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[b]"Uncle Mack's" Industrial Scrapyard
Property of Maxwell Metals Incorporated
A subsidiary of the Aqua Vitae Corporation
100 km south of Geom Haebyon
150 km northwest of Fort Tie Shan
27 March, 3030[/b]

[color=Peru]“I’m just sayin, let’s be reasonable,”[/color] Pops pled with the thin and wiry old man over the half-assembled frame of the [i]Rotunda.[/i]

[color=Chartreuse]“Hell, I been reasonable all dang day,”[/color] “Honest” Ollie Maxwell said back, [color=Chartreuse]“Waitin’ on you boys to be reasonable back.”[/color]

[color=00aeef]“Po-o-ops, can we go???”[/color] Sunny tugged on Pops’s sleeve. [color=00aeef]“He’s not helping, and he smells funny.”[/color]

[color=Peru]“In a minute, little one, first we’ve got some business to settle,“[/color] the old man reassured her, then turned back to the scrapper. [color=Peru]“Now look, the Colonel’s willing to pay you handsomely for it.”[/color]

[color=Chartreuse]“With what?”[/color] Maxwell responded. [color=Chartreuse]”The last fella who was payin’ ya got blown up, an’ the gover’mint’s already pokin’ their noses into Mizz Jeong’s accounts. No sir, if Federov an’ his boys start followin’ a paper trail, I don’t want nothin’ leading back to me.”[/color]

Pops sighed. [color=Peru]“It’s not even like you need it. I mean, who the hell ever heard of a car with a Large Laser in it?”[/color]

[color=Orangered]“Ees collector’s ityem,”[/color] the big burly Marozov chimed it. [color=Orangered]“Veel be vyaluwabul ven ees feexed.”[/color]  

[color=Peru]“Oh sure,”[/color] the grizzled old Mech tech nodded, [color=Peru]“And if you believe that, I’ve got some wedding plates to sell you from military intelligence.”[/color]

[color=Chartreuse]“Look, fact of the matter is,”[/color] Maxwell said with a tone that his patience was wearing thin, [color=Chartreuse]“We’re already givin’ you room and shelter and plenty of other things without so much as a thank-you-kindly. And I’ve yet to be convinced as to why on top of our already generous hospitality, I should part with the Large Laser on this here classic piece of Star League era engineering. You ain’t got money, you ain’t got booze, an’ you ain’t got women lookin’ to spend time with the likes of me. So do tell, Pops, what [i]do[/i] you have to bargain with?”[/color]

Pops frowned for a moment, then an eyebrow raised from behind his oversized mirrored shades. Hanging on the back wall of Maxwell’s workshop was an old beaten-up guitar, a Dobro from the looks of it.

[color=Peru]“That six-string hangin’ on the wall,”[/color] Pops gestured. [color=Peru]“You play, or is that just for decoration?”[/color]

[color=Chartreuse]“Oh I’ve been known to pick a song or two,”[/color] Maxwell grinned proudly. [color=Chartreuse]“Had that since I was a sprout; ain’t no one on this planet better’n me with it.”[/color]

[color=OrangeRed]”Ees vyery good,”[/color] Marozov added.

Pops nodded slowly, stroking his chin with his thumb as he inspected the guitar, then said [color=Peru]“I’ll play you for it.”[/color]

Ollie sneered. [color=Chartreuse]“Play me for the guitar?”[/color]

[color=Peru]“For the laser,”[/color] Pops corrected. [color=Peru]“Your six-string against mine. Winner gets the laser, loser has to do the winner’s work for a week.”[/color]

Ollie and Marozov looked at each other for a second, then burst out laughing.

[color=Chartreuse]“Awww hell, Pops,”[/color] Maxwell said between bursts of laughter, [color=Chartreuse]“Now yer speakin’ my language!”[/color]

As the two old men shared a laugh, a young woman in filthy overalls and a coat of grime poked her head into the workshop.

[color=Pink]”Hey Pa?”[/color] the girl said. [color=Pink]”Ma says there’s somethin’ happenin’ on the holo-vid. Somethin’ real bad.”[/color]

The expressions of everyone in the room soured. [color=Chartreuse]“There’s already a war on, Jenny, how’s it gonna git much worse?”[/color]

[color=Pink]“Just come take a look,”[/color] Jenny said, and motioned for them to follow her.

In the next building over, an old Star League pre-fab Quonset hut with a few storage cubicles welded onto one side, a small crowd was staring at a large but static-filled holo-screen.

[color=Silver][i]—appears to have been a supply raid gone wrong, the mercenaries then turned their guns on the civilian population. As of now, the estimated death toll is well into the thousands, and is expected to climb. We warn audiences at home, the footage we are about to show you may be disturbing.”[/i][/color]

Few things ever got the man everyone only knew as Pops to lose his composure, but his jaw slowly dropped open as the newscast replayed the footage.

[color=00aeef]“Pops, who is that?”[/color] Sunny asked, her breath quickening. [color=00aeef]“What are they doing to those people? Why do they look like—“[/color]

[color=Peru]”Go on back to the barracks now,”[/color] Pops gently shooed the young girl away. [color=Peru]“This isn’t the kind of thing you need to be watching.”[/color]

[color=Silver][i]“We take you now live to Balya Gora, where Grand General Malenkov is addressing these events:”[/i][/color]

[color=IndianRed][i]“People of Espia, it is a well-known fact that mercenaries are honorless dogs, barbaric sell-swords who care for nothing but coin. But rarely are we reminded how true this is, until it is too late. The heinous actions of Gawain’s Green Knights will not go unpunished! I will see to it that the People’s Justice is brought upon—"[/i][/color]

[color=00aeef]“Pops, why did they do that to—“[/color]

[color=Peru]“I said go on now!”[/color] Pops said with an authority in his voice he usually didn’t use.

As Sunny turned and scurried back to her corner of the big housing block, Pops turned his attention back to the screen, which was once again playing the footage Malenkov had condemned.

[color=Peru]“Sons of bitches,”[/color] he muttered.

[hr]

[b][i]Keahi Township
50 km Northwest of North Nui Awa[/i][/b]

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The air was choked with smoke and dust, the groan of twisting metal, the deafening punches of gunfire, and a chorus of human screams.
Lumbering into frame of the Espian News Network’s camera drone was the imposing frame of a 70-ton [i]Warhammer[/i], using the club-like barrels of its Particle Projector Cannons to smash into the sides and roofs of buildings and houses. People scattered out of the crumbling buildings like insects from a hive, and the heavy Battlemech, taking big, bounding strides, began to deliberately step on them as they ran. As sparks and flames erupted in the [i]Warhammer’s[/i] path, the camera drone zoomed in to show the logo of Gawain’s Green Knights painted on its torso.

A second heavy ‘Mech, this one a humanoid [i]Crusader[/i], fired its arm-mounted long-range missiles wildly into the sky, which then arced back down into the suburban sprawl. It let loose a second volley, this time of it leg-mounted short-range missiles, into a panicked crowd. Instead of explosives, these missiles erupted into splatters of white-hot Inferno jelly, engulfing the innocent people in a wave horrific molten death.

The camera drone turned, now showing a third ‘Mech herding what appeared to be a few hundred terrified civilians down the main street of the township. This one, a broad-shouldered [i]Hunchback[/i], stomped on cars and crushed its fists into storefronts, before aiming its massive shoulder-mounted autocannon at a church at the end of the street. With a cataclysmic roar, the AC/20 fired, obliterating the church and any unfortunate souls inside it.

As the horror-stricken crowd fled the [i]Hunchback,[/i] a fourth ‘Mech emerged at the opposite end of the street. Smaller than the [i]Hunchback,[/i] it was also humanoid, its arms ending in the barrels of Flamers. As the [i]Firestarter[/i] raised its weapons, it played a familiar voice over its external speakers.

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[b][i]"Hahahahaha!"[/i][/b] came the pre-recorded voice of Family Man, captured from the Green Knights’ battle with the Crimson Fists, [b][i]"If you guys want to be psychopaths and sociopaths, I will oblige! I will kill you all! All!”[/i][/b]

The [i]Firestarter[/i] let loose with a hellish wave of superheated plasma from its four Flamers, as well as a spray of lead from its pair of Machine Guns. The air filled again with the screams of the dying as fire and lead washed over the crowd.

The sound of Family Man’s recorded laughter replayed from the [i]Firestarter[/i] over the screaming, and the camera drone once again zoomed in on the logo of Gawain’s Green Knights painted across it.

[hr]

[color=YellowGreen][i]“As of this morning,”[/i][/color] The voice of Premiere Federov announced on the holo-vid, [color=YellowGreen][i]“I am petitioning to our local representatives at ComStar to have the Green Knights officially categorized as an outlaw command. This will strip them of any protections from the Mercenary Rating Board, and allow the Espian Guard and our heroic Crimson Fists to bring them to justice by any means necessary. My administration will not stand for such atrocities while—“[/i][/color]

[color=Olive]“GREEN KNIGHTS!”[/color] the voice of Colonel Wayne roared through the camp as he stormed out of the Mobile HQ, a deadly fury on his face. [color=Olive]“NEW ORDERS, BRIEFING IS [b]NOW![/b]”[/color]