I had some down time from my duties as a freelance reporter, which coincided with some security sweeps scheduled by the Brotherhood. I was still finding my way around and getting to know folks when of course trouble came knocking. Trouble in this case had a name it was Tory: an infamous sneak attack soldier who has a solid reputation of leaving nothing behind. She came out of nowhere attacking our planet side outposts in a coordinated assault. The brothers and sisters responded without blinking and easily beat her back. As she was retreating she was firing at the battle ground itself trying to detonate any ordinance or mecha left behind. All in all it was textbook Tory, advance, get beat, retreat and shell the field of battle from a distance nuking everything.Usually it works but not this time. This time I was able to run out to a downed Inferno and yank the pilot’s lifeless corpse out of the seat. I got a crash course in Inferno driving that day and almost killed myself a couple times trying to get this one clunker back to base. I finally limp it into the hanger to find the rest of the Clan looking at me like I had lost my mind. Turns out that running out into an incapacitated mecha in the middle of a fire fight is considered by some, slightly left of center thinking.
So after a few good natured jabs about having a death wish or losing my lug nuts they let me get back to work. And what work this would be. The Brotherhood had easily beat the hell out of Tory and her machines, there were hull breaches, laser scorching, dents and twisted metal this wasn’t going to be fun or cheap but damn it I wanted an Inferno!
I spent the better part of the next couple weeks down in that hanger bay. When I wasn’t ordering parts, I was rewiring the cockpit equipment . Trying to sync up dual Sekhmet Siege Cpu’s to a Thermal Analyzer without them misreading each others thermal emissions and trying to auto correct was a pain and a half. Then realizing it was running too hot and having to deal with the Coolant system along with the friction-less bearings and Untiam Actuator acting up every time I turned around. All in all this was going to be one hell of a project and I hadn’t even got to weapons yet!
Finally got the internals settled out when I inserted an Overcrank Engine and a Power relay along with the Maxed torque engines. Then it was time to rearm, which if this was going to be of any value to me on the field at all it had to have Oomph!! I must have become Star Factories favorite customer during this time as I ordered five Kojin Stoves, a Lizard Brain, two Diablis Nozzles, salvaged four Rupture shots from previous fights, and added a Hephaistos just in case. Filled out the rest of the weapon slots with Ol’Willie Petes, Komodo, Turkey Cooker ,Scintillator, and Man O' War rays.
It took me a while and a small mountain of credits and niodes but eventually the salvaged Inferno was ready. I did a double check of all systems and took her out for a spin. In a gout of flame, hot enough to melt solid rock to magma I walked my new prize out of the hanger for the first time. The mechs internal computer asked that I give the mecha a name to associate with its I.F.F. smiling to myself I leaned forward and typed in… “The Grill”.
Submitted By Pat Willis #224534