BattleTech: Perception of Victory (The Mercenary Tales, #3)

By Michael J. Ciaravella

A WORLD UNDER SIEGE…

After repelling the brutal Capellan Confederation's vain attempt to capture their planet's working HPG, the people of Northwind had hoped to get a break from the growing conflict in the wake of the splintering of the Republic of the Sphere. But Capellan ruler Daoshen Liao has other plans for the beleaguered world, sending wave after wave of mercenaries to grind Northwind's defenses into bloody dust.

Standing against them is what is left of the legendary Northwind Highlanders, particularly the Grey Watch. Already heroes for driving the Capellans off-planet, the valiant warriors of the Watch are now fighting a campaign of attrition, hoping to beat back the rampaging mercenary hordes. But when a Knight of the Republic arrives with universe-changing news, the men and women of the Grey Watch must face a remade Inner Sphere and find their place in it…or perish.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
• Release date: Mar 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215860892

Book preview

Perception of Victory

PERCEPTION OF VICTORY

A BATTLETECH SHORT STORY

THE MERCENARY TALES, #3

MICHAEL J. CIARAVELLA

Catalyst Game Labs

CONTENTS

Perception of Victory

Michael J. Ciaravella

About the Author

Notable BattleMechs

Battletech Glossary

BattleTech Eras

The BattleTech Fiction Series

Copyright

PERCEPTION OF VICTORY

MICHAEL J. CIARAVELLA

TARA

NORTHWIND

NORTHWIND SYSTEM

FORMER REPUBLIC OF THE SPHERE

14 JULY 3151

Incoming!

Hearing the harried voice over his lance communications channel, Declan Casey bit off a quick curse. The XII Hastati Sentinel had just driven off a Capellan Thunderbolt without so much as a moment to catch his breath.

A problem we have all shared, Declan thought wryly, orienting himself toward the rest of his lance. Ever since we lost contact with the Republic of the Sphere, we’ve been alone out here.

Over the months that had passed since the Battle of Northwind, any thought that the Capellan Confederation had forgotten about their former holding had been soundly eliminated. With the Republic of the Sphere focused on protecting their capitol of Terra, the Capellan Confederation had mounted a campaign to strike at the worlds in the former Prefecture X that now found themselves without Republic protection.

Northwind, at least, had the benefit of security in the form of the Northwind Highlander’s Grey Watch and the XII Hastati Sentinels. The two units had managed to drive off a half-dozen planetary raids in the last few months, but the Confederation was using the immense disparity in resources they held as one of the Great Houses to send a constant stream of mercenaries at the planet. Most recently, it had come in the form of two fledgling mercenary units, the Whirlwind Strikers, formed from the St. Ives Commonality, and the brand-new Waxie’s Dargle, two of the scores of new outfits that had been raised in the last several years.

Seeing a pair of bright red signals flash on his sensors screen, Declan was already raising his arms as a pair of NH-2 Rooks crested the nearby hill and headed toward him. Both medium BattleMechs showed signs of damage, having already encountered the rest of his lance on the far side of the hill. Having received word from the planetary defense headquarters that Waxie’s Dargle had sent two companies of ’Mechs toward the planetary capitol of Tara, Declan had posted three-quarters of his lance in a tight net that allowed them to provide support for each other while hopefully slowing down the incoming Capellan mercenaries.

Whoever had selected the two new mercenary units had chosen wisely, with the light raiders of the Dargle well-paired with the heavier Strikers. While the majority of the XII Hastati was engaging the Strikers closer to the Castle, Declan’s company had been left behind to assist the Grey Watch in defending the city itself.

Unfortunately, even with the weight disparity between the two forces, Declan knew his twelve BattleMechs couldn’t keep the twenty-four lighter, faster Dargle BattleMechs out of the city. The best he was able to do was a defense in depth, hoping to diminish their numbers before they reached the city, allowing the Grey Watch, with their intimate knowledge of the city and older BattleMechs, to make the final stand.

If they were surprised to see a Ceres-made Capellan Yu Huang in the black and gold of the XII Hastati, they didn’t show it. The near-constant barrage of assaults on Northwind since Terra had gone silent had seen the XII Hastati in the unique position of having more BattleMechs than MechWarriors, and with Declan’s regular ride, a Marauder II, still being repaired following a clash with a member of the Whirlwind Strikers, he had been given the Yu Huang