Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II

[Frabby]

Yes, the Long March ended in 3023. But it was the last major Liao operation against Davion prior to Redfield/Stein's Folly, and it was a raid, not a war of conquest.

Galtor similary was just a raid that then devolved into an extended campaign for a Star League cache when neither side backed down.

Strictly speaking, the final acts of the 3rd Succession Wars would probably have been the Liao conquest of Redfield and Stein's Folly, and the subsequent reconquest by House Davion, in 3025. However, that timeline is slightly wonky, as determined in this thread. Alternatively, the final throes of the war could have been

1) Duke Ricol's expansion campaign against Steiner that ground to a halt on Verthandi after the Battle at Thunder Rift in November 3024. There is no established date for the later scenes when Ricol meets with Carlyle, or when Ricol actually leaves the planet with his remaining forces. But they talk about the return of the Invidious, so the talk happens at least one recharge cycle after the final battle. It is conceivable that the situation is only considered resolved after December, i.e. in 2025.

or

2) The Marik attack on Zaniah (if it was even aimed at capturing the world) that was repulsed with the help of Snord's Irregulars. However, the writeup for Marcus Shake (Rhonda's Irregulars, p. 25) describes it as only a "raid" where the capital was looted and left burning.

or

3) The apparently short-lived conquest of Pike IV at some point between implicitly mid-3024 and 3025 by Davion mercenaries, namely Burrow's Crashing Thunder Regiment, as narrated in Life in the Big City/A Tale of Two Cities (CityTech rulebook)

Or, going back to my earlier reasoning, perhaps the Concord of Kapteyn, which was ratified on August 10th, 3024, became effective on 1 January 3025, marking the end of the 3rd Succession War. These events directly follow one another in the timeline on p. 11 of the FCCW sourcebook.

[Mendrugo]

I'd forgotten I'd posited that Herras Ragen was an undercover MIIO operative.  Looking back, that holds up far better than the "ComStar playing games" explanation, and covers a lot of the highly improbable "accidental" deliveries of holovids into Herras' inbox - if they're actually reports from other undercover MIIO agents being forwarded under the fairly flimsy pretense of 'accidental rerouting'. 

If Cearle is his MIIO handler, and Ragen's actually an undercover MIIO troubleshooter assigned to crack the Mercenary Underground case, then it (remotely) makes sense for him to be tipped off via a "NewsNet" story that Melissa is expected to pass through his operational area in the near future, and to stand by in case a lightning fast response is required, 'Mech-wise.  Since Herras only starts with 50,000 C-Bills in his account, he couldn't have afforded the command circuits himself, but I could buy MIIO setting up a rapid response fleet or two, if the Mercenary Underground was deemed a sufficient threat.  After all, they sent a commando team into Combine space to ambush a Matabushi convoy and scarpered with tons of loot, so they're probably flush with sufficient funds to bankroll the "Ragen Express" in the Skye region.

In fact, the "MIIO troubleshooter" interpretation makes the intro text actually make sense, where it goes over the backstory for Herras Ragen, and then says "You don't need to be told any of this, for you are Herras Ragen!"  Rather than fourth-wall-breaking exposition, it becomes a dossier on the agent's cover identity.

Club Zero-Zero doesn't work as a cantina on a jump point station, unfortunately, because it's explicitly introduced as being right on Galatea's equator, in pretty much the most inhospitable part of the planet.  Such a remote location would probably  make Zero Zero suitable for both an MIIO listening post (not unlike the diner on Solaris VII) and also attract the kind of lowlife mercs that would be likely to associate with the Mercenary Underground.

I can buy mid-3025 as the end of the 3rd Succession War, since it's the point at which most of the TO&E charts in the House books seem to be set - it would make sense to freeze the tableau at the point where the major conflict ended.  There was at least one planetary conquest in the interbellum period - the DCMS conquered Ozawa in 3026 (they're referred to as occupation forces, rather than raiders), but only held it for two weeks before being driven off by AFFS reinforcements.  Depending on your read of canonicity, Pacifica (Chara III) fell to the Combine long enough for them to inaugurate a new planetary government flying the Combine flag in early 3028. (Crescent Hawks' Inception)

[Mendrugo]

Date: May 1, 3027 [See Notes]
 
Location: Udibi

Title: The Battle for Udibi - Hide and Seek

Authors: Richard Meyer, Walter Hunt, Lisa Hunt & Evan Jarrison
 
Type: Scenario (The Fox's Teeth)

Synopsis: In early 3027, a Davion survey ship landed on the otherwise unremarkable world of Udibi to make emergency repairs, and discovered a spare parts depot previously known only to Wolf's Dragoons, which visited the world as needed over the preceding decades.  The AFFS dispatched Vanur's Battalion of the 7th Crucis Lancers to Udibi to safeguard the depot while recovery teams cleared it out.

The three companies split up and set up camps.  McKinnon's Company (the Fox's Teeth) got bored of frying the local lizards (quite tasty) and aggressively patrolled their section of the perimeter.  On May 1, McKinnon's scouts spotted elements of Woomack's Company (from Wolf's Dragoons) carrying crates from the depot.

Woomack's Company has a Warhammer, Thunderbolt (TND-4T?), 2 Wolverines (WLV-4E?), 1 Wolverine (WOV-4E?), 2 Phoenix Hawk-Ks, an Archer, a Crusader, 2 Stingers, and a Locust (LCS-2T?), all in varying states of disrepair.  McKinnon's Company has the full company roster - a Marauder, a Warhammer, 2 Phoenix Hawk-Ks, 2 Stingers, a Crusader, a Rifleman, 2 Wasps, a Griffin, and a Shadow Hawk.

The two companies are pitted against each other in a campaign of four scenarios.  The Dragoons can repair some damage using the supplies from the crate of supplies.  McKinnon's Raiders can draw on supplies from their base camp.  During scenarios, the crate can be carried by either one or two 'Mechs, as long as at least two functional hand actuators are in the mix (sorry, Warhammer).  Successful Charge attacks can make a crate carrier drop its load, as can any failed PSR by the carrier. 

In the meeting engagement, "Hide and Seek," McKinnon's recon lance encounters Woomack's command lance, putting a Griffin, Shadow Hawk, Wasp, and Stinger against a Warhammer, Thunderbolt, Wolverine, and Phoenix Hawk.  To win, the recon lance needs to get a line of sight to the crate for a turn, and then have at least one lance member escape.  Otherwise, the Dragoons win. 

Historically, the Dragoons set the crate down behind a hill and engaged the Raiders, but the Raiders' speed enabled them to skirt the Dragoon position and scan the crate, then withdraw. 

Notes: The scenario pack dates this battle to May 1, 3029.  Since that would pit the Dragoons against the Federated Suns in the middle of the 4th Succession War, and conflicts with the chronology of "Wolves on the Border," it's pretty easy to chalk this up to a typo, and set the actual date at May 1, 3027. 

This scenario has a number of similarities to the "Skirmish on Mesa 7" scenario setup of "a Davion scout team happens upon a Dragoon supply base in FedSuns territory."  However, aside from the names of the worlds, there are some significant differences.  There weren't any Dragoon guards when the scouts found the base on Udibi, whereas the Mesa 7 base had a Dragoon garrison company to fight the AFFS scouts off.  Also, Mesa 7 was a "lost" world that had been "recently rediscovered."  Udibi was inhabited (albeit very sparsely) and under Federated Suns control for the bulk of its history, without any period during which it dropped off the maps.

This is one of the few times where a scenario is an explicit tie-in to a novel, filling in the gap in the storyline.  This technique is a clear attempt at cross promotion, encouraging readers who want to get the whole story to buy the scenario pack and (hopefully) get into the game.  TSR did this as well around the same time, with narrative gaps in the Dragonlance Chronicles novels filled in by the accompanying RPG modules.  Usually, scenarios with novel tie-ins just re-create a key scene from the fiction.

There's something decidedly odd about the designations of some of Woomack's 'Mechs.  It seems like the author lacked the reference material for the chassis codes, but only for some.  This raises the question of whether these represent actual variants, or simply typos.

Given the Dragoons' actual backgrounds, one suspects that the freeborn MechWarriors in the "McLean's Giants" Medium Lance (where all pilots are at least 6'7" or taller) have ancestry traced back to failed Elemental sibcadets that tested down into the civilian castes.  Which is painful, indeed, for Arthur Kaneko, since he pilots a Stinger, noted for having cramped cockpit conditions for normal-sized MechWarriors.

Since the crate can be placed anywhere on the map, putting it on the far western edge of the map behind the ridge would be optimal.  The Warhammer and Thunderbolt could take up position on the ridge in front of the crate, while the Phoenix Hawk and Wolverine use their speed to engage the Raiders in a mobile battle.  Chase down any Raider 'Mech that tries to rabbit towards the crate, with supporting fire from the ridgeline.  When they stop for the scan, make sure all your units are in position to Alpha Strike the scanner, and turn it to scrap. 

For the Raiders, I would recommend the Griffin, Wasp, and Stinger advance on the bounce, jumping as much as possible (but staying close together), with the Shadow Hawk running close behind (its jump of 3 won't let it keep up).  Only fire to the extent that it won't generate enough heat to slow you down, and try to get all three of your lead elements in visual range of the crate on the same turn.  That way, the Dragoons will have to spread their fire and you have a pretty good shot at getting at least one 'Mech off the edge (especially if you have the trailing Shadow Hawk run forward along the north edge of the map, so it can exit and score a win even though it was another 'Mech that did the scan.)

[Dubble_g]

Been rethinking the end of third succession war question a bit. Changed my opinion.

The third war is described as "marked with almost constant, but low-intensity, warfare" (quote from the Sarna wiki, which is not the canoniest of sources but serves the purpose).

If that's the defining characteristic, then the question is, was there ever a point where there was NO "low-intensity warfare"?

Our supposed interwar period is laughably, absurdly, farcically short (2.5 years vs preceding 160 odd years of fighting, less than 2%), but even in that eye blink, low intensity fighting continued.

So we're reduced to trying to find an excuse to say the war ended in 3025, when it should be the opposite: you find the event and that gives you the year.

The solution now seems clear to me: the third war ends with an event that causes low level warfare to end: 3028, the wedding of Hanse & Melissa.

[Mendrugo]

It's true that there was low level fighting from 3025-3028, but there was also low level fighting in the widely acknowledged interbellum periods between the 1st and 2nd Succession Wars and between the 2nd and 3rd.  The Chain Gang raids, for example, took place firmly during the interbellum, and based on the maps and the fiction, the AFFS liberated one world from the Combine during the 1st-2nd interbellum.  (It is listed as a Combine holding at the end of the 1st Succession War on all the maps, but is the target of a Chain Gang raid and is defended by AFFS forces in one of the BattleCorps short stories.  The only way that works is if the AFFS retook it after the First Succession War ended.)

[Frabby]

Indeed. The low-key warfare between the Houses has been going on from the get-go, and thus doesn't seem to be a suitable criterium.
The question is, when did the Houses stop fighting the war that was the 3rd Succession War (and not just the usual raids)?

Two possible answers:

- Strategic answer: When the final offensive ended. It's a bit hard to determine what that would have been. The best guess is that it would have been the end of Ricol's campaign in 3024. I have difficulties postulating that the ill-fated Capellan offensive against Redfield and Stein's Folly should be seen as waging the 3rd Succession War.
Also, there's the Kurita operations in response to what I believe was Galahad 3026 where they attempted to capture Ozawa, though the wording from the Sorenson's Sabres book suggests it was more a probing raid. And the Marik mercenary offensive against Liao that you'd have to handwave as too clandestine *cough* to count. (See my comments above.)

- Historical answer: The ratification of the final wording of the Concord of Kapteyn in 3024 cemented the formation of two power blocks (FedCom vs. Kapteyn allies) where previously, five Houses had vied for dominance. This "reset" of the grand strategic situation marked 3025 the first year of a new political era. (A bit of a stretch though, as the 3rd SW would then technically have ended in 3024 already; you could at best say that 3025 was the first year after it had ended. There is nothing to suggest the Concord of Kapteyn would only become effective starting 3025, which would be a good explanation but sadly, well, it simply isn't supported by any evidence.

[Dubble_g]

It's true that there was low level fighting from 3025-3028, but there was also low level fighting in the widely acknowledged interbellum periods between the 1st and 2nd Succession Wars and between the 2nd and 3rd.

I think you're arguing with me now for the sake of arguing. I respect that.  :)

In that spirit then:

The difference would be that while there may have been low-level fighting between the other wars, it was materially different in scope and intensity from the fighting that preceded it. The third war's whole point is that it was low-level.

Re: Frabby's counterpoints, I'd say again it sounds like we're working backwards: 3025 is the "official" year it ended and now we need to justify that.

The strategic answer doesn't work for me because you immediately have to begin hand-waving and hedging. Planetary assaults ceased except for ... but... excluding... If pin-prick raids are the sole characteristic of the third war, I have no problem counting Redfield and Stein's Folly, Trellwan, Ozawa or the GDL action on Sirius as part of that.

The historical one is weak as well, for the very reason you cited. The treaty was in 3024, not 3025. In addition, as the GDL campaign shows the putative allies continued sniping at each other even after it was signed. The FS-LC treaty was far, far more strategically significant, and it was signed in 3022 but didn't really go into full effect until ... 3028.

So for me it feels now (after rethinking I admit!) a bit neater not to try finding and arbitrary endpoint for the third war, but rather identify the start of the fourth in 3028 as the end of the third.

[Mendrugo]

I think you're arguing with me now for the sake of arguing. I respect that.  :).

Not arguing just to argue - merely pointing out that we have had historical examples of recognized interbellum periods during which low-level raiding continued.  I actually agree with you that there may not have been an interbellum period - with the end of the Third coinciding with the start of the Fourth. 

There are many other touchpoints which could be said to be the "end" of the Third, but various sources have said that historians do not all agree.  If you do want to look for possible touchpoints:

The Galtor Campaign was the last major multi-regimental planetary battle of the Third Succession War.
The conquest of Sirius was the last time a planet changed ownership before the 4th Succession War. 
Operation DOPPLEGANGER was the last major operation by one Successor State against another which attempted to pose an existential threat to the target's political system.
Katrina Steiner's issuance of her peace proposal could be thought of as the end of the Third, even though the Mariks and Kuritas rejected it outright, and the Davions and Liaos offered only highly conditional acceptance terms.

[Dubble_g]

Not arguing just to argue

Oh poop. And I thought we were going to be great friends.  ;)

I'd always thought of the third war as more of a historiography periodization, much like the "hundred years' war", than a definable period of operations.

Best thing about this conversation was it drove me back to my ancient late 80s box set (folding paper counters, oh yes) to see what it said. Surprised to find no mention at all of a "third" war, just succession "wars" in general.

Other obvious changes: clearly says battlemechs cannot be produced, mechwarriors are raised from birth not trained in academies, Hesperus II is a parts depot, "thousands" of worlds in the periphery have been abandoned, there were 7 member states in the Star League (who were the other two?).

[Mendrugo]

Probably the Outworlds Alliance and the Terran Hegemony.  The other three Periphery states don't show up on early maps.

One issue with the Third War lasting until 3028 - Ricol states in 3026 that no state of war currently exists between the Lyrans and the Combine.  Also, not sure what guidance Blackthorne got, but many of the characters in their 3025-ish era comics warn that various things could lead to war, implying there wasn't one already.

[Dubble_g]

One issue with the Third War lasting until 3028 - Ricol states in 3026 that no state of war currently exists between the Lyrans and the Combine.

Hmmm, true. Mind you, this is also a man who believed Trellwan to be perfectly positioned for a strike on Tharkhad, so his judgement on the strategic military situation is somewhat... suspect?

[Mendrugo]

Date: May 2, 3027 [See Notes]
 
Location: Udibi

Title: The Battle for Udibi - Wolf Trap

Authors: Richard Meyer, Walter Hunt, Lisa Hunt & Evan Jarrison
 
Type: Scenario (The Fox's Teeth)

Synopsis: After his scouts verified that the Dragoons, McKinnon plotted the Dragoons' likely route and laid an ambush at an oasis between the earlier skirmish and the large mesa projected to be the Dragoons' landing site.

Using sprayed-on armor sealant to keep sand out of their 'Mechs' joints and internal systems, the Fox's Teeth bury their 'Mechs under the dunes at the oasis, then emerge to ambush Woomack's forces and the crate of supplies.

Woomack's lance is the same one from the earlier engagement, with whatever damage it sustained (minus what could be fixed given the repair rules provided for the linked scenarios) - Warhammer, Thunderbolt, Wolverine, and Phoenix Hawk - entering from the east.  The ambush force is McKinnon's command lance - Marauder, Warhammer, Phoenix Hawk, and Stinger. 

To win, McKinnon's forces must capture the crate and get off the east edge of the first board.  Woomack's forces can win by getting the crate off the west edge.

Historically, McKinnon's lance successfully seized the crate and retreated to their base camp.

Notes: The illustration accompanying the scenario is one of two (the other is in the AeroTech rulebook) that betrays the Warhammer's Destroid origins - the hatch on the right torso is open (Archer-style) and a cluster of missiles is ready to launch a full-on Macross Missile Massacre.

Strategy wise, I'd recommend burying McKinnon's troops right on the eastern edge of the map.  With luck, you can have your heavies close enough to successfully charge the crate carrier, and one of your lights can get to the spot where it was dropped and make it back off the east edge before Woomack's troops know what's happening. 

For Woomack, give the crate to your Phoenix Hawk or Wolverine, enter at the jump, and keep bouncing west, using the best cover available.  Concentrate your fire on the enemy Stinger and Phoenix Hawk, because the Marauder and Warhammer can't carry the crate (no hands).  (They can rig up a tow line, but that takes a lot longer).  If you ever lose the crate, go for kicks to force PSRs - a failure makes the crate drop again and puts it back in play.

The Udibi campaign setup raises some questions. 

How did Jaime Wolf know that the Dragoons' hidden supply base on Udibi had been found by Davion scouts?  The BattleTech universe offers various possibilities - a hidden portable HPG at the site which was programmed to send a message to a WolfNet listening post; a satellite in orbit with a micro HPG that spotted the AFFS ship and sent a message to a WolfNet listening post; WolfNet observers who spotted the landing and used Udibi's HPG station to report this to Wolf; or (most likely) WolfNet agents have infiltrated the AFFS and reported it to Jaime once they learned of it from AFFS communiques. 

The Dragoons certainly knew how to use HPGs (as evidenced by the 7th Kommando's raid on the HPG station in "Wolves on the Border"), and may have brought portable ones with them to the Inner Sphere.  (The SLDF took a lot of portable HPG units with them on the Exodus.)  Is that how they stayed in touch with the Watch to set up supply runs and meetings with Clan officials?  As previously noted, the chronology for them leaving Marik space, going on a supply run, and then starting to work for the Lyrans doesn't work because, at one jump per week, they wouldn't even make it out of Lyran space before the chronology has them getting back.  If there was a chain of HPG relays stretching from the Clan Homeworlds to the edge of the Periphery, where Watch agents man a listening post, the Dragoons could have requested that some Clan naval stars set up a command circuit for them through uninhabited systems as needed, allowing the chronology to work without modification.  The Dragoons could have used a portable HPG to send messages to the listening post without tipping ComStar off.

That being said, it's doubtful that they brought enough along to stash at every hidden supply dump they set up throughout the Inner Sphere.  Likewise - the use of HPGs in satellites was a ComStar trick used to warn of intruders approaching worlds the cabal wanted forgotten, like Jardine.  I'm not sure the Clans would have had that technology, or sent it with the Dragoons.  Plus, the satellites would trigger for any ship's arrival, and Udibi (all appearances to the contrary) isn't an abandoned world - it's listed on all maps back to the Star League era, and therefore would have a planetary government, an HPG station, and regular visits from trading vessels.  The AFFS ship that crashed there was damaged, most likely couldn't make it to the main spaceport, and providentially crashed right next to the hidden Dragoon supply bunker.

Having observers camp out there and watch the site is possible, but seems a waste of the Dragoons' limited human resources - sticking a squad of troopies in an inhospitable desert with nothing to do but eat lizards and dehydrate, and saying you'll be back...maybe...in a few decades.

Thus, I think the "WolfNet's reading the AFFS' mail" is the most likely scenario. 

The next question is, what was the AFFS up to on Udibi?  There are some very, very strange elements of the scenario setup.  A battalion arrives at the recently discovered base and then disperses into companies, and sets up a wide perimeter around the facility, but the troops are ordered not to patrol.  This seems as though their orders were to make it look like they were guarding the depot, but intentionally leave vast gaps in the perimeter, through which most of Dechan Fraser's mixed-regiment strike force makes off handily with the crates from the depot.  If they'd actually been planning to guard the depot, they would have parked the entire battalion on its front doorstep and maybe sent some scout lances out to plant remote sensors around a wider perimeter.  This just smacks of intentional incompetence.

When Woomack is captured, the MIIO frees him and sends him back to Jaime with an offer to switch sides to the Federated Suns.  One wonders if that was Plan B, with Plan A being to secrete the offer of refuge in among the crates, and let the Dragoons retrieve the supplies unmolested - proving the good will of the Federated Suns.  McKinnon's disregard of his orders and resultant capture of Woomack may have forced a change in tactics, but with the same overall result. 

Unless Udibi lacked any sort of deep space monitoring facilities, it would have had to monitor the arrival of the Dragoons in-system (from the energy pulse at the jump point), but McKinnon's company wasn't informed to expect incoming. 

[Mendrugo]

Date: May 5, 3027 [See Notes]
 
Location: Udibi

Title: The Battle for Udibi - The Fox's Lair

Authors: Richard Meyer, Walter Hunt, Lisa Hunt & Evan Jarrison
 
Type: Scenario (The Fox's Teeth)

Synopsis: After losing the supply crate to McKinnon's Ambush, Woomack assembles his full company and attacks McKinnon's base camp, pitting the both companies against each other in a final battle for control of the crate, which contains "neural helmets and cockpit computers," among other items.

The base camp has 12 hexes designated as "stores," with the Fox's Teeth player secretly recording which contains the Dragoon crate.  McKinnon scores points for each stack of "stores" that survives the battle, while Woomack scores points for each stack that is destroyed, but both sides are penalized if they fire a shot that destroys the stack containing the crate.  Woomack's 'Mechs can spend a turn searching a stores pile by remaining in place and not attacking. 

The Raiders begin in foxholes on the east side of the map, providing their 'Mechs partial cover.  Woomack's forces come in from the west.

Historically, McKinnon's Raiders fought off the Dragoon attack and captured Woomack and several other Dragoons, retaining control of the crate. 

Notes: As with the other Udibi scenarios, the official date of 3029 doesn't fit the established timeline, and should be 3027 instead.

The setup contains a transcript of the McKinnon's interrogation of Woomack after the battle was over.  He's clearly lying at times, since he says that Jaime Wolf was in command of the operation, and also claims that the Dragoons had been in the process of clearing out the bunker when the AFFS scout ship landed nearby.  This conflicts with "Wolves on the Border," which establishes that the scout ship landed and found the supply bunker, then Jaime ordered Dechan Fraser to assemble a strike team and go to Udibi before the bunker was looted by the AFFS.  Since Woomack has every reason to lie, we can assume that many of the other details he supplies are equally questionable.

Among Woomack's claims - there were roughly 40-50 crates in the depot, some containing whole 'Mechs, and others with LosTech.  ("equipment we haven't seen since the Imperium.")  He claims that other Dragoon elements got away with all but this last crate, which he came back for because it was the only one with neurohelmets.

The Imperium?  This was one of the very early scenario packs, and the writing probably began back when the game was still called BattleDroids, or very shortly thereafter.  I wonder if there was ever a plan to call the Star League the Imperium.  Or (quite possibly) if the writer got his universes confused and accidentally gave a shout out to FASA's "Renegade Legion" product line, where the "Terran Overlord Government" is an oppressive Roman-themed space empire controlling most of the Milky Way galaxy, and one of the games in the setting is "Circus Imperium".  (It's not the only BattleTech shout-out to its sister game - one of the Rim Worlds units featured in "Historical: Liberation of Terra" has an insignia suspiciously similar to that of the Renegade Legion.)

No points are awarded for killing enemy 'Mechs, so it's all about the crate and the other supplies.  For the Fox's Teeth, I would recommend piling the "stores" crates behind the ridges on the far eastern side of the map, so the Dragoons will have to be right on top of them before they can shoot at them.  Then line the Raiders up in foxholes on the ridges, with the slow ones with long range guns in the best positions.  This will force the Dragoons to advance into heavy firepower, with a strong disadvantage due to the Raiders' partial cover bonus.  The Stingers and Wasps are somewhat wasted in the foxholes (given their fragility and lack of long range weaponry), so it would make more sense to quickly pull them back to use as a mobile reserve - bounding in to shut down any speedy Dragoon that seems likely to make it through the gauntlet and threaten the stores hexes.  Putting everything on the far east edge of the map also pulls the Dragoons as far as possible from their home edge, so they can't easily pull heavily damaged units back off the map (their home edge is the western side).

By all means, avoid shooting any 'Mech that is in the crate's pile, since a missed shot has a chance of setting it on fire and costing you 6 points.  You may want to try to put a sacrificial Wasp or Stinger on the pile where the crate is hidden, and expose it to enemy shots - hoping that Woomack's troops will miss and accidentally destroy the crate - incurring the 12 point penalty. 

For the Dragoons, assuming the Raiders deploy as I've outlined above, take advantage of the defenders' lack of mobility and concentrate your force into a column advancing along either the northern or southern edge of the map.  If the Raiders hold to their foxholes, you can achieve local superiority and crush the defenders while the other Raiders are only providing long range supporting fire.  If they emerge from their foxholes, they'll lose their defensive benefits, and you can mix it up with them on equal footing.  Send as many of your fast jumpers as possible to the crates, and have a lot of 'Mechs searching simultaneously.  Casualties don't matter, points wise.  Once you clear a crate pile, blast it to bits and move to the next (you have to spend a full turn stationary to search, so you can use your turn when you move to the next pile to shoot the last one).  If enemy 'Mechs are standing on a crate pile, beware of a trap, and use only autocannons or (preferably) fists and feet to clear them off of it.  Shove them, if you can - placing the crates on the edge gives them cover from the ridge, but opens 'Mechs there to being pushed off and inadvertently exiting the scenario, unable to return.

If Woomack was telling the truth about the depot containing LosTech (Imperium LosTech, no less  :D ), that strongly points towards it being an old SLDF facility that was left behind during the prep for Operation EXODUS, rather than a new Dragoon storehouse set up between 3005 and 3010, during the Davion contract. 

[Mendrugo]

Date: May 5, 3027
 
Location: Solaris VII

Title: Warrior: En Garde

Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel

Synopsis:  Justin Xiang joins Gray Noton in a Cathay tenement, where Noton is using a translator named Shih to arrange payment of 30,000 C-Bills to an old man for the location of an ammunition cache hidden by his unit during a failed CCAF offensive against the Free Worlds League in 2977.   Xiang points out that Shih has been lying to Noton, probably hoping to sell the information to Noton himself, after getting it from the old man.  Noton pays the old man with a winning betting slip from Xiang's last match.

Impressed, Noton asks Xiang to join his operation, coordinating his efforts to play off the various intelligence agencies against each other. 

He tells Xiang that Baron Enrico Lestrade asked him to take a mission to divert a DropShip from its intended course.  Noton has his people standing by near Fomalhaut to take the ship, allowing Duke Frederick Steiner and Duke Aldo Lestrade to make their power play.  He notes that his analysis of the passenger manifest showed other high value targets, including Andrew Redburn, and plans to sell them to the highest bidder. 

Xiang agrees to join Noton's team as a partner, quipping "Till death do us part."

Later that day, Maskirovka station chief Tsen Shang enters Noton's office, ready for anything after Noton missed their scheduled meeting.  He finds Noton in the office, dead with his neck snapped froma single powerful blow, and sees that Noton's safe has been carved open with a laser.   He suspects that Xiang is the culprit, and vows to learn why and, if necessary, avenge Noton.

As Shang leaves the office, Xiang watches from the alley across the street, then returns to going through the contents of Noton's safe - C-Bills, travel papers for six cover identities, a set of magkeys, and an encoded diary of business transactions.   He hides the loot in the lining of his jacket, then activates the self destruct "fire capsule" in the dossier with the details of the Silver Eagle operation to make sure the Maskirovka doesn't get it.

Notes:  One interesting side note is that SAFE may or may not have a presence on Solaris VII, due to the cell's having split during the Anton/Janos civil war and wiped each other out.

Justin is having a very successful day - having gained Gray Noton's trust and infiltrated his mercenary black bag network on Solaris VII.  It's interesting, though, that Noton doesn't share the details about the real target (Melissa), even though Lestrade's malware analytical routine flagged her.  It would be a bit much for Xiang to read over a passenger manifest and make the Joana Barker connection, but the fact that Noton doesn't tell him either says that Noton is unaware of the real target (he probably doesn't know about Melisa or he'd be asking for a lot more money) or that he still doesn't fully trust Xiang (a fair bet, given the nature of his work). 

Noton serves not only as an information broker, but also operates his own private mercenary crew he uses for raids, kidnappings, and other deniable operations.  One wonders if (looking at the wider universe) he has any ties to the Dark Wing's Mercenary Underground.  Whereas regular mercenaries get contracts through either the ComStar Mercenary Review Board or the Mercenary's Guild, the Mercenary Underground seems to specialize in false flag attacks and deniable acts of mayhem contracted off-the grid, which would seem to be a good fit with Noton's modus operandi.  If Gray Noton and Yerg Gantor aren't working together, they would seem to be competitors.

This scene continues Stackpole's portrayal of Capellans as being sneaky and untrustworthy, with Shih trying to capitalize on Noton's lack of Capellan-language skills for extra profit, and the CCAF veteran happily selling military secrets for 30,000 C-Bills.

We have no details on what the 2977 operation was, but we do have some contextual information.  It was during the last few years of Chancellor Ingrid Liao's regime (2950-2980).  She'd initially had great ambitions of using massed aerospace fleets to turn the tide of the war, but those turned to dust on Lee at the Great Lee Turkey Shoot.  With "elastic defense" proving unable to safeguard her limited industrial and military assets, she resorted to putting the Red Lancers and Prefectorate Guard units on frontline duty.  We know that the world of Wasat fell to the Capellan Confederation during the reign of Captain-General Stephan Marik (2963-2991), and that Wasat was back under League control by 3025. 

My guess is that the arrival of the Capellan Hussars on the front lines provided sufficient strength for a limited offensive strike (rather than the "elastic defense" fire brigade method of responding in force to raids while militia sacrifices itself to tie the invaders down), but the Hussars were called away after the initial success to put out other fires, leaving the old man's unit to hold Wasat, unsuccessfully, against the FWLM's counterattack.  Hoping they could return the next time the Hussars were available, they cached and booby trapped their ammo and fled offworld.

Regardless of where the ammo was stashed, Noton's getting a great deal.  30,000 C-Bills buys 120 new long-range missiles.  If there's more than one ton of ammo in the cache, Noton makes out like a bandit.

I wonder if Justin's murder of Gray Noton was part of his operational objectives, or just an opportunistic effort to disrupt the Silver Eagle plot.  I was actually somewhat surprised that Justin didn't use his pre-established message codes to alert the MIIO about the operation - though I suppose he already knew that Noton would have all local agents under surveillance, while ComStar reads everyone's mail for offworld communications.

The lasered open safe is a bit of foreshadowing about Justin's arm's special features.  He has three shots from the device.  It doesn't seem incongruous that Justin would have a laser pistol on him, so the reader doesn't really connect the arm with the laser.  I honestly think that the NAIS intentionally saddled Justin with the metal prosthesis instead of the myomer one so that they could put the laser in.  Of course, that implies that Quintus planned this covert insertion mission even before Michael Hasek-Davion started raising a stink.

[Wrangler]

I always thought these nuggets of actions Stackpole's characters were discovering or had done themselves in the past intriguing for scenario/campaigns or just add more richness to the universe.

I hope if it's covered, the 3rd Succession War stuff mentioned in the Warriors series (Spica campaign where Justin indirectly encountered Candace in mech fights) is actually entered into that historical so i can stays canon.   

[Mendrugo]

Date: May 5, 3027
 
Location: New Avalon

Title: Warrior: En Garde

Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel

Synopsis:  Quintus Allard enters Hanse Davion's office as he is concluding a meting with Baron Robere Gruizot (Duke Hasek-Davion's liaison to New Avalon).  Allard loads a holodisc into a player and briefs the two officials.

Allard reports that Xiang killed Billy Wolfson on April 20 and issued a statement which took 20 days to reach New Avalon via the news services.  Allard shows the holovid of Xiang excoriating Philip Capet and Hanse Davion.  At Hanse's question, Allard confirms that Xiang has killed six Federated Suns pilots in the games, but qualifies that figure by noting that they were scum which the Suns were well rid of.

Allard informs Hanse that MIIO intel has confirmed that Gray Noton used a Rifleman to ambush Xiang on Kittery.  Hanse offers to recall Xiang and pardon him.

Allard answers that Xiang will not want to come home, and relates the circumstances under which Noton exposed the MIIO agent's cover and Xiang broke her jaw.  Enraged, Hanse inquires about assassination, but Allard notes Xiang is well protected by the tongs of Cathay.  Hanse orders Allard to recall their agent to New Avalon for a new assignment.

Finally, Allard reports that the Silver Eagle departed on schedule from Tharkad, and is expected to reach Fomalhaut around the 20th, with an arrival on New Avalon in mid-June.  Gruizot asks why they are concerned with a passenger liner, and Allard chides him for not having kept up with the travels of Andrew Redburn, hero of the Capellan March.

Notes: This is, of course, elaborate theater conducted solely for the benefit of Gruizot, who will pass this data on to Michael Hasek-Davion and thence to the Maskirovka. 

The message timing is interesting - Allard says it took 20 days for the news from Solaris VII to reach New Avalon, but it only took ten days for confirmation of the departure of the Silver Eagle to reach New Avalon from Tharkad, which is much further away than Solaris VII.  My guess is that the message arrived much earlier, and Allard is lying about the delay to make it plausible that he would "just happen" to be briefing Hanse on it during Gruizot's visit.

It's odd that Michael would send a special representative to facilitate coordination between the Crucis and Capellan Marches.  Isn't that what the Privy Council is for, where the Ministers themselves meet?  Granted, Michael is described as being uninterested in the duties of running the bureaucracy and has delegated the role of Minister of the Capellan March to his younger sister Rebecca Hasek-Davion.  (One further oddity - Michael is married to Hanse's stepsister Marie Davion, giving him the hyphen.  Why is Rebecca hyphenating her last name?  Or the Administrator of the Almach region, Y. Hasek-Davion?  Did they also find Davions from cadet lines to hook up with?)  I wonder if Rebecca attends meetings of the Privy Council in Michael's stead, or if Gruizot fills in there as well.

Given the stops scheduled for the Silver Eagle, and accounting for in-system transit time, there's no way it's getting to New Avalon by mid-June.  Even if they only do an orbital overflight of the planets they "visit" without the week on the ground I'd assumed (and the automated checks for inoculations support the idea that time onworld is scheduled) the arrival time will be sometime in July.  One might suspect that Allard is giving fake dates to screw with Gruizot, so that any plot against the Silver Eagle originating from Duke Michael will be off by a few weeks.

[Mendrugo]

Date: May 5, 3027
 
Location: Skye

Title: Warrior: En Garde

Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel

Synopsis: At dinner, Andrew Redburn and "Joana Barker" join Erik and Hilda Mahler.  Erik is awestruck that Redburn has chosen to eat with them, rather than at a table on the balcony with the other celebrities. 

Hilda expresses admiration for Hanse Davion and for the Federated Commonwealth accords.  Later in the conversation, Erik raises the subject of Justin Xiang, Redburn's former commander, and says his string of kills on Solaris VII is on par with a Combine vendetta, and marks Xiang as a traitor.  "Joana" chimes in, agreeing that Xiang's anger is excessive, and recalling that he was declared innocent by Prince Davion.

Redburn tersely responds that Xiang is a true warrior, and so it is only to be expected that arena performers would die when they clashed.  He justifies Xiang's expressed anger by asking Erik, himself a retired LCAF officer, how he would feel never being allowed to pilot a 'Mech, and having to deal with a permanent cloud of suspicion.   Erik continues to condemn Xiang's venomous tirades against Prince Davion.  Redburn blames it on politics and excuses himself.

Notes: Erik Mahler notes that Xiang has eliminated nearly every Federated Suns fighter on Solaris VII.  So there were only 6-8 total on the whole game world?  It's odd that the games are seen as being so disreputable circa 3027, given how much they're celebrated in the 3050s.  I suppose the rampant match fixing and blatant ties to organized crime may have tarnished its image at this point in history. 

It's not clear where this dinner is taking place.  It appears to be in the dining area of the Silver Eagle, but that's never explicitly stated, and it could be during an excursion on Skye itself.  Since there seems to be gravity, if shipboard, it's probably on the way to or coming back from Skye, since they'd be experiencing microgravity if they were at the jump point (though they should only be at the jump point long enough to undock or to dock). 

The Mahlers are used to voice the opinion of the "average Lyran on the street" about the FedCom alliance and about Justin Xiang's situation.  Stackpole re-uses the pair in the "Blood of Kerensky" trilogy, helping out Kai Allard-Liao and Dierdre Lear on Falcon-occupied Alyina.

Erik Mahler mentions his appreciation of a white wine from Nekkar during the dinner.  Not much has ever been written about Nekkar, other than to mention it as a source of high quality wine and cheese.  I'm picturing a world with a lot of art galleries, somehow...

My faith in Monopole's algorithms is a bit shaken by this scene.  Despite its premise of using her personal profile to create ideal matches for her social engagements, it decided that a 25-year old schoolteacher off on a grand adventure would like to sit with a retired Hauptmann and his wife at dinner?  Is her daily schedule a cavalcade of shuffleboard and hands of canasta, too?

[Kit deSummersville]

Notes: Erik Mahler notes that Xiang has eliminated nearly every Federated Suns fighter on Solaris VII.  So there were only 6-8 total on the whole game world?  It's odd that the games are seen as being so disreputable circa 3027, given how much they're celebrated in the 3050s.

It could be just that many with a strong affiliation to the FedSuns, with plenty more ex-Feddies (and other Houses) that play up their unaligned stable affiliation (or solo status) more. This was when folks in the Inner Sphere were a little more "Eh, new flag, need to change the Payee on our next tax check" instead of "Fight off the invaders with our bare hands!"

[Mendrugo]

Date: May 6, 3027
 
Location: Summer

Title: Warrior: En Garde

Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel

Synopsis: Andrew Redburn goes to Melissa's quarters to apologize for having left the previous night's dinner in a huff.   She frostily chastises him for his lack of manners and hints that she may attempt to block his further promotion, which causes him to bristle with resentment.

The pain in Redburn's voice causes Melissa's anger to fade, and she allows Redburn to explain about his close friendship with Justin Xiang.  After the trial and the killings on Solaris, he now wonders if he ever knew Xiang at all.

Melissa tells him that people sometimes change, and admits that she once abused her power over the courtiers on Tharkad and plotted to bend others to her will.  She considers herself to have learned better, but admits that her experience with wielding actual power has been on a purely academic level up to this point.  She tells Redburn that neither of them can alleviate Xiang's anguish, and that she would ask Prince Davion to pardon Xiang if she thought it would help. 

Redburn thanks her, but fears that Xiang is lost to them forever.   

Notes: It appears dinner was aboard the passenger vessel on approach to the Skye jump point, because the Silver Eagle is now in the Summer system.

Once again, we see that manipulation and a desire to bend others to her will and crush her enemies is a core part of Melissa's personality - thankfully mitigated in this case by a lack of competing siblings.  Katherine Steiner-Davion may not have fallen all that far from the tree, however.  Melissa says she saw the exercise of power as a game.  I'm not sure I got that impression from Katherine, but she was certainly obsessed with it.  I wonder if Katherine had Melissa blown up not just to get her out of the way of the line of succession, but because she perceived Melissa as a potential threat if mommy dearest ever realized what Katherine was up to?

[Wrangler]

Wasn't the fighter on Solaris not that highly praised prior to the Warrior Series (era wise)?  If i'm not mistaken, were they were in league showboaters verses actual Ace MechWarriors that Justin Xiang and Gray Noton were?  Of course it changed since then, but i remember it was bit different since the best fighters were on the first line.

[Mendrugo]

It could be just that many with a strong affiliation to the FedSuns, with plenty more ex-Feddies (and other Houses) that play up their unaligned stable affiliation (or solo status) more. This was when folks in the Inner Sphere were a little more "Eh, new flag, need to change the Payee on our next tax check" instead of "Fight off the invaders with our bare hands!"

Capet's "Capellan Mafia" were Justin's primary targets.  It may be that Mahler is thinking mostly of them, since they dominated the Open Circuit, with Capet the grand champion, and not thinking of lower ranked Feddies in other circuits. 
 

[Kit deSummersville]

Capet's "Capellan Mafia" were Justin's primary targets.  It may be that Mahler is thinking mostly of them, since they dominated the Open Circuit, with Capet the grand champion, and not thinking of lower ranked Feddies in other circuits.

Like all those AAA/AA Yankees that no one knows to hate?  >:D

[Mendrugo]

Wasn't the fighter on Solaris not that highly praised prior to the Warrior Series (era wise)?  If i'm not mistaken, were they were in league showboaters verses actual Ace MechWarriors that Justin Xiang and Gray Noton were?  Of course it changed since then, but i remember it was bit different since the best fighters were on the first line.

Stackpole's portrayal of the fighters seems to have a consistent thread of them largely being MechWarriors who'd been thrown out of their own countries' militaries due to being involved in previous disgraces.  Tsen Shang (while not a fighter himself) was in disgrace due to his connection to the "Lost Legion" debacle, Philip Capet had received a dishonorable discharge from the AFFS after plotting to steal transports and lead cadets on an unsanctioned revenge raid, and Quintus Allard refers to the rest of the Capellan Mafia team as "scum."  Xiang fits right in - arriving on Solaris VII accused of treason.  Who knows what early scandal led Gray Noton to the Game World, but given his extensive underworld ties, it was probably a doozy.  A fair number of the Marik fighters probably backed Anton in the civil war.  And the Liao fighters (the Teng brothers) are Maskirovka assets that (we are shown) are considered utterly expendable.  The Lyran fighters are probably there because they made a major faux pas at the spring ball when they used the wrong fork and drank the contents of the finger bowls.

[Mendrugo]

Date: May 6, 3027
 
Location: Solaris VII

Title: Warrior: En Garde

Author: Michael A. Stackpole
 
Type: Novel

Synopsis: Justin Xiang awakens to find Tsen Shang standing over his bed holding a pistol trained on him.  Shang accused Xiang of murdering Gray Noton, and demands that Xiang turn over the documents Noton had agreed to sell him.  Xiang refuses, explaining that he destroyed the documents because Noton was working with the Davion Central Intelligence Directorate to set up the Maskirovka, planning to use the fake document to trick the Maskrovka into committing resources to a doomed operation.  He claims that two names on the passenger manifesto were cover identities commonly used for Quintus Allard and his wife when they travel.  He explains that he knew it was false, because Quintus never traveled on the same ship with his wife, to prevent their children from being orphaned if there was a misjump.

He adds that, while he was in the NAIS hospital on New Avalon, he saw a man who looked exactly like Hanse Davion and one who looked like Quintus Allard - doubles prepared to deceive someone.  He says he knows Davion wants revenge against House Liao, but not what for.  Xiang sees Shang's eyes go distant, and knows he's allayed the Maskirovka cell-chief's suspicions long enough to keep Andrew Redburn safe.  He tells Shang to open his jacket's pocket.

Shang does so, and finds the Federated Suns identification papers with Noton's image and description.  Xiang claims Noton wanted to leverage his betrayal of the Maskirovka to get back into the Federated Suns and retire at a villa on Verde, so Xiang killed him.  Shang expresses gratitude to Xiang for his actions, and pledges to be in touch.

Notes: When I first read the Warrior Trilogy, I was only able to find Riposte and Coupe in stores, so I mostly knew about the wedding and the war, and missed all the intrigue in En Garde.  Reading through it in detail now, I can appreciate all the foreshadowing that Stackpole layered into the trilogy.  This mention of "seeing a man who looked just like Hanse Davion" is both a shout out to the events of "The Sword and the Dagger" (another book I'd not yet read when I first encountered the Warrior books), and foreshadowing for Hanse's reveal of the doppleganger-Hanse at the end, which broke Max Liao's mind (see my sigline).  We know from Ilsa Bick's "The Gauntlet: Descent" that the MIIO had fake-Hanse sequestered at an unspecified location as of April 3028, and that he was involved peripherally in the subterfuge around the wedding, but it seems that in late 3026/early 3027, he was being treated at a NAIS hospital.  (Justin didn't actually see him, but heard rumors.) 

This raises the question, if there was actually a duplicate Hanse at the NAIS in late 3026/early 3027...was the other part of the rumor true about there being a double for Quintus Allard?  To what purpose?  The same role as Jeana Clay plays for Melissa?  We know that the NAIS swapped in a double for Thomas Marik's son while they were treating him, so they had the tech for surgical doubling (as does the Lyran Commonwealth, which did surgery on Clay to make her into Melissa's double, and the Confederation, which used it to make fake Hanse and to try to swap out Tormana/o Liao in "Think Like a Liao," and Wolf's Dragoons, which seems to have at least one Natasha Kerensky double in play...as does the Combine on its fake Black Widow ISF squad). 

We see that Tsen Shang's trust in Noton was never more than skin deep, despite their successful track record.  He's readily willing to accept the word of a relative stranger that Noton was plotting to betray him.  This begins a running series of events in Stackpole's works portraying the Maskirovka as gullible in the extreme, and wasteful of assets, turning the organization described as quite dangerous in Rick David Stuart's "House Liao - The Capellan Confederation" into the Keystone Cops of the Inner Sphere - not to be redeemed until well into Sun Tzu's reign.

It's interesting that Justin's internal monologue refers to his story about Noton working with the CID to set up the Maskirovka to make it waste resources on a booby trapped target as "pure nonsense," since that's exactly what his own mission is - to get the Maskirovka to "steal" the flawed triple strength myomer from a FedSuns laboratory and make CCAF 'Mechs vulnerable to the catalytic agent that causes the myomer to combust.

[Dubble_g]

The name "Capellan Mafia" is oddly chosen. I think it's a reference to the Capellan March in the FS, but when I hear "Capellan" I immediately think of the CC. They sound like hardcore Liaoists rather than the opposite.
 

[Mendrugo]

Date: May 7, 3027 [See Notes]
 
Location: Udibi

Title: The Battle for Udibi - If At First You Don't Succeed

Authors: Richard Meyer, Walter Hunt, Lisa Hunt & Evan Jarrison
 
Type: Scenario (The Fox's Teeth)

Synopsis: This is a non-canon "what if" scenario framed as McKinnon describing what he would have done if the ambush on May 2nd had failed and the Dragoons had escaped with the crate.  McKinnon would have broken contact and gotten ahead of Woomack's forces as they proceeded towards the mesa where their DropShip was parked. 

Without time to set up an ambush, the scenario pits what's left of McKinnon's entire company against what's left of Woomack's company.  On two standard maps, Woomack enters from the east, McKinnon from the west.  To win, a force must take the crate off the opposite edge (west for Woomack, east for McKinnon).  If McKinnon wins, the players are directed to play out "The Fox's Lair" for the Dragoon counterattack against McKinnon's base camp.

Notes: As with the other Udibi scenarios, the published date of 3029 is out of sync with the official timeline (where the Dragoons come over to the Federated Suns in 3028), and should be set in 3027.

At this stage in the campaign, repair parts are probably running low, and both sides will be feeling losses incurred in the two previous scenarios.  Both should have at least one fresh lance that hasn't been engaged, so leading with them and keeping the walking wounded in the rear echelon is recommended - you can do more repairs between scenarios, but if a 'Mech goes down, it's lost for good.  The Dragoons can afford to be much more aggressive, though, since if they win even a Pyrrhic victory, the campaign is over, but McKinnon still has another battle to fight if his company is victorious. 

Both sides should try to engage as far forward as possible, to move the crate as close as possible to their side.  I would recommend a flying wedge around the crate carrier to make them immune to kicks that might force PSRs and make the crate drop, keeping in mind that such a formation still leaves the carrier open to DFA attacks and massed fire for 20+ damage PSR checks.  The encirclement does give the holding side better positioning to pick the crate back up when it is dropped, though. 

One oddity is how McKinnon keeps getting ahead of Woomack.  His Marauder and Warhammer aren't going to be setting any land speed records, and if they're "cutting them off at the pass," why wasn't Woomack taking the direct route in the first place?  All I can figure is that the Fox's Teeth had their own DropShip nearby and was using it for tactical redeployment along Woomack's line of march.  (This would also explain how they repaired en-route - using the equipment in the DropShip's bays.)

In his autobiography "McKinnnon: The Man, The Myth, the MechWarrior," (McKinnon certainly isn't short on ego...) Ian notes that he got a frosty reception from the other officers in Vanur's Battalion after his successful ambush, boasting "not many people like a maverick who's right."  This would seem to support my speculation that McKinnon screwed up the mission, which was to let the Dragoons escape with the goodies, but have a friendly offer from House Davion tucked into the crates, so that the Dragoons would come to trust the Federated Suns and be willing to jump ship from the Combine.  The lack of pursuit and hostile engagement would be proof of FedSuns intentions, but McKinnon's decision to violate orders and patrol anyways led to a running firefight and the capture of several Dragoons (along with probably a number of injuries and deaths), all of which would make any hidden Davion holovids in the crates seem like bait for a trap.

The frosty reception is puzzling, however, since it implies that the other commanders knew the real purpose of the mission, but McKinnon didn't.  Were the others informed (by gossip) after the fact?  Or was McKinnon just not paying attention during the initial mission briefing?

[Mendrugo]

The name "Capellan Mafia" is oddly chosen. I think it's a reference to the Capellan March in the FS, but when I hear "Capellan" I immediately think of the CC. They sound like hardcore Liaoists rather than the opposite.

I had the same thought.  Perhaps it's because "Capellan March Mafia" is a bit of a mouthful and doesn't fit so well on a Burger King glass.

I think Stackpole was trying to establish that the Capellan March had a divergent culture from the rest of the Federated Suns - even their PPC drink recipe is different.  This could be the result of House Hasek's efforts towards separatism (Michael's father George was also fairly corrupt and disloyal to New Avalon), or because the Capellan March incorporates so many worlds seized from the Capellan Confederation, resulting in ambiguous political loyalties. 

[Mendrugo]

Date: May 8, 3027
 
Location: Galatea

Title: SNES MechWarrior - Zach Slasher's Planetary Assault

Author: Tom Sloper
 
Type: Encounter

Synopsis: Herras Ragen returns from Zhada to find a message from his paid informant, Vermin Minter, who reports that his men have learned Zach Slasher is planning to launch a planetary assault, using either Escalon or Dalview as a staging point.

Notes: I guess it largely depends on the level of development of the planet in question, but a full-on planetary assault (intended to break through fixed defenses, crush the planetary garrison, and topple the government for replacement by the invader's puppet regime) seems a bit of a tall order for an independent rogue mercenary to pull off, even if he is gathering an ad hoc force of mercenary scum to back his play.  It implies that the Mercenary Underground forged by the Dark Wing has far more in the way of money and manpower (not to mention transport) than most independent operators would be capable of.  Even Gray Noton was only able to pull together a company of Cicadas for his Kittery operation - and that was an objective raid. 

If the Dark Wing isn't getting financial and operational support from a Successor State, it probably has covert corporate backing - Matabushi, most likely.

[Dubble_g]

I had the same thought.  Perhaps it's because "Capellan March Mafia" is a bit of a mouthful and doesn't fit so well on a Burger King glass.

I wish I had your faith in a restaurant chain that's already changed ownership about three or four times. In other news, Tim Hortons turns out to be the real power behind ComStar and the Lyran Commonwealth is actually a front for Dairy Queen.  :))

Back when I had a MechWarrior campaign, after a hard day's saving the universe the heroes would retire to a chain of Mexican restaurants named -- you guessed it -- BattleMex.

[Mendrugo]

Fast food chains still exist in the Inner Sphere.  Triple F sells whale meat burgers, and there is a Starbucks clone called JavaPulse Generator.  And there is a Canopian chain with a monkey named Chippy as the mascot.