View source for Whatever the Mess You Are, You're Mine

{{InfoBoxFiction
| name               = Whatever the Mess You Are, You're Mine
| image              = 
| author             = [[Jason M. Hardy]]
| pub_date           = 24 February 2009
| product            = 
| type               = Short story
| publisher          = [[BattleCorps]]
| illustrations      = [[Chris Lewis]]
| pages              = 13
| era                = [[Jihad era]]
| startdate          = 3 February [[3071]]
| enddate            = 
| series             = 
| precededby         = 
| followedby         = 
}}
'''''Whatever the Mess You Are, You're Mine''''' is a short story by [[Jason M. Hardy]] that was first published online on [[BattleCorps]] on 24 February 2009.

== Teaser Text ==
{{quote|''Tensions flare in war zones, and sometimes even after the fighting is over. It’s always after the danger has passed that the rumors begin...''}}

== Plot Summary ==
Set against the backdrop of the raid against [[Niops V]] by the [[Marian Hegemony]] in February [[3071]], this tale narrates the complicated relationship between Colonel [[Sara Heart-Rose]], Lt. Col [[Johann Rose]] and Captain [[Alicia Carmichael]]. During the course of the internal monologues, Sara - the commanding officer of the [[Black Heart Roses]] mercenary unit and a keen [[BattleMech]] collector - discusses her relationship with Johann, the tension between them, and the struggle between her feelings for him and the tension between the two of them. Johann, commanding officer of the [[Briar Patch Guard]], the Black Heart Roses' infantry forces, discusses the beginnings of the friendship between himself and Alicia Carmichael in shared experiences under fire, and how in gaining her as a confidante, he gains a friend he can talk to honestly about his relationship with Sara. He also discusses the differences in morality between how you act on the battlefield, as compared to off the battlefield. Alicia's monologue focuses on the problems she has earning respect in the [[Niops Association Militia]] as an attractive woman, and the characteristics an officer, a leader, needs to have to be able to survive and win on the battlefield, and her exasperation with gossip and insinuations.

In the closing stages of the battle, Sara finds herself with Johann in her sights as her 'Mechs support the infantry in pushing the Marians back; presented with the opportunity to kill him, Sara stops herself... and admits that while she was happy she didn't kill him, she was also furious that he wasn't dead, and that she wants him to know how close he came.

== Featured Characters ==
* Colonel [[Sara Heart-Rose]]
* Lieutenant Colonel [[Johann Rose]] 
* Captain [[Alicia Carmichael]]

== Featured Units ==
* [[Black Heart Roses]]
* [[Niops Association Militia]]

== Featured Places ==
* [[Niops V]]

== Featured BattleTech ==
=== BattleMechs ===
* ''[[Axman]]''
* ''[[Black Knight]]''
* ''[[Spartan]]''
* ''[[Striker (BattleMech)|Striker]]''

[[Category:BattleCorps publications]]
[[Category:Short Stories]]
[[Category:Works by Jason M. Hardy]]