Black Jack's Blackjacks, 21st Free Company

[Drop Bear]

Black Jack's Blackjacks, 21st Free Company

John (Jack, Black Jack) Black is a LCAF Brat spending most of his early years following his parents (both members of Mechwarrior Houses) from post to post until he was old enough to pack off to military school where he revived Basic Military and Astech training as part of his Mechwarrior Apprenticeship, but was forced to graduate early (to avoid being expelled due to "Disciplinary Issues"), he drifted for the better part of a year from one seedy backwater to questionable port of call till washing up on Solaris VII where he hustled Mech Sims and bet on the Games becoming quite wealthy for his age (or any age) till he was taken in to excepting the title on a (non-battle worthy) Customized Blackjack to cover a pile of debts one group of rivals had incurred to him, still burning from his own stupidity he sunk the remainder of his fortune in to a store of much needed parts and a ticket to the world Blackjack where he enrolled in to the Blackjack School of Conflict, graduating the program in two years and being sent to the much more respectable Somerset Academy to attend OCS, due to his reputation from Secondary School and the fact he was still shy of official enlistment age he could not find an Officer Post in the Regular LCAF he instead had to take a common Mechwarrior slot in the Blackjack Militia. He spent a few years as a Leutnant not always as a Mechwarrior due to the still questionable condition of his Blackjack, on one raid against a Merc Unit turned Pirate he was able to capture a second Blackjack in the original BJ-1 configuration and claim  a stockpile of Blackjack parts that he used to fully repair his original Blackjack. His continued Heroism, Skill and Roguish Leadership saw him promoted to First Leutnant and given his own lance on the eve of the singing of the Ceasefire that would end the Third Succession War.

With the end of the third Succession War “Jack” has found himself caught in a R.I.F. and placed on the Inactive Reserve rolls, so he went Merc heiring members of his old Militia unit that encountered the same fate as him, singing Mechwarrior Qualified Tech and Scout to serve as Mechwarriors after he “Acquired” a third stray Blackjack from parts less looked in to that initially was more Salvage than Mech, he rebuilt it to match his original Blackjack, to round out his lance he hired on a Freelancer with her own modified Blackjack.

Currently based on Somerset the Blackjacks take missions related to a medium term Pirate/Marauder suppression contract.


Lance/Reg+/LC Merc
Four Blackjacks, One BJ-1, Two Custom, One Alternative Custom.

[Daryk]

Love the idea!  I think I heard:

Lyran Affiliation/Skye Sub-Affiliation
Blue Collar
Military School (16)
Solaris Apprenticeship (20)
Military Academy/OCS (24)
Tour of Duty (27)

Was I close? :)

[Drop Bear]

In MW3 terms Blue Collar -> Military School -> Ne'do-well -> Academy (W/OCS) -> TOD.
MW1 just a Dude with the Academy Package Extra CP doped on Pilot, Gunnery, Leadership, Tactics, Rogue and Streetwise
MW2 Advanced University with Basic, MW and Leadership packages and picked up some Rogue skill with leftover Skill points.

after being thrown out of Military School at 15 he ended up a drifter for just under a year till washing up on Solaris where he hustled Mech Sims and Gambled, around his 16th birthday he got tricked in to taking a Junker Blackjack as payment for a bunch of markers he'd collected, decided to cut his losses and go strait and went to the academy like his Ancestors, but the only one he could get in to was Blackjack because of his "Discipline Problems". joined the LCAF as the 3SW was winding down, pulled some Scout duty when his Mech wasn't working, claimed a 2nd Blackjack on one of those asigments wile raiding a Pirate band, after being forced to reserve his commission a bunch of parts approximating a Blackjack fell off the back of a Dropship and he being a good citizen wasn't going to leave them around where someone could trip over them. now he's out on the edge of the periphery giving Pirates a kicking when the Government wants to pay up.

He's very early 20's, very fair almost pale skin jet black hair, until of late it was a unruly mop but he has shaved it along with his Stash and Goatee (that he realized looked silly and not rakish as he originally thought).

the Unit has no Dropship let alone a Jumpship, no Medic, a couple of Scouts, two Techs and a Astech, one of the MW's is a former Tech the other a former Scout and the last is a sketchy ex-Freelancer from the wrong side of the periphery boundary.

[Daryk]

Ah, Ne'er Do Well... The Solaris Apprentice module is legal because it's a different "type" (i.e., Civilian vice Military) of education.

[Drop Bear]

He's a product of late 30th early 31st universe, from a (Regular Army) Mechwarrior Family he was bean given a "Mechwarrior Apprenticeship" with a swing through formal secondary education as part of the training, after getting thrown out of school he used his informal MW training to hustle and gamble till he came to his seances and get some formal training and higher education, did a stint in the army tiii he got thrown out at wars end, not wanting to go back to Civi Street he turned "Contractor".

first couple of battles already in hand, first was his lance of Blackjacks against a mixed Medium/Light Pirate lance (Balanced by Tons), the enemy was a Griffin, Blackjack, Stinger and Locust, as soon as the Locust came in to range the BJ-1 tagged it wit ha crit to a leg taking out an actuator the pilot failed his roll falling damage took out the CT rear armor and breached the Ammo bin, the Pirate BJ-1 was plinking away to no real effect the Griffin had mixed results so when the Stinger came in to range everyone fired on it with their long range weapons most shots missed but Jack Cored it with his Large Laser, then everyone turned their attentions on to the Griffin Jack creased the head with his AC-5 and someone else crited out the LRM, he dumped his ammo and that was a good thing because next round most of the shot that hit took out the RT he fell down and the pilot failed his Con roll two rounds later the pirate BJ-1 pilot failed a Con roll after a 2nd AC-2 hit creased his head, it must of bean like the 4th or 5th hit they made the entire 10 round game.

[Daryk]

Nice battle!  I think the Solaris Apprenticeship might fit that hustling you described and net you two more Skill Fields in the bargain.

[Drop Bear]

not doing the RPG thing, it's more Tabletop and a Fiction project.

the regular paint sachem is Grey/Green and Blue/Grey Chamo with Black Highlights each mech on the cockpit shows two cards making a Blackjak ATM they are a Black Ace and a Black Jack Jacks is a Ace of Spades overlaid with the Jack of Spades

Uniforms are Steiner Surplus with Black replacing Steiner Blue.

[Daryk]

Makes perfect sense, enjoy! :)