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[Soy]

OOC BOILERPLATE - (This is my first work of fiction since I dunno, 1995 in school or something as a kid, I've never RPed in an online game since 1997, and the work is also completely stream-of-consciousness. Some parts are taken directly from my MWO experience, some parts are completely made up. I've never read an actual BT novel, either. I hope you enjoy, thanks for reading.)

A scrawning looking man in his late twenties opened the door, and a beam of light cut inside the smoky and cavernous hangar. He was walking briskly through his rented mech bay located in the heart of Harlech on Outreach. He looked hungover, that's for sure, but his gait hinted at urgency. Literally a walking contriction. Yet this was a MechWarrior, even if he was only an obscure tournament fighter. He had the look in his eyes like he had something to prove, if only given the chance. Nobody ever gave him a chance except acey.

He looked up to see acey taking a break and having a cigarette on the foot of one of his four custom CTF-3D mechs. He wondered why acey always appeared to be doing nothing when he came around, but never bothered to ask. acey had his methods, he had his own. That's the way they worked.

He glanced around the bay for a moment, admiring his mechs. Even though he owned four, they were all custom designed by acey with different layouts. While most MechWarriors had different types of mechs, he enjoyed using the same chassis with different builds. He had owned other mechs before, but found them to be less effective than his favored chassis which was an expensive mech to work with. He pissed money away at times. Everything he had worked for, everything he owned, was tied up in these four mechs. The type of guy who tried to plan things out, but knew it rarely worked out the way he imagined. acey thought all of this to be completely idiotic but wasn't about to argue with the results.

He blinked a few times, nodded in approval, and smirked. acey shrugged his shoulders and took one last drag on his cigarette before flicking the butt down on the ground in a display of indifference. acey knew what was coming; he could already tell something was up.

Business. A rare concern for a guy like Soy, who started rambling, as usual.

"Nice job man, that new camo is positively scary! I don't care how much this **** costs, I need to show up in style... with all the c-bills we just made in the tournament last Sunday I could afford to do this every week for the next year, so what if it wasn't first, you know what they say about the guy who finishes in sixth place right - he still makes a boatload of c-bills, ahahahaha, ****..."

acey wiped his forehead with an crummy rag, smearing grease across it like war paint. He was built like a tank, and the war paint accentuated the frustration in his glare.

"Yeah, but next time you need this **** done call for some painter kid, I don't have time for this. We're gonna end up spending at at least 5 million credits to get the engine replaced, and here you are asking for a new paint job every frickin week!... cut the bull-****, what's goin on?"

acey threw his hands up and sighed. He knew by the look on Soy's face there was something more important to discuss.

"Look man, uhhh, about the engine... just... make it happen. Like, now. See this ****?"

Soy flipped through a few pages stapled together and shoved the packet into acey's hands. acey glimpsed through the text for a moment, then looked up and laughed.

"So whats the deal?"

"We're movin out. Tomorrow. I was at the bar last night celebrating-"

"Wait, you were out partying and I was in here busting my *** getting these pieces of garbage operational again and-"

"Wars coming, ace."

"Haha, what the **** are you talking about? The Houses are completely trashed at the moment, they all look like boxers in the 10th round..."

"Listen all I know is, I ran into this guy while out drinking and as it turns out, he works for a legit merc corp. He's a MechWarrior, too. Cept, this guy fights in the real stuff. Not backstreet tournament stuff. You've got to be tired of this ****, I know I am. We might be able to scrap a few more victories here or there, but not in the real leagues, not on the big stages. That's for the academy tryhards and sponsored teams, the real pros. We're just a couple of guys with a few second-hand mechs, my skills, and your technical wizardry. This is the real deal, acey! You know I can pilot these puppies, but not if we aren't given a chance. This is a chance. These guys..."

"Hold on a sec..."

acey lit another cigarette, and glanced up at the mechs towering above them. Soy stared straight through him like a puppy waiting for a treat. He knew he was going to go along with Soy, but he was worried. He thought they had something going. acey took a hit on his smoke and floundered for words to express his concerns when Soy cut him off before he could even begin, as he always did.

"No, I'm serious. They have a command center here, on Outreach. They have a drop ship, a jump ship, the works. Dude seemed a little shady but I think it's legit. He was at the tournament spectating and was impressed by my efforts. One of his mates was the winner! I'm tired of this ****. If he's right, and things do go down... we're going to want to be in a good spot with people we can trust. Here? Right now? You're the only guy I can trust. Why not give it a shot? Worse comes to worse, we know we have a good thing going on back here."

acey blew smoke rings and rolled his eyes.

"So whats the story."

"All I know is, these guys are going where the real money and action is happening. Apparently it's already started, details seemed sketchy... or maybe it's quiet for a reason. Anyways point is, I have a contract right here to work for them in my hands. Notice I haven't signed it."

acey finished his smoke and flicked the tail again. This time it spiralled through the air and hit the other foot of the Cataphract he was camped up on. Soy didn't show any reaction but acey knew it got under his skin. If he was going on another hare-brained adventure with Soy, he was going to at least try and keep Soy's ego in check in case the MechWarrior bit off more than he could chew.

"And why is that..."

"Well they said I can run with them for a bit and see if I like the way things are before we sign on with them-"

"Ha, that sounds like a scam... What's the pay?"

Soy shoved the papers in front of acey again.

"For a tech you sure don't look at the details very close do you?"

acey's eyes lit up like the cherry on the spliff Soy was sparking. Only one reason to be busting a J out at this time of day. Soy had made his decision already, he just wanted to make sure acey was alright with the decision. acey was furious that Soy went over his head like that, but would save his anger for another time. Some day, Soy was going to owe him. Big.

"Sign that **** right now," acey said firmly. "If you don't, I'm finding another half-assed slacker academy drop-out to prop up by next Friday."

Soy coughed and passed the celebratory joint, but acey refused.

"It's too early in the day. And you need to cut back on that stuff if you want to be running with the big dogs. You're going to need all the focus you can get..."

Soy shrugged and took another drag. More to himself, he supposed. He always tried to go with the flow, and yet the opportunity of a lifetime was one he would never dare let slip away. He knew deep down that if the action was good, it was going to be the life he always dreamed of. He cared nothing about the glory, the money, or the fame. The only things in life that motivated him were his dedication to MechWarrior combat as an artform and his selfish pursuit of that combat as an idealistic perfection. Well, that and the space weed. He tried to think of a different way of explaining how he felt.

"Focus..? Man, this is not a game... Not a game..."

Soy inhaled a huge amount and tried to pass again.

"...I hope you understand there are going to be risks involved. We don't truly know the conditions, we don't actually know what type of operations that will be undertaken, the contract says stuff but it's all ambigous bull-**** jargon... I mean, I could die... this isn't a game anymore. But I'm ok with that. Are you?"

acey leaned forward and took the spliff from Soy. He took one hit and flicked it away like another cigarette butt onto the floor over Soy's head.

"What was that for?! Why'd you go and waste that... that was good **** man..."

acey slid down off the foot of the Cataphract and stood eye to eye with Soy.

"Don't you ever go over my ****ing head again, you understand me? You knew I'd say yes, and regardless of this stupid paper, you make whatever decisions you want and nobody can change that cuz you're a stubborn ***-hole."

acey turned and started to walk away, but Soy grabbed his arm. acey immediately reacted and began turning his shoulder and grabbed Soy by the neck.

"What's your problem?!" Soy shouted.

acey laughed and let his vice-like grip go off the Soy's scruff.

"You're a dead man walking, you know that? Take some physical conditioning courses... I've seen guys like you before try and step it up... you've forgotten a part of who you used to be. A real warrior. Then you got caught up in this ridiculous circus of bull-****. Tournaments... heh... this is going to be the real ****, do you even get that?"

Soy didn't get it. At least not the way acey understood things. acey had seen real combat before, but Soy hadn't seen a damn thing in ten years since being kicked out of the academy except tournament arenas or the rare bandit caste dealings in the back of smoky bars along his travels from Terra to Outreach. Did he even remember his hand-to-hand combat courses? Did he even remember anything at all about 'home'. All he knew these days was getting shot at in the arenas every other week and self-medicating in between events, everything else had blurred together. The early part of his life seemed like ages ago. He didn't even think of himself as that same kid anymore.

These days the only things on his mind concerned whatever new interface acey was hooking up in his cockpits or what type of shots to drink. And tournaments... fighting in front of the plebs... Never the big crowds with the real money... On the big screen? Forget it... Undercard matches, substitution matches, rigged events run by corrupt gangsters... He knew the truth. It was side show stuff. Nobody took him seriously. Guys like him were the punchline for jokes about pilots who never amounted to ****. This was his chance. He sighed.

"You're right. Tell you what, if you take a shower once a day I'll cut back on the bull-**** and double down on the work. Money, this merc corp, the job - we'll deal with that later. You've been in battles, right? You've seen my skill. I can handle whatever backwoods guard detail they put me in, no problem... especially if you tweak these mechs right..."

acey laughed again.

"You're not only a stubborn ***-hole, but you're a complete fool... ahh, **** it, what have we got to lose. Do the contract, make it happen. I'm out of here, ****ing tired... plus I gotta pack... and call this ****ing guy about the engine... ****..."

As acey muttered to himself and walked out of the bay to go purchase the new engine, Soy glanced down at the contract. He wanted to be alone. To contemplate things.

So he climbed up into the newly painted Cataphract's cockpit and decided to take a nap before signing on the dotted line. He always tried to take things slow. He tried to be a cautious guy. But joining up with a random merc corp? Now, when he was starting to hit a hot streak in the tournament and his synergy with acey's technical abilities were putting solid mechs on the winner's sheet, was he really going to risk it all?

Why not. He hadn't been home in almost a decade, was tired of living purse to purse, day to day. He wasn't going to let this opportunity slip through his fingers. Soy closed his eyes and contemplated hard about what it would mean for him. For acey. For the merc corp. But mostly he thought about his future.

And then, when he fell asleep, he dreamed about battles. Real battles.

He knew when he awoke from his nap that he was going to battle, regardless of whether or not the merc corp contract worked out or not. He didn't give a damn about the merc corp, just himself. And of course acey... he had to look out for acey... acey!

Soy began scrambling out of the cockpit and was climbing down when he saw acey down below going over some mech schematics for the new engine. acey looked up and realized Soy had made yet another decision over his head just from the look. The same look from earlier in the day. acey furrowed his eyebrows.

"Ok ok ok, **** the merc corp, screw all that bull-****, we're going where the money is. Where there's smoke there's fire, am I right? Tournament ***** over, lets do this our way or the highway, I've got some ideas-"

"Wow, you really think you are the center of the universe. Ok then, **** even bothering to argue with you anymore. As long as we're getting out of this ****-hole, I'm cool with it. I've come to terms. You, however, are being too damn cautious and need to make up your ******* mind already... who the hell were you even talking to last night anyways?! Who is this merc corp? I want a little bit more info before you drag me into hell..."

Soy laughed the little rant off and shrugged his shoulders casually.

"Mongoose was his handle... and they're called DV8 I think, I'm sure it has some meaning in military code or whatever..."

acey's face turned white.

"You might want to rethink this whole decision... hey listen, lets hit the bar."

Soy smiled. He knew acey had worked with merc corps before. It was how acey had ended up stranded on Outreach working with dead-end skid-row tournament scrubs like Soy in the first place. Soy might've made all the decisions previously in their successful business ventures, but that was before - when they were doing tournaments and looking for the odd job. Now, he knew this was different. acey wasn't going to hold him back from reaching his dreams as long as they were both involved in creating whatever futures they desired.

They walked out of the bay and towards the nearest bar down the street. Even though they planned on getting absolutely hammered, they were about to change their lives forever.