Since otome isekai is one of my guilty pleasures, it doesn't take much to adapt some of the more popular ones to Btech. This one is modified from '
From a Knight to a Lady', tho I removed the 2nd ML equivalent cos he's just too creepy, and while the original story didn't transfer all the skills of the female lead (e.g. she only retained horseriding and tactical skills, but not her sword skills), in this case I had the female lead retain the ability to pilot a mech, cos Rule of Cool.
Removed a lot of the subplots from the original too, because they don't add much to the story.
This is just a story outline of sorts, and not a fully fleshed fiction, since it lacks dialogue and description. But what the heck, I figured it would be a fun distraction. For obvious reasons, I also took liberty with some canon details, such as the Spirit Walker appearing in 3059. But hey, there're very good reasons for that!
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Star Captain Avryl Showers, a trueborn mechwarrior, is a ristar of Clan Smoke Jaguar. Due to her beauty and skills, she was given the nickname ‘Death Lily’.
In the months leading up to Operation Bulldog, saKhan Brandon Howell (known for using deceptive tactics) assigned her to a special Binary unit, the Abyss Mirage Binary, composed of abtakha and disgraced warriors, piloting mechs that could be from the Inner Sphere. They were ordered to create havoc and chaos by raiding the worlds of the Draconis Combine, also collecting intelligence and equipment if possible.
Due to the nature of her unit and mission, Avryl piloted an old Spirit Walker (she named it Saber Knight) omnimech from ancient caches claimed in Trials of Possession, which easily passed off as its progenitor the Black Knight, later on even equipping it with a captured sword omnipod to display her melee skills. The rest of her Binary was likewise composed of mechs either salvaged from the Inner Sphere, or ‘C’ models that replaced some weapons with clan tech equivalents.
They organised raids into the Draconis Combine, hitting supply lines and inflicting heavy damage on their opponents by disregarding zellbrigen and other clan practices of war, in accordance with their orders from saKhan Howell. Their run of success ended when the Draconis Combine was suddenly reinforced with units slated for Operation Bulldog, but the Smoke Jaguar leaders refused to heed the intel they had collected.
When the Inner Sphere started Operation Bird Dog, Avryl’s Binary was assigned the most dangerous missions to counterattack the Inner Sphere. They often faced off against Rason’s Company of the 1st Davion Guards, commanded by Captain Finnickeny (Finn for short) Rason (age 25 in 3059), heir to Viscount Garudawon Rason, hereditary ruler of Delacambre, an insignificant world in the Milligan PDZ, near the Outworlds Alliance.
Finn Rason, though a skilled mechwarrior, often felt lost and held a cynical view of life as a result of his parents’ cold attitude towards him during his childhood. This slowly changes when he battles the Smoke Jaguars and finds his purpose on the battlefield. Leftenant Finn was originally only second-in-command, but rose to command after Avryl crippled his former company commander Captain Juvnes with a lucky ERPPC shot in their first skirmish, and Finn got a battlefield promotion to Captain.
Avryl even once inadvertently cooperated with Finn on a mission where they faced down a group of pirates, where her intensity and purity of purpose inspired him, even though she was an enemy. They held a grudging but mutual respect for each other, viewing the other as a worthy rival they could measure their skills against.
When the recall order was given to the Smoke Jaguars to retreat from the Inner Sphere, while rushing to mount her Spirit Walker, Avryl was shot in the back by one of her subordinates, Star Commander Pence, who then betrayed the unit to the ISF. Many members of the unit were killed, but four managed to escape into the Inner Sphere with their mechs, where they reluctantly found work as mercenaries for several years, while nursing dreams of vengeance against their betrayers.
Avryl herself suddenly woke up in the body of Anastasia Kalinska (age 21) in 3061, daughter and heir to Baron Boris Kalinski, a noble on Altoona. Apparently, Anastasia (Ana for short) had been so deeply in love with the callous Baron Renard Haynes of Inman (heir to Count Haynes) that she threw herself into a lake near the noble mansion on Inman when Renard told her to do so to prove her love for him. The true Anastasia died that night, but somehow Avryl had found herself reborn in her body.
Ana’s father had been so relieved at her apparent survival that he showered her with gifts and affection, but Avryl found herself unable to adjust to her new environment. In order to fit in, she had to start using contractions, and come up with excuses to explain her sudden change in attitude, such as memory loss. Apparently the former Ana was an ill-tempered and spoiled brat who abused the servants and took advantage of her beauty to manipulate other noblemen. She had been so beautiful that even the Count of Inman had given her the unofficial title of ‘Lily of Altoona’. Avryl noted the parallels in her former title as Death Lily and now Ana’s title.
‘Ana’ was stunned when she found herself suddenly engaged to Viscount Finn (now 27 years old), who had just inherited the title from his father and since his family owed favours to the Haynes, he was ‘ordered’ to marry Ana to remove any stain of dishonour from the Haynes (Renard: ‘I had enough of that crazy bitch’). Finn had been honourably discharged from the AFFC so that he could fulfil the duties of ruling Delacambre after the death of his father. He even brought his own mech, a Templar bequeathed to him for bravery in the clan homeworlds. The two clashed repeatedly over their impending engagement and marriage, Finn frustrated with having to marry such an obviously crazy woman and Ana/Avryl over having to marry an enemy she had put targeting sights on before.
Due to the proximity and closely intertwined economies of the three worlds of Delacambre, Inman, and Altoona, with Delacambre providing military defence and production, Altoona rare metals and Inman agriculture, the nobility of the three worlds interacted closely with one another, with significant intermarriage. Inman’s sole recharge station also meant it had greater strategic importance. Finally, it was the oldest of the three colonised worlds, the most heavily populated, and hence was ruled by a Count instead.
The Count of Inman in turn controlled the other two worlds as well, and the small triumvirate of worlds limped on for years, hamstrung by lack of funds and technology to do any better. The three worlds were commonly given the derogatory term ‘The Trivet’, alluding to their lowly status in the Federated Suns/Commonwealth. Their relative isolation (the next nearest world was Winfield, 18.7 LY from Delacambre) meant they were largely ignored by the rest of the FS, and even the worlds in their own PDZ.
Avryl was frustrated by her weak body, as Ana did not believe in exercise, and pushed herself into a punishing training regimen to improve her fitness. While she never got back to the level of her original clan trueborn body, she became quite fit and her once-poor health improved tremendously. This change made her seem quite mad to the other nobles, since Ana had never been interested in physical activity before.
Avryl also wanted to try being a mechwarrior again, but the lack of opportunity and the sheer difference from who Ana was made her realise that she should bide her time instead. She did manage to sneak an attempt at the neurohelmet test, where she was able to make the miniature mech move around the table, proving to herself that somehow this body possessed the same neurohelmet compatibility as her previous body, perhaps even more so.
While on Inman, Ana found herself accidentally involved in a criminal incident, and she surprised everybody when she managed to wrest a knife away from the murderer and stab him right in the throat, ending the threat.
Her over-protective father almost fainted when he heard about the incident, and grounded her for almost two weeks. In the end, Finn reluctantly came to her rescue by ‘offering’ to host her at his estates on Delacambre. As her fiance, her father had no reason to object, particularly as it was framed as ‘time to get to know each other better’.
On Delacambre, Ana discovered that Finn had taken in Smoke Jaguar civilians who had been stranded in the Draconis Combine, and had feared being ostracised for their origins. He managed to transport them to his homeworld where they could start their lives afresh. Several trueborn washouts were even training to join the militia as warriors, some of whom she recognised from her time as Star Captain Avryl.
Finn had another reason for getting the former clan civilians - he hoped their advanced scientific and technological skills could be disseminated on Delacambre, improving their productivity and finally breaking free of their economic and technological malaise. Already, some of the knowledge gained had been used to improve industrial production on Delacambre, particularly water purifiers, solar energy cells, and electronics, with the clansmen teaching specialised courses at the University of Delacambre to ensure the knowledge was not lost.
Ana learned about the destruction of Clan Smoke Jaguar, and did extensive research into how the clan was overwhelmed by the numbers amassed by the Star League, further hastened by their poor decisions since the invasion. The stories from the former civilians also opened her eyes to the truth about how her clan had mistreated the lower castes, something that she had never paid attention to as she was so focused on winning glory for her clan and bloodname.
Slowly, she got to know Finn better, and the tempers between them subsided, giving way to some affection as he realised she wasn't as crazy as people made her out to be, or as spoiled as he had once thought. In fact, she even treated his people with respect and care, which bode well for her future position as consort of the Viscount. On her part, she found Finn to be a thoughtful and steadfast presence in her life, somehow supporting her seemingly crazy whims without doubting her (too much). He just found it strange she actually spent quite some time in the mech simulators and even begged him for a chance to pilot a mech…
Count Haynes sends Pence to inspect the defences at Delacambre. Ana was furious when she found that Pence had survived and cashed in on his betrayal, becoming a key military advisor to Count Haynes, even snagging a small knighthood in the process. She wanted to kill him initially, but resolved to destroy him as a warrior in honourable combat, not with a shot in the back as he had done to her.
Nevertheless, she was relieved when Finn expressed his own distaste for Pence, who had broken his oaths of loyalty to his clan and killed his former comrades in cold blood.
Over the next few weeks, Ana discovered the growing tensions between the various nobles, between those declaring for Katrina, and those who wished for Victor to return. Finn was solidly in the pro-Victor camp, while Baron Renard Haynes was pro-Katrina. Count Haynes remained solidly neutral and refused to take a side. Her own father, a weak and vacillating man, sided with Renard due to familial ties (he was cousin to Renard’s mother), and was hence in the Loyalist camp. Interestingly enough, Vuile Haynes, Renard’s younger brother from a different mother (Count Haynes had a mistress), sided with Victor and is close with Finn.
Finn receives an invitation to Inman to tour the newly completed Haynes military base, and brings Ana along. They were invited to a demonstration of the Inman militia’s capabilities, along with a tour of the base. Ana found her Spirit Walker on display, a trophy for the Haynes to show off to visitors. This infuriated her to no end. She hides her emotions carefully, and only responds with cutting barbs about Pence’s dubious and shifting loyalties. Finn also expressed regret for the Spirit Walker, claiming that the Saber Knight, once piloted by the Death Lily, did not deserve such a fate as a mere trophy.
Her former comrades, Warriors Erlin, Gast, Camille, and Larris, had formed a small merc unit called the Jaguar’s Spleen, in a tragicomic allusion to their origins, equipped with the mechs they managed to pull out of the Occupation Zone (Night Chanter, Blackjack-O, Owens, Raptor) and even a Broadsword, Hunter jumpship, and crew. They took pirate-hunting and pirate-defence jobs along the Periphery, relying on rumours and hearsay to gradually travel to the Federated Suns.
Upon reaching the Milligan PDZ, they were hired by Baron Haynes (and Pence) through intermediaries to conduct a raid on Delacambre and try to kill Finn, weakening the pro-Victor faction in the Trivet region. Pence knew their skills well and thought they would be able to pull it off. Furthermore, they had nursed a feud against Finn ever since their inconclusive battles during Bulldog, and wished to settle the score once and for all.
Ana stumbles across Erlin while he was advance-scouting the area on foot disguised as a civilian tourist and deduced his true objective. After the garrison was alerted, she quietly helped to hustle him onto the next dropship out. Erlin was puzzled at why and how a dainty Spheroid noblewoman somehow figured out his intentions, but instead of turning him in, even helped him escape! Knowing their plan was a bust and the garrison on alert, the Spleen abandoned their plan and paid back the contract, taking on other pirate hunting jobs nearer the Periphery in the meantime to recoup their losses.
Ana, on her part, was relieved to see that some of her comrades had survived, and even in some fashion, thrive. She kept an eye out for the Jaguar’s Spleen and their contracts in the Periphery, wishing that perhaps one day she could tell them she was still alive.
Ana returns to her family’s holdings on Altoona, and finds herself somehow taking charge of the planetary militia’s training regimen after she found their lackadaisical attitude unbearable. Despite having only a lance of mechs, a battalion of combat vehicles, and two battalions of infantry, she insisted on their readiness for combat and even considered how to get them better equipment. She held a drive to sell off her jewellery, expensive toys (cars etc), and dresses to other nobles in the region, raising enough money to provide some of the infantry with better armour and even refitting the mechs with double heat sinks.
This alarms Altoona’s ruler, Viscount James Strong, who worries that Ana might be usurping his position as planetary ruler. In any case, the militia’s loyalties now laid squarely with Ana, since Viscount Strong had never done anything for them other than the minimal budget required by the planetary constitution.
Ana also found a connection between the Kalinskis and the Showers bloodhouse. Steve Showers, the founder of the Bloodname, was the grandson of Christie Lane and Brian Showers, a AFFS soldier. After Brian Showers died during the 3rd Hidden War, Christie remarried into the Kalinski family and Simon Showers grew up in the household, before leaving to volunteer in the SLDF during the Amaris Civil War. He would eventually leave with General Kerensky and his son Steve would become one of the 800. Meanwhile, the rest of the Kalinski line descended from Christie Lane.
When Finn found out about what Ana had done for the Altoona militia, he was shocked and impressed. He travelled to Altoona with a few dresses and jewellery, reasoning that she would be less likely to sell off gifts from her fiance. Ana was surprised by his actions, and they got into a small argument when she even reminded him of his obligations to his people and not to ‘spend any more money on frivolities!’ Finn tried to reassure her that Delacambre’s finances had improved and this was only a small fraction of the expenditure.
Needless to say, the servants were well-entertained. Ana and Finn grow even closer, to Finn's chagrin and Ana's own internal confusion. Their budding arranged marriage-turned-romance becomes the talk of the Trivet.
Realising an opportunity, the Jaguar’s Spleen raided Altoona, trying to hunt down Finn. Upon learning Ana was Finn’s weakness, they kidnapped her to lure Finn out. Ana manages to convince them of her real identity as Avryl, which confuses them when she says she no longer wishes to kill Finn, that she cares for him (she still can’t say the word ‘love’) and only wants to live in peace from now on. They keep her locked up while Finn surrenders to them. Camille teases Ana relentlessly, but she also says she envies Ana for adapting so quickly to her situation.
Her comrades decide to test Finn’s devotion to her, and are pleased when he meets their exacting standards as an honourable warrior. They finally let the two go, claiming that they’re not paid enough to have a bounty set on their heads by the nobility of Altoona and Delacambre. Ana sees through their flimsy excuse and sends a private message thanking them, offering them safe quarters if they should ever need it on Altoona.
After this incident, Finn formally proposes to Ana, intending to marry her in four months’ time. Ana returns to Altoona, making final preparations for her marriage to Finn, while Finn does the same on Delacambre, making sure his holdings are prospering and ready to receive Ana as his consort.
The Fed-Com Civil War begins, and word spreads to the Trivet via a passing jumpship. The Trivet explodes into conflict as the nobles, lacking real military forces, resort to street gangs and local hired guns to take out their rivals, using it as an opportunity to climb the aristocratic ladder.
Count Haynes attempted to stop the bloodshed, but was killed by his son Renard, who then claims Countship of the Trivet, and orders all pro-Victor forces to surrender. Vuile Haynes manages to record the murder and flees with a small force of militia troops loyal to him, taking refuge in the unpopulated icelands in the south.
Finn organises a raid to extract Vuile, but it turns out to be a trap and his troops are bogged down in heavy fighting.
On Inman, Ana’s father tries to intercede on Finn’s behalf as he is, after all, his daughter’s fiance, but his weak pleas anger Renard and the newly installed Count murders him.
A furious Ana contracts the Jaguar’s Spleen, adds them to her own forces on Altoona, and organises her own raid into Inman, surprising her militia commanders with the depth of her tactical knowledge and planning skills. While the Union carrying a company of militia troops heads to relieve Finn, their Broadsword flies within the Union’s radar signature and breaks away at the last minute for the Haynes military base, where Ana sought to reclaim her Spirit Walker, reasoning that with most loyalist troops trying to pin down Finn, the base would be less heavily defended.
At the same time, Vuile leads his forces to the same target, where the two forces rendezvous and he helps Ana reclaim her Saber Knight. He then reveals that he had suspected her true identity ever since her strange and questionable behaviour after her suicide attempt.
After taking back her Spirit Walker, Ana leads her reconstituted star of former Jaguars in a rampage of the rear areas of the loyalist forces, wiping out almost a full company of mechs in numerous small actions over several hours, ruthlessly capitalising on local numerical superiority and clan technology to cut down opponents before they could inflict any damage in return.
Meanwhile, the relief forces have helped greatly, but Pence in his Banshee-5S led an assault specifically to kill Finn. Finn’s Templar was heavily damaged while trying to cover the retreat of his troops, and was almost crippled when Ana finally appears and engages Pence. Shocked by her appearance, Pence withdraws.
When Finn and Ana are reunited, Ana finally kisses Finn in full view of their troops, to numerous catcalls and whistles. The troopers of Delacambre were shocked to see the infamous ‘Lily of Altoona’ turn out to be such a fearsome mechwarrior, and Finn found himself wondering where and how Ana obtained her skills, why the Jaguar’s Spleen were now on his side and obviously also utterly loyal to her.
In a quiet moment in their shared bunk, Ana finally divulges the truth to Finn. Perplexed, he accepts what has happened must be the truth since there was no other logical explanation for what she knows. He proposes to her again, reasoning that the previous proposal was under false pretences and not a sincere one, but now that they both knew each other’s secrets, it was a true proposal. Ana agrees to marry him, but only after they have ‘cleaned house’. She finally accepts her new identity as ‘Ana’, but also resolves not to make the same mistakes as in her former life.
Their morale on a high, the combined Delacambre and Altoona forces steamroll over the remaining loyalist forces on Inman. Ana defeats Pence in an epic duel in the capital, and Vuile is installed as the new Count of Inman, with the allied nobles swearing fealty to him and by extension, to Prince Victor.
The Jaguar’s Spleen head off towards the Kilbourne PDZ for more pirate hunting jobs, despite Ana’s offer of permanent employment. Nevertheless, they know they can always find a safe berth in the Trivet.
Workers carrying out surveys for repair works to Inman’s capital find a small intact research library from the late 2400s unearthed by the battle between Ana and Pence. The library even holds schematics for primitive jumpships that would allow jumps of 20 light years with a KF boom. Vuile orders the mobilisation of resources from the Trivet and neighbouring worlds if possible to build a shipyard at Altoona (as it is the richest in minerals) for primitive jumpships that can service the Trivet worlds.
Utilising every resource they had, from the former Smoke Jaguar civilians (some of the techs worked at Schuyler) to the Jaguar’s Spleen helping to source for academics and engineers who could run the yard to using the vast amount of seemingly useless equipment the DoME had stockpiled on Altoona (a lot of it was fortuitously orbital construction materials that was mothballed and left alone for centuries), the shipyard took two years to complete in the midst of the FCCW, straining the finances of the Trivet worlds and nearly driving them to bankruptcy. However, the influx of orders once the shipyard became operational in 3064 (even for jumpships with a primitive 20 LY range) meant that they quickly made back the money on their investment.
Finn and Ana get married and Ana officially moves into his estates on Delacambre. She also becomes the official commander of the Delacambre military forces, and the unofficial commander of all Trivet militia troops, answering only to Count Haynes for her orders. She bases the bulk of their aerospace forces on Altoona, since the shipyard was their most valuable strategic asset, while waiting for more funds to be freed up for a more decisive assault dropship force that could defend the yard.
In 3066, the first new primitive jumpship was completed to serve the Trivet worlds. Soon after, they were producing a new jumpship every six months, all on routes on pirate points between the Trivet, further integrating the economies of all three worlds, resulting in an unprecedented level of prosperity and technological advancement.
Isolated and largely ignored, the Trivet worlds have finally managed to break free of the malaise that had afflicted them since their colonisation. Ana finds pregnancy a new and exciting experience, and looks forward to more good years with the people she loves.
Happily ever after? Well, there’s still the Jihad…
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Note 1: The names Anastasia and Avryl (Avril) have similar meanings.
Note 2: The use of the Spirit Walker omni has several thematic purposes. The obvious one is that it resembles a Black Knight to confuse enemy forces, and even more so with a sword omnipod equipped, since everybody knows only the ComGuards use Black Knights armed with hatchet/swords. Two, its very name hints at the journey Avryl will undergo. The specific name of Ana/Avryl's mech Saber Knight, both alludes to the sword on her omnimech, and a pun on the word 'Sable' which is just another word for 'black'.
Note 3: The Trivet worlds were chosen as the story setting for their proximity to one another and relative isolation in the FS Outback. More information on the way - I made info boxes for them!
Note 4: The warriors of the Jaguar's Spleen were mostly abtakha from other clans so did not hold as much reverence for the Smoke Jaguars as they should. They were also more mentally flexible, which was why Brandon assigned them to this unit. This flexibility enabled them to become mercenaries, when most clanners would have balked at the idea.
Note 5: To Finn, there's a difference between being defeated in battle then becoming a bondsman/prisoner, and actively sabotaging one's own comrades plus shooting them in their backs/beds. He loathes Pence.
Note 6: Pence is an opportunistic trueborn who could see the writing on the wall and decided to get his while the getting was still good (contrast against Trent). The ISF, of course, paid him off well but he could never be trusted again. He tagged along with Finn and the other Smoke Jaguar refugees (they didn't know if they should be appalled by his betrayal since it freed them in a way) until he found nobles in the FS willing to take on his skills...
Comments and reviews welcome!
