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MARAUDER COUNTDOWN: DAY 7 OF 7
LORE and BLUEPRINT
Dawn River Region
Nova Roma The Protectorate, Free Worlds League 20 June 3014
The black-sheathed Marauder fought like a demon.
While the blue-tinted sun of Nova Roma was still an hour from the horizon, deep in the ravine dusk was already here, incandescently illuminated by bursts of charged particle beams, lasers, muzzle flashes, and the explosions of devastating impacts. Outnumbered more than two to one, a heavy lance of Wolf’s Dragoons Beta Regiment, Special Recon Group, still lashed out with a fury that shocked the attacking loyalists.
From a concealed alcove at the end of the five-kilometer-long ravine—big enough to fit his Warhammer—the Bounty Hunter scratched at his unshaven face, the dried sweat of days in the cockpit flaking away. He tapped his BattleMech’s cockpit console to zoom his forward viewscreen onto the right region of the evolving battle, just as a large-bore autocannon stream of metal death savaged the internal structure of a Dragoons Phoenix Hawk. The forty-five-ton BattleMech seemed to collapse in on itself as frayed bits of what remained of its internal torso collapsed under the remaining weight, and it toppled to the ground.
Despite the growing darkness, he saw no ejection.
The Bounty Hunter stretched until ligaments and vertebrae popped. He took a sip of water while watching the trap spring. Sorry about that, Natasha, he mused. I know much you care about your misfits. But business is business, and the loyalists pay better than Anton. To ease the day’s long hunger pang, he crunched on a granola bar pulled from a small pack behind his command couch. Not to mention, doesn’t matter how many successful battles and inroads he makes. We all know Anton’s revolt is doomed. It may take a bit for the Captain-General to cow the disparate hotheads into line, but once the rest of the Free Worlds League’s might is brought to bear …
As though driven to new heights of acumen, the black Marauder raised both arm weapon pods, pointing them toward two separate targets. Azure particle beams whipped towards loyalist BattleMechs. The first shot punched through the head of a Hermes; the BattleMech felled as though poleaxed. The second seemed to embrace the right leg of a previously damaged Hunchback, tearing the weakened limb clean away. That ’Mech toppled as well.
The Bounty Hunter’s eyes widened; the battle seeming to pause as though mid-heart beat. Then the loyalist BattleMechs ignored the remaining Dragoon pilot and poured all of their firepower into the Marauder.
A whistled filled his cockpit. “Blake’s Blood, Web-Head. You are as good as you say.”
Natasha’s Marauder, already severely damaged, disappeared for a moment under the brutal onslaught, before a small but brilliant flash from within the tempest announced an ejection, and her command couch rocketed away, leaving the BattleMech crouched down, somehow managing to stay upright. The loyalists finished off the last Black Widow BattleMech in short order.
The Bounty Hunter pulled his neurohelmet back on with a smile and powered up his Warhammer.
Good … looks like you’re gonna survive, Web-Head. And to really stick this knife, I’m gonna make your Marauder my own. If we meet again, I want you frothing … and I’ll still take you down.
MARAUDER “BOUNTY HUNTER”
One of the first designs to embrace a nonhumanoid configuration, the Marauder was hailed as the pinnacle of BattleMech design when it was unveiled in 2612. As with the Warhammer, the Marauder quickly became a heavy BattleMech of choice across the Star League Defense Force. Its battlefield performance—along with its unusual, menacing outline—even gave birth to the belief that claiming a kill against a Marauder was a hallmark of personal prominence.
Any child across the Inner Sphere knows the name “Bounty Hunter.” This phenomenon arose from a convergence of several factors.
Modern rumors traced to a “bounty hunter in a green BattleMech” first appeared in the 2920s, then grew in dark corners as the Bounty Hunter began to appear over the decades, always with a splash in a spectacular battle.
In 3014, a personal feud began between the Bounty Hunter and the femme fatale of the Inner Sphere, Natasha Kerensky, which saw his star rise further.
In 3047, a bombastic action holovid series, The Bounty Hunters, exploded into high ratings across the Inner Sphere. While it only lasted three seasons before the reality of the Clan Invasion soured most audiences on its gratuitous violence, the holovid had left its mark. While only loosely based on reports of the real Bounty Hunter, myth and reality were forever merged until most can’t tell the difference.
No one is sure who the Bounty Hunter is or whether it’s a title handed down through the years. Only those that have faced him and managed to come out the other side alive know the reality may even exceed the wildest conjecture.
Written by Randall Neil Bills Catalyst Game Labs
MARAUDER BLUEPRINT
