georgiaboy1966
Know what you're doing yet?
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Throw a Stone (BT/afterSI)
- Thread starter bluepencil
- Start date
6.1 Because We (Trash) Can
bluepencil
The tropics will be uninhabitable.
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2013
- Messages
- 721
- Likes received
- 11,552
Because We (Trash) Can 01
-.
Fort Bradley
Planet Colchester
Crucis March
November 30, 3024
"The Eridani Light Horse is dedicated to preserving the ways, traditions, and honor of the Star League Armed forces. Our lives hold no higher purpose than to remind the Inner Sphere of the power and the glory that once unified us all. Fate willing, we may again enjoy such benevolence.
"To that end, we work only with those we admire, those that manage to keep alive the old ways. The Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Sun are two such peoples.
"As we admire some, there are those we despise. Our hatred for the Draconis Combine is simple and requires little explanation. They plumbed the depths of depravity when they murdered our families to bring us to our knees. We will never grant them mercy, nor expect it."
General Nathan Armstron was speaking at the ELH Combat Training School Commencement Ceremonies in December 3024. There were only two hundred graduates, but then this was a full SLDF three-year course. Of these, only eighty were mechwarriors, with the rest being combat vehicle, and specialist infantry. House troops only had one year of basic and then another year of mechwarrior training.
"The Eridani Light Horse is under a period of re-armament, and this generation of soldiers can be considered fortunate. For the first time in centuries, the Eridani Light Horse has the capacity to reform its regiments. We have spent three hundred years with the option to rebuild the 19th Strikers Regiment lost on Terra, and never have we done so without demeaning their sacrifice.
"The only time that the 19th Strikers can reform is if it can be in service again to the Star League.
"That time is now.
"It is time to stop merely honoring the tenets of the Star League and to start working towards the day of its reformation. The Eridani Light Horse should no longer be content to be an inspiration but to act as if it may form the core of a new Star League Self Defense Forces, free of the compromises made by other commands for mercenary concerns or the cultures of the Great Houses that they have joined. We have rested on our laurels for too long, and been limited by material scarcity, trusting in our skills to carry the day even as our technology and combat strength degrades alongside the rest of the Inner Sphere from the heights we once considered the norm. Only recently have we been in a position to test and refresh our doctrine, and there is no time to waste.
"We are forming not the 19th Strikers but the 19th Cavalry Regiment. The Eridani Light Horse will have four regiments again, and a fifth regiment if necessary. We are slowly adjusting our formations to the point that, other than Assault Mechs, every bit of kit is capable of moving at tactically flexible combat speed.
"Aerospace and armored cavalry shall once more be reinforced and trained to the standards expected from the SLDF that would contest space itself, not just in support of ground assault. The Eridani Light Horse has a well-deserved reputation for tactical excellence, but no longer can we remain ignorant of the need of the realms around us. We must return to operating on the strategic layer as befits our identity as Independent Regiments. Surrendering the initiative is the first step to defeat.
"This will be a confusing time for all of us as we rearrange our formations. But this is what will make it worth the while. Our policy has always been that spending sweat in training keeps from spending blood on the battlefield. There are mechs, aerospace fights, artillery, and combat vehicles that are or shortly will be available to accommodate you new graduates.
"You are very fortunate, not because you will have new equipment, but because the doctrine we are building will be centered around you. The young and fresh are always the quickest to pick up new methods.
"The principles remain the same: Logistics. Intelligence. Speed. Surprise. Coordination. Decisive action. But the execution - it is the mastery of the fundamentals that made the SLDF far greater than the sum of its parts. It is now up to you to absorb all this knowledge and demonstrate to the Inner Sphere why peace was always the superior option."
Major Robert Green-Davion, liaison officer to the Federated Suns, raised his eyebrows. He was invited to every graduation as a matter of form, and had attended these ceremonies on a yearly basis. But what the heck was this disturbing level of ambition the Eridani Light Horse was displaying?
The arrival of six Overlord-sized dropships and the unloading of a regiment of Urbanmechs had not gone unnoticed. But they were, in the end, just Urbanmechs.
'Where do you go from salvaging so many Urbanmechs straight to 'we should be prepared to restart the Star League asap~?'' he wondered.
He glanced to each of the Colonels leading the three regiments of the Eridani Light Horse - Col. Robert Fairchild of the 151's Dark Horse, Colonel Charles Winston of the 21st Striker, and Colonel Erik Petersen of the 71st Light Horse. The men were stone-faced at their leader's proclamations, but he could see the hint of satisfaction in their eyes.
The leader of the Eridani Light Horse was a brevet general - that is, a man promoted to a rank higher than what his corps should have. They were elected to the position and could be made to resign if ever the general put mercenary considerations over Eridani traditions. This change could not be made unilaterally without the approval of the rest of the brigade.
This was an insanely ambitious plan that could not be explained even with a grudge against the Wolf's Dragoons showing them up as the best mercenary unit in the Inner Sphere. The ELH had the confidence to purchase many Heavy BattleMechs that the Federated Suns was offering to them at cost. The Eridani Light Horse cost twenty-nine million C-bills a month to maintain! Where are they getting the money for this?
Green-Davion supposed that while the Star League Dollar was no longer accepted as currency, maybe caches could have gold as a transformable asset that any modern banks could convert into C-bills.
It was a dangerous idea if the mercenaries you have hired have more funding than what you pay to keep them on retainer. If they didn't need you as much.
Why were they in such a hurry to reform their regiments back to the SLDF standard?
'Unless…' and here Green-Davion shivered in place, 'the Light Horse knew something. It was a dream of many, a fantasy… could the Star League in Self-Exile, Kerensky's children - still be out there? They abandoned the Inner Sphere when they were needed the most. What now - and why - would they ever want to return?'
It would be grossly impolitic to just ask 'Did you actually salvage all of this from a cache, or were you actually not being cheekily delusional about being resupplied by the SLDF?!'
-.
-.
Fort Bradley Training Base
Some time earlier
It would be three more years - at least by 3027, before Devlin Stone and his batch could graduate. Eridani Light Horse high command were not about to call any attention or give the boy any special treatment. Anything unusual could paint a target on the boy's back, and they owed him too much.
But that didn't mean he could get away with being unrewarded and unremarked upon.
More than three months had passed, and squad leader selections had to be done. Of course it turned out to be Stone Squad. Bennet Brooklyn tried, but in the end, even their instructors had to admit "That is one badass kid."
Devlin Stone had a practically photographic memory for regulations, had a good mind for math and tech, was a good shot, and had zero fear whatsoever.
Stone Squad of the 1st Cadet Platoon was summoned to the base commander's office.
There they met a group of MechWarriors wearing form-fitting tan military uniforms with vests seemingly made out of tubing. They each carried some oddly familiar white helmets.
Tom Lexington, the tech-obsessed one in the squad, hiccuped. "Is… that a Star League neurohelmet!" he squealed. "I mean, uh, apologies for my outburst, sir!"
Barbara Mosley grinned. "Sure as shooting," she replied. Then she nodded towards Devlin Stone. "It's not like the kid didn't come here with one of these. Turns out there was more. You can thank your squad leader, you're all going to have SLDF gear ready for you when you graduate."
"Yo," said Jack Finsrud standing behind her. Terry Lyttle waved. They did not yet have a fourth member for the lance, but they would be assigned one from the 3024 graduates.
Devlin's gaze flicked to her chest. He snapped straight and shouted "Congratulations on your promotion, Captain!"
Barbara grinned. She walked over and put her hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm not going to thank you for this. You had me spend five months trapped in a can with these assholes," she pointed to the two behind her.
She bent down and put a fist over his abdomen. "I should slug you in the gut for that, but I won't do that. Because I'm a professional."
Then she moved even closer to whisper into his ears "We found Port Stone. It was everything your father promised, and more. I should kiss you for that…" her face tilted, then she pulled back "But I won't do that. Because I'm a professional and I don't want to go to jail."
Devlin blinked. Barbara could see it in his eyes, it was like there was a mechanical rolodex in his brain whirring until the proper response cold be found.
The boy made a rakish grin, and said "Well teach a lad to get his hopes up, why don't you?"
Jack snorted at the suave little shite, but Barbara only frowned. She looked past Devlin to the rest of Stone Squad standing in line. The two girls in the squad were trying to hide suspicious and marginally hostile looks. But Devlin Stone was a mask, that people could project any number of their own idealizations onto.
Barbara said softly "Amy Rose was right. You really do need to find something genuine."
The boy flinched.
"So… did father… is he…"
"We grieve for the loss of Doctor Robotnik as if he were our family," said Barbara.
"And… my friends…?"
"They decided to stay."
Devlin Stone began blinking rapidly. He licked his lips and squinted. His mouth thinned down into an angry arch as he tried not to cry. Devlin was the type that was an ugly crier, his eyes would get irritated so easily, stinging with even the slightest bit of escaped moisture mixing whatever was in the eyelashes into the eye surface.
And he could almost hear his father singing "~Conceal don't feel. No that's wrong. Let it goo- LET IT GOO~! DON'T HOLD BACK ANY MORE! LET IT GOO…! Don't put on a show- there's no wrong move, make everyone know. Let it goo~!"
Robotnik, the Doctor Eggman, was not a man who was ever ashamed of any of his emotions.
Robotnik, the Doctor Eggman, tried to teach his son to be utterly shameless, but somehow that just seemed to backfire with the boy preferring to be extra civil in compensation instead.
"It's okay," said Barbara as she put her hand back on his shoulder and squeezed. "It's not showing weakness to care. The Light Horse is your family now."
"I'm sorry, it's just… I don't know. Is it even relevant? We all have… we have jobs to do. It's been months already. We have the future to worry about..."
"Fine. If that's how you want to deal with this - I'm moving on. We're forming a new Force Recon Batallion of Super Urbanmechs, with attached mech artillery. Captain Allwine, my previous commanding officer, is now Colonel Allwine. I'm Captain of a new mixed company. With respect to your father's contributions to the Eridani Light Horse - and we're avoiding all nepotism here so that as much as we're grateful this should not set up a precedent for bribery to get into the Light Horse - you get naming rights.
"Captain… Colonel Allwine's naming sense is kind of shit. Allwine's Attackers is kind of… eh. Raymond's Raiders sounds better. I'm partial to Barbara's … something. If it was a battalion, this would be easy, but Mosley's Marauders doesn't have a zing to it. What do you suggest?"
"... badniks." Devlin Stone took a deep breath, and then spoke more clearly. "Barbara's Badniks. That sounds right."
Barbara smirked. "And if it were you? What would you name your company?"
"When it's my turn, it's going to be Bad Egg Company. Because that's what we aim to be."
Barbara tapped his shoulders with both gloved hands. "Good luck with that."
-.
-.
New Aberdeen
Draconis March
Federated Suns
December 06, 3024
New Aberdeen was at the very border between House Kurita and House Davion. It was one jump away from the Combine planet of Misery. New Aberdeen had marginal industrial output and poor architecture. It had a surface gravity of .8g and an equatorial temperature of 35 degrees.
This hothouse of a planet however did not need any terraforming or water purification. It relied on imports of raw materials to finish with its heavy industry, but it had a middling population of 359 million for the world. Its border status did mean that it held a Class A HPG.
Barbara's Badniks in the Union DropShip SLS SOLITUDE burned to land near a large freshwater lake named The Firth and the city Firthaven. Kurita and Davion had been skirmishing on-planet for months now in a stalemate, neither having the desire nor ability to push.
The Eridani Light Horse decided to send a company composed entirely of Super Urbanmechs to the planet for only one reason - Natasha Kerensky's Black Widow Company was also stuck there on the world, for some reason willing to waste time skirmishing against Anton Stedman's Medium Company for months now instead of doing something else on another planet with her Heavy company.
Barbara Mosley wasn't sure she was a match for Kerensky, but she was of the 121st Dark Horse and she had faced the Dragoons before on Hoff.
-.
Fort Bradley
Planet Colchester
Crucis March
November 30, 3024
"The Eridani Light Horse is dedicated to preserving the ways, traditions, and honor of the Star League Armed forces. Our lives hold no higher purpose than to remind the Inner Sphere of the power and the glory that once unified us all. Fate willing, we may again enjoy such benevolence.
"To that end, we work only with those we admire, those that manage to keep alive the old ways. The Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Sun are two such peoples.
"As we admire some, there are those we despise. Our hatred for the Draconis Combine is simple and requires little explanation. They plumbed the depths of depravity when they murdered our families to bring us to our knees. We will never grant them mercy, nor expect it."
General Nathan Armstron was speaking at the ELH Combat Training School Commencement Ceremonies in December 3024. There were only two hundred graduates, but then this was a full SLDF three-year course. Of these, only eighty were mechwarriors, with the rest being combat vehicle, and specialist infantry. House troops only had one year of basic and then another year of mechwarrior training.
"The Eridani Light Horse is under a period of re-armament, and this generation of soldiers can be considered fortunate. For the first time in centuries, the Eridani Light Horse has the capacity to reform its regiments. We have spent three hundred years with the option to rebuild the 19th Strikers Regiment lost on Terra, and never have we done so without demeaning their sacrifice.
"The only time that the 19th Strikers can reform is if it can be in service again to the Star League.
"That time is now.
"It is time to stop merely honoring the tenets of the Star League and to start working towards the day of its reformation. The Eridani Light Horse should no longer be content to be an inspiration but to act as if it may form the core of a new Star League Self Defense Forces, free of the compromises made by other commands for mercenary concerns or the cultures of the Great Houses that they have joined. We have rested on our laurels for too long, and been limited by material scarcity, trusting in our skills to carry the day even as our technology and combat strength degrades alongside the rest of the Inner Sphere from the heights we once considered the norm. Only recently have we been in a position to test and refresh our doctrine, and there is no time to waste.
"We are forming not the 19th Strikers but the 19th Cavalry Regiment. The Eridani Light Horse will have four regiments again, and a fifth regiment if necessary. We are slowly adjusting our formations to the point that, other than Assault Mechs, every bit of kit is capable of moving at tactically flexible combat speed.
"Aerospace and armored cavalry shall once more be reinforced and trained to the standards expected from the SLDF that would contest space itself, not just in support of ground assault. The Eridani Light Horse has a well-deserved reputation for tactical excellence, but no longer can we remain ignorant of the need of the realms around us. We must return to operating on the strategic layer as befits our identity as Independent Regiments. Surrendering the initiative is the first step to defeat.
"This will be a confusing time for all of us as we rearrange our formations. But this is what will make it worth the while. Our policy has always been that spending sweat in training keeps from spending blood on the battlefield. There are mechs, aerospace fights, artillery, and combat vehicles that are or shortly will be available to accommodate you new graduates.
"You are very fortunate, not because you will have new equipment, but because the doctrine we are building will be centered around you. The young and fresh are always the quickest to pick up new methods.
"The principles remain the same: Logistics. Intelligence. Speed. Surprise. Coordination. Decisive action. But the execution - it is the mastery of the fundamentals that made the SLDF far greater than the sum of its parts. It is now up to you to absorb all this knowledge and demonstrate to the Inner Sphere why peace was always the superior option."
Major Robert Green-Davion, liaison officer to the Federated Suns, raised his eyebrows. He was invited to every graduation as a matter of form, and had attended these ceremonies on a yearly basis. But what the heck was this disturbing level of ambition the Eridani Light Horse was displaying?
The arrival of six Overlord-sized dropships and the unloading of a regiment of Urbanmechs had not gone unnoticed. But they were, in the end, just Urbanmechs.
'Where do you go from salvaging so many Urbanmechs straight to 'we should be prepared to restart the Star League asap~?'' he wondered.
He glanced to each of the Colonels leading the three regiments of the Eridani Light Horse - Col. Robert Fairchild of the 151's Dark Horse, Colonel Charles Winston of the 21st Striker, and Colonel Erik Petersen of the 71st Light Horse. The men were stone-faced at their leader's proclamations, but he could see the hint of satisfaction in their eyes.
The leader of the Eridani Light Horse was a brevet general - that is, a man promoted to a rank higher than what his corps should have. They were elected to the position and could be made to resign if ever the general put mercenary considerations over Eridani traditions. This change could not be made unilaterally without the approval of the rest of the brigade.
This was an insanely ambitious plan that could not be explained even with a grudge against the Wolf's Dragoons showing them up as the best mercenary unit in the Inner Sphere. The ELH had the confidence to purchase many Heavy BattleMechs that the Federated Suns was offering to them at cost. The Eridani Light Horse cost twenty-nine million C-bills a month to maintain! Where are they getting the money for this?
Green-Davion supposed that while the Star League Dollar was no longer accepted as currency, maybe caches could have gold as a transformable asset that any modern banks could convert into C-bills.
It was a dangerous idea if the mercenaries you have hired have more funding than what you pay to keep them on retainer. If they didn't need you as much.
Why were they in such a hurry to reform their regiments back to the SLDF standard?
'Unless…' and here Green-Davion shivered in place, 'the Light Horse knew something. It was a dream of many, a fantasy… could the Star League in Self-Exile, Kerensky's children - still be out there? They abandoned the Inner Sphere when they were needed the most. What now - and why - would they ever want to return?'
It would be grossly impolitic to just ask 'Did you actually salvage all of this from a cache, or were you actually not being cheekily delusional about being resupplied by the SLDF?!'
-.
-.
Fort Bradley Training Base
Some time earlier
It would be three more years - at least by 3027, before Devlin Stone and his batch could graduate. Eridani Light Horse high command were not about to call any attention or give the boy any special treatment. Anything unusual could paint a target on the boy's back, and they owed him too much.
But that didn't mean he could get away with being unrewarded and unremarked upon.
More than three months had passed, and squad leader selections had to be done. Of course it turned out to be Stone Squad. Bennet Brooklyn tried, but in the end, even their instructors had to admit "That is one badass kid."
Devlin Stone had a practically photographic memory for regulations, had a good mind for math and tech, was a good shot, and had zero fear whatsoever.
Stone Squad of the 1st Cadet Platoon was summoned to the base commander's office.
There they met a group of MechWarriors wearing form-fitting tan military uniforms with vests seemingly made out of tubing. They each carried some oddly familiar white helmets.
Tom Lexington, the tech-obsessed one in the squad, hiccuped. "Is… that a Star League neurohelmet!" he squealed. "I mean, uh, apologies for my outburst, sir!"
Barbara Mosley grinned. "Sure as shooting," she replied. Then she nodded towards Devlin Stone. "It's not like the kid didn't come here with one of these. Turns out there was more. You can thank your squad leader, you're all going to have SLDF gear ready for you when you graduate."
"Yo," said Jack Finsrud standing behind her. Terry Lyttle waved. They did not yet have a fourth member for the lance, but they would be assigned one from the 3024 graduates.
Devlin's gaze flicked to her chest. He snapped straight and shouted "Congratulations on your promotion, Captain!"
Barbara grinned. She walked over and put her hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm not going to thank you for this. You had me spend five months trapped in a can with these assholes," she pointed to the two behind her.
She bent down and put a fist over his abdomen. "I should slug you in the gut for that, but I won't do that. Because I'm a professional."
Then she moved even closer to whisper into his ears "We found Port Stone. It was everything your father promised, and more. I should kiss you for that…" her face tilted, then she pulled back "But I won't do that. Because I'm a professional and I don't want to go to jail."
Devlin blinked. Barbara could see it in his eyes, it was like there was a mechanical rolodex in his brain whirring until the proper response cold be found.
The boy made a rakish grin, and said "Well teach a lad to get his hopes up, why don't you?"
Jack snorted at the suave little shite, but Barbara only frowned. She looked past Devlin to the rest of Stone Squad standing in line. The two girls in the squad were trying to hide suspicious and marginally hostile looks. But Devlin Stone was a mask, that people could project any number of their own idealizations onto.
Barbara said softly "Amy Rose was right. You really do need to find something genuine."
The boy flinched.
"So… did father… is he…"
"We grieve for the loss of Doctor Robotnik as if he were our family," said Barbara.
"And… my friends…?"
"They decided to stay."
Devlin Stone began blinking rapidly. He licked his lips and squinted. His mouth thinned down into an angry arch as he tried not to cry. Devlin was the type that was an ugly crier, his eyes would get irritated so easily, stinging with even the slightest bit of escaped moisture mixing whatever was in the eyelashes into the eye surface.
And he could almost hear his father singing "~Conceal don't feel. No that's wrong. Let it goo- LET IT GOO~! DON'T HOLD BACK ANY MORE! LET IT GOO…! Don't put on a show- there's no wrong move, make everyone know. Let it goo~!"
Robotnik, the Doctor Eggman, was not a man who was ever ashamed of any of his emotions.
Robotnik, the Doctor Eggman, tried to teach his son to be utterly shameless, but somehow that just seemed to backfire with the boy preferring to be extra civil in compensation instead.
"It's okay," said Barbara as she put her hand back on his shoulder and squeezed. "It's not showing weakness to care. The Light Horse is your family now."
"I'm sorry, it's just… I don't know. Is it even relevant? We all have… we have jobs to do. It's been months already. We have the future to worry about..."
"Fine. If that's how you want to deal with this - I'm moving on. We're forming a new Force Recon Batallion of Super Urbanmechs, with attached mech artillery. Captain Allwine, my previous commanding officer, is now Colonel Allwine. I'm Captain of a new mixed company. With respect to your father's contributions to the Eridani Light Horse - and we're avoiding all nepotism here so that as much as we're grateful this should not set up a precedent for bribery to get into the Light Horse - you get naming rights.
"Captain… Colonel Allwine's naming sense is kind of shit. Allwine's Attackers is kind of… eh. Raymond's Raiders sounds better. I'm partial to Barbara's … something. If it was a battalion, this would be easy, but Mosley's Marauders doesn't have a zing to it. What do you suggest?"
"... badniks." Devlin Stone took a deep breath, and then spoke more clearly. "Barbara's Badniks. That sounds right."
Barbara smirked. "And if it were you? What would you name your company?"
"When it's my turn, it's going to be Bad Egg Company. Because that's what we aim to be."
Barbara tapped his shoulders with both gloved hands. "Good luck with that."
-.
-.
New Aberdeen
Draconis March
Federated Suns
December 06, 3024
New Aberdeen was at the very border between House Kurita and House Davion. It was one jump away from the Combine planet of Misery. New Aberdeen had marginal industrial output and poor architecture. It had a surface gravity of .8g and an equatorial temperature of 35 degrees.
This hothouse of a planet however did not need any terraforming or water purification. It relied on imports of raw materials to finish with its heavy industry, but it had a middling population of 359 million for the world. Its border status did mean that it held a Class A HPG.
Barbara's Badniks in the Union DropShip SLS SOLITUDE burned to land near a large freshwater lake named The Firth and the city Firthaven. Kurita and Davion had been skirmishing on-planet for months now in a stalemate, neither having the desire nor ability to push.
The Eridani Light Horse decided to send a company composed entirely of Super Urbanmechs to the planet for only one reason - Natasha Kerensky's Black Widow Company was also stuck there on the world, for some reason willing to waste time skirmishing against Anton Stedman's Medium Company for months now instead of doing something else on another planet with her Heavy company.
Barbara Mosley wasn't sure she was a match for Kerensky, but she was of the 121st Dark Horse and she had faced the Dragoons before on Hoff.
6.2 Because We (Trash) Can
bluepencil
The tropics will be uninhabitable.
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2013
- Messages
- 721
- Likes received
- 11,552
Because We (Trash) Can 02
-.
New Avalon
Crucis March
Federated Suns
05 January 3025
When First Prince Hanse Davion was informed that ELH Brevet General Nathan Armstrong was looking for another face-to-face he was tickled enough to arrange for a command circuit. This was a pre-positioned series of JumpShips that would jump as soon as the favored DropShip could transfer from one JumpShip to the other. Potentially this could reduce travel times from several months into a matter of one week.
Given the relatively short distance between Colchester and New Avalon, this was not a hardship for JumpShip captains. There were always plenty of ships heading towards New Avalon.
Nathan Armstrong had additional requests for their meeting. First, that there would be tri-vid unit available - which was fine. Second, that Ardan Sortek would also be there. That one, Hanse Davion granted for his own amusement. He just knew that Ardan was there just for his reactions as a very traditional mechwarrior. Hanse countered by asking if it would be fine to have Quintus Allard attend as well.
Much to his pleasure, Armstrong agreed immediately to the promise of subtle interrogation.
-.
Which led to their present situation, all three of the some of most important men in the Federated Suns waiting in a veranda for the leader of a three-regiment mercenary unit; Hanse mused as much with a mischievous smile.
"Apparently four or five regiments now," said Quintus Allard.
"They have to be faking it somehow," groused Ardan Sortek. "No one gets two regiments of anything all of a sudden like that. Even if they're Urbanmechs. Specially if they're Urbanmechs."
"Royal Urbanmechs, apparently," added Quintus. "NAIS looked them through. They are pristine Star League make. The fact that they have given us practical examples of Extra-Light Engines, Double-Heat Sinks, and Extended Range PPCs should buy them goodwill. Except that it doesn't. I share Ardan's suspicions. This is much too good to be true, and there is a catch to this somewhere."
He turned towards Hanse. "The Eridani Light Horse moving to the Federated Suns to support the Draconis March was a good thing when they were on a logistical dead-end. But a mercenary unit that has been rebuilt on its employer's largesse can just decide to move. The 12th Star Guards were also a SLDF-born unit. With five regiments they are one of the largest mercenary commands.
"They moved to the Federated Suns back in 3012 to improve their finances. Then just this year they decided not to renew their contract and go off to the Lyran Commonwealth instead. Even supposed and old and honorable mercenary commands can't be relied upon not to chase the money or their own interests."
Hanse shrugged. "To be fair, it's not like it was a bad deal. I know Katrina" the Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth "wanted a replacement for the Eridani Light Horse on the Kurita border." He and the rest of the Federated Suns were always willing to spend as long as it brought hurt into House Kurita.
Given the general ineptitude of Steiner command, compensated for only by depth of resources and a dedicated NCO corps, they needed a similar force that can respond with independent initiative operating on regimental scale. The 12th Star Guards were five regiments to the Eridani Light Horse's three regiments.
"Mercenaries," Ardan sniffed. "You can trust them the least when they're going on about their honor."
"The Eridani Light Horse are becoming too dangerous to interact with without leverage," added Quintus.
"Trying to absorb the Light Horse with some sort of company store policy or reducing their command rights is the kind of thing that would make them resentful and give them a reason to leave, you know," said Hanse. "It's not like they can just leave. If they really follow their traditions - then where else can they go? They just burned their bridges with Steiner high command. Not able to sign up with Liao and Kurita, of course. They have bad memories with Marik, and after what House Marik did for Wolf's Dragoons, they're not all that reliable as employers either. Anyone that dresses up like they are still the SLDF won't be welcome anywhere in the Periphery.
"No, I think we're all hitched together for what it's worth. You still haven't figured out their Wandering Horse intel service, haven't you? You know they gave us good intel on OPERATION DOPPELGANGER when they didn't have to. My own senechal, ready to have me replaced! Losing that future asset can't help your own operations either."
Quintus Allard tightened his lips and stared back at the First Prince. "That couldn't have gotten as far without Michael. This is as much a Hasek-Davion plot as it is a Liao one. How the Eridani Light Horse knew anything about it in the first place… all right, I admit it. I don't see any plausible way they could have intersected into this situation. Even if they were complicit in it, it's unlikely."
Hanse grinned. "So you agree we should play nicely with the Eridani Light Horse."
Quintus nodded slowly. "At least until we can know more."
An aide came in and whispered something to Quintus. The head of Ministry of Information, Intelligence, and Operations (MIIO), glanced up in surprise.
"Something wrong?" Hanse asked.
"Armstrong is here and he may have brought something troublesome," said Quintus. "If you will excuse me?" At Hanse's assent, he stood up to deal with the new situation.
Shortly thereafter, the attendants announced Nathan Armstrong's arrival.
-.
The general carried with him a metal briefcase, which made Hanse quirk an eyebrow with curiosity. Obviously the contents would have been scanned most thoroughly. No one should risk bringing a bomb into the presence of the First Prince of the Federated Suns.
Quintus Allard had a flat expression as he accompanied the general and directed him to his seat.
"Welcome back to New Avalon!" Hanse greeted with open arms. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Nathan! You've been busy, eh? I think you pulled a fast one on me."
"In what way, my lord?"
"Your crew were only away for five months. If you were taking anything, that puts those goods well inside my Federated Suns space, eh?"
"That would be true if, first - that we salvaged a cache somewhere. And second - if DropShips could not transfer to another JumpShip anywhere along the way," Nathan Armstrong replied calmly. "We left with two DropShips, we returned with nine. Surely your observers would have informed you about this."
"Fair enough. Fair enough." Hanse grinned. "So, did you get a resupply from the SLDF? Is the Star League still alive out there somewhere?"
Quintus Allard gave Hanse Davion a look that said 'I seriously cannot believe you are just saying that.'
Armstrong's eyes squinted in a smile that didn't move the lips. "I can neither confirm nor deny in any way, I hope you understand."
Something much like jilted hope passed across Ardan Sortek's expression. As a mechwarrior, as much as he knew it would be an unrealistic fantasy, in his heart - in many hearts - there was still a child that longed for the glory of the Star League and its armies of battlemechs fighting not for the sake of territorial conquest but for peace and justice. Fighting and dying to retake Terra from the usurper, and then leaving the Inner Sphere to fester in their own malice even as the House Lords carved up the remains of the Terran Hegemony that brought the stars to mankind. The last worthy war by the last true men and women of honor.
Leaving aside the Unification War to bring to hell the Periphery and all the atrocities committed by the SLDF there, of course.
Hanse waved aside. "Moving on then. What have you got there? Any more interesting souvenirs?"
"Before we continue, could you indulge me this for a while, my Lord Hanse Davion? If that is your real name~," said Armstrong with a dramatic lilt at the end of his words. "It is now already thirty twenty-five. Please forgive if I cause offense. Can you answer me, these questions three?"
Hanse Davion beamed. Ardan groaned and palmed his face.
Quintus remained stony-faced, but someone knew that Hanse had a penchant for drama and this was both dangerous and annoying.
Hanse leaned back on his chair and replied "Ask your questions, general. I am not afraid."
"First, do you feel like you should be in jail?"
Hanse blinked. "... no?"
"Second, are you a man of culture?"
"I suppose I am, yes. It's a prerequisite for the job."
Armstrong began chuckling and muttered under his breath 'oh my god robotnik why' then looked up. "Last, then. Are you happy that what you would be doing in thirty-twenty eight is barely legal?"
Hanse Davion's eyes showed confusion, then a sudden glimmer of realization, then blazed in raw fury, which almost as quickly tamped down into a cool measuring calculation. He put a hand under his chin and nodded. "I suppose not. Thirty-twenty eight, huh. You know that's when Melissa Steiner turns eighteen. I know about the age difference, I knew my enemies would be using that against the FedCom alliance, but I wasn't expecting to be insulted and called a pedophile this early."
Ardan Sortek snapped out of his chair. "YOU DARE?!" he roared.
"There is no way you could have known about that secret provision in the Fed Com Accords," spoke Quintus Allard.
Ardan turned aside and bewilderedly asked "What are you saying? This is… Hanse and Melissa?" He could understand more Hanse Davion and Katrina Steiner, though given that Hanse was in his thirties and Katrina was in her fifties - though universally it was agreed that Katrina didn't look any older - there was a 20-year age difference either way. Nondi Steiner, Katrina's sister, was 44.
Ardan Sortrek scowled. If the whole point was to have a viable heir for the united realms, then… only Melissa Steiner's direct bloodline would do. There would be nothing more than eyebrow-raising in three more years. Arranged marriages were the norm for nobility. In a way, in exchange for their authority and luxury this lack of freedom to marry for love instead of mutual interests was the obligation of the aristocracy. Something this big could only be sealed by blood.
But in 3025, the girl was all of fifteen.
What did she think about this?
God! But how he hated politics!
He sat back down.
Armstrong put his fist to his chest and bowed in apology. Hanse Davion was a ruler that could control his emotions and would not brood over an insult. Granted, he could still seek revenge for this injury to his noble dignity, but that would just have him be like a Maximilian Liao or a Morgan Hasek-Davion. This was yet another test, and one that he passed.
This was not the behavior of a mere brigade commander to their employer. What the hell.
Armstrong tilted his head slightly towards Quintus Allard. "Should you be verifying my suspicions that easily, as far as being the head of an intelligence agency goes?"
"Obvious lying is pointless where your plan is to obtain accurate information," replied Quintus. "Garbage in, garbage out." It was pointless since Hanse gave the game away already anyway.
Armstrong nodded. "But of course for security reasons I can't tell you all about Wandering Horse as much as you can't reveal the sources for MIIO. We will share important information because the Eridani Light Horse is incentivized to make the Federated Commonwealth stand for more than just a generation as the best hope for lasting peace in the Inner Sphere.
"And to that end, Prince Davion -"
Armstrong opened the briefcase and turned it around. There was no shining light from within, but there might as well be. Hanse Davion's eyebrows raised near to his hairline, Ardan Sortek gasped, and Quintus Allard who had allowed him to bring this along exhaled softly in consternation. This complicated things. The ELH was as dangerous as they were a valuable ally.
Three Star League Memory Cores, shining and chrome.
Armstrong smiled thinly. He then took out a holovid tape and inserted it into the 3-vid player on the table. "Prince Davion, I have bad news, good news, and the worst news. Which would you like to hear first?"
-.
They spent a few silent moments to digest the unreality of this.
Hanse Davion laced his fingers together under his chin. "Hit me with the worst news first."
Armstrong nodded and continued "When Katrina Steiner went off to the Periphery, she returned with a sample of Black Boxes, first-generation Star League FTL communication devices that could transmit to each other within a hundred light years. This technology was done under Project TRANSIENT and was delivered to the SLDF's Rim Worlds commanders during the Reunification War. It was at least much better than jumpship relays."
The holo showed a black box, which itself was compact and looked like miscellaneous computer server hardware. "Limited to only small amounts of data, around two hundred kilobytes each time, the project was terminated in 2614 as the much more practical Hyperpulse Generator was developed and came online in 2630.
"But it was not enough just to discontinue a less efficient method. SLDF Communications Command ordered Black Boxes to be recalled and dismantled. The Eridani Light Horse knows why. You intend to use Black Boxes to continue military communications in the inevitable HPG blackout by Comstar. The Light Horse formally suggests that you don't rely on them."
The holo showed a star map with waves radiating out from each star, and then interfering with each other much like ripples on still waters.
"Black Box signals propagate, unlike HPG point to point transmissions. The Star League realized that Black Box - or K-series transmitters - create ripples and waves through their limited hyperspace frequencies and these disruptions can persist. Hyperspace becomes clouded, and messages will over time become redirected, garbled, or de-encrypted, requiring stronger signal modulations, which adds to the problem. The secret will inevitable out, and other Houses would copy the technology, and no one will exercise any restraint.
"The Star League never were able to resolve this problem. Overuse of the K-transmitters can lead to the whole system being unusable and it can take up to a century for these ripples to dissipate. And without communications, interstellar civilization grinds to an almost-halt as the Inner Sphere will only be able to rely on pony express JumpShip messenger services."
"So we really have no choice but to use HPGs? But Comstar neutrality… is not," said Quintus. "Unless you are going to tell us how to make HPGs, this is not useful data. How many years can we spend before the Black Box signals begin to compromise hyperspace?"
Armstrong shook his head slowly. "No, that is not the worst news. The worst news is that the Terran Hegemony built-in a killswitch into every HPG ever built. A signal might be sent into hyperspace that would cause HPG cores to slag themselves. Even replacement cores would not last. There is no way to track the origin of the blackout signal, because you will note that it has similarity to the Black Box propagating signal. This Clarion Note Protocol… is an option for Comstar.
"This is why Comstar should be co-opted, instead of pushed into suicide. If they would be destroyed then they might just take interstellar civilization down with them."
Hanse Davion sucked in air through grit teeth then exhaled in a whistle. "Well you certainly don't pull your punches. That's the worst news I could have heard. I can hope you're just lying about this, but… it's bad enough that it has to be true."
Quintus Allard scowled. So much of the AFFS operations relied upon being able to pass information through the inevitable Comstar blackout. The Eridani Light Horse telling them this was a disruption, calling all their objectives into question, and was the next best thing to sabotage. But at the same time, it was as helpful as it was harmful. "So? Do you have a solution?" he asked.
"Not right now, no," replied Armstrong. "That is why it is the worst news. The silver lining is that the first time you use it on a wide scale, it should be fine. Trying to improve the transmitter for more range, more information density, and more propagation speed just worsens the effect."
Hanse Davion sighed. "All right. I could use some good news."
"Might I go bad news then good news?" Armstrong asked instead. He gestured to the memory cores. "I promise that we have an escalating level of good news and bad news for each."
Hanse, being tickled at his love for drama, grinned weakly. "All right. What's the damage?"
Armstrong said "First, Prince Davion, the Eridani Light Horse have a series of… not quite demands, but not quite requests either. They are mutually beneficial, but non-negotiable."
Quintus Allard narrowed his gaze, but just giving SLDF Memory Cores without negotiating payment was almost deranged levels of generosity. Though it all depended upon the information present in those cores.
The Eridani Light Horse better have something to make this aggravation worth it.
--
-------------------------------
an:
I'm not sure if it's bad trying to be 'clever' again with alternating perspectives in an arc.
-.
New Avalon
Crucis March
Federated Suns
05 January 3025
When First Prince Hanse Davion was informed that ELH Brevet General Nathan Armstrong was looking for another face-to-face he was tickled enough to arrange for a command circuit. This was a pre-positioned series of JumpShips that would jump as soon as the favored DropShip could transfer from one JumpShip to the other. Potentially this could reduce travel times from several months into a matter of one week.
Given the relatively short distance between Colchester and New Avalon, this was not a hardship for JumpShip captains. There were always plenty of ships heading towards New Avalon.
Nathan Armstrong had additional requests for their meeting. First, that there would be tri-vid unit available - which was fine. Second, that Ardan Sortek would also be there. That one, Hanse Davion granted for his own amusement. He just knew that Ardan was there just for his reactions as a very traditional mechwarrior. Hanse countered by asking if it would be fine to have Quintus Allard attend as well.
Much to his pleasure, Armstrong agreed immediately to the promise of subtle interrogation.
-.
Which led to their present situation, all three of the some of most important men in the Federated Suns waiting in a veranda for the leader of a three-regiment mercenary unit; Hanse mused as much with a mischievous smile.
"Apparently four or five regiments now," said Quintus Allard.
"They have to be faking it somehow," groused Ardan Sortek. "No one gets two regiments of anything all of a sudden like that. Even if they're Urbanmechs. Specially if they're Urbanmechs."
"Royal Urbanmechs, apparently," added Quintus. "NAIS looked them through. They are pristine Star League make. The fact that they have given us practical examples of Extra-Light Engines, Double-Heat Sinks, and Extended Range PPCs should buy them goodwill. Except that it doesn't. I share Ardan's suspicions. This is much too good to be true, and there is a catch to this somewhere."
He turned towards Hanse. "The Eridani Light Horse moving to the Federated Suns to support the Draconis March was a good thing when they were on a logistical dead-end. But a mercenary unit that has been rebuilt on its employer's largesse can just decide to move. The 12th Star Guards were also a SLDF-born unit. With five regiments they are one of the largest mercenary commands.
"They moved to the Federated Suns back in 3012 to improve their finances. Then just this year they decided not to renew their contract and go off to the Lyran Commonwealth instead. Even supposed and old and honorable mercenary commands can't be relied upon not to chase the money or their own interests."
Hanse shrugged. "To be fair, it's not like it was a bad deal. I know Katrina" the Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth "wanted a replacement for the Eridani Light Horse on the Kurita border." He and the rest of the Federated Suns were always willing to spend as long as it brought hurt into House Kurita.
Given the general ineptitude of Steiner command, compensated for only by depth of resources and a dedicated NCO corps, they needed a similar force that can respond with independent initiative operating on regimental scale. The 12th Star Guards were five regiments to the Eridani Light Horse's three regiments.
"Mercenaries," Ardan sniffed. "You can trust them the least when they're going on about their honor."
"The Eridani Light Horse are becoming too dangerous to interact with without leverage," added Quintus.
"Trying to absorb the Light Horse with some sort of company store policy or reducing their command rights is the kind of thing that would make them resentful and give them a reason to leave, you know," said Hanse. "It's not like they can just leave. If they really follow their traditions - then where else can they go? They just burned their bridges with Steiner high command. Not able to sign up with Liao and Kurita, of course. They have bad memories with Marik, and after what House Marik did for Wolf's Dragoons, they're not all that reliable as employers either. Anyone that dresses up like they are still the SLDF won't be welcome anywhere in the Periphery.
"No, I think we're all hitched together for what it's worth. You still haven't figured out their Wandering Horse intel service, haven't you? You know they gave us good intel on OPERATION DOPPELGANGER when they didn't have to. My own senechal, ready to have me replaced! Losing that future asset can't help your own operations either."
Quintus Allard tightened his lips and stared back at the First Prince. "That couldn't have gotten as far without Michael. This is as much a Hasek-Davion plot as it is a Liao one. How the Eridani Light Horse knew anything about it in the first place… all right, I admit it. I don't see any plausible way they could have intersected into this situation. Even if they were complicit in it, it's unlikely."
Hanse grinned. "So you agree we should play nicely with the Eridani Light Horse."
Quintus nodded slowly. "At least until we can know more."
An aide came in and whispered something to Quintus. The head of Ministry of Information, Intelligence, and Operations (MIIO), glanced up in surprise.
"Something wrong?" Hanse asked.
"Armstrong is here and he may have brought something troublesome," said Quintus. "If you will excuse me?" At Hanse's assent, he stood up to deal with the new situation.
Shortly thereafter, the attendants announced Nathan Armstrong's arrival.
-.
The general carried with him a metal briefcase, which made Hanse quirk an eyebrow with curiosity. Obviously the contents would have been scanned most thoroughly. No one should risk bringing a bomb into the presence of the First Prince of the Federated Suns.
Quintus Allard had a flat expression as he accompanied the general and directed him to his seat.
"Welcome back to New Avalon!" Hanse greeted with open arms. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Nathan! You've been busy, eh? I think you pulled a fast one on me."
"In what way, my lord?"
"Your crew were only away for five months. If you were taking anything, that puts those goods well inside my Federated Suns space, eh?"
"That would be true if, first - that we salvaged a cache somewhere. And second - if DropShips could not transfer to another JumpShip anywhere along the way," Nathan Armstrong replied calmly. "We left with two DropShips, we returned with nine. Surely your observers would have informed you about this."
"Fair enough. Fair enough." Hanse grinned. "So, did you get a resupply from the SLDF? Is the Star League still alive out there somewhere?"
Quintus Allard gave Hanse Davion a look that said 'I seriously cannot believe you are just saying that.'
Armstrong's eyes squinted in a smile that didn't move the lips. "I can neither confirm nor deny in any way, I hope you understand."
Something much like jilted hope passed across Ardan Sortek's expression. As a mechwarrior, as much as he knew it would be an unrealistic fantasy, in his heart - in many hearts - there was still a child that longed for the glory of the Star League and its armies of battlemechs fighting not for the sake of territorial conquest but for peace and justice. Fighting and dying to retake Terra from the usurper, and then leaving the Inner Sphere to fester in their own malice even as the House Lords carved up the remains of the Terran Hegemony that brought the stars to mankind. The last worthy war by the last true men and women of honor.
Leaving aside the Unification War to bring to hell the Periphery and all the atrocities committed by the SLDF there, of course.
Hanse waved aside. "Moving on then. What have you got there? Any more interesting souvenirs?"
"Before we continue, could you indulge me this for a while, my Lord Hanse Davion? If that is your real name~," said Armstrong with a dramatic lilt at the end of his words. "It is now already thirty twenty-five. Please forgive if I cause offense. Can you answer me, these questions three?"
Hanse Davion beamed. Ardan groaned and palmed his face.
Quintus remained stony-faced, but someone knew that Hanse had a penchant for drama and this was both dangerous and annoying.
Hanse leaned back on his chair and replied "Ask your questions, general. I am not afraid."
"First, do you feel like you should be in jail?"
Hanse blinked. "... no?"
"Second, are you a man of culture?"
"I suppose I am, yes. It's a prerequisite for the job."
Armstrong began chuckling and muttered under his breath 'oh my god robotnik why' then looked up. "Last, then. Are you happy that what you would be doing in thirty-twenty eight is barely legal?"
Hanse Davion's eyes showed confusion, then a sudden glimmer of realization, then blazed in raw fury, which almost as quickly tamped down into a cool measuring calculation. He put a hand under his chin and nodded. "I suppose not. Thirty-twenty eight, huh. You know that's when Melissa Steiner turns eighteen. I know about the age difference, I knew my enemies would be using that against the FedCom alliance, but I wasn't expecting to be insulted and called a pedophile this early."
Ardan Sortek snapped out of his chair. "YOU DARE?!" he roared.
"There is no way you could have known about that secret provision in the Fed Com Accords," spoke Quintus Allard.
Ardan turned aside and bewilderedly asked "What are you saying? This is… Hanse and Melissa?" He could understand more Hanse Davion and Katrina Steiner, though given that Hanse was in his thirties and Katrina was in her fifties - though universally it was agreed that Katrina didn't look any older - there was a 20-year age difference either way. Nondi Steiner, Katrina's sister, was 44.
Ardan Sortrek scowled. If the whole point was to have a viable heir for the united realms, then… only Melissa Steiner's direct bloodline would do. There would be nothing more than eyebrow-raising in three more years. Arranged marriages were the norm for nobility. In a way, in exchange for their authority and luxury this lack of freedom to marry for love instead of mutual interests was the obligation of the aristocracy. Something this big could only be sealed by blood.
But in 3025, the girl was all of fifteen.
What did she think about this?
God! But how he hated politics!
He sat back down.
Armstrong put his fist to his chest and bowed in apology. Hanse Davion was a ruler that could control his emotions and would not brood over an insult. Granted, he could still seek revenge for this injury to his noble dignity, but that would just have him be like a Maximilian Liao or a Morgan Hasek-Davion. This was yet another test, and one that he passed.
This was not the behavior of a mere brigade commander to their employer. What the hell.
Armstrong tilted his head slightly towards Quintus Allard. "Should you be verifying my suspicions that easily, as far as being the head of an intelligence agency goes?"
"Obvious lying is pointless where your plan is to obtain accurate information," replied Quintus. "Garbage in, garbage out." It was pointless since Hanse gave the game away already anyway.
Armstrong nodded. "But of course for security reasons I can't tell you all about Wandering Horse as much as you can't reveal the sources for MIIO. We will share important information because the Eridani Light Horse is incentivized to make the Federated Commonwealth stand for more than just a generation as the best hope for lasting peace in the Inner Sphere.
"And to that end, Prince Davion -"
Armstrong opened the briefcase and turned it around. There was no shining light from within, but there might as well be. Hanse Davion's eyebrows raised near to his hairline, Ardan Sortek gasped, and Quintus Allard who had allowed him to bring this along exhaled softly in consternation. This complicated things. The ELH was as dangerous as they were a valuable ally.
Three Star League Memory Cores, shining and chrome.
Armstrong smiled thinly. He then took out a holovid tape and inserted it into the 3-vid player on the table. "Prince Davion, I have bad news, good news, and the worst news. Which would you like to hear first?"
-.
They spent a few silent moments to digest the unreality of this.
Hanse Davion laced his fingers together under his chin. "Hit me with the worst news first."
Armstrong nodded and continued "When Katrina Steiner went off to the Periphery, she returned with a sample of Black Boxes, first-generation Star League FTL communication devices that could transmit to each other within a hundred light years. This technology was done under Project TRANSIENT and was delivered to the SLDF's Rim Worlds commanders during the Reunification War. It was at least much better than jumpship relays."
The holo showed a black box, which itself was compact and looked like miscellaneous computer server hardware. "Limited to only small amounts of data, around two hundred kilobytes each time, the project was terminated in 2614 as the much more practical Hyperpulse Generator was developed and came online in 2630.
"But it was not enough just to discontinue a less efficient method. SLDF Communications Command ordered Black Boxes to be recalled and dismantled. The Eridani Light Horse knows why. You intend to use Black Boxes to continue military communications in the inevitable HPG blackout by Comstar. The Light Horse formally suggests that you don't rely on them."
The holo showed a star map with waves radiating out from each star, and then interfering with each other much like ripples on still waters.
"Black Box signals propagate, unlike HPG point to point transmissions. The Star League realized that Black Box - or K-series transmitters - create ripples and waves through their limited hyperspace frequencies and these disruptions can persist. Hyperspace becomes clouded, and messages will over time become redirected, garbled, or de-encrypted, requiring stronger signal modulations, which adds to the problem. The secret will inevitable out, and other Houses would copy the technology, and no one will exercise any restraint.
"The Star League never were able to resolve this problem. Overuse of the K-transmitters can lead to the whole system being unusable and it can take up to a century for these ripples to dissipate. And without communications, interstellar civilization grinds to an almost-halt as the Inner Sphere will only be able to rely on pony express JumpShip messenger services."
"So we really have no choice but to use HPGs? But Comstar neutrality… is not," said Quintus. "Unless you are going to tell us how to make HPGs, this is not useful data. How many years can we spend before the Black Box signals begin to compromise hyperspace?"
Armstrong shook his head slowly. "No, that is not the worst news. The worst news is that the Terran Hegemony built-in a killswitch into every HPG ever built. A signal might be sent into hyperspace that would cause HPG cores to slag themselves. Even replacement cores would not last. There is no way to track the origin of the blackout signal, because you will note that it has similarity to the Black Box propagating signal. This Clarion Note Protocol… is an option for Comstar.
"This is why Comstar should be co-opted, instead of pushed into suicide. If they would be destroyed then they might just take interstellar civilization down with them."
Hanse Davion sucked in air through grit teeth then exhaled in a whistle. "Well you certainly don't pull your punches. That's the worst news I could have heard. I can hope you're just lying about this, but… it's bad enough that it has to be true."
Quintus Allard scowled. So much of the AFFS operations relied upon being able to pass information through the inevitable Comstar blackout. The Eridani Light Horse telling them this was a disruption, calling all their objectives into question, and was the next best thing to sabotage. But at the same time, it was as helpful as it was harmful. "So? Do you have a solution?" he asked.
"Not right now, no," replied Armstrong. "That is why it is the worst news. The silver lining is that the first time you use it on a wide scale, it should be fine. Trying to improve the transmitter for more range, more information density, and more propagation speed just worsens the effect."
Hanse Davion sighed. "All right. I could use some good news."
"Might I go bad news then good news?" Armstrong asked instead. He gestured to the memory cores. "I promise that we have an escalating level of good news and bad news for each."
Hanse, being tickled at his love for drama, grinned weakly. "All right. What's the damage?"
Armstrong said "First, Prince Davion, the Eridani Light Horse have a series of… not quite demands, but not quite requests either. They are mutually beneficial, but non-negotiable."
Quintus Allard narrowed his gaze, but just giving SLDF Memory Cores without negotiating payment was almost deranged levels of generosity. Though it all depended upon the information present in those cores.
The Eridani Light Horse better have something to make this aggravation worth it.
--
-------------------------------
an:
I'm not sure if it's bad trying to be 'clever' again with alternating perspectives in an arc.
Last edited:
georgiaboy1966
Know what you're doing yet?
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2019
- Messages
- 200
- Likes received
- 1,014
This information reviel that Robotnic had Armstrong do, I feel was not well thought out.
Yes it is clever.
Yes the information needed to be given to Hanse and the Davion.
Yes, the reward asked for is worth the price.
But, the mode, seems to be too confrontational and could have led to much bad blood.
As for the Transmitters causing problems.
The K-series are likened to AM transmitters and the whole radio/wireless transmission devices.
Early AM transmitters had a very similar issue. Message overlap, too few open channels, (I think it was only 18 usable frequencies in USA, Europe and Africa combined.)
As transmitter research got further along. the frequency had to change.
one outtake overcame the problems immediately and almost killed the other research.
The result of the research was FM radio.
High Power, Point to point, very good data transmission,
But short-ranged and line-of-sight only.
Longer ranged radio research continued, and results were favorable.
frequencies had to shift to shorter wave lengths, (Higher frequencies)
resulting in modern day Am radio, HD and digital signals and Short-wave radio.
The result to overcome the early signal repeat propagation and signal overlaps leading to frequency overlad was overcome in several ways.
Yes it is clever.
Yes the information needed to be given to Hanse and the Davion.
Yes, the reward asked for is worth the price.
But, the mode, seems to be too confrontational and could have led to much bad blood.
As for the Transmitters causing problems.
The K-series are likened to AM transmitters and the whole radio/wireless transmission devices.
Early AM transmitters had a very similar issue. Message overlap, too few open channels, (I think it was only 18 usable frequencies in USA, Europe and Africa combined.)
As transmitter research got further along. the frequency had to change.
one outtake overcame the problems immediately and almost killed the other research.
The result of the research was FM radio.
High Power, Point to point, very good data transmission,
But short-ranged and line-of-sight only.
Longer ranged radio research continued, and results were favorable.
frequencies had to shift to shorter wave lengths, (Higher frequencies)
resulting in modern day Am radio, HD and digital signals and Short-wave radio.
The result to overcome the early signal repeat propagation and signal overlaps leading to frequency overlad was overcome in several ways.
Praetorian13
Know what you're doing yet?
- Joined
- May 15, 2020
- Messages
- 149
- Likes received
- 1,678
Well that is a bucket of ice water down the back of all those listening. It makes a frightening amount of sense as well, because the Terran Hegemony did this all the time with everything they could. I honestly like it far more then what little we know about it from the Dark age stuff. Delvin Stone blaming it on the a Word of Blake deep cover cell with no evidence. yeah right.
6.3 Because We (Trash) Can
bluepencil
The tropics will be uninhabitable.
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Because We (Trash) Can 03
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General Armstrong started: "The first proposition is that you help the Eridani Light Horse acquire or set up a heavy industry company. Much as Wolf's Dragoons have their Blackwell Industries, the Eridani Light Horse need a RobotniC Systems to manufacture and give priority to non-House troop concerns. This company will focus on supplying mercenary commands so that they don't fall into company store policies or find themselves in debt from advanced technologies that they can't maintain due to House manufacturers prioritizing resupply for House troops engaged in combat.
"The Eridani Light Horse doesn't have… any experience in business. However, even as RobotniC would start off constructed and staffed by Davion personnel, it would be a privately owned business controlled entirely by the ELH's civilian services that outside interests can't interfere with. Obviously we accept Davion eyes will be observing all new tech and production, but just try to be subtle about it."
"Sure, that sounds reasonable enough," replied Hanse. "But of course you can't expect this to be done for free. What's in it for the Federated Suns?"
The holo showed a rotating image of the Super Royal Urbanmech, which then disassembled into component parts.
"You know of the specs of the Super Royal Urbanmech. No one expects an Urbanmech to go eighty-six kph. You know from Hoff and the Super Hornet and Super Griffin how much double-heat sinks help even if you don't change the warload."
Armstrong took out the leftmost Memory Core. "But no more fumbling around. Here is everything necessary to create the Super Urbanmech and all its components. Extra Light Engines. Double Heatsinks. Ferro-Fibrous armor. Endo Steel construction. Extended Range PPCs and Lasers. Pulse Lasers. Guardian ECM. Beagle Active Probe. LB-X Autocannons. Variable Range Battle Computers. Star League cooling suits and neurohelmets. Everything that makes a Royal BattleMech a Royal - it just happens to come in the form of an Urbanmech.
"For now we just want to produce Sensors and Tracking Systems, Ferro Fibrous Armor and Double Heatsinks. No matter how many factories you make or retool, another redundant source will always be useful. Whether or not you can protect the rest of this technology from theft by other Houses is not our problem."
Ardan Sortek pointed at Nathan Armstrong. "You- this is Star League lostech, and you understand how to make it?! This changes everything!"
Hanse nodded. "I must say this actually is being very generous of the Light Horse. We would be happy to cooperate with this. Where do you want the company to be listed and its factory built? Colchester?"
"New Avalon. Why move away from the workforce and resource base, after all?" Armstrong raised palms up in a shrug. "We have always considered it a major weakness how so many critical factories are spread out and make outlying planets strategic targets instead of concentrating the defense."
"That is because most of these factories date back to the days of the Star League and earlier, and how to make them is also lostech," said Quintus Allard. "Even when we understand manufacturing from first principles, those factories are too large to remove and losing them would cripple the planetary economy."
"Lostech no longer," replied Armstrong. He shrugged. "Well at least as long as it's in the shape of an Urbanmech."
Hanse hummed. "I was going to ask… why Urbanmech? Then I realized that Urbanmechs aren't really considered a threat, aren't they? A new Mech factory for Urbanmechs isn't going to sound like an offensive build-up."
"Urbanmechs ought be good at urban combat and free up other forces for more mobile wars somewhere else," Ardan commented. "It's ironic that the standard Urbanmech with the AC/10 isn't really all that good at it. With only a single ton of ammo and a Small Laser for backup weapon, reputation has it that once engaged an Urbanmech is only good for around two minutes of combat - either the enemy gets destroyed, it gets destroyed, or it becomes almost useless. Whoever decided just to put a PPC on an Urbanmech instead is a genius."
"I considered putting a PPC on an Urbanmech," Hanse acted as if pouting. "It's only good that we know now the Suburbanmech concept works."
"Being able to go assault mech speeds still means it has an underpowered engine. It looks to me here - like it is possible to make a Super Urbanmech without lostech. Same 150-rated engine as we use for the Valkyrie." Ardan pointed at the holo.
"Eridani Light Horse are willing to license the design if you want to cover for the appearance of Super Royal Urbanmechs in the Draconis Front. The only difference is e-war suites and double heat sinks to handle the heat load."
Hanse slapped his palm down on the table. "Accepted! This is a done deal, what else have you got?"
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"The Eridani Light Horse wants a world inside Davion space ceded to the SLDF in perpetuity. It would be a black site, no one goes in, only out. The SLDF reserves the right to detain or treat trespassers with lethal force, no matter their origin."
Hanse threw his head back and laughed. "That's some escalation in demands!"
"My lord, this would set up a terrible precedent if allowed-" hurriedly said Quintus.
"Whatever you're offering, it has to be big," the First Prince of the Federated Suns continued, and while his entire being radiated amusement, his eyes were cold.
"To mitigate your concerns, we don't need a settled world. We would prefer for our purposes an abandoned or dead world. It would be where the Night Horse would conduct our research. Not even NAIS is safe enough. We would still share the results, of course. RobotniC would be the public source for new technologies, the black site for… other things.
"Once the Federated Commonwealth is an established fact, we may as well request a second world somewhere in the back end of Lyran space as a backup site."
Quintus Allard frowned. Given how even NAIS could be infiltrated by House Liao via skullduggery by Morgan Hasek-Davion, this made some sense. However, giving up worlds was still not something a Great House should do so easily. Even when giving worlds to mercenaries as their homeworlds under employ, there was no abrogation of ultimate authority over the world and its populace and resources.
A dead world could still be awarded to a hardworking retainer freshly ennobled at some point.
"The price for that still needs to be big," said Hanse. "Centuries from now, who knows if that ceded territory would be a good thing at all. What can compensate for that?"
Armstrong nodded and the holo changed into a star map of the Federated Suns. Then some stars grew brighter and most of the field grew dimmer. "The Federated Suns has been described as islands of some overdeveloped worlds in a sea of mediocre and poverty-stricken worlds. The AFFS has some of the most highly-trained and and well-supplied soldiers in the Inner Sphere, but this comes at the cost of leaving little for the economic development of worlds far from the combat regions. But with how the Draconis Combine is an existential threat to the Federated Suns itself, it's understandable that you can't afford to dial down instead.
The holo switched to a single world. First dry and lifeless, then bombarded with ice asteroids until it had water, and then slowly going green.
"This is not part of the price we pay for that world. This is DATABASE DEMETER, the complete library of the Terran Hegemony's terraforming technology. All those Jamerson-Ulikov Water Purifiers that many worlds relied upon, and their breakdown meant that worlds had to be abandoned? No longer lostech. Here is everything you need to make the components to repair and maintain them. Here is everything you need on the biosciences needed to introduce Terran flora and fauna into alien worlds. Here is everything you need to filter toxic and tainted atmosphere and fight bioplagues.
"We have sent copies of this Memory Core to Katrina Steiner. The name of the Eridani Light Horse might be irritating to their generals, but our centuries of service still carries weight to the Archons.
"Soon enough we will announce the ELH Life Core to Comstar. I'm sure they would try to subtly sabotage or discredit it. But Comstar's public face is benevolence, most of their people are true believers that they do good apolitical work, and as the neutral providers of communication technology throughout the Inner Sphere and protectors of technology, they can't afford NOT to distribute the Core."
Quintus held his breath.
Hanse frowned minutely. If this would help everybody, then it would also help House Davion's enemies. This would hurt the Federated Sun as much as it would make things easier.
"While that's good, I don't see how that's worth us giving up a planet to you in particular. Charity to the entire Inner Sphere shouldn't require compensation. Unless you're trying to angle this as some sort of publicity for the Federated Suns?"
The holo zoomed closer to the planet. A space station came into view, and moored within cages were multiple what looked to be Scout-class JumpShips.
Spheroid DropShips, presumably Unions, were approaching the planet.
From docking ports on the station, Leopard CVs undocked. The view followed them as they intercepted the invaders.
However, as they closed, only half the Leopard CVs released fighters. The other half began blasting at the enemy Unions from extreme range with Capital Lasers. Hull sections of the Unions began to crack open, like so much boiled eggs.
Armstrong continued "This is what we offer the Federated Suns as an advantage:
"Your economy and strategic speed suffers from lack of JumpShip capacity, like all of the Inner Sphere. This is the SLDF Expeditionary Scout II JumpShip - effectively a Scout with extendable pod grav decks and two DropShip Collars. The complete plans not just to build a JumpShip from scratch, but the shipyards to craft them.
"Your initiative suffers from the need to keep substantial on-planet defenses that you can't truly push against the enemy. Nobody in the Inner Sphere has any real Navy. Landings are rarely able to be contested in space. Here is the technology for Sub-Capital Lasers and Sub-Capital PPCs and what Capital Naval Weapons were developed from. You may have finally the capacity to build Pocket WarShips to have a true Navy capable of defeating enemy raids in space.
"Pirates would be less of a problem. Pirates can risk losing Mechs, but never their DropShips. A Pocket WarShip built on an otherwise mediocre Leopard hull can secure a world in a way a company of troops or mechs can't. I brought with me on the DropShip I arrived with, two Sub-Capital Lasers for you to use as a material sample.
"This is what we will be building on the blacksite. A secret shipyard and Sub-Capital Weapon manufactory. Where we're getting all the germanium for that? That is not something we will strain Davion Supply lines with, please do not worry about it. Build as many of your own new cost-efficient JumpShips as you can. Upgrade old Leopards repossessed from bankrupt mercenaries into as many Pocket Warships as you can."
Armstrong picked up the second Memory Core and placed it on the table.
"This is what we offer House Davion for its magnanimity. Unfuck your economy before considering any grand strategic deep battle offensives, Hanse Davion."
Hanse Davion whistled. He blinked several times, owlishly, as if barely able to believe it. No one does things like this. No one. This was vastly overpaying for one world.
Ardan Sortek whispered slowly "… are you actually the SLDF?"
"We have always been," said Armstrong.
No one knew how to reply to that.
This technically had always been the ELH's claim. It was just that for over three centuries they had just looked... delusional.
"What do you think?" Hanse asked Quintus. "Is it fair… horse trading?"
Quintus closed his eyes and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. He exhaled. "No, Hanse. No it's not. Giving up a dukedom on an established world would be a fair price for this. One dead world that we're supposed to cover up and find a reason to deny access as a recharge point for civilian JumpShips? If they really intend on building shipyards and Capital weapons down there, that allows enough time to build up before other Houses scrabble to keep up with the escalation. Other agencies will only be able to see us building second-line mechs and JumpShips - hardly a threat."
Hanse looked back towards Nathan Armstrong. "This sounds almost too good to be true. I'm going to have to trust that you're not just going to stab us in the back. Anything that can build JumpShips and DropShips in Davion space out of sight… one world could bombard multiple worlds, you know?"
"The ELH Navy will remain under the same terms as the Eridani Light Horse RCT," replied Armstrong. "Technically a SLDF RCT always had its own naval assets, which included warship escort. What we lack most right now is liquid funding and an established supply line. In honesty, if we had a world in Davion space we would be less inclined to leave. Originally the Eridani Light Horse were peacekeepers in Kuritan space, you know? A place where we can support defense against Combine aggression would be ideal."
"Right. Fine. Is there any particular world do you want? Even if it somehow has a Castle Brian we just all missed…" Hanse hummed as the star map on the holo.
"Of course you may scan as much as you want to make sure the world doesn't have anything particularly valuable that the AFFS would need to carry off. Don't spend more than three months on it though," replied Armstrong.
The general pointed to a star near Colchester, directly to the right on the starmap. "This one seems ideal for our purposes. The abandoned world Declan II."
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Declan Star System
Star Type (Recharging Time): G3V (134 hours)
Planet type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 11,700km
Position in system: 2 (.700 AU)
Time to Jump Point: 8.35
Year length: 1.2 Terran years
Day length: 23.0 hours
Surface Gravity: 0.97g
Atmosphere: Breathable
Atmosphere Pressure: Standard
Atmospheric Composition: Nitrogen and Oxygen, plus trace gases
Equatorial temperature: 35 degrees C
Surface Water: 29%
Highest Native Life: Birds
Landmasses (Capital City): Hugill (New Hindolveston), Jupe
Population: 0
Socio-Industrial Level: Regressed: Pre-industrial world
HPG Class Type: none
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After considering the data and how it was only three jump aways from Colchester, Hanse nodded. "It's a pity that you want this to be a black site. Bringing back a dead world would also be good for your own independent economy, you know?"
"You would have two worlds," noted Quintus. "Publicly Colchester and in secret Declan II. If income for the expansion of your regiments is your problem then you really ought to start investing into Colchester as well."
"General Armstrong…" Ardan Sortek said suddenly but firmly. His fists were clenched.
"Yes, Colonel Sortek?"
"When is the Star League planning to return?"
Armstrong reply was just as firm. "The Star League isn't returning. It must be established by common consent by the powers of the Inner Sphere."
Once again, a long uncomfortable silence draped across the room as the ELH general calmly failed to explain any further.
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"You know, I'm really enjoying these meetings," Hanse Davion said with a wide grin. He pointed towards the last remaining Memory Core. "Go ahead then. Shock me. I'm ready!"
"When the Second Star League is established-" and here suddenly Ardan Sortek let out a strangled noise at Armstrong's choice of words "... the ELH requires from the Federated Commonwealth, if not its constituent powers of at least House Davion and House Steiner, to support our nomination for First Lord even above what they might consider their own interests at the time. That they must trust that this is not intended to harm either powers but instead will help strengthen everyone involved."
He stared at Hanse. "Hanse Davion… you would make for a perfectly adequate First Lord. As I have been told 'Davion-wank is acceptable as long as everyone else happens to be pants-on head evil or incompetent'. However, the Star League and the Terran Hegemony went extinct because of ONE First Lord's incompetence despite their centuries of institutional compentence. That sort of gross mistake can never be allowed to happen again. If the Second Star League falls, it would create a Long Night from which humanity might not be able to wake again.
"The Federated Commonwealth is the earliest stress test for the establishment of the Second Star League. If you can make it last more than two generations, it can be an example to bring in House Marik as the economic bounties would be worth more than war, and House Liao would accept externally imposed peace from the Star League as it would freeze their borders and get them to ease off the stress of defense."
"What about House Kurita?" asked Hanse.
"Luthien delenda est."
Hanse grinned. "Fair enough."
The ELH not being so robotically objective about things was comforting.
Armstrong sighed. "More than anything, all the Eridani Light Horse ask for is not heroic leadership. Just competent ones. Less war-mongering ones. For a long enough time to become tradition. We recognize the necessity of war to secure political goals, but the Succession Wars to succeed a throne that no longer exists is a waste of lives.
"As a wise man said to me: 'Astropolitics does not need to be a zero-sum game.' We have given you the tools to expand outwards, not into each other. Together you are strong; apart, you will shatter upon enemies from beyond the Rim."
Ardan Sortek looked up sharply. "Is there- is that the reason why you're acting so openly now? Is there something out there that needs the Star League united again just to fight back?"
"I can neither confirm nor deny at this point."
Ardan made a low sustained growl of frustration.
Hanse laughed. "All right! But giving up potentially my or my descendant's claim to being the First Lord is something I can't just let go. Centuries of my people have also died and bled for the claim. Maybe John Davion was greedy. But right now… would it be so bad? If you were looking for competent leadership, then I think the Federated Suns have proven enough we're capable of ruling large realms. Why wouldn't the leader of the Federated Commonwealth be the natural choice, unless you're working the Concord of Kapetyn into some sort of counter-balance for a voting block? Are you thinking the First Lord should just be a figurehead tiebreaker?
"We as rulers have our own responsibilities to shoulder the dreams and expectations of our people. I don't think there's anything big enough to compensate for how insulted this would make our people feel, like it's saying all those centuries of suffering mean nothing."
The holo shifted to a large truck with a dish on top.
Armstrong spoke "This is the Star League Mobile HPG. Fifty tons. Transportable. And the plans on how to build these compact HPGs to destroy the Comstar monopoly. Let human space expand as far as it can, as much as it can. This is the knowledge that would invite nukes or naval bombardment, but it is yours if you can ensure you and your descendants will fulfill the contract.
Hanse threw his hands up to the air and cursed "Fuck! Well that would do it then!"
"These are the three things that create a golden age: Peace. Transportation. Communications. It can be here inside your lifetime if you were just able to abandon the zero-sum game." Armstrong turned aside to shut off the holo display. As the movement tugged back on his left sleeve they noticed that he was wearing a large but simple golden bangle around his left wrist. Almost like an oversized gold ring.
"What would Comstar become if this ever becomes open knowledge? Didn't you just warn earlier about the Clarion protocol?" Quintus spoke up.
"The Eridani Light Horse would prefer it if Comstar ceases being a phone company and just starts being the Terran Hegemony again. They would be up to much less bullshit if they did."
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General Armstrong started: "The first proposition is that you help the Eridani Light Horse acquire or set up a heavy industry company. Much as Wolf's Dragoons have their Blackwell Industries, the Eridani Light Horse need a RobotniC Systems to manufacture and give priority to non-House troop concerns. This company will focus on supplying mercenary commands so that they don't fall into company store policies or find themselves in debt from advanced technologies that they can't maintain due to House manufacturers prioritizing resupply for House troops engaged in combat.
"The Eridani Light Horse doesn't have… any experience in business. However, even as RobotniC would start off constructed and staffed by Davion personnel, it would be a privately owned business controlled entirely by the ELH's civilian services that outside interests can't interfere with. Obviously we accept Davion eyes will be observing all new tech and production, but just try to be subtle about it."
"Sure, that sounds reasonable enough," replied Hanse. "But of course you can't expect this to be done for free. What's in it for the Federated Suns?"
The holo showed a rotating image of the Super Royal Urbanmech, which then disassembled into component parts.
"You know of the specs of the Super Royal Urbanmech. No one expects an Urbanmech to go eighty-six kph. You know from Hoff and the Super Hornet and Super Griffin how much double-heat sinks help even if you don't change the warload."
Armstrong took out the leftmost Memory Core. "But no more fumbling around. Here is everything necessary to create the Super Urbanmech and all its components. Extra Light Engines. Double Heatsinks. Ferro-Fibrous armor. Endo Steel construction. Extended Range PPCs and Lasers. Pulse Lasers. Guardian ECM. Beagle Active Probe. LB-X Autocannons. Variable Range Battle Computers. Star League cooling suits and neurohelmets. Everything that makes a Royal BattleMech a Royal - it just happens to come in the form of an Urbanmech.
"For now we just want to produce Sensors and Tracking Systems, Ferro Fibrous Armor and Double Heatsinks. No matter how many factories you make or retool, another redundant source will always be useful. Whether or not you can protect the rest of this technology from theft by other Houses is not our problem."
Ardan Sortek pointed at Nathan Armstrong. "You- this is Star League lostech, and you understand how to make it?! This changes everything!"
Hanse nodded. "I must say this actually is being very generous of the Light Horse. We would be happy to cooperate with this. Where do you want the company to be listed and its factory built? Colchester?"
"New Avalon. Why move away from the workforce and resource base, after all?" Armstrong raised palms up in a shrug. "We have always considered it a major weakness how so many critical factories are spread out and make outlying planets strategic targets instead of concentrating the defense."
"That is because most of these factories date back to the days of the Star League and earlier, and how to make them is also lostech," said Quintus Allard. "Even when we understand manufacturing from first principles, those factories are too large to remove and losing them would cripple the planetary economy."
"Lostech no longer," replied Armstrong. He shrugged. "Well at least as long as it's in the shape of an Urbanmech."
Hanse hummed. "I was going to ask… why Urbanmech? Then I realized that Urbanmechs aren't really considered a threat, aren't they? A new Mech factory for Urbanmechs isn't going to sound like an offensive build-up."
"Urbanmechs ought be good at urban combat and free up other forces for more mobile wars somewhere else," Ardan commented. "It's ironic that the standard Urbanmech with the AC/10 isn't really all that good at it. With only a single ton of ammo and a Small Laser for backup weapon, reputation has it that once engaged an Urbanmech is only good for around two minutes of combat - either the enemy gets destroyed, it gets destroyed, or it becomes almost useless. Whoever decided just to put a PPC on an Urbanmech instead is a genius."
"I considered putting a PPC on an Urbanmech," Hanse acted as if pouting. "It's only good that we know now the Suburbanmech concept works."
"Being able to go assault mech speeds still means it has an underpowered engine. It looks to me here - like it is possible to make a Super Urbanmech without lostech. Same 150-rated engine as we use for the Valkyrie." Ardan pointed at the holo.
"Eridani Light Horse are willing to license the design if you want to cover for the appearance of Super Royal Urbanmechs in the Draconis Front. The only difference is e-war suites and double heat sinks to handle the heat load."
Hanse slapped his palm down on the table. "Accepted! This is a done deal, what else have you got?"
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"The Eridani Light Horse wants a world inside Davion space ceded to the SLDF in perpetuity. It would be a black site, no one goes in, only out. The SLDF reserves the right to detain or treat trespassers with lethal force, no matter their origin."
Hanse threw his head back and laughed. "That's some escalation in demands!"
"My lord, this would set up a terrible precedent if allowed-" hurriedly said Quintus.
"Whatever you're offering, it has to be big," the First Prince of the Federated Suns continued, and while his entire being radiated amusement, his eyes were cold.
"To mitigate your concerns, we don't need a settled world. We would prefer for our purposes an abandoned or dead world. It would be where the Night Horse would conduct our research. Not even NAIS is safe enough. We would still share the results, of course. RobotniC would be the public source for new technologies, the black site for… other things.
"Once the Federated Commonwealth is an established fact, we may as well request a second world somewhere in the back end of Lyran space as a backup site."
Quintus Allard frowned. Given how even NAIS could be infiltrated by House Liao via skullduggery by Morgan Hasek-Davion, this made some sense. However, giving up worlds was still not something a Great House should do so easily. Even when giving worlds to mercenaries as their homeworlds under employ, there was no abrogation of ultimate authority over the world and its populace and resources.
A dead world could still be awarded to a hardworking retainer freshly ennobled at some point.
"The price for that still needs to be big," said Hanse. "Centuries from now, who knows if that ceded territory would be a good thing at all. What can compensate for that?"
Armstrong nodded and the holo changed into a star map of the Federated Suns. Then some stars grew brighter and most of the field grew dimmer. "The Federated Suns has been described as islands of some overdeveloped worlds in a sea of mediocre and poverty-stricken worlds. The AFFS has some of the most highly-trained and and well-supplied soldiers in the Inner Sphere, but this comes at the cost of leaving little for the economic development of worlds far from the combat regions. But with how the Draconis Combine is an existential threat to the Federated Suns itself, it's understandable that you can't afford to dial down instead.
The holo switched to a single world. First dry and lifeless, then bombarded with ice asteroids until it had water, and then slowly going green.
"This is not part of the price we pay for that world. This is DATABASE DEMETER, the complete library of the Terran Hegemony's terraforming technology. All those Jamerson-Ulikov Water Purifiers that many worlds relied upon, and their breakdown meant that worlds had to be abandoned? No longer lostech. Here is everything you need to make the components to repair and maintain them. Here is everything you need on the biosciences needed to introduce Terran flora and fauna into alien worlds. Here is everything you need to filter toxic and tainted atmosphere and fight bioplagues.
"We have sent copies of this Memory Core to Katrina Steiner. The name of the Eridani Light Horse might be irritating to their generals, but our centuries of service still carries weight to the Archons.
"Soon enough we will announce the ELH Life Core to Comstar. I'm sure they would try to subtly sabotage or discredit it. But Comstar's public face is benevolence, most of their people are true believers that they do good apolitical work, and as the neutral providers of communication technology throughout the Inner Sphere and protectors of technology, they can't afford NOT to distribute the Core."
Quintus held his breath.
Hanse frowned minutely. If this would help everybody, then it would also help House Davion's enemies. This would hurt the Federated Sun as much as it would make things easier.
"While that's good, I don't see how that's worth us giving up a planet to you in particular. Charity to the entire Inner Sphere shouldn't require compensation. Unless you're trying to angle this as some sort of publicity for the Federated Suns?"
The holo zoomed closer to the planet. A space station came into view, and moored within cages were multiple what looked to be Scout-class JumpShips.
Spheroid DropShips, presumably Unions, were approaching the planet.
From docking ports on the station, Leopard CVs undocked. The view followed them as they intercepted the invaders.
However, as they closed, only half the Leopard CVs released fighters. The other half began blasting at the enemy Unions from extreme range with Capital Lasers. Hull sections of the Unions began to crack open, like so much boiled eggs.
Armstrong continued "This is what we offer the Federated Suns as an advantage:
"Your economy and strategic speed suffers from lack of JumpShip capacity, like all of the Inner Sphere. This is the SLDF Expeditionary Scout II JumpShip - effectively a Scout with extendable pod grav decks and two DropShip Collars. The complete plans not just to build a JumpShip from scratch, but the shipyards to craft them.
"Your initiative suffers from the need to keep substantial on-planet defenses that you can't truly push against the enemy. Nobody in the Inner Sphere has any real Navy. Landings are rarely able to be contested in space. Here is the technology for Sub-Capital Lasers and Sub-Capital PPCs and what Capital Naval Weapons were developed from. You may have finally the capacity to build Pocket WarShips to have a true Navy capable of defeating enemy raids in space.
"Pirates would be less of a problem. Pirates can risk losing Mechs, but never their DropShips. A Pocket WarShip built on an otherwise mediocre Leopard hull can secure a world in a way a company of troops or mechs can't. I brought with me on the DropShip I arrived with, two Sub-Capital Lasers for you to use as a material sample.
"This is what we will be building on the blacksite. A secret shipyard and Sub-Capital Weapon manufactory. Where we're getting all the germanium for that? That is not something we will strain Davion Supply lines with, please do not worry about it. Build as many of your own new cost-efficient JumpShips as you can. Upgrade old Leopards repossessed from bankrupt mercenaries into as many Pocket Warships as you can."
Armstrong picked up the second Memory Core and placed it on the table.
"This is what we offer House Davion for its magnanimity. Unfuck your economy before considering any grand strategic deep battle offensives, Hanse Davion."
Hanse Davion whistled. He blinked several times, owlishly, as if barely able to believe it. No one does things like this. No one. This was vastly overpaying for one world.
Ardan Sortek whispered slowly "… are you actually the SLDF?"
"We have always been," said Armstrong.
No one knew how to reply to that.
This technically had always been the ELH's claim. It was just that for over three centuries they had just looked... delusional.
"What do you think?" Hanse asked Quintus. "Is it fair… horse trading?"
Quintus closed his eyes and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. He exhaled. "No, Hanse. No it's not. Giving up a dukedom on an established world would be a fair price for this. One dead world that we're supposed to cover up and find a reason to deny access as a recharge point for civilian JumpShips? If they really intend on building shipyards and Capital weapons down there, that allows enough time to build up before other Houses scrabble to keep up with the escalation. Other agencies will only be able to see us building second-line mechs and JumpShips - hardly a threat."
Hanse looked back towards Nathan Armstrong. "This sounds almost too good to be true. I'm going to have to trust that you're not just going to stab us in the back. Anything that can build JumpShips and DropShips in Davion space out of sight… one world could bombard multiple worlds, you know?"
"The ELH Navy will remain under the same terms as the Eridani Light Horse RCT," replied Armstrong. "Technically a SLDF RCT always had its own naval assets, which included warship escort. What we lack most right now is liquid funding and an established supply line. In honesty, if we had a world in Davion space we would be less inclined to leave. Originally the Eridani Light Horse were peacekeepers in Kuritan space, you know? A place where we can support defense against Combine aggression would be ideal."
"Right. Fine. Is there any particular world do you want? Even if it somehow has a Castle Brian we just all missed…" Hanse hummed as the star map on the holo.
"Of course you may scan as much as you want to make sure the world doesn't have anything particularly valuable that the AFFS would need to carry off. Don't spend more than three months on it though," replied Armstrong.
The general pointed to a star near Colchester, directly to the right on the starmap. "This one seems ideal for our purposes. The abandoned world Declan II."
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Declan Star System
Star Type (Recharging Time): G3V (134 hours)
Planet type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 11,700km
Position in system: 2 (.700 AU)
Time to Jump Point: 8.35
Year length: 1.2 Terran years
Day length: 23.0 hours
Surface Gravity: 0.97g
Atmosphere: Breathable
Atmosphere Pressure: Standard
Atmospheric Composition: Nitrogen and Oxygen, plus trace gases
Equatorial temperature: 35 degrees C
Surface Water: 29%
Highest Native Life: Birds
Landmasses (Capital City): Hugill (New Hindolveston), Jupe
Population: 0
Socio-Industrial Level: Regressed: Pre-industrial world
HPG Class Type: none
.,
.,
After considering the data and how it was only three jump aways from Colchester, Hanse nodded. "It's a pity that you want this to be a black site. Bringing back a dead world would also be good for your own independent economy, you know?"
"You would have two worlds," noted Quintus. "Publicly Colchester and in secret Declan II. If income for the expansion of your regiments is your problem then you really ought to start investing into Colchester as well."
"General Armstrong…" Ardan Sortek said suddenly but firmly. His fists were clenched.
"Yes, Colonel Sortek?"
"When is the Star League planning to return?"
Armstrong reply was just as firm. "The Star League isn't returning. It must be established by common consent by the powers of the Inner Sphere."
Once again, a long uncomfortable silence draped across the room as the ELH general calmly failed to explain any further.
-.
-.
"You know, I'm really enjoying these meetings," Hanse Davion said with a wide grin. He pointed towards the last remaining Memory Core. "Go ahead then. Shock me. I'm ready!"
"When the Second Star League is established-" and here suddenly Ardan Sortek let out a strangled noise at Armstrong's choice of words "... the ELH requires from the Federated Commonwealth, if not its constituent powers of at least House Davion and House Steiner, to support our nomination for First Lord even above what they might consider their own interests at the time. That they must trust that this is not intended to harm either powers but instead will help strengthen everyone involved."
He stared at Hanse. "Hanse Davion… you would make for a perfectly adequate First Lord. As I have been told 'Davion-wank is acceptable as long as everyone else happens to be pants-on head evil or incompetent'. However, the Star League and the Terran Hegemony went extinct because of ONE First Lord's incompetence despite their centuries of institutional compentence. That sort of gross mistake can never be allowed to happen again. If the Second Star League falls, it would create a Long Night from which humanity might not be able to wake again.
"The Federated Commonwealth is the earliest stress test for the establishment of the Second Star League. If you can make it last more than two generations, it can be an example to bring in House Marik as the economic bounties would be worth more than war, and House Liao would accept externally imposed peace from the Star League as it would freeze their borders and get them to ease off the stress of defense."
"What about House Kurita?" asked Hanse.
"Luthien delenda est."
Hanse grinned. "Fair enough."
The ELH not being so robotically objective about things was comforting.
Armstrong sighed. "More than anything, all the Eridani Light Horse ask for is not heroic leadership. Just competent ones. Less war-mongering ones. For a long enough time to become tradition. We recognize the necessity of war to secure political goals, but the Succession Wars to succeed a throne that no longer exists is a waste of lives.
"As a wise man said to me: 'Astropolitics does not need to be a zero-sum game.' We have given you the tools to expand outwards, not into each other. Together you are strong; apart, you will shatter upon enemies from beyond the Rim."
Ardan Sortek looked up sharply. "Is there- is that the reason why you're acting so openly now? Is there something out there that needs the Star League united again just to fight back?"
"I can neither confirm nor deny at this point."
Ardan made a low sustained growl of frustration.
Hanse laughed. "All right! But giving up potentially my or my descendant's claim to being the First Lord is something I can't just let go. Centuries of my people have also died and bled for the claim. Maybe John Davion was greedy. But right now… would it be so bad? If you were looking for competent leadership, then I think the Federated Suns have proven enough we're capable of ruling large realms. Why wouldn't the leader of the Federated Commonwealth be the natural choice, unless you're working the Concord of Kapetyn into some sort of counter-balance for a voting block? Are you thinking the First Lord should just be a figurehead tiebreaker?
"We as rulers have our own responsibilities to shoulder the dreams and expectations of our people. I don't think there's anything big enough to compensate for how insulted this would make our people feel, like it's saying all those centuries of suffering mean nothing."
The holo shifted to a large truck with a dish on top.
Armstrong spoke "This is the Star League Mobile HPG. Fifty tons. Transportable. And the plans on how to build these compact HPGs to destroy the Comstar monopoly. Let human space expand as far as it can, as much as it can. This is the knowledge that would invite nukes or naval bombardment, but it is yours if you can ensure you and your descendants will fulfill the contract.
Hanse threw his hands up to the air and cursed "Fuck! Well that would do it then!"
"These are the three things that create a golden age: Peace. Transportation. Communications. It can be here inside your lifetime if you were just able to abandon the zero-sum game." Armstrong turned aside to shut off the holo display. As the movement tugged back on his left sleeve they noticed that he was wearing a large but simple golden bangle around his left wrist. Almost like an oversized gold ring.
"What would Comstar become if this ever becomes open knowledge? Didn't you just warn earlier about the Clarion protocol?" Quintus spoke up.
"The Eridani Light Horse would prefer it if Comstar ceases being a phone company and just starts being the Terran Hegemony again. They would be up to much less bullshit if they did."
-.
Last edited:
Praetorian13
Know what you're doing yet?
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Declan. De-clan. Oh the jokes and memes in the future.
6.4 Because We (Trash) Can
bluepencil
The tropics will be uninhabitable.
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Because We (Trash) Can 04
Living on a border world was a hit or miss affair. Apart from the literal hit or miss of being shot at and your homes and workplaces shot up in raids, border worlds tended to have the attention of their ruling powers. This was both good and bad. Bad, because border lords tend to be able to get away with more skeevy things due to their necessary role to the safety of the realm. Good, because the need to keep the border well-supplied and ready to repel assaults mean that border worlds also tend to see higher economic activity and social mobility.
There was always a danger of worlds being lost. Some worlds survive by not caring who their actual ruler is; the old boss was the same as the new boss. No real loyalty, but no real will to rebel either. Others had nothing but loyalty and never forgot their roots no matter how long they have been suppressed.
New Aberdeen was a world that belonged to the Federated Suns, and had been lost to the Combine in their great offensives in the 2860s. Only relatively recently had they been retaken by the Federated Suns. But that was still a hundred years of Draconification, and the planet still retained the scars of the Draconis Combine attempting to erase a Davion culture and replace it with a Kuritan one. And when they were driven off world, the left with the promise that when they reclaimed the world, their wrath would be great and terrible for those that failed to show loyalty to the Dragon.
People on New Aberdeen didn't feel safe that the Federated Suns could exert permanent control over the world, and as such there was a vague feeling if they should show token resistance. Some felt that their lives had been better during Kuritan control, as Kuritan nobility and military had almost zero accountability to the populace. They loved being able to exert their desires upon the cowed and fearful masses.
The Draconis Combine had spent several months on the planet without being driven off due to this support.
However, outright conquest was still out of the question. Davion could not move in sufficient troops to repulse Kurita forces because the Wolf's Dragoons were supporting them. Any other weakness in their border worlds would be pounced upon. At the same time, House Kurita lacked the ability to fully take over because of that same threat - turning this area into an invasion corridor would focus several RCTs into the zone and might end up backfiring as House Davion flooded into a counter-offensive into Combine space.
So this was the situation on the ground: months of little skirmishes and resource raids. The only ones that suffered were the common people. House Davion had to ship food and consumables across interstellar at great expense for them to maintain their claim of being better and more responsible to their citizens than the Combine, and these supplies which indirectly or directly, would be seized by the Kurita raiders.
The one in charge of planetary defense was Major Roland Kaplan of the 4th Battalion of the Fourth Deneb Light Cavalry RCT. The 4th Deneb RCT was based on Harrow's Sun, just a short jump away from New Aberdeen. These months have been a (heh) harrowing time, especially in this world's hot climate.
A Davion RCT, unlike a SLDF RCT, was a much larger assembly of forces with a single Mech Regiment attached to Vehicle Regiments, five Infantry Regiments, two Aerospace Fighter Wings and a Battalion of Artillery. They absolutely could take over and hold a world with little difficulty.
A SLDF RCT mixed all these forces into one regiment but had at least three such regiments, but a Davion RCT was five regiments moving cooperatively.
The reason why 4th Deneb high command only sent a combined-arms Battalion with the same force proportions as the RCT into New Aberdeen was the deep suspicion that this was all bait. Specially with the Black Widow, Natasha Kerensky herself, on planet. Overcommit and send an RCT to drive the 33rd Galedon off-world, and the Wolf's Dragoons Epsilon Regiment drops in. As long as this remained mutual Battalion-level conflict, it seems both sides were fine not to allow this to escalate. Kerensky wasting time on New Aberdeen was her not raising hell elsewhere.
4th Deneb RCT was good, but they were not Wolf's Dragoons good.
-.
-.
Major Kaplan didn't think much of the Eridani Light Horse. The 4th Deneb was also a SLDF-derived unit, and had a deeper and more painful past. Their homeworld, Deneb Kaitos, had been struck directly by the Amaris Empire with nuclear, biological, and orbital attacks. When Kerensky made the call to leave the Inner Sphere, only the 4th Deneb regiment of the SLDF Deneb Light Cavalry Brigade chose to remain, in loyalty to their world. They begged for any House Lord to support the world, save their people from starvation, and in exchange the 4th Deneb would give their skills at war.
Only House Davion responded, and as Deneb Kaitos was saved from mass deaths through starvation and pandemic, the 4th Deneb served the Federated Suns loyally through centuries.
4th Deneb didn't see anything special about once being the SLDF. Kaplan thought that the Eridani Light Horse were being just uppity and pretentious about being elite for no reason. After seeing Captain Anton Stedman he thought that all those rumors of the Light Horse being a professional unit cut above the rest was so much bunkum.
The Eridani Light Horse didn't look all that different from his own troops. They used the same mechs, the same cooling equipment, nothing really out of the ordinary. These had the reputation of the best mercenary unit in the Inner Sphere why now?
That only really said something about the sad standards of mercenaries until Wolf's Dragoons got into the picture.
He was not at all impressed with young Anton Stedman's arrogance. He could appreciate how the ELH had all of its Mechs going 86 kph, but their heaviest Mechs were 55-ton Griffins and Shadow Hawks and 45-ton Phoenix Hawks, made for running and skirmishing. In a drag-out fight they didn't have the firepower or armor to last - what good would mercenaries only good at running away do?
He didn't know if he fully believed reports that Stedman's Company had already driven off Kerensky's Company three times with only minimal damage. That was Kerensky! She won against the 3rd Davion Guards! If Stedman was only good for running away, then Firthhaven would already be lost by now.
The Black Widow could play with her food. The Firth wasn't the only place Kerensky struck - wherever the 4th Deneb moved, she was already gone and leaving burning wrecks behind her. How she was managing to outmaneuver entire scout mech formations with her slow heavy mechs was infuriating.
Which led to a further mystery of how the hells then does the Eridani Light Horse keep finding her?! 4th Deneb had hovercraft instead of tanks, and were very ASF focused. Originally they were a fast response regiment, faster even than a Light Horse regiment.
The losses that the ELH sustained on Hoff precluded the idea that Kerensky and the ELH were somehow colluding. This was a personal crusade to Stedman too.
Kaplan had to conclude that okay, maybe the ELH were that good. But from the reports he was getting, Stedman's Company was accruing damage that only his group's ability to disengage quickly was able to minimize. Eventually that damage was going to catch up to them, and then they were in serious trouble. Stedman's Company had to be relieved.
Unfortunately it seems Kaplan's message to Stedman about letting them know that the 4th Deneb was ready to help at any time due to the Kuritan forces down south were being docile, and that he was ready to shift forces in support seemed to have been taken as an insult.
He debated whether he should send a pair of lances north before that young officer's temper led to him doing something foolish and his company of good men getting crushed by Kerensky's nasty bag of tricks.
Then he received word that another company of Eridani Light Horse, alongside fresh supplies, was inbound.
-.
-.
Even at first glance, Kaplan knew that something was odd about these new ELH arrivals.
Two lances of Urbanmechs exited the Union DropShip.
All right. Fine. This was good too. Getting urban combat support means being able to divert other more mobile troops to beat the Combine on the field.
But there was something even disturbing about them. As the Battlemechs formed into two lines, he realized why.
First, they moved with strange almost organic smoothness. They moved with speed and agility that you would expect more from a more humanoid Mech like the Wasp or Valkyrie, not a trashcan on legs.
Second, these Mechs looked not just new - but pristine. They gleamed under the hot sun. The pale green paint looked as if fresh from the factory, and there were three distinctive markings on the mechs.
First, the tan "prancing pony" symbol of the Eridani Light Horse.
Second, a strange round grinning face with a mustache in black and red.
Third, shining white, the Cameron Star symbol of the Star League.
-.
When the commanding officer of the ELH company presented herself, Kaplan's disquiet grew. That form-fitting suit with the vest lined with thin tubes. That thin and light helmet. And again with the symbol of the Eridani Light Horse opposite of the Cameron Star.
She saluted "Sir, Barbara Mosley, Captain, 151st Dark Horse Regiment, 9th Company. Reporting in, sir!"
Kaplan nodded. "At ease, Captain. And thank you." He closed his eye briefly and then said "You know what, I'm just going to say it. That's lostech." He pointed at her gear. "I know it's rude and I shouldn't expect an answer if I asked where you found that, so I'll ask instead - is this the Eridani Light Horse finally breaking out the secret SLDF stocks and getting serious?"
No one could so brazenly wear the symbol of the Star League without it feeling like sacrilege. But looking at Barbara Mosley was like looking nearly half a century into a more civilized past, with her nonchalant confidence about the weight of the name she carried.
The Eridani Light Horse had been on the verge of destruction several times, and had to scrounge for supplies and refits like any other mercenary unit. The 4th Deneb was also a SLDF unit and similarly, apart from the degradation in tech levels through the Succession Wars, their methods and equipment didn't really change much under Davion employ.
But at the moment they felt a great gulf between a pretender and the genuine article. Through centuries of ridicule the Eridani Light Horse persisted in their roleplay. The ELH revealing themselves as *actually being the SLDF all along* was unthinkable, but as Kaplan looked at the eyes of his officers, once the thought was out there - was not all that unimaginable either.
Surprisingly that seemed to only increase the little sheen of resentment in his heart, Kaplan realized. The ELH had suffered very little compared to 4th Deneb. Why the Eridani Light Horse; why now; and what was respectable anyway about the SLDF that in the end abandoned their duty?
-.
-.
Speed.
This was the obsession of the 4th Deneb.
A Light Cavalry RCT was faster and more responsive than a Light Horse RCT; designed specifically by the SLDF as a fast-response strike force. Where the ELH had tanks, 4th Deneb exclusively used hovercraft. Where the ELH had artillery, 4th Deneb was a very ASF-heavy force. With constantly updated information of the battlespace, 4th Deneb used their speed to outmaneuver their opponents and act as one team even if hundreds of kilometers distant.
Roland Kaplan relished the look on Anton Stedman's face the first time he saw the 4th Deneb tactical command in action. He wanted to laugh at the young officer's sour look of 'you can do this too?!'
An older ELH officer wouldn't have been surprised. Glory wasn't something an individual could claim on the battlefield, but earned by hard effort by everyone around them. Even Kerensky wouldn't have been so deadly if she wasn't supported well by an elite crew she had personally trained and trusted to fight at her skill level. War was not a series of one-on-one duels.
"Oh, interesting," said Barbara. "So we don't have a hardline connection to Firthhaven?"
Many worlds still relied on simple copper cabling and telegraphy. It was cheap, easy to deploy, and could be made by any world with even the slightest hint of industrialization.
Fiber-optic cabling was the foundation of communications across the Inner Sphere. Easily deployable, immune to EMP, easier to bury, harder to find via magnetic scanning, and capable of massive information throughput. Unfortunately, because hardline communications were so useful, it was also something that should not be risked falling intact to enemy hands.
Radiotelephony was the main way less-industrialized border worlds like New Aberdeen communicated between major settlements.
It was also very prone to being jammed or tapped. In addition, only certain hours of the day had the atmospheric conditions to support very long range radio transmissions. Relay stations were obvious targets, and in the expanse between Firthhaven and the world capital Conlan City all had already been destroyed in the five months of fighting.
"This is our most recent report on Stedman's Company. They are doing well enough. Artillery had been emplaced around Firthhaven, and combat vehicle companies are supporting urban defense. This leaves BattleMechs to serve as a mobile interception force. If you lift off and contact their HQ directly you would have a better signal to get updated."
"I did, HQ just reported that Stedman was out on patrol and out of contact."
Kaplan frowned. "That's bad form. Company command should never be out of contact."
"This is why I'm afraid Kerensky's got her mind games into him and he's doing something stupid."
Kaplan nodded. "You have a DropShip, so you can move out sooner than we can. We can task a wing of ASF to support if you want."
Barbara raised her index finger. "Wait one-"
Comms to the Super Urbanmech parked outside crackled "SATCOM engaged, Captain," said Idun Nikkole piloting the Super Comms Urbanmech.
"Major, would you accept the datalink?" Barbara added.
Kaplan nodded over to the comms officer. Then the holotank bloomed with new information.
4th Deneb positions were highlighted in blue. Even the ones that were hidden. Kaplan cursed under his breath. Fortunately Combine positions were also highlighted in red.
The SLS DropShip SOLITUDE had spent days burning with its engines pointed towards New Aberdeen. In the last day as it had to flip around to match planetary velocity and enter a parking orbit, the DropShip had all the time it need to scan the surface with not merely SLDF orbital scanner suites, but Robotnik-optimized Orbital Scanner Suites.
The DropShip blossomed in space, like a flower spreading pollen into the wind. Microsatellites stared down at the world with a hundred hungry eyes.
The new holotable projected a tactical map of the area with updated real-time information. The map recognized and displayed military assets. Objects in view were displayed and highlighted from a bird's eye view. Mobile objects detected by non-visual sensors were sorted according to their most probable type - cubes for BattleMechs, pyramids for Vehicles, tetrahedrons for flying vehicles, which would then resolve into 3D visual information when they entered full sensor range.
For a MechCommander, information was ammunition.
This sensor range was twenty kilometers around each high-flying drone. Like NapFind drones, these drones relayed information to each other until reaching drone command, so that the effective information range was eighty kilometers around HQ.
By bouncing information up to the armed scout ASF in low orbit, other operational areas across the continent could share real-time information back to HQ.
Other screens showed a strategic view of the continent. One screen monitored the near environs, another of the estimated Kurita locations, and another of Stedman's combat area. All screens had moving icons representing detected militarily significant objects. Vehicles of any size as long as they were moving. Look-through thermal information from houses and other light buildings. Infantry were ironically much more visible at night. Moving Mechs could be detected at great range; shutdown mechs less so, but AI-boosted imaging could eventually spot them out from other shapes. All combined and delivered as information accurate enough for artillery fire direction.
All of this was grossly lostech.
Technology, mysterious and lost, that somehow the ELH just happens to have with even that newly manufactured thermoplastic smell. A near godlike awareness of the battlefield explained so much about how the Light Horse could do so much with only three medium-weight regiments.
4th Deneb were faster, but that was also for sake of maintaining a picture of the battlefield. If you knew where the enemy was at all times, you didn't need to sweat to outmaneuver them.
Kaplan's face all twisted up like a pug. He had to ask "With all due respect to Eridani Light Horse high command - is it fine to supply us with this? The relationship between the ELH and the AFFS is one of employment, not… formal incorporation. Or have things changed?" 'Did you become like us?' was the unspoken question. 'It's not such a bad thing, being a Davion dog, you know.'
Barbara shook her head. "I can't say anything about it, but OPSEC isn't a problem with tech like this. We'd like if command and control elements like this stopped being lostech even if opposing forces start using them-"
"Because then you would be able to tap into their own sensors and comms?!" a 4th Deneb radio operator piped up excitedly.
Barbara pointed at her. "This one is a smart cookie, keep an eye on her. When things start filtering down, we might have gear with her name on it."
The operator raised both fists to the air "Hail the SLDF!"
Kaplan rolled his eyes. He couldn't even blame the girl.
Barbara turned back to the holotable. "I am leaving one Communications Urbanmech and a Brawler Urbanmech to support the HQ," said Barbara. "This will tie you into our Stalking Horse intel assets. I have to go right now," she added as she pointed to movement on the Firth combat area. "Stedman's moving and that looks like Kerensky's provocations got to him anyway. From what he can see, it's two just two Mechs - two Heavy Mechs, and his company is made of really much faster mechs. Enough mediums can kill a heavy just fine."
Normally fighting at night was stupid, but it was also the best time to test perimeter defenses and the dark removed the advantage of range. On the other hand, this was also the best chance of a bunch of light mechs surviving being in the crosshairs of a Warhammer with two PPCs or Crusaders and Archers with a hell of lot of LRMs.
"He's young and, from what I learned about ELH's roster, wants to move out from the shadow of a more accomplished sibling. I can understand that, but it's bad enough that it's the sort of thing that can get him killed, he shouldn't be bringing his men down with him." Kaplan sighed. "But I can't call it unprofessional either, because if someone has the deep belief that they can kill or disable Kerensky - well, he's not the first to try, but it only takes one to succeed. If no one ever tries, then there's no point in fighting a war. Aces are supposed to attract fire as much as they inspire fear."
"Yeah, the Lady in Black's good not just because of her kills but because she keeps surviving shit no one has any real right to," replied Barbara.
-.
-.
Winds and the roar of rocket engines roared through the Union Dropship. "What's that?" Barbara flicked the noise-canceling switch on the console and a part of her went 'nice!' as the cockpit suddenly quieted down; another part of her was still going 'holy shit' about all the little comforts and conveniences available to standard SLDF gear. 'Man those guys way back were super duper spoiled.'
"What?" she asked again.
"I said, it's easier to make hot-drops out of a Leopard DropShip! So there's the reason why people still keep making that cheap piece of shit!" shouted Jack Finsrud. Rather than be given his own command, high command wisely realized he was too much of a wiseass to be trusted with impressionable new lancemates and it was better to maintain him in someone's command lance.
The Leopard DropShip, capable of carrying only four BattleMechs/one Mech lance, was the very picture of the mercenary lifestyle. The broke-ass mercenary lifestyle.
He was right though. A Leopard had four doors for its four BattleMechs in individual cubicles. Its flat if bricklike shape was stable at hovering with downward-facing transit drives. It could skim much closer to the ground.
The Union had four doors for twelve Mechs, and the Mechs each had to walk to the drop. The egg-shaped DropShip wobbled.
Super Urbanmechs were small. Their steps went *clang-click-clang* upon the deck plating as powerful electromagnets set into an Urbanmech's big broad feet clamped to secure their footing. Yet another pointless luxury stripped out in the technological regression of the Successions Wars! Maybe? Barbara was not sure, but conveniences were nothing against the real test of battle.
Against the outsized hole in the hull they were like infantry but actual infants hesitating to jump. Barbara bent the Super Urbanmech's torso down as if bowing, then triggered the Jump Jets. The Super Urbanmech launched off into empty space.
The rest of her command lance soon followed. Artillery Support Lance dropped from the opposite door.
An Aerodyne DropShip like the Leopard could hover and drop Mechs from as low as maybe thirty or even twenty meters off the ground. A Spheroid DropShip like the Union as good if it could go into a landing pattern and just change its mind at around sixty meters.
Fortunately that was well within an Urbanmech's jump range.
The techs said that the Super Urbanmechs were not as efficient as they could be, perhaps deliberately so. The half-ton Supercharger was not all that useful as overuse could damage the engine; it could go into either more native speed upgrading the Fusion Engine or an extra jump jet.
Barbara chose the jump jets.
Fwooosh. Three jump jets burned from the back of her Super Urbanmech, sufficient to propel a her 30-ton mech from a standing start up to 90 meters in the air; or, falling from 90 meters, burn enough to cancel its velocity to zero.
The impact was teeth-rattling, but not all that hard.
Immediately Barbara Mosley turned around and looked up to monitor the landings. While most of her crew were experienced in jump operations, some of them - specially most of the Artillery Lance, were fresh graduates. Artillery Mechs were not expected to fight, so could be a little lacking in gunnery skills - but what they could not do without was the facility to jump.
She watched as one by one her lances dropped in a slow arc. A bad jump was almost always fatal and an immediate loss of a mech. The short distance inside their jump range made it a problem because over-burning meant that they would not only cancel their velocity but start to rise and then be forced into an unpowered landing when their jump jets automatically cut off.
The two lances reformed around her. The Union DropShip went off to land and unload where the rest of the Badniks could cut off a path of retreat.
Her tactical map updated with information from a hovering Egg Spy Drone. At night it would be impossible to miss the drive plume of a DropShip and mechs hot-dropping.
Thermal sight showed weapons fire and BattleMech heat signatures, relayed to her secondary display by the sensor drone. Stedman's first two lances were mixing it up with Kerensky's forces while the last light lance was screening for more ambushes. What do you do when ambushed? Doctrine was that the worst thing you could do is to turn around and flee. Turning your backs to the enemy was death and the easiest way to a rout. No, the proper response was to push through aggressively into the ambush forces and shift the initiative!
A bunch of Phonix Hawks and Wasps trying to brawl with Archers and a Marauder over there, while Stedman's command lance tried to push forward even while a trio of mechs - a Crusader, an Archer, and a Stinger launcher an LRM alpha strike from ambush. Trying to outrun LRM locks and deal with Kerensky personally.
One of the heat sources just bloomed from a Fusion Engine being cored by PPC hits. Barbara grit her teeth. She hoped the pilot managed to eject in time.
Relaying the transmission to the drone, she spoke on ELH frequency "Stedman Company, this is Mosley Company, we are here to assist. Evac route sent to your screen at Nav Alpha. ETA to contact four minutes."
Then on an open frequency "Natasha Kerensky! Cease your attack. This is Barbara Mosley, Eridani Light Horse 151st Regiment, 9th Company. We ask for a temporary cease-fire to parley."
Surprisingly there was a response. "Oh? Begging for mercy now, ponies? Parley? What do I look like, some kind of Periphery pirate? I'm not going to fall for that again. Power down your mechs first and you get to walk away. Fight me and die well, I respect you all enough not to take it easy on you."
Barbara grit her teeth. Even with that, dammit, Kerensky has such a sexy voice. It was unfair. Kerensky looked like sex on legs but was death herself in a Battlemech. It was grossly unfair for all other mere mechwarriors like her.
"Oh well, we tried," Barbara sighed. "Light them up."
Fwoosh. Fwoosh. Fwoosh. Three Arrow-IV Cluster missiles streaked off into the distance.
Barbara's command lance went into a full sprint at 97kph.
--
Living on a border world was a hit or miss affair. Apart from the literal hit or miss of being shot at and your homes and workplaces shot up in raids, border worlds tended to have the attention of their ruling powers. This was both good and bad. Bad, because border lords tend to be able to get away with more skeevy things due to their necessary role to the safety of the realm. Good, because the need to keep the border well-supplied and ready to repel assaults mean that border worlds also tend to see higher economic activity and social mobility.
There was always a danger of worlds being lost. Some worlds survive by not caring who their actual ruler is; the old boss was the same as the new boss. No real loyalty, but no real will to rebel either. Others had nothing but loyalty and never forgot their roots no matter how long they have been suppressed.
New Aberdeen was a world that belonged to the Federated Suns, and had been lost to the Combine in their great offensives in the 2860s. Only relatively recently had they been retaken by the Federated Suns. But that was still a hundred years of Draconification, and the planet still retained the scars of the Draconis Combine attempting to erase a Davion culture and replace it with a Kuritan one. And when they were driven off world, the left with the promise that when they reclaimed the world, their wrath would be great and terrible for those that failed to show loyalty to the Dragon.
People on New Aberdeen didn't feel safe that the Federated Suns could exert permanent control over the world, and as such there was a vague feeling if they should show token resistance. Some felt that their lives had been better during Kuritan control, as Kuritan nobility and military had almost zero accountability to the populace. They loved being able to exert their desires upon the cowed and fearful masses.
The Draconis Combine had spent several months on the planet without being driven off due to this support.
However, outright conquest was still out of the question. Davion could not move in sufficient troops to repulse Kurita forces because the Wolf's Dragoons were supporting them. Any other weakness in their border worlds would be pounced upon. At the same time, House Kurita lacked the ability to fully take over because of that same threat - turning this area into an invasion corridor would focus several RCTs into the zone and might end up backfiring as House Davion flooded into a counter-offensive into Combine space.
So this was the situation on the ground: months of little skirmishes and resource raids. The only ones that suffered were the common people. House Davion had to ship food and consumables across interstellar at great expense for them to maintain their claim of being better and more responsible to their citizens than the Combine, and these supplies which indirectly or directly, would be seized by the Kurita raiders.
The one in charge of planetary defense was Major Roland Kaplan of the 4th Battalion of the Fourth Deneb Light Cavalry RCT. The 4th Deneb RCT was based on Harrow's Sun, just a short jump away from New Aberdeen. These months have been a (heh) harrowing time, especially in this world's hot climate.
A Davion RCT, unlike a SLDF RCT, was a much larger assembly of forces with a single Mech Regiment attached to Vehicle Regiments, five Infantry Regiments, two Aerospace Fighter Wings and a Battalion of Artillery. They absolutely could take over and hold a world with little difficulty.
A SLDF RCT mixed all these forces into one regiment but had at least three such regiments, but a Davion RCT was five regiments moving cooperatively.
The reason why 4th Deneb high command only sent a combined-arms Battalion with the same force proportions as the RCT into New Aberdeen was the deep suspicion that this was all bait. Specially with the Black Widow, Natasha Kerensky herself, on planet. Overcommit and send an RCT to drive the 33rd Galedon off-world, and the Wolf's Dragoons Epsilon Regiment drops in. As long as this remained mutual Battalion-level conflict, it seems both sides were fine not to allow this to escalate. Kerensky wasting time on New Aberdeen was her not raising hell elsewhere.
4th Deneb RCT was good, but they were not Wolf's Dragoons good.
-.
-.
Major Kaplan didn't think much of the Eridani Light Horse. The 4th Deneb was also a SLDF-derived unit, and had a deeper and more painful past. Their homeworld, Deneb Kaitos, had been struck directly by the Amaris Empire with nuclear, biological, and orbital attacks. When Kerensky made the call to leave the Inner Sphere, only the 4th Deneb regiment of the SLDF Deneb Light Cavalry Brigade chose to remain, in loyalty to their world. They begged for any House Lord to support the world, save their people from starvation, and in exchange the 4th Deneb would give their skills at war.
Only House Davion responded, and as Deneb Kaitos was saved from mass deaths through starvation and pandemic, the 4th Deneb served the Federated Suns loyally through centuries.
4th Deneb didn't see anything special about once being the SLDF. Kaplan thought that the Eridani Light Horse were being just uppity and pretentious about being elite for no reason. After seeing Captain Anton Stedman he thought that all those rumors of the Light Horse being a professional unit cut above the rest was so much bunkum.
The Eridani Light Horse didn't look all that different from his own troops. They used the same mechs, the same cooling equipment, nothing really out of the ordinary. These had the reputation of the best mercenary unit in the Inner Sphere why now?
That only really said something about the sad standards of mercenaries until Wolf's Dragoons got into the picture.
He was not at all impressed with young Anton Stedman's arrogance. He could appreciate how the ELH had all of its Mechs going 86 kph, but their heaviest Mechs were 55-ton Griffins and Shadow Hawks and 45-ton Phoenix Hawks, made for running and skirmishing. In a drag-out fight they didn't have the firepower or armor to last - what good would mercenaries only good at running away do?
He didn't know if he fully believed reports that Stedman's Company had already driven off Kerensky's Company three times with only minimal damage. That was Kerensky! She won against the 3rd Davion Guards! If Stedman was only good for running away, then Firthhaven would already be lost by now.
The Black Widow could play with her food. The Firth wasn't the only place Kerensky struck - wherever the 4th Deneb moved, she was already gone and leaving burning wrecks behind her. How she was managing to outmaneuver entire scout mech formations with her slow heavy mechs was infuriating.
Which led to a further mystery of how the hells then does the Eridani Light Horse keep finding her?! 4th Deneb had hovercraft instead of tanks, and were very ASF focused. Originally they were a fast response regiment, faster even than a Light Horse regiment.
The losses that the ELH sustained on Hoff precluded the idea that Kerensky and the ELH were somehow colluding. This was a personal crusade to Stedman too.
Kaplan had to conclude that okay, maybe the ELH were that good. But from the reports he was getting, Stedman's Company was accruing damage that only his group's ability to disengage quickly was able to minimize. Eventually that damage was going to catch up to them, and then they were in serious trouble. Stedman's Company had to be relieved.
Unfortunately it seems Kaplan's message to Stedman about letting them know that the 4th Deneb was ready to help at any time due to the Kuritan forces down south were being docile, and that he was ready to shift forces in support seemed to have been taken as an insult.
He debated whether he should send a pair of lances north before that young officer's temper led to him doing something foolish and his company of good men getting crushed by Kerensky's nasty bag of tricks.
Then he received word that another company of Eridani Light Horse, alongside fresh supplies, was inbound.
-.
-.
Even at first glance, Kaplan knew that something was odd about these new ELH arrivals.
Two lances of Urbanmechs exited the Union DropShip.
All right. Fine. This was good too. Getting urban combat support means being able to divert other more mobile troops to beat the Combine on the field.
But there was something even disturbing about them. As the Battlemechs formed into two lines, he realized why.
First, they moved with strange almost organic smoothness. They moved with speed and agility that you would expect more from a more humanoid Mech like the Wasp or Valkyrie, not a trashcan on legs.
Second, these Mechs looked not just new - but pristine. They gleamed under the hot sun. The pale green paint looked as if fresh from the factory, and there were three distinctive markings on the mechs.
First, the tan "prancing pony" symbol of the Eridani Light Horse.
Second, a strange round grinning face with a mustache in black and red.
Third, shining white, the Cameron Star symbol of the Star League.
-.
When the commanding officer of the ELH company presented herself, Kaplan's disquiet grew. That form-fitting suit with the vest lined with thin tubes. That thin and light helmet. And again with the symbol of the Eridani Light Horse opposite of the Cameron Star.
She saluted "Sir, Barbara Mosley, Captain, 151st Dark Horse Regiment, 9th Company. Reporting in, sir!"
Kaplan nodded. "At ease, Captain. And thank you." He closed his eye briefly and then said "You know what, I'm just going to say it. That's lostech." He pointed at her gear. "I know it's rude and I shouldn't expect an answer if I asked where you found that, so I'll ask instead - is this the Eridani Light Horse finally breaking out the secret SLDF stocks and getting serious?"
No one could so brazenly wear the symbol of the Star League without it feeling like sacrilege. But looking at Barbara Mosley was like looking nearly half a century into a more civilized past, with her nonchalant confidence about the weight of the name she carried.
The Eridani Light Horse had been on the verge of destruction several times, and had to scrounge for supplies and refits like any other mercenary unit. The 4th Deneb was also a SLDF unit and similarly, apart from the degradation in tech levels through the Succession Wars, their methods and equipment didn't really change much under Davion employ.
But at the moment they felt a great gulf between a pretender and the genuine article. Through centuries of ridicule the Eridani Light Horse persisted in their roleplay. The ELH revealing themselves as *actually being the SLDF all along* was unthinkable, but as Kaplan looked at the eyes of his officers, once the thought was out there - was not all that unimaginable either.
Surprisingly that seemed to only increase the little sheen of resentment in his heart, Kaplan realized. The ELH had suffered very little compared to 4th Deneb. Why the Eridani Light Horse; why now; and what was respectable anyway about the SLDF that in the end abandoned their duty?
-.
-.
Speed.
This was the obsession of the 4th Deneb.
A Light Cavalry RCT was faster and more responsive than a Light Horse RCT; designed specifically by the SLDF as a fast-response strike force. Where the ELH had tanks, 4th Deneb exclusively used hovercraft. Where the ELH had artillery, 4th Deneb was a very ASF-heavy force. With constantly updated information of the battlespace, 4th Deneb used their speed to outmaneuver their opponents and act as one team even if hundreds of kilometers distant.
Roland Kaplan relished the look on Anton Stedman's face the first time he saw the 4th Deneb tactical command in action. He wanted to laugh at the young officer's sour look of 'you can do this too?!'
An older ELH officer wouldn't have been surprised. Glory wasn't something an individual could claim on the battlefield, but earned by hard effort by everyone around them. Even Kerensky wouldn't have been so deadly if she wasn't supported well by an elite crew she had personally trained and trusted to fight at her skill level. War was not a series of one-on-one duels.
"Oh, interesting," said Barbara. "So we don't have a hardline connection to Firthhaven?"
Many worlds still relied on simple copper cabling and telegraphy. It was cheap, easy to deploy, and could be made by any world with even the slightest hint of industrialization.
Fiber-optic cabling was the foundation of communications across the Inner Sphere. Easily deployable, immune to EMP, easier to bury, harder to find via magnetic scanning, and capable of massive information throughput. Unfortunately, because hardline communications were so useful, it was also something that should not be risked falling intact to enemy hands.
Radiotelephony was the main way less-industrialized border worlds like New Aberdeen communicated between major settlements.
It was also very prone to being jammed or tapped. In addition, only certain hours of the day had the atmospheric conditions to support very long range radio transmissions. Relay stations were obvious targets, and in the expanse between Firthhaven and the world capital Conlan City all had already been destroyed in the five months of fighting.
"This is our most recent report on Stedman's Company. They are doing well enough. Artillery had been emplaced around Firthhaven, and combat vehicle companies are supporting urban defense. This leaves BattleMechs to serve as a mobile interception force. If you lift off and contact their HQ directly you would have a better signal to get updated."
"I did, HQ just reported that Stedman was out on patrol and out of contact."
Kaplan frowned. "That's bad form. Company command should never be out of contact."
"This is why I'm afraid Kerensky's got her mind games into him and he's doing something stupid."
Kaplan nodded. "You have a DropShip, so you can move out sooner than we can. We can task a wing of ASF to support if you want."
Barbara raised her index finger. "Wait one-"
Comms to the Super Urbanmech parked outside crackled "SATCOM engaged, Captain," said Idun Nikkole piloting the Super Comms Urbanmech.
"Major, would you accept the datalink?" Barbara added.
Kaplan nodded over to the comms officer. Then the holotank bloomed with new information.
4th Deneb positions were highlighted in blue. Even the ones that were hidden. Kaplan cursed under his breath. Fortunately Combine positions were also highlighted in red.
The SLS DropShip SOLITUDE had spent days burning with its engines pointed towards New Aberdeen. In the last day as it had to flip around to match planetary velocity and enter a parking orbit, the DropShip had all the time it need to scan the surface with not merely SLDF orbital scanner suites, but Robotnik-optimized Orbital Scanner Suites.
The DropShip blossomed in space, like a flower spreading pollen into the wind. Microsatellites stared down at the world with a hundred hungry eyes.
The new holotable projected a tactical map of the area with updated real-time information. The map recognized and displayed military assets. Objects in view were displayed and highlighted from a bird's eye view. Mobile objects detected by non-visual sensors were sorted according to their most probable type - cubes for BattleMechs, pyramids for Vehicles, tetrahedrons for flying vehicles, which would then resolve into 3D visual information when they entered full sensor range.
For a MechCommander, information was ammunition.
This sensor range was twenty kilometers around each high-flying drone. Like NapFind drones, these drones relayed information to each other until reaching drone command, so that the effective information range was eighty kilometers around HQ.
By bouncing information up to the armed scout ASF in low orbit, other operational areas across the continent could share real-time information back to HQ.
Other screens showed a strategic view of the continent. One screen monitored the near environs, another of the estimated Kurita locations, and another of Stedman's combat area. All screens had moving icons representing detected militarily significant objects. Vehicles of any size as long as they were moving. Look-through thermal information from houses and other light buildings. Infantry were ironically much more visible at night. Moving Mechs could be detected at great range; shutdown mechs less so, but AI-boosted imaging could eventually spot them out from other shapes. All combined and delivered as information accurate enough for artillery fire direction.
All of this was grossly lostech.
Technology, mysterious and lost, that somehow the ELH just happens to have with even that newly manufactured thermoplastic smell. A near godlike awareness of the battlefield explained so much about how the Light Horse could do so much with only three medium-weight regiments.
4th Deneb were faster, but that was also for sake of maintaining a picture of the battlefield. If you knew where the enemy was at all times, you didn't need to sweat to outmaneuver them.
Kaplan's face all twisted up like a pug. He had to ask "With all due respect to Eridani Light Horse high command - is it fine to supply us with this? The relationship between the ELH and the AFFS is one of employment, not… formal incorporation. Or have things changed?" 'Did you become like us?' was the unspoken question. 'It's not such a bad thing, being a Davion dog, you know.'
Barbara shook her head. "I can't say anything about it, but OPSEC isn't a problem with tech like this. We'd like if command and control elements like this stopped being lostech even if opposing forces start using them-"
"Because then you would be able to tap into their own sensors and comms?!" a 4th Deneb radio operator piped up excitedly.
Barbara pointed at her. "This one is a smart cookie, keep an eye on her. When things start filtering down, we might have gear with her name on it."
The operator raised both fists to the air "Hail the SLDF!"
Kaplan rolled his eyes. He couldn't even blame the girl.
Barbara turned back to the holotable. "I am leaving one Communications Urbanmech and a Brawler Urbanmech to support the HQ," said Barbara. "This will tie you into our Stalking Horse intel assets. I have to go right now," she added as she pointed to movement on the Firth combat area. "Stedman's moving and that looks like Kerensky's provocations got to him anyway. From what he can see, it's two just two Mechs - two Heavy Mechs, and his company is made of really much faster mechs. Enough mediums can kill a heavy just fine."
Normally fighting at night was stupid, but it was also the best time to test perimeter defenses and the dark removed the advantage of range. On the other hand, this was also the best chance of a bunch of light mechs surviving being in the crosshairs of a Warhammer with two PPCs or Crusaders and Archers with a hell of lot of LRMs.
"He's young and, from what I learned about ELH's roster, wants to move out from the shadow of a more accomplished sibling. I can understand that, but it's bad enough that it's the sort of thing that can get him killed, he shouldn't be bringing his men down with him." Kaplan sighed. "But I can't call it unprofessional either, because if someone has the deep belief that they can kill or disable Kerensky - well, he's not the first to try, but it only takes one to succeed. If no one ever tries, then there's no point in fighting a war. Aces are supposed to attract fire as much as they inspire fear."
"Yeah, the Lady in Black's good not just because of her kills but because she keeps surviving shit no one has any real right to," replied Barbara.
-.
-.
Winds and the roar of rocket engines roared through the Union Dropship. "What's that?" Barbara flicked the noise-canceling switch on the console and a part of her went 'nice!' as the cockpit suddenly quieted down; another part of her was still going 'holy shit' about all the little comforts and conveniences available to standard SLDF gear. 'Man those guys way back were super duper spoiled.'
"What?" she asked again.
"I said, it's easier to make hot-drops out of a Leopard DropShip! So there's the reason why people still keep making that cheap piece of shit!" shouted Jack Finsrud. Rather than be given his own command, high command wisely realized he was too much of a wiseass to be trusted with impressionable new lancemates and it was better to maintain him in someone's command lance.
The Leopard DropShip, capable of carrying only four BattleMechs/one Mech lance, was the very picture of the mercenary lifestyle. The broke-ass mercenary lifestyle.
He was right though. A Leopard had four doors for its four BattleMechs in individual cubicles. Its flat if bricklike shape was stable at hovering with downward-facing transit drives. It could skim much closer to the ground.
The Union had four doors for twelve Mechs, and the Mechs each had to walk to the drop. The egg-shaped DropShip wobbled.
Super Urbanmechs were small. Their steps went *clang-click-clang* upon the deck plating as powerful electromagnets set into an Urbanmech's big broad feet clamped to secure their footing. Yet another pointless luxury stripped out in the technological regression of the Successions Wars! Maybe? Barbara was not sure, but conveniences were nothing against the real test of battle.
Against the outsized hole in the hull they were like infantry but actual infants hesitating to jump. Barbara bent the Super Urbanmech's torso down as if bowing, then triggered the Jump Jets. The Super Urbanmech launched off into empty space.
The rest of her command lance soon followed. Artillery Support Lance dropped from the opposite door.
An Aerodyne DropShip like the Leopard could hover and drop Mechs from as low as maybe thirty or even twenty meters off the ground. A Spheroid DropShip like the Union as good if it could go into a landing pattern and just change its mind at around sixty meters.
Fortunately that was well within an Urbanmech's jump range.
The techs said that the Super Urbanmechs were not as efficient as they could be, perhaps deliberately so. The half-ton Supercharger was not all that useful as overuse could damage the engine; it could go into either more native speed upgrading the Fusion Engine or an extra jump jet.
Barbara chose the jump jets.
Fwooosh. Three jump jets burned from the back of her Super Urbanmech, sufficient to propel a her 30-ton mech from a standing start up to 90 meters in the air; or, falling from 90 meters, burn enough to cancel its velocity to zero.
The impact was teeth-rattling, but not all that hard.
Immediately Barbara Mosley turned around and looked up to monitor the landings. While most of her crew were experienced in jump operations, some of them - specially most of the Artillery Lance, were fresh graduates. Artillery Mechs were not expected to fight, so could be a little lacking in gunnery skills - but what they could not do without was the facility to jump.
She watched as one by one her lances dropped in a slow arc. A bad jump was almost always fatal and an immediate loss of a mech. The short distance inside their jump range made it a problem because over-burning meant that they would not only cancel their velocity but start to rise and then be forced into an unpowered landing when their jump jets automatically cut off.
The two lances reformed around her. The Union DropShip went off to land and unload where the rest of the Badniks could cut off a path of retreat.
Her tactical map updated with information from a hovering Egg Spy Drone. At night it would be impossible to miss the drive plume of a DropShip and mechs hot-dropping.
Thermal sight showed weapons fire and BattleMech heat signatures, relayed to her secondary display by the sensor drone. Stedman's first two lances were mixing it up with Kerensky's forces while the last light lance was screening for more ambushes. What do you do when ambushed? Doctrine was that the worst thing you could do is to turn around and flee. Turning your backs to the enemy was death and the easiest way to a rout. No, the proper response was to push through aggressively into the ambush forces and shift the initiative!
A bunch of Phonix Hawks and Wasps trying to brawl with Archers and a Marauder over there, while Stedman's command lance tried to push forward even while a trio of mechs - a Crusader, an Archer, and a Stinger launcher an LRM alpha strike from ambush. Trying to outrun LRM locks and deal with Kerensky personally.
One of the heat sources just bloomed from a Fusion Engine being cored by PPC hits. Barbara grit her teeth. She hoped the pilot managed to eject in time.
Relaying the transmission to the drone, she spoke on ELH frequency "Stedman Company, this is Mosley Company, we are here to assist. Evac route sent to your screen at Nav Alpha. ETA to contact four minutes."
Then on an open frequency "Natasha Kerensky! Cease your attack. This is Barbara Mosley, Eridani Light Horse 151st Regiment, 9th Company. We ask for a temporary cease-fire to parley."
Surprisingly there was a response. "Oh? Begging for mercy now, ponies? Parley? What do I look like, some kind of Periphery pirate? I'm not going to fall for that again. Power down your mechs first and you get to walk away. Fight me and die well, I respect you all enough not to take it easy on you."
Barbara grit her teeth. Even with that, dammit, Kerensky has such a sexy voice. It was unfair. Kerensky looked like sex on legs but was death herself in a Battlemech. It was grossly unfair for all other mere mechwarriors like her.
"Oh well, we tried," Barbara sighed. "Light them up."
Fwoosh. Fwoosh. Fwoosh. Three Arrow-IV Cluster missiles streaked off into the distance.
Barbara's command lance went into a full sprint at 97kph.
--
6.5 Because We (Trash) Can
bluepencil
The tropics will be uninhabitable.
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Because We (Trash) Can 05
-.
MechWarriors were always trying to tout themselves as the best, but deciding on the actual best MechWarrior in the Inner Sphere was a tricky prospect. What actually qualified someone for being the best amongs the hundreds of thousands of pilots out there, plying their trade in inummberable battlefields? The quality of opponents defeated? The number of victories? The ability to do and survive the impossible? To change the flow of battle just by their presence?
Some considered Morgan Kell and Yorinaga Kurita for their weird phantom mech bullshit in their duel on Mallory's World. When piloting goes beyond human limits and into the confines of the supernatural, surely that has to mean something? That historical duel ended with both of them exiling themselves into monasteries and the latter making a yearly request to be allowed to die. Some argued that shifty rumors and being so shaken by the event that they ceased to be MechWarriors at all didn't count.
Some argued that Gray Noton, Grand Champion of the Solaris Games was the better example of being the best duelist in the Inner Sphere. He faced many challengers in some of the most intense close combat fights possible in the arenas, outfighting and outsmarting all comers, Grand Champion for an unprecedented seven years. He won seven straight years on a Rifleman, a BattleMech not all suited for the close-quarter slugmatches of a mech arena; a 65 ton Heavy beating assault Mechs like 80-ton Battlemasters and 90-ton Stalkers in grossly unfair mismatches. However, others argued it was hard to know if dueling skills in cramped and predictable confines really translated to the real world. Gray Noton was not known to have faced other elite MechWarriors in life or death battles inside all-out war.
Some spoke of the Bounty Hunter, that mysterious MechWarrior piloting a lostech Marauder, hunting down the worst and deadliest scum in the Inner Sphere. Doing this alone merited a lot of respect. He had faced a company of Mechs alone and won, bringing in their literal bloody heads for a bounty. However, the mystery also worked against the Bounty Hunter, since being active since the 2920s implied that the Bounty Hunter was less than a person than a mantle that was passed down.
Therefore when one removed strange space magic or limited encounters, others could argue that the best MechWarrior in the Inner Sphere by virtue of all the known fights against other elite opponents, participating in some of the biggest battles ever, and being able to train a crew to the same level of skill - Natasha Kerensky had a convincing basis to be the best MechWarrior the Inner Sphere had ever seen. The Bounty Hunter already failed to bring down Natasha Kerensky.
The Bounty Hunter-Kerensky feud was well known, because it appears that the Marauder that the Bounty Hunter was piloting was previously hers. It was not however claimed in battle but as salvage. The Bounty Hunter and Wolf's Dragoons were working with each other in the Marik Civil war of 3014. The Bounty Hunter had signaled Kerensky's lance that a ravine that they had inspected was safe. When Kerensky entered, her lance was ambushed and destroyed by enemy forces, leading to a lifelong personal feud.
In the decade since then, Kerensky had gone from battle to battle - often wounded, often outnumbered, often killing whatever got between her crosshairs, sometimes showing mercy, sometimes withdrawing knowing when she was outmatched - but never beaten. Only in battle could she feel alive again.
If one were to look at Kerensky, the word 'punk chic' immediately comes to mind. Her hair was cut short and often dyed in a shifting variety of colors, she wore a cut-off tank top that exposed her sculpted abs, tight leather pants that showed off her legs, and was never to be found without a weapon strapped to her hip. Like most MechWarriors, the heat inside a cockpit meant that to get rid of sweat she wore little more than a bikini in combat.
She fought all the best soldiers from all Houses as Wolf's Dragoons passed from employer to employer. She met all the other elite mercenary commands - McCarron's Armored Cavalry, Northwind Highlanders, 12th Star Guards, Blue Star Irregulars, the Eridani Light Horse, and more - first as allies, then later as enemies.
Natasha Kerensky's Black Widow company was made of misfits and insubordinate troops that Kerensky through intensely directed violence and sheer bloody-minded charisma forged into an elite crew that could fight on the same level as herself.
Kerensky cared for her crew more than she did herself. The only real way to earn the Black Widows enduring hate was to murder her people. Dying in battle was fine, but an unworthy death was an insult she could not forgive.
-.
-.
50 kilometers NNE of Firthhaven
New Aberdeen
08 January 3025
When conducting a proper ambush, always open up first with the largest and most casualty-producing weapon you have. While Stedman was focused on chasing Kerensky with all of his 11-mech company, the Black Widows company were split into four forces. As Stedman finally caught up with Kerensky, the night-black Warhammer turning around to bring Kerensky's pair of PPCs to bear, suddenly a Crusader and an Archer emerged from behind a levee. They opened up from the side, LRMs being an excellent answer to fast-moving mechs at range. The 65-ton Crusader contributed a pair of LRM-15s while the 70-ton Archer brought two LRM-20s into play. A 20-ton Stinger was just there for scout and support.
With two mechs in front and three to the side, the numbers matched but the weight of enfilade fire was a lesson that the Eridani Light Horse had taught the Dragoons many times before on Hoff.
A total of 70 incoming LRMs was too much for Anton Stedman's battered 55-ton Griffin to handle. Panic and disbelief was almost fatal, but the ELH captain ejected just as the LRMs and PPC bolts shattered the core of his Mech. What he might personally call cowardice, the ELH would only praise as good sense.
The Stinger in Stedman's command lance was also shot clear through in that moment of surprise, its already worn-down armor nowhere near enough to withstand a PPC hit.
With Anton Stedman out of the picture, that left things to Jake Redmond, second-in-command. But with Kerensky moving her guns, he only had a brief moment to consider his own imminent death.
Then Barbara Mosley's message came out of the radio and that distracted Kerensky long enough to turn the hit on his 55-ton Shadow Hawk from coring his Fusion Engine into merely blowing out the entire right half of his Mech. Jake Redmond had time to eject. He recalled later that his last view from the cockpit was Kerensky's smile through her cockpit, magnified on his scanners.
Now there was no one effectively in command to direct the company.
-.
Moran's Lance, following behind Stedman's lance, did not fare much better. Kerensky's Force Three consisted of a 75-ton Marauder, a 70-ton Archer, and a 20-ton Wasp. Moran's lance consisted of two 45-ton Phoenix Hawks, and a 20-ton Stinger and a Wasp respectively. A Phoenix Hawk shattered in the opening salvo, its pilot killed outright, and the lance scattered.
-.
Kerensky's Force Four was all the rest of Recon Lance, who had not yet committed themselves into the battle but only waiting for the enemy to turn. They stood in a prim and proper line ready to swoop in to maximize havoc. The third lance of Stedman's Company was a trio of twenty-tonners, a Stinger and two Wasps, which were now rushing forward to support lead elements to keep the retreat from turning into a rout.
John "the Gentleman" Clavell, considered a brilliant tactician even by the standards of the Dragoons, ran his recon lance like a fast strike force. He did this despite leading the lance with a comparatively slow 60-ton Rifleman. Piet Nichols, inside a Phoenix Hawk, was sent to Kerensky's Black Widow company for disobeying orders and leading a glory raid that failed and got his troops cut off and surrounded. Simon Fraser inside a Stinger actually volunteered for the Black Widows because he thought his old outfit was too tame. Lastly, Mohammar Jahan was assigned to the Black Widows because a major was incensed by his impertinence about wanting to marry the Major's daughter. The officer didn't conceal that he hoped the transfer would prove fata, but Jahan still believed that this was a test to demonstrate his skill and courage to his prospective father-in-law.
Three streaks arrived from the south, and there was bang and what even looked like blooming fireworks.
Clavell's lance was effectively out of the fight.
-.
Natasha Kerensky's instincts had never left her wrong, and immediately she shouted into the company channel "Disperse!".
She only had time to see another three streaks of light arrive, towards Force Two. The Archer was piloted by Takiro Ikeda who led the Widows' Fire Lance and the Crusader was normally fire support in her command lance piloted by Lynn Sheridan.
To their credit, the two obeyed her orders instantly. Unfortunately, both mechs were not all that fast. The Arrow-IV Cluster Artillery missiles arrived in an overlapping pattern that gave a 90-meter kill radius.
Sufficiently well-armored, both mechs survived but were now badly mauled with exposed missile racks. Belatedly one of the Crusader's arms blew off as the LRMs inside cooked off. Sheridan had a reputation for always getting her mech wrecked by bad luck or her recklessness.
-.
It was at this time that Force Three, led by Colin Maclaren, Kerensky's second-in-command, reported "Enemy contacts bearing one-five-zero. Arriving at speed. They seem to be…" his voice took on a doubtful note "... Urbanmechs?"
The Black Widows spread out to minimize the effects of artillery but were still engaged in combat with the Eridani Light Horse in front of them. The light mechs were not quite in a rout, but attempting to disengage at all their best speed.
Maclaren let Milklos Delius in the Archer and Nikolai Koniev in the Wasp, normally a part of Ikeda's Fire Lance, to deal with the ELH while he turned his Marauder to face the newcomers.
With a pair of PPCs and AC/5, an aggressively sloped profile, and excellent communications systems, the Marauder had long been the quintessential Heavy Mech all others were measured around. The Star League manufactured vast numbers of them, and in fact preferred the Marauder for front-line command units. More than anything, it was the Marauder that symbolized the martial superiority of the SLDF.
With punishing firepower all capable of hitting at long range, Colin Maclaren as the last surviving member of Kerensky's original lance, was not about to disappoint "The Lady" now. He sent his 75-ton Mech into an ambling walk to receive the enemy. Due to the Marauder's low and sharp profile, it actually exposed the least to enemy fire when pointed straight at the enemy, favoring very aggressive tactics.
The lance of Super Urbanmechs also slowed down at mutual sight range, down to around 64 kph. This was normally a heavy mech's fastest run speed. As one the lance began to turn in a circle around the inbound Heavy Mech to keep the range open.
It was at this point that Barbara Mosley ordered "Switch Variable Range Targeting to Long Range!".
A Super Royal Urbanmech's battle computer had the quirk of being able to adjust for greater accuracy across a range with a corresponding penalty to the opposite - long and short range, for example. Medium range targeting remained unaffected. In their sensors, the battle computers marked a pip leading the enemy's movement.
Maclaren was a pilot just as good as Kerensky. Whether it was luck or a desire to remain a faithful soldier, he just didn't shine out as much. But his gunnery skills made him deadly as anything.
Four PPCs bolts lashed out. Two missed entirely, while the third slapped against the upper-right side of the Marauder for minimal damage even if it stripped half a ton of armor across that edge.
But Maclaren couldn't shoot back with his own PPCs. His reticule remained an inactive green for 'out of range' tracking the object under his sights.
"Captain!" he hurriedly shouted into comms "These Mechs are carrying Extended Range PPCs!" He pushed his Marauder into maximum speed charging straight at the enemy.
Their walking speed was just as fast as his running speed. The Marauder was a 'chicken walker' BattleMech, and his stride length made it possible to confuse targeting at range by unpredictably shifting from side to to side even on a full run. The short stubby legs an Urbanmech made their movements predictable. His weapon-arms were already aiming ahead of the little metal cans.
Four PPC bolts streaked towards him. Maclaren took the shot at the enemy, not caring if it hit, then shifted his mech's facing to minimize exposure. Armor crackled and splintered off, and he turned back to resume his assault.
The four Super Urbanmechs split into two groups, pincering him from left and right. Maclaren grit grit his teeth and prepared to degrade their weapons fire by taking out the ones in front of him first. As the nearest Super Urbanmech went under his crosshairs, his pair of PPCs fired. More blue streaks and shrieks of lightning lit up the night.
Both were clean hits, and the dumpy mech flinched. His top-mounted then AC/5 struck at the mech, hoping to crack open the mech now that the armor had been breached.
It was unfortunately not enough to kill the Light Mech. Something in there blew, but it was probably a heatsink getting in the way. PPC bolts lashed out again, and his own computer was giving him 'low armor' warning.
But aggression and utter disdain for their own health was what made Kerensky's Black Widow Company so feared. The first to fear for their own life was the first to die; this was what they had always proved on the battlefield. Those who disregarded their own lives were the ones to survive. There was nothing like the pure clarity of combat.
The other two oddly fast and potent Urbanmechs shot at his side for one volley and then moved on to strike at the Archer in the back line. He mused he would show them the price of this arrogance after he removed the problem in his sight.
Someone screamed through comms "Why are these things so fucking faaassttt?!!!"
More shrieks of PPC fire erupted from behind him, and loose lasers cut flaming grooves through the soil.
His HUD began to fuzz up and red targeting boxes began to appear from all over. "ECM?" he whispered. But he trusted his eyes and his instincts. There were no other mechs than these four.
LRM fire was much more susceptible to ghost targeting as missiles prior to launch could accidentally lock-on to a false target.
The other Super Urbanmech moved in front of the damaged one, then fired at him again. His central torso armor was half gone, and his right side torso completely stripped while the left almost gone. An honorable effort, if futile, he mused. They were both in medium PPC range now. Four mechs sounded better than two mechs if it comes to mere number PPCs, but weight of fire from one mech also mattered. His AC/5 was stripping away armor in preparation for blow-through with his main guns.
He fired again, and due to the height different stepping in front of another Urbanmech really didn't matter. The rear Urbanmech's side blew and it fell down face-first like a barrel tipping over.
Then a sound that he only dimly remembered rang through his cockpit.
An orange light on his console and a box on his HUD said the same thing.
Warning: TAG.
"Captain! I am sorry, I have failed you!" Maclaren shouted into comms. Something bright and fast arrived and slammed into the side of his mech.
Behind him the Archer likewise brewed up, but worse, as all its LRM stocks cooked off all at once from the direct missile artillery hit.
-.
Force Two consolidated around Kerensky, and now it was five mechs versus five plus three. Kerensky's own light mechs lacked the armor or speed to deal with PPC-carrying Urbanmechs and were cut down. PPC bolts lashed out, and removed another bugmech. Just like that. Five Dragoons versus four plus three of light ELH mechs now. Plus missile artillery.
"You honorless su… rats!" Kerensky shouted into comms.
"This is war!" Barbara shouted back. "Stand down, Kerensky! No one else needs to die today! Not for something as stupid as House Kurita!"
"Cyka blyat! Not like this! Fight me with all your power, prancing ponies! You need to prove you have more than just one trick!"
"Sure. Lyttle lance. Go."
Another Super Urbanmech lance arrived from behind, PPCs blazing.
Stedman's Company fell back as the Black Widow Company went into a fighting retreat. This was a fight they didn't have the tons or guns for. Seven versus five.
Running at full speed, it was harder for the Super Urbanmechs to score a clean hit. At the same time, only Kerensky could readily score those hits in return.
Another Super Urbanmech fell down. The XL engines intruding so far into the side torsos meant that it was easy to send them into critical shut down mode on a breach.
Once inside Large Laser range, Super Urbanmechs began lighting things up with TAG.
"Kerensky! You know what this means!" Barbara shouted again. "One last time! Stand down!"
"THIS IS THE SAME DAMN TRICK, CYKA!"
"Being captured isn't the end of the world, you know we treat prisoners with respect! There's always another fight after a prisoner exchange!"
Kerensky let out a gutteral sound of frustration. "... do you give your word that my men will be treated well? If they surrender to you, then only to you - the Eridani Light Horse, not House Davion. You will speak with Wolf's Dragoons directly for any prisoner exchange. Not Davion or Kurita in any way. There will be no trading them away. We would rather die as warriors than live as cattle."
"My word is my bond," replied Barbara.
"Well bargained, and done," replied Natasha Kerensky. "Black Widow Company - stand down."
"... As you say, Captain," said Ikeda. "Powering down. I surrender."
One by one, the Dragoons' mech lowered their guns and began shutting down. They opened their hatches to show surrender.
But Natasha Kerensky's Warhammer remained active.
"What about you?" asked Barbara.
Kerensky closed her eyes. This was not the first time someone had tried to capture her to force the Dragoons into a disadvantage. She had fought for so long and lost so many. This was unfair, but… better the Eridani Light Horse than any of the perfidious House Lords. Sometimes she wondered if the Inner Sphere was worth saving at all. Sometimes she wondered if it was only inertia that kept her waking up every day, every fight wondering if this would be a worthy death.
She chuckled. "Good. This is good enough. But you need more - to *be* more. You - your name?"
"Barbara Mosley, Eridani 151st regiment, 9th Company."
"Mosley, I need to hear you say this. I claim the Black Widows Company as my bondsmen."
"Uh…"
"Say it!"
"Okay, okay, fine. I claim the Black Widows Company as my bondsmen."
"Good. Now claim your prize." Kerensky's Warhammer raised its PPC arms again. "I can accept this, but I will not be able to forgive this. You will have to kill me. The Dragoons' can't be made vulnerable by me. Not again. Marik already learned we will accept no hostages. House Davion having me would make things difficult for the Wolf's Dragoons under House Kurita. Let Wolf know, I carry my secrets to my grave!"
Kerensky's Warhammer stepped out into the open. Kerensky had longed for death since the murder of Joshua Wolf by the Mariks in 3014. Never had she been known for any romantic dialliances, and no one knew that maybe the reason she accepted the moniker of the Black Widow was not from the sheer lethality represented by the creature. "I am Natasha Kerensky. I refuse your bond. Who challenges me in this circle of equals?! Who wants the glory of slaying the Black Widow!"
"... I kind of knew you'd say that," Barbara Mosley said in a small voice.
The plume of Arrow IV artillery arriving bathed the clearing. Snarling, Kerensky triggered all her weapons in an alpha strike towards Barbara Mosley, who jumped to the side to avoid most of it.
Urbanmechs were small.
Standing perfectly level, their TAG were aimed right at a Warhammer's knees.
Kerensky's enraged scream rang as her weapons fire arced up and into the air as her Warhammer's knees exploded from under her and her mech collapsed gormless into the soil.
"You… you didn't beat me…" Kerensky hissed through blood-spattered lips.
"I didn't. The *system* beat you. System against system, ethos against ethos, method against method," replied Barbara. "Because that's the way the SLDF fights."
In the darkness of her cockpit, Natasha Kerensky let out a bitter laugh.
From contact to conclusion, this battle lasted little more than eight minutes.
-.
Colchester
Kestrel Combat Region
Federated Suns
11 January 3025
Nathan Armstrong covered his face in his palms and groaned. "So according to the holos, the chances of capturing Natasha Kerensky alive is even less probable than capturing Jaime Wolf or even Maximilian Liao."
"Are we going to give her to House Davion?" asked Wendell TeCarr.
"No. We can't. Not just because Mosley promised something well above her rank, we have a Bloodnamed Clan Warrior and she would bite her own tongue off to kill herself before anyone could get information about Wolf's Dragoons out of her. And we have to risk friction with the AFFS by being so stubborn about giving her up."
"With all we have given, Hanse Davion should have our back."
"Yes, but he can't exactly explain why to the AFFS."
TeCarr shrugged. "So if we must be resented for being so independent, then we might as well play the role to the hilt."
Armstrong looked up. "We're not *actually the SLDF* you know?"
"Not yet, anyway."
-.
MechWarriors were always trying to tout themselves as the best, but deciding on the actual best MechWarrior in the Inner Sphere was a tricky prospect. What actually qualified someone for being the best amongs the hundreds of thousands of pilots out there, plying their trade in inummberable battlefields? The quality of opponents defeated? The number of victories? The ability to do and survive the impossible? To change the flow of battle just by their presence?
Some considered Morgan Kell and Yorinaga Kurita for their weird phantom mech bullshit in their duel on Mallory's World. When piloting goes beyond human limits and into the confines of the supernatural, surely that has to mean something? That historical duel ended with both of them exiling themselves into monasteries and the latter making a yearly request to be allowed to die. Some argued that shifty rumors and being so shaken by the event that they ceased to be MechWarriors at all didn't count.
Some argued that Gray Noton, Grand Champion of the Solaris Games was the better example of being the best duelist in the Inner Sphere. He faced many challengers in some of the most intense close combat fights possible in the arenas, outfighting and outsmarting all comers, Grand Champion for an unprecedented seven years. He won seven straight years on a Rifleman, a BattleMech not all suited for the close-quarter slugmatches of a mech arena; a 65 ton Heavy beating assault Mechs like 80-ton Battlemasters and 90-ton Stalkers in grossly unfair mismatches. However, others argued it was hard to know if dueling skills in cramped and predictable confines really translated to the real world. Gray Noton was not known to have faced other elite MechWarriors in life or death battles inside all-out war.
Some spoke of the Bounty Hunter, that mysterious MechWarrior piloting a lostech Marauder, hunting down the worst and deadliest scum in the Inner Sphere. Doing this alone merited a lot of respect. He had faced a company of Mechs alone and won, bringing in their literal bloody heads for a bounty. However, the mystery also worked against the Bounty Hunter, since being active since the 2920s implied that the Bounty Hunter was less than a person than a mantle that was passed down.
Therefore when one removed strange space magic or limited encounters, others could argue that the best MechWarrior in the Inner Sphere by virtue of all the known fights against other elite opponents, participating in some of the biggest battles ever, and being able to train a crew to the same level of skill - Natasha Kerensky had a convincing basis to be the best MechWarrior the Inner Sphere had ever seen. The Bounty Hunter already failed to bring down Natasha Kerensky.
The Bounty Hunter-Kerensky feud was well known, because it appears that the Marauder that the Bounty Hunter was piloting was previously hers. It was not however claimed in battle but as salvage. The Bounty Hunter and Wolf's Dragoons were working with each other in the Marik Civil war of 3014. The Bounty Hunter had signaled Kerensky's lance that a ravine that they had inspected was safe. When Kerensky entered, her lance was ambushed and destroyed by enemy forces, leading to a lifelong personal feud.
In the decade since then, Kerensky had gone from battle to battle - often wounded, often outnumbered, often killing whatever got between her crosshairs, sometimes showing mercy, sometimes withdrawing knowing when she was outmatched - but never beaten. Only in battle could she feel alive again.
If one were to look at Kerensky, the word 'punk chic' immediately comes to mind. Her hair was cut short and often dyed in a shifting variety of colors, she wore a cut-off tank top that exposed her sculpted abs, tight leather pants that showed off her legs, and was never to be found without a weapon strapped to her hip. Like most MechWarriors, the heat inside a cockpit meant that to get rid of sweat she wore little more than a bikini in combat.
She fought all the best soldiers from all Houses as Wolf's Dragoons passed from employer to employer. She met all the other elite mercenary commands - McCarron's Armored Cavalry, Northwind Highlanders, 12th Star Guards, Blue Star Irregulars, the Eridani Light Horse, and more - first as allies, then later as enemies.
Natasha Kerensky's Black Widow company was made of misfits and insubordinate troops that Kerensky through intensely directed violence and sheer bloody-minded charisma forged into an elite crew that could fight on the same level as herself.
Kerensky cared for her crew more than she did herself. The only real way to earn the Black Widows enduring hate was to murder her people. Dying in battle was fine, but an unworthy death was an insult she could not forgive.
-.
-.
50 kilometers NNE of Firthhaven
New Aberdeen
08 January 3025
When conducting a proper ambush, always open up first with the largest and most casualty-producing weapon you have. While Stedman was focused on chasing Kerensky with all of his 11-mech company, the Black Widows company were split into four forces. As Stedman finally caught up with Kerensky, the night-black Warhammer turning around to bring Kerensky's pair of PPCs to bear, suddenly a Crusader and an Archer emerged from behind a levee. They opened up from the side, LRMs being an excellent answer to fast-moving mechs at range. The 65-ton Crusader contributed a pair of LRM-15s while the 70-ton Archer brought two LRM-20s into play. A 20-ton Stinger was just there for scout and support.
With two mechs in front and three to the side, the numbers matched but the weight of enfilade fire was a lesson that the Eridani Light Horse had taught the Dragoons many times before on Hoff.
A total of 70 incoming LRMs was too much for Anton Stedman's battered 55-ton Griffin to handle. Panic and disbelief was almost fatal, but the ELH captain ejected just as the LRMs and PPC bolts shattered the core of his Mech. What he might personally call cowardice, the ELH would only praise as good sense.
The Stinger in Stedman's command lance was also shot clear through in that moment of surprise, its already worn-down armor nowhere near enough to withstand a PPC hit.
With Anton Stedman out of the picture, that left things to Jake Redmond, second-in-command. But with Kerensky moving her guns, he only had a brief moment to consider his own imminent death.
Then Barbara Mosley's message came out of the radio and that distracted Kerensky long enough to turn the hit on his 55-ton Shadow Hawk from coring his Fusion Engine into merely blowing out the entire right half of his Mech. Jake Redmond had time to eject. He recalled later that his last view from the cockpit was Kerensky's smile through her cockpit, magnified on his scanners.
Now there was no one effectively in command to direct the company.
-.
Moran's Lance, following behind Stedman's lance, did not fare much better. Kerensky's Force Three consisted of a 75-ton Marauder, a 70-ton Archer, and a 20-ton Wasp. Moran's lance consisted of two 45-ton Phoenix Hawks, and a 20-ton Stinger and a Wasp respectively. A Phoenix Hawk shattered in the opening salvo, its pilot killed outright, and the lance scattered.
-.
Kerensky's Force Four was all the rest of Recon Lance, who had not yet committed themselves into the battle but only waiting for the enemy to turn. They stood in a prim and proper line ready to swoop in to maximize havoc. The third lance of Stedman's Company was a trio of twenty-tonners, a Stinger and two Wasps, which were now rushing forward to support lead elements to keep the retreat from turning into a rout.
John "the Gentleman" Clavell, considered a brilliant tactician even by the standards of the Dragoons, ran his recon lance like a fast strike force. He did this despite leading the lance with a comparatively slow 60-ton Rifleman. Piet Nichols, inside a Phoenix Hawk, was sent to Kerensky's Black Widow company for disobeying orders and leading a glory raid that failed and got his troops cut off and surrounded. Simon Fraser inside a Stinger actually volunteered for the Black Widows because he thought his old outfit was too tame. Lastly, Mohammar Jahan was assigned to the Black Widows because a major was incensed by his impertinence about wanting to marry the Major's daughter. The officer didn't conceal that he hoped the transfer would prove fata, but Jahan still believed that this was a test to demonstrate his skill and courage to his prospective father-in-law.
Three streaks arrived from the south, and there was bang and what even looked like blooming fireworks.
Clavell's lance was effectively out of the fight.
-.
Natasha Kerensky's instincts had never left her wrong, and immediately she shouted into the company channel "Disperse!".
She only had time to see another three streaks of light arrive, towards Force Two. The Archer was piloted by Takiro Ikeda who led the Widows' Fire Lance and the Crusader was normally fire support in her command lance piloted by Lynn Sheridan.
To their credit, the two obeyed her orders instantly. Unfortunately, both mechs were not all that fast. The Arrow-IV Cluster Artillery missiles arrived in an overlapping pattern that gave a 90-meter kill radius.
Sufficiently well-armored, both mechs survived but were now badly mauled with exposed missile racks. Belatedly one of the Crusader's arms blew off as the LRMs inside cooked off. Sheridan had a reputation for always getting her mech wrecked by bad luck or her recklessness.
-.
It was at this time that Force Three, led by Colin Maclaren, Kerensky's second-in-command, reported "Enemy contacts bearing one-five-zero. Arriving at speed. They seem to be…" his voice took on a doubtful note "... Urbanmechs?"
The Black Widows spread out to minimize the effects of artillery but were still engaged in combat with the Eridani Light Horse in front of them. The light mechs were not quite in a rout, but attempting to disengage at all their best speed.
Maclaren let Milklos Delius in the Archer and Nikolai Koniev in the Wasp, normally a part of Ikeda's Fire Lance, to deal with the ELH while he turned his Marauder to face the newcomers.
With a pair of PPCs and AC/5, an aggressively sloped profile, and excellent communications systems, the Marauder had long been the quintessential Heavy Mech all others were measured around. The Star League manufactured vast numbers of them, and in fact preferred the Marauder for front-line command units. More than anything, it was the Marauder that symbolized the martial superiority of the SLDF.
With punishing firepower all capable of hitting at long range, Colin Maclaren as the last surviving member of Kerensky's original lance, was not about to disappoint "The Lady" now. He sent his 75-ton Mech into an ambling walk to receive the enemy. Due to the Marauder's low and sharp profile, it actually exposed the least to enemy fire when pointed straight at the enemy, favoring very aggressive tactics.
The lance of Super Urbanmechs also slowed down at mutual sight range, down to around 64 kph. This was normally a heavy mech's fastest run speed. As one the lance began to turn in a circle around the inbound Heavy Mech to keep the range open.
It was at this point that Barbara Mosley ordered "Switch Variable Range Targeting to Long Range!".
A Super Royal Urbanmech's battle computer had the quirk of being able to adjust for greater accuracy across a range with a corresponding penalty to the opposite - long and short range, for example. Medium range targeting remained unaffected. In their sensors, the battle computers marked a pip leading the enemy's movement.
Maclaren was a pilot just as good as Kerensky. Whether it was luck or a desire to remain a faithful soldier, he just didn't shine out as much. But his gunnery skills made him deadly as anything.
Four PPCs bolts lashed out. Two missed entirely, while the third slapped against the upper-right side of the Marauder for minimal damage even if it stripped half a ton of armor across that edge.
But Maclaren couldn't shoot back with his own PPCs. His reticule remained an inactive green for 'out of range' tracking the object under his sights.
"Captain!" he hurriedly shouted into comms "These Mechs are carrying Extended Range PPCs!" He pushed his Marauder into maximum speed charging straight at the enemy.
Their walking speed was just as fast as his running speed. The Marauder was a 'chicken walker' BattleMech, and his stride length made it possible to confuse targeting at range by unpredictably shifting from side to to side even on a full run. The short stubby legs an Urbanmech made their movements predictable. His weapon-arms were already aiming ahead of the little metal cans.
Four PPC bolts streaked towards him. Maclaren took the shot at the enemy, not caring if it hit, then shifted his mech's facing to minimize exposure. Armor crackled and splintered off, and he turned back to resume his assault.
The four Super Urbanmechs split into two groups, pincering him from left and right. Maclaren grit grit his teeth and prepared to degrade their weapons fire by taking out the ones in front of him first. As the nearest Super Urbanmech went under his crosshairs, his pair of PPCs fired. More blue streaks and shrieks of lightning lit up the night.
Both were clean hits, and the dumpy mech flinched. His top-mounted then AC/5 struck at the mech, hoping to crack open the mech now that the armor had been breached.
It was unfortunately not enough to kill the Light Mech. Something in there blew, but it was probably a heatsink getting in the way. PPC bolts lashed out again, and his own computer was giving him 'low armor' warning.
But aggression and utter disdain for their own health was what made Kerensky's Black Widow Company so feared. The first to fear for their own life was the first to die; this was what they had always proved on the battlefield. Those who disregarded their own lives were the ones to survive. There was nothing like the pure clarity of combat.
The other two oddly fast and potent Urbanmechs shot at his side for one volley and then moved on to strike at the Archer in the back line. He mused he would show them the price of this arrogance after he removed the problem in his sight.
Someone screamed through comms "Why are these things so fucking faaassttt?!!!"
More shrieks of PPC fire erupted from behind him, and loose lasers cut flaming grooves through the soil.
His HUD began to fuzz up and red targeting boxes began to appear from all over. "ECM?" he whispered. But he trusted his eyes and his instincts. There were no other mechs than these four.
LRM fire was much more susceptible to ghost targeting as missiles prior to launch could accidentally lock-on to a false target.
The other Super Urbanmech moved in front of the damaged one, then fired at him again. His central torso armor was half gone, and his right side torso completely stripped while the left almost gone. An honorable effort, if futile, he mused. They were both in medium PPC range now. Four mechs sounded better than two mechs if it comes to mere number PPCs, but weight of fire from one mech also mattered. His AC/5 was stripping away armor in preparation for blow-through with his main guns.
He fired again, and due to the height different stepping in front of another Urbanmech really didn't matter. The rear Urbanmech's side blew and it fell down face-first like a barrel tipping over.
Then a sound that he only dimly remembered rang through his cockpit.
An orange light on his console and a box on his HUD said the same thing.
Warning: TAG.
"Captain! I am sorry, I have failed you!" Maclaren shouted into comms. Something bright and fast arrived and slammed into the side of his mech.
Behind him the Archer likewise brewed up, but worse, as all its LRM stocks cooked off all at once from the direct missile artillery hit.
-.
Force Two consolidated around Kerensky, and now it was five mechs versus five plus three. Kerensky's own light mechs lacked the armor or speed to deal with PPC-carrying Urbanmechs and were cut down. PPC bolts lashed out, and removed another bugmech. Just like that. Five Dragoons versus four plus three of light ELH mechs now. Plus missile artillery.
"You honorless su… rats!" Kerensky shouted into comms.
"This is war!" Barbara shouted back. "Stand down, Kerensky! No one else needs to die today! Not for something as stupid as House Kurita!"
"Cyka blyat! Not like this! Fight me with all your power, prancing ponies! You need to prove you have more than just one trick!"
"Sure. Lyttle lance. Go."
Another Super Urbanmech lance arrived from behind, PPCs blazing.
Stedman's Company fell back as the Black Widow Company went into a fighting retreat. This was a fight they didn't have the tons or guns for. Seven versus five.
Running at full speed, it was harder for the Super Urbanmechs to score a clean hit. At the same time, only Kerensky could readily score those hits in return.
Another Super Urbanmech fell down. The XL engines intruding so far into the side torsos meant that it was easy to send them into critical shut down mode on a breach.
Once inside Large Laser range, Super Urbanmechs began lighting things up with TAG.
"Kerensky! You know what this means!" Barbara shouted again. "One last time! Stand down!"
"THIS IS THE SAME DAMN TRICK, CYKA!"
"Being captured isn't the end of the world, you know we treat prisoners with respect! There's always another fight after a prisoner exchange!"
Kerensky let out a gutteral sound of frustration. "... do you give your word that my men will be treated well? If they surrender to you, then only to you - the Eridani Light Horse, not House Davion. You will speak with Wolf's Dragoons directly for any prisoner exchange. Not Davion or Kurita in any way. There will be no trading them away. We would rather die as warriors than live as cattle."
"My word is my bond," replied Barbara.
"Well bargained, and done," replied Natasha Kerensky. "Black Widow Company - stand down."
"... As you say, Captain," said Ikeda. "Powering down. I surrender."
One by one, the Dragoons' mech lowered their guns and began shutting down. They opened their hatches to show surrender.
But Natasha Kerensky's Warhammer remained active.
"What about you?" asked Barbara.
Kerensky closed her eyes. This was not the first time someone had tried to capture her to force the Dragoons into a disadvantage. She had fought for so long and lost so many. This was unfair, but… better the Eridani Light Horse than any of the perfidious House Lords. Sometimes she wondered if the Inner Sphere was worth saving at all. Sometimes she wondered if it was only inertia that kept her waking up every day, every fight wondering if this would be a worthy death.
She chuckled. "Good. This is good enough. But you need more - to *be* more. You - your name?"
"Barbara Mosley, Eridani 151st regiment, 9th Company."
"Mosley, I need to hear you say this. I claim the Black Widows Company as my bondsmen."
"Uh…"
"Say it!"
"Okay, okay, fine. I claim the Black Widows Company as my bondsmen."
"Good. Now claim your prize." Kerensky's Warhammer raised its PPC arms again. "I can accept this, but I will not be able to forgive this. You will have to kill me. The Dragoons' can't be made vulnerable by me. Not again. Marik already learned we will accept no hostages. House Davion having me would make things difficult for the Wolf's Dragoons under House Kurita. Let Wolf know, I carry my secrets to my grave!"
Kerensky's Warhammer stepped out into the open. Kerensky had longed for death since the murder of Joshua Wolf by the Mariks in 3014. Never had she been known for any romantic dialliances, and no one knew that maybe the reason she accepted the moniker of the Black Widow was not from the sheer lethality represented by the creature. "I am Natasha Kerensky. I refuse your bond. Who challenges me in this circle of equals?! Who wants the glory of slaying the Black Widow!"
"... I kind of knew you'd say that," Barbara Mosley said in a small voice.
The plume of Arrow IV artillery arriving bathed the clearing. Snarling, Kerensky triggered all her weapons in an alpha strike towards Barbara Mosley, who jumped to the side to avoid most of it.
Urbanmechs were small.
Standing perfectly level, their TAG were aimed right at a Warhammer's knees.
Kerensky's enraged scream rang as her weapons fire arced up and into the air as her Warhammer's knees exploded from under her and her mech collapsed gormless into the soil.
"You… you didn't beat me…" Kerensky hissed through blood-spattered lips.
"I didn't. The *system* beat you. System against system, ethos against ethos, method against method," replied Barbara. "Because that's the way the SLDF fights."
In the darkness of her cockpit, Natasha Kerensky let out a bitter laugh.
From contact to conclusion, this battle lasted little more than eight minutes.
-.
Colchester
Kestrel Combat Region
Federated Suns
11 January 3025
Nathan Armstrong covered his face in his palms and groaned. "So according to the holos, the chances of capturing Natasha Kerensky alive is even less probable than capturing Jaime Wolf or even Maximilian Liao."
"Are we going to give her to House Davion?" asked Wendell TeCarr.
"No. We can't. Not just because Mosley promised something well above her rank, we have a Bloodnamed Clan Warrior and she would bite her own tongue off to kill herself before anyone could get information about Wolf's Dragoons out of her. And we have to risk friction with the AFFS by being so stubborn about giving her up."
"With all we have given, Hanse Davion should have our back."
"Yes, but he can't exactly explain why to the AFFS."
TeCarr shrugged. "So if we must be resented for being so independent, then we might as well play the role to the hilt."
Armstrong looked up. "We're not *actually the SLDF* you know?"
"Not yet, anyway."
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bluepencil
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And you have all properly caught up. There is no more.
Now I'm mulling over the proper reactions to this as a PHO-style response thread isn't easy through HPG.
Now I'm mulling over the proper reactions to this as a PHO-style response thread isn't easy through HPG.
Praetorian13
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The closest to a PHO thread I can think of would be in a big club or bar on a world like Solaris VII or Galatea with people talking about how the Black Widow lost and all the rumors flying around that.
Sleepwalker
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Comstar intelligence agent message log with additional informal comments? At least from the moment the ELH jumpship departs in an unknown direction, the whole situation begins to be of interest to them, albeit a small one. And given that the interest is small, a certain informality in the correspondence will not destroy the suspension of disbelief.
This is certainly not an informal internet forum, but probably the closest analogue available in the setting.
bluepencil
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I'm slowly looking through the books trying to get at that dimly remembered scene of people talking or messaging through HPG. I have this strong but unfounded feeling that if you could afford it you could do almost realtime conversation via HPG. Don't remember where I first heard that though.
HellTeddy
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Each pulse can carry terabytes of compressed information, everything from simple text to books and video. One millisecond of transmission time, just enough for two pages of bare text or a small image, is equal to one C-Bill, with larger items taking longer and thus having a higher cost. On average the time for transmission of a non-priority message between Terra and Tharkad takes about a week, and from Terra to the limits of the explored Periphery about six months. Priority message over the same distance could take between few hours to a day depending on conditions and network message load.
Think your talking about the Clans.
Due to their relative proximity and small number, the stations of the Clan Homeworld HPG network are all of equal capacity, transmitting to each station within range as required. While utilizing a batch transmission schedule for general communication traffic, the limited size and close-ranges of this network also allow near-instantaneous real-time transmission, albeit with a 1.2 second delay for each station the signal must traverse.
Think your talking about the Clans.
Due to their relative proximity and small number, the stations of the Clan Homeworld HPG network are all of equal capacity, transmitting to each station within range as required. While utilizing a batch transmission schedule for general communication traffic, the limited size and close-ranges of this network also allow near-instantaneous real-time transmission, albeit with a 1.2 second delay for each station the signal must traverse.
Sleepwalker
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Unfortunately, I have not read all the books, but it seems to me that Comstar has a partially artificial limitation on the frequency of communication sessions and the amount of information sent. That is, they accumulate messages and send them, say once a week or a day, depending on the "class" of the transmitter. This limitation is semi-artificial because although it really exists, Comstar does not use even 10% of the real capacity of their network.
Most likely Comstar stations, perhaps except for the most powerful ones, are really unable to support video calls or even just calls, but sending messages at least at the level of the Internet network of the 90s is reliable.
However, I think that simultaneity is unnecessary here. The interlude can be imagined as a series of messages exchanged over time between various "agents" and "clerks" of the Comstar intelligence network. For example, a middle-level "clerk" receives a message from an agent that an almost empty ELH's jumpship has entered his system. "Clerk" sends requests to other agents trying to find information in order to understand where and why the ELH could send an almost empty jumpship, which, in translation, falls out of Comstar's "field of vision". And then the jumpship disappears altogether. Perhaps the "clerk" is sending a request to his superiors, trying to find information on other branches of the intelligence network. All this overcoming bureaucracy, the human factor, and just a comedic accidents. The moment the jumpship returns with the dropships, the bureaucratic bacchanalia in Comstar reaches its peak with the search for who is to blame and the appointment of those who will be responsible for it all.
Well, anyway, I would try to do something like that. Somehow my own idea reminds me of one of the last books in Asprin's MYTH series.
HellTeddy
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Just to add, they went back in one jump due to chaos crystal shenanigans! Imagine if Comstar sent explorer corps to find out where the ELH went and still following their trail, only for them to re-appear back at Colchester.
Sleepwalker
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Just to add, they went back in one jump due to chaos crystal shenanigans! Imagine if Comstar sent explorer corps to find out where the ELH went and still following their trail, only for them to re-appear back at Colchester.
Comstar does not know the jumpship path, so it cannot know the exact number of jumps required. But, yes, trying to figure out where the jumpship picked up the dropships given the time spent on this operation, the standard jump distance and the standard charge time of this jumpship will drive analysts crazy.
bluepencil
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As Armstrong told Hanse Davion, that only counts if dropships couldn't transfer between jumpships. They left with one dropship, they returned with all nine drop collars full.
This still means that their meeting point was, due to the necessary two-way travel time, implied that it's somewhere within two and a half to three months distance.
> Declan II
Comstar> That's just three jumps away from Colchester!
MIIO> And we know they started to go south.
Maskirova> There was a sighting near the Davion-Taurian border.
SAFE> But that can't be, it would have taken them four more months to get back.
ISF> Faking an IFF code is trivial, but first this presumes someone has the luxury of another Monolith-class JumpShip just to play these misinformation games.
TMI> THIIIEEEEVVEEEESSS!!!
That's why I need at least the format of a standard Comstar email.
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Sleepwalker
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Well, I can't think of an example of a Comstar intelligence message form from books or rulebooks. To be honest, in fiction books there is no formal design at all, and if a message is used there through Comstar, then it is served in free form or even through a character. Anyway, that's how I remember it.
You can always depict something generalized-formal:
Date: 01.01.9999
To whom: Brother Blake, (position... I don't remember what it sounds like at Comstar, but let's say the head of the HPG station on Colchester).
From: Brother White, (something like: regional analytical department).
(Message) For example: 01/01/9999 the ELH jumpship (name) jumped into the star system (name). I request information about the route and the jumpship task.
P.s. Brother Blake, why did I get this information almost by accident? Get yourself in order.
Well, then the answer is in the same form, then a request to Davion's environment ...
Maybe this is not the standard "blank" of Comstar, but more or less reliable. You can post a test piece on the SB, maybe someone will correct it.
7.1 World of Eggs
bluepencil
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World of Eggs 01
New Aberdeen
Draconis March
Federated Suns
14 January 3025
From the memoirs of Natasha Kerensky:
Terran history contains reams of pages produced by writers and so-called philosophers trying to find scholarly ways to justify their countries' participation in wars, prattling about "threats to basic freedoms" and "the common good". Nowadays, I do not think anybody - not even the leaders of our beloved five families - who makes any pretense about why we fight wars. It is power, pure and simple, that drives us now, and the only thing that differentiates one war from another is the size and manner of the stakes involved, and the size of the final body count.
No matter how many times my men and I go to war - and God willing, that will be another quarter century or more - I doubt we will ever be involved in a campaign as important as the war waged by Wolf's Dragoons on the planet Hoff in 3022. First all there, there were the Houses involved: Davion vs Kurita, the two heavyweights of the five Successor families, going at one another with no holds barred. Second, there was the caliber of our opposition: four battalions of the Eridani Light Horse, the only mercenary unit in the Human Sphere with the tactical competence to seriously challenge our status as the best regiment in the galaxy.
(What about Hansen's Roughriders you say? Be serious! How could anyone be afraid of a unit whose commander has the strategic subtlety of a concrete DropShip!)
But third, and most importantly, there was the prize involved. Not water, nor metals, nor control of another flea-bitten frontier planet. No, this time the states were that rarest of commodities, a cadre of scientists and engineers, assembled on Hoff by House Davion to conduct the first serious research into Mech technology in a century. House Kurita wanted to get its hands on the fruits of those labors, wanted it bad it was willing to offer us the highest price ever paid for a Merc contract.
And so, my friends, did we…
-.
-.
Clang.
The door to Natasha Kerensky's cell opened.
Her cell was as comfortable as any prefabricated prison could be made. A bed, tables, books, sanitary equip, equipment, writing materials, and a noteputer. People were often surprised by how erudite Natasha Kerensky writes. In person she was usually quiet, but once made angry enough she would just as likely kill you as curse you out. That murderous unpredictability was what made the Black Widow so chilling.
But give her time to herself, and time to write, and Natasha Kerensky gets sardonic to the max.
She looked at what she had written under the title 'A response to missile artillery in mech combat' and closed the notebook.
Her cell was a prefabricated ferrocrete structure in the middle of the tarmac shadowed by BattleMech guns. She was that dangerous that they would rather not have her be in a position to reconsider her word not to escape or end her life as long as she could bring someone down with her. Granted, those were Urbanmech guns, but Natasha supposed a PPC was a PPC.
She smiled thinly as Barbara Mosley walked into the room. "So?" asked Natasha. "What is the butcher's bill?"
"Anyone that gets through three days after surgery is probably going to live long enough to wake up," replied the blonde woman. Barbara brought a chair with her and sat facing Natasha. "From Stedman's Company, starting with eleven mechs, they came home with six, but eight pilots will be able to fight another day. This is war and casualties happen, but first I have to say that we didn't intend it to happen this way. That's why I wanted to parley and end this in a draw, all we wanted was to open a neutral line of communications to Jaime Wolf.
She shrugged. "Too late now, I suppose."
"Spare me your pity. You came with the objective to smash the Black Widow flat, and you have done so in record time. Some might call it cheating to use out-of-map artillery, but it can also be considered an honor that you needed to resort to such measures at all. It takes skill to make do with inferior technology, but those who do not have the skill can only resort to other means."
Natasha Kerensky put away the felt tip pen she was writing with. The Eridani Light Horse had not provided her with anything that could be somewhat effectively used as a weapon. "But war is war, and is not by itself combat. Tell me, how many of my men have you murdered?"
"First of all - your second in command, Colin Maclaren survived the missile hit. But he might not ever pilot a BattleMech again, even with extensive cyborgization. His Marauder is a total loss. If any Mechs are salvageable, we might release them with you depending on the terms of prisoner exchange."
Natasha Kerensky let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. The last of her original lance and her most ardent supporter, he was like a knight in service of his lady. There was nothing romantic in there despite many rumors, but they did care for each other in a very platonic and courtly sort of way. Without him as a pillar to hold her up, all she would have left is hate and death.
Barbara continued "Other survivors are: Lynn Sheridan, Crusader. Takiro Ekida, Archer. John Hayes, Griffin. John Clavell, Rifleman. Simon Fraser, Stinger. Mohammar Jahan, Stinger."
The bigger mechs surviving artillery strikes were understandable. Some of them had been with Kerensky and so surrendered intact.
Barbara added with a clack of her tongue "We're actually surprised that all pilots in the lightest mechs in your Recon Lance survived top-attack munitions, but from the interviews they were fast enough to get their arms up to protect their cockpits. The bomblets still ruined the rest of their mechs though."
Clavell in his Rifleman stayed to guard his fallen lance and asked for orders instead of just randomly rushing out to battle on his own. He was far enough from the fight that the remaining Stedman's company Mechs couldn't find him and bring down his heavily damaged nearly combat-ineffective mech.
Natasha Kerensky noted instantly the missing names. Miklos Delius, Archer. Nikolai Koniev, Wasp. Alex Ward, Stinger. Takiro Ikeda was the last surviving member of Ikeda's Fire Lance.
From her company of twelve mechs, four died. This made their karma equal with Stedman's company. But- Natasha looked up and her eyes burned with cold anger. "And you? How many did you lose?"
Barbara looked shiftily to the side, avoiding meeting Natasha's eyes.
"Seriously? You cannot expect me to believe you lost no one. I saw those… Urbanmechs…" even to Natasha Kerensky, just saying that felt incredibly weird "fall without ejection pods. One I killed personally!"
Barbara licked her lips and answered "Well… it turns out that what with the XL engine intruding so much into a side torso… that any containment failure instantly scrams the reactor and shuts down the whole mech. So the mech falls down. But the pilot is still mostly unharmed in there, taken down far earlier than any other equivalent mech that tries to fight until it gets put down."
Natasha blinked. There was something charming in her honest confusion, no wonder she was so popular. That innocent look was damn cheating!
"You're telling me - that not only are you using lost technology, but that losing that technology in battle was completely accidentally an advantage for you. We have all been so used to trying to kill the meat to save the metal for salvage-" whispered Kerensky "... that even I ignored a dead mech as being completely dead. A broken XL engine is useless for salvage. But we - Wolf's Dragoons and the Eridani Light Horse both - would prefer to have surviving pilots and their valuable skills more than just more 'Mech salvage."
"Please do not start double-tapping ELH mechs. A downed mech is still out of the fight and killing downed pilots is still an atrocity."
Natasha Kerensky closed her eyes and palmed her face. "What are you ponies even doing?" she hissed through her teeth.
-.
-.
The 4th Deneb could only watch as the Black Widows and wounded Light Horse personnel of Stimson's Company were immediately loaded onto the Union DropShip which immediately departed offworld, leaving Barbara's Badniks behind.
Mosley's Company was at full fighting strength of 12 mechs as techs worked overtime to replace the scrammed fusion engine.
With the capture of Natasha Kerensky's Black Widow Company, remaining Kurita and Wolf's Dragoons forces on the world were suddenly on the back foot. Davion forces on the world still didn't have enough troops to force a decisive engagement, with both Davion and Kurita forces having dug in around settlements and cities promising brutal urban combat, but on open field encounters Kurita forces could only roll off the field every single time.
2nd Galedon was a light regiment with green troops being supported by elements of the Epsilon Battalion. This was why a low-intensity but long-duration conflict was preferred by both sides. This allowed their troops to gain fighting experience with only minimal risk. 4th Deneb was not ready to escalate by themselves.
Intercepted radio communications went some variation of:
"What the hell are these things and why are they so faaassttt?!"
"Why are there Urbanmechs in the middle of the desert?"
"Fool, you were beaten by Urbanmechs? You were piloting a Jenner! Do not make excuses for your incompetence!"
"Chu-i!" the Lieutenant equivalent in the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery "We have walked into a minefield!"
"For Kerens-" *KABLAM*
The 4th Deneb were known for their speed, but literally no one was at all prepared for the impossible sight of a fast Urbanmech. All operations could be supported at full speed all the time. Anything that the Super Urbanmech couldn't outgun, they could escape or lead into a trap of other faster mechs and hovercraft.
"Jesus Christ," breathed Major Kaplan as the results of the a week of Barbara Mosley's company being on-planet finally came together.
Barbara shrugged. "It's not my fault if so many of them want the glory of being the one to win over the one who took down Kerensky that they'll walk into any trap."
"Natasha Kerensky in a Heavy Mech was beaten by someone in a Light Mech. An Urbanmech. That pilot has to be a damn genius in combat. And she's still going out there in her little thirty-ton trashcan just asking them to have a try."
Barbara winced. "You know it wasn't like that. It was a team effort and with gross abuse of missile artillery."
She knew full well that while she was a pretty good veteran MechWarrior, she was only that good. A lot of people were actually mistaking Terry Little's actions for hers. Her former lancemate, now the leader of his own lance, had amazing gunnery skills; which was why formerly in Captain Allwine's Command Lance he piloted a comparatively slow 50-ton Enforcer.
Kaplan grinned. "But that's not romantic. A woman like the Black Widow being taken down by another woman? You know they're all just workshopping a name for you now."
Barbara winced even harder.
There were official callsigns (Gold One, Gold Two, etc.) for military action and unofficial ones that defined a pilot. Many still maintained the tradition that you don't get to pick your own callsign, it was something other pilots pushed on you as part of the ritual of belonging. Some, like Natasha Kerensky, made it their brand by being able to slap down anyone that tried to say otherwise. Some, like Barbara, never really gave a thought to this sort of thing - until it was too late with feeling undeserved fame.
Jack Finsrud had been trying to push "The Trashwoman" amongs the impressionable 4th Deneb infantry until she slugged him in the face.
Barbara "Bad Mama" Mosley was also making the rounds but she thought it made her sound old and dumpy.
She kicked the question up to Eridani High Command and their PR machine and tried not to lose any sleep about it.
-.
PRESS RELEASE
Comstar News Bureau
15 January 3025
Eridani Light Horse Command confirms that Natasha "The Black Widow" Kerensky, Captain of the Black Widows independent Company under Wolf's Dragoons, has been captured alive and relatively unharmed in battle on the world of New Aberdeen on 09 January 3025. All units of the Black Widows company have also been captured or KIA.
Forces responsible for this event are the 9th Recon Company of the 151st Light Horse Regiment of the Eridani Light Horse, headed by Captain Barbara Mosley in support of a Black Widows ambush on ELH Stedman's Company. This ambush on an ambush operation was termed CASE UNICORN.
It has been verified that Barbara Mosley piloted a "Super Urbanmech" that is capable of running at over 86 kph and carries a PPC. Kerensky's usual BattleMech is a Warhammer with two PPCs and a top speed of approx 64 kph. All mechs of the 9th Recon are all similar "Super Urbanmechs", none massing more than 30 tons. They faced off against Natasha Kerensky's Black Widows Company which is composed as a mix of Heavy and Light BattleMechs.
Accordingly, if a moniker or callsign needs to be used, the ELH would prefer "The White Unicorn" in publications.
ELH and Davion spokesperson have said that this "Super Urbanmech" design will eventually be released for mass manufacture under an ELH-owned production house in a similar manner to how Blackwell Industries is the dedicated manufacturer for Wolf's Dragoons.
Terms of release for Wolf's Dragoons POWs will be negotiated in the near future. The ELH maintains custody over Natasha Kerensky and her company.
-.
-.
Comstar was not very interested in the gossip. The Eridani Light Horse had been in the Inner Sphere for three hundred years and was a known quantity. Some technical elements had also attempted to verify if it was possible to actually do this, but returned with the idea that due to the short stubby legs of the Urbanmech, it could burn out the servos too quickly.
By their accounting, going a full 86 kph instead of a more reasonable 64 kph was very suboptimal for the weapon load. A heavier alpha strike would probably be more useful in city combat, and if you need speed - just use a different, cheaper mech. It's trying to be a medium mech without the armor to match.
This platform would not be viable unless the Super Urbanmech had XL Engines or Double Heat Sinks.
Hoff was a setback to House Davion's research on DHS, but this may imply that NAIS had a new series of prototypes to put to field trials with the Eridani Light Horse in gratitude for their service on Hoff. In which case the only real response was to cut off the source of production - the ELH were irrelevant.
The Eridani Light Horse might be good pilots, but infrastructurally they were not the Wolf's Dragoons.
ROM only had interest in the news for Jaime Wolf's response, but analysts predicted nothing particularly interesting. Prisoner exchanges were pro forma between mercenary commands, and the only thing this bought them was a communications line between Hanse Davion and Jaime Wolf.
That was more dangerous.
-.
-.
Solaris VII
Valhalla Club
Date unknown
"So you heard? The Black Widow's finally been taken down."
"It's it about time? Mercenary work is like that, fight enough people eventually your ticket is due. To be taken down by some no-name MechWarrior - someone got lucky."
"Kerensky's been fighting too many people and keeps winning them. Her skill's the real deal. It's not just talent and just being lucky isn't enough to explain this. To take down Kerensky's Warhammer while piloting a goddamn Urbanmech…"
"Ach, yah, that's gotta sting. That just makes it more impressive. I could believe it. If anyone could take down the best of the Wolf's Dragoons, the Eridani Light Horse could make it."
"But why even an Urbanmech in the first place? If the Eridani Light Horse could make an Urbie go that fast, why not something else like a Valkyrie or something?"
"Maybe for the insult? Wolf's Dragoons been going up and down claiming to be the best mercenary command in the Inner Sphere… and the Eridani Light Horse took that personally."
"You don't make a full company of twelve weirdly fast Urbanmechs just to rub it in. Something's off about this… think they got lostech? Lostech Urbanmechs sound extra dumb though."
"Doesn't change how the Black Widow got take down by a trashcan though."
"Yeah…"
"She was put in the dumpster."
"She got taken to the cleaners."
"Her reputation's in the trash."
"She's going to have to wear the stain of this humiliation for a long time…"
"Can you believe that the Eridani Light Horse actually wants us to call the woman who took down the Black Widow something as boring as White Unicorn?"
"Those foolish ponies. Those uptight, out-of-touch, ignorant idiots. A public callsign isn't something you claim - it's one that's given to you by other people!"
"What about the Black Widow then?"
"By other people too scared to object!"
"Gyahahaha fair enough."
Laughter rang through the table. The gladiators raised their tankards. "So here's to Barbara 'Miss Bad Ass' Mosley! May her glorious donkey kick bring her more glory in the battlefield!"
New Avalon
Crucis March
Federated Suns
Same time
"The Eridani Light Horse did what?!" Ardan Sortek spat.
"Aha. Ahaha. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Hanse Davion began laughing a loud full belly laugh and pounded at his table. He was crying tears of laughter. He rubbed at his eyes and leaned back on his chair. "Oh those people… hahah… oh god in heaven, I love hearing news about the Eridani Light Horse."
It looked to Ardan as if Hanse Davion was aging backwards as his laughter settled down. All the stress and pains of rulership just for a few brief moments faded away.
As much as Ardan Sortek and the AFFS wanted to be the pillar that House Davion could rest their worries upon, none of them could really understand the crushing loneliness of being the man ultimately responsible for throwing the gauntlet. To decide that his goals were sufficient reason to move millions of men and cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands on both sides, to see the peace of worlds broken and land conquered.
The Eridani Light Horse were in the mood of "There is a problem. I am going to fix it," and Hanse Davion just loved the hell out of the ELH apparently giving no more shites. It helped make him feel that he was no longer alone.
Quintus Allard had to report things like this personally as head of MIIO because as the ELH was employed by House Davion, it was an internal matter.
"Why do you look so annoyed?" Hanse asked. "Is this not a good thing?"
"The Eridani Light Horse are refusing to remand Kerensky and all the other Dragoons to our custody. If there's any prisoner exchange, they also demand they hand over the Dragoons personally instead of releasing them to any AFFS transport at any point."
Hanse nodded. "It's fine."
"Hanse… the intel we could gain from Kerensky… where the Dragoons actually came from, where are they doing with Kurita… she's a high-level officer despite only commanding a company."
Hanse waved. "It's fine."
"Are you su-"
"It's fine."
Quintus sighed. "You are favoring the Light Horse too much. I'd say that the AFFS would resent such blatant favoritism, but they did just build a task force and smashed the Black Widows flat in about ten minutes when the Davion Guards and a merc company failed their own headhunting expedition. Considering the success of the Wolf's Dragoons in Kurita employ, this is helping morale across the board. "
"Is there anything else I could do for the Eridani Light Horse?" Hanse asked. "This sounds like it's worth a reward. Have you finished looking over Declan yet? I don't care what's on it. The Light Horse can have it. Cancel the search. It's theirs. I won't have them wait a month longer if they need it."
Quintus looked unimpressed. "Declan is four jumps - a month away - from Kestrel." As Kestrel was the Administrative Center of the Kestral March, it was simple enough to order the creation of a hostile environment exploration team. Doing it in secrecy was the problem. "They're not even a quarter of the way there."
Hanse smiled. "So isn't it fine?"
Quintus sighed. "We really should still know of planetary conditions on that world just in case. Just because the ELH is being overly generous right now shouldn't mean we should ignore how they might become a threat. What happens when a mercenary no longer needs the financial support of their employer? The best thing is that they just leave. The worst is that they feel the existence of their former employer is… redundant."
He clapped his hands in response to Ardan's scowl. "We must not be blind to the possibilities. If the scenario is that the Eridani Light Horse has been activated as a foothold of the SLDF returned is true… that is also the worst case scenario, as no one would be able to stand up to the might of the SLDF, and we can't know if they would become hostile if we don't just obediently play as their political puppets."
"Right. Right…" Hanse sighed and waved again. "But there has to be something I can do for the Eridani Light Horse right now. Wandering Horse intel might know about things and need to react faster than asking for permission. Should we tell Sandoval that the ELH are acting under my express authority?"
Duke Aaron Sandoval was the minister in charge of the Draconis March, the most war-torn area of the Federated Suns which had been under war zone regulations since 2787. Unlike Prince Hanse who as Minister of the Crucis March had too much on his plate, or Duke Michael Hasek-Davion as Minister of the Capellan March who seemed disinterested, he took his duties with all due seriousness.
"That might not be a good idea," Quintus demurred. "It is best when all forces can mutually support each other. Offensives need to be planned for with enough reserves for support or defense against enemy spoiling attacks. Besides…"
Here Quintus frowned. "If the ELH needed something, they could just send you a private HPG message."
Urbanmech HPG, what bullshit.
It was fifteen tons and could fit inside a Mech and very effectively black-boxed. No wonder the ELH had no compunction about letting NAIS have a try at reverse-engineering a 50-ton mobile HPG. Without the plans provided, it was all just nonsense parts. Hanse Davion had that supposed "Command variant Urbanmech" as a gift and kept in his private hangar.
"No one releases the very thing the Terran Hegemony spent so many centuries clutching so close to their hearts as the foundation of their technological advantage over the other Houses unless they already have something better," said Quintus. "However the Eridani Light Horse is communicating with the SLDF out there… we can be sure, it's not via HPG."
-.
-.
New Aberdeen
Same time
Barbara let out a low groan. "Ok, it's not as bad as I hoped, but it could have been better. I know a lot of people who go with Pale Rider, death on a pale horse… it's overused, man. I never really got why people were so obsessed with these callsigns and nicknames so kicking it up to high command to decide was a good idea. This is too cutesy, but I can deal."
"Heh, still thinking that you're going to get called anything as dignified as a unicorn. You're a bad donkey. Bad, Barbara. Bad."
She closed her eyes. "This is fine. I am fine with this."
"But if at 40 you're still a Miss Bad Ass instead of a Mrs. Bad Ass, people are going to talk."
Barbara Mosley reached out to strangle her best friend. Again.
-.
-.
New Aberdeen
Draconis March
Federated Suns
14 January 3025
From the memoirs of Natasha Kerensky:
Terran history contains reams of pages produced by writers and so-called philosophers trying to find scholarly ways to justify their countries' participation in wars, prattling about "threats to basic freedoms" and "the common good". Nowadays, I do not think anybody - not even the leaders of our beloved five families - who makes any pretense about why we fight wars. It is power, pure and simple, that drives us now, and the only thing that differentiates one war from another is the size and manner of the stakes involved, and the size of the final body count.
No matter how many times my men and I go to war - and God willing, that will be another quarter century or more - I doubt we will ever be involved in a campaign as important as the war waged by Wolf's Dragoons on the planet Hoff in 3022. First all there, there were the Houses involved: Davion vs Kurita, the two heavyweights of the five Successor families, going at one another with no holds barred. Second, there was the caliber of our opposition: four battalions of the Eridani Light Horse, the only mercenary unit in the Human Sphere with the tactical competence to seriously challenge our status as the best regiment in the galaxy.
(What about Hansen's Roughriders you say? Be serious! How could anyone be afraid of a unit whose commander has the strategic subtlety of a concrete DropShip!)
But third, and most importantly, there was the prize involved. Not water, nor metals, nor control of another flea-bitten frontier planet. No, this time the states were that rarest of commodities, a cadre of scientists and engineers, assembled on Hoff by House Davion to conduct the first serious research into Mech technology in a century. House Kurita wanted to get its hands on the fruits of those labors, wanted it bad it was willing to offer us the highest price ever paid for a Merc contract.
And so, my friends, did we…
-.
-.
Clang.
The door to Natasha Kerensky's cell opened.
Her cell was as comfortable as any prefabricated prison could be made. A bed, tables, books, sanitary equip, equipment, writing materials, and a noteputer. People were often surprised by how erudite Natasha Kerensky writes. In person she was usually quiet, but once made angry enough she would just as likely kill you as curse you out. That murderous unpredictability was what made the Black Widow so chilling.
But give her time to herself, and time to write, and Natasha Kerensky gets sardonic to the max.
She looked at what she had written under the title 'A response to missile artillery in mech combat' and closed the notebook.
Her cell was a prefabricated ferrocrete structure in the middle of the tarmac shadowed by BattleMech guns. She was that dangerous that they would rather not have her be in a position to reconsider her word not to escape or end her life as long as she could bring someone down with her. Granted, those were Urbanmech guns, but Natasha supposed a PPC was a PPC.
She smiled thinly as Barbara Mosley walked into the room. "So?" asked Natasha. "What is the butcher's bill?"
"Anyone that gets through three days after surgery is probably going to live long enough to wake up," replied the blonde woman. Barbara brought a chair with her and sat facing Natasha. "From Stedman's Company, starting with eleven mechs, they came home with six, but eight pilots will be able to fight another day. This is war and casualties happen, but first I have to say that we didn't intend it to happen this way. That's why I wanted to parley and end this in a draw, all we wanted was to open a neutral line of communications to Jaime Wolf.
She shrugged. "Too late now, I suppose."
"Spare me your pity. You came with the objective to smash the Black Widow flat, and you have done so in record time. Some might call it cheating to use out-of-map artillery, but it can also be considered an honor that you needed to resort to such measures at all. It takes skill to make do with inferior technology, but those who do not have the skill can only resort to other means."
Natasha Kerensky put away the felt tip pen she was writing with. The Eridani Light Horse had not provided her with anything that could be somewhat effectively used as a weapon. "But war is war, and is not by itself combat. Tell me, how many of my men have you murdered?"
"First of all - your second in command, Colin Maclaren survived the missile hit. But he might not ever pilot a BattleMech again, even with extensive cyborgization. His Marauder is a total loss. If any Mechs are salvageable, we might release them with you depending on the terms of prisoner exchange."
Natasha Kerensky let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. The last of her original lance and her most ardent supporter, he was like a knight in service of his lady. There was nothing romantic in there despite many rumors, but they did care for each other in a very platonic and courtly sort of way. Without him as a pillar to hold her up, all she would have left is hate and death.
Barbara continued "Other survivors are: Lynn Sheridan, Crusader. Takiro Ekida, Archer. John Hayes, Griffin. John Clavell, Rifleman. Simon Fraser, Stinger. Mohammar Jahan, Stinger."
The bigger mechs surviving artillery strikes were understandable. Some of them had been with Kerensky and so surrendered intact.
Barbara added with a clack of her tongue "We're actually surprised that all pilots in the lightest mechs in your Recon Lance survived top-attack munitions, but from the interviews they were fast enough to get their arms up to protect their cockpits. The bomblets still ruined the rest of their mechs though."
Clavell in his Rifleman stayed to guard his fallen lance and asked for orders instead of just randomly rushing out to battle on his own. He was far enough from the fight that the remaining Stedman's company Mechs couldn't find him and bring down his heavily damaged nearly combat-ineffective mech.
Natasha Kerensky noted instantly the missing names. Miklos Delius, Archer. Nikolai Koniev, Wasp. Alex Ward, Stinger. Takiro Ikeda was the last surviving member of Ikeda's Fire Lance.
From her company of twelve mechs, four died. This made their karma equal with Stedman's company. But- Natasha looked up and her eyes burned with cold anger. "And you? How many did you lose?"
Barbara looked shiftily to the side, avoiding meeting Natasha's eyes.
"Seriously? You cannot expect me to believe you lost no one. I saw those… Urbanmechs…" even to Natasha Kerensky, just saying that felt incredibly weird "fall without ejection pods. One I killed personally!"
Barbara licked her lips and answered "Well… it turns out that what with the XL engine intruding so much into a side torso… that any containment failure instantly scrams the reactor and shuts down the whole mech. So the mech falls down. But the pilot is still mostly unharmed in there, taken down far earlier than any other equivalent mech that tries to fight until it gets put down."
Natasha blinked. There was something charming in her honest confusion, no wonder she was so popular. That innocent look was damn cheating!
"You're telling me - that not only are you using lost technology, but that losing that technology in battle was completely accidentally an advantage for you. We have all been so used to trying to kill the meat to save the metal for salvage-" whispered Kerensky "... that even I ignored a dead mech as being completely dead. A broken XL engine is useless for salvage. But we - Wolf's Dragoons and the Eridani Light Horse both - would prefer to have surviving pilots and their valuable skills more than just more 'Mech salvage."
"Please do not start double-tapping ELH mechs. A downed mech is still out of the fight and killing downed pilots is still an atrocity."
Natasha Kerensky closed her eyes and palmed her face. "What are you ponies even doing?" she hissed through her teeth.
-.
-.
The 4th Deneb could only watch as the Black Widows and wounded Light Horse personnel of Stimson's Company were immediately loaded onto the Union DropShip which immediately departed offworld, leaving Barbara's Badniks behind.
Mosley's Company was at full fighting strength of 12 mechs as techs worked overtime to replace the scrammed fusion engine.
With the capture of Natasha Kerensky's Black Widow Company, remaining Kurita and Wolf's Dragoons forces on the world were suddenly on the back foot. Davion forces on the world still didn't have enough troops to force a decisive engagement, with both Davion and Kurita forces having dug in around settlements and cities promising brutal urban combat, but on open field encounters Kurita forces could only roll off the field every single time.
2nd Galedon was a light regiment with green troops being supported by elements of the Epsilon Battalion. This was why a low-intensity but long-duration conflict was preferred by both sides. This allowed their troops to gain fighting experience with only minimal risk. 4th Deneb was not ready to escalate by themselves.
Intercepted radio communications went some variation of:
"What the hell are these things and why are they so faaassttt?!"
"Why are there Urbanmechs in the middle of the desert?"
"Fool, you were beaten by Urbanmechs? You were piloting a Jenner! Do not make excuses for your incompetence!"
"Chu-i!" the Lieutenant equivalent in the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery "We have walked into a minefield!"
"For Kerens-" *KABLAM*
The 4th Deneb were known for their speed, but literally no one was at all prepared for the impossible sight of a fast Urbanmech. All operations could be supported at full speed all the time. Anything that the Super Urbanmech couldn't outgun, they could escape or lead into a trap of other faster mechs and hovercraft.
"Jesus Christ," breathed Major Kaplan as the results of the a week of Barbara Mosley's company being on-planet finally came together.
Barbara shrugged. "It's not my fault if so many of them want the glory of being the one to win over the one who took down Kerensky that they'll walk into any trap."
"Natasha Kerensky in a Heavy Mech was beaten by someone in a Light Mech. An Urbanmech. That pilot has to be a damn genius in combat. And she's still going out there in her little thirty-ton trashcan just asking them to have a try."
Barbara winced. "You know it wasn't like that. It was a team effort and with gross abuse of missile artillery."
She knew full well that while she was a pretty good veteran MechWarrior, she was only that good. A lot of people were actually mistaking Terry Little's actions for hers. Her former lancemate, now the leader of his own lance, had amazing gunnery skills; which was why formerly in Captain Allwine's Command Lance he piloted a comparatively slow 50-ton Enforcer.
Kaplan grinned. "But that's not romantic. A woman like the Black Widow being taken down by another woman? You know they're all just workshopping a name for you now."
Barbara winced even harder.
There were official callsigns (Gold One, Gold Two, etc.) for military action and unofficial ones that defined a pilot. Many still maintained the tradition that you don't get to pick your own callsign, it was something other pilots pushed on you as part of the ritual of belonging. Some, like Natasha Kerensky, made it their brand by being able to slap down anyone that tried to say otherwise. Some, like Barbara, never really gave a thought to this sort of thing - until it was too late with feeling undeserved fame.
Jack Finsrud had been trying to push "The Trashwoman" amongs the impressionable 4th Deneb infantry until she slugged him in the face.
Barbara "Bad Mama" Mosley was also making the rounds but she thought it made her sound old and dumpy.
She kicked the question up to Eridani High Command and their PR machine and tried not to lose any sleep about it.
-.
PRESS RELEASE
Comstar News Bureau
15 January 3025
Eridani Light Horse Command confirms that Natasha "The Black Widow" Kerensky, Captain of the Black Widows independent Company under Wolf's Dragoons, has been captured alive and relatively unharmed in battle on the world of New Aberdeen on 09 January 3025. All units of the Black Widows company have also been captured or KIA.
Forces responsible for this event are the 9th Recon Company of the 151st Light Horse Regiment of the Eridani Light Horse, headed by Captain Barbara Mosley in support of a Black Widows ambush on ELH Stedman's Company. This ambush on an ambush operation was termed CASE UNICORN.
It has been verified that Barbara Mosley piloted a "Super Urbanmech" that is capable of running at over 86 kph and carries a PPC. Kerensky's usual BattleMech is a Warhammer with two PPCs and a top speed of approx 64 kph. All mechs of the 9th Recon are all similar "Super Urbanmechs", none massing more than 30 tons. They faced off against Natasha Kerensky's Black Widows Company which is composed as a mix of Heavy and Light BattleMechs.
Accordingly, if a moniker or callsign needs to be used, the ELH would prefer "The White Unicorn" in publications.
ELH and Davion spokesperson have said that this "Super Urbanmech" design will eventually be released for mass manufacture under an ELH-owned production house in a similar manner to how Blackwell Industries is the dedicated manufacturer for Wolf's Dragoons.
Terms of release for Wolf's Dragoons POWs will be negotiated in the near future. The ELH maintains custody over Natasha Kerensky and her company.
-.
-.
Comstar was not very interested in the gossip. The Eridani Light Horse had been in the Inner Sphere for three hundred years and was a known quantity. Some technical elements had also attempted to verify if it was possible to actually do this, but returned with the idea that due to the short stubby legs of the Urbanmech, it could burn out the servos too quickly.
By their accounting, going a full 86 kph instead of a more reasonable 64 kph was very suboptimal for the weapon load. A heavier alpha strike would probably be more useful in city combat, and if you need speed - just use a different, cheaper mech. It's trying to be a medium mech without the armor to match.
This platform would not be viable unless the Super Urbanmech had XL Engines or Double Heat Sinks.
Hoff was a setback to House Davion's research on DHS, but this may imply that NAIS had a new series of prototypes to put to field trials with the Eridani Light Horse in gratitude for their service on Hoff. In which case the only real response was to cut off the source of production - the ELH were irrelevant.
The Eridani Light Horse might be good pilots, but infrastructurally they were not the Wolf's Dragoons.
ROM only had interest in the news for Jaime Wolf's response, but analysts predicted nothing particularly interesting. Prisoner exchanges were pro forma between mercenary commands, and the only thing this bought them was a communications line between Hanse Davion and Jaime Wolf.
That was more dangerous.
-.
-.
Solaris VII
Valhalla Club
Date unknown
"So you heard? The Black Widow's finally been taken down."
"It's it about time? Mercenary work is like that, fight enough people eventually your ticket is due. To be taken down by some no-name MechWarrior - someone got lucky."
"Kerensky's been fighting too many people and keeps winning them. Her skill's the real deal. It's not just talent and just being lucky isn't enough to explain this. To take down Kerensky's Warhammer while piloting a goddamn Urbanmech…"
"Ach, yah, that's gotta sting. That just makes it more impressive. I could believe it. If anyone could take down the best of the Wolf's Dragoons, the Eridani Light Horse could make it."
"But why even an Urbanmech in the first place? If the Eridani Light Horse could make an Urbie go that fast, why not something else like a Valkyrie or something?"
"Maybe for the insult? Wolf's Dragoons been going up and down claiming to be the best mercenary command in the Inner Sphere… and the Eridani Light Horse took that personally."
"You don't make a full company of twelve weirdly fast Urbanmechs just to rub it in. Something's off about this… think they got lostech? Lostech Urbanmechs sound extra dumb though."
"Doesn't change how the Black Widow got take down by a trashcan though."
"Yeah…"
"She was put in the dumpster."
"She got taken to the cleaners."
"Her reputation's in the trash."
"She's going to have to wear the stain of this humiliation for a long time…"
"Can you believe that the Eridani Light Horse actually wants us to call the woman who took down the Black Widow something as boring as White Unicorn?"
"Those foolish ponies. Those uptight, out-of-touch, ignorant idiots. A public callsign isn't something you claim - it's one that's given to you by other people!"
"What about the Black Widow then?"
"By other people too scared to object!"
"Gyahahaha fair enough."
Laughter rang through the table. The gladiators raised their tankards. "So here's to Barbara 'Miss Bad Ass' Mosley! May her glorious donkey kick bring her more glory in the battlefield!"
New Avalon
Crucis March
Federated Suns
Same time
"The Eridani Light Horse did what?!" Ardan Sortek spat.
"Aha. Ahaha. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Hanse Davion began laughing a loud full belly laugh and pounded at his table. He was crying tears of laughter. He rubbed at his eyes and leaned back on his chair. "Oh those people… hahah… oh god in heaven, I love hearing news about the Eridani Light Horse."
It looked to Ardan as if Hanse Davion was aging backwards as his laughter settled down. All the stress and pains of rulership just for a few brief moments faded away.
As much as Ardan Sortek and the AFFS wanted to be the pillar that House Davion could rest their worries upon, none of them could really understand the crushing loneliness of being the man ultimately responsible for throwing the gauntlet. To decide that his goals were sufficient reason to move millions of men and cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands on both sides, to see the peace of worlds broken and land conquered.
The Eridani Light Horse were in the mood of "There is a problem. I am going to fix it," and Hanse Davion just loved the hell out of the ELH apparently giving no more shites. It helped make him feel that he was no longer alone.
Quintus Allard had to report things like this personally as head of MIIO because as the ELH was employed by House Davion, it was an internal matter.
"Why do you look so annoyed?" Hanse asked. "Is this not a good thing?"
"The Eridani Light Horse are refusing to remand Kerensky and all the other Dragoons to our custody. If there's any prisoner exchange, they also demand they hand over the Dragoons personally instead of releasing them to any AFFS transport at any point."
Hanse nodded. "It's fine."
"Hanse… the intel we could gain from Kerensky… where the Dragoons actually came from, where are they doing with Kurita… she's a high-level officer despite only commanding a company."
Hanse waved. "It's fine."
"Are you su-"
"It's fine."
Quintus sighed. "You are favoring the Light Horse too much. I'd say that the AFFS would resent such blatant favoritism, but they did just build a task force and smashed the Black Widows flat in about ten minutes when the Davion Guards and a merc company failed their own headhunting expedition. Considering the success of the Wolf's Dragoons in Kurita employ, this is helping morale across the board. "
"Is there anything else I could do for the Eridani Light Horse?" Hanse asked. "This sounds like it's worth a reward. Have you finished looking over Declan yet? I don't care what's on it. The Light Horse can have it. Cancel the search. It's theirs. I won't have them wait a month longer if they need it."
Quintus looked unimpressed. "Declan is four jumps - a month away - from Kestrel." As Kestrel was the Administrative Center of the Kestral March, it was simple enough to order the creation of a hostile environment exploration team. Doing it in secrecy was the problem. "They're not even a quarter of the way there."
Hanse smiled. "So isn't it fine?"
Quintus sighed. "We really should still know of planetary conditions on that world just in case. Just because the ELH is being overly generous right now shouldn't mean we should ignore how they might become a threat. What happens when a mercenary no longer needs the financial support of their employer? The best thing is that they just leave. The worst is that they feel the existence of their former employer is… redundant."
He clapped his hands in response to Ardan's scowl. "We must not be blind to the possibilities. If the scenario is that the Eridani Light Horse has been activated as a foothold of the SLDF returned is true… that is also the worst case scenario, as no one would be able to stand up to the might of the SLDF, and we can't know if they would become hostile if we don't just obediently play as their political puppets."
"Right. Right…" Hanse sighed and waved again. "But there has to be something I can do for the Eridani Light Horse right now. Wandering Horse intel might know about things and need to react faster than asking for permission. Should we tell Sandoval that the ELH are acting under my express authority?"
Duke Aaron Sandoval was the minister in charge of the Draconis March, the most war-torn area of the Federated Suns which had been under war zone regulations since 2787. Unlike Prince Hanse who as Minister of the Crucis March had too much on his plate, or Duke Michael Hasek-Davion as Minister of the Capellan March who seemed disinterested, he took his duties with all due seriousness.
"That might not be a good idea," Quintus demurred. "It is best when all forces can mutually support each other. Offensives need to be planned for with enough reserves for support or defense against enemy spoiling attacks. Besides…"
Here Quintus frowned. "If the ELH needed something, they could just send you a private HPG message."
Urbanmech HPG, what bullshit.
It was fifteen tons and could fit inside a Mech and very effectively black-boxed. No wonder the ELH had no compunction about letting NAIS have a try at reverse-engineering a 50-ton mobile HPG. Without the plans provided, it was all just nonsense parts. Hanse Davion had that supposed "Command variant Urbanmech" as a gift and kept in his private hangar.
"No one releases the very thing the Terran Hegemony spent so many centuries clutching so close to their hearts as the foundation of their technological advantage over the other Houses unless they already have something better," said Quintus. "However the Eridani Light Horse is communicating with the SLDF out there… we can be sure, it's not via HPG."
-.
-.
New Aberdeen
Same time
Barbara let out a low groan. "Ok, it's not as bad as I hoped, but it could have been better. I know a lot of people who go with Pale Rider, death on a pale horse… it's overused, man. I never really got why people were so obsessed with these callsigns and nicknames so kicking it up to high command to decide was a good idea. This is too cutesy, but I can deal."
"Heh, still thinking that you're going to get called anything as dignified as a unicorn. You're a bad donkey. Bad, Barbara. Bad."
She closed her eyes. "This is fine. I am fine with this."
"But if at 40 you're still a Miss Bad Ass instead of a Mrs. Bad Ass, people are going to talk."
Barbara Mosley reached out to strangle her best friend. Again.
-.
-.
Last edited:
Praetorian13
Know what you're doing yet?
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Can't wait till people start hunting Capellan Urbanmechs just so they can get them upgraded.
7.2 World of Eggs
bluepencil
The tropics will be uninhabitable.
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World of Eggs 02
Thestria
Matsuida Prefecture
Draconis Combine
25 January 3025
Baxter Arbuthnot was not the sort of man people expected to lead the Epsilon Regiment of the Wolf's Dragoons. Thin, weak-looking, bespectacled – he looked more like an accountant having night troubles wondering if his wife was cheating on him and his children were actually his children than a man in command over one of the most potent regiments in the Inner Sphere.
Lavrenti Kornilov meanwhile was large and burly and very Russian-looking. That was the inherent idiosyncrasy of the Draconis Combine. They had some of the most ethnically diverse populations in the Inner Sphere, and yet a brutally enforced homogenous culture of wannabe tryhard Imperial Japanese.
"So this is the limit of the famous" – and that word said with a condescending leer – "Wolf's Dragoons? Fine, then – run, you dogs. These are the orders. The 2nd Galedon will complete the conquest of New Aberdeen. You are to remove the 4th Deneb with whatever means you are able. It should not be difficult to carry out, no? Just go ahead and fight and not back away whimpering after being wounded a little by your prey. Don't think. Just fight. Go."
The recording sent over HPG shut off.
"Well… I've heard worse plans," spoke Olivia Escalone, the regiment's second-in-command. "It's only a pity we can't settle things with the Light Horse just yet."
Meeting the Eridani Light Horse on New Aberdeen was unexpected, but not exactly a surprise. New Aberdeen was only four jumps away from Hoff, which the ELH still garrisoned.
Many of the Wolf's Dragoons were as dismayed as they were elated by the new of the Eridani Light Horse bringing down Kerensky. It was blow to their pride, but at the same time a roaring challenge. 'Finally! A worthy opponent!' The Eridani Light Horse were not willing to just back down and concede first place to Wolf's Dragoons. It was strange, but somehow trying their utmost to kill each other inspired more respect and bonds akin to brotherhood than two House units that routinely operated together.
"Attacking New Aberdeen is pointless, Natasha Kerensky isn't there anymore," Arbuthnot replied. "We can only trust that Kerensky won't break, and that the Eridani Light Horse are actually as honorable as they say they are."
"Chemical interrogation leaves obvious signs."
Arbuthnot nodded. "Whether we try to clandestinely attempt to recover Kerensky or just wait for a prisoner exchange is Jaime Wolf's problem." He turned back towards the holo and the list of available combat elements. It was a spreadsheet.
Natasha Kerensky's independent company was only attached to Epsilon Regiment in the first place, so the battalion remained mostly intact and were able to cleanly withdraw to their DropShips. The 2nd Galedon remainders obviously refused the Wolf's Dragoons' recommendation that this was a pointless fight.
"New Aberdeen was only ever notable to break open the way to Harrow's Sun. Normally this would be a good time to cycle out the regiment to let Beta or Gamma Regiment take over the front lines, but I have a feeling that's not what the regiment wants?"
Escalone shrugged. "Withdrawing from a pointless engagement is fine, sir. But being driven off-world after losing Kerensky, to Urbanmechs at that? The troops need a victory to cleanse their palate of this taste of defeat."
Withdrawing from New Aberdeen to link up with the rest of Epsilon Regiment, only to drop into Harrow's Sun – the assigned 4th Deneb homeworld? With only battalion of the 4th Deneb still on New Aberdeen, that would put two battalions versus a full heavyweight regiment.
The same deal would happen on New Aberdeen itself. Unless reinforced, it would be a reinforced battalion versus a regiment.
Beta and Gamma Regiments on Misery, one jump away, were still a threat-in-being ready to jump into any reinforcing Davion troops.
Frankly, Wolf's Dragoons could not care less if the ELH dropped an elite regiment of their own against the 2nd Galedon's green troops.
"We should have done this in the first place instead of playing nursemaid," Escalone muttered.
"It was a low-risk assignment in the first place," replied Artbuthnot. "Training up green troops is a valid enough reason to use mercenary forces. It would not be good if Wolf's Dragoons overshadows House Kurita troops too much." He rubbed at his balding head, and grinned toothily. "The offensive tempo was not there. Now… now, can you feel it? The time is right."
-.
-.
New Avalon
Crucis March
Federated Suns
Date unknown
Leroy Martin had worked for Federated Boeing, the largest DropShip manufacturer in the Inner Sphere. One thing sharply curtailed his chances for promotion – and that was his extreme space sickness. When he was approached by House Davion representatives with an offer to head a company that would ensure he kept boots on the ground, with higher salary and responsibilities, he took the chance to jump ship from Federated-Boeing Instrumentation Ltd.
A CEO at thirty-four! Ah, truly his star was on the rise. Martin was not intimidated by having to compete against larger corporations in the Federated Suns military-industrial complex. The pie was ever-increasing and you could always cut more slices. As long as the threat of House Kurita existed, never once could the AFFS take one step back.
Tall and broad-shouldered, but thin, with slicked-back hair and wearing square eyeglasses, Leroy Martin's had an oddly intimidating presence for a corporate officer. This bothered him as he gave off the impression of being boring and married to his job, and in his off times often looked for a hobby to use as a conversation starter. Unfortunately he proved unsuitable for the usual corporate sports of golf and tennis, and mildly out-of-shape businessmen didn't want to look like they were competing against a giant.
Learning that he was being offered the position as a front for a military owner was somewhat freeing. He had an excuse to look and remain aloof instead of being forced to socialize. Thirty-five percent of the company was owned by the Federated Suns itself as government stake, forty percent by the Eridani Light Horse, and twenty percent by a person named Devlin Stone, and the remaining five percent distributed in-house to employees.
Martin had 1%. But 1% of a company apparently with capitalization of 250 million C-bills before even starting anything was still a lot. The funding was secured by New Avalon banks from deposited pure germanium bars.
The Eridani Light Horse promised a prefab factory, it was up to RobotniC to handle distribution.
Martin stood at the far side of the street, watching the headquarters of his company being built. Boots on the ground. Keeping it grounded. He was resolved never to be too arrogant by his position, but to see things at ground level as much as possible, never deaf to the concerns of lower-level employees. He already handled the initial recruitment. Fresh graduates from NAIS were encouraged to sign up, and with the ELH technical group lecturing at NAIS about Star League technology, there were many eager to work with rediscovered Royal technology.
He had been told that corporate espionage was irrelevant. RobotniC was interested mainly in volume production.
Whatever the Eridani Light Horse and Prince Hanse Davion were up to, this was high-level plotting he was not interested in.
A corporation's headquarters was not necessarily where products would be assembled or even presented. RobotniC would have its factory and showrooms located elsewhere, a building in the middle of an industrial park would handle the boring financial and logistics work that was essential for the functioning of a company.
As it did not need to be hardened more than the usual, driven by a hefty bonus for early completion, New Avalon construction companies were able to finish the headquarters in record time. It helped that the plans were not complicated with decorative flourishes. It was simple tobular building with two block-like overhanging structures with windows as dining and leisure spaces on either side. The top of the building was a smooth dome.
Martin clutched at his head. "Why does it look like an Urbanmeeeech?!"
Fortunately he was able to keep himself from saying that out loud. He coughed into his fist and calmed down. As CEO there was much to do, and he had to present a stern and reliable impression to inspire confidence in this new company.
The construction workers had finished painting the symbol of the company. It was a grinning mustached face in red and black.
A child passing by on the sidewalk pointed "Look, mom! Is that a new toy store?"
Martin arched his back and twisted his hands into claws. "Are we a toy factoorryyy?!!!"
The mother quickly dragged her son away from the strange person and hurried off down the street.
-.
-.
New Aberdeen
Draconis March
02 February 3025
News of the Wolf's Dragoons withdrawing from New Aberdeen had the 4th Deneb mutedly celebrating. Without them, the odds swung well into their favor. Unfortunately, Davion intelligence informed them that the rest of the 2 nd Galedon were on their way. Epsilon Regiment might be on the way to drop onto their homeworld.
Fourth Deneb command petitioned Davion high command to withdraw from New Aberdeen and consolidate their forces, but were denied.
New Aberdeen was normally two months away from Colchester and a month from Hoff, but two weeks later a Scout Jumpship arrived with a modified Dictator-class Dropship and a Union in its collars.
The battalion weight of fresh ELH troops and supplies were there to relieve Barbara's Badniks and fix the New Aberdeen situation. The Dictator was a known, if obsolete, design capable of transporting an entire battalion like an Overlord. First out the door was a company of Heavy mechs - all the usual line combatants like Catapults, Marauders, Archers, a couple of ancient Flashmans, and a Battlemaster as HQ command mech. Twelve mechs to the company.
Then the dropship began vomiting Urbanmechs. Two companies in twenty four mechs. This battalion didn't have anything in the medium weight class between 30 and 60 ton Battlemech range.
"That's not possible…!" hissed the senior tech Milan Jameson as they watched the unloading process from the starport's air control terminal tower.
"What is?" asked Major Kaplan.
"Sir, we just saw thirty-six mechs walk out. That's a full battalion, yes. Then eighteen tanks. Then sixteen light transports with all their squads. Now they're dragging out eight VTOLs. I looked up the specs of a Dictator, it's only nine thousand tons and slightly smaller than an Overlord. You know how many mechs an Overlord carries? Thirty six. That's it. Six ASF too, but then that leaves just fifty tons of cargo."
The tech gestured to the cargo port on the Dictator. It was still unloading. "By my estimate it's already unloaded five hundred tons of cargo."
Major Kaplan blinked. Then he looked back to the scene with dawning horror. "Is… is that thing bigger on the inside?"
The tech sniffed. "SLDF tech is good, but I don't think they have outright magic. No, it's probably because it looks like an old obsolete Dictator on the outside, but it's an entirely new class of DropShip on the inside."
"It doesn't look old though." It was blinding SLDF Navy white under the hot sun.
Jameson nodded slowly. "Yes. Yet another clean new build in the hands of the Eridani Light Horse. The last time we saw something like this… was when the Wolf's Dragoons arrived in 3005 with five regiments of pristine new mechs."
Kaplan furrowed his brows. "You think that's why the Light Horse was so insistent that no one else gets to interrogate Kerensky and her crew?"
The tech shrugged.
-.
-.
"Salutations, friend Major!" greeted the commanding officer of the battalion. It was Captain, now Major, Raymond Allwine. "I heard you were taking good care of a previous officer of mine. Thank you for that!"
"It was my pleasure, Major Allwine," replied Maj. Kaplan. "I also thank you for coming here to support the fight and kick these Combine bastards out of New Aberdeen once and for all. I hope we can work together without friction. As officer-in-charge of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns on New Aberdeen, we must ask for a table of forces and nominal command rights over your battalion."
"Oh, sure, sure, we're happy to comply. We like to go fast too," replied Major Allwine in that aggressively neighborly way of his. "Raymond's Neckbreaker Battalion is at your disposal!"
-.
An Eridani Light Horse Square Battalion was a combined arms formation that consisted of
1 battalion of 36 mechs, eight of which were LAMs
1 augmented company of 18 combat vehicles
1 company of mechanized infantry (128 troops in 16 vehicles)
4 VTOL flights
Field Artillery
The Battalion's only weakness was a lack of dedicated ASF for obtaining air superiority, but the 4th Deneb already had that handled.
-.
-.
Major Allwine grinned, his big bushy mustache quivered under the hot sun. It was time to introduce House Kurita to the Battalion that fights like a Regiment!
-.
-.
In the meantime, he had a gift to deliver.
BattleMechs could be carried as regular cargo with sufficient tie-down points. This just meant that they needed to be unloaded as regular cargo as well instead of being able to walk out on their own.
Jack Finsrud stared up at the new 40-ton BattleMech, pointed at Barbara, and began howling with derisive laughter.
"How could you do this to me," Barbara had to say to her former commanding officer. "I trusted you."
It was a white Urbanmech. With a unicorn horn protruding from its dome-like head.
This turned out to be a mistake, as later newslines would refer to her BattleMech as "the White Unicorn" instead of herself, firmly fixing the moniker of "Little Miss Bad Ass" to her dismay.
Major Allwine beamed. "With input from our little friend, this was the best solution we could think of to compensate for the massive target now on your back. We… didn't actually think you would succeed, only as much as forcing a draw from Kerensky so we could open talks… but now that everyone wants to take you down, you need a Mech that won't let you down.
"Super Urbanmech II. Forty tons. With an unprecedented fifteen tons of Hardened armor on an Urbanmech chassis, making you as well-protected as even most Assault Mechs, but still managing to go full Medium Mech speeds. You have to live, Barbara. You have promises to keep."
Barbara grimaced. She did not relish the prospect of being promoted even higher just so she could integrate Bad Egg Company into Barbara's Badnik Battalion. Although, she supposed, once promoted to that level her tasks would start being more administrative than frontline combat - instead of being forced to live up to a skill level she didn't have.
She just had to survive three more years of all the Inner Sphere's gung-ho idiots gunning for her back.
For now… well, she had Kurita forces to bedevil.
Thestria
Matsuida Prefecture
Draconis Combine
25 January 3025
Baxter Arbuthnot was not the sort of man people expected to lead the Epsilon Regiment of the Wolf's Dragoons. Thin, weak-looking, bespectacled – he looked more like an accountant having night troubles wondering if his wife was cheating on him and his children were actually his children than a man in command over one of the most potent regiments in the Inner Sphere.
Lavrenti Kornilov meanwhile was large and burly and very Russian-looking. That was the inherent idiosyncrasy of the Draconis Combine. They had some of the most ethnically diverse populations in the Inner Sphere, and yet a brutally enforced homogenous culture of wannabe tryhard Imperial Japanese.
"So this is the limit of the famous" – and that word said with a condescending leer – "Wolf's Dragoons? Fine, then – run, you dogs. These are the orders. The 2nd Galedon will complete the conquest of New Aberdeen. You are to remove the 4th Deneb with whatever means you are able. It should not be difficult to carry out, no? Just go ahead and fight and not back away whimpering after being wounded a little by your prey. Don't think. Just fight. Go."
The recording sent over HPG shut off.
"Well… I've heard worse plans," spoke Olivia Escalone, the regiment's second-in-command. "It's only a pity we can't settle things with the Light Horse just yet."
Meeting the Eridani Light Horse on New Aberdeen was unexpected, but not exactly a surprise. New Aberdeen was only four jumps away from Hoff, which the ELH still garrisoned.
Many of the Wolf's Dragoons were as dismayed as they were elated by the new of the Eridani Light Horse bringing down Kerensky. It was blow to their pride, but at the same time a roaring challenge. 'Finally! A worthy opponent!' The Eridani Light Horse were not willing to just back down and concede first place to Wolf's Dragoons. It was strange, but somehow trying their utmost to kill each other inspired more respect and bonds akin to brotherhood than two House units that routinely operated together.
"Attacking New Aberdeen is pointless, Natasha Kerensky isn't there anymore," Arbuthnot replied. "We can only trust that Kerensky won't break, and that the Eridani Light Horse are actually as honorable as they say they are."
"Chemical interrogation leaves obvious signs."
Arbuthnot nodded. "Whether we try to clandestinely attempt to recover Kerensky or just wait for a prisoner exchange is Jaime Wolf's problem." He turned back towards the holo and the list of available combat elements. It was a spreadsheet.
Natasha Kerensky's independent company was only attached to Epsilon Regiment in the first place, so the battalion remained mostly intact and were able to cleanly withdraw to their DropShips. The 2nd Galedon remainders obviously refused the Wolf's Dragoons' recommendation that this was a pointless fight.
"New Aberdeen was only ever notable to break open the way to Harrow's Sun. Normally this would be a good time to cycle out the regiment to let Beta or Gamma Regiment take over the front lines, but I have a feeling that's not what the regiment wants?"
Escalone shrugged. "Withdrawing from a pointless engagement is fine, sir. But being driven off-world after losing Kerensky, to Urbanmechs at that? The troops need a victory to cleanse their palate of this taste of defeat."
Withdrawing from New Aberdeen to link up with the rest of Epsilon Regiment, only to drop into Harrow's Sun – the assigned 4th Deneb homeworld? With only battalion of the 4th Deneb still on New Aberdeen, that would put two battalions versus a full heavyweight regiment.
The same deal would happen on New Aberdeen itself. Unless reinforced, it would be a reinforced battalion versus a regiment.
Beta and Gamma Regiments on Misery, one jump away, were still a threat-in-being ready to jump into any reinforcing Davion troops.
Frankly, Wolf's Dragoons could not care less if the ELH dropped an elite regiment of their own against the 2nd Galedon's green troops.
"We should have done this in the first place instead of playing nursemaid," Escalone muttered.
"It was a low-risk assignment in the first place," replied Artbuthnot. "Training up green troops is a valid enough reason to use mercenary forces. It would not be good if Wolf's Dragoons overshadows House Kurita troops too much." He rubbed at his balding head, and grinned toothily. "The offensive tempo was not there. Now… now, can you feel it? The time is right."
-.
-.
New Avalon
Crucis March
Federated Suns
Date unknown
Leroy Martin had worked for Federated Boeing, the largest DropShip manufacturer in the Inner Sphere. One thing sharply curtailed his chances for promotion – and that was his extreme space sickness. When he was approached by House Davion representatives with an offer to head a company that would ensure he kept boots on the ground, with higher salary and responsibilities, he took the chance to jump ship from Federated-Boeing Instrumentation Ltd.
A CEO at thirty-four! Ah, truly his star was on the rise. Martin was not intimidated by having to compete against larger corporations in the Federated Suns military-industrial complex. The pie was ever-increasing and you could always cut more slices. As long as the threat of House Kurita existed, never once could the AFFS take one step back.
Tall and broad-shouldered, but thin, with slicked-back hair and wearing square eyeglasses, Leroy Martin's had an oddly intimidating presence for a corporate officer. This bothered him as he gave off the impression of being boring and married to his job, and in his off times often looked for a hobby to use as a conversation starter. Unfortunately he proved unsuitable for the usual corporate sports of golf and tennis, and mildly out-of-shape businessmen didn't want to look like they were competing against a giant.
Learning that he was being offered the position as a front for a military owner was somewhat freeing. He had an excuse to look and remain aloof instead of being forced to socialize. Thirty-five percent of the company was owned by the Federated Suns itself as government stake, forty percent by the Eridani Light Horse, and twenty percent by a person named Devlin Stone, and the remaining five percent distributed in-house to employees.
Martin had 1%. But 1% of a company apparently with capitalization of 250 million C-bills before even starting anything was still a lot. The funding was secured by New Avalon banks from deposited pure germanium bars.
The Eridani Light Horse promised a prefab factory, it was up to RobotniC to handle distribution.
Martin stood at the far side of the street, watching the headquarters of his company being built. Boots on the ground. Keeping it grounded. He was resolved never to be too arrogant by his position, but to see things at ground level as much as possible, never deaf to the concerns of lower-level employees. He already handled the initial recruitment. Fresh graduates from NAIS were encouraged to sign up, and with the ELH technical group lecturing at NAIS about Star League technology, there were many eager to work with rediscovered Royal technology.
He had been told that corporate espionage was irrelevant. RobotniC was interested mainly in volume production.
Whatever the Eridani Light Horse and Prince Hanse Davion were up to, this was high-level plotting he was not interested in.
A corporation's headquarters was not necessarily where products would be assembled or even presented. RobotniC would have its factory and showrooms located elsewhere, a building in the middle of an industrial park would handle the boring financial and logistics work that was essential for the functioning of a company.
As it did not need to be hardened more than the usual, driven by a hefty bonus for early completion, New Avalon construction companies were able to finish the headquarters in record time. It helped that the plans were not complicated with decorative flourishes. It was simple tobular building with two block-like overhanging structures with windows as dining and leisure spaces on either side. The top of the building was a smooth dome.
Martin clutched at his head. "Why does it look like an Urbanmeeeech?!"
Fortunately he was able to keep himself from saying that out loud. He coughed into his fist and calmed down. As CEO there was much to do, and he had to present a stern and reliable impression to inspire confidence in this new company.
The construction workers had finished painting the symbol of the company. It was a grinning mustached face in red and black.
A child passing by on the sidewalk pointed "Look, mom! Is that a new toy store?"
Martin arched his back and twisted his hands into claws. "Are we a toy factoorryyy?!!!"
The mother quickly dragged her son away from the strange person and hurried off down the street.
-.
-.
New Aberdeen
Draconis March
02 February 3025
News of the Wolf's Dragoons withdrawing from New Aberdeen had the 4th Deneb mutedly celebrating. Without them, the odds swung well into their favor. Unfortunately, Davion intelligence informed them that the rest of the 2 nd Galedon were on their way. Epsilon Regiment might be on the way to drop onto their homeworld.
Fourth Deneb command petitioned Davion high command to withdraw from New Aberdeen and consolidate their forces, but were denied.
New Aberdeen was normally two months away from Colchester and a month from Hoff, but two weeks later a Scout Jumpship arrived with a modified Dictator-class Dropship and a Union in its collars.
The battalion weight of fresh ELH troops and supplies were there to relieve Barbara's Badniks and fix the New Aberdeen situation. The Dictator was a known, if obsolete, design capable of transporting an entire battalion like an Overlord. First out the door was a company of Heavy mechs - all the usual line combatants like Catapults, Marauders, Archers, a couple of ancient Flashmans, and a Battlemaster as HQ command mech. Twelve mechs to the company.
Then the dropship began vomiting Urbanmechs. Two companies in twenty four mechs. This battalion didn't have anything in the medium weight class between 30 and 60 ton Battlemech range.
"That's not possible…!" hissed the senior tech Milan Jameson as they watched the unloading process from the starport's air control terminal tower.
"What is?" asked Major Kaplan.
"Sir, we just saw thirty-six mechs walk out. That's a full battalion, yes. Then eighteen tanks. Then sixteen light transports with all their squads. Now they're dragging out eight VTOLs. I looked up the specs of a Dictator, it's only nine thousand tons and slightly smaller than an Overlord. You know how many mechs an Overlord carries? Thirty six. That's it. Six ASF too, but then that leaves just fifty tons of cargo."
The tech gestured to the cargo port on the Dictator. It was still unloading. "By my estimate it's already unloaded five hundred tons of cargo."
Major Kaplan blinked. Then he looked back to the scene with dawning horror. "Is… is that thing bigger on the inside?"
The tech sniffed. "SLDF tech is good, but I don't think they have outright magic. No, it's probably because it looks like an old obsolete Dictator on the outside, but it's an entirely new class of DropShip on the inside."
"It doesn't look old though." It was blinding SLDF Navy white under the hot sun.
Jameson nodded slowly. "Yes. Yet another clean new build in the hands of the Eridani Light Horse. The last time we saw something like this… was when the Wolf's Dragoons arrived in 3005 with five regiments of pristine new mechs."
Kaplan furrowed his brows. "You think that's why the Light Horse was so insistent that no one else gets to interrogate Kerensky and her crew?"
The tech shrugged.
-.
-.
"Salutations, friend Major!" greeted the commanding officer of the battalion. It was Captain, now Major, Raymond Allwine. "I heard you were taking good care of a previous officer of mine. Thank you for that!"
"It was my pleasure, Major Allwine," replied Maj. Kaplan. "I also thank you for coming here to support the fight and kick these Combine bastards out of New Aberdeen once and for all. I hope we can work together without friction. As officer-in-charge of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns on New Aberdeen, we must ask for a table of forces and nominal command rights over your battalion."
"Oh, sure, sure, we're happy to comply. We like to go fast too," replied Major Allwine in that aggressively neighborly way of his. "Raymond's Neckbreaker Battalion is at your disposal!"
-.
An Eridani Light Horse Square Battalion was a combined arms formation that consisted of
1 battalion of 36 mechs, eight of which were LAMs
1 augmented company of 18 combat vehicles
1 company of mechanized infantry (128 troops in 16 vehicles)
4 VTOL flights
Field Artillery
The Battalion's only weakness was a lack of dedicated ASF for obtaining air superiority, but the 4th Deneb already had that handled.
-.
-.
Major Allwine grinned, his big bushy mustache quivered under the hot sun. It was time to introduce House Kurita to the Battalion that fights like a Regiment!
-.
-.
In the meantime, he had a gift to deliver.
BattleMechs could be carried as regular cargo with sufficient tie-down points. This just meant that they needed to be unloaded as regular cargo as well instead of being able to walk out on their own.
Jack Finsrud stared up at the new 40-ton BattleMech, pointed at Barbara, and began howling with derisive laughter.
"How could you do this to me," Barbara had to say to her former commanding officer. "I trusted you."
It was a white Urbanmech. With a unicorn horn protruding from its dome-like head.
This turned out to be a mistake, as later newslines would refer to her BattleMech as "the White Unicorn" instead of herself, firmly fixing the moniker of "Little Miss Bad Ass" to her dismay.
Major Allwine beamed. "With input from our little friend, this was the best solution we could think of to compensate for the massive target now on your back. We… didn't actually think you would succeed, only as much as forcing a draw from Kerensky so we could open talks… but now that everyone wants to take you down, you need a Mech that won't let you down.
"Super Urbanmech II. Forty tons. With an unprecedented fifteen tons of Hardened armor on an Urbanmech chassis, making you as well-protected as even most Assault Mechs, but still managing to go full Medium Mech speeds. You have to live, Barbara. You have promises to keep."
Barbara grimaced. She did not relish the prospect of being promoted even higher just so she could integrate Bad Egg Company into Barbara's Badnik Battalion. Although, she supposed, once promoted to that level her tasks would start being more administrative than frontline combat - instead of being forced to live up to a skill level she didn't have.
She just had to survive three more years of all the Inner Sphere's gung-ho idiots gunning for her back.
For now… well, she had Kurita forces to bedevil.
Last edited:
UMS2-HARD Super Hard Urbanmech II
bluepencil
The tropics will be uninhabitable.
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- 721
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Code:
Super Hard Urbanmech II UMS2-HARD
Mass: 40 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Experimental Tech
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/E-F-E-D
Production Year: 0
Dry Cost: 5,927,752 C-Bills
Total Cost: 5,927,752 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,487
Construction Options: Fractional Accounting
Chassis: Unknown Endo-Steel
Power Plant: Unknown 200 Fusion XL Engine
Walking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h
Jump Jets: Unknown
Jump Capacity: 90 meters
Armor: Unknown Patchwork
Armament:
1 ER PPC
2 Medium Lasers
1 TAG
1 Guardian ECM Suite
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown
Overview:
A custom Super Urbanmech II built for Barbara Mosley, reportedly to cover "the
massive goddamn target you painted on my back" after being touted as the person
to take down Natasha Kerensky, it is 40 tons and apparently the prototype of
the Super Urbanmech II.
Packing an unprecedented fifteen tons of Hardened armor on an Urbanmech
chassis, the UMS2-HARD is as well-protected as most Assault Mechs. The
vulnerability of the XL engine protruding into the side torso is mitigated by
armor that can take two AC/20 hits. It does this while still being as fast as
most Medium Mechs at 86 kph, although leg armor is not Hardened.
Its lack of firepower, the same as a Super Urbanmech ten tons lighter, means
that it cannot wade into fray acting like a mini Assault Mech and instead must
perform heavy recon duties the same as a regular Super Urbanmech. It does have
slightly better jump range at 90 meters though.
Barbara Mosley's opponents therefore are driven to assign almost supernatural
skill to her ability to tangle with Heavy Battlemechs and live instead of
merely brute durability.
The UMS2-HARD is painted white and has a decorative horn protruding from the
head of the Mech.
Despite her best efforts, it is her Mech that is called the "White Unicorn" and
her nickname still "Little Miss Bad-Ass".
Capabilities:
Armed with an ER PPC on the right arm and a pair of Medium Lasers on the left
arm, and a TAG in the torso, the UMS2-HARD has an otherwise identical loadout
to an UMS-SSR Super Royal Urbanmech.
Variants:
UMS2-HARD-ER:
This variant is a later upgrade that covers Mosley's griping about the rate of
fire of the ER PPC not fitting with her brawling tactics. The weapons have
been changed to a pair of Light PPCs and a pair of ER Medium Lasers to allow
her to deliver more sustained fire while in sight of the enemy.
As her Mech still had better protection than even a 60-ton Urban Knight,
Barbara Mosley had little reason to change to a platform that was easier to
hit.
UMS2-HARD-ERER:
This merely replaces the two Light PPC and two ER Medium Lasers with salvaged
Clan ER Large Laser and Clan ER Medium Lasers.
================================================================================
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Endo-Steel 67 points 2.000
Internal Locations: 2 LT, 2 RT, 7 LA, 3 RA
Engine: XL Fusion Engine 200 4.250
Walking MP: 5
Running MP: 8
Jumping MP: 3 Standard
Jump Jet Locations: 2 CT, 1 LT 1.50
Heat Sinks: Double Heat Sink 12(24) 2.000
Heat Sink Locations: 1 LT, 2 RT, 1 RA
Gyro: Standard 2.000
Cockpit: Standard 3.000
Actuators: L: SH+UA R: SH+UA
Armor: Patchwork AV - 131 13.745
Internal Armor
Structure Factor
Head (Hardened Armor) 3 9
Center Torso (Hardened Armor) 12 16
Center Torso (rear) 6
Left Torso (Hardened Armor) 10 16
Left Torso (rear) 4
Right Torso (Hardened Armor) 10 16
Right Torso (rear) 4
Left Arm (Hardened Armor) 6 11
Right Arm (Hardened Armor) 6 11
Left Leg (Ferro-Fibrous) 10 19
Right Leg (Ferro-Fibrous) 10 19
================================================================================
Equipment Location Heat Critical Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ER PPC RA 15 3 7.000
2 Medium Lasers LA 6 2 2.000
Guardian ECM Suite LT 0 2 1.500
TAG HD 0 1 1.000
Free Critical Slots: 4
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 4 Points: 15
5/2j 2 2 1 0 2 0 Structure: 2
Special Abilities: TAG, ECM, ENE, SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOAAN:
It would be 15 tons if I didn't keep playing around with Fractional Accounting.
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That horn should face more forward, that way when she head-butts somemech the horn can pierce the cockpit and skewer the poor sob.
Then the her mech could be called the Bloody-White Unicorn.
Then the her mech could be called the Bloody-White Unicorn.
Praetorian13
Know what you're doing yet?
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Well trust the people who make it a point to fight everyone to see a challenge in the ELH. The mentality built into the entire Dragoons is so very Clan which makes sense given who the trainers and leaders are. I look forward to them and the Combine being schooled on the regular by the ELH. Well at least poor Barbara can be used as bait for everyone now.
ELH Squared Battalion
bluepencil
The tropics will be uninhabitable.
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The amount of forces made transportable in one ELH Bigwig-class DropShip.
Mech Artillery might be a single lance of UrbanKnight Thunderers in Alpha Company or six Urbamech ARTIV in Charlie Company.
TOE does not include misc. items such as trucks and logistics vehicles or Ultralight mechs transportable as cargo w 980 tons allowance.
Towed artillery are separately tracked as an option inside cargo.
DropShip even has integrated 2x Arrow IV launchers in the nose with 100 missiles stocked.
--------------------
AN:
I know this looks maximum clownship shenanigans, but this is very possible. The only non-canon thing is how 12 mech cubicles can double up on carrying 2 Urbanmechs per bay.
Assuming that you'd need regular MechBays to carry a full company of 40-ton Super HARD or FAST Urbanmech IIs or something, this is still doable*:
This reduces CAS support to mere 4 VTOLs, from 16 to 12 squads of Mechanized Infantry, and mere 151 tons of cargo.
*why does anyone ever waste a 150-ton Mech Bay on a 20-ton Locust, I wonder.
Mech Artillery might be a single lance of UrbanKnight Thunderers in Alpha Company or six Urbamech ARTIV in Charlie Company.
TOE does not include misc. items such as trucks and logistics vehicles or Ultralight mechs transportable as cargo w 980 tons allowance.
Towed artillery are separately tracked as an option inside cargo.
DropShip even has integrated 2x Arrow IV launchers in the nose with 100 missiles stocked.
--------------------
AN:
I know this looks maximum clownship shenanigans, but this is very possible. The only non-canon thing is how 12 mech cubicles can double up on carrying 2 Urbanmechs per bay.
Dictator (Bigwig ELH)
Type: Military Spheriod
Mass: 9,000 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Advanced)
Introduced: 2620
Mass: 9,000
Battle Value: 3,354
Tech Rating/Availability: E/F-X-E-D
Cost: 269,802,400 C-bills
Fuel: 200 tons (6,000)
Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Heat Sinks: 109
Structural Integrity: 12
Armor
Nose: 219
Sides: 184/184
Aft: 149
Cargo
Escape Pods: 4
Life Boats: 9
Crew: 5 officers, 14 enlisted/non-rated, 7 gunners, 308 bay personnel
Ammunition: 100 rounds of Arrow IV ammunition (20 tons)
Notes: Mounts 43 tons of standard aerospace armor.
Type: Military Spheriod
Mass: 9,000 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Advanced)
Introduced: 2620
Mass: 9,000
Battle Value: 3,354
Tech Rating/Availability: E/F-X-E-D
Cost: 269,802,400 C-bills
Fuel: 200 tons (6,000)
Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Heat Sinks: 109
Structural Integrity: 12
Armor
Nose: 219
Sides: 184/184
Aft: 149
Cargo
| Bay 1: | Mech (12) | 1 Door |
| Bay 2: | Mech (12) | 1 Door |
| Bay 3: | Light Vehicle (8) | 1 Door |
| Bay 4: | Infantry (Mech. Squad) (128) | 1 Door |
| Bay 5: | Heavy Vehicle (6) | 1 Door |
| Bay 6: | Light Vehicle (12) | 1 Door |
| Bay 7: | Cargo (986.0 tons) | 1 Door |
Life Boats: 9
Crew: 5 officers, 14 enlisted/non-rated, 7 gunners, 308 bay personnel
Ammunition: 100 rounds of Arrow IV ammunition (20 tons)
Notes: Mounts 43 tons of standard aerospace armor.
| Weapons: | Capital Attack Values (Standard) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arc (Heat) | Heat | SRV | MRV | LRV | ERV | Class |
| Nose (32 Heat) | ||||||
| 1 ER Large Laser | 12 | 1(8) | 1(8) | 1(8) | 0(0) | Laser |
| 2 Arrow IV, Arrow IV Ammo (100 shots) | 20 | 0(0) | 0(0) | 0(0) | 0(0) | Artillery |
| RS/LS Fwd (12 Heat) | ||||||
| 1 ER Large Laser | 12 | 1(8) | 1(8) | 1(8) | 0(0) | Laser |
| RS/LS Aft (12 Heat) | ||||||
| 1 ER Large Laser | 12 | 1(8) | 1(8) | 1(8) | 0(0) | Laser |
| Aft (24 Heat) | ||||||
| 2 ER Large Laser | 24 | 2(16) | 2(16) | 2(16) | 0(0) | Laser |
Assuming that you'd need regular MechBays to carry a full company of 40-ton Super HARD or FAST Urbanmech IIs or something, this is still doable*:
Dictator (Bigwig ELH Alt)
Base Tech Level: Advanced (IS)
Tech Rating: E/F-X-F-E
Weight: 9000 tons
BV: 3,354
Cost: 298,631,200 C-bills
Source: TRO 3075 - Star League
Movement: 3/5
Heat Sinks: 109
Fuel Points: 6000 (100.0 tons)
Tons Per Burn Day: 1.84
Structural Integrity: 12
Armor: 736
Carrying Capacity
Mech (1 door) - 12 units
Mech (1 door) - 12 units
Mech (1 door) - 12 units
Light Vehicle Bay (1 door) - 12 units
Light Vehicle Bay (1 door) - 4 units
Infantry Bay (1 door) - 12.0 Motorized platoons
Cargo Space (1 door) - 151 tons
Base Tech Level: Advanced (IS)
| Level | Era |
|---|---|
| Experimental | 2620-3058 |
| Advanced | 3059+ |
| Standard | - |
| Extinct | 2830-3044 |
Weight: 9000 tons
BV: 3,354
Cost: 298,631,200 C-bills
Source: TRO 3075 - Star League
Movement: 3/5
Heat Sinks: 109
Fuel Points: 6000 (100.0 tons)
Tons Per Burn Day: 1.84
Structural Integrity: 12
Armor: 736
| Armor | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nose | 219 | |
| Left Side | 184 | |
| Right Side | 184 | |
| Aft | 149 |
| Weapons | Loc | Heat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laser Bay | NOS | 12 | |
| Artillery Bay | NOS | 20 | |
| Laser Bay | LS | 12 | |
| Laser Bay (R) | LS | 12 | |
| Laser Bay | RS | 12 | |
| Laser Bay (R) | RS | 12 | |
| Laser Bay | AFT | 24 |
| Ammo | Loc | Shots | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arrow IV Ammo | NOS | 100 |
| Equipment | Loc | |
|---|---|---|
| MASH Equipment (1 theater) | HULL | |
| Field Kitchen | HULL | |
| Mobile Field Base | HULL | |
| Drone (Remote) Carrier Control System (1 drone) | HULL |
Mech (1 door) - 12 units
Mech (1 door) - 12 units
Mech (1 door) - 12 units
Light Vehicle Bay (1 door) - 12 units
Light Vehicle Bay (1 door) - 4 units
Infantry Bay (1 door) - 12.0 Motorized platoons
Cargo Space (1 door) - 151 tons
| Crew | |
|---|---|
| Officers | 5 |
| Enlisted/Non-rated | 14 |
| Gunners | 4 |
| Bay Personnel | 488 |
*why does anyone ever waste a 150-ton Mech Bay on a 20-ton Locust, I wonder.
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