Author Topic: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)  (Read 98809 times)

wolfgar

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #540 on: 24 September 2013, 18:26:50 »
combined arms can be ham handed if the participants are not trained properly. The leaders need to know when to hit with artillery, and when to let off so that mechanized infantry, mechs and aerospace can hit in quick succession to overwhelm the defender without killing their own
Wolf wins every fight but one, and in that one he dies, his fangs locked on the throat of his opponent.

Arvanna

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #541 on: 24 September 2013, 19:08:30 »
True and I can see the Lyrans who at the time were still new to the concept having that issue, problem is in this story it's presented even the AFFS is tripping over themselves with their own doctrine.

Davout73

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #542 on: 24 September 2013, 20:16:45 »
True and I can see the Lyrans who at the time were still new to the concept having that issue, problem is in this story it's presented even the AFFS is tripping over themselves with their own doctrine.

And its a doctrine they, the AFFS has been using for a few decades...

Dav
Kiiro no Torii, a Battletech AU, found here:
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drakensis

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #543 on: 25 September 2013, 01:04:06 »
The Regimental Combat Team was masterminded by Hanse's great-great aunt Melissa and employed in the field by his great-grandfather Joseph. He's not personally associated with them as a concept and in fact was considered as an unconventional tactician. Hanse might very well be quite engaged by the idea of revisiting AFFS doctrine and putting more of his own stamp on it (which may or may not be the best idea given he's not personally faced the DCMS lately).

It might be better for Ardan to make the point that as a tactical concept they no longer surprise the AFFS' usual opponents who have learned to deal with them. A new tactical model to counter the DCMS' counter-tactics may be needed (thus the retraining that you mention).
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Marwynn

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #544 on: 25 September 2013, 11:32:36 »
I've removed the part talking about the RCT being Hanse's idea for the AFFS. I may have conflated that with the LCAF's adoption of it, thanks guys.

I'll have to go back and edit a few other entries that talk about it being the Fox's weapon to win the Succession Wars, if I ever get this thing into one contiguous whole.

As for the mob: Those that call it sloppy are either disparaging the AFFS, I believe it was Kuritans mocking it at one point, or are referring to something else.

1) Kuritans are not objective observers. I've tried to present things with biases intact. Don't read it as my opinion.

2) Ardan's talking about an AFFS that has been to the CapCon and up to the Combine and has had to deal with riots and dissent. They are damaged and demoralized. And exhausted. Which is why they do stumble, which is the only reason the DCMS was able to push them back.

3) Retrain: It's not to recreate the RCT or introduce the LCT concept or something. It's just so that the new guys filling in the many holes in the TO&E have time to train together.

Hope that's somewhat consistent.

More Marik love next!


EDIT: No Marik love, my apologies.
« Last Edit: 25 September 2013, 12:36:16 by Marwynn »

Arvanna

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #545 on: 25 September 2013, 20:14:28 »
NOw that makes makes sense, thanks for the clarification there MArwynn.

Marwynn

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #546 on: 18 October 2013, 10:10:43 »
Outside Garden city limits, New Samarkand
Galedon Miltary District, Draconis Combine
3 July 3030



Busosenshi Denise Morimoto sighed inwardly as Chu-i Malloy, a common-born pilot, instructed the lance to spread out.

She responded crisply, as was expected of any graduate of the Sun Zhang MechWarrior Academy. But it was tiresome to obey the orders of someone inferior, even if they were officers.

The lance leader was still instructing them. Not ordering them. It grated on the reserves of her patience.

The other two in her lance were no better. The Quickdraw pilot came from a noble family, like her, but he was adopted into it purely because of his skills. There was no tradition there.

At least he has skills, she allowed, sparing a second to look at the salvaged and out-of-place Commando before following her chu-i's precise orders.

He rewarded them with a too-cheerful, "Well done!" as the lance came to rest.

It was a good formation, she admitted. If she was worried about 'Mechs, she may have used the same thing. But a patrol into the haikyo--the ruins of what were once the Draconis Combine's finest cities--meant encountering and eliminating roving bands of criminals. On foot.

At least, she always assumed they were criminals.

The thought troubled her for a moment and she almost missed her trainer's next orders; waypoints, delivered silently to see if she had been paying attention. She still reacted swifter than her two lancemates, her Grand Dragon stomping ahead, leading with its snout full of missiles.

The four blue-on-white 'Mechs spread out further, and Denise fell into a pattern of checking her various feeds to look for the criminals.

Since the 1st Sun Zhang Cadre's return to New Samarkand she'd had little else to do but hunt. The Davions had not stirred themselves despite the chaos in the Combine, and that meant that despite the diminished numbers of the DCMS, High Command had insisted on the latest graduates to finish their training in full.

Even the pirates had been silent, quelled by Warlord Galedon's rotation of troops to the  clusters beyond the borders. Even that was preferable to the threat of more training.
Assignment to the 1st Sun Zhang was something she had competed for. There were few female samurai in the DCMS, fewer still would be given the honour of serving under Isoroku Kurita.

But the man had died along the way. Killed, Denise believed, by the unstable Theodore who knew of Isoroku's popularity and despised him for it.

There were two fronts where she could serve, right now. Yet the Bureau of Substitution had surely flagged her file; her attempts to join with Isoroku's force may have called her loyalty into question. And with it, her career and any chance of redemption

The patrol stomped through more broken boulevards, residual heat signatures meant that the people had heard them coming and scattered. Or waited in ambush.

None materialized.

By the end of the six hour patrol run she was tired, sweaty, and irritable. None of it showed as she stood ramrod straight at the foot of her 'Mech. The chu-i walked past, dismissing the other two after a few words.

"They are ready for the Regulars. Dieron, perhaps," the chu-i said to her.

Denise kept her face blank. Silence was always a reliable answer.

"Follow," the officer said after a moment.

"This is your second tour," the Alfredo said, closing the door to his office.

"Hai," Denise said flatly. The best MechWarriors didn't serve more than one tour before finding an immediate posting in the cadres. She tried to keep the resentment from her voice. If she hadn't been held back she could have easily become a regimental commander in five years, the way the DCMS goes through its officers. In fifteen, she could settle in as a brigade commander or even prefecture commander.

But she was denied that. And it showed on her face, and she knew it.

"Do you know why?"

"Do you?" she spat back, recovering enough of her vitriol at the last syllable to make it a question.

"I do," the officer said as he sat down.

Denise inhaled and exhaled ten times, as was proscribed, before answering. "My brother."

The officer surprised her with his bluntness. "Who else?" he asked, and poured two tall glasses of ice water and motioned for her to sit. "A planetary governor--even a co-governor--has plenty of influence."

"He stopped my transfer? Why--?"

"I suppose he didn't take too kindly to your assignment to the Legion of Vega. They may be Coordinator Theodore's pet regiments now, but a posting there would be embarrassing."

Denise sank into the chair, the water forgotten. To be assigned to the dregs of the DCMS as her first assignment out of the Sun Zhang was a career-killing move.

I would've... she sighed and sipped her glass. "So ka," she said eventually.

"But you are ready for independent duty, and command," the chu-i said, rising.

"The Warlord has need of capable warriors." A black datapad was in his hands. It was thinner than the robust pads used by the DCMS. The seal of Galedon glowed faintly on its screen.

Denise didn't hesitate and stood at full attention. "I'm ready."



Marwynn

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #547 on: 18 October 2013, 10:36:40 »
Hangar 3-5B, Conqueror's Redoubt Base, New Samarkand
Galedon Miltary District, Draconis Combine
3 July 3030



Baka da! Alfredo thought as the woman samurai closed the door behind her.

She was a capable enough MechWarrior, he admitted. A life of wealth as a noblewoman could have made her a capable anything. But she chose to be a warrior instead. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of ordinary citizens--men and women both,Alfredo admitted to himself and no one else--that could pilot a 'Mech just as well.

Instead, Denise Morimoto, like so many other samurai before her, chose to die gloriously for the Dragon that would barely even know she was alive.

Where would we be without useful idiots?

It had been too easy to manipulate these new graduates. The others called it recruitment, even calling it the truth.

Chu-i Malloy grunted and poured himself another glass, this time not of water.

He manipulated, and he knew it. He knew he was good at it, not that it needed much work with these Sun Zhang graduates. He knew how he was, ten years ago, fresh from the graduation ceremony, the Combine's anthem still ringing in his ears.

The cadres were more than a training force. They were meant to heal the broken students and make them useful to the DCMS. Some, the dangerous few, didn't need to spend much time in the cadres.

Alfredo raised a glass to those in his class that didn't stay the full tour then drank. They were all dead now. Some, at least, only officially.

He had accepted a demotion for this duty. Warlord Chi had explained to him the benefits of tactical retreats. His campaign in the Draconis March was nothing short of brilliant and wasted by the three Coordinators of the last few years.
That would change. Just a few more years--

The warning klaxons flushed the alcohol and the reminisces from his mind. It was no drill.

The flatvid on his desk fed him the telemetry and the glass fell from his hand as his eyes fell on one red sentence.

Incoming DropShips - 82

The number ticked upward until a squiggle in a corner flashed for attention. It updated the whole feed and the IFF signatures of the lead ships.

Chu-i Alfredo Malloy ripped off his jump suit and dashed to the 'Mech bay. His lance was already there, waiting for him, confused but alert.

He didn't spare them his shock, and he shouted at them as he climbed up his 'Mech. "The Federated Suns have come to New Samarkand. Ready yourselves!"


Arvanna

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #548 on: 18 October 2013, 16:09:03 »
Quite the huge amount of internal troubles for the Combine and now the Fox attacking them way earlier then any of them likely expected anything of the sort. It definitely seems though that aside from the Old Samurai being ticked off and of course ComStar blowing something up here and there , that a number of powerful entities in the Combine are making a move to remove House Kurita for good and naturally  anyone seem as supporting them is a target hence how Waco got slipped in and geared with those new DCMS mechs.

pensiveswetness

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #549 on: 10 November 2013, 22:44:06 »
*whip* Back at it! It's been too long for my fix of AU!  :))

Marwynn

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #550 on: 21 November 2013, 09:27:44 »
...Oww. (Delayed reaction.)

Sorry for the lack of updates and closure. There are only 1-3 more chapters left before the end, but I've been struggling with how to end the story (and whether to leave the ending open enough for a follow-up).

I have a plan. But I need a whole other story just to fit that into this thing's ending.

Also, I've been procrastinating by working long hours and such. So, sorry again.

Giovanni Blasini

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #551 on: 12 March 2018, 22:28:24 »
Just finished reading this, really enjoyed it, and was sad not to see more.
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ckosacranoid

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #552 on: 24 April 2018, 11:38:44 »
To bad this has not been updated in a few years. Great story of everyone getting screwed over for sure.

ThePW

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #553 on: 31 May 2018, 10:20:09 »
It's the internet. Life usually trumps that, mate...
Even my Page posting rate is better than my KPD rate IG...

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Starfox1701

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #554 on: 05 June 2018, 22:05:45 »
Still after dropping so many hats an ending would have been nice.

Takiro

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #555 on: 08 June 2018, 15:59:45 »
...Oww. (Delayed reaction.)

Sorry for the lack of updates and closure. There are only 1-3 more chapters left before the end, but I've been struggling with how to end the story (and whether to leave the ending open enough for a follow-up).

I have a plan. But I need a whole other story just to fit that into this thing's ending.

Also, I've been procrastinating by working long hours and such. So, sorry again.


This is one I had not read and I am sorry I haven't. Just started the story and it is pretty good.

If it would help Marwynn I can throw in my two cents, when I'm done.....

ckosacranoid

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #556 on: 08 June 2018, 23:01:25 »
no problem. it happens.

Marwynn

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #557 on: 27 February 2020, 10:55:00 »
I feel like I owe everyone an explanation.

I started this off as a really short "what if" fic and enjoyed myself thoroughly in basically making my own fanwishing (Drac rules over all) go horribly wrong.

Life happened.

While I was writing this I owned all the BT novels, nearly all of the sourcebooks, and had it all active in my mind. Most of the novels and books were, sadly, destroyed. I had some tucked away elsewhere, but yeah they're gone. All that eBay-ing for nothing. Other things happened and well, I wasn't in a place where I could write about space drama and big stompy 'Mechs.

I don't know if I can ever pick this up where it went, but here's a rough overview for those who may have wanted some kind of closure:

- New Samarkand is invaded, the ISF bases torn down, the flag is planted. Word is spread deliberately by the Fox to the rest of the Combine still reeling from their recent civil war.
- The attack dissolves most of the confidence Theodore Kurita inspired. He begins purging.
- The Fox evades pursuit and a "Chaos March" forms between the Combine and Suns border. Individual Kuritan and Davion planets now begin to claim independence. Individual cities and continents on some worlds do so as well.
- Warlords and would-be-warlords rise up, gathering followers and worlds. The DCMS all but disintegrates.
- Ghost warriors bearing the Kuritan dragon sigil on their 'Mechs take up garrisons along the Combine border. Any enterprising raid by foreign powers is brutally put down.

- Janos Marik is assassinated 5 years earlier than canon. His son Thomas survives and becomes Captain-General.
- Captain-General Thomas Marik begins a punitive campaign against the Anduriens, believed to be the responsible for Janos' death. Bolstered by Kuritan elements, the loyal FWL forces attacked the Duchy of Andurien to find it strangely empty.
- Overly confident, the Anduriens had launched an invasion of the League's "ally" the Capellans.
- Candace Liao organizes a flexible enough response, holding the Anduriens in place until Kuritan mercenaries and Marik forces hammer them one by one.
- Canopian forces, part of the invasion through striking through a different front, fortify what they can and sue for peace.
- Thomas Marik and Candace Liao agree that a 'common enemy' would be a refreshing target for a change and agree to partition the Magistracy, drawing the Periphery into the greater chaos of the Inner Sphere.
- Both use the invasion as a means to silence dissent and 'clean up house', causing the war to stall quickly.
- Full copies of the Combine's Imperial Institute of Technology's research is made available to Thomas Marik. Publicly. His ComStar loyalties are questioned.

- The Lyran civil war is fought and won in corporate boardrooms. Assassinations and 'shadowruns' are too common.
- Melissa Steiner-Davion, capitalizing on the Fox's successful razing of New Samarkand manages to settle the Commonwealth's economy, averting disaster
- Damage to Tharkad City's reactors all point to Kuritan sabotage, well and beyond what the "Far Raid" was able to accomplish. The reactors are shut down.

- Hanse Davion returns to New Avalon a hero.
- He delayed his return for nearly a year, partly to rest and refit the jumpships, partly to establish defense lines along the Chaos March--most of which is Kuritan territory
- A parade, considered in poor taste due to the Federated Suns' battered economy, awaits him.
- ComStar has taken the very expensive step of broadcasting the parade throughout the "FedCom" territories live. Or as close to it as they could imagine. This is taken as a sign that ComStar is subtly signalling its apology for the recent HPG blackout and reflects a change in leadership...

- It's a bright, sunny day in New Avalon City. Those that could fill the streets along the parade lines had been waiting for hours, watching holoprojections of battle footage interspersed with MechWarrior interviews
- Cities from all over the planet have their own parades, all happening at the same time
- The parade is precise and martial and Davion-esque.
- Hanse begins delivering his speech, now broadcast to one half of the Inner Sphere (with only hours of lag time in some places). He recites the name of the fallen, vows justice, and eventual victory.
- The massive screens and holoprojectors are suddenly showing planetary defense feeds.
- It becomes clear through the noise that there has been a pirate translation with a very large and confusing signature.
- Orbital stations finally get a visual.
- Half of the Inner Sphere witnesses an Aegis-class heavy cruiser fire its weapons in anger for the first time in hundreds of years

- Overly dramatic pause with a side story that you won't care about. Oh, and the Tharkad reactors suffer a physics defying meltdown.

- The Alexander, the Wolf's Dragoons' Aegis class heavy cruiser, fires another barrage as an unknown Congress-class frigate buckles under fire.
- The Congress emerges from behind the moon of the fifth planet, returning fire as best it can. The Aegis' crews are better drilled.
- More pirate jumps, this time with non-combat jumpships, but filled with dropships.
- The Dragoons win the boarding action and narrowly avoid the Hollings York Congress-class frigate from scuttling.
- They leave without returning any hails.

- More Inner Sphere conquests. Planets are blown up.
- The culprits are none other than Clan Wolverine. The plan had been to infiltrate Inner Sphere society to better resist the Clan invasion. They have been reinforced by the undesirables of Clan society over generations, growing more fanatical and less willing to entrust Inner Sphere leaders with the defense of humanity.
- Decapitation strikes were a means of last resort. Hanse had been hard to predict so direct action was needed.
- Carefully positioned replacements would assume the mantles of leadership.
- The Jarnfolk were actually doing their own thing in Kuritan space. The Word of Wolverine let them and helped when it suited.



EAGLE 7

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #558 on: 05 March 2020, 17:06:45 »
Marwynn just want to thank you for your willingness to share your Alt-world with us.
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Shadow_Wraith

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #559 on: 05 March 2020, 21:47:45 »
Thanks for the story closure and sharing it with us!

cklammer

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #560 on: 06 March 2020, 02:06:35 »
I have just finished re-reading everything and enjoyed the tale immensely.

Thank for your effort and sharing.

DOC_Agren

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Re: The Wolves and the Dragons (AU)
« Reply #561 on: 14 March 2020, 13:48:52 »
Sorry for the way life has thrown you a massive spitball curve.

But thanks for "overview" wrapup
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