----- 2 Years Later -----
Date: March 6, 2573
Location: Santiago
Title: What I Remember Most
Author: Kevin Killiany
Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)
Synopsis: Not two years have passed since the signing of the Star League accords, and already ‘Mechs of the 17th Galedon Regulars have occupied the Outworlds Alliance world of Santiago in response to intel reports that the Outworlds Alliance was massing BattleMechs, and that bandit forces were using the OA to raid Combine and FedSuns border worlds.
Three months after the Santiago Massacre (December 14, 2572), the girl whose injury touched off the incident recalls the events of that day. She’d been a talented artist who, entranced by a stunning winter wilderness scene, hoped to capture it on canvas. However, by the time she returned with her supplies, a 17th Galedon Locust had passed through on patrol, destroying the natural beauty. Enraged, the girl chased after the Locust and threw her paint set at it, getting doused with caustic coolant in return, which permanently blinded her.
She notes that, from the Santiagans perspective, evil strangers marked with a serpentine dragon came and claimed the world, despite its lack of resources or strategic value. The DCMS forces claimed to be peacekeepers, there to head off the danger of war. She references burned out buildings, empty storefronts and the overhanging scent of old smoke – a reference to the rampant destruction inflicted on Santiago City as the DCMS ‘Mechs patrolled. (Despite the nearest reported “pirate” sightings being 12 parsecs from Santiago.)
Notes: There are a number of substantially different accounts of this event. The Periphery sourcebook indicates that on December 14, 2572, a DCMS Lance Corporal threw a canister of coolant from her barracks window at children who had been throwing snowballs at the building. A seven-year-old child (no gender specified) was badly burned, and Combine infantry fired into the angry mob of Santiagans that gathered, killing 27.
The Star League sourcebook, however, indicates that on December 14, 2572, local children were running between a Locust’s legs pelting the soldiers with snowballs, rocks, etc. A DCMS MechWarrior popped her Locust’s hatch and threw a can of coolant at a boy (gender specified) running alongside. The cannister burst open and sprayed the kid with coolant. The ‘MechWarrior tripped over a car while fleeing the gathering mob, and fired into the crowd, killing 27. (ComStar's Star League report indicates that “there have been many versions of this incident," and declares this one definitive. Historical: Reunification War reiterates this version.)
However, in “What I Remember Most,” the protagonist is a 13-year-old girl (12 at the time of the incident), who was doused directly by a stream of coolant poured from the Locust above, burning off her hair and blinding her. Generally, the narrative fiction is considered the definitive account, whereas sourcebook entries represent historical research that may contain errors or be based on bad reporting. Clearly, in Ian Cameron’s new Star League, the truth was one of the first casualties, and inaccurate contemporary reports misled ComStar historians centuries later.
The reports that the pacificst Outworlds Alliance, of all places, was amassing 'Mechs also seems hardly credible. As we'll see in "The Top of the Scrap Heap," the OA lacked the technology to build their own 'Mechs until after the Star League collapsed. If there were any "bandit" 'Mechs massing in OA territory, they probably originated in the Federated Suns.
One other item of note – the doctors say they can’t save the girl’s eyes, and that she’ll never see again. This presumably indicates that cybernetic eye replacement technology hasn’t yet matured (at least not in the Outworlds Alliance). Or perhaps there are some injuries that make cybernetic replacement unfeasible. Frederick Steiner (aka Anastasius Focht) opted for an eyepatch rather than a cybernetic implant, despite ComStar's well documented skills with cybernetics.