Caught Some Place In Time
is a Battletech and MobileSuitGundamSEED fanfic by AkumaOuja, and is hosted on SpaceBattles.com
The story is focused around a Self Insert, Benjamin Cairn, who awakens in a hanger buried below the ground on the planet of Rockland in the Draconis Combine with a piloting suit, a handgun, and the Duel Gundam. He's in a new land, on a new planet, with no connections and only the resources in the hanger to put to use in making his way in a dangerous new life going forward.
It is also a scant few months prior to the Clan Invasion, and Rockland is one of the first targets in said invasion. What follows from there is a rapidly spirally out of the SI's control situation, as he's first pulled into the Yakuza, and then clashes with various forces in the lead up to the arrival of Clan Smoke Jaguar.
Notable for its unique structure among the various Self Inserts it claims inspiration from, a heavy focus is placed on the adaptability of the Inner Sphere itself, and a large portion of the fic is devoted to the viewpoints of characters other than the SI, showing their thoughts and viewpoints on the situations they encounter and the events that unfold due to the SI's interference.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- A Mech by Any Other Name: Both the Duel Gundam and most of the mechs it faces are both identified as two entirely different breeds of machine, a Mobile Suit and Battlemechs respectively, and later Clan Omnimechs come into play.
- The Don: Gozaburo, Oyabun of the Ishimura-Gumi, one of Rockland's major Yakuza groups, and a former Combine Mechwarrior
- Humongous Mecha: Both the Duel Gundam, and the setting's own iconic Battlemechs fall easily into this category, being towering mechanical weapons with startling arrays of fire power.
- Impossibly Graceful Giant: Both Battlemechs and the Duel are described as such, though the Duel tends to be even more so than all but the most agile Battlemechs in skilled hands. A minor plot point even revolves around the Duel's exceptional responsiveness early on.
- Running Gag: Whenever someone hears his first name, they often consider it a good name, "Like the district."
- Self-Insert Fic: The Primary perspective is that of Benjamin Cairn, a man who used to run security for relief work from 21st century Earth, who was something of a fan of the genre. How he arrived is currently unclear.
- Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo: Canonically the Draconis Combine is a mishmash of both stereotypes about Japan's ancient past and its perceived future circa the 1980's, alongside a US perception of what Japan was actually like at the time. This shows on Rockland as an occasionally perplexing mix of Samurai mechwarriors, laser toting Yakuza, and other oddities.
- Unusual Weapon Mounting:By the standards of the Inner Sphere, the Duel's use of a "Gunpod"mount for its primary weapon, the Beam Rifle, is somewhat unusual, but not unheard of, but being able to swap between it and other similar systems on the fly in the middle of combat is an extreme oddity.
- Yakuza: After an incident involving a test of loyalty gone horribly right Ben ends up becoming a member of one of Rockland's major Yakuza Families, tattoos and all.
