You grab your noteputer and visit a terminal in the hotel lounge to download the information you need, then head back to your room to consult the biographies, housing listings, used car ads, and other information you need. Still, you can't help but feel a twinge of regret-maybe you should make some time to socialize. It would be bad to not know anyone outside work, and hardly anyone there as well. (+1 Nerd point) On your way back to your room you make sure to ask the desk clerk a few questions in English and he understands you perfectly, confirming in your mind at least that your boss was being difficult. Still, you have the tabs to review the language, you just...haven't had time to use them. If you're being honest, your own English isn't exactly Star League standard anyways, a side effect of being raised in a cabin for the first five years of your life, with no neighbors for 30 kilometers.
You also look up the coffee recommendation and find out what Kopi Luack
is. Ew.
Back on topic, you find a wide slice of housing available-but without a lot of time to spare, you'll need to swallow your pride. You're making a lot of money by local standards anyways, 20,000 Maravedí (M-bills?) per month. And that's just your pay as a 'Junior Engineer', which you can expect to rise quickly. Engineers proper get 32,000 a month, Senior Engineers pocket a nice 44,000, and the Ur-designer, the Lead Engineer, should you ever rise that high, takes home 52,000 M per month. That's an annual salary of 31,000 c-bills for your boss, and a still nice 12,000 for you. Add in project completion bonuses, and this is potentially quite lucrative. Even so, some of the
local housing and transportation options seem out of even your reach.
[ ]Make a decision?
[ ]Hold off for now...
Setting those things aside for now, you turn your attention to a brief history of the realm. Starting at the top. Fifty-two years ago, in the Revolution of '99, the pirate princedom of Cabanagem was overthrown by a bastard daughter of the old prince who killed her father, her half siblings and cousins, and ruthlessly purged the old government down to the quick before having herself declared 'El Presidente' by acclamation of her army and the crowd that gathered around the palace bedecked with gallows. Thus did the name of Mafalda Sandra Goizane Eka Vargas pass into history, and ever since has the planet of Cabanagem been ruled in relative peace from that day to this. Only brief revolution in '09 following land reforms marred the domestic scene until the elections of '36. Then, on televised debate, her chief opponent accused her of endangering their tributary relationship with the priates who dominated the area by building up an illegal army. The debate was cut off and the election canceled, and the brief 'War of Piracy' was fought in 36 and 37, leading to the downfall of all three squabbling pirate powers and the ascendancy of Cabanagem as the foremost world in this part of the periphery. The Elections of 5040 swept El Presidente and her political party 'Union and Revolution' into power with a 70% majority of the vote, a majority that has been maintained in every election since. One gets a picture of a charming woman with delightful habits and an extremely photogenic smile who is also capable of terrifying violence to meet her goals. Most of the pictures of her are from parties, but there are a few from other occasions, like the offical surrender of the pirates. You also find a little bit about her husband, Pablo Moreno, who seems to be a mercenary, bleeding heart, and something of an action hero slash popular legend. The stories about him using a grappling hook to board a Mech and kill it's pilot with nothing but a knife must be mere urban legend, surely.
General Igor Federov and General Raul Rodriguez are both veterans of the War of Piracy-then Colonel Federov was commander of the 'Przemyśl expeditionary force', while Rodriguez was one of the three Mechwarriors who served his nation directly, rather than being a mercenary bought with the promise of 'C-bills Now, Land and Titles Later'. A promise that apparently lead to the privatization of several formerly government controlled companies, including the one you now work for. You also find a series of articles detailing a faux pas comitted by Federov at a party against a Comstar representative, leading to demands for Federov's resignation and El Presidente declaring that as a customer service representative, the Comstar official had taken remarks that he was out to mind-control the population a bit too seriously. Federov's paranoia apparently was the trigger for Comstar shutting off Class D service to this world, but since that's 'one jumpship per year', the uptick in trade from a suddenly pirate-free area really made that a bit of a wash.
It looks like El Pres has a daughter who might be interested in things as well-the Minister of Industry, Maria Antonia Atarah Daniela Febe Moreno-Vargas. Maria is a certified genius with a doctorate from a prestigious Inner-sphere university, and has made her name as a civilian industrialist, unlike most scions of ruling families or indeed her brother Diego. It looks like she won't be able to touch you until time comes to start forming parts, but she's strongly interested in best practices and mass production, so your little factory might not satisfy her proclivities if she starts wishing for a Hephestus-like Mechworks. There are also a lot of photos of her with cake for some reason.
But in any case, it seems the Clans and the recent up-teching in the Inner Sphere have caught the local leadership feeling the pinch. Their tank brigades are now not just obsolete but woefully so, and a flurry of new spending has descended from on high, released from secretive government coffers. It looks, if nothing else, like a seller's market, and that's a happy thought.
It's almost midnight when you tuck in, and you sleep is troubled by dreams of...
[ ] The Clan Invasion.
[ ] Boots with teeth chasing you and also your own teeth falling out of your head.
[ ] Mechs that might be and may have been, the unseen armies and unmade machines.
[ ] Things that aren't suitible for this forum. ;)