Battletech: The Ghost Who Walks (Battletech Isekai)

[Imperator Pax]

@Imperator Pax I am a little lost? What is happening again?

Click to shrink...

Luxen, in the Magistracy of Canopus is getting filled in on the start of the Aurigan section of the pirate wars, that is to say a JumpShip arrived in Luxen several months after the coromodir scene and passed the news down to Luxen's government because news travels slowly in the periphery.

Out of universe, this is also tying in my other , newer campaign ATOW into the posted story by integrating bits of their campaign story into GWW [Even though in their current Canon, GWW and Aurigan;s primary storylines are occuring alongside one another rather than as separate timelines but thats not really an issue]

 

[NPC]

What is the omake policy?

 

[Imperator Pax]

I have no objection to content contributions, I post non canon or alternate stuff from time to time so if you've got something you wanted to share be things like bofors mech designs that proliferate in the other fics or how you think other characters react to the chaos go ahead i wont stop you

What is the omake policy?

Click to shrink...

 

[Imperator Pax]

Luxen Dragoons Interlude Part 2
Miranda Raventhir would have preferred greater control over the news, but she also accepted that was probably an unreasonable wish. The 'Second Battle of Luxen' the first actual incursion by BlackJack's pirates onto Luxen had occurred in the latter half of the summer of 3016. She would have preferred if the mercenaries small as they were would have remained available but there was wealthy, and then there were immense financial resources that her father and the organization he belonged to could afford to manage... and for all she knew looking at the reports this all could have been planned years in advance, though she doubted it. Raventhir didn't consider herself paranoid, though she did understand that the Azami had fled to the periphery looking for safety from some internal schism within the Combine but she hadn't been told about until later.


A fraction of the Azami apparently had hoped that given their dire straits that they might be able to locate some ancient Hegemony ruin and wake the sleepers within. To wake Hegemony soldiers and tell them what they had discovered about the Coordinator's conduct in the last years of the Star League... and it was she supposed plausible that that was what had happened with Shepherd. Someone had woke the young ace from a stasis tube... but there were details there that didn't quite line up with what she understood of the situation. It would have been better to have had Shepherd stick around even without knowing the truth.


Still having a Hegemony Gunslinger on call would have made her life much easier these last two years. She had made do with the resources her wealth allowed her access to, and that had meant scrounging for more mercenaries, but trustworthy ones had always been the trick in the trade. Still whatever had played out on Elidere had obviously been worth the money... Shepherd's Company had been shipped into the Inner Sphere being paid for the transit costs that entailed...which was to say effectively they had been paid twice for it since the Company owned its own JumpShips, and arrived on the Davion border in time to bushwhack an entire Combine Regiment.


The killing on Elidere ... a massed combined arms assault of his battlemechs and armor had resulted in the appellation of the Walking Death... among a host of other florid nicknames. That had only been the beginning of Shepherd's Company's tenure with House Davion.


It had been the following campaigning season, for the year 3018, which had included the battle of Dieron. That had marked the invasion and conquest of the planet by the Federated Suns. The MRB hadn't had the time to post that information back to the periphery, back to Luxen despite it being or perhaps because it was a six month journey one way from the Terran core of the Inner Sphere and the magistracy's rimward frontier.


She hated that. That such news had only arrived from a free trader now in the late fall of the year 3019 just as the massing exodus fleet was preparing was probably less than a month away from arriving at Luxen or would be if they were coming straight here. The Azami merchant who had arrived with the news broadcasts was carrying ROMs for what passed for a news service in the Aurigan Coalition, which was to say a state sponsored broadcasting corporation. The local MRB office for the Aurigan capital had signed and documented the most recent information. Apparently the Regimental Combat Team hadn't been overly worried about the Aurigan's ability to pay since they were being offered a bounty... really a king's ransom from the Precentor of New Avalon for actions taken against Black Jack.


The letters from the Precentor of New Avalon had authorized Shepherd's Company to take legal possession of Black Jack's vessels, and other material goods as bounty in reprisal for the pirates acts against civilized space. On the surface the letters of marque were not a novel development, but they gave Shepherd's Company the ability the legal resources to register seized vessels and material under the MRB ineffectively overnight turn around, and it gave him legal protection authorized by one of ComStar's first circuit on top of the bounty in c-bills for pirates killed or captured... and Shepherd reportedly did seem to be making an effort to arrest and capture pirates where that was available.


The Azami merchant bowed slightly, a repeat of the gesture he had made during their formal introduction at the star port, "I have the honor of being permitted to open dialogue ahead of our fellows arrival."


"Do you know when that will be?" Raventhir responded, not quite curtly, but from what she gathered at least the massed fleet of jumpships was unlikely to just appear over Luxen and cause a panic... at least she hoped that wouldn't be the case. It wouldn't matter what markings they bore, the sudden arrival of that much mass at zenith or nadir carrying so many military dropships would be mistaken for an invasion force by the public. Luxen had been menaced by far smaller numbers in 3016 and the people might panic before the images solidified and distributed out to the public at large.


"In the new year, Colonel Shepherd means to lay waste to the pirate base on Axlyus and make a circuit around Detroit denying them staging grounds," Which was of course good news but she doubted, given the news out of the Aurigan Reach that any pirate band up to and including Black Jack himself would be looking to directly engage a full scale regimental combat team... and she could only imagine the contents of the report the straios on her staff would be sending to Canopus proper based on what the Azami had carried in terms of spoken, as well as recorded roms of battle against the pirates. "Many of these men have chosen to wear the colors of the satan Amaris, and it is thus they must be driven far from the boundaries of civilization if not killed outright." The man spread his hands broadly that only emphasized the stretched skin around arthritic digits.


"Good," Was the partially drunken slur from the robed ComStar figure, 'Friar Tuck' was also a portly man, though many years younger, "killing all of them would be for the best." He remarked straightening. "I took the copy of Precentor NewAvalon's letter to Precentor Luxen..." She had seen the letter of introduction... not that it was really needed. The cover sheet of introduction was formality... what was more important was the bounty on the pirates, and even more so than that that Shepherd had been provided legal sanction to seize and take ownership of pirate materiel... including their space borne assets jumpships, and dropships. Something to which Friar Tuck proceeded to outline, a bit unnecessarily for her.


She supposed that Tuck's statement could have been taken to reassure the representative from Luxen's planetary government that Shepherd's presence was unlikely to bankrupt the planet. A veteran battalion of highlanders would have been an unthinkable expense only a decade earlier on the eve of Black Jack's arrival in the rimward periphery. "Should we expect the entirety of the RCT?" She settled for asking the merchant instead. "And if so when?


The man spread his hands a little wider, and sighed wizendly, "I would not say no, but the community must visit many of our distant cousins. Perhaps one of the other Regiments," He remarked. "Many of the warriors will be required for our own protective duties," There was a pun there on the legal name of the company, "Given however Luxen's importance we could hardly make excuses to leave you without protection."


It was more than that. The last stint Shepherd's Company had worked for her, and the Magistracy more broadly had brought with it access to their own JumpShips. That had been invaluable, not just because it had allowed them to carry the expedition to Pioche in the first place but it had also bolstered trade missions she had wanted to support during a time of uncertainty. JumpShip captains were uncertain of their safety with Black Jack running around, and that had driven rates up in the periphery for fear that pirates would attack them. Even a temporary influx of available carrying capacity would be good for the region, and for the Magistracy more broadly.


She could live with all of that. The Magestrix, and the MIM, would have been more than a little alarmed if she had had the ability to retain the entirety of the mercenary army. In practice, in the legal fiction of such things she was shouldering part of the burden. House Raventhir would pay the lion's share of the bond for the contract but Luxen's planetary government would be involved.


That still didn't mean her resources were infinite. Luxen could in theory make more compromises if the planetary government chose to. The MIM was going to scrutinize whatever they did, there would be criticism if she went too far, or if Luxen's government didn't go far enough. Not for the first time Raventhir wondered exactly what the drunk priest representing the MRB here actually knew as the man shuffled through his sheaf of papers. "Well," He coughed slightly, "we should talk about what assets would be available. I can draw up recommended market rates of course."


She frowned. The truth was that ComStar's compounds had been largely content to rely on hires of vehicles, and infantry to protect their little enclaves... but that had been enough to protect them from minor disturbances not Black Jack's predations. She wouldn't have been surprised if the Precentor Luxen did more than just ask the planetary government to consider ComStar's station here for needing additional protection... or if Olaf Fredericksen didn't decide to make a personal appeal when Shepherd's Company arrived in force... at least this wasn't likely to turn into a bidding war. "We would like an expansion of our previous contracts," Raventhir found herself saying almost mechanically... she had planned to lead into this.


"Of course, the fleet and the support personnel," The Merchant smiled a portion of the old gentleman slipped, in favor of calculating buisnessman, "I can give you estimates on available carrying capacity, and where our techs stand." Just as her office had already been furnished with estimates of various goods from the Inner Sphere that the Azami had brought to trade already. "As I understand it you have received a company of Merlins."


"Yes, and we have a number of Cicadas that we were hoping to modify along lines you may be already familiar with." To make the best use of what resources that they had available. It had been something they had discussed anyway... they just the Luxen Dragoons as a skeleton formation simply didn't have the personnel necessary to do the work, and Majesty Metals while it expressed interest similarly declaimed having the resources for such at this time.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Interlude Pirate Wars Davion II
Alexandria was exhausted, but she could legitimately lay claim to participating in the battle on the line rather than as a staff officer. There were fresh stencils from enemy mechs that she could say were her work. Robinson was safe; the Kuritan positions enveloped and overwhelmed. House Sandoval had had generations to prepare their world for a serious combine attack, and Lord Aaron's ancestors had used that time well. The Combine had mounted repeated sorties , sometimes against defenses that Lord Aaron had already withdrawn from , to the extent that she couldn't understand what the Combine leadership hoped to accomplish by this action. Waste lives, the Prince's Champion had suggested.


Hellcats secured from the Brian Cache that had been located here were being kept in reserve as the air situation had stabilized, but if the Combine had hoped to pillage and loot SLDF stockpiles that objective had been put aside by the opportunity to fight the Draconis March Brigade those pilots and contributions the DMM had assembled for the Dieron and Altair campaigns. They had plowed into fortresses of steel and prepared armor.


It might have lacked the mobility of Shepherd's movements, but Lord Aaron had greater numbers, and knew the terrain like the back of his hand. His understanding of the whole situation around him seemed almost prescient at times... but she supposed if she were ever put into a situation of defending her House's patrimony of Kestrel that she would be half as a good at least.


The most recent conflict showed that the Combine was prepared to commit to reckless offensives to show that they still had the will to fight... a will that had never been in question to their hereditary enemies... but the Combine seemed determined to leave no doubt. As if this attack weren't enough, her latest report from New Avalon, made possible by the HPG live transmission from the capital, had included confirmation of the Combine's Arkab Legions moving to raid the Free Worlds League... but she could make sense of that. She had been on Dieron after all, though there had been no explanation for how the Coordinator had found out about their conclusions.


The HPG network with which Combine facilitated her live communications with New Avalon from Robinson seemed likely an answer... but of course ComStar proclaimed its neutrality. That it was beyond their remit to interfere in the mail and messages of their clients. She thought it absurd, but it was the simplest of answers some combine spy had managed to pay the sums necessary for a direct transmission to Luthien and relay that not only had House Davion's invasion of a district capital succeeded they had taken the provincial archive intact... and the work put in to catalog that.


She wouldn't have been surprised if they might have the digital copies of the archive, the searchable database. That was what her mentor the Duchess of Victoria had warned her about, that most likely the Combine's penetration had gone that far. There was nothing they could do about it, and the archive was the Combine's own so it wasn't as if they hadn't, shouldn't have access to the information in any event. It was just the ISF was supposed to protect the Combine from internal security threats it was in their name after all.


It had nothing to do with the attack on Robinson she decided tiredly slumping into the chair of a waiting room within the fortress. She was looking forward to returning to New Avalon. That would entail still more work though. Her latest report form New Avalon had included the estimated travel itinerary of where Shepherd's Company should have been by this point in the periphery, assuming they had stuck to the schedule. The Precentor New Avalon Huthrin Vandal had stated that he had encouraged his fellow precentors to ask their local MRB offices to pass along quickly any updates of the war with the pirates. The Precentor New Avalon was very eager, perhaps as much as they were for news of the conflict. From what Alexandria understood each pirate dead was by itself a sizable bounty... which meant ComStar would be paying a lot of money, and Vandal had given Shepherd the rights to seized jumpships, which would add to the capacity he had.


"Uh, Ma'am." Brevet Lieutenant Sutton was still a slim small figure, his uniform seeming outsized, the missile boat pilot was still officially a cadet at Robinson Battle Academy, but he had been at Dieron, and before that on Elidere, which had meant when the Combine had arrived he'd retaken his place with the brigade and had seen action. "The Colonel," Meaning the Duke of Robinson, "has asked for you to join the other officers in the war room."


She had been expecting that. She would be glad when she returned to New Avalon, but for the moment she was here, and she had responsibilities here. The walk was a short one, she outpaced unintentionally the lieutenant, she more than knew her way around the AFFS command center that was the Ranger's garrison. Bard was already there of course, the transition to the Highlander had suited the Ranger well.


Inside the men waited a holographic recording of battle demonstrating one part of the defense's conclusion.


And, in that the defenders of Robinson had played pipes and drums in the turning of the enemy flank, as massed armor had advanced to roll up the Combine salient cutting their formation from their dropships. That itself would make for footage that the DMM and AFFS High Command would insure played heavily in the news media for the public at large to watch. That was going to be a continuing them going forward, increasingly reiterating such commitment. "I want this sent to Northwind, immediately. "Lord Aaron told his second in command. The Ranger's officer nodded. Bard Cameron flashed a cheeky smile to with his acknowledgement.


It was a reminder to Alexandria that there was a disagreement between the Field Marshal of the Draconis March and the Prince's Champion... and that the First Prince hadn't yet weighed in. Both Field Marshals distrusted the Field Marshal of the Capellan March, and his ability to watch his sector. That was, basically now public knowledge, it was a minor scandal to New Avalon but too much of the capitals gossip was, were the victories that had begun in April of 3017 when the Galedon Regulars had been devastated under a similar Highland March.


Though Shepherd had departed for the periphery the lasting impression made on Elidere, and continued forward by the actions on Dieron, and the seizure with alacrity of San Martin reverberated through the news. That too had been punctuated by pipes, and drums march. A tradition heavily associated with the highlanders, and it thus was concerned that it would draw attention to Northwind, not necessarily from the Combine, though that was possible, but from the Capellan March.


As it was Alexandria hoped that the victory here, and with the Combine reportedly sending the Arkab legion to raid the Free Worlds League would mean the coordinator had no reserves to mount further offensives against the border worlds, or strike at Dieron, or Altair, or indeed Northwind. Lord Aaron Sandoval, duke of Robinson nodded at the Arkab Legion being brought up, "Shepherd left with many Azami, the Combine going hunting for birds might seem foolish on our end but they might not think it wise to send the Legion if they might then switch sides." The ISF did attach political officers, but if the Legion did mutiny... if say Shepherd revealed the betrayal of his own people to Amaris by the Combine, then it was likely to stop a Legion incursion in its track... but not say, the Sword of Light.

... at least she assumed that might have been the thinking... but the Combine could hardly have planned the offensive knowing Shepherd was now deep in the Rimward periphery with the exodus, or at least not have known for sure that was how things were going to be.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Pirate Wars Detroit
Gene pressed the acknowledgement of the receipt. The Argo was a hot mess. A lived in mess. It had probably also been a vanity project... a demonstration of how oblivious the league had been. He was going to be glad when they returned to Detroit, but they were going to have to over the ship with a fine tooth comb... but the fusion drive worked, and it was safely docked. They wouldn't have any personnel aboard the secured Argo when they made the Jump to depart the system. It was just safely berthed and shut down. That was enough for the time being at least.

They'd figure out an answer to where they could even dock the ship when they could. He really didn't want to keep it docked aboard a jumpshp until they could make back for Davion Space, he hoped they had another option than Lockdale. There was a lot of work that would need to be done, and he just didn't know enough about the Magistracy's ship crafting capabilities to plan for their assistance.


It was going to be something to leave to engineers... and as much as Dante wanted to issue orders that until the ship was safe, and insured structurally sound it needed to be picked over. The Argo was a remnant of the Star League... was a relic of the Star League rather. That went back to needing to go over the ship carefully. In the mean time, he had other things to do, and would worry about the Argo after, the Company had other business to contend with... which the centuries old hegemony AI seemed to deem less critical as the waveform manifested, "I read the summary." he told the thinking machine, even though his acknowledgement of the receipt should have been processed by the AI.


"Given the condition of the collar system we might be able to mount a leopard aboard." Gene nodded, "The ASF bays will need to be worked on an overhauled. Launching and recovering would be hazardous in the present conditions." No surprise there, and the condition of small craft spaces were little better.


"I was under the impression there was a second collar point?"


There was a gruff noise from the AI's speaker on his desk, "non functional due to age. We will need to repair the power system in order to bring the mechanical facilities and automation back on." The Argo had never been intended for much in the way of armor, which had arguably be a failing found in things like the Overlord as well. "The drive system needs an extensive overhaul before we will be able to maintain regular power."


"Its amazing there is power at all."


"The Argo was built with secondary fusion reactors, "That was hard to miss from the rear photographs, the trio of drive exhausts , but that feature was fairly standard on other DropShips, certainly given the hundred thousand tons the Argo displaced on a starship metric Galax's shipwrights had learned something from the Behemoth's first go around the shipyard."


"It is feasible to repair the ship, is there a yard?"


"In the periphery perhaps not, withdrawing to the Inner Sphere is likely our only option for a full scale overhaul."Lockdale, but that wasn't really news. "There is one other matter, the Mech Bays appear to be configured for a base six configuration, spread across three bays."


"The Argo can't land on planets," He pointed out unnecessarily, "It would have made more more sense to carry 18fighters in their place," But no, for whatever reason the Argo seemingly built by some mad schizophrenic carried extensive facilities for machines of BattleMechs, heavily automated systems the black box facilities of the machine shop were complex... bringing them back on line would have been a boon... and yet to have built the Argo with them would have been a grandiose vanity There was no explanation for that.
--
His office on Detroit was a small ferrocrete block house like most of the buildings that had been built. It was functionally undistinguishable save for the signs out front. It was a boring building without much in the way of creature comforts... but hardly a priority since they werne't sure how long they would even be staying on the planet. Septim double checked the manifest, but it was still correct. There were no faults with it... and he would have been happier he supposed if it didn't feel like he was just rubber stamping the merchants work. The boss had left him in command of the Company'score Regiment... but in truth that entailed having to contend with Holmgren and the grizzled old scot responsible for still other units, and then Hammer too... as if that weren't enough then there were the regiments of the combat team formed and their supporting forces. Both Azami colonels could readily appeal to the elders of their community, and the boss wasn't here to put a stop to that.


They were supposed to be holding position. Insuring Detroit couldn't be threatened, on guard against pirate incursion and so forth. The Azami regiments were looking for action, which was true of Bardiche and Claymore. It was true of Bubbles for that matter, the Atlas driver since she had moved to piloting that for the command responsibilities of it was likewise another voice advocating that they push the situation.


They were supposed to stay put, and watch the merchants. It wasn't glamorous, and after the long haul in the Aurigan campaign had been an oasis of action for the stir crazy warriors after the desert...and that had been a description thrown around. There were no moral quandaries to worry about, see pirates, kill pirates.


The situation was complicated by the psychotic killers running around in fucking Rim World colors, but even for that Septim could say it made things weirder but didn't' change things. It was Fjaldr, not Coromdir that had really stirred up the hornets. The boss had shot down the rim job assault mech... but what they hadn't told the Aurigans as the techs had been pulling the mech apart was that it was broadcast Rim World Army identification... they had told the Aurigans that there was an Amaris on the pirates side... maybe not their main leader but there ... in the leadership.


That couldn't be anything but bad.


Not that showing at Aea there hadn't been bad, he didn't envy the Aurigans their problems with the Taurians at all. There were a lot of recriminations being thrown around there... but there hadn't been anything anyone really could have done to stop the pirates from leaving. Blaming the other side for it wasn't going to fix it, and didn't change the fact that the pirates were out there. For that much Septim was glad to be out of the Aurigan Reach, and away from the Taurian frontier... but Detroit was important enough to have a Combine Legation and the minister for trade well, the situation would have been a mess even without the pirates, would have been a mess even if they hadn't shown up with the Exodus fleet to protect. Detroit's media was all over the news from the Inner Sphere... and of course with Azami merchant convoys having already left Detroit the news would now be proceeding their arrival anywhere else.


That would be a change. He knew the flow of news could be slow but his brief stint home over the border home had been skeptical about things. There was a chime that stirred him, "Come." He ordered reflexively.


"We have mass activity at Zenith, I'd say they're back." The baritone voice declared. The other Alexander, the free worlder was no relation, had command of the independent fire support company of 1st​ Battalion, which really meant he was part of a functionally very large headquarters force. The boss had mentioned wanting to reorganize the Regiment's table but there was too much other stuff always going on... and they didn't have breathing room for it. "The flyboys with the fleet are just making sure, but given the mass readings from the pulse I'd say its them."


But policy still dictated that they should issue orders to the formation. "I'll ring Hammer," Septim reached for the phone and dialed the armor officer. The friesland officer probably wasn't especially happy babysitting the locals though readily excepted that if things dropped into the pot it would be the Regiment which did the real fighting, and accepted that.
--

 

[Tankredburnelli]

[ orders to the formation. "I'll ring Hammer," Septim reached for the phone and dialed the armor officer. The friesland officer probably wasn't especially happy babysitting the locals though readily excepted that if things dropped into the pot it would be the Regiment which did the real fighting, and accepted that.
--
[/QUOTE]

Wait a sec, you have have Hammer running the Armour component. Pirates guna learn, Pirates going to learn real good

 

[Imperator Pax]

[ orders to the formation. "I'll ring Hammer," Septim reached for the phone and dialed the armor officer. The friesland officer probably wasn't especially happy babysitting the locals though readily excepted that if things dropped into the pot it would be the Regiment which did the real fighting, and accepted that.
--

Click to shrink...

Wait a sec, you have have Hammer running the Armour component. Pirates guna learn, Pirates going to learn real good
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, the next segment is literally Hammer's perspective of them being, and some of the exposition that would have been covered earlier in this story had those segments made it into the thread and were glossed over. We're moving into the part of the timeline where there are more assets being allocated to the subordinate commands in the build up into the 4th succession war and the clan invasion