Technical readout 2866 Rise of the Scavengers

First Generation BattleMechs
Outside of Yakima, Terra, Colonel Charles Kincaid of the
Hegemony Armed Forces introduced the Inner Sphere to
the BattleMech on February 5, 2439. He was piloting a
100-ton prototype MSK-5S Mackie built by Skobel
MechWorkds. Armed with a particle beam weapon, a
medium-light autocannon and a heavy laser, he made
short work of the four remote controlled Merkava Mk. VI
main battle tanks that opposed him.
design. Coventry Defense Conglomerate would develop
the BWP-X1 Ymir prototype, also know as the “Bipedal
Weapons Platform, but it would take until 2475 before the
90-ton BattleMech was a viable platform.
MCK-5S Mackie
Until Kincaid’s demonstration, the Merkava had long
represented the best hardware the HAF could build, but
Kincaid’s performance sealed its fate. The Merkava would
get one last revision, the Mk. VIII in 2465, but by then it
was already being shifted away from the frontlines as fast
as BattleMechs became available to take its place. It
would get its final taste of glory fighting in the Reunification
War. By 2597 it was declared obsolete and production
was ended.
It is ironic to note that by today’s degraded standards, the
75-ton Merkava Mk. VIII powered by a Vlar 300 fusion
engine and armed with an AC/5, LRM-15, SRM-4, and two
machine guns, would far outperform the main battle tanks
the Successor States now field such as the Demolisher,
Ontos, or Partisan, all of which are powered by heavy and
fuel-dependent internal combustion engines.
Merkava Mk. VIII
News of the stunning success of the BattleMech spread
like wildfire through the stars, first through the Terran
Hegemony then out to the fledgling alliances surrounding
it. Three years later, Quarry Arms, who had worked with
Skobel MechWorks on the Mackie, would produce the
second BattleMech, the EMP-1A Emperor in 2442. One
year later, Martinson Armaments unveiled its 45-ton
Kyudo BattleMech and two years after that the 95-ton
Banshee would enter the field as well built by Defiance
Industries of Hesperus II, marking the first time a
BattleMech was produced outside the border of the Terran
Hegemony.
Up until 2445, the Terran Hegemony had limited all
BattleMech research, development, and manufacturing to
within their own borders giving the HAF unquestioned
military superiority. With envious eyes, the various House
Lords fearing the might of the HAF plotted and schemed to
steal the secrets of BattleMech production. The opening
of a ‘Mech production facility on Hesperus II, outside of the
tightly controlled border of the Hegemony, would prove to
be their undoing.
The Lyran Commonwealth would be the first State to
make a move, launching Operation Prometheus on
February 7, 2455. Although Archon Katherine Steiner
had ordered the LIC to infiltrate the Hegemony and steal
plans years earlier, it would have to wait until her son,
Alastair Steiner took the throne before they were
successful. Colonel Simon Kelswa, whose family
controlled the Tamar Pact, led a daring raid on the
Hegemony BattleMech production facility on Hesperus II
and succeeded in stealing the plans for the BNC-1E
Banshee. Known as Operation Prometheus, it marked the
first time the secrets of BattleMech design and
manufacture were out of the control of the Terran
Hegemony.
It would take until 2462 however, before the Lyrans could
take what they had stolen and turn it into their own unique
4
BNC-1E Banshee
However just one year later, in 2463 Coventry Defense
Conglomerate would unveil the 25-ton COM-1A
Commando, marking the development of the first
completely original design made outside of the Terran
Hegemony. The Commando would go on to be a huge
success and its successor, the COM-2D, is still in
production today.
The Lyran Commonwealth is also implicated in both the
Free Worlds League and the Draconis Combine launching
independent BattleMech production projects. In 2461
agents from the Draconis Combine broke into Coventry
Defense Conglomerate and stole the production blueprints
for the COM-1A. Coordinator Kozo Von Rohrs awarded
the blueprints to New Samarkand Armor Works who
produced the 55-ton GLD-1R Gladiator seven years later,
which was used to create the first BattleMech units for the
DCMS.
The very next year, 2462, subcontractors based on Alarion
were also able to acquire a complete set of blueprints from
Coventry Defense Conglomerate, taking them with them to
the Free Worlds League. From there they found their way
into the hands of Corean Enterprises on Stewart.
However, it would take until 2470 before they were able to