Mechwarrior: "Days of the Jackal"

"Lucky. Well I did manage to win 50,000 CB and a free trip on a jumpship in a poker game. So I guess I am. But I have talent as well. you'll see that in the simulators."

He looks up. "Assuming we actually get to use them at least. Man this line is taking forever."
 
Last edited:

log in or register to remove this ad

Dark Knights Compound

The "compound" of the Dark Knights, actually nothing more than a glorified villa on the Redbluff Street near the Solaris River (just barely inside Montenegro and close to Cathay), is bristling with activity. Countless people are streaming into and out of the place and scores of people are milling around on the ground floor, a large hall decorated with mementos of the more successfull episodes in the cooperative's past.

Placed along the left and the right wall are a half-dozen simulator pods each; very surprisingly most of them are high quality equipment with two or three in the back of the hall being actual academy-grade.

A giant monitor is set into the rear wall, just above a rather huge set of closed doors. It seems to display repeating pieces of arena vids with various Dark Knight mechs soundly trouncing their opponents.


8-10 members of the Dark Knights, easily identified by the large logo on the clothing (an heavily armored rider on a black horse), are walking around in the hall, answering questions and directing people to the various pods.


The folks present constitute an odd mix. Most of the visitors don't look like mechwarriors at all, in fact many of them seem to be off-world tourists and there is at least one tourist guide leading a group around "to get a look at a typical Solaris 'mech stable". Far in the minority are people in the colourful garb so typical of solaris mech duellists, at least if the shows on SBC are to be believed. Most of them are surrounded by small clusters of "fans" *, listening intently as these guys relate tales of their great victories and minor losses.

Every now and then someone can be seen in the crowd who doesn't comply to the equally gruesome "dress codes" of locals, tourists or fans. Some wear jackets or vests with patches or emblems of mercenary units from throughout the Inner Sphere, others wear stock fatigues/jumpsuits of House armies. Interestingly enough, most of them seem content to listen around and don't brag about their own exploits.



* [ Yuriko: Honor forbids you to comment on the shameful clothing worn by many of the female members of these groups. In fact, you are not entirely sure whether it can be called clothing at all. ]
 
Last edited:

"Yeah, right, I was with the Davion Guards ... "

" ... and then I slammed the barrel of my PPC straight into his cockpit."

" I've been Class 4 Champion for four years straight, babe. Wanna see my trophy collection?"

"I swear it, Candy. Linda heard it from her cousin who has a friend whose boyfriend is one of the security guards ... "

"6 years of tech work, I tell you, 6 years before they even gave me a mech ... "

"I was right there on Mallory's world, and boy, we really kicked some snake
butt ... "

"Really! The real Dark hunter, not one of those ordinary mech jocks ..."

"Two tours on the periphery border! That was I said to the captain ... "

"I could hardly believe my sensors. I had already slammed more than a dozen shots from my AC into his mech and he was still walking around. So I said "What the heck?" and urged my Atlas forward to give him a good kick ..."

"He's soooooo dreamy ..."

"And then I said to the prince "Don't you have a younger sister?" ... "

"You wear a gun into the shower? Well, I don't, so I had choke the commando with my towel ... "

"I've never laughed so much in my life. Till my final days I won't forget the moment when the Kommandant poked the head of his Atlas out of the sewerage and asked for directions ... "
 
Last edited:

Behind McKenzie, Ryan and Yuriko a soft voice suddenly begins to speak:


"A word of advice because you are new to Solaris.

It is generall considered bad form, or even badder attitude, to wear the insignia of a stable into the home of a cooperative. And while you are no member of the Silver Dragons Stable, many people will still think so. Considering that the feelings towards established stables around here are unfriendly at the best, your choice of clothing might result in some unwanted attention."


The owner of the voice, a darkskinned, not very tall man wearing a leather jacket over civilian clothes, nods at Yuriko and begins to make his way towards the back of the hall.
 

Finally one of the Dark Knights makes his way towards Mckenzie, Ryan and Yuriko with a big grin on his face, pushing past some of the tourists.

Though his smile diminishes and his body stiffens for a moment at the sight of Yuriko, he nevertheless walks onwards and greets Mckenzie, pointedly ignoring Ryan and Yuriko:


"Hi! Mac, you said, right?

Believe me, you have come to the best place for the best pilots, Mac. Sure, the established stables like to propagandize their "superiority" but look at the track records. Besides, who wants to be a wage-slave for some merchant with no idea of 'mechs at all, and who keeps raking together the C-bills his fighters earn under the danger of death?

So, Mac, what kind of 'mech do you pilot? Remember, "simulator packages for every mech available"!"
 

"Thank you for your adivice. However I have no intention of respecting some upstart claim on dragon signs."
Yuriko looks down on the oriental dragon wriggling around her side, disgusted by the mere idea that some show-fighters claim that symbol as their own.
Finally she sighs and shakes her head softly. She would tolerate a lot but she would not be forbidden to wear the symbol of house Kurita and the combine in any colour she choose from these honourless wretches.
"There is only one man who can claim the dragon as his own and I highly doupt I will find him here."
Seeing the reaction of the Dark Knigh employee towards Mc makes her happy he treats her less enthusiastic than that, she has no idea how handle such an open behavior from a stranger.
 
Last edited:

Jake shuffles in with the crowd and has a good look at all the simulators. It reminds him of the arcade where he used to blow his allowance back home. Do I really want to be an arena jockey? he asks himself, eyeing the ridiculous posturing, costuming, and politicking going on. Probably not.

He decides to resist the urge to immediately try to get into a simulator, reasoning to himself that the most interesting things to see are probably in the crowd anyway. He watches everyone quietly.
 

Ryan once again simply stared, although the new objects of his attention were far more interesting than some old builidings. No one on his planet ever dressed like that , it was just indecent. But it sure was nice to look at.

Eventually the siren call of the simulators became to strong. He (reluctantly) turned his attention over to them and looked for an empty one, or one with a short line.

He was starting to get nervous though. From what he overheard of the resident pilots they were all extremely good. Several were talking about getting headshots with a ppc at point blank range like it was an everyday occurance, and he'd only managed to do that 3 times. And he certainly couldn't take on two dozen mechs at once, unless they were all light. Still he wasn't a quitter, he would become a mechwarrior whatever it took.

OOC: can you say naive :) . He actually believes all those tall tales. Hope you don't mind the bragging in the last paragraph but I figured with his gunnery and extra edges he would succeed at those at least a couple times over his last few years in the sims.
 

McKenzie nods her head at the question, Mac, was indeed what she wanted him to call her. She ignores the slight to Ryan and Yuriko, she really wasn't here to socialize, and people she would probably never see again, shrug. She smiles at the Dark Knight Sales pitch, the guy was obviously interested in her, and since she hadn't given a service history, or even disclosed a mech, what else could it be? She wondered what his pitch would be if he knew that she was a Steiner.

"I'm fairly certain that you wont have it, its a newer model, it hasn't even hit the regular LCAF yet, Its a WLF-1 Wolfhound. I am also a fully qualified Marauder pilot, if you don't have a Wolfhound in your banks, I'll pilot a MAD-3D." she tells the Dark Knight.
 
Last edited:

Having finally made it into the inside of the Dark Knight villa Alex notices the Academy class simulators. He wanders over and inspects them to see if they really are top of the line or last years model.
 

Remove ads

Top