Difference between revisions of "Früchte voll Bitterkeit"
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== Overview == | == Overview == | ||
| − | Set between 19 April 2604 and 01 May 2605, the novel depicts a sect leader's bid for power by attempting to abduct the | + | Set between 19 April 2604 and 01 May 2605, the novel depicts a sect leader's bid for power by attempting to abduct a scion of the ruling Marik family as he secretly travels to [[Tamarind]]. |
== Canonicity == | == Canonicity == | ||
| Line 33: | Line 33: | ||
== From the back cover (translated from German) == | == From the back cover (translated from German) == | ||
| − | {{quote|''Uproar in the Marik realm: Provincial planet Tamarind's capital city is the target of an attack by religious fanatics—well armed, highly motivated, unscrupulous.<br />Their leader wants to get hold of a member of the Marik family. Everything seems to be going | + | {{quote|''Uproar in the [[Free Worlds League|Marik realm]]: Provincial planet [[Tamarind]]'s capital city is the target of an attack by religious fanatics—well armed, highly motivated, unscrupulous.<br />Their leader wants to get hold of a member of the Marik family. Everything seems to be going according to plan until the "Mech Friends", a group of juvenile [[BattleMech]] fans, show up. With the help of some washed-up officers, they attempt to avert the disaster and mount resistance. An enthralling race against time begins...''}} |
== Plot Summary == | == Plot Summary == | ||
| − | + | [[Captain-General]] [[Brion Marik II]] sends his trusted military inspector and personal friend Katharina Wlaschek to Tamarind with orders to inspect the local military. The true reason is that Brion Marik's father-in-law, who lives on Tamarind, is terminally ill; Wlaschek is known to usually travel with her orphaned six-year old granddaughter, and the Captain-General wants her to take his son Thomas (''presumably meant to be his grandson Tomas, see Notes below'') along incognito to see his great-grandfather one last time. | |
| + | The plan is overheard by an [[Duchy of Andurien|Andurian]] officer who spies for the [[Exituri]] sect and reports to his sect leader, [[Lieutenant General]] Maurice Dekobra, aboard a [[WarShip]] orbiting [[Atreus]]. Through his sect and their network of henchmen, Dekobra hopes to take the young Marik scion hostage and use him as a tool to influence the Captain-General. | ||
| + | |||
| + | 150 sleeper agents are activated are trickle into Tamarind City over the upcoming months, blackmailed by their unknown master for various sins and crimes in their past such as illegal immigration, identity theft, fraud or running a child porn network. Knowing nothing of each other, they include common people as well as prominent individuals such as the mayor of Tamarind City as well as his assistant and a police colonel. Combined, their specific orders (various acts of sabotage, murder and a bank heist) congeal into an intricate plan to sow chaos and civil unrest in the city on 2 April 2605, culminating in a nightly curfew. The general chaos allows groups of highly trained operatives to seize the planet's sole radio station, the militia barracks and the police headquarters in clandestine actions and impersonate the staff to maintain the impression that everything runs as usual. Their ultimate plan is to capture the inbound [[DropShip]] ''Gustav Meyrink'' that is carrying inspector Wlaschek and the young Marik scion, to take the latter hostage. (Dekobra's true plan is to be called to Tamarind with his WarShip in response, where he intents to rescue the young Marik heir from the Exituri and become a hero, then have Brion Marik assassinated and be named his successor; it is implied that Dekobra was also responsible for the recent assassination of [[Albrecht Marik]].) | ||
| + | |||
| + | In the militia barracks, [[Captain]] Jiri Orten tries to raise alarm when he finds infiltrators posing as orderlies on an officer's birthday party during the night. However, the "guards" turn out to be mercenaries wearing uniforms with name tags of people Orten knew. He is apprehended, but his guards are wounded when the 'Mech hangars are wrecked with demolition charges. Orten escapes and races to meet a friend, [[Lieutenant]] Esah Ts'gna, who is celebrating his 35th birthday in another bar. The assembled officers refuse to believe Orten's story, and [[Colonel]] Marlattow orders Lieutenants Cumrow and Lippinsky to "escort" him when they move out in two jeeps to investigate just to be sure. Enroute, Orten's jeep picks up Captain Egon Hostovsky and then witnesses how the unknown guards at the barracks gate arrest the officers in the other jeep, convincing the others that Orten's story might be true after all. Hostovsky, being the most experienced and also a trained special operations agent, assumes command of the group. They discover a concealed rope ladder going over the barracks fence and Hostovsky and Cumrow enter the area. After the collapse of the hangars, chaos reigns. Amidst the ongoing nightly firefighting efforts they find evidence of military-style charges and overhear two "guards" discussing the planned capture of a Marik scion. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Two days later, the explosion in the militia barracks is reported as a fuel dump explosion in the news. To ostensibly prevent the involvement of military forces in the ongoing riots, the militia was ordered to stand down and keep the gates closed; Jiri Orten is called upon to report for duty. Hostovsky unsuccessfully tries to contact the secret service; an attempt to find other militia soldiers at a bar also fails. Orten then introduces them to a friend: Ota Pavel, an ex-[[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarrior]] who now owns a rundown combined tech workshop, garage and scrapyard. It turns out that Pavel is connected to the "Mech Friends", a group of youngsters sharing a fascination for [[BattleMech]]s, and that they are working on refurbishing a disassembled ''[[Clint]]''. | ||
== Characters == | == Characters == | ||
| − | *[[Captain-General]] [[Brion Marik II]] | + | *[[Lieutenant]] '''Martin Cumrow''': A capable soldier, he nevertheless provokes Ota Pavel into choking him to near-death by mocking his cybernetic implants. The only MechWarrior among the resistance who has any simulator training whatsoever on the rare ''Clint'' design. |
| − | *[[ | + | *[[Lieutenant-General]] '''Maurice Dekobra''': Exituri member, but in fact also the leader of the [[w:Skoptsy|Skopze]], a small, secret and apparently prosecuted sect that has infiltrated the Exituri and aims to use them as disposable terror tools because they do not truly share their religious convictions. The Skopze aim to blame the atrocities committed on Tamarind on the Exituri, but unbeknownst to them Dekobra is acutally prepared to sacrifice both sects in his bid for power, considering himself a chosen one. |
| − | *Inspector Katharina Wlaschek | + | *Captain '''Egon Hostovsky''': A former intelligence and special operations agent of the National Intelligence Agency who joined the military following an injury to his hand, making him feel unfit for further duty as a field operative. 1.85m tall, 45 years old. |
| + | *Lieutenant '''Lippinsky''' | ||
| + | *[[Captain-General]] '''[[Brion Marik II]]''' | ||
| + | *Captain '''Jiri Orten''': A small (1.69m) and slightly overweight militia soldier whose career stalled (a past demotion is mentioned). He is implied to be a heavy drinker and is in fact the only officer at the party who remains sober (or alcohol resistant) enough to recognize the infiltrators, attempt to raise alarm, and escape to inform others. | ||
| + | *'''Ota Pavel''': A former MechWarrior, he was grievously wounded in a combat drop on [[Bethonolog]] when a "TV satellite" turned out to be armed and damaged his drop cocoon. After crashlanding his ''[[Kintaro]]'' on a mountain side, he fought his way through enemy lines for four days. The old and bald man now has a prosthetic hand and leg and needs a speech synthesizer (called vocoder) to speak. | ||
| + | *Lieutenant '''Esah Ts'gna''': Not native to Tamarind and of african descent, the 35 year old deputy commander of the Fourth Tamarind Home Militia is a close friend of Jiri Orten, who has taken him under his wing and considers him something of an adoptive son. | ||
| + | *Inspector '''Katharina Wlaschek''': A stern and incorruptible military inspector, and one of the preciously few in her time to effectively combat the rampant corruption, incompetence and mismanagement in the Free Worlds League's military forces. | ||
| + | |||
== Featured places == | == Featured places == | ||
| − | *[[ | + | *[[Anegasaki]] (mentioned, as "Anegaski") |
*[[Atreus]] | *[[Atreus]] | ||
| − | *[[ | + | *[[Bethonolog]] (mentioned, as "Betolonog") |
| + | *[[Hesperus II]] (mentioned) | ||
| + | *Jessica III (mentioned) | ||
*[[Kosciusko]] (mentioned) | *[[Kosciusko]] (mentioned) | ||
*[[Millungera]] (mentioned) | *[[Millungera]] (mentioned) | ||
| − | *[[ | + | *[[Saltillo]] (mentioned) |
*[[Tamarind]] | *[[Tamarind]] | ||
| − | |||
== Featured BattleTech == | == Featured BattleTech == | ||
===BattleMechs=== | ===BattleMechs=== | ||
| Line 66: | Line 81: | ||
*''[[Lola III]]'' destroyer (mentioned; presumably in error, see Notes below) | *''[[Lola III]]'' destroyer (mentioned; presumably in error, see Notes below) | ||
*''[[Vincent]] Mark XXV'' corvette | *''[[Vincent]] Mark XXV'' corvette | ||
| − | + | *unspecified DropShip ''Gustav Meyrink'' | |
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
| − | *Dekobra's flagship, the ''Vlad Tepes'', is initially introduced on p. 81 as a ''Lola III''-class destroyer, which is impossible as this class first entered service in [[2662]]. In a later chapter on p. 177, it is described as a ''Vincent Mark XXV'' corvette and the vessel's length is given as "over 400 meters" (accurate for a 402 meter ''Vincent'') | + | *Dekobra's flagship, the ''Vlad Tepes'', is initially introduced on p. 81 as a ''Lola III''-class destroyer, which is impossible as this class first entered service in [[2662]]. In a later chapter on p. 177, it is described as a ''Vincent Mark XXV'' corvette instead, and the vessel's length is given as "over 400 meters" (accurate for a 402 meter ''Vincent'') |
| + | *The child to be kidnapped is consistently described as Brion Marik (II)'s seven year old son Thomas. However, Brion Marik had no son named Thomas. Instead, the child in question is apparently Brion Marik's grandson [[Tomas Marik]], son of Brion's son [[Quentin Marik]] and born in [[2598]], i.e. seven years old at the time the novel is set. This is further supported by the fact that Brion Marik's father-in-law is referred to as the child's great-grandfather (instead of grandfather). | ||
Revision as of 17:06, 26 October 2011
 | Apocryphal Product Although the subject of this article is an official BattleTech product, it does not meet the current criteria for Canon. Its content may or may not be canonical for the BattleTech universe, and for the purpose of the Sarna.net BattleTechWiki is considered apocryphal. |
| |
| Früchte voll Bitterkeit | |
|---|---|
| Product information | |
| Type | Novel |
| Author | Hermann Ritter Erik Schreiber |
| Pages | 320 |
| Cover Artwork | Swen Papenbrock |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Fantasy Productions GmbH |
| Product code | 31011 |
| First published | 2006 |
| ISBN-10 | 3890644589 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-389064585 Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: length |
| MSRP | 9,00 € |
| Content | |
| Era | Star League era |
| Timeline | 19 April 2604—01 May 2605 |
| Series | Classic BattleTech Novels |
Früchte voll Bitterkeit ("Fruits (full) of bitterness"), co-written by Hermann Ritter and Erik Schreiber, is a German-language BattleTech novel published by FanPro in 2006 as the 10th in their line of Classic BattleTech Novels. It has not been translated into English so far.
Contents
Overview
Set between 19 April 2604 and 01 May 2605, the novel depicts a sect leader's bid for power by attempting to abduct a scion of the ruling Marik family as he secretly travels to Tamarind.
Canonicity
Written in German and exclusively published in that language so far, Früchte voll Bitterkeit does not technically meet the current criteria for Canon in the BattleTech universe. As an official product published under a valid license, it should be regarded as apocryphal instead.
From the back cover (translated from German)
| “ | Uproar in the Marik realm: Provincial planet Tamarind's capital city is the target of an attack by religious fanatics—well armed, highly motivated, unscrupulous. Their leader wants to get hold of a member of the Marik family. Everything seems to be going according to plan until the "Mech Friends", a group of juvenile BattleMech fans, show up. With the help of some washed-up officers, they attempt to avert the disaster and mount resistance. An enthralling race against time begins... |
” |
Plot Summary
Captain-General Brion Marik II sends his trusted military inspector and personal friend Katharina Wlaschek to Tamarind with orders to inspect the local military. The true reason is that Brion Marik's father-in-law, who lives on Tamarind, is terminally ill; Wlaschek is known to usually travel with her orphaned six-year old granddaughter, and the Captain-General wants her to take his son Thomas (presumably meant to be his grandson Tomas, see Notes below) along incognito to see his great-grandfather one last time.
The plan is overheard by an Andurian officer who spies for the Exituri sect and reports to his sect leader, Lieutenant General Maurice Dekobra, aboard a WarShip orbiting Atreus. Through his sect and their network of henchmen, Dekobra hopes to take the young Marik scion hostage and use him as a tool to influence the Captain-General.
150 sleeper agents are activated are trickle into Tamarind City over the upcoming months, blackmailed by their unknown master for various sins and crimes in their past such as illegal immigration, identity theft, fraud or running a child porn network. Knowing nothing of each other, they include common people as well as prominent individuals such as the mayor of Tamarind City as well as his assistant and a police colonel. Combined, their specific orders (various acts of sabotage, murder and a bank heist) congeal into an intricate plan to sow chaos and civil unrest in the city on 2 April 2605, culminating in a nightly curfew. The general chaos allows groups of highly trained operatives to seize the planet's sole radio station, the militia barracks and the police headquarters in clandestine actions and impersonate the staff to maintain the impression that everything runs as usual. Their ultimate plan is to capture the inbound DropShip Gustav Meyrink that is carrying inspector Wlaschek and the young Marik scion, to take the latter hostage. (Dekobra's true plan is to be called to Tamarind with his WarShip in response, where he intents to rescue the young Marik heir from the Exituri and become a hero, then have Brion Marik assassinated and be named his successor; it is implied that Dekobra was also responsible for the recent assassination of Albrecht Marik.)
In the militia barracks, Captain Jiri Orten tries to raise alarm when he finds infiltrators posing as orderlies on an officer's birthday party during the night. However, the "guards" turn out to be mercenaries wearing uniforms with name tags of people Orten knew. He is apprehended, but his guards are wounded when the 'Mech hangars are wrecked with demolition charges. Orten escapes and races to meet a friend, Lieutenant Esah Ts'gna, who is celebrating his 35th birthday in another bar. The assembled officers refuse to believe Orten's story, and Colonel Marlattow orders Lieutenants Cumrow and Lippinsky to "escort" him when they move out in two jeeps to investigate just to be sure. Enroute, Orten's jeep picks up Captain Egon Hostovsky and then witnesses how the unknown guards at the barracks gate arrest the officers in the other jeep, convincing the others that Orten's story might be true after all. Hostovsky, being the most experienced and also a trained special operations agent, assumes command of the group. They discover a concealed rope ladder going over the barracks fence and Hostovsky and Cumrow enter the area. After the collapse of the hangars, chaos reigns. Amidst the ongoing nightly firefighting efforts they find evidence of military-style charges and overhear two "guards" discussing the planned capture of a Marik scion.
Two days later, the explosion in the militia barracks is reported as a fuel dump explosion in the news. To ostensibly prevent the involvement of military forces in the ongoing riots, the militia was ordered to stand down and keep the gates closed; Jiri Orten is called upon to report for duty. Hostovsky unsuccessfully tries to contact the secret service; an attempt to find other militia soldiers at a bar also fails. Orten then introduces them to a friend: Ota Pavel, an ex-MechWarrior who now owns a rundown combined tech workshop, garage and scrapyard. It turns out that Pavel is connected to the "Mech Friends", a group of youngsters sharing a fascination for BattleMechs, and that they are working on refurbishing a disassembled Clint.
Characters
- Lieutenant Martin Cumrow: A capable soldier, he nevertheless provokes Ota Pavel into choking him to near-death by mocking his cybernetic implants. The only MechWarrior among the resistance who has any simulator training whatsoever on the rare Clint design.
- Lieutenant-General Maurice Dekobra: Exituri member, but in fact also the leader of the Skopze, a small, secret and apparently prosecuted sect that has infiltrated the Exituri and aims to use them as disposable terror tools because they do not truly share their religious convictions. The Skopze aim to blame the atrocities committed on Tamarind on the Exituri, but unbeknownst to them Dekobra is acutally prepared to sacrifice both sects in his bid for power, considering himself a chosen one.
- Captain Egon Hostovsky: A former intelligence and special operations agent of the National Intelligence Agency who joined the military following an injury to his hand, making him feel unfit for further duty as a field operative. 1.85m tall, 45 years old.
- Lieutenant Lippinsky
- Captain-General Brion Marik II
- Captain Jiri Orten: A small (1.69m) and slightly overweight militia soldier whose career stalled (a past demotion is mentioned). He is implied to be a heavy drinker and is in fact the only officer at the party who remains sober (or alcohol resistant) enough to recognize the infiltrators, attempt to raise alarm, and escape to inform others.
- Ota Pavel: A former MechWarrior, he was grievously wounded in a combat drop on Bethonolog when a "TV satellite" turned out to be armed and damaged his drop cocoon. After crashlanding his Kintaro on a mountain side, he fought his way through enemy lines for four days. The old and bald man now has a prosthetic hand and leg and needs a speech synthesizer (called vocoder) to speak.
- Lieutenant Esah Ts'gna: Not native to Tamarind and of african descent, the 35 year old deputy commander of the Fourth Tamarind Home Militia is a close friend of Jiri Orten, who has taken him under his wing and considers him something of an adoptive son.
- Inspector Katharina Wlaschek: A stern and incorruptible military inspector, and one of the preciously few in her time to effectively combat the rampant corruption, incompetence and mismanagement in the Free Worlds League's military forces.
Featured places
- Anegasaki (mentioned, as "Anegaski")
- Atreus
- Bethonolog (mentioned, as "Betolonog")
- Hesperus II (mentioned)
- Jessica III (mentioned)
- Kosciusko (mentioned)
- Millungera (mentioned)
- Saltillo (mentioned)
- Tamarind
Featured BattleTech
BattleMechs
Vehicles
Other
- Spad-class courier boat
- Lola III destroyer (mentioned; presumably in error, see Notes below)
- Vincent Mark XXV corvette
- unspecified DropShip Gustav Meyrink
Notes
- Dekobra's flagship, the Vlad Tepes, is initially introduced on p. 81 as a Lola III-class destroyer, which is impossible as this class first entered service in 2662. In a later chapter on p. 177, it is described as a Vincent Mark XXV corvette instead, and the vessel's length is given as "over 400 meters" (accurate for a 402 meter Vincent)
- The child to be kidnapped is consistently described as Brion Marik (II)'s seven year old son Thomas. However, Brion Marik had no son named Thomas. Instead, the child in question is apparently Brion Marik's grandson Tomas Marik, son of Brion's son Quentin Marik and born in 2598, i.e. seven years old at the time the novel is set. This is further supported by the fact that Brion Marik's father-in-law is referred to as the child's great-grandfather (instead of grandfather).