The Universe, 3028

[William Kauffman]

The following day...

C.S.V Half Moon
Harlech Interplanetary Spaceport
Harlech, Romulus
Outreach
October 25, 3028
_____________________________

The Half Moon's bridge was abuzz with pre-launch energy as the vessel's crew prepared it for departure.  I reviewed the data pad detailing our itinerary for the next 21 days; after a rendezvous with the JumpShip Aquila, our course would take us from Outreach to Capolla, Capolla to Aldebaran, then Aldebaran to Gan Singh. According to Jackson's contract, we were to hot-drop both he and his Centurion onto the southern continent of Sambalpur, in the region of Pandora, deep within the largely-unexplored wilds of the Tharylan jungle. He'd need to navigate approximately 50 kilometers southwest through the forest to a set of pre-designated coordinates, where, rumor had it, a Star League cache of unspecified age and classification might be present. If he found the rumors to be true, he was tasked with investigating the ruins, and retrieving whatever technology might be present. In particular, his employer, Javier Hastings, had included some highly-speculative language indicating that an actual memory core might be present, and if it was, Jackson's task would be to recover it intact. Then, Jackson would have to bushwhack his way back to the port of Myros, where we'd pick him and his haul up.

To make the retrieval of as much salvage as possible a feasible task for someone in a BattleMech, we'd rigged his Centurion up with a large cargo net in its left-mounted manipulator arm. I'd also taken the liberty of having the Crayven Corporation logo painted across the 'Mech's chest - I planned to have Jackson's deployment and subsequent recovery filmed for the P.R. roll we'd cut together later on, and I wanted to ensure that our branding was front and center.

"Does everything look copacetic, General?" Lieutenant Seth MacArthur inquired, appearing at my side, hands clasped behind his back. I made a pleased mental note of his use of the 'General' honorific; at first, there'd been internal resistance to implementing a paramilitary rank structure in place of the typical civilian corporate management tiers, but with so many of our staff being ex-military or military-aligned, I felt that, on the whole, it instilled a more cohesive understanding and adherence to the company's hierarchies, and it now seemed to be gaining adoption.

"Quite detailed. I'm glad that you were able to clean up Hastings' disjointed scribblings and create a cohesive mission briefing. What about that warning we received from Aegis Division?"

"We have a contingency plan in place for that, sir. We'll keep the Longbow on hot standby. We're also planning to run jammers and hold geostationary over the drop zone."

"Excellent," I nodded. "Let's make sure that we get Jackson up to speed on orbital drops and the use of the booster packs. The last thing I want is for us to roll film on this operation and end up with our charge as a smear on the jungle floor. We have 21 days. Plenty of time to make him an expert."

"Understood, sir. We're ready to shove off at your discretion."

"Make it so," I acknowledged. "Let's get this show on the road."

[Steve Jenkins]

MEANWHILE.......

Deep in the sewers, I had been sloshing on through the night. I Knew that the next day had come on account of the sun rise starting to come through the sewer grates and the water level going up as the Townspeople started taking their first dumps of the morning. My legs were sore and I had lost one of my shoes in a pile of muck many blocks ago, now I had one foot with sock and shoe and one foot with just sock. I was cold, and hungry, and also covered in dook and filth water. How bad I looked, I could not know, because I didn't have a mirror. 

As I stomped through the water I started to sob loud in dispair. My sobs bounced off the walls and came back at me over the loudness of the brown water roaring by. As I sloshed forward with no hope to my Being, I suddenly saw a sign up ahead coming out of the Mist. I couldn't hardly believe my eyes! 

M I D T O W N  T O I L E T S

I had made it to where I had been trying to get to! But I realized that I had more problems.... 

There were five ladders in front of me, Five ladders to freedom, each one of them went up inside a pipe to the Surface. But the pipes were also connected to the Midtown Toilets and every so many seconds, one toilet at a time would flush down each pipe, making Raw Sewage pour out and go down into the water. The pipes seemed like they were flushing at a pattern, back, forward, middle, top right, bottom right and I could hear the pattern of flushes from up above. I would have to try to Tempt my luck and go up one of the ladders when its Midtown Toilet was in between cycles. 

BLORP BLORP BLORP BLORP

The Cycle kept repeating, so frequent & often I could Predict it....

I went to the bottom of the ladders and looked up, way up above I could see the light coming down from each of the bathrooms the toilets were in. I did not know which of them was at the Hiring Hall but it didn't matter, all I had to do was to get up to the Surface on one of thrm. 

The pipe right to my left suddenly blasted out a ton of Sewage, whoever had used that toilet must have really had to go. As soon as the water finished going by, I jumped on the ladder and started climbing it as fast as I could. I kept slipping on the rungs on account of the fact that they were wet and covered with leavings, I had to hold on tight every time my feet gave out. I was half way up the ladder when I heard the 4th toilet flush, then the 5th....somehow I had lost track of time and now the next toilet that was going to flush was the one I was climbing up! I climbed as fast as I could to try to get to the top but I didn't make it in time. A huge gush of Brown Water came spraying down the ladder and covered me in the worst possible thing. I screamed in between hard sobs as all kinds of things fell down the tube into me. 

"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!" I yelled as it all came down, as soon as it finished, I went up the ladder as fast as I could. I got to the top and tried to climb out of the sewer, but my head bashed up against something soft and squishy. As I looked up, I realized that it was a butt, someone was on the Toilet right then and had me trapped! 

"Hey!!! Let me come up there!" I yelled, banging on the butt that was the Only thing between me and my freedom. "Please, I have to get out of the sewer!" 

There was a bunch of farting that was the rey, which made my face feel like I had been maced. But then I saw the butt get up and the person walked away. That was my chance!! I Scrambled up the ladder and pushed myself up out of the toilet, falling into someone's bathroom. I laid on the floor out of breath....I had made it, alive, even though I had only my honor left to my name..........

Edited December 19, 2019 by Steve Jenkins

[William Kauffman]

C.S.V. Half Moon
En route to JumpShip Aquila
High orbit of Outreach
October 25, 3028
_____________________________

"Do we have telemetry yet?" I asked, peering over the shoulder of Warrant Officer Alyssa Chase, who sat, hunched over a satlink interface in the darkened confines of War Room A, bathed in splashes of bright red and lime-green light which radiated from the monitor before her.

"Not yet," Chase grumbled. "That DropShip is pumping out a shit-ton of EMF. It's causing massive packet loss. The connection's extremely unstable."

"Keep at it. I want to know what they're up to."

Charles Maxwell was certainly a crafty bastard. Upon learning of the possibility that we'd picked up a shadow on our run to Gan Singh, not only had he coordinated the midnight installation of a virus-laden remote sensor onto the hull of Whitley's DropShip, he'd also sent over one of his own technicians to help get it working. Now, while we were being surveilled by the Black Phalanx vessel, we were laying the groundwork to be able to counter-observe them. 

That was the plan, anyway. However, Whitley's apparently shoddily-maintained wiring was causing us some unexpected technical difficulties.

"What'd you call this thing again?" I asked, trying to make small talk to take the edge off the tension I felt rising in the back of my mind.

"It's a copy of a program called 'Locura," Chase replied. 

I raised an eyebrow. "Locura? Isn't that Spanish for 'madness?'" 

"Yeah," Alyssa answered, giving the 'Enter' key on the terminal's keyboard a forceful jab. "Real nasty Star League-era computer virus some merc outfit out in the Periphery picked up from a dig site called Castle Nautilus. Apparently, it almost wiped out their mothership. Ever hear of the Iberia?"

"Isn't that one of the larger Taurian DropShips?" 

"Was," Chase chuckled. "Until it caught a case of Locura virus."

"Okay, and remind me again why we thought it was a good idea to deploy it on my ship?"

Alyssa swiveled around in her chair to stare at me blankly. "First of all, it's not running on your ship - it's running on the ship of the jackass who's following us. We only let it out of its doghouse once we'd attached it directly to that DropShip's hull. And second of all, it's a neutered version of the virus that we scored on the black market. The free will's been patched out of it. All that's left is a push-button AI. In other words - it's been tamed."

"Intriguing," I mused. "The potential applications for something like that are - "

A shrill chirp from the war room terminal interrupted my train of thought.

"What've we got?" I asked, leaning in toward the station's monitor as Chase swiveled around in her chair.

"Access," Alyssa replied. "Check this out."

As the virus began a network discovery of its host, a systems map of the Black Phalanx DropShip began to splash across our screen.

"Alright, General, what are we looking for? Crew manifest? Inventory? Payroll?" The mercenary sounded borderline gleeful as she clicked through the rapidly-multiplying nodes on her display.

"Let's take out the security first," I mused. "Before we go snooping around, I want to be sure that there's little to no risk that they're going to catch on to the fact that we're in their house, playing with their toys. Then, let's see if we can hijack one of their antennas so that we've got a more stable connection."

"Alright, you're the boss," Chase replied, switching over to a text-based command-line interface. "I'll give a shout when we're shiny."

I leaned against the war room's bulkhead, staring at the mission briefing for Gan Singh. It bothered me that so little intel existed concerning the target of interest, and it puzzled me that someone as green as Jackson McKenna had inexplicably been tapped to spearhead the expedition - solo. Either his employer was incredibly naive, or there was some degree of risk involved that no sane, experienced individual would want to accept for such an abstractly-defined contract. I suspected the latter.

"What do you know about the LosTech on Gan Singh?" I quipped, glancing toward Alyssa. 

"What makes you think that I know anything about it? Did Charles tell you that I was exiled out of ComStar or something?" came the irritated reply.

"Forget I mentioned it," I chuckled, walking over to the terminal. "It sounds like you have bigger problems at the moment. What's going on?'

"It's got dogs," Chase grumbled.

"Dogs?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Sentry subroutines of the main security program. Layered safeguards. And I think I just set one of them off."

Edited March 11, 2020 by Charles Maxwell
Mass font cleanup following an issue with the forum skin.

[Steve Jenkins]

MEANWHILE...........................

I laid on the floor of the bathroom in a puddle of brown water. I stared at the ceiling, it was one of those old fashioned ones like you see in the movies, with a giant crystal chandalier that had about 15 lightbulbs in it. I breathed heavy. After my Adventure, I was tired and hungry. After about 10 minutes of laying there, I got up and looked around. I was in someone's bathroom. There was a shower there, and a bunch of shaving supplies and things on the counter next to the sink. I got in the shower with all of my clothes on, which were a t shirt and underwear, two socks and one shoe and turned on the water full blast to clean the Filth off of me. The water blasted down and I got Clean. When I was done, I got out of the shower and Shaved and brushed my teeth.

"I should put everything back where I found it so that the Owner doesn't know Iwas here" I thought out loud. So I did. Then I used a hairdryer that was near to dry out the poster, it had survived everything that had happened in the sewer, I guessed because it was a sign of my future. Just as I turned to leave, I heard a bunch of Noises coming from inside the toilet. I ran over and looked in the water and saw the most horrible thing, the Marik street gang had somehow found where I went aand was climbing up chasing me! I had to do something fast, or else my Journey was going to end before it had started!

"NO YOU DON'T!" I screamed and grabbed the Toilet from underneath its bowel. I strained really hard as I pulled up on the toilet stool, I knew I only had one chance and I couldn't screw it up. I grunted hard and pulled harder until it felt like my legs were going to break, when all of a sudden the toilet ripped off the floor and I flew backwards and hit the wall as all kinds of Water sprayed up from the hole in the floor where the toilet had been!

"AAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" I Screamed as the bathroom got covered in water, I covered my face and looked over to see if the Mariks were still coming, but they got drained away by the huge force of watwer that came through. I had to make sure that they didn't recover, so I grabbed the Toilet and ran out of the bathroom with it and down the stairs of the house and into the Street. As I ran I looked behind me and saw a ton of water coming out of the front door of the house. I hoped that the Owner would forgive me. Then, I stopped to figure out where I was. I located on a close street sign.

HIRING HALL THIS WAY, it said. Then I looked up,  and saw the enormous palace that was the HARLECH HIRING HALL in front of me.

I couldn't believe my luck, the Hiring Hall was here! I could finally achieve my destination!

I picked up the Toilet and threw it into the river, to make sure that the gang couldn't track me. Then, I ran toward the HIRING HALL to find the mercenaries...

[Jack Whitley]

DropShip Kusanagi
En route to JumpShip Aquila
High orbit of Outreach
October 25, 3028
_____________________________

CONFIRM NETWORK MONITORING DISABLE?

I stared blankly at the prompt which had appeared, unsolicited, on my terminal.

"Rider. What the hell is this garbage?" I grumbled, gesturing at my terminal and glaring at my executive officer. 

"Uhh - I didn't do that," Edgar replied, squinting at the display. I clicked the 'NO' option, dismissing the prompt.

CONFIRM NETWORK MONITORING DISABLE?

"There it is again!" I exclaimed, slapping the arm of my chair. 

"That's too weird," Edgar agreed, keying a diagnostic command into the computer. The machine churned and clicked for several moments before returning its analysis. "Commander, I think someone's remoted into the main computer!" 

"WHAT?" I exclaimed, leaning in to review the output. "How can you be sure?"

"Right here," Edgar replied, pointing at a section of the report containing recently-executed commands. "The root account's doing network discoveries and trying to shut down the intrusion monitor."

I gritted my teeth. "Shut them out, then!"

"I'm working on it," Edgar answered, running to another nearby workstation. "I'm trying to figure out out where they're coming in from. None of our comm antennas are in use."

I walked over to the tactical scope and reviewed the sensor readings. "There's nothing out there other than the Crayven DropShip." 

"How could they be communicating with our computer without an uplink?" I hissed. 

"They can't be - unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless they've somehow gotten a transmitter onboard our ship."

Edited March 11, 2020 by Charles Maxwell
Mass font cleanup following an issue with the forum skin.

[William Kauffman]

C.S.V. Half Moon
En route to JumpShip Aquila
High orbit of Outreach
October 25, 3028
_____________________________

"Are you sure?" I pressed, pulling up a stool next to Alyssa Chase and sliding into position beside her.

"They've definitely worked out that something's going on," the technician replied, her fingers flying across the interface's keyboard. "I'm trying to at least wipe the logs so they can't back-trace the breach beyond their own ship."

"Does that leech have an auto-destruct?" I continued, hoping for a modicum of good news.

"It does not."

"Alright, what can we do to throw them off us beyond deleting logs?"

"I may be able to cause some pandemonium and buy us some time," Alyssa replied.

"Whatever you're going to do, make it quick," I advised, wiping beads of perspiration from my brow. I hadn't anticipated our little unauthorized systems access foray to turn sour so quickly.

"Have you got a tracking scope in here?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Why?"

"Get me a read on the trajectory of their ship - and let me know the moment that it changes...please," Chase requested, without removing her eyes from the screen in front of her.

"You got it," I acknowledged, moving to the war room's secondary workstation. Keying in my personal access code, I brought up the Half Moon's tactical systems, and activated the lateral targeting systems. The Black Phalanx DropShip was following us from dead astern, at an approximate distance of 25,000 kilometers - easily visible to our sensors. A grainy video feed, overlaid by a targeting wireframe, splashed onto my screen as our vessel's computer settled into a solid lock.

"I've got telemetry."

"Roger that," Chase replied. "Give me just two seconds more..."

I watched the scope intently. Nothing obvious seemed to be happening.

"Alyssa, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be seeing, but it doesn't look like anything's changing," I advised.

"One more minute...now!" the mercenary exclaimed, punctuating her words with a very loud key strike. As she did so, I watched with amazement as the Black Phalanx vessel's trajectory began to morph from a razor-straight course to a long, lazy curve, the ship beginning to turn end over end as it steadily lost velocity.

"What did you do?" I asked, incredulously.

"I shut down their fusion reactor and set their port maneuvering thrusters to a full burn," Chase answered, smugly. "I'm pretty sure that'll divert their attention for a bit and let me get our tracks covered properly. Don't worry. Life support'll draw from their battery banks until they get the system back online."

"My god," I replied. "Nicely done. Remind me to never get on your bad side."

Alyssa chuckled and continued with her ministrations.

"That was close," she offered, eventually. "We'll need to be more careful on our next attempt."

Edited March 11, 2020 by Charles Maxwell
Mass font cleanup following an issue with the forum skin.

[Charles Maxwell]

M.V. Tana
Harlech Interplanetary Spaceport
Harlech, Romulus
Outreach
October 25, 3028
_____________________________

"I'm telling you, this thruster is way out of alignment. When we were on our descent..."

As Devin McNamara and I examined the underside of the Tana's bow, the frantic clicking of boot heels on ferrocrete echoed through the afternoon air. I looked up to see Commander Mara Walsh making her way toward Devin and I, attempting to maintain her balance as best as she could on the wet and slippery tarmac.

"Captain Maxwell! Thank Blake I found you," Walsh exclaimed breathlessly. "I've been trying to raise you on your comm unit."

I raised an eyebrow inquisitively. A quick glance at my comm unit revealed the words 'NO SIGNAL' glaring back at me in an obnoxious red typeface. Chagrined, I jammed the unit back in its holster, and motioned for Walsh to walk alongside me.

"I'll catch back up with you, Devin. Mara, what's going on?"

"You have a call holding on the uplink," Walsh gasped, still catching her breath.

"Can you take a message? I'm handling an...issue," I replied, glancing at Devin. Commander Walsh cast the pilot a fleeting apologetic look before turning back toward me.

"Captain, I think you're going to want to take this one. It's the LCAF."

__________________________________________________

I bounded onto the Tana's bridge, yanking an articulated chair out from under the comm station, falling into it and swiveling toward the battered computer terminal from which nearly all of Aegis Division's contracts were negotiated. Jamming a finger against the flashing 'transfer' key, I attempted to collect myself as the call was routed to the terminal. After a moment, the profile of a Lyran Hauptmann who I had met nearly a month ago appeared onscreen.

"I assume you are Hauptmann Vogel, sir," I began, wishing to confirm the speaker's identity before I continued.

"Ya, this is Hauptmann Vogel responding," Simón Vogel answered, "And I assume you are still Mr. Maxwell."

"Yes Hauptmann," I chuckled. "We met a month ago - at the City Hall in Gellen's Heights."

"Indeed, Captain. I do seem to recall the encounter."

"I assume this isn't merely a social call. How may we be of assistance?"

"Actually, I have something in mind," Vogel answered. "I assume you are familiar with our ongoing Operation Götterdämmerung?"

I nodded.

"'Aware' of the operation might be a better way to put it, Hauptmann. As you may recall, we've just returned from extended maneuvers in the Outworlds ourselves - and so I'm afraid I've not been able to be privy to the details while I was away."

"No matter," Vogel replied. "The 'details,' as you have put it, have already been transmitted to your office. You may wish to review them at your leisure."

"Of course, Hauptmann. What is your need?"

"Elements of the LCAF are attempting to route a large contingent of DCMS from several worlds of strategic value. Because our military is stretched thin across multiple fronts, we have been compelled to enlist the aid of mercenary units to help fill the ranks of those LCAF units finding themselves bereft of a full compliment. Your mercenary unit was one of several recommended for the assignment."

"I'm honored, if somewhat surprised, Hauptmann. We're an incredibly small operation at the moment. Surely there are larger organizations better-equipped for the task?" 

"Your reputation for reliability and some of the strategic assets you have on hand make you a favorable unit for small-scale incursions where precision and discretion are desirable," Vogel continued.

"Color me intrigued," I answered. "Please, go on."

Edited March 11, 2020 by Charles Maxwell
Mass font cleanup following an issue with the forum skin.

[Charles Maxwell]

"Mr. Maxwell, I have need of your services," Hauptmann Vogel continued. "The Fourth Skye Rangers have, in the last four days, made planetfall on Kimball II with orders to capture the world as part of the exploitation phase of GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG. The First and Third Battalions of the Rangers are in the process of subduing the world, but we've received word of a possible planned retaliatory strike by the Draconis Combine. With the Second Battalion and Lightning Company engaged on Komephoros, we're concerned that the manpower currently on Kimball will be insufficient to be able to both hold the world and fend off an additional response by the DCMS."

"Go on," I nodded.

"Mr. Maxwell, we have devised a strategy that has the First Battalion holding the planetary mining assets on the continents of Vanassay and Warsaw, while the Third Battalion secures key agricultural resources on Hestelle and Triasha. However, one critical piece of infrastructure will be under-defended in the event of a retaliatory strike on the world. This is where you come in; I believe that your objective should be the securing of the Ceres Metals plant on Triasha. As you are likely aware, Ceres Metals is a leading manufacturer of BattleMech hardware and produces major components for the Vindicator platform."

I nodded. "We used to run a Vindicator; Ceres makes a decent machine. Are there any other forces present on Kimball?"

"There will be - we currently have elements of the Gray Death Legion en route to assist in further-fortifying the capital, and we are contracting with several other mercenary companies to bolster our footholds in the other occupation zones I mentioned," Vogel replied.

"I see," I acknowledged. "Anything else of interest concerning this operation?"

"Yes, I believe there is," Hauptmann Vogel began. However, before he could continue with his exposition, he was interrupted by a bleeping signal. "One moment, my associate, General Jodl, is signaling; I will let you hear this." Vogel then rerouted the comm to initiate a three-way communication.

"Ah, Hauptmann Vogel, just who I wanted to speak with," General Jodl began, in a grim tone.

"General, allow me to introduce Charles Maxwell, the CEO of Aegis Division, a prospective contractor of ours," Vogel replied.

 General Jodl nodded curtly.  "Charles. Now, Hauptmann, I called you because I have a new LIC report to pass along..."

"And?" Vogel inquired.

"Hauptmann, it doesn't look too good. It appears that the DCMS is indeed en route to Kimball, and will have made planetfall before your reinforcements can arrive. The LIC has secured a definitive deployment roster for all forces there."

"General Jodl, where are the enemy forces projected to land?" I interjected.

"Mr. Maxwell, our intelligence reports indicate that the Combine will be evenly splitting their forces between the four major continents, likely to reclaim the targets of interest we've already secured," Jodl responded.

"So this will be a counter-offensive rather than garrison duty. That changes things a bit," I replied.

"Any help here, General, or are we limited to what forces we currently have?" Hauptmann Vogel pressed.

"No, Hauptmann, you just have the forces you currently have, and any mercenaries you have assigned. That is all I can tell you presently. Move in with haste to mitigate the attrition to the Rangers and ensure we can continue to hold the world. Jodl out." The General then ended his transmission, leaving Vogel and I on the line alone.

"Just when it was getting fun..." Hauptmann Vogel deadpanned.

"So, Hauptmann, it sounds like by the time we get there, you're going to need us to re-take Ceres Metals," I mused.

"Yes, that seems to be the case," Vogel acknowledged.

"I'm going to need to enlist some additional firepower for this. Can I send the LCAF the bill?" I quipped.

"Yes, you may. I will let the Rangers know that you will command the charge on Ceres Metals. Any Rangers in the vicinity will assist you as they are able," Vogel nodded.

"One last question," I added.

"Yes, go on."

"By my calculations, it'll take us at least 43 days to get to Kimball. I'm concerned that there won't be much of the Rangers left to save by the time we get there," I observed.

"This would normally be the case," Vogel agreed, "but in this instance, we've arranged for JumpShips to be waiting at each transit point along the route. You, and the mercenary units accompanying you, are to transfer from JumpShip to JumpShip at each destination star system. With a three-day transit to Outreach's jump point, and a ten-day trip in to Kimball, it should only take a total of about thirteen days for you to make planetfall. We can have the sequential JumpShips staged within the next five days."

"Then I guess I'd better get things moving on my end. Send me the contract terms, and if everything looks copacetic, we can do business," I agreed.

"Very well, Captain. Good hunting." With that, the comm transmission was abruptly ended, and the screen went blank. Rising from my chair, I headed for the Tana's boarding ramp. Before we were ready to take on the Draconis Combine, I was going to need to pay a visit to the Hiring Hall.

[Orlex Jaeger]

Aboard the Leopard-class dropship "Mjolnir"
On approach to Blue Sava II 
Blue Sava System, Lost System in House Marik space
October 30, 3028
_________________________

"How are you doing there Jaeger?" asked Kevin from across the troop compartment of the heavily modified Galleon Light Tank/Transport combat vehicle we were currently residing in. There was no animosity in his voice, but there was still a barb or two in the question. Kevin was a career infantryman, specialized in energy weapons and electronic espionage (hacking), and while he held a decent respect for MechWarriors and what they do, he still loved to see them out of their element.

"Shaking in my boots man, do you want to come hold my hand?" I joked as Joel, the other foot soldier in the compartment, rolled his eyes and shook his head. 

Both men knew that I was almost as comfortable with my feet on the ground and rifle in hand as I was inside my 'mech's ferrosteel cockpit, but that never stopped them from giving me a hard time. Couldn't blame them though, this was their turf and they were damn good at it. The two men had been with Beowulf's Knights since the units inception roughly 8 years ago and had more than once proved their worth as combat specialists. Neither men talked much about their past prior to joining the Knights but it was well known that Joel was originally a Lyrian combat engineer. Kevin on the otherhand was originally from somewhere in the Free Worlds League but other than his skills he never made mention of his previous career.

"Nah, you're missing a few components for me to want to hold you," shot back Kevin, "now Kyla up there..."

"Don't even start Kev," interrupted Joel with his deep baritone just as Kyla, the Galleon's driver, started to turn back towards us, "you remember what happened last time"

"Can't blame a guy for trying," shrugged Kevin.

Despite the conversation getting cut short, Kyla still glared daggers back at all 3 of us in the troop compartment from her seat. The look would have melted Star League armour as all three of us involuntarily swallowed. Kyla was a relatively small woman by any standards and yet she had such an intimidating presence, when she wanted to, that nobody dared cross her. Hardass would be a complement to her, and not really do it justice, the woman was all business and did not broker much in the way of small talk or banter but she was an extremely capable driver. Somehow Jim, the Galleon's commander and currently the only official gunner, got along splendidly with her despite having a much more care free attitude.

"Attention, we make planetfall in 5 minutes," intoned the mechanical sounding voice of Captain Mikahla over the intercom system, "stow your gear and prepare for atmospheric entry... and hold on, it may get a little 'rough'"

The slight pause before telling us to hold on had me slightly concerned, Mikahla's idea of "rough" was a little closer to "oh god we're gonna die" than I cared for. I quickly set about checking that my gear was properly stowed, the Blazer Laser Rifle was securely stored in the mount beside my seat while the Serrek 7875D Auto-Pistol was strapped snuggly to my right hip. Spare magazines and power packs were all in their correct places on my combat vest and everything seemed to be in order. Glancing over I saw that both of the soldiers had secured their own gear, Kevin's Intek Laser Rifle was stored similarly to mine while Joel's Star King Gyroslug Rifle was also secured safely to the wall.

9 days ago, when we jumped to the Wasat system, we talked with the Automaille company about recovering my stolen 'mech and their property and learned that there was a known bandit group operating out of a nearby system that had been harrassing the planet as a whole for over a year now, something they neglected to mention when I initially hired them to refit my 'mech. The bandits, the Aorus Wolves, were a relatively small group that were slowing growing from their raids on the local systems. According to the best intelligence that was available the Wolves fielded no more than 4 'mechs, all of them under 50 tons, and a handful or two of conventional combat vehicles. It was unclear what dropship they had used for the raids, though it was rumoured to be a Dictactor-class spheroid dropship, and there was no info available on how they managed to get a jumpship but speculation lead us to believe that the Wolves were being sponsored by an outside influence, possibly another Great House. The planetary militia knew about the bandit attacks but did not have the resources, or the desire, to pursue them off planet let alone to another system. As such we agreed to their contract for the retrieval of equipment after the Captain and Navigator of the Star Cruiser had a chance to look over the jump data available to access the pirate system. They were employed by Interstellar Expeditions and assigned to us for the duration of our existing contract to travel to Myrvoll in search of LosTech and as part of their work for Interstellar Expeditions they were used to using non-standard jump points and were easily able to identify a stable jump point from the available data, much better than most "pirate" jump points that were unreliable at best and unstable death traps at worst.

The Galleon started to rumble as the stress of atmospheric entry reverberated through the hull of the Mjolnir and into the Galleon itself. Suddenly it felt like the world was ripped out from under my feet as the light tank forcibly dropped a meter as its restraining clamps in the dropship pulled it down as the ship itself seemed to fall out of the air. The sudden weightlessness was very brief as my own restraints kept me in my seat and was less disorienting than expected, though that was probably in part to having spent a significant portion of my youth travelling through space and transitioning between different gravities often. Kevin on the otherhand looked like he was ready to throw up, though he did his best to hide it. Apparently Mikahla's expected "turbulence" was starting immediately...

__________________________
Several Hours Later...
_______________________

The distinctive ring of small caliber rounds richocheting off of hardened surfaces echoed across the compound as I quickly ducked back inside the bunker that Kevin and I had recently cleared out. Two unfortunate bandits lay off to the side behind us, quickly stripped of anything immediately useful as we had made our way into this, the second compound of the day. After making planetfall uneventfully, the "rough ride" Mikahla warned us about turned out to be nothing more than an unusually turbulent atmosphere combined with an unexpected storm, much more mundane than usual, we had proceeded to move into and clear out a suspected bandit compound with little resistance. With little more than a few outdated combat vehicles, all in bad need of repair, a handful of pirates determined to put up a fight, we made good time clearing it out and confirming that there was nothing worth salvaging, let alone any of the equipment we were here to retrieve.

On our way to the second compound we had noted from orbit we ran into the first real resistance, a 30-ton Javelin JVN-10F in good condition. While the pilot was clearly only just passable as a MechWarrior, they did manage to score a couple hits to the front and down the left side of the Galleon before Luke in his, HCT-3F Hatchetman, managed to drive them off. Doing little more than damage the outer armour Jim and Kevin, operating the two gunner seats in the light tank, engaged the Javelin directly when they tried to come back after slipping around Luke. The unexpected twin medium lasers scored a deep gouge into the enemy 'mech's leg and may have caused some internal damage as it quickly broke off again and did not return. As Luke met back up with us and we continued on our way, we heard over the comms that Joe's much faster Jenner JR7-D had finished off the Javelin on his way back from scouting ahead. Arriving at the compound it appeared much more fortified than the last and was clearly used as a base of operations. The walled compound only had 1 entrance on this side, though Luke could see another entrance on the far side. To avoid potential collateral damage to the equipment we were supposed to be retrieving, due to the tight confines of the compound and multiple tents and storage crates stashed in almost every open space, Luke and Joe decided to circle around the outside of the base instead of just hopping the wall with their jump jets or crashing through it. Kyla dropped Kevin, Joel and I off at the closest entrance before slipping back out of range of the base turrets that had started powering up. As we entered the base emerald beams of coherent light split the air overhead as the Galleon began to take potshots at the exposed turrets from a safe distance.

Back in the bunker the somewhat distinctive sound of a gyrojet round exploding could be heard faintly through the open door, and the richocheting rounds abruptly stopped. Peeking back out the door with my Blazer at the ready I could just make out where some pirates had been holed up firing at the bunker before a slew of explosive tipped, self-propelled projectiles had rained down on them from Joel's Star King. As Kevin and I both slipped out and made our way across the open ground towards a pile of supply crates, we could see Joel across the way as he moved in parallel with us towards new cover, his heavy Ballistic Plate suit making his movement slower but no less effective.

Taking cover behind the supply crates both Kevin and I took up firing positions, using the crates to steady our aim, aiming towards what appeared to be an administration building of some kind. Within moments a group of pirates came rushing headlong out of the door with weapons in hand. Squeezing down firmly on the trigger my Blazer Laser Rifle sent a thick, heavy beam of high powered energy searing through the air at the lead bandit. The sheer power of the shot stopping him in his tracks as it instantly melted through his Flak armour and continued on without hesitation. The pirate slumped to ground and two more men following much too closely tripped over him as they tried to get around his corpse. At the same time a much thinner, but equally deadly, beam of laser light burst forth from Kevin's Intek rifle as he downed the next man in line. Non of the pirates appeared to having anything more than a Flak Jacket to protect them, which was nearly useless against laser weapons, clearly the bandits were faced with more conventional ballistic weapons most of the time. The bandits were able to recover surprisingly quickly despite the intial floundering and returned fire on us with respectable accuracy. The staccato of SMG fire reverberated off the surrounding buildings as a multitude of rounds slammed into the crates all around us. Metal bent and then broke as bullet after bullet impacted the durable supply chests before they finally started to give out with several of the most damaged crates popping open and spilling their contents everywhere. One round, unclear if it was a richochet or direct shot, impacted the side of my combat helmet before glancing off behind me leaving no real damage. Another round was luckier punched straight through the leather jacket I had on underneath my ballistic plate vest grazing my lower left bicep with enough force for me to grunt and quickly take cover.

Kevin looked over as I quickly checked to see how badly I was hit before shaking my head, "Just a graze, we need to keep them bottlenecked in that doorway."

Kevin agreed and we both went back to firing at the pirates, attempting to keep them pinned down in the doorway so that they wouldn't have an opportunity to spread out and flank us with their superior numbers. With the enemy's lack of energy protection, and the need for volume of fire being more important than sheer power, I switched the Blazer from its normal mode to single barrel fire allowing me to fire twice as many shots before reloading but with reduced damage. Each round was still more than capable of putting down the bandits or otherwise removing them from the fight, despite this Kevin's Intek Rifle was still vastly more efficient and the volume of fire he could keep up with was something else. As our cover was slowly erroded away from return fire I began to look around for our next move and spotted Joel as he made his way around the far side of building we were being attacked from. A few moments later and explosions could be heard inside before a number of pirates burst out of the door of the building, but rather than coming out guns blazing at us in a mad charge, they were firing back into the building with a look of abject terror on their faces.

It was clear to see why as in the darkness of the open door you could see flashes of fire and hear bullets richochetting before a gyroget slug impacted one of them square in the chest before throwing him to the ground with resultant explosion. Joel, in a full ballistic plate combat suit, came stalking through the doorway with his Star King Gyroslug carbine raised and firing like a one man army while the enemies' small arms fire did little more than scratch the paint on the heavy armour. Kevin and I helped Joel finish off this last group of combatants before moving into the admin building to begin clearing it and hopefully finding a terminal or something indicating where the latest spoils of their raids was being kept.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Orlex Jaeger

[Steve Jenkins]

HARLECH HIRING HALL

Outreach

I walked in to the enormous hiring hall and was overwhelmed and emotional at the scene before me. Mercenaries from all worlds and factions in the Inner Sphere were walking everywhere among booths that stretched to the Horizon. Messenger droids flew over my head while loud pages squealed over the loudspeakers. I got bumped and josseled as guys twice my size with huge guns came and went from their Businesses. Over head, huge TV scree showed who was hiring and what booth they were at. Another wall of screens showed what equipment was for sale and what jobs were available. I wandered around for a little while looking for the mercenaries who had put the poster up on SOLARIS7, they were somebody called the Thermo Police, but I couldn't find a booth with their name..... 

"Excuse me! Have you seen the Thermo Police???" I asked a passer by. 

"SHUT UP, KID, I'M BUSY!" The man said, he did not want to be bothered with my Problem. I asked another passer by. "Excuse me, have you seen the Thermo Police?" 

"NO! I'll call the Metro Cops on you if you don't put on some pants!" Said another man. 

I looked down at myself and Realized that my shame was showing, all I had left were my t shirt and one shoe and my Fruit of the Looms, which had been neon purple but now were a gross brown. I started sobbing at my destitution, when all of a sudden I saw a sign that lifted my hopes.... 

AEGIS DIVISION - NOW HIRING - EQUIPMENT PROVIDED - NO OFFERS REFUSED 

I screamed at my luck and ran toward the booth. I still had a chance!!