Battletech: Planet's Fall

Richard had just returned from the full assault on the barracks, and was about to take a quick shower and then return to take another look at the damage on the ground when he heard that Cat had returned from her first mission.

He remembered that he had something for her anyway and that she had moved into the officers' quarters. So he decided to kill two birds with one stone and hurried extra not to lose time.

He grabbed everything he needed and made his way to her quarters. Once there, he knocked on her door.

There is laughter inside the room. Not too familiar to Richard, but familiar enough to identify them as Catherine's lance mates. Wildhog's loud voice is quite distinctive.

" .. hahaha! I'm gonna want some proof, Cat!" Wildhog's volume is more bearable when filtered through a metal door. He becomes much more talkative when inebriated.

"Haha, yeah!" Ostrich's light Spanish accent is easy enough to identify. She too has been drinking it sounds like. "I'll only believe it when I see it."

A third voice says something. But she is less familiar and speaking too quietly for him to catch what is being said.

The Spanish accented voice answers. "Someone's knocking at the door? Is your doorbell broken, Cat?"

"Dumbo! It worked when we came!" Ostrich ribs the loud man back in revenge for all the left handed teasing she has had to endure all day!

"Door's closest to you, Ostrich! Please be a dear and check." Catherine sounds tipsy too.

A click and the door opens to reveal Martina's tanned face. There are not many women, who can look down on Richard.

Meeting his eyes, Ostrich reaches out to blindly finger the wall, until she hits the doorbell button and a familiar chimes can be heard. She turns back to call into the room. "It still works."

"We heard!" Wildhog's voice booms back. "Now let the guy in!"

"Don't be rude and leave our unexpected guest stuck outside." Catherine giggles, out of sight. "Who is it?"

The tall tanned woman blinks, gives Richard a quick salute, and steps back to allow him in.

Richard rather casually just raised a hand and said "'sup" and looked around "It seems you have successfully passed your first mission Cat"

After he entered he put something down in front of him, it was wrapped in a simple cloth, after that he looked around and based on Ostrich's reaction he added. "We are not on duty, you can just call me Richard".

Past Ostrich, three people are sitting inside the room.

On her bed, Catherine is leaning against her massive teddy bear, drinking from a blue bottle.






On the floor Wildhog is hogging a poor bean bag chair, squishing it flat with his weight. He has a beer bottle in hand, several empty ones stacked to his right. He is well into his second six-pack.

Ostrich moves back into the room, picks up a beer bottle from an otherwise empty chair and moves past it to sit on the bed, next to Catherine.

On a not yet unpacked box, sits a young woman, somewhere between Richard and Catherine in height and age, also drinking from a blue bottle.

"Oh, hey Richard." Catherine greets him with a wave. "What brings you here?"

"That's not my first mission." She laughs. "First real combat mission on this planet, if that's what you mean. We were definitely successful."

"Woulda been a perfect run, if Ostrich didn't try to catch so many missiles with her hand!" The big man adds with a laugh, while the woman in question empties her bottle of beer and throws it at him.

Snatching it out of the air, he adds it to the pile next to him and picks up a new bottle. He opens it with his teeth and holds it out towards Ostrich, who briefly gets up to retrieve it from him.

Then the man on the floor turns his attention towards Richard and booms at him. "Beer?"

Richard laughed "Sure give me a beer" and then turned back to Cat, "Yeah, that's what I meant, it's good that was a, obviously, fun mission" he said and grinned.

"Uhh what am I here for..." he grabbed the bundle he had with him and revealed it. It was a 1:20 scale sculpture of a Wolverine. To be exact it resembled Dúthracht and was quite well made.
"Consider it a housewarming gift to your new position."

Wildhog grabs a bottle, opens it with his teeth and holds it out for Richard.
"Here ya go."

Catherine grins back at Richard. "We nabbed three tanks for salvage pretty intact without really getting hurt in return. That's my kind of fun."

Her eyes go wide at the sight of what he reveals. Ostrich suddenly finds herself with a bottle in each hand -- one brown, one blue -- when the mech obsessed tomboy jumps up from the bed.

"Oh wow!" Her nose nearly touches the sculpture as she lean in to examine it. "Oh wow, oh wow. Where did you get that?! It looks amazing!"

Richard was amazed that Wildhog lived up to his name and wondered when he would have to go to the dentist. Nevertheless, he toasted everyone in the room, took a moment to smile at mouse, before turning his attention back to Cat.

"Homemade. It's a hobby of mine, among all the other stuff I do." he said, grinning. "Remember our conversation with Laks in the Bays just before Planetfall? You were raving about your mech, that' s when I got the idea for it. "

Everyone toasts him back, even the very quiet Mouse. Well, Catherine is too engrossed with the sculpture to notice anything, so she is the sole exception.

His explanation however makes the small redhead look up at him in astonishment. "You made this? That's some real skill! I never knew. Did any of you know?" She asks the others in the room, but only gets three shaking heads in response.

"It looks just like a tiny Dúthracht! Thank you so much!" She carefully takes the sculpture out of his hands and begins to examine the miniature copy of her beloved Battlemech even more closely, turning it left and right. "How much effort did it take to get these details right?"

Happy that Cat liked the gift he explained:" After I had the raw materials it took me about 10 hours to finish it, I made a few mistakes and had to work out the details again, mostly because I wasn't happy myself." he took a sip from the bottle "It's quite simple otherwise, I started it when I was 16 or so and would call myself just an amateur."

"This looks prettier than amateur work to me." Catherine remarks. "And that is quite a lot of time!"

She tears her eyes away from the miniature in her hands and looks up at him with a smile. "Thank you again, Richard. This is a really great house warming gift."

"Your welcome" he said smiling. "If you ever get your custom AWS-9M, I can add it to your collection here." he took another sip
"Hellcat's curious Mech collection, that's a good one, don't you think?" he laughed.

"That's a great idea! I'd prefer 'Hellcat's Great Gallery of Great Battlemechs', or something like that though." She laughs in response.

"Dúthracht is such a great Battlemech." The tomboy gushes tipsily, cradling the sculpture carefully.

"Sounds great" he said, draining his beer. "I'm in a hurry though, I wanted to have a look around the barracks" he said and put the bottle next to him. "Have a nice party" he said and got ready to leave.

"Oh that was a very short visit." Catherine stops to look up at him. "Thank you so much for the present. Richard."

She lights up with another bright smile. "Thanks and thanks again. Good Luck with your exploration! See you around."