Feedback request

     I have a feedback request for my readers. I know that there are readers of this fiction, and I hope very much that you all enjoy it. With the current Faith story, I've also written and worked on a kind of side/bonus content to the Faith/Sapphire storyline. It's complete, but not edited yet. It does, however, contain rather sexually explicit content. I would like feedback as to whether or not the readers would like to see it posted, or would rather have things maintained in a more Battletech/PG-13 format. Please post comments on this thread, or send private feedback to faithmcclosky@yahoo.com with your thoughts and comments.

Silesia
Solaris VII
Lyran Commonwealth
12 January, 3053




     Faith and Sapphire stumbled fairly coherently through the door of the apartment, Sapphire slapping a light switch as she passed it, activating a bank of black lights, bathing the studio apartment in odd hues of blue and white.

     "I'm pretty sure those poor boys aren't even going to remember anything of their evening," Sapphire laughed.

     Faith chuckled in response. "Hey, not our fault that they thought it would be a good idea to try to drink us under the pool table. I'm not even sure they were legal to be there, they were so green."

     Faith set her comm unit and Sternsnacht down on the island as Sapphire tossed her keycard onto a small table.

     "The Burger is kind of...liberal when it comes to checking ID. The local authorities don't care so much as long as nothing gets too out of hand." She waived Faith to a seat, and dropped herself into a chair opposite, a small glass table separating the two women. "You still never told me what you're doing down in these parts, Faith McCarron."

     Faith tensed slightly in her chair, taking in the room around her with it's array of lights and oddly reflective objects. She had come to Silesia to avoid being spotted, but that had already gone to hell. She was going to have to find someone to trust. "At the moment, hiding."

     "I doubt that's your long game though." Sapphire looked young, but her eyes belied some kind of weariness that Faith couldn't quite put her finger on.

     "Who says I have a long game?" Faith quipped back.

     "Fair enough," Sapphire conceded. "Keep your secrets for now, I don't need to know. For what it's worth, you can crash here for as long as you need."

     Faith smiled wryly. "And why would you help me?"

     Sapphire paused for a moment before answering. "People come to the game world for a million different reasons. Some for fame and glory, some to start over, you name it. And some people come here to get something started. I get that feeling from you. People like us have to stick together." She reached into a drawer by the side table and pulled out a small packet filled with some kind of small white crystals. "So. What do you say to a little sanctuary, even if just for a little while?"



     A few hours later, Faith found her mind wandering, laying on her back, staring at the ceiling but not really looking at it. Sapphire shifted slightly, pressing herself a little closer and letting one arm rest across Faith's stomach. Small tingling sensations lingered wherever their skin touched, residual effects from the drug they had both taken.

     "So, what's your long game? You're obviously not a mechbunny or a pool shark, yet you were hustling in the same hippy dive I was. So what brings you to Solaris?" Faith phrased it softly, not wanting to press or come off too pushy.

     Sapphire didn't speak for several long seconds. "I'm a mechwarrior, same as you. Haven't seen all the action you have, but I've seen enough. I needed to start over, get away from things, carve out something of my own. Or at least carve something out on a different path."

     So it seems I'm not the only one running. "You don't have to go into details if you don't want."

     "You fight the clans at all?" Sapphire wasn't asking in a probing way, something in her voice said that she was looking for understanding, empathy.

     "Not much, but a little. Enough to know it's a survival game. Most of my action has been against the FedSuns. It's a different ball game. Down there I can be a top dog. The clan front made me feel like I was in a puppy mill. Part of the reason I came to Solaris, it gave me much more sense of being in control. I could choose the fights, and I knew I was going into my element. The clan front was like being thrown to the wolves." She paused for a moment, remembering the bitter fighting she had seen the first time that she had been a part of the Inner Sphere task force fighting the Clans at Tukayyid. It had been a weeks long meat grinder. Lots of good people had gone down, mostly for nothing. "I take it that's where you fought? You're Lyran, if I had to guess."

     "Finsterwalde, in the Bolan province. My dad is a mid level noble with too much money and even more sense of importance. When I started wanting to become a mechwarrior, he pulled strings and got me into the Nagelring. I graduated in '49, just in time to get posted before the Clans hit."

     While Capellans were used to the notion of their nation being pounded and overrun from birth, it was a different story entirely for the mighty Lyran Commonwealth, and the newly formed Federated Commonwealth. "Wait, Nagelring, class of '49? Wasn't that the class that-?"

     Sapphire nodded. "Yeah, the Archon-Prince graduated from. I was even posted to the 12th Donegal Guards. We were on Trell I when the Falcons hit in April of 3050. We got Victor off-world, but then got cut to pieces over the next few months. Pretty much everyone I fought with was either killed or captured by the Falcons. A few of us managed to get off-world around the end of the year. The AFFC brass offered to get us desk jobs and what not, a few even went back to the front. Me, I accepted mustering out and came here."

     Faith deliberately stayed silent, not wanting to push Sapphire any further than she was willing to go.

     "At first I had big ideas of forming a merc unit and finding....I don't know, some kind of redemption. But I came here instead. Fought mostly scrub matches, enough to patch together a mech and earn a living, but I've never really felt ready to strike out on my own back out there into the fight, into the real fight." She lifted herself up and rested on her elbows, looking towards Faith. "That's why you're here, aren't you? You could make a killing on the Solaris circuit. You did it before. But you want back out there, don't you?"

     Faith rolled it around in her head for a few seconds, deciding just how much she wanted to reveal. "I made a big killing running with Lords back a few years ago. Most of it is stashed away, safe and sound, along with my old Catapult. But the Maskirovka is watching all those accounts."

     Sapphire furrowed her brow. "What happened? Thought you were a big shot."

     Faith let out a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, so did I. When Davion started caving in the border, my old XO came here to Solaris to recruit me. Maybe it was silly, but I went back. Problem was I kept the Solaris attitude. Flash and flair, braggadocio, it earns you reputation here, but in a closed society like the Confederation, it earns you enemies. My team was assigned to help out a Gatekeeper unit in the St. Ives commonality. Their leader was a blowhard and an idiot, and I made sure he knew I thought so. And of course, when the Feds came knocking, the greenhorns folded like a house of cards in their piece of junk mechs. I got my team out, along with remnants of the Gatekeepers, but old Blackhand didn't want to take the blame. He got hold of some of my med screens. I was popping adrenals, dust, opiates, you name it. Gave me an edge. But it was enough to blackball me and blame me for the loss. 'Unauthorized use of performance enhancers in the face of the enemy' they called it. They were going to throw me in the brig, probably some dungeon, so I ran. Got out with the help of a good friend. Then I ran here."

     Sapphire ran a hand through her hair, black streaked with highlights of bright purple. "Weren't those the guys that managed to defect to Kurita?"

     Faith nodded. "Yeah. It went a long way towards clearing me. The Mask doesn't have a price on my head anymore. But that's not the same as being trusted in the Confederation. Things have been a little better since Romano died and Sun-Tzu took over, but I still can never go back. Too many rumors, too many enemies. So I'm here, trying to make enough money to get on my feet and get my assets back."

     Sapphire gave her a quizzical look. "Why don't you just form a merc unit and get back into the fight?"

      "There's a few complications. First, around the time of Tukayyid, I got pregnant. I have a little girl back in the Confederation. I can't do very much until I can get her back. The Mask will hold that over my head as long as they have her. Second....someone here on Solaris is after me. My last fight, they sabotaged my mech, and now they've framed me for the death of a Gaming Board agent. So....that's why I'm hiding here. I've got a few feelers out. I have to figure out who it is, and deal with it before I can do anything."

     Sapphire laid down next to Faith once more. "Well, I'll help any way I can. And when it comes to forming that Merc unit, consider me recruit number one."

The Grateful Burger
Silesia
Solaris VII
Lyran Commonwealth
11 January, 3053


     As soon as she heard the sound of the cue ball striking its target, Faith knew she had made the shot. The sound of the final ball dropping into the corner pocket was confirmation.

     "Thank you for your donation." she flashed a wry smile to the large hulk of muscle who had taken her up on a bet at the pool table, and quickly pocketed the 100 c-bill purse. In a place like this, there weren't many guaranteed marks that she knew she could hustle, but the overly brawny, and exceedingly boisterous man that she had just beaten was one.

     She had needed time to breathe and figure out her next move, and she had also needed untraceable cash. After fleeing the Reaches, she knew that Cathay and the Black Hills wouldn't afford her much cover at the moment. She had too many contacts and ties there to blend into the shadows at the moment. She had settled on Silesia, as far as she could get from things, as a spot to hunker down until she got her bearings and figured out just exactly what was going on.

     The Grateful Burger was an eclectic establishment, to say the least. The ownership were some kind of neo-hippies who seemed to relish in their image of going against the grain. Unlike most Solaran bars or restaurants, there were no feeds of the games shown, with most of the vid feeds displaying a mixture of niche games and music of questionable quality from various "underground" sources.

     The clientele was an even more varied mix. In addition to a sizable number of bohemian types, an assortment of bikers, tourists, goths, punks and oddball gamers generally called The Burger home. The back of restaurant was currently dominated by a rather large group of youths playing some form of card game that seemed only slightly less complicated than the inner workings of an HPG to her.

     She made her way to the bar, putting down a few S-bills and attracting the bartender's attention. He was a fairly short, wore his hair obscenely long, wore some kind of odd headband, and small circular glasses that seemed to her to be worn way too far down his nose to actually be helpful in looking at anything. "What can I get for you, sunshine?"

     Ignoring the fact that her mood was anything but sunshine at the moment, she ordered in spite of his overly happy attitude. "Scotch, neat. Whatever you have handy. And make it a double."

     While she might stand out somewhat among the diverse patrons of the Burger, at least everyone here was trying to stand out in some way, making it a slightly safer place to hang out while she waited to hear back from a few contacts she had pinged for information. More importantly, you weren't going to find many mech fans in a place like this, making the likelihood of her being recognized very low.

     "There you are, friend." the bartender said as he finished pouring her drink. She nodded, grabbed her glass, and headed back to the pool table to await either news from her contacts, or her next victim. It was getting late in the evening, and soon the bar would be flooded with an influx of patrons.

     "Up for a game?" she heard a female voice ask from behind her. She turned to see a woman holding a 50 Kroner note. It was a little hard to judge her age under the makeup, but she was young. She was dressed in a kind of fashion that Faith supposed was some kind of blending of steampunk and the kind of cyber-goth-revival that was currently popular among a segment of the youth along the Free Worlds border. Faith didn't notice any obvious weapons, but it was hard to judge among the numerous buckles and straps that would be a security attendant's nightmare at the drop-port.

     "Sure. I trashed the last guy, so you can break," Faith said as she set her own 50 S-bill note on the table. Faith patiently waited while the woman lined up her shot and fired the cue ball into the racked balls.

     "That was easy pickings before, taking on that hulking brute of a biker," the woman said as she repositioned for her first shot. "Don't think I'll make the same mistake he did."

     Faith chuckled. "And what was that?"

     "Underestimating the opposition. He figured it would be easy pickings. Hell, he was probably so busy checking out your ass that he didn't even notice the Sternsnacht." She sunk her first shot and moved on to lining up her next.

     "So packing makes me a shark? That makes most Solarans pretty good players," Faith retorted.

     The woman carefully lined up her next shot. "No, but it should have at least made him ask questions." She sunk the shot and stood back for a moment to scope out the table. "Like what a former top-notch mechwarrior in the games is doing slumming it down here in Silesia. Especially after she just trashed an Enforcer a few nights ago."

     Faith fixed the woman with a glare. Even without the questions, something tripped alarms about this woman. She might be dressed like a mopey angst-ridden Lyran youth, but she carried herself in a much more serious and threatening way. "Maybe I'm just trying to have some fun and avoid the mechbunnies."

     The woman sank her shot. "Donnie, a couple of shots of Party-kill over here when you get a minute. We'll take the bottle." She glanced at Faith briefly. "If you were just running from mechbunnies, there are plenty of places you could do that in the Black Hills. Hell, there's probably plenty of places in Cathay that would suit the bill, even with the rumors that the Cappies hate you at the moment. No, I'm betting that you're down here scoping something out, or laying low for some reason."

     "Yep. You caught me. I'm looking to re-create Woodstock." Faith quipped. The woman missed her next shot. Faith surveyed the table while a waitress brought over a tray with two shots of blue liquid and a nearly full bottle of Party-Kill Heavy vodka, setting it down on the small table nearby as Faith's opponent handed the server an S-bill note. Faith quickly downed the rest of her scotch while she looked at the table.

     "Look, I'm not trying to spook you or anything. Do what you want down here. Just pointing out that I'm smart enough to know that not everybody here is exactly what they appear," the woman said, softening her stance slightly.

     Faith made her first shot, then walked over to the table and picked up a shot glass. She waited for the woman to join her, and the two downed the shots. The blue liquid burned fiercely, more from it's relatively low quality than any particular potency, in spite of being mockingly named after a brand of PPC. They slammed their glasses down, and the woman glanced at Faith for a moment. "My name is Sapphire, by the way."

     Over the next hour or so, the two women alternated shots at the pool table and the cheap vodka bottle. They had just finished a game when a pair of men, boys really, approached them from the direction of the throng of card players in the back.

     "Hey, you ladies want to play a round of doubles?"

     The two women exchanged a predatory glance out of the corner of their eyes. "Rack 'em up, boys"

   

Hartford Gardens
The Reaches
Solaris VII
Lyran Commonwealth
11 January, 3053


    Faith had awoken less hungover than she expected. She wasn't entirely sure the same could be said of Paige, but she certainly couldn't fault the intrepid young reporter for lack of enthusiasm. After a quick brunch, Faith finally managed to rid herself of her new found sidekick and made her way back to the arena, where her mech was still berthed. She didn't really expect to find any further evidence of whoever was behind the sabotage of her mech, but she needed to check on the status of the repairs regardless. She did not have her next match arranged, but at the low level she was fighting matches at currently, a fight could appear on fairly short notice, and right now, she needed all the fights she could get.

     At this hour, the arena itself was fairly empty, only techs and stable personnel were to be found. The facilities themselves were relatively well kept, but it was still the Reaches, and not Solaris City proper, with all of the baggage that came along with that. The money wasn't as big out here, but the fights were easier to come by, and the quick cash and screen time were helpful in between what matches she could secure on the main circuit.

     She checked her weapon with security at the door, then made her way inside. She had hardly made it in the main entrance when a rather nondescript man in a dark bland suit headed her way. He oozed bureaucrat in so many ways it wasn't funny, and she knew she was in for an annoying time. As he reached her, he pulled out a badge of some sort.

     "Faith McCarron?" he asked in that annoying way that nobody you actually wanted to talk to ever did. She nodded and he continued. "I'm Frank Miller, Solaris Gaming Board. If you have a moment, I'd like to talk to you about your last match?"

     She sighed. "I don't, but I don't think that would stop the SGB, so let's talk on the way to the hangar bay."

     The two began walking towards the bay. "I understand from your press conference post match that you decided to not use your mech's weapons. Is that correct?"

     "Did it look like I used my weapons?" she retorted. Being flippant might not have been the best approach to take, but she was in no mood for bureaucratic banter.

     "While it's certainly your prerogative to use whatever weapons you wish, we received information that perhaps some sabotage or fixing of the match was involved. I'm sure you understand, we take these allegations very seriously."

     They reached the bay, and she made her way towards her mech. "Look, I'm sure you do. And yes, somebody messed with my mech's systems prior to the match. But I handled it."

     Miller frowned. "Why didn't you report this?"

     Faith stopped abruptly, resting her hands on her hips. "Because I can handle it. The last thing I need is people from the Gaming Board poking around and tipping off whoever is after my ass. I figured it was best to keep it quiet. If I have a target on my back, I want to-"

     She was cut off by the thud of a heavy pistol firing. It echoed loudly through the mostly cavernous bay, making it difficult to determine where the shot came from. The target was easily identified, as a round slammed into the back of Mr. Miller's head, sending him flying to the ferrocrete floor and spattering blood everywhere.

     After briefly recoiling, Faith dropped to a crouch and scanned the surrounding bay. She peered in the direction the shot appeared to come from, and saw only a pistol laying on the ground. She recognized it immediately. Shit. Whoever is after me has a serious hard on for taking me down.

     She quickly ran over and scooped up the pistol, then sprinted out of the bay. Whoever was after her didn't want her dead at the moment, obviously, or they would have taken her down instead of the hapless SGB agent laying dead on the mechbay floor at the moment. Still, she didn't want to stick around. It was a clumsy frame job, but it was a frame job nonetheless, and she intended to be long gone by the time the authorities arrived.

     This is going from bad to worse, girl. You better get on whoever this is, and fast.

Hartford Gardens
The Reaches
Solaris VII
Lyran Commonwealth
11 January, 3053




     There's a reason I didn't become a tech. No, there are many reasons I didn't become a tech. Faith had been poking around the innards of the Phoenix Hawk for nearly three hours. It wasn't that she didn't trust the techs, but she didn't exactly trust the techs. Something had gone wrong in her mech, and as soon as the armor plates had cooled enough to explore the systems, and her obligatory press conference had taken place, she had come to the hangar bay to try to figure out exactly what.

     She had just about given up on the idea of finding it herself, pondering calling in a independent tech to take a look at things, when she spotted something out of place. Gotcha!

     "Hey, smooth move fudging the truth at that presser." The reporters' voice caught her off guard and she nearly smacked her head against one of the mech's endo-skeletal bones. Distangling herself from the mech's innards, she climbed out and made her way down to the ground level where Paige stood, hands crossed across her chest.

     Against the far wall, Faith saw herself from the media event earlier, displayed on a tri-vid. "What happened? What happened was that Strader was bush league. I knew I could take him, so I did it without weapons. Haven't seen the numbers yet, but I think the audience will love the show."

     "It was an opportunity. Everyone in this town likes a show, and my explanation gives them one. Plus there's no point in calling out whoever tampered with my ride. I don't know who it was, but until I have them in my sights, not much point in making it public." She did her best to wipe the grease and grime away with a rag as she spoke.

     "So it was sabotage! I knew it had to be." Paige exclaimed, quite proud of herself for the confirmation of her discovery.

     Faith sighed, "Yeah. I just figured it out myself. Someone got in there and spliced a little relay into the wiring on my fire control systems. Cut off the signal to the weapons, but fed a ghost signal back to the targeting computer telling it that everything was fine. That's why it never showed up on my displays, even after I realized my guns didn't work."

     Paige shifted her stance. "Well? What are you going to do about it? You have to figure out who did it."

     Faith frowned. "Yeah, I know. But it's not going to be easy. I can't just go poking around asking questions like some reporter."

     Paige leaped at the opening. "But I can. Come on, I sense a partnership here. I can help you with this, and in return, you can let me in on some of your story."

     Faith laughed as she walked toward the locker room. "You really don't give up, do you? Alright, but I don't want you poking around stirring up some hornets nest. I have some rebuilding to do on my career here, and I don't need land mines blowing up on me."

     "You've got a deal, partner!" Paige said, grinning from ear to ear.



Federated Hotel
Black Hills
Solaris VII
Lyran Commonwealth
11 January, 3053



     The two women slammed their shot glasses down on the table at the same time. They had already finished the first bottle of cheap vodka, and had started on the second. Faith was far past the point where she wanted to test her ability to walk without endangering herself, and judging from the giggles, so was Paige.

     "Fuck writing an article, we could make your story into a book. You've had so much crazy shit happen. I always thought maybe if I had to, I could write a book on my father. He was the champion back in '32. But you've got it beat." Paige said.

     Faith took a few seconds to blink away the fog of the alcohol before responding. "I wouldn't go that far. I've been around a bit, that's all. And I damn well hope there's a few chapters left in my book, girl."

     Paige leaned back in her chair, visibly taking a moment to reorient herself. "Yeah, well you might want to watch your back for a while if that's the case. You've obviously got a target on your back, and until we can figure out who's after you, things are going to be dicey, I'd wager."

     Faith ran her fingers through her hair. "If you were betting, where would you put your money?" She slowly and deliberately picked up the bottle and scooped up the pair of shot glasses on the table between them.

     "No way to know without digging. Could be Hasek's boys not taking a liking to having a Cappie in their ranks. Could be Cappies mad at you for all your shit back home. Hell, could be somebody we haven't even heard of just wants you gone for some reason, like money, and are just playing someone to get the deed done. Whatever, it's gonna take more sniffing around."

     Faith sighed. "Yeah, no shortage of people on my shit list."

     Paige laughed. "I know the feeling. So...one more for the road?"

     Faith shot her a grin, and started slowly pouring two more shots. "You're plastered. No road for you, not unless you want to end up in the gutter."

     Paige replied with an exaggerated wave. "I'm fine. You've gone shot for shot with me"

     "I punch above my weight class, what can I say," Faith quipped as she slid a shot towards Paige. The two women downed their shots, Paige coughing slightly at the end of hers, as she began to stand, wobbled slightly, then let herself fall back into the chair.

     "On second thought, maybe the road isn't such a good idea."

     Faith very deliberately stood up, bracing herself against the table as she made her way over to the small island that delineated the boundary between the small kitchenette area and the main living area. She picked up Paige's coat at tossed it towards her, before stumbling towards the bedroom. "See you in the morning, newsgirl."