Jack of Harts

Mars has the largest population of any of Earth’s colonies, but is absolutely not united under a single flag. Every major and most minor nations have a colony on Mars, and that leads to more legal shenanigans than you shake a whole pack of lawyers at. Louis Mattioli excelled in that environment. He did get one really shiny side effect from the Peloran Treatments, and that was an eidetic memory. So he could walk into any courtroom on Mars and argue based on the local laws, including any precedents set by other courts the local court may choose to recognize depending on the current nature of international relations on Mars. He was by far one of the best lawyers on Mars, and he had high-level contacts in every single nation that would answer his call at any time of the day or night. I say this to make certain you understand what he walked away from when he volunteered to fight the Shang.

Me and Louis Mattioli got along like brothers from the day we met on Alpha Centauri. We fought each other almost as much as we fought the real enemy, and sometimes it was for real. He was a Martian lawyer. I was an Earthborn human. There was a lot of source material for us to argue over. But he was a professional, and when the enemy called he always fought them at my side. Procyon. Epsilon Reticuli. Wolfenheim. Whether he lived or died, he fought well. I know there are some bad stories about him right now, but I was there. I saw it all in living color. When the cards got played, he never blinked. Even knowing what he was going to lose, he never blinked. Not many people I can say that about.

I am Kathleen Reynolds’ number one fan. I couldn’t tell you how many times we’ve gotten together since War’s End. She has a nose for trouble, and we’ve hit it more times than I can count with a whole box of crayons. She’s a perfect battle buddy, and I trust her at my back any time the bullets fly. We’ve gotten into situations way too tight for our own good again and again and again. I’ve patched up her sucking chest wounds, and she’s held my leg in place while it healed. We’ve held each other together when everything else was falling apart. And sometimes we didn’t make it out the other side. We have died together, and we will again with smiles on our faces. I know because I’ve seen the footage. I would happily live or die with her, and that has taken us through situations nobody should expect to survive. Even people like us.