Battletech: The Ghost Who Walks (Battletech Isekai)

[Imperator Pax]

First Luxen Part 4​

Outnumbered as significantly as they were Gene had really been hoping to see other Marauders among the defenders, but that wasn't to be. He wasn't even sure if there was a single Heavy weight BattleMech among the Magistracy defense units.

Hell right this second he wasn't even sure if they had any legitimate combat vehicles over sixty tons. He could have been wrong, but from what he was seeing there wasn't much of a defense here that couldn't have been broken with a concerted assault backed up by lots of LRMs.

He shook his head, "No seriously what are those?" The newest mechs in any numbers the canopians had were three lances of basically new in box Vindicators purchased before the third succession war had kicked off for the planetary militia and which... might as well have been in greased factory storage. They were at least Medium Mechs, but he had honestly been hoping for more Shadowhawks or maybe some Hunchbacks or something.

Military spending on Luxen though had never been particularly important. The planetary militia didn't even get the lions share of defense spending, that went to the medcom for training programs for the broader canopian armed forces. The Luxen Volunteers were using mainly using domestic Locusts and Jenners bought from abroad. The Luxen Volunteers did have their share of personal mechs added into the fray, but none of them were outside of the Medium weight range.

It made sense why the Magistracy was scrambling for such an expensive solution to band aid over this threat though. It suggested the regular MAF weren't in any position to redeploy that fast to patch over the vulnerability even if they felt like risking stripping a planet of its defenders on a gamble. Or who knew what the situation was, other than presumably the obvious, bad. He hoped the MAF knew that already, or would have enough sense to to figure that out after going through his Marauder's battle data records

Shaking his head again, he looked back out the window overlooking the ferrocrete covered staging ground. There was no shortage at least of Astechs, and technicians at least... in theory getting those machines up and in the fight shouldn't be a problem. He picked up the noteputer, and flipped through the Capellan mech's specs. He was already thinking of it as a capellan mech, but it didn't look that bad... or wouldn't if they had skilled pilots.

The DropShip, which had carried them to Luxen, had finished offloading at last report, but he was the only one who had gotten to this sector of the defensive line. Their liaison was still in the planetary capital, at the actual center of government. "That is three lances of Mechs."

"Yeah, its that. On paper, and if you send them out as three lances, they'll be nothing more than target practice for the Muj." He muttered reflexively. "I'd keep them either all together, or split them into six mech teams. Mass their LRMs to harass an attacking enemy." Not that he expected trying to have a bunch of greenies play the Azami's own game on them was likely to be perfect, they'd get eaten alive that way. "Its not particularly fast so its not going to be running them down, but if you're already committed having them on an enemy flank should help." Use the LRMs first to avoid any unfortunate ammo cook offs, and... and then basically outlined that they should act like an infantry fire and maneuver element to make up for individual mechwarrior weakness.

It wasn't a great solution, but he was getting paid for this kind of professional advice... 'advising' to 'shore up the defenses'. Not that he could make it happen. He was getting paid for opinions not to actually assume command. They were desperate, not that desperate. In truth it might well be a recipe for disaster if any other other Mercs in the scratch company gave conflicting advice.

There was a riotous explosion some where in the distance, probably several miles, signaling that the enemy were in fact still out there and making themselves known, but the Azami were up to something. Gene just couldn't be sure what. Were they here to steal medical equipment? If so why? But was that why they hadn't just plastered the shit out of everyone with LRMs? Did they think they'd break something they were here to steal, this was a fucking mess. "I need to liaise with the MRB, and update them." They needed a copy of his combat footage... not that he was necessarily going to get any salvage from his kills. The Azami had presumably recovered their dead but he'd slagged plenty of vehicles and a couple mechs so that was money. Even if they hadn't he didn't have a salvage crew, and there was that fuss... no really it was more for the C-Bills.

The MRB liaison wasn't hard to find. He was was paunchy friar Tuck looking man of about middle age in ComStar Robes who would have looked more in place getting drunk at the local bar. He had copies of the entire company's files via the HPG network, took a copy of the combat footage, filed and notarized everything, but couldn't really elucidate on anything else. He had no reason for why the Azami were here, why they might acting the way they did, but admitted they were probably here to try and steal star league era, irreplaceable, medical technology and that that might indeed explain the restraint even though they were here in force.

He didn't have anything about that either, and Gene was regretting not being able to find anything more out about the Kuritan response showing up. The Kuritans had come out of the Aurigan reach, presumably so to had the Azami after a point, but he didn't know that for sure. Details about the new arrivals on Detroit had been fuzy, names like Arisaka had been thrown around, but that didn't mean anything to him. Much of the probably supposed to be impressive verbiage just were things he missed entirely... and of course he'd also been shuffled off to go fight this war in the pocket as soon as he had signed on the dotted line.

"What about the Infantry fight?"

"Pardon?" The adept he had nicknamed Friar Tuck replied.

"I was briefed that there had been several instances of probable Azami getting into gunfights before and during the initial attack here in the city, where were those?"

"oh, that," The adept frowned, picking at a tuft of white hair in one ear, "I'm not entirely sure. It wasn't on the university grounds proper, but it was close enough that I would guess that was what it was about. I can look into it if you think its relevant mechwarrior." He didn't really sound thrilled at the notion though.

"If it gives us an idea of where they might try and break through and go after it might be worth it, just give me the address and a copy of the incident. If its nothing well then it doesn't waste your time." Presumably Friar Tuck went off to drink after that, which was fine by Gene.

This was probably a pretty nice place when it wasn't under a civil defense curfew, and he got a couple of strange looks even accounting for the MAF attache driving him around. "What are we looking for?" She asked as they stopped in front of a tall marble facade building that screamed academia.

"Answers." He replied swinging out of the chair. "I want to know why the Azami are acting like this, Sun Tzu once said it was all important to understand both yourself and your enemy. Lieutenant Short I would like to know why they haven't executed a breakthrough, because they could have concentrated enough forces to do that before I got here." He looked at the placards listing the residences of the building. "What's interstellar expeditions?"

"Some kind of historical research group, anthropologists," She gestured to one of the buildings across the lane, "That's the History faculty building." Lieutenant Short was apparently a native.

"Excuse me can I help you?" The old man had the look of a cliche academic. The way the wrinkles were on his face, and the body language suggested more someone who would have been gesturing to an ossified skull in a class room to astonished freshman sort.

"I'm Gene Shepherd," He extended his hand to shake, "I'm investigating the Azami attack a few days ago, and how it might relate to their actions outside." He probably should have lead with that he was a mercenary or anything else but he wanted an answer to the question.

"Oh I'm doctor Abner." He was from the Lyran Commonwealth, and apparently didn't like 'armchair anthropology', which actually turned out to be a problem since even stripped of markings he recognized Gene's gray uniform as being a 'wonderfully accurate recreation' of the Terran Hegemony Armed Forces from the end of the Star League. Still after explaining, and a lot of talking about what it was Interstellar Expeditions was engaged in Abner finally directed them to a star map, "I believe we have a calling to investigate all the lost places, lost since the fall of the Star League, and these brutish succession wars."

Gene was already keenly aware that Luxen had once been the center of the province that bore its name, and that there were plenty of rimward planets and systems that the Magistracy had been forced to leave to wither on the vine as resources became increasingly scarce. Nothing however that Interstellar Expeditions had turned up, or at least nothing Abner was lecturing about as having been turned up struck him as being worth all of this hassle.. but all the same an idea struck him. "What if they're trying to steal supplies to make a viable colony in the deep periphery."

"We have found worlds capable of sustaining human life, but most of the populations we've encountered have largely back slid since being abandoned by the greater human sphere." Abner replied, "Certainly it might be possible, but," He stopped, "Mister Ford, Mister Ford," He waved hastily to a strip of a man as he walked past the door, "Yes yes, this is one of my graduate students he'll be a fine archaeologist one day." Abner beamed, "He had a discussion with one of our visitors at length before this unpleasantness."

After a round of hand shakes, and other small talk Ford recounted that one of the Azami had let it slip that they had heard from a traveler of a world in the deep periphery that while relatively primitive was ruled by the faithful. That had apparently been more than he had been supposed to reveal, but they believed that they could find Alexandria and escape the Dragon's betrayal, which was an interesting description.

Even beyond the cloud cukoo lander archaeologist calling the fighting outside 'unpleasantness'.

--
Commentary: other stuff schedule... in theory? 'Not A Hero' hopefully will get updated before Friday... currently I'm not holding my breath. White Wolf Rebellion, much like this fic, has the advantage of having forty plus pages of story content going forward so updating that regularly is no problem. I really need to get around to the HPGENFIC jumpchain update that should have gone up Wednesday or I will be very quickly two updates behind. I'm behind a stargate jump update, but admittedly that's an SG1 Interlude scene. There a number of other stories I'd like to update, and just haven't found the time to sit down and get to, or they're on other computers.

 

[Laxard]

Lol, Interstellar Expeditions are way too familiar name. Too much pro-pirated contracts from them in MW5 despite them counting as independent and helping main character in his vengeance quest and hle fact that they tend to terminate Mechwarrior contracts for an (unauthorised) criminal activity. Like any independent organisation serving interests of wealty, they werent "a good guys", at least until Jihad.

Vindicator is a joke. It's have PPC, enough heatsinks and jump jets, but most variants are too slow to make proper use of it, and the ones that can are laughable armored. So it's ends up better being used as a long range support mech. In my customs when I forced to use it I tend to get rid of lasers for better speed and armor, not like that makes much of the difference.

Jenner I absolutely love thought, especially JR7-D, despite it's puny armor, when it's not alone it's have enough firepower and sheer speed to gang-rape anything it meets that doesn't have ssrm right until Clan Invasion. And considering that it tends to loose all weapons before being cored, it's also allows for a good pilot survival rate ironically enough. At least when it's not used by the more suicidal mechwarriors of Draconis Combain.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Lol, Interstellar Expeditions are way too familiar name. Too much pro-pirated contracts from them in MW5 despite them counting as independent and helping main character in his vengeance quest and hle fact that they tend to terminate Mechwarrior contracts for an (unauthorised) criminal activity. Like any independent organisation serving interests of wealty, they werent "a good guys", at least until Jihad.

Vindicator is a joke. It's have PPC, enough heatsinks and jump jets, but most variants are too slow to make proper use of it, and the ones that can are laughable armored. So it's ends up better being used as a long range support mech. In my customs when I forced to use it I tend to get rid of lasers for better speed and armor, not like that makes much of the difference.

Jenner I absolutely love thought, especially JR7-D, despite it's puny armor, when it's not alone it's have enough firepower and sheer speed to gang-rape anything it meets that doesn't have ssrm right until Clan Invasion. And considering that it tends to loose all weapons before being cored, it's also allows for a good pilot survival rate ironically enough. At least when it's not used by the more suicidal mechwarriors of Draconis Combain.

Click to shrink...

I personally don't consider I.E. to be good guys necessarily even after the Jihad. The Jihad is the Word of Blake is fucking insane. That being said canonically IE is a bunch of independent factions of its own, and we'll get to that later, but there is a reason one of the source books uses the phrase 'Mercenary Archaeologists' . They've got their own agendas, they're in it to make money and pursue that, I can respect that. I can treat them like that.

I consider the Vindicator to be a decent enough mech in table top, and lore wise its not a bad mech. It does a little bit of everything and it cheap in Cbills but it does have its problems. I wouldn't quite demote to joke level... there are worse battlemechs. [At five tons lighter I consider the Assassin despite being faster to be a worse mech for the lack of the PPC, even though it still has the LRM 5 and a medium laser, with the addition of SRM.]


The Wolverine ten tons heavier is arguably a better Mech but in C Bills its about 1.5M more expensive and no LRMs. The Vindicator has its uses and its cost expense makes it appealing to export sales as well as to its home market. The Phoenix Hawk is another good medium for its role, I have good experience with Shadow Hawks and Griffins, but we'll get to those down the road. [In terms of standard 3025 common mechs]

Then there are other mechs that will show up in this weight range down the road.

 

[killgore444]

I personally don't consider I.E. to be good guys necessarily even after the Jihad. The Jihad is the Word of Blake is fucking insane. That being said canonically IE is a bunch of independent factions of its own, and we'll get to that later, but there is a reason one of the source books uses the phrase 'Mercenary Archaeologists' . They've got their own agendas, they're in it to make money and pursue that, I can respect that. I can treat them like that.

Click to shrink...

Not having ever played any of the computer games, the only thing I've ever seen on I.E. is what I've read in the interstellar Players' source books. But even in their own book, I.E. is not really portrayed as an Up and Up organization, and I can see why the various intelligence groups through out the Inner Sphere (and even the Periphery) would consider them a serious threat.

I consider the Vindicator to be a decent enough mech in table top, and lore wise its not a bad mech. It does a little bit of everything and it cheap in Cbills but it does have its problems. I wouldn't quite demote to joke level... there are worse battlemechs. [At five tons lighter I consider the Assassin despite being faster to be a worse mech for the lack of the PPC, even though it still has the LRM 5 and a medium laser, with the addition of SRM.]

Click to shrink...

The assault mech Charger is a much much worse mech.

I agree that the Vindicator is a much maligned mech. Even more so when you consider that canon for this time period has the vast majority of mechs in the periphery be repurposed utility mechs or frankinmechs. The protag should not have been surprised if half the mechs the defenders weren't even battlemechs. Compared to the usual crap in the periphery, 3 mint condition Vindicators would be an awesome threat.

Just not against Inner Sphere regulars turned pirate.
At least not for the first couple years until the new pirate band runs into the same problems with maintenance everyone else does.

 

[Laxard]

I consider the Vindicator to be a decent enough mech in table top, and lore wise its not a bad mech. It does a little bit of everything and it cheap in Cbills but it does have its problems. I wouldn't quite demote to joke level... there are worse battlemechs. [At five tons lighter I consider the Assassin despite being faster to be a worse mech for the lack of the PPC, even though it still has the LRM 5 and a medium laser, with the addition of SRM.]

Click to shrink...

And in my opinion specialised mech is superior to "I can't do anything good" mech. So far as you don't need to deal with stealthy units.

The Wolverine ten tons heavier is arguably a better Mech but in C Bills its about 1.5M more expensive and no LRMs. The Vindicator has its uses and its cost expense makes it appealing to export sales as well as to its home market. The Phoenix Hawk is another good medium for its role, I have good experience with Shadow Hawks and Griffins, but we'll get to those down the road. [In terms of standard 3025 common mechs]

Then there are other mechs that will show up in this weight range down the road.

Click to shrink...

Existence of the Phoenix Hawks, Griffins or even Blackjacks is a reason why Vindicator is such a joke.
Also, Canopians aren't willing to export their homemade Vindicators easily

 

[Imperator Pax]

Not having ever played any of the computer games, the only thing I've ever seen on I.E. is what I've read in the interstellar Players' source books. But even in their own book, I.E. is not really portrayed as an Up and Up organization, and I can see why the various intelligence groups through out the Inner Sphere (and even the Periphery) would consider them a serious threat.


The assault mech Charger is a much much worse mech.

I agree that the Vindicator is a much maligned mech. Even more so when you consider that canon for this time period has the vast majority of mechs in the periphery be repurposed utility mechs or frankinmechs. The protag should not have been surprised if half the mechs the defenders weren't even battlemechs. Compared to the usual crap in the periphery, 3 mint condition Vindicators would be an awesome threat.

Just not against Inner Sphere regulars turned pirate.
At least not for the first couple years until the new pirate band runs into the same problems with maintenance everyone else does.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, the reason that Luxen has proper mechs is because it belongs to a legitimate government's provincial capital. There was a reason Detroit's government was scrambling for any mercs they could get, for the same reason the MRB went 'uh no you aren't paying these guys enough, these are ex DCMS troops, with Inner Sphere standard military equipment, you need to fork over some money."


Edit: Yeah, regarding Detroit, we only saw Gene's side of the fighting, compared to the people who aren't as lucky or as heavily armed. Likewise here, 1st Luxen Volunteers and the planetary defenders have already lost most of their normal front line units

And in my opinion specialized mech is superior to "I can't do anything good" mech. So far as you don't need to deal with stealthy units.


Existence of the Phoenix Hawks, Griffins or even Blackjacks is a reason why Vindicator is such a joke.
Also, Canopians aren't willing to export their homemade Vindicators easily

Click to shrink...

O for sure, the Phoenix Hawk is common for a reason, and I absolutely agree on the Griffin, but for someone like the Luxen Volunteers as generalist mech unlikely to see anything, having it as a second line Mech (note that Gene described them as basically being in factory grease) versus people with their own mechs on paper they do everything and can sit at base if pirates do show up.


again the Vindicators are a Canopian purchase for basically Canopian second line homeguard units in already small military with limited government spending. Makes more sense for the canopians trying to buy things that are generalist in my thinking.

From a mercenary perspective you can make a vindicator work, but a Griffin is better at long range, a Hunchback is significantly better medium mech in close range, or whatever have you for what you need... but if youre a government and you can buy three lances it makes more sense to go with the Vindicator for this role, which is my thinking. now certainly the 1st Luxen Volunteers by 3025 will be fielding a lot more Phoenix Hawks but thats a decade in the future.

There was something else I was going to say regarding 'Mechs, but I can't remember

 

[killgore444]

but if youre a government and you can buy three lances it makes more sense to go with the Vindicator for this role, which is my thinking. now certainly the 1st Luxen Volunteers by 3025 will be fielding a lot more Phoenix Hawks but thats a decade in the future.

Click to shrink...

It's the reason the Quickcell company is doing so well in canon. Sure their products are crap and unreliable. They're also very CHEAP!
Yeah, a descent pilot/crew in a good quality unit could take out 3 or 4 of the things before being taken down, but they're cheap enough for the owners to by 6 for 1 good quality piece. Fuck the pilots/crews!

And afterwards, you might even be able to salvage a good quality unit to reinforce your remaining crap pieces.

Persanly, this is the reason I never got into all the add-ons to the game that dealt with replacement units and salvage since first edition Mechwarrior RPG. That was the only edition that had the actual c-bill cost be relevant. And this is something lost that was important. Try having your players justify spending the money to replace the Marauder they destroy every game. In any real life scenario, the commander would tell them to take their dispossessed ass for a hike. Making sure the a player keeps a mech though will result in the npc commander telling him they got a good deal on his new mech, enjoy your 'slightly used' Scorpion.

 

[Silverbullet]

I got a Vindicator 1X and actually prefer the MG. I also made it a St Ives Blues special by switching the ppc for a LL and the LRM5 for a 10 and more armor and heatsinks. I like to strip armor off enemy cockpits before running in and shredding them. I do feel ppc's in MW5 are nerfed though. They don't do enough damage for there heat and if you miss a ppc shot or hit something less vital it feels wasted. It's why I also traded the ppc's on my warhammer out for LL's.

 

[Laxard]

I got a Vindicator 1X and actually prefer the MG. I also made it a St Ives Blues special by switching the ppc for a LL and the LRM5 for a 10 and more armor and heatsinks. I like to strip armor off enemy cockpits before running in and shredding them. I do feel ppc's in MW5 are nerfed though. They don't do enough damage for there heat and if you miss a ppc shot or hit something less vital it feels wasted. It's why I also traded the ppc's on my warhammer out for LL's.

Click to shrink...

Kinda? Don't forget that you need to hold LL directed at the targeted point for some time, even if it's pulse laser but with PPC it's "shoot and forget". Higher tier PPC in that game are also heating less and have bigger damage. Add to it Operations upgrades for energy damage (not sure if Heroes of the Inner Sphere is required for it) high heat-managmemt skill and pair of PPC will often allow you to destroy enemy before he have a chance to reach you to try and scratch your armor. At least with proper deployments mod. And Annihilator with 4 PPC is trully terrifying. To reach similar effect with LL you need to be able to hold aim on enemy cockpit, and it's not always possible, when you are attacked from all sides.

Anyway, regarding mech perfomance, blooks are much more valid source than videogames.

 

[Silverbullet]

I own exactly none of the sourcebooks and never played Tabletop. My introductions to BT have been various novels and video games. As well as what I absorb from the fan forums like BG.Battletech, Space Battles, etc

Such as Imminent Crisis, Flight if the Falcons, and Initiation to War. Mechwarrior 4 and 5, and Mechcommander 2.

I will be the first to admit that my knowledge is patchy and limited in nature.

 

[Imperator Pax]

I Luxen Part 5​

They hadn't been able to spend much more time at the university. The truth was he knew he needed sleep, and to settle in... and the reality was that the Azami could change their mind and make a push that they were in no position to stop if it came in hard. The university had no obvious leads. He didn't have time for a fishing expedition.

The next two days saw small probing attacks, and if he was right, "They're buying time... I'd guess either to have spies locate whatever it is they're looking for, but also to make sure that once they have it they can get to their JumpShips and jump out of the system immediately." He remarked.

"Their JumpShips should be fully recharged by this point." One of the mercs pointed out his bald head's crown of thorn tats prominently on display .

"Regrettably no."

"Regretably?" 'Septim' asked over the holographic channel from within the cockpit of his 'Merlin' BattleMech, "What's that mean?" He asked the image flickered as he stroked his scragly beard that he hadn't had time to shave

"The Azami JumpShips jumped after the ground forces initiated their attack, or more correctly they detached their final dropships which moved to a safe distance and then Jumped. They returned later, and should be recharging now."

This was getting increasingly weird, and he really wasn't about to start haying off about looking for some mythical periphery planet being the Azami goal. It was entirely possible that was what they were looking for, but it wasn't relevant. He had no reason to think they were going to come back to the university and even if they were it was just as likely to be to steal medical equipment, or information.

That just made him consider the Star League era Medical College of Volgadon University... and the copies of its database that he had. The ones that had been presumably left in storage to be come back to by Terran expatriates who had fled to the Periphery, but never recovered on Aquagea. Whatever, beyond that, defending the hospitals were an obvious move. The Magistracy had a couple of UrbanMechs, which weren't going to be any use out at the front, but inside the city, yeah in theory keeping them in ambush to defend should be a workable, viable plan. Of course if enemy vehicles, or Mechs got that far something had really gone wrong.

"Do we have any idea where they could have jumped to?"

"Assuming a standard jump, Dunianshire." Another Magistracy world, "We believe that's where they jumped here from." One of mercantilists on the the planetary council stated. "We've received no reports of any attacks on Dunianshire though." There were Canopian industrial concerns operating on the planet, but that wasn't the only thing that came to mind.

Gene thought back to his copy of the Star League map, and of the SLDF garrison base that had still existed in 2780. Of course that assumed it hadn't been found and stripped in the intervening two hundred plus years. "They'll probably jump there, after they leave here." Gene agreed, "We have no practical way to stop them if they get off the planet." Luxen had negligible military infrastructure, and heaven forbid having surface to orbit missiles, or orbital defense infrastructure on a world that barely saw any pirate attacks never mind concerted military action.

"We will as they say, cross that bridge when we get there," Lady Raventhir remarked uncrossing her legs as she stood up. "For now our defense is focused on protecting Luxen City, and keeping the pirates at bay. If they withdraw, as you said we couldn't stop them."

The question he wanted to ask was where would they go after. The modern starmaps weren't great. The Magistracy maps were different than those published by ComStar commercially. Itzenzhoe was a jump from Dunianshire, and he'd talked with professor Abner about Interstellar Expeditions work at Skyfog, another world which didn't really show up on the commercial maps, but was charted on his SLDF map. Skyfog had only been rediscovered by IE in 3003.

His musings were cut off by Septim's squawking electronic warnings, "Heads up, I've got contacts on scope." The mercenary's hologram flickered as enemy ECM most likely started degrading his transmission signal.

It was time to go back to the fight.

--
The Vindicator was a medium mech, but the capellan design topped out speed wise the same as his Marauder... and since they had jumpjets had similar movement profiles to his across all terrain. Not that he thought it was a good idea if Lieutenant Short or any of the others actually tried using their JumpJets.

As his seventy five tonner lead the dozen mediums split into two flying columns of six mechs each, he was 'reading up' on Septim's Merlin which had gone dark after reporting contact with the enemy. Having debuted at the end of the last decade, that was in 3010, it was the first new battlemech to make to commercial market in a century. The stats on it looked eminently reasonable in terms of a multi role battlemech to do a little bit of everything, but with a little more protection than the medium weight Vindicator. It was a product of a company in the Lyran Commonwealth called Mountain Wolf BattleMechs which had built a last generation (last generation as in final years of the star league) battlemech for the SLDF. They had been responsible for the thirty five ton Nighthawk. Unfortunately the lines for that 'mech had been destroyed in 2945, some seventy years earlier. Septim's Merlin was factory fresh... he wondered if BattleMechs came with warranties as he crested the rise.

"Ah Major Shepherd I suspected you might be coming." A crisp, educated voice announced over the radio on a general hail as the light mech shifted away from the savaged heavy.

His Mech's warbook executed a handshake, "SLDF Gunslinger Mongoose," He intoned through the MMI with the warbook. He keyed the secure las com broadcoast, "Short, Laine, spread your teams out do not close distance with that thing." Not that it was the only fucking concern. There were at least two lances of Mechs in various stages of battle damage, and there were probably vehicles nearby. They had been baited into a trap coming to rescue Septim's contingent of defenders. He las commed the SLDF Mech, "You suckered him into close range and hit his mech with Inferno missiles." He commented... trying to avoid sounding impressed.

"Suckered is perhaps a little unfair." The Azami commander replied amused.

He couldn't let that mech get close, but the Mongoose had double his top speed, faster than that actually. There was no telling how many SRM 6s he'd expended either. He didn't say anything, and was interrupted by Septim getting on the radio from his mauled mech and warning him about how the mech could turn invisible.

His warbook had already warned him about the stealth system, but that went a ways to explaining the other Mech's unblemished ferro fibrous armor. The fact that no one had started shooting though set his teeth on edge... the Azami commander was over there stalling for time as much as he was. He had been a little leery that he'd been lined up for a sucker punch of his own, but there was something else going on. "Why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same question, Major. You were on Detroit as well."

The laser comm... the SLDF handshake pinging his mech... he had written that off as ComStar just using SLDF comms gear to cut through electronic chaff, to get through the static, and all the noise given the chaos. He had almost forgotten about it. The Overlord. He had confirmed with the Canopians that it was on planet. "I like hunting pirates." He replied, and hopefully before the sheik could take offense continued on, "But you could have easily punched through the MAF's defenses and burned the city, but you haven't. So what are you doing here?"

They were on a secure laser com now. His mech and the Mongoose were communicating on secured SLDF personal comms. It would have been impossible to listen in. "I would say I am looking for Providence. I know that the Dragon has sent out hunters to chase after us, but even they have been mislead, and deceived as to why we are outlaws. I take no pleasure in shedding the blood of the innocent. I will do what I must if it comes to it, even if it means my death. I have no misgivings about my chances against and SLDF Gunslinger Graduate even one two hundred years out of time."

Never mind all of that, so what was the plan then? Drop two hundred plus LRMs in the area and hoped that worked. He kept saying Major. Was that what his SLDF IFF was broadcasting? He hadn't even considered that there might be other SLDF mechs that were configured to receive or authenticate and SLDF ID exchange.

The sheik resumed speaking even though now both sides were squared up. "That is of course why I am buying time." He was on an open channel again, "You have me outnumbered, and I admit my warriors have depleted some of our ammo." But now their mechs were cool, "I suspect you will receive a message from the city even now about my troops in the city making their move, but you have only green pilots, much as Mr Alexander here did. I came here knowing my enemy."

As he predicted the City's defense command beamed them a message about the attack underway by hostile infantry. He wanted to ask again what they were after, but apparently at least one attack was trying to steal medical equipment, and supplies.

"As long as no one in the city resists, no one will be harmed." The Merlin started to move, "But we are warriors, and must do our duty." Septim's less than a decade old mech shuddered trying to get into the action.

The mongoose disappeared in a hazy shimmer. "Fall back and open fire," He roared, "Any damaged units pull back now." Not that he really suspected any of Septim's units were in a position to do that, and the Merlin was charging forward its flamer spraying forward probably hoping he got lucky and tagged his invisible foe.

Gene breathed spinning his torso to find the head of an enemy Jenner and sent a PPC bolt through the large laser equipped scout mech, while his right arm fired a blast into the torso of its lance mate that staggered it. Win the fight, and move on. The vindicators still split into two groups of six each under a butter bar, or presumably the MAF equivalent of, started burning through their LRM ammo as he had recommended during his 'briefing'... i.e. The five minutes of advice imparted during Mech start up checks.

He backpedalled the mech and started looking at seismographic and watching the grasslands underfoot. Twenty five tons of battlemech bent grass, but that wouldn't have been something that Septim would have had the foreknowledge to know or the focus for. Gene throttled his jumpjets on and up salvo-ing his medium lasers even as his computer flagged the SRM launch. The short range missiles shot under his jump jets as he catapulted forward Those missiles meant he couldn't close to melee range, not until he was sure they'd been expended. That and given he could turn invisible... or near enough he needed the range to figure out where he was and turning this into a mech scale kung fu battle seemed like a bad idea.
--
Commentary: So I would never likely run this, I haven't run a quest in ages, but in discussion with someone else we were talking about a BattleTech quest. I'm a fan of a game (PC game) called Ultimate General Civil War in part because its basically a real time grand battle spiritual successor to Civil War Generals, and besides the inventory and army unit system that is really nice more to the part of being in regard to BattleTech is the way you upgrade your General and to a lesser extent your officers, by investing points in thinks like logistics or reconnaissance.

So you earned career points that could be invested in politics, economy, medicine, training, army organization, like I said above logistics, and reconnaissance they give you bonuses. I just happened to be discussing the idea of running a merc company in a quest like format and it struck that that system that kind of feel for it with the way ultimate general would work pretty well for that.

Some time in the future:

If I were to say to you, ‘I’m a stranger travelling from the east, searching for that which is lost’
I would reply ‘I am a stranger travelling from the west, it is I that you seek’

 

[stads]

think that system could work for battlemech but it would depend where ya put the limits a merc would not need allot of politics points but an mc trying to build a small faction could use it
think a clear goal is needed for a system to work if ya import it from somewhere or ya going to be stuck with points and no real way to spend them

 

[Laxard]

RPG style manager? Isn't "invest C-Bills in the suffering area" approach makes more sense thought?

 

[Imperator Pax]

I Luxen
Part 6​

The sheik coughed blood splattering into the silk kerchief he was holding, the image flickered "I concede," He managed even though he wasn't the only one injured. He'd covered the disengagement of the last of his men who'd still been mobile, while the others who's mech had been disabled had punched out.

The cost though? For about probably three or four Azami or arkab legion veterans or whatever they were being called dead they had taken out almost twenty mechs, and a score of vehicles besides. If Septim's merlin hadn't been carrying ten plus tons of armor he wouldn't be walking at all. Never mind that all of this had been a delaying action as the Azami had bypassed them and what all was going on in the city.

Concede? He had probably won. They didn't have time to properly ascertain injuries... or how intact their mechs were. The fucking truth was that outside of what looked like mostly cosmetic damage the two SLDF gunslinger BattleMechs had survived the fight unhurt. The light Mech had sustained cockpit damage, and and leg damage from it falling over but it was mostly intact. It was more intact than any of the Vindicators if he were being honest. That was a piloting factor more than anything else, and fighting on the enemy's chosen ground.

"Short we're dividing up into convoys any mech that can move under its own power needs to go now towards friendly lines." This was the messy part. Figuring out if anyone was dead or dying, and if anything could be done. Septim's merlin was too damaged to keep up, a couple of vindicators were in the same boat, but at least some of those mechs could be taken into a fight because they were going to have to do that.

The sheik coughed again as the orders finished. Gene considered whether or not the older man was broadcasting over the radio what they were doing, but his MMI suggested no. The Mongoose's radio hadn't transmitted since he had broadcast his surrender, and withdrawal order to his band of Azami warriors.

He thought about the JumpShip behavior, not just here, but at Detroit, and from other reports. "You have dependents." It wasn't a question. With everything that had been said, and everything else that ... the pieces just kind of fell into place.

"Indeed. Our JumpShips are many," Another wet cough, sounded like he had punctured lung, but he smiled, "Thousands, as many people as travelled with Samantha Calderon to settle the Taurian homeworld as I discussed with a friend in that realm. Civilian dependents who would have been the target of the ISF if they had been left behind. I spoke before of the Dragon's betrayal, you should know of it as well Major." He wasn't particularly surprised that the ISF might use the Arkab legion troops as deniable deep raid specialists to cover for Special Forces type missions. "What we found was a grievous shame of course. The satan amaris murdered the Combine ambassador and his family," Another cough, "They were part of the Kurita Dynasty, and yet what we recovered was," A fit of wet shudders, "HPG transmissions recorded by Jerome Blake of Minoru Kurita betraying the SLDF to the Satan Amaris." More harder wracking coughs shook the older man. "Deployment data of SLDF positions, and the refusal to permit SLDF forces to move through Combine Space."

Minoru Kurita had been the Coordinator who had attempted to lay claim to the first lordship after Amaris had been toppled. His assassination had prompted his son Jinjiro to order the massacre on Kentares IV. He could easily be considered to have been the man to epitomize the problems that had ushered the succession wars if such a thing could be said to be.

The Azami goal was simplistic too. To flee into the deep periphery searching for a world that they had been told existed that had been colonized by muslims during the golden age of Terran colonization of the stars. They had apparently gone even further into the deep periphery to settle than had been the original plan... and thus had never known the Star League. They had survived as simple people but with a much uniform tech base. The man the sheik had spoken to who supposedly had come from this paradise had grown up on a world that was basically the late twentieth century in terms of technology, but with common fusion powered electricity providing clean energy and some early Terran Alliance space technology.

If such a place existed he doubted it was on his Terran Hegemony star map. The Star League had never found that lost colony or if they had it's information was recorded differently... it wasn't as if he had exhaustively searched the periphery worlds for anything quite so specific. It might have been out there, and or maybe not.
--

The Azami feint had run rings around the defenders. There was another description for it that was less charitable that some people were using. They hadn't managed to do it entirely without losses, but the Magistracy's defenders had performed poorly in the face of such elite troops... but at the same time the Azami had avoided just rampantly throwing firepower down range, which certainly would have been an option.

He had caught some of their rearguard, and as pointless as fighting them had seemed he had done what he was getting paid to do and shattered the handful of Panthers and Phoenix Hawks bringing up the rear. The magistracy would have no ground to stand on in terms of complaining about his performance... but he'd be glad when this contract was over.

He was really hoping the Draconis Combine didn't show up anytime soon. He wanted to be off world before they got here, especially as he had a nagging suspicion that they'd show and try and throw their weight around. It was just the sort of vibe he had gotten from the DC contingent at the party the night he had left Detroit.

He'd passed the relevant combat data recordings to the MRB and the MAF liaison and was waiting on a response. He probably needn't have done so. The Merlin's footage, or the Roms from the Vindicators would have sufficed, but it was done. The security lockdown was still in place. He couldn't exactly go grab some down time at the university or explore the city with the civil defense precautions 'looking for bombs,' or unexploded munitions or potential enemy remnants.

Severus 'Septim' Alexander shook his head and sipped the neon green glass of melon liquor straight, "I admit you are the best MechWarrior on the planet." This was the same Mercenary who had tried talking him out of an orbital drop at the start of this more than a week earlier. "Shit its not even a close one, there is you, and that old guy was second, and no one else is even close. I'm pretty sure most of the Azami pilots qualified at minimum as good." He added sourly.

They had been contracted to do a job. To shore up the defenses of a planet utterly unprepared to fight, and whose defenders were all greenhorns at fighting. They had known that, academically at least going into this. The on the ground reality of what that meant though... that had been the bigger shock to the system. Luxen could have absolutely been much, much worse.

Anything further ruminating on the subject was cut off as Gene was forced to put his Mai tai to the side as Doctor Abner came in having managed to talk his way through the MAF security cordon, probably with the help of the MRB personnel. Technically the scratch company was still employed, under contract, with the Magistracy for another week at minimum, but the job offer from Interstellar expeditions was something he leapt on. Even if it hadn't just been a ride along job to Skyfog it would get him off world, but there were other things to do, that needed to be done in the interim. Abner's offer was too good to pass up, with the amount of money he was offering. Interstellar Expeditions had no shortage of transport capacity surprisingly, but that didn't mean he didn't have other things to take care of.

Friar tuck had his half moon spectacles all the way down his nose looking at the tables and figures in front of him. "Well selling most of this does make sense." He remarked and reached over to pick up his own ... probably alcoholic... drink and took a long pull. "You have an existing MRB escrow account, technically you are still under contract but I can send a message to Detroit, and have the MRB extend your warehouse lease for another year or longer, and the contract will cover any salvage you intend to keep in storage." Which was nice and all, but he was selling most of the stuff he had smashed. There were exceptions, but even they were largely obvious ones. "That being said I will handle selling unwanted hardware, but Lady Raventhir has asked for a meeting."

Yeah he hadn't pulled any punches on the general unreadiness of the volunteer planetary militia or its throwing conscripts into mechs for the first time in their lives against battle hardened elite pirates... they were lucky anyone was still walking.

She was already here, and apparently in between him stopping by Friar Tuck's desk had struck up a conversation, argument with Doctor Abner about mercenary poaching. "The Luxen volunteers performed poorly in your estimation."

"Short had eighteen hours of Mech simulator time prior to climbing into a Vindicator for the first time, "And she had had the most... she had had as much time as the lower third of other MechWarriors in his detachment of Vindicators combined. "So yes." He understood... probably better now, than when he'd left Detroit just how under equipped the MAF was, but it was still ridiculous.

The madonna looking woman nodded. Raventhir's contract offering to stick around and train mercs was good pay too, not as lucrative. Good pay for being stuck here though... and he was leery of the Kuritans showing up... and the trouble that might bring. It should have been an easy choice. This was cake money though. Garrison duty and training the locals was an easy contract that he should have jumped on... and that was why he was glad that Abner was right there, and that the Lyran academic had asked before Raventhir.

He could finish out the contract he had at present with the Magistracy and then move on, because he could fall back on the verbal agreement with Abner. If the job was still open later whenever he got done working for IE then yeah, maybe that would be a thing. Maybe. "There is a lot of salvage, you're short on combat vehicles, and mechs, fix them up, and if nothing else they're something to train people on."

--
Commentary: I'm putting this up now, because either I've misplaced it or its gotten oopsed somewhere but I can't find my update for not a hero. Oh well I'll rewrite it, and just leave the smut out. No big loss. Tomorrow I will be updating HPGENFANFIC.

So anyway this basically concludes First Luxen, barring potentially some minor expansion and revisions. There are some other things I want to do going forward... though when I say going forward I'm talking about the second stop at Detroit and forward since the return trip to Luxen has been written though it could do with some expansion.

 

[kioras]

The Azami goal was simplistic too. To flee into the deep periphery searching for a world that they had been told existed that had been colonized by muslims during the golden age of Terran colonization of the stars. They had apparently gone even further into the deep periphery to settle than had been the original plan... and thus had never known the Star League. They had survived as simple people but with a much uniform tech base. The man the sheik had spoken to who supposedly had come from this paradise had grown up on a world that was basically the late twentieth century in terms of technology, but with common fusion powered electricity providing clean energy and some early Terran Alliance space technology.

Click to shrink...

They are running for the Axumite Providence.

If they get there with the tech base it might as well be a paradise for the Azami.

They have a good education, a good tech base, multiple colonies, and the ability to absorb the refugees easily. Ironically enough if they get there, bring up the tech base the Providence might become a sort of rumored beacon for Muslims who want out of the Inner Sphere.

Especially since the original Axumite refugee's come from the same cultural stock as the Azami.

Although the background on both seems quite a bit confused as if the writers couldn't make a solid decision one way or another.

 

[RoyalTwinFangs]

What did he salvage from this battle? The Mongoose seems to be the most intact but I'm thinking that the MAF will be taking that.

 

[stads]

could be interesting to see the mc give a copy of the tech he has to those planet seems like they have the ability to develop it further

 

[Laxard]

could be interesting to see the mc give a copy of the tech he has to those planet seems like they have the ability to develop it further

Click to shrink...

Only give them suspicious amount and ROM is coming for his ass.

 

[Imperator Pax]

They are running for the Axumite Providence.

If they get there with the tech base it might as well be a paradise for the Azami.

They have a good education, a good tech base, multiple colonies, and the ability to absorb the refugees easily. Ironically enough if they get there, bring up the tech base the Providence might become a sort of rumored beacon for Muslims who want out of the Inner Sphere.

Especially since the original Axumite refugee's come from the same cultural stock as the Azami.

Although the background on both seems quite a bit confused as if the writers couldn't make a solid decision one way or another.

Click to shrink...

Are they ? I thought the Auximite were Sunni moderates, not Shia not that I'm sticking to canon one hundred percent to begin with necessarily because canon is kind of contradictory at times.

Spoiler: anyway yes, spoiler

They would like to get to the Auximite Providence, or at least find it but anywhere safe and far away from the combine will suffice... we won't get to the Auximite providence as a location until actually after Aurigan civil war ends in the current draft.

What did he salvage from this battle? The Mongoose seems to be the most intact but I'm thinking that the MAF will be taking that.

Click to shrink...

He's getting the Mongoose, that JR 7A, and putting the rest to auction so he doesn't have to pay warehouse fees. He had wanted a Crab but the Azami weren't here to stand up and slug it out in a drawn out brawl.

could be interesting to see the mc give a copy of the tech he has to those planet seems like they have the ability to develop it further

Click to shrink...

We will get there

Only give them suspicious amount and ROM is coming for his ass.

Click to shrink...

Ah yes ROM they have other problems to deal with as will become more apparent once we return to Luxen.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Yeah Jolly Roger went worse here for ComStar than it did in canon, all those pirates coming out of Tortuga from Lady Death taking over? Yeah thats going to be a long running problem throughout the series.

As for Tech we will get there, but it would sure be nice if a burgeoning colony got Star League Medical Tech wouldn't it?


That being said I don't really adhere to the ROM is behind every conspiracy fanon, which is pervasive but Holy Shroud I was moderately successful, and Holy Shroud II was largely deemed a failure. ComStar ROM is moderately effective, and for things like Tripitz (Yes it is Tripitz) White Ghosts thats them, but its not like the Wolf Dragoons were there only WTF reaction in the early 31st century that contributed to Watterly's rise to power and we're not quite there yet

 

[stads]

Only give them suspicious amount and ROM is coming for his ass.

Click to shrink...

only if the mc does it direct a simply real package clean from dna and finger prints with a memory card with the info
no one needs to know it was the mc who gave it

 

[Imperator Pax]

Only give them suspicious amount and ROM is coming for his ass.

Click to shrink...

only if the mc does it direct a simply real package clean from dna and finger prints with a memory card with the info
no one needs to know it was the mc who gave it

Click to shrink...

I should have addressed this this morning... I blame lack of coffee and being at the courthouse, and what not...

ANyway, so yeah again don't adhere to the ROM is behind everything bad fanon, cause again Holy Shroud was piggybacking off Star League era we're killing your scientists (the great houses were already killing scientists, there is a reason that the Terran Hegemony was the only people who had power armor) and despite that the other houses had (like with the earlier example of Sword of Light units having DHS, and other what are typically 'Royal' tech), By 2765 the DCMS had King Crabs,a design requested by Kerensky, they had Atlas's as well. The Great Houses were already murdering each others scientists before ComStar was even a thing... and Holy Shroud was I think born out of the Hegemony using the Ministry of COmmunications to go around hunting down killing scientists to prevent them from breaking the Terran bottleneck on certain resources. However Holy Shroud kicked off at a time when all the Star League era niceties had gone out the window and was built on the ongoing open warfare.

By comparison Holy Shroud II was much less effective because by that point the Great Houses had much better protection screens around those assets. The Merlin BattleMech is not the only mech that comes out in the late third succession war, technology was already recovering by the third succession war, and new designs and production beginning.

Ok that bit out of the way.

So regarding the datacore, the Auximite Providence worlds don't have HPGs, most periphery planets don't have HPGs but ComStar has absolutely no presence there because it was founded before HPG tech was a thing IIRC and was not known to the Star League. But yeah don't go advertising 'Hey I'm going to hand out candy err memory cores.' Because its not just ROM the great houses would want to kill you, LOKI for example but MIIO or the cappies or snakes or whoever wouldn't be happy.

 

[RoyalTwinFangs]

He's getting the Mongoose, that JR 7A, and putting the rest to auction so he doesn't have to pay warehouse fees. He had wanted a Crab but the Azami weren't here to stand up and slug it out in a drawn out brawl.

Click to shrink...

So with those two mechs plus that Catapult you mention before he has enough to make a Lance now.

 

[Imperator Pax]

So with those two mechs plus that Catapult you mention before he has enough to make a Lance now.

Click to shrink...

So minor spoiler, such that I don't even consider it necessary to spoiler tag it per se,
Yes technically, we will get there.

Yes thats technically true, but II Detroit is like over a year in the future. Courts in the future are not going to be fast, which is part of it. ComStar is slow walking this so the Combine doesn't get to bitch about being disrespected. The Merc Court is taking its time for a reason, even though the Combine has literally no legal leg to stand on.

The time span of the next arc, the time frame it covers is probably my biggest hang up about it, in that it covers a lot of travel time, but the scenes for it, probably could do with some more detail, but a lot of it is 'Mercenary Archaeology' sit here and babysit people digging in the dirt.

 

[Imperator Pax]

I Interstellar Expeditions​

The bank account had been looking pretty flush with just the cash payout. Never mind putting the salvage to auction, but that would have to wait until he got back. The IE paycheck was nice, especially for a minimum of six months of work and full support. Doctor, or Professor, Abner had regaled him with lots of stories about IE's work. The Minnesota tribe was one of those stories, and as a result when the professor started blabbering on 'Chingis Khan' and Alexandria he had only been half listening, "And thus as the fact the mongols were able to conquer all twenty three cities founded by Alexander the great should be a good example... that I believe the Azami may be misunderstanding the work Interstellar Expeditions is engaged in."

"I'm sorry?" What.

"What the professor is saying," Ford remarked in Fed Suns accented English, "Is that just because they're looking for Alexandria doesn't mean its the same Alexandria that we know exists in the Canopian Ruins."

"Ah." He replied a little weakly as he nodded.

The 'Canopian Ruins' were ... in a way the old southern frontier of known human space before the downfall of the Star League. He had read about them, and while the name wasn't perfectly accurate it conveyed the loss to human expansion caused as a result of the Star League. Officially, that was before the New Vandenburg Uprising, the Magistracy of Canopus had numbered some sixty worlds, but was under the auspices of a government that at that point only recently, relatively speaking, regained its full sovereignty.

Skyfog was approximately fifty light years from Dunianshire, which was the last planet important enough to warrant public chart placement by ComStar's mapping service, at least for their general astrographics. Itzehoe defacto still apart of the Magistracy but when you got down to it, with a small population base, negligble industry it really just wasn't worth notice. They hadn't stopped at Dunianshire long enough to do anything... there had been no sign of the Azami, and no attack ongoing so they'd waited for the JumpShip to charge up, and jump them to Itzehoe, and then onward to Skyfog.

"So you've found a planet called Alexandria out there?" He asked hoping to move this long winded conversation along.

"Yes, well," The doctor harrumphed a bit, "not a planet, but rather a group which dubs itself the Alexandrian Covenant. They have lost JumpShips at some point, but we've found ruins of settlements and some records, that suggest some time in the 2700s after about century being separated we think from the large human populace a cataclysm occurred. We can't say for sure when , but we think its what caused their decline in JumpShips and set the stag for it to begin folding."

"Its not this Prester John Kingdom." Ford added in.

"Quite right, to the best of our knowledge the Covenant seems to have been established by Canopians and Taurians fleeing the Reuinfication war, and were then cut off as the Star League reached its height, and then fell."

He was left alone to consider that, while the IE academics went about there work. He really doubted that Skyfog would be attacked. The habitable moon wasn't exactly safe, and there certainly wasn't anything to steal so he was comparing his Star League Map with the 270 ly Rimward section of space of this covenant place.

The maps weren't one to one. The Central Intelligence Directorate routinely tagged along with Star League deep space exploration missions, especially after the Reunification war, but that didn't mean they were all knowing. There was no epiphany or incriminating evidence. The Alexandrian Covenant wasn't listed on his maps by that name, and their stars weren't listed as having been charted by the Star League. Hopefully this would stay a quiet cushy gig, and give him time to study... he supposed he should have known better...
--
"Salaam Alakaum."

The accent was funny, but then you know a couple centuries of linguistic drift would change the emphasis on the ends of words, even traditional hellos. God knew the the Fed Sun guys, even Ford, of Interstellar Expeditions sounded utterly ridiculous when they started talking. His English was probably weird to their ears as well. Still he made the best attempt at the response, which got a raised eyebrow as the man sat down across from in the booth. "What brings you out this way?"

"My people have been displaced from our home, and our elders recognize even if a paradise in this world does exist we are unaware of its location. It would preferable to lead them to somewhere where we can at least survive, even if it is not ruled over by the faithful long displaced from Terra. We cannot settle in the Inner Sphere, because we would be viewed with distrust and forever hunted by the Dragon's agents."

Yeah, that was probably true... especially the combine trying to hunt them down and murder them all. At the same time though it seemed like they had someone inside Interstellar Expeditions, which was probably how they had ended up at Luxen in the first place. He hated this spy shit, because the more he thought about it there were probably a bunch of people reporting back to entirely too many people.

"Ah Mr. Hassan I see you've met our resident security expert." Professor Abner shuffled over from the elevator deck making his way to the bank of ten foot tall observation windows of the building. He vigorously shook the man's hand. If he had any idea that Hassan was Azami he didn't give any indication as he talked about the man's 'credentials', and 'letters of introduction'. Ford who came in about half an hour later seemed less comfortable with Hassan's arrival... and he wondered how many shadowy backers were involved in all this back room politicking.

The alleged HPG recording came to mind. He could understand why the Combine wouldn't want it to come to light even all this time later. It would be a pretty big slap in the face, but it was juicy propaganda and he couldn't see it making any real difference in anything. Maybe, he could be wrong.

"Mr Hassan has just come from Far Home, he's part of the work to trace the route of the Minnesota tribe I was telling you about the other day." Abner continued. "The Minnesota tribe we think are descendants of one of the Royal Division who departed the Inner Sphere with General Kerensky at the end of the Star League." Operation Exodus... and oh god Abner was doing the exposition lecture thing again. "In summary, much as I hope its not a wild goose chase, the idea put forward by some of our backers is that there might be Star League deep periphery outposts and even caches far out here."

"So we're leaving Skyfog?"

"The additional Surveyor JumpShips will take time to get here." Hassan remarked. "Appropriate supplies and equipment need to be stockpiled in order to insure we are prepared."

Uh huh. Sure. It made sense. It would neatly explain away a bunch of JumpShips in the Deep Periphery suddenly showing up, but it was a paper thin excuse that he doubted would hold up if anyone started looking... but they probably wouldn't they were going to be a hundred plus light years from the Magistracy of Canopus border in a couple weeks, and further still looking for a Star League cache he wasn't even sure was real. This was probably all just an excuse to go prospecting for worlds that could be colonized away from the inner sphere hoping no one would be the wiser.

"Are you really following the Minnesota tribe?"

"My uncle was not the only one with an SLDF BattleMech, major. Come I will show you, it will make more sense when you see." For a 'peaceful' exploratory mission, and maybe it was just because the Lyrans just accepted Mercs were a part of doing business, IE had a lot of security. "The Azami fought the invaders in service to the Dragon, but there mechs were not heritage hand downs from the star league of a century earlier. They were new production Mechs, and new production equipment. As to the idea of the cache, years afterwards some of the brotherhood retraced their path through the combine worlds. There was a previously unknown SLDF cache on Richmond that had been thoroughly cleaned out, but its electronic registry suggested that it had contained substantive stocks of material. The database also contained a map, which suggested other SLDF caches on other worlds."

Some of those of course House Kurita had already taken advantage of and used up in the first and second succession wars. Presumably any caches in the Fed Suns might have been claimed as well by the hosting member state, but apparently not all. "And you happen to have this map?"

"It only covers the Draconis Combine as it existed before the fall of the Star League, but I do indeed possess a copy of it."

If the combine had any idea about any of this... then they didn't even need to hint at the existence of the HPG transmission but just claim the Azami had cracked open an SLDF cache or two and made off with the Los Tech. It would even go a long way to explaining them wanting all the salvage back on Detroit. He wondered if that was still tied up in court... and speaking of that. "Right, what about the Combine forces pursuing you?"

That the Combine, or the Cappellans for that matter, were unpopular with groups like IE wasn't any real surprise. He did understand the need to protect their merchants by not drawing attention to them, but he also recognized when he was being given an evasive answer.
--
Commentary: If you're wondering why loot Detroit?

Well Detroit was founded as a farming community, and still has a major agriculture sector. The Azami were making off with seed stocks, among other things. And yeah they're barking up the wrong tree direction wise, the Auximite Providence is Anti-Spinward, not Rimward of the Inner Sphere, but again we will get to that.

 

[Kyryst]

As long as you aren't taken to the California Nebula, you shouldn't have a problem. Like the song says, you can check out, but you can never leave.

Sad to hear about the Covenant, though. Although, considering you are reading as a legitimate Gunslinger Major, will Star League hardware accept your credentials? Be interesting to try while at Skyfog, at the scientific station.

 

[Imperator Pax]

As long as you aren't taken to the California Nebula, you shouldn't have a problem. Like the song says, you can check out, but you can never leave.

Sad to hear about the Covenant, though. Although, considering you are reading as a legitimate Gunslinger Major, will Star League hardware accept your credentials? Be interesting to try while at Skyfog, at the scientific station.

Click to shrink...

Technopathy from the CYOA comes into play.

As for the covenant, at one point canonically the Alexandrian Covenant was spread over at least a half dozen worlds before the first upheaval, and it wasn't really until the second that they completely lost JumpShip capability so there are several Alexandrian worlds out there, but at least three have been depopulated probably more. IP3 just has Phaeron as inhabited by 3095

 

[Tamarind]

As long as you aren't taken to the California Nebula, you shouldn't have a problem. Like the song says, you can check out, but you can never leave.

Sad to hear about the Covenant, though. Although, considering you are reading as a legitimate Gunslinger Major, will Star League hardware accept your credentials? Be interesting to try while at Skyfog, at the scientific station.

Click to shrink...

Also, how will Clan Mechs regard him?

A legit SLDF major as ratified by the SLDF... which is probably more than any of the Clanners have.

 

[Doomsought]

Also, how will Clan Mechs regard him?

A legit SLDF major as ratified by the SLDF... which is probably more than any of the Clanners have.

Click to shrink...

If the left SLDF credentials grandfathered in, then he would be equivalent to a Star Colonel

 

[RoyalTwinFangs]

Also, how will Clan Mechs regard him?

A legit SLDF major as ratified by the SLDF... which is probably more than any of the Clanners have.

Click to shrink...

How he became one in the first place and what made him one?

 

[Laxard]

I am a bit lost why they so buddy buddy now, considering how they fought with each ogher recently.