Disclaimers: I do not own Battlemech.
A/N: So here's chapter 4. Basically a moment between Nico and Kamea, discussing a few things.
P.S.: Check out my Fairy Tail, Warframe, Shadow of Mordor/Game of Thrones, or my Harry Potter/Shadow of Mordor if you can.
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Chapter 4
Stuck With the Dragon
Between Coromodir and its Shipyards
"Once again, I would like to point out that this isn't completely my fault", Nico says from his position in the pilot's seat while Kamea sat in the co-pilot seat, "I mean, I'm a great pilot and all, but I'm still human. I simply forgot that this particular shuttle needed maintenance done on its engines", he says as he looks out the windows and watches the planet rotate as the shuttle slowly drifted above it, "But look on the bright side, the shipyard is sending someone to come get us, though it's going to take them a while to do so. But we have two days worth of oxygen and plenty of food and water."
But through all of his talking, Kamea continues to shake her head in annoyance and frustration while muttering to herself on how this was kind of her fault and how she should have just taken the Royal Shuttle to the shipyards instead of taking up the mech-commander's offer.
"I'm not going to hear the end of this from Alexander, I just know it. This is a huge security risk I took just days before my coronation along with another major factor", she thought before turning to her newest officer, "Nico, answer me one thing, will you?"
"What's that?"
"I'm assuming that since you are from a noble house out in the Deep Periphery that you are aware of certain rules among the nobility in regards to an unmarried lady being in the presence of an unmarried man alone in a small space for an extended period of time", Kamea softly fumes.
"I'm aware of such things but I fail to see how they play a part in our current situation", Nico jokes, a smirk forming on his lips.
"Don't you dare try to make light of this, Nico!", Kamea snaps while getting out of her seat and getting in the former mercenary's face, making the Dragon smile even harder, "Don't you know what kind of rumors could start if people got the wrong idea?!"
"Oh, come on, Kamea! Remember, I offer, I didn't twist your arm to accept! You could have brought a couple of guards if you wanted!"
"I thought it was going to be a quick trip to the shipyards!", she counters, "I didn't think I would be stuck in space alone with you!"
"Well, shit happens. Besides, it's me for god's sake", Nico replies while laughing, "If I was going to try something with you, I would have done it during the civil war! God only knows how many nights we spent alone in my quarters for hours on end going over battle plans and whatnot and I never so much laid a finger on you in that type of way!"
"I know that! You know that! Hell, even Alexander knows that but other people don't!", Kamea counter, "All they see is two very attractive people stuck in a shuttle together for an unspecific amount of time!"
Nico stops smiling and turns to fully look up at Kamea, staring directly into her eyes.
"What is it, Nico?", she asks while starting to get a little uncomfortable by his stare.
…
…
"You really think you're attractive?"
BAM!
"Oh god, that was my nose! It was a joke!", Nico wails while cradling his nose after the punch it took from Lady Kamea.
"It was not a very good one!", the future ruler counters.
"Oh, so you can abandon a dozen worlds like it was nothing, but you can't take a joke about being called ugly?!", Nico screams but instantly regrets it as soon as the words left his mouth as Kamea's eyes widen and she slowly sits back down and stares at the window at the rotating Coromodir, a distance look now in her eyes.
Silence passes inside of the shuttle for nearly ten minutes as neither one of the former students of Raju "Mastiff" Montgomery spoke to or even look at the other. Finally, with the guilt becoming almost too much for him…
"Look", Nico started after scratching his neck in uneasiness, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I know you had to make a tough call back then and..."
"I just got the reports the other day", Kamea interrupts, her voice so quiet that Nico barely even heard it, something she has never done before, "The causalities list was the size of a mountain; one that I had to climb in order to get back the throne."
"It wasn't your fault", Nico try to tell her, "War is never pretty nor fair."
"Yes, but I could have done more to help them!", she shouts as she slams her fist on the window, "Those were my people I abandon! The same people that I was fighting for!"
"Getting yourself killed wouldn't have help anyone", Nico counters, "Trust me, I know what it's like to make a tough call, but you have to learn to live with the decision and pray that it was all worth it."
"And was it?", Kamea asks as she leans over and laid her face into her hands, "I lost my uncle, my cousin, Raju and I almost lost Alexander. Sometimes I wonder if it would have been for the best to listen to my uncle that day he came to me after my parents' death and ask me to take on a more authoritarian stance for the Coalition. Would I have avoided all this bloodshed if I had?"
Nico shrugs, "You'll never know and sometimes it's best not knowing the road not travel."
"And maybe sometimes it is", Kamea added.
The shuttle delves into silence once more between the two pilots, the beeping of the console the only sound to be heard.
"Hey, Kamea", Nico started up, "I have been wondering about something ever since the Argo's retrieval."
"Nico, I'm really not in the mood for conversation right now," said the lady as she lifts her head up.
"Well, you got anything better to do?", Nico asks before raising an eyebrow with plastering a seductive smile on his lips, "I mean unless you have a more….strenuous way to pass the time in mind."
"I'm going to pretend that was another foolish attempt at a bad joke", Kamea growls, "What do you want to know, ~colonel~?
"Ah, you're no fun. But anyway; I want to know why did you pick the Dragon's Raiders and me?", he asks as a serious expression now appears in the wake of his smile, "We weren't exactly the big dogs around the frontier at the time, especially in terms of numbers. It was just the lance captains and me as the only mech pilots."
Kamea looks at the Dragon of the Reach, the hero of the Aurigan Civil War with an unreadable expression on her face.
"You had the Magistracy of Canopus bankrolling you. You could have easily hired an Inner Sphere mercenary group", Nico press on, "So why us? I knew you for about half a week before the coup happen."
Kamea takes a moment to contemplate her answer before talking, "To be honest, you're right. We didn't know each other that well before my uncle's coup. But you had something that no other mercenary commander had. Something that I needed."
"And what was that?"
"A personal stake in all of this. From what Raju told me about you, you two were close, like father and son", Kamea said, "And I had a gut feeling that if I presented the opportunity for you to get your revenge you would hop on it."
"Well, you were right about that", Nico said after a moment, nodding his head in agreement, "When you presented the chance for me to get some payback, I jump onboard your restoration without a second thought."
"And I was hoping for that for it also meant that my uncle and cousin couldn't buy you out once you started becoming a thorn in their side", Kamea states, causing Nico to stare at her in confusion, "I read through their classified military files. They were in the process of dedicating seasoned veteran lances, hiring on other mercenary companies, and were even creating an entire task-force whose sole purposes was to wipe you and the Raiders out along with a back-up plan to simply bribe you to switch sides."
The ace pilot's eyes now widen in surprise, "I guess I should feel honored. I mean, I never truly realize how much of a threat the Directorate saw us as."
This actually causes Kamea to raise an eyebrow, "You do remember the rant Victoria went on at Anvelt, don't you? A good part of it was directed at you."
The man known as Dragon simply shrugged, "I thought it was because I just defeated her in mech combat", he states as he clenches his hands, a motion that did not go unnoticed by Kamea.
….
"You're still upset, aren't you?", she asks as she takes notes of his body slightly shaking.
"I still think you should have let me finish her off that day", Nico replies, his eyes now staring ahead out into the vastness of space, "Or at the very least not turn her over to Lord Karosas. The Argo couldn't have kept her but you could have."
"I had to give her over to Lord Karosas to fully gain his support, it was the only way", Kamea stated.
"You and I both know that's a lie. You couldn't bring yourself to kill your own flesh and blood, at least not at that very moment", Nico countered as he turns once again to look at her, "And you knew that Karosas would have kept her alive until after the war and she was given a public trial."
The soon-to-be High Lady of the Aurigan Reach took a deep breath and slowly exhales, "I was going to work out a plea deal at that point to have Victoria turn over to House Arano's custody."
"Let me take a wild guess", Nico slightly snarls, his blood beginning to rise, "You were going to have her under house arrest for the rest of her days, weren't you?"
Small teardrops started to form in Kamea's eyes, "I couldn't do it. Back then, I couldn't bring myself to kill her. She was my cousin, my family. And by showing some sympathies, it caused me a powerful ally and for the war to drag on longer."
Nico found himself taken slightly aback by the sight of seeing Kamea crying, even if it was just teardrops slowly streaming down her face. For as long as he has known her, she always presented a strong front, a leader with the will to carry forward and press on no matter what the obstacle. For the second time within a day, Nico was seeing a different side of the Reach Lady, a side he has never seen before. Sure, she had her moments of weakness during the war, especially after Weldry when she discovered that if she had only launched her attack a few hours earlier, she might have saved Raju along with about two hundred more people but this was something else. Also, there was that outburst from earlier, but this was completely different.
"That all change less than a week ago at the Coliseum", Kamea kept on, her voice taking on a cold edge "When she refused to surrender and end the bloodshed and use her imprisonment of Alexander to gouge me into a fight, I knew once and for all that she was no longer the person I once knew, she was no longer my cousin", as she brings her arm up to wipe away her tears, "She was just another enemy standing in my way."
During his time as an exile on the frontier and during his years as a mercenary, Nico Strong aka Dragon has learned to notice things that the average person would overlook, as it often would save his life. Like where on a mech the armor wasn't at its strongest or when a person's body language betrayed their true intent.
He spots Kamea's eye flicker for a moment longer than what was normal and took note of her slouch shoulders. He notices the smallest hint of bags appearing underneath her eyes even though she had use makeup to hide it but the action of wiping her tears away have removed some of it.
"You haven't been getting much sleep, have you?", Nico asks though it sounded more like a statement than a question.
"I assure you, I'm perfectly fine", Kamea tells him.
"You're going to make this difficult, huh?", Nico grumbles as he gets up and walks to the door behind him that led to the cabin area. He presses the button on the side of it and it slides open to reveal two rows of passenger seats, one on each side of the bulkhead, "If you put all the armrests up and lay down on the cushions, it makes for a comfortable enough bed."
Blink.
Blink.
Blink.
That was all Kamea Arano of House Arano could do as she stare wide-eyed back at the mechpilot ace whose callsign was that of the mystical beast of destruction.
"Well, it seems that I might have to get my hearing check because I could have sworn that I just heard you suggest that I use some passengers seats as a makeshift bed", she says.
"That's exactly what I suggested", Nico replies.
"So you're saying that I, the future High Lady of the Aurigan Coalition, the head of House Arano, and the next ruler of the Aurigan Reach, should sleep in the passenger's seats of a common shuttle?"
"You rather sleep on the floor?"
"I rather not sleep anywhere because I don't have time to!", Kamea snaps, her patience at its wit's end. These past few minutes with Nico have been nothing but a roller coaster of emotions and she had just about had enough. Any other non-general rank officer would have had their commission pulled if they have done the things that the ace mechpilot had, "I have to formulate a plan to lower taxes in the outer systems near the frontier without affecting the economic infrastructure while somehow finding a way to round up enough troops to reinforce the systems on the Taurian border!"
"Well, I'm pretty sure the Coalition isn't going to fall apart while you get a couple of hours of shuteye", Nico says as he presses his hand down on the nearest cushion, "Seriously, look how soft that looks."
Kamea's fingers go straight to her temple and she begins to massage them in an attempt to calm herself, "I don't need any sleep! I'm perfectly fi-", her rant was cut short by a long yawn that stretches on for a couple of seconds, a clear indication of her lack of rest as well as a counter to any arguments she had planned to throw at Nico regarding her sleeping habits as of late.
She didn't even have to look at the former mercenary to know that he was smirking instead she focuses her attention on the row of seats that he was standing next to through her heavy bagged eyes.
"There are quite comfy, trust me", Nico says.
"How long until the rescue shuttle reaches us?", Kamea asks while still looking at the seats, prompting Nico to take a look at his watch.
"Well, they said that it would take them six hours to get here due to us being on the other side of the planet and that was about fifteen minutes ago", he finally answers.
Kamea mulls over something in her head for a moment before standing up and moving to the back of the shuttle. Nico steps out of her way and stands silently for a moment as the next ruler of the Reach looks down of the seats, her eyes never leaving them.
"You tell no one of this, am I clear?", Kamea orders.
"Only you and I will know about this, I swear", Nico promises her as he reaches into a nearby drawer in the wall and pulls out an emergency space blanket, "This will keep you warm enough so that you'll fall asleep faster."
Kamea snatches the blanket out of his hands and quickly makes herself comfortable on the row of seats. She turns around to stare up at Nico and points a finger at him.
"If you try to take advantage of me while I'm sleeping, I will personally castrate you", she threatens, "Dragon of the Reach be damn."
Nico merely chuckles as he walks back to the shuttle's cockpit, "Have a nice nap, Lady Kamea."
Within moments, Nico was back in the pilot's seat and the soft snoring of the future High Lady could be heard from behind him in the cabin.
He shakes his head and moves to light up a cigarette when a beacon lit up on the control console in front of him, indicating an incoming call.
"Wonder who this is?", Nico says to himself right before pushing the button, "This the ACS Argo shuttle-"
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?!", erupts through the comm link as Alexander's face appears on a holo-screen, startling Nico. Acting quickly, he lowers the volume on the comms and cases a glance behind him to make sure Kamea was still sleeping. She stirs in her sleep for a moment, but other than that she was still knock out.
Letting out a breath, he turns to face Lord Madeira who actually looked quite intimidating with the snarl on his lips and along with his heavy breathing, a feat Nico didn't think was possible for the Aurigan noble.
"Hey, Alexander", Nico starts out but that was as far as he got.
"Don't "hey" me! Do you have any idea the kind of security and public image nightmare you have just created?! You got the next ruler of the Coalition floating in space in a common shuttle alone with a male mercenary!"
"Former mercenary, next head of the Aurigan Military Special Forces and the hero of the civil war, all thanks to you in case you forgot", Nico reminded him with a stern look, though deep down he was actually impressed to see this side of Alexander. In the back of his mind, he always thought he was kind of a pushover in some ways.
"Be that as it made, you have no idea the issues this incident is going to cause", Alexander started again, this time treading lightly around the mech commander, "I already heard about what happened in the hallways of the Royal Palace-"
"How the fuck did you already hear about that? That happen like only two hours ago", Nico questions, his suspicions rising.
"Don't freak out, Kamea told me herself", Alexander said, "Trust me, I'm the only true friend Kamea has, I'm not going to spy or backstab her"
"Yes, but you do have a family and that's a liability", Nico tells him, "I've seen strong bonds of friendship break when it comes to family before."
The two men stare in silence for a moment before Alexander spoke again…
"Moving on", he said in a restrained voice, "Where is Kamea?"
"She's sleeping."
….
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"
"She's sleeping in the back."
"Nico, I have been in the Argo shuttles and as far as I know, none of them have a bed in the back", Alexander explained.
"You're right, none of them do", Nico confirms as he already knew what was coming next.
"Then where is Kamea sleeping?"
"I'll give you three guesses and here's the only clue: It's not on the floor", Nico smiles.
Alexander slowly takes his glasses off and rub his hand down his face before speaking again only this time it was in a low voice that barely concealed his fury, "Is she at least comfortable?"
"If my guess is correct this is probably going to be the most sleep she has gotten since the war ended, no thanks to you. So yes, she is comfortable", Nico says as he finally lights his cigarette and takes a puff.
"I beg your pardon."
Nico exhales a cloud of smoke into the holo-screen, "You know, Kamea doesn't have to be at every single meeting, you could take some over for her so she can get more sleep."
"If you must know, she requests that she be present at every meeting that involves the resurrection of the Coalition", Alexander explains.
"Then convince her that she doesn't have to be", Nico counters, "You're her best friend, Alexander. She'll listen to you."
"Apparently she'll listen to you too if you somehow manage to convince her to get on a common shuttle and take a nap within its cabin", the head of House Madeira points out.
"Touche", was Nico's response.
Alexander rubs his eyes in thought, thinking carefully on his next words.
"Look, we both know that Kamea has a long road ahead of her, in both the politically and militarily sphere. So how about we make a deal? I'll try and take the load off of her on the political side and whenever you can ease her worries on the military side", Alexander suggested.
"You're only making me a colonel, I'll doubt I'll have anywhere close to the amount of influence as you think I will", Nico said as he took another drag.
"Your reputation as "Hero of the Reach" is going to precede you wherever you go from now on, Nico, and that alone has huge amounts of influence. You now have an image to maintain and I suggest you do so wisely", Alexander tells him, "Soon enough you may draw the attention of the bigger factions."
"I doubt anyone important within the Inner Sphere cares what happen way out here", Nico confess, "To them, we're just uncivilized barbarians and I hailed from the most uncivilized place of all, the Deep Periphery."
"That remind me, Nico", Alexander says, "Kamea and I never learn anything in detail regarding your family and origins. All we know about you is that you're from a noble house on the very edge of civilization. Not even Raju told us anything beyond that."
The commanding officer of the ACS Argo stares into the eyes of Alexander Madeira, his steel eyes burning a hole into the nobleman very soul. After what seems like an eternity, his hand reaches for a button on the console, "I'll contact the Argo when the rescue shuttle gets here. I'll see you at the shipyards."
Alexander lets out a sigh before replying, "Very well, see you in a few hours, Dragon", and with that Nico cut the feed, once again leaving him alone with the sounds of the shuttle's console and Kamea's snoring.
Unfortunately, with nothing else to keep his attention, his mind started to drift back to the days before the coronation coup. Back when Raju was still alive and things were way more simple….
Flashback
"You look like shit", the battle-scarred mechwarrior laughs as he looks over the man standing in front of him at the Royal Hangar for House Arano mechs, "How you were still alive after I found your ass, I'll never know."
"Happy to see you too, you old fart", a younger bandaged up Nico Strong replied, "Moving on from that, you mind telling me why my Blackjack is seating in this fancy ass place?", as he points to his family's ancestral battlemech which was right next to them.
"Because I order it to be moved here", Raju answers, "I'm the Captain of House Arano's Guard, in case you didn't know."
Nico lets out a deep sigh, "Look, Raju, it's great to see you again after all these years and I'm thankful that you saved my life but I really should be on my way."
"Not even going to listen to the offer I have for you?"
"What offer?", Nico wondered.
"How would you like to be a Royal Guard?", Raju smirk only to laugh out loud once he saw the look Nico was giving him.
"Is this a joke?", Nico asks, "Because it's not a very good one."
"I'm completely serious", Raju tells him, "I need at least one competent pilot alongside me and you're the best student I ever had. You were a quick learner and a master of the cockpit."
"Which is funny because I wasn't the one you were originally hired to train, remember?", Nico reminds him before his mood sudden darken, something that Raju pick up on.
"Look, I heard what happen after I left", Raju says with a softer voice, "If it's any consolation, I-"
"It was bound to happen one way or another, I was becoming too popular for my own good", Nico cuts him off, "But back to this offer, don't you have to run this through the top guy in charge or something?"
"Well, no doubt you heard about the recent deaths of the High Lord and High Lady, right?", Raju started.
"Of course, it's all anyone seems to be talking about around here", Nico said as he rolls his eyes.
"Well, until their daughter is crowned High Lady, I'm in charge of all of the screening for all the new recruits to the Royal Guard and I want you for the battlemech division. Hell, I'm planning on putting you in charge of it somewhere down the line while I still maintain overall command over the mech and ground contingents."
Nico points at himself, "Me?"
"After some brushing up on proper management and leadership skills, of course", Raju admits, "I know what you were trained for that back in your family's territory but it's been a decade since you had to-"
"Let's not talk about it, okay?" Nico blurts out, the anger in his voice barely restrained.
"Okay, okay", Raju agrees while throwing his hands up, but he then spots something over Nico's shoulder, "Speak of the devil and she will appear."
Nico turns his head to see what Raju was talking about and spots two women, around his age walking through the hangar bay, surrounded by Royal Guards and aides, "That's the daughter, isn't it? The shorter one."
"That's Kamea, alright. Wasn't even two months after I left you that I was picked up to train her and her cousin, Victoria", Raju explains.
"How did that happen?", Nico questions.
"I don't know, I guess the same way I was picked up to train the pilots in your house, I killed the right people", Raju shrugs.
Nico took a good long look at Kamea Arano, taking in her features before turning around to face his old teacher, "She's easy on the eyes, I'll give her that but she gives off the "naive, little girl" vibe way too much for my liking. Still nice ass, though. I'll fuck her any-"
BAM!
"Son of a bitch, that was my nose and that fucking hurt!" Nico's voice echo throughout the hangar, causing everyone on the ground level to stop and look in his direction, "Why the fuck you do that?"
Raju gives his former student a hard look, waiting for him to finish clutching his nose before speaking, "I have been training Lady Kamea since she was fifteen and she has become like a daughter to me during that time."
"More like granddaughter, you old fart", Nico commented only to receive a hard slap upside the head for his trouble.
"As I was saying, she is like a daughter to me and you're like a son to me. So that makes you two siblings and I expect you to treat her as if she was your sister", Raju basically ordered Nico.
"Your logic makes no sense whatsoever. What makes you think-", Nico started before hearing a voice call from behind him.
"Captain Raju, a word if you please", causing Nico to turn around and come face to face with Lady Kamea and her entourage who were all standing only a couple of yards from him. Her reddish tint eyes lock with his chocolate brown eyes for only a second before moving to the man behind him, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"Nonsense, Lady Kamea", Raju says as he walks by Nico, slightly pushing him out the way, "Just catching up on old times with my former student."
"You old piece of-", Nico started
"Think about my offer, will ya?", Raju cuts in, "You owe me that much at least", as he takes off toward Lady Kamea's group.
"I would like to discuss the security measures for the coronation with you", the heir of House Arano said as she and Raju take off walking in the other direction leaving Nico alone….or at least he would have been if Lady Victoria wasn't still standing there looking at him after the rest of the entourage took off after the future High Lady and her Captain of the Guard. For a few tense moments, the two of them had a stare-off with one another, neither one willing to be the first one to look away for the other. For Nico, it felt like he was having a mech battle with her, both of them looking for the first sign of weakness in the other. Finally, after what seems like an eternity….
"Victoria, is something the matter?", Lady Kamea calls back.
The heir of House Espinosa simply smirks before abruptly turning on her heels to catch up with her cousin, leaving Nico to stare at her retreating back.
"Those eyes", thought the mech pilot, "I've seen eyes like that before."
End of Flashback
"I wonder if anything would have changed if I said something to Raju about that time", Nico says to himself as he takes the last drag of his cigarette, "Wonder if he would still be alive."
As he flicks the butt to the floor and pulls out another one, he laughs a little, "Guess I'll never know and sometimes it's best not knowing the road not travel."
Meanwhile, while Nico was alone in his thoughts in the cockpit, Lady Kamea was having her own flashback of the distant past, only it was through her dreams.
Kamea's Dream
"Captain Raju, I have to ask", Kamea started out as she watches Nico inspect his Blackjack, "Why was your former student cradling his nose and why did you swat him in the head?"
"Oh, that? He said some things he shouldn't have, that's all", Raju explain.
"And what things were those?"
"Nothing you should worry about, Lady Kamea", Raju told her as Victoria finally join up with them. Thankfully, Kamea decided to temporarily turn her attention to her kin for a moment.
"Did Captain Raju's student offend you in some way, cousin?", Kamea asks, "You seem to have been having a stare-off with him for a moment."
"Just sizing him up", Victoria smile as she looks at Raju, "I must say, it must sadden you to put so much work into a student only for him to barely qualify as a mediocre pilot, Captain Raju", she stated before she laughed.
"With respect, Lady Victoria", Raju started in an emotionless voice, "Nico is the best student I ever trained and could hold his own against both you and Lady Victoria."
Both noble ladies stare agape at the war veteran, their mouths slightly drop to indicate to everyone around them their current emotion. Quickly realizing his mistake, Raju corrected himself.
"Granted, that you three are all piloting the same exact mechs and plus factoring in terrain and support, of course", he said, "Even then, it would still be a close one. And to be honest, he does have more combat experience underneath his belt due to him being a freelancer for the past decade."
For a moment, no one moved. Even the aides and bodyguards kept quiet as a silent standoff happened between the three mechwarriors.
"Ha, ha, ha!", Kamea erupted, easing the tension in the air, "Of course, that's what I thought you said! Oh, I do enjoy these talks we have, Captain!"
Raju eventually lets out a chuckle and even Victoria starts laughing again, though she was way quieter than she was before and for a brief moment, she glares at her mech teacher through cold eyes.
"Right, now about the coronation security", Kamea started, pushing Nico to the back of her mind for the moment though her thoughts did linger on his brown eyes and dragon tattoo longer than she would have cared to admit.
"I guess he is easy on the eyes in a rugged sort of way", she thought as she began to walk to her next destination, her entourage falling in behind her, "Surely Raju was only joking about his abilities."
Back on the Argo
Within the command center of the ACS Argo, five figures gathered around a console, all of their faces adorned with stern expressions.
"We all know why we're here", Darius started in a solemn voice, "And we all know what must be done."
"This could be the most important decision of our lives", Dekker added, "There's no going back after this."
"We knew that before we step into this room", Behemoth said, "Everyone who is here now knows what they're getting into."
"That's right", Medusa agreed, "It's too late for second thoughts."
"Well, I suppose we should get right to it then", Glitch states, "How's this going down?"
"In the simplest way possible", Darius said as he pushes a button on the command console and an image pops up.
…
…
….
"Who wants Ronin in their lance unit?", Darius asks, only to be bombarded by a fury of shouts.
"I call dibs!", Glitch shouted out, waving her hand in the air, "She has had more drops with me than anyone else here!"
"Bullshit! I have had twice as many drops with her than you!", Behemoth shouted, "Plus, I need her long-range sniping to balance out my unit which is already going to have Archangel for melee combat!"
"What do you mean you're taking Archangel?! Because fuck that, I'm taking him!", Dekker's voice resounds through the room.
"You guys can fight over him", Medusa says, "I'll take Paradise, Showboat, and Coach for my lance!"
"You just can't take three pilots off the bat!", Glitch points out, "That's against the rules!"
Behemoth rolls her eyes, "Didn't know that there were rules for this type of thing!"
"Of course there are rules and they clearly state that you can't pick three pilots in a row just like that!", Glitch argues.
Darius rolls his eyes and puts a hand on his forehead as the four veteran mechwarriors continued to argue back and forth, "This is going to be a long yard period."
CO: Nico Strong "Dragon": Colonel
XO: Darius Olveira: Captain (Navy)
Navigator: Sumire Meyer: Commander
Head Mechtech: Yang Virtanen: Lieutenant Commander
Chief Engineer: Farah Murad: Lieutenant Commander
Head Medtech: Qartio Feng: Lieutenant Commander
1st Lance Commander: Miranda Aguilera "Behemoth": Captain
Specializes in Guts.
2nd Lance Commander: Amir Kowalski "Dekker": Captain
Specializes in Piloting.
3rd Lance Commander: Jessica Chernovskaya "Glitch": Captain
Specializes in Gunnery.
4th Lance Commander: Mohammed Benitez "Medusa": Captain
Specializes in Tactics.
All other former mercenary mechpilots will have the rank of lieutenant.
A/N: So I change up a few things so that Nico and Kamea have at least seen each other before the tutorial mission, that would have just been their first time talking to each other. Also, those are the official names of Behemoth and the others.
Next chapter: an assassination attempt on Kamea during her coronation. At this point, she should just put the crown on her head and be done with it.
