Janine Esposito
Sarna News
Janine Esposito | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Also known as | Mariposa[1] |
| Affiliation | Seventeenth Recon Regiment |
| Profile | |
| Rank | Lieutenant, Junior Grade[2] |
| Profession | MechWarrior |
| Family | |
| Spouse | Lonny Ortega[1] |
Janine "Mariposa" Esposito was a MechWarrior who served in the Seventeenth Recon Regiment, also known as Camacho's Caballeros.
Contents
History
Born on one of the three Southwest Trinity worlds, Mariposa served in the Caballeros in 3056 when they were employed by Chandrasekhar Kurita to provide security for one of his companies, Hachiman Taro Enterprises. Esposito's best friend in the regiment was a fellow MechWarrior named Mercedes "Misty" Saavedra, who served as Mariposa's maid of honor when she married Lonny Ortega, a Caballero Stalker pilot from Infante company, on 7 September 3056.[3] In 3057, Esposito was serving in Cochise Company, under the command of Bobby "Bobby the Wolf" Begay.[4]
In December 3057 there were rumors in the regiment that the most recent bout of marital discord between John "French Fry" Ames and Raven "Raven" O'Connor had been sparked by Raven's belief that her husband had been paying too much attention to Esposito.[4] Esposito was killed on 19 December 3057. The Caballeros were based on Towne at the time, having been deployed there by Chandrasekhar Kurita to protect his interests on the world. The Caballero forces in the planetary capital, Port Howard, were using a large hotel for accommodation and meetings, and insurgents attempted to attack the Caballeros via a truck stuffed with explosives left outside the hotel. One of the regiment's scouts, Cassie "Abtakha" Suthorn, spotted the van being abandoned and sounded an alert. Esposito was on watch when the alert came out, and picked the truck up using her Valkyrie before attempting to jump away with it to a self distance. The truck held in excess of two tons of high explosive and detonated while Esposito and her 'Mech were in the air. The explosion killed Esposito and vaporized half of her 'Mech, leaving only the legs and hips to land inside the Turanian Transport Company freight yard, crushing a freight car.[2]
No trace of Esposito's remains were found after the blast that killed her, but for twenty-four hours after her death police stations across Port Howard and all three of the cities universities were inundated with phone calls from people claiming to have seen butterflies with brightly-colored wings perched on window sills and snow banks. The butterflies were apparently opening and closing their wings as if drying them, and according to observers they either flew away when approached or simply vanished.[2] This was not the first time that the death of a member of the Caballeros was associated with supernatural events; another case was the death of Teresa de Avila Chavez in battle on Hachiman in 3056.[5]
BattleMech
Janine Esposito piloted a Valkyrie, which she had named Iron Butterfly[1] and had decorated with a large butterfly painted on its chest.[6]
References
Bibliography
- Close Quarters (novel)
- Hearts of Chaos (novel)