OBT Forum

Another unit from my AU inspired by a ship of the same name from this thread

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=45738.msg1064748#msg1064748

Subtlety Profitable Training College of Military Arts

The Subtlety Profitable Training College of Military Arts is built primarily around a modified McKenna-class Battleship the Subtlety.  Originally known as the SLS Billingsgate the ship fled the Star League Civil War into the periphery where the crew, who were short on food and fuel, landed on a planet surrounded by debris but inhabited by supply personnel from the Rim Worlds Republic.  Within hours of landing on the planet the crew of the SLS Billingsgate had been tortured, mutilated and killed by the people of planet who were desperate to know if the SLDF was coming to get them.  Unfortunately for the Rim Worlds Republic supply staff none were pilots or engineers capable of crewing a space vessel, an intentional precaution taken by Stefan Amaris to ensure that none of his supply base personnel could escape off planet without his knowing.

In 3067 an Interstellar Expeditions sponsored exploration team found the Subtlety while fleeing a pirate group that had steadily eliminated elements of their expedition across multiple systems.  As the senior surviving aerospace fighter pilot Captain William Leroy-Dietrich led a team on board the vessel and turned the McKenna’s guns on the enemy.  The pirates damaged the McKenna further but Leroy-Dietrich and his people were able to destroy all the attacking pirates using a few of the battleship’s remaining guns.  Not knowing the ship’s original name Leroy-Dietrich named the WarShip the Subtlety and called for other elements of the Interstellar Expeditions forces.

Still low on supplies they turned to the planet below only to find some of the descendants of the original Rim Worlds Republic were still alive struggling to survive on the planet below.  Leroy-Dietrich and his crew found a people far different from those the original crew of the SLS Billingsgate had encountered instead they found people desperate for a chance to make a new start and to make up for the mistakes their people had made.  Knowing that having their assistance would make repairs easier Leroy-Dietrich agreed to help support the ground based colony long enough to repair the orbiting battleship while sending a message to the other surviving elements of their expedition team to come to the planet and support their endeavor.

Over the next twenty years Leroy-Dietrich’s people, and the inhabitants of the planet below, repaired and modified the Subtlety, and their JumpShips, for extended space travel while learning how to operate the Subtlety’s jump drive, navigation and weapons systems.  During this time their four Tramp-class JumpShips scouted nearby systems preparing the way for the Subtlety by finding resources.

Captain William Leroy-Dietrich and former colony leader, now-Director, Cynthia Higgins decided that the Subtlety would not be used as a weapon of war and instead that the ship would be used to honour what the vessel’s original purpose instead it would be used to train aerospace fighter pilots, DropShip crew and WarShip crew in the art of fighting with and against a big war vessel.  With the Subtlety’s original modifications as a base and the additional quarters and training rooms added during their time in the periphery the ship and its JumpShips headed back towards the Inner Sphere arriving in the Magistracy of Canopus in 3103.

Since returning to the Inner Sphere the Subtlety have offered military and officer training to the people of the Magistracy of Canopus and various member states of the Free Worlds League.  Both Leroy-Dietrich and Higgins have stated that members of any nation of the Inner Sphere and periphery may join the training college if they can afford it.

Facilities
McKenna-class- Subtlety (SLS Billingsgate)
The Subtlety is based on an experimental Star League-era training ship that fought its way clear of the Terran Hegemony.  It is a ship that has been significantly damaged over the years first escaping the Hegemony, over the years after their escape in the periphery the ship was battered by asteroid fragments and then attacked by pirates as a result its armour is heavily pitted and damaged in places with some minor sections exposed to a vacuum.  The ship’s exact weapons capabilities are unknown.  In 3105 in the Wasat system the ship was attacked by an unknown pirate group and several of the McKenna’s particle cannons were seen in operation but none of the naval autocannons or naval missile launchers were used.

Inside the McKenna-class Battleship the crew and passenger quarters have been significantly expanded and six classrooms for thirty students have been added.  Each classroom is equipped with some of the most advanced holographic systems of the Star League-era and simulators.  Each classroom can be linked to each other and to the Subtlety’s systems allowing the entire ship to act as a massive simulation when required.

All of the Subtlety’s aerospace fighter and small craft bays are occupied by various types of craft which are used in both the defence of the Subtlety and in training exercises.  Rarely does the Subtlety carry more than two DropShips (a Leopard and a Leopard CV most often) with the remaining four docking collars left empty.

Four Tramp-class JumpShips
The Tramps are the core of the College’s living quarters and for the Subtlety’s supply train.  Carried by the Tramps are: 2 Avenger (Upgrade), 1 Achilles (Upgrade), 1 Avenger (Upgrade), 1 Princess, 1 Octopus, 2 Monarch, 3 Mule, 3 Mammoth, 1 Behemoth

Personalities
Captain William Leroy-Dietrich was born on Outreach.  His crew is made up of the children from his Interstellar Expeditions team and descendants from the Rim Worlds Republic trade post team.  They have been cross trained on the different ships of their small flotilla.  He puts his crew through regular training drills as part of their academy studies and works closely with Director Higgins to ensure each cadet gets the full experience of the training college.

He has been married once before to Lorna Raphael-Ferguson, a native of Outreach, who was killed when her fighter suffered critical equipment failure and fell into the atmosphere of a gas giant.  After years concentrating on the Subtlety and the training College he was engaged to Commander America Park of the Magistracy of Canopus in 3105.

 Director Cynthia Higgins – Director of College Enrollment and Training, roughly the same age as Captain Leroy Dietrich in her 50s but looks a lot younger she has dyed white hair.  She is a descendant of deep space a Rim Worlds Republic supply unit which was forgotten after the Star League Civil War.

Commander America Park – originally the Magistracy of Canopus liaison officer – 30s long dark hair.  When the Subtlety left the Magistracy of Canopus she chose to remain with the ship as it traveled into the Free Worlds League.  She and Captain William Leroy-Dietrich were engaged to be married in 3105.