Debauchery Worlds 18 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Southmonk

Debauchery Worlds

Chapter 18

-VB-

Alan Marris

2981.02.07

David II

Our first operation in Falmart was wrapping up. We needed to consolidate our gains and survey the lands we conquered, which would take some time even with our technology and tinkertech.

For us, it just meant that we could refocus our operations here in the Inner Sphere.

More specifically, we were running into manufacturing problems. Mainly, we were rapidly running up to the limits of our manufacturing capacity where we only needed to rely on ourselves and a few of the Falmart refugees that we’ve trained and could reasonably assure the loyalties of for critical areas.

Oh, we had hired locals for non-critical areas, of course, like workers in the transportation of raw germanium and lesser components we were making more because the AFFS, our employer, wanted to buy them. That part of our manufacturing chain did just fine and brought us nice spending cash. We mainly used that spending cash to get our hands on AFFS’s old battlemechs that we didn’t have examples of.

For example, just last month, AFFS sold three Longbow, a Night Hawk (a rare acquisition, we’ve been told, because the last factory that made them got destroyed half a century ago), and half a dozen more to us. It was very interesting to reverse-engineer all of those mechs. While we would need a few more samples of the Night Hawk to fully replicate it at our factory, we felt confident that we could reproduce the Longbow. With our technology, however, we could make the Longbow what it never could be: an artillerymech.

Specifically, we will replace both of its LRM-20s that LGB-3C’s came with and put in an artillery of our own making. Where LRMs had a maximum range of 1,000 meters, our missile system would have a minimum range of 2,000 meters. Normally, this would not be possible because artillery pieces were heavy fucking things. The smallest conventional artillery piece that the Inner Sphere militaries used were the Thumpers, which weighed 15 tons before ammunition.

The Longbow, on the other hand, weighed 85 tons after twenty-two single heat sinks, 2 LRM-20’s, 2 LRM-5’s, 2 Medium Lasers, twelve-ish tons of armor, and the mech itself. While the Longbow can certainly fit something close to a Thumper, it would have to sacrifice all of its LRMs to fit 2 Thumpers… that it wasn’t designed for. But the Thumper was a subpar artillery piece that could barely hit 5 kilometers with rocket-assisted projectiles.

That’s why we made our own.

And by “we made our own,” we meant that we took the artillery blueprints from late 20th-century artilleries (namely the M198 Howitzer), changed the material of the artillery piece itself to take advantage of some technological advances that were common in Inner Sphere that wasn’t on 21st-Century Earth that we took the blueprint from, and incorporated an auto-feeding system.

The end result?

The Thompson Piece (TMP-a), a 5-ton LRM-fitting compatible with a maximum range of 40 kilometers and an optimal range of 27.7 kilometers. With rocket-assisted projectiles instead of standard projectile shells, it could hit targets as far as 48.2 kilometers with decent precision and accuracy. Its 8 RPM was double that of its original base M198 Howitzer, and didn’t need a human crew to rack spent shells and feed fresh shells thanks to its auto-feed system.

And that was the non-tinkertech upgraded version.

The tinkertech variant we didn’t intend to sell to anyone, the TMP-TTb, was a 5-ton LRM-fitting compatible battlemech artillery equipment with a maximum range of 50 kilometers and an optimal range of 35.2 kilometers with standard projectiles and almost 60 kilometers maximum range with a RAP.

This allowed us to further optimize the Longbow with more tonnage to spare for our non-tinkertech. The first thing we did was add another fusion engine solely for the operation of its legs. This made the mech bulkier than before but gave it a boost in speed, bringing it up from its 55 kph to almost 70 kph, which was a ridiculous speed for an assault mech. In fact, it was probably the fastest assault mech. We also did this without sacrificing armor and weapons because the extra 225 fusion engine we added weighed ten tons, which was almost exactly how much lighter a TMP-a was compared to a normal LRM-20. Even with the extra 225 fusion engine, a Longbow equipped with 4 TMP-a’s would have 4 tons left to spare, which could be used for more armor or ammo.

The end result was an assault mech that could outrange any mech on the market, outrun all assault mechs, heavy mechs, and even some medium mechs, and possessed armor rating on par with the other front-line heavy and assault mechs.

In short, it was a monster. Worse, it was a monster that no one would see it coming until they started getting shelled from beyond reach.

-VB-

Clone 6A2

2981.02.12

General Jamakawa stood next to us as we performed our second field test of the TMP-a equipped Longbow (“LGB-9T”) on David II (the first test occurred on an uninhabited version of Earth). There were also many more AFFS officers from the 41st Avalon Hussars and a few officers and civilians from other regiments and departments who had trickled in over time.

“Alright,” I spoke into the radio. “We are now testing out the quad-Thompson guns on our Longbow. Aim for target 2 at 30 click and fire.”

The white and red painted Longbow angled its artillery tubes down, adjusted with minute micromovements, and then fired all four of its TMP-a’s. The shockwave of four artillery pieces firing in so close proximity to each other amplified their shock wave and the arid dirt ground beneath the Longbow threw up almost a meter-high dust cloud.

Our clothes fluttered with the leftover energy in the winds and our eyes looked to the screens showing the targets at 30-kilometer mark.

After what felt like a minute, target 2 got three direct strikes and one near-miss.

Someone whistled.

But the testing wasn’t over yet.

“Aim for target … 4 at 40 click and fire.”

Our clone piloting the LGB-9T adjusted the angle again and then fired.

We watched the screen again, and after a minute and ten seconds, target 4 at 40-kilometer mark lit up with … two direct hits, one near-miss, and one miss.

“Aim for target 1 at 50 click and fire.”

We waited a minute and half and then saw explosions ripping around target 1. One near-miss and three misses.

“And that is the demonstration for the TMP-a battlemech artillery pieces. At 200,000 C-Bills per module. It can use any of the standard artillery ammunition normal artillery pieces and support tanks can use. With this kind of logistical flexibility, it should not be hard to supply any TMP-a equipped battlemechs with their ammunition. What are your thoughts, ladies and gentlemen?” I asked the audience of fifteen people.

---

General Jamakawa

“What is the minimum range for this Thompson gun?” she asked curtly.

“The minimum range with any sort of effectiveness is one point five kilometers,” we replied. “It should be noted that while the TMP-a’s can be fired horizontally and even angled further down, the recoil may cause serious structural strain after more than four shots in under a minute.”

“I see,” she hummed as someone else spoke up. It was an elderly man with sunglasses and a business suit, though a lack of house or corporate insignia or sigil left him a mystery to her.

That was until he spoke.

“While I find the capabilities displayed so far to be very interesting, how well does it stand up to the test of time?”

Her jaw almost dropped before she quickly reasserted her discipline and kept herself from screaming the man’s name at the top of her lungs.

Because how else was she supposed to react to her liege lord Andrew Davion’s presence on a dangerous border world?!

“That is a very good question, sir…?”

“Joseph Davion. A very distant cousin of our First Prince.”

The Marris soldier nodded. “It is a good thing that we prepared for that exact question because we have noticed that sometimes the hardiness of the equipment is more important than its capabilities. DD5 and DD9, please walk up to the stage.”

She looked around and saw two mechs walking out from the dropship that also dropped off the Longbow and raised her eyebrow at what she was seeing. It was one of the Grasshoppers the Marrisians bought as well as another Longbow.

“Normally, an artillery mech like our versions of the Longbow aren’t supposed to be close to where an LRM can strike them, never mind other mechs,” he began. “However, things can change and battlefields are not always what we choose. Sometimes, the enemy an flank us and strike at our rear and supply lines. For that reason, we will be performing live testing of the durability of the Thompson gun’s durability by allowing the Grasshopper to deliver an alpha strike aimed at the guns. This will be followed by the Grasshopper scooping up dirt all around us and shoving it down the barrel of the Thompson gun as well as dumping it on top of it.”

The latter portion of the test sounded excessive considering that most mechs would not have dirt on them unless they fell over in the middle of a skirmish.

They watched as the Grasshopper and two Longbows walked further away from the spectators… and the Grasshopper unleashed a devastating laser alpha strike on the first Longbow’s right center Thompson gun except with its LRM. Then it repeated this with all of the Thompson guns on both of the Longbows.

Finally, it scooped up dirt and liberally shoved it down the barrels and on top of the mechs.

“That’s not going to fire after that,” someone muttered behind her, and she was half tempted to agree if she didn’t have first hand experience of the BULLSHIT these mercenaries liked to pull out of their ass.

“Fire when you are ready at target 2 and 3 at 30 clicks,” the mercenary salesman dismissively ordered.

And the earth shook as all eight Thompson guns fired. And again. And again.

For five minutes straight, they fired nonstop and then finally ceased.

“Is there a problem?” the same person who had been skeptical of the mercenaries asked.

“Ah, no. We just ran out of the preloaded ammunition. See, we only had two tons of ammunition put on each of the Longbows.”

“Is that the maximum capacity for ammunition?” she asked immediately.

The helmet and visor covered mercenary minutely reared back as if he had been struck. “Of course not! With the base reduction from 22 tons to 20 tons, two tons are the extra ammunition you could fit onto these bad boys!”

‘Which also meant that the Marrisians will have these Longbows as well, no doubt with their own special bullshit modifications that will make these Longbows look pathetically lame in comparison,’ she thought with a mental grimace.

“And how many can you produce in a month?” “Joseph” asked with a hum.

“We have already made thirty in the past two weeks because we were going to use them ourselves if no one bought them,” the mercenary salesman replied with a very dense airhead energy.

“Thirty in the past two weeks alone?” she muttered and heard murmurs break out all around her. That was a very decent production speed. “What about your other components?” she asked out loud.

“They are being produced at the same rate as before, general. You don’t need to worry about our sale of ammunition and dropships falling off in favor of these guns.”

“... When did you expand your factory again?” she asked incredulously.

“Ah. Did we not mention?”

“No.”

“We doubled in size.”

She threw her hands up into the air. “I want a hundred of those!” she snapped out irritably.

“Of course~!”

---

Andrew Davion

Back in 41st Avalon Hussar’s base of operation just outside the capital city of David II, he sipped from his paper cup of coffee as he sat across from General Rachael Jamakawa in her office.

“Reports from the MIIO and DMI don’t do these mercenaries justice,” he hummed.

“No, I suppose they don’t, my prince,” she sighed. “It’s hard to grasp just how overwhelmingly advanced and fast these mercenaries are at churning out modified and new technology, Prince Davion. Never mind their impossible tech.”

“Yes, those,” he grunted out. “Have you been able to acquire more samples of them?”

“I have, sir, and have been sending them to Avalon regularly for the past six months.”

“Good. And did you manage to lure any of the mercenaries from their company?”

She shook her head. “None took the bite, and I am wary about pushing the issue any further than I have so far.”

“You don’t have to,” Andrew replied. “I won’t kill the Golden Goose like Hohiro. You don’t need to worry about that.” He paused. “But I think it’s about time we use them to push into the Dracs.”

“... It might been a proliferation of the Marrisian technology, never mind the mercenaries themselves.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “They settled down here. That’s clear enough for me to see. All I would be offering them would be a way to expand the security of the David System. Say, do you think Prosperina will be a good target?”

“Prosperina, sir? That’s a prefecture capital with the Ninth Benjamin Regulars.”

“Exactly. It’s a medium-sized battlemech regiment. It should be a good enough of a test to see how the Marrisians do outside of their home field, don’t you think?”

“Still, sir, facing a regiment in their own home turf when the Marrisians don’t have more than four companies of mechs, most of which are actually mechs they bought and stripped down…?”

“Exactly. Which is why this will be a proper invasion. I am giving you, General Rachael Jamakawa, an order to invade Proserpina IV with the one of the two regiments you currently have in your command if you can manage to coax Marris into taking part in the invasion. The purpose of the invasion is to capture the planet if you can, and if not, to destroy the factories on that world.”

-VB-

Plan: Federated Suns Invasion of Prosperina IV 2981

Federated Suns

General Rachael Jamakawa

*41st Avalon Hussars (80% Combat Readiness) Battlemech Regiment

-723rd Robinson Armored Batalion

-111st Robinson Battlemech Battalion

-30th Elbar Cavalry Battalion

-1020th Avalon Engineer Battalion

Captain(?) Alan Marris of the Marris Mercenary Company

-1st Marris Battalion (100% Combat Readiness) Mixed Battalion

--1st Marris Mech Lance

--2nd Marris Mech Lance

--1st Marris Support Company

--1st Marris AFS Company

Draconis Combine

Tai-sho(general) Adam Husamoto

*9th Benjamin Regulars Battlemech Regiment

-First Battalion

-Second Battalion

-Third Battalion

-9th Benjamin Regulars Armor

-Tears of Prosperina (AFS)

-VB-

A/N 1: When I was initially writing the chapter, I confused Longbow with Bowman. That took a while to fix and I would’ve missed it if I didn’t look up both of those mechs for references.

A/N 2: and we finally see the Marrisians back in action in the Inner Sphere: in the engineering room and in the field.

A/N 3: most of those battalion and company names are made up except for the 9th Benjamin Regulars. Those 5 battalions are the actual future names listed on sarna. Since I ain’t getting a Field Manual, I’ll just have to believe what sarna says about 9th Regular’s unimaginative battalion names.

A/N 4: Only the Marrisian battalion broken down to show you what the Marrisians are fielding as their “battalion”