May Fortune Favor the Foolish

 Here is a short story of mine that was rejected by Shrapnel. I don't know why it was rejected, since they still won't speak to me, but I hope that you, the fans, can enjoy it nonetheless. It's not canon, but it's 100% lore-compliant, as my short stories are. 

 

 

 

May Fortune Favor the Foolish

 

 

ZHI-CHIANG

HSIEN

WORD OF BLAKE PROTECTORATE

24 JANUARY 3078

               “I still don’t know how you convinced the boss to let you try this stunt.” Sao-wei Lauryn Tu glanced nervously up and down the street as she checked once more to make sure that her hold-out pistol was covered by her shirt.

               Zhong-shao Faith McCarron swept a lock of her strawberry blonde hair out of her face as she turned to face Lauryn. Her large, aviator style sunglasses obscured her eyes, but could not hide the look of mischief that her friend knew was there. “Fortune favors the foolish, LT. You’ve known me long enough to have learned that. And the gaffer let me run with this because he knows my luck is good.”

               With that, her commander pushed open the door and stepped through. Lauryn quickly followed her. She first noticed the smell of opium hanging in the air. It wasn’t a heavy smoke like a bar or an opium den, but was lighter, mixed with subtle scents of perfume. The lighting was deliberately low, but not so low as to obscure the various women perched around the room in varying degrees of alluring attire. It was anything but subtle, yet somehow maintained a relaxed and low-key atmosphere.

               All eyes watched the two women as they made their way toward a desk at the back corner of the room. Like most of the furnishings in the room, it looked ornate on the surface, but Lauryn doubted that its quality was beyond skin deep. Behind the desk, the only man in the room stood, trying to give the impression a relaxed pose. Subtle tensions in his muscles and the way his eyes moved made Lauryn suspect that he was more alert than he was letting on. His build said he was the muscle for the establishment.

               “Can I help you ladies?”

               Lauryn and Faith were dressed in civilian attire. The Word of Blake forces were focused on holding back the combined might of the Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers, her own Fourth McCarron’s Armored Cavalry, and a mixed bag of forces under the command of Alys Rousett-Marik. But they were still in enemy territory.

“I’m looking for the lady in charge.”

               The man shrugged. “I just handle booking.”

               “You don’t look like a secretary.”

               He shrugged again. “I also keep the trouble out. Now, you looking to book someone, take a walk around, talk to the girls, and we’ll talk price.”

               “I’m not here to hire girls.”

               “Well, that’s all we’ve got here. You want guys, you have to go across town. I can give you directions.”

               Faith pulled a one hundred L-bill note from her pocket and placed it on the counter. “I’m not here to book my bachelorette party, I’m here to talk to the lady in charge. If she’s not here, I won’t waste my time or money.” 

               He looked at the money, then at Faith, then pulled out his phone and began texting. Lauryn casually glanced around the room. The women, who moments before had been attentive and seemed ready to pounce, had universally taken a more relaxed posture after hearing that their guests were not here on business.

               “Miss Louise is upstairs. She says she’ll talk to you. Follow me.”

               The man led the way, and Lauryn walked beside her commander and friend. “Your brother would flip his lid if he saw you in a place like this.” She kept her voice low.

               “Rhamses could do with an hour or two here, might loosen him up a bit. For that matter, you’ve been getting uptight lately, the man said he can give us directions to the place across town.”

               Lauryn stifled the urge to playfully smack her friend. Theirs was a complex relationship. As the daughter of Archie McCarron, it was simply expected that Faith would be groomed for command and rise through the ranks. Their paths had crossed as young Sao-weis and they had become fast friends. Lauryn’s duties quickly solidified into something of a cross between an aide-de-camp and a bodyguard for the brash young officer. The combination of the grinding attrition of the Jihad and Faith’s penchant for taking risks and winning had vaulted her to battalion command, and Lauryn had been at her side the whole time. If this campaign worked out, there was little doubt Lauryn would make Sang-wei.

               Their guide led them up a carpeted flight of stairs and down a long corridor. When they reached the end, he knocked gently, then opened the door and gestured for the two women to enter. He followed them through the door and closed it behind him.

               The room was dominated by a large, ornate desk, delicately carved from some form of local wood that produced a deep amber hue. There was little doubt that this desk was the real thing. Behind it, a woman sat back, confidently appraising the two of them. Her clothes, dark trousers and a shimmering green silk blouse, were refined, but not gaudy. Her jewelry completed the look, subtle earrings and a bracelet that screamed high quality. She was the one in charge, but she was subtle about it, that much was clear. She was aging, but gracefully so, her firm posture and sharp eyes countering the subtle wrinkles on her face and the strands of gray interspersed with her auburn hair.

               “Byron here says you wanted to speak to me, and you were willing to wave money around to do it. I’m going to go ahead and guess that you’re not here looking for jobs. So that leaves me curious as to what you’re after.”

               Faith wasted no time jumping in. “We’re here to hire you. My name is Faith McCarron.”

               The woman’s pose did not change. “I didn’t think the fighting was over. Isn’t it a little early to be planning a celebration and hiring my girls?”

               While Faith put her hands on her hips, Lauryn stayed at a relaxed parade rest, her eyes darting back and forth between the two women.

               “You misunderstand. I’m not here to hire entertainers for a party. I’m looking to hire you, Captain Louise Holley, and Gael’s Grinders.”

               That got a reaction from the woman. She sat up a little straighter, her posture tensing. “Honey, I haven’t been in the cockpit in maybe five years. And even then, it was only to scare the daylights out of a particular client that got too big for his britches. What makes you think I want to rally up the old company now?”

               Faith’s stance remained relaxed. She took off her sunglasses and tucked them into her shirt. “There’s a big fight going on. It’s going to decide the fate of this planet. You guys seem to have traded one ride for another. Now is as good a time as any to get back on the old horse.”

               Louise Holley stood slowly. “Faith McCarron, you say? You must be one of Archie’s kids. We heard Marcus Baxter was raising a couple of Archie’s dismounts after he died. You must have been a little kid back during Guererro.”

               “I was nine. I know the First and Second were here with you during the fight. Sam Christobal, Blaze Parks, and my adopted father all had a hand in tossing the fedrats out on their asses.”

               Holley’s visage seemed to lighten some. “Your dad, your adopted dad, Marcus, was a cocky son of a bitch back then, you know.”

               “He still is, maybe a bit more of a hard-nose now, but still mostly the same.” Faith’s Irish brogue seemed a bit thicker now. Lauryn knew it was one of those little affectations that Faith played upon to distinguish herself from her brother. Rhamses emulated Lord Marcus Baxter, head of the MAC and the man that had adopted Faith and Rhamses when their biological father died in a training accident. Faith’s attitude tended more towards the wild and crazy that their biological father, Archibald McCarron as known for.

               “He also left us high and dry. This place fell apart into a three-way civil war. Most of the parties involved brought in big guns, bigger than a merc company could handle. I managed to broker some peace. But it stopped making sense, getting shot up for next to no pay. So, we opened other enterprises. It keeps the cash flowing, and you don’t generally get shot at. Why would I want to the old ways? Especially the whole bit about people shooting at me. Health is its own reward.”

               Lauryn knew that it would soon be make or break. She knew what the offer on the table was, but it didn’t help ease the tension she felt as her commander negotiated with the captain-turned-madam.

               “I’m not asking you to do it for kicks, or even for the Confederation. We’ll pay you prevailing merc rates, plus repair and salvage rights.”

               Holley shook her head. “Not even close. If I were looking to get back into the game, it would be a fair offer. But I’m not. I’m looking at the long game. And my long game doesn’t involve my Firestarter.”

               Lauryn could feel the tension building. Goosebumps rose on her arms, and she fought back the urge to nervously run her hand through her black hair. And now she closes the deal.

               “Ok, how’s this for a long game? Between us and the Marik girl, we outnumber the robes. We are going to wipe them out. And then the so-called Coalition is going to leave. The Chancellor’s flag is going to fly over Hsien at the end of it all. How do you think the Maskirovka is going to view your little enterprise when they arrive and start looking over the books? They probably won’t care about the sex work part of it, but I’m willing to bet that in the twenty years you’ve been making this work, you’ve been in bed with every faction on the planet. That includes the disloyal elements during the civil war here, and the robes. I’m sure they’re going to be very interested in that.”

               The older woman scoffed. “You’re going to try to blackmail me? Honey, you may be young and naïve but even you have to know that isn’t going to work.”

               Faith raised her hands. “I’m not trying to blackmail you. This is going to happen, no matter what. I’m trying to offer you a way out. You help us, and you’ll get all I promised, plus we’ll personally let the Chancellor know how instrumental you were as a leader of the loyal Capellan resistance here on Hsien. When all is said and done, anyone with a ‘Mech that wants to leave can join with us, no questions asked. Anyone who stays will have a shining badge of loyalty to stamp on their business cards. Everyone wins. So, what do you say?”

               The silence seemed to last forever. Lauryn watched the two women, their eyes locked, trying to judge the other and assess the situation. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Louise Holley nodded. “I’ll gather up the Grinders.”

 

#

 

               Lauryn stood next to Faith towards the back of the field tent where Sang-shao Richard Carson, the overall commander of CCAF forces on Hsien had gathered his battalion commanders for a council of war. Lord Richard Carson was the picture of a seasoned commander in the Big Mac. Broad shouldered and firm jawed, he dominated the room with his presence. Next to him stood Sang-shao Daniel Jax, the young commander of the Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers, the other veteran unit fighting alongside the Cavalry.

               Jax cut a different image from Lord Carson. Lean and wiry, much like the current incarnation of his regiment, he was visibly more agitated than his counterpart. No doubt this owed in great part to the pummeling the Rangers had received at the hands of the Clan Hell’s Horses contingent of the coalition force a few days earlier.

               Lord Carson pointed to the ring drawn around the city on the map display. “Now that we’ve come to an understanding with Duchess Alys to prioritize pounding the Blakists into dust before we argue about jurisdiction, we can get down to closing this ring we have around them. The robes have already tried to break out into the mountains once, and you can be sure they’re going to try again once the noose tightens.”

               As Lord Carson paused, Sang-shao Jax stepped up. “As you can imagine, Duchess Marik hasn’t shared her force disposition with us. But doing that math, it’s easy to see which of us has the bigger contingent, and it isn’t us.”

               Carson stabbed his finger on the half of the circle that represented the CCAF side of the river. “The Word may or may not know about us using the river as the dividing line for our respective areas of operation, but they damn well know that we’re not playing nice with the Duchess. If I were in their position, I’d try to break out against the smaller force, thinking it’s the weakest. Our job is to show them just how foolish that assumption can be. To that end, we’re starting our push at 0630 hours. It’s liable to get dicey out there. Under no circumstances to we let those triple damned Blakists past us. Is that understood?”

               After a chorus of affirmations, the group was dismissed. Lauryn fell in behind Faith but was beckoned away by Lord Carson. “Sao-wei Tu, on me.”

               With a nod of affirmation to her friend, she quickly fell in next to Lord Carson on their way to their ‘Mechs. “Sir.”

               “This is going to be the big one, Tu. Make or break, we push till the robes are done. The fighting is going to be intense, maybe the thickest we’ve seen this whole campaign. I’ve lost a lot of good officers this last year or so. Your battalion CO is where she is because we lost Zhong-shao Gray out in the field. I know Faith can be a lot to handle, but I’m counting on you to keep her safe through this. Understood?”

               “Sir.”

               “Right, then go and find your ride. Good hunting, Sao-wei.”

               She quickened her pace to a slow jog to catch up to her friend. She caught up with Faith at the base of her Starslayer. She looked up at the ‘Slayer and her own Ti Ts’ang, both ‘Mechs showed signs of combat, but the techs had done a superb job of patching them up in the downtime afforded them by the consolidation of forces.

               “What did the gaffer want?” Faith was already in the process of stripping down to her MechWarrior togs.

               “It was just his quarterly reminder for me to keep your ass out of the fire. Nothing I haven’t heard before. This job doesn’t get any easier with you climbing in rank, you know that, right?” Lauryn emulated her friend, stuffing her extra clothing into a small rucksack.

               Faith swung her pack over her shoulder. “It’s not supposed to be an easy job, LT. I go where things are the thickest. That’s the way it’s always been. You just try to keep up and keep the bad guys off my back. They didn’t give you that big hatchet for nothing.”

               Lauryn nodded in affirmation. “Like always, I’ll have your back, boss.”

               Faith shot her a wry smile. “Ok, let’s get saddled up. And when this is all over, we’ll go find that address on the other side of town. My treat.”

               Shaking her head and grinning broadly, Lauryn started the climb up the gantry to her ‘Mech. Time to earn my pay.

 

#

 

               Lauryn wrenched her ‘Mech’s giant axe-shaped hatchet free from the smoldering hulk of a Condor hover tank. The pesky tank had wandered perilously close and had suffered the consequences of the deadly blade cleaving deep into its armor and ruining its hover skirts under the pressure.

               She quickly glanced at her display to locate her commander. Faith was currently tangling with a Blakist Buccaneer and seemed to have the fight well in hand. Lauryn had little time to observe the fight, as a PPC bolt slashed across her right leg. She twisted in the direction of the shot and found an enemy Lancelot levelling its arm-mounted autocannon in her direction. It was one of the Blakists newer LCT25-08 models with dual LB-5X autocannons and a PPC, capable of hooking into their damnable improved C3 networks. Shifting quickly to her left, she managed to avoid all but a few of the cluster submunitions from the Blakist salvo.

               As Lord Carson had predicted, once the Capellans had begun their advance, word had filtered out that the coalition forces were also pressing the Word of Blake on the other side of the river. Thus far, the expected Blakist counterattack had not materialized, but the enemy forces were nonetheless offering stiff resistance.

               She snapped off a return salvo at the Lancelot with her five medium lasers, three of the beams scattering damage across the enemy torso. The Blakist held back with their PPC, instead plinking away with the scattered shots from its paired LB-5X guns.

               A partially collapsed building a hundred meters or so behind the Lancelot suddenly exploded in a cloud of smoke and what seemed like an unending trail of missile launches. Instinctively, she feathered her jump jets in a short hop forward and to her right. She flexed her ‘Mech at the knees and fired a quick shot from her arm-mounted laser at the Lancelot.

               “LT, if you could stop that stream of LRMs raining down on my head, that would be a big help!” Lauryn could hear the scream of missile lock warnings in the background as her commander called for aid. She quickly realized that the missile carrier partially hidden in the building was firing not at her, but at Faith’s Starslayer. Without direct line-of-sight, it must have someone spotting for it, either with a TAG laser or from one of the improved C3-spotter networks that the Blakists favored.

               No time to track down the spotter, but two can play at that game. She keyed her comms to the regimental support channel. “Fire support, this is Fortunate Two, priority fire mission requested on my designator.” She kicked her mech up into a run, ignoring the Lancelot entirely and rushing towards the enemy missile launcher. She pulled into her auxiliary trigger, painting the building with an invisible beam from her torso-mounted Target Acquisition Gear.

               “Fortunate Two, Arrows in the air. Ten seconds out.”

               The Lancelot continued peppering her with cluster rounds, backing up as it fired. She ignored it, keeping her mech charging and the designator on target. When the countdown on her HUD read “two”, she smashed her finger down on the firing stud for her lasers, sending nine beams spearing haphazardly into the building around the LRM Carrier. Heat spiked in her cockpit, but rather than her ‘Mech responding sluggishly, the superheated triple-strength myomer strands that powered her mech responded with increased strength.

               Two seconds later, the building, now only a few hundred meters ahead of her, exploded in a giant ball of fire, cement dust, and flying shards of armor as a pair of Arrow-IV guided missiles reached the target at the end of her TAG designator beam. Part of a missile launcher spun wildly out of the conflagration, and just as the initial blast began to settle, a series of sympathetic explosions rocked the rubble as munitions burned and cooked off.

               Wasting no time, Lauryn turned to her left, adjusting her charge directly at the now stunned Lancelot that had been her initial foe. It had stopped its movement backwards, and snapped off a quick shot with its PPC, a glancing blow that charred some of the armor from her left leg. Lauryn barreled forward, shrugging off the cluster munitions from the arm mounted cannons. As she neared, she swung down the gargantuan hatchet in her ‘Mechs right arm. The blow cleaved deep into the enemy shoulder joint, the corresponding arm falling limp in a shower of sparks and a few pops as the ammo feed for its autocannon crumpled under the blow.

               Not satisfied, Lauryn let her momentum continue unchecked, letting her right arm flex and her ‘Mech’s shoulder slam into the Blakist ‘Mech. The impact shook her in her seat, and she felt her teeth grind together. Her opponent fared far worse. Unable to compensate for the double impact of a hatchet blow and a charging attack, the Lancelot stumbled backward and collapsed onto its back.

               Lauryn retained her balance with the combined help of her ‘Mech’s massive gyroscope and her own sense of balance translated by her neurohelmet. She took one step closer to her fallen foe and slammed a foot down squarely in the center of the Lancelot’s chest.  Swinging her left arm and its cluster of lasers into line with the enemy cockpit, she keyed an unencrypted channel, “One chance, yield and power down.”

               The Blakist took no time to consider her offer, raising their remaining arm in her direction. Without hesitation, Lauren triggered the cluster of five lasers, pumping their terrible energy straight into the bulbous head of the Word BattleMech. The cockpit armor could not hope to hold back the combined might of the lasers, and the Lancelot went limp as the entire head assembly was melted to slag.

               “Good kill, LT. The rest of them ran headlong back into the city. I’d love to follow, but that would put us way too far ahead of the rest of the regiment, and I don’t want to charge into a city alone. Company commanders, let’s tighten up our line a bit, keep contact on the flanks with the other two battalions. Perimeter five hundred meters outside the city limits, hovertanks, let’s get a screen out as close to the city line as you can. I’ll see what the gaffer wants to do next.”

               Lauryn used the brief respite to let her mech and her body cool off. The fighting so far had been steady but hadn’t taken too much of a toll on her machine. She took a moment to visually survey her commander’s ride, which, while pockmarked with the scars of high explosives, seemed to be holding up well against the rigors of battle. She was pondering cracking the cockpit hatch to get some much-needed fresh air when her HUD chirped at her for attention.

               She glanced down at her mini-map, which rendered the friendly forces of the Fourth MAC in cool blue. The problem was the single bright red diamond that signaled a Word of Blake BattleMech, likely spotted by the picket units out in front of the main line. Then another red diamond appeared. Then three more. In the span of a few seconds, the map showed a massive host of Blakist units heading straight for them.

               She keyed her comms quickly to her commander. “Boss, you see that?”

               “I see it, LT.” There was a pause, then Faith came over the battalion frequency. “Okay, Second Battalion, here they come. I’m betting this is the big push. Everyone hold the line.”

               The picket units came streaming back, and behind them came a wave of Blakist units. A wall of ‘Mechs led the way, but a mass of vehicles and infantry followed. This force was far greater than what they had been fighting moments before. Within seconds, the two lines of battle were intertwined in heavy fighting.

               Lauryn kept her heat in check, using sporadic fire from her extended range lasers to harass enemy units, and turning her hatchet on anything that got close enough. The initial momentum of the thrust was checked, but the sheer weight of the push by the Word was threatening to break the MAC line.

               An Exterminator caught her eye. She made sure to keep as close to Faith as possible, and this particular enemy Exterminator was making a beeline for the commander’s ‘Slayer. A PPC bolt lanced out from Faith’s Starslayer to catch the Exterminator squarely in the chest. The shot did nothing to stop the enemy machine. It reached out with its lasers as its charge continued.

               “Boss, hop back, I got this guy!”

               “Ok, but you owe me—” The transmission cut to static as the Exterminator launched a single missile that struck the Starslayer squarely in the chest but did not explode. After a brief pause, the ‘Slayer rocketed backward on its jump jets.

               “You okay, boss?” There was no response. Must be some kind of iNARC pod messing with the boss’s comms. Well, we can work that out after I drop this guy.

               With her commander now safely behind her, Lauryn fired an alpha strike of her lasers at the enemy headhunter. The medium lasers gouged scars into the armor of her foe. The small lasers were too far from their target to do any real damage, but the heat they generated was enough to trigger an extra burst of strength from the musculature of her Ti Ts’ang. She charged at the enemy ‘Mech, and her opponent showed no signs of backing down.

               The enemy lasers ripped into her armor, but her protection held for the moment. She triggered another shot from her medium lasers. Only two of her shots connected, her aim being thrown off as the enemy warrior triggered their MASC system to kick their movement profile into an even higher tier. Her heat climbed slightly, and instinctively she slapped the override for her ‘Mech’s fusion reactor’s safeties just as the computerized voice in her helmet began warning her of critical heat levels. In the stifling heat of the cockpit, the sweat on her extremities did little to cool her. Thankfully, her cooling vest was keeping her core temperature down.

               But as the heat sapped Lauryn’s own strength, it magnified the strength of her ‘Mech. The two ‘Mechs each ran at each other with augmented speed, closing the gap almost instantly. She brought her hatchet down on the enemy Exterminator just before the two mechs collided. She was shaken in her seat, only her restraining straps keeping her from tumbling around the cockpit.

               Her head swam as the combination of the impact and the heat conspired to attack her sense of balance. She fought with all of her might and concentration to keep her ‘Mech upright, and with the help of the massive four-ton gyroscope at the heart of her machine, her ‘Mech stayed upright. Her opponent matched her skill in keeping their ‘Mech standing, and even managed to fire off a pair of lasers at her.

               Heat was becoming a problem. She risked firing only her arm-mounted lasers, the five beams coalescing and tearing through the last of the protection over a portion of the Exterminator’s chest. It was the opening she needed. As the enemy fired their remaining lasers, she swung her deadly hatchet once more. This time, the blade plunged into the gap created by her lasers. The full force of the blow drove the blade deep into the heart of the enemy ‘Mech.

               Lauryn felt the vibrations run up her own ‘Mech’s arm as the Exterminator’s gyro spun itself to death against her hatchet. Without it, the Blakist mech collapsed to the ground with a tremendous crash. She took a few seconds to try to gulp in air in the sauna of her cockpit. Blinking away the disorientation, she frantically checked her HUD for the location of her commander. She found her about a hundred meters away, thrashing away with the capacitor-boosted PPC of her custom Starslayer.

               Lauryn ran to her commander’s side, and as she closed, she noticed the offending improved NARC pod. She turned to face her friend and gestured with the muzzle of her arm laser at the pod. The Starslayer almost imperceptibly nodded. As delicately as one could with a four-ton hatchet, Lauryn bashed the pod from the ‘Slayer.

               “Thanks, LT. You owe me a new paint job for that though.” Hearing Faith’s voice over the comms again was reassuring. The battle line was sagging, as if about to give way. “Well, it’s now or never.” There was a brief pause as Faith switched to a battalion-wide channel. “This is Fortunate Actual to all callsigns. Let the robes through. Everybody retrogrades east. I want a new line, right flank on me, left flank on those woods behind us. Let the gate swing open.”

               To their credit, the units of Faith’s battalion disengaged immediately on hearing their orders, pulling back like a great gate opening to allow the Blakist force to pour through and escape into the forest.

               Lauryn selected a private channel to Faith. “Are you sure this is going to work, boss? You’ve got an awful lot riding on the Grinders.”

               “Fortune favors the foolish, LT. Risking the whole thing on a company of mercs who’ve been turning tricks for the last ten years. Crazy, right?”

               “Just your style, boss. Giving me early grays.”

               Lauryn watched as the Blakist force neared the edge of the forest. When they came within five hundred meters, PPC bolts and laser beams shot out of the woods and into the Blakist rush. A few seconds later, a mixed company of medium and heavy BattleMechs strode out of the forest, weapons blazing. The tiny forms of Fa-Shih troopers leapt from the newly arrived mechs and bounded into the fray.

               “There’s our ace in the hole, people. Let’s hit these robes square in the side. They’ve got no place to go. We eat ‘em up and grind ‘em down.”

#

               “What can I get for you, ma’am?” The bartender, who looked to be in his twenties, had a deep tan that seemed common to so many natives of Hsien and the sleek muscle of someone who spent his off hours working out. The level of clothing worn by most of the staff at this particular entertainment center was as much as one might expect to wear comfortably into a mech cockpit, but with not so much as a scar or callous on his body—and Lauryn had checked—nobody would confuse this guy with a MechWarrior.

               “Two flamers, extra hot, whatever the local flavor is.”

               “You’re not from around here?”

               She shook her head. “Just visiting for a while.” Her olive skin tone and black hair could blend in on any of a hundred Capellan worlds, so she didn’t begrudge the man for not picking her out as a visitor. She glanced back to the card table where her friend was playing blackjack. Wearing cargo pants that rode low on her hips, and a halter top that showed off enough of her pale skin, Faith stuck out like a sore thumb. Lauryn, of course, knew that was the point.

               The bartender returned and began filling two shot glasses with cinnamon schnapps. He next picked up a bottle with a flaming skull logo on it bearing the brand name “Hsien Hot Hsauce” and deposited six drops of red liquid into each glass. “This stuff will burn the paint off a Firestarter.”

               Lauryn picked up the two shots and smiled. “We’ll be fine.”

               She made her way over to Faith. “A couple of shots for our victory. Even if you did cut it close. And you never told me you shifted our Fa-Shihs over to the Grinders to stiffen the trap.”

               The blonde woman took the glass Lauryn offered. “Yeah, well, I won’t keep up with ole’ Rhamses by playing it safe. You can win, or you can win. Besides, you know my luck always holds. And when it doesn’t, that’s what I’ve got you for. Second battalion don’t call ourselves Faith’s Fortunate for nothing.”

               She glanced down at the table. It was Faith’s call. “Boss. You’re not going to hit on an eighteen?”

               Faith raised an eyebrow.

               “Remember boss, you’re paying for my entertainment tonight.”

               Faith couldn’t contain her grin. “I’m good for it, LT. Besides, fortune favors the foolish.” She touched her glass to Lauryn’s and quickly slammed back the shot of fiery liquid, winking at Lauryn as she coughed. “Hit me!”

 

              

              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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