“You think this gets broadcast out beyond the system? What if your old company sees this?” Lovett turned to Marit.
[color=76D0FF]”For Fedorov’s sake I hope they don’t, else a company of angry Vikingrs will show up to smack him so hard his mom won’t recognize him for being a lying little shit.”[/color] She said with conviction, but doubts and nightmare scenarios were swirling around her mind. [color=76D0FF]”No fucking way this lie can work, right? One, show me a merc who does something they don’t profit from, this is just a waste of ammo and two, we don’t even have any of those ‘Mechs.”[/color] Though she’d be lying if she said she would mind. A Warhammer and a Crusader, like second Christmas.
“And anywhere else you’d be right, but we‘re in Capellan territory. Critical thinking has been thoroughly bred out of them.” Lister countered, so mad about the false flag massacre he scrunched up his beer can and now even madder because of the spilled lager.
“You may have grown up around BattleMechs, but the average person can’t tell an Archer from a Crusader anymore than they can tell Ricotta from Mascarpone.” Kochanski shared a more realistic opinion.
[color=76D0FF]”How? They’re nothing alike.”[/color]
“She’s right. Two arms, two legs, more missiles than the pilot has teeth and it’s big and scary. That’s all they see.” Lister said glumly, having skipped the third stage of grief straight to the fourth.
“SLDF will have their work cut out for them to re educate these-”
“Not this crap again, dinosaur breath. They’re not coming back. They’re dead!” Rimmer made Lister roll back to stage two.
The Colonel’s roll call provided a good excuse for Marit to extract herself from the conversation before the two Astechs could start arguing again, shooting Lovett a sympathetic look before making tracks.

[hr]
[color=76D0FF]”No, they’re already dead.”[/color] She replied to Family man flatly with a defeated sigh, [color=76D0FF]”It’s, what, four hexes on the map? 200 klicks, that’s around… three hours with our slowest ‘Mech at full tilt. Even longer if we bring the tank along. And besides, any survivors just got their lives destroyed by BattleMechs flying our colors. I doubt we’d be welcome.”[/color]

She looked around the assembly. Ziska was probably going to look bored or beaming. This sort of chaos seemed either like something she’d thrive in, or like a Tuesday to her. Instead, she lingered on Ingrid, expecting either the same dignified mask as always or an overheated boiler minutes from exploding. She just didn’t know what would be the last straw: the fallout of the false accusation or [i]the insult[/i]?

[color=76D0FF]”So, what now? I don’t suppose seizing a radio tower and saying our two cents about it would achieve much, would it?”[/color] Then, an idea. [color=76D0FF]”Hang on, when did this happen? If that’s this morning, then our ‘Mechs were inactive, some down for maintenance, so BattleROMs aren't much of a direct option, but logs from other missions could prove we don't have that equipment, else we'd have fielded it before.”[/color] It wasn't as good as a simultaneous mission and wouldn't help them in the short term, but being able to take a JumpShip ride without being arrested or shot sounded good.