Every pilot worth his salt would kill for a top of the line mech. Every pilot has their preference, and they all are willing to gamble for that once chance of getting that mech that will change their fate. Drake Morningstar is no exception; he is one of the pilots hired by Commandant Wise to pilot several of his mechs for purposes of exploration and wars. Commandant Wise, one of RND’s up and coming commanders, is looking to expand his fleet on the cheap and knows when a mech is worth its niodes or if it’s time to send it on towards the great scrap heap in the stars. Last week, Commandant Wise took every last niode he had to the gambling hall to bet on winning some new weapons and gear to help outfit his forces. But what caught his eye was the shiny new Torrent sitting in the Mystery Vortex. The Commandant had heard from all of his troops how they all wanted to pilot one of these fine mechs in battle after several skirmishes where this beast of a mech had torn into them and put them on notice that they were not the baddest mechs in the land.
Drake dreamed of what it would be like to pilot one of those Torrents and watch as the enemies scattered in fear of him hosing them down with laser fire as well as some of the commandant’s prized weapons he was able to win from some party he attended at the beginning of the new century. When his boss came back, and yelled at his pilots to unload his haul, drake drooled at the shiny Torrent sitting in the crate along with a handful of newly acquired weapons that the Commandant had won. The Commandants gambling addiction was known across 12 sectors. He would gamble for a chance at some of the best mechs and gear every chance he could afford to. The only problem was he was really good at it, he had once won three mechs playing dice on the mystery vortex, currently two of which were in his lines.
As Drake helped unload everything, he was jumping for joy at the chance to pilot this soon to be beast of a mech, until he noticed the sign the boss had put on it before it had even got here: Field Strip it, and Shelve it until the 2nd Skriag is fully upgraded. Drake’s heart plummeted into his stomach. That meant that this beautiful mech wouldn’t see the light of day for at least a year or so and by then he couldn’t guarantee that he would be the first one to pilot it.
The Commandant was of course a busy man, working on projects and had been sending out his men post haste to earn up more niodes for preparations for the next Clan War that was inevitably on the horizon. Drake worked extra hard, fighting against bosses like Tory, who the Commandant had a thing for, and Titan, one of the Commandant’s biggest rivals. Drake noticed that the Commandant’s weapons were sorely lacking and were no longer punching through enemies that they had once annihilated just a few months prior. So he came up with a plan, the boss had been discussing with some of the other Commanders in the RND league about him needing to field strip all of his mechs and reduce the waste and get his team ready for the next CW ahead of schedule, but he wasn’t sure on when he would do so. After the Commandant’s meeting Drake walked up to his employer and made him an offer that he couldn’t refuse.
“Sir, I couldn’t help overhearing that your wanting to start prepping for the next Clan War.” Drake stated as he saluted his employer.
“I am. What of it.” Commandant Wise said as he looked the pilot in the eye.
“Well, I am willing to put in all of the work for it if you’re willing to give me first crack at that sweet Torrent you got. “ Drake said with his eyes on the prize he so wanted.
“I am not about to let just any pilot get his hands on the best mech I’ve got under my command just for anything. You come to me with an inventory, a new load out for my max line and a proposal on what should go and what should replace them then we will talk. And until then I will not hear another word about it, and while you’re at it I want you to personally go polish the Torrent before its locked up in storage, and I want two coats of wax on it, not just one.” The Commandant stated as he started to walk off towards his office.
Drake stood there and wanted to punch something, the Commandant was the biggest cheapskate in three sectors and he knew it, but the one thing the Commandant was above that was loyal to his pilots. So if he had any hope of getting his hands on that Torrent, he would have to work his butt off. So, Drake walked off to go polish the Torrent as it was finished being field stripped by the Chief Mechanic, Michael “Blitz” Price.
Drake yelled, “Blitz, I need that mech when you’re done with it. The boss just ordered me to polish that thing before you store it.” Michael looked up at Drake who had finally made it from the main office to the main hanger where he was standing.
“You’re welcome to it, but use the mech hauler; I haven’t finished rewiring the controls yet.” Michael said as he grabbed a bite of his sandwich, and looked over the schematics of the Torrent. “You know that is going to be one hell of a mech once the boss gets a hold of the next sale. From what I hear, he is talking about making this his next priority after he finishes specing out his prized Skriag that he has had Vincent pilot for the last year. Plus with the new Skriag moved currently to the mop up line, we should be able to get a hell of a good run out of it as well.” Michael commented as Drake looked over his shoulder at the specs he was reading.
“You don’t say, well I made a deal with the boss and if I can get a complete list of the current weapons inventory and a list of what’s available from your contact, he might let me get my hands on this bad boy and take her for a spin.” Drake nodded towards the Torrent.
“Well I guess I can help you with that, as long as I don’t have to do any more pulling of weapons for a while. The boss has kept me busy with getting the whole damn force upgraded minus the Nakshi and that there Torrent. He said he can’t afford to upgrade everything until the parts go on sale.” Michael said as he finished his sandwich.
Drake nodded, and then ran to hanger three where there was an unused mech hauler sitting there. It was obvious that the boss had been on a tear recently and had been pushing his pilots since the start of the year. This next Clan War was going to be different; they had left behind several of their allies to move up the ranks to the top of the tier, the 82nd Omicrons’, the top of the RND chain. The last couple of years had been great working with the Immortals, but the boss had set his sights on the prizes and fame that were in the higher divisions. He wasn’t about to let the boss down.
As he got the Torrent loaded onto the Hauler, he noticed something. Wrote next to the cockpit, where the pilots name is to be put, was Commandant Wise. Drake just slumped over, well that was it, and this was to be the boss man’s new mech. Drake couldn’t blame him. The boss had been piloting an Oggun for the last 10 years and giving up all of the better mechs to his other pilots. But it was sad that he wouldn’t get to pilot this bad boy even once. He knew that the Commandant would never let anyone pilot his own private mech. So he got to waxing.
Several hours and 4 drums of wax later, Drake finally finished the last bit of polish onto the Torrent. It was a thing of beauty to behold. It shined from every light that shone on it. He might not get to pilot it, but it would be a sight to see never the less. Drake heard a whistle and turned around.
“That there is one of the sexiest pieces of machine I have ever had my hands in. Well you did a hell of a job there Drake.” Michael commented. “Anyway, here is that contact info, and our current budget. You’re welcome to it.”
Drake nodded and looked at the budget; it was a lot bigger than he thought. The boss definitely was a cheapskate and was happy he was, sitting there in the budget was now over 120 niodes. There was almost enough niodes to gamble, for another shot at getting a second Torrent. So Drake spent the night going through the stockpile of weapons that they had on hand and going over the weapons that were available to order. He had one shot at this and he wasn’t going to lose.
The next morning, tired beyond belief, Drake walked into the Commandant’s office and laid out his plan. The Commandant sat there, his hands interlaced as he listened to his pilot go over the inventory, what could be replaced what was still of use, and what they could buy. At the end, Drake made his gamble.
“And after everything is purchased we will have over 150 niodes, enough to purchase another niode mech, particularly, another Torrent. Which if we got a hold of this mech now we could save us from having to work with only one of these.” Drake stated.
“Excellent work, but I want to make a few adjustments. I will look over your plan and have Michael come in and talk with me once he has a moment.” Commandant Wise said as he looked over the inventory and outline of Drake’s plan.
Drake walked out and told Michael that once he was done. Michael grumbled and dived back into the cockpit of the Sever he had been repairing after its recent battle. Drake spent the rest of the day loading his Ammonite with ammo, and doing a system check. As he was signing out for the evening he saw that the boss was driving off towards the docks, probably to go gamble with his friends.
Later that evening, the Commandant was walking back from the pub when he felt an itch that just needed to be scratch, he needed to go play some dice and win him something fun. He went to the gambling hall and saw that they had another Torrent up for grabs.
He couldn’t resist so he walked over to the table and placed his bet on the dice roll for three chances at some vortex items. He took the dice in his hand and rolled. He watched as the dice rolled across the table. He knew that the Torrent would give him the edge that his team would need in these next few years. But he never could out right buy a mech when he could get more than what it is worth at the table. So he watched as the dice fell into place. He smiled.
The next morning, Drake woke up to the boss standing above him. “Wake up; you’ve got work to do. And I expect the plan to be adjusted once you go over the new inventory I picked up last night.” Drake sat up and frowned.
“You went out and gambled again last night, I saw you. Please don’t tell me you gambled away the Torrent, boss.” Drake moaned.
“It’s my job to run this outfit and there is no one pilot guaranteed any mech until I get a hold of it. So feel lucky that you’re employed and have a mech worth piloting.” Commandant Wise said as he walked off towards his office.
Drake crawled out of his bunk and headed for the field to get to work when he couldn’t believe his eyes. Sitting on the field next to a weapon’s crate was a brand new Torrent. As he walked up to look it over he saw Michael up near the cockpit painting a name under it. He was painting Drake Morningstar.
Submitted by Brian D. Wise#17026
