Short Stories

Battletech Halloween story
Johns Trader Emporium
Last Chance, OP-361
Periphery
October 31, 3067

It was a dark and stormy night when they arrived. John looked at his watch, and then at the black hover-limo slowly approaching.” Right on time.” He muttered, pulling another drag from the cigarette in his mouth. Five people got out of the limo, and began to walk over to him. Four were wearing long, monk-esque coats that did not show any part of their body. The one that he could see remined him of stories his mother had told him of elves. He was easily six foot five, had pointy ears, and extremely long fingers. “You are John, I presume? We are here for the package.” The elfish-like man stated softly. “Right this way.” said John, slightly nervous as he took them to the gate to the restricted area, and let them in. There was only one item in the fairly large room: A medium sized chest. The elf man slowly went over to it and opened it. Inside we a bunch of charred computer components, slabs of metal, and other various pieces of machinery.” Is this the Widow Maker?” Asked the Elf in his foreboding voice.” Yes sir!” Replied John quickly. ” Then where are the pilots remains?” “Oh….” John replied slowly, a smile forming on his face.” That’ll cost you extra…one million more C-bills.” The Elf placed two large briefcases onto the chest and opened them. “There’s the two million. Now give us the remains.” John pulled out a small vial and gave it to the Elf, who quickly pocketed it. John slowly started to walk towards the briefcases.” There is only one problem….” said the Elf. “What’s that?” Asked John, slightly annoyed, noticing that the Elf now had what seemed like a dog whistling one of his hands. “You!” Yelled the Elf before blowing on the whistle. The cloaks around his “bodyguards” essentially disintegrated as they dropped to all fours. They were human, but yet not. Their mouths and noses had joined to form a muzzle, their nails had turned into claws, and they had seemingly grown fur. John could only stare in horror as they ripped him to pieces. Immediately afterwards the dog-men and the Elf got into the hover-limo, which promptly drove off. A few minutes later, people in the town claimed to see a giant red beam of light fall down onto the Emporium and disintegrated the entire property. Back inside the limo, the Elf stared at the vial, saying before laughing, “Aiden Pryde will live again!” Lightening flashes on this rainy night and…..
THE END

How I got my Battlemech, by Lieut. Jack Trable

People think that mechs are huge. But I know better. Used to work in a factory that made em. Used a crane that could pick up a small dropship. To me, they’re nothing. Well, one day our factory came under attack. A company of raiders had landed, just to shoot up the place, I guess. I never found out why they were there, but back to the story. An Atlas walked its way through the bay I was working in, knocking over the frames that I was supposed to move. I got mad as hell, and decided to treat this guy a lesson. I waited until his mech had gone past my crane, and then swung my cranes hook into em. Bingo! I caught him! Easier than fishing. How did I get him out? I just spun him around and went up and down until the guy activated his escape system. Well, the local militia had driven off the other raiders, but they would have been crushed if I hadn’t gotten that Atlas. So the company gave me two new jobs, a mech pilot in the new factory security force, and an instructor of crane operators in offensive maneuvers. Pretty good for an 18-year-old fresh out of orientation.
THE END

The Demons are coming! The Demons are coming!
He had heard the rumors. At night a giant meteor had crashed into the planet. And Demons had spewed forth from it! They were much larger than the average man, towering over even tanks. They shot flames out of each hand, and had a massive protrusion sticking out of their torso, which turned anything into dust. The militia could not stop them. Many folk just boarded up their houses and began to pray. If it was working, He didn’t know. He and his squad was a part of the last line of defense. No one had ever seen one of the demons fall. Even when faced up against tanks, they triumphed. He remembered seeing a tank fire its main gun nearly point blank at a Demon before. The creature didn’t even flinch, but just raised its hands and gouts of flame devoured the tank. He opened his eyes, and saw the most horror of horrors: While he was thinking, the demons had approached. He began to fire his assault rifle, again and again, to no avail, at the lead Demon. The monster replied with a slightly off shot of flame, which still mortally wounded him.
And as he drew his last breath he thought: “Hell has come to Treanan!”
The END

In that last story, it actually is Battletech related. The “Demons” are actually a new protomech I am fiddling with. Its not meant to be combat effective, since the Story Came before the actual design.