Battletech: The Ghost Who Walks (Battletech Isekai)

[Imperator Pax]

Dieron Part 12​

"He did what?"


The officer squirmed within the bowels of the Overlord. The Command Post had grown quiet again as attention shifted. The heavy combat ... the fight between Mechs had largely ended for the Invasion of Dieron. There would be mop ups but that wasn't really the issue right now.


Part of it was really more a question of how he had gotten from point A, their lines in the west, to behind Combine lines in the east. If this was some trashy unrealistic holovid blockbuster the answer would have been a quick trip into orbit and then from the orbitals reinsertion ... and that had died off really as practical during the 1st​ succession war.


The speed with which the forces had vanished from Davion lines, and then appeared in the city precluded overland travel, and they had appeared in the city which should have prompted them being shot at by whatever anti aircraft assets the combine had left.


The Davion Guards, specifically the Heavy Guards had been brought along for a milieu of reasons to this action, just as a regiment of the Avalon Hussars RCT with the Blue Stars were engaged on Altair. The objective of holding it was not a critical priority but it would be an emblazon to the whole campaign, but that would depend on their success since Dieron wouldn't be able to scramble reinforcements or relief forces to the attack.


"The air wing is rearming as we speak."


Just ASF this time. There was no sense sending dropships and combat small craft and even the ASF were going to be limited in what they could strafe effectively... but it didn't' matter because of the detail of the attack from within. Highland troopers were currently deployed in a combined arms bridgehead that opened the way into San Martin for the Davion Heavy Guards.


The Guards were taking full advantage of that beach head. Their infantry and their tanks moving forward to reinforce thin control of vital roadways and flood the city. Even now Davion intelligence officers were rushing forward to broadcast calls for the population to welcome them as liberators... a message that Colonel Shepherd had already delivered from his Marauder. The Command BattleMech had tapped into the local voice of the dragon 'official' combine news service as well as sending one of his officers... one of his combine native officers the girl piloting the Griffin and a detachment of Highland Infantry to the ComStar enclave to inform the Order that Dieron was now a world of the Federated Suns.


... there had been a slight protest apparently, but from the communications back and forth had culminated with BattleRom footage being handed to Precentor Dieron of what Shepherd's Company had done to the Sword of Light several hours earlier.


There was another detail she had to contend with. They were ahead of schedule... they were so far ahead of schedule compared to how they had expected this invasion to go.


They had the Sword of Light's particulars .... including where their missing battalion was... and who was commanding the unit. They knew where the heir of the Draconis Combine was. They in theory could could once the HPG compound was secure make a real time call out and attempt to capitalize on that information. It wouldn't avenge Ian, but it was step in the right direction... but even with the information that would mean an expensive HPG call to New Avalon and Hanse having to weigh whether to roll the dice on such a move.


It would have to be Hanse's decision, and regardless of what decision the First Prince made there would be detractors on both sides of the isle within the court.


For now though they had a battle to finish. They needed to finish securing the rest of the planet.


--
Gene watched kilted troopers herd confused civilians and Combine officials into separate groups. There was no way they were going to be able to get through this with their numbers. They were really just getting the ball rolling while they waited for more Davion Infantry to arrive on the backs of trucks into the capital. More infantry to scour the city and establish their own watch posts.


The Combine had wanted to fight a scorched earth policy, but the local ISF had never expected that the Sword of Light even down a battalion, with 2nd​ being off world, would be annihilated in open battle ... never mind in the space of a few hours of maneuver and then forty odd minutes of closing engagement to crush both 1st​ and 3rd​.


Not that anyone could have planned for slamming cruise missiles into clusters of the regiment's force as they had massed for a head on assault... but the ISF had thought that they could rally the populace for a last ditch resistance of the city... which had over estimated popular support for the dragon, and also the ISF had been mostly focusing its militia troops to the outskirts against the Heavy Guards. There had been interior defenses but nothing intended to stop more than unarmed peasants not well not highlanders full of piss and vinegar never mind the mechs that had followed once the breaches were open.


There were apparently Davion MI liaisons trying to rally anti combine resistance groups on the planet. He didn't exactly grasp who they had been backing, but he wasn't exactly surprised by spooks in shades showing up in the first waves of Heavy Guard vehicles at the University of Dieron to 'assist and advise'. The original plan had probably been running on a script that assumed... well he hoped the davion's hadn't been banking on a popular uprising in their favor... but that the Guards would be taking the city while the mercs were handling the fighting in the western countryside.


Frankly that the Eridani had themselves a numerical advantage on the Combine force initially opposing them then while potentially costly Kerston could have probably carried the day. The difference was the DMM addition. The Davions had probably planned that there needed to be some regular troops among the mix, for PR reasons as well as others.


He flipped the switches on his right side. "Bubbles I need a sitrep."


The Atlas's connection to his Marauder attenuated for a moment and then the image solidified. "Nothing going on here, we're still processing all of the dragon bits." Salvage from the Sword of Light, "But we haven't lucked out there is a lot of scrap metal but those big missiles are a lot less discerning than pretty little headshots."


"Our objective was the enemy's destruction... but we should see if we can't find any operational intelligence to pass along." He replied. They had been in high tempo operations for the better part of two days, not counting the ride in or the burn from the JumpShips. They needed to get everything locked down so they could stand down.


Maintaining this tempo was not practical, and with any luck they had completely broken Combine operational planning and exhausted their reserves. If that were the case they could stand down, take a breath, catch some sleep. Let the abundance of Davion troops secure the city... and then assess the new situation.


Chang promised she'd be on it, and Gene sat back against his harness and took a breath. The Highlanders were trying to keep the civilians from gawking too much at the 'mechs.


"Greetings Lieutenant Colonel Shepherd." A voice he didn't recognize remarked over his speakers as it read off his HAF service number and final CID operational posting. "Admiral Clancy suggested that there would be other Terran Officers who would make it to fail safe protocols and enter hibernation."


The Hegemony had had too many plans. He'd come to that conclusion on Northwind reviewing historical files... hindsight being twenty twenty of course it was all too obvious that a weak star lord and then the assassination of the second to last one had of course been a symptom... but the Hegemony really should have acted against the combine sooner.


"Commander."


"Colonel MacIntyre." He replied as the holographic image of the old scottsman solidified and the machine spirit quieted.


"I've the cadets joining us. We have control of the space port and are ready to begin transfers down from orbit."


"Good, do so." He replied. The cadets would probably be bored with what would be mostly guard duty , but they weren't quite to where they could stand down. "MacIntyre."


"Sir?"


"Stay available while you're handling that, I may need you for something."


"Yes Commander."


San Martin had been the capital of this world. That was his immediate focus with contact with the AI within Fortress Dieron... and about the time that he was doing this the news was beginning to circulate of the Wolf Dragoons activities and the Dragoons' leadership were sitting down to watch the BattleRom footage from Elidere.


The news of the Marik attack on Cranston Snord's Landhold didn't immediately raise any red flags, not to the normal intelligence services... but it was a detail that meant something to the AI within Fortress Dieron.
--
Notes: and very shortly we will be moving on to other things, including canonical ones regarding the Draconis Combine under Minoru Kurita at the end of the Star League as the driving basis for Clancy's initial pivot towards the Davions which well, we will get to, but certainly Minoru's immediate seizure of Hegemony worlds once Terra was liberated did not help, and certainly the authorization of the nuclear bombardment against Helm for their 'defiance' (read give him the SLDF materiel) cemented Clancy's decision.


That being said this is some what short as I had originally intended to contend with touching upon one of the things this heads off. The Davion takeover and prevention of the ISF from fighting a scorched earth campaign prevents the ISF from killing Myndo Waterly's college boyfriend and thus causing her to run off to ComStar. Myndo makes more appearances in the future, but is more active in the Whoops there goes the HPG alternate timeline that I occasionally spin ideas off.


I had originally planned to do an interlude of Cranston versus Marik but that's kind of been dropped even though it does still make the news, but news in BT travels slowly. Anyway we will start Fortress Dieron's chapter next week.

 

[Silverbullet]

Okay, I like it but you're again starting dialogue and then going off on exposition with character thoughts while sentences are left hanging, and it winds up explaining nothing and making the flow confusing. There's also this issue where events are jumping around instead of flowing into each other.

 

[Fragment of Serenity]

Guess the ISF weren't ready for Dieron's forces to simply get hammered flat that quickly. Which given that deploying such forces would usually have a much larger buildup, is understandable.

Still funny though.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Fortress Dieron Part 1​

The Davions had filled the city above them with checkpoints, but that was no surprise. Even with that the Davion's focus had been mostly on civil order. He was sure they were engaging in SSE and other affairs but they had the opportunity to delve into the underground.


He had brought MacIntyre along for a couple of reasons. First and foremost because the old highlander was read in, but because there was a cover for action in being in discussion with the colonel of one of his subordinate battalions. The Davions were already, or had to be privy, that Northwind and Robinson Battle Academy were already in talks on how to move forward... and with the cache at Harlaw open there was material to equip additional units, never mind the materail the DMM had been able to add to their stores from the Brian cache on Robinson.


"I think Dieron Highlanders has a nice ring to it." The old Scotsman remarked as they walked. He was taking the escorting anti personnel drones very well all things considered, "Call it Battalion D on the papers for now." The paper work was going to be a problem.


The local MRB office, the local ComStar people weren't exactly sure what was going on. Precentor Huthrin Vandal had called in earlier that morning from New Avalon to finalize the change over of Dieron's ... map colors so to speak, and things had sounded tense when they'd been leaving. The MRB liaison at the Dieron ComStar office had looked a bit on the spot; never mind how the local Precentor must have felt at the situation. They were leaving it for the time being until they had things sorted out.


"So?" The colonel asked. "You went into one of these stasis tubes? Go to sleep in one century," The Rip Van Winkle sleep. "And wake up in another."


He paused and opened the panel and keyed the numbers into the access pad. "I don't remember much." They were dreams really, a recalling of, "A flash in the sky, that I'm pretty sure was either the Taurians, or the Rim World nuking our ships in orbit... or vice versa our fighter wings doing theirs. I remember a fight with Rim World Assault Mechs. I don't remember much beyond that other than flashes, just pieces." He repeated.


"Amnesia is a common side effect of stasis tube usage." the artificial voice remarked through one of the escorting drones, and rattled off the statistics. "Admiral Clancy demonstrated similar symptoms of memory loss." The lift began moving.


The portion of the old underground shelter was a washed out color scheme. He wasn't sure what color it had originally supposed to have been, but it connected to a mag tube that lead into the mountains that surrounded San Martin. The Combine had encouraged the rumors of Star League caches, and from the rumbling around them he could guess that they'd been hoping would be rebels would just die in the mountains.


That historical trivia was... well there were dim blue glows from the casket like structures. Some of those rebels probably had... maybe to rock falls maybe not. Given the facility they were transitioning into, he was going to wager that certainly not all of the disappeared would be rebels were dead. "Stasis tubes." Lots of stasis tubes.


They weren't all empty either. There were drones moving around. Priceless volumes of lost tech machinery everywhere. Hundred of meters below the surface buried treasure.


Apparently the original professed requisition had been long term protection of personnel ... Gene didn't question it... but it seemed odd that if that were the primary purpose of the facility why none of them had been used for that purpose... it seemed strange that Dieron's AI would be bagging would be combine rebels and putting them into the tubes, but then what did he know. Whatever was going on was authorized, or reauthorized by the last Hegemony officer to visit the facility, Clancy and his people.


It hadn't been included, or at least Dante hadn't mentioned it or put it forward to read, but the Dieron AI included after action reports against the SDS system that had to have come from Kerensky's command. More to the point the files within this bunker iterated off a list of personnel... and an attack on Richmond on Combine Forces in 2828.


"Clancy made contact with the Minnesota tribe." He remarked as he punched up the retinue of Clancy's people and their ages, and their jackets more broadly. The fact that Clancy had loaded up artificial wombs and Hegemony Medical tech before leaving Dieron was a little concerning. There had been no mention of that in Northwind's database... and it didn't seem like a stretch to assume that whatever Wolverine help Clancy had might well have been in exchange for cached terran supplies.


That worried him how that might have turned out. Worried him what might happen if the information got out. That might have been why Clancy hadn't posted that information to Northwind which didn't have involvement in that 'plan' or whatever.


... but whatever he had turned over to them, it was only a fraction of the complex machinery that Dieron, of the complex electronics and equipment Dieron as a world had made as part of the Hegemony... the problem was just the list of stasis tubes and computer parts, and artificial wombs... that still worried him... because there were notes included in the debrief at Dieron about this 'Kerensky Cluster', and the early clans... about Nicholas apparently going off the deep end... but a part of him sort of expected that.


A part of him knew that Kerensky's son had gone off his rocker... and yet seeing it in writing in the log books taht made it all the more real, and worrisome.


"Were Navigation," Unlike with Northwind's 001 annex there were no terminals projecting star charts... which was odd given San Martin had been the planetary capital during the Hegemony. "were there star charts included with this debrief?"


"They were not." The AI responded. "Given the data included I can narrow the general area coreward of the Inner Sphere," But only really down to 'far in the galactic north' terms. "I lack any viable data on the worlds Kerensky's deserters settled however there is another matter." That however would mean actually leaving San Martin, and visiting the Fortress Dieron in person.
--
The news channels were awash with Davion liaisons trying to smooth things over. Gene looked at the expanded officer contingent, but MacIntyre hadn't mentioned what was up in the mountains east of the city... or rather underneath them. There was some shuffling around, and Gene dashed the milk into the four shots of expresso sitting in his stainless steel mug. It was emblazoned with an animated appearance of a Fury tank, having been found in Bristol's storehouse, "Lets begin with the fundamental basics, Bard."


The DMM Brevet Colonel nodded raising his own coffee cup to the room. "First and foremost we won. The planet is ours. We're still waiting to hear back from Altair but our objective is accomplished."


After the polite applause to the announcement and some other minor issues during which he drank down the local cortado, "Anyone want leave?" Gene asked, "Its there for you, we will need time but the next objective on schedule is the agreed upon escort out into the periphery, while we are there Precentor Huthrin Vandal of New Avalon would appreciate any pirates we meet are dealt with. Black Jack McGirk has been busy. If you're taking leave but planning to meet up for the periphery escort I'll have data packets ready for your based on what we know. If you are staying Bard has something else for us to deal with."


"There is a short term joint duration contract we need any mechwarriors that want to sign up for this. Robinson Battle Academy's training cadre is going to be posted here for joint training with the Northwind Cadre under my careful ministrations. You'll be helping me digest our success and prepare the DMM troops for their role in mentoring the two cadres while they are here."


When Bard had ambushed them with the notion, the DMM colonel had been ignorant of where he and Macintyre had been coming from after all, it had sounded like a bad idea. Maybe not bad, but risky in terms of positioning them on the front. He agreed that the DMM group assembled made sense having them run down the cadre groups from the academies, full expanding access to that knowledge made sense, but sticking them on Dieron... that was gambling.


The Victory at Dieron meant that he had Highlanders who wanted the opportunity to take a trip home to Northwind. That was young people, the fresh graduates in the mech units as well older more experienced troopers. Part of the proposed training regiment was also going to be wider evaluation of Blackwell Industries equipment. Evaluations that if Bard's scuttlebutt was wright would very likely be passed to MI2 and probably to Davion units like the Hussars, and the Guards. I.E. The units who were the regular units participating in the actions on Dieron and Altair.


"That being said, ComStar has the battle Roms of the Marik attack on one Cranston Snord's landhold," Gene remarked, "This is not a social viewing, this is work. Review those roms, we'll be discussing them in detail." Not just the Marik side of things, but Snord. Snord was a red flag even to the Davions but the whole affair with the Minnesota tribe and Clancy earlier today... Snord's tactics... well Snord was suspected of having ties to the Dragoons.


Chang waved her hand, "Uhm, I already watched it, but ... it looked familiar, I mean Snord's people kind of did what we did, except using a base five unit formation instead of either lances or the base six mech platoons."


She wasn't wrong. It was an observation that would not be overlooked by others, or at least Gene assumed that someone else might have noticed the similarities. They might not necessarily be suspicious that Clinton must have had substantial underground facilities.


"He lost didn't he?"


The two Alexanders shared looks, and there was a pause. Not that Beau was wrong, the Marik regulars had pillaged Clinton and driven the irregular's home guard to ground but some of the footage was concerning since units seemed to disappear from contact with marik forces and pop back up in the rear echelons. "We'll talk about it, but we should consider what happened on Clinton, and the irregulars other combat actions. Not everyone is going to do us the solid of attacking us head on." ... and if there were going to be further cadre sessions the RBA and Northwind students needed to be aware of how to turn to respond to a flank or enemy in the rear.

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

So, wait…Admiral Clancy and whoever was still with his command linked up with the Minnesota Tribe and f**ked into the periphery with a crap load of medical and general supplies from Hegemony/SLDF caches? Including Iron Wombs?!

Well, wasn't expecting that theory to pan out lol .
The bit where one of the officers NOT in on all the info Gene and the others know immediately twigged onto how odd it was that Snords Irregulars use Clan base 5 units made me laugh.

 

[Praetorian13]

So Snord is now noticed as using units in groups of five like the clanners, extremely suspected as still tied to the Dragoons, and due to their disappearing act before popping back up behind the opposing force likely has a Castle Brain or something similar to it with underground passage ways.

It is nice to see people putting things together in the story.

 

[Fragment of Serenity]

So Clancy has further reinforced Clan Wolverine... wonder how they convinced him that it was the right thing to do? And I wonder what he extracted from them in return.

Only time will tell, I suppose.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Fortress Dieron Part 2​

Gene collected the printed papers, and took a breath. The Overlord's command space was still a wash with noise from the adjoining room. He knew there had been slight pressures on the fringes, and expected more direct efforts forthcoming ... but he had agreed to go with the Azami into the periphery. They wouldn't go all the way to Alamut, but to sweep into the Rimward Periphery, and hopefully be able to start investigating, or at least laying the ground work for an investigation... they had found that DOME outpost in the rim, and there were the umbella institutions... those needed to be looked into... but for now


"So what is the objective? You've been pushing the Battlion D plan fairly hard." He remarked to MacIntyre, "I'm not opposed to it, but we've been on stand down from combat for," He made a show of checking the data slate, "less than twenty four hours officially. This planet has been officially under the Davion banner for less than a day."


"Because the plan is to come back." MacINtyre replied matter of factly. "God willing House Cameron lives, and there is a trueborn heir to the league, but facing the odds... if not the law, then revenge. An' facing the facts the Combine cannot allow us to show them as so brittle. They'll attack. We have the machines to prepare highland regiments at strength for the first time in generations, never mind whatever is on this world."


and that was a whole other headache. He known that the Hegemony Defense Procurement Apparatus had been nightmarishly labyrinthe at best... "The mechs we had originally planned to deploy the cadets in."


"In part. In part there are other machines that came out of Harlaw. There are clan scions who will go to the academy, understanding that their duty is to fight the snakes." MacIntyre reached down and put his own documents on the table, "This is a copy from the filework of operations the Company ran in the Canopian Contracts. Luxen." The gray bearded man tilted his head and shrugged, "Its the base six thing Major Chang was saying. Now what I'm proposing here is we take the Archers we attach a whole platoon to two companies of mechs. We'd be talking eighteen mechs in a company. So in theory yes it would be more to manage, it would be larger than a square, but ah' reckon a major commanding, his XO leading the Archers. It would maximize firepower support."


Gene took the papers. "So the ultimate intention is a regiment?" He had strongly implied as much with his statement of preparing Highland regiments, plural.


"In the long term yes."


He glanced at the force chart. The biggest immediate issue was the perennial need to find ASF and pilots... but that wasn't new. Then he folded it and stuck it in his breast pocket, "Lets see whats here before we go making too grand of plans." He shook his head, "That is a lot of manpower to train up. It will take time before we're there." ... but he got the feeling that this had been probably something the Highland clans on Northwind had probably been cooking up since they'd opened Dante's annex beneath the planet... MacIntyre was right... the combine wasn't likely to take this sitting down, they had an influx of materiel and of course ... it wasn't rocket science they were very likely going to have to come back from the periphery, return to Davion space, and then deal with a belligerent combine


--
Septim had spent a couple hours shooting the shit with Bubbles, and she was definitely fucking right about the fighting tactics. This Snord guy, well he had danced around Marik before. It was scary how similar that was to, it was scary watching somebody else enevelop another successor state regular unit. It wasn't identical but the maneuver aspect of the fighting was all too like what the boss did. There was a lot less armor involved. He tossed his bag... and the leave prospect worried him...


There were going to be questions about Elidere. Now that the fighting was done the news broadcasts were crawling with battle rom footage of the Sword of Light being absolutely chewed up as well... and by the time he got home ... well he'd already asked for a copy of the public release roms from the MRB... otherwise .. well just so people would believe it.


"Ah there you are young man." Doctor Abner thumped him heartily on the back, "I should understand we shall be travelling companions." The Atlas driver declared, "A good thing I think, we have so much to talk about." Abner proceeded to talk his ear off about trying to convince the boss, again trying to, to visit New Kyoto, "There are benefits to personal presentations, but its not just that a trip to New Kyoto would have other benefits, regardless." The older lyran clapped his hands, "I have arranged proper quarters for you young man, and any one else. I know some people have made plans for leave go spend two weeks on Solaris enjoy the games, so you needn't fret. I have everything arranged." The univeristy's bell tower chimed, "In the mean time well, I have agreed to give a lecture on the history of the late star league at the university of Dieron. I would invite Commander Shepherd but I am afraid the Duchess of Victoria has absconded with him for some matter of National Security or some such military business." He waved dismissively at the notion.


Gene was situated between Lex and Bard with the Field Marshal at the head of the table. The Field Marshal looked tired. Kerston was directly across from him on the left side of the table. "The good news is Precentor New Avalon is as we speak overseeing the distribution of the battle roms through Davion space. They should be arriving to the media over the next few weeks." The Field Marshal remarked. "This is excellent news. The destruction of the majority of a sword of light regiment and the demonstration of Combine vulnerability in losing a prefectural capital will put them off balance further off balance given Elidere, and if the Blue Star Irregulars and the Hussars can secure Altair," That was two whole RCTs Gene was given to understand, "Then we will have achieved a significant coup de main there as well."


There was more to that. He'd known that as the highlanders had pushed into the heart of the Combine presence within San Martin and taken out their major command and control nodes.


They had taken the ISF headquarters more importantly their provincial archive intact. Well minus some bloodstains from highland infantry having to paint the walls, but there were supposedly two centuries worth of combine records in the facility.


Her comments made the man sitting to her left look uncomfortable. He was a spook. Probably from the DMI, he didn't look like he was from across the aisle... from the civilian intelligence service, but then what did Gene know. Either way the spook looked like he was uncomfortable being here.
"I had wanted to hold this discussion," Yvonne continued folding her hands and sitting back in her chair, "for of course much earned congratulations on the victory, but to discuss some of what we have unearthed in the archives."


That didn't sound right. They couldn't possibly have found anything too quickly in the archives. While there had been ISF prisoners taken it seemed absurd to think that the Combine could have given anything up this fast. The documents the man beside her distributed across the table were in ISF letterheads ... they were issued out under the seal of the Coordinator Minoru Kurita.


The documents detailed SLDF positions.... they detailed providing SLDF positions with the recipients of those details being the Rim World Republic. The paper detailed THS Allegiance's task group... his vision involuntarily shifted, and began to swim before he took a breath. Kerston had crinkle one side of a paper he was looking at... and Gene could make out that the brevet general's copy had been translated into English... and more to the point that the unit the ISF had passed details on... had been the 3rd​ Regimental Combat Team's 19th​ Striker Regiment.


... and the result of that was that 19th​ Striker Regiment of the Star League Defense Force had walked into an ambush and had been destroyed. Not the least of which because the Rim world hadn't minded luring the unit into an urban center and... then not caring about civilian losses in the ensuing battle.


"These are the sorts of things we've found, and its more. We plan to open the archive's historical section for study. Obviously we will need," She looked to her left, "To catalog everything first, and many people will need translators but I have already spoken with the ambassador of the Lyran Commonwealth regarding the distribution of such records to institutions of higher learning."


Gene had so many questions but bit down on most of them. It was no surprise that Kerston was going to have the Eridani dive into the archive at first opportunity... even just the material from the end of the star league. ... unlike Kerston though... well he'd need to take the general aside and mention the prospect of digitalizing the pages and letting the AI on planet sort through the material. "Who all are you granting access to?" That was probably the most immediate relevant question... because besides Kerston he was sure that MacIntyre would want access to the data contained within especially if there were more direct links of the ISF handing over SLDF positions to the Rim World.


... there probably were, and given Minoru's explicit authorization then there was going to be pressure to reciprocate what they knew in turn... and indeed that was the first thing Kerston wanted to discuss.


"Not while I have tens of thousands of Azami civilians waiting to ship out to the periphery. Or do you not think the Combine-" He bit down, the reality was if they dropped that HPG recording he expected retaliatory attacks against Azami population centers regardless ... beyond what was already happening, but JumpShips and Colonial Droppers were an easy target for Combat DropShips and ASF. "With all due respect general even without this bombshell there is something else. I need you to meet Colonel MacIntyre and I for something that will most likely take several hours of your time."


So five hours later as the curfew went into place and dusk fell over the city he was showing Kerston the copy of the reports from Richmond. The 'Minnesota Tribe's' liberation of the gulags there. The best solution... well the best idea that they could come up with for the time being was to be there bright and early in the morning and hopefully convince the Field Marshal to let Doctor Abner set up his star league era cameras to scan well as many of the documents as they could get into a computer file and then upload the digital copies of the physical paperwork from the archive to the AI.

As Kerston read, Gene thought about the archives here... would, how much about the Minnesota tribe and the combine's gulags would Admiral Clancy have included to his Davion allies. Was there a report about the attack on Richmond in the archives of the DMI somewhere? OR their civilian branch, certainly what was in the computer was more than he was under the impression of was in the public domain... but that was one more thing... and this was all just material that didn't entail going into Fortress Dieron proper this was 'unsecure' material in comparison to other data that would require being physically present to take possession of.
--
Notes: Jokingly Myndo Waterly of IE Searcher for the Minnesota Tribe! An alternate timeline. I kid I don't have the patience for that we are here for space feudalism and stompy robots, and a little bit of like 'lost history' and lost technology and what not, and rebuilding from the ashes, but yeah.


In this timeline Myndo is vastly less of a pain in the ass to the galaxy as a whole. As to the wolverines well as we will see probably soonest in 'you want to do what with my genes' the problem with tracking down the minnesota tribe, or the wolverines in general is that they ended up slitting up escaping from Kerensky space so one of the earlier leavers will show up before we get to either the dobrev or to the others on the Davion side of space.


Since we're on that note, I find Neuvo Castile to be campy as all get out, and yet I like them so much more than I like the Lyran pirates cosplaying as romans. Admittedly liking a faction more than the marians isn't hard for me. Also circling back around to Myndo to round out we will be Mori is slated show up and per canon she would have been apart of the ComStar for roughly seven years.


All that being said this update is going up in the hopes that I'll be able to make sure I do finish the update for Eminence in Shadow which will go up sunday; hopefully.

 

[Bofors40mm]

honestly got to wonder how some pretty suns or even a sandoval (or davion) lady hasn't dragged Gene off to his doom err I mean on a date or two by now.

 

[Wargamer08]

honestly got to wonder how some pretty suns or even a sandoval (or davion) lady hasn't dragged Gene off to his doom err I mean on a date or two by now.

Click to shrink...

Everytime they try he uncovers another equipment cache or kills another mech regiment to distract them and escape. At this point Gene's trail of husband hunters and gold diggers is only exceeded by his trail of Kurita assassins.

 

[Bofors40mm]

so he has a monarch class dropship's worth of both?

 

[Awantax]

honestly got to wonder how some pretty suns or even a sandoval (or davion) lady hasn't dragged Gene off to his doom err I mean on a date or two by now.

Click to shrink...

That's silly since him become the hidden Cameron has been debunked and with all these in-story talks about looking for the hidden heir of the Star League we all know he's going to end up with Lady Cameron.

 

[Wargamer08]

so he has a monarch class dropship's worth of both?

Click to shrink...

Of course, that's why he's fleeing to the outer boondocks of the Inner Sphere. He's gotta keep moving or all the "ronin" and desperately thrist women will pile up into a confusing ball. Worse they might merge and turn into yandere weeaboo samurai.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Of course, that's why he's fleeing to the outer boondocks of the Inner Sphere. He's gotta keep moving or all the "ronin" and desperately thrist women will pile up into a confusing ball. Worse they might merge and turn into yandere weeaboo samurai.

Click to shrink...

I was just about to make a joke about a kuritan girl.

Which of course if GWW was an anime we'd have had some kurita waifu 'dere of some stripe show up

 

[Fragment of Serenity]

Everytime they try he uncovers another equipment cache or kills another mech regiment to distract them and escape. At this point Gene's trail of husband hunters and gold diggers is only exceeded by his trail of Kurita assassins.

Click to shrink...

...trail of GLORIOUSLY HONORABLE SAMURAI, you mean?

Implying that the Dragon would ever stoop so low as to use *spits* Assassins!

DISHONOR! ON YOU, YOUR MECH, YOUR HOME PLANET, AND YOUR DOG!

 

[Imperator Pax]

...trail of GLORIOUSLY HONORABLE SAMURAI, you mean?

Implying that the Dragon would ever stoop so low as to use *spits* Assassins!

DISHONOR! ON YOU, YOUR MECH, YOUR HOME PLANET, AND YOUR DOG!

Click to shrink...

FIVE YEARS LATER

"BOSS," Septim groans, "There is another weirdo here that wants to challenge you to a duel."

Hanzo grimaces, "I will deal with this unworthy ronin please continue the briefing."

"Actually I don't know if this guy is from the combine," Chang comments.

"There is a katana painted on his mech, and a bird holding it, how could they not be from the combine."

 

[Imperator Pax]

Fortress Dieron Part 3​

Doctor Abner was excitable once the morning came around even when he protested that this was just for the same of the historic record, and posterity and that this was not in any way political. ComStar had shown up to with basically those exact same words... and Gene didn't believe them either. The 'brothers', as he had dubbed them, from New Avalon didn't seem to get along necessarily with their co religionists from Dieron's chapter either.


The whole... weird techno worship thing was it made him uncomfortable. It made him want nothing more than to start sitting down the company and shoving League Era technical continuing education courses at his enlisted personnel and officers. That was something they could have potentially organized and done jointly across the whole unit, including the Azami, as well as roped in the Eridani for. The Blue Stars were on Altair as well, he hadn't forgot about them, but it couldn't be helped.


Gene shuffled through a stack of papers, and did his best to ignore the ComStar presence down in the foyer. Not that he was worried, except maybe that the New Avalon people might legitimately start brawling ... but everything here were copies not the originals. The Davions weren't taking chances given how much potential value there was in this stuff. Even with just copies the security presence was tight.


Alexandria sat down as he ran his thumb across a memorial, a formal petition to the coordinator. He was missing something these reports were, he stopped and looked at their liaison, "Good morning," was what he managed.


She returned the greeting cordially and looked at the papers. She didn't immediately say something and he wondered if she was waiting for a servant or something to bring coffee... coffee would be good. "You knew." She said simply. "Kerston suspected that the Combine had sold the Eridani out, but you already knew that the Combine was feeding League positions to Amaris."


"Yes." He replied, and then shrugged. There was no point denying that. He almost corrected her but she was right Kerston likely hadn't known for sure that the 19th​ had been attacking into a forward prepared position ... not for sure... but especially after Northwind he had probably started to wonder just how far, how many SLDF losses in the Terran campaign were the combine warning the Rimworld of imminent SLDF deployments to contest those worlds. "That's right."


"How?"


He blinked. That, that was what was bugging him. The most likely explanation of how Kerensky and Blake had known about the hpg conversation was comparatively easy to explain. Surely enough access to the Ministry of Communication apparatus was intact to eavesdrop and retrieve recorded conversations. That wasn't the only possible answer but those recordings had been validated out before the liberation of terra had commenced... and Clancy had never had access to the HPG recording. He might not have been completely clear on how much of the HPG network was working after the coup, but obvious enough for the Coordinator to take a live call from Amaris on Terra.


So how had he found out about the ISF passing information along? Surely he hadn't directly accessed the Dieron archive, assuming that those files had been present. He stood up and moved to the terminal. It was connected to one of their Fury tanks which was allowing the AI to parse data. He wasn't intentionally ignoring Lex but this was important enough to zero in on his focus to the point of tunnel vision.


"To answer your question, because these reports. The ISF orders to pass on Star League positions were leaked to the Military Intelligence Branch of the SLDF." It wasn't hard to prove with Clancy's files to validate, never mind with copies. "See," he indicated a list of documents, "These were all transferred to the SLDF. Some one in House Kurita tried to warn the SLDF that the coordinator was being blackmailed, that Amaris was holding members of the clan hostage and their safety was being used to force Minoru to comply." That was the excuse something something filial piety and what not, and that was probably how whoever had passed the information along had justified it. "And of course what they didn't know was that the combine ambassador was killed during the take over. Minoru collaborated without getting proof, so hard to excuse that... never mind what he did after." and fucking Jinjiro had even less of an excuse.

"So the Combine was simply engaged in a double gambit, hoping they both devastated one another."

... and Alexandria was right, most likely the Combine had probably been playing both sides. Minoru might well have been involved hoping that the SLDF would manage to rescue the diplomats, but it didn't matter not in the face of the succession wars that had begun after... or frankly from his position that the SLDF had clearly known... and on that...


"Its not that the brevet general didn't know the combine was handing over SLDF positions to the enemy it was that he didn't know for sure that the 19th​ was one of those units who were bushwhacked as a result of that intelligence. Its not the same thing." He commented, it was one thing to know something it was happening it was another to find out it had definitely hit someone much closer to your in group.


There was a cough over the speakers, "Commander, I may have a more pressing concern." The AI's voice remarked sounding like any generic mix of teacher and staff officer. "In the sense that it may undermine the combine's position, please move to the A18 box and look at the documents from roughly 2848 onwards in that file." It took a minute to find that box, and order one of the highland curassier to bring it over.


It was a lot of paper work that the AI had ordered sorted, "I'm not seeing it." He said into the speaker. "What am I looking for?" Dieron was the entreport through near terran space, and thus was in practice the large potential provincial point into the Combine from any of the other successor states for trade or diplomacy, even the federated suns and the lyrans used this despite their long borders... which was probably how the Davions had been able to plan the invasion of two of the provinces major worlds.


Alexandria moved, they were getting attention from one of the twenty something locals in comstar robes. The AI probably didn't have live feeds from the room, but the display changed and started tagging documents. Which he started laying out, "These entail actions by the ISF," Obviously, "The Lyran Commonwealth cells they were rolling up... and SAFE?" Alexandria paused questioning what she was looking at.


"Given the details I would parse that the Free World's League suborned a Lyran Intelligence cell and engaged Operation Praying Mantis, and from there terminated the reigning Coordinator in 2850." The AI replied laying out the intelligence and espionage chains that seemed to have been identified in isolation but never put together.


He shuffled through the papers, and the dates seemed to have lined up. The Combine had rolled up a Lyran cell but didn't get all of it, and from the look of it, the Dieron AI was right it looked as if their instructions started come through a Marik officer. Still he had to ask the Dieron AI how confident that the thinking machine was... and if the machine spirit had had a face, well his response was that he was fairly certain that SAFE had done a run around on both the Combine, and on the LIC.


The probable intention of this whole presence was that the Davions had assumed that anything from before the 'official' start of the 3rd​ succession, formally dated to the year 2866 wasn't going to be important. Or at least not likely to be important enough that anyone cared, Gene paused, "Jose," The AI's preferred given name, "Can you run a general catalog search for the Reimei ring files that might be here?"


"I'll start a search." The AI replied, and that more than anything generated significant returns given how important an information source that had been for the ISF, indeed Gene had expected that Reimei's collapse might have ended the ring, but... the AI came back with a near certainty from files proceeding into the beginning of the 3rd​ succession war that the ring had continued to be active. "An excellent catch commander I would have found it eventually but having a tag to search helped. It would be prudent to investigate jalastar aerospace."


"Collate those and then print them."

Hanzo had looked up from his copy of the dictum honorium as the sister from the ComStar local stepped a little closer than the 'mech pilot liked. The sister seemed imminently concerned about the assassination of the coordinator that... admittedly had gotten a little loud about.

He was glad he'd remembered the Reimei ring, even though it had only really snapped to mind being surrounded by so much of the ISF's archive material. He wondered what else he might have learned about heard about once that just wasn't coming to mind.
--
Yvonne Davion looked at the reports. Brevet General Kerston's reaction had gone from well depressive lows to a swing into a apoplexy with regards to the Combine... he had taken the data as she had expected had disseminated it to the Eridani as whole. The unit was furious, which was what they expected, the Eridani Light Horse was a large unit but with a well developed espirit de corp.


Those historical records were valuable to further undermine combine claims of legitimacy without compromising their ability to act on more recent intelligence. Or rather that been the thinking, they hadn't expected making them available would actually yield a current security threat or to suggest a misunderstanding of previous historical events.


The idea that the combine still had active spy rings in the Federated Suns was one thing. Of course the Snakes were spying, no the problem was that they had a ring that old still active... this whole operation had been a massive intelligence windfall. The fact that they knew where the heir to Combine was, and his unit, and for that matter his battlemech that was going to be potentially tremendously useful if only they got the chance to do so.


"I was hoping for a better picture," She told her lady in waiting, "a more clear picture for how Shepherd knows what he knows or really what he knows. This certainly falls into the latter category but I'll be honest Alexandria you don't seem to be making any progress on a personal front." She held up a hand to stymie the countess of Kestrel from an embarrassing outburst, "I understand the reality is that the Commander does seem focused on his job to the exclusion of nearly anything else, which I admit is a commendable work ethic but it is only a matter of time before the other houses of the realm start looking to cement an alliance." Never mind that the Highlanders might well have some sort of advantage on that front given the chatter... and House Sandoval was unlikely to wait much longer not with a shattered sword of light regiment's bones thrown on top of the Galedon regulars. "Then of course is that if this evaluation of data is correct our very understanding of how the 3rd​ succession war began is in question. The Mariks manage to have a Lyran spy murder the coordinator in his own bed, and the Combine blames the lyrans resulting in the Hesperus campaign..."


Right now as this conversation was going on the task of digitizing the entire archive was ongoing ... the whole archive they had allowed the old Lyran to set up his star league camera and scan all the copied documents even the ones that were painfully recent, over the objections of members of her own staff and her liaison with the MIIO. They had no reason to stop the Lyran noble from informing his home nation or the Magistracy of the existence of the Raimei ring though of course it would take time for that information to disseminate. It was in her mind a small concession in exchange for the fully searchable database, and presumably feed back from the copies by whoever was running the database on the other end.


Alexandria paused to regard the looping replay of what had befallen 'Splendor' company of the Sword of Light's 1st​ Battalion... which was to say watching as they had charged head long into annihilating fire while then also finding themselves under fire from mechs positioned high up on a ridgeline. An elite unit of combine mech warriors had been attacking a distinctly heavy mech formation of probably equivalent skill while being bracketed. The company had been wiped out, and a similar fate had befallen other units in the battalion and the regiment as individual companies mounted their attacks only to be enveloped and engaged as piecemeal forces by larger more concentrated force.


The combine would have claimed it was dishonorable... they would protest and object and make excuses but it didn't change the result. It also didn't change the facts that the battle rom looked visually impressive. The Combine's elite being broken in detail, by a force that suffered only comparatively minor damage. "I understand."


"Do you?" The prince's champion questioned, "Realistically even if he does take a sabbatical to the periphery for humanitarian reasons when he comes back that will mean that the other marcher lords, and their retainers will be more inclined to act. If you want my advice, on the subject, it might be blunt to simply make the offer of a home. You could even trade on descent from the SLDF, that may be of a benefit."

--
Notes: This would have technically been next week's update, but other things cropped up so hopefully I will be able to sit down and finish the next part of eminence in shadow and resume Tuesday updates for that, but yeah IRL is disruptive so it comes down to posting stuff that was ready weeks ago.

 

[HunterxReader]

Hoh? So Snow Flame was a Marik operation in this universe. That's very impressive, especially for a SAFE that was just recovering from fighting ROM due to Cookie Jar. And it looks like the Raimei ring has been revealed at a lot earlier. That's gotta hit ISF hard, and make a Concord of Kapteyn much less likely.

Edit: Going back to Operation Cookie Jar, I wonder why Janos ever allowed Thomas to join Comstar? Did Charles just not pass on the truth about Comstar to his successors, or did the information get lost along the way from wars and assassinations?

 

[Bofors40mm]

Also liable to make the lyrans pissed at the mariks. oh and the suns as well given the person who ended up in charge of the combine took robinson and well....the less said about the level of carnage inflicted on said planet and its people the better

 

[Arimai]

offer of a home. You could even trade on descent from the SLDF, that may be of a benefit."

Click to shrink...

Not going to work. I'm pretty sure Shepard is a fully trained officer with basic and advanced counter espionage training officers are required to take IRL. Especially officers to be posted on foreign soil. I see no reason for that facet of officer training was not adopted by the Star League. I'm quite sure he'd turn Alexandria's honeypot operation against her.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Not going to work. I'm pretty sure Shepard is a fully trained officer with basic and advanced counter espionage training officers are required to take IRL. Especially officers to be posted on foreign soil. I see no reason for that facet of officer training was not adopted by the Star League.

Click to shrink...

And I absolutely agree with that logic, but the Hegemony is, especially as far as the Successor states are concerned, dead. (and Gene certainly is not going to consider ComStar as the 'hegemony') this is more of a case of trying to bring on side when there is no home to go back to.

This isn't quite as blatant as the Liaos and the Wolf Dragoons but it is based on BT successor state attitudes towards these things.

 

[Arimai]

And I absolutely agree with that logic, but the Hegemony is, especially as far as the Successor states are concerned, dead. (and Gene certainly is not going to consider ComStar as the 'hegemony') this is more of a case of trying to bring on side when there is no home to go back to.

This isn't quite as blatant as the Liaos and the Wolf Dragoons but it is based on BT successor state attitudes towards these things.

Click to shrink...

True, but at the same time it's hard to trust any of the successor states. Even the Davions

 

[Bofors40mm]

Say did the Robinson cache include any mongooses or kintaros since if it did methinks the Duke of Ozawa will join the Duke of Errari in wanting to restore and increase production of the designs respectively

 

[Imperator Pax]

Say did the Robinson cache include any mongooses or kintaros since if it did methinks the Duke of Ozawa will join the Duke of Errari in wanting to restore and increase production of the designs respectively

Click to shrink...

Given the age of both of those designs, and the fact there is both the Brian Cache on Robinson, and the 63rd​ Mechanized Infantry Division's depot (Elidere) which would have included spare parts for the Division's BattleMech brigade, yes most likely, and thus the duke of Ozawa would have such an interest.

Additionally as Snord points out in the Wolf Dragoon briefing the 100th BattleMech division's depot was on Robinson so most likely those common mechs would be present

 

[Bofors40mm]

And also for that matter a lot of spare parts and stuff like the high end maintenance manuals for presumably eveything in the cache. Which would be very very useful in increasing and/or restoring production of the stuff in there. As for stuff the Suns should have companies holding licenses (or be able to aquire them or none holds them anymore) for that had examples in that catche that they can't make anymore.....Warhammer, Wyvern, Shadow Hawk, Mongoose, Thug, Striker, awesome, battlemaster, Thunderbolt, Highlander, Age of war Emperor ,Archer, black knight, ostsol,Crusader, Orion, Stalker, hunchback, kyudo, and Crockett.​

 

[Imperator Pax]

Fortress Dieron Part 4​

The Overlord's briefing room was only starting to quiet as they finished shuffling into the space around the holographic table, as he made the decision to start before anybody could speculate on why they were "Lets begin with the serious issue that is in front of us. There is a Hegemony fortress intact here on planet." He reiterated to Septim, and the others. "Jose has mentioned classified materiel that was earmarked for Lockdale's anchorage... which I will be honest we are probably going to pass on for the Davion's to investigate if only because that anchorage will have significant stocks of WMDs that I don't want found by anyone else if they haven't been already." But he'd also be warning the davions that if the anchorage hadn't been nuked to hell during the earlier fighting there were probably automated defenses around it.


That would mean most likely drone fighters... and probably malfunctioning drone fighters given the amount of time which had eclipsed so it was going to be risky. He was a little worried about about what that would mean if there were more complex AI present...


"Shouldn't we go check that out?"


"Are you zero-g operations certified?" Gene questioned the lyran who shook quickly his head in the negative, "I don't have personnel for that then."

"We do actually." He glanced to Bahar who had spoken up, "occasionally the community must salvage derelict jumpships and dropships."


He remembered what he'd been told about the JumpShip now called Cairo. "Alright then we will discuss it based on what information is available from within the Fortress, but that is more the point. There is a chance I will be in there for three days. If House Davion asks we may be interested in a landhold at Dieron. That being said Dieron was one of the worlds of the Lone Star province, that may impact available data there. I'll fill you in, in the mean time those reports that are coming in collated from the ISF archive... you should read them if you have time." Not that the staff present in the room hadn't all seen the laconic version of the hpg recording. "You may notice something I didn't... and I am interested in who passed information out see what can't be pieced together."


"What's going to be in there?"


He gave them a flat look. "Realistically? Fortress Dieron is a whole mountain facility, and," Turning to glance at MacIntyre, and thinking also about the AI on Northwind "And if the colonel is correct in his assessments of what the Combine's motives are. Their need to try and salvage their reputation it may be the key to supporting a wedge to cutting them from the terran corridor..." and it would be in a way, Dante had made suggestions of his own, but the communications logs inside Dieron were invaluable for other reasons and for the sake of preparing other decisions. "We are likely going to need to make long term plans for joint operations with the Eridani and some of their friendly commands, but again that will be something we will discuss later."


The meeting continued until lunch from which the officers were dispatched off to their respective assignments. For Septim that meant joining Bard in the current rotation of light duty supervising the DMM contingent.


Dozens of BattleMechs stood assembled, and he had to not gloat. The truth was he was happy. The March troops had proven their bonafides against the ancestral enemy... admittedly he had been happy at the time told to redeploy... he'd never actually been given those kinds of orders.


... actually he'd been in the moment pissed to be pulled off from trying to tear the snake's throat out with his bare hands.... but he could see the whole plan and why it had worked. He'd been in the moment though, and he hadn't been thinking about how Elidere had played out, and this wasn't that different. "Its a pity you're shipping off." He told the Lyran.


The merlin pilot swallowed down his black beer, the last of it in his glass, "I had been planning to visit home for a while... not, I didn't expect."


"Yeah. I don't expect any of us expected this." Then he waved for another beer for the two of them.
Septim nodded to him in thanks, "Hey when we get back the boss will need more ASF pilots if they're serious about the training thing."


Bard knew that his next assignment would be a series of critical liaison 'missions'. It was to be aimed at graduating cadets from his home institution, the RBA, and the Northwind Highlander's own academy. The posting was to be a Draconis March Command but that proposal was in an entire different light given the sheer scope of what they had accomplished.


Indeed it probably would have been a potentially cushy gig even if not for their slated posting. Dieron would need to be held... there would be other units here, but the command wanted to make sure that they could adequately prepare the troops from both academies for what the fights would be like.


The idea was to encourage interoperability between the two school's graduates, and also to increase the effectiveness of the Draconis March Militia overall. The lyran was right air power was part of that... "yeah well they don't exactly grow on trees." He said in relation well really to the fighters but their shortage also lead to a limit on the number of pilots to go with them. He almost suggested that if they needed pilots to try and convince the Azami pilots to stick around... but he guessed that wasn't going to work.


The DMM had been subjected to a lengthy stand down briefing about what the ISF had been trying to convince the population of San Martin to do, and what they had planned to do to deny the city to the invasion force. They had failed... they had been stopped, because well no one had expected what was happening behind the lines.


He took a pull from his own beer, "Between our guy, and this Snord, there is one other guy I've heard about who can pull something like that off."


"Oh yeah, why haven't we met him?" The Lyran asked, he leaned forward resting his elbows on the table beer hanging loosely, "What's this legendary knight's name?"


Bard felt his expression darken, "Yorinaga Kurita, he danced a whole battalion through on lines and murdered Ian Davion on Mallory's world. He made all of us look like fools." and the truth was that the bastard had meant to rub it in further, and had only had his victory spoiled by what was hard to see as anything other than luck.


There was an uncomfortable quiet. "Shit," The Lyran muttered in German, and sat back... and then hastily changed subjects, "So anyway, I won't be sticking around for implementation, but the boss has already put together planning." The biggest problem was the lack of uniformity in units, and frequency by which mech warriors acted as individual knight errants rather than as small units.


What was recommended were an emphasis where larger company sized actions were not feasible that lance sized divisions of fire and maneuver were employed. This was intended also to prepare such pilots for acting as larger fire and maneuver sections at company level as part of battalion wide actions in assault actions.
--
Gene descended deep into the underground beneath the city. Far deeper than the Combine had ever dared attempt to explore, and deeper than the Rim World had thought to attempt to invade. He had a data slate waiting for him on the mag lev train waiting for him.


Unfortunately given the disturbance the data crunching the AI had done at the archive his disappearance as likely to be noted. He had had to ask Professor Abner to see what all could be found out about Lockdale, and preferably before than the old man left... but the more dangerous factor was that if he was understanding the security key markers on Fortress Dieron correctly the Hegemony Fortress was more dangerous than an depot to sustain an Mechanized Infantry Division, or even for that matter a Brian cache. There were transit loads of material earmarked for the Navy's anchorage at Lockdale... so he needed to know what had happened at Lockdale in the interim... and from what he understood the Dieron AI had been ordered to disconnect from the HPG network rather than previous instances were the other Hegemony AIs had had their HPG uplinks severed by the destruction of those assets.


While Jose had not confirmed his suspicions he suspected that there was at least one HPG within the Fotress deep in the mountain's interior. If those were there then who knew what else was there, but if their existence became known it would spark a scramble for Dieron by both the successor houses and also attempts by ComStar to maintain their monopoly.


That was why he was planning to enter the fortress first and separate, even in spite of objections. Not that the AI was the one objecting. It was dangerous and risky, and if the Combine or anyone else showed up for round two there was going to be a problem... but the AI had done a good job making it seem like his entry by himself needed to be done... if only it didn't emphasize that he was the fish out of water.


He lost track of time reading as the train sped up to three hundred miles an hour... and then some time later a chime sounded as the train decelerated and came to a halt. Fortress Dieron's interior was painfully white. Bright clean, and swarming with the necessary hardware and material to protect itself. A reminder that the Hegemony Commanders had been overruled from on high, by Cameron and Kerensky both to reduce their defenses and allow Rimworld forces to take positions if not inside known fortresses then inside defensive fail safes that would have created perimeters, all the while stripping necessary garrison forces to fight in the periphery. He'd never been here, but the interior featured the Lone Star provincial banner alongside the Cameron icons... and it was reminder that the Combine had been responsible for Lone Star's demise as a planet.


"Welcome to the Fortress Dieron, Commander Shepherd."

 

[Bofors40mm]

A Lyran wanting more ASF cover? Has the apocalypse come again?

 

[kwaliti]

Thx for the chapter.

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

A Lyran wanting more ASF cover? Has the apocalypse come again?

Click to shrink...

Honestly all the good Lyran CO's do, their options are just shit. All the good ASF's are spoken for years and decades in advance. Meaning most unit's trying to fill out or expand their air units are stuck with Seydlitz, Lucifers, and Sabre's as all that's available on short notice 90% of the time.

 

[Bofors40mm]

Honestly all the good Lyran CO's do, their options are just shit. All the good ASF's are spoken for years and decades in advance. Meaning most unit's trying to fill out or expand their air units are stuck with Seydlitz, Lucifers, and Sabre's as all that's available on short notice 90% of the time.

Click to shrink...

Lucifer with some albeit serious (but we've seen somewhat done in a couple variants and I can post my take on the design if anyone wants to see it) modifications can be one heck of a fighter (and this assumes the ejection problems get fixed) and the other notably worse than its peers in stock form lyran design the Chippewa can easily be refitted to a better design in the form of its davion refit albeit one that probably could stand to lose a ton of armor in exchange for making the pair of small lasers aft mediums. Or dropping the SRM-6 and its Ammo to do that, add a medium laser forward, a heat sink, and a extra ton of armor or LRM Ammo