With Carrion Men

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With Carrion Men
Product information
Type Short story (3 parts)
Author Phaedra M. Weldon
Pages 79
Publication information
Publisher BattleCorps
First published 17-24 June 2008
Content
Era Jihad era
Timeline 2 February-5 August 3072
Preceded by (The Art of War)

With Carrion Men is a short story by Phaedra M. Weldon that was published online in three parts on BattleCorps in June 2008. It was also published in print in the fifth BattleCorps print anthology, Counterattack, in 2014.

In a sense, the story could be regarded as a sequel to Weldon's earlier story, The Art of War.

Teaser text

Part 1

published 17 June 2008
“ Once more into the breach. With thought only for the will of the Celestial Throne, Aris Sung flings he and his people into the maelstrom of Farandir. Following a tenuous lead, that the MoC might have active resistance, he enters the den of the Word. What he finds is... heart stopping. ”

Part 2

published 20 June 2008
“ Always to duty, the members of Aris' team attempt to complete their mission, but will they complete it before they are caught? All while Aris, learns to adjust to his new heart and his new allies. Who will rescue who? ”

Part 3

published 24 June 2008
“ Aris pursues the completion of his mission at all costs. But who else is pursuing a mission and can their goals and Sung's coexist? ”

Plot summary

Warrior House Hiritsu forces under Raven Clearwater had infiltrated the Word of Blake-controlled planet Fanardir in the Magistracy of Canopus to investigate the situation on the planet on orders of Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao for his fiancé Naomi Centrella, heir-apparent to the title of Magestrix of Canopus. Clearwater had reported a possible resistance cell. Aris Sung and Mikhail Chess are subsequently sent to Fanardir to make contact with the cell.

However, following a failed insertion attempt on 2 February 3072 in which their Leopard-class DropShip Midnight's Call was detected on approach and ordered down, they find themselves on the run in their BattleMechs. Both 'Mech are soon destroyed in the wintery city ruins of Jakarta City. On foot and armed only with his jian, Aris is then confronted by a Manei Domini operative who employs a shimmering cloaking device similar to what Aris saw when he rescued Isis Marik back on on Hustaing twelve years earlier. Introducing herself as Precentor Delta Setiwah, she proceeds to disarm Aris by cutting off his sword hand with her own (implanted) blade. After making cryptic remarks about him and her having saved The Master's progeny she stabs his heart.

Many weeks later Aris awakens in the care of an resistance cell run by one November Talliard, an Ebon Magistrate operative from the Magistracy Armed Forces; other prominent leaders are acting General Erzulie March, Colonel Robert Holden, and Force Major Maria Martin. Aris was rescued from some Word of Blake laboratory where he was kept alive with cyberware and the Ebon Magistrate further upgraded his body, including a heart implant and an artificial hand. Mikhail Chess reportedly did not survive the destruction of his Phoenix Hawk.

Four months after the failed landing Clearwater learns from her subordinate (and student), communications expert Quinn Tudors, that Aris' Wraith was confirmed to have been one of the two destroyed 'Mechs, and that Aris was subsequently captured by the Word of Blake and detained for an unspecified research experiment project but has since been "misplaced". They take this to mean Aris has escaped. On or shortly before 10 June 3072 Raven Clearwater is arrested by Word of Blake forces, leaving Quinn to fend for himself. He tries to contact the other cell led by Lynn Trahn (and consisting of Yan Lu and Shindo Rosenberg otherwise). He meets them in the middle of evading an attempt to arrest him. In the chaos they do not immediately reckognize him and Rosenberg stabs him with a knife before Quinn can warn them that Clearwater was caught.

Aris is not initially allowed by his hosts to send a message, so as to not compromise their security. However, a hidden broadband message is received from Quinn in an extinct Mandarin dialect taught to Hiritsu warriors. After Aris provides an answer, Quinn reports possible contact with (another) resistance cell and Aris insists that he and November must meet with him. The origin of the transmission can be traced to a place in the ruins not far from where Aris' Wraith was destroyed. In the small basement, they find the bodies of Word of Blake troopers as well as those of Lynn Trahn and Shindo Rosenberg, dead for days. Quinn, who was bedridden with the knife wound, survived the assault and informs Aris that Mikhail Chess is alive and with the other resistance cell. (Yu had been away when the attack occurred, trying to obtain medicine for Quinn's infected wound.)

Aris makes contacting that other cell his first priority over rescuing Raven Clearwater, which puts him at odds with Quinn who is distrustful of November Talliard. On 3 August, after Mikhail Chess sent an answer to the contact attempts, and Aris insists of going out with November while leaving Quinn behind. Near the rendezvous point in the Jakarta ruins Aris incapacitates November and goes to the real rendezvous point which he kept secret from her. He meets with Mikhail who knocks him out cold and imprisons Aris for several days of questioning first. Only when satisfied with Aris' story, Mikhail reveals details about the cell that took him in, and some information they learned about the local Word of Blake operations, including the clandestine arrival of one Manei Domini named Setiwah a month prior to Aris' and Mikhail's arrival. He finally shows Aris a message from Quinn stating that he was attacked shortly after Aris (and November) left, and that November Talliard is a Blakist deep-cover operative. As Aris realizes he has been played, Word of Blake forces attack and overrun the resistance cell base; Mikhail is killed. Setiwah approaches Aris together with November Talliard and Erzulie March. She incapacitates Aris with the push of a button and then informs him that his implants include a transponder that allowed them to find him. Setiwah was indeed watching over Isis Marik on Hustaing, and decided to suborn Aris Sung. Information about a resistance cell on Fanardir was leaked specifically hoping that House Hiritsu would send Aris who was then used by Setiwah to find and destroy the only real resistance cell on the planet (Setiwah's cell having been set up to fool him). Finally, with the push of another button, she stops his implanted heart and lets him die.

Featured Characters

Featured BattleTech

Notes

  • The planet Fanardir is consistently misspelled as "Farandir" in his story. There is no world known by that name in the BattleTech universe, and it is clear from the context that the story is meant to take place on Fanardir.

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