Mech Warrior Log - Brody.J - The path of true luck never runs smooth

The Market

It is amazing how lucky you can be on a place like Astrokaszy... Some people like that shit vanZant could fall in camel dung and come up smelling like a rose garden, Sadly for me and the rest of the misfits I run with shit smells just like shit, and we always seem to be neck deep in it no matter what we do... Might well have something to do with the fact that Jakari is a psycho of the highest order! But, I am getting ahead of myself...

The trip across the desert was easy enough, pleasant...if you like endless sand dunes punctuated by the occasional burned out technical and bleached corpse, Astrokaszy seems to cultivate them like weeds.

Thornton, recovered from his wounds, waited a few clicks back from the village site and Jakari and I headed in. I'd been told that the place they finished Shirinov and Conrad was little more than a small collection of ramshackle huts and what we saw when we got there was something else. Now it was the site of a large and colourful market. The headless 'Mech festooned with brightly coloured flags and bunting that stretched from it to the now much larger collection of dwellings, many of which were tents and all filled with smiling faces eager for the festivities to commence.

Even more surprising than the fact that a small tented town had appeared and the huge population explosion and all of the shit and foodstuff that goes with that in a place like this but the fact that four 'Mechs stood at the cardinal points around the damaged Warhammer, all painted individually... A desert cammo Shadowhawk, a light green painted Vidicator, A black Thunderbolt and a dull gold Orion. My Scans told me that although the 'Mechs were powered up there was no activity in offensive or defensive systems... Pilot free!

As we approached a large group of horsemen broke off from the market and raced towards us and with my advanced targeting system it picked out 19 riders, all heavily armed with automatic weapons and light armour piercing rockets. Rather than seeming aggressive though they just wanted to close the distance between us at pace. as the lead rider got within 30 metres of Jakari and I he shouted in excellent English Welcoming us to the bazaar of his mater, Sheik Umar Yar Adua, and promising us safe conduct so long as we respected the neutrality of the bazaar under his master's generous protection.

Of course this is where my luck took a turn for the usual. After dismounting from our 'Mechs Jakari and I were lead into the centre of a makeshift arena Where the crowd of armed men are watching the bidding on the damaged 'Mech. Jakari informed the auctioneer that the 'Mech belongs to the Blackshields to which the bearded man replied with a smile that it now belonged to the Darod clan. Jakari prceeded to then insult the guy who spoke English and then punched him knocking him from his feet. Knowing things were going to get ugly as the crowd surged around Jakari I called Thornton in from his overwatch position, hoping he would arrive in time.

Knowing I needed to calm things down I called out to the crowd appealing for calm and you know what? it worked... briefly! Jakari drew his fucking vibroblade and almost cut the bearded guy's leg off with it. Fuck it! The guy is a nut and these dudes had numbers on their side. I made a break for the horses and headed for the Black Knight.

Thank fuck I left the thing powered up! My PPC made short work of the Thunderbolt pilot as he reached the thing but I couldn't tag any of the others before they could get their 'Mechs running. Jakari stayed around duking it out with armed guards before realising that he would stand a much higher chance of surviving in his 'Mech too.

Mech Warrior Log - Brody.J - A cooling off period

Med Bay

Thornton was being treated for the wounds he had suffered on their Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol, that raised more than a few eyebrows on its own but along with some questions about why the two of them went off in a single 'Mech... Questions that increased in heat and volume when nothing further was heard from Shirinov and Conrad. When she could put it off no longer Ferguson came calling.

She was understandably concerned that the Blackshields were looking at a potential loss of three pilots with the death of Rebollar and Shirinov and Conrad M.I.A. She called on Thornton, Jakari and I all separately... Of course I had the ace in the hole as I had been on base all the while they were away but guilt has a way of spreading out a bit like a kid's first colouring book... boundaries are guidelines rather than actual boundaries.

I am not sure exactly what Jakari said to Ferguson but after she had spoken to him, and given the fact that she had no real evidence to back up her suspicions and after reading Hausa's After Action Report and seeing that he was the catalyst behind all of the Blackshields current woes she calmed the fuck down and just asked if Conrad and Shirinov were going to bring any more of their shit to our door. Jakari's response was almost philosophical... who would have thought he had it in him? he told her that the worst regret you can have in life is not for the things that you have done which are wrong but rather for the things that perhaps you should have done but didn't.

Thornton's response was more considered but along the same lines. He told Branka that he was tired of being ill used in other people's power games and suggested that Rosalina should be returned home along with the evidence that those responsible had been given the ultimate punishment. He also suggested that Jakari and I should go out and attempt to recover the Warhammer and find out what evidence, if any, could be found about Shirinov and Conrad's whereabouts.

I too had a meeting with the Colonel and told her that I had raised my objections several times about the deviations from our intended mission and about how mysteriously Hausa's illness had come and gone. I told her that I suspected Shirinov of being more than just a run of the mill MechWarrior and that I suspected him of being an agent for some other power, the Marian Hegemony perhaps? That I'd spent a lot more time with Kaja and Rosilina and our Canopian pilot shared her wish that Rosilina should be returned home but that our other, perhaps less aware brethren could only see just how many c-bills she might be worth in ransom I agreed with Kaja's assessment... Sending Rosalina back was the right thing to do.

Branka basically agreed that we needed to find a way to get Rosalina back to Thraxa with a minimum of fuss and as much of an apology as we could manage. She also suggested that we could buy some goodwill by trying to find out just who it was that has been raiding their planets and have a crack at them... you never know it might work? She also agreed with Thornton... We should go and see if we could find out just what had happened to our missing comrades...

Mech Warrior Log - Brody.J - Day trippers, Sunday driving yeah!

Shirinov's Warhammer

 

So, things have moved on again... Things got a little heated once we'd returned to Astrokaszy... We wre brought up in front of Ferguson and grilled on the part we played in Shirinov's little escapade. I trust that man about as far as I could throw him! he definitely has his own agenda and is not adverse to using the Blackshields to get exactly what he wants. After speaking to Ferguson we made it clear that the whole situation with the raid seemed to be a pretext for busting Conrad out of jail and capturing and ransoming Lady Rosilina Trussel back to her mother... All at the expense of the Blackshields and their repuatation. For some reason Ferguson and Hausa seemed unprepared or unable to censor Shirinov and were even contemplating giving Conrad Rebollar's 'Mech! I can't work Branka out... what is going on with her?

Within the first week Kaja had taken Trussel into her protection, Lady Rosilina had soon come to realise that she had been played for a fool and that her predicament was precarious to say the least. I arranged for a dinner one evening and She and I discussed her situation, I warned her to stay as far away from Conrad and Shirinov as she could and told her that I would do all that I could to get her safely back to her home with a minimum of fuss.

Using my dubious talents I managed to find out what had happened with Kaja and how she had ended up here with the Blackshields, I told her that I would try to help her find and punish the warlord that took everything from her.

Not long after returning Shirinov managed to convince Ferguson that he should travel to Shervanis City and could deliver the terms for Lady Trussel's release to the Duchess of Thraxa using the HPG station there. He and Conrad set off in his Warhammer much to the dismay of the lady herself, Kaja and the three of us.

What happened next I can only relay as it was relayed to me by Jakari after the fact. He and Thornton headed out in his 'Mech to intercept our two comrades as they made their way across the desert towards Shervanis City. With his extra speed Jakari's Guilotine soon outpaced the Warhammer and they stopped just outside of some backwater flea-bitten town by an oasis and after checking out all likely routes to the local dive bar and flop house, set up an ambush.

Shirinov and Conrad didn't know what had hit them, Thornton blazed away with the laser he has in that mechanical arm of his and Jakari dived in with his vibroblade... I swear, he is far too attached to that damn thing... I wish I'd never aquired it for him! Sadly things didn't go quite as well as they'd hoped and the fight became protracted and Thornton was wounded but both men soon lay dead in the dust. Jakari being Jakari cut off their heads and fried the cockpit of the warhammer, mounting the two heads on its shoulders...

Mech Warrior Log - Brody.J - Things that go bump in the night

Rebollar's Quarters

It is amazing how something can from being a bad situation to being a worse one in just the matter of a few hours. It was bad enough that we had kidnapped a member of the Canopian nobility but then busting some guy out of jail and murdering innocent kids... that is going a step too far, even for the likes of Jakari, Thornton and I.

Back aboard the King Goblin Thornton started to repair the 'Mechs, ours and Shirinov and Rebollar's. It was only then that we learned what had happened at the school and why. Now perhaps we made a mistake... not bringing the information to Hausa straight away but let's face it... what would he have done? Slapped Rebollar and Shirinov's legs and told them they were naughty boys... demoted them? Who knows... all that I do know is that at the time he didn't know which end to hang over the head!

Jakari took it badly... for a pirate he has a really strong protective sense towards kids... While we were resting up in our bunks Jakari took it upon himself to get a little payback for the kids of New Iona. He made his was to Rebollar's quarters, broke in and attacked him with his vibroblade! The fight was bloody and short and Rebollar soon lay dead on the floor of his cabin.

Jakari being Jakari couldn't leave it there... he headed to Pyle's cabin and threw Rebollar's severed head at him warning him to keep away from kids... any of them... unless he wanted the same to happen to him before returning back to his own cabin as if nothing had happened.

Pyle shit himself! but more than that he hit the comm and soon the three of us were being rounded up and brought before Hausa and Hull, neither of whom were overly impressed at Jakari's moment of madness... he is one guy you really don't want to get on the bad side of that much I do know.

Hull was all for spacing Jakari...or at least locking him in the brig but was confined to quarters instead. The journey back was... tense... to say the least.