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Yu should have changed Devalis' last name. Any decent FedSuns Intel officer doing a background check on a previously unknown Merc Unit should recognize it as a Nova Cat bloodname and draw a link through the ClanTech they are using. They should be sniffed out fairly quickly, especially once the Feddies interact with the unit.

Wait for the next bit

Small whoops from me, they land on Warren in 3099 not 3114 which I wrote, this whole story takes place before the current year of the story (I got a bit used to writing 3114  )

Training Range, Devalis’ Devils Private Range
Molino, Minette Operational Area
Crucis March, Federated Suns
12th December 3099

The Marauder C plodded across the training range at a slow walk as it’s pilot Anna Devalis tested its new systems.  As part of the upgrade from single to double heat sinks, she’d requested the techs to reduce number of heat sinks and for them to fit two machine guns which were mounted along the Mech’s central line under its forward leaning nose giving her some heat free anti-infantry weapons.  Now after weeks of refit the Marauder C was ready for operations again and she was on the range.  As the Marauder C moved, she twisted the torso from left to right feeling a hitch in its turn when it twisted to the left “Box, this is Lucifer One, I have still got a hitch in the twist to the left.  Leave a note for the techs.”  She ordered

As the Marauder C continued along the route, she smirked at the callsign it was the same as a model of aerospace fighter if anyone ever cracked their communications, they could mistake her unit for aerospace units.  The Devil’s had two aircraft but neither were of the Lucifer model instead the Khan had allowed them to take two primitive tech Star Dagger Aerospace fighters which had been modified with standard armour and with a pair of extended range medium lasers which constantly threatened to overwhelm the aircraft’s heat capacity.  Anna had asked her Techs why they couldn’t upgrade the aircraft with double heat sinks like they had her Marauder their response in between the expletives was that “they were not miracle workers” or aerospace engineers after which she chose to leave them alone.  The pilots would just have to get used to the aircraft how they were until she could find a way to trade them for something better.

Twisting the torso of the Marauder C again to the left she felt the hitch in the twist but also saw on her sensors another contact.  “Box, I have something else on the range.”

“It’s not one of ours, Lucifer.”

“I know that!”  She snapped angrily she wasn’t sure if she was angrier at the non-professional response or the continued use of contractions.  They were Clan warriors in private they should act as such. “I am investigating, understood?”  She asked each of them had been briefed if you were asked if you “understood” something from a superior in this unit then it was the equivalent of a “quiaff?” interrogative and your response should be formal.

“Affirmative, Captain” Box responded as she turned the Marauder C to the right and throttled up to a full speed walk.  She reached the other contact within only a couple of minutes seeing it was a factory new Warhammer WHM-9D definitely not a local Mech.  On its chest on top of its standard urban camouflage was an orange starburst bisected by a sword with two stylized letters – StarCorps Incorporated insignia.

“This is Captain Devalis of The Devalis’ Devils please identify yourself.”  She said standing the Marauder C square to the Warhammer, if the pilot decided to do anything they would be in for a fight.

“I am Naren Shankar lead negotiator for StarCorps Industries” the pilot said identifying herself as the seventy-ton Mech stopped at just over one hundred metres her accent was thick and full of flavour like she was from a world far different from the one that Devalis was used to. “Are you enjoying your time here on Molino?”

“The cadre duty is a different pace than my people have been used to in the past” she said diplomatically, truthfully, she hated it as did the others in the unit.  To make matters worse the local duke was constantly trying to give them land grants to entice them to stay on the planet longer and make their time on the world permanent.

“I can imagine” he said his Mech circling around the Marauder C “an interesting modification you have made to your Mech, machine guns on a Marauder, well it was about time someone did it.”  Shankar said looking over the Mech “the ammunition feed must be causing some issues.”

“I was just working those out.”  She admitted the ammunition from the autocannon fed into its weapon perfectly her people would figure out the machine gun feeds.  She twisted the Marauder C’s torso to track the other Mech which walked with the confidence of a well-seasoned MechWarriors at the helm.

“We could possibly help you with that?” Shankar suggested “as you may have guessed my purpose here is to buy your contract from Molino and bring you to the world of Crofton.”  She explained Crofton was familiar to Anna Devalis she’d heard that it was a manufacturing world for the Federated Suns.  “You will serve as part of the defence of Crofton and you will allow us access to your unit’s impressive cache of Clan technology.”

“All taken as salvage it won’t be perfect.”  Devalis said trying to make sure they didn’t get too close attention other than the Shadow Hawk IIC all of their Mechs were refurbished Inner Sphere Mechs.

“The integration of Clan and Inner Sphere technology is important to my people as we move forwards and have access to more Clan technology.  We have gifted four Warhammer BattleMechs to the defence of this world to secure your contract, your unit will do great things for our company.”  Shankar explained as the Warhammer stopped Infront of the Marauder C “your unit could be very important to my company.”

Manufacturing Line, StarCorps of Crofton
Crofton, Anjin Muerto Operational Area
Crucis March, Federated Suns
3rd June 3100

Following their time on Molino and now here on Crofton the Devalis’ Devils had now been out of combat for more than a year and Anna Devalis was beginning to question her unit’s purpose they were not forwarding the goals of their Clan.  They had buried a transmitter here on Crofton as they had on Molino and on Brockton where they had stopped off briefly in each case it stated what the Devils had encountered on the world and where they had headed next should the Nova Cats lose contact with the unit.

Today was an important day as after nearly six months of training and research with the StarCorps Industries she had finally been given access to the StarCorps manufacturing line and been given a tour of the facilities there.  As she walked along the lines of Warhammer BattleMechs which were under construction there she thought back to the negotiators words when the Devils signed on with StarCorps your unit could be very important to my company.”  As she walked past the newly completed BattleMechs she spied a new model of Marauder which was in one of the Mech cradles it had lasers in its arms and an autocannon over its shoulder like traditional versions of that type of Mech but under its nose were a pair of machine guns like her own Marauder C.  She stopped as her guide continued to speak about the production line and where these Mechs would be going and all she could think of was “This place would be very important to her Clan” as she looked at the Mech that mimicked her own BattleMech.

Keep it coming DC!

If you insist

Next bit a specter from the timeline's past returns.  Also the Flagstaff III Hovertank at the end is from Fan TRO 3063

Combat Training Centre Supply Run, Sjardijin
Woodbine, Woodbine PDZ
Draconis March, Federated Suns
2nd September 3100

Still under contract with StarCorps The Devalis’ Devils had been given a combat mission following a near demand by Anna Devalis.  She’d stated rightly that her company could not be expected to continue to preform well in a combat situation without facing off against real enemies.  As a result of her argument StarCorps on Crofton had allowed her company to accompany a weapons shipment to the Woodbine Combat Training Centre which the Federated Suns used to train units in cohesive battle techniques.  Recently the region had been plagued by a pirate band which the Federated Suns believed was based on the planet but so far had been unable to track down.  The Devalis’ Devils had been accompanied by four Warhammers from StarCorps which the company was “showing off” to the AFFS hoping to encourage the state to buy more of the Mechs.

Trudging across the desert the augmented unit was arrayed around the supply convoy of eight Heavy Supply vehicles.  While it was a far cry from combat duty it was better than defending a factory deep within the Federated Suns Crucis March.  Anna Devalis sat in her Marauder C’s cockpit and thought about her plan of action the unit needed to find a way to break off from the convoy and deploy another of the Nova Cat’s transmitters she found it strange that was all her unit was doing, they weren’t running raiding operations behind the Federated Suns borders or leaving supplies for the Clan only leaving behind transmitters which held the information that her unit had collected to date and whatever the devices small sensor suite picked up.

“Sensor contact!”  Gerald called out from his modified Excalibur BattleMech while the long extension which protruded from the right arm looked like the Mech’s original gauss rifle in fact it as just an extended casing which covered the Mech’s extended range particle cannon.  Because her Clan warriors had no real need for money other than day to day living when they were on Crofton Anna had spent some of the unit’s money on upgrading the Mechs heat sinks to double strength as she’d done with her own Marauder C making the Excalibur, like her Mech, a far more potent fighter.

Anna turned her BattleMech towards the contact seeing the unmistakable silhouette of a Thunderbolt BattleMech the gauss slug that followed the image and slammed into Gerald’s Excalibur was again a signature intro from the enemy Mech.  Gerald returned fire with his particle cannon which missed the sixty-five ton BattleMech immediately both Mechs traded long range missile fire with Gerald’s larger twenty-rack causing more damage to the enemy Mech as more enemy units appeared into view a pair of eighty ton Awesome BattleMechs, what her sensors believed as a modified Black Knight and a huge Atlas II.

“Lucifer One to base, confirm contact with aggressor lance” she transmitted swapping to the shared StarCorps and Devils channel “alright Star Lance you stay beside the package we’ll fan out and take these guys on.”

“Captain, Lieutenant Dawson here our Hammers would be a good match against those assault units.”  The commander of the StarCorps security lance suggested.

“Negative!”  She snapped “the prize is the transports; you need to defend them.”

“Affirmative Captain, good hunting.”  Dawson replied almost cheerfully like he’d offered just to have her refuse him permission.

“Devils, Chevron Four formation let’s take hit.”  She said Chevron Four broke the company’s normal lancers into four groups of three they’d then arrange themselves in waves with each hitting the enemy one after the other.  Anna Devalis Marauder C, the unit’s own Awesome and Thunderbolt lined up first, followed by Gerald in his Excalibur, Eric Storm’s Shadow Hawk and the captured Shadow Hawk IIC lined up next.  Everardo Gout’s Hatchetman centred the third and was flanked by a Marshal and Valkyrie while the unit’s remaining three bug light Mechs a Wasp, Stinger and Locust lined up last.  Anna Devalis didn’t know who had come up with the formation of Mechs but apparently it was made up of Mechs readily available in the Taurian Concordat and Federated Suns periphery either way Chevron Four would protect her lightest Mechs from the heaviest damage of the initial encounters.  “Remember, no challenges we hit them hard and together.”

Marching forwards together the Devils came across a sand dune into a maelstrom of fire as the pirates responded with the Devil’s approach with the expected combined fire approach.  Fortunately, the modifications done to the Devil’s Mechs helped immeasurably with heavier hitting fire against the enemy targets.  As they moved in the first three Mechs of the formation concentrated fire on one of the two Awesomes punching through its torso armour severing one of its arms.  The second formation targeted the enemy Atlas with the same approach while the third struck the second Awesome while the last group of three light Mechs swarm attacked the damaged enemy Thunderbolt.

The effect of this wave approach was two-fold first as her Command group had taken a volley of fire from the enemy units the second missed out on the initial hit which allowed them to heavily damage both the first Awesome and the Atlas while also minimising the damage.  Unfortunately, when the third group of three moved into position they bore the brunt of another volley of fire and the Marshal took most of the damage with the Mech exploding into a thousand pieces as it was hit by almost every type of Mech made weapon ever devised.  Particle cannons, lasers, autocannons and missiles tore into the medium BattleMech ending its battle and its pilot’s life.

The Marshals sacrifice did allow Everardo Gout’s Hatchetman to close on the enemy units and swing its massive Hatchet striking the enemy Black Knight high on the chest.  Out of the corner of her eye Anna watched as the Black Knight’s right hand seemed to disappear revealing a blade which immediately plunged into the Hatchetman’s chest.  Everardo triggered his Mech’s torso mounted autocannon tearing into the Black Knight’s torso knocking the bigger Mech back off the forty-five-ton Mech unfortunately all that did was expose the Hatchetman to the Black Knight’s long range weapons.

Anna’s initial target was destroyed she twisted the Marauder’s torso and hit the Black Knight with a pair of pulse laser blasts but it wasn’t enough almost in slow motion the Black Knight seemed to look at her before hitting the Hatchetman with a particle cannon, autocannon and an assortment of lasers.  Anna could imagine the heat build up would be massive onboard the Black Knight but right now she couldn’t care about the effect it was having on the pilot instead all she could see was the destruction it wrought on the Hatchetman.  In almost a carbon copy as the Marshal’s death the medium Mech was torn to pieces by the assortment of weapons fire that tore into its chassis she did see Everardo eject from his Mech so there was hope they could recover him in the future.

“They are pulling back!”  Eric storm called out as Anna put another salvo of weapons fire into the enemy Black Knight as it turned fully towards her, she could see the unmistakable opal and sword insignia of the Word of Blake on the Mech’s thigh.

“I thought we were done with your kind!”  She shouted angrily not realizing she was transmitting over an open channel.”  Surprisingly the Black Knight stood upright at her words.

“There will always be Whispers of our order” a reply came almost as a whisper as Anna’s Marauder C was struck by an assault autocannon that came from the right of the Mech.  The autocannon bore into her Mech’s left knee actuator causing it to explode under the stream of weapons fire.  She fought the seventy-five-ton BattleMech as it stumbled then fell forwards.  Moments seemed to pass in slow motion as Anna continued to try and fight the fall, but it was a losing battle, moments later the Marauder C slammed into the ground.  She heard metal smash as her Mech impacted on the sands of Woodbine.

Vulnerable on the ground she scrambled to recover her footing which was a labourous task with a smashed knee actuator.  She watched on her screens and sensors as the Black Knight stepped closer oblivious to the fighting occurring around them, Anna triggered the overhead autocannon in a vain attempt to strike the enemy Mech but from a prone position the shot missed overhead.  The Black Knight stopped above her and used its blade to swipe the autocannon cleanly off her Mech with a single blow Anna was thrown around the cockpit as seven of her Mech’s seventy-five tons were ripped from its hull.  She then felt the thud of the blade touch her cockpit; she knew the Black Knight could kill her from this position but the pilot had kept his transmission line open.  “Not today MechWarrior.”  He said again almost in a whisper before withdrawing as Anna struggled to get her crippled BattleMech back onto its feet even as the remaining three enemy Mechs continued to fire on her unit from long range.

Surveying the battlefield, she saw that they had destroyed one of the Awesomes and the Thunderbolt but had lost the Hatchetman, Marshal, Locust and Valkyrie with three of the Mechs looking like they had burnt out cockpits meaning she’d lost people today.  Pulling their people back together the Devils turned back towards the convoy to find she’d been right to leave the Warhammers in position a lance of Flagstaff III Hovertanks had engaged the convoy in the Devil’s absence.  While all four light vehicles had been destroyed, they’d caused damage to each of the Warhammers with inferno munitions and damaged two of the transport vehicles before being destroyed leaving the convoy stranded in position for several hours before relief could attend.  She didn’t know who had attacked them but vowed to one day track them down and kill them.

Thanks Wrangler I haven't disappeared or anything just busy more soon

Looking good! I'm glad you do a posting here as well, Dragon Cat. I just backed up the fanon wiki, where i'm reposting the story just in case.

Trial of Possession
Mararn, Nova Cat’s Den
Periphery
22nd February 3102

The Devalis’ Devils had a busy year assisting several Federated Suns worlds with pirate hunting and anti-Clan raids against Clan Nova Cat.  They had travelled through the systems of Cogdell, Filtvelt, Baxley, Gillingham and they had raided several Nova Cat worlds.  During their time on Filtvelt Anna Devalis had made the decision to hire Matt Wilsbacher a local born MechWarrior to pilot the Bushwacker the unit had captured on Hahira.  He had proved himself in battle several times against pirates and while he was inexperienced in fighting the Nova Cats he’d proven he wished to help the unit as a warrior and an able technician, the unit had now spent months dancing around Wilsbacher hiding the unit’s origin from him.

As part of their Federated Suns contract, they were now on the world of Mararn, which was held by Clan Nova Cat, engaged in a Trial of Possession for a pair of OmniMech that the Clan had targeted.  Both OmniMechs were actually Inner Sphere models a Blackjack and an Arctic Fox that the Nova Cats had captured from the Federated Suns which is most likely why the Clan had entertained the Trial of Possession, or at least how the Devils would explain it if they were ever asked, as part of the Trial Anna Devalis had requested and been granted safcon which brought them to the surface safely.

Now standing on the warm desert world of Mararn the eleven active members of the Devalis’ Devils stood waiting for the battle to begin.  Anna Devalis dialled into the third lance to listen in on the conversation between the MechWarriors.

“Boss, why did they let us land, it disnae mak’ sense, we’re mercs?  The Clanners hate mercenaries.”  This was Matt Wilsbacher his Filtvelt accent was unmissable with cut off and merged worlds as were his contractions.

“The Captain asked for Safcon, it’s a Clan thing that allows us to land without harassment.”  Lito explained his own use of contractions surprised Anna as she listened. “The Nova Cats have fought us more than a dozen times they know who we are, and they know we’ll fight them the way they want, so you need to fight the way we taught you.  This is the Clans we’re fighting we need to fight them their way.”  Listening to her fellow Nova Cat Anna was surprised by the contractions used by Lito, it made her realize her people were becoming more like the people they were living with.  It wasn’t a surprise she had expected her people to become more mercenary like and with the addition of a Federated Suns born MechWarrior in their ranks the change would be accelerated.

“I got ye Lito, ye dinae need to worry about me.”  He responded before Anna cut off the feed seeing the Nova Cat commander had answered them.  As part of the trial Clan Nova Cat had sent against them a single star of Mechs and a mixed star of vehicles and battle armour which Anna had split the command star would target the enemy Mechs while the second and third stars would be going after the mixed vehicle and battle armour star.

Anna targeted a Nova Cat Hellbringer with her pulse lasers and fired her challenge at the enemy, playing the part of mercenaries they did not call out challenges like a Clan warrior would instead it was all done by targeting data.  Each of the Devalis’ Devils had their own targets and each of them had been instructed not to target anyone else until a free target came up or the Nova Cats challenged them to a fight.


Deeper in the battle Eric Storm ran into battle with his modified Snake BattleMech he’d been directed as part of the battle to target a point of Nova Cat Elementals and then clean up the vehicles if there were any left and his forty-five-ton Mech with its ultra-class autocannon, short range missiles and medium laser was perfect for that task.  His first missiles struck several of the warriors while his autocannon blasts exploded around.  The Clan warriors weathered his returning fire with their short-range missiles several of which slammed into the Snake.  Feeling the impacts of the missiles Eric didn’t stop his Mech moving instead he leaned into the hits before jumping his Mech around them continuing to pour weapons fire on the point.  Against a fast moving BattleMech while the Elementals were tough, they couldn’t keep up with his movements or his fire and after expending their second volley of missiles, of which only two struck his stealth armoured Mech they were now reduced to short range lasers.  He had no intention on closing to a distance where the armoured warriors could jump up onto his Mech instead his longer ranged weapons would finish them easily.


While new to the Devalis Devils Matt Wilsbacher had fought the Nova Cats before, on Filtvelt, during a Clan raid against his homeworld he had fought as an infantry man for the Filtvelt Citizens Militia in support of the Third Filtvelt Guardians Regiment his unit had been a missile support unit and he was certain at least one of his short range missiles had struck one of the invaders BattleMechs but otherwise he’d had a quiet day as the battle was concluded miles from his position.  Today he was fighting them in a fifty-five-ton Bushwacker BattleMech armed with a fast firing anti-armour autocannon, two small racks of long-range missiles, machine guns and an extended range large laser.  Stalking forwards he targeted the pair of forty-ton Joust Main Battle Tank he’d initially been assigned to target.  He hadn’t liked that he’d been assigned to mop up armour but he’d decided to take the challenge in his stride.  As he closed both tanks opened up on him with their large lasers and missiles one laser scored a hit while the other flew through the air beside his Mech while the missiles peppered the torso armour of his squat Mech.  As he closed in on his targets, he opened fire with his own missiles and large laser striking one of the vehicles with his laser burning an ugly scar over its left side while the missiles missed.  He’d worked hard to get used to firing missiles from his new platform but still he struggled with the targeting system for them.  “Practice makes perfect” he thought and fired another salvo of missiles this time seeing at least one missile struck one of the tanks.  As he entered his autocannons range both tanks fired again this time both lasers struck staggering his Bushwacker into a stumble while some of the missiles struck.  Suddenly Matt went from being on the offence to trying to keep his big BattleMech standing he fired his autocannon defiantly at the two Mechs but missed completely watching the shells rip up the ground beside the two vehicles which were now charging forwards confident.

Unfortunately for the two Jousts Matt kept his Mech standing and was ready for the two tanks as they closed he heard an audible click as the autocannon reloaded and fired again this time scoring a hit on the left vehicle, he noticed his long range missiles had reloaded and his laser was ready to fire again and let rip against the right hand vehicle scoring hits with the laser and most of his missiles.  The brave vehicle crews continued forwards firing lasers and missiles as they attacked Matt instinctively ducked his Bushwacker and was rewarded watching the missiles fly over his Mech but both lasers again struck the armour this time penetrating the armour on his Mech’s right arm fortunately the Bushwacker had no weapons or equipment there he needed to worry about.

The two Jousts were trying to move either side of him as they closed and Matt let them running directly at the one on the right while twisting his Mech’s torso to track the other he fired his autocannon and laser adding his machine guns as the range closed to fire on one vehicle while literally running his BattleMech into the other vehicle delivering a crippling blow to the vehicle shredding its track.

Machine gun salvos, missiles and lasers filled the air between the two vehicles an his Bushwacker as Matt Wilsbacher delivered a killing blow to the tank, he’d kicked by punching it with his BattleMech’s left arm.  The Bushwacker’s battle fist went straight through the top of the crippled tank causing the armour to fail crushing the top of the turret.  The Bushwacker was rocked by another laser blast and more missile hits from the second Joust as Matt pulled the left arm out of the Joust and turned towards the other target.  With one enemy down he now had the task of tracking down the other vehicle.


Elsewhere in the battle MechWarrior Gerald stepped forwards against the enemy Nova Cat OmniMech.  As the heaviest Mech of the second star he’d been selected as the Mech to take on the fifth enemy Mech which just happened to be a Nova Cat.  Gerald thought it was poetic he’d fought for Clan Nova Cat for thirty years but had never proven himself more capable than being a MechWarrior, in other Clans Gerald would have been resigned to being a solahma but the Nova Cats allowed him to remain as a MechWarrior respecting that age brought wisdom and experience.  Now he was fighting against the Clan as part of a mission for the Clan, it made little sense, but perhaps it was how it should be.

As he marched his Excalibur forwards, he struck the Nova Cat with the Excalibur’s particle cannon and long-range missiles while the Nova Cat’s paired particle cannons struck the Excalibur in return.  His seventy-ton Mech shuddered and buckled under the double particle cannon hit as nearly two tons of armour was shredded in a single attack.  The Nova Cat OmniMech was a hard hitting Mech designed to engage and destroy Mechs of all sizes and Gerald knew he was out matched but he was at peace with it, he knew what was needed of him from this battle.  Stepping forwards he fired his particle cannon and lasers again striking the Nova Cat causing damage but not enough to faze the Clan warrior instead it raised its other arm which held three large lasers and engaged him with another salvo of weapons fire.  All three large lasers struck his Excalibur’s right leg burning through and shattering the armour and structure underneath causing the heavy Mech to stumble forwards Gerald fought the Mech with all his strength returning fire but missing with his missiles with most of them slamming into the ground all around the Nova Cat as he tried to control the Excalibur.

Regaining control of his seventy ton Mech Gerald raised the Excalibur’s particle cannon to engage the Nova Cat again but saw that the Nova Cat was already in position “I live in service of Clan Nova Cat, I die in service…” he whispered as both arms of the Nova Cat lit up at and engaged the Excalibur with a full alpha strike.  Particle cannons and lasers tore through the Excalibur’s armour and structure shattering any remaining resistance that was left in the Mech the combination of weapons fire tore through the structure which held the Mech’s extra light fusion engine and caused a minor internal explosion.  The feedback through the neuralhelmet caused by the explosion knocked Gerald unconscious meaning he had no defence nor did he feel the follow up particle cannon blast which consumed his cockpit killing the MechWarrior.


One the sunbaked plain of Mararn the words had come through the communications system quite clearly.  “In battle I have defeated them, I claim these tanks as Isorla for Devalis Devils” the from Matt Wilsbacher could be heard for all on the field.  They had been transmitted after the second Joust had surrendered after being disabled by the Bushwacker.

Now that the battle was over and the words were said Anna Devalis would have to add the surviving six crewmen from the Jousts and the single salvageable tank to their number as was Clan tradition.  The Devalis’ Devils had been victorious over the Nova Cats she’d received a communication from Star Colonel Alex Drummond the commander of the Nova Cat’s Eighth Roar Cluster thanking her for giving their older warriors honourable deaths, granting the unit Safcon to leave and wishing them well for the future.  The border commands of Clan Nova Cat would by now have been made aware of the Devalis’ Devils mission, Alex Drummond would have been well aware that they were fighting another Clan unit and had used it as an opportunity to allow the older members of their command to die with honour.  The Devalis’ Devils had secured their victory and the two targeted Trial OmniMechs, while losing two of their own MechWarriors in the battle but claiming one Nova Cat MechWarrior and two vehicle crews overall a net increase in personnel and equipment for the command.

Before the command’s Union-class DropShip left Mararn Captain Anna Devalis mustered them all in the DropShip’s Mechbay standing in front of the captured Blackjack and Arctic Fox OmniMechs which had been delivered by the Nova Cats.  “Congratulations of a victory against Clan Nova Cat on this world, it was a hard-fought battle and we lost a couple of friends but we have gained what we came for and we have added several new members to our command.”  She began “to the new members of this unit only one of the main battle tanks we captured is salvageable, in the meantime we will use each of you to crew the operational tank and all of you will be welcome to fight simulated Trials of Position for a position to become the pilot of one of the two Mechs behind me.” She said surprising them while all the warriors were middle aged or so most of them had likely been trained in sibkos as MechWarriors initially before dropping down to the armour forces once they failed their Trial of Position.  “Count this as a second chance at a way of service, you are among friends here many of this unit originate in your former Clan. Get used to your new surroundings and your new unit mates.  We have a lot of travel ahead of us.”  She said dismissing them everyone filtered away from them except Matt Wilsbacher while only in his early twenties he was tall and broad shouldered with a thick mop of dark hair on the top of his head while the sides were shaved to the scalp. “I apologise for not being honest with you when you joined us, are you alright?”  She asked him following the revelation that many of them were former Nova Cats.

“I sort of guessed, your family names, some of the vague origin stories the people in the unit came up with.  I’ll tell you this boss there were rumours of it before I joined up on Filtvelt, lots of things didn’t add up about you guys.”  He said honestly “but you got me off Filtvelt and put me in a BattleMech on a regular basis so I’ll take it.  You guys aren’t Clanners anymore if I needed anymore proof of that I only have to look at today.”  He said Anna remained silent for a moment as he glanced at the two OmniMechs.

“Because of our Clan origins I am ready to accept those tank warriors into our ranks without question, I know how they will react to my command, we defeated them in battle and now they are members of this command.  Your recruitment was a little different we needed to get to know you before letting you in on some of our secrets.  You understand?”  She explained he nodded “do you wish to be included in the Trials for piloting one of these Mechs?”

“No, I’m happy with the Bushwacker, I need to get used to it before thinking about something that can carry different weapons.”

“Very good” she responded, “as I said before only one of the Jousts is repairable the other will be salvage so if you wish I have authorised the chief tech to put parts of the tank onto your BattleMech.”  She explained which brought a smile to the young man “we look after our own Matt Wilsbacher, you are part of Devalis Devils and if you serve us, we will serve you, you understand?”

“I do, Captain, thank you” he said continuing to smile as he walked off, she knew she couldn’t tell him the full truth of the unit, that they still worked for the Nova Cat’s Intelligence Watch but releasing some more information about their command would help him settle in more while giving him the first choice of salvage from the Joust would also make him happy while the unit headed to its next job.

No it's not I just haven't gotten back to it recently.  I'll try to add some more to it in the next week or so