Dirty tricks are a part of the mercenary
trade. No unit can stay ‘clean’ forever, and sooner or later you’re going to
have to do something a little dubious to get your way. And sometimes, it
actually ends up that you’re doing the right thing, even if you’re going about
it in the least ethical ways possible.
Case in point, what we did to Devon
Wainwright. We’d had concerns about him ever since we landed on Ashburton,
based on the information we’d been provided on his family’s involvement with
the pirates. He had a clear motivation too; overthrow the government and
restore the planetary monarchy with his family at the top, and go back to how
things had been for the last few hundred years before the Jihad.
Wainwright had been the biggest opponent of
the government hiring us, and had been somewhat opportunistic about it. While
he was correct in blaming us for the Wolf attack, we had a lot of questions as
to how he found out about it. Analysis of the footage he leaked to the media
revealed that it had come form one of the Roughnecks’ ‘Mechs, which we took as
proof of a link between the two. So when he announced that he was flying out to
meet the pirates to open negotiations towards a settlement, we decided to make
a move on him.
Ironically, the Wolves provided us with the
perfect opportunity to bring him in without arousing his suspicion. After
flying in to the region, Wainwright was traveling by a private car to his
rendezvous, when a pair of Wolf ‘Mechs, a Mad
Cat Mk IV and a Vulture Mk IV appeared
and began chasing after it. Fortunately for Wainwright, a Roughnecks Lamprey
was on-hand to evacuate him and get him away from the Wolf attack.
Of course, the Clan ‘Mechs were piloted by
me and Zhen, and the Lamprey was being flown by Katrya. And had Oda, Georges
and Aardvarkssen on board.
Wainwright was livid about being attacked
by the Wolves after we had supposedly driven them off, and thus played right
into our hands. He never once questioned the identity of his rescuers, having
simply been glad to get away from the “clanners”. He assumed that his rescuers
were from the Roughnecks and spilled the beans to them while blaming Major
Raymond for the situation. In short, he was in league with the Regulans, aiming
to destabilise and overthrow the planetary government and have his family
reinstated. Then in return for their support, he’d declare Ashburton’s
allegiance to Regulus and in doing such, take a chunk out of the FWL’s narrow
bridge.
And when he landed and found out who he was
actually talking to, he was aghast. He ordered his bodyguards to take out
myself and the others, only to find that they were quickly disarmed and
disabled. I mean, Haki threw one of them at another. It doesn’t get too much more
intimidating then that. I ‘suggested’ that he speak to his allies so that we
could make arrangements to end this mess, with Wainwright agreeing for a number
of reasons, not the least of which was the presence of said large Viking. I
only heard one side of his conversation with Major Raymond, but I could get
enough of it to know she wasn’t happy.
He arranged a meeting between the two of
us; the traditional ‘mercenary commanders meet and work out a deal to minimise
losses’ arrangement that has been a staple of mercenary commands going back to
the Third Succession War. Calling it tense would be an understatement. Major
Connie Raymond was furious, and only just hiding it, but I couldn’t tell what
annoyed her more. That her liaison (ie, Wainwright) was basically pulling out
his support for her and leaving her high and dry, or that she was being forced
to negotiate with me. (Or, for that matter, the fact that I even exist). She
was glaring daggers, but she had no real option. She could either stay on-world
without any support and risk further losses, or quit now while she could. Given
that she was allready down four ‘Mechs with nothing to show for it, she took
the latter option, with a guarantee of safe passage off-world. That would still
leave her at the mercies of her employer, but it was still better then the
other option.
That just left the pirates to deal with.
After a bit more encouragement, Wainwright gave up several pirate groups,
including one lead by his nephew. We hit them all at once, ensuring that no one
of them could escape or warn the others. Our loses were light, but the Pirates
were functionally destroyed.
Of course, now the planetary government has
been thrown into confusion even after we got rid of the pirates and the Wolves.
Wainwright publicly confessed to what he was doing, but was careful to leave
the Regulans out of it. I can understand why; there’s no need to aggravate an
allready tense situation, and it allows SAFE to keep a lid on tensions. He’s
been arrested (and resigned) while it looks like his own party falling apart.
On the other hand, Prime Minister McNally was quick to congradulate me on our
victory, and feels that we’ve managed to effectively end the pirate threat.
Which means that our contract here is coming to an end.
Which I’m all for, as I think I’ve had
enough of planetary politics for now.
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