TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE

A BattleTech novel by RougeBaron

Author's Note

The story originated from conversations with some friends about making a SGT-9D Sagittaire mini using gatling cannons to represent the LB-10X (but later modified to UAC10). I am not a fan of slow lumbering assaults like Sagittaire. I am a fast mech guy. But I have a fetish for multi-barreled rapid-fire automatic cannons a.k.a. Gatling guns, and the visceral image of a Sagittaire carrying two of these cannons burnt in my head in such a way that I had to write a fanfic about it.

So here I am, once again in BattleTech universe. I'm doing everything different this time: slow assault mechs, female leads, Successor House units, and Jihad-era technology, something I have shied away from for years. As always, enjoy this story as much I enjoy writing it.

BattleTech and all its components are copyright of Catalyst Game Lab. All rights reserved.


PROLOGUE

Robinson Standard BattleWorks,
Robinson, Draconis March,
June 4, 3063

Sai Mukherjee stared blankly at his com screen on his desk, which had been furiously blinking and ringing for the last 5 minutes. He couldn't count how many times his hands had moved to press the receive button, only to retreat back into his pocket. Whoever it was on the other side, either the CEO of Robinson Standard BattleWorks or Duke James Sandoval himself, must be getting anxious. He knew why. He was just not ready to deal with it.

As the program manager of the BattleWorks' newest battlemech, Sai was pressured from every direction to deliver the product as soon as possible, to give AFFS advantage over the LAAF in the budding Civil War. But like any new project, he was delayed by oversights, miscommunications, budget constraints, and just plain bad luck. The project ran over time and over budget. And the farther he fell behind schedule, the more people wanted to talk to him, which was counterproductive, but it was just how corporate world worked.

The com screen buzzed again, and Sai decided he would just face the storm. He thumbed the receive button, and the face of the CEO of Robinson Standard BattleWorks leapt from the screen. Aggravation bled from her eyes.

"Countess Sandoval," Sai greeted her.

"I just got off the com with Duke James about our deliverables," the middle aged woman said, "which, up to this point, exist only in blue prints. The 1st Robinson Rangers cannot fight the Lyrans with blue prints. They want the battlemechs."

"Everything is on schedule, My Countess," Sai swallowed his pride. "The 1st Robinson Rangers will receive their order as promised."

"They want the battlemechs by the beginning of the third quarter," the CEO groused. "That means we have to ship them within the next 3 weeks. Are you telling me you will have a company of brand new battlemechs in working conditions in less than 3 weeks?"

"Yes, Ma'am, positively," Sai faked confidence. "Everybody is working hard to complete the order, and we will meet the schedule. There is nothing to worry about. However I could use more resources."

"There are no more resources. You have used the last safety net for this program, Mr. Mukherjee," the CEO said sternly. "For the sake of your career, you'd better have the battlemechs ready next time I talk to you. Good day."

The image disappeared from the screen, and Sai grabbed his hard hat and stormed out of his office. It was his turn to yell at the chief engineers and master technicians who reported to him. He was the program manager. If he got yelled at by his boss, he got to yell at his employees. That was how corporate ladder worked.

Sai walked through a wall of unfinished battlemechs: the Sagittaire, Robinson Standard BattleWorks' newest creation. The 95-ton metal giants were being prepped with a smorgasbord of energy weapons, ranging from the massive Large Pulse Lasers to the measly Small Pulse Laser. A few of them, the 9D variant, carried 2 LB10X cannons, but there were not many of them ordered. The all-energy variant was the most popular, and for a reason.

He continued until he saw the perfect guy, the chief engineer who directly reported to him, to be the 'bum of the day'. The chief engineer was talking to a few technicians when Sai crudely pulled him to the side. He shoved his notepad at the guy. "We're running out of time! You have to finish the mechs or you are all getting fired!"

"Unit 1 through 8 are on schedule," the chief engineer said, clearly annoyed by Sai's disrespectful stunt, but chose not to escalate it. "Unit 10 through 12 are a little behind. The LB10X ammo feeding mechanism needs extra time to install. But once Unit 1 through 8 are finished, we have resources to finish 10 through 12. We'll get them ready in 10 days."

"And Unit 9?" Sai asked. He wished he didn't have to know the answer, but he knew he had to.

"Unit 9 is… ornery," the chief engineer selected his words carefully. "We have some interference fit that's causing problems. The damper pads of the LB10X won't fit into the available slot…"

"How come they fit the other units but not this one?"

"Some defects must've escaped quality control. I don't know which ones. Maybe several of them, and they create a domino effect which ultimately interfere with the damper pads."

"How long will it take to sort things out?"

"Uh… if we can fix the problem, maybe 2 weeks."

"We don't have 2 weeks!" Sai walked toward the said battlemech, a half-finished Sagittaire with cables and weapons dangling all over it. The look on the technicians told him that the mech had been a nightmare to work on. "Install the LB10X without the damper pads!"

"The vibration will throw the weapons off target," the chief engineer rebuked. "The mechwarrior won't hit anything without the damper pads."

"Then blow a hole on the structure! I don't care! Just make it work!" Sai ran out of patience.

"We don't want to compromise the structure, Sir," the chief engineer grimaced in pain.

"So we're just gonna fail then!" Sai threw his notepad at the feet of the Sagittaire Unit 9. "I'm gonna fire the entire QC department!" He paced the floor for a while, then returned to the chief engineer. "How far behind is Unit 13?"

"A month, and that's just for the armor. With weapons and such…"

"Alright, here's what you'll do. Stop working on Unit 1 through 4. Direct all resources to get Unit 13 up to speed. Make sure you can install the LBX cannons on this one!"

"Right away, Sir. What about Unit 9?"

"Do we still have the UAC10 we acquired from Imperator?"

"Yes, Sir." A shade of panic flashed across the chief engineer's face. "You're not thinking…"

"Hell yeah. Throw them in Unit 9."

"Sir, UAC10 is 2 tons heavier than LB10X. We don't have the extra tonnage to accommodate UAC10."

"Then scrap the C3 unit and Targeting Computer, then sell Unit 9 to black market."

"First of all, Countess Sandoval will have our asses for deviating from blue print," the chief engineer couldn't tolerate Sai's violation of Standard Operating Procedure any longer. "Second of all, SGT-9D is not designed to carry UAC10. The wirings, the software, the mounting provisions, all are for LB10X. Installing UAC10 will add problems to this already problematic unit. Let alone making it work without targeting computer."

"What part of 'black market' do you not understand?" Sai barked. "We can't have resources burning AFFS hours trying to figure out how to glue what cannons to a mech. We have a war to win. After this first delivery, AFFS will want more Sagittaire. We will not have time to deal with Unit 9. It will always be a liability, and the best way to deal with liability is to salvage it. I'd prefer to do it in the black market." Sai flashed a curt smile. "As for the other problems… well, let the other poor bastards try to make sense of this stupid mech!"