Battletech: Planet's Fall

Charlie had set up an appointment with the CO. He arrived about 10 minutes early and waited to be let in.

The door clicks and swings open after a few minutes. Eric checks the hallway before motioning Charlie to come in.

"You're one of our mechtechs. Thank you for your service." He begins, giving Charlie a salute. "What brings you here this afternoon?"

Charlie returns the salute and comes in. "Commander, I was thinking about that research data from Budai. I know exactly who you can sell it to for a good price.

"My father is the Graff of Rockford, a manufacturing city on the other side Lyran space. He's always wanted to the chance to produce LosTech and would pay top dollar for it."

"Oh?" Eric's attention is quickly grabbed by Charlie's opening statement. He gestures to the chairs facing his desk, inviting the man to sit.

"Rockford? I know Rockford. Never been myself, but I knew soldiers from there. And the Graff is your father?" He smiles as he takes a seat. "Before we talk about the data, can I check you're still on good terms? You're with us rather than on Rockford."

Charlie sits. Well, the commander's statements make things easier. Straight to business. "No. I was supposed to get my little brother out of the mercenary life and.... well, here I am and my brother...." Well, the commander can probably figure out what happened from there.

"But I am on good terms with my little sister Luann. She's the heir now, and she can bring you to my father. I can stay out the way or even stay on another planet while you go to Rockford. It's not like he will be going through your records to make sure you don't employ me. It's not that he hates me. It's just.... what do you do in one son is responsible for the other's....."

After that awkward silence that follows that, Charlie gives a forced smile, "I'll admit, I'm hoping this will be wins all around. My father is one step closer to his dream. My sister gets to prove she's a worthy successor. I get to prove my worth to you. And the company gets to profit."

"That... is tempting." Eric admits as he studied Charlie with some concern. "Do you need a minute? Something to drink?"

"Nah. Old wounds. Though I'd never turn down a drink outside of the hanger."

Eric thumbs toward one of his cabinets. He gets up and strides over to it. "What's your poison Charlie?"

"Anything from the Commonwealth if you got it." Charlie was feeling a bit nostalgic talking about his family.

"I don't have Timbiqui Dark in this cabinet, but I do have whiskey. Glengarry Black?" He holds up a bottle of the expensive liquor. Glengarry Black Label and Glengarry Reserve were two of the most famous whiskies from Glengarry in the Duchy of Skye.

Charlie's smile turns a little more genuine. "That's sounds great." It's been five, six years since he's had liquor that nice.

He collects two crystal glasses from an upper shelf and sets them down, slowly pouring a finger's worth into each. The bottle is closed and placed back where it had been and Eric returns. He place one glass by Charlie's side atop a coaster as he moves around his desk to again take a seat. His glass is set down on another coaster.

"There is a problem with interstellar communications right now, but I'm sure it'll get fixed soon. Comstar won't be making any money from their main business otherwise and it'll start damaging the economy. So, that aside, you're suggesting we speak to your sister as an intermediary?"

Eric picks up his glass. "Cheers." He has a sip, taking a moment to savour the fine whiskey.

At this time, Charlie saw no reason to believe different, so he didn't comment on the HPG network. "Yeah. I talk with her as much as I can. She likes to make sure I'm doing alright. I was planning on sending her a message after the mission telling her how the new company is, how the mission is, that sort of stuff. I figured I can include your introduction and the info about Budai along with anything else you'd want her to know."

He raises his glass and says in German, "Cheers." He also takes a sip, enjoying the flavor. It's been too long since had such whiskey. There were some parts he liked being a noble.

"As long as you don't say exactly where we're deployed or what our contract is, that's absolutely fine. It's important to keep in contact with family. A lot of mercs don't have any left. I hope you can meet your father again one day."

Eric relaxes in his chair, letting the whiskey warm him up.

"It'd be important that she knows we can't exactly do delivery. I still don't know where we'll end up after this."

Charlie nods and says reassuringly, "I know better than that, and she knows better than to ask. As for my father.... I'm not holding out hopes." He takes another drink.

"Probably even better. As long as a meeting place can be arranged my father can send people he trusts. Maybe even my sister if it's in Lyran space. Like I said, this is something he wants, he'll do everything he can to get it."

"Sounds like we could charge a good price... but I don't know how valuable the data actually is. Nobody has looked into it. We've not had time. It'd involve a lot of computer work." He waits to see if Charlie was interested in, or capable, of that sort of thing.

Charlie nods. "If you don't mind me looking it, I could. I have had plenty of experience with computers. It's not in my file since I wasn't officially trained, I never put it in. But I... well, I have learned a thing or two. I could look into it during my spare time. Maybe in a few days when combat operations are going on and we're waiting for the mechs to come back to repair." It seemed like Eric was looking at him possibly doing it, but he didn't want to be too presumptuous with his possible bias.

"Alright. We took quite a few machines and hard drives. There's probably a lot to look through. An initial assessment of how far along and valuable it all is would be good. I will ask some of the prisoners from Budai, but we shouldn't fully trust what they say about it."

He reached for his Glengarry.

"I was going to sell it all back to Budai Incorporated when the fighting here is settled. Of course, nothing stops us selling it to a competitor too."

"Well, I'm sure more could be charged for exclusivity. At least from my father." Charlie gives a suggestion. Sure he wants his father to get the data exclusively, but he's all for getting the Angels maximum profit. It's at least worth a try.

"Now that gives me an idea." Eric realised he could set up a seemingly unaffiliated company to instigate negotiations with Budai Incorporated to find out how much they'd pay for the return of their data and some of their equipment while finding out how much Charlie's father would pay. The exclusivity would then cost that amount plus what Budai would pay, minus a certain amount as a gesture of good relations... and if he didn't want to pay that, the data could be sold to both.

Eric scratched his beard with a smile on his lips. "I'll work on it and share some details with you when you've had a chance to look over the data. Let's see if there's something worthwhile there first. Is there anything you'd need for your initial assessment? Any support or equipment?"