NBA Dramatique, Prelude 1

Money. So many times so many things boil down to money. Such is the life of a mercenary. You fight because of pay, not principles. Your allegiances are based on the value of your services in the eyes of those willing to pay for those services. That kind of life makes you unsentimental in a very short time. You see everything as transient and tenuous and your skin thickens and your heart hardens.

Josh’s friend was gone. Josh’s friend, Josh, was gone. He was a merc pilot too. The funny thing though is that Gone Josh had very drastically changed the mercenary universe by the way he became gone. Gone Josh reminded them all that the world was a big place.

So Gone Josh got big money to go fight wars in a different part of the world. He didn’t defect to another warring tribe in this nation, and it struck Josh as somewhat strange that he would see his friend neither fighting at his side nor facing him down from the ranks of the opposition. There would be no aerial dogfight in which they could match skills. He was just gone.

Josh didn’t leave. He thought he could get even bigger money than Gone Josh from one of the warlords here, and he was right. In the end the air force that he had been flying for would continue to pay him to keep flying, and they would pay very well.

So what was he facing in the battles ahead? The pilots that he knew were getting better. The new guys looked decent. Their wing commander, Woodson, was still hanging around, for better or for worse. Would they be a more powerful force this time? Was it up to him? Was he the guy that made the difference? Was it time to stop thinking like a solo flier and start joining the squadron? Was it time to make this an air force to fear? There would surely be money in that.