Editing The Nellus Academy Incident

{{InfoBoxProduct
| image               = TheNellusAcademyIncident.JPG
| name                = 
| type                = Novel
| author              = [[Jennifer Brozek]]
| development         = 
| primarywriting      = 
| pages               = 186 (Print)<br />132 (PDF)
| cover               = 
| interiorart         = 
| illustrations       = 
| publisher           = [[BattleCorps]]<br />[[Catalyst Game Labs]]
| productioncode      = 
| year                = 29 July 2012 - 15 December 2013 (PDF)<br />04 March 2018 (Print)
| ISBN10              = 1942487711
| ISBN13              = 978-1942487715
| MSRP                = $11.90 (Print)
| content             = 
| era                 = [[Civil War era]]
| timeline            = 16-27 October [[3067]]
| series              = 
| precededby          = 
| followedby          = 
}}
'''''The Nellus Academy Incident''''' is a novel by author [[Jennifer Brozek]] and her debut publication in the [[BattleTech]] universe. Initially published between 29 July 2012 and 15 December 2013 in altogether 25 parts as a [[BattleCorps]] serial, the book was also published as a single Ebook volume outside of BattleCorps on 26 January 2014, and as a print edition on 4 March 2018.

An audio edition of the book was released 14 July 2021 narrated by [[Liisa Lee]].

==From the Back Cover==
{{quote|''The battlefields of the 31st century are ruled by the [[BattleMech]]; twelve-meter-tall, 100-ton bipedal engines of pure destruction. Piloted by [[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarriors]], commanded by neo-feudal officers, owned by national governments and bands of [[mercenaries]], these 'Mechs make every other ground combat vehicle obsolete.<br />This is the warfare of fusion-powered giants.''

''This is'' [[BattleTech]].

THRUST INTO BATTLE TODAY...

''[[Allegra Greene]] is no stranger to the military; her father is a [[general]], after all. But when she enters the [[Nellus Military Academy]], she find far more than she expected. She finds a group of friends that will keep her going, challenging training, and instructors that push her to the edge and beyond.''

''Unfortunately, that's not all she finds, and soon the endemic politics and warfare of the [[Inner Sphere]] reach the Nellus Academy. And when their spaceship is hijacked and crashlands on a remote moon, Allegra and her friends find themselves in a life-or-death struggle just to survive!''}}

==BattleCorps Publication==
A news item on the [[INN]] section of the BattleCorps site ("New Author, New Story"<ref>[http://www.battlecorps.com/BC2/news.html?article=691 "New Author, New Story"] (dead link)</ref>) announced it as a serial aimed at a somewhat younger audience than the usual adult-fiction content, with the protagonist being a student instead of a "50-year-old infantry sergeant". However, the level of violence and suffering throughout the serial is arguably quite high; many of the protagonists die over the course of the story.

BattleCorps changed their format midway through the publication of this serial. As a result, the first five parts have roughly twice the page count of the subsequent parts although the word count for all parts remains similar.

===Book One===
====Part I====
:''published on 29 July 2012''
{{quote|''Young Allegra Greene begins a new term at the [[Nellus Academy]] on [[Nestor]] in the [[Free Worlds League]]. Her father, a [[FWLM]] hero, has been reassigned. What will she find there?''}}

====Part II====
:''published on 3 August 2012''
{{quote|''As Allegra meets her classmates, she discovers they have more layers than she might have suspected.''}}

====Part III====
:''published on 10 August 2012''
{{quote|''Having discovered some of her classmates'--and new friends'--talents at the academy, Allegra now prepares to visit them at home.''}}

====Part IV====
:''published on 17 August 2012''
{{quote|''As Allegra and her friends prepare for their off-planet mission, they can't help feel both excited and scared. What will they find outside Nestor's atmosphere?''}}

====Part V====
:''published on 24 August 2012''
{{quote|''Everything Allegra has been learning, doing and practicing since she arrived at Nellus has been leading up to this: a mission off-planet. What will they find?''}}

===Book Two===
====Part I====
:''published on 14 November 2012''
{{quote|''When the cadets experience their first hyperspace jump, will anyone succumb to [[Transit Disorientation Syndrome]]?''}}

====Part II====
:''published on 18 November 2012''
{{quote|''While under guard, the cadets must hatch a desperate plan to overpower the hijackers.''}}

====Part III====
:''published on 25 November 2012''
{{quote|''If the cadets are to regain control of their DropShip, they must put their plan into action. Will all of them survive?''}}

====Part IV====
:''published on 02 December 2012''
{{quote|''The cadets' struggle against the hijackers rages on, and the General must make his own bid for freedom.''}}

====Part V====
:''published on 09 December 2012''
{{quote|''In the final part of Book 2, the Nellus Academy cadets will need to apply everything they have learned if they are to save themselves and the General.''}}

===Book Three===
====Part I====
:''published on 27 January 2013''
{{quote|''The ruined DropShip has crash-landed, and the General is seriously injured. The cadets' only hope of survival is to find the hijacker and get word to the jump point.''}}

====Part II====
:''published on 04 February 2013''
{{quote|''In Part 2 of Book 3, the Nellus Academy cadets must track down the hijacker, who appears to have fled the DropShip…''}}

====Part III====
:''published on 10 February 2013''
{{quote|''In part 3, the cadets cope with loss while planning their next move. Their prisoner, however, has other plans.''}}

====Part IV====
:''published on 17 February 2013''
{{quote|''Running low on supplies, the cadets discover the reality of their situation and must decide on a risky course of action.''}}

====Part V====
:''published on 25 March 2013''
{{quote|''Read the exciting conclusion to Book 3 now!''}}

===Book Four===
====Part I====
:''published on 06 June 2013''
{{quote|''Book Four of the Nellus Academy Incident begins here! In Part 1, the cadets must deal with their recent losses and muster up the courage to do what must be done.''}}

====Part II====
:''published on 13 June 2013''
{{quote|''The Nellus Academy cadets reorder their priorities. Is surviving still one of them?''}}

====Part III====
:''published on 20 June 2013''
{{quote|''In Part 3, the cadets are ready to undertake a dangerous mission, but will Aster's diversion be enough to keep them alive?''}}

====Part IV====
:''published on 27 June 2013''
{{quote|''In Part 4, the mission is a go. This is what the cadets have trained for, but this time all of the bullets are real.''}}

====Part V====
:''published on 08 July 2013''
{{quote|''Things are finally starting to look up, but will the cadets' luck hold out long enough to escape? Find out in the exciting conclusion to Book 4 of the Nellus Academy Incident!''}}

===Book Five===
====Part I====
:''published on 10 November 2013''x
{{quote|''The final act of The Nellus Academy Incident is here! In Part 1 of Book 5, the cadets need to keep their wits about them if they're going to find a way out of the base alive.''}}

====Part II====
:''published on 17 November 2013''
{{quote|''In part 2, the cadets must escape the mercenary base. Can they gain control of the 'Mech before it's too late?''}}

====Part III====
:''published on 24 November 2013''
{{quote|''The Nellus Academy Incident comes down to the final few chapters! In Part 3, the cavalry arrives, but the cadets have no means of identifying themselves as friendlies.''}}

====Part IV====
:''published on 01 December 2013''
{{quote|''In the penultimate chapter of the Nellus Academy Incident, the cadets must fight for their lives to escape. But can Cadet Allegra overcome the shadow of the past?''}}

====Part V====
:''published on 15 December 2013''
{{quote|''Will the Nellus Academy cadets make it out alive? Find out in the final chapter of the Nellus Academy Incident!''}}

==Plot summary==
[[Allegra Greene]], two years from graduating from cadet training, begins attending a new school, the [[Nellus Academy]] on [[Nestor]]. Her father, war hero [[Colonel]] [[Seamus Greene]], has moved to Nestor to command a brand new refueling station. Before normal classes even start, she, along with seven top students, is shunted off to a special group, sequestered for a special job: a media event trip with [[General]] [[Gurald Eichner]] in honor of the new refueling station. The cadets suspect something more is going on, their parents and teachers being unusually tight-lipped. Their investigation secures an initial briefing from Eichner: their role is truly to help catch a [[Lyran Alliance]] spy.

Aboard the DropShip ''[[Requirement]]'', the cadets' role changes. On 24 October [[3067]], right after a jump, hijackers sent to capture General Eichner, the Lyran-hired [[Bloody Stoats]], make their presence known by taking over the DropShip. Their leader, Baron [[Deimos von Schetzle]], pulls Eichner away and leaves the children guarded. The cadets start planning an escape using the Nellus Academy hand signal cant, but their plan breaks down when cadet [[Kirk Nolan]] is pulled out of the group and murdered. Instead, a more spontaneous uprising ensues, and the children take control of the ship, capturing Deimos. However, one surviving hijacker, left alive to help pilot the ''Requirement'', shoots cadet pilot [[George Hawthorne]] instead, and the injured George cannot avoid a crash landing on a nearby planetoid. George dies in the crash.

The survivors are left burdened with a prisoner and an injured General and left without a clear way to get home. Soon, they realize that they are not alone. Deimos calls the planetoid [[Gienah#Phobos|Phobos]], and says that his mercenaries have a base there, something the cadets confirm. His noteputer indicates that Phobos is to be the launching ground for a Lyran invasion through Nestor. The children start to plan to raid the base and call for help, but again their plans are forced forward: mercenaries arrive at the wreckage, recapture Eichner, and rescue Deimos. On his way out, Deimos murders the unfortunate guard on duty, cadet [[Lily Orit]].

The children's raid is forced forward, four of five cadets participating. The remaining cadet, [[Aster Holloway]], is left behind due to injuries from falling from a tree, and is left to create a distraction. As Aster sets off explosions near the DropShip wreckage, the other cadets slip into the base, hijacking communications to get a distress call out and finding General Eichner. Eichner, unable to fit through the only safe route available, sacrifices himself to let the kids escape.

In the base, the cadets also find a ''[[Commando]]'', Deimos's own. They steal it, giving it to their best MechWarrior, [[Joseph Robson]]. He protects the cadets from ground forces as a League DropShip arrives, and soon enough, almost all the survivors are aboard the ''[[Peregrine (Individual Seeker-class DropShip)|Peregrine]]''. Allegra is slowed by traumatic flashbacks to a years-past attack on her former home of [[Thermopolis]], but is shaken out of them just soon enough to get aboard, leaving only Joseph remaining outside. When the DropShip is marked by [[Target Acquisition Gear]], Joseph sacrifices himself to allow the survivors to escape, blocking the artillery strike with his 'Mech.

Aboard the DropShip, the survivors are told that they will be given honors, the dead will be recognized, and that they will be given cover stories; the League intends to control what is known about this crisis. Lyran mercenaries killing a League general in a botched kidnapping attempt and League forces entering Lyran space mark an unofficial end to peace - conflict is coming.

By 27 October, Deimos's father [[Rayner von Schetzle|Rayner]], examining Phobos, holds three League prisoners from the conflict. He orders [[Eric Nagel]] to find out what really happened, and to determine whether Deimos survived.

== Featured characters ==
* [[Allegra Greene]] 
* [[General]] [[Gurald Eichner]]
* [[Colonel]] [[Seamus Greene]]
* [[Aster Holloway]]
* [[George Hawthorne]]
* [[Joseph Robson]]
* [[Kirk Nolan]]
* [[Lily Orit]]
* [[Rustin Lake]]
* [[Sigrid Zelenova]]
* [[Torin Szasz]]
* [[Shaun Fitzwilliam]]
* Sergeant Stein
* Kuhn
* Faber
* [[Deimos von Schetzle]]
* Gustoff
* Rohben
* Klaus
* Kristoff
* Evan
* Corporal Tyree
* Private Allard
* [[Eric Nagel]]
* [[Rayner von Schetzle]]
* Doctor Ventley (mentioned)
* Professor Screll (mentioned)
* [[Shannon von Schetzle]] (mentioned)

== Featured places ==
*[[Nestor]]
*[[Gienah]]
*[[Concord]] (mentioned)
*[[Thermopolis]] (mentioned)
*[[Bolan]] (mentioned)

== Featured units ==
* [[Bloody Stoats]]

== Featured BattleTech ==
===BattleMechs===
*''[[Commando]]''
*''[[Hercules (BattleMech)|Hercules]]'' (mentioned)
===Vehicles===
*[[Saladin]]
===Small Craft===
*''[[Lyonesse]]''
*[[Mark VII Landing Craft]]
===DropShips===
*''[[Avenger]]'' (''[[Requirement]]'')
*''[[Seeker]]'' (''[[Peregrine (Individual Seeker-class DropShip)|Peregrine]]'')
===JumpShips===
*''[[Merchant]]'' (''[[Starchaser]]'')
*''[[Monolith]]'' (''[[Linz]]'')
===WarShips===
*''[[Impavido]]'' (mentioned)
*''[[Zechetinu]]'' (mentioned)
===Personal Equipment===
*[[TK Assault Rifle]]

==Notes==
* Some technologies appear before their known introduction dates. A [[Commando#Variants|COM-2Dr ''Commando'']], complete with [[MML]], appears almost a decade before the Master Unit List declares the variant available and a year before the MML is in full production. The same is true of the Jihad-era ''[[Lyonesse]]''-M1.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:BattleCorps publications|Nellus Academy Incident, The]]
[[Category:Novels|Nellus Academy Incident, The]]
[[Category:Works by Jennifer Brozek|Nellus Academy Incident, The]]