Terms of Contract (Day 8 EA, Admin offices)

[Tessa Wentworth]

"Consider it an investment."

Tessa takes a deep breath as she looks to Laks. "You said she'd be happy about this."

[Lakshmi Kaala]

The Captain holds up her hands. "I probably explained it badly. I don't usually do this."

She uncomfortably runs a hand through her hair, fiddling with it, as she shuffled back to face Ez. "It would be the bonus. The P-Hawk is technically outside the 10%, but we would have let that slide. The 4P is less, but within the 10%. I mean, there are other mechs available if you don't fancy those, but we're not going to order anything. It'd take too long and we're in combat."

[Ezmeralda]

"It is a lot of money," she says fidgeting as she thought it over, "Like I could take the pay out on my Hunchback plus whatever the cash bonus would be and buy a modest island to retire to money...."

[Lakshmi Kaala]

"If that's what you really want." Lakshmi places her hands on her lap. "So, eto, you choose. We... we can leave you be if you would like some more time to think it over."

[Ezmeralda]

She leaned back and let out a long sigh. "It is a lot better than that Urbanmech..." she said seeming to be starting to come around.

[Tessa Wentworth]

"We'll leave you to think it over." Tessa states, collecting the extra papers. She taps Laks on the shoulder as she gets up. The Captain looked a bit sad, but she gets up too. For a moment she gives Ezmeralda a longer look, noticing something, but she doesn't say anything. It was serious business mode.

The pair move to shuffle out the meeting room to not give the impression they were pressuring Ezmeralda. She is left on her own to think it over.

[Ezmeralda]

Ezmeralda sits at the table reviewing the stats on the Hunchback, the Phoenix Hawk and the Orion. Staring at the price tags. And drumming her fingers on the table before starting again for several long minutes.

It was a lot of money but the Orion was as tough a juggernaut as she could get without spending twice that much. She needed to get that the mech is the bonus thing down on paper though. Her luck hadn't exactly been great the last few days.

With a sigh she waved them back over.

[Tessa Wentworth]

The pair were making small talk in the hallway outside so it was easy enough to bring them back into the room.

They each take a seat. Tessa speaks up this time. "Have you come to a decision?"

[Ezmeralda]

"I think I will take the Orion but I really want to see the wording on how this bonus works out. Millions of personal debt for something that wil- that's purpose is to get shot at is not something I am thrilled about," she said returning the other paperwork.

[Lakshmi Kaala]

"They're all getting shot at Ez. That's a mechwarrior's lot. Ano, anyway, we had something prepared." She nods to Tessa and the Chief Administrator slides another piece of paper over. She collects the rest.

The document did indeed mention that Ezmeralda would be paid the difference in value of her mech, the one to be replaced, and the new mech, as a form of bonus at the end of the current contract subject to a few conditions. Firstly, that the contract ended favourably so a bonus is given out, and secondly, that she continues to contribute toward the deployment in good faith.

"Before you sign that, I wanted to say I reviewed the combat logs from the other mechs. You were... really too aggressive there." Laks' tone is part concern, part reproach. "Next time you lose centre torso armour you need to pull back. You duelled with that one mech, point blank, and then you gave chase as it was pulling back. You realise that was too risky, neh?"

[Ezmeralda]

"Hills slowed me down, she was the last viable target and I was in her back. Retreating wasn't a good option," she shrugged, "This thing has a bit better range so I can more comfortably engage at medium distance."

[Lakshmi Kaala]

"If you had put some distance between you both you would have been a harder target. I think you'd still have your Hunchback." Lakshmi posits. She nods regardless in agreement at Ez's statement. "The Orion would let you engage earlier. Twice as much ammunition too, so you wouldn't have to be so conservative with your shots. The SRMs will last even longer... it could use CASE, but that's how it is for all but the most recent designs."

[Ezmeralda]

"Fancy new tech that requires a suite of fancy new tech to work," she waves her head, "Strikes me as contractors trying to get that sweet, sweet FedCom money. Not that we can talk."

"A lot of armour and a solid poking gun will suit me nicely. You are right, having to get in so close is what makes the 4G a dangerous gamble of a mech," she habitually crossed her arms under her chest.

[Lakshmi Kaala]

There seemed to be less movement than normal. Less in general. Laks gives Ez a quizzical look. Tessa catches on to this, sensing something was off, but she had far less familiarity with what that might be.

"Anoooo... I've said what I wanted to say. Just be more careful next time Ez. If you're happy to sign then we'll finalise this and I can show you the Orion in the morning. It'd be worth getting some simulation time in tonight, but we aren't going to put you into any major combat tomorrow before you're used to how she handles."

[Ezmeralda]

"Sounds good. I appreciate the concern captain, but-" she crossed her arms and looked between the two, "Ok, what's up with the looks?"

[Tessa Wentworth]

"You looked a bit... different today." Tessa chooses her words carefully.

[Lakshmi Kaala]

"No cleavage. Like you're wearing sara-eto, bandage wraps, or you had a size reduction." Laks is much more blunt. "I'm going to hazard a guess this is like the bunny costumes and it's related to your sims time yesterday." The petite Captain certainly heard about near everything.

[Ezmeralda]

She looked down at where her arms were crossed under her currently non-existant chest. "Oh, right... Yeah, that match went bad real quick," she blushed, "Tango was pretty excited to level the playing field as she put it."

[GM Yuusha]

"Urbies are only good as ambush units. I don't know what you were expecting." Laks points out with a big grin. "Good for her though."

Tessa simply looks flabbergasted. "What...?"

[Ezmeralda]

"I picked the little arena and I had to pick from the Locust or the Urbie, as that was all that had been around for replacements. So I figured I just needed one hit with the AC20," she ran a hand down her chest, "She got a really lucky shot while we closed."