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

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 24-04-2010, 08:51:53]]


New Saigon, 1530 Local time, Cowboy Street...

The car rolled to a stop in front of them, and four well-dressed young men climbed out.

The front-seat passenger was  a tall blonde with a side-shave,  his suit was an improbable puke-green and purple getup.  The driver wore 'enbloc' sunglasses and had what had to be a quart of motor oil holding his hair slicked back, and a blue and green suit decorated with enough gaudy jewellery to fill a pawnshop.  The rear-seat passengers were a bald, dark-skinned skinny kid wearing tan cargoes, a blazer, and another ridiculous quantity of gold.

Tommy Waters picked them off mentally- bodyguard, bodyguard, driver, the second one's probably also a tech-weasel...

The one Waters pegged as the 'leader' was red-haired, and not 'natural red hair' either-this was fire-engine red, cut close, and swirled with elaborate designs offsetting a too-thin face.  the one Tommy figured as 'boss' was also wearing a suit that covered everything from the neck down, this one was yellow-canary yellow, with an emergency-site orange collar shirt and a black onyx neclace-pin.

Dinh shoved the handle of his E-tool down, and leaned on it like it was a cane, sizing them up.

"bạn đang làm gì trong khu phố của tôi?" the red-and-yellow asked. Tommy heard the voice, and looked at the face. Holy shit, that's not a dude..!

Dinh smiled slowly, "Tôi lớn lên ở đây." he said, "Này được nhà đầu tiên của tôi."

The leader stared at them.  "You're not a Dragonfish." she said, shifting to english.

"When I lived here, your little gang didn't even exist." Dinh said.  "I thought it was a dump when I was KID, I guess I didn't realize how much further it could fall."

She gestured, and purple stepped forward, pulling a gaff-hook out of the car as he moved.

"You must be an old man, or a liar." the lead ganger said.

"Old enough." Dinh hadn't shifted his weight.  Tommy held back-if the fireteam leader needed help, he'd signal.  Nonetheless, Tommy dropped his go-bag, and let his jacket fall open a bit more to make it easier to grab his sidearm.

"Not that old. My grandfather started this gang." the leader said.

"Kids." Dinh added, and gave Tommy a sidelong glance, "aren't they just adorable, Waters?"

Gaff-hook didn't challenge or speak, he just swung the weapon-and Dinh stepped into the swing, and slammed his E-tool into the big blonde's crotch,  roll-stepped around, and brought it up, backhand, on top of the bodyguard's head.

"Tôi đã giết chết Rim-việc làm lính trước khi ông nội của bạn là một ngứa trong quần ông nội của!" Dinh barked.  The blonde went down, the other two started going for guns, and Tommy drew first, popping a warning shot into the hood of the car that left a smoking hole from the laser's passage.

"Three on two, lady, let's talk before someone dies." Tommy barked, "Unless you can get enough friends in to make this a fair fight."

"WHo the ****** ARE you, I Paid the ****** vig to the Miliz Already!!" the leader-girl was staring at them wide-eyed.

"We're not them.  We're also not a mob, or a gang...well, technically anyway." Tommy said, and added, "boss, you don't need to kill the guy. could you NOT stand on his throat while I'm negotiating?"

"THis is my HOME TOWN, Tommy!" Dinh fumed.

"Yeah, and you've been gone for two hundered and seventy years, this is Street, I know streets-they're the same whether you're in Winnipeg or Tikonov, let the kid breathe before we have a ****** feud." Tommy said, "Hell, she might be one of YOUR descendents."  Tommy turned his attention,  "So the local LEOs are taking bribes, or have they actually advanced to proper extortion?"

"Not one of mine, I didn't get laid until we hit Terra." Dinh confessed, "Oldest virgin in the unit."

"Shyness, or you just kinky?" Tommy asked.

"Shy." Dinh admitted, "Had a hell of a time talking to girls.  I had to hire a whore in Vegas."

"bummer." Tommy watched the other three, as Dinh stepped off the blonde, and knelt down to see if the kid would wake up.

"Extortion..and you still haven't told me who you people are, why you're disrupting my territory, or-" she stopped, as if something were calculating down through a haze in her head.

"We're on leave, but our day job is with the Star League's 90th Heavy Assault division." Tommy told her, "We just got here from Tamar by way of Arc Royal-we're also part of the burial detail for the late Duke Patrick Ngo.  Dinh here wanted to take a look at his old home-town, see if anything's changed since he left it."

"Apparently not for the better." Dinh groused, and looked at the three now-very-nervous gangers, "Ambulances run down here?" he asked.

"No." she told him, amending, "Sometimes, if there's a fire or something, but usually they stay out."

He looked at Tommy, "Call the ship, tell 'em we need a medevac and a trauma pack soonest, I think I hit that kid a little harder than I was planning to..." He looked at the girl, "Send one of your boys post-haste, I need a bag of ice, you know, frozen water? and hurry it up, your buddy's got a concussion that is probably going to kill him if you don't hurry."

Tommy cursed, "I've got my Medic-kit in the go-bag, should be a stint of J-17 in the front pocket, you take up holding the gun on these kids, I'll see to your busted man, boss."

"Boss?" the girl asked, "Doesn't sound military to me..."

"I'm a medic, he's a fireteam leader, you only say 'sir' or 'Ma'am' to Officers, and 'Lance Corporal' sounds doofy." Tommy replied snippily, "besides Boss works faster in the field."

Dinh drew his sidearm, and Tommy dropped down to look at the kid, while he pulled out his bag.  "Any Drug Allergies?" he demanded.

"Um...don't know..." the leader was even LESS sure of herself NOW.

"Habits? I need to know this shit!"  there were definite signs of brain swelling... he dug out stints and a trauma-blanket that crinkled loudly as it unfolded.

"N-n-no...Hektor's clean...not very smart, but clean." she told them.

"Excellent, now where is that ****** ICE?"  he barked, pulling out a small bore laz-scalpel and tearing open decon-swabs.

"Jesus, Tommy, you're going to operate HERE?" Dinh asked.

"Gotta relieve the swelling, need the ice to numb the area when I'm done...shit...shitshitshitshit shit..." he one-handed a length of IV tube with a thumb-knife.  "Dinh, you always take me to places I have to work, can't we just find some place to  ****** Party sometime?"

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 24-04-2010, 09:16:30]]


Ia Drang...

Sgt. Moshe Dayyan stepped out of the chopper at five hundered meters and parachuted down.  That was last night.

This morning, he was eating breakfast with a Rabbi named Nguyen and a Christian preacher with too many wives.

Both men had a lot of other men with guns.  "So...they're not withdrawing?" he asked.

"Nope. We caught the order over the radio, looks like Percy's decided he can ignore the order if he's somehow more successful than he's been." Nguyen said, "You were really at Elbar?"

Moshe nodded, "I was born there, that's where they recruited me after..." he stopped himself.  "Yeah. I was there.  This is good Corned beef.  What's the actual situation, Rab Nguyen?"

"Well...they've got three clusters of well-heads around Ia Drang city, plus the irrigation locks south of Tel Aviv and Neshaba, figure about a ten kilometer radius patrol zone each, with outposts north of the Mormons' temple on Provo ridge.  The best we can figure from their deployments, they're trying to seige us out."

"How're the bystanders handling the water shortage?" Moshe asked.

"Well...it helps that our Elldees are pretty doctrinaire-most of the smaller settlements around Provo Ridge have a year's worth stored away, but that relies a lot on secrecy-if Percy's bastards figure out where the water's been stockpiled, things could get ugly for our people, worse though, is that without the irrigation locks open, the crops will start dying when we hit the dry season, and with 'em, the cattle."  the Preacher told him, "I'm already working on getting non-combatants out of the area and down to the lowlands, but it's pretty tough when the occupiers control the main roads down, and they've got ADA positions that they move around a lot, so there's no sure way of avoiding detection and a shoot-down of a small plane."

"Which is what you've got up here.  got it." Moshe examined the map.  "I'm going to report this in, and see if we can't get something official moving to get these ****** off your neck. In the meantime, we're going to need to arrange supply-drops..."

Loonies with military "advisors" with a certain history and experience.
Holy shit, those goons have no idea what they've stirred up there...

No, the Innersphere has no idea what will be/has been unleashed by giving loonies battle hardened, tech savvy, and most of all: trust worthy people. Kowloon troops armed with weapons that are actually up to snuff instead of old weapons, and the increase in living standards and better survival rate for babies due to upgrades in medical tech will mean Kowloon can field a much more potent army. Kowloonese masses of tanks armed with PPCs  :D

didnt I read of the Kowloonese apropriating a warehouse of Amaris mechs durign the clean up?

No, the Innersphere has no idea what will be/has been unleashed by giving loonies battle hardened, tech savvy, and most of all: trust worthy people. Kowloon troops armed with weapons that are actually up to snuff instead of old weapons, and the increase in living standards and better survival rate for babies due to upgrades in medical tech will mean Kowloon can field a much more potent army. Kowloonese masses of tanks armed with PPCs  :D

IIRC Kowloon is already producing munitions (or at least it was in earlier iterations) as well as spare parts for the Rommel/Patton tanks, which is why a Patton Chassis was chosen as the common vehicle when 'Miz Liz' built her 'dirt bag militia' army by the division, upon division.  They might tech up some, (plug and play omni turrets?) but I suspect that they'll be recognizable Patton variants in the armor pool.  Maybe with an LB-10X or Gauss Rifle replacing the old autocannons, but still the armor brick from hell.

The Kowloonese are experts in taking outdated, obsolete, but functional military equipment and using it very effectively to hand their oppressors their backsides.  >:D

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 25-04-2010, 20:57:14]]


New Saigon, 16:46 Hours...

An SLDF Ripper is a fast bird, and quiet-still, it was loud enough that it drew attention when the Medevac flight arrived.

"Head trauma, some intestinal damage too, he's shocky and non-responsive." Tommy Waters recited, assisting the stretcher party.  "You know, Mosco's going to have a shit-fit over this."  Sgt. Yao told the young medic, "Not to mention the Captain's probably going to shit kittens himself, and you know this is going on the Major's morning reports..."

"I know.  I didn't hit the kid, but we don't get him to a trauma centre with competent docs soon, he's a dead kid." Waters said, climbing into the chopper with the patient.

"So, it was a bystander?" the Sgt. asked.

"No Sargeant, it was Dinh-the kid came at him with a gaff-hook and he nailed him with an E-tool." Waters told the senior medic.

"Why isn't he running to the chopper?" Yao demanded.

"He's negotiating with the kid's friends." Tommy told him, "He told me to get my ass back to base and make sure the Heinrich here doesn't die on the trip out."

"...****** better and better..."  The bird lifted and hauled ass out.


Dinh put his sidearm away,  as the ganger kids watched the Medevac bird pull out.  "Believe me now?" he asked.

"You're high-end, that is for damn certain, but you being a time-traveller?" the girl shook her head, "THAT is just plain nuts."

Dinh shrugged.  "You don't have to believe that part." he told her, "I didn't catch your handle, anyway..."

the girl laughed, "You can call me Red, it's good enough, I don't know you better enough for more."

"You can call me Chu'an, then, or Lance Corporal."  He said, "I am a Marine, even though I've done the last four years or so as part of...an army."

"Your docs any good?" she asked.

"Best available anywhere-at least, today." he said, "They put a face on a tanker who got hers burned off on Tamar. only took four months."

"You drink, Lance-Corporal? You might as well take the offer, if my boy dies, you're dying next." she said.

"I do, as a matter of fact, you know a good bar?" he responded.

"As a matter of fact...I do." she smiled, and suddenly, Dinh had zero doubts- 'Red' was actually a very pretty girl, if you ignored the buzz-cut and she bothered to smile...

"Let's have a drink, then."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 27-04-2010, 08:35:07]]


Nha Tranh, 21 January, 3052...

Elizabeth Ngo sat behind the large,  Bluewood desk in the Duke's office.  The overstuffed leather chair looked huge, as did most of the other furnishings in this room.

"I told you to withdraw the Militia from Ia Drang."  she didn't speak above a conversational tone.    "Do you want to explain to me why Percival Kruegar's still sitting on the Plateau, still chasing MY farmers, and trying to become a one-man drought machine in the most productive wheat and barley producing area on the continent?"

"That isnt the report I got-" Jim Condit began.

"That's the report I got, Governor." her tone slipped snake-like into cold menace.   "I tend to believe reports from the man I sent to intervene in the situation over reports from the man whose mistakes have CAUSED the situation."  she dropped a file folder on the desk between them.  "You're a fine 'mechwarrior, and according to AFFC files, a good soldier-apparently, the standards of discipline in the AFFC have degraded considerably-or are absent in the Federated Suns state.  You issued an order, your chief leutenant has disobeyed that order, I want him in this office by noon to-morrow, either under his own power, or in chains as a prisoner."

Condit frowned, "You can't order me to do that." he said.

"If you don't, I'm sure, given Sgt. Dayyan's report, Major Gilmour will be more than pleased to effect the removal and delivery-I probably won't even need to say 'please'."  Liz told him, "I already have material witnesses to misconduct on the part of your subordinate officers, including two being held pending courts-martial for extortion in rural areas west of the Iron Hills-one of which was caught red-handed in the act.  Outside the window, there?" she gestured to her left, "There's a fairly large yard, I'm sure we can put up scaffolding in short order, and rope has never been particularly expensive."

"Now see here, young lady..." He stood up, and leaned across the desk.  Elizabeth stood up, matching his menace with her own.  "I'm the governor!"

"You serve at the convenience of the State." she hissed back, "I have enough on you, Governor to put you in front of a tribunal for piracy, brigandage and treason.  Diverting military resources to the black market in the middle of an invasion, delays and lost munitions shipments that may well have cost the Commonwealth several worlds, and that's not even touching on charges of misconduct on domestic issues."  she glared hard at him.  "I'm half-certain I can find a replacement Regent who can add two plus two without putting four in his pocket to collect the national taxes, the only reason you've got any grace at all, is that, according to your file, you used to be a pretty good soldier and you served your nation once with distinction and honour-before I read that personnel jacket, I was going have you summarily executed as soon as I arrived.... now sit down, do you REALLY want to be known as the man who picks fights with little girls?"

Condit's face flushed,  and contorted, and then, he kind of 'slumped' back into his chair-broken.

"Bring Kreugar in, bring in his men." Elizabeth told him, "For now, I'm willing to overlook some irregularities in your administration as being the result of inadequate preparation and small misjudgements in selecting your subordinates-I'm more interested in un-doing damage, than carrying out punishment for past mis-deeds, make no mistake, I'm not going anywhere,  Mister Condit, the question being only a matter of whether I have to use this..." she laid a revolver on the table, "or if we can be civil about the transition, and in being civil, save the Federated Commonwealth billions in reconstruction costs."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 28-04-2010, 22:14:59]]


Nha Tranh Defense Centre, Three hours after the meeting with the Duchess...

"...can't do what she asks, we've almost got this won!"  Percival's face on the comm-screen was pale with frustration.

"Demands, Percy-and those damn Tigers are always nearby, not to mention her marines." Jim Condit stated,  "And she has black-mail as well-your contacts were not as thorough, apparently, as her people were, in shadowing the arms-sales."

"She's bluffing. She has to be-Dammit, Jim, the cut-outs should have worked, the ****** 'mechs alone were completely off-books, hell they didin't even know they HAD them!"  Kruegar's voice was emphatic over the encrypted channel.  "DMI scrubbed the data!"

"Well, if she knew, or if we could say it was a sanctioned op...but we can't. this is supposed to be totally black-bag, nothing leading back to DMI at all...and yet, she knows, and I think that Major knows too..." Condit was certain of it, in fact.

"We could make her disappear..." Percy said speculatively.

"Yeah, and bring what? a full investigation?  Percy, you've GOT to pull back from Ia Drang, the mission is bust, we've got to make sure it stays off-books, you remember the ****** on Glengarry? these people, they're worse, they're competent."  he stopped, and looked at his 'subordinate' (handler).

"No, we break the local resistance cells first Jim-the FedCom needs this planet pacified, hell, you remember what they did at Elbar-something like that today would bring in the REST of the Clans, Intel says there's about twenty of them, we've only seen five and look what they've done! fifteen more and the FedCom is just a memory."  Percy noted.

"So...we have to kill her, and we have to make it look like someone else." Condit said, "I hate you, Percy...I'll get our boys ready, you get your contacts to give me a riot that HAS to be put down."

"Be ready to-morrow at nine." Percy said, "I've got to make some calls..."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 28-04-2010, 22:50:04]]


New Saigon, Cowboy Street, Giao Vu Vao's Bar and grill...

"...not just a protection racket, then, you guys really do keep the neighbourhood...safe?" Dinh asked.

"Someone has to." Red told him, "It sure as hell isn't the Miliz who keep the muggers out and take out the pervs, rapists, and thrill killers from uptown-those hèn nhát show up once in a while with their armoured cars to collect protection money, or to squeeze the businesses for taxes, but they'll sit there and ignore an armed robbery in-progress-even right after they've been paid for the month."

"You only ignore it when you haven't been?" he asked.

"Gotta pay my people." Red told him with a shrug, "gotta eat my own self, it's not like WE get any of that tax."

she crooked a finger at the bar, and signalled two more drinks.

"My sister, she owns this restaraunt, right? she pays about half her official income to the Government, not including bribes to the various inspectors, or the vig for the Miliz to leave her alone...I get about ten percent of what's left, but we keep the place safe and open."  Red told him, "you clubbed Hektor, who's probably my best threat-man, he probably had it coming, he doesn't think much, but he's damn useful for scaring off the crooks who don't belong down here, and he's a good collection-agent for people who try to default on loans."

"Loansharking too?" Dinh shook his head. 

"Hey, I know Usury's a sin, but it's expensive maintaining patrols when there's a residential school here, and the pervos from up-town come stalking for poor kids who'll do anything for a Kroner." she told him,  "Some things you do not find in my territory-one of them, is underage prostitutes.  The other, is child-molesters. when we catch them, they go right into the river, in pieces, as chum."

"Things have gotten so bad..." he mumbled.  "When I left... I know you don't believe me, but when I left, New Saigon was going to be a...good place.  My uncles were going to build  a refrigerated warehouse, to process all the food from the farmsteads and fishing fleets that were going to be here..."

"Warehouse?" she asked, suddenly interested, "What was your uncle's name?"

"Li Vu Truong, he was going to call it 'universal Foods'..." Dinh was quite drunk, "his wife wanted to name it ..."

"...Đại tiệc."  Red interjected, "where was it going to be?" she asked, looking decidedly LESS drunk than she had a moment before.

"That vacant lot, on fourth, across from the docks." Dinh said.

"You think it wasn't built?" she asked.

"The lot is still vacant." he told her.

"It was.  It was destroyed about eighty years ago, our family lost...everything." she told him, "Taxes ate the insurance, there was nothing left to rebuild with, which is why Grandfather started a security firm, that had to go under-ground..."

"Makes me related to one of your ancestors, then." Dinh said.

"Yes, it does."  she answered.

"Wait...you don't think I am who I said I was..." Dinh started.

"Too many details, you've been babbling things an outsider wouldn't know, and not-knowing things an outsider would've known with a simple records-search." she told him, "I've been paying attention, you know...have another drink, and tell me some war-stories, please?"

"I don't have any good war-stories." Dinh told her, "only bad ones."

"bad ones work." she said.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 28-04-2010, 23:13:55]]


0700 Local, Mosovich Farm...

"dad?" Evelyn Mosovich looked in to her father's eyes, but there was no recognition there. 

"Where's Jeff?" the old man asked. 

She looked at Cynthia Vanh, who shrugged.

"he's not coming here today." Evelyn told him.

"I've got to get these papers signed..." he said plaintively, "For the good of the country..."

She reached down, and took the papers from him.  "I'll take care of this." she told her father, "not to worry."

"They're very important..." her father told her.

"I know." she told him, "they'll be taken care of..."

Cynthia followed Evelyn out of the den, and closed the door.

"That was close." She said.

Evelyn looked at the deed.  "yeah...too close.  Who's 'Jeff', because I know it isn't my brother-he died in the war of '39."

"Might be Neumann, or one of Kreugar's people." Cynthia told her.

"ah...well, 'Jeff' is no longer welcome on this property." Evelyn said, "and Dad's not to see anyone from town, nobody who isn't in the Association, as a matter of fact, and nobody without you, or me in the room."

"what about the deeds?" Cynthia asked.

"Those are staying with me for now." Evelyn told her, "Dad can't sign away the lands if he can't find the paperwork."

"Right."

Poor Jim, he had his easy way out... ::) He and Percival will be lucky if they die in combat.  >:D

One thing I've always liked about the Kowloonese - they take care of their own. O0 I think that the Tigers will make a great addition to the world because they believe the same about family.

The Black Tigers are probably the only SLDF unit in history that can take and hold Kowloon with little, if any, trouble.  They could even get the loonies to pay their taxes.

Pity the house lord who wants to raise the taxes unfairly though. >:D

Because they wouldn't TAKE Kowloon.
They would be invited....!  ;) ;)

Precisely! I think that the Tigers and Kowloon are a very good fit. Both believe that you take care of family. If you want a fight, they'll be happy to oblige. However, if you mess with the civilians, all bets are off and they'll do whatever it takes to remove you from existence. In the process, they'll make a great example of you to make sure everyone else gets the hint. >:D

Unofficial propaganda/recruitment poster, a Kowloonese child cuddling up to a very big lounging Tiger.  On the official version there is blood and green feathers around it's mouth.  The underground versions replace the feathers with scraps of local pirate insignia, or bits of FedCom BDUs.  If you look closer you see the 'child' also has an equally bloody knife.

Did Kipling's works make it to Kowloon?  You could give the above a bit of 'The Jungle Book' feel.

As a more practical matter the 90th is using old SLDF regs that let them request support, including covering their payroll, directly from a member state while being 'out of contact with central command'.  Could Liz and Kowloon provide direct support to the 90th and claim it against their taxes?  "We already gave at the office."  O0

Poor Jim, he had his easy way out... ::) He and Percival will be lucky if they die in combat.  >:D

One thing I've always liked about the Kowloonese - they take care of their own. O0 I think that the Tigers will make a great addition to the world because they believe the same about family.

You might want to change that to "most likely".  ;D

I suppose you could. However, my intent was that they would be lucky if they did die in combat, because if they don't and Liz finds out, they might find themselves on the receiving end of an "Elbar toothpick" or something equally "fun".  >:D

If ever you needed proof that the average IQ of an IS citizen is only slightly higher than a cabbage, it has to be when people in authority (who probably got there by been smarter and more cunning that everybody else)

1. Pick a fight with the Loonies
2.  Pick a fight with an Ngo
3. Do either of the above when the 90th is in orbit "visiting their old friends"

Doing all three pretty much states loud and clear that the gene pool is less a pool with you at the shallow end, more a puddle.

I'm curious just how "crazy" Liz is given her bloodline.

Colonel Ngo who served with the 90th against Amaris was an honourable, respected, disciplined and stable man who though up the "Elbar toothpick".  Ngos in general have almost iconic status among those people that they don't terrify yet not one (among those mentioned anyway) has any short term problem using methods that are "ANY means to an end".

1. Pick a fight with the Loonies
2.  Pick a fight with an Ngo
3. Do either of the above when the 90th is in orbit "visiting their old friends"

Makes you wonder if the Darwin Awards are still around in a thousand years...  ;D

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 29-04-2010, 21:58:02]]


Nha Tranh, những vườn đẹp housing project, unit 22...

"You're buying a house."  Bruce Gilmour said.  "You're the Duchess of the planet, you've got a ducal palace, and you're buying a House?"

Elizabeth nodded, "yeah, a house, Major."  the car rolled to a halt in the middle of  a cul-de-sac in what was clearly going to be a suburban crackerbox development.  "Consider: one of the best ways to drain a noble's income is hospitality, correct? and you've GOT to know how much maintaining a twelve-thousand square meter fortified  residence costs-if you don't, it's more than the Star League paid your unit in a year, and it's a recurring expense."  she opened the door, and they stepped out, onto the new hot-top pavement.  "Modern electronics allows us to network sites across continental land-masses, even across whole star-systems, there's no reason to LIVE in the middle of a military base, if your job isn't directly in the military...and fortresses draw fire, and cost a bloody fortune to repair after a raid..." she walked across the new sod-based lawn.  "Meanwhile, the government of a planet should not be something requiring twenty-four-hour supervision from a micromanagement position, but even if it did, civilian-grade communications can be handled through any one of a thousand brands of multirouter server farms, the more dispersed said farms are, the less likely they are to fail due to a single event-such as, say, an enemy slamming missiles into our aforementioned twelve-thousand-square meter fortified residence...on the other hand, there are defined advantages to being able to see the people one is responsible for governing-and not just when it's most convenient."

"What about the Ducal residence, then? you're going to let it fall down?" Luis Alvarez asked.

"Nope.  THAT is going to be the home of the elected legislature, and as a museum, some of the old ducal grounds will also be converted to provide educational opportunities as a university." Elizabeth said, "We haven't had a proper university since the destruction of Dinh Diep."

"bad place for a military academy..." Alvarez observed.

"of course." Liz told him, "THAT is going to be somewhere out west-where there's room.  I'm thinking maybe Vin Drin Lap or Ben Hoa, probably Ben Hoa since it's got a variety of terrain and climate, and a very low population density in spite of access to three lines of travel in and out...the Nha Tranh university will be focused on the arts of peace, and more specifically, on governance and philosophy, with a business school on the side to teach realistic economic models...I intend to leave a functional, ethical, and effective civil service when I die, rather than the mish-mash that crippled Kowloon when Marjorie Ngo's term as President ended, it's the lack of an effective civilian government and...god help me... Bureaucracy that has kept this world swinging wildly between short terms of prosperity, and long stretches of...not prosperity."

"and the House idea?" Bruce pressed.

"Simple enough-Duchess is a job, Major.  It's what I do, if I let it decide who I am, I'll end up making the kind of domestic errors Condit's made.  Dad was right about that, but not the way he thought he was-the trappings of power can become a straitjacket of the mind.  To govern Kowloon, you have to at least TRY to grasp what the people are really thinking-you can't do that behind ferrocrete walls with guard-towers, surrounding manicured gardens and populated by those with a defined need to agree with you in order to remain employed, healthy, or at times in our history, alive."

"Dangerous.  an area like this is free range for assassins." Alvarez pointed out.

"Yeah, I know...if I do my job right, those assassins will be stopped before they get in range...because they'll have to move through an area where the people KNOW who belongs, and unlike a Palace, uniforms or other typical disguises won't be much use-an offworlder would have a hell of a time blending in without years of training, with luck, by the time I really NEED to worry about that, I'll already be dead, or in so much pain the death would be a release, and it would profit them not-because I intend to build a system into being that doesn't need me, or anyone like me, to function."

those with a defined need to agree with you in order to remain employed, healthy, or at times in our history, alive."

A very eloquent way of defining a "yes-man". ;D O0

Makes you wonder if the Darwin Awards are still around in a thousand years...  ;D

If not, they should be.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 30-04-2010, 22:48:01]]


Nha Tranh Hilton, Suite 223...

"...stalled the project five years ago." Elizabeth finished, and looked up.  "That development I took you to, Bruce. it was stalled at Regent's order after an argument with the developer partnership."

"What was the argument about?" Gilmour asked, bored out of his mind.

"Fees." she said, "apparently, the regency government wanted some additional fees levied, the developers called them unfair, there was a court-fight, they were fined, and fined again...until they were insolvent, then the land reverted to..." she put the reader down.  "Okay, now that shit is just wrong."

"What?" he looked at her.

"The land was shuffled into Condit's wife's accounts." she said, "There's an injunction pending at the Province court on Coventry, which is why nobody's been able to finish it...and there's back-taxes owed, but nobody's willing to claim them until the lawsuit's settled...there's more, there's some odd 'imminent domain' cases going on out west."

"Not in Ia Drang, though?" he asked.

"Not there, this stuff's around Evelyn's place." she said.  "Hinky stuff-most of that area's cattle country, mineral-poor, so why would the AFFC consider ANY of it to be 'strategically significant'?"

"Show me a map, maybe I can tell you." he said.

she passed him a map. "These areas in red? they were grabbed last year, there are bills of lading for logistics units moving in, and coming out over a two week period, there hasn't been anything since...but the DO correspond to a Bandit raid about a month later-whatever was pulled out of there was left at a storage depot outside Vin Drin Lap..."

"Which was hit by our bandits." Bruce finished.

"Yeah.  Precise too..." she said.

"We knew he was dealing with Bandits, what did they pull out of that area, I wonder..?"  He frowned, "Got any vid from the Bandits?"

Elizabeth sifted through the data for .Vid files...

"Yeah, one shot taken by a schoolteacher in VDL." she said, "and some stills taken by residents near the attack site."

He took the files, and opened them.

Bruce Gilmour cursed... he cursed a LOT.

"What?" Liz asked.

"Sam gave your illustrious ancestor the contents of a capture depot when the rest of the one-seven-one went home." he said.  "I know those 'mechs, Liz-they must've felt a need to hide 'em, then forgot where."

He reached over and grabbed a small, leather-bound book off the table-a book Liz had shown him, Tranh Truk Ngo's war-journal.

He thumbed through the pages to to the date...

"There-son of a bitch...Liz..." he handed it to her,  "Those were supposed to be for YOUR people-they're yours."

"I think we can dispense with the formalities now." Liz said.  "Screw looking 'legitimate' to outsiders, Bruce, screw trying to make nice.  I want him arrested, I want his man Percival arrested, I want trideo cameras present..."

"watch it, kiddo." he cautioned, "You've got a lot to lose in this."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 01-05-2010, 09:16:14]]


Ia Drang...

"I've got a comms intercept, Sargeant."  Radioman 2nd Amy Vu was a treasure Moshe had spotted during their brief stay on Spider Moon.  While being slightly overweight, acne-scarred, and nearsighted, she was a first-rate slicer-or as close to one as anybody in these degraded times. 

"talk to me, Vu." he said, sitting up.

"They're going to move on the Duchess." she said, "They're also going to try and move on the Tigers."

"When?" he asked, pulling his web-gear on.

"Tonight or tomorrow, early.  We picked it up on the encrypted Miliz channels." she said.

"Forward it to Sledgehammer, then put in calls to the Rabbi and the Preacher..and kick a copy to Dee-Dee."

"Did that already." she said.

"Good.  any orders from Bruce?" he asked.

"Not yet, then again, two-way leaves us exposed to detection, right?" she asked.

"Right. Okay, I guess it's my judgement..."  wish I had a staff officer...shit, wish I had a properly trained officer...oh well, Cap'n said this was my show...  "We're going to go out and play, get me a tac-map up, and see if you can't get a link to the Rachel Zabel on TacNet."

"What's the first target, Sargeant?" she asked.

"We need to suppress their airfields, preferably take 'em intact so our air-support can get in for a refuel." He said,  "The Plateau's big, Percy can't keep all that armour out in the field without aerial resupply, and if we've got air-support, it might offset the advantage he's got with his 'mechs."

We start with refusing to follow lawful orders, with sides of barratry, rapine and treason, and rapidly descend to mutiny and (hopefully attempted) regicide.

You know at this point Condit is handing Liz all the excuse she needs to legitimately have him summarily executed.  Hell in some circles of the FedCom she might be applauded for doing so.

He'll be lucky if he's "summarily" executed.  More than likely he's got a date with a pike now.  Wonder when it's going to dawn on the Miliz that they've just opened up a whole case of whoopass and spilled it all over themselves.

Sheesh you guys are amateurs.  The only appropriate method is an Elbar Toothpick.

He'll be lucky if he's "summarily" executed.  More than likely he's got a date with a pike now.  Wonder when it's going to dawn on the Miliz that they've just opened up a whole case of whoopass and spilled it all over themselves.

Hopefully, about the same time they discover that theirs mechs were junk when they faced the 90th the first time.  Several centuries have NOT improved them.

The 90th's Light mechs can claim to killing what would pass today as decent heavy mechs (hecs and such).

Sheesh you guys are amateurs.  The only appropriate method is an Elbar Toothpick.

You hit the nail on the head... >:D

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by blacktigeractual 01-05-2010, 18:00:32]]


So to sum it all up we’ve got top of the line Rim Worlds gear in the hands of the Regent all out playing a big extortion racket…and you know they ain’t the POS claptraps even the best of these FedCom kids are playing with.  You remember how bad a 7J Heck could be in the right hands….Anyway look I’ve got a little problem, you remember that disease Colonel Tranh had, the bad one, our future landlord has it too.  I’ve got an idea…it was Kitty-Kat’s idea really…it’s called a Trial of Possession…

I attached the file Kat had prepared to the file and zipped it off to Petey Graves, the Sledgehammer’s comm officer to send up to the Rachel Z.  It’d get to Sam in a week or so, plenty of time, through the lovely little smugglers network we’d hooked up with through Lizzie.

“You’re really suggesting the Old Man goes after the Clans…”  Even after knowing me for almost a decade I still manage to freak out ‘Rat occasionally. 

“I think the feddies won’t mind getting their paws on some cutting edge Clan medtech…”

“Dude the puppies won’t just let us waltz in there and walk off with their toys.” 

“Not if we were run of the mil spheroids as they put it, but y’know we’re us and all, ‘sides Kat gave me a list of stuff to grab and people to steal,” I grinned my “pirate” smile then.  Sarah, Zeus what I wouldn’t give…  I held on to that grin despite the pain that never really went away.  “Plus she gave me how to go about it and who to talk to.”

Catching my look ‘Rat’s eyes widened.  “You mean, that Nasty bitch.”

“Yup, the Widow her own self.”  I shrugged and shook my head.  “C’mon we’ve got an op to plan.”

Well, Mechrat does have a weakness for redheads doesn't he?  >:D

*beats image out of my head with sledgehammer*

Well, Mechrat does have a weakness for redheads doesn't he?  >:D

Yes, he does. >:D And not always to his benefit...

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 01-05-2010, 20:55:04]]


New Saigon...

The Rimjob soldier kicked at him, checking to see if he was dead.  Dinh held still, while the enemy trooper poked him again, then, he felt the ground shift and warm, and the ****** started pushing the hair away from his forehead. cold metal touched his forehead... he opened his eyes, and the enemy trooper's eyes went wide with surprise, knife still in hand...

Dinh sat up suddenly, but this wasn't... instead of a damp swampy forest, he was in a dry, whitewashed room, for a few more moments, he didn't know where he was.

"mmm..hey you okay there, tiger?"  a female voice asked drowsing.

And Dinh knew where he was...and who was in the bed next to him.

"Just...bad dreams." he said, and glanced at the alarm chrony on the bedstead.  0300 hours...

"Want to go again?" she asked, cuddling up to him.

why not?  "Sure, you up for it?"

Sex, after all, is better than nightmares.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 01-05-2010, 23:06:09]]


Grid 22, Mosovich Ranch area, next door to Vanh Farm...

Evelyn lowered her optics, and looked over at Cheryl Vanh.  "Get riders up to the Truong place, tell 'em there's a column of trouble coming, then start making calls to the other ranches in the area-move families out to winter quarters...GO!"

she raised the optics again, and muttered a curse under her breath.  In the distance, about twenty five kilometers out, a column of Scorpion light tanks were rolling out of the Militia base at Vin Drin Lap, above them, Ferret scout helicopters buzzed like wasps, and at the rear of the column, a short-lance of 'mechs trundled along escorted by personnel carriers.

Tracks and 'mechs can follow horse-country, but those APC's are strictly wheeled jobs...  she looked over, watching as Cheryl's pickup rumbled out of the hide, and started accellerating down the logging road.

She reached down, and pulled out the comm-unit.

"Tiger Six, Tiger Six, this is Scarface Actual,  we have a situation, Over."  come on...need an airstrike...

Benjamin Ranch, Grid 34...

"Dust cloud...looks like...shit!" Dallas Benjamin grabbed the reins, "Jordan, get back to the house-looks like the Extortion racket's moving on the Truongs, an' they're gonna need help, and get the kids out into the Folly, this is probably going to be messy."

"Where are you going?" Jordan Benjamin asked.

"I'm going to see if I can get a better look at that armoured column, keep the chicken-band on channel sixteen." Dallas told him,  "Someone's got to keep eyes on that bunch..."

Chu'an place, Grid 40...

"...Cheryl called, there's an armoured column with chopper support moving up from town."  Ing Chu'an told her husband.

"Honey, take the kids up into the high country, I'm going out with our hired men, we're going to drop some trees on that road." Dinh Chu'an said, "and pass word to the Benjamins and the Sarofsky's, we may need help extracting our dumb asses from what's on the way."

"You're going to go play ARMY? at YOUR age??" his wife barked.

"Dear, just get our daughter and her children up to the east range, I'll come get you when it's over, I promise not to do anything excessively stupid..." he said, reaching into the barn's cache, and pulling out  bundles of explosive.  "Now go."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 01-05-2010, 23:34:51]]


Ia Drang, old tunnels...

"...nice bunker complex." Moshe commented.

"leftovers from the independence years." Rabbi Nguyen told him, "not much use now, except as a place to store things." 

They reached a circular room ten meters across, with a walkway and railing around the perimeter.  "Like water?" Moshe asked.

"Yeah.  Old missile silos make pretty decent cisterns." the Rabbi said, "best of all, they're not on the maps."

"maybe not, I'd not count on Percy and friends ignoring history books over-much." Moshe commented.

"Well...there is that.  We're not keeping any civilians in these old complexes, so we only have to worry about the water." the Rabbi told him, "Now...what's your plan, why did you need to see this?"

Moshe looked at the roof.  "Ten meters across, and twenty deep, Rabbi, and it's water.  I want to make a trap here, then lure their 'mechs into attacking it."

Nguyen thought a moment.  "Might work, might work better if we had enough ECM going to jam their sensors so that they don't know where they're walking, or what on..."

Of the list of things that the loonies and the tigers have in common, I didn't expect "if your equipment isn't good enough, steal some from somebody who has some" to be one of them. ;)

If ever a match was made in heaven (or hell if your on the other side), then the loonies "make the best of what you've got" attitude and the tigers "we've got the best, what you got" is it.

While the "deux ex machina" feeling of the best SLDF division in history finding a home on the only planet in existence where the people are practical born to be Tigers is obvious, got to say, I don't care since I like the story (and any story involving either the loonies or the tigers) too much. :)

All I need now is for Clan Wolverine (or 331st SLDF Division) to turn up and thats all my favourite story arcs in one story.  Please :)

Now this is why I love this thread. Only the 90th would be crazy enough to plan an objective raid against the Clans while simultaneously overthrowing a corrupt government.

You know, lack of a decent core force of 'Mechs has always been a weakness that the 'loonies have had to deal with but with the Tigers here now to fulfill that role, I'd hate to see just how dangerous this crew can be.

Just hate to see it, understand?  ;)

@lowrolling71: I'm not sure whether they're the only ones crazy enough to try, or just the only folks with the equipment on hand to have a shot at pulling it off.  I've got a funny feeling that a lot of spheroid factions would have the chutzpah to try this sort of stunt given the royal grade mechs and other technical advantages available to the Tigers.  Either way, the Kowloon regent's lads should be a rollover before the main event with the Wolves.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 03-05-2010, 14:53:43]]

HPG ROUTING ARL1312LCNW10/HESP2410LCSW8200001033052

Class: BUSMILROUTINE

To: Management liason Tom Brewer, Plant supervision and maintenance, Defiance Hesperus
From: Ngo Industries Billing and Contracts Deptartment c/o Elaine Moriarty, Counsel

RE:Delinquent Payment Past Due negotiations.

Review of Contract# 616837, update of DefHes 1 to Star League standards shows an outstanding balance of 1.237 billion
Kroner, with a contract penalty of 15% per annum for past-due accounts.  Your last payment rendered was October, 3051,
with service contracts past-due.  Defiance is a valued customer of Ngo Industries and we would hate to be forced to
pursue legal action in collecting this un-paid balance, particularly in light of the current national emergency.

As your firm has not submitted any complaints or issues with the tooling we have supplied them with, and as balance sheet
reports for 4th Quarter, FY 3051 shows both increased orders, and increased revenue, as well as an increased pace of
production at DefHes#1,  we do not find any issues which might justify this oversight.

Contacts with your accounts pending offices, as well as a review under the open-books agreement, indicate that Defiance
Hesperus certainly has the funds to pay this outstanding invoice.   

If there is an adequate reason prompt payment can not be rendered in currency form, I am authorized to negotiate
payments-in-kind for the value of the outstanding balance, on behalf of my Employer, Ngo Industries.

 

HPG ROUTING HESPLCSW8070001133052/2410/ARL1312
Class: BUSMILROUTINE
 
To: Elaine Moriarty, Counsel, Ngo Industries Billing and Contracts dept.
From: Manager Tom Brewer, Defiance Hesperus

RE:Contract #615837

My deepest sincere apologies as to the mix-up.  Our records show that a request was tendered on behalf of Her Grace
Elizabeth Ngo, by her (then) legal guardian Sir James Condit, Regent of Kowloon,  to divert payment to account #A1325C22 Bank
of New Avalon. 

While a subordinate of mine questioned the instruction to transfer, the paperwork looked perfectly legal and legitimate.   
It has come to my attention that this is not the case, and that Her Grace, the owner of your firm, is currently in a somewhat
unstable legal status, pending a ruling by the Commonwealth Courts as to her right to pursue legal Emancipated Minor status.

It is not the policy of Defiance Hesperus to short-change our contractors, sub-contractors, or suppliers.  Payment on the
transfer has been halted, and legal action is pending to recover these funds.  As the current national emergency HAS
created something of a bottleneck, and inter-state funds transfers may be delayed (not the least of which pending a similar
ruling in the FedSuns state regarding the legality of the transaction), Defiance Hesperus is willing to discuss alternative
Payment structures to satisfy the outstanding balance due Ngo Industries for the refit of the Defiance Hesperus #1 facility,
as well as negotiations for a contract extension to build additional capacity to meet new orders, as we are finding it some-
what difficult to keep up with demands imposed by the current military emergency, and the flood of new orders.

I would like to take this opportunity to submit both mine, and my family's condolences to Lady Ngo, and our sincerest
sympathies on her loss, as well as my personal hope that the long business relationship our two firms have shared
continues.

Tom Brewer

... he stole HOW MUCH???

Right.

Sorry, but an Elbar Toothpick's too good for him.

'Lowered one centimeter per hour into a vat of hydrochloric acid' is starting to sound good.

Embezzlement, interfering with critical Defense Industries in a Time of War (If Ngo industries gets into a snit with DefHes, who really wants them to upgrade another line to LosTech standards, and turn out those weapons to fight the Green Turkeys).  Any friends Condit (or his handler) might have in high places are gonna deny they ever knew the man.  They'll be to busy ducking the shit hitting the fan.

thats Billions with a B...

Whether it's "1.237" or "1,237" billion, Condit has to be one greedy bastard be to be also going after a few 1000 acres. Geez, one wonder he got caught.

Whether it's "1.237" or "1,237" billion, Condit has to be one greedy bastard be to be also going after a few 1000 acres. Geez, one wonder he got caught.

I'm getting the impression Condit is the front man for some kind of operation.

Yup, the way they discussed "nothing" leading back to DMI earlier...

The only time that "nothing" ever truly leads to "nothing" is when nobody has actually done anything..  When somebody has done something and convinced people (perhaps including themselves) that nothing leads back to them it just makes the fall from grace that much funnier...

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by blacktigeractual, 04-05-2010, 17:34:47]]

Chapter 3; Business as usual
In which we learn no matter how things change most stuff never does.

I asked Sam to send me Kelly and Marissa from medical.  Not for their medical knowhow, but because they’d been through hell during the occupation and recovered way better than anyone could have expected.  Somebody closer to Elizabeth Ngo’s age might help.  Damnit that kids throws me sometimes.  Just once she needs to break down, just once she needs to be a ****** kid.

Sent ‘Rat and Elizabeth Hazen down to the plateau to hook up with Moshe, good man, but he needs more firepower thus ‘Rat, and well Lizzie Hazen…you figure it out.  Okay gotta go, The Terrible Two are yipping at my heels (Sound of a smack) Yaaah, Zeus above Yuri….

Bruce’s private journal made available by ComStar April of 3100

Mallory Vinson-Tollenson stretched in the cockpit of her HET-7D Hecatoncheires; the three hundred year old machine was in perfect condition, having been sealed up in its shipping crate in an underground bunker.  What struck Mallory was her ride was so damn cool running.

A live fire exercise the ‘Mech barely hit the yellow zone.

I’d have loved to take this baby girl up against the Clans…but I guess these Terrans will have to do.

The thought made her nervous though, somebody had leaked guncam footage of these Tigers from the battle for Terra.  Jock one of Condit’s computer people had actually vouchsafed them.  Nasty bit of a toss that… Still Mallory was or had been a member of the 4th Davion Guards…no has-bens from the past were going to faze her.

It was then her sensors spouted a warning just as a disturbingly familiar shape appeared on the horizon and her speakers crackled with a strangely accented voice.

“Warrior, I am Katya Kerensky, warrior of the 90th Heavy Assault, face me!”  With that the MadCat opened fire.

Lol, if anyone knows how to beat up Hecs, its the Tigers...

Its quite funny really. They kicked the Rimmers across the Sphere, when they showed up again bitch-slapped the Black Widow herself, but here comes little Molly in her cool new ride! A ride the Tigers know better than she ever will...

I’d have loved to take this baby girl up against the Clans

Be careful what you wish for... >:D

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 04-05-2010, 20:53:59]]


Brigham Young Village, Ia Drang Plateau, Kowloon...

The Madcat on the south edge of the village common was laying down a massive stream of long-range fire, meanwhile Moshe was helping the local elders in getting the civilians moving out of town, in the opposite direction-the Rimjobs...scratch that, these aren't Rimjobs, dammit! he reminded himself fiercely, the Militia had finally gotten tired of waiting at the well-head, and were actively moving to suppress the 'soft rebellions' of the farming communities.

Thunder and violence pealed through the air, as he hoisted a runny-nosed little girl into the back of a 7 tonne produce truck that was now, for the time being, taking the place of something more suitable.

"Careful..." he said,  lifting the rear gate and securing the latches.  He walked up to the driver's door. "Drive Northwest and keep going until..."  another crack, and the roof of a house ignited-a missed laser shot, probably.  "...Until you don't hear that anymore." he said, "Follow the route as best you can, but don't stop for anything that you don't have to until you're clear of the fighting, now GO."

The truck lurched and rumbled off, the faces of children and women peering between the slats of the stake-bed.

"That's the last of them?" he asked the Preacher.

"Yeah, we've got riders out in the outlying farms, but that's everyone from the ville itself...everyone, that is, who ain't fit to fight." the Preacher told him.

"Right...okay, we don't have a lot of time before the support-forces following that Hec get here, get able-bodied men working on unloading those pallets and..." He pulled out a map-flimsy, "Teams setting up mines here...and here...every location marked red on this-got it? they MUST go in those locations, friendly forces are coming, and we can't have friendly-fire incidents with this stuff."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 04-05-2010, 21:23:01]]


Chu'an Access Road, Grid 41, Golden Lake District Southeast, foothills of Iron Hill range...


The column of vehicles rumbled up the narrow roadway, choppers on the flanks and a pair of 'mechs bounding along the verge, occasionally the 'mechs would go fully off the road, and into the forest, likely to flush anything  or anyone hiding there.


The Chu'an place had old-growth forest on it, much of it kept along the main road as a noise buffer.  In the Grid 41 area, the access road was cut into a steep hillside, during round-up season, they had to use unmuffled Motorcycles and cub airplanes to keep the beasts on the road until they reached the lowlands.  Yearly, of course, tehre were losses, but in general, this link between the summer range and winter range worked well enough...

"They must think we're stupid."  Dinh Chu'an commented dryly.  "Who would try to ambush anyone from down hill?"

"Maybe that's how they do it on Filtvelt?"  Sam Wong speculated,  "Could be why they get hit by tortuga so often..." the hired foreman added, "You were right-they're going to try and back-way it into the Truong place across your land."

Dinh just scowled, and nodded.  "Everything is exactly where I told you to place it?" he asked.

"Within half a meter." Sam said.

"Better be, or I'm cutting your damn pay." Dinh Chu'ang said, "Tell Raktaja and Smith to get ready, I'm about to widen the roadway a bit."

"Well, once you have us clear the debris..." Sam mock-complained.

"Hey, I'm reliving a youth wasted in service to the Lyran Commonwealth, you keep that in mind..." Dinh said, and closed the contacts.


speaker-wire, more commonly referred to in military circles as "Commo wire" costs about 5/100ths of a Kroner per meter, it doesn't carry much of a charge, and with the old barbed wire fencing in the area, doesn't show up well on 'mech sensors.

Ammonium-nitrate based fertilizers make a fine "Low energy" explosive-lots of 'Push', very useful for road-building, quarry work, or any other job where you need to break something strong, but brittle.  Nitroglycerine, of course, is the first HIGH explosive, and while not much compared to Pentaglycerine (its five hundered years of development descendent), it is quite sufficient both to initiate AnFo, and to generate "Shearing" forces when a small amount is placed into a hole drilled in the base of a tree...


The detonations didn't sound so much like in the movies-there were some loud 'Cracking' noises as the forest-giants along the road were cut down by blasts near their roots-blasts carefully plotted to lay them across the road in a stitch pattern-both inflicting damage on the lighter vehicles, and forcing the column to a halt.

The AnFo, on the other hand, generated a low, grinding rumble.  This rumble coming from a good deal further up-slope,and increasing in intensity, as the landslide picked up speed and additoinal material.

"Now, if I did my math right, the felled logs, and the trapped vehicles, are gonna be JUST enough mass to slow that down-so it'll pile up on top."  Dinh lectured,  "raises the roadbed a good six meters, I reckon, and makes a nice, wide spot we can put to use later..." 

For the Militia force, the Hill itself just...

moved, rolling down on top of them with crushing force, boulders the size of light tanks, and a wave of sandy earth and splintered wood mixed with alluvial gravel, burying vehicles and felled trees, filling air-intakes with dust and weapons ports with packed grit in seconds.

"I think them choppers are going to have a new job-getting their men out of those APC's before they suffocate, don't you?" Dinh commented with a delighted tone.

"I think so..." Sam just stared, as the hill finished burying the middle of the armoured column.

"Keep an eye on 'm a bit, Sam, if they start looking like they're getting their act together, look for the guy with the Pistol, or a guy with a radio, and put one right...here." he pointed at the base of his own throat, "it won't kill 'm right away, they'll have to stop what they're doing and get him help."

"Right sir..."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 04-05-2010, 21:35:46]]


Militia Command Centre, Vin Drin Lap...

"...repeat, avoid all narrow passes, they've started using mines!"  Leutnant Phlip Heiser wasn't really trained for this-his job, for the most part, was sitting in the command centre, relaying information to the Hauptmann (who wasn't present, going on three days now) and subordinate units in the zone.

That was before Leutnant Helver and Lt. Norton were ambushed by insurgents while making a surprise flank run at the place the insurgents were suspected of holding  Neumann's platoon.  Kruegar, the commander of the garrison, was also missing, leaving Heiser in nominal command with the loss of all three combat-arms officers.

"dammit, I got a 'D' in Tactics..." he muttered, "barely graduated...god-dammit!"  one of the enlisted looked up from a terminal.

"Sir?" the soldier asked, looking concerned.  Heiser treated his people well-they were friends...  sort of, as much as the chain of command would allow, anyway. 

"Anything from Air-Recon?" he asked.

"Isolated heat-sigs, sir, but they're...fuzzy. could be people, could be animals." the young soldier said.

"See if you can clear up the imagery." Heiser told him,  "We don't have the firepower now to just blast away at anything that MIGHT be a legitimate target."

"Yes sir."  the young specialist replied.

Heiser sat back and fumed, if only they hadn't taken our best up on the damn plateau! if only...if only I wasn't such a screw-up that they send me here to serve these imbeciles!

For a brief moment,  he realized what a shitty job he had, working for the Regency.  over-ranked tech weenie...yeah, now I'm in command and I'm ****** collapsing!  he sighed again.  "Any word from our comrades?" he asked.

"No sir, at least, nothing for US-I think they ignored your request for support, sir." Sargeant Leslie O'Brien said-as she said everything, primly.

"****** them." Heiser said, "Who wants to fight the people we're supposed to be protecting, raise your hands?"

"Sir, that's mutiny..." someone said.

"So it is, raise your DAMN Hands!" Heiser commanded.

Nobody moved.

"Me either. ****** this shit...Lennart, who's on the 'bad list' with OUR commander? who's a 'troublemaker and potential leader of troublemakers'?"

"um...you want the whole list, or just the top three?" Lennart asked.

"Top ONE." Heiser said.

"That would be..." he pulled up the list, "Locally it would be Evelyn Mosovich-she's just back from the Clan front, there was an order to see if we could detain her for anything...suspicious."

"Get me her on the telephone, or the radio, and see if you can't find that Coast Guard officer, what'sername, Huyn?"

"Why, sir?" Lennart asked.

"Because, I'm sick of this.  I'm sick of looking away while senior officers violate their oaths, and I'm sick to death of drinking to a stupor every night because I'm duty-bound to support them." Heiser said, "I think most of you are, too-and if we Do NOT get a cease-fire out there, we're going to be dealing with a lot of dead friends who didn't have the chance to reconsider what they were doing, or whether the orders they were obeying were legal and right."

"Before we do that, sir..?"  Private Duncan was a meek, often bullied computer systems tech.

"Yeah?" Heiser asked.

"I think we better draw arms and ammo-I don't know, but I 'spect that the guard-force on-site might have a word or two to say about your decision to talk to the insurgents."  Duncan said, "THEY have guns, you know, and it might be a decent idea if we have guns too-just sayin', sir."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 04-05-2010, 22:47:17]]


Yellow Queen, Little Yangtze River, 13km north of Tributary 11...

Mai Huyn used to be a Commander.  Now, she was just another river-boat captain along the 'trunkline' of the Kowloonese west.   Her boat, The Yellow Queen, used to be a light cutter-she'd managed to pick it up at a salvage auction for about one tenth the original cost of the build, and after replacing most of the mil-grade hardware that had been stripped with civilian grade equipment, she made a small living working SAR and fire-watch along the major river-systems, and delivering packages and mail-a polite way to say 'smuggling contraband' whose owners did not want said contraband found by nosey civil-servants.

The crane-mount sat where the old autocannon used to be.   she watched as her crew lowered a pallet of something explosive on to the temporary dock.

"Ma'am?" former Chief Petty Officer Hap Vo said, clearing his throat.

"what's up, chief?" she asked.

"Um...I've got a call on the emergency channel from VDL, ma'am." he said.

she turned around, "What? who is it?"

"It's...it's the 'acting commander of Militia forces', and he wants to talk to YOU personally." Vo said.

"What if I don't want to talk to him?" she asked.

"Um...you WANT to talk to him, ma'am." Vo said,  "Probably a LOT. He's offering to switch sides."

"who, Norton? Neumann? Helver? Those guys wouldn't make that offer-not seriously, anyway." she said, "Much less Kruegar..."

"No ma'am...it's Heiser-apparently Neumann's MIA, Norton's dead, and Helver with him...and rumour has it Kruegar's been captured by hill people." Vo said.

"Opportunities never cease to amaze me, Chief.  I'll go talk to our scared Leutnant, see what he's offering for myself." Mai told him,  "Meanwhile, see if you can't scare up some ex-Marines from our customers, if the offer's genuine, they probably need us to pull their asses out of the fire-or at least, deal with their 'minders'..."

"Aye-Aye, Ma'am."  Vo said.

"Oh, and Cheif? get that contraption off my deck-gun, would you, and have the gunny look it over to make sure we didn't ****** the barrel up when we wrapped it in a crane."

"Oh, and Cheif? get that contraption off my deck-gun, would you, and have the gunny look it over to make sure we didn't ****** the barrel up when we wrapped it in a crane."

Kowloon, where you can count the unarmed indigs on the fingers of one foot. 8)

Didn't you know, sea piracy on Kowloon is conducted using Iowa class battleships since anything smaller is considerably less well armed than the average kowloonese rubber dinghy and bandits travel in battalion strength so they can raid the little old ladies cottage in the woods (who just happens to be ex coast guard spec ops).:)

Lol, if anyone knows how to beat up Hecs, its the Tigers...

Is the Hec a canon mech, or something fan made?

The Heck is a Battlemech that exists solely - for the moment I think - in the Battletech Shattered Dawn fanon, its meant to be a RimWorlds design, the idea is that that AC20 is connected using a system similar to the Mercury. So its not uncommon to find a LRM 20 or even gauss rifle in the same slot.

[Stat-block relocated to Fan Designs]

Centurion03 is correct - it is only found in the SD universe at this time. The Heck-7E is the standard model and a product of the RWR. The -7D piloted by Mallory mounts 2 LRM15 in place of the AC/20 in a semi-modular mount.

The Heck is a Battlemech that exists solely - for the moment I think - in the Battletech Shattered Dawn fanon, its meant to be a RimWorlds design, the idea is that that AC20 is connected using a system similar to the Mercury. So its not uncommon to find a LRM 20 or even gauss rifle in the same slot.

[Stat-block relocated to Fan Designs]

It kinda reminds me of a Shootist on steroids...

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

Okay who's with me on planning the victory parade/ fitting Condit with his necktie party?

Not sure I'd get too far ahead on that, Cannonshop has a way of writing competent villains who find a way to make the heroes pay for their victories.  The parade might be a somber affair with a few hearses amongst the floats...

Very true, Cannonshop has been known to utilize that rarest of characters, the intelligent and cunning Clanner...  [cue dramatic music]

I'm just glad he's not my GM.

the intelligent and cunning Clanner...  [cue dramatic music]

I thought that was what Katya was in here for?  #P

Nah- she's 'Rats latest love interest.  A proto-clanner replaced by the real thing...

<<Ducks!>> ^-^

You'd better duck!  ;D Not going to happen though. We already established that 'Rat prefers redheads and Katya is blond. Now if the Tigers were to somehow take Natasha K as a bondsman, who knows? >:D

Natasha K is more gray haired than red. At this point in the timeline, she's gotta be 65-70. Does the 'Rat really wanna hook up with a cougar?

isn't Mechrat a couple hundred years old?  technically anyways, so he's robbing the cradle.

If ya want to get technical I'd say "robbing the test tube."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 09-05-2010, 21:53:41]]


New Saigon, Khon Tum District, Northeast, 0830...

The knock at the door was loud.  "mmmhhh..." Dinh mumbled, and patted the mattress.  It was still warm, but she wasn't there.

The knock was louder, more insistent.

"Mmmmh...Bỏ đi!" he barked.  HIs mouth felt like it was full of cotton, and his head thumped.

The knock was more insistent still.  He rolled over and forced his eyes open.

"Giữ con ngựa của bạn, tôi tới, dammit..."  He blurrily felt around, and pulled on his boxers, then stumbled to the door.

"Who is it?" he asked in english.

"Dinh! Jesus Christ, dude, open the ****** door, there's trouble, they've cancelled leave."  it took him a moment to recognize Tom's voice...

"cứt, làm tình, chúa trời- lời nguyền rủa nó..." he fumbled with the door, until it opened.  Tommy was in field-gear, and had an extra bundle with him.

"Dinh, you look like shit, dude, come on, we gotta sober you up..." Tommy said, and two troops from the MP platoon pushed their way in.

"wha?"  One MP on each arm, they dragged him into the suite's bathroom, and put him under a cold shower while Tommy prepped a scrubbing dose out of his bag.

"Where am I?" Dinh asked blurrily.

"Your girlfriend told us where she stashed you after you got yourself thrown out of the club last night, mate, and if the shit hadn't hit the fan, we'd be looking to Brig your violent ass."  the big, black MP had a name, and it took Dinh a moment to retrieve it...

"N'kruma?" he mumbled, ******, they sent N'Kruma to pick me up...what did I do last night?

"Yeah, doc, you got the dose yet?"  the big MP asked.

"Coming up..."

Dinh felt the shot go in just over his carotid artery, and the headache immediately eased.

"Drink this...Dinh, big ****** trouble, okay-the ******'n Regent's dirtier than we thought-he's tripped off a ******' civil war and everyone's Leaves are cancelled."  Tommy told him, "Gear's over there."

"What about my ****** Suit?"  Dinh asked.

"Still on the Dropship, and we're going to have to figure out a way to cross seven hundered kliks on our own hook to get there, the ****** local Miliz shot down the chopper when we came in-right now, we're all under the tender ministrations of Sargeant Vao-seein' as he's the ranking Tiger in the district."  Tommy filled him in.

"You mean we're under the control of the ****** Provost?  shit."

The Provost isn't so bad: lotsa CI experience for sure ... in an environment of civil war that is an advantage in terms of survival ...

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 11-05-2010, 08:02:34]]


Ia Drang City...

Percival Kreugar looked at the map, and swore again.  "Sir,  Alpha Alpha and Alpha Bravo are both being pressed hard, shouldn't we pull reinforcements to help them?"  Leftenant Strand, his aide, commented.

"IF we do that, it's going to take the damn cork out of the bottle on the north side." Percival said grimly, "We can't let that happen, Strand-if the Kahanists or the H'mong get rolling south, we'll be between the jaws of a vise."  He nibbled his thumb, "Send the artillery battery south into range, and order Bravo and Alpha to start backing north by northeast until we can get them under the artillery's umbrella."

"Yes Sir!" his aide went to the commo station, and relayed the order.

Kreugar looked at his HHC commander.  "Paul, get the boys up-if their next move is what I think, now that they've got 'mech support from the ninetieth working on the southern sectors, we're going to see the northern and western sectors get even hotter for Charlie Company and their detachments.  They may need to fall back to the positions they had last december-detail our engineering platoons to move out and get some of those minefields active again."

"Yes sir!"

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 11-05-2010, 21:45:33]]


Firebase India, North sector, Ia Drang Plateau, 1500 hours, local

"so...you're saying there's been no activity at all for the last twenty-four hours?" Gennifer Viers-Dupont asked.

"None.  We sent out a patrol looking for 'em, found a couple abandoned camps, but no Charlies, and no Joshuas." Sgt. L'mons reported.

"Damn strange-any sign around the camps?" the acting CO of Company C, 137th FedCom Militia asked.

"No ma'am...well, there were signs they left, but direction? no.  Either they've figured out a way to cover their tracks, or they've suddenly evolved teleportation." the Sgt. stated, "My money's on a new way to cover their damn tracks."

"Villagers still not talking?" Gennifer asked.

"No Ma'am.  Something big must be in the works." L'Mons grumped, "They haven't so much as taken a potshot..."

she stepped up onto the berm, and looked down across the high plains.  "What about the water situation?" she asked.

"our guards on the well heads reported no activity." he told her.

"They're up to something..."  she thought for a moment, then..."Double the guards tonight on the wellheads, and we're going to six hour rotations at the main encampment-six on guard, six on patrol, six for other duties, adn six hours downtime-except for the VTOL crews and 'mechwarriors, 'mechwarriors are twelve-on, six off backing up the armour-with six hour rotations as QRF standby."

"You think they're going to try something when it gets dark?" he asked.

"I would." she replied.  she turned from the berm, and walked back down to the 'mechpool, where techs were servicing her ride.   "Something about this whole situation stinks." Gennifer groused.

"Yes Ma'am..." the Sgt. agreed.

"You're doing it again." she said, "What did I tell you about being a 'yes man', Sargeant?"

"Not to do it." he allowed.

"That is correct...so, if you're agreeing with me, then you also think there's something smelly about this situation?"

"Yes Ma'am.  Word's getting around that Bravo's had a bunch of the draftees deserting." he said, "Not in big lumps, but, like, a seven man detail goes out, and six come back..."

"Well, OUR draftees aren't doing that." she asserted.

"No, Ma'am, they're not, but some of the ex-Fedsuns troops think we've got infiltrators inside the wire, wearing our uniforms..." he said.

"Like the Cappies did?" she asked, "We don't have 'Death Commando' out here, Sarge, nor Nekekami."

"No ma'am." he agreed, "We have religious fanatics, nationalists, and a pissed off population, but no Cappie death-squads."

She stopped.  "They aren't 'fanatics', Sarge.  Fanatics strap bombs to themselves and blow up markets-these guys are sneaky-bastards who don't fight fair, but they also don't target civilian populations in contested zones," she snapped, "They target soldiers, and the occasional Government Official, but they're surgical about it with the Officials-that hit on the mayor of Hung Thiep was right in public, and messy, but nobody got hurt except him-at least, nobody was hurt by THEIR actions except him."

"You sound like you respect 'em, Ma'am?" the NCO's tone carried a question.

"I do. When irregular forces are that precise, and they're able to tie up as many troops as they have being that precise, they're worthy of respect-which is why we're going on the assumption that they've got some major move planned soon-whether it's hitting the well-heads, or hitting the firebase, I don't know yet, and it's useless to speculate, but every time they go quiet like this, they're prepping something..at least, that's been the pattern."

I'm guessing but are "charlies" Kowloonese and "Joshuas" Tigers.

If so why because while "charley" is pretty apt for Kowloonese South east asian style, I don't get "Joshua". ???

I'm guess the 'Joshua's are the religious settlements.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 11-05-2010, 22:08:00]]


1 KM west of Firebase India...

"Coast Guard four six, this is Coast Guard Four Eleven, I've got Packet in my sights, should I engage, over?"  Duk Raktaja's 'hide' was a piece of two-sided blanket-the top layer was an organic canvas, the liner, a carbon-nanotube impregnated fabric-on the dusty highlands of the Plateau, the dirt on the canvas side worked with the nanotubes-suppressing his IR and other emissions-it wasn't quite full-on sneak-suit quality, but it worked here.

"Eleven, Six Actual, Weapons Hold, Over." came the reply over his headset.

"Six Actual, this is Eleven, may I ask why, over?" he inquired.

"Eleven, you may not, Six Over."

"Recieved and understood, Six Actual." he sighed, took a sip from his bladder-bag, and remained where he was-where he Had been for the last two days-pissing into a hole under his crotch, and hoping the low-residue rations weren't killing his kidneys.

He spent the time watching Leutnant Gennifer Viers-Dupont's blonde hair bobbing in his scope.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 12-05-2010, 15:40:57]]


Grid 38, Tru'ong place, Golden Lake district, 1800 hours...

"They surrendered the garrison in Vin Drin Lap."  Evelyn Mosovich announced, hopping out of the cab of a pickup.

"Imagine that." Didi Moran cracked, "Your neighbours buried most of their heavy assets on the access road."

"Where's Truk?" Evelyn asked, "I thought Captain Tranh was coming up with you."

"He's inside." Dee said, "You should leave him alone." she added.

Mosovich looked confused, "What?"

"He's trying to get sitreps from a couple dozen sites across the continent, while advising Bruce, and today would've been his wedding anniversary-so he's doing it while dealing with the fact that his gal's been dead for two hundered years, his homeworld's under yet another hostile occupation, and everyone he's ever known outside the Unit's also long gone...so, unless you've got militarily useful info that you can't just give to me, leave him alone."  Dee clarified.

"What about you?" Evelyn asked.

"I didn't have anyone to leave behind." Dee stated, "I already lost most of my people by the time we hit Terra-Truk, on the other hand, has just been hit with it.  I'd rather not have him drop further into the hole than he's already gone."

The door on the shack banged open.  "Speaking of the devil." Dee commented.

Captain Tranh walked out.  "Dee, Kommandant Mosovich...I want an inventory of what's recoverable from the ambush site at grid 41, a list of wounded prisoners, and a separate list of prisoners who aren't injured, then I want a detail put to work setting up a stockade to hold 'em and some bodies to put on guard detail-for now, we're going to treat them as enemy combatant prisoners under Star League rules.  Then, I want rosters for combat-trained personnel from the rural areas here, anyone that we know for certain can understand and obey orders or follow written instructions, an inventory of miltary capable equipment...and a guide into Minsky's Folly."

"The folly?" Evelyn asked.

"Bruce thinks there's a cache of equipment inside the Folly, if there is, we're going to need it, and we're going to need bodies who can use it." Truk said,  "The Major wants it priority one, preferably by noon to-morrow at the latest."

He paused, "What in hell are you waiting for, engraved invitations? Didee-Mao dammit."

Dee fell in behind Truk as Mosovich got on the chicken-band calling up the neighbours.

"What's the plan, Truk?" she asked.

"Well...depending on what we recover, we're either going to have an infantry unit, or a Cav unit, I'm hoping there's enough vets and potential recruits out and about to turn up at least three troops of mixed Cavalry." he said, "given who's already joined the party locally, we should be at minimum able to field a couple platoons of mechanized, but if we can find enough crews, and the gear's actually where Bruce thinks it is..."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 12-05-2010, 19:29:17]]


New Saigon, Giao Vu Vao's...

"These are good ribs." Sgt. Kham Vao was saying, as Dinh came down from the apartments, "I haven't had anything this good since I was in Hanoi."

"Thank you." Clara Vu smiled brightly at the Earther NCO.

"Look what the cat dragged in."  Vao announced, spotting Dinh as the latter straightened his jacket.  Red was sitting with the Provost NCO at the breakfast counter.

"You've had him a week, does he always end up looking like that?" Vao asked her.

Red shook her head, "nope. Usually his eyes are a lighter shade of red and he's not trying to pull the creases out of his uniform." she said brightly.

"Cherry Blossom Vu!" Clara scolded, "You shouldn't lie about your man like that."

"Coffee?" Dinh asked, plopping into a stool next to Red, who flinched and muttered something about his breath this morning.

N'kruna and Patterson found a booth, and sat down.

"Bet you can't guess how many of our boys are in here, or nearby, Corporal." Vao said.

"Lance Corporal, Sargeant, remember? I got busted down in rank for that mess in the Petrofsky NCO club?" Dinh muttered.

"Remember? I testified at the court-martial, shit I remember...Listen, we've got twenty of our guys and they're all from the Cherry platoons, Cubs, you tracking?"

Dinh nodded,  "Yeah, you've also got Thompson, me, N'Kruna and Patterson-so what? I count you, two corporals, and a Medic, and me a ******' enlisted puke."

"Not anymore you're not." Vao said, flipping a cardboard with rank-tabs on it down the bar.  "Fact is, I need combat-NCO's, so I asked the Major if I could give you back your stripes."

"What??" Dinh stared at the Provost, "You didn't."

Vao shrugged and spread his hands, "No, not really-actually, the Major managed to get a link down to the Captain-he's down playing guerilla with some angry farmers, he told me that 'exigencies of the service' dictate that your crazy ass gets back enough rank to do your damn job."

"I can shoot as a Private." Dinh said.

"Yeah, but you can't take over a greenie platoon of indig volunteers as a Private, you CAN as an NCO." Vao said, "You get one, N'Kruna gets one, Patterson gets one, I get to run the Company, which is going to be a bitch since YOU took the Pre-Officer courses and I didn't...so you get to be my XO, which is to say, my backup NCOIC-congratulations, Corporal, you get to not only do a Sargeant's job, but a Leutenant's job on top of it....for Corporal's pay, while I get shafted having to play both Captain, and First Sargeant unless and until we get some Indig troopers who can do the job."

"Yay...where is this company of volunteers?" Dinh asked, "I see...um...us, and maybe a platoon's worth of Tiger Cubs."

"Never you fear, my boy, you're at least not having to do recruiting duty-your lovely gal here knows a bunch of people just ITCHING to go pound on Militia Ass-they just need competent leadership and a little guidance on the Operational Arts."  Vao said sarcastically, and then winked at Red.

"Did he talk YOU into this, or did you talk HIM?" Dinh asked.

She smiled enigmatically, "It won't be hard to get people to fall in with a bona-fide hero of the Revolution and Elbar, Corporal."  she said evenly, "especially since you're also a local boy...sis, could you get Dinh some breakfast? He's got a busy day ahead of him."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 12-05-2010, 22:27:46]]


ia Drang plateau, grid 128NW...

Travel on the Plateau by road, and you're not going to reach most of the bigger ranches and farms without spending many hours in a haze of dust.  Most of the larger outfits use one form or another of light aircraft, but the most popular one, is a single-engined two seat, high-winged monoplane powered by a four cylinder multifuel wankel rotary, called the Hummingbird.

Backzone bush-pilots fly these fixed-wing machines into areas that many aviators would be hesitant to take a helicopter.

While not much faster than an automobile (managing a mere 60 kph in level flight at operating altitude), the Hummingbirds are almost insanely reliable machines, easy to fly, and can (and usually do) carry more than the manufacturer's recommended loads.

In the lowlands, one might use a truck.  In the Northern highlands of Ia Drang, it's usually a choice of pack-horses, or a Hummingbird.

Today, Bianh Dao and her brother Denh Mikulski Dao, (aged 11 and 14) are going to do something rather unwise...with a Hummingbird.

The reason they're going to do something so thoroughly ill-advised, is because yesterday, by shortwave radio, they found out that their father and mother were killed during a visit with their father's business partner in the Dao Mining Company-a one-hole germanium prospecting venture that just this week turned up a vein of 60% pure ore-a strike that could possibly have made the whole family very wealthy.

"Is that going to work?" Bianh asked.

"Well, the barometer senses air-pressure changes, it's set up to make contact when the air pressure goes up suddenly, which connects to the torch batteries, who provide power to the blasting caps, setting off the Pentaglycerine." Denh explained, "the watch I rigged as a secondary means of closing the circuit, I'll just start it going, bank the plane, and the whole thing should fall out-hopefully right on top of 'em."

Children.  Aren't they amusing?

Well-raised children  ;)

They should at least get a "B" for their science fair project.

An A at least if they can show it works and include their working.  :)

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 13-05-2010, 08:22:48]]


"...took a leaf from the history of the American Green Berets-which, on the balance, was pretty ironic, given the ethnic composition of the planet in question.  Use highly trained professional military personnel to organize and lead irregular troops in low-intensity warfare, rather than trying to brute it out conventionally against an enemy with more (if lower quality) assets on the ground than they had... perhaps unsurprisingly, it worked..."

-Earnest Lynch, MIIO case officer, Special Report to the Archon Prince, August 3053.


"There's always a risk of spreading chaos when you disrupt the orderly function of a state-even if that orderly function is atrocious.  The fine line between what is justice, and what is revenge, can be blurred by anger to a degree that makes reconciliation impossible...and yet, we must reconcile, or there will never be a presence of justice, and without justice, there can be no peace.  It is THIS reason, then, that I signed the Pardon Act..."

-President of the Assembly Marjorie Ngo; My Husband's War, Nha Tranh Press, 2789

Nha Tranh Spaceport, SLDS Sledgehammer, Command and Control deck...

Elizabeth listened to each sitrep in turn, hanging back in the rear of the room as units called in, she took notes on the reports, and on Bruce Gilmour's responses to those reports.

There was a large display map, showing the main inhabited continent.  Regions were marked in one of three colours:

Green: Friendly held territory
Yellow: Contested zones,
Red, Enemy territory-zones under the control of the Regency.

"Major Gilmour?" she piped up.

He glanced over at her, irritated by the interruption.  "What?"

"Amnesty, Major." she said, "I want to offer an amnesty-that should split the draftees, or the officers and men who had...issues with how Condit's regime ran things, away from the hard-core problem personnel."

Bruce looked thoughtful.  "Let me run that past Alvarez and my people on the ground, Liz." he said after a moment, "It might not be feasable."

"Of Course, Major."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 13-05-2010, 18:37:03]]


Maybe in another life
I could find you there
Pulled away before your time
I can't deal, it's so unfair
-Offspring: Gone Away (c)1997


Mess Deck, SLDS Sledgehammer...

Patrick loved chocolate cake out of a foil bag.  The officers were busy, and really, Elizabeth was just getting in the way.  She stared at her plate.  a wave of utter hopelessness crashed through her, a void of fire and a feeling like drowning engulfed every sense.  "IT'S NOT FAIR!!!" she threw the tray, she was shaking and it wasn't fair, everything was wrong, and it wouldn't be right again.

"Hey, you okay?" someone asked. 

Elizabeth turned at the voice, and screamed "GET AWAY FROM ME!!!"  her face was red and blotchy and tears nearly blinded her. "It's not FAIR, it's not RIGHT! HE'S GONE AND I'M HERE AND..." the rest devolved into blubbering.

"Perkowski, get the chaplain, I'll get a cook's mate to clean up the mess."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 13-05-2010, 21:16:24]]


New Saigon, January 24, 3052...

"this is what they think alert means?"  Corporal Dinh looked around the Militia's day-room, and then turned to look at the officers.  "You people think this is how you maintain an alert status?"  he kicked one, an Infantry Hauptmann, in the groin, causing the already kneeling man to double over with the pain.

"I walked a green platoon in here, and took your damn Operations base, in the MIDDLE of an alert."  he knelt down in front of the groaning officer, "Do you have any idea how ****** up that is?  The ****** Rimjobs were better prepared. No wonder you people couldn't handle pirate raids..."  he turned, and kicked another officer-this one wearing the tabs of a Leutnant.

"Who's got family?" he asked the room, "Speak up...if you've got your breath back."

Several of the Regency officers muttered and identified themselves.

"Okay, most of you-then it's too late to exclude you from the gene-pool, you sorry, lazy, clumsy bastards."  He turned to Private Kim.  "Đặt chúng trong các tế bào, cô lập các Sargeants cấp cao và các sĩ quan, sau đó nhận được một lính cứu thương để xem xét trong hai tôi khởi." he ordered, adding, "Chúng tôi đang chơi này bằng cách quy định SLDF, không có nghi ngờ họ sẽ muốn biện hộ. giả vờ bạn không hiểu chúng."

Kim straightened, and saluted, "Khăn thánh Đúng!"

The command staff of the New Saigon police militia would be guesting in cells, the two he'd brutalized would be seen to by a doctor, and Dinh fully intended to stonewall any demands for a legal advocate-for the time being.

That left him with the question of what to do with the lower-enlisted men, middle-rank NCO's, and civilian staff.

Time to call the boss, maybe Vao's got an idea what to do with these guys...  He looked over at the half company or so of lower enlisted who hadn't been killed during the operation-there were expressions ranging from grim satisfaction, to utter shock.

"Now that we have the lickspittles out of the way..." Dinh announced, "Will one of you fine, fine gentlemen tell me exactly why you didn't have patrols running, and what utter jackass thought that a ferrocrete wall, code-locked and equipped with outdated commercial-grade sensors was a safe place in the middle of a violent uprising?"

Nobody volunteered to speak up...

Forty minutes later...

Sgt. Vao looked over the consoles in the command centre, pushed aside a half-eaten danish, examined the surveillance controls, and grunted in disgust.

"Military Police should NEVER act like...this." he announced.  "We're professionals god dammit."

"What I'm wondering, is what the ****** they were waiting for, Sargeant."  Dinh pointed out,  "The only reason for infantry to fort up like this, in an urban situation, is if they're waiting for a rescue or reinforcement-these guys should've been out in the streets, where it's hard to catch 'em..and where they'd be theoretically doing their ****** job."

Vao grunted his assent.  "One teensy riot..." he said.

"Yeah. I wonder...have these ****** gotten used to letting the 'mechs do all the work or something?" Dinh speculated.

"Could be.  What did your trainees find in the armory?" Vao asked.

"Lots of dust, not a lot of ammo, no heavy weapons." Dinh said, "The wheeled APC's are in pretty good shape, and there's teargas ammo for the grenade launchers and lots of rubber-bullets, but damned little live ammo."

Vao looked at him, "Would YOU trust these bozos with live ammo?"

"Not if my life depended on it." Dinh agreed.

Sounds like ARVN to me.

Edit: The Militia so far behaves like a regime-protection force and not a field force and rarely you meet armed forces (units) who ably fulfill both of these missions. Usually the twain shall never meet ...

Wait, these militia troopers know about the Clans and battle armor and this is how they act?  Something's not right here.  Could be incompetence or could be intentional but something isn't kosher here.

The first thing a military unit loses is discipline when they start acting like thugs instead of soldiers. The second thing lost is initiative (jokers become lazy) and lastly courage. Nice work and thanks for sharing.