Grimm Sentence

Grimm Sentence
Story information
Author	Chris Hussey
Pages	22
Type	Novelette
Product	Shrapnel Issue 1
Content
Era	Clan Invasion era
Universe Date	29 September 3049 - 6 December 3049

Grimm Sentence is a short story by Chris Hussey that was published on 15 June 2020 within the first issue of Shrapnel. It deals with the last days of Hendrik Grimm III in late 3049, after the fall of Oberon VI to Clan Wolf.

Plot summary

Following his forces' final defeat at Kennedy Beach on Oberon VI, Hendrik Grimm III tried to shoot himself in the cockpit of his Atlas but survived and was captured alive.

By 17 October 3049 he, like other survivors of the Oberon Guards, is put through physical exercise by his Clan Wolf captors despite his obesity (self-described as "almost 160 kilos"). Together with his sons Johann and Karl, Hendrik immediately begins to hatch an escape plan from their cells at Grimfort, having prepared contingency plans for all kinds of situations to always stay one step ahead of his enemies in this cutthroat world of periphery pirates. He has not even informed his sons of the Zeta cache that he intends to utilize to throw off the Clan Wolf garrison once the frontline units leave.

Although he fails to understand who the Clans really are, falsely believing them to be a secret Com Guard force, from their questioning he has learned they intend to move on into the Inner Sphere and correctly deduces that they are not truly interested in Oberon VI and will only leave a small garrison behind.

Mere hours after most of the troops leave on 26 November 3049, Grimm and his followers stage a successful prison breakout and, helped by a secret minefield Grimm had installed in the city, narrowly escape to the Black Jackrabbit hills, where a company of mothballed vintage Rim Worlds Republic BattleMechs awaits them in Zeta cache. Both Johann and Karl are not particularly happy that they knew of neither the minefield nor the Zeta cache. Johann tries to persuade his father to flee off-world, but Hendrik Grimm will have none of it. He wants to crush the attackers on Oberon VI while he has the initiative. He also contacts Precentor Rodrick, whom he had subverted years ago, and upon learning that the invaders have fixed the transmission problem on the world's hyperpulse generator, orders a message sent to his daughter Ella Grimm, who is currently off-world.

During the subsequent battle, Hendrik finds that his son Johann has betrayed and turned against him. Hendrik is captured again, as is Karl one day later after initially managing to escape.

On 6 December 3049, Hendrik Grimm III is tried and convicted at Grimfort by Star Commander Niamh, who has taken Johann as bondsman. Hendrik wonders if he is going to be made an example of but Niamh answers in the negative, telling him that it is Karl who will be made an example of and that Hendrik will instead be a monument. She also tells him that his name will die with him and fade from memory, as Grimm is not a bloodname. Then she proceeds to behead him with her sword.

Meanwhile in the Inner Sphere, the message Hendrik Grimm had sent off reaches Ella.

Featured characters

• Abrams (MechWarrior from Clan Wolf)
• Ella Grimm
• Hendrik Grimm III
• Hendrik Grimm IV (mentioned)
• Johann Grimm
• Karl Grimm
• Kelly Hunt (mentioned)
• Niamh
• Precentor Rodrick
• John Ward

Featured BattleTech

BattleMechs

• Archer
• Atlas
• Crusader (mentioned)
• Gladiator
• Griffin
• Griffin with Clan-grade weaponry, possibly a Griffin IIC
• Hunchback IIC
• Javelin
• Locust (possibly Locust IIC)
• Orion
• Phoenix Hawk IIC
• Phoenix
• Rifleman
• Scorpion
• Victor (mentioned)
• Warhammer
• Wasp

Other

• Elemental (Battle Armor)

Featured planets

• Arluna (mentioned)
• Oberon VI

Notes

• Johann Grimm would be reported as commander of the disarmed Oberon Guards in a report dated 3055 (Objective Raids)
• This story reconciles the conflicting accounts of what happened to Hendrik Grimm III, namely that he took his own life versus that he was executed and his head put on a pike.