Battletech IC #1: Outreach

[The Mighty Islands]

Julius watched the argument grow heated with detached interest. Personally, Julius thought it was a load of tripe to pass over recruits because they hadn't sat down - He judged a man by actions, and he'd served with soldiers that, while slow in the head, were perfectly competent under fire. But it wasn't his place to question the man - His but to do and die. He heard as he was divvied up into Team Five and found them.

Julius went to the team and eyed them over before introducing himself. "Hello, mates. Julius Warren - Or Andromeda, should you prefer that. My mech? An Osiris. Sure, its not big or deadly, but it'll get the job done.

As for a leader, I hope nobody minds if I take charge. I served in the Federated Suns army for a while in battle armor and, yes, I was an officer."

Katherine shrugged. "I got no objections... How about you guys?"

She turned to Septimus. "an LBX is a servicable weapon. well balanced in hitting power and range. A rotary autocannon looks nice, but according to my mechanic... jams too easily, it's a nice balance with your LRMs. a good hit and run scout."

"Alright Andromeda, you sound good enough for the job," Septimus said, "I don't mind if you don't mind."

"It's a good scout alright, I just want a little more firepower, I'll deal with what I have. And to be honest, I have yet to pilot her. She is a new prize of mine, I have enough 'mech experience, but the Avatar cockpit I have is entirely untouched, and I can't wait to get my hands on her."

[Harkonna]

His eyes fixed on her. "I know what I need and what I don't need. The replacement weaponry was originally a temporary fix, and I had intended to switch them out earlier but the MRBC insisted I not modify my 'Mech until after their trials here on Outreach. I know damn well my Vulture is shit-tier, and for your information it wouldn't even survive in the Arenas. Besides, a pair of machine guns go a long way to keeping an enemy pilot occupied while your heavier weapons reload or recharge, and bullets on the windscreen will screw with your opponent's vision."

Natalie calmly continued, unfazed by his audacity, patiently taking the time to explain her reasoning. "We already have two Light 'Mechs in the lance for harassment and keeping the enemy occupied. What we can do is make some field modifications, rather than official ones. Those machine guns and small pulse lasers are going to be next to useless in this trial, I guarantee that. We need you in a fire support role, and we need you not to get blown up by a sympathetic detonation when some lucky bastard nicks your MG round storage and blows a hole in your LRM casings. If you switch out the pulse lasers and MGs for, say, quad ER Medium Lasers- you can actually back us up at medium range, and using the spare tonnage to put more than two volleys of LRM's into your weapons will make you near invaluable for ranged support. It's really the best way to make use of your primary firepower.

"Words of wisdom if I ever heard e'm ma'am." He tipped his hat to her and nodded respectfully. If you came up an enemy reliant on munitions and just happened to have terrible aim, you could just walk in circles around them, and stick'em in the face to save ammo. It had worked far too often for his tastes.
"Commando. Two medium pulse lasers, SRM-4 and a vibro blade. I prefer to stay a safe distance away from my targets, helps when strafing to avoid shots. Also keeps the repair bills down."

Turning to Pallum, she nodded in acknowledgement. "You'll need to work in conjunction with Krieg if we're to have a proper skirmishing force. You'll need to be the ones grabbing attention, harassing, drawing fire, and screwing them up- whilst James and I bring proper fire to bear on them. You go for the cripple, we go for the kill, you know? That vibroblade will be excellent for destroying knee actuators if you're familiar with the method behind it."

[Hardened Pyrokinetics]

James nodded. "I'm aware of that, Natalie. It's just the way you said it, like I was too stupid to know how to use a 'Mech. Lastly, the armour on my Vulture is almost non-existent, so unless I can get it replaced with proper ferro-fibrosis armour before the trials I'm going to be useless at any range where the enemy can hit me."

[Harkonna]

Callahan chuckled a little, nodding. "I think my half company might have some spare ferro-fibrous armour slabs in reserve ... We might be able to use the base chunks to reinforce your 'Mech, and get into proper battle-ready condition. Maybe even shave off a little tonnage and add some more by switching out those lower LRM20s with Clan LRM15s. That's the best we'd be able to do with the spare stock we have.

[SaintB]

With a quick check of his watch Bear bellowed above the talking groups, "You have 5 minutes to finish discussing things and then there is a few more orders of business."

He went silent again and watched each of the test lances as they continued their banter and discussions trying to determin their strengths and weaknesses.

[Northern Dominus]

It's sometimes said that Outreach's collective memory is long but it doesn't really care. Clearly whomever mentioned that was either drunk or had their head bounced against a handy wall for saying something stupid regarding either Highlanders or because somebody felt the need at that moment, but the sentiment got through in some capacity.

Still, for Artemus Storm, being back on Outreach was a comforting notion, if for nothing else comforting in the notion that he wasn't slogging it out in forests or across deserts, or being hemmed and hawed at by some pissant quartermaster for using too many SRM's yet again.
Driving his rugged frontier vehicle derived from a Swift Wind across city streets and passing various buildings it started to come back to him, his journey what seemed like a lifetime ago from the Combine to Outreach, and to his eventual new family.

He considered for a moment swinging by the Eridani Lighthorse offices, seeing who was at the desk this time. Doubtless he would have seen a familiar face and been able to catch up, especially in light of the FedCom War and how much it must have ripped the guts out of some of the old salts in 'Horse Command.
However a contract was a contract, and he had signed one with some new outfit called the Gun Special Squadrons. It wasn't the most fluid of names but it certainly wasn't akin to being called a Waco Ranger or Clan anything, and what available data surrounding the new command was available indicated that it might be just the ticket back from small-time garrisons, or at least a chance to go somewhere aside from the endless parade of border worlds that he had been stuck defending since '62.

Eventually he found his way to and parked at the MRBC offices, a location extremely fresh in his mind. As usual the receptionist up front demanded not only two forms of ID but identification numbers as well, but after the usual checking, re-checking, the obligatory wait for a minute while the receptionist went in back to go laugh at the poor fool up front Storm was finally let into the bowels of the building with rudimentary directions as to how to find briefing room 4. Before setting off into the bowels of the office he made damn sure that the safety on his sidearm was not only secure but that the retaining strap was locked down. Most mercs had a sense of honor, but the freaks being dragged up in front of the review boards were another story entirely sometimes.

Duly nodding to semi-familiar faces Storm unfortunately had to brush off a couple of noteworthy acquaintances, the brief had been specific about the time and place which meant failure to arrive was not an option.

Briefing Room 4 was apparently one of the larger ones and was already populated by a myriad of characters ranging from rough looking to androgynous, the typical fare on Outreach. Silently nodding and acknowledging glances from all present it didn't take long for somebody with years of experience in clearly regimented units to identify who exactly was in charge.

Striding over to who could only be Lieutenant Colonel Dave Wilds he respectfully waited for him to finish up talking with another member of the command before giving him a rather easy salute and introducing himself.
"Colonel Wilds, Artemus Storm. Sorry I'm late, damn civilian cargoship takes forever to make a jump let alone land on Outreach. Hopefully you have my confirmed contract as well as the sitrep regarding my Mech, or what's left of it currently anyway."

[Hardened Pyrokinetics]

Callahan chuckled a little, nodding. "I think my half company might have some spare ferro-fibrous armour slabs in reserve ... We might be able to use the base chunks to reinforce your 'Mech, and get into proper battle-ready condition. Maybe even shave off a little tonnage and add some more by switching out those lower LRM20s with Clan LRM15s. That's the best we'd be able to do with the spare stock we have.

"If we have enough, I'll be fine with just the torsos getting covered." James replied. "If we can replace the MG's with ER Medium Lasers, the arms won't be at risk of exploding should someone get a lucky shot at them. If not, well, the ammo is stored entirely inside the arms, so ammo cook-off is less likely to spread to the more volatile missiles, provided I get proper armour there."

[SaintB]

Bear didn't look up from the papers he was reviewing as he shook Ronin's hand, "You're late. But seeing as we are giving second chances today and you came with a letter of recommendation from the Eridani Light Horse - better late than never."

Bear looked up to regard the new Merc and could tell right away he was every bit as war weary and experienced as he himself was, "You're with training lance 6." he said and pointed toward the group of 3 who were conferring in a corner.

There really didn't need to be any other ceremony or discussion between them; they each knew their job and knew the process by now - the two old mercs likely already had an understanding. Hopefully he would respect that though Gun Squad was small and only existed for a few years they had a selection process that rivaled the larger companies.

[Northern Dominus]

Artemus liked his new CO right away. He was an old war horse in the mold of his first commanders with the 'Horse, the kind that would crack open the cockpit and tag yours with their pistol if you did something catastrophically wrong that didn't get somebody killed, but tended to view everyone from the highest brevet general to the greenest of pilots with the same standard of respect based on hard-nosed fighting and grit.

Obviously Artemus' application spoke for itself, so no more words were needed other than
"Roger, on it."

Before turning on his heel and slowly making his way towards the group huddled in the corner almost conspiratorially. The initial factionalism of being assigned to specific lances was already showing, but under fire that would disintegrate quickly, nominally. The alternative was getting turned into a human sausage inside a fission-fueled BBQ, something that he didn't exactly relish.

Finally finding his way over to the lance he pulled up a chair and not so much sat but crashed into it, letting his legs stretch out and allowing his boots to hit the floor with a muted THUNK while one arm went to the backrest.
Giving the other three present a half-wave and a half-hearted bemused smirk courtesy of the long irritating journey he endured he duly introduced himself again.
"Greetings, Artemus Storm. The Lite Colonel assigned me to this lance for training at least, but hopefully we'll stay out of each others firing lines or at least get lucky enough not to ping each other with something really heavy-duty."

[Morning Glory]

"No objections here." Fran turned her head as Bear announced the five-minute deadline, nodding her acknowledgement. "Well, looks like we're about to see what sort of test we're undergoing."

[Harkonna]

"If we have enough, I'll be fine with just the torsos getting covered." James replied. "If we can replace the MG's with ER Medium Lasers, the arms won't be at risk of exploding should someone get a lucky shot at them. If not, well, the ammo is stored entirely inside the arms, so ammo cook-off is less likely to spread to the more volatile missiles, provided I get proper armour there."

"That could certainly work. Bulk up the torsos and legs so you don't get gimped or crippled. That should do it. I'll let Renard, my XO know what to do." She smiles wanly, and looked towards the rest of them. "Now that things have been worked out- more or less, lets also work on working together. We need to have our best interests as a lance at heart, and not let petty squabbles get in the way of victory."

[Hardened Pyrokinetics]

"If we have enough, I'll be fine with just the torsos getting covered." James replied. "If we can replace the MG's with ER Medium Lasers, the arms won't be at risk of exploding should someone get a lucky shot at them. If not, well, the ammo is stored entirely inside the arms, so ammo cook-off is less likely to spread to the more volatile missiles, provided I get proper armour there."

"That could certainly work. Bulk up the torsos and legs so you don't get gimped or crippled. That should do it. I'll let Renard, my XO know what to do." She smiles wanly, and looked towards the rest of them. "Now that things have been worked out- more or less, lets also work on working together. We need to have our best interests as a lance at heart, and not let petty squabbles get in the way of victory."

James went silent, leaning up against the wall again with his arms and ankles crossed, looking down. His fingers started constantly fidgeting, indicating that he was thinking about something that made him uncomfortable.

[Harkonna]

James went silent, leaning up against the wall again with his arms and ankles crossed, looking down. His fingers started constantly fidgeting, indicating that he was thinking about something that made him uncomfortable.

Callahan's gaze worked him over perceptively, stating carefully; "You've been stabbed in the back a lot, huh."

[Hardened Pyrokinetics]

James went silent, leaning up against the wall again with his arms and ankles crossed, looking down. His fingers started constantly fidgeting, indicating that he was thinking about something that made him uncomfortable.

Callahan's gaze worked him over perceptively, stating carefully; "You've been stabbed in the back a lot, huh."

James remained silent for a few seconds. "Three times, to be exact. Two by random losers who couldn't pilot a 'Mech to save their lives. They were easily dealt with." He looked at the scar on his left risk again. "The other one... Not so much."

[Northern Dominus]

Storm had hardly settled into his chair before he started squinting at one of his new lance-mates. The past 5 years had introduced him to a new slew of characters from close to a dozen different companies on even more worlds so for all intensive purposes Storm was being mugged on memory lane at that moment.

However this was a memory mugging that refused to subside. There was something about the greying temples, blue-grey eyes and solid but lean frame that was rattling a thought in the base of his brain and steadfastly refused to let go. Clearly the only way to get it to stop was to query the man.
"Pardon me, hate to be nosy but...have we met, ever? Like in the past 10 years or so."

[JuNii]

With a quick check of his watch Bear bellowed above the talking groups, "You have 5 minutes to finish discussing things and then there is a few more orders of business."

He went silent again and watched each of the test lances as they continued their banter and discussions trying to determin their strengths and weaknesses.

Katrina nodded. "Then let's show the commander that we are worthy of those slots." the lance continued to talk and get to know each other. Four and a half minutes after Bear's announcement, Katrina signaled that they should sit and indicted a group of seats. they sat, waiting for the meeting to continue.

[Arkotania]

After sitting through the removal of two mech-warriors, who didn't sit down, and the arguement from the third mech-warrior who was able to convince the Lt.Colonel that he was pretty damn good and deserved to stay, Brian was glad to stand up and get this thing rolling. The teams were being announced one by one. Brian learned he was in team six with three other guys. He took a step towards a somewhat clear part of the room and looked around for anyone who seemed to also be looking around. "Team six here?" He commented, to get the attention of the other team members. Hopefully the members were not too hard to get along with or this would be a very difficult time.

Basil heard the rallying cry of one of new team mates, and moved his way through the crowded room towards the noise.

Exiting out of the throng he encountered a well trimmed man standing at about the same height as Basil. He moved towards him and extended his hand. "Basil, but most folks call me Verlo. I was the only farmer crazy enough to leave."

Brian shook the man's hand. "Hello Verlo, Names Brian, Brian Arkton. It takes a crazy man to use those heavily armed behemoths." He chuckled. He looked around to see everyone speaking amongst themselves, one group even arguing. "Well, I guess since we're a team, we should discuss how things will work. Unlike that group that's arguing, we'll need to do things calmly. So, any comments on your mind because i can fight solo or team, it matters none".

As Brian waited for a reply, he heard the five minute mark be announced. After they were done discussing, they'd take a seat.

[Harkonna]

James remained silent for a few seconds. "Five times, to be exact. Four in the Arenas, three by random losers who couldn't pilot a 'Mech to save their lives. They were easily dealt with." He looked at the scar on his left risk again. "The other one... Not so much."

Natalie looked quite inscrutable as he talked, looking very attentive, almost piercing as she watched him, almost as if she was reading him. "And that one other time. It was by a skilled opponent. Probably someone you felt close to."

[Gawdzendia]

Brian shook the man's hand. "Hello Verlo, Names Brian, Brian Arkton. It takes a crazy man to use those heavily armed behemoths." He chuckled. He looked around to see everyone speaking amongst themselves, one group even arguing. "Well, I guess since we're a team, we should discuss how things will work. Unlike that group that's arguing, we'll need to do things calmly. So, any comments on your mind because i can fight solo or team, it matters none".

As Brian waited for a reply, he heard the five minute mark be announced. After they were done discussing, they'd take a seat.

"Lance work is what I'm used to, I'll admit." Basil kept glancing around to get a good look of who was with what unit. "Never been in charge of a Lance though, and you look like you're more suited for the role. With the greying hair and all that." Basil put on a smirk and waved his hands comically around in his head, gesturing to his hair.

There were still a few people standing around by themselves, two of them must be his Lance mates.

[Northern Dominus]

Brian shook the man's hand. "Hello Verlo, Names Brian, Brian Arkton. It takes a crazy man to use those heavily armed behemoths." He chuckled. He looked around to see everyone speaking amongst themselves, one group even arguing. "Well, I guess since we're a team, we should discuss how things will work. Unlike that group that's arguing, we'll need to do things calmly. So, any comments on your mind because i can fight solo or team, it matters none".

As Brian waited for a reply, he heard the five minute mark be announced. After they were done discussing, they'd take a seat.

"Lance work is what I'm used to, I'll admit." Basil kept glancing around to get a good look of who was with what unit. "Never been in charge of a Lance though, and you look like you're more suited for the role. With the greying hair and all that." Basil put on a smirk and waved his hands comically around in his head, gesturing to his hair.

There were still a few people standing around by themselves, two of them must be his Lance mates.

Artemus, who had taken a seat opposite of the two mechwarriors chatting about the new assignment and an argument that he had apparently missed by coming in as close to the deadline as he did.
Still, speculation abounded, and it was better make hay and get introductions done now rather than waiting to do it while under fire and strapped to a nuclear walking reactor.
"Eh, soloing is a big gamble under most circumstances, only really works for ultra-deep penetration or thermopylae-style last stands. Fact is since most of us aren't selectively vat-bred like Jamie Wolf, privately instructed by battlemasters like Yorinaga Kurita, or as incredibly lucky as Morgan Kell going up against anything less capable than a platoon of scout cars in a greater than 2-1 ratio is suicidal.
Better to have at least a lance to fall back on when the bolts bullets and missiles start flying than trying to hack it on your own.

Oh and while we're on the subject of names, Artemus Storm, most people shorten it to Artie or whatever they come up with.

As for unit cohesion I lead a Lance once and well..."

He gestured over his shoulder with one thumb widely, his usual half-smirk half-sneer creeping into the corners of his mouth and eyes.

"..long as we don't get into a measuring contest like the ones who were arguing before I showed up, we should be ok. Truth is you really don't get a measure for what a lance can really do till you get everybody in the field and put em under pressure."

Suddenly Artemus was mugged on memory lane. He stopped generally addressing the rest of the lance and focused on the oldest one in the group who's grey-cast eyes and graying temples were responsible for the mugging in the first place.

"Sorry for changing tack so suddenly but your name is Arkton? Have we met before? Like in the past 5 to 7 years maybe? I've signed on with a helluva lot of small commands in that range, FedCom scrap made that pretty easy plus there's always the bandit and pirate issues in the Periphery.

[Hardened Pyrokinetics]

James remained silent for a few seconds. "Five times, to be exact. Four in the Arenas, three by random losers who couldn't pilot a 'Mech to save their lives. They were easily dealt with." He looked at the scar on his left risk again. "The other one... Not so much."

Natalie looked quite inscrutable as he talked, looking very attentive, almost piercing as she watched him, almost as if she was reading him. "And that one other time. It was by a skilled opponent. Probably someone you felt close to."

"... A friend, yes." James responded, distantly. "Betrayed me when I was so close to finally winning a Championship..." He kept rubbing his scar.

[Post War America]

Ivan walked slowly to the rest of his lance. It was a bad day to go on a test. Of course, he wasn't afraid, a little sparring match to prove his worth was nothing compared to war, and he wanted to whip that into those who hadn't served. He turned to the rest of his lance.
"So what do we have, I'm in an awesome".

[Arkotania]

Brian looked at Artemus. "Artemus...You do look familiar but then again i wouldn't be able to place you. I've done lots of small jobs in the past and i tell these small jobs always involved many people. Not to mention that i've seen many youngsters 5-7 years back, most upcoming warriors or those who were quite skilled at what they did."

Brian gave it a thought. Then he decided how odd it was that he was quite old compared to most of the younger warriors around him.

"I don't give a damn about how good you are as long as you can live to brag" Brian commented and chuckled. There had been many other warriors in his past, who bragged about their wonderful skills before they were mowed down. Many of the braggers tended to die first by attempting to back-up their claims. He also learned never to brag from the merc who took him in when he was just a child.

[Northern Dominus]

Brian looked at Artemus. "Artemus...You do look familiar but then again i wouldn't be able to place you. I've done lots of small jobs in the past and i tell these small jobs always involved many people. Not to mention that i've seen many youngsters 5-7 years back, most upcoming warriors or those who were quite skilled at what they did."

Brian gave it a thought. Then he decided how odd it was that he was quite old compared to most of the younger warriors around him.

"I don't give a damn about how good you are as long as you can live to brag" Brian commented and chuckled. There had been many other warriors in his past, who bragged about their wonderful skills before they were mowed down. Many of the braggers tended to die first by attempting to back-up their claims. He also learned never to brag from the merc who took him in when he was just a child.

Ivan walked slowly to the rest of his lance. It was a bad day to go on a test. Of course, he wasn't afraid, a little sparring match to prove his worth was nothing compared to war, and he wanted to whip that into those who hadn't served. He turned to the rest of his lance.
"So what do we have, I'm in an awesome".

Apparently the older man was worrying about some of the younger characters in the room being full of rocket fuel and incendiary ammo.
"Well I've lived through the Falcons, Jaguars, and high queen bitch Katherine Steiner-Davion's goons to name a few, kinda made a habit of survival over the years..."

The memory that was being rattled suddenly jarred loose.
"Waitasec, I remember being in a company with a mechwarrior with the last name Arkton on Elgin 3 years ago, another one of those brushfire fights started by all of the shit kicked up during the FedCom family feud. I could be wrong but the name and the face kinda click..."

Artemus didn't get to elaborate because another merc, this one looking much younger than either he or Brian appeared, querying the rest of the lance about what mechs they would be piloting. Typical fare, but Artemus was nothing if honest, if a little profane.

"Shit if I know, my Bushwacker took a righteous ass-kicking on Tall Trees and booking passage on a civilian ship halfway bankrupted me personally so repairing the damage is out of the question for now. Hopefully they have something serviceable until I can build the creds back up to replace the hip and knee actuator and all the armor that got shot off over a week plus any other little gremlin that didn't make itself known after that mess.

Still, must be nice having a security blanket of 3 PPC's worth of screw you."

[Harkonna]

"... A friend, yes." James responded, distantly. "Betrayed me when I was so close to finally winning a Championship..." He kept rubbing his scar.

The distant, detached way in which he seemed to reference the event seemed to show that he hadn't quite gotten over it. Perhaps it was a former lover of his, or something along those lines. It hardly mattered, the scar was more than just a slash across his hand to him. Callahan nodded slowly, giving him a firm pat on the back before turning back to the rest of the lance. "We don't betray each other here. Competition, sure. But you don't undercut an ally just to get an edge in whatever ego-gauging contests you dream up. That's how people get killed. Now, lets see if we can work out a plan. We've got two light 'mechs, a medium, and a heavy. The lights are close range fighters, the heavy is a support 'mech, and the medium is an all-rounder that can take and dish out some serious hurt at any range. Ideas?"