Remaining Unperceived

Remaining Unperceived
Short story by Robert N. Charrette
Publication
PublishedJuly 2009
Published inBattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction
PublisherCatalyst Game Labs
illustrator(s)Matt Plog
Jim Holloway
Mark Gibbons
Liam Curtner
Pages5
Chronology
EraSuccession Wars era
Timeline28 November 3021 — 1 February 3022


Remaining Unperceived is a short story by Robert N. Charrette that was published in BattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction.

Plot Summary[edit]

The bulk of the story is framed as a recorded report by Corporal Mickey Rearden months after the events of 28 November 3021. Rearden, a member of the AFFS, works security for the Hiakru-Weller Training Facility on Hoff alongside fellow guard Sol. After an extensive briefing about ninjas, the two patrol over what seems to be a quiet, cold night. The facility holds multiple targets of interest, including a prototype Hatchetman and a device called an 'oscillation overcompensator'.

The quiet night is interrupted by intruders, two stealth-suited infiltrators. The first killed Sol before fighting Rearden with her monomolecular-edged sword, and in a stroke of luck, Rearden killed her with her own sword. Her nearly-invisible unit flash revealed her to be a Draconis agent. While fleeing, though, Rearden loses his arm to the other infiltrator, falling unconscious. He would later wake up hospitalized.

Months later, Maskirovka asset Mickey Rearden and his handler listen to his report as part of a debriefing. Rearden's report earned him medals, a promotion, and a pension from the Federated Suns. He had accurately unmasked the successful theft of the overcompensator as a Draconis operation, but secretly he had been part of a Capellan plan to steal the same device. His duties for the Maskirovka are to continue.

Rearden, by his narration, never hears from his handler again.

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