Part 737: Let's Read Close Quarters - Part 5

Chapter 17

Masamori, Hachiman
Galedon District, Draconis Combine
6 September 3056

Colonel Camacho, Chandrasekhar Kurita, and the 17th Recon are watching two companies of the regiment drill (in typical Caballeros style). Don Carlos says he wants to show Uncle Chandy what he’s paying for, so in addition to a game of BattleMech Paintball they’re also roasting a goat on a spit. Some of the 17th’s friends from the 9th Ghost Regiment have been invited to the barbecue because the 17th genuinely like them. No-Name is with them, he is the butt of jokes because he chooses to root for the side whose pennant is more common where he’s sitting. Buntaro Mayne is rooting for Cowboy, because he’s the only one allowed to kick Cowboy’s ass.

The festival air turns Lainie nostalgic, so we get her backstory here. She was a Yakuza princess until her father’s lieutenant assassinated him and took over. Her Oyabun on Hachiman is also her cousin, who took her in after her father’s death. She hates her cousin for very valid reasons, and is zealously devoted to Theodore Kurita for giving her an ‘out.’

The exercise begins, and the 17th are terrible (but enthusiastic) shots. Part of this is deceptive, they can absolutely land shots in the heat of battle, but mostly it’s because they’re just fucking around.





Kali is a referee and gives a BattleMaster a leg throw when the pilot gets a little too uppity and tries to actually punch an opponent. Things are going quite well until Patsy gets mentioned in Don Carlos’s presence, causing Colonel Camacho to shut down emotionally.

We cut to Archie Weston and Captain Father Doctor Roberto “Call Me Bob” Garcia, SJ. Archie knows a lot about Chandrasekhar Kurita (because he is an MI4 Spy), and they lament the state of affairs in the Federated Commonwealth. Bob tells Archie that the referees are all women because the 17th is, among other things, very chauvinistic (he uses “chivalrous,” but chauvinistic is used liberally earlier in the novel). Archie wonders where Cassie is.



Between Davion Spy Archie Weston and his camerawoman Mariska Savage, only Savage will prove to be important in the long term. Archie is just a stand-in so dumb gringos like me can get some much needed explanation of southwestern culture.

Adalante company wins, so Buntaro Mayne wins the betting pool. Most of the 9th Ghost Regiment bet on the OpForce because Cowboy was in Adalante.



Chapter 18

Masamori, Hachiman
Galedon District, Draconis Combine
6 September 3056

Cassie is busy while the Caballeros are playing BattleMech Lucha Libre (the novel’s words, one of Cochise Company’s commanders wears an ancestral Lucha mask at all times ). Her waitress job actually turned up direct info, so she’s scouting a warehouse where the Yakuza are meeting “someone important.”

The local Oyabun, Lainie’s hated cousin, is meeting with the most carefully described character in the novel. Yes, that’s right, men get physical descriptions as often as women.



He’s backed by DEST ninjas. Cassie does not stay because she knows given enough time DEST will catch her if she sticks around to try for an audio recording. Cassie is familiar with DEST gear, which is functionally similar to BattleMech huds insofar as it provides the wearer with 360 degrees of vision but tends to compress the sides and rear enough that it’s little better than a fancy motion detector.

Cassie blunders into a DEST commando while escaping, because they’re better than she is at being stealthy. They’re not far separated but DEST gear is bulletproof and stab (but not cut) resistant. Cassie breaks his neck with Pencak Silat while the DEST Ninja is drawing his submachinegun. DEST are not accustomed to people running towards them.

Cassie escapes and we cut to Kali and some of the other Caballeras who are contemplating checking out local strip joints because it’s Lady’s Night. We get an honest appraisal of how most of the regiment views Cassie from one of Kali’s friends (Cassie is “spooky”), and Kali isn’t too interested in watching male strippers. She’s half worried they’ll blunder on Cassie working as a stripper (she’s right to be, because Cassie actually has been, although tonight she’s at a warehouse Fight-and-Flighting away from Ninjas).

Kali isn’t interested, but gets talked into going in anyway. She’s an alcoholic, but she’s actively working on “drying out.” It’s never said directly but Kali’s attempts to fix her own life are the reason why she’s working so hard to befriend Cassie. Because Cassie’s coping method is murder, not alcoholism.



Chapter 19

Masamori, Hachiman
Galedon District, Draconis Combine
7 September 3056

Cassie has managed another meeting with Mirza Abdulsattah. Cassie doesn’t know who the red-haired man is, but the Mirza does, and he’s terrified. The Mirza does not explain but immediately leads Cassie to a meeting with Chandrasekhar Kurita himself.




Uncle Chandy invites Cassie to sit with him, and she opts to sit out of reach out of fear he’ll try to do something she’d have to kill him for. Uncle Chandy reveals that the red-haired man is, wait for it.

Ninyu Kerai Indrahar.

Son of Subhash Indrahar, the Smiling One. Quite possibly the second or third most dangerous man in the Inner Sphere. Uncle Chandy asks Cassie what she thinks, and she believes DEST must be using the local Yakuza as a ‘base’ from which to stage a covert operation, likely to assassinate Chandrasekhar Kurita.

Chandrasekhar remains likeable throughout the entire scene, both soliciting Cassie’s input and making light of “his corpulent self.” She thinks the ISF suspects something but has no proof (if they had proof, the family name wouldn’t matter, but as they only suspect treason the ISF can’t be tied to Chandrasekhar Kurita’s death, out of respect for the Kurita name). Cassie then asks without asking whether Uncle Chandy is committing treason.

He is, but he lies with the truth: what he’s doing is in the Combine’s best interests.

Uncle Chandy also volunteers that the warehouse where the meeting took place was owned by his direct competitor, Tanadi Computers.



Uncle Chandy, a competent Donald Trump.



Uncle Chandy.



Best Kurita.

We cut to Ninyu Kerai Indrahar, who muses about the state of ComStar and the Word of Blake. This is one of the novels that suggests the impending Word of Blake Jihad—which was almost certainly delayed by the events of 9/11, with the relatively haphazard FedCom Civil War happening instead.

Subhash Indrahar is not concerned about the intruder that infiltrated Ninyu’s mission. Ninyu is proceeding as planned.

We cut back to Cassie who is practicing martial arts because she is (rightly) terrified of what Ninyu Kerai Indrahar’s presence represents and violence is her only emotional outlet. She has another emotional breakdown and the teddy bear Kali gave her is her only comfort.



Chapter 20

Masamori, Hachiman
Galedon District, Draconis Combine
21 September 3056

This is one of the bigger time-skips in the novel. Cassie’s back at the spaceport, and one of her prostitute informants is certain that a Clanner has come through the spaceport. Cassie does not know what this means, it’s a puzzle piece that doesn’t fit. As she’s contemplating, her paranoia kicks in and tells her she’s being stalked.

She is not, and has no trouble returning to the HTE compound for a meeting with Uncle Chandy. Cassie’s senses are so over-tuned that she’s starting to pick up threats that aren’t real. Cassie tells Uncle Chandy about the Clanners and he asks the Mirza to drop everything to look into it (i.e. to murder everyone who leaked the information to Cassie). Mirza Abdulsattah then intimates that Tanadi is the only one on-world with the resources to smuggle Clanners in, and Uncle Chandy plants the seed that Subhash Indrahar is trying to destroy Uncle Chandy for a crime that he is actually committing his competitors are committing.



Chapter 21

Masamori, Hachiman
Galedon District, Draconis Combine
21 September 3056

Cassie nearly kills one of the Caballeros children when they throw a ball at her. Kids like Cassie because she is willing to play with them, and it’s easy to understand why Don Carlos’ wife, La Dame Muerta, does not like this. Cassie is a live hand grenade.

Archie Weston approaches and calls for her help since two Caballeros are engaged in a knife fight. Archie’s in a panic while his camerawoman is filming the fight because she has guts. Cassie doesn’t move to stop things either, because knife and/or pistol duels are still less dangerous than if they’d decided to go at it in BattleMechs. The fight doesn’t end in a death and honor is satisfied, leaving Archie once again perplexed.





Archie is upset that Cassie dodges him again, while both Kali and Father Doctor Bob encourage him not to pursue her (romantically). Even Kali’s upset by the news that Ninyu Kerai Indrahar wants them all dead, but they’re all worried about Don Carlos, who is brooding more and more about Patsy’s death. He cannot let her go and it’s slowly killing him and the whole of the 17th.

They’re interrupted because HTE is in the news, having supposedly discovered a breakthrough in Faster Than Light communications that will finally end the ComStar monopoly. This is not something HTE is working on. The ISF has thrown down the gauntlet, and their chosen weapon...

… Is the Word of Blake.