A Night at the Lake
Sarna News
| A Night at the Lake | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short story by Michael A. Stackpole | |||
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| First Publication | |||
| Published |
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| Publisher | Catalyst Game Labs | ||
| Illustrator(s) |
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| MSRP | $1.99 (EPUB) | ||
| Chronology | |||
| Era | Dark Age era | ||
| Timeline | 3 October 3145 — 5 October 3145 | ||
| Series | |||
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| "'"`UNIQ--templatestyles-00000000-QINU`"'26 March 2023 (backers)19 February 2025 (retail)" contains an extrinsic dash or other characters that are invalid for a date interpretation. | |||
A Night at the Lake, subtitled A Death Kangaroos Story, is a short story by Michael A. Stackpole that was published online in EPUB format 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. It was rereleased to be purchased by non-backers when it was added to DriveThruRPG's catalog on 19 February 2025.
From the Back Cover[edit]
| “ | APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING...
On the mercenary hiring planet of Galatea, Quarrel Hamilton, a lone BattleMech pilot/technician with a flair for the theatrical, has a reputation for being morally flexible but loyal to his employers. When local business magnate Ephram Wheeler seeks to hire him and his mysterious associate Mykaellie to retrieve some lost property, Quarrel must look the part of a more successful commander... even if it means adopting a uniform and insignia suspiciously similar to a upstanding mercenary outfit renowned throughout the Inner Sphere. After all, who will really be able to tell the difference between the newly christened "Death Kangaroos" and those other, more expensive guys, right? But the job, like many things on Galatea, is not quite what it seems, and Quarrel needs to keep his wits about him if he's going to get out of this one with his head still attached... |
” |
Plot Summary[edit]
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 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 Hounds 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[edit]
- Quarrel Hamilton
- Mykaellie
- Chloe Wheeler
- Ephram Wheeler
- Savannah
- Chi-Chi
- Patrick Kell (mentioned)
Featured Units[edit]
- Death Kangaroos
- Kell Hounds (mentioned)
Featured Places[edit]
- Galatea
- Solaris VII (mentioned)