World of Eggs 02
Thestria
Matsuida Prefecture
Draconis Combine
25 January 3025
Baxter Arbuthnot was not the sort of man people expected to lead the Epsilon Regiment of the Wolf's Dragoons. Thin, weak-looking, bespectacled – he looked more like an accountant having night troubles wondering if his wife was cheating on him and his children were actually his children than a man in command over one of the most potent regiments in the Inner Sphere.
Lavrenti Kornilov meanwhile was large and burly and very Russian-looking. That was the inherent idiosyncrasy of the Draconis Combine. They had some of the most ethnically diverse populations in the Inner Sphere, and yet a brutally enforced homogenous culture of wannabe tryhard Imperial Japanese.
"So this is the limit of the famous" – and that word said with a condescending leer – "Wolf's Dragoons? Fine, then – run, you dogs. These are the orders. The 2nd Galedon will complete the conquest of New Aberdeen. You are to remove the 4th Deneb with whatever means you are able. It should not be difficult to carry out, no? Just go ahead and fight and not back away whimpering after being wounded a little by your prey. Don't think. Just fight. Go."
The recording sent over HPG shut off.
"Well… I've heard worse plans," spoke Olivia Escalone, the regiment's second-in-command. "It's only a pity we can't settle things with the Light Horse just yet."
Meeting the Eridani Light Horse on New Aberdeen was unexpected, but not exactly a surprise. New Aberdeen was only four jumps away from Hoff, which the ELH still garrisoned.
Many of the Wolf's Dragoons were as dismayed as they were elated by the new of the Eridani Light Horse bringing down Kerensky. It was blow to their pride, but at the same time a roaring challenge. Like 'Finally! A worthy opponent!' The Eridani Light Horse were not willing to just back down and concede first place to Wolf's Dragoons. It was strange, but somehow trying their utmost to kill each other inspired more respect and bonds akin to brotherhood than two House units that routinely operated together.
"Attacking New Aberdeen is pointless, Natasha Kerensky isn't there anymore," Arbuthnot replied. "We can only trust that Kerensky won't break, and that the Eridani Light Horse are actually as honorable as they say they are."
"Chemical interrogation leaves obvious signs."
Arbuthnot nodded. "Whether we try to clandestinely attempt to recover Kerensky or just wait for a prisoner exchange is Jaime Wolf's problem." He turned back towards the holo and the list of available combat elements. It was a spreadsheet.
Natasha Kerensky's independent company was only attached to Epsilon Regiment in the first place, so the battalion remained mostly intact and were able to cleanly withdraw to their DropShips. The 2nd Galedon remainders obviously refused the Wolf's Dragoons' recommendation that this was a pointless fight.
"New Aberdeen was only ever notable to break open the way to Harrow's Sun. Normally this would be a good time to cycle out the regiment to let Beta or Gamma Regiment take over front line duty, but I have a feeling that's not what the regiment wants?"
Escalone shrugged. "Withdrawing from a pointless engagement is fine, sir. But being driven off-world after losing Kerensky, to Urbanmechs at that? The troops need a victory to cleanse their palate of this taste of defeat."
Withdrawing from New Aberdeen to link up with the rest of Epsilon Regiment, only to drop into Harrow's Sun – the assigned 4th Deneb homeworld? With only battalion of the 4th Deneb still on New Aberdeen, that would put two battalions versus a full heavyweight regiment.
The same deal would happen on New Aberdeen itself. Unless reinforced, it would be a reinforced battalion versus a regiment.
Beta and Gamma Regiments on Misery, one jump away, were still a threat-in-being ready to jump into any reinforcing Davion troops.
Frankly, Wolf's Dragoons could not care less if the ELH dropped an elite regiment of their own against the 2nd Galedon's green troops.
"We should have done this in the first place instead of playing nursemaid," Escalone muttered.
"It was a low-risk assignment in the first place," replied Artbuthnot. "Training up green troops is a valid enough reason to use mercenary forces. It would not be good if Wolf's Dragoons overshadows House Kurita troops too much." He rubbed at his balding head, and grinned toothily. "The offensive tempo was not there. Now… now, can you feel it? The time is right."
-.
-.
New Avalon
Crucis March
Federated Suns
Date unknown
Leroy Martin had worked for Federated Boeing, the largest DropShip manufacturer in the Inner Sphere. One thing sharply curtailed his chances for promotion – and that was his extreme space sickness. While it was perfectly possible to have a job that never moves from New Avalon offices, higher-order responsibilities required a modicum of willingness to undertake jumpship travel. When he was approached by House Davion representatives with an offer to head a company that would ensure he kept boots on the ground, with higher salary and responsibilities, he took the chance to jump ship from Federated-Boeing Instrumentation Ltd.
A CEO at thirty-four! Ah, truly his star was on the rise. Martin was not intimidated by having to compete against larger corporations in the Federated Suns military-industrial complex. The pie was ever-increasing and you could always cut more slices. As long as the threat of House Kurita existed, never once could the AFFS take one step back.
Tall and broad-shouldered, but wiry with a swimmer's physique, with slicked-back hair and wearing square eyeglasses, Leroy Martin's had an oddly intimidating presence for a corporate officer. This bothered him as he gave off the impression of being boring and married to his job, and in his off times often looked for a hobby to use as a conversation starter. Unfortunately he proved unsuitable for the usual corporate sports of golf and tennis, and mildly out-of-shape businessmen didn't want to look like they were competing against a giant.
Learning that he was being offered the position as a front for a military owner was somewhat freeing. He had an excuse to look and remain aloof instead of being forced to socialize. Thirty-five percent of the company was owned by the Federated Suns itself as government stake, forty percent by the Eridani Light Horse, and twenty percent by a person named Devlin Stone, and the remaining five percent distributed in-house to employees.
Martin had 1%. But 1% of a company apparently with capitalization of 250 million C-bills before even starting anything was still a lot. The funding was secured by New Avalon banks from deposited pure germanium bars.
The Eridani Light Horse promised a prefab factory, it was up to RobotniC to handle distribution.
Martin stood at the far side of the street, watching the headquarters of his company being built. Boots on the ground. Keeping it grounded. He was resolved never to be too arrogant by his position, but to see things at ground level as much as possible, never deaf to the concerns of lower-level employees. He already handled the initial recruitment. Fresh graduates from NAIS were encouraged to sign up, and with the ELH technical group lecturing at NAIS about Star League technology, there were many eager to work with rediscovered Royal technology.
He had been told that corporate espionage was irrelevant. RobotniC was interested mainly in volume production.
Whatever the Eridani Light Horse and Prince Hanse Davion were up to, this was high-level plotting he was not interested in.
A corporation's headquarters was not necessarily where products would be assembled or even presented. RobotniC would have its factory and showrooms located elsewhere, a building in the middle of an industrial park would handle the boring financial and logistics work that was essential for the functioning of a company.
As it did not need to be hardened more than the usual, driven by a hefty bonus for early completion, New Avalon construction companies were able to finish the headquarters in record time. It helped that the plans were not complicated with decorative flourishes. It was simple tobular building with two block-like overhanging structures with windows as dining and leisure spaces on either side. The top of the building was a smooth dome.
Martin clutched at his head. "Why does it look like an Urbanmeeeech?!"
Fortunately he was able to keep himself from saying that out loud. He coughed into his fist and calmed down. As CEO there was much to do, and he had to present a stern and reliable impression to inspire confidence in this new company.
The construction workers had finished painting the symbol of the company. It was a grinning mustached face in red and black.
A child passing by on the sidewalk pointed "Look, mom! Is that a new toy store?"
Martin arched his back and twisted his hands into claws. "Are we a toy factoorryyy?!"
The mother quickly dragged her son away from the strange person and hurried off down the street.
-.
-.
New Aberdeen
Draconis March
02 February 3025
News of the Wolf's Dragoons withdrawing from New Aberdeen had the 4th Deneb mutedly celebrating. Without them, the odds swung well into their favor. Unfortunately, Davion intelligence informed them that the rest of the 2 nd Galedon were on their way. Epsilon Regiment might be on the way to drop onto their homeworld.
Fourth Deneb command petitioned Davion high command to withdraw from New Aberdeen and consolidate their forces, but were denied.
New Aberdeen was normally two months away from Colchester and a month from Hoff, but two weeks later a Scout Jumpship arrived with a modified Dictator-class Dropship and a Union in its collars.
The battalion weight of fresh ELH troops and supplies were there to relieve Barbara's Badniks and fix the New Aberdeen situation. The Dictator was a known, if obsolete, design capable of transporting an entire battalion like an Overlord. First out the door was a company of Heavy mechs - all the usual line combatants like Catapults, Marauders, Archers, a couple of ancient Flashmans, and a Battlemaster as HQ command mech. Twelve mechs to the company.
Then the dropship began vomiting Urbanmechs. Two companies in twenty four mechs. This battalion didn't have anything in the medium weight class between 30 and 60 ton Battlemech range.
"That's not possible…!" hissed the senior tech Milan Jameson as they watched the unloading process from the starport's air control terminal tower.
"What is?" asked Major Kaplan.
"Sir, we just saw thirty-six mechs walk out. That's a full battalion, yes. Then eighteen tanks. Then sixteen light transports with all their squads. Now they're dragging out eight VTOLs. I looked up the specs of a Dictator, it's only nine thousand tons and slightly smaller than an Overlord. You know how many mechs an Overlord carries? Thirty six. That's it. Six ASF too, but then that leaves just fifty tons of cargo."
The tech gestured to the cargo port on the Dictator. It was still unloading. "By my estimate it's already unloaded five hundred tons of cargo."
Major Kaplan blinked. Then he looked back to the scene with dawning horror. "Is… is that thing bigger on the inside?"
The tech sniffed. "SLDF tech is good, but I don't think they have outright magic. No, it's probably because it looks like an old obsolete Dictator on the outside, but it's an entirely new class of DropShip on the inside."
"It doesn't look old though." It was blinding SLDF Navy white under the hot sun.
Jameson nodded slowly. "Yes. Yet another clean new build in the hands of the Eridani Light Horse. The last time we saw something like this… was when the Wolf's Dragoons arrived in 3005 with five regiments of pristine new mechs."
Kaplan furrowed his brows. "You think that's why the Light Horse was so insistent that no one else gets to interrogate Kerensky and her crew?"
The tech shrugged.
-.
-.
"Salutations, friend Major!" greeted the commanding officer of the battalion. It was Captain, now Major, Raymond Allwine. "I heard you were taking good care of a previous officer of mine. Thank you for that!"
"It was my pleasure, Major Allwine," replied Maj. Kaplan. "I also thank you for coming here to support the fight and kick these Combine bastards out of New Aberdeen once and for all. I hope we can work together without friction. As officer-in-charge of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns on New Aberdeen, we must ask for a table of forces and nominal command rights over your battalion."
"Oh, sure, sure, we're happy to comply. We like to go fast too," replied Major Allwine in that aggressively neighborly way of his. "Raymond's Neckbreaker Battalion is at your disposal!"
-.
An Eridani Light Horse Square Battalion was a combined arms formation that consisted of
* 1 battalion of 36 mechs, eight of which were LAMs
* 1 augmented company of 18 combat vehicles
* 1 company of mechanized infantry (128 troops in 16 vehicles)
* 4 VTOL flights
* Field Artillery, Engineering, Medical support
The Battalion's only weakness was a lack of dedicated ASF for obtaining air superiority, but the 4th Deneb already had that handled.
-.
Major Allwine grinned, his big bushy Flanders mustache quivered under the hot sun. It was time to introduce House Kurita to the Battalion that fights like a Regiment!
-.
-.
In the meantime, he had a gift to deliver.
BattleMechs could be carried as regular cargo with sufficient tie-down points. This just meant that they needed to be unloaded as regular cargo as well instead of being able to walk out on their own.
Jack Finsrud stared up at the new 40-ton BattleMech, pointed at Barbara, and began howling with derisive laughter.
"How could you do this to me," Barbara had to say to her former commanding officer. "I trusted you."
It was a white Urbanmech. With a unicorn horn protruding from its dome-like head.
This turned out to be a mistake, as later newslines would refer to her BattleMech as "the White Unicorn" instead of herself, firmly fixing the moniker of "Little Miss Bad Ass" to her dismay.
Major Allwine beamed. "With input from our little friend, this was the best solution we could think of to compensate for the massive target now on your back. We… didn't actually think you would succeed, only as much as forcing a draw from Kerensky so we could open talks… but now that everyone wants to take you down, you need a Mech that won't let you down.
"Super Urbanmech II. Forty tons. With an unprecedented fifteen tons of Hardened armor on an Urbanmech chassis, making you as well-protected as even most Assault Mechs, but still managing to go full Medium Mech speeds. You have to live, Barbara. You have promises to keep."
Barbara grimaced. She did not relish the prospect of being promoted even higher just so she could integrate Bad Egg Company into Barbara's Badnik Battalion. Although, she supposed, once promoted to that level her tasks would start being more administrative than frontline combat instead of being forced to live up to a skill level she didn't have.
She just had to survive three more years of all the Inner Sphere's gung-ho idiots gunning for her back.
For now… well, she had Kurita forces to bedevil.
-.
-.
Super Hard Urbanmech II UMS2-HARD
Mass: 40 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Experimental Tech
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/E-F-E-D
Production Year: 0
Dry Cost: 5,927,752 C-Bills
Total Cost: 5,927,752 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,487
Construction Options: Fractional Accounting
Chassis: RobotniC Endo-Steel
Power Plant: RobotniC 200 Fusion XL Engine
Walking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h
Jump Jets: RobotniC
Jump Capacity: 90 meters
Armor: RobotniC Patchwork Multi-Ply
Armament:
1 ER PPC
2 Medium Lasers
1 TAG
1 Guardian ECM Suite
Manufacturer: RobotniC
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: RobotniC
Targeting and Tracking System: RobotniC
Overview:
A custom Super Urbanmech II built for Barbara Mosley, reportedly to cover "the
massive goddamn target you painted on my back" after being touted as the person
to take down Natasha Kerensky, it is 40 tons and apparently the prototype of
the Super Urbanmech II.
Packing an unprecedented fifteen tons of Hardened armor on an Urbanmech
chassis, the UMS2-HARD is as well-protected as most Assault Mechs. The
vulnerability of the XL engine protruding into the side torso is mitigated by
armor that can take two AC/20 hits. It does this while still being as fast as
most Medium Mechs at 86 kph, although leg armor is not Hardened.
Its lack of firepower, the same as a Super Urbanmech ten tons lighter, means
that it cannot wade into fray acting like a mini Assault Mech and instead must
perform heavy recon duties the same as a regular Super Urbanmech. It does have
slightly better jump range at 90 meters though.
Barbara Mosley's opponents therefore are driven to assign almost supernatural
skill to her ability to tangle with Heavy Battlemechs and live instead of
merely brute durability.
The UMS2-HARD is painted white and has a decorative horn protruding from the
head of the Mech.
Despite her best efforts, it is her Mech that is called the "White Unicorn" and
her nickname still "Miss Bad-Ass".
Capabilities:
Armed with an ER PPC on the right arm and a pair of Medium Lasers on the left
arm, and a TAG in the torso, the UMS2-HARD has an otherwise identical loadout
to an UMS-SSR Super Royal Urbanmech.
Variants:
UMS2-HARD-ER:
This variant is a later upgrade that covers Mosley's griping about the rate of
fire of the ER PPC not fitting with her brawling tactics. The weapons have
been changed to a pair of Light PPCs and a pair of ER Medium Lasers to allow
her to deliver more sustained fire while in sight of the enemy.
As her Mech still had better protection than even a 60-ton Urban Knight,
Barbara Mosley had little reason to change to a platform that was easier to
hit.
UMS2-HARD-ERER:
This merely replaces the two Light PPC and two ER Medium Lasers with salvaged
Clan ER Large Laser and Clan ER Medium Lasers.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
Equipment Type | Rating | Mass
Internal Structure: Endo-Steel / 67 points / 2.000
Internal Locations: 2 LT, 2 RT, 7 LA, 3 RA
Engine: XL Fusion Engine / 200 / 4.250
Walking MP: 5
Running MP: 8
Jumping MP: 3 Standard
Jump Jet Locations: 2 CT, 1 LT 1.50
Heat Sinks: Double Heat Sink 12(24) / 2.000
Heat Sink Locations: 1 LT, 2 RT, 1 RA
Gyro: Standard / 2.000
Cockpit: Standard / 3.000
Actuators: L: SH+UA R: SH+UA
Armor: Patchwork AV - 131 / 13.745
Structure Factor | Internal Armor
Head (Hardened Armor) 3 / 9
Center Torso (Hardened Armor) 12 / 16
Center Torso (rear) 6
Left Torso (Hardened Armor) 10 / 16
Left Torso (rear) 4
Right Torso (Hardened Armor) 10 / 16
Right Torso (rear) 4
Left Arm (Hardened Armor) 6 / 11
Right Arm (Hardened Armor) 6 / 11
Left Leg (Ferro-Fibrous) 10 / 19
Right Leg (Ferro-Fibrous) 10 / 19
Equipment | Location | Heat | Critical | Mass
ER PPC - RA / 15 / 3 / 7.000
2 Medium Lasers - LA / 6 / 2 / 2.000
Guardian ECM Suite - LT / 0 / 2 / 1.500
TAG HD - 0 / 1 / 1.000
Free Critical Slots: 4
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 4 Points: 15
5/2 Structure: 2
Special Abilities: TAG, ECM, ENE, SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA
AN:
It would be 15 tons using standard rounding up to the nearest half-ton instead of Fractional Accounting rules.