Ghost Bear's Lament
Sarna News
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| Ghost Bear's Lament | |
|---|---|
| Product information | |
| Type | Novella (two parts) |
| Author | Steven Mohan Jr. |
| Pages | 72 (part I) 129 (part II) |
| Cover Artwork | ? |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Catalyst Game Labs |
| Product code | E-CAT35NV001 (part I) E-CAT35NV003 (part II) |
| First published | 13 February 2012 (part I) 30 April 2012 |
| MSRP | 2.99 US $ per part |
| Content | |
| Era | Clan Invasion era (part I) Jihad era (part II) |
| Timeline | 17 May 3050 (part I) 12 June-4 August 3073 |
| Series | Blitzkrieg (fiction) |
Ghost Bear's Lament is a two-part story by Steven Mohan Jr. that follows the exploits of Clan Ghost Bear MechWarrior Richard Bekker. The story's two parts are interconnected but ultimately separate stories, and were published separately.
The first part (subtitled Instrument of Destruction) was put up for sale through BattleShop in EPUB and MOBI (Amazon Kindle) format with the opening of the new Blitzkrieg fiction format by Catalyst Game Labs. It was also published via BattleCorps on 15 Februars 2012; like all BattleCorps publication, this was a PDF file offered for download free of cost to subscribers.
The second part (subtitled The Fading Call of Glory) was published as EPUB on 30 April 2012, and again as a PDF via BattleCorps on 18 May 2012 in the same fashion as part I.
Contents
Part I on BattleShop
| “ | The Clans: a civilization that worships war. Soldiers altered in body and mind. Men and women bent to the blade. They slash through space, cutting through their enemies like a laser cuts through flesh.
No one can stand against them. Star Commander Richard Bekker of Clan Ghost Bear is smart, tough, and ruthless—the perfect Clan warrior. Victory is all he has ever known. That’s about to change. Because he’s going to face an enemy unlike any he’s ever seen—unlike any ANYONE’S ever seen. And if he is going to triumph, if he’s going to SURVIVE, he will have to reach inside, past his Clan training, and find the part of himself that is human. |
” |
Part I on BattleCorps
| “ | Star Commander Richard Bekker of Clan Ghost Bear is smart, tough, and ruthless—the perfect Clan warrior. Victory is all he has ever known. That’s about to change. | ” |
Part II on BattleShop
| “ | A ruthless predator is stalking Star Colonel Richard Bekker of Clan Ghost Bear—time. Once he was a rising star, the hero of the Damian disaster. But all that ended on the world of Tukayyid where Bekker’s bright future—and the entire Clan invasion of the Inner Sphere—were stopped cold.
Two decades later, Bekker is a warrior with an undistinguished history that hides a shameful secret. Even worse, in a culture that prizes youth, he is old, old enough to be relieved of duty. And when Clan warriors are relieved they don’t retire—they’re turned into cannon fodder. Then Bekker is challenged to a Trial of Possession by the head of a new bandit kingdom, a man who seems little better than the terrorists Bekker is tasked to hunt. A man named Devlin Stone. And maybe, just maybe, the Trial will offer him a chance to win the greatest prize imaginable—a new place in the universe. |
” |
Part II on BattleCorps
| “ | Star Colonel Richard Bekker is on Tukayyid, a world sacred to the Ghost Bears, but he is beset on all sides by challenges; challenges from peers are bad enough, but when a new challenger appears from out-system... | ” |
Plot summary
Part I: Instrument of Destruction
As the Overlord-C-class DropShip Sharp Claw prepares to be jumped to the Damian system with the WarShip it is attached to, Star Commander Richard Bekker, a ristar and perpetual winner, prepares to fight a trial against his sibkin Corinne over a command position that recently became vacant. She elected to fight him in zero gravity just before the jump, and explains to him in private that, once being his superior officer, she will have to destroy him and his career by bidding away his star first because he would always outshine her otherwise.
Corinne then manages to beat Richard in the trial because of her greater experience in zero-g, though she suffers a broken ankle among other injuries. Shocked at having been defeated for the first time in his life (and the consequences Corinne announced), Richard withdraws into the cabin of a cargo truck. His delicate relationship with Corinne, the nearest thing to a lover thinkable in Clan society, has been upset. She meets him at the cabin door and they argue until the ship jumps. Immediately following the jump, Richard renounces their kinship. Before Corinne can answer, a sudden shock runs through the ship and everything in the hangar, including Corinne, suddenly "falls" to one side.
Richard is temporarily knocked out by the truck's airbag. He recovers to find the ship floating after some desaster, apparently a collision. Most people aboard are dead or gravely injured, only Richard was protected by being strapped into the truck cabin. While he rescues the floating and unconscious Corinne, the WarShip carrying the DropShip ignites its engines and accelerates them at an odd angle. The erratic movements make the chaotic situation on the DropShip yet worse as loose cargo, debris and fires add to the carnage. Richard and a badly injured Corinne attempt to save as many members of their trinary as possible.
In the end, Richard saves ten people including Star Colonel François Cote because his suicidal mood makes him take great risks. He also sees that the cause of the accident was a stray asteroid that ripped through the DropShip.
Recuperating from his injuries, Richard later learns that Corinne is killed in an explosion when spilled ordnance ignites.
Part II: The Fading Call of Glory
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Characters
Featured places
- Holmsbu (zenith jump point)
- Damian (pirate jump point)