Battletech An SI in the Concordat - GhostRider's Revenants (Battletech CYOA)Rev.2

[namar13766]

So the Wolverines might still be out there?

 

[paulobrito]

So the Wolverines might still be out there?

Apparently, the last ones died in that colony the canopians discovered.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Apparently, the last ones died in that colony the canopians discovered.

That's exactly what a Wolverine sympathizer trying to throw the Clans off the scent would say!

 

[Shermpotter]

But, didn't the wolverines have more WarShips and JumpShips than illustrated here? Where are they?

 

[paulobrito]

But, didn't the wolverines have more WarShips and JumpShips than illustrated here? Where are they?

At the end of Betrayal of Ideals they have very few. Exact number is not detailed. And we only have the word of the canopians. In no place in chapter 80 is said is the last ones of wolverines, just a dead colony of wolverines, where the most well known warship they have is found.
So, yes, is possible that some more exist in another place...

 

[paulobrito]

Parents being parents, one of the biggest problems for Jean-Luc and Kamea was that Sara was currently serving in the first battalion of the Revenants - part of the expeditionary force that was invading the Marian Hegemony. Both had taken risks on the battlefield and the 1st battalion was one of the best equipped and full of veterans but they were still worried.

Not wanting to show any preferential treatment, the solution they found was to make use of the fact that this was also the battalion where traditionally Jean-Luc's companies tested their new models.
Thus, a Lance was added, officially for testing new models that would be chosen for production, unofficially with secret instructions to stay close to Sara’s unit. This experienced unit had at its disposal 2 Jenner JR9-TC3X (DHS, endo-steel, Ferro-Fibrous, 1x experimental SRM4 Streak and CASE), 2 Locust LCT-2ERX (DHS, Ferro-Fibrous, 2xERML and 2SL) as well as 2 Dragonfly MM-3R1 (equal to MM-3R, but with capacity for an Arrow IV AAM or AGM). The experimental lance had ’Mechs that could keep up with Sara's Toro II but this was obviously only mere coincidence.




Meanwhile, Jean-Luc had ordered his best technicians to analyze the Mercury II blueprints in detail, with special attention to the plug-and-play components and everything that eased replacements.




Without much surprise for Kamea and Jean-Luc, while the other forces of the TDF received Pocket WarShips support and the one that was already on its way to the Lothian League even had a WarShip, the forces of the Reach, targeting Addhara and New Venice didn’t get any support. The political enemies of the family were working at full force. Even if the Marian Hegemony didn’t have any kind of real navy, Kamea didn’t want to take any risk and she made available two (relatively) old Union PW, which belonged to the defenses of the Reach, weakening them.

The only advantage in a way was that the opponents of the family were burning political favors at great speed, and would force Edward to soon take a position, which could put them into a unfavorable position.


While the TDF was performing its operation against the Marian Hegemony, the entire fleet of the Concordat had planned, for reasons that would be obvious to anyone, to conduct very visible exercises near the borders

 

[Bear Ribs]

I wanna be honest, this chapter seems too short and didn't do much. It's all tell and no show and even the tell is just a few 'mech designs and "politics happened" without any resolution, just the statement that maneuvers are happening. This story's been better quality than this so far.

 

[paulobrito]

I wanna be honest, this chapter seems too short and didn't do much. It's all tell and no show and even the tell is just a few 'mech designs and "politics happened" without any resolution, just the statement that maneuvers are happening. This story's been better quality than this so far.

You are right, this is supposed to be part of another chapter, but the next is in a completely different direction, so is more finishing that part.

 

[Adventwolf]

Of course, the idiots in the Concordat are unable to accept and enjoy the fruits that the new "upstarts" are bringing to the Concordat. They need to go and try to break them because it is not as if having such a large part of the expanded Concordat falling apart and leaving the flanks exposed and weak could ever be a bad thing.

Are Jean-Luc's half-siblings involved in this at all? Or were they smart enough to see the great advantage he provides and reached out to him to be part of the new rising power in the Concordat? Cause at this point there is no way they didn't know he was their blood kin simply due to them investigating this new up-and-coming mercenary, corporate leader, and political player. While they might not have known who he was when they first met him to discuss the shipyard investments by now they should. The best move for them would be to reach out and provide Jean-Luc their support to better counter the power plays of the other nobles. After all, with just this final act, they should see clearly that the others are not achieving anything of value and are better off with their blood kin instead.

 

[paulobrito]

Traditionally old political forces don't like new ones unless they can absorb/co-opt them. So, the old Taurian elite resent the Arano-Bassot climb to power, is just the way things are everywhere. Jean-Luc half-siblings are so far neutral in these power games, they are more interested in financial ones.

 

[paulobrito]

Note: At this time and in this AU, the MHAF only has the I, II and III Legio – all veteran forces, the IV, V and VI have not been created so far. Their remaining forces are militia, poorly armed, equipped and trained, when compared to the Inner Sphere, Taurian Concordat or Magistracy of Canopus regular units.




May 12, 3054

New Venice

Marian Hegemony




Contrary to the cautious estimates made when deciding to launch the offensive, the Marian Hegemony forces didn’t have Pocket WarShips. They didn’t have any real forces with few Aerospace Fighters or ‘Mechs, the majority of the defenses being composed of several mechanized units with material outdated by the MAF / TDF standards. Even if it was a good training exercise in deploying units far away someone would have to answer for this totally wrong estimates.




In the New Venice system, the TDF forces landed unopposed, not a single ASF having challenged the approach.

Four days after landing, the 1st Battalion of the Revenants was advancing towards the world capital, facing only sporadic attacks from the few surviving MHAF forces present, a mix of the III Legio and local militia, the majority of the defenders having already been destroyed.

Outdated material or not, the III Legio units, unlike the local militia, were competent enough to have to be taken seriously during the offensive. The day before, the heiress of the Aurigan Reach had been wounded in an attack by Gladius Hover Tanks and was resting in a field hospital. Attacking by surprise from a well-camouflaged position, that somehow had escaped detection from the ASFs flying high (this is what happens when you get too lenient and contemptuous of your opponent), the fast hovers had spread confusion in the scouting elements of the Aurigan unit and only the fact that two lances were present instead of one had allowed the Revenants to get the upper hand in this encounter. Hit several times in the head by rocket salvos, Sara Arana-Bassot’s Toro II had fallen with the pilot injured. The ambush had however cost the defenders dearly, since only one Gladius had escaped.







Note: due to the fact that the Marian Hegemony in this AU did not have access to AC/10 (in OTL they were imported from Taurian Concordat), the Gladius are equipped with rockets and / or SRMs.







The landing on Alphard had been lightly contested with a dozen ASFs trying to prevent it. Obviously without much success, since they had to fight one WarShip and close to a hundred ASFs all of them carrying much more advanced technology.




With Sean O'Reilly captured on Lothario together with his eldest son only 14, the regency was in charge of Livia O'Reilly. Until now her job had been to manage Alphard Trading Corporation, however she tried her best to defend what remained of the Hegemony with her ordering the II Legio stationed on the capital world, while the remaining systems were defended by the III Legio and militia forces. But since the Marian Hegemony only trusted in might, she had to deal with among others the Prefect of the II Legion, which had been left in charge of the II Legio and all units on Alphard by Sean O’Reilly.

This Ron Brown was very aggressive and was only used to fight in the nearby Periphery without understanding the changes he was facing with the advanced weapons and numerical superiority enjoyed by the TDF. This is why he decided to contest the landing of the TDF forces, without regard for Livia O’Reilly’s advice, that it would be better to disperse, given that the invaders had WarShips support and a clear command of the air following the destruction of the airfields, which at this time had only atmospheric fighters, and of all the MHAF ASFs in space, executed by Naval Lasers, in a clear demonstration of force that didn’t reach the Prefect mind.




Although the II Legio had numerical superiority over the Taurian forces that had just landed, the difference in technology and even in mass, both in normal average and because of the use by the TDF of a Company worth of Assault ‘Mechs was much larger than the MHAF thought.

Adding artillery, including Arrow IV, Battle Armors and ASFs with air-to-ground weapons, made the battle for Alphard a fast, brutal and incredibly one-sided one.

At the end of the day, the Marian Hegemony capital was in the hands of the TDF, with the rest of the reigning family captured as they tried to escape.




In Pompey, the local commander of the III Legio, seeing that the invaders (the Reach Guards) were mostly composed of Griffins decided to move as quickly as possible to a close combat option, guessing that the PPCs and LRMs of the invaders would have great difficulty in reaching his lighter, but faster ’Mechs at such short distance.

Unfortunately for the defenders, the TDF Griffin's were the TC variant, with Enhanced ER PPCs with no minimum range, and two extra Medium Lasers. Instead of fighting the invaders to their advantage, the III Legio was massacred.




In the other systems, the invasion went better than planned - the defenders being fewer in numbers, with bad equipment equipped and virtually no air support.

Within one week, the Marian Hegemony had been totally occupied.




Following the discovery of some advanced systems among the captured equipment of the I Legio in Lothario, ongoing investigations were trying to find out from whom the MHAF had acquired them.

 

[paulobrito]

While the purely military part of the campaign had gone better than expected for both the TDF and the MAF, including the important yet often overlooked transportation and logistics component, the intelligence part had been a disaster.

The only good news was that the mistakes had all lead to an overestimation of the capabilities of the MHAF. An in-depth analysis in both the TMI and the MIM showed that because none of them considered the Marian Hegemony a serious danger , the offices in charge of this nation were either composed of second choice operatives and analysts, or the dumping place for the most incompetent agents. Curious that both nations suffered from the same bias and had used the same place to deposit the trouble cases.




Following the invasion, the Magistracy of Canopus sent both civil and military personnel to ensure a smooth transition from pure military occupation to being a part of the Magistracy.

For the Taurian Concordat, the next step was to negotiate with the Lothian League the 'offer' of the systems that the TDF had won

While Dame Lorelei Logan was satisfied that the invasion of her Realm had failed and that a troublesome neighbor was no more, the truth was that she did not have the needed resources to absorb the systems that the Concordat 'offered' her.

To do so, she would have to hire more mercenaries (something her exhausted treasure did not allow) or accept the Concordat proposal that the TDF forces could be used for that, keeping those systems de facto under the military control by the Concordat, even though they nominally belonged to the Lothian League.

Of course, if she did not accept the Concordat proposal, the risk was to have the Concordat indefinitely as her neighbor, a nation much more powerful than the now defunct Marian Hegemony, and which had justly demonstrated the ability and willingness to invade and conquer small nations.

On the other hand, even if the Concordat had absorbed, peacefully and apparently in agreement with the local rulers, the Aurigan Reach, it also had invested heavily in the new territory, and the old rulers were still in power locally, which was a sign that the Concordat was an honest partner even if bigger nations had no morale when it comes with dealing with smaller ones.

But, in the present situation, Lorelei knew that she herself had asked the Concordat to intervene, begged was a more precise term, because the alternative was to have her kingdom conquered by the much more aggressive Marian Hegemony. The presence of the Concordat in this region of space was entirely her fault. And to be honest, the terms were not bad at all when compared to the alternatives : to replace the HPG network with one controlled by the Concordat, to have a military base in Alphard and preferential trade agreements. In return, they would provide help in defending the nation and fighting local pirates. The Concordat also planned to build a dockyard in Alphard, which would be of vital importance to local JumpShips, as none existed nearby.

However, Dame Lorelei Logan knew that this was the first step into becoming a Taurian protectorate and that she might have exchanged an obvious danger for a more pernicious one.




In August 3054 the Federated Commonwealth executed the Galahad 3054 exercises. The bulk of the maneuvers were, as expected, on the border with the Draconis Combine, although the other borders were not left without demonstrations of force. These large scale operations involved more troops than all those available in the combined TDF and MAF. Of particular importance was the number of WarShips involved, including for the first time some of their new models. At least one of the new ones, a big one, probably a Battle Cruiser or a Heavy Cruiser, got some problems, and needed assistance. 4 Mako class Corvettes were also detected, which indicated that either the Federated Commonwealth had recovered two more, or more likely that they had a shipyard producing them (be it an unknown one or an existing one).

Obviously, getting that information became another one of the top priorities of the TMI, a TMI that was becoming overextended.

In the FWL civil war, with both sides exhausted, the tempo of the operations slowed, but the number of sabotages and assassinate attempts grew.




While starting later and while not considered a strategic program like in the Concordat, the Federated Commonwealth also had a program to revisit abandoned or dead worlds inside their frontiers. For that, they had bought, at discount prices, several Magellan JumpShips from the Earth government, that having severely reduced the explorer missions, had a surplus of these. These were obviously sold without the HPG system (promptly replaced by one of FC manufacture) but with the LF battery still present.

So far, the results were three worlds rediscovered, two worlds that had their residual population that has regressed to primitive levels.

But in a system relatively near New Avalon, they found a world, very much alive and with advanced technology. The only problem being that the local population was aligned with the Word of Blake. The explorer ship, one of the Magellan JumpShips, barely escaped from capture, thanks to the use of the LF battery, and spread the word , which gave way to a quickly organized invasion by the AFFC. Thanks to the relatively proximity to New Avalon, first class units, like the Davion Assault Guards RCT, were available.

Supported by several lesser regiments and at least four Pocket WarShips, the invading force landed in September 4, 3054, after dealing with the ASFs defending the system. Luckily for the invading forces, the Word of Blake already facing the needs of the civil war in the Free Worlds League wasn’t able to help Versailles with real WarShips or Pocket ones and the forces in place were also minimal, mostly a cadre of trainees and the respective instructors.

What the FC found after securing the world, in mid October, was that they had captured a severely damaged Star League Royal grade massive ’Mech factory with everything needed on world to supply it.

 

[Adventwolf]

Well the Galahad Exercises are going to be very important when the Clans arrive as that should make it so the frontline troops are at high readiness and training. Though if the Taurians are smart they will set up a secret meeting with Hanse to discuss the reason for movement on their borders if there is any. Which there should be as a smokescreen to cover for the true targets. Which are likely the borders of the FWL the Dracs, and targets to take out for the CC instead of more occupation.

 

[paulobrito]

Right now, the clans are already 5 years late.

 

[Adventwolf]

Right now, the clans are already 5 years late.

Yes I know but they will show up and having these troops already ready for combat and used to working together on large scale warfare will be invaluable to slowing the Clans when they do show up. Because the last set of exercises that were cover for an invasion still took 3 years before they attacked. And even before that, the future FedCom was already doing excerises together and training for the war without war games on the borders. The Clans are 5 years late they aren't going to be late for much longer they already were close to invading when ComStar showed up. I very much doubt the Crusaders could have being held off for more than a decade even less most likely. A year or two more before they convince that the Invasion must happen as while information from the Dragoons has stopped they still get information from their trade links with the deep periphery that also trades with the Inner Sphere. Before the 3050s close the Inner Sphere is going to meet the clans any longer than that and it makes no sense.

 

[paulobrito]

a) So far the IS / FC has no idea about the existence of the clans, the exercises are for now against the Combine and the unstable front against the FWL. In a much lesser case, the very weak CC.
b) The clan's invasion... is going to be a 'united' front like OTL, one Crusader Clan trying that alone, or two or more Crusaders only?
without the Comstar jumpship to force they 'union' is difficult to know how they turn.

 

[Adventwolf]

a) So far the IS / FC has no idea about the existence of the clans, the exercises are for now against the Combine and the unstable front against the FWL. In a much lesser case, the very weak CC.
b) The clan's invasion... is going to be a 'united' front like OTL, one Crusader Clan trying that alone, or two or more Crusaders only?
without the Comstar jumpship to force they 'union' is difficult to know how they turn.

I know why the exercises are happening I am saying that the training the troops get are going to let them react much better to the clans. Because in the OTL they literally few apart and ran because none of the units that faced the original waves were ready for a fight. The Invasion Corridor hit what was basically a demilitarized zone for the FedCom and Draconis Combine. That will not be the case this time as the exercise will force those fronts to shape up for full scale war and combat.



There is no reason the Invasion size would be any different. ComStar's ship didn't change any of that. That is the point of the trials they did to decide who got to go and who was in reserve. The same thing would happen here as well. It might be different clans but unless Ulric is made ilKhan and decrees that all clans will invade instead of only some the numbers are going to be the same.

 

[paulobrito]

The conclusion of the team that had examined the MCS Coranna / SLS Bismark was that repairing the WarShip, while possible, was more of a complete rebuild than a repair / refit.


Still, the Black Navy of the Concordat was much interested in the ship, reasoning that a rebuild of this size, while expensive and time consuming, would bring immense information and experience in maintaining, and even building large WarShips.


In the end, the 'purchase' of the WarShip from the Canopians was approved, and it was transferred to Bolthole, where it would be rebuilt.


Meanwhile, the troops that had participated in the conquest of Marian Hegemony were coming home, being replaced by second-line forces, since the mission now was more a peacekeeping one, under the Lothian League flag.


Sara Arano-Bassot, had returned earlier, courtesy of a semi-Command Circuit, landed on Coromodir in September 3054.


Thanks to the best Canopians specialists in cosmetic surgery, the scars she had gained in the campaign, were eliminated without a trace.


The Taurian population and the political opponents of the Arano-Bassot had also noted that they had been the only noble family to send private forces for this campaign. The population did approve of it while the political opponents of the family took good note of this campaign which fueled even more their anger and their arguments against the Reach.






While Jean-Luc stayed 'at home', dealing with the expansion of industrial capabilities in Coromodir V, Sara went with her mother to Taurus, part of her training to one day replace her as regent of the Reach province.


By mere luck, or perhaps not, Edward's eldest son Anthony (call me Tony) Calderon, who by this time was doing his military service in the Concordat Navy, and who was also being trained to replace his father, was at home. Both youngsters found the other fascinating, and conversations between the two were constant.






In September 3054, the MAF executed the long awaited 'cleanup' at Astrokaszy. If on the one hand it did not employ WarShips, as for the moment it only had one, at both nadir and zenith jump points appeared simultaneously JumpShips loaded with combat DropShips that started launching shuttles with marines and ASFs,


This time MIM had done its homework, and a JumpShip also appeared at the most common pirate point and relatively close to Astrokaszy III, immediately launching DropShips to capture the JumpShips stationed in that area.






Even before the first troops set foot on the planet, the mission was already a success, with 7 JumpShips captured, 4 Invaders, 2 Merchants and a Tramp, and 2 DropShips, both Jumbo class, showing that they too could conduct efficient space operations.


Shervanis City had close to a battalion of ’Mechs defending it, but the defense was short-lived. The MAF had indeed learned, and had sent a combined force, supporting their advanced 'Mechs (including 4 Bull Shark Assault ones) with artillery, armored vehicles, infantry and ASFs, All of them well-trained and equipped forces, very different from the pirates and near-pirates who opposed them.


At the end of September, having achieved its objectives, the MAF withdrew from the system. .If in space they had captured only two DropShips, in Shervanis City they had captured ten more, taking with them eight in lift-off condition and destroying the last two before leaving. Between the material captured and the pirate groups destroyed or fleeing, it was a major blow to the pirates in this area, the survivors left for less hostile areas.


Meanwhile, similar, albeit smaller operations had taken place in the space between the Taurian Concordat and the Magistracy of Canopus, with all systems known or suspected of harboring pirates receiving 'visits' from the MAF or the TDF. August and September 3054 was a bad time for pirates in this part of the Periphery.






When news came out in October 3054 that communications with the Greater Valkyrate and the Oberon Confederation had been lost, everyone thought that the Federated Commonwealth or the Draconis Combine had also eliminated these pirate dens, even though the Oberon Confederation was a more or less legitimate kingdom by this time.


Only Jean-Luc, when he got the news, knew what was coming.

 

[Adventwolf]

And just like I said they weren't going to be held off for anymore than a decade and likely less. The fact the Exercises are happening will mean they are better prepared for a fight even if it is against someone else than they thought.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Now this is getting interesting. It's quite rare for a BT SI to reach the clan invasions at all.