A Time of War: The BattleTech RPG

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FORT DEFIANCEMARIA’S ELEGYHESPERUS II, LYRAN ALLIANCE5 JUNE 3076“Watch out!” came the cry from across the bay.Lunging forward, Sergeant Busby “Buzzy” Matvey caught the teeteringmetal case just before it plunged down to the mid-sized hangar’sferrocrete floor. With a grunt, he shoved the olive-drab canisterback onto the top of its stack while the forklift backed away.But not fast enough.Buzzy smiled as Lieutenant Luella Hildebrand boiled up to theside of the lift like a miniature tornado. He shook his head as hereturned to his work transferring the supply crates into the tightcargo bay of the Mark IV Landing Craft. Already, Luella’s dressingdownof the poor lift driver was reaching a staccato pace that evena Mydron Minigun couldn’t match.“Hot one, her, yes?” asked Buzzy’s lanky partner.“Da,” he replied, handing over another narrow crate marked,“CAUTION: FLAMMABLE”.“You know I wasn’t talkin’ about her looks, now.”Buzzy sighed. “Da,” he responded again, this time looking hiscompanion full in the face. A grizzled soldier, Ethan Naoko had oncemore neglected to shave the stubble from his pointed chin. “Youknow, if the Captain sees that scruff, he’ll have words again.”The older man shrugged. “So what? Not like we’re on a mission.Unless you’ve heard something I’ve not?”“Nope,” Buzzy replied. “I just know as much as you.”Pivoting, he grabbed another case from the stack. Luella’s rapid-firedelivery finally ceased in the background and he noted the lift’s whineas it backed away, almost as though the machine itself were sulking.He heard Ethan’s low whistle behind him. “Still, y’know, she’spretty hot…”Sample fileBen H. RomeBuzzy sighed again and smiled. He turned and thrust the case atNaoko, cracking a smile.“Da.”stsLieutenant Luella Hildebrand stalked away from the retreatinglifter, the confrontation filed away and forgotten. There was still toomuch to do and clearly not enough time. Detonators, she thought.Did we pack enough?She consulted the datapad clutched in her left hand and scrolleddown the list, her determined stride missing not a hitch as shestalked down the corridor toward the Captain’s office. Without lookingup, she deftly avoided collisions with her fellow officers, finallystopping in front of a nondescript gray-green door. Knocking once,she didn’t wait for an acknowledgement and stormed in.“Problem, Luella?” asked the man seated in front of her, his nightblackface cast strangely aglow by the monitor he was staring into.The Lieutenant snapped to attention and saluted. “Captain Travis,”she barked. “No, sir. Just a lift driver who isn’t aware of the regsregarding volatile and explosive cargo.”Captain Jared Travis leaned back, looking over at his exec. His whiteteeth practically lit up his face. “I assume you re-educated him?”Luella relaxed slightly. “Yes, Captain. I’ll report him later.”Jared waved it off.“No need,” he said. “We’ve got more important things at themoment.” He stood and turned, searching the cluttered shelvesbehind him. “Has Corporal Logan reported in yet?”“Not yet, sir.”“Very well. He should soon, I would expect. The shuttle from theDuquesne was probably delayed. Ah-ha!” The captain snagged asmall book from the shelf and turned back to Luella.“Have the team report to the hangar at twenty-hundred hours,”
he said as he opened the leatherboundbook to a ribbon-markedpage.“Very good, sir.” Luella turnedto go, already churning throughthe supply list in her head.“Oh, and Luella?” Jared called.She stopped and turned tolook back at him. “Sir?”“Take a few minutes to relax.Don’t know when we’ll get thechance again.”stsCaptain Jared Travis closed the small Bible in his hand and leanedback in his office chair, unable to concentrate enough to quiet hisown self. The butterflies he felt in his stomach weren’t from theorders sitting on his monitor, or their promise of action.No, he thought, it’s because she’s coming.Jared took a deep breath and released it slowly. The last time heand Belle Lee had crossed paths—two years ago—it had been atorrential downpour of violence, emotion, stress and fatigue.And it all ended with a failed marriage proposal.Ancient history, Travis! he chided himself. Get a grip!He had no idea why his mind was dragging it all back up again.Yes, the fighting on Kittery was horrific; their escape from that Blakisthellhole a nightmare ordeal that still kept him awake sometimes.But it was all in the past.Travis snapped himself out of his reverie. The General was comingto brief them on a mission, not to re-ignite some short-lived, warfueledrelationship. Jared refocused on the monitor in front of him.The orders were simple enough on the surface, but that wasn’tsaying much; a reconnaissance mission to an as-yet-undeterminedplanet, part of a larger operation currently being assembled. Travisknew without a doubt that the target world was already determined,but that operational security demanded such informationbe withheld until all the players were in place and ready to strike.That was simply how these things went down.The rest of the orders contained little else in the way of usefulinformation beyond the standard bureaucratic rhetoric. Indeed, theonly part that had Jared’s insides doing somersaults was the last line:“General Belle Lee will present your operational orders in person.”Shaking off the malaise, he refocused again on the screen, bringingup the profiles of his two new team members. He tapped pastLuella’s dossier; she’d already been here a week and he felt he hadher pegged.That brought him to the “newbie”: Franz Logan.Jared’s mouth turned down as he scanned Logan’s short record.Recent academy grad from Skye, failed the MechWarrior MOS twice,two reprimands from his drill sergeant for daydreaming on watch.Excellent weapons skills, passable first aid, and licensed to operatestandard WorkMechs.“So basically, we’ve got ourselves a wannabe ’Mech jock whoknows which end of the rifle goes where and is most likely to succeedas a battlefield casualty when the crap hits the fan,” he said tothe empty office.“Wonderful.”stsCorporal Franz Logan pressed his face against the unyielding surfaceof the observation deck’s massive, armored window, lookingSample file
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Page 3 and 4: Available Skills 141Acrobatics 141A
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A Time of War: The BattleTech RPG

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