Part 769: Let's Read: Main Event - Part 11
Let’s Read: Main Event (part 11)Chapter 11
Solaris City, Solaris
8 August 3054
Days elapsed since book start: 108
Mercenaries recruited since book start: 2
Mercenaries recruited off-screen: 1
Things accomplished since book start: 1 (Rose took a nap)
Protagonists introduced since book start: 4
Protagonists mentioned but not yet introduced: 1
Antagonists introduced since book start: 1 (Warwick is now a genuine antagonist)
Antagonists defeated since book start: 0
Chapters Spent on Northwind: 5
Is everyone ready to watch Jeremiah Rose be rewarded for his constant dickishness? I hope so, because that’s precisely what’s going to happen. We join Mr. Carstairs, Jaryl and Badicus’ boss. He’s ranting at Rose because he knows that Rose just beat up one of his fighters leaving him down a man before the final match.
Because there’s no oversight on Solaris, that means he either has to fight a man down, find a replacement for his dead alternate pilot (Jaryl), or forfeit and lose his ‘Mechs and money. Fortunately, Jeremiah Rose just happens to be checked out on Badicus’ Shadow Hawk. Carstairs, of course, calls ‘bullshit’. He then rants for two paragraphs and sits down.
Main Event posted:
[Rose] paused for just an instant to allow the nearly berserk owner to fall back into his desk chair. For most people this would have signaled the end of the confrontation, but for this main, it seemed more like a willingness to take a few rounds instead of dishing it out.
Oh, good, I’m glad he has enough moral fiber to rant but not really care whether his people get beaten up and replaced by strangers just before a match.
So Jeremiah gives a six-paragraph speech, which I will spare you from reading. It’s chock full of his impatience, the personal indignities that Rose has suffered on his quest for a Battlemech, and mentions that he got his entire command killed by Clan Wolf. Oh, and during the speech, Rose admits to beating up O’Shea and then congratulates himself for doing it before Elaine could kill him and Badicus.
Twitch twitch.
Rose then gives Mister Carstairs a choice: Let Rose buy a spot on the team and fight for no pay in exchange for battlefield salvage; or have Esmeralda (future Black Thorn #4) throw him out. It’s not an especially hard choice, which is why it’s a huge surprise that Carstairs makes Jeremiah a job offer on the spot.
Carstairs then makes Rose buy Badicus’ Shadow Hawk so that no matter what happens with it Carstairs won’t lose money; Rose loses salvage rights to the fight; and Rose loses his share of the purse for the victory. Since he’s already agreed to fight for no pay (and since he seems to have robbed an armored car and seems to have an unlimited amount of money to throw around) this is perfect for Jeremiah anyway.
Carstairs then demands to hear how Jeremiah Rose lost his command to the Wolves if he survives the match; because he’s personally convinced that Rose is either ComStar or Clan and either way he wants to hear the story.
Then the scene transitions without letting us know whether Jeremiah accepted this (far worse) deal (he did).
In any other chapter in this book, this break would be a new chapter. Instead, in a stunning lack of consistency, it’s simply a break here. Mechanically, that makes me a little upset: this book already has 33 chapters, so a 34th wouldn’t have hurt and the chapter break makes for a better cliffhanger.
Instead, any sort of dramatic tension is immediately thwarted because we learn that Rose accepted Carstairs’ offer. Rose eyes his new lancemates with caution and suspicion (and they do the same in return). Esmeralda, the lance leader (and future Black Thorn) declares herself in charge and demands to know if Jeremiah has any problems with that.
His response ( “Message received and understood, sir!” ) strikes me as stupid but not sarcastic, so Esmeralda takes it at face value. We then learn that the arena is a piece of shit filled with shacks and mostly open space. Rose asks how she knows that, and Esmeralda tells him to go fuck himself.
We then learn that the oddsmakers say Rose will be the first one to die; and that Rose has placed a bet of indeterminate size on himself. Most of the rest of the lance has bet against Rose’s survival, and have pretty much decided that he’s on his own (good for them).
Esmeralda (also dies in the sequel) then pulls Rose aside.
Main Event posted:
“I’ll get to the point. I don’t know you and you don’t know me. That means we’ve got a problem. Despite what O’Shea says, Warwick’s goons are very good. I need to know, right now, just how good you really are. Look me in the eye and answer one question—how good are you?”
Rose leaned forward, his nose almost touching Esmeralda’s.
“I’m the best there is.”
“Great,” she said. “So, now I’ve got another Kai Allard. Well, I hope that’s good enough.”
No, clearly Rose is Wolverine. He was channeling G.I. Joe before when he Batman’d O’Shea; so why not Wolverine while he’s at it?
Esmeralda then wanders off, and Rose checks out his ‘Mech. He has a soft spot for the (useless) Shadow Hawk, and exposits that it was the first ‘Mech he ever piloted and that his grandfather taught him. He then wonders why he can’t remember his grandfather’s face anymore, but promptly forgets to be concerned about it because Shadow Hawk.
I would like to point out that Rose now owns the Shadow Hawk free and clear; and could just say “fuck it,” take the ‘Mech and run.
He doesn’t, because the author needs to establish that he’s actually a capable ‘Mechwarrior. In game terms, Jeremiah is actually a p2g1; but he’ll only ever show about a quarter of that talent.
Rose then thinks about Rianna for a brief instant, then climbs into his ‘Mech. Rose is actually using a LosTech Star League era coolant suit; which covers his whole body and is small and highly flexible; and a lightweight neurohelmet. We learn that the coolant suit and the neurohelmet are priceless relics that were passed down from warrior to warrior among the ComGuards (and should probably have gotten Rose in serious trouble since he absconded with them); and Rose actually has a spare priceless thousand-year-old coolant suit and… fuck you, Jeremiah Rose.
Rose then admits that he stole both the Neurohelmet and the Coolant Suit, and then the chapter ends.