Keine Chance!
Sarna News
 | Apocryphal This article's subject is only mentioned in apocryphal sources, i.e. official BattleTech products which are not clearly Non-canon but do not meet the current Canon criteria either. For more information, check the Canonicity section. |
Keine Chance! ("No chance!") is a short story by Patrick Haymann that was serialized in four parts in the MechForce Germany magazine Life Support, issues 3 through 6.
Plot summary
Lyran Commonwealth agent Charles Taylor has spent the past ten years inciting rebellions in the Free Worlds League, but with his cover blown he had to be recalled shortly before SAFE could eliminate him. On 8 June 3027 he is on vacation, traveling to the nadir jump point of the Tharkad system aboard the DropShip Endorian. Looking at the Monolith-class JumpShip Hardie from a bar window during approach he notes workers with welding torches working on the ship's hardpoints. His suspicions are confirmed when it is announced that the Hardie and its attached DropShips (four civilian liners, two traders and three military vessels) have been captured by the Zardoz terrorist group. They demand the release of fellow Skye separatists and a modest ransom in precious metals.
Katrina Steiner is prepared to meet the terrorists' demands, to save the valuable JumpShip and its similarly valuable cargo. However, Jiri Katai, the terrorist leader, has more sinister plans. A renegade ex-DEST trooper, he intends to steal the four companies' worth of BattleMechs carried aboard the military ships and jumps the Hardie to another system closer to the Draconis Combine border to rendezvous with his mercenary and yakuza allies.
Charles Taylor manages to get a message off in an Escape Pod, signaling to friendly forces in the area that he is aboard the captured vessels and intends to take action against the terrorists. He also manages to sneak from the DropShip onto the JumpShip, killing terrorists in the process, and proceeds to creep towards the bridge when the jump occurs and stuns him; Taylor suffers from Transit Disorientation Syndrome.
Katai activates the timers for the explosive charges aboard the DropShips when Lyran pursuers arrive and launch boarding shuttles.
With the terrorists meanwhile alerted to his presence and on his tail, Taylor becomes the hunted, but eventually manages to kill his pursuers and proceed to the bridge where Katai subdues himm, then informs him of the activated timers and that a nuclear bomb was placed at the Hardie's reactor. Having killed all Lyran soldiers and disposed of their bodies in escape pods prior to jumping from Tharkad, Katai and his remaining men then leave with the military DropShips and the valuable BattleMechs carried aboard.
The Lyran commandos sent to retake the Hardie find the unconscious Taylor and wake him up. They manage to disarm the charges at the DropShips, but do not have enough time to disarm the nuclear bomb, the blast of which will destroy the remaining DropShips as well. Taylor points out that their only hope of survival is to undock from the Hardie, then to (mis-)jump the Hardie away with the bomb. A Lyran captain volunteers to remain on the JumpShip to initiate the jump sequence, sacrificing himself to save the other vessels.
Featured BattleTech
- Monolith (Hardie)
- Overlord (Adamant)
- Leopard (Kataras, Lorimar)
- unspecified JumpShip Thor
- unspecified passenger liner DropShips (Endorian, Rosanne), possibly Monarch-class
- unspecified military DropShip Lorelei
- BattleMaster
Notes
- The Hardie is described to have been upgraded with a Lithium-Fusion Battery in the distant past, but it can still transport nine DropShips.
- Throughout the story, the Hardie makes at least three jumps within a very short timespan. The last battle is indicated to take place in the Kelenfold system, some six jumps from Tharkad. It is also not explained how the Lyran forces are able to track the Hardie.