Ghosts of the Dead (a Ngo/BTSD AU-story by blacktigeractual and Cannonshop)

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 14-05-2010, 07:06:18]]
   

JSX/00010100011100101111001000111001001000111110010111/SOCOM
PROVOST REPORT IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION

MILITIA COMMAND SECURED NEW SAIGON
MINIMAL LOSSES
 
REGENCY MILITIA FORCES DEMONSTRATE LACK OF
DISCIPLINE, TACTICAL PROFICIENCY.  INTERROGATIONS
INDICATE OVER-RELIANCE ON PUNITIVE BATTLEMECH
STRIKES FOR CIVIL DISTURBANCE CONTROL.

REQUEST DELIVERY SOONEST, HEAVY WEAPONS AMMUNITION
COMPATIBLE WITH SPERRY-BROWNING 12.7MM ROTARY MG AND
COVENTRY TWIN SRM SYSTEM.  LOCAL MILITIA STOCKS CONTAIN
VERY LITTLE LIVE AMMUNITION.

VAO.

A rotary .50 Cal?   I know its just fluff, but that's some serious gun pr0n there.

The US Army has had that for about 35 years, the GAU-19/A.

The Gau-19 is only just classed as a machine gun.  Those people who hear it from the wrong end class it as a laxative ;)  Even MBT crews (who don't normally worry about light arms fire) show understandable concern if they know the enemy have these.

Not much of a gun nut myself but the GAU-19 (and indeed the rest of the minigun family) would be an EXCELLENT christmas present (hint, hint) :)

Seriously?  I thought that miniguns were 7.62mm by nature, I didn't realize that they were .50 cal also.

Properly speaking the Minigun is a 7.62 NATO weapon, but that is the M134 (GAU-2/A to the USAF).  The M134 is a six barrel weapon, the GAU-19 has only three to keep the weight down.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 15-05-2010, 07:58:17]]


Vin Drin Lap...

"Leutnant, your sword?" Truk Tranh extended his right hand.  Heiser handed over his Academy Saber.

"Let's take a look at your people." Truk added, leading the surrendered officer down onto the tarmac, where the remains of the garrison were under guard-not ranchers this time, but coast guard people.

"The Formation will open ranks."  a Petty Officer announced.

"I was afraid you guys would live up to your reputation." Heiser confided.

"You should know better than that, Leutenant." Truk stated bluntly,  "I started in the one-seven-one as a member of the Marine Recon group, first Marines,  a little higher professional standard than the bulk of the Volunteers were drawn from."

He looked over the AFFC militia personnel as they trooped the line.  Some of the captured troopers were filthy from the 'burial', others were not.

He stopped, turned on his heel, and picked out one troop who seemed older than the rest.  "Where you from, son?" he asked.

"Coventry, Sir." the captured man said.

"You're aware you only have to give me name, rank, and Org Number, right?" Truk asked.

"Yes, Sir." the 'older' (though, really, who can beat two hundered years' continuous service? not a salt-and-pepper tech specialist... Truk mused with humour...) man replied.

"I see you're a Tech-Four, aren't you a little old to be a tech-four?" Truk asked, using the man's branch and paycode instead of his rank.

"Yes sir, I was busted down by the Hauptmann."  the man said.

"Why?" Truk asked.

"It's in the records, sir." the tech-four said, "I'd as soon not go into it out here, sir."

"Mysterious..."  Truk turned to Heiser, "any light you can shed?"

"Refused an order." Heiser told him, "Not that Grambly here had much choice-the order was a physical impossibility-there's only so far you can flog the sensors on a light 'mech..."

"I see."  Truk looked Grambly over again, "You're a 'Mechtech, then, not a commo guy?" he asked.

"Yes sir."  Grambly said, "Active service with the 10th Skye Rangers back in the thirties, a stint working for a couple merc outfits that didn't pan out, and back in the reserves, they shipped me here."

"Family?" Truk asked.

"Ah...that's how I lost the second stripe, sir." Grambly said.

"DO clarify, this should be amusing, was the divorce real bad?" Truk asked.

"No divorce sir, I...ah...kind of didn't get the CO's permission..." Grambly said.

"Where's the Missus?" Truk asked.

"Tailor's shop down-town-at least, until four." Grambly replied.

Truk motioned to one of the Coasties,  "Grambly, go with this Chief, answer his questions honestly and completely, remember, we're going to back-check any answer you give, so don't try to sugar-coat or lie..." Truk said, Grambly hesitated.  "The correct Response, Tech-Four Grambly, is 'Yes Sir, right away sir'.  Am I clear?"

Grambly replied, "Yes Sir, Right away Sir." and followed the Coastie back up to the unit orderly room.

Truk looked at Heiser, "Commander of prisoners, I want married men separated from single men, same with the women, I want personnel files on anyone who's consistently pissed off your former commanding officer, and i want them segregated by MOS..." Truk paused, "And I want them in my hands by tomorrow noon at the latest."

"May I ask why, sir?" Heiser asked.

"Because when this is over, Kowloon is still a FedCom planet, and the Duchess does not need a non-functional Militia.  We're only after the criminals, Leutnant, criminals and conspirators here, I'd as soon not have to guard quite so many prisoners when there's a daily risk of large-scale bandit attack, or god-help-us, a Clan assault with the defenses unprepared."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 15-05-2010, 08:53:44]]


Minsky's Folly, Grid 264 SE

14 year old Eric Vanh reined his horse to a halt, and looked down into ravine 46 with a pair of binoculars.  "Cavern entrance, ten meters elevation, north side." he reported, "I can see metal fragments around it-smooth oval, might be mines, but it's definitely sheltered from above by the overhang."

"Hold position until we get up there." Evelyn Mosovich's voice came over the radio.

 
Half an hour later, the rest of the team were up at the site, including Didi Moran.

"Mark eighteen mines." she said, "anti-armor with secondary EMP effects.  I think we found it."

"Can you disarm?" Mosovich asked, "If you can't, we might need a new plan."

"Let's see if there's anything other than the mines to recover in there-it's been sitting for two centuries." Moran said.

"Scale in from the far wall?" Mosovich asked.

"Sounds like a plan.  We sure as hell can't approach from ground level."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 17-05-2010, 21:53:21]]


Cavern One, Grid 264, Minsky's Folly...

Two hundered meters down the tunnel, they found a pair of blast doors-laying on the floor.  The frame around them eroded by water.

"Doesn't look good..." Mosovich commented. 

Fifty meters further in, and they found the main chamber.

"We're going to need heavy equipment to get those dug out."

there were 'mechs, probably standing, but the rubble and dust on the floor was high enough that Evelyn could walk to the heads, lean forward with a light, and look inside the cockpits.

"Ten meters of debris deep, probably the ceiling's unstable." she noted.

Dee just looked around in silence for a minute, then cursed. 

"Twelve 'mechs,mostly buried."  a small creek ran through the chamber, from above.  During spring, that creek would be a small torrent.   "Probably a lot of corrosion too, water damage..."

"Marjie Ngo wasn't a Geologist, she was a politician." Mosovich said.

"No shit.  what would shake hte roof down like that?"

"My guess? there's a layer of limestone-that Karsts, Karsts eventually break down-might've been the earthquake of '22 or even earlier." Mosovich said, "Might just be that the seepage finally caused the roof to fall in,opening this level to the cavern above...they didn't take the time to buttress-see? no artificial structures besides the door leading in..."

"None we can see." Dee corrected her.

"None we can see." Mosovich agreed.  "I don't think we can get these out any time quick."

"Agreed."  Dee looked around, "That one-it's a Heck, and those're bulky, I don't think they could walk it through that tunnel."

"Maybe an exterior door somewhere else?"

"Maybe."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 17-05-2010, 22:13:42]]


New Saigon...

Jorge N'Kruna walked the ranks of Training Platoon Bravo in perfect imitation of the SLDF Drill Instructors he'd been trained under at Pretoria, in another Century on a world hundereds of lightyears away.

"Empty out those duffles and pockets, Douchebags." he snarled, putting every ounce of menace he'd ever seen or dreamed of into his tone and expression.  "Double time."  He spoke straight from his diaphragm, the way he'd seen Sgt. Lincoln do it over two hundered years ago.

"you have been selected, douchebags, to serve your people, and you have been rendered into my tender care-now, some of you, no doubt, think you're pretty special-god's special children, I am un-interested in that, I am un-interested in what you think your rights are, I am un-interested in how tough you think you are-because unless and until you prove other-wise, you are douchebags, douchebags that have been turned over to me, in the vain, and I would say hopeless idea, that you can be turned into soldiers."

He stopped at the front of the formation, "You are going to learn to hate me, but, if you are NOT douchebags, you will learn to be Soldiers."  he smiled, "At any time, if training is too tough, if you feel your heart will break, you may ask to leave.  If you do so, you will NOT be returning."

He assumed a Parade-Rest stance, "NOW, which one of you douchebags thinks he can knock my hat off?"

North Beach, New Saigon area, Training Platoon Alpha...

"...discipline is one of the chief hallmarks of a Recon Marine.  The ability to endure the otherwise un-endurable is the bedrock upon which you build.  This water's cold, and by the time we are finished here, we will all be suffering."  Dinh sat cross-legged as the ten degree cold-current water of the surf began splashing his back.  "We will leave this beach, we will leave these seats, when the tide goes out again in six hours." he added, "those of you that make it through this will proceed to the next training phase-those that do not, will be cycled to a regular Militia training command, or back to civilian life-no questions asked.  as with last week's and the week before, you can simply declare your intention to depart the program, at any time, and leave."

00100111010011101010011010101/SLDF90H(I)MACK-SOG6

RE: Training Program

"experienced" troops overseeing standard infantry training now-with Cadre assistance.  Basic Training group running fairly smoothly-there were quite a few LCAF vets in the outlying areas.

Advanced training has two groups already in the pipeline- the alpha platoon is about a week ahead of the Bravo, but Denh insists on extending the pre-selection to eliminate certain undesirable traits.  I can't say he's abusing the men-he puts himself through everything he's putting them through, but he's washed-out fifty percent so far-all voluntary resignations from the advanced course.  N'Kruna's doing a better job on retention when comparing metrics, we'll see whose approach gets the kind of people we need to finish this.

I'm forwarding testimony and files, including medical data, on current enrollees and those washouts from group A that might still be useful.

Vao.

50% wash-out of Kowloon volunteers??  Either Kowloon got soft in the past three centuries or the Tigers are putting them though training that is truely hard core.  The kind of stuff that would make most of the "failures"  suitable for your normal elite spec-ops unit.

Nice work and thanks for sharing. Please note this special forces/ hyper advanced infantry training, anything less than a 80% failure rate is viewed as actually "giving it away". These recruits are tenacious.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 19-05-2010, 09:16:12]]


Yellow Queen,  En Route To Hue....

"...rimjobs set up their puppet government in Hue back in 2740, during the Revolution, we actually encountered real resistance from the city itself." Truk mused, looking out at the shoreline whipping by.

"So, you think our absentee Regent's marshalling there?" Didi asked.

"Makes sense." Lt. Cdr Mai Huyn said from behind them.  Truk and Dee turned around.  "Hue's basically Feddie City-more immigrants and camp-followers brought in by the Regency have been settling there than anywhere outside Nha Tranh itself, and it's one of Condit's new 'welfare islands'."

"Welfare Islands?" Truk asked.

Dee grimaced "Welfare islands-the government provides a base lifestyle funded by the taxpayers in exchange for votes and public support-the machine-pols back when I was growing up could generate a riot or rig an election by making sure that they had public-supported followers concentrated in certain neighbourhoods.  They're on the dole, so they've got all kinds of time available to work for the Party..."

"And party they do." Huyn commented, "We had a wildfire in the hills overlooking the city-it ended up being Coast guard and some professionals from VDL and Ben Hoa-the locals claimed no funding-that was back in '40, it took us five weeks to get it under control, and afterward, the agency was served a class-action suit for not responding fast enough-from the Mayor of Hue...the Old Duke (Elizabeth's Grandfather) threw it out, but every visit by the Regent has been met with balloons and flowers since he started dismantling the Coast Guard."

"I take it you guys aren't real popular there?" Dee asked.

"About as popular as any cop going into a gang slum." Huyn said bluntly.

So, if faced with a heavily entrenched enemy in an urban environment who is actively receiving guerrilla support from the locals, would a SLDF trained unit resort to scorched earth tactics designed to force an enemy out?  I'm thinking Firestarters, Hermes (both models) and Vulcans (or any other designs with flamers on them) turned completely loose here...

It is intrinsically against SLDF conduct to practice scorched earth tactics against civilian areas.  They remember with infamy, the nuking by the SLDF of Kowloon. :'(

Their allies, and in this case, the local duchess, are Kowloonies who have legendary operating principles - they take total war to a whole new level.  They're willing to nuke their own city if it's the most effective way of clearing it.  You'd think EVERYONE would know what the Loonies did to people they didn't want on their planet. Evil

I wouldn't put it past the loonies to napalm the place from orbit.

Why not, if all the "loyalists" bunch up in one place by themselves, thats... convenient >:D

Might as well really rub salt in the wounds of any survivors by making them fill out the enviramental impact report.

Hey, you! Behave yourself! That's cruel and unusual punishment!

nah
simply drop a few small rocks ( about 100 meters or so in size) from orbit in a ring
around the city, and dare the bastards to come out, park a few large rocks in orbit with a shuttle
to move them and then starve  them out

eventually they will turn on each other and there wont  be anyone
left to defend the place when you go in
most of the real estate will be undamaged
DT

If you're going to start dropping stuff from orbit, why not drop a big enough one in the first place to level the city, then start all over again. The city is already a nest of vipers, why waste time on pacification when the Clans are coming?

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 20-05-2010, 20:51:33]]


Nha Tranh, SLDS Sledgehammer...

be careful what you wish for...  Bruce Gilmour mused unhappily, looking into the ship's ward.  Elizabeth Ngo was curled up in the corner, having a nice, quiet nervous breakdown.

Only, without the drugs, it wouldn't be nice and quiet, would it?  Colonel Ngo's voice spoke across the span of time, space, and memory.  "you let the pressure off, let her relax...let her think about what's happened to her."

Subtly, Major Gilmour nodded.  WE did...how did you deal with it?

"Check my journal.  I stayed too busy to let it bother me.  First the uprising, then organizing the one-seventy-first, then running the outfit through a decade of combat-when you're dying, sometimes the only therapy is to be a workaholic."

"She's just a kid." he muttered.

"that she is..."  the Colonel said, "She might come out of it on her own, but I think you'd better snap her out instead-before the drugs stop working."


Bruce Gilmour sat up in his bunk.  The clock said 0330 hours local time.  He'd been asleep for only a couple of hours.

"She'll be better off if you put her to work on something, you know."  Colonel Ngo was sitting at Bruce's desk, snapping a deck of cards.

"I'm still asleep." Bruce said.

"Right.  This is just your brain having brain-farts, I'm just a figment of your imagination, Major."  the long-dead Kowloonese leader said, "Probably something you ate-those rations are a couple centuries old, after all-too bad you're not dreaming about your old lady, or that kid of yours...what'sername, Synthie or something?  Instead you dragged me up... what's really bugging you, Bruce?"

the dead man turned on the desk lamp.  Bruce could see the dirt-streaks on a dress uniform-grave dirt, a corpse's uniform.

"You're afraid she's going to end up like me?" the Colonel asked.

"Maybe." Bruce allowed.

"No you're not." Ngo shook his head, "You know she's going to die, and die young too-there's no cure, if the Clans had one, Kat would've told you when you found out."

"IF she knew about, Colonel." Bruce countered, "She's a warrior, not a doctor."

"Touche'." Ngo nodded.  "Still, why waste your REM sleep on me?"

"What did you hide that stuff for, Tranh?" Bruce asked, "Sam gave you better than a regiment's worth."

"I didn't.  Marjie did-check the records for why." the dead man said, "Think about it, what would Bobby Steiner have done with us after the treaty was signed, if he knew we had that much gear? or some of the others?"

"Elbar was a freak incident." Bruce said.

"You sure about that? you read the background, what Jinjiro did at Kentares-was that a freak too?" Ngo asked, "Or New Dallas-I understand it's still too hot to land there-strontium 90 bombs leave quite a mess...but that's not why you dragged me out-you're worried about the girl." 

"yeah..." Bruce replied.

"You know the right answer, it just turns your guts, doesn't it?" Ngo asked.

"a bit..." Bruce nodded.

"Well, that's why they pay us the big money, Major-to make those calls.  I'm dead, I"m also imaginary, I can't really help you or tell you anything you don't already, at some level, know and understand."  The dead officer leaned back, "You'd better figure it out, though-she's running out of time."

Nice work and thanks for sharing. Looks like our Gunslinger needs to drink stronger whiskey before bed. This just gets worse for poor Liz.

Yup, Bob the Slob would've pulled out all the stops on the Loonies...

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 21-05-2010, 21:46:29]]


New Saigon...


"They're not ready." Dinh insisted.

"It doesn't matter, we don't have any time left." Vao told him, "The question isn't whether you've got them fully prepared for SLDF service, the question is only..."  he looked at the map again, "Can they be used?"

The icon on the map blinked as another call came in-the lance of 'mechs was crossing Bao ridge.

"I'll need a radioman." Dinh stated, "So will N'Kruna's group and Thompson's people.  We'll have to play this one dirty as hell-we're going to lose a lot of men."

"I know that." Vao told him. 

"We'll mix in the experienced reservists with the greenies and the pogues, we'll have to use stick-and-run tactics-lots of demo." Dinh said, "Red's people promised me some composition twelve, if we can lure one or two of them into these areas-" he highlighted the map, "blind 'em with radio-chatter from the cell network and broadcast stations, we can maybe isolate 'em one at a time-they'll still burn the shit out of the city."

"No way around that."  Vao made some notations, "You're going to be a busy man, Dinh." he said.

"Dead people aren't busy, sir." Dinh replied, "I'll get my people to take as many as we can, but my confidence is low-even if everything goes well."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 21-05-2010, 22:01:33]]


For those playing at home...

New Saigon

Map(s) qty six, dense Urban

Special Rules: Double Blind, Night operations, Forced Withdrawal (attacking forces)

Defending forces:
6 plt. Light infantry (foot) Mixed type
3 plt. light infantry (anti 'mech)
4 "Standard" Wheeled APC
2 Light SRM carriers
4 squads SRM infantry (Motorized)
1 Warrior H-7
* Hole Card

Attacking Forces:
BJ-1 Blackjack (4/5)
FS-9 Firestarter(4/5)
Stinger STG-3R (3/5)
Wasp (4/4, Infernoes)
Scorpion Light Tank (5/6)
Scorpion Light Tank (4/5)
Heavy APC (Tracked, 5/4)
1 Plt.foot infantry (Rifle)
2 Plt. Mechanized infantry (Rifle)
1 Plt. Mechanized (MG)


* Hole Card: After turn three, defending forces may call in 1 airstrike every 2 rounds, Airstrike is SB-27 with standard HE bombs.  "Hole Card" lasts for three airstrikes, after which, fighters must RTB.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 22-05-2010, 20:43:11]]


Hue, Northside, 2000 hours...

Ferrocrete apartment blocks rose from harball streets like the rotting teeth of a dead giant.  Artificial lights blazed in the early evening darkness.

"Weird." Truk commented, "Streets are empty."

"Curfew?" Didi speculated.  He nodded.

"They're more aware than the rimjobs were." he said, "I thought Huyn was just being cautious."

"It's like putting up a laser-show holosign that something's going on here besides normal civic life." Dee pointed out.

"Yeah...that it is."  He raised a pair of binoculars, and searched the street.

"Cameras." he said, "Traffic cams, looks like.  Probably cams in the stores too-whoever's doing their security knows his shit, and whoever's running the city must have serious pull."

"Sneak-suits?" she asked.

"Sneak-suits." Truk nodded, "We're also going to need ECM support-I will bet a shiny star league dollar that they're marshalling forces here, maybe a serious logistics point too."

they dropped down behind the ferrocrete bulkhead that marked the edge of the river here.

"Daylight." she said, "We'll have to get into the city in daylight-when there's traffic...without being noticed."

He nodded.  "Civilian clothes, cover story..."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 22-05-2010, 21:45:04]]


For those playing at home...Hue

Scenarios for Hue can be played out using your favourite role-play system, or, we can twist the rules of Battletech to actually get the damn thing over with in a single evening/afternoon in your favoured gaming venue (kitchen table, game store, conventions or what have you...)

It's a tough mission- you get a selection of teams going in, against a unified, heavily armed defender, and your only chance of success, is NOT to fight. (or to fight as few times as possible.)

Mission: Hue, January 27, 3052
Attention To Orders:

Mission: Recon environs of Hue City (grid 261 Southwest), if possible locate and mark military targets for airstrikes.

Insertion is to be by water 15km north of Hue City limits

Extraction by VTOL support (2nd Coast Guard Air)
Secondary Extraction by riverine vessels
Tertiary Extraction option overland/improvised.

Game conditions/special rules:

Double-Blind play, Squad deployment of infantry, Recon Rules (see below)

Defenders outnumber attackers 4 to 1, Attacking forces may not employ Battlemechs, as they don't have them at this time.

Defenders:
1 Lance from FedCom Light table, "F"
12 Vehicles
12 platoons infantry (may be deployed as squads).





.

Attacking Forces: 8 squads infantry, 4 light vehicles (on map), 2 VTOL in reserve (Ferret Infantry Variant)

Primary Mission: Recon each map and mark targets.
Secondary ("Holy Shit") Objective: survive long enough to be extracted by reserve VTOL forces.

Each Objective "Marked" is worth 50 Victory Points. 

There are 16 "Objectives" in Hue, these represent fortifications, munitions storage areas, Barracks, repair points, and logistics points.

Attacking forces lose 5 VP for each time they are detected and engaged by defending forces.  Each squad destroyed is -25 victory points.

Defending Forces collect 10 victory points each time they detect and engage a squad of attacking forces, and 25 for each attacking force squad that is eliminated/destroyed.

Maps: 4 (or more) dense urban/skyscraper mapsheets positioned however each player deems necessary.  Each map contains no less than one, and no more than four, "objective" hexes (determined by the Defending Player and marked down on a sheet prior to play).  When an Attacker squad gets within 3 hexes, AND has line-of-sight, of an Objective hex, that Hex is to be 'marked' visibly on the board.

The only condition in which an attacker gains VP for engaging in combat, is if he is able to capture a 'mechwarrior-either by forcing an ejection and then moving to the hex the pilot lands in, or successfully swarming the 'mech and inflcting two or more head hits with infantry.  Captured 'mechwarriors are worth 100VP, but must be 'extracted' by Reserve VTOL to be counted as captured.

The idea, after all, is to get in, mark the targets, and get out without arousing the defenders-i.e. to be "SNEAKY".



Now, because most smart folks don't take the in-character views entirely to heart, it is recommended that night/darkness and weather be used-unless you're playing it as "in Character" ROLEPLAY!  (the reason for this is simple-playing in-character, your characters can lie to people and employ disguises and such to move about inconspicuously during the day...)

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 23-05-2010, 21:14:11]]


VMFA-12, Soc Trang Coast Guard Naval Air station, Giap Island, Tonkin Bay

"Are we ready? I've got a company of Marines need air support in a hurry, Chief." Lt. (O-3) Huang Duk San asked his Crewchief.

"Well, we had some storage rot, but it's taken care of-we managed to get six fighters operational out of the cache-site, Sir."  the Chief said, "With spares we can get maybe two of the remaining birds operational-the rest are writeoffs."

"Fifty Percent ain't half bad for two centuries in a leaky bunker near salt-water, Chief...I'm putting pilots in the birds you've got up-what about munitions?" He asked.

"That...could be a problem, sir-the iron-bombs are good to go, but the specialty munitions-the Nape, the guided bombs...not so good."

"No clusters?" He asked.

"No sir." the Chief said, "My ordnance techs might be able to pull something out-but I'd give the iron bombs only about an eighty percent chance of detonation..."

"It'll have to do-arm 'em up, we're going out."

"Aye Aye, sir."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 25-05-2010, 20:45:05]]



And it feels, and it feels like
Heaven's so far away
And it feels, yeah it feels like
The world has grown cold
Now that you've gone away
-The Offspring, "Gone Away"

New Saigon, 1600 Hours (aftermath)

"The really horrible part, is that this is how I remember it."  Denh muttered.  "It's like I never left."

"Stay with me, Denh."  Red told him, pressing both hands down on his wound.

"It's just like when I was a kid...during the revolution." he said, "We were supposed to end this..."

"Hang on, Denh, Tommy's on his way..." she insisted.

"...just like home..."  he rasped,"Damn it." then...

Cherry Blossom "red" Vu watched the life go out of his eyes, just as the medics made it past the wreckage at the intersection.


"Ma'am, ma'am...Ma'am, we can't do anything for him, but you're hurt."  Tommy insisted.

"NO.  NO dammit, no..." she was crying, and she lashed out.  Tommy did what training told him to do-he hit her with a sedative 'stick' to knock her out, so that she could be moved to the aid station for treatment.  Then, he looked at his friend.

Denh was half-in-half-out of the twisted rubble of the New Saigon Bank building, It's going to take a crane to get the body out... he looked around, a few of the newbies were gathered on the sidewalk, looking stunned and confused.  "Hey, Dumbshit! who's senior?" He barked.

one of the trainees looked up.

"Yeah, YOU, get your people straightened up and moving to the rally point, Vao's looking for you lost lambs."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 26-05-2010, 22:15:25]]


Hue...

Truk squatted back, and switched to the tac-air frequency.  "Kết hợp 135264 chỗ pháo binh, yêu cầu những hai chuyển qua, qua."  one street over, he could hear a Vedette moving-the governor's militia were aware that something was going on, and they were HOT to find out what.

It was getting close to zero time.

"Kiểm tra trong tất cả các đội."  Dee's viet was smooth, with a slight Ia Drang nasal-she'd learned it from Truk's team, so it wasn't much of a surprise-her accent almost sounded native.

"Đích được xác nhận, Đội Alpha."  He replied, and looked at the Coastie sniper who was with him, he added, "Không có VIP nào trên chỗ"

"Ghi nhận, Những trận không kích đi về nước hai phút."  this time it was Lt. Commander Huyn's voice over the comm.

"Chuyển đến bìa cứng, hai phút cho đến khi thép mưa."  Truk ordered.

He and his sniper moved to a handy storm drain, and slid down into the city's underside, pulling the stainless steel structural grate closed.

About a minute later, he heard the Vedette that had been rolling through the other street cross overhead.

"Sixty...fifty...forty...thirty...twenty...ten...nine, eight seven six..." he opened his mouth wide, and assumed a posture to absorb (and maybe even survive) the coming overpressure wave.

At 0430 hours, the battle of Hue opened with coordinated airstrikes on eight locations, courtesy of most of the remaining Coast Guard air assets, and two fighters from the Black Tigers.

Wait for my signal.

What's the signal?  I don't know what the **** signal is!

Don't worry, it won't be hard to figure out >:D


Gotta to love it when the festivities start in a way that every one understands.

Heh, that reminds me of working for a fireworks company back in the day.  After about a week on the job I was at the site for a show when the boss said "You're the safety crew.'

"I'm on the safety crew?"

"You ARE the safety crew. If you see something you think is wrong yell really loud, OK?"

As I was digesting that idea the local fire chief came up and asked "Where do you want our guys?"  The reply from the boss was "stay where you are, way outside the taped off area unless you get a signal from my safety crew leader" as he pointed at me.

So the Fire Chief asks me what the signal would be and I smile and reply: "If you see me running around with my head on fire, that's a pretty good sign."  His comments as I walked away aren't fit for print...

I kinda miss that job.

Ah one of those T-shirts

Police Bomb Squad (or Explosive Ordinance Disposal Specialist) on the front.

On the back "If you see me running try and keep up."  :D

Nothing shows that you care more than a stick of Iron bombs. I almost feel sorry for the Vedette crew. Hopefully they are close enough that the blast or the falling buildings get them rather than the massive trauma of being bounced around likw a BB in a box car.

-------------------------------------------

A question regarding Liz (any appropriate version).

It's declared that she's a dangerous sociopath who enjoys killing people in cruel and unusual ways.

Has she ever killed someone who was actually innocent of whichever charge she made?

How many people is she supposed to have killed?

My reason for asking is - is she more dangerous than any other Ngo or for that matter Kowloonese?

Punishments on Kowloon are brutal but they ARE the law and you get a relatively fair trial (depending on who controls the planet).  Just because you don't like somebody else's society doesn't mean YOUR right.

Colonel Ngo who served with the 90th SLDF division used pretty inhumane methods when dealing with prisoners and traitors and was ignored by the 90th if not Kerensky.  I can't imagine him doing much differently to Liz but no one called him insane.

It appears to me that all Ngo tend to be very smart and very cold blooded when needed.  They all appear to be ultra dedicated to Kowloon as well.

  Liz  is notable as far as the Ngo's in the previous story set she is ruthless to a fault in both business and military matters. To truly appreciate Liz's personality traits/flaws reading the previously written stories does help. Some readers of the saga may or may not have an archive of past stories. The Ngo family overall is very dedicated to Kowloon and not all of them are raving mad sociopaths. As for her death toll it is well into the thousands at the time of her death. Cannonshop may be able  to better answer your questions but as an aside in the previous stories she had someone to work as a brake to her sociopathic tendancies at various times. That person varied depeding on the time period in question.

A question regarding Liz (any appropriate version).

It's declared that she's a dangerous sociopath who enjoys killing people in cruel and unusual ways.

Has she ever killed someone who was actually innocent of whichever charge she made?

How many people is she supposed to have killed?

My reason for asking is - is she more dangerous than any other Ngo or for that matter Kowloonese?

Punishments on Kowloon are brutal but they ARE the law and you get a relatively fair trial (depending on who controls the planet).  Just because you don't like somebody else's society doesn't mean YOUR right.

Colonel Ngo who served with the 90th SLDF division used pretty inhumane methods when dealing with prisoners and traitors and was ignored by the 90th if not Kerensky.  I can't imagine him doing much differently to Liz but no one called him insane.

It appears to me that all Ngo tend to be very smart and very cold blooded when needed.  They all appear to be ultra dedicated to Kowloon as well.

The difference comes from this:

Liz in most stories is sociopathic in a pretty classical sense-she enjoys hurting/killing people-but she's smart enough to know she can't afford to indulge that urge.  This is different from Colonel Ngo, who did his atrocities out of anger, and regretted them later-Elizabeth lacks (in most versions) the ability to feel guilt over her actions, this is what makes her sociopathic, the typical 'brake' on her behaviour comes from two sources:

1. an understanding that actions have consequences, and the ability to understand intellectually that indulging her darker urges too often will result in severe consequences to herself and her goals.

2. Because of (1) she tries to surround herself with advisors whom are moral in a conventional sense-she's smart enough to realize she lacks the standard moral compass, so she relies on a close advisor's.

Notably, THIS version of Elizabeth may not be as damaged emotionally as previous versions as she progresses, so she may actually retain/develop a 'normal' concept of right and wrong internally, instead of having to rely on external sources.  Only time will tell.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 28-05-2010, 23:38:44]]


Hue, Riverside, 3052/02/15...

The airstrikes had been point-on with the targets, creating one of the larger Tet fireworks displays on record-(particularly when iron bombs hit the three munitions depots scattered throughout the city's core...)  perhaps not appreciated, mind you, by the residents.

The problem with a mid-summer fireworks display (especially in a built up urban area) is, of course, fire.  The welfare blocs in Hue are ferrocrete and fire-resistant ceramic structures, but....

fire-resistant isn't fire-proof.

"Someone put those fires out!"  Leftenant Harold Ayer-Morgan pulled his Dervish out of the wreckage of the MSA.  his sensors showed the tenements outside where the wall had been were starting to burn.  "And get those civilians out of those buildings!"  his heart was racing-They've gone TOO FAR! it was a nightmare all proper sons of the Federated Suns endured-Collateral damage, Civilian Death.  He would NOT let that happen on his watch.

The command frequencies weren't working-there was no access to the Company headquarters on the north side of town.

"Grimsby, Barnaby, Howe! STatus!!" he barked over the (apparently) unjammed lance frequency.

"Grimsby here, I'm almost free of the gantries."  the Hatchetman pilot reported, "Howe's still down, I think she's out cold."

"Barnaby here, I'm getting red on my right leg actuators, but Skullkrusher's operational." the Wolverine pilot announced.

Sarah Howe's voice was coughing, "i'm trapped, Leftenant, I think most of the bay must have fallen on top of me, and I'm getting a breeze."

"Understood, Howe, we'll send help when we can-first priority HAS to be the Civilians." the Leftenant told her.

"Understood sir." she said, and coughed again, "I think that blast got my techs..."

Hue, Riverside, 3052/02/15...
"Someone put those fires out!"  Leftenant Harold Ayer-Morgan pulled his Dervish out of the wreckage of the MSA.  his sensors showed the tenements outside where the wall had been were starting to burn.  "And get those civilians out of those buildings!"  his heart was racing-They've gone TOO FAR! it was a nightmare all proper sons of the Federated Suns endured-Collateral damage, Civilian Death.  He would NOT let that happen on his watch.

What, they weren't supposed to touch the military targets YOU put right next to a bunch of civilians?

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 29-05-2010, 09:17:18]]


Xiao Loc village, 2km south of Hue on Highway 3...

What is the rage of a people? how is it expressed?  farm trucks interspersed with combat vehicles-some dug out of caverns, towing guns and carrying men rumbled through Xiao-Loc in long columns packed with men carrying everything from Star League relic laser rifles to hunting pieces.

Within the village itself, homes and street-sides are displaying a banner unseen for decades-the gold banner divided by three red stripes-the banner of Kowloon's independence years.

The Regency imposed an administrator in Xiao Loc, but that administrator is in no shape to object to the display of local patriotism-he and his staff are hanging from a six hundered year old Oak in the village common.

It's not really an army, and it's not really a riot.  News of the fierce combat in New Saigon, Hue itself, and the word that their Duchess has come home with heroes of legend has awakened a spirit unseen in generations.

Kowloon is rising.

Nice work and thanks for sharing. Anyone from the Regency interested in keeping their head and shoulders both together and functional might wish to consider a quick long permanent off world vacation.

Xiao Loc village, 2km south of Hue on Highway 3...

The Regency imposed an administrator in Xiao Loc, but that administrator is in no shape to object to the display of local patriotism-he and his staff are hanging from a six hundered year old Oak in the village common.

Geez, you take a marginal administrative job at some pointless state bureaucratic office as a nameless office drone to feed your brood of crumb snatchers and ungrateful wife, and you end up doing the air dance

It could have been worse, they could have been pole dancing... you know... like the do in Elbar...

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 30-05-2010, 08:40:56]]


Highway 3, Ia Drang to Hue Route, 11 KM west of the Ia Drang suspension bridge...


"Don't fire."  Moshe ordered.  Bennie Nguyen looked over at the Tigers advisor with a question in his eyes.

"Don't fire.  Pass it down the line, the refugees can go." Moshe said, "we're only after military assets, those aren't military, they're dependents."

"They could have-" Nguyen began.

"Listen, we used live enemy prisoners as bayonet practice until Sam Winters put a stop to it, what we do NOT do, is fire on fleeing civilians, and the first man I hear trigger a round at those people down in the gorge, I'm going to make an object lesson out of, understand?" Moshe stated it with the tone of a man commenting about the weather.  "For that matter, I want a squad of your engineers down on the bridge, make sure it can handle the weight."

"You're not serious?" Nguyen asked.

"Dead serious-if it can't handle the weight of those fleeing people, it won't hande our reinforcements coming up the other way."  Moshe said.

Nice work and thanks for sharing. Practicality: the other reason for observing the tenets of war.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by blacktigeractual, 30-05-2010, 16:21:56]]


“Liz, get up…”  I hated myself for saying it.  But the Ngo-image rattling around in my subconscious (Now there’s a disturbing thought.) was right.

For maybe the first time Elizabeth Ngo’s eyes weren’t black doll’s eyes devoid of life.  August Martine backed away, putting the hypo back in her kit.

“No…g’way.”  The Duchess of Kowloon said still groggy.

“Can’t, you said it yourself you don’t have a lot of time left…”

“I don’t care!  It’s not fair, Bruce you…don’t know… Patrick….”  She choked back a sob.  “He should be here.”

The Throne Room of the Court of the Star League smelled like death, old death.  The corpse at my feet is mummified, desiccated but I can still recognize the face of my father. 

“Patrick is dead, you aren’t.  You are here, and you are needed.”  She opened her mouth to say something, but I growled low in my throat.

“No, Duchess it ain’t fair…but life sucks that way.  Good people die…better ones than us.”

Acamar’s cold wind chilled me through the rents in my combat suit.  I can’t feel it.  Rachel Miller’s eyes stare without sight, blue as the purest Terran sky.   Better people than me.  I push on relentlessly.

“The only thing you can do try to set things right, and pray you don’t ****** up.  Life isn’t fair, but it is what you make it.  Now your people need you, and I need to get back to the war.” Liz straightened and pulled her hair back.  Without looking at me she said simply;
 
“I’ll hold it together, you go storm the castle.”

I turned and headed for the door.

“Bruce?”  Liz’s whisper was so soft I almost missed it.

“Yeah kid.”

“We’re not good people are we?”

“No, Liz, but we can fake it well enough, maybe long enough to fool ourselves.”  I turned away.  “Maybe long enough to do some good.”

Hussy dodges the autocannon fire from a Zeus.  A feral smile lights my face as I pull on my triggers.  Hell bathes the Lyran built machine and it staggers back, two unfamiliar machines stride forward tracers spewing from their torsos and axes raised.   Axes? Oh this should be good.

They outnumber us considerably.  Chaos reigns.  Never am I so alive.

No Liz, we are not good people…but maybe just maybe…

Something tells me those axe weilding mechs (Axeman or Hatchetman?) have never seen a Marauder move like Hussy before.  It's going to be a knife fight with a couple of thugs against the likes of Jet Li or similar and against a pilot who needs to work out some serious aggression on somebody.  Almost makes you feel sorry for them, don't it ;D

Axeman 1 - "It's a Marauder, get in close and chop it up." :)

Axeman 2 - "He won't know what's happening to him" ;)

*5 minutes later*

Ex-Axeman pilot 1 minus mech - "I didn't think it was possible to do that with an axe, I mean, mechs are Humanoid machines, not Human or biological." :o

Ex-Axeman pilot 2 minus mech - "What are you complaining about, I never expected to need an armoured seat before."   :-[

Kowloon soldier guarding the two POWs - "Be glad there's no trees around here".  >:D

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 31-05-2010, 18:24:47]]


Over Hue, 0900 hours...

WO2 Bianh Dao brought her Sabre to a high-angle left turn, listening with half an ear to the chatter on the group frequency.  Hue was  a hornet's nest, and the Regent's militia were making a serious fight of it on the ground.

Data streamed across the ancient fighter's HUD display, showing red, yellow, and green highlights.  One thing about the Leaguers, they DO have the most wonderful coordination software...  she noted, and nosed over into an eighty-degree dive into the flailing madness of the city.

Crossing mach as she pulled up barely two hundered meters from the dirt, windows shattered in the sturdy welfare-island tenements of Hue, as her lasers blazed a path of fire across the rubble-strewn madadam of the street below, lashing into the rear armour of a Valkyrie.

Her wingman's pass against the same target happened less than a second later-from ninety degrees west of her own vector-finishing the medium 'mech as it turned to engage her.

Missile warnings sounded, and she kicked into burner and started flat-hatting at one-fifty meters, leaving scorch-marks on taller buildings-and behind that, came the little fire-flowers of LRM rounds trying to chase her through it.

a rope of tracers from a Vedette sited in a parking structure passed within only a couple hands of her cockpit canopy.  Her sensors detected the shot, and sent data straight through the network to the Tigers' pair of Aerofighters-bigger, heavier, and carrying heavier weapons, she noted unconsciously that they were logged into the tac-net.

a billboard loomed ahead, oulined and highlighted, she pulled up into a vertical climb-out-and roll-back, as the SLDF's single lance of aerofighters crossed her vision in a blur to take out the structure and lay more havoc on the enemy below.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by blacktigeractual, 01-06-2010, 16:41:01]]


The axe wielding 'mechs came on in a rush.  No way to avoid the rush.  My Gauss takes the one on the right in the leg and to my surprise my follow up PPC shot takes the limb off at the knee.  The spindly machine flopped on its face just as the pilot triggered the rapid fire cannon in its chest.  Blasts rocked the stricken ‘Mech and it lay limp.  Hunching in my linear frame I took the left hand machine's hatchet in the bulky armored heat sink housing on Hussy’s shoulder.

The heavy armor took the blow and I used the momentum to spin a punch into the crested machine’s midriff.  As it staggered back Hussy’s clawed left foot shattered its knee joint.  Yuri's Gauss Rifle cored the smaller machine.  Her wave of missiles crushed and dented armor on the Zeus now rushing back into the fray.

In the back of my mind I saw the radar symbols of the Regent’s troops begin to waver and break.  The way to Hue lay open, the city and whatever Condit had waiting for us.

One of the Feddie militia pilots had crawled out of his machine and was staring up at me.  Crouching down over him I keyed my external speakers.

“So tell me dude, who the hell puts and axe on a damn BattleMech?”

He shrugged.

“So tell me dude, who the hell puts and axe on a damn BattleMech?”

My first guess would be an engineer who have never piloted a 'Mech.  ;D

Dr. Banzai actually, and given the time frame they are more likely a pair of Hatchetmen, the newer Axeman would be rare, a pair on a Periphery Border world would be highly unlikely.

... back in the 3020s, when the Hatchetman was developed, the axe did make some sense. A bit at least. If used right.
Unfortunately the Mech itself sucks and would be a lot better if it just dropped the axe for some armor and ammo...

Nice work and thanks for sharing. He should have asked for directions to a decent restaurant as well.

Y'uns are concentrating too much on the mechs and the pros and cons of mech scale axes.  I figure any time a pilot can get punched out of his ride, look at a Marauder (especially one performing beyond current specs) and shrug in response to the MAD pilots smart-alec query (as opposed to soiling himself in response), then we're witnessing pure comic relief or the introduction of another bad-ass.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 02-06-2010, 20:06:52]]


East of Hue, 5 km...

Ernie Williams watched the SLDF Marauder a moment longer-and reached down to see if he'd crapped his shorts. 

Luckily, the shorts were dry.  okay, I'm alive...  His lancemate Bennig...well...not a lot I can do about that, sorry Ben. 

The sound of engines rumbled closer, and he turned to dig out his rifle, survival pack, and a set of pants.

"Hold it right there, 'mechboy."  the sing-song voice was native, and female.  Ernie turned around.

"I'm unarmed." he lied.

"I'll give you a choice, junior-you can be under arrest in Coast Guard custody, and face charges with a chance o' beatin' them, or we can let the locals have you-they lynched a bunch of people in Xiao Loc." she was standing on the back of a pickup, with a pintle-mount sperry-browining.

He raised his hands.

Two coasties jumped off the truck, "You have the right to remain silent, if you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, you have the right to an attorney..."

Wise choice Ernie.  Mom always said "Make sure you're wearing clean underwear in case you're in an accident."

That's all fine and dandy until the accident actually happens and then, as Bill Cosby noted, "first you say it, then you do it". ;D

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 03-06-2010, 08:17:44]]


Mayoral Residence, Hue city...

Jim Condit stared at the map, What went wrong?  He knew, of course-the SLDF "Auditors" had joined the local insurrection, and Max Greene's people had told him to piss up a rope-the Green Machine wasn't joining the uprising, but they were also NOT joining his forces in putting it down.

"...Contract was pretty specific-we're garrisoning against OUTSIDE aggression, Governor. You don't like it you can call your boss on Tharkad." Green had told him, and had added, "We've been sending reports for the last two years, helping you would be helping perpetuate crimes against our mutual employer, sitting it out I've at least got a UNIT, and I'm pretty sure I can win any MRBC hearing."

That had been over a week ago, when he'd left Nha Tranh to rally forces.

The situation had degraded more in the last forty hours, than it had in the previous month.  The counter-strike at New Saigon had failed catastrophically, the battalion holding Ia Drang was collapsing, and now...

now, we're pinned in at Hue.  They're driving for the HIGHWAY....  The good news, was that from what he'd seen, the only 'mechs the insurgents had were split between Ia Drang and Hue,  and he had them outnumbered on both fronts.

The bad news, was that the Coasties and the Tigers' air-arm had effectively negated his single squadron of Sparrowhawks, and unlike his Militia, the ground troops working with them were being effective.

If I break their 'mech forces, we can still turn this...  It was time to get into the battle.  He stripped off his jacket, and began barking orders for the Headquarters Lance to deploy.

Jim was a Marauder driver, and his ride, Emmaline was nearly pristine, with kills on the Cappellan front in '28 and the Drac front in '39 marked across the nose.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 03-06-2010, 08:34:36]]


Nha Tranh...

"Colonel Green, I assume you're here on business." Elizabeth said, as the Mercenary took a knee.

"I am, Your Grace." Max Green was old-for a 'mechwarrior or a Mercenary.  For a man whose 'ride' was a collage of salvaged parts... "I'm wondering if you intend to file a complaint with the MRBC."

"For your inaction over the last five years under the Regent?" She asked, "I can't fault you for that, Colonel, as much as it angers me, I understand your position."  she said,  "But that's not the only reason you're here, is it?"

"No ma'am." the Mercenary replied, "We've been sitting this one out."

"I noticed." Liz said, "If you want to join in, you'll have to wait for Major Gilmour to return, or speak to his commo people-I'm not...I don't know anything about military operations, and my senior advisors on such matters are busy fighting this war."

"We're probably going to be hit with a breach of contract in spite of our attempts to report the Regency's violations." Green said, "I have copies of the reports..."

"Give them to the Tigers." she said, "In the meantime, I'll have my contracts people go over your position...provided you do something for me."

"Which is?" Max asked warily.

"I want your testimony, Colonel, I want your testimony, and I want your oath of service." she said, "If you give those, I will do whatever my resources are able to protect you, and your men, from the blow-back off of this."

Nice work and thanks for sharing. Smart thinking by Liz, send in the lawyers to allow the warriors to act.

The mercs would have been hired to serve the legitimate planetary ruler in the interests of the state and when the Duchess turned up, she was an official ruler and Conduits' superior so the mercs would just serve her instead.

Given that Conduit is opposing the return of his superior, this would make him a rebel wouldn't it.

The Dutchess is underaged, and AFAICT the Green Machine was not hired directly by Kowloon, either via the Ducal office or the Regnant.  If I'm reading it right they were hired through the AFFC to garrison Kowloon, specifically to do so against external threats, meaning when it comes to be ordered to perform riot duty, or act against one side in a succession dispute they can legitimately tell Condit to go piss up a rope.  Colonel Green aparently did his homework and got that clause inserted so when the peasants started revolting he could hope to stay out of it, and pray the nasty locals would feel the same WRT his people.

On the flip side since the Tigers are here it could, by a very large stretch, be called an 'external threat'.  So to cover his backside with the AFFC and MRBC he has to be strictly neutral.

OTH Green seems to know Condit is dirty, even reported it, though apparently those reports got "misdirected" on their way to Tharkad...

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 03-06-2010, 21:47:13]]


Tharkad, 19 February, 3052...

"Why didn't anybody tell me about this?" Melissa Steiner-Davion was, for her, in a rage-a rage made of soft, quiet, no-more-please-and-thank-you polite fury.

Kommandant-General Alicia Savinson didn't look surprised, but she was the only member of the advisory council that didn't quail under the Archon-Regent's glare.  "I just did." she said smoothly, adding, "Your Majesty."

"Yes, you did...and you've been on the job what, a few months?" Melissa snarled it so smoothly that even Marshall Ian Cromwell looked nervous.  "We have a civil war, on a Lyran planet, because of what someone in this room approved, and did not bother to inform me of." Melissa continued,  "In the middle of an invasion...what are you all being so quiet for? start talking-how did this happen, and how are we going to resolve this?"

Cromwell cleared his throat, "Majesty, we shut down the operation on Kowloon eighteen months ago-the operation wasn't yielding sufficient results."

"YOU WHAT??" Savinson burst out, "You were running guns covertly off Kowloon to Pirates?"

"I take it you didn't uncover that part." Cromwell noted.

"I brought the evidence of someone running guns through there-we didn't know who." Savinson was livid, "You son of a bitch...what the ****** were you thinking?"

Melissa flinched a little at the language, and Savinson looked down, realizing she'd stepped over a line.

"What was the plan, Mister Cromwell?" Melissa said, emphasizing the 'mister'.

"The plan was to create a chaotic situation behind enemy lines, gather intelligence, and do so through deniable means." Cromwell said, "It wasn't working sufficiently well to maintain the operation."

"I see... I should have you imprisoned and stripped of rank for this." Melissa barked.

"Hanse approved of it in theory, Majesty..." he offered.

"That's the only reason you're not going into the darkest hole in the Federated Commonwealth, mister Cromwell." Melissa said, "Instead, I'm going to relieve you of your position.  You will resign, cite something like health, or stress, or family issues, you'll recieve your pension, and you'll clean out your desk, turn over your access codes, files,  sidearm, and uniform.  You will NEVER speak of this. ANY of you, or you will share a rather unpleasant fate."

She looked over at Savinson, "Get this sorted out, and keep it out of the press....in the meantime, I am going to have to organize relief efforts for the worlds impacted by this supremely stupid operation and its aftermath."

Savinson made a note, "What about the...ah...duchess?" she asked.

"She's a minor child and she's had to remove her Regent. Find someone local-someone who can govern, Alicia, and a responsible adult-the last thing we need is more chaos-they'd better be acceptable to the locals." Melissa stated, counting off, "I'm going to issue an Archon's order to repair some of the damage."

"Yes ma'am...about cleanup..." Alicia started to ask.

"Clean it up, Savinson-use Loki, Lohengrin, Molehunters, I don't really care-I want the criminals removed with a minimum of press-a few heads for the newsies, but they'd better not be able to give an interview,understood?"  she stood up, "The last thing we need is to have it get out that FedCom intelligence put a tyrant in place on a member world to run a failed intel operation."

"Yes ma'am."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by blacktigeractual, 04-06-2010, 01:48:54]]


I don't want to fall too far behind in the story, but RL has been overwhelmingly busy lately. :( This is the first part of my portion of this part of the story...


Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
2km outside Brigham Young Village, Ia Drang Plateau

Hauptmann Mallory Vinson-Tollenson pushed the throttle forward on her Hecatoncheires as she stared in disbelief at her tactical display. The ‘Mech that this Katya Kerensky was piloting was a MadCat – a Clan design! The Terrans are working with the Clans now? She didn’t have much time to dwell on that thought as she moved her ‘Mech hard to the right to avoid the incoming missile strike. It was partially successful. Mallory could hear and feel the multiple impacts scoring her left side armor. She attempted to pivot left to meet her enemy head on, but the ‘Mech was much faster than she had anticipated.

Just as Mallory was able to snap off a shot with her own heavy laser and long range missile complement, her ‘Mech shuddered with the blows of the two heavy lasers and another missile strike. In moments the status board went from green to red; her ‘Mech’s left arm had been virtually severed from the damage. ‘This Clanner is too damn fast!’

Mallory opened the general command frequency, “First Lance! Form up on me and let’s kick this Clanner’s can! Second Lance, take out the rest of the Terries.”

*****

Scott took a glance towards Katya, noting the speed at which she was tearing apart the Militia Heck. Another glance at the TacNet showed him that they were outnumbered almost two to one in ‘Mechs and that one of the lances was maneuvering to surround Katya. Damn Militia fools, they have no idea what they’re getting into.

He keyed the lance frequency. “Eleanor, get over and support Kat but don’t fire on the Heck attacking her! Liz, Jen, and I will take on the other lance!”

“Yes, sir!” Eleanor wheeled off in her Tiger and promptly launched a spread of missiles at another Hecatoncheires trying to move behind Katya. The strike caught the ‘Mech by surprise; apparently in his haste to get the quick kill he forgot about the other Black Tigers and offered his thinly-armored rear to Eleanor. It was a fatal mistake. Almost thirty long-range missiles and a heavy laser ripped through the back of the Heck, shredding the plates of protection and savaging the internals of the machine. Fortunately for the ‘MechWarrior inside, the CASE system activated and prevented a devastating ammunition explosion. Unfortunately, it didn’t prevent the destruction of the ‘Mech’s engine and gyroscope. Like a puppet with its strings cut, the humanoid form jerked once and fell forward, never to rise again. She shouted out to no one in particular, “Take that, you bastard!”

Nice work and thanks for sharing. I t would seem that the Loonies will be receiving a second-hand Mech battalion, some assembly required.

No manuals available but assembly assistance provided ...

Eh, I think Kowloon will still go with mass army doctrine, instead of focusing on mechs Kowloon will get tanks, using a more advanced/better design then the Patton as a baseline for variants, but still lower tech enough to produce en masse. Though, yeah, those mechs may be useful, but they will be probably used as the OpFor in training excercises and mock battles.

Kowloon always was in conventional forces but also in combined arms warfare. In the Kowloon "canon" 'Looniie forces were cooperating always quite well with allied 'Mech forces ("Never coming home" as a prime example comes to mind where they worked in alliance with the Green Turkeys). Now they'll have 'Mech forces of their own.

I am pretty sure that the 'Mech forces they'll get will be best assigned at Brigade level in company-sized or platoon-sized formations (and 'Loonies will call a 'Mech lance a platoon IMO) dpending on how much 'Mechs they'll get/salvage. That'll reflect best the numerical force structure of 'Loonie forces whilst still allowing integrated 'Mech forces to react with tactical speed and flexibility.

And I'll give you any odds that 'Loonie forces will not permit their COs to park their arses in 'Mechs, too.

The 171st did have Mechs too you know. Not exactly up to SLDF specs (mostly old Shadow Hawks i think), and not a lot of them, but they used them mainly for infantry support and diversions before...

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 05-06-2010, 09:07:32]]


Camp Norman, 22km  inland from Tributary 20, in the Dinh Diep Highlands...

Jenny Walters walked up to the razor-wire fencing, and stared out across a wasteland.  "Shit won't make me sterile, will it?" 'Mechwarrrior Earnest Williams asked.

"Pardon?" Jenny looked over at her fellow Prisoner, "Oh, probably not-they cleaned up the fallout centuries ago, rad-count's well within safe limits, as long as we don't try to live here for YEARS."

"That's good..." Ernie said, and an aging Karnov flew over, carrying a trailer-mounted water-tank into the prison compound.

The guard-stations here weren't like the typical POW camp-the guns were pointed outward, except for a central tower, and the prisoners were largely left to their own devices.

"Why the light security?" Ernie asked.

"You've been here about a day, right?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah." Ernie said.

"Guns're pointed out, because there's things live out there that a rifle doesn't touch-and they'll eat anything they can catch." she told him, "big stuff, Brower beasts-there was one got caught in the outer wire a couple days ago, mean, armoured, fast, and they've got redundant nervous and circulatory systems.  It took the Coastie guards about ten minutes, using sperry-browning track-mounts, to kill it."

"Oh."  Ernie stepped back from the perimeter.  "You've seen it?" he asked.

"Watched it-the thing made it through the outer perimeter wire in about three seconds, and was about halvers up the centre ditches with three legs tangled in the wire by the time they could finish it off."  she gestured for the 'mechwarrior to follow, "it was over here..."

The patch was burned, and the wire was new, with added coils and angle-bar.

"Burned?" he asked.

"Burned it after it was dead-Brower beast young are carried dormant-they eat their way out of mommy's body after she's dead." Jenny told him, "SO...here's how they keep order-we play nice, or the Coasties leave us here for the wildlife...including the shit that eat Brower-beasts-the shit that's the reason the outer moat's full of insecticide."

"Ants." Ernie said, "I heard about the Ants."

"Yeah, there's two colony-armies within about fifty kliks, they have to re-fill the bug-juice in the moat about once a week." Jenny told him, "Locals outside the valley use flamethrowers on the nests, but they're-"

"Still a problem. I know about those-I thought Brower Beasts were more of an urban legend from the gulf area, though..." Ernie told her.

"Apex predators, 'mechwarrior-the Coast Guard apparently keeps tabs on where they turn up, and go after them when they start hitting settlements." she said, "one of those 'public safety' jobs-but they're probably leaning off the local population to keep us pinned in."

The best prisons always have the locks on the inside.  That's because fear makes much better walls than stone.

Kowloon prisons must have a reverse Darwin effect - those that cause the most trouble or are most capable of escape are simply ignored until they do escape at which point....... >:D

One question - is there anything the Coast Guard DON'T do.  They operate both water and space ships (mentioned in various stories), very effective spec-ops troops (fought alongside the 90th SLDF), firefighting and pest control units, police units, rescue units, aerospace units, mech, standard infantry, tank, and artillery units, land based missile bases, etc.  Even the various duchesses, etc have Coast guard bodyguards.  Either everybody in a relatively small organisation is extremely multi-skilled or this is a Kowloonese method of having a massive invisible army.  Everybody is in an official civilian unit that just happens to contain many off-duty, retired or on secondment, coast guard personnel.

So what DON'T they do.

I can claim to have all of cannonshop's stuff - that is (still) on-line, that is.

My take on the coasties is that they are a mixture of a military force and public security setup with the additional twist of being massively rooted in the general populations through a truly stupendous amount of (active) reserve cadre. Like any conscript-using outfit they can just call up reserves with the civilian specialties that need to be employed militarily at a pinch.

Usually in my personal experience such an outfit combines the worst of both worlds when it comes to administering itself and reacting to external stimuli from outside the organization. Not so with the Coasties - they are responsive, mentally flexible and efficient at all levels. Truly great if they are on your side - truly scary if go  up against them.

iirc, there were limits placed on the size of the Military armed forces of colony planets, but not on the Coast Guards as they are not quite technically classified as Military.

IIRC they are classified primarily as LEOs, not Militia.  Also the other advantage is that by calling the the "Coast Guard" and outfitting them with boats (to be fair on undeveloped worlds most settlement will grow up along water transport routes, so the boats get used) they are less attractive to draft as a local levee.  Since their gear is specialized and not easily transportable they are less attractive to pluck up for a House Campaign than say, a Militia with even Scorpions and 10 ton APCs, since to use them as other than leg infantry the House would have to issue them vehicles.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 06-06-2010, 09:30:06]]


Dockside, Hue...

Truk crawled out of the smashed street, straight into a group of Regency Militia under the command of a scared looking teenager with Leutnant's tabs.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked.

"Sir." the Leutnant went to attention.  "I want to surrender my command, Sir."

Truk looked at the soldiers.  "What about them?" he asked.

"They don't want to fight anymore, sir...look, the guys know how this is going to go down, now that the Mercs have announced they're siding with your lot.  We didn't sign on for this."  the Leutnant said, "Frankly, I would rather not be on-record as resisting the Leige Lady's forces, not with what's been happening since things went hot..."

"Go on." Truk prodded.

"I've heard shit, sir...we gotta find someone with your side who's 'official', nobody wants to be lynched when the dirt-farmers get here."  the scared looking soldier told him.

Truk mused for a moment.  "That's a vedette over there?" he asked.

"Yeah.  We've got two of 'em, we were planning to make a break for it across the highway bridge..." the young man said, "Then we got word that the...locals...already have the pass under their control."

"Okay." Truk almost laughed.  "Okay, Junior, you did the smart thing-find a Tiger or Coastie officer and surrender.  That was smart, it means you're under legal protection as POW's...gimme your radio."

"Sir?" the Leutnant asked, handing over the mic from his RTO's backpack unit.

"I have to make a call, so they know not to kill us." Truk told the soldier, "and so that we can get you and your men a ride out of the war-zone-I'd as soon NOT have my career capped with a freindly-fire airstrike because some scared kids wanted to surrender to me... how many of you child-Sunday-soldiers you got?"

"I'm nineteen, sir..." the Leutnant protested.

"Yeah...protest after your second century kid." Truk told him, and got on the horn...

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by blacktigeractual, 07-06-2010, 15:22:38]]


Kei and Yuri flanked me as I strode down the highway.  Gracie’s lance cored a second combine arms force a few klicks behind us.  I had one of Nerva’s Beagle equipped Mongooses pacing us checking for mines and infantry support.

“Boss it’s a go, the Milz got themselves caught out of position. The bulk of their gang is spread out trying to suppress the uprising.  Condit’s only got his headquarters lance and some support troops.”  Erika Von Manstien reported over the TACNET. “They’ve still got more machines than we do, but ‘Rat says we’re grinding them down at la Drang.”

“Alright, it’s time to end this I’m not loving the idea of digging out Jimmy-boy from the middle of a city but we’ve gotta get this done.”

“Boss,” Truk came over the ‘net. “Just took possession of a mixed bag of Milz…passing ‘em over to a recovery team now.”

“Good; I need you on point on this one, Condit’s no moron we’re probably heading into a shit storm.”

“On it, boss man, we’ll be your eyes and ears…just keep the Terrible Two frosty.”

“We heard that!”  The MechWarriors in question came over the net in stereo.

Kei and Yuri?  And the planet is still there?  :o :o :o ;)

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by blacktigeractual, 07-06-2010, 16:17:36]]


@Nikas_Zekeval  ;D

Emmaline stalked through the empty streets of Hue.  Jim Condit called up the info he’d gotten over ComStar’s info net.  With the records of the SLDF’s members a matter of public record, records safe in data files on the capitol worlds of the Successor States, Major Gilmour’s service record had been easily obtained.

Lieutenant Bruce Nicholas Gilmour, 90th Heavy Assault Regiment.  The image file showed the fresh faced young man the Tiger officer had been before the battle of Acamar.  The file had obviously never been updated, but even without the eye patch he was recognizable as the man he’d met a few short weeks ago.

Jim had little time to scan the document before the uprising started, now what he read sent a spike of disbelief.   SLDF Ranger school, Infantry action on New Rhodes, MechWarrior training West Point in Exile, fought major actions at New Home, Acamar, Elbar, and Terra.  Captured by Rim Worlds forces during abortive assault on New York City.   Released after the liberation of Chicago.   Married Sarah Davion, Duchess of Chesterton in 2782. 

A storied career, but that was not what chilled him.  One passage screamed out louder than the rest.  …Number of kills confirmed by guncam footage; 322 BattleMechs, 38 aerospace fighters, 117 armored vehicles, 59 personnel kills out of ‘Mech…Unconfirmed Kills…

Jim shook his head in disbelief.

Impossible!  Then the call came over the TACNET.

“Sir; we’ve got movement!  Sector Six approx one thousand meters…looks li…”  Static interrupted Kevin Leighton’s report.

“Leighton, status…!”  Condit shouted.

“Sir…the sergeant’s down, something took his Crusaders head clean off, we’re under fire…”  Came a panicked report then silence.

“Command Lance, move out, it’s time to end this…”  The Regent of Kowloon ordered with a calm he didn’t feel.

One way or another.

He missed the "Gunslinger" entry? And i'd just love to see the "unconfirmed kills" number...
Hmm, wasn't the killcount Bruce told Kurita a bit higher?

Remember in Shattered Dawn the 90th wasn't fragged in mid drop over Manhattan, they fought all the way to Unity City.

Ah, now i get it, they just have their version of the records, the ones that have the Tigers gutted during the drop, not the ones the Tigers brought with them.
That means B got 204 kills during the Liberation... (unless he's counting the "unconfirmeds" for himself)...ouchi  #P
Thats a lot of Jackrabbits ;D
And nobody "here" knows he's also a Blackheart now? Jimmyboy really should have read those records before pulling any stunt against the Tigers...
If he'd done his homework about Bruce and his merry band, he'd have at least prepared a bit more.

Yup- Condit knows enough to get that nasty feeling in his gut but he's not smart enough to run for it...

Conduit may be classed as something of a mechwarrior, but can he claim to have confirmed kills of THREE mech regiments including  attendant fighter and vehicle support?

Because that's what the CONFIRMED numbers mean.

The unconfirmed might as well be confirmed since, not only is Bruce a gunslinger and thus expected to be honest and honourable, after a certain number of kills, which Bruce has definitely passed a couple of times, claiming kills would be like stealing from a baby.

"Bruce got another vehicle.......!!!"

"So..........the regimental cook killed a vehicle."

"Bruce killed an aerospace fighter ........!!!"

"Ok,,,,,,but you know those things drop like stones with light damage."

"Bruce killed a battlemech...........!!!

"We've been marking his kills on the side of the battleship coz we ran out of room on his mech years ago, it's that large black patch on the nose."

"How about the Union class dropship he's kicking the crap out of at the moment?"

"On the ground or in the air?"

"I give up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"You make him sound like he just stepped out of the latest Immortal Warrior vid?"

"Who do you think they based that series on?  They had to tone the protagonist down though or no one would believe it."

Hadrian I'm still laughing.  You are now the official Black Tiger's satirist!
Honestly I was thinking of the insane numbers of kills the German pilots had during WWII.  Like those guys Hussy has been rebuilt so many times the only original piece of gear on her is her DI module and so has Bruce (there is a regen bay with his name on it!) But put Kai, Phelan, or even Andy Redburn (the base for the character) would have similar scores.

The main thing with a high kill score is WHAT you kill.  The German pilots with the big scores tended to be on the Eastern front facing the Russians who used seriously under trained pilots in some really bad planes.  Those same pilots facing the Western pilots found their kill rates go very low since their opponents were vastly better.

It's like somebody wearing a real tiger skin jacket.  If he got it using a high powered rifle from half a mile away, he shouldn't be allowed to wear it since he didn't earn it.  If he got it using a knife or even better, his fists, then he DESERVES to wear it.

As a gunslinger, I would assume that a good proportion of Bruce's kills are elite Kuritan pilots (the reason for the gunslinger programme),  and fanatical and capable rimjobs using star league level equipment (the retaking of Terra).  This version of Bruce has added Clan kills.

The man with a single dragon kill is much more dangerous than a man with a hundred ducks.

As for the satirist, thank you muchly. :)

 Most people don't like my sense of humour :'(

The main thing with a high kill score is WHAT you kill.  The German pilots with the big scores tended to be on the Eastern front facing the Russians who used seriously under trained pilots in some really bad planes.  Those same pilots facing the Western pilots found their kill rates go very low since their opponents were vastly better.

My brother told me a of a paper he did at the Air Force Academy about some of those German super aces.  A few factors to consider.

One, the real high scoring ones, I'm talking 300+ kills here, started flying as 'volunteers' during the Spanish Civil War.  So roughly a solid decade of combat flying.

Two, unlike the Western Allies who rotated pilots and aircrews to training and cadre assignments after a fixed number of missions or cruises Axis pilots flew in combat till they died.  Or they were so seriously injured they had to be taken off flight duty to recover.  So they had more combat flying time than any Allied pilot could rack up.

Three, one of the German Aces had what he called the 'coffee method'.  If he found a single P-40 bumbling among the clouds like he hadn't heard there was a war on, he'd swoop down and get another kill.  If OTOH he saw a squadron of P-51s with their fangs out just looking for a Messerschmidt to kill, well he'd fly back to base and have a cup of coffee.  ;)

Honestly I was thinking of the insane numbers of kills the German pilots had during WWII.

I was thinking of them too, especially Erich Hartmann, 352 kills within three years, and no, he didn't even fly before the war. And while nearly all of them were russian planes, the few times he fought americans they didn't fare much better (unless you count him being out of fuel and ammo against 8 Mustangs as "doing better"...).
And regarding that "untrained russian pilots" excuse, there was Marseille, with 158 british fighters downed in barely two years!

By contrast, allied pilots were living legends with 20+ kills...

As a gunslinger, I would assume that a good proportion of Bruce's kills are elite Kuritan pilots (the reason for the gunslinger programme),  and fanatical and capable rimjobs using star league level equipment (the retaking of Terra).  This version of Bruce has added Clan kills.

I'd be surprised if Bruce had even a single Ronin in his score, by the time he became a Gunslinger, the Hidden Wars really weren't of concern anymore, he was fighting Rimmers for pretty much his entire adult life, from PBI to Mechwarrior.

My brother told me a of a paper he did at the Air Force Academy about some of those German super aces.  A few factors to consider.

One, the real high scoring ones, I'm talking 300+ kills here, started flying as 'volunteers' during the Spanish Civil War.  So roughly a solid decade of combat flying.

Two, unlike the Western Allies who rotated pilots and aircrews to training and cadre assignments after a fixed number of missions or cruises Axis pilots flew in combat till they died.  Or they were so seriously injured they had to be taken off flight duty to recover.  So they had more combat flying time than any Allied pilot could rack up.

This is pretty much the same method both the army and navy used as well.  Veteran soldiers led by an excellent officer cadre should win a war - unless their led by a really bad CIC who sends them to do impossible tasks.  Do I hear the Lyran anthem in the background?

Three, one of the German Aces had what he called the 'coffee method'.  If he found a single P-40 bumbling among the clouds like he hadn't heard there was a war on, he'd swoop down and get another kill.  If OTOH he saw a squadron of P-51s with their fangs out just looking for a Messerschmidt to kill, well he'd fly back to base and have a cup of coffee.  ;)

The "ace" is just proof of what I meant by ducks and dragons though.

That's why I always considered RAF and Russian pilots that survived the entire war with high scores as "better" than most since both numerous long periods where they must have felt like they were in a space invader game.  Every time you took off, you expected to run into a lot of enemy planes all at once.   

My personal favourite RAF pilot had 22 kills in one year before he was shot down and spent the rest of the war either in or escaping from POW camps.

Why would 22 kills make someone my hero you ask.

He lost both legs before the war but still managed to fly a fighter, get 22 kills and escape from POW camps.

He was friends with a German ace who was half blind but still managed to fly early German jets and picked fights with squadrons of US fighters (no choice really, they were protecting bombers).  He had a considerably higher score but he had been a fighter pilot for 10 years serving in Spain and the western front until the end of WW2.

 I could easily imagine either of them getting on well with Bruce.  Oh to be a fly on THAT wall. :)

BTA - They became living legends because they actually managed to survive fighting the Luftwaffe who have been noted as been rather good.  Like I say, judge a man by his enemies.

After a quick check, none the those pilots I would consider true aces have massive scores.  They just earned the respect of their enemies and many became friends after the war.  Talking the talking means nothing if you can't walk the walk, especially in this company.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by MechRat, 09-06-2010, 06:25:05]]


Here's another update...

*****

Scott briefly studied the tactical map, smiling as the second Heck winked out. A 'Mech Boom-Boom's computer identified as a Zeus joined a ShadowHawk and were closing on on Katya. He was confident that the two of them could handle themselves. Branching off from the command lance was a another lance consisting of two Griffins and two Commandos. As the Militia 'Mechs closed, the two Griffins launched their missile complement at Scott and Lizzie. While a few missiles cratered the Tiger, all of them missed his Bombardier. 'Ha! The bastages haven't seen a Bombardier before!' He sent a full spread of thirty missiles at the lead Griffin. Most of them hit, causing the 'Mech to stumble.

Liz and Sargent Jenna Thompson each contributed their part; the Gauss Rifle on Liz's Tiger cleanly removed an arm from one of the Commandos and Jenna's Bombardier hit the other Commando hard enough to knock it to its knees.

*****

Hauptmann Vinson-Tollenson blinked to clear her vision. The last hit from the MadCat had hit the cockpit and rung her like a bell. Everything was still intact, for now. She heard Williams’ scream as one of the unknown Tiger 'Mechs savaged his 'Mech. Still, it was three against two; if she could just get a good hit on the MadCat the odds would that much better. Suddenly, her own tactical display warned her of the imminent destruction of the two Commandos in the second lance. “Support Lances, move forward and engage the Resistance rear elements while their ‘Mechs are occupied.”

“Roger, Command. Support lances engaging as ordered.” From the behind the Militia 'Mechs, twelve Vedette and four Manticore tanks surged forward.

*****

Scott and the others had done their jobs right; the TacNet showed that their attack on the Militia had spooked them enough to call out their armor reserves. Now that the Militia tanks were driving hard for the Tigers and the Kowloonese reserves, Scott called out over the comm, “OK folks, we've got their attention, time to bring the kids to the party. Fall back according to plan.”

“Gotcha, Boss,” answered Jenna.

“Acknowledged, sir,” came Eleanor’s reply.

“Right behind you,” said Lizzie.

Nothing from Katya. According to the TacNet she was still engaged with the Milita Hecatoncheires. He waited almost 30 seconds before shouting out, “Katya! Fall back now! That’s an order!”

A few seconds of static greeted him until she replied, “This is not an honorable tactic.”

Scott felt his face get red. “I don’t give a flying crap what you think! Move it!”

“Aff.” ‘B needs to talk with her about this damn Clanner honor crap. I’m sure there’s a place for it, but not here with me.’

*****

Mallory’s broke into a grin as she watched the Tiger ‘Mechs fall back. ’Must have been the tanks. As flimsy as Vedettes can be, being outnumbered almost 5 to 1 must scare those furballs.’  “First and Second lances, advance and engage those damn pussy cats. Support lances, get your ass in gear and support my right flank.” It never occurred to her that all of the Tiger ‘Mechs were virtually undamaged; she was too busy riding the high of pushing the Resistance forces back. As far as Williams was concerned, he was stupid enough to expose his rear to the Tiger ‘Mech and they were lucky to hit him. The Commandos were lightweights – they had no place here with the big boys and girls. She’d protested when Condit assigned them to her but was overruled.

*****

Lieutenant MacKenzie keyed Sgt. Dayyan’s frequency. “OK, Sergeant, our guests are headed to the party.”

“Understood, sir.” Moshe looked over at Rabbi Nguyen, “Crank up the noise, Rabbi, its time for our surprise.” The Rabbi turned around and circled his hand in the air, indicating to his small group of Engineers to start up the generator for the crude and hopefully effective ECM gear they had set up in the back of one of the remaining panel trucks.

Nguyen turned back to face Moshe, “If it works, we should have an effective radius of almost 150 meters. And that’s a big if.”

“It’ll have to do, Rabbi.”

When Scott was within about 150 meters, his tactical display started to fuzz as it reacted with the ECM shield. ’Great job, Moshe. This is gonna be great.’

Meh, too much effort for some squashing light-weight baggers. The guys (including the girl) must be shooting for artistic impression ...

Nice update.

Doing it with style...

I know that tech has decreased over the centuries but it appears history and common sense have too.

Even if the 90ths reputation is ignored, there are still the Kowloonese militia who noted for been VERY stubborn.  Both retreating at the same time in apparent panic without casualties couldn't say ambush more if you put up a 50ft neon sign saying "Ambush this way, please hurry to your doom!"

How come Rimjobs (who are the official bad guys in most 90th stories) have competent leadership but the Lyrans (who appear to be good guys most of the time) have leadership bordering on a load of inbred, farm-animals-in-the-family-tree, morons? ???

I would guess because the Lyrans ARE incompetent, at least the top level/upper mid, it wouldnt be until the Jihad that the higher ups would be purged by baptism of fire of the incompetents and political generals

How come Rimjobs (who are the official bad guys in most 90th stories) have competent leadership but the Lyrans (who appear to be good guys most of the time) have leadership bordering on a load of inbred, farm-animals-in-the-family-tree, morons? ???

Because that is the Lyran officer archetype.  The Rimjobs aren't dumb enough to throw an officer's commission to anyone willing to spend enough cash for it.  The more you spend, the higher your rank in the LCAF.  If you know Gilbert and Sullivan the LCAF has institutionalized promotion based on 'polishing up the brass knocker faithfully'.

I know that tech has decreased over the centuries but it appears history and common sense have too.

Even if the 90ths reputation is ignored, there are still the Kowloonese militia who noted for been VERY stubborn.  Both retreating at the same time in apparent panic without casualties couldn't say ambush more if you put up a 50ft neon sign saying "Ambush this way, please hurry to your doom!"

How come Rimjobs (who are the official bad guys in most 90th stories) have competent leadership but the Lyrans (who appear to be good guys most of the time) have leadership bordering on a load of inbred, farm-animals-in-the-family-tree, morons? ???

German nobles. And I am a real-life German myself. Back in 1919 we should he wasted everyone with "von", "van" and "zu" in the family name.

but herr hindenburg was not incompentant.   just in his latter yrs did he slip.

How come Rimjobs (who are the official bad guys in most 90th stories) have competent leadership but the Lyrans (who appear to be good guys most of the time) have leadership bordering on a load of inbred, farm-animals-in-the-family-tree, morons? ???

Because the example set by the "Social Generals" is often enough to drive the competent ones out of the service and into the private sector (either as Mercs or businessmen)...?

Nice work and thanks for sharing. I agree with the portrayal of the Lyran leadership's effectiveness (or lack thereof), in that if they were the competant cream of the crop they would be up to their shoulders in either Falcon feathers or Wolf fur. While this is going on the Lyran High Command is having real problems (The invading Clans) and they assigned the marginal and borderline officers somewhere that it was hoped that they would not get to many soldiers killed or to much equipment destroyed. In this case, the High Command's hopes were dashed. Hence Archon Melissa's housecleaning and hastily put together relief package that is in the works. All of the officers fighting against Liz's assumption of authority are dead but just having had the good grace to stop breathing yet.

but herr hindenburg was not incompentant.   just in his latter yrs did he slip.

Hindenburg was one hell of a General - no question. But for every good one you had lots of inbred chaff. And they were glass ceilings in the Kaiser's Military for non-Nobles - make up your own opinion on that.

And that is not the worst: the NSDAP did only have the parliamentiary majority in the Reichstag after January 29th, 1933, in coalition with the German Nationalist Party which was the party of the big Industrialists and the Nobles ... Hitler never could have formed his Government without their MP's votes, never could have set himself up as a Dictator without their MP's votes for the "Ermächtigungsgesetze" ... the rest is the worst part of Human History.

There was actually Civil War after 1918 in parts of Germany: Check the "Bavarian Soviet Republic" article on the English Wikipedia ...

And that is not the worst: the NSDAP did only have the parliamentiary majority in the Reichstag after January 29th, 1933, in coalition with the German Nationalist Party which was the party of the big Industrialists and the Nobles ... Hitler never could have formed his Government without their MP's votes, never could have set himself up as a Dictator without their MP's votes for the "Ermächtigungsgesetze" ... the rest is the worst part of Human History.

Hope you include Stalin in the worst part of human history.

Hitler was failed mass murderer (he was stopped) with approximately 11 million dead to his name while Stalin was a successful murderer with upto 60 million deaths regarded as his.  Not specifically death camp victims but mass exections of anybody he thought might be a problem.

I had Stalin down for anywhere between 8-15 million inside the Soviet Union between the two World Wars - but I am the first to admit that I may be wrong. Anybody dying in WWII gets flat out attributed to Hitler which would make approximately 55 million. Regardless to say that the exact numbers will never be known ... numbers become moot anyway past a certain point.

If you agree I'd like to leave our dialog as it is In Memoriam of all the victims of crimes against Humanity.

yes i just wish that the rest of the world would share this view instead of gloryfiying these two men.   a bitter pill to swallow.   unfortunately history will repeat itself as humanity is currently not remembering or learning from its recent past.