World of Eggs 01
New Aberdeen
Draconis March
Federated Suns
14 January 3025
From the memoirs of Natasha Kerensky:
Terran history contains reams of pages produced by writers and so-called philosophers trying to find scholarly ways to justify their countries' participation in wars, prattling about "threats to basic freedoms" and "the common good". Nowadays, I do not think anybody - not even the leaders of our beloved five families - who makes any pretense about why we fight wars. It is power, pure and simple, that drives us now, and the only thing that differentiates one war from another is the size and manner of the stakes involved, and the size of the final body count.
No matter how many times my men and I go to war - and God willing, that will be another quarter century or more - I doubt we will ever be involved in a campaign as important as the war waged by Wolf's Dragoons on the planet Hoff in 3022. First all there, there were the Houses involved: Davion vs Kurita, the two heavyweights of the five Successor families, going at one another with no holds barred. Second, there was the caliber of our opposition: four battalions of the Eridani Light Horse, the only mercenary unit in the Human Sphere with the tactical competence to seriously challenge our status as the best regiment in the galaxy.
(What about Hansen's Roughriders you say? Be serious! How could anyone be afraid of a unit whose commander has the strategic subtlety of a concrete DropShip!)
But third, and most importantly, there was the prize involved. Not water, nor metals, nor control of another flea-bitten frontier planet. No, this time the states were that rarest of commodities, a cadre of scientists and engineers, assembled on Hoff by House Davion to conduct the first serious research into Mech technology in a century. House Kurita wanted to get its hands on the fruits of those labors, wanted it bad it was willing to offer us the highest price ever paid for a Merc contract.
And so, my friends, did we…
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Clang.
The door to Natasha Kerensky's cell opened.
Her cell was as comfortable as any prefabricated prison could be made. A bed, tables, books, sanitary equip, equipment, writing materials, and a noteputer. People were often surprised by how erudite Natasha Kerensky writes. In person she was usually quiet, but once made angry enough she would just as likely kill you as curse you out. That murderous unpredictability was what made the Black Widow so chilling.
But give her time to herself, and time to write, and Natasha Kerensky gets sardonic to the max.
She looked at what she had written under the title 'A response to missile artillery in mech combat' and closed the notebook.
Her cell was a prefabricated ferrocrete structure in the middle of the tarmac shadowed by BattleMech guns. She was that dangerous that they would rather not have her be in a position to reconsider her word not to escape or end her life as long as she could bring someone down with her. Granted, those were Urbanmech guns, but Natasha supposed a PPC was a PPC.
She smiled thinly as Barbara Mosley walked into the room. "So?" asked Natasha. "What is the butcher's bill?"
"Anyone that gets through three days of after-battle surgery is probably going to live long enough to wake up," replied the blonde woman. Barbara brought a chair with her and sat facing Natasha. "From Stedman's Company, starting with eleven mechs, they came home with six, but eight pilots will be able to fight another day. This is war and casualties happen, but first I have to say that we didn't intend it to happen this way. That's why I wanted to parley and end this in a draw, all we wanted was to open a neutral line of communications to Jaime Wolf.
She shrugged. "Too late now, I suppose."
"Spare me your pity. You came with the objective to smash the Black Widow flat, and you have done so in record time. Some might call it cheating to use out-of-map artillery, but it can also be considered an honor that you needed to resort to such measures at all. It takes skill to make do with inferior technology, but those who do not have the skill can only resort to other means."
Natasha Kerensky put away the felt tip pen she was writing with. The Eridani Light Horse had not provided her with anything that could be somewhat effectively used as a weapon. "But war is war, and is not by itself combat. Tell me, how many of my men have you murdered?"
"Okay then. First of all - your second in command, Colin Maclaren survived the missile hit. But he might not ever pilot a BattleMech again, not even by going cyborg with replacement limbs and a lung. His Marauder is a total loss. If any Mechs are salvageable, we might release them with you depending on the terms of prisoner exchange."
Natasha Kerensky let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. The last of her original lance and her most ardent supporter, he was like a knight in service of his lady. There was nothing romantic in there despite many rumors, but they did care for each other in a very platonic and courtly sort of way. Without him as a pillar to hold her up, all she would have left is hate and death.
Barbara continued "Other survivors are: Lynn Sheridan, Crusader. Takiro Ekida, Archer. John Hayes, Griffin. John Clavell, Rifleman. Simon Fraser, Stinger. Mohammar Jahan, Stinger."
The bigger mechs surviving artillery strikes were understandable. Some of them had been with Kerensky and so surrendered intact.
Barbara added with a clack of her tongue "We're actually surprised that all the pilots in the lightest mechs in your Recon Lance survived top-attack munitions, but from the interviews they were fast enough to get their arms up to protect their cockpits. The bomblets still ruined the rest of their mechs though."
Clavell in his Rifleman stayed to guard his fallen lance and asked for orders instead of just randomly rushing out to battle on his own. He was far enough from the fight that the remaining Stedman's company Mechs couldn't find him and bring down his heavily damaged nearly combat-ineffective mech.
Natasha Kerensky noted instantly the missing names. Miklos Delius, Archer. Nikolai Koniev, Wasp. Alex Ward, Stinger. Takiro Ikeda was the last surviving member of Ikeda's Fire Lance.
From her company of twelve mechs, four ended their lives as MechWarriors. This made their karma equal with Stedman's company. But- Natasha looked up and her eyes burned with cold anger. "And you? How many did you lose?"
Barbara looked shiftily to the side, avoiding meeting Natasha's eyes.
"Seriously? You cannot expect me to believe you lost no one. I saw those… Urbanmechs…" even to Natasha Kerensky, just saying that felt incredibly weird "fall without ejection pods. One I killed personally!"
Barbara licked her lips and answered "Well… it turns out that what with the XL engine intruding so much into a side torso… that any containment failure instantly scrams the reactor and shuts down the whole mech. So the mech falls down. But the pilot is still mostly unharmed in there, taken down far earlier than any other equivalent mech that tries to fight until it gets put down."
Natasha blinked. There was something charming in her honest confusion, no wonder she was so popular. That innocent look was damn cheating!
"You're telling me - that not only are you using lost technology, but that losing that technology in battle was completely accidentally an advantage for you. We have all been so used to trying to kill the meat to save the metal for salvage-" whispered Kerensky "... that even I ignored a dead mech as being completely dead. A broken XL engine is useless for salvage. But we - Wolf's Dragoons and the Eridani Light Horse both - would prefer to have surviving pilots and their valuable skills more than just more 'Mech salvage."
"Please do not start double-tapping ELH mechs. A downed mech is still out of the fight and killing downed pilots is still an atrocity."
Natasha Kerensky closed her eyes and palmed her face. "What are you ponies even doing?" she hissed through her teeth.
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The 4th Deneb could only watch as the Black Widows and wounded Light Horse personnel of Stimson's Company were immediately loaded onto the Union DropShip which immediately departed offworld, leaving Barbara's Badniks behind.
Mosley's Company was at full fighting strength of 12 mechs as techs worked overtime to replace the scrammed fusion engine.
With the capture of Natasha Kerensky's Black Widow Company, remaining Kurita and Wolf's Dragoons forces on the world were suddenly on the back foot. Davion forces on the world still didn't have enough troops to force a decisive engagement, with both Davion and Kurita forces having dug in around settlements and cities promising brutal urban combat, but on open field encounters Kurita forces could only roll off the field every single time.
2nd Galedon was a light regiment with green troops being supported by elements of the Epsilon Battalion. This was why a low-intensity but long-duration conflict was preferred by both sides. This allowed their troops to gain fighting experience with only minimal risk. 4th Deneb was not ready to escalate by themselves.
Intercepted radio communications went some variation of:
"What the hell are these things and why are they so faaassttt?!"
"Why are there Urbanmechs in the middle of the desert?"
"Fool, you were beaten by Urbanmechs? You were piloting a Jenner! Do not make excuses for your incompetence!"
"Chu-i!"
the Lieutenant equivalent in the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery "We have walked into a minefield!"
"For Kerens-" *KABLAM*
The 4th Deneb were known for their speed, but literally no one was at all prepared for the impossible sight of a fast Urbanmech. All operations could be supported at full speed all the time. Anything that the Super Urbanmech couldn't outgun, they could escape or lead into a trap of other faster mechs and hovercraft.
"Jesus Christ," breathed Major Kaplan as the results of the a week of Barbara Mosley's company being on-planet finally came together.
Barbara shrugged. "It's not my fault if so many of them want the glory of being the one to win over the one who took down Kerensky that they'll walk into any trap."
"Natasha Kerensky in a Heavy Mech was beaten by someone in a Light Mech. An Urbanmech. That pilot has to be a damn genius in combat. And she's still going out there in her little thirty-ton trashcan just asking them to have a try."
Barbara winced. "You know it wasn't like that. It was a team effort and with gross abuse of missile artillery."
She knew full well that while she was a pretty good veteran MechWarrior, she was only that good. A lot of people were actually mistaking Terry Little's actions for hers. Her former lancemate, now the leader of his own lance, had amazing gunnery skills; which was why formerly in Captain Allwine's Command Lance he piloted a comparatively slow 50-ton Enforcer.
Kaplan grinned. "But that's not romantic. A woman like the Black Widow being taken down by another woman? You know they're all just workshopping a name for you now."
Barbara winced even harder.
There were official callsigns (Gold One, Gold Two, etc.) for military action and unofficial ones that defined a pilot. Many still maintained the tradition that you don't get to pick your own callsign, it was something other pilots pushed on you as part of the ritual of belonging. Some, like Natasha Kerensky, made it their brand by being able to slap down anyone that tried to say otherwise. Some, like Barbara, never really gave a thought to this sort of thing - until it was too late with feeling undeserved fame.
Jack Finsrud had been trying to push "The Trashwoman" amongs the impressionable 4th Deneb infantry until she slugged him in the face.
Barbara "Bad Mama" Mosley was also making the rounds but she thought it made her sound old and dumpy.
She kicked the question up to Eridani High Command and their PR machine and tried not to lose any sleep about it.
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PRESS RELEASE
Comstar News Bureau
15 January 3025
Eridani Light Horse Command confirms that Natasha "The Black Widow" Kerensky, Captain of the Black Widows independent Company under Wolf's Dragoons, has been captured alive and relatively unharmed in battle on the world of New Aberdeen on 09 January 3025. All units of the Black Widows company have also been captured or KIA.
Forces responsible for this event are the 9th Recon Company of the 151st Light Horse Regiment of the Eridani Light Horse, headed by Captain Barbara Mosley in support of a Black Widows ambush on ELH Stedman's Company. This ambush on an ambush operation was termed CASE UNICORN.
It has been verified that Barbara Mosley piloted a "Super Urbanmech" that is capable of running at over 86 kph and carries a PPC. Kerensky's usual BattleMech is a Warhammer with two PPCs and a top speed of approx 64 kph. All mechs of the 9th Recon are all similar "Super Urbanmechs", none massing more than 30 tons. They faced off against Natasha Kerensky's Black Widows Company which is composed as a mix of Heavy and Light BattleMechs.
Accordingly, if a moniker or callsign needs to be used, the ELH would prefer "The White Unicorn" in publications.
ELH and Davion spokesperson have said that this "Super Urbanmech" design will eventually be released for mass manufacture under an ELH-owned production house in a similar manner to how Blackwell Industries is the dedicated manufacturer for Wolf's Dragoons.
Terms of release for Wolf's Dragoons POWs will be negotiated in the near future. The ELH maintains custody over Natasha Kerensky and her company.
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Comstar was not very interested in the gossip. The Eridani Light Horse had been in the Inner Sphere for three hundred years and was a known quantity. Unguided rocket artillery had never really become obsolete in the Inner Sphere. Some technical elements had also attempted to verify if it was possible to actually make Urbanmechs perform to that level, but returned with the idea that due to the short stubby legs of the Urbanmech, it could burn out the servos too quickly.
By their accounting, going a full 86 kph instead of a more reasonable 64 kph was very suboptimal for the weapon load. A heavier alpha strike would probably be more useful in city combat, and if you need speed - just use a different, cheaper mech. It's trying to be a medium mech without the armor to match.
This platform would not be viable unless the Super Urbanmech had XL Engines or Double Heat Sinks.
Hoff was a setback to House Davion's research on DHS, but this may imply that NAIS had a new series of prototypes to put to field trials with the Eridani Light Horse in gratitude for their service on Hoff. In which case the only real response was to cut off the source of production - the ELH were irrelevant.
The Eridani Light Horse might be good pilots, but infrastructurally they were not the Wolf's Dragoons.
ROM only had interest in the news for Jaime Wolf's response, but analysts predicted nothing particularly interesting. Prisoner exchanges were pro forma between mercenary commands, and the only thing this bought them was a communications line between Hanse Davion and Jaime Wolf.
That was more dangerous.
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Solaris VII
Valhalla Club
Date unknown
"So you heard? The Black Widow's finally been taken down."
"It's it about time? Mercenary work is like that, fight enough people eventually your ticket is due. To be taken down by some no-name MechWarrior - someone got lucky."
"Kerensky's been fighting too many people and keeps winning them. Her skill's the real deal. It's not just talent and just being lucky isn't enough to explain this. To take down Kerensky's Warhammer while piloting a goddamn Urbanmech…"
"Ach, yah, that's gotta sting. That just makes it more impressive. I could believe it. If anyone could take down the best of the Wolf's Dragoons, the Eridani Light Horse could make it."
"But why even an Urbanmech in the first place? If the Eridani Light Horse could make an Urbie go that fast, why not something else like a Valkyrie or something?"
"Maybe for the insult? Wolf's Dragoons been going up and down claiming to be the best mercenary command in the Inner Sphere… and the Eridani Light Horse took that personally."
"You don't make a full company of twelve weirdly fast Urbanmechs just to rub it in. Something's off about this… think they got lostech? ... Lostech Urbanmechs sound extra dumb though."
"Doesn't change how the Black Widow got take down by a trashcan though."
"Yeah…"
"She was put in the dumpster."
"She got taken to the cleaners."
"Her reputation's in the trash."
"She's going to have to wear the stain of this humiliation for a long time…"
"Can you believe that the Eridani Light Horse actually wants us to call the woman who took down the Black Widow something as boring as White Unicorn?"
"Those foolish ponies. Those uptight, out-of-touch, ignorant idiots. A public callsign isn't something you claim - it's one that's given to you by other people!"
"What about the Black Widow then?"
"By other people too scared to object!"
"Gyahahaha fair enough."
Laughter rang through the table. The gladiators raised their tankards. "So here's to Barbara 'Miss Bad Ass' Mosley! May her glorious donkey kick bring her more glory in the battlefield!"
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New Avalon
Crucis March
Federated Suns
Same time
"The Eridani Light Horse did what?!" Ardan Sortek spat.
"Aha. Ahaha. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Hanse Davion began laughing a loud full belly laugh and pounded at his table. He was crying tears of laughter. He rubbed at his eyes and leaned back on his chair. "Oh those people… hahah… oh god in heaven, I love hearing news about the Eridani Light Horse."
It looked to Ardan Sortek as if Hanse Davion was aging backwards as his laughter settled down. All the stress and pains of rulership just for a few brief moments faded away.
As much as Ardan Sortek and the AFFS wanted to be the pillar that House Davion could rest their worries upon, none of them could really understand the crushing loneliness of being the man ultimately responsible for throwing the gauntlet. To decide that his goals were sufficient reason to move millions of men and cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands on both sides, to see the peace of worlds broken and land conquered.
The Eridani Light Horse were in the mood of "There is a problem. I am going to fix it," and Hanse Davion just loved the hell out of the ELH apparently giving no more shites. It helped make him feel that he was no longer alone.
Quintus Allard had to report things like this personally as head of MIIO because as the ELH was employed by House Davion, it was an internal matter.
"Why do you look so annoyed?" Hanse asked. "Is this not a good thing?"
"The Eridani Light Horse are refusing to remand Kerensky and all the other Dragoons to our custody. If there's any prisoner exchange, they also demand they hand over the Dragoons personally instead of releasing them to any AFFS transport at any point."
Hanse nodded. "It's fine."
"Hanse… the intel we could gain from Kerensky… where the Dragoons actually came from, where are they doing with Kurita… she's a high-level officer despite only commanding a company."
Hanse waved. "It's fine."
"Are you su-"
"It's fine."
Quintus sighed. "You are favoring the Light Horse too much. I'd say that the AFFS would resent such blatant favoritism, but they did just build a task force and smashed the Black Widows flat in about ten minutes when the Davion Guards and a merc company failed their own headhunting expedition. Considering the success of the Wolf's Dragoons in Kurita employ, this is helping morale across the board. "
"Is there anything else I could do for the Eridani Light Horse?" Hanse asked. "This sounds like it's worth a reward. Have you finished looking over Declan yet? I don't care what's on it. The Light Horse can have it. Cancel the search. It's theirs. I won't have them wait a month longer if they need it."
Quintus looked unimpressed. "Declan is four jumps - a month away - from Kestrel." As Kestrel was the Administrative Center of the Kestral March, it was simple enough to order the creation of a hostile environment exploration team. Doing it in secrecy was the problem. "They're not even a quarter of the way there."
Hanse smiled. "So isn't it fine?"
Quintus sighed. "We really should still know of planetary conditions on that world just in case. Just because the ELH is being overly generous right now shouldn't mean we should ignore how they might become a threat. What happens when a mercenary no longer needs the financial support of their employer? The best thing is that they just leave. The worst is that they feel the existence of their former employer is… redundant."
He clapped his hands in response to Ardan's scowl. "We must not be blind to the possibilities. If the scenario is that the Eridani Light Horse has been activated as a foothold of the SLDF returned is true… that is also the worst case scenario, as no one would be able to stand up to the might of the SLDF, and we can't know if they would become hostile if we don't just obediently play as their political puppets."
"Right. Right…" Hanse sighed and waved again. "But there has to be something I can do for the Eridani Light Horse right now. Wandering Horse intel might know about things and need to react faster than asking for permission. Should we tell Sandoval that the ELH are acting under my express authority?"
Duke Aaron Sandoval was the minister in charge of the Draconis March, the most war-torn area of the Federated Suns which had been under war zone regulations since 2787. Unlike Prince Hanse who as Minister of the Crucis March had too much on his plate, or Duke Michael Hasek-Davion as Minister of the Capellan March who seemed disinterested, he took his duties with all due seriousness.
"That might not be a good idea," Quintus demurred. "It is best when all forces can mutually support each other. Offensives need to be planned for with enough reserves for support or defense against enemy spoiling attacks. Besides…"
Here Quintus frowned. "If the ELH needed something, they could just send you a private HPG message."
Urbanmech HPG, what bullshit.
It was fifteen tons and could fit inside a Mech and very effectively black-boxed. No wonder the ELH had no compunction about letting NAIS have a try at reverse-engineering a 50-ton mobile HPG. Without the plans provided, it was all just nonsense parts. Hanse Davion had that supposed "Command variant Urbanmech" as a gift and kept in his private hangar.
"No one releases the very thing the Terran Hegemony spent so many centuries clutching so close to their hearts as the foundation of their technological advantage over the other Houses unless they already have something better," said Quintus. "However the Eridani Light Horse is communicating with the SLDF out there… we can be sure, it's not via HPG."
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New Aberdeen
Same time
Barbara let out a low groan. "Ok, it's not as bad as I hoped, but it could have been better. I know a lot of people who go with Pale Rider, death on a pale horse… it's overused, man. I never really got why people were so obsessed with these callsigns and nicknames so kicking it up to high command to decide was a good idea. This is too cutesy, but I can deal."
"Heh, still thinking that you're going to get called anything as dignified as a unicorn. You're a bad donkey. Bad, Barbara. Bad."
She closed her eyes. "This is fine. I am fine with this."
"But if at 40 you're still a Miss Bad Ass instead of a Mrs. Bad Ass, people are going to talk."
Barbara Mosley reached out to strangle her best friend. Again.
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