The Solaris Irregulars
Part 3: Raw Recruits
Thor's Shieldhall, Silesia
Solaris City, Solaris VII
Lyran Alliance
Clark looked at the five MechWarriors before him; Out of the hundreds of pilots on Solaris VII, they where the only ones willing to help him fight Word of Blake. The only good thing to say about them where that they where all experienced, some even had combat-time.
He sat at a table with a note puter in his hand, and one by one, called the volunteers up. The first was a tall, dark-skinned man. Cairo held his light pen over the computer screen "Name?"
"Hawk-that-Settles" the man said in a dry voice that seemed older than he was.
"Rank?"
"MechWarrior."
"Do you have a Mech?" The tall man shock his head. Cairo sighed "Go talk to Sergeant McCoy, he will assign you one." Hawk nodded and walked over to the next table.
The second man before Cairo seemed to be of Japanese descent, but it was hard to tell in the dark bar. "Name?"
"Akira Takayama" the man said with almost no hint of accent.
"Rank?"
"MechWarrior".
"Do you have a Mech?" Cairo asked, ready to send the man to McCoy.
"I have a RVN-3L Raven that is in need of some repair, but is in good working order none the less."
Cairo smiled "Go talk to Lt. Dancer for lance assignment." Takayama bowed and stepped to the side.
A tall, chestnut haired woman stood before Cairo. He looked up at her "Name?"
"Elizabeth Carpenter."
"Rank?"
"Sergeant."
"Do you have a Mech?"
The woman nodded in curt military fashion "A TLR1-O Templar."
Cairo was impressed: very few of the new Federated Sun's OmniMech's had made it as far as the Lyran Alliance. "Go talk to Lt. Dancer for lance assignment." Sgt Carpenter saluted and marched over to Dancers table.
Sinead walked through the door with two men in Wolf Dragoon's uniform in tow. They stood to attention behind her as she spoke to he husband "Privet René Alphonse and MechWarrior Josh, formally of Clan Jade Falcon. They made it this far, and when they heard you where looking for help, they came looking for me."
Cairo nodded; his distrust of the Dragoon's still not lifted "Do they have Mechs?"
Sinead handed over a disc for his note-puter "René has a NSR-9J Nightstar, and Josh has a Timber Wolf, but only enough spare-parts for the Primary variant."
Cairo nodded "Take them over to Rob for lance assignment." His wife smiled at him, and then walked off.
A slight, raven hair woman stood before Cairo. He looked her over "Name?"
"Kerry Slone."
"Rank?"
"MechWarrior."
"Do you have a Mech?"
"A Shadow Cat Prime." The woman nodded eagerly.
Cairo thought about asking her a question, but changed his mind "Go talk to Lt. Dancer for lance assignment."
The last volunteer stood before Cairo, almost blocking the light as he did. The mountain of a man must have stood two-meters tall, and was almost as heavily built as one of Rix's Elementals. Despite this, there was genteelness to the way he stood and looked. Cairo picked up his note-puter "Name?"
"Vassili Dante."
"Rank?"
"MechWarrior."
"Do you have a Mech?"
The bear of a man smiled weekly "I am afraid that I am disposed at this time."
Cairo understood how that could fell: being a MechWarrior without a BattleMech was like being a painter without a paintbrush. "Go talk to Sergeant McCoy, he will assign you one."
Dante smiled, showing off an immaculate set of teeth "Thank you sir."
Two hours later Cairo sat with Sinead, Dancer and McCoy. He looked over the files on the new members of the unit "Ok, Sinead and I will lead up the Command Lance with MechWarrior Josh andHawk-that-Settles. Rob, you take the Battle Lance with Carpenter, Alphonse and Dante. It means letting go of your Centurion, but I need someone I know in charge." The Combine Warrior nodded. Cairo tapped a few commands into his note-puter and continued "Rebecca will take the Recon Lance with Slone and Takayama. We are still one light-Mech short, but Rix and his boy's and girls can off-set that." The other three nodded their agreement.
There was a slight breeze as Clearwater walked in "Ah, Captain, glad to see you have this all salted out. I have arranged transport for your unit, and I have outdone myself." The Precentor said with a wolverine smile.
To Be Continued...