Tales from the Cracked Canopy: The Razor's Edge of Opportunity
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| |
| The Razor's Edge of Opportunity | |
|---|---|
| Story information | |
| Author | Loren L. Coleman |
| Pages | 12 |
| Type | Short Story |
| Product | Shrapnel Issue 3 |
| Content | |
| Era | Jihad Era |
| Series | Tales from the Cracked Canopy |
| Preceded by | Giving Up |
| Followed by | The Red Wraith |
Tales from the Cracked Canopy: The Razor's Edge of Opportunity is a short story by Loren L. Coleman that was published in the third issue of Shrapnel Issue 3 on 15 December 2020.
Contents
Plot summary[edit]
A smartly suited man wearing amber-colored tactical shades with a pocket full of business cards that merely say "Consultant", briefly reflects upon his life and career as he visits the Cracked Canopy in the lull between the lunch rush and happy hour. Approaching the bar, the Consultant sits down two seats from an another exceedingly uneasy patron and focuses his attention upon the bar's infamous Memory Wall after ordering a Timbiqui Pale.
Commenting at the incongruity of a torn half of a Jack of Spades playing card next to a Blue Star of Kerensky, the junior part-time barman Jonathan eagerly begins to relate its history to the Consultant and the other patron, a story that the more seasoned Leo or Sedge would never tell so freely. Of a game of Free Worlds League Showdown between Mikhail Webb, Jake Fabian and Kincaid Stables owner Everett Kincaid. Betting with nothing to lose, Webb is able to bluff and convince Fabian to fold despite a better hand, an impressed Kincaid giving Webb Fabian's spot in an upcoming match and triggering a rivalry between both MechWarriors over the fateful Jack of Spades upon which the game turned.
When the now frightened patron attempts to leave, the Consultant insists he stay as he presses Jonathan to continue. The barman begins to discuss the card's history during the Word of Blake occupation, still traded back and forth between Webb and Fabian even as one or both joined the Blakists, before being used as a key to secure a debt with the yakuza. Fabian eventually reappeared after the dust settled with a slot with Lion Stables, paying for a round of drinks with half the Jack of Spades. Despite the rules against pro-Blakist items on the Wall, lack of confirmed knowledge about either man's loyalties have kept it there.
With Jonathan commenting that nobody will ever know for sure if Mikhail Webb fought for the Blakists, the Consultant decides to settle up, paying for his and the uneasy patron's drinks not with cash but with card - the other half of the Jack of Spades. With the shocked Webb dropping his glass, the Consultant watches as Webb's reactions shift between anger and hope before offering his business card to the man, promising his new client that DeLon Stables will be able to arrange a fight against Jacob Fabian within three weeks.
Featured characters[edit]
- The Consultant
- Jonathan
- Mikhail Webb
- Miranda Li
- Everett Kincaid
- Jake Fabian
- Erik Gray (mentioned)
- Thomas DeLon (mentioned)
- Justin Xiang (mentioned)
- Philip Capet (mentioned)
- Natasha Kerensky (mentioned)
- Leo Sullivan (mentioned)
- Sedge (mentioned)
- Jerome Blake (mentioned)