----- Waaay up in the future [See Notes] -----
Date: 3060 [See Notes]
Location: Acamar [See Notes]
Title: Black Cats Cross Your Path
Author: Tara Gallagher and James Lanigan
Type: Short Story (Shrapnel)/Sourcebook Fiction (MechWarrior 2nd Edition)
Synopsis: Sergeant Elizabeth “Boots” Hill commands the Black Cats, an all-infantry mercenary unit, assigned to defend the “four-bit semi-industrial town in the middle of nowhere” named Lawrence. She’s ably assisted by her XO (the narrator), “Big” Bill Flynn.
Raiders appear to attack Lawrence, and the first scouts come back screaming that it’s the Black Widow Company. Big Bill, Boots, Lou Lingg and a few others creep through the forest to spy on the raiders’ LZ, and see that the attackers are clearly not the Black Widow Company – just some ratty looking mercs with spiders painted on their ‘Mechs.
When the raiders attack the next day, the Black Cats draw two fifty-tonners into an industrial bakery. They slip on the pre-greased floor, pirouette and spin wildly before smashing together in a lard-covered heap. Boots hefts a flamer and torches both ‘Mechs, which burn beautifully from the lard until the ammo cooks off.
Notes: This is yet another of the “no date, no location” stories, and once more I have a theory for this one. The facts presented in the story are that the protagonist infantry merc unit is guarding a small backwater town because their employer believes there may be a Star League parts depot near or under the town. It’s also after 3015, since the Black Widow Company has made a fearsome reputation for itself that some other mercs are trying to piggyback on. Finally, there’s some indication that it’s a Combine world, since Sergeant Hill says “If those are the Black Widow Company, I’m Siriwan Kurita.” Not a whole lot to go on.
Searching through the planetary write-ups, though, I came across the entry for Lambrecht. Its seismic instability prohibits the construction of dense cities or large structures, limiting most settlements to small-to-medium sized towns. Also, the writeup notes that the Star League chose Lambrecht as a test bed for Castle Brian design, and constructed no less than six full castles. (Given SLDF construction philosophy, each full Castle Brian would be surrounded by four Mini Castles, placing no fewer than 30 Castle-class structures on the planet.) The Combine seized the world after the fall of the Star League and found supplies in the largely undamaged catacombs beneath the collapsed ruins of three Castle Brians destroyed during the Star League Civil War.
Furthermore, the planet this story takes place on is one where the locals had reason to believe the Black Widows could be attacking. During their 3020-3022 Steiner contract, the Dragoons focused most of their attacks on the Vega Prefecture (the Black Widows hit New Wessex in 3020) and the Kessel Prefecture (where Dromini VI and Lambrecht are located). Tales of the Black Widow says “raids and small skirmishes kept the Combine’s forces off balance and on the defensive for more than two years.”
So, we’ve got a world in the Dragoon operations area with small settlements, and a history of having lots of Star League construction/Castle Brian ruins lying around. None of the other worlds in the Vega or Kessel Prefectures are as close a match to the known facts. If it is Lambrecht, that would put the raid’s timing in either 3021 or 3022. Since the Dragoons were busy on Dromini VI in 3021, I’d wager that it takes place in 3022 – giving the Combine citizens over a year to dread Natasha’s coming.
The Black Cats got a formal writeup in FM: Mercenaries' Supplemental Update. However, it doesn't clarify where/when "Black Cats Cross Your Path" might take place. It quotes William "Big Bill" Flynn in a 3051 interview and Corporal Hill circa 3048, while mentioning that the unit first appeared in the late 2980s. Lou Lingg is listed as the commander in 3071. The unit apparently disbanded in 3048, but reformed in early 3050 to fight the Clans, picking up security and defense contracts.
If this is a 3022 story, then that would have to make the "Hill" referenced in FM:MSU the child of the original Sergeant Elizabeth Hill (or else ol' Boot Hill got a demotion at some point). That would also make Lou Lingg a very, very old commander (not impossible, for sure, but given the lifespan of an infantryman...) The fact that this fiction piece was reprinted in the front of the 3052-dated MechWarrior 2nd Edition RPG may indicate that the story actually takes place in the 3050s, making 3048's Corporal Hill into Sergeant Hill, and this seems to be what the author of the FM:MSU entry was hinting at. However, this goes further down the rabbit hole of a continuity nightmare, since they specifically refer to the "Black Widow Company," and Natasha's force was The Black Widow Battalion after the 4th Succession War, and then the Wolf Spider Cluster when she was back with the Clans.
[EDIT: Subsequent research turned up the Black Cats official entry in Field Manual: Mercenaries Supplemental Update. The info in that entry, combined with info from the Field Manual: Mercenaries entry for Wannamaker's Widowmakers, has led me to believe that the story actually takes place in the Chaos March between November 3059 and December 3060. Though certainly not the original intent of the author - since pre-3025 was the timeframe for most Shrapnel stories - the lack of date/place info makes it flexible enough to become a late Clan Invasion-era story. Wannamaker's Widowmakers was a rag-tag merc unit with spiders painted on their 'Mechs that was bumming around the Chaos March in 3059-3060, while the newly independent governments there would have been poor enough to employ a small infantry unit like the Black Cats. Chronologically, 3060 fits nicely between Boots' corporal days in 3049 and Lou Lingg's leadership of the unit in 3072. Plus, the Wolf Spider Battalion was based on Outreach in the Chaos March, so people might reasonably expect them to come calling. Welshman noted that it would have been possible for panicked scouts to simply use the old name of the "Black Widow Company" when making their erroneous report.]