Author Topic: Teaser for a proposed...thing.  (Read 134096 times)

hpackrat

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1170 on: 24 January 2020, 05:14:11 »
So the best way of beating Pryde's play is not to play by Clanner rules at all. Make Roshak voluntarily defect?

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1171 on: 24 January 2020, 05:32:09 »
So the best way of beating Pryde's play is not to play by Clanner rules at all. Make Roshak voluntarily defect?
and Marthe still wins, by exposing Elizabeth's hypocrisy-to Elizabeth. Marthe Pryde's not blind, and she's got pretty good information on Liz.  Elizabeth's constant insistence it's a relationship founded on vendetta instead of love, when it's obvious enough that even the bleeping robots are shipping those two and discussing possible wedding plans?

win-win-win for Marthe regardless-she cracks the Inquisitor, and does it publicly.  Dominance games like this are pretty common in those circles.  Marthe knows Liz relies a lot on image, cracking her is both entertainment and a demonstration of her own prowess as a strategist.
« Last Edit: 24 January 2020, 05:34:42 by Cannonshop »
"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

hpackrat

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1172 on: 24 January 2020, 05:45:15 »
Liz is equally if not more intelligent & unhampered by Clan thinking. There's no way she'd play Marthe's game unless she doesn't particularly care about her image or if she can't think of a way to beat Marthe. I prefer Liz to actually outsmart Marthe.

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1173 on: 24 January 2020, 05:54:13 »
Inside the Conference room.

The Duchess was late.

Khan McKenna leaned over to Marthe Pryde, "what did you say to her?" she asked.

"I pricked the stuck up bitch's bubble." Marthe said, "right now, I believe she is trying, and failing, to cope with the fact someone sees through her image to the person underneath."

"Oh, dish, what did you do?"

"I presented her a dilemma where no matter what, she has to sacrifice some of her precious 'principles' and reveal her true nature." Marthe said with quiet relish, "No matter what she does, I pull the win."

"sounds like you have been setting this up for a long time." Khan Elam muttered.

"No...just seeing the opportunity and being prepared." Marthe half-whispered with malicious relish. "you know, being lucky.  enjoy."

"What did you do?"

"I have something she needs. she does not admit to needing it, but she needs.  no matter how she plays, she is either without it, which is a win, or she challenges me for it, which is a double win, or she tries some side game to get it that will reveal that need to everyone including herself, which is also a win."  Marthe sighed contentedly, "She is not as strong as you are, Lynn."

"oh, this should be good." Vlad agreed.  "Which way will she go? side bets anyone?"

"She will try to avoid a direct challenge. she is a civilian." Lynn suggested, "Fifty credits."

"I will take that action, She will go without." Vlad said, "She has killer's eyes, for all the sentimental talk in public, she will go without before admitting defeat. fifty.  Nelson?"

"I will stay out of these games." Nelson Elam said, "I do not know her so well as either of you."

Marthe sighed contentedly again, "She will challenge me." she said confidently, "One thousand credits, or an equivalent in goods."

"She will not win."

"That is my point." Marthe stated.  "however, that is because my objective is to force the contest.  She disdains our ways, to a degree even her ruler, Victor, has expressed frustration over."

"True." Vlad contributed, "She would rather send a thousand Clan Warriors home, than keep one bondsman...oh...OH...Marthe! that could go badly."

"She will fight." Aletha Kabrinski said over Marthe's shoulder. "I will add my own credits to the pool. she will fight.  she may lose, but she will fight, I can even guess who...that is a cruel game, Marthe."

"A small test of character and integrity, a small crack in her armor of delusion, and a small triumph for our way of life." Marthe noted.
"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

JA Baker

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1174 on: 24 January 2020, 06:06:07 »
I can't help but remember the old maxim that, if you're sitting at a poker table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.

"That's the thing about invading the Capellan Confederation: half a decade later, you want to invade it again"
-Attributed to First-Prince Hanse Davion, 3030


Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1175 on: 24 January 2020, 07:45:40 »
Locker room, just off the converted gym...

"out ****** manuevered!! god dammi!"  there's crashing, she's having an outright fit.  If it wasn't Her Grace, I would be calling the Shore Patrols in with tranquilizers and handcuffs.

it sounds like a war zone in there.  the nice thing is, nobody keeps their actual property in the locker rooms anymore, not since the base started being a 'neutral diplomacy area' and VIP's might want to keep their shit here while holding meetings.

Bad side is, I've got half an hour more before I'm off duty, and I have to clean up the mess she's making.

or, at least, write the breakage report and schedule maintenance.

WHAM!  There goes one.  and another. the stream of invective would educate my brothers in all the ways you can swear, and on that, I swear to god's own truth.

Okay, I admit it, I'm not actually hearing a goddam thing.  I'm reading her lips and watching her.

the tantrum takes about five minutes, and then she's at my station.

You Okay Your Grace? I sign.

She takes a deep breath, Fine, Sophie, just had to let out a little steam. write up a breakage report and I'll have it handled, okay?

I nod.

Not many of us get to see her with her makeup smeared all up from crying.  I grab a mirror, and hold it up, she gets the message, and goes to the sink that isn't broken off the wall, washes up, cleans the runny eyeliner off and redoes her eyes.  she's got really pretty eyes.

Better? she signs to me.

I nod, and sign, much better! with a positive gesture, then sign, You'll beat whoever-it-is. with a confident nod.

she gives me the not-so-confident smile she gets after a rampage.  She used to have seizures and give the same weak grin.  I'll do my best, Sophie. How's your sister? does she write?

I roll my eyes.  Melinda's offworld, and I guess she writes when she's in port.  When she can. They're being kept super-busy.

I know how it is.  You need anything?  she's in apology phase.  whatever it was rattled her hard.

Nope. want a chocolate drop? I offer her one of the secret 'diet sabotage' stash I keep around for the landsman officers who come in to use the exercise rooms when we don't have guests.

she nods, and takes one, Thanks.

Working the gym is a pretty good summer job. I've been able to put money down on a new slicing rig this year.  Hear anything from James? she signs.

Promotion! I grin.  The Coventry guys say he's a natural in a quad 'mech! he might be top of his year.

Excellent! she's relaxing.

Getting her groove back.  Two more chocolate drops and she's back to normal, and heading out the door to the Gym.

and I have to go inventory the damage.

one broken sink-she didn't break the pipes this time, six locker doors will need replacing, one bench, no longer bolted to the floor. I might be able to fix that on my own...a broken mirror.

Not too bad for one of Lady Elizabeth's temper tantrums.  no blood this time, at least.  the way I saw her mouth working, she must have been loud as ******, I can't imagine nobody heard all this...but then, I can barely imagine what hearing is like, so maybe?
"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

RobTClift

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1176 on: 24 January 2020, 07:52:07 »
As someone who is hard of hearing, to the point I have a bone anchored hearing aid or I'd not be able to hear 90% of what goes on around me.  I thank you for this chapter.

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1177 on: 24 January 2020, 08:06:50 »
As someone who is hard of hearing, to the point I have a bone anchored hearing aid or I'd not be able to hear 90% of what goes on around me.  I thank you for this chapter.

Sophie is one of my favorite 'supporting cast' members from the older Ngoverse stories.  She's got a bad combo-one of a set of asymmetric twins, she got shorted on eardrums and vocal cords, and was underdeveloped at birth.  Her sister Melinda, on the other hand, was about twice her size at birth, and stayed that way.  (Mel is bigger than most men in terms of natural muscle-tissue development).  Sophie got brains&beauty though.  She's one of the kids Evelynn Mosovich adopted because there wasn't anyone else, and she's self-sufficient to a degree that might intimidate someone from a less demanding household.

When she turns 21, she'll find out what the benefits are of being the adopted child of a wealthy family, but Evvie has her own quirks, including making her kids work for everything.  her current job with the Kiribati base isn't just clerking the gym, that's just what she does on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Monday, Wednesday and Friday, she teaches sign language in the afternoons and attends engineering courses, with night classes as a hand-to-hand instructor teaching all those 'no muscle needed' techniques you read about in the dime novels.

"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1178 on: 24 January 2020, 16:40:37 »
the Meeting, 10 minutes after recess ended...

Aletha Kabrinski finished recounting the story of Star Captain Amon's confession as Liz walked back in.

"...and that is the incident the Wolverines were referencing after the battle of Alshain this past May." she finished.

Liz sat down, and began going over notes and transcriptions on the table-mounted reader.

"you alright?" Victor asked her sotto-voce.

"I've been better." Liz muttered back, pulling up survey data on the Pentagon worlds and making further notes regarding the archived data from the Belleau Wood.

"What're your thoughts, Liz?" he muttered again, as Commodore (not Captain) Ferry of the Wolverines passed a note to one of the Colonial officers.

"Motive and method don't match." Liz said, "they must've edited their records with a chainsaw, none of the early history they're describing actually fits together with the actions taken or the traditions that grew out of it.  Li would call what we've heard so far a pretty shoddy job of frame-up and cover-up."

the doors opened again, on the west side, and a civilian man in sunglasses and a natty black suit hurried in to sit with the Colonials.

"Who's he?" Liz muttered.

"um..." Victor's staff must've informed him, "i don't know."

"Do you need to be caught Up?"  Khan Elam was being the spokesman for the Grand Council.

"I've read the relevant documentation we have," Liz said, "And this is being recorded, so...no.  I have a few questions about the incident, but the relevant witnesses are all dead, so I doubt they can be answered clearly, and there are significant gaps I see in both motive and method regarding the Dehra Dun incident, I want to hold my questioning until a clearer picture is presented."

"Ask anyway." Kabrinski urged.

"These were...cadets, right?  Star Captain Amon ran into a group of Cadets."

"Aff, that is correct per his deathbed testimony."

"And the context of his commentary suggests envy and apathy were his motives, is this also correct?"

"Because of a desire to carry out the execution, being thwarted by..." Liz shuffled her notes, "The Widowmakers and the Wolves, this is accurate?"

"Aff, that is correct."

"Okay, that doesn't make sense to me." Liz stated.  "Were these traits common among you at any other time in your history?"

"Traits? I fail to see your direction."

"Envy, apathy, refusal to execute a duty because someone else got a job you wanted?  Do you have a lot of labor strife? work slowdowns, petty revenge or obstruction in your ranks over thwarted ambitions? because nothing in your Clan's profile regarding your Rassalhague occupation forces reflects that." Liz stated.  "The testimony and witnessed behaviors don't fit.  when I see something like that, it's usually a sign of another problem, so how do these things square up? were any of the troops involved in this raised in a creche?"

"How is that relevant?"

"Well, it would help if we knew where in the Inner Sphere this Star Captain came from, wouldn't it?" Liz said, "what his original root culture was, this was still your Clans' first generation, and nobody was springing whole from the head of a fictional god here, I keep bumping into flaws in the motive and method, not just regarding the Wolverines, but everyone else, the picture doesn't fit.  this kind of not-fitting is how my people ran down the Brotherhood of Cincinnatus, too many carefully edited records that led nowhere or didn't match outcomes.  Too many testimonies that fit together only in a vacuum when you ignored the physical evidence."

"Dehra Dun is still a ruin."  Khan McKenna said.

"yeah, see, that one also doesn't make sense on a tactical level." Liz stated, "Until we hear the response of the accused, I'm left wondering why she wasted a nuke on a sperm bank when she could have eliminated the entire leadership of all the clans while they were meeting, and based on the astrographic chart and a stopwatch, made it look like an accident.  the character in the record clip would've done that, and it's not obscure or obtuse, it's simple basic ballistics.  Heck, it's a grade seven maths problem as obvious as 'punch them in the nose'...and we're talking fully trained, professional military backgrounds here.  a one kiloton car-bomb a block away and you get the same result, but there's no attempt at either one.   this does not add up. Neither does evacuating the city-leaving behind live enemies to chase you when you can effect a takeover or throw them into genuine confusion for the same assets doesn't fit. It's illogical unless she was somehow counting on some of the other Khans to stop this, and had no intent to leave."

Liz gestured at the seated Wolverines, "Which is clearly not the case.  another inconsistency, another puzzle."

"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

Daryk

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1179 on: 24 January 2020, 18:06:24 »
She's at least not showing any weakness in the meeting...  :)

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1180 on: 24 January 2020, 20:23:11 »
Kiribati Conference...

Her clinical description of dezgra tactics, and a short demonstration of the maths, are more than a little chilling.  This, combined with her equally clinical assessment of possible motives and motivations, and her insistence that the motive and method do not fit?

'Archon's Inquisitor' indeed.  I am reminded of the briefing materials, how she executed two men as a child, and then, not much more than a child, fifteen more.  she has killer's eyes.  what have you given up to be this?

sitting here, next to a holographic projection, looking at her expression as she casually explains how to destroy a continent for less than the cost of a single aerofighter's tyres, I am getting a sense of the ancestor that spawned her.  Few enough records of the 171st Volunteers remained after the Pentagon civil war, but a visual record of Tranh Truk Ngo's garden of crucified Rim Worlds personnel, and his use of enemy POW's to teach anti-Amaris resistance fighters how to kill? those remained.

That absolute calm discussing horrors is very like what remained in our records of the Amaris war, and it reminds me where we are in uncomfortable ways.

Kowloon.  I see the faint lines of inheritance in her face, in my imagination, she could be the daughter of the impaler of Elbar, willing to embrace horrors while being sickened by them, unwilling to leave the burden of those horrors on others.

demanding a reason not to do something monstrous.

She sits down, the white-board she just used to demonstrate how to smash a planet for the price of a single small craft's engines and a little time, rolled away by stewards.

My fellow Khans are as stunned by this, as I am.  Unlike some of my fellow Khans, I am absolutely certain of one thing: She has thirty one thousand...and thirty...thermonuclear weapons, and to her, they are no more than a bag of hammers, hammers for doing work, belonging to someone who honestly prefers to build over destruction, because she can comprehend and contemplate a level of destruction that is...horrifying, and make it sound about as exciting as digging a slit trench latrine.

I stand, "We should take a break, I call for a recess. is there a second?"

"So soon?" Marthe asks.

I look to my colleague, "I believe it may be...good for our colleagues to have a few minutes away from old business and new horrors."

"Seconded." Vladimir volunteers, it is agreed among ours, and Victor nods.

The precedent is set, each party to a conference gets their 'place' on the island.  and we adjourn to the Lighthouse on the Southeast side of the island.

as soon as we are outside, I say to Marthe Pryde, "If she were a warrior, I would be concerned for everyone.  The things that live in her mind, make the Not-Named look like..paragons by comparison."

"How does she line up to her ancestral lineage?" Marthe asks me brightly.

I look out at the shimmer of the lake, as we walk to the lighthouse along a concrete path.  "Frighteningly close to her ancestor." I state.  "Tranh Truk Ngo.  the Impaler of Elbar, she could be him.  It is in the eyes.  Aleksandr Kerensky's memoranda were filled with 'what to do about this man?', even as he used him to break two divisions of Rim Worlds forces and retake a Brian fortress."

"I find your description in harmony with my own impressions." Marthe says.  "She is a killer, who hates to kill, were she a warrior, she would be a warrior who hates war to such a degree as to be a prodigy at it.  the sort that fills dark stories of excess and brutality to a degree even the Smoke Jaguars would not go...and yet, she is a considerate hostess, Nathan, you know her best."

"I may know her too well." Nathan Roshak states.  "I may be too close to the problem to give an objective view."

"I am looking for the subjective." Marthe says. 

"in another place and time, I would move heaven and earth to have her." Nathan states.

"Who says that has to happen?" Marthe tells him, and I realize, he does not know.  "Do not start packing for your next assignment yet." Marthe adds, "I may have work for you here yet.  Go check in with your Galaxy, get your updates."

"Yes My Khan."  Nathan walks away.

"Really?" I ask.

Marthe chuckles, "aff. really.  I keep him here, I do not lose him entirely, and we may need his talent and insight sooner, rather than later."

"So the dilemma is just a political game, quiaff?"

she meets my eyes,  "It is, and it is not.  It is both entertaining to make her squirm, and instructional, putting a crack in that arrogance is needed by all of us.  Besides, I like to be able to keep tabs on the Legacies of my Clan, for the future.  for example, getting her used to the idea of accepting Clan traditions."

"Assimilation?" I ask.

"ONE thing I have learned in seven years in the Inner Sphere, seeing excellent, loyal warriors like Nathan Roshak drifting away, we can not change them, without changing ourselves.  I want a handle on how that change happens lest we end up something savashri a few generations down the line, something dezgra and even evil. whichever Clan becomes IlClan, will need to be able to manage trillions of people without being overwhelmed by so many they run out of bullets and overheat their lasers before running out of foes, and without losing at least the grasp of the concept of Honor."

"you had this in mind when you ordered preparations to move your Clan into the Inner Sphere, quiaff?"

"Aff." she says, "We can not merely conquer it and expect all to go well.  we have to live here, with them, and it will change us.  that change must be managed, or what is the point?  What does History suggest of Kowloon, Nelson?"

"Stubborn to a fault, unbending resistance, like...like Blood Spirits, only without the more obnoxious personal traits." I say.

"Exactly.  the perfect stage and laboratory to strike a balance to save the rest from the cycle of self-destruction."
"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

Daryk

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1181 on: 24 January 2020, 20:28:19 »
I still think Martha is underestimating Liz...

qc mech3

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1182 on: 24 January 2020, 21:01:46 »
Marthe is a good chess player but Liz is a master. The best the Green Birds can hope is to become the equivalent of our Rasalhague Dominion.  :))

glitterboy2098

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1183 on: 24 January 2020, 21:39:34 »
Quote
"ONE thing I have learned in seven years in the Inner Sphere, seeing excellent, loyal warriors like Nathan Roshak drifting away, we can not change them, without changing ourselves.  I want a handle on how that change happens lest we end up something savashri a few generations down the line, something dezgra and even evil. whichever Clan becomes IlClan, will need to be able to manage trillions of people without being overwhelmed by so many they run out of bullets and overheat their lasers before running out of foes, and without losing at least the grasp of the concept of Honor."

something tells me that Marthe's nightmares are filled with images of Malvina Hazen and the mongol doctrine..
« Last Edit: 24 January 2020, 21:42:20 by glitterboy2098 »

mikecj

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1184 on: 25 January 2020, 00:47:47 »
Yes!
There are no fish in my pond.
"First, one brief announcement. I just want to mention, for those who have asked, that absolutely nothing what so ever happened today in sector 83x9x12. I repeat, nothing happened. Please remain calm." Susan Ivanova
"Solve a man's problems with violence, help him for a day. Teach a man to solve his problems with violence, help him for a lifetime." - Belkar Bitterleaf
Romo Lampkin could have gotten Stefan Amaris off with a warning.

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1185 on: 25 January 2020, 02:38:24 »
North shore, near the Northwest lighthouse...

"I expected Phelan, not you." Elizabeth didn't even turn as Vladimir Ward approached.

His derisive snort at the Khan of the Exiles...the former exiles, was mentioned.  "I drew the short straw." Vladimir told her.

"I saw the report, your house is no longer divided against itself." she turned around, "making one of you Sakhan, but I can't tell which."

"Phelan is...the senior partner." Vlad said in disgust. "your intelligence is good."

"Yeah.  so the Crusaders folded back in, that's gotta piss you off."

He laughed.  "Nice try, Duchess Ngo.  I have heard about your...view of Phelan Ward."

"Phelan kell, traitor. yeah.  Collaborator, sell-out." she said, "quisling."

"Some forgiveness." he said, noting her public stance.

"I named the knife 'Forgiveness'." Liz told him, and flicked the blade out of its hiding place, "See? engraved right on the blade.  I don't have to hate someone to have to kill them."

Vlad's laugh faded a bit, until she presented her blade to him hilt-first.

he examined it, "used." he said.

"Several times." she said, "haven't had to since the last time someone tried to assassinate me.  It was childish, having that engraved."

"Well, the short straw I drew, was your attitude." He told her, "we agreed that sending a Khan you did not hold in low esteem...lower esteem, might be better for all concerned, and the matter is core to Clan society, which I am a stronger advocate for, than my...fellow Khan."

"I love the way you say that, like you're soiling your tongue." she beamed up at him.  "So, how long before you're at each other's throats again? will things even get a chance to stabilize? Will you even bother to rebuild before tearing it all down again?"

"you have a VERY low opinion of us."

"Your culture encourages destructive, fratricidal behavior." she shrugged, "Not stability, if our progress is any indicator, we'll be up to you in technology in less than thirty years, now that we're somewhat stable and nobody is killing engineers, burning books or assassinating scientists..at least, for the moment."

"I could say the same of yours-minus the thirty years prediction." He said.

she laughed this time, "You would be right, unfortunately. It's one of the things I'm trying to push the other way-at least, keep the knowledge by making too hard to lose a second time, in case some other jackhole thinks 'operation:Holy Shroud' is a good idea."

Vlad turned serious, "That is what really offends you, isn't it? the thing you can't forgive-you can forgive the killing, the torture, but..."

"but then they tried to cover it up." Liz said, "Sloppily tried to conceal what really happened by gutting the records with a chainsaw. that's guilty behavior, Khan Vladimir Ward. it is what criminals do. I can't decide if I find the actual attempt as offensive as how ham handedly it was done.  At least the Brotherhood tried to come up with workable patsies and misdirections, but even that bunch of morons understood that hiding the truth from themselves was a short ticket to making the same mistakes."

"And your own mistakes?" he prodded.

"I will die with, but I won't insult some future investigator by trying to hide what I've done, or why I did it.  when I face god and he sends me to hell, I will at least know why, and nobody will doubt what I am damned for.  Someone else, in the future or even in the now, will be able to look and say, 'see? don't do this!'."

His laugh didn't reach his eyes, and stopped too soon.  "You really believe that-it is not an irony."

"I know what I am, Khan Vladimir Ward, I know what I am damned for.  I will be cursed and condemned, and I will absolutely be guilty, but I won't pretend I'm not.  I murdered two men with my very own hands to keep that blood off someone else's, and did it again with fifteen more. I envy, I am wrathful, yes, I am prideful.  I know it.  You can ask Roshak if I'm lustful, the only thing I don't have time for is sloth, that's six out of seven paths to hell and I'll rack up more before it's over."

"victor and Phelan both said you would say something like that." He told her.

"Victor's known me since I was fourteen." Liz said, "And Phelan's dad is one of my best customers, both of them know me better than I ought to let them."  she rolled a cigarette, and lit it.   "I am skipping down that road to hell, because someone has to...and I'm disposable, defective."

"Defective? you have accomplished quite a set of feats." Vladimir said, "gained the trust of those above you, turned your world into a veritable fortress..."

"And gotten a thousandth of the work I set out to do finished, this treatment that lets me walk around like a normal person? it can fail. probably will fail." she stated, "I have a lot to do before the inevitable collapse, and I'm wasting that time on someone else's problems because it's the only way forward."

he chuckled grimly, "someone else's problem." he said.

"My view: your Clans could have solved this centuries ago." she said, "You could have declared victory and been done with it, even if you waited to the third generation to do so-instead, you saddled yourselves with a lie, and a bottomless mission, wasted resources and time on a task already declared complete, and burned your own records so that you can't actually look at the situation logically, instead burying your collective heads in a bunch of superstitious nonsense and legendary poetry."

"And you don't do the same with your...'image'?" he countered.

"I'm too busy working to save people I don't even like, to worry about making legends for people who won't care when I'm gone.  I know you got up close and personal fighting Cylons. where do you think my priorities should be?" she took another pull on the cigarette, waiting for him to respond.

"So...you do not even like the Wolverines?"

"They're foreigners." she said, "so are your lot, so are the Lyrans, and everyone else-I don't have to like them to try to save them, Khan Ward, because sometimes you get the choice, right?"

"the choice?"

"Sometimes the right person for the job is the one who sees it needs to be done, and is willing to eat the shit to do it.  That's not the most qualified person, that's not the person with the right training, or background, or talents, it's not the most perfect, it's the person willing to do the job.  Victor's willing, I'm willing.  You're here but I don't know if you are willing.  I know most of them, the ones who attended by remote, aren't."

"Which job are you speaking of, so we are both...how is it, 'on the same page'."

"Resisting Extinction, Khan Ward.  Stopping the bastards who want to end all humankind in the name of god." she told him.  "if you're not on board with resisting extinction, you're not the man for the job.  we are at war with entropy, the enemy is, for all intents and purposes, god, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent and absolutely on the other side.  If you aren't up for that fight, and it will be a fight, you're just one more ****** person I have to try and save."

He smiled, "I am in." he said, "you should have saved that summation for the meeting.  If there is one way to get a very conservative Clan Khan to change their vote, it is to accuse them indirectly of being too much a coward to see things your way."  with that, he turned and headed for the East side of the island.

"thanks for the advice...I think."
"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

Daryk

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1186 on: 25 January 2020, 03:31:57 »
So... the Wolf OZ is back in the FC, then?  ???

Trace Coburn

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1187 on: 25 January 2020, 04:23:32 »
So... the Wolf OZ is back in the FC, then?  ???
  By the sounds of it, although probably with a great deal of local autonomy until full (re)integration can be negotiated.

Hotpoint

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1188 on: 25 January 2020, 06:50:05 »
Kiribati Island, Kowloon - Federated Commonwealth

Martin Ferry had resisted being promoted from Captain for years but he was now getting to the age when retirement did not seem nearly so distant and if he wanted to do so on an Admiral's pension, as per his wife's insistence, he really needed to starting moving on up the ranks again. Part of the reason he had pointedly rejected promotion in the past was a concern they might take his battleship away from him and stick him behind a desk. The other less important, but nonetheless irritating reason was the sterling quality of the New Circe education system and the emphasis it placed on both military history and that of North America in particular.

Ferry liked a joke but he was already starting to get really tired of saying. 'It's Commodore Ferry, not Perry, Ferry. The other one has been dead twelve-hundred years'. For that matter it was getting old being asked that after opening up Japan to the world was the plan to do the same to the Draconis Combine?

At least the rank gave him enough status to represent his Clan here without running the risk of either insulting the hosts or worse the schmucks opposite who had drunk way too much of Nicky Kerensky's kool-aid. Every so often he made sure to make eye-contact with the Spook Teddy because dollars-to-doughnuts it must have hurt those guys way down deep that it was the 'Not-Named' who saved their hairy asses.

Meanwhile Khan Aletha Kabrinski of the Ghost Bears knew exactly why Ferry kept making eye-contact and smiling at her and made sure to smile back because showing irritation would be letting the bastard win.

"Perhaps Clan Wolverine would like to present their perspective at this juncture?" Victor Steiner-Davion suggested, breaking Ferry's chain of thought.

"Happy to" Ferry responded. "As a matter of courtesy to the other clans, knowing their ingrained feelings about us, we have elected to allow an intermediary to speak for us" he told the room while nodding towards where the Colonials were sat. "With the agreement of the room of course" he added as a few people frowned.

"That may facilitate things" Khan Ward observed, the other khans nodding that they agreed after considering it.

"Fine by me" Victor concurred.

"Excellent. In that case may I present our chosen representative, a colonial citizen who will speaking for us" Ferry announced as the man in the black suit and sunglasses leaned forward and smiled. It was a strangely disturbing smile that somehow made Victor Steiner-Davion want to check if his wallet was still in his back pocket.

Marthe Pryde raised her eyebrows slightly. "A civilian, quiaff? she queried. She had thought it would be one of the Colonial Naval officers.

"Affirmative" Ferry confirmed.

"Romo Lampkin, Attorney at Law" the Colonial introduced himself formally in excellent English with only a trace of his native Caprican accent.

Aletha Kabrinski could not help but react this time. "A lawyer? You brought your lawyer, quiaff?" she asked incredulously.

Well by choice I would have brought my battleship but orders from New Circe were to go all in, Ferry thought to himself in amusement.
 
« Last Edit: 25 January 2020, 06:53:22 by Hotpoint »
"A dread fear rests deep in the heart of Clan Coyote that one day a lawyer will arrive on Tamaron talking about intellectual property rights, the Mercury II and the Coyotl omnimech and this will herald the end of the Clan as the Not-Named sue their asses into bankruptcy for patent infringement" - The True History of the Clans (Dark Caste Press: 3050)

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Daryk

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1189 on: 25 January 2020, 06:56:35 »
I've seen this guy's name mentioned a few times... glad to finally get to see him in action...  :)

JA Baker

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1190 on: 25 January 2020, 06:59:33 »
I've seen this guy's name mentioned a few times... glad to finally get to see him in action...  :)
It should prove to be... educational.
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Sharpnel

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1191 on: 25 January 2020, 08:47:27 »
Especially when Romo presents the Wolverine's unedited files concerning what lead up to the Trial of Annihilation. Once the Cylons are dealt with, the Wolves will have a lot to answer for. Hopefully, it will be in BLOOD
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werehawk

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1192 on: 25 January 2020, 10:05:57 »
I'm pretty sure that the Khans of the clans are about to find out why lawyers are truly demons to be feared. If they thought that Liz was a nightmare to deal with Romeo Lampkin will prove to them there are worse things to face...
« Last Edit: 25 January 2020, 13:10:18 by werehawk »

Hotpoint

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1193 on: 25 January 2020, 10:44:38 »
Kiribati Island, Kowloon - Federated Commonwealth

Sometimes in life you encounter someone who you cannot help but be impressed with even when they provoke a visceral dislike of them because they are on the other side of an argument. Khan Ward of the Wolf Clan recalled a quote he had once heard: 'I don't shoot a man for being incompetent in the Devil's work. I shoot him for being competent in the Devil's work. Admiration for his technique is part of the process'.

After the first twenty minutes of listening to the man Vladimir Ward really wanted to shoot Romo Lampkin.

It was bad enough that the man was clearly an accomplished wordsmith, impressive in itself given that English was not his first language, it was the fact he injected just enough sarcasm into his arguments that you felt the overwhelming need to jump on anything he said that you might be able to disprove, thus scoring a few points back on the man.

Unfortunately it became all too apparent after a while that the lawyer was laying traps for you to fall into because he had access to sources of information that the Khans did not. Every time you pounced on something he said that sounded like nothing but supposition at best, mere sophistry at worst, he produced a two century old transcript, electronic record or even an actual contemporary voice record to prove it.

That was the real problem at the root of the matter. Unlike all the other clans the Wolverines still had the unredacted, unedited and far more complete records of the events leading up to the failed annihilation in their possession, and the lawyer was thoroughly enjoying beating them over the head with it.

Once they eventually realised that the lawyers evident smugness after shooting them down in flames was intended to provoke them into falling into the next rhetorical trap the Khans stopped playing his game and sat there in silence wishing they had made the Not-Named present their own damned case.

Romo Lampkin took off his sunglasses. Now he had their attention and they were loathe to interrupt for fear of sounding foolish it was time to go to work properly.

"Now we move to the matter of the nuclear destruction of Dehra Dun" Lampkin said, looking from Khan to Khan before turning towards Duchess Ngo. "Or rather the nuclear destruction of the Wolverine capital of Great Hope which took place before it."

Elizabeth could not help but look a little smug herself. "I knew it" she said confidently. "Kerensky nuked the Wolverine's first and they immediately retaliated by taking out Dehra Dun, the closest enemy city to them" she continued. "That makes so much more sense than the people just trying to leave suddenly deciding on a whim to escalate like that" she said. Elizabeth still couldn't agree with the Wolverines for incinerating all those innocent civilians but understood why they might lash out that way under the circumstances.

Lampkin smiled and paused for effect. "No" he said eventually.

"What?" Elizabeth exclaimed incredulously.

This time it was the turn of Aletha Kabrinski to look smug. "The Not-Named destroyed Great Hope themselves to stop it falling into the hands of others" she said. "We compared our, admittedly fragmented own records with those of several other clans to establish this."

Elizabeth blinked and turned to stare at the Wolverine's present.

"No that's not it either, although you were slightly closer to the truth Duchess because at the time the Wolverine's did initially think that ilKhan Kerensky ordered Great Hope destroyed because they knew they hadn't done it themselves."

"The Snow Ravens did it without Kerensky's orders?" Victor suggested as the Khans looked at each other with increasing confusion.

"We did no such thing!" the saKhan of the Snow Ravens responded sharply.

"That's true" Lampkin said quickly because the Snow Raven looked like they might be on the verge of insisting upon a Trial of Grievance regarding the accusation. "It wasn't the Snow Ravens that destroyed Great Hope" he confirmed.

"Okay so who did it then?" Elizabeth wanted to know.

Lampkin adopted a serious expression. "Do you recall me mentioning earlier that there was an anomaly in the records regarding the contents of the Brian cache discovered in Wolverine territory, the one that led to the escalation in friction between Khan Sarah McEvedy and the other Khans" he asked rhetorically. "Well by far the most important of the accounting discrepancies was a missing nuclear warhead that seemed to vanish during the short time the cache was not fully in Wolverine control" he continued. "One of a batch of identical warheads stored there."

"We ended up using the rest of them on the Cylons a couple of hundred years later" Ferry felt the need to interject. "They were getting long in the tooth anyway."

"It was that missing warhead which destroyed Great Hope, and it was Clan Widowmaker that did it, intending to pin the blame on the Wolverines because of a long-standing rivalry." Lampkin informed the room. "And now you might all be putting two-and-two together to make the four which explains the origins of the serious beef between Clan Wolf and Clan Widowmaker which followed" he said. 'Kerensky might have been willing to use the situation to his advantage but he wasn't going to trust the Widowmakers one inch after that, especially since he had previously learned that the Widowmakers had been spying on the Wolverines without his authorisation."

Marthe Pryde turned to Vladmir Ward. "The Widowmakers killed Kerensky later in a trial" she noted.

"No. They murdered him by violating the agreed terms of the engagement" Ward disagreed, face like stone. "That is why we fought the Trial of Absorption, the Widowmakers always regarded honour in battle as an optional extra" he said bitterly. "It took generations of incorporation into the Wolves to cure them of that trait."

"It is uncomfortable to dwell upon but if any Clan would be willing to use such deception as a false-flag attack I would place the Widowmakers right at the top of the list" Khan Kabrinski chipped in for herself.

Elizabeth Ngo frowned. "So getting back on track the Wolverine's nuked Dehra Dun on the spur of the moment because they thought the Snow Ravens had nuked them first, likely on Kerensky's orders, but in reality it was the Widowmakers who were at fault?" she suggested. "And you found out later you nuked the wrong people but by then it was too late and the clans had already decided to genocide you."

"No" Lampkin dismissed her latest theory. "It wasn't the Wolverines that nuked Dehra Dun, well not how you think they did anyway."

This revelation caused considerable consternation and Lampkin gave everyone a few minutes to get it out of their systems. He turned towards Ferry who gave him a thumb's up.

"It was the ****** Widowmakers that nuked Dehra Dun wasn't it?"  Elizabeth growled. "They expected the Wolverines to lash out with nukes after Great Hope but when they didn't they upped the ante."

"Swing and a miss. That's three strikes and you're out" Lampkin responded. "Did I get the sports metaphor right?" he checked with Ferry who gave him another thumb's up. "We don't play baseball ourselves."

"So who did?" Victor was dying to hear the end of the mystery by now.

Lampkin put on his sunglasses again. "Before I answer that I would like to tell you the story of the Texas Class Battleship Bismark" he began. "One of the ships that was placed in the clan's mothball fleet reserve it was..." he paused. "Borrowed, yes borrowed sounds better than stolen, by Clan Wolverine when they prepared their secession and when things turned nasty the Wolverine's deployed it to reinforce their forces around Circe" he told the room. "Later it was one of the vessels which escaped the annihilation, which means that we still have all of her logs and electronic records intact so if any of you requires confirmation of what I'm about to say, that can be provided" he continued. "We will even allow a panel of experts to examine the hardware and electronic records directly to demonstrate there has been no tampering of any kind."

"Meaning you don't expect us to believe you otherwise" Victor observed knowingly.

"It might be hard to swallow" Lampkin agreed. "Dehra Dun was destroyed by accident by Clan Wolverine... and also Clan Snow Raven."

This time the room was silent.

"Come again" Elizabeth was the first to eventually speak up.

Lampkin removed his sunglasses once again so that he could look everyone in the eyes, these little pieces of courtroom theatrics were his trademark. "Clan Snow Raven believed that the Wolverines had gone nuclear first, as did probably everyone else not affiliated to the Widowmakers" he explained. "In the circumstances, and likely under orders from the ilKhan, they launched an aerospace strike package including a nuclear weapon intending to use it on a Wolverine military target" he said. "Unfortunately the Bismark in orbit shot it down... and it exploded over Dehra Dun, the Raven's own city."

"You have got to be ****** kidding" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"No, but now you know why we expected you all to want to get a look at Bismark's records of what happened" Lampkin replied before turning towards the speechless representative of the Snow Raven's themselves. "We don't know whether the ilKhan ordered your leadership to keep quiet about what really happened, whether they chose to in order to try and save themselves, or whether it was a combination of the two but I think you can understand why the Wolverines feel somewhat aggrieved that because they did keep quiet and let them take the full blame then Clans that would likely have never voted for their annihilation otherwise did so."

"Maybe what happened to Dehra Dun was pre-emptive karmic alignment" Ferry muttered, loud enough to be overheard. "Don't worry, we're not seeking apocalyptic revenge" he spoke up. "Maybe if the Widowmakers were still around, or Nicky Kerensky himself, we'd feel differently, but mostly we'd just like you to drop your plan to kill us all for something we didn't do, at least not in any way deliberately" he said. "You should hear the voice logs from Bismark when that nuke exploded over the city, the crew were horrified."

Vladimir Ward coughed. "We will want to hear those logs, as well as review any other records you have" he said unemotionally.

"As will we" the Ghost Bear Khan concurred, fixing the representative of the Snow Ravens with a cold look.

"Time for a another recess I think" Lampkin suggested. "After that we can talk about what happened after Dehra Dun, you might all benefit from hearing the last words of Sarah McEvedy regarding the whole sorry business. I'm afraid ilKhan Kerensky does not come off looking too good."
 
 
« Last Edit: 25 January 2020, 10:59:34 by Hotpoint »
"A dread fear rests deep in the heart of Clan Coyote that one day a lawyer will arrive on Tamaron talking about intellectual property rights, the Mercury II and the Coyotl omnimech and this will herald the end of the Clan as the Not-Named sue their asses into bankruptcy for patent infringement" - The True History of the Clans (Dark Caste Press: 3050)

Hunted Tribes - Hotpoint's Battlestar/Battletech Crossover Series


mikecj

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1194 on: 25 January 2020, 10:53:05 »
Alex Kerensky was just lucky Romo Lampkin wasn't Stefan Amaris' lawyer.   >:D
There are no fish in my pond.
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Romo Lampkin could have gotten Stefan Amaris off with a warning.

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1195 on: 25 January 2020, 11:14:32 »
Kiribati...

a uniformed Coast Guard officer stopped by Elizabeth's table, as the roll call for a recess was being called.

"Excuse me." she stood.  "Everyone?"

Natalie Breen's image turned to someone off-camera at the same time.

"I have an announcement to make." Liz said.  "this morning at zero six three zero, at a recharge point coreward of Bone Norman, a Cylon Base-star vessel attacked a retreating convoy belonging to one of the Clans.  This convoy was apparently part of the Steel Viper evacuation, and was being shadowed by units from Squadron Two of Division 12, Kowloon Coast Guard seconded to AFFC Fleet One under Admiral Katherine Morgan Steiner Davion.  The Convoy of six Carrack class vessels escorted by the CSV Anaconda and CSV Snake Pit was attacked, with the destruction of both Lola-Three class vessels.
The Coast Guard Cutter Sarah Jennings, helmed by Commander Trau Cuk Ky sent a call for reinforcement, and jumped into position between the Cylon attackers, and the six Carrack Class transports, to buy time for the rest of their Patrol unit, code-named 'Task group Thunderchild' to arrive."

she swallowed, "They lasted fifteen minutes, long enough for the Carracks to get out of there.  The Basestar was destroyed by the reinforcements, but KCGS Sarah Jennings was lost with all hands in the engagement after inflicting significant, crippling damage to the enemy warship.  Flight Data records from the vessel will be made available as soon as they are recovered to any and all interested...parties. we do not know the composition of the transport group at this time."

"That was one of ours."  Khan Zalman announced, "Have you recovered survivors?"

"Search and Rescue teams, I'm told, are deployed looking for any survivors from the two destroyers or the three Titan-class fighter carriers destroyed by the enemy." she answered.  "When I know something, you will know, sir."
"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1196 on: 25 January 2020, 11:46:34 »
continued...

"Why were you shadowing the retreating Steel Viper forces?"  Marthe Pryde asked.

"they stabbed an ally in the back, attacking said ally after Wotan..." Liz said, "We weren't sure they would actually go back to the Homeworlds instead of turning around and waiting for another chance."

this drew a sharp intake of breath from everyone in the room.

"It's a good thing we were, or those six transports with all the personnel on board, would be radioactive debris."

"What class is this cutter, the Sarah Jennings?"  Lynn McKenna asked.

"Fifty six thousand tons fully loaded.  Three assault shuttles and six fighters, two capital-grade antishipping missile tubes on a dorsal mount, forty five centimeter laser main guns on her broadside.  typical Sampan Two class, with the LF battery refit, we lost about eighty people and only recovered datarecord from three of her Centurion Complement-those three are being debriefed at Fleet."

"How big is a Basestar?"  Natalie Breen asked.

"About one point five million tons displacement, a hybrid carrier and missile platform."  Vlad Ward noted out loud, "with a lot of missiles."

Elizabeth cleared her throat, "I have eighty six commendations to review and families to contact.  If you will excuse me?"
"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1197 on: 25 January 2020, 13:28:56 »
Executive Order from the Duchess

From: the desk of Elizabeth Anne Ngo, Duchess of Kowloon, Margrave of the Kowloon March Theater
To: Boojum Shipyard

RE: Production order 1st Quarter, 3058

Hulls 81, 82, 83, 84,85

Class Sampan III Mod 4 series Cutters.

Funding authorization has cleared the Assembly, these hulls are to be completed with an additional 14 days.

Rename as follows:

Nueva Pueblo to Trau Cuk Ky (CCD-81)
Da Nang to Sarah Jennings (CCD-82)

Follow standard naming schemes for subsequent hulls until directed otherwise by this office.

Signed,

Elizabeth Anne Ngo
"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1198 on: 25 January 2020, 13:47:13 »
Magistrate's Courthouse, Arcology 771, Winter, 3058

"all rise.  Docket J, 33, Lyran Commonwealth versus Nicole Minh, charge is grand theft jumpship, transport of contraband, and suspcion of accessory to deep space piracy.  You may be seated."

The judge is the kind of guy who looks pissed off all the time.  This is probably from living at the bottom of the well his whole life.

"Miss Minh, you waived your right to counsel...we're going to make this fast.  as a juvenile, you would ordinarily expect to face a reduced sentence, however the charges against you are quite serious.  Do you understand what you have done?"

"Yes, your honor."

the judge doesn't believe me. Kind of expect that.  getting caught in a stolen Star Lord class with a cargo full of weapons does that. 

Spiking the navicom and surrendering to the Coast Guard probably helped me.  Making sure Farley and his gang were trapped in the system might have helped me.  The full confession probably didn't.

"Miss Minh, I don't think you do.  You are sixteen years old, I have granddaughters that are older than you, academy graduates, and they wouldn't understand the kind of charges you're facing.  Half this charge sheet are serious felonies, two items on it, carry life imprisonment or the death penalty, and that is not including shooting that man."

blood, screams. I shake it off.  "Sir."

"I am going to do you an enormous favour, Miss Minh. You are hereby offered a choice, you can sign the enlistment papers, or you can be sentenced under standard guidelines with a small adjustment for your age, meaning you'll get out of prison right about age ninety.  Prison is not a nice place, Miss Minh."

"I'll take prison, sir."

"Well, you're obviously too young to make that decision, this court finds the defendant to be a Juvenile, and unlikely to offend again, you are remanded to a suitable training facility by your guardian ad lidem..which..." he looks around, "Chief?"

"We'll take her."  A Coast Guard with Chief's tabs asserts.

"For a tour of no less than five years, beginning upon completion of your education at Coast Guard Academy Vin Drin Lap." the judge finished, "So ordered." and gaveled

"come on kid."

"I...I don't get it."

"You stole a Star Lord from Ngo Industries over Galatea." the Chief explained, "Single handed.  That means you've got skills, you surrendered instead of fighting, which suggests somewhere in that little red-haired head, you've got brains, and you shot your criminal boss in the face when he tried to make you jump the ship out, which says you have both brains, and guts.  you're recruit material, and you're going to spend the next three years in academic prep as a possible officer candidate because we will take people like you. It's your community service, kid.  IF you ever get the backbone to own up and tell us who your parents are, we'll inform them, but you have been sentenced to military service, which is a hell of a lot better than prison."
"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing.
« Reply #1199 on: 25 January 2020, 14:22:28 »
Raptor 11, Kiribati Island Airfield...

the Raptor was a quiet place to do work, serving as a kind of 'ducal office' for the moment, free of interruptions from the day-to-day goings on of the diplomatic site and the Coast Guard caretaker squadron.

and Liz needed to cool the shakes.  The war had changed, it was...less abstract.  Kowloon had suffered casualties against the Cylons, in an engagement that didn't absolutely have to happen.

at least, on a rational, strategic level.  "I ****** up." Liz muttered. 

calling out the Steel Vipers as backstabbing ****** wasn't the smartest move, rubbing into their faces that their technical crews, garrison troops, and the surviving escorts in their convoy made it out of that ambush thanks to Coast Guard units that had been shadowing them didn't help.

Losing a class-alpha boat boss just made things worse.  The enemy, didn't lose anything but the chance to kill that convoy.  in her imagination, she could see the Cylons from the engagement, the enemy cylons, resurrecting, now with experience against the Guard.

and maybe prisoners in their gigantic server farms to strip, reallocate, and reprogram.

On a strategic level, it was a loss. A loss she tried to sell as a minor victory.

she checked the morning reports, including a couple of small theater-level projects she'd put in motion.

Ship thieves: 22 apprehended so far, 9 successfully recruited from sentences that would have left them in prison for life.
Slicers/hackers: 181 apprehended, 12 found to be unsuitable for recruitment, the rest would be going through training as RTO personnel.
Juvenile Delinquents: 1.  a shipjacker named Nicole Minh. KCGS Cham Phuc Dao took custody this morning.  Medical says kid is even younger than her docket said. bone scans and the data from the University's human development project suggest the kid is fifteen at the oldest.

Li added a note asking what to do with the kid.

Liz typed an order.

Subject: Nicole Minh, Case #J/33/102957/Hijacker/CC code 191 under Revised Commonwealth Code(J).

Ducal Finding: Remand this juvenile to a military grade boarding school institution until age 18, followed by induction into Coast Guard OTS and no less than five years active duty upon completion of her education. 

Evaluation for interests, skills, talents and ability to be conducted immediately upon return to the Kowloon system.

Find her Parents, inform them, see if visitation can be arranged, but make it clear she is serving a sentence for serious criminal activity.

PS: Li, we discussed a junior training program six months ago, make up a damn school and put this kid in it with as many suitable candidates as Personnel can find, post her scores to the Coventry, Alarion, and Pandora prep programs, I'll see if I can talk Prince Victor into loaning us some teachers or hot-boxing up some educational certifications, but I want this in-house as much as possible.

Liz.


"Prisoners into military service, Liz?"  Penny asked, leaning over and partially through the pilot's seat.

"Difference-these are convicts." Liz said, "I'm giving convicts a second chance, because they have skills we need."

"but you're not facing a manpower crunch."

"Not yet, we will." Liz said, "And that is a damned fact."

"Juvenile Delinquents?"

"I was a juvenile delinquent." Liz dismissed the hallucination by turning her attention to feeds from the firm.




"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."