I don't own Battletech or Mechwarrior. Topps does all hail Battlemechs and Baseball cards,
Chapter 1
Silesia, Solaris City
Solaris VII
Lyran Commonwealth
November 15, 3070
It was midnight on Solaris VII, but Thor's Shieldhall was almost empty. The former champ, Bobby Jenkins from the Word of Blake, had just been killed by Chris Gamora, a fan favorite hailing from the Federated Suns. However, the famous nightclub was doing slow business. The Word of Blake had cleared out the club every hour on the hour.
There was one portion of the club even the Word of Blake would not dare intrude upon. Valhalla, the exclusive club for the elite of the Solaris VII's 'Mech arena circuit, was much more subdued than the gaudy nightclub downstairs. The clientele of Valhalla was a strange mix of 'Mech Jocks, 'Mech stable owners, and castoff nobles. The room was decorated like a Norse banquet hall with a large wooden table that stretched from one end of the large room to the other. Patrons sat on a long wooden bench, and the only lighting in the room was a few well placed torches. Around the outside wall of the room were private alcoves used by the elite of Solaris, and they were more coveted than the championship. In one these alcoves a lone man looked over the party being thrown in Chris Gamora's honor.
Jonan Gregor's eyes stung from looking at the data pad all night. He was a small man with brown hair. His face was aged from the stress of many battles. He knew he needed to sleep, but he also knew his work was far from done. Jonan had a problem. A veteran of the Clan war and the FedCom Civil War, he had been on Tharkad when the Katherine Steiner Loyalists had been defeated. He had also seen two thirds of his mercenary regiment killed in the bloody fighting alongside of the Kell Hounds during the War.
Jonan had immediately sent messages to his contacts on Outreach to get a short list of reliable Mechwarriors needing jobs. Jonan had gotten the response the same day The Word of Blake launched their assault on humanity.
After sending out invitations to the various Mechwarriors, Jonan found that most of them had been based on Outreach. Unfortunately, none of the targets on Outreach received their invites. The Word of Blake arrived first.
The hardware was much easier to come by. Jonan had lined up replacement Battlemechs and Aerospace fighters. The fighters were delivered easily, and Jonan would only order the 'Mechs for delivery if the mechwarriors he hired were dispossessed.
Jonan had at first contacted the old hiring halls of Galatea after the fall of Outreach. Unfortunately, that avenue was soon cut off as well when the Word of Blake arrived on Solaris VII. While they did not interdict most communications, they did not hesitate to refuse business to a known associate of the Kell Hounds.
Jonan had been lucky and had gotten answers from Galatea before the Word had shut him down. He was able to fill nearly all of his lances as well as his air wing. Unfortunately he was a 'Mech company short. He knew that he could not get into the fight against the Word of Blake if his unit was not up to full strength.
Jonan had decided to comb the arenas of Solaris VII to fill out his last company. He knew this was risky. He knew that being a hot Solaris Jock and a reliable Mechwarrior were not always one and the same. He also had to be careful since many of Solaris VII's fighters had sided with the Word of Blake during the invasion, even going so far as to kill their stable mates in the fighting. After the fighting in Solaris City had died down, there was an uneasy truce between the Blakists and the rest of the population that had not fled the city.
Jonan had been successful in rebuilding his lances, but he needed one more warrior to fill out his battalion. He had been reviewing the same dossier for hours. The only name left was the only one that made any sense. The problem was that he hated the owner of the name on the data pad. He was an excellent mechwarrior with battlefield experience, but he was also smug and arrogant. The events earlier that night would probably make that worse. However, Jonan could not escape it; he had to recruit Chris Gamora.
Recruiting Gamora would be easier said than done. Gamora was an independent fighter, which meant he did not fight for a stable. That was probably how he was able to fly enough below the Word of Blake's radar to get into a title match, let alone win. While he would promote himself, most of the other veteran fighters on Solaris VII hated him and disregarded him in the news vids.
Jonan had been spending the whole night figuring out how he would go about recruiting the notoriously difficult Gamora, and he thought he might have a plan.
Most of the people celebrating tonight were not necessarily there because of Chris Gamora, but there because of the defeat of the Blakist champion. Gamora was far from the center of attention. Gamora was a pretty boy. Unlike many mechwarriors, he wore his blond hair long. He sat at a dais reserved for the champion at the head of the long table. He lorded over his domain with a bored look. He hated not being the center of attention.
Jonan steeled himself for what he had to do. He left the safety of his alcove and made his way to the dais. He walked up behind Gamora and leaned in. "We need to talk, Gamora."
Gamora snorted.
"I'm not joking, kid. You should really come meet me in my alcove."
"All right 'Dad'," said Gamora with a sneer.
Gamora followed Jonan back to the alcove. After motioning to Gamora to take a seat Jonan sat down and immediately switched on the white noise generator so that they could not be heard from the outside.
Gamora started. "I don't know what you heard about me but……."
"Shut up you idiot," Jonan cut him off. "Before you get comfortable as the new champion you should remember what happened to the last champion that didn't wear a robe and worship a toaster."
Gamora tried to speak.
"I said shut up, idiot. I have a proposition for you. Personally I don't care if you ever defend that championship or not. But it would be a shame if a mechwarrior of your caliber were to be killed in his sleep, or on the way home, or in a sabotaged 'Mech. So like I said, I have an offer for you. More to the point, I have a job offer for you. I need another lance commander. Most of the people I pulled out of the stables on Solaris are good fighters but they have little to no battlefield experience and I don't have enough reliable people to lead all my lances. I know you fought during the civil war. If you join the Moon Knights you'll be under our protection."
"Well what's to stop the Word of Blake from just coming after me in your stable's compound?"
"Do I detect a hint of fear in your voice? Well to assuage your fears you should know that as soon as possible we will getting off this rock."
"Well now, that's great, but one question. How do you plan on getting past the Blakist air superiority, and even if you do, how are you gonna get out of system? Last I heard the robes weren't allowing any jumpships to stay in system."
"Well it wouldn't be a secret plan if I went around telling anyone who asked. You could decline my offer, get picked up by some ROM agent and after a few, let's say, minutes of torture you give up my plans right before they shoot you in the head. Or take you to the Coliseum and let you 'defend your title'."
"Why would they pick me up for talking to you?"
"Well, I spotted at least two ROM agents in Valhalla tonight." Gamora gave a stunned look. "Don't be shocked. It's no secret that the robes have a fairly inept intelligence service. Plus, those two were a little too happy about your win tonight. I noticed that they were the only ones to give you more than a passing congratulation."
"When you put it that way, I can't really refuse can I? I guess I will take you up on your offer."
"Good." Jonan smiled and hit a button on his comlink. "Our escorts should be outside in a few minutes. Oh, by the way, welcome to the Moon Knights." Jonan heard the rumble of his unit's 'Mechs heading toward Thor's Shieldhall.
After waiting about 10 minutes Jonan took Gamora down to the exit. As they left the club, Chris Gamora saw for the first time the Moon Knights' elite assault lance. Each of the four 'Mechs was painted pitch black with the exception of a silvery crescent moon on the right leg. The four massive assault 'Mechs, a Marauder II, a Battlemaster, a clan built Masakari, and a brand new AS7-S2 Atlas stood surrounding the limo. Gamora shuttered when he saw the heavy gauss rifle mounted on the Atlas. The two mechwarriors hurried into the car. Flanked by the assault mesh they sped off into the night.