WAR: Merc: Getting There Eventually (1a of 3) 
By: Mildred, Shadowstar, Ann, Ligeia, Liz the Lucky, Megan, Rose 
(and If I've forgotten anyone I'm sorry) 
Time: Approx. 5:30 AM- 6:00 PM, November 8th, 2004 
Place: Various Homes, schools, vehicles, and MercCentral.

*****************************************

Mildred had woken earlier than usual, and was sitting in her comfy
chair in her computer room at home with a slight case of insomnia. She
was drinking water and snacking on carrots, surfing the web and
watching the spikes in traffic on the Forever Knight list.  Could it
be War? It had happened a few times before, where there would be a
flurry of activity, only to be quelled by bad timing, but this time,
it the traffic stayed consistent.

Then she got the call from Julia.  The UF leader thought that she had
come across a cure for vampirism and wanted all the factions to come
to Toronto to look for the rock.

Oh the smell of Profit way too early in the morning was wonderful and
disconcerting.  On one hand, she looked forward to the prospect with
every drop of her chocolate laced blood.  War meant getting in the
middle of the mayhem, but having the immunity of the Guild behind her,
while getting paid for it.  On the other hand, it would mean facing
the rest of the dance left over from the last War.  She'd have to face
the Grand High Poohbah/Pain-in-the-Butt Laurie MercBard, and a court
martial.  Libby would probably gleefully bribe the pants off of the
GHP (only figuratively, since this is a PG 13 War) to be the
Persecuting Attorney.

All of this fuss was because she gave away Nunkies Pops and Nicksicles
as promotional draws to get people to try the Janette Jellies and
Tracy Tarts.  An action that apparently was the Merc contribution in
mixing up the universe enough for the body switching to start that
War.  Mildred sighed at the lack of understanding on the part of the
universe with her profit schemes.

At least it would be for that, and not for the personal job that
Mildred promised Lacroix for the upcoming War.  Then again, she
offered the job to Lacroix as payment for bringing Laurie back to her
senses from the spells of F.Hugh, the Merc Fanfic Fairy.  It wasn't
against the charter to have to pay someone for a service.  Actually,
with having to pay rent, computer usage fees, and who knows what else,
the Mercs were very good at milking each other for chocolate or
favors.

There was only a small thought, quickly squashed, of not playing in
the War.  And even less of a thought of *not* going back to the Mercs
and taking the consequences for her actions last War. Even though
following Lacroix at times is tempting, Mildred was a Merc down to her
profit loving heart.  She has been a Merc from her first War, and
until her last.

Besides, there were the Vachon items to get into the market.  Thanks
to a deal with a llama during the last War, Mildred had the design
specs for Vachon goodies.  She had a plan for two types of goodies to
make from them.  The llama had been going on about Vachon snacky-cakes
(naughty cream filled things), but the idea of dulce de leche flavored
candy had come across Mildred recently and figured that it would work
very well.

The Merc Mommy General was also looking forward to the reaction of all
the old timers, from the Mercs and the other factions, when they saw
her slimmer body.

She went into the bedroom and woke up her boyfriend, Marnen, as gently
as possible and told him that that she'd be taking an emergency trip.
She offered to bring him along, but the musician had too many gigs to
during that time and paid gigs trumped a lot of things.  And he was
only getting vaguely familiar with what Mildred meant when talking
about the Forever Knight Fan Fiction Universe, so it wasn't the lure
it could have been.

So calls and arrangements were made.  Getting off of work from the big
corporate machine took some work, however she was able to arrange it.
Train tickets, rental car.  Making sure that Marnen had enough food
for himself and cat food and kitty litter for Nikita (their calico
Maine Coon mix).  Thankfully her new apartment in Poughkeepsie, NY was
much closer to a train station than when she lived in Albany.

*****************************************

Shadowstar shoved another item in her Superman gear bag and zipped it
shut.  She'd been hearing about a war from the Forever Knight list for
quite some time, and had come to school prepared.  She grinned evilly
as she pulled her suitcases full of toys out of the storage space in
her apartment and piled them next to the door.

It hadn't been as difficult to get time off from school as she'd
expected.  After all, her professors didn't expect a straight-A
student to go haring off to Toronto as mayhem-for-hire, and she could
always email them her papers.  It was probably a good thing that she
didn't have any art classes this term, she reflected.  It would be a
lot harder to keep up with those.

"Crap," she muttered.  "Forgot my sneak-suits."  Shadowstar hurried
over to her wardrobe and dug a bundle of charcoal-gray clothing out of
the back. She'd already packed the soft boots that went with them, but
had forgotten to pull them out.  After all, she hadn't needed them
since she and her friends had snuck into the bell tower of her old
school four years ago to paint the bell. She zipped open her gear bag,
stuffed them in, and zipped it up again.

She'd already ordered a ticket online to Albany, so all she had to do
was to take MARTA to the Atlanta airport.  All the rest of the
arrangements had been taken care of, and she even had directions to
Merc central.  Briefly, she wondered if she should change her listed
fee.  After all, if an employer couldn't find Superman's Suit for her,
Ultrawoman's or even Resplendant Man's would do in a pinch.

A soft giggle escaped as she grabbed a book off the well-stocked shelf
and stuffed it in her purse.  She always seemed to have weaknesses for
men who could fly.  And for the right price, she could even be
convinced to ground one of them…

Shadowstar took one last look around, grabbed her laptop case, purse,
and the rest of the luggage, locked the door, and hurried outside to
catch the MARTA bus that would take her to the train station to get to
the airport.  It was a fairly long ride from where she lived, and she
didn't want to make Ann wait long.  She tossed her long, thick braid
of red-brown hair over her shoulder.

There was a court-marshal coming up, and she was sure that she could
help in some way… perhaps even defend the Merc-Mommy General.  Her
only worry was that LaCroix and the Nunkies might remember what she
did to him last year in her crossover series.  After all, she'd never
heard of anyone except for Nick actually *living* after they'd made a
fool out of the General and she was pretty sure that Nick was a
special case.

*********************************

Megan looked at the map, then at her surroundings, then back at the
map.  She looked at it sideways, turned it upside down, and squinted
at it again.  Finally, she sighed, admitting herself defeated.  While
she was not as directionally-challenged as her sister, Rose, the map
she had been e-mailed to get to Merc Central was itty-bitty, blurry,
and otherwise impossible to read!

"Katie!"  Megan glanced around, and then yelled again.  "Katie, get
over here!"  A shadow fell across the map, informing her that her
friend was standing behind her.  Spreading the map on top of one of
the suitcases, she attempted to explain.  "OK, look, Katie.  We're..."
she squinted at the map, then pulled a knife out of her back pocket
and flicked it open, using the point to... well, point, "here.  Merc
Central is..." she glanced around, "somewhere in that direction," she
decided, pointing vaguely north.  Think you can find it?"  Megan knew
Katie *could*, the problem was convincing her that she *wanted* to.

Katie bounced slightly on her toes, grinning slyly.  "What if I
can't?"

Megan scowled.  "Well, seeing as I have no money for a hotel, we'll
have no place to stay."  Katie shrugged, her grin not changing.  She
didn't have (and had never had) any problem with 'sleeping rough'.
Megan's scowl turned to a glare.  "OK, try this: if we don't find Merc
Central within the next 2 hours, I'm going to give you that other dose
of Haldol in my backpack and *MAIL* you back to Arizona!  No War!"

Katie laughed at the threat then darted obligingly down the indicated
street.  Megan sat down on one of the suitcases, pulled out a
paperback novel, and waited.

*****************************************

In a happy, fortuitous manner, a position suddenly opened up for a
physics undergraduate to assist in research for two weeks at the
University of Toronto under the supervision of one Dr. Alan Anders.
Happily and fortuitously, Ann's application was accepted, and her
professors were enthusiastic about the prospect (most likely because
it would get her out of their classrooms).

In the Albany airport, Ann stood waiting for the heretofore
unknown-to-her Shadowstar.  Espying a woman carrying a suspiciously
lumpy superhero carry-on bag with a laptop slung over the other
shoulder for balance, Ann waved her over. Introductory pleasantries
were exchanged.  Comments were made regarding the similarity of their
hairstyles.   As they neared the baggage claim area, Shadowstar
paused.  "You did say you have a station wagon, right?"

"'81 Datsun 210," Ann said proudly.

"Good," Shadowstar replied.  Four hefty suitcases later, she was
finally done retrieving her baggage.  "No, you don't want to know
what's in these," she said with a quelling look.

A day's worth of driving, camaraderie, and Forever Knight scene
enactments at rest stops later, the two arrived in Toronto.

"You can just let me off... here," Shadowstar said with a shifty look
about her as they approached a generic park.  "I'll find my way to
where I'm going and send somebody to find you and bring my suitcases.
Why don't you go check in at the university?"

As soon as Ann turned the next corner, Shadowstar shifted her
mysteriously irregularly-shaped bag on her shoulder and, with a hard
look around her to make sure she wasn't followed, pulled out the
fiendishly complicated map and headed for Merc HQ.

At the University of Toronto, having found the Physics building, Ann
asked for the lab of Dr. Alan Anders.   "You'll want to try his
office, miss," said the person of whom she asked directions.  "He
doesn't have a lab anymore, after the peculiar accident.  Claimed it
was destroyed in the middle of a recent War, of all things.  War Nine,
I think he said.  Hmmph, physicists--no sense of history."

'I had no idea Toronto would be this strange,' thought Ann.

A few minutes later, a tiny specimen of humanity walked into Alan's
tiny specimen of an office.   "Hi, I'm Ann Towson, your new
assistant," the human specimen said. >  "Hi, call me Alan.  The very
basic equations for what we're doing are on this sheet of paper.  You
have seen the definition of probability current, right?  j-hat of x
and t equals 1/(2m) times psi star momentum operator psi plus
(momentum operator psi) star psi.  We can start with that."

'Goodness gracious,' thought Ann, 'I have no idea what this man is
saying.'

Alan pointed to another note on the page.

"You'll remember, of course, that eigenvectors with distinct
eigenvalues for a Hermitian operator must be orthogonal."

'No,' Ann worriedly mused again, 'not the faintest idea what he's
saying.  Perhaps I should switch to chemistry.'

Noticing that his new assistant seemed about to bolt precipitously
from the office, Alan suggested that they take a tour of the city
before setting to work.

Relievedly, Ann agreed.

"I'll drive," she said chipperly, hoping that she could convince him
to take her past landmarks of her favorite show.  "I like to drive.
Besides, I need to know how to drive my way around town."

After the tour of Toronto had taken them past 101 Gateway Lane, the
Raven, and CERK studios, both occupants of the car came to the
conclusion that the other occupant was also a Forever Knight fan. They
promptly set off on a search for Natalie's apartment. Unfortunately,
Ann made a few wrong turns, and they found themselves in a place
neither had seen before.   Suddenly, a rat sprang with high velocity
out of an innocuous-looking sewer.  An argument immediately broke out
as to whether the rat's landing would be an elastic collision (it
bounced) or an inelastic collision (it went splat). After much
judicious use of persuasive diagrams, the physicist and the
physicist-in-training decided to follow the rat's path for
experimental verification.

Shadowstar's head popped around a row of tall bushes.

"What are you doing here?" she asked her erstwhile road trip
companion.

"Err..." Ann replied, gesturing at the physicist, who was just then
disappearing into another clump of bushes, peering intently about
himself in search of the rat in question.

Shadowstar's eyes lit upon her four suitcases, still in the copious
back of Ann's station wagon.    "Do you have a place to stay while
you're here?" Shadowstar asked.

"Well, not yet," Ann replied.  "The university gave me a stipend for
off-campus housing."

At the word "stipend," a gentle breeze wafted through the bushes like
fairies' song, and the sun came out from behind the ever-present
clouds, shining directly on Merc Central.

"Well, why don't you stay with us--and while you're moving in, you can
help me with these suitcases," invited Shadowstar innocently.

Casting a last glance at the clump of bushes behind which Alan had
disappeared in pursuit of a rat, Ann gave a shrug and capitulated.

Shadowstar opened the door to Merc Central and walked inside, pulling
some her luggage behind her on cart she's borrowed. Ann followed,
hauling more stuff.  "Hello?" Shadowstar called.

"Anybody home?" Ann said.

Shadowstar sighed and flipped on the lights.  "Just my luck.  My first
War, and we're the first ones to get here."

Ann shrugged.  "There's rooms over there," she said, pointing towards
the left.  "Just find one and settle in."

"Wait just a sec," Shadowstar said as she spotted a white, fluttering
piece of paper tacked to one of the inner doors.  She walked over,
grabbed it, and started to read.

"Gone fishing.  Will be back in a couple of days. Mildred's in charge. 
I'll deal with her later. Grand High Poohbah, Forever Knight
Mercenaries Guild, Laurie MercBard"

"Great," she muttered as she handed the note to Ann. "Laurie isn't
here.  Let's hope that our fearless leader is back before everything
hits the fan.  This *is* a war after all, and *nothing* ever goes to
plan!"  Shadowstar sighed and headed towards the rooms, dragging her
luggage with her.  Briefly, she hoped that she had everything she
could possibly need for the War.  After all, one never knew what
skills might be bought and paid for during a War.


Bast got the call for the Mercs and was at a loss for what to do.
Before being able to leave, she had to figure out what to do with her
two little ones.  A few phone calls later, with desperate please and
bribe offers, left her with no choice- she'd have to take to take them
all with her.  There was no one who would take Her Royal Majesty
Sorcha [known as the PurrMonster(tm)] and Ankhesunamun [known as Ankh
for short or the PurrBeast(tm)], not that they'd accept being put into
a kennel or anything like that in the first place.

When on the phone with Mildred, she had arranged to meet the Merc
Mommy General at the Poughkeepsie, NY Amtrak/Metro North train
station.  Mildred was able to arrange parking at her house a few
blocks away, and they all walked their stuff down the hill to the
station.  During the train ride, Mildred then arranged to change the
smaller rental car she had waiting at the train station to a rental PT
Cruiser (purple) with a roof carrier.

When Mildred finally got to MercCentral, she took a deep breath before
opening the door.  She didn't see anyone else, although it looked like
someone was already there.  She steeled herself, expecting Laurie's
VOICE to greet her, but it was quiet- too quiet.  She showed Bast to a
large room and excused herself, while Bast settled in and the two cats
jumped onto the bed and curled themselves into the conforter.

Mildred she went to her own room and dropped off her stuff and went to
the computer lab, expecting the VOICE to come piercing through the air
at any moment like a bolt from a crossbow.  She got to work, figuring
that news and profit reports would be a good way to initially placate
the GHP.  And also to start some research on the Mississauga and that
treaty that Julia had found.  After a little while, she went to one of
the backdoors to get some air.

*************************

There was a fumbling on the front step of Merc Central, and the
doorknob rattled, stopped, then rattled harder, accompanied by a
stream of invective.  A pause, then the doorknob turned quickly to one
side and the door flew open, banging hard against the wall.

Megan growled as she re-caught her balance after the solid kick that
had opened the door, then bent to retrieve her bags, hitching her
leather backpack higher on her shoulders.  Peering around the bulk of
the luggage was a short, slim girl with dark red hair.  She grinned
widely as she glanced around the entrance, then without a word slipped
around her friend and disappeared into the huge house.  Megan grunted.
She would have yelled at Katie to come back and get her own bag, but
she was too #@&^ tired to care.  She really should have known better
than to give Katie a time frame like 'two hours', since she had used
nearly the whole time leading Megan from one 'cool thing I found' to
another.

Dragging the luggage behind her, Megan headed for the nearest hallway,
figuring that that was where the bedrooms would be.  Thankfully, the
first one she came to was unoccupied and boasted two twin beds.  Megan
dumped the gear in the middle of the room and threw herself onto one
of the beds.  Katie wandered in, munching a chocolate bar she'd stolen
from somewhere, and glanced around.  "This ours?" she asked, mouth
half-full.  "It is now," Megan said firmly.  Katie crouched and began
to rummage through the bags.  "Leave that one alone," Megan instructed
her. "That's got all the electronic equipment in it."  Katie
obligingly moved to a different bag, finally coming up with the canvas
satchel she habitually wore slung across her shoulders.  Megan watched
her add a few of her toys to it, then took a deep breath and sat up.
"Well, I guess we better find out who else is here."

"There's a lady in the computer room and two upstairs and someone's
coming up the block with a herd of deer," Katie reported.

Megan paused.  "Deer?" she asked curiously.

"An' a couple of llamas."

Megan peered out the window, then shrugged.  This was Canada, what
else could you expect?  "Hm.  Looks like Rose is with them," she
commented, turning to find the room empty again.  With a sigh, she
went to the door and yelled the top of her lungs, "STAY *INSIDE* THE
HOUSE!!!"  Satisfied she could do no more to control the girl, she
decided she'd better find her house-mates and introduce herself. She'd
explain about Katie later.

"Mildred, that you?" she asked hesitantly when she noticed a woman
coming out of the door labeled "Computer Lab".

"Yes, that's me," the blonde woman answered.

Megan put on a polite smile.  "Nice to finally meet you," she offered,
holding out her hand.  "I'm Megan."

"You do realize there's a "Megan" playing with the DPs, don't you?"
Mildred asked, shaking her hand.

Megan looked concerned.  "Is there?  Well, I guess every can call me
Meg, then.  That's what my friends call me, anyway.  Oh, by the way,
there's a deer herd coming up the street.  Since my sister's with
them, I guess they're coming here."

"Deer?"

"Yeah, and some llamas.  And I think I saw an alpaca."

*********************************

"I have to go to the bathroom!"

Liz the Lucky sighed as she looked at the figure standing next to her.
Unmistakably male, nearly six feet tall. Over six feet tall if you 
count his antlers. But it wasn't him who spoke. "Why didn't you go
when I  did?" she asked the figure on the buck's back.


"I didn't have to go then," Rose Thatcher answered, doing her best to 
look innocent. After all, it wasn't *Liz* who was tied to and bouncing 
around the back of a deer.


"We're almost there. Can you wait?"


"How far?"


Liz pointed to the Welcome to Toronto sign. "That far."

"Okay, but don't say you weren't warned."

The two set off again, followed the the herd. Mostly deer, but with a
few llamas, alpacas and assorted other hoofers in the mix. As the
group walked the streets of Toronto, some of the animals broke off in
ones and twos until just over half of them were left when Liz and Rose
reached Merc HQ. Liz untied Rose in the possibly vain hope that Rose
couldn't get lost in the short distance to the back door, and the new
Merc slid off.  In a slight daze, and trying to streach out her legs,
Rose wandered off.  Like a shot, the buck was off after her, and
herded her back with much protesting on her part.  Used to what had
become common over the long trip, Liz ignored her.

The back door flung open and Mildred stepped out. "What are those
doing  here?"

Rose rocketed past and attached herself to Megan, nearly knocking the
taller, yet skinnier sister off her feet.  "MEGAN!"

Megan instantly responded, "ACK!  LET GO!"

"They followed me home," Liz answered, unfazed by the reunion. "Can I
keep them?"

"Keep them?  Where?  It's going to attract a lot of attention to have
all of them around, and attention will lead to someone finding out
where we are."  Mildred's voice rose as she looked over the herd.

"Don't we have an old warehouse or something to put them in?  Or divvy
them among parks?"

"We might have something.  It should take about a half hour to sort it
out.  And then those llamas and alpacas are getting sheared.  And I
get the fiber.  Thank goodness I brought my spinning wheel and the
drop spindle."

Liz tilted her head and looked at Mildred again.  "Is it just me or
have you lost weight?"

Mildred grinned.  "I'm glad there's someone around who'd notice. Yeah,
I'm working on shaping up.  In fact, my request list for the fridge
and pantry may surprise you, compared to previous years.  Come on in,
I'll get to work on store that herd somewhere."


*****************************

It was a windy November day in Lethbridge, Alberta. Actually, it
wasn't that windy--the gusts were only peaking at 40 km/h, down from
110 km/h from earlier in the week.

The weekend had been thoroughly horrible. Due to Ligeia's usual
disorganization, she and The Professional had missed meeting with her
Lethbridge relatives. And the gates of Fort Whoop-Up gates were locked
tight when they arrived to discuss plans for a fur trade reenactment.
The Pro glowered at Ligeia, but before he could speak, Ligeia's cell
phone rang.

It was Eve, calling from Winnipeg. A new War had broken out in
FK-land, and that meant lots of goodies for all hard-working,
dark-chocolate-hearted Mercs. Ligeia gave a silent alleluia. *This*
would take The Pro's mind off the present disaster.

"Sorry, Pro, there's a war on--I gotta get going to the Center of the
Universe (tm). See ya! By the way, I should be coming back with lots
of lovely Callebaut chocolate for you."

"Hang on, Lije," the Pro insisted sweetly. "What kind of war is this, 
exactly?"

One long, complicated conversation later, The Professional was
insisting on accompanying Ligeia to Toronto. Although he was a total
War newbie, Ligeia was relieved, because without him the drive to
Toronto would be very long indeed. Besides, as a mercenary, the Pro
was a natural; his teddy-bear looks hid a piercing intelligence and a
startling array of skills in mayhem, intrigue, and the just plain
obscure. Ligeia's knowledge of the western Canadian fur trade
(1774-1821) was perhaps not as thoroughly useful as her husband's
wider repertoire, but still, it had been helpful in the most
unexpected places. And hadn't Eve said something about the Mississauga
Indians and a treaty playing a role in the new War? As long as it led
to chocolate, Ligeia was up for anything.

First, though, they needed to fuel up the gas-guzzling truck that
pulled their fifth-wheel travel trailer; the wind resistance had made
the fuel gauge drop quite rapidly on the drive south from their
Calgary home. They pulled into a PetroCanada near the spectacular
University of Lethbridge building. (See
http://www.phys.uregina.ca/sparro/huber/arch/uleth1.jpg !) They were a
well-oiled team; as The Pro pumped gas, Ligeia hopped out of the
truck. "It's a long way to Toronto! I'll get some snacks once I'm out
of the bathroom, okay?"

The Pro grunted & nodded. After Ligeia used the washroom in the RV
(much cleaner than a gas station restroom, ugh) she headed to the
convenience store, leaving the trailer door unlocked so that The Pro
could use the bathroom while she paid for the gas and snacks.

A passing U of L student overheard Ligeia mention their destination.
"Toronto, eh?" Tessa thought. "Why, I wuz just wonderin' how oi could
get there, as I'm a bit short of the readies. Now oi can j'ine up wit'
the Ratpack an' start gettin' meself a new mess o' shiny-pretties."
Once Ligeia left the trailer, Tessa quickly scurried into the trailer
and up the stairs onto the bed. She dove under the thick duvet. Not a
minute too soon! The trailer rocked slightly as the Pro opened the
door and headed for the bathroom. Sixty seconds later, Tessa was again
alone in the trailer as it glided smoothly eastward, boosted by the
tailwind.

"Thank goodness," Tessa sighed. She threw back the bedcovers to see
what on earth had been poking her in the back. It was the wooden butt
of some kind of old fashioned rifle, with a flint fixed to a very
strange trigger apparatus. Beside the bed was a similar gun, and two
different bows--one wood, one fiberglass. A wooden sword? How weird
was _that_! By the other side of the bed was a heap of odd
old-fashioned clothing: a green tailcoat of heavy wool, a variety of
white cotton shirts and colored skirts, two pairs of moccasins, and
some other things she couldn't identify.

But the goodies that stocked the fridge and cupboards were easy to
identify, and the shelf next to the loveseat was well-stocked with
science fiction. Although Robert Heinlein and Orson Scott Card weren't
quite to her taste, they would do in a pinch. They were preferable to
the Pokemon comics that were crunched in beside them; Tessa enjoyed
comic books, but she had her limits. For the next ten hours, Tessa was
in Ratpack heaven--fixing a sandwich when she was hungry, reading
until she got carsick, and napping when she was sleepy. Although she
felt guilty for not working on her Urban Anthropology studies, the
feeling quickly passed.

And then the trailer stopped for a full fifteen minutes. Just as Tessa
was considering peeking from under the duvet to see what was
happening, the trailer door opened and something hard landed on her.
She bit her lip as voices drifted in through the door. "So when did
Mildred call you? And do you think we can find our own way to Merc
Central this time without getting lost?" Tessa couldn't believe her
luck--she had stowed away with two Mercs. But there was a third voice,
a female one.

"Take this, please?" The trailer swayed as somebody stepped inside.

Tessa bit her lip again, as a heavy box of books on Ancient Egyptian
was dumped on her toes. The trailer swayed again, as somebody else
climbed aboard.

"Just the way I remember it," Eve exclaimed. "Although there were
fewer postcards on the fridge door last time."

"Well, we've traveled a bit since then, tormented some Parks Canada
employees. Let me tell you what we did at Cape Spear..." Ligeia
paused, suddenly remembering how the mention of tourists had deeply
affected the Parks worker during the last War.  Eve smiled weakly.
"It's okay, Lije, I'm better now." But the tic in her left eye
suggested that she was just putting on a brave face.

"In that case, let's roll!" said The Pro heartily. "We're burning
daylight, and it's a long way to Toronto. I'd really like to avoid
driving through the area north of Lake Superior at night--I'm afraid
we might hit a moose. We've had a few close calls on that stretch
before."

Twelve hours later, they rolled into the spacious parking garage at
Merc Central. For the last six hours, Tessa had been sharing her
living space with a rather stunned yearling moose, which had been
struck a glancing blow by the truck. The three Mercs couldn't drop the
unconscious animal at a vet during the night, even if they *had* felt
that they had the time to spare, so they decided to take it with them
to Toronto and find a vet there instead.

As soon as the Mercs were gone from the trailer door for a couple of
minutes, Tessa slipped out so she could run over to Screed's place to
hook up with the rest of the Ratpack.

**********************************************************

So The Mercs gathered, one by one
Following profit like the moon does the sun
Now upon your job offers we await
And give our services for the going rate

As a warning, don't let us get bored.  *evil merc grin*