A Night at the Lake

A Night at the Lake
Product information
Type	Novella
Author	Michael A. Stackpole
Publication information
Publisher	Catalyst Game Labs
First published	26 March 2023
Content
Era	IlClan era
Timeline	3-5 October 3145
Series	Death Kangaroos (series)

A Night at the Lake, subtitled A Death Kangaroos Story, is an original short story by Michael A. Stackpole that was published online as an digital novella on 26 March 2023 as part of 2023 Mercenaries Crowdfunding Campaign as a reward for all backers at the $15 "Paper Pusher" tier and above.

Plot summary

Down on his luck mercenary Quarrel Hamilton is approached on Galatea by a smartly dressed and rake thin grifter with a walking stick. Offering the name Mykaellie, they note Hamilton as being recommended as having the right mix of skills and ethical flexibility to assist them with a "shotgun divorce". Directing him to clean-up before meeting their potential employer, Mykaellie provides Hamilton with a uniform which he instantly recognizes as being a cheap Capellan Halloween knock-off of the Kell Hounds dress uniform, but they evasively states its just part of a ploy to mislead their employer into believing Hamilton has a history with that famous but destroyed command.

Accompanying Mykaellie to the bar of the Nova Royale hotel, Hamilton meets with Ephram Wheeler of agrobusiness Wheeler Systems Limited who explains that his idealistic 17-year old daughter Chloe has run off with an itinerant AgroMech piloting farmhand and has need of Hamilton's supposed unit, who Mkyaellie dubs the "Red Death" but Hamilton quickly renames the "Death Kangaroos" in response to the poor rendering of the hound on the knock-off Kell Hound uniform's insignia. With Mykaellie steering the conversation back on topic Hamilton agrees to quietly deal with the corrupt Wheeler's little problem without getting the authorities involved. As the pair split up, Hamilton meets with his streetwise companion Savannah and asks her to dig a little into the much larger con Mykaellie is surely running.

Hamilton and Mykaellie meet the next morning to agree upon a plan, Hamilton to distract and overcome the AgroMechs guarding Wheeler's captured lake-side cabin while Mykaellie spirits the young Chloe away. Spotting Hamilton just enough money to fix his Commando's disintegrating hip joint, he completes the required repairs to meet with Mykaellie that evening. Announcing his approach to the Wheeler's "cabin", in truth a palatial estate, Hamilton also discovers that seeded among the ramshackle AgroMechs is a Hatchetman with its signature hatchet converted into a sickle. Though able to defeat the other AgroMechs while Mykaellie is able to flee with Chloe, the outmatched Hamilton desperately plays cat and mouse with his heavier opponent until the Hatchetman walks through the cabin and unexpectedly puts its right foot through the floor into Wheeler's whisky cellar, snapping its leg off and trapping the 'Mech.

The next day Hamilton meets with a delighted Wheeler to discuss the previous night's events, but finds his rightful claim to the downed Hatchetman as salvage blocked by legal trickery and that Wheeler had already paid the now conspicuously absent Mykaellie in full the night before. Incensed at being played and with little to show for all his efforts, Hamilton meets with Savannah to figure out what went wrong. She admits that Hamilton's hunch about a connection between Mykaellie's long term motivations and the Kell Hounds might be correct when she shows him footage of Mykaellie paying special attention to Patrick Kell's name on the memorial to the Kell Hounds on Galatea.

Featured Characters

• Quarrel Hamilton
• Mykaellie
• Chloe Wheeler
• Ephram Wheeler
• Savannah
• Chi-Chi
• Patrick Kell (mentioned)

Featured Places

• Galatea
• Solaris VII (mentioned)

Featured BattleTech

BattleMechs

• Commando
• Hatchetman
• AgroMech