One
"Hold on just a moment, let me make sure this is recording...OK, this is Brad McEuen, today is the 4th of March, 3025, and we are in the Hiring Hall on Galatea. Would you mind introducing yourself for the recording please?"
"Sure, Andrew Davout, Mercenary Commander."
"No Rank?"
"The guys in the Unit call me Major, they could call me anything they wanted to really, as long as they remember who authorizes the deposits."
"Excellent, well, let's get down to the details."
BM: Do you come from a military background?
AD: Sort of. My father was a Line Assemblyman for Coventry Metalworks, put together Commando's. Mom was a teacher. My older brother was a Mechwarrior. Served with Winfield's Guards, he dies on Severn, what, 14 years ago? No other kids.
BM: So what did you want to be when you grew up?
AD: Not this. Was the farthest thing from my mind until 3015 or so. My brother used to send me vids and letters, talked about how it was months of boredom with minutes of terror. We used to watch the trids out of Solaris, used to think that was cool. Both had dreams of becoming the next Champion. His first fight disabused him of that notion. Actually, I wanted to be a Historian. History's been my first love, a passion if you will.
BM: So what happened in 3015?
AD: Dad retired from Metalworks. Put 35 years in, figured it was time to take my mom on vacation. I was 16, had just started school, they went on vacation to Timbuktu. Mom had grown up there, went to visit relatives I've never seen.
Pause
AD: Anyways, Pirate Attack hit the planet. Arrived at a Pirate point, landed, laid waste to a few small villages, my parents and relatives were in one of them.
BM: I am sorry to hear that.
AD: Dangers of living on the Periphery. Anyways, Mom and dad were dead. Alan was dead, that left me. Emancipated Minorship was easy to obtain, I dropped out of school, Professor Langtry was crushed, let me tell you-
BM: Sorry. You mean Grant Langtry, Professor Emeritus of History at Tharkad University?
AD: Yeah, nice man, great scholar, loves a good argument. We stay in touch from time to time.
BM: Never met him personally, would love to though, his last book was amazing.
AD: You write this up nice I'll see what I can do. Anyways, where was I?
BM: Emancipated Minorship.
AD: Right, anyways, went back to Coventry, sold everything I could, and enrolled in Coventry
BM: Not the Nagelring?
AD: Snorts You couldn't pay me enough to go there. Besides, I didn't have the right sort pull to get in there. Mechanics kid with a smart brain. Didn't have the word Graf or Margraeve in front of my name, and not enough S-Bills in my account for that sort of cachet. Coventry on the other hand, Dad knew people, they knew people, quite a few of them teach at the academy. Went in at 17, graduated at 20, top 5. Go figure.
BM: Top 5 is a pretty good accomplishment.
AD: I've found that the people that care about it the most are the ones whose opinions don't count. Besides, the vast majority of those we hold up as hero's and great soldiers actually didn't do that well in school. There's a large disconnect between class room and holotank exercises and the real world.
BM: So what was your first posting.
AD: Originally? 1st Royal Guards.
BM: Prestigious Unit.
AD: Bah. Toughest battle they've fought is over splitting the tab, or what cape to wear with the dress uniform for the Duchess of Hole in the Grounds soiree. Garrison detail on the Capital? Blech. I'd have been a verdammt fool to take that assignment.
BM: So where to then?
AD: 15th Lyran. On Hesperus.
BM: 15th Lyran on Hesperus in 3019. So you were there when-
AD: Yeah, I was there. Landed, Unit inbriefing, got my Warhammer, and six weeks later the Dragoons hit. Everything they are advertised to be; and more. Had my 'hammer shot out from under me twice, but I had my combat. Went in a Leutnant, came out a Leutnant. Got lucky, didn't have to write any letters to parents...
BM: So you stayed in Hesperus for 6 years then.
AD: No, rotated to Cavanaugh, 9th Lyran. Took a promotion to do it.
BM: The Periphery.
AD: Pirate Hunting. Lot of activity then.
BM: Ah. Good assignment.
AD: Worst mistake I ever made.
BM: How so.
AD: The Steiner curse, in full force.
BM: Steiner Curse?
AD: That's what I call it. I am sure everyone has their own name for it. I graduated from Coventry. No sash to my uniform. My immediate commander was Kommandant Baron Pietr von Hausing.
BM: The Westerstede von Hausings?
AD: In his dreams. No, the Kandersteg von Hausings, brother of the first moved to, ah, nevermind... Anyways. Want a wine pairing with your meal, as the Baron. Want an invite to the closed door party? Ask the Baron. Want to plan a flanking envelopment while pinning the enemy with coordinated combined arms assault? Not your man. He tried, bless his heart, he tried. Sad thing was, he knew his shortcomings. Pulled me into the office one night, drunk, was the most truthful conversation I had with the man. We had rotated to Pencader, we rotated Companies as part of the Garrison there, mine went, the CO sent von Hasuing along for some "leavening" as he called it. Not so much on the social activity there, but the Baron tried. We were raided about six months in. Pirates, making a grab for the foodstuffs. Thought there was just a company, we were wrong.
BM: So what happened?
AD: Blockbumsen. Two companies, landed far apart, as we moved into get one the other came out of hiding, hit some of the farmsteads. The Kommandant went out with his lance to try and contain them, but Pirates aren't dumb. Led him into a valley, blocked it off. I was four hours away with my company. I give the man credit, he fought well. Took three with him. Rest of his lance was killed. When my unit finally got there he had been pulled out of the cockpit and executed. Pirates got away. Unit was rotated back to Poulsbo, and then I was desk bound for 6 months. I hated that.
BM: Riding a desk is hard.
AD: Harder when your being investigated.
BM: Investigated?
AD: His father pulled a few strings. Tried to have me courtmartialed. That was interesting.
BM: How so?
AD: Never underestimate a fathers love for his son. Tried to cashier me out of the service. Dereliction of Duty, Malfeasance, you name it. He showed up on planet one day, gaggle of lawyers in tow, tried to have me arrested right then and there.
BM: So what happened?
AD: Article 45 hearing. Court Martial. Good lawyer on my side, proved that no matter what I had done, I couldn't have gotten back in time. Also proved that if the Baron hadn't done what he did, lot more damage would have been done. Pencader isn't a net exporter of food, they eat what they grow, they don't grow, they don't eat. He got a medal. I got a Black Mark in my file, transferred back to Cavanaugh and the 9th. Frying Pan to the fire.
BM: Why do you say that.
AD: Sigh. For all his faults, Pietr tried. Knew his weaknesses, and worked on them. Which if you ask me was akin to put a butterfly on a major hull breach, but the man tried. Kommandant Russ McNab on the other hand...
BM: Name sounds familiar
AD: His Uncle runs Gienah Motors? Anyways, He didn't try. Four years I did my best.
BM: Best what?
AD: Best to get transferred, best to hide his inabilities. Best to cover for him. About three years into it, He won the Service Cross for actions during a Marik Raid-
BM: I remember reading about that, a company of 5th Orloff landed and hit the Southern Continent.
AD: More like two companies. Was a recon raid most likely. My company was on maneuvers in the Northlands, his was on the south, and I get a frantic call to embark and reinforce. A low altitude night drop onto hostile held ground. Lost one unit when its jump jets failed and he cored into the ground. Lost two more to ground fire in the next five minutes. 18 hours fighting a retrograde action that left my company 8 mechs and 4 pilots down. FUBAR all around.
BM: And where was the Kommandant?
AD: Three thousand kilometers away, at a dinner. Entertaining his guests with his exploits apparently. He arrived with the next group of reinforcements, the Grenadiers retreated in good order. He got a medal. I got to write more letters. Anyways, a few weeks after that...
BM: Incident?
AD: Debacle is a better word...anyways, a few weeks later, he meets me in the bay, I'm hip deep in actuator and myomer, and he tells me he's getting transferred, to Tharkad of all places, some adjutant job at the Nagelring in six months, and if I "play my Cards right", he can get me a transfer there in a year or so. That's when I decided to leave.
BM: How hard was it?
AD: Leaving? Painful, and easy, if that makes any sense. There's a camaraderie you develop with your soldiers, they become your friends. The hardest thing I had to learn in combat was that these friends, these old men, these kids, you had to order them into something most people want to avoid, and you're ordering some of them to their death. That weighs heavily on a commander. I am not quite sure how the good ones handle it.
BM: But you have your own company now.
AD: I do, and frankly, I am still learning.
BM: So how did that happen?
AD: I didn't go looking for it. Well, wait, that's a lie. I was looking. I knew when my tour was up I was going to leave the LCAF, go to Galatea, try and hookup with a good reputable unit. The Eridani, 21st Centauri-
BM: The Dragoons?
AD: Snorts. I heard rumors the last time they hired, who they did and who they didn't. I'd be lying if I said I didn't harbor some dreams about that, trying out, being accepted. There are worse units to be a part of, but then I think any unit with an esprit d'corps, honorable actions, and decent pay is worth looking into.
BM: So what happened?
AD: A friend of mine in the unit comes to me, says he has proof McNab is defrauding the unit.
BM: I've heard that happens.
AD: Happens quite a bit in the LCAF. What happened was McNab and a couple of "friends" created a couple of mailbox companies. Then they had these companies bill the LCAF for certain items, foodstuffs, basic supplies, nothing to exotic, then LCAF would pay the invoices, and McNab would pocket his share. They'd also fake a few invoices now and then, add a zero to a supply order, get 100 crates of ammo instead of 10, sell a few off. Small time stuff really, but you do it long enough, you can make a nice chunk of change. He also had a gambling problem.
BM: Really?
AD: Was big into the Solaris fights, and a couple of other things. I saw the writing on the wall, so did some of the others. A couple of them came to me and said they'd follow me and join up. Full companies worth of men. That was gratifying.
Pause.
Anyways, time was getting short, 6 weeks to go, and I had managed to send one of my guys ahead on the way to Galatea, see what the lay of the land was. I'm in the bay after an exercise, and in walks McNab, with two JAG officers, and arrest's me. Apparently he has proof I've been defrauding the unit. So they take me away, stick me in a room for three days, and try to get some answers.
BM: So what happened?
AD: On the fourth day McNab is coming back from a party, and gets a message from his batman. Guy had some poor corporal doing nothing but nursemaiding him. Anyways, he's been trying to get a hold of the Kommandant for hours, but because of the party, McNab wanted no interruptions. Apparently his mech was being repossessed.
BM: Excuse me?
AD: McNab apparently made quite a few large bets on the Solaris Games. Bet quite a tidy sum that Delvalle would beat Moder and take the championship back. Didn't happen. McNab was something eight million in the hole after that came out, and had put his Zeus up as collateral. He lost, and they tried repossessing the Zeus.
BM: Tried?
AD: LCAF property. Part of me believes that McNab may have wanted to buy it when he left, pass it down to a child, or another family member, who knows. Anyways, in a pissing match between the LCAF bureaucracy and a repo man, the LCAF wins.
BM: Indeed.
AD: But only because it's a bureaucracy. You could win, but it'll cost you a couple of years and a few S-Bills.
BM: Heh. So, what happened?
AD: It all fell apart. JAG left and came back with LIC, and Treasury. One thing about McNabs scheme was that it was simple, and tried and tested, used and abused by military men since the first supply sergeant realized what he could get away with. Simple can be easy to hide as well, if you invest the time and energy.
BM: And McNab didn't.
AD: McNab is what Professor Langtry would call a least amount of effort personality. He would do as much to get the minimum amount required done, and then that was it. Once they cracked his hidden accounts, it was over for him and his friends. Oddly enough, most of their money had disappeared. The assumption is one of them took it, moved it offworld into a hidden account somewhere's. They all turned on each other at the end, accusing each of stealing it.
BM: So then what?
AD: I was released. Apologized to. McNab had made it up, sensed what me and the others were planning to do, and tried to frame us. I was a Brevet Kommandant for four weeks, then I signed my papers and was gone. Bought my Warhammer, and myself and seven others hopped a ride to Solaris.
BM: Solaris? Not Galatea?
AD: Two reasons. One was I already had a contract. There's a reason Lionel Berthier is the next highest paid man in the unit, as an admin he's the best there is. He was the one who caught McNab's scheme.
BM: And the other?
AD: Had to pick up my winnings. I bet on Moder.
Sound of a phone ringing
AD: Davout here.
Pause
AD: Excuse me for a moment, I have to take this.
BM: Sure we can continue this in a moment, I need a break anyways.
Door Opens and closes\