Far Country

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Far Country, the only BattleTech book written by Peter Rice, is notable for its unorthodox storyline, which has only tenuous connections with the established universe. It is also the only (canonical) source where sentient aliens play a significant role, something many fans feel should have no place in the fictional BattleTech universe.

The protagonists are marooned in an unknown star system with no chance whatsoever to return to known space. The story therefore has no impact on the fictional history of the BattleTech universe; as far as everyone else is concerned, the protagonists are considered killed in a jump accident.

The book introduced two new starship classes, mentions a new APC type, and provides information on hyperspace jumps and the cockpit layout of a LAM.

From the back cover

“ Sho-sa Yubari Takuda leads a Draconis Elite Strike Team, one of the Combine's elite commando units. Well versed in techniques of conventional and unconventional warfare, even MechWarriors respect and fear the prowess of these deadly warriors.

A follower of the ancient code of the samurai, Sho-sa Takuda firmly believes in the superiority of the Combine warrior culture and has always maintained that it would produce a harmonious and prosperous society—if only the realm could be freed from the pressure of foreign aggressors.

But when a JumpShip malfunction catapults Takuda's team and a company of mercenary MechWarriors beyond known space, he finds long-held beliefs challenged. For the warriors find themselves on a planet inhabited by a primitive alien race, a race enslaved by the descendants of another group of humans—from the Draconis Combine.

”

Summary

Prologue - Year 2510 (Chapters 1 and 2)

During the MacAllister Rebellion, troops are moved from the distant edges of the Draconis Combine, including the 2452nd Battalion of the Fifth Galedon Regulars on Salford under Chu-sa Tokashio Hamata. On 9 November 2510 he oversees his troops being loaded on Vulture-class DropShips and embarks one of them, the Hideyoshi Toyotomi. The DropShips take off, and dock with the Leviathan-class JumpShip Raiden which is supposed to bring them to Brailsford.

However, the jump fails, effectively wrecking the Raiden and damaging all DropShips to some degree. They find themselves stranded in an unknown star system. Two locations, a planet and a large moon, are identified as being habitable for humans. The initial plan is to release the DropShips after six days of drift so that they can complete the voyage under their own power, but late on day five the Raiden's fusion core has to be scrammed. The ship is slowly breaking up and the DropShips must be released. One DropShip is trapped by a deformed Hardpoint in the process and ruptures its hull when trying to yank free. Four DropShips are clustered together, the others fan out. One ship brushes another while maneuvering; locked together and out of control they spin towards the planet for two days with no hope of survival. Lifeboats carrying the JumpShip crew follow the surviving DropShips towards the planet, later known as Kaetetôã.

Part I - 3056 (Chapters 3 through 24)

On 7 November 3056 the Scout-class JumpShip Telendine has been awaiting clearance for fourteen days already while waiting at a Jump Point in the Salford system. Master and Commander Reston Bannin, a merchant, is fuming as he has a DropShip packed with valuable, but perishable Cholobara wine sitting down on the planet. Against his wishes he is assigned "military cargo" instead, namely a Leopard-class DropShip carrying a DEST team under Sho-sa Yubari Takuda and Garber Vost's mercenary unit, bound for a classified destination. Like the Raiden did 546 years earlier, the Telendine misjumps out of Salford and has to be abandoned. Its lifeboat and the Leopard DropShip descend on Kaetetôã, noting the derelicted hulk of another ship (the Raiden) in orbit. They manage a crashlanding on-planet.

During the first night on the alien planet, the 27 remaining survivors form three distinct groups, namely a group of twelve DEST soldiers, eleven mercenaries and four crew from the spaceships. Mercenary leader Garber Vost confronts Takuda with allegations that the Draconis Combine failed to fulfill their part of the mercenary contract, namely the safe insertion and extraction clause, and declares the contract null and void under the radically changed circumstances. He goes on to suggest that the surviving women are dealt out to the best men to ensure survival on this new world, which all agree they have no chance to leave again.

In the following days, edible plants are identified, solving the food problem. Garber Vost seeks to assume overall command. To this end, he wants to salvage the BattleMechs from the crashlanded Leopard. Mistrust and tension build up among the survivors.

A DEST patrol encounters a large, bird-like alien who speaks to them, introducing himself as Dakodo, of the Tetatae species. Dakodo tells the survivors that other humans had arrived on the world centuries earlier. He recognizes the Draconis Combine's dragon symbol. While the Kuritans befriend the alien, a nearby mercenary patrol shoots another Tetatae and wounds Dakodo. He is brought back to camp and his injuries are treated while the mercenaries apparently eat the one they shot. Later, Dakodo relates the history of his species to them, how they separated into primitive plains-dwellers and slightly less primitive forest-dwellers (like himself), and how the first humans came five hundred years ago. The humans fought both among themselves and against the peaceful Tetatae, and took to enslaving Tetatae. Three human settlements remain on the planet, but their technology level is low; they have no aircraft. Vost and his mercenaries, especially LAM pilot Brian Seagroves, are excited to hear that and secretly decide that they can rule the planet by hiring out the superior firepower of their 'Mechs.

The mercenaries agree to have Seagroves reconnoiter the human settlements with his LAM, and for the time being the enstranged survivors cooperate to free the LAM from the hulk of the broken DropShip. Seagroves is then ordered by Takuda to make a high pass, avoiding contact as much as possible, while Vost secretly orders him to fly over the settlements as low as possible to inspire awe. Defying both, Seagroves lands the LAM in a plaza in one of the settlements (Usugumo, the city of traders) and makes contact. He is excited to see an abundance of gold used on the buildings, and is treated with utmost respect by the residents.

Tensions about how to proceed flare up again. Based on Seagroves' (incomplete) report, Takuda decides to send patrols to the three entrenched cities, which are obviously fighting each other. While waiting for the patrols to return, the remaining BattleMechs are retrieved. Vost irritates everybody by insisting that his Panther be retrieved first, although it is the 'Mech that is most difficult to reach. Because of this the patrols return before any of the 'Mechs are free, and report on their findings. Besides Usugumo, the merchant oligarchy where wealth defines status, there are the cities of Osiro (run by a centralized dictatorship) and Amatakaze (religious fundamentalists with a pure Shinto/Buddhism philosophy).

Soon afterwards Vost calls for an impromptu election, clearly in an attempt to have himself elected as overall leader, but one of the DEST soldiers subtely threatens him not to press the matter for the time being. The mercenary faction subsequently decides to secretly finish the retrieval of their 'Mechs and use them to attack the DEST command post. Locust pilot Holly Goodall and her tech Sagiri Johnson have second thoughts about the planned murder, however, and decide to warn Takuda and his men. Later that night, two DEST teams attempt to capture the mercenaries with tranquilizer guns. Reston Bannin happens to stand in the way on top of the DropShip. He is stunned, but falls to his death into the hangar bay. A firefight ensues between the DEST troopers and the mercenaries who are caught red-handed while trying to power up their 'Mechs. The Phoenix Hawk LAM, Panther and Javelin escape while Holly Goodall in her Locust manages to kill the other Locust pilot, Collis Brank, with a cockpit hit.

On the following day, the remaining nine DEST members together with Goodall, Johnson, DropShip pilot Parker Davud and JumpShip engineer Mark Jacobs, take the two remaining Locusts out of the DropShip wreck. At this point they are swarmed by cheering and excited Tetatae because of the bird-like look and movement patterns of the Locusts: While the other BattleMechs have a largely humanoid shape, the Locusts vaguely resemble the Tetatae body and are immediately regarded as divine beings who will bring back the balance that the humans have upset. Takuda and his men, being the riders and masters of the Locusts, immediately gain god-like status with the primitive aliens, much to Takuda's dislike.

Discussing the damaged Locust they discover that Marc Jacobs is actually a dispossessed MechWarrior. While the DEST troopers are qualified 'Mech pilots, they are more useful outside of the damaged machine while Jacobs has no particular role or function. He is therefore allowed to pilot the surplus 'Mech. They come under attack from the mercenaries while evacuating the DropShip, but the Tetatae guide them to hidden caves.

Part 2 - 3056 (Chapters 25 through 50)

With help from the resident Tetatae servants, Takuda has patrols infiltrate the three city enclaves. In Usugumo, a female DEST trooper is taken captive as the inhabitants cannot accept a woman being in command. The Usugumo are also reported to be about to hire the mercenaries.

The next mercenary attack against Takuda's faction is repulsed by luring the attackers into various types of pit and other traps while a DEST team infiltrates the prison and frees the captive, stealing a steam-driven Usugumo tank in the process. Combined, these events considerably lower the mercenarys' reputation among their potential employers. In response, they lead a Usugumo attack force against Takuda's men and the Tetatae, only to be repulsed again.

Both LAM pilot Brian Seagroves and Javelin pilot Kendall Pesht begin to make their own deals with the residents from all three cities behind Vost's back. However, the cities approach Takuda's camp as well, and a secret coven of leaders from all three cities decides to play all factions against each other with hopes that the newcomer factions will eliminate each other. Once the mercenaries begin to realize their precarious position they decide on a demonstration of their power, and begin to destroy some defences at Osio and Amatukaze. Takuda attempts an attack on the mercenary 'Mechs but this time his forces are driven off. However, in the aftermath of the fight recruits, both human and Tetatae, flock to Takuda's banner, still against his wishes.

A combined effort from the cities, supported by the mercenaries, eventually threatens to overrun Takuda's position and inflicts severe casualties. Inspired by a Tetatae legend about another human settlement in the mountains they eventually begin to move off in that direction, pursued by the mercenaries who manage to destroy one of the Locusts. Vost, who is also qualified as a LAM pilot, switches 'Mechs with Seagroves for a recon run but does not realize the LAM is almost out of fuel (Seagroves forgot to reactivate the warning light that he had disabled during a previous mission); the resulting crash destroys the LAM, presumably kills Vost and effectively ends the pursuit of Takuda's group. Seagroves and Pesht return to the warring cities to work as mercenaries.

High up in the mountains, Takuda and his followers eventually arrive at the resting place of the DropShip Hideyoshi Toyotomi. They review the last log entry which describes how the survivors mothballed the ship and committed seppuku, as the crew had been unable to contact any other humans and no women had survived the planetfall. Takuda and the refugees who came with him manage to bring the DropShip back into flying condition by scavenging parts from the remaining Locust, produce fuel and eventually lift off towards the moon they have come to call Far Country, the second habitable world in the unknown system.

Featured characters

Featured places

Featured Units

Featured BattleTech

BattleMechs

Vehicles

DropShips

JumpShips

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