SABOTAGE
Sabotage is another specialty of the Nekekami, their targets anything from power grids to DropShips. In one incident, before a Kurita raid against the Davion-held world of Conroe, a team of Nekekami slipped through a garrison perimeter and disabled the leg actuators in several of the defenders' BattleMechs. The loss of several heavy 'Mechs in the next day's action resulted in heavy losses for the Davion outpost.
Sabotage equipment includes a variety of explosives and incendiaries. One incendiary device consists of a plastic tube containing two separate packets of chemicals which ignite when mixed together, causing an intense flame. The chemical packets are separated by a thin glass divider which breaks when the tube is flexed, allowing the chemicals to mix. A different mixture of chemicals results in asmall explosion which can be used as a distraction in combat. If a delay is desired, the glass divider is replaced by a plastic which can be slowly dissolved by acids, with the timing determined precisely by the thickness of the plastic and the strength of the acids.
Nekekami skill in sabotage has become legendary. Once during the routine maintenance of an atmospheric passenger aircraft used by the planetary government of the Federated Suns world of Talcott, maintenance techs made a startling discovery. Attached to the after end of the number 8 fuel tank, located in the tail of the aircraft, was a 6-kilo charge of C-96 plastic explosive . The charge was molded to look like part of the fuel tank, bowl-shaped over the end of the fuel tank to act as a shaped charge. The detonator consisted of a small radio receiver set to a very narrow band of VHF and setto deliver a current upon transmission of a coded pulse at the set frequency. The receiver was powered by a pair of rechargeable batteries hooked to a recharger module, which in turn was hooked up to the power leads for the tail navigation lights. Judging from the inaccessibility of that portion of the fuel tank, the Davion bomb disposal squad concluded that the charge had been placed there at least two years earlier, when the plane was being built. All that was required to set the charge off was a coded signal on the proper frequency.
If the fuel tank had been full at the time the signal was received, the aircraft would have been completely destroyed. Even with the tank empty, detonation of the fuel vapors remaining in the tank would have blown the tail off the plane. The only thing which led to the discovery of the bomb was the fact that the tail lights had developed a short circuit and the Techs were tracing the wires during a routine maintenance inspection.
It is suspected that their target was the Council President of Talcott, and that his assassination had been planned to coincide with his arrival at the opening of a new planetary defense fortress on Talcoft which had been set for March of 3024. The detonation of the aircraft carrying the president as it made its take-off over Talcott's capitol--or during its approach to the defense base runway--would have been an impressive warning against Davion militarism and military build-ups in the Talcott region.
Only the fact that the base still had not been opened by September of 3025--and the fact that routine maintenance and inspection was scheduled for that month, saved the president's life. The fiendishly clever nature of the bomb--designed in such a way that it could be detonated at any time of the assassins' choosing should the original target date be changed--had all the hallmarks of a Nekekami operation.
ESCAPE
When the Nekekami has completed his mission, it still remains for him to escape. At times this may mean nothing more than reversing his route into the objective. More often, the Nekekami must employ various, often elaborate, methods to evade his pursuers. Again, climbing ropes, jump packs, and other gear, often cached in secure hiding places by the agent or by confederates before the beginning of the mission, can be used. In order to discourage pursuit, a Nekekami might scatter a number of caltrop mines along his trail. These small antipersonnel mines are each about the size of a large coin. If stepped on, these mines will not kill but will certainly blow the foot off of anyone unfortunate enough to step on them.
Often, if the Nekekami knows pursuit is likely, he will set up booby traps along his escape route. These traps might consist of nothing more than a wire set across his route to trip his pursuers, slowing them for a critical few seconds. If a stronger deterrent is needed, a few caltrop mines might be placed beyond the wire in such a way that someone tripping over the wire would land on the mines. The fleeing Nekekami would know the position of these traps, of course, while his pursuers would not.
Another ploy is to set off a series of remote-controlled (or confederate-fired) explosions on the opposite side of the installation or base from the Nekekami's escape route. These explosions, sometimes coupled with anti-personnel splinter mines set to discharge their clouds of flechettes at the installation in simulation of an attack, can create tremendous confusion in a base or encampment, especially when the intruder alarm has just been sounded.
The Nekekami are trained to think, employing their opponent's own psychological weaknesses against them. A rock thrown above a sentry's head to clatter at his back can distract the sentry's attention for the split second necessary for the Spirit Cat to make his way across open ground. One Nekekami released a large, vicious dog in the barracks compound of an Outworld Alliance diplomat's estate. While the household guards were trying to catch the dog, the Nekekami agent penetrated the base and stole the transcripts of a particularly important and secret conference between that diplomat and a Davion agent.
CAPTURE AND DEATH
Perhaps nothing reveals the Nekekami philosophy more starkly than their attitudes towards capture and death--the two are frequently one and the same. Among the Spirit Cats, failure is understood to be a possible--even probable--end to any mission. All too often, failure means death.
A proverb common among the Nekekami families states, "He who takes the name Spirit Cat has in truth already taken the name of ghost." Once a Spirit Cat undergoes the final ceremonies elevating him to the place of a warrior, he becomes dead to his family. He is forbidden by long custom to ever see them again. For their part, his family builds a small shrine to the warrior's name in their home, revering him as the honored dead.
For Nekekami, the greatest disgrace is to be captured alive. With all of the modern means of extracting information from a prisoner--any prisoner--it is a foregone conclusion that eventually that prisoner can be made to talk. Most Nekekami will commit suicide as soon as it is apparent that they are about to be captured. Small amounts of fast-acting nerve poisons sewn into the sleeves or collars of their garments are a common way of achieving quick, painless, and honorable death. The very few Nekekami ever captured and subjected to interrogation were those so badly wounded they were unable to take their own lives. Of these, some appeared to will themselves into death once they realized they had been taken prisoner, apparently by using their incredible control of their own bodies to stop their own hearts.
Of course, in any mission involving a team of Nekekami where one is captured, the remaining Spirit Cats will go to almost any lengths to rescue their comrade before he can be made to talk. If the rescue fails, they will silence him forever as a last service to a beloved and honored brother.
More The Nekekami Spirit Cats Draconis Combine
Back to BattleTechnology 2 Table of Contents
Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 1987 by Pacific Rim Publishing.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com