“We cannot allow ourselves to forget,” Archimbauld said, “that during times of war we must be extra vigilant in the guarding against those unhinged by the cruel and unforgiving nature of combat. Our enemies—be they Capellans, Word of Blake fanatics, or simple criminals—can too easily slip through the cracks in our focus when we ignore local security for grander concerns. The events on Tharkad or in the Free Worlds League are deplorable, of course…but we live here, in Chengdou, and the what affects us here are the dangerous elements here at home.”
Most of our readers will remember the Red Brood attacks as the low point in the state of Ziliang’s planetary defenses during the Fourth Succession War. The Red Brood—a small unit of Ziliang militia who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder—went berserk after losing half their number to a suicide bomber and attacked a crowded market, killing 177 people and injuring more than a thousand more. In the end, the Brood’s Manticores and Drillsons were only stopped by the intervention of a small detachment of Ziliang Militia BattleMechs, who were forced to use deadly force to stop the Brood.
With the furious combat casualties resulting from the Word of Blake’s Jihad, the incidence of post-traumatic stress is increasing everywhere, and many citizens of Chengdou remember far too well the cost of such disorders going untreated.