Continuing alternate timeline stuff I developed during my stint with a particular company. Here are timeline notes for BattleTech’s story year 3148, developed as background for a now-abandoned project.

The complete timeline, which was developed prior to the book in order to set up the backstories included therein, was provided to writers during the solicitation. This way, context was provided for their writing prompts. This working timeline was a collaborative effort as I relied on the support knowledge of three other prominent writers of the line at the time.

Suffice to say, this isn’t official any more as it became obsolete the moment I resigned from the company.

I’ll be dropping a new year every Tuesday (#TimelineTuesday) for the next few weeks. Enjoy a glimpse into BattleTech’s 32nd century, as I envisioned it.

3148

[Jan] LCAF reinforcements on Ayacucho break the stalemate. After a brief period of rest, they move on to Buena. Fighting is fierce, though most units fail to deliver killing blows against fellow Lyrans. The world surrenders with the capture of Widmer. Renegade general Diego Widmer executed for treason.

[Feb] Major battle on Coventry between Lyran and Jade Falcon forces. Jasek Kelswa-Steiner killed. Lyrans barely hold the planet. The Falcon Galaxy Commander accepts hegira from Roderick Steiner rather than nuke the Lyran forces, as he has been ordered to do by Malvina Hazen.

[Feb-Oct] Under mounting pressure from his generals, Julian reluctantly authorizes the start of CERBERUS, a targeted offensive against Confederation forces on worlds around New Syrtis as the first stage in a campaign to reclaim the former march capital. The offensive is commanded by Julian Davion and intended to culminate on New Syrtis within a year. Long-range planning includes a two-jump hop to seize Victoria, if CERBERUS goes well.

[Mar-Oct] CERBERUS nullifies the static cease-fire with the Confederation, who renews their crawl towards Kathil. Danai, and now most of the Strategios (convinced by Danai), still suspect Davion trickery and are cautious in committing too many forces across scattered systems. The approach is instead methodical and slow, with complete system subjugation as the primary goal before moving forward.

[Mar] Hurting and in desperation due to the Sea Fox interdiction, a cabal of Regulan generals hire assassins to eliminate Marik leadership on Oriente. Jessica Marik dies. Nikol Marik, offworld at the time, becomes Captain-General. One of the assassins is captured and the Regulus link discovered. The Oriente response is immediate, annexing a few Regulan worlds and moving a task force towards Regulus, with the intent of shattering Regulan arms manufacturing.

[Mar] Andurien formally annexes many of the worlds between the Duchy and Regulus. As the worlds are specifically those between Andurien and Regulus, there’s a strategic sense in the rest of the League shrugging this off.

[Mar] WIX takes advantage of the Falcon losses on Coventry and seize Incukalns and Upano but are stopped cold on Pobeda after Malvina redirects the remains of the Coventry assault force there.

[Apr] Lester Cameron-Jones, at the urging of his wife, denounces the actions of his generals and tries to broker a cease-fire. Oriente refuses, demanding additional Regulan worlds and other reparations before accepting a full surrender from Regulus.

[Apr] Sea Foxes claim the 2-3 FedSuns worlds promised to them by Julian Davion as their price for helping him get back home. Once they move in, they take over all ComStar assets on those planets*.

[*Note: Given what’s to come, the location of these worlds is actually a point of order. We can use it either as an enclave that’s easily crushed by the Feddies or Capellans if we want more dead sea foxes, or as a stronghold from which the ilClan strikes. Either way, the worlds must be economically significant as well; at least one of them anyway.]

[Apr] Amidst rising discontent by the AFFS generals, Julian holds a strategy meeting on Remagen. He is blasted for allowing New Avalon to remain an occupied world and throwing away much of the AFFS against the Confederation. CERBERUS has had a few significant victories on a couple of key worlds—including blunting the CCAF press towards Kathil—but much of the Capellan March remains under Liao rule. (These worlds are more buffer in nature and possess little military value except as additional real estate for the AFFS to shed blood upon.) Secretly concerned about Stone’s timing, it is all Julian can do to placate his generals and the government leaders on June. He ends up making several concessions to keep his plan in motion, including more power to the Sandoval family.

[Jul] Regulus officially surrenders to the new Free Worlds League. It is treated and governed as an occupied territory, with limited rights and privileges within Parliament. (Regulus agreed to this status for 10 years time before it can petition to join the League as a full member state.)

[Aug] Combine forces assault Remagen in an attempt to destroy Sandoval and PERCEVAL. The attack fails but sparks a new wave of panic that slowly builds across the Suns among the AFFS rank and file.

[Sep] Xieng Khouang Massacre. Rumors that ComStar can but refuses to fix the local HPG because of anti-Capellan prejudice prompt the ransacking of the capital city’s station. Thirty-eight ComStar people are strung up in the streets and several hundred thousand C-bills of damage is done before order is restored.

[Oct] In an attempt to inspire confidence among the AFFS command and his people, Julian leads a key assault on New Syrtis. Thanks to a traitor within the AFFS, the Confederation is aware of parts of Julian’s plan and moves 7 regiments to defend the system. In order to achieve victory, Julian authorized the hiring of several mercenary commands, including the Illician Lancers and the 12th Vegan Rangers. The CCAF regiments defending the world put up a tremendous fight to the death, laying waste to much of the planet’s population centers and destroying the ancestral Hasek home. The battle drags on for three months; Julian declares victory on 25 December. [Suggested losses: 75% of the mercs, 80% of the CCAF, 40% of the AFFS. I suggest a low number of AFFS casualties to help bolster a growing distrust of Julian as a commander; he’ll spend mercenary lives over Feddies – and conversely, that Julian doesn’t “trust” his own troops to win a battle. It’s a lose-lose proposition that plays well for Julian’s detractors in the Suns, which is growing as the wars grind on and New Avalon remains captured.]

[Dec] New Syrtis is retaken by the Federated Suns. The success of the AFFS, coupled with the major losses taken by the CCAF, forces Danai to recognize the fight still remaining within the Suns—and not realizing it’s a massive paper tiger at this point. She withdraws the Confederation to their new border and returns to Sian on Daoshen’s orders.