We closed off a few contracts on Peratallada and I noticed the Boss was carefully balancing the Tuarians and Canopians. We didn’t want angry bulls nor women coming after us, and we could always be working for one side or the other in the future. Eventually, Yang convinced Boss to head out, first to Pyrrhus and then to a stop further into Davion space. I was curious, but neither the Boss nor Yang was sharing details on that one.
We left Peratallada on Week 30 Day 3 and spent the next 3 weeks in space… but we barely got underway before I hear some hoohaa about backtracking and going back to Independence. I think cooler heads prevailed and we stuck with our current travel arrangements towards Pyrrhus.
We reached Pyrrhus on Week 34 Day 1, and started working between Davion and Taurians. Boss tiptoes around the two sides, constantly balancing the two. Honestly I sort of find it distasteful, but I guess in this day and age of proxy wars, the Houses would prefer to work with mercs they trust.
TigerTail was particularly angry since she got hit in the head twice by shrapnel.
Sometimes though, that gives us toys to work with. Davion actually tossed us one of Liao’s brand new Cataphracts to play with. That attracted attention from the Taurians. And Pirates. Not sure how to tell the two apart, but..
BIG HEAD MODE!
That new Cataphract is good but the head is just bloody big. TigerTail caught two hits and was out for a month after that. Boss made sure I wrote “BIG HEAD MODE?” on the customer satisfaction survey we sent back.
We were just settling into Pyrrhus when the Boss called us back to ship. Apparently, we’re going to Mendham to “go help a friend”…. I didn’t know the Boss had friends. Well, apparently not friends in low places. Friends in high places though, such as House Nakano of the Combine… who knew? Anyway, we got there on Week 37 Day 7. During the trip inbound, there was some bad gossip swirling about Ghoul’s past, but the Boss spoke with him and it seemed to work out.
So this “help a friend” stuff. Some big shot in a small House in Kurita have a socialite/ gold-digger problem. To be frank that sound more like Steiner to me but I’m no high society. Their way of dealing with unwanted social influence apparently is to ambush a convoy can kill said digger. Wetwork is not the greatest cup of tea for me, but seemed like the Boss owns some favours to the House Nakano.
The fight in the Badlands was tougher than I expected. All mechs came with some damage, so Yang would need some time to repair them — enough for TigerTail to rejoin. Scuttlebutt had the daughter of our current employer trying to buy us over with thrice the pay. The Boss decided to stand with our original contractor, Lady Nakano. As much as the money would have been better on the other side, I guess a merc that breaks a bond is just a pirate in disguise. I might have liked the money, but sooner or later the price would be on my head. Word of our actions did get around and apparently the pirates were not happy with us. Eh, I think I can live with that.
Like them or not, they knew how to fight and how to die.
The Nakano catfight — the Boss will ream me out for saying that — reached its climax as we deployed for Lady Suiko Nakano, Matriarch of the House Nakano and former Tai-i of the 177th Yorii Lancers. Whatever I might have to say about them, the Dracs knew how to fight and how to die. Even with a big Zeus staring them down, they went forward bravely. The fight wasn’t too complicated and we dragged off a Thunderbolt; the Dracs lost a Shadowhawk in return. It’s a pity we couldn’t salvage the enemy Zeus, but it just took way too much damage for even “Shredder” Rugby to take out cleanly.
The Thunderbolt lying on its feet? Not so much.
“House Nakano is in your debt” is something nice to hear, especially for the cost we paid. In the end, House Nakano chose to honour the samurai spirit that created the House rather than the wealth of its position. It’s a bit strange to see, but the Kuritans are a strange people.
We didn’t stay long in the system as we were already late for some work that we promised Yang. We departed for Electra in Week 39