The hangar bay echoed with the metallic
sounds of tinkering, interspersed with whistling from one direction, and a
stream of invective from another. The whistling came from the Concrete Dragons'
lead tech, as he was polishing up the final touches on the new engine in
Angel's UrbanMech. The griping came from one of the junior techs, who was
having trouble getting the members matched up in the damaged Valkyrie's hip.
With a final curse and a clatter, he hurled the recalcitrant bar of skeletal
steel across the hangar floor. He stood with hands on hips, exasperated, until
he noticed the lead tech staring a hole in him. The young man took a deep
breath, exhaled, then picked up the hip strut for another try.
-----
"Gimme two,"
Henry Cromwell tapped the ash off his cigar as he picked up his hand,
contemplating his cards with pursed lips. "I don't know," he said
finally. "Seems like to me we'd have hard from them pirates by now. I
thought they'd come right on in to rush us."
"I know," Angel
Fairchild was standing pat on her hand. She pushed a stack of chips towards the
pot, then tossed her long, straight, Capellan-black hair back. "What do
you think they're up to?"
"Probably less than
you," Red Drake said in an irritated voice. "Dealer takes one
card...and matches." The pile of chips in the middle of the table grew
again. He looked at his hand in irritation, his red-bearded chin on his huge
fist. "Do ya think we scared them off?"
"Doubt it,"
Henry said with a puff of smoke. "Surprised them, yes. But they're not gonna
be scared off by a few Urbies and a bunch of rednecks. They'll be back."
He thought a moment, looked at the pot and back at his hand, then shrugged and
added his bet. "I'm all in."
Angel and Red looked at
each other, then back at their XO, who sat calmly behind his cloud of cigar
smoke. Angel grinned slightly. "So when will they be back? Weeks?"
She laid down her hand, showing two pairs.
Red muttered a curse;
her hand had beaten his. "Probably more like months. We gave'em a good
shock, did some tellable damage."
Angel grinned, and gave
a wink and a whisper. "So you know, Red...you blush when you're
bluffing." And she blew the big man a kiss as he changed color to match
his name.
Henry shrugged. "I
don't know, but I'll tell you this." He laid his hand on the table: three
pretty maids, all in a row. "It'll be sooner than we think." And he
raked in the pot as Angel glared at the cards. But before she could curse his
luck, a BEEP sounded from their comlinks.
Henry answered it.
"Yeah boss."
Brian Hasek's voice
crackled through the static. "Meet me in the hangar bay, I'm coming in
with a guest."
The three Dragons looked
at each other. Then Henry replied, "Sure thing, boss." He raked his
winnings into his money bag, and tossed it into his locker. "Let's go,
people."
-----
"So this is home,
eh? Ian Sandoval, the Davion soldier turned pirate turned mercenary, looked up
at the hangar, and across the hardpack of the simple spaceport. "It's
quite a way from the Bohemian Quarter on New Avalon, isn't it?" He hefted
the bag on his shoulder, the few belongings that he had with him.
"In both distance
and time," Brian replied. He had frequented the counter-culture of the
Bohemian Quarter during his college days; that was where he had met Ian,
unfortunately. He shaded his eyes to look out across the field to the Dragons' dropship,
as it loaded up for another merchant run. Every little bit helps, Brian
thought, and then he turned to open the hangar door. "Come on in."
They walked in just in
time to hear a fusion engine come to life, as the running lights of Angel's Urbie
lit up the hangar. The lead tech could be heard laughing madly in the cockpit.
"It's alive...ALIVE!!!!!" Ian stopped and stared, wondering what he
was getting into. Brian just grinned as the lead tech waved and gave a thumbs
up. The meaning was clear: all four of the Dragons' Urbies were now 100%.
"That's the Mech
that took you down. You'll meet its pilot shortly. Your Mech is over
there." Brian nodded across the hangar, where now two of the junior techs
were trying to bend the troublesome hip strut to the proper angle. "We've
had some trouble getting it back together, but we're almost there. We had to
make the parts by hand. I think some of your stuff is still in the
cockpit."
The two men walked
towards the Valkyrie, and saw the other three Dragons come out of the living
area. As they passed near the Valkyrie, one of the techs called to Red.
"Hey, can you give us a hand here? This is being stubborn."
Red grinned. "Sure,
what's the problem?" He walked over, and looked at the exposed hip joint.
Like the rest of the Concrete Dragons' Mechwarriors, Red was astech qualified.
It had been a matter of necessity in the Capellan March Militia, just to keep
their unit running on low logistics.
"Well, we're trying
to get this in place, and..."
"Gimme that."
Red snatched the two-meter piece of Mech-grade spring steel like it was a twig.
"Where does it go?" The tech pointed, and Red set the leg end in
place. He then wedged himself in place between the bar and Mech, reached up and
back, and wrapped his big hands around the strut.
"Oh, you've got to
be..." And then the tech stopped in disbelief as Red's lips tightened, his
face turned slightly red, and the metal rod, designed to withstand the stress
of a 30-ton jump landing, slowly bent into place over his shoulder. He fitted
the end to the Valkyrie's hip joint, then slowly relaxed his grip. The strut
stayed taut in its proper position, where two grown men had been struggling to
get it all day.
Everyone just stared as
Red hopped down off the work stand. "Tighten her up," he said with a
grin.
Ian stared the most. He
blinked at the big man, then looked at Brian. "Well, I guess I don't have
to ask how you keep people in line..."
Brian grinned. "No,
you don't. Lady and gentlemen, meet Mechwarrior Ian Sandoval. NAIS graduate,
one class ahead of me, served in the Avalon Hussars during the last war. Until
he turned pirate, that is," Brian coughed to cover a chuckle as Ian looked
awkward and irritated, then continued. "Then he met up with us, we got his
Mech, and now we have him on probation."
"Take that
back." Angel was looking up at Brian with arms folded in mock menace, her
cat eyes twinkling.
"What?"
"You called me a lady."
Before Brian could
answer, Henry stepped up. "Probation, huh?" He clamped down on his
cigar, and looked Ian over at close range, as if he was a boot camp recruit.
Ian actually cringed under the Sergeant's glaring inspection. "Workin' fer
us in lieu of gettin' SHOT, I guess?" He took the cigar out, and grinned
through the smoke. "Well, we'll SEE about that. You think you got what it
takes to be a Dragon, boy?" Ian turned to look at Brian, but started back
as Henry barked, "Don't look AWAY when I'm talkin' to you! Answer
me!"
Brian wasn't smiling.
"This is Sergeant Henry Cromwell, my XO. Veteran of the March Militia.
Anything he says, you can take as coming from me. I'd advise you to answer him,
because I don't think he's had his rabies shots yet..."
"BAH," Henry
said, not taking his eyes off Ian. "I drink too much to get rabies. That's
a tip, boy. A fifth of whatever's handy a day, keeps your blood clean. Now are
you gonna answer me or not?"
Ian looked uncertain,
licked his lips, then finally said in a firm voice. "NO." He looked
angry, as if he was above this kind of treatment. That was Ian, all right,
Brian thought...when all else fails, get mad. It had gotten him in trouble more
than once. But at the same time, Ian's tendency to stand up for himself, even
when wrong, had also gotten him places that Brian only wished he could have
gone. He watched the two men stare each other down for several seconds,
wondering at the contest of wills. Then finally, Henry, without breaking the
stare, smiled very slightly.
"You got a spine,
boy. I like it." He looked over at Brian, and nodded. "I think we can
work with him."
Brian grinned as Ian
relaxed slightly. "Good to hear. Ian, this is Red Drake..." Red
offered a hand, and Ian tried not to wince; it was like shaking hands with a
vise. Red grinned as Ian tried to return the pressure. "And this is Angel
Fairchild. She's the reason you're here now." Ian turned to examine her,
and she met his gaze with head held high, her Capellan Chinese features
contrasting with the Davion-style uniform.
Angel saw the puzzled
look in Ian's eyes. "St. Ives," she said. "My father was Davion,
my mother Capellan. Went to the St. Ives Academy, graduated into the March
Militia." Ian nodded slowly, assessing the warrior who had taken him down
from ambush. She returned his gaze for a few seconds, assessing him in return.
Then she simply turned away, and headed for her newly-rebuilt Mech. Ian stared
at the swish of her hips as she went, and was startled by Red's hand on his
shoulder.
"Don't even think
it," Red said, looking down at Ian. "She's everybody's and nobody's,
if you know what I mean. Trust me, I've known her for years." He grinned.
"C'mon, let's get you set up in berthing."
-----
As the two men walked
away, Brian and Henry stepped together for a conference. Henry was the first to
speak. "Well?"
"I trust him about
as much as a Canopian carny. But he knows what we're up against, and what he's
told me so far seems reliable. His strengths were more social than strategic,
at least in the Academy, but to give proper credit, he is a fair Mechwarrior,
and could be quite good once he settles in. If he settles in."
Henry nodded. "Kid
reminds me of some others I've seen. Looking for a place, never really felt
like he belonged, and it led him into trouble."
Brian chuckled.
"Henry, he's a year older than me."
Henry grinned. "I
know. Compared to me, you're all kids. But I don't hold it against ya."
Brian smiled, then
turned serious again. "Actually, your assessment jives well with what I
know of his family life. Felt like he had to prove himself socially, never
quite seemed to be happy. Led him to be a domineering jackass in school, then
to turn pirate later on."
"And now he's
here."
"Yes," Brian
said. "And under the threat of instant death by whichever one of us is
most immediately in range to take the shot, if he crosses us. Hopefully that
won't be necessary. I'd like to see him settle in, maybe finally have a place
to belong. We certainly could use him, that's for sure."
Henry looked at Brian
hard. "You said that like ya know what we're up against."
Brian nodded. "I
do. And I also have a vague idea of when. Come on, we've got plans to
make."