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A Distant Thunder

From BattleIntelligence
A Distant Thunder
Short story (2 parts) by Phaedra M. Weldon
Publication
Published16 November 2005 (Part 1)
21 February 2006 (Part 2)
PublisherBattleCorps
illustrator(s)Brad McDevitt
Pages26 (Part 1)
18 (Part 2)
44 (Total)
Chronology
EraCivil War era
Timeline15 November 3067

{{#set:Era=Civil War era}}{{#set:Start date=15 November 3067}}{{#set:End date=15 November 3067}}

A Distant Thunder (subtitle: Beware the Ides of November) is a short story in two parts by Phaedra M. Weldon that was first published online on BattleCorps on 16 November 2005 and 21 February 2006. Both parts were republished in print in the third BattleCorps anthology Weapons Free in 2012.

The story ends abruptly on a cliffhanger but has not yet been continued, making it an unfinished work.

Plot Summary

Part 1

published on: 16 November 2005
“ "Leave it to an ex-Wobbie to find an old Star League Atlas buried in a supposedly haunted Castile graveyard." ”

On Córdoba, a world contested between the Castilians and the Umayyad Caliphate, the small mercenary unit Langford Wraiths under Major Dags Honor is stranded because of a technical problem with their DropShip's computer. Looking for a solution, they obtain permission to search a scrapyard and in fact find the required files in the derelict head of an Atlas. Suddenly, they are attacked by Castilian forces who in turn are driven off by an assault 'Mech company from the nearby Umayyad capital city of Riyadh. The Umayyad commander then delivers a rather compelling "invitation" from Caliph Lise Burrill, who coerces the Wraiths into working for her: Burrill's daughter Nicole is presumed to have been kidnapped, along with the theft of a Black Box—a top-secret and absolutely vital piece of communications equipment for the Umayyad intelligence apparatus, keyed to be usable only by Burrill's daughter. Underscoring the precarious nature of their mission, the Langford Wraiths are informed about the Riesige Götter, a faction somehow involved who are allegedly able to devastate entire planets.

Part 2

published on: 21 February 2006
“ “You will find my daughter and bring me back my schwarzer Kasten, or I will have your ship and your 'Mechs, and you and your crew will spend the rest of your lives in the tithing mines, paying tribute to the false gods of the Nueva Castile.” ”

The Langford Wraiths are shown video footage from a DropShip descending on what was a colony world not far from Valencia hosting five million people, but now a cratered wasteland unable to sustain life. Then the DropShip itself was destroyed by something from offscreen; their JumpShip was allowed to leave with the footage after being warned off by the Riesige Götter.

Investigating other leads, Dags Honor and his unit uncover that the men guarding the Black Box have conspired against the Caliph. The situation devolves into a fight within the bunker, where Dags Honor is injured by a scimitar with a poisoned blade.

BattleMechs

DropShips

Other 'Tech

Notes

  • Throughout the story the planet Granada is commonly misspelled as Grenada and the Riesige Götter as Riesiege Götter.
  • The extent of damage done to the colony planet in combination with the story's time and place strongly implies that the Riesige Götter is in fact the WoBS Erinyes, a custom-modified Newgrange III-class yardship WarShip outfitted with a Heavy Mass Driver, a super-sized "planet-killer" weapon capable of hurling asteroids at planets at almost relativistic speeds.
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