Battletech honors gauntl.., p.1
BattleTech: Honor's Gauntlet, page 1
BATTLETECH: HONOR’S GAUNTLET
BRYAN YOUNG
CONTENTS
The Inner Sphere: 3150
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Notable Battlemechs
Battletech Glossary
BattleTech Eras
The BattleTech Fiction Series
For Amberley and Patty
and their ever-renewing
ability to put up with me
THE INNER SPHERE: 3150
More than a millennium ago, humankind left Terra and took to the stars, colonizing hundreds of planets across a region of space known as the Inner Sphere. However, as the various factions carved up dozens of solar systems, they also went to war with each other over territory and power, and have fought off-and-on for centuries. The chief weapon of these wars are BattleMechs, giant walking tanks with more firepower than a small army.
Now, the year 3150 marks the beginning of the end of what many have called the Dark Age, brought on in 3132 by the sudden failure of hyperpulse generators, devices that facilitate communication across human-occupied space. With entire star systems suddenly cut off from easy communication, suspicion and greed fomented into open conflicts across the Inner Sphere.
Terra and the surrounding planetary systems are now governed by the Republic of the Sphere, a beleaguered nation led by the charismatic Devlin Stone. The Republic once consisted of ten prefectures, but the Dark Age shattered it into feudal pockets of control, until only a lone prefecture remained. The armies of the Great Houses, free-fighting mercenaries, and warmongering Clans all seek to seize control of Terra.
For the Great Houses, occupation of Terra is a sign of their power and superiority. The Clans, however, view the conquest of Terra as a birthright from their founder. The Clan that claims Terra will rule over all of the Clans as the ilClan.
The Clans are the remnants of the Star League Defense Force, the largest military force in human history, which left the Inner Sphere hundreds of years earlier under the leadership of SLDF Commanding General Aleksandr Kerensky. After a brutal civil war far from the Inner Sphere, Kerensky’s son Nicholas formed the survivors into twenty Clans, and bred in them a lethal culture and brutal caste system that took on a life of its own. Eventually, the Clans returned to the Inner Sphere with superior firepower and technology, ready to conquer Terra and reshape the galaxy in their image.
However, their invasion was stopped before it could reach Terra.
While the Clans left to lick their wounds and wait until they could make a play for Terra once more, squabbling with each other all the while, the Republic walled off Terra and several neighboring systems behind a barrier known as the Fortress Wall, impenetrable to hyperspace travel. But the Wall inevitably came down. The Clans raced toward Terra, bloodying each other and anyone who stood in their path.
Clan Jade Falcon spent hundreds of years in bitter rivalry with Clan Wolf, the chosen Clan of the Founder, but under the leadership of the Falcons’ current Khan, Malvina Hazen, all that changed. In her quest to conquer Terra and become ilKhan, ruler of all the Clans, Hazen espoused the Mongol Doctrine, taking the tenets of Clan honor and warmaking to its most brutal edge. The Jade Falcons ruled the castes below them with fear, and their enemies knew any fight against them would incur maximum losses. In the Mongol Doctrine, there is no such thing as an innocent life or a sacrifice too great.
As the Jade Falcons plotted to conquer the jewel of the Inner Sphere, seeking to take Terra once the Fortress fell, they subjugated many planets in their occupation zone. Some of these worlds were used as bases, others as examples. Many were exploited for their resources, and their civilian populations were declared the subjects of the Jade Falcons.
But not everyone enjoys the authoritarian rule of the Jade Falcons, and not all Falcons believe in the Mongol Doctrine, sparking conflict within and without…
PROLOGUE
LOCATION CLASSIFIED
JADE FALCON OCCUPATION ZONE
8 NOVEMBER 3150
Had Star Colonel Nikita Malthus been bidding for the right to put down the uprising on Zebeneschamali, she almost certainly would have bid more than three ’Mechs—a reduced Talon—for the operation. Not because she would need more than that to quell the planet’s pitiful threat of rebellion, but because a show of force would have sent a message. And the ensuing slaughter would have ensured the Jade Falcons never had this problem again.
Watching Archer Pryde offer his bid via holovid was the first time she had come across the Star Captain, and his low bid of only three BattleMechs had made her curious.
When she pulled up the files of his codex, it surprised her to find a warrior with a history like his had not only graduated from his sibko with a successful Trial of Position but had also gone on to win a prestigious Bloodname. In the Clans, children created from a mix of honorable genetic lines were artificially birthed from an iron womb. Across the next ten years, they underwent training in a crèche designed to instill in them the ways of a warrior and eliminate their individuality.
For Archer Pryde, it did not quite work out like that. He always found a creative way around problems, whether intellectual and physical. Where the Jade Falcons revered brute strength, Pryde always used different tactics. At eight, he had killed one of the other sibs in his crèche. The sib was the biggest and strongest in the group and, naturally, the most aggressive. Instead of challenging the boy head on, Archer led him into a chase that ended when the boy ran into a road and was killed by a passing vehicle.
Pryde made it through his crèche and sibko, and all the way to his Trial of Position, without killing anyone else. By all accounts, he was a gifted MechWarrior, but that was the only normal thing in his file. How he made it through his Blooding remained a question mark to Malthus. Jade Falcon aspirants must pass through a pack of freeborn warriors before even making it to their ’Mechs in their Trial of Position, and Archer was the runt of his sibko.
Malthus chalked his success up to his intelligence. That, far more than his ferocity in combat, had allowed him to advance.
In fact, a note in the margins of his Blooding report mentioned how he smiled happily through the entire trial. Not the grim smile of a warrior enjoying combat, but the gleeful smile of a man amused by the banal.
The cognitive dissonances in Archer Pryde added up in record after record of his career. Engagement after engagement. He followed orders to the letter but always interpreted them in the most generous ways. It was good that he had not been in Galaxy Commander Stephanie Chistu’s command structure. Malthus knew Chistu would cause enough problems for the Khan by herself. Chistu had a mind of her own and had eyes on taking over the Jade Falcons and making them weak. She constantly twisted her orders to suit her own needs rather than heed the Khan with blind obedience. Having subordinates like Pryde, whose codex read as an oblique criticism of the Mongol Doctrine, would only embolden Chistu in her quest to avoid it.
In an engagement with Lyran Commonwealth forces just three years prior, Pryde declined to press an advantage and destroy a civilian Lyran settlement. Aff, he won the confrontation, but he lost two MechWarriors in the process and a third was wounded significantly. If he had destroyed the settlement, he could have forced the cowardly Lyran ’Mechs into the open and robbed them of the cover they had been hiding in. Instead, he prolonged the engagement, making it costly.
According to his codex, that was around the same time he began picking up old Terran languages through settlements where he had been stationed. Although Spanish was still spoken in the Inner Sphere, Malthus found it distasteful for a Clan warrior to bother learning the language of a conquered people. Why would he try assimilating with them in any way? They had to be shown the Way of the Clans, and that had to be done forcefully.
Did he know anything about being a true Jade Falcon?
Nikita Malthus had never met Archer Pryde, but after reading his codex, she knew she did not like him at all.
He would not follow the most important orders, and his Binary would be ill-prepared for the trying times to come. Not just the Binary, but the resources and equipment they would need for upcoming campaigns. Extended campaigns would deplete their supplies, and the raw materials they needed were vital. Could Pryde be trusted to gather them on a timely basis when necessary?
Nikita Malthus finished reviewing Pryde’s codex and organized a meeting with the Khan of the Jade Falcons. It paid to have the Khan’s ear when one wanted something done.
“My Khan,” Malthus began when finally granted an audience. She folded her lithe fingers together and spoke in a confident, husky voice. “I believe our operations may be in jeopardy.”
At almost fifty, Malvina Hazen was older than virtually any other active warrior in Clan Jade Falcon. Looking at her, though, one would never get the impression of advancing age. The only indication might ha ve been light blond hair that had turned silver, but the shade had not changed much. The boomerang-shaped scar on the left side of her face and the sneer she wore befitted a Khan of any Clan, but especially the Jade Falcons. And being a Falcon meant she would inevitably conquer Terra and claim the role of ilKhan, making her the eventual Khan of every Clan.
Malvina tented her fingers in front of her. “Explain.”
“I reviewed the codex of Star Captain Archer Pryde.”
“Who is that?” the Khan said.
“He commands a Binary in Zeta Galaxy, Tenth Falcon Talon Cluster. He won the bid for the engagement to put down the rebels on Zebeneschamali, and is currently stationed on Seginus.” The planet had been under Falcon control for some time, a minor system in the grand scheme of things.
“I am aware of it.” Malvina’s cool response was enough to chill the already-freezing nature of Malthus’s countenance.
“Well, his codex makes me question his ability to contribute to the upcoming campaign in a way that will give us an edge.”
“He is a Bloodnamed Falcon. Failure is not in his vocabulary.”
“I do not mean he will fail, but I worry he has been affected by the same sort of anti-Mongol thinking Galaxy Commander Chistu espouses. Archer Pryde is not as ruthless as he ought to be. And the regions he controls on your behalf will be key in resupply efforts once the rebellion is dead. I also wonder if he could be an operational-security risk when the call to battle is sounded.”
“And what is it you suggest then, Star Colonel?”
“Seginus will be a major staging ground in the upcoming campaign because it is not a major target for Lyran raids. I would like to go and oversee the collection and removal operation personally, as your personal liaison, to observe how Archer Pryde deals with this assignment, and I would step in myself if I feel matters are not being handled properly.”
Malvina nodded. “I trust your judgment, Star Colonel. And I want nothing to get in the way of our plans. If you feel this will help our advancement, then go. See what he is made of. And if he is not fit to be a Jade Falcon, I trust you will destroy him.”
“Aff, my Khan.”
CHAPTER 1
BROADSWORD-CLASS DROPSHIP PEREGRINE’S PERCH
ZEBENESCHAMALI
JADE FALCON OCCUPATION ZONE
26 NOVEMBER 3150
“Star Captain, if I may have a moment?” said a voice behind Archer Pryde.
“Of course, MechWarrior.” Archer, a lean man with a tousle of black hair, a thin mustache, and smooth, brown skin, smiled and turned to see one of the warriors of his ten-BattleMech Binary heading toward him. Kallen, coming down the corridor, was a talented MechWarrior and seemed younger than Archer by half a decade, though they were sibmates, both twenty-five years old. She and Vincent had been his top choices for the reduced Talon he would lead on this mission. Kallen boasted a tangle of blond hair she kept tied back, and her two-toned pilot’s suit hid her curves, but not her thick warrior’s form beneath it.
“We are both heading to the ’Mech bay, quiaff?” Archer asked,
“Aff.”
“Walk with me, then.”
Together they stepped into the lift that would take them down to the ’Mech bay on lowest deck of the DropShip, where their ’Mechs were ready for battle.
“It is about the reports of this planet, sir.”
“You were at the briefing, MechWarrior,” Archer teased.
“Aff, indeed, but I wonder if there is something we are missing. As far as the Clan Watch suggested, there is not a single BattleMech on this planet. What ’Mechs they do have are certainly all WorkMechs, quiaff?”
“Aff.”
“And you bid three whole ’Mechs?”
“Aff.”
“Then why not simply bid my ’Mech? I would have been happy to smash any fools who would lead a rebellion against Clan Jade Falcon with a shoddy band of converted UtilityMechs.”
Archer smirked. “Fools indeed.”
The lift doors opened on the expansive ’Mech hangar at the lowest deck of the DropShip. With Kallen tagging along, Archer walked briskly toward his own ’Mech. Toronado was an old Shrike, a 95-ton assault ’Mech, painted dark gray with even darker stripes across the body, which gave it the look of an oncoming tornado. The techs had trimmed the ’Mech and its wings in Jade Falcon green, and proudly painted the Clan Jade Falcon crest—the silhouette of a jade falcon clutching a sword—over the right breast.
To either side of Toronado were the Summoners Kallen and Vincent would take into battle, both of them decked out in the standard jade and light-gray color scheme of Zeta Galaxy. Archer’s humanoid Shrike boasted wings; the heavy Summoners had human-style bipedal legs and foreshortened arms that were more weapon than arm.
“Is this a show of force then?” Kallen asked. “Or is there more to all of this than the reports provided?”
Archer looked up at his ’Mech, dwarfed by its size. “There always is, MechWarrior. But I bid on this assignment for two reasons. First, because of our proximity to Zebeneschamali. We would be here first and get the job done. Second, because I get the impression some of our fellow Falcons might not understand the needle we must thread.”
“And what needle is that?”
“Our standing in these regions is tenuous, and our control on many of these planets is in name only. There are no major Falcon contingents here, and we still require these locals to provide us resources for the war if we ever hope to take Terra one day. We treat them too softly, they think they can rebel. We treat them too harshly, and they are dead and provide nothing. I worry too many of our fellow Falcons are quick to burn when a mere singeing will do.”
“And if this is a trap, then?”
“We will call for their surrender, and if they fight, we end them. There is a reason we go to them in our ’Mechs rather than in person, quiaff?”
“Aff. But why ask for surrender in the first place?”
“This planet’s resources are still useful for the Khan’s campaigns. Do you see your fellow Jade Falcon warriors in the fields, cultivating the crops? In the mines, carving rock for raw materials? Or in the workshops, repairing BattleMechs?”
“Neg.”
“Destroying the populace outright renders the planet useless for our overarching goals of conquest.”
“As you said.”
“Kallen, your instincts are correct,” Archer said, hoping all of this sank in with her. “We always expect the worst-case scenario, even with these hopeless rebels. Their situation is one of complete doom, but we still plan for the worst. Perhaps it is a trap. But that eventuality is why I chose you and Vincent for this deployment. Between the three of us, there is no surprise we cannot handle.”
Kallen dropped her head, but he had no interest in discouraging such actions. Especially with a MechWarrior as good as she.
“I want you to come to me with your candor. I prefer candor to fists and trials when it comes to subordinates, to be honest. There is no dishonor in raising questions for a mission, quiaff?”
“Aff, sir.”
“Then do not worry. As soon as Vincent arrives, we go to the field of battle.”
Kallen looked up to the second Summoner and pointed at it. Its fusion engine, a Redline 350 XL, already vibrated as it went through the startup sequence. “He beat us here, sir.”
“Excellent.” Archer smiled and ran his fingers through his thick pompadour of raven-colored hair. “What are we waiting for, then?”
KIRIK MOUNTAINS
ZEBENESCHAMALI
JADE FALCON OCCUPATION ZONE
