The Race Is Not to the Swift

The Race Is Not to the Swift
Short story by Bear Peters
First Publication
Published	August 1988
Published in	Shrapnel: Fragments from the Inner Sphere
Publisher	FASA
Illustrator(s)	Steve Venters
Pages	9
Chronology
Era	Succession Wars era
Timeline	ca. 3025

The Race Is Not to the Swift is a short story by Bear Peters that was published in the 1988 anthology Shrapnel: Fragments from the Inner Sphere.

Plot Summary

Captain Cyrus St. George is the company commander of The Swords of St. George, 131st Battalion (Keshii's Battalion), Thirty-third Marik Militia. The regiment, augmented by the Seguin's Strikers mercenary lance, is attacking the Lyran world of Solaris VII. They managed to sneak in on disguised DropShips and achieved their initial objectives, but relentless aerospace fighter attacks and a mounting counterattack by regular Lyran forces and Hansen's Roughriders threaten to overwhelm the Marik forces.

The 131st Battalion is ordered to leave their entrenched position at the power plant they captured and head for the countryside in hopes to draw off the heaviest counterattacking Lyran forces. They move out of their entrenched positions in waves of one company at a time while Seguin's Strikers stay behind to guard the power plant.

The plan does not work out when the Lyrans gradually gain aerospace superiority and start to press the attackers in the defensive. St. George tries to organize an orderly retreat of his exposed company while the regimental command structure is falling apart around him and losses are mounting. The Marik advance turns into a retreat, then into a rout and the regiment is ordered back to the DropShips.

On their way back, St. George's decimated unit picks up two Rifleman from Leonard's Lions, who were separated from their unit during the fighting and promptly integrates them into his unit. Captain Seguin, the mercenary commander, is impressed with St. George's care for his people, telling him that if it was not for him, the Marik forces would have broken up. St. George persuades Seguin to maintain his position long enough for the Swords to make it back to the DropShips. By the time The Swords of St. George race past the power plant, the first DropShip is already making for orbit. In the attempt to buy the retreating Swords little more time, Captain Seguin surrenders to the pursuing Lyran Regulars.

The Swords make it to the DropPort (here called starport) just in time, only to see their DropShip wrecked and burning. They came too late. The story ends with the Swords being approached by two BattleMechs from Hansen‘s Roughriders, an Atlas and a Cicada, and asked to surrender.

Featured Characters

• Captain Julian Seguin
• Captain Cyrus St. George
• Force Commander Sen Sho Keshii
• Master Sergeant Allen McHaigh
• Private Cho
• Colonel Drinkwater
• Sergeant Harris
• Corporal Jones
• "Lippy" Lipescue
• Captain Patel
• Trooper Bryant
• Lieutenant Trapp

Featured Units

• Hansen's Roughriders
• Thirty-third Marik Militia
• Seguin's Strikers

Featured Places

• Solaris VII

Featured BattleTech

BattleMechs

• Atlas
• Cicada
• Crusader
• Hermes II
• Hunchback
• Locust
• Marauder
• Rifleman
• Shadow Hawk
• Stalker
• Stinger
• Warhammer
• Wasp
• Wolverine
• WVR-6M Wolverine

Aerospace Fighters

• Seydlitz

Notes

• No exact time is given for the story. The author apparently wanted the story to take place in 3002, but a note in Technical Readout: 3039 (Patton Tank entry, p. 60) establishes that it must have occurred while the Patton was in prototype stages, i.e. between 3020 (when it was first unveiled) and 3027 (when it entered full production).
• The overall description of the attack strongly suggests that the undated story was meant to be set during Willis Crawford's unsuccessful attack on Solaris VII in 3002. This is supported by the fact that the same author wrote another short story (Final Exam) which centers on Willis Crawford's graduation exercise, foreshadowing his reckless tactics that would prove his undoing in the 3002 attack on Solaris VII. However, later publications established that Hansen's Roughriders did not become mercenaries until after 3014; their appearance in this story among the House Steiner defenders is an anachronism if the story was really supposed to take place in 3002. Technical Readout: 3039, published in 2009, finally established that this fight took place while Hansen's Roughriders were field-testing the then-prototype Patton tank which was unveiled in 3020 and entered full production in 3027.
• Two previously published pieces of BattleTech art are included on pages 3 and 10 to which the story apparently makes reference:
  • Captain St. George pilots a Shadow Hawk, "Lippy" Lipescue a Crusader, Master Sergeant McHaigh a Wolverine-M and Trooper Bryant a Wasp. This is the lance depicted on the cover of the BattleTech Reinforcements box (which was also used for Ral Partha's Medium Lance miniatures set), although the Wolverine pictured looks like an unmodified WVR-6R model and the 'Mechs appear to bear the crest of Helmar Valasek's pirate band, Santander's Killers.
  • The standing Atlas from the last scene, with a Cicada moving up and both sporting the crest of Hansen's Roughriders, is reminiscent from the cover of BattleForce although they are depicted with a wilderness background and a clear sky whereas the scene in the story takes place in urban environment, during or shortly after heavy rainfall.