The Art of Compromise - Chapter Two

The Art of Compromise - Chapter Two

Penthouse Suite 2, Cathay Arms

Cathay

Solaris VII

Lyran Commonwealth

22 May, 3049

     Faith dropped her gear bag on the floor of her apartment. She quickly headed over to the kitchen bar, poured herself a shot of cheap vodka, and downed it immediately. She hadn't bothered to shower or change after tonight's fight, she had simply thrown on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt over her cockpit garb, swapped a pair of comfortable tennis shoes for her boots, and headed straight home. She was in no mood to party.

     The fight had been easy enough. Her opponent wasn't even in her league. She should have won the fight much quicker, and maybe a few people had lost some money betting on how long the fight would last, but who cared. She was about to head to the shower, when a sharp banging on the door caught her attention.

     "What is it, I don't need this now," as she opened the door, Cat pushed her way in with a huff. 

     "What the hell was that?" Cat stood with her hands on her hips. She was dressed casually in loose fitting combat trousers and boots, a white tank top that fit her snugly, and had her black hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. Her expression was not pleasant, she looked like she was spoiling for a fight.

     "It's called a win. I trashed the guy. Now if you hadn't noticed, I'm kind of a mess right now, I was planning on taking a shower." she said defensively. 

     Cat was not impressed. "Oh you are a mess, alright. You should have taken that hapless boy down in half the time you did. You were impatient, you pulled shots. If you were facing a real opponent you might be dead right now."

     Faith stepped closer to the other woman. Cat was taller and more muscular than Faith, and Faith knew she would almost certainly lose a fight with the dark haired woman, but right now she was not in a mood for criticism. "Well if you're so perfect, why don't you step into the arena with me and we can hash it out, miss know-it-all?"

     Cat scoffed, "I am not here to fight you. I am trying to figure out what is wrong with you."

     She shoved Cat in the chest. "Nothing is wrong, I'm fine, now get the hell out of here!"

     As she pushed Cat, the larger woman grabbed her arm and twisted her around by it. She forced her a few steps forward, then slammed Faith face down into the large plush sofa, pinning her down and leaning close to her.

     "I came here to help. If you want me to leave, fine. But do not try to take whatever your problems are out on me." With a parting shove, she stood up and headed for the door. Faith sat up quickly, filled with anger and wanting to punch her fist right through a wall. Cat was almost at the door.

     "Cat, I'm scared!" The other woman stopped as Faith continued. "I just fell deep into something big and I'm scared to death. And I don't even know why I'm telling you this, but there it is."

     Cat slowly walked back into the room and sat, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees across from Faith. "Tell me what has happened and I will try to help."

     Faith stared at the floor as she recounted the tale. "A couple of days ago, I got an invitation to a meeting with Arthur Hopewell. He wanted me to work for him."

     Cat frowned. "Hopewell is about as Davion as they come. Small time business dealings, big time money. There are rumors that he has ties to the FedSuns government, but nothing substantiated. Why would he want to offer you a job?"

     "He didn't. The rumors about him and the FedRats, they're probably true. He's blackmailing me." Faith sighed.

     Waiting for a moment as she pondered, Cat finally responded. "To blackmail someone, he must have something to hold over you. What is it?"

     Faith ran her hands through her still dirty hair. "A while back, after a fight, I hit up some of the clubs like usual. And afterwards, I may have gone to a hotel room to party with a guy....or three. Hopewell must have set it up somehow, because he has pictures and video."

     "That is not a particularly big deal. All it shows is that you have a rather healthy appetite. If the video were leaked, you might have to face embarrassing questions for a few days, but if anything, your popularity would rise. The audience would eat up a good sex tape."

     Faith shook her head. "That's not the end of it though. According to Hopewell, one of the guys is an MIIO agent. If that came to the attention of the Maskirovka, at the very least my career as a mechwarrior would be over and they'd ship me off to some backwater where I could never find out anything about anything ever again. At worst I'd end up in some gulag somewhere." She paused and took a deep breath. "And on top of that, the pics and video shows that I might also have had some illegal drugs there. That could mean jail time, and definitely would get me run out of town by the gaming board."

     Cat stood and began to pace. "I knew I should have warned you about that. Your habits are going to cause you nothing but trouble."

     "I know, but....wait, you knew about that?"

     She nodded. "About the drugs? Yes, I suspected. At the very least that you were using stims to get jacked up before a fight. I will not bother to lecture you on the long term consequences, but you must be more discreet, at least."

     Faith laughed. "Yeah, well it's a little late for that now. I just....I don't know what do do at this point."

     "What has he asked you to do?"

     "So far, nothing. But he made clear that he will. And that if I don't go along, or if any harm comes to him, that the info gets released and I get burned."

     Cat shook her head. "This will not be easy. But I am willing to help. We can fix this, given time and patience. The first thing we will have to do is mitigate any damage that he does. You will have to trust me, and let me know the instant that he asks you to do anything. The more he has you do, the deeper he will have you compromised, so in the short term, we must work to minimize any damage you do and leave no evidence leading back to you. In the long term, we must find out how he has this data kept. Then we gain control over it. Then we kill him."

     Faith laughed. "That easy, huh?"

     Cat shook her head in response. "No. But I have been thrown to the wolves on matters such as this, and learned many lessons the hard way. In the end, we will beat him."

     "Why are you doing this, Cat? I mean, we're friends and all, but you've only known me a couple of months. Why take on a risk like this?"

     "My reasons are my own. Maybe once we take this scum down, I will share them with you."