In the year 3050, the clan invasion of the Inner Sphere was in full swing. In each world, the clans landed on they would decimate the defending forces with superior technology and martial arts. However, this didn't mean the clans didn't have any sort of losses as some Inner Spheroid generals would catch on to their honor-bound traditions and use them to their advantage for underhanded victories.

In a generally unimportant planet that was once, Federation-Commonwealth was now under the control of Clan Jade Falcon. There was a camp holding Inner-Spheroid prisoners of war who were defeated in combat and were being re-educated to fit into the clan caste system.

Prisoners were sitting in this single holding cell but then they saw someone just appear in front of them. The man in question was covered in bone-white armor aside from the gray air vents on what is assumed to be his mouth part of the helmet as well as the dark-tinted visor. The man in question simply looked at them and said. "Hey," He said with a wave that was responded to by someone else in the crowd.

Mansoor had just been put in another situation of which he was completely unaware. But if he had to make a guess he was in a prison camp seeing how these people were just sitting in a large room. He then noticed a camera sitting at the back-left corner of the room was staring at him. He looked at it for a bit before hearing the door open. He turned and saw very muscular people with strange green markings on their faces. Before he could get a word out they talked.

"Who are you intruder?!" The very muscular man with blonde hair asked while pointing his rifle at Mansoor who had his hands in the air.

Mansoor: "I'm just a man trying to make my way around the galaxy...Like my father before me." He said while leaving a small reference that the men didn't see. They didn't see two of the prisoners sneak up on them with metal pipes and as a result, the guards were knocked out.

"Thanks for the distraction." One of the men with blonde hair appears to be white and wearing a blue jumpsuit. "Name's Logan." He said raising his hand and expecting a handshake which Mansoor accepted while also telling him his name.

However, alarms started to sound as Maahi and Logan saw and managed to duck into cover before lasers hit them unfortunately Logan's companion was not lucky and got several shots hit into him.

Mansoor: "What in god's green earth is going on?!" Mansoor exclaimed pulling out both his blaster pistols and aiming it at the door taking out two of the guards that ran in.

Logan: "We're escaping this place is what's going on!" He said as he and many of his companions readied themselves for a fight.

The clanners rushed in and the Inner Spheroids lunged at them with one clanner having to take on three Inner Spheroids at a time. The Clanners would be held down and their weapons confiscated only to be used to end the clanners they were holding down. Logan led his group as well as Mansoor out into a hallway and wandered about shooting at several clanners they came across. Eventually, Mansoor threw a thermal detonator that stuck to a wall, and then when he saw the Clanners cross the threshold of the thermal detonator he pressed its remote which activated and detonated the explosive causing many of the clanners to die from the explosion.

The few remaining Clanners would continue to chase the Inner Spheroids and Mansoor until they found a safe place to hide and the Clanners passed them. Now with only four of them left out of the 9 they started with things looked rather grim. Maahi turned to look at Logan after regaining his breath.

Mansoor: "Did-did you plan for this to happen?" Mansoor asked in a very worried tone. Throughout this whole time, it looked like Logan had no idea what he was doing.

Logan: "Well, Honestly. I don't think any of us know what we're doing." Logan said which caused silence between the two.

Mansoor: "WHAAT?!" He yelled out before one of Logan's men put a hand on his Air vents telling him to shut his mouth.

Logan: "I know I know. When you caused that whole ruckus we sorta just saw an opportunity. Unfortunately, that opportunity sounded the alarm of the whole prison and now we're forced to get out of here lest we wanna find out what happens to escapees." Logan said which did little to reassure Mansoor of the situation as he pinched his helmet forehead.

Mansoor: "Well now what?" He asks taking his hand off his forehead and having both arms out.

Logan: "This base is guarded by a Lance of BattleMechs. So long as they patrol the perimeter we're not getting out of here." Logan said which made Mansoor tilt his head in curiosity. Then one of Logan's men spoke up (She is female).

"Maybe we could steal some of the Clan mechs from the hangar bay. I think I know where that is!" She said which made Logan and his other member look at her smiling.

Logan: "Genius! However, we still need to figure out how to pilot those mechs. It won't be like trying to pilot an Atlas or an Axman." He said with the gears in his head going overdrive. But then Mansoor moved his arms around as if asking everyone to stop what they were doing.

Mansoor: "Okay okay. Stop. What is going on?! I'm getting information thrown at me like garbage to a garbage man!" He said which stopped Logan's thought process as he looked at Maahi with a confused look.

Logan: "Do you not know what a BattleMech is?" He asked which Mansoor shook his head.

Mansoor: "No...Does this mean we get to pilot mechs?!" He asked with giddy and excitement which caused Logan to back up a bit.

Logan: "Yeah. But um... H-have you ever piloted one?" He asked which caused Mansoor to slump and looked down sadly.

Mansoor: "No." He said rather upset. But then he felt a hand on his shoulder he looked to see it was one of Logan's men who were white and had hazel black hair and a hazel black beard.

"No worries comrade. We can show you the ropes. Right?" He asked his compatriots in a Russian-sounding accent to which the girl nodded and Logan looked at him rather suspiciously.

Logan: "I still don't get how you managed to appear out of nowhere. Where did you come from?" He asked to which Mansoor got up to his original posture and put up a shrug.

Mansoor: "Don't know. Just happens." He said which did little to reassure Logan.

"We don't have time for this. We need to get out here quickly. I'll lead the way to the hangar bay." The woman said but then the Russian-sounding man interjected.

"We still need weapons. We'll have to go to the armory first." He said but then Mansoor decided to interject by bringing out a DC-15 Carbine out of nowhere.

Mansoor: "No worries, I got you fam." He said tossing the blaster Carbine to the shocked and bewildered Russian who still managed to catch the blaster in his hands as well as the woman who was also given a carbine. Logan however still had his rifle that he stole from a Clanner.

With these weapons, they started to quietly follow the woman to the hangar bay as the alarms continued to sound. There was a security group in front of the door to the hangar bay however they were dealt with swiftly with a few well-placed blaster shots.

They managed to make it into the Hangar bay but there were Clanners in every corner so they needed to tread lightly. They were hiding behind a stack of crates looking at the different mechs the Clanners had in stock. As they were debating on which one they would take Mansoor had his eyes set on one certain mech. After they had decided what mech they would take, Mansoor gave them radios so they could talk to each other as they separated. The Russian man was seen however managed to neck snap the clanner before he could say anything and got into his chosen mech, The woman managed to sneak by undetected as well as Logan and both got into their chosen battlemechs, Mansoor, however, was taking his time. He did not want to be spotted. Once he saw he was clear he made a sprint for his mech and after struggling to open the hatch for a bit he got in the mech and quickly closed the hatch.

Logan: "Alright rookie, this will be your time piloting a mech so listen carefully." Logan told Mansoor over the radio. He told him how to activate the mech and after pushing a few buttons and levers the mech Mansoor was in as well as the others started to power up much to the bewilderment of the Clanners below.

Mech: "Reactor, online. Sensors, online. Weapons, online. All systems, nominal." The female sounding computer of the mech said and Logan gave Mansoor more instructions on how to move the mech around and using those instructions he took the first steps in his mechs.

Logan was the first one to step away from the platform and started wreaking destruction against the other mechs so the Clanners couldn't get to them. The girl and the Russian followed closely behind him with Mansoor in dead last. They managed to blast their way out of the compound only to be met by Clanner armored vehicles however they were shredded the moment Logan and his team came out.

The entire facility was in panic but then the sensors detected hostile mechs moving in on their position. Logan and his team prepare to face the mechs. Immediately two identical-looking mechs appear with the sensors reading them both as 'Timberwolf'. This information didn't matter however as they were gonna be turned into liquid hot soup. Or so the team thought. The 1st Timberwolf got the first shot by firing a large plasma beam into the arm of Logan's mech. He tried to retaliate but failed to hit it entirely. Every mech was moving in every direction to avoid fire from each other. The woman's mech tried to strike the 2nd Timberwolf but it dodged effortlessly and fired missiles into her cockpit which undoubtedly killed her as the mech fell to the ground and landed with a thud. The Russian man fell into a fit of rage seeing his comrade fall charged towards the 2nd Timberwolf who barely had time to react as a huge hunk of metal and lasers hit its side causing both mechs to fall. Then something happened which caused the Russian man's mech to explode which took both of them down.

Logan: "Darnit! We gotta get out of here!" Logan said panicking and trying to run only to get shot in the back by the same plasma beam which caused him to fall. The 1st Timberwolf was upon him however as it was about to finish him, large amounts of lasers and missiles suddenly hit it causing it to stagger backward which was more than enough for Logan to get up. Suddenly the Timberwolf saw Mansoor had his mech running around it constantly shooting ammunition that blasted away at it. With the Timberwolf distracted Logan took the opportunity to fire his missiles. The missiles managed to hit the Timberwolf's cockpit causing the Timberwolf to harmlessly fall to the ground with a large thud.

With opposition dealt with Mansoor and Logan fled quickly to anywhere that was far from the clan prison base.

After 2 hours of running the duo found a small dried-up ravine to hide in. The two got out of their mechs Mansoor began slightly checking around before panting as he slightly held his breath during the escape. Logan however screamed and kicked the foot of his mech he then jumped on one foot while holding on to the foot he used to kick the mech as it was in pain from kicking solid 70-ton metal.

Logan: "Argh! Stupid Clanners! Stupid war! Stupid houses!" He said stomping his foot on the ground and throwing both his fists on top of the foot of his mech. Mansoor just looks at him as he just leans on his mech's foot. "Ever since this whole invasion started the royal houses had barely done anything to push back the clans." He said looking up towards his mech. "Their superior technology, fighting. We were no match." He said looking down in sorrow. "We were left to die. To rot on this world we had once called our home. And for what?!" He said looking at Mansoor with a very angry expression. "I told my men that I was gonna get them out of there. That none will die under my watch." He said getting closer to Mansoor Mansoor did not change his posture. "Now look where we are! It's just the two of us." He said tears forming in his eyes before turning away from Mansoor. "Mia, Adrianna, Ingrid, Kennedy, Peyton, London, then finally Sophia and Boris. All dead." He said staring back towards the mech. "Why are you here? Where did you come from? And how can you do the things you do?!" He said looking back to Mansoor who was now sitting on his mech's foot. Mansoor just looks at him and Logan feels that he is somewhat giving off an aura of sympathy.

Mansoor: "Those three questions...Cannot be easily answered. " Mansoor just said to which Logan just scoffs. he goes back to his mech and leans on its foot with Maahi just staring at him.

Mansoor then decides to go up to the cockpit of his mech. He went scrounging around for a bit before encountering a small booklet that was. Unfortunately. In Latin. However, he sees his mech on the front cover so he assumes that it's a guide on how to use it. He looks down to see Logan just standing in front of his mech looking straight into its cockpit. Mansoor jumps down from his mech and immediately runs over to Logan's mech much to his surprise and immediately jumps from the mech's foot to its leg and then climbs and jumps until he reaches its cockpit. He opened its hatch and started rummaging around and found the same booklet in Latin but this one had Logan's mech on the cover.

He went back down and stood in front of Logan who had his arms on his hips and had a face of annoyance. Mansoor proceeded to hand him the booklet and Logan took it and looked at it for a bit.

Logan: "What's this?" He said raising the book a bit so Mansoor could get a good look at it.

Mansoor: "I have a feeling that might be a guide on how to use. That." He said pointing to Logan's mech. "If you can read Latin let me know." He said before walking past him.

Logan: "I can." Logan suddenly said which stopped Mansoor in his tracks who turned to look at him. "It's a guide on how to use a. 'Summoner'." He said as he looked up at the mech as Mansoor walked up next to him.

Mansoor: "So that's a summoner? Does it summon missiles with its round missile pod?" Mansoor made a poor attempt at humor as Logan continued to read the booklet.

Logan: "Don't know. Always called it a Thor." He said which made Mansoor look at him. Logan then notices Mansoor staring at him. "What? These guys just appeared out of nowhere and their mechs are not in our databases." He said before taking a look at Mansoor's mech and pointing to it. "We called THAT a Vulture. Mostly for its shape." He said before looking back at the booklet. "Unfortunately not much I understand in this booklet...Latin wasn't my best subject." He said which made Mansoor look at him again in disappointment.

Mansoor: "So what? We gotta capture one of dem Clanners and torture them for the info to use these things?!" He said flailing his arms around.

Logan: "Hmm. Not a bad idea. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to go back there though."

Mansoor: "But FIRST we sleep! I am tired." He said with a finger pointed up.

Logan: "Yeah." He said.

night fell and the two were fast asleep. Suddenly however they heard huge stomping sounds. This immediately woke them up.

Mansoor: "What in the name of god is that?!" Mansoor yelled out.

Logan and Mansoor immediately scrambled into their mechs. Their mechs were activated and stood side-by-side with Mansoor's mech being shorter than Logan's.

Mansoor: "Computers are reading the thing as hostile." Mansoor explained over the comms.

Logan: "Right then. Whatever comes through that entrance unleash all your weapons on it." Logan told Mansoor over the radio.

Suddenly when a mech appeared Mansoor's Vulture and Logan's Summoner immediately unleashed all their weapons causing Munitions, PPC blasts, lasers, and missiles. To fly at the opposing mech. They all hit their target and destroyed it however a pod was then seen ejecting out of it. Mansoor and Logan watched as the pod that was ejected immediately fell back down toward the ground however deployed a parachute which allowed it to begin a slow descent.

Mansoor: "Guess the hunt starts now." Mansoor said over the comms.

The pod managed to safely land and the Clanner managed to walk out of it. She looked around to see if her environment was safe and immediately began to sprint back to the dropship. She was wearing a green mech suit and had a caramel hair color and her screen had a light-brown tone.

She was running through the thick forest brush but suddenly was hit by the shoulder. She fell and looked over to see that the wound was cauterized meaning she was hit by a laser. "You know. I heard humans are endurance hunters." A sudden voice suddenly said from the forest brush. Being startled she immediately got up and raised her fists. "Come out and face me, coward!" She yelled out. Only for her to get shot in the back of the knee. "Yeah no. That wouldn't be very smart now, would it? Besides a man would have no chance going at a tiger alone now would he?" The voice from the forest said. Seeing as how whoever was attacking her wasn't fighting her with honor she tried to run only for her second knee to get shot. This caused her to fall. When she tried to get back up she heard a voosh sound and immediately blacked out.

She then woke up and saw that she was at the foot of the Mad Dog that had destroyed her Hellbringer and she saw that it was just a few meters from her which was at this point just a smoldering wreck. "Hey, you." She heard the same voice she heard from the forest and immediately turned to see a man with bone-white armor kneeling in front of her and looking down at her next to him was a blonde-haired man with a blue jumpsuit who had his arms crossed and a look of disdain on his face. "You're finally awake." The man in white armor simply said to her. "You! You were the coward who refused to face me in the forest!" She said struggling in the very tight ropes she was tied in. "Yeah, you're not getting out easily." The man said before standing up. "We just need your help to figure out your machines." He said pointing to both the Summoner and the Mad Dog. "And why would I? Point Commander Anastasiya Anoushka. Would ever help a freeborn scum like you?!" She said which made the white man look at her confused. "Di-did you just tell me your name out of pride?" He said which confuses Anastasiya a bit. "Of course, you freeborn wouldn't have even a bit of pride within yourselves. That is why you lost the invasion." She said with clear amounts of pride as she stuck her head high. Much to the annoyance of Mansoor. "Are all the clanners like this?" He whispers to Logan. "You have no idea." He said whispering back to Mansoor. "Quit your whispering and untie me from these ropes!" Anastasiya yelled to them while struggling with the ropes. She didn't stop until Mansoor shot her shoulder with his blaster pistol. She yelped in pain before Mansoor grabbed her by the throat pinned her to the foot of the Vulture and jammed a knife into her side which caused her to yelp in pain again. "Listen here Clanner. The only reason you are still alive is because we allow you to. You can end because we demand you to. So I suggest you remain on your best behavior. Or else." He said twisting the knife in her wound to further the pain as she let out a groan. He then removes a knife but then pulls out a medi-gun and then heals Anastasiya's wounds. Anastasiya looked at the strange machine and saw that her wounds were disappearing. After healing her Mansoor put away the medi-gun. "Now to the business at hand. We need to know how these things work. When escaping prison my buddy here complained about how your mech's targeting system isn't hitting jack, not to mention the fact other mechs move so fluently meanwhile ours were just metal boxes." He said to which Anastasiya just turned her head away before saying. "Of course. These are Clan mechs." Responded before turning back to the two. "Since you don't have the same implants as we Clanners have you couldn't aim the mech's weapons effectively."She explained much to the confusion of Logan but to the horrible realization of Mansoor. "You're telling me those green markings are metal implants?!" He exclaimed much to the shock and confusion of Anastasiya. "Yes of course." She said which made Mansoor shudder at the thought.

Later, time passed and Logan and Maahi were still discussing what to do with her. Eventually, they came to a decision much to Mansoor's dismay as he hung his head low. Mansoor and Logan approached Anastasiya who was expecting some sort of torture however Mansoor pulled out his blaster and to Anastasiya's horror, it pointed right at her forehead.

Anastasiya: "Wait!" She exclaimed before Mansoor could pull the trigger.

Mansoor: "What? What? What can you possibly say to get you out of this situation Clanner?"He said as he still aimed his pistol toward her forehead.

Anastasiya began using her hands which were not bound to dig through her pockets and threw out some dog tags. Mansoor picked up the dog tags which were written in Latin.

Anastasiya: "Those are my records of battles." She said to Mansoor and Logan confused.

Logan: "Why would you give us these?"

Anastasiya: "Under Clan law, it is acceptable to accept the warrior you defeated and take them as your bondsman." She explained quickly which raised more questions.

Mansoor: "What's a bondsman?" He asked to which Anastasiya sighed.

Anastasiya: "When defeated a Clanner of any caste can be taken as a bondsman or Bondswoman. When taken as Bondsmen said Clanner must live in indentured servitude towards their bondholders." She said which confused Mansoor who by this time had removed the pistol from her head.

Mansoor: "Isn't that just slavery but with extra steps?" He said and Anastasiya shook her head.

Anastasiya: "Traditionally a bondsman may serve for a short period or be freed to become a new member of the clan that had taken them fully adopting said bondsman." She explained to Mansoor who wasn't sure if he was making any sense of it.

Logan: "Just shoot her already. We already have Clanners on our tail we don't need nuisances like her following us." He told to Mansoor coldly but Mansoor was considering his options.

Mansoor: "So if we were to take you as a bondsman you would have to follow what we say until we decide you have fulfilled your duties and allow you to leave." He asked to which Anastasiya nodded.

Anastasiya: "Yes. But not to him but to you." She said to Mansoor referring to him which made him step back a bit from shock.

Logan: "You seriously cannot be considering this?!" He yelled to Mansoor but Mansoor held his hand up to him.

Mansoor: "The Clanners seem to put honor above anything else. If that is true then I don't think she will risk her honor just to be defiant." He said and then started thinking for a minute before putting away his blaster.

Logan: "Oh come on!" He yelled.

Mansoor: "Patience Logan, patience." He said approaching Anastasiya with a small metal pole. He looked down at her before pressing a button and suddenly the metal pole had a blue glowing blade appear from it. Anastasiya looked at Mansoor and the blade with worry before closing her eyes and accepting her fate but then she felt the grip of the ropes loosen. She saw that she was free. Mansoor helped her up but then pinned her to the foot of the Vulture. "Do not. Make me. Regret sparing you." He said having the lightsaber inch closer to her neck the heat was not something she liked. He released her from his grip. "Right. So what do we do?" He asked Anastasiya. "What?" She asked confused about what he was asking her. "How do we get these mechs more accurate? You know. Without the face surgery." He said waving his hand around his face to raise a point.

Anastasiya: "I may be able to modify your helmet to have our advanced targeting system as a feature however that will require the proper tools which are back at the dropship." She explained what made Mansoor slump while looking at her.

Mansoor: "You mean there's more of you?" He said which she nodded.

Logan: "I don't think we have the ammunition to fight them all or be able to escape if they are patrolling the perimeter." He thought aloud but then Anastasiya came up with an idea.

Anastasiya: "Perhaps you don't need to fight them all at once." She said which made Logan and Mansoor look at her. "By Clan law, a person could challenge another to a trial of possession. It starts with a batchall with the challenger declaring their name, the type of trial that they intend to engage in, and other parameters. The challenged can demand something of equal value if they defeat the challenger." She explained the basics of the trial of possession which had Mansoor and Logan glance at each other.

Mansoor: "Okay so we have that option. The question is: Who's going? I'm not exactly a good mech pilot and I don't think I'm ready to trust Anastasiya with a mech" He said which made Logan come to one single conclusion.

Logan: "I'll challenge them." He said with resolve.

Mansoor: "Remember. We're still at a disadvantage due to the fact the aiming system doesn't work that well for us."

Anastasiya: "It'll be fine. Such a parameter of the trial is what weapons and systems can be used. Targeting systems may be disabled for the duel." She said which reassured the two of their chances.

Logan: "Then we've got a plan. We can discuss the rest of the details on the way to the dropship." Logan said turning to Thor.

Mansoor: "Wait! But what about Anastasiya here." He said pointing to her. Logan turns around.

Logan: "You can bring her in your mech." He said before glaring at Anastasiya "I am NOT having a Vat-Born on MY mech." He said before heading to his Thor.

Mansoor and Anastasiya exchange glances before going to the Vulture. They got seated and Mansoor activated the Vulture. Anastasiya taps Mansoor's shoulder and Mansoor looks up at her.

Anastasiya: "I don't think you're friend likes me freeborn." She said to him to which he shrugged.

Mansoor: "It's war. A lot of people are gonna hate each other for the actions of others. Guess he hates you for the killing of his crew." He explained to which Anastasiya looked towards Logan's Thor as it activated.

Anastasiya: "But it wasn't our fault that they tried to escape. We just acted in the way we needed to." She said trying to defend their actions.

Mansoor: "I know. But that's war for ya. If it wasn't the destruction of his crew then it's the devastation and capture of this planet." He said to which Anastasiya continued to look towards the Thor as it waited for the Vulture to lead the way.

Anastasiya: "That way Freeborn." She said pointing north-westward.

Mansoor: "Solid copy. Also, stop calling me Freeborn I have a name it's Mansoor." He said as the Vulture moved towards where the dropship was.

Anastasiya: "Mansoor? Strange name." She said to which Maahi deeply inhaled and held it for a second before exhaling.

Mansoor: "Yeah well. My parents WERE strange people." He said as the Vulture and the Summoner began to walk towards the area of the dropship and they disappeared into the forest.