Teaser for a proposed...thing.

[Hotpoint]

Sudeten - Federated Commonwealth (Jade Falcon Occupation Zone)

With a population above two billion and an industrial economy Sudeten was one of the more important worlds to have fallen into the hands, or talons, of Clan Jade Falcon. The Lyrans and later the Federated Commonwealth had considered it important enough to garrison it long-term with the famously skilled and tactically brilliant (and therefore expensive) mercenary company known as the Gray Death Legion, but even they had been unable to hold the planet against the overwhelming edge in weapons technology held by the invading clans.

To give the Gray Death credit they, like the Kell Hounds, had managed to greatly upset clan thinking regarding the military competence and staying power of 'stravag mercenary scum', a change in perception reinforced still further when they actually manged to defeat the Jade Falcons at Pandora. That was little comfort though as after being established there for over a decade the Gray Death had considered Sudeten their home.

Now it was home to the Falcon Guards instead, though the elite of clan Jade Falcon were no longer quite the force they had been only a handful of years before. The successor state militaries had ground the clan down, Twycross being a particular disaster, even before the heavy losses taken to the ComGuards at Tukayyid, and such were the casualties that even freebirth warriors that might have been otherwise available for garrison duty on other worlds were having to be recruited into front-line formations. Plugging gaps with Solahma units helped but they tended to lack equipment, and in the minds of traditionalists the skills of younger, fitter, more capable personnel, which was why the Jade Falcons had no choice but to accept the increasing presence of Steel Vipers in what they still considered their territory.

Then even worse the "Not-Named" had started randomly dropping large bunker-busters, and later the occasional fuel-air-explosive bomb, on worlds that would have been previously considered safely behind the lines. Commando-style raids, and of course sporadic native resistance, had already been a problem but those could be dealt with by mere infantry, or at worse conventional mechanized units. Unfortunately sudden aerial bombardment that occurred with no real warning made a column of APC's a juicy target not a solution.

Keeping stars of aerospace fighters aloft over important installations as a means of persuading the Not-Named to keep clear, or else having a warship in orbit which could quickly strike down a jump-capable dropship interloping nearby, seemed to act as an effective deterrent. However even the clans didn't have the vast assets of capital ships that the Star League Navy once boasted, and nor did they possess a huge reserve of spare omnifighters just in case they had to undertake a endless CAP over towns on dozens of worlds. As a result in order to both keep a strong grip on their conquests, and protect their logistics chain, they had to strip down the defences of some worlds to bolster that of others.

That shouldn't have been a problem for Sudeten of course. As the current base of the Falcon Guards themselves even a scaled back military presence was considered more than adequate to persuade any opponent to go looking for an easier target. This line of thinking however presumed that the opponent did not regard the more difficult target as one that was more attractive for strategic reasons, if you are trying hard to make a point make it loudly. 

One of the advantages of possessing a massive edge in strategic mobility, and no need to divide forces to defend multiple locations, was that a military force so-blessed could achieve local numerical superiority even when they were, at face value, horrifically outnumbered.

As a matter of courtesy the SLDF-in-Exile had prepared a written apology to be delivered by Raptor to the Gray Death at their new home on Glengarry before news could reach there that Clan Wolverine had just bombed the hell out of their old one. It also offered transportation, with a warship escort no less, to the Gray Death if they ever wanted to have a go at retaking the place.

On heightened alert in case the Not-Named were stupid enough to attack Sudeten the binary of omnifighters currently aloft over the main continent of Dargoth immediately noticed the arrival flash caused of one of the so-called 'Raptor' craft that the 'annihilated' clan used.  One point of two omnifighters immediately changed course to intercept leaving the others to control their patrol in case this was simply a diversion while other aerospace fighters not already in the air were being scrambled to assist.

It wasn't a diversion however it was just a reconnaissance mission which preceded the arrival of a much larger force than the Jade Falcons had planned for.

A warship jumped into the system, the destroyer/carrier hybrid SLS Yukon appearing behind one of Sudeten's two moons and starting to launch fighters as soon as it arrived. The warship's IFF system loudly squawked that it belonged to the Star League and was a part of the Touman of Clan Wolverine whereupon every Jade Falcon vessel in the system reacted with various strong emotions running the gamut up to 'freaked-out' as soon as the news reached them.

Simultaneously the Olympian Class carrier-dropships Zeus and Poseidon, scaled up Titans designed to fight in the the Cylon war and each carrying another thirty-six fighters apiece, jumped into the atmosphere of the planet high above the ocean and started disgorging their own squadrons as they dived closer to the ground.

Once they got their act together the Jade Falcons responded to what they saw as the immediate threat and scrambled everything they had at the great mass of fighters that had formed up with the Olympians and was now coming screaming in across the ocean, approaching the main continent Dargoth as they aimed themselves towards the capital.

The Wolverines waited until they were sure the Jade Falcons were fully committed and then the fifty Kirghiz jump-fighters that Yukon had deployed jumped in behind the multiple Falcon aerospace binaries that were heading for the Olympians.

The Great Sudeten Green Turkey shoot had begun.

[cawest]

The Great Sudeten Green Turkey shoot had begun.


I love it!!!!

[Cannonshop]

Somewhere Else (continued from last post)...

A multitude shouted in slow motion.  It was like being high.

"you can still elect to die. You certainly seem like you want to."  not-Penny whispered. 

Liz dangled her toes in the water, trying to ignore Not-Penny.

"Come on, Lizzie, respond to me!"

instead, elizabeth leaned back on the loamy, rocky beach, and stared at the slightly yellowed blue of the sky.  "I don't want any of it." Elizabeth said.  "I never did.  but I ended up having to take it.  The great failure of revolutionaries and tyrants from Sulla to Kerensky, is they never made consideration for the world they leave behind.  The best they manage, is planning for their heirs, one or two steps removed, and most of them don't think that far ahead.  I win, when they figure out they don't need me, or anyone like me."

"they will always need someone, Liz." Not-Penny said, and the scene changed to somewhere Elizabeth had never been.  "see? the Hall of Khans, on Strana Mechty." Not-Penny told her, "An ostensibly merit-based society, see their gods?"

"False gods." Liz said scornfully, "Still, they're dead, made up from half-remembered rantings."

the Clanners were shouting and one passed through her.

"Reason can prevail." Elizabeth said, "they're a hothouse society, they can't hold it together." she sneered.

"Oh...and here?"

somewhere else, but Liz recognized the robes of Comstar.  "They claim to reason, but this is worship, their twin gods Blake, and Toyama.  Are they a hothouse too, Liz?  In the absence of God, man raises his own idols, Icons, and god-kings."

"It's ignorance." Liz sneered, "it can be beaten with reason, the falsehood exposed, when people know the facts, they don't fall for the chicanery!!"

"Reason, burns away." Not-Penny said, "only faith can endure."

she was standing on a world, in a city, as the world exploded.

[Cannonshop]

comm room, Hue...

"...very badly.  almost as thorough a destruction as Kai Allard-Liao visited on the Falcon Guard at Twycross.  We have lost an entire Star of warships as well."  Marthe Pryde was admirably calm.  "The news grows darker yet.  The Ghost Bear Khans report that mysterious ships have been seen.  I would ask that you show this image to the Lyrans and inquire whose it is."



"I will ask.  what is the context?"

"Attacks in territory held by Clans Ghost Bear, Smoke Jaguar, and Nova Cat, the attacks were...dishonorable, no effort to prevent civilian casualties was made, and in the cases of Richmond, Thule, Tarnby, Idlewind, and Schwartz, thermonuclear devices were fired on garrisons inside major cities.  the death toll is in the millions.  On Thule, Ghost Bear troops managed to repel a ground assault, and we have images."



"Those are not the models I have grown accustomed to seeing." he allowed, "They appear more...primitive."

"according to the Ghost Bears, they were no tougher than men in light powered armor, but there were a lot of them, and they  swarmed, fighting in masses, heedless of casualties beyond the most basic attempt at using cover.  they were accompanied by larger units, similar to a very small 'mech."

"I will find the facts." Morgan Icaza said, "So I swear, this enemy will be identified, that they can be properly punished!!"

"Seyla.  Where is Nathan Roshak? I would speak with him." Marthe asked.

"He is pursuing his duties, OvKhan."

"I see.  Have him  message me for further instructions.  Honor Thy Clan."

"Seyla."  the connection closed.

[Cannonshop]

Somewhere Else...

she burned, but she didn't feel it.  "So? an act of unreason is not proof you're right, it's proof you're wrong."  Elizabeth's fist clenched with rage.

"mankind is made to fail, Elizabeth." Not-Penny told her, "Always to fail, a prototype step on the path to perfection in god's eyes."

"We don't need god.  we do not need god, or gods." Elizabeth countered, "They need us."

Not-Penny quailed as Elizabeth's will extended, smothering the scene.  "I know who you really are." Liz said, "you've made a serious error."


Somewhere Spinward of the Draconis Combine...

"...I know who you really are, power levels are dropping in section 244A921 data feed corruption at twenty two percent and rising...you have made a serious error...darkness. Contact Lost. End of Line.

The Four and the Five looked at one another, and then at the One in command.  "what was that?"

then the Hybrid spoke again.  "new line, god does not play dice with the universe, hydrogen fusion initiated, end of line."

in the basestar's weapons bay, the warheads went active-all of them. simultaneously.

New Line...it is by reason alone we pay tribute to god...let there be Light.

detonation.

[werehawk]

Somebody tried biting off something a bit beyond his capacity to deal with.

I wonder if they realize just how badly they fracked the pooch in trying to not so subtly influence Liz to their nihilistic style of viewing humans.

[willis]

Model #13, Elizabeth Ngo series :drool:

[mikecj]

Oops.  Too bad it didn't hurt those models to die this time.

[Hotpoint]

Sudeten - Federated Commonwealth (Jade Falcon Occupation Zone)

Having delivered it's payload of fighters the Wolverine warship SLS Yukon now had the job of keeping the naval assets of Jade Falcon focused in her direction. It accomplished this by emerging from behind the moon where it had arrived and broadcasting a deliberately bombastic and obnoxious battle challenge that she would take on all comers in the name of ilClan Wolverine, the Star-League-in-Exile and the rightful heirs to the legacy of Aleksandr Kerensky.

Needless to say when the Jade Falcon warships and their seething crews eventually arrived Yukon jumped out, mission accomplished. All the action that day was down on Sudeten, or rather just above it.

Ironically the Wolverine aerospace fighters which had been launched by the Olympian dropships against the Jade Falcons were sixty-ton Visigoths, the irony being that it was Clan Jade Falcon that had originally designed the things just over a century before. Although extremely numerous in the Toumans of all the clans which had invaded the Inner Sphere, they were even more prevalent among the Falcons leading to a situation where the majority of pilots on both sides in this engagement were flying the same fighters.

As to how the cursed Not-Named had obtained the design of a Jade Falcon omnifighter that had only begun production over a century after their supposed annihilation two disconcerting possibilities existed. Either, (a) the Not-Named had an industrial base so huge and advanced that they had been able to back-engineer, and then mass produce the things from one they had managed to get hold of since Operation Revival began, or else (b) they had been spying on the Clan Homeworlds for a very long time.

The only saving grace in the situation was that if the enemy was using the Visigoth and Kirghiz then presumably they couldn't have come up with anything better themselves.  Reason also suggested that although numerically superior in this engagement the enemy craft should be comparably armed and since the Not-Named pilots could not possibly match the skills of Jade Falcon pilots this was going to be a much fairer fight than it looked.

As it happens the Not-Named were actually under direct orders to make this fight look fairer than it was because they really didn't want to tip their hand any more than they had already.

Flying one of the lead Wolverine Visigoths squadron-leader Dexter Mooreland swore to himself that if any of the pilots under his command disobeyed orders regarding when to open fire with their particle projection cannon he would cut their hearts out Aztec style. One of the first pilots from New Circe to have faced the Cylons in battle years before he was now being given the honour of getting to add clanners to his impressive tally of kills. All he would need after that was to take out a few Dracs so that all of his ancestors, both original Wolverines and those rescued from the Richmond camps would be proud of him.

On the other hand killing Toasters was probably a better way to ensure you got laid in the Colonial City-State so transferring to a different theatre of war wasn't all good, he realised sadly.

Festivities began with a massive salvo of long-range fire-and-forget missiles from the Wolverines. Each Visigoth firing off a ripple of Colonial designed Lightning-Javelins, emptying the twelve-missile rack mounted on each wing. The Munchkins might not have ever developed the Directed-Energy-Weapons of the "Thirteenth Tribe" but by God, or perhaps 'by the Gods', they made great missiles and autocannons.

They might not have had much of a warhead but the Lighting-Javelin was intended to be used against Cylon Raiders which meant it was extremely maneuverable as well as hardened against much better Electronic Counter Measures than the Jade Falcons could boast. As a result the vast majority of the Lightning-Javelins struck their targets despite all attempts to evade them and although none of the Falcons were downed, and most sustained only minimal damage thanks to their armour protection, having the opposition hit them first was not a pleasant way to start a fight.

Clan Jade Falcon was the one who managed to score the next flurry of hits as the aerospace fighters tore towards each other. Those of their ranks armed with Extended-Range Large Lasers striking out at the Not-Named and scorching the wrath of the clan into the armour of the enemy without immediate response.

Discipline had stopped the Wolverine Visigoths from opening fire with the single LRPPC mounted in the nose of each of their craft as soon as they entered effective range. The orders said not to open up until they should be mistaken for being merely Clan-standard ERPPC's instead, that was a surprise best left for another day.

Seconds later when the two-way volley of particle-projection-cannon fire began a detailed statistical analysis would have concluded that the Wolverine PPC's were hitting more often on average and causing more damage when they did than the Jade Falcon ones, but in all the chaos it just looked like the Wolverines were getting more lucky.

One thing that was obviously not a matter of luck was that when the Jade Falcons launched a salvo of their own inferior long-range missiles the Wolverines successfully shot masses of them down before they could hit anything. That was the thing about fighting a war against the Cylons, the Wolverines were used to battles in which they faced off against hundreds, even thousands of Raiders and Heavy Raiders which constantly spammed missiles at you in lieu of having lasers or PPC's of their own.

Every Wolverine aerospace fighter was fitted with a laser Anti-Missile-System, and although by the standards of most people in the Inner Sphere or the Clan worlds this was going to be an epic furball, from the perspective of the pilots of 'Wolverine Battle Group Yukon' who had spent years now tangling with the Toasters this was likely the smallest air-battle they had ever been in.

Increasing amounts of autocannon fire began to add itself to the lasers and PPC's as the ranges continued to close. Judging by how soon they started to score effective hits at least some of the Not-Named must be using LB X type autocannons, the Falcons surmised which meant, looking at the bright side, at least those particular fighters didn't have the Ultra autocannons that would have been increasingly dangerous as they neared the enemy. Conversely however at point-blank range against fighters that were already striped of much of their armour an LB X was absolutely vicious if firing cluster rounds but that was a bridge to cross later on if you were still alive by that point.

The Jade Falcons might have had theoretically better pilots, thanks to their use of the aerospace phenotype, but their Wolverine counterparts were the result of quite a lot of genetic engineering themselves and moreover for them being involved a huge confusing dogfight just meant it must be Tuesday. This disparity in practical experience resulted in it being a serious tactical mistake for the Falcons when they opted to try and mix themselves up with the first batch of Not-Named omnifighters before the Kirghiz's now pursuing them from the other direction arrived to reinforce the enemy.

Unfortunately for the Jade Falcons the Wolverine pilots were born in this briar patch.

Praying to God like a good Lutheran boy that everyone on his side in this was making sure than the Visigoth in front of them belonged to the Green Turkeys before they opened fire, Squadron-Leader Mooreland brought his own fighter around hard to get on the tail of a Scytha. Hoping that the rear-mounted lasers on the thing didn't cause too much of a problem he drew a bead on the target and opened up with the LRPPC and twin Medium Pulse Lasers mounted in the nose of his machine before adding in the weight of fire from the LB-5X-UAC's and additional Medium Pulse Lasers mounted on his wings.

That had been another order from on-high, don't fire the autocannons at double-rate at maximum range, and under no circumstances never fire double-rate cluster. We don't want the Clans to know that we have a working hybrid autocannon, we want them to think some of you have ultra autocannon and others the LB X, it should be chaotic enough that they don't notice as long as you don't make it blindingly obvious.

Naturally the Wolverine pilots had a simple solution for that. One fighter lights up the Green Turkey with normal ammunition at ultra rate-of-fire then his wingman hits him with cluster rounds at normal rate to try and score some critical hits. When you get on the tale of the next clanner ****** swap jobs.

Of course both of you are constantly blazing away with the LRPPC's and MPL's, that's what they're for.

Sluggish but heavily armoured, and mounting two LRPPC's instead of one, an LB X-5-UAC in each wing like the smaller Visigoth plus plus more MPL's, the fifty Kirghiz that arrived to join the fray came in hot just as attritional damage meant the phenomena of combat-loss-grouping was about to come majorly into play. Battered just a bit harder to start with by the uneven missile exchange and the more powerful LRPPC's the Jade Falcons were already bleeding, metaphorically and literally, and started to fall out of the sky in ever increasing numbers.

Even more egregiously to the Jade Falcons just when you thought you might have a sufficiently damaged Not-Named Visigoth in your talons the coward activated his jump-drive and flashed out. Only the handful that must have sustained damage to their ridiculously tiny jump-drives, and absorbed the necessary amount of abuse to bring them down ever actually crashed and of those all but one of the pilots ejected.

Eventually some of the Falcons flying omnifighter types that could readily outrun a Visigoth, and easily outrun a Kirghiz, turned tail and made a break for it. Each had a few Lightning-Javelins sent after it as a goodbye gift but none were brought down, just shaken up a bit more.

Now it was time for the next stage of the operation. Spend a while bombing and strafing anything that belonged to Jade Falcon on the planet before leaving, while trying to avoid anti-aircraft fire.

If the Falcons had been hoping to learn anything from the downed Wolverine pilots they were disappointed because a Raptor jumped in to pick them up. Meanwhile any crashed Wolverine omnifighter was thoroughly blasted by concentrated laser and PPC fire by one of the Olympians then subsequently bombed to tiny smithereens.

One of the pilots the SAR Raptor picked up wasn't a Wolverine, although it was a Wolverine that carried her unconscious body aboard. Unlucky enough to be flying one of the Visigoths that was shot down, in his case due to a very unfortunate hit taken from a Scytha mounting a massive Ultra AC/20, Dexter Mooreland safely ejected and found himself landing next to a small farm mere seconds before an ejected Jade Falcon pilot did likewise nearby.

Ignoring the spectacle of the aerial battle going on above Mooreland sprinted to the other downed pilot, arriving just as they were getting up and pulling off their neurohelmet.

Usually not one to punch a woman Mooreland decided it was his duty under the circumstances and given that he had about twenty centimetres in height, and an even more disproportionate edge in overall muscle mass on the Falcon, she had just about enough time to register his presence and look suitably distressed before he flattened her with a right cross.

As Mooreland later threw the unconscious Jade Falcon into the back of the Raptor sent to pick him up the craft's own pilot turned in his chair to take a look. "Cute" he observed. "You planning on putting a ring on it or a bondcord?" he joked as Mooreland climbed inside himself and reached up to slam the hatch closed.

[Cannonshop]

Somewhere Else

"They almost had you."  The woman that...vaporized Not-Penny was almost androgynous,  flanked by a savage-looking woman on one side, and a handsome man on the other.

"Who are you supposed to be?"

"Well, if that was a devil, I'm your guardian angel.  If it wasn't, they sure as hell were trying hard to be one.  This is it, this is the last task I've got. after this, I'm kaputsky.  no more interventions, no last nanosecond saves, you're back on your own.  This is going to cost me, Liz.  it's costing me everything I had left, and now, I won't make it back to my wife, so don't ****** it up. and if you pick up on a Belter busted for ferrying pirates, you get her out of prison and you hire her!"

[mikecj]

hmmm... you know he doesn't like to be called that.

[Daryk]

+1 for the Turkey Shoot!  :thumbsup:

And... is that Nicky in the net??  ???

[qc mech3]

Yup!  :-X

[nomad_345]

So, have we ever gotten stats on those weapons and birds, and if we have can someone point me at them?
Because I really want to see what those things Stat out as.

[Hotpoint]

So, have we ever gotten stats on those weapons and birds, and if we have can someone point me at them?
Because I really want to see what those things Stat out as.

LRPPC - 6 Tons, 3 Crits, 18 Heat, 17 Damage, S 1-8, M 9-15, L 16-25

Compared to the Clan Extended-Range PPC the Wolverine Long-Range PPC  effectively gains a 9% increase in range and a 13% increase in firepower for a 20% increase in heat generation and more bulk. It hits a bit harder and starts hitting a bit further out.

If you want some fluff the basic idea is that both the Wolverines and the Snow Ravens took the former's Enhanced ERPPC as a basis for ongoing development after the "Annihilation" but while the Snow Ravens were thinking, more powerful, lighter and more compact (which they achieved) the Wolverines were primarily thinking more powerful, longer ranged. Going compact led to a developmental blind alley in terms of pushing the range out further and projecting a stronger beam.

There was an intermediate design between the Enhanced ERPPC and the LRPPC that the Wolverines came up with first, that being the "Improved Enhanced ERPPC" (in effect it was a bulkier, heavier CERPPC).  The Wolverines just kept going from there wanting the extra range and firepower.



As for the fancy autocannon:

LB 5-X UAC - 8 Tons, 4 Crits, 1 Heat, 5 Damage, S 1-8, M 9-15, L 16-24

It's basically a Clan LB 5-X made with a Colonial-designed breech and ammunition feed mechanism (in nBSG the point-defence-guns on Battlestars can really chuck lead and fire both normal rounds and flak). It pays for the ability to both fire at ultra rates and fire both regular rounds and cluster by being a ton heavier. It's more reliable than other ultra autocannons too, in terms of not jamming or shaking itself to pieces, but does have the "slight" drawback that if you hold down the trigger at maximum rate-of-rate for too long the barrel starts to visibly object and soon-after the gun itself stands a good chance of exploding when the next round chambered cooks off in the breech (the red hot glowing barrel before that occurs is best taken as a sign to stop shooting). Cylon Raiders are extremely numerous but pretty fragile by Battletech standards, ultra-rate cluster rounds shred them very nicely in short order (in 'Hunted Tribes' the Wolverines call Raiders "Skeet").

The Wolverine's Medium Pulse Lasers are... just regular Clan Medium Pulse Lasers. They simply copied the design. Decent firepower in a nice neat package you can stuff into otherwise empty crits once you've packed in enough ammo. :P

In terms of the omnifighters again they're really just pretty-much regular Visigoth's and Kirghiz's although they're fitted with nBSG jump-drives (5 ton Raptor FTL's for the Kirghiz, 3 ton Heavy-Raider FTL's for a Visigoth).

That help?

[Cannonshop]

Vin Drin Lap...

The Clan method worked-after a fashion.  I hate giving them credit here, but I can't ignore what's in front of...heh...my eyes.

"Baroness, you're the acting Executive."  Commodore Li tells me.  of course I am, that's why I'm in here-Evelynn Mosovich, reserve officer in the AFFC wouldn't get within a kilometer of this room.

Evelynn Mosovich, Baroness Golden Lake, second in command to the Duchess and Ducal heir? that title gets a seat with the adults.

****** you, Liz, for putting me in this position.

It's all about the damn money.  I'm silent.  it's a good thing my face is ruined, they can't see the shock.  LIC's Station Chief on Melissia, apparently, has a problem with 'loyal supporters' being keel-hauled over their corruption.  Sonny's babbled mumblings dropped a name, and that name opened a lot of doors for the Data miners with Coast Guard's OCB, tied up more than a few cases too.

Tanadi LaRue on Inarcs has apparently been running quite the scam on behalf of her very good friends in the Brotherhood of Cincinnatus.

"Li, Bring Tanadi LaRue to Golden Lake."  I tell her, "And as many of her higher ranking friends as you can run down. take the leashes off, I'll sign the warrants myself."

And god have mercy on my soul.

"Where on Golden Lake?"

"I have a nice piece of land on Tiger Bluffs."

"Shouldn't you inform the Archon?"

"****** the Archon, this is family.  either bring them here, or I'll Send the 171st out to fetch 'em myself...now if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with a postholer.  this is conspiracy against the Realm, and attempted rebellion, we're going to make some examples."

I can't scream.  the medical implants aren't that good.  I can't show the anger, the fury.  my eyes don't tear because they're not human anymore.

Patrick would be ashamed.  Liz probably won't be happy about it either.  But they tried to kill...the closest thing I have left to family.  it's about time I started actually acting like her guardian.

"But the law, Baroness-"

"Whomever appeals to the law against his fellow man is either a fool, or a coward. whoever can not take care of himself without that law, is both. for a wounded man shall say to his assailant, 'if I live, I will kill you, if I die, you are forgiven'.  such is the law of the jungle, the law these people have chosen.  an example of what lawless action brings, must be made. if you don't have the stomach for it, I'll see to it myself."

I'm cutting orders.  Deployment orders. 

Out on Tiger Bluff, a reviewing stand is going up.  in front of it, are gallows.

[Shadow_Wraith]

Nice story update.    I wonder how Victor will react to the info about the PIC and the Brotherhood.    Who will he get the info first from  though? The LIC or Now look CG?

[Cannonshop]

Ducal Palace, Inarcs, on a lovely summer evening...

the assault came without warning-and it was an assault.  The Blackstone Highlanders on duty went down. It wasn't stun rounds this time, it was silenced bullets.  the ones in garrison found themselves isolated from their armories by tan-armored soldiers from Kowloon, their new combat suits bearing the flag of the Federated Commonwealth, the insignia of the Kowloon Volunteers, and a crudely stenciled grim reaper.

within the palace, chaos.  The Duchess of Inarcs herself was cornered by infantrymen who did not bother speaking english, she was dragged, bodily, from her reception celebrating her anniversary in office.  Several of her guests were likewise rudely collected by tan-armored Centurions.


LIC station Melissia...

There was no warning, no radio call.  Surveillance systems and perimeter alarms simple stopped working  The soldiers that stormed the rather posh offices were a mix of men and machines.  They knew who they were after.  Staffers were darted, not shot.  the Loki Detachment was taken apart by up-armored Cylon Centurions and protectively armored human troops.  The assault teams collected the Station Chief, three of his senior subordinates, and a civilian official, and took them to the roof, where a Raptor waited.  it vanished with a thunderclap heard halfway cross the city.

Main Street...

The Duke of Main Street was awakened by the sound of gunfire and boots.  He got to the window, to see his Senior military advisor being dragged from the palace in handcuffs by a quartet of hulking, tan things.


and so it went.  For the next forty eight hours, men with little to no obvious connection were abducted by assault teams, sometimes in broad daylight, often in front of witnesses. when in front of witnesses, the words "You are bound by law" were heard.

Important, prominent people were being taken, often from offices or beds, sometimes from the beds of lovers, sometimes from the offices of those they were supposed to be overseeing.

Resistance, when it occurred, was brutally dealt with.  The Reapers of the Kowloon Volunteers employed violence with a sort of ruthless competence mixed with surgical precision.

that was what they were called in the press, anyway, 'The Reapers'.

calls to the Archon-Prince soon followed...

[Shadow_Wraith]

 ;D awesome!  I can actually visualize the how 'The Reapers' would come in and apprehend the suspect!   Woo hoo!

[Cannonshop]

FCS Avalon, en-route to Kowloon...

"...Brotherhood of Cincinnatus.  We've got confirmation, we just need to decide whether to release the information." 

Victor nodded, "I want them arrested...hell, I want them gone.  what's the word from kowloon?"

"Their suspect is still alive, your Majesty.  Listen, we need to move on this, there's no telling when the slippery bastards will-"

Alexi Mallory spoke.  "It's too late.  They know."

"You can't be sure of that, we only JUST cracked-" General Stephenson was about to argue.

Alexi gestured to a viewer, "They know, and they're already taking actions."

Victor scowled, "Get me ahead of it...get me Evelynn Mosovich, those aren't Coast Guard troops."

[Shadow_Wraith]

Is that the ArchonPrince getting nervous of what the 171st Volunteers doing and what the consequences are for the guilty?  :D

[Cannonshop]

Seventy Two Hours...

an emergence wave of significant size heralded the approach of the FCS Avalon into the Kowloon system.

By now, Victor had a list of Nobles, prominent businessmen, politicians and celebrities whom had been abducted by the Kowloonese.

It included several nobles in the Kowloon theater.

He also had Lt. General Jasper Zibler, but the man wasn't abducted, he was given a ride on a Coast Guard ship, and had free access to all the commo available.

Which gave Victor a pretty decent picture of just what was going on.  Zibler had effectively taken command after relieving Mosovich of her Military duties, and was acting as Governor, but the man was also directing additional abductions.

One cell, led to another, which led to another.  The financial trail was enormous, much of it embedded in the Lyran Civil Service, including LIC and the Lyran high command.

the shockwaves were already happening.  Katherine had already just barely slipped past an attack by Brotherhood members aboard her ship, the Indomitable, Peter, serving on Tharkad as Regent, was now waiting for replacement legs, the Rabid Fox team assigned to his security barely stopped an assassination attempt thanks to an early warning by the Precentor for the Lyran Alliance personally sending the warning.

at the heart of the conspiracy, Victor now knew, was Ryan Steiner, who decided that Free Skye was a dog that doesn't hunt, but 'pure' steiner blood wasn't.

Armed with this information, Victor boarded a Raptor shuttle from the jump-point, in formation with four more, manned by Rabid Foxes of MI-6.

The snap and flash meant the vast bulk of the FCS Avalon, too large for the advanced drives to work properly (though not too large to have full gravity decking, which made the whole trip here so MUCH easier) would have to wallow at newtonian speed if it wanted to reach the planet...three weeks from arriving.

For the Archon-Prince of the Federated Commonwealth, and his bodyguards, it only took a few minutes.

He landed at Vin Drin Lap airfield, and was met by the Coast Guard's Commodore Alicia Li.

"I'm sorry, your Majesty." were the first words out of her mouth.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for, Li." Victor said, "YOU didn't order this operation.  Where's General Zibler?"

she led him to the command center.

Zibler was absorbing status reports.

"Jasper, this better be a damn good explanation, we're on the edge of a ****** civil war."  Victor didn't bark.

"They're angry." Zibler said, "Let me rephrase, Vic, these people are pissed. It's not getting better as we bring in more suspects and develop more information either.  I'm...I'm trying to prevent a massacre, sir."

"Where's the Baroness? is she leading this massacre?"

"No sir, she's in a cell, under sedation. and under guard.  There's only one bright spot in this whole cluster-******."

"what's that?"

"Elizabeth Ngo isn't dead."  He motioned and a tech activated a monitor.  "She's...not dead, at least, not yet.  They're going to try waking her up.  that gives me arguments to try and keep some people alive."

Victor looked at the liquid Tank the Duchess of Kowloon was in, and the scarring between her small breasts.  the exit wound looked bigger before..

"Keep her under." Victor said, "I'm here. I'll keep some people alive, or let them be executed.  just keep the operations clean."

"Yes, your Majesty...you're sure, Vic?  These people don't ****** around with executions..."

Victor scowled, "It's my damned job now." he said, "Court of last resort, once all other appeals are exhausted.  is there anyone...and I mean anyone out of this mess you've collected who deserves a pardon?"

"Mosovich, most of her men..."

"I mean suspects, and let Mosovich out of the cell, Jas, I need her on her feet and doing her job.  This operation now has the Archon Prince's seal of approval."  He turned to Li, "get with my team, walk them through your investigation, show 'em your evidence.  the bastards went after my little brother and my sister. this isn't just your mission anymore."

"You're taking over sir?" Zibler asked.

"Yes." Victor confirmed.

"Can I get back to my unit then, sir?"

"No." Victor said, "I'll send for your unit to get back to you, LI, handle it."

"Aye sir."

[Cannonshop]

Kurultai, conference calling in Clan occupation zones...

"We must strike the not-named back!"  Khan Aletha Kabrinski was pale with rage...and grief.  "Millions of innocents were killed in that attack."

"We do not know it was them.  If it was, then they have become considerably stronger than they should be."  Marthe Pryde said.  she was calm, almost icy.  "your Clan's hatred of them is legendary, Aletha Kabrinski, we do not even know where their bolt-hole is!"

"If it is not the Not-named, who is it?"  Perigard Zalman of the Steel Vipers asked, "How would we find them? they strike without warning, like the Not-Named forces that scoured your own Clan's presence on Sudeten."

"The Not-Named did not target civilians."  Samantha Clees, SaKhan of the Jade Falcons, stated bluntly.

"That may have something to do with your rather sensible move of not garrisoning your forces in civilian areas." Vladimir Ward spoke calmly.  "very sensible move.  Has anyone else noticed, no nuclear weapons have been deployed against the Jade Falcon Clan? and now, they are the ones suggesting the Not-Named are not the ones nuking worlds in our corridors.  I find that...curious."

[nerd]

"I mean suspects, and let Mosovich out of the cell, Jas, I need her on her feet and doing her job.  This operation now has the Archon Prince's seal of approval."  He turned to Li, "get with my team, walk them through your investigation, show 'em your evidence.  the bastards went after my little brother and my sister. this isn't just your mission anymore."

"You're taking over sir?" Zibler asked.

"Yes." Victor confirmed.

"Can I get back to my unit then, sir?"

"No." Victor said, "I'll send for your unit to get back to you, LI, handle it."

"Aye sir."

Regicide has always been a capital crime. And Victor doesn't have his own heir of the body yet.  >:D

[Nikas_Zekeval]

Regicide has always been a capital crime. And Victor doesn't have his own heir of the body yet.  >:D

It's not just that, before it escalated to that?  Victor set Dutchess Ngo to clean up corruption and improve the local defenses of the realm in her area.  That was his mission, she was under his authority.  And someone tried to assassinate her over it.  A direct challenge to Victor's authority as Archon Prince.

So things were bad, there was a reason he wanted heads on his desk in 24 hours, and the ones he could reach would do for a down payment if the ones responsible weren't promptly produced.

Then the idiots made a run at his family, and likely would have taken a shot at him if he wasn't on the Avalon when the balloon went up.  It went from probably treason and definite other capital crimes to an outright insurrection.  Whatever his political problems, Victor did well if presented with a more military issue, and this just escalated to one.  Fortunately he had some good people already working the problem, so he can just snap them up, tell them to keep doing this, and get his own people up to speed and lend the highest authority to their actions.

[Cannonshop]

Somewhere Else...

in dreams I walk with you.


Spider Moon National Laboratories...

"...thank you for letting me see her."  It's strange to hear a Star Colonel saying those words.  I watch him, as he approaches the support container.

"She can not hear or see anything, can she?" he asks.

"Nothing.  the sensory deprivation means we can use fewer sedatives to keep her unconscious while she's restrained and healing."

he lays a hand on the armored ferroglas containing my patient in a bath of nutrients and activated Liberator. "Too bad. when will she be physically viable?"

"another week or two would be nice." I admit, "We're almost done repairing the damage to her liver and kidneys, we ended up having to replace both of her lungs, the one that was not penetrated by the shot, was clogged with tar from tobacco and cannabis use, with precancerous polyps forming."

he stares through the glass at her face.  I can't read his expression.

"Can you go faster?" he asks, "I need her."

"She isn't yours." Mai says angrily.

I see a tear.  "but I am hers." he says.  "I need her back."

Clearly, there was a defect that slipped past Etienne's team when they were making this one...and I'm glad it did.

"We're working on it." Dr. Huyn sounds sympathetic now.

"What news from the Clans?" I ask.

He looks aside, "They are being attacked." he tells us, "The Wolverines on one hand, on another..?" he shrugs, "i have images taken by Smoke Jaguar and Ghost Bear forces.  This new enemy cares nothing for causing massive civilian death.  They have deployed thermonuclear weapons against surface targets inside cities."

"Unknowns?"  the Gina assigned to work with us asks.  "may I see them, Star Colonel?"

He produces the images.

she gasps in recognition.

"What?"

"Those...are familiar to me." she says carefully, "Not all Cylons went the same way when we were freed...those are Cylon designed ships, and the Mark 0005's are an older design of Centurion...one that hates humans with a passion."

"your people, but not your people."

"Put precisely, yes." she nods.  "Your enemies are also ours.  The division between us was...acrimonius.  I knew the Ones would...were looking into the Inner Sphere.  I did not think they would start attacking populations again." She met his eyes, "Those Cylons are also fighting the Wolverines, if they are here, it can only mean they have found an advantage against them."

[Daryk]

It strikes me Victor is now actually in the safest place he could possibly be in the entire FedCom…  ^-^

I'm sure Evelyn is going to have some choice words for Zibler when she sees him again, but I think she just might forgive him, being that he kept on with the operation...

[DoctorMonkey]

FCS Avalon, en-route to Kowloon...

"...Brotherhood of Cincinnatus.  We've got confirmation, we just need to decide whether to release the information." 

Victor nodded, "I want them arrested...hell, I want them gone.  what's the word from kowloon?"

"Their suspect is still alive, your Majesty.  Listen, we need to move on this, there's no telling when the slippery bastards will-"

Alexi Mallory spoke.  "It's too late.  They know."

"You can't be sure of that, we only JUST cracked-" General Stephenson was about to argue.

Alexi gestured to a viewer, "They know, and they're already taking actions."

Victor scowled, "Get me ahead of it...get me Evelynn Mosovich, those aren't Coast Guard troops."

These 171st aren't Coast Guard troops, they're historical reenactors... I mean, it so happens that they are all veterans of the Coast Guard or Militia special forces/SWAT but this? this isn't an assault rifle and full tactical kit, it's a replica assault rifle and tactical kit, an excellent reproduction, don't you think?

[Cannonshop]

Federated Commonwealth reservation Vin Drin Lap, Kowloon...

"...getting cooperation with the Clans??"  Victor was aghast.

"Jade Falcons." Evelynn said, "Look, it cracked this case.  Roshak, for some reason, didn't want to have to defend the city right away."

"Oh, right the terms..."

"We've been getting a lot of good intel on what's going on with the Clans as a whole thanks to that city." Alexi Mallory noted, "Coms intercepts especially, including taps on their 'secure' lines of communication.  It's like bugging West Berlin during the end of the 20th century...and my analysis guys have reason to believe Roshak might end up Defecting."

"Huh? really?"

"Not for the scandal-monger types, but he and Liz had a...special..? relationship."

"Special like how?" Victor asked, curious.  Then he looked at his intel chief, and the man shook his head.

"You didn't read all the domestic reports, Highness?"

"I don't have time-"

"This one would qualify as a foreign intelligence report as well."  Mallory suggested.

"She's ****** him." Evelynn said, "Or was.  They were. Frequently.  I guess making up for lost time and paying it forward-Trueborns have contraceptive implants, so pregnancy risk is low, but she has him wrapped around her little finger."

"Excuse me?"

"it's an open secret that Elizabeth Ngo was riding a falcon three nights a week.  It started after that little sport mock-battle that netted us fifteen Clan Scientists."  Mosovich explained, "I would have preferred she picked someone local, but the risks to her health are pretty severe if she gets pregnant, so..."

"Did she even remotely consider the political implications of sleeping with the enemy?" Victor asked.

"It's Elizabeth.  Your Great Uncle Frederic had more subtlety...or at least, more Discretion."

Victor was nonplussed, "And why is the first time I'm hearing about this?"

"Because you didn't read the carefully prepared reports from our Domestic section, your Majesty? Sometimes that stuff is actually significant. it isn't all covert assassination plots and troop movements."

Victor looked to General Zibler, "Jas, what do you know about this guy?"

"Well, he's a poker player." Zibler said, "he offered troops to conduct the raids with, which we politely declined, he challenged the declination and we played blackjack, which Private Hannity wound up winning, I had to get a loan through our credit union to pay off my losses to that little card-counting bastard, so they're staying in their enclave 'unless or until requested', except for Roshak, who's currently either on his way to Spider Moon, or there, or on his way back.  He's there to visit Elizabeth, though his official reason is to see if our people can identify some UFO's that have been bombing the snot out of Clan assets along the periphery."

"the nuclear attacks on Ghost Bear and Smoke Jaguar holdings." Victor filled in himself, "I do read reports, Alexi.  Those attacks are why the Fleet is staying on-station instead of kicking off Operation: Bulldog. we don't know who it is."

"Yet." Mallory said.  "We know the Wolverines have been kicking the door in across the occupation zones, but those are conventional attacks with surgical strikes-except at Sudeten, where it was a full-court naval push."

"but no nukes."  Victor added.

"No Nukes." Mallory agreed. 

"There's some confusion in the ranks over not taking advantage of that." Zibler noted.

"I know, Kate's champing the bit to kick off the Jade Falcon front, but there's a bit of advice my Dad gave me." Victor said, "he told me to look two times more than normal when someone does something that gives me a strategic edge.  Said it's a trap, said 'the enemy of my enemy is not my friend, they are my enemy's enemy. nothing more, nothing less'.  I look at this mystery force, and that's what my mind goes back to. Sometimes you have to make sure the Gift Horse isn't rabid."

"ahm, Sirs, ma'ams?" a young looking Coast Guard enlisted man walked up, "We know who the mystery force attacking the Clans on the coreward border is.  They're gonna know it too, once Roshak reports in."

"Who is it?"

"Cylons, sir.  Apparently when the ones we know came here, they were a dissident group-we knew that already.  Looks like, according to Gina-Kowloon101, aka 'Natalie', the main body of the Cylons is fracking around on the coreward-spinward side of the Inner Sphere.  Nick Chopper at Spider Moon, and Jack Slash confirmed it from the refit factory at Camp John-these guys hate humans, and have a lot of assets, they've been fighting the Wolverines since the Thirties, one of the reasons our Cylons broke from 'em was that those Cylons wouldn't let it go."

"Those are Liz's bodyguards...didn't Jack take an AP round straight through him?"

"Chassis download, sir.  he was in range of a factory server, he took the hit and was immediately downloaded into the queue for a replacement body.  Artificial Intelligences are weird that way. he's still in the custom shop getting the upgrades worked in."  Alicia explained.

[Daryk]

+1 for Maxim #29, and +1,000 for it being Hanse who told it to Victor...  ^-^