<strong>Bastion, several days later, Walter, Erich and Perkins with the new recruits on the command bridge.</strong><br/><hr/>Walter gave a yawn as the new recruits filed in on the bridge for their first meeting with the company commanders and the rest of the warriors. Despite the little brawl in the bar some days earlier they had managed to get everyone on board for take off and thanks to some of Perkins' contacts in the MRB they had avoided any further investigations that the local law wanted to conduct about the incident and the little affair with the stumbling Raven. It had taken only a few days for them to get the permissions to leave the planet, which to Perkins' chagrin had meant that the Overlord and accompanying ASF's and ground company would have to wait until they found a safer port to requisition such resources. If nothing else it had eased the burden on their already tight budget somewhat. As they watched the recruits taking their places among the others around the large briefing table Walter couldn't help but remembering the last batch they had picked up. Hopefully these would perform a bit more... stable. They were still some warriors short though, which they hoped to fix along the way to their destination, a Lyran world not too far away that had been attacked by a terrorist cell, damaging its ancient HyperPulse Generator. ComStar had hired the Ol' Bones to assist the local forces along with another smaller merc company from the Free Worlds League. As they were finally seated he stood up with a nod towards his fellow officers and began.<br/><br/>"I take it you have all signed the contracts for your stay with the company. Otherwise you wouldn't be here." The contract had been rather generous, even by MRB standards. Only a fool had declined, especially with the upcoming routine mission. "In that case I welcome you to the Ol' Bones. We will arrive and dock with the Citadel, our JumpShip, in approximately 10 hours after which it will take us a few days to reach our destination. In the meanwhile I suggest to accustom yourself to the Bastion, its crew and your fellow warriors. Beginning with us, your commanding officers. First and foremost, Erich Oststein, your commander in the field. While you are welcome to any one of us at any mortal hours, he's the one you should get closest to. When he says jump et cetera. Perkins here is our AeroSpace and DropShip commander and also handles our finances. If you have any questions regarding that, he's the man. I handle the overall business of the company on the larger scale, including you, our ground forces and your air support. Anything good enough for these two is certainly good enough for me, as long as you mind the hours." He paused for a moment to look at each individually. Their resumes spoke volumes, and hopefully they would impress above and beyond that. "Any further questions? I remind you that any questions regarding our coming mission should wait until the appropriate briefing in just a moment."<br/><br/><hr/>Bastion medical center, Janos and Miyoko<br/><hr/>Janos let out a string of curses as his third pen decided to run dry far earlier than it should have. His thigh was itching around the stitches again as well. It drove him crazy in the midnight hours. As such he had made sure one of his techs had brought the specifications of the light 'Mech that Walter had acquired in the last minute before their departure. He has been at work for a few hours now, looking through the specs and adding his own notes and calculations, already working on his new design. The Wasp was nearly venerable, one of the first true recon BattleMech designs. It was notoriously hard to pilot and a bit weak in the legs, perhaps even a bit outdated, but if nothing else it was an engineer's challenge. If he could make it an asset by arms alone, he would only have to subject himself to some training in it to be able to show the others that he could be one of them. Couldn't be too hard, right?<br/><br/>He jumped a little as his neighbor in the bed next to his groaned. Miyoko had spent most of the time asleep, by exhaustion or drugs. Janos himself was a little worried the docs might be a little too rigorous with the amount they put her to sleep over and over. He had even asked one of them when they would stop doing that, to which he was answered that it shouldn't be necessary anymore, but that he should call on them if she did wake up. Now that she was beginning to, he found himself distrusting the white coats and instead swung his legs over the side, giving up a groan of his own as some pain shot up his spine from his injured thigh. The bullet that had hit him had graced his artery and femur, which meant a bit of recovery would be needed. The doc had even mentioned that he should have bled out long before they got to the Bastion, but of course he had not. Healthy living without smoking, drinking and drugs he told himself, mixed with some pure Capellan determination. If anything of that was true only the gods knew.<br/><br/>"Miyoko..." He leaned in over her carefully, trying to see if she would open her eyes. "Are you awake? Please? I'm so desperately alone and bored. I think the doctors might be conspiring against us..."