Outside the city of Chittor, where the FedSun backed State of Allavar had dug in and was waiting for their assault to begin, hustle and bustle went about the camps preparing for war. Within one such tent, two representatives met, to negotiate the pay of the spearhead of the assault. The Administrator for the Dark Talons, Sara, was discussing the matters of hazard pay and repair costs that the inevitable damage occurring from the assault. Both sides of the negotiating table had reason for wanting their way, the Capellan representative still needed their heavy mechs for the assault, but couldn't afford to be completely gouged by the mercenary band. Sara, on the other hand, knew full well the Dark Talon's would need that extra amount of C-bills and coverage for repair costs, considering the firestorm the combat troops would be walking into. How much she could get, though, was debatable, considering their source of income on this job was as much salvage as it was actual hard pay from the Capellan purses. They had been talking for some time already, so Sara had a feeling for how high she could go with the man and potentially get away with it, and she politely listened as he made the most recent counteroffer.

"Ma'am, we have been planning this maneuver for some time, and I can assure you that they are not that well dug in that your last offer would be anything necessary. Half a million c-bills extra would suffice, which would be more than enough for the repairs without my employers required to put any additional payment towards the repair costs for your mercenary regiment." Sara knew that simply would not due, not in the slightest. A million minimum, and at least 10% repair costs was what she had in mind, and being lowballed like that was both unflattering and almost insulting. She crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow as she mock considered his offer, and the man knew full well she wouldn't go that low, and was gauging her reaction which, credit to the Dark Talon administrator, didn't give anything useful away to the man's mental thought processes, and she replied with a counter offer to that. "Two million C-bills, and 30% on the repairs. We've been running this kind of firepower that you've never had experience with, we know precisely what we need to get the job done, and to break that hardened position wide open for you."

The Capellan retaliated with another offer, much closer to what Sara had been angling for as a compromise now. "1.5 Million c-bills, and and 15% of repair costs. Surely you would find that more reasonable than your last offer?" Sara sat there in actual contemplation, thinking on her low limit and the previous offers they had been trading back forth. She would take that, but she made one last effort at upping the repair costs that the Capellen boys would be taking off their hands. "Make that 20% of the repair costs, and you have a deal." The Capellen sat there, the chance to end these negotiations that had run for too long in his mind sitting right there, close to what he had offered, and finally submitted, nodding his consent and drawing up the paperwork. "Deal, an extra 1.5 million c-bills and coverage of 20% of the repair costs of the Dark Talons." Sara nodded, not betraying her pleasure with this deal, and went about getting the paperwork in order for the deal to be legally binding between the two organizations.

- --

The negotiations were not the only activity going on that concerned the Dark Talons. While they had been going on, Kashra had organized her troops within a patch of the forest overlooking the city and its defenses. The clearing had the mechs powered down, the only person still in their mech was Kashra herself sitting inside her Warhammer, though she was about to get out. The other mechs were powered down beside her, the two Dragons sitting to her left while the Helios was parked to her right. On the ground in front of them were the various battle armors in no particular order, the Grenadier and Salamander armor grouped together with the Rottweilers sitting in front of those four battle armor units. The pilots themselves were by their respective equipment, talking to each other. The two male pilots of the Grenadier units were talking with the women who piloted the Salamander's, while the sisters who piloted the Rottweiler battlearmor were discussing flanking maneuvers between the two of them, laughing at previous stories of them having shredded unsuspecting enemies that thought that only one Rottweiler had been discovered, the other sister coming out of the woodwork to bring them low with an unexpected assault.

The woman who piloted the Helios was discussing the assault ideas she had with the two Dragon pilot, the men respecting her ideas and offering alternatives and improvements to the overall ideas and theories she had, while she would correct them or take their ideas into consideration. It was a natural, organic structure of discussion and relaxation before the battle began. Technicians were more than busy, running about to and fro, carts of ammunition and parts necessary for preparing the unit for battle loaded up and en route to their respective mechs and armors. A fair number were busy loading the missile systems scattered about the equipment, from SRM to LRM units were being reloaded and stocked up to capacity, while men with boxes upon boxes of machinegun ammo, all linked together, were being fed into the units that carried such things. A lot of the units energy and flamer weapons were being checked and repaired, if needed, so they wouldn't fail in the heat of battle. It was, on a whole, a busy and competent team running around, working and preparing the machines of war that would lead the Capellen forces to victory. And they all believed it was not a matter of if, but when such a thing would happen.

Kashra slid down the ladder from her Warhammer's cockpit, landing with grace and jumping up on a supply crate, demanding the attention of her troops by presence alone, and the chatter and discussion halted, the only noise present was the maintenance and preparation work by the technicians, accompanied by their murmers back and forth to not potentially interrupt their CO. Kashra spoke easily, pride and experience in her tone of voice. "Alright ladies and gents, listen up. Green light from Sara, we'll be leading the assault for some extra pay. Now, Battle Armor, keep low, keep fast, and don't make a target out of yourself. No idea what kind of experience the mercenaries on the other side have, so they might have a particular hate, or fear, of your equipment. Hit hard, but don't be stupid. Mechs, don't sweat the small stuff, thats what the Battle Armor's for. I want you firing on enemy mechs, fire positions, anything high value that is really the glue holding the enemy lines together. Get into range, smash the hell out of them, and we can call it a day with extra pay in our pockets, and not too much in damage, sound good folks?" That got a cheer of confirmation from the unit, as they redoubled their previous efforts to prepare and discuss plans to get ready.

Kashra turned to face the city, already envisioning her Dark Talons in battle. Battle Armor was tearing ahead, Rottweilers leading the way while the Grenadiers and Salamanders followed, tearing up the enemy Battle Armor and tanks that were foolish enough to get caught out in the open, forcing the enemy armor back. Enemy mechs were burning in the field, slaughtered to the unit by her heavy assault lance, Helios and Dragons spitting fire and fury, missiles, lasers, and bullets tearing apart enemy forces. Flamers burning out unarmored infantry and overheating enemy units to make them easy prey. At the heart of all this was her Warhammer, marching forward, twin PPC's making short work of anything foolish enough to stand in her way while secondary lasers and machine guns chopped up lighter targets and infantry, breaking their backs on the iron of her men and women charging forward, opening the way for those that followed, but the salvage and glory would be theirs, first and foremost. Kashra could see all this already, staring down at the fortified city, and a smile grew on her face. Today would be a good day, after all.