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Continued from The Universe - 3028... The Inner Sphere is a region of interstellar space surrounding Earth to a radius of roughly 450 - 550 light-years, generally demarcated by the outer borders of the "Great Houses." Within this region of about 2 million stars, there are approximately 2000 inhabited planets. Beyond the Inner Sphere is the Periphery. While a variety of smaller states have come and gone, the Inner Sphere has historically been dominated by five 'Great Houses' who rule over their separate dominions: House Davion (Federated Suns), House Liao (Capellan Confederation), House Marik (Free Worlds League), House Steiner (Lyran Commonwealth), and House Kurita (Draconis Combine). The leader of each Great House claims to be the rightful successor to the rule of the Star League, and so the nations the Houses rules over are known as the Successor States. The space surrounding the Inner Sphere contains a number of independent nations, known collectively as the Periphery. The largest of these nations (the Outworlds Alliance, Taurian Concordat, Magistracy of Canopus, and Rim Worlds Republic) predate the Star League and rival the Successor States themselves in size, but are vastly inferior economically and militarily. More moderately sized nations, such as the Marian Hegemony or Bandit Kingdoms, also lie near the Inner Sphere. The Periphery contains countless other independent nations, many consisting of a single star system each and rarely playing a significant role in Inner Sphere politics. The mostly uncharted space beyond the nearby Periphery states is known as the Deep Periphery and contains numerous pirate havens and lost Star League colonies. 3029 was an eventful year in the Inner Sphere. For a timeline of key events, refer to Sarna.net | 3029. From the farthest reaches of the outworlds to the heart of the Inner Sphere, this is the place to stake your claim in the universe!

MEANWHILE.... "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" The sound of my own Scream ripped into my ears so loud that it echoed back and made my eardrums do a weird buzzing noise, the kind of buzzing when you put a q tip inside your ears and you hear a bunch of random Tones and other things, the buzzes made me Zone back in and I Saw BILLIAM JAMESWATER comig right at me with a huge red toaster, one of those big ones you can put like 4 loaves of bread in at the same time!! ANd it was attached to a Car Battery on his back wth jumper cables and the toaster slot was glowing bright red, Billiam was going to try to toast me!! "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! WHAT THE HELL, WHY IS THERE A TOASTER???" I yelled as I tried to get out of the way, "YOU SPACED OUT AND MISSED THE ANNOUNCER, THIS IS THE APPLIANCE ROUND!!!" Billiam roared and then he jumped at me full blast, the toaster was blinking on and off really crazily because he was racking the toast bouncer up and down and making the Coils go on and off, I rolled off to the siode just in time and Billiam crashed into the mats, he hit so hard the Announcer fell off the stage and we heard the microphone squeal and a bunch of people in the audience started rioting for his Wallet. meanwhile the house music ramped up really loud with deep bass and an old song from the ancient 2000's came on, a battle theme , I think it was called "Guile's Theme" from an old fighting style called "Street Fighter." Me and Billiam stared at each other and he clicked the toaster on and off again and crushed its metal with his bear hands, "I will cremate you Steve Jenkins!!!" I Yelped with fear and looked around for the Grab Box, it was the box where you could get an appliance for fighting your opponent, it was right behind me so I did a Shoulder Roll and landed next to it and started trying to find something to use, the first thing my hand grabbed was one of those crank mixers with 2 beaters like grandmas use to make cookies, I Spun around to use it but I was too late!! The toaster was coming at me, coming fast, and......... CLANK The side of my head sounded like crashing Metal nd I felt a bunch of bread crumbs spray in my face as I went down HARD onto the mat, I saw a bunch of stars in front of my face and I Tried to turn over to get out of the way, Billiam was coming down at me, I Jammed the mixer forward into his chest hair and started cranking the beaters as fast as I could which made Billiam yell on account of his Chest hair was getting tangled up in it, he ripped the Mixer out of my hand and also his chest hair and threw it into the audience, then like 9 people started rioting to get to keep the mixer with hair in it, they were true fans. "YOURE GONAA HAVE TO TRY A LOT HARDER THAN THAT IF YOU WANT A BELT STEVE JENKINS" Roared Billiam, right then I did a Sweeping Wind kick and racked him right in the nads with my Fighting Boot, Billiam howled with Agony and fell down on his knee, right when that happened I Dodged out of the way and I ran back to the Grab Box, I dumped a bunch of useless stuff out and then I Saw a Salad Ninja and 2 onions and 2 radishes, the Salad Ninja had batteries inside of it so I cut it on and jammed in the Onions and beets, then I CHARGED at Billiam who had just got up and I started Spraying him with onion and Turnip parts while he was preparing to set me on fire with the toaster!! "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!" Screamed Billiam "THERES ONION AND TURNIPS IN MY FACE AND ALSO MY EYES!!!" Then he Tried to use the toaster to do a Lotus Javelin at me but he couldnt see what he was doing and all of the sudden the jumper cables RIPPED off the Toaster with all kinds of sparks and the cooking p[ieces turned off, Billiam screamed with Rage and started swinging the toaster over his head like a slingshot!! The Next thing I knew the Toaster was coming flying at me and....................... CLANK I Heard the metal parts explode into a Billion pieces as I Went down, down hard, toaster parts went everywhere and I Fell to the mat sobbing in paind and embarassment, but then I remembered, Billiam doesnt have a weapon anymore, I Got up to shoot more Salad Ninja at him but I was out of Ammo, I chucked the Salad Ninja into the audience and started another riot, then I Went over to the Grab Box and looked for anything, something I could use to stop the Freight Train. Then I Saw a Pasta Maker and I grabbed it, I turned around and Billiam was doing a Yoga Torpedo right at me!!!! I Charged up a huge Zen scream and I Jumped up into the air and tackled Billiam right before he hit me, we both went down HARD and I Was on his back and I Grabbed the Pasta Maker and started cranking Billiam's hair into it. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW THATS MY HAIR WHAT THE HELL IM GOING TO RIP THE BONES OUT OF YOUR FACE!!!" Came Billiam and he kept trying to hit me from Behind while I was on his back, I felt a million stabs from the Meat Shredders he had got out of the box and put on his hands but I didn't care, I Held on tight and I started to summon my inner Zen, I Knew if I was going to win the round I Had to cogitate all of my powers into Focus, it was the only way. Billiam was swinging his arms everywhere and I was riding his back like a bucking Bronco, all of the strobe lights were goiung off and the fog machines were sprayingh as we battled, I felt a huge Zen focus start to come into my Mind and my eyes started to glow nmeon blue in the rink and Billiam was starting to get wore down, I think I am going to be able to take him onto the mat and win this round!! All of a Sudden the Belt was in reach, I just had to win 2 of 3 rounds and I thought this was a sure thing but then........... GEORGE FOREMAN GRILL was coming at me, it was a giant metal plate/box that I think was an ancient Earth idol and now it was coming over Billiam's head and smashing into my.................... CLANKBASHCRUNCH "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" I Screamed, my face was on Fire, because the grill had been On and also because I Had got hit in the face with a grill, I exploded down onto the Mats, I could see a big spray of blood everywhere from my nosebleed and everything looked all blurry and weird, I couldn't see Jameswater, didn't know where..... "HAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!" WHUMPCRACKCRACKSPLINTERCRACK All of the sudden Billiam was Body Slamming me from above, I heard my legs get sundered from his huge weight and I Shrieked like I Had just got kicked in the balls except it was my legs and they were broken, I did like a 5 minute scream/barf from the pain, the crowd was going crazy and bell in the rink went DING DING DING DING DING and the Announcer announced "BILLIAM JAMESWATER HAS THE PIN, BILLIAM CAN DEMAND DO'OKUU FOR THE END OF THE ROUND IF STEVE JENKINS DOES NOT RISE!!!!" "I Demand DO'OKUU!!!" Screamed Billiam, then he body slammed on my legs again and I Heard more snap crackle pop sounds and I let out a Crazy yell that sounded like primitive violence except there was a bunch of pain barf and blood that came out with it. "CALL THE MATCH, HE WILL NOT RISE AGAIN, HE IS SUNDERED!!" The Announcer ran over and started slapping the mat next to me, "STEVE JENKINS YOU MUST RISE OR DO'OKUU WILL BE JUDGED TO THE JAMESWATER CHAMPION. YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS." Then Billiam walked over and jammed a Salad Spinner inside my unitard and yanked the pull cord, it spun around a bunch and gave me an atomic wedgie but I didnt care, I laid on my face all busted and broken and dishonored, I had Failed. I Sobbed into the mats as the Announcer yelled the count down into the rink, gagging mourningly, then I turned my head to Look into the audience, the audience that I Had failed...and then I Saw it... 5 rows behind the people who were Rioting over Gently Used appliances and Billiam Jameswater's chest hair, I saw 4 familiar faces behind my tears, 4 faces I could never forget Sitting in the row....I Couldn't believe what I was seeing...... .......Master Honda eating a chilli cheese dog and cheering with his big huge fist in the air......... .......Sensei Ronald with his feet up On the chair in front of him and a cigarette in his mouth.............. .......Jingles the Clown with his Clown Suit on and a bowl of Cocaine and a balloon............ .........and even Mr Chuckles, he was there too making Monkey faces and drinking a Beer and slapping the back of the head of the Guy in the row in front of him........ All of these Special People had came so far out to Twycross just to make sure I did an Honor to them and got my Black Belt the way I was Destined to do, and if I didnt get up........I would be Dishonored forever.......... .....but...... ......so much pain............. "THREE!" "TWO!" "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I bellowed and I Got up onto my broken legs, I heard the crunching and grinding as they broke even more and I Barfed violently everywhere due to the pain, then I looked the announcer and I said "I DEMAND CONTINUATION!!!" "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Said Billiam Jameswater and he Ran at me, I dont know how I Had did it but the next thing I knew I grabbed the Salad Spinner out of the ass of my Unitard and I SMASHED Billiam under the chin with it, the Salad Spinner exploded into a billion pieces and Billiam FLEW back against the Rink's turnbuckle and flipped over backwards and fell onto the floor. 19 people ran over and started Rioting for a piece of his Celebrity. WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS came on the Rink's radio really loud and suddenly a super bright spotlight chunked on and lit me up. I Looked around in Terror. "The First point goes to STEVE JENKINS!! Now it is time for INTERMISSION. Next up: the ANIMAL ROUND." Said the Announcer, then he dropped the mic on the floor of the rink and left to go have a smoke. Billiam Jameswater crawled back into the rink with a look of Rage and blood. "I AM GOING TO PAINT THESE WALLS WITH YOUR BLOOD!!!" he roared, then he went over to his corner and some old lady came out and started hitting him with an Umbrella, I don't know what hat was all about. I staggered into my corner of the rink, still stumping on broken shearing legs. I needed something to kill the pain. But there was no Medicine in the corner where my stool was, there was only a towel. The pain was becoming more than I could bear. Nearby a Microwave sat imperiously in the Grab Box. I hobbled over to it and plugged it up to the car battery and set it for low Power. If I timed it right, I could use its waves to temporarily sedate the pain center of my brain. If I was lucky, the pain center would be numb for a time. I did not waste any time making the mods I would need..... 5 MINUTES LATER.... The micowave numbing had been a success. It had only taken me 5 minutes to pull the Magnetron out of its insides and press it on my left temple, where the tinkezic nerve of the brain is. The radiation waves temporarily caused it disruption, which made me unable to feel pain. Because I had used a microwave it was not preciese. The left side of my face was also numb and I was drooling out of the left side of my face and deaf in my left ear, and I couldn't see color in my left eye. But I didn't care. I could move like I needed to, even with the loud grinding of my bones breaking more as I ran into the Middle of the rink. Then all of a sudden the House Lights went out and blood red Arena lights came on. Fire shot up the sides of the Rink and a laughing skull could be heard, a Smoke machine came on and a giant cage got craned down over top of the Rink. The Announcer came back out and grabbed his microwave. Then He realized thats not what he meant to Grab and he chucked that into the audience where I heard some lady Scream. "AUUUUUGH MY FACE!!!!" Then the Announcer got out his Microphone and started talking into it. "NOW IT IS TIME FOR THE ANIMAL ROUND. STEVE JENKINS HAS 1 POINT. THERE ARE 2 POINTS LEFT. 1 MAN LEAVES WITH HONOR AND A LIFETIME BELT MEMBERSHIP TO THE DOWNSTAIRS GYM. 1 MAN LEAVES WITH DISHONOR AND MUST CLEAN THE LOCKER ROOM. COMBATANTS!!!!!!!!! PREPARE YOUR ANIMALS FOR WARFARE!!!!!! FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!"

Looter Warehouse, Haven Twycross - Lyran Commonwealth December 12, 3029 _______________________________________________ Resistance from the warehouse had been much stronger than expected, while they weren't exactly skilled they did have numbers on their side, not to mention considerable firepower given this was supposed to be a sleepy shanty town. But if you've built a life fighting against, or potentially working with, frontier pirates you've likely "acquired" a sizeable arsenal one way or another. We briefly considered cutting our losses and coming back later with reinforcements but then additional gang reinforcements from somewhere within the warehouse cut our thoughts short as we were forced into direct combat once again, thankfully Captain Maxwell's well trained firepower combined with my own was still sufficient to keep enemy numbers manageable. A quick assessment of the warehouse's internal layout revealed several potentially fortified positions with a number of them manned and others unclear if anyone was currently holed up there or not, our best bet was to divide and conquer so that the enemy couldn't pin us down and concentrate fire on us. Inside the warehouse the open areas limited the usefulness of my KTS shotgun, even when using slug rounds, and its extended reload time, due to inserting each shell individually, lead me to switch over to the GA King Slayer Gyroslug Carbine I had slung across my shoulders, another bull-pup design the compact form allowed me to retain most of my mobility and maneuverability while still providing the power of a full size rifle. As an added bonus the gyroslug rounds were tipped with an impact activated explosive warhead, nothing close to a grenade or anything but enough to ensure lethal damage and armour penetration at nearly any range. As Captain Maxwell moved swiftly to get into a flanking position through the interior of the warehouse I opened fire with my rifle to draw fire away from him, several self-propelled, explosive-tipped, rocket-like rounds ripped through the air in virtual silence leaving a telltale conical plume of white exhaust hanging in the air before the impact and subsequent detonation of the gyroslug rounds echoed throughout the enclosed warehouse with seemingly reckless abandon. Many of the rounds exploded harmlessly against the fortified cover scattered across the warehouse, although "harmless" was subjective as it still blew out chunks of the walls and sheered through the heavy slats of metal with repeated impacts. A few rounds found their targets though and the effectiveness of the explosive rounds was clearly evident, even a glancing blow was enough to remove a combatant from the fight, even if not permanently. It didn't take long before return fire found me and forced me to take cover myself, a few rounds glancing off the limited protection provided by my flak vest and leather duster. I ventured out for another burst of fire but was immediately driven back by sniper fire, my current armour provided virtually no protection against that caliber of weapon and so I was forced to blind fire my semi-auto carbine with very little success. "All right, Jaeger. What's my next move?" inquired Charles, assumedly having made it into position in the office. "I'm tangling with the sniper out here and his friend. See if you can't get the attention of the other one," I replied, firing off another series of blind shots. Pulling one of the four Class 'B' "mini" grenades from my vest I popped the activation lever and lobbed the smoke grenade out into the open floor, in mere seconds the central portion of the warehouse was filled with a thick grey smoke winding its way up towards the ceiling, the natural convection of the air on the hot day pulling it out beyond the grenade's normal 6m radius. The breeze also meant that the smoke wouldn't last as long either, probably only had a couple minutes at best where the smoke would remain thick enough to be effective. Taking full advantage I slipped out low on the opposite side of my cover, cautiously at first to make sure I indeed had the sniper's line of sight blocked, no enemy fire meant I was probably in the clear. I crouched ran to another piece of cover on the edge of the smoke where I could just see the sniper's position, of course that also meant he'd be able to see me so I only had one shot. Lining up the gyroslug carbine I waited for the wind to blow the smoke clear a little more before smoothly squeezing the trigger and sending the micro-rocket round blitzing through the air, a small crack of the round actually breaking the sound barrier the only sound audible across the battlefield. Before the round reached its target, or perhaps right at the same time, a massive explosion ripped through the warehouse followed by the distinctive whine of a hover vehicle's engine as what appeared to be a Heavy Hover APC literally pushed its way into the now damaged warehouse after unleashing a blaze of fire to weaken the structure. I silently prayed that the new arrival was on our side, and judging from the reckless way they burst into the building I assumed they must be, and had my answer almost immediately as two additional enemy commandos came charging out from amongst the rubble and debris before stopping and staring wide-eyed at the unexpected arrival of the armoured combat vehicle. To their credit they opened fire rather than running, although the latter may have been the wiser choice given the situation, and while their weapons were effectively useless against the hover vehicle the same could not be said about the vehicle's own weapons. Two short, precise, bursts of heavy weapons fire later and nothing remained of the enemy commandos. "Thanks for the assist!" called Maxwell as he exited through the now destroyed wall of the office he had been flanking from. "Don't mention it," replied the familiar, heavy voice of Bishop, "I'm supposed to keep you safe. Wouldn't look good if I had to tell the General I failed at something so simple." As the final words echoed off the walls of the warehouse, Bishop Weyland popped into view. "Now, how long do we have to grab and go before the next wave of baddies hits us?" the hulking man asked, dropping to the dirt floor of the expansive facility, "If history's any indication, we're probably good for about ten more minutes before this place is swarming with looters, cops, or both." "If that," I interjected, moving to meet up with the other two men, "Thanks for the rescue by the way, the rate reinforcements kept showing up I'm guessing this warehouse has an entrance to the underground somewhere nearby, only place I can figure they were hiding that many men." "All the more reason to get a move on, and quickly," replied the Captain, "Bishop, give me a hand checking these crates, the ones NOT on fire at least. Jaeger you get started on the ones over there. Anything marked Irian we take, the rest we'll decide as time permits." Bishop grunted at the slight rebuke, even though it was clearly in jest, and nodded to the Captain before immediately setting to work clearing off the nearest crate and cracking it open to check its contents. A few minutes passed quickly as we proceeded to load up everything we could into the APC's personnel bay, it wasn't exactly designed for cargo but the spacious bay had plenty of room for our current needs. Bishop's enhanced strength was instrumental in moving many of the heavier crates, some of which even he struggled with, and both the Captain and I watched in awe more than once as Bishop easily picked up and moved cargo that the two of us would have struggled with together. Even with his enhanced strength though there were a couple Irian marked containers that were just too heavy and we would have had to leave them behind except for a lucky find tucked away in the back of the warehouse. While Bishop was loading the last of the crates we could move I had decided to quickly sweep the warehouse for any additional cargo but also to keep any eye out for enemy reinforcements which we fully expected at any minute. Instead, half buried behind a collapsed scaffolding, I found a GM HeavyHauler, a purpose built exoskeleton used for moving cargo, that the looters must have been using to move their stolen goods. As I was checking it over, and surprisingly found it operational with a half charge on its power cell, Bishop suddenly yelled at me from across the warehouse in a tone that I instantly knew meant I was in danger. I spun around to face towards an open corridor leading away from the main part of the warehouse and came face to face with an enemy soldier holding a shotgun, he was several feet away but still close enough that it might as well been point blank and yet he never fired his weapon and instead just stood there with a blank look on his face. A moment later, which seemed like an eternity as I instinctively reached for my sidearm in what felt like slow motion, the soldier collapsed forward, falling to the floor motionless, a large red smear marring the back of his head and explaining the odd blank stare. Standing behind him, casually tossing a brick in her hand, was a lithe raven-haired woman dressed in black desert garb with a scarf obscuring most of her face and looking all too comfortable given the situation. "You're welcome," she said, in a not-quite sultry, young sounding voice. "Thanks," I replied, still not sure what to make of the newcomer, "And you are?" "We've already met," the young woman shot, the almost sultry tone gone and replaced by an accent I couldn't quite place off hand. Recognition dawned on me as I realized this was the same woman that captured Octavia and had ambushed Nick only a short time earlier, I immediately backed up and finished drawing my sidearm, levelling the pistol at her head with my finger on the trigger. "Whoaa!! Easy there big fella," said the unidentified woman as she raised her hands, though still holding a brick in one of them, "Remember I'm on your side right now." Without taking my eyes off the woman, and keeping her at a distance I was confident she couldn't rush me from before I could fire, I called back over my shoulder, "Captain!, seems our little hostage taker has decided to show her face." I heard what sounded like Bishop starting to break into a run before the Captain reigned him in and then two sets of footsteps approached together, "Hold on Lieutenant, she is technically on our side still." "Thank you Captain, glad to see you're reasonable," replied the unknown woman as she lowered her hands and began walking towards him. "Hold it right there!" I called out, thankful that she did indeed stop in her tracks. Ignoring me, save for a perturbed sidelong glance towards me when I called her out and didn't lower my weapon, "Captain, are we not on the same side here?" "We are, but you'll have to forgive the Lieutenant, you're track record isn't exactly the cleanest," responded Maxwell with a slight smile. "Fair enough I suppose, though I did return Blondie to you, relatively, unharmed. Plus I just saved your man here from getting his guts shoved out the back of his spine, I didn't have to do that, I could have waited a few seconds and watched the fireworks. PLUS I jammed the door shut leading underground that Shotgun Eddie there came out of." "I understand, and trust me when I say we are both very appreciative of that, however you still are holding a member of our team hostage and to be frank we still don't know who you are," stated Maxwell, coming up alongside me but still careful to keep a distance between himself and the raven-haired lady. "True. Name's Claire, and I'm true to my word, I'll deliver the Baroness to you as soon as we finish discussing my passage off this Blake-forsaken world," answered Claire with what I guessed was a smile, her scarf still obscured most of her face. "Alright Claire, maybe we can start by dropping that brick?" inquired Maxwell. "As soon as you get Lieutenant Jarhead over here to lower his weapon, I'll consider dropping mine," snapped Claire sharply. "Lieutenant," said Charles with a nod when I briefly glanced his way. I lowered my sidearm but did not stow it until after Claire dropped her brick, then I looked at her and said, "Jarhead? Really?" "I could have went for Tin Man," she smiled gesturing towards my prosthetic arm, "but it I liked the sound of Lieutenant Jarhead better." "Now Miss Claire, about returning the Baroness," began the Captain, "full disclosure first, should you try anything untoward, the Lieutenant to my left here could veritably tear you limb from limb without breaking a sweat." "Really?" said Claire, her eyes going wide and a tone of excitement entering her voice, before returning to a more business like tone, "He is a big one, I wouldn't mind going a round or two with him. But later, we have business to discuss first."

I angrily wiped blood from the side of my mouth as I looked up at the disguised assailant. I couldn't believe that, whoever she was, she had managed to get the drop on me twice, on an open rooftop no less. I was definitely not as prepared as I thought I was to go at it alone. My military training had taught my how to fight in face-to-face, hand-to-hand combat, but hadn't really gotten into too much detail about how to handle abductors dropping from the sky and randomly jumping me for no apparent reason. The first time, she'd pounced on me and grappled with me long enough to kick my weapon over the edge of the roof and break my binoculars before disappearing again. Now, she was back, and this time, she was coming at me with some kind of steel rod that looked a lot like the comealongs that riot cops used on some of the more unruly worlds. "What are you, back for more? What do you even want?" I asked as I stood to my feet and faced down the masked woman. "It occurs to me that while a single person puts me in a bargaining position, a second person makes that bargaining position even stronger, especially when taking you removes a certain amount of strategic advantage from the people with whom I'm negotiating." the woman explained, beginning to circle me. I started to realize that she was gradually moving me into a position where the only thing behind me was the ledge of the roof and the only means of escape was a gruesome three story plunge to my death in the street below. "I don't know, there is an expression back where I'm from that goes Einem geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul. Inspecting a gifted horse is rude. It shows you don't appreciate what you have." I answered. "And what is it you think I have right now?" the lady asked, feigning a lunge toward me. I recoiled instinctively and nearly fell off the roof. "You have the Captain's attention and it sounds like you might already be in a bargaining position. Why press your luck?" I said, regaining my balance as we continued to circle each other. "Insurance. I don't know how valuable Baroness is to your Captain alone, but I am willing to wager that worthless or otherwise, the stakes are going to go up if I have two of his people." No sooner had she said the words than she very suddenly and without warning kicked a pile of rocks, used to ballast the roof, directly into my face. The stones and dirt pelted me and blinded me temporarily. "Aaaaaugh!" I yelled, without my glasses or shades to guard my eyes. I heard the sound of running boots thudding on the roof and felt a sharp kick as the woman attacked. As I fought to keep her off me, a thunderous explosion down in the alley below stopped the attack short. "Blake damn it!" I heard my attacker yell, followed by footsteps running swiftly off into the distance. I slowly forced my eyes open and looked around. The attacker was gone. I peered over the side of the roof and saw a huge gaping hole in the side of the warehouse and what looked like our APC inside. I coughed a bunch and then located my earpiece. Stuffing it back onto the side of my head, I pressed the microphone. "Rebus to Eden, are things under control down there?" I wheezed. "Because I think we're facing some complications with our hostage taker."