Difference between revisions of "Über dem Gesetz"
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== Overview == | == Overview == | ||
| + | An agent thriller set in the [[Star League era]] where a plot twisting at the end reveals that [[First Lord]] [[Ian Cameron]] was not above putting himself above the law and abusing the League's secret service for personal revenge. | ||
== Canonicity == | == Canonicity == | ||
| − | Written in German and exclusively published in that language so far, '' | + | Written in German and exclusively published in that language so far, ''Über dem Gesetz'' does not technically 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 instead. |
== From the back cover (translated from German) == | == From the back cover (translated from German) == | ||
| Line 39: | Line 39: | ||
===Prologue=== | ===Prologue=== | ||
| − | + | [[Bergan Industries]] has been contracted by the [[Star League]] Quartermaster's Command to design a BattleMech around the newly developed [[LB-X Autocannon]] and received the blueprints for the new weapon. Supervisory board chairman Trevor Vaughn has decided to sell the secret on, and has invited selected guests to a party on [[New Avalon]] on New Year's Eve 2600. Star League secret service (''SBGK: Sternenbund-Geheimdienstkommando'') agent David Gibbs infiltrates the party and sneaks into the penthouse where the data crystal with the copied blueprints is held. Following a shootout with security guards, he manages to secure the crystal and jump from a broken window in the skyscraper, gliding to safety with an ultra-thin parachute hidden in his suit. | |
===Main plot=== | ===Main plot=== | ||
| − | Back at the HQ in Berlin, [[Terra]], | + | ====Part One==== |
| + | Back at the HQ in Berlin, [[Terra]], on 3 January 2600 Gibbs is informed that on 31 December [[2599]], four intruders entered the secured private office of League Prosecutor General Amanda Blair near the Rocky Mountains and killed her lover and assistant, League Public Prosecutor Joshua Turner. Gibbs and his superior, Horst Buchholz, agree that the highly professional assassins would have found ways to kill Blair, too, if she had been the target; they deduct the raid was aimed at Turner. | ||
| − | On 7 January, [[Draconis Combine]] [[Coordinator]] [[Leonard Kurita]] visits [[President of the Parliament]] [[Barton Avellar]] on the [[Outworlds Alliance]] capital world of [[Alpheratz]]. They discuss trade agreements, but Kurita, rather rude and abusive, rebuffs Avellar's attempts to negotiate a possible alliance | + | On 7 January, [[Draconis Combine]] [[Coordinator]] [[Leonard Kurita]] visits [[President of the Parliament]] [[Barton Avellar]] on the [[Outworlds Alliance]] capital world of [[Alpheratz]]. They discuss trade agreements, but Kurita, rather rude and abusive, rebuffs Avellar's attempts to negotiate a possible alliance. The prearranged trade agreements are signed in an icy atmosphere.<br />In Parliament, Barton Avellar is later confronted by his cousin [[Rodrigo Avellar]] with allegations that he allied his realm with the Draconis Combine, causing considerable media fallout. |
| − | + | Gibbs, having traced leads from the attack on Turner to the [[Maskirovka]], has singled out a woman as suspect - Maskirovka Major Jin Zhang. By the end of January he is observing her aboard the MS ''Pinafore'', a sea-going pleasure cruiser on the [[Federated Suns]] world of [[Logandale]] while she is preparing another assassination mission. After Gibbs disposes of a hitman Zhang sent after him, they have a showdown where Zhang ends up dangling over the ship's propeller from Gibbs' hand. In mortal danger, she admits to having been part of the team in the Rocky Mountains attack, but claims not to know anything else beyond the names of her co-perpetrators: LePaies, Price and Bradforth, the latter being the mission leader. She immediately tries to kill Gibbs when he pulls her to safety, but falls to her death in the attempt. | |
| − | On 2 May, the Star League High Council meets at Unity City, Terra. The meeting is overshadowed by the death of Lady [[Shandra Noruff-Cameron]] who died of a stroke on 6 January. | + | On 2 May, the Star League High Council meets at Unity City, Terra. The meeting is overshadowed by the death of Lady [[Shandra Noruff-Cameron]] who died of a stroke on 6 January. First Lord [[Ian Cameron]], his son [[Nicholas Cameron|Nicholas]] and Prosecutor General Amanda Blair discuss Leonard Kurita, who is late to the meeting as usual, with the attendant Lords—[[Captain-General]] [[Brion Marik II]] and his daughter [[Rhean Marik|Rhean]], [[First Prince]] [[Alexander Davion]] and his son [[Zane Davion|Zane]], [[Archon]] [[Kevin Steiner-Dinesen]], and [[Chancellor]] [[Normann Aris]]. When Kurita finally shows up, the council goes into session and an argument breaks out about the "extended [[DCMS]] maneuvers" Kurita's troops have been performing for two years already. Concluding a shouting match, Ian Cameron orders him to stand down within two months or the ongoing maneuvers will be regarded as a declaration of war by the Star League. |
| − | By 24 July, Gibbs has identified Jacq LePaies and Mason Price using leads found in Zhang's cabin and is observing them on [[New Mendham]] as they prepare to kill (or so he believes) [[Cassie DeBurke]]. He realizes too late that the man he is observing is not Jacq LePaies | + | By 24 July, Gibbs has identified Jacq LePaies and Mason Price using leads found in Zhang's cabin and is observing them on [[New Mendham]] as they prepare to kill (or so he believes) [[Cassie DeBurke]]. He realizes too late that the man he is observing is not actually Jacq LePaies. Racing to rescue DeBurke he finds her alive, but unconscious, with her research results stolen by LePaies and Price. In the subsequent car chase through the city of Bresco, LePaies is killed. Price escapes into the Bergan Industries complex, where DeBurke rigs the fire extinguishing system to spot heat signatures, enabling the security staff to find Price. He escapes through the cargo terminal and hijacks a ''[[Chameleon]]'' 'Mech. Gibbs procures a prototype ''[[Champion]]'' to fight him, and disables the ''Chameleon'' with several head hits from the LB-X Autocannon. Price is mortally wounded. Before dying, he tells Gibbs that they did not kill Turner. |
| − | Zane Davion | + | Barton Avellar visits Zane Davion on New Avalon on 26 August, who has succeeded his great-grandfather Alexander as First Prince of the Federated Suns. Avellar learns that the incriminating information about him apparently was delivered to his cousin from the Draconis Combine. On 7 October he visits Leonard Kurita on [[New Samarkand]] and accuses him of trying to oust him from his position by spreading information about a Kurita/Avellar alliance; Kurita in turn complains that the firms the Combine was supposed to invest in were half bought up by Davion firms following Avellar's meeting with Davion. Avellar leaves after a shouting match, and Kurita indignantly orders ISA agent ''Tai-sa'' Tetsuo Yatomo to arrange Avellar's death. |
| − | + | Meanwhile on [[Brookeland]] Gibbs is wondering if he was given false information when he was put on the case. He and Cassie DeBurke follow Bradforth to Alpheratz but cannot prevent him from shooting Barton Avellar with a sniper rifle and end up chasing him in a space taxi towards a [[Ryan Cartel]] [[iceship]] at the [[jump point]], where Gibbs and Bradforth finally confront each other in space suits on the iceberg. Bradforth mocks Gibbs for not knowing what really happened and being a mere pawn. He dies without revealing further answers when his space suit is ripped open, concluding the manhunt. | |
| + | |||
| + | On 17 February [[2601]] Nicholas Cameron visits Amanda Blair and "Mister Landon" (obviously Joshua Turner in disguise), reports on Gibbs' progress and apologizes for some inconvenience caused by his father Ian. He then goes to see is father who is expecting war with the Draconis Combine. They discuss troop deployments until Nicholas brings up Gibbs and accuses Ian Cameron of putting himself above the law by having the suspected terrorists killed instead of putting them on trial. They are interrupted by a messenger delivering an update report from the secret service. Ian Cameron suffers a stroke while reading the report. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ====Part Two==== | ||
| + | Draconis Combine forces land on the jointly administered planet [[Asta]] on 25 November [[2602]], kill some civilian protesters and abduct fourteen children who Leonard Kurita believes might be his possible heirs. Although the children are eventually returned, relations between the Terran Hegemony and the Combine are soured and troops are pulled together along the border for two years. War is looming, and Leonard Kurita is becoming increasingly erratic. Nicholas Cameron, having succeeded his father who died two years after the stroke, tries to defuse the political situation but when the High Council meets on 1 September [[2604]] Leonard Kurita, totally drunk, launches an irrational paranoid tirade against Nicholas Cameron and finally thows a half-empty whisky bottle at the First Lord. The bottle misses and hits a guard, Sgt. Tanya Kerensky, who reflexively triggers a laser burst from her rifle that cuts Kurita's clothing and grazes his hip. Enraged, Kurita kills her with a hidden knife in return. Nicholas Cameron posthumously awards Kerensky with the [[Awards#Star League|Star League Medal of Honor]] and bestows the title "Protector of the First Lord" upon her family. Shedding his previous pacifistic attitude, he also demands that Kurita withdraw his troops from the border within three months or risk open war. In response, Kurita prepares to begin the war with a pre-emptive strike but alienates his military and his House in the process and causes civil unrest on a scale previously unheard of in the Combine. | ||
| + | |||
| + | On 4 December 2604, "Jerry Edwards" is apprehended who Gibbs has identified as a mole within the SBGK after years of unsuccessfully trying to find out what really was behind his mission to kill Zhang, LePaies, Price and Bradforth. Edwards resists interrogation and dies in his cell after Gibbs was taken off the case. Four days later, Gibbs is teamed with legendary agent Colonel Burton and tasked with bringing Leonard Kurita to Terra to stand trial. Gibbs puts together some circumstantial evidence and tells Buchholz straight to his face that Edwards must have been tortured to reveal Leonard Kurita behind the Rocky Mountains attack. This results in Buchholz pulling him from duty, but Burton is impressed enough to demand Gibbs for the mission. | ||
| + | |||
| + | On New Samarkand, Burton is killed and Gibbs, who was to provide a diversion, attempts to salvage the mission. With the help of agent Fumiko Shoda, a female servant in the palace known as "Morningstar", he reaches Leonard Kurita, but ISF agent Yatomo intervenes before Gibbs can arrest Kurita. Yatomo proceeds to shoot the insane Kurita and prepares to shoot Gibbs who learns that the person killed in the Rocky Mountains attack was in fact Shandra Noruff-Cameron. Mad Leonard Kurita had her killed out of spite to hurt First Lord Ian Cameron. | ||
| + | |||
| + | It turns out that Burtom was not actually killed, but had changed suits with an [[Otomo]] guard. The three agents—Gibbs, Burton and Shoda—stage a daring escape that ends up with Burton being separated from the other two. Burton returns to Terra to report on the mission while Gibbs and Shoda are "delayed" frolicking in a pool on the MS ''Pinafore'' on Logandale. | ||
| − | |||
== Characters == | == Characters == | ||
*[[Barton Avellar]], [[President of the Parliament]] of the [[Outworlds Alliance]] | *[[Barton Avellar]], [[President of the Parliament]] of the [[Outworlds Alliance]] | ||
| + | *[[Rodrigo Avellar]], successor to Barton Avellar (referred to as both cousin and brother) | ||
*Sean Bradforth, Assassin | *Sean Bradforth, Assassin | ||
*[[Ian Cameron]], [[First Lord]] of the [[Star League]] | *[[Ian Cameron]], [[First Lord]] of the [[Star League]] | ||
| + | *[[Nicholas Cameron]], successor to his father Ian | ||
*[[Cassie DeBurke]] | *[[Cassie DeBurke]] | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
*Captain David Gibbs, SBGK agent | *Captain David Gibbs, SBGK agent | ||
*[[Leonard Kurita]], [[Draconis Combine]] [[Coordinator]] | *[[Leonard Kurita]], [[Draconis Combine]] [[Coordinator]] | ||
| − | *Mason Price, Assassin and MechWarrior with good connections to [[Bergan Industries]]. Black. | + | *Jacq LePaies, Assassin, ex-secret service agent |
| + | *Mason Price, Assassin and [[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarrior]] with good connections to [[Bergan Industries]]. Black. | ||
*''Tai-sa'' Tetsu Yatomo, [[ISF]] agent (appeared previously as the ISF contact of Warlord Higuchi in ''[[Wahnsinn und Methode]]'') | *''Tai-sa'' Tetsu Yatomo, [[ISF]] agent (appeared previously as the ISF contact of Warlord Higuchi in ''[[Wahnsinn und Methode]]'') | ||
| − | *Major Jin Zhang, Maskirovka agent | + | *Major Jin Zhang, [[Maskirovka]] agent |
== Featured places == | == Featured places == | ||
| + | *[[Al Na'ir]] (mentioned) | ||
*[[Alpheratz]] - official residence of the President of the [[Outworlds Alliance]], Famindas | *[[Alpheratz]] - official residence of the President of the [[Outworlds Alliance]], Famindas | ||
| + | *[[Alshain]] (mentioned) | ||
| + | *[[An Ting]] (mentioned) | ||
*[[Brookeland]] | *[[Brookeland]] | ||
| + | *[[Cylene]] | ||
| + | *[[Halstead Station]] (mentioned) | ||
| + | *[[Icar]] (mentioned) | ||
*[[Jordan]] (mentioned) | *[[Jordan]] (mentioned) | ||
| + | *[[Kagoshima]] (mentioned) | ||
*[[Kinkaid II]] (mentioned) | *[[Kinkaid II]] (mentioned) | ||
*[[Logandale]] | *[[Logandale]] | ||
| + | *[[Luthien]] (mentioned) | ||
| + | *[[Markab]] (mentioned) | ||
| + | *[[Murchison]] (mentioned, as "Murchinson") | ||
*[[New Avalon]] - Bergan Industries skyscraper, Avalon City | *[[New Avalon]] - Bergan Industries skyscraper, Avalon City | ||
*[[New Mendham]] | *[[New Mendham]] | ||
*[[New Samarkand]] | *[[New Samarkand]] | ||
*[[Robinson]] (mentioned) | *[[Robinson]] (mentioned) | ||
| + | *[[Sadachbia]] (mentioned) | ||
*[[Sarna]] (mentioned) | *[[Sarna]] (mentioned) | ||
*[[Terra]] - SBGK HQ, Berlin; High Council, Unity City | *[[Terra]] - SBGK HQ, Berlin; High Council, Unity City | ||
*[[Tharkad]] (mentioned) | *[[Tharkad]] (mentioned) | ||
| − | + | *[[Thimphu]] (mentioned) | |
| + | *[[Yance I]] (mentioned) | ||
== Featured units == | == Featured units == | ||
*[[2nd Dieron Regulars]] | *[[2nd Dieron Regulars]] | ||
| + | *[[3rd Pesht Regulars]] | ||
| + | *[[5th Sword of Light]] | ||
*[[15th Benjamin Regulars]] | *[[15th Benjamin Regulars]] | ||
| + | *[[91th Heavy Assault Regulars]] | ||
| + | *[[Otomo]] | ||
== Featured BattleTech == | == Featured BattleTech == | ||
===BattleMechs=== | ===BattleMechs=== | ||
| Line 96: | Line 124: | ||
===Vehicles=== | ===Vehicles=== | ||
===Aerospace Fighters=== | ===Aerospace Fighters=== | ||
| + | *''[[Slayer]]'' (continuity error, see Notes below) | ||
*''[[Sparrowhawk]]'' (mentioned, as ''Sparrow Hawk'') | *''[[Sparrowhawk]]'' (mentioned, as ''Sparrow Hawk'') | ||
| + | *''[[Thunderbird]]'' | ||
===DropShips=== | ===DropShips=== | ||
*''[[Lion]]'' | *''[[Lion]]'' | ||
| + | *''[[Vulture]]'' | ||
===JumpShips=== | ===JumpShips=== | ||
| + | *''[[Merchant]]'' | ||
| + | *''[[Star Lord]]'' | ||
===WarShips=== | ===WarShips=== | ||
*''[[Congress]]'' (mentioned) | *''[[Congress]]'' (mentioned) | ||
| Line 107: | Line 140: | ||
*'''98 T-Bird'' sports hovercraft | *'''98 T-Bird'' sports hovercraft | ||
*''Avanti'' aircar | *''Avanti'' aircar | ||
| + | *''[[Asgard (space station)|Asgard]]''-class recharging station | ||
| + | *''Shoshone Warrior'' VTOL | ||
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
*The cover depicts the scene of Gibbs and DeBurke running from Price when he appears piloting a ''Chameleon'' | *The cover depicts the scene of Gibbs and DeBurke running from Price when he appears piloting a ''Chameleon'' | ||
| Line 112: | Line 147: | ||
*On the sidelines, the prologue mentions that a team of [[House Steiner]]'s [[Lyran Intelligence Corps]] managed to steal the blueprints of the first BattleMech on [[New Earth]] in early February [[2455]] in cooperation with [[AsRoc]], the [[Rim Worlds Republic]] secret service. This is contradicted by other sources, most notably ''[[Prometheus Unbound]]'': The event occurred on [[Hesperus II]], and AsRoc was not involved (though the LIC used a JumpShip with RWR registry for one possible escape plan, which might have caused rumours). | *On the sidelines, the prologue mentions that a team of [[House Steiner]]'s [[Lyran Intelligence Corps]] managed to steal the blueprints of the first BattleMech on [[New Earth]] in early February [[2455]] in cooperation with [[AsRoc]], the [[Rim Worlds Republic]] secret service. This is contradicted by other sources, most notably ''[[Prometheus Unbound]]'': The event occurred on [[Hesperus II]], and AsRoc was not involved (though the LIC used a JumpShip with RWR registry for one possible escape plan, which might have caused rumours). | ||
*For the Outworlds Alliance parliament, 37 delegates are mentioned, each representing one member planet (suggesting the OA, as of 2600, comprises 37 planets) | *For the Outworlds Alliance parliament, 37 delegates are mentioned, each representing one member planet (suggesting the OA, as of 2600, comprises 37 planets) | ||
| + | *SL-15 ''[[Slayer]]'' [[aerospace fighter]]s appear during Gibbs' mission to New Samarkand. This is a continuity error as the ''Slayer'' was only introduced in [[2657]]. | ||
[[Category:Works by Michael Diel]] | [[Category:Works by Michael Diel]] | ||
Revision as of 07:17, 18 July 2011
 | Apocryphal Product Although the subject of this article is an official BattleTech product, it does not meet the current criteria for Canon. Its content may or may not be canonical for the BattleTech universe, and for the purpose of the Sarna.net BattleTechWiki is considered apocryphal. |
| |
| Über dem Gesetz | |
|---|---|
| Product information | |
| Type | Novel |
| Author | Michael Diel |
| Pages | 352 |
| Cover Artwork | Swen Papenbrock |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Fantasy Productions GmbH |
| Product code | 31005 |
| First published | 2005 |
| ISBN-10 | 3890645178 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-3890645179 |
| MSRP | 9,00 € |
| Content | |
| Era | Star League era |
| Timeline | 2600 - 2605 |
| Series | Classic BattleTech Novels |
Über dem Gesetz ("Above the law"), by Michael Diel, is a German-language BattleTech novel published by FanPro in 2005 as the 4th in their line of Classic BattleTech Novels. It has not been translated into English so far.
Contents
Overview
An agent thriller set in the Star League era where a plot twisting at the end reveals that First Lord Ian Cameron was not above putting himself above the law and abusing the League's secret service for personal revenge.
Canonicity
Written in German and exclusively published in that language so far, Über dem Gesetz does not technically 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 instead.
From the back cover (translated from German)
| “ | 2600: The assistant to the League Prosecutor General is found murdered in his office. Star League Secret Service Command agent David Gibbs is put on the case. The answer seems simple and at arm's reach, but the case gets increasingly complicated and contradictory. What really happened in that night of New Year's Eve? Gibbs keeps at the case and uncovers a conspiracy that appears to reach to the highest government circles and up to the First Lord of the Star League himself... | ” |
Plot Summary
Each chapter begins with a newscast item. Initially these come from worlds all over the Inner Sphere and cover a wide range of topics to convey general background information to the reader. The focus is on the strained relationship between the Terran Hegemony and the Draconis Combine, with the Combine massing troops along the border and its leader, Leonard Kurita, considered erratic and a possible threat.
Prologue
Bergan Industries has been contracted by the Star League Quartermaster's Command to design a BattleMech around the newly developed LB-X Autocannon and received the blueprints for the new weapon. Supervisory board chairman Trevor Vaughn has decided to sell the secret on, and has invited selected guests to a party on New Avalon on New Year's Eve 2600. Star League secret service (SBGK: Sternenbund-Geheimdienstkommando) agent David Gibbs infiltrates the party and sneaks into the penthouse where the data crystal with the copied blueprints is held. Following a shootout with security guards, he manages to secure the crystal and jump from a broken window in the skyscraper, gliding to safety with an ultra-thin parachute hidden in his suit.
Main plot
Part One
Back at the HQ in Berlin, Terra, on 3 January 2600 Gibbs is informed that on 31 December 2599, four intruders entered the secured private office of League Prosecutor General Amanda Blair near the Rocky Mountains and killed her lover and assistant, League Public Prosecutor Joshua Turner. Gibbs and his superior, Horst Buchholz, agree that the highly professional assassins would have found ways to kill Blair, too, if she had been the target; they deduct the raid was aimed at Turner.
On 7 January, Draconis Combine Coordinator Leonard Kurita visits President of the Parliament Barton Avellar on the Outworlds Alliance capital world of Alpheratz. They discuss trade agreements, but Kurita, rather rude and abusive, rebuffs Avellar's attempts to negotiate a possible alliance. The prearranged trade agreements are signed in an icy atmosphere.
In Parliament, Barton Avellar is later confronted by his cousin Rodrigo Avellar with allegations that he allied his realm with the Draconis Combine, causing considerable media fallout.
Gibbs, having traced leads from the attack on Turner to the Maskirovka, has singled out a woman as suspect - Maskirovka Major Jin Zhang. By the end of January he is observing her aboard the MS Pinafore, a sea-going pleasure cruiser on the Federated Suns world of Logandale while she is preparing another assassination mission. After Gibbs disposes of a hitman Zhang sent after him, they have a showdown where Zhang ends up dangling over the ship's propeller from Gibbs' hand. In mortal danger, she admits to having been part of the team in the Rocky Mountains attack, but claims not to know anything else beyond the names of her co-perpetrators: LePaies, Price and Bradforth, the latter being the mission leader. She immediately tries to kill Gibbs when he pulls her to safety, but falls to her death in the attempt.
On 2 May, the Star League High Council meets at Unity City, Terra. The meeting is overshadowed by the death of Lady Shandra Noruff-Cameron who died of a stroke on 6 January. First Lord Ian Cameron, his son Nicholas and Prosecutor General Amanda Blair discuss Leonard Kurita, who is late to the meeting as usual, with the attendant Lords—Captain-General Brion Marik II and his daughter Rhean, First Prince Alexander Davion and his son Zane, Archon Kevin Steiner-Dinesen, and Chancellor Normann Aris. When Kurita finally shows up, the council goes into session and an argument breaks out about the "extended DCMS maneuvers" Kurita's troops have been performing for two years already. Concluding a shouting match, Ian Cameron orders him to stand down within two months or the ongoing maneuvers will be regarded as a declaration of war by the Star League.
By 24 July, Gibbs has identified Jacq LePaies and Mason Price using leads found in Zhang's cabin and is observing them on New Mendham as they prepare to kill (or so he believes) Cassie DeBurke. He realizes too late that the man he is observing is not actually Jacq LePaies. Racing to rescue DeBurke he finds her alive, but unconscious, with her research results stolen by LePaies and Price. In the subsequent car chase through the city of Bresco, LePaies is killed. Price escapes into the Bergan Industries complex, where DeBurke rigs the fire extinguishing system to spot heat signatures, enabling the security staff to find Price. He escapes through the cargo terminal and hijacks a Chameleon 'Mech. Gibbs procures a prototype Champion to fight him, and disables the Chameleon with several head hits from the LB-X Autocannon. Price is mortally wounded. Before dying, he tells Gibbs that they did not kill Turner.
Barton Avellar visits Zane Davion on New Avalon on 26 August, who has succeeded his great-grandfather Alexander as First Prince of the Federated Suns. Avellar learns that the incriminating information about him apparently was delivered to his cousin from the Draconis Combine. On 7 October he visits Leonard Kurita on New Samarkand and accuses him of trying to oust him from his position by spreading information about a Kurita/Avellar alliance; Kurita in turn complains that the firms the Combine was supposed to invest in were half bought up by Davion firms following Avellar's meeting with Davion. Avellar leaves after a shouting match, and Kurita indignantly orders ISA agent Tai-sa Tetsuo Yatomo to arrange Avellar's death.
Meanwhile on Brookeland Gibbs is wondering if he was given false information when he was put on the case. He and Cassie DeBurke follow Bradforth to Alpheratz but cannot prevent him from shooting Barton Avellar with a sniper rifle and end up chasing him in a space taxi towards a Ryan Cartel iceship at the jump point, where Gibbs and Bradforth finally confront each other in space suits on the iceberg. Bradforth mocks Gibbs for not knowing what really happened and being a mere pawn. He dies without revealing further answers when his space suit is ripped open, concluding the manhunt.
On 17 February 2601 Nicholas Cameron visits Amanda Blair and "Mister Landon" (obviously Joshua Turner in disguise), reports on Gibbs' progress and apologizes for some inconvenience caused by his father Ian. He then goes to see is father who is expecting war with the Draconis Combine. They discuss troop deployments until Nicholas brings up Gibbs and accuses Ian Cameron of putting himself above the law by having the suspected terrorists killed instead of putting them on trial. They are interrupted by a messenger delivering an update report from the secret service. Ian Cameron suffers a stroke while reading the report.
Part Two
Draconis Combine forces land on the jointly administered planet Asta on 25 November 2602, kill some civilian protesters and abduct fourteen children who Leonard Kurita believes might be his possible heirs. Although the children are eventually returned, relations between the Terran Hegemony and the Combine are soured and troops are pulled together along the border for two years. War is looming, and Leonard Kurita is becoming increasingly erratic. Nicholas Cameron, having succeeded his father who died two years after the stroke, tries to defuse the political situation but when the High Council meets on 1 September 2604 Leonard Kurita, totally drunk, launches an irrational paranoid tirade against Nicholas Cameron and finally thows a half-empty whisky bottle at the First Lord. The bottle misses and hits a guard, Sgt. Tanya Kerensky, who reflexively triggers a laser burst from her rifle that cuts Kurita's clothing and grazes his hip. Enraged, Kurita kills her with a hidden knife in return. Nicholas Cameron posthumously awards Kerensky with the Star League Medal of Honor and bestows the title "Protector of the First Lord" upon her family. Shedding his previous pacifistic attitude, he also demands that Kurita withdraw his troops from the border within three months or risk open war. In response, Kurita prepares to begin the war with a pre-emptive strike but alienates his military and his House in the process and causes civil unrest on a scale previously unheard of in the Combine.
On 4 December 2604, "Jerry Edwards" is apprehended who Gibbs has identified as a mole within the SBGK after years of unsuccessfully trying to find out what really was behind his mission to kill Zhang, LePaies, Price and Bradforth. Edwards resists interrogation and dies in his cell after Gibbs was taken off the case. Four days later, Gibbs is teamed with legendary agent Colonel Burton and tasked with bringing Leonard Kurita to Terra to stand trial. Gibbs puts together some circumstantial evidence and tells Buchholz straight to his face that Edwards must have been tortured to reveal Leonard Kurita behind the Rocky Mountains attack. This results in Buchholz pulling him from duty, but Burton is impressed enough to demand Gibbs for the mission.
On New Samarkand, Burton is killed and Gibbs, who was to provide a diversion, attempts to salvage the mission. With the help of agent Fumiko Shoda, a female servant in the palace known as "Morningstar", he reaches Leonard Kurita, but ISF agent Yatomo intervenes before Gibbs can arrest Kurita. Yatomo proceeds to shoot the insane Kurita and prepares to shoot Gibbs who learns that the person killed in the Rocky Mountains attack was in fact Shandra Noruff-Cameron. Mad Leonard Kurita had her killed out of spite to hurt First Lord Ian Cameron.
It turns out that Burtom was not actually killed, but had changed suits with an Otomo guard. The three agents—Gibbs, Burton and Shoda—stage a daring escape that ends up with Burton being separated from the other two. Burton returns to Terra to report on the mission while Gibbs and Shoda are "delayed" frolicking in a pool on the MS Pinafore on Logandale.
Characters
- Barton Avellar, President of the Parliament of the Outworlds Alliance
- Rodrigo Avellar, successor to Barton Avellar (referred to as both cousin and brother)
- Sean Bradforth, Assassin
- Ian Cameron, First Lord of the Star League
- Nicholas Cameron, successor to his father Ian
- Cassie DeBurke
- Captain David Gibbs, SBGK agent
- Leonard Kurita, Draconis Combine Coordinator
- Jacq LePaies, Assassin, ex-secret service agent
- Mason Price, Assassin and MechWarrior with good connections to Bergan Industries. Black.
- Tai-sa Tetsu Yatomo, ISF agent (appeared previously as the ISF contact of Warlord Higuchi in Wahnsinn und Methode)
- Major Jin Zhang, Maskirovka agent
Featured places
- Al Na'ir (mentioned)
- Alpheratz - official residence of the President of the Outworlds Alliance, Famindas
- Alshain (mentioned)
- An Ting (mentioned)
- Brookeland
- Cylene
- Halstead Station (mentioned)
- Icar (mentioned)
- Jordan (mentioned)
- Kagoshima (mentioned)
- Kinkaid II (mentioned)
- Logandale
- Luthien (mentioned)
- Markab (mentioned)
- Murchison (mentioned, as "Murchinson")
- New Avalon - Bergan Industries skyscraper, Avalon City
- New Mendham
- New Samarkand
- Robinson (mentioned)
- Sadachbia (mentioned)
- Sarna (mentioned)
- Terra - SBGK HQ, Berlin; High Council, Unity City
- Tharkad (mentioned)
- Thimphu (mentioned)
- Yance I (mentioned)
Featured units
- 2nd Dieron Regulars
- 3rd Pesht Regulars
- 5th Sword of Light
- 15th Benjamin Regulars
- 91th Heavy Assault Regulars
- Otomo
Featured BattleTech
BattleMechs
- Chameleon (modified, mounts a SRM-4 launcher)
- Champion (prototype)
- Night Hawk
- Ostscout
- Victor
- Wolverine
Vehicles
Aerospace Fighters
- Slayer (continuity error, see Notes below)
- Sparrowhawk (mentioned, as Sparrow Hawk)
- Thunderbird
DropShips
JumpShips
WarShips
Other
- MS Pinafore, 56,000-ton sea-going pleasure cruiser on Logandale
- '98 T-Bird sports hovercraft
- Avanti aircar
- Asgard-class recharging station
- Shoshone Warrior VTOL
Notes
- The cover depicts the scene of Gibbs and DeBurke running from Price when he appears piloting a Chameleon
- According to the Bergan Industries chairman in the prologue, LB-X stands for "Large Bore - Extended" Autocannon.
- On the sidelines, the prologue mentions that a team of House Steiner's Lyran Intelligence Corps managed to steal the blueprints of the first BattleMech on New Earth in early February 2455 in cooperation with AsRoc, the Rim Worlds Republic secret service. This is contradicted by other sources, most notably Prometheus Unbound: The event occurred on Hesperus II, and AsRoc was not involved (though the LIC used a JumpShip with RWR registry for one possible escape plan, which might have caused rumours).
- For the Outworlds Alliance parliament, 37 delegates are mentioned, each representing one member planet (suggesting the OA, as of 2600, comprises 37 planets)
- SL-15 Slayer aerospace fighters appear during Gibbs' mission to New Samarkand. This is a continuity error as the Slayer was only introduced in 2657.