Patriot's Stand
Sarna News
| |
| Patriot's Stand | |
|---|---|
| Product information | |
| Type | Novel |
| Author | Mike Moscoe |
| Pages | 304 |
| Cover Artwork | Ray Lundgren |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Roc Books |
| First published | 6 April 2004 |
| ISBN-10 | 0451459709 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0451459701 |
| Content | |
| Era | Dark Age era |
| Series | MechWarrior: Dark Age Novels |
| Preceded by | Fortress of Lies |
| Followed by | Flight of the Falcon |
Patriot's Stand, by Mike Moscoe, chronicles the attempted take-over of the planet Alkalurops.
Contents
From the back cover
| “ | Under assault and ill-equipped, Alkalurops has come apart since the loss of its communications grid and the inability of The Republic to reestablish it. But in a universe of powerful players, a leader has to grab power fast if she's going to survive...
Grace O'Malley's people are valiantly making a stand against Loren Hanson's Roughriders, a band of mercenaries destroying everything in their path. Badly outnumbered, her forces need real BattleMechs operated by trained MechWarriors. And they're not going to be easy to afford, especially since the big mine owners refuse to offer any funds for planetary defense. But Grace will not surrender her homeland, no matter what the price. Even though the ragtag locals are putting a surprising good fight, Hanson remains confidant he can defeat them. What he doesn't count on is an opponent determined to write her planet's history in the scorched wreckage of the battlefield... |
” |
Summary
Initial Raid
The planet of Alkalurops has been under attack from an unknown force for a week, ever since the capital of Allabad fell silent. The planetary net has been screaming that the unknown attackers have 'Mech's that have been stomping through houses, their tanks shooting up shops, and infantry hijacking 'Mechs. Whenever a town has been hit, they inexplicably fall silent on the net. Now the blackout of the net is making its way towards Grace O'Malley's hometown of Falkirk. She has been able to get the men of her town and the neighboring Navajo tribes to join her in the defense with the old planetary saying "Alkalurops takes care of itself." With a little help from Mick, the town mechanic, who was able to put some modifications on the IndustrialMechs which include putting multiple rifles on the arm of a 'Mech to create a makeshift Gatling Gun as well as welding on additional armor to help keep the pilot alive. With six of the town's modified IndustrialMechs and around a dozen men with gopher rifles, Grace sets up what she believes to be an adequate ambush location and waits for the raiders to spring the trap.
Captain Loren J. Hanson is both enjoying and anxious about his first field command. Being the great-grandson of Gerhardt Hansen, the man who the Hansen's Roughriders were named after, he worked his way up the command through sweat and hard work and wants to one day take command of a battalion. The Roughriders were hired by an unknown party to raid Alkalurops and take as many BattleMechs and as many newer looking IndustrialMechs with the contract holder claiming half of all that was ascertained. Though L.J. was not happy with this, due to him believing that it was not an honorable job for a mercenary to be a raider, he knew it was good for the Roughriders who would need the additional muscle due to the peaceful era before the Hyperpulse Generators were taken offline. While his detachment was moving towards the pick-up point to get off planet, his target-acquisition screen points out that the locals have tried to set up an ambush. Feeling like it was going to be a cakewalk as well as a chance to acquire more 'Mechs, he sends his men forward to scare the locals away.
The commander of the Condor tank speeds ahead of the rest of the force wanting to be the man of the hour. Unbeknownst to the raiders, the entire battleground is littered with deep wide holes which the Navajos dug and then covered up with tarps to make it look like the grass around them. The Condor tank finds one of these holes by being led by the Navajo fighters, the tarp flies away and the tank does a nosedive into the hole and becomes stuck. The locals see what has happened and it gives them hope that they may be able to defeat the raiders. Hanson on the other hand goes on a brutal attack to finish this fight. As he begins to close in with his Koshi to finish off Grace who has been peppering him with twenty millimeter slugs from her gun, another modified IndustrialMech comes out and uses its flamethrower to push Hanson back into a retreat. In the process of falling back to regroup, his 'Mech's leg falls into another hole and nearly separates itself from the rest of the 'Mech. At this point, the Spider, which is piloted by a subordinate of Hanson, has been able to make the local infantry and most of the modified 'Mechs run back towards the hill in a full retreat. Upon seeing this, Grace believes that it is only a matter of time until the Koshi comes in for the kill; however, L.J. commands his men to retreat and get to the pick-up point. The reason is that a nearby town has come to help out Grace and her men to repel the raiders. They have brought along twelve unmodified IndustrialMechs which was enough to persuade Hanson that it would be safer to cut his losses than push on with the attack.
Cleaning Up the Mess
Mercenaries for Hire
Prepping for Invasion
Owner Un-Masked
Life or Death
Alkalurops for Alkalurops
Featured characters
Featured worlds
Featured units
Featured BattleTech
'Mechs
- Atlas
- Black Hawk
- Centurion
- Jupiter
- Koshi
- Legionnaire
- Mackie
- Ryoken II
- Spider
- converted AgroMech
- converted LoaderMech
- converted MiningMech (Dark Age)
Combat Vehicles
- Condor
- Flatbed Truck
- Jeep
- unspecified command vehicle
- unspecified medical vehicle
- unspecified track vehicle
- unspecified repair vehicle
- unspecified hoverbikes
Battle Armor
Jumpships
- unspecified Jumpships
DropShips
- unspecified DropShips