Battletech: The Ghost Who Walks (Battletech Isekai)

[Maverick62945]

He should take one of the extra large dropships and refit it with naval weaponry, to get a single system warship (no jump drive). The M3 drones will have some exemplar weaponry, and the star league era dropships had some weapons too. It would be really effective, and useful, especially once he gets to helm and picks up the missile stash. Assuming that kelly and black jack don't go there first.

 

[Marlow3]

Thanks for the chapter mate.

 

[Imperator Pax]

You're welcome. I don't know when I'll get back to updating this but I may have some Battletech content over the summer a friend IRL has been asking for stuff

 

[Imperator Pax]

Son of Sam
Canopus had a relatively free press, and Luxen being home to one of the few remaining universities in Canopian space had a larger literate population than most periphery worlds. Even if that hadn't been true the population would have passed the troop movements around by word of mouth. That did present security concerns of course. Luxen had planetary defense units though how capable the fresh class of conscripts would be against hardened pirates did weigh heavily on all involved. Perhaps more heavily than normal given that Luxen's leadership had grown accustomed to the steadily expanding force since the Second Battle of Luxen.
It was understandable that they weren't happy about the reduction of forces. Even the ones who had complained about the size of the mercenary force to begin with... and the exodus of the refugee fleet further into the deep periphery was only part of that.


Of course all the fiction that would come out of the Pirate Wars would make things seem so much more coherent... better prepared in the for the masses retellings of everything... that and in the fiction well, things were so much less muddy. The rain hadn't stopped well deserving the moniker the rainy season... it was monsoon levels outside.


A company of Highland Cuirassiers mounted in Badgers and Bandits were in the process of swapping out with the White Mice mounted in the same new Valencia built armored fighting vehicles. Mechs and equipment from Bardiche were moving to the embarkation point to be loaded aboard dropships. Gene dismissed the muted news broadcast... he had stopped reading the subtitles as the las-rifle equipped personal protective detail showed in his officers. Mostly men that Gene didn't know as well as he did the Scratch Company veterans despite the long road in from the Inner Sphere. "The civilians are antsy with that Light Horse Regiment gone." Hammer observed.


"They miss the mechs." The Friesland native hadn't need the additional comment from the Swedense officer who had made it...but the Phoenix Hawks had been notable in their patrols which the Luxen news establishment had taken plenty of stock footage. Soren nodded to the Rasalhague captain... and it hadn't escaped Gene that Soren had started holding conversations modelled on MacIntyre's D program. Ostensibly an 'L' on the table to be fielded 'whenever' 'mechs could be found for the unit... which was of course an expectation that an SLDF cache would be found soon... at least ifSoren had a wish list he hadn't shared it.


"We still have the 12th​," Gene replied nodding to Colonel Bey, though at least part of the unit would be leaving Luxen, and part would be staying behind. Gene was loathe, regardless of how normal in this 'era of the succession wars' to divide his battalions down into companies... regardless of how much experience the Azami had fighting as company sized groups. That had been a topic because Bey and his captains under him were fully comfortable dividing the command as the Magistracy needed them... not the least of which was it raised the possibility of fighting men in Amaris colors. "Soren is Bardiche ready to rerun the drill in the simulators," Another iteration of a simulated defense against the mock up they had of the Amaris Dragoons, "Can you defend Royal Foxx?" Soren gave an affirmative reply to the question... they'd been waffling back and forth whether or not the deployments would actually play out... Gene didn't even want to begin to guess at what kind of horse trading might be going on behind the scenes... trading that seemed set on changing plans every hour it seemed like at times.


... and it would be reasonable to expect that returning to Davion Space would have similar concerns with Battalion D expected to be in the final stages of standing up when they returned. The company was already in the process of reorganizing to reflect its size, and the temporary swelling of ranks through the Azami. "Are we going to Canopus then?"


"We'll see." He replied to MacIntyre's question. "Its still up in the air." ComStar must have been making bank for the HPG conversation in real time between the Luxen HPG station and Canopus...and then there was the trickle in dribs and drabs of fighting from the inner sphere. "Bureaugard," Gene remarked, "Whatever we do," At least right now went without saying, "I'm leaving Baffins here to support Easy Company." The two scratch company veterans who had taken the Majesty Metals contract would be staying behind on Luxen as well... and that would be two more mechs plus the mercs that Friar Tuck had screened which would do pretty well for Luxen if Bey had to move the 12th in force somewhere.


Akashi shifted her weight, her retainer behind her more stoic...but it was also no surprise since it was impossible to have missed that he'd been considering attaching her 'Light' Company to Soren's Bardiche for deployment in the northern Magistracy. "The bandits are pushing this way. A confrontation is inevitable." She blurted out impatiently. "There are two regiments of Rim World origin in the fight."

Probably not whole regiments of course, but the comment did have an effect...


One of Bey's officers nodded in agreement before he could stop himself. The Light Company was filled out with a handful of ice cubes but were largely Azami pilots... most of whom flagged in the system as DC native SLDF troopers with the Torii gate of 15th ​Army. Chang's Company contrasted that by largely being Highland Faire recruits and reflected by being largely using Marauder II mechs...but Chang was also nominally under Septim who was supposed to be assembly a command lance to lead the force... but there were limitations to that... and unlikely to be settled before they next saw action.


... really this whole conversation was likely, Gene suspected, to be one that went around in circles with little to show for it until they knew something more about what their employers wanted them todo. He turned towards the old scotsman, "MacIntyre are you still happy with the base six system?"


"Aye sir, allowing its not perfect but I like the Canopian idea of," Especially given both their original lack of air power,and the Canopian limits on ASF, "Using Leopards to move a whole platoon, using them as gunships with their PPCs is a good idea givenwhat we're dealing with in the Periphery as well." Leopards being Aerodyne dropships could strafe a target if needed or loiterand the Canopians built leopards with domestically produced PPCs."And if we had a permanent peacekeeping presence, frontiers marshals to ride on brush fires here I think itd work." The Company as a fighting force waas unwieldy given its size to respond rapidly to pirate incursions they were finding that out first hand.

Majesty Metals liked the idea too it reassured the corporation that there would be security to work


--
Rain pounded against the transparent aluminum of the protected suite that overlooked the sprawling hospitality district of Luxen's capital... and the swollen river in the distance


Lady Raventhir sat backwards in her chair, allowed her aide decamp to pour the steaming tea into a piece of fine china. The porcelian set was from Earth from before spaceflight even dating to a unit of Infantry long long ago. It had belonged to the 102nd​Division of the SLDF passed down through the ages from its beginninguntil the SLDF division ahd been destroyed by time. Her eyes lifted to meet the savant.


The Straios began to speak "I don't believe this will create an issue with Force Major King."


Raventhir scowled ... because even if that were true, which itprobably was, this had the potential to be a headache. Keeping secrets was hard... Shepherd having been in a stasis tube for some period of time was a detail, an irrelevant one even for most officers of the MAF or people in general. "We are talking about a Terran Gunslinger who lost both of his parents to the Rim World," She rebutted, "And King did make," a Valid point, "That the implication was Shepherd had opened SLDF caches for rearm his Azami troops once crossing into Magistracy space... equipment that could have seriously bolstered the materiel reserves of the Canopian Armed Forces.


News secured from when Shepherd's highlanders had seized the Dieron ISF headquarters had included damming evidence of theCombine's complicity... a complicity which troopers were happy to share. It wasn't just kilted troopers either who talked... you couldn't keep secrets like that not in a regiment sized organization that had spent months transiting space only to find itself facing a revived and hated ancestral enemy... but it was also something that reputable papers would immediately publish. There would be exposes of known personalities within the unit, but not likely before she could move them off world... save for the Easy company and the Azami Osman Tactical Group which were expected to remain... and for the scratch company veterans most had already had been talked about.


Short though had written a book... books now, and would could be expected to dabble as armchair historian... she wasn't quite Luxen's bard but if she published she would do research and it would be read by the planet, if perhaps not the wider Magistracy. Still it might have been preferable than having the papers latch on that the pirates seemed to be doing their best to jump over the borders which invariably result in Houses Liao, and Marik, and probably the Taurians as well chasing after the pirates. Which was why her decision to send, her decision, to dispatch Shepherd personally to investigate the activities of a Luthien based salvage company was going to be controversial, but military intelligence had already confirmed that the pirates were doing the same chasing after Tsubaki salvage works's expedition... which meant it was pressing.


It was also why she was sure she would be sending the Swedenese Battalion, Bardiche, forward, and the Highlanders before she told Shepherd where she planned to send him. It was a calculated decision on her part to minimize any complaints from the unit commanders given that the constant changes to deployment plans was starting to become a point of contention as more news filtered in from the Inner Sphere. ComStar seemed to be doing all it could to push news of atrocities out in effort to pressure the Magistracy to release the mercenaries to go to war against the pirate menace... and it was working.


The Straios had reported that the pressure was being pushed at all levels, from the Magestrix on down as ComStar agitated that governments do something to stop the attacks on their neutrality and the damage being done to the irreplaceable relics of the Star League. Something had to be done, but that didn't mean sending Shepherd to Taragona was without objections, "There are star league ruins on the planet, and the nuclear accident,-" might not have been so much of an accident so much as an attempt to deny resources in the early days of the first succession war to a rival."If there is a cache and its what the pirates are after they have to be stopped." Raventhir gave a small sigh, and pressed on, "And even if they're not something has to be done. "Hitting Black Jack offensively with mercenaries would buy breathing room for a time.
--
The rain had finally slacked off some after about three days... more than enough time to load the DropShips The horizon was still dark, and the wadis were wide and swollen in the countryside. Three days of no drills outside simulators, and just classroom time for training Luxen troops. The Volunteers were improving though, which meant potentially traction for both more rebuilt Chargers and domestically built Shadow Hawks from the Magistracy. "What do we know?" He asked cognizant thatDante had been unusually quiet for most of the meeting's 'preamble', which had covered the latest incoming news, and Raventhir's marching orders.


"Not much more than we already did," Septim replied,"Never heard of these guys so probably just another two bit collection of thugs with an ego but they're big enough that apparently Black Jack told them to get onboard with him." with an implied or else no doubt.


Gene turned from Septim to Pasha, "Anything?"


"Tsubaki Salvage Works is a front for the ISF." He answered in a gravelly tone, "They have a special mission for hunting down evidence of Kerensky's exodus and the Minnesota tribe discretely for the Dragon."


Kiyone started to immediately brindle, and Gene had to hold up a hand to stay the Ronin's outburst, "You can come, MacIntyre I assume you're volunteering as well." The older highlander nodded a breathless 'aye'. "Septim, you're going with the bulk of Claymore to Canopus. You're the Company Liaison work with Speirs and MacKay." Bardiche, aboard their other Overlord-class DropShip, was already burning for the JumpShip Arkansas to head to defend House Raventhir's capital. Soren would join them on the next DropShip to leave since Presidio hadn't lifted off with Claymore but they were cutting it close with this meeting. "Colonel Bey do you foresee any problem working with Force Major King?"


"No sir. Nor should I expect trouble with House Alavi's merchants." The statement left the implied caveat that whoever he picked to go with them to investigate New Vulci on Taragona he was going to have grumbling from pilots not chosen. Bey would have to deal with the complaints within the 12th​ Light Horse himself, but there was no way the Azami Regiment was coming with...just as he couldn't bring Claymore or the mecchanized infantry. "There has been further news however..."


"Yeah the Amaris Dragoons crossed the border into Magistracy space," Gene replied, it was a confirmable sighting something that ComStar had pushed out to them as quickly as they had been able... what would have during normal times cost a pretty penny was now being done on the Robes own concern for their hides... but Gene didn't blame them. "Pasha tell me about the more local Opposition?"


"Criminals with delusions of grandeur, the local smugglers have made themselves wealthy by plying the illicit trade across the frontier," the jumpship captain replied, "I do not imagineBlack Jack regards them fondly but he has likely found a use for them as spies. The Magistracy's authorities are cracking down, but that has proven difficult given the libertine nature of canopian society." The old man replied.


"Recomendations?"


"Killing Notker Bauman would likely fragment his organization..." The man remarked sharing a glance with another Azami captain, "Though few would likely mourn his passing. He is an odious individual to be certain."


Gene nodded thoughtful, "Alright we'll consider that if the opportunity presents itself. They're smugglers, they have JumpShips I assume. We'll leave Tsubaki Salvage Works ships alone, but if Bauman is working for Black Jack his ships are fair game to seize."there were no objections to that line item in the discussion,"Taragona had a nuclear accident in 2977... I want to know moreI'll need a science team to standby to investigate. Dante says there is an SLDF presence at New Vulci that's where we're going I want teams geared up for site exploitation. Most of the Company will be deploying as agreed to defend the Magistracy, our objective is protecting civilians, if your units are going to act as independent companies then they need to be aware that the piratese may target critical infrastructure that could cause loss of civilian life."Protect dams, dykes, water purification centers and other public works... there would have to be a list, and even if ComStar weren't waving c-bills in front of their face they had the remnants of the SLCOMNET and that was the most effective way of staying in contact. He hadn't liked the idea to begin with, but the reality of splitting the Azami units off had eventually pushed him towards the inevitability of dividing the command... and it wasn't really like there was a choice. "Soren we will discuss the Livgardet Battalion further if there is meaningful SLDF material to set aside for use once we return to the Inner Sphere. I will not commit to allocating the resources until after Black Jack is dead." Soren nodded accepting the situation without any unreasonable protests... not that Gene had really expected him to... but better to head off at the pass any idea that if there was a cache on Taragona that those resources were going to be available. He decided to push forward. "When we get back B & L and C&D," Grouped as such "will probably act as Regiments in their own right..." Not that the Highlanders hadn't already been thinking that but might as well get out in front on that as well. For now though, "Septim you and Chang need to make a good impression on Canopus, Soren defend Raventhir's homeworld, Beau keep training the volunteers here," And that would leave Bey nearby, and asthe colonel pointed out Taragona is not that far... even if it was closer to the Aurigans, "House Alavi should be able to lighten the JumpShip burden, even in spite of our recent good fortune."


The Highland AI spoke up, "I have taken the liberty Colonelof assembling a Task Force roster, it should assuage the Azami's elders to know that hte bulk the force will be the magunac tactical groups based aboard the Crockett and Boone." The holographic globe shifted if Canopian authorities were looking for as heavy as a force as they could then tehy would be happy with the allocation of resources from the company stockpiles. Machines with the Cameron Roundels of the Company appeared as the hologram expanded. In theorythey were 'training' local forces on Canopus and Luxen and other worlds they were splitting company assets across. The real plan was to have a heavy weight reserve on those worlds if Black Jack did show up with a heavy battlemech formation of his own.


They had already been in the process of moving Fury tanks as the command vehicles for armor units... the nirasaki built computers represented a potent force multiplier after all. A trio of alacorns filled out each heavy vehicle lance with New Valencia vehicles filling out the light vehicle bays of the DroSTIIA. Crockett and Boone's mech bays carried pairs of Phoenix Hawks and large laser armed 7A. Theyd scout for armor and for the heavier mechs that would be aboard other DropShips.
--
Notes: I wish I could promise that the actual next segment would be going up soon, but I can't I had plans for more BT scraps but yeah IRL is a hot mess.

 

[brewka]

Nice to see this. As always IRL has to come first.

 

[Marlow3]

Thanks for the chapter.