Untitled Mercenary Expose, production notes

[Establishing shots of Rashid’s house; there’s some in the footage Randy sent us]

Narrator [V/O]: Using a decoy, they hoped to lure their target out.

Governor Rashid Zaydid [Recording]: I told him never to contact me here [EN: These are in Kazakh; obviously we’ll have subtitles]

Messenger [Recording]: I have orders, and you need to follow them too. This is important. Head to this location and wait for instructions.

Zaydid [Recording]: All right; but this had better be important. We’re all risking a lot by your coming here, especially after what’s happened in the last few days. They’re watching me, I’m sure.

[Shots of government car in motion. Not sure if Randy has any in the package, but I’m sure we can just use some stock if we need to]

Narrator [V/O]: The target had taken the bait, Governor Rashid Zaydid leaving his home to head towards what he thought was a vital meeting, unaware of what was really in store.

Hamilton Planetary Guard prisoner interrogation log (extract)

Agent Kryztov Hussan (Hamilton Planetary Guard): Let’s be honest here, mister Nurzal. Those alarms? That was a group of your QLF ‘comrades’ trying to get in here to kill you. Not extract, kill.

Biebol Nurzal (QLF):  You’re bluffing.

Hussan: Am I? You’re a self-proclaimed cell leader, Biebol. You should know that you’re too valuable to be left in our custody. And you should know that it’s a lot easier to leave a dead body then to try to smuggle out a wounded man, especially in the middle of a gunfight.

[Pause]

Hussan: Now your associates weren’t very successful. Two of them are dead, and we have three more in custody. They might be willing to talk, especially as they saw one of theirs chopped in half with a Vibrokatana. That sort of thing can loosen a few tongues.

[Pause]

Hussan: And if they give us something useful, well, that means you’re less valuable to us. That mean we’ll downgrade your protection, which means that you’ll be more accessible to your QLF ‘friends’. Now as touching as a reunion might be, I suspect you don’t want that.

Business Leader slain in terrorist bombing

(Hamilton Newsweb Archives; November 23 3132)

Kazan City – Authorities have today confirmed the death of Sayyid Niyazi, a prominent local business leader, in what appears to be a random terrorist attack.

After being missing for several days, Niyazi (47) was confirmed killed by a roadside bomb or landmine. According to a police statement, Niyazi was driving alone when his groundcar struck an explosive device on or about the 8^th of November. The explosives completely destroyed his vehicle as well as his body, leaving only trace DNA evidence and behind. An extensive police search recovered the vehicle two days later, but at the time no evidence of his death could be found or confirmed.

Bart McGraw, MRBC Report

Irisz - I think I tracked the identity of the hunter who came after Takahashi.  Fortunately, his 'Mech was nicely distinctive. It doesn't tell us much about who posted the bounty immediately, but we could track back from there.

-NK

McGraw, Bart

Date of Birth: 21/09/3108

Homeworld: Cygnus, Fronc Reaches

Affiliation: Independent/Bounty Hunter

Rank: None

From the personal journal of Irisz Magyari

"It was a seemingly inevitable part of a Mercenary's life. In every unit, it seemed that everyone had something in their past that they were not proud of, and eventually, whatever it was, would catch up to them one way or another."

I have a fondness for Sonya Brie's terrible pulp novels. They're not my "thing I'm not terribly proud of", but at the same time, for all the dross there's still the odd nugget of truth within them which makes me wonder. The quote above is one of the most that I've found to be the most poignant since I took command of the Irregulars. Everyone does have a past, and eventually it will come back to haunt them.

(God alone knows that Dad left me with plenty of that)