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Name: Taninaka no Ammara
Callsign: "Bunny"
DoB: April 11th, 3020
Homeworld: Trondheim
Rank(s):
Korpral - 8/3049-11/3049
Lieutenant - 11/3049 -
Kapt- 2:1:3 (current)
Battlemech(s): Primary: Hunchback, Shadowhawk; Secondaries: Atlas, Spider, Catapult
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[PREFACE]
For nine generations her family has lived on Trondheim, moving with the creation of the Rasalhague Military District in 2330. These colonists never outnumbered the Scandinavian majority, nor were they able to dilute the native customs. Even as such, they found ways to integrate themselves.
During 2910, they found themselves in the same situation as the conquered peoples of the Rasalhague. They suffered parallel to one another, but never together. Tensions began rising between the Kuritan people and their own government as they struggled to maintain their lives and positions in the society.
They called it the period of devotion through hardship.
The creation of the Free Rasalhague Republic in 3034 affirmed that nation’s independence from both the Draconis Combine and the Lyran Commonwealth. ComStar immediately recognized the new realm, and the Draconis Combine followed suit the next day. However, the withdrawal of Combine troops from its former Rasalhague Military District soon became hitched on sectarian violence.
Many Combine soldiers refused to leave, violently railing against the decision to cede worlds to the FRR. Others refused to abandon citizens of Oriental heritage to the potential backlash from the Scandinavians. Then the threat became reality, exploding into armed conflict.
Seeing this military insurrection as a direct challenge to his future rule of the Draconis Combine, Kanrei Theodore Kurita declared all disobedient units Ronin — masterless deserters. With Prince Magnussen’s permission, Kurita led a force of loyal regiments back into the Republic to battle the Ronin units.
[Mentality]
Growing up in a mixed society is hard enough. Being part of the minority is worse.
Her father and two brothers were MechWarriors in the 20th Rasalhague Regulars. Her mother worked at Amau Electronics. Most of her time was spent walking between home and school, meditating or learning the tactics and mechanics of combat.
Elementary life was filled with harassment from the Swedish-borns. Days were filled with mocking. Then slurs. And then the confrontation with a trio of översittare — bullies.
Standing several heads higher, the older boys sneered and shoved her. Snake, they called her. And Myling — orphaned freak. She soon found herself surrounded in an alley.
She knew her society wouldn’t stand for petty bullying. She waited. Yet people kept passing by. No assistance was coming.
With her silence, the boys became louder and more aggressive. At once they pulled at her kimono, ripping it from her shoulder, and she dropped into a defensive stance. Having trained as a fighter, and with two brothers of her own, she had no trouble subduing them without seriously hurting them.
The days passed until the Ronin wars broke out.
It was a cold morning and she was sleeping in. The rising conflict had closed her school the week before. Her family was out — brothers deployed, father helping coordinate living on the home front, and mother stamping chips for the latest targeting computers.
Warm weather filled her dreams, in which she drank tea and served her family breakfast. The sunny days and gentle chiding of her brothers gave way to screams. Looking out her window toward the school she can see them — three Dragons painted in Ronin colors.
She instinctively leaps from bed and runs in a dead sprint to the storage house where the Hunchback her brothers have been piecing together for her is waiting. The computer chimes at her with systems checks and she keys in the power-up sequence as the Mech lurches to life and thrusts skyward.
[Sacrifice]
The school, she was told, is one place her community goes to when there's trouble. It’s the safest building around, they said. Bursting from the storage house, she’s covered in the insulation her brothers used to hide the Mech's systems from military sensors.
With great strides, her Hunchback makes its way down the side streets she knows so well. She’s positioned in view of the school and the Dragons who haven’t noticed her. Each Mech outweighs her own by 10 tons. Nearby, a row of houses obscures the scrapyard beyond known by locals as the Mech graveyard.
She can vaguely hear swearing from the loudspeakers of the lead Dragon. They’re taunting the occupants of the school.
A barrage of small arms fire erupts from the building. One Dragon lifts its arm. Översittare.
She smashes a button into its housing, firing the Hunch's AutoCannon-20. The dragon's arm is deflected, sending its shot into the ground. Broadcasting so all can hear she starts in Swedenese, but quickly changes to Kuritan ordering the 3 Dragons to stand down.
“These civilians are not to be included in your conflict.”
The Dragons turn to face her, their pilots laughing. With a sickening drop, the Hunchback begins to bounce and keel on its legs. She jars against her restraints, fighting to maintain control. Feedback from her control stick tells her the Mech’s gyro has ceased up.
All three Ronin pilots lose control of their Mechs for a moment and are laughing so hard they don't even pay attention to the civilians fleeing the school. Watching her Hunchback bounce around and covered in the brightly-colored insulation, they are not afraid of the young girl broadcasting on open comms.
‘Fuwafuwa pinku no banī,’ they cry — fluffy pink bunny.
As she regains control of the Mech, one Dragon turns to aim its guns at her. She twists her Hunchback into a fighting stance, knowing she has to protect the Mech’s hump. No sound falls on her ears and for a breathless moment, it seems to her that time itself stands still.
She lets out a deep breath and twists again, exposing her left arm, but protecting the right side of her Mech as the dragon unleashes its barrage. She falls back into a house she knows is abandoned and easily crashes through it, covering her in a layer of dust.
[Blood and Honor]
Damage readouts blare at her from the cockpit displays — no arm, left torso almost cored. Nothing vital missing. Using the dust from the building as cover, she turns a corner and moves into the Mech graveyard.
Her hands fly across a bank of power switches, killing the Mech so it starts bleeding heat and blending in with the rusted and dust covered hulks here. Her quarry’s footsteps grow louder. If the Dragons turn the corner soon, there’s a chance her mech is still too hot to hide from their sensors.
Thats when she starts to hear the quiet hissing sound of water turning to steam. A side panel in the cockpit cracks then blows inward, showering her with glass.
“We're sorry about that window. If we survive this, I’ll see to it the community pays for your repairs,” says a voice in boisterous Swedenese.
The same boys who pushed her into the alleyway find themselves face to face with the small pilot — one still wears a fading bruise where she hit him. Their eyes lock, and his look of terror is met by her own look of understanding and the calmness of a MechWarrior. His mouth slightly agape, he blinks an unspoken apology.
She smiles a sweet smile of forgiveness — I mean it. You’re forgiven — before quickly motioning for them to hide. A few of the citizens are covering her Mech in debris or diving for hiding spaces as the Dragons round the bend.
As one, the trio of Mechs halts and begins scanning the wreckage. Only her eyes move, flickering from Dragon to Dragon. She dare not even breathe.
Their armament is fearsome — missiles, lasers and each sporting an Ultra AutoCannon 5. Seeing old and broken Mechs, they soon depart. This is a one-way trip for her Hunchback.
She allows a small sob to escape her lips, counts to 10, then starts her powerup sequence. As the Mech shrugs itself back to life, the tears mix with the blood on her face from the cuts of the broken window and her sensors — feeling outward for Mechs — begin pinging with multiple contacts.
It’s the KungsArmé, and the three Dragons are fleeing for their lives. Her eyes harden. The Ronin probably will form up with their own groups.
[EPILOGUE]
Having solidified her place in the community’s heart, she finally can call her home … well, home.
She quickly makes a name for herself as a champion of the people, always watchful and ensuring there are no civilian collateral damages. Upon coming of age, she travels from conflict to conflict in her now pink-painted Hunchback.
She was always unpopular among the conscripted army — you are not a true Rasalhaugian, they say — and dealing with the Kuritan government gives her a bad taste.
She struck out instead to find a mercenary unit. One that shares her feelings toward her home planet of Trondheim, while still being a champion of the people. One that calls government targets open game, but vows to harm no citizen while she's around to do something about it.
Edited by fluffypinkbunny, 31 December 2013 - 08:29 PM.
