Chapter 15

Ground Control Stable, Montenegro,
Solaris City, Solaris VII,
Freedom Theater, Lyran Alliance,
January 20, 3068

Jeremy always thought that his apartment was subpar. The one at Ground Control was way worse. The mattress – if that thing could be called a matress – barely had cushion. It was just a piece of pad on top of tarp on the floor. Jeremy could even feel the texture of the floor as he lied down. The bedsheet was stuffy with grease. There was nothing else in the room, not even a shelf of some sort where he could hang his clothes. If such thing couldn't be called abomination, Jeremy didn't know what else he could name it.

"That's all we have," Major Tom rolled into the room. "But you asked for bare minimum. This is bare minimum. You can't get any lower than this."

"This is fine," Jeremy forged a smile. "I spend most of my time outside anyway."

"Is that the truth?" Major Tom looked into his eyes in the earnest. "Jeremy, we both know where you came from, and I don't mean the place. I am talking about the social hierarchy. You came from the upper stratum of society in your world. You had more than many of us here could only drool to have. Why did you give it up? Why did you conciously choose a condition that is inhumane by your old standard?"

Jeremy was actually not sure why he did this. Alienating himself from the Class-6 arenas would not get him closer to his initial plan. He still beat himself up about his decision to stay away from Word of Blake. But somehow deep in his heart he knew he made the right choice.

"Aren't you glad I'm standing up for Kilroy and Jenny?" he stated.

"I'm glad that you are the mechwarrior we should've hired when we hired Mac Storm several years ago," Major Tom replied. "I'm glad that, although late, your arrival brought everybody together as a team. I mean, Amber and Jenny used to hate each other. Now they came together through you. That's what I always wanted to see: a well-woven team that supported each other." He rolled closer to Jeremy. "But I am afraid that this is just your ploy to get whatever it is you want at Solaris. I am afraid you are using everybody."

"Who gave you that idea? Did Stan berate me behind my back?" Jeremy snarled.

"Stan had nothing to do with this. I might be crippled but I'm not blind, Jeremy. I know you're hiding something. I never said anything because I saw that you were bringing good things for the team. But now you are uniting the team behind you, and I just hate it if you're taking the team to support your own cause. You're a good mechwarrior, Jeremy, but this is my team. These are good people that look up to you. If you think you can use them….."

"I am not using them, alright!" Jeremy sneered. If Major Tom had to know his true intention, so be it, but this distrust had to stop. "You want to pry into my private life? Alright, let's do it! I came here to win back my girl! I was engaged to a magnificent woman, but I failed to see that she never loved me. She went back to her old lover, and foolish me, I thought she did that for Solaris fame and money. That's what I was after. I want to become the Solaris Grand Champion!

"But the longer I stay at Solaris, the more I felt that my intention was juvenile. Solaris has its own problem, and these good people of Ground Control Stable had their own problems that were far more serious than mine. And your leadership is terrible! You kept Mac Storm around even though his attitude was toxic for the team. You wanted to ally with the Word of Blake despite everybody's objection. You said this was your team, but everything you did for your team made everybody miserable!"

"You are not to question my leadership!" Major Tom yelled.

"Somebody has to open your eyes that money isn't everything! Look at your team! They haven't been happier since Mac left! And they stay with Ground Control even though you said you didn't have enough money to pay them!"

"Without money we don't even have a stable!"

"We will!" Now it was Jeremy's turn to look straight into Major Tom's eyes. "This stable has much more than dependency on money! If you don't trust me, trust your team!"

"And what do you know about trust, young man?"

Their ruckus started to attract other people's attention. Stan stormed into Jeremy's room with a piece of broken pipe in his hand. "This punk bothering you, Major?"

"No, Stan, we're just having a discussion," Major Tom turned to his loyal friend. "Just give us a moment."

"Alright," the big middle-aged man threw a suspicious look at Jeremy. "I'll be around here. Call me if you need me."

"So tell me something Jeremy," Major Tom said after Stan left the room. "The Ground Control crews have nothing to do with your plan to win your girl back. What's with the change of heart? Why do you suddenly care about them?"
"I don't know," Jeremy sighed. He sat on the bed and buried his face in his palms. "I guess you guys make me realize that money and fame isn't everything."

"We learn from each other. That's what a good team should be," Major Tom replied and started rolling toward the door. Before he exited the room, he turned around and faced Jeremy one more time. "I wish I knew you before I knew Mac Storm, Jeremy."

"Is that a compliment?" Jeremy mumbled halfheartedly. "Do you trust me now?"

Major Tom left with a loud, extended chortle. "I'm not one that doesn't trust you, kid."

Mickey inspected the cramped room at the far corner of the Ground Control hall, and his heart sank, thinking how far he had gotten Hyolee into the mud of poverty and desperation. Sure, Hyolee never complained about Mickey's mediocre record, low income, and lack of experience in the arenas, even though he had been a mechjock for quite a while. But he managed to afford an apartment where Hyolee could call a 'home'.

This was not a home by any standard.

"I think I made a mistake," Mickey mumbled nervously. "I can't let you live like this."

"Like what?" Hyolee replied in a chime, trying to lift her boyfriend's morale. "This can be our home for a while. There's a bed, there's… there's…" and her words got stuck in her throat. There was only a bed in that room and nothing else. Their old apartment was not great, but at least there was a dresser where she could sit down and look at the mirror every night. There was a cupboard where she could hang her clothes in. There was a kitchen where she could cook. Here, there was nothing.

"Oh God, I'm such a loser," Mickey drowned himself into a self-pitying mud pit. "I'm just a failure."

"Hey, hey, Mick, listen to me," Hyolee quickly wrapped her arms around Mickey's shoulder. "We've been worse than this. Remember those days before Stan took us in? When we crawled around the streets of Solaris, scrambling dumpster to dumpster to scavenge things to sell? When we didn't eat anything for days? This is better than those days!"

"But you don't have anything here! You don't even have a place to sit!"

"I am not asking much, Mickey. As long as we have something to eat, we are fine. I am fine. There will be time to think about money and fame, but now it's not it. This is a hard time for everybody. Nobody wants the Word of Blake in Solaris VII. Let's show our support for Stan and Major Tom and everybody who have been a blessing for us."

"Are you sure you can live like this?" Mickey raised his head and looked at Hyolee. "I mean, I took our home away from you. Now all you have is this not-so-much of a bed in a cold dark room."

"My home is wherever you are," Hyolee rested her head on Mickey's shoulder.

Mickey forced himself to smile. "What would I do without you?" He lifted Hyolee's chin and kissed her. And before he knew it, their hands were all over each other, stripping every bits of clothing barrier between them. Her shoes flew across the room as she tried to pull his pants off with her toes, still locking lips with him in desperate urgency.

"Blankets, kids? Anybody needs extra…" at the worst moment Jenny came in with extra blankets, but the scene stopped her from going into the room. "I'll come back later." She started to leave the room.

"Jenny, Jenny, we'll need some extra blankets," Mickey scrambled anything within his reach to cover himself while trying to get Jenny's attention.

Without looking back Jenny hurled all blankets in her hands at Mickey, cursing unintelligibly as she rushed away.

"Here, this will keep you warm," Mickey wrapped a couple of blankets on Hyolee's half-naked body. Hyolee snuggled under the blanket except her bare feet were still exposed. Mickey ran his fingernails right under the tender area beneath her toes, and she wiggled her toes in response. Her sweet giggle and her ticklish reaction made his blood rushing. "Your feet are cold."

"Then you'd better keep them warm," Hyolee quipped and snuggled closer to Mickey. "Just don't worry about things, Mickey. I promise, we'll get through this together."