Red Asphalt

Title: Red Asphalt
Series: Battletech/MechWarrior
Original Publication: August 2012, Classic Battletech Forums

The last (for now) part of the Grand Theft Agro series, Red Asphalt serves as a wrap-up of sorts, closing off some storylines while opening new ones up. It also was intended to show the change and evolution in the timeline from the earlier fics; conflicts grew and forces became larger, but there would still be those people who, by their actions, can make a world of difference. It also serves to show the changes in the characters, their motivations and their goals, especially when a changing world shifts the proverbial goalposts.

As normal for me, there's a lot of character introduction. This is a necessity; very few carry-over characters appear in this one, which meant that a large cast of newcomers were required. However, a few of them should be sticking around for the future.


Trivia:

The theme naming from earlier Grand Theft Agro fics carries over.

Natan's part was an oddball one; originally he started out as two separate characters with vaguely overlapping roles, but  one of them was a part of a redundant subplot that wasn't adding anything to the fic and was better used elsewhere. When it was excised, the leftover material was given to him.

Natan's Mad Cat III "Tomatocat" was named for a person I used to know. Hi there, Tomatocat!

Mac Daddy Squid and the Calimarettes were created by Zogster during a crack-headed MegaMek game. They were too awesomely silly not to use

Similarly, the Jones brothers were intended to have a bigger role, but were squeezed out as the fic grew and, because it's me, balooned out of all control.



King's Tigers appeared in the fic Nothing but a Hound Dog, although this fic was written first. They were also mentioned in The Best Laid Plans. It's clear that the years haven't been kind to them. Of course, what happened to them in that time is another matter...


The chase scene at the end of the fic was intended to be longer and to end in the planetary capitol with running into the Legate (possibly quite literally). However, by that point the fic had balooned, and the revised resolution was closer to what I wanted.

Cameron Clarke isn't too upset about what happened to the Mad Cat mk IV. It was already paid for.