Asteroid belt

Dieron system

15th of October 3077

Star commander Tayna Glimour of the Rasalhauge dominion was having a bad day. Scratch that. She was having a stravag dammed week. The entire naval engagement had descended into some sort of disgusting spheroid guerilla war, on the edge of the system.

The blakeists were honourless surats yes, but they could fight when they wanted to. The problem was the volume of empty space in-system was vast, with lots of convenient hiding spots and the Blakeists had long abandoned their admittedly limited shreds of honour with no intention of fighting an honourable engagement of any form.

The battle for the Dieron system had started so well, with 10 blakeist warships confirmed captured or destroyed in the opening days, including the suborned thera class carrier FWLS Sardis. Her aerospace star had acquitted itself well, with 2 confirmed dropship kills, a partial kill on a pocket warship and 9 aerospace kills, with no losses among her own star.

Which led to this assignment, leading a lone star of heavy OmniFighters, intent on smoking out a pocket warship hidden in the asteroid belt along the outer edge of the Dieron system. The Blakeist naval commander was good, she had to concede that to him at least. Outnumbered and out gunned, with just a single pocket warship and a point of aerospace fighters, he had fought a war of feints and retreats, drawing the vanguard of the fleet into the asteroid field and frustrating the star commodore who had been hoping for a quick victory over the dezgra scum. It was the success and her stars combat ready status, that had seen the urgent orders from the star commodore to intercept and eliminate a fleeing pocket warship.

That had been hellishly rough, the warship had the advantage of speed and greater fuel reserves compared to her star's ostrogoth fighters. In a straight chase, the warship would win, but fortunately its propulsion seemed to be damaged in some, judging from the fluctuation in the drive emissions which probably corresponded with its decision to head for the belt; either to hide for repairs or for a rendezvous with a waiting jumpship. That had necessitated a sustained burn at 6.5 gees to achieve an acceleration speed which could potentially catch the warship, with the downside of burning through a third of her fuel reserves and straining the on board medical systems.

That had been 3 days ago, now her flight were running with engines off, coasting by at the maximum safe speed for the fighter. Her trueborn body had at least allowed her to survive the gee force with minimal discomfort, but she was forced into trusting the limited autonomics built into the ostrogoth's systems during the frequent gee force induced blackouts.

The merlin class pocket warship, she was hunting, was supposedly hiding amidst the tangle of proto-planetary rubble and captured artifacts that made up the vast sprawl of the systems asteroid belt. Assuming it hadn't already fled the system.

The question she was contemplating was twofold – where was he hiding and did she have enough fuel to engage and enough oxygen make it back or would she have to turn back and face the disgrace of failure?

Disgrace at her age, meant a posting to a solahma unit and an ignoble death soon after, blood name or no blood name. The sudden burst of radio chatter jerked her out of her morbid reverie came as an unpleasant shock as her brain struggled to catch up with the unfolding events and her body sang with the thrum of pent up energy.

'Valkyrie lead, this Valkyrie 5, confirmed contact 10,000 kilometres ahead port side, appears to be grappled to asteroid DS10030293.

'Sensors indicate an object, approximately the right mass for our target.'

'Confirmed contact Valkyrie 5.'

'Power signature detected, heat signature matches profile.'

'Filthy dezgra scum'

'Valkyrie 9, confirm last, I repeat Valkyrie 9 confirm last transmission.'

'Contact commander, two striga omnifighters on our rear. Must have been hull down on an asteroid waiting.'

'What configuration?'

'Dual Infernus's commander'

She made a snap decision, the striga's were obviously a rear guard to delay them while the warship made its escape; but they were an immediate threat who could potentially destroy them if ignored.

'Valkyrie flight engage and destroy the striga's, watch for other unpleasant surprises.'

'Star commander, the warship is ungrappeling from the asteroid , do we pursue and engage?

'Neg, eliminate the striga's first, Valkyrie 1'

The battle was short, sharp and brutal. The striga's out massed her fighters by 10 tons and had considerably better weapons and armour to boot. They were however outnumbered and out gunned, so died in quick succession when cornered by her own fighters, though at significant cost. 2 of her own fighters had suffered damage and valkryie 8 had to break off and limp back to the pursuit fleet for safty, trailing a microscopic plume of leaking oxygen and fuel.

The warship had however used the distraction to put on a burst of speed before vanishing behind a curiously shaped asteroid at the edge of the ostrogoths sensor range. Reforming into a cohesive formation, they closed in on the asteroid, which appeared to something other than an asteroid.

'Is that a space station

'Confirmed star commander, the artifact appears to be an artificial habitat encasing an asteroid with a very high level of density and magnetic anomalies'

'Is it blakeist?'

'Neg commander, it appears to be star league in origin.'

'Quinaff?'

'Aff commander'

'….Founders blood'

'commander?'

'Valkyrie 9, decelerate and circle the habitat, maintain a minimum distance of 2000km and use your active probe. I want to know if anyone's here.'

'Valkyrie 9, confirms. Decelerating now'

The habitat was a long horizontal cylinder around 22 kilometres in width and 8 kilometres high with rounded ends that had been inset with recesses – possible docking bays – and trailing antennae. The habitat was a mottled gray in colour, with irregular indentations that could have been asteroid impacts or could easily be recessed weapons or sensor arrays in a powered down state.

An hour stretched a long time in combat, her mind absently noticed as she searched for signs of the warship and wondered what the habitat had to do with this mess. By all rights, she should have informed the fleet or at least her superiors of the find, but the signal would take hours to reach the fleet and she couldn't spare a fighter to courier the message back. Still the find alone should absolve her of any dishonour if the mission failed.

'Commander, the warship is docked to an outer airlock on the port side of the habitat and there are crew in suits crawling all over the asteroid surface.'

'Break velocity and rendezvous with formation' she ordered.

'() we have our prey defenceless and vulnerable. Weapons release is authorised on the next pass. Target the engines and any intact sensors left. I imagine the Khan will want this ship intact. Under no circumstances are you to target or in anyway fire upon or damage the habitat or you will face me in a circle of equals. Quiaff?'

'Aff Star commander' came the eager replies of young ristars desperate to take the fight to the enemy. She almost smiled at the eagerness of unbloodied youth and hoped that they at least would survive this.

The engagement was normal enough, Pilot Shad's Ostrogoth C opened at up maximum range with his 4 Lrm 15's, providing covering fire for the rest of the flight to move into range. Desultory, almost half hearted point defence fire greeted the missile barrage and most of the missiles made it through the gauntlet intact to inflict minor damage on the flank of the warship. Pilot Anami was the first to draw blood, with her paired hag 30's pumping a salvo of depleted uranium rounds into and through a medium laser emplacement that erupted in a cloud of vented oxygen and chemicals. Split seconds, later a volley of ppcs slammed into the main hanger bay, depressurising it in a flurry of ejected debris and oxygen.

Tanya cursed, as the targeting computer was glitched out for a split second by her ppcs discharge. For a second it seemed like there was a massive power source inside the habitat and her system had tried to lock on to it. Then it cleared and her missiles reported a successful lock on the warship. Her fighter shuddered as the missiles were ejected out of their launch cradles to ignite at a safe distance.

Something seemed to give inside the warship, as a plume of debris punched out of the open hanger bay, amid fluctuating energy discharges and temperature spikes. Why isn't it fighting back she wondered, inspecting the schematics with a note of unease. It seems that the ship is unoccupied or missing most of its crew. What does it have to do with the habitat and why run all the way out here, they must know they can't win; not now.

Something seemed to burst in the habitat and then it was cleanly split in 2 halves. Demolition charges her mind realised, that's why the crew had been on the outer hull in the first place. Seemingly mocking her, the merlin sluggishly turned from the station to face the harassing fighters as another power spike erupted in the middle of the debris cloud.

A third and then a fourth power spike played havoc with her sensors for precious seconds, she was aware on an abstract level of the warship begun powering up its main weapons and the way it seemed to negligently swat aside valkyrie 5 with a burst of Lrms; but all her attention was on the shape emerging from the cloud of dust and debris.

It consisted of two fifteen kilometre long curved metal arms surrounding a set of revolving, gyroscopic rings five kilometres across, that pulsed and thrummed with energetic discharges like nothing she had ever seen before. It seemed to flicker momentarily before the object disappeared behind something, something large. Her sensors went crazy, trying to pick out individual ships in the enemy fleet while running every self-diagnostic routine they had in an effort to find the malfunction.

Impossible she thought, it couldn't be. Yet it was. Somehow the word of blake had found or built a matter displacement device and used it to manoeuver a fleet right at the worst possible point. In her last moments, Tanya noticed the device activate again.

This time the device deposited the new mass of ships 10,000 kilometres away and her sensors told her the fleet was unidentifiable. The seething mass of ships was definitely comprised of warships, judging from the heat spikes and sensor emissions.

Unknown, armed and familiar with unidentified technology. Definitely either blakeists or unknowns. Aliens? Here? Now? The blakeists had noticed by now and were reorientating the majority of their fleet to face the new comers.

A burst of static and harsh and flanging erupted over the radio. Repeated 60 seconds later. Obviously a demand or message of some kind. Not in any recognisable language.

Definitely aliens then.

That was when it all went to hell.

Hello lovely readers and welcome to my attempt at a serious Battletech/Mass effect crossover. I hope you enjoy this story enough, that you leave a review about what I did right and wrong and how I can improve in future. For anyone interested I am in need of a beta reader to help improve this story.

For those of you who are interested, the links below (remove spaces) are the information pages for the Ostrogoth fighter and the Merlin class warship.

www. / wiki / Ostrogoth

wiki/ Merlin_ (Drop Ship _class)

wiki/ Striga

Glossary of Clan Terms

I am relatively sure, I covered all the terms used below, but if there are any I haven't covered the link is below.

wiki / Glossary_of_Clan_Terms

Aff

Affirmative

Bloodname

Bloodname refers to the surname of each of the 800 warriors who stood with Nicholas Kerensky during the Exodus Civil War. The right to use one of these surnames has been the ambition of every Clan warrior since the system was established. Only a maximum of 25 warriors, depending on its Bloodcount, are allowed to use any Bloodname at one time. When one of the Bloodnamed warriors dies, a special Trial, called a Trial of Bloodright, is held to determine who will assume that Bloodname. A contender must prove his Bloodname lineage, then win a series of duels against other competitors. Only Bloodnamed warriors may sit on the Clan Councils or are eligible to become a Khan or ilKhan. Bloodnames are determined matrilineally, at least after the original generation. Because a warrior can only inherit from his or her female parent, he or she only has a claim to one Bloodname.

Circle of Equals

The area in which a trial by combat takes place. The area can be anywhere from a few meters across for personal combat, or thousands of kilometres across, or even span several worlds for large scale trials. A contestant that voluntarily leaves or is forced to leave the area is considered dishonourable or weak, and is disqualified. The area can be of any shape, though it is traditionally a circle.

Clan

The Clans of BattleTech were originally descended from the self-exiled remnants of the Star League Defense Force (SLDF), who had departed the Inner Sphere after Stefan Amaris brought about the downfall of the Star League. General Aleksandr Kerensky led his forces to a hidden destination far from the Great Houses because he believed that a catastrophic war was inevitable, one that even the once mighty Star League army would be powerless to stop. After much infighting between the members of the former SLDF, Aleksandr's son, Nicholas Kerensky took command of the exiles, reorganizing them into twenty Clans of warriors leading and protecting their attendant civilian castes.

While the Inner Sphere was mired in the destructive Succession Wars, the Clans experienced a technological renaissance. When they returned to the Inner Sphere, 250 years after their ancestors' departure, the Great Houses were mostly powerless to stop the massive Clan Invasion. But after their loss at Tukayyid, internal tensions within the Clans and an alliance between the Great Houses drew the invasion to a standstill.

Dezgra

Adjective referring to the disgraced state of the subject, such as a unit that disgraced itself in battle, or a person or unit without honor.

Rasalhauge dominion

The ultimate amalgamation of the Free Rasalhague Republic and Clan Ghost Bear, the Rasalhague Dominion is a blend of the political, military and cultural styles of Inner Sphere and Clan societies.

Ristar

Shortened form of "Rising Star." This term refers to a particularly gifted warrior on his or her way to high position

Neg

Negative

Solahma

An old Clan-warrior (~30 years and older) that has not gained the rank or reputation to stay in a frontline unit. They are dispatched from their old units and concentrated in Solahma-units, where they get combat tasks deemed unworthy for frontline warriors (cannonfodder, hunting bandits...) Mechs are rare in Solahma-units and most end up as infantry, hoping they will find a way to die in honor.

Quiaff Shortened form of "Query Affirmative." Used to query the subject's agreement, but specifically with an expected affirmative answer ("Aff"). Often used rhetorically.
Quineg Shortened form of "Query Negative." Used to query the subject's agreement, but specifically with an expected negative answer ("Neg"). Often used rhetorically.

Star League

The brainchild of Ian Cameron, the Star League was a self-policing interstellar council formed from the Terran Hegemony, the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere, and the Territorial States of the Periphery. Each of the States of the Star League was required to provide soldiers and war materiel for the mutual protection of the Star League Defense Force, but otherwise was allowed to maintain its own standing army, and even conduct (rare) small-scale wars. Though not completely stable, the relative peace, prosperity, and advanced technology of the Star League have led many to consider the Star League as the zenith of human civilization.

Stravag

A Clan epithet.