Author Topic: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars  (Read 480628 times)

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
----- 5 Years Since the End of the Star League Civil War -----

Date: October 26, 2784

Location: Axton

Title: When the Bears Left

Author: Dan C. Duval

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  SLDF MechWarrior Kinete Lat patrols his Firestarter through a lava field on Axton.  Operation EXODUS has been underway for three months, but the Bears (3rd Battalion, 442nd Heavy Assault Regiment, 147th Mechanized Infantry Division, LXVIII Corps, 18th Army) are still at their base on Axton, where they had provided security for the Wangker Aerospace plant, awaiting pickup to join the rest of the Exodus Fleet in the New Samarkand system.
 
Kinete looks forward to rejoining the “real” SLDF there, and leaving behind the “crumbling fake that claims authority.”  He notes that they would have left months ago, if the 442nd’s JumpShip, the SLS Nautilus, and its attached DropShips hadn’t failed to return from a refit at Kathil.  The other two battalions of the 442nd (the Lions and the Tigers) are part of the 20% remaining behind, and they apparently resent the Bears’ decision to go.  The Bears have covertly extracted their Firestarters and Catapults to the pickup point, defying the orders of the 442nd’s commander, Colonel Mondevilov.

Now, patrolling the perimeter, Kinete detects a blip in the patrol sector of his buddy Charlie, but he doesn’t hear any warning from Charlie’s Firestarter.  As Kinete tries to raise Charlie, the DropShip finally arrives, and the Bears’ CO, Major Soult, sounds the recall order.  It looks to be a catastrophe, with a battalion of Catapults trying to board while two assault battalions close in.

Bounding back towards Charlie’s last known position, hoping to assist his friend’s Firestarter in case it had been ambushed, he finds Charlie fully intact behind enemy lines, and realizes that his friend betrayed the Bears.  Kinete barely avoids destruction by a formation of Atlases, but is saved when Battalion’s ECM operators jam the enemy targeting computers.  He fires his jump jets and races for the LZ, dodging lava flows.

Kinete is stunned to find that the transport is the SLS Kiwi -– an Overlord – a DropShip design he’s only heard of previously, but never seen before.  On the upside, he’s impressed that Kerensky sent one for the Bears.  On the down side, it’s already taking off.  Major Soult contacts Kinete and instructs him to maintain top speed – they’re keeping a bay door open for him to jump into.  He manages to make it into the ship before it boosts out of range, and awakens in the infirmiary.

Major Soult tells him that all the Battalion’s Catapults and many of the support vehicles made it aboard, though the rest of his recon lance (the other three Firestarters - including Charlie) switched sides to the other two battalions.  Kinete can’t bring himself to hate his former comrades, who were just being loyal to their local commander, and viewed the Exodus as a betrayal of their regiment.

Notes:  At its core, this is an action story of a perimeter scout racing against those he formerly trusted as comrades to get aboard a transport offworld to join the Exodus.  However, there are hints that a substantially more convoluted backstory is playing out amid Axton’s ice floes and lava fields.  Some research has turned up the following:

1: Who are the Bears? 

No sourcebooks detail the 442nd Heavy Assault Regiment’s place in the TO&E.  However, only one SLDF formation is listed as “Exodus, Elements Joined Capellan Confederation” in the original Star League sourcebook – the 147th Mechanized Infantry Division (LXVIII Corps, 18th Army).  FM:SLDF states that its original duty station was on Gaeri, way out in the Onverwacht Province of the Outworlds Alliance.  The original garrison unit for Axton was the 210th Mechanized Infantry Division, which was destroyed during the Civil War.

2: What had the Lions, Tigers and Bears been through together? 

Based on H:LoT 1 & 2, the 147th MID took only light damage from the Outworlds Alliance’s “secret army” during the Periphery Uprising, and then went with the rest of the 18th Army to conquer the Rim Worlds Republic, taking part in the assault on Engadine.  When Operation CHIEFTAN began, the 18th Army helped liberate Berenson, Mandal, Wasat, and Chisholm.  In 2775, the 18th Army was assigned to rear-area garrison duty.  In the final wave of assaults, the 18th hit Outreach and Sirius, and then spearheaded the liberation of Geneva on Terra.

3: What is the 442nd doing on Axton? 

It’s possible that, in 2775, the 442nd was split off to guard the Wangker Aerospace plant on Axton, since the SLDF would need all the aerospace fighters it could get to break through the SDS around the Hegemony’s core worlds, and there may have been worries that, with the 210th MID gone, the CCAF might get some ideas about taking the plant’s output for itself.  If that’s the case, then Kinete and company may have spent the remainder of the war parked on Axton.  One would presume that a Heavy Assault regiment would have come in useful in the fighting on Terra, but Kinete’s awe at seeing an Overlord DropShip for the first time would seem to indicate that he didn’t take part in the assault on Terra, where he would have seen that ship class plenty of times.  Given the threat posed by the Reagan SDS, an uninterrupted flow of new Wangker-built aerospace fighters might have counted for more than having another hundred ‘Mechs on the ground.  Also, the relatively homogenous composition of the regiment's battalions indicates that they didn't see a lot of action, and didn't take major losses.  H:LoT2 notes that the SLDF units that made it to Terra had long since become a hodge-podge of randomized designs as shattered commands were consolidated.  It appears that the rest of the 147th MID isn’t on Axton.  Either their Exodus transports picked them up on schedule much earlier, or they were never sent to Axton in the first place. 

Kinete does note that Axton’s infrastructure is insufficient to support one regiment, so a whole division would be out of the question…and yet the whole 210th MID was stationed there earlier.  Perhaps the CCAF moved in and started getting grabby with whatever wasn’t nailed down after the 210th shipped out, gutting the infrastructure and forcing the SLDF to detach the 442nd to stop the looting.

4: What was going on between the Lions, Tigers and Bears?

Kinete is wracked with conflicting feelings regarding loyalty.  He feels that it’s his duty to obey Kerensky’s orders and join the “true Star League” in exile via the Exodus.  However, he still regards the Lions and Tigers as his brothers in arms, and believes that, even though they’ve betrayed the Bears and are trying to kill him, it’s done out of loyalty to the crumbling remnants of the Star League government.

Kinete is, of course, utterly naive.  Since the Lions and Tigers eventually joined the Capellan Confederation, it’s likely that they were already under pressure from the CCAF to seize the Bears’ equipment as well.  I believe that this story is about the 147th MID for two reasons:  Axton is smack dab in the middle of Capellan territory, and the 442nd’s regimental commander is named Mondevilov.  Given that surname, it’s a possibility that he has familial ties to Tikonov.  Thus, the Lions and Tigers are in no way showing loyalty to the Star League government (which, at this point, is just Minister of Communications Jerome Blake and the non-Exodus divisions that will be backing him with Operation SILVER SHIELD.)

The Lion/Tiger behavior is an aberration, given the notes in the Star League sourcebook that, following the decision to launch the Exodus plan in February 14, 2784, 80% opted to go, and the remaining 20% respected that decision and helped their departing comrades maintain total operational secrecy over the following eight months of logistical preparations.  Actually attacking their fellows is beyond the pale, and may indicate that the Maskirovka was putting strong pressure on Colonel Mondevilov to maximize his contribution to the Capellan state.

5: Why did the Bears cut their departure so close?

Kinete grouses that the Bears should have left much earlier, but their JumpShip (the SLS Nautilus) never returned from what was supposed to be a quick trip to Kathil for maintenance.  It’s taken until now for the SLDF to send an extraction ship.  However, the timeframe seems somewhat beyond the red-line cutoff for such an extraction.  With just ten days to go, it would require a command circuit to get from Axton to New Samarkand in time to join the Exodus Fleet.  In that case, the JumpShips and their crews in that command circuit would be left behind, still recharging when Kerensky departs.  Is the circuit made up of SLDF ships that decided to stay?  Or perhaps contracted civilian ships?  Why couldn’t Major Soult have used Axton’s HPG to call Kathil and/or Quartermaster Command to find out what happened to the Nautilus, and thereby work out an extraction ship in a more timely fashion?  The SLSB section on the Exodus notes that SLDF Quartermaster Command was buying as many JumpShips as it could get its hands on, so leaving any behind – strung out between Axton and New Samarkand – seems wasteful.

One possibility is that Kerensky had designated the uninhabited Roxborough system as a rally point for stragglers (like the rear-guard assigned Manassas), so the ships from the Bears' command circuit could head to Roxborough to meet up with an escort ship that had enough route info to meet up with the fleet. 
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 16:17:17 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Wrangler

  • Colonel
  • *
  • Posts: 24875
  • Dang it!
    • Battletech Fanon Wiki
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1 on: 16 March 2013, 08:20:53 »
Interesting write up Mendugo!  Question: How old is this the Story?
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
"No, it's a "Most Awesome Blues Brothers scene Reenactment EVER" waiting to happen." VotW Destrier - Weirdo  
"It's 200 LY to Sian, we got a full load of shells, a half a platoon of Grenadiers, it's exploding outside, and we're wearing flak jackets." VoTW Destrier - Misterpants
-Editor on Battletech Fanon Wiki

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #2 on: 16 March 2013, 13:08:44 »
It was published September 2006, so 6+ years old.  The author would have had the roster from the Star League sourcebook, but not H:LoT, H:OK, or FM:SLDF.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #3 on: 17 March 2013, 08:15:51 »
----- 10 Days Later -----

Date: November 5, 2784

Location: New Samarkand

Title: Fall From Glory

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Combine Ambassador Raymond Sainze, an officer of the DCMS and member of the Draconis nobility, has drawn the short end of the stick.  He has been ordered to meet personally with SLDF General Aleksandr Kerensky aboard his flagship, the McKenna’s Pride.  His mission is to discover what Kerensky intends to do with the massive fleet that has been massing in the New Samarkand system.

Raymond isn’t terribly happy with his family situation – he’s the fifth son of House Sainze, and his family views his posting to Shiro’s Hope station as a disgrace, since the former Combine capital is now viewed as a backwater.  Raymond is happy to be far from his family and, despite his MechWarrior training, likes being in space.

Aboard the ship, Sainze notes the unusually crowded conditions, and ponders what game Kerensky is playing by having his escorts bring him to the bridge via a circuitous route.  His overriding disdain for the ‘gaijin’ SLDF forces begins to turn to a fear that this vast force might be turned against the Combine.

Aleksandr greets Ambassador Sainze with all the proper Combine rituals and courtesy (even speaking Japanese fluently), utterly stunning Raymond.  Nicholas Kerensky joins the conversation as well, though he lacks Alek’s social graces.  Raymond speculates that Nicholas was hardened by the years he spent on Terra during the Amaris occupation.

Aleksandr tells Sainze simply that the SLDF is leaving, and points out that the fleet has begun to jump out – half it is already gone.  Nicholas sees the fear on Sainze’s face and rebukes the Ambassador for his assumption that the SLDF has hostile intentions towards the Combine.  Nicholas’ brother, Andery, joins the conversation, and points out more gently that the Star League had, even at its peak, been equally self-centered.  Sainze finds himself empathizing with Andery.

With the Combine apparently not Kerensky’s target, Sainze inquires if Kerensky plans to attack House Davion.  Kerensky clarifies that he plans to leave the Inner Sphere before it is consumed in new Age of War, hoping to find a sanctuary where his people can wait out the conflagration.  He finishes by informing Sainze that will be joining the Exodus as well, and that the meeting was timed to prevent him from ordering the troops on Shiro’s Hope station to do something rash once the Exodus Fleet began to jump away.

Notes:  Imagine that – a Sainze feuding with his family members.  ::)

Sainze notes that the Exodus fleet has been massing in the New Samarkand system for “weeks,” implying that the 442nd’s departure from Axton wasn’t quite as late as it seemed.  Quartermaster Command must have been going mad juggling transport schedules to have units arrive within a 2-3 week window without overwhelming throughput capacity or leaving too many JumpShips stranded at the far end of long command circuits. 

This account has some significant differences from that presented in the House Kurita sourcebook.  We’ll presume that ComStar archivist Gillian Sorenson-Hague got some details wrong in her 3025 report.  According to this story (and reinforced by “When the Bears Left”), the SLDF Exodus Fleet departed on November 5, 2784.  However, the Sorenson-Hague report says that, while hundreds of freighters began moving supplies to New Samarkand in February 2784 and SLDF troops in the Combine began stripping their bases, reports of SLDF troop transports moving towards New Samarkand only began to surface in November.  Gillian notes that roughly a thousand ships had reached the mustering point by late November, and then jumped out.  Contradicting this, she also reports that peasants on New Samarkand noted that the light reflecting off the jumpsails of Kerensky’s fleet was like “a special gift of stars that burned and twinkled beautifully for a few months, and then were gone.” 
 
So a substantial number of ships (perhaps 1,000) may have been on station in New Samarkand as early as August/September (to account for the “few months”), and then the rest (fleets assigned to Lyran, Capellan and FWL space) appeared towards the end of October, staying just long enough to recharge.  Sainze estimates the fleet to be close to 2,000 JumpShips and WarShips.  Perhaps the SLDF had stripped the HPG from New Samarkand and dragooned all local jump-capable ships, meaning that it took until late November for word to get out that the fleet was gone – accounting for the date variance in the Sorenson-Hague report.  When Sainze notes that the fleet has been there for “weeks,” he was probably not counting the supply transports that arrived months earlier.

The House Kurita sourcebook notes that Minoru Kurita viewed Kerensky and the SLDF as analogous to the 47 Ronin, who might have felt obligated to seek vengeance against those who betrayed their murdered master (Richard Cameron, in this case).  With Amaris already down, and evidence surfacing of Kuritan complicity with the Amaris regime (due to the Combine ambassador to Terra being held hostage), Minoru assumes that the Combine may be next in line.  Kerensky was probably correct in thinking that Sainze might have done something rash once the fleet began to mobilize.  The Kurita SB notes that four Combine aerospace pilots were lost when they flew too close to the fleet’s orbital outpost over New Samarkand.  (Presumably that outpost is something other than Shiro’s Hope, and had been stripped and abandoned by the time this story takes place.)
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 16:22:56 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Nerroth

  • Captain
  • *
  • Posts: 2587
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #4 on: 17 March 2013, 15:52:04 »
I recall reading somewhere that a series of works exists in German covering the events of Historical: Operation KLONDIKE, but which have not been translated into English (or, at least, not fully).

Do you plan to focus only on the material available in English, or do you (or someone you know) have the required command of German needed to cover the additional works?

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #5 on: 17 March 2013, 16:49:09 »
Randall Bills wrote two novels in what was intended to be a trilogy about the founding of the Clans.  It was written back when FanPro had the CBT license, and so the works were published in German as the "Clangrunder" series.  The first, "Fall From Glory," was published in English as a BattleCorps serial.  Herb has stated in a BattleChat (January 2013, in response to a question from Circinus_Enquirer) that the second one will probably be given similar treatment "when Randall gets to it."  Since Randall's been buried in Interstellar Operations writing and the rollout for Leviathans (flying WWI-era battleships), getting back to Clangrunder is probably well down in his priorities list.

My guess is that the authors of Historical: Operation KLONDIKE based the appropriate sections on Randall's work.

Here's what Randall posted on BattleCorps about his vision for the ClanGrunder series:

Fall From Glory (Published in German in 2004)
Beginning: November 5, 2784 (New Samarkand Exodus)
Ending: February 2802 (Eden Exodus)
Years Elapsed: 18 years

Visions of Rebirth (Published in German in 2006)
Beginning: June 8, 2802 (Exodus landfall on Strana Mechty)
Ending: June 9, 2815 (Nicholas declaires himself ilKhan)
Years Elapsed: 13 years

Forging of Blood (Not yet published)
Beginning: End of 2815
Ending: 26 May 2822 (Andery dies; end of Operation Klondike)
Years Elapsed: 7 years

There are a total of 18 German-language BattleTech novels (not counting the unpublished Forging of Blood) but only two have made it back to North America - Fall from Glory and Fall from Grace.  The Powers That Be have declared that since FanPro's license to publish novels isn't tied to the Catalyst license, and since they have no editorial control over what goes into the FanPro novels, then those works aren't considered part of Catalyst canon until/unless they get republished by Catalyst.

My reviews will be limited to only canon materials that have been published in English.
« Last Edit: 17 March 2013, 16:52:46 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Nerroth

  • Captain
  • *
  • Posts: 2587
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #6 on: 17 March 2013, 17:06:38 »
As many as sixteen novels yet to be translated? I don't like to think of how much potential there is for canon discrepancies, in the event of those volumes' publication in English. (Or that this risk might make it harder to get those books translated at all.)

And I really don't like the idea that FanPro Germany and Catalyst are in a position where they run their own versions of the same setting without some sort of oversight in place to ensure a degree of consistency.

Do you happen to know what eras the other German works are set in?
« Last Edit: 17 March 2013, 17:15:01 by Nerroth »

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Nerroth

  • Captain
  • *
  • Posts: 2587
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #8 on: 17 March 2013, 22:20:20 »
Got it, thanks.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #9 on: 18 March 2013, 05:11:56 »
----- 2 Months Later -----

Date: January 2, 2785

Location: Gutara V

Title: Last Stop

Author: Chris Hussey

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Two months into the Exodus, the fleet has stopped at the Periphery world of Gutara V (the deepest charted Star League-era colony) to gather additional supplies.  Captain Renee Wen leads the Steelnecks Company (of the 26th Royal BattleMech Division) and an infantry battalion on a patrol through the Segeda forest, and stumbles across a hidden RWR bunker – Fort Numantia.

RWR guerillas attack the patrol, battering the SLDF troops from concealed emplacements.  The SLDF troops press the attack and, after an hour of fighting against Rimmer infantry, penetrate to the heart of the complex and capture its commander, Major Marcus Perry.  The RWR commander tells Wen straight out that his mission at Fort Numantia is to train new soldiers for the purpose of restoring the Rim Worlds Republic.  He argues that Wen is just like him, at heart, and that the list of RWR atrocities during the war can be matched by a list of Star League offenses during the oppression of the Periphery states.

The Steelnecks debate what to do with the prisoners.  Wen advocates bringing them along with the Exodus fleet to be “rehabilitated” through labor.  Her XO, Juarez, advises taking Fort Numantia’s supplies and leaving the Rimmers behind.  Granston (the infantry battalion CO) wants to just shoot them and be done with it.

Surveying the fort’s storehouses, they find a vast cache of infantry weapons, as well as data on the locations of numerous other RWR storage depots throughout the Periphery and the Terran Hegemony.  They conclude that Amaris had begun to lay the groundwork for a posthumous revenge attack, and worry what this means for those they’ll be leaving behind.  (Wen has family in the Hegemony.)

On the way back to their LZ with a convoy of seized supplies, they are attacked by a ‘Mech company (probably the Gutara Academy training cadre), including a Shadow Hawk, a Thug and a Champion.  During the ambush, Major Perry seizes control of his transport and makes for RWR lines.  Wen pursues him and catches up with the truck just in time to see Perry gun down the last of the SLDF infantry assigned to guard him.  Enraged, she tells him he can share his beloved leader’s fate, and burns him down with her laser.

Notes:  Assuming a week to recharge after each jump, on average, this places Gutara V roughly nine jumps along the Exodus Road.  It’s not really clear when the fleet arrived.  Since Wen states that the fleet is at the Zenith and Nadir jump points, we can assume that they arrived by Christmas 2784 at the latest, putting the scavenging teams on the surface after a 6-8 day transit.  They’ve had enough time to try to bargain with the locals, who wanted nothing to do with their Star League dollars.

Gutara V was likely one of the many Periphery worlds used as training and staging points for the Secret Army prior to the Periphery Uprising.  Even being so remote, the colony must have an HPG station and be linked into the Inner Sphere’s communications network, since word of the SLDF’s exodus arrived before the fleet. 

Wen tells Perry that she was with the 26th RBMD when it took Amaris’ imperial palace [the Star Palace in Canada].  Her company contains an Atlas, a Black Knight and a Crab, implying that it had gone from SLDF uniformity to a mix-and-match composition during the war.  H:LoT2 confirms that the 26th RBMD had been brought back to full strength prior to the final assault by transferring in ‘Mechs from all over the Third Army.  Wen would also have taken part in the fighting on Terra for control of Astana, Kazakhstan and Unity City in North America.  Previously, the 26th saw action in the liberations of New Florence, Ozawa, Ronel, Towne and Errai, following action in the Taurian Concordat during the Periphery Uprising.

Handbook: Major Periphery States includes a journal entry dated January 12, 2785, written by an unknown RWR trooper at “Base Camp Stefan’s Glory” in the “crumbling maze of Gutara Academy.”  The unknown author notes that he’s spotted SLDF ships, and that there’s “not much left in the old armories.”  On January 14, SLDF troopers landed at the Gutara Academy and cleared out what little was left in the armories [I guess the amply supplied Numantia garrison had been holding out on the Mechjocks at the academy].  On January 17, one of the author’s comrades tried to sabotage the SLDF DropShip, and was gunned down.  The author concludes with a note that the SLDF fleet disappeared from the sky on January 18.  (Though that may just have meant that the SLDF DropShips left orbit, so the ships at the Zenith and Nadir may not have jumped out until around January 25th.)

The author of the journal apparently didn’t notice the SLDF fleet until its landing parties had already been on the ground for more than two weeks.  Perhaps he spotted a smaller flotilla that had been elsewhere (scavenging, scouting, or laying false trails) and rejoined the fleet at Gutara on the 12th, jumping into a close orbit pirate point where their recharging sails would be visible from the surface.  (Nobody would be able to spot jumpsails out at the Zenith or Nadir points with binoculars.)  This would make sense if they wanted to shorten the time required to load the supplies…but the JumpShips the DropShips came from would still be out at the Zenith and Nadir points.  Or perhaps there was just a sudden surge in orbital DropShip activity over the Gutara Academy’s location on the 12th.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 16:26:09 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #10 on: 19 March 2013, 05:48:09 »
----- 5 Months Later -----

Date: June 14, 2785

Location: Towne

Title: Be Good

Author: Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  DCMS MechWarrior Toku Hisagawa has been taken prisoner by AFFS forces, and he debates his guard, Ryerson, as to which side has the moral high ground as both fight to hold the Terran Hegemony world.  Ryerson takes the position that the Federated Suns is “spreading freedom throughout the Inner Sphere.”

Their debate is interrupted as explosions rock the POW transport vehicle.  Following a massive explosion, Hisagawa finds himself outside, being dragged through a battle by Ryerson.  All around them, the Davion base-camp is being overrun by DCMS forces, and a gaggle of support vehicles is taking flight.  Ryerson refuses to let Hisagawa go, planning to ensure his own safety by holding the DCMS trooper hostage.  Hisagawa enlightens him as to the Dictum Honorarium guidelines for such situations, which mostly start with “If” and end with “kill them.”  The debate resumes, with Ryerson saying that AFFS respect for life means they’re morally superior.  Hisagawa responds that it just shows weakness.

Ryerson scavenges a monocycle from a crashed mobile field kitchen and has Hisagawa steer while he rides behind, stopping a number of escape attempts with apparent ease.  In a final attempt, Hisagawa crashes the monocycle, but ends up with a shattered ankle.  Ryerson prepares to run Hisagawa down with the monocycle, and the DCMS soldier asks if this is how “good guys” treat their prisoners.  Ryerson answers “When you’re good, you do the right thing, and worry about how others will judge you.  But when you’re really good, you win,” and proceeds to unleash death-by-monocycle.

Notes:  This story takes place during the so-called “Towne Debacle,” when CCAF, AFFS and DCMS troops butted heads as each side attempted to seize Towne from the dying Terran Hegemony, prior to the formal start of the First Succession War.  The Davion sourcebook notes that the Federated Suns had claimed Towne in 2783 (a year prior to the Exodus) with the 56th Avalon Hussars and 123rd Aero Interceptor Wing.  Following successful raids in early 2785, the DCMS hit Towne in force later in the year, dropping in the 5th Dieron Regulars supported by seven infantry regiments and AeroSpace fighters.  AFFS reinforcements were slow in arriving, and the AFFS contingent onworld was wiped out.  (Not good news for Ryerson.) 

There’s some question as to Towne’s official status at this point.  The Davion SB notes that the Suns claimed Towne in 2783, but the datestamp header in this story still says “Towne, Terran Hegemony.”  I suppose the Terran Hegemony could still be technically considered to be in existence until Jerome Blake seizes Terra for ComStar in June 2788, and H:LoT2 notes that all the former Hegemony worlds except Terra had either been seized or abandoned by 2800.  The House Davion sourcebook states that the 5th Dieron invasion force landed in “late 2785,” so this battle in mid-year might just have been a “recon in force” in advance of the main invasion.  (The other raid was noted as taking place in “early 2785,” with both CCAF and DCMS forces arriving simultaneously.)
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 16:30:13 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #11 on: 20 March 2013, 05:22:03 »
----- 3 Days Later -----

Date: June 17-23, 2785

Location: SLS McKenna’s Pride – Exodus Fleet (Deep Periphery)

Title: Fall From Glory

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Cadet Andery Kerensky awakens groggily from a nightmare, disturbing his bunkmate, Windham Khatib.  He works the less-crowded third shift, having had his fill of jam-packed corridors on the first shift for the first six months.  He notes that Nicholas has taken to skulking in dark corners as tensions in the fleet began to rise.

He meets his friend, Major Jes Cole, in the corridor.  Jes is an infantry Major, while Andery is going through makeshift academy classes aboard ship.  Jes brings up the issue of a meeting scheduled to be held in ten days on the SLS Hermes to address civilian concerns about the fleet’s destination and schedule for arrival.  She wants Andery to be at the meeting to give a credible appearance that Fleet Command is listening to civilian concerns, and is concerned that Aleksandr would be too revered (thereby quashing people’s desire to speak freely) and Nicholas would intimidate the audience.  She tells Andery that Nicholas “weirds people out.”

Jes tells Andery that he has his own life to live, and that he can do more than just be in the shadow of his more famous father and brother.  Despite his desire to avoid getting caught up in fleet politics, Andery begins to seriously consider attending the meeting.  Andery mentions that he’s been taking SLDF cadet classes along with engineering cross-training.

A few days later, Andery and Nicholas meet in the exercise room of the ship’s grav-deck.  They discuss Nicholas’ continuing nightmares, which date from the Terran occupation and the atrocities he’d seen.  Discussion turns to tensions in the fleet (which mirror the tensions between the brothers).  Nicholas delivers a veiled warning to Andery not to attend the meeting on the Hermes, because his participation might reflect poorly on their father. 

Nicholas abruptly launches into a non-sequitur about the fleet needing a Kerensky at its helm, accuses Andery of betraying the family if he joins the meeting of traitors on the Hermes, then smiles and stalks off.

Notes:  It's been five months since the fleet departed Gutara V.  Assuming a week per jump, that puts them roughly 29 jumps from New Samarkand.  The Exodus has now been underway for eight months, in total, and the strain is beginning to tell.

This being the part of the "ClanGrunder/Clan Founder" series, we're being steadily introduced to future Clan founders - Fire Mandrill Sainze in the previous chapter, for example.  Windham Khatib, of course, goes on to become one of the Cloud Cobra founders.  The religious bent of the future Cloud Cobra is evident, with Windham burning incense, praying, and already planning to establish a temple wherever the Exodus Fleet ends up. 

It’s interesting that all the sleeping quarters are in microgravity.  I presume that the McKenna’s grav-decks are just used in shifts for exercise.  Rationing is the order of the day, given the crowded conditions.

If Jes Cole is the former Jessica Cameron/future Jennifer Winston, she would only be 19 at this point.  That seems somewhat young to get commissioned as a Major.  (Though, heck, if you’re creating a cover identity, you can give someone any rank you feel like.)  She reacts very strongly to an offhand reference to Amaris, which would be consistent with him having murdered her father and mother, and having sent assassins after her during her childhood.  On the other hand, he makes reference to her having gone through “years of hard fighting,” though I guess she may have just lived through the ‘hard fighting’  rather than doing it herself.

Based on the characterization of Nicholas so far, the future “Great Father” of the Clans had a few things rattling around loose upstairs even before he caught brain fever in the Pentagon worlds.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 16:34:03 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #12 on: 21 March 2013, 00:03:49 »
----- 4 Days Later -----

Date: June 27, 2785

Location: SLS Hermes – Exodus Fleet (Deep Periphery)

Title: Fall From Glory

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  The SLS Hermes, a Potemkin-class troop cruiser packed with civilians, reeks to high heaven compared to the pure-military McKenna’s Pride.  Andery, Windham and Jes are aboard to attend the meeting, in defiance of Nicholas’ warning.

The hold of the Mule-class Triptych Soliloquy has been converted into refugee housing, with prefab plastic sections fitted together into tiers, like giant children’s blocks.  Several thousand civilians have crammed into a central square in the hold, Raymond Sainze among them.  Once Andery arrives, Admiral Robert Nicholls calls the meeting to order.

Nicholls speaks glowingly of General Kerensky, but goes on to subtly suggest that Aleksandr doesn’t yet have a destination in mind.  Additional speakers come forward, expressing outward confidence in Kerensky, but lodging complaints that the passengers on the Triptych Soliloquy have been treated worse than those on other ships.  Andery dismisses it as a political show, rather than the meeting’s stated purpose of discussing issues and trying to find solutions.  Unwilling to have his presence lend credibility to a farcical pantomime, he begins to depart, with Windham at his side.  Jes, however, appears enraptured by the proceedings.

Before he can push back into the massed crowd, Admiral Nicholls calls out his name.  Turning back, he sees that Jes has disappeared, and knows he’s been betrayed.  Andery answers that he’s come, on the advice of a friend, to listen to the passengers’ concerns.  Nichols twists his words into a statement of support for the passengers’ complaints.

On the shuttle back, Andery and Windham are joined by Raymond Sainze, still wearing his increasingly threadbare DCMS officer’s uniform.  Still bitter over his abduction into the Exodus Fleet, Sainze tells Andery that he’s wanted to get revenge on Aleksandr, but never could have done so as effectively as Andery has today, stabbing his father in the back by standing with the fledgling mutineers.  However, as the two debate, Sainze’s needling evolves into a certain level of empathy, and the miserable Andery begins to sense that he’s found a kindred spirit.

Notes:  Historical: Operation KLONDIKE includes an excerpt from Colonel Stephen McKenna’s personal journal dated June 10th (two weeks before the meeting), which notes that the mood on the ships is alternating between commitment to the need to continue on, and frustration that there isn’t enough room or food.  He adds that there are a few ships upon which someone has very obviously been aggravating the problem and working the civilians into an uproar.

Admiral Votok and Major General Wilbur Braso are identified as the ringleaders of the insurgency that eventually culminates in the Prinz Eugen mutiny, but it appears from this scene that Admiral Nicholls is also in on it.  It’s interesting to speculate whether Wilbur Braso was in any way related to the deceased Admiral Amanda Braso, who got her flotilla skragged by a swarm of Caspars in 2767 while trying to liberate Epsilon Indi ("Admiral Braso's Last Transmission" in the Star League sourcebook).  If Wilbur was Amanda’s husband, his disquiet with Kerensky may have its roots in that event, since Aleksandr didn’t support Amanda’s bullheaded assault into the Hegemony.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 16:35:34 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #13 on: 22 March 2013, 05:20:12 »
----- 2 Weeks Later -----

Date: July 15, 2785

Location: SLS McKenna’s Pride – Exodus Fleet (Deep Periphery)

Title: Fall From Glory

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Two weeks have passed since the meeting on the Hermes, and Andery wonders how, given his father’s many aphorisms about the importance of information, he appears to be unaware of the rising tension in the fleet.  He also wonders about Jes, who has not been seen since she disappeared into the crowd on the Triptych Soliloquy.  He suspects that she may be working with the potential mutineers.  He resolves to confront his father about the event, and finds Aleksandr reviewing reports in his office.  The General says that Admiral Nicholls’ actions after the meeting are relatively innocuous, but that he appears to be meeting with many other ship captains, one of whom is likely the ringleader behind the unrest.

Andery is stunned when Aleksandr acknowledges that the people on the Hermes (and in the rest of the fleet, for that matter) have legitimate concerns, and that, despite their best efforts, the Exodus Fleet is beginning to come apart at the seams.  Ships are beginning to break down, mental illness and suicides are spiking, the Cylons are in hot pursuit and...they have...a plan (whoops, wrong space Exodus... :D).   And with many months yet to go before the fleet reaches its destination, Aleksandr is unsure what to do.  Regarding the meeting on the Hermes, Aleksandr tells Andery that he’s afraid that his presence was orchestrated to be used as a catalyst to begin a rebellion.
 
Notes:  Aleksandr Kerensky has been shown as a master of strategy and tactics, yet having a large blind spot when it comes to interpersonal relationships and detecting subterfuge.  He had a hard time gaining the trust of the other students on Tharkad, and got along poorly with many of the base personnel on Paris.  He utterly failed to bond with Richard Cameron when the boy was his ward, and was blindsided by Stefan Amaris’ conspiracy.  Here, he admits to having followed poor advice regarding civilian issues and appearances.  Given an opposing force or point of view, he’ll set to the battle while quoting Russian philosophers until he’s blue in the face, and more often than not will achieve at least a moral victory.  But now he’s faced with the problems of keeping six million under-resourced, overcrowded people content on a voyage with an uncertain endpoint, and no amount of words will restore equilibrium.

Most of all, he has a massive blind spot where Nicholas is concerned.  Perhaps as a consequence of having been largely absent from Nicholas' life during the years of the Periphery Uprising and the Star League Civil War, he doesn't seem to know his son's inner demons at all.  Nicholas' life has been rather a mess.  He couldn't have helped but to feel that he was less important to Aleksandr than his work for the SLDF during the General's long absences off in the Periphery.  Then, during the occupation, he had to hide who he was and deal with a hostile occupation force, an absent father, and a mother descending into madness.  One reference says that Katyusha Kerensky was running a resistance cell (come to think of it, Jess Cole probably didn't get someone else's blood on her face just "watching the 'Mechs") in Moscow.  So let's add in PTSD, at the very least, if not the kinds of psychoses that have affected child soldiers in historical conflicts.  He may have held onto the faith that his father was "coming to save him," but it's hard to keep that going for more than a decade.  Since Andery doesn't appear to recognize Jess from the mean streets of Moscow, Katyusha may have kept him isolated from the resistance cell activities, thereby creating a rift in the boys' shared experiences.

After an Odysseus-esque absence, in addition to the massive amount of work on Kerensky's plate trying to put the Hegemony and League back together, and then planning for Exodus, it's almost certain that Aleksandr wasn't able to do a lot of relationship building with his now-estranged family.  He has Andery's respect, but not his love.  With Nicholas, his attitude towards Aleksandr may have tipped towards disdain - focusing more on the family name (House Kerensky) than the individuals therein.  After all, Nicholas almost never had the man, Aleksandr, in his life - just his name and his legend.  Therefore, Nicholas' goals may have been driven by his desire to preserve the respect for the name and the legend, while caring little for the goals of the living, and falliable, man.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 16:36:42 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

FedSunsBorn

  • Captain
  • *
  • Posts: 2362
  • Avatar by ShadowRaven.
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #14 on: 22 March 2013, 17:56:11 »
Haha, nice little BSG add. It made me smile.  O0

Made by HikageMaru

Wrangler

  • Colonel
  • *
  • Posts: 24875
  • Dang it!
    • Battletech Fanon Wiki
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #15 on: 22 March 2013, 18:16:18 »
Very Nice and insightful write up!  I too liked the BSG reference, there alot that running in recent Battletech side-stories. Like SLS Dreadnought's write up.
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
"No, it's a "Most Awesome Blues Brothers scene Reenactment EVER" waiting to happen." VotW Destrier - Weirdo  
"It's 200 LY to Sian, we got a full load of shells, a half a platoon of Grenadiers, it's exploding outside, and we're wearing flak jackets." VoTW Destrier - Misterpants
-Editor on Battletech Fanon Wiki

Dragon Cat

  • Lieutenant Colonel
  • *
  • Posts: 7827
  • Not Dead Until I Say So
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #16 on: 22 March 2013, 18:42:06 »
Have to agree the stories are so close even parallels between Lee Adama and Andrey can't be missed even just reading the synopsis

Must admit more than a little tempted to get BattleCorps again just to read those stories
My three main Alternate Timeline with Thanks fan-fiction threads are in the links below. I'm always open to suggestions or additions to be incorporated so if you feel you wish to add something feel free. There's non-canon units, equipment, people, events, erm... Solar Systems spread throughout so please enjoy

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,20515.0.html - Part 1

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,52013.0.html - Part 2

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,79196.0.html - Part 3

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #17 on: 23 March 2013, 05:33:34 »
----- 1 Month Later -----

Date: August 19, 2785

Location: SLS McKenna’s Pride – Exodus Armada (Deep Periphery)

Title: Fall From Glory

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Andrey is awakened during his sleep cycle by Nicholas, who tells him that their father urgently needs to see him.  Andery notes that the ship has just executed a double jump (using the LF batteries), implying that it has departed from the fleet’s main body, and follows Nicholas as they race to the bridge.

On the bridge, in a bustle of activity, General Kerensky, conqueror of the Rim Worlds, is back in his element.  Aleksandr informs Andery that a number of ships have rebelled, using LF batteries to double-jump back along the Exodus Road towards the Inner Sphere when the rest of the fleet moved onwards.  Andery inquires as to how they know the mutineers’ position, but is told that high command’s agent on the Hermes did not use his black box to warn the McKenna’s Pride, and that the warning came through a separate, need-to-know channel.  To catch up, the McKenna’s Pride is hot-charging its engines off the fusion reactor in 70 hours.

Andery asks why they simply don’t let Admiral Votok go, rather than pursuing the nine mutineer ships.  Nicholas calls him an idiot.  Aleksandr simply says that he’s worried they may tell the Inner Sphere about the fleet’s destination, causing problems in the future.  Andery senses that his father is holding something back, and finds his demeanor similar to that at the outset of the Amaris Coup, when he had to do things he found eminently distasteful, but felt he had no other choice.  He realizes that what Aleksandr has left unsaid is that, if the mutineers escape unpunished, the rest of the fleet will be encouraged to do the same.

Aleksandr lays out a plan to overtake the mutineers by using a path through “high-yield suns” to recharge more quickly, assuming that the Prinz Eugen, Hermes and their escorts will stay on the Exodus Road for a few more jumps and then make a beeline for the Combine’s Periphery border world of Gravenhage.

Notes:  Looking at the jump/recharge mechanics rules in Strategic Operations, it’s apparent that Aleksandr is not being totally clear with Andery.  If they were going purely off “ultrabright stars” to recharge, but going through nearly twice as many, they’d never catch up (the star-type charge-time differential between the brightest and darkest stars is only 28%, rather than the 50% they’d need).  However, the rules note that ships can’t use the solar sail to recharge both the K-F drive and the lithium fusion batteries at the same time.  It either has to be done sequentially, or done by hot-charging one from the fusion engine while the jump sail recharges the other one. 

That being the case, Kerensky most likely plans to jump to ultrabright stars and recharge in 151 hours while hot-charging the L-F batteries in the same amount of time (which is just enough to avoid any negative modifiers on the Control Roll TN).  He’s evidently counting on Votok playing it safe and charging his fleet’s batteries sequentially, meaning that it would take anywhere from 302 to 420 hours for the mutineers to be ready for a double-jump.

Kerensky’s current order to hot-charge the drive from the fusion engine in 70 hours adds a +4 to the control roll modifier.  One assumes that the crew of the McKenna’s Pride would be the most elite in the fleet, and able to handle such a check.  (Though waiting just five hours more would reduce that modifier to +3).  After this initial risky jump, they’d settle back to do 151-hour hot-charges, with no penalties.

The pursuit lasts 40 days, implying that Kerensky’s fleet (using his plan) recharged six times.  Double jumping, they covered up to 350 light years.  In that same 40 days, assuming that Votok’s fleet fully recharged in an average of 350 hours, they’d have recharged three times and made it up to 175 light years with double-jumps.  This looks pretty close to Aleksandr’s estimate of having to go “nearly twice as far” but still catching up.

It's intriguing that the Exodus fleet brought along Black Boxes (which had been discontinued over 150 years earlier when HPG technology matured) for covert communications within the fleet.  And yet, Aleksandr's SLIC agents on the fleeing ships didn't use them, and somehow got a message about the mutineers' intent through a "need to know" means.  My guess is that Major Jes Cole is a mole within the mutineer flotilla, and she must have communicated the entire flight route and jump schedule to Nicholas before the mutiny even occurred.  This would be the only way that Aleksandr could be so sure about Admiral Votok's plans, and exactly where and when, amid the vast expanse of space, to intercept the Prinz Eugen.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 16:38:47 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #18 on: 23 March 2013, 05:45:52 »
Must admit more than a little tempted to get BattleCorps again just to read those stories

You can buy individual stories from the BattleShop without having to have a BattleCorps subscription.  You just have to set up a BattleShop account (which is free - like registering an account on these boards).  The subscription model gives you access to new fiction that comes out during your subscription period without having to buy each work individually, and gives you a 5% discount on items bought at the BattleShop.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Dragon Cat

  • Lieutenant Colonel
  • *
  • Posts: 7827
  • Not Dead Until I Say So
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #19 on: 23 March 2013, 15:44:57 »
Considering how much I've bought it may just be worth it!! Lol
My three main Alternate Timeline with Thanks fan-fiction threads are in the links below. I'm always open to suggestions or additions to be incorporated so if you feel you wish to add something feel free. There's non-canon units, equipment, people, events, erm... Solar Systems spread throughout so please enjoy

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,20515.0.html - Part 1

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,52013.0.html - Part 2

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,79196.0.html - Part 3

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #20 on: 24 March 2013, 06:36:47 »
----- 1 Month Later -----

Date: September 28-29, 2785

Location: Mutiny Fleet (Deep Periphery)

Title: Fall From Glory

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Aleksandr’s fleet has caught the fleeing Prinz Eugen and its escorts, and Andery has been dispatched along with the marine assault force assigned to retake the Prinz Eugen.  Assault DropShips swarm through the void amid the massive WarShips as the two fleets engage.

Major Elizabeth Hazen leads three platoons of hardened SLDF marines (and Andery) into the corridors of the Texas-class vessel.  Andery is wracked with guilt, feeling that the mutiny and all the resultant deaths are his fault.  He also proves himself inept as a soldier, panicking and directing friendly fire over the heads of his own squad, much to his squadmates’ displeasure.  Major Hazen and her troops tear through the bridge’s defenders, and Andery muses that Nicholas would find such bloodlust attractive.  Once the mutineers’ defenses are broken, Major-General Wilbur Braso formally surrenders (Votok and most of the Prinz Eugen’s command staff having died in the firefight), ending the mutiny.

A hastily convened tribunal assembles in the cargo holds of the Prinz Eugen, attended by the various soldiers and civilians who had opposed the mutiny.  For their treason, Aleksandr sentences the remaining command-rank officers to death.  Andery escorts the last of the condemned, Lt. Colonel Surkai, to the airlock and when the man asks if Andery is to be his executioner, the distracted Kerensky answers “Aff,” drawing a bit of gallows humor from Surkai.  Andery swears to commit the name of the condemned man to memory as a remembrance of forgiveness.

Notes:  Elizabeth Hazen goes on to become one of the founders of Clan Jade Falcon.  Andery notes that she commanded the Ghosts of the Black Watch in the fighting against Amaris’ troops on the Olympic Peninsula.  H:LoT2 notes that Lt. General Antonius Zalman assigned Major Hazen and the last few surviving members of the Royal Black Watch Regiment to escort Kerensky during the battle for Unity City.  It initially seemed odd to me to have a MechWarrior leading a marine boarding operation, but as one of the few surviving members of the Royal Black Watch, Hazen would have been considered the best of the best.  She probably also did her share of out-of-cockpit fighting during more than a decade of resistance operations in North America.

More future Clan leaders and traditions are spotlighted:  We see Tseng and Jorgensson as civilians aboard the Prinz Eugen who opposed the mutiny.  The future Ghost Bears already display their trademark ties of kinship and affection.   We also see the genesis of the terms "surkai" and "aff."

Andery's disgraceful performance in the firefight further indicates that he was too young to be involved in resistance activities with Katyusha, Nicholas and Jess in Moscow. 
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 16:49:30 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Scrollreader

  • Warrant Officer
  • *
  • Posts: 425
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #21 on: 24 March 2013, 11:23:54 »
Your will is like a bar of Ransom Steel.   O0

  Just letting you know, this is hugely appreciated, and your commentary and cross referencing is pretty awesome.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #22 on: 25 March 2013, 05:41:57 »
----- One Month Later -----

Date: October 31, 2785

Location: SLS McKenna’s Pride – Exodus Armada (Deep Periphery)

Title: Fall From Glory

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Aboard the pursuit flotilla, now en-route to their rendezvous with the main Exodus Fleet, Andery notes that his father has now instituted reforms, and brought as many civilians aboard the McKenna’s Pride as it can accommodate, reducing crowding and shortages aboard the other ships.   Through the crowds, he thinks he catches a glimpse of Jes Cole, who he’s not seen since the meeting aboard the Hermes.  He gives chase, hoping to confirm her identity and confront her.

His pursuit leads him to Nicholas’ quarters.  Andery tells his brother he was chasing Jes Cole, and Nicholas tells Andery that he and Jes have known each other since the occupation.  Andery is flabbergasted, saying that Jes never told him that.  Andery realizes that Nicholas had been using Jes to manipulate him into attending the meeting on the Hermes

Nicholas goes on to tell Andery that he intentionally manipulated events to create the mutiny in order to force their father to establish his authority over the fleet through force.  He feared that Aleksandr would be reluctant to do so unless massively provoked, and that his reticence could have allowed things to spiral out of control until several large mutinies erupted simultaneously – creating an event beyond the Kerenskys’ ability to control.

Andery is horrified, attributing Nicholas’ actions to the atrocities he witnessed during the Amaris occupation.  However, he resolves to give his brother forgiveness, in the spirit of his vow to Surkai.

Notes:  At first it seemed implausible to me that Nicholas and Jes could know each other without Andery being aware.  However, a closer re-reading of "Hard Justice" shows that “Jess” was playing with “Kolya” (Nicholas), rather than Andery.  Her guardian, Megan Cole, warns Jess “not to see that boy [Kolya].  He’s trouble.  Him and his brother.”  So Megan and Jess knew about Nicholas and Andery, and Jess played with Nicholas, but Andery wasn’t aware of Jess/Jes.  My guess is that Andery was more of a homebody, while Nicholas went out and spied on Amaris troops massacring people in the streets…getting really messed up in the process.

Moving civilians aboard the McKenna's Pride is a good excuse for sneaking "Jes Cole" back onto the ship more or less unnoticed.  My guess is that she spends the rest of the Exodus holed up in Nicholas' quarters, though any of the Prinz Eugen staff who knew she'd been part of the mutiny planning committee probably went out the airlock.  If Jes became a "good friend" to Andery during the planning for the Exodus, keeping her ties to Nicholas hidden all this time, then Nicholas has clearly been planning to screw with Andery and manipulate the Exodus for nearly as long as Aleksandr had been planning his withdrawal from the Inner Sphere.

Speaking of Katyusha Kerensky, it’s interesting that she’s alive and on-board (and will live until June 9, 2796, when she dies of the Curse of Eden), but makes no appearance whatsoever in this story.  In "Hard Justice," Megan Cole refers to her as “bezumnyij,” which roughly translates as “insane.”  That would certainly explain why Nicholas was running wild on the mean streets of Moscow and why she isn’t playing much of a role in the Exodus Fleet.  And yet Nicholas will go on to name his capital city on Strana Mechty after her.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 16:50:39 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #23 on: 26 March 2013, 05:19:52 »
----- 2 Years Later -----

Date: December 28, 2787

Location: Hesperus II

Title: Broken Blade

Author: Steven Mohan, Jr.

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  The First Battle of Hesperus II (Operation BROKEN BLADE, as far as the DCMS is concerned) is raging around 1st Lt. Danver McEdwards of the 30th Lyran Guards.  A naval laser bombardment from one of the WarShips contesting the orbital lanes vaporizes Lyran and Combine ‘Mechs alike on the floor of the Melrose Valley near the Defiance Industries Vehicles Facility, on the outskirts of Maria’s Elegy.  Despite the friendly fire casualties, McEdwards notes that the orbital fire broke up a major DCMS push that had been on the verge of shattering the Lyran line.  As Danver attempts to escape from the target zone, his Sentinel evades a Dragon, a Panther, and a Thug from the 18th Algedi Regulars.
 
On the other side, Tai-i Aiko Makita (the Thug jockey) continues to lead the remnants of her company that made it through the Lyran lines during the bombardment, and hopes to exploit that opportunity for the glory of the Dragon.  The DCMS forces view the Defiance Industries plant on Hesperus II as the key to the LCAF’s power, and by destroying it, the path will be clear to dominate the Inner Sphere.  The 18th hit the planet along with three other ‘Mech regiments, escorted by a WarShip squadron.  Now having broken through Lyran lines, Makita’s strike team pushes into the teeth of the plant’s automated perimeter defenses – a thicket of concealed autocannon, missile and laser turrets.

McEdwards pushes his battered Sentinel to the Vehicles plant, which the 30th Guards were using for battlefield triage repair.  However, the huge building is partially collapsed when debris from destroyed orbital factories fell on it, and corpses are stacked amongst the loading docks crowded with recently completed Hunter tanks. Dejected, he reflects on the course of the war so far – the FWL nuking an entire continent in 2885, Bone-Norman, Gram, Trolloc Prime, and Skondia being assaulted, and the Bolson Shipyards over Skondia smashed.  He goes to check in with Hauptmann Grun, but barely makes it a few steps before his Sentinel collapses.  Climbing from the wreckage, he’s greeted by Leutenant Gavin Hill, who informs him that Grun is dead, and that McEdwards is now in command of what’s left of First Battalion, and that a Combine force (Makita and company) is approaching.  The senior surviving regimental officer, Hauptmann-Kommandant Krieg, with Second Battalion, orders him to hold.

Tai-i Makita and her wingman, Chu-i Brian Smith – running a Kintaro, break through the automated defenses, having lost the rest of their strike team.  However, they appear to be in luck – the only forces protecting the Hunter production line are a wrecked Zeus and a collapsed Sentinel.  Sensing a trap, they push ahead into the factory, finding sensor readings confused because all the Hunter tanks have had their fusion engines and targeting systems activated.  Makita and Smith proceed to the plant’s fusion reactor, intending to cause an overload that would collapse the plant and irradiate the region.  En route, they are ambushed by welding robots and remote-operated cranes.  The Kintaro falls into a trap at the waste treatment plant and is set ablaze, apparently killing Smith.

Smashing her way out of the factory, Makita comes under fire from the fully armed and operational Hunter tanks, shredding her armor before she manages to destroy them all.  Finally, the damaged Thug comes to bear on the lone mobile LCAF ‘Mech – a Sentinel.  She takes it down and kills the pilot (Gavin Hill) as he attempts to surrender, but succumbs to severe leg damage and collapses when the other Sentinel – piloted by McEdwards – comes alive and opens fire.  Makita awakens as Lyran infantry pull her out of her cockpit and take her prisoner.
 
McEdwards keeps a claymore that is a family heirloom – a symbol of House McEdwards’ tradition of peacekeeping, honor, and bravery.  He observes that the blade snapped in two during his fight with the Combine Thug.  He wears it as he debriefs Tai-i Makita, promising her that she will be treated according to the Ares Conventions, and returned to her regiment, along with her lancemate (who survived).  Despite the rising tide of barbarism sweeping over the Inner Sphere, McEdwards resolves to do what he can to uphold his personal tradition of honor and decency.

Notes:  Author Steve Mohan, Jr. has taken great pains to weave symbolism throughout this story.  The marauding Kurita officer pilots a Thug, while the gallant defender of civilization rides a Sentinel.  The claymore explicitly stands for the Star League and its traditions of honor and duty, which have been broken by the fighting (it also directly references the name of the Combine offensive - Operation BROKEN BLADE).  McEdwards hopes to reforge the sword (and, by extension, the ideals of the Star League) though keeping to his personal code of honor and working to stop the atrocities.  It’s worth noting, however, that Makita’s actions were perfectly in keeping with her own code of honor, per the Dictum Honorarium, which explicitly states that any foe cowardly enough to try to surrender should be killed at once.

The mention of Hunter tanks is a possible anachronism.  The MUL lists the Hunter’s debut as the late 2900s, based on the TRO:3039 mention that “customers were not expecting Defiance to produce a specialized, light support tank – let alone put a fusion engine on a fire-support tank during the tech-starved days of the Succession Wars.”  The timeframe of “Broken Blade” – 2787 – is just one year into the First Succession War, rather than being during “tech-starved days.”  Changing the Hunters to Manticores takes care of the problem, since the Manticore has the LRM racks necessary to play the tanks' role in the story and is canonically manufactured by DefHes during this era.

The 18th Algedi Regulars appear to be part of a new brigade deployed by the DCMS into the 1st Succession War, and which vanished thereafter.  Tai-i Makita notes her surprise at being given a previously Hegemony-only Thug, taken from SLDF defectors and reassigned to DCMS regulars (begging the question of where the “ronin” MechWarrior Mary Quinn got the Thug in which she dueled Kerensky’s Orion in "Way of the Champion" - also written by Steven Mohan).  The numbering of the regiment implies that there were at least 18 Algedi Regulars regiments.  Looking at the SLDF TO&E list in the original sourcebook, the following units joined the Combine:

114th Hussar Regiment
208th Hussar Regiment
294th Hussar Regiment
104th Striker Regiment
4674th Striker Regiment
28th Light Horse Regiment
52nd Heavy Assault Regiment
361st Dragoon Regiment
963rd Independent Aero Wing
Elements of the 29th Mechanized Infantry Division
Elements of the 133rd Jump Infantry Division
Elements of the 95th Mechanized Infantry Division
Elements of the 7th Jump Infantry Division
Elements of the 66th Mechanized Infantry Division
Elements of the 225th Mechanized Infantry Division
Elements of the 18th Infantry Division

Since an infantry division contains three ‘Mech regiments, that means that the Combine got between 8 ‘Mech regiments (if all the “Elements of” were infantry/tanks) and 29 regiments (if the “Elements of” from each division consisted of the entire ‘Mech brigade).  Thus, 18+ new “Algedi Regulars” regiments out of nowhere is plausible.

There's some confusion in the source material over the origins of Defiance Industries.  We know that during Operation PROMETHEUS, the Hesperus II facility was the "Terran Hegemony BattleMech Complex."  Handbook: House Steiner tells that it became Defiance Industries when the head of House Brewer (who came to the Commonwealth as a Star League ambassador from Terra) was asked to take command of the Hegemony's 'Mech production facility on Hesperus II.  It's implied that it became Defiance Industries at that point.  However, it may have undergone the name change much earlier - the Mountain Wolf BattleMechs profile in Handbook: House Steiner references its competition with Defiance for contracts in the 2500s.  So either the Hegemony had renamed its Terran Hegemony BattleMech Complex as Defiance Industries in the 2500s or earlier, or Mountain Wolf's writeup contains a continuity error.  Or, perhaps Defiance Industries originated on another world and annexed the Hegemony facility on Hesperus II during or shortly after the Star League Civil War.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 16:53:42 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #24 on: 27 March 2013, 04:23:03 »
----- 2 Weeks Later -----

Date: January 14-16, 2788

Location: Eden

Title: Fall From Glory

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Andery takes on a Guillotine in his Exterminator in a simulated battle as he attempts to pass his test to stay in the active duty SLDF-in-exile, now that the Exodus Fleet has colonized the Pentagon Worlds.  The battle takes place on the outskirts of Eden’s capital city, Novy Moscva, close to where a Castle Brian is being built.  Andery wins the battle, qualifying for the final challenge – the ground test.  Windham Khatib congratulates him – their bonds of friendship having deepened over the course of the Exodus Road, though Andery remains worried about his prospects.

He goes to the Neuble Downs Pub to relax, noting that the SLDF exiles have managed to create things like billiard balls despite 14 hour workdays spent trying to make Eden more liveable.  He’s joined by Major Jason Everly, Colonel Carson, Windham, and Raymond Sainze.  Carson introduces a new member of the group as “Jill,” though Andery recognizes her as Jes Cole.  Talk turns to the challenges of building a new civilization in the alien terrain, having to genetically adapt livestock and deal with often hostile local fauna.  “Jill” says that she failed her test and won’t be entering the SLDF academy.
 
In the ground test, Andery is tested in infantry tactics and hand-to-hand combat, slinking through the wilderness with a rifle.  The task is to evade pursuing trackers and make it across a 20-km forest laced with traps to reach a target.  Within sight of his objective, he’s ambushed by an OpFor squad, and fails the test.  Andery reflects that he was so surprised that he failed to even fire his own gun – referencing the fear of firearms he developed following his disastrous performance on the Prinz Eugen.
 
Having failed to meet the 20% cutoff mark, he won’t go into the active duty SLDF, but did do well enough to get into the new SLDF academy.  Andery berates himself for not living up to the marks set by Nicholas, but Colonel Carson rebukes him for ignoring his own merits and living on the basis of unfair comparisons.

Notes:  It looks like Jess went through a plethora of name changes on her way to becoming Jennifer Winston.  Most likely, she did legitimately fail the test, since records are kept and her cover identity as “hardened infantry veteran Major Jes Cole” didn’t include the actual combat skills that a real Major would have.  (Though, just to cloud the waters, there is a Jill Chistu on the Clan Jade Falcon roster)

Carson isn’t given a first name in this scene, but he’s probably James Carson, who rises to the rank of Major General by 2802, following the Second Exodus, and becomes part of Clan Mongoose.  Historical: Operation KLONDIKE notes that James died while walking near Nicholas Kerensky during an assassination attempt on Strana Mechty in 2014, which had targeted Nicholas over his decree that all children would be placed into fostering programs.  Some analysts believed that Nicholas orchestrated the assassination attempt in order to justify a crackdown on opposition within the Second Exodus community.  James was replaced in the Clan by his son, Gregory.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 16:56:09 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Kojak

  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 4610
  • Melancon Lives!
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #25 on: 27 March 2013, 16:45:24 »
Hunh. Do they actually call it a Trial of Position in the story? Because my understanding is that the Trial system wasn't even a notion bouncing around Nicky K's cranium for another couple of decades.


"Deep down, I suspect the eject handle on the Hunchback IIC was never actually connected to anything. The regs just say it has to be there."
- Klarg1

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #26 on: 27 March 2013, 17:39:49 »
You are correct - it's referred to throughout as "testing out" rather than a Trial of Position, though the concept is the same as Nicholas used in his Trials of Position after the Second Exodus.  I'll amend the reference.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #27 on: 28 March 2013, 05:51:13 »
----- 2 Years Later -----

Date: November 9, 2790

Location: Eden

Title: Fall From Glory

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Two years into his academy training, Cadet Andery Kerensky takes a helicopter ride to Schmitt Memorial Hospital, soaring over the vast sprawl of the planned city of Novy Moscva, home to 200,000 exiles.  A chain of Brian caches marches off across the continent to the west. 

In the hospital, Nicholas lies on life support, watched over by their father.  Nicholas has come down with a dangerous brain infection, and has slipped into a coma.  The survival rate for such infections is only 25%, and most of those survivors have brain damage.
 
Small talk between Aleksandr and Andery reveals that both Kerensky boys have become very distant from their mother.  Aleksandr, meanwhile, appears to be wallowing in guilt over Simon Cameron’s death and the fall of the Star League.  Andery notes that Aleksandr has spent years of the Exodus and the settlement of the Pentagon worlds reacting to new crises, rather than being proactive.

Notes:  Andery’s characterization of Aleksandr as being reactive and indecisive fits how he’s been portrayed in “Fall From Glory” so far, but there are indications in other sources that the elder Kerensky could be cold-blooded and outright cruel during the Exodus.  The intro to “Living Legends” notes that Kerensky detested the commander of the Golden Lions – Major Cromwell – and assigned him and his unit to the SLS Manassas, actually hoping that their experimental jump drive would malfunction and rid him of the annoying officer.  With overcrowding so intense and ships in such short supply, sending the volunteer crew out on an unnecessary suicide mission seems more Nicholas’ style than Aleksandr’s.

Katyusha Kerensky’s absence is explicitly referenced here.  This may be a sign of family ties breaking down due to the stress of war, the long separation during the occupation, Exodus living conditions, and Katyusha’s possible mental deterioration.  As Richard, Andery and Nicholas found, Aleksandr isn’t exactly in the running for husband or father (surrogate or otherwise) of the year.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 16:58:32 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #28 on: 29 March 2013, 05:32:02 »
----- 2 Months Later -----

Date: January 1-2, 2791

Location: Wyatt

Title: A Soldier’s Privilege

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Captain Stephan Roark, late of the now departed SLDF, has returned to his family’s estates on Wyatt to defend his homeworld against Lyran forces (the 5th Lyran Guards and 4th Donegal Guards) seeking to add the planet to the Lyran Commonwealth in support of Archon Richard Steiner’s claim to the First Lordship.  Before the outbreak of fighting, he receives a Lyran representative – Reinhardt Samm, Baron of Montserrat-du-Bolan, then goes to discuss the political situation with his mother, Althea Roark.

Samm informs the Roarks that the Lyrans plan to annex Wyatt, now that the Marik Militia has withdrawn, leaving only planetary militia.  The Archon offers the Roarks the opportunity to retain their noble titles and holdings if they offer no resistance to House Steiner.  Althea seems resigned to changing allegiances, but Stephan argues that they owe Kenyon Marik their fealty, since he already gave them the same deal when the FWL seized Wyatt from the crumbling Terran Hegemony, and that he doesn’t view their loyalties as being quite so transitional.   He chastises his mother, saying his father would never have given up without a fight.  Althea answers that her husband abrogated his responsibilities to his family when he left with General Kerensky.

Stephan’s uncle is retired SLDF General Bartolomeo Roark, who serves as the commander of Castle Roark’s defenses.  House Roark holds large estates across the planet, but only a handful of their personal guard force (which includes a battalion of BattleMechs) is based at the Castle.   He’d hoped that they might be able to hold out long enough for the Captain-General to send reinforcements, but an HPG message from Atreus informs him that Wyatt is on its own.

The following day, Lyran DropShips land near Wyatt City and Castle Roark.  Stephan pilots his factory-fresh Grasshoper, battling to defend his family’s landhold in the name of House Marik.  He is joined by his cousin, Dera, in her Black Knight, and other members of the Wyatt Militia.  They swiftly smash a Lyran scout lance, then charge into the teeth of two heavy Lyran lances with artillery support.  The Militia ‘Mechs drop all around him, and Dera’s ride goes down with its head demolished, but Stephan presses on – managing to damage two companies of the Fourth Donegal Guards before his Grasshopper becomes combat ineffective and he has to withdraw to Castle Roark. 

He finds Lyran ‘Mechs in command of the facility, where Baron Samm congratulates him on a battle nobly fought and greets him as a newly re-minted Lyran noble.  The Lyran negotiator informs Stephan that his mother surrendered to the Commonwealth, ensuring that House Roark will retain its titles, and tells Stephan that his patent of nobility means he can do anything he wants in the Inner Sphere.  Stephan punches Samm in the face, remarking that he already has that privilege as a soldier.

Notes:  Stephan’s father, who left with Kerensky, was probably tied to the 111th Mechanized Infantry Division (First Army, XXI Corps), which was not profiled FM:SLDF, but listed in the Star League Sourcebook as having survived the Civil War (deployed outside of the Hegemony during the Periphery Uprising and then battling inward on Nanking, Capolla, Epsilon Eridani, Terra’s Iberian Peninsula and North America between the Gulf Coast, Appalachians, and Mississippi river basin, and finally hitting the Rocky Mountains en route to the Pacific Northwest), and departed in the Exodus.  It is shown on the FM:SLDF deployment map as having been stationed on Wyatt.  The unit, like others in the First Army, was assigned to man the Home Line of Castle Brian fortresses, but was deployed to cover garrison posts in the Great Houses during the Periphery Uprising, leaving Wyatt entirely to the RWR “volunteer” garrison.  Wyatt had one Castle Brian, but no SDS.  H:LoT 1 notes that a heavy Republican squadron wiped out the SLS Dreadnought in the Wyatt system as it escorted a civilian fleet to safety in Lyran space. 

In Operation CHIEFTAN, the 20th Army targeted Wyatt.  The VII Corps faced a single Castle Brian defended by massively overstrength Patriot battalions and impressive defensive works, backed by two brigades of Amaris regulars.  The RWR troops also made extensive use of human shields, forcing the SLDF to advance cautiously over the course of a year to liberate the planet with a minimum of casualties.  The 111th MID probably came back to Wyatt to clear out the Castle Brian and their old depots of any remaining supplies prior to the Exodus, and Lord Roark decided to abandon his family and title to go with them.  Dialogue between Stephan and Dera indicates that Althea was cheating on her husband, which may have been a leading factor in his decision.

H:LoT2 notes that the Lyran Commonwealth annexed Wyatt in 2784, prior to the outbreak of First Succession War hostilities, and held it at least through 2786.  Kenyon appears to have had the Marik Militia seize Wyatt between January and October 2787, and then withdrew the Marik Militia to “clear a route ten parsecs wide to Sarna” in November while the Lyrans were busy with a major Draconis Combine offensive.  By 2791, the LCAF had noticed the Militia’s absence and gathered sufficient force to retake the world. 

Why no FWL reinforcements?  The House Steiner SB says by 2791, the Free Worlds League was occupied elsewhere.  The House Liao SB clarifies that the FWLM was busy occupying Vanra, El Giza, Carbonis and Mosiro, following the destruction of the main Capellan fleet over Calloway VI in 2790.  It’s entirely possible that a Marik Militia force remained on Wyatt from 2787 to late 2790, but was pulled off to exploit the Capellan disaster at Calloway VI, leaving Wyatt vulnerable.

I can see Stephan’s point, since by now House Roark has already switched sides twice in three years (TH -> LC -> FWL), begging the question of the value of an oath of fealty that’s heavily dependent on which way the wind is currently blowing.  One further question is where House Roark got a battalion of ‘Mechs.  My guess is that the “overstrength Patriot battalions” had a fairly high surrender rate, and many of them might have made a deal to surrender to House Roark in exchange for employment and political protection from persecution.
« Last Edit: 31 August 2013, 22:54:29 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

  • Freelance Writer
  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5842
  • Manei Tetatae
Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #29 on: 29 March 2013, 22:45:58 »
----- 1 Year Later -----

Date: July 1, 2792

Location: Eden

Title: Fall From Glory

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  General Kerensky presides over the Eden Academy’s graduation ceremony, inducting Andery and his fellow cadets into the SLDF-in-exile.  Despite his advanced age, he’s in fine form, telling the cadets they represent the future of the Star League-in-exile and quoting Russian philosophers at every turn.  A hundred thousand people watch in the stadium, while millions more watch via a live broadcast.

After the ceremony, Andery is greeted by his comrades – Jason, Carson, and Windham – who congratulate him on his graduation.  The group is joined by General (Admiral?) Stephen McKenna, who is interested in recruiting Andery for his exploration command into the nearby star cluster.  Carson says the he wants Andery for his own command – the 149th Division.  However, his speculation on future career opportunities is cut short as Nicholas arrives and tells Andery that Colonel Jameson wants him to serve as a rifle instructor at the Eden Academy.  Andery declines, and his friends stand up for him, but Nicholas insists that Andery accept the position at the Academy to uphold the honor of the Kerensky name.

Notes:  Chronologically, this is the second “member of ruling House graduates with father presiding” scene in the BattleTech literature.  Whereas Rhean Marik was singled by her father out for special recognition based both on her individual achievements and her bloodline, Andery is just one more cadet among a 426 others, all melded into one heart and mind, led by the general – a single entity dedicated to the glory of the Star League.  Still, he gets better treatment than Theodore Kurita.

Kerensky, perhaps unwittingly, lays the foundation for the Crusader philosophy in his graduation speech, calling the Star League-in-exile “a society that will one day return to the Inner Sphere and show them that we have been true to the Star League, show them the error of their ways, and welcome them with open arms into a society of peace and prosperity, a return to the golden age we never lost.”

McKenna is an interesting figure.  Historical: Operation KLONDIKE quotes from his personal journal, where he suspects that somebody is working behind the scenes to increase unrest among the civilian population prior to the Prinz Eugen mutiny, and muses that Nicholas appears to be behind some of the colonies’ formative policies, rather than Aleksandr.  His journals list him as a Colonel prior to the mutiny, but as a Vice Admiral during the terraforming of the Pentagon worlds.  He goes on to become Khan of Clan Snow Raven. (So…Colonel -> Vice-Admiral -> General -> Admiral -> Khan?  Or else Carson misspoke when giving McKenna’s rank.) The rift between Nicholas and McKenna is shown during KLONDIKE, when Nicholas gives Kardaan overall command of the naval task force over McKenna, and later when Nicholas and McKenna clashed over treatment of the Dominion on Circe.  Notably, McKenna has been replaced by Khan Merrell in the Snow Ravens by the time of the Wolverine Annihilation.  Had McKenna still been in command, the Wolverines might have received Snow Raven backing against Nicholas.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 17:05:26 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.