J. Kellogg Lantern was a young man living in the Taurian Concordat. While his older brother was destined to became a Mechwarrior, riding in the family Mech, he was magnanimous enough to teach him the ropes of Mech piloting. In the meantime, though, J. Kellogg Lantern became part of the technical staff for a militia vehicle unit.
Being a rabid bibliophile and passable autodidact, Lantern became a man of no small amount of education, and began to crave a little more excitement.
In retrospect, probably a stupid thing to wish for, as that is when some VERY confused pirates attacked. Looking for passable technical staff, they managed to capture Lantern and haul him off world.
His escape from the pirates in the Federated Suns was due largely to luck and a patently improbable series of circumstances, and netted him a Battlemech of his very own, a rickety BJ-1 Blackjack which he dubbed "Tartuffe" (reflecting its disreputable origins). After sending off an HPG message to his family, he then embarked on a life of adventure, entering mercenary service.
