(08 March 3049)

Let me tell ya, gents, I’m getting sick and tired of the bellyaching in merc circles. Ever since the holier-than-thou Gray Death Legion found that thrice-damned Star League Memory Core before the Fourth War, pencil-geeks ‘round the Sphere have been hammering back their caffeine-laced cool-aids for all-nighters trying to crack lostech. And we all know it’s happening. The War of 3039 was ample proof the empires are bringing on-line ancient tech not seen on battlefields since the middle of the Second Succession War.

But percentages are low. Listening to the griping ‘round me, you’d think every House regiment was stocked to the gills with shiny tech straight out of a Star League Defense Force recruiting vid from some dusty museum vault. I’m telling ya, gents, just not the case. Only the elite of the elite are getting these toys. The Royal Guards, the Sword of Lights, Death Commandos, the Davion Guards. You gonna stack up that many C-bills to crunch out some shiny hardware, any House is gonna make sure it’s put to best use.

Now I hear the whining already: “What about the Gray Death Legion or Wolf’s Dragoons? I hear even their second-string ’Mechs are loaded with lostech.” Sure, and I hear every Canopian Pleasure Circus has a lost princess, painted in gold and just waitin’ for a hero to come rescue her. Sure, the Dragoons…what’ya gonna say.

They’re as mysterious as they come, showing up out of nowhere in ’05 with five full regiments and ready to rock…but the Legion? Lapdogs, gents, lapdogs.

For the rest of us sell-swords? We’re the mastiffs on the ridge and we get dropped into the gristmill first. So you’re not gonna lavish bills on a manicure and coat-trimming for the dog going down first.

But that’s the lot we’ve chosen…not to mention, lostech makes you lazy in the head. It’s the blood behind the myomer that takes the salvage, boys….

Keep it locked and loaded, gents.

-Jacob Hardenson, MercNet