BattleTech: The Crescent Hawks' Inception/Star League Cache

Entrance

• You've found what can only be the entranceway to the Star League cache! On the door is a lock of the type your father described in his holo message to you. There is also a retinal scanner, which almost has Rex's name printed on it.

• Rex steps up to the machine and puts his eye over the scanner. It registers a match, and a panel slides back to reveal a sophisticated input device, obviously intending for you to enter the password. You type in the password, and the door slides away, allowing you to enter the cache.

• As you enter the cache, you see a note pinned to the wall, addressed to you.

• “Jason, the key to getting to the cache is to use the code key and imprint the right codes onto it. Each door needs a red, blue, and yellow code, and each terminal imprints a single code. No code is reused, and the card can only hold one red, one blue, and one yellow code at a time.

• When you get to the map room, use the map I gave you. It will help you. Good luck.

• Love, Dad”

• You take the code key on the table, and proceed into the ancient Star League cache.

Secret Room

• You have found the largest ‘Mech you have ever seen: a PHX-HK2 Phoenix Hawk LAM, just like the one your father piloted! The coincidence is too much to be believed…

• You scramble up the boarding ladder to inspect the ‘Mech. Sitting in the cockpit, you notice an empty socket. It's just the right size to fit the biochip that was in your father's box with the holodisk. You plug in the chip, and power up the ‘Mech.

• The ‘Mech springs to life, and the onboard computer recognizes the biochip. In a pleasant female voice, it greets the pilot: “Welcome aboard, Jeremiah. Shall we continue our mission?”

• It is your father's ‘Mech! Since it is in perfect condition, then he must have hidden it here. He must have known someone was after him, and left the ‘Mech here so it wouldn't be captured! This brings new hope that maybe he isn't dead after all…

• You dismount the ‘Mech to continue your mission of locating the cache and using the hyperpulse generator to contact Katrina.

Cache

• You have found a ladder leading to a second level. Climbing down the ladder, you are shocked by what you see…

• This is a huge subterranean storeroom, stocked with thousands of ‘Mech repair parts, tools, repair platforms, and several fully-assembled ‘Mechs in spotless condition. It gives you an eerie feeling, looking at all this impressive machinery, and knowing that it has been dormant for hundreds of years.

• Congratulations! You have found the hidden Star League cache of ‘Mech repair parts. Your mission is nearly fulfilled: all you need to do now is contact Katrina on the hyperpulse generator so that the Commonwealth can send a military escort to get you and the cache off the planet.

• You use the hyperpulse generator to send a signal to Katrina that you have found the cache. Confirmation of receiving your message comes across, and you are told that a DropShip is on its way to retrieve you and the parts.

DropShip

• The DropShip arrives and lands just west of the cache entry. Its tremendous firepower will hold off the Kuritan occupational forces long enough for the equipment to be loaded.

• You stand and watch the WorkMechs loading the equipment, and you feel a bit depressed. The planet you call home has been overtaken, your father is gone, all that you know has been turned upside down. What will you do now?

• One of the messengers comes to you and tells you that there is an incoming message for you from Katrina. You rush to one of the holotransmitters on the DropShip to hear what the Archon has to say.

• “Jason, we're all so very proud of you for the way you have fulfilled this mission. You have achieved more than we had a right to hope for. In appreciation of your service, I would like to extend to you the opportunity to serve as a member of the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces as an officer. If you accept, you will be commissioned as a Lieutenant.”

• You stumble over the words in your hurry to express your gratitude for such a generous offer. You end up looking as nervous as you feel, and are somewhat embarrassed for it. Eventually, you manage to tell her that you must decline her offer.

• She clearly was not expecting you to say that, and asks you for your reasons. You explain that, since you signaled for the DropShip to come, you and Rex have been talking quite a bit about Jeremiah. You tell Katrina that you have come to a decision that he may not be dead after all. She is very interested in this, and asks for further details.

• You tell her what he said in the holodisk, about a vendetta against the Kell Hounds, of which Jeremiah was a member. Rex, who was also a Kell Hound, suspects that the Kurita code of honor and ritual might encourage the Draconians to capture the Kell Hounds and hold a trial, rather than assassinating the members individually.

• You then tell her the final bit of evidence you have: the fact that you found his Phoenix Hawk LAM intact and hidden here, and the fact that it was programmed to continue a mission at a later date. If they were trying to kill Jeremiah, you're quite sure he would have gone down fighting.

• Katrina is not necessarily convinced that you are right, but she is impressed enough to give you the chance to find out. She declares that you, Rex, and the rest can operate as an independent unit, to be known as the Crescent Hawks, and she wishes you the very best.

• “I hope you find him alive, Jason. I really do.”

• With that, she terminates the communication, and you order the rest of the new Crescent Hawks to board the DropShip, to begin your search and to go on to greater glory.