by Zachory Brockman

Created on: September 13, 2008

The Stranger

No one knew his name or where he came from. In fact no one even knew what he looked like. When seen, which was very rare, his features were always hidden under a veil of extremely-light-weight powered armor that was jet-black in color and made him appear, despite his modest stature, to be very menacing. The reason for the suit was not known for sure. There was some speculation that he was so badly burned during some far-away battlefield that he needed the suit to avoid infection. Or it could have been just to hide his identify. No one knew for sure and he wasn't saying.

Regardless he blew into Solaris-7 one day without immediate notice or fanfare. The people of Solaris were so used to numerous comings and goings off-worlders that no one really noticed his out of place 60 odd year old converted drop-ship. He had a small crew that accompanied him but they never seemed to leave the dropship so their numbers and genders could never be determined. They only way anyone would ever know they existed at all is occasionally they were sighted standing among the open bay door of the dropship watching their champion enter or exit the ramp.
Soon after landing he made his way to one of the mid-sized stadiums that scattered the betting capital of this section of the universe. Solaris was a place of high hopes, improbable dreams, and of course ultimate destruction of many a lives. It was like a thirty-first century Las Vegas where gambling was king, and for the right amount of C-Bills it was virtually an anything goes kind of town. A man with a little money in his pocket had a slim chance of striking it rich. More than likely though he would lose it all since their were countless people out there waiting to relieve him of his hard earned cash be it through the casinos which always had the odds stacked in their favor, countless con men, or outright roving bands of hoodlums ready to rob you at a moment's notice.
He looked a little out of place in his suit but there was something about his walk that gave the impression he was a man on a mission. It wasn't a hurried walk per se but he made it obvious he wasn't out for a leisurely stroll. Some commented much later that his peculiar gait seemed more like a march than a gait. This gave the impression he was a military man. He sure acted the part.
His first order of business at the stadium he walked into was to sign up for an upcoming mech match. Since he was an unknown entity and there was a long waiting-list of potential

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