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[Goose Igaly]

This is a short story I've had sitting on the back burner for months now. It's told from the perspective of a new pilot joining the Team Cortez Mercenary Corps and was intended as an introductory look into the mentaility and operations of our unit for new members. I started working on it again today and thought I'd put the first part up here. Perhaps by placing it here I'll have the motivation to finish it quickly.

A note before you get started, though. I have no experience in BattleTech prior to MWO, so you may read things that may or may not make sense in terms of lore and history. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

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You are a recent graduate of a military academy, still wet behind the ears and cocky as h*ll. Or maybe you are a former Royal Army warrior who decided that the real money lay in freelance work. Perhaps you have aged out of the military structure but are too damn stubborn to retire quietly. Whatever your background, here you stand at the massive steel bay doors of Team Cortez Merc Corps Headquarters.

From the other side of the doors you can hear the muffled sounds of welders, grinders, and hard rock being played too loud. You take a deep breath as you glance down at the paper bearing the TC crest in your hand, your notice of acceptance. In it you had been informed that the skills you displayed were acceptable. Now, you had to prove yourself in battle. A skirmish was scheduled for 3 days from now; that will be your test.

Walking forward, you push the buzzer under a security keypad. A few seconds later the voice of a high-pitched male crackles over the intercom.

“Yeah?”

You state your name, informing the greeter that you are the new recruit. Given your background and training, the word leaves a nasty taste in your mouth, but procedures must be followed.
“Hold one,” is the reply. “Yo, Nikko! Were we expecting anyone today?” A few seconds passed and you can hear a voice answering, but it is too quiet to make out, followed by the voice of the greeter. “Oh, him?” The voice laughs maniacally. “Alright, I’ll let Goose know. Hey, buddy, you still there?”

“Yes,” you reply, slightly perplexed.

“Right. Goose will be with you in just a minute.”

So, you wait patiently until the bay door roars on its tracks as it raises high enough for you to step under. As you step inside you find the sounds much louder than you had thought; someone had certainly invested wisely in their stereo system. The door slams down behind you and your eyes finally begin adjusting to the interior lighting.

The volume of the stereo is lowered drastically and, to the satisfaction of your ears, the ‘Mech bay becomes almost quiet.

“What? What? Who killed the tunes?” The upper body of a younger man pops out of a nearby ‘Mech’s cockpit and looks about, threatening to cause his entire body to fall out.

“My bad, Acguy,” says a tall, brown haired man. He walks up to you and extends his hand. “The name’s Goose, XO of Team Cortez.”

You shake the man’s hand and introduce yourself. “Nice to meet you,” he replies as he pulls a tin can out of his pocket and taps it against his palm. “Dip?”

You decline. “Has my ‘Mech arrive yet?”

“Yep, got here earlier this morning. This way.” Goose pinches a sizeable amount of can’s contents and places it in his mouth, then motions deeper into the building and walks with you past the rows and rows of ‘Mechs: Catapults, Cataphracts, Dragons, Jenners, Atlai. Some had their guts torn out as cranes moved parts and ammunition about.

“You guys sure have a lot of variants,” you say as you look about. “Looking at your roster, I didn’t expect to see such…diversity.”

Finally positioning the package where he wanted, Goose spits directly on the bay’s floor. “Semper Gumby,” is his reply. He notices your quizzical look and chuckles. “Always flexible. We’re still a fairly small group, but we pride ourselves on being able to fulfill multiple roles. It lets us support our employers better.”

You nod in understanding. “Makes sense.”

Goose directs your attention to various pilots as you make your way through the building. “You saw Acguy when you walked in. He likes to pilot the Highlander. Over there is George. He normally takes a Jagermech.”

The two of you walk past a Dragon chassis. “That’s Veruen’s baby, there. He’s the one you met on the intercom. Fubu’s over there with his Catapults and Stalker.”

“What about the CO and you?”

“Well, Nikko and I tend to mob’ out in our Atlas chassis, but we’ve been working on branching into some lighter ‘Mechs.”

You stop and look at Goose. “Two Atlas pilots? A bit much, don’t you think?”

“Nah. We like to blow sh*t up. Come on, your ‘Mech is right over here.” You walk a little further and stand in front of your chassis. “Tomorrow we’ll start refitting it with our training systems for the skirmish. We’ve got a testing ground near here that we’ll-“

Goose is cut off as klaxons begin blaring throughout the ‘Mech bay. A computerized female voice comes over the loud speakers.

“Attention TC. At 0900 hours Steiner intelligence detected an enemy fleet approaching the Lyran border. Steiner forces, including 10^th Solaris, 6^th RCT, and Devil Dogs, have begun mobilizing to intercept. TC has been requested to assist with the operation. Pilots, report to your Lance Commanders for orders.”

Goose immediately pulls a radio from his belt. “Nikko, what’s the word?”

A voice crackles back over the radio. “Looks like they’re requesting two full Lances. I’ve got Fubu, Acguy, and George joining me in Alpha Lance. What can you pull together for Bravo Lance?”

“I can have Veruen and Chaps form up with me,” Goose replies, “but with Rikichi off-planet I’m one down.”

“D*mn,” Nikko curses. “I’ll get on the horn and see about requisitioning a man from one of the other Units.”

Goose pauses for a moment, scratching the stubble on his chin. “No need. I’ll take the recruit with me.”

The radio is silent as the klaxons continue to blare. Finally, Nikko responds. “Roger, but it’s your a** if you lose our newest guy.”

Goose turns to face you. “Well, scrap the skirmish, looks like you’ll be having a live test. Get your ‘Mech powered up and follow everyone to the drop ship.”

“Yes, sir,” you reply as he turns to run for his own ‘Mech.



The trip in the dropship was relatively uneventful. You, along with the other members of TC, spent the majority of the ride in idle chatter and system tinkering. During this time you had the chance to observe your new comrades. While there was certainly a rank structure in place, everything seemed to flow smoothly due more to their level of comradery and experience together than any direct orders.

You now find yourself deployed in the forests of a mountain side. The order had been given by Nikko to power down the main systems of the ‘Mechs. “We’ll maintain Comm systems and basic sensors, but anything more than that risks giving away our position. Let your fusion cores cool off to reduce your heat sigs, but we are going to have to power them up periodically to prevent them from requiring cold starts.”

And so time was passing. Some of your comrades have dozed off, mostly out of boredom. The rest have found other ways to occupy their time; some read, others milled about the inside of their cockpits as they reviewed subsystems.

Goose and Nikko can be heard over the open Lance Comm as they surf the frequencies between the various Units in the area. As best as you can make out from the once-sided conversation, the enemy dropships have begun entering atmosphere. Goose asks something regarding the descent velocity of the crafts, pauses, and then mutters something about them being heavy.

“Nikko, it sounds like they haven’t noticed,” Goose says over the TC frequency.

“Maybe,” Nikko replies. “Chances are they know something is down here. They’d be foolish to think that Steiner hasn’t responded yet.” Nikko’s tone changes. “Come again, Steiner Command?” He pauses for a moment as he listens to the radio. “Roger that, Steiner Command. Nikko out.”

“What’s up,” Goose asks.

“The enemy has landed about 40 km from here and is moving toward the mining field. We are the closest unit and will need to intercept. Other units will be converging on us as soon as they can cover the distance.”

“Alright, boys,” Goose says, “you heard him. Fire ‘em up and let’s move out. We’ll need to find some cover to dig into. The faster we get there, the better the chance of us finding good cover.”