New Dawn in the Sun's (Battletech AU)

February 3^rd 3017
Jojoken
Andurien, Free Worlds League

Mildred Humphreys was an unhappy camper as she navigated the almost deserted library looking for their, in her mind unwanted, guests. Harry Brockton seemed to have started living in this library almost as soon as he had set foot on world. Though why he would want to was something of a mystery, one she had ignored in favor of fighting to keep her position. A minor mystery of why a federated suns noble would be interested in the cultural archives of the Capellan Confederation was much less important to Mildred than regaining her position as the CO of the 6^th Defenders.

Laurence had thrown her under the hover bus in his negotiations with the Captain-General, meaning that while she retained the rank of Colonel she was without a command. Mildred's best efforts hadn’t been able to reverse that yet, though she had hope. Especially as the Falcons Nest battle group came closer to being operational. The Vengeance class carrier and her supporting ships had started life as a federal unit until they had defected to Anton during his ill-conceived attempt at the big chair. Even under the replevin doctrine, there was no way those ships were going to remain under Andurien command, no matter who they had surrendered to. Delaying her career as a sop to Janos was a pointless gesture, although her mother seemed to think that being without a command she could be shopped around on the marriage market.

The entire situation was infuriating, she had proven again and again that she had been correct to hold her battle group back on Calloway. Not even Sir Coker could disagree with her there, and he had gamed it out extensively rather than taking her word for it, the Orient loyal regiments had staked her command out for the wolves counting on the Defenders to gut the famous mercenaries in defeat making it possible for the three orient regiments to sweep in and destroy the damaged Anton loyalist commands. The blatantly political nature of their deployment should have been obvious to anyone with eyes to see, unfortunately for her, Janos didn’t agree with her. He held her personally responsible for the damage that the Second Fusiliers had taken, probably the results of intense lobbying by the young Christopher Halas on behalf of his father, and had seemingly taken great pleasure in trying to destroy her career.

Pushing that thought aside she sited her prey and paused to straighten her cream-colored uniform. Harry Brockton was bent over a book of occupation-era poetry, an unusual choice and she wondered if he could even read it. Before Ursula Liao’s reforms Terrence Liao had mandated that the Andurien people use Capellan mandrin transliterated into Cyrillic characters as a means to deny Anduriens the dubious benefits of Capellan citizenship.

“Finding anything interesting?” Mildred inquired mildly, surprisingly enough Harry didn’t start in surprise. She had known he was a mech jock, but this was the first sign of it she had seen so far in her interactions with him. He was clearly used to processing information gleaned from the corners of his eyes, a valuable skill when one read the three-hundred-and-sixty-degree compressed panoramic display of a mech.

“Confusing is more like it Colonel,” Harry answered not looking up from his book. “Trying to read this is an exercise in frustration, and I’m fluent in Mandarin. Why anyone felt the need to transliterate Mandarin into Cyrillic is beyond me. As it stands I can barely make my way through this, and I’m left wondering just what about this was culturally valuable enough for it to be presented to the lords of the star league as an example of the civilizing effects of Capellan culture.”

“It’s dreck isn’t it?” Mildred felt the corners of her mouth curve up into a slight grin. “Have you tried the resistance poetry?”

“While I’m fluent in several languages, Italian isn’t one of them,” Harry admitted freely, finally looking up from his book. “Are they any good? The Taurian genre with the same name isonly slightly better than what I’ve been wading through.”

“Not appreciably, Anduriens tend to be more hands-on. The Castra Nostra saw its greatest period of growth under the occupation, an issue that we’re still dealing with to this day.” Mildred shrugged as she said that. “Any particular reason you’re torturing yourself with this merda?”

“Trying to understand what was going on with the Confederation in the time period. Terrence I understand, Ursula? She confuses me a bit. Her actions make little sense in the context of the time, and she was the one who promoted this…” Harry's hands made a throwing away gesture.

“She was a Liao,” Mildred replied bluntly, expressing all of her care for that family.

“She was half Terran,” Harry corrected gently. “Considering just what the other Terran family which ended up on a national throne got up to… probably a good thing she didn’t procreate.”

“If only the rest of her benighted family would follow her sterling example,” Mildred was lost for a second in that fantasy. It was pleasant but reminded her once again why she had tracked down Harry. “My mother would be pleased to extend an invitation for you to visit the dark tower at the end of the week, privately.”

“I suppose that explains why she’s having you run around as an errand girl,” Harry nodded his understanding. “If I can ask, your thoughts on our offer?”

“It’s fare, but I don’t think you’re going to be getting what you want. The Dame guards those specifications closer than she does her own children.” Mildred couldn’t help but let at least a little bitterness leach into her voice. Her mother had a tendency to use her children like chess pieces, to their detriment, a fate she had been successfully avoiding before her career had foundered on the rocks of Jano’s spite. “It would certainly be helpful to us to produce the Excalibur again.”

“The defenders are one of the most vehicle-heavy formations on the FWLM’s order of battle,” Harry agreed, pointedly ignoring the bitter note in Mildred's voice. “You’re almost as bad as us Feddies about bringing along vehicles.”

“Don’t use them like you do though,” Mildred pointed out, she was beginning to enjoy this conversation. “We fence with ours, though that might be the composition of what we get. Most of our heavies are Onto’s, and they aren’t that common.”

“You do seem to favor speedier vehicles, though why in the world you keep buying Harassers armed with SRMs instead of throwing a decent LRM system on them I have no idea,” Harry’s voice was filled with disdain at that choice.

“We have LTV-4s as a long-range option, and there's value to swinging up behind a heavier Lyran formation with SRM spam,” Mildred defended her nation's vehicle choice with the ease of long practice. “With the Capellans it's all dirty tricks in back alleys, very little upfront fighting. Even when you are fighting them straight up it's usually home guards and all they have are Vendettas and Scorpions backed up by the occasional Brutus. The Harasser works really well turning them into bunkers if we don’t go with the flambe option.”

“Wouldn’t work against the dracs, they tend to come at you with the heavier end of the hover spectrum.” Harry shrugged. “That’s a nightmare to face.”

“I imagine so, you saw a lot of action while you were in?”

“I was with the prince at Halstead Station,” Harry's voice took a far-off tone as he said that, his eyes unfocusing as if lost in his memory. “The regulars and hussars weren’t too bad. 9^th Dieron was annoying, way too many cavalry heavies. 2^nd Proserpina Hussars were a treat though, for all their airs they had way too many lights filling in the ranks. Getting into a fight with them was a great way to run up your kill count. Then you have the Steel Dragon, they were a nightmare. Well-trained, and as heavy as you would want. We struggled against them, though we covered the Prince in the end. Yorinaga Kurita wanted a second Davion scalp badly, bastard pushed hard.”

“Can’t say my enemies have had quite that pedigree,” Mildred admitted lightly, watching closely for signs that Harry had soldiers shock. He seemed to snap back to himself easily enough, so she doubted it, but with veterans, it was always a worry. “Wolfs Dragoons weren’t fun, but that was more political than a real fight on my end.”

“Orient tried to screw you, from what I heard at least,” Harry’s voice was sympathetic.

“Not that surprising, despite all my lobbying the Dame has kept the 6^th at home. We don’t have the reputation that the 5^th has, so we looked like an easy target to score some cheap points off of.” Mildred admitted grumpily. “Hell, we didn’t even get in on Palladaine.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about your time on the bench, Dame Catherine isn’t going to be able to afford to keep you there no matter what Janos wants,” Harry commented as he began to pile up the books he had been reading. “What do you think she’s going to offer me instead of what I want?”

“Money, lots of it,” Mildred was intrigued by the certainty in Harry's voice, she had to wonder just what he knew that she didn’t.

“She can’t afford it, not if she’s smart. I’ve yet to see any indications that she isn’t so I’m going to keep with my assumption that she’s buying mercenary contracts like it's going out of style, meaning her cash reserves are low.” Harry’s tone was absolutely confident on that point.

“What makes you so certain that there's going to be a war here?” Mildred asked with narrowed eyes. She hadn’t seen any indication that Harry was correct, despite being in semi disgrace she was still in high command and hadn’t heard anything about the dutchy hiring new mercenaries. Beyond the usual small unit churn that was.

“Janos temper and the way the Liao’s operate,” Harry turned to face her squarely. “You heard Candice’s announcement that they’re bringing back the FireBee?”

“Yes, I looked up the specs on that and then had a laugh. Our Hermes II’s will eat them for lunch at range.” Mildred hadn’t been worried about that announcement the thirty-five tonner was hardly a threat. It could be dangerous under the right circumstances, especially to vehicles, but with a bit of tactical knowledge, its threat was severely diminished.

“Heard anything about a hero project to produce the tooling?”

“No…” Mildred frowned at that. Her mind turning over the implications. “We assumed that they had restored some of their older sets of tooling.”

“I wouldn’t the Capellans have been struggling in terms of production for a long time. They prettied it up, but there’s a reason why they didn’t adopt militia mechs like everyone else did. Their production numbers have been dropping worse then ours have, and we’re one of the weaker states in terms of industrial capacity.”

“But they did announce it, officially that is,” Mildred felt her eyes narrow. The Capellans, much as she looked down on them, were good at fulfilling the promise of announced programs. They would fuck up in terms of production numbers, often well below the targets set on Sian, but when they said they were producing something it was getting produced even if they had to hand-build one a year.

“Exactly. The Celestial throne said they were going to be doing that, so it will get done. It’s not like the various infrastructure programs that the planetary governments slap the hero project label on.” Harry almost sneered as he said that. The Capellans were notorious for blowing up their own industry if it was threatened rather than letting it fall into enemy hands. Then they would half-ass at best the rebuild, leaving the planetary government in charge only for the Liao’s to sweep in and take the credit if the rebuild was successful.

“You think Janos made a mistake, announcing our success like he did?” Mildred cocked her head to the side as she said that, interested in hearing an outsider's take on the issue. There had been more than a few debates on what Janos had done, mostly on the best way to attack him politically, but those had all been informed by the Andurien distaste for federal authority.

“Possibly,” Harry paused and frowned as he tried to put his thoughts into words. “Revitalizing industrial production is a mark of a successful leader, though in this case, I think Janos jumped the gun due to his political weakness. He should have held off until the machinery was delivered and installed before announcing his success as the Lyrans did with Mountain Wolf. Going public as early as he did was an engraved invitation for the Capellans.”

“I’m not sure it was,” Mildred replied evenly. She knew more about the project than she should have due to her family's connection to Sigmund Hughes, a rising star in Iran he had been recalled from Shiro III to rebuild their production lines after Anton's troops had thrown a tantrum. Her mother had thrown her weight behind him, even going so far as to get outside help from somewhere to ensure he succeeded. It wasn’t just because Mildred's little sister was infatuated with the man. Sigmund had been deeply involved in the initial push to develop new production equipment for a two-forty engine and gyro, a project left over from his predecessor who had been hoping to expand the Iran Shiro III production site. With most of Iran's resources tied up at the moment in rebuilding the funds hadn’t been available to expand, leading to the Mariks stepping in and taking over the project. “The driving political reason for the Liberator announcement came from the Lyran border, their new model Commandos have been giving the FWLM fits.”

“Hermes II is a solid counter to the new Commandos, as are the Spiders, from what I’ve read about the Liberator its best use would be to counter the Capellans,” Harry disagreed. “Unless it was a smoke screen for another project?”

“That would be telling,” Mildred smirked as she said that.

“Either way the announcement was a mistake, not in and of itself, but by responding to concerns on the Lyran border by revealing something that anyone with minimal intelligence can see is primarily aimed at the Capellans after failing to respond to their instigation of a civil war effectively… Janos said he didn’t care about the Capellan border, and Max can do what he likes without drawing a response,” Harry paused there checking to see if Mildred was following his reasoning. Given her tightening lips he thought she was. “If Janos had responded to Anton's treason with more force it would be one thing, but he didn’t. That’s why I think he made a mistake, the Capellans are going to run a cost-benefit analysis and come to the conclusion that there isn’t going to be enough of a response to make the theft not worth it.”

“I take it you disagree.”

“I do, Orient and Orloff will be on the warpath along with Marik,” Harry grinned as he said that. “You are already pushing for something to be done about the Capellans, and that’s a block of political power that Janos can’t ignore. My bet is Janos is going to overcompensate to make up for the perceived mistake, do you disagree?”

“Looking at it like that I can’t,” Mildred tried to dispute Harry in her mind but she couldn’t disagree. Especially with how weak the Capellans were looking after their loss of Palladaine. She would need to talk with her mother soon because this sounded like a golden opportunity for Andurien. Perhaps she could use it to get herself back in command? Something to think on for the future at least.

 

February 9^th 3017
The Dark Tower, Jojoken
Andurien, Free Worlds League

“Much as I like the idea of gaining control over Andurien Industries, my worry is the length of the trade route and its stability. While the Suns and us in the League haven’t come to blows recently, going through the Terran corridor is an inherently risky thing to do.” Catherine Humphreys had been a bit surprised that Brenda Brockton hadn’t taken the lead in the negotiations. She had thought that she would be dealing with the older woman, rather than her son. It wasn’t that the son was completely hopeless so much as from what her spies could tell her he had been in the background of any negotiations concluded in the Commonwealth. Perhaps this was Brenda’s way of pushing him forward as a possible husband for Mildred? It had been on a whim she had her daughter fetch the young man, but to her mind it would be a good match. Especially given just how toxic Janos had made Mildred recently, getting her out of the League would be to the girls benefit, not that she could see it at the moment, the girl was far too fixated on her hurt pride and lost command to take advantage of the opportunities in front of her. Something that Catherine would need to have words with her about, but that was a thought for the future.

“It is an established route, your grace,” Harry managed to keep his frustration contained, barely, the Dame of Andurien was turning out to be a vexing negotiator. For every point he raised she had multiple objections, even when she was clearly interested.

“To the League, it is, but through the League itself? I don’t think I need to remind you of our favorite sport here,” Catherine gave a small smile as she raised the League's infamous instability. Having any of her supply lines running that way would not be conducive to her plans, especially not something that could turn out to be as valuable as dropship engines. Using the stereotype that of it always being civil war o’clock in the League pleased her, and if things went the way she wanted them to could very well give her the opening in Crimson she had been looking for.

“Do you have an alternate suggestion?” Harry inquired mildly.

“Between the two families, we have excellent relations in the periphery. Your own family has done a surprising amount of business with Samantha, and I don’t think I need to tell you about my own family's connections to Crimson.” Catherine stated blandly. “Being from the Outback I’m sure that you can think of multiple ways that a new trade route could benefit your people, rather than having it run through the Suns interior.”

“That would be a hard sell in Samantha, while Zarantha was open to the idea of cooperation with a known quantity in the Suns Thomas is more reserved.” Harry cautioned. “I don’t dislike the idea especially if we can anchor one end of the proposed route in Basantapur, using the continued goodwill that the former UHC worlds have with the Concordat, but we would need to include a hefty package of inducements before Thomas would be willing to bite.”

“I had thought you had better relations with him,” Catherine observed mildly. “Certainly, your man signore Azad managed to get him to approve exporting one-sixty rated engines into the Suns…”

“I didn’t say that it was impossible, just difficult,” Harry temporized. He had known his family had been trying to get engines out of several sources due to his father's letters, but their success or failure hadn’t been included. “We aren’t going to need to overcome just the bad blood between the Suns and the Concordat, but also the resentment that the Magistracy has for the Concordat.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that my dear,” Catherine smirked contemplating just what she would need to get Kyalla to approve. It wouldn’t be much, just a few seats at Humphreys would do it. Kyalla had been looking to improve her military for a long time, going so far as to waive the purchase price for those seeking commissions if they had graduated from an accredited academy. It hadn’t been a hugely successful program so far, but that was more due to the only takers having only managed to get into one of the Hero Institutes rather than a more respectable institution. Letting Kyalla grant a few of her favored family’s seats at Humphreys would sure up her political support and give Catherine a greater in with the MAF in the long term. Ties of tradition were nice, but they faded over time unless you spent the effort to maintain them. “Herotitus is already used as a go-between for trade between the two, and beefing up that route would be much easier than establishing something new.”

“And you already have an existing route with Canopus,” Harry frowned as he thought about the deal and what would be required from his end to fulfill it. Catherine had honestly out-maneuvered him here, she wouldn’t just be getting a connection with the suns, but a direct connection with the Concordat. Given the misgivings that Thomas had about dealing with the Suns, he would be delighted with the prospect of having a major alternate buyer lined up for his excess military production, beyond the Liaos. The mercenary market had been good to the Concordat, but it could be inconsistent at times, and the Liaos had the unfortunate habit of being just as bad as the Suns about raiding although they did have better publicity in the Concordat. Harry knew his father had hoped that with a lot of effort, they could turn Trevlu into a recognized reseller of Taurian mechs in the Suns, but if Thomas had a choice that wasn’t likely to happen. Then again…

Harry looked around the sumptuously appointed room that Catherine had chosen for this meeting. It was a testament to the wealth of Andurien, with pieces of art from all of the successor states hanging on the walls. While they could be war prizes, if he was honest with himself, he thought it more likely that they were the rewards for trading well. A statement of power as it were, playing off the league’s reputation as an entrepôt for trade, and indicating that the Anduriens were good at that sort of game despite their stellar position. It was something that Harry found he wanted for Brockton, they were a wealthy system for the outback, but hardly competing with one of the golden five or even some of the interior Crucis march worlds. The critical words in that phrase were ‘for the outback’ something that generations of Brockton's had tried to change.

“If we can get an agreement out of Samantha, I am more than open to the idea,” Harry stated cautiously. “I would need reassurances that you are invested in the idea though. My family may be wealthy, but we are hardly in the same class as your own.”

“But you do produce military hardware, a growth business,” Catherine could see that Harry was on the hook. Now all she needed to do was reel him in.

“A necessary bit of diversification,” Harry corrected the grand old dame his mind racing for ways to get her to commit firmly to the deal. “The primary driver of our economy has always been our extensive Biotech industry, which has been in decline for centuries as new colonization efforts are a dead letter, and bioengineered crops have been deemed too expensive despite their obvious advantages. Perhaps you would be interested in our scientist's services?”

“For new colonization efforts?” Catherine barely managed to keep the disdain out of her voice. Colonies were a fool's game, expensive pits to sink money into with only a fraction of a percent ever surviving long enough to produce even the slightest bit of revenue.

“Recolonization I would think, you do have nineteen dead systems within a two-jump radius.” Harry pointed out mildly. “While recovering systems from the Confederation might be satisfying how many have you managed to keep in the Dutchy? Besides, it's an area you are going to need to look into soonish, depending on when you intend to take Sigma Mare.”

That statement caused Catherine to freeze for an instant. She had thought that her plans to push back the border and invest Betelgeuse had only been known to her closest associates. Mildred hadn’t even known about them, so Harry hadn’t learned about them during his rather extensive talks with the girl. He was probably just stabbing in the dark for any advantage that he could find, although she could use this.

“What makes you think I’m going to attack there?”

“Betelgeuse isn’t a soft target, you’re going to want to draw down the reaction forces the Confederation has available before you go after it.” Harry shrugged slightly as he talked. “It might not be your first target, but it has to be on your list. You’ve pushed back the border consistently, so I can’t see you not taking a stab at it eventually.”

“And what makes you think I’ll need biotech expertise if I do go after the system?”

“Unless you want it to be twenty dead systems within two jumps?” Harry contained his smirk as he played off the Dame's contempt for the Capellans. “It’s a system with known problems dating back to the days of the Star League, which is why the Capellans put their terraforming research on world. We might not have the reputation that the department of colonization had, but we keep an eye on our competitors in the biotech sector. Obviously, the Capellans aren’t very good at it, given the number of failed colonies in this region of space… meaning that the Dutchy is going to have to step in with extensive support to keep the system alive. Unless I miss my guess, you don’t have the knowledge you need to fix the Capellans' errors otherwise you already would have.”

“And you do have this knowledge?” Catherine asked with a raised eyebrow. Internally her mind was racing, she had known that Sigma Mare was a troubled system but it sounded like there was more trouble there than she had known about. Her original plan of just pulling at least part of the population off world to reduce the overcrowding might not work, then again perhaps she could adjust. If she set up an investment brokerage to cover the costs of any recovered colonies, she could get buy-in from the local system governments. If her lawyers worked their magic the correct way the money planetary governments invested could be written off as losses reducing the federal tax burden, especially if she reduced the provincial taxes to match, thereby keeping more of the province ineligible to take advantage of Camlann. If the financial structure was right it would be possible to have any profits go directly to the province in leu of provincial taxes, further depreciating the federal taxes paid, while pleasing the planetary governments as they would have more income to spend while still reaping the benefits of being a province member. It was an intriguing idea, though one she would need to have looked over by both her own personal lawyers and those who were part of the provincial administration.

“I won’t say we could help you recover everything,” Harry said, making sure to keep his promises modest. “From what I’ve heard we have a very good shot at returning Tengil, Kalmar, and Borka to your rule. I would want some extensive survey work done before I could promise anything solid, that said their loss is relatively recent and probably had to do with the Capellans cutting corners where they shouldn’t have.”

“That’s an interesting suggestion,” Catherine didn’t betray just how interesting she found the possibilities. “But perhaps we should come back to the point?”

“I rather thought that was part of the point,” Harry grinned slightly. “There are benefits to us both should we work out a support structure for the proposed trade route. I do not doubt that you have similar hidden depths in your economy we could benefit from. Besides, the Far Lookers political movement in the Concordat would be very interested in anything you do in regards to colonization, and having them on board would make setting everything up far easier in Samantha.”

“That young man is a solid hit,” Catherine had to smile at that. Harry Brockton was turning out to be an interesting young man, and not completely out of his depths politically. His efforts to dangle just enough bate that she would end up bearing the primary cost of setting up the trade route was an interesting move, but not one she objected to. Given his family's position, it would be worth pushing Mildred to express more interested in him personally, directly that was. He seemed to be at least somewhat interested in her, but Mildred appeared to have missed the ques. Between her cousin on Gibson and Louise’s thoroughly inappropriate pursuit of Sigmund Hughes she already had greater access to military hardware than even SAFE realized. Given her ambitions, a little more wouldn’t hurt though, especially if it came at such a cheap price. Good colonels were a dime a dozen, connections to battlemech producers were much rarer, and if she decided to tie the Brockton family to her own through blood it was a two for one deal. She would get favorable treatment with the Suns-based Trevlu, and by maintaining her connection to them she would also get preferential access to the Concordats industry. Getting behind Brenda’s idea and pushing might very well be worth the political cost of having a family member marry outside of the League.

 

February 15^th 3017
Trevlu Mechworks
Brockton, Federated Suns

“As you can see our production capacity isn’t limited by space, but rather by machine tooling. We still have two additional sites which were stripped of machinery back in the second succession war, given they were dug out of the Captains mountain range and been maintained in the hopes of reactivating them someday…” Andrew broke off with a shrug, which almost tilted the damned safety helmet he was wearing off his head. If he could have gotten away with it he would have worn his old infantry helmet, but its lack of hi-viz markings made it inappropriate. Instead, he was stuck with one of the loaner helmets meant for visitors, just like his companion.

“So you do have the space, that was a concern back on New Avalon,” David Sanromea-Davion spoke softly. A well put together man, his dapper appearance was not the picture of marital glory a usual Davion noble presented. Between his soft voice and unassuming appearance you would think you were talking with an accountant, not a Duke in charge of one of the closest planets to New Avalon. “I see you have the production lines running overtime at the moment, and if I’m not mistaken you recently switched over from Icarus to swordsmen on one of the lines?”

“Five percent over list for the next decade on a guaranteed contract from the First Prince.” Andrew agreed with a grin. “Between the distaste, we have for Corean products on world, and the commonality of parts, it was an easy decision to make. I almost gave the order to switch over the Whitworth line as well, but that was a bridge too far for the board. It’s a steady earner and it hasn’t earned the contempt of our Mechwarrior community… so the financials weren’t there.”

“Interesting,” David said mildly as he was led into the soundproofed break room. With it being the middle of the shift there was no one present and it was the best place for the two men to talk.

“So,” Andrew led off giving the other duke a sideways look. “What are you really here for? Hanse Davion isn’t an idiot, and sending the head of the largest banking conglomerate all the way out here with no warning when we haven’t asked for a loan isn’t a smart move.”

“I was warned you were more perceptive than you choose to appear.” David smiled slightly. “Thank you for the compliment, my family is often overlooked, despite our sterling service. Too Lyran I believe the popular perception is.”

“Something I’ve been accused of being myself from time to time,” Andrew answered while waiting for his answer.

“Ah, but you served in the AFFS, in infantry granted, but you did serve. My own family has traditionally been civil service, despite our name.” David showed a bit of his research. The duke of Brockton was a bit hard to pin down, his service jacket and industrialist ambitions not matching what one thought of as a traditional noble. Very few nobles who were mech qualified, and had the means to procure a mech, would willingly serve in another branch. “As for why I’m here… Your family built that, didn’t they? Those aren’t recovered lines; I’ve been around enough of them to tell. Everything’s too new, and you’re using manpower instead of computer controls.”

“It wasn’t easy, and what we have is limited, but yes.” Andrew favored the other duke with a frown as he said that. “I didn’t realize it was that obvious.”

“Not to a layman, but I’ve been involved in financing several retooling and expansion projects. After the snow job Starcorps ran on me I took the time to learn what I needed.” David didn’t let on just how annoyed he remained over that project even two decades after the fact. StarCorps Crofton had taken him for a ride, promising to bring back Warhammer production only to switch gears and increase the number of militia-grade Longbows once they had the financing. It hadn’t hit the bank's bottom line, but it had hit his reputation. He had promised to improve the Suns abysmal heavy mech production only to fail publicly.

“Still looking for heavys? You would have better luck over in our Basantapur location. Prakash Azad and his team are working on modifying the Crossbow into a heavy brawler, and taking less time than they swore they would need.” Andrew grinned as he said that. The MacEnroe database had turned out to be a godsend on that project. The six-cee version had the shoulder assemblies needed for their modification already on file, cutting the time needed to produce a prototype in half.

“I’m well aware of that, you cannot hide the effort that Trevlu is making in preparation, which brings me back to why I’m here. You’re providing myomer looms and bone builders,” David used the colloquial term for the machines which built a battlemechs internal structure easily, once again showing his familiarity with the engineering involved in battlemech production. “All of which are rated to produce a heavy mech. The question I have for you is can you do it for something heavier than sixty tons?”

“As long as I have the specifications, yes. My people can do it, though it may take us a little longer than we would like. Actuators, Electronics, engines, and Gyros… machines to build those components would take us a very long time. We struggle with the precision needed to produce the former, and our electronics industry isn’t up to the latter. If we could get our hands on examples… then I would have a very different answer for you. Unfortunately, those sorts of machine tools aren’t available to us for love or money,” Andrew carefully didn’t show how much his son's rejection in the Commonwealth had stung. He had expected it from the local nobility, but for it to come up clear across the sphere? That was insulting to an extreme degree, and he would remember the insult.

“Very good,” David grinned like a satisfied cat as he said that. He was pleased to see the duke was living up to his reputation of being a relatively straight shooter. As part of his research for this trip he had reached out to several families who had worked with the duke in the past, and they had all said the same thing. The Gargs had been clear about what he would and wouldn’t do, and surprisingly enough several of the smaller families who had gone through him to buy mechs from the Concordat had said the same thing. It was unusual for a man of his resources to be so careful about his reputation in business dealings, never over-promising and delivering almost without fail. Now he just had to put that carefully cultivated reputation to the test. “It seems your sons words to the First Prince were taken to heart, he's putting his weight behind getting Achenar back into the heavy mech game. Between lending them the expertise of his newest mercenary hires, a doctor Banzai, and letting them have access to NAIS resources we believe they will have a workable prototype of a front-line Battleaxe shortly. The question is where to get the machine tools to produce it.”

“Seventy tons? Doable.” Andrew nodded firmly. “For the bone makers, it’s a question of programming, just setting them up to add a few layers and tighten the spacing. Myomer weavers and extruders, we have the plans on file.”

“Trevlu makes a militia-grade version doesn’t it?” David was quietly cursing himself for forgetting that fact. It was obvious in hindsight but he hadn’t been reminded of it during his tour. The Brockton plant was geared exclusively towards medium mechs, which was why it had slipped his mind.

“We do, though I would need to see the specifications before I would authorize us even thinking about upgrading our plants to produce a front-line version. The original was way too much of a heat hog and too lightly armored for me to be comfortable offering it under our name. Achenar can survive the reputational hit of putting out a bad mech, we can’t.”

“Your son seemed to think it was acceptable?” David asked, cocking his head to the side.

“It will get the job done, I just think our Crossbow is going to be better. That I really don’t want to start messing around figuring out how to produce PPCs at the moment. We’ve got some heavy financial commitments and overstretching that way would be inviting an attack.”

“Corean… I see…” David nodded his understanding. “Could you produce the needed machines and produce enough to set up a Crossbow line here?”

“A longer production run is possible,” Andrew narrowed his eyes in evaluation. “I’m not sure it would be advisable though. Going off the top of my head we would need to push any order we got from Achenar back by at least six months if we did that. Not to mention…”

“I’m authorized to provide financing for any such expansion you undertake at one percent interest on a single line,” David said blandly, enjoying the shock on Andrew's face. “In confidence, the First Prince believes he has found a source for the machine tools you do not make at this time, though it will take time to see if he is correct in his assessment.”

“And should this mysterious source fall through?”

“The loans will be contingent on delivery of the missing tooling. Should those fail to surface then the debt will be assumed by the Davion trust.” David continued in his blandest voice. “Naturally such a consideration should be reflected in the pricing of your offer to Achenar.”

Andrew nodded in understanding. The First Prince was willing to help out, but he wanted his share of the pie. Not an unreasonable request, and certainly something he could accommodate relatively easily. The heavy machinery division wouldn’t complain, even if they had to eat a bit of their own profits on this run. If Hanse came through then they would be very well positioned to cover the gaps in their knowledge base and jump from limited capability all the way up to a true tooling manufacturer.

“I would need to speak with my accounting department, and the legal team, but this sounds like something I can agree to in principle.” Andrew mentally lined up just who he would need to speak with, and how fast he could get it done.

“This is close hold, so please be discrete,” David gently prodded the other duke.

“If the people I need to talk to aren’t closed-mouthed then they would have been fired a long time ago,” Andrew said with complete confidence. “Although, I have to ask, how did you know so much about what Harry said to the first prince? It wasn’t in the social papers beyond the usual tittering about the social faux pas of an outback noble.”

“My daughter,” David’s voice was filled with a mix of paternal pride and frustration which Andrew knew all too well. “She chose not to follow me into the family business and has ambitions of being the next Dana Stephenson.”

“You have my condolences there,” Andrew had to wince in sympathy. There was setting your sites on the attainable, and then shooting for the moon. It sounded like David's daughter had decided that the moon was a better target. “I presume she is with the Guards at the moment?”

“A captain with the fourth, but she is tipped to be promoted to major and take command of the second battalion of the third,” David couldn’t help but boast, He was proud of his little girl and completely unashamed of that pride. Although he did wish she had gone into logistics, or some other rear area post. That was after all one of the traditional ways for a noble to join the business community, assuming they didn’t go for the civil service option that is.

“Impressive, she’s done well for herself.”

 

March 4^th 3017
The Eyrie
Wendigo, Free Worlds League

Janos Marik knew he was a tired old man, his triumphs long behind him, and all that remained was a long slow slide into irrelevance. No matter what he told his supporters he was all too aware of that truth, and that he had buried the best parts of his legacy. His devotion to duty drove him on, powered by his desire to piss on the graves of every fool who had torn down what he had accomplished at the beginning of his reign. That desire was why he was here, rather than on the planet below warm in his bed.

Martin, his heir, joined him looking out the window at the small dot of Atreus below. While Janos trusted the boy's political instincts the way he ran around acting like a fop rubbed the older man the wrong way. Especially after what had happened to Faith. Martin knew how to use the image, and was smart enough to keep it to just an image rather than reality, thank god. The last thing Janos needed was another one of his children turning into junkies.

“What bad news does William have for us today?” Martin asked his usual boyish charm in ambiance, replaced with the hard face of a Marik. Janos couldn’t help but smirk in approval over the change, no matter what parliament thought they were getting with the boy he would run rings around those fools, a good legacy to leave behind when his time came.

“Rumblings from Loyalty,” William Cornejo stated flatly, “And an update on just what the Dragon has been getting up to.”

“Not the fed rats, crappies, or liars?” Janos asked, indulging in the lack of witnesses to freely use the pejoratives that usually stayed in his head when he had to think about the other successor states.

“We know what the Lyrans are up to, they announced it after all. A triumph of Lyran engineering and ingenuity I believe the press release called it,” Martin snorted as he said that. “As if getting an old mercenary stopgap into production is something to be proud of.”

“It’s the production that they’re proud of,” Janos disagreed with his heir. “Liars they may be, but they build better than anyone else. Never forget that fact, or it will bite you in the ass when you least expect it.”

“I know,” Martin frowned a bit. “The Humphreys are just as bad, we were supposed to be impressed by rocket launchers?”

“Let the poisonous bitch crow all she likes,” Janoses voice was sour. “She won't be crowing for long when Kali Yama comes through for us, she’ll be begging for favors just like the rest of the opposition soon enough.”

“That might not happen,” William spoke up, refusing to wilt from the poisonous glares he got from the two Mariks. It was times like this when he was firmly reminded of their blood relation.

“Explain,” Janos stated flatly.

“We had a bit of a situation develop on Loyalty when the production equipment was loaded. Two teams tried to hijack the shipment. The first reports are we got them all, but I don’t trust the commander on the ground. He let a team of death commandos get all too close to succeeding, if they hadn’t run into a DEST team trying for the same objective which we had no clue was on world then they very well might have.”

“I suppose you're going to argue for mercy for the son of a bitch?” Janos had his temper on full display now.

“No,” William stated flatly. “All four ships made it to the Ire without reporting issues, but if she disappears…”

“You aren’t worried about a naval interception?” Martin asked mildly.

“Ire’s ex-SLDF, one of their special rapid reaction jobs. She’s been kept in excellent shape since then with parts directly from her manufacturer, once she jumps out there isn’t a ship in the sphere that can catch her, and she’s using one of three alternate routes through dead or never settled systems to get to her destination. She was specifically chosen for this job because of her capabilities. The only threat to her is going to be internal.” William asserted with absolute confidence. “She might not have the battery she had back in the day, but with her expanded bunkerage she’s perfect for slipping in and out of other states without notice and getting deep into their backfields. The Eagle Corps usually uses her for deep raids, so we know the crew is loyal.”

“Options?” Janos said flatly.

“Kali Yama has a backup plan in place, but you’re going to need to modify the acceptable specifications. If they use the Nissan two hundred they already produce the Liberator will begin production on schedule, but it will lose about ten kilometers an hour off the top speed.” Martin spoke firmly. He had been up to his neck in getting the Liberator project off the ground, mostly in clearing away political objections and smoothing over ruffled feathers. Irian had been a particularly thorny issue, with his cousin Garth being more of a blockhead than usual. “That might not make the LCCC happy, but it will calm some of the objections we’d likely get from Irian and Andurien. They’ve been worried we’re planning to replace the Hermes II outright, especially after Anton's temper tantrum.”

“They didn’t sell you a pig in a poke, did they? It works?”

“It’s the original design before they were forced to redesign by the LCCC, frankly I think that the rumors we were hearing about there being unreported issues were Kali Yama trying to get the design changed back so they could deliver on schedule. You know they’ve been fighting with the cooling system due to the torso design.” Martin shrugged before continuing in a light voice. “Yes, they’re all minor issues that won't push back deployment, according to them, but they’ve been going full throttle with the alternate design in parallel which makes me think the issues were more severe than we were led to believe.”

“And you didn’t think to say anything?”

“What did we have to lose? They failed, we foreclosed on the loans, and shock… put out their alternate design due to the leadership of the Marik. They succeeded? We have a new mech. Either way, we win.”

“Planning to put yourself in charge of the project?” Janos’s suspicious mind was fully engaged now.

“No, I was thinking of having Duggan do it. Having him in charge of shooting a few of his industrialist friends might just convince the rest of that venial lot he’s not the safest favor trader around. Lord knows he’s not going to moderate himself.” Martin grimaced as he said that. He liked his younger brother, but there were times when he just wanted to throttle him. His incessant favor trading and backhanders were a problem, one that he would have to deal with in time.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Janos kept his opinion firmly to himself on Duggan. The boy was a disappointment, wallowing in Lyran-style corruption and hedonism even if he did do his duty when required. “William, you said you had some additional information about the Dragon?”

“One of their new developments was transported through a chain we were aware of,” Willaim’s grin was downright predatory as he said that. It was a quirk of the mans that he reveled in SAFE's abysmal reputation, leaking stories to enhance it with glee. The truth of the matter was that SAFE's expertise was in finding and breaking into enemy communication loops, something they were frighteningly good at, with a side order of plain old bribery. “For some odd reason, they choose to run their courier through one of the local nobles who was hosting a Tai-sa of the Twenty-Fifth Rasalhague Regulars who made the mistake of announcing his war crimes to the Lyrans. LOKI somehow got the plans for the estate… and well, did what they always do. Naturally, the courier escaped, and through a bit of daring defected, bringing the data with him.”

“Well done,” Janos couldn’t help but smirk at that. It was always a pleasure to give the liars a hand hoisting themselves on their own petards. “We did we get?”

“Specifications for the Dragon's newest weapon, a lighter PPC,” William accepted the scant praise with grace, he had worked with Janos long enough to learn the old man's foibles well. One of his faults was an almost congenital inability to give fulsome praise, no matter how pleased he was. “If we can get it to work it would be a boon to Irian, their Hermes II is almost the perfect platform for the system, assuming what we got wasn’t intended as disinformation.”

“A PPC, lovely,” Martin frowned and chewed his lips as he considered what to do with the information. Unlike his father, he could let a grudge go, and that might be required here. There were very few PPC manufacturers in the League, the weapon was almost extinct here despite the family's efforts, and the largest one was on Andurien. Dame Catherine Humphreys was not one of his father's favorite people, and she fully returned his hatred and contempt, making any reconciliation the next best thing to impossible. “We might need…”

“No. I know what you’re going to suggest but no. Dame No will not benefit from the hard work and dedication of patriots without paying her due.” Janos shook his head firmly, setting his jaw in a way that let both men know he wasn’t going to be changing his mind. “Technicron Manufacturing still has the capabilities that we need here, and they aren’t traitors in the making. Let them play with it William, but watch them closely, we cannot afford to give the Lyrans, or worse yet the Capellans, any of our advantages.”

“It will be done,” William accepted his orders easily. Savannah was a lot closer than Andurien, much easier for him to move the data there without sending it through the HPG chain. For all Comstar liked to pretend they were neutrals, he was the director of SAFE. They at least still remembered the Comstar war.