We knew it was coming

There are times I wish I couldn't so readily predict the outcome of certain chains of events.  Like the chain which started before we evacuated Hale's Moon and ended with a Mercenary unit turning on their employer and holing up on a borrowed Alliance Light Cruiser.  Or whatever they had re-designated the IAV Sun Tzu II when they handed it over to the Mercs.

I'd always been mildly amused by the choice of ship, considering the IAV Sun Tzu, the ship Brigadier General Silvermane called home, filled a similar role, though was larger, newer, and still a Ship of the Line.  Fleet was large enough that I could actually see how they somehow recycled ship names before bringing the previous barer of the name out of service, but it still struck me as amusing that two ships of such similar designation and role would wind up in the same sector.

The fact that the mercenaries didn't intend to give the ship back led, inexorably, to an effort to reclaim the ship from them by other means.  Where a Diplomat like Lionheart would negotiate for it, or a Military Officer like Silvermane would offer terms to surrender the ship in the face of overwhelming firepower, and someone like myself would use more subtle means, we were dealing with a Blue Sun sponsored contract and, thus, a Blue Sun sponsored recovery operation.

Now, that didn't rule out any of the previous options.  Blue Sun was a business, and business interests usually went for the most expedient, least expensive, solution to any given situation.  Negotiations, military action, or infiltration were all on the table.  So, for that matter, was bribery.  It might be cheaper to just bribe them off the ship than to pay for the expertise to remove them by other means. But there was also some Face involved here, which meant there were other factors at play besides what method would have the best cost / benefit ratio.

Chatter had that "alternative" method being a rival Mercenary organization.

Not that that wasn't something I'd known about for a while.  Or something the former paid guardians of Dragon's Egg wouldn't also be expecting.  Even without my Intel resources, they would have to suspect Blue Sun to come after them in force, once they got past the "Ask nice and hope they accept" stage.  In truth, I hadn't quite expected them to bomb the colony in passing.    Though I probably should have.

Fortunately, I guess, I had already left town to visit Genni at their remote farm when the bombing happened. Which meant I was far from the action when it hit.  But I was left wondering why they'd done it.  Were they trying to frighten the colonists so they would beg Blue Sun to back off and let the Mercs keep the ship?  Were they being vindictive?  Or had someone just gotten a little too tense at the launch controls?

Hard to say and, truth be known, I didn't feel the need to infiltrate the ST2 to find out why.  It would come out, eventually, or it wouldn't.  The why wouldn't really change anything.  They'd bombed civilian targets, done a fair bit of property damage, and left two people missing.

The first, one of the local miners, was of measurable concern.  I'd have to find out if had any family so the town council could respond appropriately.  The other was Lily's boy; K2.

That would have much greater consequences.  Lily herself would be frantic, and the boy's erstwhile "father" was highly placed in the Myrmidon Order.  That translated to the Mercs bringing down a whole world of hurt, the likes of which they were likely ill prepared for.  Even if Blue Sun wasn't going to ante up for a first rate Merc unit, it was pretty much guaranteed the Myrmidons would be moving against Cerberus.

I just had to wonder how many observation drones I could get into place to watch the show.

Whether planned or not
Unintended consequence
Time to pay the price