MOD:WCU:PR3blair

The following post has been obsoleted by later re-thinking. It makes Blair know too many things at this stage. We've later thought that Blair might meet Steltekers after the war, and get in touch with Burrows for some "gray ops". So, at the time they meet at the end of the war, on a carrier, Blair doesn't know a fraction as much. But here is the obsolete post, just for the record and inspiration...

Okay, October 2669 it is, then... Important that the war musn't have ended, or else we miss the opportunity for a military stint. Not that the peace lasted that long, anyhow, if I'm reading things right; but I like the idea CC and I came up with of starting part 3 with the loss of your ship, and having to work as gunner on cargo ships to make a living, until you make it to Perry, or Goodin comes looking for you, then you enlist. Blair is at TCS Victory in the Orsini system at this time, the captain is Eisen. Burroughs could start the military stint off Perry, aboard a carrier under the command of Reismann, making incursions into Northern Kirlrah. After a successful stint Terrel ups your rank and tells you that you are now a full Reservist, with access to buy mil-spec upgrades and some decommisioned ships; but the bad news is that they are calling in reservists, and therefore a second stint is required before you're free to go; and this is with the 19th Fleet, under the command of Admiral Tolwyn. This stint takes you East, then South, then West through Kilrah, and ends with a randevouz with the TCS Victory in the Caliban system. Admiral Tolwyn takes command of the TCS Victory from Eisen, and you have the opportunity to meet Blair at the bar, and have a long chat with him...

--'Colonel Blair?'

--'Uh..?

--'May I have your autograph?'

--'Yes, you look like the famous privateer... Burroughs? I'm very honored to meet you. What brings you to the front?'

--'Fame has cost me a very expensive ship, AND my savings; so then I heard the Confed were hiring...'

--'I know, I actually heard all about it. And my autograph might fetch a few thousand extra credits, to help equip your next ship... Tell you what: I'll give you two autographs in exchange for your answering some questions I have about your meeting with Dr. Monkhouse, and the events that followed your missions for Monte...'

--'What... and how do you know about Monte?'

--'I'm afraid there are many things which Military Secrecy forbids me to share with you. I believe I violate no rules, however, in telling you that there's a chance you'll meet him again, in the not too distant future...

--'Is that so? Have you heard any news about Dr. Monkhouse?

--'Presumed dead. His passenger transport was attacked by Kilrathis en route to Sol... his eject capsule never found... But my question is: did he mention anything about his reasons for being on Palan? Was he really trying to find Steltek artifacts in Palan?'

--'He only mentioned being kidnapped by a corporation and taken there against his will, but the planet then was bombed from space, killing his kidnappers and allowing him to escape. I believe he then sought financial support... --and presumably protection-- from Rondell Corporation.'

--'That's what I thought! Bronte... Lynch's people... I believe you also met Lynch...

--'I can't say it was with pleasure.'

--'Pretty civil for a mobster, considering you were in possession of his artifact'

--'HIS artifact? You mean the Steltek map? I never took it from him!'

--'Of course you didn't. Ernesto Sandoval, Rondell's majority shareholder at the time, had it stolen off Bronte's headquarters.'

--'I see, ... so let me guess... Rondell had a holo of Dr. Monkhouse's other piece...'

--'Very likely; good guess.'

--'... then Lynch caught and... questioned... Sandoval, before he could leave New Detroit, and found out Rondell had a holo of the other piece, and had his cronies at Bronte order a siege of the planet... ostensibly regarding "food exports"...

--'You're a pretty clever privateer.'

--'And you seem to know a lot of things for a Confed Colonel.'

--'Let me put it to you this way: Just because I wear a Confed uniform and a few stripes, doesn't mean I have to be dumb... And you're likely to take an interest on who's really on whose side, after being framed once...'

--'But if you have access to such information, how come you need to ask me questions?'

--'Some of my information comes through unofficial channels; I never trust it 100%; that would indeed be dumb...'

--'Makes sense...'

--'The rest, of course, can't be trusted at all.'

--'Exactly what I was thinking... So who were the ones bombing Palan?'

--'I can tell you it wasn't Confeds; and that only leaves the Kilrathi... Some Kilrathi, indeed... Remarkable aiming!... Which brings me to my next question: Through Monte you made contact with a founding member of the Church of Man, I understand. How did your conversation go?'

.............................

--'If your privateering exploits ever take you back to Gemini, please send my regards to Masterson at Oxford... we were classmates in primary school in Sol. Tell him I shall come to visit him after this bloody war is over, if it ever is...'

--'I shall do so.

--'Here's my autographs; I hope we meet again.'

--'Thanks. Bye for now, Colonel Blair; a pleasure to meet you.'

--'The pleasure was mine; bye Burroughs; good luck.'

Now you fly to Sol under Eisen, and get an honourable discharge, the faction-specific side-plots become enabled, and the resolution plot of the steltek gun saga can begin.

It is shortly after the above that the peace treaty gets signed. Of course, we know that the kats have no intention to honor the treaty, and their aid to the retros continues. The short peace interval, however, sees a major influx of military materiel into the civilian market, illegally sold through the likes of Lynch, Lang, and Kroiz.

So, as I said, the above is obsolete. What Burrows and Blair might talk about, instead, is combat tricks, and then fight each other all night on the simulator. Something like that, just to make them make a friendly acquaintance that we might use later in the plot. Something like the above conversation could actually happen with someone else. Maybe in a 3 way chat at a bar with Monte and Monkhouse...