Collection 5

Collection

Chapter 5

-VB-

Edward Arlaoskas

Campoleone II

3001 April

One week.

Between the ion thrusters and warp drive, I cut down on the time to travel from Lesnovo III to Campoleone II from seventeen days to six days. The Inspired Inventor remained silent during that time, and didn’t seem to be changing since I arrived in orbit. Anyways, this was a significant improvement to travel time, and everyone aboard knew it. I had achieved something that would shake the Inner Sphere.

But personally, I knew that it wasn’t even close to the best thing I could make with my current skill set. 

Now.

While I didn’t quite trust everyone, it’s hard not to get to know someone after spending literal months in a small space and then working side by side for hours on end every day for months at a time on the ground where I was the most vulnerable and prone to betrayal without understanding the people who crewed my ship.

Armas and Amy would stick with me through to the end. Or most likely, I’ll send them away before any harm came to them from their prolonged stay.

Riley was Armas’s friend. He came because he and Armas were stuck to each other by the hip,  and I was more than happy to let him study while he continued her janitorial duties. Last I checked, he was making a good headway into medicine and first aid! I should promote and give him a raise soon. 

Danielle just wanted a goddamn job that wasn’t farming. She was also getting used to working as a salvager. 

Miguel … he was the one I had been the most concerned about, but after I gave him the Phoenix Hawk (I worked with him through ownership change document from scratch and then gave it to him to send through ComStar’s HPG at his leisure), I more or less bought his loyalty, because, hell, not even the Great Houses just gave someone a mech and expect them to do nothing more than what they have been doing so far. 

Probably. I didn’t know everything about this universe, after all. There might have been some insane weirdo out there who might have done exactly that. 

Anyway, this was why I didn’t feel any paranoia about landing on Campoleone II.

Speaking of which, Campoleone II was kind of a retiree location for spacers, mechwarriors, and the like. Culturally, it was the Free Worlds League amped up by twofold while also having none of the energy for the usual Leaguer civil war, politics, and entrepreneurship. Because everyone was old already and even the most scheming schemer on Campoleone had to deal with the fact that their back would throw out just climbing into a battlemech.

But.

There were children born here who were now adults now. With a population of over a million, there were plenty of potential recruits for my ship.

Because I definitely needed more crew, even though I did my best to automate as many part of the ship as possible. The seven crewmates, including myself, were not enough to fully operate Solo Killing. With the previous variation, seven people might have been enough. With the additional expansions that upgraded my ship from 4,000 tons to 6,500 tons, I needed at least two dedicated mechanics for just the monthly maintenance and repairs alone, never mind the drone and battlemech repairs. Since only I knew how to fix my drones, I still needed a mech mechanic to help Miguel and whoever other mechwarriors I end up hiring for one reason or another. 

So, yes, I needed to curb my paranoia and bring some people in as crew… 

… But then again, I was pretty sure my Special Forces V was giving me some help in ferreting out the bad apples from the list of applicants. 

For example, applicant Sahamadi Reudenmaha just smelled fishy to me. There was nothing wrong with her application. There was nothing wrong about her looks, previous experience, or whatever. But my guts told me that she was a no. Maybe it had to do with the fact that someone with all sorts of experience in the more metropolitan and industrialized worlds from deeper within the Inner Sphere was somehow on Campoleone… Someone who just happened to line with my needs… 

On the other hand, Sato Marahadi would make a good crewmate and had referrals with the local churches to back it up. Campoleone born and raised, he was the definition of a naive man who hadn’t experienced the world outside of his home world, even if there were many men and women in his community who were hardened veterans of the Inner Sphere’s battles and shenanigans. 

But he was still a denizen of the Inner Sphere. When he walked aboard my “drop”ship, he found himself awed by what he beheld.

“T-This is beyond my expertise,” Sato muttered as he looked around before looking back at me. The shorter man - but then again, everyone was shorter than I was - gulped. “You’re not some kind of … secret SAFE agent, are you?”

“No,” I replied bemusedly. “But that would be interesting. Why would the League give this kind of wonder to a SAFE agent instead of one of the Mariks?”

He huffed. “But how am I supposed to be a mechanic for a dropship that I don’t even know where to start?!” 

I smiled as I pulled out a datapad from behind my back. He glanced down at it and then back up at me quizzically before accepting it. He turned it on and saw …

“Oh,” he muttered with not a small amount of horror at the four hundred page maintenance manual that had him paling rapidly. 

When I spent days doing nothing because I had no maiden and limited fap material (because I was not going to fap to my brother having sex), writing manuals for future employees just happened.

“For everything from refit and reload to in-combat repairs and void salvage techniques. Don’t worry; I won’t make you memorize everything for some time. I also pay a lot.”

-VB-

Armas Arlaoskas

Campoleone II

3001 May 

Ed walked back from the ComStar compound at the heart of the city and toward the three of them who accompanied him.

He and Amy had wanted to see what the capital city of this retiree spacer community looked and felt like while Miguel was looking around to find any dispossessed mechwarriors who wanted to have a go again. 

And well, it was certainly a different feel from either Lesnovo or Kendall. 

Lesnovo was very similar to Kendall, if colder and shittier when it came to farming. Kendall, as Armas came to learn, was the big farming world in the League. He always heard but it was something else to go see how poorly other worlds did with their farming. 

And Campoleone was even worse than Lesnovo. 

Lesnovo apparently had more than a billion people.

Campoleone, despite being Free World League’s rimward spacer retiree spot, only had a million people. 

And the feel he got from its capital city was that of a small town back in Kendall. It honestly disappointed him. 

“So did you get us a job finally?” he asked his brother as he joined them at the table in front of the only decent looking diner within sight of the ComStar compound.

“Yeah,” Ed replied as he pulled out a small folder and receipt. “It’s essentially the same job as before, but instead of traveling, we’ll be garrisoning a world against potential raiders and pirates.” He paused. “Did you guys make any order yet?” 

“No, but we were about to.”

“Cool. What’s this place good for anyway?”

“Chicken,” Amy replied. “All kinds of chicken.”

“So where are we going?” Miguel asked Ed. “And did you add…?”

“Yeah, you're the head of my company's mech lance.”

Armas didn't say anything or react when Miguel took in a deep breath while he looked like he was about to cry and then let it out in a steady stream. “Thank you.”

“Hmm. Anyway, we're going to the same place we were going to go with the grain merchant. The Magistracy wants an assault dropship and whatever mechs we can field in the Thraxa System before July 12th. Seeing as they stipulated August as the deadline for arrival, I have a feeling that the Magistracy knows about a pirate raid heading there,” Ed hummed at the end. “Ooh, chicken.”

Armas glanced toward where Ed was looking and saw a waiter coming out with their orders of fried chickens of a variety of sauces and dips.

They began eating in short order.

“... hey, Ed,” Armas spoke up after he finished his first wing.

“Hmm?” his brother uttered while biting into his third. Damn, he ate fast! Did he even taste anything? 

“What's your future plan for this … thing?”

Armas knew that being a mercenary was secondary to Ed's goals, whatever they were. Being a mercenary just gave him access to money and “cool shit.”

Ed swallowed and grabbed his fourth piece. 

“I want to be the commander of an entire fleet,” he replied. “The Inner Sphere is a messed up place, and the only way to keep me and mine safe is to be strong, and what would be stronger than a fleet of warships?”

“And you think you can do it?”

Ed scoffed. “If I just had the materials, then I can build a warship. Just you watch.”

He stared at his big brother before gulping. “How did you become this good at anything ship related?” he finally asked. 

Miguel pretended not to hear but Armas could see the middle aged mechwarrior slowing down his eating pace. 

Ed hummus. “Bouts of inspiration. Things that just makes sense.”

“... so just a regular genius, huh?”

“Yeup,” Ed chuckled. 

But that was a lie. Armas knew his brother. Knew him enough to know that Ed had a verbal tick he didn't know about but Armas and their mom did. Ed said “yeup” after he lied. Not always but often enough that there was a pattern. He never used it in any other situation. 

But Armas let it rest. 

Ed had his secrets just like how Amy had been his secret. His brother kept them safe so far, so he would continue to put his trust in him. 

And who knows. That dream of a fleet commander might mean that Ed might get him a ship of his own. 

The question was whether he wanted that. Amy had sounded like she was all for it, but even if it made her happy, would he be happy? He seriously doubted that Ed would be okay with him taking one of specially modified ships, especially with his idea of a “fleet.”

Armas didn't want his life to be on the move constantly. No, he wanted to settle down somewhere once he got rich enough to not need to work again and just carry on a normal life. 

Amy … his Amy was far more ambitious. Wanted far more things than he did. 

He sighed internally. He was probably going to go along with whatever she wanted, wasn't he? 

“What are ya thinking about?” Ed asked suddenly while looking at him with crumbles all over his hands and lips. 

“... just thinking about where I might be in ten years.”

“Probably taking care of the kids while Amy is the captain of the ship I give you.”

“Oi!”

“What? Everyone knows you might be on top in bed but in everything else, you follow her lead,” he cackled. 

Armas felt his face heating with a blush and glanced to see Amy in the same boat as him. 

“Like seriously, some of the stuff you say! ‘I'm going to put a bab-'”

“Ah bababa!” He hissed, quickly shutting down his brother. “No! Bad Ed! No talking about my sex life!”

“Bruh, you and Amy announce it for all of us to hear. If it's not the occasional moan or scream because you forgot to close the doors to the room I specifically built with soundproofing in mind or when you guys give each other the bedroom look in the middle of dinner.”

Armas groaned and tried to hide and Amy let out an embarrassed giggle. 

“So, Amy. What kind of ship do you want to captain? A combat ship, a cargo hauler, or something more versatile?” Ed asked while grinning from ear to ear. Then he turned to Armas. “And how big do you want the kitchen to be?”

Armas looked at Amy and she returned the same determined blank look he must have on his face. 

Turning back to Ed… he picked up a fried chicken leg and shoved it into his brother's mouth. 

-VB-