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Description
“Good morning, Prism.”

“Oh! Good morning, Shogun!”

Alice waved and grinned warmly as the younger girl jumped to attention when as she entered the bridge. Prism was really the only one on the ship who still called her by her old call-sign socially; it had been months since Alice and the others had left the Salamander Mercenary Army and struck out on their own, forming Bush Viper Military Contractors, but sometimes it was nice to be reminded of the old days. Prism brushed a stray strand of her black, unruly hair aside, revealing more of her eager face, her bright eyes shining against her dark complexion as she rendered a sharp salute.

“The ship is still on course and has been running smoothly, nothing unusual yet.” Prism reported, pulling up diagrams and logs on her screen and showing them to Alice. As the Sliver’s electronic expert, no one was more qualified to detect the miniscule signs of potential issues than the young former nomad. Alice briskly scanned the logs, most of it technical mumbo-jumbo she didn’t have the slightest clue about; her own specializations were battlefield medicine and administration, neither of which helped her decipher the lines of readings from throughout the ship. “Tabby’s done wonders stabilizing the power supply and engine output since we picked her up.” Prism continued, pulling up old logs and comparing statistics. “She may be a bit sour at times, but she sure knows what she’s doing.”

“That’s one of the main reasons I hired her. No one is better at getting machines to operate at peak condition than her.” Alice said in agreement. She and the mechanic had a long history as founding members of the Salamander Army, even if the last few years were extremely hard on Tabby. She’d never believed that the former Second-in-command had tried to take over the Salamanders by coup, suspecting it had been a setup, but had been powerless to prevent her being marooned as punishment. Tabby’s life had only gone downhill from there, until Alice got the chance to pick her up, leaving the once light hearted woman hard and bitter. Giving her steady employment and a chance to bring some meaning back into her life was the least she could do. Dragging her mind out of the past, Alice continued with the present. “Any messages for me since last night?”

“Ah, as a matter of fact, yes.” Prism nodded. “You received a video-only request from the Brotherhood of Arms at your station.” She blushed slightly and glanced down at her oversized boots. “I, um, tried cracking the encryption on the signal link but, ahem, couldn’t. I-I was just curious, honestly… Sorry to intrude.”

“Really? You couldn’t get access?” Alice said, raising an eyebrow. She really wasn’t too upset that Prism had tried to hack into her console; after all, she was the resident expert and Alice didn’t really have much hope of keeping her out of anything digital. However, a video link from the Brotherhood that resisted her hacking attempts was interesting. Alice wheeled herself over to her command console and hauled herself from the wheelchair into the captain’s chair; she still struggled occasionally after losing her legs to a pair of mechanical hounds, the loss of her once lauded maneuverability and agility hurting more than the wounds themselves. She absently rubbed at the stumps that ended above where her knees had been, almost feeling the limbs that should have been there. She’d learned about Phantom Limb Syndrome in medschool and heard it plenty of times from soldiers she’d operated on, but feeling it herself was something she’d never foreseen. She quickly tapped her password into the holographic display, then pulled up the message system. Sure enough, there was a message from the Brotherhood in Arms, marked for her eyes only by their High Command. Oh boy, Alice mentally groaned. If the message was from the High Command, there was a good chance it was from Royal, the Commander of the entire Mercenary organization. Alice had never met a more unstable person, someone able to go from a cold, calculating master strategist and ruthless fighter to a giggling, abusive schoolgirl in the blink of the eye. A schoolgirl with an army at her back and a multi-ton personalized war mech, mind you. Not seeing any benefit to delaying the digital meeting, Alice opened the video link and waited for the other end to answer. She sighed slightly in relief as she was greeted by Alan, Royal’s right hand man and occasional punching bag. The man was the consummate soldier, his level-headed and practical personality the perfect anchor to balance Royal’s “quirks”. He had to have the patience of a mountain, and skin just as tough, to not be driven mad by his boss’s antics. His face was expressionless as usual as he spoke, his steady and measured voice coming through the speakers.

“Good morning, Shogun. I’m glad you replied in a timely manner to our request.” He said.

“Not a problem, Alan.” Alice replied, smiling and raising an eyebrow inquisitively. “I have to admit, I’m curious as to the meaning of this. We Bush Vipers are still small fish compared to the Brotherhood, hardly worth noticing.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit.” Alan answered back. “You were some of the best operators the Salamanders had, they lost some great assets when they let you go. You and your crew have accomplished some great things since then, and Royal has given me explicit orders to keep tabs on you. In fact, your small size and relative obscurity are precisely why we chose to contact you.”
Ah, a job offer! This morning keeps getting better and better. “Glad to know we are making a good impression.” Alice said with a thankful nod, switching to business mode. “So, what’s the job? What kind of payoff are we looking at?” Before Alan can answer, he is roughly pushed aside and the screen is filled with Royal’s face, a grin spreading from ear to ear.

“It’s a slick offer, that’s what!” Royal yells, her voice deafeningly loud since she is so close to the microphone. “Good to see you again, Scarface!”

“Oh. Hello, Royal.” Alice frowned, absently running a hand along the large scar running from her left brow across her face to the right side of her chin. “The pleasure is mine.”

“You bet your ass it is!” Royal asserted, leaning back and kicking her feet up on the desk, flipping through some of the folders on Alan’s desk before tossing them over her shoulder. “I gotta say, you and your little gang of rejects have done pretty well, good enough I decided to give you first crack at this job offer we got.”

“Wait, offer that you got? You’re not giving the job yourself?” Alice asked, blinking in surprise. “I thought-“

“Nah, we got it through the Mercenary Message Board. Problem is, the job is barely worth our attention and I don’t have the personnel to spare. So I figured I would help out an old friend.” Royal interrupts, spinning around in the chair. Something about this nagged at Alice, something definitely felt off. When had she ever been considered Royal’s friend? It also wasn’t like her to just give away a chance to make some money.

“Alright, but what’s the catch? It’s not like you to just throw something away like this.” Alice asked, voicing her concerns. She flinched slightly as Royal loudly laughs at the screen.

“What, you don’t trust me? I suppose I can see that. The job is listed specifically for us, but I figured I would just contract you to do it for me.” Royal explained. “The payoff is pretty small for us, a reward of only 245,000 Units. Loose change for me, but I know your little upstart group needs whatever you can get, so if you succeed we split it 90-10. You getting the 90, of course.” Royal leaned forward, grinning broadly. “So what do you say, sweet stuff? We got a deal?” Alice ran through the offer in her head, rubbing a hand through her short, spiked blonde hair. Depending on the job, it could be an easy 220,500 Units for the crew; however, they wouldn’t get any of the prestige since the credit for success would go to the Brotherhood.

“Sure, we’ll take it.” Alice resigns with a sigh. “As long as it’s as small of a job as you say. Just-“

“Excellent! I knew you’d agree!” Royal cheered, leaping to her feet. “Alan will send you all the info you need. ALAN! GET OVER HERE AND DO YOUR DAMN JOB!” Royal then winked at the camera and blew it a kiss. “By the way, tell that nomad girl of yours to try and not hack our signals again; I’d hate to have to show her why myself. See you around!” Her face is replaced by Alan’s, who looked around at the scattered files left in his boss’ wake and sighed slightly as he began typing on his computer.

“As Ms. Royal said, the payoff is 245,000 Units, which will be split between the Brotherhood of Arms and Bush Vipers Military Contractors 10/90.” He said, several files appearing in Alice’s message box. “All the information the requestor sent us is in those files. We look forward to a successful and profitable mission with you.” With that Alan severed the video connection, Alice’s screen going dark. She rubbed her eyes and groaned before opening the files, scanning the information in them while absentmindedly rubbing a finger along her facial scar as she familiarized herself with the mission.

“Prism?” She called out as she continued to read, a frown creasing her brow.

“Yes ma’am?”

“Call up Brigid, Tabby, and Magnum. Have them meet me in the staff room in 30 minutes. We’ve got a job to do.”

Description
“Good morning, Prism.”

“Oh! Good morning, Shogun!”

Alice waved and grinned warmly as the younger girl jumped to attention when as she entered the bridge. Prism was really the only one on the ship who still called her by her old call-sign socially; it had been months since Alice and the others had left the Salamander Mercenary Army and struck out on their own, forming Bush Viper Military Contractors, but sometimes it was nice to be reminded of the old days. Prism brushed a stray strand of her black, unruly hair aside, revealing more of her eager face, her bright eyes shining against her dark complexion as she rendered a sharp salute.

“The ship is still on course and has been running smoothly, nothing unusual yet.” Prism reported, pulling up diagrams and logs on her screen and showing them to Alice. As the Sliver’s electronic expert, no one was more qualified to detect the miniscule signs of potential issues than the young former nomad. Alice briskly scanned the logs, most of it technical mumbo-jumbo she didn’t have the slightest clue about; her own specializations were battlefield medicine and administration, neither of which helped her decipher the lines of readings from throughout the ship. “Tabby’s done wonders stabilizing the power supply and engine output since we picked her up.” Prism continued, pulling up old logs and comparing statistics. “She may be a bit sour at times, but she sure knows what she’s doing.”

“That’s one of the main reasons I hired her. No one is better at getting machines to operate at peak condition than her.” Alice said in agreement. She and the mechanic had a long history as founding members of the Salamander Army, even if the last few years were extremely hard on Tabby. She’d never believed that the former Second-in-command had tried to take over the Salamanders by coup, suspecting it had been a setup, but had been powerless to prevent her being marooned as punishment. Tabby’s life had only gone downhill from there, until Alice got the chance to pick her up, leaving the once light hearted woman hard and bitter. Giving her steady employment and a chance to bring some meaning back into her life was the least she could do. Dragging her mind out of the past, Alice continued with the present. “Any messages for me since last night?”

“Ah, as a matter of fact, yes.” Prism nodded. “You received a video-only request from the Brotherhood of Arms at your station.” She blushed slightly and glanced down at her oversized boots. “I, um, tried cracking the encryption on the signal link but, ahem, couldn’t. I-I was just curious, honestly… Sorry to intrude.”

“Really? You couldn’t get access?” Alice said, raising an eyebrow. She really wasn’t too upset that Prism had tried to hack into her console; after all, she was the resident expert and Alice didn’t really have much hope of keeping her out of anything digital. However, a video link from the Brotherhood that resisted her hacking attempts was interesting. Alice wheeled herself over to her command console and hauled herself from the wheelchair into the captain’s chair; she still struggled occasionally after losing her legs to a pair of mechanical hounds, the loss of her once lauded maneuverability and agility hurting more than the wounds themselves. She absently rubbed at the stumps that ended above where her knees had been, almost feeling the limbs that should have been there. She’d learned about Phantom Limb Syndrome in medschool and heard it plenty of times from soldiers she’d operated on, but feeling it herself was something she’d never foreseen. She quickly tapped her password into the holographic display, then pulled up the message system. Sure enough, there was a message from the Brotherhood in Arms, marked for her eyes only by their High Command. Oh boy, Alice mentally groaned. If the message was from the High Command, there was a good chance it was from Royal, the Commander of the entire Mercenary organization. Alice had never met a more unstable person, someone able to go from a cold, calculating master strategist and ruthless fighter to a giggling, abusive schoolgirl in the blink of the eye. A schoolgirl with an army at her back and a multi-ton personalized war mech, mind you. Not seeing any benefit to delaying the digital meeting, Alice opened the video link and waited for the other end to answer. She sighed slightly in relief as she was greeted by Alan, Royal’s right hand man and occasional punching bag. The man was the consummate soldier, his level-headed and practical personality the perfect anchor to balance Royal’s “quirks”. He had to have the patience of a mountain, and skin just as tough, to not be driven mad by his boss’s antics. His face was expressionless as usual as he spoke, his steady and measured voice coming through the speakers.

“Good morning, Shogun. I’m glad you replied in a timely manner to our request.” He said.

“Not a problem, Alan.” Alice replied, smiling and raising an eyebrow inquisitively. “I have to admit, I’m curious as to the meaning of this. We Bush Vipers are still small fish compared to the Brotherhood, hardly worth noticing.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit.” Alan answered back. “You were some of the best operators the Salamanders had, they lost some great assets when they let you go. You and your crew have accomplished some great things since then, and Royal has given me explicit orders to keep tabs on you. In fact, your small size and relative obscurity are precisely why we chose to contact you.”
Ah, a job offer! This morning keeps getting better and better. “Glad to know we are making a good impression.” Alice said with a thankful nod, switching to business mode. “So, what’s the job? What kind of payoff are we looking at?” Before Alan can answer, he is roughly pushed aside and the screen is filled with Royal’s face, a grin spreading from ear to ear.

“It’s a slick offer, that’s what!” Royal yells, her voice deafeningly loud since she is so close to the microphone. “Good to see you again, Scarface!”

“Oh. Hello, Royal.” Alice frowned, absently running a hand along the large scar running from her left brow across her face to the right side of her chin. “The pleasure is mine.”

“You bet your ass it is!” Royal asserted, leaning back and kicking her feet up on the desk, flipping through some of the folders on Alan’s desk before tossing them over her shoulder. “I gotta say, you and your little gang of rejects have done pretty well, good enough I decided to give you first crack at this job offer we got.”

“Wait, offer that you got? You’re not giving the job yourself?” Alice asked, blinking in surprise. “I thought-“

“Nah, we got it through the Mercenary Message Board. Problem is, the job is barely worth our attention and I don’t have the personnel to spare. So I figured I would help out an old friend.” Royal interrupts, spinning around in the chair. Something about this nagged at Alice, something definitely felt off. When had she ever been considered Royal’s friend? It also wasn’t like her to just give away a chance to make some money.

“Alright, but what’s the catch? It’s not like you to just throw something away like this.” Alice asked, voicing her concerns. She flinched slightly as Royal loudly laughs at the screen.

“What, you don’t trust me? I suppose I can see that. The job is listed specifically for us, but I figured I would just contract you to do it for me.” Royal explained. “The payoff is pretty small for us, a reward of only 245,000 Units. Loose change for me, but I know your little upstart group needs whatever you can get, so if you succeed we split it 90-10. You getting the 90, of course.” Royal leaned forward, grinning broadly. “So what do you say, sweet stuff? We got a deal?” Alice ran through the offer in her head, rubbing a hand through her short, spiked blonde hair. Depending on the job, it could be an easy 220,500 Units for the crew; however, they wouldn’t get any of the prestige since the credit for success would go to the Brotherhood.

“Sure, we’ll take it.” Alice resigns with a sigh. “As long as it’s as small of a job as you say. Just-“

“Excellent! I knew you’d agree!” Royal cheered, leaping to her feet. “Alan will send you all the info you need. ALAN! GET OVER HERE AND DO YOUR DAMN JOB!” Royal then winked at the camera and blew it a kiss. “By the way, tell that nomad girl of yours to try and not hack our signals again; I’d hate to have to show her why myself. See you around!” Her face is replaced by Alan’s, who looked around at the scattered files left in his boss’ wake and sighed slightly as he began typing on his computer.

“As Ms. Royal said, the payoff is 245,000 Units, which will be split between the Brotherhood of Arms and Bush Vipers Military Contractors 10/90.” He said, several files appearing in Alice’s message box. “All the information the requestor sent us is in those files. We look forward to a successful and profitable mission with you.” With that Alan severed the video connection, Alice’s screen going dark. She rubbed her eyes and groaned before opening the files, scanning the information in them while absentmindedly rubbing a finger along her facial scar as she familiarized herself with the mission.

“Prism?” She called out as she continued to read, a frown creasing her brow.

“Yes ma’am?”

“Call up Brigid, Tabby, and Magnum. Have them meet me in the staff room in 30 minutes. We’ve got a job to do.”