DMHK1

=Chapter 1=
==Dead Man's Hand: The Kowloon Job==
Office of the Duchess
Bucklands Province
Federated Commonwealth
21 December 3053
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Elizabeth 'Liz' Ngo, recently invested Duchess of Kowloon, wasn't sure what she'd expected to waiting for her in her seldom used official office, but it certainly hadn't been this.
Oh, she'd read the files, both those publicly available from the MRBC and the one provided by the AFFC Department of Mercenary Liaison, but they'd both been rather light on details, and in the latter's case, heavy on speculation. Fortunately, they had included the standard issue holo-images, allowing her to instantly put names to faces.
First, there was the towering hulk of a man standing in the corner, trying not to look like a gangster's heavy in some cheap holo-drama. He was obviously Jay Aaung, ex-Legion of Vega who'd been dismissed from the DCMS for almost beating a senior officer to death when he'd found the man in bed with his then wife. It was only the fact that the officers own wife had been the daughter of the local Lord that had saved Aung from an appointment with the hangman, and instead earned him a lifetime exile. He drew the eye the same way a gas giant attracts stray commits: by simply being too big to ignore.
Next were the two on the couch; a tall, rakishly thin man with a pencil mustache and the smile of a used car salesman, and a shorter woman with flowing black hair who could have easily passed for a native. Emilio Scilicorn and Bobbie Kelso, both from the Davion half of the Commonwealth, records relatively clean and unassuming. At least, until Tamar and the by now infamous Morality Inspections. Just how they ended up falling in with such a unit was no doubt a story unto itself, but that would have to wait.
That left just the tall woman who was standing looking out the picture window, her back to the door, hands in her pockets. The enigmatic and mysterious Joker who was the closest thing the mercenaries had to a leader. Her file made it clear that her personal history, even her real name, was a total mystery, one that LIC would very much like solved, according to the note attached to her file. She had evidently been behind the formation of the unit when the Wolves invaded Tamar, plotting a series of hit-and-fade attacks that had drawn the invaders out of position and allowed the rescue of a number of civilians, and then capture of a DropShip full of supplies and replacement parts intended for the front lines.
While impressive, it had been the fact that their first port-of-call had actually been Kowloon itself, while Liz had been off 'Bending the Knee' to Archon-Prince Victor, that had gotten the young Duchess attention. They hadn't been looking to sell any of the equipment they'd captured, but rather had simply returned two young ladies who had been forced into slavery in order to pay off illegally leveraged family debts. That had been a lucrative side-game by the planets now very former Regent, and one of the reasons Liz had taken the decision to deal with him herself, rather than risk him being let off with a slap on the wrist by some off-world court. The mercenaries had escorted the two women back to their families, not even accepting the cost of the taxi from the spaceport, then left the world without fanfare.
Since then, they had gained a certain reputation among certain circles of being able to get things done that others would have deemed impossible. Oh, they weren't the kind of mercenaries you called on to capture an entire world, but they were exceptionally well versed in art of slipping across the truce line to recover artifacts... or individuals.
"Time is something I only have a finite amount of, so let's get to the point." Liz walked around behind her desk and pulled a hard copy file from the draw and dumped it on the polished wood, "Henry Jade Falcon. Formerly Cadet Henry Ngo of the Blackjack School of Conflict."
"Your brother." Joker spoke with that no-accent accent many mercenaries seemed to possess, "You want him back alive, or dead?"
"Is there a difference?" Liz asked, keeping her face and voice as level and emotionless as possible.
"You want him alive, we talk." Aung rumbled from the back of the room, a sound like two tectonic plates grinding together, "You want him dead, we walk."
"We're not assassins." Kelso added.
"Alive would be preferable." Liz nodded, "It's a matter of record that I've only got a few years left to live, and I don't want to leave my world at the mercy of another outsider."
"Alive is doable." Joker nodded, flipping through the file, "Word is, he's gone native, which gives us two obvious choices. Option 1, we go in hard and fast, smash his unit and claim him as Bondsman. Once he's back here, you can see about de-programing him."
"I already have people looking into it." Liz tilted her head to one side, "And Option 2?"
"Option 2 is we call ahead, use their honor code against them and declare a Trial of Possession for both him and his legacy." Joker closed the file and slipped it under one arm, "It's a little trickier, as we need to find something of equal value to offer up should they win... but I can probably come up with something. Either way, it's something we're going to have to get right the first time: they're not all stupid, and they can adapt surprisingly quickly."
"I'll leave the details up to the professionals." Liz nodded, then hesitated, "There is one more thing: my other brother, Patrick. He was on Tamar..."
"We didn't see him die." Joker looked genuinely saddened, "If it's any comfort, I heard he fought like a mad bastard, and took several of them down with him."
An uneasy air filled the room, no one quiet sure what to say for a few minutes.v
"As for payment..." Liz started.
"Our standard fees are listed with the MRBC and MercNet." Joker nodded, "We'll need a retainer fee up-front to cover the costs like supplies, transport, bribes, the usual."
"You budget for bribes?" Liz asked, one eyebrow raised as she looked up at the taller woman's gray-green eyes.
"It helps to know who you're paid off, and how much." The mercenary grinned like a shark, "It's good to keep tabs on just how deep some people are in the shit, should you need to push them down or help them out."
"What an interesting idea." Liz smiled, "I'll have to start doing the same."
"Then I believe we have an agreement." Joker produced a data-pad, the crest of the MRBC clearly marked on the top.
Liz pressed her thumb against the reader, and the computer blinked.
"Congratulations, Duchess." Joker pocketed the pad and offered her hand, "You just hired yourself some mercenaries."
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