Once she was certain the shwoer stalls were free to be used in peace, she went and got her towel, soap and brush, then went to get cleaned up properly under a steaming hot showerhead.

she kept her pistol nearby, hanging right next to her towel, as she always did, in case some lecher decided to invade her privacy.

Once done with her long steaming hot shower, scrubbed pink and feeling a lot less, dropship-ish, she headed over to see if there were any leftovers.

She silently promised herself she would do her best to eat when the meals were served as she sat there eating the lukewarm remains of the days supper.

Cleaned up and full, she decided to skip her trip by the motor pool and instead go for a relaxing walk through the light woods behind their barracks area.

indeed most of her evening was spent aiming toward solitude, she'd just been stuck on a dropship together with a rowdy bunch for 4 months, she needed some peace, quiet and solitude.

later in the evening, when she returned, she simply headed for her bunk, and went to bed after undressing and folding her uniform neatly, laying it atop her footlocker, seperated from her clean clothes.

In reply to 1st LT Adam Carlyle (msg # 132):

After returning from smoking a cigarette, Svend found Adam looking off. It usually happened when something got to him, that much Svend knew. He flicked the butt of the cigarette in the small tin he kept with him for such purposes and flagged down Adam with his hand.

"You alright there, LT? Something's seems to have gotten your panties in a wad." He paused for a moment. "Are we to ship offworld?"

It was not unheard of for contracts to expire before they were up. So far the reception of battle-worn mercs had not sit well with the local populace.

His ears catching Svend's voice Adam turned to regard him, "No...not yet at least."

Cracking his neck he continued, "We lost a lot of good family, you know it as well as I, in this last one.  Two of us even more so than the rest of them, 'cept Captain loosing his dad...can count the survivors of the Dancers on one hand.  Then for her to say that I wouldn't appreciate the privilege of after hours access?  After fucking hours access just to sit back and take in what my new ride looks like till I get tired."

Shaking his head sighed, "I get being proud and part of something, if these things work like they say they'll be something impressive but damn it feels like an elitist regimented planet that hasn't seen the horrors that you or I have and they wanna play big kid now cause they made something shinier than the other kids."

Thanos goes off to get some chow for free, doesn't matter who the will be there. Perhaps even there are some less familiar faces of the female persuasion.....perhaps not.

He sits down with the others about his rank when he does get there.

Oe the briefing is over and the showers are available, Devlin will get a good hot shower, then shave and get dressed for town.  Then he swings by the Captains quarters.

He knocks on the door and calls out.

Captain, it's Sargeant Masters.




20:45, Today: Sgt. Devlin Masters rolled 8 using 2d6. Mental check.

(1) Comstar Bill = roughly $10 dollars.

(1) Omni Credit  = (1) Comstar Bill.

Omni does not use Paper or coins for money.  A small data chip hardwired to a data board is used to track personal finances.  The data board is roughly 3cm x 1cm, often refered to as a Cred Stick.  Popular methods to carry them are on the wrist {Bracelet} around your neck {like dog tags} or in your pocket with a chain securing it to prevent accidental loss.

Omni's banks track personal accounts, and transfer amounts to and from the Cred Stick with the use of terminals through out Hope.

Current allotment starting allotment of Cred stick is by rank and nobility options.

500 Cred Johan and Camille
300 Cred Adam and Millicent
200 Cred Devlin
100 Cred Cade, Caitlin, and Thantos
 50 Cred Svend

This is not free money, but is so small that it will presume to be maxed, and deducted from your bank.

Cade takes shower and cleans up.  He will follow Devlin since he is unsure on how to get the Captain to issue credits.  "Still want to see how much trouble we can get in Sarge?" he asks.  Cade then follows Dev's lead.  If Dev wants to be left alone, then Cade will wander over to the Casino.

Cade is now dressed in fresh clothes.  Black slacks, combat boots, white button down collard shirt with a black wind breaker.  Since he is unsure of the surroundings he will bring his pistol, and keep it hidden with his jacket.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:35, Thu 19 July 2012.

In reply to 1st LT Adam Carlyle (msg # 135):

Svend shook his head and pulled out his cigarette tin again. Pleasantries be damned, he held the smokes out for Adam after taking one himself. "I hear you brother. Those eggheads in the lab like to show off the toys now and again. I was a fan of the Hoff boys, not when they produce stuff that could be used in combat off the bat. These suits, 'cause they ain't worth calling mechs, are a new step in combat. You know as well as me that something big has happened here. Think of an Atlas with the ability to change loadouts in the field without a six month bay visit to gather dust. Either the tech is going to get bigger or these things will get smaller and deadlier."

He took a long drag of the cigarette.

Rabbit was bored. She had to be stuck in the boring barracks, and for once in their life the guys were paying attention to personal hygiene. She looked around the barracks. This was going to get very old very quickly. She needed something to take her mind off things...and the solution popped into her head. She'd need to keep it quiet, so as not to attract Johan's attention, but it was time for Kitty's Den of Iniquity and Salon of Sin to make a reappearance, and the locals looked like the kind of people who might just fall for it.

In a bid to get to know her neighbours better, Rabbit headed out to the cadets residences. She'd need a few allies to help set this up.

Johan ~ Finishing the small tour, he feels no desire to go shower with the commoners, and had much to think about and was not in the mood to eat just yet.  He returns the Dorm to contemplate their situation over.  He's in the Dorm to witness Adam's efforts and results with his radio.

Adam  ~ Showertime is good, and he opts to skip dinner to go to work on his Long Range communications.  He has no 'signal' to set on, so he spends a good bit of time scanning random airwaves.  He picks up a civilian band, that has a half a dozen station that seem to each have their own mix of music, modern, classical, rock, blues/soul, country, and one that seems to be opera.

He picks up a commercial band that seems to be the Hope's Starport.  Mostly traffic directions for Commercial aircraft flying goods in and out, to and from Eden, Providence, and New Haven.  He doesnt pick up anything military.  Either it's really well hidden, on radio silence, or doesnt exist.

Camille ~ Not wanting to shower with the male members of the Wild Stallions, Camille grabs dinner more or less on time.  There are a good number of students, but less than she might have expected.  Perhaps around 50 cadets blue, which she has started to associate with 'mechwarriors' and 100 in green which she suspects is conventional cavalry, 150 in forest camo which she presumes is infantry.  While it's natural for like colors to eat and spend time together, here and there she sees different color uniforms mingling and talking as well, so there is no exclusive exclusion to socialize outside of ones specialty.

Dinner is good, it's still a buffet line, but the entrees are more in line with dinner.  An assortment of food for different nationalities seems to be spread across the buffet bins.  Pasta, Rice, Bread, Meat loaf, chicken, fish, salad, etc.  Evidently they eat well at the Academy.

Later the walk in the woods goes well.  It's quiet, and it almost feels like a camping ground.  There are the occassional sounds of night life in the form of insects and small wildlife wandering about but nothing to be worried about.  When she returns later, she finds Millie asleep in her bed, Rabbit doesnt seem to be around.

Devlin ~ The shower is good and hot, but not very private.  There are two shower rooms, and each room has a dozen shower heads spaced four feet apart.  In the middle of the shower rooms are two rows of sinks, with a vanity mirror mounted in the middle of the sink facing each direction allowing two people to use the sink at once.  A small shelf is mounted under the mirror to allow small items to be placed for use, and a soap dispencer mounted beneath that.  It's a very simple and efficient design that can easily handle one or two dozen people at once.

He finds Johan in his room later that night.

Thantos ~ Shamelessly passes on the shower and appleases his baser needs, hunger and eye candy.  Theres no shortage of both as he wanders through the cafeteria it feels like he's died and gone to heaven.  All you can eat buffet, of good civilian grade food, and 300 young coed cadets and absolutely zero competition for their attention.

It's true that perhaps he should have showered before coming, but there was also a certain rugged appeal perhaps to smelling like a pig sty and being man enough to be comfortable with it.  He's here to eat... look... and not make trouble though, so he doesnt intiate the first move beyond looking.  He draws a few glances and private smiles and giggles with a few of the cadets in camo but it doesnt seem go further.  He goes back for seconds... and thirds... and is stuffed before he's done.  The food was good, and he had to admit the atmosphere was very good.

Cade ~ The shower comes and goes easily.  It's just him, Adam, Svend and Sarge.  Cade appears with Devlin in Johan's presence.

Svend ~ Moves along with Adam killing time and chit chating with his Lance mater on their current situation.  He's cleaner than he's been in weeks, for better or worse.  He's around to witness Adam's efforts and results on the radio.

Caitlin ~ Caitlin opts to skip both a warm meal and a chance to clean up to get to know the lay of the land better.  She finds most of the cadets out for evening meals, the Dorms in her area to be pretty uniform to 'Dana'.  Dorms 'Alice', 'Betty' and 'Carol' all seem to show signs of occupation.  It was odd, but there were no locks on the dorms or locker, and she was free to come and go as she pleased.  She refraims from going into cadet lockers.  It was odd enough as it was to wander about with no one around like this.

There were other Dorms in the area, one for Cavalry it seems, and one for infantry.  The Cavalry dorms were identical to the ones used by the mech warriors.  The Infantry dorms were slightly larger.  Seven beds to a dorm instead of six.  After walking about she decides that to head back and enters the Dorm 2 just a few minutes after Camille has returned from her walks in the woods.

(Will grant the players another round of posting and then move on to Morning - Day Two. )

Will space out things morning/afternoon/evening.  Will presume character go about things like daily meals and showers, unless i'm told differently.

Wargames are scheduled to take place Day two afternoon and Day three afternoon.

Devlin, and any others who choose to go with him, makes for town and a local club. He is dressed in combat boots, black jeans, and a denim calvary shirt.  He will also have on a duster to conceal his pistol and knife and will have his holdout pistol and knife in his boot.

Once in the club, Devlin shows to have a very high tolerance for alcohol and idiots, as he manages to put away a large amount of whiskey and not kill any of the locals who try to start trouble.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:40, Thu 19 July 2012.

Cade goes with Devlin.  He treats the Sgt. to a round, and that is about where Cade's drinking stops.  Drinking isn't his thing, and neither is smoking.  He does like to dance and attempts to hit the dance floor with whoever (female) is willing.  Don't put it past Cade if he doesn't go back to the barracks with Dev, but he does makes sure he is back on base and ready to move at 0600.

Johan and Adam have a quiet night, monitoring various civilian stations.  Theres a fair bit of entertainment.  Not obnoxiously so, but surprising for a periphery planet out in the middle of no where.  Talk radio seems popular, along with the noted music stations.

Svend takes the opportunity to snooze down, in a really comfy looking, if rather small, bed.  Not a cot, not a double bunk bed, but a real bed with a mattress and everything.  He drifts off to sleep listening to soft blues music coming out of Adam's radio.

Camille and Caitlin trade glances and both decide that they're too tired to talk about anything, saving it for the morning.  They follow Millicent's lead and just turn in 'early' (for them) for the night.

---

Thantos comes in late for the night.  Dinner... went really long.  With all the foo, and eye candy walking around it was easy to lose track of time just kicking back and relaxing.  He's not inclined to actually approach anyone, and while he catches a variety of looks, from curious, to embarassed, to amused, no one approaches him.  He arrives in the dorms much later, still in need of a shower but too tired to take one.

---

Devlin and Cade are declined leave.  Johan, doesnt think it's appropiate for their first night on planet to be out prowling around the local night life.  The pair make do with a short visit to the 'Student Union', which... is almost as good, less any alcoholic beverages.

To Cade's delight, he finds, that he and Devlin are the only men in the room, and that all the cadets are young women, of all shapes, and sizes, though definitely fit, bright and easy on the eyes.

Cadets seems to have a 'color' coded uniform, Blue for mech warriors, Green for conventional, Red for Aero/VTols, Black for Technicians, and white for first year recruits who are undecided.  Some of the less shy cadets are inclined to socialize with them.  Theres a radio, and a few game cadets, and really cute Recruit are inclined to dance with Cade, curious to see his 'moves' from the Inner sphere.  Devlin manages to get into a game of darts with a few green clad cadets who seem more socialable and with a temperament that favors his.

It's almost as good as night out, less the alcohol, not a bad night to unwind considering they have no money.  Both get in on the late side.

* End Evening One *

The following morning at Dawn (call it around 6:30), theres a short 10 second siren that plays on the PA system outside, that seems to be an Academy wide wake up call to get up and get busy.

Characters that skipped meals, are seriously hungry.

Characters that stayed up late (Cade/Devlin), are a little blurry eye, and wouldnt mind sleeping in for the morning.

Characters that missed a bath... are... still in need of one.

Wargames are expected to start at 1100 hours, so you have a good bit of time to do stuff, before needing to report in.  X-3 pilots are expected to show up half a hour later, to pick out weapon loads.

Mission One passes...

The rest of the day and evening are the characters to do with as they please.


Mission Two passes...

The characters are actually granted leave.  Johan distributes the cred sticks which have a modest amount of funds for the players to spend based on the means and their rank.  Those looking for a night on the town actually find it impressively pleasant.

Even by the spaceport where the mostly male dominated tourist are attracted, the female to male ratio lingers around 3:2 perhaps even 2:1.  If these ratios arent favorable enough the campus facutly and student body is nearly exclusively female.

Entertainment and tourism seem to be a big part of the industry around the spaceport.  Once the ink is dry, businessmen coming in to work out business deals cant help but be curious about the nightlife.  Most such diversions are on the upscaled side of entertainment.

While their are no 'stripper' bars, there are more than a few burlesque shows to provide entertainment.  Brightly lit gambling establishments are about for those inclined to risking thier creds.  A wide assortment of shops are available for luxary goods of all shapes and sizes.  Novelty stores, shops that specialize in all manner of collections and curios.

Millicent's intentions were to stay in and continue her routine, business as usual.  Part of her duties as Liason officer is making certain that the mercs stay out of trouble.  If they need a guide for Eden and points around the Starport she will make herself available for such.

(Gambling is a Mental based skill roll made at a penalty of -2
 If you just 'make' your roll, you walk away breaking even.
 Each point you make your roll by increases your stake by 10%
 Each point that you fail your roll by decreases your stake by 10%
 A roll of '2' is a critical failure, indicating you've lost it all
 A roll of '12' is a cricical succes, indicating you've doubled your money)

Luxary goods are considered one tech level higher as far as availability is concerned.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:27, Thu 13 Sept 2012.

Any warm and fuzzies quickly from being back in the cockpits faded quickly enough.  At each evening after the wargames, and back in their quarters, Johan was quite irate with the group.  Their performance was, in his words, unacceptably poor.  The fact that the enemy cadet's aim was proving nearly to be as good as their own was a fact that he pointed out repeatedly.  He also was extremely disappointed in the inability to prioritize the situation on the part of the pilots.  Sure there were objectives, but it was equally important to guard their own backs, and he had felt that individual pilots had done a poor job of it...all to get poor shots on target.

The war games go well enough as far as your employers are concerned.

Some leeway is granted, and the unit is allowed some down time before they begin their duties.

Devlin, Cade, Thantos and Svend take a short night on the town, that extends into a long weekend.  They border on AWOL, but show up in time for check Sunday night and make bed check before starting the week.

Camille and Millicient finally get around to making nice with one another at least as far as outward appearance go they do, which is a minor relief to Caitlin who has to share a room with them.  Both Caitlin and Camille get an early tour of the facilities during the weekend as well as some of the quieter activities to pass time.  Theres a well stocked media library, with assort holo programs that can be watched.  Old ones as well as recent ones seem to be stocked for the students and faculty to use.  Theres an indoor pool, used by the students to help stay fit as well as a few fields used for sports.  While not restrained to 'campus' few of the students of faculty seem to feel a need to leave the campus to visit Eden, which they seem to consider to be a 'tourist trap'.

Johan and Adam have a slightly more practical approach to spending their weekend and spend much of it reviewing the various models of the Power Loaders, to see if there are any advantages that might be had for the more conventional units.

The weapons are modular in design and do seem to work as advertised.  While not impossible to mount on conventional innersphere mechs, the advantages gained from their modular nature would be lost.  The smart actuator that seems to allow for the duo speeds might be compared to a 'manual' drive vehicle, where gears are used to modify the speed caps available, from a reduced weight load.  While such an actuator might be used on a conventional mech, there really is no way to reduce the weight load on conventional mechs to make use of them.

About the only advantage that might be gained, is the use of the less conventional weapons to replace current systems.  The replacement of Johan's LRM 5s with LRR 5's for instance might not be an impossible modification.
This message was last updated by the GM at 00:26, Sat 15 Sept 2012.

The week that follows the War Games, has the various members of the Wild Stallions performing duties in the role of instructor and trainer to the aspiring mechwarriors.

Most of them are very young and in their late teens, or early twenties in age.  They're all very raw recruits, with a background in the academics and simple instruction on drilling with basic controls of the Power Loaders.

As much as the Power Loaders seem to be advanced in compared to conventional mechs, the local mechwarriors that will be piloting them are inferior.  None of the students have seen 'actual' live combat, beyond a monthly exercise in war games similiar to the one the Wild Stallions participated in.

Johan and Adam, as officers are assigned students that seem to have a head for leadership.  Teaching them the methods of leadership, methods of motivation, and small unit tactics.

Caitlin, Svend and Devlin are assigned classes on weapon and tactic classes that involve close combat and melee combat.

Cade amd Thantos are assigned classes on weapon and tactic classes that involve ranged combat and sniping from arms length.

Amos and Camille are assigned the beginner classes and draws the duty of educating students that are newest to mechs with their future role as pilots.  Forcing them to drill in their mechs as often as possible and snapping questions at them on the most basic knowledge of mech operations.

Millicient continues her role educating a very small and select group of student that seem to be the best and brightest on the effective use of EW on the combat field.

By the end of the week, all the mercenaries are familiar enough with their students to call them by callsign or name as needed during classes.  There's a weekend at this point and character are alloted 'free time' to do with as they wish.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:27, Sat 15 Sept 2012.

When the last classs has left,Devlin joins Caitlin and Svend to see how their week was.  He reaches into is jacket and pulls out a flask, takes a swig from it and offer to the other two.

My Gods, I thought this week would neer end!! It's obvious all this recruits have done is paintball wars. I lost 4 of them just described what the inside of a cockpit looks like after it been breached by a Heavy Auto Canon round.


Footnote:  Slight Kitten Edit, Guass rifles are not currently in the game yet.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:42, Sun 16 Sept 2012.

The weeks pass and ends much as the previous weeks did.

It's almost mind numbingly mundane and quiet for mercs who are use to living life close to the edge.  The weekends out while still pleasant start to lose their thrill and edge after a while.

Notes are traded among the Stallions, and they have to conclude that while the recruits are incredibly mediocore and raw in mechwarrior talent, that they are actually very bright.  Most are know their way around mech maitnenace as well as a seasoned mechwarrior and easily half their class would make a reasonable addition to officer candidate school in the Inner sphere where the intangible art of thinking and leading are at least as important as the basic skills required for combat.

It's towards the end of the month, and while the Stallions are bracing for another mind numbing week of drills and theoretical classroom lectures, there seems to be a slight buzz of excitement in the academy.

Johan checks with Millicent on what the activity seems to be about and she seems surprised that you werent aware that at the end of the month, 'select' trainees were we sent into the field for 'one-on-one' hands on training and drilling.  Participating instructors are suppose to pick a single student that they consider deserving and take them into the field for training exercises.

What these exercises entailed were at the instructors... discretion.

Amos and Svend are NPCs at this time, and will be left behind to tow the rope with the rest of the student body that does not participate in the next mission.


Mission Three...
Johan, Camille, Devlin, Thantos, Adam, Caitlin, Cade, and Millicent each select an Academy trainee to take into the field.

Johan and Adam's trainees are Officer Candidates...
Gunnery 6 / Pilot 6 / Mental 7 / +1 Leadership and +1 option.

Everyone else's trainee are AT Cadets with
Gunnery 6 / Pilot 6 / Mental 7 / +1 option.


If you go through the both of naming your trainee and giving them some sort of personality you may select an additional option for them.

All trainees are in Standard X-3 Power Loadet.
Players may select the usual 7.5 tons of equipment for the Power Loaders.

Since this is a training exercise, the mechs will not be equiped with the high maintenance double strength heat sinks.  X-3 pilots may still borrow equipment from the Omni arsonel, with the presumption that they will be returned in working order.

Munitions will be 'live' so that trainees can get the feel for combat with live ammo, combat will be presumed using 'first blood' rules.






Activities for the training mission are expected to be small unit action war games.  Instructors and their students match off against other instructors and students.  Practical experience and field work on things taught in the field that cant really be taught in the classroom is the goal of the exercise.

Exact 'activities' are left to the instructors discretion.  (At this point you may select 'sided' and suggest missions/scenarios, for the training mission.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:19, Sun 16 Sept 2012.

Lance Commander Millicent Evans decides to take Cadet Huang out on the monthly field trip.

Cadet Isis has shown quiet competance in the class and an aptitude for Electronics.  Millicent is trying to broaden Cadet Isis' practical piloting skills to groom a potential EW Pilot for Omni's Militia.

Cadet Isis' stats
Gunnery 6
Pilot 6
Mental 1

Option 1 crosstrain Technician

X-3 Power Loader 7.5ton Option load.
(from message 8... link to a message in this game)
2.0 tons ~ (x2) ML RT/LT
3.5 tons ~ AC/6 LBX
2.0 tons ~ LBX Ammo (16 Standard) (16 LBX)


Lance Commander Evans will be taking out her x-3ew
X-3EW Scout Loader 5.0 ton Option load.  (on loan from Omni Inventory)
5.0 tons ~ RA/LA  Medium Pulse Laser w/(3) Heat Sinks
This message was last edited by the player at 13:30, Tue 18 Sept 2012.

Cade was not too happy with his performance in the war games, but he was more than happy to let off his steam during his off hours.  He enjoyed his off time, maybe a bit too much, dancing and parting it up with whoever would tolerate his company.  A few times, he was almost late for curfew, but he was able to skate in on time.

These new war games intrigued Cade, he actually spent some time looking at the cadet lists and picked out one who had an affinity with missiles, thinking the long range might help in these instances.  The cadet he picked was Kiren O'Malley, a red haired beauty with excellent knowledge with missile systems.  For some reason she avoided all of his advances in the past few days so Cade figured, she would not be a distraction for him.  Cade took the time to spec out the same X-3 that he piloted for the cadet.



Kiiren O'Malley
Gunnery 6 / Pilot 6 / Mental 7 / +1 Missiles.
X-3 (standard) w/ (2) ML {torso} and (2) LRM4 (20/20 Ammo){arms}

Leave it to the good captain to find the one stuck-up b---- in the cadet pool who's obviously the daughter of someone of distinguished lineage on Omni.  Despite the fact that he was a mercenary, she seemed to have been mildly tolerant of ranking officer in the company.  Together, they shared a few laughs at the expense of those beneathbelow them.

Alice Vunderlen
Gunnery 6 / Piloting 6 / Mental 7 / +1 Leadership, +1 Nobility
X-3 (standard) w/ ML {LA} (2) LRR4 (15/15 ammo) {LT/RT}, SRM5 (10 8 ammo) {RA}


Kitten Notes:
(You may use the configuration you've outlined, though she only has 8 ammo with the SRM5, Using Optional movement cant be done without involving the Torso modules being dropped.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:23, Wed 19 Sept 2012.

Annabelle Stevens.
Gunnery 6 / Pilot 6 / Mental 7 / Ballistics

-
7,5t:
AC/5 Rapid, +1t ammo = 4t+0,5t = 4,5t
torso mounted MG pair, +1t ammo = 2x(0,5+0,5)+1t = 3t

This message was last edited by the GM at 13:15, Thu 20 Sept 2012.