Battletech: The Ghost Who Walks (Battletech Isekai)

[Imperator Pax]

yeah there's only what a dozen or so sites that make them in this era and not many lines at each. Still probably can get some from his share of the robinson cache

Click to shrink...

Yeah like Gene's recruiting from both AFFS and the highlanders involves ASF

This is right now a case of, I have materiel I need pilots, where everyone else have the opposite problem of 'plenty of spare pilots, metal is expensive'.

 

[Bofors40mm]

Yeah like Gene's recruiting from both AFFS and the highlanders involves ASF

This is right now a case of, I have materiel I need pilots, where everyone else have the opposite problem of 'plenty of spare pilots, metal is expensive'.

Click to shrink...

albeit a lot less extra ASF pilots are around than mechwarriors since ejecting from a ASF is a lot more risky since you might bail out in vacuum and have to pray your suit is good and SAR is on the ball or you might need to eject too low to do so. Although it is hard to recover ASFs intact....so it might balance out?

 

[Imperator Pax]

albeit a lot less extra ASF pilots are around than mechwarriors since ejecting from a ASF is a lot more risky since you might bail out in vacuum and have to pray your suit is good and SAR is on the ball or you might need to eject too low to do so. Although it is hard to recover ASFs intact....so it might balance out?

Click to shrink...

Probably, but canonically you also have 14 year old ASF pilots in BT, which admittedly you have child mech pilots, cause also BT.

Alright. Notes: I'm behind on another thing, so most likely that will get updated later in the week

Highland 4 will however most likely going up shortly.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Highland Faire​

The small retinue of highlanders, plus Kerston, Septim, and Hanzo all stepped a little uneasily through the reinforced bulkhead. "Deja vu," Septim muttered, probably a little louder than he should. The comment seemed to echo in the expansive theater esque main data space. They probably could have done without the comment at all. Whatever the case he did look relieved that things were under control, enough to continue to stick his foot further into his mouth. "I, this didn't happen to play out like last time I guess."

"Its complicated," He replied as he scrolled through the terminal in front of him on a variety of data packets that Dante was flagging as 'read this', 'read that', 'read this too'. It was a long list.

"A wildfire protocol was not necessary." Dante remarked. "General Marlborough held to his responsibilities to the Hegemony, and as an officer of the armed forces." And had died in his mech surrounded by dead republican guard before a Rim World warship had hit the theater defensive cordon's several square mile area with an orbital bombardment and.... "Subsequent access to this facility occurred but has been intermittent since the dissolution of the League Council." and while Dante didn't precisely come out and admit to reading people's comms, or mail, it was probably the explanation, "I am given to understand that House Davion is preparing an offensive against House Kurita that while unrelated to particular details is still aimed at liberating Hegemony worlds."

"Excuse me."

... Kerston was still using SLDF encryption codes. Hegemony AI probably had master lock cipher overrides... but regardless. He sighed. "Captain Alexander has seen the footage.," he remarked, "Play the HPG recording."

"Affirmative."

... and so, Jerome Blake, and Alexander kerensky's credentials authenticating the recording, it wasn't really an intercept, showed Kurita giving up SLDF positions to Amaris. The footage that the 05P had attempted to kill a valuable, highly decorated portion of the arkab legions on the off chance that they might have peaked at it...

... and there were other issues... but that was the situation.

Septim had moved around through the recording. "So like he said, what happened to General Marlborough?"

"They called an orbital strike as his unit was covering civilians making for the shelters here." not here here, but as a part of Tara's defensive zone. "The strike killed most of the regiment," Dante's report stated that only a handful of Smoke Jumpers, the SOG Regiment that had formed the majority of the local CID's presences combat force, had survived to see the liberation of Terra.

"He said somebody had been here when the Davion's took the planet."

"Yeah," Clancy seemed to have spent some time in a stasis tube, "I haven't read all of his reports, but Fortress Dieron is intact, or was in the mid 29th​ century. Its a castle brian, a very heavily armed castle. That could be good or bad for the invasion." ... and he wasn't sure he was going to tell Yvvone but ...

Campbell was looking at them. "Cameron?" He asked a little shakily.

Kerston missed the context. "The AFFS colonel, who is attached to your command?" He asked straightening his uniform jacket.

"No Brevet General Kerston." The AI replied.

Septim put two and two together to get four, "There are Cameron survivors?" everyone looked at him, "You asked Tristan about the possibility of survival," He trailed off before mentioning any more. "And then Abner found the Tripitz. Or found out what happened to it."

"Yes," He replied straightening and realizing he had the room. "The SLS Tripitz ran the Republican blockade of Terra and jumped from the system, she was carrying the last members of House Cameron's Terran branch pursuant to a Hegemony security failsafe under the orders of the Black Watch. The plan was that Kerensky was supposed to launch an immediate counter attack, transmit an automated order to defense units and turn the tables on Amaris, and them signal an all clear. That didn't happen. The SLS Tripitz was rediscovered in 2979 by the Taurians, and from them possibly the Capellans, and a third party. Said third party then proceeded to scuttle the warship with concentrated air power sinking her in the gravity well of a gas giant that year to deny her to the Taurians. We do not believe those forces were Hegemony in Exile."

Dante had projected holographic images behind him, because they were staring up and behind him now. Given their expressions they were probably static images rather than video.

"If there were survivors wouldn't they have tried to reestablish contact?" Kerston asked.

"I speculate here, that either they chose not to, either maintaining radio silence, on the assumption that Kerensky had failed, or in recognition that with the destruction of the hegemony... the Star League would follow, or maybe they sent out feelers and saw that that, what had happened after. I have no idea whether or not they were aware of the HPG recording or not."

"I consider that very unlikely colonel. Given the situation, and the sensitivity of such things. I suspect that if they survived they were maintaining radio silence. The lack of fire wall protocols being instituted especially in light of House Kurita's collaboration strongly imply the ignorance of events and isolation of any Hegemony elements within the deep periphery." That was the other thing. Kerensky had probably not told anyone if he'd already been planning to leave Inner Sphere... which spoke to other issues.

"Are you saying you believe the League is at war with the Combine? That the Hegemony Position is that-"

Dante cut Kerston's question off with harsh bark, "Yes." The AI snapped, "That is exactly the position I adopt General." and that was when it struck him... Kerston didn't seem surprised that there was an AI talking to them... he had to have figured out that was what was going on. What Gene hadn't expected was for the deluge of images of Rim World atrocities to start appearing in holographic windows, followed by Kuritan atrocities during the 1st​ succession war. "Colonel Shepherd I am committed to assisting in the liberation of Dieron, and any other Hegemony worlds from Combine occupation. In the interest of strategic interoperability I can release resources, and provide limited assistance elsewhere to liberate non Hegemony worlds."

Kerston nodded. "I don't think it is appropriate to hold the combine at fault for the sins of their fathers, but I will obey the lawful orders of a star league chain of command, and in accordance to the regulations of the SLDF."

... Kerston was right... if this had been 2796 ... and the resources available... then Gene could potentially see having to respond by hunting down Jinjiro Kurita, warships and orbital strikes would have been part of the conflict... but now? Even if Dante could magik up a fleet of drone warships from some anchorage, Luthien didn't deserve a Mass Driver strike from a SDS drone built on a Battleship hull.

Kerston's response though seemed to have mollified the AI. "House Cameron?"

"I have no idea, if they survived or not. Septim is right, I knew Tripitz had gotten out, and that there were rumors that they'd run the blockade with survivors of the House, I don't know who they met up or when or how far they got... just that it seemed like they were heading into the deep rimward periphery... and that there were likely black box facilities and castles out there. How many people would have been out there? I don't know. I don't have details, but the orders given were to initiate protocols and not draw the conflict out. Those never reached Kerensky, and Kerensky had to batter through the defenses of hegemony worlds with brute force, and then fight on the ground. Could there be survivors, yes."

"Kerensky went to the periphery."

"He went the wrong direction. He went the complete opposite direction. That isn't to say there might not have been hegemony facilities, but Kerensky," he blinked and swallowed, "Coreward, he went coreward," The galactic 'north' so to speak looking at a map. "I don't think, he was going for actual holds, but rather for unsettled worlds that had been found as habitable by surveys done decades earlier. Tripitz was found by the Taurians rimward as it was, and they didn't send the ship to the Davions, or the Commonwealth."

Kerston didn't protest. "The general," Kerensky, "knew about House Kurita turning over data on the SLDF, and House Kurita then tried to seize the Star Lord's throne." Gene knew that the ELH had had to shoot their way clear of the combine in the 29th​ century, and that they had served with at least the FWL, and the Commonwealth. They'd spent time in the periphery too.

Dante seemed to be prioritize, seemed to have come the conclusion that whatever else might be, the real world value of driving the combine off terran soil was a better use of limitted resources than anything else they could do right now. Part of it was probably finding the resources to mount an expedition into the periphery. He thought about the JumpShips that had been mothballed above the elliptical ... of the JumpShip from that number that he legally owned... Pasha knew there were going to be other Azami who would be fleeing the combine and would need passage to the periphery.

Abner was going to need to be told. Pasha was going to need to be told.

Gene tapped the display and navigated to Kerston's credentials. They authenticated out as a brevet general based authorization... to an AI supervising an Outpost Castle on Neu Karlsruh. "Dieron huh, Feet first into hell?" Campbell asked.

"DropShips more likely than orbital drop pods." He replied... and the Highlander's crack about the deployment on Luxen told him that most likely Campbell had pulled whatever data was avaiable from the MRB.

"There is a lot to talk about it, a lot to talk about." Campbell replied.

Septim opined that that was an understatement. Gene leaned back, "Any questions Ishida?"

"No, Colonel. Where you go I'll follow."

"We can only move forward and rebuild, the hegemony is gone, we can take steps to make a better world but that means going forward not longing for what will never be again." He replied. There were nods, and echo of agreement from Dante.

"Yes, and first and foremost means ending the threat posed from malicious actors."

... and of course maybe Dante believed that evicting the Combine leadership from formerly Terran worlds would improve things, and that maybe if there were Hegemony survivors maybe they could still come back... but that was all speculation. They'd go look when they had the resources to mount an exploration of the breadcrumbs that they had to follow... Dieron first.

--
Notes: HF5 will go up on the ninth most likely. I may post some scrap content, probably nominally canon stuff , possibly wolf dragoon stuff, since we've got highlanders and eridani.

Dante's ending line was actually going to be something a little more dramatic, but I couldn't find the quote I had planned to use, but effectively 'Yes a better world without the Combine, or at least a much reduced combine'. The Eridani have plenty of reason as it is to not trust the Combine canonically... and I've 'fluffed' their backstory to fit with other lore and stuff for this.

Anyway early update, but notably among other things for the ELH this explains why they have current SLDF credentials as well as why Brevet General, why they can promote upwards, protocols and what not. It also sets the stage for the ELH to in the future rebuild back to the equipment standards that they were at in 2764 down the road.

 

[kioras]

The FWL, Lyrans, and Davions are much better stewards of former Hegemony worlds than the Cappellans or the Combine.

THat is not a high bar to clear and the war crimes in the first and second succession war were inflicted by everyone.

 

[Morkail]

Knowing battletech there either all in stasis or currently building a massive battle fleet to come back and fuck everyone who betrayed them up.

 

[Imperator Pax]

3018 Dragoon's Learn of Elidere
(I)​

Jaime Wolf waited for the trivid battle footage to conclude before he addressed the others. It was a recent acquisition to their library of media, but he had watched it before he had summoned the other officers of the Wolf's Dragoons. The conflict between the Federated Suns and the Draconis Combine had occurred last year, but they had been on the opposite side of the inner sphere.

The dragoons were currently in their third contract with a great house, operating as mercenaries for the Free Worlds League under House Marik. The contract had not been much different, Natasha Kerensky was hardly unique in her contemptuous disdain for the blight ridden decay that covered the Inner Sphere.

Every so often though something came up that was interesting. The initial footage that they had seen clips of was mostly just reiteration of what they already knew. Though it was not zellbringen the Draconis Combine practiced a more honorable form of battle between mechwarriors where possible. They had learned that first hand in their first contract. That was not to say the combine did not discard dueling, any more than the clans themselves did, when it was required but the combine's dueling like those of the clans of Kerensky expected honorable combat to take place at range between individual mechwarriors, and from what they had seen as far as averages went the Combine fielded the best warriors of the Inner Sphere

At least in terms of averages for the successor states. The simple proofs did not work as well for smaller samples. Mercenaries were a common profession but there was a tremendous variance in skill levels that made it impossible to make a judgment like that. There was simply too much difference... and the Dragoons had just witnessed a demonstration of that.

The actual battle footage was over, had ended with a pan out over the scenery of Elidere IV, over the strewn remains of a Combine BattleMech company. It faded to black and then began projecting a scrawl of numbers... the tallying of the battle.

A tally that was ridiculous in its lopsided value. That wasn't the only thing.

The white Marauder was certainly a 75 tonner... but its equipment... Jaime Wolf was willing to wager that it was the royal model that had lead to the creation of the 85 ton Assault Frame Clan Marauder II. Though they were considered second line units the original iteration of the IIC machines had often bee developed from existing designs in use by Terran Hegemony divisions of the SLDF. He suspected that he was not the only one of their number to recognize that, and that would raise questions.

That was of course speculation... much as he was willing, would be willing to voice such... there were other matters to discuss among them. The news was coming just as the Widow's company had just made it back from another round of cattle raiding the Lyrans on behalf of House Marik. In theory what House Marik had been having the Dragoons as a larger unit doing and what the 19th​ Galedon Regulars had been doing for the Draconis Combine, even though the latter was a regular house unit.

The devastation was complete. 115 mechs, a handful of aerospace fighters in comparison, a couple of dropships even. All lost to the combine in the span of a month's fighting. Fighting, between BattleMechs, that was meticulously available through MRB office's provision of the BattleRoms, but shorter clips had been making their way across space already due to the ComStar run new service.

Korsht, commanding officer of Gamma regiment, was watching the scrolling text as it listed the allocated kill tally of mechs, and other materiel to the defending, victorious, Davion side. "Andrei would you have tried to fight this?"

The large BattleMaster pilot paused, before giving a barking laugh. "I wouldn't fight like that at all. Would I fight yes. This is more like you, Willy I think." Shostokovitch replied. He laughed again, and glanced to Jones, and Weisz the commanders of Beta, and Delta Regiments respectively.

Delta regiment's commander squinted at the hologram and withdrew the control unit to rewind. The BattleRoms focused on BattleMechs and their onboard recording. It did not include footage from the perspective of CV, or DropShips. It was something that only painted part of the picture, except really on the subsequent battle ... the duels on Ander's Moon.

Natasaha might have ordinarily scoffed at watching some 'small' merc unit fight, but that wasn't the case here. It did not matter that she was just a captain. Not for a true born warrior of a blood name. She had earned her spurs, and not speaking her mind would have been shameful to the wolf pride.

Jones turned away from the reply, "Jaime this is interesting, but we are not likely to fight the Combine, or these people, and not any time soon." Beta's commander remarked even as the footage rewound peeling through deciduous trees and burning light mechs. He was correct so far as it was unlikely that House Marik would pivot to face House Davion, and if they moved on schedule to House Steiner they were unlikely to move against the Federated Suns, if the Wolf Net's analysis was correct... but the Wolf Net report on the footage raised other issues... issues that he felt hi might need to report to the Khan of Clan Wolf, and he might in turn bring to the Clan Council.

It was one thing for the Eridani Light Horse to maintain Star League Traditions, and of course the MechWarriors of the Combine had proven themselves brave warriors who fought with honor. The White machine's torii gate and bird moved as the footage resumed. "Willy?" Shostokovitch questioned.

"This is a Hegemony deep battle double envelopment." She declared, and looked to the other colonels of the regiment. "Its a textbook execution of a Terran Hegemony Combined Arms attack on a numerically superior enemy force." Clan Goliath Scorpion would be pleased that their lessons on the league had been so well remembered.

"So the kid can read a book. You might have noticed he can drive a mech as well."

.... which the dismissal of the attack as just the maneuvering of gear heads was .... expected. Had there perhaps been members of Steel Vipers, or certainly Clan Hell Horse then the action would have attracted more discussion. Goliath Scorpion, and Nova Cat would have talked about the doctrine, or what it meant, but it was in conjunction with the BattleMech contact which came to mind.

If it had been just a decade earlier Jaime might have agreed, but they were coming up on a report, and the truth was the attrition of materiel the Dragoons were suffering was something that had been discussed. They needed to resupply. It was true that they were not using frontline cluster, modern clan weaponry, but second line, and solahma troops would be either, and any invasion of the inner sphere would likely involve the bidding process to minimize collateral damage... a prospect that he doubted the modern inner sphere was likely to respect.

"And the uniform?" Weiss questioned.

If it had been an SLDF a regular army uniform like his subordinates, that might have warranted less reaction. The MRB preferred, did not quite require, but made it essay for mercenary units to adopt SLDF rank structures, and their supply stores provided generic SLDF pattern uniforms. The Eridani and other SLDF successor units likewise used league uniforms often based on their last duty station, or variants reflective of their current posting.

It was still possible it was nothing. Terran manuals, might be found with Terran uniforms, but both, with a Terran mech, three coincidences all in the hands of a pilot capable of fighting as well as any true born of Kerensky's clans. It was suspicion Jaime Wolf had that something about all of this simply failed to add up. They had been able to convince the Inner Sphere of their good fortune by simply claiming that they had found a cache of the Star League, "Cranston what do you think of all of this?"

The eccentric true born glanced up from the paper book in his hands, he reached for his bookmark and closed it, "I have read everything they have. Including the drop he made into an invasion force on Luxen." With exaggerated motion he moved to pull data slates containing BattleMech data that seemed to no longer exist in the Inner Sphere.

It confirmed for Jaime his initial suspicion. Though the IIC had been later modified for mass production to carry three extended range PPCs it had begun life as an evolution of the Royal Marauder of the Terran Hegemony. A few 3Rs had survived the Battle of Terra, and the knowledge of the LBX class 5 had gone with the clans on the Exodus, and eventually had become a part of the clan arsenal. As they had been clearly marked Royal division machines the 3R had not been included with the Marauders brought by the Wolf Dragoons, though they had brought some of the machines that had passed to the regular forces of the SLDF that had been used by commanders who had made the exodus.

Snord toyed with his sunglasses and Jaime was obliged to play a long with the game. Cranston Snord was the opposite of Natasha Kerensky in many ways. "Is there something on Elidere?"

"Haven't," he pointedly contracted the word, "you heard, Colonel?" Sounding like a news broadcaster from one of the marik news channels that had been lurking around the dragoon garrison. A little too like the reporter, really, "The colonel opened up the 63rd​ Mechanized Infantry Division's depot for House Davion."

There was a pause through the room. There was no reason such information would have been included in BattleRom footage, but Cranston had certainly beaten Wolf Net to delivering the news to Alpha Regiment's commanding officer. "There is more?" He asked as all eyes fixed on the true born slumped comfortably back into the low couch.

Cranston toyed with his sunglasses even as Natasha started to get visibly impatient with the needling. "There are some rumors coming out from Robinson. The Draconis March Militia suddenly has a significantly heavier mech quota from what I'm," Natasha ground her teeth, "hearing. As if, they might have also found something. If I were to guess, I would figure that that the 100th​ Battlemech Division had a depot that hadn't," again with the intentional contraction, "been opened before this."

--
Notes: As threadmark implies this is nominally canon, but not for sure. I don't have a perfect handling on the Dragoon main leadership so this is an Extra. In particular as far as canon goes, I don't understand how WolfNet / Dragoon intelligence is supposed to be as good as it is in canon, its very plot device / MC syndrome / whatever you want to call it that their int service does this especially given what HSII implies about the effectiveness of the successor states intelligence services, which is to say they're not incompetent. However Cranston (he's probably supposed to be a freebirth in canon, he's a true born here solely because he's such an odd duck) is an excellent option for handling int wonk business, and also putting things together, in this case digging through the archives to identify Gene's mechs and their official designations.

Regarding the Mad 3R designation, that isn't canon, but I am using it to explain Mad IIC and as a way to refer things to the wolf dragoons, basically on that end, its a data point. Canonically the MRB wants you to use SLDF ranks (probably either because well Star league obsession, but also because paper work) for your merc companies, and the MRB does .... intermittently operate its own stores (its probably just select worlds) though they can also just refer you stores as well. So it makes sense that if you're buying from an MRB recommended or operated store, they'd sell you mass produced star league style uniforms, its cloth. Its not Star League tech, but it evokes the SLDF's memory, and that probably sells them well enough.

Nominally canon, though this takes place after Highland Faire, but before Dieron is taken by House Davion, this is early spring 3018 in terms of calendar. Pointedly this is of course before the Dragoons find out about things like Blackwell providing equipment because they're a davion company.

 

[Thine Spree]

Interesting, I like your portrayal of the wolves so far, I do wonder what their responses will be if they learn that Gene is a true blue TH/SLDF era mechwarrior?

 

[Imperator Pax]

Interesting, I like your portrayal of the wolves so far, I do wonder what their responses will be if they learn that Gene is a true blue TH/SLDF era mechwarrior?

Click to shrink...

On that, I think I've mentioned this, but I may not have, the main, or the original (since that may change), introduction on screen of Wolf's Dragoon to Gene and Co, chapter is titled 'The Last Gunslinger'* and that is more important than being just an SLDF officer, is the prestige thing. Similarly speaking a surviving Black Watch officer, or enlisted, would be high status to the clans because of and out of the expectation that such a veteran of the SLDF would be 'elite' would be a good warrior. Thats just how the clans of Kerensky are. Martial prowess is the big social indicator, though they do place a value on shared heritage. But MechWarrior is the big category matter, SLDF Mechwarrior its the latter word that really adds value.

*

Spoiler: Note the following has been mentioned previously, but I'm still spoilering it.

Spoiler: Spoiler alert

Spoiler: Dobrev

Spoiler: Clan Wolverine Exodus

Technically speaking Gene is not the only surviving Gunslinger, notably there is the remnants of Clan Wolverine in the main timeline outline, and as I've mentioned previously that McEvedy is alive as popsicle, and has Hegemony credentials. Clan Wolverine shoved as many of their people as they could into stasis pods that they had produced and retreated back towards the inner sphere trying to put as much distance from nicky's crazy people as they could

 

[Bofors40mm]

err its the 1R and 2R that are the SLDF marauders with the 1R originally being a royal mech but superseded by the 2-R and being phased into Regular Army service. the 3-R wasn't introduced till 2819

 

[Imperator Pax]

err its the 1R and 2R that are the royal mechs. the 3-R wasn't introduced till 2819

Click to shrink...

Yes, I know and I addressed that, in terms of canon.

Canonically the 3R is a successions wars era design. The canonical 'default' Marauder the 2 ML, 2 PPCs, AC no FF. No case.

Here, and this is not canon, the 3R is GM marketting the down teched Marauder 1R, again swap the FF out for standard, remove Case bam you're done. I say thats not canon but that makes sense.

Here what is being said is that Gene's White Marauder is a Hegemony 3R its a prototype test evaluation stage mech aiming to succeed the relatively recent 2R (which is ERPPC, and DHS). So what the Dragoons are saying is that this is a '3R' we know that because some of them were taken on the exodus, and that model marauder, with that lbx prototype were taken by Kerensky on the Exodus. Its a royal design, the Clans are confident that 'they won't have those', but they'll have 1R because the SLDF regulars, House Kurita, House Davion they had them during the Davion succession crisis. So the Wolf Dragoons have 1R Marauders that they brought with them.

The reason I did this, is that the canonical designation 3R never has made much sense to me, in terms of the Marauders lore, because that doesn't make sense, a lot of the early lore was written after the fact, the SL era lore, so you get stuff like oh Marauders were originally royal only from the 27 century, and then you get roll tables where even the Taurians have them in 2764. So the explanation is that GM just used 3R for their 2819 down tech marauder

 

[Bofors40mm]

on another note that reminds me....what exact gear from the two caches did our friendly mercs get to keep?

 

[Imperator Pax]

on another note that reminds me....what exact gear from the two caches did our friendly mercs get to keep?

Click to shrink...

The MID Cache (from Elidere) the main thing are the Rapier ASFs, those will show up, there some other things from the 63rd depot, Kintaro and Sentinels for example, Infantry gear, spare parts, transport vehicle. I have an actual table of loot to keep track but I don't have it in front of me.

(an MID is a two infantry brigade, Mech Brigade, and G-ASF Regiment)

A depot would be designed to replace combat losses, unlike a cache which is more along the lines of the US Army's overseas forward staging.

So in comparison to whats coming out of Robinson there is less. The difference that the 63rd had more 'modern' as of 2763 gear, but ironically due to the way the Hegemon works, and what an MID's battlemech brigade (mechs that would be useful for a mechinf breakthrough role so the Kintaro, and Sentinel are good for that as they're medium mechs) would, Robinson is yielding Thugs for example which is an endo steel assault mech, highlander Gauss rifle, the tanks, i.e. Alicorns and thats the reason Gene is getting weird looks cause he walks into the brian cache, walks past the mechs and for the most part goes, 'those tanks, those AAA vehicles, that artillery'. That runs into, its easier to get vehicle crews than it is right now for Gene to find trustworthy mechwarriors, Gene is like Pasha tankers, vehicle crew men, maintenance people.

This is relevant because in terms of the invasion of Dierson that in Star League terms is an MID role, invade breakthrough let the independent regiments operate in the enemy rear, hit them on the flanks, strike command and control

 

[Bofors40mm]

On another note I imagine all the maintenance manuals and schematics from the two depots plus examples of tech including presumably a lot of spare parts is going to make the NAIS's life a lot easier. Oh and the base library if that exists probably will help fill gaps in the Helstead collection

 

[Bofors40mm]

on another note it occured to that its canon that the nightstar plant on Kathil is mostly intact since what knocked it out of production was a freak shuttle accident killing the bulk of the staff. Thus I present to you a introtech nightstar.

Spoiler: NSR-10D

Nightstar NSR-10D
Mass: 95 tons
Chassis: Standard Biped
Power Plant: 285 Fusion
Cruising Speed: 32.4 kph
Maximum Speed: 54 kph
Armor: Standard
Armament:
1 PPC
2 AC/10
4 Medium Laser
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3020
Tech Rating/Availability: D/X-E-D-D
Cost: 8,695,440 C-bills
Type: Nightstar
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Introductory)
Tonnage: 95
Battle Value: 1,825

Equipment		Mass
Internal Structure		9.5
Engine	285 Fusion	16.5
Walking MP:	3
Running MP:	5
Jumping MP:
Heat Sink:	16	6
Gyro:		3
Cockpit:		3
Armor Factor:	288	18

	Internal Structure	Armor Value
Head	3	9
Center Torso	30	45
Center Torso (rear)		14
R/L Torso	20	31
R/L Torso (rear)		9
R/L Arm	16	31
R/L Leg	20	39

Weapons and Ammo	Location	Critical	Tonnage
2 Heat Sink	RT	2	2
AC/10 Ammo (20)	RT	2	2
PPC	RT	3	7
Medium Laser	LA	1	1
AC/10	LA	7	12
2 Heat Sink	LT	2	2
2 Medium Laser	LT	2	2
AC/10 Ammo (20)	LT	2	2
Heat Sink	HD	1	1
Medium Laser	RA	1	1
AC/10	RA	7	12

 

[Imperator Pax]

Highland Faire​

If the Camerons had escaped ... it seemed doubtful that they would have lost warships... he didn't understand how they could have lost warships, but the Inner Sphere some how did. Then, of course there was the state of FtL, Jump Drive, production anyway... but even with them the Camerons so far as what amounted to napkin math would have needed a minimum of the forces that Kerensky's exodus had taken into the deep black... so no... Gene confident that an invasion that hadn't happened wouldn't be forthcoming.

He stared at the display, the one dominated by a frozen still image of a deceptively serene looking mountain, on what had once been a Hegemony world.

There was a imprecise sort of pause in the room and they looked around. "it would seem as if you've been missed." It wasn't just their people Kerston's Eridani were wondering where they had all gotten to as well. There was a good chance they were going to be late for dinner. Gene would have been lying to deny his concern at the pervasive surveillance coverage... but he wasn't surprised at the situation either.

The fact Dante was monitoring a supposedly secure conversation between the Countess of Kestrel and Field Marshal Davion was probably to be expected of a CID AI. The mind was right, they had been missed ... which suggested that Yvonne had been watching or on the look out to how he interacted with the eridani. "General Kerston has informed me," He remarked navigating the keyboard with one hand, "That there are other surviving SLDF units. Can a list of those units be compiled." Tristian had from the best available intelligence he had done so, but at the time ... the bigger concern had been the possibility of returning Kerensky ... ists? Like the Wolves .

"There are indications that elements of SOG regiments survived the Hegemony campaign," and did not follow Kerensky. A list generated, that was painfully short, a handful of entries of units from Terran parent formations, "In addition to Special Mission Units," Which also was pretty short. The number of units that could be traced to SLDF formations as well as those who were harder to substantiate but claimed descent from SLDF units was larger... but included units who had of course chosen to enter Successor state service as House Units.

Gene's eyes scoured the list... half way trying to burn the information into his memory... but he'd get copies of it... "32nd​ Recond Group." They'd been tagged in Clancy's report as supporting the Admiral... and tellingly were still in Davion service after all these years.... they were still mercenaries interestingly enough. The Admiral's report suggested that any effort to maintain the inner sphere would need to be through the Davions, because they were the least malevolent of the great houses and most competent.... hence Clancy's decision to side with Davion over Steiner... but the succession wars had been a long time occurring.

... and whatever loyalty the descendants of those units might have had to the league, it was a stretch to contemplate them. There wasn't time to get a message too them, and they'd be getting ahead of themselves. Dieron was first. With as limited, as reduced as the JumpShip fleet and the HPG network clearly were by the succession wars he was going to need resources and that meant support from apparatus that still existed.

He made a face at the holographic security intercepts, and then smoothing the grimace away, half turned. "I take it we will need to reconvene here some time in the immediate future," Kerston remarked beating him to it.

Gene nodded. "That would be for the best." He agreed.

"Aye," The Highlander agreed. "maybe not on the morrow, but, there is a lot to talk about."

Kerston probably wasn't going to wait that long before he asked one or both of them... questions... especially if he had even the slightest idea of what all of this was, that was without even touching the contents of the security box.

Gene attempted to parse what Kerston had certainly heard, and how the Eridani, in their persona as the league continued would react.

Kerston though... what did the general think about everything he'd heard tonight.

There had been the matter of questions related to the Royal Highland regiment... the Tripitz, and of course there was the matter ... the sure to come questions of possible cameron survivors. The walk back into the much more homey creature comforts of modern Northwind's pseudo victorian revivalist decor was done mostly in silence. There was too much to think about ... he needed coffee... caffeine and a chance to think.

Gene swung himself across and into the cockpit's seat reaching for the harness restraints on autopilot while initiating the start up through his neurohelmet. The VLAR 300 spun up to standard running electrical power to the motive systems. Gene accepted the incoming data request, and packet.

The map program headed under the same N001 notification he'd been looking for, and the update to his local area map confirmed that while there 'should have been a significant number of defensive systems... most had been destroyed during the Amaris conflict, and hadn't been operational after the Capellans had invaded, never mind the Davion invasion in the following century. That was not to say the highland world defenseless. There were still turrets and defensive emplacements, and and while most of the league era defenses no longer existed the network of underground railways still existed.
--
The Highland Faire was a demonstration of an Inner Sphere that was, and had been. Much of the festivities, the culture on display, was of a time before the Star League. It was of the gatherings from really the first exodus from Sol, the great migration from Earth... from a world that no longer was. It was also of course a celebration of a post Star League inner sphere, the inner sphere of the succession wars, because while mercenaries had been big business even before the league they were even more critical in the modern, the contemporary Inner Sphere.

It was heavily raining when they arrived and to say the pub was noisy was an understatement. He'd made a handful of trips to bars on Luxen, and watering holes of all stripes had been common on the Magistracy planet, but it was still a periphery world apart of a territorial state that was rather opposed to armed force as a necessity... but the pub was overflowing with MechWarriors and hangers on. It was largely MechWarriors as far as crowds went.

There were other establishments that catered to both enlisted, and officers, as well as the other combat arms... there was even a surviving officers bar specifically for ASF pilots nestled south of the castle that dated to the Age of War, and had survived, at least as a building site, the amaris crisis and succession wars.

This was strictly speaking even though it was built in the rustic neo victorian styles that dominated the planet that evoked a time that had never been, a much more recent structure. It actually post dated the Davion conquest... which as avenue still made it old. The brass plaque on the door celebrated it at more then a hundred and fifty years old from just its participation as part of the Highland Faire.

They were indeed late... not that Gene had really known what to expect in hindsight with the Highlanders... and certainly not ... not the situation, but regardless they were the last of the company's mechwarriors to arrive. In sharp contrast to the wrought iron, brass fixtures, and an abundance of tartan and pennants the holograms showed BattleMechs, and played Combat Roms... and advertisements even as the thunderstorm mounted outside.

Gene shrugged off the dress jacket, that thankfully was water resistant, as Kerston followed suit. By comparison Hanzo and Septim had been inundated by the squal. The truth was he had been storing the garmet bag in his Marauder and had only put it on before they had gotten on, just because of how much rain the sudden turn in the weather had started. Kerston had probably been intending to wear the formal great coat of an SLDF command level officer to make a statement... but he'd have to do without.

The coatman nodded, and took the garmets and set off for the side room even as Bubbles, and Bahar both moved through the crowds. "What happened with you guys, did you hear they're talking about how its gonna snow tonight?" She shook her head, "If you were planning to dodge Bard's performance you're shit out of luck its been amateur hour to warm up, but then it isn't as if youre not the only ones getting here late... so I think they're waiting."

"Who'se missing?" He asked half way conversationally.

Obviously Kerston had probably been one, and the General was looking around, "I don't see the Blue Star irregulars," specifically their general, " they should be here. They're built around the 1894th​ Light Horse Regiment, and function as a RCT similar to the Eridani,"

The SLDF unit had been listed by its League Credentials, but he hadn't been expecting them. "Are they?"

"They're descendants of recipients of the Blue Star of Kerensky." Gene couldn't help but respond with a flat look, "Distinction for Valor in the face of the Usurper."

"I see," He didn't say anything more, but he suspected he was going to need to ask, or perhaps just run an itinerary and see ho w many league descendant units or at least mercenary units were currently on Northwind... and who all the Highlanders, or Kerston might feel it necessary to inform of developments... if there were any.

"oh well here comes Bard.," Chang waved, "I've got them they're over here."

"What happened? Frankly you look like you nearly drowned out there."

Gene ran a hand through his rain soaked hair. "The Highlanders offered us the water of life." He replied... and the truth was he did want a drink. Then it was getting through the throng of people.


--
Notes: this is shorter, on the basis of some of the material will be resumed in the subsequent update, Real Life is proving inconvenient ... and I will probably have some unplanned travelling this week... lots and lots of driving.

 

[Fragment of Serenity]

--
Notes: this is shorter, on the basis of some of the material will be resumed in the subsequent update, Real Life is proving inconvenient ... and I will probably have some unplanned travelling this week... lots and lots of driving.

Click to shrink...

Hope everything is well. Drive safe, unlike most mech jocks.

 

[Silverbullet]

Stay safe and hopefully it all works out bud.

 

[Bofors40mm]

Say would the AI of the Castle on Northwind contain data on the Castle Brian on Riken Minor in the Rigel Kentares system....because that base at the very least has its garrison's gear still inside of it

 

[Imperator Pax]

Say would the AI of the Castle on Northwind contain data on the Castle Brian on Riken Minor in the Rigel Kentares system....because that base at the very least has its garrison's gear still inside of it

Click to shrink...

Dante's database would probably have references to it, but the specifics, barring mention of hegemony troops, or port transit probably not. Rigel is apart of a different Terran province than Northwind.

Dante knows about New Dallas which is a CID major site, and it would have information about Hegemony troop positions through the Alliance core, including Epsilon Eridani and Rigil Kentares which as i've said the Eridani light horse will be refitting to Star League standard gear at the end of the third succession war for a reason

EDIT: as an expansion of the above a lot of the outline of this story is reflective of sort of a playthrough of HBS battletech / or just RPG mechanics, where in between major contracts, i.e. Dieron and of course its BT travel times are slow but downtime involves chasing other leads that will effect things down the road

 

[OmegaS]

Just found this, but what I found interesting that the Light Horse's authorization from Neu Karlsruh. It would be worthwhile to spend time looking at what CID facilities might still be functional.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Highland Faire Extra 1​

She sat at the head of a long table that had supposedly carried from a castle in Scotland during the heyday of the first exodus. It must have weighed nearly a ton, built from a single large centuries old oak tree. It was here countless decisions had been made by planetary officials, Terran generals, and then their inevitable successors. Decisions were made in this room that had effected the history of the Inner Sphere. It was here she mulled over her work. Her working thesis remained that the Combine in the waning days of the league must have done something...

Yvonne Davion flipped through the most recent courier delivered reports GM was ... desperate was probably accurate summation. In terms of what was being suggested wasn't as impressive as developing an entirely new BattleMech. It was simply providing for codification of a new version... admittedly in the case of the Marauder II or this... Lyran Merlin BattleMech they were new BattleMechs but but they were one thing.

Why no one had thought to consider it before though still was a bit grating. GM had a facility on Quentin that produced the Marauder for the Federated Suns... but the Federated Suns didn't have an Orion production line. For a Mech that was occasionally referred to as a poor man's Atlas... despite the absurdity in that the Orion predated the Atlas by over two hundred years... no one had thought to simply outfit its successor design with its weapons. The Marauder had a great deal of existing parts commonality with the Orion. The proposal was easy.

Alexandria, the countess Kestrel, had attempted to locate their fish out of water, but he seemed to have gone off with General Kerston to meet the highlanders... and after transmitting something from the JumpShip after they had arrived it raised questions. The colonel had claimed it was nothing to worry about, and 'worry' in a technical sense perhaps it wasn't, but as Prince's Champion it was among her prerogatives to 'worry'.

... and her lady in waiting was right, she had already considered given the 'Brian Cache' on Robinson and what had sparked its 'topping off' that there was chance , more than a chance that there were resources here... which just brought her back to the hypothesis that at some point before Minoru Kurita had declared publicly there had been other acts that were enough to warrant a Gunslinger, and before him a Hegemony officer from a completely different service branch to side against the Combine. She wasn't going to complain, but she certainly would have liked to know the story behind it.

General Motors wanted access directly to the mercenary company, well the commander at least, but that couldn't be afforded right now. The orion armament Marauder was just part of that, of course it used Davion produced weapons. Weapons like replacing the SRM 4 with the Archer series, and the Kaliyama for the New Avalon built Federated Auto cannon. It was galling that no one in the Federated Suns had thought to do it sooner.

There was the slight issue that the Colonel's clear assumptions were that Mech production was higher than they were. The design was appealing, even with its ammunition dependencies, enough that given the Federated Suns expanding economy that they might be able to to coax additional production out of GM, especially if Blackwell on New Valencia's production remained apace. "Lord William," The Lyran professor, "seems confident the Marauder II will attract Lyran interest." It was an assault 'mech, but given Lyran production of the Marauder, and especially its recent success they might very well want to produce those... the Lyrans were the Largest BattleMech producer in the universe after all. The great factories at Hesperus were likely sufficient to start production of new variants sooner than those at Quentin or on Avalon.

The documents entailed a number of different configurations for the Marauder, and its hundred ton new development. The packet included modifications to the Merlin, a case study and evaluation of both the modifications to a Catapult that was apparent in inventory, a Cicada... which was unlikely to go anywhere, as the Free Worlds League produced the strange design. That was going to go anywhere, but there had been a circular regarding a modified Thunderbolt. Yvonne could see where some of the proposal had begun though, the readying force preparing for the Invasion of Dieron in two months was swarming with variants of Shadow Hawks, and other mechs still produced domestically within the the Federated Suns, and of course the previously discussed issue of no standardization of autocannons.

... and that had probably been less of an issue in the heyday of the star league... but why had no one corrected it, the cost of retooling during the destructive, catastrophic, warfare the active shooting of the first and second succession wars? Recessionary periods?

She suspected that it was more than anyone factor. "He knows Cassara Industries can't provide him with Crabs, or King Crabs."

Yvonned glanced up from her tea cup, "Yes," ... and that raised the question of was there something like Bristol here. Some protected warehouse where there was material waiting to be rolled out to reinforce SLDF units that had never been moved off world for the loss of transit orders, a storage place forgotten about. "I'll admit I've always found the Eridani's theater of being the league... the last remnants of the SLDF equal parts amusing and grating..." She trailed off, and she had the countess's full attention. "I don't think the Colonel knew what to make of it. I think he may be warming to the Eridani now, but not enough to suggest his own origins to the Eridani. To that end I believe that we can safely discount any concerns he may be preparing to open a cache at least not ... regarding wherever he has disappeared to at the moment. This may well be simply Kerston making introductions in good faith to the Highlanders." and Yvonne was more comfortable wtih hires that MIIO could more readily vet before they came on.

Alexandria had already apprised her of the likelihood of Azami rebels likely joining in the offensive... which raised potential security vulnerabilities but at the moment the ISF had its hands full.There were rumors that the Hand of Tyr movement, or some other Rasalhague group, had stolen a number of Panther BattleMechs. Chronologically reports of the theft seemed to have occurred after the ISF had started their purge, so it might have been a daring raid in response. Whatever the case it was useful, if Rasalhague revolted even if the Lyrans didn't move to take advantage of it then they could could on the Combine to be distracted.

"You believe thats why they went to Castle Northwind? Just to meet."

"I would think so..." Yvonne carefully held back what she knew of Admiral Clancy's service with the Federated Suns... of the fact that Northwind was a Hegemony, if an ancient one, Castle Brian... and while Kerston probably knew it was, he had been the reason to visit. The Mechs had gone to link up with the Brevet General. They'd met with a Highlander escort, and then moved underground, and they'd been gone a few hours now.

There was a knock on the secure conference room's door. "Your Grace, we have them back on scopes." There wasn't anything unusual going on. All the mechs were accounted for, and everything seemed to have resumed as normal... well except that it had started raining since they had disappeared.

The weather was positively ghastly outside. The brigade officer attached to her staff provided them with the course projection. It gave them enough time to reach the pub at least. That hadn't been the plan originally, but they also hadn't expected Kerston to abscond with the colonel or for the colonel to pulse whatever that signal had been... and that signal presumably similar to the one he had used on Robinson to search for a return response had been what had drawn Alexandria, and thus her attention.

--
Notes: Not the original planned update, this will not effect sunday's update either, but this wasn't even originally the Battletech snippet I was going to put up today, I had something else in mind as a contingency originally. There is the possibility that in addition to Sunday's regular update, I may end up updating both the Luxen Contracts, and Essence Wielding Social General in addition to possibly other BT material.

This chronologically takes place basically alongside HF5, so the previous segment. Other than that note that this is from Yvonne's point of view, based on what she knows rather than what is objectively true if anyone is confused by this seegment I will qualify, and answer questions, and try nad make any inconsistencies in perspective clearer.

Anyway there is some confusion in canon on production. Everyone has Marauders, because obviously its originally a tabletop game, but the Cappies nor the Combine don't have production. The FWL production is across a very wide selection of mechs, but then Fasa goes loony toons and gives them a ridiculously low volume of mechs per year. (The cottage industry mech production excuse only goes so far... admittedly hey look at production of Ka-52s in Russia before this current shit that was like one every six months, even so). The davions have that black box facility of theirs producing the Valkyrie in droves. Herpsus... is Hersperus in lyran space enough said.

I'll throw this up here: https://bg.battletech.com/forums/the-successor-states/is-3025-production/

EDIT 2: I should also point out that this serves as the useful, foreshadowing of in the event in 3019 or 23 or whenever of any variant models need to show up [I've mentioned the Thunderbolt, and the Catapult previous, the Merlin, this is just expounding on that in universe] as the sort of like 'ackley improved' versions of the introtech mechs

 

[Imperator Pax]

Highlander Faire 6​

Getting through the crowd was the bigger issue, though Gene wasn't entirely convinced that having multiple levels was the best idea, then again all the dancing lights from the holograms probably also wasn't the best 'safe' practice when dealing with copious quantities of alcohol... but it was what it was, and probably a little safer and more sensible than the layout of some Canopian establishments from during the Luxen contracts.

Gene was glad his uniform coat was weatherproof, but it didn't change the fact it was nearly pitch black outside, not much better inside, and he was still wet from the storm. He threw a look back to Septim, and Hanzo, and the rain dripping off them, "Do they have a fire going?" He asked as they mounted the stairs.

"Yeah we've got a fireplace." She half shouted in order to be heard over the noise. "Oh come on." Bubbles grumbled as they continued to move through. It still took another five minutes to get up along a wall and follow it parallel to the railing to the nestled alcove near one of the bars on this floor. There was an access to a staff elevator that presumably lead down to the kitchens

It didn't escape Gene that Bard had disappeared from there number once they had managed to make it to the table... and when the music ended and the first chords of Farewell to Gibraltar began and the holograms shift to a familiar stream of combat footage that originated from Bard's Wolverine.

He'd always interpreted that Bard's use of the, modification of the lyrics as 'eyes of molten gold' as merely artistic license, but either they'd modified the holographic footage, which he doubted or the lighting did actually do a good job making his more amber eye color look a bit brighter. Thankfully those clips only seemed to be coming from his infrequent liaising with Davion defenders. It had clearly been edited , but mostly to splice different segments together.

The Marauder swung to bear on the river front.

Down below the mutli floor spanning hologram of the mech David Bowie waved to the crowded throng of half sloshed mercenaries, including those still making their way in from the rain. Minor celebrity mechwarrior, though not necessarily minor in the Draconis March... one didn't make colonel easily, and it was no secret that Bard was on personal speaking terms with the dukes of Elidere, as well as direct vassal to the Duke of Robinson.

... and certainly minor wasn't the word given the reception Bard was getting from the crowd on the landing.

"...a morning in the spring with hounds and horses running well made the hills and valleys ring..."​

Gene took the plate of turnips, potatoes and beef as the food came around. He looked at them, and counted two extras, "Thats Bards," he pointed as Kerston received his plate. The eridani's commanding officer didn't have anyone added at the last minute. Sutton was down with a mob of cadets on the lower level. Abner had had to decline the invitation citing another dinner engagement, and Ford was supposed to be with him.​

"The huntsman cried that, 'If only the Devil himself ran by, we'd run him such a race!' And up there sprung like lightning, a fox from out of his hole But his fur was the colour of a Starless night and his eyes like molten gold."​

Gene sipped his requisitioned brandy nog, but the timing of the lyrics coincided with footage from his own guns.

"So they chased him over the valley and they chased him over the fields. And they chased him down to the riverbank, but never would he yield. And he's jumped into the water, and he's swum to the other side. And he's laughed so loud that the green woods shook. He's turned to the huntsmen and he's cried: "Ride on, my gallant Huntsman... when must I come again? For you should never want for a fox to chase all over the glen And when your need is greatest, just call upon my name And I will come and you shall have the best of sport and game." Well, the men looked up in wonder and the hounds ran back to hide For the fox it changed to the Devil Himself, where he stood on the other side And the men, the hounds, the horses, they went flying back to town But hard on their heels come a little black fox, laughing as he ran."​

"Well?"

Septim had been with them, and didn't know. Beau shrugged, "They just seated up with extra seats, I don't know. I figured... you guys boss. Highlanders maybe?" The big man asked.

That was a point...very easily Campbell could have joined them... but the Black Watch descendants were no where to be seen. Instead he caught sight of a different group, "Never mind, I think I know who our plus two are." Yvonne Davion didn't need to push through the crowd... most likely because she had an escort from the faire marshals plus the Davion Guards in uniform to menace through the crowd... that and it was a lot easier to make way through with most of the floor crowded around the balcony to watch the minstrel woo the crowd.

The sommelier came out with a bottle of wine and hurriedly talked to Yvonne to the exclusion of everyone else... he was whispering but it wouldn't have mattered with the crowd and the speakers going. "Field Marshal, Countess."

"Back to formalities Colonel?" It was a light tone.

Her look glanced to the water streaked hair, "This is last minute so I wasn't sure if there had been a development."

"Just a social call, you don't mind do you?"

"No ma'am." Not at all... even if they stood out likely by intention. Gene's immediate thought was if this wasn't a pressing matter of the contract then showing up in brazen finery was probably to ward off off any competing interests ... but then that could be General Motors, or lesser FedSuns notables financial or aristocracy or who knew.... but it was a long list... and it was something that he hadn't needed the countess of Kestrel to warn him about, Yvonne had done so on New Avalon, and for that matter besides their liasisons there was what Septim and Bahar had observed while they'd been handling the cadre duty on Robinson.

"Are you settling in on Northwind well enough?"

"I can't answer that until we've had a chance to participate," The whole point of the faire was to make circles for hiring. There were commercial venues, and certainly he would have liked to have talked to Cosara's reps... even if the company was a pale shadow of its Star League existence, but he had originally planned to come here to hire on mechwarriors and other support. "And the drill facilities in particular." No one would pay attention to another arriving Davion regiment but they really needed to focus on expanding on their current drills.

"Yes, well, on the matter of business I did wish to discuss evaluating the company sized element. We didn't have time to properly discuss it but the combine has for various reasons maintained its dueling traditions, and the ronin like culture that emerged from it."

He really would have preferred if Kerston had nodded. "Something to answer the ronin, you're looking for a Gunslinger program of your own?"

That cheshire smile on the old lady's face was back, "Well you could call it that. I've been told that both sides extensively used the Marauder, isn't that right?"

"Thats right."

Pilot skill rather than any technological gulf. The Combine of the hidden wars had been operating machines equal, if not inferior to their Terran counterparts. The long term strategy of course had been to rotate surviving ACMS Program Graduates back to teach the subsequent classes with lessons learned, and thus increasing the volume of graduates relative to in theory a static, or ideally declining, number of 'Ronin'... but that had been the late 27th​ century, and had not accounted for other developments had meant that ... that objective hadn't been met

The Hegemony had not restricted the program from regulars. There had been combine graduates of the program schools. It was just that by all indications the Combine hadn't been interested in the Program methodology. The Capellans had expressed the most interest of the other member states but most attendees had been Terran, there had been Lyran, and League attendees...

There was no pointed in bringing that up... in fact there were penty of reasons not to mention such data. "This has something to do with General Motors I assume?

"To some degree." The Prince's Champion agreed. "GM produces, for the Federated suns both what the 3R, the version that debuted in 2819 as well as the Marauder 3D that entered service fifteen years later. The AFFS continues to employ both models."

"And either will suffice, or both. Discounting that we don't have time to run that kind of complex program, its really more about familiarity with the mech. The Combine used Marauders, the Kuritan 6K modification of the warhammer is an exemplar of their ronin philosophy because machine guns have little purpose in a mech duel." And frankly he was surprised that the modification hadn't stripped out the small lasers too for a duelists machine... but it was what it was. "An Archer or a Dervish, an Atlas," Samsonov's came to mind it had on review almost certainly been configured to let the deceased Kuritan general duel rival Combine officers rather than outfitted as an endurance fighter though with duel ppcs and plenty of armor could still fulfill that role. "I will make the effort to insure that the," He stopped talking as Bard finally managed to get through the crowd and made it b ack to the table, "They're as ready as they can be." He finished, but even so dueling the combine on their terms struck him as unwise outside of niche tactical situations that were unlikely to be the case given the numbers they were planning to drop with... but she was the one signing the paycheck and it was her invasion to plan... and likely all of this was aimed at being prepared for further, future campaigns.
--
Notes: Tentative update plans: So I plan next week to update next week obviously this, II Luxen, I'm going to try and update Essence Wielding Social General, and then some other things, but in the mean time I'm going to sleep.

 

[Fragment of Serenity]

I am always in favor of more Marauders.

Given the two MAD varients running, what would they be closer to? The 3r or the 2r?

 

[Imperator Pax]

I am always in favor of more Marauders.

Given the two MAD varients running, what would they be closer to? The 3r or the 2r?

Click to shrink...

The Davions already produce 3D (which as everyone jokes is the odd one because its the Davion's pulling the Whirlwind and putting in a large laser up top), and the 3R

If you mean Gene's two Marauders, those are basically modified 2R they're Star League ER-PPCs which is something he's careful not to overly demonstrate, they're DHS and ferrofibrous When we get to (I almost put Luthien there), the lake shore battle on Dieron Gene deploys with his Marauders using the ERPPCs specifically after using the Devestator but thats because by that point the Combine officer commanding the Sword of Light has figured oh we're fighting LosTech units and has switched with the training cadre over the night.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Extras Nominally Canon Extras



House Arano introduction 3019
[Part 1]​

It hadn't been the original plan, but there were some things you just couldn't avoid. It would come out later of course that naturally there was more to everything... but there always was. It didn't excuse any of the atrocities that had been committed. Black Jack McGirk had been a criminal his whole life... that there was more to his story didn't change the fact he'd been a pirate for a lifetime before ... well things had happened.

Black Jack McGirk had been the name in the headlines when they'd left the Periphery for the Federated Suns... and he'd been able to continue his rampage largely unimpeded in what the history books as rather ridiculously as 'the Pirate Wars'. What should have been an opportunity to foster good will and common security in the periphery proved little different to the political squabbles between the successor states of the Inner Sphere and for the ruling houses of the Periphery's nations to point the finger and blame each other of either facilitating such attacks, or at least directly benefiting from them.

Whether Black Jack McGirk cared about any of that was doubtful in the summer of 3018 he launched an attack in the exception to how he had been operating previously. The target had been over the border in Davion space... the target had been an HPG station naturally operated by ComStar.

By the time things had been wrapping up, and they'd been preparing to depart Davion space... it was a good time to leave even without the timetable they needed in order to escort out the Azami refugees slash colonists heading into the deep that the Precentor New Avalon had reached out. Not that it'd been any secret they'd been preparing to leave the Inner Sphere again.

It was money. A bounty for something they would have likely done anyway.. and it wasn't news ComStar had been paying bounties on pirates, but particularly Black Jack before they had left, and the notion that the notoriety had been driving the bounties on Black Jack's pirates had been sound enough. There wasn't a reason to really ask questions at the time. So they had left the Inner Sphere, and moved rimward for a months long interstellar journey.

Gene hadn't been able to stir himself from his quarters during the week they'd spent in New Vandenburg's system leaving things to Pasha, and preparing for the jump over the border into a state which had not existed in the Star League's era. The jump over the border into Aurigan space should have been uneventful except that the tiny little world of Aea had been savaged by Black Jack's pirates earlier in the month... and one thing had lead to another. It wasn't Black Jack's first raid into the reach, the Aurgians had been having pirate problems the same as everyone else the last couple of years but relative to overall population the Aea's damage was extreme... and had involved hordes of captives apparently being crammed into cargo holds at gunpoint by Black Jack's pirates.

Aea had been a point of contention between the Aurgians and the Taurians and the devastation might very well mean the end of the planet if not necessarily the argument, but that same devastation set them on course for deeper into Aurigan space with news of the attack... but it would be another month to Coromidir.

He flipped the switch bathing the cockpit in low visibility red. "What do we know Pasha? What's happening on the surface?"

There wasa crack over the speakers of static from the surface, "It is not good," The old JumpShip Captain remarked unnecessarily as his line adjusted to the Titan-class DropShip Eisenhower. "The ambassador from the Magistracy of Canopus has just accused her Taurian counterpart of providing aid to the attacking pirates."

He nodded, "What about Markham's Marauders?"

"Colonel Markham does not believe the Magistracy is correct." he replied evenly to the inquiry, "But he is also currently penned down in Cormodir city, near the star port. I am sure you're computer is receiving the coordinates from other sources."

Within the lethal warmachine under the red night vision preserving lights his computer screens were filled with incoming regimental wide data. The assault DropShips Hedwig and Braunfelds were presently clearing high orbit airspace ahead of the moving formation. They'd be landing in nominally speaking three waves. The airwaves were overwhelmed with distress calls from anyone with a transmitter it seemed. The Aurigans were doing their best, but besides their government, and merchants, and and civilians ComStar and the local MRB office was screaming for help.

They meant to oblige. "Bardiche, comms check?" At confirmation that the Battalion aboard the overlord Presidio were prepared for hitting the atmosphere in several minutes, he switched channels to ring the Highlanders 'Mech battalion aboard Hidalgo and confirmed their readiness. The two large Dropships would be following down with San Saba. He switched channels again. The DroSTs and the Baffins would beat them down, with Baffins lighting a secure guide beacon to guide the larger ships down... but they would be feet first into hell.

The final checks came with the tingling of an adrenaline spike the likes of which he hadn't felt in what seemed like a life time. Then the gantries shuffled the pod to the door and it was out.

The Azami Exodus fleet comprised enough of an airwing that there was a combined CAP patrol, including their own, of over a hundred ASF... if the Aurigans hadn't already been under attack the wave of the nominally identified '588th​ Air Regiment' probably have been heart attack inducing by itself as the 85 ton Star League era Rapier comprising the core of one of the reigment's wings started making contact with the remaining dropships and pirate asf still floating around.

The drop pod showed an augmented feed, a cluster of stars nearby as small maneuvering thrusters pushed the pods into formation preparing for the edge of the atmosphere as a display counted down. He was grateful for the air cover even if it was a largely temporary volume of air power, the Azami had one whole wing guarding the fleet of Jumpships and there was a good chance their small craft were going to drive off or capture via marines the remaining pirate JumpShips at the Nadir JumpPoint.

Laser Comms fluttered. He might have expected Bahar or one of the other pilots in the detachment but Hedgwig started uploading inbound data transits. The movements, and communications of units that she had observed from where the assault DropShip was and what would be relevant in a Hegemony Orbital Insertion drop looking to achieve a foothold.

He acknowledged the machine spirit's data and rested his hands against the yoke as the first plaentary forces of gravity and air resistance began to be felt. Hedwig wasn't happy about the enemy having SLDF mechs...

... he could agree... but he had to watch the temperature and other gauges indicated condition, and they were starting to pick up. In a couple of seconds he'd lose most of his external communications entering a communications blackout while he navigated the atmosphere. About fifteen minutes where the descending mechs would be crossing the upper atmosphere until they deployed their shoots, or fired jump jets to slow and land on terra firma.

... and of course in that same time period the first portion of their own air wing would be following down with them. It was a less of a just in case thing, and more to clear any remaining enemy air assets or failing that keeping them disorganized enough that when the rest of the wing descended from orbit they'd have air superiority.

For Cormodir this was probably the first orbital drop the planet had seen since Cordia City had been retaken from Amaris's 'secret army' two and a half centuries earlier. It looked like things had been rebuilt significantly sometime in the 29th​ century, but Gene paid little mind to that anomaly as the interference picked up and the gee forces acting on the pod descending picked up.
--
Red streaks with dark cores exploded in the sky too high up still for ground observers to visibly confirm that they were battlemechs without mechanic or electronic assistance but it was undeniable that that was what they were. Cormordir VI was a temperate world and as the capital of the Aurigan Coalition had largely been sheltered from the strife of the periphery frontier. It was a display of military force that its residents weren't used to seeing... but they weren't used to seeing pirates up close and possible.

The JumpJets started a series of pulses to adjust trim and altitude to bring him down along the river bank with the rest of the lance, and thus the broader company. He adjusted the Dalban's handling and brought up the Lance director to relay orders. "Sasha cut the MSR and hold that line south," That way when the DroSTs touched down they could start offload Magunac combined arms units to just roll straight forward. The Union behind them would take longer but once Baffins was on the ground they could secure for San Saba's mixed Mechs and Vehicles.

He started ticking down. They needed air superiority, in order to run strike missions to prevent any further pirate DropShips trying to break for orbit. He wasn't sure if slaving was Black Jack's new side hustle but after seeing the damage and footage of Aea keeping the pirates ground side was preferable. A couple of pirates had already made a break for it, and there had been one or two JumpShips that had either had charged drives or had jumped risky to leave early.

It didn't matter they had the names from breaching the pirates comms... if they showed up they could chase them later, or pass the word along to the appropriate authorities.

The problem was that while not a proper military force, a lack of discipline they were fielding League 'Mechs. Instead of cludged together franken mechs or a mix of light and mediums Black Jack's people were based around a core of medium and heavy weight mechs backed up by star league era tanks like manticores and hovercraft.

It certainly lent credence to the story Black Jack had lucked out finding a cache.

Gene pushed his sticks forward Jump jets making the final corrections and a moment later he was on the ground with the rest of the two dozen mechs operating a single large company. As soon as the last mechs were on the ground, a pair of Marauder IIs lumbered forward their PPCs replaced with Assault Auto Cannons to provide close element security.

Not that there was anything for them to shoot at, but it never hurt to be careful. The muddy red banks of the river's shore churned as a thousand tons of armor and guns cranked up the banks and into centuries old roadways to begin diverging with the intention of securing a beachhead for the arriving forces. Harry Callahan's lead assault mech parked on the on ramp of the MSR and stood there as they moved past. The Marauder II design, and its variants were the only machines in this element that were not explicitly Star League based machines. They had brought Catapults in place of archers specifically because the former carried jumpjets as an added mobility feature. The Archers would roll off of the DroSTs to reinforce LRM carriers and and provide their long range missiles to the second wave of arrivals.

They were getting their first ground side look at what was going on on the surface of the planet. The local nobility were scrambling with their mechs to defend against the vastly larger attacking force. The local great houses, and their vassals scrambling to sally forth from manor homes with their mechs supported by locally produced combat vehicles and infantry in support.

There were a range of vehicles of indigenous designs, but the mechs were predominantly league mediums and heavy. Blackjacks, ironically, Kintaro, Catapult, Rifleman, and Marauders returned pings on long range magnameters sensors looking at their fusions engines and substantiated by their transmitted IFFs. Of course it wasn't just the local elite, and their personal guards there were other mercenaries trying to hold out, which cluttered up signal returns even more.

Gene turned his machine north up the highway as the two Highlander Assault Mechs joined him, and rearguard provided in the form of missile support from an Azami pilot in a Catapult. The Lance peeled north separating out as the company moved into the outer sprawl of Cordia city's market and residential zones.

--
Notes, This is Extras content for the future, Part 2 of this what should be another ~ 3k words will follow on sunday in place of the regular update most likely given scheduling effects from IRL. Hopefully the Arano segments and glimpse forward into the pirate wars will be interesting.

 

[Fragment of Serenity]

At this point, does the company have artillery support? Non-LRM that is. Because the ability to fire with ALL the big guns is a great boon.

 

[Imperator Pax]

At this point, does the company have artillery support? Non-LRM that is. Because the ability to fire with ALL the big guns is a great boon.

Click to shrink...

Yes. Thumpers, Snipers, Long Toms Arrow IVs.

Genes entire first roster pick out of the brian cache besides the alacorn were basically SLDF Artillery vehicles

 

[Bofors40mm]

Given Arrow IVs aren't in production I question getting any of those

 

[Imperator Pax]

Given Arrow IVs aren't in production I question getting any of those

Click to shrink...

Getting replacement ammunition from anywhere outside of a cache is a problem but they are technically in the company arsenal in the form of Chaparrals. [I me an i specifically name dropped the chaparalls for later on]