Marsh's duties were light. After landing on the planet they set to work on repairing the ship, it

wasn't till much later that they learned it was inhabited by intelligent human-esqu life. The flora and fauna

were both earth like in structure so they could adapt the wildlife into their cuisine. This made things a lot

easier on them when they discovered that the wild life was literally monstrous.

It is a lot easier to kill the wildlife when you can use it as food. Some of her fellow Medical

officers had lost their nerve when on a training tour on a planet where the most threatening life form was

an absolutely adorable puffball that made an endearing purring sound. They had to be shot on sight

because their 'fur' had little barbs with a neuro toxin that rendered most forms of intelligent life helpless.

To make matters worse if the corpse wasn't burned within an hour they divided into miniature cat-like

creatures versions that lacked the barbs. At first people treated the larval stage like pets until the

connection was made between the two creatures.

Marsha shook herself out of her darker memories. This planet had countless plants which had

effects on the human psyche. Its biodiversity in general made old earth's amazon look like one of the old

“lunar age” bio domes. It often reminded her of her child hood encounter with a psychic shape shifting

species that takes the form of peoples fears. It caused a man to go on a killing spree, the poor man had a

phobia regarding strangers. Eventually her own fear had overpowered the man's phobia and the creature

took the form of the man. After it killed him it took her own form, she was so frightened at the idea of

being killed by a mirror image and...

This was the fifth time her mind wandered off to some traumatic memory. The plant she was

studying must have some property to bring up traumatic memories. The number of potential poisons this

planet had truly frightened her. What made matters worse was that most of the plants left no chemical

signature in the body.

Yao had miraculously survived until planetfall. He was savaged by a local canine-oid species. It

happened almost as soon as he first left the ship. When she disected it's corpse she saw nothing out of the

ordinary for this type of creature. Upon running it's genetics she discovered it was a DNA based life form.

Further it was a perfect chromosomal match for a domestic dog. After some investigation it was

discovered that it was exactly like a dog. The human-esque natives kept them as companions for all the

same reasons earthlings did. A Fact confirmed by Whiskey, an off colored Golden retriever she had bred

out of some pups that had dug their way into the yard outside of the ship. Her other companion Boston, an

oversized Scottish terrier like dog entered the lab.

“It must be time for Dinner then.”

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and 5

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Orphans have very few career paths. They can work their way into a temple, work their way into

a gang, or work their way into band of warriors. Dirk chose the last option. His father had been a

blacksmith in a small village just outside of the Kingdom's southern border. There was a hard winter and

they couldn't pay the mercenaries that protected the village. There was a monster attack and the village

was done for. Dirk packed up what he could and made his way north. Eventually he made his way to

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Plainskeep. Predictably as the capital of the southern Border duchy it had a Mercenaries guild branch. He

applied for a position in a Free Section.

Naturally military terms require some explanation. At the lowest level obviously enough you see

individual personnel. Weather Mercenaries so called Hunters or support members they are all members

of the standing army, a town or cities Guard or members of the mercenary guild.

Parties, Patrols, Crews and Battle Teams are composed of 4-6 members. Battle teams are

composed of soldiers and warriors and are trained with nothing but combat in mind. They rarely act

without support and make up about a quarter of the Kingdom's forces. Patrols are primarily defensive

groups They have enough skill to defend themselves and police cities or towns but otherwise their man

purpose is to inform the leadership about any problems they encounter. Like Battle Teams they rarely

operate without further support. Crews in contrast are are geared and trained purely for support. Crews

take care of everything from administrative duties, transporting supplies and information, or building

anything the Mercenary group, or nobles army needs built. Parties are composed of individuals selected

for unsupported operations. When the Nobles fight each other this can be anything from harassing supply

lines, espionage work, and saboteur duties.

These groups are in turn organized into either Squards or Sections. Squads are composed of 2 or

3 'teams' while sections may have as many as 9 'teams.' Sections are general more independent than

squads but fill roles of a similar scale when they are the same size.

The next level is composed of Sections, Platoons and Bands. Platoons in general are made up of

2 or three squads, similarly sized Sections and band fill similar roles. Bands are composed of between 1

and 3 Sections and a number of supporting 'teams.' Large bands are little more than nomadic villages.

The distinction between 'Free' and 'Bound' Groups is that 'Free' groups are bound to service

should a noble call on them.

The Free Section Dirk was accepted into specialized in forest combat. His initial job was that of a

porter. It was composed of 4 Teams; a Party of Hunters, an Escort Battle Team, and two support Crews.

During his first two years with the group they were under contract with a Band that specialized in

command. Some Titular Baron felt he had been wronged and tried to execute some peasants that lived in

the village that supported his manor. Since he was a Baron in title only the Baron actually in charge of the

land stepped in and Judged the Peasant innocent. The 'Petty Baron' hired a mercenary band and the ruling

Baron hired mercenaries to handle the border defenses while his regular army fought off the other troops.

At the end of those two years Dirk got his first lesson in Mercenary Politics. The Defending

Barron made a promissory payment 'owed by the Title of Baron.' When the defending baron lost the war

and has his title usurped by the Petty Baron the Mercenary Company came to the new Baron for payment.

The new Baron refused saying he wasn't obligated to honor the promises of his predecessor. Two months

later the original Baron was back in power with the Leading mercenary group crowned under the Petty

Baron's old title. The restored baron payed the mercenaries for 'all services owed and the Bonus for

exceptional services as promised in the original contract.'

The lesson was that a Properly Worded and Executed Mercenary Contract is equivalent to Papers

of Nobility as the Commanding mercenary Band took the Titular Baron as reparations and was still

entitled to the promised pay.