's power that the architects had designed into the room.
 
Sahar perched upon the Landynski Seat, a overbearing edifice of Dragonfly parts with a reupholstered command couch at its core. Above her, a sculpture of a MM-2 ripping into a early-run Sparrowhawk hung. It made sense why the girl was so obsessed with the obsolete fighter. Far beyond the national pride, that spaceframe had built her family's fortune and privilege.
 
Fine dark marble steps, adorned with intricately worked carpet led up to the platform holding the seat. Behind the seat and sculpture, a window framed the Contessa with the light of Canopus's primary, along with a view out to the Bay of Altay. I knew that across it was Delphi, once the capital, but now practically the fief of House McDonough.
 
Lining the hall were high ranking sponsored employees of the house, many of them craning to get a look at the Leaguer mercenaries that were being so honored.
 
On the steps stood the major members of House Landynski.
 
My new family.
 
Two of them looked at me like I was a particularly slimy new species of scavenger. One of them looked like he would cheerfully murder me on the spot if he could get away with it. Two of them looked…curious.
 
Hell, I could work with that.
 
"Presenting," said the seneschal, "Colonel Gideon Hillel Zalman of Cerillos, firstborn son of Ephraim Adelman, and companions."
 
One thing I could say for the drill they put us through at LMS during indoc, it sure made it easy to project some gravitas as we walked up to the base of the steps. Terri, Diane and I marched up in lockstep, the ladies a half step behind me on each shoulder. As our heels came down together at the assigned mark, I swept the hat from my head and held it over my heart, giving a bow to Sahar. "Shalom aleichem, Contessa Landynski."
 
"Wa alaykumu s-salam," she replied in Arabic, even as I caught my half-siblings mumbling aleichem shalom by reflex. I supposed it was too much to ask her to follow a guest's lead in language. "You've had quite a journey to get here, Colonel."
 
I straightened with an easy smile. "It was a long journey, yes, but a comfortable one. I was accompanied by fine people and enjoyed myself greatly." Which wasn't the whole truth, but hey, that was fine. "Thank you for the hospitality you have shown me."
 
"It is my pleasure and duty to extend the hospitality and protection of my house to my grandfather's son. I was glad to hear that you decided to come and join us so quickly." said Sahar, eliciting a rustle of surprised chatter at her declaration of protection, and a tightening of Rebin Barzani's fists.
 
"Fate," I said, "conspired to make that possible, thankfully enough. May I present my companions, Contessa?"
 
"It would bring me great pleasure, Colonel." she said.
 
I turned to my right, motioning to Vixen. "My wife, Captain Diane Zalman of Les Halles, callsign Vixen."
 
Vixen mimicked my showy bow with her hat. "A pleasure to meet you, Contessa Landynski. I had always wanted to visit Canopus. It's good to finally get the chance."
 
"I am sure our world will live up to your fondest expectations, Captain." said Sahar.
 
I turned to my left and gestured to Terri. "And this is my boon companion, Lieutenant Teresa Tomlinson of the Holt Tomlinsons, callsign T-bone."
 
Terri made a very slight bow. "Contessa. On behalf of my house, I extend our greeting and gratitude for extending your shelter to our ally. It is a pleasure to see the wonders of Canopus."
 
That got another round of muttering and uneasy shifting. And it hadn't been anywhere in the script. Dammit Terri…
 
Sahar rallied. "I am gladdened to see that the Colonel has those who see his qualities, even back in the League. We had heard there had been trouble," she said.
 
Terri smiled. "In a polity so free as the League, there multitudes of opinions, and what seems like trouble can in fact be an opportunity for those wise enough to see the potential." She nodded to me. "For example."
 
"I see," said Sahar, still off-balance. "Well, I welcome you all into my halls. Please approach."
 
"Of course," I said, and we climbed the stairs. As we did, I did my best to read the room. Terri's invoking House Tomlinson and their interest in me had thrown things off, for sure. There were dark whispers amongst the crowd, and the formerly impassive elder sisters were glaring daggers at Terri. Rebin still looked ready to do violence against me, and Esther and Joseph were making some sort of commentary between themselves.
 
Huh. Had that been calculated on Terri's part to draw heat from me? Well, we'd see how well it would work. No matter how much the rank and file might be unhappy about a Tomlinson with her foot in the door, it was Ferhad Barzani's children that were our major worry.
 
And it was now their chance for opening shots. Birwa smiled, an expression that didn't reach her eyes, and greeted Vixen. "Welcome. I was surprised to learn that you had married our cousin. I had understood he had a taste for Capellan."
 
Diane's eyes narrowed, then she pasted on a similar smile, stepping in between Birwa and Terri. "I enjoy indulging my husband in his culinary adventures," she said, dodging the insinuation. "But he's always known exactly what he wants. Shared interests and values are so important, don't you agree?"
 
"I've always felt loyalty and a sense of his responsibilities are the marks of a good husband." said Rezan, cutting in.
 
"Oh," said Vixen, "any fighter pilot knows a thing or two about loyalty and responsibility to their wingthing. I certainly know where mine lies."
 
I did my best not to gloat as Vixen showed she was capable of verbal fencing when she didn't want to draw her cutlass. Instead, I smiled at Rebin Barzani. "Was that your fighter I saw on the pad outside?"
 
A muscle in his jaw twitched. "It was, yes."
 
"Always a fine thing to see a vintage bird like that flying." I said.
 
"Our house is the reason they still do. I am the custodian of our efforts." he said, pride swelling.
 
"Shame about the landing systems," said Terri from my shoulder.
 
"Excuse me?" sputtered Rebin.
 
"I figured they must be glitchy," said Terri. "It'd explain the misaligned landing."
 
"It was a bit out of true," I agreed, managing to keep a lobo plumado's grin off of my face as Rebin's expression crashed. He could sacrifice his pride in his repair yards, or his piloting skills. Forked ya, I thought.
 
"You must be mistaken," he said. "There's nothing wrong with that spaceframe or that landing."
 
Terri just gave him an arch look. I looked back to her. "Now now, civilian standards are different, T-bone."
 
"Might be too much fighter for him," she muttered, quite audibly, getting Rebin's cheeks to darken. "But whatever. I suppose he didn't crash it at least."
 
Yeah, she was drawing fire. I wasn't sure it was the best move, but Rebin was probably a lost cause, and it wasn't like I had a leg to stand on.
 
"We never did get to hear your callsign, brother," said Esther, with a smile.
 
Well, with an opening like that… "I'm Duster," I said.
 
Joseph raised an eyebrow as he followed his sister. "There's got to be a story behind that."
 
I nodded, thankful at my half-siblings perfect set-up. "There always is," I said. "I got mine for some low-flying prowess."
 
"What's your record?" snapped Rebin, tearing his ire away from Terri.
 
"Altitude?" I asked. "Well, I've landed, so zero. But wheels up, within the error range of the altimeter."
 
"What does that mean?" asked Sahar, now that we had made our way up onto her platform.
 
"Sometimes you have to buff a bush out of the paint," I said. "It happens."
 
Sahar smiled. "I hope that you don't make a habit of it. I only just met you, Uncle."
 
"Only when the flak is real bad," I said. "We do it to stay alive." And for the adrenaline rush, but that wasn't politic.
 
"I am sad to hear that you plan to leave again so soon," said the teenager. "Are you sure you can't stay until Purim at least?"
 
"As much as I'd like to," I said, "I think it'd be best if I retrieved the materiel that my father left to me. I do intend to set up a preliminary training command for CMC, and we'll certainly be back, but he did leave me messages that there were things to do. And a mercenary command does have to earn a living somehow."
 
"I understand," she said, playing the grave Contessa. "Well, I am sure the family will help you put things together. We do have technical expertise, resources, and land that may be of help. And I'm sure your siblings will help in the recovery of the cache."
 
I looked back to Esther and Joeseph, who smiled encouragingly. "Of course," I said. "I am lucky to be surrounded by family."
 
Sahar clapped her hands together. "Then you shall stay with us until you can set up your mercenary school, and then we will wait anxiously for your return."
 
I gave a grateful nod and bow. "You are too kind, Contessa. On the behalf of el Colectivo Mercenario de Coyote, I accept."
 
Now, if only I could ignore the angry stares burning into my spine.
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*;Notes from the Author : Welcome to Canopus! We've got fun and games! We also have extreme wealth disparities and the best medical science off Terra. And politics. Don't forget politics.Anyway, welcome to House Landynski, along with a little bit of planning for CMC's future expansions. 
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