A Fistful of Trade Creds

Title: A Fistful of Trade Creds
Series: Battletech/MechWarrior
Original Publication: September 2011, Classic Battletech Forums

Sometimes random ideas just bite. And sometimes they join up with other random ideas and manage to form a coherent story as a result.

A Fistful of Trade Creds was one of those moments. The original concept for the fic come together over a (fantastic) dinner in my favourite Chinese Restaurant as a result of making fun of some in-jokes. It ballooned from there, attaching itself to other stray ideas before reaching its finished form. Surprisingly enough, unlike many of my fics, there were no major re-writes or redevelopments along the way.

While this fic runs parallel to the Grand Theft Agro series, it’s not really a part of it. There are no major GTA characters in it, and it doesn’t really affect the overall plot. On the other hand, it does continue the story of some of the minor characters.

Trivia:

The original of this fic was (somehow) lost. As a result, the version presented here is reconstructed from compiling several different fragments and thoroughly re-editing.

The original core inspiration for the fic was the one-shot scene between Cameron Clarke and Miri Wolf. Everything else came after that. Yes, the protagonist turned out to be a later addition to the fic.

Miri Wolf first appeared in Take On Me. Nile Wolf was originally created for that chapter, but was never used due to space and story constraints. Like Miri, he was based on somebody I knew. If you’re out there and reading this, then hi!

Besides Zahrah Pryde’s Mad Cat Mk IV, the other members of her star were a Thor, Loki, Vulture (or Vulture mk IV) and Goshawk. The second star consisted of a Vixen, Shadow Hawk IIC, Koshi, Ocelot and Mongoose. No stats for the Mad Cat Mk IV had been published at the time of writing; the fic was written assuming that its stats were similar to the original Mad Cat’s while keeping the weapons deliberately vague. It’s safe to assume that it could beat a Rakshasa, although the gap in pilot quality helps.

A post-script scene featuring Miri and Nile’s fates was drafted but never written. It may yet see the light of day somewhere else.