Wolves on the Border

Wolves on the Border
Product information
Type	Novel
Author	Robert N. Charrette
Pages	338
Cover Artwork	Hanzo (original) Jim Nelson (original cover design) Peter Peebles (reprint)
Publication information
Publisher	FASA (original) Roc Books (reprint)
Product code	8612
First published	1 March, 1989 (original) 1 May, 1996 (reprint)
ISBN-10	0451453883
ISBN-13	978-0451453884
MSRP	4.95 US$
Content
Era	Succession Wars era
Timeline	14 September 3021 - 17 August 3028

Wolves on the Border, by Robert N. Charrette, narrates how Wolf's Dragoons, working as mercenaries for the Draconis Combine, become the target of a plot to either tie them to the Combine permanently against their will, or destroy them. Their liaison officer, Minobu Tetsuhara, a honorable warrior of House Kurita and close friend of Jaime Wolf, is trapped between friendship and duty.

The novel was made available on BattleCorps on 16 December 2009 as a PDF file (text only, without cover, pictures, or any other interior artwork except for the usual BattleCorps frame graphics). The PDF copy includes a disclaimer stating that it was created from a pre-final edition text that might differ from the printed version and that canon-wise, the print edition trumps the PDF edition.

From the back cover

1989 Edition

“

LIFE, DEATH, HONOR, FEALTY Bushido is the code that governs all these concepts. As a MechWarrior of the Draconis Combine, Minobu Tetsuhara is bound by Bushido, a code that demands loyal service to the devious Warlord Grieg Samsonov. But when Minobu came upon a strange blue and gold Archer, the field littered with its vanquished opponents, and its weapons now empty, Bushido dictated that he not destroy an honorable but helpless warrior. For that he became one of the Dispossessed, stripped of his BattleMech, and without honor. Minobu was then assigned as liaison to one of the Combine's most elite mercenary units, who treated him with the respect due a fellow warrior, and gave him use of a BattleMech once more. The skill and power of the mercenaries is unparalleled, and when they refuse to renew their contract, Minobu is instructed to use all means to destroy them. Now Bushido dictates that Minobu oppose his honorable foe in the blue and gold Archer, a man with whom he has served and who deserves far better than betrayal... Jaime Wolf and Wolf's Dragoons.

”

1996 Reprint Edition

“

LIFE, DEATH, HONOR, FEALTY Bushido governs all these concepts. As a MechWarrior of the Draconis Combine, Minobu Tetsuhara was bound by Bushido—a code that demands loyal service—to the devious Warlord Grieg Samsonov. But when Minobu came upon a strange blue and gold Archer, the field littered with its vanquished opponents, and its weapons now empty, Bushido also dictated that he not destroy an honorable but helpless warrior. And so he rescued Jaime Wolf. Minobu was then assigned as liaison to the Wolf's Dragoons, one of the Combine's most elite mercenary units, who treated him with the respect due a fellow warrior. When the mercenaries refused to renew their contract with Samsonov, Minobu was instructed to destroy them. Now Bushido dictates that Minobu oppose his honorable foe, a man with whom he has served and who deserves far better than betrayal....

”

Plot Summary

Prologue

In 3021, Wolf's Dragoons (under contract to the Lyran Commonwealth) battle Draconis Combine forces on Dromini VI. During the fighting, Tai-i Minobu Tetsuhara's command lance encounters a lone mercenary Archer that has valiantly destroyed a tank unit, but is now shut down with excess heat and helpless. Following his bushido code, Tetsuhara spares the enemy over the objections of his subjugate Jerry Akuma.

Book 1: Honor

Following the Dromini debacle, Tetsuhara was stripped of his command and denied the right to pilot the family 'Mech, a PNT-9R called Katana Kat which has passed on to his brother Fuhito Tetsuhara. When Wolf's Dragoons are contracted by the Draconis Combine, Minobu Tetsuhara is promoted to chu-sa and assigned as their chief liaison officer (service with the Professional Soldiery Liaison being considered a shameful assignment).

Tetsuhara joins Wolf's Dragoons on their first combat mission for the Combine, an attack against Quentin IV alongside a Sword of Light regiment. He meets and is deeply impressed by their CO, Jaime Wolf, and the mercenaries' sterling conduct in general. During a subsequent battle the dispossessed Tetsuhara, piloting a borrowed Dragoon Vindicator, encounters the same Archer from Dromini VI, again in a critical situation. Together with Dragoon MechWarrior Dechan Fraser he rescues the Archer again, only to find its pilot is none other than Jaime Wolf personally.

Draconis Combine Coordinator Takashi Kurita also makes a personal appearance on Quentin to appraise the Dragoons' performance. He seems pleased with Colonel Wolf and his troops.

Over the next six months, Tetsuhara forges a personal friendship with Jaime Wolf. Young Michi Noketsuna is assigned as Tetsuhara's aide and comes to regard him as his sensei.

On 12 November 3024 Galedon Military District Warlord Grieg Samsonov comes to inspect the Dragoons. Tetsuhara finds that Jerry Akuma is now a Sho-sa (major), and aide to the Warlord. Samsonov confronts the Dragoons with allegations of incompetence and "arrogating command responsibility" in a recent action on Courasin, and demands the Dragoon regiments be put under his direct command. Wolf and Tetsuhara in his role as liaison officer point out that this is in direct violation of the Dragoons' contract, and thus earn the Warlord's ire. When Samsonov threatens Wolf that he would have his way due to his connections, Wolf all but dares him to try.

Interlude

In the light of sterling service, it is only in a high-level meeting between the Coordinator and his inner circle in December 3025 that Samsonov can begin to launch his personal crusade. By pointing out that the Dragoons have sent an officer to Galatea to review contract offers and thus apparently do not intend to renew their contract with the Combine which is due to run out in two years' time, he hopes to gain a leverage against them. However, Takashi Kurita instead decrees that they shall be ordered to train a new Kurita unit, to teach them their abilities. Liaison officer Tetsuhara is to become commanding officer of that new force. Samsonov is given free reign to select a new liaison officer for the Dragoons. The Coordinator also stresses that he does not want to lose the Dragoons' service, and notes that measures should be taken as precautions in case the Dragoons would go to work for an enemy of the Combine.

Book 2: Loyalty

By August 3026 the friendship between Jaime Wolf and Minobu Tetsuhara has deepened, even though the latter is no longer liaison officer to the Dragoons but commander of the Ryuken, the training cadre being built to adopt the Dragoon battlefield excellence. He is reinstated as a MechWarrior and assigned a DRG-1N Dragon. The new liaison officer, meanwhile, is none other than Jerry Akuma, who immediately starts using his position to hamper and harass the Dragoons to the best of his abilities, by creating supply shortages and bureaucratic hurdles for them.

The first joint operation of the Ryuken and Wolf's Dragoons is an attack on Barlow's End in September 3026. After the Ryuken and Dragoon officers formulate a plan to acquire what is later referred to as a prototype jump stabilizer from the Davion defenders on-planet, Tetsuhara's hovercar is sabotaged by an inside agent and bombs are planted near the Ryuken field HQ. When they go off during the night, Tetsuhara and Dragoon officer Kelly Yukinov use the car to reach their post but have a crash due to the tampering. Tetsuhara is maimed; he is evacuated on a Draconis Combine DropShip, and Akuma goes with him. (A later report by Akuma to Warlord Samsonov confirms that Akuma was responsible and implies that Akuma even tried to have Tetsuhara killed aboard the DropShip; he expressed regret at the physician's skill and ethic code.)

The operation is still launched as planned, but runs afoul of much stronger resistance than expected in the form of the White Witches and Eridani Light Horse mercenaries. Tai-sa Elijah Satoh, a condescending and unimaginative officer installed by Jerry Akuma as a replacement for Minobu Tetsuhara, cannot adapt to the changing situation and the attack unravels. The Dragoons only manage to destroy the prototype, not capture it, before being forced to retreat. Satoh, accusing them of abandoning him, refuses to evacuate until his HQ comes under attack on the following day. At that point, Michi Noketsuna decides he is a liability for the Ryuken and shoots him.

A month later, Warlord Samsonov is approached by the new ComStar Precentor on Galedon V, Alexandre Kalafon, who informs him about the disposition of disgruntled Dragoon MechWarrior Fadre Singh and knowledge Singh has about the Dragoons' "Hegira" plan which amounts to a full-scale exodus from Kurita space. He also delivers reports from the outcome of the Barlow's End battle. Infuriated by the unexpected loss and blaming it on the Dragoons, Samsonov decides to destroy the mercenaries.

Tetsuhara has a prosthetic arm and leg since the "accident". Jaime Wolf pays him a visit on An Ting on 24 November to discuss the deteriorating situation—the defeat on Barlow's End has provided Samsonov with leverage against the Dragoons. However, shortly afterwards it is decreed that the Ryuken shall be expanded to five regiments under the Warlord's command and be deployed alongside the Dragoon regiments on their respective garrison worlds. Tetsuhara is to command the second Ryuken regiment, Ryuken-ni, on Misery while command of the first Ryuken regiment (Ryuken-ichi) on An Ting goes to Jerry Akuma. The pupils are becoming watchdogs over their teachers.

By April 3027 the supply situation of Wolf's Dragoons has become serious enough for them to launch unauthorized raids across the border.

Featured characters

• Jerry Akuma
• Quintus Allard
• Hamilton Atwyl
• "Gentleman" Johnny Clavell
• Hanse Davion
• Willard Gibbs
• John Hayes
• Takiro Ikeda
• Dechan Fraser
• Alexandre Kalafon
• Natasha Kerensky
• Takashi Kurita
• Colin MacLaren
• Michi Noketsuna
• Grieg Samsonov
• Elijah Satoh
• Lynn Sheridan
• Fadre Singh
• Minobu Tetsuhara
• Thomas West
• Jaime Wolf
• Kelly Yukinov
• The Bounty Hunter

Featured places

• An Ting
• Awano
• Barlow's End
• Benet III
• Dromini VI
• Galedon V
• Misery
• New Mendham
• Quentin IV

Featured BattleTech

BattleMechs

• Archer
• Atlas (mentioned)
• Awesome
• BattleMaster
• Catapult
• Centurion
• Commando
• Crusader; also, CRD-3L
• Cyclops
• Dragon
• Enforcer
• Grasshopper
• Griffin
• Javelin
• Jenner
• Locust
• Marauder
• Ostroc
• Ostscout
• Ostsol
• Panther
• Phoenix Hawk
• Rifleman
• Scorpion
• Shadow Hawk
• Stalker
• Stinger
• Thunderbolt
• Valkyrie
• Vindicator
• Warhammer
• Whitworth
• Wolverine
• Zeus

Aerospace fighters

• Lucifer
• Sparrowhawk

Vehicles

• Harasser
• Mobile HQ
• Saracen
• Scimitar
• Striker

DropShips

• Fury
• Leopard
• Leopard CV
• Overlord (Chieftain)
• Union
• unspecified DropShips Starblade, Winter Dragon

JumpShips

• unspecified JumpShip Okomaru

Other

• Hephaestus Station

Notes

• The novel ranks very high on fan ratings and polls and is consistently named among the best BattleTech novels, if not the single best BattleTech novel published so far.
• The linked BattleCorps stories Feather Versus Mountain and Rise and Shine are tie-ins to the novel, providing what amounts to an extra chapter. They describe the fighting in the city of Cerant on An Ting that leads up to Jerry Akuma's death in more detail, and shed some light on what happened after the novel's prologue scene with a focus on the minor character of Chu-i Gibbs (whose first name was given as "Willard") and his relationship with Jerry Akuma.
• The BattleCorps novel Redemption Rift narrates how Wolf's Dragoons take up service with the Draconis Combine again in the Dark Age era to fight against the Federated Suns, a situation similar to the setup in Wolves on the Border a century earlier. The opening scene of Redemption Rift prominently involves an old piece of pottery crafted by Minobu Tetsuhara himself and the characters use it to remind themselves of the historical implications of the situation. (The first chapter of Wolves on the Border begins with Minobu Tetsuhara painting a vase, which may or may not be the same item.)
• The climactic epilogue scene at the wedding —Jaime Wolf throwing Tetsuhara's swords at Takashi Kurita's feet—already featured in the previous BattleTech novel, Warrior: Riposte, published five months earlier.
• Throughout the book, many scenes within Wolf's Dragoons are recognizable as Clan traditions. However, when the book was first published readers Would not be aware of this as the Clans were only introduced in a subsequent novel (Lethal Heritage) that was published six months later. It included the true original identity of Wolf's Dragoons as a scout and reconnaissance operation for the Clans as a big reveal at its end.
• The battle on Courasin that Samsonov tries to use as a pretext for assuming direct command of the Dragoon regiments is a reference to the "Spider Trap" scenario from the Tales of the Black Widow Company scenario pack (pp. 20-21; also in the BattleTech, 2nd Edition rulebook) where the Black Widow Company faces off against the 3rd Davion Guards and Lindon's Company on Remis III, aka "Coursadin".

Covers

• 

  Original 1989 cover.
  Art by Jim Nelson.

• 

  1996 reprint.
  Art by Peter Peebles.

• 

  2002 German translation. Art by Jim Nelson.