Well....This sucks

[Solem'cleavu]

((and now to mix a little BattleTech in here for funsies.))

 

It WAS supposed to be a standard combat drop from high orbit.  Of course it was also supposed to be a simple assault on a weapons depot and thus shouldn't have required a combat drop from high orbit to begin with.  Apparently things weren't so standard and simple for Colonel Karl Rainer of the mercenary company Crimson Raven as his mech's drop can was ejected from their dropship the Raven's Talon...

 

 

You see this was a bit of an odd job that came across the Colonel as he was sifting through available contracts.   It seemed simple enough, just fly in and assault a weapons depot.  The pay looked to be a bit high for such a simple job but as it turns out the contract was deep in House Kuritan space on an industrial planet in the Benjamin system so the slightly higher pay seemed at the time to check out.  So without further ado he had accepted the contract after talking it over with his command team and off they went to Benjamin...  Only to burn into planetary orbit above Benjamin III when there was already an intense battle going on with various Aerospace assets buzzing about all over the place attempting to secure the area for any one of the four other dropships attempting planetary approach, apparently they weren't the only ones hired.  Well, rather than risk his own dropship in that mess it was decided to go ahead and drop the lance from orbit and have the dropship get the hell out of there until things more or less calm down.

 

Now this could be where one would say that the crap at least started to hit the fan.  Not only was he taking some light fire to the ceramic shell of the drop can, which to be fair was definitely expected given the situation, but no sooner than the drop can reached target altitude and started to jettison the ceramic shell and allow the remaining heat from re-entry burn away the rest of the cocoon that was under the ceramic plating as the sensors feeding various bit of information into the cockpit of the Col's Marauder II started going haywire and even causing a bit of discomfort from sensory feedback in his neurohelmet.  Only as the last of the cocoon burned away from over his cockpit glass did he notice a land mostly green with vegetation with hardly any industrial buildings in sight.  A land, mind you, that was currently approaching faster than expected.  Slamming both feet into the foot pedals of the 100 ton battlemech he fired the jump jets located in his mech’s rear center torso and legs at full burn in an attempt to slow his descent.

 

At this he was only partially successful.  While he did slow it down enough to not cause any major damage to the legs the mech's right foot, however, was not quite in proper position and ended up snagging on a rather raised portion of the ground causing the mech's balance to tip too much for the gyroscope to correct causing the nearly 60ft tall monstrosity to come crashing down into the ground.  Fortunately it had fallen straight forward with the legs stretched out behind it and also fortunately Col Rainer had somehow managed to keep the weapon arms from being caught up too much in the fall, granted with a hell of a lot of cursing as the mech was falling.  However it wasn't without injury though as the feedback through his neurohelmet from the impact did cause him to black out in the cockpit.   The system not determining any damage bad enough to force an eject. Only waking up just as any of the locals would be coming into view whenever that may be.

 

This whole scene however, from his unceremonious ejection from a portal opening up in the skies above the Militant base camp, to his slightly more unceremonious descent and landing somewhere halfway between the Militant Camp and the Huerfang estate, was clearly visible to anyone in the region.

 

*********************************************************

 

 

 

 

[Cptdragon9]

The Militant camp was buzzing along as to whatever morning routine it had set in.  In fact, not much hullabaloo had happened for quite a while; the Mutant’s hadn’t declared war in them this month, in fact Blue was doing quite well in his studies (despite his occasional impromptu field trips).  The projects with the Vashtalian and Lahnian nations were chugging along, even with the red tape involved.  Cross training between the draconic forces and his own people were coming along swimmingly.

 

In fact it was rather quite until it wasn’t.  It first started with an alarm within the bivouac as scanner picked up an atmospheric anomaly, one that was verified with an actual boom high above the bivouac.  The Colonel himself strained to look upwards, shielding the morning light from his eyes.  “What the?” he frowned before gesturing to his second, yet another youthful ensign looking to rise up in the ranks by cozying up to the head honcho.  “Send out inquiries Lahnia.  Find out if they’re running new drills.”  As the skinny kid turned to patch into the network, the Colonel spun about on his foot, heading to security, pretty sure they were already trying to figure out what was up there.

 

He stepped into the ops building to a frantic buzzing of activity.  Three screens were up, honing in on the craft.  “It’s definitely falling, sir,” the shift lead advised the Colonel.  “Scanners say there was a temporal distortion approximately 22 spans above us, just below the edge of the atmospheric level.  Looks like whatever came through was in a shell… you can see the pieces above the main craft, falling at a slower decent.”  The lead now pointed to the main screen where many people were collected, parting the way so their fearless leader could see.  “It’s in free, fall.  We don’t see any propulsion slowing decent, and it’s not streamlined enough to take g- stress … no.. wait… there… Jets from below.  It’s an active craft!”

 

The Colonel frowned again. It didn’t look like any craft the Militants had come across.  In fact as the scope zoomed in, it looked more like some sort of oversized heavy duty combat suit than any sort of space craft.  He then snapped his fingers, drawing attention to himself.  “Get Anso out there with a full contact team with med units.”  He then tapped on his com-link with Vashtalia.  The Colonel had ended up adding the gem to his wrist com, though he usually left Lord Dracon to his own devices.  He was pretty sure however that the Dragon king would like to be kept abreast of something like this.  “Hello, I need to speak to Lord Dracon.  This is an emergency….”

[Solem'cleavu]

The response from Lahnia was short.  “Sorry not one of ours but Prier says she’s bored so she’ll go with you to investigate.”

 

Shortly after Dracon responded to the Colonel.  “You do realize you don’t need to say you’re looking for me.  Just think about who you wish to contact and the unit will do the rest.  Anyway I’ll be right over soon as I pick up Lady Prier from Lahnia, looks like they contacted Claw.”

 

Then about five minutes later Dracon would appear at the entrance to the Militant Camp with Prier in tow as well as a couple of Excelsior units.  Drac going up to one of the guards on duty.  “Not exactly sure what the emergency is but if one of you wouldn’t mind showing us to the Colonel?”

[Cptdragon9]

 

The strange metallic object hadn’t just caught the attention of the Bivouac.  The sound of the craft breaking through the atmosphere with a thunderous crack had caught the attention of several of the serfs working the grounds around the Huerfang Castle.  While most of the servants were used to see the occasional passing of a dragon, or the occasional strange metal machines the Militants used to travel to the castle to visit, the size and height from which this particular silver suit appeared from, and the sound it made from so high above, rattled them.  Soon the council was in a panic, most moving to the windows to see it plummeting from the sky.  Estelle herself came out to see, watching in horror as the metal suit slammed into the ground.  She wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw something shooting out from its feet, like a bit blast of air, which seemed to slow it down just a bit.   Still, it had made just as loud of a sound when it crashed as the boom from high above. 

 

She moved before the council did, before Anyone did, grabbing her medical bag and a cape before rushing from the castle.  The stableboy barely had enough time to bring her mount, a spirited young bay mare; she quickly swung up onto her back and kicked her into a gallop.  Two guardsmen had been trailing her from the castle, taking a bit longer to tackle and mount their larger chargers, before galloping after her.  She didn’t wait for them.  She surely didn’t want to go through the whole headache of getting permission from the council to do anything and clearly whoever was in the metal suit would need help.  He (or she) might need medical attention and with what she had learned she was sure she could help.

 

When the trio thundered up to the suit, Estelle couldn’t help but gawk.  She had seen some of the “mech” suits when visiting Vashtalia; but she hadn’t seen one this large.  It didn’t look like the mecha, nor did it look like anything the Militants were working on.  As she rolled her gaze around, she saw the body and a gasp escaped her as she flung herself off her horse, medicine bag in hand as she ran over.  Again her guardsmen were a bit slower, unable to catch up to her, only able to draw their swords as they came running up.  By then Estelle was kneeling next to the prone man, listening closely to his chest to see if he was still breathing.

 

 

 

[Cptdragon9]

In between the time that he'd gotten from Lahnia and Vashtalia, and the actual arrival of the dragon lord and his entourage, the Colonel's people had also mobilized.  Several ATV's had been brought up from the garage, half a dozen singled manned scout vehicles and two larger 8 wheeled mounted cannon that could carry a complement of 10 men.  The larger vehicles had electronics that could scan the craft once they got close enough, giving them something to analyze.

 

What had caught him unawares was the ensign whom had been trying to catch his attention.  When there was a lull in the buzz, he turned; only to realize what he had asked the young man to do.  Anso.  It was so hard to remember that his right hand was no longer.  He gave a pause and then engaged.  “Round up Blue and Maurice.  We might have need of Blue’s talents, and its about time he took some time in the field.”  The mutant was normally buried in his studies, and his artwork.  It was about time he learned to work with the rest of the bivouac, and for the Militants to also work with him in kind.  With Maurice on hand, it should go smooth enough.

 

With that Drac showed up with his armored entourage.  The Colonel gestured for the dragon to look at the screens on the display.  One was showing a repeat loop of the suit in freefall to impact, the other a live feed.  It wasn’t as clear but as they watched, they could see the three horses arriving on scene…..

[Solem'cleavu]

((He...never got ejected from the cockpit, just kinda passed out in his seat for a bit.))

 

When Karl woke up from his brief nap he did look outside of his cockpit glass to get his bearings.  Once again noticing the distinct lack of any industrial base and that he was surrounded by trees he shook his head as much as he could while still wearing that neurohelmet before he immediately opened up his comms.  “Raven Actual this is Raven 1 do you copy?   Ravens 2, 3, 4 come in.”  Trying every one of his company’s standard frequencies before also switching to open channels and repeating his hails before he finally just killed the comms, leaned back into his seat a bit then closed his eyes and sighed.  “Well… This sucks.  Just where in the hell did I end up anyway?”

 

After some few moments he opened his eyes to take another look outside through the glass of his cockpit only to see a young fancily dressed girl pretty much plastering herself against the glass to get a better look at what was inside, or most likely saw him and wanted to see if he was still alive or something, which made him jump in his seat a bit.  Thankfully he didn’t bump any controls and possibly end up hurting the girl. “Holy..!  Where the fuck did she come from?!”  Tapping a few more buttons as he activated the external loudspeaker he had installed he decided to try a few different languages since he wasn’t sure what they spoke around wherever it was he ended up.  Starting with English he proceeded through various others to see if he got some kind of acknowledgement or response from the girl or the others he saw brandishing some rather outdated weapons.   “Um…Hello?  I don’t know if you can understand me but I really need you to back away now so I can get this baby stood up and off her belly.”  Simply repeating this in whatever languages he knew which quite frankly wasn’t many but hopefully one would catch on and he’d possibly be able to get some answers.  Accompanying this as well with some hand gestures in case the spoken language didn’t work maybe gestures would get his intentions across.

 

From what Estelle was able to see she wouldn’t be able to get a clear look at his face due to the neurohelmet he was wearing covering his head and resting on his shoulders but she could see that he was fairly light skinned albeit with a slight tan, muscular, and that he wasn’t really wearing much aside from a tank-top and shorts.

[Solem'cleavu]

**Militant Camp**

 

With Drac and Prier being ushered into where the Colonel was at both just watched the screens they were shown.  Drac looking intently at the live feed even as the horses came in.  Quirking a brow before he looked out in the direction of the crash squinting his eyes a bit as if trying to see in the distance.  "This presence, When did young miss Huerfang return to her estate?  I thought she was still in Vashtalia.  Well no matter."  Ending his little bit of curiosity with a shrug he returned his attention to the Colonel looking genuinely confused about something.  "So...looks like we just have another off-worlder that got dumped here.  Failing to see the actual emergency here."

 

It was Prier then that answered for the Colonel.  "I think it's the fact that this thing looks like some kind of bipedal combat vehicle as tall as one of you dragons that's the emergency here Lord Dracon."

 

"Oh that thing?  Still failing to see the emergency here since it doesn't seem quick to be showing any hostile moves so far.  Then again that could be because whoever is in there realizes that those three aren't going to be able to do any damage anyway."

[Dante Draconia Windwalker]

:::Blue had been stuck in his studies when he was ordered to join the division going out into the field to approach the metal monster that had fallen out of the sky. He sighed but got up and did as he was told. The boy had become quite special in the ranks. He had shot up in his height. He was almost as tall as Maurice and his black hair was combed back from his face and tied with a black leather string. His expressive blue eyes seemed to glow as his talents ramped up like radar. He was known for being quiet and having an affinity for art. He wondered why he was being sent out into the field today and so suddenly.::::

[Cptdragon9]

The Colonel sighed, perhaps a little frustrated at Lord Dracon's lack of concern, somethingn that seemed to be mirrored by the Lady Prier, which was something he appreciated.  "My concerns are the same as Miss Prier's, doubled now that I see the Lady Huerfang is on the scene.  That Does look like a battlesuit, and there might be more, perhaps from a spacecraft.  Do we need another invasion?"  He moved from the displays out to the group assembled,  "I need the area contained, and the Huerfangs protected from any possible threat.  Cadet Blue, please see if you can read anything from the suit.  It might not be automated, and if it is manned, I need to know what their intent is."  With that he saluted his troops and they followed suit before heading out on the ATV's.  "They should be there in 7 minutes."

[Cptdragon9]

The Lady Huerfang was indeed very interested in the suit, more interested in the man inside.  How was he able to move about in something so large?  She tapped the glass until she heard the man's voice, large and thunderous, asking her to back away.  Strange dialect, but she got sense of it.  "Are you injured, Sirrah?  I can help."  She reluctantly backed up through, wondering if the suit had enough manna to move.

[Solem'cleavu]

((decided to go ahead and move this topic under Huerfang.  Also, made some edits.))

 

***Militant Camp***

 

Drac had simply shrugged at that point.  "Look I understand your concern on that but nothing about this yells out as hostile to me.  Old Claw may be able to make a better determination on this but just from the residual traces of the portal I'm feeling, faint as they are to me since I am not as attuned to this sort of thing as Claw is nor do I know the spells necessary to check this out properly, it feels just like any other old portal that randomly pops up every so often on this world.  Besides just looking at the footage you captured it does seem like whoever was in that thing panicked as if they were in a spot that they weren't expecting so I doubt this was actually intentional to begin with."

 

Prier for her part simply shrugged and looked over to the Colonel with a smirk.  "Red Dragons, am I right?"  Which promptly did earn her a quick light bonk on the head from Dracon "and what is that supposed to mean?"

 

"Only that I learned over time that you red dragons in particular don't seem to find much threatening?"  Prier retorted even as she rubbed the spot on her head that was bonked.  "Although I myself don't really see much being truly threatening to you guys us humans do need to take a bit more care when encountering these things. That thing out there looks like it can just crush my little Excelsiors here pretty easily underfoot if it happens to catch them after all."

 

***Crash site***

 

Oh thank whatever gods they worship in these parts that these people seemed to understand him.  Still not entirely sure if they understood his words or his body language but their words seemed to be an odd dialect with English as a base as he was able to catch a couple words there himself through the external audio pickups.  Indicating through his body language that no he wasn't injured but that she should continue to back up.  Once the girl was backed up far enough though he planted himself more firmly in his seat and began operating the controls.  First manipulating the arms so they swung around and planted the ends of the weapon arms into the ground to start lifting the mech back up and backwards attempting to rock the mech back onto its feet.  Easing the throttle to start causing the legs to move then getting one of them underneath him then coaxing the gyroscope to throw his mech's balance to the other side so he can get the other leg up.  Once he was upright enough he activated his jump jets again in short bursts to help the unit get fully upright and on her feet.  Once done he stood the mech up to it's full height, twisting the torso portion of the mech left and right to get a good look at his surroundings as he spoke to himself.  "Well, guess we ain't in Kuritan space anymore are we?  Almost nothing but trees as far as the eye can see..hmm?"  It was then that he heard the blip of new contacts coming into range of his radar.  Turning the entire mech around to face these new contacts he couldn't quite see them through the thickets of trees so they must have been small. "Well I guess this is more of the locals, guess it wouldn't do to greet them while pointing my weapons at them.  Waste of ammo and I don't feel like spiking the heat up in here.  Hot enough as it is." 

 

Lowering the mech into more of a squatting position before shutting her down he removed the neurohelmet from his head and shoulders before placing it up on a shelf above his seat before he began unstrapping himself from his seat and getting up.  Pulling his needler pistol from storage along with his Mauser 960, after all he still wasn't sure if these people were hostile or not, then holstering the pistol and slinging the rifle over his shoulder with its strap.  Afterwards he opened the cockpit hatched and stepped out onto the edge close to the left shoulder of the mech before climbing down using a series of strategically placed handholds.  Once on the ground he took yet another look around to survey the torn up earth along with a few trees that were knocked down from his less than graceful landing.  Speaking to himself he did end up voicing his thoughts loud enough for other three to hear as they would inevitably start making their way to him.  "Well looks like I really made a mess of this area huh."

 

Once Estelle would get close enough she would be able to get a clear look at the man she was looking at through the faintly tinted cockpit glass.  Less tan than he looked while looking from the outside in he was standing at around six feet tall, wearing the aforementioned tank-top and cargo shorts with the holstered pistol at his right hip and rifle hanging from his left shoulder.  With a full head of short medium-brown hair and a full beard of the same color over all the man was relatively muscular in stature with one of his most identifiable features being a scar that ran from his right cheekbone down to his jaw line creating a line of bare skin through his beard.

******************

((hooray for AI generated art I guess.))

[Cptdragon9]

Estelle and her esorts watched wide-eyed as the metal suit moved ponderously, slowly settling into a seated position.  The princess had seen the Excelsior suits, but they seemed quite dwarfed to this monstrous piece of armor.  It seemed to have enough manna to move.  She would have to contact Vashtalia if they needed more as she was sure that something this big would need either more raw magic, or a powerful spell to move it.  Once it settled she stepped forward a little, looking up towards the headpiece.  The armor had some damage, and it had falled from quite a height, so she was still concerned for the person inside.  "Hello?" she called out again, making out movement inside; a man finally emerged from the top of the armor wearing more clothing like some of the Militants did when they worked out in the open.  It was plain, but one did not wear their fancy best when performing manual labor.  The guns she recognized as weapons, again something she'd seen the Militant's practice with, and even the mutant Brimstone had a long muzzled version that he seemed very practiced at.  This man wasn't pointing those guns at her, so she turned to her escorts whom had their swords drawn; frowning at them as she waved her hand downwards.  the got the hint and sheathed their weapons.  The young woman then turned back to the man.  "Dunna worry for the trees.  Are You alright?  That was quite the fall."

 

Pleasantries between the two were soon interrupted as the Militant version of Mad Max came roaring on the scene.  The crew circled around Estelle and the newcomer and his craft, roaring to a halt.  Two of the turrent gun shifted towards the mecha, but a hand waved vehemently from the lead ATV as a man, not nearly as burly as Karl, with sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes in the two tone grey uniform, several yellow and red bars over his left breast pocket.  The guns dropped forward as this man approached the man and the princess with his armed entourage of 8 men.  Estelle perked up and actually waved as they approached.  "Lord Agonzale!"

 

The man nodded his head and he flourished his hand to his brow.  "Lady Huerfang.  Seems you've met the new visitor with little trouble."  By now he'd reached her side before turning to meet the man face to face.  "Welcome to Rhydin.  I'm Lieutenant Commander Agonzale of the Militant Armada.  We saw your descent and have come to offer aide."  The officer's gaze now drifted towards the battlesuit.  "Did you sustain a lot of damage?"

 

 

 

(and yeah, the A.I. thing is okay)

 

[Solem'cleavu]

((edited and reposted))

 

As for the damage it did seem like the armor underneath and around the cockpit was scuffed from when it made impact with the ground and trees after pitching forward like it did but fortunately there didn't seem to be any major damage as the jump jets from earlier had killed the majority of the momentum and merely the fact that he was indeed able to get it stood up indicated, to the pilot anyway, that the actuators weren't all that damaged either.  Although Karl did think he'd have to get it looked at just in case soon as he can figure out where the nearest repair facility was.  Now that the mech was upright however it did certainly look to be an even more impressive sight.  Paint job being mostly black but did have red paint scattered it in what looked like thick jagged lines.  On the ends of the wing-like pieces towards the rear of the mech was an emblem of a raven with it's wings spread.  chest and wing feathers red in color with the bird itself over a solid red circle within a black band and another thinner band of red on the outside of the black band.

 

As Karl had finished surveying the area he made his way over to one of the feet of the mech and took a seat on it when he heard the girl talking to him.  It seemed she overheard him earlier.  Well it was nice to have confirmation that they can talk to each other at least.  "I'm fine little missy no need to worry.  If anything of note was damaged it would likely be my pride.  I really should have landed this girl better.  At any rate I'm Colonel Karl Rainer, Commander of the mercenary company Crimson Raven.  Think you can tell me where I ended up?"

 

Before he could even get an answer though Agonzale and his men would show up.  Soon as he saw the hardware they were packing Karl had gotten up and moved his rifle into his hands and had moved in front of the girl as if to shield her even motioning for her to get behind his Mech's leg as he raised his weapon and took aim as a couple of those vehicles took aim at his mech themselves.  This was short lived though when the man he was assuming to be their leader seemed to wave at them and it also looked like the girl knew the guy as she waved back at him as he dismounted and began walking towards them with a guard contingent.  Karl though only lowered his own weapon when the others stood down before he slung the rifle over his shoulder again quirking a brow at the mention of Rhydin.  Must be the name of either this region or maybe even this world. 

 

Still thinking on whether or not he has ever heard mention of such a world before he held out his hand in greeting once the other man introduced himself.  Hooray two for two on people that he is able to communicate with.  "Colonel Karl Rainer, Commander of the mercenary company Crimson Raven."  As they were still close to his mech he did take his seat again on the left foot of the mech before he wrapped his knuckles on the armor plating a bit.  "Nothing a little polish likely won't fix.  It'll take a lot more than a stumble to damage this old girl.  Fortunately my 'jets killed enough of the momentum in time.

 

Now, let me ask you something.  You mentioned this Rhydin.  Is that the name of this region or this planet?  Can't say I recognize the name of your unit either what Great House are you associated with or are you a periphery military unit?  For that matter who controls the space this planet is in?  Federated Suns?  Taurian Concordat?  Hell before any of that has anyone else from my unit made landfall?"

 

Glancing over at the girl though he just shook his head.  "Actually before all that hey little missy.  It seems I didn't catch your name earlier mind telling it to me?"

 

********************************************

 

[Cptdragon9]

Agonzale qirked a brow when the soldier called Estelle "missy", as it sounded rather condensending.  It was irksome enough for him to reply a bit shortly, but then again it was clear this guy had no idea where, or when, he was.  He rubbed the back of his head.  "Well, I hate to tell you, but you are far-flung from your neck of the woods; much like my ship, and good chunk of my fleet, had been flung.  Not sure what insturments you have on board your craft, but you might have noticed a temporal flux?  An odd burst of energy?  Feeling a little dizzy?  Maybe passed out a bit on re-entry?"  The Militant paused a bit, letting his words sink in a bit before continuing.  "Rhydin is the name of the continent, and sort of the name of the planet as most of the folks here have had no reason to do any space travel, at least not in the normal sense.  We'll get to that."

 

He now gestured to his counterpart.  "This is her Highness, the Lady Estelle Huerfang.  The ground you're standing on is part of her realm."

 

Estelle blushed, but she did curtsy as the Militant introduced her.  "Welcome, Colonel."

[Solem'cleavu]

((Edited the second paragraph.))

 

"Ah, I thought I saw some odd readings just before my drop pod expelled the outer shell as scheduled."  Reaching up to run his hand through his hair at that point in slight annoyance.  "Well, if what you say is true then this is a damn fine mess I found myself in.  Guess I can only hope that the rest of my lance didn't find themselves in a similar situation and that they were able to complete the job without me.  Should have never taken this damn job but the pay was a little too good to pass up you know?  Well no point in complaining about it now although I'd appreciate it if you lot happen to have some star charts of this system I can take a look at to see if I can get my bearings any."  Standing up then as the girl was introduced to him he extended his hand to her as well.  "Well then Miss Huerfang I guess I'm doubly sorry about the damage to your land then and I hope you don't me being a little informal here.  I was never much on the formalities and it isn't like this situation is anywhere close to being a formal setting after all."

Leaning back against the leg of the mech then as he thought a few things over before he spoke again motioning to his 'Mech.  "Well anyways, you guys have any place where I can park my partner here?  I'm not gonna feel right just leaving her out in the middle of the forest.  I can pay to rent any space you can provide.  Although obviously I don't have any local currency on me.  I have some house bills printed by the great houses where I'm from but I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that those aren't even worth the paper they've been printed on in these parts.  Well I do have some gold and raw gemstones I've acquired from a recent job we were hired to do stuffed in my cockpits storage space I could probably get exchanged."

[Cptdragon9]

Agonzale didn't like to be formal either.  While he was now part of the command, he'd worked his way up ranks as a grunt.  He did turned to Estelle.  "I'm not one for pomp and circumstance, but if the lady doesn't mind...."

 

The young Huerfang nodded.  "I do not wish to make our new guest uncomfortable.  Clearly he's been misplaced as your people have been Lord Agonzale."  The commander winced at the Lord title, but he knew the princess couldn't help herself.  She turned back to the Colonel, realizing that such a title would be confusing, especially if in the presence of the Militant's leader.  "How would you like to be addressed, kind Sir?'

 

She now looked over the giant suit.  "You will not need to move your machine.  It is on my lands and therefore safe, unless it needs to be out of the rain."  She shook her head slightly.  "I'm afraid I do not have a stable large enough to accomodate, unless you can lay the suit flat as if sleeping."

[Solem'cleavu]

The misplaced mechwarrior thought about the question for a bit before answering.  "Karl will be fine, if you must maintain some sense of formality however Mr. Rainer will do just fine as well."

 

He did look at all gathered around however before responding to the claim that he could just leave his mech where it's at.  "I apologize in advance if I am going to come off as a bit rude here but pardon me if I can't just take you at your word on that Ms. Huerfang.  It's not leaving it out in the forest that bothers me but this baby is my livelihood.  Leavin' her behind in unfamiliar territory would be like, let's see here...one of your people over there behind you leaving their sword in the house of someone they are not familiar with.  That being said as long as I have enough clear space to park her she won't need to be covered, a little rain won't hurt anything.  Although I would prefer to keep her somewhere I can do at least a little cursory maintenance."

[Cptdragon9]

Estelle understood Karl's concerns.  "Mr... Ranier... It would be ill of me if I didn't offer my home as accomodation for both you and your suit of armor.  As I had offered part of my lands for Mr. Agonzale's people when they arrived, I can surely provide secure storage for your machine.  I can have soldier's posted to make sure no one disturbs your craft."  She gestured to the Militant.  "And as his people are more mechanically inclined, they might be able to help in repairs.  Besides I am quite sure their leader, along with other royalty of the lands, would like to meet you.  I can offer the castle as a central meeting place.  I'm sure the Vashtalians would better explain your predicament as they are very learned."  She turned to Agonzale.  "Can you speak with the Colonel and see if that is agreable for them?"

 

Of course the Colonel was listening in on an open mike and spoke to Agonzale through his earpiece.  "Tell the princess and her new guest that is agreable indeed.  I will coordinate here the welcoming committee.  Escort them back to the castle.  Speak with the princess to determine a time to meet with Mr Ranier.  If she feels she needs our presence leave half the detail, otherwise return to base."  He then turned back to Drac and Prier, whom would have overheard the whole conversation between Ranier, Estelle, and Agonzale.  "Sounds like he's slipped through the dimensitional cracks like we did, but I do not recognize any of the factions he spoke about.  I wouldn't doubt it if he came from and entirely different world than us.  Either way I would still like to speak with the man, and I would assume that both of you would as well.  I figure the Lady Huerfang's castle would make for more neutral ground and would avoid overwelming our new guest.  Do you both agree?"

 

 

[Solem'cleavu]

***Forest***

 

Karl did think about the offer for a bit before nodding to the girl.  "Well if you're offering I suppose it would be rude of me to refuse the kindness.  Would sure beat having to camp out here at any rate.  As for repairs looks like the most that needs to be done is maybe touch up the paint.  All my readouts before I got out didn't show any actual damage to speak of so I think I'm covered there for the time being."  Stepping away from the 'mech's leg at that point he stretched a bit before turning around and looking up at the main body of his Mech.  "Well I have no qualms about meeting up somewhere else.  Just point me in the direction I'll need to go and I'll try not to knock over too many trees but Assault 'Mechs aren't especially known for being small and nimble so can't really make any promises on that front.  I do have room for a single passenger though if anyone wants to see what it's like to ride in one of these things.  Can't promise it will be a comfortable ride for you though but hey at least it shouldn't get too hot in the cockpit if all we're doing is walking."

 

***basecamp***

 

It was Prier that spoke up first in the end.  "Sounds good to me although given what he arrived in I would guess that seeing any bit of tech here wouldn't be overwhelming for him."

 

"I have no issues with choice of location either.  Although I probably should call a team of mages over to repair the damage to the roads that giant hunk of metal is likely to cause just by moving around."  Then Drac chimed in with his input on the matter.

[Cptdragon9]

***Basecamp****

 

"I'll relay that along," the Colonel said as he hopped back on the com to his lead in the field...\

 

***Forest***

 

Agonzale once again covered his right ear (something that came from working with the mutants as they used the same gesture to indicate they were speaking telepathically to each other)  as he got his marching orders.  He then turned to the group.  "Looks like Lord Dracon and Lady Prier along with the Colonel will meet us tonight at the castle for introductions and debrief."  He turned to Lady Huerfang.  "Lord Dracon will also be sending a contigent of mages to help repair any damages incurred when Mr Ranier moves his 'Assault Mech."  The Militant found his gaze rolling up the length of the mechanized suit, even as Karl offered a ride.  He turned to Estelle.  "Did you want the honors?" he asked.  "I know you've been dragonback, but I imagine the view would be quite stunning for you."

 

Estelle looked whiter and whiter the further up she looked.  "I... I think I'll wait, Mr Ranier.  Besides I'll have to prepare your arrival and forewarn the castle," she turned and spoke to her escort; two people peeling off, remounting their horses, and hurrying away to the estate to prepare for their new guests.  Two of Agonzale's people likewise peeled off of the bandwagon with their atv's following the guard back to Estelle's place to help further prepare for the arrival of the mech suit.

 

Agonzale turned to Kurt.  "If you don't mind, I'd like to sit in the catbird seat.  We've never had a working suit as large as this and I'm curious."

[Solem'cleavu]

Karl simply shrugged as if to say that it was probably for the best she didn't take him up on the offer of a ride.  "Understood... wait."  Whatever he was going to say came to a halt as he returned his attention over to Agonzale.  "Did you say dragonback?  You mean there are actual frigging dragons here?!  Not just little lizards that people call dragons and keep as pets?"  Indeed he seemed more surprised about that little tidbit of information than anything else.  Enough that he completely missed the mention of mages even.  "Damn, I would like to see one if at all possible.  Later though, for now we'd probably best get moving.  Mr. Agonzale just follow me if you're gonna ride along but I will warn you once again that it will not be the most comfortable ride and may get a little toasty for ya since you won't have the benefit of a cooling vest like I will." 

 

With that said he started climbing back up the mech using the same hand and foot holds that he used to climb down urging Agonzale to follow suit.  Opening up the hatch to the cockpit he waited for Agonzale to catch up and squeeze into the back before he himself got in and resealed the hatch.  Only then would Agonzale realize that Karl wasn't really kidding about it feeling a little toasty as even sitting still it felt like it should be about 80-90F.  Taking that Neurohelmet with what looked to be the aforementioned cooling vest attached and putting it on after settling into the command couch.  All in all the helmet looked pretty rigid with no discernible neck region indicating that it wasn't meant to allow for too much head movement while the vest had several tubes weaving around on it apparently to carry some form of coolant.  After making sure he was plugged in where he needed to be he pointed to what looked like a fold-out seat off to the side and slightly behind him for Agonzale to sit in before he himself started messing with the console in front of him to start the mech back up from standby.

 

The digitized voice of the computer speaking up as he went through each step in the process.

 

Reactor...Online

Sensors...Online

Weapons...Online

All systems...Nominal.

 

Once done he sat back in the seat, planted his feet into the foot pedals and took the controls.  There being a bit of a vertical lurch as he stood the mech back up to it's full standard height of about 12 meters (or just under 40ft at the top of the torso mounted weapon), the cockpit glass rising to just above the tree tops for the area ((guessing the trees come up to about 20 feet tall or so in this particular forest)), the temp in the cockpit did feel like it raised slightly at first but quickly went back down to what it was before.  Twisting the torso left then right to get another good look around then but did activate his external speakers again.  "All right everyone please lead the way but I do suggest you keep plenty of distance clear in front of me unless you want to get crushed!"

 

Waiting for the others to get moving he allowed them quite a bit of a head start before he started moving as well.  Setting the throttle to about a quarter of his top speed of 54kph, or about 13.5kph (or about 8 mph), forcing the horse riders to go at a brisk trot or risk being overtaken.  That being said in something as large and heavy as his mech was that speed felt so ponderously slow relatively speaking to how that same speed would feel when riding one of those horses.  The heat in the cockpit rising up slightly with the Mech's exertion and power needs and each step causing a loud thud and the ground to have a noticeable vibration causing deep footprints in the softer ground.  Although fortunately with some slight adjustments to his movement he was at least able to avoid hitting most of the trees lining the road, or at least avoid hitting them hard enough to uproot them but the Mech's arms were constantly breaking off whatever branches that extended out towards the road.

 

 

*************

 

((Side note time:  So regarding a Battlemech's fusion reactor.  Nothing in the canon lore or in any of my searches was I able to find any definitive answer on whether or not the fusion reactor completely powers down and stops the reaction when the mech is shut down.  Some sources indicate this happens while others state that the reactor just goes into a minimal power standby mode that provides just enough power to keep the reaction going and just goes back to normal power levels when the mech is "powered up", with the power output increasing even more during combat situations.  So it is the second interpretation that I am using here.  If there are any logical discrepancies don't complain to me about them.  Ultimately the Battletech setting I am pulling this from is a product of the '80s, take from that what you will.  You have been warned.))

[Cptdragon9]

  "Did you say dragonback?  You mean there are actual frigging dragons here?!  Not just little lizards that people call dragons and keep as pets?"  Indeed he seemed more surprised about that little tidbit of information than anything else.  Enough that he completely missed the mention of mages even.  "Damn, I would like to see one if at all possible."

 

"Oh, I'm Quite sure you'll see them.  Pretty much The dominate species and civilization on this planet Are the Vashtalian Dragons.  You'll meet one of their leaders tonight.  Lord Dracon can be quite impressive to see if he flies in."  Agonzale followed Karl up the ladder, thankful that the Colonel had insisted on keeping his men in shape with various fitness regimes.  He was only slightly winded by the time they reached the cockpit.  Beiing crammed into the small control space was almost a homecoming.  While the Clandestine had been a vast ship, it still had small cramped quarters to reside in.  The heat would have been overly opressive had the Militant not been living planetside for so long, and had not just gone through a rather warm summer, but it was enough to have his sweating as it sparked himself in the folding chair.  His gaze did roll over the rather impressive console then to the suit the man had to plug himself into.  He could understand the helmet's usage because the mutants had used a similar thing when plugged into the ships, it just wasn't as intricate or bulky as Karls', but then they weren't doing All the things he was with getting the machine to walk; they had been ostly a powersource.

 

 

While Karl and Agonzale watched from above, Estelle tried to coordinate below, but the horses, while almost used to dragons flying over, were clearly not having it as the mech moved forward.  Finally Estelle had to send her guards to the castle while she asked for a ride on one of the Militant's machines.  This proved to be just as thrilling as she'd never really had the chance to ride on one of their horse-less carriages.  In truth she was pretty excited as the buggy roared forward faster than any draught animal could pull such a cart.  Also the Militants were used to handling large craft and were able to give the mech enough berth to step forward.

 

It would be in this fashion that they arrived a short time later at the Castle.  Many had been informed of their coming, but actually seeing the mechanical man slowly thumping its way towards them set alot of the inhabitants in a flurry.  Many leaned out the windows while others poured out into the courtyard.  There was no room to bring the machine into the walls of the castle, but they had cleared a large area for Karl to 'park' up against one of those walls on the outside, marked off the locations with logs dragged into a square large enough to accomodate the mobile suit.  There were a squad of knights and guards, sans-horses this time, out to direct Karl where to go, and to keep the braver looky-loos back to a safe distance...

[Solem'cleavu]

All in all from what Agonzale would have been able to see was that Karl was generally using the foot pedals to steer the machine, pressing down the right foot pedal when he needed the machine to turn right and the left pedal for the other direction.  Other than that it looked like the other main controls he was using would be similar to a fighter jet with the lever his left hand was on controlling the throttle while the joystick on the right controlling the torso direction which he did demonstrate for his passenger by making the torso tilt up and down and swing slightly from side to side and any direction in between before finally centering it back to the direction the legs were going in.  As for the console it looked to be rather robust with various buttons and switches along with some display screens, one of which showing the current weapons loadout, another showing a wireframe of the mech itself with various locations labeled such as the arms, legs, and torso sections.  Yet other displays were blank or showing "no data".

 

Soon enough though it looked like they arrived at their destination.  Karl slowing the mech down as he worked on maneuvering the giant machine into the marked area and parking it in the same squatted position it was in when the locals first found him.  Afterwards he started shutting everything down and disconnecting himself from the command couch.  Afterwards he got up before opening the hatch and stepping out, taking off his neurohelmet and cooling vest at that point.  Standing there for a moment to enjoy the breeze from the higher elevation of the Mech's shoulder, only speaking up once he heard Agonzale making his way out. "Well Agonzale, how'd you enjoy the ride?"

[Cptdragon9]

"Defnitely different.  Interesting mechanics."  Agonzale had well noted how the inside of the craft was laid out, and had managed to piece together some of the interactions.  He did point to the helmet.  "How interactive is that?  Do you feel any damage inflicted on the ship?  Or does that help in steering the ship?"

 

Estelle's ride on the horseless carriage had been quite invigorating.  Not as heart-stopping as riding on a dragon, but the roar of the engines and the wind in her face was frankly... fun.  She actually was grinning when they came to a stop and one of the Militant soldiers offered her an arm so she could step down.  It took her a moment to get back into her more authoritative mode and began to direct her staff, mainly to get them to move and not gawk and stare.  There would be plently of time for that.  She walked up to where Karl and Agonzale were standing.  "If you'll come with me, Mr. Ranier, We'll get you to a room where you can freshen up."

 

The walk would show off pretty much a typical castle, with gardens, armory and smiths, knights in armor, peasants in garb; all the tropes.  There were little glimmers of not-so -medieval items, like the small generator used to keep the smoker going by the cookfires.  The solar lights hanging along the entranceway.  Clearly there had been some bartering between the Huerfang and the Militants.  Estelle escorted her guests along the long halls of white-washed stone, winding through a few side halls, to a guest room.  It was well furbished with a soft goose-down bed and pillow with woven comforter and a few extra throws.  there would be a heavy oak bureau with a change of clothes (should he want) of a white cotton flaired shirt and red leather button-up breeches.  There was not only a brass washbowl with warm water and towels and glycerine soap with lavender petals, but there was a large brass club-footed tub, currently empty.  She smiled at her new guest.  "Please take some time to refresh and relax.  If you have need of a bath, I can have the servants fill the tub for you as we have water on the boil for you."  She paused.  "Are you hungry now?  I can have a platter for fruit and cheeze brought."

[Solem'cleavu]

"And a little warm as well I take it.  Trust me that's nothing compared to how hot this thing gets while in combat.  We are basically sitting on top of a walking fusion reactor after all and all that waste heat's gotta go somewhere.  Unfortunately there's only so much the heat sinks can take care of at once so quite a bit of it does end up leaking into the cockpit.  At least it's not enough to bake ya alive but damn by the end of a fight you do feel like just stripping completely down to your skivvies.  Hell some of my fellow mechwarriors were known to sometimes fight in nothing but their underwear or completely naked save for their neurohelmet and cooling vest."  Then the question regarding the neurohelmet that he was still holding.  He was wondering when someone would actually ask about that.  "First off let me correct you on some terminology here.  This thing.."  Indicating what he was talking about by tapping the toe of his boot against the metal they were standing on.  "Is not a ship.  This is what we call a Battlemech or just 'Mech for short.  Of course there are some that also jokingly call them giant stompy robots but the official term for it is Battlemech.  Now to give the short answer to your question this neurohelmet's primary purpose is to provide balance information and Mechwarrior intent to the 'Mech so that does help in maneuvering this baby.  As for feeling any damage?   I would think getting knocked around from a hit by a 200mm round from an AC/20 straight to the side would be jarring enough without the additional feedback from a neurohelmet.  Besides to get that level of feedback would end up cooking brain cells with these things.  Anyway that's enough talk looks like our host is coming up."

 

As they were still actually standing on the shoulder area of the 'Mech Estelle would have to raise her voice some to be heard.  Karl indicated that she should wait a moment before having Agonzale climb down first.  As for Karl he climbed back into the cockpit real quick to drop off the helmet and to pull a small duffle bag out of the storage compartment along with the weaponry he had earlier.  Slinging it all over his shoulder he then made his way back out and closed up the hatch before climbing down himself and asking Estelle to go ahead and lead the way.  Giving the occasional impressed whistle as he took everything in soon as they got to the guest room he was going to be in for the moment, while also appreciating that he did have a good view of his 'mech out of the window there indicating that they did take his earlier statement about not wanting to be out of sight of his partner while in unfamiliar territory to heart, he had moved to lean his rifle up against the wall next to the bed while placing or hanging everything else off of a nearby chair.

 

At the mention of a bath he did nod a bit.  "A bath would be much appreciated, thank you.  Snacks I think can wait."