Decision at Thunder Rift

The Mech jumped, vaulting skyward with magical grace on flaring jets of superheated mercury steam. Grayson saw it twist in midair, swinging its laser down to align on the group of soldiers and vehicles in the street. When the blast hit, Grayson was caught in it. Blue fire seemed to fill the air, as the laser beam hosed across the bricks of the building wall behind him a meter above his head. Bricks splintered as the trace of water within them vaporized. Hot shards rained on Grayson's bare neck, and the beam swept on, slicing into the hovering GEV. The explosion blotted out the sky.

BATTLETECH

08601

DECISION AT THUNDER RIFT

William H. Keith, Jr.

This book is published by FASA Corporation

P.O. Box 6930

Chicago, IL 60680

Cover Art by : Jim Holloway

Illustrations by: David Deitrick

                        Duane Loose

                        The FASA gang

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Copyright © 1986 by FASA Corporation.

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America.

BATTLETECH is a Trademark of FASA Corporation.

Trellwan

NSC L 4-342.

782 Star: Trell

Type: M2

Mass: 0.33 Sol

Luminosity: 0.03 Sol

Radius: 0.36 Sol

Estimated time remaining on main sequence: 4.2 x 10 10years

Planetary System: 5 major bodies

Planet I: Trellwan

Mean orbital radius: 0.73 A.U.

Orbital eccentricity: 0.056

Periasteron: 0.164 A.U.

Apasteron: 0.182 A.U.

Period: 45.8 days

Mass: 0.68 Earth

Equatorial diameter: 11,352 km (0.89 Earth)

Mean planetary density: 5.28 g/cm3 (.96 Earth)

Mean surface gravity: 0.86 G

Escape velocity: 9.6 kps

Rotational period: 30d 11h 59m 12s (2/3 planetary year)

Axial inclination: 2° 15' 23.2"

Atmosphere: N 2-75%, O 2- 23.2%, H 2O (mean) - 0.4%, CO 2- 312ppm

Pressure: 512 mm Hg at sea level

Temperature range: -80° C. (night at Apasteron) to 40° (midday at Periasteron)

Geology: Two small, landlocked equatorial seas total 9 percent of the planetary surface area. Remaining surface is divided into rugged mountains and uplands, and vast, arid desert lowlands. Tidal stresses account for the high mountain ranges along the equator, as well as for continuing volcanism and seismic activity.

Ecology: A few of the wide variety of native plants and animals adapted to Trellwan's dry, extreme-temperature surface conditions have been catalogued. Various offworld flora and fauna have been introduced at several equatorial locations by human colonies established in approximately 2616.

Notes: Trellwan's ecology is dominated by its short orbital period and relatively long rotational period. The planet has escaped the fate of many i

The long periods of alternating darkness and light, coupled with short and climactically severe seasons, pose a serious challenge both for native forms and for the human colonies located south of the Mountains near the Grimheld Sea.

There are three principal settlements. Of these, Sarghad is the major city, the center of world government and trade, and the site of the world's only spaceport.

The planetary government is a monarchy with an appointed, unicameral legislature. Trellwan has long been a firm ally of the Lyran Commonwealth.

—Excerpt from Pilot's Manual and Ephemeris,4th Quadrant, Cis-Peripheral Sector, Lyran Commonwealth,

20th edition, published 3015, Tharkad

PROLOGUE

Ten thousand years of organized warfare have culminated in that fabrication of arms and armor, mobility and strength called the BattleMech.

Standing ten to twelve meters tall, the typical 'Mech is vaguely humanoid, an armored giant of myth and legend come to life. The lightest weigh 20 tons, the heaviest 75 or more, and even the smallest 'Mech bristles with lasers, particle ca

Traditional military tactical thought holds that the best way to fight a 'Mech is to send in another 'Mech, preferably one bigger, stronger, and more heavily armored. When matched, the monster machines can pound away at one another for hours, each waiting for that one fatal mistake by his opponent. Each waiting for that inevitable, critical failure of nerve or machine, that instant's lapse in guard or tactics that will leave the way open for a fatal strike.

This same kind of military balance exists between the five major Houses of the Successor States of the early 31st century as they war among themselves for control of known space. On one side is the Capellan Confederation of House Liao, the Free Worlds League of House Marik, and the Draconis Combine of House Kurita. Against them stands the uneasy alliance of House Davion's Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth of House Steiner. Around these giants also swarm lesser houses, powers, alliances, merchants, fronts, and out-and-out bandits, whom the Successor Lords try to woo, bribe, or force to assist them when they can.

And yet, after centuries of warfare, no clear gains have been made by any single House, no fatal flaw uncovered. War continues, with the giants struggling among the ruins of what once had been a proud, galactic civilization. Like well-matched BattleMechs, the forces seemed too evenly balanced for any one to gain that vital, decisive edge.

But the powers behind the war understood a maxim of war as old as war itself. What ca

—Nicolai Aristobulus Terror's Balance: A History of the Succession Wars

BOOK 1

1

The traitor slid out from under the tangle of cables and hard-wired circuit boards, wiping grease-stained fingers across the front of his coveralls. The watch officer behind the console above him frowned. "Aren't you done in there yet?"