Chapter Text
Dorm Days
(A DIRRT AU Story)
Colorado Springs, Terra
Sol System
Aug. 15, 2750
“And in closing,” the Dean of Students said to the assembled crowd. “I hope the next four years teach you to that above all else, the Terran Hegemony is here to help each and every one of you.” With that, the slightly overweight man in a brown, civilian suit stepped back and nodded to the training NCO who stepped up to the podium.
“Cadets,” he snapped causing everyone the room to stand at attention from their seats. “You have your dorm assignments, on my command, you will fall out to your dorms, square away your belongings after which your dorm NCO will inspect your room and release you to the campus. They will also inform you of any requirements for your dorm room which are your responsibility to acquire within the first week.” He paused for a minute, before barking, “Dismissed!” before turning about and marching away.
**
Stepping out onto the portico of the main administration building of the campus, I found myself looking across the grounds between the various dorms and other buildings to the main classrooms. Eight stories of learning, plus the library wing for every martial discipline mankind had ever created. The central building had the “normal” classrooms for group work, with the east wing, (to my right) having been set up for physical course work like maintenance and indoor exercise. The west wing of the building was the library with its digital copies of every book that mankind had ever written and the simulators for mech, naval and aerospace combat classes. Between the administration building, with its various offices, cafeteria, and meeting halls, there were the dorms, or as the students looked upon them, the houses.
Closest to the admin building where I stood, was the Hegemony and IPA houses. The Dorm for the students of the Terran Hegemony, or Cameron house, as it was known, was easily the biggest of the dorms, and sat on the east side of the quad. Big, modern, its students were comprised of people from the twenty-five systems that made up the Hegemony after the Declaration of Demarcation pulled the Hegemony’s borders down to a measly 30.5 light years.
Focus: Terran Hegemony
Capital: Terra, Sol
Span: 61-light years (25 planets in a 30.5-light year radius of Terra)
Government: Constitutional Monarchy/Dictatorial republic
Established: 2450AD
Current Ruler: Simon Cameron
Specifics:
The birthplace of humanity grew under the general direction of the various first world powers, finally coalescing in the fall of the
Soviet Union and the primacy of the Western Alliance in the UN, which became the de facto world government. Reborn as the
Terran Alliance, the world would, in 2060, start sending political and criminal detainees out as colonists in Sleeper ships. These ships
were built in orbit, and had a programmed course, requiring minimal to no crew interaction until reaching their destination
when landing was required. This proceeded for almost 150-years until the point that the jump drive ship was deemed safe enough
for mass human travel in 2390.
The Terran Alliance was replaced in a coup by the Terran Alliance Navy, which handed control to the Cameron family, making them
the ruling family in 2450. This occurred due to the fallout from the Outer Reaches Rebellion and the Alliance's Declaration of
Demarcation which cut the Alliance off politically and economically from all its colonies outside 30.5-light years.
(Reference: As per canon, but without the betrayal of the Camerons by the Amaris family, mostly because of the later only recently
being rediscovered.)
Conversely, the Independent Planetary Alliance made up the roughly 30 light years and 64 planets between the Hegemony and anyone else. The Hegemony had one capital, Terra itself, while the IPA had four regional ones, one of which doubled as their national capital. Outreach, Imbros, Devils Rock and Northwind were each the meeting place of their respective region in the Alliance. When the entire Alliance needed to decide something as a whole, the regional representatives met on Northwind, and because of this the IPA Dorm which sat on the West side of the quad across from Cameron House, was Campbell House. If Cameron House was a thing of modern architecture, with its glass exterior walls allowing natural sunlight in for green spaces inside the building, then Campbell House was homey and almost ramshackle. The students enjoyed a two-story rambling building that seemed to take up the entirety of its square footage allowance. A low stone wall surrounded the building, separating its miniscule yard and the house itself from the rest of the school.
Focus: Independent Planetary Alliance
Capital: Northwind
Span: 60-light years (64 planets in a 30-light year deep belt around the borders of the Terran Hegemony)
Government: Democracy/Representative republic
Established: 2450AD
Current Ruler: Byron Campbell
Specifics:
Born from the Demarcation Declaration, the colonies left out in the cold from the decree banded together using the infrastructure that
the Alliance had left behind to stay alive and protect itself from the depredations of their neighbors. Having the Hegemony on their inside
while beset from multiple directions by the other factions however has done nothing but toughen the IPA until they are one of the hardest
nuts to crack, militarily or financially.
(Reference: the IPA is effectively 13th and 14th century Scotland and Ireland with battlemechs and on an interplanetary scale. There are internal
factions that would see them subjugate themselves to the Terran Hegemony, those that would see them conquer the Hegemony and those
that would prefer to just ignore the Hegemony. No one knows where their neighbor’s allegiances lie.)
The next two buildings away from the administrative building were the Capellan and Free Worlds League Dorms. While the Hegemony dorm was modern, and the IPA house was rambling, Liao and Marik both tried to outdo everyone else in classic iconography. Marik House, (on the West side of the quad) seemed to have filled their dorm space with a large Romanesque villa, full of statues and water features.
Focus: Free Worlds League
Capital: Atreus
Span: 90-light years
Government: Constitutional Republic/Socialist Planet-State
Established: 2371AD
Current Ruler: Kenyon Marik
Specifics:
Created by the joining of four independent nations, (The Marik Commonwealth, the Stewart Confederation, the Principality of Regulus
and the Duchy of Oriente,) the Free World League became one of the largest single star nations in existence, claiming a radius of over 100
-light-years and several regional capitals throughout the League. There are constant disputes with the Andurien Free State over certain border
worlds that both side claim, however, military might currently holds those worlds as Andurien.
(Reference: Consider the Free Worlds League as a Soviet Marxist version of the Italian city states of the 14th and 15th centuries, political
backstabbing included.)
Liao House had used their space to recreate the Jade Palace of ancient Chinese legend. A large building of peaked roofs and dangling exterior decorations in the color of dark Jade green. Both houses had perimeter fencing of stone, but while Marik house had the typical Roman columns in miniature with a miniature aqueduct running around the property, the Liao’s built solidly, as if recreating the Great Wall of China in miniature.
Focus: Capellan Commonwealth
Capital: Sian
Span: 200+-light years
Government: Constitutional Monarchy/Dictatorial republic
Established: 2467AD
Current Ruler: Barbara Liao
Specifics:
Formed in the face of outside aggression, the “Cappellan Zone” to the galactic south of the Terran Alliance spans close to 250-light-
years north to south and 100 light years east to west, or it would except for the Andurian Free State which took a large chunk of the
nation with it in the late 26th century. One of the first colonies to use jumpships to not only colonize its area, they used those jumpships
to find and collect the sleeper-ships that were filled with their ancestors before bringing them to their budding colonies.
(Reference: The Capellan Commonwealth is a combination of the 20th century Maoist Chinese (CCP) and the Kim family run North Korean
government with all the purges, war crimes and searches for “recidivistic” and “Anti-state” actions of both of those plus 1920’s Soviet Russia)
Next came the Federated Suns and the Lyran Alliance. The Federated Suns dorm, Davion House, seemed to be a mixture of both French and British architecture, ending up somewhat of a mix between Marik house’s sprawling villa and Campbell house’s dark but warm homeyness. Stone walls rose from the ground to the peaked room, but with plenty of large windows. And where Marik house had half-round clay tiles, and Campbell house had thatch, Davion house had a sensible grey shingle. Where three of the other four houses before it had stone walls of varying height, Davion house had a sensible, white picket fence and a ten-meter-deep yard in the front.
Focus: Federated Suns
Capital: New Avalon
Government: Constitutional Monarchy/Federal Republic
Established: 2355AD
Current Ruler: John Davion
Specifics:
The Davion family, like the Windsors of the 20th century, are expected to be figurehead rulers and thus have a lot of soft power on
paper. In reality, they have levied that over the centuries to be a goodly amount of economic power. The family itself controls a
good amount of the trade hulls that move through the nation’s space, and between that and the stakes they have in most of the defense
industries throughout the nation, are able to control a good portion of that as well. The nation has a bi-cameral legislature, (House of
Commons/ House of Lords) and a Prime Minister that run the nation and make the laws. The Davions however, through means
unknown to anyone, still seem to run the nation to their whims.
(Reference: Treat the RFS like Great Britain during the reign of King George V/VI and Queen Elizabeth II)
East of Davion house sat an impressive, if small scale castle of what was obviously stone-faced block. The Lyran Alliance dorm, known as Steiner House, looked like one of the classic Alpine fortresses minus the outer wall. A central tower, along with the rest of the building, showed a blue shingled roof and gargoyles on the buttresses where the roof corners met.
Focus: Lyran Alliance
Capital: Tharkad
Government: Constitutional Republic/Monarchy
Established: 2341
Current Ruler: Robert Steiner II
Specifics:
As named the Lyran Alliance is an alliance of the various nobles in Lyran space. Their ruling seat, the Archon, has been held by the
Steiner family for the last four generations The problems the Steiners face is their lack of any real authority or power. Each
member of the Alliance makes their own planetary or regional rules (depending on how much each noble family controls) even to
the point of going to war with each other. The Current Archon holds onto a shaky peace at the moment, both with his subject princes
and with his neighbors.
(Reference: Think of the Lyran Alliance as “The Germanies” of the 1600’s. Lots of little princelings with more local power than brains,
and no authority outside their own demenses.)
All that said, most of the houses seemed to be very open despite the architecture, (the exception being Liao house who seemingly did not want anyone that was not on their admittance list to enter.) This of course led me to the final two dorms. On the East side of the quad, the dorm for the Draconis Shogunate troops took the form of either a martial arts dojo, or maybe the Shogun’s palace as shown in a Western Alliance movie. Large overhanging rooflines provided ample protection from the elements for the paper screen walls that seemed to make up the majority of the exterior. Red Tori gates seemed to frame the path through the rock garden that surrounded the building, and all around it you could see men, (and the occasional woman) in uniforms that seemed to denote that they were members of the Draconis military. Kurita house was if nothing else, always defended against the outside, but maybe they felt they had no other choice as they could argue they were caught between two enemy houses and a house full of what they would consider Ronin warriors.
Focus: Draconis Shogunate
Capital: Luthien
Government: Military Dicatatorship/ Militant Feudal
Established: 2319
Current Ruler: Minoru Kurita
Specifics:
An expansionist military dictatorship, the Kurita family has pushed the Shogunate’s borders further towards its neighbors since even
before its inception. They have a policy of strict border control, only allowing foreign shipping, including that of the Terran Hegemony, to
enter the Shogunate at certain ports, and even then the goods are then transferred and the ships allowed no deeper into their territory.
(Reference:
The best reference to the Shogunate is a combination of the Tokugawa era and the expansionist pre-WWII Japanese.)
Home to the Andurian Free State here on Terra, the Mercenary house housed those troops that didn’t fall under the auspices of the IPA or one of the other great houses due to contractual obligations. “The Bunker” as it was commonly nicknamed, was a large ranch style farmhouse with a limited number of bedrooms, clapboard siding, and a chain-link perimeter fence with a guard shack. The Andurians had spent the last three-hundred years fighting for both the Free Worlds League and the Capellan Commonwealth to leave them alone. They had fought hard, but part of their ability to fight hard was the ability to pay the mercenaries they hired in cash, equipment, and educations.
Focus: Andurian Free State
Capital: Andurian
Government: Democratic Oligarchy/Dictatorship
Established: 2582
Current Ruler: Michael Allard
Specifics:
A new star nation that has been semi-expansionist, but only in an opportunistic fashion, they have either annexed willing planets, or
else taken systems in retaliatory strikes when their opponents attacked them. This has led to the majority of there territory
coming from the Capellan Commonwealth as Sian repeatedly sought to retake the territory at various times during the run up the
nations true independence.
(Reference:
A mishmash of cultures and ideals the idea here is a combination of Taiwan, (post Chinese civil war) Singapore and Hong Kong
with a dash of Israel during the 60’s and 70’s to add spice.)
The exception to this was when a spot opened in their dorm. If there were no scions of the Oligarchs that ran the Andurian Free State, they would offer a seat to their hired mercenaries. If none of them had an officer that could make the cut, then the seat would be offered to the Hegemony’s General Testing Service. That was how I ended up here because the Hegemony’s General Testing Service tested everywhere that humanity had been rediscovered without fear or favor.
My parents were mercenaries on a long-term contract to the United Hindu Collective. Several years ago they had been amongst the survivors of an invasion attempt by the Draconis Shogunate into the Collective where they led a motley collection of four different mercenary outfits in the defense of the civilian population. The mercenary units had been devastated, and the local Planetary Defense Force had been routed which left the remaining mercs to cover the civilians as they retreated to the mountains and an ancient redoubt where they were supposed to be safe. The Shogunate troops had been committing atrocities left and right, (according to the recordings and my parent’s drunken tales) and the mercenaries were the last in the retreat when my father apparently hit the point where he had had enough. Just out of shear spite, he managed to put enough spine into a mixed battalion of near broken troops to get them to hold the redoubt and the pass around it for a week.
Then, with only a lance of medium weight Land-Air-Mechs and two lances of armor, he and the mercenaries under him pushed the Combine’s troops back out of the mountains where the Drac’s broke and ran for their dropships. Pops admitted that the last was probably because of the four dropships that were inbound, loaded with heavy battalions of armor and supporting battlemechs.
Stalwart’s Ironhorse- Veteran rated mercenary unit
Founders:
Captain John Irons- Mitchel’s Marauders
Captain Steven Cho- Cavanaugh’s Calvary
Captain Stephanie Wells- Rico’s Roughnecks
Captain Miranda Wallis- Walker’s Rangers
TO&E
Eight battlemechs,
1-PHX-HK1, 1-PHX-HK2,
1-HBK-4G, 1-HBK-4H,
1-INF-1A, 1-INF-1G
2-RFL-2N
four heavy tanks,
2-Demon,
2-Vargr,
Eight Condor Heavy Hover Tanks, (some apparently modified),
Two companies of infantry
The unit also owns its own naval assets (two DRoST II class dropships) that carries both equipment and dependents when moving between
contracts. Ships are considered capital costs to unit and will not be leveraged unless in severe jeopardy.
The unit specializes in both heavy defense and light raider operations and are considered proficient enough in both to teach planetary
defense units in how to repel a raid or delay an invasion until such time as relief or orders to surrender can arrive. In the defensive, Stalwart’s
Ironhorse has been known to require 10-1 force disparity to dislodge. This is in part because of careful choosing of what ground to defend,
as well as the ferocity with which they fight.
Current contract-United Hindu Collective: Planetary Defense Force training.
Thus was born Stalwart’s Ironhorse, as when all was said and done, the remaining mercenaries in the various units decided to follow my parents instead of try and continue on their own. The battle earned a touch of notoriety amongst the various mercenary circles, and to be a member of the Ironhorse, it is expected that you’re a deadly son of a bitch who will stand your ground when everything has gone to hell. Of course, in some respects they are right. The Ironhorse has a reputation for earning their pay, and damn the opposition, but part of that is because my parents are very smart mercs who know the capabilities of the unit, and its limitations. They are very careful in the contracts that they take, and currently they are back at the UHC on a training and defense contract. Part of that contract was five spots at the various Military colleges around the Inner Sphere. Everyone that wanted to take their chances took the test, and six of us left to learn. Three to Lyran space and the Nagelring, two to Sandhurst in the Federated Suns, and me to Terra, for the Hegemony’s Star League Defense course.
**
“I’m sorry ma’am,” the guard at the gate into the mercenary house said to the Capellan officer in front of me. “You are on the do not admit list.”
“Please, your Excellency,” her companion started only to be silenced with a look from the Sub-Commander who then turned her attention back to the guard.
“Sir,” she said calmly, “I need to speak to Lieutenant Franklin Cho immediately. Please have someone go get him.” The officer’s companion, who I could now see was also a Sub-Commander, but probably of either lower rank or social status, relaxed ever so slightly at that answer. She had spent the last few minutes since I had arrived as we all waited to enter, begging the Sub-Commander not to do whatever it was that was in the Sub-Commander’s mind to do. That she simply wanted to talk to another officer that lived in the dorm shouldn’t be that much of an issue.
“I’m sorry ma’am,” the guard said, not looking particularly sorry at all. “But I cannot go inside to either take him the message, nor to retrieve him myself, and there is no one here to take the message either.”
“I’ll do it,” I found myself saying, causing all three of them to jump. All three turned to look at me and I handed the gate guard my Identification. “If you tell me what the Lieutenant looks like, I’ll go recover him. He might be a bit roughed up by the time he gets here, but that would be on him.”
The Sub-Commander on my left, who had been the one asking to go through the gate smiled at me while the one on my right scowled. “Thank you,” the Sub-Commander said. “I am Sub-Commander Lao Chen, and here’s what the Lieutenant looks like.” She held out a tablet with the image of a dark-haired young Lieutenant in Andurian Naval Khakis. “Bring him out here if he is inside, if he is not, then please ascertain where he has gone and when he will return. What I need to discuss with him is of the utmost importance, but also of a private matter.”
“Of course, madam,” I replied with a nod as I accepted my ID back from the guard. “I’ll return as quickly as possible.
**
Entering the dorm, I quickly made a note to see what it would take to find accommodations somewhere else. The place was filthy, pizza boxes were stacked practically everywhere, and had been made into some kind of a fort in the front room just off the entryway. People in various states of undress littered the floor all around and the air reeked of smoked substances that would not be allowed in any unit.
Walking out of the entryway and into the main hallway, I was confronted by a woman with red hair that she wore pulled up in a ponytail. She was wearing exercise clothes and drying off her upper body with a towel. “Ah, Fresh-meat,” she said smiling. “What brings you here rookie?”
“At this moment,” I said looking at her. She was tall and toned with an athletic build that would make most men grovel at her feet. “I’m looking for a Lieutenant Franklin Cho. There’s a lady of his acquaintance outside that wishes to speak with him.”
“Ah, Frankie,” she said her friendly smile turning feral. “Fourth floor, turn left and it’s the third door on the right.” She paused for a minute in thought before she continued. “You know what?” she said. “I wanna see him try to talk his way out of whatever it is he’s managed to get himself into this time.” With that said, she led me to the central staircase where I climbed the eight flights of stairs up to the attic level where the senior class had their rooms.
**
Following the woman, I was soon in front of a door which, when I knocked on it, was opened by a blonde woman who was using the door to hide the fact that she was obviously naked. “I’m looking for Lieutenant Cho,” I told her and then watched as she bit her lower lip and her eyes crossed.
“He’s, umm…” she fought with herself to speak, “a bit busy at the moment,” she continued, closing her eyes and focusing. “Could you come back in say, twenty-minutes?”
“There is a Sub-Commander that wishes to speak with him,” I said flatly. I could tell what was happening, and I wasn’t amused. “Tell him that he has thirty-seconds to decide whether he gets to get dressed in what would be minimally appropriate, or else I drag him out there buck assed naked.
“Just, umm…” she started as she started to ease the door shut. “Just a minute and I’ll get you an answer.”
I sighed as she retreated behind the closing door. Checking my watch, I started watching the time, and then started counting out loud as the last ten seconds was passing.
“Alright god damn it,” I heard a male voice yell from the other side of the door. “Give me a minute to get dressed and I’ll be out.”
“You have one minute,” I said calmly before looking at the redhead. “Is this a common occurrence?” I asked her.
“With wonder-dick there?” she asked, and I nodded. “Every now and then when he sticks it somewhere he really shouldn’t have,” she answered, and then about five seconds before I started pounding on the door, the Lieutenant opened it and stepped out wearing PT clothes.
“Margo,” he said addressing the redhead. “What brings you to this?”
“Oh I just want to see who had the common sense to ask or hire a fellow merc to come roust your ass when you decided to be a dick,” she answered. “Add to that, the rookie here has a shitload of confidence, so I wanted to see how he got you out of the dorm doorknob.”
This time it was my turn to look at the redhead, raising an eyebrow in query. Her response was to smile enigmatically but was cut off by Cho letting out a huff. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t refer to Amanda like that,” he growled, and I rolled my eyes in response.
“The Sub-Commander awaits you at the gate Lieutenant,” I said instead and waved towards the stairs. The lieutenant’s response was to growl before leaving. I followed right on his heal with “Margo” right behind me.
**
“Look, it was just a booty call,” the lieutenant said about five minutes later. Margo and I had marched him out to face his firing squad of one perturbed Capellan Sub-Commander. She had come here hopeful that the oversexed dandy of a Andurian Oligarch’s son actually felt something, (other than a tightening in his pants) for her and was sorely disappointed when he told her she was nothing but a piece of ass. Margo had to suppress her giggles and I felt more and more like a tin soldier, all of one inch tall as the woman broke down in tears. There was a part of me that wanted to beat the ever-loving drek out of the bastard for making the lady cry, a second part that wanted to go over to the lady and console her, while a third just wanted to find somewhere else to be. Margo tapped me on the shoulder and gestured away, giving that third urge a direction, so I followed her.
“Unfortunately,” she said leading me back into the house and to a room on the first floor. “That is usually how these things resolve themselves. Thankfully he has only one semester left here and then we’re through with him.” Knocking on the door to the room, she waited with me, not telling me why we were here.
Finally, though, the door opened to a wizened old man who looked at the two of us and smiled. “Welcome to Mercenary house young man,” he said smiling. “Hopefully you won’t fall down the same trap that most everyone else has. That said, please come in, come in. Margo, would you be a dear and pour yourself and this young man each a cup of coffee. I suppose that this is our new resident?”
I nodded at the question and followed Margo inside, watching as she prepared us each a cup. A sip later and I knew who I was here with. “So you’re the chief of this clusterfuck,” I said as diplomatically as I could. His response was to laugh.
“That about sums it up, yes,” he answered with a nod. “And yes, for my sins I have been put in charge of a house that doesn’t listen to me or only does so until my back is turned, or the spoiled child of an Oligarch decides that they know better. I don’t know whose cereal I pissed in to get this job, but I wish I hadn’t.” The last was said with a shake of his head, even as Margo came back with two cups of coffee.
“Didn’t know how you took yours,” she said handing me the mug.
“Black is fine,” I answered. “So, where am I bunking?” I asked.
“I’ll tell you in a minute,” the chief said with a sigh. “The thing is that with the rare exception of people like Margo here, you’ll see very few people show up to PT regularly, and don’t trust anything that comes out of our kitchen unless you know who cooked it.” He looked at me and shook his head, “With some of our residents, even if you do know who fixed it you might want to question it. I’ve been forced to stop trying to enforce discipline where cleanliness is concerned, along with sleeping conditions.”
“That would explain why it looks like the combination of a Canopian brothel and a pizza box factory,” I muttered earning a chuckle.
“That’s about the most generous description of this house that I’ve heard since I got here,” he commented. “Semester starts on Monday, which gives you the weekend to get to know your room and house mates. Lieutenant Cho, who I know you have had the displeasure of meeting is likely going to try and make your next semester here a living hell as he is a senior this term”
I took a sip of my coffee and shrugged at that, “He’s welcome to try,” I replied. “Nothing in the rules says that I can’t beat the hell out of him for being an ass if he’s stupid enough to get into the ring or the simulator against me. He strikes me as a missile boat assault type, so I might even be able to take him on the combat field as well.”
“Good read,” Margo commented sipping her coffee. “He drives a STK-3H Stalker that his daddy bought him fresh from the factory on Atreus.”
“Heh,” I chuckled. “85-tons of twin LRM-20s and SRM-6s with medium lasers, and poor little me with nothing but a 55-tonner with a PPC and an SRM-4. He would never know what hit him.”
“How do you figure?” the chief asked, clearly interested.
“I drive the new INF-1P-LAM,” I answered with a smile. “I was going to get my uncle’s old 1G, but my dad decided that getting a scholarship to the SLDS was worth something fresh from the factory. Doesn’t quite have the same range as the gauss rifle in the -1G, but hits almost as hard and has a SRM-4 instead of a -2 for backup.”
“Not bad kid,” the chief said as Margo let out a low whistle of appreciation. “And I bet you’re already a daft hand at the conversion settings.” I nodded in response and got to see the old man grin like a Cheshire cat. “Well then, lets just go out there and see how lover boy is doing at convincing the Queen of the asylum’s niece that he doesn’t need to marry her for despoiling her virginity.”
I blinked before tossing back the last of the coffee (that I had somehow drank without remembering) before following the chief back out of the building to the gate, just in time to see the Sub-Commander come from her hip with a slap that drove the lieutenant almost to the ground. “Píqì bàozào de gǒu,” she said forgetting to use English. “Xiǎng xiǎng wǒ ràng nǐ yǒu wǒ de róngxìng, wǒ huì biǎndī zìjǐ chéngwéi zhòngduō zài nǐ kùzi lǐ de rén zhī yī. Nǐ méiyǒu nǐ xiǎngxiàng de yībàn hǎo, húndàn.” Her piece said she whirled on her heal and stormed off for her own dorm at a pace that bespoke of a rage that would see the man humbled before long.
“Maybe I should go see if she want’s any help bringing this asshole to his knees,” I whispered to Margo who chuckled in response.
“I’m game if she wants some help,” Margo replied, and I nodded even as the chief called out to the lieutenant.
“So Frankie,” he said, his tone dripping with derision. “Learned not to stick it in crazy yet, or do you still need time to figure out that the queen of the asylum’s niece counts as crazy too.”
“Fuck you chief,” the lieutenant growled as he stood there rubbing his jaw where the blow probably came very near to breaking it. “Fucking bitch thinks she’s so special, she wasn’t all that great.”
The chief lifted an eyebrow at the dandy before stepping in front of him. “Son,” he said, “if you are lucky, you will just end up with a price on your head. Defiling the niece of the Chancellor of the Capellan Commonwealth would earn you at least that much.” Even I blinked at that. I hadn’t known who she was when I offered to drag the jackass out of the dorm, but after a second of thought, I decided it didn’t really matter. “Furthermore,” the chief continued. “It depends on how much Barbara Liao cares for said niece which will say whether or not she forgoes the bounty, and just decides to have a Death Commando kill you. Assuming of course, that said niece just runs home crying and doesn’t bother cleaning up the mess that is you personally.”
The dandy snorted, “Bullshit chief,” he said turning away from the NCO and heading back towards the dorm. “She’s welcome to try whatever she wants, including coming back to my bed,” the last was said with a malicious grin that dropped as fast as it had formed when he saw me standing next to Margo. “Guard,” he snapped, “I want this man banned from the premises as well for threatening violence upon the person of a resident. Margo, you were a witness to it.”
“I was,” she conceded, “But funny thing there, you can’t kick a resident out, you don’t have the authority.” The last was said with a feral grin that caused Cho to step back a half-step.
“He’s not one of our units,” he said glaring first at Margo and then at the chief who smiled at him as well. “Who are you?” he finally asked.
“James Irons, from Stalwart’s Ironhorse,” I answered. “I’m part of the new class that arrived today.” The lieutenant goggled at me, so I gave him some more information. “And the comment that Margo witnessed, it wasn’t a threat, it was a promise. One that I imagine I will eventually have to follow through on. So as the saying goes Lieutenant, if you feel froggy, jump.”
“I’ll see you blacklisted,” the lieutenant growled. “You and your family will never see a job for the Free State.”
That earned a snort from me, “In case you missed the news Lieutenant,” I replied with a smile. “The Ironhorse are on their second ten-year contract to the United Hindu Collective, with an option to renew in another ten years. We don’t need Andurian credits. Now if you want, we can step over to the simulators and give it a go, or throw down right here and now, I really don’t care. But from here on out, you will treat the women around here with a modicum of respect, or I will drag you out to apologize to each and every one of them you seduce.”
The lieutenant glared at me for a solid minute before sniffing in a manner that showed the disdain, he held me in before flouncing off to the dorm. “Damn,” Margo said as we watched him go. “I’ve never seen anyone cause him to back down like that. James Irons, I do believe that we can be friends.”
“Thank you,” I said giving her a smile. “Though knowing who you are would be appreciated.”
“Margo Martins,” she answered with a similar smile, “My mother is a member of the First Andurian Grenadiers, so when I was tested, I got sent here. This is going to be so much fun.” As she said that last part, Margo started rubbing her hands together.
“I’m glad you think so Margo,” the chief said dragging us back to reality. “Because James here is your new roommate.”
Margo and my “WHAT!!” could probably be heard all the way to the administrative building.
**
“If they are going to force the change in the house rules to allow co-ed cohabitation, then I’m going to abuse the hell out of it to get all the support I can to turn this house around.” The chief’s words ran through my mind repeatedly as I unpacked my bags and made a quick change into my fatigues. Dad said it was the sign of a true field officer that I felt more at home in my fatigues that my dress uniform, and mom had said that being a grunt at heart never hurt anyone anywhere. I sure hoped that they were right. “So,” Margo said from the doorway as I started unpacking my micro-comp. “Tell me about yourself.”
My response was to shrug as I picked up the monitor, “Not much to tell,” I answered setting it on my desk. “I tend to be quiet and studious, and I prefer to spend my time reading or working on my mech when I’m not in classes. Otherwise, I’ve always been a bit of a loner to be honest,” I continued. “Three siblings, two younger one older, and parents, all back with the unit, well, technically my older sister is in her second year at the Nagelring on a Naval track. Mom wants to get her hands on one of the older warships that have been mothballed around the sphere, or at least a fleet tender. That way we have our own jumpship and she can feel safe about the dependents and be able jump them out at the first sign of trouble. Dad wants to set up a headhunter unit of LAMs to operate as a deep-strike lance, that way someone can take the fight to the enemy when they decide to come in to one our defensive sites all full of what he calls piss and vinegar.”
While I talked, I set up the comp, connecting wires to where they needed to go with the surety of long practice. Finally, I powered it on and loaded the operating system disk so that I could gain access to the local area network for the dorm. “Your also good with computers I see,” she said pulling her desk chair over next to mine.
“It’s a hobby,” I answered. “Got pretty good at cracking the local planetary and ship networks out of boredom back when I was little, so I became the main source of intelligence for my parents on what the customer was really after when we’d take a job. Then they took the UHC contract when I was ten and its just been keeping an eye on the locals to ensure we weren’t going to get stabbed in the back, either intentionally or accidentally.”
Margo nodded, “Makes sense,” she said even as the house node opened up to me, showing the various linked computers, including the administrative directory. I routed through that to reach the planetary data-net before shutting it back down and turning to face her.
“What about you?” I asked relaxing in my chair, “Where are you from and what do you do besides hit the gym?”
She smirked, a not unpleasant sight, “I’m from Andurian but the daughter of Melissa Martins, colonel of the First Andurian Grenadiers third battalion. I have a younger brother who is about your age, he’s going to technical school to learn to be a mech tech, and I drive a modified HBK-4G.”
“How’s it modified?” I asked. There were a lot of modifications that people had done to the old Hunchbacks, mostly because they needed something other than a close range brawler, or they just didn’t like the Class-20 autocannon.
“Replaced the 20 with a gauss rifle,” she answered. “That allowed me to cut out two of its heat sinks, then between that and ditching the 3-cm laser, I was able to squeeze in four Holley jump jets before wrapping it up in that nice new Ferro-fibrous armor the Hegemony just put out on the market.”
“Nice,” I said with a nod. “You ever consider going mercenary?” The question was asked in a joking tone, but hell, if she said yes, I was sure dad would at least consider her for the unit. Her response was to shrug.
“Not really to be honest,” she answered. “But then again we have way too many like Frankie Cho at the reigns of the state for my liking.” The last was muttered, almost growled as she looked at the doorway. “And while we have the illusion of being a democracy,” she continued. “Everyone knows that if you don’t vote a certain way, your food allotment, or your energy allotment, or a whole host of other things that are rationed, will be cut.”
I grimaced at that but nodded. The Andurian Free State was anything but free, and its people were in the unenviable position of being caught in between two larger interstellar neighbors who thought that they should own the Andurian real estate. Hell, that was how the First Andurian crisis had started, the locals getting tired of the tug of war between the Free Worlds League and the Capellan Commonwealth and telling them both to back off. Of course, it didn’t work out to well for the Andurians when the Capellans returned with enough force to subjugate the area back into their control. This of course, led to the Second Andurian Crisis years later.
“I could always put in a good word for you with my folks,” I said giving her a smile which promptly earned me a smack to the arm.
“I’ll consider it,” she remarked dryly. “So now that your unpacked, do you want to look at the rest of the house, or find somewhere else to be for a while?”
“Rest of the house,” I said after a moment’s thought. “I need to know where everything is so that I’m not asking the wrong people about where to find something.”
“Good answer and reason,” she said with a smile as she stood up. “Come on, I’ll show you where the kitchen is, for all the good it does anyone.”
**
The kitchen was almost as big a write-off as I was afraid it was. Everything was filthy, including the stove, fridge and microwave, and Margo admitted that she kept a micro-fridge, a microwave, and a hotplate amongst her belongings, but hidden. “You might want to find a set of your own,” she suggested as we looked at the mess that was the kitchen. “I’ve given up on trying to keep this place clean, as has the chief, and you can forget getting a cook in here, because the assholes make their lives hell with bullshit.”
“So what do most of the people here do for food?” I asked.
“Take-out, microwave dinners, the cafeteria for lunch, and instant food out of the commissary,” she answered. “The good news is that there are twelve different delivery places on campus, and another half-dozen in range of the dorms to deliver. The problem, as I’m sure you’ve noticed is the trash that generates.”
I nodded remembering the pizza boxes in the front room. “Showers?” I asked, “Bathrooms?”
“I mostly try to use the ones in the gym,” she answered. “Here there are two on each floor, but you really don’t want to use them unless you have no choice, and don’t think that you will get any studying done around here either, not without earplugs anyway.”
“How do you get anything accomplished around here then?” I growled realizing what a damn mistake this place was.
“I spend every waking moment somewhere else usually,” she answered with a smile. “Honestly, I suggest you do the same until we can clear out the worst offenders and straighten this place out.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening without the Andurian Oligarchs or the school officials coming down on this place like the proverbial ton of bricks.”
Margo just shrugged. “It is what it is,” she said. “Now, I’m hungry, so lets go see the cafeteria and see what they have to eat.” I could only nod and follow her. Not only was it someplace that I was apparently going to have to know how to find, but I was getting a bit hungry as well.
**