Editing The Sword and the Dagger

{{InfoBoxProduct
| image               = The Sword and the Dagger.jpg
| name                = 
| type                = Novel
| author              = [[Ardath Mayhar]]
| development         = 
| primarywriting      = 
| pages               = 288
| cover               = [[David R. Deitrick]]
| interiorart         = [[Dana Knutson]] (maps)
| illustrations       = [[Duane Loose]]
| publisher           = [[FASA]]
| productioncode      = 
| year                = April 1987
| ISBN10              = 0931787777
| ISBN13              = 
| MSRP                = 
| content             = 
| era                 = [[Succession Wars era]]
| timeline            = [[3025]]
| series              = 
| precededby          = 
| followedby          = 
}}
'''''The Sword and the Dagger''''', by [[Ardath Mayhar]], was the second [[BattleTech]] novel to be published. It is often erroneously listed as the first BattleTech novel, and was in fact the first novel to be solicited (see ''[[The Sword and the Dagger#Writing BattleTech: The Sword and the Dagger|Writing BattleTech: The Sword and the Dagger]]'' below). In a sense, it is a prequel to the ''[[Warrior trilogy]]''.

Since it is one of the earliest books ever written for the setting, some details are unusual, such as [[aerospace fighter]]s moving from the [[jump point]] to the planet under their own power using large external fuel tanks. The novel is also notable for featuring the [[Swamp people]], one of only two instances of (possibly) intelligent [[alien]] life in the entire BattleTech universe.

The book includes a map of the Highland Peninsula on Stein's Folly.

No exact dates are given in the book. According to the prologue, the story takes place in [[3025]]. In ''[[Warrior: En Garde]]'', Ardan Sortek refers to the Capellan assault on Stein's Folly as eighteen months ago, placing it in July of 3025.

== From the back cover ==
{{quote|''[[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarriors]] believe that the only way to kill a [[BattleMech]] is with another 'Mech... But Generals know that the best way to kill an army of 'Mechs is with a well-placed dagger.''

''The five [[Great Houses|houses]] of the [[Successor States]] employ both warfare and treachery in their efforts to gain control of the interstellar empire once known as the [[Star League]]. Huge, manlike, walking tanks called BattleMechs rule the battlefields, but intrigues and plots rule the imperial courts.''

''[[Hanse Davion]] is [[First Prince|Prince]] of the [[Federated Suns]], the largest of the five warring Houses... an idealistic man who has had to learn that politics is neither honorable nor straightforward.''

''[[Ardan Sortek]] is the commander of Hanse Davion's personal guard. Although a longtime friend of Hanse's, he has not yet learned the lessons of power. Through a chance series of events he stumbles upon a plot of such magnitude, that it threatens the balance of power of [[Inner Sphere]]. Unfortunately, no one will believe him... Indeed, they think he is quite mad.''

''Is Ardan crazy or is someone trying to kill Hanse Davion?''}}

== Plot Summary ==
Ever since the recent fall of the [[Redfield]] system to the [[Capellan Confederation]], the [[Federated Suns]] have been expecting the Capellans to attack the [[Stein's Folly]] system next. The attack comes unexpectedly swift, however. By destroying the radio transmitter aboard the zenith recharge station, Capellan forces disable the early warning system, then proceed to capture two valuable ''[[Invader]]''-class [[JumpShip]]s and launch an assault on the planet. Capellan space ace [[Uchita Tucker]] spearheads the fighter attack, and on the ground the defenders are soon overrun by Capellan 'Mechs.

Meanwhile on [[New Avalon]], [[Ardan Sortek]] is disenchanted by court life and politics, which turned out quite different from how he and his childhood friend Hanse Davion expected them to be when Hanse unexpectedly became First Prince of the Federated Suns. Ardan, currently serving in the [[Davion Brigade of Guards]], now yearns to get back to frontline soldiering. In a personal talk with Hanse, the embittered Ardan requests a transfer from the Royal Guards to the combat units bound to retake Stein's Folly. His request is granted.

[[Maximilian Liao]], the Capellan Chancellor, is plotting Davion's downfall, and proves well informed about the enemy troop movements. Expecting the counterattack, he plans to turn Stein's Folly into a trap for the Davion forces with the help of Hanse Davion's traitorous brother-in-law, [[Michael Hasek-Davion]]. When [[Colonel#Capellan Confederation Armed Forces|Colonel]] [[Pavel Ridzik]] reports that Liao forces on Stein's Folly are still facing heavy guerrilla resistance and are suffering substantial losses of men and matériel, Liao orders him in a fit of rage to return there and take matters into his own hands.

Before leaving for [[Dragon's Field]], where the Davion troops are drawn together for the counterattack under the cover of the world's clouds, Ardan visits his family who run a farm on New Avalon to discuss his misgivings about war and politics with them, irritated that Hanse Davion would meddle in the affairs of other Successor States. (Hanse has secretly been supporting uprisings in the [[Free Worlds League]], which Ardan finds dishonorable and backhanded.)

During a planning session on Dragon's Field, Ardan's farming background allows him to recognize a potential trap on Stein's Folly: The Highland Peninsula holding the capital city of Steinsdown is precariously dependent on food imports and could easily be cut off and besieged. Ardan suggests a radically altered assault strategy that will turn the tables on any would-be ambushers. Commanders [[Lees Hamman]] and [[Ran Felsner]] agree that the existing battle plan would indeed make them vulnerable if the Capellans set a trap as suspected by Sortek. Last-minute changes are implemented against the resistance of Fleet Admiral Bertholi, who has to recalculate approach vectors and new drop points for his entire [[DropShip]] fleet. Duke Michael Hasek-Davion is angry when confronted with the altered plans and tries to convince them to return to the original plan calling for a direct attack on Steinsdown. To appease the Duke, Felsner pretends to give in and leaves the Duke with the (false) impression that the proposed changes would not be implemented after all.

The Federated Suns DropShips approach Stein's Folly almost unopposed, but as they prepare to move into orbit, a large force of Capellan [[aerospace fighter]]s scrambles on a course that would have been the intercept course against DropShips heading for Steinsdown, proving Ardan's hunch correct. In the evolving space battle, Ardan in his ''[[Victor]]'' is combat dropped from the DropShip ''[[Exeter (Individual Union-class DropShip)|Exeter]]''. He misses his drop zone by some two kilometers and drops into a swamp where his 'Mech is stuck until a friendly ''[[Crusader]]'' piloted by [[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarrior]] Donald Fitzgerald pulls him out with a cable. It turns out that the Davion troops were badly scattered in the drop. Ardan and Fitzgerald move to rejoin friendly lines, fighting past a ''[[Thunderbolt]]'' and a ''[[Warhammer]]'' and wrecking the [[Autocannon/20]] on Ardan's ''Victor'' in the process. After they link up with friendly troops, Fitzgerald is killed in a bombing attack by a lone ''[[Thrush]]'' fighter (implied to be Uchita Tucker's). Later, in a battle in a heavily wooded area, Ardan is separated from his allies and his 'Mech is destroyed by an enemy ''[[Zeus]]''. Ardan ejects, but is injured in the process and ends up stranded in the Ordolo swamp with a broken arm, a sprained leg and no supplies besides a knife.

Reporting on the failed ambush to Chancellor Liao, Pavel Ridzik acknowledges that the overmatched Liao forces will have to withdraw to Redfield. When Liao mentions that Ardan Sortek, a personal friend of Hanse Davion, was known to be among the attackers, Ridzik recalls a report about a ''Victor'' being destroyed and deducts that it was Sortek who ejected into the swamps. A search and rescue mission is ordered to find him. Ardan meanwhile tries to leave the hostile swamp, but his injuries and feverish sickness render him barely conscious. Strange alien swamp creatures kidnap him and tie him to a tree, then leave; he notes to his horror that other nearby trees have human skeletons tied to them. Calling for help, he is eventually rescued by a Capellan infantry squad even while the Capellan forces are withdrawing from the planet. Obviously unfit for space transport, the captive Ardan has to be hospitalized.

He awakes in a hospital and recognizes the Liao crest on his medication packs, but curiously he is not restrained or guarded. Dizzily exploring the largely deserted complex, he finds an [[Hanse Davion (False)|unconscious man]] in a cryochamber in one of the rooms who looks exactly like Hanse Davion. Somewhat later, Davion troops storm the base and rescue Ardan. When found he is in a very bad shape and delirious, and cannot give a coherent report on what he saw. When Hanse Davion receives a report about his friend, he is worried about his state of mind and decides against bringing a possibly mentally ill Ardan Sortek back to New Avalon; instead, he is to be evacuated to [[Tharkad]] aboard a medevac ship from the allied [[Lyran Commonwealth]] that brought supplies to Stein's Folly.

Recuperating on Tharkad as a guest of [[House Steiner]], Ardan insists on having seen a doppelgänger of Hanse Davion. He also discusses his friend Hanse with 15-year-old [[Melissa Steiner]] at length, being among the few people to know that Hanse was promised her hand in marriage in the [[FedCom Accords]]. Finally, after deliberating the doppelgänger issue at length, the Steiners lend Ardan the ''Atlan'', a small JumpShip, to investigate the matter himself. He sends a secret message to his friends on New Avalon, namely to [[Candent Septarian|Candent "Sep" Septarian]], [[Ref Handrikan]] and [[Jarlik]], and with Hanse Davion's consent the group of friends take leave from the Royal Guards and arrange for a ship to take them to Stein's Folly to meet Ardan there. Together, they revisit the deserted hospital on the planet. Ardan discovers a large collection of pictures and holovids of Hanse Davion, revealing him as the focus of intensive study, but before the evidence can be retrieved, demolition charges reduce the building and everything inside to rubble and they barely escape, saving only a few holodiscs that Ardan had on him. The events convince Ardan's friends that the doppelgänger ploy is more than mere hallucination. Concerned for the Prince's safety, Ardan then secretly travels to the Davion summer palace on [[Argyle]] alone with his friends' JumpShip, and breaks into the residence to meet Hanse Davion. Just as they meet, they are confronted by the double. Cleery, the palace's ''Maître de maison'', and adjutant Ekkles support the double, and Ardan and Hanse end up in the authentic medieval dungeon below the palace. Over the course of many days, Hanse Davion is repeatedly taken away to be drugged. Ardan suspects that he is being questioned about his personal secrets.

Meanwhile, Melissa Steiner uncovers that Erl Karn, the medical doctor who treated Ardan Sortek since his evacuation from Stein's Folly, has highly conspicuous contacts. At the same time, Sep, Ref and Jarlik discover that they inexplicably seem to be unable to acquire transportation from Stein's Folly to Argyle, as if someone wanted to hold them Stein's Folly. Alerted, they make for Argyle in all haste, bribing or hijacking ships on the way. When they arrive on Argyle they learn that nothing unusual has allegedly happened on the world. Hanse Davion recently returned from a meeting with [[Katrina Steiner]] on [[Terra]] infuriated, and reportedly plans to abandon the Davion-Steiner Alliance. Later they find out that a disguised Ardan Sortek secretly entered the palace shortly before Prince Davion unexpectedly left for New Avalon. They deduct that Ardan and the real Prince must be secretly held captive, and successfully stage a rescue raid in their heavy BattleMechs (a ''Warhammer'', a ''Crusader'' and a ''[[BattleMaster]]''), then escape to New Avalon. Next, they hide with the help of Maylor Efflinger, the Steiner ambassador on New Avalon who was instructed accordingly by [[Archon]] Katrina Steiner following the strange recent behavior of "Hanse Davion". At the Efflinger refuge they keep a low profile while tensions between the Davion and Steiner realms mount.

Ultimately, a showdown between the two Hanse Davions is arranged on the eve of a public address by the First Prince where the double presumably plans to denounce the alliance with House Steiner. The real Hanse Davion proves his identity through being able to pilot his private ''BattleMaster'', including activating the weapon systems with a code his enemies were unaware of. Thus, the conspiracy is uncovered and terminated and a network of spies is purged from the Federated Suns.

The doppelgänger, a man with no recollection of his old identity, is acknowledged as another victim of the Liao plan and is given a pension and comfortable retirement. It is revealed that Ardan, one of the few persons capable of reliably identifying the true Hanse Davion, was set up by the Liao troops to undermine his credibility. In the aftermath, Ardan receives a new ''Victor'' and joins the troops that recapture Redfield.

==Featured characters==
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Donald Fitzgerald]]
*Commandant [[Sallek Atrion]]
* Cleery
* [[Hanse Davion]]
* [[Hanse Davion (False)]]
*Ambassador [[Maylor Efflinger]]
* Ekkles
*[[Ran Felsner]]
*[[Lees Hamman]]
*[[Ref Handrikan]]
*[[Jarlik]]
*Doctor [[Erl Karns]]
* [[Fani Lettik]]
*[[Chancellor]] [[Maximilian Liao]]
*[[Colonel#Capellan Confederation Armed Forces|Colonel]] [[Pavel Ridzik]]
*[[Candent Septarian]]
*[[Colonel#Armed Forces of the Federated Suns|Colonel]] [[Ardan Sortek]]
*[[Archon]] [[Katrina Steiner]]
*[[Melissa Steiner]]
*[[Uchita Tucker]]
{{div col end}}

==Featured places==
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
*[[Argyle]]
*[[Dragon's Field]] ([[Novaya Zemlya]] in the German translation)
*[[Emerson]] (mentioned)
*[[Hamlin]] ([[Kluane]] in the German translation)
*[[New Avalon]]
*[[New Cleveland]] (mentioned; [[Talcott]] in the German translation)
*[[Ral]] ([[Salem]] in the German translation)
*[[Redfield]] (mentioned)
*[[Stein's Folly]]
*[[Tharkad]]
*[[Tripoli]] (mentioned)
*[[Vincent (system)|Vincent]] (mentioned; [[Friesland]] in the German translation)
{{div col end}}

==Featured units==
*[[17th Avalon Hussars]]
*[[5th Crucis Lancers]]
*[[McCarron's Armored Cavalry]]
*[[St. Ives Armored Cavalry]]

==Featured BattleTech==
==='Mechs===
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* ''[[Archer]]''
* ''[[BattleMaster]]''
* ''[[Catapult]]''
* ''[[Crusader]]'' (also CRD-3D variant)
* ''[[Enforcer]]''
* ''[[JagerMech]]''
* ''[[Ostroc]]''
* ''[[Phoenix Hawk]]''
* ''[[Rifleman]]''
* ''[[Trebuchet]]''
* ''[[Thunderbolt]]''
* ''[[Valkyrie]]''
* ''[[Victor]]''
* ''[[Warhammer]]'' (also WHM-6L ''Hot Hammer'' variant)
* ''[[Wasp]]''
* ''[[Zeus]]''
* unnamed "Prototype" training 'Mechs; capabilities match ''[[Chameleon]]'' TrainingMechs.
{{div col end}}

===Aerospace fighters===
* ''[[Corsair (Aerospace Fighter class)|Corsair]]''
* ''[[Sparrowhawk]]''
* ''[[Stuka]]''
* ''[[Thrush]]''

===DropShips===
* ''[[Overlord (DropShip class)|Overlord]]''
* ''[[Union (DropShip class)|Union]]'' (''[[Exeter (Individual Union-class DropShip)|Exeter]]'', ''[[Alphecca (Individual Union-class DropShip)|Alphecca]]'')

===JumpShips===
* ''[[Invader]]''
* ''[[Star Lord (JumpShip class)|Star Lord]]'' (''[[Sword of Davion]]'')
* ''[[Atlan (Individual JumpShip)|Atlan]]'', a "small" JumpShip of unspecified type; circumstantial evidence suggests ''[[Scout (JumpShip class)|Scout]]'' class
* unspecified Capellan JumpShip, referred to as a freighter and carrying at least four DropShips (presumably ''Star Lord'' class)
* unspecified Capellan vessels, implied to be jump-capable and described as specially modified cargo ships, carrying large numbers of aerospace fighters (presumably ''[[Quetzalcoatl (JumpShip class)|Quetzalcoatl]]'' class)

===Other===
* unspecified jump station at Stein's Folly's zenith jump point

== Writing BattleTech: The Sword and the Dagger ==
Ardath Mayhar wrote a very short essay about writing the novel that was published via [[BattleCorps]] on 12 February 2006 as ''Writing BattleTech: The Sword and the Dagger''. According to the essay, [[w:Tracy Hickman|Tracy Hickman]] and [[w:Margaret Weis|Margaret Weis]] had originally been contracted by [[FASA]] to write the novel and had created a ten-page synopsis of their suggestion for the story, but backed out of the deal when they found a better deal elsewhere. Ardath Mayhar's publisher arranged for their contract to be transferred to her in 1986. Mayhar then received a boardgame package to provide her with details on the universe background. She also got the earlier story synopsis but felt it would not work well as written. She then rewrote it, keeping only the basic idea&mdash;the substitution of a Successor Lord for a body double by his enemies.

According to her, "Walter Keith [''sic''], author of the [[Decision at Thunder Rift|first novel]]" (apparently referring to [[William H. Keith, Jr.]]), was brought in to help her out in writing combat scenes that did not involve 'Mechs, because personal weapons were not covered in the available background material.

==Notes==
* It seems contrived that, and how, Sortek was hospitalized in the same medical facility that held a doppelgänger of Hanse Davion (on a recently captured world to boot), how he happened to find the doppelgänger, and how he was apparently simply left behind when Davion forces retook the world.<br />A fan theory to explain this plot point is that the hospital and doppelgänger were actually constructed once the Liao forces had captured him, as a devious scheme to make him believe he had found a doppelgänger by coincidence. The idea would have been to discredit Sortek, one of the few uncompromised people who knew Hanse Davion well enough to foil the actual doppelgänger ploy, by making him appear as a traumatized, paranoid lunatic exactly because of this contrived story.

==Foreign-Language Editions==
===French===
A French edition, translated by Marc Gazo, was published by [[Fleuve Noir]] in 1997 as ''Par la Dague et par l'Épée'' (ISBN 2265062170).<ref>Bibliothèque nationale de France Catalogue Général entry for [http://ark.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb358638896 ''Par la Dague et par l'Épée'']</ref>

===German===
A German edition, translated by [[Reinhold H. Mai]], was published by [[Heyne]] in 1990 as ''Das Schwert und der Dolch'' (ISBN 9783453042711).<ref>Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Catalog entry for [https://d-nb.info/910135738 1990 Heyne edition of ''Das Schwert und der Dolch'']</ref>  The book had several printings, including a seventh printing in 1995 under the same ISBN.<ref>Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Catalog entry for [https://d-nb.info/944533094 seventh Heyne printing of ''Das Schwert und der Dolch'']</ref>  This was republished by [[Fantasy Productions]] in 2004 (ISBN 9783890644257).<ref>Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Catalog entry for [https://d-nb.info/972498656 Fantasy Productions printing of ''Das Schwert und der Dolch'']</ref>

== Covers ==
<gallery>
Image:The Sword and the Dagger.jpg|Original 1987 cover. Art by [[David R. Deitrick]].
Image:Par la Dague et par l'Épée.jpg|French edition.
Image:Sword_and_Dagger_german.jpg|1990 German edition. Art by [[David R. Deitrick]].
Image:Sword_and_Dagger_german2.jpg|2004 German edition (reprint). Art by [[Franz Vohwinkel]].
</gallery>

=References=
<references/>


[[Category:Novels|Sword and the Dagger, The]]
[[Category:Classic BattleTech novels|Sword and the Dagger, The]]
[[Category:Works by Ardath Mayhar|Sword and the Dagger, The]]
[[Category:French Editions|Sword and the Dagger, The]]
[[Category:German Editions|Sword and the Dagger, The]]