Chapter Fifty-Eight: What Happens on Bachelor night…

Chapter Fifty-Eight: What Happens on Bachelor night…

Avalon City, New Avalon, Federated Suns

December 25th, 3012

"So, got any thoughts on the bachelor party?" I asked Ian now that we were doing the private Davion Christmas party.

"Honestly, I'm delegating it to you." Ian told me with a straight face.

"No Ian, seriously I need to know what to prep for." I responded.

"Yeah, I'm delegating it to you." Ian shrugged. "You spent the better part of two years with him after all, I'm sure you'll come up with something."

"You better be glad I brought a Union with me." I told the Troll in front of me. "How's the fixed spine treating you?"

"Well, your people do really good work." Ian said in response. "I'll have to negotiate with the Canopians to get some of their people to come work for NAIS."

"It's more than likely worth whatever you end up having to trade for them." I told him. "Having the Helm core will help with the tech, but having people who know how to both build and use it properly is worth its weight in germanium."

"I agree, and I'll have some of my people reach out to the Magistracy soon." Ian told me.

"'I'm heading for bed." I stretched, having finished my sweet tea. "I've got a lot of planning to do."

"Don't let Natasha wear you out too much!" Ian called out as I walked away.

January 12th, 3013

"Alright, we're doing a simulated warfare drop from orbit." I told the assembled groomsmen. "We all have paintball guns and cut down Mithril suits to make sure we survive the drop. Seeing as there are seven of us if you include Hanse and Arthur We'll split up into teams of three with myself as referee. Hanse has the first pick, Ian has second." I made sure they could hear me. "Any questions." The assembled group just shook their heads. "Good, Hanse, you get first pick."

"Ardan," Hanse said with a smirk, and the team picking went from there. Hanse had Ran Felsner and Arden Sortek, and Ian had Arthur and Ben Banzai.

"Teams are locked in?" I asked, and they all gave their affirmatives. "Get your weapons." I handed all six of them identical paintball guns and helped them do safety checks on the two pods we would be using. Instead of the ODST pods from Halo, we had ended up with a design that deployed entire fireteams that had the same size as the 'Mech drop pods. "Now, I'm the Ref, if I call you out and RTB you RTB or you're out." I gave them a brief discussion of the rules and climbed into the pod I would be taking down with a grin. This was going to be fun.

One hour later…

"No Arthur, don't leave me!" Ian cradled the paint splattered Consort. "I can't win this fight without you!" Everyone was struggling to contain our laughter as the drama played out.

"Yes, you can carry on and win, tell Katrina I did my best." And Arthur "Died" in Ian's arms.

"I will have my vengeance, Brother!" Ian roared when I doubled over in laughter not able to contain it anymore. "I can hear you laughing at my misfortune even now!"

Arthur couldn't contain his laughter anymore and his frame vibrated from the laughter.

Then, Hanse's trio surrounded Ian, their paintball guns pointed at his head when Banzai literally swooped in from above on his jump jets and splattered them all with paint. "Hanse's team eliminated Ian has the victory." I announced over the universal comm channel.

"I have to tell you Mark, I didn't think this would be as fun as it has turned out to be." Hanse told me and the rest of the groomsmen plus one nodded. "Well, we can do some team swaps and some other things, but we've got this field rented out for the rest of the day." I told them. "And then, I've got a small hole in the wall that Mathis told me about rented out for the evening when we're done here."

"Well then, let's get back to it." Hanse said, I've got a score to beat."

From there, the rest of the day was a back and forth of wins and losses between the two brothers and various drama plays such as the time we had a Battle Royale style and Ian and Hanse teamed up to kill the rest of the group before turning on each other.

"It's over Ian, I have the high ground!" Hanse yelled from the top of the hill he was standing on.

"You underestimate my power Hanse Davion!" Ian yelled back.

"Don't try it." Hanse told Ian before Ian used his jump jets to try and assault Hanse's position.

"You were the chosen one." Hanse told his brother. "You were supposed to destroy the rest of them, not join them. You were my brother Ian, I loved you." Hanse walked away with his final victory of the day as night started to fall.

"That was fun, what do you have planned next Mark?" Hanse asked with a small grin on his face.

"Just some good old fashioned relaxation." I said, "We could probably all use the break."

That evening…

"This is a nice place." Ran observed. "I'll have to bring the wife here sometime." We were seated at the bar of a small steak house with an attached two lane bowling alley and some pool tables.

"I'll have the twenty ounce Sirloin, medium rare with the side of mashed potatoes." I told the one waiter, and the rest of the group gave their orders. "Pool or Bowling?" I asked the assembled group.

"Ehh, we can start with bowling and finish with pool." Hanse said, easing himself into the surprisingly comfortable chairs by the bowling lanes. "So, you and Natasha Kerensky yeah?" He started with the obvious question.

"I know you paid off some of my people to set me up after Tikonov." I gave him a slight glare. "I forgive you for this." I said magnanimously as I reclined in my chair as if it was a throne. "But you must reaffirm your loyalty to the throne."

"I have just the thing." Hanse grinned as he slipped behind the bar and quickly prepared a drink before setting a single shot glass in front of me.

It was blue, possibly GLOWING but that might have been a trick of the light. "Hanse, is this going to kill me?"

"It's a Coolshot. I know you're not much of a drinker and this has more kick than the one beer you limit yourself to. Peppermint Schnapps and blue Curacao. Mostly." he chimed in with that insufferable grin still there.

"It's the mostly that concerns me." The rest of the guys had surrounded me and begun to softly chant "Drink, Drink, Drink, Drink, Drink…"

"I'm going to regret this aren't I?" I said before manning up and downing the concoction in one gulp.

"Hmm…" I considered for a second. "This drink, I like it. Another!" I slammed down the shot glass upside down to Arthur gaping at me.

"Hanse Davion, you are a miracle worker." Arthur said out loud. "I never saw him have more than one drink when we were a part of the Marksman… Never."

"This servant hears and obeys excellency." Hanse gave a mocking bow and went back behind the bar again, bringing out something Very red instead. "A true liege lord should be able to drink fire, yes?" He played up the ham. "Well, this is said to be concentrated from a pure fireball, and should cleanse your pallet after the Coolshot." He slid the shot glass over to me. "Bottoms up." I downed it to the cheers of the rest of the group, and we took turns bringing out shots for everyone to drink.

"I believe you had the twenty ounce sirloin?" The waiter set his tray down on a small serving table and began to pass out our food. "Yes, thank you."

The room grew silent as we each dug into our food. We had been playing all day, and we were starting to slow down a little bit. After we had eaten our food, we made our way to the bowling lanes and proved just how bad we were at the sport.

"Man, I'm glad that I learned how to bowl. Arthur said as he landed another spare. "I'm proving Lyran superiority even in Davion space."

"Screw you Arthur," Ian said as he took a sip of his beer. "I bet you can't beat us at pool."

"What's the wager?" Arthur asked, rolling his palms together. "I'll put a hundred pounds down that I win."

"I'll take that bet," Ran Felsner replied, and pulled out his own wallet to add to the pot. "Anyone else want in on the action?" The two of them asked. "I'm in, Banzai said as he dug his own wallet out and threw a hundred pounds down. Soon everyone had joined except for me.

"Not joining Mark?" Arthur asked, curious.

"I'm not good at pool anymore." I told them shrugging. "I enjoy the game, but since my first eye injury, I've not been able to see the angle's properly anymore."

"So, I'll play, but I won't join the betting pool tonight." I said, grabbing a pool stick and some chalk. "Let's do this."

Author's note: If you have as much fun and laughter reading this as I did writing it then I will have succeeded as an author... Also, I'm not going to write the bachelorette party. If someone else wants to, that would be fine with me.