Jump 113: Battletech

>Jump #113: Battletech
>Two of Wands, reversed (The erosion of power and influence.)
Erosion of power, hm? Well, it looks like there are a handful of groups that are going to play massive roles to turning human-controlled space into a pure shitshow.
Let's turn that on its head, shall we?
>Age: 21
>Era: Age of War (2475)
>Location: Free Choice
I hear Earth is nice, this time of year.
>Identity: Stateless
Giving my allegiance to any single entity is a fool's errand in this setting.
>Drawbacks: Waco's Feud (+100), Where Am I? (+100), Infamous Heritage (+150), Blackmailed (+50), Inner Ear Defect (+200)
Hm. So not only do I not know that I'm watching the dawn of mech combat, I'm not even going to be able to use one of them myself.
Not to mention that, somehow, someone is going to blackmail me while I'm here - and with what I'm going to be working on, I can't afford to just kill them outright. Damned shame.
Meanwhile some idiot mercenary is trying to kill me. Simply fantastic.
>Nose For Lostech (1550)
Wait, this isn't even the Star League era. I don't think there IS any Lostech to pursue.
>Air Of Nobility (1500)
If I'm to bluff my way into the upper echelons of society, this is a must.
>Graduate (1400)
I don't think there are any dedicated mechwarrior academies as of yet, but I'm sure there's a military academy out there for me.
>Secret Society (Free, Stateless)
A place in the inner circle of the Terran Hegemony? Yes please.
>Trained Technician: Fusion Reactor (1300)
>Trained Technician: Jump Drive (1200)
>Institute of Science Graduate: K/H Theory (1000)
Between the three of these things, I think I can make some headway. Canonically, technology progresses at a crawl, and that's absurd.
>Pirate! (800, Stateless)
Knowing how to use pirate points should let me work miracles.
>Master of Information (400)
If knowledge is power, a god am I.
>Cyberpunk (0)
I bought this perk, but all it gave me was a slip of paper with 'CAPSLOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL' written on it. Wat?

"Gentlemen! I am here because you all know my qualifications. I am here because I am a genius. I am here because everyone here is not a genius. I am here because your so-called scientists can't see past the end of their noses. I am here because you are all in love with the abomination that we call the battlemech!

"Yes! I dare to call it an abomination. One day, the battlemech may be of wide use. One day it may be the king of the battlefield. One day we may see the lay man getting into a 'mech, cutting down trees or mining a mountain or singlehandedly paving a road. That day is not today!

"What is a battlemech? A miserable ten-meter-tall tower of rust and flashlights, threatening to melt into slag at the slightest provocation! I've seen data on a couple in development - Ford has one that is armed little better than a light tank for several times the cost! The bottleneck isn't your weapons platform, the bottleneck is the power supply! But everywhere I look, I don't see scientists and engineers doing their job, I see fools throwing whatever they can at the wall and seeing what sticks!

"Instead, I offer a different path. This, my friends, is the key. Modular construction. Simplified so that any idiot can learn any job on a vessel within a month. This I give you, my friends: the Battlestar. A carrier and battleship hybrid that combines the utility of both and sacrifices the utility of neither. Compliment: eighty aerospace fighters of various model, the majority of which are of course fully capable of atmospheric transit. Lithium-fusion batteries - and, far more importantly, MODULAR lithium-fusion batteries. Jump to a system with a friendly outpost. Swap your used battery for a charged one. Cross known space in a matter of days.

"Battles are not won because of feet on the ground, they are won when you have the high ground and can intimidate everyone else into surrender. Gentlemen, there is no higher ground than orbit.

After all, this is 2475. I'm not advocating orbital bombardment, but the way fighters are used in Battletech is pants-on-head rëtärdëd and most of such tech existed by then anyway.

Beside, I intend to ensure that everyone can get access to my little... tweaks... to the local technology. There is absolutely no reason that you should not be able to swap out batteries in a jumpship or a warship. Hell, just hollow out a dropship and stuff it full of batteries if you have to.

There are so many people in love with battlemechs by 2475 that they won't ever go away, the speech is just for dramatic effect.

What's going to be fun is when someone goes 'oh hey, there's all this cool shit, what happens when we stick it on a mech'. Because that should happen about ten minutes after I leave the meeting. And then they'll realize that the docking bays of a Battlestar are big enough to fit mechs in, if they want to sacrifice the fighter compliment.

I'm just trying to not let everything else be utterly and completely irrelevant, as they are now.