Bast AT-60A

Mass: 60 tons
Movement Type: Tracked
Power Plant: Starheart 240 Fusion
Cruising Speed: 43.2 kph
Maximum Speed: 64.8 kph
Armor: TriStar Standard
Armament:
     1 Machine Gun
     1 LRM 15
     1 PPC
     1 Medium Laser
Manufacturer: Memphis Motive Works
     Primary Factory: Memphis
Communication System: TriStar Multilink II
Targeting & Tracking System: TriStar Longreach
Introduction Year: 3050
Tech Rating/Availability: IS Level 3
Cost: 2.65 million C-bills

Overview
The Bast — "Bad Kitty" to every crew that has ever ridden one — is the standard fusion main battle tank of the Periphery March's expeditionary forces, and the Common Heart program's proudest piece of arithmetic: its powerplant is the StarHeart 240, the same engine that drives every BattleMech in the MMW catalog. The logic is expeditionary logistics distilled. The fuel-cell 'Mal' family rules at home, where the hydrogen chain is infrastructure; but a raid or rapid deployment cannot haul its bowsers with it, and a fusion tank that eats from the same supply train, spares bin, and technician pool as the 'Mechs beside it makes a landing force's logistics one problem instead of two. Fusion is too expensive for reserve formations, and the program has never pretended otherwise — the Bast is the away game, and it is priced like one.

Capabilities
The A-model has been called a knockoff Manticore, a claim to which the TriStar development team's recorded reply was a resounding "duh." The Hellstar PPC and Holly LRM-15 give it greater long-range weight than the original, the B3M handles the middle distance, and where the Manticore carries a short-range rack, the Bast mounts a bow machine gun — trading close-in punch for anti-infantry insurance, a swap that says everything about where the March expects its expeditionary tanks to be standing when the infantry arrives. Thirteen heat sinks keep the energy battery honest, and the 176-point scheme carries more armor than anything else its weight in the TriStar inventory.

Deployment
The Bast equips the formations that leave home: the line regiments' expeditionary battalions, the Memphis Battalion's escort elements, and — in a pairing the brigade regards as self-evident — the Extraction Companies, whose hold-the-line mandate is precisely the job an over-armored fusion MBT was born for. Reserve and militia formations keep their fuel-cell 'Mal' hulls and their hydrogen economy; the Bast concentrates where the DropShips are. B-models deploy at roughly one per lance of A's, the zone of no being a thing best rationed.

History
The Bast exists because of a grudge, and the March has never been embarrassed about whose. Common Heart's original vehicle plan called for license production of the Manticore outright — the obvious choice, the proven design, the sensible arrangement. The license was denied, in terms the file preserves with some relish, following the "blatant shenanigans" of the Rommel/Patton production line's nationalization on Memphis; the great manufacturers had learned what happened to plants that took TriStar's money, and declined to teach the lesson twice. MMW's response was to design its own sixty-tonner around the standard arsenal and the house engine, building on the motive and fire-control systems the Hathor and Horus had proven since 3025, and field it in 3035 under a name from the Memphis system's own pantheon. The Bad Kitty had fifteen years of quiet service behind it when the Clan era arrived — and when the 21st Morven Grenadiers and 33rd Broken Wheel Cavalry stood up in 3050, Bast battalions were in their establishment from the first day. The type's service record since is the quiet kind the March prefers, and its nickname is the loud kind the March also prefers: Bast was a cat goddess, the crews were not consulted about the dignity of the name, and Bad Kitty was painted on a turret before the first production run cleared Sherwood. The company style guide surrendered within the year.

Type: Bast
Technology Base: IS Level 3
Tonnage: 60

Equipment		Mass
Internal Structure		6
Engine	240 Fusion	-
Cruising MP:	4
Flanking MP:	6
Heat Sinks:	0	-
Control Equipment:		3
Turret:		-
Armor Factor:	176	-

AT-60A - 2.65 million C-bills - 0 Single Heat Sinks - ↓ Bast AT-60A.blk

Weapons and Ammo	Location	Critical	Tonnage
Ammo LRM-15	Body	1	1
Ammo LRM-15	Body	1	1
Machine Gun Ammo - Half	Body	1	0.5
Machine Gun	Front	1	0.5
Hitch	Rear	0	0
LRM 15	Turret	3	7
PPC	Turret	3	7
Medium Laser	Turret	1	1

AT-60B - 2.57 million C-bills - 0 Single Heat Sinks - ↓ Bast AT-60B.blk

Weapons and Ammo	Location	Critical	Tonnage
Ammo AC/20	Body	1	1
Ammo AC/20	Body	1	1
Ammo AC/20	Body	1	1
Small Laser	Rear	1	0.5
Medium Laser	Turret	1	1
Medium Laser	Turret	1	1
Medium Laser	Turret	1	1
Autocannon/20	Turret	10	14

AT-60E1 - 2.66 million C-bills - 0 Single Heat Sinks - ↓ Bast AT-60E1.blk

Weapons and Ammo	Location	Critical	Tonnage
Gauss Ammo	Body	1	1
Gauss Ammo	Body	1	1
Gauss Ammo	Body	1	1
Gauss Rifle	Turret	7	15
Medium Laser	Turret	1	1
Medium Laser	Turret	1	1
Medium Laser	Turret	1	1