Part 153: Political Vote 8 Results and Combat Theater - Freedom Part 2

Freedom, Part 2: Political Vote 8 Results / Combat Theater:

A battalion in strength, thirty-six `Mechs sprinted across the arid plains of Woodstock; a largely oceanic planet with several large continents and island chains. They were homogenous, with armor painted a flat black, with only a white death’s head skull for decoration. The battalion moved as though their pilots were small parts of a greater consciousness. They weaved together, their forms merging and parting in ways that would give sensors fits. Sinister though their movements appeared, their purpose was anything but: tiny and difficult to spot in the midst of the stampeding `Mechs, a humble-looking yet surprisingly massive hover-limo sped with quiet purpose; black as the `Mechs surrounding it and armored more heavily than a Pegasus tank.





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Subhash Indrahar, the most feared man in the Draconis Combine and perhaps even the whole Inner Sphere, rubbed his tired eyes as the deck plating beneath the wheels of his chair trembled as the powerful magnets struggled to keep them pressed to the deck plating. He was tired, though perhaps frustrated was a more accurate term: his body, once proud and powerful, had been slowly failing him. He hated the necessity of the chair, but he could no longer stand to—well, simply put, he could no longer stand under a dropship’s acceleration; nor even for more than a half hour under Luthien’s easy gravity. His ALS had been progressing with annoying swiftness since his fifty-third and though his mastery of his own ki was yet able to stave off the worst of the disease, it was only a matter of time before his body betrayed him completely.

He frowned as he stared at the retreating Luthien; but even the feared director of the ISF had to obey the Coordinator—and was forced quietly to agree with Takashi Kurita’s logic: the Combine needed the ISF, and with his adopted son Ninyu Kerei not yet ready to take control, that meant the Draconis Combine needed Subhash Indrahar. He was also intimate with every other implication of Takashi’s order.

Perhaps four days distant, at Luthien’s Nadir jump point, a tiny Scout-class JumpShip waited to spirit him away to join Theodore on Benjamin. He brought with him the bulk of the ISF’s high command; leaving behind only D.E.S.T. operatives, Internal Security Division agents, Metsuke spies, and those Voice of the Dragon personnel as were deemed nonessential—camera-men and -women, script-writers—honestly, everyone save the department head himself was truly expendable, Subhash noted. The Dragon was all that mattered, and they all served.

Subhash had strongly considered leaving the current head of his Propaganda division behind, to serve one final duty attempting to keep morale high. The man’s performance of late had been lackluster—and perhaps it was time for fresher, younger ideas to replace the old.

He focused his ki, then nodded quietly. Luthien’s defenses were as strong as they could be under the circumstances: under the guns of a fleet of warships the likes of which the Inner Sphere had not seen since the days of the Star League. If the Clans so desired, they could turn Luthien into a barren rock as inhospitable to human life as any in the Inner Sphere; and in so doing make the Kentares massacre seem like a tantrum thrown by a spiteful child. Yet, though he knew at once they were hungry for the world’s conquest, he knew the Clans would not bombard the planet. Not while other options remained to them.

Unless he had misread them completely.

If he had, he lamented, it would be time for him to step down; and for his adopted son to assume control of the ISF, whether Ninyu Kerei was ready or not.





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Tall and severe, saKhan Joseph Crow of Clan Snow Raven wore his dark fatigues well. He seemed frail, by Clan standards, perhaps a belonging to one of those rare phenotypes existing mid-way between the Aerospace Fighter pilot and the `Mechwarrior type. He was a `Mechwarrior, which was itself highly unusual for a Snow Raven Khan, but his grasp of fleet tactics and logistics was second to none. He stood at ease, on the bridge of the James McKenna.

Flanked by an elemental honor guard, ilKhan Lair Seidman strode onto the James McKenna’s bridge as if he owned the universe and everything in it. saKhan Crow paid it no mind: such bravado was commonplace among the Clans, and ignoring it was not considered an insult. Still, Crow thought as the ilKhan approached, such an insult may be warranted.

He turned slowly, watching Seidman’s face curl into a contemptuous sneer as he caught sight of the colorless Ghost Bear emblem sitting below and to the left of the Snow Raven emblem that Crow wore to show his Clan affiliation. The tiny, colorless Sea Fox beside it did not draw any ire; but the Snow Ravens’ alliance with both Clans was widely known.

To the Hell’s Horses, the taint of associating with the Snow Ravens, by sole virtue of their association with Clan Ghost Bear, would cause the ilKhan to lose a little face among members of his own Clan. Enmity ran deep, Crow mused quietly, his thoughts turning to the Snow Ravens own ex-rivals—the Sea Foxes.

The original reason for their furious argument had been stricken from the Remembrance, lest old hatreds rise again; but had resulted in an act so heinous that the name of a Khan had been stricken from the Clan’s records, and his genes stripped from the eugenics program and destroyed utterly. Although none among the Snow Ravens knew the name of the betrayer-Khan, all knew his crime: he’d genetically engineered an animal—a great shark—to kill the totem animal of Clan Sea Fox. His plan may have succeeded, had the Sea Foxes not bartered their great wealth to genetically enhance the surviving sea foxes to put it on more even terms with its new predator.

The betrayer-Khan had been livid, and his anger so intense he betrayed his own role in the plot to wipe out the Sea Foxes. His saKhan had killed him on the spot and, expecting a call for a Trial of Annihilation from their hated Sea Fox rivals, stepped forward to take full responsibility for the dishonorable actions of his Clan.

Crow smiled faintly, recalling the verse’s powerful end. Rather than having the saKhan killed, the Sea Foxes were impressed with his honor and sense of duty. “You have exposed a weakness in us,” the Sea Fox Khan had said. “We focus too much on our shiny rocks, and not enough on our teeth and claws. Like the reborn Sea Foxes, our touman will also be reborn; and we would be proud to count the Snow Ravens among our friends.”

A simple gesture, but it had forged an unheard-of alliance between the two Clans and not long after saw the addition of the Snow Ravens’ old friends the Ghost Bears. Between the three of them, their voting bloc had enough power to rival Clan Widowmaker and, at times, even the ilKhan. A fact the independent-minded Hell’s Horses hated.

“ilKhan,” Crow greeted Seidman’s sneer with a respectful nod. “Welcome aboard the James McKenna.”

“You are agreed—” Seidman began.

“Mm, well, about that,” Crow interrupted, bringing a flash of rage to the ilKhan’s face. It was a calculated insult, a minor breach in protocol, but the Snow Ravens held all the advantages here. “Your offer to us of the planet Bjarred is appreciated however—it is insufficient. You ask us to risk a large percentage of our touman to help you conquer and keep the richest planet in the Inner Sphere.”

Seidman glowered, “You have come a long way to reject my offer.”

“We are not rejecting it, simply—renegotiating. Bjarred is isolated and insufficient. Keep it.” Crow leaned forward, though he was far too thin for the gesture to be intimidating. You get Luthien, as agreed. In exchange, you will give us Alshain.” Which would grant the Snow Ravens both a powerful manufacturing center and a border with Clan Sea Fox, precisely the scenario the ilKhan wished to avoid. “We will accept no other world; but it is a small price to pay for guaranteed air superiority, Quiaff? Or perhaps you risked the wrath of the Jade Falcons and Burrocks simply to have a witness, Quineg?”

Seidman glowered, his hands tensing as he took control of his rage. “Very well,” he spat through gritted teeth. “Alshain is yours. As you say, it is a small price to pay for Luthien.”

Crow smiled, “Bargained well, and done.”





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“`Mechs approaching, Colonel,” a junior office yelled from her position at the mobile field base’ radar controls. “They’re coming fast.”

Colonel Alastair Fonn Marion smiled, and stood. “That would be our friends with th’ Death Commandos,” he spoke with only a slight brogue, “the Chancellor has finally arrived. Give orders to the Regiment to extend a proper greeting, lass.”

“Aye, Colonel!” came the smart reply.

Turning from his own station, Colonel Marion strode out into the intense heat of Woodstock’s primary. A company of the regiments Vindicators stood at attention, offering a smart—if reversed—salute. Celestial Wisdom was coming for a visit, and Alistair meant to put on a good show.

The Death Commandos crested a small ridge, perhaps a hundred and fifty meters distant; and the Colonel paused. Their black and silver mottled armor threw him for a moment before he realized the silver wasn’t paint—but exposed armor plating. His brow was still furrowed with vague concern when a the Death Commando PPC vaporized him in an instant.





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Combat Theater:

Ok, well… due to the way I design mission sets, this one is actually fairly similar to the last mission we had with the 1st Regulan Hussars. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean this mission will have a similar feel even if the details are very different.



Counting Coup

Star Commander Matsukaze Ravenwater bludgeoned his eighty-ton Gargoyle forward through the rushing current of the Kado-Guchi river; his massive BattleMech ducking as a barge carrying a load of goods to the nearby Luthien Armor Works floated past; and quietly mulled over the ilKhan’s earlier speech.

“The cowardly warriors of the Draconis Combine refuse to face us on the open Tairakana Plains, and have entrenched in the Waseda hills; where fighting is certain to spill into Imperial City. Civillian casualties will be immense, and even in the name of victory such waste,” he’d paused, “is unacceptable. We will force the warriors of the Draconis Combine to engage us on our terms, not their own.”

“I,” Siedman had said, “will lead a star of volunteers from Alpha Keshik on a head-hunting mission to strike the very heart from the defenders of Luthien.”

He’d stopped there, and let his `Mech twist to take in his assembled warriors. “Takashi Kurita, the leader of the Draconis Combine, will fall before our bold stroke.”





The Map:


Clan Hell’s Horses Alpha Keshik “Might before Metal”
Storm Crow – ilKhan Lair Siedman (g1p2) (ShadowDragon8685)
Hellbringer – Star Colonel Kelso Cooper (g2p3) (Serril)
Gargoyle – Mechwarrior Zenyatta DeLaurel (g2p3) (GenericOverusedName)
Gargoyle – Star Captain Matsukaze Ravenwater (g2p3) (Der Waffle Maus)
Kingfisher – Star Captain Nasrullah (g2p3) (Keru)

Alternates, respond to your e-mail / private message or you will be preemptively marked as out. You have unlimited time to respond, but priority will go to alternates who have responded quickly:

Thatbastardken
Wjs5
Magni
Greyjoybastard
Longinus00


The Coordinator
DRG-1T Grand Dragon

The Otomo
Mauler Daboku
Mauler Daboku
AS7-D Atlas
Hatamoto Hanko

2nd Sword of Light
WHM-6Y Warhammer
THG-11E Thug

JR7-D Jenner
JR7-D Jenner
SDR-5V Spider
PHX-1D Phoenix Hawk

PNT-9R Panther
PNT-8Z Panther
PNT-9R Panther
PNT-9R Panther



New House Rules:
Shielding – All members of the Otomo, and Tai-i Akira Kurita may use the ‘Shielding’ movement mode.

Bidding – All players will be presented with a choice between two variants of their Omnimech. If more than two players choose the variant with the higher battle value, the mission difficulty will be increased.