Magyari's Irregulars (3145-era Mercenary unit)

[Deadborder]

Audio Log File #75887-Rho

Major Irisz Magyari: So tell me exactly what happened. Don't leave anything out.

Corporal Martin Levesque: I... I'm not in any trouble, am I?

Magyari: I just need to know what happened, that's all. These are my - our people we're talking about  here. I need to know as much as I can.

Levesque: Okay. [Deep breath] M... I was escorting Chief Technician Stanley and her crew back from the Union she was stripping down. My Centurion was leading the column, with her Savior right behind me and a couple more trucks behind that. They were all loaded down with parts taken from the ship.

Magyari: As was your assigned duty, yes.

Levesque: I had radioed ahead to signal when we were leaving. Everything was going to plan, following the, um, ruins of the road until we got past waypoint bravo.

Magyari: And then what happened?

Levesque: About five hundred meters south of Bravo we passed by a ruined roadside stop. We had inspected the ruins in past and each time find them to be clear. As we passed this time, however,, the column was ambushed by several squads of Battle Armour. The first squad leaped out of the ruins and made an attack on my Centurion, crippling its hip actuator.

Magyari: Why didn't you radio for help at that point?

Levesque: I tried to, but my signal was being jammed. They must have had an ECM unit just nearby and only only switched it on once they launched the attack.

Magyari: Clearly they were well prepared for this. They knew your route and how to cut off your communications. So what happened next?

Levesque: The Battle Armour quickly swarmed Stanley's Savior and the other trucks and forced them to surrender. I couldn't fire at them without the risk of hitting our own people. They... They forced them to drive off.

[Pause]

Magyari: You were supposed to have Sergeant Tranh's Battle Armour squad riding on your 'Mech to prevent just this sort of thing from happening.

[Pause]

Magyari: You have an OmniMech. There's no reason why you couldn't have them with you.

Levesque: I am aware of that, Major. It's... [deep breath] I figured that since the route had been clear so far, then we would be fine without them. Sergeant Tranh was okay with the idea as well, and he and his squad were going to use the time to inspect the site and see if there was anything else that we could ni- er, salvage.

Magyari: I see. So the raiders made off with Stanley, a dozen other members of her technical staff, their vehicles and over a hundred tons of salvage.

Levesque: Um, yes.

Magyari: Right. We’ll… figure out what to do about this. For now, you’re dismissed.

[Deadborder]

From the personal journal of Annika Magyari

A couple of ones from my Grandmother's journals that I found interesting, especially given all the edits to one of them - Irisz

3rd February, 3068

I really shouldn't be surprised at what we found. The identity of dad's killers revealed, and it was exactly who we should have expected from day one. If you ever wanted a good example of just how toxic the world of big egos and log memories that is Mercenary culture could be, this is the best proof you'll ever get.

The feud between the Irregulars and Raymond's Roughnecks never really ended. It just went away from time to time, flaring up on those occasions when our units were coincidentally in the same place at the same time. Be it on Galatea or Outreach, it would keep happening. Name calling, deliberate provocation, bar brawls... You name it. All so very petty and banal, but also very much key to the culture. Dad would try to discourage them, of course, but one way or another, these things kept on happening.

Ego and long memories are a big part of the mercenary trade. Just ask the Eridani Light Horse and Bronson's Horde. Or look at Wolf's Dragoons and the Waco Rangers, and see how that turned out for everyone involved. Yes, compared to those units this is a lot smaller, but that doesn't make it any less dangerous to us.

It's not even the first time that something like this has happened. On Sheratan in '63, dad's command lance were attacked by a group of 'rouge mercenaries' while they were escorting the president's Hoverlimo. Those rogues nearly killed both him and the president before they were forced to retreat. We later found out that they were members of the Roughnecks, but dad tried to keep a lid on it in order to stop things from spiraling out of control.

I can only wonder what's going through Nina Raymond's mind. Yes, Grandma Sel killed her father, but that was on the battlefield. Her 'Mech hit his in the cockpit; this is the sort of thing that happens all the time. She didn’t deliberately shoot to kill him, but rather was fighting an enemy who was doing his utmost to defeat her. That shot could have just as easily crippled his 'Mech and left him alive.

A deliberate, targeted terrorist attack that killed a number of people is not the same thing, however. It's purposeful, aimed and with unquestionable intent.

I want to see this end. I have no desire to keep alive a fifty year feud that started well before me or dad were even born. I don't care who started it or why. I just want it done with. Sadly, given that Raymond's attack filed and we captured her son Colin for the deal, I very much doubt that's going to happen.

-----

[REDACTED], 3076

Nina Raymond is dead.

I'm still a little shocked at about how exactly it happened and the strange events afterwards. The Roughnecks attacked us at [REDACTED], hitting us hard with everything they had left. They had heavy artillery cover that was keeping us pinned in place; all we could do was melt into the buildings and try to take it to close range while breaking up our own formations.

And yet, despite this, she still was able to find me. I'd been separated from the rest of my lance, caught by a collapsing overpass and with ECM fouling comms. Her Gallowglas came after me, hunting me down. I don't know if she had separated herself from the rest of her lance, or if this was a deliberate act on her part so she'd ensure this would end by her own hands. It doesn't really matter now.

We fought. She was the better pilot; there's no doubt about that. She had far more experience than me, after all, having been a MechWarrior longer then I'd been alive. More than that, though, was that she was so driven, fuelled by hatred fury and a blind desire for revenge that was all-consuming. And there was something else that I couldn't explain at the time, something about her 'Mech that made it seem... alive.

Regardless, she had me dead to rights. My Thunderbolt's Gauss Rifle went up, shocking me and leaving me flat on my back. Her Gallowglas was a mess as well, especially with a laser scar across its face, but it didn't matter. I was dead, and she had me.

And then she just... stopped. Her 'Mech slumped, still on its feet but at the same time, no longer moving. I was able to get my Thud back on its feet, but even then, it didn't react. It wasn't until afterwards that we found out why.

Kardos and Chaver later told me that the Roughnecks had suddenly wilted, as if all the fight had gone out of them at about the same time. We found out form the prisoners that Bruce Raymond, Nina's son and second in command, he’d panicked and lost control of his men, which pushed them over the edge. They broke, which gave us the chance to push back. Less than half their force left the battlefield, with their command in tatters.

It wasn't until afterwards that we found out what had happened. Doctor Hendrix did a full autopsy on Nina, and found two things. The first was that she'd been in the late stages of a very rare, incurable degenerative disease. She was dosed up on medications and painkillers and whatever else, but it seems like it had killed her, not my weapons. It almost makes me wonder if she'd climbed into her BattleMech knowing full well that she would never leave it, and had planned on making killing me her final act,

It's a chilling thought, especially when combined with what else she found. Nina had [REDACTED], like she was some sort of [REDACTED]. Which might explain the odd feeling I was getting. It also tells me just how desperate and/or insane she had become.

Oddly enough, as soon as Hendrix was done, our rep from IE showed up and confiscated both Nina's body and her 'Mech. He never said why, and discouraged us from asking questions. His providing us with a brand new Avatar as compensation did go some way to easing our concerns.

The Roughnecks are shattered, fleeing [REDACTED] under the Word's protection. But they're a spent force, having lost their commander and more than half their strength. Even then, they still have nowhere to go; they're working for the Word, and the MRBC have bounties on their heads. All they can do now is hole up somewhere in the Protectorate and wait for whatever comes next.

Either way, this is over.

[Deadborder]

777th Assault Regiment

(You look into one thing and you end up discovering so much more - Irisz)

The 777th Assault Regiment was formed in the aftermath of the Second Succession War, growing out of the shattered remnants of several different mercenary commands. Knowing that their battered units were no longer viable, the commanders of those units came together during a meeting on Galatea in 2865 to discuss their options. All of them agreed that another war was inevitable, and that in order to keep operating during the forthcoming conflict they would need to rebuild their shattered commands.

Those present decided to amalgamate the remnants of their own units into a single command. While the idea was agreed upon by those present, no consensus could be reached as to who should lead them. In the end, in order to break the impasse, command of the unit was determined through a poker game which was eventually won by Bedford O'Toole, formerly of the Kannon Rifles. Taking his luck as a good omen, and noting the generally heavier weight of the equipment he had inherited, O'Toole named the new unit the 777th Assault Regiment.

They found work almost immediately as the Third Succession War flared to life. Hired by the Federated Suns, the 777th were used to push against Combine troops in the occupied Draconis March. A series of lucky breaks saw the unit stumble into a massive Combine supply depot, netting them valuable parts and equipment that went a long way towards building up the command. O'Toole also saw it not only as justification of his leadership (silencing the few remaining dissenters) but also proof that the 777th were a 'lucky' unit,

Similar lucky breaks would seem to follow the unit wherever it went, allowing it to actually grow in strength during the bloody early years of the Third Succession War. In truth, a good part of it was due to O'Toole's organisational skills, good eye for detail and the large cadre of scouts he carefully used during the unit's operations. When he stepped down as commander in 2895, he left behind a unit that had managed to build a strong for success and defying the odds on more then one occasion.

However, that success would come to haunt the unit. O'Toole's successor, Jamal Nakambo, understood the work that he had done and the careful use of intelligence assets to aid his decisions. However, he also developed a fascination with the 'lucky' side of the unit, and as much as he would review intelligence and key findings, he also would search for signs and portents that suggested favourable circumstances. Over time this process would filter across much of the unit’s command structure, with the idea that the unit’s good fortune could be actively manufactured. Senior officers were chosen as much for their command abilities and tactical acumen as they were for what were seen as favourable circumstances in their birth, names or whatever else.

This change of focus, combined with the slow, deteriorating grind of the Third Succession War, began to weaken the unit. The 777th suffered several losses that were put down to 'bad luck' rather than any flaws in their planning or other mistakes. However, there were those who felt that the unit was headed in the wrong direction, and that they needed to re-focus on the tangible and real rather than ideas of karma, fate and lucky numbers.

In 2961, Major Jonny Raymond's 333rd Battalion were nearly wiped out in an ambush by League forces on Savannah, saved only by quick thinking on his part. This in turn had been caused by an intelligence failure on the part of Colonel Athena Demetriatis, who had ignored scouting reports in favour of what she saw as 'good fortune' granted to her by 'her guardian spirits'. Raymond claimed that Demetriatis was not fit to lead, and demanded that she step down. After he was rebuffed by her and the other senior staff, Raymond left the unit, taking with him over a dozen MechWarirors including several skilled officers.

Raymond's defection heralded a decline for the unit, one form which it would never recover. Bedsides the loss of skilled officers, the unit found it ever increasingly hard to attract new recruits. Battlefield losses took their toll, and by the dawn of the 31st century, the 777th Assault Regiment's name had become something of a misnomer. Actually closet to two battalions in strength, the unit was still organised as a regiment under an elaborate numerology-based scheme. Likewise, its force was now made up mostly of medium and heavy BattleMechs.

The end of the 777th came in 3010 when, acting on advice from his personal astrologer, Colonel Anotan Tranh accepted a contract from the Capellan Confederation to attack Verlo. Expecting only light resistance, the 777th were instead met by a Sytris Fusiliers regiment who struck during their initial landings. Colonel Tranh's ancient Highlander was destroyed in the opening moments of the battle, with the rest of the unit collapsing into chaos. The survivors were taken prisoner by the AFFS, with their equipment confiscated as salvage.

- From Mercenary Commands of the Third Succession War, Galatea Free Press

[snakespinner]

Well that attack on Verlo was lucky for the AFFS. O0

[Deadborder]

(A technical failure meant we only got half of this conversation. The lack of communications infrastructure on this miserable rock is to blame. I added a few annotations where needed - K)

(Thank you for this. It is relevant to our case no less. I’ve added a few notes of my own)

Sharkey: As near as I can tell, there were two of them. My men are still trying to figure out how they got into the mansion grounds, given that they didn’t actually cut through the fences or disable the cameras. When I find out what was the problem, I’m going to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: You’re right there. Somebody’s going to get his hand fed to a dogodile over this, mark my words. (Dogodiles are a reptile native to Andiron that. They have a vicious bite, and can be tamed and used as guard animals - K)

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: Two of them made it into the grounds and broke into the mansion proper. They must have been good, given the way that they got past the cameras and everything else I set up there. Yeah, they even got past the servants quarters. I’ve had them beaten just to get the message over. Not that I think they had anything to do with the whole thing, but I want to remind them to be alert.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: They made it upstairs and got into my office. Get this, one of them tried to turn the camera around so that it was facing the other door. Guy didn’t realize that he was looking into the lens all along. That’s how I knew that something was up.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: I think they were after something in specific, given that they went straight into the office. Once in, they rifled through everything there, including my personal computer. My technician is checking it now, but he’s pretty sure that they copied everything on the core and dumped it.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: By that point, my men were trying to break down the door, but they had barricaded themselves in there. They finally got the door down, only for two of those idiots to be blasted with a shotgun. If they weren’t both dead, I’d kill them myself. Either way, the intruders made an escape by smashing the window while I was trying to get more of my guards on the way.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: No, that didn’t stop them either. They made for the gate and killed two more guards and, even worse, two of my dogodiles along the way. By the time I had more people on to them, they were long gone.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: Really, I have no idea what they were after. I had a lot of dirt on that computer, and they could hurt me a lot of ways with it. I mean, I could be lucky and it could be that new crew that took out the Chasseurs (The Newcastle Chasseurs, a failed mercenary unit stranded on Andiron – K). The word is that they’re gunning for Kaine and his crew (Matthias Kaine, leader of the Sanguine Reapers pirate band – K). If they take him out, then that would actually be good for me. Still going to be watching my back.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: The camera got a good look at them while they were arsing around with it. One had a cowboy hat and a thick moustache, (Likely Randy R. Georges) while the other looked like a Cappie criminal. (Likely Lee Zhen) Don’t have a clue as to who they worked for. But I want them dead no less.

(Obviously it’s too late for us to act on this, but it’s useful no less, and thank you for bringing it to my attention. It helps me build a more complete picture of what’s going on. Sharkey has no reach beyond Andiron, so I doubt that he will present too much of a threat.)

[Deadborder]

Andiron's first spaceport was built while the planet was a part of the Rim Worlds Republic, then known as Hellbrent. Dating back to the world's colonisation, the port grew slowly over time with the planetary population. It underwent a major expansion during the late 28th century to handle increased traffic by RWA forces, especially after elements of the 6th Republican Guards were stationed to the world. It’s also possible that the world was used as a staging ground for the discrete shuffling of Rim Worlds forces before the coup.

Following the collapse of the Republic, the spaceport fell into disuse and disrepair. Much of its remaining technology was scavenged by the locals to keep more vital life-support infrastructure operational. By the time Andiron was incorporated into the Circrinus Federation, little more than a few gutted buddings and cracked ferrocrete remained. The Federation did little but stabilise the structures, with the facility being used as an occasional staging ground for piracy.

During the 3060s, the Word of Blake began a series of massive infrastructure projects on the world, including construction of an entirely new spaceport. A massive, state of the art facility, the Andiron spaceport was clearly designed to handle a far greater capacity then the world required. It is possible that this was a part of whatever plans the word of Blake had for the Federation as a whole before the dissolution of the Second Star League and the dawn of the Jihad threw them off.

Completed in 3067, the spaceport boasted extensive launch, maintenance and repair facilities. In addition, it featured facilities for supporting a permanent garrison and their supporting personnel, underscoring the idea that it was intended for military use. It also featured conventional launch facilities for on-planet air travel. To support its operations, a high-speed rail link and a highway were built to connect it to the planetary capitol.

During the Jihad, the spaceport was apparently used as a staging ground for attacks on the Lyran Commonwealth by both word of Blake forces as well as their mercenary and pirate allies. Few records exist of which units operated out of it, however, as during the final days of the Jihad the port was bombarded form orbit by the Word's own forces, believed to be the 49th Shadow Division.

The attack was focused and deliberate, aimed as inflicting as much damage as possible on the facility. Virtually everything inside was destroyed, either by their direct weapons fire or through secondary damage from erupting fuel and ammunition storage. About the only thing left standing were the massive walls built around the facility.

Despite the riches it might have presented, the spaceport was not picked over by scavengers. Instead, the runs gave people a good reason to stay away. The attack ruptured fuel tanks and other storage facilities, resulting in the grounds of the spaceport soaking up a mixture of all sorts of chemicals. Beyond things like dropship fuel, coolant, wastewater and the other things you would associate with a spaceport, it also reportedly included a considerable amount of medical waste and, if some unverified reports were true, WMDs that had been stored on-site.

The result was that the spaceport’s grounds were heavily contaminated, enough to make entering them too risky a prospect for even the desperate survivors of the Word's attacks. The result was that instead of being picked apart like its predecessor, the new Andiron spaceport was left to slowly decay.

It's still not clear when the Reapers took up residence there. They don’t seem to have been deterred by the stories of the toxic soup lying under the surface, and they certainly don't seem to be all dying of fatal everything poisoning, which leads me to suspect that the level of contamination has decreased over time to acceptable levels. Either that or they were never that risky to begin with, and the whole thing was a story cooked up to scare people away from the port's ruins. Given that again, the Word of Blake and their habit of moving in mysterious ways is behind it all, either is possible.

Regardless, the ruins do make a very good position to operate from, even if it is mostly rubble. It gives them a good supply of parts and materials they can use to support their facilities and dropships,  especially if some of the infrastructure survived or, at least, was repairable. The large walls also make it a fantastically defensible location, hard to get in to while providing those inside with an amazing degree of cover. And that’s assuming they have no passive defences set up like mines or even simple pit traps. Plus its reputation keeps unwanted locals away,

[Nav_Alpha]

Wouldn't want to encounter a Dogodile without some back up...

[Deadborder]

In my head they look like lizardy versions of Looney Tunes bulldogs.

[Deadborder]

(Once again, I only got half the conversation. Right now, Sharkey's so on edge that he's not going to let anyone near his stuff, so I can't see that changing any time soon. I can only imagine what your boys are up to there. Whatever it is, though, they have him scared and angry - K)

(Understandable. I'm beginning to think that Sharkey has reached the end of his usable life anyway, however I will leave that to your discretion. In the meantime, thank you again for bringing this to me)

Sharkey: I've had another incident, and it was the same pair of fraggers as last time. I tell you, somebody is out to get me. No, I'm not being paranoid. I'll tell you what happened; they stole all the info from my computer and they used it to find my assets. And now they're moving in on me.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: One of my men got a good look at them, and it was the same pair as last time. Yeah, the moustache guy and the Cappie criminal. No, I got no idea who they work for, as I've never heard of them before. I don’t think it's that bastard Kaine, though. If he wanted me out of the way, he'd have just marched his 'Mech up to my place and flattened it.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: What did they do? I'll tell you what they bloody well did. First of all they intercepted one of my shipments (Sharkey owns the New Hades narcotics industry - K) while they were making a delivery. They knocked out the driver and then took off with the van and the stash inside of it. It was a targeted hit, it had to be. How else would they have known to take the van when it was at the start of its damned deliveries and had a full load? (Sharkey 'supplies' to his sex workers and the like in order to keep them dependent and working for him. That's likely where the shipment was when it was stolen- K)

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: But that was just the beginning. The pair of them drove over to St. Sharkeys (St. Sharkey's Memorial Hospital, the only surviving Jihad-era medical facility in the city. It's a hole, but it’s still the best medical care the city has - K) and talked their way into the place. Yeah, I've found out who were the idiots who let them past and I've already dealt with them.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: Then they got into the hospital and made their way up to the top floor - yeah, the wing for the people who actually have money- and proceeded to shoot up the security checkpoint. Once inside, they then went to the store room and pillaged the place.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: That's the strange part. They could have cleaned the place out; I got a fortune in medicines, drugs, pills, and whatever else in there. But they didn't. All they took was a half-dozen cylinders of anesthetic gas and a few other things. No, I have no idea why they did it either.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: Yeah, they got away. Those morons at the hospital ran off after a fake security call that basically allowed the pair of them to drive off without being challenged. Yeah, I got men looking for the van, but I know everything will be long gone by the time they find it.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: Yeah, well you're doing a pretty piss-poor job so far. Kaine is still alive, every all I've tried to reach out to has turned up dead and now I have these two going around torpedoing me for god alone knows who. First they hit my place, then my drugs, then my hospital... What next? Hell I even found out that Cappie guy laid out one of my pimps and took off with one of my Working Girls. Now you find me these two and you find out who they're working for or else it's going to be your balls I cut off next, got it?

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: Good. This is a war, and i intend to win it.

(I can only assume that your boys are going after Kaine. I'll keep my ears open and let you know what happens. Regardless, Sharkey's going insane over a threat that doesn't even exist. - K)

[Deadborder]

Sharkey,

I know that our alliance wasn’t exactly founded on mutual respect, and that we have never liked each other. Hell, we only really tolerate each other’s existence because we both need things that the other can get. But I’m sending you this letter for a reason.

See, just under an hour ago, a bunch of mercs broke into the spaceport. They managed to sneak their way in somehow, getting past all my guards, all my perimeter patrols, all the roadblocks I set up in the crawlspace and everything else. They gassed my men with some sort of anaesthetic; had the Starport’s filters not caught it and tried to shut the system down, they would have flooded the place and knocked out me and all my men. As it happened, they still managed to knock out everyone inside the underground for a few minutes.

That was long enough for them to get in and retrieve their technicians. Yeah, the ones that I was holding as hostages to ensure their good behaviour. I mean, hell, I could allways use more techs. Personally, I was planning to keep them. Killing them would have been stupid and a waste of useful skills. They almost got out without being detected too.

Fortunately, one of my men was awake enough to sound the alarm. That seemed to cut them off as they were trying to destroy one of the ‘Mech bays; instead they chose to cut and run. That’s when it turned into a gunfight as they tried to get away. I had my men on them, and even sent out a Quasit after them. One of them, maybe the mad bomber from before, managed to take it’s hip out with a satchel charge.

Imagine that, having the balls to run after something with a Plasma Rifle while on foot. That’s the sort of talent I could use.

They got away; they had VTOLs on standby for extraction. It was clean for them too. I lost several men and that Quasit is gimped. And it cost them next to nothing.

I knew they were after me from the moment they touched down and took out the Chasseurs. I’m the only threat on this rock that warrants hiring a whole merc unit to hunt down. That’s why I took their techs, after all. I figured that having their men while they didn’t know where I was would stop them dead. Funny how that didn’t work out.

And now I know they’ll be after me. They have my locations, and they have nothing to hold them back. I can’t get moving fast enough; both my droppers are still undergoing repairs, and there’s no way that I can get them airborne in the time that it’s going to take them to get their act together. So we’re going to have to stand and fight. I mean, I can make them pay for each and every inch of ground, and I am not going to go down easy, but I have no illusions about this. It’s going to be bloody, regardless of the outcome.

So you might ask why I’m telling you all of this. See, the thing is, Sharkey, you were the only one who knew where we were hiding, and yet they found us. That tells me one of two things. The first is that you screwed up and somehow let them know where I was. The second is that you deliberately ratted me out.

And I can’t tolerate either.

So here’s the thing. Regardless of what happens, you are a dead man. And that’s why I’m sending you this. I want you to know that what’s about to come is entirely your fault. And I want you to live the last few hours of your life pissing your pants with fear as you look over your shoulder at every step. Yeah, I know about your safe room. I know about your country retreat. I know about your safe house in the bad part of town. I was prepared for this moment.

Have fun with the last moments of your life

Kaine

[Deadborder]

We're currently in a huge battle that will likely take a few weeks to finish. Meanwhile, have a filler post

(From Bullets, Books and Bylines: a blog about mercenary literature; Galatea InfoWeb, 3144)

Cassidy's Crusaders (Volumes I-IV) by Cameron Kennedy et al. Red Tower Books, 3142. Fiction. Will punch you in the gut and make you cry.

Today we're going to be getting a little more visual then normal for something interesting form the fiction bin. Our subject for today is also rather extensive, so I'm not going to be breaking it down into as detailed a summary as I normally do. Or maybe I’m just going to encourage you to read the thing yourself to get all the juicy bits. As always, this is a bit spoiler-riffic, only of the board sweeping plot points. I'm not going to tell you who lives or dies, even if one of those did break my heart.

Okay, preamble aside, our review for today is Cassidy's Crusaders, volumes I-IV, released by the Red Tower Books It's written by Kennedy Cameron and drawn by a variety of luminaries including Carlos Espozito, Rick Wallach and the Flanenco brothers (Who may have been more than two and possibly not even brothers). Wait a moment, you say, drawn? What's this? Am I reviewing a comic book?

Yes, yes. I am.

And before you close your browser in disgust or fill my comments section with claims of my running out of content or lowering my standards or whatever else, do yourself a favour and read my review. Then you can kill me.

Anyway, a bit of background, Cassidy's Crusaders was published by the now-defunct Funtley Publications over the course of twelve years from 3105 to 3117. Funtley exited the comics racket when it was bought out by Bradburton Books in 3122, who also inherited the rights to their characters and titles. It goes around a bit form there, but in 3142, Red Tower bought the legacy rights to the entire Funtley catalouge, save for thirty-four characters created specifically for Bananatron Explosion! Before January 1, 3050. Yes, I’m only scratching the surface here. It's insane.

Back on point. Red Tower compiled Cassidy's Crusaders and relased it as four, monsterous volumes covering its entire run. They managed to acquire good-quality artwork masters for the entire run; this isn’t just a recreation form an nth generation scan of a reprint of the original that has been resized three times over the decades. Added to this, they also managed to wrangle interviews with the original writer and artists (well some of them) as supplementary material to the strips themselves.

Okay, enough background already, I hear your scream. So what's this talking funny picture book about?

Cassidy's Crusaders is a war comic about a mercenary unit. Okay, so that's nothing even remotely surprising, and there's been about a bazillion of them so far. What makes this one so important is several things. The first is that this is not some heroic against the odds tale of the best unit in the universe that’s full of Clan Omnimechs and larger then live space heroes. (Thank you, Sonya Brie. Your novels are my guilty pleasure). Truth is, it's anything but.

For starters, the titular Cassidy's Crusaders aren't a big unit, nor are they an amazing one. They're a small unit, struggling to get by. When our story opens they're coming off a contract that they only just broke even on. They lost good men and material, and their commander has just had to take a contract that he was only so-so about because they're otherwise buried in debt and have their creditors breathing down their necks. And while yes, spoilers, this isn't a rags to riches story either. Without saying too much, by the end of the book's run they are far from rolling in the money.

So that's number one. Number two is the storytelling itself. Simply put, this is hard stuff. You're not going to see them defeat impossible odds, effortlessly wipe the floor with their opponents or anything else. This is a gritty, harsh and violent world, where staying alive is a victory in and of itself. The Crusaders taste defeat on more than one occasion, and the writers don't hold back with the 'anyone can die' approach. A character might be built up over the course of several issues, and then suddenly they eat a PPC to the face and are incinerated in an instant. And you can never tell who it will be either. It's heroic, yes, but far from romantic.

The Crusaders are in many ways the heroes of the story primarily because they're the protagonists. They're not good all people either. True, it's not like they're all baby eating psychos, but there are plenty of bad apples within their ranks. At the same time, there are those that have their moments and are willing to put their lives on the line for others or even go beyond the bounds of a contract on principle. So they're not paragons of virtue by any means, but rather very flawed and believable people.

Right, you say. Gritty war story. I get it. So why do I want to read this one? I might as well say this now because you'll find out in the early parts of Volume I anyway, but what really sold this for me is that the Crusaders work for the Word of Blake during the Jihad. Boom. There. I said it. Tidal wave of hateful comments inbound. Now before this degenerates into a political mudslinging fest and the inevitable comparisons to Amaris, this book is anything but pro-Word or an attempt to paint them in a positive light.

Rather, it's the story of ordinary people trying to do their best in circumstances well beyond their control. They’re certainly not the orphanage-burning monsters that are the stereotypical depictions of the Word's mercenary allies. There's moments when they try to do genuine good, but it often comes undone one way or another.

(Did I mention that issue one starts with the Crusaders lifting off form Outrerach in October, 3067? Yeah, Like that.)

The book gives both sides of the Jihad a fair treatment, in so far as it says that everyone was crappy and awful and did horrible things to each other. We've covered enough books here to know that's a good case. Look at my review of Wild Storms: The Bryant Campaign or Bear Has Eaten You for good, well-pulbicised examples of dodgy things the Coalition did. Cassidy's Crusaders runs with that theme. They have horrible allies in the Word, but face horrible people on the other side of the fence as well.

The characters are mostly strong, both for good and for bad. Richard Cassidy is clearly depicted as a good man in a bad situation; he wants to do the right thing by his men, but he also is bound by his contract and a professional code of conduct. It’s this central conflict that inspired his character arc. Alice Cassidy, his daughter and heir, is in over her head and struggling to keep up, and faces the growing realization of how little control she has over her own fate. Chuck Trilsby presents a great 'live form the trenches' point of view character, especially later in the book when his career advances simply because everybody above him has been killed off. And Lieutenant Sneddley (No, I don't think he ever gets a first name) is wonderfully hateable, so much so that you cheer when he suffers his horrific demise. No, I won’t spoil it, but it’s well deserved no less.

There's some great gems among the supporting and guest characters too. Percentor Marie Entenard is wonderfully creepy and just 'wrong' enough without going over the top. For example, the letterers put her speech in a font that is slightly but noticeably different from everyone else's.

Not all the characters are good, I will admit. Neither Percentor Bob Wallis nor Chu-i Jonji Yamashita ever progress beyond 'moustache-twirlingly evil' (Hell, Yamashita even has a moustache). Or there's Star Captain Olaf Gunderson, who's personality begins and ends With RAR KILL YOU.

A few historical characters also appear; for the most part, their appearances are pretty fair and reasonably handled, if not fantastically. The biggest problem with them is that many of the appearances seem forced, as if to say 'look, historical relevance!' more then what they do for the narrative. Which is one of the comic's biggest structural flaws, by the way. The story does move around a lot from world to world during the Jihad. But there are times when it seems that there's little logical reason for the Crusaders to be assigned to the given job they have beyond putting them in the line of fire of some significant event. While it's not bad, it does detract from the narrative

While the book does go through four (or so) main artists, the artwork does remain consistently good. There's a nice, gritty style here that plays well throughout; no amazingly attractive or heroic characters, but lots of dirty, grimy and worn people. The cast look like they've been through hell, as does the world around them. Plus as a bonus, the artists have clearly done their research. Not only is the scenery and setting appropriate for each world. But they make sure the 'Mechs and other tech are appropriate to the time. All of them are well rendered and distinct, instead of being generic blobs or obviously copied from the nearest reference photo.

And as an added bonus, the interviews at the end of each volume shed a lot of light on the creative process behind the book, the decisions they made and so on. It also includes the rather sad tale of the story’s cancellation. Cameron had big plans for the unit, but the editor's wouldn't approve his research budget, claiming that the 'demographics were shifting' and 'nobody wanted another war story'. I won't say what those plans were (As what do you know, they do kind of spoil the outcome) but It would have been fascinating to see where they would have gone.

All in all, it's a great read and very satisfying on a number of levels. Strong characters, great artwork and a 'pulls no punches' approach to storytelling. The characters may be fictional, but their stories feel real.

About the author: Cameron Kennedy was born on Towne in 3077. He was hired by Funtley Publications almost fresh out of high school, and began his career doing filler work on a number of different books including Splat, Fight!, Fear and Bananatron Explosion. His first fulltime job came with the launch of Action Battleforce, where he created (and wrote) a number of early strips including Red Wolf, Storm's Strikers, Sergeant Stone and FSS Fearless. His career was defined by a combination of big breaks and fights with editors, often over content. Following the cancellation of Action Battleforce, he primarily wrote for children’s humor comics until Funtley's closure. Since then, he has written across a number of different projects, primarily comics and prose. He lives on Towne and still regularly writes very angry blog posts.

[Deadborder]

From the personal journal of Irisz Magyari

With Stanley and her crew safely back in our hands, it was time to move on the Sanguine Reapers. They had to know that we were coming by now; after all, we’d just broken into their headquarters, rescued their hostages, attacked their men and crippled one of their ‘Mechs. Either the Reapers would be digging in and preparing for the worst, or they would be trying to make a quick escape. The former would mean that we’d have the chance to fulfill our contract, even if it would also mean a bloody fight in the process. And the latter would mean it was a huge waste of time on our part.

A quick sub-orbital hop put our ships down as close as we dare get without risking coming under fire or being swarmed straight out the door. The area around the spaceport presented its own hazards beyond just enemy fire, however; the air was still tainted with the fallout from the spaceport’s destruction. Added to that, there was every chance that the Reapers could have sown the area with mines or have spotters and remote sensors watching our advance.

The spaceport itself presented its own challenge. Much of the massive twenty-five meter high wall around it was still standing, even if it had collapsed in places. The first order of business would be to get through knowing full well that the Reapers would be lurking on the other side. There were several gaps that we could use to get in, and it was just as likely that they would be waiting for us to try.

Our plan then was to open with an artillery barrage, then leapfrog the light and medium ‘Mechs over the wall, supported by the Air Cav. They would drop Battle Armour in the enemy’s rear echelon and hopefully disrupt whatever plans they would have waiting for us on the other side.

It did not go as planned. The enemy weren’t just content to let us come to them and instead had their own plans. Almost immediately, we came under fire from both Arrow and Thunderbolt missiles, guided by unseen spotters. Our first round of Artillery didn’t go off well either, with the shots scattering; one round hit Will head-on, while Maria very nearly got taken out by friendly fire (and resulted in the command channel being filled with lots of very angry Spanish).

The Reapers weren’t going to remain bottled up either. As soon as our first jump-capable ‘Mechs went over the wall, they sent several back to try and disrupt our advance. At the same time, a swarm of Hovercraft came billowing out of an underground access, wheeling around to attack our formation from the back. This had an initially mixed result or them; they did some damage, but the heaviest of their raiders, an Ostroc, went down hard when I put a trio of SRMs into its face.

Our ‘Mechs breached the wall, tangling it up with theirs. And then everything went to hell.

A stray Artillery shell hit Katrya’s Lamprey just as she was dropping of Sergeant Rathiki’s squad. While her VTOL was damaged, it was still operation. Unfortunately, Rathiki and his entire squad were killed in the strike. Almost immediately, the command channel vegetated into chaos as Maria started flinging accusations at Captain Dae-Hoon and violently insulting him in Spanish. Katrya also decided to add to the mix with a lot of choice Ukrainian insults. In the meantime, I have four men dead and was trying to win a battle.

Things got worse when Takahashi breached the wall, only to have a half-dozen pirate ‘Mechs open fire on his Akuma at once. He soaked up over a hundred and fifty rockets, autocannon shells, missiles, PPCs and lasers, which stripped all the armour off the front of his ‘Mech in seconds. Amazingly enough, he remained standing, but was forced to pull back immediately.

While our two Hawk Moths were trying to shut down their artillery support, Our first wave were dealing with a mess of Medium ‘Mechs and concealed tanks (including an ambush from a Medium Laser carrier). Lee and I pushed through, following the hole that Takahshi had opened up, breaking up their dug-in formation. My Mad Cat wound up going toe to toe with Kaine’s Thanatos, and it was hard to say who got the worse deal straight off. Lee added to the fire, crippling an Archer that Takahashi had already ripped huge chunks off.

Fortunately, the Pirate hovercraft proved to be a lot less of a threat then they had hoped. Three of them were destroyed or immoblised in short order, with the forth, a Tamerlane, ending up ramming into the walls at over two hundred kicks per. The Battle Armour squad that had immobilised Martin’s Centurion and gotten us into this situation in the first place proved to be less effective here; they wound up being marooned far from the rest of the battle with little ability to contribute.

Not that the Reapers were willing to give up and die by any means. They knew that they were going to be taken back to Tamarind for show trials and executions, and they weren’t about to let that happen. They instead pressed in closer, with a Tetsudo indiscriminately firing Arrows into packed battles. Katry’s aircav (barring her own damaged Lamprey) were trying to put them down, which meant that they weren’t able to help at the frontline of the battle.

I was still trying to stop her and Maria from killing Dae-Hoon when Takahashi decided to have his turn at disobeying orders and continue to advance despite his Akuma being stripped of its remaining armour. Instead his ‘Mech stumbled on a piece of loose rubble and fell, detonating its ammo in the process. Yes, we lost our heaviest ‘Mech to an accident. Takahashi ejected, but was instead confronted by a pirate Infantry platoon; however, before they could capture him, Will roasted them with Infernos.

The destruction of the Akuma did embolden the Pirates for a moment, but it was short lived. Kaine drove his Thanatos straight at my Mad Cat, managing to tear huge slabs of amrour off with his autocannon. This also got him in a crossfire between me, Lee and Randy, which took his ‘Mech down fast. Their second, in a Hercules, joined it moments later.

That was enough to break their morale, with the remaining pirates trying to escape under the cover of Arrow missiles. Several of my men got rather overzealous in their pursuit, which lead to Bruce losing his Scarabus when he ran out ahead of the rest of our pack. Shona suffered a similarly embarrassing fall when the Tetsudo blasted out the building underneath her Phoenix Hawk, resulting in her crashing to the ground and ruining one of her legs.

Our dogged pursuit did pay off. Only three Reaper ‘Mechs escaped; a Wasp, a Phoenix Hawk and a near-trashed Commando; a single Thunderbolt Carrier, a pike tank and a squad of Battle Armour joined them. They didn’t even try to make for their dropships (Which we later found out were grounded and not ready to depart anyway) and instead bolted into the desert.

So while not completely wiped out, the Reapers are spent as a force. More importantly, to the terms of our contract, they are no longer a threat. The few survivors have no way to get off-planet, and represent only a minimal threat. They’ll probably wander into the desert and try to hook up with (Or be absorbed by) some other band. The biggest prize, of course, was being able to capture Kaine alive. Maria caught him as he was trying to hide in the ruins.

We lost two ‘Mechs and almost all of the others are damaged to some degree. Fortunately our personell losses were limited to only the four Battlearmour troopers of Sergeant Rathiki’s squad. The upshot is that we were able to walk off with a lot of salvage, including a mostly intact Buccaneer that Bruce claimed as a replacement for his Scarabus. We still need to get Takahashi a replacement ‘Mech, but if nothing else, Kaine’s Thanatos is repairable (with a lot of work). We also recovered Stanley’s Savoir, much to her relief. Between that and all the salvage from the Chasseurs and their Dropships, we actually didn’t do too badly.

This did leave one big problem. While what happened to Sergeant Rathiki’s squad was an accident, neither Maria nor Katrya were happy with Dae-Hoon. I wasn’t either, given that he openly tried to undermine me, blaming me for Stanley’s capture. A lot of it went back to the fact that I was always, in his eyes, the acting commander until; my father got back (Which I have my doubts will ever happen). I originally kept him on because there was a block of personnel loyal to my father over me, but over the years, almost all of them have left the unit, one way or another.

And so, after a lot of consideration, I gave him his marching orders, effective as soon as e return to Galatea. I know that he’s still got some supporters in among his Artillery Lance, so we’re likely to lose at least a couple of crews, but I think it will be a massive improvement to the unit’s morale as a whole. I’ll have to shop around for a new artillery commander and some crews (With vehicles, of course) and there is going to be some reorganization involved. Maria has been named as captain pro term of Bravo Company; whether it’s permanent depends on who I can find.

In the meantime, Maria is arranging a memorial service for Sergeant Rathiki and his men, which I suspect will be followed by a lot of heavy drinking.

[Nav_Alpha]

Probably a good move cutting him free - until you meet him again across the battlefield...

[snakespinner]

At least when you meet him next time the friendly fire will be on someone else. >:D

[Deadborder]

From the personal journal of Gillian Blackrock

My decision to form an alliance with Lee Zhen has definitely born fruit. While I was wary of directly involving myself with the pursuit of Stein due to the risk of exposure, Zhen makes an excellent proxy for my own investigation. It’s aided by the fact that he has a very personal stake in all of this; he’s clearly none too comfortable with others knowing about his past (and with good reason) which gives him a good reason to track down Stein.

Stein had been in contact with one Joaquin Gertz, a mercenary Mechwarrior. Gertz is presently employed as a lieutenant in Kessler’s Killers, a rather low-end mercenary command of no real note. What made this interesting is that Gertz and Zhen had a history, the two having previously served together. Getz was Zhen’s lieutenant before they had a falling out over salvage (in this case, a near-new Vulture Mk IV) which lead to Zhen’s desertion and, eventually, his current employ.

I arranged a meeting with Zhen. Unsurprisingly, he bought backup with him, in this case, Randy R. Georges. Unlike with Oda, Georges made no effort to conceal his presence from me; in fact, Zhen pointed out that he was there. Instead, Zhen suggested that Georges was more there to ensure both our safety. An interesting approach, but one that indicates that he is truly concerned about this situation. I informed him of this development, and it was clear that he didn’t like the idea of getting involved with Getz again. However, at the same time, he was willing to step forward to track down Stein.

I must admit that I was impressed with their plan, both in their approach and execution. Their own investigations found where Kessler’s Killers had their compound in the city, and their preferred hangouts. Unsurprisingly, it was the dubious, seedy end of the Strip, home to numerous dive bars, brothels, strip joints, hourly rate motels and the like. Of course, Zhen wasn’t willing to approach Gertz directly, so he again used Georges as a go-between.

And they played Gertz magnificently. For some time, Gertz had been growing dissatisfied with his current employment, feeling that he was stuck in a go-nowhere position and deserved a better BattleMech. Stein had apparently reached out to him with an offer of employment that would, presumably, redress these issues. Approaching him in a club, Georges did a good job of dispelling these notions, claiming that he had been employed by Stein and left high and dry as a result.

As a consequence, Gertz is now a lot less certain of Stein and his promises. This will no doubt cause some tension between the two, which could flush Stein out of hiding. Zhen gets what he wants and, thanks to him, so do I.

[Deadborder]

Kessler’s Killers

MRBC Update 01-01-3145

History

Kessler’s Killers are in many was representative of the new generation of mercenary commands that sprang up in the aftermath of Grey Monday. The unit’s origins lie with Gregory Kessler, a MechWarrior in the Poznan planetary guard. One of the few MechWarriors in the command, Kessler was a part of those forces struggling to maintain order in the face of the crumbling Republic and rising factionalism and insurgency. With the Liao Incursion of 3134, Kessler decided that the situation was hopeless and opted to desert, taking with him a core of other like-minded soldiers.

Kessler picked up more support from other disenfranchised Republic personnel in the aftermath of Fortress Republic, forming the core of a mercenary command. The formative years of Kessler’s Killers were spent in the Republic Territories, fighting brushfire wars and local conflicts, while doing their best to avoid battles with the encroaching great houses. The command grew primarily from the absorption of remnants of Republic Planetary Guard units as well as members of failed mercenary commands and even some former pirates.

With the Republic Territories shrinking, Kessller relocated his command to Galatea in order to access wider markets. Never formally registered with the MRBC, the Killers managed to none the less find employment thanks largely due to the escalating conflicts of the period. Most of their work was relatively low-key but also low-risk, such as garrison or cadre duties, or dealing with local pirates or insurgents. This allowed the unit to grow and achieve a degree of stability.

At present, the Killers are beginning to show signs of stress within their command. Their ongoing poor financial state and a lack of actual battlefield experience has left some of their more senior members looking for other opportunities, which could cost the unit valuable experience. This is not helped by Kessler’s own rather lackluster command style, which tends to be more reactive. However, in the current environment, the unit has no shortage of job opportunities to keep it going.

Organisation

Kessler’s Killers are an oversized battalion in strength, at least, on paper. The truth is somewhere short of that, with the Killers deliberately inflating their numbers in order to make them look good. The main spearhead of their force is Killer Kompany, made up entirely of BattleMechs and lead by Kessler himself. This company is supposedly intended to be the unit’s primary offensive force, but in truth, their duties are more often defensive in nature.

Kruiser Kompany is made up of a mixture of light armour and VTOLs, and is tasked primarily with transportation and air cavalry duties. Kruiser is strictly a support element, and rarely used in independent actions. Finally, Kaos Kompany is an oversized force built around a single platoon of Battle Armour backed up by four to five platoons of conventional infantry. Much of their strength comes from the desperate and hopeful of Galatea’s mercenary underclass.

Support

The Killers are only barely covering their basic maintenance needs, and suffer from a shortage of skilled technicians. They have adequate parts reserves, but could find those quickly depleted during a long term or intense campaign. Their situation is somewhat helped by most of their designs being older models, dating back to the Jihad or earlier. As such, the unit has very little advanced Technology, and no Clantech at all.

The unit’s history of taking low-paying but low risk contracts has left it with almost no financial reserves and only just ahead of falling into debt. This has lead to some problems; the unit’s last two aerospace pilots quit over a pay dispute, and as yet they have not been replaced. Should their situation not improve, the Killers might be forced to make further cutbacks or begin selling off their reserves of parts and ammunition.

Transport

The Killers’ sole dropship is the Charlie M, a Mule-class cargo ship. An older vessel, it is in poor condition but still operational. During garrison contracts, the Killers supplement their income by renting the ship out as a cargo hauler. The Killers lack interstellar transport, and are typically dependant on their employer to arrange it.

Colours and Insignia

The Killers’ parade ground scheme is a dull reddish-grey. BattleMechs have red patches on their forearms and lower legs to suggest bloods splatter. Their insignia depicts a bloodied machete on a yellow field.

[Deadborder]

Channel 9 Victoria Internal Memo

From: Roger Woodward
To: Frank J. Harris II (Programming Department)


I’ve reviewed the material that Randy R. Georges has been sending to us, both in the form of the raw footage and the edited episodes that he’s pout together. I admit Now that I’m in two minds about it.

On one hand, he’s done a fantastic job with it. He’s put together a strong narrative about this unit and its people and the way they operate. This is done on many levels; from the in the field, moment to moment decisions to the day to day operations and all the way up to the long term strategic operational planning. By picking a command with a long history, he also gives their actions some degree of weight, especially as he’s delved into that past.

He’s also given us a good look at the people in the unit, which creates an amazingly diverse cast to showcase. There’s a lot of personality within the unit, and plenty that the audience could relate to on a number of different levels. In many ways, he’s showing that they’re real people who are just like everyone else, only with different jobs.

But I’m not user if that’s what we want. Frankly, I think that Georges picked the wrong unit. He signed on with one that’s full of tradition, standards and a history of good conduct. We wanted scrappy, dirty, living on the edge types that were going to be pulling off dubious stunts and skirting the edge of the law. Ones full of sleeze and scum. A clean, decent unit like this isn’t going to wash well with the key 24-35 male demographic.

So here are my thoughts on what we can do.

• Cut down on the operational and planning side of it. Play up the battles and the explosions.
• Definitely focus on things like Oda’s duel with that bounty hunter. Dramatic moments like that.
• Add in more footage from Galatea and the Liberty City Royals. They were full of the sort of scum that filth that the audience is going to eat right up. We can try to frame it as being this is what the mercenary life is all about.
• Be more selective with the individuals we showcase. I’ve outlined a few specific cases below
• Magyari is great. She’s attractive, has a good presence and that eye patch makes her look dashing. If anything, we should play her up
• Wolf works, but as long as we focus on his drinking and getting everyone else drunk too. Emphasize a ‘boozer culture’, especially with Stanley.
• Dae-Hoon should be used primarily for his oppositional stance
• Oda won’t test well if due to his Draconis heritage. Downplay
• Dernko and Carwright can be dropped altogether. They’re not bringing what the audience wants
• Zhen is as dodgy as all get out, plus he looks like a Cappie criminal to boot. We can really sell him as merc scum
• Perez is good if we emphasise her martial side. See if we can fake some sexual tension between her and Owens

I’m going to send this to the boys in editing and see what we come up with. I want to present two “pilots” to the network. Both Georges’ cut and a recast along these lines and see what they go with, but I suspect I know what it’ll be.

[Deadborder]

From the personal journal of Irisz Magyari

I haven’t really put my thoughts in order for a while given all that’s been going on; thus there’s a lot that I will cover here. I do feel bad about being so negligent about this. After all I learned from the journals of my predecessors (Especially Sel and Annika) it almost feels like a duty to collect my thoughts so that I can pass them on to whoever succeeds me.

First of all, things went well with the Tamarind government. We handed over Kaine to their custody and received out payment. They were pretty happy with our work, especially given how thoroughly we destroyed the Reapers. Kaine is going to stand trial for his cronies so that they can show that justice is being done and the like, but we all know that the outcome has been pre-determined. I’m not that bothered by it, really. Kaine was a horrible person, a pirate, raider and murderer who inflicted misery wherever he went. Whatever they chose to do to him is well deserved.

We sunk a chunk of what we earned into buying a new-ish Stalker to replace Takahashi’s Akuma. While he did lose his ‘Mech after disobeying my orders, the fact is that he’s too skilled a MechWarrior and officer to leave him Dispossessed. Besides, he’s probably duffered enough from the sheer embarrassment of what happened and losing a family heirloom in such a way. I had offered him Kaine’s salvaged Thanatos, but I think he wanted an assault ‘Mech regardless. Soothe his ego and all.

Likewise, Bruce is hanging on to that Buccaneer. I really don’t think he’s that worried about people thinking he’s a Regulan or some crazed Wobbie leftover. Really, he just wants to hit things with a hatchet.

The other outstanding matter form Andiron was the dismissal of Captain Dae-Hoon. After the whole friendly fire incident, it was the only outcome that could maintain any semblance of peace within the unit. I mean, I practically had to hold Maria back from murdering him on the spot. He’s the last of my father’s loyalists So removing him also removes a huge thorn from my side. And if dad ever re-emerges, I’ll deal with the fallout then. But that’s a mighty big ‘if’.

In his place there’s been a bit of restructuring. When he left, he took his crew with him. One of the other Sniper Crews also chose to leave, which unfortunately cost us more experienced gunners. In his place, sear gent Furos has been promoted to lieutenant and is now commander of the Artillery detachment (Including the Silent Castle’s guns). Maria has been promoted to Captain, and is now my effective second.

(Mercenary unit politics are never pretty. So many people seem to have this idea that your entire unit will just magically follow you because of your last name or something. The reality is anything but).

I’ve hit the ground running on Galatea, looking to hire. We need two new Artillery crews and another Battle Armour squad, for starters. While Corporal Levesque’s mistake did result in the kidnapping of Stanley and her crew, he’s suffered enough already. I’m not looking to replace him for now, but I will be keeping an eye on him just to make sure he’s okay.

The other thing is to start shopping around for a contract; have to pay the bills and all that. I have had an interesting looking lead from the FWLM. They’re asking a lot, but the pay looks good and they are willing to give us relatively broad discretion as to how we accomplish our objectives. There’s also another offer from the Lyrans but it does look a little desperate. Well, a lot.

I’ll think about them over dinner and then put them to command to see what people have to say.

[Deadborder]

Shasta

Star type (Recharge time): K3V
Position in system: 2 (of 9)
Number of satellites: 2 (Hestaby, Dunkelzhan)
Surface gravity: 1.02 g
Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
Equatorial Temperature: 40 (Tropical)
Surface water: 70 percent
Recharging station: Zenith
HPG Class: B (Inoperative)
Highest native life: Mammals
Population: 450,000,000 (3145)
Socio-Industrial levels: B-C-B-B-A
Landmasses (Capitol city): Kitanemuk, Miwok, Serrano (Redding),Timbisha,

Shasta was discovered early in the age of exploration, and almost immediately tagged as an ideal location for a colony. Orbiting a small, orange sun, the planet’s position sloe to the primary meant that it was blessed with Earth-like conditions and an abundance of native flora and fauna. Much of the planet’s four major continents were covered in thick forests, most notably the dense interior jungles. Save for the equatorial deserts of the largest continent (Later named Serrano), the world seemed ripe for human habitation.

The biggest obstacle to colonization was not a problem with the planet itself, but with its local life forms. Several aggressive species called Shasta home, most notably the Skatha Ape. While largely confined to the planet’s thick jungles, this six-armed primate monstrosity proved to be a hazard for early explorers. Even after several early programs to push them back, populations of Skatha Apes still dwell in the Mendoza Jungle Reserve, and are considered to be a hazard for the unwary traveler. Such hazards did, however, help slow development, leaving many of the planet’s forested areas still untouched.

These issues with the native wildlife would serve to somewhat shape Shasta’s development. The resistance to push into the jungle interiors of the world lead to the bulk of the colony building being centered on the planet’s coastlines. In turn, this lead to an image of Shasta as a (relatively) unspoilt jungle paradise, which attracted colonists from environmentally-minded groups. Many of them would go on to set up their own colonies within and jungles in order to live closer to nature and escape from the growing conflicts of the period.

Over time, this lead to the planet’s population being divided into two groups; the coastal city dwelling majority, and the interior environmental communities (who in turn were in fact more of a morass of dozens of smaller, independent groups from a diverse range of backgrounds and ideologies). When Shasta joined the nascent Free Worlds League in 2290, the newly formed planetary government promised to respect the rights of both groups. More often, however, while the government was a representative democracy, it chose to ignore the wilderness groups and leave them to rule themselves. This suited them just fine, and as a result, relationships between the two groups, while occasionally strained, were still cordial for much of the planet’s history.

During the Star League era, Shasta’s reputation as an ecological haven grew, attracting tourists from across human space. While this bought a great deal of wealth to the planet, it also created some tension when a number of game reserves were set up for hunting tours.

After the fall of the Star League, the tourist trade collapsed, undermining the planetary economy. With the growing succession war and the need to offset the loss of the Bolan Thumb worlds, the Free Worlds League began mining in previously undeveloped regions of the planet. These moves were supported by the planetary government, which was desperate for the income that such ventures would provide.

These actions were opposed by the wilderness communities, but due to their smaller numbers and limited presence in the planetary government (largely by their own choice and centuries of deliberate growing isolationism) they found that they were unable to block this development. This led to a rift between the two, with many of the groups choosing to retreat further from planetary affairs. The mines also had one other side effect, in that they attracted Lyran raiders who would attack the world numerous times during the Succession Wars.

Save for a brief occupation by the Lyran Alliance in the early Jihad, Shasta remained a part of the Free Worlds League until its dissolution. In the aftermath, Shasta chose to remain independent, despite overtures from both the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth and the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey. Rather, the planetary government decided to concentrate on healing their world, and attempting to mend fences with its divided population. These efforts were only partially successful, with many choosing to remain aloof.

Shasta was invaded again by the Lyrans in 3137, one of the first worlds to fall during operation HAMMERFALL. The planetary militia were only able to put up limited resistance, and the government capitulated quickly. The Lyrans made no effort at all to integrate the planet’s wilderness communities, rather focusing on occupying the cities and the remaining mines. The world would change hands again in 3140 when it was seized by the Wolf Empire. Unlike the Lyrans, however, the Wolves made a deliberate effort to reach out to the remote communities in their efforts at nation building. Most of the groups proved to be indifferent or hostile, but some seemed to be actually impressed by the Clan lifestyle and warrior ethos.

Today Shasta does remain a divided world. The bulk of the planet’s population live in the coastal cities. Modern and cosmopolitan, the cities boast a high standard of living and modern technology stemming from centuries of relatively peaceful life. Conversely, the wilderness communities range from agrarian communes to neo-primitive tribes. No accurate count of their population is available, a result of centuries of isolationism and remoteness, with some groups going to great lengths to hide themselves from the outside world. Under the Wolf Empire, the planetary Government has been left largely alone to rule its own affairs.

Despite nine centuries of habitation, the interior of many of Shasta’s jungle regions remain largely unexplored. Legends about as to what might lie within, from lost tribes and hidden cities to Star League storehouses and secret Word of Blake research centers. In the last couple of years, the Wolf Empire has shown a growing interest in Exploring and mapping these unexplored regions for reasons that remain unknown.

[Deadborder]

Mu Galaxy, Wolf Empire

MRBC Report 01-06-3145

Commanding Officer: Galaxy Commander Bradford Vickers

An entirely new formation, Mu Galaxy was raised in the 3140s from the populations of several worlds occupied by the Wolf Empire. An entropy volunteer force, Mu’s warriors were drawn from a stretch of independent worlds falling between the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth and The Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey before their incorporation into the Wolf Empire. Many of these worlds were either unwanted by others or had deliberately chosen to remain independent, and were bound only by common geography and prior affiliation to the Free Worlds League.

In creating Mu Galaxy, the Wolf Empire sought to overcome these limitations and give their warriors a common cause. In this effort, they were only partially successful. While Mu’s ranks did initially swell with volunteers, many of those who joined up found that the reality of Clan life was very different to their expectations, while chafing at the regimented and disciplined society that they had become a part of. Its warriors took very little interest in training, resulting in an overall low quality of readiness.

Adding to the Galaxy’s woes, its warriors also developed a poor sense of unity or belief in a common cause, with many of them remaining more loyal to their individual worlds and cultures. The one attempt Mu made at a live-fire exercise instead degenerated into a brawl between clusters (and in some cases, individual trinaries within those clusters) as old regional loyalties flared up. The exercise were cancelled with the units returning to their individual worlds. Since then, Galaxy Commander Bradford Vickers had had to treat the Galaxy as a series of independent commands, rather than a unified whole.

Discipline has remained a constant problem for Mu Galaxy, with thefts and desertions common among its clusters. Attempts to enforce discipline through harsh Clan-style punishments have failed, with several heavy-handed Trueborn officers suffering ‘accidents’ as a result. With the Empire’s current shortage of experienced Trueborns, this situation is unlikely to change soon.

If Theta Galaxy represents the greatest success the Empire has had in integrating its new population, then Mu is its greatest failure. While so far its incidents have been isolated, they are occurring across the Galaxy as a whole. Mu seems to be on the verge of crisis, and it is unclear what could be the results for either it or the Empire’s other adoptees.

Mu’s state of readiness is considered to be low. On average, its Clusters are averaging about 55% of their expected strength, the result of poor discipline, desertions and high turnover rates. Most of the Galaxy’s equipment comes from salvage, with almost no Clan Technology present in their ranks. Even then, Mu has remained near the bottom of the supply lists, drawing from equipment that other units have passed over. Its clusters use conventional armour to bulk out their strength, and some of its clusters have had to make up for shortfalls in Battle Armour with conventional infantry.


19th Wolf Cavalry

Commanding Officer: Star Colonel Kendra Tutola

The 19th Wolf Cavalry is considered to be the best unit of Mu Galaxy, which is more damning with faint praise then any actual consideration of quality. The only one of the unit’s line Clusters with a Blood named officer, Star Colonel Kendra Tutola has done her best to try and limit the damage caused by the issues that have plagued the rest of the Galaxy. A part of this has come from taking a more hands off approach to the unit’s discipline, avoiding harsh punishments that might prompt retaliation.


The 19th was raised primarily from Shasta’s population. While the bulk of the Cluster’s members come from the planet’s urban population, some of its Elementals are drawn from the planet’s more remote wilderness communities. These soldiers have shown a strong warrior ethic that has helped them to better integrate into Clan culture. As an Elemental herself, Star Colonel Tutola has encouraged these warriors, hoping to use them as an example to better her unit as a whole. The effectiveness of these Battle Armour squads is somewhat undermined, however, by the unit’s lack of OmniMechs.

[Deadborder]

I know that I am breaking protocol by sending a runner back to you with this, but I think that it is important. There has been a very unexpected development at the Red Hills mining site, one that could either be very useful for us or have severe consequences.
 
To quickly fill you in, since their recent security problems, the Wolves had chosen to take up a more visible presence on the site. The Wolves had five BattleMechs present, all of them old Marik models they had salvaged. I had found out that all five of them were manned by Lowlander converts, rather than real Wolf warriors. They were clearly on alert, given our recent incursions into the area and sabotage of their mines. However, they weren’t ready for what happened next.

A quartet of blue-painted BattleMechs came out of the jungle; Stalker, Carronade, Uziel and one that I couldn’t identify; it looked a bit like a Vulture from one of the old guidebooks, but a lot fatter. While I do not know who sent them, it is clear that they were unexpected but also hostile. As soon as the Wolves moved to react to them, the four opened fire. Despite being outnumbered, the four attackers pressed forwards to the edge of the mine itself.

The Wolves did concentrate their weapons on the Carronade, destroying one of its arms and taking most of its armour. As it pulled back, though, the Wolves found themselves in close quarters with the others and clearly outmatched. The Orion’s cannon exploded, tearing apart its entire right side. The Guillotine was hit in the face with a number of missiles and had its chest torn open. The Wolverine and Griffin tried to harry the Carronade, but instead both of them lost arms and were forced back. The only one of them to hang back, the Rifleman, went down when the Uzel jumped behind it and destroyed one of its cannons.

Even though the attackers then pulled back, it’s clear that they were the winners of the battle. One of their BattleMechs was badly damaged, while all five of the Wolves will need extensive repairs. I also found out that all five of the Lowlander pilots were injured in the battle with the Guillotine pilot hospitalised.

I think that we need to find out who these blue attackers are and what they want. I sent another runner to follow them while I watched the wolves and the mine, and hopefully he will be able to find out some more. They could be of great benefit to us, but at the same time, they could be a big risk if they accidentally stumble into our lands.

[Nav_Alpha]

Very happy to get an update on these guys!
What kind of Stalker is your Drac lieutenant running?

[Deadborder]

Its a STK-6M. The player's looking to run with massively mixed LRM loads. Six tons of ammo is good for that

[Nav_Alpha]

Noice. Slight come down from the Akuma I guess...

[Deadborder]

The loss of his Akuma was his own damned fault. The Stalker's not as immediately overly dramatic, but on the other hand, it does have CASE. This is important.

[Deadborder]

Sel Magyari

2990-3085
Commander Magyari’s Irregulars 3012-3049

Much of Sel Magyri’s early career is shrouded in mystery, thanks in no part to her own tendency to exaggerate the truth. She somehow managed to become a trained MechWarrior while never attending any formal military schooling, and also having a minor career as a swimsuit model on her homeworld of Lesnovo. At some point she managed to acquire a Thunderbolt from a group of pirates, but her own story of how it happened is doubtless exaggerated.

Regardless, she formed the Irregulars in 3012 from a lance of other mercenary MechWarriors. Her early career was marked by a combination of a surprising amount of skill as a leader and tactician, as well as no small amount of sheer dumb luck. Under her lead, the unit would grow to a company within a few years, and manage to not only remain operational but actually profitable throughout. Sel, in her characteristic way, attributed all of this to her own abilities, glad to flaunt her good looks and outgoing personality to her advantage.

In 3020 she married Conrad Vaughn, the unit’s chief AsTech, with Jelek, their only child being born the next year. Sel ensured that he would have a decent education and formal military training, giving him the chance to begin his career with many of the skills that she only picked up along the way. Despite this gap, Sel matured into a capable and skilled commander, able to shape her unit into an efficient force that specialised in raiding and other small-unit offensive actions.

Sel stepped down from command in 3049, citing a desire to dote on her granddaughter. However, the events of the Jihad and the death of her son saw her remain active in its running until 3081 when she finally retired.

-----

Jelek Magyari

3021-3067
Commander Magyari’s Irregulars 3049-3067

Sel Magyari’s only child, Jelek was somewhat spoiled by his mother during his youth. Despite that, he carried a strong determination to be the best warrior and commander he could, and to succeed on his own merits rather than with her support. Enrolled in a formal MechWarrior Academy by her, his determination saw him excel and graduate near the top of his class. On the battlefield he showed a similar level of determination, which in turn was reflected in the men he commanded.

When he took command of the unit in 3049, Jelek oversaw something of a change in its culture. Under is command, the Irregulars became somewhat more disciplined and driven, a considerable change from his mother’s more loose and casual style. This change did cause some friction, but also helped make the unit look good while the early years of the Clan Invasion bought out some of the worst in the mercenary trade.

Unfortunately, it was this determination that lead to his biggest personal loss. In 3045, Jelek had married his childhood sweetheart, Eveline Cross. Unfortunately, she was killed during a 3053 raid against the Smoke Jaguars. Her death shattered Jelek, causing his determination to waver and leaving him with a lifelong phobia of the clans. From there, he refused to take contracts against them which ultimately cost the unit in the long term.

Jelek was killed by a terrorist bomb in 3067, leaving a confused and uncertain unit in his wake.

-----

Annika Magyari

b3046
Commander Magyari’s Irregulars, 3067-3115

The only child of Jelek Magyari and Eveline Cross, Annika developed a strong bond with her Grandmother after her mother’s death. While Jelek ensured that she would have the same strong education and upbringing as he did, he also became ever increasingly distant from her as she matured. The result was that Annika suffered form a lot of self-doubt and insecurity, worried about her father and his coldness towards her.

Her sudden inheriting of the command in 3067 threw her into the spotlight, forcing her to mature fast in the face of a suddenly upended universe. At first Annika was mentored and guided by Sel, who helped her overcome much of her insect as much as she provided her with aid in running the unit. As the Jihad continued, Annika matured into a strong, decisive commander whose quick thinking helped save the unit on more than one occasion.

After the Jihad, Annika chose to keep the Irregulars active, having absorbed several other commands along the way. In 3081 she married Jospeh Kardos, one of her lieutenants; the couple had three children, Bianka, Lorand and Bors. However, Annika did not want them to follow in her footsteps for the sake of tradition, instead ensuring that each of them had the freedom to do what they wanted.

Annika retired in 3115, leaving command of the unit to Bors. Seeking to do something different with her life, she emigrated to the Republic, and wrote a series of novels under a pen name.

-----

Bors Magyari

b3085
Commander Magyari’s Irregulars 3115-3135

The youngest child of Annika Magyari, Bors was glad when both of his older siblings chose not to inherit command of the unit. Despite growing up in the waning years of the Mercenary trade, Bors was drawn to the idea and supposed romance of commanding his own mercenary unit. Inheriting command after his mother’s retirement in3115, he established himself as a flamboyant and dashing figure, one that was more at home socialising with employers then on the battlefield.

While these skills served him well during the lean years of the Republic era, the collapse of the HPG network and the Dark Age that followed tested his skills. Bors turned out to be only a mediocre battlefield commander, with his successes often coming more form the skills of his subordinates and luck then anything else. None the less, he managed to spin his reputation enough to make him and his unit look good, even in there were grumblings within his command as to his actual skill.

Despite his long string of affairs, Bors only had a single child, Irisz, born from his short-lived marriage to Jumpship Captain Carla Williams. While the two separated after only a few years, Bors did his best to maintain a warm relationship with his ex-wife for the sake of his daughter. Much like previous commanders, he did all that he could to train his daughter to one day take his place. This paid off, to the point that by the 3130s, many saw her as a better commander then he was.

In early 3135, Bors announced that he was talking a break from command of the unit to deal with ‘personal business’, leaving Irisz as an interim replacement. Bors stranded behind the walls of Fortress Republic, with his current fate unknown.

[Deadborder]

From the personal journal of Bruce Wolf

Let’s be honest with ourselves for a minute. I was never anything more than a fake Wolf. Unlike the Trueborn Steel Wolves, I had no lineage, no claim to clan Bloodlines or Bloodnames or the like. And given when I came into the Steel Wolves, my claim to being a Wolf began and ended with Kal Bloody Radick. I look back on it now and the few Steel Wolves that wound up becoming Imperial Wolves, and I notice that almost all of them were Trueborns or had become warriors prior to the Blackout. It does make your feel a little bit cranky, specially given that Anna Bloody K is now an Empire Star Colonel.

I only mention this because Mu Galaxy’s warriors are real Wolves. They’re citizens of the Empire who have chosen to become warriors and, in doing such, do all the same bullcrap that I did; give up your name and identity and all that sort of buggery. But given that they’re actually a bunch of galahs who don’t know their arse from a stick, they’re pretty piss-poor warriors. And yet, I knew fake Wolves who were far better warriors then these real Wolves ever could be.

The last little blue we had here on Shasta kind of proves my point. We’d spotted a convoy heading through the jungle that looked interesting. Much of that was because they had six tanks escorting a pair of trucks, which seems like an awfully bloody big investment of resources for a little bit of security. So we were really interested in what they were protecting and maybe takin it for ourselves.

Recon lance was sent out after them, which meant I got a chance to try out my new Buccaneer in a fight. (Okay, it’s not new; it’s probably seventy-something years old and it’s been running on a huge bloody mess of bypasses and jury-rigs that’s making Stanley cry, but you get the point). We hit them on the road in the jungle, which we figured would really limit their mobility while giving us the advantage; after all, three of the lance jump, and it’s not like my Bucc’s a bludger in the speed department either. We’d also bought along the Spectres, who were clamped onto the Ostscout.

The enemy force weren’t exactly on top of it all. Intel says that the poor mongrels in Mu galaxy are at the bottom of the Empire’s supply chain. Their equipment comes from the League salvage that every other Galaxy has passed up on, so they have a real dog’s breakfast of leftovers. In this case, their understrength Star was equipped with some old League medium tanks; Vedettes, Main Gauches and other such bollocks.

We were running rings around them, jumping tree to tree and not giving them good shots. I mean, they were tyring; those two Vedettes must have burned down half the bloody jungle by spraying Infernos all over creation trying to hit us. I mean, they hit Shona a couple of times and she screamed blue murder at them, but that’s Shona. Even after they popped out some Battle Armour we kept the battle mobile enough to make sure their value was limited. (We also got some good intel out of that; they’d upgraded some of their old suits to be Surats so maybe the cluster’s supply situation isn’t entirely rooted).

Sure they got some shots in; all of us did take a few hits, including Shona nearly losing her Pixie’s left arm, but we gave back much better then ere got. After we destroyed one of the Vedettes and both Guaches, and left a second Vedette immobilised the rest of the bludgers decided that they’d had enough and were going to bugger off. The one immobilised Vedette crew chose to torch their tank before bailing. Likewise, their Battle Armour melted into the jungle and would have been hell to catch.

In fact, in a way, the two trucks gave us more of a hard time. The pair of them took off like a pair of woolly jumpers, trying their best to slip past us and make a run for it. In the end, it took me looming over them with hatchet in hand to convince them that it wasn’t the best plan. The drivers bailed out and we were left to see what cargo had been worth all the effort.

Turns out they were hauling prisoners, of all things. A bunch of rough-looking people with not much immediately in common besides being generally burly and probably happy to rip the heads off their Wolf guards had they not been secured. As it was, once the Wolves buggered off, they were glad that we released them but also not entirely talkative either. They didn’t exactly offer us much in the way of conversation an instead simply took the trucks and drove off. We later found the trucks abandoned, so yeah.

All in all, a bit of a weird start to our stay on Shasta. Makes me wonder what’s going to happen next.

[Deadborder]

Audio Log File #75921-Rho

Voice [Male, 40s, no discernible accent, likely native English speaker]: Thank you for making the time to meet me, Captain Dae-Hoon.

Jun Dae-Hoon: “Captain” is a bit of a cruel title. Right now I am simply an unemployed mercenary.

Voice: Which is why I am glad that you chose to meet me, as I’m hoping that I can rectify that situation. I’ve been looking at your career record and I think that you have a lot ot offer.

Dae-Hoon: Such as?

Voice: You’re an experienced soldier, for starters. You’re listed as an elite-rated artillery gunner with over twenty years battlefield experience with a variety of different weapons systems and platforms. That alone would be a desirable trait.

Dae-Hoon: What else do they say about me?

Voice: You’re also a skilled commander and administrator who has ample experience with small units, bith on the tactical side and the operational needs.

Dae-Hoon: And does this information you have say why I left my previous unit?

Voice: I admit no, and I did want to ask you about that.

Dae-Hoon: Let me start by saying that it was not my choice by any means, and that I was forced out. You can understand that I am not happy about that.

Voice: Of course. I doubt that anyone would be.

Dae-Hoon: I should give you a bit of background. I was with Magyari’s irregulars for twenty years; I worked my way up from a mere gunner to a captain and the functional executive officer of the unit. Unfortunately, ten years ago, Bors Magyari, the then commander, had to take a leave of absence from the unit. He left his daughter as the acting commander.

Voice: Go on.

Dae-Hoon: But then, as soon as he was gone, she did everything she could to undermine his authority and seize the unit for herself. She trimmed off much of the unit’s personnel, and in doing such, weeded out a lot of Bors’ supporters. Then of course, she replaced them with new staff who were loyal to her. I was one of the few that were left; she decided that my skills were useful, I suppose, but even then she did her best to marginalise me.

Voice: I can understand that would not have been a pleasant experience. So how did she then force you out of the unit?

Dae-Hoon: There was a friendly fire incident. One of the gunners under my command - not my own crew, I might add - accidently struck one of our Battle Armour squads, killing their crew. While this was regrettable, it was an accident.

Voice: On a fluid, fast-moving battlefield, it’s impossible to account for everything. These things happen.

Dae-Hoon: Exactly. If anything, the real issue was with the discipline of the Battle Armour troopers.

Voice: Of course. So what happened then?

Dae-Hoon: Unit politics. I was an unpopular officer and the last remnant of Bors’ command, so all the blame was assigned to me as a way of forcing me out. That one of Magyari’s supporters threatened to break my neck didn’t help, but was probably intended to push me out. I was released from my contract when the unit returned to Galatea.

Voice: I am sorry to hear that. Politics has an unfortunate way of creeping into everything.

Dae-Hoon: And in this case, it has left me bereft of employment. Do not get me wrong, I wanted to stay with the unit. I wanted to keep it intact for when it’s rightful commander returned while holding back his misbegotten child from running roughshod over everything he had done. And she got rid of me because I was no longer convenient to her.

Voice: Which brings me to my point. I feel that you have been hard done by, and that it would be a waste to let a man of your obvious skills and experience remain without a place. My ampler is looking for a skilled and experienced artillery officer to head up their fire support lance, and they feel that you would fit the bill.

Dae-Hoon: What sort of rank and salary are you offering?

Voice: Admittedly, you’d be entering as a lieutenant. I understand that it’s a step down for you, but at the moment the unit can’t accommodate another captain. However, should a position open up, you would be fast-tracked into the position based on your past experience. At the same time, I’m willing to offer you a captain’s salary, regardless of your actual operational rank. Finally, if you were bringing your own vehicle, we would offer you full support and maintenance cover.

Dae-Hoon: It is a good offer.

Voice: I understand how you have been hard done-by, Captain Dae-Hoon. My employer is a big believer in putting ability over politics, which means that you would not have to face the same sort of discrimination and ostracism you suffered with your previous employer. Think of it as starting fresh with new people and a new unit. There’s no past here, just accepting you at face value for what you do.

[Pause]

Dae-Hoon: It is not like I have anything left to go back to. Even if Magyari ever returns, he would find his unit so changed and stripped of all the people he knew.

Voice: Whereas my new employer offers you a fresh start.

Dae-Hoon: It sounds like I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Voice: Exactly. So, can I count you in?

[Deadborder]

After player reshuffle #4691, the current PCs are Takahashi Oda, Lee Zhen, Randy R. Georges and Haki Aardvarksen. Shona McBryde is on semi-active status as the player might be able to join us some weeks. Nikola Kardos has been demoted to "on-screen NPC" as his player has basically dropped off the face of the Earth, but may still come back sometime. Ransom Victor Kelly is completely out of the game given that his player now lives on the other side of the world.

[Deadborder]

Audio Log File #75928-Rho

Bruce Wolf: What you got there, mate?

Randy Georges: I’m just editing the footage form our little expedition over the last few days into a more... Presentable format.

Wolf: Right. That’s when you and the others (EDITOR’S NOTE: Takahashi Oda, Lee Zhen, Haki Aardvarksen) went out to meet those tribals. How’d that go?

Georges: Well, they prefer to call themselves neo-primitives.

Wolf: And like I can’t talk about bludgers who like to give themselves fancy labels, right?

Georges: Well...

Wolf: So as said, how’d that go?

Georges: Irisz will probably give you all a full briefing in the morning, but it can’t hurt to show you. Basically, she wanted us to try and track down the prisoners your lance released and get their help. After all, if we’re going to annoy the Wolves, why not enlist the aid of people who don’t like them already?

Wolf: Seems fair to me. So what, that’s their village?

Georges: Yes; as you can see, they don’t have much industry at all. There’s some light agriculture, yes, but most of it is at an early ironworking stage. Their primary source of foot does seem to come from hunting and gathering though.

Wolf: Village looks pretty clean though; not covered in crap and the like.

Georges: They seemed to be pretty proud of the way they lived, actually. Their forefathers landed on Shasta centuries ago, and they chose to be all neo-primitive from the outset. They’re apparently semi-nomadic, and uproot every few years to let the land and wildlife regenerate.

Wolf: I can see why they need our help thigh. Bows and spears are going to do bugger all against ‘Mechs, tanks and Toads.

Georges: So here’s us approaching the village. I don’t have the sound going at the moment, but they were wary of us but not immediately hostile and willing to listen to us.

Wolf: Makes sense and... Bloody hell! Maria, Will, get over here. You gotta see this.

Maria Perez: What have you got - Dios Mio! Look at that guy!

Will Owens: Bloody hell. He looks as big as me! Who is he?

Georges: That’s the chief’s son and apparently their top hunter and the like. He was the main guy we were dealing with throughout our little expedition.

Perez: I’m gonna have to meet that guy.

Owens: Why? Wanna ‘wrestle’ him?

Georges: So here’s us going through the village and meeting the chieftain. He told us about how they were he Red Rock people, how their original home was actually on the site of the mine we hit the other day and how the Wolves have been tromping into the jungle of late and giving them grief. He was thankful that we rescued his people and was glad for the offer of help fighting the Wolves, but...

Wolf: But?

Georges: Apparently we needed to prove ourselves first to them, show that we were able to fight without our fancy weapons and ‘Mechs and such.

Perez: See? Shoulda bought me. I would have wrestled everyone in the village to prove it.

Owens: I’ll bet.

Wolf: Yeah, I know how that sort of thing goes. So what was it then? Did you have to fight a trial?

Georges: Actually, they wanted us to go out on a hunt with them to see what we could do in their world and without our fancy toys and the like. There was the chief’s son, one of the other hunters and the four of us. Takahashi and I had bows; Takahashi also bought his Vibrokatana as it was seen to be ‘primitive’ enough. Likewise, Haki bought a Vibroaxe-

Owens: The Viking Maori has an axe? What a surprise.

Georges: And Lee had... A knife. He was a bit out of his depth.

Perez: So how did it go?

Georges: I’ll skip through the boring stuff and get to the good part. We’d tried to shoot up some red cat (EDITOR’S NOTE: Jardinan Firecat, an introduced pest species) but it’d bolted after everyone missed wildly. A bit more stalking and a bit of Haki falling out of a tree and some more terrible archery, and we came across a pygmy honking horse (EDITOR’S NOTE: The Highlands Microthere, a native rough Porcine analogue) which was something they usually eat. We bought it down, but the chief’s son was not impressed.

Wolf: Not looking good for us. It’s like you’re fluffing all your shots in your Trial of Position.

Georges: So we decided to change tack and use the Honking Horse as bait to lure out something a little more worthy. Both the chief’s son and nameless tribal number two were willing to go along with this ploy, if only to prove they were better at this then us. So after a bit of field butchery, we left the honking hose at what looked like a well-travelled crossroads. Turns out that Haki’s actually rather good at animal tracking.

Perez: He’s a man of many strange talents. I mean, I can’t think of the last time I met a palaeontologist.

Wolf: Guy’s good at darts though.

Owens: But did it work?

Georges: Well, first we lured out another honking horse, which we let go. Then another one of those red cats came along, which we were able to actually bring down. Son was about to give us a pass mark when...

Wolf: Bloody hell!

Perez: Dios mio!

Owens: He just got ripped in half! What the hell is that thing?

Georges: That is a Skatha Ape, the top predator on the planet. Sort of like a super-aggressive, six-armed gorilla. And, yes, that was poor nameless tribal number two.

Owens: Well you’re screwed. Love to know how you came out of that alive and with all your limbs.

Georges: Fortunately Takahashi kind of sort of came up with a plan - in that he changed it head on and tried to sword it while others peppered it with arrows. Oh, and Haki climbed another tree.

Perez: And you chose to fight it with your camera, right?

Georges: I wanted to make sure that everything was properly recorded. I mean, who would want to miss this?

Owens: Point. This is great stuff and - what the hell! Takahashi just chopped one of its bloody arms off!

Wolf: Only five to go then.

Perez: That was close! That monkey nearly killed him!

Owens: And... What the hell is Zhen doing? He’s trying to sneak up on the stupid thing with a knife!

Wolf: Well that seems to have... Mildly distracted it.

Georges: The best bit is yet to come. Wait for it...

Wolf: Bloody hell! Didn’t expect that!

Perez: Haki leaped out of the tree at it with his axe. That’s insane. I love it!

Owens: Man’s got guts. That monkey nearly ate them.

Perez: He’s wasted in a ‘Mech. With an approach like that, he should have been one of my Mexicans.

Owens: But that thing’s still going! What the hell? I mean it just got axed by a massive load of Maori crashing into it!

Georges: Which also distracted it from -

Perez: Wow! That was a masterful move by Takahashi!

Owens: Yeah, it’s the most artsy dispatch of a giant six-armed gorilla I’ve ever seen,

Georges: That’s about the end of the interesting footage, but suffice to say that they were rather impressed by us; even after the death of nameless tribal number two. So we had a big celebratory dinner of Honking Horse; it’s quite gamey, but definitely grows on you.

Perez: Which means that the boss is going to want me to help plan our next move. Nice to know we’ve got some allies though.

Owens: Maybe next time we can get there without fighting a gorilla.

Georges: I don’t know. I mean, that would take away some of the fun of diplomacy, after all...