THR-01A THALESTRIS

 

    Built by Rigor-Platt Dynamics in 2764, the THR-01A Thalestris was rushed through prototyping and into production right in the final days of the Star League, fueled by one of many gargantuan defense contracts put out by the SLDF to increase its military might.

Weighing in at 80 tons, the Thalestris was described by at least one SLDF commander as “two Shadowhawks in one pair of pants” and its detractors decried it as being too generalized, a complaint often leveled at the Shadowhawk as well. Another nickname given to the Thalestris during its short service was The Squabblemaster, due to its superficial resemblance to the larger, 85 ton Battlemaster.

Only a handful of THR-01As were produced before the fall of the Star League, as the board of Rigor-Platt Dynamics had big dreams and was in the process of moving the entirety of their industrial operations to Terra to better and more directly serve the SLDF when the Amaris Coup hit. The R-PD factory was commandeered and retooled to produce parts for experimental super-heavy LAM designs instead, catering to one of many crazy dreams of Stefan Amaris which, for better or worse, never came to fruition. The few Thalestris ‘Mechs which survived the coup were hidden away by ComStar, and kept as backup units for the defense of Terra. These few were eventually either destroyed or were captured by the Word of Blake at the beginning of the Jihad. Only a single surviving 'Mech can attest to any Thalestris ‘Mechs existing after the Jihad.

BATTLE HISTORY

When the THR-01A was first field tested against four ancient drone Merkava Mk VI tanks in an intentional echo of the first combat test of the Mackie, most of the guests who had come for the champagne and fireworks only paid a minimal amount of attention to the Thalestris as it solidly stomped the opposition into the ground. More serious investors would later comment on the test by saying that it was a lackluster way to introduce a ‘Mech that Rigor-Platt Dynamics was trying to push as the next, most desirable piece of military hardware. The board of Rigor-Platt had no response to this on record at the time, though notes have been found of at least one board member, Daniel K. Frodlund, saying that he’d worked very hard to dig up four operational Merkava Mk VI tanks, and that anyone who didn’t appreciate the test could go eat a bag of [REDACTED].

Scant extant records seem to indicate that those few THR-01A ‘Mechs which survived on Terra into the Jihad were destroyed in their hangars as victims of nuclear bombardment. Only a single Thalestris is known to have been transported off of Terra during the course of the Jihad, and then only at the behest of a Blakist collector who arranged the transfer out of a desire to preserve for himself a piece of history that might otherwise have been completely lost. 

VARIANTS

The only known variant of the THR-01A Thalestris is the IIC refit built by Clan Sea Fox in the modern era. There are rumors that ComStar (and later, the Word of Blake) may have had as many as a full lance of these machines at one time, but that they didn’t manage to upgrade the units past their original specifications before they were destroyed. The single example of the Thalestris obtained by Clan Sea Fox from the abandoned Blakist ‘Mech collector’s hangar in the deep periphery spurred off the development of a IIC version of the Thalestris, though few of the units have been produced, and even these are generally only constructed by special request for use on the Solaris circuit.

    Whereas the original Thalestris had been designed with versatility in mind, the Sea Fox refit is designed to be a competent long-range fighter with a dangerous enough attack profile at short range to make it more than capable of defending itself. Implementation of an extralight engine and endo steel structure give the Thalestris the space it needs to swap out the medium lasers in each arm for large pulse lasers and to exchange the twin SRM 4 racks for a single 20-rack LRM launcher. The five-rating autocannon is upgraded to an ultra variant, while two of the large lasers in the right torso are retained and upgraded to extended range versions. The IIC still runs entirely too hot on an alpha strike, but at least with clan double heat sinks, it’s less of a microwave for the pilot than the original version was.

NOTABLE PILOTS

The Thalestris was produced in such small numbers and for such short periods that it has yet to face any notable battles or carry any pilots worthy of acclaim. In all of my research, the closest I could come to being able to find a notable pilot (of the IIC and not the THR-01A) was my drinking buddy Star Commander Gavin Ghiberti who, despite a long career of mostly action-free garrison work in Clan Sea Fox territory, manages to be notable because he consistently beats me at cards in the rest periods between my shifts in the science wing of the New Humboldt Ancillary ‘Mech Research Center. Cheers to you, Gavin. Yes, I know I still owe you a case of Timbiqui Dark from our last game. I’m still waiting for the delivery to come in with the Atlas parts from Lyran space.

WHAT IS THIS?

Sometimes I make custom ‘Mechs for Battletech for fun, and sometimes I do little in-universe writeups for them. Not only did I make a backstory for this one, I also made record sheets and miniatures which you can find on Thingiverse here. It’s all free to print on your 3D printer at home.

I don’t own anything Battletech, but I do enjoy the universe a lot. This is my little fan contribution to the community. I hope you enjoy!