June 15, 3053: I've been rereading our editorials during the Clans Invasion, and I now feel we owe an apology to the House Regulars of The Federated Commonwealth, the Draconis Combine, and the Free Republic of Rasalhague. In our efforts to keep heart for our mercenary readers, many of whom found themselves on the frontlines, poorly paid and worse equipped, facing frontline Clans troops, I didn't give you men and women enough credit.
I do not retract one iota of what I said then about their bravery and inventiveness. I didn't say enough about you folks. It's partly because your own military press agencies were not allowing us to see much of your work. They were afraid that if we saw just how bad things were, we'd tell the Inner Sphere and the war effort would lose the backing of the people at home. The mercs sent us what Intel we could get; most of that was based on what they'd seen and done themselves. When we attempted to find out a little more than the Federated Commonwealth felt we should, we got ourselves thrown off of Sudeten, and hampered in our coverage of the retaking of Twycross. Since the truce, we've received more cooperation. We've been shown footage of Woolcott, Twycross, Trellwan, Radstadt, Tamar, and so many other fronts.
It's possible to weep with pride as well as with pain, watching this fighting. From the Tenth Lyran Guard to the First Radstadt Militia, YOU GUYS WERE SO GOOD! Again and again, you had everything you owned beaten out of you, regrouped, rethought your strategy, and went in to fight again. You saved civilians, stood off Clans troops, formed into new units when half your officers were gone, and made the Clans pay dearly for every klick they took. We might mention the Blackjack Academy Cadets, who continued fire until they were literally under the feet of the Clans Mechs, the Fremen Drakon pilots who took out the 11 Khan's flagship by sacrificing their lives, the First Sword of Light Assault Company that challenged a Clan Galaxy to one-at-a-time 'Mech duels to prove to the Draconis Combine that its troops had not lost their spirit ... and the lone Patton pilot on Bone Norman who continued his advance long after his unit had surrendered, driving on into a lance of OmniMechs until he was blown to pieces.
You served gallantly and with honor, all of you who shivered on the Clans borders, never knowing when you would be hit, knowing only that it would be a desperate battle. I raise a glass, here in the privacy of my office, to each and all of you. From a citizen of the Inner Sphere, my deepest thanks!
Damage
In this issue we present an alternate way of reckoning damage to infantry in the BattleTech simulator game which shows the difficulties a commander of combined arms faces with integrating infantry. We offer a way to simulate the misery of quicksand terrain, and a couple of unusual 'Mechs. We hope you'll enjoy them.
The Count Down:
As of June 15, 3053, the Inner Sphere has thirteen years and eleven months to prepare for the next wave of the Clans Invasion. Remember that they will be learning from us during that period, though probably not as eagerly as we should be learning from them! Keep preparing! And never forget they're coming for us!
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© Copyright 1993 by Pacific Rim Publishing.
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