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Blood on the Horizon (Battletech SI)

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Chapter 59
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    • Chapter Fifty-Nine: Reception
    Avalon City, New Avalon, Federated Suns January 20th, 3013

    The wedding had been a grand affair, lots of exposition by the pope, and an extremely large crowd of people. And I had a terrible time just standing there. I had felt exposed, and I had been forbidden from wearing my normal concealed armor and sidearm. I had managed to sneak a knife into a holster around my left thigh though, and that thought had brought me some comfort.

    Thankfully, the reception was a much smaller affair, and was in the much better guarded Davion Palace. While there were obviously plenty of various nobles and other required guests, there wasn't the sheer amount of people that had filled the cathedral and I was able to relax slightly.

    "You good Mark?" Hanse asked, I was seated within easy conversation range and the entire wedding party had seen me tense up earlier.

    "Yeah," I breathed out. "I'm still working through the aftermath of the Versaille mess." I took a sip of the glass set in front of me. "I'm pretty sure I won't ever be a fan of big crowds like this ever again."

    "Well Mark, thank you for sticking it out." Hanse nodded in understanding. "It took a while for things to settle down on Tikonov as well."

    The conversation moved on to lighter things from there, and when it came time to do the best man speech, Ian nodded for me to move on and do my part.

    "Sometimes, I wonder if Hanse should have been the first born." Ian started, "He's the more responsible one, and just about the only thing I possibly do better than him is piloting a battlemech. He's a serious man, driven and capable, and I'm extremely glad to call him brother. And sometimes, it's fun to watch him cut loose and have some fun for a change." He signaled me to start the massive Tri-Vid projector. "This is what we got up to at the bachelor party put on by our very close friend the Duke of Kentares, Mark Hull."

    I pushed play, and a highlight reel of the most hilarious moments of both Ian and Hanse played throughout the room to great roars of laughter at the First Prince and his brother cutting loose and having some fun. No one laughed harder than Hanse and Ian's sister Marie though. She actually had to steal a couple of handkerchiefs to wipe her eyes after laughing so hard that she was crying.

    After the Tri-Vid had ended, and the laughter had died down, Ian took the microphone in hand once more and finished his speech. "Dana, I'm glad to call you my sister, and I hope and pray that both you and Hanse give me plenty of nieces and nephews to spoil."

    After Ian's speech, Dana's maid of honor stood up and gave her speech and then the floor was opened to the traditional dances. Given that Hanse and Ian's father and father had passed away many years previously, Yvonne took the place of Hanse's mother for the traditional dance between mother and son.



    A couple of hours later…

    Hanse and Dana were making their way to the armored hover-limo while dodging the massive amounts of petals that they were being showered with.

    After they had been loaded up and sent on their way to their honeymoon, Ian walked up to me with a grave expression on his face. "How ready are the Kentares Guards?" He asked me.

    "They're a full combined arms regiment at the moment with some extra firepower." I responded, "We've mostly finished ironing out the kinks with logistics and the Militia." I added, "Why? Is there something wrong?"

    "Mallory's world just got hit by three battlemech regiments and ten supporting regiments." he confided in me. "I'm pulling the Heavy Guards, and some supporting elements and I'm probably going to need your help as well." He paused. "The Seventeenth Avalon Hussars and Fourth Davion Guards are already on planet, but they're going to need help to throw off the Kuritans."

    "I'll send Nat to kick Sheppard's butt into gear." I told Ian, "They'll be on their way to back us up as soon as they can load up."

    "You're not going?" He asked me. "No, I do need your help with something really quick though."

    I moved through the talking heads to try and find Katrina, Arthur, and Natasha. This was going to need to be done quickly after the information I had gotten from Natasha this week.

    "Sorry, I squeezed through a small crowd to get Katrina's and Arthur's attention. Luckily, I didn't need to capture their attention because Melissa had seen me first.

    "Uncle Mark!" She said with joy in her bright blue eyes. "Up! Up!" She held up her arms for me to grab her.


    "Alright Mel, I'll hold you for a little bit, but I've got to talk to your mom and dad for a minute. Okay?" I told the toddler trying to grab ahold of my beard. "Kat, Arthur, I nodded at the two of them smiling at my interaction with Melissa. "I need the two of you to find Nat for me and bring her to that side room really quick." I indicated which room. "I suspect she's telling bad stories about Tikonov right now."

    I put Melissa on my shoulders to her squeals of delight as I weaved my way through the crowd to grab Ian once more. "I need you to head over to that room over there." I pointed at the same side room I had indicated to the Archon and her Consort earlier. "Melissa, you and I have a super important secret mission."

    "What is it Uncle Mark?" she asked.

    "We need to get to Uncle Mark's bag really fast." I told the toddler currently holding onto my hair. "So we're about to run, are you ready?"

    "Yes Uncle Mark." She got as serious as a two year old could ever be before bursting out into laughter as I took off at a decent pace to the room I had put mine and Nat's go bags into.

    "Alright Mel, help me look for a small black box." I told the toddler as I set her down. "It's really important." I set one of the smaller bags aside for her to look through.

    "Is this it?" Mel said after a few seconds of me frantically searching through my larger rucksack.

    "Yes!" I told her. "Great job Mel!" And I scooped her up in my arms and rushed off to the room I had set aside earlier.

    I burst through the door, and set Melissa down on the floor in front of my surprised group of friends before turning to Nat.

    "Natasha Kerensky?" I asked, going down on one knee, only to realize that Melissa still had the ring box. "Will you marry me?" I gestured for Melissa to hand me the box, but she just replicated what I did by going down on one knee and opening the box like I should have to laughter from my assembled friends.

    "Close enough Mel." I ruffled the small princess' hair. "Close enough."

    "I think I will Mark, I think I will." Nat responded. "Why the sudden rush though?"

    "Ian is taking me to help back him up against a Drac Incursion." I told my lover. "And I need you to go get Sheppard and have him reinforce us." I shrugged, "I figured this was as good a chance as any to do this."

    "You better stay alive Mark." Nat told me with a sigh. "You are not allowed to die."

    "I'll see what I can do Nat." I met her eyes for a minute before giving the gorgeous redhead a chaste kiss on the lips. "I'll see what I can do."




    January 27th, 3013

    "I will not ask you to stay safe." Natasha told me. "Just hold out until I get there with reinforcements."

    "We'll hold." I told the woman in my arms. "We'll hold."
     
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    • Comstar Interlude: 3010
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    • Comstar Interlude 3010

    "So you're telling me that this is an independent development?" Senior Adept Dougless Franklin asked the Acolyte who was inspecting the latest oddity to arise out of the Periphery.

    "Yes sir, while it's possible that they found some maintenance logs for a NightHawk somewhere in a cache and used them on some of the development, I can tell you that this is a unique invention." Acolyte Janet Williams said. "What really interests me is the power supply, while we managed to divert this shipment of Mithril along with some fudged paperwork, we don't have the notes on how to refuel or reuse the power source."

    "Well, we managed to divert twenty-five of them, so do whatever you need to in order to figure it out." Adept Franklin told Acolyte Williams. "ROM wants us to figure out a way to compare and beat these things soon.

    "Well, so far the power on the first suit we captured is still working despite all of the tests and trials we put it through." She responded. "I'll get some of our better engineers focused on the power source though."

    "How did it hold up in the durability tests?" Adept Franklin asked, it was one of the reports he hadn't had time to look at yet.

    "How about I just show you." She said and led him to a decent sized firing range with a suit of blackened Mithril hanging up in front of the targets. "This is after we had some of the Comguards shooting at it with small arms fire all day." She indicated the blackened suit.

    "Damn." Adept Franklin said. "That's gotta be scary to face in a melee."

    "Sir, it took two Small Laser hits in order for us to break through and start damaging what was underneath." She told him flatly. "This stuff is decently light in weight, can be manufactured on a world with any decent industrial capacity, and is probably going to change the Inner Sphere as we know it."

    "But, we can't replicate the power supply?" the Adept asked.

    "Sir, we can examine it and try to reverse engineer it all we want to, without the correct makeup of the fuel cell or whatever it is, we're just going to end up with some crazy versions of it." Williams responded. "We can make our own versions of the Mithril suit all day long. Until we can make our own version of the Fuel Cell, we're going to end up floundering just like the rest of the Successor states will."

    "I'll pass the information on up the chain." He told her. "Any ideas on how to potential improve the suits?" Franklin asked.

    "Nothing that whoever came up with this isn't probably already moving towards." She shrugged. "Probably trying to boost the Fuel Cell's output and drop some of the speed in order to get some more armor and the ability to mount small Anti Mech and Vehicle weaponry such as a small laser or a MPPC."
    "Because they boost strength already, they probably can carry a whole host of SRM's don't they?" the Adept asked.

    "I'm not an expert in tactics, but I don't see why they wouldn't mule a lot of extra reloads as well." The acolyte responded. "One of our Comguards is waiting with a review on the suit for you in your office sir."


    "Sergeant Adept Lutrell." Senior Adept Franklin shook the Comguard member's hand. "What do you think of the captured samples?"

    "Adept Franklin," The enlisted man started. "I would like to know when we are acquiring some suits like this of our own. Because I've never seen anything like this." He got a little amped up and dove into a raving review of the Powered Armor.

    "Now, Adept Lutrell, tell me how you would defeat them as regular infantry." Franklin told the other man.

    "You wouldn't." Lutrell stated flatly. "It's going to be immune to most of your standard small arms, an Anti-Material rifle will be effective, but only if you manage to hit one of the joints." He paused for breath. "Frankly Senior Adept, you would just retreat and hope that you had some armored vehicle support." He finished.

    "Thank you Sergeant Adept, I'll have an acolyte see you out." And Franklin began to file some reports. He would need to be sending this up the chain.




    "Primus, Precentor ROM is still working on engineering a civil war in the Free Worlds league." One of the adepts working in the main ROM center told Primus Julian Tiepolo.

    "What were the latest reports on that from him anyway?" Tiepolo asked.

    "Well Primus, it seems that Janos Mark's brother, while seemingly ambitious and desiring more power, was hesitant to side with Maximillian Liao due to the serious losses they have taken over the last several years." The Adept said. "It would seem that Duncan Marik, Janos' nephew was more susceptible to being pushed to engineer a civil war, and so he is working on ingratiating himself that way."

    "Well then," Tiepolo responded. "I'll have to keep an eye on the situation then,"

    He turned to walk out, but then Tiepolo remembered something he had intended to ask about and did an about face.
    "Yes, one last question, how goes the infiltration of the Marksman Mercenary group?" He inquired. "I know that Colonel Hull has been on our radar for a while as a minor interest while he was about in the periphery due to his origins, but their recent actions have raised my interest. I like the inroads that the Taurian Concordat and the Federated Suns are making towards closer alliances, and I think we could push them to collapse the Capellans together if we engineer it properly. With the Marik's having a civil war, the Capellans on the verge of collapse, all we will need is to push the Lyrans and Combine into a conflict, and we could start seeing the collapse of the successor states."

    The adept just nodded, eager to get back to work.

    "Right then, I've got some more meetings to get to, thank you Adept." Tiepolo nodded at the younger man and walked out of the room that most of the ROM operations took place in.

    "He scares me sometimes." One of the other adepts said to the one that the Primus had been talking to. "All of the Precentors are that way." He responded. "All of them."
     
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    • Capellan Interlude 3011
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    • Capellan Interlude: 3011 (Romano's story Part one)

    "Is that an intelligence brief for father?" Romano Liao asked the Maskirovka agent headed into the Celestial throne room.

    "Yes Duchess." The agent bowed and offered the report to her before scurrying away.

    "Father, I bring a Maskirovka report to you." She knelt before the celestial throne before rising to hand the report to him.

    Maximilian Liaos face darkened the further he got into the report and when he had reached the end of it, his face turned a bright visible shade of red with anger. "Daughter!" He roared, "I have only one Daughter." He stood and drew his sword, at first intending to kill Romano before a better idea came into his head.

    Sitting down on his throne once more, he had the guards seize Romano and hold her before him. "Like your brother before you, I consider you a disgrace upon my lineage and upon the Confederation as a whole." He drew in a deep breath. "You are Stripped of your titles, I hereby Disown you, I have only one living heir, and you are Banished, never to again return to the land of your birth. I do not see you, I do not hear you, I turn my face away from you in despair, your voice is as dust in the wind." Max gestured to the guards to carry her out, her legs having ceased to function after what he had said.

    "Father," Candace Liao said after a few tense silent moments. "What has happened?"

    "We have lost, the Confederation will cease to exist within a couple of generations." Max was strangely introspective and in his right mind for once. "She who has no name has sent the Mask to attempt to kidnap the dependents of the Wolf's Dragoons in order to force them to serve us."

    "I believe she must have not learned her lesson from history." Max Liao said. "We have now become barren." He muttered. "No Mercenary unit will work with us once the Dragoons publish what has happened. And with Tikonov denied to us, we are unable to recover our lost forces at a reasonable pace."

    "At least the Mariks are in a civil war." Candace tried to inject some hope and life into her father once more.

    "Yes, I believe that is the sole reason that we are still a nation, and that will only last for a time." Max observed. "Come Daughter, let us discuss the future of the Confederation, and what you will make of it."




    "How dare he do this to me!" Romano Liao raged in the small room she was in. "I will make him pay."

    She had managed to secure some funds that only she had access to and boarded a Dropship headed for Marik Space. "I'll return, and you will rue the day that you did this. I will destroy your beloved daughter Candace, and watch your Confederation burn."




    Atreus, Free Worlds League sometime 3011

    "Sir, we have a Romano Liao here on Atreus here to speak with you." The current head of SAFE told Janos Marik. "We're holding her in a cell until we can confirm that it's actually her."

    "Well, let me know when you've confirmed whether it's actually the spawn of Mad Max or not." Janos Marik said sternly, turning to his brother Anton. "We need to bring Duncan and his rebels to heel."

    "I agree completely." Anton replied. "I may desire your position brother, but I believe that either you or I should have it. Not one of these younger upstarts."

    "Well, if it turns out that it is Romano, I think we should discuss turning her over to the Andurians and seeing what happens." Janos said blaisely. "We're not in a position to make use of any information that she could offer us anyway."

    "True," Anton turned to look at a map of the Free Worlds League. "How are the Wolf's Dragoons Settling in?"

    "They're doing decently after what Maximillian tried on them." Janos replied. "I'm trying to figure out where to use them currently."

    "Could use them on Duncan." Anton offered. "Or, alternatively, loan them to the Andurians and let them loose on the Liao's, they didn't have any clauses against it in their contract after all."

    "We'll have to see how it goes over the next couple of months." Janos responded. "Let's continue figuring out how to put Duncan back in his place."





    Romano Liao was quietly sobbing in her cell. She was finally coming to realize that she would never have the life she had once had, and that the only value she provided to anyone right now was whatever intelligence she could provide to one of the enemies of the Capellan Confederation.

    "I should have gone to the Davions." She muttered to herself. "At least I'd be comfortable there." She rubbed her arms, and wrapped herself in the slim blanket that they had given her. Trying to stay warm in the cold cell.

    "You're free to go." Her cell door swung open. "Turns out you're not worth the hassle to the Mariks right now." The SAFE guard told her. "We're giving you enough funds to get off planet and start going somewhere else."

    They walked her out of the holding facility, handed her her belongings back, and let her loose once again. "I'm going to the Fedrats." Romano said to herself. "At least they'll do something with my information."


    Author's note: May have been a little inspired by the Thor scene where Anthony Hopkins improvised the banishment scene...
     
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    • Chapter 60
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    • Chapter Sixty: To Change Fate
    In Orbit around Mallory's World, March 4th, 3013

    "Mark, I need you to serve as Ian's bodyguard for this campaign." Field Marshal Felsner told me. "I know you've got your own forces coming as reinforcements, but until they get here, I'm going to need you to make sure that Ian doesn't do anything stupidly heroic."

    "Understood." I told Felsner. "I've got something to use as backup if some of the forces don't listen to me."

    "Yvonne still hasn't revoked that?" He asked me, being one of the few people let in on what Yvonne Davion had given me before we had left for Versailles.

    "Nope, I think she's counting on me using it if I need to." I told him with a shrug. "See you on the ground." I used the gantry to climb into the Bobby B. "And now we wait."




    March 5th, 3013

    "At least he's staying in the HQ." I said to myself as I stood guard in my Warhammer while Felsner and Ian coordinated with the other units on the planet. The Fourth Guards had been getting hammered by the Second Sword of Light, and the Hussar's were barely holding back the supporting elements. When we had shown up with the Heavy Guards, the tides had turned, at least slightly.

    The Heavy Guards had taken the front lines over for the Fourth Davion, allowing them to pull back for some rest and repair in order to rotate the forces back through. I hadn't seen anyone so far, and while this bothered me a bit, I knew my job and wasn't going to grumble about being left out of the fighting for now.

    "Colonel Hull," I got a message from the people in the HQ. "We need some input, come down here."

    "I've got a tactical computer here." I told them. "I'm not leaving my 'Mech when there's a chance of break through by the SOL at any time." I made my 'Mech shrug it's shoulders. "Send it to my TACOMP and I'll advise from here."

    There was some debate before I received a handshake protocol for my TACOMP and it showed a close to real time map of the current battlefields.

    "You should pull back the forces on grid G-6 and move H-9 forward, allow some infantry to dig in around that area, and you'll be able to deny the enemy armor access to that point unless they dig out enough Arty to kill the entire area, including their precious mechs." I told them. "Now, I need to get back to bodyguard duty."




    March 10th, 3013

    "Ian, the plan is working. If we're going to collapse on them, we need to do it now." I told them while watching the tactical readouts generated by my computer.

    "Copy that Colonel, the center is close to falling back and needs some temporary reinforcements, you're the only one free to assist." Ian told me. "The second Battalion of the SOL is pushing hard, and we need something to stall them while the hammer drops."

    "Understood." I told them in response. "Marksman Actual moving to assist."

    I moved my Warhammer up to just under its maximum flank speed, setting my cruise at a solid 72 KM/H and readying myself for combat once more. "Estimated ten Mikes out." I told HQ, "Can they hold that long?"

    "They'll hold." HQ responded, "Just get there ASAP to assist."

    "Copy." I responded, and kept moving towards the battlefield.


    After about five minutes of moving, my sensors started picking up limited chatter from the 2nd SOL and the 4th Davion that were a part of the trap.

    "This is Marksman, where do you need me?" I asked the commander on the field.

    "Marksman, we need you to move to Nav Point Gamma and assist the lances there. We don't have anyone heavier than forty-five tons over there, and they're close to breaking."

    "Moving to Nav Point Gamma." I replied and shifted my speed a touch higher, cresting a hill, I saw a double lance of light 'Mechs led by a heavy. The Davion's were doing their best, but the two Blackjacks and two Vindicators were being ripped to shreds over time by the lighter mechs.

    "Hammer Lance this is Marksman, stand by for assistance." I told the lance of mediums before reaching out with my ERPPC's and taking the leg clean off of a Locust.

    "Marksman we see you on sensors." the Lance commander responded. "Thanks for the assist."

    I kept moving into closer range, stripping armor and weapons off of the lighter mechs from long range with my PPC's and causing them to slowly back away and let the heavy mech take the lead.

    "This is Chu-i Nakamura, I challenge you to single combat." a message from the Kuritan Dragon came through on an open channel.

    "This is Colonel Hull, I accept your challenge." I said, and moved closer, watching as the lighter battlemechs turned to face me.

    Making sure to move at regular Warhammer speed, I got into ERPPC range, and gently squeezed the triggers in my hands. The PPC's struck on either side of his Cockpit, and I saw the slight panic in the way that the Dragon moved at first. But this was a Second Sword of Light Mechwarrior, and they weren't cowards. Pushing his Dragon up to its maximum speed, he decided to try and outmaneuver me. That didn't work though, and I rotated and kept peppering him with PPC's, signaling to the Medium Lance to start attacking the light mechs now that I had the heavy distracted.


    The Blackjacks and Vindicators had moved back to long range, and were now starting to hammer the lighter mechs with coordinated strikes. Working on destroying the Sword of Light piecemeal before they could use their speed to close the range advantage and start worrying them again.

    The Dragon pilot was good. He kept moving out of the way of my PPC's and was trying to close to melee range. When he got close, I used my medium lasers and SRM's to weaken his armor further. When he backed away out of close range, I turned and sniped at one of the light mechs, coinciding with an AC strike from one of the Blackjack's and causing it to go critical.

    "I am your opponent Chu-i" I said. "If you are able to take me." I finally hit his shoulder with another PPC, and his AC/5 ceased working. When he turned to close to Medium Laser range, I focused fire and crippled his mech. Sending it crashing to the ground as something failed.

    Turning to engage the lighter mechs, I noted that what had been two lances of mechs was now one, and that both Hammer Lance, and the Sword of Light lance were damaged, some of them limping and others missing weapons and armor. Thankfully, there weren't many light mechs that could stand up to two ERPPC strikes, much less a full alpha from a Royal Warhammer and myself combined with Hammer lance made short work of the Light mechs.

    "Hammer Lance, we need to hold until given relief here." I told them. "Stick to the plan."

    "Copy that Marksman," the Lance leader responded. "Not sure how long we'll be able to hold out if something else tries to break through though."

    "That's what I'm here for." I told them. "Leave any heavier elements to me."




    March 11th, 3013

    "Fall back Hammer Lance, I'll cover the rear." I told the medium lance as we began to fall back. The bait was working a bit too well. "There's a lot of metal headed our way."

    The Second Sword of light was out for payback after we had destroyed two of their lances. And we had been engaged in a running battle ever since then. "HQ, this is Marksman, we've got a lot of enemy mechs chasing us." I twisted and squeezed off a PPC bolt at a light mech. "Please advise."

    "Marksman," Ian's voice came over the comms channel. "I need you and Hammer lance to turn and face them, we've got the Heavy guards moving for a flank and we need you to be the Anvil."

    "HQ, be advised, we're at armor state red overall, and are near bingo on Ammunition." I told him. "I'm not sure what kind of Anvil you want, but we're not going to be much of one."

    "HQ copies Marksman, just stick to the plan." He responded.

    "Turning to engage HQ," I said. "You heard the man Hammer Lance, let em have it."

    We all fired our long range weapons at faster targets, trying to weaken the forces chasing us.

    "This is Hammer Lead, Bingo on Ammo, down to lasers." The leader of Hammer Lance told me and the rest of the lance.

    "This is Hammer two, LRM ammo and PPC is gone, down to Short range weapons only." The rest of the lance began to let us know when their long range capability was gone. Eventually, there was only myself and a lone Vindicator with long range weapons left. And so we engaged the enemy at range, while the others moved to support if the enemy reached close range.





    "You have fought well for a Davion." Came an accented voice through over my comms systems. "Yet now you stand alone, surrounded."

    "Yeah, you can't possibly get away now." I told whomever I was talking to.

    "I am Tai-Sa Yorinaga Kurita" He told me and you could tell he was about to go on about honor or some other such nonsense.

    "Tai-Sa Kurita," An Atlas strolled out of the trees, coring a light mech with a gauss rifle. "You and your battalion are all that remain of the Second Sword of Light, if you retreat now, you may retain your honor, knowing you have done all that you could." The Atlas stopped for a minute seeing as no one was firing on each other at this moment.

    "You insult me Davion." Yorinaga told him, as the Heavy Guards emerged from the trees, surrounding the "You do me dishonor by thinking I would retreat. I challenge you, First Prince Davion, mech to mech."


    "I refuse your challenge Kurita." Ian responded. "I have you surrounded, and I find you lacking, you will surrender, or face destruction."

    "So be it." Yorinaga responded, "So be it." With the words being said, the Heavy guards concentrated fire, shredding almost all of the lighter machines, leaving the heavier mechs to be dealt with.

    Meanwhile, I had a personally assigned mission. I was targeting Yorinaga specifically, intending to remove this blight of a person from the Inner Sphere for all time. Closing into the range at which his PPC's no longer worked, I engaged him in melee combat and launched a full alpha strike at his legs. I was going to annihilate this bastard with Superior firepower and stomp on his cockpit.
     
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    • Chapter 61
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    • Chapter Sixty-One: Butterflies
    Mallory's World March 30th, 3013

    "Mark, why did you stomp on the Tai-sa's Cockpit after you slid his feet out from underneath him? Ian asked me curiously. "I'm not upset by any means, but it felt a little unnecessary."

    "Ian, it was a PPC to the face, or a boot." I shrugged. "Kuritans aren't worth the waste of electricity so I chose the boot."

    "The Kentares Guard finish off the supporting elements yet?" He asked me. "I know they did an orbital drop onto their holdouts."

    "Sheppard hasn't gotten to a place where he can give me an update yet." I told him, "But I suspect that they'll have everything tied off come April." I paused for a minute. "You know what Ian." I said, "I'm proud of you, I thought that you were going to try and duel Yorinaga in one on one combat at first, instead of just taking the Second SOL entirely off of the map."

    "Mark," Ian started. "You, Yvonne, and Hanse have hammered it into my head enough that I know better than to do that. I'll still come to the front lines and do what I did today when we are invaded, but I'm not exposing myself like I did on Versailles again."

    "Being paralyzed scare you a bit?" I asked.

    "Mark, I was almost crippled because I wanted to have an adventure." Ian confided in me, "Hanse was almost left a kingdom to rule because of my stupidity."




    April 3rd, 3013

    "Sheppard," I greeted as I walked into the Mobile HQ. "How goes finishing off the rest of the Kuritans?" I asked.

    "Well, they're trying to dig in over in that area, and since we captured their dropships they're unable to leave." He shrugged. "We've taken some casualties, but mostly injured instead of dead. Right now, I'm sending over terms of surrender and waiting to see what happens."

    "Sounds good Sheppard." I told the Colonel. "My Warhammer is being re-armored after the beating we gave the Second SOL and so I'll be managing things from here if you want to move closer to the front."

    "I think I can manage things just fine from here." He shrugged. "Even if my Cyclops does have the B2000 computer."

    "You made sure that the messenger was armed right?" I asked. "Because they might take it as an insult if they're not."

    "Yes Mom." Sheppard replied. "They're in a Von Luckner, one of the first off of the line. And we've got Manticores as long range backups and escorts."

    "Alright," I shrugged."I guess we just have to sit and wait for a response."

    "That's what I'm doing now." He said, and leaned back in his chair. "So, I do hope you realize that now that we've got the factory lines up and running that we need some aerospace fighter factories as well,"

    "I've got Gabriella, the one that we hired for the acquisitions department of Sharpshooter looking into licenses and trying to buy out some older lines that need to be repaired." I replied. "I'm looking at the mothballed Centurion lines. I think there might be something we can do with them, but it's up to acquisitions for now."




    April 7th, 3013

    "We cannot accept the terms of surrender." the Tai-sa told us over the open channel. "We must fight as honor demands."

    "Damn idiots!" Sheppard slammed his hand against the HQ's wall. "I didn't want to have to slaughter them."

    "None of us wanted to." I said in response. "Is the Arty in position?" I asked him.

    "Yes, we've had them sighted in for the past week." He replied and then turned to the comms specialist. "Issue command Gulf Sierra Romeo."

    "Copy sir, issuing Gulf Sierra Romeo." She said, "May God have mercy on their souls."

    When the command had gone through the chain, all of the artillery batteries began to fire in a practiced pattern. Beginning what we had termed as "Grid Square Removal." The destruction of everything in a set square of the grid and to not cease the bombardment until we had a surrender or no more enemies left in the square.




    April 10th, 3013

    "We seized their colors right?" Ian asked when Sheppard and I walked into the room set aside for debriefing. "Any Sword of Light regiment being utterly destroyed is something to be celebrated."

    "Yes sir, their colors were on their dropships, and when we seized all but the one Union that lifted off they still had their colors aboard." Sheppard replied. "And the new Mithril Battle armor proved its worth by being able to destroy two lances of Mechs with MPPC's after digging in."

    "That's good to hear." Ian said with a grin. "Despite Mallory's world being invaded and some of the foodstuffs destroyed, I believe we came out ahead." He paused and thought for a second. "The Fourth will need some time on R&R before being deployed again, but defeating two regiments of battlemechs and supporting elements is something that we can claim as a success."

    "Yes sir," Sheppard responded. "We didn't get here in time to do more than pin down the remnants, but we did manage to finish them off on arrival."
    "Colonel Sheppard, you don't give yourself or your people enough credit, the dropships being seized is what allowed us to call this a major victory." Ian shrugged. "While I would have been just as happy with a retreat versus a slaughter, I am happy that we have bled the Dracs on this one."

    "Something to add to our playbook as it were." I brought up a suggestion. "Seeing as the Sword of Light Regiments will almost always prefer to be aggressive instead of retreat, we should try and goad them into chases, make them angry and then destroy them with better arms and strategy. They may all be Extremely good mech pilots, but they have the fatal flaw of believing that the Battlemech is superior over everything else in combat." I shook my head at that thought. "We're going to have to work on working Mithril to our advantage before the Combine awakens to the fact that infantry can now stall and remove battlemechs and heavy armor from a fight in a battle."

    "That's something for Hanse, Yvonne, and the DMI people to work on for us." Ian waved his hand, "They'll figure out some way to make it work, and probably far better than anything I would have thought up."

    With that, we dove into the guts and boring parts of debriefing, the discussions what we did in the battle of Mallory's world, and why we made those decisions."



    Kentares IV, Draconis March, Federated Suns May 1st, 3013

    "Mark, I look and feel like an Atlas right now." Natasha complained to me. "This is strange, and new and I am not sure I like it."

    "Well Nat, if you feel that way, we only have to have one." I said. "But, I would like you to wait to make that decision until this one is born." We were sitting on the couch in the evening just spending time together. Natasha was now around six months pregnant, and wasn't handling it very well.

    "Just so you know, I'm going to kick your ass after I give birth." She told me. "Now rub my feet, my ankles are killing me."
     
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    • Chapter 62
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    • Chapter Sixty-Two: Full Disclosure

    Kentares IV, Draconis March, Federated Suns May 9th, 3013

    "Natasha." I sat down on the couch next to her. "There's something I need to show you." I told her, struggling to keep my composure. Leading her to my library/study I moved to a safe that was hidden underneath my desk and entered a six digit code. Withdrawing the items I kept in there, I sat down on the sofa in said study and thought for a second.

    "So, if we're going to truly be partners in every sense of the word, then there's some things that you need to know." She just looked at me strangely, like I was speaking a different language.

    "Natasha, these are my most important possessions in the galaxy aside from you and our child." I started, and handed her my wallet with my ID's dating back to 2015.

    She just flipped through everything silently, without any major facial expressions and simply waited for me to finish saying what I had to say. After handing her my ID's, I handed her my Iphone and Apple Watch and showed her how to open and navigate through them. I showed her the date that was saved, and everything that I had saved on my phone. Then, I waited for her to speak.

    "Why are you showing me all of this?" She finally asked after several tense minutes of silence. "What even is all of this?"

    "I somehow traveled from the year two thousand and twenty two to the year three thousand. I went from being a regular old security guard to someone who had to learn engineering, math, and science on a whole different level than I had ever even attempted before." I paused for breath. "I ended up stranded, in a world that was entirely different from my own. You see, tech like what I just showed you is the norm for people in my world. Battlemechs were a thing of Science fiction and all of the neo-feudalism is something that was never considered where I'm from." I expanded on the explanation and even gave a detailed description of what my life had been like.

    I Just breathed for a bit and then continued. "All of the things I told you when I was in the hospital bed are true." I said, "I was just surviving at first, and now I feel like I'm beginning to thrive." I looked Natasha in the eyes. "I know it is a lot to take in Natasha, but I'm telling you all of this in the hope that you trust me, and what you do with all of this information is up to you."

    "I'll let you think it over." I said. "But whatever you decide, whether it is to leave the Marksman, to leave me where I stand, whatever it is I will honor it." And I walked out of the study, leaving her with everything that I had left of the past.

    After I had left the study, I leaned my back against the door and sank to my knees. I had already crossed that threshold that men have to hold back tears, and so I let them flow. Burying my head in my hands hoping that at the end of all of this I would still have someone to hold and walk beside me in this uncertain universe I had found myself in.

    After I had released the decade of pent up emotions, I stood up, dusted myself off, and sat against the wall across from the study door. And then I went to sleep.





    Natasha just sat, she had no frame of reference to comprehend what she had just been told and shown. She thought she had already known all of the mysteries that Mark Hull had, but it turns out he had one more secret, one that beat all of the others. Everyone who made it to Lieutenant in the Marksman had been told that Mark Hull was a time traveler, it was common knowledge even. But to know that he not only was a time traveler, but from a universe entirely unknown to her was hard to wrap her mind around.

    Natasha had no idea how to even process her current emotions. She was a Trueborn Clan Wolf Mechwarrior after all and hadn't known what being free was truly like until she had joined up with the Marksman, and the one she usually relied on to help her understand and process emotions was the one who had just dropped this emotional bomb on her.

    After a while of sitting there and thinking, she realized that she heard something. Standing up, and quietly walking over to the door she realized that she heard crying. Mark was sitting against the door weeping steadily. Easing herself down against the other side of the door, she rested her head against it and just listened.

    Natasha still sat against the door long after the crying had ceased. Still trying to get a handle on both the unfamiliar emotions, and the pregnancy hormones raging through her system at the moment. Finally, after what seemed like hours had gone by, she made her decision.

    Standing up, she opened the door and peered out to find that Mark was asleep against the wall. Leaving the door open, she went back over to the sofa and grabbed the strange communications device that he had shown her and navigated to the pictures of his previous family. He looked so different then, younger, and while he still had the same beard, there wasn't any of the wisdom that twinkled in his eye now or the hardness that showed sometimes when he had to get serious and deal with something that he didn't enjoy. He definitely looked soft, like someone who had only ever read about combat instead of experiencing it. And it was this that had finally helped her make up her mind.

    While Mark Hull had once been this other man that she could clearly see on the screen, he was now someone different. Someone who had helped her become who she was today and the man that she had fallen in love with and had agreed to marry.

    "It doesn't really matter that he came from somewhere different." She said to herself. "It's who he is now and who he will be in the future that matters." With her mind made up, she went to wake up her idiot of a man.

    Author's note:You replied to the thread almost exactly as I finished writing this. Not exactly the same, seeing as I did cover some emotional stuff there, but close enough to what I ended up with. Even if I did use a lot more words...
     
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    • Chapter 63
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    • Chapter Sixty-Three: The Wings of Progress

    Kentares IV, June 7th 3013

    "Watson!" I greeted the man. "How are the factory relocations going?"

    "Well sir," He replied, taking strength from the cup of coffee I had Mary bring him. "The Highlander, Crockett, and Crab Factories are relocated to their respective planets, and they've begun manufacturing." He paused. "The Champion lines are still giving us a bit of trouble but we aren't responsible for the Exterminator lines and that's a big help."

    "Thank you for all of the hard work you and your team have been doing." I told him. "I'm authorizing a massive bonus regardless of whether the Champion factory is finished on time or not." I took a sip of coffee and smiled at him. "And make sure y'all get some leave, we're moving into aerospace next."


    "Yes sir." Watson stood up and shook my hand. "The wife will be grateful for the extra funds that's for sure."

    Watson left my office and the person scheduled to meet me next walked into my office.

    "Sir, I've got a list of companies that Acquisitions would like to start buying some stock of or trying to license some designs out of to begin production locally." Gabriella just dropped a file onto my desk and started talking. "While we have expanded and are continuing to do so, we caution against trying to acquire more assets in the Federated Suns until we've finished getting everything set up here."

    "And expanding into the Lyran Commonwealth?" I asked. "What are the ideas on that?"

    "We believe that an expansion into the Commonwealth should be underneath a separate corporate entity." She started. "Look into hiring some good executive officers over in Lyran space, give them some cash flow to work with and tell them your goals, they'll be able to work through and with the Commonwealth regs better than we can."

    "So, consolidate what we have here, and devote some excess funding into establishing a Lyran branch of Sharpshooter." I summarized. "Thank you for your time Gabriella, have a good rest of your day." She got up from her chair and left.

    "Mary." I called my secretary. "Was that everyone scheduled for before lunch?"

    "Yes sir." She responded. "Your next meeting isn't until two in the afternoon local time."

    "Thanks Mary, take a good lunch break and I'll see you back around two alright?"
    "Of course." She packed up and went to go get lunch.





    June 15th, 3013

    "So, now that I know everything, what is your plan?" Natasha asked me while we were enjoying the evening. "You told me about the future that will likely never happen now, but what is your overall plan?" She took a bite of the pizza I had made for dinner.

    "I'm trying to swing things into a direction that should be for the better." I told her. "By getting manufacturing and research and development back up and running I'm not only getting the Inner Sphere ready for when the Clans potentially invade, but also for if the Jihad ever happens." I took a bite of my own, chewed it and swallowed before continuing. "Also, I like being able to help people, and by having Sharpshooter industries setting up centers of learning and advanced hospitals all over, we're not only helping the big guys like Hanse, Ian or Katrina, but we're able to assist in the development of some of the backwaters into potential powerhouses of their own."

    "Okay," She said. "What is your plan for the three Warships that you told me you have access to?"

    "I'm going to be bringing the Manassas over here to Kentares at some point." I told her. "I've got enough favors built up with both the FedSuns and the people that rule it that we can swing having at the very least the Manassas covering the manufacturing centers here." I took a sip of water. "The Potemkin and Texas I'm going to be sending one of our Snowdens over to get the raw materials needed put into repairing them." I shrugged. "I'm leaning towards gifting the Potemkin and the rest of the Unions attached to the Federated Suns until they can get Warship manufacture back up and running, and one of the things that I wrote Katrina in that sealed letter I handed her was a mothballed yard closer to her borders that she could snag to get her own production up and running."

    "And the Taurians?" She leaned forward, interested in hearing out and offering some advice if she thought it was a bad idea. "What is the plan for uplifting them to the level of the rest of the Sphere?"

    "Well, Peterson is fairly certain that Menke is going to be captured relatively intact, and I know they've been boosting manufacturing to entirely new levels. With the TCS Vandenberg making a reappearance I suspect they've some sort of Warship repairing or manufacture facilities hidden away. And if they don't have them, I'm sure that they'll be pushing to build some."

    "Plan for when the Clans invade?" She asked, curious to see how I would handle it if the Clans invaded.

    "Depends on when they invade." I told her. "If they were to invade in the next couple of years or so, I would have no choice but to take advantage of the Batchall system in order to hold them off until we could get things set up with the Suns and Taurians manning frontlines while the Steiners focus on getting their manufacturing capacity to peak efficiency in order to get logistics chains up and running." I took a drink. "If we managed to hold them off for long enough, I would take the Manassas and the Texas class and move to stop the advance in space, taking advantage of the Sting refits and turning them into escorts for the two Warships."

    "And if the Invasion is in twenty to thirty years?" She asked.

    "By that point, we should have enough years of the Concordat, Commonwealth, and Suns being at the very least nominal allies that they should be able to join forces and probably push back the Clans in sheer numbers alone. Not to mention the fact that there will be independent research done by then that could make massived differences."

    "I'm not seeing anything wrong with any of the plans yet." Nat told me after finishing her pizza. "But I will take some time to go over them." She shrugged. "It is strange, I was never a long term thinker before Sheppard and your drill instructors hammered it into my head."

    "Long term and short term." I told her. "If you focus too much on one, then the other sneaks up behind you with a shovel and clobbers you."

    "That is a unique way of putting that." She laughed a bit. "Come up with that one on your own?" She teased.

    "Why yes, I did in fact come up with that analogy." I responded, fake puffing myself up. "I spent all of fifteen seconds coming up with it." I kept playing it up for the laughs for a bit and then finished my dinner.

    "What do you want to do next?" I asked her. "It's Tuesday, and I already told them I'm taking the day off tomorrow."

    "Well, I did some time in the sims with you." She responded with a smirk. "I still need to get you back for crushing the skull of my Atlas with an Urbanmech that time."

    "Look Nat," I raised my hand with my palms open and slowly backed away. "You gave me enough time to set up on top of that skyscraper, you and everyone else should know by now that giving me prep time is akin to handing the fight over for me to win."

    "I just suppose we will have to find out." She had a mischievous grin on her face and a twinkle in her eye. "So come face me Mark." She stood up and walked to the front door. "If you dare."

    "Oh, you are so on." I said as I hurried out the door behind her. "Loser has to make dinner next week."


    Author's note: The Slice of Life chapters are going to be a touch shorter in overall length. I've found it to be easier to write them as smaller snippets than the fully dedicated to one thing chapters. We'll be moving onto a time skip here in the next couple of chapters unless I cover the elopement of Mark/Nat and the breaking of a hand in childbirth…
     
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    • Chapter Sixty-Four: Snippets
    Kentares IV, Draconis March, Federated Suns June 20th, 3013

    "Why did you have me go to the livingroom?" Natasha asked me.

    "Because it has only now come to my attention that no one that I know has seen the best movie ever, of all time." I said excitedly. "I'm surprised it even survived until this day and age."

    "What movie is this?" Natasha asked me as I ran around the kitchen getting movie snacks together.

    "The Princess Bride!" I exclaimed. "It's the only movie ever made that appeals to pretty much everyone." I started making some popcorn on the stove.

    "Why does this movie appeal to so many?" She raised an eyebrow.

    "Because it has true love, revenge, duels, wit, there's just so much packed into the movie that you can't unravel it all at once." I made sure butter and salt were set aside in the proper amounts for the popcorn. "Go wait in the living room, I'll bring all of the snacks out in a minute."





    An hour and forty minutes later…

    "Well," I bounced a little excitedly. "What did you think?"

    "That was an…" Natasha paused, thinking about the right words to say. "Entertaining piece of fiction, I particularly enjoyed the sections where Westley faced all of the enemies and beat them at their own challenges." She smirked at the end there, knowing she was pushing some of my buttons.

    "Well, at least you liked it." I said, with a smile on my face. "That's all I can ask for now"




    August 10th, 3013

    "Okay Natasha," The doctor told her. "Your body knows how to do this, and we are just here to help everything go smoothly." He had me standing by the bedside. "We're going to just give minor updates and encourage the process along."

    After three hours of labor, and many fractured bones in my hand, we had a newborn on our hands.

    "Here Nat," I handed our newborn to her. "Here's our son."
    She took him into her arms with a look of awe and wonder on her face. Amazed at the small human being in her arms.

    "He needs a name." She said with no small sense of urgency in her voice. "Mark, he needs to have a name right now."

    "How does David Alexander sound?" I asked.

    "David Alexander?," She hummed to herself while staring at the baby boy in front of her. "I very much like that."




    Kentares IV, November 10th, 3013

    "So, you and Natasha are finally tying the knot huh?" I was surrounded by a group of my closest friends.

    "Yeah, I guess we finally are." I said with a smile on my face. "You're gonna be the next one Jack." I told my longtime XO. "I mean, you and Lamb have been together for how long now?"


    "Long enough." Jack Sheppard grunted.

    "Well, Ian and Hanse are supposed to be here sometime this week." I changed the subject for Jack. "And I'm pretty sure that Arthur and Melissa are going to be coming sometime the week after that."

    "No Archon this time?" Jack asked.

    "She wants to be here, but she's at a critical point in the restructuring of the LCAF." I responded. "She tried to poach Peterson from the Concordat, but they were already halfway to Menke by the time that she broached the contract."

    "Peterson would have taken the Concordat contract anyway." Jack replied. "He is dead set on removing the Capellan Confederation from existence as a nation state."

    "He'll probably get his wish in less than a decade." I told the group around me. "Dunham here has been hearing some likely rumors that the Anduriens are going to be carving some chunks out of the CapCon, and that Pavel Ridzik might break off into his own state."


    "And with Candace being the only remaining Liao Heir." Jack finished. "Max only has a few options if he wants to keep any sort of power for his family."





    Kentares IV, November 21st, 3013

    "Uncle Mark!" Melissa moved as fast as her little legs could carry me. "Where is Tante Tasha?" She asked as I picked her up.

    "She's with little David at our house right now." I told the three year old. "Do you want to meet David?"

    Arthur just casually strolled up and shook my hand. "I always enjoy seeing her like this." he told me. "She's always asking after you and Nat you know?"

    "I know Arthur, I try to respond to her letters as soon as I get them." I said with a sad shake of my head. "It's hard enough managing a planet like I'm doing, I can't imagine what Katrina must go through on a daily basis."

    "Well, it helps that she did get some training for the job from Alessandro before we deposed him." He offered. "I don't think you had anyone to teach you about the ins and outs of the nobility and politics."

    "No, Ian and Hanse did give me some pretty good advisors though." I shrugged, casually throwing Mel over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes to her laughter. "Hey Arthur, side question. Have you seen Melissa anywhere?" I asked with the three year old slung over my shoulder. "She's about this tall." I held my hand down by my thighs. "And has blonde hair and blue eyes."
    "I'm right here Uncle Mark!" She laughed from behind my shoulder. "Behind you!"

    "Behind me?" I asked and spun around. "I don't see you Melissa, are you sure you're behind me?"

    After a couple of minutes of playing, I set the three year old down and we made our way to my (small) Mansion where the guests would be staying.

    "He's so small." Melissa whispered to Natasha as she held the currently asleep two month old.

    "You were that small once upon a time too." I said from the doorway I was leaning on. "We all start out that little, and then as we get older, we start to get bigger." I made my way over to the bed and knelt down to eye level with both my lover and the three year old. "It's the job of Mommys, Daddy's, and uncles and Aunties to make sure you learn and one day grow up to be as big as we are." I ruffled her blonde head full of hair. "Now, David and Tante Tasha need their rest, okay?"

    "Okay." She responded, handing the small baby to Nat and leaving the room. "I'll go play with Andrew for a little bit."

    "Sorry for that." I sat down next to Natasha. "I can take him for a bit if you need to get some rest." I offered.

    "I feel like that is all that I do," She said. "Rest, I am not even on bed rest anymore and yet I still feel so tired."

    "I'll take care of David for a little bit." I picked up our two month old. "You go to sleep and I'll get some food set up for you when you wake up."




    November 28th, 3013

    "You may kiss the bride." I leaned over and gave Natasha a kiss on the lips, intending it to be chaste, but she grabbed the back of my head and pulled me in for a far deeper and breathtaking kiss.

    "Whoooo!" The crowd cheered and clapped, for a while before stopping.

    After the ceremony was over, we dispersed to go to a small reception where some of our closest friends and family would gather.

    "I am glad that you found someone." Joshua Wolf said to Natasha as he looked at the small child held in her hands. "And I think I am closer to understanding what you were trying to tell me before."

    "Good." Natasha smiled. "Would you like to hold him?"

    Joshua Wolf just got this look of fear and worry in his eyes and he backed away slowly. "No thank you, I will go enjoy something from the dessert table now."

    "The Wolf Brothers." I snarked in Nat's ear. "Unafraid of death, terrified of tiny humans."

    "Only Joshua is that way I believe." She laughed. "Jaime has children, remember?"

    "I suppose you're right." I shrugged while chuckling. "Now, I think we should finish making our rounds."

    We started talking to all of the people at the reception. Laughing with Hanse and Dana (Who was now pregnant) and picking on Ian for still being single before moving on.

    "Melissa, you looked so cute in your little Flower girl dress." I told her. "Thank you for doing such a good job." I knelt down and gave her a big hug.




    Kentares IV, November 31st, 3013

    "Go back to sleep Nat." I told my wife. "I'll get David back to sleep." I got up and walked over to his crib, picking him up and sitting down in the rocking chair next to it.

    "Shhh, Shhhh." I rubbed his back softly while checking his diaper to make sure it didn't need to be changed. "It's okay little man. It's okay." After around thirty minutes, he had gone back to sleep and so I put him back down in his crib and crawled back into bed.


    Author's note: Something dark in Romano's story, and something lighthearted to balance it out properly. Hope y'all enjoyed this little set of scenes...
     
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    • Chapter Sixty-Five: Triumphant Return
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    • Chapter Sixty-Five: Triumphant Return

    Unknown location, May 5th, 3014

    "So this is where you parked it?" Natasha asked me as we took the Messenger over to the hidden repair and supply depot.

    "This is where the Manassas and the Age of Discovery are located, yes." I answered. "The Snowden I had Rook bring over here has been feeding resources to the repair part of the facility in order to get the Age of Discovery repaired again."

    "It'll take us about a day or so to get to the facility proper." I told Natasha.

    "Meet you on the mat?" Natasha asked me.

    "Yeah, I'll bring David in his chair so he can watch." I replied and grabbed our son. "He might as well get used to watching us spar early."




    "They really did automate a lot of this ship." Natasha observed the internals of the Manassas. "I would say it seems like an SDS drone, but I have not seen one of them before."

    "Well, I've seen a disassembled drone, there's actually one in one of the cargo bays on this station." I told her. "I think they took some inspiration from the Caspars, but didn't want it to be left to the AI on its own. I mean, it still takes at the very least a bridge crew to make this thing run properly."

    "And yet you did it on your own?" She questioned. "That seems like an unlikely tale."

    "I actually forced a lot of systems to reroute their programs to the navigation console." I told her. "After I got here, I did end up putting everything back where it is supposed to be."

    "I take it you took careful notes?" Natasha asked while the bridge crew we had gotten together began to familiarize themselves with the Manassas' controls.

    "Yes, I did." I said in response. "I didn't want to screw up something and get myself killed."

    "Sir, we're ready to take her out." Commodore Frye told me. "Awaiting your command."

    "Open the bay doors Commodore." I told her. "We're taking this old girl home."




    May 15th, 3014

    "Looking over the reports Bruce handed you?" Natasha asked me as she walked into my office, little David babbling at us.

    "Yeah, looks like the Age of Discovery will need another five months before she's completely fixed." I responded. "Jewel and Bruce think that they might be able to accelerate it up to three if they assist the automated repairs with some of their own, but they caution against it because while they're good with Jumpship and Dropship repair, they only know how to monitor the Warships for now."

    "And the bridge crew for the Manassas?" Nat asked me. "No one knows how to pilot a Warship currently."

    "I know that, but we were able to program some simulators and get it set up so that they could at least get close to the experience." I replied. "It's not perfect, but Frye picked some good trustworthy people to train up, and I know that they'll do just fine."




    Kentares IV, Federated Suns May 14th, 3014

    "So, you're stepping down when Hull gets back?" Packer asked Sheppard.

    "Yeah, I got authorization from Hull, and First Prince Davion to start our own military academy." Sheppard replied. "And with Peterson taking over for the Mercenary side of things."

    "There needs to be someone taking over the Kentares Guard." Packer finished. "I'll accept the position, but I just have one question…"

    "What?" Sheppard replied.

    "Why training?" Packer asked. "I mean, most of us don't like that part of the job."

    "I actually really enjoy the teaching aspect." Sheppard said with a small smile. "It makes me happy to see visible improvement over both the short term and the long."

    "Alright then, I take it you'll be starting to get me used to the Kentares Guard paperwork and such for the transition?" Packer asked.

    "Yep, starting next week we'll be working on beginning the transition process and making things fluid in the transfer of command." Sheppard said. "They're going to be breaking ground on the new facility in the next month and the rough estimate is a year to get everything set up for the academy."

    "What're we going to call it?" Packer asked, curious to see what Sheppard and Hull had come up with.

    "Marksman School of Hard Knocks." Sheppard said with a serious look on his face.

    "You're kidding right?" Packer asked.

    "Nope." Sheppard grinned. "It's so ridiculous that no one will take us seriously. Until we stomp them flat into the ground that is."

    "I've played poker with you too many times for that to work on me Sheppard." Packer replied with a similar grin. "Something simpler, I take it."

    "We're sticking with Marksman Military Academy," Sheppard shrugged. "It's simple, and not something that sounds pretentious. We're keeping the "School of Hard Knocks" bit as our catchphrase though."

    "That I can roll with." Parker grinned. "On another note, any news from Peterson?"

    "Menke was taken by the Concordat last month." Sheppard replied. "We're sending some Sharpshooter people over to help get the industries at Menke and Victoria up and running at peak efficiency again."


    "Calderon still chomping at the bit to take more Capellan worlds?" Packer asked.

    "Not as far as we can tell." Sheppard said in response. "Seems like they're doing what we and the Fedsuns are doing. Consolidating and rebuilding for one final push. I have heard that the Anduriens are carving out a few chunks of the Capcon themselves though."

    "I'm less worried about the Capellans and more focused on the Combine currently." Packer said. "I'm worried that by assisting in taking out the 2nd SOL that there will be some sort of reprisal aimed at us."

    "Nothing has shown up lately via our intel people." Sheppard shrugged. "But we're keeping watch anyway. We have a lot of Aerospace assets and Sting's as our first line of defense. And then what Hull is bringing will be there in case of an emergency."

    "Point." Packer said. "Very good point."




    The Triad, Tharkad, Lyran Commonwealth June 30th, 3014

    "So, I take it Loki has a final report on the shopping list Hull sent us three years ago?" Katrina asked Simon Johnson.

    "Yes ma'am, our techs and engineers have estimated another year or so until the Dry dock is relocated to a favorable system." He glanced down at his sheet of paper. "And we managed to find a decent amount of Lostech data in the facility, along with an HPG facility and a Battalion of 'mechs. The dropship repair facility is already in the process of being relocated."

    "And the rest of the list?" Katrina raised her eyebrow.

    "The underwater factory complex was located and while in need of some repairs, some of the Defiance people who we brought with us estimate that within two years it will be back up to full production."

    "And the investigation into the Odessa system?" She asked.

    "We managed to embed a few very good agents in with the local Comstar facility." Simon responded with a slight grin. "I believe that we will be able to locate and begin to bring them into the Commonwealth given time."

    "And the last two items?" Katrina asked.

    "We managed to point Sharpshooter Industries in the right direction insofar as buying out the Henderson Jumpship facility, they rehired all of the old crew back, and started making repairs as soon as they got the people in. And we still have not located the Colossus mentioned, but we're confident in finding it soon."

    "Thanks for the briefing Simon." Katrina dismissed him as Melissa ran in to give her a hug.

    "Mel!" She picked up her daughter. "How was Uncle Mark and Aunt Natasha's wedding?"

    "It was SO much fun!" Melissa squealed. "Little David is very cute." Melissa and Katrina talked about the wedding and some of the fun things that happened for a bit. "Mom." Melissa asked after a minute of being silent. "When am I getting another little brother or sister?"

    "You want more of them?" Katrina asked, faking sarcasm. "I thought Elena was enough siblings for you."

    "No!" Melissa squirmed as Katrina began to tickle her. "I want more of them, I need a little brother!" She kept giggling as she said that.

    "Well," Katrina looked up at her husband and gave him the look. "I'll just have to see about talking your father into it now won't I?"




    Taurian Concordat, July 4th, 3014
    "Are you sure about retiring mom?" Thomas asked his mother.

    "I'm sure." Zarantha replied. "I'm taking a vacation to Canopus for a little bit and then I'm going exploring, with your father having passed away and most of my grandchildren grown, I want to go see what the rest of the galaxy is like."

    "Okay mom." Thomas hugged his mother. "I'll make sure we stick to the plan you and I worked out."

    "You do that son." She replied. "I'll make the announcement tonight, and leave sometime next week."

    Thomas and Zarantha just held on to the hug for a little bit longer. And when Edward and the rest of Thomas' family showed up they joined in.


    Authors note: Katrina rolled a 15 on the "shinies" left on the Columbus. And a 10 on the Kwanjong plant. I wasn't removing the Dropship repair yard or the dry dock. So those were staying. This was the roll for what was in the R&D facility.
     
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    • Draconis Combine Interlude 3014
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    • Draconis Combine Interlude 3014

    Luthien, Sometime in January…

    "Coordinator, we have no way of recovering the colors of the Second Sword of Light." One of Takeshi Kurita's aides told his liege lord.

    "I know this." Takeshi responded. "I do not wish to reform them at this time." He paused in thought. "I need some time alone to consider what our response to this will be."

    Takeshi considered a map of the Davion/Kuritan border in front of himself, humming in thought.

    "Bring me Tai-Sho Palmer Conti and Warlord Dieron." Takeshi eventually called a servant in to bring him the two of them as soon as was reasonable.






    February…

    "Tai-Sho I need you to bring the Fifth Sword of Light, and coordinate with Tai-Sho Kingsley and bring the Davion dogs on Northwind to heel." Takeshi told the two military commanders before him. "We have intelligence that the Northwind Highlanders are back on their homeworld." Takeshi drew in a breath. "Show them the might of the Dragon and wipe them from the planet."

    "What support will we have?" Kingsley asked. "There will not only be the Highlanders there, and Coordinator, while the Fifth Sword of Light and the Eighteenth Dieron Regulars are elite units, we will still be outnumbered."

    "Worry not." Takeshi told him. "I will send supporting elements with you in order to deprive the Davions of yet another elite group."




    Dieron, Late March…

    "We must decide how we are to conduct this campaign." Kingsley told the other two Tai-Sho with him. "We will face three Regiments of the Highlanders for certain, and it is not certain what other forces will be present on the world."

    "We shall crush them through our prowess." Tai-Sho Conti replied. "None can stand against the Sword of Light."

    "The Davions will not care about who faces them in combat, and neither will the Highlanders." Tai-Sho Eastmoreland replied. "We must prepare as well as we can, for this offensive must succeed." She sighed. "With the Second Sword of Light destroyed on Mallory's World, along with the supporting elements, we are going to be stretched thin, this will be our only chance at both vengeance and to hold off any potential Davion Invaders."

    "Agreed." Kingsley said. "So we must find a way to dictate this battle with as few losses as possible." Kingsley sighed. "The Coordinator has issued a command of force preservation over destruction. If we are in danger of being overrun, we must withdraw rather than face what happened to the Second Sword of Light."


    Northwind, Late May…



    "Colonel Senn!" A junior officer ran up to him hurriedly. "We just had an invasion force appear at the jumpoint."

    Colonel Senn just sat there for a moment processing and then calmly asked for the junior officer to assemble the rest of the regimental commanders of the Northwind Highlanders.

    "We have what looks like a minimum of ten Regiments inbound." Colonel Senn briefed the assembled officers. "The dropships have Combine markings, and this is clearly not a mere raiding force."

    "They must know that we are the only forces on Northwind until the Davions can bring about reinforcements." One of the other officers brought up.

    "We believe this is retaliation for the destruction of the Second SOL and the supporting elements they brought with them last year." Senn continued. "We have asked for assistance from the Davions, but it will take at least a month or two before they can bring anything to assist." Colonel Senn sighed. "We are going to be on our own aside from the local militia for a while…."


    Authors note: I find myself not very good at writing the Combine. I can do the combat scenes, I can write the way that they speak (At least I think I can...) But I can't figure out how to get inside their heads the way I can in the other Interludes. It's sad to say I can write the Liao's better than the Kurita's, but I can at least understand the Liao's kind of madness, they're just crazy and they typically know it. The Combine Don't think that they're crazy and I just can't wrap my head around it...
     
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    • Wolf’s Dragoons interlude 3014
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    • Wolf's Dragoons interlude 3014

    "How was the wedding?" Jaime Wolf asked his brother. "It is strange to think about Kerensky ever settling down."

    "It was short." Joshua replied. "While I did not understand why she stayed with the Marksman at first I think I am beginning to grasp it."

    "Indeed." Jaime replied, stroking his beard. "I find myself feeling more at home in the Inner Sphere than I did back in the Clans."

    "Been spending too much time with Snord?" Joshua asked. "Do not let him get into your head like that."

    "He is…" Jaime paused. "Useful, he offers a good perspective of how the enemy might think." Jaime sighed. "I am promoting him to Captain, and giving him the command of our misfits."

    "Are you sure that is a good idea?" Joshua asked his brother. "Our bunch of criminals and misfits are not for the faint of heart."

    "He is the only one who I believe can handle them and potentially transform them into a proper fighting force." Jaime responded. "Now, we need to discuss the reveal of the Elemental in a few months."

    "We need to put them into action sooner rather than later." Joshua told his brother. "At the rate that the Marksman are developing new armor types under the umbrella of Mithril, I fear they may soon be obsolete."

    "Why is that?" Jaime asked curiously. "I would have thought that the Elemental would remain superior for some time."

    "It is, in certain areas." Joshua offered. "The elementals are going to perform better against enemy 'Mechs and armor, whereas the Mithril is more easily produced en masse and can be scaled up and down for whatever task you need." Joshua sighed. "It's a much more versatile powered armor than the Elemental, and anyone with a minimum amount of training can use it."

    "That does not bode well." Jaime responded to his brother's spiel. "We will have to see about adapting the Elemental in some way."

    "Or," Joshua offered. "Purchase some Mithril if the Marksman will sell it to us, and see if there are any improvements we can gain for either the Elemental or the Mithril suits." Joshua thought out loud. "There are advantages to both powered armors, if we wish to maintain an edge, we should try and see what can be gained from having both in the field at the same time."

    "That is a good point." Jaime told his brother. "And you said that it can be scaled down? What did you mean by that?"

    "I saw some of their Combat Vehicle crews wearing a smaller version of it, and the man that Blake sent with me was able to obtain some of their data." Joshua said. "They managed to improve survival rates by nearly seventy five percent by implementing them across all of their forces."




    "We're going to need to return for reinforcements." Jaime told his brother. "Hesperus II was disastrous for us."

    "I know." Joshua replied. "Most of Alpha and Beta Regiments are gone, along with half of Zeta."

    "We will have to collect better intelligence and maps for the next raid that we conduct." Jaime said. "There would have been far fewer losses if we had known that most of the planet was a jungle and that many teams had gone missing exploring it in the past."

    "Shall we collect Kerensky and bring her with us this time?" Joshua asked. "Khan Ward will be asking after her location and I am not certain he will be satisfied with a response this time."

    "I am sure that we can convince her that it will be necessary." Jaime said. "We are not enemies after all, and it could even help her remain where she is, provided she has a good justification for it."

    "Who should we send?" Joshua asked. "While I would go to convince her, I feel that you should go and persuade her to return temporarily with us." Joshua sighed. "It is you who has a family and will be better able to understand her after all. And, you should be able to get Mackenzie treated at Kentares."

    "They do have the medical facilities and personnel." Jaime thought out loud. "It is decided then."





    "You're leaving?" The Dragoons Marik Liaison asked. "You're still under contract though."

    "We're going to replenish our forces." Jaime told him flat out. "We will be leaving Cranston Snord and his Irregulars here to support whatever you need."

    "I'll let the Captain-General know." The Liaison said. "But he doesn't particularly like that group of troublemakers."

    "It does not matter whether he likes them or not," Joshua Wolf responded. "They are the only full strength unit we have available currently."
     
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    • Chapter Sixty-Six: Departure
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    • Chapter Sixty-Six: Departure

    Kentares IV, Draconis March, Federated Suns December 10th, 3014

    "Colonel Wolf," I greeted the man as he walked into my office. "What can I do for you?"

    "I am in need of your services." He said as he sat down. "I need to speak to Kerensky, and I would like to bargain for the use of some of your medical experts and facilities for my son Mackenzie."

    "Alright then." I replied. "Natasha is probably going to walk in on the meeting in a few minutes anyway, and if you need to speak to her you can find her yourself." I shrugged. "Heaven knows I'm not controlling that woman."

    "And as for the medical facilities?" The man asked. "What would it cost?"

    "Honestly." I said, "Whatever it is that the specialists on the Argo want to charge you." I gave a small shake of my head. "I'm not going to hold your son hostage or anything like that, I don't really have any need to do that."

    "You are certain?" Wolf asked curiously. "You could extract a favor or anything else within reason and you will not?"

    "Nope." I replied, popping the "p" sound. "If I ever happen to need the Wolf's Dragoons services, I will purchase them myself." I shrugged. "I've got my Marksman for Mercenary needs anyway."

    When I finished that sentence, Natasha came in the door with a wailing David.

    "He will not stop crying." She said, handing him to me. "Work whatever wizardry you normally use." Then she noticed Jaime Wolf sitting across the desk from me. "Colonel Wolf." Natasha greeted him. "I was not expecting a visit from the Dragoons anytime soon."

    "We have need of resupply." Jaime Wolf replied. "And I think you need to be there this time." He carefully didn't mention the Clans. "It could be important to your remaining in the Inner Sphere without issue."

    "Give me a day to think about it." She told Wolf. "I assume you will not be departing within the day?"

    "No, we will be here for a week." Wolf replied. "I am attempting to see if there is any way we can negotiate purchase of some of these "Mithril" powered armor suits while I am here."

    "While I am not currently open to selling to mercenaries that I may fight one day." I shrugged. "Maybe there are some things we can negotiate over." I offered. "While I personally don't like the Marauder II that you and Blackwell have developed together. My techs wanted to take a look at it and see what they might be able to do with the chassis."

    "We shall have to see what we agree to in negotiations." Wolf agreed.




    Later that day…

    "I think you need to go Natasha." I told my wife. "Given what you've told me about Khan Ward, and what I know from my past this could be absolutely critical." I pulled her in for a hug. "You going with Wolf this time could mean the difference between the Clans invading in the next couple of years, and the clans invading after our preparations." I confided. "That being said, I'm not going to force you to go, and if you do go I will just ask you to be cautious."

    "Let me sleep on it." Nat replied. "I will need some time to come to a decision on the matter."





    December 13th, 3014

    "Say goodbye to momma. " I told David. "She's going to be on a long trip."

    "Bye Mom'ma" David said his first stumbling words.

    Natasha pointedly didn't cry, but she did hold David and just looked at him for a while before handing him to me and giving me a searing kiss and boarding one of the Dropships that Wolf had brought with him.

    I on the other hand was one step away from full fledged tears. Only the fact that Wolf was still standing there prevented me from crying. I wasn't one to show weakness in front of a potential enemy unless it gave me an advantage after all.





    December 14th, 3014

    "Time to catch up on the news." I said to myself. We still didn't have an HPG on planet officially and so I had to get news via jumpships as they came by for trading.

    "What the fuck?" I said as I browsed through the equivalent of the Federated Suns big newspaper. I rubbed my eyes and then asked Mary if this was indeed the latest edition. "And Bring me a beer please. I think I might need it for this."

    "Of all the things to butterfly, I never expected this." I said as I took a sip from my beer with my door closed and the white noise generators on. "I don't even know whether to be scared, or excited at the changes that have happened…" I finished off my beer. And continued reading the documentation of what was being called "Romano's Story".

    "Of all of the people to have a bout of sanity…" I chuckled to myself as I read different parts of her story. "I'll have to send her company some Mithril, if she can do that with regular infantry I can't wait to see what she comes up with when she has mobility and more options."




    January 1st, 3015

    "Sheppard, how goes the academy construction?" I asked the man as he sat in front of me. "I liked your recommendations for new senior staff, and will be approving most of them."

    "Construction is moving at a decent rate." Sheppard said, " our people having experience with the base has helped speed some areas of it up." He shrugged, "and it was either Packer or Paige, and Paige is sticking with the Marksman as Peterson's XO so Packer had seniority for this."

    "I would have thought Mathis would be up for promotion, but he requested a transfer to my physical bodyguard unit." I said with a nod at my doorway where the massive man was dressed in Mithril and alert for any possible threats.

    "He likes the bodyguard work, remember?" Sheppard said with a smirk. "He'll probably start a family tradition of being Hull family bodyguards too."

    "I forgot that was a thing." My facepalm echoed throughout the room. "He probably sees me as the last remnant of the Terran Hegemony or something doesn't he?"

    "Something like that, yes." Sheppard replied. "You forget his family is from Towne, and that they have a lineage dating back to some of the last known SLDF members." He shrugged. "The ELH had to medically discharge him, and he couldn't afford the bills. So you taking him in and helping his family out…. You have a loyal infantryman and bodyguard for life."




    Authors note: Wrote most of this on my phone, so I may have to go back and reformat some of it. Natasha going back to the Clans with Jaime will be a separate side story.
     
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    • Chapter Sixty-Seven: Urban Development
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    • Chapter Sixty-Seven: Urban Development
    February 1st, 3015

    "Alright, let's look over some of these plans." I said to the architect that Hanse and Ian had recommended to me. "I really need something that's not super glamorous, but rather is functional and is easily defended."

    "I have this." He rolled out a set of plans, and grabbed a pencil. "If you don't want something super ornate, I can get rid of the fany pieces here, here, and here." He drew circles around parts of it. "Unfortunately, as a noble you are not going to be able to go minimalist."

    "I actually have an idea about that." I said, and withdrew some stuff that I had drawn up myself. "Now, I'm not an architect, but I do have practical building experience and that lent itself to some of this." I pointed out the various materials, and what I was thinking. "I know it's not a usual thing, but I think it would fit the aesthetic that I tend to work with."

    "Yes, and if we added walls here and sheathed them in the same outer material then it would end up looking both minimalist and wealthy at the same time." He grew excited. "In fact, if we get the right craftsman then people will be able to tell that you had this done very professionally."

    "So it can be done?" I asked.

    "With some minor modifications." The man said. "Give me three months to get in contact with some experts, and I'm going to need some of the people that you have working on the Academy for some consulting work." He inhaled. "But honestly, this is brilliant, you said you drew this up yourself?"

    "Yeah, I used to watch my dad do it, and It's mostly plotting. I also used to do general contracting, and measurements and materials are something I know a little bit about." I shrugged, "It's nothing to brag about, but I think that you could potentially make something really great out of this."




    February 15th, 3015

    "This is an interesting mansion you've cooked up." Sheppard said as he helped me break ground on the new mansion complex just outside of Davisbury, the capital city of Kentares IV. There was a small mountain range just outside of the city limits and I was helping out with some of the beginning stages of construction as a little bit of a vacation.

    "I know, I just felt inspired by a couple of things I read in a book a long time ago." I replied with a small smirk, remembering exactly which book I remembered it from. "I think it will come out well." I began to use the excavator as instructed to by the foreman on site, David sitting in my lap giggling away as we began the construction of our new home. "You having fun there?" I asked the toddler, laughing with him as he did what all boys do when they have massive power tools at their grasp. "Careful, don't pull that one too hard." I cautioned him. And together, we continued to work until he fell asleep. At which point, I got out of the excavator, and went to the pre fab we were living in until we were done with the living quarters.




    February 20th, 3015

    "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" I asked Packer, "I didn't catch it the first time."

    "We're setting aside a company specifically for your protection." He said, "While Mathis is a good at the close bodyguard detail, and decent at platoon or smaller sized formations, you're going to need something quite a bit heavier in order to cover you."

    "And I have a tendency to throw myself at the poor bastards that are trying to kill my people." I agreed. "Making it harder to keep me alive in the middle of combat."

    "Exactly, I'm having a mixed company of mechs and combat vehicles moved here to both protect you, and to escort you into combat." Packer said. (AN: I distinctly remember writing a scene where I had Mendoza taking over the company of Ducal Guards, but I can't find it anywhere…)

    "I take it they will be a separate command from the Kentares Guard?" I asked him. "Because if they're going to be an independent force then we'll need a separate chain of command for them."

    "Get the paperwork together, and I'll sign it." I told the newly promoted CO of the 1st Kentares Guards. "I'm still working out the kinks in the Militia currently"




    March 1st, 3015

    "Mary," I said. "Can you come confirm these numbers for me please?"

    "Sure thing." The woman said and she maneuvered to take a look at the numbers I was talking about. "Yes sir, those are the most accurate recent numbers."

    "That's a pretty large population boom." I said. "How many of them are from local families having babies, and how many are from immigration?"

    "It's currently about a 50/50 split." She replied. "Part of our population boom is youngsters looking for a place to settle down with a good chance of gainful employment."
    "And because we are restoring the cities over time, the price of land and of living quarters is steadily decreasing." I finished for her. "And with the Land grant system that I put in place for those who serve in the Kentares Guard or the Militia, people are going to surge here in order to receive their own plots of land."

    "That is true," Mary agreed. "And considering that Sharpshooter manufacturing is the largest employer in the system and is constantly hiring not only people in the Kentares System, but is also engaged in hiring for plants and factories in other areas, you have a series of booms."

    "Your next step will need to be deciding on a system of government." She said. "I have some recommendations for you, but I will leave it up to you."

    "I'm leaving the Planetary government alone." I said. "I'll handle military and diplomatic matters with Duke Sandoval, or the Davions, but I'm not touching local politics with a hundred meter pole. It's not my place to weigh in on that." I stated. "They can decide how they want to be governed on their own, as long as there is good representation."





    March 15th, 3015

    "Mr. Hull," Mary said with a knock on my office door. "You have someone here to see you."

    "Huh?" I questioned, having been spending my lunch hour with David, trying to teach him to say some more words. "Well, send whoever it is in will you?"

    "Yes sir." Mary said, "He'll be right up."

    "Duke Sandoval." I stood up to greet him but was told to sit down. "What brings you here sir?"

    "I wanted to meet my new nobleman." He replied, a small smile on his grizzled face. "I apologize for coming unannounced, but I find that people respond more accurately when surprised."

    "It's perfectly fine." I said, "I was actually taking my lunch break with my son here." I helped little David wave at Duke Sandoval.

    "Well, you seem to be doing good work here on Kentares," Sandoval said with some approval. "It's about time we started recovering from some of the monstrosities the Dracs visited upon us." He paused. "I'll set up a regular meeting with your secretary for some time later this week, And I'll leave you to your son." He smiled sadly. "Enjoy them at this age, they only get older from here on out."

    "I will sir." I shook his hand as he made to leave. "I'll have Mary clear up some time." I told him, "I think there's someone I can bump further down the list tomorrow."

    "No." Sandoval shook his head. "I know how hard it is to manage your time as a nobleman, much less a businessman and a Mercenary company owner. I'll see you at whatever time your lovely Secretary puts me down for. Have a good day Hull."

    "You too sir." I said with a dip of my head as he walked out my office door. "Well, that was unexpected." I muttered to myself after the door had shut. "I knew he was on the planet, I just didn't know he was headed to meet with me so soon."

    I picked up my comms device and called Dunham. "Hey, you might want to put some more people on VIP duty, or replace them, Duke Sandoval just walked into my office without so much as a "by your leave". Yeah, I know it was harmless this time, but we can't get lax even with people that we trust, MASK and the ISF are really good at their jobs, and if we slip up people will die." I finished the conversation with Dunham, happy that he would be dealing with the lax intel people.
     
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    • Chapter Sixty-Eight: Meetings
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    • Chapter Sixty-Eight: Meetings
    Kentares IV, Draconis March, Federated Suns March 17th, 3015

    "Duke Sandoval." I shook the hand of my immediate superior insofar as nobility went. "Now that we are able to have a proper meeting." I sat down and he did as well. "What is it you came here to discuss?"

    "I wanted to meet the new noble who has yet to show his face in my court." Sandoval got straight to the point. "You've been galavanting all across the galaxy, and interacting with the Davions, and yet I have never even seen your face aside from some tri-vids." He crossed his arms. "Why is that?"

    "Because I forgot that there was a court to appear at." I replied bluntly and honestly. "Until a couple of years ago, I was managing the executive decisions for the nobility, Sharpshooter Inc, and both the Marksman and Kentares Guard." I sighed, "I didn't even have a proper bureaucracy until last year. And now you see the fruits of that." I gestured to the much smaller stack of papers on my desk. "I don't have nearly as much to do paperwork wise, and I can delegate to people that I can trust to do their jobs. I had intended to drop by Robinson in a few months, but you preempted me by a good bit."

    Duke Sandoval just sat there for a while, taking in the perfectly valid reasons that I had to avoid the politics for the past few years.

    "While I understand that you are a new noble, one of the very few that made such a massive jump in recent history, I do think that you should have at the very least made the attempt." He waved off any response that I was about to make. "With that being said, I am grateful that you have managed to help in destroying some of the forces that face us in the Draconis March." He grinned. "Now that the serious stuff is over, I want to hear about the First Prince's and your battle against the 2nd SoL first hand."




    March 31st, 3015

    "Shhh." I rubbed David's back as he cried out for Natasha. "It's okay, Daddy's here." I said, trying to lull him back to sleep to no avail. "I know you miss momma, I do too." I kept speaking softly and rocking him until he went back to sleep.

    After I had gotten David to fall back asleep I looked at the clock. "Ugh… So much for going back to sleep." I muttered under my breath. "Might as well be productive." I went and did some sim training and hit the gym before getting an early start on the paperwork for the day.

    "Morning Mary." I greeted my secretary as she walked in for the day. "Ready to get started?"

    "Huh?" She just rubbed her eyes, still half asleep. "Yeah, I guess I'm ready."

    "Sorry." I apologized, handing her a cup of coffee. "David woke me up and I've been going ever since."

    "Uhuh." She just glared at me. "I forgot that you are a morning person." Mary reached for a pen and threw it at me. "Leave me in peace you inhuman monster."

    "Fine." I surrendered, raising my hands and moving to my office. "I already got most of the paperwork done, so expect a light work day."




    April 19th, 3015

    "Alright, I'm here for training day." I clapped my hands together as I greeted and joined some of the new militia recruits. "Let's get started." I was filling in as an additional instructor and to take a break. So I led the militia through some exercises that would have made the pre dimension hopping me throw up and quit halfway through.

    "Come on!" My current drill instructor partner yelled at them. "I've seen children move faster than that!" The DI pointed at David who was in a carrier on my back. "See, there goes one right now!" I ran faster.





    A few hours later…

    "Shovel the food in your mouth, chew and swallow!" I screamed at the recruits in the chow hall. "My son is eating faster than you!" I fed David another spoonful of mashed potatoes. "Clean up your plates!" I yelled, "Hurry up!"

    "Charlie Platoon!" I screamed as I left the chow hall, "Fall in! Recruit Maxwell, you're platoon leader for the day."

    "Aye Sir!" She yelled.

    "I can't hear you recruit Maxwell." I said and held up my hand to my ear. "AYE SIR!" She let out a bellow.

    "That's what I like to hear." I said with a frown on my face. "Get up here Maxwell and show them how it's done."




    April 20th, 3015

    "You better not be thinking about stealing some of my recruits." The Kentares Militia commander, Colonel James Earnest said to me. "I appreciate you spending some time here and designating funds over to us for acquisitions, but I don't want any poaching."

    "I just want one." I told him. "I think she has great potential as a battlefield commander."

    "Then she can put in a transfer request when she's done with her training and her four years." Earnest said, not budging an inch. "We all get the same training anyway Hull." He looked me in the eye. "You'll just have to wait and see what becomes of her here."

    "That's fine with me." I said. "I wasn't trying to poach anyway." I shrugged. "If she has the potential for battlefield command, she can apply those same skills elsewhere, and we need those types of skills everywhere on Kentares, not just in the military commands."

    "Thanks for not poaching." Earnest's shoulders sagged a bit. "It's hard enough to get people to join the militia as is with the massive paychecks coming in from Sharpshooter and the Marksman."

    "I'll set aside more funding for competitive rates, but a Militia unit isn't supposed to be full time anyway Earnest." I reminded him. "You're going to get some people who only join for the little bit of extra money they get every month, but you're also getting a lot of weekend warriors here."

    "I know." Earnest sighed. "It's just such a different experience compared to serving in the Hussars like I used to."

    "Well, it takes time." I reminded him, "Just don't expect perfection to take place overnight." I smiled. "I mean, you already give them a longer boot camp than any other militia in the Suns anyway."

    "And we give them additional specialist training as well." Earnest said. "Thanks for making sure we got the Mithril priority by the way, we managed to gear everyone up already with some spares set aside in case of emergency."

    "Not a problem, I'm sorry they're the old hand me downs from the Marksman, but the older generation will still function pretty well, it's just not quite as comfortable and up to date as the newer suits we've been producing lately." I replied with a shrug.

    "It's the way of the world." Earnest said. "Frontline units get the fancy new gear, and the Militia get the slightly outdated stuff." He shrugged. "I assume you're going to move some of the new gear our way anyway though.

    "You suspect right," I told him. "I'm approving the transfer of some of the Grasshoppers, Von Luckners, and Brutus' fresh from the plants to you."




    May 5th, 3015

    "Gabriella, what's the data on the current lines we hold?" I asked the man for some hard numbers.

    "Well sir, the two Grasshopper lines are running at peak efficiency and producing Six 'Mechs a month combined, the Brutus is producing eight vehicles a month, and our two Von Luckner lines are matching it in production. The freezer factory is churning them out as fast as we can get the Endo-Steel used in their production, and we've got two hundred Mithril 11(A) suits rolling off of the lines every month, The Toro Factory is outproducing all of the other 'mech factories due to simplicity and even when we up teched it with Freezers and ERPPC's, it's still manufacturing around 15 'mechs per month." Gabriella grabbed another folder. "As far as the assets we have in other systems, the last reports i have are on the Layover and Markesan systems."

    "And what are they reporting?" I asked, I had a burning need to know just how much material we were producing currently.

    "Three Stings and three Mule class dropships are rolling off of the lines at Layover every month along with 3 Vengeance a year. The R&D areas have been reactivated, and so has a Union CV line. Our people are working on an upteched escort variant of the Sting and report that they should have something in a couple of years." She paused and reviewed her report. "The Highlander factory is producing four 'Mechs a month currently, and I don't have any up to date information on the other areas Sharpshooter is into right now."

    "Thanks for that." I gave Gabriella a nod. "Get some sleep and try and get me some of those reports if at all possible."

    "Yes sir." She said as she gathered her files and left. Leaving me to consider everything in peace.
     
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    • Comstar Interlude: 3015
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    • Comstar Interlude: 3015

    "What is the status on Operation Monarch?" Primus Tiepolo asked the current Precentor Rom, Vesar Kristofur.

    "We have infiltrated some people into what was previously Salvatore Incorporated, now owned by Sharpshooter Inc." Kristofur reported. "Their output is above average, and any sabotage we attempt is quickly fixed and noted, our Agents are waiting for an opportune time to gut the Vengeance lines, while we would attempt to removed the new Sting class DroST from production, they would simply spool up another line in its place. It is an easily manufactured dropship, and could be manufactured even on a periphery world, there is nothing truly unique in its tooling."

    "Understandable." Tiepolo said. "Now, the rest of the operation?"

    "We are one hundred percent certain that the Davions are onto us." Kristofur started. "After extensive debriefings of the few higher ups we managed to acquire from Taussen we realized that they had been there and stripped a number of 'Mech lines as well as some data from the HPG station." He shrugged. "At this point, we have no idea if they have shared any of this information, or if they are waiting for us to make a move before exposing us."

    Kristofur paused for a minute, taking several gulps of his now lukewarm tea before starting up again. "We have lost almost all of our agents in the TMI and MIIO." He said. "We are still able to read their mail of course, but back in 3006 the Taurians started a massive house cleaning of their intelligence apparatus. They removed, fired, or shifted most of their personnel to other areas with a new focus on the TMI being accurate and able to provide verifiable intelligence, we have not been able to get any new agents in, and neither have MASK, MIIO, or any of the other agencies. We are all in the dark as far as the Concordat is concerned. That is why we didn't know about their Warship until it arrived in orbit around Taurus."

    Kristofur got up and collected his thoughts, beginning to pace a bit. "All of this began with that damned mercenary unit." He said. "The Marksman and their leader, this Mark Hull person who is a supposed time traveler, has managed to destabilize a massive amount of our plans." He ranted a bit before sitting back down. "I apologize, that was uncalled for. Where was I? Ahh yes, well, we have got some people infiltrated into the lower ranks of the Marksman and the Kentares Guard as well as Sharpshooter Inc, but whoever their intel people are, they are very good, and they have managed to avoid placing any of our people in high up positions where they might have access to any data that might prove useful to us, we have managed to get some people inside of the Grasshopper and Von Luckner lines that they are using to manufacture those designs, and are attempting to sabotage them. We shall have to see if they are successful or not. Our lack of an HPG on Kentares IV is both a blessing and a curse as far as this kind of work goes."

    "I see." Primus Tiepolo said. "How goes the effort to assist the Combine and the Capellan Confederation?"

    "The Confederation is not going to be able to be saved at this point." Precentor Rom pointed out. "It is in its death throes and we should just try and salvage what we can from the corpse." He said bluntly. "The Mariks are in the midst of the civil war that I enflamed, and should be fighting for a period of several more years. And to be blunt, Precentor Taussen was an idiot of the highest measure, we would have lost much more than gained if he had managed to succeed at dropping those nukes on Kentares IV." He said as a side note. "While it may have been useful in the short term, the Damage done to the Capcon meant that there wouldn't be any interference on their end, and the Davions would have been able to focus on the Draconis Combine and at the very least make them bleed for a good long while."

    "Our efforts to ensure that the Draconis Combine are able to resupply are proceeding fairly smoothly, we haven't been providing them with Lostech, but we did leak the locations of several old factory lines and are letting them do with it as they may." Kristofur said. "We also have made several experts "Available" for hire in order for them to get those factories up and running as soon as possible."

    "And any plans to stall the Lyran Commonwealth?" Tiepolo folded his hands into the sleeves of his robes. "I have not heard anything in that vein yet."

    "The LIC is good." Kristofur started, "Very good, so we are not as privy to as many secrets as we might hope as far as they are concerned, we have seen some movements, but nothing aside from Katrina's reforms. And while we at first attempted to widen the gap between her and Frederick Steiner, that seems to have backfired, seeing as he is now firmly cemented with her in restoring parts of the Commonwealth military with the unveiling of the rebuilding of the Fourth Royal Guards with him at the helm. We have had luck in assisting the Free Skye movement and Duke Lestrade though, he had been radically opposed to the Archon, and doesn't care for much from power. We are currently trying to assist him in his bid for the control of Skye, and will be attempting to install him as regent or something similar in order to potentially break it away and cause more chaos between the Lyran Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine."


    "Why had we not done any of this sooner?" Tiepolo asked. "I assume we have had this capability for a while."

    "Unfortunately, good agents take time to train and get in the right place at the right time for infiltration, and one wrong step or move could spell disaster, and that is a place that we have never wanted to be in previously." Kristofur shrugged. "If not for the discovery of the Taussen system, I doubt we would be moving as fast as we are currently. But with the danger of discovery slightly less because the Davions already know, we are pushing a little harder and faster."




    Omega Division, Hilton Head Island.

    "I fucking hate this place!" The head researcher assigned to the Mithril powered armor screamed. "Why can't we fucking figure this power source out? We have had it for five years!"

    "Sir." One of the junior scientists timidly raised their hands.

    "What?!" He raged. "That was a rhetorical question!" He screamed, "I don't want a fucking answer, I want this thing to work!"

    The researcher just lowered her hand and slunk as low as she could to try and avoid the wrath.




    At a bar outside the Hilton Head Complex

    "I'm quitting." Miranda told her friend. "This was fun five years ago when I was recruited to study this new battery pack idea thing, but the head is a perv and a raging psycho."

    "Where do you plan on going?" Her friend asked. "It's not like they'll let you leave the planet."

    "Why not?" She asked, with a shrug. "It's not like I know anything classified, every single nation in the Inner Sphere has a Mithril suit somewhere being dismantled, the problem is no one can figure out the stupid power source aside from the people who made it."

    "Well, good luck to you then." Her friend raised her beer in a toast. "May the odds be ever in your favor."
     
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    • Chapter Sixty-Nine: Nice!
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    • Chapter Sixty-Nine: Nice!

    Robinson, Draconis March, Federated Suns, September 13th, 3015

    "What do you think David?" I asked my son as I got dressed in a simplified Marksman/Kentares Guard uniform, properly tailored to suit the environment I was about to find myself in. "Do I look good?" I gave my Son a thumbs up and got one in return, along with a fist bump. "See, I don't need to look too good, gotta keep the women away after all."

    Mathis was chuckling in the background.

    "Hey!" I said pointing at my bodyguard and friend. "No comments from the peanut gallery."

    "But, it's funny." Mathis said, still laughing. "It's not the clothes that keep women away from you." He was doubled over at this point. "It's that you wouldn't notice unless they dragged you to a bedroom and tied you up."


    "I'm better about it now." I said while crossing my arms. "I am married after all."

    "Yeah, no." He said as he finally contained his laughter. "You're just not on the market anymore and so don't have to notice anything."

    "Just shut up and help me wrangle a two year old." I told him, grabbing David who was in a miniature version of my uniform. "We need to get going."




    Later that day…

    "Mathis," I told my bodyguard through the small mic attached to my collar. "I need an exfil plan, if another woman comes and tries to pick up my son I will shoot somebody."

    "Sorry sir, but you haven't been able to meet the Sandoval's yet." Mathis told me. "If you manage to get in and have a small discussion with him and some other important nobles, we will be able to exfil."

    Grabbing David and slinging him onto my hip, I politely slipped through the crowd. After gently making my way through, I managed to find the area I needed to be in.

    "Duke Sandoval." I shook his hand. "A pleasure to meet you again."

    "Duke Hull." He responded. "A pleasure to finally have your presence grace the court here on Robinson. Have you met my children?"

    "I am afraid I have not had the chance to meet any of them as of yet." I responded. "I'm pleased to meet you." His four children all introduced themselves to me going from oldest to youngest.

    "Colonel Hull." James Sandoval got my attention after being introduced to me. "Would you care to have a discussion on combined arms tactics? I have just graduated from the Academy and while my father has had very good advice, there is always something new to be learned."

    "Of course." I responded. "What area of combined arms tactics do you want to discuss? I personally favor asymmetrical warfare and overwhelming firepower whenever possible." I said. "The new Sting class makes for an incredible CAP gunship and is able to support infantry and Vehicles in a way that current Aerospace does not."

    "I saw the Sting" Duke Sandoval weighed in. "We are currently on the purchase list from the Layover facility."

    "There are a lot of people on the purchase list." I replied. "We are rolling them out and getting more lines set up as fast as we can vet and hire people. I think the overall goal was to have a minimum of three per world, with as many as six or more for critical infrastructure worlds."

    "Yes," James agreed. "I think that stopping an invasion force before it arrives is something that could become critical, but why would you waste something so valuable as a close support craft?"

    "Because a dropship can be replaced." I told the two of them. "There is no Lostech involved in their construction, and the licenses that we sold to the Taurian Concordat and the Lyran Commonwealth will help curb and/or end piracy as we know it."

    "Is that your overall goal?" Duke Sandoval asked. "To end piracy?"

    "No, my goal is to have secured a permanent place for my family, and to make the Inner Sphere a better place." I said, shifting the now sleeping David to my other arm. "And I would like peace, but I know that peace is something that is hard to come by."




    September 15th, 3015

    "We are finally leaving." I said with no small amount of cheer. "Done with the politics, and back to the things I actually understand."

    "And where there is less of a security risk to yourself and David." Mathis weighed in. "The armored car is here."
    We had purchased a small convoy that we used, with an armored hover-limo as a decoy and the armored sedan as the actual vehicle that we used to get to our destination. We were on our way to the spaceport, where the Messenger and some of the Sting gunships we had brought as escorts waited for us when the hover limo exploded in inferno gel and explosions.

    "Stay down." Mathis told the two of us as he moved the sedan out of the way and accelerated towards the spaceport. "I'm pretty sure we just got hit by some sort of cell trying to kill the both of you."

    I just drew my sidearm, and put David down on the floorboard. "Anything bigger than my pistol?" I asked Mathis who simply pushed a button on the front dash of the car. "Thanks." I said as I grabbed the rifle that was stored behind the rear seat. "Let me know if I need to provide supporting fire."

    "We're two mikes out from the Spaceport, and the Messenger and her escorts are prepped to lift off as soon as we are aboard." Mathis reported to me. "It seems that whoever it was took the bait for now."

    "Stay cautious though." I told him. "We've pissed off enough people that it could be ROM, ISF, or MASK trying to kill us."

    "Or it could be all three." Mathis shrugged. "At this point it doesn't matter who is trying to kill you, only that they don't succeed."
     
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    • Comstar Interlude 3012-3013
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    • Comstar Interlude 3012-3013

    "What do you mean that there was a Jumpship that survived?" Primus Tiepolo asked the captain of the Narbonne. "What is happening in the system?"

    "Primus, we were hard pressed to even get in range at all." The captain replied. "The lone dropship that was present in the system managed to attach itself to an Invader class Jumpship and as we fired as they jumped."

    "Well, thank you for your report Captain, I'll have ROM look into covering up what happened, and will await any further reports from Taussen."




    Hilton Head Island, Terra

    "You are certain that it was First Prince Ian Davion?" Kristofur asked one of the two remaining Adepts that had made it off of Taussen.

    "Yes, Precentor." The adept confirmed, "We, that is the remaining ROM units on world, even attempted an assassination, only to be foiled at the last minute."

    "Was there any information taken?" Kristofur asked. "Anything that would show our hand?"

    "Yes sir, they managed to capture Precentor Taussen, and quite a few of the senior HPG staff." The adept said. "We attempted to neutralize them, but aside from the select few that managed to commit suicide, we were unsuccessful." The adept took a sip of the water in front of him. "And after the bombing, the civilians were no longer cooperative."

    "What do you mean they were not cooperative?" Kristofur asked. "They have been servants of Blake for generations now."

    "The head Adept, the poor bloody fool, set it so the explosives would damage the surroundings as well in his zeal to kill the First Prince, and in doing so harmed many of our own while on the planet." The adept sighed. "And the video clips of Prince Davion's left hand risking his own life to not only save the Prince, but to help some of our own civilians did us no favors."

    "So they won the Propaganda war?" Kristofur asked, taking careful notes. "We are trying to figure out how Taussen was discovered, what the Davions and their allies might know, and what we can do to prevent these things in the future." He explained.

    "Precentor, we were screwed over by Precentor Taussen." The Adept said bluntly. "He commanded the local ROM units to use Draconis Combine codes and colors despite knowing that they were outnumbered, trusting in the fact that we had Lostech to cement a victory. He planned on nuking Kentares and blaming the Combine for it, not only killing the new factories that are being brought up there, but also making the Davions enraged so as to turn their focus onto the Combine instead of finishing off the Confederation." The adept shrugged. "I guess someone forgot to wipe their Navicomputer or something because here we are."

    "Interesting." Precentor Rom said in response. "We had to give up Taussen." He confided in the Adept. "And the Narbonne and all of our agents set traps and rigged things so that when the Davions return they do not find any factories there, we just did not have time for the full bombardment or anything else lest the Davions jump more units in system and broadcast the footage to the entirety of the Inner Sphere."

    "Please tell me that there are plans in place to kill the Prince's left hand?" The adept said. "That bastard was at the forefront of the efforts to find us and root us out, it was only that he ran out of time that saved us." The adept trembled with barely restrained rage.

    "Who is the Prince's left hand?" Kristofur asked for clarification. "I think I know who you mean, but I want to make sure."

    "Duke Mark Hull." The adept said. "I didn't know who he was until I got back to Terra, but he is most definitely and enemy of Comstar."

    "I will have ROM cells on the lookout for opportunities to slay him." Kristofur assured the raging adept.




    Later that week…

    "What is the verdict?" Primus Tiepolo asked.

    "We are going to have to tread carefully." Kristofur stated. "While it appears that the story about space debris has worked in the mainstream channels, we know for certain that the Davions are onto us." He sighed. "They managed to take Precentor Taussen alive and several of the senior HPG staff. I would take bets on the interrogations that they are undergoing."

    "We will begin setting in plans to either assassinate several leaders in Davion and Lyran space or to trigger a war between the Concordat and the Fedsuns. There will need to be back up plans as well." Tiepolo said. "Now that the Mariks are fighting each other, we should see if we can split up any of the other stellar nations in similar ways."
     
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    • Chapter Seventy: Wrath
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    • Chapter Seventy: Wrath

    Robinson, Draconis March, Federated Suns, September 15th, 3015

    "Messenger" Mathis spoke into his comm's device."We are one Mike out, standby." No sooner had the words left his mouth then he had to swerve in order to avoid a man portable SRM someone had fired at our vehicle. "Hull, I need them pinned down in order to make sure we get there." He told me, opening the sunroof for me to stand up in.

    The rifle kicked against my shoulder as I fired in short controlled bursts, hitting and stopping two of the people throwing SRM's our way. I had to reload after the third one was struck and then got back up again. Then, I felt something thump into my left shoulder and I spun around, seeing that there was a second group. We peeled past them, and I just held down the trigger, heedless of what might come my way. And then we were free, the Messenger was moving down the runway with one of its loading ramps down, and we shot into the bay as it took off in an almost vertical landing.

    "You good David?" I asked the toddler. "He was crying and still covering his ears on the floorboard. "Mathis, you clean?"

    "I'm good." Mathis said, "But my partner isn't." The Ducal Guardsmen who had been in the passenger seat had been nicked by a piece of shrapnel that had penetrated the passenger floor, hitting his femoral artery and causing him to bleed out. "I'm putting us in Mithril for the rest of eternity." He stated. "And I'm pretty sure the First Prince will sign off on it."

    "Agreed." I replied, running a quick status check on myself. "I'm hit in the shoulder." I told him, "Clean entry and exit, I think it missed the important bits."

    "I'll grab David." Mathis said. "We'll follow you to the infirmary."




    Davion Palace Complex, New Avalon, October 27th, 3015

    "Mark!" Ian greeted as he walked in the room. "Where's your better half?"

    "The half of me most likely to invade Terra is currently visiting family in unknown space." I said in a cold rage. "And the half of me least likely to invade Terra is sitting here in front of you, and if you don't convince it very quickly, Terra will soon be owned by the Marksman and the Kentares Guard."

    "What are you talking about?" Hanse asked.

    "Comstar's ROM division." I tossed two separate file folders onto the table in between us. "Co Opted and created orders for two previously unknown sleeper cells to target and assassinate myself." I stood up in a cold fury. "If it were just me, I could almost accept it." I stated, "Unpleasant, but it comes with the enemies I have made. But they did not just target myself." I raged. "They targeted my son, and so unless you and Ian have some extremely valid reasons why I shouldn't, I'm drafting the orders and carrying them out by December."

    "The two Cells," I continued. "Were each from different nations, one was an ISF cell, and one for a MASK cell." I sighed. "If I had been on any dropship other than the Messenger we wouldn't have the intel at all. As it is, we didn't manage to decrypt the message until after we had left Robinson."

    Hanse and Ian stood there, and their positions were reversed for once. With Hanse now seething with Rage just like I was, whereas Ian was silently contemplating everything.

    "We don't have the HPG's yet." Ian finally said. "We haven't managed to spread out enough of the mobile HPG's we've been manufacturing enough to cover the areas that Comstar is in." He sighed. "The very minute that I have confirmation that we've gotten at least half of the coverage Comstar does, I will join you myself." He sighed. "I understand that you are angry, and you have every right to be, but until we are in the position to do this properly I'm going to have to ask you to stand by. While I am confident that you could not only take Terra, but hold it. If we were to be interdicted we would lose everything we have gained over the last decade in a single sweep of the table."

    "I will allow it." I said, "I'm still going to formulate some invasion plans, and if they try anything else, I'm taking the Manassas and taking the system for myself, And I'm certain I could convince the Concordat to help me out."





    "Hanse, you have to calm down." Ian tried to talk to his still angry brother. "I know that it angers you, but we have to think of the long term."

    "Ian, I'm going to need a combat posting soon." Hanse said through gritted teeth. "I have to do something."

    "I can give you a Guards division and send you to take Ares." Ian said. "I'm just not certain you want to do that with Dana about to give birth."

    "I will wait." Hanse said, "But if something akin to this happens again, I will be joining Mark in any invasion he sets up. And Dana will gladly join me."

    "I know," Ian replied. "And with the Taurians at his back I think he could do it." He shrugged. "I just can't have us commit to that offensive yet, if we did and the Interdict still happened, we would be torn apart by the Combine as soon as they knew that we weren't able to communicate. And while Katrina and the Commonwealth would try to assist, they're still in the middle of restructuring their entire military."

    "I get it Ian." Hanse said sadly. "I still have this burning need to do something though."

    "You're a Davion," Ian said. "If you did anything less than father would be rolling over in his grave right now."

    "Ian, I'm going to go love on Dana for a while." Hanse stood up. "You should probably find something for Mark do do before he goes and storms the local Comstar station."
     
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    • Chapter Seventy-One: Preparations
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    • Chapter Seventy-One: Preparations

    Kentares IV, Draconis March, Federated Suns January 3rd, 3016

    "The Manassas and Age of Discovery are hidden in the shadow of one of the moons in the system." Sheppard reported to me. "Jewel sent Rook with the Snowden over to start repairs to the Texas Class Battleship."


    "Peterson is a month or so out." Packer told me. "We have the 2nd Marksman up to a combined arms force that should be able to handle a force its equal at the very least."

    "Our Warship crews are still green." I said, "but I think Comstar's will be green as well, and with the automated systems on the Manassas we should have a slight advantage. Jewel is returning with some of the Sting refits we commissioned and will be present by February."

    "We move in March." I told them, "we're going to make a statement to Comstar by taking their naval Bases out of commission."

    "Paige's Marines are chomping at the bit," Sheppard reported. "We gave them the upgraded Mithril 15(B) suits, and they are ready for any boarding actions we need them to try."

    "Good," I said. "I want as much of the infrastructures and ships taken intact as possible."

    "Based on the thrust ratios we calculated for that Warship that attacked you in the Versailles system we are going to be at a disadvantage in regards to speed." Commodore Frye spoke up. "The sensor data that the King Henry V reported was able to give us a calculated glimpse of what it might be armed with, and we think we might have the edge in firepower, but if we aren't accurate then it will be a very close battle."

    "We'll have all of our Sting's loaded for bear and ready to attempt boarding, and Wardog and Strider Squadrons are prepping for anti Warship runs." I said. "They're going to be coordinating in space and we need to be absolutely ready to make fast decisions."

    "I'm leaving overall tactics and planning to the people most likely to know what will happen." I said. "Lieutenant Colonel Paige, you're in charge of the Marine Forces that we have, and Commodore Frye, you're in command of both the dropships and Warships. I want an operational plan in three days for both systems, we're hitting them hard, and we're hitting them fast."

    "Are Ian and Hanse briefed on this?" Sheppard asked me before I had the chance to dismiss everyone.

    "I'll send a courier with a message when we leave." I told him. "I left hints that we would be retaliating, and there's a reason that I'm using the Marksman instead of the Kentares Guard."




    Ross 248, March 14th, 3016


    "Have the Age of Discovery detach her escorts." Commodore Frye ordered, "And have the Messenger engage in broad spectrum jamming. We don't want them to signal to any reinforcements that we are here."

    "Ma'am." The sensor officer said. "We're detecting one Warship, and two Yardships."

    "Send Paige and her marines to board the Yardships, and have Hull's Colossus move down to the Space station."

    "Yes ma'am,'' the Communications officer replied. "Sending orders."

    "That Frigate is coming in fast, Commodore." The sensor officer said.

    "Have our drone's target the rear." Frye replied, "And have Blaze coordinate with the Strikers, we're not sure how well our modifications will work."

    "We're in range Ma'am." The gunnery officer told her.

    "Fire as you see fit." She told him.

    The Manassas shuddered around them as they took Naval Autocannon fire on some of their armor.

    Then, the Manassas answered with their own NAC's, their superior concentration of firepower and better targeting systems allowing them to put rounds on the enemy Warship. Causing armor to shatter and/or be melted off as Naval Lasers began to join in.




    "This is Blaze," The Aerospace commander of the Marksman said. "Wardog and Strider, we are going to need to be extremely careful on this one, the enemy Warship seems to have extremely good anti fighter systems as was proven by the Drone's we sent out first."

    "Roger that Lead." Chopper said. "I don't see any escort fighters for it though."

    "We have nothing on our scopes." Blaze replied. "Edge, I'm assigning your squadron to escort the boarding craft to the Yardships, everyone else, pair up with a Sting. Let's make them bleed."

    "Copy that Lead." Came back. "Moving to escort positions now."




    "Marines!" Colonel Paige said over her dropship's command line. "This is what we've been training for, while the Navy gets to use their big guns for the first time outside of training, we get to go and do what we do best."

    "Loot then Burn!" The marines responded.

    "Damn straight!" Paige said. "Run checks on your Atmo seals, If anything manages to wreck that you'll be SOL."


    The Sting dropship they were on maneuvered to avoid the fire that was directed at them. "We're coming in fast, Prep to drop and use jets to finish reaching the Yardship." The pilot told the Marines on board.

    "You heard the man!" Paige yelled as the bay doors opened. "Get onto the ship and find an airlock, if you can't then we'll make rescue efforts as soon as we are able." The company of Marines "Dropped" out of the bay, using jump jets to navigate to the hull of the Yardship.

    "Ma'am, I've got an escape pod here!" One of her marines said over their laser comms.

    "Copy, drop a Nav point on it so that way we can have the others navigate here." Paige told him as she navigated over there.

    "Set Breaching charges." She told him. "This should be a good entry point." She assisted in getting the shaped charges ready. "Rook, I want you close by, we need to get into the computer systems and to be able to turn this ship against them."

    "Yes Ma'am." Lieutenant Rook replied. "Hanging on your six." While there were other computer specialists in the Marksman and Kentares Guard, none were as capable as Rook and so she had requested him to be with her unit.

    "Breaching." The marine called, detonating the charges. "Hole's clear, moving in." They moved into the now defunct escape pod and slapped a temporary seal over the hole they had made.

    "Opening door." Rook called as he used the pods controls to open the hatch in front of them. "We're in, let's do this."
     
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    • Chapter Seventy-One Continued: Combat
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    • Chapter Seventy-One Continued: Combat
    Ross 248 March 14th, 3016

    "Commodore." The communications officer said. "The enemy ship has gone dark, and we're seeing less fire thrown our way. We may have just hit their bridge.."

    "Ma'am, Armor is at seventy five percent and holding," The gunnery officer said. "We're reloading several of the forward NAC's right now."

    "Have Blaze escort some Marines over there for boarding actions, if we can take it and get it moving via a secondary bridge, we might be able to come out of this with even more than we thought."



    "Fireteam one, take this corridor, and try to limit damage as much as possible." Paige directed one of the three fireteams with her. "Fireteam two, take the corridor opposite them, I'll be taking fireteam three along with Rook and trying to take the bridge." She inhaled. "Remember people, we want as many of them alive as possible, many of them will be unarmed and we need to be able to actually use the ship after we're done. Am I understood?"

    "Yes Ma'am." They said over the comms, before they dispersed to their own areas. Everyone had the same orders, and vacuum rated packs with flex cuffs stuffed inside for anyone they subdued without killing.

    "Rook, Fireteam three," Paige nodded. "With me." And took off at a jog towards the area that the map they had pulled showed the bridge to be.




    "Alright people, this is primarily going to be an infantry op." I told the assembled Marksman unit with me. "The vehicles and 'Mechs are going to be guarding the Colossus while the Specialists and Infantry go and see what we can take with us when we leave."

    The assembled soldiers of the 2nd Marksman began to unload from the Colossus, making sure that we were covered. I myself was in Mithril, the only difference between mine and the others was that mine had extra communications gear.

    "Sergeant Lovell, I hope that Rook has taught you well." I told the tech fireteam with me. "Because we're splitting up. I'm taking a fireteam and hitting the local HPG, I need the rest of you to go strip records from every computer you find, I want to know what Warships are here, and what is repairable or able to be moved out of the system."

    "Yes sir." Lovell responded. "We're on it." And we dispersed, I moved to the area that the Manassas records indicated the HPG would be with a platoon of Mithril clad infantry right on my heels.

    "Records show we've got quite a bit of ground to cover in order to reach the station." I told Mathis and the others with me. "Expect some sort of resistance."

    "Copy that." Mathis said and began to take point. "Moving up."



    "You have a go, Archon's Favor" Blaze told the Sting dropship they were escorting to the enemy Warship. "We're not seeing any fire currently headed our way, and the Dropship collars appear to be intact."

    "Copy that Wardog Lead." The Archon's Favor replied. "We're docking now, keep an eye out for us."



    "Cover the hatch." The marine Sergeant told a member of his fireteam. "We're about to override it and head in."

    "Copy that sir." The Mithril clad Marines stacked up on the hatch. "Flashbang out." The second man called out after cracking open the hatch. "Moving." The point man entered the room, checking his corners the entire time.

    "Clear." was sent various times along the comms systems. "Atmosphere is still intact, we'll have to clear out the ship room by room though."

    The fireteam moved through, managing to get decently far before some armed men showed up to try and repel them.

    "Well, Normally I'd be getting into cover." One of the Marines observed. "But I don't think they have anything with the firepower to breach our suits on board." And the two of them took point in finishing off the armed ones before cuffing the rest of them.



    "Rook, please tell me you got the data?" Paige asked the tech specialist. "Because I think that this captain and crew might be a little difficult to interrogate later." Said bound and gagged bridge crew were glaring at her.

    "I managed to pull everything they had on the computer banks." Rook replied. "They hadn't even managed to get started on wiping anything before we burst in, I just hope that everyone else is doing as well as us."

    "Well, I've heard nothing but good reports on the company that managed to land here." She said, "We think there's a relatively small crew here and that'll make it easier to get this ship back to Kentares."

    "Then we better start moving soon." Rook replied. "Remember the last time we messed with one of Comstar's hidden systems."

    "Yeah," Paige shrugged. "But we have Warships of our own this time."

    (AN: Unless implied otherwise, any infantry are speaking on close comms between their own fireteams. No one outside of the armor can hear them unless they turn the external speakers on.)




    "I'm into the system." I told Mathis. "They had barely started a system wipe before we got here." I was typing SLIC codes into the system and transferring data to a data core to go over later."

    "Good." Mathis said as he kept a lookout. "Everything seems to be going well so far, but we are going to have to replace four Sting gunships if what I am hearing is accurate."

    "We can replace the dropships." I said as I kept typing. "It's the personnel I'm worried about." I sighed. "Thankfully, Commodore Frye designated several Sting's to not carry more than a skeleton crew so we could do recovery as necessary."




    "Commodore Frye." The Communications officer reported. "The Marines are reporting that one of the Yardships is ours, the enemy Warship has been seized, although we did get a lucky shot and destroy the bridge, the secondary bridge is able to be utilized to get the ship moving."

    "The second Yardship?" She asked. "What is the status on it?"

    "Nothing to report yet, they're the ones whose gunnery crews managed to tag one of the boarding ships."




    "What's the status of these Warships." one of the Infantrymen asked Sergeant Lovell. "Are we able to move them?"

    "Most of their K-F Drives are intact, it's the fusion drives that are the problem." Lovell reported. "There are a few ships that can move under their own power, it's the others that might be a problem."

    "How many are able to move under their own power?" The ship specialists asked. "We'll start with those, and see about getting the rest out."


    "The Black Lion class." Lovell pointed out that particular Warship. "The Volga class over there, and the two Lola III's" He designated each of them.

    "Sarge." Another technician ran up to Lovell. "I found out there's a series of Tugs here."

    "Well, all but the two Vincent's have intact and working K-F Drives." Lovell said. "If we manage to tow them to the Jump point we should be able to have them jump to the systems that we want them to."

    "I'll have someone work this up to command." The infantry officer said. "We'll start getting the tugs up and running though, even if we have to force some of these people to do it at gunpoint."




    "Commodore, Paige is reporting total control, they're moving the Yardship to the jump point and leaving the system."

    "Good to hear." Commodore Frye responded. "Do we have updates from anyone else?"

    "The enemy Warship is ours, but the Marines on board are helping to put out fires and other issues before they move to take the ship out of the system."

    "And the Recovery crews?" Frye asked. "Have we managed to get our people out of the void yet?"

    "We've recovered ninety percent of them." The comms officer reported, "And one of the people we have on the station has an ambitious plan that will need some dropship crews."

    "What is it?" She asked.

    "Seeing as Hull is currently stripping the HPG's data, they are requesting permission to use the Elephant class tugs that are present on the station to tow any and all of the jump capable ships to the jump point and get them out of the system that way. They're even saying that we should attach the tugs to the collars before Jumping so that we can move them easier."

    "Give them approval, and use the crews that are still alive from the Sting's that we lost. Split them up to fill the roles if we have to, but I want as many Warships removed as possible."
     
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    • Chapter Seventy-Two: Audacity
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    • Chapter Seventy-Two: Audacity
    Ross 248 March 14th, 3016

    "Why is that second Yardship not moving yet?" Commodore Frye asked. "We've got the ships that can move out of the space station already moving to the jump point."

    "Ma'am," The comms officer replied. "Marines are reporting that they are locked out of the ships systems, they can move the ship, but they're going to have to do it directly from engineering until we can bully past the lockout."

    "Well, have them start moving then, we've got to start getting out of this system." Commodore said in response. "Have the mobile ships jump to the rendezvous point A system, we'll have the ones that can't move jump to point B and start getting out of this system before any enemies jump into the system."

    "Understood Ma'am," The comms officer responded, "Relaying the message now."

    "Alright people, we're going to need to maintain a careful lookout." She told her bridge crew. "We need to make absolutely sure that there isn't anything else here that might try and take a bite out of us."




    "Mathis, am I hearing the comms properly?" I asked. "I was a little distracted pulling the last of the data."

    "Yes sir, we've found five Elephant class dropships attached to the station." Mathis said. "They're stripping as many people as they can from the Sting's in order to crew them, and using the ones that had their gunships shot out from underneath them as primary crews."

    "Makes sense." I replied before turning my high end comms gear on. "This is Marksman Actual, I need the stats on those tugs ASAP." I told anyone who was listening. "I may have a plan."




    "Rook, is the jump calculated?" Paige asked the tech specialist. "Because we're ready to leave this godforsaken system."

    "Yes Ma'am." He responded. "Everything checks out and we are able to move to Plan A." He paused. "Our Sting escorts are attaching to the collars now, we are ready to leave as soon as they are on board."

    "Jump us out as soon as we have confirmation that they are attached." Paige told him and the Marines around her. "And when we are at the rendezvous point I want the company to move the POW's to the Stings for holding." She sat down in the captain's chair. "I don't want any escapees here."



    "Black Lion is moving to the jump point along with the other three with intact drives." Sergeant Lovell reported to the officer in charge. "The Sting's are docking now with the recovered crews for the Elephants."

    "Good, we're going to need to move quickly if we want to pull this off." The officer responded. "The rest of the escorts and aerospace fighters are docking with the Age of Discovery and heading to the rendezvous point in order to provide some extra firepower there."

    "Hull wants us to prioritize the Cruisers and Destroyers." Lovell said. "If we can get those up and running later we'll have the makings of a decent sized fleet."

    "This is Marksman Actual." came over their comms systems. "I need the stats on those tugs ASAP, I may have a plan."

    "Safe thrust is 2.5gs, and maximum is 4, reinforced bow and has lots of internal cargo space." Lovell read off the computer screen in front of him. "What's the plan sir?"

    "We're going to send the station into the gap between the systems after we've gotten the Warships we can out of here." You could almost here the grin in his voice. "If we can get all five of the Elephants to coordinate, we can shift the station and get it's orbit to shift to the gaps in between systems, allowing us to come and take what we need at our leisure."

    "That'll take time sir, we've still got to get the Warships out of here." The officer reported. "We've only gotten the mobile ones out of here so far."

    "I know it'll take time Captain, I'm not worried about it." Their CO inhaled audibly. "If the worst comes, we'll just scuttle everything and leave."

    "Copy on implausible plan number seventy five." Commodore Frye weighed in. "We'll cover you, and I'll have some people start crunching numbers on where to launch it for ease of access."



    "Get this hunk of junk moving." The marine Sergeant told the boarding crew onboard the previously enemy Warship, now theirs. "We have been ordered to move to rendezvous point B."

    "Copy that Sarge." The marine in charge of navigation responded. "But you have to remember this is the secondary CIC, and we're unfamiliar with these systems. Give me fifteen minutes, and we'll be mobile."

    "Sarge!" A separate member of the fireteam called out. "We've gotten all of the POW's locked up on the Archon's Favor."

    "That's good news." The sergeant replied. "Most of these people weren't any problem, but station some guards just in case."



    Ross 248 March 22nd, 3016

    "That's the last one that we can manage." Lovell reported to Hull. "We've gotten all of them except for the Vincent's, the Congress, and that Aegis out and jumped to rendezvous point B."

    "Good, Have the Manassas on standby to grab the rest of the Elephants after we're done." Hull replied. Two of the tugs had left with the Warships that had jumped out.

    "Let's go." The infantry boarded the Colossus and got ready to leave the system while the three tugs all synchronized their drives and began to push the Space station out of it's stellar orbit and onto a path that would have it be in the gap between systems in half a year.

    "Docking and moving to the jump point." The last tug docked with the Manassas; they jumped out headed for rendezvous point A.
     
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    • Comstar/House Lords Interlude 3016
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    • Comstar/House Lords Interlude 3016
    Davion Palace, New Avalon
    "You have a message for me?" Ian asked Colonel Peterson the CO of the first Marksman RCT.

    "Yes sir." Peterson replied, "I was told to hand deliver this Pad to you personally." Peterson inhaled. "Hull recommends you wait to open it until Hanse is in the same room as you." Peterson then waited until he was dismissed before leaving.

    Ian picked up his phone to call directly to his brother's room and waited for him to answer. "Yeah, Hull sent us a message. No I haven't opened it yet, he wanted you here before I read/saw it."

    While Ian waited for this brother to arrive, he settled down and did some paperwork. They were still rebuilding some of the units with Hardware from the Helm cache and some things needed to be signed off on and reviewed.

    "You ready to watch this?" Ian asked as he waved the small disc in his hand at his brother. "Because He was just here a little while ago, what trouble has he gotten into that required a specialized courier?"

    "Let's find out." Hanse took the data disc and put it into a Tri-Vid viewer.

    "Hello, is this thing on?" A vid of Hull appeared. "We good?" He nodded at the camera. "Okay, so I decided to do a raid on a Comstar facility using a Warship that I had hidden from you." Hull said flat out. "We've got actionable intelligence, and are going to hopefully be pulling several intact Warships that need minor repairs out of Comstars hands and into ours. There are two facilities, and I'll be hitting one of them. Upon my return, I'm going to be repairing them and sending a good portion of them over to New Avalon. I hope to be back by June, wish me luck!"

    "That son of a bitch." Hanse said as he stood up. "I'm gonna kill him."

    "Why?" Ian asked.

    "Because he didn't take me with him," Hanse said.




    The Triad, Tharkad

    "Melissa, I'm going to need you to calm down a bit." Katrina told her daughter. "David won't be here for another couple of weeks."

    "But he's the same age as Elsa!" Melissa squealed, "We're going to be the best of friends." She laughed a little maniacally.

    Katrina just facepalmed at her daughter's dramatic behavior before picking up her third child to rock him to sleep.

    "Archon," Simon Johnson entered the room. "Is this a bad time?"

    "No, just let me get some things done here and I'll join you in a bit."





    "We've finally pinned Duncan down to one planet." Anton Marik observed to his brother Janos. "We're just going to have to finish off two regiments of radical elite forces."

    "I am aware of this." Janos glared at his brother. "We shouldn't have let it get this far in the first place. The Steiners are probing us, and the Andurians are carving chunks off of the Capellan Confederation while we are here fighting each other."

    "We're going to have to do this quickly if we want to bring the Andurians to heel." Anton said. "We've already taken too long to whittle their forces down to this state."

    "I'm moving my personal forces to Procyon in order to assist in taking out Duncan." Janos said. "Remind them to be mindful of the forest." Anton said. "There's an extreme risk of a forest fire if Duncan's forces decide to do so."

    "That's a chance we'll have to take." Janos said. "If the war goes on for much longer we may split into separate nation states once again."




    Sian, Capellan Confederation
    "Why is she not dead yet?!" Maximillion Liao screamed at the current head of MASK. "I told you I wanted her head delivered to me." Max drew his sword and decapitated him.

    "That's the third one this week." Candace muttered to herself below her breath. "Maybe I shouldn't have set Romano up."

    "Father." Cancade announced. "I request the ability to move to St. Ives, and begin to recover some of our forces"

    "No." Max looked at her with madness in his eyes. "You will remain here, I have need of you, seeing as these incompetents cannot accomplish a task as simple as killing she who has no name."




    Luthien
    "Director Indrahar," Takeshi Kurita greeted. "Walk with me my old friend, we have much to discuss."

    "Of course Coordinator." Indrahar replied. "As the Dragon commands."

    "Why is it that I find the ISF revealing itself to the Davions in a wasted assassination attempt?" There was a shar edge to the Coordinator's voice. "When the Dragon has ordered no such thing to be done."

    "Coordinator, any assassination attempts were not authorized by myself or any of my immediate subordinates." Indrahar promised. "I believe that others have obtained some of the command codes that we use to activate cells such as the ones on Robinson."

    "Then they are traitors." Takeshi said with finality. "Find them, and bring them to me. I wish to see them dead at my feet."



    Hilton Head Island, Terra

    "Sir, there's nothing here." The captain of the CSV Bordeaux reported to Primus Tiepolo. "There's some debris, but there's no station, and none of our Warships are here."

    "Primus!" One of the adepts nearby said. "Are you there?"

    Tiepolo grabbed his chest in agony, his face scrunching up as he struggled to gasp for breath and lost his footing, falling to the floor.

    "Primus!" The adept said once more before turning to another Adept as she began CPR. "Get a med team in here, I think the Primus is suffering from Cardiac arrest."

    The entire team of people in the room scrambled to find something that they could do to help, with one of the other CPR certified Acolytes rotating out with the Adept.

    "Come on! I've still got a pulse and breathing, but I'm not sure how much longer he has." The Adept yelled.

    The med team arrived a couple of minutes later. Loading the Primus up on a stretcher and taking him away to get medical treatment.




    "I regret to inform the First Circuit of this." Precentor Rom, Vesar Kristofur started their meeting. "But Primus Tiepolo suffered from a heart attack yesterday and we did not manage to get him to the hospital in time to save him." He sighed deeply. "I would like to ask that we have a short period of mourning in order to announce his death to the Inner Sphere before electing a new Primus."
     
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    • Chapter Seventy-Three: Evaluations
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    • Chapter Seventy-Three: Evaluations
    Kentares, Draconis March, Federated Suns May 11th, 3016

    "How long will it take to get the Ships up and running?" I asked Captain Jewel, our main repair expert.

    "If we dedicate multiple work crews, we should be able to rearm the Black Lion battlecruiser and the Lola II's in a couple of weeks. The Volga will take a bit longer because it still has a small amount of Armor damage and is missing some weapons." She said.

    "And getting the Manassas and Narbonne up and repaired?" I asked. "I want them up and running ASAP just in case we face some retaliation."

    "Eight days on the Manassas if we focus multiple work crews on it." She responded. "It would be faster if we had the second Yardship up and running, but its computer systems are still locked down." She sighed. "The Narbonne will need a minimum of three weeks before we can get everything repaired on it. Then we can start on the other vessels."

    "Okay then, I want the Manassas and Narbonne fixed up, and then we can focus on the battlecruiser and destroyers." I told her. "I'm promoting you, and placing you in command of the Functional Yardship, I'm going to be giving the battlecruiser and the transport to the Davions, so as soon as we can, I'm going to need them able to move and shoot."





    June14th, 3016

    "Colonel Wolf." I greeted the man in front of me. "Where is my wife?"

    "She is currently helping our Khan to prevent an invasion." He told me bluntly. "I was given orders to help prepare the Inner Sphere for said invasion." He reached into the hard case he had beside him and pulled out a data core. "This contains all of the information you need to begin advanced technology development, I need you to begin distributing it to anyone you are nominally allied with." He then turned to leave.

    "Hold up a minute." I stopped him. "You don't get to just drop a bomb on me and then leave for your current contract." I stood up and got in the slightly taller man's face. "You said you were supposed to help prepare the Inner Sphere for an invasion and just dropped this on my lap." I blocked the doorway. "I will not be doing your job for you, so sit down, shut up, and let me explain exactly what is going to happen."

    He started to protest, but didn't manage to get a word out. "You are going to give me actionable intelligence, and you're going to actually explain what might happen. Not only to myself, but to both Ian Davion, and Katrina Steiner, I may even have Thomas Calderon or his mother drop by for a visit, while Thomas may not like me, he'll damn sure listen to me after all that we've done for his nation." I sighed. "You are a military genius as far as short term conflicts are concerned," I told Jaime Wolf. "But when it comes to long term strategy and planning you fail to understand the consequences."

    "Fine, I shall listen to what you have to say." Jaime Wolf said with a hint of a growl. "But insult me like that again, and you will face me on the battlefield."

    "Fine." I threw my hands up. "I'll take you here and now if it'll help you get it through to your thick head." I stalked out of the room while grabbing my comm device. "Mac, I need my backup Warhammer. I'm pretty sure that Nat stole mine again."




    Several hours later…

    "I do not think this was a good idea." Joshua Wolf confided in his brother. "His critiques, while uncalled for, were at least honest."

    "This is the second time he has insulted me." Jaime growled. "I will not allow him to command me unless he has proven that he is my better in combat."


    Jaime closed the hatch to his Archer ARC-2W, and powered it up. Beginning the journey to the designated combat area by a lake 50 Kilometers away from any potential residences. He was followed by Joshua in his Black Knight, and Sheppard in his Cyclops. Sheppard and Joshua were to be seconds, spectators, and judges for this trial of combat.





    "Duke Hull." Joshua said over an open comm channel. "Are you prepared?"

    "I'm ready to rumble." I responded, my Warhammer bouncing back and forth as if it were a boxer. This wasn't the Warhammer I typically used, and so my speed was the same as Jaime's Archer. This was the WHM-7A that we had pulled from the Confederate class Dropship Last of us. Natasha having "Borrowed" the Bobby B from me again when she had left to go on her little side quest.

    "Colonel Wolf." Sheppard said, "Are you ready?"

    "Let us be done with this farce." Wolf said with a sneer in his voice. "I am ready."


    I immediately moved to avoid the LRM's he had fired at me, knowing that he had the firepower advantage at range, I moved closer, because I had ERPPC's, I would be able to tank his two medium lasers and SRM's for as long as I needed to, I had the advantage close in.

    On top of that, I was angry, angrier than I had been in a long time. And I wanted to brawl, so I got close in, and dodged the fist that Jaime threw my way while firing my Lasers and SRM's at his Archer, I lashed out with kicks, and even forced my PPC's in close to use as melee weapons. At this point, this wasn't a 'mech duel, it was a straight up brawl between two angry men in giant robots.

    "Should we do something?" Joshua laser commed Sheppard. "I feel like this is something we should be intervening in.

    "Just let them duke it out." Sheppard made his Cyclops shrug. "They'll either not be able to stand each other, or be best friends at the end of this…"
     
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