The Ivaar Goliath Mystery

Reports From the Front

by William H. Keith, jr.

Dateline: Exeter

News that Davion invasion forces had met and destroyed a battalion-strength Capellan unit consisting almost entirely of GOL-1H Goliaths was met with general rejoicing on most worlds of the Federated Suns. The victory of the Ivaar Wastes is certain to enter the history books as one of those decisive battles which shape the course of history: Gettysburg, Stalingrad, and Galtor III.

Lingering questions remain, however, in the wake of this critical Davion victory. Perhaps the most pressing is a question so obvious few have yet taken notice of it: where did all those Capellan Goliaths come from?

The following quotes are from the wellknown and respected BattleTech Technical Readout 3025, 1st Edition, published by FASA.

"The Goliath performed well, and the Star League began to take an interest shortly before its fall and the start of the First Succession War. The few Goliaths that were operational quickly became the property of their pilots, and only a handful are still in service today..."

"Due to the limited number of Goliaths, they almost never work in conjunction with one another. However, the Goliath has been instrumental in a few battles throughout the Inner Sphere..."

"The last known major action involving a Goliath was in 3003, when the Federated Suns squashed a rebellion of nobles on the planet Tsanna..."

"Only a handful of Goliaths are still functional. Of these, the majority are in the hands of House Steiner..."

And yet, at the Ivaar excavation site, Cochraine's Goliaths mustered almost a full battalion--28 out of 36 'Mechs--of GOL-1H Goliaths, most, apparently, in good to excellent condition.

The Goliath is notorious as a heavily- armored, hard-hitting BattleMech. Massing 80 tons, mounting a Rand PPC- 10 and twin Holly LRM packs as offensive armament, and supporting over 18 tons of the Star League- manufactured, 3/Star slab composite armor, this fourlegged heavy assault 'Mech is highly respected, if seldom seen on the modern battlefield.

Some observers have suggested that the question of the Capellan Goliaths can best be answered by looking at what they were guarding: an excavation site at what is believed to be a long-lost Star League storage depot. The first hints of the existence of the excavation surfaced less than a year ago, and it is believed that Fiona Cochraine began assembling her unit at about the same time.

Underground storehouses of Star League military equipment are not unknown, though the romance of lost, high-tech treasure has spawned more fiction than fact across the Inner Sphere. Most recently, a Star League computerized library is said to have been uncovered on the House Marik world of Helm, though details of this find are still sketchy, at best. During the past several centuries, numerous pitched battles have been fought at Star League depot sites.

With the recurring problem of Lostech-- the slow but accelerating technological devolution brought on by the loss of factories and technicians--these old League storehouses often contain equipment, weapons, and other materials which can change the course of a battle... or a war.

Was the St. Andre site such a storehouse?

"Some of our oldest records indicate that Ian Cameron established an extensive underground facility on the planet," says historian Bethany Stavros, of the NAIS. "By the time of the First Succession War, there were dozens of facilities on that planet. I suppose it's possible that one could have escaped the general destruction that overtook St. Andre... though God knows how."

"Most unlikely," contends Dr. Victor de Soto, of the University of Tikonov. "Remember, there have been rumors of lostech treasures on St. Andre for years, for centuries. Every treasure hunter in the Inner Sphere must have picked over that world at one time or another, and no one ever found anything. If somebody's found something now, it's probably insignificant... a war memorial, a tomb, something like that. Something the size of a military stores depot couldn't stay hidden all that time."

The Liao military certainly maintained a close guard over the site... and that guard included Cochraine's Goliaths, as well as a full battalion of AeroSpace fighters. Those Goliaths, of course, remain the central dilemma of this unfolding mystery. Might they have been machines preserved in underground chambers for four centuries, uncovered only last year and organized into a special assault battalion? Might Fiona Cochraine and her warriors have been training with these new 'Mechs in closeguarded secrecy, creating a unit of devastating firepower and defensive strength?

And is Hanse Davion responsible for destroying almost the last of these venerable and heavily-armored war machines?

We may never know--Davion's generals are not talking, and the lovely Fiona Cochraine and her warriors may have taken the secret to their graves.

But it makes one wonder what else might be down there, under the surface of St. Andre...

News from the Front

Back to BattleTechnology 6 Table of Contents
Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 1988 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