Part 774: Let's Read: Main Event - Part 16
Let’s Read: Main Event (part 16)Chapter 16
Harlech, Outreach
24 September 3054
Days elapsed since book start: 146
Mercenaries recruited since book start: 4
Mercenaries recruited off-screen: 1
Things accomplished since book start: 2 (Rose took a nap, Rose got a Charger)
Protagonists introduced since book start: 5
Protagonists mentioned but not yet introduced: 1
Antagonists introduced since book start: 1
Antagonists defeated since book start: 0
Chapters spent on Northwind: 5
Chapters spent on Solaris: 10
Jeremiah, Badicus, and Esmeralda (in that order) arrive on Outreach. Is everyone ready to see what Rianna and spoiler Angus /spoiler have been up to? No?
Me neither.
We then find out the ‘rebuilt’ Charger has been rebuilt in pieces (in other words, it’s still scrap). So Jeremiah Rose is piloting what amounts to a pile of razor-sharp ceramic armor. Awesome.
Jeremiah then bitches about how long the trip took, again, even though it’s been less than fifty days which isn’t bad for two jumps plus a week’s travel to each jump point. Jeremiah sends Lieutenant Esmeralda and Badicus to secure a place in the repair bay for his ‘Mech, then goes looking for Rianna.
Rianna is with a pair of civilians. Shall we see how Rose reacts to them?
Main Event posted:
The two men were obviously civilians. Everything from their style of dress to the way they moved through the crowd spoke of a lifetime sitting behind desks, safely protected by a hopefully distant military. If these were potential employers, Rose wondered if he might be entering the wrong business.
Dickhead.
So yeah, Jeremiah instantly judges his employers based on superficial appearances. Sorry, jackass, but unless you’re the Wolf’s Dragoons you won’t be getting any heads of state personally offering you contracts.
They’re offering a one-year garrison contract. Now, the first Black Thorn books happened to come out at around the same time that the Mercenaries handbook was released; which contained information for running a mercenary unit, contracts, determining pay, etc.
… in that handbook, it’s basically impossible for any unit smaller than a regiment in size to function for longer than 3-5 years; you’ll be losing money on every contract. They’re offering a one year garrison contract; and Jeremiah, who has never before been a Mercenary, instantly knows that it’s a bad deal. ‘Logistical genius’ Rianna seems to think he should look things over more closely, however, and so Jeremiah bows to his baby sister’s wishes.
The two are from the planet Borghese (which surprised me so much when it was recognized by Microsoft’s spellcheck as a real word that I had to look up the origins) which is in Steiner space near the Jade Falcon border.
It’s a planet with nothing to recommend it and no military forces, so there’s absolutely no reason the Jade Falcons would give a shit. The Federated Suns refuses to garrison the world because doing so would make it a target for the Clans, but the natives are retarded and decided to hire a company of Mercenaries to
Their contract is small, but offers full use of the planet’s repair facilities (which really should be pretty abysmal) and full salvage rights; which means the Black Thorns would keep anything they kill. That sounds good in theory, until you realize that chances are pretty good that if the Clans want the planet and send anything other than a small raid, twelve ‘Mechs (HAHA, ok, FIVE ‘Mechs) aren’t going to stop them.
Rianna has been
Rose’s Charger is still a heap of trash, incidentally, so I’ll let you guess how well the fight goes.
It goes even worse than that.
Oh, even better, both of Rianna’s ‘strong candidates’ decide not to join the unit. The only person they can actually hire is a man named ‘Hawg’ who pilots a Zeus. Jeremiah immediately decides Hawg is batshit crazy, then promptly hires him anyway. The other two weren’t even given names, so they were non-contenders anyway.
Jeremiah then stays up all night going over mercenary dossiers, because who needs sleep anyway?
Then the chapter ends.
Things Accomplished: -1 (Rose failed to take a nap)