Chapter 12:
New Kyoto, 09:00 30 January 3005, Black Cat PMC Main Base.
The Colonel, Samantha "Titania" Wylde
I sighed and leaned back from my desk as I put my signature on the final report about the actions of my company during the Pirate raid. I had finally received confirmation that all the pirates and slaves were clear of any biological or viral agents, meaning I could now hand them over to the Daimyo and proceed to the final phase of the cleanup, splitting the loot.
I was looking forward to this as I was entitled, by legal contract with very stringent wording and highly ruinous penalties, to 40% of the total weight of salvage. Which in this case meant at minimum one jumpship, if not two, and a decent share of the rest. I was both looking forward to and dreading the fact that I would need yet another set of training years to bring new crew and troops up to scratch.
Looking out of the office window, I have to shake my head. Most folks would kill to have the problem I am currently struggling with. I never realised that there was such a thing as two successful. My people had all revealed in the bonuses they got, they had earned them, and were very happy with the fact that there might be more metal for them to choose from when they hit the 10-year mark and were allowed to buy out a ride.
I, on the other hand, was wondering what ROB had in store for me now and whether I needed to think about leaving the planet for a bit to get up to interesting things. I had some things I could get up to, and now I had more than enough people to leave in charge of running training and the day-to-day for a while. Maybe I should get off-world and go visit some family, and maybe pick up some interesting equipment that is just lying around waiting for someone to come claim it.
I would also really love to finally get use out of a bunch of the really advanced stuff hiding away in my inventory space. I wanted to get the Ironman suit out, and the T-51, and maybe even a few of the droids and the autodoc. So many things I could finally get my hands on, and I had to hold off and wait until I had a chance to get things set up.
I frown as I notice Katrina and company heading towards the building. They were still here, and more than anything else, they had stuck around trying to interrogate me about everything under the sun to do with the raid, and how my people managed to stomp it into the dirt.
Honestly, I was getting tired of her hanging around and not returning to Tharkad to mend bridges with family and take over from Alessandro. I need her to get a move on and to finish getting married and having kids. I need to see whether or not I have butterflied away the one chance I had to ensure the IS could potentially be pulled together and secured.
Though looking at Katrina's long, purposeful strides, I can live in hope that she has decided to move on. Wishes and fishes, Sam, wishes and fishes.
New Kyoto, 12:00 30 January 3005.
The Colonel, Samantha "Titania" Wylde
Katrina had not been there to tell me that they were about to leave. Instead, she was there to ask to be allowed to sit in on the negotiations over the salvage rights. I can appreciate that. The negotiations were for an amazing amount of metal all told, and as the Archon Designate and a General of the armies, she would probably really want to ensure that the LCAF got its dues.
Sadly for her and the LCAF, they will have to get their share from the Daimyo after we finish splitting everything. They also won't get to dictate things unless they want to really feel the hit in their wallets. I am a vindictive bitch, and I am also aware that giving ComStar a reason to interdict a great house at a time of their choosing is something they would love and an amazing threat. So the contract had scaling penalty clauses that would get to the point where whatever nation signed us would be paying royally for stiffing or screwing me on loot.
Now, normally, there is no chance in hell that anyone would sign a contract with the terms that I put in place. It left negotiating for metal in a very narrow band, and gave no way for an employer to slip loose or screw me. A the same time, however, I had put protections in place for them, and basically ensured that everyone stuck to the spirit of the contract. This was also a revision I had made after the last Liason had tried to play stupid games, and so when we re-upped with the Daimyo, he had happily signed off on them, due to not having any problems and also for our exemplary service in bringing up the average level of his militia and house troops.
So here I was walking into a conference room, with a disguised trio, the Daimyo and what seemed to be an LCAF Captain. The last drew me up short momentarily, but I took it in stride and took my seat after the needed pleasantries had been made.
Looking to the Daimyo and his assistants on the other side of the table from me, I decided to get the ball rolling, "I hope that you received the final inventory and have made your first four picks?" I ask as I lean back in my chair and get comfortable. Looking over the Daimyo, whose face had slipped from genial into a grimace of distaste.
Before the Daimyo can speak up, the Captain sitting to one side jumps in, "The LCAF is going to be requisitioning the lot, unfortunately Colonel", and he could not have put more derision into that title if he tried, "As such, we are mainly here to talk about the funds that you are to receive." He finishes with a greasy smug smirk on his face as if he has done something grand and won some amazing victory.
Behind me, I can hear the sharp intake of breath from my three disguised guests, as well as the creak of tightening fists. Across from me, the Daimyo is actually looking crestfallen and decidedly resigned to whatever charade is currently being played out.
"Oh, that is interesting, considering I do not have a contract with the LCAF," I respond, slightly raising an eyebrow as I stare at the captain and watch as his smirk starts slipping. "Furthermore, you are not my registered Liaison, and neither was I informed that they had been replaced. Now, keep silent, small person of no consequence, the adults are talking, and between a Captain, a Colonel, and the Daimyo, your voice has no weight." I finish, and by now the room is looking at me as if I had grown a second and then a third head, while behind me I can hear the struggles of someone trying to contain laughter.
Turning my gaze from the now spluttering Captain, I look towards the Daimyo, "The LCAF and LIC are aware of the penalties for trying to seize materials that they have no right to correct? The Nepolianc Captain included?" I ask him, watching as his shoulders sag further, and he just gives a defeated nod.
"They believe that you are unable to enforce the clauses. They do not believe that ComStar will follow through and are also of the opinion that you will not risk fighting against the LCAF just to claim salvage." His head is shaking in tired defeat at the end of his sentence. "I have informed them that you are more than capable of doing so and winning without them putting forward greater forces than the slavage warrants, but I was overruled by the Archons' order." His shoulder shrug and raised hands tell me all I need to know about his current position.
"Has this moron, sitting here making these demands, read the contract in its entirety and had a lawyer explain it to him?" I ask, pointing across the table at what I was now believing might be a LOKI agent working with false orders.
"I can read contracts perfectly fine, thank you very much!" The Captain cuts in sharply and snidely, finally having gotten over his indignation. Though now he is looking far more venomous and angry, I wonder why that might be?
"Good, then you are aware that the LCAF, upon doing this, releases me from contract and gives me the right to recoup potential lost earnings by not only claiming all salvage, but also filing with the MRB and ComStar for the requisite fines, in line with articles 12-1-A through 12-5-D of the contract, entitling them to leverage fees against all future contracts of the LCAF with any mercenary command and on every single HPG transmission through ComStar equal to fifty times total market value of the salvage you were attempting to seize?" I ask, and watch as around the room, everyone pales. The Daimyo, however, merely sinks further into his chair, the costs and defeat weighing on him enough to make him appear to age rapidly in real time.
The Captain's face, however, is now a dangerous shade of purple as he realises that I will go through with my contract and that I am not going to just roll over and give up. "I have signed orders from the Archon himself to ensure that you comply, Mercenary. You will do so, or you will be arrested and tried for treason," he spits out, and at this stage, I can notice how one of his hands has been slowly making its way to his holster.
Around the room, several guards have tensed, and the Daimyo and his aides are looking decidedly like they are about to hit the deck.
I sigh and shake my head before looking the Captain dead in the eyes, my face still entirely expressionless as I tap out a signal on the wood of the conference table, causing Morgan to position himself in place to defend Katrina, "One, if you had such orders, then they would be in verigraph and they would most definitely be handled by a Major or higher and delivered in person at my base." I start watching as my words hit home and cause a twitching around his eyes.
"Two, whether you try and arrest me or not, my men currently hold all of the metal, and can thus quite happily get it out of her without problems, after which, should I die, it will all end up in the hands of my father's other heirs, in the Magistarcy of Canopus. I am very sure they would appreciate the Archon's gift." That point causes the twitching to grow more exaggerated, and his fist on the table to clench.
"Three, those penalties go into effect whether I am in command or not, and funnily enough, ComStar is going to be more than happy to jack up the prices with legal reasons behind it, or outright interdict the Commonwealth if you go further than just trying to seize metal you have no right to." That point causes the whole room to freeze. Interdiction is no laughing matter and would cause untold damage to the commonwealth if it were to occur.
"Finally, and this is the important one, the Highest authority on planet has been, for the last three weeks, staying on my base incognito while they tour this particular theater of the LCAF, and I am more then sure they have words for a jumped up Captain who is about to cost the LCAF and by extension the Commonwealth, in excess of 150 billion C-bills, in fines, fees, and lost Metal." I finish as I watch the colour slowly drain from the face of the man sitting opposite me.
"That number, by the way, is at base market price when originally made. Considering these are one and all Royal machines, and that they still have all their original equipment, and that they are irreplaceable, that price is likely to be double if not triple." I watch as that sinks into the room. Nearly 450 billion C-bills in fines. Sure, the Commonwealth could eat that. But it would hurt very badly, and at the same time, could purchase almost a hundred times the number of machines and metal on the list for use.
Apparently, Katrina has finally had enough of staying quiet and watching the train wreck, as she finally steps away from the position she had taken up behind me and takes off the full helmet all my troops use, revealing to everyone here that they had been under the eyes of the Archon Designate and one of the highest-ranked generals in the LCAF the entire time.
I just smiled and sat back as I watched her move to tear into the room.
New Kyoto, 13:00 30 January 3005, Daimyos Palace.
Katrina Steiner
The day had been going well. In fact, that should have been the first warning sign for me. It was not just the day that had been going well, but the entirety of the last two weeks had gone fantastically after the raid had been handled. She had trained with the returning troops, read through after-action reports, read through final debriefing notes, and just generally got a very good feel for the unit.
That feeling and the feats and training they displayed led her to believe that she was staying with a unit that would happily and easily give any of the best of the great houses a run for their money, even the descendants of the SLDF that remained, like the Eradani Light Horse, would struggle to match the levels that her cousin had her people training to.
Heck, most of her techs were basically working through further education as standard and getting more degrees by the year. Her Head Astech, Victoria Ferrous, was currently sitting on six doctorates in related fields of engineering and material sciences. And while she was the head of the pack, the rest were not that far behind, all holding at a minimum of three each.
Her infantry was so elite she wondered if there was even a need for mechs and tanks sometimes, while the vehicle and mech crews that could were all cross-trained. Hells, some of the mechwarriors were also pilots for ASFs, and every single one of them could call artillery like the best of a gun crew. And don't get me started on the Marines! Those fools were the epitome of idiotic courage, and "If it is stupid but works, it isn't stupid."
Shaking her head, she settles in behind the Colonel as the pleasantries are finally concluded and the discussions about the split of captured metal commence. Only for Murphy to rear around and kick the legs out from under the table with the declaration of the idiotic, moronic, smug, foolish, insane and deluded prick of a Liaison Captain.
Things just continue to get worse from there as Samantha lays out exactly what is going to happen if they continue down the path they were taking. Giving the entire group a chance to back out, to find a common ground, anything I scream mentally as I start doing some very rough back-of-the-napkin maths.
Cousin had handed me a breakdown of the captured metal and their rough values, and I was now running the numbers and going pale ever faster. Please, for the love of all that is holy, I thought as the Captain threatened to ARREST! The Colonel for treason! Treason! I couldn't stay quiet, I had to fix this before the entire commonwealth was thrown into turmoil by idiotic social generals and my even more idiotic Uncle for potentially ordering this.
Striding forward, I strip the helmet from my head and stare down the other side of the table, noticing the widened eyes of recognition and the visual relief on the Daimyo. The Captain, however, was a different story, and before I could realise what was happening, things went even further to crap as bedlam and chaos erupted.
New Kyoto, 13:00 30 January 3005, Daimyos Palace.
Samantha "The Colonel" Wylde
I watched as Katrina took up position at my side, staring out at the other and about to get started tearing into them, when movement at the corner of my eye drew my attention to the Captain. It was just in time to notice his face go deadly calm, and the mask of an assassin fall into place. His hand had also now finally reached his holster, and in what I assume he hoped would be a swift move, he went to draw it.
That was met by the reaction of Morgan coming out of the back and tackling Katrina to the ground, along with Arthur. The Daimyos Delegation was now rapidly making themselves as small as possible on the floor, and guards around the room were all moving to different orders.
Some seemed to be backing up the play by the Captain, others, in the Daimyos' house colours, were moving to protect their principle, and yet more were frozen in indecision. Then there was my group. Not the guards I walked in with, along with Katrina and company, no, I meant the black squad who had been in the room for a whole hour before we arrived. Hidden by their Stealth gear and now moving to ensure this ended without bloodshed and with the good Captain detained without killing himself.
Following Katrina being tackled to the ground, any guard that had their weapon drawn or raised was introduced to enough voltage to knock them out, courtesy of the wireless tasers that one of my engineers had figured out. Perks of ensuring your tech folks kept pushing the envelope and had simulators to test crap in as often as needed.
Between one second and the next, ten guards were incapacitated, and the Captain was suddenly locked down by an invisible foe who had also apparently jabbed him with a fast-acting muscle relaxant and sedative. The remaining guards and the rest of the people here were all wondering where the people in pitch black suits had appeared from and whose side they were on.
"Detain anyone still armed or pointing a gun at the members of this meeting, then ensure that the good Captain, assassin that he is, is kept securely until I can have a long conversation with him," I ordered, still calmly sitting in my seat and watching the whole thing calmly.
As I remained in place, my people rapidly disarmed everyone or escorted them out while leaving the Daimyo and his aides, as well as Katrinas Trio, to get themselves off the floor. The unconscious guards were all carried to the infirmary, and the Good Captain was restrained properly before two of my men carried him off to get him secured for transport back to base.
It took a further ten minutes for everyone else to recover from the brief scuffle, but once they had and refreshments had been provided, we could get back to the work of splitting what had been recovered.
The finalised item list was once again displayed with one column, one side labelled for the Black Cats and the other the Daimyo.
Spoiler: Materials List
"Now, as I have no interest in the penalty clauses triggering, we are now at the point where we must determine which escape clause you are going to be using for the penalty Daimyo. For the record and with sincerity, I am well aware that you would not have had anything to do with that if you could help it." I say, looking to the man as he sits in his chair, wondering how things could go this badly so quickly.
"That being said, the contract was broken by your implicit admission of being unable to do otherwise, and thus, for these negotiations to continue, we need to employ the built-in clause I had placed for exactly this eventuality. If you could have your aide or a lawyer read out Section 25, subsection 6, points 1.1 through 1.5." I say, looking to the man as he slowly regains some vigour and hope, looking towards an elderly woman sitting beside him, who is rapidly flicking through pages on her own noteputer.
Clearing her throat, the lady slowly reads out the clause after finding it, "Clause for emergency reinstatement of contract due to external interference of powers with irrefutable control of signatories," she begins, her eyes widening at the fact that such a clause was included.
"Point 1, should either signatory be forced to be in breach of contract due to the orders or exertions of a third party in power over them, the contract may be reinstated along the lines of one of the following points.
1.1. If the party was forced to order the signatory to be in breach of the contract for reasons relating to duties, the contract may be reinstated with a change in pay commensurate with three times the danger pay rating agreed to before the rest of the contract, in addition to the standard base rate.
1.2 If the party was forced to disobey orders in defensive actions due to interference with those orders, or due to the orders not aligning with the agreed-upon terms, the contract may be reinstated with an increase of command to total autonomy and a pay rise of five times the monthly pay.
1.3 If the contract is broken over agreed-upon support not being provided, it may be reinstated with all costs outstanding times twenty being paid and priority on all further materials for the remaining duration of the contract.
1.4 If the breach of contract is to occur over matters of split in salvage and materials gained in defence of the planet, the contract may be reinstated with a change of shares to majority hold given to the aggrieved party.
1.5 If the breach of contract would have activated penalty clauses, the contract may be reinstated only if one of the above applies and a shift to an agreed-upon change to increase the payout to the aggrieved party."
The lawyer finishes and looks up from the contract, her mouth opening and closing slightly as everyone else around the room stares at me, stunned.
"I always have as many contingencies as possible covered in my legal paperwork, which saves people from issues down the road. It also allows me to correct mistakes from morons not doing what they should and being greedy, or just stupid, or any one of a list of traits I qualify as sins." I say, shrugging at everyone's incredulous stares.
"Currently the only way to ensure that contract continues is to activate points 1.4 and 1.5 which means that we now need to decide on what the split will be as while I would rather not shaft you, I was very much about to have to deal with the very rough end of a stick, as you still had to think about your house and world. And while I can appreciate that, It does mean that you were going to leave me to hang out to dry, so I think a 70-30 split should be fine, and that still gets you three of the four invaders." I leaned back in my chair as I let him talk to his aides and figure out what he would like to do.
The negotiations and discussion would continue on for the rest of the day, running late into the evening, with us settling on a percentage of units taken by category, instead of total metal tonnage. Which actually works out far better for me, in the end, and allows me to grow my forces substantially. The final tally for metal gained by my company is substantial, and we are going to be working hard to get everything manned and up to our specs.
Spoiler: Final Gains ListHaving settled on the split and having gotten everything signed and sorted, I ensure my men get started shuffling everything around and handing it over as needed. We have gained a massive amount of metal and gear. Not to mention all of the spares and extras and such that were loaded into the mule and were now split between us following the same ratios, mainly ensuring that everyone could keep their newly gained metal in the fight a time or three.
With everything done and sorted, I got up from the table and bid the Daimyo a good night and had my group heading back for the spaceport and to the base. We had more things to do and more reorganisation to sort out. There was a hell of a lot of training in the future for my people, it would seem, and I was now desperately in need of a vacation and to pick up some support infrastructure, and I knew precisely where to go for both.