[Ardan Sortek]
[The Triad, Tharkad, Lyran Commonwealth]
[January 30th, 3025]
"Then maybe this might help give my story some weight then?" Ardan, clad in the fleece hospital jumper that kept the nippy Tharkad air at bay, leaned forward as he held out the letter toward Melissa Steiner, "It appears as though I wasn't the only one to realize that something was amiss with Hanse."
"If it truly is Hanse," Beautiful full lips were quirked, ice blue eyes twinkling with mischief and amusement as she took the offered letter that had been hand-delivered via jumpship courier to the Triad's security, who then had a LIC agent deliver it to Ardan himself, "You were rather out of sorts while you were there, Ardan... it's why you're here to recover in the first place."
Melissa Steiner was a supreme beauty of a young woman, barely fifteen years of age but mature beyond her years; she understood the gravity of the situation when Katrina Steiner and Hanse Davion signed the FedCom Accords in secret, and was more than happy to play her part. She was to be wedded to the First Prince as part of the Accords to cement their two Great Houses together, and while any other young woman would be shocked to be married to a man more than twice her age, she handled herself with dignity and aplomb. If anything, she seemed rather enamored with Ardan's best friend, and she eagerly devoured any morsel that the Mechwarrior had to offer- everything was fair game, from stories to hidden factoids that no one else knew about her husband-to-be.
It was why she was here seated at the foot of his bed with a small bag of luxurious chocolates tucked between her legs; the young woman was a keen sort, and she wasn't going to just sit back and see where her future might take her. She took initiative, something Ardan approved of, and she was going to learn as much about Hanse as she could so that when the time came she could support him and the future Federated Commonwealth to the best of her abilities.
Unfortunately, it was inevitable that stories about Hanse's frequent trips to the Egg Carton, the cute nickname he came up with to call the secretive underground research facilities buried under the New Avalon Institute of Science, and Hanse's dalliances with the most frustrating man Ardan Sortek had ever had the displeasure to meet.
The Mechwarrior watched Melissa's features grow slightly more puzzled the further she read into the letter, and once she reached the 'meat and potatoes' he saw the wheels begin to start turning in her mind. She opened her mouth up before closing it, the young woman thinking rather hard until she opened it up again, though this time it was to slide a chocolate orb between her lips. "Hmmmm... Arthur Corean... he's the newly raised CEO of Corean Enterprises, is he not?"
Ardan grimaced as the dull-eyed know-it-all's face popped up before his very eyes, "Yes. He's also an arse with no manners, decorum, or even a shred of decency."
Her eyes lit up just a touch as she shifted at the foot of the bed, her lips pursing, "Oh? This sounds like a story."
It wasn't a happy one, or even a funny one, really, but Melissa Steiner seemed to be enthralled nonetheless, her jaw-dropping in awe, "Wait! I don't believe you! Did he really tell the First Prince of the Federated Suns to 'Get the Fuck out of his lab and to not bother him'!?"
Her cheeks colored as she looked around, as though her mother was going to leap out from behind the curtains to scold her for cursing.
It was sort of amusing to see, but it also drove home the fact that Melissa was only a few years older than any girl who'd have hidden behind her mother's skirts.
"Yes, yes he did, that uncouth..." He couldn't even call him a 'barbarian' because he was likely the single most educated man in the Federated Suns! Only Doctor Buckaroo Banzai, the Commander of Team Banzai, had as many Doctoral degrees as Arthur Corean- while Dr. Banzai had a Ph.D. in Biology, Engineering, and Bionics, Arthur had his in Engineering, Metallurgy, and Programming; however if one took into account the number of total Certifications of Mastery then the Corean prick had Banzai beat by spades. He was also one-third Dr. Banzai's age to boot.
"And how did Hanse respond to this outrageous turn of events?" Melissa leaned forward, eyes shimmering.
"He... simply laughed. Really, hard. I suppose that he was just as shocked as I was, but being the graceful soul he is Hanse didn't take any offense to it- primarily because there was no one else in the lab at the time except he, myself, and Arthur," Ardan said mirthlessly, a slight pang in his chest because when was the last time that he had ever gotten such a laugh from his best friend? One that didn't involve tripping over something in the Mech Bay or some other act of misfortune? Even his best jokes could at best get a hearty chuckle out of The Fox, but Ardan sort of knew, deep down, that he didn't really have it in him to be a comedian- he'd leave that to the experts, like Doctor Corean.
Now that man was someone who knew how to be a well-educated clown!
A whole damn circus unto himself.
"Hmmm... no doubt if there had been anyone else to witness the impropriety the outcome would have been different, but... if what you said about Hanse visiting Arthur every month is true," Pouty lips quirked up into a snooty smile, "Then it sounds like my dear Hanse had finally found a friend."
Brown eyes narrowed, "I am his best friend."
Melissa huffed dramatically before throwing her hands up, "Ardan! We all have different friends for different things! You're the friend that supports Hanse in everything he does, providing the stability and encouragement to carry on- and from the sounds of it Arthur is the type of friend that is supposed to tell you off when you're being annoying or overbearing... or stupid."
For the first time in a long time, Ardan felt a small flush of shame creep up his neck- he was a grown man and hardly Hanse's keeper, so it wasn't like he had the right to tell Hanse who he could be friends with! It's just-! Why did it have to be Arthur Corean that Hanse found another kindred spirit in!?
Melissa had seen fit to ignore his inner turmoil as she popped another chocolate between her lips and regarded the letter once more, "It appears as though Mister Corean was keen enough to pick up on the fact that the Hanse Davion he met wasn't the Hanse Davion he knew, which is lending some credence to what you witnessed on Stein's Folly. While I can't speak to 'improper or lacking microexpressions', the sheer lack of familiarity this False Hanse showed with Mister Corean... the lack of knowledge of obscure 20th Century film references, and the 'making him wait' when Hanse had promisedotherwise... it does seem to smack of something fishy."
Her eyes drifted over to the sealed container that the letter arrived in, "Given that he wrote this letter and then sent it via courier the moment he finished his meeting with Hanse... and paid for the Platinum Express Shipping tells me that he was alarmed enough to ensure that this letter reached you as soon as possible while still being discreet."
Ardan winced.
Arthur Corean had opted to pay extra for the 'Platinum Express Shipping', which gave every jumpship crew that carried a message an eye-watering $25,000 C-Bills for carrying and delivering it to the next jumpship in the chain. Given it was 19 jumps between New Avalon and Tharkad, and ComStar tacked on an additional 20% Service Charge for arranging the shipping... the CEO of Corean Enterprises paid $570,000 C-Bills just to have this letter delivered.
"The man is arrogant, of that there can be no doubt, but he is... attentive and has an eidetic memory; everything he's seen once he can recall perfectly. I would know, Hanse tested it by generating a 100-number string at random and he repeated it all back to Hanse with perfect accuracy. So him doing something as banal as memorizing Hanse's ticks and microexpressions well enough to tell him apart from the Doppelganger I saw on Stein's Folly is something he'd do," He looked over at the messenger tube, "And while arrogant the man is anything but loose with his C-Bills. He wouldn't have spent such a large amount to have this rushed to me in such a clandestine fashion if he wasn't worried about the 'body double' that I and Quintus Allard 'approved'."
Melissa Steiner grabbed the now empty bag of chocolates and stood up, the future bride of Hanse Davion turning to Ardan, "This has given me more than enough cause to talk to my mother, Ardan. Even if she doesn't approve I will talk to some of my friends and we'll see about getting you a jumpship, a dropper, and some Heavy Metal to take with you to Stein's Folly. If there is something to this... then I want to see that this plot is foiled."
Ardan perked up, "Well, before you go... I'm going to need you to message some of my people, discreetly."
"Sounds expensive," Melissa quipped wryly as he picked up the courier tube and shook it with her hand, "You're in luck, however, because I just so happen to be one of the wealthiest young women in the Inner Sphere."
The dogsbody of Hanse Davion grinned in return.
There were far worse fates in the Inner Sphere than to have your clandestine, off-the-books, and totally-not-sanctioned operations bankrolled by a Steiner.
He just really wished that Melissa had believed him instead of the arrogant smart alec she'd never met before.