From the personal journal of Carrie Bull

I haven't updated this in a long time. I've had a lot of things on my mind, and that's left me with not much time to think. Though, in truth, I noticed that I wasn't that succinct in keeping it up to date before now.

I admit now that I didn't know Uncle Charlie that well. We hadn't seen each other in years, and we weren't that close. I didn't realise that I was his closest living relative either, so it did come as a shock to me to learn that he'd died and left me his BattleMech. His only wishes were that I use it as I saw fit, but there was a certain logic to joining the Irregulars, and taking his spot in the command lance. It was a chance at a regular paycheck, something that has been in short supply since I left Solaris. Besides, I think he'd be happy that I did. His Scourge may not be Mean Machine, but it’s a pretty sweet ride no less.

From the personal journal of Cecelia Stanley

You know, some days I hate those guys in the assault lance. And some days I love 'em

They're an assault lance. Their job's to stand there and get shot at. I do get that, and I appreciate all that. It does mean that they give me a lot of work to do. Nikola's Carronade seems to come back from every damned fight minus most of its armour and an arm. Not even the same arm each time, either. And don't get me started on trying to keep the Vulture together. I swear, the Foxes must have purposefully engineered it only to use proprietary parts.

But then they also have their moments of genius, and I'm not just talking about Randy's taste in drinks (which is, incidentally, impeccable. I don't know if it’s something he learned in Journo school, but the guy can pick a drink for every occasion). Like take what they came up with today which was genius and might just have been the breakthrough we've been looking for in ending this trainwreck of a campaign.

Quitting while you're ahead, or just plain quitting?

From Solaris City Sunrise, 27 October 3144

Chet Robwell: Now in Games news, the big story of the morning is the sudden resignation of Carrie Bull, not only from Team Red Truck but the games as a whole.

Joe Esposito: That’s right. Red Truck manager Pete Vogel announced her resignation at a press conference this morning. What’s interesting is not just that Bull didn’t give a reason for her resignation, but that she wasn’t even at the conference at all. Now while we can’t say for sure, rumour has it that she has already moved out of the TRT compound, so it looks like she’s really gone.

Robwell: If you ask me, it looked like Vogel himself was caught by surprise there. There are many words that I could use to describe his performance out there this morning, but ‘polished’ and ‘practiced’ are not among them.

Esposito: You and me both, Chet. In fact, I’d say he was about as surprised as everyone else was with this development.

Robwell: And he can’t be happy. He just saw Red Truck’s strongest prospect  since the, uh, change in management here on Solaris waltz off with nary a word to be said. Let’s be fair here, the last few years have not been kind to that team.