Interlude 1
Interlude 1 (2/3/23)
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Location: Katinka, Little Rock
Date: August 15, 3021, 12:00
It was a great day today. Those were the thought of Captain Brook Esposito as he piloted his LoaderKing to the nearest warehouse. The 55-year-old Taurian man had switched from mercenary work to excavating here on Katinka. After all, he had a son who couldn't be a Mechwarrior due to being incompatible with a neurohelmet. However, he wouldn't let his son die in the tank crews they used in his old unit, so he grabbed his son and family and decided to live in Katinka as a prospector. He even sold his old damaged Vulcan and Urbanmech (that he initially brought for his son) to grab a new industrial mech for his new life.
It would have been perfect if only one thing didn't keep popping up. The dream of being a Mechwarrior, a knight of the Inner Sphere, was a child's biggest desire.
His son continues trying to be a Mechwarrior using the armed Buster he had kept from an old salvage mission. The boy couldn't match a real Mechwarrior if they got close, but he couldn't just crush his son's dream like that. To connect with his son, he piloted his new LoaderKingwith some weapons attached to deal with pirates if they showed up. All in an attempt to show that neurohelmet were unnecessary for navigating and shooting. The Astech was constantly bugging him to get something easier to maintain if they had to work with pseudo-battlemech. He refused as he didn't want his teenage son accidentally frying himself with his security system.
Chucking at what he saw outside, Brook continued his work and brought the news his Dig King duo had found. Those two had just seen a small cache of mech parts and several infantry kits sealed in a man-made cave. They would go for a pretty penny back in the Inner Sphere. Heck, Doug and Nick were still smashing and digging away since finding these crates.
Shaking his head, Brook moved his Loaderking past a few more crates of mineral before getting to where he knew his son would sort the newest additions. It was the only warehouse with armed guards near it.
"Hey, son," Brook called out on the comms as he carefully placed the parts' crates down. The nearby Buster turned and walked toward him while responding. "Yes, father?" a young man answered.
"We got some new merchandise that the Governor will like. It might help in getting more patrols forces here from the militia." Brook then marked another crate he took off his crane. "This one is full of precious gems and metals." With a few hits on this console, a nav marker appeared for them to see. "Make sure it gets to the processing center and watch for someone paying attention. We don't need another gang or, heaven forbid, pirate attack."
They couldn't afford another gang appearing or a pirate raid. Moreover, they had lost their original two Dig Kingpilots to them already. So the fresh pilots and armed APCs were the only compensation Governor Chili could spare due to how often attacks happen in other cities and towns.
"Yes, Fa- I yes sir, Captain," The young man responds before carefully piloting his Buster to pick up and store the crate in its cargo hold. The Captain shook his head at how fast his son tried to act professionally despite being a sixteen-year-old brat. He wanted to blame his old merc unit for that, but the boy wanted to be a Mechwarrior.
He turned his LoaderKing back to the mine when alerts began flaring as the proximity alarms for objects over 50 tons flared on. He moved his industrialmech to his hanger while belting out commands for the mechtech and astech to begin loading heavier weapons.
He also ordered Doug and Nick to bring their mechs to replace their drills and meet them in the outskirts. They may be civilians, but they did sign up to be part of the militia for the town, and an industrial mech is better than nothing. The APC crews ran to their stations as only two had weapons. The other two were refitted for search and rescue and were busy at the mines. It would take too long for them to return and rearm.
Everyone had to shut down their mech to let the tech quickly slap on a few machine guns and old-style Rifles. Brook wanted some autocannons, but they cost too much to maintain already. Still, it spoke volumes of how well-trained this town's militia servicemen were as they quickly detached the cane and replaced it with his main gun. At least he had the payload to handle most light and medium mech once he closed in on them.
It only took a few minutes, and everyone began restarting their mechs. Still, the frantic waving and people panicking through his view screen said more than enough when the outskirt proximity alarms went off. Sensor tagged two objects on the outskirt's forest area. Both the weight classes for those objects and the time it took to trigger the first and second alarm had his stomach drop—both registered as 92 tons and 66 tons. While the weights were odd for any mech or vehicle, the fact they crossed the two proximity alarms within only three minutes was telling. The scary thing is. The sensors detected no fusion reactor signs from either of the two objects. ICE would explain it, but they couldn't have those engines with how fast and heavy they were.
"This is Captain Esposito to all Little Rock defenders. Gear up now and head out. All civilians inside the underground shelter NOW," Brook shouted in both comms and speakers. The APCs sped off to the outskirts while everyone else lumbered toward it. He even saw his son's Buster equipped with their heaviest hitter. The only problem was his reaction time needed to be faster to fight these kinds of battlemech.
"Private, get to higher ground in the town and prepare to fire if they show any hostilities." Before moving his Loaderking alongside the Dig Kings, he gave his orders, hoping the show of force would deter the Assault and Heavy class objects.
They moved as one until they were out in the open field outside town. Far enough that most stray shots shouldn't hit anything vital in town. The two objects hadn't moved much, as if they had waited to see what was there. The possible OpFor's shadow-like appearance in the forest and odd appearance on the sensor were all abnormal. It didn't trigger Brook's instincts for a fight, so he opened his comms on available frequency to demand their purpose here.
"To the unidentified battlemechs. I am Captain Brook Esposito of the Little Rock Town Guard. I demand you state your business here, or we will fire on you. You have two minutes to respond."
The two battlemechs(?) didn't respond. There was a static build-up on the comms as the timer ticked on. Brook redirected the comms to the lance and ordered, "Sergeant Killy, Sergeant Chen, both of you bring your APCs closer to the battlemech ahead but don't engage. Just use your eyes to track them, and don't stop moving."
Just before both APCs could move, the two battlemechs suddenly sped away. The thumps felt by everyone only confirmed the fact they were mechs. However, everyone felt a cold sweat down their back. None of the sensors detected the reactor of a battlemech. Then there was their speed as both APCs tried to keep up with their max speed of 97 km/h, but that failed as the unknowns pulled away from the sensor range.
The two APCs stopped just before the forest grounds as poorly dressed infantrymen hopped and started searching the area where the two battlemech vacated. The report that began filtering in shocked him, but he cursed simultaneously. The prints left behind by those unknown mechs were odd, like animal paws. However, their speed and stealth were more than enough to report it directly to the planet's Governor.
Later that evening, at 20:30
The talks with Governor Chili were draining. It didn't help that the proximity alarm went off twice in the past eight hours because of those mysterious battlemechs. Their actions were going to give everyone nightmares of an attack.
Governor Maxwell Chili had already approved to move of a lance light vehicle and a lance of medium battlemechs/militiamechs. However, it took at least two weeks to get everything going as those were under repair from an incursion of Pirates at New Carthage. The Governor had some fresh new Bug mechs and green pilots he could send to Little Rock for three days with a lance of APCs. The news of a solid lance of battlemech would be great. Industrial mech rigged with weapons and on alert made it hard to mine the mountain for resources, hidden SLDF, and Taurian caches.
Speaking of caches, he hid the shipment filled with SLDF infantry kits inside a mineral crate. He didn't report it to Governor Chili because he knew the rumors. The ones saying any SLDF Lostech reported on transmitting would be destroyed during transit or stolen by pirates and the town annihilated. His time as a mercenary showed him that. He lost a lot in the attack on De Berry years ago, and the rumors that a map for lostech had cost him most of his family.
He just reported mineral delivery and had his two refitted APCs deliver it with their only VTOL armed with two SRM 2. That should deter any bandits or gangs, not so many pirates. However, most raiders would only hit mineral deliveries if they were worth more than LostTech ones. The regular shipment of collected supplies should be ready in four days, so it would be great to finally get more cash. The defense agreement with the Aurigan Coalition had only passed a few months ago, so they may have support in the system soon.
From what everyone in the militia heard, they would be getting regular patrols from the Aurigan military in return for shipping materials around. The basic agreement was to see if the planet wanted to join its coalition. So far, it has been going great, but rumor had their old rulers from centuries ago become a raging bull for it. They should have protected them if they didn't want Katinka to jump ship.
A light knock on his office door had him looking up before saying, "Come in, son. I know it's you."
A young man of Scandinavian descent walked in dressed in combat gear, just like himself, and said, "Mother sent me. It's time for dinner."
Brook closed his notepad before getting up. He will deal with the following alarm trip after dinner. Let Doug and Nick handle this shift. He had already ordered no one to fire on those mechs unless they fired first. He would finish the patrol schedule later.
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Location: Katinka, Little Rock
Date: August 16, 3021, 23:00
Near midnight, a man slipped out the backdoor at the lively bar. He looked like a prospector, like any other person around. A man of Capellan descent but had been a pretty good person and helped out often. He was weaker than most men in his job, but he did his work well and was known. Not close enough to the head of the prospectors or the town's defenders but the barkeepers and shopkeepers. Jiang Wu was the man known to all. Except for being sneaky like he was now.
After his crew found another cache of lostech, he snuck off from the partying prospectors. This was because the find was filled with mech parts and instructions on how to repair them. Several old light mechs of the same type, but the instruction manual for repairs and making field parts were critical for limited restoring production.
The Toro battlemech, something the SLDF nearly destroyed to the last. Jiang Wu had his duty to complete now and had the method to do it. He was glad he decided to do this today instead of later. He might not get another chance.
He watched the streets for now highly alert infantry units patrolling the area. Before those unknown mechs appeared, the infantry would just be fellow miners and prospectors looking for lostech. After the Captain of the Little Rock forces decided to issue regular drills. These miners became a proper Militia unit after Captain Esposito got done with them.
There was one problem with quick training like that. It was the fact the threat had not yet done anything that made the militia relax. This gap in security allowed Jiang to sneak into a small shack that usually held damaged tools.
Usually, these damaged tools that most people wouldn't think about became a perfect place to hide something. Underneath a dull, leaning Dig King's drill was a hidden box. A box that opens up to a communication system. After a quick boot-up sequence, Jiang spoke quietly into the receiver, changing the frequency three times before shutting down the system. He quickly placed the equipment back into place before slowly checking the area outside the shack.
His duty was done. It was time to reinsert himself into his role. After all, he had a good alibi with the beautiful Canopus barmaid.
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Location: Katinka's moon orbit
Date: August 17, 3021, 0:00
No lawful person would think about hiding outside the standard jump point or behind a moon in space. That is, if these people on the jumpship were dealing in lawful business.
Hitched onto the jumpship were four smaller ones. To most militaries, they were old standard dropships found throughout the Inner Sphere. To the people in the Periphery, they were usually mercenary, military, or pirate vessels. Since they were hiding behind the moon, it wasn't hard to guess which three were there.
Onboard the Gazelle class dropship, Rum Rocker, the comms operator, received a message from the planet below. It was from one of their numerous scouts sent around the system to find an incredible bounty to raid. The sound of how the Comms officer cheered in glee was worth it. The officer immediately began uploading the data to the Captain's chair.
The cheer ended as the Captain slammed his fist into the table before him. The buff seven feet tall man glared at all the now cowered crew. "Make sure none of this information gets out," Rumbled the deep voice of the Captain. "I will have your heads if this leaks out to Grimm. She will steal this from us. That cannot be allowed."
The Captain hit a few keys on the holotable, and the image of several armored personnel appeared, as three other oddly dressed men and women. "This is Commander Calabrian to all captains and MechWarrior. We have a good bounty, and I require the quickest recovery team to hit it. So decide fast, as you have a few hours to decide who will be part of the raid and who will be a distraction."
The comms officer quickly typed in several keys, and all signals coming in and out of the jumpship appeared on Calabrian's chair. This included all dropships attached to it.
"I'll keep an eye on the comms to prevent anyone from leaking this bounty." He looked at the console where the comms officer had uploaded the information to the rest of his band. He watched as their eyes moved as they read what was potentially their best score yet in this system.
A few hours later
Commander Calabrian waited for his captains' response when a message finally appeared. On the viewscreen, a scarred woman appears. "This is Captain Connie. My Leopard and Mechwarriors can handle the retrieval. From the intel, my warriors should be able to handle a washed-up merc and a bunch of green pilots. The only armor support is just two armed APCs. My lances can take care of it if I have a distraction."
Calabrian thought about it before rumbling, "My ship can easily create a distraction. How did you convince Pete and Bill to let you have the right to hit the bounty."
Connie confidently replied, "I gave them my shares of loot after my five choices. That should please them enough to create a big distraction."
Calabrian thought about what he would do before he nodded and spoke up, "Then we will begin the raid soon. It will take two days to reach the planetoid to avoid them sensing us. So you better ensure you get the loot and bring it back."
After the holotable cut the connection to his fellow pirate Captain, Calabrian laughed with manic glee. 'Soon, Grim Sybil. Your so-called Kingdom will be mine as well, all of Axylus.'
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Location: Artru jump point
Date: August 17, 3021, 0:00
Capellan 'Mercenary' group Shin Li
Commander Rick Tagger hated his life. He and his mercenary group were once one of the best upcoming mercenary companies in the Periphery until they took the job for the Capellans. Oh, they didn't get ripped off quickly. It was a gradual process that took his company from his control until they could pay the outstanding debt they had built up. He lost so many of his friends. Green as grass, MechWarriors from the Capellan army replaced his friends. The fact that his new XO, since his old friend passed away from stress, was most likely a member of Maskirovka. He made that guess based on how often she used the comms system to message their status to their liaison.
He hoped he would be free from these assholes and return home one day. But, unfortunately, fate was on its way based on how his second-in-command acted after the last message. His new XO, a sexy but refined woman of Capellan descent, came over with a message on a data tablet.
"Commander." She said with a slight hint of frustration. "We have received a mission to recover some stolen prototypes spotted on the planet of Katinka in the Aurigan Reach. The Chancellor is willing to end our debts after capturing these units."
She handed him the tablet, which displayed the contact, before continuing.
"We are to meet a Capellan task force that will create a distraction for our team to recapture the stolen property."
Rick took a few seconds before responding, "We will take the contract, but I want to know what we will be facing."
The XO smirked before slowly walking to the Holotable and typing a few keys. A LoaderKing, Buster, and two Dig Kings appeared on the projector. "The thieves have been using a prospector town to hide the stolen prototypes. The local government is in collaboration with hiding them. However, despite official requests, they refuse to send the local militia to apprehend them. Therefore, we have a limited time to insert with the task force and take the prototypes. However, we cannot fail, or our debt will be defaulted on."
Tagger nodded and let his XO leave, only for him to signal the men he stationed as guards.
"Men," the Commander whispered to his last two platoon leaders left from his original group. They stood at attention while the few members of their team stood guard.
"We must go to the ground when we hit this upcoming contract. Maybe leave for another group. This job is our only chance to get out of these lying Caps. Jasmine, there would take us out after this contact. We are outnumbered and only have us and my mech. So the second we land, we take back our ship."
Both men were still helmeted, but Tagger could feel their resolve to commit to his order. They have been comrades for years and saw the same decline they suffered since taking on House Liao contacts. So both nodded and went off to prepare their men. After all, they were about to contract against 'thieves.' So it was time to prepare for the job.
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Location: Katinka, Little Rock
Time: August 19, 3021, 21:00
Brook signed at the damages around him. The pirate attack had come out of nowhere, and a damn Leoparddropped on top of them. It didn't help that one APC suddenly blew up from sabotage. He was willing to bet his damn LoaderKing on sabotage. The VTOL they had ready for escorting the delivery blew up from a similar explosion. The shockwave and debris damaged their last armed APC, forcing their crew to resort to infantry rockets and lasers to assist the defending mechs.
At least they managed to get a good hit on the ship that pushed it away, while the three battlemech it carried dropped and performed a death from above on Nick's Dig King, taking it out of the fight.
Doug had gone ballistic and managed to charge at the Stinger, taking out one of its legs at the cost of his smaller drill. He thought he could take on those three mechs himself in his Loaderking, but he was distracted when missiles and lasers slammed into him. Brook realized the pirates had armor support.
He tried to send an SOS out as he fired upon the armor units. But unfortunately, something jammed his calls, and all hope was starting to look like a distant dream. He couldn't leave his back to the armor support without the battlemech getting him. Despite his son and Doug fighting hard, both were green grass for mech combat.
That sudden roar saved Doug from a backstab and an opening for a kill from the Buster's Heavy Rifle. So it was when things turned into a slideshow. The pirate's lances were dead in less than two minutes, and their dropship fled as fast as possible.
He tried to contact the battlemech he could see. One that stood in the distance. It had a feline design and did not respond. He still remembers how tense it was as his son moved his Buster beside him, weapon pointing at the second unit. The mech had hidden in the shadow due to the sunset. Sensor and his old WarBook system couldn't ID either of them.
The tense atmosphere ended with his son's trigger finger shooting their savior after the hidden one shot a monstrous PPC into the mountain's far side. He was suddenly glad they weren't aiming that at him. Then, in their shock, the two battlemechs disappeared from their view.
The clean-up began, and he continued to try and contact outside forces. While Doug went to salvage what he could from Nick's mech and the pilot himself, the remaining APC crew was helping with search and rescue. He picked up a caved-in rooftop to help others recover personal belongings as everyone began moving to the underground shelter.
The Buster had collected the Javelin and dragged it to the mech hanger. It was intact except for its cockpit. The Chief Mechtech, Johnathan Woods (John for short), and his astech crew might be able to repair it and give them an actual battlemech to use. They just needed to get some parts from the supply towns.
When he finally managed to get in contact with the local forces. He was surprised at what he got.
The surprise pirate attack hit Little Rock and the towns of Pidgin and Aotearoa. Both were small towns like theirs but were hub centers for prospectors' supplies. The Militia lance that was supposed to come in to help investigate concerning those mysterious quad mechs went to help Pidgin.
Unfortunately, they took some losses when they joined the defense against the heavy assault on Pidgin. Aotearoa was utterly wiped out and had all its people and supplies taken. The Aurigan's patrol lance had only managed to damage the Heavy mech covering two dropships before getting forced away by a Leopardappearing and firing on them. The planetary Governor has already ordered more men to the area, but it would take time. Brook was afraid that they would die off before then.
After counting the dead, he ordered everyone to move into the underground shelter after a few more hours. The only ones out should be the town defenders and the techs. So with John, his son, the rest of the APC crews, and a few astechs.
They went to the new cave created by the friendly quad mechs. Brook left his LoaderKing in the hangar to be fixed by the astech left in town. The Buster reloaded and followed behind them while keeping its weapons ready. What they found inside the cave was an old military bunker.
The damaged designs in the bunker made it impossible to tell if it was Taurian or SLDF, but its fusion engine still worked once it was powered. So everyone there celebrated when the emergency lights came on to reveal what was inside made.
Brook walked up to one of the mechs and called Buster, "Hey, son, didn't you always wonder where your name came from?"
The response was quick but respectful, "Father, you said it was a great name after a great being." Then, Brook looked to where John and his tech went to restore the mech bays' tools and lighting.
"Well, son, you will discover why your name is Talos."
The lights around the mechbay turned on and blinded some of the men inside. But, after a minute, everyone could see what was standing in front of them within a few seconds. A Taurian Battlemech was well known for being easy to pilot. For Brook, a family battlemech once belonged to his ancestor, the TLS-1B Talos battlemech.
It was 50 tons of pure power. To list the mech's armaments, start with an AC/10 autocannon in the right arm, two pairs of LRM-5 on the right torso, and an SMR-6 on the left. A good battle fist on its left could equip various smaller weapons if one wanted to. Overall, an excellent trooper mech.
The only problem with the appearance was all the dust covering it and repairs needed to return it to operational levels. All six of them, plus the two light mechs at the end. Also, there was a lone medium mech out of place here. Anyone proud of their Taurian descent might blow it up for being a FedRat mech. Thank god he wasn't a patriot since Taurian Concordat had abandoned his current home and left them to pirates.
Before contemplating what to do with an ancestral enemy, Talos moved his Buster next to his namesake. Brook felt a smirk form on his face before toning his voice back to that of a commander.
"Private Talos, as punishment for shooting at an ally, you are to help MechTech Johnathan restore these mechs to working order. You cannot pilot the Buster except for the town's defense for two months."
"But Cap-"
"You have no excuse. Being nervous with a neurohelmet is understandable. The neurons would have your gun shoot the second you thought of it. But you are manually controlling your fire with hard trigger pulls without the help of a neurohelmet. You should have had your hand on control but away from the trigger until they showed aggression to us."
Brook could tell his son was getting a bit depressed, but what he did need punishment, so he waited. Also, when those mysterious quad mechs come back for their usual four-hour interval patrols, they would notice the discipline. They had to have been scanning the area. After all, how else would they have found the hidden bunker not on the data map when they founded Little Rock.
"Yes, sir," the sullen voice of his son came out as he parked his mech and waited for the lifts to activate to help him down. Brook picked up his communicator and began instructing the remaining defense force member on what to do and to keep an eye out for whoever reported this to the pirates.
Oddly enough, the two mysterious battlemechs appeared again like clockwork on the dot as another four-hour interval came and went. The only difference was that the Lion type one had come closer to being visible from a distance. At the same time, the others stayed in the forest.
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Location: Katinka system - unknown jump point
Date: August 20, 3021, 02:00
A body flew into the lightly armored interior of the Jumpship. It was a man in the colors of the planet's militia. He was dressed in military fatigues ripped from the combat of the dead men's forces.
The thrower was the giant man in Commander Calabrian's room, dressed in his Mechwarrior suit, before glaring at the three pirates. The three in question were the captains of the other dropships of his band.
"So," The rumbling, raged-filled voice of Calabrian spoke, "No one knew about that two battlemech that stopped Connie's group from completing our main raid. The only reason we broke even was thanks to my raid with some support."
No one spoke up, knowing that if they interrupted their Leader, they might lose their position or life.
"Our mole on location hasn't gotten back to us due to the lockdown that the 'washed up' merc ordered and who managed to beat your lance, Connie. However, even that man didn't report these battlemechs to us. So now two unknown battlemech who are strong enough to whip out a mixed company in two minutes." He took a deep breath and seemed to calm down.
That was when Connie took a step forward and brought out several BattleRom. "Leader, here are several BattleRoms we've managed to get from my lance battlemechs transmission. Of course, it's not perfect, but we may gain valuable intel on these mechs."
The video played three different points of view, each showing that Connie's group was winning against the town defenders. The only exception was the former merc, who couldn't keep up with the light mechs supported by armor, but held out long enough for reinforcement.
However, they all froze when they heard a loud, almost realistic animal roar. The ROM's sensors didn't sense any battlemech nearby, which caused them to pause. On the other hand, the militia continued as if it was nothing. The turnaround was fast and quick. One visible mech wrecked most of the force, while another hid off-screen death with the rest.
After a few minutes, Calabrian spoke. "We repair at once. Those mechs will be ours. All ships will focus here except yours, Pete. Transfer all your mechs to my ship except your one. You will hold all our bounties on the Jumpship and keep those products in the line."
"We strike as soon as possible," Calabrian ordered, causing all three pirates to jump and rush to their ships. "Connie." The said pirate stopped and turned to look at Calabrian. "You will drop with me in your Phoenix. I'm sending several of my techs to fix your mech up. We will succeed in this raid, and you will be there to make sure it happens."
The fear in her eye pleased him slightly before she nodded and sprinted to her ship.
Calabrian thought to himself as he walked back to his ship. Two mechs, both probably rare and unusual quad mechs that the Warbooks couldn't identify. Reactors that sensor can't pick up and speed that could rival if not surpass light scout mechs. The only thing is, they were amateurs by giving their location away before attacking. They just need a new pilot and purpose. He was just the right Mechwarrior to have such a battlemech.
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Location: Orbiting - Katinka, Little Rock
Time: August 21, 3021 16:00
Orbiting the planet above was a Leopard "Shippo," the home of the Shin Li mercenary group. Inside, the Commander was on a private comms within his room. He had to double-check his system twice for signs of it being tampered with before activating it. He had a couple of friends on Katinka and wanted to make sure the contract he had was stolen prototypes or just them wanting to rob someone's new model.
He didn't have to wait long before the first person he called answered.
An old Taurian man appeared on the screen, "Hey Rick, glad to hear from you," The man said in a friendly tone. A little too tight, the Commander noticed.
"Hey Brook, just checking on you before taking on a contract here," Tagger said while checking the readiness of his battlemech and his men. He wanted to take down all the Capellans inside his ship, but he might need a backup plan in case something went wrong.
He managed to get all the engineering crew on his side. Now just need to take care of the green Mechwarriors and a platoon of veteran 'mercenary' infantry that their Capellan contractors sent after they lost two of their tanks.
"A contract? I hope it is the one for those damn pirates that have raided us."
"Pirates?" Tagger questioned as he started to pull up more contracts from the MRB ComStar network. He saw it and then read the description. He saw another one asking to defend the town he was in agreement to attack if they didn't release the prototypes.
It started coming together in his head about his job. His contract wasn't to recover stolen prototypes. After all, who would steal mech only to use them openly to the point someone would post a warrant to find out more about them? He was starting to think this was to steal someone else's mech for the state.
He checked before he admitted anything, "Yeah, it's a decent contract but not against pirates but thieves, unless these pirates are using stolen prototypes?"
Brook's image froze before a flash of anger appeared and disappeared. "Whose contract are you dealing with? I know you would never work with pirates after what happened on Fjaldr, but I want to know who would set up a contract on these battlemechs. They saved my town."
"No, Brook, but please tell me everything you know about those unknown mechs that saved you. I need to compare what you tell me to my contract."
Rick looked outside into the mechbay to see several of his men getting into position. He continued, "If this is a lie from the Capellan, enough is enough, and I will break ties with them." Tagger replied while signaling his infantrymen to get ready to act.
The Commander received BattleRom data, and he watched it. He heard Brook's theory about the rare quad mechs in front of him as he did. Then Rick saw how fast they took out the pirate mechs and tanks. He pushed away the awe to focus on how and saw the rookie mistake, but simultaneously, he realized something else. The one visible mech acted like their design animal. They aim right for the kill without realizing the danger.
After the Rom ended, he spoke back to his old comrade. "Brook, I'm about to take back my ship. I'll help you out with those pirates too onc-"
Alert and a red light flashed as he heard a loud banging from his door. "Commander," Tagger heard Jasmine shout, "A dropship in Pirate colors has spotted and fired upon us."
"Brook, it seems like I'll be down in a bit," Tagger said as he grabbed his laser rifle and pistol and went out the door. He would take back his ship after they dealt with this situation.
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Location Katinka, Little Rock
Date August 22, 3021 01:50
It had been a stressful day for the defenders of Little Rock. The town militia had lost another defender as the rescue team couldn't put out the fire on the Dig Kingbefore the flames killed its pilot.
The LoaderKing and Buster were both out of commission. The only mech still there was the Talos, which was fully ready for the only true Mechwarrior left, himself. Sure, they managed to salvage a Stinger out of all this fighting, but it meant little to the loss of life they took, even if they took that risk to bring more help.
Brook sighed as he watched the four Planetary Militia APCs patrolling the town. The four battlemech that came with them had returned back from another battle. With them was his old mercenary unit. But almost all of them were as bruised and battered as his group.
So while the militia mechtechs were helping repair the teams, they also helped bring on a few of the found battlemech back online. The only downside was the near-fatal surprise attack from one of their community members.
Damn that Jiang Wu and all those troopers with him. He would have called them Capellans if it wasn't because the Capellans in the area were his old merc unit and the downed DropShip near those quad mech patrols. They weren't pirates due to how well-maintained their equipment was. Those troopers still needed to complete whatever they were after because John had piloted the second mech the techs managed to get online, the Toro. They blasted most of them with lasers before they could blow up any more of the bunker.
Brook took another sip of the homemade liquor that Nick and Doug had given him back when he first became the Captain of their defense force. The drink reminded him of his men. Both died due to the pirates and sabotage. Nick died burning alive in his Dig King, and Doug died to Wu's men before the Toro blasted them to pieces. But, at least his son, Talos, was resting in the medical bed near him. Brook had him moved from the medical center to his office to protect him from any more of the undercover troopers. His new mech, the Talos, was nearby. It was within jumping distance from his balcony to get onto the cockpit.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Brook only had one person he was waiting on since his family was with him (his wife sleeping in a chair next to his son's bed) and said, "Come in." He made sure his laser pistol was well within reach.
The doors opened, and a bandaged man walked with his left arm in a sling. He looked beaten up but still walking with his back straight and tall. Rick Tagger, Leader of the Shin Li mercenary unit and old comrade, took a few steps before giving his greeting.
Brook nodded to the chair next to him with a glass of liquor on the table. Rick took his seat and even took a sip of the alcohol before giving his attention to Brook.
"Well, everything settled on my end," Rick said with a tired voice. "It turned out most of my Capellan crew mates forced upon me were trying to figure out how to leave their state."
He took a sip of his drink before continuing. "So, forcing a rebelling against the loyal mechwarriors and a platoon of veteran foot soldiers devoted to the Caps was easier. But it was hard for me and the old SkyDriver (Phoenix Hawk-1D) to fight off that pirate dropship. Especially that Thunderbolt they had. Luckily my group got help from that lance you sent my way."
He took another sip from the drink before continuing, "My crew took a beating. I nearly lost my current XO, but we took down one of the aerospace fighters before they could get here. Still sorry we couldn't take down the second one. From what I heard, we managed to capture their dropship."
The mercenary Commander shrugged his broken arm. "I couldn't confirm it myself. I was getting checked by the medics. However, I did see several ships with the Governor's sigil leading a strike force toward a potential pirate jump point right now."
Brook took in that news. He hadn't heard of that while he was checking up on his son and giving condolences to Nick and Doug's family for their service. The fact that one Shilone aerospace fighter did so much damage to them during the fight was already bad enough. The pirate's heavier elements didn't hit them because of the turrets the militia brought with them.
"Well, I'm glad you promised to join the defense here until everything dies down," Brook said as he glanced outside his window. He was hoping to see the regular (to him) proximity alerts come on. Just to ensure that the heroes who saved them were still coming around.
"Well," Rick said as he also looked toward the window. "My men and the militia managed to find the Capellan dropship that was supposed to take down those quad mechs you showed me on the Roms. But, unfortunately, the ship is pretty much totaled and stripped bare. We only found bodies and not that many of them since most ashed when the fuel lines burst."
Brook sighed in relief. Usually, a downed Dropship would draw attention, but they would blame them for the missing ship, thanks to the pirate raid. At least formally.
"Hey," Rick started again, "any word on those quad mech and their Leader? They said they would return for those two battlemechs you offered them."
"They usually appear every four hours," Brook said as he put down his empty cup. "But I-"
The proximity alert cut him off. Then, he heard a lone howl that tore through the town before he could open the sliding door to his balcony. Then, there was silence before all the communication units spoke with a mechanical voice, "We will return soon but let us mourn."
"Well," the nervous voice said behind him, "This will be interesting."
"Yes," Brook responded, "Yes, it will. Those mechs never communicated like this before. I wonder what changed and who they are mourning for."