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Decision at Acamar

From BattleIntelligence
Decision at Acamar
Short story by Kevin Killiany
Publication
Published20 January 2005
PublisherBattleCorps
illustrator(s)Chris Lewis
Matthew Plog
Pages43
Chronology
EraCivil War era
Timeline2 October 3066 — 14 October 3066
Series
Chaos Irregulars series
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— 		  File:Arrright.svg 
Crossroads at Outreach

{{#set:Era=Civil War era}}{{#set:Start date=2 October 3066}}{{#set:End date=14 October 3066}}

Decision at Acamar is a short story by Kevin Killiany that was first published online on BattleCorps. It is the first story of the Chaos Irregulars series and introduced the Chaos Irregulars mercenary unit. The story was later republished in the BattleCorps anthology Chaos Born in 2013.

This was a BattleCorps experiment by which subscribers to the site could vote on the next course of action for the protagonist unit; following the second story (Crossroads at Outreach), three choices how to proceed were usually presented and the next story would be penned based on the outcome of the vote.

Teaser Text

“ Kevin Killiany brings us the first story in what will become the "Choose the Story Path" series. Starting next month with the second part of the story, you the BattleCorps members, get to choose what contracts that are taken, and what decisions are made. You get to decide whether the heroes survive their coming trials. Guide their path with each story to a destiny of glory or of infamy! ”

Plot Summary

In 3066, the Chaos March world of Acamar boasts a strong defense force on paper. However, the central government is relatively weak, to the point where the militia has hired Peregrine's Hussars as support. The bulk of the planet's military might rests with the small mercenary units hired by the local families running the largest companies.

When Olson's Rangers, mercenaries in the employ of the Capellan Confederation, attack the planet in October 3066 the militia and Peregrine's Hussars are shocked to discover that the mercenary units under private contract refuse to follow the government's orders. They anxiously stick to their objectives instead, allowing the attackers to defeat them piecemeal. One unit, the Rebel Raiders (protecting the Brynd Industrial Complex), even allowed Peregrine Hussars' Able Company to be wiped out within sight without supporting them only to get some more time to better prepare for the Olson's Rangers. The subsequent onslaught destroyed the Rebel Raiders regardless, leaving no survivors.

Sorensen's Strikers were hired by Landon Industries to protect their sprawling refinery complex in the Marsa Mountains. Having lost contact with Force Commander Sorenson after Able Company had apparently been destroyed in a trap, Captain Obadiah "Jake" Jacoam assumes command and orders the unit's remaining conventional forces to retreat to the Landon Agrodome, secure all weapons, and surrender immediately if confronted by enemy forces.

Ariel Peregrine leads the Peregrine Hussars' Baker Company to the foothills, hoping to link up with other militia forces at the capital city of Kalskag. They are attacked by Olson's Rangers in a strange purple smoke that somehow interferes with their sensors, but during the battle a lone Mongoose (piloted by Reema Chowla of Sorensen's Strikers) unexpectedly appears. Her sensors seem unimpaired, and she directs the Hussars to repulse the attack and meet up with the remains of Sorensen's Strikers. Together, they figure out that the purple smoke blinding their sensors works is radioactive metallic dust that clings to 'Mech sensors through static, but can easily be neutralized with this knowledge. The joint Hussars/Strikers force moves to relieve Kalskag, but they only arrive in time to see the DropShips of Cunningham's Commandos arrive, dispatched from Zurich to save Acamar.

The Commandos send Peregrine's Hussars and Sorensen's Strikers back to Outreach on a captured Rangers DropShip. The overall poor performance of the defending mercenaries on Acamar and the losses incurred by their units prompt Peregrine and Jacoam to agree to join forces and form a new unit with shared command, to be named the Chaos Irregulars.

BattleMechs

Conventional Fighters

DropShips

Notes

  • In his foreword to the Chaos Formed Epub book author Kevin Killiany writes that he consciously named the first Chaos Irregulars story Decision at Acamar as a homage to the first BattleTech novel, Decision at Thunder Rift, and that the last Chaos Irregulars story, Endgame at Engadine, was named after the last BattleTech novel in the initial classic novel line, Endgame.
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