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Redshirt spotted.
I reminded me of the old Sgt Rock comics
"He was a new recruit, still green, we called him Deadmeat, because we knew he wasn't gong to make it to the end of this storyline, much less the end of this issue"
Part of a conversation from other forum...
@Linak Dekhyper
she has a jumpship. Thats too much. It means that she is personally capable of moving between stars. If the *** ever really hit the fan and she really needed to disappear, she could dump the atmosphere on all parts of the ship but the bridge and jump herself to the periphery and make her living as a carho captain. There is no way to back her into a corner if she has her own jumpship. She is at no personal risk unless she chooses to be. That is too much losttech.
I do have another question though. Where did the water carrier come from? If she designed it as her space ninja thinks she did where and how was it fabricated? If it was fabricated on ship did her tech crew work on it? It appears she is capable of building vehicles from scratch, which is all the tech i gave to linak to take over a whole planet. And her factory is mobile? And has an AI? Sounds like a recipe for a grey goo scenario to me.
Hatchy may be benevolent, but will her sucessor be? The Namida is a machine. It will last essentially forever if it is maintained, but people die sooner or later Someone will take her place and if she dies in combat? One of the brothers (i forget which one) claims the AI is capable of fighting on its own. The AI might just go rouge. Start killing every ship it encounters as it blind jumps through the galaxy.
All in all the helpers should probably stay well away from Dekhyper's Hole.
First I have to to thank you again for reading, I figured no one ever actually did as I post novels when I do get the urge to write, so I don't really anticipate anyone actually reading it all. So, thanks! Means a lot!
Alright, well since you asked, you'll get some developers notes as most of which you commented on what has been thought about. That being said, if I need to change things (Like the company Shadowhawk to a company Panther or changing characters in order to fit the story better) I'll do it, I'm not married to any one thing other than Hatchy's personality (because she is me
) and the concept of Hatchy's Helpers.
Is a single jumpship too much? Look at it this way, how many Mercenary companies are there? How many of them have at least 12 mechs? How many of them have all the supporting dropships and crews and the infrastructure? How many resources does it take in order to operate a company of 12 mechs? We are about to play a game where that is our goal to get our own mech company with its supporting spacecraft, so the cost of a merc unit is vastly greater than having a couple spaceships and far more improbable of being able to maintain. Besides, in a universe where there are actual charter companies that own their own spacecraft, it isn't that far of a stretch for a Merc unit to onlyown an FTL craft, especially when it is established that almost every Merc Company maintains at least one of them in addition to its stable of mechs. The Helpers hire other units, so they would be the transportation most of the time, so they would be in the group of 'charter' companies' anyway.
As for the AI, it is one of my retconning ideas. All FTL craft (especially SLDF spacecraft) would have AI, it would be impossible for a craft like that to operate otherwise. And its one of those things that if people want to say, 'Well, it isn't in the original canon,' I say it really doesn't matter as its a single line of text that can be added to a sourcebook right now and it doesn't change a single thing about the rules or written history. Its just a tool that ensures that you survive in space for extended periods. Without AI in your faster-than-light spaceship, you would perish in a horrible, horrible way. So a form of AI would still exist on every ship in 3025, with the most advanced being the 'Tinman Protocol', still operating on the older (newest?) ships like Jaime Wolf's ship and the ones of the Great House Leaders. All Clan ships would be running an even more advanced version of 'Tinman' as the weapon management and self-sealing hulls reacting to breaches would require reaction times greater than any person could do. AI would be a completely normal thing that no one would give any thought to. That being said, I have given myself an option to have the ship 'go rogue', it uses Hatchy as a guideline for its behavior, so no telling what its going to do!
Hatchsune is married to the ship as she had spent 5 years trapped on it (3 of those years being completely alone) and it was not acquired fairly in the first place. And yes, when she is on the ship, you can't corner her (I have all the contingencies planned, even nuclear attack) but most of my stories take place on the ground where she isn't even armed. So yes, if she was a different person, she wouldn't take the personal risks she does and would just hole up in the ship, but she isn't like that, so the actual abilities of the ship are completely moot. But remember, she did acquire it in a way that leaves her with great guilt.
And the brother, BB, commenting on the things he's 'seen', take it from the context of a Periphery Rat in 3025 who has never seen anything clean and new from a factory in his life; almost every item of tech he's never seen and something with an SLDF insignia on it would look super foreign as anything built from that time is just engineered different even though it doesn't work any differently. So he is going to report things as being greater than they are and Hatchy understands this and would play into it.
What happens after Hatchy? Haven't figured that out yet, its one of those things that will happen when its time...as sometimes I write and things that pour onto the page are not planned and they develop that way because thats the way the story needs to go at the time of writing. Short answer? HATCHY IS IMMORTAL!!!
And the water carrier? Its just an engineering vehicle with a big empty tank attached to it that can hold about 60 tons of water (or whatever the volume equivalent is of an assault mech) , so it requires zero in the way of special facilities as any heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer can do it. So it can be repaired absolutely anywhere that has a working torch. And the water purification system would be a altered civilian system which would have cost less than a mech and available from any established manufacturing world, so the parts wouldn't be rare, just difficult to obtain at certain times due to the travel times. But that is absolutely everything in 3025, so the idea fits easily into the universe.
Things may seem overpowered, but no more so than a Punisher episode. I just look at myself and I know what I'm capable of and I look at my friends and peers and know what they are capable of and just push things slightly in extreme directions. Why is Our Tiny Captain so good at so many things? Because I am!
When you've been doing things for a decade or two, they just become second nature.
@Linak Dekhyper
she has a jumpship. Thats too much. It means that she is personally capable of moving between stars. If the *** ever really hit the fan and she really needed to disappear, she could dump the atmosphere on all parts of the ship but the bridge and jump herself to the periphery and make her living as a carho captain. There is no way to back her into a corner if she has her own jumpship. She is at no personal risk unless she chooses to be. That is too much losttech.
I do have another question though. Where did the water carrier come from? If she designed it as her space ninja thinks she did where and how was it fabricated? If it was fabricated on ship did her tech crew work on it? It appears she is capable of building vehicles from scratch, which is all the tech i gave to linak to take over a whole planet. And her factory is mobile? And has an AI? Sounds like a recipe for a grey goo scenario to me.
Hatchy may be benevolent, but will her sucessor be? The Namida is a machine. It will last essentially forever if it is maintained, but people die sooner or later Someone will take her place and if she dies in combat? One of the brothers (i forget which one) claims the AI is capable of fighting on its own. The AI might just go rouge. Start killing every ship it encounters as it blind jumps through the galaxy.
All in all the helpers should probably stay well away from Dekhyper's Hole.
First I have to to thank you again for reading, I figured no one ever actually did as I post novels when I do get the urge to write, so I don't really anticipate anyone actually reading it all. So, thanks! Means a lot!
Alright, well since you asked, you'll get some developers notes as most of which you commented on what has been thought about. That being said, if I need to change things (Like the company Shadowhawk to a company Panther or changing characters in order to fit the story better) I'll do it, I'm not married to any one thing other than Hatchy's personality (because she is me
Is a single jumpship too much? Look at it this way, how many Mercenary companies are there? How many of them have at least 12 mechs? How many of them have all the supporting dropships and crews and the infrastructure? How many resources does it take in order to operate a company of 12 mechs? We are about to play a game where that is our goal to get our own mech company with its supporting spacecraft, so the cost of a merc unit is vastly greater than having a couple spaceships and far more improbable of being able to maintain. Besides, in a universe where there are actual charter companies that own their own spacecraft, it isn't that far of a stretch for a Merc unit to onlyown an FTL craft, especially when it is established that almost every Merc Company maintains at least one of them in addition to its stable of mechs. The Helpers hire other units, so they would be the transportation most of the time, so they would be in the group of 'charter' companies' anyway.
As for the AI, it is one of my retconning ideas. All FTL craft (especially SLDF spacecraft) would have AI, it would be impossible for a craft like that to operate otherwise. And its one of those things that if people want to say, 'Well, it isn't in the original canon,' I say it really doesn't matter as its a single line of text that can be added to a sourcebook right now and it doesn't change a single thing about the rules or written history. Its just a tool that ensures that you survive in space for extended periods. Without AI in your faster-than-light spaceship, you would perish in a horrible, horrible way. So a form of AI would still exist on every ship in 3025, with the most advanced being the 'Tinman Protocol', still operating on the older (newest?) ships like Jaime Wolf's ship and the ones of the Great House Leaders. All Clan ships would be running an even more advanced version of 'Tinman' as the weapon management and self-sealing hulls reacting to breaches would require reaction times greater than any person could do. AI would be a completely normal thing that no one would give any thought to. That being said, I have given myself an option to have the ship 'go rogue', it uses Hatchy as a guideline for its behavior, so no telling what its going to do!
Hatchsune is married to the ship as she had spent 5 years trapped on it (3 of those years being completely alone) and it was not acquired fairly in the first place. And yes, when she is on the ship, you can't corner her (I have all the contingencies planned, even nuclear attack) but most of my stories take place on the ground where she isn't even armed. So yes, if she was a different person, she wouldn't take the personal risks she does and would just hole up in the ship, but she isn't like that, so the actual abilities of the ship are completely moot. But remember, she did acquire it in a way that leaves her with great guilt.
And the brother, BB, commenting on the things he's 'seen', take it from the context of a Periphery Rat in 3025 who has never seen anything clean and new from a factory in his life; almost every item of tech he's never seen and something with an SLDF insignia on it would look super foreign as anything built from that time is just engineered different even though it doesn't work any differently. So he is going to report things as being greater than they are and Hatchy understands this and would play into it.
What happens after Hatchy? Haven't figured that out yet, its one of those things that will happen when its time...as sometimes I write and things that pour onto the page are not planned and they develop that way because thats the way the story needs to go at the time of writing. Short answer? HATCHY IS IMMORTAL!!!
And the water carrier? Its just an engineering vehicle with a big empty tank attached to it that can hold about 60 tons of water (or whatever the volume equivalent is of an assault mech) , so it requires zero in the way of special facilities as any heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer can do it. So it can be repaired absolutely anywhere that has a working torch. And the water purification system would be a altered civilian system which would have cost less than a mech and available from any established manufacturing world, so the parts wouldn't be rare, just difficult to obtain at certain times due to the travel times. But that is absolutely everything in 3025, so the idea fits easily into the universe.
Things may seem overpowered, but no more so than a Punisher episode. I just look at myself and I know what I'm capable of and I look at my friends and peers and know what they are capable of and just push things slightly in extreme directions. Why is Our Tiny Captain so good at so many things? Because I am!
Soon after landing on the surface of Vindemiatrix, the newest recruits of Hatchy’s Corpsman Cadets are loaded into busses and escorted to the empty barracks awaiting them inside Fort Silverdale. Vindemiatrix was chosen as the training base for new Hatchy’s Helpers recruits as the planet’s dying sun was a constant reminder to Captain Hatchsune that time waits for nothing. ‘Make every second count’, she repeats to her recruits.
Each of the three barracks houses fourteen recruits, and combined with the HQ -housing the senior officers, mess hall, hospital and motor pool, Fort Silverdale’s size more resembled that of a camp. Especially given it was nestled in amongst a forest along the shore of a large, and very cold, glacial-fed lake. Various obstacle courses and trails surround the Fort, with many heading off into the woods. It looks rather inviting to the new recruits, but then the electrified fence and guard towers remind them that is not a vacation.
The shuttle busses, each holding 14 passengers, pull up to their assigned barracks so the recruits understood where their new home would be for the next 6 weeks. For some of the young men and women, the ones with no prior military experience, Camp Silverdale was their second stop after an initial 6 week long boot camp. Hatchy’s Boot Camp is where those in the civilian services of medical care, search and rescue and emergency response come to get introduced into the world of military organization to see if it is something they are interested in pursuing, but only the best recruits were chosen to continue with the advanced training of the Corpsman Cadets. But even for those who completed boot camp, it did not have to be the end of their time with Hatchy’s Helpers if they so choose, anyone can re-apply to be a Corpsman Cadet and there are always plenty of positions available in the organization in various capacities.
The recruits don't have much time to unpack or to even find their bunks before Hatchy enters Able Barracks uncharacteristically dressed in full uniform, her hair is up as per proper regulations with a pink beret carefully and neatly wedged onto the top of her head. She is almost completely unrecognizable, except for her tiny stature. Most of the recruits don't notice her so she is able to observe the newest potential members in silence.
But one of the sharper Cadets, a tall and wiry young man snaps to attention, he either recognized her or saw the rank on her collar, ‘Officer on deck!’
The rest of the recruits scramble as they spin towards Hatchy. All looking very nervous as all of them look very disorganized with luggage spread out everywhere and after several weeks in space, all would fail the Personal Grooming Standard requirements.
Hatchy turns her attention to the tall Cadet and walks over to him. He is tall enough that she really has to crane her neck to look him in the face.
‘Yes ma’am’
‘Ma’am?’ Captain Hatchsune finds a chair and pulls it over to him. She climbs up on it so she can glare directly into his face. ‘This is the Navy! Ma’am’s are girls and girls are ships! Do I look like a ship to you, Cadet? Do I look like a boat? A canoe?!? Do I look like a canoe to you?!? Does it look like you can take me for a portage? Does it, Jaques?!?’
‘No ma’am...sir!’ He stammers out, not knowing what to say.
‘I’m not a ‘sir’, either!’
He stands there understandably confused.
A young woman with an unfortunate -not unfortunate for Hatchy as it gives an easy trait to pick on- lazy eye bites her lip, trying to control herself.
Hatchsune hops down from her chair and stands in front of the woman, ‘Do you have something to say, Wally? Do you think I look like a sea-faring vessel?’
The recruits eyes go wide in shock, ‘N-n-n-n-n-o…’ her eyes dart to Hatchy’s insignia and stutters out, ‘...Captain…’
Hatchsune’s head cocks to the side and a slight grin spreads across her face. She hollers, ‘Captain! That is correct! No ‘ma'am’ or ‘sir’! The senior officers here are only to be referred to by rank!
‘Yes Captain!’ The recruits shout back.
Hatchy climbs back onto her chair, ‘See that name up there?’ She points to the Hatchy’s Helpers banner hung on the wall, ‘Hatchy? That is me! Thats my name! This is my company! Hatchy’s Helpers is the best unit in the entire Inner Sphere! That is because I fill my ranks with nothing but the best! And you are here to prove that you deserve to wear the colors of the best unit in the galaxy...I believe you are or I wouldn't have chosen you personally!’
‘Yes Captain!’
She hops down from her chair and strolls back over to ‘Jaques’. Her neck crain's up again as she adresses him, ‘there is no rank among recruits, you are all equal and will do what is required during your training. You position outside of this camp does not matter, it's only what you do in this camp that matters to me.’ Hatchy spins back to the rest of the recruits and slowly walks around them, scanning all the items they brought. She gestures to the tall man, ‘Jaques here, has been serving in his House military for a decade, seen almost as many combat drops as I have and has saved almost as many lives, but he will be scrubbing floors and peeling potatoes with the rest of you.’
The tiny Captain takes a deep breath and turns towards the door, ‘Everyone needs to do there part! Plenty of time to goof off when you’re trapped on a ship with 300 people for a month waiting for the jump batteries to recharge. That downtime drives me absolutely bonkers!’
She turns on her heel to face the cadets for a final time, ‘You will learn how to do every task in the unit because when the time comes, I will need to put my complete faith in you and your ability to lead in any situation...from rescuing survivors from a burning spaceship in zero G to extracting hostages from hostile forces, your limits will be pushed at every turn. When you are finished your training, you will be the best soldier in or out of the Sphere!’
Hatchy motions to ‘Wally’, ‘Cadet Espinosa is the Bunk Master, she will be assigning bunks and is responsible for passing on the daily schedules handed out by Command. Any logistical requests go through the Bunk Master and the cleanliness of the barracks also fall under the Bunk Master's responsibility...and everyone will get a chance to be a Bunk Master.’
Cadet Espinosa seems a little stunned at the assignment, there is a pause before she can answer , ‘Yes Captain!’
‘Good.’ Hatchsune walks over to the Cadet and hands her a clipboard. ‘Shower schedules are here as well as detailed procedure of how this place needs to look every day. Report to the mess hall at 1700 hours, don’t forget to bring your buckets.’ She points to a bucket that is placed under every bunk, it is filled with brushes and rags.
Hatchy turns towards the door and strides towards it, ‘You have a few hours to get settled in and cleaned up. I know I need a few hours after a long space flight,’ She opens the door to exit the building and continues talking as the door swings shut ‘...a hot tub, some pretty-smelling soap and a razor…’
Each of the three barracks houses fourteen recruits, and combined with the HQ -housing the senior officers, mess hall, hospital and motor pool, Fort Silverdale’s size more resembled that of a camp. Especially given it was nestled in amongst a forest along the shore of a large, and very cold, glacial-fed lake. Various obstacle courses and trails surround the Fort, with many heading off into the woods. It looks rather inviting to the new recruits, but then the electrified fence and guard towers remind them that is not a vacation.
The shuttle busses, each holding 14 passengers, pull up to their assigned barracks so the recruits understood where their new home would be for the next 6 weeks. For some of the young men and women, the ones with no prior military experience, Camp Silverdale was their second stop after an initial 6 week long boot camp. Hatchy’s Boot Camp is where those in the civilian services of medical care, search and rescue and emergency response come to get introduced into the world of military organization to see if it is something they are interested in pursuing, but only the best recruits were chosen to continue with the advanced training of the Corpsman Cadets. But even for those who completed boot camp, it did not have to be the end of their time with Hatchy’s Helpers if they so choose, anyone can re-apply to be a Corpsman Cadet and there are always plenty of positions available in the organization in various capacities.
The recruits don't have much time to unpack or to even find their bunks before Hatchy enters Able Barracks uncharacteristically dressed in full uniform, her hair is up as per proper regulations with a pink beret carefully and neatly wedged onto the top of her head. She is almost completely unrecognizable, except for her tiny stature. Most of the recruits don't notice her so she is able to observe the newest potential members in silence.
But one of the sharper Cadets, a tall and wiry young man snaps to attention, he either recognized her or saw the rank on her collar, ‘Officer on deck!’
The rest of the recruits scramble as they spin towards Hatchy. All looking very nervous as all of them look very disorganized with luggage spread out everywhere and after several weeks in space, all would fail the Personal Grooming Standard requirements.
Hatchy turns her attention to the tall Cadet and walks over to him. He is tall enough that she really has to crane her neck to look him in the face.
‘Yes ma’am’
‘Ma’am?’ Captain Hatchsune finds a chair and pulls it over to him. She climbs up on it so she can glare directly into his face. ‘This is the Navy! Ma’am’s are girls and girls are ships! Do I look like a ship to you, Cadet? Do I look like a boat? A canoe?!? Do I look like a canoe to you?!? Does it look like you can take me for a portage? Does it, Jaques?!?’
‘No ma’am...sir!’ He stammers out, not knowing what to say.
‘I’m not a ‘sir’, either!’
He stands there understandably confused.
A young woman with an unfortunate -not unfortunate for Hatchy as it gives an easy trait to pick on- lazy eye bites her lip, trying to control herself.
Hatchsune hops down from her chair and stands in front of the woman, ‘Do you have something to say, Wally? Do you think I look like a sea-faring vessel?’
The recruits eyes go wide in shock, ‘N-n-n-n-n-o…’ her eyes dart to Hatchy’s insignia and stutters out, ‘...Captain…’
Hatchsune’s head cocks to the side and a slight grin spreads across her face. She hollers, ‘Captain! That is correct! No ‘ma'am’ or ‘sir’! The senior officers here are only to be referred to by rank!
‘Yes Captain!’ The recruits shout back.
Hatchy climbs back onto her chair, ‘See that name up there?’ She points to the Hatchy’s Helpers banner hung on the wall, ‘Hatchy? That is me! Thats my name! This is my company! Hatchy’s Helpers is the best unit in the entire Inner Sphere! That is because I fill my ranks with nothing but the best! And you are here to prove that you deserve to wear the colors of the best unit in the galaxy...I believe you are or I wouldn't have chosen you personally!’
‘Yes Captain!’
She hops down from her chair and strolls back over to ‘Jaques’. Her neck crain's up again as she adresses him, ‘there is no rank among recruits, you are all equal and will do what is required during your training. You position outside of this camp does not matter, it's only what you do in this camp that matters to me.’ Hatchy spins back to the rest of the recruits and slowly walks around them, scanning all the items they brought. She gestures to the tall man, ‘Jaques here, has been serving in his House military for a decade, seen almost as many combat drops as I have and has saved almost as many lives, but he will be scrubbing floors and peeling potatoes with the rest of you.’
The tiny Captain takes a deep breath and turns towards the door, ‘Everyone needs to do there part! Plenty of time to goof off when you’re trapped on a ship with 300 people for a month waiting for the jump batteries to recharge. That downtime drives me absolutely bonkers!’
She turns on her heel to face the cadets for a final time, ‘You will learn how to do every task in the unit because when the time comes, I will need to put my complete faith in you and your ability to lead in any situation...from rescuing survivors from a burning spaceship in zero G to extracting hostages from hostile forces, your limits will be pushed at every turn. When you are finished your training, you will be the best soldier in or out of the Sphere!’
Hatchy motions to ‘Wally’, ‘Cadet Espinosa is the Bunk Master, she will be assigning bunks and is responsible for passing on the daily schedules handed out by Command. Any logistical requests go through the Bunk Master and the cleanliness of the barracks also fall under the Bunk Master's responsibility...and everyone will get a chance to be a Bunk Master.’
Cadet Espinosa seems a little stunned at the assignment, there is a pause before she can answer , ‘Yes Captain!’
‘Good.’ Hatchsune walks over to the Cadet and hands her a clipboard. ‘Shower schedules are here as well as detailed procedure of how this place needs to look every day. Report to the mess hall at 1700 hours, don’t forget to bring your buckets.’ She points to a bucket that is placed under every bunk, it is filled with brushes and rags.
Hatchy turns towards the door and strides towards it, ‘You have a few hours to get settled in and cleaned up. I know I need a few hours after a long space flight,’ She opens the door to exit the building and continues talking as the door swings shut ‘...a hot tub, some pretty-smelling soap and a razor…’