A Dish Served Cold by Chris Hartford and & Jason M. Hardy

Author:Chris Hartford and & Jason M. Hardy [Hartford, Chris & Hardy, Jason M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 2019-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

ALARION CITY CONVENTION CENTER

ALARION CITY, ALARION III

LYRAN COMMONWEALTH

17 FEBRUARY 2462

Rive felt quite old. Connor, by contrast, seemed to enjoy fitting right in, and had started conversations with a significant number of attractive young ladies as the three men wandered the floor.

Interactive kiosks and wide holovid screens filled the entire large room with flashing lights and blaring noise. The ordinary people beneath these displays were almost invisible in the glare of the lights.

While Connor seemed to be enjoying himself, Singh and Rive had spent most of their time in the middle of the convention floor wondering what they were supposed to be doing.

“Are we supposed to find someone?” Singh asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Is someone supposed to find us?”

“I don’t know.”

They stood around for another ten minutes. Nothing happened.

“Perhaps we should walk around,” Singh suggested.

“Okay,” Rive said. “We can’t do much worse. I’ll separate Connor from that brunette.”

Once Connor was free, they made a slow circuit around the floor, talking to the occasional recruiter just in case someone on the floor had something to tell them. After an hour, they’d found no reason for them to be at the fair at all.

“Any job can pay you,” a speaker at a small booth was saying as the three men approached. “Many jobs can be rewarding. There are only a few jobs, though, that allow you to earn a living while strengthening your country.”

About eight people surrounded the speaker, and most of them nodded in agreement. The speaker had his hooks in.

“When you work for Stanislaw Consultants, you work for our men and women on the front lines. We consult on every matter critical to their livelihood—transporting food, ammunition, and other supplies, managing shipping lines, dealing with personnel issues—if it’s relevant to today’s military, we work on it. If you are lucky enough to be one of us, you will become a vital part of the war effort, working hand in hand with our brave military.”

Rive smiled. It was a pretty good sales pitch—all the man was offering was a desk job that most likely involved reviewing endless invoices and supply lists, but he was making it sound like the next best thing to piloting a ’Mech on the front lines.

He jerked his head, telling the other two it was time to move on. Unfortunately, Singh and Connor had already been pinned by another Stanislaw recruiter. Connor shifted restlessly, left foot to right and back again, while Singh managed to hide his impatience a little better. Rive walked over to see if he could rescue him.

“I think you gentlemen will find we have openings for people with a wide variety of skills and experience. Our company’s operations are as broad as the war effort itself.”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure it is,” Singh said. “Unfortunately we are somewhat pressed for time at the moment. If you could, perhaps, leave us a brochure…”

The recruiter beamed. “Certainly! Certainly, gentlemen. One for both of you.” He handed a small brochure with an impressive holographic version of the Stanislaw logo, a DropShip passing in front of a misshapen moon, on the cover.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.