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| Briefing Room |
The room was filled with a hubbub of noise, Col. Ferguson
and Capt. Hausa were both waiting for the noise levels to subside and for the
last few stragglers to enter. They waited longer than I’d have been prepared to
but then I am not the Colonel and I didn’t look like I’d gone ten rounds with a
bottle of the rotgut shit they brew on this dung ball.
The Colonel launched into a briefing on the neighbouring
Caliphate run by a guy called Musa. His forces stretched to conventional, run
of the mill militia arms and armaments until a matter of weeks ago. A group of
MechWarriors landed nearby and had sold their services to Musa. The Colonel’s
sources were sketchy on what ‘Mechs they were riding but the mission was clear
enough, secure them or destroy them.
She then went on to say that Jakari, Thornton and I had been
selected to carry out this mission. Which drew some looks from other members of
the company, most notably from Arturo who seems to think he should be running
the show instead of the Colonel. He is certainly a more able tactician than
Branka seems to be and doesn’t follow orders blindly like Jared seems to... the
man shows no invention or intuition at all, Still the Colonel has placed her
faith, however misguided, in the man... I wouldn’t trust him to intuitively
empty the trash let alone run the company!
So that was it, just the three of us and a handful of the local militia that Muhktar was prepared to spare to get us to the Caliphate as planetary data seems to be a luxury that none of those jostling for power seemed prepared to stretch to. As the rest of the black shields departed Arturo lingered behind and once the last body had disappeared out of earshot he said in a quiet, conspiratorial tone 'Looks like a tough job, I'll be impressed if you can handle it'
He then tried to sow some more seeds of doubt about the Colonel's management of the unit. Not something we were keen to have anything of. I asked him if he was angling for the top job and he tried valiantly to evade the question... he thinks he is as slick as the hair oil the locals use but he just comes across as a greasy motherfucker. My gut tells me to neither like or trust him at all!
With our briefing complete we all retired to prepare for our early start. My room, barely more than a cell really, was cool and quiet and about as far removed from what the caliph jokingly calls his court as it is possible to get and still be inside the walls of the compound. I stripped down to my shorts and was just drifting off when a loud knock stopped me short.
Opening the door I was confronted by a guard who muttered in broken English that the Caliph wanted to see me. I dressed quickly and soon discovered that the Caliph wanted to see the three of us. While we have been in his presence before this was a first, especially for this late in the day. Coming into his audience hall he sat upon his throne while his vizier stood just to one side. He started spouting the usual platitudes and I could almost feel the smoke being blown up my arse!
After all of the tedious, overly dramatic bullshit was over and done with the vizier got down to business and said that the Caliph had decided to give us each a gift in honour of the service we were giving him. He presented each of us with a very attractive sex slave and then bid us a pleasant respite before we undertook our great adventure. I looked across at Jakari and Thornton seeing undisguised lust in the eyes of the first and a cold, near nothingness in the second's.
I took the girls hand and led her back to my quarters, sat her down on the chair and went and took a shower. Once that was done I brought her a glass of cool water, climbed into the sack and fell quickly asleep. When I awoke she was gone.
So that was it, just the three of us and a handful of the local militia that Muhktar was prepared to spare to get us to the Caliphate as planetary data seems to be a luxury that none of those jostling for power seemed prepared to stretch to. As the rest of the black shields departed Arturo lingered behind and once the last body had disappeared out of earshot he said in a quiet, conspiratorial tone 'Looks like a tough job, I'll be impressed if you can handle it'
He then tried to sow some more seeds of doubt about the Colonel's management of the unit. Not something we were keen to have anything of. I asked him if he was angling for the top job and he tried valiantly to evade the question... he thinks he is as slick as the hair oil the locals use but he just comes across as a greasy motherfucker. My gut tells me to neither like or trust him at all!
With our briefing complete we all retired to prepare for our early start. My room, barely more than a cell really, was cool and quiet and about as far removed from what the caliph jokingly calls his court as it is possible to get and still be inside the walls of the compound. I stripped down to my shorts and was just drifting off when a loud knock stopped me short.
Opening the door I was confronted by a guard who muttered in broken English that the Caliph wanted to see me. I dressed quickly and soon discovered that the Caliph wanted to see the three of us. While we have been in his presence before this was a first, especially for this late in the day. Coming into his audience hall he sat upon his throne while his vizier stood just to one side. He started spouting the usual platitudes and I could almost feel the smoke being blown up my arse!
After all of the tedious, overly dramatic bullshit was over and done with the vizier got down to business and said that the Caliph had decided to give us each a gift in honour of the service we were giving him. He presented each of us with a very attractive sex slave and then bid us a pleasant respite before we undertook our great adventure. I looked across at Jakari and Thornton seeing undisguised lust in the eyes of the first and a cold, near nothingness in the second's.
I took the girls hand and led her back to my quarters, sat her down on the chair and went and took a shower. Once that was done I brought her a glass of cool water, climbed into the sack and fell quickly asleep. When I awoke she was gone.
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