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."