Guest chapter by KayEmm
Bacon Plans
When Lanie King had suggested that she, Kari Moreno and Isabella de Luca should meet to quietly discuss a few things, she’d hoped for something discrete and low-key. Which made her wonder what had gone wrong as the three of them sat in the middle of Tharonjas’ in the middle of a busy lunchtime.
“So do I want bacon, bacon, bacon or bacon?” Isabella asked as she looked over the menu.
“I think the question is how do you want your bacon?” Kari replied, similarly deep in thought.
Lanie sighed and looked around again, taking in the ‘tiki party crashed into a Mesoamerican temple and exploded’ decor, before turning back to her menu. The problem wasn’t that this had happened, the problem was that this sort of thing always happened when Isabella was involved. It made her really wonder why Irisz had chosen to bring her onboard in the first case.
You know Irisz can trust her, Lanie reminded herself. And you know that you can trust her as well, despite how she may act. She shot a small smile at Isabella. “So what are you looking at?”
“I was thinking of Zin’rokk the Steak Destroyer,” Isabella offered. “A steak wrapped in bacon, wrapped in cheese, wrapped in bacon. It sounds fantastic.”
“Nice,” Kari smiled in approval.
“I can hear your arteries hardening,” Lanie added.
“I’m a mercenary MechWarrior,” Isabella shot back. “I chose a life where I got shot at for money. Death by bacon is one of the better ways to go in this line of work.”
She shook her head and picked up her own menu, pretending to study it. “So death by bacon aside, how do we feel about this?”
“Well the décor is a bit gaudy, but I do like the food,” Kari replied.
“I can’t tell if you’re being serious or stupid,” Isabella smirked. “Nice.”
“I meant about this whole… thing,” she continued. “Irisz putting together her own little army at the behest of some shady employer.”
“I can imagine you have some concerns,” Isabella admitted. “Given your family’s past with dubious employers.”
“That’s a fair way to put it,” Lanie sighed. “I trust Irisz, bit not him.”
“Which is fair,” Kari said. “He’s clearly running his own agenda that we’re not a part of, and chose Irisz to be a part of it. At the same time, he also allowed her to make a first pick of who would be in it, which tells me a lot.”
“How so?” she asked.
“Irisz has a reputation for being a straight shooter,” Kari explained. “So look at the people she chose to start with. You, me, Isabella, Terry McKinnon and Blackrock. Like her, we’re all on the ethical, honest side of the mercenary trade; fair dealings, being upfront, vetting our recruits to weed out the bad apples and so on.”
“Kari, that’s about the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about me,” Isabella smirked. “And that includes my two exes.”
“You have a point there. I mean, I’m happy with Terry McKinnon being a part of this,”
Lanie continued. “Like you said, he’s a good guy by the standards of our trade.”
“Yeah, he’s a good pick,” Isabella agreed. “Even if Irisz is a little biased there.”
“Are those two ever going to make it official?” Kari asked. “It’s been... a while.”
“Years,” Lanie nodded. “But I’d imagine that it gets complicated when you get to the issue of children and inheritance and all.”
“I suppose so,” Kari nodded. “Irisz has no children as yet and Terry isn’t heir to the Marauders.”
“But it’s a dangerous line of work and all,” Lanie replied. “Damien’s kids are a long way from inheriting command, and if anything happened to him would the unit then go to Terry?”
“Difficult,” Isabella noted. “Not that I’m privy to the McKinnon line of inheritance, but I can see the issue there.” She paused. “Still, the pair of them can’t keep putting it off forever. And I’m not just saying that because I know I’d be one of her first picks for bridesmaid and that Kari would be another.”
“You think?”
“Really, Kari,” Isabella rolled her eyes. “Though you’d be a super challenge as you’d need a dress that covers all your tats.”
“You’d think that Irisz would be all for it,” Lanie continued. “What with her father being MIA for... how long now?”
“Since just before Fortress Republic, which was...” Isabella paused. “Christ, how long ago?”
“Yeah,” Kari nodded. “That being said, did you see the look she gave Terry when he suggested bringing in Raymond?”
“Ooh, the one-eyed death stare,” Isabella put a hand over one eye, narrowing the other. “Sends shivers up my spine.”
“I’m sure he had a good reason,” Lanie considered. “He’s been in Terry’s lance for what, a year and a half now? Maybe he’s changed a lot since then.”
“It’s a long time in this line of work,” Kari agreed. “During that time he and Terry have had to work together and rely on each other on the battlefield. That can tell you a lot about a person.”
“True, true,” Isabella nodded. “For all we know, Raymond could have changed immensely since then.”
“Not having his mother looming over him would make a world of difference,” Lanie noted. “I don’t want to pass judgement, but after all I heard about Connie Raymond, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for Ronnie.”
“Oh yeah, she was nuts,” Isabella agreed. “Like, wow, nuts.”
“Speaking of, how’s Jessie doing?” Kari asked.
“Well, she makes you seem like the most outward person in the universe, Kari,” Isabella shot back. “But seriously, that girl’s doing a lot better for herself now that she’s not in such a batcrap insane environment.”
“Which brings me back to Ronnie,” Lanie noted. “If Jessie can improve then so can he. And maybe that’s why Terry put him forward, a way to help him grow further.”
“Makes sense to me,” Kari nodded.
“Agreed. So then what do you think about Fairchild?" Lanie asked.
“I know what you think about her,” Isabella replied as she took a sip of her drink.
“What do you mean by that?”
“You were so obviously gawping at her,” Isabella explained.
“I was not.”
“You totally were,” Isabella continued. “What would your wife think?”
“I didn’t see the big deal,” Kari offered.
“Yeah, well you’re weird, Kari,” Isabella shot back. “No offence.”
Lanie took a deep breath before continuing, trying to figure ways to steer things back on-track. “I mean, what do you think about her as a member of this group? She was bought in by Ryback and we don’t exactly have a lot to go on.”
“Well, she hates Blakists and Clanners, so that’s a good start,” Isabella noted.
“I have to wonder about that,” Kari admitted. “I mean, as much as we like the idea that she’s been fighting secret Blakists, it does seem to be a bit of a reach. It’s been seventy years since the Jihad, after all.”
“I want to agree,” Lanie nodded. “And yet, we still don’t know who caused the Blackout.”
“Secret Blakists,” Isabella nodded. “Makes perfect sense.”
“She didn’t speak much, though,” Lanie continued. “Mostly she seemed to be sizing us all up, as if she was trying to figure out what was going on with us and what were our stakes in all this.”
“Or she could have just been feeling overwhelmed being a stranger in a room full of strangers,” Kari offered.
“Speaking from experience?” Isabella asked.
“A bit,” Kari admitted. “She’s quiet, she’s pretty intense and she uses her words carefully. I feel that she’s being honest with us though. I mean, really, what would she have to gain from coming to us with such a claim otherwise?”
“This is true,” Lanie nodded. “I suppose ‘fighting secret Blakists’ is a story that’s just so out there that it has to be true. You wouldn’t try to use it as a cover after all.”
“I just want to know what she’s bringing,” Kari continued. “Ryback trusts her and she’s clearly got battlefield experience, but I want to know more about her if I’m going to be working or fighting alongside her.”
“She supposedly commands her own small unit,” Isabella suggested. “I’ll lean on some of my people and see what they come up with.”
“Tell you what though,” Kari added, “even Blackrock seemed to be surprised to see her.”
“Ugh,” Lanie managed. “Speaking of people I have questions about.”
“Lanie King doesn’t like the stodgy infobroker with a questionable past,” Isabella laughed.
“In other breaking news, fire is hot.”
“I mean it, though,” Lanie explained. “Blackrock is not the most... forward of people. You know what I mean.”
“You don’t like her being here,” Kari noted.
“I do not,” Lanie nodded. “I’m not saying that she has her own agenda here, but at the same time, I just don’t like the idea of putting our trust in her.”
“Pfft, everyone in this group has their own agenda,” Isabella replied dismissively.
“Blackrock is just more open about it.”
“She knows things you don’t and wants you to know it,” Kari added.
Lanie sighed. “I just don’t trust her, that’s all,” she admitted. “I see the logic behind bringing her in for her resources and contacts and the like, but that doesn’t mean that I want to work with her any more than we have to.”
“Maybe that’s your job,” Kari offered. “You tell us when we’re doing the wrong thing.”
“Didn’t think of that,” Isabella admitted.
“I... I suppose so,” Lanie considered. “I’ve been trying to rescue the Tigers from the mistakes that my forebears made. I just don’t want to then charge straight back down that path.”
“Which means you’re going to have second thoughts about things that most of us would leap at,” Isabella said.
“And a voice of reason like that would definitely helped me,” Kari added with a warm smile. “So thank you.”
“Thanks,” Lanie sighed.
Isabella leaned back in her seat. “We can work with Blackrock, but don’t trust her one inch. And if she asks us for a favour or the like, then we sure as hell say no to her. Which you know I’ll have no problem with.”
“Speaking of the people who we don’t trust and don’t know about,” Kari continued.
“Ryback. He’s at least half of the reason why this group came together.”
“Obvious spy,” Lanie replied.
“Agreed there,” Isabella nodded. “He’s not even trying to hide it, which then makes me wonder why.”
“I was thinking about that as well,” Kari nodded. “I think he might be working for the Republic.”
“What makes you say that?” Lanie asked.
“It's...” she absent-mindedly drew a circle on the table with her finger. “It’s hard to say, really, but two things come to mind.”
“Shoot,” Isabella nodded.
“First, the timing is right,” she explained. “The walls have come down and everything is up in the air. If he is with the Republic, then this is the time for him to act.”
“This is true,” Lanie agreed.
“And who knows what’s been going on behind the walls for... however long it’s been,” Isabella continued. “He probably has plenty of reasons to be acting now of all times.”
“Which brings me to my second reason,” Kari continued. “Assume he was Republic and was stuck outside the walls for all these years. He’d have been living off whatever assets he could scrounge up or find, and that would include essentially hiring mercs to do his work for him.”
“Point two to Kari,” Isabella agreed.
“If he was LIC or whatever else, he wouldn’t need to be so obvious,” Lanie noted. “He could hide behind fronts or other assets and we'd never need to see him. But like this, at this time? He might be out of options.”
“Which makes me wonder what it took to get Irisz on board,” Kari continued. “She wouldn’t have gone into this lightly.”
“Well, between us...” Isabella leaned in. “Kari might know this but anyway here we go.”
Kari nodded as Lanie glanced between the pair of them. “What are you saying here?”
“Magyari’s unit worked for the Coalition during the Jihad,” Kari explained.
“And some of that is still kind of not in the unit’s records,” Isabella added. “Makes you wonder.”
“Oh, right,” Lanie noted. “I can see why you wouldn’t talk about that.”
“I didn’t want to make it awkward for you,” Kari admitted. “Given your family history and all.”
“It's fine,” Lanie nodded. “I understand fully.”
“So with that being said,” Isabella leaned back, resuming her more casual stance. “I’m not saying anything for certain, but maybe he knows something about what happened back then.”
“It would explain a lot.”
“Besides, it fits with Fairchild, who remember was his pick,” she continued. “After all, killing secret Blakists is what the Republic does.”
“At least he has nice hair,” Kari spoke up.
“Well that’s a weird thing for you to say,” Isabella shook her head. “Then again, it’s you, Kari. I should expect that.”
“It was just something I noticed, that’s all,” she shrugged. “Maybe it’s a point of vanity on his side, but he clearly looks after his hair.”
“I suppose it fits,” Isabella admitted. “Two gorgeous redheads means that our little conspiracy has a high standard for hair care. Three if you count the fake redhead.”
“You’re too kind,” Kari blushed a little.
“You gotta stop selling yourself so short, Kari,” Isabella nagged. “Seriously.”
“Changing the topic, I wonder what ‘Mech Alexis pilots,” Kari considered.
“No, good question,” Isabella nodded. “You can tell a lot about a person by their ‘Mech.”
“What do you mean?” Lanie asked.
“Well, look at Kari,” Isabella noted. “She pilots a Black Knight, which is famous for taking a lot of damage and keeping on going. And Kari, you decided to keep your family unit going after most people would have given up. Determination and not dying and all that.”
“You have me there,” Kari admitted, absent-mindedly rubbing the black sun tattoo on the back of her wrist.
“Now Lanie, you pilot a Cataphract,” Isabella continued. “It gets the job done and is reliable, if unexciting and far from flashy. Which is a good way to describe how you operate.”
“Thanks, I think,” Lanie managed. “So what does your Warhammer mean?”
“I pilot a heavy ‘Mech made in the Inner Sphere,” she shrugged. “Doesn’t work all the time.”
“So how about an Archer?” Kari continued.
“Hm...” Isabella smirked. “You’re reliable but not flashy. You do one thing but you do it well and you’ve been at it forever.”
“An entirely accurate description of Damien, my second,” Kari admitted.
“So what about a Phoenix Hawk?” Lanie continued. “Since Terry pilots one.”
“Flashy, maybe a bit show-offy, good at what you do, probably also stodgy as all hell,” Isabella laughed. “So a fair match for Terry.”
“There’s a P-Hawk pilot in the Suns who matches that description as well,” Kari added.
“See?” She laughed. “I’m always right.”
“What does Leonid pilot?” Kari asked. “Since you wanted him in the team and all.”
“Marauder,” she replied. “Which means that not only is he the boss, but he’s either a big hero or the obvious bad guy.”
“Does either fit?”
“Potentially both,” she shrugged.
“And you wanted him in this group,” Lanie noted.
“He’s a character,” Isabella admitted.
“Now I wonder what Ryback pilots,” Kari continued.
“You think he’s a MechWarrior?” Isabella asked.
“He clearly is,” Lanie nodded. “You can tell these things. He was a spook in a room full of MechWarriors, and yet fit in perfectly there. There was a certain ease and comfort to him while he was talking and interacting.”
“That’s because he’s a spy, Lanie,” Isabella noted.
“It felt... natural,” she countered. “Like he was this comfortable with us not because he was pulling some sort of act, but because he was among other MechWarriors. I’m not saying that it’s his primary focus or where he was trained first, but more that it’s a part of his life.”
“I spose that makes sense,” Isabella admitted. “What about Blackrock?”
“No idea,” Lanie shook her head. “If she is a MechWarrior she doesn’t let it show.”
“If she is one, she totally stole her ‘Mech,” Isabella added.
“Agreed there,” Kari nodded.
“You mentioned Leonid being either the hero or the villain,” Lanie interjected. “I don’t know him that well; we’ve really only interacted at that ‘friend of a friend’ level.”
“So you’re asking me to qualify my answer a bit,” Isabella continued.
“Thanks,” Lanie nodded.
“Well this is going to be a total shock coming from me,” Isabella chortled, “but he’s a real character.”
“I’d never have guessed,” Lanie dryly replied.
“I know, right?” Isabella laughed. “Okay, honestly, it’s as I pitched. His family unit and mine have history that goes back as far as the Arano civil war. The first Krymzon Guards and the first Hammers fought alongside each other”
“I sense a ‘but’ coming,” Kari continued.
Isabella took a deep breath, an uncharacteristic hesitation in her voice. “Our family history is… complicated. Call it decades of mutual favours owed and paid, deals done and whatever else. And no, before you ask, I couldn’t tell you where he’s from.” From her tone, it wasn’t clear if that was because of some pact between them, or simply because she didn’t know.
“But despite that you trust him,” Kari finished.
“With my life,” she nodded.
“So then what’s he like as a person?”
Isabella let out an exasperated sigh. “Loud. Boisterous. Speaks big. Acts tough. Maybe brags a bit too much. And then behind that, he’s as sharp as anything. If you buy into what he’s saying, then you’re basically letting him win.”
“I see what you mean about him being either the hero or the villain,” Lanie agreed. “But do you think he can work with our group beyond just you?”
“I think so,” Isabella managed. “And yes, before you ask, a part of the reason why I wanted him in on this was because I knew that it would be better to have him on the inside than out.”
“You sound a touch reluctant there,” Lanie observed.
“Our relationship is complicated,” Isabella admitted.
“All your relationships are complicated,” Kari noted. “That’s why you’ve been divorced twice.”
“Touché, Kari,” she managed. “But yes, I’d trust him with my life.”
“Which we need more of in this,” Lanie agreed. “Open honesty would be nice, but at the very least somebody who you know you can rely on is good.”
“It is an odd balance of things,” Lanie sighed. “Not optimal, but it will do.”
“I’ll take majority that we can trust,” Isabella finished. “So to summarise, Ryback is a spook and a MechWarrior, but he has nice hair. Blackrock shouldn’t be trusted at all but is still super useful. And Fairchild is super-intense, has been killing secret Blakists and has big boobs.”
Lanie sighed. “Thanks for that, Isabella.”
“Anytime,” she nodded. “So are we ordering or what?”
