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BattleTech Player Boards => Novel and Sourcebook Reviews => Topic started by: Mendrugo on 06 December 2012, 20:32:05

Title: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 06 December 2012, 20:32:05
Greetings! 

In this thread, I intend to go through the complete library of BattleTech fiction and scenarios in chronological order.  I won't be covering sourcebooks or rulebooks - just the short stories, novel chapters, and scenarios that comprise the ground-level view of events in the Inner Sphere and beyond.

Entries will take the format of:

Date: (Month Day, Year)
Location: (Planet, when applicable)
Title: The story's name.
Author: Who wrote it.
Type: BattleCorps Story, Sourcebook Fiction, Scenario, Novel Chapter, etc.
Synopsis: A brief summary of the action
Notes: My thoughts on the story, the scenario, etc.

We begin at the dawn of the Age of War:

Date: January 14, 2366

Location: Lopez

Title: Rebirth

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Scenario (Northwind Highlanders)

Synopsis: The newly reformed First Kearny Highlanders launch a raid against the Oriente Hussars’ supply depots on Lopez, hoping to offset the Hussars’ technological superiority.  The Hussars are field testing TechniCorp’s prototype PPCs.

Notes:  This is the earliest scenario set in the BattleTech universe to date, predating the development of BattleMechs.  The Highlanders field Karnovs packed with Laser Jump Infantry and J. Edgars for ground support.  The defenders have Manticores and SRM Carriers. 

At the time this scenario was written, these vehicles had been referred to in TROs as designs that had been in service for centuries, so it was a good effort at making an era-appropriate lineup.  However, with the recent spate of products more fully fleshing out the Age of War, these vehicles have been shown to be anachronisms.  PPCs didn't debut until 2460, the Manticore in 2660, the Karnov in 2901, the J. Edgar in the 2700s, and the SRM Carrier in 2440.  Line Developer Herb Beas has stated that, given the conflicting data, the vehicles in this scenario and the stated motivation of field testing primitive PPC technology should not be taken as part of canonical BattleTech history.

A more period-accurate TO&E for the engagement would pit Torrent Heavy Bombers (the "IC" variant retrofitted for HALO paratrooper deployment) in place of the Karnovs and Randolph Support Vehicles for ground support in place of the J. Edgar hovercraft on the Capellan side, while the FWLM would field Kestrel MBTs in place of both the Manticores and SRM carriers.

Designed for the “Master Rules” ruleset, this scenario appears to be heavily slanted against the Highlanders under the later Total Warfare ruleset, due to the increased likelihood of motive system damage (particularly against hovercraft).  The SRM-Carriers in particular, much more than the vaunted Manticores, prove ruinous against the J. Edgars, which have nothing that outranges the SRM Carriers.  Even if most of the missile storm sent against the hovercraft misses, the few that connect are very likely to blow the hoverskirt, and the follow-up strikes against the slowed or immobilized unit will be terminal.

The terrain also works against the attackers.  The woods on the maps surrounding the “CityTech” map would allow the defender to completely seal off that map with five strategically placed tanks (2 SRM carriers and 3 Manticores – since the LRMs and PPCs can cover the depots from the chokepoint), leaving the other four as a reserve around the depot buildings against the airborne Karnovs and infantry.  Since all four depots can be placed on the CityTech map, the defender can concentrate their forces and have a good chance of obliterating the lightly armed VTOLs and infantry before they could possibly inflict the 110 points of damage necessary to destroy all four depot buildings. 

As a caveat – the infantry do have satchel charges that enable them to auto-destroy a building, given a full movement phase used to plant them.  If the Hussars’ dice hate them early on, the Karnovs may be able to penetrate to the depot buildings and drop the infantry on the roofs.  But if more than one Karnov is shot down en-route (with jump infantry aboard), it is unlikely that the Highlanders will be able to win the scenario on points.

With the period correct vehicles, infantry deployment gets easier with the Torrents (which are Conventional Fighters rather than slower VTOLs), but ground support is severely weakened, as the Randolphs are slower, more poorly armored, and minimally armed compared to the J. Edgars.  The whole scenario then relies on getting the infantry onto the buildings and blowing them sky high (the Randolphs can also carry infantry, so you could two-track the assault with both airborne and ground prongs).  The League Estevez platoon should concentrate on massing fire on the Torrents to try to take them out before they deploy their infantry onto the buildings.  Cluster tightly around the buildings to be protected so you can machine gun any platoon that scatters during the drop before it can reach the target structure and set charges.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Blacknova on 06 December 2012, 22:57:41
Great idea.  Although for ease of searching, perhaps adding an addtional header called Type - Scenario, Chapter, Short Story etc.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 06 December 2012, 23:34:50
Sounds good. 

To keep it from getting too long, I'm going to do separate threads for Age of War, Reunification War, Star League, 1st Succession War, 2nd Succession War, 3rd Succession War, 4th Succession War, and then, once we get into the densest part of the fiction (3049-3080), go on a year-by-year basis, with one year per thread.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Blacknova on 07 December 2012, 02:21:42
Sweet, do you plan on a master index thread like the Fan articles?
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 07 December 2012, 05:08:48
----- 46 Years Later -----

Date: February 23, 2412

Location: Tintavel

Title: Just Following Orders

Author: Roland M. Boshnack and Herbert A. Beas II

Type: Sourcebook Fiction (Era Digest - Age of War)

Synopsis: An FWL armor company commences an early Age of War battle for Tintavel, touching off the campaign that would eventually ruin the world and lead to the creation of the Ares Conventions.  The FWL’s Kestrel MBTs and APCs make short work of at least a battalion of Capellan tanks (Korvins are mentioned, specifically), as well as laying waste to the city of New Mitla (including the destruction of a hospital full of babies and pregnant women).
 
Notes: Such field conduct (and the apparent impotence of the CCAF’s Korvins) lays the groundwork for the CCAF’s later decision to start lobbing nukes at FWL staging areas. 

Looking at the comparative stats, the 5/8 Korvin has an 8 point main gun (large laser) backed by an LRM 10 and machine guns, with 38 armor on the front glacis, while the 3/5 Kestrel (an FWL version of the Estevez MBT) packs a 9 point main gun (primitive heavy rifle) backed by vehicular grenade launchers and machine guns, with 35 points of armor on the front glacis.  The APCs of the era have 5 armor on each facing – insta-death from a single hit from a tank.

Just on the face of it, the Korvins should have matched up well against the Kestrels.  If the FWL used its current force composition waaay back then, there would have been 10-15 Kestrels in the armor company.  Given the description of the Leaguers punching through, leaving more than a battalion of wrecked CCAF tanks in their wake, the New Mitla militia probably only had a lance of Korvins and the rest were APCs, since equal numbers of Korvins vs. Kestrels would probably have resulted in a Capellan victory.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 07 December 2012, 18:07:32
Sweet, do you plan on a master index thread like the Fan articles?

Once I finish a thread, I'll add its entries to a master index.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 08 December 2012, 07:12:01
----- 3 Years Later -----

Date: December 17, 2415

Location: Oshika

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Brothers Ito and Takeda Tesuo are Oshikan goji ranchers.  (Goji are foul-smelling herd insects raised for meat, which is sold cheaply to Unproductives and others too poor to afford better.)  Despite the allure of patching balky generators and shoveling goji dung (said to smell bad enough to kill a dog at 100 meters), Ito has transmitted his application to the academy, and will be leaving the farm to serve in the DCMS. (A dramatic John Williams score rises as Luke Ito gazes at the setting sun and dreams of a life of adventure offworld. ;) )  Younger brother Takeda feels betrayed by Ito's departure.

Notes: This scene paints a vivid portrait of rural life for Combine citizens, showing why the Pillar of Steel holds great appeal in terms of social mobility, and just how awful Combine cuisine is, at least for the lower classes.  Fillet of roach and a can of Stomach’s Joy are just the thing after an 18-hour shift at the factory or in the germanium mines.

Write-ups for Oshika show how hard-up for food it is.  It was founded as a mining colony and grew to have four billion inhabitants by the fall of the Star League.  Its soil is poor for growing Terran crops, and it imports huge amounts of chemical fertilizers to feed its people.  One oddity is that the indigenous Oshika Ox, which looks like a cross between an elephant and a cow, didn't start to be used as a food item until the early 3000s.  Why would the Oshikans have chosen to first domesticate the goji rather than the ox?  (Could be many reasons - goji cheaper to raise, grow faster, provide more meat, etc.)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 08 December 2012, 23:55:29
----- 10 Years Later -----

Date: July 7, 2425

Location: Capella

Title: Forms of Betrayal

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: A member of Marion’s Highlanders assassinates Chancellor Arden Baxter as he walks the streets of Capella Prime en route to a regular Thursday-night meeting at the House of Scions.  A needler blast to the face ends the Confederation’s first experiment with a non-Liao Chancellor.

Notes: Baxter’s security detail appears to have been criminally lax, both for not securing the Chancellor’s route and for allowing his routine to become predictable.  No details are given in the text about why the Highlander felt the need to assassinate the Chancellor, other than that he felt Baxter was limiting the Highlanders’ chances for greatness. 

A snippet from Intel Ops indicates that the triggerman was mentally unbalanced and hired by the Maskirovka for the job…which may also explain the security detail’s “oversights.”  As we'll see in Goliath out of the Box, the Maskirovka isn't quite finished screwing with the Highlanders.

Overheard street conversations also indicate war-weariness, with the Rim War against the Concordat, without the Ares Conventions, just finished, and tensions rising with both Houses Davion and Marik (due to manipulation by the disgruntled Maskirovka.)

One wonders just what the arrangement is between the House of Scions and the Chancellor, time-wise.  Most of the time we see the Capellan Chancellor in the fiction, he's ruling (okay, plotting and scheming) from the palace on Sian.  Yet, here the Chancellor is on Capella, strolling down the sidewalk for a regular Thursday-night meeting.  This implies that he's been on Capella for a while and takes a hand in the doings of the House.  Does the House of Scions meet all year, but only has the Chancellor in attendance for meetings/approvals one month out of the year?  Or does the House of Scions convene for a limited time with the Chancellor in attendance?  I'm sure the noble members of that body have other things they want to do beyond allocating tax assessments and rubber-stamping Prefectorate decrees.  Or is this just a Baxterism, since he started his political career in the House of Scions?
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 09 December 2012, 16:13:44
----- 1 Year Later -----

Date: July 2, 2426

Location: New Samarkand

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Ito Tesuo, 11 years off the goji farm and following five years of Internal Security College training, takes his final test to join the ranks of the ISF, using a spear to battle what appears to be an imported Pesht predator ape in a jungle on New Samarkand.  He questions the test's relevance to his actual scope of work at the ISF.

Notes: It’s not clear what Ito did for the first six years after leaving Oshika.  Basic training took 6-12 months to become an infantry trooper, and then he probably served in an Age-of-War infantry force before qualifying for the ISF program.   The Intel Ops sourcebook says that ISF training consists of an intensive infantry combat program, grueling psychological and intellectual assessments (candidates are selected for DEST at this point), and classes in psychological warfare, weapons training, and cultural familiarization.

I agree with Ito that it seems to be something of a mismatch to subject every ISF applicant to a “Death by Kong” exam, since the vast majority of ISF operatives will be analysts, rather than DEST commandos.  (Notably, the Intel Ops book says Voice of the Dragon candidates so rarely encounter combat situations that they are given a less intensive weapons course.  So do the propagandists have to survive the "most dangerous game" as well?)  The Intel Ops book mentions that Pesht predator apes are raised by DEST to provide security around their HQ on Pesht, but there's no mention of a final trial by combat for the ISF cadets.  Perhaps unacceptable failure rates led the ISF to drop this from the process.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 10 December 2012, 20:03:45
----- 2 Years Later -----

Date: February 27, 2428

Location: Kaznejov

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Graduation day at the Sun Tzu School of Combat on Kaznejov.  Takeda Tesuo will be joining the DCMS infantry at the top of his class (having left Oshika after his folks apparently kicked the bucket – goji stampede? Bottom dropped out of the bugmeat market?), and tells a fellow student (an aerojock cadet) that he has no family after getting a letter that may be from Ito.

Notes: This brings back the Kaznejov/Kaznejoy question.  TPTB have now ruled that the official name is Kaznejoy, but it’s still Kaznejov in this early BattleCorps work.  (Funny story – one of the radius circle lines on the original House Kurita sourcebook starmap cut right across the ‘v’ in Kaznejov, making it look like a ‘y’.  When compiling world-lists for more recent projects, the map was used as the primary resource and the spelling officially changed.)

Looking at the TO&E lists for Age of War equipment, it's notable that the DCMS doesn't have any unique tanks listed for this era, aside from the Sand Devil hover tank, and that's an Azami exclusive at this point, used against the Combine occupiers.  Sun Tzu is graduating at least infantry and aerospace pilots (the Combine has Sabres in this era).  Even in 3025, the Combine doesn't give armor a lot of respect.  This may suggest that their Age of War formations were primarily comprised of APC-mounted infantry backed by light support vehicles, and that their battlefield success relied more on outmaneuvering and outfighting their foes than outgunning/outweighing them.

The Combine sourcebook indicates that the Kuritas were using heavy infantry and atmospheric aircraft as of 2303 (likely Torrent bombers, or a variant thereof).  A letter from Shiro states that the Alliance of Galedon is converting light civilian factories to make military equipment, so heavy tanks are probably beyond their scope.  The Rasalhagian rebels on New Bergen managed to capture a huge stockpile of DCMS equipment in 2334 - scoring jumpships, armored vehicles, personal weapons, artillery, and munitions.  The only known armored vehicle designs being fielded in 2334 were the Stoat Armored Car, Randolph Support Vehicle, and Kestrel/Estevez MBTs (identical AFFS/FWLM designs). 

In 2399, the DCMS high command acknowledged that, while their troops were more disciplined, they had inferior firepower, and had to upgrade their equipment.  At this point, the LCAF was fielding the then spanking new Marsden I MBT, while the DCMS had just primitive APCs.  (The Lyrans had armored VTOLs and multi-turreted tanks during the Skye/Tamar revolt of 2378, and deployed Aerospace Fighters and VTOLs in their raid on Vega in 2408.)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 11 December 2012, 22:23:48
----- 7 Years Later -----

Date: October 9, 2435

Location: New Samarkand

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: ISF analyst Ito, whose daily routine involves much analysis of Lyran economic reports and very little monkey murder, talks to a colleague, Illena, about his suspicions that the Terran Hegemony is up to something involving armed WorkMechs on Hesperus II.  His skeptical colleague tells him to run it down. 

Notes: The conversation nicely illuminates the pro-Kurita/anti-Von Rohrs leanings in the ISF upper management, as well as referencing current events like the Lyran Archon’s centralization of power and the Combine’s purge of merchants and their families in an effort to consolidate the Coordinator's control over the economy.

It's interesting that Illena dismisses out of hand rumors that the Terrans are producing armed WorkMechs, noting that "everyone's done that, without success."  I mentally pictured the classic montage of pre-Wright Brothers flying machines (or the more recent series of clips from Iron Man 2 with catastrophically malfunctioning North Korean, Iranian and Hammer battle armor). 

It seems that, at least as important as the development of the heavy gyroscope and neurohelmet, was the creation of military grade armor.  If an industrial 'Mech packing ammo-based weapons had to make a crit check every time a large laser hit, it would turn to a pyre pretty quickly.  Ilena jokes that Shiro-era armored vehicles (from 100 years earlier) had superior performance to all known attempts to arm WorkMechs.  (As we'll see down the road in Mercenary's Star, PickerMechs with machine guns strapped on don't have the best battlefield track record.  Or even worse, the farmers on Randall's Regret who take an armed CattleMaster and a quad CargoMech into battle against a bandit and get stomped flat...by an UrbanMech.)  Once 'Mechs take the field, the majority of the battle descriptions focus on how enemy fire seems just to bounce off harmlessly, while the heavy weapons mounted on the 'Mech chassis cut through BAR armor like a hot knife through cheese.

This leads me to believe that even if the Terran Hegemony hadn't developed the BattleMech, they'd still be miles ahead once they started armoring their Merkavas and other vehicles with their newfangled high-tech armor plating.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 12 December 2012, 16:30:01
----- 3 Years Later -----

Date: December 22, 2438 – January 10, 2439

Location: Terra

Title: Break Away

Author: Ilsa J. Bick

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: As the field of HAF candidates to pilot the first Mackie prototype comes down to the final four, the final test is a wilderness survival challenge where the four candidates hunt each other with powered-down weapons and have to survive against a special forces squad hunting them all.  However, a Capellan officer with a serious personal grudge against several of the HAF troopers (following the events of the Battle of Tybalt, part of an HAF offensive against the Capellan Confederation) has brought in a Maskirovka strike team and plans to gain his revenge by killing the candidates and extracting intel about the Mackie for the CCAF. 

Simultaneously, the neurohelmet development lab has also been infiltrated (by either the Maskirovka or the Davion Ministry of Intelligence), but the spy there has his cover blown by one of the chimp researchers.  Kincaid escapes his captors and survives to pilot the Mackie, while the infiltration attempts utterly fail.

Notes:  Here we see the HAF Desert Cobra and Redhawk VTOL gunships.  It will be interesting to see if they ever make it into print in a future era-appropriate TRO.  There’s an odd anachronism when a scientist at the neuro-helmet research facility blows the infiltrator’s cover – pegging him as Maskirovka - and addresses him as “sang-shao,” despite the fact that the CCAF didn’t adopt that rank designation until Sun Tzu’s reforms more than 600 years later.

This story provides a unique glimpse of the internal politics of the Terran Hegemony.  Despite its reputation as the “shining beacon on a hill” of the Inner Sphere, there are references to disloyal nobles, vulnerability to infiltration and treachery, and popular discontent with Director Jacob Cameron.   With the Battle of Tybalt referenced both here and in Fall Down/Stand Up, it would be interesting to learn more about that campaign, described in the SLSB only as the culminating battle in an offensive HAF campaign launched against both the Federated Suns and Capellan Confederation, which resulted in a minor HAF victory at a high cost in lives.  Perhaps a Historical Turning Point: Tybalt at some point?

Clearly, being the first test pilot of a new class of war-machine is a huge honor, and the candidates for the slot will compete fiercely for it.  However, it's odd that the final filter comes down to a test of personal stamina and killer instinct in the wilderness, since neither of those qualities is particularly vital to make a good showing in the BattleMech's first live fire field test, scheduled for February 2439.  Like the predator ape challenge for ISF recruits, the test doesn't seem particularly well suited to the requisite skill set.  (I'm reminded here of the description of the trials set by the Brotherhood of Randis for prospective MechWarriors, which were later described as merely a regimen of brutal hazing, rather than a true measure of ability.)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 13 December 2012, 00:12:39
----- 1 Month Later -----

Date: February 5, 2439

Location: Terra

Title: Birth of the King

Author: David McCulloch

Type: Scenario (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: The first live-fire test of a BattleMech features four remote operated drone Merkava tanks against the prototype Mackie.

Notes: At 3/5, none of the units involved are terribly spry, so the engagement is likely to just be a slugging match.  The advantage definitely lies with the Mackie, however, since two of its three guns can penetrate the BAR 7 armor on the Merkavas, giving a chance for critical hits with nearly every strike.  The prototype Mackie is also extra-vulnerable to crits, but first the tanks have to drill through 20+ points of armor per location with AC/5s and SRM-2s.   Plus, the tanks are fed into the battle piecemeal, preventing them from massing fire.  If playing the tanks, the best strategy would be to hang back and try to use the hills for cover until the whole lance is on the field, and then attack en-masse (taking care not to get within stomping range, since a 20-point kick isn't going to be doing the Merkava Mk. V any favors.).

The scenario setup doesn’t exactly match Professor Htov Gbarleman’s report from the Star League sourcebook (p. 31), which indicates that the Merkavas were already on the test range, waiting for the Mackie, and the ‘Mech came to them.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 13 December 2012, 23:45:23
----- 1 Year Later -----

Date: July 6, 2439

Location: St. John

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  The Lyrans are launching a fourth attempt to retake St. John from the expanding Combine.  Takeda Tesuo’s DCMS infantry regiment was shredded trying to hold the world, and is now engaged in guerilla strikes against Lyran forces. Takeda is now a DCMS company commander, though his company is down to 13 effectives.  In this battle, Takeda’s men demonstrate that fire + conventional vehicles and infantry = fireworks.

Notes:  The Lyrans aren’t yet referred to as “cows,” “bessies,” etc. – all names that come from their later preference for the heaviest ‘Mechs.  At this point, they’re disdainfully called “merchants.”  Traders seem to be in poor regard, especially considering the purges of the Combine’s merchant clans four years earlier.  Despite the battles of the Age of War being characterized elsewhere as “bloodless maneuvering,” a DCMS trooper notes that the Combine regiment has been “cut to ribbons.” 

Pre-BattleMech LCAF formations seen here are combined arms – one battalion of diesel tanks (most likely Marsden MBTs – 3/5 ICE 65 tonners with BAR 7 armor, packing an AC/5 backed by SRM 6 and machine gun) backed by two battalions of mechanized infantry.  Social-General leadership appears to already be in style, though, as the Kuritans are able to defeat the Lyran regiment by setting the wheat fields they’re sweeping on fire with napalm – noting that the Lyrans haven’t learned since the last time this was done to them.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 14 December 2012, 10:45:28
----- 10 Years Later -----

Date: October 9, 2449

Location: Skye

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: ISF agent Ito Tesuo has been trying, without success, to crack HAF security around the BattleMech project for fourteen years, and has been under cover at Shipil Company on Skye for the past three.  Opportunities to demonstrate prowess in battling feral apes remain few and far between. 

His latest scheme to get a berth on a Shipil Company transport that just might make a delivery to Hesperus II collapses when the freighter is unexpectedly rerouted, and Ito begins to make preparations to eliminate his cover identity and try another avenue somewhere else.

Notes: Ito notes he’s paying 50 kroner a month for his flophouse.  By comparison, Handbook House Steiner places average monthly housing rental in the Skye province at 110 kroner/month – not sure what this says about kroner inflation over the next 600 years. 

It's amusing that Ito, who grew up on a diet of goji meat, would find sauerkraut so objectionable.

There’s an intriguing mention of “ongoing purges” in the Combine, which would be Nihongi Von Rohrs’ attempt to eliminate anyone whose loyalty was suspect.  Intel Ops notes that these purges gutted the ISF, and left it without the resources or personnel to successfully get more than scraps of information about Hegemony technology. 

This makes it sound very similar to Romano Liao's purges in the 3030s and 3040s.  Of course, hers were done not to weed out those loyal to Maximillian vs. herself in the Maskirovka, but to cleanse an organization that had been massively compromised by the MIIO.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 15 December 2012, 00:35:39
----- 6 Years Later -----

Date: February 1, 2455 – February 9, 2455

Location: Hesperus II

Title: Prometheus Unbound

Author: Herbert A. Beas II

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  17 years after the Mackie prototype went live, the Terran Hegemony is manufacturing production models full steam on Hesperus II.  With the Lyrans being pressed hard by the FWL and Combine, Simon Kelswa leads a Counter-Terrorism Division (later known as Lohengrin – Lyran ninja orphans) strike team to wrest the Commonwealth’s salvation from the Terrans.
 
The commandos, headed by Simon Kelswa and Brian Kirkpatrick, infiltrate as Commonwealth Mining Company (CMC) laborers and intentionally arouse suspicion so as to get detained and delay their transfer to the mines (giving time for the next phase of the plan to go into effect).  Upon their clearance and departure from the Maria’s Elegy spaceport, their shuttle “crashes” into the Myoo Mountain complex.  The team gets the tech specs in the resulting confusion, but the operation nearly goes awry when the shuttle is breached by HAF security, causing failsafes to detonate. 

The team subsequently extracts on cargo shuttles and rendezvouses with a JumpShip false-flagged with Rim Worlds Republic registry, with the HAF none the wiser about the data leak.  It is later revealed that the explosion of the transport was planned in advance to give the impression that all the “miners” had died in the crash, letting the Terrans assume it was just a tragic accident, and not knowing that their top secret tech had just walked out the door.

Notes:  This is a prose expansion of the sourcebook account from p. 18 of the House Steiner book.  The presence of the fake RWR JumpShip was, according to author Herb Beas, done to explain why ComStar’s Periphery report erroneously indicated that the RWR’s intel agency, AsRoc, cooperated with the Lyrans in Operation PROMETHEUS.  Herb noted that, if that had been the case, and the RWR had acquired ‘Mech technology at the same time as the Lyrans, it would have been hard to justify the RWR being mostly armed with conventional forces rather than 'Mechs during the Reunification War.
 
The question still remains of why the HAF tolerated an RWR-flagged JumpShip in the Hesperus system at all, given Ito's remark in Fall Down/Stand Up that the ISF was afraid to put a JumpShip in the system.  Had Von Rohrs’ purges rendered the ISF overly timid at this juncture, or was the RWR regarded as generally friendly and non-threatening during the Age of War?  (Something that certainly couldn’t be said in regard to Combine/Hegemony or Combine/Commonwealth relations.)

Despite the reputedly “massive” security that made the ISF afraid to even enter the system and held the LIC at bay for 15 years, the Commonwealth Mining Company seems to have had no problem bringing in semi-skilled laborers to staff C.M.O. 7 – its mining outpost on the far side of the planet from the Myoo Mountain factory.  One wonders why the security-obsessed HAF didn’t simply divert the “miners” to the CMO 7 site initially, and have a local security screen there.  Presumably, component subcontractors also made deliveries to the HAF ‘Mech factory via Maria’s Elegy, which is why Ito was trying to get a berth on a Shipil Company transport out of Skye.

This story is told from Kelswa's POV, and does a good job of conveying the stomach-churning fear that BattleMechs elicited from those seeing them for the first time.  Despite having (presumably) braved enemy fire on numerous occasions during the Age of War - now in its 57th year - Colonel Kelswa freezes in terror on several occasions when coming into sight of a BattleMech.  Thinking about this, one wonders just what triggered his fear response.  WorkMechs, including big ones like the Dig King, had been around for a century at this point, so just seeing a big humanoid mech stomping around shouldn't have been a novel experience.  Perhaps the sheer size of the guns on the Mackie was the stimulus, since attempts to arm WorkMechs would probably have been limited to machine guns, AC/5s and SRM-2s, with PPCs and lasers being out of the question.  A later account (Goliath Out of the Box) describes the Mackie's arm guns as "being nearly the size of our entire tank."  Or perhaps there was something visually different about the non-BAR armor.

Of historical interest, the derogatory terms for Terrans in this era (the equivalent to Cappie, Fedrat, Drac, etc.) are “Terrie” and “Terrat.”
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: SCC on 16 December 2012, 03:34:27
This leads me to believe that even if the Terran Hegemony hadn't developed the BattleMech, they'd still be miles ahead once they started armoring their Merkavas and other vehicles with their newfangled high-tech armor plating.
Note that Manitcore's, which have always had standard armor, were around in the first story, 69 years before

Ito notes he’s paying 50 kroner a month for his flophouse.  By comparison, Handbook House Steiner places average monthly housing rental in the Skye province at 110 kroner/month – not sure what this says about kroner inflation over the next 600 years.
Pretty damn good, normal doubling time is 35 years

Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Decoy on 16 December 2012, 04:10:25
I wouldn't put too much stock in the old NWH Scenarios. There wasn't the support for AoW stuff back then that there is now.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: SCC on 16 December 2012, 04:40:50
Just checked the MUL, the Manticore wasn't introduced until sometime in the 27 century, time for errata
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 16 December 2012, 07:40:14
Just checked the MUL, the Manticore wasn't introduced until sometime in the 27 century, time for errata

For that matter, the fluff for the Reunification War-era Hipparch indicates that the J. Edgar was a later design intended as an upgrade on the Hipparch design concept.  And even the primitive SRM Carrier wasn't introduced until 2440.

The MUL date for the Manticore probably comes from the fluff statement that it began being manufactured for Star League member states in the 2600s.  That could be read to mean it was made just for the FWL by Technicorp much earlier, and then production/distribution was expanded during the Star League era. 

I'd be comfortable with assuming that the Manticores in Rebirth are primitive variants with BAR 7 armor and (if necessary) weaker weaponry.  If the 2439 Mackie mounted a prototype PPC that generated 15 heat, then the primitive Manticore should have the same drawback, and need to mount five more heat sinks to deal with the extra heat, dropping weapons and armor accordingly. 

The Rebirth scenario being a field test for the primitive Manticore prototype might explain why the design didn't come to dominate the Age of War battlefields - its support weaponry and armor protection would have to be substandard due to the heat load, making it inferior to the ballistic and missile loadouts on its peers.

If the Rebirth scenario were to be redone to current canon, the Highlanders would probably pack Stoats and primitive Karnovs (with BAR armor), while the Oriente Hussars would replace the SRM Carriers with Kestrel MBTs and the Manticores with primitive versions.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 16 December 2012, 08:42:39
Pretty damn good, normal doubling time is 35 years

I'm guessing that there was either a major deflationary cycle during the Succession Wars, or that the Lyrans had to adjust currency values at some point (trimming off three 0's and saying that the old 1,000 kroner bill is now worth 1 neu-kroner).  One of the books notes that at one point during the Star League era, the kroner was looking pretty shaky, and the Commonwealth gave serious consideration to just ditching it and adopting the Star League dollar as its official currency.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 16 December 2012, 08:49:34
----- 1 Month Later -----

Date: March 26, 2455

Location: Tharkad

Title: Prometheus Unbound

Author: Herbert A. Beas II

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Archon Alistair Marsden-Steiner tells a distraught Simon Kelswa that the tactics used on the raid (which killed four Lyran commandos and hundreds of Hegemony factory workers) are acceptable, given the stakes.  Kelswa admits that he was frozen with fear when he encountered the Terran Mackies, and offers to resign.  The Archon instead commands him to review the data and find the weaknesses in the design, so that the LCAF can effectively fight against ‘Mechs in the field without having to be afraid.

Notes:  March is noted as being during local winter in Tharkad City, which is useful in attempting to attach rough dates to the events of The Sword and the Dagger.

Mission commander Simon Kelswa is likely a member of the Tamar Kelswas – at this time a prominent family in the Tamar Pact, but not yet its ruler.  A Davis Kelswa was Prime Minister of Tamar circa 2364, but House Kelswa didn’t become the Ducal rulers until 2505, after the fall of House Natesh (when Duke Natesh backed Margaret Olsen). 

Kelswa is presented here as an idealistic commander who didn’t want anyone to get hurt in the operation – regarding the Hegemony as non-hostile, but believing in the necessity of obtaining a technological edge to defend against Combine aggression.  He is used effectively to convey the awe and terror that the BattleMech inspired in the years after its debut.  It appears that Colonel Kelswa is an LCAF regular, while his team was mostly (if not all) Lohengrin – given the difference between his attitude towards casualties (a product of Age of War engagement philosophies, no doubt) and the more sanguine mindset of Agent Brian Kirkpatrick.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 17 December 2012, 16:15:05
----- 7 Months Later -----

Date: October 17, 2455

Location: New Avalon

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Christoffer M. Trossen

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: The Federated Suns’ Ministry of Intelligence has managed to covertly acquire three HAF Mackies (in various states of disrepair) for analysis, but their scientists are having difficulty reverse engineering them.  After exhorting his researchers to produce results faster, First Prince Simon Davion discusses the situation with his aides – Duke William Garth (Prime Minister), Duchess Wilhelmina Groth (Minister of Intelligence), and Duke Delton Felsner (Deputy Foreign Minister), as well as other unnamed cabinet ministers and AFFS brass.

Felsner informs the First Prince that the Lyrans have acquired BattleMech technology from the Hegemony, and that the Hegemony has dramatically stepped up internal security in the aftermath of Operation PROMETHEUS.  Felsner outlines Operation VENTURE – a plan to send a special diplomatic envoy to the Commonwealth in hopes of acquiring the tech specs without having to resort to a commando raid or reverse engineering.

Notes: It appears that a Ducal title is a must for FedSuns cabinet ministers.  It’s not clear whether or not the title comes with the appointment, or if cabinet ministers are drawn exclusively from the Suns’ nobility.

It’s interesting that the First Prince regards the Hegemony as a dangerous enemy at this juncture, with their technology proving more of an existential threat than the territorial ambitions of the Combine or the Confederation.  This is probably due to the previous decade's major HAF offensive campaign along the FedSuns/CapCon border that culminated in the Battle of Tybalt (generally regarded as a minor HAF victory, given the lives expended).

It’s also notable that the Prince says the Federated Suns hadn’t sent an envoy to the Lyrans for years.  This predated FTL communications, so expensive command-circuits would be required to courier messages from New Avalon to Tharkad, and even these would have to go through Capellan, Combine, or Hegemony systems en-route – not a good option if all three are considered hostile.  As we’ll see, it takes five months to get from New Avalon to Tharkad via courier ship without a command circuit.

The quandry faced by the AFFS at this point is similar to that faced by the Federated Commonwealth in the early 3050s.  They had limited samples of captured OmniMech technology, and were torn between fielding it against the Clans or sending it to the NAIS for analysis.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 18 December 2012, 06:55:05
----- 5 Months Later -----

Date: March 22, 2456 – September 5, 2456

Location: Tharkad

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Christoffer M. Trossen

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Duke Delton Felsner travels to Tharkad to try to acquire ‘Mech technology.  He is met by Tess, an undercover Ministry of Intelligence agent, who informs him that LIC agents have apparently infiltrated/suborned the FedSuns embassy, making it of dubious use to Felsner’s mission.  Felsner is frustrated with the slow pace of negotiations, and finally makes a bold proposal for sharing military and intel data, as well as the exchange of military technology, in the interests of containing the Terran Hegemony and Draconis Combine, which he refers to as the “greatest threats to peace and prosperity in the Inner Sphere.”  He gets the Lyran negotiator, Duke Karl Bernstorff, to admit that the Commonwealth has acquired BattleMech technology.
 
Months later, as negotiations are proceeding, Felsner narrowly escapes a bombing (blamed on Kuritan agents trying to block Lyran-FedSuns coordination).  To move things forward, Felsner directs Tess to kidnap the Lyran negotiator’s mistress, and through narco-interrogation, discovers that Bernstorff has been embezzling millions of kroner.  With this leverage, they arrange for the transfer of ‘Mech technology to the Federated Suns, in exchange for a substantial payment, a mutual non-aggression treaty, technical assistance setting up ‘Mech factories, and joint military training (perhaps to convince Lyran commanders to stop driving ICE tanks through flammable wheat fields, for example).

Notes:  Despite the Prince’s comment about “no envoys for years,” this chapter makes it clear that the Federated Suns does maintain a fully staffed diplomatic embassy on Tharkad, though Ambassador Deir is regarded as “clueless” - no doubt partially a consequence of having to wait five months for dispatches from New Avalon.  Its primary mission appears to be trade talks.  There’s also a Combine embassy on Tharkad – though it appears to merely be a cover for an ISF listening post/terror cell.

It’s an odd slip that the Lyrans refer to the Combine bomber as a Kuritan agent, given that Von Rohrs is running the show as Coordinator at this point, and is aggressively purging Kuritan influences.  Despite the internal shakeup, it must have taken a while for people beyond the Combine’s borders to view it as anything but House Kurita’s fiefdom.

Apropos of nothing, it’s currently the fashion in the FedSuns Terran March for women to cut their hair short and dye it bright red.  Tess also demonstrates that carbon fiber-reinforced fingernails were a popular tool centuries before Sun-Tzu Liao started sporting them.

Meanwhile, at this point in Lyran history, homosexual affairs are all the rage among the Lyran nobility, while even high officials admit that bribery and kickbacks are a way of life in a nation of merchants (perhaps the Drac disdain for merchants is justified).  Contrary to the “fight with honor” portrait of Lyran higher-ups in Prometheus Unbound, Nothing Ventured shows us a corrupt/decadent Lyran court (drawing obvious parallels to Rome during its decline).  One implication is that the Lyrans might have collapsed through internal rot and military incompetence if they hadn't acquired the BattleMech in time to throw the Combine and League back on their heels.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 18 December 2012, 22:17:38
----- 4 Months Later -----

Date: January 19, 2457

Location: New Avalon

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Christoffer M. Trossen

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: First Prince Simon Davion personally congratulates Lyran Ambassador Bernstorff and Duke Felsner for concluding the treaty to transfer ‘Mech technology to the Federated Suns.  Sticking in the knife and twisting, Felsner introduces Bernstorff to his new “aide,” Ministry of Intelligence agent Tess. 

Notes: Felsner and MIIO are clearly enjoying their chance to get revenge on the Lyrans for the LIC’s earlier infiltration and suborning of the FedSuns intel personnel at the Embassy on Tharkad.  The FedSuns tradition of having a ‘man on the inside’ goes back quite a ways.

Felsner and Bernstorff must have caught an express JumpShip on the return voyage, shaving a month off the transit time.  The timing gets slightly confusing, since Felsner implied that he would be taking Bernstorff's mistress/embezzlement accountant back to New Avalon (officially: great new job; unofficially: hostage), and told the Lyran official that he was welcome to visit her there.  Yet it almost seems that Bernstorff would have had to make the trip to New Avalon along with Felsner to arrive in only four months, but Felsner gives the impression that he's been back on New Avalon for a bit, and welcomes Bernstorff, who seems ready to turn right around and head back to Tharkad, without visiting his mistress.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 19 December 2012, 16:41:09
----- 1 Month Later -----

Date: February 27, 2457

Location: Kaznejov

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Takeda Tesuo, last seen torching Lyran tanks on St. John 18 years earlier, has spent the intervening period battling Lyrans and Fedrats on over fifty worlds.  As his reward, he’s been beaten mercilessly and is lying on a cold stone floor being interrogated.  It turns out that this is part of the final test to become one of the first Draconis Elite Strike Team (DEST) troopers. 

Takeda succeeds by figuring out the correct answer for the interrogators - he is no longer a samurai of the Draconis Combine, he is now a ninja - one who can become as insubstantial as smoke.  As a member of DEST, he is nobody, he is nothing...and that nothing will be the death of the Combine's enemies.

Notes:  Interestingly, Takeda relies on imagery of himself as a samurai/ninja warrior as he prepares to join DEST.  This predates Urizen Kurita’s Japanese cultural makeover of the Combine by 200 years.  At this point in the story, we're not given any indication if this is reflective of Japanese imagery in Combine culture, the military, or just in the Tesuo family.  In a later scene, Ito mentions that his father was generally too busy with the farm to pass on more than the rudiments of Japanese culture and language to himself and Takeda, so this focus on medieval Japanese martial conventions appears to be external to Takeda - perhaps something from his time with the DCMS infantry, or from earlier in the DEST selection process.

If the DEST program for the first team is anything like the modern process, Takeda may have been seconded to an OCS and then identified by the ISF as a potential recruit.  Once diverted into the ISF training regimen, he would have been identified as having DEST potential, and been split off for a separate training and evaluation regimen (one that does not, apparently, include gorilla-fu).
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 20 December 2012, 15:10:04
----- 2 Months Later -----

Date: April 2, 2457

Location: Ningpo

Title: Goliath Out of the Box

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  A 2nd Kearny Highlanders reinforced tank company is fleeing back for their LZ after their raid on Ningpo ran into a force of HAF Mackies.  The Highlanders speculate that the Maskirovka intentionally withheld intel on the HAF garrison, hoping to see how the new Terran superweapon performs in the field.  They send their lone hovercraft ahead to the LZ, then turn back to make a stand against a pursuing Mackie, hoping the faster hovercraft can make it back to the DropShip and get offworld to let the rest of the Highlanders know that the Maskirovka betrayed them.  The Mackie takes the Highlander tank company apart with ease.

Notes:  The Highlanders are now using ICE tanks – mostly heavy Capellan Suvorovs, some APCs, and an FWL-designed Tigershrike hovercraft.  The Suvorov mounts an autocannon on a turret (probably AC/5, since the AC/10 didn't debut until 2460).  Since it’s a Mackie running the column down, they can’t be moving any faster than 3/5, and may even be crawling along at 2/3.  There is probably some HAF armor (3/5 Merkava VIs, most likely) - backing up the Mackie, since the Highlander commander remarks that they’ll show the Haffers they need the ‘Mech to win.

The Tigershrike is probably a 4/6 (or 3/5 if the Suvorovs are 2/3), since the Highlanders feel the need to make a suicidal rear-guard stand to enable it to get clear.  It’s probably a 50-tonner, trading off speed for armor and weapons.  (Ah, the sweet innocence of the days before the Motive Hits Table.) 

The Highlander grousing about the Suvorov ("maybe someday the Confederation will make a decent tank") seems odd, given that the Capellan Korvin, at least, seems to match up well against its rivals (Merkava, Marsden, Estevez/Kestrel, and Tiger).  Mounting a ballistic weapon in the turret, the Suvorov seems to be an ancestor of today's Po, while the large-laser packing Korvin shows greater similarities to the later Brutus.

The Maskirovka appears to be sort of slow off the starting blocks in terms of gathering intel on BattleMech field performance.  They’d managed to infiltrate and nearly derail the Mackie development project 19 years earlier, as seen in Break Away, but now seem unaware that the Hegemony has beaten off five incursions into their territory with Mackies.  Most of those incursions were probably by the Federated Suns, since they managed to grab three partial Mackies in battlefield salvage.

Since the Highlanders continue to serve the Confederation for another 600 years, it’s probable that HAF fighters (probably Martinson Armaments’ Chimeras in this era) managed to smash the DropShip or force it to lift off and flee before the Tigershrike got aboard to report that the CC sent the Highlanders on a suicide mission.  The Highlanders seem to be the CC’s go-to unit for sending into the teeth of new enemy equipment, considering the 1st Kearny’s matchup against prototype PPCs on Lopez in Rebirth.

Of note, electronic warfare is evident on this battlefield.  The Highlander commander complains that HAF EW interference is jamming their communications, forcing them to send the Tigershrike as a message courier, rather than just radioing ahead to the DropShip.  This is 140 years before the modern Guardian ECM unit was first fielded, but its clear that the HAF enjoys a significant technological advantage by deploying a primitive EW package, perhaps with characteristics similar to that fielded by the RVN-1X Raven in the House Liao sourcebook.

[Update: Wrangler points out that the Torrent Heavy Bomber entry in TRO: Vehicle Annex references the Squealer I ECM suite, which dates back at least to the Terran Alliance.  It's probable that the HAF was fielding a Squealer (II, III, etc.) system to jam the Highlanders.]
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 21 December 2012, 06:00:43
----- 2 Years Later -----

Date: April 9, 2459

Location: Loric

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Captain-General Geralk Marik’s command post on Loric is under heavy Lyran attack.  LCAF artillery is raining down around him as Lyran forces (now equipped with 1st-generation BattleMechs) smash through his eastern perimeter.   Still unwilling to believe how effective ‘Mechs can be in battle, he mounts up in his personal tank (most likely a Kestrel) and charges them to buy time for his staff to evacuate to the DropShips.  He manages to cripple one before…

*SQUICK*

Notes:  The story ending implies that Geralk drove in alone, guns-a-blazing, against the oncoming Mackies and got stomped flat.  However, the original Marik sourcebook indicates that the battle raged for hours, with Geralk remaining in control throughout, throwing everything he had at the Lyran ‘Mechs, even to the point of having his DropShips hover over the battlefield to provide ground support fire.

The Lyrans aren’t piloting pure Mackie clones.  They mount lasers, missiles and autocannon.  Whatever data they pulled from Hesperus II appears not to have included the HAF’s ‘Mech-mounted PPC, or at least Lyran engineers weren’t able to duplicate it for their first generation of ‘Mechs.  (The Typhoon entry indicates that the LCAF debuted its prototype PPCs on that chassis in 2461 – two years after this battle.)

At this point, the FWL is probably fielding Kestrels (heavy tanks), Tigershrikes (hovercraft), missile/autocannon carriers, APCs, Stoats (scout cars), Randolphs (support vehicles), Eagle and Dragonfire aerospace fighters, and perhaps Mosquito conventional fighters (though those were mostly sold to militias), and had been handily defeating LCAF Marsdens (heavy tanks), weapon carriers, APCs, Stoats and Randolphs.  Both sides also rely heavily on infantry and artillery.  They Lyrans had some sort of aerospace fighters and armored VTOLs at this point (both were used in the Vega raid that stopped the earlier DCMS invasion of Skye cold), but solid data on which designs in particular is currently lacking.

The primary point of difference between the LCAF and FWLM during Geralk Marik's invasion is in their main battle tanks.  Looking at the Marsden vs. the Kestrel, the FWLM superiority becomes evident.  The two tanks have identical 3/5 movement profiles, but the larger (80 tons vs. 65) Kestrel mounts a heavy rifle capable of punching through the then-standard BAR 7 armor, while the Marsden had just an AC/5 that has to drill through all the plating before inflicting critical hits.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 22 December 2012, 06:04:47
----- 1 Month Later -----

Date: May 11, 2459

Location: Atreus

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Simone Marik, Geralk’s 19-year old daughter and heir, gets the news of his death and her elevation to the throne.  Realizing that forces equipped with BattleMechs will be able to achieve superiority against conventional forces, the new Captain-General orders her intel chief to acquire the technology.

Notes:  The National Intelligence Agency (SAFE’s predecessor) doesn’t appear to have covered itself in glory on this front.  FWLM commander General Ivenevsky seems to be hearing about BattleMechs for the first time, despite them being 20 years old and having been fielded in at least six defensive engagements on Hegemony worlds (mostly against AFFS troops either looking for payback for the HAF's Tybalt offensive, or actively seeking to capture a 'Mech).

It's interesting to speculate about the battlefronts in this era.  The Age of War is usually portrayed to be like the Succession Wars - everybody against all their neighbors.  However, the FWL's lack of knowledge about BattleMechs means that they probably haven't raided the Hegemony in recent memory.  Albert Marik's Treaty of Terra with McKenna may still be in force, creating peace on the Hegemony/League border.  We know that the Lyrans consider the Terrans as non-threatening, since Kelswa says they want to use BattleMechs against the Combine and the League, but not hork the Terrans off by leaving evidence of Lyran involvement in the Operation PROMETHEUS raid.  So the Hegemony's "western front," as it were, is all quiet.

The Dracs, of course, are still trying to push out in all directions, seeking to absorb what they can from the "merchants," and fight the Fedrats to a standstill.  I can't imagine they'd pass up a chance to hit the Hegemony as well.  The Federated Suns has indecisive border wars raging with both the Confederation and Combine, but views the Hegemony as the biggest threat to its existence due to the HAF's Tybalt Campaign, which (according to the House Davion sourcebook) lasted from 2431 to 2440, beginning with a major HAF victory over the AFFS on Kentares IV, and prompted several FedSuns border worlds to secede and join the Hegemony. 

The Tybalt Campaign seems to have been the Hegemony's last true offensive in the Age of War.  Secure in the knowledge that their new BattleMechs could effectively defend Hegemony territory, successive Director-Generals leveraged their military might to serve as mediators and peace-keepers, rather than conquerers, eventually leading to the formation of the Star League.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 23 December 2012, 16:53:24
----- 7 Months Later -----

Date: December 1, 2459

Location: Moore

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Ito Tesuo reflects on his life.  A little goji guano, some monkey murder, scads of Skye sauerkraut, and now he’s 50 and has nothing to show for it, other than being the highest-ranking ISF field agent.  Ito attributes his position to the fact that all the other senior agents were purged on suspicion of disloyalty by Coordinator Von Rohrs.

A tense performance review addresses the elephant in the room – that the Lyrans succeeded four years earlier, where the ISF failed, and that the Federated Suns also has the technology – meaning that every hostile state bordering the Combine now has a decisive military advantage.  Ito blames his failure on the Von Rohrs purges.  He is recalled from his mission, and feels that his life has been wasted.

Notes:  Again, interesting that the ISF agents feel that speaking Japanese marks them as Combine, despite this predating Urizen's cultural reform of the Combine by two centuries. 

There’s a nice continuity reference to Ito’s ISF cell on Tharkad being eliminated in 2456 (the same cell that tried to blow up Duke Felsner in Nothing Ventured.  Ito wrongly attributes the cell’s elimination to internal purges – not knowing that it was due to FedSuns intel sharing.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 24 December 2012, 11:28:07
----- 7 Months Later -----

Date: July 24, 2460

Location: Pesht

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Takeda Tesuo, now Commander of DEST One, meets his brother Ito for the first time in 45 years.  Ito apologizes to Takeda for leaving him and the family goji farm, and says he is proud that his younger brother has done so well for himself.  Takeda, still hurting after all this time, berates Ito for failing Von Rohrs and the Combine.  Ito debates his brother, noting that Von Rohrs is a poor Lord, and does not deserve such loyalty.

Takeda spits on Ito’s sentimentality, and announces that he will succeed where his brother failed – launching a raid with DEST to acquire ‘Mech technology.  Ito warns that Terran security is now impenetrable on Hesperus.

Notes: A mention is made of the synthetic sand surrounding the DEST tactical command center, which reputedly can swiftly dissolve flesh, rubber, and even armor.  It would be interesting to get stats on just how much damage it can deal out, and what could be done to deploy it on a battlefield (imagine deploying it with special FASCAM warheads, turning entire hexes into acid-sand fields).
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 25 December 2012, 10:58:56
----- 3 Months Later -----

Date: October 20, 2460

Location: New Samarkand

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Ito travels to New Samarkand, hoping to get Takeda’s suicide run on Hesperus II aborted.  He contacts Illena – his old ISF colleague – who is now assistant head of the ISF counter-terrorism section.  Ito has apparently been branded a disloyal terrorist, and his purge has been ordered.  Nevertheless, the romance they once shared (before Ito went into the field for 20 years trying to score ‘Mech-tech) drives her to agree to help him.

Notes:  New Samarkand circa 2460 is a bustling place – the capital of a Great House.  A far cry from the sleepy backwater it becomes after the capital shifts to Luthien.

Von Rohrs' purges of the ISF seem to have been well justified, if high level officials are willing to authorize rogue operations in defiance of the Coordinator's will.  Though perhaps there's a causality effect, where the purges themselves made the ISF feel increasingly disloyal and mistrustful of the Von Rohrs' judgment. 

Which came first, the Yellow Bird or the Dragon's Egg?  Frackencrack!
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 26 December 2012, 11:17:13
----- 9 Months Later -----

Date: July 3, 2461

Location: Virginia Shire, Federation of Skye (Unsettled System)

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Takeda’s strike team stages for their raid on Hesperus II.  The plan is to demolish the Maria’s Elegy Spaceport with a fuel-air explosive (not using a tacnuke only due to the Ares Conventions), then execute a HALO drop on the Myoo Mountain complex while its defenders move to the spaceport.

Notes: Interesting to see more evidence that the Ares Conventions did not, as is often stated, turn warfare into a bloodless game of maneuver.  If FAE's are okay by the Ares Conventions, why would their use not be standard practice against enemy staging points and installations?  The one used against the ComGuard at Salinas certainly seemed to be quite effective.

I see from the MUL that the DEST’s Trader-class JumpShip has not been statted.  Given the name, this was presumably designed as a merchant vessel (perhaps a predecessor to the Merchant-class).

Aside from the Far Country team, I can't think of a DEST operation that didn't involve a combat drop. (On the rebel camp on Verthandi in Mercenary's Star, into the Dragoon positions in a volcano caldera during SW4, etc.). It brings to mind a scene in a Venture Brothers episode where ninjas are literally raining down on Brock (in the "joy can").
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 27 December 2012, 12:25:45
----- Meanwhile… -----

Date: July 3, 2461

Location: Coventry Province, Protectorate of Donegal (Unsettled System)

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Illena and Ito share a romantic evening in null-gee, while poised for their own grab at the brass ring of BattleMech technology.  Illena notes that the impending raid by DEST One on Hesperus has an 80% chance of failure, while Ito’s alternate plan to raid the new Lyran complex on Coventry with DEST Two has a 70% chance of success.

Notes: Ito recounts that his father was too busy with the goji to teach them to read and speak Japanese.  He also notes that the Von Rohrs Coordinators dismissed Japanese (i.e. Kuritan) traditions as worthless.  However, Illena informs him that the people of the Combine have, as a reaction, begun to deeply embrace Japanese culture and anything else that reminds them of the Kuritas.  So, despite his professed loyalty to the Von Rohrs Coordinators, Takeda’s obsession with being a samurai/ninja may reflect a subconscious Kuritan bias.  Perhaps Urizen II was simply getting out ahead of the mob, rather than forcing Japanese culture on the people in the 2650s.

The use of uninhabited systems to penetrate enemy territory brings home the point that interstellar warfare has no real "front lines," since ships can go pretty much anywhere undetected.  One wonders to what extent the Great Houses patrol the uninhabited stars in their sectors.  If they're completely unobserved, what's to stop the FedSuns building a chain of logistical supply/recharge stations from Robinson to Luthien through uninhabited systems?  With proper preparation, they could logistically support an entire planetary invasion.  It's surely a DCMS nightmare scenario, but does the Draconis Combine Admiralty have enough ships to patrol all that empty space?
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 28 December 2012, 11:07:39
----- 20 Days Later -----

Date: July 23, 2461

Location: Hesperus II

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  DEST One executed their fuel-air explosive plan, and managed to infiltrate the Hegemony ‘Mech factory and obtain the technical data, but were unable to extract before getting pinned down by Terran security forces.  Now, Takeda reflects on his failure and the fact that his brother Ito was correct, right before being vaporized by a PPC blast.

Notes: Interesting that, despite the Lyrans’ theft of BattleMech technology (the Hegemony has to know they were the culprits, since the LCAF is now fielding their own ‘Mechs, unless Hegemony Intel is utterly obtuse), Lyran troops are fighting side-by-side with the Hegemony security teams to contain the surviving DEST troopers until the ‘Mechs arrive.  One wonders whether any of the Lyran troops are Counter Terrorism Directorate (aka Lohengrin) agents.

Later descriptions of the Myoo Mountains defense grid indicate that it's lousy with artillery.  Either the fixed defenses in this era don't have as many big guns, or Takeda and company managed to get out of range before being caught by security teams.  Otherwise, a group of ninjas holed up in a confined area would be a perfect thing to drop an explosive round on.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 28 December 2012, 12:37:02
This is a really interesting way to review the short-stories and other scenario books.  Please keep it up!
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 29 December 2012, 06:04:44
----- 4 Months Later -----

Date: November 11, 2461

Location: New Samarkand

Title: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Author: Randall N. Bills

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Coordinator Von Rohrs debriefs Ito.  Despite his success at obtaining ‘Mech technology, Von Rohrs is furious that DEST One failed with the Coordinator’s approved plan, while DEST Two succeeded with a rogue operation.  He worries that only his aura of infallibility prevents the District Warlords from revolting, and plans to blame the deceased Takeda for the failure, rather than the plan itself.

Ito offers to save his brother’s honor by taking the shame of the failure for himself.  He performs ritual suicide with the assistance of one of Von Rohrs’ guards, while silently dedicating his death to the hope that a true Kurita will one day depose the Von Rohrs line and return the Combine to its traditional roots.

Notes:  I wonder where Ito got his appreciation for Japanese traditions.  As he said, his father passed on a little of his cultural heritage, but not much, and the general popular attachment to speaking Japanese and embracing bushido arose while he was in deep cover in the Commonwealth.  Perhaps it was a case of absence making the heart grow fonder.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 30 December 2012, 09:56:31
----- 1 Month Later -----

Date: December 16, 2461 – December 21, 2463

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: The FWL’s attempt to steal BattleMech technology, launched two and a half years earlier, moves forward.  Gunther Rive, Daniel Connor, and Elias Singh report to Desmond Manvers, CEO of AlarCorp, that there’s been an intel leak on Project Ymir (the Ymir was the first Lyran BattleMech that wasn’t just a Mackie variant, debuting from Coventry in 2462).  They’re placed on administrative leave pending a security review.

Rive goes to drown his sorrows at a bar, and meets his girlfriend Sandrine (Sandi), a Skye-native lawyer from AlarCorp’s contracts department.  He recalls that he met Sandi eighteen months ago.

At this point in the narrative, Sandi is clearly the prime suspect as the leak source for avid readers, if not for hapless AlarCorp security, given that she came into Rive’s life right about at the 11-12 month mark FWL intelligence estimated it would need to get assets in place.

Rive, Connor and Singh are fined 10,000 kroner each and are locked out of all Project Ymir operations, making it impossible to do their jobs.  Meanwhile, an NIA agent meets with a mysterious contact (*cough* Sandi *cough*) who identifies the hapless trio as ripe for recruitment.

As the year progresses, Connor’s wife begins to feel the financial pinch and realizes she’s become a social pariah for being associated with the Ymir security leak, and Rive’s team gets only scutwork – doing repairs on test units rather than doing software and systems design.  Sandi continues to stoke Rive’s resentment by enumerating how badly he’s being treated by Manvers.

In February, a NIA recruiter approaches Rive and tells him he’s being wasted at AlarCorp, and that he can help him get out of his contract.  Frustrated with work life, the trio decides to pursue the recruiter’s invitation to a job fair, though Connor is dubious.

At the job fair, Stanislaw Consultants, a known company with strong ties to the Coventry Defense Conglomerate covertly passes them offers for one year contracts as “Goodwill Ambassadors”.  They speculate that CDC is attempting to hire them away from AlarCorp.  Sandrine offers to check it out with some colleagues at CDC.  (Of course she does, nudge nudge, wink wink.)

Upon taking the job, the three get high pay for minimal labor, and enjoy themselves, then are brought aboard at CDC under Director of Human Resources Johnny Schweiger (the NIA recruiter).  The good times continue, working on new BattleMech projects until November 23, when they’re abruptly arrested on treason charges due to a new leak from their work at CDC.  Facing conviction and the death penalty, Rive accepts an offer from “Johnny in Human Resources” to relocate to the FWL and head their BattleMech design team.

On the flight out of the system, he confronts Sandrine about having set him up.  She says that she considers her work against the Commonwealth revenge for most of her family dying on Zaniah when the Commonwealth invaded.  Rive resolves to save all the money the FWL pays him and use it to gain revenge on Sandrine.

Notes:  Amusingly, the byplay between Rive, Connor and Singh are reminiscent of that in the movie "Office Space."  However, when the author was asked if this was an "Office Space" shout out, he said he’d never actually seen the movie.  Parallel plot evolution at work.

One wonders whether the initial AlarCorp intel leak was the work of MIIO, via Tess and Bernsdorff.  They'd be well positioned to feed all sorts of tech specs from Lyran R&D straight to the Federated Suns.

At one point, Rive notices a technician working on the drive train of a light ‘Mech that was mangled by a rookie pilot.  Since the Mackie is 100 tons and the Ymir clocks in at 90, this is probably a COM-1A Commando prototype, which debuted in 2463.

Despite all the sourcebooks saying that the Coventry Defense Conglomerate was responsible for making the Commando and Ymir, all of the design and construction in the story takes place at AlarCorp on Alarion.  It’s stated that AlarCorp is a subsidary of the CDC, so perhaps it serves as a subordinate R&D and production facility.  Coordination must have been handled through CDC’s Alarion offices, since this still predates FTL communications, and data sharing and collaboration with Coventry iteself would be slow and cumbersome.  Maybe AlarCorp handled prototyping, while the main plant on Coventry was set up for mass production once the kinks were worked out on Alarion?

Singh’s use of the phrase “pardon my Kuritan” (i.e. “pardon my French”) reinforces the impression that, in the Lyran Commonwealth at least, despite at least two successive Von Rohrs Coordinators, House Kurita is still seen as the dominant cultural force in the Combine.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 31 December 2012, 18:01:56
----- 3 Years Later -----

Date: March 17, 2466 – March 22, 2466

Location: Xanthe III

Title: Machine Nations The Spider Dances

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: With all the other Great Houses having acquired ‘Mech technology within the last 11 years, the Maskirovka is playing catch-up.  Taking a page from the Combine, they’re attempting to snitch it from their neighbors in the Free Worlds League rather than making a run at the main Terran factory on Hesperus II.  A Maskirovka cell takes six months to infiltrate the FWL’s new ‘Mech R&D center at the Happen Military Reservation on Xanthe III, one as a guard and one as girlfriend of Senior Technician Robert Esterhazy, and one in the motor pool, while others secure positions of trust at the spaceport and in the local militia.

Things kick into high gear on March 18, when NIA inspector Parsifal Nehru arrives at the Happen Reservation with a mandate to boost security.  He orders a review of project personnel.  However, despite his precautions, the Mask agents get the data, escape the Happen Military Reservation, and manage to get offworld.  Every time he catches and kills one, another attempt triggers – a deadly game of whack-a-mole.

Notes: Unlike the “so smooth they never knew the data was gone” ops run by Lohengrin on Hesperus II and DEST on Coventry, an NIA Inspectorate agent gets wind of the data breach and launches a dogged pursuit.  The back and forth between the hunter and hunted keeps the plot humming in this excellent work – as soon as one Maskirovka escape attempt fails, another attempt is revealed in progress in a deadly battle of wits and tradecraft.

A Capellan slur for the Mariks is “Mary.”  Doesn’t have quite the cachet of Cappie, but beats Freebie or Worlder, I suppose.

At this point, the FWL has already used Rive’s expertise to field Mackie clones (if the picture on General Vocaine’s wall is a representation of a real event), and their Icarus design is in the prototype phase.

There’s a wonderful bit where one of the Mask operatives is reading a FWL spy novel, noting that the author portrays the Maskirovka as “slant-eyed buffoons incapable of discovering the cost of bus fare, much less military secrets.”  It’s a definite call-out to how the Mask is generally portrayed in most other BattleTech fiction works.  This ends up being key to the Maskirovka’s success.  As the majority of the team makes suicidal Hail Mary plays to get out and are gunned down, Nehru dismisses it as typical of the “brutal and fanatical” Maskirovka, and concludes that he got them all and preserved operational security.  Turns out…he missed one.

We also get a mention of the oath of loyalty sworn to the Chancellor by Maskirovka agents.  “We pledge our lives, our souls, our sacred honor…”
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 01 January 2013, 00:13:11
----- 3 Years Later -----

Date: March 3, 2469

Location: Alula Australis

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Hector Galaine, a FWLM veteran of Geralk Marik’s (literally) crushing defeat on Loric, now pilots one of the League’s new Icarus ‘Mechs into battle against the LCAF on Alula Australis, where Lyran conventional forces had been stalemated against their FWLM equivalents for seven years, after the LCAF used their limited ‘Mech assets to blast the Marik garrison out of its fixed defenses.  Now Galaine has returned the favor and driven the Lyrans off the League world – executing House Marik’s long awaited revenge.

Notes:  Without a technological advantage, the Lyrans’ social generalship is showing once more.  Even so, it would be downright amazing if a mere four Icarus-class medium ‘Mechs managed to smash the Lyrans on Alula Australis in a week.  More likely, they were operating in conjunction with a larger force of FWL Mackie clones, which certainly would have been able to make a mess of the Lyran Marsdens and Marsden IIs, which debuted in 2463. 

The one-shot-kill engagements that the Galaine’s Icarus is shown in are indicative of thin-skinned SRM carriers mounting BAR 6 armor, since the Lyran MBTs are made of tougher stuff (unless Galaine is really rocking his crit rolls).  The Icarus would have been able to use its Large Laser to engage SRM Carriers beyond their effective range, but Marsden IIs and even Marsden Is would have been easily able to put fire on the slow moving (4/6) Icarus with their AC/5s.

XTRO Primitives II has an entry that reports the Icarus prototype launching in 2470, and that of the six prototypes made, only four saw action.  Since the battle of New Milan on Alula Australis takes place in early 2469, we can assume that Dr. Saga Brest’s data was slightly inaccurate.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 02 January 2013, 06:37:44
----- 29 Years Later -----

Date: June 21, 2498

Location: Dove (Camlann Shire, Lyran Commonwealth)

Title:  An Age of War

Authors: Randall N. Bills and Bjorn Schmidt

Type: Scenario (Record Sheets 3075)

Synopsis: It’s been 30-40 years since all the Great Houses acquired BattleMech technology, and ‘Mechs now reign on the battlefields of the Age of War.  The Lyran garrison on Dove (2nd Camlann Shire Guards) is mounting a counterstrike against DCMS invaders (1st Rasalhague Hussars), hoping to take out the invasion force’s Mobile Headquarters.  However, the Dracs have hidden the HQ and laid an ambush. 

Notes:  Typical of an engagement between a garrison unit and a front-line assault force, the Hussars’ pilots are better across the board, but, also typical of Lyran/Drac match-ups, the Lyrans have heavier equipment.  (90-ton Ymir and 60-ton Crossbow vs. 55-ton Gladiator and 65-ton Von Rohrs

The Hussars’ Sabaku Kaze hovercraft are nice – 9/14 with an array of lasers and SRMs, while the Lyrans bring a Marsden II (AC/5 backed by twin SRM-6s) and a (stolen? salvaged? bought?) Hegemony Merkava VIII (AC/5, LRM-15, SRM-4). 

The Sabaku Kazes unfortunately have to get in close to engage, and they’re easy meat for the Lyran SRM batteries on the Motive Hits Table.  The Hussars’ main advantage is mobility, with 9/14 tanks and 5/8 ‘Mechs (with the Gladiator also jumping 5).  By comparison, the Lyrans move 3/5, 4/6, 4/6, and 5/8.  The Combine’s goal should be to use the limited cover in the battlefield to draw the Lyrans in, then swoop in and concentrate their fire if the LCAF troops get spread out (the Crossbow, in particular, looks likely to stray from the pack.)  Until the Lyrans make a mistake and get spread out, the Combine tanks should hang back while the ‘Mechs race around and snipe with their PPCs and LRMs, combining their superior speed and gunnery.

The Sabaku Kazes are an anachronism in this scenario, since TRO 3075 says the design debuted in 2695.  (An understandable issue, since the scenario was in a cross-promotional TRO 3075 product, and the Dracs simply don't have any distinctive vehicles in TRO 3075 for this era.)  For historical accuracy, you may want to swap in their predecessor design, the Sand Devil (from the XTRO Primitives series), which debuted in 2452.   However, the Sand Devil is slower, has painfully thin armor, and less than half the firepower – so being historically accurate probably makes the scenario unwinnable.

The Lyrans’ best hope is to form their traditional “Long Wall” and advance at a walk/cruise, sweeping the battlefield for the mobile HQ.  If they find it, they kill it and win.  Otherwise, they can snipe at the scampering Dracs and combine their firepower if any come in close.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 03 January 2013, 06:34:36
----- 12 Years Later -----

Date: November 9, 2510

Location: Salford

Title: Far Country

Author: Peter Rice

Type: Novel

Synopsis: As the McAllister Rebellion rocks the Combine, three battalions (2 mechanized infantry, 1 engineering) of the 5th Galedon Regulars prepare to redeploy from Salford to Brailsford.  They’re leaving most of their equipment behind, and have been promised new equipment upon taking up station in Brailsford.  The unit’s seven Vulture-class DropShips take two weeks to reach the Leviathan-class JumpShip DCS Raiden, at which point it jumps for…Brailsford?  Uh oh.

Notes:  Again, reflecting the widespread embrace of Japanese culture in the Combine that spontaneously took place as a sign of resistance to the Von Rohrs, the unit commander, Tokashio Hamata, views himself as a modern-day samurai. 

The 5th Galedon is equipped with 22-ton Chi-Ha class APCs, which are considered cutting edge at this point.  This probably means they’ve been upgraded with modern armor, rather than BAR 6, and can carry two full platoons each, rather than the squad in the 10-ton models.  They’ve left their older equipment (probably primitive APCs, and perhaps Randolph support vehicles and Stoat scout cars) behind.  The Chi-Ha’s weight puts it in roughly the same class as the 20-ton Heavy APCs, which can carry two platoons each.

Strangely, Hamata says he hears only “rumors and reports” of new “monster machines” coming off the assembly lines.  He seems somewhat excessively in the dark about BattleMechs, given that the Combine has had ‘Mechs for 50 years at this point.  To be fair, he may just be referring to new 'Mech models to supplement the Combine's Von Rohrs and Gladiator designs.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 04 January 2013, 00:24:35
----- Somewhere in Time and Space -----

Date: November 23, 2510?

Location: Kaetetoa

Title: Far Country

Author: Peter Rice

Type: Novel

Synopsis:  The DCS Raiden misjumps into the Kaetetoa system, and emerges under an EMP effect and shearing forces that wreck the ship’s systems and kill unsecured crewmembers.  With ruptured helium tanks, the ship won’t jump again, and power won’t last long as the reactor has breached containment.  Control and communication systems are likewise fried, and internal gyrostabilizers are out.

The Raiden’s captain manages to find two habitable worlds after three days of sensor sweeps and sets a course for the larger of the two on a six-day transit to the planet.  However, on day five, the reactor reaches critical and has to be vented into space, putting the ship on emergency power, while structural failures increase until the ship’s spine breaks and the atmosphere is vented into space. 

Six of the seven Vultures and a number of the Raiden’s lifeboats get clear and head for the planet, still two days away.  Two of the DropShips crash together, dooming the crews, and the remainder (one alone, and a group of four together) head for different landing zones.

Notes:  This is, chronologically, the first account of a misjump in BattleTech fiction.  While its effects don’t match those of later accounts, each account is fairly unique, so this is just more evidence that misjumps aren’t standardized. 
 
The crew of the Raiden does the Draconis Combine Admiralty proud – responding to the misjump with total professionalism and working to get their 5th Galedon passengers to a habitable landfall. 

I’m certainly no expert, but much of the terminology used for the distressed power core seems more suited to a fission reactor than a BattleTech-style fusion engine.  While BT fiction has long relied on spectacular fusion explosions, the Tech Manual (pp. 36-37) says that when the magnetic bottle containing the fusion reaction drops and the superheated plasma hits the cold walls of the reaction chamber, it’s like dumping a ton of wet sand on a blowtorch.  The reaction gives off a burst of superheated gas, then ends.  So why the need to vent the reactor core into space?  If it breached containment right after the misjump, the reaction should have shut off immediately.

Reading through the chapter, I'd at first assumed that perhaps the Leviathan-class JumpShip might have been some sort of outmoded fission-powered vessel, but the power core is explicitly labeled a fusion reactor.  Chalk it up to the account far predating Tech Manual, back in the days when the so-called "Stackpole Rule"  (containment field damage = mega-boom) governed fusion engine behavior.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 05 January 2013, 00:19:28
----- 18 Years Later -----

Date: August 12, 2528

Location: Andurien

Title: Paladin

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  The Age of War isn’t looking good for the Duke of Andurien.  The psychotic Kalvin Liao now reigns as Capellan Chancellor, and he’s taken a fancy to Mesillia Allard, the Duke’s daughter.  Since she wouldn’t come to Sian of her own accord, he’s sent his forces to collect her, and has been blasting a path through the Defenders of Andurien – which are now fighting a desperate holding action on worlds across the Duchy.

The 2nd Defenders of Andurien were battling the Capellans on Sadurni, but its Bravo Company, under Captain Neal Haddon, has returned to guard the fair Mesillia.  Prior to the Capellan assault on Jojoken, the CCAF commander, Colonel Liu, makes a final demand that Mesillia be turned over, and then presents evidence that the 2nd Defenders were wiped out on Sadurni.  Meanwhile, Duke Allard confirms that the 1st Defenders are falling back across Andurien in the face of two Capellan ‘Mech regiments, and that the world will likely fall within two weeks.  However, unless the Capellan artillery now bombarding Jojoken is stopped soon, the palace and capital will be flattened much earlier.

Mesillia tells Neal that she brought him to Andurien in the hopes that her father would consent to let them wed, but Neal informs her that Duke Allard plans to ransom her to the Capellans in exchange for their departure from Andurien.  Shocked, she asks Neal to flee offworld with her and just be husband and wife, rather than the Duchess and the Captain, but he insists on doing his duty.  He leads Bravo Company into battle and smashes the Capellan artillery, ensuring that Mesillia’s DropShip escapes, before their ‘Mechs are destroyed by the CCAF hordes.

Notes:  The Defenders of Andurien TO&E in this era assigns one class of ‘Mech per lance, so Bravo Company has one lance each of Thunderbolts, Dervishes, and Ostrocs.  The Capellans come in with a hodge-podge of Wasps, Clints, Mackies, Strikers, Archers, and brand-new Victor-class assaults (presumably named after Victor Liao, who famously decapitated a Terran Alliance envoy), backed by the famed CCAF artillery battalions.  Since ‘Mechs were likely still too precious to sell to foreign powers, this indicates that the Confederation either originated all those designs, or managed to steal the blueprints and make their own copies (as with the Mackie, for sure).

Subsequent TRO entries have retroactively made Bravo Company’s TO&E a bit odd.  Circa 2528, the Thunderbolt was being manufactured for the Capellans on Tikonov and wouldn’t go on to be in common service across the Inner Sphere until the Star League era.  And while the Dervish did debut in 2520, it was only sold within the Lyran Commonwealth until Coventry licensed the design to manufacturers in other states in the mid-2500s.  To have such ‘Mechs in the Defenders, Duke Allard must have had some pretty good black market connections.  The Liao roster probably should have included a pile of Firebees, but the story predates the design's publication.

The Defenders use the derogatory term “Lousy” for the Liaos in this era.

Without Mesillia to broker a deal, Andurien fell to the Capellans on schedule, ending Duke Allard’s reign.  When next we hear of a Duke of Andurien, it’s House Humphreys in 2730, when Andurien itself was part of the Sian Commonality, leaving only a small rump Duchy on the Liao border.  With Mesillia fled, that appears to have been the end of House Allard’s political fortunes in the Free Worlds League.  Given the name, however, one wonders if Mesillia wasn’t a distant ancestor of Kai Allard-Liao.  (Perhaps Kalvin’s dream of blending the Liao and Allard bloodlines came true after all, if a bit behind schedule.)

-------------------------

This concludes the Age of War thread (for now - though new fiction set during the Age of War will be added as it comes out).  Continued feedback and discussion is welcome.  I will be starting a new thread for fiction and scenarios set in the Star League era.  Stories for all eras will be linked to from the Master Index.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 05 January 2013, 11:21:53
Mendfrugo, you missed a short story set in 2412 in the Era Digest: Age of War - Just Following Orders.  Do you think it can be added?
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 05 January 2013, 12:58:13
It's there.  The fifth post on the first page of the thread.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Decoy on 05 January 2013, 23:07:15
Lump in the Victor as another oddity. It was designed by the Hegemony and only released to the Successor States after the formation of the Star League.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 06 January 2013, 07:42:23
You're quite right.  A pity, there, since having it named after ol' Victor Liao would've put it nicely in the company of the Marsden and Von Rohrs.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 06 January 2013, 10:00:03
Could have been a capture machine, the Terran Hegemony and other stats did spar once in awhile.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: FedSunsBorn on 13 January 2013, 03:04:17
Impressive work on all of this stuff.

I read a few of the entries awhile back but only just now did I finish reading all of them. Alot of neat little tidbits of info and really makes me wish for a new set of Btech novels.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: SCC on 13 January 2013, 04:41:12
Real pity that the Victor isn't named after the Liao, remember Hanse named his first son after his victory over the CC and that son piloted a Victor at the start of his career
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 13 January 2013, 21:24:07
Impressive work on all of this stuff.

I read a few of the entries awhile back but only just now did I finish reading all of them. Alot of neat little tidbits of info and really makes me wish for a new set of Btech novels.

New novels would be nice, but at least we're getting BattleCorps stories.  And, as I'm endeavoring to show here, the BattleCorps output has done a great job covering the breadth and scope of the BattleTech timeline, while the novels primarily concentrate on the relatively short spans of 3026-3030, 3050-3067, and 3132-3136.  The chronological interweaving of stories gives a particularly interesting view of the game universe's events happening from a wide range of "ground level" perspectives.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 13 January 2013, 22:36:03
New novels would be nice, but at least we're getting BattleCorps stories.  And, as I'm endeavoring to show here, the BattleCorps output has done a great job covering the breadth and scope of the BattleTech timeline, while the novels primarily concentrate on the relatively short spans of 3026-3030, 3050-3067, and 3132-3136.  The chronological interweaving of stories gives a particularly interesting view of the game universe's events happening from a wide range of "ground level" perspectives.
Are you going to be doing Star League era (pre-Succession Wars) or you waiting till the H:LoT v2 to come out?
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: roosterboy on 13 January 2013, 23:07:53
Are you going to be doing Star League era (pre-Succession Wars) or you waiting till the H:LoT v2 to come out?

You mean like he's already doing here (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,25853.0.html)?
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 14 January 2013, 12:19:19
Oops!  Thanks!  :)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 13 March 2013, 21:41:50
I just added a poll to the this thread.  Each time I finish a thread for an era (we're closing in on the last few stories in the Star League Era now), I will put a poll at the top so people can vote for their favorite story in each time period.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 07 March 2015, 22:20:16
----- In the Year 2525 (if man is still alive) -----

Date: 2525

Location: Unspecified Hegemony System on the Capellan or FWL Border

Title: THS Repulse

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Sourcebook (BattleCorps Ship Profile)

Synopsis:  This BattleCorps exclusive profiles the THS Repulse, an Aegis-class heavy cruiser that served under Captain Lindsay Rathbone from 2522 to 2525.  It describes the events facing the ship during its tenure under Rathbone's command, including show-the-flag tours, wargames, and a boarding action against mutineer DropShips.  It profiles Captain Rathbone, gunnery commander Elliott Teach, fighter wing commander Eleanor Friedken, marine commander Hirotaro Kazumoto, squadron commander Ray Durant, and master gunner Benjamin Golden.  The Aegis is escorted by four Vulture-class DropShips and 18 Hammerhead fighters.

Notes: The system where the mutiny takes place isn't specified.  However, since the Repulse's operational area was along the Capellan and FWL borders, it was probably in the Terra Firma Province, which borders both states.  The list of candidates includes Van Diemen IV, Wasat, Berenson, Menkalinan, Tall Trees, Saiph, New Canton, Zurich, Aldebaran, Nanking, Genoa, Arboris, and Azha.

The Hegemony hadn't been engaged in active hostilities on its borders for decades at this point.  Its last major campaign of aggression was the Tybalt Campaign in 2431, and after using 'Mechs to repulse AFFS and CCAF raids (such as the 2457 raid on Ningpo in Goliath Out of the Box), the rival Great Houses learned to find softer targets elsewhere.  Thus, the most significant actions for the Repulse under Captain Rathbone consisted of show the flag stops, wargames, and the interception of mutinous Hegemony militia troops. The profiles mention action against Marik renegades in 2519, but that's about it.

The Aegis-class Repulse is a descendant of a lengthy line of similarly named ships (there have been 12 ships named Repulse in the Royal Navy between 1596 and 1997).  This is indirectly referenced with notations that Rathbone is British, and operates the Repulse very much like that of a Napoleonic-era Royal Navy ship.

This ship is, in particular, noted to be the 2372 variant (pictured in TRO: 2750), rather than the visually distinct version in service circa 2750 and later with the Clans (pictured in TRO:3057).  The 2372 version was still represented in the SLDF by the end of the Star League Civil War, since the SLS Manassas in Living Legends is depicted as such.

There is no mention of the THS (or SLS) Repulse in the Star League sourcebook, Historical: Reunification War, or Historical: Liberation of Terra I & II.  Given its age, it almost certainly served in the Reunification War, but was probably either decommissioned thereafter, or relegated to the SLDF Reserve Fleet.  Alternatively, it may have been sold to one of the League member states, and could even have flown Amaris colors during the Star League Civil War.

The reference to Blackbeard (Edward Teach) is clearly lampshaded - Commander Elliott Teach uses it as his nickname, having earned it aboard the THS Dauntless while raging at his gunnery crews like a pirate of old.  (I've got Pirates of Caribbean playing in the background as I write this.)

Another interesting tidbit is Lt. Commander Eleanor Friedken, the fighter group commander, who has the Thick Skinned trait, making her resistant to depressurization damage to her cockpit.  I can't help but think this marks her as a Belter from the Sol system, given their repute for being able to survive limited exposure to the vacuum.

The Vultures are noted as being used to ferry ground troops and fighters to the surface.  Looking at the TRO: 3026 description, Vultures have infantry and vehicle bays, but lack the ability to launch fighters.   When Hammerheads are assigned to ground support duties, they must be put into the cargo bays, unshipped at a secure landing zone, and then readied for flight.  Since the Aegis has the capacity to take up an orbital position, why not just launch and recover the fighters from there during ground support?  The only time I can see the Vultures coming in useful for aerospace deployment is when the Aegis (for whatever reason) is busy elsewhere in the system and is unable to take up an orbital position.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 08 March 2015, 07:45:05
That's odd choice for a DropShip, its a Draconis Combine infantry/light vehicle carrier.  I guess could been modified.  Depending on when this profile was written, they won't had wide spread choices.   Only recently did we get a dropship that could been around as fighter carrier that wasn't a Leopard.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 08 March 2015, 12:47:37
In 2525, the DropShip options were limited to Gazelle, Manatee, Jumbo, and Vulture.  None were particularly well suited as fighter carriers.  The Vulture is larger than the first two, and better armored than the third (which was a civilian bulk transport vessel), so it looks like it's the best of a limited selection.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 08 March 2015, 14:11:54
In 2525, the DropShip options were limited to Gazelle, Manatee, Jumbo, and Vulture.  None were particularly well suited as fighter carriers.  The Vulture is larger than the first two, and better armored than the third (which was a civilian bulk transport vessel), so it looks like it's the best of a limited selection.
Drost II series predates that, the DroST IIb (2445) is a fighter carrier, and the DroST IIa (2445)  is infantry / troop vessel.
Non-Primitive versions of the Troop Carrier and Fighter Carriers also from XTRO: Primitives Vol4  are dated 2470.

Depending on when this was written.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Frabby on 08 March 2015, 14:28:39
...and the Czar and the Clippership IV/V and virtually any of a possibe zillion older DropShuttle types or even individual vessels that got a docking collar upgrade.
Except for BattleMechs and perhaps WarShips, don't ever assume the TRO coverage gives more than a broad overview of available types in a given time period.  :)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 08 March 2015, 19:23:46
...and the Czar and the Clippership IV/V and virtually any of a possibe zillion older DropShuttle types or even individual vessels that got a docking collar upgrade.
Except for BattleMechs and perhaps WarShips, don't ever assume the TRO coverage gives more than a broad overview of available types in a given time period.  :)

Right, but of the ships Jason had to choose from when he wrote this (which predates the Primitives' publication), the Vulture was the best candidate.

Plus, given the Aegis' ability to launch and recover the Hammerheads itself, having a military ship with good cargo capacity would make resupply easier, while retaining the ability to deploy ground troops under fire.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 19 June 2016, 13:44:11
Date: April 12, 2445

Location: Basalt

Title: Charge of the Light

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Sourcebook Fiction (Interstellar Operations)

Synopsis:  Terran Hegemony Armed Forces General "Mad Dog" Marceneaux commands the defense of Garamondia against an assault by the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns.  With artillery pounding his positions, he receives both bad and good news from Major Gabriel Calhoun, a courier from HAF high command.

The bad news is that the AFFS has landed the Sixth Terran March Corps - six heavy tank/artillery divisions.  The good news is that the HAF has deployed its new superweapon to the front lines.

Out in the field, the HAF forces are taking a pounding, with the Ninth Armored Cavalry brigade on the far left flank reduced to a single scattered battalion.  Gunner Brian Leon and his commander, Grady, execute a fighting retreat towards the final fallback point.

At the command post, General Marcineaux asks Calhoun to save his people, then opens a channel to the 9th to order them to hold - just in time, since the message comes as Grady is advocating a full retreat, and shooting any HAF forces that try to stop them.  Marcineaux's orders to hold for relief give Grady new heart, and he has the tank reverse course to re-engage the AFFS tanks.  The main gun runs out of ammunition, and the crew resign themselves to death, but continue to move through the battlefield.

Then, out of the foggy lowlands, a massive humanoid machine emerges into view and crushes an AFFS tank beneath its armored foot.  As the giant moves past, particle cannons blazing, the HAF tank crew is left to wonder what they've just seen. 

Notes:  This takes place six years after the first live-fire trials of the Mackie on Terra, but is not the first recorded instance of a combat deployment of a BattleMech - that took place two years earlier, against Kurita tanks on Styx.  The awe of the tank crew makes it seem like they've never seen 'Mechs before, but various sources indicate that IndustrialMechs predated BattleMechs, and that there had been several attempts to field armed IndustrialMechs that ended in disaster. 

It seems to me that there had to be something visually distinct about the Mackie that would make even people accustomed to IndustrialMechs shocked and uneasy.  My guess is that the IndustrialMechs of the era would have had designs that clearly reflected a "form follows function" mindset - with exposed joints, delicate-looking manipulator limbs, open cockpits, etc.  Probably all less than 50 tons, as well.  Having something appear that is twice the size, armored, and bristling with heavy weapons, may have been the cause of the crew's befuddlement.  Perhaps field tests of IndustrialMechs looked about as promising as the film reels of early flying machine prototypes collapsing under their own weight.

It was with the Mackie and its successors that the Hegemony secured its borders against the Great Houses and was able to negotiate with them from a position of strength.  They didn't seem to use it for aggression.  "Goliath Out of the Box" indicates that the Capellans didn't face HAF BattleMechs for another 13 years, in 2457, and House Marik didn't see action against 'Mechs (and then only LCAF copies) until 2459.

This begs the question - why wasn't the Hegemony more belligerent and willing to use its new toy for territorial expansion during its window of battlefield exclusivity?  Looking to the Star League sourcebook, we see that the Director General at the time was Jacob Cameron, a spoiled arrogant child who launched the Tybalt Campaign to seize territory from the Federated Suns and Capellan Confederation "on pure ego."  All that changed when his champagne was poisoned in 2448.  He recovered from the assassination attempt, but became less aggressive afterwards.  When the technology was stolen and began to spread to other realms, he instituted a crash military technology research program that consumed so many resources that Hegemony citizens faced shortages of basic goods.

It's amazing what one glass of toxic champagne wrought.  Given Jacob's personality, it seems likely that he would have launched a massive expansion campaign spearheaded by Mackies - one that could have forced the Great Houses to form an anti-Hegemony alliance in the interests of mutual survival - which would have made House Cameron responsible for the creation of the Star League, albeit very differently than the one forged by Ian Cameron and Albert Marik.

Interestingly, the Hegemony Central Intelligence Department official heading up the investigation into the poisoning was High Councillor Lady Terens Amaris.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 26 August 2017, 21:57:41
Date: November 27, 2417

Location: New Avalon

Title: KP Duty

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps - Iron Writer)

Author: Jason Hardy

Synopsis:  Simon Davion muses philosophically on the role of specialists in cleaning up the messes of war - techs fixing machines, medics fixing bodies.  He recalls doing KP duty when he was on active duty - resenting it at first, but accepting that it was unpleasant but necessary.

He waits outside the High Council room, where raised voices argue over the path forward, how to purge the Federated Suns of the cancer afflicting it.  He compares the corruption of the Federated Suns government to eyes on a potato, and recalls cutting out the eyes to preserve the rest of the potato.

He pats the pistol in his pocket, and then moves forward towards the High Council chamber, where he has an appointment to kill his cousin, the President of the Federated Suns.

Notes:  This was written at GenCon 2006 in the space of an hour, and presented without fact checking.  It is, therefore, explicitly non-canon.  That being said, since I've also included the comic books and BattleTechnology articles in the Fiction Reviews, as long as it fits the universe's aesthetic and doesn't contradict any established facts, I'm happy to accept it as a valid part of the universe (though subject to voiding if subsequent canon fiction covers the same territory).

President Edward Davion was one of the so-called "twin tyrants," who ruled by putting House Davion entirely outside the laws of their planet and the Federated Suns as a whole, and who ruled by whim, dissolving the High Council when it displeased them, and then reconvening it to approve whimsical taxes and pointless construction projects.  Edward succeeded his brother Edmund when he died in 2415.  Seeking to secure control for himself and his line, Edward gave orders to kill Simon Davion, but the Federated Protection Force officer on duty tipped Simon off.

Edward had started to build a secret police network, and was laying the groundwork to eliminate the High Council and rule as an absolute monarch. 

Despite the warnings, Simon returned to New Avalon in 2417 and attended the High Council meeting towards the end of November.  According to the official history, he seized a sidearm from a guard and fired five shots at Edward, killing him, then submitted himself to the High Council for justice - eventually becoming the First Prince of the Federated Suns. 

This story differs only slightly from the established canon, in having the gun be concealed in Simon's pocket, rather than stolen from a guard.  It seems likely that Simon would have his own gun, since otherwise he's trusting to another individual letting him take his gun - not necessarily a good bet in an era of secret police.

This story gives us insight in how Simon viewed his action - an unpleasant, but necessary bit of cleaning, required to save the Federated Suns as a whole by excising the corruption of Edward and his cronies.  Importantly, he views the job of "fixing messes" as the responsibility of personnel in specialized roles.  For cleaning out the government, he views himself as the only candidate.  This is key, since the High Council members had already begun planning to overthrow Edward in the so-called "November Conspiracy." 

If the November Conspiracy had gone forward, succeed or fail, it could have plunged the Federated Suns into a civil war between Davion loyalists and Council supporters.  By having Simon Davion be the triggerman, that weakens the Davion-loyalist viewpoint (though many Edward-sycophants and media-manipulated masses called for Simon's execution and the ascension of Edward's son Arthur) and heads off the danger of an internal conflict that would open the FedSuns to attack from its enemies abroad (particularly the still aggressively expanding Terran Hegemony). 

The guard who supposedly gave Simon his weapon was killed in a fire before he could swear out a statement.  There is circumstantial evidence that the guard was tied to the November Conspiracy as well.  This story's suggestion that Simon was allowed to come armed into the chamber implies that the collusion was in letting Simon come through security checkpoints armed, rather than letting him grab a gun in the chamber itself. 
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 26 August 2017, 22:47:18
Date: November 21, 2540

Location: Robinson

Title: Raven

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps - Iron Writer)

Synopsis:  At the climax of the thirteen-year long Davion Civil War, First Prince Alexander Davion takes his Marauder (see notes) into battle against the Terran March commander Dimitri "The Raven" Rostov - leader of the strongest anti-Alexander forces still in the field. 

The scene flashes back to Alexander arguing with his advisors, insisting that he must accept Rostov's challenge to a 'Mech duel to settle the war.  One of his Major Generals, Michael Newton, resigns in protest, later accusing Alexander of seeking revenge for his dead wife Cynthia, rather than letting one of his subordinates fight Rostov in his place.  Alexander says it's all he has left.  Newton says he'll need help.

On the battlefield, Alexander calls on Rostov to surrender.  Rostov demands that Alexander withdraw and rule the Crucis March, leaving the Terran March to Rostov as an autonomous region, and letting the other Marches go their own way as well, turning the Federated Suns into a loose confederation.   Rostov apologizes for having killed Alexander's wife, Cynthia. 

Battle is joined, and Alexander finds himself at a disadvantage against Rostov's raven-insignia-painted Victor, due to the March Lord's exceptional skill.  A burst from Rostov's autocannon tears off one of Alexander's 'Mech's arms, and Rostov again calls on him to yield, then unexpectedly cuts off as his 'Mech's torso explodes with enough force to send Alexander's 'Mech flying backwards. 

Alexander awakens to see Michael Newton bending over him.  He tells the dazed Prince "Earn this," then leaves.

Notes: This story exemplifies why the Iron Writer stories are explicitly non-canon: written in one hour at GenCon with no fact checking.  Otherwise, it would have been noted by the continuity crew that the Marauder wasn't fielded until 2612 (72 years after this scene).  Given the explicit reference to the tonnage of the Prince's ride as 75 tons, the only unit that fits would be the Hammerhands, probably the upgraded 4D model (dropping the SRMs and jump jets for a PPC alongside the autocannons and medium lasers - and better matching the Marauder weapons package).

This is a fleshing out of the "Rostov Defiant" section of the House Davion sourcebook, which notes that the duel against Rostov nearly cost the Prince his life, but that his superior reflexes helped him win the day.  The original 1987 entry does add the caveat that "Historians have suggested that an agent of Alexander's sabotaged the General's 'Mech beforehand."  Interestingly, that note was dropped from Handbook: House Davion, which attributes Davion's victory to "luck and a righteous cause."  The Handbook, of course, was written by NAIS (which famously falsified its description of Michael Hasek-Davion's role in the 4th Succession War its Military Atlas), while the original account was a product of ComStar research.

NAIS may be great with gizmos, but pretty weak on historical credibility.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: BrokenMnemonic on 26 September 2017, 12:30:25
I've been wondering why the Hegemony wasn't more aggressive with BattleMechs during the early years, too. One of the things I've been meaning to do for my own edification is to try and identify from the housebooks/handbooks which wars and conflicts were going on during those early decades; Charge of the Light only refers to Basalt, but gives the impression of a HAF that's being outmassed, at least on Basalt. That conventional army that the FedSuns landed is a pretty hefty conventional force, and the implication is that there's more of them. We know that battles with the Federated Suns continued over the next century - a HAF raid wiped out the Leighton family, rulers of the Terran March, prior to the FedSuns civil war - and that the Hegemony was able to seize Kentares at one point, and drag the Terran March into a war of attrition that the March couldn't win. That implies that the Hegemony did expand, at least somewhat, into what was FedSuns space by the end of the Age of War. I'm thinking that BattleMechs were a solid edge for the Hegemony, but that they didn't have the conventional forces needed to conquer and hold more territory on a wide front, particularly with so many other stroppy neighbours.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 26 September 2017, 15:08:23
The seizure of Kentares was part of the HAF's 2431-2440 "Tybalt Campaign," which, despite the name, targeted a broad swath of systems held by the Capellan Confederation and the Federated Suns, not just Tybalt.  The Tybalt Campaign, however, relied entirely on conventional forces - tanks, infantry, WarShips, and aerospace fighters, since the Mackie didn't debut until the year before the campaign's end. 

The 2445 fighting on Basalt, then, can be understood as a Federated Suns counterattack, attempting to reclaim a world lost during the Tybalt Campaign.  (Likely emboldened by Jacob Cameron's reduced aggression after his poisoning.)  The Capellans appear to have been sufficiently cowed by the Tybalt campaign that they avoided the Hegemony border until dispatching a mercenary force to probe Ningpo in 2457.  (Though they did send a Maskirovka agent to try to infiltrate and disrupt the Mackie development program.)  Having a quiet Capellan border (and apparently quiet Marik and Steiner borders) would have allowed Jacob to consolidate gains from the Tybalt campaign and bolster Hegemony defenses to beat back AFFS and DCMS probes.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 29 June 2018, 14:35:28
Date: October 19, 2435

Location: Terra

Title: Break-Away

Author: Ilsa J. Bick

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Hegemony Armed Forces aerospace fighter pilot Colonel Charles Kincaid tells war stories in the Double Ugly bar on Terra.  He tells his listeners that he and his wingman, Amanda, executed a complex break-away maneuver during the Battle of Tybalt to shake pursuing Capellan fighters. 

The Capellan fighters continued pursuing Kincaid, allowing Amanda to come up from below them undetected and destroy one, forcing the other to break off.  Kincaid describes the maneuver as a crazy stunt, but the type of experience he lives for.

Notes: When I first started doing this column, I tried to review entire works in one shot.  Around the time I started doing Star League-era pieces, I changed my format to doing one entry per scene, and have enjoyed the results of the resulting deep-dives on lengthier pieces.  I have decided to go back and revisit my Age of War and early Star League reviews (where the compression does the stories a disservice) and redo them in the more detailed format.  I amended the index months ago, but the split listings all still linked to the omnibus review.  I will redirect the index links to the individual pieces as I complete them.

This opening flashback to the Battle of Tybalt (which is part of the 2431-2440 HAF offensive dubbed the Tybalt Campaign - one of the last territorial expansions undertaken by the Terran Hegemony) shows that battles of the Tybalt Campaign had major fights for orbital control prior to DropShips bringing in tanks and infantry to contest control of the ground.

Looking at the Master Unit List, Kincaid and Amanda were probably flying SB-23 Sabres - the only Aerospace fighter available to the Terran Hegemony during the Tybalt Campaign.  The Sabre debuted in 2314, but the CNT-1D Centurion didn't come along until 2473.  It's unclear what the Capellan pilots were flying, since the MUL indicates their first faction-specific fighter was the TRB-D36 Thunderbird in 2480 - 50 years too late for the Tybalt Campaign.  Given the Sabre's age (over 120 years) at the time of the Tybalt Campaign, it's not too much of a stretch to assume the CCAF had acquired some on the black market, or reverse engineered it to make their own copies.

Ilsa Bick likes to get into her characters' heads, and this "overheard at a bar" vignette paints Kincaid as a "Right Stuff" style fighter jock with great skill, calm under pressure, and a thrill-seeker attitude that makes him a perfect candidate to take the helm of testing out a new weapons system - the BattleMech.

The question still arises, however - why put a fighter jock at the helm of a BattleMech?  Wouldn't it make sense to have someone with practical experience at the helm of a WorkMech be better suited?  Or perhaps, since the Sabre pilots use neurohelmets, while a WorkMech can be run with only the manual controls, that was the deciding factor in deciding which skill set was more valuable.

The "Double Ugly" moniker identifies Kincaid's hangout as a bar that caters to fighter jocks - since the name is a reference to the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, which had the same nickname.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 29 June 2018, 15:23:37
Date: December 22, 2438

Location: Terra

Title: Break-Away

Author: Ilsa J. Bick

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: In the evening's darkness, a storm approaches Signal Mountain. in the midst of a Level-C Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) exercise, a man identified as "the colonel" uses a HAF-issued KA-BAR combat knife inscribed with the initials C.K to slit the throat of a man named Hackett. 

Once Hackett bleeds out, the colonel confiscates the man's rations, jackknife and dog tags (placing the latter in a radio-jamming pouch that keeps the tags warm), then disappears into the gloom.

Notes: Given the only other named character we've seen so far in this story is Colonel Charles Kincaid, this scene is designed to place suspicion on "Colonel C.K." for killing Hackett.

Sourcebook accounts note that Kincaid was chosen as the first BattleMech test pilot through a rigorous selection process.  Ilsa Bick here suggests that he may have taken unsanctioned actions to thin the ranks of his competition for the historic role.

It's not clear where Signal Mountain is located, but it's probably the one in Wyoming, near the Grand Tetons (which is where the rest of the SERE course takes place), rather than the one in Tennessee.  Per Wikipedia, SERE Level C is For troops at a high risk of capture and whose position, rank or seniority make them vulnerable to greater than average exploitation efforts by any captor. Level C focuses on resistance in terms of prison camps.  (Though, granted, HAF standards may not exactly match United States Armed Forces definitions from centuries earlier.) 

It's interesting to compare the modern-equivalent military outlook of the Age of War vs. the neo-feudal mindset of "capture's no problem as long as it's not by the Dracs (who don't take prisoners, generally, per the Dictum Honorium) and as long as I have enough money banked to cover my ransom."

The precautions that "the colonel" takes with Hackett's dog tags suggest that they may contain a radio beacon (for recovery) and a body-heat detector (when it goes cold, command is alerted to either a death or hypothermia situation).  For whatever reason, "the colonel" wants control to think Hackett is still alive and kicking.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 29 June 2018, 16:51:07
Date: December 24, 2438

Location: Terra

Title: Break-Away

Author: Ilsa J. Bick

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:

Yakima, Washington

At the Yakima Proving Grounds, simian neuropsychology specialist Dr. Carolyn Fletcher continues her work with the experimental neurohelmet after some early morning practice on the firing range.  Since her boss, Dr. Htov Gbarleman, gave the neuroscience staff the week off for the holidays, Carolyn is alone in the lab.

Her work is interrupted by a cacaphony of screams from the inner habitat.  She races inside to find the chimpanzees agitated, and one of them, Jack, weeping - an activity not seen in regular chimps.

She notes that the helmet is working fine in simulations, where Colonel Kincaid has been leading the evaluations, but she hopes Amanda Cunningham will get the nod, being more emotionally controlled.

Grand Tetons, Wyoming

Three days into the SERE course, Major Sarah James observes Charles Kincaid as he stands below her on the western shore of the Snake River.  She fires, and he goes down, playing dead per the rules of the course.  Sarah watches the body for a few moments, then goes to inspect it more closely.  She kicks his fallen laser rifle away and gloats over her advancement towards becoming the Mackie pilot.  She is stunned when the colonel rolls over and fires a silenced pistol, blowing her head off.

Major Amanda Cunningham, meanwhile, has staked out an observation site on Inspiration Point, between Jenny Lake and Mt. St. John.  She notes that the goal of the exercise to to reach Death Canyon by midnight, December 25, where she can call in a chopper for extraction, assuming she can avoid HAF hunter squads and the other contestants (Brian Hackett, Sarah James, and Charles Kincaid).  She feels emotionally conflicted - not wanting to hunt Kincaid in the SERE competition because of their love affair (ended due to his House Kincaid-arranged engagement to Isabelle Cameron, the Director-General's third cousin).

At the Snake River, the colonel takes James' dog tags and hides the body.  He takes out a photo taken at the MacBeth spaceport on Tybalt, showing Amanda in her flight suit after the battle, and relishes having saved her for last.

Yakima, Washington

Carolyn reports to Colonel Nathan Powers that the test chimps may have developed Parkinson's Disease - a disease to which chimps are normally not susceptible.  She suspects it may be due to the neurohelmet's augmentation loop.  Powers blows off her concerns, saying it will be too hard to get an expert in over the holidays, and suggests they go out to lunch.

She begins to yell at him to do his job, but is interrupted by the sounds of renewed screaming from the chimp habitat.  They run back and open the door with a command overrride to find a scene that renders them speechless.

Grand Tetons, Wyoming

Approaching Death Canyon, Amanda spots vultures near Phelps Lake.  She finds it odd that she hasn't run into any other competitors or hunter squads.  She finds two tents, and smells blood.  Suspicious, she carefully investigates, unaware that the colonel is tracking her with a sniper rifle.  He prepares to fire, just as she lets out a cry of horror.

Yakima, Washington

Blood and gore from the female chimp, Shana, cover the chimp habitat, and Jack perches on a sycamore branch, dangling the limp body of his son, Tongo. 

Dr. Fletcher and Colonel Powers head back to the laboratory.

Grand Tetons, Wyoming

Inside the tent, Amanda sees the bodies of one of the hunter teams, bullet holes in their chests, throats slit, and bodies carefully arranged.  She finds James' and Hackett's dog tags coiled around a KA-BAR knife stabbed into the ground, with C.K. engraved on the butt.  She screams in horror, not fooled by the attempt to implicate Kincaid, but realizing that the murderer must have already taken out Kincaid to have his knife.  A bullet tears through her left leg.

Yakima, Washington

Colonel Powers and Dr. Fletcher try to determine why Jack went on a killing spree and exhibited sadistic traits.  Powers is intrigued by the possibility that the neurohelmets' augmentation loop might have the effect of making the soldiers using them into aggressive, remorseless killers, with no fatigue and superhuman concentration.

They go to drive to the communications center - Fletcher warming up the car, while Powers goes back inside to get his jacket.  After an unusually long interval, he returns, explaining that he had to shut down the computers.  Fletcher remarks she thought they had been shut down.  Powers comments that the candidates must be freezing in Wyoming, and Fletcher notes that earlier, he'd said he didn't know where they were.

Powers pulls out a laser pistol and tells Fletcher to turn left.

Grand Tetons, Wyoming

The colonel sees Amanda go down. 

Using her training, Amanda stays down and ties a tourniquet above the leg wound.  Using her own weapon scope's IFF unit, she sweeps it towards the shot's origin and is shattered when the ID comes back as Kincaid.

The colonel watches as Amanda limps away.  He follows, intending to herd her to where he wants her to go, enjoying himself immensely.

Yakima, Washington

Powers and Fletcher drive northeast across the proving grounds.  Fletcher considers going for her gun, under the seat, but Powers sees her glance and grabs it himself. 

Fletcher realizes he went back to erase her data, and asks why.  Powers tells her not to worry about it, since he'll be shooting her with her own gun shortly, and making it look like a suicide.

Fletcher crashes the car, throwing off the laser pistol's aim and sending the pistol case flying.  The airbags deploy, pressing them into their seats.  As they deflate, Fletcher grabs her pistol, struggling with Powers for it.  She bites his leg to make him let go, then seizes the pistol and shoots him.

Grand Tetons, Wyoming

Amanda closes in on Death Canyon after three hours of limping.  She wonders how Kincaid could have smuggled a sniper rifle into the exercise.  Thinking back to the bodies in the tent, she comes to a realization and stops running.

The colonel emerges from the woods, and is disappointed to no longer see horror or shock on Amanda's face.

Amanda addresses her pursuer as Sang-shao.  She notes that the scars on his victims' bodies match those from the wounds he suffered in the Battle of Tybalt - flying on the Capellan side, and that the cuts were from right to left - whereas Kincaid is left-handed. 

The Capellan grins, and tells her she is the sauce for the goose, but not his main objective.  She asks what it is, but his answer is interrupted by the arrival of a HAF helicopter gunship. 

The Capellan colonel kicks her legs out from under her and carries her body up to where he'd left Kincaid days earlier. 

Kincaid remains in the cave where the colonel left him after shooting him three days earlier, guarded by two Maskirovka operatives.  The colonel had promised he would keep Kincaid alive long enough to see him torture Amanda to the point where Kincaid would beg for him to kill her - knowing suffering just as the colonel's wife had when she died in orbit over Tybalt.

After hearing a shot and the helicopter, Kincaid tells the guards he has to go to the privy area.  While the guards argue over who will take him, Kincaid takes a fork from the table and stabs it into one guard's eye, steals his laser pistol and shoots the other guard. 

To attract the helicopter's attention, he uses the laser to start a brush fire.  Kincaid's jubilation fades as he sees the colonel approaching with Amanda.  He scrambles along the ridge to put the smoke between them as the colonel drops her and readies his rifle. 

Amanda regains consciousness as the colonel takes aim at Kincaid on the ridge.  Kincaid fires his own laser and places the shot directly through the colonel's sniper scope, burning out his eye.  Unable to see, he only hears Amanda approach and club him with her target laser, sending him plummeting over the canyon rim to his death.

Kincaid watches Amanda finish off the colonel as the Redhawk VTOL descends for their extraction.

Notes: By cutting back and forth between Yakima and the Grand Tetons, Ilsa Bick tries to set up the possibility that the experimental neurohelmet augmentation loop could have driven Kincaid insane, causing him to flip out and murder the rest of the candidates. 

Standard neurohelmets simply allow the pilot to assist the gyroscope in keeping their 'Mechs balanced.  However, this experimental "augmentation loop" process seems to suggest that the HAF was actually on the path that led the Clans to develop Enhanced Imaging (and the NAIS to develop the Direct Neural Interface) centuries later, with similarly dire impacts on sanity and health.  We can presume that the HAF shut down the augmentation loop research based on negative reports from Dr. Fletcher.  That being said, I wonder if Kincaid suffered any neurological disorders in later years due to his exposure to the experimental augmentation loop.

There are a few inconsistencies regarding Capellan involvement in the Mackie project.  Amanda calls the Capellan colonel "Sang-shao" when she figures out his origins...but the CCAF didn't adopt that rank until Sun-Tzu's Xin-Sheng reforms in the late 3050s, so there'd be no reason to use it at this point.  (Heck, at this point, we're chronologically closer to Victor Liao - who wore a Scottish kilt and swung a mean Japanese katana, so there certainly wasn't enough Han Chinese cultural dominance in the Confederation to lead Amanda to translate "colonel" into Chinese as a way of calling out the Capellan officer.)  Also, despite the Maskirovka having inserted one of its operatives into the neurohelmet program at a level where he had full knowledge of the candidate selection process, the Capellans were somehow uninformed about the capabilities of BattleMechs for decades after this, resorting ultimately to dispatching the Northwind Highlanders to Ningpo to gather intel in the field in "Goliath Out of the Box."

Mention of the unstatted Redhawk VTOL confirm that we certainly don't have anywhere close to a full accounting of the types of military hardware fielded during the Age of War. 

The Maskirovka guards fill the standard role of goons in the presence of certified action hero Charles Kincaid - cannon fodder to showcase his buff heroism. 

The motivation of "the colonel" comes down to twisted desires for revenge - having found out that Kincaid and Cunningham were the two HAF fighter pilots who splashed his wife and scarred him in combat over Tybalt.  He certainly couldn't have known anything about them during the fight, so he must have researched them after being released from a CCAF field hospital.  I was somewhat confused when Amanda remembers getting a briefing on the colonel on Tybalt after the HAF conquered it.  With the rank of Colonel, he would probably have had a leading role in coordinating the planetary defense.  As is typical for Bick's work, there's a sexual component to the colonel's obsession - he explicitly wants to rape Amanda in front of Kincaid, followed by torturing and mutilating her until Kincaid begs him to let her die. 

There remain a lot of questions around Powers' role at the Yakima Proving Grounds.  Was he a Maskirovka agent himself, or just suborned and in their pay?  He was clearly in close communication with them, having provided classified data on the SERE competition to a Maskirovka strike team.  But the lack of Capellan knowledge in "Goliath Out of the Box" suggests he wasn't giving great reports back to HQ.  One possibility is that "the colonel," driven by his thirst for vengeance, misused his authority to appropriate Maskirovka assets and only intersected with the Mackie project as a sideshow to his pursuit of Kincaid and Cunningham.  He may have recruited Powers simply as a means of going after the two HAF officers, not realizing (or caring about) the significance of the project they were involved in.  Talk about tunnel vision!
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 30 June 2018, 15:13:36
Date: January 10, 2439

Location: Terra

Title: Break-Away

Author: Ilsa J. Bick

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: At the Evans Military Hospital, Major Amanda Cunningham awakens to find Colonel Charles Kincaid waiting by her bedside.  They tearfully embrace.  Kincaid tells her Dr. Fletcher sounded the alarm, but says nobody knows if Powers and the Capellan hit team were working together, or if Powers was working for someone else.  He suspects it could be the Federated Suns working together with the Capellans, if not just the Capellans alone, or even nobles who want to bump off House Cameron and put themselves in charge.  He suspects the plan might have been to steal the Mackie and use it to kill Director-General Cameron.  Kincaid predicts whoever organized the operation will be back.

He explains about the neurohelmet loop, and says the technicians have removed it and certified that there don't seem to be any psychological effects, though they can't say what might happen months or years down the line.  He says she'll be cleared for release by the end of the week, but due to the injuries she sustained, Kincaid was the one chosen to be the Mackie test pilot.  He further shocks Amanda by telling her he refused. 

She notes that his family must be angry, and he agrees that they are, and have gotten him to reconsider.  Amanda encourages him to accept, so that all the death and suffering won't have been for nothing.  She compares it to his engagement to Isabelle Cameron - not the preferred option, but necessary due to the demands of House and state.  She says that he needs to test the Mackie now so that she can pilot her own and continue to be his wingman. 

Notes: Evans is likely based on the Evans Army Community Hospital, in Fort Carson, Colorado. 

The suspicion of a joint Capellan-FedSuns alliance sounds bonkers by 3025 standards, but would make sense in the mid 2400s, since the Terran Hegemony's Tybalt Campaign was aimed at seizing a significant number of systems from both the Federated Suns and the Capellan Confederation.  We know that the Federated Suns, at least, was in the middle of a major counter-offensive when they ran headlong into newly deployed HAF Mackies.

While the Star League sourcebook pretty much just says that McKenna ended the chaos of the Terran Alliance and forged the Terran Hegemony, and House Cameron seamlessly took over after McKenna's only son disgraced himself.  This story suggests a substantial amount of internal intrigue in the Hegemony, with competing noble houses, secret mind control experiments being swept under the rug by HRAD (Hegemony Research & Development), a gung ho military eager to field new tech to show the universe "some serious shit," and ambitious/disloyal elements collaborating with rival empires.  It all creates the backdrop for some very interesting power dynamics, and it's too bad that it hasn't been explored further.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 22 October 2018, 11:29:07
Date: February 1, 2455

Location: Hesperus II

Title: Prometheus Unbound

Author: Herbert A. Beas II

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Colonel Simon Kelswa and his team of 25 LIC agents arrive at the Maria's Elegy spaceport aboard the drop shuttle Firebringer under cover as semi-skilled laborers bound for Commonwealth Mining Corporation's Outpost #7 (CMO 7).  Terran Hegemony security forces subject them to a weapons and contraband scan.  Simon gives his name as Augosto Lorenzo.

Simon's attention is drawn to Brian Kirkpatrick, who is loudly protesting Terran security's seizure of his property - a bag containing a sidearm.  Simon recalls his displeasure at the Archon having assigned an assassin from the LIC's counter-terrorism division to a mission that was supposed to have a low body count.  Kirkpatrick identifies himself as Mr. Easton and belligerently berates the Hegemony officers for infringing on his rights as a Lyran citizen on a Lyran planet.

As the confrontation becomes physical, Simon's attention is distracted by deep thuds that signal the approach of a BattleMech - the Hegemony's unmatched new superweapon.   He is, therefore, taken by surprise when the body of the Terran security officer, thrown by Kirkpatrick, knocks him to the tarmac. 

As security forces train their weapons on Kirkpatrick, the security officer opens his bag and finds a Kawasaki Shuriken-12 autopistol with armor piercing rounds.  He notes that such weapons are illegal even on Commonwealth soil, and orders the entire team to be taken into quarantine, rather than being sent on to CMO 7.

The "miners" (LIC agents) are crammed into a cargo truck.  Kirkpatrick berates Simon for having zoned out during the scene he was making to get them arrested.  The other LIC agents criticize Kirkpatrick for his flamboyant methods, which might get their CMO shuttle seized and searched, cutting off their escape route.

Vibrations signal the close passage of another BattleMech, and Simon's hands again begin to shake.  The truck arrives into a hangar area of the spaceport, where VTOLs, jeeps, and BattleMechs are berthed.  Kirkpatrick comments that the passing BattleMech seems to be a new 60-70 ton model, significantly smaller and faster than the 100-ton Mackie, with arm-mounted lasers and a missile launcher.  The Terran security troops cut off their view as they herd the "miners" into a barracks for quarantine. 

Simon sleeps in the Quarantine Center, and has a nightmare of his team moving through the Hegemony BattleMech complex (which had been evacuated following a faked shuttle "crash" nearby).  As they enter the computer terminal room where the blueprints would be kept, an alarm goes off and other team members report hostile contacts in Sector B.  The building shakes and the walls are ripped apart.  A huge metal claw reaches through the gap and seizes Simon, causing him to awaken screaming.

During the infiltration process, Simon has numerous flashbacks to events over the previous five months.  He recalls questioning the advisability of opening a new front for hostilities with the Terran Hegemony when the Commonwealth is already fully engaged (and losing) on the Kurita and Marik fronts.  The Archon responds that the Commonwealth needs an advantage if it is to reverse its losses.

When Simon asks for more time for the Lyran Intelligence Corps to infiltrate the Hegemony factories and steal the designs, the Archon says that the LIC has come up with nothing in fifteen years.  He proposes a bold surgical strike, and tells Simon he's already picked the best men for the assignment, including one from the Counter-Terrorism Division - Kirkpatrick - the only man who's ever gotten into the Hesperus facility.  The Archon advises Simon to watch him closely.

The Archon describes the BattleMech as the "Pandora's Box" of their time.  Simon notes that the Hegemony has used them to successfully repel five incursions into their territory so far.  He notes that they have superior armor to other combat vehicles, even at the joints, can cover any terrain, and can withstand anything short of a nuke.  The Archon agrees, but asks if Simon would prefer that House Kurita or Marik get them before the Lyrans.

In the truck, Simon recalls his first meeting with his team, briefing them on the BattleMech.  He shows them a MCK-5S Mackie, and notes that it has accounted for half of the Hegemony's battlefield victories against all Great House armies combined in the past 15 years, with only five having fallen in combat, and none captured for study.  He notes that the BattleMech is taller than a WorkMech, uses legs instead of tracks, and uses a neurological control interface far more responsive than the wheels and joysticks of a LoaderMech.  He notes that entire Combine tank companies have massed their fire just to saw off a leg, and AFFS infantry tried, but failed, to plant satchel charges on another.

Notes: As with "Break Away," I'm going back to the multi-part Age of War stories that I initially tried to cover in a single entry, and taking a second look with my "deep dive" format.

From the flashbacks, we see that the Age of War has been going poorly for the Commonwealth, with 20% of the Tamar Pact systems having fallen to Combine assaults.  (In a contemporary story, we saw Lyran tanks being taken out by Combine infantry when the wheat fields they were traversing were set ablaze.  As in the future, the Lyrans always make the same choice when it comes down to "smarter" or "heavier.") 

We also learn that the Hegemony has repulsed ten attacks over the past 15 years, five of which involved 'Mech action.  We know about Styx in 2443 and Basalt in 2445 (vs. the AFFS).  Since House Liao doesn't try its luck against 'Mechs until Ningpo in 2457, and Simon notes that there currently aren't hostilities between the Lyrans and the Hegemony, the other attacks are probably mostly AFFS and DCMS, with perhaps a stray FWL raid mixed in. 

I'd previously questioned the visceral fear response shown in these early stories when people see BattleMechs for the first time.  It's laid out here that 'Mechs are not only larger, but that they have different motive structures.  Many of the early WorkMechs probably have treads on their feet, meaning that they drive over most terrain, rather than lifting their feet and walking like a BattleMech.  The "thump" of their tread is probably not dissimilar to the scene in Jurassic Park where the Tyrannosaurus Rex approaches, albeit ten times stronger (since T-Rexes maxed out at nine tons).  The description of entire tank companies combining fire to take off one leg recalls the Narn fleet vs. Shadow Vessel battle in Babylon 5, where several of those ships combined fire to slice off one tendril, before the whole Narn fleet was wiped out.

The Counter-Terrorism Division has not yet acquired the "Loki" moniker, but its operatives are already known as agents of chaos. 

The Firebringer is, of course, a reference to Prometheus - who in Greek legend stole fire from the gods for the benefit of humanity.  Aptly named for a mission named Operation PROMETHEUS.  It's a 1,000 ton DropShuttle of an unnamed class - appropriate, since modern JumpShips wouldn't be invented until 2468.  So, does that mean that their mother ship is in orbit, rather than out at the jump point?
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 22 October 2018, 16:31:39
Date: February 2, 2455

Location: Hesperus II

Title: Prometheus Unbound

Author: Herbert A. Beas II

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Simon Kelswa awakens from his nightmare at 3:00, still in the Hegemony Spaceport Quarantine Center.  He hears the rhythmic thumping of a BattleMech patrolling outside, but calms down as he focuses on the success of Phase One of the LIC infiltration operation.  When his aide, Johann, asks about the screaming, he dismisses it as insomnia. 

Notes: One wonders what the deal was with Hesperus II and the Hegemony/Commonwealth lease agreement.  The dialogue on February 1 indicated that the Hegemony was renting the land from the Commonwealth, but considered that rented land legally Hegemony territory.  I realize that Herb had to work with official sources that placed the factory there, but 1) why would the Hegemony place a major manufacturing center for their superweapon in another Great House's borders?  And 2) why would the Hegemony continue to allow unrelated merchant traffic to process through their top secret production center?  It would seem that the Hegemony, when going to the expense of setting up a new production center on Hesperus II, could have paid to build a separate DropPort for Commonwealth Mining's traffic. 

Jason's phobia of the BattleMechs seems nigh crippling, but he isn't alone.  During the "Birth of the King" first live fire test of the Mackie prototype against drone Merkavas, one of the drone operators soiled himself.  There's another account of how the sounds of a 'Mech approaching caused an infantry platoon, armed with "the latest hellbore rounds" for their support guns, threw down their weapons and fled before the 'Mech came into sight, allowing a lone Locust to conquer the city.  On the other hand, not everyone has that reaction.  We know that the DCMS and AFFS rallied and engaged Mackie-equipped HAF troops, downing five of the behemoths in the process.  The AFFS even was the first to try a kneecapping attack with anti-'Mech infantry.  When the Lyrans deployed their first 'Mechs against the FWL, the Captain-General didn't flee - he mounted his personal tank and had his forces throw everything they had into the fray - even calling in DropShips to provide supporting fire. 
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 23 October 2018, 11:12:36
Date: February 7, 2455

Location: Hesperus II

Title: Prometheus Unbound

Author: Herbert A. Beas II

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: After six days in quarantine at the port, Commonwealth Mining Corporation agrees to the Terrans' request that the "miners," one of whom was found to be carrying a contraband pistol known to be favored by elite Combine commandos, be transferred offworld.  At 0945 hours, TST, on February 7th, Simon Kelswa looks at the communique from CMC and decodes it using a memorized cypher - "Prometheus Unbound.  Good hunting."  Phase two is a go.

At 1825 hours, TST, the commandos emerge from the wreckage of the Firebringer dropshuttle, which has "crashed" into the Hegemony BattleMech production site after an explosive "malfunction" (a kiloton of explosives that creates an EMP effect on the ground) on its departure from the spaceport.  The 25 LIC commandos grab their weapons from concealed compartments and melt into the night in black fatigues.  In the R&D offices, they find security systems offline and lights and evacuation alarms operating on emergency power. 

At 1836 hours, TST, the commandos sweep the building while Terran first-responder teams converge on the crashed shuttle.  Kirkpatrick asks Simon if anyone has keyed in, but Simon tells him to focus on the search.  Additional explosions (pre-set charges) keep the Terrans from getting too close to the shuttle.  Kirkpatrick warns them that the Terrans will be scrambling their Mackies any moment.  The thought of the BattleMechs sends a jolt of terror through Kelswa, but his panic is interrupted by a report from Charlie Team that they've found the technical data.

Simon orders his team to regroup, share the data, and then split into three groups for extraction - two heading to a secondary dust off site, while one tries to escape aboard the Firebringer.  With the shuttle taking fire from Terran batteries or aerospace fighters, its ability to reach a Rim Worlds-registered JumpShip in orbit is in doubt, but it will serve to distract the Hegemony garrison and make the secondary teams' escape more likely.

Simon's team exits the flaming building and heads to the rendezvous, but rhythmic thuds signal the arrival of Terran BattleMechs.  The team dives for cover as a massive explosion sends shockwaves and debris across the compound.  Kirkpatrick reports that the Firebringer has exploded, and says someone must have gotten too close.  Simon realizes Kirkpatrick must have sabotaged the ship, killing the LIC crew as well as any Terrans in the vicinity.  Kirkpatrick attacks Simon, blaming him for the deaths, but Simon knocks the gun from his hand and presses his own attack.  As the two fight, Kirkpatrick says the Archon authorized the measure to conceal any links to the Commonwealth and prevent the Hegemony from opening hostilities.

At 1903 hours, TST, The other members of the team signal in - their squad leaders are dead, and Simon realizes he has to focus on the mission, rather than punishing Kirkpatrick.  The ground shakes as Terran Mackies approach.  Stricken with terror, he is unable to move as the 100-ton 'Mech prepares to step on him.  Just before the foot lands, a shape flashes before his eyes and he finds himself sailing into the air, and he passes out.

Notes:  Describing the timing of the raid as "night" brings up the problems of basing times on TST - where it being 6:25 PM in Geneva doesn't make it clear that it's local nighttime in the Myoo Mountains.  (Granted, such a standardized timing system is necessary for indicating when things happen, especially when some worlds' rotational periods result in "days" that are months or even years long.)

The fact that the commandos are just using black fatigues and facepaint suggests that sneak suit technology hasn't yet been developed.  The LosTech: MechWarrior Equipment Guide confirms that the first sneak suits were developed by the Star League.

It's interesting that the Archon decided that the LIC's efforts to get the BattleMech intel using sneaky, nonviolent means had failed to generate results for 15 years, and so commissioned Simon Kelswa to lead a commando strike, but still had to lie to him that it was intended as a bloodless operation.  The Age of War was noted for being a time when war was treated as a game of maneuver, with some battles decided without a shot being fired.  Yet we have plenty of examples of battles featuring live rounds and heavy casualties, particularly on the Combine front. 

It seems the Archon also included Kirkpatrick to run the real mission - since he has no compunction about taking lives to cover their tracks.  Why, then, wouldn't Kirkpatrick have briefed Kelswa on the real mission parameters at any point?  Would Simon's morals (and/or awe of the Terrans/fear of the BattleMechs) have caused him to abort the operation?  The crew of the Firebringer could have joined the search teams and extracted as well, rather than being sacrificed to ensure plausible deniability for a few years (until Lyran-built 'Mechs start walking off the Coventry and Alarion production lines.) 

Why include Kelswa in the mix at all, in that case?  Is he a more reputable commander?  Did Kirkpatrick's unsavory reputation for bloodlust make him unable to exert command authority over the LIC commandos?  It just seems like keeping the unit commander in the dark about the mission parameters would inevitably lead to a command crisis that could jeopardize the mission (such as a fistfight in enemy territory during the extraction).
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: skiltao on 23 October 2018, 14:03:28
Kelswa being in the dark is extra surprising since (per the old Steiner book) the team rehearsed for months beforehand.

Kirkpatrick berates Simon for having zoned out during the scene he was making to get them arrested.  <snip> Kirkpatrick - the only man who's ever gotten into the Hesperus facility.
At 1825 hours, TST, the commandos emerge from the wreckage of the Firebringer dropshuttle <snip> grab their weapons from concealed compartments

If the commandos had to return to their shuttle, why would getting arrested be part of their plan? (Especially with the risk of Kirkpatrick being recognized?) Does the story give a reason for that, or (as sometimes happens with serialized writing) do you suppose the writer changed directions between installments.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 23 October 2018, 14:14:36
Had the gun not been found and the "miners" detained, they would have been processed through security, put on transports, and driven out to the CMO 7 site.  Since that was nowhere near where they wanted to actually be, they had the gun in Kirkpatrick's bag and got themselves detained onsite, knowing that the likely outcome was for the Terrans to ask for them to be withdrawn and replaced by another crew from Commonwealth Mining.  The plan, then, would be to have an "accident" during takeoff, crash into the R&D offices, and the infiltrate the building amidst the chaos and steal the data.  If they had an "accident" on arrival, Terran security would theoretically be more on alert.

Simon seems to have known about everything except the change to the extraction plan.  Kirkpatrick seems to have tried to hint that the shuttle crew should have come with the raiders, but Simon kept with the original plan, intending to (likely) sacrifice himself and Kirkpatrick on the Firebringer as decoys, without killing any Terrans in the process (presumably so that when it became obvious that the Lyrans had stolen the tech, the lack of dead Terrans would be a salve to the Lyran/Hegemony relationship.)  Simon at one point accuses Kirkpatrick of wanting to kill a "Terrie" (the equivalent to "Drac" or "FedRat" for the Hegemony troops of that era) just to collect their sidearm as a trophy.

There wasn't much risk of Kirkpatrick getting recognized.  He'd been given extensive facial reconstruction surgery prior to going on the mission.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: skiltao on 23 October 2018, 15:03:42
Alright, but... that just changes the question to, why be disguised as miners, instead of as people who would stay near the shuttle?
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 23 October 2018, 15:40:35
Presumably, if the miners had been legit and the shuttle crew was fake, the shuttle would have had to take off after the miners cleared security.  The Firebringer only hung around because it would have to be available to take the miners offworld if Hegemony security refused to clear them.

Getting caught with contraband made the Hegemony security team think they’d exposed a dumb plot by one of the miners, and they weren’t expecting anything else out of the ordinary from them, leading them to treat the “crash” as a legitimate accident.  The power of first impressions, I guess.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: skiltao on 23 October 2018, 17:02:28
I doubt Hesperus traffic worked that way, and anyways, your scenario still leaves the question of why not keep 24 guys with the shuttle if it only takes 1 to get the shuttle grounded.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 23 October 2018, 17:44:17
At this early stage, Hesperus seems to have been a minor Lyran mining colony, overseen by Commonwealth Mining (the site of CMO 7).  The only settlement is Maria's Elegy, which is the site of the sole spaceport on the planet.  Maria's Elegy has been portrayed as a cluster of habitat domes sitting on terraces carved out of the Myoo Mountains, on which food is grown to support the small population.  The Defiance Industries factories are later burrowed into the Myoo Mountains above Maria's Elegy, but at present, the R&D offices seem to be right at the spaceport in Maria's Elegy. 

Even in 3025, the planetary population is a paltry 55,000, so circa 2455, it's just a tiny mining colony.  Terraforming didn't even begin until the 2500s (when it was only successful in the 1000-km long Melrose Valley), so they're probably eating nothing but food brought in from offworld. 

The Hegemony probably sited its extraterritorial factory there because of the ready availability of raw materials and the fact that they could gain control of the sole way onto or off of the planet, allowing them to carefully control access.  Any ship trying to land elsewhere gets a swarm of HAF fighters dogging it.  Heavy Hegemony security measures kept out infiltration efforts by both the Combine and the Commonwealth for 15 years.  Both ultimately opted for commando raids, with the Lyrans' being successful, and the Combine's a dismal failure.  (DEST-1 got the data, but got pinned down during extraction and wiped out by heavy incoming fire.)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Kojak on 24 October 2018, 07:35:08
Given the common authorship, dollars to donuts that Brian Kirkpatrick is a direct ancestor of Damon Kirkpatrick of Kirkpatrick's Pack, the stars of the Operation Flashpoint campaign book Herb wrote way back in the day.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 24 October 2018, 08:28:29
I'd buy that.  Awesome connection to ferret out.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 24 October 2018, 11:26:00
Date: February 9, 2455

Location: Hesperus II

Title: Prometheus Unbound

Author: Herbert A. Beas II

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Aboard the McQuiston-class cargo shuttle Pygmalion, Simon Kelswa regains consciousness, strapped down by a cargo harness in the hold, to find Agent Brian Kirkpatrick standing over him.  Kirkpatrick tells Kelswa that he saved his life, and that both his team and Satori's team are safe aboard the CMC cargo hauler, while Daschale and McCabe's teams made it onto two other ships.

Kelswa feels the urge to kill Kirkpatrick, but is held back by the straps.  Kirkpatrick notes that he saved Kelswa simply because he was the mission leader, even though his combat paralysis prevented him from being effective in that role.  He dismisses the hundreds of Terran casualties from the explosion of the Firebringer as necessary to preserve operational security. 

Kelswa swears he'll see Kirkpatrick hang for his actions, but the counter-terrorism agent laughs it off, speculating that both of them will be commended by the Archon for service to the Commonwealth. 

Notes: The cargo shuttle class appears to be named after one of the founders of the Federation of Skye - Ian McQuiston, or perhaps his descendant, Thomas McQuiston, who was one of the founders of the Lyran Commonwealth.  Most likely, this class of cargo shuttle formed the backbone of House McQuiston's Skye Traders shipping company.

Naming it Pygmalion may be a reference to the figure from Greek mythology - a sculptor who fell in love with the statue he'd carved, given the emotional bonds many MechWarriors would come to share with their BattleMechs.  (Bonus points if you can reframe Operation PROMETHEUS as an allegory for George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion, in which a phonetics instructor tries to train Eliza Doolittle to speak the Queen's English.)

Honestly, Agent Kirkpatrick has the right view of the situation.  Simon Kelswa seems to have had a death wish, fearing the spread of these superweapons and launching a plan that would almost certainly result in his death and the deaths of many of his team members (getting shot down when using the Firebringer as a decoy) as an act of penance for the sin of proliferating BattleMech technology.  The four LIC crewmen aboard the shuttle would have died in any event - shot down by LIC guns instead of being blown up by concealed charges.

Given his reticence and his demonstrated psychological hangups when facing 'Mechs, it's unclear why the Archon chose him as mission leader.  It's possible that he felt that Kelswa would be motivated by the loss of 20% of the Tamar Pact's worlds, since House Kelswa was very influential in that region (Davis Kelswa was Prime Minister of the Pact in 2364, and House Kelswa would be granted Ducal title to the Pact 50 years from now, in 2505 - most likely as thanks for Simon's service in Operation PROMETHEUS once the Archon ousted the treacherous House Tamar from their ancestral position.)

I wonder if the CMC ships are bound for the RWR-flagged JumpShip that Firebringer was originally going to try to reach, or if they're going to be hauled aboard Commonwealth Mining's own transports.  Most likely the latter.

The brief mention of the RWR-flagged ship was a reference to the Periphery sourcebook entry that stated the RWR's intelligence agency, AsRoc, teamed up with the Lyrans to obtain BattleMech technology.  When discussing the story on the BattleCorps site, Herb explained that, in his view, it didn't make any sense for the RWR to have been one of the first states to acquire BattleMech technology, since they were still mostly reliant on heavy tanks, cruise missiles, artillery, and infantry during the Reunification War. 

The stories set during the Reunification War, however, do show the RWR using 'Mechs.  Perhaps it was simply that 'Mechs didn't fit well into the RWR's strategic philosophy, which at that time was "Maginot Line" style - turning the worlds around the RWR's core systems into "hedgehog worlds," bristling with bunkers.  (Castle Brians?  Pfah!  We have whole Planet Brians!)  The idea being that having mobile forces was less important than being able to saturate an enemy landing zone with cruise missile strikes.  Effective, but resource-intensive, and vulnerable to orbital bombardment, unless you have substantial surface-to-orbit firepower yourself.  Of course, when the battle is WarShips vs. SDS, having 'Mechs or tanks isn't a significant factor.)

In an event, this story clarifies that the escape vessel was 1) not actually used, and 2) a false-flagged LIC ship.  So, the story of how the RWR got 'Mech technology (as well as the story of how the Taurians and Magistracy got it) has yet to be told.  (The Outworlds got it by reverse engineering a stolen Davion 'Mech, per "Top of the Scrap Heap".)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 24 October 2018, 18:37:47
Date: March 26, 2455

Location: Tharkad

Title: Prometheus Unbound

Author: Herbert A. Beas II

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Colonel Simon Kelswa delivers his mission report to Archon Alistair Marsden-Steiner in the Triad, grudgingly acknowledging Agent Kirkpatrick's key role in ensuring the successful extraction of his team.  The Archon listens impassively, then asks Simon to elaborate about Kirkpatrick.  Simon nervously confesses that he found Kirkpatrick's conduct reckless, if not treasonous, and blames him for the deaths of four LIC operatives and over one hundred Hegemony personnel.  He notes that, were it not for the secrecy of the mission, he would recommend convening a tribunal. 

Alistair nods, but asks if Simon is aware that no charges will ever be filed.  Simon protests, but Alistair is firm.  He acknowledges that the Firebringer was a suicide ship, never intended to successfully extract - just to muddy the waters and preserve the illusion that it actually was an accident.  He says he doesn't condone the tactics of the Counter-Terror Division, but he understands it, and acknowledges that it served the Commonwealth better than the original plan.  He says the crew of the shuttle knew the risks going in, and gave their lives for the Commonwealth.

Simon says that they deserved better, and offers his resignation, both due to his moral objection to the sacrifice of his men, and because of his combat paralysis in the presence of BattleMechs.  Alistair asks if he thinks anyone else would have behaved differently.  Simon reflects that Kirkpatrick certainly hadn't frozen up. 

Alistair refuses the resignation, calling Simon the best special operations trooper in the LCAF.  He wants Simon to find weaknesses in the BattleMechs to demystify them, learn how to defeat them, and make the Lyran versions better.  He tells Simon it's time for his nightmares to end, and for the Commonwealth to command its own destiny.  Simon accepts.

Notes: The key takeaway from this epilogue is that the Counter-Terrorism Division changed the plan without the Archon's consent.  This foreshadows Loki having the potential to go out of control and engage in dire excesses, as evidenced under both Archon Alessandro Steiner (when Heimdall had to rise up to actively oppose Loki's reign of terror) and Katherine Steiner, when Loki supported her brutal reign.

Alistair is being soft on Simon's combat paralysis.  None of the other LIC agents froze up in the presence of the Mackie, nor did the DCMS tankers and AFFS infantry that took down five in open combat.  Honestly, there shouldn't be such a visceral reaction in a universe where IndustrialMechs have been a commonplace sight for centuries.  Sure, the BattleMech is 30% taller, but people should still generally be inured to the sight of huge bipedal vaguely humanoid masses of metal by this point.  The Merkava drone operator in "Birth of the King" didn't have a brown pants moment until his tank was crushed underfoot.

Chronologically, this meeting takes place shortly after Alistair changed the insignia of the Commonwealth from a three-stringed-lyre to the Steiner fist, which he wears on a medallion around his neck.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 25 October 2018, 11:21:48
Date: October 17, 2455

Location: New Avalon

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Christoffer M. Trossen

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: In House Davion's research laboratory, Simon Davion cuts a progress report short, concluding that the scientists he's assigned to reverse engineer BattleMech technology from salvaged wreckage are making little progress. 

While the lead researcher, Dr. Carino, promises that a breakthrough is imminent, Simon notes the cost in money and lives to acquire the intact Mackie and it's pilot - Lt. Terrell.  He says he's wasted hundreds of millions and the combined personnel resources of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Foreign Ministry to get three 'Mechs.

Carino answers that Hegemony Research and Development (HRAD) spent decades designing the Mackie, while his team has had just battlefield salvage to study for the past year, and a fully intact unit for only a few weeks.  Simon icily answers that the survival of the Federated Suns is at stake, and time is in short supply.

Simon leaves the laboratory and walks through the palace, to be joined by Prime Minister William Garth, who inquires about his meeting with Carino.  Garth suggests that he may have something that will help.  In the Security and Intelligence Committee room, Duke Delton Felsner (Deputy Foreign Minister) reports independent confirmation from multiple sources that the Lyran Commonwealth has acquired BattleMech technology.  Duchess Wilhelmina Groth laments that tightened Terran security in the aftermath of the commando raid on Hesperus had swept up two covert ops teams and a score of her other agents.

Garth proposes sending a special envoy to House Steiner, and nominates Delton Felsner to lead Operation VENTURE. 

Notes: We see that the LIC's information on the progress of other Houses is not fully complete, suggesting that there aren't any Lyran agents on Dr. Carino's team.  It appears that House Davion has parts of two of the five Mackies recorded destroyed on the battlefield - one acquired in October 2454, and the other in April 2455.

In the early Clan era, we saw lots of scenes of heroic attempts by Inner Sphere troops to acquire Clan technology via salvage or capture.  I imagine the vibe was much the same in the 2440s and 2450s, as Great House troops sacrificed themselves by the transport-load to try to recover intel on the Hegemony's new weapon.

The recent recovery of an intact Mackie along with its pilot suggests that either the pilot was blackmailed into jumping ship, or perhaps that the transfer of several million Davion pounds sterling incentivized one of the disloyal nobles in the Hegemony (referenced in Break Away) to deliver Lt. Terrell and his ride into AFFS hands.

It's not quite clear why Simon thinks the survival of the Federated Suns is at stake, and why time is of the essence.  Since acquiring BattleMech technology, the Hegemony hasn't launched any major campaigns of territorial expansion.  Their deployment of the Mackies has exclusively been to blunt AFFS and DCMS incursions (aimed, of course, at retaking worlds lost to earlier Hegemony expansion waves).  The Combine doesn't have the technology, nor does the Confederation, so it's Age of War status quo on those borders.  Simon's internal monologue reveals that his worry is that the Combine or Confederation will get the technology for themselves, and use it to gut his realm, but our omniscient view shows that worry to be somewhat far fetched at present.

Of course, we know that the Capellans were actually the first to infiltrate the BattleMech design team, but their agents were exposed and killed shortly before the first live-fire trial (in Break Away).  From "Fall Down..." we know that the Combine's infiltration efforts were going nowhere.  (If it doesn't involve ninjas raining down from the sky, the Coordinator's not interested.)

Interesting to see (presumably) Ran Felsner's distant ancestor in a high position in Davion court.  The ties between the two Houses must have remained strong, although Ran was never given much to do in the 3025-era fiction beyond his sourcebook entry.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: BrokenMnemonic on 25 October 2018, 14:38:23
I wonder if Simon's concerns are related to the last major Terran attack on the Federated Suns - part of which saw them capture Kentares in 2431, and which the Terran March failed to manage to recapture for at least ten years, and which then still wasn't recaptured despite FPF forces including the 4th Avalon Hussars being thrown at the world a decade later, when the Prince of the Terran March had finally admitted Terran March forces couldn't recapture the world alone and called on wider support. At the same time, the Federated Suns was still fielding six Defenders as the entire of their WarShip fleet, while the Hegemony had just introduced it's sixteenth WarShip class, the Farragut - and the Federated Suns had literally only just started manufacturing its first aerospace fighter design. The HAF must've seemed pretty overwhelming at this point - the Hegemony might not have been expanding, but it had shown that it could take and hold Federated Suns worlds, and I can imagine Simon seeing the Hegemony achieving the same kind of overwhelming superiority in terms of BattleMechs that it already had in WarShips and was rapidly achieving in aerospace fighters.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 25 October 2018, 16:09:38
The Tybalt Campaign ended in 2440, 15 years earlier.  Since then (due largely to a fortuitous glass of poisoned champagne) Director General Cameron hasn’t launched a single offensive.  He’s just flattened every AFFS attempt to roll back the Hegemony’s Tybalt Campaign gains, starting on Basalt. 

McKenna terrified all the Great Houses with his rapid expansion campaign after the Hegemony was formed, and there’s probably enough residual trauma from seeing it gobble up the core of known space to fear that it could happen again if the Terrans get too much of an edge.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 28 October 2018, 15:21:59
Be interesting to see if someone would write up the campaign of McKenna taking control of the Alliance, remaking into the Hegemony and wage war to reclaim Hegemony's rightful space.

Though it's before Mechs, it be more aerospace thing, and alot tank and infantry combat.  It be one-sided for sure, but as long as the writer had free reign, respected canon. It would be nice read of a novel.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 29 October 2018, 11:39:31
McKenna's campaigns seemed to be primarily fleet actions - show up, shatter the enemy's orbital assets, then threaten orbital bombardment until the local government sees the benefits of flying the Hegemony flag.  (That's how he got the Expansionists and Liberals to roll over on Terra - by obliterating an uninhabited island from orbit.)  One of the few failures in the expansionist campaign was when McKenna's son led a flotilla into a makeshift minefield on orbital approach and got his command skragged.  The fact that an independent colony world decided to put its resources into orbital defenses suggests that was the HAF's preferred theater.  (That escapade also got McKenna Jr. booted from the line of succession, introducing House Cameron.)

For the HAF, the primary ground forces would have been Merkavas, backed by infantry and heavy VTOL, aerospace and WarShip support.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 29 October 2018, 12:23:32
Date: March 22, 2456

Location: Tharkad

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Christoffer M. Trossen

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Ambassador Delton Felsner disembarks from the FSS Donovan (which has carried him on the five month journey from New Avalon to Tharkad) and exits through an emergency access door into maintenance tunnels, where he meets Deputy Protocol Officer Hadrian Voork, from the Federated Suns embassy, who greets him on behalf of Ambassador Deir.

The group departs the spaceport in a convoy of hover limousines.  Felsner recognizes a Davion intelligence agent among the Embassy delegation - Teresa "Tess" Premit.  En route to the Embassy, she activates a white noise generator and Felsner introduces her to his Senior Ambassadorial Aide, Meldrach Suisso.  Tess says she heard he was coming and decided to provide backup in light of a recent defection from the MIIO station to the LIC, potentially compromising the Embassy.  She says the new station chief is Harlan Vnuck, transferred in from New Earth, but as a result of the defections, they have no actionable intelligence on the Lyran negotiators.

Enraged, Felsner wonders if Ambassador Deir is running an Embassy or a circus, and tells Meldrach to remind him when this operation is over that it is time for Deir to retire.  He elects to proceed with the mission, as Tess assures him that the current MIIO station has operational security.

Notes: Interesting that two high level MIIO intelligence operatives would have defected to the LIC so soon after the success of Operation PROMETHEUS.  One might assume they were lured by the promise of being part of the most spectacularly successful Great House intel service...or by a heap of kroner. 

If Age of War embassies function similarly to modern ones, the intel station chief at an embassy is known to the host government as such, and coordinates joint activities and information sharing between the two government's intelligence agencies.  It looks like either they Lyrans got some compromising intel on the the chief, or they offered him something he really wanted (lots'o'kroner, a position in the LIC, etc.), and demanded he reveal two of his covert operatives as proof that he wasn't playing them and trying to become a double agent mole in the LIC.

When the FedSuns station chief defected to the LIC, he'd have had knowledge of all the covert agents working undercover at the Embassy and elsewhere on Tharkad under the MIIO's umbrella, as well as knowledge of the Lyrans they were sourcing information from, meaning that any Lyran who had been passing intel to the Feddies may be getting scooped up around now - especially if they had anything to do with efforts to get Lyran BattleMech manufacturing up and running.

It's interesting how paranoid Felsner is on arrival.  His security team takes him through maintenance tunnels (a valid precaution - never take the obvious travel route with your high value VIP) - suggesting that they feel an assassination attempt is within the realm of possibility.  I can't think of any reason for the Lyrans to try to kill Felsner, so perhaps the Combine, Hegemony, or Confederation presence on Tharkad could be the source of that worry.

One question is how Tess managed to hear about Felsner's trip quickly enough to get to Tharkad ahead of him.  He seems to have left New Avalon pretty much immediately after the previous scene and spent the intervening five months aboard the FSS Donovan.  There's no HPG traffic in this era - not even black boxes - so all messages go via courier, presumably via command circuit for the important ones.  If this is a secret mission, why were couriers dispatched to FedSuns embassies/MIIO posts in the Terran Hegemony? 

Perhaps the announcement that Felsner had been appointed to head a new diplomatic mission to Tharkad would have been included in diplomatic dispatches, but it would have had to get to the Hegemony very quickly in order for Tess to transfer herself to Tharkad.  Most likely, she caught a lift on a courier ship heading that direction, but then that raises the question of why, if First Prince Davion was so concerned that the DCMS or CCAF might get BattleMech technology ahead of the AFFS, did he not shell out for Felsner to get couriered along a command circuit rather than letting him take the five month jump-recharge-jump scenic route.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 20 November 2018, 12:15:13
Date: May 7, 2456

Location: Tharkad

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Christoffer M. Trossen

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Delton Felsner meets with his counterpart, Lyran Ambassador Karl Bernstorff, in the Steiner palace, but his mind drifts during the other man's prattling reply, noting the excess of ceremony that is preventing much actual negotiating.  He notes that Bernstorff appears tired, and hopes he can take advantage of any sloppiness.

To move the negotiations forward, he suggests changing the topic away from agricultural information exchanges and notes that they share common enemies in the Draconis Combine and Terran Hegemony.  He suggests an exchange of military information and technologies to keep those realms contained.  Bernstorff seems amenable, but suggests it may take a long time.  Felsner mentions "recent successes," and Bernstorff accidentally lets slip that the Commonwealth has acquired BattleMechs.  The Lyran military advisor panics and intervenes, suggesting that discussion of such classified information should be halted pending consultation with their government. 

Felsner accepts, pleased with himself for having at least verified the rumors.

Notes: Koba is listed along with golf and tennis as a common sport in the Lyran realm, but no description is given, other than that it might cause some mild calluses.

Having been in diplomatic meetings myself, I can appreciate Felsner's complaint that too much time is given over to ceremony and not enough to negotiations.  Of course, in reality, those negotiations are really just photo ops, with lower level diplomats on both sides working for months or years in advance to hammer out the details.  When an agreement has substantially been reached, they put the documents out for the leaders to show up and sign in front of the cameras.  Thus, the Lyran pomp/circumstance is indicative of their desire to slow-walk the negotiations, or indicative of the Lyran love of lavish ceremony. 

In theory, staff from the local Embassy should have been working with their Lyran counterparts to work out all the details before Felsner's arrival, but that wouldn't have worked in this case due to the lack of HPGs for sufficient advance notice of his arrival and intent, as well as the lack of trustworthy staff at the FedSuns embassy following the suborning of its staff by the LIC.

One odd note from Felsner is the description of the Hegemony as a threat that needs to be contained.  There hasn't been fighting between the Commonwealth and the Hegemony since McKenna's expansion campaign, and the Hegemony hasn't sent BattleMechs across its borders - only deployed them to crush Combine and FedSuns offensives.  The agreement by the Hegemony to lease land on the Lyran world of Hesperus II for their BattleMech assembly plant would argue against a state of enmity between the two states.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 20 November 2018, 15:46:00
Could it be the author forgot that aspect of Hesperus being a Terra Hegemony holding / Shared world? I would find it Extra strange that they were building Mechs in a non-Terran Hegemony world that Hegemony didn't have strong control over.  I didn't think they had shared / joint control of worlds yet.  I know Deborah Cameron's aggressive peacemaking may been part of it. I thought it was after the Star League had formed.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 21 November 2018, 04:49:11
Herb Beas clarified that Hesperus was a Lyran holding (albeit a backwater rock that hosted a tiny Commonwealth Mining outpost) when the Hegemony negotiated a lease agreement that gave it control of the sole spaceport and the right to maintain a heavy military presence.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 21 November 2018, 09:03:23
Herb Beas clarified that Hesperus was a Lyran holding (albeit a backwater rock that hosted a tiny Commonwealth Mining outpost) when the Hegemony negotiated a lease agreement that gave it control of the sole spaceport and the right to maintain a heavy military presence.
So there no written stuff on it aside from the short story?
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 21 November 2018, 09:42:43
Hesperus shows up in fiction a few times during the Age of War, but Herb's "Prometheus Unbound" was the most detailed account. 

There's one scene in "Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight" where DEST One managed to infiltrate the complex and steal the plans, but is surrounded and pinned down during the extraction, ultimately being wiped out without delivering the plans to Coordinator Von Rohrs.  That scene is mostly about explosions and regret, with no discussion of the terms of the lease. 

Interestingly, though, that scene refers to Commonwealth troops doing the shooting.  Surprising that the HAF allowed LCAF elements to participate in the defense of the factory area, given the pantsing that the LIC gave them a few years earlier.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 26 November 2018, 11:55:29
Date: July 3, 2456

Location: Tharkad

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Christoffer M. Trossen

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Ambassador Delton Felsner and Special Agent Teresa Premit discuss the ongoing negotiations in a private room at a fancy restaurant, using a white noise generator to mask their conversation.  They are joined by his aide, Meldrach Suisso, and Dana Nikinos, the head of their security detail.

Teresa expresses frustration with how long the negotiations are taking, and that they aren't even directly discussing the matter at hand - sharing BattleMech technology.  Meldrach explains that both sides are bluffing about their actual positions, so as to give up as little as possible while making it seem they are giving up a lot.  He notes that since the Lyran ambassador blurted out that the Commonwealth acquired BattleMechs, protocol allows it to be put on the agenda of the meetings.

Felsner begins to outline a plan to use Ministry of Intelligence assets to convince the Lyrans to be in the right frame of mind to agree to the FedSuns data sharing proposal, when Nikitos receives a warning over her earpiece from the perimeter security team, and tells them they have to leave immediately due to an imminent threat.  They group bolts through the kitchens, flanked by Felsner's bodyguards, and burst out into an alleyway.  They are still running for cover when the shockwave from the bomb's explosions hits them.

Notes: In the pre-bombing dinner discussion, Felsner seems to be crowing about having gotten the Lyrans to slip up and reveal that they have 'Mech technology.  But that happened in May, and this scene is in July.  This conversation would make a lot more sense if it directly followed on from the previous scene, without a two month gap.

We know from a tie-in scene in "Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight" that the Kurita Embassy on Tharkad orchestrated the bombing. 

As a special intelligence agent, Tessa seems to be more along the lines of a "kill people and break things" operative than one with any training in negotiation.  (Her lack of knowledge serving, of course, to facilitate exposition on what Felsner is trying to accomplish.)

The restaurant's specialty is schnitzel, pan-fried in butter.  Tessa has the roast pork, while Meldrach has the stew.  They're having beer with it, but it's not Timbiqui Dark (Timbiqui not appearing on the maps until the Star League era), so it may be Tharkad Nacht Lager.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 27 November 2018, 12:18:28
Date: July 14, 2456

Location: Tharkad

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Christoffer M. Trossen

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Delton Felsner lies comatose following the bombing, getting brief impressions of being rescued from the bombing site by medical personnel, lying in a hospital unable to move, and being tended to by a comforting presence that he guesses might be his guardian angel.

Eleven days after the bombing, he regains consciousness to find himself in a hospital room inside the Federated Suns embassy in the company of Federated Suns Ambassador to Tharkad Ignatius Deir, along with a large contingent of Lyran and Federated Suns security agents.  Deir informs him that 97 people died in the bombing and subsequent structural collapse, including the Lyran Minister of Education, his aide Meldrach Suisso, and Ms. Dempsey (Tessa's cover identity).  The thought of Tess' death shocks Felsner.

Lyran Ambassador Karl Bernstorff adds that the earlier intelligence sharing enabled the LIC to identify the perpetrators - members of House Kurita's embassy on Tharkad.  He notes that the LIC has rounded up more than 100 foreign operatives on Tharkad, and expresses gratitude.

The ambassadors leave, shooed out by a nurse.  Felsner asks her to leave as well, and is stunned when she pulls out a white noise generator and reveals herself to be the very undeceased Tess (who was also his guardian angel during his convalescence).

Notes: Once again, we have a FedSuns protagonist saved from imminent death thanks to a hasty retreat through the kitchen.  (Not the Way the Smart Money Bets, Vanish, and Warrior: Riposte all have similar scenes).  If you really want to get your target in the BattleTech universe, put the bomb in the kitchen.  They'll run right into the blast zone when you move in from the front.

Meldrach apparently died trying to shield Tess from falling debris.  Delton may or may not have suffered a heart attack as well as suffering a concussion from the blast, since the EMTs mention he's "crashing again" while evacuating him from the vicinity of the restaurant. 

It appears that the Lyran surveillance state as depicted in Warrior: En Garde does not yet exist in the Age of War.  The predictive analytics performed by Tharkad's central mainframe allows it to identify consumption patterns (down to what you ate yesterday), track movement, calculate social class, and (for the LIC) identify candidates to double for political figures.  If such a monitoring network had been in place, given the data sharing from the MIIO, the Kuritan agents would have been under constant surveillance, with their movements tracked everywhere, and one getting within a kilometer of a Lyran minister or a foreign ambassador would have been red flagged, summoning an LIC bag team before anything could happen.

On the upside for Felsner, Tess having been declared dead gives her a greater latitude to carry out some covert wetwork, since nobody will be watching for a dead woman. 

I would presume that the 100+ operatives rounded up on Tharkad were in the category of "undeclared assets," since many governments maintain declared intelligence offices at their embassies for the purpose of coordinating intelligence sharing and joint operations.  Those would either have been Marik, Liao, Kurita, and Cameron "handlers" gathering information from Lyran turncoats, or the Lyran turncoats themselves.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Kojak on 27 November 2018, 17:37:08
It appears that the Lyran surveillance state as depicted in Warrior: En Garde does not yet exist in the Age of War.  The predictive analytics performed by Tharkad's central mainframe allows it to identify consumption patterns (down to what you ate yesterday), track movement, calculate social class, and (for the LIC) identify candidates to double for political figures.  If such a monitoring network had been in place, given the data sharing from the MIIO, the Kuritan agents would have been under constant surveillance, with their movements tracked everywhere, and one getting within a kilometer of a Lyran minister or a foreign ambassador would have been red flagged, summoning an LIC bag team before anything could happen.

Is it possible that this incident was the impetus for that system being put in place?
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 27 November 2018, 20:02:52
This being the Lyrans, my guess is that it was driven more by Phil in Marketing than the LIC's Molehunters.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Kojak on 27 November 2018, 21:20:28
Ha, point well taken, although without getting into RL history too much I will simply say that historically there tends to be a direct causal relationship between terrorist attacks and subsequent egregious abrogations of civil rights to prevent such events in the future (disconnected from their actual efficacy, of course).
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 30 November 2018, 12:04:42
Date: August 22, 2456

Location: Tharkad

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Christoffer M. Trossen

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Still recovering, Delton Felsner is frustrated at the lack of progress on the BattleMech issue, despite progress in other areas with Ambassador Bernstorff.  The only bright spot is the Lyran expulsion of the entire Kuritan diplomatic mission from Tharkad.  That, and the survival of Tess, who'd been extracted by local MIIO agents and had recuperated at a safehouse.  Her new identity is Leftenant Colonel Angela Conrad, late of the Terran March.

He meets with his negotiating team and lays out the problem - the negotiations are scheduled to end in September, and they're still not close to an agreement on sharing 'Mech technology, nor to getting leverage against any Lyran officials to aid in that area. 

Domestic advisor Rendar Urani and his aide Andrea Suel provide a biographic report on Ambassador Karl Erwin Thomas Bernstorff Graf von Eschenberg von Wormstadt von Ludendorf.  Despite being married with several children, he has several paramours in Tharkad society - three boyfriends and one girlfriend - Eva Sorken, a banker from Eschenberg, whom he meets every two weeks at the Eidelweiss Grand hotel - a different pattern than with his boyfriends. 

Tess opines that this may be the leverage they've been looking for.

Notes: I wonder if the mission on Tharkad represented the sole Combine diplomatic mission to the Lyran Commonwealth at this juncture.  In "The Price of Glory," we see that the Great Houses all maintain embassies (albeit small ones) on most worlds in the Inner Sphere, even frozen backwaters like Helm.  In "Not the Way the Smart Money Bets," there's a diplomatic reception at the Kurita Embassy on Galatea.  Did the expulsion order close Kurita embassies on all Lyran worlds, or just the bombing culprits on Tharkad?

Terran March hairstyles for women at this juncture are short and dyed bright red.  - a style Tess has to adopt to maintain her cover.

Bernstorff's landhold, Eschenberg, appears to have been abandoned during the Third Succession War.  Presumably, Wormstadt is the district containing his seat, and Ludendorf is the city where his seat is located.  Interestingly, despite the destruction of Eschenberg in the Third Succession War, there's a 5th FedCom RCT commander named General Klaus von Ludendorf.  Either this is a different Ludendorf, or Klaus' family somehow inherited a claim to the Eschenberg ghost town.

The description of the habits of the Lyran upper crust suggest that the Lyrans of this era are more in tune with Thera and her Red Deltas than with the Tharkan Boys Choir.  Though Kooken's Pleasure Pit wasn't founded until the Star League Era, you can already see that Lyrans and prudish don't really overlap.  The popular erotic novel that gave that world its name was probably a product of the Lyran Age of War culture.  (Had the Lyrans shared a border with the Canopians, they'd probably have gotten on famously.)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 11 December 2018, 12:02:40
Date: August 30, 2456

Location: Tharkad

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Christoffer M. Trossen

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Seeking leverage over the Lyran ambassador, Tessa and her backup team trail his paramour, Eva, from her apartment in Tharkad City's upscale Rivvenfeldt district to a trendy nightclub named the Scorpion Pit.  Her team forms a perimeter and she goes in along with two accomplices.

Inside, hundreds of Lyrans gyrate in a fog of intoxicant fumes.  Spotting her target, she signals the rest of her team using a transmitter concealed in a finger ring.  The team members cover the exits and surround Eva on the dance floor. 

Before Tessa can spill her drink on Eva and begin the capture sequence, the music changes and Eva leaves the dance floor with her friends.  Tessa signals failure to her team and alerts one of her backups to make an approach.  Julius successfully grabs Eva's hand and pulls her back onto the dance floor, surreptitiously putting a medpatch on her hand.

As the drugs take effect, Julius leads her off the dance floor and down a dark hallway, where Tessa puts the garish multi-colored wig from her head onto Eva's, and switches shoes with the abductee.  Her team takes the unconscious Eva out a disabled emergency exit, while Tessa changes into another wig and outfit in the restroom, a copy of Eva's dress, looking enough like her target to be mistaken for her except up close.

Returning to the club floor with Julius, she waves at Eva's friends and laughs it up at the bar until her team signals a successful extraction using the rings.  The two share one last dance and then walk out the door together.

Notes: The "slappers" knock-out drug patch showcased in the BattleTech Animated Series make an appearance in the canon fiction, demonstrating that they've been around and in use since long before the Somerset Strikers' era.

Another element from the "modern" era of BattleTech makes an appearance - with Tessa sporting the same sort of weaponized carbon fiber reinforced fingernails favored by Sun Tzu Liao.

And, for once, a covert op goes off successfully without anyone spotting the wrong shoes, a building blowing up, or a guns-blazing run through the kitchen.

Despite all the cultural differences between the Combine and the Commonwealth, this nightclub sounds quite similar to the yakuza hangout that Theodore Kurita visits during his efforts to bring them into the DCMS as the Ghost Regiments.

Rivvenfeldt doesn't translate exactly from any modern languages, but seems to be a mix of German and Norse, probably meaning "torn field."  I wouldn't be surprised if this district was founded by Rasalhagians (still a semi-autonomous principality at this juncture - not yet formally subsumed by the Combine).  Amusingly, there is actually a nightclub called "The Scorpion Pit" in Albuquerque, NM, though your odds of getting bagged there by the MIIO are fairly low, I would hazard to guess.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Kojak on 11 December 2018, 18:54:12
Amusingly, there is actually a nightclub called "The Scorpion Pit" in Albuquerque, NM, though your odds of getting bagged there by the MIIO are fairly low, I would hazard to guess.

Well, sure, ROM would be all over them.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 14 December 2018, 11:54:50
Date: August 31, 2456

Location: Tharkad

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Christoffer M. Trossen

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Terrified, Eva Sorken awakens in a dark room, unable to move.  When the lights come on, she sees she's strapped to an examination table with tubes and wires attached to her body.  A door opens, and Tessa enters, using a wig and facial makeup to look like Eva.

Delton Felsner watches the interrogation from an adjacent room, where three MIIO technicians monitor Eva's condition and regulate the level of mind-altering chemicals in her system.

Tessa conducts the interrogation referring to herself and Eva as "we," trying to convince Eva that she's her own subconscious.  She says they're in this room as punishment for their crimes, and that it's time to confess them.  Tess pushes Eva's mood from fear to guilt as the technicians monitor her cranial activity to determine the veracity of her responses.  When Eva breaks, Tess feels smug satisfaction.

Notes: Brainwashing is a refined technique in the Inner Sphere, but one that seems to be fairly rarely used.  There is an instance cited in the Star League sourcebook when an official suddenly started behaving very oddly and acting in ways contrary to his previous record - though this may have been a result of being replaced with a surgical double.  The Capellan Confederation used brainwashing to suppress an agent's personality and rebuild it based on an approximation of Hanse Davion's in Operation DOPPLEGANGER.  The Word of Blake was the most proficient, using it to insert sleepers into enemy organizations - most notably sending in a sleeper agent with a bomb implanted in his arm to kill dozens of the Inner Sphere's leadership during an "anti-Blakist" emergency conference.  The Draconis Combine used brainwashing on captured Rasalhagian freedom fighters, but their process appears to have been less refined - turning the victim into a homicidal maniac - not much use for infiltration, and not terribly effective even on Chain Gang suicide missions.

The technology used for this interrogation is understandably less advanced that we see hundreds of years later, when Clan Wolf interrogates Phelan Kell, but they still have the ability to monitor brainwave activity and to use that to extrapolate facts about the victim's thought process. 

My only question is - how did the FedSuns diplomatic mission keep an interrogation room like this secret if several top ranking intelligence officers at the Embassy had been suborned just months before the negotiations started?  Wouldn't those guys have known about it, and incentivized the LIC to monitor it?  (Especially since the only logical targets of such an interrogation setup located on Tharkad would be Lyran citizens.)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: VhenRa on 14 December 2018, 19:13:48
My only question is - how did the FedSuns diplomatic mission keep an interrogation room like this secret if several top ranking intelligence officers at the Embassy had been suborned just months before the negotiations started?  Wouldn't those guys have known about it, and incentivized the LIC to monitor it?  (Especially since the only logical targets of such an interrogation setup located on Tharkad would be Lyran citizens.)

Different compartment of the intelligence operation at the Embassy most likely. Suborned intelligence officers can't reveal stuff they never knew about in the first place?

Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 17 December 2018, 12:15:40
Date: September 5, 2456

Location: Tharkad

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Christoffer M. Trossen

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: During a break in negotiations, Ambassadors Delton Felsner asks Karl Bernstorff for a private side discussion, which the Lyran agrees to after Felsner promises not to bring up the now-tabled issue of BattleMech technology.  Tess, disguised as Lt. Colonel Angela Conrad, follows them into the private room.

Felsner informs Bernstorff that his team has obtained sensitive information involving the Lyran delegation.  Bernstorff expresses interest, and waves off two of his own aides who were coming to join them.  Tess activates a white noise generator, and Felsner prefaces the presentation by framing it as being in the spirit of their earlier agreement to share critical intelligence - that a high ranking member of the Lyran government is engaged in treason. 

Bernstorff reacts indignantly, scoffing that no Lyran official has ever broken their oath of loyalty to the Archon.  Felsner responds that he has proof that a minister has been using his influence and power to profit.  Bernstorff notes that corruption, bribery and kickbacks are just a way of life in a nation of merchants.  Felsner responds that hundreds of millions of kroners goes beyond run of the mill corruption.

Tess brings up a file showing Eva Sorkin, and notes that their evidence shows she handles all the money for the minister in question, funneling funds derived from kickbacks on military contracts given to corporations owned by his friends and wife's family. 

Despondently, Bernstorff asks Felsner what he wants, knowing it is the BattleMech schematics.  He protests that he was instructed by the Archon that this was the one thing he could not agree to, and that the Archon would void the treaty even if Bernstorff approved it. 

Felsner counters that he's sure the Lyran ambassador can persuade the Archon of the logic of sharing the technology with the Federated Suns - that they'll get it eventually, so why not profit from it now?  He suggests that Bernstorff's position as Foreign Minister and Chair of the Appropriations Committee will position him to personally profit immensely from the sale of BattleMechs and parts to the AFFS.  And, having the AFFS in possession of 'Mechs will force the Terran Hegemony and Draconis Combine to redirect resources away from the Lyran border to counter the new Davion threat.

Bernstorff asks what will become of Eva.  Felsner responds that she just accepted a job offer on New Avalon, but expects to return to Tharkad once the final technology transfers are complete.  Bernstorff agrees to the proposed deal.

Notes: Felsner loves it when a plan comes together.  I wonder how surprised the interrogators were when they went diving for evidence of Bernstorff cheating on his wife, and found massive corruption instead. 

It's clear that Felsner's attitude towards the Hegemony is still largely based on the massive territorial losses the Federated Suns suffered during the Tybalt Campaign and McKenna's earlier waves of expansion, as well as the resounding defeats suffered by numerous AFFS attempts to counterattack and liberate their lost territory.  He doesn't seem to realize that the Lyrans have had a completely peaceful border with the Hegemony since the end of McKenna's expansion, and aren't particularly concerned about House Cameron's seizure of a large chunk of the Isle of Skye.  (Notably, Bernstorff's holdings are in the Tamar Pact.)  The argument about giving House Kurita a divided focus still holds up, however. 

Based on the quoted cost for an apartment rental in Lyran space in "Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight," the 2456 purchasing power of the kroner seems to roughly approximate its purchasing power circa 3060 (based on the tables in the Lyran Handbook).  Thus, "hundreds of millions of kroner" probably translates into something well in excess of one billion 1985 U.S. dollars, depending on how many "hundreds" we're looking at.  (Based on an exchange rate of 1 3025 C-bill = $5 in 1985 dollars)

Had Felsner been dealing with a principled Lyran (such as the leader of the team that stole the tech from Hesperus), the negotiations would probably have been called off, and Felsner and company would have been kicked off Tharkad.  However, since Felsner knew he was dealing with a demonstrably corrupt and greedy official, he was easily able to make his case by offering him a chance to turn disaster into enhanced personal revenue streams.

In the old Succession Wars board game, you could knock out enemy leaders (except for one or two in each faction) by bribing them, and the Lyran cadre had particularly low target numbers for a successful flip. 
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 18 December 2018, 12:04:33
Date: January 19, 2457

Location: New Avalon

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Christoffer M. Trossen

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: At the signing of the technology sharing treaty, in the New Avalon palace throne room, First Prince Simon Davion thanks Duke Karl Bernstorff and congratulates him on representing the Lyran Commonwealth in the negotiations that delivered BattleMech technology to the Federated Suns.  He goes on to thank Duke Denton Felsner for his service.

Bernstorff feels sick about having been manipulated into giving away the Lyran advantage, and is already making plans for how to secure his position in the Commonwealth upon his return - ameliorating the social costs of the upcoming military spending surge on BattleMech development by convincing other Lyran nobles and merchant princes to donate heavily to charity.

Felsner walks alongside Bernstorff and acknowledges that the Lyran Ambassador would like to return home, but asks that he wait a few days before departing.  Bernstorff is suspicious, but reacts positively when Felsner tells him it will allow him to bring back updated intelligence sharing reports from the MIIO, and the first installment of the massive payments from the Federated Suns to the Lyran treasury in exchange for the technology.

Once Bernstorff relaxes, Felsner lowers the boom, introducing Tess, now clad in a conservative business suit, as Bernstorff's new aide, who will help him think of ways the Lyran Commonwealth can aid the Federated Suns in the future.   

Notes:  The Federated Suns has a well deserved reputation of having the most efficient and widespread intelligence network in the Inner Sphere.  While ROM has advanced technology and ruthless fanaticism, they got lazy on multiple occasions and relied overmuch on just reading everyone's HPG mail, leaving them blind to information carried by couriers and transmitted by black box.  Compromising foreign officials and inserting moles into enemy governments seem to be their stock in trade.  It's unclear, however, what additional actions the Lyrans might have taken in the Age of War to appease Bernstorff's handlers.  It could be that the influence operation got too blatant too quickly, and the LIC's molehunters bagged Bernstorff.  If the influence campaign had been successful, you'd have expected to see coordinated AFFS/LCAF assaults on the Combine or the Hegemony, or something along those lines.

If LIC security training for government officials is anything like modern guidance, they would have advised Bernstorff (around the time of his loyalty oath to the Archon) to report all contacts with foreign agents, and to report the full details to the LIC immediately if someone is blackmailing him.  Generally, the immediate reporting of the blackmail removes the foreign leverage, though any crimes that were involved will still have to be dealt with. 

It's interesting to speculate how money transfers worked in the pre-HPG Inner Sphere.  There wouldn't have been a central bank or the option for rapid electronic currency transfers.  Therefore, Bernstorff's DropShip would be going back with a hold full of physical payment.  But what sort of payment?  Getting a few hundred crates of Federated Suns Pound Sterling notes is great, but only if the Lyrans have somewhere to spend it.  With the Hegemony (a state hostile to the Federated Suns) and the Draconis Combine sitting athwart the primary trade routes, I'm guessing there aren't a lot of goods imported from the Federated Suns to the Commonwealth.  For the same reason, the Davion treasury's foreign exchange reserve is probably pretty low on its supply of Lyran kroner.  So paper currency isn't great, since it's not readily convertible into value in the Age of War.

More likely, the Federated Suns is paying with gemstones and ingots of precious metals - germanium, vanadium, gold, silver, platinum, etc.  Those would have tangible value to Lyran industries, and be in a form where they could enter the treasury as raw materials of value, or be handed over to a Lyran bank to be monetized, delivering an equivalent supply of kroners to the Lyran treasury.  This would explain why Bernstorff is bringing only part of the payment - the DropShip can take off carrying only so many pallets of gold bars.  (Now, if you're a pirate, that's the ship to hit!)

All in all, Christoper "Bones" Trossen's "Proliferation Cycle" story is a satisfying tale of an intelligence operation that, for once, goes mostly according to plan.  In fact, throughout the Proliferation Cycle, the intelligence teams that obtain the information generally seem far more competent and deadly than their 3025 or 3060-era descendants, with more professional and less bombastic tradecraft.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 19 December 2018, 12:17:53
Date: April 9, 2459

Location: Loric

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Captain-General Geralk Marik's command bunker shudders under a Lyran artillery barrage supporting an LCAF assault which has punched through his perimeter, swatting aside his best troops in the process.  His comtech reports the western logistics park is gone, and that counterbattery fire has been ineffective, while the Lyran advances have been slowed, at high cost, to the north and west, where FWL forces hold the Djansky crossing and the Kohlan Road.  Geralk asks for an update on the eastern front, but the comtech can't raise anyone there.

Geralk exits his bunker and looks east.  Through the smoke, 500 meters away, he sees large figures advancing through the burning wreckage of the supply depot.  He dismisses their apparent size, believing them to be spotters casting long shadows through the setting sun and mist.  He orders the security company to reinforce the eastern perimeter.

His ComTech reports receiving a direct communication from the Lyran commander, General Marcus Andrews, who tells him he is surrounded, and offers him the honors of war.  Geralk refuses to surrender, and dismisses the Lyrans as a few infiltrators.  Andrews signs off, and the Lyran assault renews with a hail of lasers, missiles, and cannon shells, knocking Geralk flat and singeing his hair.  The Lyran 'Mechs crash through the FWL defenses and shrug off desultory return fire from the armored vehicles present at the command camp. 

Getting to his feet, Geralk grabs an armored vest and a helmet and orders his forces to withdraw to the Sumire River and hold there, if possible, then fall back to the DropShips, if not.  He then runs to a tank parked next to the command post and charges the oncoming 'Mechs to buy his forces time to retreat.

Notes: As with "Nothing Ventured" and "Prometheus Unbound," I'm revisiting "A Dish Served Cold" in the scene-by-scene deep dive format, since my initial review compressed two years of story on Alarion into a few paragraphs.  I plan to do the same for "The Spider Dances" and "The Top of the Scrap Heap," by which point I'll have covered all the longer early stories in the deep-dive format, then play catch-up with Star League era and 1st-3rd Succession War stories that have come out in the last few years.  Then on to the 4th Succession War stories.

The story ending implies that Geralk drove in alone, guns-a-blazing, against the oncoming Mackies and got stomped flat.  However, the original Marik sourcebook indicates that the battle raged for hours, with Geralk remaining in control throughout, throwing everything he had at the Lyran ‘Mechs, even to the point of having his DropShips hover over the battlefield to provide ground support fire.  Most likely, after he saw that his tank's main gun wasn't having much effect on the BAR 10 armor, he too fell back to the Sumire river and coordinated the fight from there.  The fact that Geralk has crusted blood on his face from earlier fighting implies that he was leading from the front, and that his tank took enemy fire. 

The historical record is that the battle ended with Geralk's forces shattered and him standing alone in front of a victorious Mackie, when then stomps on him in revenge for all the destruction he'd wrought during his invasion of Lyran space.  That would seemingly require his plan to "fall back to the DropShips" to have gone awry - perhaps because he chose to order the DropShips to be brought up to the Sumire river for fire support, rather than handling the evacuation.  Given the thin armor of the day, the Mackies might have crippled those ships (glorified cargo shuttles in this early era) and left Geralk with nowhere to run.

Loric seems to have been a multicultural settlement.  Sumire is a Japanese name, Kohlan is the name of an ethnic Azeri village in Iran, and Djansky is Polish.

The Lyrans aren’t piloting pure Mackie clones.  They mount lasers, missiles and autocannon.  Whatever data they pulled from Hesperus II appears not to have included the HAF’s ‘Mech-mounted PPC, or at least Lyran engineers weren’t able to duplicate it for their first generation of ‘Mechs.  (The Typhoon entry indicates that the LCAF debuted its prototype PPCs on that chassis in 2461 – two years after this battle.)

At this point, the FWL is probably fielding Kestrels (heavy tanks), Tigershrikes (hovercraft), missile/autocannon carriers, APCs, Stoats (scout cars), Randolphs (support vehicles), Eagle and Dragonfire aerospace fighters, and perhaps Mosquito conventional fighters (though those were mostly sold to militias), and had been handily defeating LCAF Marsdens (heavy tanks), weapon carriers, APCs, Stoats and Randolphs.  Both sides also rely heavily on infantry and artillery.  They Lyrans had some sort of aerospace fighters and armored VTOLs at this point (both were used in the Vega raid that stopped the earlier DCMS invasion of Skye cold), but solid data on which designs in particular is currently lacking.

The primary point of difference between the LCAF and FWLM during Geralk Marik's invasion is in their main battle tanks.  Looking at the Marsden vs. the Kestrel, the FWLM superiority becomes evident.  The two tanks have identical 3/5 movement profiles, but the larger (80 tons vs. 65) Kestrel mounts a heavy rifle capable of punching through the then-standard BAR 7 armor, while the Marsden had just an AC/5 that has to drill through all the plating before inflicting critical hits.

The FWL seems to have been completely in the dark about the existence of BattleMechs, since Geralk at first dismisses their size as an optical illusion.  Thing is, not only have BattleMechs been around for 20 years at this point (though apparently the National Intelligence Agency was unaware of this - so they probably lack assets in the Federated Suns, the Terran Hegemony, and the Draconis Combine, where fights involving the Hegemony's superweapon would have been discussed), but IndustrialMechs have been around for centuries.  Why wouldn't he have assumed that the Lyrans had fielded weaponized WorkMechs, as some militaries tried to do (albeit ineffectively) prior to the introduction of BattleMechs?

I wonder what happened to the FWL aerospace fighters?  Geralk asks where his air support is.  Why doesn't his holotank show him real time updates of those assets?  The Large Lasers on the Dragonfire and Eagle, along with the LRMs, would allow those fighters to effectively engage the Mackies with roughly equivalent firepower.  The main weaknesses of those fighters are their comparatively thin armor and weaker engines, so perhaps they did make a run at the Mackies while the eastern perimeter was collapsing and were shot out of the skies.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 20 December 2018, 10:37:44
Does seem the author changed the fluff to make it more exciting of a short story vs what historically happened in the original House Book?
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 20 December 2018, 11:01:35
The follow up scene states that Geralk led the rear guard to allow the rest to fall back to the river, and died while doing so.  Since more recent accounts beat older ones, and fiction beats sourcebooks, then we have to take the House Marik sourcebook account as ComStar archivists reporting a legend that grew after the fact rather than the actual events.

I can see how the League historians would have preferred “Geralk was unfazed by the new BattleMechs and held them off for hours, throwing the kitchen sink at them before finally succumbing” to “Geralk misjudged the threat and was killed within minutes trying to pit his tank against the 100 ton Lyran assault ‘Mechs.”
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 20 January 2019, 09:55:43
Date: May 11, 2459

Location: Atreus

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: At the FWL Parliament on Atreus, Simone Marik weeps as she receives word from a military delegation that her father, Captain-General Geralk Marik, has died in battle.  General Mattias Ivanevsky reports that his tank was disabled and, refusing to surrender, his position was overrun.  The Lyran "BattleMechs" proved unstoppable, and they crushed his tank.  The rest of the FWLM expeditionary force on Loric withdrew to the river line and held it overnight, but several elements were cut off and crushed, while the survivors withdrew from Loric aboard transports on the 12th.

Ivanevsky reports that FWLM forces on the other Lyran worlds seized in the offensive are holding against Lyran conventional forces, indicating that the LCAF has only a few of their new superweapons.  Simone commands that the League work on getting this technology for themselves.  National Intelligence Agency Director Jervais Sanders indicates that he has operatives he can deploy on Alarion, with an estimated 1-2 year operational timeframe.  Simone vows to approve the operation as soon as she is confirmed as Captain-General on May 12.

Ivanevsky estimates that the FWLM forces on the Lyran border can hold that long, losing only a handful of worlds.  Simone pledges to exact vengeance on the Lyrans.

Notes: This account again seems to contradict the version put out by ComStar in their 3025 Free Worlds League report, which held that Geralk remained in command for the duration of the battle, even bringing his transports into the fray for fire support, only to go down when the Lyran 'Mechs tore through even that.  In this account (which, per the tradition that narrative fiction overrides conflicting sourcebook reports) Geralk didn't even make it back to the river, and died pretty early in the engagement against the Lyran 'Mechs, though he did distract the Lyrans, managing to buy time for the bulk of his forces to pull back to the river.

While Simone's pledge of vengeance is understandable, given that Geralk was her father, she seems utterly indifferent to the fact that Geralk was in the middle of an invasion of worlds that had never been under FWL control, and had been, by all accounts, been totally ignoring the 47-year old Ares Conventions to which the FWL had been signatory.  It's this sort of victimhood mentality and cycles of revenge and fresh victimhood that made the Lyran/League battles so brutal during the wars.  Generally, though, the FWL remained the more frequent aggressor throughout the Age of War, to the extent that they developed a deep salient into Lyran space (the Bolan Thumb), aimed at Tharkad, before borders were solidified by the Star League peace treaties. 

It's interesting that the NIA knew that the Lyrans had a 'Mech factory on Alarion, but neither Simone nor Geralk seem to have heard of BattleMechs before their first (and, in Geralk's case, last) encounter with the concept.  Given the shenanigans that the NIA got up to during the early Star League era (resulting in their dissolution and replacement by SAFE), one might suspect that the NIA has had information on 'Mechs for quite some time, but withheld it until such time as they could underake and operation like this and gain substantial standing and more power.  (If the Maskirovka infiltrated the HAF development program, and the MIIO, LIC, and ISF had been trying to get the tech for years, it seems utterly incredible that the NIA didn't even know there were such things until the loss on Loric.)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 21 January 2019, 15:02:43
Date: December 16, 2461

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: AlarCorp CEO Desmond Manvers demands answers from Chief Engineer Gunther Rive, who hesitantly states that there has been a security leak from the Project Ymir design program, leading to information appearing in the Alarion Technical Review.  Rive notes that the leak was identified by Chief Electronics Engineer Elias Singh, but states that they did not report it to security immediately because they wanted to analyze the article to determine if the data similarities were coincidental.  Manvers asks if Daniel Connor, the third Project Ymir team leader, concurred with the decision not to alert security.  Rive says eight people had access to the data, but he has no data on who might have leaked to the magazine.  Manvers places all three on administrative leave and suspends their security clearance.

Following the meeting, the Project Ymir team leaves in silence (noting the potential for listening devices) commiserates over the suspension and resolve to sleep on it and decide on a plan of action the following day.  Singh goes home to his family, Connor goes to a game arcade, and Rive goes to the Brunswick Tavern in Alarion City.  There, after a few beers, Rive is joined by his girlfriend, Sandrine "Sandi" Miller, from AlarCorp's contracts division, who tells him she heard what happened from Singh's wife, Lanai.  She consoles him and tells him he's being set up as a fall guy for Manvers' failures. 

Notes: Given the previous scene, "Sandi" seems like a sure bet to be an NIA asset, despite her exotic Skye accent.  Rive and Sandi aren't drinking Timbiqui Dark at the Brunswick Tavern, though, since that doesn't go into production at the Raasch Brewery until the Star League era.  (They're drinking Primitive Rules beer at this point.  ;) )

Project Ymir indicates that AlarCorp is working on the BWP-X1 Ymir, which Technical Readouts record as the Commonwealth's first homegrown BattleMech (the ones on Loric being PPC-less clones of the HAF-designed Mackie).  Clearly, the PPC engineering hadn't yet been worked out, since the X1 sported a Large Laser backed by LRM-5s, SRM-2s, vehicle flamers, and an AC/5.  Rive's prototype also has a primitive engine, as well as overheating problems with the prototype Large Laser and Flamers.

Interestingly, the manufacturer for the Ymir is listed as the Coventry Defense Conglomerate, rather than AlarCorp.  It'll probably be explained further down the line, but it may be that AlarCorp is a subsidiary or collaborator with Coventry Metal Works, with the design work handled on Alarion and the final manufacturing taking place on Coventry.

Based on what I know of security protocols in the real world, Rive and company screwed up royally.  When the annual security refresher course test gives you the multiple choice question about "You see something odd happening on your computer.  You should...", A) "investigate it yourself" is always the wrong answer.

It's stunning to me that the Lyrans, after being kept out of Hesperus II for years by HAF security (which also foiled the ISF), were so lax in their approach to security on their own 'Mech manufacturing.  Rive derides AlarCorp security as being only focused on personnel movements into and out of the compound, while DEST-2 was able to simply parachute into the Coventry plant one night and walk out with the data, undetected.  Not to mention handing the tech over to the Davions after their own diplomat was blackmailed over skimming procurement contracts.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 22 January 2019, 12:25:06
Date: January 12, 2462

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Sandi reassures Rive that everything will be fine at the final review today as she makes him a traditional Skye breakfast.  Rive isn't so sure.

The Ymir Project trio reconvene after the hearing, still assessing the ten thousand kroner fine for "contributory negligence" in shock.  Manvers said they wouldn't be fired, but would be docked pay until the cost of the investigation was recouped.  Leaving the metro together, the three find that their AlarCorp CredCards have been voided.

Later in the day, Rive tries to access the Project Ymir archive to obtain the power coupler schematics, but is told by a guard that he isn't allowed access to that area.  At lunch, he talks with Sandi, noting that he's had a block placed on his phone, requiring approval for all out-of-wing numbers.  Rive suspects that Manvers either wants him to quit or to stay and suffer a string of little humiliations.  Rive tells him she'll be home late, after hitting the gym.

Later that day, an NIA recruiter reviews a small plastic box containing personnel files of the Ymir Project leads.  The recruiter's contact, an unidentified man, recommends that the three be recruited on a transitory basis.

Notes: We have no real sense of how much 10,000 kroner is worth circa 2462, but the rate for apartment rental quoted in "Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight" indicates that an Age of War kroner has roughly equivalent purchasing power to a 3067 kroner.  (Either that, or somebody was really putting the screws to the ISF agent on his rent.)  Looking at the 3067 tables, average upper class salaries (which trained engineers would be part of, I would assume) in the Alarion Province come to nearly 3,000 kroner per pay period.  So the fine is equivalent to about two months pay.  Now, if they were getting Middle Class salaries (747 kroner), that would be a much harder hit, equivalent to half a year's pay.

I wonder what the repayment schedule mandate is?  Could they pay back one kroner per pay period for the next 10,000 pay periods, and just put up with the hassle?

Since they were using AlarCorp CredCards to ride the metro, I would assume that AlarCorp runs a sprawling complex with its own internal economy.  (This being the days before the era of fortress factories buried under mountains.)

The introduction of a male "contact" reaching out to an unidentified "recruiter" would seem to indicate that Sandi (if she is NIA) is part of a larger cell.  Clearly the male has access to the three engineers' personnel files.  I wonder if Manvers engineered the leak himself to put the three in a compromised situation (with Manvers being an NIA asset).  The question is, then, would Manvers have had access to the technical data, and, if so, would he have needed to work through patsies?  The game's afoot!
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 23 January 2019, 12:07:02
Date: January 18, 2462

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Lanai Singh and Sandrine are shopping together when Sandi mentions her friend, Jennifer Searle, is having a party.  Lanai glowers at the implication that she has been excluded - tarnished by association with her husband. 

Rive's manager drops a folder on his desk and demands he fix a problem with the Ymir.  Feeling angry due to the ongoing lack of respect, he goes to the technical bay where Connor and Gunther repairing the drive train of a light 'Mech crippled by a rookie pilot.  He notes that they all should be doing design work on computers, rather than doing low-level gruntwork in the shop.

Rive goes into the bay and relieves Connor on the repair gantry, noting that there are two more repair jobs lined up for them.  Gunther angrily exclaims that Manvers seems to be trying to pressure one of them to confess to end their misery.  Elias retorts that he's innocent, and bristles at the implied accusation.  Gunther apologizes, and the two return to their menial work.

Notes:  Interestingly, Rive describes his anger so strong that it would "transform into a PPC bolt and vaporize the bastard."  Per the tech tables, the prototype Hegemony PPC debuted in 2439, but the final production model only rolled out in the Hegemony in 2460 - just two years before this.  Odd that such a recent and restricted tech item would have already become the basis for a metaphor.  Rive must have seen some LIC intel on either the prototype or recent field models as part of his work on Project Ymir, and been quite impressed.

The model of the light 'Mech in the shop isn't given.  It's too early to be a Commando, Wasp, or Stinger.  None of the other listed "Primitive" 'Mechs seem to fit the timeframe, either.  Could be a prototype that never made it into mass production (possibly, along the way, helping convince the LCAF that light designs were for the birds), especially if three prototypes were damaged by pilot error so much as to require the whole leg assembly to be replaced in a single day.

If Sandi is an NIA agent, she's doing her part to manipulate the three (through Lanai, this time) into resenting AlarCorp's management and wanting revenge.  Analysis of real world spies has shown motivations to include: money, revenge, thrill-seeking, ideology, and blackmail.  Looks like the NIA is working to engineer #2 (with a healthy dose of #1 thrown in).  MIIO got theirs through #5, and the Dracs, Lyrans, and Capellans simply stole the data (though the Maskirovka attempt involved an attempt to bribe FWL techs, but the whole op blew up in their faces.)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 23 January 2019, 14:06:35
It would make a a degree of sense that there would be some kind of smaller prototype Mech of some kind. Industrial Mechs were out long before BattleMechs were.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 25 January 2019, 11:37:46
This would seem to be an attempt at a faster scout/flanker 'Mech, since the Mackie and Ymir are pretty slow.  The higher speeds are probably what's causing the pilots to shred the legs, if they're only experienced with low-speed Assault 'Mechs.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 25 January 2019, 11:55:33
Sometimes I wish the 50 ton Mackie was the early version of the Mech. It would have made alot fluff from the original TRO 3025 make morses with some of the unseens as being largest Assaults out there such as fluff with the Thunderbolt etc. 

Mackie being smaller would made some Lyrans want built bigger etc.  Ymir development, and later the Crossbow would have gained more legs.  I'm curious (since i have not read much of the short stories) if the Crossbow was mentioned since it was early primitive as well.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 25 January 2019, 11:57:48
Date: January 29, 2462

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Rive grouses to Sandi about putting in full days in the machine shop and then getting a full day's work worth of technical documents to work on in the evenings.  Sandi notes that his AlarCorp contract requires him to work "all the hours required to carry out the duties of the employment."  He curses lawyers, then apologizes to Sandi, who is a lawyer.

She laughs it off, and points out that many people don't fully comprehend the terms of their contracts.  She notes that it was fine for him as long as his boss wasn't using the terms to make his quality of life worse.

He discusses quitting, but notes that his non-compete clause requires him to stay out of the same field for a year, making him unemployable (as well as broke).  Sandi brings up the "strategic occupations" clause of his contract, which allows him to claim Rive as a key corporate asset and block him from quitting.  She suggests he keep an eye out for something that could turn the situation around for himself, Singh, and Connor.

Notes: Based on Rive saying that the fine has left him broke, he was probably earning a middle class salary, rather than an upper class salary...or the 2462 kroner isn't anywhere close to its 3067 valuation (despite the roughly equivalent apartment rent given in "Fall Down...").

I wonder if AlarCorp was one of the companies that Karl Bernstorff directed sweetheart contracts to (with kickbacks therein that gave the MIIO leverage).  Coventry Metals seems to be the leading entity in this conglomerate (thus the name), with AlarCorp as an R&D skunkworks, so the team at CM probably dealt directly with Bernstorff.

I would think that there would be extensive LIC surveillance of all workers involved in the design and production of the superweapon that, at this point, only the Hegemony and Commonwealth have put into the field (with AFFC models soon to come).  Two of the three Great Houses without the tech share borders with the Lyrans, so the LIC would have to recognize the espionage threat.  I would've expected these techs to be treated like the ones in the 3rd Succession War - ultra-rare assets that are kept in heavily guarded complexes (the rarity at this point due to the relative newness of the field, rather than the collapse of infrastructure).

I guess the Lyran ethos isn't to surround their techs with durasteel walls and guard garrisons, but to bind them with ironclad contracts and legions of lawyers.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 25 January 2019, 12:03:16
Sometimes I wish the 50 ton Mackie was the early version of the Mech. It would have made alot fluff from the original TRO 3025 make morses with some of the unseens as being largest Assaults out there such as fluff with the Thunderbolt etc. 

Mackie being smaller would made some Lyrans want built bigger etc.  Ymir development, and later the Crossbow would have gained more legs.  I'm curious (since i have not read much of the short stories) if the Crossbow was mentioned since it was early primitive as well.

No mention of the Crossbow, which is still six years away from production at this point, and built on Arcturus rather than Alarion.  Not clear whether the Arcturus manufacturer was part of the Coventry Defense Conglomerate.  It falls in the Heavy category, so it's entirely unrelated to the unnamed Light being tested on Alarion.

TRO: 3025 was written by a group of authors, and at least one was apparently trying to set up a backstory wherein the earliest 'Mechs topped out at 55 tons, with the Griffin being considered an Assault 'Mech when it debuted, and only later technological developments enabling the fielding of Heavy and Assault designs.  Clearly, the FASA continuity editor (if there was one) didn't catch this, because other heavier designs were given earlier introduction dates.  The final nail in the "Assault Griffin" coffin came in "Tales of the Black Widow," which established the Mackie's 100-ton weight class.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 27 January 2019, 08:42:33
Date: February 12, 2462

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Gunther Rive goes by himself to a sports bar to watch sports on holovid.  A stranger asks if he can join Rive in the crowded bar, introducing himself as Johnny, which he admits is an alias.  He says he knows what's happened to Rive at AlarCorp, and says that if he is willing to quit and spend twelve months doing something else (due to the non-compete clause), there would be a lucrative job waiting for him afterwards. 

Johnny gives him a flier for a Business and Engineering Job Fair, and recommends Rive attend with Singh and Connor, then leaves.  Rive takes it with him when he leaves two hours later.

Notes:  "Johnny" is clearly the NIA agent with whom the recruiter (Sandrine?) met.  The LIC's Molehunters clearly haven't yet spotted this network.  Generally, the NIA is portrayed as far more competent and dangerous than its successor, SAFE, where loyalty to the Captain-General is prioritized over initiative and skill (an understandable restructuring, given the NIA's attempts to become the power behind the throne for a puppet Captain-General.)  I even once speculated that the acronym for SAFE, said to be a slogan in a dead language, might be along the lines of Semper Aquilae Fidelis Est (I've surely gotten the conjugation wrong, but the meaning would be "Always Faithful to the Eagle").

Interesting to see that holovid displays are ubiquitous by the 2400s.  I suppose this makes sense, given that even in the technologically regressed 3020s, holovid players aren't LosTech except on Skid Row worlds like Baxter. 

What's more interesting is that the displays are showing "sports from across the galaxy" - implying that there's a developed media distribution market using courier JumpShips, centuries before the development of HPGs.  The games being shown would have taken place months or even years earlier, depending on how far away the venue was, but it would be a good  cargo for traders - low weight/volume, and able to be transmitted from the jump point without taking the time and fuel necessary to physically transit to the planet.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: skiltao on 27 January 2019, 16:40:10
at least one was apparently trying to set up a backstory wherein the earliest 'Mechs topped out at 55 tons

??? The Griffin only claims to be *a* "heavy" design, not the heaviest 'Mech possible, and its account of early 'Mech capabilities is fully congruent with the "ultra-heavy" Banshee's. Apparently the intent was that heavier designs did exist, they just didn't have "heavy" enough firepower and "heavy" enough armor to take the "assault" title away from the Archer and Thunderbolt.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 27 January 2019, 22:33:01
The language is ambiguous at best, and can be read in a number of ways.

Phrases like "considered a heavy 'Mech early in its career, the Griffin was superseded by heavier and better-armored vehicles within a century" and "Though the Griffin was initially designed as an assault 'Mech, its capacity was soon surpassed by more advanced weapons technology" indicate to me that the author was hinting that the weight classes were different at the dawn of the BattleMech era, with units that were originally classified as "Heavy" being downgraded to "Medium" once heavier units became possible. 

That, of course, doesn't remotely jibe with units that fit the modern "Assault" class being the first ones out of the prototype stage, nearly half a century before the Griffin left the drawing board.  Some people tried to square the accounts by creating an apocryphal 50-ton prototype Mackie design (one version comes built into the default Heavy Metal Pro database) that would allow the Griffin flavor text to not be invalidated by the design written up in "Tales of the Black Widow."
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: skiltao on 28 January 2019, 11:52:25
the author was hinting that the weight classes were different at the dawn of the BattleMech era
<snip>
That, of course, doesn't remotely jibe with units that fit the modern "Assault" class being the first ones out of the prototype stage

I agree with the first point, but for the second to follow from it you'd have to assume that the assault class wasn't open-ended at the top at the time, and the text gives us no reason to assume that. (This TRO is probably even the first time that FASA broke the modern 80-100 ton bracket off into its own weight class.)

I agree that the wording has confused lots of people over the years - it tripped me up too, back before I'd begun looking at these things carefully.

I'm aware of the mythical 50-ton Mackie; I kinda wish TPTB had used its stats for the Talos, to represent Taurians reverse-engineering their first 'Mech. :(
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 28 January 2019, 12:03:30
Date: February 13, 2462

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: At McNeil's pub, Singh, Rive and Connor discuss the malicious purposeless of their new work schedules at AlarCorp.  Connor says he wishes he had leaked the data, because there would at least have been some reward to go along with the punishment he's receiving.  Singh agrees, exclaiming "Screw AlarCorp and screw the Commonwealth."

Rive tells them about his encounter with "Johnny."  Connor is wary about trusting him, worrying that the job fair could be a trap.  Rive says he plans to look into it, and see if it could be their ticket out of AlarCorp.  The others remain cautions and non-committal, for now.

Notes: The systematic mistreatment of these three skilled engineers on a project of immense importance to the Commonwealth makes me strongly suspect that AlarCorp CEO Manvers (or someone claiming to act on his behalf) is an NIA mole that doesn't have clean/untraceable access to the heavily guarded 'Mech schematics, but does have the authority to rejigger the trio's work schedules. 

Attitude is key in asset recruitment.  When I was at graduate school, my Latvian language instructor told me a story about one of her students, another Latvian, who'd been at the school in the 1980s.  He was very anti-Soviet and pro-Latvian independence.  One evening, at a party by the swimming pool, there was an exchange student wearing a black leather jacket with the hammer/sickle logo and CCCP emblazoned on the back, talking loudly/drunkenly about the superiority of the USSR and the communist system.  The Latvian student kept glaring at the guy, balling his fists.  Moments later, my instructor heard a splash, and saw both her student and the Russian in the pool, the Latvian having tackled him and thrown him in.  The "Russian" was laughing - he was a CIA recruiter looking for people with the "right attitude" and offered the student a job then and there. 

Whoever is manipulating the trio's work environment is clearly working to shift their attitudes and give them the proper motivation to betray the Commonwealth.  Manvers seems to be the one doing it, but if he's already an NIA asset, why couldn't he simply give the data to House Marik?  Are the Molehunters watching him too closely?  Sandi also seems to be an NIA asset, but she wouldn't have the authority in the company to muck with their work schedules.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 28 January 2019, 12:08:38
I agree with the first point, but for the second to follow from it you'd have to assume that the assault class wasn't open-ended at the top at the time, and the text gives us no reason to assume that. (This TRO is probably even the first time that FASA broke the modern 80-100 ton bracket off into its own weight class.)

I agree that the wording has confused lots of people over the years - it tripped me up too, back before I'd begun looking at these things carefully.

My interpretation had been that 55-tons was considered "Assault Class" when the Griffin was being designed, that 60-75 ton units debuted by the time the Griffin went into mass production, resulting in it being downgraded to "Heavy," and was later relegated to "Medium" once the 80-100 ton range was broached.  That was all "head-canon," of course, and not borne out by how the line developed.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: skiltao on 28 January 2019, 16:07:59
That's fair, though it's also at odds with remarks like the Charger and Victor referring to themselves as "heavy," which is what makes me think TR3025's developers were considering capabilities rather than absolute tonnage.

Regardless, my interpretation is actually almost the same as yours. I basically just tack on an extra "super heavy" category where the technology hadn't matured yet. (Which doesn't seem like a stretch, considering the Atlas entry mentions 'Mechs bigger and heavier than the 80-100 ton category.)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 29 January 2019, 08:29:28
I kept thinking that the authors were confusing the "Assault" Role of Mech verses it's Weight Class.  I'm doing my slow nightly reading of TROs again, started with 2750, now into original TRO 3025 where i ran into the passages for our most storied Mechs/Units.  Thunderbolt was part of the assault role sort thing.

Primitive Griffin we know now, as fluff had left seed for it to have it's prototypes of the 60 weight class.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 04 February 2019, 12:19:06
Date: February 17, 2462

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: At the job fair, Rive, Connor, and Singh circulate through the kiosks for an hour, but fail to find any of the promised opportunities the mysterious recruiter promised.  They end up at the Stanislaw Consultants booth where a speaker promises the opportunity to earn a living while strengthening the Commonwealth, working in the defense logistics sector.  Rive realizes the job is nothing more than paperwork processing, and suggests that they depart, but finds Connor and Singh talking with another Stanislaw recruiter.  He hands them brochures and his card.

On the way out, Connor throws his brochure in the trash.  Rive, looking through his, stops and tells Connor to retrieve his and open it up.  Inside, they find notes specifically made out to them offering jobs as "Goodwill Ambassadors" on a twelve month contract with a huge salary, instructions to contact "Emile Morton" and instructions to tell him "Johnny sent you."

Notes: Once again, the NIA showcases its tradecraft in recruitment, snagging three skilled engineers from AlarCorp probably right under the noses of LIC's Molehunters. 

The logistics jobs seem like the kind of operations that would be used to launder the kind of kickbacks Duke Bernstorff got in trouble with.  Logistics tails must have been much worse to manage in the Age of War, because of the lengthy communication delays.  Supply ships might arrive in a system weeks after the troops they were intended for had been redeployed or destroyed on a rapidly changing front.  Couriers on command circuits can bring the most vital info to the central command quickly, but at an exorbitant cost in terms of the resources that need to be put in place for communications, pulling assets away from troop movement.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 05 February 2019, 11:55:31
Date: February 19, 2462

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: The three engineers and their significant others, Lanai Singh and Sandrine, gather to discuss how to handle the covert job offer.  Lanai is suspicious that the offer is too good to be true.  Rive concurs that the scheme seems likely to do more harm than good.  The others are more enthusiastic, noting that Stanislaw is a legitimate organization with a good track record and ties to the Coventry Defense Conglomerate. 

Sandrine speculates that this is a gambit to put them back to work on 'Mech projects for CDC without having to risk AlarCorp invoking the "strategic occupations" clause, since they'd still be under the CDC umbrella.  She says she can check with people at the CDC to see if this is on the level.  Lanai protests, but the engineers decide to go with Sandrine's plan.

Notes: And here's where having an NIA team in place pays off, with Sandi as the "inside man" to confirm the offer's legitimacy.

One interesting bit is the mention that the various members of the Coventry Defense Conglomerate have separate management structures and, though they have strict agreements not to poach each other's engineers, generally regard each other as competitors rather than co-equal partners.  While it fits the Lyran ethos to a "T", it leaves room for corporate espionage and other shenanigans that prove highly beneficial to the Free Worlds League.

At this point, it's been about seven months since DEST Two covertly raided the CDC facility on Coventry and snagged enough data to enable the Combine to start making its own 'Mechs.  Since that intrusion was carried out without any killing or explosions, one wonders if the Lyrans are even aware that the Combine has 'Mech technology yet?  I wouldn't think the engineers would speak so reverently about CDC if they knew their hard-guarded state secrets (which they'd been punished for allegedly leading) had already walked out of Coventry Metals' wide open barn door.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 06 February 2019, 11:42:07
Date: June 8, 2462

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Rive and Connor are enjoying their "goodwill ambassador" jobs, watching sports and playing virtual games.  Singh remains restless, impatient to get back to doing real work.  Rive notes that Sandrine is happy with how the new job has restored his spirits.

Notes: The same sort of "cooling off period" rules apply to a number of real-world industries.  I've known several people who, after retiring, had to spend a year not working before returning to their industries as consultants or contractors.  The intent is, superficially, to prevent people coming out of public service jobs from leveraging their contacts from their last position to give special advantages to companies that are regulated or otherwise interact with that agency.  (Or, in the private sector, to keep people from transferring cutting edge technology to a competitor, since the bleeding edge will have moved on during the cooling-off period.)

It would be interesting to see if the firm is mostly legitimate, with these positions being specially created by NIA agents, or if the entire firm is an NIA front.  In any event, the fact that NIA agents have positions of authority in the firm implies that a fairly large chunk of the LCAF's logistics network is an open book to the FWL - they'll know what's being sent where, on what schedule, and in what quantities, and can extrapolate from that what worlds are being used as staging bases, and identify likely targets.  If the whole firm is on the NIA payroll, they could, in an emergency, use their position to scramble the supply shipments, cause delays, and otherwise muck up the military timetables, to the FWL's advantage.  Such infiltration may explain how the FWL managed to carve such a deep salient (the Bolan Thumb) into Lyran territory by the close of the Age of War.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 11 February 2019, 12:16:32
Date: May 14, 2463

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: At Coventry Defense Conglomerate's Alarion offices, Herman Winthrop gets Rive, Connor, and Singh settled into their new state-of-the-art work station overlooking the vast production floor.  Winthrop introduces them to Russell Schwieger, from Human Resources, to continue the orientation.  Rive recognizes him as "Johnny."

At the end of the first week at CDC, the trio are thrilled about the working environment, and Rive comes home every day babbling to Sandrine about their latest technical breakthroughs.  Despite her apparent boredom with the technical aspects, he kisses her and tells her everything he has, he owes to her.

Notes: Of course, Sandrine almost certainly has a micro-recorder with everything Rive says stored for transmission to an NIA dead-drop site.

Clearly, NIA was easily able to infiltrate the human resources departments at both AlarCorp and CDC, since both Sandrine and Schweiger are NIA moles.  The FWL doesn't just want technical data, they want experienced technical experts who can be pressured to use that data and their expertise to bootstrap a FWL 'Mech program so that they can counter the Lyran advantage as quickly as possible, before all of Captain-General Geralk's advances are rolled back.

Rive certainly isn't blameless.  When people have access to classified information, they are instructed to a) not discuss it outside of secure facilities; b) not discuss it with non-cleared personnel.  Rive telling Sandrine about it at home violates both those strictures.  Given the cloud of suspicion Rive was operating under at AlarCorp, and the widespread surveillance state operated by the LIC (as seen in the Warrior Trilogy), it boggles my mind that the LIC hasn't bugged Rive's quarters. 

Either it was incidents like this that incentivized the LIC to begin constructing a comprehensive surveillance state, or his quarters were bugged, but Sandrine located the bugs and is feeding them false data.  (Removing them or destroying them would tip the LIC off that something suspicious is going on.)

The FWL really cut off their nose to spite their face when they nerfed the NIA to create SAFE, prizing personal loyalty to House Marik over operational effectiveness.  (Of course, if they hadn't, we'd likely be discussing the activities of Captain-General Selaj these days.)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Kojak on 11 February 2019, 21:56:22
The FWL really cut off their nose to spite their face when they nerfed the NIA to create SAFE, prizing personal loyalty to House Marik over operational effectiveness.

Not that the former even ended up panning out, in the end: remind me, how many splinter versions did SAFE break up into after the League dissolved in 3081?
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 12 February 2019, 11:34:56
Interestingly, while the main cultural theme of the Lyran/League fight was Germany vs. the Balkans, if the Tamars had succeeded in betraying and overthrowing the Steiners, and had the Selajes (of Regulus) displaced the Mariks, they would have recreated the Pakistan/India dynamic in the "western" half of the Inner Sphere.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 12 February 2019, 11:51:05
Date: November 24, 2463

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Rive's new office is a gray holding cell, which he's occupied since being arrested the previous day.  The only bright thing in his life is Sandrine, seen through the glass barrier in the visitation room.  She says her experience in contract law won't be sufficient to defend him against charges of treason brought by CDC.

Rive denies that he's done anything wrong and wonders what could have happened.  Sandrine says she'll find someone to help.

Notes: The NIA gave Rive and company half a year to get comfortable at CDC, and to become familiar with the specs of the latest designs (this being the COM-1A Commando, introduced in 2463), then lowered the boom.  I wonder if the unnamed Light AlarCorp was working on was an early prototype for the COM-1A?  It's listed as the second 'Mech to come out of Coventry - the first presumably being the Ymir.  So who was making the Mackie clones for the LCAF?

Rule of law seems to be far more stringent in the Age of War period than during the tail end of the Third Succession War.  In the Warrior Trilogy, the LIC doesn't have a second thought about disappearing one of their citizens who they just happen to find useful.  An accused traitor would, if Loki had free rein, simply vanish into an LIC oubliette for narcointerrogation until every last shred of info had been wrung from the corpse.  Actually getting a lawyer and being prepped for a trial is a very different scene than one would expect having seen the power of the Archons in action in later centuries.

It does make sense, though.  The Age of War is the period when interstellar leaders agreed to be constrained by the Ares Conventions, despite the lack of external enforcement bodies.  Perhaps the same factors that led to the rise of republics (expansion of empire and slow communications making direct rule by fiat impossible for the tyrants of the time, requiring the creation of standardized laws and local administrators to enforce them) also was in play during the Age of War, when the lack of HPG technology slowed communications and limited executive power.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 12 February 2019, 15:36:05
It would been cool if it was short-lived primitive original light we hadn't seen before.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 15 February 2019, 11:54:21
Date: November 26, 2463

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Rive is visited by his lawyer, Claudia Thorne.  She tells him she's arranged bail, and ensured that the AlarCorp incident won't be raised.  She recommends he seek a separate trial from Singh and Connor.

Surprised, Rive answers that the three are a team, and should stand together.  Thorne admires his loyalty, but suggests that the leak at AlarCorp and the leak at CDC came from the trio, implying that at least one of them is guilty.

Still angry over the implication that his friends are suspect, Rive is returned to his cell to think it over.

Notes: It's interesting in the discussion of bail that Rive has local ties, and hasn't been off Alarion in decades.  I wonder how mobile people were during the Age of War.  Merchants certainly got around a fair amount, but a lot of colonies were still in their infancy, with only the earliest having hit their tricentennials.  Would that have been enough time to support an interstellar tourism industry?  Solaris VII wasn't yet "The Game World," and sports from across the Inner Sphere are apparently accessible via holovid.  If not traveling for business or military reasons, would people in the Inner Sphere be expected to go on offworld trips?

I wonder if Thorne is a legitimate lawyer, or (more likely) yet another cog in the NIA's team working to manipulate Rive and his comrades into an untenable situation in the Commonwealth.

I'm surprised that bail is even an option for Rive, given what he knows and the red flags in his history.  I would imagine that, at this stage, there must be at least some level of LIC surveillance.  When a U.S. nuclear weapons scientist was accused of having given blueprints to China (he was later cleared after spending a year in prison), he was out on bail for a few months before incarceration.  During that period, teams of FBI agents were on stakeout in front of his house 24-hours a day, following him wherever he went, and interrogating anyone he had contact with.  I'm frankly stunned that the LIC would do less in this instance.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 25 February 2019, 11:53:40
Date: December 8, 2463

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Dan Connor angrily confronts Gunther Rive at his home, demanding to know why he arranged a separate lawyer and trial, and why he hasn't spoken to the other team-members in weeks.  He accuses Rive of trying to pin the blame on one of them.  Gunther refuses to open the door, and suggests that future communications be through their lawyers.

Connor storms off, leaving Gunther feeling miserable that he doesn't know what's going on, and that he's now going to lose his friends as well.

Notes:  Sandrine's emotional ties to Gunther seem to be why he's getting the NIA's VIP treatment, using him as the locus to create divisions among the team.  In the scene, she ineffectually takes cover behind a potted forsythia bush - an apt metaphor for the fact that she's essentially been hiding in plain sight the whole time.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 26 February 2019, 12:18:18
Date: December 21, 2463

Location: Alarion

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Rive goes to meet Claudia Thorne at her offices in the law firm of Kelly, Langston, and Thorne.  She informs him that the prosecution has provided her with CDC files that prove the leaked information came from Rive's portable computer.  While Rive is recovering from the shock, Claudia brings out another document, this one a statement by AlarCorp CEO Desmond Manvers, indicating his willingness to testify about the data leak there to show proof about Rive's character. 

As Rive descends into panic, Claudia buzzes in an "associate of hers," whom Rive recognizes as "Johnny" from the bar (AKA "Russell Schweiger," AKA "John Smith").  Rive asks Claudia how long she's been working with Johnny, but she refuses to answer, giving a faint smile and citing "attorney-client privilege." 

Johnny tells Rive he'll be convicted for sure, and that the press reporting will ensure an unfriendly jury.  He tells Rive he has two options - stay for the trial and face certain death, or come with Johnny now off-planet.  He tells Rive that he's actually been working for Johnny's country for some time, and will now just be doing it openly.

Rive tells Johnny he'll accept death, rather than helping an enemy of the Commonwealth.  Johnny notes that Singh and Connor will also face the death penalty.  Rive denies that either of them have any connection to the leak, but Johnny points out that "Russell Schweiger" can use his access in CDC Human Resources to create evidence as needed.

Rive asks why they targeted him, since they seem to have all the access they need already.  Johnny answers that the tech files were harder to crack than the HR system, and that having unskilled people working to interpret them would set development back by years.  He needs the people who can build the machinery.  Johnny promises Rive his own team and a huge salary, and says Singh and Connor are getting similar offers. 

Rive asks about Sandi, and Johnny says Sandrine wishes to go wherever he goes.

Later that day, Rive finds himself aboard a Federated Suns merchant shuttle outbound from Alarion towards a waiting JumpShip.  Johnny arranged security clearances - clearly having been planning this for a long time.  His cabin door opens, and Sandrine enters.  She pretends confusion, and expresses hope they can find a way through.  Point blank, he asks her who she really is.  He angrily confronts her about the leaked files - she had access to his computer, she convinced him to take the CDC job, she recommended trusting Johnny, she set him up with Claudia Thorne. 

She sighs, and admits that her real name is Sandrine, but her family name is classified.  She was originally from Zaniah, where her family was killed during the Commonwealth's annexation.  She considers this justified revenge against the Lyran state, and says that her relationship with Rive was "necessary."

Rive threatens suicide to keep that knowledge from her employers, but she asks him if the Lyrans have done anything for him to earn such loyalty.  She admits that both sides are deeply imperfect, but says that now he'll be treated like a hero and get rich.  Rive doesn't respond, and Sandi walks out with a final "Good-bye."

Rive watches her go, intent on burning her image into his memory.  At that moment, he determines not to kill himself, but to go to the Free Worlds League, work for them, and save all the money they paid him.  Eventually, he'd use that money to find her and take his revenge.

Notes:  "A Dish Best Served Cold" is an expansion of two sentences from p. 16 of the House Marik sourcebook that state "The League received the technology to produce BattleMechs in 2462, when technicians formerly employed on the Steiner planet Alarion defected to the Free Worlds League.  They had, they felt, been unfairly disciplined in an incident involving plant security."

Per the ComStar document, the Free Worlds League just looks lucky - some disgruntled techies fled with plans and fell right into the League's lap just when they needed it.  This story greatly enhances the League's sense of agency, since it reveals that the National Intelligence Agency engineered the "security incident" and the subsequent pressure on the technicians to defect. 

Revenge is a theme that frequently punctuates the personal decisions of the Succession Wars.  The Marik sourcebook (p. 31) includes a sidebar about a Steiner defector named Jermyn LeStat, who volunteered to serve as a Marik mole on his homeworld of A Place, to get revenge on House Steiner for his family's death during a famine that devastated A Place in the First Succession War, when Richard Steiner conscripted the commercial freighters away from food delivery for military usage.  LeStat was paid 40,000 Eagles per month for his valuable services - passing troop movement data to the FWLM for two years during the Second Succession War, but never touched it, and it reverted to the League treasury upon his death.

"A Dish Served Cold" is, of course, the back end of the full phrase "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold," and all sides desire revenge.  The Lyrans want revenge for the atrocities committed by Geralk Marik during his invasion.  Simone wants revenge for Geralk's death.  Sandrine wants revenge for her family's death on Zaniah.  And now Rive wants revenge on Sandrine for her having manipulated him and ruined his life.

The reveals in this penultimate chapter show that the NIA had quite a network on Alarion - a lawyer at AlarCorp, an HR specialist at CDC, a law firm.  Given the relative openness of Lyran society at this point (and the apparently gormlessness of the Lyran Intelligence Corps), I would hazard to guess that the massive territorial losses suffered by the Lyrans during the Age of War were due to the Mariks handily winning on the espionage front, culminating in the major offensive that created the Bolan Thumb - a thrust aimed straight at Tharkad.

Of course, had Rive been a true Lyran patriot, he could have accepted the work and then set out to build 'em wrong.  Myomers that burst into flame when exposed to a certain catalyst, for example.  Reactor shielding that intentionally gives the pilots cancer.  Star Trek-style command consoles with 1.21 jiggawatts ;) running through them, which fatally explode whenever the 'Mech takes a major hit.  A big red button on the crotch that triggers the ejection system.  That sort of thing.  "Johnny" as much as admits that the FWL's techs are clueless about this entire field of technology.

Of course, those CDC documents could well have been faked by the NIA, and Rive, Connor, and Singh might have fled offworld without any risk of having been convicted by the Lyran courts.  It's not as though Rive had seen any of this in the press, for independent confirmation, so the NIA cell could well have just been playing him (which would explain the lax LIC activity - with no hard evidence, they might have been in doubt regarding Rive's guilt, and still wouldn't have considered him a flight risk.)
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Kojak on 26 February 2019, 16:25:51
Revenge is a theme that frequently punctuates the personal decisions of the Succession Wars.  The Marik sourcebook (p. 31) includes a sidebar about a Steiner defector named Jermyn LeStat who volunteered to serve as a Marik mole on his homeworld of A Place, to get revenge on House Steiner for his family's death during a famine that devastated A Place in the First Succession War, when Richard Steiner conscripted the commercial freighters away from food delivery for military usage.  LeStat was paid 40,000 Eagles per month for his valuable services - passing troop movement data to the FWLM for two years during the Second Succession War, but never touched it, and it reverted to the League treasury upon his death.

I wonder if this LeStat was the inspiration for House LeStat of Kaumberg, the villains of the old Operation: Flashpoint campaign book that Herb wrote and that popped up in numerous minor roles thereafter (much like their rivals, the heroic Hasseldorfs).
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: roosterboy on 26 February 2019, 16:38:25
I wonder if this LeStat was the inspiration for House LeStat of Kaumberg, the villains of the old Operation: Flashpoint campaign book that Herb wrote and that popped up in numerous minor roles thereafter (much like their rivals, the heroic Hasseldorfs).

That was LeSat.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 26 February 2019, 16:42:41
This LeStat relocated to Augustine when the LIC grew suspicious, and lived out his days there, with no heirs.

For all I know the “Adventure Associates” who wrote the original Marik book were riffing on Anne Rice’s vampire novels with the name.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Kojak on 26 February 2019, 17:04:40
That was LeSat.

Oh, dammit, that's right.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 01 March 2019, 12:29:59
Date: March 3, 2469

Location: Alula Australis

Title: A Dish Served Cold

Authors: Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: In his prototype Icarus, Hector Galaine storms Lyran fortifications, shrugging off tracer fire and wiping out the offending bunker.  Still haunted by Geralk Marik's death on Loric at the hands (feet) of Lyran 'Mechs, where he'd been a junior communications technician, he wonders if this carnage is enough to make up for the earlier League defeat.

He annihilates a lance of retreating tanks and survives a barrage of infantry-fired missiles.  Turning on them, he rakes their position with his rotary cannons and missile packs. 

He notes that the fighting on Alula Australis has raged for seven years, with the Lyran 'Mechs getting redeployed after reducing the original Marik fortifications and the subsequent conventional offensive getting bogged down into stalemate.  He revels in the fact that, in just one week, the new League 'Mechs have pushed the Lyrans back into a single fortress, one which will soon fall.

Galaine and his lancemate, Pressfield, crest a ridgeline and see egg-shaped Lyran DropShips loading and launching from within their remaining bastion.  Command orders them to hold and observe - to let the Lyrans run.

Notes: In this epilogue, set six years after the technicians' defection, Hector Galaine (seen briefly in the 2459 prologue with Geralk Marik - the last person the Captain-General spoke with before charging the Lyran 'Mechs in his tank) takes his Icarus out for a spin.  This would be one of the six ICR-1X Icarus prototypes, mounting a Large Laser, Small Laser, two SRM-2s, and two machine guns (described in the story as "rotary cannons").  It had primitive armor, a primitive engine, and topped out at 64 kph.

Sarna lists the intro date as 2470, but "A Dish Served Cold" has it in the field in March 2469.  The XTRO does erroneously state that the League acquired 'Mech technology in 2462, whereas Rive and company couldn't have reached League space and started working until at least 2464, having left Alarion in late December 2463.   Era Digest: Age of War has intro dates of 2470 for the Icarus and 2471 for the Hector, but the rule of thumb is that the fiction supplants the in-universe reports.  It could be that these dates refer to the production models being fielded, rather than the prototypes, but the ICR-1S Icarus II wasn't fielded until 2518, and no other Icarus models are listed.

The XTRO entry notes that Corean Enterprises was the lead League engineering firm working on the new 'Mech technology.  Interestingly, rather than just cloning the Terran Mackie, or the Lyran Ymir or Commando (the plans for which came along with the Lyran defectors), they instead worked on coming up a Medium 'Mech, intended to provided support for the Mackie clones Corean was also churning out.  The Hectors were 70 tonners, making the initial League BattleMech force fairly top-heavy and slow, dominated by Heavy Hectors, Assault Mackies, and a handful of Icarus prototypes that had the same speed as their big brothers.

One wonders exactly what tanks were being fielded by the LCAF on Alula Australis, if Galaine could one-shot them with his Large Laser.  The Lyran mainstay Marsden I's should have had 25 armor on the rear facing, and more elsewhere, and the 2463 debuting Marsden IIs should have had even more protection.  My guess is that the APCs that carried the SRM infantry platoon to his location were retreating, and he managed to smoke them before they trundled out of range. 

It's also unclear what sort of DropShips are bugging out from the Lyran encampment.  Described as "egg shaped," that rules out aerodynes.  Manatees and Jumbos fit the timeline, though their flat-bottomed design and more cylindrical shape don't evoke "egg shaped" in the same way that the Excalibur or Overlord will down the timeline.  Both are also Terran designs, though there's a good chance they spread into Lyran hands the same way BattleMech technology did.

The story ends with a final page promising the wrap-up of the Proliferation Cycle coming the following month in Loren Coleman's "Machine Nations."  Several years later, subscribers were still waiting.  Eventually, BattleCorps acknowledged that "Machine Nations" had to be abandoned due to irreconcilable continuity problems, and it was re-done from scratch as "The Spider Dances," my next focus.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 04 March 2019, 12:02:47
Date: March 17, 2466

Location: Xanthe III

Title: The Spider Dances

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Senior Technician Robert Esterhazy bribes a guard to let him and Halle Ostend sneak into the secure area of the Happen BattleMech research facility on Xanthe III.  While Esterhazy leads her to his planned romantic encounter, Ostend passes the time by thinking about how easy it would be to kill him. 

Once he gives Ostend the code to open the laboratory door, she lets Esterhazy have his pleasure while she focuses on memorizing the keypad code, the layout, and all other details of the complex, for use by her Maskirovka infiltration team.

Notes: There's not a lot of early information on Xanthe III, but looking at Sarna, there are some historical oddiments about this setup.  Xanthe III does not appear on ComStar's map in Historical: Reunification War, leading the Sarna writers to assume it was a Capellan colony established during the Star League era. 

That clearly doesn't reflect the situation on the ground, so a better explanation is that either the ComStar Cartographic Corps flubbed the map used in the Reunification War book, or that Xanthe III was a secret R&D outpost for House Marik, and would have escaped notice. 

While the latter explanation would make it a good setting for secret BattleMech development, the presence of a major spaceport and large city adjacent to the Happen R&D facility suggest the former.

All we know so far about Halle Ostend is that she's a Maskirovka operative working the infiltration routine Black Widow-style, seducing the middle-aged and portly Robert Esterhazy. 

Esterhazy, by his name, is probably of Hungarian descent.  A number of FWL systems with Hungarian names were wiped off the map during the Succession Wars, so a Reunification War-era Hungarian in the FWL is a pretty good fit.

This is only about two years after the defection, so Gunther Rive and his accomplices are probably running the Happen facility, under the watchful eye of the NIA.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 05 March 2019, 11:59:09
Date: March 18, 2466

Location: Xanthe III

Title: The Spider Dances

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: At the Maskirovka safe house in the city of Barter, 40 kilometers from the Happen Military Reservation, Hector Little, Nicholas Drake, and Sasha Feodoreyva confirm receipt of Halle's coded message that she's got the access codes, after six months of trying to find a vulnerable spot.  Hector muses that, in the holovids, the undercover spy would immediately wipe the accounts and destroy all the physical evidence, with the screenwriters failing to account for NIA software bots flagging such a deletion as a suspicious event, worthy of investigation. 

Hector asks Drake about Danilov's team, which is laying the groundwork for the extraction.  Kane and Tibbett are on flight ops, and Danilov has a line on a shuttle that could carry 2-3 of the team.  As a backup, Drake suggests Kane could take a Dragonfire fighter with the data, but Feodoreyva notes that faster fighters could catch it.

Drake cautions them not to get ahead of themselves, since they still have to get the data out of Happen and bring it to Barter, then to the spaceport through a military lockdown.  Hector asks if his crew is ready to move on Happen, and Drake responds that it's already on the schedule.

At Happen, Parsifal Nehru enters the General's office, dressed as a Lieutenant, junior grade, in the 49th Xanthe Grenadiers.  The corporal at the desk tells him the general is out, then awkwardly stumbles to attention once she notices Parsifal's rank.  He tells Corporal Platt that the general isn't expecting him, but that he's an undercover colonel in the Inspectorate.

43 minutes later, General Vocaine and his aide, Captain Mallory, return to the office where Parsifal is waiting.  Mallory tells Parsifal the general is too busy to speak with him.  Parsifal responds "not too busy to be naming classified military projects in a public corridor," successfully attracting Vocaine's attention. 

As Vocaine begins dressing down the man dressed as a Lieutenant, Corporal Platt desperately tries to show him the card identifying Parsifal as a Colonel from the Inspectorate.  The level of respect immediately goes up - everyone answers to the Captain-General's Inspectorate.  Vocaine asks if Parsifal is here to relieve him due to the production delays, but the Colonel says he's here to address information leaks from Happen - both the Lyrans and the Maskirovka know the League is making 'Mechs, and a Maskirovka team is even now on Xanthe, working to infiltrate the Happen facility.  Parsifal instructs Vocaine to alert his security teams to run searches according to Inspectorate protocols, and to set up a meeting with the base commander, General Bangs.

Notes:  General Vocaine is ranting that he wants the new Icarus prototype off the floor and onto the range in two weeks.  This would imply a far earlier introduction date than the 2470 listed in Era Digest: Age of War.  We know from "A Dish Served Cold" that the first combat deployment was 2469, but the prototypes may have been up and running by 2466 or 2467, especially since only six were ever made (almost immediately supplanted by the heavier Hector), and the Icarus II upgrade didn't come out until the 2500s.  Of note, someone named Moorman is running the Icarus development program, so they didn't follow through on their promise to give Gunther and crew R&D leadership roles - probably just stuck them somewhere as heavily guarded and well paid technical consultants.

I really enjoyed the structure of "The Spider Dances" - which is why I voted for it as my favorite Age of War story in the poll on this thread.  It sets up two very competent intelligence agencies and pits them against each other.  Both Hector and Parsifal lampshade the standard holovid tropes for their respective roles and demonstrate the competence to rise beyond them, making for a roller-coaster of a cat-and-mouse game as the Mask team tries to get the data. 

If the LIC had a Parsifal of their own, the League would never have gotten away with the technicians (and the Commonwealth probably wouldn't have had to hand 'Mech technology over to the FedRats, either, nor let a DEST strikeforce simply walk out of the Coventry Metal Works offices with everything they needed.  What I'm saying is that the Lyrans are very, very bad at operational security.)

Notably, Parsifal says he eliminated the regular Maskirovka cell on Xanthe III three weeks earlier, but believes the threat remains.  That implies that the local cell had no knowledge of or contact with the special operatives.  Hector's team probably knew about the local talent, but kept their extraction operation totally separate from the other team's routine information gathering operation.

Parsifal makes the claim that the Maskirovka has operatives on every League world, and the NIA likewise has operatives on every Capellan world.  One wonders how true that was, especially in an era before HPG communications.  Would the League really have spent the effort to send an information gathering team to, say, the agricultural world of Stein's Folly (currently a Capellan holding on the FedSuns border), on the off chance something worth reporting might happen?  What about to Bad News, at the far end of the Draconis Combine?  Word about what's happening on the other side of the Inner Sphere might not get back to Atreus until it's years old - long since overcome by events.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 06 March 2019, 11:50:50
Date: March 19, 2466

Location: Xanthe III

Title: The Spider Dances

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Halle Osten is joined by security officer Ned Reyes in the Happen Military Reservation cafeteria.  They talk about the book she's reading on her noteputer, and he suggests going for a walk in the courtyard that night at 22:00.  They part, and Halle returns to her desk, her heart pounding.  During the conversation, Ned gave her the code phrase that indicates the mission is in danger.

That night, they meet in the cafeteria and discuss the book for a few minutes over Galisteo coffee, then walk out into the courtyard.  Several other couples are there already, since "walking the courtyard" is one of the few recreations available on the closed base.

Reyes tells Halle that they need to go tomorrow or abort the mission, because the Inspectorate has arrived and suspects a Maskirovka operation is in progress.  She tells him she thinks she can be ready, and asks him to take the position of the guard outside the restricted area.  She asks him to tell Quinn she needs a big diversion, so she can ride out through the front gate.

At the Xanthe Reserve Militia Aerodome, Fyodor Danilov gets a noteputer message and consults with Edgar Tibbetts to confirm the contents - 'Tomorrow.'  Danilov swears, estimating that the day after tomorrow will be the earliest he can arrange offworld extraction.  He writes back on his noteputer - "day after" - and returns to his Flight Controller console, apologizing for his brief absence to Captain bar-Danan, his supervisor, en route.  The captain tells him that a memo came down from the governor warning them about a possible spaceport closure next week.  Danilov relaxes with the thought, "we'll be long gone by then."

Notes:  Wow, nothing but the best for House Marik's 'Mech-makers.  Xanthe III is located on the edge of Capellan space, while Galisteo is one of the 'southwestern worlds' that had formerly been part of the bandit kingdom "The Intendency of New New Granada," located close to what will eventually be the Circinus Federation.  Transshipping coffee all the way across the Free Worlds League suggests that the League isn't going to make the same sort of error the Lyrans did - they want to keep their techies very, very content.

The opening scene gets some context, as Halle recounts how she got Esterhazy to take her into a restricted access section because she likes "christening" other peoples' desks. 

Caper stories are fun - and Jason Schmetzer is treating us to both the "Capellans Eleven" side of the prep-process and the Inspectorate's countermeasures.  Far more of a chess game than the drawn out process of subornation seen in "A Dish Served Cold," which bore a striking, though reportedly unintentional, similarity to "Office Space" (workers dumped on by their boss decide to engage in an illegal scheme and betray the company).

As with the NIA on Alarion, the Maskirovka has seeded key locales and organizations with well placed moles, the better to facilitate acquisition and extraction.

I'm kind of surprised there isn't a front line garrison force on Xanthe III - just the Reserve Militia - since the Capellan border is one jump away, and critical R&D is located here.  A heavy raid by the Northwind Highlanders might have been more effective in terms of getting the technology (they would definitely be motivated, having lost a whole tank battalion on Ningpo when first encountering 'Mechs in "Goliath out of the Box.")
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 07 March 2019, 07:15:37
I like when Close Quarters briefly referred to the Southwest Worlds as "New New Spain".  It was later changed to The Intendency of New New Granada.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 11 March 2019, 11:19:23
Date: March 20, 2466

Location: Xanthe III

Title: The Spider Dances

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: The diminutive General Reginald Banks reprimands Colonel Nehru for taking General Vocaine by surprise, and asks what Nehru is looking for.  The Inspectorate agent responds that he has base security running facial recognition analysis for matches with anyone seen near the now-eliminated Maskirovka safehouse in Barter.  A technician soon reports a match, and Nehru asks General Bangs where he can find civilian auxiliary Ned Reyes. 

In the restricted section, a slobberingly horny Robert Esterhazy follows Halle down the corridor during the first shift's coffee break.  They pass Ned Reyes at the guard station without eliciting any comment, enter the access code, and proceed to room 8B, which is empty.

While Esterhazy and Halle prepare to get down to business, they are unaware that security has seized Ned Reyes and taken him for interrogation.  Nehru has his people checking into the man's background, and wonders if either of the guards with Reyes are also Maskirovka plants.  Acknowledging he can't suspect everyone, he enters the interrogation room.

In 8B, Halle has had enough of Robert's corned beef breath and casually snaps his neck.  The last words he hears are "The Chancellor thanks you."  She puts a datacard into the console and lets her computer worms seek out the data she needs.

In the interrogation room, Nehru asks why Reyes was near Galveston Avenue, and why he wasn't at his usual duty station today.  Reyes, playing the part of a confused but loyal guard, says scuttlebutt is that the restricted section has BattleMechs.  Or maybe the Captain-General.  Nehru almost believes him, but spots a micro-expression on Reyes' face - the tiniest of smirks, as though Reyes felt he'd won.  Hardening, Nehru asks Reyes to tell him about the Maskirovka.

Back at the Restricted Section, Halle rejoices in having obtained the technical specs for BattleMechs on her datacard, but notes that a black-armored military policeman has replaced Reyes at the guard station.  With no way out that won't lead immediately back to Esterhazy's corpse, she considers using her diversion, but holds off, realizing she'll need it to get out of the gate.  Instead, she follows another scientist through the door and walks down the corridor, attracting no notice from the guard.

In the interrogation room, Reyes continues to play dumb while Nehru accuses him of being a Maskirovka agent, then explodes into action, taking out the two guards and fending off Nehru as the door crashes open and more guards enter.  Nehru draws a hold-out pistol and shoots Reyes in the eye, killing him.

Halle finds her pre-stashed medic's uniform and ambulance, and prepares for her exit, sending a series of numbers to her "Emergency" contact.

General Bangs is still in shock about Reyes' death as Nehru demands the security staff find everyone with whom Reyes had contact in the last week.  Nehru is distracted from pleasant thoughts of shooting Bangs for incompetence by a muffled thump that shakes the building.  A guard reports an explosion, and Nehru excuses himself to coordinate with Vocaine.  He pauses amid mentally lambasting the stunned staff for their lack of emergency response, then belatedly radios the guards to seal the gates.

The selfsame gates receding in the rear-camera screen of Halle's ambulance.  With a hastily procured burn victim in the back, she was passed through the gates by privates who failed to question why an ambulance would be leaving the base right after an explosion.

Notes: It's amusing that the algorithmic and calculation requirements to run 9,000 faces for matches against 6,000 faces at the base astounds Bangs - a reflection of what the author considered amazing when the story was written in 2011, but something that Google can probably accomplish without breaking a sweat today.  I recall reading a sci-fi story from the 1940s where aliens came in a ship powered by magnetism and used slide rules to calculate their course - because what sci-fi author in the 40s was going to predict electronic computers?

The interrogation scene has one mistake that may or may not be intentional.  Reyes says "Some days you hear the Captain-General himself is behind the bulkhead."  The 'himself' part would be quite surprising for Captain-General Simone Marik to hear, as she replaced her father Geralk seven years earlier.  Sort of akin to the scene in 1980s film "Born in East L.A." where Cheech, when asked who the president is, answers - "Oh, I know.  That cowboy dude.  John Wayne, right?"

I've taken classes in micro-expressions.  They can be fun to use when you know what to look for.  You can actually tell the difference between a real smile and a forced one by whether the skin around the eyes crinkles or not.

In the Stackpole novels, gross incompetence was a byword for Maskirovka and SAFE activities.  They'd try to assassinate a Davion officer and get scared off by a guard dog.  They'd try to ambush AFFS cadets and end up getting outgunned by the ambushees and leading them right back to their own safehouse.  They'd blow up a skyscraper to get one target, and still miss.  I appreciate the greater effort that Jason Schmetzer put into actually making the tradecraft competent on both sides (albeit surrounding Nehru with enough social generals to hamstring his security protocols).  The resulting game of cat-and-also-cat is quite fun to read.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 15 March 2019, 10:48:48
Date: March 21, 2466

Location: Xanthe III

Title: The Spider Dances

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  At the team's safehouse in the evening, Hector Little, Halle Osten, and Sasha Feodoreyva receive a message from Quinn - the Inspector is coming, but Quinn is going to try to slow him down.  The team has made dozens of copies of the purloined 'Mech technology data, and each has multiple copies.  More copies are scattered around town, where they can be collected by future Maskirovka operations if this team fails to extract.

Inspector Nehru, meanwhile, is picking himself up from the sidewalk where his security team threw him when a sniper opened fire, killing his body double.  The sniper's remains are aflame, since one of Nehru's guards had been packing incendiary grenades.  Nehru chafes at the need to wear ballistic plate armor, but the security chief was adamant - after the previous security failures, every measure would now be fully implemented.  Bangs' security team found Esterhazy's body half an hour after the explosion, and his technicians confirmed that the schematics and databases for the BattleMech program had been downloaded.

A security sergeant tells Nehru that the escort is coming soon, and he hears a helicopter spinning up.  He gets into an armored executive car and finds General Vocaine and Force Commander Bateson, the Happen base security officer.  Nehru cuts off Bateson's stammering offer of resignation and asks for Vocaine's report.

Vocaine notes that the link between Reyes and Esterhazy was Halle Ostend, who was spotted driving an ambulance out through the gates after the explosion.  The ambulance was found abandoned, and the burned trooper in back had died of his wounds. 

Nehru orders Bateson to call the governor in Barter and close all the ports, even the military patrols.  Bateson protests, asking if Nehru doesn't trust the garrison.  Nehru acidly answers that he trusted Bateson's people.

At the spaceport, Danilov watches Captain bar-Danan receive the closure order and ask for confirmation, noting the difficulty of ensuring that the airspace remains closed if all the interdiction flights are grounded.  Bar-Danan angrily tells the person on the other end of the line that he will not bear responsibility for any consequences of these orders.  Danilov uses his traffic control noteputer to send a word to a number, then wipes the noteputer clean.

Notes: Nehru and the Maskirovka team are building up to a big finish, but the Maskirovka preparations have ensured that the data will get out eventually, unless the FWL is willing to enact the Omega Protocol (nuking from orbit) on Xanthe III to keep 'Mech technology out of Capellan hands.  The Capellans would take that measure (considering what they did to their original capital city on Capella when it fell into Davion hands), but the Leaguers aren't so...determined.

Nehru is good, but the Maskirovka has had the time to set up contingency plan after contingency plan, and the NIA Inspector is basically trying to close the door after Mrs. O'Leary's cow has already escaped from the burning barn.  So far, the Mask team has lost Quinn and Reyes, but that's why you bring a large team for missions where everyone is designated "expendable." 

If Quinn was really trying to to stop or slow Nehru's convoy from reaching Barter, I wonder why he just used a sniper rifle instead of something with a larger blast radius.  An incendiary grenade launcher, for example.  They're clearly able to cover the distance between his sniper's nest and the car, since one of the guards sent one back his way successfully.  Perhaps trying to bring in or locally acquire hardware of that nature would have risked drawing unwanted attention.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 18 March 2019, 12:30:10
Date: March 22, 2466

Location: Xanthe III

Title: The Spider Dances

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Sasha Feodoreyva, Hector Little, and Halle Ostend discuss contingency options.  Hector says the team will probably be made by lunchtime, with cameras around town having tracked Halle to the safehouse.  All the team's faces will be on record coming and going.  Halle suggests going to ground and waiting, but Hector says the Inspectorate
agent will not open the port until they are caught. 

Little says Dan is the only one who has never been to the safehouse, and his only contact is Tibbetts.  He says the only way to succeed is to let the Inspectorate think they've caught all the Mask agents, when in reality he's only caught most of them.  Dan is the ace in the hole.  Little says he'll go first and make a big noise by trying to steal a shuttle.  Drake enters and begins handing out pistols.

In another Maskirovka safehouse - one not used for three days, Inspectorate Colonel Nehru ponders as his troops tear the place apart looking for clues.  He believes his prey hasn't yet gotten off-world.  Vocaine reports no clues at Reyes' apartment, and says the command post at the port will be active in two hours - the only interstellar port on the planet, with the others having been shut down since the start of the 'Mech project.

Hector Little arrives at the port with Halle and Sasha, and is waved off by a guard who tells him all flights are cancelled and that he should go home.  Sasha, playing the part of a spoiled Atreus diva, exits and announces her intention to be on the first shuttle leaving Xanthe, followed by Halle.  Hector says he'll park the vehicle.  The women eye the security guards as they enter the terminal.

Nehru's convoy arrives at the port with a police escort, looking at all the people ignoring the closure announcements on the holovid network.

Little is met by Drake as he exits the parked van, and he climbs into the motorized tricycle's passenger compartment.  The two exit the commercial port and head for Crandall Field - the Barter Militia's portion of the port.  Drake pops the trunk and Little pulls out a bag.  As Drake speeds away, Little walks towards the fence.

Int he control tower, alarms sound, and Fyodor Danilov notes a Traveler-class mail shuttle taxiing towards the runway.  Bar-Danan orders him to alert Crandall field and wake up the militia pilots for possible pursuit.

In the hanger housing the field command post, Nehru ignores Vocaine screaming orders to "stop that shuttle," and considers this "too easy."  Vocaine reminds him that all craft were grounded, and there's no way to pursue the shuttle if it gets off the ground.  He frantically tells a commo tech to have the field CO block the field with whatever is available, and to put fighters in the air ASAP.  On the monitors, he watches as an emergency foam-sprayer truck crashes into the shuttle as it begins to lift, enveloping both in a fiery explosion and rocking the hangar with the force of the explosion.

The security team celebrates their success, but a beeping monitor attracts Nehru's attention - facial recognition software has matched Halle Ostend to one of the passengers waiting in the terminal an hour ago.  He yells for Vocaine, and gasps out that more of their quarry are in the terminal.  Vocaine calls for Captain Mallory to get the sergeant of the guard, while Nehru sits back in his chair, still gasping from the shockwave, and thinking that this is still too easy.

Halle exits the terminal restroom having donned a disguise as a resident of rural Sierra.  Everyone is looking at the wreckage, and a guard tells her a fire truck crashed into a shuttle.  Sasha surreptitiously signals to Halle to keep an eye on the security guard's gun.

At the hangar, infantryman gear up and charge stun rifles while Vocaine screams at Captain Mallory to have his guards arrest the two women on sight and seize their possessions intact, and to consider everyone in the terminal to be expendable.  Hearing a screaming noise pass overhead, Vocaine yells to get fighters in the air.

In the terminal, Sasha sees a second shuttle (Drake) taking to the skies above the wreckage of the first (Hector).  Sasha looks over at Halle, feeling a smile about to break out.  She sees the guard near Halle looking at her and then back at his comscreen.  He begins to shout that he's found her, but Halle breaks his neck as she takes his pistol and opens fire on another guard.  Sasha runs to the dead guard and takes his weapon as well.  An assault rifle barks and Halle goes down in a bloody heap.  Sasha pulls datacards out of her pocket and starts smashing them with the gun, continuing until assault rifle rounds find her as well.

In the terminal, Nehru steps around the pools of blood and picks up the surviving datacard.  A match for the six recovered from Halle's body.  He tells Vocaine to have his team analyze them.  Two aerospace fighters scream past - militia Dragonfires in pursuit of the shuttle.  Nehru turns and ascends the staircase to the control tower.

At the top, Danilov tracks a third Dragonfire taxiing past the shuttle wreck.  Captain bar-Danan confirms the order for the militia pilots to force the shuttle down if possible, and shoot it down if not.  Danilov orders the head of Dagger Flight, Ssu-ma Kane, to bring the shuttle back or shoot it down.

Kane, also a Maskirovka agent, considers his options - with a copy of the chip in his flightsuit pocket, he could coast to the jump point on a ballistic trajectory, playing dead and staying off radar.  Cutting life support would kill him, but the fighter and the data would make it, though retrieval by the Liao JumpShip would be nigh impossible.  Kane fires his missiles in a warning shot, then destroys the shuttle's engines with his lasers.  The crippled shuttle plunges back towards Xanthe III.

Nehru tells Vocaine to gather evidence from the wreckage, but can't shake the gnawing feeling he's missed something.  His communicator beeps, and a female voice alerts him that facial matching has accounted for two more Mask agents.  Nehru swears and tells Vocaine to keep looking - there are more. 

Hating himself, Danilov points out to Captain bar-Danan that Dagger Lead isn't returning to base.  Dagger Two reports he's unable to catch Dagger Lead.  Bar-Danan informs Nehru that they can't catch the escaping fighter.  Nehru asks for Danilov's console, and enters many keystrokes to bring up a secret window.  Nehru presses "execute" and Dagger Lead simply explodes.  He then stands and informs bar-Danan that he just activated the fighter's anti-capture failsafe.  Vocaine cuts off bar-Danan's questions, and tells him "the colonel-inspector was never here."

To redirect suspicion, Danilov tells Nehru that Kane was flying the Dragonfire, and that the other person on his list, Edgar Tibbetts, works in the commo room just down the hall.  Vocaine and Nehru charge into the commo room and exchange fire with Tibbetts.  Vocaine is killed and Nehru is wounded.  Danilov pulls him back out the line of fire as bar-Danan kills Tibbetts.

Nehru tells Danilov to tell the governor that it's over.  Danilov assures Nehru he will, and tells him to rest.  Hovering on the edge of consciousness, Nehru is both thrilled that the case is complete, and stunned by the complexity of the Maskirovka operation - they'd been everywhere on Xanthe, infiltrated the militia, and died fighting, even in escape vectors with low chances of success.  He's amazed that the Maskirovka would sacrifice an entire team, and begins thinking of new tactics that will have to be developed to deal with such brutality and fanaticism. 

Danilov hands Nehru off to medics, while another rouses the wounded bar-Danan.  Danilov confirms to the captain that the incident is over, and bar-Danan says he's got a port to open.  Danilov goes with the medics into the elevator and continues down to the bottom level, where his datacard awaits in his locker with another clean ID and enough cash to buy a spot on the first ship off-planet.

Notes: The Maskirovka scheme bears some similarity to that employed by the Wolverines - make the pursuers think they're chasing you, while you hang back and let them go past.  Of course, that would have worked better for the Wolverines if they hadn't been caught unprepared by the returning pursuers. 

The Dragonfire's stats were released as a BattleCorps exclusive.  Interestingly, it was written up as a Capellan fighter design, suggesting that Xanthe III may have originally been a Capellan colony that got grabbed by the Mariks, and the Dragonfires were still onplanet when the pro-FWL militia was gearing up.

Facial recognition technology plays a large part in this 2011 story, published two years before police used security video footage to identify the criminals behind the Boston marathon bombing.  One device that it would have made sense for the Maskirovka team (but which may not yet have been developed) would be encrypted microcommunicators.  If they could communicate with each other on their own private channels, they wouldn't have had to rely on coded messages and dead drops on the planetary network, and wouldn't ever have had to come within kilometers of each other - each having their own apartment and none ever interacting - just talking over their microcommunicator net. 

This was, hands down, my favorite entry in the Proliferation Cycle, with the constant game of gambit and counter-gambit deployed by both factions. 
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Kojak on 18 March 2019, 17:38:53
Smart writing to have two characters with 'Dan' in their name to keep you guessing about which one would turn out to be the Mask agent.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 20 March 2019, 05:43:44
The March 19 scene identifies Fyodor Danilov as the Maskirovka agent working with Tibbetts.  Danilov apparently did not have any contact with Ssu-Maa Kane, though Kane and Tibbetts worked together.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 21 May 2021, 05:27:39
Date: June 30, 2236

Location: Freedom

Title: Inverted

Author: Giles Gammage

Type: Short Story (Shrapnel #4)

Synopsis: A man with a head wound and amnesia regains consciousness in a toppled armored car.  He emerges into a massacre site, where hundreds of civilian vehicles are still burning, and is rescued by Flo Vannier, who decides to take him back to her settlement for medical treatment.  Since he can't recall his name, she calls him X.  At Flo's nearby jeep, they meet Hank Dupont, Flo's companion, who identifies X's clothes as the uniform of the Alliance Fourth Para-Cavalry.  Flo dismisses that fact, noting that X could either be a deserter or a rebel, since they've been taking uniforms off dead Alliance soldiers for weeks.

They drive back to the settlement, the sound of artillery bombarding Jefferson City 50 km away faintly audible.  In the settlement's police HQ, Hank reports to Sheriff Terry Kaplan that the Alliance ambushed a civilian relief convoy, leaving X as the only survivor.  Other town councilors are introduced as Kelly Saint-Yves, Julian Marchant, and Malcom Leroy.  They debate what to do with X, and whether either the rebels or the Para-Cav constitute legitimate authority, given the circumstances, and agree to postpone a decision until X recovers and decides what he wants to do.

Outside, walking to Dr. Vannier's house, Hank tells X he's planning on raising an anti-Alliance militia with guns looted from the massacre site.  Noting X's military uniform, he suggests there could be a place for him in the settlement.

As X drifts off to sleep, he hears a disturbance outside, and sees VTOLs and jump infantry entering the settlement, and hears Sheriff Terry Kaplan's voice demanding all citizens assemble in the town hall.  Flo refuses to go, and two Para-Cav troopers insist at gunpoint.  X, using a pistol Hank had given him, shoots them dead, noting that it had worked for him despite being gene-coded to the Terran officer it had been taken from.  Hank arrives and shoots a Terran soldier who had been firing blindly into the clinic.

Flo goes to the town hall to try to calm the situation down.  X takes the jump pack off the dead Terran and tells Hank to have his militia surround the hall, while he picks the Terrans off from above.  Moving to the VTOL landing zone, X destroys the Terran transports (unchallenged by sentries, since he's in Para-Cav gear).

X moves to where he expects the Terrans to rally for a sortie against the militia, and guns several down before he is confronted by Sheriff Kaplan, who is holding Flo hostage.  X complies with Kaplan's demand to surrender his pistol, but the gene-lock prevents it from firing when the Sheriff tries to kill X with it.  X then shoots Kaplan with the rifle he took from the jump trooper, then finishes him off with a shot to the head from the pistol.  Flo tells X that Malcom Leroy, the settlement's teacher, had been the one to summon the para-cav.

Noting that X was able to fire the gene-locked gun, she asks who he really is.  X responds that it doesn't matter - not identities, histories, nor political factions - only firepower.  With that, he departs into the darkness.

Notes: Chronologically the earliest BattleTech short story at the time of its publication, Inverted gives a closer look at the politics on the periphery of the Outer Reaches Rebellion.  Per the original sourcebooks, years of mercantilist misrule by appointed Terran governors led to a rebellion against Terran Alliance authority, and declaration of independence by President Tudella Dupont.  The Alliance forces sent to put down the rebellion ran into armed merchant vessels contesting the jump points.  Though outgunned by the Alliance WarShips, the merchantmen wiped out ten percent of the Alliance troop carriers with suicidal ramming attacks.  When the Alliance forces attacked the heavily fortified Jefferson City, they were repulsed by the determined defenders, who launched a sortie and seized some of their artillery, turning it against them.

Unable to breach the walls, the 4th Para-Cavalry settled in for a siege, and killed every Freedomian they found out after dark, while dealing with insurgents slipping into their camps to steal weapons and kill their soldiers.  This story takes place two weeks into the siege, well before Alliance reinforcements arrive to raze Jefferson City to the ground on August 25. 

X is/was clearly an Alliance Para-Cavalry officer, but having lost his personal history to amnesia, his survival instincts turn him almost feral, calculating that the unsettled environment means power comes from the muzzle of a gun, especially in the hands of someone able to use it, and is constantly calculating moves that will enable him to take a position of authority in the future.  Makes one wonder how much that reflects his pre-amnesia persona.  He certainly was able to rise to command rank in the Alliance para-cavalry - and keep in mind that the para-cavalries were the same units used by the Alliance government to massacre crowds of protestors on Terra, per the Periphery sourcebook. 

Colonized in the 2100s, Freedom is at most 100 years old, and seems to primarily be centered on Jefferson City.  The Star League soucebook indicated that the Alliance tried to maintain a mercantilist relationship with the colonies - restricting what tech they could bring out (making them reliant on the Ryan Cartel for weapons and other contraband) and trying to establish a system where the colonies sent raw materials back to Terra in exchange for manufactured goods.  Despite that, Freedom apparently has a well developed heavy industry sector - manufacturing a wide variety of buses, trucks, hovercars, etc. (Unless all those vehicles were shipped in - doubtful, since this predates DropShips, and anything brought in would have to fit on a shuttle.)  The rebels were also able to construct fortifications around Jefferson City that kept 6,000+ Alliance jump troops with artillery and armor at bay for six weeks.  My takeaway is that the Alliance's mercantilist restrictions were overstated, or the Ryan Cartel was delivering a lot more than MANPADS and ice. 

(Hank's militia also doesn't seem to have been in the loop for getting Ryan Cartel guns, since he's looting them from the destroyed convoy...of course, since X's armored vehicle got nailed by something heavy enough to take it out, and since Hank found guns among the wreckage, it's a good bet that the rebels running that convoy had some serious firepower - opening up the argument that it was, in fact, a legitimate military target for the para-cav.)

I enjoyed the look into local politics, with both pro-rebel and pro-Alliance characters, and others that just want to help as many people as possible get through the carnage.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Wrangler on 21 May 2021, 06:03:07
Certainly eye full resisting fighting. Not to drift too far out from the focus on X and his plight for self identity and to help people under siege.

I find it interesting the Alliance had "WarShips".  Perhaps not Dreadnought, since it was listed as the first modern warship, it does beg to wonder if it allowed for pre-dreadnought like ships to appear.  I aside from Saturn Patrol Ship (a dropshuttle/dropship), there nothing big noted in this era.  If there was time for space operations is this time period.   It would be nice see primitive combat jumpships.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Kojak on 24 May 2021, 19:44:29
Oooh, are these back? Hoping this wasn't just a one-off.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 25 May 2021, 02:35:05
Date: June 12, 2443

Location: Styx

Title: Something to Prove

Author: Michael J. Ciaravella

Type: Short Story (Legends)

Synopsis: At Fort Barbados on Styx, Colonel Charles Kincaid argues with Major Elliot Pullman over whether Kincaid should take his Mackie out at the head of the 801st Heavy Armored Regiment to respond to an unidentified DropShip grounding 15 km from the city of Barbados.  While Kincaid is eager to use his new production model MCK-5S Mackie, Pullman wants him either back at the command center or in his aerospace fighter, and doesn't trust the Mackie's systems.  Kincaid reiterates his belief that the new war machine will save lives - noting that the Kuritan tanks and aerospace fighters can match Hegemony gear and inflict casualties, but the 'Mech is new, and only places one person at risk, rather than a whole crew.  Pullman raises other objections - that the prototype's test run against drone tanks had been rigged, that the targeting system is glitched.  The conversation exposes the rift in the two men's lifelong friendship, since Kincaid got a MechWarrior commission while an inner ear problem washed Pullman out of the candidate pool.

As Pullman returns, angrily, to the command center, Kincaid powers up his 'Mech and prepares to lead his lance into combat with what he estimates is a company of Combine tanks with infantry support intending to raid the city of Barbados.  As they approach the city, Pullman sends updated intel that the Kuritans are running Combine-produced Merkava clones - similar to what he faced on the proving grounds in the Mackie prototype.  The initial exchange of fire leaves the Mackies relatively unharmed, while the Kuritan tanks are shattered.

More tanks arrive to intercept the Mackie lance, and their combined firepower knocks Kincaid's 'Mech to the ground.  Rising back to his feet, Kincaid eschews his weapons and smashes a determined Kuritan tank with his 'Mech's foot.  The fall and fight with the tanks has caused Kincaid to fall behind the rest of the lance which, under Lt. Colonel Amanda Cunningham, has engaged the rest of the Kurita troops.  By the time he catches up, the battle is over, with seven of the eight Kuritan tanks in ruins and the last beating a hasty retreat.

Back at Fort Barbados, Pullman welcomes him back and apologizes for his earlier caution.  Kincaid also apologies, admitting that he had wanted to prove himself on the battlefield.  He says he learned what he needed to, and tells Pullman not to mention his involvement in the action - citing Cunningham as the force leader.

Notes: The bio for Kincaid clarifies that his ability to pilot a BattleMech had been compromised by flaws in the prototype neurohelmets (last seen making apes go insane as a scientist battled a Maskirovka infiltrator).  By the time he was posted to Styx, he was experiencing growing tremors in his limbs and periods of diminished consciousness.  So, by going out on this mission, he proved to himself that he could pilot a 'Mech in real combat, but the previous week's "targeting system error" mentioned in the story was probably a result of his arm jerking randomly due to the nerve damage, and his fall due to weapon impact was also probably due to the brain damage.

Giving Amanda the credit brings the story into line with canon and explains why the much lauded test pilot for the prototype Mackie wouldn't have been involved in its first field action, at least as far as the ComStar historical reports indicated.

To the Kuritan troops' credit, they didn't flee in terror from the Mackie, but drove in guns blazing.  Not that it helped, in the end, but that's still better than the Northwind Highlanders managed in "Goliath Out of the Box."  This also confirms that the primary tank of the DCMS at this time was a Merkava clone - probably one with BAR 6 armor and other primitive components.  By this time, in addition to 'Mechs, the HAF would also have been starting to field upgraded Merkavas with BAR 10 armor and better weapons.

It's a good tale that closes a number of dangling loops left over from Break Away and Birth of the King.
Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 25 May 2021, 05:27:42
Certainly eye full resisting fighting. Not to drift too far out from the focus on X and his plight for self identity and to help people under siege.

I find it interesting the Alliance had "WarShips".  Perhaps not Dreadnought, since it was listed as the first modern warship, it does beg to wonder if it allowed for pre-dreadnought like ships to appear.  I aside from Saturn Patrol Ship (a dropshuttle/dropship), there nothing big noted in this era.  If there was time for space operations is this time period.   It would be nice see primitive combat jumpships.

The Periphery SB describes the Alliance expeditionary force during the Outworlds Alliance as comprised of "several squadrons of FTL strike cruisers, assault carriers, and assorted transports." 

The Sarna entry says that the arriving ships bombarded Jefferson City with heavy laser cannon, setting three quarters of it ablaze.  However, the sourcebook never says that the heavy laser cannon was ship-mounted.  It's possible they brought primitive large laser (regular lasers didn't debut until 2290) field guns into play, since the modern Naval Laser series didn't debut until 2305 - decades later.  (If the strike cruisers could have bombarded the city, then why would they have had to wait for the arrival of the 23rd Alliance Striker regiment?  The 4th Para-Cav Division had their strike cruisers in orbit already.)

Title: Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War
Post by: Mendrugo on 25 May 2021, 05:27:58
Oooh, are these back? Hoping this wasn't just a one-off.

Two-off so far, and more to come.  Certain other projects wrapped up, so I have some free time again.