Lance Alpha
An Explosive Adventure
By ThatSapphireFox
2 The Deal
Calm voices and distant chatter fill the room, quiet beeping and the whir of the equipment in the med bay drone on as she wakes up from her nap. Looking around and seeing the staff tending to their patients and equipment, Damien calls out to one of the medtechs for them to come over. A lady in her lime green scrubs wanders over to find out what she needs, pulling out her pen and clipboard to write anything down.
"Could I get a bathroom break…? I really need to go and I need your help so I- Nnngh! Don't set anything off…" She says as she sits up in her bed, straining to stay up as her injury causes her significant pain.
With a nod the 'Tech begins unhooking her from the monitors and moves her IV bag to a stand with wheels. "Alright sweetie, let's get going okay? Don't push yourself, your condition could definitely get worse with too much movement."
As she slides to the side of the bed with the aid of the 'Tech she groans out. "Don't call me sweetie, makes me feel like a kid… I'm Two hundred years old for Christ's sake!" Moments after saying that while she tries to stand up she immediately drops to her knees, a groan of agony comes shortly after as she struggles to stand up. Her gown almost comes off her as she's down.
A slight giggle is heard from the 'Tech as she pulls Damien up and gets her standing, walking her over to the latrine with her limping with the IV stand being pulled behind. "Now now, that's what happens when you have an attitude ma'am, try to be more positive! You're alive and healing… Without us you'd have bled out and what would have happened to your company? We'd all be out of the job!" She says as she's opening the door for Damien, transferring the fluids bag to a little hangar in the latrine.
"Am I able to have some privacy while I'm in here? Or are you going to stand outside the door the whole time…" A slight strain in her voice as she struggles to keep upright, heading through the door and turning around.
"I have to be close by incase you fall or have issues, okay? You'll be fine, don't be embarrassed; I'm sure you've been in worse situations." She says as she closes the door.
"I don't understand why this had to happen… even the MRB didn't know much intel on that op… But what's done is done…" She thought to herself as she has some peace and quiet.
After several minutes, she opens the door and whispers to the 'Tech, "Hey…? Can I get some help please… I can't get my gown tied properly on me." Her face was visibly reddish with embarrassment.
The lady gently opens the door after making sure the coast was clear, she quickly steps inside and ties the gown back onto Damien, she opens the door and helps the flabbergasted dragon out of the door, pulling her back to the bed and sitting her down. Pulling the covers over her and reattaching all of the monitors again and giving her the lunch meal for the day.
"Thank you so much, I feel a bit better now! And did you really give me an extra jello cup? That's really sweet, thank you~" She says gleefully as she loves the jello they have, picking up the spoon and taking a bite, her face lights up into a bright smile as it's even her favorite flavor.
The 'Tech nods with a smile and walks off to a table in the corner of the medbay and starts filing paperwork. The other patients are enjoying their lunches and making their recoveries.
Without a moment's notice Magnet hurries into the medbay to check in on Damien with Glitch and Angel in tow, all of them holding flowers and get well soon cards from the ship's crew. "Commander! We're here~! And we know you hate presents but we got you some good news!"
Damien sighs and looks over at the three Mechwarriors with their bright happy smiles and the gifts they brought, she hadn't even gotten to finish her jello cups; Setting the tray down and sitting up in her bed. "Alright Alright, What could possibly be so important that you had to interrupt my jello time?" her scowl is only a facade as she's actually happy they decided to drop in.
Angel steps forward with a small box, big enough to fit in his hand, setting it down onto the bed and laying down some flowers and a card as well, stepping back with his face in worry as he hopes she likes the present he got for her while on shore leave.
"Huh, I wonder what it could be since it's so small… But first! The card." She picks up one of the flowers and the card, smelling the flower and slightly smiling; her favorite smell was lavender and getting supplies from terra was a hard thing to do, especially flowers that must've cost a pretty penny to get them here so soon. Opening the card she sees it's signed by the entire senior staff and some of the MechTechs, a slight tear begins to well as she didn't expect such a sweet gesture. Taking a moment to read the card with all of the quotes from the crew that signed it.
"We thought you should know that they hope you're getting better~! Some of the 'Techs wanted to sign it because they work on your 'mech more than others." Glitch says as she puts her hand on Damien's shoulder.
"You guys really didn't have to do this, you know? I'm fine! I'm not dying or anything…" Damien distastefully says as she knows they care about her, all the things they've been through she'd be surprised if they hated her.
Magnet can't hold in his excitement any longer and quietly shouts "Open the present Commander! Angel picked it out for you!" Practically jumping in place in anticipation.
She gently undoes the little ribbon tie on the box and opens it, she gasps as what was inside was an "Einsatzmedaille Gefecht Combat Action Medal of the Bundeswehr" from the early Twenty First century, she absolutely loved history and deeply enjoyed the Germans as they had deep roots of her nobility, she was a steiner descendant after all. "Aah~! Oh my goodness! How did you get this!? I didn't think there were any left!"
"While on leave we all pitched in together to get it for you, Mostly because you had gotten injured and we had to do some research to find out what kind of medal would fit the description, We knew you'd love it!" Glitch says as Magnet is practically about to pass out from excitement.
"Jeez, you guys are way too good to me… I'd say I don't deserve it because sometimes I don't even feel like you guys appreciate me at all haha…" Glancing down at the medal she frowns a little as it must've cost so much money to get it in such a good condition. Using all of her strength she leans out for a group hug with all three of them, tears of joy rolling down her cheeks.
The group breaks up and sets down all the other cards and flowers on the table next to her bed, and heading out of the medbay with a goodbye from each as they pass through the door.
Looking in her mirror in her quarters, grimacing at the sight of her large scar on her side. "That isn't so pretty… I didn't think it was so jagged and all over the place…" She thought to herself. It had been weeks since she was out of the medbay and still can't get over the fact that she had some heartwarming experiences in there, unbeknownst to her that she thinks everyone deserves a better leader. Until she either dies or they mutiny against her; which definitely won't happen, They're stuck with her and until then she has to lead them to victory and riches like a good Mercenary dreams of. Heading out of her quarters she checks her pocket to make sure the little medal is still in there, carrying it everywhere she goes to remind her that she has good people to rely on, Roaming the halls towards the onboard gym she meets up with Glitch who had initially set up the work out session for the two to spend some time together.
"Commander! Good to see you~!" Says Glitch, already on a bench doing curls with a 35 lb Dumbbell, with the gym empty of life as everyone is off asleep as it's bed hours..
"The gym is mighty quiet today don'tcha think? But I guess that means more time for us to workout without interruption!" Damien said as she wandered over to the bench beside Glitch, starting to do her warm-ups as she didn't want to strain anything.
Glitch stands up and sets the dumbbell down on the rack and heads for a treadmill motioning Damien to head over with her, Damien agrees and heads over to one with her and the two start off, Glitch's run almost twice as fast as Damien's.
"Jeez, I could never keep up with her… I'm surprised she can maintain that with how much she sleeps!" Damien thought as she looked at her speed counter compared to Glitch's.
"Hey Commander? Could you give me some advice? I'm a little stuck and I don't know how to fix my problem…" She says, not even seeming to be out of breath as she speaks.
"Depends on what it is, I'll do what I can, what's up?" She says while trying to focus on keeping straight.
Glitch takes a second to respond but tries to word it right in her head before replying. "My Family wants me to come home and enlist in the Armed forces of the Federation, even with my criminal background they think it'll clear my name. What could you do to help?"
Damien seems puzzled at the request, being that she's just the company Commander she has no real influence on the Faction powers nor the citizens of them… "Uh… I don't think I can help you with that one pal, you just have to tell your family you don't want to do it and you're happier out in the galaxy with your friends at your side; Aside from that I can't help you much."
The two continue to hustle on their treadmills, after several minutes of running Damien slows down to a walk to retake her breath as her cardio isn't what it used to be. Eventually the two decide to finish their workout and take a seat on a bench near the door. It's becoming "Daytime" for the crew so the usual members who start their day off with power-lifting begin to fill the gym and it becomes extra crowded.
"I am sorry you can't help Commander, I appreciate the advice you at least tried to give; I'm sure they'll understand I'm happy out here!" Glitch says as she stands up acting all proud as if she's the one who came up with the idea in the first place. She then trots off and leaves Damien sitting there on the bench.
"Well shit, all alone now, this was supposed to be a one on one workout, but it turned into more than that…" She thought to herself, admiring the happy faces on all of the crew attending the gym. After several minutes of wiping the sweat off her scales and getting dressed in the locker room she heads out to her quarters to get into her uniform for the day. Wandering the halls she spots Magnet hanging around the halls doing absolutely nothing but just standing there.
"Oh hey Commander~!" Magnet says as he spots Damien in the hall.
In her quarters she showers and freshens up, petting her cat and right before she heads out the door she looks around and realizes she's right at home; Knowing she wouldn't be here without the brave sacrifices of her crew for the betterment of the group. Several minutes went by as she pondered how she could be all so lucky, coming from a rich Steiner background to finding herself a leader of a Mercenary company. She snaps out of it as she can hear a knock on the door to her room, normally people wait for her to just come out but this individual opens the door and without a moment's notice places a datapad on the table next to her.
"Why the fuck can't you at least wait for me to answer when you knock on the door!? What if I was naked! Be more considerate Jameson…" She angrily says while picking up the datapad. "What's this all about?"
"That op we ran a few weeks back, I've got more news on it that my connections were able to secure for me! Apparently they aren't just some rogue gang we had a run in with, they're hired private sector security from one of the InnerSphere's great powers!" He says, boldly parading around the room as he hasn't been able to figure anything out for weeks.
"Get to the point kid, What's the reason for all this? Better be good for you to be bold enough to barge into my quarters." She says, angrily panning through the dossier reading the info they were given.
"We know where their supply depots are and we can also cripple their chain of command! I've got intel on where their main base is! All I need is your sign off on the fuel and the jump coordinates to start us on getting revenge!" He gets closer as he says it to draw more emphasis on it.
She stares at him with a blank expression, maintaining eye contact while he waits in anticipation. "No. Not after what happened last time. How can we be so sure this intel is up to date huh?"She says putting the datapad back in his arms and turns to walk away with her head held high.
"Not even going to hear me out? I have a sick plan for it too!" He says as he follows her out the door. "We can hit them where it hurts and teach them that we aren't to be messed with! Our MRB Rating took a hit when we had to pull out and we lost a mech… And we could really use the notoriety out here in House Liao space…" He says with a slight whimper as they stroll the halls.
"Even if I were to consider it, I need to hear the plan before we take any sort of action because I need it run through at least once by me with critique and effort put into it, if they're based out of somewhere we don't have to hurry we will have all the time in the world to enact the plan, but you need to stop being so giddy about it for christ's sake, makin me nervous…" She says, poking him in the chest to emphasize the last portion of what she said. "Wait… Why are we going to the bridge I was going there to see you…? Let's head to the mess hall to work this over." She says, turning down a hallway towards the mess.
"I can't believe I'm taking this seriously, we're just a mercenary company… we would need way more than just our single dropship…" She thought to herself, worried this might be a bad idea.
"I promise we can get this done and get you revenge as soon as possible Commander, we've got nothing but time to prepare and all we have to do is see if we can get a neighboring company or two to give us some extra hands, if that's what you're thinking with that pained thoughtful look on your face; I'm pretty good at reading you y'know?" Cheerfully said Jameson as he can obviously observe Damien's distrust of the situation.
"But who in their right mind would even consider it…?" Seeing his face turn to a face of glee. "No… You can't be serious!? I know who you're thinking about, but the Dragoons wouldn't lend us a hand right now, they've got enough to deal with as it is…" She says, crossing her arms as her wings fold inwards.
Jameson opens the door to the mess hall after they arrive, picking them a table and grabbing some plates of the day's meal. "That's the glory of it Commander; The Dragoons would be willing to help because they've already been good allies of us and they owe us a few favors after we did what we could against the Word of Blake."
"I'll need to talk to Maev about it if I'm to even ask her in the first place, see what her thoughts are as they're crippled nowadays." She says, still hesitant to even take the idea into consideration and doubting the plan as it could get more people killed than they can handle.
"I can set up a secure link directly to Maev if you're available later today? Or I can even do it if we just head to the bridge right now… Awe but then I wouldn't be able to eat my sandwich… Can I take it with me Commander?" He says, clutching his sandwich close to himself.
"Sure, just don't get the workspace dirty okay? Because you'll be the one cleaning it up." She says as she stood up and tossed the rest of her lunch in the trash, only taking a few bites out of her food.
As the two stroll their way towards the bridge the halls of the ship are devoid of life as everyone is at their workstation and hard at work keeping the ship running at full capacity. Eventually the two make their way into the bridge and to the comms table, Jameson opening the secure line as the quiet whir of the holotable fills the silence of the bridge, being the only two people in the room as on duty staff aren't required at the time, eventually the bright loading hologram transitions to a bright face of a Young lady on screen.
"Ah, Commander Krüger, it's been ages! We need to catch up one of these days. What brings you to needing a conference with me?" Maev cheerfully said as she waited and listened.
"I need to ask you if an assault on a private sector security group that's employed by an InnerSphere head of state would be a good plan or not…?" She says, leaning in close to the hologram.
The face on the screen looks puzzled, confused as to why Damien needs her opinion. "Why does that matter even concern you? Someone burned you on a contract or something?"
"If that were the case… Could we assume you'd be willing to lend one or two dropships and maybe two fully armed lances of supporting mechs along with a company of ground troops?" She says, nervously laughing with a slight shake in her voice.
"Do you want me to join you on this little crusade? You know I don't just go everywhere on a whim, you're asking me to go deep into Draconis Combine territory and risk the lives of my soldiers and my reputation with the Combine, is it worth that much to you?" Maev said, her face showing great concern as this is one big favor.
Damien lifts up her shirt, exposing her side and some of her bra in the process to show the large scar on her side. "I think this makes it worth enough, one of my mech pilots was injured and we lost a mech in the process, aside from my injuries. It would be a great help if you could lend aid while we assault their main headquarters…" Letting her shirt down and glancing over to see Jameson's bright red face, letting out a chuckle and looking back over to Maev on screen.
"I believe this would be something I'd have to look into, we can come to a decision later, and maybe we can chat before we go through with this plan. It's been far too long since we've been able to freely chat and just relax! But I'll run this through my advisors and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Take care Damien! Be expecting something from me later." Her face transitions to a connection lost screen as the holotable goes dark.
"I guess that's that then… I guess we can redeem ourselves with some extra help and who knows how we'll get it done but we have a start!" Damien says, turning to Jameson. "I'll be awaiting the notification that she's ready to talk so inform me as soon as possible! Thanks XO, I'll be seeing ya later."
"Aye aye Commander. I'll see you at a later time then." He says, turning to his desk and finishing his sandwich as Damien leaves.
Damien makes her way to her quarters to feed her cat as business as usual, worried this could be uglier than they plan for but in the end it'll be done and done. Arriving in her room she sits down and sets a tray of cat food on the ground, breathing a sigh of relief she leans back in her chair and relaxes for a moment, and after the relaxing moment is over she decides to pull up a data pad with her 'mech's status on repair, one more day until the systems are finalized and the mech is ready for combat.
"I don't know if she'll make it through to next year, this might be the last time I have her…" She thought, looking at a live feed of the mechbay with the Timber wolf suspended in the air while MechTechs worked on the arm.