Thanks gents.
By the way, I sometimes write a lot of fluff for 'Mechs and other designs. Some won't ever be included in the story, but they do fill out the universe some more.
Keep in mind that these are written with another point of view, someone trying to be objective but who may not necessarily know it all.
Here's the
Hunchback HBK-4K that has some tidbits. But prolly won't make it in due to its munchy-ness.
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Wolfsden, Nirasaki
Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine
3 July 3029"It's a boring name."
"The men came up with it--"
"--Really? 'Fraser's Rangers' was the best they could come up with?" Natasha Kerensky said with a shake of her head. "I liked the 'Black Dragons' more..."
Dechan sighed. "We've been in the Combine for how long now? And you don't know that name's taken?"
The redheaded major turned to face him. "No, I didn't... A Kuritan regiment calls themselves the 'Black Dragons'? Congrats, your bunch got off the hook for being the most unimaginative unit in the Sphere!"
Dechan simply sighed and drank from his cup. Natasha took his silence as victory and turned inward again, almost brooding. He tensed, without knowing it, and began flipping through the notes of the brief on his noteputer.
"Tsk, tsk," the Black Widow said, her eyes closed as she leaned back into her chair. "Let Willie do his job..."
The door opened before Dechan could respond. Colonel Shostokovitch walked in to the briefing room, eyes glazed from a late night. He stumbled in, then took a few awkward steps back to the door to fiddle with the light panel. He set it to a dim glow, waved at them both, then found a pool of darkness to sleep in.
Colonel Dumont stepped in moments later, paused at the door, then adjusted the lights to standard brightness. It didn't matter, Andrei Shostokovitch was already fully asleep.
Dechan returned the Col. Dumont's nod. Natasha to his right simply put her feet up on desk in front of her and put on a pair of sunglasses. Delta's commander ignored the Black Widow, and slid into a chair and quietly nursed a steaming cup.
William Cameron walked in, dimmed the lights then waved a stick at the shut windows. The glass turned translucent, letting in the cool natural light that Nirasaki was blessed with. Captain Cameron's shoulder was still weighed down with a heavy-duty comm, but he also adopted the Kuritan wrist-wrapped noteputers. He had one on each forearm now, alternating between the two to choreograph the briefing room's systems.
The room was more of a small theatre, with raised rows of desks and chairs angled towards the front of the room. Flatvids and holoprojectors blinked to life, outlining their topic. Colonel Shostokovitch roused himself awake and blinked wearily at the shining lights.
"Thank you for attending this briefing," William began the mandatory meeting without the least bit of sarcasm, "I hope to be brief. Please ask your questions at any time."
"When's breakfast?" Andrei Shostokovitch asked.
"Two hours ago, at oh-five-hundred, colonel. Now, Tikonov," the young captain said as the Capellan Confederation loomed in the flatvids behind him. "Specifically, the Tikonov Commonality. Reports are in from Kuritan sources, and ours confirm it, that General Nondi Steiner has emptied two-thirds of her forces from the Rasalhague district. These were then divided into three task forces: one moved into secure the 'Federation of Skye' worlds; another moved along the Lyran/Combine border to head off any potential DCMS raids; and the last acted as a mobile reserve for the first task force then launched a supporting invasion of the Confederation."
Arrows and unit names flickered on the screens and outlined the Lyrans' attacks. Dechan followed it as closely as he could, pulling out individual records from his noteputer of units and all the details William was glossing over.
"The attack, however unexpected, proved timely," William continued. "Senior Military Coordinator Pavel Ridzik had been
wary of the CCAF reserves called up to rendezvous with Candace Liao and Justin Xiang on Tikonov. When the planet fell, thanks mostly to Kuritan interference, Ridzik gathered his loyal troops on Elgin. As a result, it created a vacuum in the middle of the Commonality that the Lyrans happily filled. We have Ridzik and his most-likely-disloyal CCAF troops on one side, the Lyrans in the middle, and the, well, true Capellans on the other side, bordered by mercenaries who are staving off Davion raids for now."
"It's like some malfed-up Spheroid sandwich," Natasha observed, feet still up, sun glasses still on.
"Guess who gets to be the special sauce?" Dechan asked, and William nodded.
"The Combine's 'truce' with the Federated Suns doesn't extend to their allies like the Lyrans. So, we can hit them, and General Wolf plans to," the captain said, triggering the windows to darken again and the holoprojector to light up.
"Ningpo and Alderbaran, two hubs of transport and trade. As you can imagine, it proved to be tempting targets to the LCAF. Beta and Delta will be taking those worlds back for our paymaster's allies." Colonel Kathleen Dumont nodded once, but Colonel Shostokovitch pumped his fists into the air.
"Finally! Beta's been ready for weeks!"
"As the general well knows. The Black Widow Battalion will follow both and engage in headhunting of Lyran officers. The Fraser's Rangers?" William asked Dechan, and he nodded curtly, cheeks flushing. "Fraser's Rangers will follow the supply trail, all the way back to Skye."
The Wolf's Dragoons officers nodded their understanding, and Captain Cameron began a more detailed--a much more detailed--view of the Lyrans' attacks. Dechan sensed Jaime Wolf's hands in this part of the briefing. Cameron went over unit compositions, new observed tactics, new machines, and potential weaknesses. All of the data had been compiled by Beta and Delta's staffs, and the two colonels merely absorbed the overview.
He leaned back and glanced sidelong at Natasha, seeing her eyes from the side staring unblinkingly at the flatscreen.
