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Chapter 4[]
Dead Man's Hand: What Price Glory[]
DropShip Ante-Up, Froese River Valley
Clan Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone
June 2nd, 3059
There is an ancient maximum that states that no good deed goes unpunished.
Leftenant Lakshmi 'Creds' Basu, second in command, Yankee Company, 1st Davion Guards. The woman who'd been on the other end of the rescue beacon that Kelso had picked up. A native of June, capital of the Periphery March, she was a willowy, dark skinned woman who spoke with a pronounced Hindu accent, something Joker had never encountered before. It had been Kelso who had pointed out that Basu wore the insignia of the Messengers of Shiva, the military of the long defunct United Hindu Collective, as a morale patch.
Kelso didn't much talk about her life before Tamar, but it was apparent that she'd been born in the same general region of the Federated Suns as Basu, even if she was somewhat hazy on the specifics.
Basu came across as your stereotypical Davion officer, chomping at the bit to get back into action and do her duty by God and First Prince. Joker had never met a member of House Davion, but they were obviously impressive if they were able to garner that kind of devotion from their troops. The downside was, Basu wasn't willing to let a little thing like 'operational security' or 'your BattleMech is a widely scattered pile of scrap' get it in her way. After confirming that Calvin's Commando was operational, she had addressed the three survivors of her company and reminded them that their mission wasn't over, and that they were still expected to do their duty.
Then she had turned to Dead Man's Hand and tried to rope them into her plans. Joker had explained as politely, with as little swearing as she could manage that they were mercenaries and that their contract wasn't with the Federated Commonwealth. Or even the new Star League, but directly with the DCMS. As such, they were outside her chain of command, and could no more give her orders than she could them. This wasn't helped by the fact that none of them held even a token rank, something Joker realized may have been a mistake. This was followed up with a reminder that, as they were MRBC accredited mercenaries working under legal contract with an allied power, Basu couldn't simply... appropriate their 'Mechs. Not if she didn't want to be dragged before a court of inquiry, or even shipped all the way to Outreach to explain herself before the review board.
Joker wasn't sure exactly how far she could push her familial connection with the Wolf's Dragoons, and truth be told, it wasn't something she intended to rely on if she could avoid it, but it was always good to have an ace you could keep.
Basu had reluctantly, accepted that for the time being, she was sitting out the invasion...
"Moorkh medhaavee gaay!" an excited voice echoed from the mess hall down the corridor, and Joker felt her heart sink.
"Kaho ki phir se aur aapako pachhataava hoga, aap phans gae kutiya!" Kelso responded, and Joker walked through the door to see her friend being physically restrained by Scilicorn, who was already sporting what looked like the beginning of a black eye.
"Kya? Ki aap ek suar ke lie ek bekaar, badasoorat bahaana hai jo ise sena mein katautee nahin kar sakata hai, isalie ek bhaade ka banana mushkil hai?!" Basu snapped back, Aung lifting her clean off the deck with on arm, while Calvin tried to calm her down, "Kya galat hai? Bahut badasoorat apanee peeth par ek jeevit karane ke lie?"
"Phir se kaho!" Kelso snapped, almost breaking free, "Kahate hain ki phir se, kutiya, aur main aapaka bahut chhota chehara kaat doonga!"
Joker drew her laser pistol. She checked to make sure that it was on a setting that would produce a lot of light and noise, but do no real damage, and fired it into the table between the two women. Everyone instantly stopped what they were doing and slowly turned to look at her.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I break your concentration?" the Mercenary asked.
Everyone remained silent, Kelso refusing to meet here gaze.
"Now, I'm going to count to three, at which point, I want Jay and Emelio to let go." Joker smiled, her voice just a little too sweet, "If anyone wishes to continue this heated debate at that point, they can do so with me. One. Two. Three."
Scilicorn and Aung let go, and for a moment, lit looked like Basu and Kelso were going to attack each other, but it passed.
"Good. Now, I'm not going to do anything stupid, like tell you to shake hands and make up. Bobbie, why don't you take the side door and head down to the Mech Bay?" Joker suggested, "Since you've gotten so much energy and aggression to burn, why don't you and I go out on patrol?"
Kelso fumed, then closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded.
"Sorry about your eye." she mumbled to Scilicorn, who shrugged it off with a pat on the shoulder as she walked past him.
"And as for you." Joker turned to Basu, "I get that you're angry, and want to strike back at something, anything, to get over what happened to your people. We've faced the Clans, we were on Tamar before the Wolves rolled in and took over the place, so we've been there. But, right now, you're a guest on our ship, and I expect you to act like an Officer and a Lady. Isn't that how you Davions like to put it?"
"Something like that." Scilicorn nodded, dabbing his eye carefully with a handkerchief.
"I...apologies." Basu bowed her head, "I allowed my emotions to get the better of me."
"Like I said, we've all been there," Joker nodded with a knowing smile, "but I'd avoid Bobbie until she has a chance to cool off."