A Storm of Rain and Steel

A Storm of Rain and Steel
A Storm of Rain and Steel
Short story by Jason Hansa
Publication
Published	30 January 2010
Publisher	BattleCorps
Pages	39
Chronology
Era	Succession Wars era
Timeline	16 May 3029 — 19 May 3029
Series
	Operation Rat series
File:Arrleft.svg ; First Meeting on Second Try	File:Arrright.svg ; Timbiqui Dark

A Storm of Rain and Steel is a short story by Jason Hansa that was first published online on BattleCorps on 30 January 2010 as the fifth installment in the Operation Rat series, set in the Fourth Succession War.

Teaser Text

“

In our fifth Operation Rat story, Jason Hansa takes us to the conventioal battlefields of Menkib to show that although the BattleMech reigns supreme, it does not reign alone.

”

Plot Summary

Kommandant Jans Köhler of the Lyran Commonwealth's 6th Lyran Guards has been assigned to the Federated Suns' 5th Crucis Lancers as a liaison officer (implicitly an officer exchange program, part of the FedCom Alliance treaty) as the 5th are tasked with the conquest of Menkib. Köhler and AFFS Marshal Mathew Agerstand have a cordial relationship.

Watching Agerstand deal with the stronger-than-anticipated conventional resistance on Menkib is a learning experience for Köhler who, as a MechWarrior, finds that he is blissfully unaware of many details of conventional tank warfare.

Heavy Capellan Confederation tank forces have dug in on a ridgeline between the capital city of Menkib City and New Paris. Agerstand allows the home guard defenders to move out of the city to these positions, then seals off the city. As a result, the majority of the defending forces on-planet are surrounded in their dug-in positions. However, one home guard armor company was apparently moved from Three Forks to the medium-sized fishing town of Dulac, puzzling the attackers.

After two days, torrential downpours have mired the defenders' positions to the point where Agerstand, who everyone believed would send his 587th Heavy Armor Regiment, can overrun their essentially immobile heavy tanks with the nimble hovertanks of the 204th scout regiment.

It turns out the Capellans have loaded the missing tank company onto a sea freighter in Dulac, and have moved out towards New Paris under cover of the storm. With an enemy tank company now threatening their ammo and fuel depots and Agerstand's HQ behind their lines, Köhler is rushed back to New Paris in a VTOL and asked to contribute his Thunderbolt to the makeshift defense there. The AFFS forces carry the day, but Capellan elements succeed in shooting down the Ferret VTOL carrying Marshal Agerstand (and the escorting Warrior VTOL) with Inferno rockets just as the pivotal tank battle is won by the attackers.