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4/27/2025, 4:45:26 AM
[4/4]
The corporal from Banshee squad, ‘Mac’ Mackenzie, leans over to you and the other cluster of corporal’s from the 77th. He mutters somewhat more quietly and less mutinously than a few of the other voices present, but his tone is no less bleak.
“You think that’s it then? Command has cut us loose?” CPL Mac is a veteran of the Old Earth armed forces, and he’s more familiar than most of who gets left in the scud when the best laid plans blow up in the faces of the higher ups.
“We’re mercs, Mac. What did you expect?” CPL Sharky adopts a fierce grin, he’s only a decade younger than Mac but his time as a human auxiliary for the Savis legions probably taught him a thing or two about his own expendability. “Command got what they wanted, and they don’t have to pay us if we’re dead. It’s up to us to wriggle our way out to collect that paycheque in one piece.”
“Technically they do still pay us post-mortem, Sharky-dōryō. Or at least our dependants, or to an account of our choosing.” You raise an eyebrow at CPL Crane, obviously the dead can’t demand that payment as insistently as the living could. And Crane doesn’t have any dependants, not that you know of anyway. “And we may be mercenaries, but we have a code. Not leaving your fellow men behind is part of that code. At least, that was how it was marketed to me as part of the recruitment.”
Crane jerks a thumb at you as he speaks, so much for those five minutes, leaving all three NCOs of the 77th looking at you to weigh in on your current strategic predicament.
====================================
> “Cold Steel, old timer. They’ll come.” For your entire adolescent life you were alone, a solo act in a hostile world. That changed for the first time when you joined the Black Company, a new family. You're no lone hunter anymore, you're part of a pack, as extended and as hierarchal as it may be, but still your pack. Your family. Your pack wouldn’t leave you behind. [Daredevil]
> “With half the Savis fleet parked out front? And then the Titans? They couldn’t help us if they wanted to.” Sure, fair bet that Command didn’t plan to leave you here to rot from the start. Sure, the Captain is probably anguishing from the viewport of his bridge. But that doesn’t change a thing for you. You have to be realistic about these things. You have faith, but in the LT rather than Command’s grand plan or Heavenly’s own brand of piety. [Firebrand]
> “You’re surprised that a mercenary outfit that prides itself on ‘Black Hearts’ is leaving us to die?” You never really expected Command to come rescue your lot when the going got tough, which is why you were suggesting bugging out months ago, before the blockade got reinforced. You have your own pack right here, the Vinehounds and a handful of others. Command-Schammand, you’ve got something of a contingency for your own people in the works already. [Xenophobe]
The corporal from Banshee squad, ‘Mac’ Mackenzie, leans over to you and the other cluster of corporal’s from the 77th. He mutters somewhat more quietly and less mutinously than a few of the other voices present, but his tone is no less bleak.
“You think that’s it then? Command has cut us loose?” CPL Mac is a veteran of the Old Earth armed forces, and he’s more familiar than most of who gets left in the scud when the best laid plans blow up in the faces of the higher ups.
“We’re mercs, Mac. What did you expect?” CPL Sharky adopts a fierce grin, he’s only a decade younger than Mac but his time as a human auxiliary for the Savis legions probably taught him a thing or two about his own expendability. “Command got what they wanted, and they don’t have to pay us if we’re dead. It’s up to us to wriggle our way out to collect that paycheque in one piece.”
“Technically they do still pay us post-mortem, Sharky-dōryō. Or at least our dependants, or to an account of our choosing.” You raise an eyebrow at CPL Crane, obviously the dead can’t demand that payment as insistently as the living could. And Crane doesn’t have any dependants, not that you know of anyway. “And we may be mercenaries, but we have a code. Not leaving your fellow men behind is part of that code. At least, that was how it was marketed to me as part of the recruitment.”
Crane jerks a thumb at you as he speaks, so much for those five minutes, leaving all three NCOs of the 77th looking at you to weigh in on your current strategic predicament.
====================================
> “Cold Steel, old timer. They’ll come.” For your entire adolescent life you were alone, a solo act in a hostile world. That changed for the first time when you joined the Black Company, a new family. You're no lone hunter anymore, you're part of a pack, as extended and as hierarchal as it may be, but still your pack. Your family. Your pack wouldn’t leave you behind. [Daredevil]
> “With half the Savis fleet parked out front? And then the Titans? They couldn’t help us if they wanted to.” Sure, fair bet that Command didn’t plan to leave you here to rot from the start. Sure, the Captain is probably anguishing from the viewport of his bridge. But that doesn’t change a thing for you. You have to be realistic about these things. You have faith, but in the LT rather than Command’s grand plan or Heavenly’s own brand of piety. [Firebrand]
> “You’re surprised that a mercenary outfit that prides itself on ‘Black Hearts’ is leaving us to die?” You never really expected Command to come rescue your lot when the going got tough, which is why you were suggesting bugging out months ago, before the blockade got reinforced. You have your own pack right here, the Vinehounds and a handful of others. Command-Schammand, you’ve got something of a contingency for your own people in the works already. [Xenophobe]
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