Sturm auf Arc-Royal

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SturmaufArcRoyalCover.jpg
Sturm auf Arc-Royal
Product information
Type Novel
Author Stefan Burban
Cover Artwork Karsten Schreurs
Publication information
Publisher Ulisses Spiele GmbH
Product code US41023
First published 26 February 2014
ISBN-13 978-3868893786
MSRP 11,95 €
Content
Era Civil War era
Timeline 3 April - 22 June 3065
Series Classic BattleTech Novels
Followed by Blutige Jagd

Sturm auf Arc-Royal ("Assault on Arc-Royal"), by Stefan Burban, is the 23rd in the line of German-language Classic BattleTech Novels that Ulisses Spiele took over from FanPro and continued. It was initially announced as Arc-Royal unter Belagerung ("Arc-Royal under Siege").

Canonicity

Written in German and exclusively published in that language so far, Sturm auf Arc-Royal does not meet the current criteria for Canon in the BattleTech universe. As an official product published under a valid license, it should be regarded as apocryphal.

From the back cover (translated from German)

“ The brutal Civil War is tearing the Federated Commonwealth apart with unabated ferocity. Only the Arc-Royal Defense Cordon, having declared neutral, is spared from the massive destruction. That changes abruptly when Major General Johann Steiner, a distant cousin of the ruling Archon, decides to bring the Cordon back into Lyran fold.
Only a small number of troops from the Kell Hounds and Clan Wolf-in-Exile stand ready to oppose the invasion. And the disparate allies would rather be at each other's throats than beat back the enemy... 		”

Plot Summary

Johann Steiner has created a new unit, the 101st Tharkad Lancers (a full BattleMech regiment augmented by two battalions of tanks and infantry each plus two wings of aerospace fighters) from the remnants of commands shattered over the course of the FedCom Civil War and from "stealing" personnel and equipment from other line units. A loyal underling of Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion, he is a military bureaucrat lacking real combat experience. Still, he decides to lead the Lancers on an assault against Arc-Royal on his own authority, hoping to decapitate the Arc-Royal Defense Cordon and end their political opposition to the Archon.

The 101st Tharkad Lancers' Star Lord-class JumpShip Schwert des Archons jumps to a pirate jump point close to Arc-Royal. During the night of 28 April 3065 they simultaneously attack Clan Wolf-in-Exile in the city of Dernar, and the Kell Hounds HQ in the city of Haven.

Meanwhile on Arc-Royal, while the greater part of the Kell Hounds and Wolf-in-Exile forces are fighting abroad, local command rests with Kommandanthauptmann Daniel Sunder and newly bloodnamed Star Captain Kevlin Conners, respectively. The mercenaries and the Clansmen do not get along well, and to relieve tensions a trial-style exercise on the Arhali high plateau between an augmented 'Mech company plus tanks and infantry, and a trinary is agreed upon. During the mock battle, a Mobile HQ picks up a garbled message indicating Dernar is under attack. When Sunder cannot establish radio contact with Haven, the exercise is called off but Kell Hounds and Wolves-in-Exile immediately begin to argue over the chain of command and how to react to the ongoing attack. Sunder narrowly manages to convince the Clanners to move with him to Haven, the closer suspected battle site, hoping to relieve the Kell Hounds garrison and then use the DropShips stationed there to quickly move on to Dernar.

They arrive at Haven to find the city overrun and the DropShips destroyed, and only manage to rescue a handful of defending troops. The battered defenders retreat to the Shadow Falls natural preserve, where they can hide among the mammoth trees.

During an intelligence gathering mission to Dernar two days later, Sunder, Kevlin and some infantrymen find the city occupied and largely secured. A rash action by Kevlin results in a shootout and their eventual capture. In captivity, the men are severely mistreated until they are rescued by a commando team after a few days. Back in Shadow Falls, Kevlin reluctantly agrees to join Sunder in a guerrilla war. However, an ambush by Sunder's forces on 7 May is repulsed with losses and tensions between the disparate defenders escalate. Sunder and Kevlin decide to settle the issue through a circle of equals, to determine who is to have overall command. Sunder prevails. Next, he orders a Kell Hound commando strike against the HPG compound. The local ComStar Demi-Precentor is sympathetic with the defenders' position and after he is freed from captivity the defenders can send a message to their units abroad, calling for help. The HPG is soon recaptured by the attackers, who take no prisoners among the Kell Hounds. The sacrifice of sixty troops does earn the Kell Hounds the grudging respect of the Wolves-in-Exile though, and relations begin to improve.

After a traitor among the defenders provides the Steiner forces with the location of the defenders' camp in Shadow Falls, forty Loki agents are dropped on their position to sow chaos. Lyran 'Mechs move out to attack them while they are still in disorder. However, the terrain disrupts the attackers' formation and their attack is narrowly repulsed.

During the attack, photos found on a dead Loki attacker reveal the traitor's identity and he is captured. The defenders learn from him that a Leopard at the Dernar spaceport has had its reactor rigged in a way that essentially turns the DropShip into a large bomb that could wipe out any reinforcements arriving there. A portion of the defenders lures the attackers ever deeper into Shadow Falls while a strike force sneaks to Dernar to defuse the bomb ship. They accomplish the feat, but are cut off and prepare to make a last stand at the starport when Kell Hounds and Wolf-in-Exile reinforcements arrive at the pirate jump point and force the Steiner troops to stand down.

In the aftermath, all supplies and equipment of the 101st Tharkad Lancers is confiscated. Katherine Steiner-Davion, faced with open war with the Arc-Royal Defense Cordon, has to issue a public apology for the unsanctioned attack and pay substantial reparations. Johann Steiner finds himself under arrest after his crafty and ambitious second-in-command, Leutnant-Colonel (later Colonel) Grüner framed him for the debacle, particularly for ordering the use of a weapon of mass destruction (the Leopard) which in reality had been done on Grüner's orders against Steiner's explicit wishes.

Featured BattleTech

BattleMechs

Aerospace fighters

VTOLs and Vehicles

DropShips

JumpShips

Notes

  • The attack on Arc-Royal, which, according to the novel, took place from 28 April through 25 May 3065, is not mentioned in any other source, especially not in the FedCom Civil War (sourcebook).

References

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