“...All I’m saying is, if they’ve got mead, it’ll be worth it,” I said.
“Come on, Cal. Don’t tell me you’ve never drunk mead before,” my late night adventure buddy grumbled.
“But this is Rasalhague mead, Ev. It won’t just be mead, it’ll be mead done right. And the way the Clans are rolling up, we might never get another chance to drink some,” I replied.
Evelyn Hughes, known more commonly as “Anthem” when at the helm of her Shadow Hawk, was one of just a handful of recruits who had joined the AFFC from my homeworld of Tecumseh. Despite her prim and proper upbringing, and my own more salt-of-the-earth one, we’d become fast friends at Goshen and stuck together since. She could still be a bit of a stick in the mud, though.
I’ll confess, getting out and seeing the universe was most of my reason for signing up in the first place. Chances are, you’ve never been to the planet of Tecumseh, a little world a few jumps back from the Capellan border. The Federated Suns, and my ancestors, moved in a few hundred years ago, presumably because First Prince Michael Davion heard there was an all-you-can-eat buffet there and wanted to try it.
Four out of every five adults on Tecumseh are agricultural workers, my family included, producing the huge quantities of food that make up the vast majority of the planet’s interstellar export. That might be more noble, if it wasn’t because that’s about all our economy’s good for. Mining? Nup, best you’ll find is a little iron and copper. Manufacturing? Sure, if by that you mean distilleries for the vast quantities of fruit and grain. The other one out of five adults not working the farms is really just there to support the other four: a banker for farm accounts; a lawyer to sort out trade disputes; a cop to investigate... I don’t know, fruit smugglers or something.
My only real chance to see something more than my family’s orchard was to leverage my skills driving an AgriMech into convincing the recruiters that I could do the same with a BattleMech. Why not just join the infantry, you ask? I wanted to see what
life was like on other worlds, not
death. Turns out, though, nobles get the interesting tours. Farm kids from backwater worlds get militia duty.
Since we’d left the Valexa CMM behind us and joined on for a tour with the White Shields mercenary company, Ev and I had certainly travelled. But aside from a lot of war zones, I hadn’t really had much of a chance to see anything. While the White Shields rested and recuperated after the front line tour, Ev and I were technically free citizens, until we decided to sign back on with the White Shields or someone else for another tour. We weren’t going to be dragged back and disciplined for any shenanigans that occurred tonight. That was where the Watering Hole came in.
Red and blue flashing lights were up ahead, though, right where our guide had said the Watering Hole was. That was the sort of thing that promised disciplining.
“Hold up,” I said, gesturing for Ev to hang back in the alley we’d come up.
Easing up against the brickwork of the corner building, I glanced down the cross street. Police vehicles were pulling up in front of the bar, and crumpled bodies on the pavement spoke of a recently completed bar brawl. Wait, scratch that… the sound of smashing glass spoke of a bar brawl still in progress.
“Some scout you are,” Ev muttered behind me, “What do you see, Sparks?”
“Looks like a bar brawl. Local law have arrived,” I replied, “I guess no mead tonight.”
“Step back, give me a look.”
I obliged, and Ev took her shot at peering around the corner at the excitement.
“Bunch of military sorts just came out. S***, one’s coming this way!” she said, darting back into the alley.
We stepped back to the side wall. “Are you sure he’s looking for trouble? Maybe he’s got mead?” I asked hopefully.
“It looked like he’s just finished with trouble. I don’t know what he’s looking for now,” Ev replied.
The tall figure entered the end of the alley. I stepped forwards, hands raised open at shoulder height in what I hoped was a non-threatening gesture and not a symbol of Viking challenge.
“Easy there, big fella. We’re not looking for trouble. Just a couple of tourists out to see the sights.”
Edited by Sparks Murphey, 19 May 2015 - 03:01 AM.