Collection 71 (Patreon)

Collection

Chapter 71

-VB-

Chu-i Ronald Kim

Camlann, Lyran Commonwealth

3008 January 6th

Ron ran his hands over his short blonde hair. 

It was still hard to believe that he had all of those cybernetics installed in him and he remained … still him. The horror stories about post-service recovery usually involved bulky and poor quality prosthetics for the common soldiers. 

But here he was, looking mostly like himself.

There were a few things here and there on the surface that did change, like the sharp lines that now ran down from his eyes to his jaws like tattoos. But the most prominent change had been his physique. 

He was bulky.

Sure, he was big before - and, actually, that had been why his superiors had nominated him for the secret project that changed him - but he was bigger now. Much bigger and heavier. All of it came from additional cybernetics - “cyberware” or “augmentations” as the doctors called it - that replaced some of his flesh while others added to it. 

He’s been told where the ‘ware came from. 

The Arlaoskas Union, the seller of GM Kais that has been rampaging across the Davion border.

He supposed that he was told that because the scientists and samurais didn’t trust it. 

After all, he wasn’t a mechwarrior.

No.

He was a “filthy” “peasant” infantry, not even special ops like the ISF. 

Worse, he started his career in the military as a conscript. The fact that he made it to chu-i was a miracle in and of itself. 

‘But this may very well be where it ends,’ he thought as he waited around for the dropship to burn through the atmosphere. 

The mission was a simple conquest. He and others like him had been attached to the Fourth Arkab Legion, 2nd Benjamin Regulars, and the 4th Benjamin Regulars - three reinforced regiments in total - came down with the express intent to conquer Camlann from the Lyran Commonwealth.

He had been told that the defenders were the 8th Donegal Guards and a battalion-sized mercenary company. There were also two militia regiments, but those were after thoughts at best. Against the three reinforced DCMS mech regiments this world wasn’t supposed to last. 

But.

He was here not as a mechwarrior but a “cyborg.” His job was to take on the defender’s non-mech regiments along with the rest of his “cyborg” unit and two battalions of the DCMS infantry that came along with the storied regulars. It wasn’t just cyberware that was given to him but also the power armor he now wore. 

His job was to show that the investment the Coordinator put into him and his fellow cyborgs had not been wasted and that they were wise to have invested in him.

Failure was never an option, of course, but if he failed to show progress here, then it would be as if the Draconis Combine itself had failed, not just him on a personal level.

And that was unacceptable. Of course. 

So here he was.

To do or die. 

“Landing in ten!” 

The shuttle jolted from turbulence. They all stood up and made their final checks.

“Landing in five!” 

They got ready.

The entire shuttle shook and rumbled as it landed almost too violently.

The metal door slid open with a slam, and they rushed out. 

---

Leutnant Daniel Wilmarth

Of all the times that the goddamn DCMS had to invade, it had to be one month before he was supposed to ship out.

The briefing he received on enemy forces had been thorough: the DCMS was here to not only conquer this world but to test out the equipment they bought from the Arlaoskas Union. Unlike the rest of the Inner Sphere, the Lyran Commonwealth had been barred from purchasing any military equipment from the Union because of the actions of Archon Alessandro Steiner. 

It was only in December, just last month, that Katrina Steiner, the archon’s once-heir, returned from wherever she had been to take up the mantle of Archon after Alessandro Steiner had willingly abdicated.

But everyone fucking knew that he had not left the throne willingly. The press made sure of how the Estates General rose up in revolt against him and put Katrina Steiner up front to replace him after the disaster that had been his reign.

As a Wilmarth, he should have gone back home to Caledonia to coordinate with his family so that they could get their hands on Union equipment. 

Because the Union’s ban on Lyran purchases had been, strictly speaking, for “only as long Alessandro Steiner remained the Archon.” With his removal, they were finally able to reach out.

But no.

He was stuck here because the DCMS attacked. 

The briefing told him that they didn’t know what exactly the DCMS bought from the Union, but that it might be along the lines of those “Metalmarks” appearing along the League border or the “GM Kai” used by the Federated Suns. 

Whatever the case ended up being, he was not going to have a good time. 

He and his mech, Banshee Assault Mech, along with his lance was with the militia guarding the spaceport while the rest of the 8th held the edge of the city. 

And just four hours ago, the DCMS had landed and the battle was fierce. 

Just … none of it reached him so far. 

He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. 

Sometimes, just because a battle happened didn’t mean that he would see the battle himself. A regiment had to cover multiple areas, after all, and sometimes, one or two areas simply wasn’t attacked before the attackers retreated. 

But considering the number of dropships that came down, he fully expected to see battle today, if not within a few days. 

“Leutnant, contact 4 o’ clock,” his subordinate, Warrant Officer Chen, spoke up.

Daniel turned his Banshee around and looked. 

And he saw it. 

His eyes widened as he quickly realized what he was looking at. 

Ten armored infantry were charging up toward them at speeds assault mechs would find hard to match. 

“Ten power armored infantry,” he broadcasted to his lance. It had been one of the equipment that the Union sold, and Daniel had memorized the entire catalog ever since he learned that an individual could purchase mechs from the Union with no wait time. There were mechs there that he really wanted to have.

If he remembered their specs correctly…

A single one of those power armors was equivalent to an ultralight mech.

“Engage immediately. Do not let them get close.”

He opened fire immediately with his PPC.

And then he watched something happen.

The fucking power armored infantry teleported.

… No, they weren’t teleporting. They’d moved so fast in an instant that they looked like they teleported. 

He watched even as he tried to turn his mech’s torso around as quickly as possible as those DCMS spec ops - they had to be spec ops - bumrushed barricades set up by the militia armored and infantry.

They didn’t even bother to shoot with their giant guns. They just punched and Daniel watched in horror as an unfortunate infantryman disintegrated into red mist. 

And then -.

“Leutnant, they’re on me!” 

He whirled around and saw that while he had been focused on the lead squadron, the rear five power armored spec ops had split off and literally jumped on his lancemate’s Griffin.

One of them grabbed the left knee joint with his hands and tore.

Another blasted the reinforced cockpit window with his shotgun, shattering the glass but not penetrating through it. 

And the last one that caught his eyes slapped something on the back of the mech.

“Corporal, eject now!” he roared over the comms. 

Too late. 

The power armored spec ops jumped off and whatever bomb that had been attached to the back of the Griffin went off.

The explosion blinded Daniel for a second but not long enough for him to see those same five power armored infantry rushing him.

“Shit.”

That’s when Chen came to the rescue. 

He rushed in, skidding and breaking up the asphalt road, in his Firestarter and began to spew his Flamers everywhere. 

Daniel let out a sigh of relief-.

Before something punched through the fires right into the Warrant Officer’s cockpit.

“CHEN!” 

The Firestarter jolted… and then fell backward.

And those power armored spec ops ran out of the fires. 

No.

Only four walked out.

He decided to stop thinking about it. 

He aimed his AC/5 and fired… where he expected them to be.

But they blitzed forward again like they were teleporting and then they were by the Banshee’s feet. 

They jumped and climbed.

And then one of them was looking directly at him after latching onto his cockpit window. 

The power armored soldier pulled his fist back -.

Daniel didn’t give him the chance.

He pressed eject. Instantly, he blasted off, but the power armored soldier was still hanging onto the cockpit glass! 

Then he punched the glass in.

Daniel screamed as glass shards splattered all over him. The cockpit tumbled in the air and -.

Everything came to a sudden halt too quickly. 

He hit his head and -.

Darkness.

But as everything faded to black, he saw the Combine soldier pull out his gun, unbothered by the crash landing, and pointed it at his face. 

-VB-

On 3008 January 6th, the Draconis Combine launched an invasion of Camlann. This invasion was a part of a large scale operation that saw the Draconis Combine attacking multiple worlds across their border with the Lyrans in a bid to conquer as many worlds in as little time as possible. It happened mere days after the Arlaoskas Union gave the Lyran Commonwealth the greenlight to purchase their equipment. 

Perhaps it was the fear of losing the edge they held or part of a planned assault, but many equipment used by the DCMS mechwarriors and soldiers in these invasions, including that of Camlann, were of Union-make.

The most striking of these was the use of cybernetically augmented power armored soldiers, named ONI by the Combine and called Smashers by the Lyrans. These soldiers, costing the Combine no more than half a million per soldier, proved their effectiveness when just two companies overwhelmed two militia regiments plus a lance of veteran mechwarriors defending the Camlann’s main spaceport. 

As the pioneer in adopting Union cybernetic technology, the Draconis Combine learned three main advantages and two disadvantages of using Union cyberware. 

First off, Union cyberwares were cheap, effective, and powerful. Any other prosthetic and cybernetics produced in the Combine and any other non-Union state were more expensive, less effective, and weaker. A good example of this was Basic Tiroshi Optics. Basic Tiroshi Optics cost 17,000 Ryo, provided 20/20 vision, possessed a zoom function, and worked on the same level as a biological eye. Installing a Basic TO also barely cost 20,000 Ryo with a licensed operator. And so, for 37,000 Ryo, one can get a brand new Basic Tiroshi Optics. 

And get nothing for a local Combine cybernetic for the same price. The cheapest optical cybernetic implant made by a local company costs close to 50,000 Ryo, and it would not have a zoom function, would not have a 20/20 vision, and cost nearly thrice the cost of the implant for the surgical operation. 

This became a two-fold disadvantage as well for the Combine. Because Union equipment and products proved to be too effective and powerful, burgeoning Combine industries could not hope to compete and began to fall one by one. By the end of the Third Succession War, the Combine would become hopelessly dependent on Union military exports, especially for high end goods like Combine-specific GM Ronin, GM Hanzo, and “Shogun” Full Cybernetic Conversion. This became the second disadvantage: a reliance on trade with an Inner Sphere state on the other side of the Inner Sphere, especially since the Union refused to set up factories for its goods outside of the Union and, more specifically, its fortress factory stations. 

And what was the Lyran response to these invasions by Union military equipment loaded Combine? 

They also began to buy Union products in bulk. As the richest of the five Great Houses, they held an advantage in this regard, and using their wealth, they favored a very specific set of products that none of the other Great Houses have yet to invest in.

And that was the product of the “Harrison Armories.”