Battletech: The Ghost Who Walks (Battletech Isekai)

[Imperator Pax]

Pirate Wars Luxen Contract
Luxens 's public leadership were insistent on keeping the Volunteers here... and the planetary authorities did have a point with only a handful of HPG stations in the Magistracy of Canopus, and one failed attack it seemed likely Black Jack would come a knocking later. The problem with that was that Luxen's planetary government wasn't really the one footing the bill, and Gene wasn't entirely sure that the leadership understood that... but he wasn't all that clear on how the magistracy's command was supposed to work... and their contract was clear on that cadre training duties were their primary contract, and there was a garrison clause.


… and on the MRB side of things ComStar was paying a lot of attention to their security obligation because they were likely to be targeted if the pirates did come knocking. Not today's problem though and he'd deal with that behind closed doors. Preferably where the public wouldn't start panicking the unit was going to go haying off for the unknown... but there were too many civilians crowding nervously around the starport and around the encampments.


Some of the highlanders were cracking jokes about it, but thus far they hadn't actually made good on running up the SLDF banner. Still Dante was issuing out broadsheets and statements to the public relations side of the unit based on the Hegemony's civil service. On that other hand they were being surreptitious about that, Kelly if not necessarily Black Jack seemed to be distributing Rim World revanchist propaganda, and that potentially added a different dimension to their SLDF uniforms even without running up the Cameron Starburst to fly over the base.

A handful of Claymore's 'cadets' started to pick up the paper laden boxes and move out.

The documents for study had been printed up and begun distribution early this morning... and they were running a little late... but the truth was Gene had been working on the documents most of the trek into the periphery from the Inner Sphere... it was just there had been less time for regimental training opportunity than he had originally expected prior to their arrival on Luxen. He had also been obliged to have enough materials printed up for the Azami units as well, even though some would be making the journey to Alamut and others would be deployed to caravan protection duties elsewhere.


He had been given the Eridani's logs of how the RCT had evolved as the succession wars had worn on the unit and those impacted some of the revision he had made o the documents. Things that only further highlighted that doing what the Coordinator couldn't was going to be a high priority once they made it back to the Inner Sphere whatever political implications that would have, they needed to secure Nagayan Castle Brian on Helm to build the Eridani and the Blue Star Irregulars.

That was all in the future, for now well in the here and now there were talks about how their RCT would act in conjunction and in advising the training of the Luxen Volunteers. Gene ran his hands through his hair as he blew out a breath looking down at the master copy. The Azami Regiment under Taisa Bey had already begun the planning and process for offloading their original equipment for their own white shield program. He supposed after a minute that that was in a sense wrong, the passing of machines, of BattleMechs and ASF from father to son was common was defining of the succession wars where production had dwindled to a trickle.

He had included a statement that terms for Battle and Horse units terms like Ranger and Chasseur continued to be used by regiments even though the units no longer reflected n many cases what composition under those labels would have entailed in the time of the Star League. But the truth the documents had originally begun as a way to provide school room instructions to the massive expanded force... they were just a larger force to be included in that instruction than the Battalions aboard Hidalgo and Presidio now.

Bardiche and Claymore had been the original target audiences for the writings. Their officers were already on the assembly point, and it wouldn't have been off the mark to say that no one wanted to be left out. So today they needed to cover a broad base of material, and also to avoid overwhelming anyone, he glanced sideways, "There is a liaison from Majesty Metals on site?"

"Yes sir." The ruddy faced highlander officer replied, "Is it a problem?"

"No." He answered, and he hoped that he was right. It was unlikely that Majesty Metals would be a source of intelligence for the pirates, but, "I do want to know what they have planned for Luxen though." The Magistracy did produce domestically its PPCs which was useful, but like with the first contract it was ammunition that was going to be a concern, "I assume there here about the charger and cicada refits." Then perhaps unnecessarily, "As long as they don't cause trouble, we need to get going."

It was a short ride to row of hangars and it was crowded. Crowded was an understatement, maybe there were less people overall than at the Highland faire on Northwind, but it was the mass of technicians and mechwarriors in the space and the sense of urgency even as the wrenches went about that work which made it feel that way.

It reminded him of the initial days on Robinson just crammed together. Part of that was the noise from the working techs scrambling to connect hoists or unfasten the reactor from the chassis, which the first step of everything going on. This was larger in a way than the Robinson contract to train DMM mechwarriors for the then tentative invasion of the Combine. Certainly the Company had more staff now, and more experience... but also there were the implications of a Rim World resurgent able to field Star League era 'mechs and their political aspirations.

He idly observed that they had their work cut out for them. Gene noticed immediately that it was more than the Azami paying attention to the modifications being done to the Chargers and Cicadas, the latter of which as a result of the Star League had been a common enough medium mech in the armies of all member states. Attrition had worn those down, the basic cicada mounted only four tons of armor, but that would change since as with the Charger the engines were being pulled out for a smaller engine, which would allow more armor.

Gene didn't expect that Majesty Metals, or any Canopian manufacturer would start producing new Cicada... but they might be approached to produce the engine for the standard Cicada to be put into new production Chargers. Akashi's customized, giving it an ornate samurai armor esque appearance, Griffin was crouched nearby. "Are they ready?"

"The Luxen Volunteers should be fully assembled in another minute," She replied.

He nodded, having seen on the itinerary that one set of the Vindicator pilots had been on morning drill practice, "Then you're up." He stated, giving her time to make sure she was ready. In the comfort of closed doors with just the company staff Bubbles had mentioned that the academy she had attended had used was the Cicada, but since they were doing extensive modifications her limited experience with the '2B' model wasn't likely to do much good. So even with that information he was comfortable with her planned assignment. And, of course it hadn't stopped Chang from suggesting that since at some point in the future Raventhir would have more of the otherwise mediocre eighty ton scout 'mech being produced maybe some could be refit with assault auto cannons.

One thing at a time though, but he didn't oppose the suggestion. The machinery on Pioche left in stasis after the rock had been dropped on the bread basket agricultural colony was black boxed so all it really needed was to be fed material. Still, from what Raventhir said she'd only managed to build up a single battalion thus far, and that while Pioche was working on more machines the bottleneck would be engines for the Chargers after they arrived at Luxen.

Silently to himself, he decided it was something he'd talk to Majesty Metals about, he decided, if it hadn't already been brought up. If it had, well then presumably it was being worked. He gave a final nod, and let Akashi go over the Charger, and Cicada modifications to the assembled MAF pilots.... all too aware that every so often the eyes of the assembled flicked towards his direction, and that included his command, Akashi among them, and the MAF personnel.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Luxen Contract


Lady Raventhir watched the work. The Straios on her staff was a little leery of how readily the Terran Colonel in her employ handed matters over to his combine Ronin. On the other hand she also admitted that the number of officers who were female would help prevent issues with more conservative MAF unit commanders... if things went badly and lead to a mustering of units to attempt to sally in defense of an important coreward world.


The Azami techs seemed to be modelling the appearance of the chargers after the woman's highly customized Griffin. She was content to leave them to their work though. There was the fact that even with eighteen machines to heavily overhaul Shepherd's support personnel weren't meaningfully strained. The Azami provided an abundance of technically skilled labor, and were excited at the work in front of them.


The Azami's noticeable presence was darkly amusing for other reasons. MAF observers, not really official intelligence personnel had relayed color displays that showed Azami troops, who were almost certainly rebels, and even if they weren't the Rasalhague battalion certainly was up front about it, identified with SLDF with Star League era Combine units... which just brought the MIC and the Straios on her staff back to the issue that Shepherd's own publications treated the command, explicitly spelled out in its general orders on unit discipline, and the training material, as if it were a Star League unit. That wouldn't have been unusual if carried out in the methods and traditions of the Eridani Light Horse even out here in the Periphery... but here there most likely opposition were to be pirates who were using SLDF weapons... and no pirates who increasingly advertised themselves as revanchists of the Rim World Republic.


She had no more idea what to make of that than Canopus did. There was a slight cough from her aide de camp to callher attention away from the view of the window, "Force Major Seghal is here Lady Raventhir."


It was that time, "Send her in," they exchanged the customary salutations and other formalities expected of their situation, and Lady Raventhir immediately pushed forward to the topic at hand, "are we expecting any developments?"


"I wouldn't know what to expect at this point." The other woman replied, which at least an honest take... they had expected a large force to appear whenever Shepherd arrived at the Jump Point... not the massed formation that had arrived. "I've spoken with Colonel MacIntyre over the Highlanders they plan to establish a second 'mech Battalion when they return to the Inner Sphere. From what he's outlined its similar in arrangement to the," Luxen "Dragoon's new Battalion."


"What do we know?"


"The core of the unit will be a dragoon weight formation of base six built around Crockett Assault BattleMechs,"The machines had apparently been left in the care of the Highlanders 'home clans' back on Northwind in preparation for the unit's return, but the machines themselves had a similar provenance to the machines that the Azami themselves had recently received. Magistracy Intelligence had already drawn comparisons to the now legendary Wolfs Dragoons mercenaries ability to repair damage sustained in battle...with Raventhir aware that, there might be pressures to find caches, "Colonel MacIntyre was remarkably open minded regarding our successes defending Luxen." Seghal sounded unsure of that, to an extent Raventhir herself wondered exactly how open minded the Highlander would have been if his own commanding officer hadn't been present at Luxen. "The current plan appears to be amalgamate Claymore's two cadet companies with Easy Company and the new Dragoon pilots."


As Raventhir understood it the Ronin was even now supposed to be evaluating which of the pilots were most suitable, "And what are your expectations?"


"The new pilots are largely green, my Lady,"Seghal replied, "Shepherd's contract for training the unit is based on what we already knew he was capable of. By all indications, from material that went out this morning, he's more than prepared for that." It was a stronger endorsement than other officers might have given to other leaders. "The educational material is thorough."


Raventhir nodded, but that was no surprise. Her father's notes, and the biographical work up from the MIC Shepherd had probably been groomed by the Hegemony for a command, that he had been posted out to the periphery to cut his teeth under more experienced terran gunslingers. The psych profile for his near single minded focus was that for all intents purposes Shepherd lived, and breathed his profession... that that focus on his war fighting capabilities might be what was keeping him together in the face of the Hegemony's destruction while he'd been in a stasis tube. She turned back to the window... "Do the Azami have a time table on when their work will be completed?"


"They're working in batches, the work entails pulling mechanics and Mech Technicians from both Azami Regiments."


She turned back to the Force Major, "What does that mean in practice?"


"They're working on a platoon of Chargers and a platoon of Cicadas side by side." There was a pause, "They've agreed to bill the Magistracy for the additional Pitban 320 Engines. As for an actual time table. Approximately the end of the month for having the machines put back together." That was roughly a company of 'mechs a week. "My understanding is this won't effect the first Company -"


She raised a hand to stop Seghal, "Are you confident in the process?"


"Yes, ma'am." The Force Major stumbled the sudden interruption, and Raventhir's motion of turning on her heel towards her aide de camp didn't help that, "I-" Her aide was handing her the packet.


"This a request, we expect a fight with the pirates, and we need recommendations and also the ability to have the support staff refurbish machines we take from the pirates." In short it was an under the table method of getting around procurement bottlenecks. She wanted to rebuild 1st​ Battalion of the Luxen Dragoons but to do that they were going to need 'mechs that would have to be taken from the enemy.
–
Gene watched the techs work. This was a manpower intensive project, and it also required taken a significant portion of machines offline in order to facilitate the work, which if the company hadn't expanded so significantly he doubted the Magistracy could have considered signing off on the program.


A mech was a mech, any mech was better than not having one, and it would have been the expectation to just make do. At least the chargers, anemic as their firepower would have been, could have taken a hit, the cicadas on the other hand well that was a different story.


Colonel Bey approached wearing the SLDF mechwarrior cooling suit in khaki, "We have a development." He remarked, "We have finished processing the battle rom footage from Kalidasa, Kelly fielded a number of late SLDF designs hitherto not present among the pirate forces, which was flagged for review. In addition to 'mechs like the Grasshopper he also field Crabs, and King Crabs, Dante stated that this detail was important."


Gene bit down a curse and maybe he was making unwarranted assumptions again but... The Grasshopper had no business in cache of any sort, it had been developed as an endurance campaign machine. The Crabs, and King Crabs were largely extinct in House Armies, and had been relatively new 'mechs at the time of the Amaris crisis kicking off. "Do we have confirmation that he's heading back to the periphery?"


"We do not. I have however spoken with the precentor regarding a live transmission to the Precentor New Avalon, and that of the First Prince. The Precentor Luxen has already given confirmation that they will be informed and a time for the communication set down with all possible alacrity." The Azami Taisa stated solemnly.


"Good." A live transmission was going to be drawn out by the light speed lag and they couldn't have a long conversation but this was important. "They'll already know since Kelly was veryclear about what cause he was fighting for," But it still raisedthe question of where the mechs were coming from, something to look into but probably some time after Kerensky had left, "You said the Combine still produces Lancelots?" He'd been surprised by that since he had been under the mistaken impression the design had largely died out.


"They are not well regarded given the decline of our means to craft the weapons of war." There was a pause, "From the what the Canopians relate to us, the machines to which are engaged still possess the efficacy of the technologies of humanity's golden age." Which by itself just meant that the components hadn't been attritted by centuries of warfare without resupply because most of the factories had been blasted to smithereens, "Further, the MRB representative comes vouching for hirelings," He meant basically green mercenaries, "That he has vetted as of upstanding character, and moral justification to battle the pirates."


"Friar Tuck?" Gene asked, thinking of the drunk.


"The same, he was caught understandably off guard by the the Company's, great expansion, but has been trying to find recruits based on the hiring preferences you left for him when the Company departed Luxen."


"Did you look at them?"


"It is only a small group I am afraid, as I said the Company is now substantially enlarged, but he had some success with pilots as that was your principle aim." At the time of the First Luxen contract, he hadn't had any ASF and the small craft aboard the Sam Houston's operation would have meant stripping people from the DropShip it'd been one thing on Pioche, but using it as anything more than a launch had been chancy. "I may have overstepped and volunteered Captain Pasha to speak with these men on your behalf while we prepared the Canopian troops."


"Yeah, we have a lot to do," Gene replied, "Did Tuck say why the Magistracy hasn't hired them on? I was under the impression that everyone was hiring who they could."


"The MRB on Luxen was given dispensation to hire additional security, though I suspect that that was only months after Black Jack's forces were shown off, and those funds," His tone implied that he didn't think well of the penny pinching of ComStar's terran based hierarchy in regards to the periphery "allowed him to keep them on retainer sweetened with the promise of introductions."


"So they've been here this whole time?"


"Since at least last year I believe, the year before perhaps."

 

[Imperator Pax]

Pirate Wars Luxen Interlude: 3020
The Phone Call​

The Charger in front of him was further along than others. The Azami techs dressed in khaki coveralls were presently fitting a Holly SRM 4 launch into the machine's torso, while the one that would be mounted on the other side sat resting beside the machine. "You pilot a Marauder."


"Yes," The MAF officer had asked him a lot of questions. She was someone on Raventhir's understandably expande dstaff and given the situation he could understand the need to ask questions. "Its mainly the command software." As people here and now told him, such as in relation to the Charger a 'Mech was a 'Mech. The Magistracy had been looking for Marauder pilots after his first action on Luxen because of the impression but...


"But the combine dueling etiquette dictates a preference for ranged engagement."


Well that was true, he was willing to admit, "The Marauder is a frontline combatant, but that software is meant to insure the whole formation is kept abreast of the situation," Gene had to stop and sign off on transferring the LTV 400 series engines out. They were going to be moved to serve as permanent, or at least in fixed position stations for local ground based turrets. The MAF officer had had a lot of questions about what they were doing, and in particular seemed to expect there would be potentially issues with the Luxen volunteers Mercenary Commander... and Gene wasn't sure what to make of that, there times where well he was looking at a puzzle with pieces missing and other people could see the pieces, "I don't expect much dueling."


"No? You savaged House Kurita in your recent campaigns for House Davion."


Well, that was true. Would the combine spare the resources? Could they, probably not in the grand scheme of things but would they... yeah maybe. "Commander," The Azami mechwarrior was one of a dozen Ali, and there was a lance worth of them just piloting Pheonix Hawks. The man gestured to a moderately drunk and cheerful rotund man in the robes of a ComStar adept. Friar Tuck had dismounted an olive drab hover 'jeep'. The ten ton vehicle was open topped with a medium laser that wasn't currently manned by any one from Hammer's people.


"Ah I have other questions." The MAF officer stated following after him as he began to walk towards his original Luxen MRB liaison. Perhaps against his better judgment Gene decided …given how fucked the situation was it wasn't going to hurt anything to include a member from the Canopians when he told the Davions the bad news about the situation out here. Her comment about the Kuritas was... well he'd ask if there was any sign that had reached them about it... and dreaded the possibility of what the optics of that would like given the situation.


It took the better part of an hour to get to the ComStar facility which housed not only the Luxen HPG station but also the MRB facilities of well what had originally been fairly minor up until a few years ago. It was him, Friar Tuck, Ali, and the MAF officer plus the driver of the vehicle, though he waited with the ride even as the Precentor Luxen came out to usher them in. Defending the HPG station were a lance of assault battlemechs in blue and gold with the crossed pikes of Bardiche from Sigurd Company. If the pirates came close the Pillager Ds defending would make Black Jack's people regret the decision.


Their prescence clearly helped sooth the nerves of the ComStar personnel. Whether or not leaving the mechs in parade colors rather than an appropriate camo pattern for their environment was debatable but it demonstrated more security than most stationsin the periphery seemed to be able to call on... and the atrocities on Kalidasa were all the news could seem to talk about.


The Luxen Precentor, Labarbera, had rarely had reason to have a live transmission, and made several inquiries to the Adepts to make sure things were ready as Gene flipped through his notes as those final checks were underway. "Is this in regards to Kalidasa?"


"Yeah," He replied to the MAF officer's question not glancing up, "Kelly had been on the Capellan border... I don't know if he had a circuit," And this era that was a lot of JumpShips for one pirate to have, which raised still other questions, "ready to take his battalion to the Free World's League but he had been trying to stir up trouble there." He said avoiding name dropping the reach, "He had made some claims about Amaris..." He trailed off just as the hologram flickered. It took a few seconds to coalesce into the familiar features of the Precentor New Avalon, Huthrin Vandal, and also the Prince's Champion Yvonne Davion appeared. They exchanged a somewhat tedious, for the lag in communications, round of salutations. Even as they made them, Gene accepted the greetings passed on from the Eridani, and the Blue Star Irregulars and others... he remembered Elidere, and Tristan's security precautions, "Its good to see you both," He said, "I need to ask something," And for that he really was glad they were both there, even though he wasn't sure ComStar's neutrality would necessarily stop Vandal from answering him even if the PNA didn't know why he was asking, "I need to know where the Wolf Dragoons are, they're in contract with House Marik... so they could come after Kelly?"


The two on the other end of the line glanced to one another, "About that, yes we are aware of the news from Kalidasa. Originally Jaime Wolf had intended to rebuild the unit after losses, I assume to move onto working for House Steiner,"


"Yes?" He prodded against the light lag of Yvonne's statement, which she probably didn't receive before she continued.


"We made contact with the Dragoons as they moved the border shortly before the atrocity on Kalidasa hit the news, so they're aware of details. Colonel Wolf is going to rebuild his forces, he said he would be in contact soon... but I'm not sure about a time frame."


What exactly would constitute soon in this case... in this cluster fuck of a situation. "So they won't be coming?"


"The Black Widow Company under Natasha Kerensky detached from the Dragoons main body of force at Northwind." Yvonne stated, Gene noticed that Vandal happy to allow the Prince's Champion the opportunity to answer these and thus probably save his image of neutrality from further criticism. Gene nodded, "Are these claims by Kelly credible?"


"most likely." He replied, "Its not the sort of thing that makes sense to lie about... How are things?"


"On Northwind, tense. The Highlanders officially invited the Dragoons to attend the winter Faire while the Eridani and BlueStars were in attendance, when the news broke about Kalidasa things became increasingly strained. We had hoped Jaime Wolf would agree to garrison a few worlds but he was adamant about returning after he had rebuilt the Dragoons to strength... not that he said so explicitly but that was the read."


There was a pause, and the Precentor New Avalon coughed slightly, "I was asked, or rather that the MRB liaison for the Wolfs Dragoons was asked to pass along congratulations for your victories Colonel. I think the commander of Gamma Regiment was particularly impressed by your application of historical tactics on Elidere." He gave another small cough, "Those regards aside, I am afraid that I can't tell you when the Dragoons would be back, given previous behavior I would hazard that the Commonwealth is the most likely contract they will take up, though Janos Marik did send a request to the MRB for the Dragoons to rehire after Kalidasa, which was done in a very public fashion." He remarked, but Captain General's actions were largely par for the course in responding to a problem in the war torn succession era...


The tragedy at Kalidasa had coincided with unrelated raids by the Draconis Combine's Arkab Legions. Kelly's screed across the Inner Sphere had far further repercussions than he could imagine, and that the Dragoons had been wintering over in the near terran corridor had already put pressure within ROM to find out more about their origins, and if they were going somewhere potentially to try and follow them... or to locate where they had come from originally. Such things were removed from the scope of the conversation, and the long distant conference call could not predict the scope of what was to come.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Pirate Wars Luxen
For Short the first indication that something had happened was Ancient Company's officers pulling away and moving towards Shepherd and what followed were a hushed series of conversations. That drew more attention given it had pulled the Highlanders away.

"Its got to be news from home." An Archer pilot remarked.


"You think?" One of his fellow Northwinders remarked. Shepherd must have heard them because his head snapped in their direction and the two 'cadets' fell silent under his expression.


The trip to the ComStar station was not the sort of thing he hoped to make a habit of, but it had needed to be done. There was no word on whether or not Kelly was headed back this way, but it was considered obvious that the man knew his way around theFree Worlds League routes, Yvonne Davion hoped that this wouldn't effect, delay, returning to the Inner Sphere but the transfer of news went both ways. He was glad for the time the company had spent on Robinson when he'd been transiting to and back from New Avalon. They had experience even without counting the former instructors from Northwind comprising Ancients Company.


"Put the unit in formation." He looked to the heavy set kilted man. He ordered deciding to side step the question about what they should expect regarding if / when the dragoons showed up... because he didn't know other than that Kerensky could reasonably considered a loose cannon. "We'll tell them now the last thing we need is the rumor mill getting out of hand." and the truth was because it had been Yvonne Davion passing the information along there was no way to know how the Dragoons had reacted to any other news that the Highlanders had relayed to them over their sabbatical on Northwind.


The Dragoons had almost certainly, Gene was willing to bet money that the elders had gone ahead and told the dragoons that Amaris had been fed information on SLDF movements by the coordinator... and Jaime saying he was taking the Dragoons to rearm probably meant phoning home as well... which given the Kalidasa massacre, and the political screed being released alongside the footage … was just a mess... but those were details that couldn't be disclosed.


He let the Highlanders wrangle the formation aware that as officers gave orders, and NCOs started moving mechanized infantry in that the broader MAF presence was watching, which meant that the civilians crowding around the base would know something was up. Luxen's government wanted the civilians to calm down, but they also didn't want the public relations backlash of making the civilians clear out.. and really Luxen's population was largely harmless. It having been a few days most were just scrambling for a view as their home units underwent training maneuvering with the newly arrived mercenary command.


Gene's eyes swept the array of vehicles, fusion and internal combustion powered alike. This was a lot of metal... a lot of metal in plain view. He could buy a little time by stating that there would be a formal note going out this evening, but also, "House Davion, and Northwind are aware of the massacre at Kalidasa. Kristofur Kelly has proclaimed his support for a New Amaris Empire." This news went over as could be expected, chatter breaking out in packets across mechwarriors, tankers, and infantrymen. He kept from scowling and continued, "The Eridani Light Horse, and Blue Star Irregulars were on Northwind at the time as were the Wolfs Dragoons who were passing through to return to their own kinsmen for resupply," There was a larger rumbling of chatter at this, but he didn't address it, this announcement was informal but he needed to make it clear that Northwind was unlikely to be attacked, reassuring them of this was important... but it also allowed him to surreptiously tell people who knew that well Kerensky's exodus would almost surely become informed of the Combine's betrayal of the Star League... and given the situation that was likely to have very large repercussions. "Our objective is to preserve civilian life, the exact obverse of Kelly and conspirators we will remain on Luxen in order to continue the mission."
That was the boiler plate of the short speech since they were in the open he continued a little longer outlining what they could expect in training terms over the next few days as he suggested they would increase the pace of operations, but also to signal he was not going to entertain questions or caveats from the ranks or the staff.
–
As the day had pushed on it had become windier plant debris, even sand and dust were being kicked up... and even if it hadn't been windy the star port had enough activity going that that would have been happening. There were pallets everywhere, being loaded, and off loaded to distribution all the while sensor platforms watched the sky. Waiting for an enemy that probably wasn't coming today or next week, but Gene understood that even though he didn't have a lot of control over the universe around him, he could insist that they be ready for a fight if it did decide to come. Gauss Rifle ammunition was easy to fabricate. Each round was large, eight rounds was a ton of ammunition, and thus relatively bulky to store but it also had far fewer safety hazards than missiles or auto cannon ammunition. The Fury tanks, closer to his position, outweighed the platoon's worth of Vindicators but nearly double... and truthfully most tanks outweighed the Medium 'Mechs for which had taken up the base six organization... what seemed like a long time ago now.


The vindicator was almost spindly in its lines, but outside of issues with the ejection system the Vindicator wasn't a terrible 'mech. At least for the Luxen volunteers purposes. Platoon as a designation was to reiterate that it could be subdivided... and with the Vindicator that meant being able to mass LRMs onto a target.


Septim scratched the back of his head, as they both watched the distant forms of the round head machines maneuver on a 'patrol' of the perimeter... really it was about showing the crowds beyond the star port that there were MAF troops here too, "I mean I guess when you boil it down, its not that different than last time...Black Jack still has a ton of Star League metal to throw at us, and we've got a bunch of green pilots."

That was true, and Gene was thinking about how to best address that.

The Merlin pilot wasn't actually talking about the Vindicator pilots, but that was part of the problem. Both Bardiche, and Claymore had relatively young and green pilots who having fought on Dieron considered themselves comparatively elite to their periphery counterparts despite by this point all of the Easy Company Luxen Volunteers to have had several years of service with the MAF. That was a potential scratch point for relations. It also didn't help the dispositions that Claymore and Bardiche were fully fledged battalions built around much heavier 'mechs... but that was a facet of Star League resources, and also the generosity of House Davion in response to Elidere.


"If they can survive they can train other pilots, something I've told Raventhir. The base six system is great if the machines your using are all the same that's good for the field and for logistics," Gene wasn't sure if he'd want to try and organize six tanks into a platoon but he supposed being able to subdivide to two groups, sections, of three would work for armor "That and well she did have the Vindicators in their numbers. The big test over the next week is going to be those Chargers." Re engine-ing a BattleMech was a lot of work and that was why they had pushed so many 'techs from the Azami regiments over to the work. Still once, they were sure that what they were doing would work, well...


"Raventhir seems to think if it works that Pioche should be able to provide lots of them... I mean that factory is basically Star League era tech. Very little like it left in the universe."


That was true... for both the good and the bad that went with it. Gene was also glad that the Magistracy produced its own PPC even if it meant shipping them in from Canopus proper... which of course was probably plenty of excuse ot have observers come check on their progress. Gene more than once had attempted to wrap his head around how trade was legally supposed to work in the Magistracy, the nobility had apparently rather strong economic privileges.... which even though he wasn't an economist he suspected might account for some of the problems with the Magistracy's own industrial position. But even if he had been here to fix that, which he wasn't he would have had no idea where to start. "Then we protect it, our job to fight pirates, and prevent them from rampaging around as they like. If we need to defend Pioche, then we will... but realistically with an HPG station here Black Jack will probably come to us."


"Do you think he'll come in person? He's got a big bounty on his head, ja? You think he'll chance tangling with us?"


Gene remained silent for a moment. The bounty wasn't really the issue. It was all the questions that Black Jack might be able to answer about this whole mess. "He's also escalated," Precipitously so, that might be hard to account for but this was no longer just attacking HPGs on the fringes, and it very well could have been that after fifteen or so years of rampaging along the periphery he was starting to lose his hold on ever increasing pirates numbers... "We still don't know how connected Black Jack is withthe Rim World and Amaris claims," But that mattered less and less as things mounted, "Kelly invading and attacking both the Capellans and the Free Worlds League is upping the ante even further." And before that there had been attacks on the Fed Suns frontier worlds. "I don't think it matters if Black Jack shows up in person, but some one will show up. If there aren't spies here already," Which who knew how could the MIC was, but they couldn't be perfect, "They will be with all the news going out."


An ICE powered cargo truck pulling an ammunition trailer slowed a stop in an adjoining parking lot... artillery shells for Hammers howitzers. Raventhir had apparently given some speech to the nobility of the Magistracy asking for greater domestic industrial production.... which sounded great but even if the money were there you still needed the tools to make the tools.. "You've got that look in your eye." Septim observed...


"Raventhir is getting a lot support through the Lyran Commonwealth."


"Her father, Doctor Abner might have abdicated but he's still wealthy and well connected."


Gene cocked his head, "Do you know much about that?" He asked, then shook his head, as he decided that it was going to probably be better solved by asking Abner directly the next time he crossed paths with him, "Don't worry about it, we have enough on our plate as it is." and if Black Jack didn't come in person... well there were other targets he could lead the attack on... and there was always the possibility he might try and hit Canopus.


"Wait, boss what did you have in mind?"


"Something that would be trouble for us." He replied shoving his hands in his windbreaker as he glanced upwards tracking towards the horizon and the ASF on patrol as they began to move around the river to the south of the star port. He wanted to help, but the member states might decide that stealing from their neighbors particularly their periphery neighbors was going to be easier than anything, especially if they thought there was Hegemony tech involved, "We need to focus on what we have to do right now." They walked on through the assembly area past various other flat bed cargo haulers, and the spare parts, and the engines that were supposed to reinforce the Luxen Volunteers defensive position. Hammer's artillery would remain parked in the vicinity of the Star Port. .. but unless Raventhir decided to begin moving the command...or realistically potentially had that decision pushed on her from Canopus they were going to start distributing the Company's expanded ranks into the field, "What do you think about the Merlins?"


"The 'mechs are just like mine was," Septim responded, "The kids piloting them aren't bad, just green. They're heavier than the Vindicators but a lot of the same strengths, and I figure since the TTS and Comms system are produced domestically we might consider letting the Azami try and fit Vindicators with Magestrix built systems."


He took note of the suggestion, but zeroed in on the reiteration of the green comment again, "About that, the Chargers and Cicadas are going to need work, how do you feel about taking the recruits through their paces on the Crocketts we have with us? Let them practice gunnery on those?"


"It won't hurt anything, but they're going to be different than what they end up piloting."


"You're the one who keeps telling me any mech is better than no mech. I just want to make sure they have as much time driving one as we can give them."

 

[Imperator Pax]

Pirate Wars


Gene was all too aware of the pervasive nervousness that seemed everywhere in Luxen's capital. He was also aware that the civilians were looking for reassurance... but that didn't mean he had time to talk to news crews... and he wasn't sure his employer wanted him to address the public. It wasn't as strange as he might have thought it was after Elidere that the local media did want to interview Captain Short... he could recall the Robinson press, and Elidere's press as well, fawning over Sutton and his Dervish for their heroism both on Elidere and on Ander's Moon.


He looked over the hologram to the Canopian captain. "The Crockett was developed by the Hegemony as Training 'Mech. Its not perfect but in term of preparing 'mech warriors to walk and shoot, it is hard to beat." He informed the assembled MAF officers in total, "While the Chargers and Cicadas are being rebuilt we're going to start with them. This won't effect the Merlin pilots, or any of other pilots with combat ready machines but you can expect the pipeline tempo to potentially increase as the situation develops ."IN short anyone whose machine didn't need the Azami to go over with a fine tooth comb didn't need to worry about the Crocketts per se. As it was the Azami were optimistic about the Charger project to the point that given Chargers were relatively common in the Combine's ranks that they'd potentially be making refits of their own once they reached Alamut.


The pilots watched a short introductory video, scrounged from the Hegemony's archive of learning material of familiarization. It was a safety brief... being done just to cover the bases. For most part most of these pilots had between twenty and thirty hours in a BattleMech since they had gotten to the Luxen Volunteers. That wasn't a lot but they knew what a cockpit looked like, and which sticks were used to maneuver the machine.
Most of these pilots had been tried using light mechs. Things like Stingers and Wasps which were thin skinned but if any machines could be considered common well it was bug mechs. Still they had arrived on Luxen before there were enough 'mechs for them all to be assigned machines hence the limited amount of time they had in their mechs. They had had time in simulators... much as the original Easy Company pilots had had. There would be further simulator, mech pod, based training as well... the difference as the video concluded was that Gene could recognize the difference between five years ago and the tensions now.


He spent several minutes as Septim, Bubbles, and Ronin divided up the cadets to run questions by Hammer about the best options to employ their armor contingent. That ultimately ran into a number of other issues. As they moved outside as the pilots started their first walk up on the Crocketts that conversation diverged to the internal divisions within the Magistracy government. "We will have to take steps to reassure Luxen's civilian authorities. As for Lady Raventhir, her plan such that I read it is to give the Magistracy room to build up, if she can get it through the nobles who control trade."


"Even if we had enough troops, which there aren't enough of the poofs," Hammer remarked, "We certainly don't have enough engineering assets around every potential target. We're putting a lot on that the pirates will come at the HPG. That isn't a gamble the planetary authorities are comfortable with taking even if they don't have a choice." It was part of the reason so many civilian were crowded around the starport. "But I can already hear the bitching if we start telling the MAF PBI to start digging fighting positions in without the enemy being in front of us," And frankly that would probably be a wasted effort.


"I understand that, I still want the engineering assets we do have to go out and conduct surveys in the field with the MAF." It was not truth be told the maneuver warfare that Hammer wanted, or for that matter that the Scotts Cuirassier wanted to do, but it was the job that needed to be done. If Raventhir wanted to deal with the big picture of interstellar politics within the Magistracy that was fine, they just needed to make sure that nothing happened. He turned towards the throng of young pilots around the machines, and nodded. "We need to plan for a hasty defense Hammer, as if the enemy will jump in at any moment, and we need to be familiar with how we can best exploit the terrain to keep troops alive in contact with the enemy." He also wanted to suggest broader civil defense steps, and evacuation and shelter in place orders...but that expressly fell under the auspices of the civil authorities not Raventhir so he was sitting on the idea for the time being.


As concerned for Luxen's civilian population being caught in the cross fire he understood that if he pushed things the local government was going to protest. They were here to help, and part of that meant knowing when to not do something. "Unfortunately they built the HPG station right next to the hospitality quarter. "Hammer reminded him, "We won't have an easy time defending it."


They had been lucky the first time, the 'second battle of Luxen' when Black Jack's pirates had attacked the first they hadn't come in as significant of a force as Kelly did moving a whole battalion of most heavy battle mechs of star league vintage. That was part of the reason Kalidasa had gone so poorly for House Marik they had been caught completely flat foot even though the thrust did seem to have come in from the Capellan side of the border rather than directly up from the periphery. That wasn't entirely crazy since Kelly couldn't possibly have been tearing across Marik space without being caught before that since Kalidasa was deep in the Inner Sphere being relatively close to Terra as far worlds went.


MacIntyre moved to join them as the Crocketts began to power. At 85 tons the machines were identical to the ones left on Northwind for Battalion D. It wasn't intended as obfuscation it was just that Azami had been told to pull the weapons, and replace them with equipment so that there was as much commonality across the formation as they could manage... that was still a work in progress. "I think Bubbles and Ronin have it from there." He remarked coming to a halt. Septim had already lead the pilots who had Merlins towards where his Cavalry waited with its factory stock siblings. "That being said, we do need to talk about the Dragoons coming out."


Hammer shifted his weight. They had read him in on plans including a revised case black given what they knew about things. Hammer had already been briefed along with the majority of company grade officers on the ISF archive on Dieron and its contents. That allowed them to disclose Amaris-Kurita collaboration with additional evidence to support it. Having the ISF's own internal bickering was well nice, it helped a lot. It didn't meaningfully change things. "There is that," Gene remarked, took a breath and pushed on, "We can expect the Dragoons to return at strength, and if they don't show up with some eager new mechwarriors in tow I will be surprised. Whatever the case Kerensky is probably going to go chasing after Kelly, so" Kalidasa from Northwind was half a dozen jumps, and there was no way that Kerensky's company would catch Kelly that way he'd be long gone by that point.


"What are you thinking, colonel?" MacINtyre asked.


"We did the math," We meaning Dante had doubled checked things. "Kelly has to have some kind of help. He hit Kalidasa after we know he was near Fjaldr when we dropped with the Aurigans. Even if he'd been gone longer than we believe its eighteen jumps without anyone stopping him, across two Successor states to hit Kalidasa on the Lyran border, and then get away clean after humiliating both house Marik and ComStar. On top of that, Pasha had the JumpShips we seized under the letters of marque, most of them are immaculate. He thinks, and I don't know one way or another, but that they're from a cache supposedly like what the Dragoons found, but that still doesn't sound right to me."

The highlander frowned, "The battle rom footage... they were attacked by someone with no skill to speak of but with pristine royal mechs. Black Jack won, he got lucky in the roms but they were trying to drown him in numbers, which meant they didn't care about their pilots or about the metal they were losing. No successor state would do that."

"And its the descendants of Kerensky because they are conclusively good pilots."

"Aye... and Black Jack didn't start espousing this shit about Amaris until recently. He wasn't doing it fifteen years ago when he was raiding the Lyrans."

 

[Imperator Pax]

Pirate Wars
Davion Interlude: Meanwhile on New Avalon
–
Chequers was a tall building with a face of red brick surrounded by walled gardens the ensured the privacy of the property. The country estates of New Avalon followed largely the same lines. They had been laid down and immortalized by traditions in the early years of humanity reaching distant stars from Earth. The capital of the Federated Suns was teeming with celebratory masses congratulating members of the armed forces for the defense of Robinson.


New Avalon's high society, the high society of the Crucis March and the Federated Suns had welcomed her to the capital. With accolades from the campaign on Robinson's fighting, and the thorough beating handed to the combine, Alexandria had some breathing room, but the Prince's Champion had summoned her and so she'd come immediately. War Hero from the Crucis March or not.


Truthfully she wasn't even surprised by the summons. While Davion channels were talking about the shocking proclamation from the petty pirate king it didn't directly effect the war against the Draconis Combine at least not yet. Yes, the Free Worlds league had been embarrassed publicly, but the public at large was ignorant just how damning the pronouncement might be to the Combine. So the summons probably had been forthcoming. This country house, it wasn't lost to here, had belonged to House Davion for four hundred years, though it had been substantially refurbished it was named for some even older home of significance that had once been on Terra.


She had been lead deep inside the sprawling home to a secure room. DMI personnel in a variety of costume patrolled and secured the interior and exterior of the property, but the smoking room she'd entered had only one other occupant. Yvonne Davion the champion of the fire prince. The duchess sat with a holographic projection up her brows knit as she regarded the system that lay before her.


Only a fool wouldn't have known what solar system it was... even nearly a millenium after humanity had left the solar system was it still recognizable.



Sol.



The Solar System that had birthed mankind, the cradle.


The holographic image, still, suddenly resumed.


"Ah good," Lights flashed, warships spewing destructive fire at one another, nukes exploding. The long forgotten memories of the time before the succession wars. She didn't understand, "This is a command McKenna, a variation of the battleship." Yvonne stated gesturing, almost like one of her instructors at Sakhara had, to the warship under fire... and the ordering was wrong. The positions of the ships were wrong... these were star league ships but they moving away from Earth, moving towards the jump points.



This wasn't Kerensky's liberation of sol this, "This is -"



"The unfolding of the massacre on Terra, when Amaris seized power." Yvonne Davion confirmed her hands moved to a control slate and twisted the vantage point of hte image. The battled scarred ship's name read SLS Enterprise, "Only six of these were built, one survived Kerensky's flagship, the other ships apart of the1st and 2nd fleet were destroyed," She stated as the footage unpaused and fire rained. Enterprise endured for now. "This ship, and its battle group were shielding another. The Black Lion class," The footage altered,"Tripitz." She declared.


Yvonne Davion stood and adjust the holographic system. The solar system vanished so quickly into the night that it might have been dust on the wind. It was replaced by brighter images. Familiar images. The work file for Shepherd.


Alexandria felt her eyes turn to the image of a then teenage major with an admiral beside him, "The Colonel's mother was Killed in Action when Amaris seized Terra," Yvonne remarked still standing, and then moving to a decanter with a heavy sigh as she uncorked it and poured a whisky neat, "at first I considered whether or not she might have been aboard... but I reviewed Admiral Clancy's report from the Black Watch. Those records state with confidence Admiral Krennick died during the atomic strikes that came on the 27th of December. So I moved on from there," She took a pull from a tumbler, and indicated files from taken from Dieron, "Colonel Shepherd's father as we can ascertain from the ISF records was aboard THS Allegiance and was Killed in Action when she was destroyed as a result of House Kurita forewarning Amaris of the battlegroup's approach during the Liberation Campaign. I had considered that any survivors, any warship might be a desperate hope but MIIO and DMI have both collected chatter that does not support that theory."


A part of her understood. She understood the logical basis of where the Prince's Champion had begun looking. "Chatter, ma'am?" She pressed.


"The Colonel stated that the Triptiz ran the republican blockade of Sol, which our evidence confirms. SLS Kharkov survived as well, but Shepherd doesn't seem to have made much of it despite the litany of senior Terran officers aboard her. Kharkov carried very senior officials aboard her, admirals among them." She reiterated.



"What became of it?"



"It," SLS Kharkov, "departed with Kerensky's exodus." Yvonne Davion explained, "The Tripitz has a much more interesting fate, it reappeared in the official records when it was scuttled into the gravity of a gas giant by the mysterious Vandenburg White Wings, which seems to have drawn Shepherd's attention and pushed him to reach out to his contacts at IE."


"Another relation perhaps?"


"Doubtful," Yvonne replied lifting her glass again, "Not impossible of course, and so far as we know from Shepherd's service history he was already in the periphery or en route at the time of the coup. He was certainly not on Terra to escape aboard Tripitz which was another theory put forward. What makes the Triptiz interesting is that the Colussus class DropShip docked was sheltered by space assets under command and control from the ground that Clancy's records refer to as the SDS. It immediately burned for Tirpitz, not Kharkov."


It was another mystery, and didn't they already have plenty of those. She felt the immediate need to reiterate the question, "With all due respect Lady Yvonne, what is the significance of this chatter... given the attack on Kalidasa, and Jaime Wolf taking the majority of the dragoons presumably back in the periphery what does this battle mean in the present?"


Yvonne sighed and shook her head, "I don't know, but both DMI and MIIO have intercepts of discussion both from IE, from Northwinders speaking to the Wolfs Dragoons while on Northwind about matters that included references to Triptiz. Unfortunately we don't have the full context of those conversations."


The Highlanders had been eager to discuss survivors that had left with Kerensky, to the point that it was a prevailing concern that they might have told the Dragoons too much. "The Dragoons were reported to have been informed that Amaris was provided information by the Draconis Combine."


"Not only via the HPG recording, but also through the ISF archive. We considered curating the documents, but ultimately we did include the protests and arguments from the Keeper of House Honor that those actions were a mistake, and that they attempted to warn the SLDF of the leaks." The general consensus remained that that had hardly been anything other than self interest, self preservation on the Combine opposition's behalf. "Wolf has copies, which we must assume he is taking to the other descendants of Kerensky's exodus. What MIIO, and DMI do not have are concrete reactions to a living Hegemony Gunslinger. Recordings, and intercepts from the dragoons have isolated words we don't have references or the full scope of, but Amaris, Amaris pretender I should say seemed to have started some kind of bidding within the dragoons. Bloodname, a title of nobility we believe, was mentioned as a possible reward for killing a pretender to Amaris's title, political ideology though for whatever reason Kerensky herself seems more interested in hunting down Kelly, but that doesn't seem to be the same for her company at large."


"Which is what the precentor New Avalon wanted Shepherd to do if he could find him."


"Precisely."

 

[Imperator Pax]

Pirate Wars Luxen
It was just before noon and he had been planning for the upcoming after lunch briefing of the MAF personnel at large... he had not expected to have one of Seghal's senior company commanders show up. The woman was local nobility of some stripe and had likely been short listed for a battalion command slot as the LV expanded. She had questions about how they were doing things. "The principle reason for the Crocketts," Gene found himself explaining, "Is that it was designed as a training 'mech."The answer was in response to questions of why they were using them instead of the Marauder II or its variants. The truth was the transit from the Inner Sphere, to the Periphery, and the roundabout journey through the Aurigan Reach across the rimward periphery to the Magistracy had meant that the unit had trained as much as he might have liked.


Crocketts were not a standard fixture in the battle line of the unit, where as Marauder II Assault BattleMechs were. That was probably why the question had been asked. There were different tactical solutions to problems. It was why he had originally hoped to build up along a slightly lighter faster model for the unit... but that had been formulated from lessons of Elidere, and Dieron against the Combine who had a greater prevalence of light BattleMechs. A hussar regiment would have been still heavy enough to turn the combine flank, but potentially capable with its hovercraft to pin them in place.


Except that this was the periphery and he was as far as possible from the Combine facing an enemy with a predisposition in weight that more akin to his own. Some of the more embarrassing defeats delivered to the Magistracy and the near periphery had been by companies worth of Orions, and Black Knights defaced with obscene symbols of Amaris's Rim World Republic and his imperial delusions of grandeur.


That footage was concerning... but only because they were seeing an increasing number of all energy boats which itself could have been selection effects. "The Crocketts will provide them some experience with auto cannons." He stated to the MAF officer, "If Raventhir thinks its in the interest of our training mission to practice on the Marauder II series we can adjust for that directive, but the Crockett was specifically developed as a training 'mech. The pilots who we are largely working with for the most part have little to no experience driving heavier machines. The modifications to the Chargers, or for that matter even the Merlin pilots need the experience in particular, but functionally the entire regiment," He paused... they could do with whatever extra hours they could manage to cram in, Such that it was, "Needs time in battlemechs not just the simulator pods." This was not, Gene underscored the same as the last contract where they were in a place where the simulators were really their only good option in terms of time usage "If Raventhir is at all serious about this being a new foundation for the MAF then their training needs to start on as strong a foundation as we can, and that means the crocketts should be suitable learning aids." Those pilots didn't need to learn bad habits.


After the officer had been shown out, MacINtyre scowled, "She could have directed that complaint to me."


"Try not to take it personally," Gene replied. "We're operating in a friendly country, but there is just as good of a chance that this kind of thing would happen in Davion space as here." The old highlander grumbled all the same... and Gene didn't disagree but also he had to nip it in the bud. This was their first major contract since leaving the Inner Sphere, and it would have implications towards how things went on. "We're going to be in the news a lot," He informed the larger man, "Local news, and ComStar's interstellar broadcasts Dante already places us at a higher risk of foreign intelligence challenges due to Dieron, but now with Kalidasa having happened we can expect that the Capellans and the FWL are going to be looking at us."


"We're the largest mercenary army in the periphery, it comes with the territory."


Allowing for that being the case in normal situations, "We're not in a normal situation. The Dragoons left for wherever up North Kerensky settled. 3rd ​RCT, and the BSI," Blue Star Irregulars, "Are in Davion Space...I'm not going to lie I'm concerned what McCarron and the Highlander force in the Capellans are going to do." And he didn't even know where to start in terms of what the Free Worlds League might have available. "And our size," Was misleading... and was probably going to raise more questions than less, "Is accounted for by the Azami, and that means we are responsible as a unit for a large volume of dependents." Everything came with trade offs, and their manpower did give them a lot of advantages. "I understand that both you, and Hammer are eager to get back to Davion space start recruiting drives," And Hammer realistically was going to do what hiring he could out in the periphery but the current crisis here meant slim pickings for him. "And I think the Magistracy knows as much."


"You don't plan to send us ahead?"


He shook his head, "No, given the situation, and the likelihood Kalidasa makes the situation so much worse I need the full force of the unit, we're going to lose enough manpower with the units leaving for Alamut, and the troops deployed in the near periphery with the merchants, but that is another thing if the RimWorld objective is a new empire they're going to need to disrupt or subvert local governments that means keeping trade from operating."


"Speaking of trade, Majesty Metals is interested in some face time."


The short briefing continued before both men moved out of the operations center of the Overlord class DropShip which was the Battalion Headquarters for Claymore. The DropShip was surrounded by Bandit, and Badger vehicles protected further by kilted troopers from the Scotts Cuirassier. BattleMech presence were a lance of Thugs assault Mechs, given the time of day most likely from the 2nd ​Cadet Company pulling QRF in the even someone attacked, unlikely as that was, during the meeting or during the one they were now moving to.


Across the starport was another operations center, this one for Hammer and more importantly the coordination point for both their space based assets, and the artillery park. Hammer's mechanized infantry contingent centered on the men who had been with Hammer when Gene had hired him after the last Luxen contract were on perimeter security. They were in turn backed up by a company of Azami Phoenix Hawks proudly painted in an arid brown SLDF desert warfare camo... officially speaking they were now apart of the 12th ​Light Horse Regiment originally apart of XIV Corp, 14th​Army SLDF whose colors had been placed near their dropships. Their sibling regiment had taken the colors of the 139th​Light Horse Regiment, VIII Corp, who had likewise been destroyed during the Campaign to liberate the Hegemony from Amaris.


The ostensible reason for those units was that two centuries earlier the forbearers of certain Azami officers had been pilots in those regiments that had been apart of the SLDF's DCMR nearest to Terra. Those ancestors, who had been Mech Warrior officers, had been some of the last to be able to claim the title Haji because of course Amaris had destroyed Mecca. Though not enshrined in law, conveyed on their descendants special status within the Azami community. 'Blood of Martyrs' as Hammer liked to quip.


That actually created another potential problem for Gene. The Highlanders, their elders, had already been preparing MacINtyre to raise troops to form an eventual new Regiment of Highlanders. The Azami adopting the colors of dead SLDF regular units or just being there even would likely push the Rasalhague political backers behind Soren Holmgren, CO Bardiche, to agitate for a similar expansion since they knew there caches to provide metal for that kind of force. It also wouldn't have surprised him if House Davion liked the idea of a full blown rebellion against the Combine exploding in the Rasalhague Military District to keep the Coordinator off balance... and in theory whatever Soren's backers back home wanted it wouldn't come into play any time soon, but he was aware that was a potential matter.


The force deployment here was relevant for the almost hundred twenty MAF MechWarriors plus other personal in the Luxen Starport facility that served as a centralized briefing facility. "Lets begin with our problem," He belted to the assembled as he strode forward. A mental command through his ever present neuro helmet circlet triggered a map of the Magistracy of Canopus. "in SLDF doctrine we would address this by escalating the level violence against Black Jack. We can't do that this isn't like those campaigns. To the best of our knowledge Black Jack has no support within the Magistracy and is fleet based operating, his last known basing was in the Tortuga dominion."


There was a zoom out, and a pan of the map to show the distance... and the truth was Black Jack had to have a base nearer. Raventhir's other mercenary commander, Volkov, crossed her arms over her jacket but she was listening.


"I've already informed," He had almost used the word warned, but caught himself at the last minute, "Lady Raventhir there is a sizable chance that Black Jack will make a push on either Canopus or Farandir since they hit Royal Foxx," That was just due diligence on his part to present to her the options... the last thing he wanted to do was to be caught flatfoot if the capital of the country they were in came under assault and well some idea came to try and relieve a siege as such. He'd also gone so far as to push those concerns down the ladder to his battalion commanders this morning, whether or not Volkov had read her copy yet... well that he didn't know. "This information is to be understood by the entire command."


Chatter immediately began, as he had expected it would... but he let it continue as the Magistracy soldiers the mech warriors he was expected to train got it out of their system. He decided he wasn't going to mention, at least not today, that given they were supposedly at least dealing with pirates that they shouldn't expect a strict chain of command... though probably already knew it, but the implication from loose associations the way pirates tended to operate meant that if command and control was lax they could be seeing attacks that might have nothing to do with Black Jack, and Kelly's, vendetta against ComStar. Gene suspected from what they had understood after dropping on Fjaldr, and Axylus that smaller pirate gangs were being contracted with carrot and stick to support that vendetta in exchange for loot opportunities, and kept in line by threat of force.


Gene tapped the physical controls as much so that the motion caught the attention of those paying attention as anything else. The Magistracy did not have a lot of HPG stations, and from what he understood ComStar's outlying stations in the independent rimward periphery space had been hit already... for whatever reason Black Jack was dancing over the borders with increasing regularity now.


"This to me looks like Black Jack is going, or wishes to give the impression of moving into the Free Worlds League or Capellan Space." The interruption came from another of Seghal's contemporaries." That she had allowed for the possibility that it was obfuscation was a good sign... it meant she wasn't completely wedded to the notion one way or the other.


"Its possible, though it raises the question of where Black Jack wants to hit most." The 2nd​Battle of Luxen had involved one of Black Jack's lieutenants but not really one too high up in the chain, enough of a shot caller to wield all SLDF metal, but not one with anything truly special, and the bounty while nice had been a gratis not anything like what the Precentor New Avalon had offered for work out here.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Pirate Wars


Gene cracked his neck as the mike crackled and the Marsden II tank platoon leader checked in affirming that her platoon was in position at the way point. Back at the command post Abbas, an Azami tanker in a Fury acknowledged the receipt. Further back the data from his Fury was filtered to an actual fixed command center filled with MAF personnel watch and hopefully learning from the exercise in progress.


Hammer's original company of men were there 'baby sitting'. The 'White Mice' were not happy about it, but it needed to be that way. Dieron had the potential to support mechwarrior chauvinism over combined arms application and he needed to prevent that. His job was to help the MAF build up expertise and to protect a provincial capital as glamorous as 'mechs were they were one combat arm out of several.


He also knew that the Magistracy had a slew of officers who for a variety of reasons didn't like the disposition of their own 'mech forces. The breakdown of this maneuver was modelled on the ones they had operated on Robinson with the Draconis March Militia... but the difference which was most keenly felt was the lack of established facilities to support the exercises.


Right now, Ronin was currently tasking her light company with an attached lance of modified Chargers to advance on a separate waypoint. Septim had the Magistracy Merlins in tow. Beau currently had easy company and was liaising with Volkov as the two hopped towards another waypoint moving to secure a critical river crossing. Lady Raventhir's 'wolves' were currently far side of the river, which was what Volkov had volunteered for.


They were making good progress, so Gene wasn't surprised that the call came in signaling a priority communique. He reached over and keyed the display, eyes narrowing as the packet unfolded... there weren't many HPGs in the Magistracy. Black Jack was trying to destroy all of them it seemed, and had been even before Kelly had entered stage left to join the performance.


Bahar's Highlander transmitted a single click acknowledging she had gotten the video package as well. His Marauder remained still even as he worked his machine's command equipment. The Magistracy of Canopus was or should have been several months from Kalidasa, but after Kalidasa ComStar had apparently decided to summon its 'first circuit' to Terra to do something about this, while Kelly began to move back rimward.


ComStar had a monopoly on FTL communications, or at least public communications Gene had his suspicions that Black Jack might very well have access to fax machines or worse, and was now being pushed to use that. They seemed to have recognized that they were being backed into a corner and were now doing damage control in the face of a panic sweeping the Inner Sphere; or at least that last bit was what was making the news. Carefully weighing his options Gene made the decision that cancelling the exercise would be a mistake.... Kelly on the way out of the Free Worlds League burning all the way apparently but that didn't make him close enough to action on.


More than anything this showed that ComStar was serious about relaying news of attacks now... though the cynical part of his mind wondered if costs were going to go up as a result...rebuilding an HPG station couldn't possibly be cheap especially given the technological backslide. Gene exhaled drummed his fingers on the display and brought up the star map as the exercise continued... it was a only a matter of time until the Magistracy at the base were informed and one of them called in, but he had overall command... and they needed the Luxen Volunteers to be confident moving like this...and the plan was to expand from there to eventually encompass everyone.


Or nearly everyone the truth was he was probably going to given Hanzo command of the units defending the starport during the first major exercise, for which this was a test run, but that would be weeks from now. Weeks to finish making sure all the chargers and cicadas worked. After that... in theory from just a materiel standpoint all the mechs would be combat ready even if the unit was still green as grass. Defending Luxen with the Volunteers as a green force with the company at strength wasn't a difficult proposition. The problem was trying to use the unit offensively supplying the unit defensively was a limited logistical burden, but moving the unit off planet was a whole other problem.


The problem was that the Hegemony, and the SLDF as a result of the Hegemony's machinery had largely preferred heavyweight battlemechs to do the heavy lifting of any fighting. Hussar and Dragoon independent regiments had probably contributed the machines that Black Jack and Kelly had been given and or looted to fight with. There were lighter machines, and there were more contemporary machines, but the MAF was going to have a hard time of it when things dropped into the pot. His job was too do his best to prepare the MAF to fight that.
–
Two hours later Shepherd stood in the expansive departure bay of the Sam Houston. The DrosTIIA had touched down specifically so he didn't have to cancel the ongoing operations. The combat vehicles were still on their maneuvers their advance forward covered by Hammer, Bardiche , Claymore and the Cuirassier as the Maguanac corps of his first battalion formed a base security around the landed DroSTIIAs of their force. They were still within the envelope of Hammer's artillery park at the starport but the dropships allowed LRM clusters to be fired in simulation while the officer force congregated here.


"When we move back to the star port we're going to need to re examine what we know of Black Jack's movements."


"What are you thinking?" His XO asked


"That he has a star map that has worlds on it that aren't on the commercial charts."


That wasn't new, "We have discussed this before... it is worse than that?"


"The Rim World built hidden army depots stocked with machines they were allowed to buy from the Hegemony," The idea had been that the Rim World Republic was a lot closer to the Inner Sphere than the other territorial states... and that had bit everyone in the ass. "None of the JumpShips that we've seized had such facilities noted but its the only explanation I can come up with for not finding him... but..."


"Save that," Bahar acknowledged, "his man Kelly avoids the Free Worlds League with impossible guile."


Yeah... that, he resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Something was very very off about this whole situation. "Then on top of that if Kelly is coming directly this way we will," He was sure, "Going to be potentially facing amassing of pirates on or towards one of the major Magistracy worlds... and they had already hit Royal Foxx. If they hadn't already negotiated over using Luxen as a staging ground then they might have been pushed to moving to Royal Foxx but they had no ties to that planet, and Luxen's HPG was still intact. "But that is another thing, I don't know how much control Black Jack really has over Kelly." Krisotfur Kelly wasn't one of Black Jack's original men...he'd shown up later... and Pasha had admitted that maybe this was a case of whoever had been supplying Black Jack had thought to try again with Kelly but that didn't make sense given that who that had been seemingly had tried to double cross Black Jack... none of this made sense from a logical standpoint and the whole neo Amaris psychobabble just gave him a headache trying to wrap his head around.


It was like Kelly was going out of his way to piss respectable people in the Inner Sphere off. That seemed especially the case with storming through the Capellan Confederation and the Free Worlds League and now heading back towards the Periphery at best possible speed. "We will be ready."


"We better be." Gene replied immediately. "Kelly, and Black Jack have to have some place safe off the maps we have to resupply..." And it would be very hard to disappear from Luxen to try and even things up.


"And our own re equipping of the units has drawn attention."


"I know. We're going to have to talk to both Raventhir and the Majesty Metals Rep." and Friar Tuck, the jovial drunk had a list of people he'd been keeping on his personal payroll to keep him and the Luxen HPG station safe while Volkov had been hired on to fill in in the Company's absence which the Friar had had to defend to other MRB offices and his own precentor apparently...but probably not too strenuously to his own boss. "We're going to meet Tuck's team when we wrap this up."


"Do you believe that this Crystal Palace of Amaris that Doctor Abner mentioned is real?"


"Probably real, whether or not its intact …I mean I wouldn't be surprised. Has kelly or black jack found it …"there was no way of knowing with what they had, "If it were this far rimward I'd be surprised... logic would say putting it rimward would be too close to the Taurians I would have expected it under the oceans of some near commonwealth republic periphery world.... I personally wouldn't want it anywhere near the Taurians or the Combine but Amaris gambled a lot..."

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Notes: The Battletech Junkyard will be getting semi regular updates going forward there are things that canon-ish going up in that thread but that I'm not sure are exactly canon to the main timeline for Ghost mostly from other characters perspective.