Ginzburg, June 3051: There was only one thing I wanted for a present last Christmas; it was something that doesn't come in a box. I wanted some shiny new information. I wanted to know who the Clans were. I wanted to know why they had come here. I wanted to know where they got all those marvelous, deadly toys that they slap on their 'Mechs to kill our readers. I didn't get what I wanted for Christmas. I don't think any of us did. Last holiday season there were fewer to light the Chanukah candles, fewer to share the Kwanzefeast, fewer to dance the Midwinter circle, fewer around the Christmas tree. We've lost a lot of people. And many of those that survive are on planets taken by the Clans. Last December, we counted them all as lost. Since then, ComStar has reestablished communications with many of these planets. We know that our friends and relatives who survived the fighting are going on with their daily lives. We can't visit them, but we can exchange vids. Details of their daily lives do not seem to come under censorship laws, but we have to deduce the actual conditions they live under from the 'casual' mentions they make. And now Jaime Wolf has called a summit meeting. First the leaders of the Inner Sphere talked to him on Outreach in a series of meetings that lasted several months. They are still coming and going, leaving their heirs behind. (See 'Summit on Outreach' this issue). The hard data we're getting from that conference is my Christmas Present. I didn't want to know that they'll be coming back. Their intention is to reestablish the Star League, but on their terms. So they will be coming back. Whether they'll pick us off one House at a time, try to take back all of the old Star League territory in a steady progression, attack straight for capital and key planets, or go straight line to Terra, nobody knows. I did want to know how to fight them. Twycross and Wolcott have taught us that the Clans can be defeated. We are still evolving the tactics and the tech to do it consistently. And they do have factionalism. As we find out more about them, we may be able to play on their divisions as they have played on ours. To quote the Terran military historian Winston Churchill during a similar trying time, when he was prime minister of a nation under deadly attack by a technically superior enemy, "I cannot promise this is the beginning of the end. I will promise rather that this is the end of the beginning." We will never be so vulnerable to the Clans again. With that note of limited optimism, let me tell you what we have in store for you in this issue. The rules on dual-cockpit combat which had to be censored last issue can now appear. Staffer Marcus Killegrew had used an example from the planet Twycross, which was at the time an extremely sensitive military objective, a planet which we were taking back from the Clans. The Federated Commonwealth could only tell us that the article was censored; they couldn't even tell us why. The revised version is in this issue. We have a Cobalt Coil story about the wounds a warrior's spirit can take ... and be healed of. We have a first-person account about the fight for Kandis II, a gallant planet of the Free Rasalhague Republic now lost to the Clans. We have an example of the new designs which NAIS is coming up with to use against the Clans. At our readers' request, we have a new Hiring Hall. We hope you enjoy the issue. Incoming In our next Thrilling Issue of BattleTechnology... The Liao Protocol: What is life like now for a Capellan citizen? A Frontline Encounter with the Clans When the Clans Return What Now, MechWarrior? The tactical education series continues Tactics, analyses, new 'Mechs Don't Miss It! --Hilary Ayer, Thun, Free Republic of Rasalhague, June 3051 Back to BattleTechnology 17 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1992 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com