Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars

[Mendrugo]

Date: November 24, 3025

Location: Verthandi

Title: Mercenary's Star

Author: William H. Keith, Jr.

Type: Novel

Synopsis: The rebel column mounts up at dawn and resumes their trek to the Fox Island base.  Five kilometers from the perimeter, they encounter the mortally wounded Jaleg Yorulis, covered in blood and dirt.  Before dying, he warns the Legion that the Combine is waiting in ambush at the base, and that the rebel 'Mechs, technicians, and council leaders have been seized and sent south.

Grayson decides not to try to spring the trap and fight his way back into Fox Island.  Instead, he informs his Free Verthandi Rangers of the disaster and orders them to move out through the deep jungle towards the village of Westlee. 

They follow a route northwest to the Azure Coast above Ostafjord, which passes within one kilometer of the Fox Island base.  Whenever his troops lag behind, Grayson encourages them to greater speed, warning that the Combine could be in hot pursuit and overtake them at any moment. 

Just past noon, Grayson's fears are realized, as a Combine lance attacks the rear of the rebel column.  The Panther, Phoenix Hawk, Archer, and Colonel Kevlavic's Marauder seem more than a match for two rebel LoggerMechs and Grayson's Shadow Hawk.  However, Grayson manages to get the drop on the Phoenix Hawk and one of the LoggerMechs becomes entangled with the Archer.  Surprised by the ferocity of the counterattack, the three remaining Kurita 'Mechs withdraw, allowing Grayson and the surviving LoggerMech to rejoin the rebel column.

Later, Governor Nagumo accepts Kevlavic's apologies for letting the rebels escape once again, and denies the Colonel's request for a court-martial.  Kevlavic suggests figuring out where the rebels are headed, and intercepting them along their line of march via DropShip, but the satellite scans are unable to penetrate the blue-green jungle canopy.  Nagumo orders Kevlavic to search the jungle for the rebels and the Legion DropShip with greatly increased patrols between Regis and the Azure Coast.

Notes: Nagumo is clearly a soft touch by Kuritan administrator standards.  Other stories from this era have had Combine governors ordering street merchants skinned alive and their families sold into slavery for failing to have a vending permit, and Nagumo is highly understanding about Kevlavic's repeated failure to bring down the mercenary commander.

We have no hard statistics on the quad LoggerMechs other than that they're 60 tons and have the ability to cut and haul lumber, but from the battle description here, they have "paper thin hulls" which are penetrated by a Large Laser and a PPC hit - so either they have less than 8 armor per torso location, or they have BAR 6 armor (allowing penetration without the whole section being denuded).  The destroyed LoggerMech takes a total of 40 damage to the torso (a PPC hit from the Panther, two PPC hits from the Marauder, and two Medium Laser hits from the Marauder), causing critical hits that make smoke and flame jet from the interior.  Physical attacks from the Panther and Archer finish it off.

Playing around with Heavy Metal Pro, I've come up with a design that seems to fit these parameters (paper thin armor, yet still able to take some big hits before going down), slow and poorly armed with jury rigged machine guns, used for cutting trees to make forest roads and harvest lumber, able to load trees into the boxcar-like cargo bay on its back and drag additional logs behind it with a chain.

I've posted the resulting stats in the Fan Designs board:  http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=53478.0

[Mendrugo]

Given how this was arguably the first novels ever written, i can see Mr. Keith making mistake or three by our view point from the future.  I do wonder if his first portrayal of his improvised 'Mech regiment being so heavy man power and combined arms is better echoing of how tough times were in this bleak setting Third Succession War. Where 'Mechs were rare and incredibly power robotic vehicles of destruction, where lance of them would be accompanied by battalion worth of infantry.
Man power is cheap in comparison, but BattleMechs were the Kings of the Battlefield, thus symbol to be feared.

I wouldn't count William Keith's descriptions as mistakes.  The original concept for BattleTech was somewhat similar to Ogre, if you're familiar with that Steve Jackson game system.  Each side would have a few "champion" units that stood head and shoulders above everything else on the battlefield, and they are escorted by swarms of lesser units which serve supporting roles, hoping to tip the balance in favor of their "champion."

There's a scene in Warrior: En Garde where two Assault 'Mechs  face off, and everyone gasps in awe at such a rare sight, and stand back to give them room. 

Keith was one of the key drivers in developing the details of BattleTech's early setting and mood.  There were some things he put in that weren't carried forward by other writers once the sourcebooks came out and started settling the more concrete details of the universe, but that doesn't mean they aren't canon - just tucked away somewhere quiet, un-noted by ComStar and the other in-universe sourcebook authors.  (House Mailai's Erit Cluster, for example)

As far as the Combine garrison being heavy on manpower, I think that's accurate.  Various sourcebooks state that the role of 'Mechs is to seize territory, leaving it to infantry to hold it.  A garrison unit on Verthandi should be largely infantry-based.  The Atlas of the 4th Succession War gives numbers indicating that 'Mech regiments would sometimes be accompanied by more than a dozen conventional support regiments.  Tikonov had 80 regiments of planetary militia (tanks and infantry) and a deep space interdiction fighter wing supporting the CCAF 'Mech regiments stationed there.

[Frabby]

Very happy to see this project continue!

This chapter represents the first appearance of DEST in the BattleTech fiction (not chronologically, but in terms of publication date, since DEST 1 appears in "Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight"), and this scene does an excellent job of defining DEST lethality.

It may be worth noting that the numbering seems odd. Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight gave us the first two DEST teams, numbered One and Two. Far Country, set almost 600 years later, features DEST 6654. This seems to suggest eleven DEST teams on average are put on missions per year. The one in the book, curiously, is DEST number 4. Maybe the numbering isn't counting individual teams or missions after all.

Notes: Nagumo is clearly a soft touch by Kuritan administrator standards.  Other stories from this era have had Combine governors ordering street merchants skinned alive and their families sold into slavery for failing to have a vending permit, and Nagumo is highly understanding about Kevlavic's repeated failure to bring down the mercenary commander.

Disagree. This is the same Nagumo who had a village burnt to the ground with its inhabitants at the beginning of the book just to prove a point, and it's suggested that it was his heavy-handed attempts to put down the insurrection that fanned the flames to the point where the rebels hired the GDL.
Look at Nagumo's situation: He needs results, or Ricol will have his head - quite literally. And Kevlavic is the most competent officer Nagumo has, apparently. Nagumo desperately needs Kevlavic and cannot really do anything beyond throwing a few threats in his direction. Kevlavic probably knows this.

[Mendrugo]

Date: November 26, 3025

Location: Verthandi

Title: Mercenary's Star

Author: William H. Keith, Jr.

Type: Novel

Synopsis: Following an all-day and all-night march covering 1,000 kilometers, the exhausted and demoralized Free Verthandi Rangers arrive at the fishing village of Westlee on the shores of Ostafjord, where the Legion DropShip Phobos has been hiding.  Two PickerMechs and three hover transports had to be abandoned en route due to equipment failure.

At a staff meeting, the Legion MechWarriors join Captain Ilse Martinez, Sergeant Ramage, and Rolf Montido and Collin Dace representing the Free Verthandi Rangers.  Assessing their losses, they note that while most of the army is intact, they lack technical crews and the entire Revolutionary Council, leaving the Legion without a paying client. 

Escape offworld is not an option until the Phobos gets a refit, and the only facilities capable are at the Kurita-controlled Regisport shipyards.  The Legion will not be able to rendezvous with the Invidious when it returns to Verthandi in five days.  They discuss the possibility of hijacking a Kuritan ship to make the linkup at the jump point, but McCall objects to leaving the Verthandians to face the Combine alone.

Montido and Dace offer to help the Legion capture a ship and escape, but acknowledge that without the mercenaries, the Rangers are done for. 

Grayson says that money is a secondary concern, and that he has to live with himself, first and foremost.  He calls for a show of hands for staying or going, and gets unanimous (albeit sometimes reluctant) support for staying. 

With that settled, Grayson outlines an ambitious plan to go beyond just hitting Kuritan outposts and patrols with the Verthandi Rangers.  He wants to create jungle camps to train and arm locals to fight the Combine on their own, mobilizing as much of the populace as possible and working to bring the Loyalist "Blues" over to the side of the rebellion.  He also says he'll need to get a message to the Invidious when it arrives, launching a gambit to bring the conflict to the attention of bigger players in the Succession Wars.

Notes: Upon arrival in the Verthandi system, Grayson and the Invidious' captain, Renfred Tor, agreed that the JumpShip would return to the zenith jump point 900 hours after they parted ways and listen for the Legion's beacon transmission.  If today marks the T-120 hour mark, they've been on Verthandi 780 hours (32.5 standard days).  The scenario pack dates the in-system arrival to October 25, making the Westlee arrival November 26.  The chronology gets a bit confusing during this period due to the fact that local days on Verthandi are longer than standard days (4 local days = 5 standard days).

[Mendrugo]

It may be worth noting that the numbering seems odd. Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight gave us the first two DEST teams, numbered One and Two. Far Country, set almost 600 years later, features DEST 6654. This seems to suggest eleven DEST teams on average are put on missions per year. The one in the book, curiously, is DEST number 4. Maybe the numbering isn't counting individual teams or missions after all.

I'd been assuming that the DEST numbering was like the 'Mech regiments - carried on unless and until the unit is wiped out and stricken from the rolls, with new troops being assigned to replace losses due to death or retirement.  That line of reasoning would imply that DEST 4 has had a long, storied, and successful history, whereas DEST 6654 was a newly created team without any history.  (Which might explain why they thought it was a good idea to have infantry engage BattleMechs in an open field with minimal cover.)  One might imagine that the DEST churn rate was pretty high during the shadow war between the ISF and O5P during Roweena Kurita's era, with questions of loyalty resulting in large numbers of teams being disbanded and their numbers retired.

Disagree. This is the same Nagumo who had a village burnt to the ground with its inhabitants at the beginning of the book just to prove a point, and it's suggested that it was his heavy-handed attempts to put down the insurrection that fanned the flames to the point where the rebels hired the GDL.

Look at Nagumo's situation: He needs results, or Ricol will have his head - quite literally. And Kevlavic is the most competent officer Nagumo has, apparently. Nagumo desperately needs Kevlavic and cannot really do anything beyond throwing a few threats in his direction. Kevlavic probably knows this.

Conceded.  Keith clearly wanted to portray Nagumo as a rational pragmatist who has had stringent quotas and tight deadlines placed on him, and has been trying to satisfy his superiors without any real concern for the lives of the local inhabitants, but treats his own troops with professional respect.  I'd been setting my BattleTech villain-o-meter benchmark at Romano Liao, who would have had Kevlavic's guts for garters after his first failure.

[Mendrugo]

Date: December 1, 3025

Location: Verthandi

Title: Mercenary's Star

Author: William H. Keith, Jr.

Type: Novel

Synopsis: To contact the Invidious, the Legion will need to seize control of a facility capable of deep space transmissions - in this case a Verthandian Loyalist base along the Basin Rim.  (Using the Phobos' transmitter would risk giving away its position.)

While the Free Verthandi Rangers distract the garrison's light 'Mech company with a frontal feint, Sergeant Ramage leads a ten-man commando team to penetrate to the com base's command center, neutralizing the Kurita soldiers and officers inside without alerting the 'Mech garrison.

Ramage uses the console to locate the Invidious, which has arrived at the zenith jump point on schedule.  He patches Lori into the communications system from her Locust, and she transmits a message from a recording tape aboard her 'Mech, sending the full status update and Grayson's secret plan for "recognition".  Ramage compresses the message into a fiftieth of a second "zipsqueal" and sends it to the Invidious.

It takes 11 minutes for the message to reach the jump point, but Ramage's team doesn't have that long to wait, as Loyalist guards begin battering at the command center doors, while a Panther on guard blasts the roof off the building.

Ramage calls Grayson for help as the Kuritan forces try to fight their way into the command center.  The Panther's hand smashes through the ceiling, but is abruptly withdrawn as Grayson's Shadow Hawk arrives to decapitate the smaller 'Mech.  Ramage and his surviving commandos extract and board a transport skimmer.  The Rangers flee back into the jungle, leaving four Loyalist 'Mechs and six support vehicles out of commission.

Notes: The Third Strike Regiment's 'Mechs seem to be scattered throughout the Combine installations in the basin in company and lance-sized detachments.  While that helps them respond quickly to local uprisings, it also leaves them vulnerable to the Rangers, who can concentrate their limited assets and achieve local superiority.

Presumably, the Combine's interest in retaining Verthandi as an economic resource is what prevents the DCMS from defoliating wide swaths of the jungle to strip away the protective canopy and expose the rebels to detection with the satellites.  However, this is the same DCMS that blasted nerve gas into the planetary atmosphere on Mallory's World as a parting gift when forced to retreat.  Are Verthandi's blue sava and garlbean exports really worth heavy losses in irreplaceable LosTech equipment, circa 3025?

The "future of the 80s" motif is on full display here, with Lori carrying a recorded transmission on a reel-to-reel tape.  ("Now this Locust was only driven on Sundays by a MechWarrior with a crippling fear of fire, and comes with a cassette deck and stereo sound.")

Per the Legion timetable, this message was to be sent out 900 hours after the Legion arrived in-system, making this 37.5 standard days after the October 25 drop off - midday on December 1 if we count October 25 as day 1.

[Mendrugo]

Date: December 2, 3025

Location: Verthandi

Title: Mercenary's Star

Author: William H. Keith, Jr.

Type: Novel

Synopsis: The day after the com-center raid, Nagumo visits the "Special Branch" offices/torture chambers in the lower levels of what had been the Regis University archives, increasingly concerned about growing rebel activity across the planet, with reports of previously unknown rebel groups hitting Loyalist and Kurita outposts in the Bluesward, Vrieshaven, and Scandiahelm districts, taking out ten 'Mechs in the week since the destruction of the Fox Island base, and students have been protesting in the streets of Regis.

At Room Six, Nagumo meets with Dr. Vlade and his staff, who have broken Revolutionary Council member Carlotta Helgameyer through use of a neural whip.  Vlade reports she's revealed names of University of Regis faculty and members of the Council of Academicians who have been assisting the rebels, along with prominent members of the planetary government.

Notes: Once again, Hyperpulse Generators don't enter into the plot when they would seem to be central tools.  Nagumo dispatches a courier to Galatea to alert his spies that the Invidous might be returning there.  So...Verthandi doesn't have an HPG?  Not even a Class D message drop?  The ComStar sourcebook indicates that ComStar had re-connected all the worlds of the Inner Sphere to the HPG network by the 1st or 2nd Succession War, and had been pushing out to reconnect the Periphery as well.  Not having coverage on Trell I or Verthandi in 3024-3025 seems like a major gap.

Interestingly, Nagumo comments on the lack of marks on Carlotta's body from the neural whip, yet Duke Harrison Bradford's bio in House Steiner notes that he has an ugly scar running down the whole left side of his face, the mark of a lash from a neural whip.  I guess the whipper in Bradford's case must have been using it to hit as hard as a regular whip, not just touching it to the victim, as in Carlotta's case.

Checking TechManual, the neural whip is listed as having been invented by the Combine in 2215, doing 0.09 points of BattleTech damage per blow (which is, I guess, what Bradford got in the face).

[Mendrugo]

Date: December 3, 3025

Location: Verthandi

Title: Mercenary's Star

Author: William H. Keith, Jr.

Type: Novel

Synopsis: At 2:10 AM, aboard the Phobos, Lori awakens from a recurring nightmare about her parents dying in a fire on Sigurd and her Locust roasting after Grayson hit her with an inferno missile on Trellwan.  She finds Grayson reviewing reports on the growing rebellion, worrying about how to coordinate the efforts of independent groups that are striking on their own and then requesting support when they find themselves outmatched.

Lori attempts to confess her feelings to Grayson - that she loves him, but is held back by her nightmares associating him with her fear of fire.  Distracted by other concerns, he tells her to go back to sleep to be rested for the day's march back to Fox Island.

Later that morning, Nagumo watches Regis burn.  Using Carlotta Helgameyer's information, Combine troops arrested 117 of Verthandi's leading citizens the previous night and began executions at dawn, beginning with Chief Academician Haraldssen.  In response, students and citizens rioted, battling the 2nd and 3rd battalions of the Light Dragon Infantry, while the 1st Battalion kept an eye on the Regis Blues (the Loyalist militia guarding the capital).  Nagumo had ordered BattleMech forces to support the infantry, firing indiscriminately into the mob.  Nagumo's men arrested hundreds more University instructors and disarmed the Regis Blues.

That evening, after a much faster march back from Westlee to Fox Island (presumably using just BattleMechs and skimmers), Grayson and Ramage discuss the status of Fox Island.  They find the buildings burned and leveled and the technical bays stripped, but decide that the Combine will never expect them to reoccupy the site, and set up an advance base camp there. 

They unearth and relocate the land mines left by the Combine, bury the dead left there by the DEST attackers, move their 'Mechs into the still intact caves, and begin planning their next attack.

Notes:  In Lori's dream, she describes Sigurd as a stark and bleak wasteland covered with spires of ice and mounds of snow under a midnight blue sky - a world of frozen seas and towering glaciers.  This fits perfectly with the description of Sigurd in Godt Bytte, and is probably what author Kevin Killiany based his description upon. 

The only problem comes when the Sigurd description gets further fleshed out in "The Price of Glory" adding rocky mountains and other non-ice terrain features, creating a canon discontinuity (in Godt Bytte, as you'll recall, Jarnfolk traders arrange a deal bringing Botany Bay industrial sand to Sigurd because of the ice-world's utter lack of mineral resources).  Plus, the description of her house being made of logs, handmade bricks, and clay contrasts with the lack of soil that is a key plot point in Godt Bytte.  We've learned elsewhere that the soldiers who burned her village and killed her family were government troops putting down a revolt in which her parents were involved.

In this chapter, we learn that Duke Ricol's explicit instructions were to leave the University of Regis alone to preserve the illusion of self-government and normalcy.  Now that the university is ablaze, its teachers arrested or executed, and its students dead in the streets or actively fighting for the rebels, the best Nagumo can hope for is to present Duke Ricol with a secure enclave in the walled capital.

[Mendrugo]

Date: December 4, 3025

Location: Verthandi

Title: Mercenary's Star

Author: William H. Keith, Jr.

Type: Novel

Synopsis: Five kilometers northeast of Regis, a column of Combine infantry and a BattleMech lance escorts fifty women from Regis to Regisport to be taken offworld.  Phoenix Hawk pilot Rodney Pallonby muses that, despite the official explanation that they are to be hostages against further rebellion, they are probably destined for brothels on Luthien and other Combine worlds.

MagRes sensors detect movement, and the 'Mech lance goes on alert.  They are soon confronted by Grayson's Shadow Hawk, which closes rapidly to physical attack range with the second Combine Phoenix Hawk.  The Combine forces move to support their comrade, and are taken unawares by a second rebel force hitting them from behind. 

With the 'Mech lance drawn away from the prisoners, rebel infantry moves in on hovercraft to rescue them, gunning down the Kuritan troops.  The Kuritans have just enough time to call for help before they are destroyed.

Grayson receives word that two lances have been dispatched from Regis towards his position, but the rebels have positioned a second ambush force to deal with reinforcements, and Strike Two manages to delay the reinforcements for twenty minutes before breaking off, plenty of time for Strike One to get the prisoners to safety and scavenge the downed Kurita 'Mechs.

Back at the Fox Island camp, the rebels discover that one of the rescued women is their former aerospace pilot, Sue Ellen Klein, who is haggard and traumatized by her experiences since revealing Ericksson's name.  She confesses to betraying the Legion.  Grayson attempts to comfort her.

Also among the rescued captives is Janice Taylor, a history teacher at Regis University.  Her family was arrested along with her, and most were marched off in chains to work at the mines earlier that morning.  He offers to try to rescue the people there.

She tells Grayson his rebels have become popular heroes, and says that the people of Regis might join him, if given half a chance, and that those sent to the mines for resisting the Combine certainly will support the rebels if freed.

Notes:  Slavery has a long history in the Draconis Combine.  At the time of the rise of House Kurita, several New Samarkand city-states permitted strictly regulated slavery.

Nihongi Von Rohrs sold his mother's youngest sister, Lenore Kurita, into slavery in 2421.  She lived as the property of a "noble" ruler of a Periphery world for 15 years until he killed her for sport. 

The Combine maintained large slave camps on Richmond until they were attacked and liberated by the Minnesota Tribe.

On worlds where corporations run their holdings as private fiefdoms, the families of those convicted of lawbreaking may be sold into slavery to work in the mines or staff brothels. 

Unproductives receive no salary for their work and are housed and fed in slave-like conditions.

The Legion of Vega, created in 3011, includes MechWarriors captured in the Periphery and sold as slaves to the Legion.

Jaime Wolf, when negotiating with Federated Suns officials on Quentin while under contract to the Draconis Combine, feels the need to promise that the cities occupied will not be subjected to slave gangs or forced labor.

[Mendrugo]

Date: December 4, 3025

Location: Verthandi

Title: First Mission

Author: William H. Keith, Jr.

Type: Scenario

Synopsis: The Gray Death Legion scenario pack presents the liberation of the slaves as a scenario in "First Mission."  As a setup, the "Daring Rescue" textbox (presented as an excerpt from a book by Janice Taylor's book "Echoes of the Past") recounts that Nagumo rounded up the intellectuals, doctors, teachers, students, and historians to eliminate the potential for trouble presented by the University of Regis.  The older men and women were shot on the spot, while the young men were chained together and marched to the mines.  Fifty young women were tied together and marched north to the DropPort.

The scenario pits a Kuritan Light Recon Lance (2 Phoenix Hawks, 1 Wasp, 1 Stinger) and five squads of ground troops against Strike One (Carlyle's Shadow Hawk, Kalmar's Locust, and 2 Stingers).  The Legion may add up to 80 tons of armored vehicles, but the Kuritans then get to add an additional 10 infantry squads (4-man SRM infantry groups).  The Legion player gets to secretly place his troops after the Combine player has set up.  The Kuritan player also places ten markers to represent groups of five slaves.

The Kuritans score 5 points for destroying Carlyle's Shadow Hawk, 3 for each Stinger, and (oddly) no points for Lori's Locust.  Each slave squad that exits the north of the map counts two points, but each group rescued costs one point.

The rebels score 1 point for each slave group rescued, 5 points for Rodney Pallonby's Phoenix Hawk, and 3 for each other 'Mech, but loses 1 for each prisoner group killed or moving off the map to the DropShip, and loses 3 for each rebel 'Mech destroyed.

Slaves move one hex per turn, and may be moved by any player that has a unit adjacent to them (so they essentially have to be escorted off).  'Mechs with hands can carry prisoners, but cannot fight or run.

Notes:  The ease or difficulty of how this scenario plays out really depends on how each force is configured.  In the base case with no armored vehicles and no infantry reinforcements, Grayson's force is outgunned by the Kuritan escorts (the 2 Stingers balance the Wasp and Stinger, but Lori's Locust isn't a match for the second Phoenix Hawk, and Pallonby's Phoenix Hawk has greater mobility and better firepower than Carlyle's Shadow Hawk - just worse heat management.)

The key to the engagement is that the prisoners won't move unless escorted.  If the Shadow Hawk begins by raining LRMs and long range autocannon fire on the five escort squads, the 4-man groups suffer heavy casualties in short order, leaving the four 'Mechs with a choice of either moving at 1 hex per turn (giving up their defensive movement bonuses) or leaving the prisoners in place while they move to engage Grayson.

The other rebel 'Mechs can be positioned near Grayson in ambush mode - hopefully allowing massed fire on rear arcs to balance the greater enemy strength. 

In the base case, the Kuritans' best option would be to cluster the prisoners around the infantry so that one squad could keep up to seven prisoner groups moving.  (Move the infantry last so that they can move forward to re-establish position at the center of each group).  Making two groups of five prisoners, with 2 or 3 infantry at the core, would add redundancy in the case of a squad's annihilation, and give some more concentrated firepower in case a light 'Mech came probing. 

Use the 'Mechs as a fast response group to engage any 'Mechs that try to approach the infantry/slave clusters.  Concentrate fire to bring them down.  Don't worry too much about long range harassing fire from Grayson - if you keep your 'Mechs moving, he won't be very accurate (Gunnery 6, per the scenario pack).  Rush him if he's the only target, but I'd recommend you stay at medium-to-long range so he can't bring his Medium Laser or SRMs (or punches/kicks) into play - just answer his LRM-5 and AC/5 with your two Large Lasers.  You come out ahead, probably forcing him to break off or call up his ambushers as reserves.  If anybody picks up a slave, they will only be able to walk, so massed fire will end their career quickly.  (If you really want to save the slaves, jet over to the rescuer and kick their legs off).

The dynamic changes drastically if the Legion adds armored vehicles.  Yes, the Combine gets an extra 10 SRM squads, but the rules offer no restrictions whatsoever on the number or configuration of the vehicles - just an 80 ton limit.

For the Legion, I'd recommend a Maxim Heavy Transport Hovercraft (50 tons), backed by three wheeled APCs.  (The Wheeled variants are as fast as the Tracked and have the most armor.  The Hover variants are faster, but very thin skinned).  The Maxim's LRMs can wreak havoc with the infantry escorts from well out of their response range, while the machine guns will end the fight quickly once it closes.  The Wheeled APCs each add two turret-mounted MGs to clear out the infantry.  Such an armor lance could carry 8 of the 10 prisoner groups in one trip - picking them up, racing to a friendly edge, offloading, then going back for more - with none of the "escort the prisoners one hex per turn" nonsense.

In this case, bait the 'Mechs to charge Grayson as outlined above, with the other 'Mechs lying in wait, but have the armor hidden on the other side of the map.  When the 'Mechs are drawn off, swoop in at the infantry at full speed and massacre them with your machine guns.  With the MG bonus against infantry in the open, one shot should put down an entire 4-man squad, and you're bringing nine MGs up against 15 infantry squads.  Two passes (three, if the dice don't like you) should be sufficient.  Then, it's just a matter of using Grayson's   'Mechs to hold off the Combine escorts while the transports get the slaves to safety (moving them to the edge, offloading them, and directing them to move off the board, so you don't lose the use of the APC).

As an alternative strategy, since it will take about 30 turns for the slaves to march off under escort, focus your vehicle picks on 'Mech killing tanks, and wipe out the Kuritan lance.  Once the 'Mechs are down, you can pick off the infantry escorts from long range at your leisure.  Adding a Demolisher or two Hetzers to the ambush group would be a good way to quickly put down the enemy 'Mechs. 

Or, for a fun alternative, field 16 5-ton hovercraft.  It's too early, chronologically, to put Savannah Masters into play, but the 5-ton Skimmer (from MechWarrior 1st Edition) fits the bill - moving a ludicrous 18/27, it packs a front mounted small laser and a rear-mounted flamer, with 3 armor on the front, 2 on each side, and 1 on the back, it can generally withstand a lucky SRM hit.  When a swarm of 16 descend, they should be able to wipe out the majority of the Combine escorts in a single pass, and then return to go after each of the Combine 'Mechs in turn like a school of barracuda.

Faced with such min/maxing, the Kuritan infantry should immediately shoot the prisoners.  Both sides lose one point for them being dead, so it balances out, rendering them point-neutral.  Then just focus on killing Grayson and the two Stingers, and pull your surviving 'Mechs out to salvage a victory on points.

[skiltao]

The ComStar sourcebook indicates that ComStar had re-connected all the worlds of the Inner Sphere to the HPG network by the 1st or 2nd Succession War

I don't think that's true. At least, I've not yet found any remarks to that effect.

It does say that by 2857 the network had been strengthened and expanded enough that they had to increase the First Circuit (primary relays around Terra) from six to ten stations. If the load was 10/6ths of what they had in 2802 (less than either 40% or 50% of the Star League's full network) then that implies reconnection to less than 80% of the Inner Sphere, not to mention ignoring worlds too trivial or too late to have been part of the Star League network; and efforts to expand may have slowed considerably as ComStar's influence waned over the next century and a half.

Supposing the courier is for some reason going to directly to Galatea himself instead of to the nearest HPG station, perhaps he could move quickly by changing ships instead of waiting for an empty collar; he'd be likely to beat any Legion DropShip to Galatea, and (depending on timing of HPG relays) can potentially even beat an HPG message.

[Mendrugo]

The command circuit could work for the courier, but the Invidious itself is implied to have somehow returned to Galatea by December 4, based on its placement in the book.  Since it took months for it to reach Verthandi in the first place, I've estimated the Galatea scenes can't be earlier than March 3026.

[Mendrugo]

I don't think that's true. At least, I've not yet found any remarks to that effect.

Sorry - the source was not the ComStar sourcebook.  It was MechWarrior 1st Edition, p. 130:  "There are well over 50 'A' stations scattered throughout the Inner Sphere.  In addition, there are stations capable of transmission and reception over a 20- to 30-light-year span.  These are the 'B' stations located at every inhabited world in the Inner Sphere, except the independent worlds of Butte Hold, Redmond, Unuk al Hay, Santander, Oberon, and New Silesia."

If that description was accurate, then both Trellwan and Verthandi should have HPG stations.

[skiltao]

MechWarrior 1st edition only counts 450 "inhabited worlds" in the Inner Sphere, though. Trellwan and Verthandi may not be populous enough to be counted in that number.

[David CGB]

MechWarrior 1st edition only counts 450 "inhabited worlds" in the Inner Sphere, though. Trellwan and Verthandi may not be populous enough to be counted in that number.

ya not enough cash, not enough people to educate "brainwash" to join comstar

[Mendrugo]

Date: December 10, 3025

Location: Cimeron

Title: A Train to Catch

Author: Dale L. Kemper, Blaine Lee Pardoe, Anthony Pryor, and John Theison

Type: Scenario

Synopsis:  During a Fifth Sword of Light raid on Cimeron, Sorenson's Sabres capture a Davion officer.  Interrogation reveals that planetary garrison commander General Arthur Hamburg has been wounded, and is being transported by bullet train to a hospital several hundred kilometers behind the lines, in the city of Clemens.  Two lances of the Sabres circle into the AFFS rear area and attempt to take out the train in the Braun Highlands, which is being defended by two lances of Grinder Company, under Captain Bran Yors.

Historically, the Sabres had a hard fight, but succeeded in crippling the train, killing General Hamburg and dealing a severe blow to Davion morale.

The Sabres deploy a Marauder, Rifleman (with a balky autocannon), Trebuchet, Stinger, Archer, Phoenix Hawk LAM, Hermes III, and Wasp. 

Grinder Company consists of an Archer, Warhammer, Griffin, Stinger (with bad jump jets), Enforcer, Phoenix Hawk (with a bum left arm), Cicada, and Wasp.

Notes:  The scenario includes surprisingly detailed rules for bullet train crashes.  Hitting any train car for 12 or more damage or standing in the path of the train causes it to derail.  (15D6 damage for the direct impact, 6D6 damage if a derailing car hits a 'Mech). 

The Sabres win the scenario by destroying the train.  If the Combine player really wants it, the presence of a Phoenix Hawk LAM makes it pretty much a given - switch to AirMech mode and pop down right in front of the train when it arrives on turn 3, and mission accomplished.  Withdraw and raise a cup of sake to the memory of Moretti.

Per the scenario guidelines, the only way for Grinder Company to win is to get the train through intact and lose less than three 'Mechs for every one Sabre unit that goes down.  As noted above, the Sabres can almost automatically kill the train, so their only real hope is to cause heavy casualties to the Sabres to knock it down to a marginal victory.

[Mendrugo]

MechWarrior 1st edition only counts 450 "inhabited worlds" in the Inner Sphere, though. Trellwan and Verthandi may not be populous enough to be counted in that number.

What page is that on?  Page 4 says 1,500 were settled during the First Exodus, and an additional 750 were settled by 2700 (p. 6), giving us 2,250, rather than 450.

[skiltao]

It's the total you get from adding up each House. The Davion entry is explicit about there being a difference between "actively settled" and total occupied, though not about what exactly that distinction *is*.

Federated Suns - 110 (page 112): "There are presently about 110 star systems actively settled under its aegis, nearly double the number of worlds controlled at the beginning of the Succession Wars. In addition, uncounted other worlds are claimed and exploited by Davion forces."

Lyran Commonwealth - 90 (page 115): "The Lyran Commonwealth currently rules about 90 worlds in the northwest quadrant of the Inner Sphere."

Capellan Confederation - less than 40 (page 118): Though the Confederation presently controls less than 40 settled worlds, it has a complex political structure to match its undiminished dreams of power.

Draconis Combine - 100 (page 121): "At present, it consists of approximately 100 worlds.

Free Worlds League - 110 (page 125): "Today, the Free Worlds League consists of approximately 110 worlds, divided into nearly 80 smaller principalities, ranging in size from the tiny Duchy of New Assam (consisting of a single continent on Tiber IV) to the Principality of Andurien, which spans four worlds and controls parts of five others."

And then ComStar of course controls Terra.

Edit, more food for thought:
-MW1e says the Lyrans "rule" 90 worlds, and the House Steiner book mentions how little governance there is on many worlds (fourth page of the Culture and Arts section);
-MW1e says the Suns have 110 "actively settled" worlds, and the House Davion book talks continually about how underdeveloped the realm is;
-MW1e says the Capellans "control" "less than 40" worlds, and (ignoring the Chesterton worlds) the House Liao book has exactly 40 significantly populated worlds in its Atlas.

[Mendrugo]

Fair enough, though those numbers have been supplanted by later source material, whereas the numbers in the intro are pretty consistent with the official numbers today (newer sources trump old).

I haven't seen any newer sources saying ComStar hasn't nearly completely restored HPGs to every Inner Sphere system, though.

[Frabby]

Goes to show just how arbitrarily systems are placed/not placed on maps. To quote myself over in the "Unmapped, lost or misnamed systems and planets" thread,

- The HB:Liao states the CC as of 3025 has 217 systems with an average of two populated worlds in them (426 worlds in the 217 systems); similarly, the Duchy of Fenestere mentioned in HB:Davion (FS?) encompasses 18 planets in (only) 5 systems.

- The HB:Steiner states that the LC spans "over 300 planets" (likely meaning "systems" from the context). It goes on to say that "for every inhabited planet, at least five to ten others are either uninhabited, inhospitable, or with populations too small or private to be recognized".

And that's before any deliberate obfuscation by ComStar (e.g. Hidden Five, Haddings) or any of the Houses (e.g. Hamlin, Ral, Dragon's Field) - all in the 3025 era.

[Mendrugo]

Date: December 16, 3025

Location: Luthien

Title: Wolves on the Border

Author: Robert Charrette

Type: Novel

Synopsis:  Coordinator Takashi Kurita meets with his senior council in the Black Room, a highly secure room for discussing top secret plans.  This is the first meeting for newly appointed Warlord of Benjamin Hirushi Shotugama, who replaced Warlord Yoriyoshi.  Takashi notes that his cousin, Marcus Kurita, who would normally be in attendance as the Chief of Strategies, is uncharacteristically absent.  Grieg Samsonov (Galedon), Vasily Cherenkoff (Dieron), Kester Hsiun Chi (Pesht), and ISF Director Subhash Indrahar round out the council.  If the Warlord of Rasalhague is present, he doesn't have a speaking role.

ISF Director Subhash Indrahar reports that the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth are sharing technological data and coordinating military operations.  He speculates that Hanse Davion secretly agreed to Katrina Steiner's peace proposal in 3020.

Subhash then reports that propaganda efforts have convinced the Combine's populace that the Galtor Campaign was a victory, despite the actual facts of the situation.  Warlord Grieg Samsonov denies any responsibility for the defeat, placing the blame on Yoriyoshi.

Takashi orders the Fifth Sword of Light to be transferred to Dieron to raid throughout the corridor of worlds linking the Federated Suns to Terra, hoping to cut off contact between House Davion and House Steiner.

Grieg Samsonov raises the issue of Wolf's Dragoons, warning that they have sent an officer to Galatea to entertain recruiting agents from other employers.  He worries that this indicates the Dragoons do not intend to renew their contract with the Combine, leaving the border with the Federated Suns vulnerable.

Takashi acknowledges that the Combine lacks units with the Dragoons' fast-strike capability, and proclaims that a new unit will be formed to work alongside the Dragoons and learn their methods, under the command of current liaison officer Minobu Tetsuhara.  As a compensation to Samsonov, who clearly had his own plan to present, he asks the warlord to appoint a new liaison officer to replace Tetsuhara.

He also orders Subhash to see what can be done to persuade the Dragoons to stay in service to the Combine, and to arrange insurance in case they do decide to leave. 

Throughout the meeting, the Warlords attempt to show their accomplishments in the best light while undercutting and demeaning each other.  Takashi watches the byplay carefully to ensure that each of them is able to keep the others off balance and focused on their rivalry, so that none may feel strong enough to challenge the Coordinator.

Notes:  The strongest parts of both Wolves on the Border and Heir to the Dragon are the complex picture Robert Charrette paints of internal Combine politics. 

The overthrow of the Kurita dynasty by the Von Rohrs usurpers must have resonated down through the generations after the Kurita restoration, instilling paranoia at nearly a genetic level.  (Of course, with his father dead at the hands of one of his own guards and himself having narrowly survived at least two assassination attempts, perhaps a high level of paranoia is justified.)  In the Dark Age timeline, we see the consequences of having a weak Coordinator and Warlords with unchecked ambitions.

While it can be argued that Takashi values the Dragoons' services, disapproves of Samsonov's earlier efforts to take control of the mercenaries, and wants the warlord to restrain himself when dealing with them in the future, his aside to Subhash Indrahar to "arrange insurance" in the event they leave the Combine's service indicates he's not opposed to having them neutralized if they choose to no longer fight for the Combine.

Marcus Kurita's unexplained absence may be some foreshadowing of his scheme to keep Franklin Sakamoto (now about five or six years old) hidden as a substitute heir to the Coordinatorship. 

In this meeting, we also get a sense that Takashi isn't placing much faith in the support offered by House Liao or House Marik, his erstwhile allies against Houses Davion and Steiner.  Marik isn't even mentioned, and Liao support is projected to mainly take the form of intrigue.  (Oddly, there's no explicit mention of the Capellans' recent gambit to replace Hanse Davion with an impostor, which the Combine ambassador to Tharkad seemed to be aware of.)

I'm surprised that Takashi and Subhash can't confirm the FedCom alliance at this fairly late date.  Isn't Sharilar Mori feeding any intel back to the Order of the Five Pillars?  Or is the O5P sitting on that intel for their own purposes?  (See, this is what makes Combine politics so much fun...)

[Mendrugo]

Date: November 2, 3025

Location: New Syrtis

Title: The Hungry Dogs

Author: Jack Herman

Type: Graphic Novel

Synopsis: At his palatial estate on New Syrtis, Duke Michael Hasek-Davion discusses the Tibolt situation with his aide, Fencik.  He says he hopes the fighting on Tibolt will force New Avalon to focus on the Capellan front, rather than prioritizing the Draconis front. 

Fencik warns that escalating the fighting on Tibolt could risk his relationship with the Capellans and could anger Hanse Davion enough to make him arrest Michael's son, Morgan, who currently serves on Hanse's household guard.

Michael says that he knows secrets he's kept even from Fencik, that Tibolt has the "stuff of destiny" on it. 

The scene ends with a collared large cat (tiger-sized) growling, and Hasek ordering Fencik to feed it.

Notes:  New Syrtis is looking unusually temperate, with deciduous trees and lush, green outdoor gardens.  (Of course, we have a scene in the Warrior Trilogy where Duke Hasek looks out his window at the surrounding red-rock desert, so it's clear the final climate of New Syrtis wasn't set in stone in these early works.)  This could be in the equatorial belt, but certainly isn't anywhere near the capital city of Saso.

It's odd that Michael would want Hanse's attention to return to the Capellan March, since he appears to want little to no interference in how he runs his treasonous operations on the Capellan border.  The reference to a relationship with the Capellans indicates that senior staff in Hasek's retinue are aware of his treasonous dealings with House Liao, and their deal to keep the border as quiet as possible.

[Frabby]

Warlord of the Rasalhague District as of 3025 was Ivan Sorenson - following his rescue of Takashi from the stricken DropShip in 3019 during Marcus Kurita's latest assassination attempt which also saw Marcus subsequently "promoted" to Luthien, to keep him on a short leash.

The Concord of Kapteyn was signed in 3022, and Kurita explicitly used the thread of the FedCom alliance (intel obtained through "leaks" in ComStar) to bring in Marik and Liao. So everybody is aware of the FedCom alliance as such. Perhaps the unprecedented level of technological and industrial cooperation that will lead to a merger of Houses Davion and Steiner is what threw them off.

I like how you're also including the graphic novels!  O0
The "prioritizing" of the Capellan march over the Draconis march that Duke Hasek-Davion wants may be monetary rather than militarily. On the other hand, more military attention also just boils down to more troops being put under his command as march lord.
Oh, and regarding the level to which Hasek-Davion's staff was aware of his dealings, look no further than Count Anton Vitios, whom Michael Hasek-Davion fully informs about his plans in Warrior: Riposte.

[Mendrugo]

Date: November 16, 3025

Location: Tibolt

Title: The Hungry Dogs

Author: Jack Herman

Type: Graphic Novel

Synopsis: Abel Company of the 2nd Crucis Lancers arrives in the Tibolt system at pirate point in orbit.  The unit is under the command of Corporal Nazerine Lugosi (a recent transfer from the 8th Crucis Lancers).  Their DropShip detaches from the JumpShip and burns towards the planet, blasting its way past Capellan Transgressors with the help of its two Corsair aerospace fighters. 

Notes:  The artists clearly had canon reference material to work from.  The Scout-class JumpShip is accurate and uses its sail appropriately.  The Corsairs are straight out of TRO: 3025 (and Dougram Fang of the Sun...) and the Capellan fighters are somewhat recognizable as Transgressors.  The neurohelmets are also accurate to the BattleTech aesthetic.

The AFFS DropShip is another matter.  Capable of carrying a whole 'Mech company and two fighters, it appears to be an aerodyne counterpart to the Union.

Hyperspace travel is psychadelic, looking very Kirby-esque.  One might expect the Dread Dormammu to pop up and try to hitch a ride.  It also appears to take physical time during transit, much to the discomfort of Lugosi, who suffers from Transit Disorientation Syndrome ("TDS" aka "jumpsickness").  Perhaps what's seen in the panel is what people with TDS experience, while most spaceborne humans experience no perceptible sensory input. 

[Wrangler]

Wow, that artist really drew Warlords on ugly side (aside from Coordinator Kurita), Subhash died in 3057, he looks like old man already in 3025!

Isn't it bit early for Sharilar Mori to start feeding anything, she must have just joined ComStar if as yet to join.

[Mendrugo]

The artist drew Takashi hideous, too.  The picture I used is from the cover of the Succession Wars boxed set.

Sharilar's an Adept as of September 3026, per "Wolves on the Border," meaning she's already gone through her period as an Acolyte, which usually lasts between 1 and 25 years (promotion takes place when a supervisor decides it is warranted, or automatically after 25 years).  Her bio in Era Report: 3052 says she joined ComStar at age 14, in 3011.

Hmmm.  Then who is the "Sharilar" Florimel is talking to in 3019 in "Heir to the Dragon"?  I'd been under the impression that O5P assigned "Jukurensha Sharilar" to infiltrate ComStar between 3019 and 3025, since she's still serving O5P in 3019.  On page 210, Constance "arches her brows" after hearing Sharilar Mori's name as Precentor Dieron, mentally noting that it "puts a different cast on the situation."  Why would Charrette namecheck a Sharilar connected to Constance earlier if Mori is a different person?

[Mendrugo]

Date: November 17, 3025

Location: Tibolt

Title: The Black Sheep

Author: Jack Herman

Type: Graphic Novel

Synopsis:  The Third Regiment of McCarron's Armored Cavalry, a Capellan-contracted mercenary unit, slogs through a pre-dawn blizzard to reinforce Refinery City, which is under attack by Miller's Marauders, a mercenary force under contract to the Federated Suns.  Unbeknownst to them, Abel Company from the 2nd Crucis Lancers has landed across their line of march, and is preparing an ambush.

The ambush goes well, and the lighter 'Mechs of Abel Company are able to shatter the MAC force.  Without reinforcements, the city falls to Miller's Marauders.  Abel Company relocates to Refinery City, and gets word from a Miller's Marauders officer that more Capellan units are inbound, and that they're planning to leave before the fresh CCAF troops arrive.

Notes:  Tibolt is not a pleasant world - introduced as "a tiny, worthless ball of rock somewhere outside the Capellan border in the Periphery."  (Say, wonder if the Aurigans trade there...)  Its atmosphere is described as sulfurous, with constant fog and rain (though these scenes mostly depict snow), limiting visibility to less than ten meters even under optimal conditions.  Several mining colonies feed their ore output back to Refinery City, where it's processed for export.

I continue to wonder just what source material BlackThorne was given as reference - clearly TRO:3025 and probably the manual from either BattleDroids or BattleTech 2nd Edition.  Several times, characters express misgivings about the risk that their actions will lead to war with the Capellan Confederation.  Circa 3025, war with the Capellan Confederation is a given, since the Third Succession War is well into its second century. 

Interestingly, the Capellan Flag shown is the Confederation's original insignia, rather than the triangle-and-sword that generally serves in the modern era. 

[Mendrugo]

Date: November 17, 3025

Location: New Avalon

Title: The Black Sheep

Author: Jack Herman

Type: Graphic Novel

Synopsis:  In the ornately decorated throne room of the Davion Palace on New Avalon, Hanse Davion receives a messenger with news that Michael Hasek-Davion has ordered Miller's Marauders to Tibolt, risking retaliation from the Capellan Confederation.  Hanse orders the Crucis Lancers to full alert, and tells the messenger to deny involvement through diplomatic channels.  He swears to deal with Duke Michael "permanently."

En route to a meeting with his generals in the courtyard, Hanse stops by the room where Morgan Hasek-Davion, Michael's son, is sleeping.  He strokes Morgan's forehead and ponders whether he should put him in the dungeon or send his head to New Syrtis on a platter if Morgan is involved in his father's schemes, though he notes that he owes Morgan his life. 

Notes: Wow.  This scene is about a weird as it gets, visually - right up there with the "Spider and the Wolf" version of Aleksandr Kerensky with a full head of hair and an eyepatch.  Clearly, the reference material BlackThorne was working off did not include any hint at what Hanse looked like, so (again), they went back to the Flash Gordon well - flowing high-collared capes, bare arms with wristbands, etc.  Artist Stan Timmons seems to be attempting to emulate Jack Kirby's work on Doctor Strange.

I don't recall any accounts where Morgan saved Hanse's life - anyone else?  Morgan wasn't involved at all in the recent swap of Hanse with a Capellan doppleganger - a scheme which Michael worked to facilitate. 

The Davion sourcebooks note that Hanse and Michael fought a hidden war for control of the Federated Suns after Ian's death, involving both political maneuvering and assassins.  We don't have any real details on specific shenanigans during this struggle, but Michael probably didn't leave any hard evidence of his involvement, preventing Hanse from moving against the politically popular March Lord.  After outright assassination attempts, it's odd that sending mercenaries to beat on a Capellan world would be the trigger for Hanse swearing to put a permanent end to his brother-in-law.

[Mendrugo]

Date: November 18, 3025

Location: Tibolt

Title: The Black Sheep

Author: Jack Herman

Type: Graphic Novel

Synopsis: An odd-looking class of JumpShip (identical to one seen in "Spider and the Wolf") arrives in the Tibolt system and deploys the Overlord-class archaeological vessel Holocroft, which lands at Refinery City.  A drilling rig (perhaps a Corx Mobile Tunnel Miner or something equivalent) offloads and, within hours, helps the archaeological team break through into a vault filled with pristine BattleMechs. 

However, in orbit, at least four Union DropShips carry elements of the Northwind Highlanders towards Tibolt, with orders to put the planet to the torch if necessary to stop the Federated Suns from looting the planet.

Notes:  The 'Mechs shown in the cache are a JagerMech, Charger, Atlas, Crusader, and Archer, plus one I don't recognize with a large faceplate and spiked shoulder pauldrons.  The presence of the JagerMech would seem to indicate this is an old SLDF or post-Succession Wars cache, since the JagerMech only debuted in 2774 - during the Civil War, so Taurians and Canopians active in this area wouldn't have had access to the design to cache it during the secret build-up prior to the Periphery Uprising.  Likewise, the 2755-created Atlas was still pretty much an SLDF-only 'Mech during the Civil War.

I can't imagine why the SLDF would feel the need to cache 'Mechs way out in the rimward Periphery during or after the Star League Civil War, when their primary focus would have been on the worlds of the Terran Hegemony.  Perhaps Tibolt was intended to serve as a training/staging ground for Taurian and Canopian volunteers who wanted to fight for the League against Amaris - much like Circinus IV over on the Lyran/League periphery border.  (So this cache could be in the geographical counterpart to the Cavern of the Skull on New St. Andrews or the training complex on Circinus).

Once again, the Capellan DropShips carrying the Northwind Highlanders are emblazoned with the original Capellan insignia, dropped centuries ago and only reappearing as the insignia of the Dynasty Guard.

[Mendrugo]

Date: November 18, 3025 [See Notes]

Location: New Syrtis

Title: The Black Sheep

Author: Jack Herman

Type: Graphic Novel

Synopsis: Duke Michael Hasek-Davion and Fencik continue their conversation about Tibolt.  Fencik wants to know more about what's going on there, and worries that deploying troops there will risk war with the Confederation.  Michael assures him there will be no war, then shrugs nonchalantly and admits he's not sure of that. 

Fencik guesses Duke Michael is after a BattleMech cache on Tibolt, but Michael responds that he's thinking too small, and that he's really after a secret that lies on Tibolt.  He is counting on the Capellans being distracted by the 'Mech cache long enough for his agents to seize the real prize.

Notes:  I've put this as the following day in the chronology, because it takes place the next issue and is interwoven with events that appear to happen a day after the first Tibolt actions it was interwoven with, but it very much looks like it is a continuation of the conversation from the previous issue, so November 17 would also work perfectly well for this scene.

We'll never know what Michael's prize is, because the BattleForce comic series was cancelled before the publication of the third issue.  Most likely, it had to have been LosTech - perhaps a memory core or some other bit of Star League technology that Michael thought would give him an edge.

Michael's not shown in the Warrior Trilogy using any particularly special technology, except for one scene during which he uses a hidden transmitter to send classified intelligence data to the Capellan ambassador using an ultra-compressed zipsqueal that was only audible to the ambassador's dog, and to the ambassador's special recording equipment.  Perhaps that was LosTech, perhaps not, but we just saw the Gray Death Legion using encrypted zipsqueals on Verthandi, so that doesn't seem to be the LosTech we're looking for.

A Department of Mega-Engineering database?  Clan Wolverine?  Any are equally valid possibilities.

Between issue #1 and issue #2, the letterer and penciler got their wires crossed on which character was Michael Hasek-Davion, and which was Fencik.  In this scene, Michael is now the Fabio-esque fop, and Fencik is the bestubbled man with short hair.  Both stand in marked contrast to the official portrait of the dark-haired man with a small rat-tail braid.  (Though the giant mop of lustrous, flowing hair would explain where Morgan Hasek-Davion got his locks, with the red hair coming from his Davion mother.)