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.