----- 1 Day Later -----
Date: January 12, 2906
Location: Hoard
Title: Whispering Death
Author: Philip A. Lee
Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)
Synopsis: Despite losing Sol to a sniper attack, Lucien’s forces have defeated the Ice Hellions’ 45th Striker Irregulars and reclaimed the mining complex. However, Lucien notes that his troops took more damage than they should have, being distracted and on edge due to the sniper attacks. Upon returning to base, he receives word of another sniper victim back on Barcella – MechWarrior Yumi, who appears to have been shot in the head before the departure of the 179th from that world. Galaxy Commander Tristan orders Lucien to ignore futher batchalls from the Ice Hellions and Star Adders, and prioritize the elimination of the sniper. Lucien notes the rising level of fear in the Galaxy Commander, something he hasn’t seen in a Clanner since his sibko days.
Lucien meets briefly with Oathmaster Kyle Devalis, who is preparing for to defend against a new Trial challenge from the Ice Hellions, who want to take a crack at another Nova Cat mining complex. As a result of their conversation, both realize with surprise that Galaxy Commander Tristan has bid elements of the 179th without informing Lucien, a major breach of chain of command and protocol.
Nonplussed, Lucien inquires about Madeline, telling Kyle that she’s the one picking off his men. The two realize that Madeline is obsessed with having failed in her previous vision quest, during which she sacrificed all her battle trophies (vineers) in a bonfire and inhaled the smoke. It appears that she’s attempting to restock her veneer supply by killing off Trueborns, in the hopes of achieving success in a new vision quest. However, they note that she hasn’t targeted Tristan, the man most directly responsible for her abjurement, and resolve to find out why.
The Ritual of Battle consists of a huge bonfire on the parade grounds of Firebase Titan, surrounded by BattleMechs, while their pilots gather around the bonfire to celebrate the coming combat. Madeline watches from the shadows, having used the Dark Caste smuggling network to pursue her quarry to Hoard and to slip through Nova Cat security with purloined encryption codes obtained from Saint Anthony’s local counterpart. At the Ritual, speakers stand on a raised platform and recount tales of bravery, honor and triumph. However, she can see the fear on their faces and hear it in their words – the fear of dying without honor as the next victim of the “Whispering Death.” Her internal monologue reveals that she’s been targeting only the surviving members of her Trinary who supported Tristan Morris’ false allegations of collusion with the Smoke Jaguars. Tristan will be her final kill. But that’s for later. Now, Madeline decapitates MechWarrior Galene mid-sentence, then flees for her safehouse.
Notes: This story provides a unique look into the capabilities and practices of the Dark Caste. When the Dark Caste first appeared (in the Jade Phoenix trilogy), they were almost laughably unthreatening – neo-savages riding through the wilderness on horseback using bolt-action rifles, braiding their hair and calling their leaders anti-Khans. I’m sure the Grand Council didn’t lose a lot of sleep over that.
However, the Dark Caste groups that Madeline has hooked up with have shown a much higher level of sophistication than the stumblebums with whom Aidan associated (though, admittedly, he too managed to smuggle himself from world to world on merchant-caste vessels). They have an interstellar smuggling network, full access to Clan encryption codes and communications channels, and the apparent ability to blend in seamlessly among the lower castes.
To me, the organized crime syndicate model is much more believable than the “wild men of the woods” band in the Jade Phoenix novels. Those guys canonically exist alongside the syndicates, but they probably consist of psychologically damaged individuals (going through a sibko and then washing out in the latter stages would probably lead to a high level of PTSD) who couldn’t handle the intellectual and organizational requirements of the syndicate infiltrators.
It appears that the Warrior Caste's disdain for guard duty has left them highly vulnerable to infiltrators, assassins, and spies. True Clan warriors want to attack, or at least march out on the field to mount a mobile defense after a formal batchall. There are Clan police, but they seem to be mostly used for suppressing unrest in the civilian castes. So, they appear to farm out perimeter security exclusively to electronic systems. The Wolverines easily disabled such automated sentries around the naval boneyards, and Madeline does so as well.
Now, in the Star League, automated sentries were commonplace, from Caspars to armed sentry robots patrolling Castles Brian. The SLDF had a nigh impossible time hacking their systems, resorting to jamming instead. What happened to that tech? Abandoned, like the sniper rifles, because it doesn't fit the warrior ethos? Used, but lacking upgrades, so it becomes increasingly easy for Dark Caste operatives to neutralize it with cutting edge EW tech and/or stolen codes? In The Hunters, an AFFC analyst projects Clan SDS capabilities, telling the Serpent Fleet to expect high speed automated drones the size of fighters that give IFF challenges and, if not correctly answered, vector alongside and detonate an onboard nuke. We never saw if Huntress indeed had such technology, since the Nekekami strike team seemingly just walked into the SDS control center and skragged it. (Again, here's that "no guards" thing.)