Emmy Line

Emmy Line
Personal
Affiliation	Hanseatic League (formerly) Scorpion Empire
Profile
Title(s)	Galaxy Commander (formerly) zarKhan
Profession	MechWarrior

Emmy Line was a former Hanseatic League citizen before later becoming a warrior for the Scorpion Empire and, ultimately, the first zarKhan.

History

Emmy Line was a freeborn who was born in the Hanseatic League before its conquest by Clan Goliath Scorpion. At an unknown date, she later joined the Scorpion Empire touman as a warrior and became affiliated with the reformist Imperial faction. Prior to 3150, she had already reached the rank of Star Captain in Omega Galaxy on Gateway. There, she championed the proposal to place the Nexus BattleMech, a Word of Blake design, into production with Clan modifications as the Star Python. Beforehand, she had obtained its damaged blueprints in an old Blakist database on Braunschweig. Without telling anybody, she took them and handed them to a civilian company to restore them. But when offered to her superior, Galaxy Commander Barin Myers, he challenged her to a Trial of Refusal. In his opinion as a member of the Preservers, she should never had handed them to Hansa civilians and deemed the designs only worthy of destruction. Ultimately, she killed him in a Circle of Equals and, as a reward for her initiative, Khan Magon Scott appointed her as Galaxy Commander in his place. That made her the first freeborn of the former Hansa to lead a Galaxy.

On 12 February 3151, she led Omega Galaxy in engaging a group of pirates raiding Gateway. She faced the last pirate 'Mech standing, a Griffin, with her Rhino and managed to defeat it ramming it. While the 'Mech was destroyed, the pilot and the warband's DropShip were successfully captured alive and intact. This was due to the Scorpions deducing they were from the Inner Sphere and wishing to obtain any information on the realm after the HPG Blackout through interrogation and data analysis.

Three days later, Line was overseeing the planet's administration, including the preparations for beginning the Star Python's production run. However, upon reading the deciphered pirate files provided by the local division of the Clan Watch, she immediately started travelling to the capital of Braunschweig as the deciphered intelligence was important and sensitive enough to report it directly to the Khan away from the ears of the Preservers. Upon landing in Braunschweig on the 13 March, and meeting Star Colonel Peter Noye, she revealed him some of the stunning news obtained from the pirates: Clan Nova Cat had been annihilated (a development their compatriots in Clan Sea Fox had declined to inform them of for unknown reasons), and Clan Wolf was mobilizing their entire touman to take Terra while the Jade Falcons were not far behind. Intending to meet Khan Magon Scott personally, their vehicle traveled to the newly built Clan Council Chamber, but their car was immediately caught up in a massive explosion and she passed out.

Emmy Line later awoke from a coma in a hospital on the 22 May before being greeted by Peter and Khan Magon Scott. They informed her the attack was made by a former Hanseatic League Merchant who had successfully hidden his true colors before seeding terrorists within the Clan Council Chamber's maintenance staff. Fortunately, they captured one of them as they tried to flee off-world and she exposed all the culprits quickly upon being subjected to interrogation. Khan Scott then explained Line why he was there. With the internal conflict between Empire's two political factions (the Preservers and Imperials) escalating, and with the integration of the freeborn civilians in the Hansa worlds at risk of being disrupted by revolts, he wanted to reform the Empire's government to answer their grievances and end the conflict. He intended to create the new post of zarKhan, which would direct all the Empire civilians, while the Khan focused on the military. And to ensure all civilians were satisfied with the reforms, he wanted Line to become the first zarKhan as the first freeborn warrior of the Hanseatic League to achieve the senior rank of Galaxy Commander.

Line reluctantly accepted and began preparing for the imminent Trial of Refusal expected by the Preservers. Khan Scott ensured that no Imperials would challenge Line's intent to become their candidate while the Preservers focused on preventing the reforms from occurring altogether. Khan Scott expected it and intended to use to the serial Trials of Grievance they started to reduce the Preserver's numbers before the vote. Keeping some medics nearby to imply to observers she was still much weaker from her injuries in the bombing, she began facing multiple Trials of Grievance at the start of 29 May and was forced to kill a Preserver warrior in a Trial upon immediately exiting the hospital, albeit accidentally.

On the 30 May, at an ad hoc Grand Council session on Braunschweig at the planetary sports stadium, the final vote for the reforms was passed. The Preservers, unable to accept the outcome of the vote in favor, enacted a final Trial of Refusal. The same day, after Line was chosen, she and Peter faced two Elementals. She managed to make one fall in the Circle of Equals, but the other fatally wounded Peter and was killed in turn. Meanwhile, Khan Scott led his unit against Galaxy Commander Miros Baba's command Trinary in the final part of the Trial and successfully defeated his opponent in the ruins of an abandoned city. Afterwards, Line was chosen as zarKhan in a ceremonial inauguration broadcast across the Empire. In the midst of her speech, she informed the gathered warriors of the news that Clan Wolf had landed on Terra in competition with the Jade Falcons and how it may be already the ilClan. Declaring her intent on keeping their Clan's way of life unbound to outsiders, she rallied all present to unite in the face of any outside threats before finding herself applauded by all Imperials and even most Preservers present.

BattleMech/Vehicle

Emmy Line's only known 'Mech was a Rhino.

Bibliography

• Moving Forward (short story)