Part 747: Let's Read Ghost War - Part 6

Let’s Read Mechwarrior Dark Age
A Brand New Era, A Brand New Saga!
GHOST WAR
a BattleTech novel
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
MICHAEL A. STACKPOLE

Part 6

Chapter 13

Victor’s still here and he’s namedropping all the dead people. Stackpole fellates Victor’s “keen intellect” and “hunger for knowledge” then praises his “ability to learn” as his greatest strength. His and every other human being since the dawn of man. Victor is then described in terms akin to the Borg: given enough time to adapt he’ll learn the way to beat anyone.



Mason then compares the average citizen to dogs, saying that dogs growl before they bite. Wait, no Stackpole dialogue: first the hackles rise, then the dog growls, then the dog snarls, then the dog bites. Which is patently untrue and the whole point of the stupid analogy is that the people are nervous but if someone is out there egging them on they’ll probably turn into murderous cannibal zombies. Or something.

Anyway, we learn that Victor has a special interest in Mason, having:


Mason presents two theories about why Victor cares: either Mason is Victor’s “everyone I knew and love is dead” hobby, or Mason reminds Victor of someone (spoilers: Phelan (Ok, I was just guessing there but on the next page Stackpole spells it out, it’s Phelan. Mystery solved)).

I can already tell this chapter is going to be insufferable, so of course Victor proves me right by telling Mason how he met Devlin Stone. Blah blah blah he’s Uther Pendragon. Mason asks:


Which would have been remarkably shrewd and potentially politically astute of Victor if it were true. So of course it’s not. Victor “instantly recognized success.” Also Devlin Stone was apparently a social Darwinist. But of course Stone murdering his way through the nobility of the former Terran Hegemony worlds was necessary because otherwise society would have collapsed.

Anyway, Victor’s granddaughter Nessa shows up to save us. Mason “sees her as a cousin” and manages to avoid describing her in overly-sexual terms, just mildly sexual ones. Progress? She chases Mason out and the chapter ends.



Chapter 14

Mason has a bad dream. OH NO.

Then he has breakfast.

Time for another interminable debriefing, which Mason spends flirting with Janella. In front of their boss. Totally professional. Mason and Janella’s direct superior is a woman, so Mason immediately describes her in in terms of her physical attractiveness (she’s in her 70s). No, seriously.


I haven’t been keeping track, but I should’ve done a ‘Stackpole Fact’ counter just to document the number of times Ghost War uses the word fact. My gut says a lot since it’s a word Stackpole loves to throw around casually.

They chat about the state of the Republic, and that there are clearly two bands at large: the “lions” and the “jackals”—those who caused the disaster and those who are feeding on it. It is confirmed that the HPGs were attacked, so this wasn’t some hyperspace disruption. Aerospace fighters, space marines, and etc, and their JumpShips were capable of doing multiple jumps. Three or more. So yeah. Either the Wobbies or ComStar itself, since they were the only ones doing any real hyperspace research.



Chapter 15

The briefing continues. Interminably. So now they’re explaining the new factions for the Mechwarrior: Dark Ages clickygame. Dragon’s Fury is the Not-Kurita faction in the Republic. Another threat is some fat bureaucrat whose “green eyes glowed with intense hatred” (lol). Mason continues to be insufferable, so at least there’s one constant in this slog of a novel:




Anyway, they don’t discuss too many of the other factions (because they’re all stupid and who gives a shit, they were just using two as examples). Oh, and then this bombshell drops:


So yeah, The Republic doesn’t want to fight its own people but needs to keep the “Jackals” under control. So when Mason asks what the plan is, the response is pretty much: “fuck if we know.” And then the chapter ends.