Chapter Fifty-Six: The Unexpected

Chapter Fifty-Six: The Unexpected

Markesan, Federated Suns March 21st, 3012

"Leave the Eyepatch on, don't let any moisture anywhere near your eye for two weeks until your next checkup, don't pick up anything that weighs more than five kilos, and do no strenuous activity." I finished the line from the doctor. "Anything I forgot?" I asked myself. "Oh, right. Your depth perception will be off and it will take time for your brain to adapt, so be careful around any sort of traffic." I smiled to myself. "I think that was everything."

The doctor just glared at me. "Take these pills to lower your eye pressure over time." He said. "You just got finished with surgery a day ago and we want to make sure that there's no permanent brain damage."

"Doc," I started. "My eye is gone, and until I manage to get back to my advanced medical facilities I'm not going to be doing anything dumb." I shrugged. "I wonder if finding door knobs will be as hard as it was the first time."

"Just…" The doctor facepalmed. "Just leave, I'll give your bodyguard the prescription and you can do as you will." he walked away. "Bloody Mercs with a noble title…. They never listen."

After the King Henry had jumped in with the wreckage of the Troy still attached, I had been rushed as fast and safely as possible to the nearest hospital, where I was operated on and they removed my eye before an infection or anything else could set in. I just wanted to be able to get back to either Kentares or New Avalon, because I knew that Ian would want a report on what happened. And, I had a bunch of dog tags, and flags to deliver to families. Over half of the Troy'screw had died when the Naval autocannon round had blasted through. While Mithril had helped many of them survive, it didn't do all that much to stop as massive a round as what went through us.

New Avalon, Federated Suns, May 16th, 3012

"That was very fine work." Yvonne told me as I sat across the desk from her. "I'm sorry about some of your people, but with what we managed to pull off of Versailles, we may be able to finish collapsing the Capellan Confederation inside of this decade."

"Thank you." I replied. "I'm going to ask for first refusal rights on some of the factories, but for now; I'm going to go try and get this fixed up." I gestured towards the eye patch over my left eye.

"I'm pretty sure you can have whatever you damn well please after the miracle you just pulled off." Yvonne told me point blank. "You want the first production runs of something and we'll get it for you, you want extra people vetted to help you with your own factories, done." She laughed. "Hull, you're from before the Succession wars era. You just don't quite understand what you just gift-wrapped and handed us on a silver platter."

"No ma'am, I don't think I ever will." I shrugged. "It was such a different time, it's still hard to wrap my head around it sometimes."

"Well, we're going to be charging you with setting up the lines on various planets over the next several years or so." Yvonne told me. "The reward for doing good work is…"

"More work." I sighed. "Any preferences on where to set them up?"

"We're going to want them on heavily defended worlds for the most part." Yvonne told me. "And the Exterminator line is going to Kallon Industries."

"I want one of the extra freezer lines and ERPPC lines for Kentares." I told her, "My people have some ideas on how to improve the standard Grasshopper."

"Done," Yvonne replied. "These lines are going to be allowed to be incorporated into the Sharpshooter Industries envelope as well." She told me.

"I'm going to be talking to the Taurians." I told Yvonne. "I've already purchased a Snowden and Got a license to manufacture at least two more."

"Already anticipated that when the Calderons notified us that a Snowden was moving from Taurus to Kentares a couple of months ago." She replied. "You're not getting out of this." She said, "Now, any other excuses?"

"No, I'll start splitting up some of my teams with new hires so that we can train up more people to run the factories and begin working on getting them set up for now." I replied. "I'll have the Sharpshooter legal team draw up some contracts, and I will personally make sure that the lines are placed on planets that are already under heavy guard."

"That's all I had on the board for this meeting then." Yvonne smiled at me now that the business was finished being discussed. "My grandkids love the cookie recipe by the way."

"I'm glad to hear it." I replied. "Any chance I can try and leave before Banzai or Felsner try and poach some of my people again?"

"Sure, just make sure that you slip out the side entrance." Yvonne laughed. "But Banzai will probably track you down anyway." She snickered. "He's seriously determined to steal some of your people."

"Well, if he wanted them he should have found them first." I said as I left the room. "They're my bunch of Mad scientists and no one else's."

I walked away to peals of laughter echoing from Yvonne's office. And from there, I left the Davion Palace complex and headed for the ports.

Kentares IV, Draconis March Federated Suns, June 8th, 3012

"Hey McCallister!" Natasha called out in the 'Mech repair bay. "I brought it back."

"Ye Stoopid Idjut" McCallister said. "You damn near destroyed the 'Mech. It'll nae a full rebuild now."

"Sorry Mac." Natasha apologized. "Any idea where the Colonel is?"

"He left a while ago." He was still inspecting the Warhammer. "I danno when he'll be back."

"Got it, I'll go check with Sheppard then." She said, and left the 'Mech to the angry chief Astech.

"Sheppard," She knocked on the door to Sheppard's office.

"Come in." Sheppard replied, working on a stack of paperwork. "Nat!" He greeted her. "How was your leave?"

"Could have been better," Nat shrugged in response. "Any Idea where Hull is?"

"Sorry Lieutenant, he's been off planet since the middle of October." Sheppard signed another document. "You'll just have to wait until he gets back if you want to talk to him."

"Alright then." Natasha shrugged in response. "How goes the Kentares Guard Formation?"

"Well, it's taking us a bit to sort through those who want to stick to the Marksman, and those who want to be a part of the Kentares Guard." Sheppard replied. "We're essentially spilling everything evenly between us, the Militia, and the Marksman for now, with Me operating as the XO and general commander for the Kentares Guard, and Peterson taking over the Marksman for now."

"Sounds complicated." Natasha sympathized.

"You have no idea." Sheppard responded. "I need to get back to it for now, I'll see you around Lieutenant."

"Have a good day sir." Natasha saluted and then left, she had some time to kill before Hull would be back on planet, and so she decided to throw herself into helping train the next group of Kentares Guards.

Kentares IV, Draconis March, Federated Suns, August 12th, 3012

"It's good to be home." I said as I stood on the ground of my new homeworld again, and then I began to greet the people that had been taking care of things while I was gone. "Mary, you got everything scheduled meeting wise?" I asked my secretary.

"Yes sir." She replied. "The first meeting is set for tomorrow, and everything is to follow throughout the rest of the week."

"Thanks for all of your help Mary." I said. "I'm just going to take today and relax before diving into the depths of getting more work done."

I left my office, and walked to my house. Making sure to greet and nod to people in order to let them know that I was back. When I reached my small Mansion, I unlocked the door and walked in. Looking around, I checked my house over really quickly, stripped down to a pair of gym shorts, and crawled into my own bed for the first time in almost a year.

August 13th, 3012

"Watson, I've got good news and bad news for you." I told the Sharpshooter manager.

"What's the bad news?" He asked.

"The bad news is that we're expanding massively as a company." I said.

"And what's the good news?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You're getting a promotion." I told him. "You'll be staying here to train people on recovering, repairing and setting up factory lines." I told him.

"We've got a lot of things moving around, and when the Snowden we purchased gets here in October, we'll have access to raw materials to start upgrading production." I told the man.

"Consider it done sir." Watson said. "It'll take time to get them trained up though."

"I know Watson, I'm splitting up your main team into various training groups so as to have a larger pool of trainees." I said.

"That should work." He replied. "It'll still take some time to get them work ready."

"You have eight months to have five teams trained up." I told him. "I can't promise much more time than that."

Hours later…

Was that the last meeting?" I asked Mary.

"Well, that was the last scheduled meeting for the day." She said, "Dr. Hale did send a message saying that you should meet her shortly for her to examine your eye."

"I'll meet with her aboard the Argo tomorrow." I said. "Anything else on the agenda?"

"Hull," Natasha walked into the room. "Nice scar you have there."

"Yeah, turns out a Naval Autocannon to the face can't keep me down." I chuckled. "It would have cost most people and arm and a leg get done what I did." I paused, "It only cost me an eye."

"That was pretty dark there Hull." Natasha told me flatly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah Nat, I'm fine; just really tired." I replied with a heavy sigh. "How'd everything go with the Dragoons?" I asked.

"It went pretty well." She replied. "The intel you gave me helped save a lot of lives."

"Good thing I sent it with you then." I shrugged tiredly in response. "Nat, I'm tired, can we do this dance another day? Because I'm done with this weird flirting thing we've been doing, just get to the point already." I got up and began to leave my office.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Natasha asked me, standing up and pinning me against the wall. "You are mine Mark Hull, and I'm not letting you go…."

Authors note: Y'all finally get what you wanted. You happy now? Looks sideways at Yuffie...