Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - Age of War

[Mendrugo]

----- 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).

[Mendrugo]

----- 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!

[Mendrugo]

----- 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").

[Mendrugo]

----- 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?

[Mendrugo]

----- 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.

[Wrangler]

This is a really interesting way to review the short-stories and other scenario books.  Please keep it up!

[Mendrugo]

----- 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.

[Mendrugo]

----- 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.

[Mendrugo]

----- 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…”

[Mendrugo]

----- 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.

[Mendrugo]

----- 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.

[Mendrugo]

----- 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.

[Mendrugo]

----- 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.

[Mendrugo]

----- 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.

[Wrangler]

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?

[Mendrugo]

It's there.  The fifth post on the first page of the thread.

[Decoy]

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.

[Mendrugo]

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.

[Wrangler]

Could have been a capture machine, the Terran Hegemony and other stats did spar once in awhile.

[FedSunsBorn]

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.

[SCC]

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

[Mendrugo]

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.

[Wrangler]

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?

[roosterboy]

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?

[Wrangler]

Oops!  Thanks!  :)

[Mendrugo]

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.

[Mendrugo]

----- 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.

[Wrangler]

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.

[Mendrugo]

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.

[Wrangler]

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.