The 213th Squadron, Beware the Sleepers

UNIT HISTORY
General locator for missions in 3027:
 General locator for missions in 3028:

Mid to Late 3027

August

The 213th began as a political maneuver by a few well-placed bureaucrats within the Sarna Commonality. Wishing to "clean up the ranks" from foreign influences and thinking, they instructed their pocket-officers to begin transferring troublemakers and other wary types into their own distinct units. One such unit of "western-thinkers" was cobbled together on the regional capital of Sarna itself. Given the designation number 213 and assigned to the 2nd Sarna Reserves, they had the rare asset of having a high ratio of Noble blood. While putting so many highly influential people together may not have been the best strategy by the local High Command, it did have the effect of keeping them all together in one place--making the Maskirovka's surveillance job that much easier.

2nd Sarna Reserves

The members first met in August of 3027 and were immediately plagued with problems. One of their lance had not arrived yet, and the bulk of the 2nd Sarna left system without them. Luckily, they were still on-planet when a Davion raid landed to secure valuable and highly secret computer disks containing Liao troop placements scattered throughout the Confederation. While repulsing the two-pronged raid, and eventually stopping the last fleeing dropship, a good portion of the data was still squirted to the invading jumpship--which returned to the Capellan March unmolested. Having done the best they could with almost no support from the local authorities, the 213th's umbrella commander (Lord Mikael Zhang of the 5th Squadron) promised to investigate the matter fully. Lord Molarri is claiming no wrong doing on his part.

Just as the remaining aerofighters were returning, the GroPos (ground pounders) of the 213th were preparing to leave for their next mission from Molarri. During this time, Recruit Cal Ratchet activated an MG-Diagnostics program that he had received from a contact of his. The program, when activated, caused his 'mech to begin a song and dance routine--during which it transmitted sensitive data through a ComStar priority message. Cal was interrogated by the Maskirovka, but no further charges were brought against him. Cal was released by his CO, Sir Rook, and was wheeled to the Speed Demon on life-support to begin the mission. Their destination was the planet Foot Fall on he Federated Suns' border. The mission was to oust a light merc company that had recently switched contracts to the Taurian Concordant, but had refused to leave Capellan space. Known as The Swarm, their belief was that enough light 'mechs could take down even the toughest defenders--an idea that had yet to gain much popularity after the Free World League's General Ravanion's similar tactics failed utterly during the 3rd Succession War.

September

Upon arriving to the hired jumpship Minnow's Wake, the officers were allowed a tour of the ship prior to jump. Onboard they met Mr. William Morden of the New Earth Trading Company. He had arrived on a KR-61 long range shuttle from Sarna, and was seen by Cal speaking to Lord Riever Molarri just before the Speed Demon left for the mission. Morden had one question to ask anyone of importance that he ran into: "What do you want?" One of the 213th's techs had overheard Lord Molarri's most interesting response to that question back on Sarna:

Mr. Morden

 Morden: "What do you want?"
 Lord Molarri: "I want my people to reclaim their rightful place in the
   galaxy. I want to see the Capellans stretch forth their hand again
   and command the stars! I want a rebirth of glory, a renaissance of
   power. I want to stop running through my life, like a man late for
   an appointment afraid to look back or to look forward. I want us
   to be what we used to be! I want ... I want it all back, the way
   that it was. Does that answer your question?"

While both he and the question were rather strange, he did get quite a few solid answers from the crew of the 213th. After a short buffet onboard the Minnow's Wake, Mr. Morden handed out NETC business cards and the crew returned to the dropship for the nauseating jump. Arriving in-system, they saw the ruins of an ancient 2nd Succession War space fortress before beginning the six day burn to Foot Fall.

Just as they settled into orbit for landing at Oberth, the Speed Demon was rocked by a violent impact with a Davion MIRV satellite. The bridge was holed and the ship began a dead-stick entry. The 213th scrambled the fighters and all 'mechs made an emergency egress with all the crew they could carry. The dropship, under partial control, crash landed in a sand-filled basin. The remaining pilot was barely alive and the 'mechs were a little worse for wear. They were alive however. The 213th were then able to deal with the problems of the loss of supplies, the crashed ship, the local lifeforms, and a possible confrontation with rebellious members of the Oberth Deltas tank brigade. Things got even more interesting on the second day, as detailed in Maggie's log.

While scavenging much-needed supplies from the crashed Vulture dropship, the 213th successfully made contact with the crews of two surviving Harper Heavy Tanks from the Oberth Deltas militia. They were on the run from the local planetary diem, Lord Dhong Kalasov, whom had claimed personal control of the planet away from House Liao. Kalasov had provided "proof" that one of the four tank crews were illegally stockpiling supplies. He pitted his loyalist 'mech lance against the tankers--outside of their vehicles. With little chance against 'mechs, the crews fled to their tanks, hoping to make an escape. After a short and bitter battle, one functional Harper fell into the hands of the loyalists, while the other three headed south towards the ComStar facility. They had skirmished with The Swarm, now hired by Kalasov, and had lost a tank. Beaten and weary, they begged the equally battered 213th for help.

Rook decided to send one Harper with aero-support down to ComStar to call for reinforcements from the 5th Squadron, which was one jump away on a raid into Davion space. They were also supposed to call Mr. Morden to stake claims on the recovered dropship outside of official Liao lines. Meanwhile, he posted the last Harper with Cleatus' smashed 'mech to guard the Speed Demon as he took the remainders of the unit to go talk to the Swarm. Cal, Rook, Maggie and Madden (in a recovered Centurion from the Vulture) engaged and annihilated an innocent group of hover-vehicle equipped gypsies, learning the value of communications. Continuing on, they encountered The Swarm outside the ruins of the former-capitol Acklet. They were literally swarmed by a full company of Locusts with conventional fighter air-support. The 213th were successful in disabling most of their opposition before calling for a Ares-convention surrender. The Swarm capitulated once their leader's 'mech was downed, agreeing to leave planet as soon as their jumpship arrived in-system. They rested together for the night before Rook headed the team north to take on Kalasov.

As the body of the 213th rested the night, the southern group made it to the ComStar facility on Foot Fall's equator just as it was coming under attack by Mechaspiders. Sir Tanager ordered his aerofighters into an attack run as the Harper drove at them from the ground. The strafing runs managed to wipe out the spiders, as well as the VLA communications field they were standing in. Upon landing, the entire group were arrested for attacking ComStar property and shutting down planetary communications. While they later got out of it and contact the 5th Squadron with the help of William Morden, this part of the 213th were mostly out of action for the remainder of the mission.

Just before dawn, Madden picked up a communication through an ancient comsat that her 'mech had access to. It was a faint call for help from a Liao operative trapped in Oberth. He had resorted to the broadband comsat after losing his connection to ComStar earlier that day. He identified himself as "Epsilon" and assisted the 213th with tactical information from the capitol city--including troop placements. The squadron made best speed towards the city, encountering a valley full of hundreds of barely-functional oil pump-jacks. In the midst of this metal forest was a tanker crew fueling from a small distillation rig. They fired on the 213th's 'mechs when they got in range with a small LRM launcher. A quick fight proceeded, resulting on setting most of the valley ablaze. Epsilon warned them that both of the cities' Pyrospont conventional fighters had scrambled. Rook sent Maggie to intercept them as the 'mechs entered among the small ferrocrete-domes of the desert city. The fight started almost immediately when the captured Harper opened up with an AC/20 to Rook's left arm, nearly severing it off. The 213th blasted the fuel tank of the vehicle and engaged an internal combustion powered Atlas, The Fuel-Injected Terror, under bombarding LRM fire from Epsilon's similarly-captured LBW-1L Longbow. A beautifully aimed shot from Rook's large laser to the cockpit of the Atlas and a triple team on the 30 ton Locust variant resulted in a quick victory when the Longbow retreated south. The city guard surrendered peacefully, handing over Lord Kalasov under a defaced statue of Maximillian Liao.

As Maggie began repairs on the 'mechs and her own nearly-crippled aerofighter, the team met Epsilon. His name was Arthur Heathrowe, an agent for the Maskirovka. The team was immediately suspicious, despite the offered documentation, but took him on nevertheless. Arthur later confronted Cal with his true history, revealing that he was a Senior at West-Point when Cal had been kicked off Terra. Secure that Arthur was a ComStar spy, he warned Rook as best he could without giving away any ComStar secrets. Communications were re-established with the ComStar facility later that day when one of Kalasov's own agents called in with an urgent message. He reported that two Davion mercenary companies had jumped into a pirate point yesterday and were beginning a 2g burn to the planet. They were expected to arrive by tomorrow evening. Rook decided that the best chance his team had was to hide out and wait for the 5th to show up. He headed the team, with a captured coolant-truck, northeast into the foothills of the closest mountain range.

Eridani Light Horse

The Davion's were in fact a Steiner merc unit traveling with elements of the 3rd Regimental Combat Team (The Eridani Light Horse). They came down in two Union-class dropships, landing one at the Speed Demon and the other in the forested area northeast of Oberth--exactly where the 213th were also headed for cover! Cletus et all surrendered the ship and were taken prisoner by the second company of the Decker's Derelicts, viewed by Rook and team through a camera uplink to Madden's comsat.Decker's Derelicts The dropship relocated to Oberth as its recon teams headed to Acklet. The 213th huddled in dismay as they took apart the Longbow after its desperate pilot panicked and let fly an LRM strike to their recon LAM. The squadron then switched data feeds to cameras that Arthur had placed on the communications tower in Oberth. As they watched the planetary surrender, to their amazement the brunette commander of the Steiner mercs refused the planet--instead presenting a datapad with a picture of Cal's Battlemaster on it. The cameras were discovered shortly afterwards, but it was clear what the Mercs were here for. Cal correctly deduced that they had received the message and mission data that his 'mech had sent through ComStar while they were on Sarna. That evening Cal did a thorough search of his Battlemaster, discovering what appeared to be an encrypted transmitting system attached to the communications array in the center torso. It bore the inscription "Castle Brian Alamo, New Earth", to which Cal added a sticky-note stating "Garage-door opener." He kept this discovery to himself for the time being.

After hiding in caves for the night, the coolant truck was flushed from its forested location by a lance of medium tanks headed towards Oberth from the second landing site. It made a break across the desert with Alpha Lance in pursuit. the tanks called for air-support, and Rook reluctantly ordered Maggie and her damaged SA-43 up against the Steiner's 3:1 odds. She launched, leading them off to the south as the 213th came to the rescue of the coolant truck, barely defeating the lance of BKS-1P Backstep tanks in their dilapidated condition. As the 'mechs of the invaders were closing in, Cal offered a solution: give the mercs the coolant truck and his Battlemaster in exchange for a safe retreat off-planet. Rook agreed and called Maggie back in. The squadron marched back to Oberth, surrendering Ares-style to the Derelicts before returning the captured tank crews. The mercs accepted the surrender, but made it clear that they would be the ones that were leaving. They looted the cities' supply barns of parts and bought Cal's 'mech (and the Castle Brian key it contained) for a cool ten million c-bills. Their commander, Irca Larken, gave Cal her old Solaris dog tags as a gift before entering her dropship. She thanked him for treating her tank crews with respect in the traditions of the Star League, saying that the tags would get him and the team safely to New Earth if he ever wished to leave the Capellan Confederation. With that, the invaders left the planet in the hands of the 213th. When the 5th Squadron landed one week later they were greeted with cheers of the locals and stories of how the tiny squadron drove off the Davion scum.

October

Rook managed to contact Morden and sign the salvage papers. He sold the Vulture dropship to the NETC to keep it out of the hands of Molarri. The then used a good portion of the cash to buy the crippled Speed Demon, which was being sold on the open market. The NETC were to repair it and leave the ship mothballed in a parking orbit around Sarna until Rook could get to it. The team then boarded the 5th Squadron's Union-class dropship, The Grand Revolution, and began the burn towards their next mission.

Onboard ship the team took a collective sigh of relief. Everyone took the chance to rest, repair, and catch up on e-mail. Cal got a letter off to Shauna, Maggie wrote to her mother from the medical bay, and Rook received a few letters from Molarri and Zhang congratulating him on the successful mission. On board he saw Nikol Tatyana, the Oberth mechwarrior that had piloted the Longbow against both the 213th and the Davion mercenaries, being led to the brig under guard. She recognized his unit patch, giving Rook a respectful nod 5th Squadron, 2nd Sarna Reserves, Capellan Confederation's Armed Forces as she passed him. The crew spent some time with the members of the 5th Squadron, mostly getting friendly but grudgingly respectful jabs for being such a green unit. Upon docking with the Merchant-class jumpship "Lost Luggage", the team raced to Cargo Bay 3 for a meeting with Mikael Zhang, commander of the 5th Squadron of the 2nd Sarna Reserves. Zhang read them a ComStar message from the Court of the Capellan Confederation. His Celestial Wisdom, Chancellor Maximillian Liao, had personally congratulated them in a three page rambling speech on the success at Foot Fall. When the reading was done, Lord Zhang officially gave the surviving members of the 213th promotions, as well as stating that Rook could choose his own XO for the rank of Lance Sergeant. Some negotiation was done with Zhang that transferred Sir Tanager and Cletus to the 5th but allowed Maggie to stay with the 213th. The one condition was that Nikol Tatyana was to be stripped of rank and added to the team for penal duty, to which Matt agreed. Zhang informed them that he would be loaning the unit two 'mechs for the next mission, a small 40 ton Clint and the Liao version of the SLDF's Orion.

When asked about the mission Zhang told them that after the success at Foot Fall the Capellan high command wanted to continue to use the 213th as a strike team. They would transfer to a captured Davion Mule-class cargo dropship with an inducted Capellan merchant crew and jump with the Lost Luggage to Valexa, a Federated Suns mining colony 20 light-years into Davion space. While rather shocked at the mission, they soon realized that they were to uncover the location, and retrieve if possible, the stolen data-disks that were taken from Sarna earlier that year. Rook accepted the mission, as if he had a choice, and the team loaded up to the Mule when it jumped into system on the back of a 2nd Sarnan scout-class jumpship. The team repainted and stored their 'mechs behind false bulkheads in the cargo bay, to which they were promptly locked in by the somewhat paranoid merchant crew--who were not feeling happy about being pressed into military service. The team grabbed a hold of the walls and cargo nets as the jump initiated, flinging them billions of kilometers behind enemy lines. What was not seen by the rest of the crew was how tightly Maggie held on to Matt during the jump, as most of them were busy trying not to collapse from nausea.

The Mule disengaged from the Lost Luggage and began the uneventful eight day burn to Valexa. During this time Maggie set about repairing her fighter with avionics "borrowed" from the dropship, Shain was discovering the beginnings of unexpected morning-sickness, while Rook and Cal attempted to determine the loyalty of Nikol. It was eventually determined that she was fiercely loyal to her commander once they had proven themselves to her--no matter who they were. She already respected Rook from their battle at Oberth and easily made the transition to under his command, even going so far as to place the 213th patch above her native Oberth Deltas patch. Satisfied, Rook prepared the newly-reformed 213th Squadron for the landing, only to discover with horror that only Cal spoke the native Davion English--with a Terran accent no less! They decided to let Cal do most of the talking and instructed the crew to perform a standard merchant landing at the main city. Upon approach to Valexa the Mule was intercepted by two local Sparrowhawk aerofighters. The captain ordered Maggie to fly out and greet them, standard procedure for cross-border trading. The team had to evacuate the cargo bay so that Maggie could open the doors to space and launch. They broke into a small lounge with view ports and monitors, sealing the door behind them as Maggie entered the void and thrust past the windows to meet the Davion militia fighters ahead of the Mule.

The approach to Valexa was quiet and the crew got a good view of the planet on their way in. Valexa was about 3/4 the size of Terran-standard, with a very thin atmosphere--much to close to open space to exit the ship or domes of the colony with anything short of a light vac-suit. The surface was mostly brown basalt-rock intermixed with deep dusty gray fissures across the entire surface. They crossed over an abandoned Star League base on the nuclear-blasted ice cap of the northern pole before settling down near the equator at a large colony built mostly into the sides on a large canyon. They saw sand-blasted pressure domes at the rim of the massive fissure and what looked like tiny meg-lev mining trains running deep in the canyon, the workers in multi-corporate mining vac suits making their way to and from the trains on rickety walkways and ladders from hundreds of airlocks set like shotgun pellets on the cliff-face. Upon landing the pad was retracted, pulling the ship under the surface and closing it's exit route with large bulkheads. The rusty bay was pressurized and an armed survey team came out to search the ship.

The 213th finally met the crew of the Mule as they assembled in the main cargo-bay. The survey team did a cursory search, pocketing a few useful items and asking a few questions, to which the team mostly responded with "Wassappening!", "Yo right!", and "Justin Xiang sucks!". None of the unit's mostly-Russian members particularly looked Capellan, in addition to the searcher's inability to properly operate the scanner when searching the bulkheads and a couple of well placed bribes easily allowed the team to slide by the inspection without a problem. They were now free to roam the planet and search for the stolen disks. Entering the stale air of the tunneled colony complex they experienced immediate culture shock. The population of the mining colony, while ragged and weary, were nevertheless vibrant. The openness of their talking, the general bawdy happiness, and the complete freedom displayed by even the lowliest vac-suit clad digger nearly overwhelmed the Capellan infiltrators. They ducked down a darkened tunnel to find the familiar sight of a seedy Mechwarrior bar. Above the niche in the rock-face that served as the entrance to the establishment read a long-broken neon sign reading "The Pitt". They entered, seeing that the place was built into a natural cavern area: the small chambers providing rooms with seats carved from the walls, tables formed from armor slabs propped up on rubble piles, and chopped-off stalagmites serving as tables for the barred-in dancers. The group made their way to the small bar on the far side of the cavern near a rear air-lock exit to the cliff-face outside. The group ordered drinks and tried to not get noticed while Cal covered their many mistakes, including the patron's many attempts to get the attractive Shain Madden to dance for them. Arthur was then sent to try to infiltrate the air traffic control area and get the door codes to the bay that their Mule was parked in, which he radioed to them about two hours later.

A short while later a small man in what used to be a Hegemony-made Armani spacesuit entered the bar with a large bodyguard. The nervous little man barged past Rook, inciting the response "That little bitch just shoved me!" as Matt tumbled into a couple of locals. The miners were a little suspicious of the Neo-Russian statement, but understood the meaning. Rook turned to talk to the man when his bodyguard, dubbed Butch, interjected with a glare. Rook wisely decided to not start anything as Cal apologized to everyone in the area. The Bitch sat down in a cavern near two local aerojocks, reminding Rook to call Maggie. She was in the main mall/promenade area of the complex after landing her fighter near the Mule and was given directions to The Pitt. Cal had struck up a conversation with the bartender, a former Davion Mechwarrior that immediately recognized him as Terran--going so far as to mix him a softly glowing drink called the G2V for the homesick Ratchet. At that point two more men walked in, one was smaller and deftly wove the maze of people and protrusions in the bar. "Flyboy," said the barkeep. The second was a large man, making Butch look a little small. He sported two double-barreled laser-pistols on his hips attached to a SLDF power backpack as well as a silver ablative vest with crossed Six-shooters sewn into the breast under his well-worn leather jacket. As he walked over to where the aerojock had sat down the barkeep tagged him as a Mechwarrior. Cal asked how he knew: the way they moved gave it away like a beacon. Cal wondered what clues he was giving off as Maggie sauntered in the door, again walking with the 3D spatial awareness of an aero-pilot. The team noticed that Six-shooter had sat down across from Butch and was talking to the Bitch. A few quick deductions and bribes to the attentive barkeep led them to discover that the Bitch was Davion, from the Capellan March. Six-shooter was a member of the 87th Davion Royal Guards, the very unit that had taken the disks off of Sarna! 87th Royal The team couldn't believe their luck, but were a bit confused as to what was happening. Cal remembered his political training at West Point, stating that Michael Hasek-Davion, ruler of Davion's Capellan March, was not particularly loyal to Hanse Davion. Michael could be trying to buy the disks for his own purposes away from similarly disloyal members of the Royal 87th. Not knowing what they were up to, the 213th decided to follow the Bitch and Six-shooter until they could learn where the disks were.

The plan went well until Butch and the Bitch left through the airlock and Six-shooter disappeared down one of the smaller tunnels. The team decided that they needed local help. After again bribing the barkeep at The Pitt for information on the shady operations in the colony he sold Cal a special drink, the last swallow containing an electronic business card for a man called Diggs at the Sunnyside-Up Cafe'. Thinking that as a strange name for the shady side of town they went there and asked for Diggs. Seated in the greasy-spoon establishment, they were approached by the large black cook--who's nametag read 'Diggs'. They talked for a bit before he took them in back, telling the head waitress that these were the dishwashers he was waiting for. They entered and locked the secure storage area and talked. For the right prices Diggs revealed that The Bitch was staying at the colony Hilton in the tourist sector, that there were 4 new 'mech on planet hiding in the mines somewhere, and that for Cal that he could certainly arrange for Arthur to fall down a very deep hole. Payments were made and they hired the head waitress Noel as a translator--they were going to meet with Six-shooter and buy the disks themselves.

Upon returning to The Pitt they saw Butch guarding the airlock. Sending Noel to check she saw the deal being done. Panicked, they almost tried to take out Butch and cycle the airlock before Maggie realized that they still didn't know where the disks were. The Bitch came out, again shoving Rook, and headed to the tourist sector with Cal in pursuit. Six-shooter left out of the airlock and they saw him getting into a meg-lev train for the mines. Rook sent a message to Zhang from the ComStar terminal in the promenade as Cal fast-talked his way into the lobby of the Hilton by saying that he was mugged. The Terran accent paid off and they let him in just in time to see Butch and The Bitch head down the elevator to the shuttle bay built into the cliffs below the hotel. He raced back to Rook with the news and the crew headed to the Mule--leaving Arthur the suspected spy to his own unfortunate fate.

Guessing that the trade was to be done in the mines, they launched directly out of the bay and set a sub-orbital course to follow The Bitch's KR-61 transport craft. The Bitch landed his muted-yellow diplomatically painted shuttle inside the mine and hooked up to an airlock in front of the large pressure doors. By the time the cumbersome Mule was finally landing he had already called for local fighter support. As the two Sparrowhawks closed in, Maggie blasted out from the Mule to intercept them. The captain on the Mule landed the ship at the mine entrance, blocking the entire cavern and trapping the KR-61. The 213th opened the cargo bay door and dropped onto the .7g surface. Cal took an IR reading of the KR-61 and, seeing three signatures still inside, blasted the airlock open with a large laser. The ship's cockpit crew closed the inner doors, but not before their passenger was sucked out and impaled upon the ragged remains of the airlock. Cal noted with satisfaction that the unfortunate victim was none other than Butch. Figuring that The Bitch was already inside, the 213th crammed all four 'mechs into the massive mining airlock and began its cycle. As they stepped into the mine's stripped ore-cracking station at the entrance to the caverns they detected the EMP waves of four 'mech power-ups before the signals were lost amidst the heat plumes and magnetic deposits of the mines. The Sleepers braced themselves for their biggest challenge yet.

Rook: 213th, your order is to put them to sleep, their eternal sleep. Attack.
Cal: Do I get to tuck them in? No Dinner, No Glass of Water and NO BEDTIME STORY! Now go brush your teeth.
Maggie: *groan* Someone remind me to smack Ratchet after the fight.

Once through the main airlock, the members of the 213th found themselves in a large ore-processing station at the enterance of mines. The atmosphere was stable at terran-standard and some of the equipment still seemed to be functioning. The group quickly ascertained that they could rewire some of the equipment and remote-activate three of the existing explosive charges still in the horizontally-drilled shaft. Bringing up a simple map of the layout, the Sleepers threw together a simple plan and cautiously entered the first chamber of the mine. While the Heavy Guard drew first blood on Madden with a PPC ambush from a Panther, the 213th quickly overwealmed the small 'mech. Realizing too late that this was simply bait, the unit was caught in a crossfire between an Archer modified to carry two AC/20s and a deftly-piloted Rifleman bearing double PPCs. The Shotgun Archer was slow, but still ate into the rear 'mechs. The Rifleman, labled Twin-Gun Slim ripped apart the lead elements--quickly disabling Rook's Grasshopper. The fight went badly for the 213th before their superior numbers were able to take down the Shotgun Archer and chase Six-shooter in the Twin-Gun Slim into some of the explosive charges. The pilot was able to eject deeper into the mine before the tunnel collapsed on his 'mech, but since there was no way to know if Six-gun survived the ejection the slagged remains of the 213th simply regrouped in the main chamber with only Cal's borrowed Orion-L still functional. Nevertheless, things were looking up. During the fight Cal and Madden had noticed that part of a false wall had given way. Investigating further, they discovered a Davion supply cache left over from the First Succession War. Complete with two ancient 'mechs (Assassin/Champion) and spare parts for each, the 213th loaded their find into the Mule dropship to make their escape. When they arrived back outside they saw the KR-61 bring lifted into the main cargo bay. The pilot, Sir Gregory Hasek, had surrendered and was requesting asylum. The team was wary until he offered The Bitch's corpse, a briefcase full of cash and the melted data disks as a token of his respect. Grabbing him along with them, the Mule lifted off and met up with Maggie in the higher atmosphere. Avoiding aerofighters as they burned out of the system, the severely damaged Mule successfully escaped Valexa with all but Arthur on board.

Matt tended to Maggie, who was again beaten up pretty good. She now has some significant scarring down her left torso. Cal, Madden, and a copy of the Spacefarer's Guide to Shipboard Medicine eventually figured out that Madden was indeed pregnant at two and a half months. She didn't know who the father was (after sleeping with Max Tanager, Lance Dawson, a Sarnan techie, and an Oberth tank commander...) So she decided to sleep with Hasek and claim it was his. She seduced him rather easily. The Mule docked with the Lost Luggage on October 31st, and Cal amused himself by playing Trick or Treat across both ships--much to the confusion of the Capellan crews. They eventually figured out that if you gave him something he went away and bothered someone else.

November

Lost Luggage jumped to CNS-3394-3B, an uncolonized red giant between Almach and Demeter, for recharge. They jumped into the Tikonov system seven days later in the middle of massive space traffic. There were multiple jumpships here, a fully manned jump-recharge station, and multiple flights of Tikonov Reserves aerofighters. Tikonov Reserves The ships were boarded and searched thoroughly by both the dock crews and the Maskirovka. Matt was given landing coordinates outside of Ridzia, the capital of Tikonov. The planet itself is protected by a functioning Bastion-class space station that the team saw on the way in-system. Its spheroid shape was big enough to hold an Overlord-class dropship inside itself at the upper repair bay.

The ComStar messages that were beamed ahead from Valexa were waiting here. Molarri had the Catapult ready to go and had purchased a local Transit aerofighter for the group (since didn't want to ship one all that way). Zhang of the 5th was asked, but couldn't do anything to assist in getting more Centurions. He told Rook to contact the Capellan MechWorks on planet to order them. Cal got a message from Morden that there was a package waiting for him, and Madden got a letter from her cousin Anna--who had seen vids of the now-famous 213th and had used her race winnings/modeling paychecks to buy passage to Tikonov. She had stopped off at Sarna, and Molarri was only too happy to sign her up as a recruit. She knew nothing of 'mechs, but skimracers and aerofighters had enough in common to list her as a passable aeropilot.

Upon landing on the heavily-polluted Tikonov, the group were met my the Maskirovka PR teams and Morden! The NETC representative gave Cal a chip and a box from Larken (in Steiner space). It was a 'mech charm--a Davion tradition to wear a sliver of your first mech as a lucky charm. He told them to meet with him that next day, as his "associates" had a favor for the 213th for getting the Grasshopper on such short notice. Matt had requested an exact copy of his now-destroyed family 'mech so that he could say that it survived the battle intact and allow his family to maintain their claim on the Rook Estates back on Sarna. Morden also took over operation of the Insomnia at Rook's request.

The Maskirovka unloaded the vehicles and presented an entire company's worth of pilots and 213th-painted 'mechs for a public parade. There was even an additional four heavy-hovertanks and a flyby of 213th painted aerofighters. Maggie was put in a car to wave a lot, and Hasek was put in a different car under guard as a political prisoner. The captured 'mechs were driven along as slaves and the whole thing proceeded into the industrial landscape of the city past crowds forcefully cheering at the threat of Maskirovka shock-sticks. The team made it to the center of town and saw some of the holovids that had been shown to the Capellan population at large of their supposed exploits--total fantasy, but very flashy. The crowds had obviously been fed this BS for weeks in an attempt to boost local morale. The 213th core members met with the local ruler, Pavel Ridzik (Lord of the entire Tikonov Commonality) on the stage. Matt handed him some fake optical data disks he had been given earlier and both read prepared speeches choreographed to the holodisplays. Afterwards the crowd was forcefully dispersed by police and Maskirovka troops. Matt, Pavel and Hasek discussed the Centurions, which Pavel eventually pushed through in a rush order. At this point Anna arrived, walking up in her tight skimracer jumpsuit--much to the delight of all the males and Nikol, who turned out to be very lesbian. Matt got Maggie's elbow in the ribs, and Cal remembered Shauna, which left Nikol and Pavel to drool over Shain's oblivious cousin. Cal reviewed Anna's papers and told Maggie to make sure she knew the protocol. Pavel, Matt, and Hasek went to the officer's lounge in the administration building as the rest took off into the city to get the Grasshopper.

After playing around in the Chinese back alleys and potion shops they finally went to Ling's Imports warehouse and adjacent rubble pile to get the 'mech. There they met Hohai Yashima, an ex-Kuritan mechwarrior working for Ling. He reviewed Morden's holocard with an special eyepiece that somehow told him that the Grasshopper was theirs. They entered the storage areas and met a merc named Draco Drezdin, leader of Draco's Demolishers. He was cocky, but did help in pointing Cal to the Capellan Hussar's Capellan Hussars camp to hire some more experienced pilots. Cal also asked Hohai to try out and he was more than happy to report for duty that next morning. They ended up calling Pavel to send a dropship to the rubble pile out back to pick up the Grasshopper and themselves. Cal met with three dispossessed members of the Capellan Hussars and all three wanted to try out for the team. They also knew that the parade was bogus and secretly shared many of the Sleeper's views on the state of the Capellan government. This group had also worked together as a lance before, which was very promising.
The tryouts went well and the four warriors were hired on as members of the 213th Squadron.
Cal even temporarily hired a drill sergeant to train them before the next mission.

Aero Lance:
Aero 2: Recruit Anna "Corni" Kournikova

Recon Lance:
Mech 5: Lance Corporal Nikolas "Polecat" Pokatilov
Mech 6: Recruit Ru Nguyen
Mech 7: Penal Recruit LiSong "Singer" Metrovich
Mech 8: Recruit Hohai Yashima

On his way back to the base, Cal was picked up by a dark limo carrying Mr. Morden. The vehicle was state-of-the-art in luxury, and Morden invited Cal to partake of the imported NETC finery while he explained what he wanted. Morden's "associates" had a job for the Sleepers: On their next mission they would be presented with an opportunity to destroy a radio observatory VLA--Morden wanted to make sure that this opportunity did not go untaken. He said to consider it payment for getting the Grasshopper shipped in from Steiner space on such short notice. Cal agreed to it and was dropped off back at base.

That evening Pavel invited them all to a dinner party at his manor. It was discovered that he's loyal to his region of space, but maybe not to Max Liao. It was also found that that he is quite the womanizer. Cal had got two bottles of rare Betelgueseian Vodka from Ling's place that he gave to Pavel. Lord Ridzik then pushed the Centurions through his factory at top priority and at a reduced price. After some drunken haggling, this price was reduced to 499,999 c-bills on top of the base production cost of the units. Leaving Rook with one lucky-cbill in his pocket.

Gregory Hasek left soon after with the KR-61 shuttle on a diplomatic mission to the capital on Sian. Matt had been with him and Pavel Ridzik during some of their discussions when Hasek had given Pavel the known locations of Davion troops and their strengths across the entire border of the Tikonov Commonality. Pavel granted him leave to take the jumpship command circuit to Sian, as Hasek had political connections there that would serve him and Pavel. Hasek returned the 213th payment that he earlier received and gracefully turned down the commission to the Sleepers. Madden slept with him one last time before he had to leave and succeeded in getting his coronet as a gift. Maggie and Rook stayed together in one of the larger rooms to watch each others backs, Cal and Nikol became Maskirovka-story swapping buddies, and Anna ended up with the married Pavel that evening--showing up in the morning with his dress jacket for a top.

The next morning was the briefing. The mission was given by a regimental commander of the Capellan Hussars. The 213th would be loaned a Tikonov Reserves Union-class dropship for this mission. They were to link up with a Union loaned to the merc unit 15th Dracon 15th Dracon and jump on the Lost Luggage to New Rhodes III, a Davion world 30-ly north (coreward) of Tikonov. The mission was a combat drop to rescue members of the Capellan Hussars left onworld after an unsuccessful invasion attempt. The mercs were to go in first as a distraction (they didn't know this), and the 213th were to hold off any units that broke though to allow the Hussars to pull out of the mountains to the dropships. The Capellan Hussars had been pinned down by Davion's Kestrel Grenadiers and were taking a beating Kestrel Grenadiers the sooner they could be evacuated the better. Cal asked "What if we don't salvage dirt?!?" To which the commander said that he would give the Sleepers salvage off of some of his 'mechs on Tikonov upon their return. The mission was to dust off that evening after inspecting the new 'mechs. As it turned out, the Centurions and the Grasshopper were fresh from the factories. While the Centurions were built well, the Grasshopper was pristine. There was still plastic on the command chair and the controls, and it was even stamped as inspected by number 34. The plastic bore the symbol of the Defiance Industries, Hesperus II (the biggest production facility in Steiner space, possibly the entire Inner Sphere, and the best). Minor changes were then made to Madden's Orion-L, which she funded herself.

The team returned to the drop-field to load up and head out. The new recruits were there, as well as the rag-tag members of the 15th Dracon merc unit, The differences between them were outstanding: while the new 213th members were in mostly Capellan Hussars uniforms and definitely uneasy, the mercs had no standard uniforms, no discipline, and barely recognized the command of their CO. The Sleepers didn't even know which one was actually the commander until she approached them. The somewhat short brunette in the infantry fatigues and flak-jacket introduced herself as Cassine Landaiche and asked about the specifics of the mission. Since Rook and Maggie were busy finalizing the loading details with the two Tikonov Reserves dropships that would carry them to the Lost Luggage, Cal ended up filling her in on the mission objectives. He told the mercs to drop onto the planet about 10km south of the VLA array that Morden had earlier requested be destroyed. He stated this as a part of the overall mission, giving her no hints as to the true source of the orders. He then told her that she would be leaving four of her 'mechs as an orbital reserve and landing the bulk of her forces in drop-pods. While initially skeptical, she relaxed when he told her that the 213th would also be dropping in this fashion and that both teams would have air-support on the way down. She agreed, setting up communication times and emergency dropship pick-up zones with Cal before loading her people onto the Tikonov Reserves' Union-class Captain of the Heart.

Rook started loading his people in, but not before ordering a few extra drop-pods to toss out of the main doors as added diversions. He then organized shepherd duty with Maggie and Anna before boarding himself. Shain Madden skipped off for a bit with Cal and cornered two dropship techs. Offering to give them her blue jeans in exchange for some computational work, she convinced them to get with the navigator and figure out how to land a drop-pod filled with bombs directly on top of the VLA from orbit. Taking up the challenge, the two techies grabbed the needed supplies and similarly boarded the Captain of the Heart. Rook rounded up everybody and got them into their assigned dropship. Five minutes after the Heart blasted for orbit, the Dreamweaver powered up its engines to do the same. Two minutes after that the engines were shut down when a ComStar Acolyte walked up to the personnel door and requested to see Cal Ratchet.

Introducing himself as Piotr Illianovich to the somewhat shocked Cal, he said that he had been instructed to deliver a message to Cal Ratchet of the 213th. The message was an intercepted ComStar message from Lord Mikael Zhang of the 5th Squadron to Riever Molarri back on Sarna. The message, outlining Zhang and Molarri's plans to steal the Rook Estates, shocked Cal so much be began loudly cursing in Terran English. He watched as the plastic the message was printed on turn to dust in his hands. Ratchet turned to leave when the Acolyte spoke up again, indicating that there was a frayed power conduit near the door that needed attention. Cal borrowed the Acolyte's hidden toolkit and performed the proper rituals to repair the section. This being done he fixed the cables and returned the toolkit to Piotr. They parted ways and Cal returned to give the bad news to Rook as the Dreamweaver successfully burned for orbit. Eight days later the combined unit jumped to New Rhodes III aboard the 5th Squadron's Jumpship Lost Luggage and made a 1.5g planetfall for five days to arrive in orbit on December 3rd.

Overheard after the Jump to New Rhodes III was completed:

"What are you waiting for, Breakfast in bed? A day in the corps is like a 
day on the farm. Every meal is a banquet, every paycheck a fortune, every 
formation a parade. I love the corps!!" ranted Matt Rook.
"Can I be promoted?" Cal asked hopefully. 
"LOOK INTO MY EYE, fall in people," Rook replied.
December

The team loaded up and prepared to enter the drop-pods. Cal and Rook picked two drop zones, one for each lance. The Command lance would look for the bulk of the Capellan Hussars at their last reported location at Lake Providence while the Recon lance would drop into one of the two nearby passes to hunt for the missing Capellan Hussar Strike lance. They would maintain communications through uplinks to the Dreamweaver and set the north side of the lake as a dust-off site in case the dropship had not heard from them in 8 hours. The crew climbed into their 'mechs and were loaded into the drop-pods. This process involved lifting the mechs up with cables and clamping a four-piece pear-shaped shell around the 'mech. The shell was then filled with an ablative spray that covered the 'mechs in breakaway chaff. When dropped, the shell deflects the heat of re-entry before being blasted off with explosive bolts and the remaining layers shred off as the 'mech descends--hopefully confusing radar in the process. From there is just a series of jump-jet burns into landing. Those 'mechs without jets, like Madden's Orion-L, were fitted with disposable parachutes and thruster packs for the trip. Once loaded into the pods, the Sleepers were placed into the drop chutes to await the drop time. It didn't take long for the Dreamweaver to achieve the proper position amidst a small, but very violent, aerofighter battle. Maggie, Anna, and the aerojocks of the 15th Dracon kept the four Kestrel Grenadier aerofighters busy as the stream of drop-pods launched out of the two Unions like a fall of silver teardrops. The landing was difficult, resulting in the loss of a two Dracon drop-pods and numerous empty pods to enemy aircraft fire, but the teams all successfully landed at or near their drop zones. The only problem of note for the 213th was the temporary red-out of Cal Ratchet due to negative G-forces during the initial launch from the Dreamweaver.

"It's time to tuck them in... ya'll know the rest."
-- Cal Ratchet (doing his Matt Rook imitation)
Upon landing, the 213th's Recon lance reported no contact with the Capellan Hussars and began to move out into the plains to sweep around and investigate the their second possible location in the adjoining valley. The Command lance landed in the middle of a small, abandoned fishing village on the north shore of Lake Providence within site of the dam. They were greeted by a flyby of a defending Hussar Transit aerofighter and were quickly joined by two battered lances as they emerged from hiding in the lake. They talked with Force Leader Xiao Pin-Cho, commander of the Liao forces left on planet. He gave them the tactical update: they had lost contact with their Strike lance when the commanders called the retreat off-planet and had not heard from them since. They had lost a company of 'mechs attempting to take the nearby walled-city of Rontka before Davion reinforcements arrived in the form of an elite heavy company from the Federated Suns Armored Cavalry. Federated Suns Armored Cavalry They had retreated to the lake and had been hiding out ever since. The combined team were again forced to pull into the lake as they were overflown by three Davion fighters. They hid underwater for a short time, avoiding the artillery bombardment, until Maggie and Anna returned from refueling to drive off the Davions. The group made a break for the south to link up with the Recon team, who had by now located the Capellan Hussar Strike lance. Under aero strafes and artillery shells from Rotka, the 213th fled south as fast as they could, but not before losing two more Hussar 'mechs. The air war started in earnest above the dam as nearly every aerofighter in both sides joined the fray. This left the 'mechs to their own, just long enough to spot a full company of Grenadiers in pursuit. Rook called for the orbital reserves, only to discover that aerofighters from the Armored Cavalry had destroyed the Captain of the Heart. While disheartened, the embattled 15th Dracon reported that the drop-pod bomb had actually hit the VLA and they were attempting to retreat from an assault company of Grenadier 'mechs. Rook's troupe met up with the Recon and Strike lances just as the airwar broke up. The three remaining loyal fighters (Anna, Maggie, Dracon 2) were attacked by the returning two fighters that had taken out the Heart. They leapt into a second war as Rook called in remaining dropship for evac. Cal did a quick headcount, realizing that there was no way this many 'mechs would fit into a single union. The problem of too many 'mechs was apparently solved when the 2nd Company of the Kestrel Grenadiers crested a hill a mere kilometer behind them. The mountains to the rear and only a small river to block the Grenadiers, the combined Hussar/Sleeper unit prepared to fend off the Davions for the two desperate minutes it would take for the Dreamweaver to arrive...

The 213th combined unit assembled in their traditional "group and mangle" formation while assigning Madden the Strike lance to hold the downstream flank. The bulk of the Grenadiers crossed river uphill of the Sleeper grouping with their own Recon lance circling wide to the west to try to come around the backsides of the heavier 'mechs. Small volleys were exchanged as the ranks closed, the 213th backing up to join Madden while sending in the Hussar Command lance to harrass the closing forces. The tide of the battle turned quickly when the Grenadier command lance of four Warhammers waded into the small river and began blasting away with their PPCs. The Kestral Recon Lance was crushed by the Sleeper heavies but the Hussars were taking a beating from the Warhammers and a Rifleman protected by a screen of two Hoplites. The Battle surged back and forth as the the previously-damaged 'mechs of the Capellan forced began to drop. Just when things began to look the bleakest, Maggie overflew the battle in her smoking aerofighter; quickly followed by ten members of the 127th Aerosquadron--an elite aerofighter unit from the 3rd Succession War. The 127th, or Angry Angels, radioed that they had been sent by Pavel Ridzik as a special favor from an unknown benefactor. While this was assumed to be Mr. Morden, at the moment the Hussars and the 213th were only too happy to see the Angels strafe the Grenadiers and force them to retreat away from the descending dropship. Quickly boarding, the combined unit rocketed skyward in the Dreamweaver to safety. Anna, Maggie, and one survivor from the 15th Dracon docked while they linked up with the 127th's Union-CV Seraphim. Once all the surviving fighters were on board both ships set course for the jumpships and Tikonov.

Commander Fenris McShane 127th
Commander Fenris McShane
127th Squadron, Tikonov Reserves The Angry Angels

Three days out the ships performed the standard roll-over. Using the opportunity, the commander of the 127th flew his SA-43 aerofighter over to the Dreamweaver to deliver a message. He wore the standard cut of a Liao flightsuit, but the colors were done in dark shades of black. Older, but with a commanding presence, he asked those he saw if they had seen Cal Ratchet. When approached by Rook and team he presented to them a datapad with a picture of a younger Cal in an unfamiliar military dress-uniform posing before a red and white striped flag. When Ratchet was finally brought forward the older McShane simply handed him the datapad and turned to leave. As the pad performed a retinal scan of Cal, McShane noticed Maggie's Aerofighter. Nodding his approval to the stunned Ms. Drevers he boarded his plane and returned to the Seraphim. Cal's message was from Acolyte-IV Vaelin Hayes of ComStar. He was Shauna's older brother and had asked Pavel Ridzik to send in the 127th when Archie (an Adept on Sarna) relayed the message that Zhang was trying to get the Sleepers killed. Hayes wanted Cal to contact him as soon as possible and left a ComStar account where he could be reached. Disasters and surprises over with for the moment, the 213th repaired and rested for the trials ahead.

The jump from the pirate point above a boiling blue-green methane gas-giant was harrowing, but the two jumpships arrived unharmed in the Tikonov system on December 9th. The Seraphim maintained her link to the scout-class jumpship Saviour's Net while it docked with the jump-recharge station. The majority of the Angry Angels stayed on the Union-CV, but a flight of three aerofighters transferred to a transport ship headed for the planet. The Dreamweaver met up with this convoy and the entire group made the ten day planetfall together. Once down at the Tikonov Reserves' base in Ridzia the combined 213th/Hussar/Dracon unit was beseiged by dropship repair teams, dock workers, and Maskirovka operatives wishing to see the mission data breifing. Not having prepared this, Rook was sternly questioned. Madden tried to help by slipping him a datapad she stole from Maggie, but both ended up being drug off under guard for private questioning with the neural whip. Most of the questiones involved why the 127th had been sent in and about Pavel Ridzik's marital indescresions with Anna. Madden was let off easy, because she was pregnant, but Matt took some punishment before they finally let him go with a warning. Maggie picked them up in a borrowed J-27 ammocarrier and they headed back to the ship. During all of this Cal was being interviewed by a less-direct Maskirovka customs officer and crew. He noticed that when McShane got off his transport that he simply waved them away and walked to the Officer's lounge unmollested. When Maggie returned with Rook and Madden the Sleepers said their good-byes to the Hussars and the surviving Dracon aeropilot before heading into the city to the ComStar facility. A flurry of messages were exchanged with the following results: Rook got a message from Archie stating that the 5th Squadron had been secretly re-routed to the planet Sherai on the border of the Tikonov and Sarna Commonalities. Matt instructed his father to hire a mineral survey team to inspect the Rook Estates and then sell them to the Sarnan Deep Core Mining Company so that Riever Molarri couldn't ever get his hands on them. He then suggested that his father move the family to the planet Hunk for a well-deserved retirement. Madden got a message from Hasek lamenting life in the Sian Court under Maximillian and Romano. She sent a message back to him about her upcoming child and pleaded with him to come to her and protect them. Hayes contacted Ratchet, saying that he an selected members of the senior class would like to see Cal graduate in May. He also said that friends of his could be found at a place called the Old Pink Dog Bar near the old starport in Haifa, a former suburb of Ridzia. Lastly, Cal got an urgent message from Archie stating that he had discovered a shipment of Biochemical weapons headed for Sherai hidden in NETC boxes.

Armed with this knowledge, the group set off into the smog-filled and traffic-choked city. Madden, Cal, Nikol and Hohai went to the potion shop top buy more anti-nausea "jumppowder" for Cal and to have his fortune told. The cryptic old woman (Vorla Na-rane) said that was Cal to be soon surrounded by death and was already stalked by an evil shadow. When asked how to kill the shadow she replied that they had to show it in the full light of the truth. Somewhat disturbed, the troupe headed on to the Old Pink Dog Bar to meet up with Hayes' friends. During this time Rook and Maggie went to get some rare vodka as a gift to Pavel at a secret underground shop that a friendly Acolyte had told them about. Upon leaving they were intercepted by Morden's black limo and invited inside. Rook told Maggie to wait in the J-27 and went to talk to the NETC representative. They hashed out a deal where the NETC would buy the leopard-class Insomnia and the recovered First Succession War Davion Assassin 'mech for 65 million c-bills. Morden would then locate for Rook a Union-class ship that had mysteriosly gone missing two months earlier and was now "accidently" labled as salvage-level quality by Morden's "associates". The nearly perfect ship would arrive in two weeks in Rooks name for a modest fee of 64 million c-bills and a favor. Reluctant, Matt eventually accepted the mission to drop off a certain package at a dinner party tomorrow night. They parted ways with a handshake and the Matt/Maggie duo went to see Pavel, only to find that he was out of town on a hunting trip. Although Ridzik would not return until the following evening for a dinner banquet Rook was given two VIP tickets to join him. Matt called up Anna, discovering that a dress and purse has already been delivered to her at the Dreamweaver. Telling her not to touch it or to play poker with the members of the Recon lance, Matt and Maggie then headed to the bar to find the rest of the 213th.

The team, with the exception of the excluded ex-Kuritan Hohai, had successfully made it into the rough and tumble bar and were carefully trying to not get killed. They amused themselves playing with a parrot-monkey thing in a miniture coolant-vest that would scamper across the bar top and toss empty drink glasses over its shoulder to the large wall of a bartender. Cal was eventually approaced by a seedy individual that he had a difficuly time recognizing as Piotr Illianovich the ComStar Acolyte. Maggie and Rook showed up about this point as Piotr led them all to a corner booth where two people waited. One was a muscle-head with a Bronx accent named Marfik and whe other was a tall willowy brunette named Teisha--both Terran. They explained that they were all working with Vaelin Hayes and were waiting for him to get back from a secret mission to see what to do next. Rook handed Cal a package from Shauna that Morden had given him, which he eagerly opened to find many letters and trinkets of affection from his long-seperated love. Just then Piotr spotted a ComStar ROM operative in the crowd pretending to watch the holo 'mechfights. Tiesha and Marfik started a barfight to cover the 213th's retreat past the bartender--who wished them a good night over the din of the brawl. They scrambled into their vehicles and made tracks for the base back in Ridzia.

The group slept that night of the 19th aboard the Dreamweaver rather than try their luck in the barracks. They kept to themselves the next day, keeping busy with repairs and introspective walks around the base. By that evening Rook had been outfitted in his best dress-uniform and Anna was prepared in the jade-green dress and purse supplied by Morden. While Maggie was irritated that she was not the one to go, the fitting of the dress made it obvious that it was intended for Anna. Before they left for the party, Maggie blew up at Matt--who solved the problem by kissing her until she shut up. Stunned, as this was their first time along such ventures, Maggie returned the kiss eagerly. Matt and Anna then exited the dropship and entered Morden's waiting limo. The vehicle was empty, but the female driver told them that she had been instructed to be at their disposal for the evening. They entered the skyscraper-laden center of town at sunset and were bathed in the dazzling orange light of the polluted clouds reflected down on them from the gold-tinted tower windows. The windows themselves were statically charged to reduce pollutant build-up on their surfaces, causing the hairs on their next to stand up when they exited the limo in front of one of the major towers. Once Matt and Anna presented their invitations they were escorted inside by Tikonov Reserve marines in dress-uniforms and whisked to the top of the fifty-floor tower in a nearly silent mag-lift. 


"Can I ask something of you Anna?" Rook questioned.
"Sure, what?" Anna replied.
"Don't have sex with leaders of known worlds!!"
Downtown Ridzia, Planet Tikonov, December 20th 3027
Once there they were announced by the doorman as Sir Rook of Sarna, Knight of the Realm, and His Lady. Amazed by the levels of top-brass inside the room, they were called over to the center table by Pavel Ridzik himself--passing by several jealous officers and one very surprised Xiao Pin-Cho. After meeting Pavel's wife and a few of the top commanders in the Tikonov Commonality, Matt and Anna were seated at Ridzik's table. Anna hid the purse, which Matt now believed to be a bomb, under her chair and both looked for an inconspicuous way out. They were granted this when Force Leader Fenris McShane approached the table and requested to speak with Pavel privately on the balcony. Taking their leave of the duo, Matt and Anna quietly worked their way out of the room to the safety of the mag-lift. They boarded it, only to spot a security camera staring at them. Deciding to play up the act of "slipping away with the mistress", Matt and Anna made out for the entire trip down--much to the approval of several Generals that were waiting for the elevator in the lobby. They jumped into Morden's limo and took off at a leisurely pace across the city. They made it two blocks before the top of the tower they had just left was engulfed in a massive fireball. The limo pulled onto base just as the Maskirovka were declaring Martial Law.


The 213, the ultimate in party excitement. Invite them to your next party
and they will make a big impression on you. The 213th is a blast for all of
your party activities, you don't have to worry about this party being a dud.
So put in a call to your nearest Comstar rep, your time is running out!
   --Note that Cal sliped into Rook's room that night
INTERSTELLAR NEWS EXCLUSIVE
23 December 3027

As rioting moves into its third day after last week's terrorist attack upon the upper echelons of the Tikonov Military, the Maskirovka again are sweeping the streets in an attempt to stop what is now being called the Christmas Riots.

Unconfirmed reports of mass slayings by the Maskirovka have not helped the matter any; instead, fueling the rebellious population of Ridzia and surrounding communities to new heights of violence. Irina Shishkova, de facto commander of the on-planet Tikonov Reserves, has pleaded to no avail for the citizens to put down their arms and return peacefully to their homes.

Our sources within the Reserves say that the Maskirovka are in fact running the military, with Captain Shishkova as a figurehead, and are planning a major offensive to begin on the morning of the 24th if the riots have not been quelled by the end of the day.

--Taoe Weiss, ISN Tikonov
Maskirovka ID Check

Sweeping the streets
On the morning of Christmas Eve, The Sleepers awoke to the sounds of rioting when a large group of civilians gathered at the gates to the base. They left the security of their borrowed Dreamweaver and assisted the guards in dispersing the troops long enough for the base miltia to scramble. Cal had mounted up in his 'mech and shot down three bomb-loaded civilian airplanes before taking a pot-shot from an infantry SRM-2 launcher. After firing a medium laser warning shot over the crowd's heads, the 213th were able to keep things from getting even more out of control. The base's Warrior H-7 attack helicopters arrived shortly after and quickly drove the rioters into hiding before setting up a defensive screen around the walled perimeter. The bulk of the 213th returned to their dropship while Shain and Rook went to tell the base commander about the rocket attack. They were quickly recieved by the Base's new commander, a junior officer the same rank as Rook. With all the heads of the military killed in the bombing, the local troops were doing the best that they could. The commander took the report in stride, commenting that this sort of thing was happening all over the city. He gave Rook new orders from Irina Shishkova. She had received word that the riots were being secretly organized. There was supposed to be one that evening on the steps of the Governor's capital building. Since the 213th were technically "foreign" (non-Tikonov) troops, she felt that they would be able to quell the riot better that the local troops--which the population currently dispised. Accepting the mission, Rook and Madden returned to the Dreamweaver to find a group of base technicians hurridly repairing the damage to Cal's 'mech. through some quick, but brutally honest negotiations with the head of the technician family, Rook hired them to man the new ship being brought in by Morden. As if on cue, a knowck came from the external airlock. It was one of Morden's operatives dropping off the codes to the Union-class ship that the 213th had purchased from the NETC. With the operative were two people that Rook didn't immediatly recognize under their anti-pollution filtermasks. They stepped into Morden's limo to remove the masks and Rook was shocked to see Sir Gregory Hasek the former defector. He was there to pick up Madden and to drop off his nephew Alexander in her place. While Rook did not like it much, he accepted on the condition that Gregory would take care of Madden. They then left the limo to go find her.

That night Madden joined group for her last mission with the 213th. Just barely showing the pregnancy that had caused her to seek out Gregory, she suited up with the team and they headed out en masse to the center of Ridzia. Rook had assigned Hohai to Singer's Centurion for the night and had assigned him command of one of the three branches of the formation that they used to close with the rioters. It became quickly apparant in the dark and twisting steets that the riot was just a cover for an ambush. The Sleepers engaged and quickly defeated the infantry units and lone wheeled-tank, but not before laying waste to the center of town--killing hundreds of civillians in the process. The remaining rioters holed up in the capitol, but Madden successfully negotiated the release of five hostages. In an attempt to gain information from them, Cal left his 'mech cocpit and ventured out in to the open. Rifle shots from the captured capitol building struck him and two of the former hostages down. The 'mechs of the 213th uttrerly crushed the building as Cal was rushed to safety. The two shot hostages were dead, as was everyone in the capitol, but the ballistic cloth on Cal's coolant vest had soaked enough of the damage to keep him alive until they got him medical attention. The 213th returned to base, unsure of their next move.

Union Class Dropship

The next morning Cal was loaded aboard the new dropship by a group of medcical personnel, one of them being Teisha in disquise. She informed Rook that Vaelin Hayes had secured them an escape JumpShip at Sherai if it was still their plan to go there and stop Zhang frm gassing the planet. Rook decided to continue the mission, finding out then that Gregory Hasek had managed to get the the 127th Squadron, The Angry Angels, to escort them on the jumpShip command circuit back towards Sian. They were greeted by a still-injured but very much alive Colonel McShane. Soon after, fourty-five technicians and assorted family boarded the boarded the ship in a military troop-transport truck. The 213th boarded their new ship, loaded up McShane and his two wingmen, pulled Hasek's KR-61 aboard and set course for the nine day trip to Tikonov's Zenith jump-point.

Early 3028

January

The NETC union docked on a Merchant-class JumpShip next to the Seraphim, the 127th's Union-CV. With Cal happily sedated, they jumped to Yangtze. A mere two hours later McShane and friends were back on their ship and the Unions were re-docked with an Invader-class jumpship for a hop to the Poznan system. The two dropships leisurely transferred to the Merchant-class ship Golden Vales as it began furling its charge-sail for the trip. This gave the crew a chance to catch a breather, get Cal back on his feet, ready the vehicles for combat, and catch up on the news. Unsure what to make of this information, they didn't know whether they should press on to Sherai. Knowing that Shishkova was hunting them, that the Morden/Molarri alliance were starting a war with the Tikonov Commonality, and that the Davions had just attacked Tikonov itself. They knew that one battalion of the 5th Squadron were stationed on the planet below, and were quite surprised when they received a message from Zhang. To make matters worse, they soon discovered that Tiesha, Darfik, and Piotr had smuggled themselves aboard. Tiesha informed Rook that Hayes would soon be coming aboard. Throwing himself to fate, Rook went with Cal to meet his mysterious benefactor. Vaelin Hayes arrived in a stolen NETC KR-61 with some important information. Rook took Cal, Maggie, Hohai, and Polecat into the KR-61 to hear Vaelin's first update. Rook was pretty sure where most of the crew stood, but decided to test Hohai and Polecat's loyalties by proposing to stop Zhang from using any more of the gas. Finding that Polecat was a bit reluctant to attack fellow Capellans, he dismissed both from the meeting. The topic then turned to getting Maggie's family and everyone at the Rook Estates on their way to Zebebelgenubi through Vaelin and his ComStar contacts. Believing that this would throw off Morden and Molarri for now, they coordinated with McShane for the jump to Sherai.

Expecting some sort of resistance from the 5th Squadron, the fighters of the 127th launched from their dropship immediately after jump. Maggie, Anna, and Vaelin in his KR-61 joined then shortly after, and few moments later all were engaged in a bitter fight against a foe that severely outclassed them. Crews Starfury ambush of both dropships manned their guns and attempted to detach from the jumpship so that they could maneuver. The 213th's inexperienced crew were nearly panicing, but luckally for them the Union-CV of the Angry Angels was still taking most of the fire. The crew quickly found that the mysterious enemy ships were painted in the same dark colors of the 'mechs that attacked both Tikonov and Mira. The paint seemed to have radar absorbing properties--making it almost impossible to lock on to them. Only Cal was meeting with some success, having trained against this class of fighter during his time at the Terran military academy. Unfortunatly, if he told the crew this he knew that he would eventually be executed for it. The Sleepers' ship finally managed to break free of the fight just as the stuttering laser-fire from the enemy ships ripped a gash in the side of the Seraphim. As of yet untouched, the JumpShip Golden Vales tried to pull away from the crippled dropship with Hasek and Madden still on-board. Hammerhead defense The Seraphim detonated, spewing deadly schrapnel throughout the battlefield. Rook ordered his fighters back aboard, glad to see that all three made it. The remaining Angels then tried to hold off the enemy fighters as long as they could, giving the 213th time to run. Blowing towards the planet at 3Gs, Rook's team slowed only long enough to pick up three severly damaged ships from the 127th before resuming course to Sherai.

The five day trip was used as a much needed repair break. Maggie and the technicians were able to repair the damage to their ships was well as those of McShane and his two wingmen. McShane had suffered a head injury, resulting in some inner-ear problems, but he insisted that he was flight worthy. The group went over the recorded BattleROMS from the engagement, discovering that the tapes were severely garbled, barely showing the enemy ships at all. One of McShane's wingmen, a dark-haired woman by the name of Kirsten van-Sinn, said Kirsten van-Sinn that when she closed with one of the enemy ships that she had picked up some strange "scream"--just before it rotated on its axis and nearly took her wing off with its pulse-lasers. She has also managed to get a recording of it. After much research and general speculation, it was determined that the scream was some sort of electromagnetic leakage resulting from either the positioning the four small thrust engines on the ends of the wings or some flaw of the engines themselves. With another solid recording, they would be able to track the ships, and possibly the 'mechs, from quite some distance. During the approach to Sherai it was assumed that they would get their chance.

The combined 213th and 127th units arrived in orbit of the planet on January 13th. Knowing that there was going to be some sort or resistance, McShane and Maggie hatched the idea to use the technician's truck as a radar shadow to allow the aerofighters to close to effective weapons range with the enemy before being detected. The truck was tossed from the ship by two technicians in vac-suits and the aerofighters lined up behind it. McShane was doing well thus far, but Anna couldn't keep formation and had to pull away to play decoy. As the ship prepared for a fast entry near the drop zone given by Zhang, they were engaged by two aerofighters from the 5th Squadron coming up from the surface. They were unsure what to make of their NETC dropship and were coming in with weapons hot. Rook and Cal recognized the lead ship as the Eat and Run II, Max Tanager's aerofighter. Opening communications, Max was damn glad to see them, but spilled the beans about the aero ambush just as four enemy fighters were detected clearing the atmoshpere. The dropship plunged into the atmosphere as the Capellan aerofighters charged those of Morden's Associates. The dogfight broke off as the Capellans drew the enemy ships into the lower atmosphere, where they were less maneuverable. The SA-43s were able to use their atmospheric advantage to drive off the opposition, but not before losing one of their own and both of the fighters from the 5th Squad. Tanager managed to eject near the DZ and was picked up safely a few hours later. McShane, van-Sinn, Maggie, and Anna provided cover for the dropship once it touched down. They unloaded the 'mechs and set out at a run towards the DZ. The dropship then returned to a high orbit with Vaelin's group and the technicians still aboard.

The 'mech forces of the 213th Squadron made their way at good speed across the plains and rift-valleys of the planet toward the DZ that Zhang had given them in his plea for help. The came across the remains of a massive, and very recent, battle at the foothills of a rugged mountain range. The bulk of the 5th Squadron's on-planet Battalion and the majority if the mercenary group Narn's Neandertals had taken on two companies of 'mechs belonging to Morden's Associates. By the looks of things the Capellans lost badly. The Sleepers continued into the foothills to the fortified cave that Zhang was using as his headquarters. They were stopped at the outer embankments by a one-legged Sarnan 'mech. After identifying themselves to the crippled sentry, Zhang made his appearance in a battle-scarred Marauder that was missing its right arm. Zhang was also glad to see them, believing that they had been attacked by 'mechs from the Capellan Hussars. After the most recent battle, the enemy 'mechs has succeeded in taking the biotoxin gas and had since left them alone. Zhang's command battalion had four 'mechs left, Narn's Neandertals had one, and the enemy had eight. With help from the 213th they might be able to retake the gas and escape off-world. When the aerofighters landed with a second recording of the scream, Rook informed Zhang that they could now track the enemy. Testing the theory, they picked up two 'mechs in the rift plains about twenty kilometers to the east. Zhang ordered the repair efforts to his 'mechs doubled, the technicians now using parts taken from the battle site. He said that while on the ground he need not fear strafing from the enemy fighters, but would have to keep his own planes in the air as a distraction or the enemy would simply fly up and destroy their dropship. Betting that the superior atmoshperic abilities of the SA-43s would offset the enemy's numerous other advantages, Rook ordered his people into the sky. The 'mechs then set off towards the enemy with Zhang's promise that he would join Rook shortly. The Associates launched their four fighters soon after, and the combined aero-unit lead them away from the 'mechs of the Sleepers. By tracking the scream the 213th got within a half kilometer of the rift valley the enemy were travelling down before being detected.
McShane: "Here they come people! Break off and get in those canyons. Iacta alea est."
Anna: "Huh? What was that?"
van-Sinn: "It's something Julius Caesar once said, 'The die is cast.'"
Maggie: "And that means?"
McShane: "Once we start firing there's no turning back--the fight against Morden has begun."
[sounds of Johnny Cash's "I Walk The Line", followed by gunfire]
The assorted aerofighters of the combined Sleepers unit skattered like Aldeberan Nightmoths at the approach of the enemy forces. The four Associate fighters, while less-maneuverable in atmoshphere, quickly destroyed the crippled F-100 belonging to the Narn's Neandertals. Anna scored a a kill soon after when she lead an enemy Starfury down a canyon that only a trained Skimracer had any hope of navigating. Meanwhile, the 'Mechs of the 213th pounced on the two vehicles belonging to Morden's Associates. The enemy 'mechs were some sort of 55ton walker-pod design that none of the members but Cal recognized. He identified them as SLDF Swaybacks, medium attack 'mechs popular with Star League units stationed in the Periphery before the fall of Terra. While small, their advanced technology were almost a match for the three to one odds stacked against them. Rook called for backup and the Associated did the same. The Battle of the Rift escalated with the arrival of Zhang's Star League era Marauder and the anti-aircraft Rifleman from Narn's Neandertals. The advantage was shortlived, however, when two enemy Assault 'mechs closed to firing range. The Centurion 2T "Ready for Everything 'Mech" was blasted apart, but Ru was able to eject safely. He was on the ground for a mere fifteen seconds before being crushed by one of the Swaybacks.

Matters quickly grew worse when McShane lost control of his aerofighter. His inner-ear injury, as well as psychological damage from the loss of nearly his entire command, had finally caught up to him. Unconsious and in a steep climb, he was an easy target for an enemy Starfury. As the fighter pulled up behind him, Anna broke cover to shoot it down. Suffering the same fate herself, she ejected over the grassy plains as her TR-10 Transit detonated in the sky above her. She landed safely, calling for a pickup from the DZ forces before the Associates came back to finish her off. McShane regained his senses enough to make it to orbit and dock with the 213th's dropship.

As the assault 'mechs of Morden's Associates closed in, Rook began to sweep the 213th into the rift for cover. The enemy 'mechs then moved to cut off their route to the gas storage area, but Zhang defiantly stood his ground--trading ER PPC for Gauss Rifle shots. He closed with the two massive machines, giving the 213th and the Rifleman time to break for their objective. Lord Mikael Zhang held off as long as he could before being beaten down to the ground. In one last act of defiance he overloaded his fusion reactor, taking his Star Leage 'mech and one of the enemy assult vehicles with him. Now free to pursue, the Associate Goliath slammed a Gauss round into the leg of Polecat's damage Champion. Hitting the ground hard, he motioned for the others to continue. The Rifleman pilot, Balthazar, flipped his arms around to fire at the Goliath as he ran. Sadly, neither he nor Polecat's desperate firing could stop the huge four-legged 'mech from trampling the Champion into scrap. The injured Nikolas was able to eject, but was soon left far behind as the chase continued. The 5th Squadron radioed in that the flatbed truck had picked up Anna and the remains of their 'mech forces were engaging the other Associate lance. The 213th could do little but retreat in a rout before the Goliath until they came upon the tended stockpile of gas. Balthasar and Rook held off the Goliath as best they could while Cal and Alexander threw the neutralizing agent at the piles of cannisters from their open 'mech cocpits. Realizing that they did not have time to properly administer the antidote, the 213th opened fire on the gas--releasing it and the cure in a boiling black-green cloud. Rushing through the cloud for cover, Rook called in the dropship for immediate evac. Sprinting away from the Goliath on the open plains, the 213th loaded up into the union-class droipship under Gauss Rifle fire. Lifting off, they made a short hop to pick up Anna and the 5th's support personnel. Burning for orbit, they chased by enemy aerofighters--slowing only to recover Maggie and Kirsten. The unnamed union quickly threw off the aerofighters when they kicked in the interplanetary drives, heading for the unoccupied Nadir jump point. The Union-CV that had captured their jumpship at the Zenith point began to burn for intercept, but Vaelin assured Rook that it would not catch them before they got to the Nadir point. The only problem was finding a jumpship to get them out of the system.

Deciding to cross that bridge when they came to it, the team took its first breather in days. The techies began repairs of the 'mechs and fighers while Maggie looked after McShane, officially grounding him from further flight duty until Rook said otherwise. Cal managed to get the link to the Sherai ComStar station working, and was able to get one situational update through to Tikonov before being jammed by the Associates. He also received a very strange warning from Vorla, the odd little Capellan herbal healer. Rook got a border-update from Vaelin, both wondering what to make of it. Deciding to be better safe than sorry, they kicked the ship up to a 2g burn and rested while they had the chance.

Symbol of the Blessed Order of ComStar

Approaching the Nadir jump point with the Associate Union-CV just two days behind them, they came upon an unexpected jumpship just folding in its solar sail. The ship was a modified Scout-class vessel with what looked to be a fairly well-built gravity deck just behind the command pod section. The ship was painted white, but had a large ComStar symbol opposite the docking collar. Vaelin immediatly got on the com and secured them permission to dock. A strange scene followed when the officers of the 213th drifted in their Capellan dress-uniforms through the airlock and into the Spindrift Voyager. They were greeted by the small contingent of people from the JumpShip, among then the Captain and two obvious security guards. They all wore the classic ComStar robes, but they were cut and resewn to form a sort of baggy pants for ease of use in zero-g. The captain expressed more and more disbelief as each member of the 213th slid into his ship: Rook the Capellan officer, Cal the Terran exile, and lastly Alexander from New Syrtis--who surprised him most of all. Cal was almost refused entry until Vaelin vouched for him. They were ushered into a map-room in the upper decks as Nikol and the two guards steadfastly kept the rest of the team from "accidently" wandering into the jumpship. The ComStar crew were on a mission of their own, which they did not wish to discuss with the 213th present, and were initially unwilling to assist the beleagered Capellan unit despite Vaelin's urgings of the need to act quickly. It wasn't until the massive electro-magnetic spike of an incomming jumpship did the crew even seem vaguely interested. Nevertheless, what came out of jump was something that soon got everyone's attention. Gliding over the reletively small Explorer-class jumpship was a vessel large enough to eclipse the sun. Easily three times as long as the ComStar vessel, and painted the same mottled black as the Associate vehicles, it began launching fighters as it slowly started powering up its massive engines. Unable to safely jump this close to the drifting behemoth, the captain ordered the Spindrift Voyager's engines brought to full burn. Kicking up to an impressive .5g, the smaller ship lurched at the armored giant just as the computers finally got a hull match: The vessel was a Star League era Lola-class destroyer. While considered a smaller ship in those days, it was still nevertheless a WarShip--armed and dangerous. The little Explorer burned under the belly of the Lola, putting the larger ship's engines facing them. Continuing to flee as the fighters drew ever closer, the captain ordered the jump just as the screaming Starfuries closed to firing range. Blown in what seemed to be infinate directions at once, the Spindrift Voyager flung itself safely across thirty light-years to an uncolonized blue giant near Ningpo. Feeling themselves safe for the moment, the 213th scrambled back abord their Union-class dropship to see if everyone was ok. The had just made it to the bridge when they saw the impossible--the Lola shimmering into existance with it's fusion engines burning. Unable to explain how they had been followed, or even how the ship had jumped a second time without the required jump-charge, the bulk of the 213th were stunned. Cal and Vaelin both leapt at the com, shouting in unison for the captain to engage the Lithium-fusion batteries and jump again. Not understanding, the crew held on to anything they could grab before the ship was flung yet again through a jump. Cal managed to have everyone swear they would tell no one what just happened before doubling over with nausea. Meeting again with the captain and officers of the Voyager, the selected members of the 213th were informed that they were orbiting a red giant near Yangtze that had once been the site of a Star League steller research station. The crew was busy unfurling the solar-sail, as they had used up the last of their emergency batteries. Figuring that they had four days before the core was recharged, the captain informed them that the Lola would be able to jump in-system in about three and a half. They had attempted to find the orbiting station, hoping to pull a quickcharge from its automated recharging facilities, but were unable to locate the station. Instead, they had found what looked to be another ship in orbit. The captain brought up a holo display showing a grainy image of an armored jumpship. Twice as long as the Spindrift Voyager, the white hull was pitted with age and the main solar-sail was shreaded. The secondary sail had been deployed and looked to be intact, but even more puzzling was that the running lights seemed to be active. The navigation officer informed them that the other ship's orbit was not stable, and that it had most likely drifted into this system in the last fifty years. With nothing to lose and time to kill, the 213th were asked to take their dropship over for a look.

On the way over, in the morning of January 15th, Maggie sat down to work on what she called her "visual map of the 213th's current politial situation." At the time she lumped the 127th in with the 213th, as their political standings seemed to run parrallel--of course this could always change later. Hoping that Pavel was still alive, she included him onto the map almost as a hindsight. Giving it to Rook and Cal, they all set down to try and figure out what to do next.

Previous Members:

Name: Rank: Player: Vehicle: Coloring: Notes: Status:
Lance Dawson,
Betelguese 		Recruit Heather
Ramirez		 50T TR-10 Transit 6 9 Royal purple with canary yellow edges "My Airplane"
Standard Model		 Held by ComStar for attacking the Foot Fall HPG-B station on 21 September 3027
Baroness Ekaterina Sabunova,
Capella 		Lance Corporal Sally
Hickey		 5T Wheeled ICE Vehicle 11 17 Futurist Silver "The Little Zoomer"
Stolen ground-car		 Held for questioning by Maskirovka on 29 September 3027
Cletus Ichabod Coontucket III,
Old Kentucky 		Recruit Kyle
Drayton		 65T GNRL-1E General Lee 463 International orange with Confederate flag on torso "General Lee"
Custom built mutie-mech		 Transferred to the 5th Squadron on 2 October 3027
Baron-designate Silas "Max"imillian Tanager,
Exador 		Lance Corporal Ryan
Holland		 30T SPH-1L Sparrowhawk 11 17 White with twin red racing stripes "Eat & Run II"
Salvaged Davion conversion		 Transferred to the 5th Squadron on 2 October 3027
Arthur "Epsilon" Heathrow,
Terra 		Lance Corporal (Acolyte I-epsilon) NPC 70T LBW-1L Longbow 464 Capellan desert cammo "Battle of Hastings"
Stripped-down ComGuard original		 Killed in a mining "accident" on Valexa, 21 October 3027
Sir Gregory Hasek,
New Syrtis 		Defector NPC KR-61 Long Range Shuttle Hasek-Davion Diplomatic "Stolen"
Captured on Valexa		 Left for Sian on 8 November 3027
Shain Madden,
Hunk		 Lance Corporal Lisa
Specking		 75T ON2-L Orion 460 Liao Rolling Plains Cammo with starburst on right shoulder "Rude Awakening"
Sleepers Modification of Liao version 		Left for Sian on 26 December 3027
Nikolas "Polecat" Pokatilov,
Terra Firma		 Lance Corporal NPC 60T CHP-1N Champion 580 Davion 1st Kestrel Grenadiers "Shut-Eye"
AFFS 2784 Version 		Missing in Action, Planet Sherai, 13 January 3028
Ru Nguyen,
Capella		 Recruit NPC
P4 G4		 55T CN9-2T Centurion 580 Liao Rolling Plains Cammo "R.E.M. (Ready for Everything 'Mech)"
Sleepers Modification		 Killed in Action, Planet Sherai, 13 January 3028

Battletech

The 213th can be contacted at Unit213@sarna2.liao.mil through any Comstar HGP transmitter.
Thank-you for your interest, and Long Live the Capellan Confederation!

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Last Updated: 6/20/00
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