Captain Carlos sat on the edge of a rack, watching as techs loaded up what was left of his wing of mecha. It had been a tough clan war, fighting with Bacon in the final round and losing out by a single strike point. New Severs were making their way into the ranks joining with the big purple cats (Smilodons) and the purple Dilos that had filled out many ranks from past clan wars. The third battle still left a bad taste in his mouth. Now he has found himself leaving the Emerald Clan, transferring to one of the others. He didn’t know which, only that he had jump cords to hand to the Gate techs to shoot him and his company off to.
With the three way civil war going on in the Meiji Shogunate, Gateway 357 was a bustling spot. Mech companies sporting Iron Fists and Flowers painted onto their Hulls next to their traditional Unit crests were all over the place. Supposedly headquarters had made some official announcement that all Dragon Clans were joining the Iron Prince in his fight against this mad General, but he knew for a fact that it was much more interspersed than that. Carlos had seen a couple of the Emissaries come into camp to talk with Major Daniel Radier the day before that third battle with the Bacon Addicts. Not knowing what was said, Carlos had managed to hear raised voices, the emissaries then leaving hurriedly, watching their skiff take off to the Southwest, the area of the Bacon camp. Things just didn’t sit well with that memory, so he was kind of glad to be flying a flower next to his Emerald Dragon on his fuselage.
Looking across the way, he spotted Edmond Dantes of the B.A. looking board, waiting for his turn to load up and jump. “Hey Ed! Good fight! I didn’t see you around after the matches or I woulda bought you a brew!” Edmond looked up, saw Carlos and grinned. “Hey Carlos, how ya doin? Yeah, after the fight, we had to load up in a hurry. Command had us regearing with these new lasers and they wanted everything mounted and tested before making our way to the front.”
Edmond noticed that Carlos’s Smilo was wearing the Lotus flower. “I thought all you Dragons were going Iron for this thing, what’s with that?” “No idea. Only that something broke down in the way the Prince of Iron talked with some of the Clan Leaders didn’t sit right.” “I know what you mean. I heard RND was having issues getting all the intel they were promised from Kiyomasa’s men as well. All the brass seem slightly on edge.” “Ah jeez, don’t tell me that dreck! It makes it sound like we went from the frying pan into the fire!” Carlos did not need to hear misgivings about his new employer.
“Ha ha ha ha! No worries man, you’d just end up barrel rolling out of it and wiping out the fire with your tail guns anyway!”
Carlos was getting a little rep for finding himself in ridiculous circumstances yet still being able to live. “Yeah, yeah. Hey, you guys better look out next CW, we’ll be coming for you.” Edmond’s face turned grim. “I look forward to it as long as we get there. This civil war is getting twisted in a hurry. Not sure where any of us will end up. Well hey, I gotta go. They just called our load numbers, and I gotta get these guys hoppin’.” “Take care Ed, keep your sights clean and your barrels cleaner.” Yeah… if half of what Edmond had said was true, it was going to be a long conflict. Carlos sat back down, opened up a ration, and waited to see what card fate would deal for him.
Submitted by Carlos Hicks#905078