Ghost of Christmas Present

Ghost of Christmas Present
Product information
Type Short story
Author Michael A. Stackpole
Pages 14
Publication information
Publisher BattleCorps
First published 25 December 2004
Content
Era Succession Wars era
Timeline 25 December 3027

Ghost of Christmas Present is a short story by Michael A. Stackpole that was published online on BattleCorps on 25 December 2004. It was later also published in print in the first BattleCorps anthology, The Corps.

Teaser text[edit]

Everyone knows Nelson Geist from "Natural Selection." But before he was an aging warrior thrust into grand schemes, he was first a green cadet, thrust into a deadly situation. For Nelson's first run-in with a BattleMaster, some bad poetry, and a fun Christmas romp--BattleTech Style--enjoy Mike Stackpole's debut BattleCorps story.

Plot summary[edit]

Nagelring Cadet Nelson Geist has been assigned to Gregg's Long Striders who garrison the planet Ford after the Fourteenth Lyran Guards were temporarily assigned to Gienah for Operation GALAHAD 3027. With his family hundreds of lightyears away on Kooken's Pleasure Pit, Geist volunteered for three patrol watches in a borrowed Phoenix Hawk (complete with a tinsel garland around the inside of the cockpit windshield).

During patrol he comes across the pirate lance his tech calls "Anti-Nick and the Elves from Hell", which consists of deranged Anti-Nick (who speaks in rhymes over the radio) in a BattleMaster, a Jenner and two Locusts. The Jenner jumps in what appears to be an attempted Death from Above maneuver, but Geist shoots him down in mid-flight. As the Locusts head for the bank at Harrison (which recently became a Commonwealth depository), Geist fights a delaying battle with the BattleMaster until reinforcements can arrive. He manages to cause an avalanche that buries the assault 'Mech. Anti-Nick surrenders, ensuring that Geist can claim the BattleMaster for himself.

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