2
(Note, the mech pictured above has been modified to more closely resemble original concept art, and does not reflect the actual finished geometry and paint selection of the UM-K9 Hero Mech)
This will be a three way contest, for Fan Fiction, and both Digital and Traditional Art.
This is the Entry Thread for FAN FICTION ONLY.
By Fan Fiction, I mean TRO write ups, historical, actual short story, etc
All entries must be new and original, created especially for the sake of this contest. The Winner in each category will be gifted a shiny new UM-K9 "K-9" Urbanmech Hero. (dunno if there should be anything like MC, premium time, etc for 2nd/3rd place, or if it's an all or nothing type of party?)
For the fictional background informational aspect, a few details of the mysterious Urbanmech come to be known as the
Spoiler
The UM-K9 first came to notice in the capitol city of Zhi-Chiang, on the planet Hsien, in the newly formed Chaos March. Associated with the paramilitary police that also acted as the local Militia, the K9 and it's associates were constructed from scraps left after the Fourth Succession Wars, with large quantities of destroyed Urbanmechs and Valkyries being interred in the scrap yards under governmental control.
Needing a functioning fighting force to deal with the unrest and Liao sponsored Guerrillas, the commander of the local Garrison got the idea to raid the scrapyards for working tech, and a small force of frankenmech Urbanmechs were built, using the combining the engines and leg actuators of Davion Valkyries into the much easier to maintain and repair Urbanmech shells.
Weaponry and reliability varied greatly from mech to mech, but over the years, most of the bugs were worked out, and the sight of these "Police Special" Urbanmechs became source of pride for the citizens of Zhi-Chiang. Surviving the Xin Sheng Campaign of Sun Tzu Liao in good order, things took a turn for the worse with the coming of the Word of Blake's Jihad.
Holding out for over a year, fighting both the Blakists and the Hsien Hotheads, eventually the members of the Zhi-Chiang Constabulary were forced to retreat offworld. Ever since, the K-9 and his unit have shown up at various hotspots throughout the Inner Sphere, to fight for the locals, then disappear again.
Why and how the nephew of Frederick Steiner came to drive an Urbanmech on a planet so far away from home as Hsien is a matter of speculation, as are the pilot's motives.
The UM-K9 first came to notice in the capitol city of Zhi-Chiang, on the planet Hsien, in the newly formed Chaos March. Associated with the paramilitary police that also acted as the local Militia, the K9 and it's associates were constructed from scraps left after the Fourth Succession Wars, with large quantities of destroyed Urbanmechs and Valkyries being interred in the scrap yards under governmental control.
Needing a functioning fighting force to deal with the unrest and Liao sponsored Guerrillas, the commander of the local Garrison got the idea to raid the scrapyards for working tech, and a small force of frankenmech Urbanmechs were built, using the combining the engines and leg actuators of Davion Valkyries into the much easier to maintain and repair Urbanmech shells.
Weaponry and reliability varied greatly from mech to mech, but over the years, most of the bugs were worked out, and the sight of these "Police Special" Urbanmechs became source of pride for the citizens of Zhi-Chiang. Surviving the Xin Sheng Campaign of Sun Tzu Liao in good order, things took a turn for the worse with the coming of the Word of Blake's Jihad.
Holding out for over a year, fighting both the Blakists and the Hsien Hotheads, eventually the members of the Zhi-Chiang Constabulary were forced to retreat offworld. Ever since, the K-9 and his unit have shown up at various hotspots throughout the Inner Sphere, to fight for the locals, then disappear again.
Why and how the nephew of Frederick Steiner came to drive an Urbanmech on a planet so far away from home as Hsien is a matter of speculation, as are the pilot's motives.
PRIZES:
1st Place: K9 Hero Mech
2nd Place MC Injection (1250 MC)
3rd place: Cockpit Item or Color of Choice
Winners will be decided by a Panel of PGI Judges, our Community Manager, Tina, and Myself!
This is all in good fun, of course, but I wanted some way of saying THANK YOU to all the members of the community who helped me get first the Urbanmech, and finally, my beloved Hero, into this game! And an extra special Thank you, to PGI, not only for bringing my Deputy Dawg to life, but supporting this contest, also!
Oops! I forgot! Contest ends 11:59pm EST, March 15th, 2017, after which we will judge and post winners hopefully soon after!
*********ENTRIES to Date************
1) -RoKeNx2-
https://docs.google....Z5GAWfcCcg/edit
Spoiler
K-9 a crude story by RoKeNx2 (sorry for the grammar i can't grammer)
"Join The Local Mechanised Police Force Today! With top Notch Training and State of the Art Equipment imported by our Leaders to keep the people safe from foreign and domestic threats We can make a Hero of the Inner Sphere out of you yet! you will be trained in the classroom, on a Simulation and then the real Thing a state of the art UrbanMech Unit Itself! and thanks to last years tax raise we were able to add Endo-Steel Plating To Ensure our Operators have the highest chance of survival!"
The Holo Propaganda recording played on and on as Kevin Tossed a half smoked cigarette onto the sidewalk outside of the recruiting office "Damn i know they say the atmosphere is supposed to be safe on this planet but i've never been able to keep one of these things lit here for more than a few puffs" Kevin Muttered in frustration as he took a deep breath through his teeth looking up at the large Neon sign trying to hold off entering as long as he can. he turned his head at a high pitched somewhat annoying to his ears at least voice "Hay are you thinking of Signing up for the force as well? i'm getting cold feet. this buildings a lot more intimidating in person than it is on the recording!" the Skinny Man said Kevin Replying "Cold Feet for what? some low wage job where the only real Benefits are your after service career?! no i was just finishing my last smoke before i go in they told me i can't bring them to the School" the Skinny man squealing out "is that all your thinking about! is the money? i'm here to help my Fellow Citizens ... erm... even though i won't actually be a citizen anymore if i pass i guess right?"
Kevin then replys "you're still a Citizen unless you're trying to join the Military at least.. go off to war?" after the skinny man frantically waved his arms and head in a clear "No" to his question Kevin simply motioned with a lazy hand Gesture to follow the SKinny man seeming to find some courage in numbers quickly following.
Later that week the Transport truck all the recruits took to the Police forces training grounds finally arrived. the persona in charge shouting at everyone to present their sorry sacks of selfs for inspection "Well Recruits you lucky Sacks of Dung are the few that passed the Written test And the simulations." Kevin looked around at the group of supposed Elite few with skepticism some looked barely capable to Write their own names or drooled blankly as if they were dreaming of their next full meal at least one benefit of this training a full belly but before being able to sink into his own pessimistic mind further the person in charge barks up again "I say you are lucky as we have a special guest instructor here One with a very Famous uncle! so be on your best damn Behavior and make the Academy Proud!"
Everyone Stood at attention as the drill Instructor spoke into his coms that his speech was over and the recruits were ready for the guest instructor though Kevin tried to figure out why such a man would even be on such a faraway planet why he would bother with some backwards *** trainees on a backwards *** Planet where you can't even get in a good smoke without lighting it 15 damn times but then a loud crashing was heard and another!.. and another... and before long every recruits jaws were in awe as the Mech Stomped its way into view from the opposite side of a dropship Kevin and most if not all the other recruits paid little attention to until now assuming it was a meer building perhaps a large storage tank of some sort and before long the three most facing doors on the dropship opened to reveal 3 more mechs exactly the same as the first though two of them were clearly less equipped one was even missing its left arm outright! and the other clearly had different leg actuators models junk yard rigged to "work". at least they painted it the standard white and black to try to blend into the untrained eye.
a loudspeaker filled the air "say hello to your new Mechs Recruits now my enhanced imaging shows tells me there are 13 of you but as you can see there are only 4 mechs here and seeing as this ones Mine that only leaves 3. Judging by the Simulator results the best choices would be Mark! Karin! and Kevin"
a few weeks later everyone was slowly sinking into their new roles well all except Mark who had to be replaced by Rick as apparently the stress of the real thing was too much. kevin thought to himself "if you can't even pilot the thing on a flat terrain like this without ****** yerself how am i supposed to trust you with my back if we ever faced real combat!" Kevin was glad however of the three mechs he at least got the one with good matching solid legs and Karin replacing mark as the best simulator pilot left moved up leaving Rick with "limpy" as the mismatched legged mech was now Dubbed "Stix" was the nickname given to his mech by Rodney who was the Skinny man who he'd met at the recruiter's office and was now with the support crew scoring poorly on the simulator. He nicknamed kevins mech in honor of Kevin's last Smoke. Karins mech landed the nickname Smalls thanks to having an Ac-2 instead of the AC-10 that the Instructors mech had or the LBX-10 Kevin's had. Though Kevin wondered if his was just an AC-10 with a blown out barrel Modified into what the mechanics were calling an LBX-10 at the time. either way the pattern on it was effective for peppering any mech sized target at a few hundred meters though missing his mechs other arm left him short on his Laser backups at least the two in his center torso were replaced with Mediums over Karin or the Instructor's 5 Smalls
It felt like any other day as Kevin woke to another annoying Call likely from the Mechanic telling him the 6th scrap yard he was to be digging though had yet to produce a replacement arm for Stix so he took his time getting up pulling on hs recruit uniform. Finally getting to the call he was surprised to find not the Mechanic but The Drill Instructor from his first day on the Academy grounds howling into his ear about an Urgent request for support from a settlement not to far from here. apparently the local crime Syndicate managed to hire some down on their luck Mercenaries to help them control the population threatening to burn them out with the Flamers on their Firestarters unless they give into extortionate demands.
A few hours later on the outskirts of the Settlement outside the sensor range of the firestarters they got word that Negotiations with the Mercenaries and Syndicate had just fallen through and they torched the local Police enforcement building likely killing any officers inside probably a few clerks too Kevin never felt Honor was useful in a battle but he thought to himself these Mercenaries have no Dignity Maybe it was the Charisma of their Leader's Speech but Kevin and the other Recruits Felt Something had to be done. Felt responsible even for the people in that village. Afterall it was in no small part thanks to their tax money that they had these mechs.
The plan was simple the Leaders K9 unit as the most experienced pilot and best equipped mech would try to lead one of the fire starters away from the other as scans had shown only 2 hostile mechs it would be 3 on 1 at that point the recruits jobs where simply overwhelm that one and move in to help the K9 clean up the remains and call it a day! except it didn't quite go as planned the Leaders K9 managed to pull one of the fire starters away with a solid AC-10 shot directly to the rear Torso Criting out the first firestarters Jump Jets but it still had speed far surpassing the Urban Mechs though the first mech seemed driven by rage at the thoughts of how much it would cost to repair his mech he fired his medium lasers and flamers wildly at the Leaders K9 who managed to mostly dodge with effective torso twists and short bursts from his own jump jets the lasers getting short burn times barely enough to scar K9's paint.
Kevin and the other Recruits would have loved to watch in Awe at the Leader's Skills in his mech but they had a job to do and with little delay they rushed at the second firestarter firing a controlled volley of laser and Ballistics fire the second firestarter though had fully functional jump jets and with 5 medium lasers getting focused for more than a moment surely ment a critical component where its flamers surely meant an overheat ensuring time to aim those lasers. though the recruits fired at the firestarter he seemed to be toying with them not firing back just yet merely jump jetting to either side easily dodging the chaotic fire from distant LBX or AC fire the small lasers on "smalls" being far to out of range unless they did something about the firestarters clear speed advantage as he never let the Urbans get close though the two Mediums on Kevin's Mech manage to score a short glaze on the firestarters right arm though that also meant the firestarters lasers were in range as well as it fired all five into Limpys Left Leg. Ironically the other pilots would tease Rick that limpys left leg was it's only good one but now he was front first into the ground its AC barrel sinking into the ground from the 30 tons of disappointment that came with the Recruits first real taste of hostile fire. Rick called out though coms he was fine just get the *******! But that weak leg was unable to hold him up to even offer a shred of assistance to Karin and Kevin now, feeling a little less secure about their strength in numbers. (Author's note: i almost stopped here to write "please inject k-9 for part II ^^) Kevin tried to check on how their Leader in K-9 was doing but for looking away from his current foe for even a second he paid for it. Taking a rough center torso armor as he tried to twist away as his mech was not yet fitted with jump jets something the other recruit mechs were also short on he prayed that endo-steel upgrade was worth the tax money. his mech seemed to hold though the Five medium laser burst melted his armor nearly to the core in a near instant. At least his damage was not completely in Vain as it allowed Karin to close the distance needed to give the firestart a volley of small lasers all five of them and almost in range to do full damage. the skilled mercenary quickly twisted to the side though managing to save his torso at the cost of the already damage arm. The arm being sheared right off untill it came crashing down
with a loud shockwave of a boom. Kevin finding his mech still able to move started to charge ahead as well firing a burst from his medium lasers to try to supplement the 5 from Karin but he wasn't confident he could hit with his LBX without at least a fragment or two hitting Karin. Although missing one of his flamers and a laser that formerly resided on his arm the firestarter turned between the recruits laser recharge time Karins mech being so close was an easy target for the flamer and with expending all 5 lasers and now unloading the Ac-2 as fast as it will fire but to questionable results at best. Karins mech quickly overheated shutting down to save the sensitive components.... and pilot from cooking themselfs. This however left her helpless to the 4 remaining medium lasers that got a brutally effective burn directly into her center torso. The lasers burnt right through all of the armor of the center torso leaving just big enough of a hole to find the crafty mercenary using a trick he seems no stranger to as he shoved the arm mounted flamer barrel directly into the hole of the Helpless overheated mech as he let loose a constant torrent of flamer directly into no longer armored components. Seeing the constant spike in temperature and knowing Karins stubborn nature Rodney back in the support vehicle made the call for her Hitting an Eject override button that was installed into the mechs for security reasons in case of Theft. Kevin offered a small sigh of relief as he saw the escape pod jet from the top of Karin's mech. But now Alone against the clearly more experienced Mercenary. Should he run?...No there's no point the firestarter was faster "Damn" he thought where is the K-9 he needed help! no longer caring if a bit of the shot hits the remains of Karin's mech he started to unload with his LBX as fast as he could getting a few brutal hits into the firestarters side torso the Skilled Mercenary moved the remains of Karin's Urbanmech in between them using it as a shield as he cooled down Kevin tried not to outright destroy Karins mech but he had no choice but do something or he too will be sitting in an escape pod... and that's if he's lucky. the firestarter would offer quick peeks with his remaining torso lasers to shoot a quick burst of the 3 medium lasers on his torso able to peek out past the shell of the bested urban. the awkward angles and the weight of the downed mech making most of the burn time on those three lasers spread between Kevins legs and fortunately undamaged parts of his center torso. seeing this as his only opportunity to get a good hit on the Firestarter though Kevin fired his LBX nearly point blank blowing off even more of the damaged side of the firestarter including 1 more laser. but then the Firestarter pushed over the remains of "Smalls" Karin's mech and as it fell Kevin had to pull to the side as quickly as he could not to get trapped under the falling mech. Though it ended up being the perfect Distraction that the Mercenary pilot hoped to have as he pulls back the arm of that firestarter and slamming the flamer barrel right into the opening in Stix he burned earlier. "Crap!" hed forgotten about that, damn did he fall for the same trick! The flamer started to unleash the Plasma ignited directly into Stix as alarms started to go wild critical damage blaring into his ear! He had to act quick before his mech shut down should he fire the two medium lasers?! no it would be suicide they generate far too much heat he would not only melt his mech but himself in the process! But did it matter! he was going to melt anyways if he did not do something! "right!" the LBx delivered little heat and at this range and a few quick torso adjustments the barrel of that LBX was pointed directly at the Cockpits Glass completely covering it with massive barrel. "Boofff! Cha Cing" he heard the brutally loud even though the sound dampened cockpit sound of the LBX firing and then the autoLoader getting halfway through the reloading process before the extra 5 tons the firestarter had on his urbanmech dragged them both to the ground.A few Moments later the K-9 though quite banged up Stomped in sight as Kevin wondered how the hell he took one of those things one on one when all three of us struggled with this one. But that was a story for another time.
A few weeks later and the Recruits found themselves all surviving the Ordeal and on a Stage Attending their Graduation the only one not present... was their Leader from that day... and the K-9 who had been called for an urgent task two days earlier Kevin thought to himself "why would someone like him Train nobodies like us. Either way Kevin felt a sense of det to the man who trained them so well.
the Leader finding himself in front of new raw recruits that very same day showing off the fully Repaired K-9 as he Grinned in his full face helmet as all three pilots survived last training session. Bringing the number to 37 he has trained personally he thought to himself "When the time is right... when the time is right... they will make a useful army to call up for my needs."
K-9 a crude story by RoKeNx2 (sorry for the grammar i can't grammer)
"Join The Local Mechanised Police Force Today! With top Notch Training and State of the Art Equipment imported by our Leaders to keep the people safe from foreign and domestic threats We can make a Hero of the Inner Sphere out of you yet! you will be trained in the classroom, on a Simulation and then the real Thing a state of the art UrbanMech Unit Itself! and thanks to last years tax raise we were able to add Endo-Steel Plating To Ensure our Operators have the highest chance of survival!"
The Holo Propaganda recording played on and on as Kevin Tossed a half smoked cigarette onto the sidewalk outside of the recruiting office "Damn i know they say the atmosphere is supposed to be safe on this planet but i've never been able to keep one of these things lit here for more than a few puffs" Kevin Muttered in frustration as he took a deep breath through his teeth looking up at the large Neon sign trying to hold off entering as long as he can. he turned his head at a high pitched somewhat annoying to his ears at least voice "Hay are you thinking of Signing up for the force as well? i'm getting cold feet. this buildings a lot more intimidating in person than it is on the recording!" the Skinny Man said Kevin Replying "Cold Feet for what? some low wage job where the only real Benefits are your after service career?! no i was just finishing my last smoke before i go in they told me i can't bring them to the School" the Skinny man squealing out "is that all your thinking about! is the money? i'm here to help my Fellow Citizens ... erm... even though i won't actually be a citizen anymore if i pass i guess right?"
Kevin then replys "you're still a Citizen unless you're trying to join the Military at least.. go off to war?" after the skinny man frantically waved his arms and head in a clear "No" to his question Kevin simply motioned with a lazy hand Gesture to follow the SKinny man seeming to find some courage in numbers quickly following.
Later that week the Transport truck all the recruits took to the Police forces training grounds finally arrived. the persona in charge shouting at everyone to present their sorry sacks of selfs for inspection "Well Recruits you lucky Sacks of Dung are the few that passed the Written test And the simulations." Kevin looked around at the group of supposed Elite few with skepticism some looked barely capable to Write their own names or drooled blankly as if they were dreaming of their next full meal at least one benefit of this training a full belly but before being able to sink into his own pessimistic mind further the person in charge barks up again "I say you are lucky as we have a special guest instructor here One with a very Famous uncle! so be on your best damn Behavior and make the Academy Proud!"
Everyone Stood at attention as the drill Instructor spoke into his coms that his speech was over and the recruits were ready for the guest instructor though Kevin tried to figure out why such a man would even be on such a faraway planet why he would bother with some backwards *** trainees on a backwards *** Planet where you can't even get in a good smoke without lighting it 15 damn times but then a loud crashing was heard and another!.. and another... and before long every recruits jaws were in awe as the Mech Stomped its way into view from the opposite side of a dropship Kevin and most if not all the other recruits paid little attention to until now assuming it was a meer building perhaps a large storage tank of some sort and before long the three most facing doors on the dropship opened to reveal 3 more mechs exactly the same as the first though two of them were clearly less equipped one was even missing its left arm outright! and the other clearly had different leg actuators models junk yard rigged to "work". at least they painted it the standard white and black to try to blend into the untrained eye.
a loudspeaker filled the air "say hello to your new Mechs Recruits now my enhanced imaging shows tells me there are 13 of you but as you can see there are only 4 mechs here and seeing as this ones Mine that only leaves 3. Judging by the Simulator results the best choices would be Mark! Karin! and Kevin"
a few weeks later everyone was slowly sinking into their new roles well all except Mark who had to be replaced by Rick as apparently the stress of the real thing was too much. kevin thought to himself "if you can't even pilot the thing on a flat terrain like this without ****** yerself how am i supposed to trust you with my back if we ever faced real combat!" Kevin was glad however of the three mechs he at least got the one with good matching solid legs and Karin replacing mark as the best simulator pilot left moved up leaving Rick with "limpy" as the mismatched legged mech was now Dubbed "Stix" was the nickname given to his mech by Rodney who was the Skinny man who he'd met at the recruiter's office and was now with the support crew scoring poorly on the simulator. He nicknamed kevins mech in honor of Kevin's last Smoke. Karins mech landed the nickname Smalls thanks to having an Ac-2 instead of the AC-10 that the Instructors mech had or the LBX-10 Kevin's had. Though Kevin wondered if his was just an AC-10 with a blown out barrel Modified into what the mechanics were calling an LBX-10 at the time. either way the pattern on it was effective for peppering any mech sized target at a few hundred meters though missing his mechs other arm left him short on his Laser backups at least the two in his center torso were replaced with Mediums over Karin or the Instructor's 5 Smalls
It felt like any other day as Kevin woke to another annoying Call likely from the Mechanic telling him the 6th scrap yard he was to be digging though had yet to produce a replacement arm for Stix so he took his time getting up pulling on hs recruit uniform. Finally getting to the call he was surprised to find not the Mechanic but The Drill Instructor from his first day on the Academy grounds howling into his ear about an Urgent request for support from a settlement not to far from here. apparently the local crime Syndicate managed to hire some down on their luck Mercenaries to help them control the population threatening to burn them out with the Flamers on their Firestarters unless they give into extortionate demands.
A few hours later on the outskirts of the Settlement outside the sensor range of the firestarters they got word that Negotiations with the Mercenaries and Syndicate had just fallen through and they torched the local Police enforcement building likely killing any officers inside probably a few clerks too Kevin never felt Honor was useful in a battle but he thought to himself these Mercenaries have no Dignity Maybe it was the Charisma of their Leader's Speech but Kevin and the other Recruits Felt Something had to be done. Felt responsible even for the people in that village. Afterall it was in no small part thanks to their tax money that they had these mechs.
The plan was simple the Leaders K9 unit as the most experienced pilot and best equipped mech would try to lead one of the fire starters away from the other as scans had shown only 2 hostile mechs it would be 3 on 1 at that point the recruits jobs where simply overwhelm that one and move in to help the K9 clean up the remains and call it a day! except it didn't quite go as planned the Leaders K9 managed to pull one of the fire starters away with a solid AC-10 shot directly to the rear Torso Criting out the first firestarters Jump Jets but it still had speed far surpassing the Urban Mechs though the first mech seemed driven by rage at the thoughts of how much it would cost to repair his mech he fired his medium lasers and flamers wildly at the Leaders K9 who managed to mostly dodge with effective torso twists and short bursts from his own jump jets the lasers getting short burn times barely enough to scar K9's paint.
Kevin and the other Recruits would have loved to watch in Awe at the Leader's Skills in his mech but they had a job to do and with little delay they rushed at the second firestarter firing a controlled volley of laser and Ballistics fire the second firestarter though had fully functional jump jets and with 5 medium lasers getting focused for more than a moment surely ment a critical component where its flamers surely meant an overheat ensuring time to aim those lasers. though the recruits fired at the firestarter he seemed to be toying with them not firing back just yet merely jump jetting to either side easily dodging the chaotic fire from distant LBX or AC fire the small lasers on "smalls" being far to out of range unless they did something about the firestarters clear speed advantage as he never let the Urbans get close though the two Mediums on Kevin's Mech manage to score a short glaze on the firestarters right arm though that also meant the firestarters lasers were in range as well as it fired all five into Limpys Left Leg. Ironically the other pilots would tease Rick that limpys left leg was it's only good one but now he was front first into the ground its AC barrel sinking into the ground from the 30 tons of disappointment that came with the Recruits first real taste of hostile fire. Rick called out though coms he was fine just get the *******! But that weak leg was unable to hold him up to even offer a shred of assistance to Karin and Kevin now, feeling a little less secure about their strength in numbers. (Author's note: i almost stopped here to write "please inject k-9 for part II ^^) Kevin tried to check on how their Leader in K-9 was doing but for looking away from his current foe for even a second he paid for it. Taking a rough center torso armor as he tried to twist away as his mech was not yet fitted with jump jets something the other recruit mechs were also short on he prayed that endo-steel upgrade was worth the tax money. his mech seemed to hold though the Five medium laser burst melted his armor nearly to the core in a near instant. At least his damage was not completely in Vain as it allowed Karin to close the distance needed to give the firestart a volley of small lasers all five of them and almost in range to do full damage. the skilled mercenary quickly twisted to the side though managing to save his torso at the cost of the already damage arm. The arm being sheared right off untill it came crashing down
with a loud shockwave of a boom. Kevin finding his mech still able to move started to charge ahead as well firing a burst from his medium lasers to try to supplement the 5 from Karin but he wasn't confident he could hit with his LBX without at least a fragment or two hitting Karin. Although missing one of his flamers and a laser that formerly resided on his arm the firestarter turned between the recruits laser recharge time Karins mech being so close was an easy target for the flamer and with expending all 5 lasers and now unloading the Ac-2 as fast as it will fire but to questionable results at best. Karins mech quickly overheated shutting down to save the sensitive components.... and pilot from cooking themselfs. This however left her helpless to the 4 remaining medium lasers that got a brutally effective burn directly into her center torso. The lasers burnt right through all of the armor of the center torso leaving just big enough of a hole to find the crafty mercenary using a trick he seems no stranger to as he shoved the arm mounted flamer barrel directly into the hole of the Helpless overheated mech as he let loose a constant torrent of flamer directly into no longer armored components. Seeing the constant spike in temperature and knowing Karins stubborn nature Rodney back in the support vehicle made the call for her Hitting an Eject override button that was installed into the mechs for security reasons in case of Theft. Kevin offered a small sigh of relief as he saw the escape pod jet from the top of Karin's mech. But now Alone against the clearly more experienced Mercenary. Should he run?...No there's no point the firestarter was faster "Damn" he thought where is the K-9 he needed help! no longer caring if a bit of the shot hits the remains of Karin's mech he started to unload with his LBX as fast as he could getting a few brutal hits into the firestarters side torso the Skilled Mercenary moved the remains of Karin's Urbanmech in between them using it as a shield as he cooled down Kevin tried not to outright destroy Karins mech but he had no choice but do something or he too will be sitting in an escape pod... and that's if he's lucky. the firestarter would offer quick peeks with his remaining torso lasers to shoot a quick burst of the 3 medium lasers on his torso able to peek out past the shell of the bested urban. the awkward angles and the weight of the downed mech making most of the burn time on those three lasers spread between Kevins legs and fortunately undamaged parts of his center torso. seeing this as his only opportunity to get a good hit on the Firestarter though Kevin fired his LBX nearly point blank blowing off even more of the damaged side of the firestarter including 1 more laser. but then the Firestarter pushed over the remains of "Smalls" Karin's mech and as it fell Kevin had to pull to the side as quickly as he could not to get trapped under the falling mech. Though it ended up being the perfect Distraction that the Mercenary pilot hoped to have as he pulls back the arm of that firestarter and slamming the flamer barrel right into the opening in Stix he burned earlier. "Crap!" hed forgotten about that, damn did he fall for the same trick! The flamer started to unleash the Plasma ignited directly into Stix as alarms started to go wild critical damage blaring into his ear! He had to act quick before his mech shut down should he fire the two medium lasers?! no it would be suicide they generate far too much heat he would not only melt his mech but himself in the process! But did it matter! he was going to melt anyways if he did not do something! "right!" the LBx delivered little heat and at this range and a few quick torso adjustments the barrel of that LBX was pointed directly at the Cockpits Glass completely covering it with massive barrel. "Boofff! Cha Cing" he heard the brutally loud even though the sound dampened cockpit sound of the LBX firing and then the autoLoader getting halfway through the reloading process before the extra 5 tons the firestarter had on his urbanmech dragged them both to the ground.A few Moments later the K-9 though quite banged up Stomped in sight as Kevin wondered how the hell he took one of those things one on one when all three of us struggled with this one. But that was a story for another time.
A few weeks later and the Recruits found themselves all surviving the Ordeal and on a Stage Attending their Graduation the only one not present... was their Leader from that day... and the K-9 who had been called for an urgent task two days earlier Kevin thought to himself "why would someone like him Train nobodies like us. Either way Kevin felt a sense of det to the man who trained them so well.
the Leader finding himself in front of new raw recruits that very same day showing off the fully Repaired K-9 as he Grinned in his full face helmet as all three pilots survived last training session. Bringing the number to 37 he has trained personally he thought to himself "When the time is right... when the time is right... they will make a useful army to call up for my needs."
2) -Barantor-
https://docs.google....TRpZaqojb0/edit
3) -Cato Zilks-
Spoiler
A large ditch by railroad tracks in the middle of a sea of grass.
Claybrooke
FWL frontier, bordering the Capellans and Canopians
Late July 3045
Nothing about this world is easy. The days are long, years longer; summers are hell, yet every year hell freezes over and we all crave hell's heat. The worst part is the smell of cow crap that permeates everything. But, those cows are the biggest cash crop on the planet, so we can only complain so much. If the politicians in Sheridan would get over themselves maybe we could start mining our two moons and start growing our economy. Leave it to a bunch of cowboy politicians to stick to their guns and be unable to figure out some kind of deal. Hard to really blame them though, a decade ago their job was to stymie the FWL appointed "governor (dictator), which they did exceptionally well. You can't really blame a dog for only knowing one trick, they only know what you teach them.
Still, listening to them crow about their roles in the Army of the Resistance is just downright irritating. When we were fighting the Andurien occupation force, most of them did exactly what they do best: be rich and do nothing. We did all the work and they take all the glory. Now they make even more money selling our "frontier" goods from the brave "folk" who didn't even need FWL to help throw off the Andurien yolk. Does any of that extra money get passed along to the hard working people of Claybrooke? No, of course not. Ok, I kinda like that last part. I don't mind if they brag about us not needing the League. Just so long as they don't provoke them into sending an "governing" force, or worse: the 8th Orloff Genadiers who will flatten a town to kill some pirates.
"Uh... sir, I think I see something coming. About eh... 1,000m out... 280 degrees west by north west." His scout's report snapped Jim Bishop out of the political ramblings in his head. "Rodriguez, bring your men to the west embankment of the ditch! Spencer! Jackson! Turn your dadgum vehicles on!"
Their forces were light by most battle standards, but that was probably Jim's fault. He was a sheriff with a big mouth and a disdain for politicians (who incidentally, controlled the budget for his militia-esque police force.) Consequently, when Jim petitioned for a battlemech to help guard the trainlines, he was expecting a Spider or a Firestarter with a few quick vehicles. If he was lucky, maybe he would get an Assasin. Needless to say, speaking your mind to your bosses has draw backs: they gave him an Urbanmech decorated like a police car and two Hover APCs. Literally, the slowest mech in their price range with two vehicles that only had machine guns. And he was expected to cover miles of open plains.
Making the best with what he was given, Bishop retrofitted his Urbie to have a bit more "reach" on the open plains and trained his men in the art of the ambush. They were actually remarkably successful. In fact, rumors where that he could smell bandits coming from miles away (even through the odor of cow dung.) He knew where they were going to be, and even if they could run away that dang Urbie would track them. Thus the mech garnered the nickname "K-9." Bishop liked it, the reputation made his job easier.
But this summer had seen a sharp uptick in train robberies. Rumors were that these bandits were organized. They were certainly efficient, as evidenced by the lack of witnesses thus far. Jim was a bit disconcerted that he had not found them until now. How had they hidden so well? His men were well trained to avoid killing the bandits if possible, better to arrest them and make an example of them. But this group seemed more efficient than those he had tracked before. Could his posse stand up to these ghost-like bandits? They didn't have much of an option. He knew that if he couldn't stop these bandit raids, the chances were high that a contingent of the 8th Orloff Grenadiers might get redeployed here. He didn't want to deal with the civilian death toll they would assuredly leave in their wake.
Sergeant Spencer shattered Bishop's train of thought "sir, I don't have any contacts on my radar." They had upgraded the sensors in Spencer's APC, so they should have radar contact by now. "Alberts, you still have visual?" Bishop barked at his forward scout. "Roger, sir!" the scout answered, "700m out, it looks like two mechs... kinda triangly" "Power down!" Bishop yelled.
He had not seen a Raven, but he did not know of any other triangle shaped mechs carrying an ecm suite. "Who has covert battlemechs working on Claybrooke?" he thought to himself. The sheriff began barking out orders, "Alberts, when the mechs get within 150 meters of us, holler! Spencer, Jackson stay powered down until the fighting starts, then fan out! Rodriguez, get the SRMs up front and fire on Alberts' signal!" He was not confident they could win this, but he was gambling that these mechs were not supposed to engage the enemy.
The waiting was hard, but his men knew what they were doing. When Alberts gave the signal, all hell broke loose. The SRMs from the infantry legged one of the Ravens. Jim Bishop peaked his K-9 over lip of the ditch and began ripping into the its side torso. The remaining mech began running north, but then turned and opened fire on his comrade. The second Raven's alpha was enough to destroy his crippled ally, likely destroying any evidence they could have gained about who sent these mechs. As the second Raven turned to flee, sheriff Bishop bellowed, "do not pursue!"
Given the circumstances, the battle went well: only two died and four wounded while they had brought down a state-of-the-art battlemech. But, Jim Bishop knew that news about this encounter could be disastrous. It could provoke the League to send a new "governor" or worse they could send the 8th in to clean things up. "Ladies, gents" Bishop began "salvage what you can from that mech and then destroy the rest before the train arrives. We will not mention this to anybody. Am I clear?" A chorus of "yes sir!" answered him. "We don't need the League to get involved and muck everything up! We can take care of ourselves! Now hurry up, that train is only fifty minutes out!
A large ditch by railroad tracks in the middle of a sea of grass.
Claybrooke
FWL frontier, bordering the Capellans and Canopians
Late July 3045
Nothing about this world is easy. The days are long, years longer; summers are hell, yet every year hell freezes over and we all crave hell's heat. The worst part is the smell of cow crap that permeates everything. But, those cows are the biggest cash crop on the planet, so we can only complain so much. If the politicians in Sheridan would get over themselves maybe we could start mining our two moons and start growing our economy. Leave it to a bunch of cowboy politicians to stick to their guns and be unable to figure out some kind of deal. Hard to really blame them though, a decade ago their job was to stymie the FWL appointed "governor (dictator), which they did exceptionally well. You can't really blame a dog for only knowing one trick, they only know what you teach them.
Still, listening to them crow about their roles in the Army of the Resistance is just downright irritating. When we were fighting the Andurien occupation force, most of them did exactly what they do best: be rich and do nothing. We did all the work and they take all the glory. Now they make even more money selling our "frontier" goods from the brave "folk" who didn't even need FWL to help throw off the Andurien yolk. Does any of that extra money get passed along to the hard working people of Claybrooke? No, of course not. Ok, I kinda like that last part. I don't mind if they brag about us not needing the League. Just so long as they don't provoke them into sending an "governing" force, or worse: the 8th Orloff Genadiers who will flatten a town to kill some pirates.
"Uh... sir, I think I see something coming. About eh... 1,000m out... 280 degrees west by north west." His scout's report snapped Jim Bishop out of the political ramblings in his head. "Rodriguez, bring your men to the west embankment of the ditch! Spencer! Jackson! Turn your dadgum vehicles on!"
Their forces were light by most battle standards, but that was probably Jim's fault. He was a sheriff with a big mouth and a disdain for politicians (who incidentally, controlled the budget for his militia-esque police force.) Consequently, when Jim petitioned for a battlemech to help guard the trainlines, he was expecting a Spider or a Firestarter with a few quick vehicles. If he was lucky, maybe he would get an Assasin. Needless to say, speaking your mind to your bosses has draw backs: they gave him an Urbanmech decorated like a police car and two Hover APCs. Literally, the slowest mech in their price range with two vehicles that only had machine guns. And he was expected to cover miles of open plains.
Making the best with what he was given, Bishop retrofitted his Urbie to have a bit more "reach" on the open plains and trained his men in the art of the ambush. They were actually remarkably successful. In fact, rumors where that he could smell bandits coming from miles away (even through the odor of cow dung.) He knew where they were going to be, and even if they could run away that dang Urbie would track them. Thus the mech garnered the nickname "K-9." Bishop liked it, the reputation made his job easier.
But this summer had seen a sharp uptick in train robberies. Rumors were that these bandits were organized. They were certainly efficient, as evidenced by the lack of witnesses thus far. Jim was a bit disconcerted that he had not found them until now. How had they hidden so well? His men were well trained to avoid killing the bandits if possible, better to arrest them and make an example of them. But this group seemed more efficient than those he had tracked before. Could his posse stand up to these ghost-like bandits? They didn't have much of an option. He knew that if he couldn't stop these bandit raids, the chances were high that a contingent of the 8th Orloff Grenadiers might get redeployed here. He didn't want to deal with the civilian death toll they would assuredly leave in their wake.
Sergeant Spencer shattered Bishop's train of thought "sir, I don't have any contacts on my radar." They had upgraded the sensors in Spencer's APC, so they should have radar contact by now. "Alberts, you still have visual?" Bishop barked at his forward scout. "Roger, sir!" the scout answered, "700m out, it looks like two mechs... kinda triangly" "Power down!" Bishop yelled.
He had not seen a Raven, but he did not know of any other triangle shaped mechs carrying an ecm suite. "Who has covert battlemechs working on Claybrooke?" he thought to himself. The sheriff began barking out orders, "Alberts, when the mechs get within 150 meters of us, holler! Spencer, Jackson stay powered down until the fighting starts, then fan out! Rodriguez, get the SRMs up front and fire on Alberts' signal!" He was not confident they could win this, but he was gambling that these mechs were not supposed to engage the enemy.
The waiting was hard, but his men knew what they were doing. When Alberts gave the signal, all hell broke loose. The SRMs from the infantry legged one of the Ravens. Jim Bishop peaked his K-9 over lip of the ditch and began ripping into the its side torso. The remaining mech began running north, but then turned and opened fire on his comrade. The second Raven's alpha was enough to destroy his crippled ally, likely destroying any evidence they could have gained about who sent these mechs. As the second Raven turned to flee, sheriff Bishop bellowed, "do not pursue!"
Given the circumstances, the battle went well: only two died and four wounded while they had brought down a state-of-the-art battlemech. But, Jim Bishop knew that news about this encounter could be disastrous. It could provoke the League to send a new "governor" or worse they could send the 8th in to clean things up. "Ladies, gents" Bishop began "salvage what you can from that mech and then destroy the rest before the train arrives. We will not mention this to anybody. Am I clear?" A chorus of "yes sir!" answered him. "We don't need the League to get involved and muck everything up! We can take care of ourselves! Now hurry up, that train is only fifty minutes out!
4) -Thomster-
https://drive.google...GhjR2VMU2c/view
5) -orcrist86-
https://www.dropbox....ction.docx?dl=0
6) -MarksmanKNG-
https://drive.google...UhIdjV1SGc/view
7) -TSUREAI-
this is an entry I was PM'd by a community member who apparently has not finished their Cadet Matches yet, and as such, cannot post to the Forums, apparently. I have sent a message to Tina to get some clarification/direction, but have not heard back as yet.
https://mwomercs.com...671226-tsureai/
https://docs.google....yIjpJR8Hck/edit
Spoiler
The jungles around the Zhoulin sea were some of the most inhospitable places on the planet Hsien. But the same heavy metals that make the water toxic naturally concentrated on Zhoulin’s prehistoric shores. The mines that worked over these shallow veins had been the scene of some of the hottest combat of the invasions. And not coincidentally, the deep pits left behind where were the scrap from those wars sat rusting and abandoned.
Scrap that by god was moving under it’s own power after more weeks of blood, sweat, and tears than Bishop Steiner really wanted to admit to lavishing on the stubby, corroded mechs. If anyone he knew from NAIS ever saw these shambling cans trying to load themselves onto hover trucks, they would have died of laughter. But none of that mattered to Bishop. Because not only was he no longer Dispossessed, he had his own company!
This kind of satisfaction, it had to be what kept Rhonda going when times got tough. He couldn’t have wished for a better lance than one he had helped build with his own hands. A lance that was entirely, mostly UrbanMechs not exactly famed for getting anywhere fast. His eyes swept the skies over the verdant jungles, hoping they could get to the rendezvous point early. One by one the trucks blew to life and started to skim up the narrow waterways, deeper into the tropics.
He might have wished for a cooler day to have such an important meeting, but he couldn’t have asked for a more discrete spot. He rode in the back of the truck where he could keep an eye on Deputy Dog. Well, that and the wooden slat seats in the cab hadn’t been made for someone of his stature in mind. They were better suited for the predominantly Asian and short natives such as Antin M’lewis.
“So… You’re sure this “Badger” guy can deliver heavy weapons?” he asked for what had to be the tenth time. Despite an eye for treasures mixed in with the trash cultivated with the irregulars, he couldn’t get every part for his Lance from the pits. Major weapons had often been stripped from the hulks before they were abandoned. And no one in their right mind left live ammunition laying around.
“Trust me!” the swarthy driver answered back. “I’ve made deals through Badger for a couple years now! I make a few discreet inquiries, provide a small payment up front, and cargo for sale magically appears! He never shows up himself, and you never see him directly. He only works through tramp captains like the one we’re meeting today, Captain Lo Rei.”
A face like Antin’s saying trust me was about as believable as one of the local slash lizards promising not to bite, in fluent Mandarin. But Antin’s record spoke for itself, literally when a good enough computer was used to access it. His rap sheet was meters long, all of it fencing stolen goods and smuggling. So clearly he had the contacts to get mech scale weaponry.
Bishop laid back and listened to the mournful honks of the hadrosaurs, savoring the gentle rocking of the hover truck and the cool breeze. MI6 experience kept him sceptical as they went to met whatever pirate or smuggler might be able to sell them the weapons they needed to keep their world safe. Trust was a rare commodity in the chaos march, and only the next few hours would tell if it was being offered.
******
In the end Bishop and his crack team of part time mech pilots, none of which had ever actually fought a mech before, got to the drop zone in plenty of time. The Urbies were much faster to unload into the rainforest, and their small size and lack of protruding limbs actually let them hide rather effectively. In his experience as a Rabid Fox, this was usually the best way to greet a dropship full of guns. From cover and with overlapping fields of fire.
“Well, they’re punctual. I’ll give them that.” Right on time a speck of light appeared in the sky, slowly growing into a pencil of sun bright fire as the dropship came down right where they had promised to. “I suppose that’s a good sign they’re not going to try and kill and rob us all.” As the dropship grew closer he could see that it certainly wasn’t a Mule or any of the ponderously huge normal cargo ships.
The old Union dropship had clearly seen better days, the sides of the slowly descending ping pong ball deeply scored and pitted by weapons fire. A lot of its weapons bays had been removed and crudely plated over, and the deputies waiting in a hover truck for it to land collectively winced as a gout of steam caused by its landing in the uncleared rainforest ripped one off and sent it flying up over the jungle.
“That can’t be good.” Bishop said as the man with the best view of the event, given that he was almost head and shoulders taller than everyone around him. Times like this it was important to keep up morale by providing a strong example and standing firm, regardless of the danger and uncertainty. Mainly because Bishop couldn’t find shelter in the cab, since it was full of all his other constables. And he wouldn’t get far on foot without the swamp fouling his prosthetic.
“I wouldn’t worry about it.” Antin was the nearest thing the Constabulary had to a quartermaster. “Badger has nothing but good things to say about their reliability.” Calling him a smuggler and fence would have been equally as accurate. “And their ship is a decommissioned Union. Clearly it’s taken worse than this and is still flying.” He glanced again as the ship burned the mud to stone and then landed on it.
*************************
Inside the rattling and suddenly loudly BANGing drop ship, Captain Mai winced as she saw something go flying past the bridge windows. “That can’t be good.” she muttered as she reached for the ship’s com. “Hey folk, we have a small problem with our entry sequence.” She glanced at the extremely pale woman at the helm. She was pretty sure Hildegard was always that white. And her swearing wasn’t in Swedish, so it couldn’t be that bad. “So we may experience some slight turbulence. And then explode.”
Walking as the ground shakes beneath you is a trick anyone involved for long in mech scale combat learns at an early stage. At least walking along bucking floor grates and descending rattling ladders didn’t come with a chance of being smeared under foot. Master of her domain, it didn’t take Captain Mai Lo Rei long to get down to the main hatch. She met the rest of her landing team down there, already preparing weapons.
For a long time she thought Zeke was the biggest, baddest, blackest human being possible. Certainly seeing him in full cooling suit and skivvies reinforced that idea, showing off his exceptional musculature as he climbed the rope ladder up into the hangar queen mech they kept around for jobs like this. Zeke’s ancient Banshee was more bark than bite, but the presence alone of a 95 ton mech had saved the day more than once.
Then Mai saw Jane, and realized anew just how unfair the universe was. Mai was about what you would expect from a Ningpo native. A delicate ethnic cambodian build a couple inches over five feet tall in her boots. Even the trio of pistols in quick draw holsters couldn’t make her diminutive form anything other than doll like. Especially not when she drew close to Jane, the Elemental Bondswoman who towered over even Zeke. A support needler that usually needed a small crew was idly slung at her hip.
“We are going to Explode?” she asked, in that curiously precise Clan accent of hers. “I do not wish to Explode.” The cheeky grin on her lips was more than enough indication that the huge woman was making fun of her. “Panel over the old LRM bay came off in the backblast.” Mai grunted, trying not to obviously crane her neck as she looked over the bandoliers of grenades, ammo blocks, and blades the woman had bedecked herself with.
“I thought Badger vouched for these guys.” Mai asked her semi tame Elemental. “So what’s with the big guns?” Jane’s grin grew wider. “Mai, it is most fortuitous we came to this planet, quaif? They have… DINOSAURS.” Shaking her head Mai shooed Jane away to put some of it back. “You never know if these backwater militias are gonna try to rob and kill us all. What did I tell you about visiting twitchy militias on xiangcun worlds like this?” she frowned. A frown that only intensified as Jane instantly replied. “Never drink the water.”
Mai just sighed as the cargo doors opened, a blast of hot steamy air hitting her almost immediately. “Knew it… It’s gonna be one of those kinds of jobs.”
***************************
Much to Bishop and the rest of the militia’s surprise the dropship did not either roll over into the swamp and explode, sink into the swamp and explode, or indeed do anything other than make a well balanced landing on a now suddenly very dry patch of ground. “Guess there’s a reason they come recommended.” he grunted as the fans on the truck goosed and the vehicle slid forward with a cough.
As the cargo doors opened they could see into what should have been a mechbay, but instead now was just open space with crates and cargo netting seemingly piled at random. Standing in front of it all was a petite woman, pretty clearly of Capellan descent even from a distance.“And if they are raiders, that has to be the shortest invasion force I’ve ever seen.” Bishop chuckled to his driver. Then the largest and most heavily armed woman he’d ever seen stepped into view, and he was forced to re-evaluate.
He didn’t have to tell his driver to slow down. No one wants to rush towards the business end of a heavy needler. Much less one in the hands of a clan Elemental. It was just as well the driver throttled back the engines, because once they were idle he could hear the small woman calling out in a strong, commanding voice. Hearing such clear command presence was especially surprising from such a small framed lady.
“I take it you’re Constable Bishop.” She called out as she positively swaggered halfway down the cargo ramp to the truck.
Bishop took the opportunity to stand in the bed of the truck, meeting her eye to eye. “And that makes you Captain Mai Lo Rei I assume.” He glanced up at the steely bulk of the dropship rising in front of him. “I was told to expect your dropship, but I didn’t realize it came with such firepower.” He nodded his chin at Jane, who cheerfully smiled back with her hand on the trigger grips.
“Spoils of war Constable.” She replied, standing at neat attention and eyeing the man herself. “The march is a bit chaotic these days, if you haven’t noticed. An independent trader such as myself has precautions to take.” She grinned as well, “And speaking of precautions, we scanned a light lance in the tree line on the way down. Why not bring your men out and we’ll see if what I have fits.”
“While I’m happy to bring out my lance, I do hope you’ll forgive me for taking it slow. Wouldn’t want to cause any unfortunate misunderstandings.” Bishop waved over his head slowly, and in response large shapes in the trees began to move. Slowly began to move.
After a few minutes of watching Mai sighed heavily, “You’re kidding me, right?”
Watching UrbanMechs traversing rough terrain was more entertaining than watching paint dry, but generally just about as slow. “How did you even get them out here this year?” Mai asked. “I mean, kudos for having a backup plan and all. But really... I… Wait, how fast are those things going?“
Bishop just shrugged, “We’re the Hsien Militia, And Constabulary. And just about the only force for law and order around here against terrorists, raiders, and rogues. You’re looking at the grand total of our Mech forces. A lance of cobbled together UrbanMechs that have a few surprises in store for anyone who wants to tangle with us.” Already the lead mech was pulling even with the truck. “These guys have Valkyrie engines in them.”
Mai walked back and forth across the width of the ramp, eyeing the assembled mechs with a trained eye. “Yeah… Yeah I see now. But that wouldn’t leave you much room for the AC/10 would it? You’d need to drop five tons somewhere.” Her eyes danced as possibilities and prices flashed through her mind in a torrent of Cbills. She read the stenciled name on the lead Urbie. “Deputy Dawg huh…”
“Mr Bishop, I’ll be honest with you. I admire what you’re doing here. Upholding justice and order in a lawless time. I’m a Ningpo girl myself and its only be grace and luck that we haven’t been targeted. I know Badger said that I could sell you ammunition, and I can. I have tons of AC/10 shells and LRMs.” She pointed over her shoulder, “And one or two working mech cubicles to do maintenance and rearming in.”
The petite gun runner did a little twirl as she thought, and came to a conclusion. “But I believe I can offer you more. Much more. Hetzer kits to mount the old AC/10s on. Double heat sinks for your refitted machines. LB 5s, Large Pulse Lasers. Maybe even ER PPCs.” She held out a small hand to the large mechwarrior. “Are you ready to be the biggest, baddest Dawg on the block?”
Tsureai wrote this!
The jungles around the Zhoulin sea were some of the most inhospitable places on the planet Hsien. But the same heavy metals that make the water toxic naturally concentrated on Zhoulin’s prehistoric shores. The mines that worked over these shallow veins had been the scene of some of the hottest combat of the invasions. And not coincidentally, the deep pits left behind where were the scrap from those wars sat rusting and abandoned.
Scrap that by god was moving under it’s own power after more weeks of blood, sweat, and tears than Bishop Steiner really wanted to admit to lavishing on the stubby, corroded mechs. If anyone he knew from NAIS ever saw these shambling cans trying to load themselves onto hover trucks, they would have died of laughter. But none of that mattered to Bishop. Because not only was he no longer Dispossessed, he had his own company!
This kind of satisfaction, it had to be what kept Rhonda going when times got tough. He couldn’t have wished for a better lance than one he had helped build with his own hands. A lance that was entirely, mostly UrbanMechs not exactly famed for getting anywhere fast. His eyes swept the skies over the verdant jungles, hoping they could get to the rendezvous point early. One by one the trucks blew to life and started to skim up the narrow waterways, deeper into the tropics.
He might have wished for a cooler day to have such an important meeting, but he couldn’t have asked for a more discrete spot. He rode in the back of the truck where he could keep an eye on Deputy Dog. Well, that and the wooden slat seats in the cab hadn’t been made for someone of his stature in mind. They were better suited for the predominantly Asian and short natives such as Antin M’lewis.
“So… You’re sure this “Badger” guy can deliver heavy weapons?” he asked for what had to be the tenth time. Despite an eye for treasures mixed in with the trash cultivated with the irregulars, he couldn’t get every part for his Lance from the pits. Major weapons had often been stripped from the hulks before they were abandoned. And no one in their right mind left live ammunition laying around.
“Trust me!” the swarthy driver answered back. “I’ve made deals through Badger for a couple years now! I make a few discreet inquiries, provide a small payment up front, and cargo for sale magically appears! He never shows up himself, and you never see him directly. He only works through tramp captains like the one we’re meeting today, Captain Lo Rei.”
A face like Antin’s saying trust me was about as believable as one of the local slash lizards promising not to bite, in fluent Mandarin. But Antin’s record spoke for itself, literally when a good enough computer was used to access it. His rap sheet was meters long, all of it fencing stolen goods and smuggling. So clearly he had the contacts to get mech scale weaponry.
Bishop laid back and listened to the mournful honks of the hadrosaurs, savoring the gentle rocking of the hover truck and the cool breeze. MI6 experience kept him sceptical as they went to met whatever pirate or smuggler might be able to sell them the weapons they needed to keep their world safe. Trust was a rare commodity in the chaos march, and only the next few hours would tell if it was being offered.
******
In the end Bishop and his crack team of part time mech pilots, none of which had ever actually fought a mech before, got to the drop zone in plenty of time. The Urbies were much faster to unload into the rainforest, and their small size and lack of protruding limbs actually let them hide rather effectively. In his experience as a Rabid Fox, this was usually the best way to greet a dropship full of guns. From cover and with overlapping fields of fire.
“Well, they’re punctual. I’ll give them that.” Right on time a speck of light appeared in the sky, slowly growing into a pencil of sun bright fire as the dropship came down right where they had promised to. “I suppose that’s a good sign they’re not going to try and kill and rob us all.” As the dropship grew closer he could see that it certainly wasn’t a Mule or any of the ponderously huge normal cargo ships.
The old Union dropship had clearly seen better days, the sides of the slowly descending ping pong ball deeply scored and pitted by weapons fire. A lot of its weapons bays had been removed and crudely plated over, and the deputies waiting in a hover truck for it to land collectively winced as a gout of steam caused by its landing in the uncleared rainforest ripped one off and sent it flying up over the jungle.
“That can’t be good.” Bishop said as the man with the best view of the event, given that he was almost head and shoulders taller than everyone around him. Times like this it was important to keep up morale by providing a strong example and standing firm, regardless of the danger and uncertainty. Mainly because Bishop couldn’t find shelter in the cab, since it was full of all his other constables. And he wouldn’t get far on foot without the swamp fouling his prosthetic.
“I wouldn’t worry about it.” Antin was the nearest thing the Constabulary had to a quartermaster. “Badger has nothing but good things to say about their reliability.” Calling him a smuggler and fence would have been equally as accurate. “And their ship is a decommissioned Union. Clearly it’s taken worse than this and is still flying.” He glanced again as the ship burned the mud to stone and then landed on it.
*************************
Inside the rattling and suddenly loudly BANGing drop ship, Captain Mai winced as she saw something go flying past the bridge windows. “That can’t be good.” she muttered as she reached for the ship’s com. “Hey folk, we have a small problem with our entry sequence.” She glanced at the extremely pale woman at the helm. She was pretty sure Hildegard was always that white. And her swearing wasn’t in Swedish, so it couldn’t be that bad. “So we may experience some slight turbulence. And then explode.”
Walking as the ground shakes beneath you is a trick anyone involved for long in mech scale combat learns at an early stage. At least walking along bucking floor grates and descending rattling ladders didn’t come with a chance of being smeared under foot. Master of her domain, it didn’t take Captain Mai Lo Rei long to get down to the main hatch. She met the rest of her landing team down there, already preparing weapons.
For a long time she thought Zeke was the biggest, baddest, blackest human being possible. Certainly seeing him in full cooling suit and skivvies reinforced that idea, showing off his exceptional musculature as he climbed the rope ladder up into the hangar queen mech they kept around for jobs like this. Zeke’s ancient Banshee was more bark than bite, but the presence alone of a 95 ton mech had saved the day more than once.
Then Mai saw Jane, and realized anew just how unfair the universe was. Mai was about what you would expect from a Ningpo native. A delicate ethnic cambodian build a couple inches over five feet tall in her boots. Even the trio of pistols in quick draw holsters couldn’t make her diminutive form anything other than doll like. Especially not when she drew close to Jane, the Elemental Bondswoman who towered over even Zeke. A support needler that usually needed a small crew was idly slung at her hip.
“We are going to Explode?” she asked, in that curiously precise Clan accent of hers. “I do not wish to Explode.” The cheeky grin on her lips was more than enough indication that the huge woman was making fun of her. “Panel over the old LRM bay came off in the backblast.” Mai grunted, trying not to obviously crane her neck as she looked over the bandoliers of grenades, ammo blocks, and blades the woman had bedecked herself with.
“I thought Badger vouched for these guys.” Mai asked her semi tame Elemental. “So what’s with the big guns?” Jane’s grin grew wider. “Mai, it is most fortuitous we came to this planet, quaif? They have… DINOSAURS.” Shaking her head Mai shooed Jane away to put some of it back. “You never know if these backwater militias are gonna try to rob and kill us all. What did I tell you about visiting twitchy militias on xiangcun worlds like this?” she frowned. A frown that only intensified as Jane instantly replied. “Never drink the water.”
Mai just sighed as the cargo doors opened, a blast of hot steamy air hitting her almost immediately. “Knew it… It’s gonna be one of those kinds of jobs.”
***************************
Much to Bishop and the rest of the militia’s surprise the dropship did not either roll over into the swamp and explode, sink into the swamp and explode, or indeed do anything other than make a well balanced landing on a now suddenly very dry patch of ground. “Guess there’s a reason they come recommended.” he grunted as the fans on the truck goosed and the vehicle slid forward with a cough.
As the cargo doors opened they could see into what should have been a mechbay, but instead now was just open space with crates and cargo netting seemingly piled at random. Standing in front of it all was a petite woman, pretty clearly of Capellan descent even from a distance.“And if they are raiders, that has to be the shortest invasion force I’ve ever seen.” Bishop chuckled to his driver. Then the largest and most heavily armed woman he’d ever seen stepped into view, and he was forced to re-evaluate.
He didn’t have to tell his driver to slow down. No one wants to rush towards the business end of a heavy needler. Much less one in the hands of a clan Elemental. It was just as well the driver throttled back the engines, because once they were idle he could hear the small woman calling out in a strong, commanding voice. Hearing such clear command presence was especially surprising from such a small framed lady.
“I take it you’re Constable Bishop.” She called out as she positively swaggered halfway down the cargo ramp to the truck.
Bishop took the opportunity to stand in the bed of the truck, meeting her eye to eye. “And that makes you Captain Mai Lo Rei I assume.” He glanced up at the steely bulk of the dropship rising in front of him. “I was told to expect your dropship, but I didn’t realize it came with such firepower.” He nodded his chin at Jane, who cheerfully smiled back with her hand on the trigger grips.
“Spoils of war Constable.” She replied, standing at neat attention and eyeing the man herself. “The march is a bit chaotic these days, if you haven’t noticed. An independent trader such as myself has precautions to take.” She grinned as well, “And speaking of precautions, we scanned a light lance in the tree line on the way down. Why not bring your men out and we’ll see if what I have fits.”
“While I’m happy to bring out my lance, I do hope you’ll forgive me for taking it slow. Wouldn’t want to cause any unfortunate misunderstandings.” Bishop waved over his head slowly, and in response large shapes in the trees began to move. Slowly began to move.
After a few minutes of watching Mai sighed heavily, “You’re kidding me, right?”
Watching UrbanMechs traversing rough terrain was more entertaining than watching paint dry, but generally just about as slow. “How did you even get them out here this year?” Mai asked. “I mean, kudos for having a backup plan and all. But really... I… Wait, how fast are those things going?“
Bishop just shrugged, “We’re the Hsien Militia, And Constabulary. And just about the only force for law and order around here against terrorists, raiders, and rogues. You’re looking at the grand total of our Mech forces. A lance of cobbled together UrbanMechs that have a few surprises in store for anyone who wants to tangle with us.” Already the lead mech was pulling even with the truck. “These guys have Valkyrie engines in them.”
Mai walked back and forth across the width of the ramp, eyeing the assembled mechs with a trained eye. “Yeah… Yeah I see now. But that wouldn’t leave you much room for the AC/10 would it? You’d need to drop five tons somewhere.” Her eyes danced as possibilities and prices flashed through her mind in a torrent of Cbills. She read the stenciled name on the lead Urbie. “Deputy Dawg huh…”
“Mr Bishop, I’ll be honest with you. I admire what you’re doing here. Upholding justice and order in a lawless time. I’m a Ningpo girl myself and its only be grace and luck that we haven’t been targeted. I know Badger said that I could sell you ammunition, and I can. I have tons of AC/10 shells and LRMs.” She pointed over her shoulder, “And one or two working mech cubicles to do maintenance and rearming in.”
The petite gun runner did a little twirl as she thought, and came to a conclusion. “But I believe I can offer you more. Much more. Hetzer kits to mount the old AC/10s on. Double heat sinks for your refitted machines. LB 5s, Large Pulse Lasers. Maybe even ER PPCs.” She held out a small hand to the large mechwarrior. “Are you ready to be the biggest, baddest Dawg on the block?”
Tsureai wrote this!
8) -Metus regem-
Spoiler
The Find
Year:
3142
Location:
Outskirts of Zhi-Chiang, Hsien.
“By Blake’s hairy ***… They didn’t leave anything worth Salvaging.” I say as I toss my light cigarette against some scrap metal in these ruins. “There’s got to be something good here…”
It’s been 9 years since the Republic of the Sphere went into hiding, taking with them the bulk of actual combat grade mechs, now all that’s to be found are industrial or agriculture mechs. And I’m out here in what is left of Zhi-Chiang, searching through rubble trying to find something I can trade for food, shelter and some non-radioactive water. I ‘member hearing from some Old timers that Zhi-Chiang used to be something special, something pretty, now it’s just ruined buildings, skeletons and rusted out cars. As I work my way from one building to the next, I jump to the ground floor of the next building over. No sooner have I done that, then I feel the floor give way, with a thunderous sound I feel my feet hit something, before something hits me, and I am sent off to the black.
I awake sometime later, no idea how long I’d been out, but I can see the moons above, as I look around in the moon light I can see a foot, a very, very large foot. I dig around in my pack for my flashlight, finding it, I put the beam on the foot, moving it up, I see white shins with two letters on them “PD” moving up I see a crest in the center of body with the words “Zhi-Chiang Police Department” written around it. Getting excited, I start to move my light around this thing to get a better look at it, then it clicks, I hit gold! I just found a mech, looking at the arms; it looks like it’s actually packing some real weapons on it.
After scrambling up the metal runs on the outside, I find the entry hatch, as I pop it open, I settle into what can only be considered the cockpit, as I look around at the various controls, and I flip the main power switch. I cross my fingers, hoping the reactor still has enough hydrogen to start a reaction. I hold my breath as I see words across and up the main screen.
Main connections……. Okay
Then I hear “Backup power, online….. Reactor, online…. Fire Control System, online.”
Looking back to the screens, I see a phrase written in the display to my right:
Good morning Bishop, are we ready to stop bad guys?
The Find
Year:
3142
Location:
Outskirts of Zhi-Chiang, Hsien.
“By Blake’s hairy ***… They didn’t leave anything worth Salvaging.” I say as I toss my light cigarette against some scrap metal in these ruins. “There’s got to be something good here…”
It’s been 9 years since the Republic of the Sphere went into hiding, taking with them the bulk of actual combat grade mechs, now all that’s to be found are industrial or agriculture mechs. And I’m out here in what is left of Zhi-Chiang, searching through rubble trying to find something I can trade for food, shelter and some non-radioactive water. I ‘member hearing from some Old timers that Zhi-Chiang used to be something special, something pretty, now it’s just ruined buildings, skeletons and rusted out cars. As I work my way from one building to the next, I jump to the ground floor of the next building over. No sooner have I done that, then I feel the floor give way, with a thunderous sound I feel my feet hit something, before something hits me, and I am sent off to the black.
I awake sometime later, no idea how long I’d been out, but I can see the moons above, as I look around in the moon light I can see a foot, a very, very large foot. I dig around in my pack for my flashlight, finding it, I put the beam on the foot, moving it up, I see white shins with two letters on them “PD” moving up I see a crest in the center of body with the words “Zhi-Chiang Police Department” written around it. Getting excited, I start to move my light around this thing to get a better look at it, then it clicks, I hit gold! I just found a mech, looking at the arms; it looks like it’s actually packing some real weapons on it.
After scrambling up the metal runs on the outside, I find the entry hatch, as I pop it open, I settle into what can only be considered the cockpit, as I look around at the various controls, and I flip the main power switch. I cross my fingers, hoping the reactor still has enough hydrogen to start a reaction. I hold my breath as I see words across and up the main screen.
Main connections……. Okay
Then I hear “Backup power, online….. Reactor, online…. Fire Control System, online.”
Looking back to the screens, I see a phrase written in the display to my right:
Good morning Bishop, are we ready to stop bad guys?
..... more to come?
****EDIT****
I'm extending the Deadline. Not by choice, but necessity. Apparently Tina had to be out of town for the last couple of weeks, and won't be returning until Monday. I am trying to work the situation out with another Dev at this time, but because of his other responsibilities, I don't believe he has had time to get fully caught up. So until I know what is going on ( I am only one of the judges on the panel, and do not have the power to bequeath the prizes), I will have to extend the deadline. At this time I am extending it tentatively by 48 hours until 11:59 pm EST, March 17th, 2017, but it may extend longer depending on what is decided. I apologize for the confusion and thank you for your patience. If you have any more polishing on your arts, stories, etc, feel free to continue.
****************and the Winners are!**************************
Fan Fiction:
-1st Place: Orcrist
-2nd Place: Barantor
-3rd Place: Thomster
Thank you again to PGI and Tina and the various judges for making this possible... and to all the entrants who posted their creativity! And congratulations to our winners! Any problems with injections, please let me Tina know...and if our third place winners could contact Tina and let her know your choice of Color or Cockpit Item, she'll get those injected to your accounts! Thank you again!
Edited by Bishop Steiner, 28 March 2017 - 05:11 PM.
