Hanse: I give my able commanders a long leash; that's how you were so successful when you went undercover.
Justin: Your daughter has a… unique perspective.
— First Prince Hanse Davion and Justin Xiang Allard discussing Princess Katherine Steiner-Davion
A Young Woman's Defense of the Inner Sphere is a crossover fanfiction between The Saga of Tanya the Evil and BattleTech by Failninja.
Tanya von Degurechaff dies during the assassination attempt on General Rudersdorf and reincarnates into a third life as Princess Katherine Steiner-Davion of the newly formed Federated Commonwealth, with her starting her family mandated tour of duty in the military right around the time of the Clan Invasion of the Inner Sphere.
This fic can be found here
on Archive of Our Own and here
at SpaceBattles.com.
A Young Woman's Defense of the Inner Sphere contains examples of:
- The Ace: Since the start of the Clan Invasion of the Inner Sphere, Katherine has proven to be the Federated Commonwealth’s most effective military officer and commander in the war against them. This is exemplified by her first orders after being promoted to Hauptmann General: she was given instructions to disrupt the Jade Falcons' rear lines, forcing them to divert forces from their offensive against Sudeten. Capturing territory was a secondary goal, with disruptive raids from the safety of Blackjack being an acceptable strategy. In just two months since her promotion, her forces have reclaimed nine of the Falcons' 40 worlds (over 22%) and severely weakened five more, ensuring their eventual recapture. She has also crippled the Falcons' military strength by eliminating three elite Clusters and disgracing an entire Galaxy command. With their forces diminished and without support from another Clan, any assault on Sudeten is now impossible due to Katherine's counter offensive against them. To top it off, she inadvertently foiled the Diamond Sharks’ surprise intervention, turning what could have been a game-changing maneuver into a manageable threat.
- Adaptational Badass: There is no indication that Canon!Katherine was capable in a mech as her strengths laid more in politics and propaganda. In this story, Katherine is a first-rate MechWarrior who can defeat the best of them.
- Adaptational Heroism: Katherine Steiner-Davion was a self-serving and sociopathic Manipulative Bitch who was willing to orchestrate the assassination of her own mother and pin the blame on her brother for her own goals of taking over the Federated Commonwealth in the original timeline. Here, while she still is quite self-serving, Katherine is a much more evenhanded Guile Heroine dedicated to protecting and aiding in the prosperity the people of the Federated Commonwealth and isn't remotely interested in taking Victor's spot as heir, not to mention is very close to her brother and parents.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Katherine's successful defense of Blackjack and using her various personal resources to invest in its infrastructure during the invasion of the Clans led to its citizens to elect her as their official duchess of the planet.
- Assassin Outclassin': Katherine once soloed a team of assassins out to murder her bodyguard. At the age of nine.
- Badass Family: There are plenty of examples in this story, with House Steiner-Davion being the most prominent example due to being The Protagonist.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: Agent Patricia Ainsworth has been assigned as Katherine's main bodyguard since she was seven years old and has stayed there even when Katherine personally entered the warfront against the Clans.
- The Caligula: Primus Myndo Waterly of ComStar is clearly an unstable and zealous figurehead, who is more than willing to indulge in Revenge Before Reason due to her grudge against Hanse. This reaches its climax when she goes on to nuke Terra when the ComStar civil war begins to go into the favor of Focht.
- Cool Aunt: Zigzagged with Nondi Steiner. While she very much adores Katherine and supports her on her various endeavors, she's much more critical and scrutinizing of Victor.
- Corrupt Church: ComStar being Neutral in Name Only and eventually betraying the Inner Sphere to the Clans is a major part of the story. Gets played with later in the story as the actions of the leadership causes a civil war to erupt when their aid to the Clans is revealed by Hanse on a broadcast.
- The Coup: Precentor Martial Focht launches one against Myndo when it is clear how badly thought through her war against FedCom is. However, ROM agents manage to break her out of her prison, causing a civil war to occur within ComStar.
- Dramatic Irony: During the war with the Clans, Hanse would go on to place Katherine and Victor in positions the audience knows the other would personally prefer to be in during the invasion.
- The Dreaded: In the aftermath of the Battle of Butler, Katherine has cemented herself as this to the Jade Falcons. It has reached the point that Khan Elias Crichel, having been forced to step down from his position due to repeated defeats at her hands, is practically praying that the Federated Commonwealth redirects her attention toward a different Clan.
- Foreign Culture Fetish: Due to being born and raised in Japan in her first life, Katherine has taken a deep interest in the culture and history of the Draconis Combine since she was a child. Given the fact that they are responsible for the death of his brother and are the mortal enemies of the Federated Commonwealth, Hanse really does not like this. Thankfully, he and Katherine were able to reach a compromise by having Katherine promise to make sure to keep her interest in the Combine private.
- Foil: Due to their relationship being much closer than in canon, Katherine and Victor's differences are highlighted much more throughout the story as they represent the two sides of the Federated Commonwealth, respectively.
- Both were better received by the students at the schools they exchanged to than at the ones they originally attended and graduated from, thanks to their personal values and actions. However, Katherine remained largely unaware of her classmates’ dislike of her at New Avalon Military Academy, instead viewing them as bright and hardworking. In contrast, Victor resented his peers at the Nagelring school, seeing them as nothing more than dishonest sycophants eager to ingratiate themselves with the future Archon-Prince.
- Both of them have a habit of pulling Screw the Rules, I Have Connections! with their status as scions of House Steiner-Davion. However, Katherine uses this in order to provide more opportunities and resources for herself and the people following her, while Victor does this whenever met with a situation that isn't going his way with the people on his side.
- When they begin their mandated family military service, both are given the rank of Kommandant and assigned a protective detail. Katherine welcomes the extra security, using it to delegate tasks while focusing on training her troops to meet her high standards. In contrast, Victor dismisses most of his security detail and resents the special treatment he is given, preferring to rise through the ranks on his own merit.
- Internal Reveal: After being broken out of imprisonment by Rom agents, Myndo goes on to broadcast to the galaxy Focht's true idenity being that of Frederick Steiner.
- Glory Hound: Victor is accused of this by Marshal Sharon Bryan on Coventry.
- Godzilla Threshold: When informed by Justin that ComStar has WarShips headed towards Galax, where their technology shipyard is located, Hanse is convinced to use nuclear weapons to fight off the incoming force, as while use of nukes in space doesn't technically violate the Ares Convention it could seriously damage their image. Thankfully, Myndo nuking Terra before his own deployment makes his choice to use them alot more reasonable to the general public.
- I Call It "Vera": After winning a WarShip from the Diamond Sharks, Katherine names it the Aiko Roth in honor of her recently killed friend.
- Like Father, Like Son: During the planning meeting to deal with the surprise appearance of the Jade Falcons, Marshal Alberta Orsina notes that Katherine's force of personality and cold calculus makes her resemble her father, causing her to wonder if the war with the Clans made her like that or if she was always so inhuman.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Hanse is more than alarmed when Justin informs him that another Clan, the Steel Vipers, has entered the space near Blackjack, where Katherine is stationed. This contributed to the heart attack he experienced shortly after.Hanse: May God forgive me. I sent my precious daughter into the lion's den, not realizing it was more than just lions that she has to fear.
- Never My Fault: Myndo blames Focht for forcing her hand after using nukes on Terra to try and kill him.
- Not So Stoic: Katherine completely loses her cool when she finds out that the unit Victor, Kai, and Wendy are in is at Loxley and made a batchcall with the Snow Ravens, being angry enough that she throws a chair. Considering that she recently lost Aiko at that point, Katherine's frustration is understandable.
- Nuke 'Em: Myndo order nuclear strikes against Terra to take down or at the very least cripple Focht and his allies when most of Com Guards sides with him.
- Number Two: Justin Allard is the very competent right hand man of Hanse. Aiko Roth also serves as this to Katherine until the Battle of Butler against the Diamond Sharks, where she dies after saving Katherine from a deadly laser shot. After which, Ainsworth takes over the spot going forward. Victor himself has Galen Cox.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Hanse and Nondi, really do not like each, with this even managing to spill over military affairs despite their respective professionalism.
- Official Couple: Kai Allard-Liao and Wendy Sylvester. They later get married a few years later after graduating from school.
- Oh, Crap!: Katherine gets a massive one when her attempts at getting reassigned backfired and is instead promoted as Hauptmann General and will lead the counteroffensive against the Jade Falcons.
- Old Soldier: Lt Colonel Hans Lautner is in his eighties, but is still a good enough mech pilot that after Katherine recalls him to duty, he's quickly appointed as head of her battlemech units and regularly outperforms pilots half a century younger on the battlefield.
- Overranked Soldier: Katherine gets the rank of Kommandant the moment she graduates from college but is put in command of a research unit not expected to see actual combat. A few months later, she's a Colonel for successfully repelling the Jade Falcon attack on Blackjack, and after a few months of successful raids and counteroffensives, has gained general's stars before the age of twenty.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Victor himself is a very capable MechWarrior and tactician in his own right, but Katherine's military feats during the Clan invasion is shown to be downright legendary throughout the Inner Sphere and even among the Clans themselves. While he doesn't resent her for it, Victor is clearly eager to join the fight against the Clans in order to prove himself on his own merits just like she has.
- Papa Wolf: Hanse is beyond furious after ComStar's retaliation against Operation FLUSH gets Katherine caught up in it and was ready to grab his mech to burn down their headquarters himself. Throughout the story, he is shown to be very protective of both Katherine and Victor.
- Pregnant Badass: Right before the final batchcall fight against Clan Snow Ravens on Loxley, Wendy finds out that she's pregnant but chooses not to inform Kai or anyone else of it to avoid distracting them. She still manages to participate in the match, even managing to take down a MechWarrior before being forced to eject.
- Recruiting the Criminal: In order to properly build up defenses against the Jade Falcons and the rest of the Clans, Katherine granted full pardonship to the various gangs and criminal elements present on Blackjack in exchange for joining the army to help fight against the invasion.
- Renaissance Woman: Since the age of seven, Katherine has eagerly dived into numerous fields. So far, she has excelled as a successful model, a shrewd businesswoman, an expert marksman, a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, a top student at two prestigious academies, a formidable MechWarrior, and a brilliant military commander in the middle of an ongoing war.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Katherine saw red as she brutally destroyed the battlemech responsible for Aiko's death on Butler.
- Shipping Torpedo: Katherine goes out of her way to ensure that a potential romantic relationship between Victor and Omiko Kurita is stopped before it can develop, recognizing the many issues such a union would create. She even approaches Omiko's father, securing his help in preventing the relationship in exchange for a personal favor.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Katherine and Victor, with the former embodying more of the Lyran side of the Federated Commonwealth while the latter embodies the Federated Suns side of things. Despite this, they get along much better than the original timeline.
- Slasher Smile: Both Romano Liao and Sun-Tzu show off this when Hanse experiences a heartattack in front of the assemblely at Outreach, with Victor swearing to make them pay for it.
- So Proud of You: Hanse takes alot of pride in Katherine's ever mounting military accomplishments during the war with the Clans, outright considering her contributions and leadership the crowning glory of the defense of the Lyran Commonwealth thus far at that point. He also takes alot of pride in how far Victor has come as a MechWarrior.
- Spoiled Brat: Subverted with Katherine in reality, but this is the impression she gives to her classmates at New Avalon Military Academy due to skipping classes without them knowing she's also duel enrolling at the College of Engineering.
- Springtime for Hitler: As per usual for Katherine. With the standout example for this story being the summit on Outreach, with her attempts at getting reassigned to the NAIS to help with technology development ends with her getting assigned her own strike force to lead against the Clans.
- The Strategist: Given it's the BattleTech setting, this was inevitable, with the usual suspects - such as Hanse Davion, Ulric Kerensky, and Theodore Kurita - being in top form.
- Katherine, thanks to her military experience from her past life, manages to keep up with the best of them. This is best shown in the Battle of Bulter, where she manages to overcome the Jade Falcons' assaulting force and a surprise attack from Clan Diamond Sharks back-to-back through a deadly combination of the Cold Equation and cunning placement of her forces all across the battlefield.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: The first impression Katherine gives is that of a true ice princess, coming across as arrogant and standoffish to those around her. However, the longer one spends time with her, the more they realize she is a genuinely caring person who always strives to ensure the safety and well-being of those who serve her. She has a habit of taking any loss of her men very hard, even if she does not allow herself to show it most of the time.Ainsworth: We call her Ice, but dig deep enough and there is more.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: While the two sides of the newly formed Federated Commonwealth are largely in sync, the fic delves deeply into the underlying friction between them.
- True Companions: Victor views Galen, Kai, and Wendy as this.
- Young and in Charge: Katherine is eighteen years old when she became the Hauptmann General of her own strike force. Months later, she is elected Duchess of Blackjack.
