From the personal journal of Irisz Magyari

With Stanley and her crew safely back in our hands, it was time to move on the Sanguine Reapers. They had to know that we were coming by now; after all, we’d just broken into their headquarters, rescued their hostages, attacked their men and crippled one of their ‘Mechs. Either the Reapers would be digging in and preparing for the worst, or they would be trying to make a quick escape. The former would mean that we’d have the chance to fulfill our contract, even if it would also mean a bloody fight in the process. And the latter would mean it was a huge waste of time on our part.

A quick sub-orbital hop put our ships down as close as we dare get without risking coming under fire or being swarmed straight out the door. The area around the spaceport presented its own hazards beyond just enemy fire, however; the air was still tainted with the fallout from the spaceport’s destruction. Added to that, there was every chance that the Reapers could have sown the area with mines or have spotters and remote sensors watching our advance.

From Matthias Kaine's Personal Corrispondance

Sharkey,

I know that our alliance wasn’t exactly founded on mutual respect, and that we have never liked each other. Hell, we only really tolerate each other’s existence because we both need things that the other can get. But I’m sending you this letter for a reason.

See, just under an hour ago, a bunch of mercs broke into the spaceport. They managed to sneak their way in somehow, getting past all my guards, all my perimeter patrols, all the roadblocks I set up in the crawlspace and everything else. They gassed my men with some sort of anaesthetic; had the Starport’s filters not caught it and tried to shut the system down, they would have flooded the place and knocked out me and all my men. As it happened, they still managed to knock out everyone inside the underground for a few minutes.

Audio Log File #75892-Rho

(Once again, I only got half the conversation. Right now, Sharkey's so on edge that he's not going to let anyone near his stuff, so I can't see that changing any time soon. I can only imagine what your boys are up to there. Whatever it is, though, they have him scared and angry - K)

(Understandable. I'm beginning to think that Sharkey has reached the end of his usable life anyway, however I will leave that to your discretion. In the meantime, thank you again for bringing this to me)

Sharkey: I've had another incident, and it was the same pair of fraggers as last time. I tell you, somebody is out to get me. No, I'm not being paranoid. I'll tell you what happened; they stole all the info from my computer and they used it to find my assets. And now they're moving in on me.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: One of my men got a good look at them, and it was the same pair as last time. Yeah, the moustache guy and the Cappie criminal. No, I got no idea who they work for, as I've never heard of them before. I don’t think it's that bastard Kaine, though. If he wanted me out of the way, he'd have just marched his 'Mech up to my place and flattened it.

Andiron Spaceport

(Thought it would be useful to know what we're walking into - NK)

Andiron's first spaceport was built while the planet was a part of the Rim Worlds Republic, then known as Hellbrent. Dating back to the world's colonisation, the port grew slowly over time with the planetary population. It underwent a major expansion during the late 28th century to handle increased traffic by RWA forces, especially after elements of the 6th Republican Guards were stationed to the world. It’s also possible that the world was used as a staging ground for the discrete shuffling of Rim Worlds forces before the coup.

Following the collapse of the Republic, the spaceport fell into disuse and disrepair. Much of its remaining technology was scavenged by the locals to keep more vital life-support infrastructure operational. By the time Andiron was incorporated into the Circrinus Federation, little more than a few gutted buddings and cracked ferrocrete remained. The Federation did little but stabilise the structures, with the facility being used as an occasional staging ground for piracy.

Audio Log File #75891-Rho

(A technical failure meant we only got half of this conversation. The lack of communications infrastructure on this miserable rock is to blame. I added a few annotations where needed - K)

(Thank you for this. It is relevant to our case no less. I’ve added a few notes of my own)

Sharkey: As near as I can tell, there were two of them. My men are still trying to figure out how they got into the mansion grounds, given that they didn’t actually cut through the fences or disable the cameras. When I find out what was the problem, I’m going to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

(Inaudible)

Sharkey: You’re right there. Somebody’s going to get his hand fed to a dogodile over this, mark my words. (Dogodiles are a reptile native to Andiron that. They have a vicious bite, and can be tamed and used as guard animals - K)

New Hades investigation, days 1-3

(Given how busy you are right now, here's my quick breakdown of our findings over the last few days. – NK)

Sanguine Reapers

The Reapers seem to rather jealously guard their location, which might be a part of how they’ve managed to live so long and avoid both Pirate hunters and being raided by the other gangs. The Reapers have very little (Official) contact with New Hades City and its people. Rather, they deal directly with Sharkey, the 'boss' of the city. He provides them with food, water and other essential supplies, and in return he gets a cut of their take (And, reportedly, he even puts in special requests for loot).

Despite how it might sound, this relationship seems to have been a mutual agreement between Matthias Kaine and Sharkey. Apparently Kaine walked his 'Mech up to Sharkey's house with the dead body of the Reaper's former leader chained (or nailed) to the front of his 'Mech. That put Sharkey in a mood to talk. It means the Reapers don’t have to worry about getting fed, and can focus on the piracy.

The Lords of Pain

The Lords of Pain are a typical example of the sort of small, fringe groups that exist on lawless Periphery worlds such as Andiron. The group has its origins in a chance meeting between two pirates, Wilhelm Paine and Jarred Payne. Wilhelm was a member of a small fringe band that controlled an oasis and the ruined town around it, while Jarred was a member of a failed mercenary unit (Moore's Monsters) that had washed up in the world. Neither of them were strangers to banditry; Wilhelm having grown up in the lifestyle and Jarred having fallen back on it in order to survive. Finally,  both were MechWarriors with access to their own BattleMechs. Finally, the pair if them both fund the coincidences of their names somewhat amusing.

Forging an alliance, Wilhelm and Jarred made their move and deposed the prior leader of Wilhelm's band. His seizure of command was backed up by Jarred, who bought several members of the Monsters with him. The pair of them renamed the band the Lords of Pain after themselves, becoming effective co-leaders of the group.

Maintaining control of a source of clean water, the Lords of Pain raid nearby communities, trade caravans and other desert fringe groups for parts, food and other supplies. However, they are not above also trading when desperate. The band boasts a lance of BattleMechs, most of which are in poor repair and often short of ammunition. These are backed up by a lance of medium vehicles and several platoons of foot infantry, mostly recruited form other desert fringers. A squad of Battle Armour, still a rarity in the periphery, gives them an unexpected sting.

-From The Modern Periphery at a Glance, Galatea Free Press, 3142

New Hades City

I'm trying to find out some more on Andiron and the local situation so we can hunt down the Reapers. It's becoming clear that they're a lot better dug in then we thought, and even locating them is not going to be easy. So every little scrap helps. This is a transcript of a discussion I had with Raoul Fassan, one of the Chasseur's hovertank commanders. He turned out to be very willing to talk and had a lot to say on the subject. I've annotated it where needed - NK

The city... Well crap, let me see. Been a while since I was there. Ray (Major Raymond Terrace - NK) wanted us to keep out of there after the mess we got into when we landed. A few of us headed for the city and that's when we had our first blow-up with the Reapers. Two of us ended up dead and another two were Shanghaied into their ranks. Never saw those poor bastards again either. It's also how they got onto us, and when they started 'suggesting' that we should join them 'for our own good'. Plus with how remote we were, sneaking off wasn't that viable an option. But I hear stories and had a few good leads that kept me in the loop. Helpful to know, 'cause I was hedging my bets against when everything fell apart. I mean, come on, look at us. You know it was inevitable. Only Ray kept saying we were going to get off-world somehow, but I don’t think anyone really believed him.

So there's not much to say about its past. What we've got here is the third version of the city, and it's by far and away the worst. The first version was when this hellhole was Hellbrent - yeah, I know, I figure Hellhole would have been a better name - and a part of the Rim Worlds Republic. The capitol was called Hellsgate because they had a pattern going and so sure, why not?

Salvage

From: Cecelia Stanley

To: Irisz Magyari

Subject: Parts pillaging

I'm gonna be honest here, boss. The Chasseurs' situation could be best described as 'rooted'. I mean, first up they were crushed by the Elsies which is what drove them to flee out here to the arse end of the universe to begin with. And the next seven or so years after that didn't do them any favours either.

They were already a poor unit to begin with, and not exactly blessed with deep pockets. Having half their unit ripped up didn't help them any either, but then living off what they had out here in the middle of hell took its toll. There was next to nothing left in their spare parts pile, for starters. Just some armour, a bit of structure and a few other odds and sods that could be good for emergencies but that was about it.

Newcastle Chasseurs

MRBC Update 01-01-3138

Background

The Newcastle Chasseurs were originally a private unit in the service of the Dijeh family, hereditary nobles from the Free Worlds League world of Newcastle. Largely a ceremonial command, the force had seen very little actual combat for much of its existence. It was only during the Jihad that the Chasseurs were actually called upon to defend the Dijeh family's lands against raids by forces opposed to the pro-Word of Blake FLW government.

When the Principality of Regulus 'liberated' Newcastle from Word control near the end of the Jihad, the Dijeh family chose to stay out of the fighting. While this spared their lands and forces from destruction at the hands of Regulan troops (and the WMDs they liberally employed during their invasion), the family found themselves at odds with the new order. Tried as Word collaborators, the family was stripped of its title and lands.

From the personal journal of Irisz Magyari

When we took the contract with the FWLM to wipe out the Sanguine Reapers, I was hoping for a quick and easy job. In an ideal world, we'd be able to hit Andiron, eliminate the Reapers on the ground and then be off in a day or two. Clearly I was being incredible naive.

Getting out here was easy enough, and we made planetfall without opposition. Our forward base is inside an abandoned industrial complex, which provides both a solid landing field for our dropships as well as allowing us to fortify the remaining buildings to add an extra layer of protection. That much went well, but it would be about the only thing that actually wound up going to plan.

Once we were down, our recon forces worked with the intel provided to us by the Eagles as well as Nikola's own research to scope out several locations where we believed the Reapers were based. From that, we found two probable locations based on both their location and some activity that we were able to discretely observe.

Suspected pirate hideouts - Perdition Sea

I found a bit on one of the Sanguine Reapers' suspected hideouts. It may not be much, and it's more then a decade out of date, but it's still better than nothing. Every little bit helps, after all.

The Perdition Sea was a large inland sea located in Andiron’s northern hemisphere. Like much of the planet's water, it was heavy with minerals and other contaminants, and was only suitable for human consumption with purification and treatment. During the Star League era, this was done with extensive purification facilities, but those quickly succumbed following the fall of the League.

Conversely, the fish and other sea life found within it were actually suited to human consumption, even if they usually had a bitter, salty taste to them. Fish farming became a major source of protein for the planet's population, especially after the fall of the League and the world’s abandonment by the Lyrans left it cut off. Extensive fisheries grew up around the Perdition seas' shores, enabling the planet's diminished population some degree of sustainability.

Sanguine Reapers

RAF Update 01-01-3145

Background

Once a part of the now-defunct Circrinus Federation, Andiron was apparently attacked by the Word of Blake, supposedly their allies, at the end of the Jihad. The attacks shattered the world's infrastructure, leading to a collapse of its central government. Combined with the destruction of the Federation, Andiron collapsed into a near-lawless state, becoming a haven for pirates and other outlaws.

The Sanguine Reapers are one such group, albeit one of the larger and better-armed ones. Born out of a mixture of natives, failed mercenaries, renegades and other such groups, the Reapers have been a constant threat to nearby worlds for over fifteen years now. Equipped with a mixture of BattleMechs and conventional vehicles, many of which are salvaged from the ruined Federation or possibly even Blakeist stockpiles, the Reapers are a constant threat.

Andiron (A brief history)

From Periphery Atlas, 3140 Edition; Galatea Free Press

Helbrent was first colonised during the Age of War, and became a part of the Rim Worlds Republic's Timbuktu Province, at the outer reaches of that nation. A hot, dry world, the planet was dominated by a single supercontinent separated by a number of large, shallow seas. Much of its water supply was tainted, containing trace elements or high salinity that made it unfit for human consumption, forcing the world to rely on both Water Purifiers and supplies imported from nearby worlds.

In spite of this, the planet flourished, possibly due to its strategic position at the outer reaches of the Republic close to both the Free Worlds League and Lyran Commonwealth. During the Reunification war, the World was one of those that was loyal to the Amaris family, but no less was subject to pacification by the Star League Defense Forces as a part of their campaign to restore the government. Despite this, the damage to the world itself was minimal, and it was restored to the Republic following the war's end.