Forging the Future: Coming Home

[Korzon77]

Yvonne tried to stay calm. A year of training, and before that, convincing her parents.

"This May be safe."  She had said, but you yourself said it might not be, and they'll be going up against the Clans.  I'm not in the line for the Throne and its our duty to show the people that we'll take the risk...like you did."  Hanse and Melissa had agreed, eventually, they didn't have any choice.  The bitter truth was that the leaders of the Houses, and their families were heirs of a tradition that demanded service.. like Victor.

She shook her head in her womb, tiny compared to a battlemech cockpit, the 9 tones of armor and weapons wrapped around her, and a cocoon of ceramic reentry panels wrapped around that. Five others in this modified drop bay, 30 total in the Leopard-P class dropship. She let the neural feedback enter her mind, piggybacking off of the sensors of the dropship, showing the fleet burning in towards Tharkad. 

the Clans weren't stopping them-- why should they?   Half of the Clans success had been due to forces rushing to repel the invaders, before being cut to pieces piecemeal.  Now they had Tharkad, were driving on Luthian and even Terra, and only the fact they'd outrun their supply lines had slowed them down.  Their warships were in orbit, but they wouldn't fire on anyone coming in-- trying to leave, now that would be a different matter.

"All units."  The voice came over the link, "Proto's will commence the drop in the assigned regions. Vehicle and Special  combat units will join them."

Hopefully the Clans didn't know about the Proto's or the other fruits of the labs of Terra and the Great Houses.

"Ready Yvonne?"  The voice came through the link, one of her own squad.  Marie, from the Magistracy. 

"Yes."  Yvonne said, "After all, it's home." She continued as the occupied world of Tharkad continued to grow in the sensors as the diversionary aerospace and assault ship strike went in, trying to close to engage the Clan vessels in orbit. No big assault ships-- there were Warships in orbit and large assault ships simply made better targets. 

"Coming into the dropzone."  The drop-master said, "All protos stand by."    The ship started shuddering, the feel of close range misses and evasive action penetrating even into her warm cocoon. 

If I'm hit here, I'll die without ever being able to move.  Yvonne bit her lip, and waited.

"Dropping in 3, 2, 1!"  There was a kick in her pants as the drop cocoon was hurled free, the others trailing after it.  Other dropships were doing the same, protos and WIGES and LAM fighters diving towards the surface of the world.  Beyond them, barely visible were the much larger images of the Submarines, equipped with their barely tested and hopefully safe landing packs.  Yvonne didn't envy the crews of those 10,000 tonne ships at all.

"Clanners seemed to be confused!"  The tac net came alive with her commander, General Samualson, "they expected mech's--not us and infantry!" 

Yvonne smiled slightly.  Good news, bad news. Good news that they were surprised, Bad news because it would be at least a few years before the Allied forces could muster enough mechs to meet the clans even with equal numbers-- and the clan tech, to say nothing of their nightmarishly skilled warriors, made one on one engagements suicide.  Bad news, there was no certainty they couldn't do it to these forces. 

"All units, remember-- go to ground and break contact if possible. Do not engage clan forces if you encounter them. We're not here to fight a glorious battle and die...we're  here to make certain every damned clanner is pinned down on this planet instead of being free to cause trouble elsewhere." 

The general's voice faded out as the Proto descended through the denser atmosphere. Explosive bolts fired and the ceramic reentry unit was jettisoned, freeing up the integral sensors of the Proto.  Yvonne felt the wind over her "body" and looked out with the preternatural clarity that had been so difficult to get used to.  Just under her was a small town, and right beyond that was her units drop zone.

Moment's later, Yvonne Steiner-Davion touched down just outside of the McKenna Memorial Junior High School, the first member of the royal family to return to the world in over four years.  Looking for a moment at the children (some of them less than five years younger than she), looking in disbelief at the hulking proto, too large to be a man and too small to be a mech, Yvonne waved at them, before turning and vanishing into the forest that bordered the town and had been the reason for the drop zones location.

[Shadow_Wraith]

 O0  Interesting so far on your new AU

[idea weenie]

This looks quite interesting, I'm interested in seeing the various toys/strategies/alliance that have had to be forged as a result of these Clans.

[Korzon77]

The Law of Unintended Consequences:

When the Clans invaded the Inner Sphere in the late months of 3049, they were unstoppable.  It was more than their tech, advanced as that was, but the average clan warrior, coming from a history of genetic tweaks and a training program that was the ultimate evolution of the best components of the SLDF's gunslinger program was simply superior.  The clan formations sliced through the first Inner Sphere units with contemptous ease.

More devastatingly, the Clans were not interested in simply taking ground-- long having studied the past, they had come to the conculsion that it didn't matter how many worlds a state could "Claim" if those worlds were isolated and without the ability to support a military.  The Clans thus focused on taking major worlds and production nodes, using their warships, dropships and aerospace assets to interdict other worlds and capture the shipping the Inner Sphere Depended on.  Eventually of course, they could retake the other worlds in the name of hte Star League-- but only after eliminating the industrial and military might of hte Great Houses, and taking Terra.

Two things saved the Inner Sphere.  The first was the simple fact that the Clans understimated the speed of their advance and in fact in some cases, pulled back after the first pellmell advances.  The time it took to restore their logistical net provided vital time for the Wolfs Dragoons and Inner Sphere to reorganize under the Central Allied Military Authority (CAMA)  perhaps fortunately, the original name, Central Allied Command Authority was not adopted. 

The Second was the Clan's decision to announce their intent-- which had the effective of bringing two groups into the CAMA.  The first group was Comstar that realized that once Terra was taken, they would have no place, and the plans to limit technological progress were now, dead, dead, dead.  The second was the Periphery-- the Clan announcement, and their fearsome military might awoke ancient memories of the Reunification wars and every group from the PSDF to the Canopians realized that if the Clans successfully conquered the Inner Sphere, their doom would be certain.

Thus, the by 3053 most of the Inner Sphere wsa functioning under an ad hoc, but more or less effective central military command.  Pundits proclaimed this doomed the clans.  The CAMA leaderhsip knew better as reports of new Clans moving up into the front lines came in-- that for all their confident words, the war was still in doubt, especially with the effective destruction of over 65 percent of the Federated Commonwealth's military, along with the loss of just over 50% of the Draconis Combine's forces.

The Clan War-- 3049-3060

New tharkad Press, 3065.

[sandstorm]

TAGged, NARCed and dragged to photobooth... This is going to be interesting.

At first I was unsure about how the PSDF and 'Forging the Future' tied in here, but you cleared that up quick enough. Bet the Clans would pay dearly to either cripple or capture their Newgranges.

Clanners sound a little smarter than what they were, but the IS sounds much more unified from the start as well, so this is going to be nasty yet interesting war.

[Jaim Magnus]

Looks interesting.  But Proto's?

[sandstorm]

Well, it could be seen as logical.

1) Most major manufacturing centers outside of the Periphery SLDF Remnant and Terra were either taken or destroyed by Clans, or at least that's the image I get.
2) Most other production centers don't have the capacity for for Mech production and Protos use less resources
3) Original SLDF era scientists and ComStar co-operating and sharing research under single military command => better look at what can be built and how to utilize it. Might not be quite as good as Clan Protos, but having the Manei DOmini style DNI available could give them a bit of edge. Heck, might even have some sort of Nighthawk-derived camo system included... :D

And if they are fighting guerrilla war on capital worlds until the Mech forces can be rebuilt and warriors trained, Protos make more sense than either inferior Mechs or BA.

[Headshot]

a tradition that demanded service.. like Victor.

Somehow that sounds like the Clans got him this time...
And as always, nice to see Clanners that aren't bred without brains.
A warrior society that actually thought about effective warfare, oh how could you!  O0

[Korzon77]

The Throne Room of the Lyran Commonwealth was empty. The battlemechs that had once guarded the throne destroyed, the occupant of the throne herself fled.  Khan Jorgensson traced the material of the trhone, letting the silence of the room fill him.

How many worlds were burned by orders given from this Throne?  he thought.  The bandit kings, the shattered worlds we passed were still full of life when the Great Father left.   Now those regions were deserts, abandoned cities, or cities full of the bones of those who hadn't been able to escape when the last fusion generators broke down.

"My Khan?"  The voice intruded onto his thoughts.  "The staff awaits you in the planning room."  The woman's voice took a sardonic tone, "They wonder why you are not eager to start hunting down the Inner Sphere scum that have so eagerly dropped into our trap."

"And you, Loremaster?"  He said, "Is that your belief, Quiaff?"

"Neg." Laurie Tseng approached the throne. "We destroyed a few of the smaller units, though we were unable to capture any of their pilots alive, and they are something different.  The Scientist caste believe that they might be related to some projects being carried out by the Star League before the Usurper..."  Her shrug was eloquent, "But they are here now."

"But why?"  The first wave of the invasion had been perfection, the Inner Sphere forces playing into their hands again and again, as Clan warships waited until relief forces were landed onto the targeted worlds, before swooping in and taking their jumpships.  Tharkad itself had been a triumph, with the Ghost Bear Toumen landing just enough forces to keep reinforcements pouring in, until they had the elite forces of the Realm in a trap.  Fortunately, the Lyran forces had accepted the Bears offer of truce for the evacuation of the civilian population, but even so, there were swaths of ruined cityscape where the last battles had been fought, to say nothing of the battlegrounds all over the world.

"You know the answer, My Khan." 

"Yes."  He sighed, "WE cannot remove the bulk of our forces while they are here, and the fact that they are trying to evade contact shows that they know it...to say nothing of the submarines they landed."  The clans, after all, hadn't brought much in the way of ASW weapons. 

Did you think it would be easy?

"This requires careful thinking."  he finally said, "They are adapting to our tactics, and we must not allow the momentum to shift away from our forces."

"We may have to reduce the number of worlds we strike in our next wave."

"We will.  But we will make certain those worlds are ones our enemies will need to defend."  Jorgensson's fist clenched.  "It does not matter how many worlds they have, if we take the factories and destroy their armies."

"The Smoke Jaguars will demand we drive for Terra."

"The Jaguars are as blood thirsty as the House Lords.  They burned an entire city in a fit of pique  They could have isolated the city, but they gave the entire Draconis Combine an atrocity to unite around."

Not to mention neutralizing one of our greatest advantages.  In order to keep the disaster from being complete, the Clans had agreed to forgo any use of orbital bombardment, even that of military units, so long as the Inner Sphere agreed. Given the disparity of their forces, the House lords and the CAMA as their new command authority was named, had fallen over their own feet agreeing.

"No.  I Know how the other Clans will vote and we will not Expose our Birthplace to another conflict like that the Usurper brought onto it.  WE will win the war, the House Lords will bow, and comstar shall grant Terra to those who are worthy of it-- without a single shot being fired, or a single drop of blood profaning her streets."

[sandstorm]

Pretty optimistic Clanner there.

[Korzon77]

The Clan Juggernaut:

The Clans struck the Inner Sphere like a tide-- and their advantages were not simply in technology-- in fact by late 3060 some Inner Sphere factories were beginning to build a few clantech weapons, and others had been salvaged. 

What gave them their overwhelming advantage was their skill-- the product of generations of subtle genetic engineering, the average Clan warrior had reflexes anywhere 2-5 percent faster than his inner sphere counterpart-- and that was an average warrior.  The Inner Sphere's larger population meant that they had some soldiers who could challenge clan warriors, but it was no surprise that the initial DNI projects stemmed from the simple belief that the Clans had to be using cybernetics.  In truth the Clans did not, and showed a marked hostility to the idea, which ran counter to their over all ethos. 

Worse, the Freebirth's, far from being a despised minority, were the example of the best and most motivated of the Clan's "normal" population who were brought into the warrior caste and added their own skills to it.  The Clan war machine was not simply the result of direct genetic engineering, but adopting the top percent or so of their general population.

Finally, the Clan practice of Batchall and the customs around bondsmen meant that their best warriors seldom died, but rather were simply circulated around the Clans, spreading their knowledge and skill. 

This was not simply restricted to direct combat.  In 3054 several intelligence windfalls befell the Inner Sphere, including the Record of the "chess challenges" which had matched the various Clan strategic commanders against each other in a complex series of wargames intended to field test operation Revival-- and to ensure that that the best possible generals were in charge of it.

No. The desperation that filled the Inner Sphere and resulted in many dubious projects being fielded was not due to the technological superiority of the Clans-- but the dawning realization that the Clan forces were not simply the descendants of the SLDF-- they were actually superior to the SLDF in training, and the overall quality of their troops. 

A History Of the First Phase of the Clan Invasion

By James Willimson

Tharkad (Clan Ghost Bear Zone), 3085

[sandstorm]

Ouch... And... that Ghost Bear Zone in 3085 sounds ominous.

[Korzon77]

 Good news and bad news everyone.

1. Good news. I've got just over 60,000 words worth of freelance assisgnments to finish by december.

2.  Bad news. That ain't going to leave much time for anything else. So you may be waiting a while.

[serack]

1 gratz

2 we will still be here waiting :) 

[Chaeronea]

Ouch... And... that Ghost Bear Zone in 3085 sounds ominous.

The fact that Tharkad was still part of the Ghost Bear Occupation Zone thirty years after it was conquered sounds even more ominous.

[VhenRa]

Depends.

The way it is Tharkad (Ghost Bear Zone) could be like how Berlin had an American, British, French and Soviet Zone after WWII. The planet could be divided up...

[Korzon77]

It is and it isn't.  I'll leave two spoiler hints.

1.  It is impossible in battltech to effectively create a "line" defending any group of planets because you can't interdict intersteller travel.  Because of that, conquest is more about seizing important places than every piece of territory.

2.  The clans have long since adopted this and have little problem with say, having a city with several different polities in control of various parts. 

[sandstorm]

Strana Mechty, for example? :D

[Korzon77]

Drop +5 days.

Yvonne dropped and rolled, the incredible agility of the mech allowing it to avoid the majority of the explosions strength. She also felt like her body was one big bruise, even though the womb like interface cockpit was only letting a whisper of sound and shock through.  The neural interface that gave the mech its incredible agility also gave her the feeling that she, not the mech had suffered the explosion. 

At least it wasn't as bad as the first models.  Yvonne thought.  More than a few physically unharmed, but very dead, pilots had been pulled out of those first attempts.  Even as she continued the thought, the mech continued rolling, coming up and snapping a bolt from its ER medium laser, burning a chunk of armor off of the Madcat's torso.  The other members of the squad were doing the same thing, the Clan mech encompassed in a web of coherent light, it's lance-no, star mates having their own problems.   Even so, the pilot was almost as agile as they were-- and without the benefit of a direct neural interface.

Imagine the worst, most deadly mechwarriors you can.  Jaime Wolf had said, And then double that, and you will have a frontline Clan pilot.  She'd had to be very careful about speaking with Wolf though.  Mother had wanted to have him arrested.

No, Mother had wanted Outreach bombarded with fusion warheads until it glowed. The Dragoons had been here for decades, and only once half her realm was under the guns of the invader had they deigned to tell the Inner Sphere what they knew.  What was worse, some them had seemed surprised at the lack of gratitude.

"Scarlet One."  The voice came into her ears, "We've picked up multiple Clan mechs and Toads advancing to support the probe.  Prepare to break contact."

"Understood."  Yvonne said. "All units, prepare to break."

"I Obey."  Tom's voice came. They were going to have problems with him.  Evidently the psychs hadn't realized that he was hiding robot syndrome, or it hadn't been apparent until the stress of conflict had brought it out.  But he was increasingly refusing to come out of his Legionnaire for anything other than short periods.  Sooner or later, he'd refuse to come out at all, and would die.  Hopefully not shooting at them.

"Denise."  Yvonne said, "Lase them." 

"Gothca."  The Clan mechs advancing suddenly lit up in her display, Denise's scout variant painting them with coherent radiation... just in time for the first salvo of guided artillery rounds, mixed with smoke rounds to land. Yvonne saw the Madcat she'd been fighting take two rounds to the chest, and another to the arm, blowing it off. The mech shuddered, wavered but amazingly the pilot still  kept it upright.  Yvonne turned and headed into the woods, the rest of the units following her, billowing smoke obscuring them as they broke free.  The Clans wouldn't follow, she was confident.  They didn't know that her unit had run out of mines.


"These small units are causing a problem."  Tseng muttered.

"Of course they are."   the Khan said, "If we destroy a mech, they have lost all of its firepower-- but destroy one of these units and much like an infrantry force, they only lose a small part of the total firepower, Quiaff?"

"Aff."  Tseng said, "They also are, even accounting for their control system...very cunning and brave fighters."  The admission clearly cost her, but she continued, "I think we should seek to take some as bondsmen." 

"If we can." Jorgensson said, "It is difficult to explain to the Inner Sphere warriors how our customs work..."  He shook his head.  "And may be more difficult in this case-- you have noted their age."

"Aff."  Tseng said, "The Scientists believe that the cybernetic linkages may be...dangerous to use on older individuals."

"Or older individuals are more likely to question such a sacrifice."  Jorgensson said. "It is another example of Inner Sphere evil. They will fling their young into the battle if it can but purchase them another day or week.  Like Amaris, or the fanatics of the Periphery."   Can we even redeem them?  The Khan thought for a moment. Or are they utterly lost? Were the outward lookers right to argue that we should never look back?  He hardened himself against doubt.  The People of hte Inner Sphere were victims.  They had not burned their cities and squandered the glory of the greatest civilization in human history. The Clans had to hold firm, to remember that their mission was not conquest, but liberation, not to bring suffering, but to free the Inner Sphere and bring it back into the light.

"I believe that I may have a...plan that could allow us to obtain some prisoners." Jorgensson said.  "After all, if they are trying to match their strength to our weakness, we need to provide them with a very weak target to strike..."

[mikecj]

more please

[croaker]

Competant clanners vs Competant spheroids... oooh.

[Dave Talley]

tag

[snakespinner]

Tag

[Korzon77]

I'm tremendously backlogged on paying assignemnts, but I'll try to get a bit more when I can free up some time.

[Korzon77]

Terra

Christa frowned and tugged her uniform again.

Remind me to never let a history geek design a uniform Christa thought.  The CAMA had been uable to use other people's designs-- God help them if a Capellan decided that their uniforms looked too much like a Feddie, and of course no Lyran general worth his social cred would take orders from some Periphery officer. 

Which was why CAMA's officers had been provided with uniforms patterned after the ancient uniforms of the United States Army, circa 1945.

"Grumping about the Uniform?"  Focht asked.

"A bit." Christa muttered. "This should have been yours."

"I would never be accepted and if we waited for the Houses to pick a leader, we'd still be arguing by the time the Clan's conquered Terra." 

Christa laughed at that.  "You're likely right."

"More seriously."  Focht continued, "You're younger than most commanders, you haven't had any...political connections with a great house, you've commanded a division and most importantly of all, you got your start in primitive mechs-- which means you're ideally suited to understanding the problem these Clan mechs pose." 

"Not just the Clan mechs."  Christa said quietly.  "I'd like you to stay for this meeting."

"Of course."

"Ma'am."  The intercom chimed, "Colonel Wolf is here to see you."

"Very well, send him in."  Christa remained standing.  This was going to be bad enough without rubbing his nose in it.

Jaime Wolf was old, but still strode in with the energy that had characterized so many engagements.  He was also fairly upset, Christa realized, as they finished the pleasantries and sat down.

"General."  He said. 

"Colonel.  I have heard that you are... concerned with some of our force arrangements."

"Yes.  The plans for Outreach are going to lead to a great deal of friction between the Mercenary community and the CAMA."

"I think the mercenary community will get over it. " Christa said, "And the ones that don't may find that they'll have a problem getting further contracts."

"Outreach was granted to Wolf's Dragoons as part of our Agreement with the Federated Commonwealth."

"Yes, well, that was before we knew that you were an agent of a hostile power-- one that is currently invading the Inner Sphere."

"We attempted to prepare the Inn-"

Christa cut him off.  "By what?  Warning Comstar? Warning the PSDF?  Providing information to the Dracs and Feddies that they might want to shore up their defenses?  You helped us after a good chunk of the Inner Sphere was conquered."  She paused, "Be glad I was able to prevail on Hanse and Melissa to let me handle this, because right now, they're not exactly in a forgiving mood.  They gave you a world only to find out you decieved them about it and oh yes, set in motion the chain of events that has Victor missing and presumed dead and Yvonne volunteering for a surgical procedure with a 10% death rate.  Even if we just stick to contract negotiations, your contract with the Suns said something about providing warning of any unknown danger and you surely should know that a nation of advanced, genetically engineered warriors might just possibly...count?"  She sighed, "Believe me, It took me most of six hours last night to convince some of the leaders of the Inner sphere that the proper response wasn't to send the biggest fleet we could put together and either take Outreach or nuke it 'till it glows." 

"And why did you do that?"  Wolf asked.

"Because we need you." Christa said bluntly.  "And I know that you're not going to play along with any agreement that ends 'after we don't need you we kill you.'"  She paused and smiled, "So, Hanse and Melissa have agreed to officially cede all interests in Outreach and the System it contains to the CAMA.  In return, you tell us everything and Wolf's Dragoons become an official-- and permanent part of CAMA and subject to our command."  She paused, "This is the best offer you're going to get Colonel."

"The mercenaries associated with Outreach may not like that."

"We're the best employers around."  Christa paused, "And this doesn't go outside this room, but I'd like you to give a list of what Mercenary units might be most likely to leave and what ones have the most, ah, flexible morality." 

"For what reason?"

"The Clans are going to kill enough good men as it is.  We can use those units to hopefully absorb some losses while the Clan's do us the favor of eliminating some long-term problems."

"You're talking about murdering-"

"No." Christa said, "I'm talking about reducing the number of bloody handed thugs for hire who will provide mechs for anyone with the C-bills." She exhaled, "Or to put it differently, you know what the joke is in the Periphery:  How can tell a merc has retired?"

"How?"  Wolf said, playing along.

"He just painted a skull and crossbones on his mech and torched your town's hospital.  I joined the militia when I was seventeen.  I'm just about 40 now, and I've seen enough of what is left every time the Inner Sphere washes its sewage out into my home.  The Clans think they are going to conquer us.  They're wrong.  But they're right about one thing.  This time-- this time, things are going to be different." 

"Of course none of this is for public consumption."  Focht said, "and the Eridini Light Horse has also accepted permanent membership in CAMA."

"I expect their meeting was a bit different then this one." Wolf said, a slight smile on his face.

"More extortionate, you mean."   Christa said ruefully. "They got the right to recruit up to an old SLDF division in size." 

"I doubt we'll say no." Wolf finally responded, "Believe it or not, I'm trying to help the Inner Sphere and a war against us wouldn't do that-- where will we be posted?"

"Terra and Outreach for now."

"You could use us on the front-lines."

"And you'd get obliterated."  Christa said, "Some of our intelligence is pretty clear-- the Clans' know about your change of heart and they aren't happy."

"So what will our duties be?"

"OPfor and training."  Christa said. "We're going to be funneling enough newbies into the meatgrinder as it is, and I'd prefer that they have at least some training by people who know what they're going to face.  Also, you'll be working with CAMA and the House Militaries to develop tactics that make up for our technological limitations.  That includes helping to figure out the best way to integrate our new technologies, like the Proto's,  and a few other project designs into our general forces."

"What about the Comguards?"

"They'll retain their administrative independence, but tactically and strategically will be folded into CAMA."  Focht said. 

Wolf looked over at Christa and nodded.  "I'm coming to realize why you were appointed."

"Yeah, well none of the  House Leaders want to risk having their name in the history books under the heading of 'Leader who lost the Inner Sphere'"  Christa said. 

"So, why did you protect us?"  Wolf paused, "Beyond the practical reasons."

"What would the Houses have done if you told them about this?"   Christa asked.

"Presuming they didn't blow themselves up?"  Wolf shrugged, "Probably prepared for an all out attack on the Clan homeworlds."

"I'm just an uncivilized Periphery sort." Christa said, "But I can understand the difficulty of divided loyalties--and from what I understand the Clans may never have invaded."

"That was my hope."  Jaime said.

"Too bad it didn't come true." Christa paused. "Colonel.  I don't have any more political capital in this matter.  If you deceive us again no matter how, I can't protect you and believe me, right now, you are really not popular in some quarters. Don't make me regret this decision."

[Korzon77]

“What the hell is that?”  Christa said quietly.

“Our newest counter to the Clans.  Project GOLEM!” The chief engineer said full of pride as Christa watched the....thing waddle out onto the tarmac.  “150 tons, armored with the most modern alloys and armed with our best weapons, this can-“

“Let me see the sheet.” Christa said.  She finished it in a moment. “This monstrosity can barely run as fast as a man!”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration, and in any case mobility is not its...”

“Strong point?”  The voice came from Theodore Kurita, who was frowning at the mech.  “That seems short sighted given that mobility very much is a strong point of our enemies.” 

“I could buy an entire lance of heavies for the cost of one of these things.” Christa muttered, “And how are we going to get it to the combat zones?”

“Well, our plans are to modify a cargo dropper and then we can demonstr-“

“Shut. Up.”  The Supreme Commander of CAMA said in a voice colder then helium.  “Timothy.”

“Ma’am?”

“Thank you for alerting me to this... this...debacle.” She said.  “You’re not a Colonel anymore. You’re now a general.”

“I, thank you!”

“Don’t thank me yet.”  She said, turning to the former ComStar mechwarrior.  “You’re first job is to clean the Augean Stables  here.  Take what you need, but I want a report by the end of the week on what is a boondoggle, what has a chance of helping us, and what isn’t needed so we can fold it into other projects.”

“See here!” The project engineer finally recovered, “This project has-“

“Project Director.  We are losing on every front.  The Clans have stopped, not because of our skill, but because they’ve outrun their logistics net, and understand that they need to secure bases before they can continue.  Right now....”  Christa started ripping the data sheet into smaller and smaller fragments, “I have soldiers going out in mechs where they know they are going to die, just to buy us time. I have children volunteering for invasive surgery because the proto’s are some of our best option.  Ten percent of them die before they see a single clan enemy.  We ship the bodies home and tell their parents how brave they were up until the unfortunate training accident and we don’t tell them they died on an operating table like slaughtered animals. And now, I come here and find that you’ve wasted a billion C-bills, and far more unforgivably, man-years of work, on a monstrosity that would be completely bloody useless, even if it did work.  Which it doesn’t because so far you haven’t been able to run it for more than 20 minutes between mechanical failures. Be glad you’re not Kuritan, or I might be tempted to ask for a somewhat more... dramatic sign of your regret. You’ve got a day to shut this...project down.” She paused, and then in an exasperated tone, “Lyrans!”

“I’m sorry about that,” Christa told Theodore as the thoroughly deflated project director was led off.  “Every damned company has its own damned idea and so do half the house design staffs.  I don’t have time to do this, but If I didn’t support my people we’d be going to war with ten thousand prototypes.” 

“I understand.”  Theodore smiled slightly, “I’m not a stranger to...difficult organizational challenges.”  Then he lost his smile, “But you’re desire to pull units from some of our worlds is going to, I’m afraid, be very difficult to carry out.”

“Your father?” Christa said, perhaps too bluntly. Oh hell, just play off my rep for a barbarian periphery sort.

“Partially, but the warriors of the Combine are...unwilling to simply surrender the body of the Dragon to its enemies.” 

Meaning they may not obey the order. Lovely, and invasion AND a mutiny.

“If we try to defend everything we defend nothing.”  Christa said.  “We can’t win—hell, right now we can’t even draw with anything remotely close to equal numbers and the Clans aren’t hitting their primaries with equal numbers.  We had an under strength RCT on Riddermark, and the Clans nailed it with a full Division.  They’re not playing fair and they’re not playing stupid and we can afford to lose planets more than we can afford to use mechwarriors.

“I know, but our people will require some sign that this isn’t simply retreat after retreat.”  Theodore’s eyes were hooded,  “Hohiro is my son, and it took everything I had, not simply as Kanrei but as his father, to prevent him from committing seppeku when he heard of Turtle Bay.  Retreat after retreat may do the Clan’s work for them.”

“What if I can give you something in return?”

“What would that be?”

“The most advanced equipment, protomechs and such, is going to be restricted for a while.”  Christa said, “And to be honest, we’re at our limits on production for both, even ignoring fiascos like this one.  But we do have some other arrows in our quiver.”

“Such as?”

“Project Sherman.” Christa said, “It’s a 55 tonner, with limited  advanced technology...might be good for those medium ranged missiles you’re working on.”

“Limited?”

“Yeah. Because  we intend to produce a lot of them.”  Christa smiled thinly, “It’s not how I’d do things if I had the choice, but we don’t.  I can have the production designs diverted to your technical people by tonight.”

“I think that will be a sign of the commitment to our success we need...” Theodore smiled, “But the name has got to go.  Really, the uniform and the name?”

[Korzon77]

The Clans' Logistics Juggernaut

When the Clans first invaded, the Inner Sphere was shocked at their speed.  Entire Galaxies of troops attacked in one place and then less than a week later, were confirmed to have moved to worlds over a hundred light years away. The Inner Sphere and CAMA  were convinced that the Clan's had access to some super jump system.

The truth, when CAMA uncovered it in late 3057, was almost worst, coming as it did in during the absolute disaster of Operation Thunder, including as it did the Deaths of Hanse and Melissa and the effective collapse of the Federated Commonwealth into dozens of fragmented successor states.

The Clans had, after all never lost the technology for large scale jump ship production and in the years before operation Revival, had produced hundreds of bare bones designs.  Their lack of amenities was acceptable, for they weren't general designs-- they had to go only a few places, and serve as links in a logistics chain that stretched from teh Clan Homeworlds to the Inner Sphere.

For almost two years before the first attacks, the Clans had established deep penetration bases throughout the Inner Sphere, centered on uninhabited (and often planetless) star systems.  Recharging stations with oversized light sails permitted ships to quickly recharged from regions far beyond the orbit of jupiter, well beyond any place Inner Sphere ships might look for. Where the Federated Suns had struggled to maintain pony express links for messages and light cargo, a the Clans could move dozens of jumpships from the Homeworlds to the Inner Sphere-- and do it in less than a month or even faster.

Even so, the capacity of the system was limited when the scale of Revival was considered, and so the Clans made use of local logistics systems when possible, but more than once an Inner Sphere task group jumped into a world that was garrisoned by only reserve Clan forces to find front line units arriving impossibly fast.

The need to disrupt the network played a major role in the Devleopment of the Dragon's Teeth Jump Capable AI combat systems, which would so plague the Clans-- and continue to cause problems even long after the conflict, leading to the current collaborative effort to hunt down and deactivate (by code or more physical methods) the few remaining Dragons' Teeth units that remain active.

From:

And the World Turned Upside Down-- the Clan Invasion and the End of the Great House System.

Luthien Free Press, 3100.

[Headshot]

Oh hell. You don't do things half way, do you?

[Korzon77]

One thing I disliked about the Clans as written was how mind numbingly incompetent they were. When you had flag officers charging into battle screaming about "dishonorable spheroids" because said spheroids had never heard of the Clans and therefore didn't know what their customs were, or at the other end, letting the Spheroids play games iwth thier customs in extremely transparent ways, it just made their whole structure unbelievable. 

This is the descendents of the SLDF the most pragmatic and tough military in history. Not only that, but they have been preparing, supposedly for decades to one day return to the IS, and they never thought to put up some deep space listening beacons?

You know, it conjures the image of a Clan commander with a Thomas guide, driving his force around and around in circles because he's refusing to ask for directions to the nearest world. 

So this setting is the Clans done more along the line a highly trained force that has a mission knows what their mission is and are going to accomplish it.  No matter what it takes. 

[Korzon77]

Clan Occupational groups:

In their drive towards the Inner Sphere, the Clans had taken many periphery pirate realms that had swollen with refugee pirates as the PSDF drove them out of other regions.  The Clans dealt with these pirates in a merciless fashion, and swiftly occupied their worlds. 

Over the course of 3051 they started to establish training camps for the best of the civilians, many of whom were fanatically loyal to their new masters, who tended to not include "the right to rape your women" as part of their rulership doctrine.  The Inner Sphere had abandoned them and for the former Rim Worlders, the memory of the Lyrans was bitter indeed.   The Clans brought food and medicine and better yet, a doctrine that promised a future for the children of the abandoned and savaged worlds.

And in return the Clans obtained troops and support workers. While the Clan home worlds had a population of over 15 billion, this was insignificant against the vast numbers of the Inner Sphere and to be hoenst, more than a few Clans worried about to fast of an exposure. 

So by the early 3050s the first Occupational Groups and Support Forces were seen.  Troops piloting second line, but still fearsome mechs and battlearmor designed for merely human frames, supporting the front line Clan units.  The pilots and crews of these units knew that the best might be adopted by a Clan and this drove most of them on to even greater efforts.  It would be these forces that would help the Clans and in fact bear the brunt of the titanic battles that would rage over the late 3050s and 3060s, when invasion forces that had once numbered several regiments swelled to dozens of mech regiments backed by evne more conventional regimental groups.   By the late 3050s, these groups were augmented by other converts to the Clan way of life, which also provided the Clan Council with useful intermediaries to the conquered and semi-independent Autonomous Enclaves in the Former Lyran Commonwealth.