10.4 The Charm Offensive
bluepencil
The tropics will be uninhabitable.
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2013
- Messages
- 727
- Likes received
- 11,709
The Charm Offensive 04
Colchester
Federated Suns
March 3025
The Eridani Light Horse set up a third camp for the Kerensky crash course. While normally Stone troop slept in the same regular barracks as the rest of the cadets, now they had their own little bunkroom.
Tom Lexington sat at a dark corner, knees up in a fetal position, sniffling with tears. Angela Bakko and Salli Maza sat beside the smallest of the troop and made soothing comments as they wiped dribbling snot off his nose.
"It's okay, it's okay…"
"No it's n-not!" Tom whimpered. "I just..l I just wanted to be on the Engineering track, you know? I didn't ask for this! T-this is unfair. Go ahead call me weak and crybaby, I don't care anymore!"
Everyone turned towards Bennet Brooklyn. He scowled and crossed his arms. "Tch. You're one of us. I ain't calling you week just because you cry. That's fair. We're supposed to just be doing basic training -" then he turned towards Devlin Stone. "YOU KNOW WHOSE FAULT THIS IS."
"You have strange conceptions about my influence on Brevet General Nathan Armstrong," Devlin blandly replied. But not untrue.
Devlin sat down kneeling with his legs folded under him, the seiza position, in front of Tom. "I am sorry. There are only some things I can say, I hope they will make you feel better."
"I… I doubt it."
"Kerensky's parole only lasts for three months. It's not like she will be around long enough to impact our physical development. You only have to endure this for seven more weeks."
"That doesn't make me feel any better at all!" Tom wailed.
Hudson Asner rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration "Jesus Christ, Stone."
"Sorry. This is just how Kerensky was raised. This is how I was raised-"
Angela and Salli abruptly turned aside and spoke as one "That's child abuse!" before returning to hug little Tom.
Devlin shrugged. "Three months in unlikely to permanently harm our bodily development. The problem isn't that we are being subjected to harsh training, but that we are being subjected to harsh training for adults. We shouldn't be doing this."
"I bet you're just enjoying this," Bennet spat.
"I'm not. I still have to make a presentation on why this whole thing is stupid and why the Spartan way doesn't work."
"Are you actually… telling me to give up?" Tom sniffed and looked up with red eyes.
"You can give. You may all give up. You are the ones allowed to give up. No one would think bad of you, we are after all cadets being given the full special forces training well ahead of time."
"That's implying you're not going to be allowed to give up," said Salli Maza.
Devlin nodded. "As long as one of us persists, the adults can't reject Kerensky's teachings out of hand. It would be too shameful to give up when a child does not. Right now they are working through spite and they will complete the objective as ordered. But they are not analyzing it sufficiently to beat it on its own terms. Kerensky, despite her looks, is not stupid. By torturing us with the full regimen, she is ensuring that cadets in our own grade do not see this as much as unwarranted favoritism as but a harsh voluntold exercise."
"Is that it?" Salli asked with a scowl. "We're just here for, what, motivational purposes? Why can't we just do that from the sidelines? Being watched should be enough."
"The Eridani Light Horse understands the powers of trust and commitment. That is why military training is basically a form of group torture. By the shared struggle and the ability to both prevent and cause group suffering, this results in high trust relationships that can allow men and women to risk their lives for each other on a regular basis. There is a difference between doing something dangerous and difficult with someone who can just leave at any time and one that is unable to leave. If Tom leaves, then you must all leave."
Tom Lexington abruptly stopped breathing. Angela squeaked and began more firmly rubbing the boy's back to bring him out of his panic attack.
"That's sick, Stone. Putting all that pressure on Tom instead of the shite you brought us all into."
"It all comes down to trust. A professional military trusts that their comrades around them will not abuse them, steal from them, or fail them, and that their rear echelon units will be able to support them no matter how thick the battle. But it also comes down to trust in yourself. It is normal for us human beings to shy away from pain and solve things so that we can do them without pain. Pain is the enemy where your only opponent is yourself. Sometimes the only lesson that suffering teaches is pain.
"But as soldiers, we know that the pain we suffer is for a purpose. Pain and sweat in training saves blood and flesh on the battlefield. We are pushed to our limits because we don't know them until we reach them. Pain. Exhaustion. Distraction. Pain and hesitation *kills*. We are not Kuritas who torture their recruits just to reduce them to compliant meat-slaves. Pain needs to have purpose as a personal trial.
"If we can push through pain, we save more than ourselves. As the ancients said, the morale is to the physical as three is to one. If you don't give up in the face of pain, you don't give up in the face of death, and your enemies will break before you do. Without morale, without *trust*, all the best kit and lostech mean nothing.
"Tom, if you give up here, then that's fine. That is all the Tom you can be. But I know you can do better than that. You won't break. A hero always at first tries to refuse the call. If you don't want to be a MechWarrior, that is fine too. But knowing yourself, that you can survive Kerensky's hell, that… that has value too.
"Stone Squad was chosen for a reason, and it's not just nepotism. It is not enough that you suffer. You must be worthy. It is not enough that you have power. You must have vision. This is what separates elites from veterans. The ability to look beyond the now.
"I believe that this isn't the end of it. I believe in the Tom Lexington that doesn't give up when it gets too hard. Because nothing's too hard when you've got your friends around you. If you don't believe in yourself, then believe in the me that believes in you!"
Devlin jabbed at his chest with a thumb and then pointed at Tom with two hands and an unnaturally wide grin on his face.
Tom stared at him like Stone was some sort of strange and illogically flamboyant and multi-colored tropical animal. Perhaps even one with a bright red butt.
-.
Colchester
Federated Suns
March 3025
"In summary: Training from a very young age does not produce superior soldiers. It creates a meaningfully inferior combatant due to stunted development than what would otherwise be available. A brutalized recruit does not make for a brutal, stronger warrior - just a traumatized one, a reckless one, and a society made of brutalized warriors is a brutal and short-sighted society.
"The Spartan way, much like House Kurita of today, is an inefficient power due to always needing to reserve its strength to counter a brutalized slave population. It creates loyalty through fear. It cannot mobilize all of its strength because the fear of being seen as weak is as dangerous as bullets and bombs. A more democratic society, like that of the Federated Suns, can rally back after defeats without cannibalizing itself and find victory without obsessing over 'decisive battle'.
"In much the same way, child soldiers glorify war without thinking about what victory actually looks like. It is so much of a sunk cost fallacy. A society that relies on child soldiers is likely also one that is lacking in logistics. Being too obsessed with only having the best to the point you would *break* potential recruits is a waste."
Devlin Stone raised a fist. He had dark shadowy panda eyes. "It is wastefulness!"
Tom Lexington looked up with a face of glittering admiration. "So he actually *did* make a slide presentation."
Bennet Brooklyn groaned and palmed his face. "Dammit to hell. When am I going to remember that Stone doesn't make jokes? He treats *everything* stupidly seriously."
-.
-.
Luthien
Draconis Combine
Meanwhile
Takashi Kurita had gone past blinding rage into some form of focused almost blissful calm.
He leaned back, watching with steepled fingers, as the Warlords of the Draconis Combine tried to shout each other down. The Black Room within the Imperial Palace was a sealed ultra-secure room for the most important meetings in the empire. The Warlords had been summoned from their own Districts, and in this meeting they were more concerned with trying to pull down each other than vying for his throne.
As it was as it always had been for the Coordinators of the Draconis Combine, a position of seeming absolute power that stood only through the careful maneuvering of greedy and ambitious subordinates.
Unlike the nobles of say House Davion or House Steiner, nobles of each world, even governors of district capitals, lacked effective power outside of their own worlds. All military power was subordinated to the superstructure of military commanders. Planetary nobility obeyed in exchange for their lives, which grants Warlords a very high degree of authority in how best to accomplish the Coordinator's orders swiftly.
In many ways, the Coordinator of House Kurita, despite having much more direct power, was less capable of exercising direct authority than the Chancellor of the much less potent House Liao.
"This insult cannot be allowed!" roared one of the Warlords.
"It is as I said-" spoke a tall and wiry man with a sagging neck. This was Warlord Grieg Samsonov, Warlord of Galedon. "The Wolf's Dragoons are not to be trusted. As mercenaries their fame is overblown. They have always been due for a humbling."
"But it is also more mercenaries that stopped them. Mercenaries against mercenaries," objected Vasily Cherenkoff, Warlord of the Dieron Military District. "The Dragoons were beaten in space. They beat your 8th Galedon decisively on the ground as well, did they not? Even if the Eridani Light Horse were using lostech, it is not as if we would be foolish enough not to use a similar advantage when the chance presents itself."
As commander of the smallest district but also the region most often embroiled in war, he felt had the place to point out military failures by other Warlords.
"The Eridani Light Horse are not unbeatable, the Dragon has faced them many times before," spoke Warlord Ivan Sorenson, of the history of the Rasalhague Military District. Tall, blonde-haired, and blue-eyed, he almost looked as if right out of a Steiner recruiting poster. "They are honorable and difficult adversaries."
Ukita Yoriyoshi, Warlord of Benjamin, interjected "It is to me much more dangerous that the Eridani Light Horse were able to defeat the Wolf's Dragoons in space at all. The Dragoons had at least been dutiful enough to send as much information as they could back to their jumpships. As the Horses met the Wolves halfway into the system, there was not enough time to catch the JumpShips before they could jump back out."
Although centrally located with all four other Districts of the Combine bordering it, the Benjamin District was considered a backwater region. Planets were sparse towards the Davion border, and though certain worlds were repeatedly contested - Prosperina and Galtor, for example, the rest of the worlds along the connective economic spine of the Combine were placid and unremarkable with little in the form of militarily significant industries.
Benjamin lacked attention from the overall DCMS military procurement system, but that did not mean it lacked wealth. Yoriyoshi was known for funding his Benjamin Regulars out of his own pocket and was an avid technologist. He continued "These Assault DropShips the Horses were using, I theorize they are heavily reinforced Overlords. The ranges by which they started engaging the Dragoons' own Overlords, it seems the Davions have access to Extended Range Lasers. They have lostech. It could be dangerous if these ships were to be used to punch through into their own invasions."
"The Eridani Light Horse could have dug it up from a SLDF cache. The same cache they brought out… " Here Kester Hsiun Chi, Warlord of Pesht, hesitated. Although he commanded the region that included Luthien, Pesht Military District's regiments were usually considered green and untested showpieces. He looked towards Takashi Kurita for guidance.
At Takashi's slow blink, he continued "Where the Horses brought out the DEMETER CORE. Something happened to make them aware of long-hidden SLDF treasures. Was there more on Hoff that we did not realize?"
House Kurita considered it a victory to have successfully raided the world, but Davion considered it a victory that at least the scientists escaped. It would not imply that the Coordinator made a mistake.
Samsonov growled softly and responded "There are reports from New Avalon that the Davions now have mass production of lostech such as Double HeatSinks and Ferro-Fibrous armor." He turned towards Takashi and bowed. "I beg your forbearance, my lord, our own scientists should be redoubling their efforts to reverse-engineer the samples we have taken."
It was his 17th Galedon, alongside Wolf's Dragoons, that attacked Hoff back in 3023, and could take his share of the glory.
"Refitting the AFFS would be a costly and time-consuming endeavor. In the short term, this is not likely to be relevant," added Warlord Sorenson. "The assault dropships already exist, therefore it is necessary to have shipkiller weapons."
"Or create some of our own," Warlord Yoriyoshi added without concealing his glee.
"I suppose so, yes," replied Warlord Hsuin Chi, as the only shipyards that managed to survive the devastation of the Succession Wars happened to do so because they were far and away behind the lines in the Pesht District.
"That will also take time, said Warlorld Cherenkoff. "The best way to disrupt the enemy's plans is to attack!"
Murmurs of agreement passed through the table. "But where?" asked Warlord Yoriyoshi. "It is obvious that Davion is preparing Harrow's Sun as a death trap. Though if it is only mercenaries like the Dragoons to die for it, then it would not be much loss. Let them do so, and see if Davion is willing to thin out the defense to save their precious little Horses while we strike at another important world at the same time."
Cherenkoff smirked. So far, Yoriyoshi had not been allowed to cover himself in glory. With the Dragoons quartered on Misery, a central position against the Draconic March, which is the Galedon District, most of the action that occurred all along a wide range on the Davion front happened without their participation.
Yoriyoshi only had seven regiments on the border, while his region as it touched both Steiner and Davion space had seventeen. Samsonov had twelve in the bordering Matsuida and Kaznejov Prefectures.
As the discussion petered down, all the Warlords turned their attention towards Takashi Kurita. They must have his permission first before deciding on the world to attack.
Takashi raised his chin and spoke coldly "This situation is not as dire as others would have us believe. They provoke us to act rashly, and stupidly, and we will not give their delusions any satisfaction.
"Jaime Wolf will come to me in supplication. If he wants his Epsilon regiment back, then he must exchange something with me. The DEMETER CORE is an insult, but it is irrelevant. It will be in our hands soon enough. Now we all have a common cause - the utter destruction of the Eridani Light Horse!"
-.
-.
New Avalon
Federated Suns
March 3025
Hanse Davion voluntold "Ardan! Have a morning jog with me."
Ardan groaned.
Because when Hanse now meant with a morning jog was less actual physical exercise but running around the palace on a pair of Super Urbanmechs. It would have made more sense if they were using a more humanoid Valkyrie BattleMech, but the armless Urbanmech had cruise control. Sitting around in plush seats was the opposite of exercise.
Tightbeam transmission between two Urbanmechs, passive ECM, and automatically scrubbed recorders was the only time they could use the Ground Mobile HPG. The ELH… or maybe the Star League… did something to make HPG transmissions completely silent while being used, it would only be the emergence of the HPG transmission would cause that electromagnetic burst. Or not, if it secretly happened to go from golden ring to another golden ring with almost the rest of the equipment doing nothing.
If one trusted Wandering Horse, this was the most secure vector for communications, far more than even Luthien's shielded Black Room.
"So I heard you were training the Davion Heavy Guards and the Light Guards against each other. Trying to work out what it would take for a Light Cavalry Regiment to beat a Heavy Regiment like the Dragoons? How is that turning out?"
Ardan looked pleased even if he was not directly participating in the present conflicts on the Liao border. "Better than expected. Of course, exercises are a costly undertaking, but the Heavy Guards are finding it more useful to drill against fast enemies and the Light Guards are left trying to work out more ways to inflict damage against a far less impulsive enemy that doesn't want to cooperate in giving chase."
"And you, General? How is Kerensky's boot camp working out for you?"
Nathan Armstrong responded "Kerensky is a beast and we had no chance of beating her in an honest fight. But we are developing our doctrine. The Dragoons are good, but combined arms seems to be a minor hole in their operations."
"Do you think your 21st Strikers regiment can hold out if the Dragoons attack Harrow's Sun to take back their Epsilon regiment? You know that they know that you are too honorable to just execute them out of hand."
"Possibly. The 21st Strikers is also an infantry heavy force, and it is unwise for mechwarriors to underestimate infantry."
"How so?" asked Ardan. "Heavy Mechs are hard enough to beat, even with armor and aircraft."
"Infantry-based TAG," replied Armstrong. "The Dragoons also love to use artillery, but they can't love it more than we do, who integrate it on the battalion level." His figure on the holo laced its palms together under its nose in a conspiratorial posture. "You could call over the Crater Cobras if they want to join in on the fun."
"Oh. They are a SLDF-derived mercenary unit too aren't they?" Hanse tapped on a console in the roomy and office-like Urbanmech cockpit. The search on Poni> where are the crater cobras returned to him "They are on Deneb Kaitos holding fort while the Deneb Light Cavalry are on the border. Interesting. They are not near enough to cycle into the fight unless there is a line of traders conveniently present to act like a command circuit towards Harrow's Sun. If you are looking for other SLDF daughter units, the Blue Star Irregulars are only a jump away on Ozawa. Both of them are guarding against Kurita actions from the Dieron Prefecture. Unfortunately, as we are waiting on the Combine timetable here, you would have to do this mostly on your own if you want to represent the SLDF. And the Deneb Light Cavalry, of course, if that counts."
Armstrong nodded. "Also, Gauss Rifle field guns."
Phffft. Hanse spat out the pre-dawn hot chocolate he was drinking through a straw, splattering the main screen. Fortunately, everything was also waterproof.
"Damnation, why do these Urbies tempt you to use their cup holders?!" he groused. He opened a panel for some cleaning cloth.
Ardan chuckled lightly. Once inside an Urbanmech, Hanse was so much more a cheery and childish sort. A far cry from the affable but cooly calculating impression he had to wear in public. It might still be a false face he put on to make others relax in his presence, but there was more truth in it than he would care to admit. You are already judged heavily for using an Urbanmech, once inside there would be no condemnation.
As this was clearly a whim by the First Prince, might as well follow through. None but Armstrong seemed to treat Hanse with such sheer disrespect.
This pair of hopeless comedians, Ardan Sortek sighed. May they quit their jobs and find the unimpressed audience they deserve.
"By the way, Hanse Davion," Armstrong continued blithely "are you still planning on baiting the DCMS into wrecking themselves on the rumors of an intact SLDF facility on Galtor?"
"Mm," Hanse mumbled, pleased. "It should not surprise me that Wandering Horse knows about that. Do you have any objections or additional information on this?"
"We do. There *is* an intact SLDF facility on Galtor."
"What."
"Three thousand kilometers south of the fake site, just some distance south of the Middle Way pass. Defending two sites would split your forces too much and risk defeat."
"Why did you not say this earlier?" asked Ardan.
"We only learned of it just recently."
Hanse rubbed at his chin. That sounded like an excuse, but at least a plausible one. And the Eridani Light Horse would not be telling them this if they had the intent to harm. "The false site has already been prepared. You are correct, it would be dangerous to start digging now - but letting Kurita get their hands on real SLDF technology would also be dangerous. Do you recommend protection through indifference?"
"You have us, Hanse Davion. Lostech treasures are… less relevant now. Destroying House Kurita's ability to wage war is the more important objective, your commanders would have been just distracted by… uh, what is that word? The shinies. We in the Inner Sphere are all far too conditioned to grub for lostech."
"Distracted by the shiny. Nice. Do you desire to participate in the Galtor campaign or will the Light Horse focus entirely on countering the Dragoons?"
"We are also… interested… in doing something about the 11th Benjamin Regulars on Tripoli."
-.
-.
Colchester
Federated Suns
March 3025
The Eridani Light Horse set up a third camp for the Kerensky crash course. While normally Stone troop slept in the same regular barracks as the rest of the cadets, now they had their own little bunkroom.
Tom Lexington sat at a dark corner, knees up in a fetal position, sniffling with tears. Angela Bakko and Salli Maza sat beside the smallest of the troop and made soothing comments as they wiped dribbling snot off his nose.
"It's okay, it's okay…"
"No it's n-not!" Tom whimpered. "I just..l I just wanted to be on the Engineering track, you know? I didn't ask for this! T-this is unfair. Go ahead call me weak and crybaby, I don't care anymore!"
Everyone turned towards Bennet Brooklyn. He scowled and crossed his arms. "Tch. You're one of us. I ain't calling you week just because you cry. That's fair. We're supposed to just be doing basic training -" then he turned towards Devlin Stone. "YOU KNOW WHOSE FAULT THIS IS."
"You have strange conceptions about my influence on Brevet General Nathan Armstrong," Devlin blandly replied. But not untrue.
Devlin sat down kneeling with his legs folded under him, the seiza position, in front of Tom. "I am sorry. There are only some things I can say, I hope they will make you feel better."
"I… I doubt it."
"Kerensky's parole only lasts for three months. It's not like she will be around long enough to impact our physical development. You only have to endure this for seven more weeks."
"That doesn't make me feel any better at all!" Tom wailed.
Hudson Asner rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration "Jesus Christ, Stone."
"Sorry. This is just how Kerensky was raised. This is how I was raised-"
Angela and Salli abruptly turned aside and spoke as one "That's child abuse!" before returning to hug little Tom.
Devlin shrugged. "Three months in unlikely to permanently harm our bodily development. The problem isn't that we are being subjected to harsh training, but that we are being subjected to harsh training for adults. We shouldn't be doing this."
"I bet you're just enjoying this," Bennet spat.
"I'm not. I still have to make a presentation on why this whole thing is stupid and why the Spartan way doesn't work."
"Are you actually… telling me to give up?" Tom sniffed and looked up with red eyes.
"You can give. You may all give up. You are the ones allowed to give up. No one would think bad of you, we are after all cadets being given the full special forces training well ahead of time."
"That's implying you're not going to be allowed to give up," said Salli Maza.
Devlin nodded. "As long as one of us persists, the adults can't reject Kerensky's teachings out of hand. It would be too shameful to give up when a child does not. Right now they are working through spite and they will complete the objective as ordered. But they are not analyzing it sufficiently to beat it on its own terms. Kerensky, despite her looks, is not stupid. By torturing us with the full regimen, she is ensuring that cadets in our own grade do not see this as much as unwarranted favoritism as but a harsh voluntold exercise."
"Is that it?" Salli asked with a scowl. "We're just here for, what, motivational purposes? Why can't we just do that from the sidelines? Being watched should be enough."
"The Eridani Light Horse understands the powers of trust and commitment. That is why military training is basically a form of group torture. By the shared struggle and the ability to both prevent and cause group suffering, this results in high trust relationships that can allow men and women to risk their lives for each other on a regular basis. There is a difference between doing something dangerous and difficult with someone who can just leave at any time and one that is unable to leave. If Tom leaves, then you must all leave."
Tom Lexington abruptly stopped breathing. Angela squeaked and began more firmly rubbing the boy's back to bring him out of his panic attack.
"That's sick, Stone. Putting all that pressure on Tom instead of the shite you brought us all into."
"It all comes down to trust. A professional military trusts that their comrades around them will not abuse them, steal from them, or fail them, and that their rear echelon units will be able to support them no matter how thick the battle. But it also comes down to trust in yourself. It is normal for us human beings to shy away from pain and solve things so that we can do them without pain. Pain is the enemy where your only opponent is yourself. Sometimes the only lesson that suffering teaches is pain.
"But as soldiers, we know that the pain we suffer is for a purpose. Pain and sweat in training saves blood and flesh on the battlefield. We are pushed to our limits because we don't know them until we reach them. Pain. Exhaustion. Distraction. Pain and hesitation *kills*. We are not Kuritas who torture their recruits just to reduce them to compliant meat-slaves. Pain needs to have purpose as a personal trial.
"If we can push through pain, we save more than ourselves. As the ancients said, the morale is to the physical as three is to one. If you don't give up in the face of pain, you don't give up in the face of death, and your enemies will break before you do. Without morale, without *trust*, all the best kit and lostech mean nothing.
"Tom, if you give up here, then that's fine. That is all the Tom you can be. But I know you can do better than that. You won't break. A hero always at first tries to refuse the call. If you don't want to be a MechWarrior, that is fine too. But knowing yourself, that you can survive Kerensky's hell, that… that has value too.
"Stone Squad was chosen for a reason, and it's not just nepotism. It is not enough that you suffer. You must be worthy. It is not enough that you have power. You must have vision. This is what separates elites from veterans. The ability to look beyond the now.
"I believe that this isn't the end of it. I believe in the Tom Lexington that doesn't give up when it gets too hard. Because nothing's too hard when you've got your friends around you. If you don't believe in yourself, then believe in the me that believes in you!"
Devlin jabbed at his chest with a thumb and then pointed at Tom with two hands and an unnaturally wide grin on his face.
Tom stared at him like Stone was some sort of strange and illogically flamboyant and multi-colored tropical animal. Perhaps even one with a bright red butt.
-.
Colchester
Federated Suns
March 3025
"In summary: Training from a very young age does not produce superior soldiers. It creates a meaningfully inferior combatant due to stunted development than what would otherwise be available. A brutalized recruit does not make for a brutal, stronger warrior - just a traumatized one, a reckless one, and a society made of brutalized warriors is a brutal and short-sighted society.
"The Spartan way, much like House Kurita of today, is an inefficient power due to always needing to reserve its strength to counter a brutalized slave population. It creates loyalty through fear. It cannot mobilize all of its strength because the fear of being seen as weak is as dangerous as bullets and bombs. A more democratic society, like that of the Federated Suns, can rally back after defeats without cannibalizing itself and find victory without obsessing over 'decisive battle'.
"In much the same way, child soldiers glorify war without thinking about what victory actually looks like. It is so much of a sunk cost fallacy. A society that relies on child soldiers is likely also one that is lacking in logistics. Being too obsessed with only having the best to the point you would *break* potential recruits is a waste."
Devlin Stone raised a fist. He had dark shadowy panda eyes. "It is wastefulness!"
Tom Lexington looked up with a face of glittering admiration. "So he actually *did* make a slide presentation."
Bennet Brooklyn groaned and palmed his face. "Dammit to hell. When am I going to remember that Stone doesn't make jokes? He treats *everything* stupidly seriously."
-.
-.
Luthien
Draconis Combine
Meanwhile
Takashi Kurita had gone past blinding rage into some form of focused almost blissful calm.
He leaned back, watching with steepled fingers, as the Warlords of the Draconis Combine tried to shout each other down. The Black Room within the Imperial Palace was a sealed ultra-secure room for the most important meetings in the empire. The Warlords had been summoned from their own Districts, and in this meeting they were more concerned with trying to pull down each other than vying for his throne.
As it was as it always had been for the Coordinators of the Draconis Combine, a position of seeming absolute power that stood only through the careful maneuvering of greedy and ambitious subordinates.
Unlike the nobles of say House Davion or House Steiner, nobles of each world, even governors of district capitals, lacked effective power outside of their own worlds. All military power was subordinated to the superstructure of military commanders. Planetary nobility obeyed in exchange for their lives, which grants Warlords a very high degree of authority in how best to accomplish the Coordinator's orders swiftly.
In many ways, the Coordinator of House Kurita, despite having much more direct power, was less capable of exercising direct authority than the Chancellor of the much less potent House Liao.
"This insult cannot be allowed!" roared one of the Warlords.
"It is as I said-" spoke a tall and wiry man with a sagging neck. This was Warlord Grieg Samsonov, Warlord of Galedon. "The Wolf's Dragoons are not to be trusted. As mercenaries their fame is overblown. They have always been due for a humbling."
"But it is also more mercenaries that stopped them. Mercenaries against mercenaries," objected Vasily Cherenkoff, Warlord of the Dieron Military District. "The Dragoons were beaten in space. They beat your 8th Galedon decisively on the ground as well, did they not? Even if the Eridani Light Horse were using lostech, it is not as if we would be foolish enough not to use a similar advantage when the chance presents itself."
As commander of the smallest district but also the region most often embroiled in war, he felt had the place to point out military failures by other Warlords.
"The Eridani Light Horse are not unbeatable, the Dragon has faced them many times before," spoke Warlord Ivan Sorenson, of the history of the Rasalhague Military District. Tall, blonde-haired, and blue-eyed, he almost looked as if right out of a Steiner recruiting poster. "They are honorable and difficult adversaries."
Ukita Yoriyoshi, Warlord of Benjamin, interjected "It is to me much more dangerous that the Eridani Light Horse were able to defeat the Wolf's Dragoons in space at all. The Dragoons had at least been dutiful enough to send as much information as they could back to their jumpships. As the Horses met the Wolves halfway into the system, there was not enough time to catch the JumpShips before they could jump back out."
Although centrally located with all four other Districts of the Combine bordering it, the Benjamin District was considered a backwater region. Planets were sparse towards the Davion border, and though certain worlds were repeatedly contested - Prosperina and Galtor, for example, the rest of the worlds along the connective economic spine of the Combine were placid and unremarkable with little in the form of militarily significant industries.
Benjamin lacked attention from the overall DCMS military procurement system, but that did not mean it lacked wealth. Yoriyoshi was known for funding his Benjamin Regulars out of his own pocket and was an avid technologist. He continued "These Assault DropShips the Horses were using, I theorize they are heavily reinforced Overlords. The ranges by which they started engaging the Dragoons' own Overlords, it seems the Davions have access to Extended Range Lasers. They have lostech. It could be dangerous if these ships were to be used to punch through into their own invasions."
"The Eridani Light Horse could have dug it up from a SLDF cache. The same cache they brought out… " Here Kester Hsiun Chi, Warlord of Pesht, hesitated. Although he commanded the region that included Luthien, Pesht Military District's regiments were usually considered green and untested showpieces. He looked towards Takashi Kurita for guidance.
At Takashi's slow blink, he continued "Where the Horses brought out the DEMETER CORE. Something happened to make them aware of long-hidden SLDF treasures. Was there more on Hoff that we did not realize?"
House Kurita considered it a victory to have successfully raided the world, but Davion considered it a victory that at least the scientists escaped. It would not imply that the Coordinator made a mistake.
Samsonov growled softly and responded "There are reports from New Avalon that the Davions now have mass production of lostech such as Double HeatSinks and Ferro-Fibrous armor." He turned towards Takashi and bowed. "I beg your forbearance, my lord, our own scientists should be redoubling their efforts to reverse-engineer the samples we have taken."
It was his 17th Galedon, alongside Wolf's Dragoons, that attacked Hoff back in 3023, and could take his share of the glory.
"Refitting the AFFS would be a costly and time-consuming endeavor. In the short term, this is not likely to be relevant," added Warlord Sorenson. "The assault dropships already exist, therefore it is necessary to have shipkiller weapons."
"Or create some of our own," Warlord Yoriyoshi added without concealing his glee.
"I suppose so, yes," replied Warlord Hsuin Chi, as the only shipyards that managed to survive the devastation of the Succession Wars happened to do so because they were far and away behind the lines in the Pesht District.
"That will also take time, said Warlorld Cherenkoff. "The best way to disrupt the enemy's plans is to attack!"
Murmurs of agreement passed through the table. "But where?" asked Warlord Yoriyoshi. "It is obvious that Davion is preparing Harrow's Sun as a death trap. Though if it is only mercenaries like the Dragoons to die for it, then it would not be much loss. Let them do so, and see if Davion is willing to thin out the defense to save their precious little Horses while we strike at another important world at the same time."
Cherenkoff smirked. So far, Yoriyoshi had not been allowed to cover himself in glory. With the Dragoons quartered on Misery, a central position against the Draconic March, which is the Galedon District, most of the action that occurred all along a wide range on the Davion front happened without their participation.
Yoriyoshi only had seven regiments on the border, while his region as it touched both Steiner and Davion space had seventeen. Samsonov had twelve in the bordering Matsuida and Kaznejov Prefectures.
As the discussion petered down, all the Warlords turned their attention towards Takashi Kurita. They must have his permission first before deciding on the world to attack.
Takashi raised his chin and spoke coldly "This situation is not as dire as others would have us believe. They provoke us to act rashly, and stupidly, and we will not give their delusions any satisfaction.
"Jaime Wolf will come to me in supplication. If he wants his Epsilon regiment back, then he must exchange something with me. The DEMETER CORE is an insult, but it is irrelevant. It will be in our hands soon enough. Now we all have a common cause - the utter destruction of the Eridani Light Horse!"
-.
-.
New Avalon
Federated Suns
March 3025
Hanse Davion voluntold "Ardan! Have a morning jog with me."
Ardan groaned.
Because when Hanse now meant with a morning jog was less actual physical exercise but running around the palace on a pair of Super Urbanmechs. It would have made more sense if they were using a more humanoid Valkyrie BattleMech, but the armless Urbanmech had cruise control. Sitting around in plush seats was the opposite of exercise.
Tightbeam transmission between two Urbanmechs, passive ECM, and automatically scrubbed recorders was the only time they could use the Ground Mobile HPG. The ELH… or maybe the Star League… did something to make HPG transmissions completely silent while being used, it would only be the emergence of the HPG transmission would cause that electromagnetic burst. Or not, if it secretly happened to go from golden ring to another golden ring with almost the rest of the equipment doing nothing.
If one trusted Wandering Horse, this was the most secure vector for communications, far more than even Luthien's shielded Black Room.
"So I heard you were training the Davion Heavy Guards and the Light Guards against each other. Trying to work out what it would take for a Light Cavalry Regiment to beat a Heavy Regiment like the Dragoons? How is that turning out?"
Ardan looked pleased even if he was not directly participating in the present conflicts on the Liao border. "Better than expected. Of course, exercises are a costly undertaking, but the Heavy Guards are finding it more useful to drill against fast enemies and the Light Guards are left trying to work out more ways to inflict damage against a far less impulsive enemy that doesn't want to cooperate in giving chase."
"And you, General? How is Kerensky's boot camp working out for you?"
Nathan Armstrong responded "Kerensky is a beast and we had no chance of beating her in an honest fight. But we are developing our doctrine. The Dragoons are good, but combined arms seems to be a minor hole in their operations."
"Do you think your 21st Strikers regiment can hold out if the Dragoons attack Harrow's Sun to take back their Epsilon regiment? You know that they know that you are too honorable to just execute them out of hand."
"Possibly. The 21st Strikers is also an infantry heavy force, and it is unwise for mechwarriors to underestimate infantry."
"How so?" asked Ardan. "Heavy Mechs are hard enough to beat, even with armor and aircraft."
"Infantry-based TAG," replied Armstrong. "The Dragoons also love to use artillery, but they can't love it more than we do, who integrate it on the battalion level." His figure on the holo laced its palms together under its nose in a conspiratorial posture. "You could call over the Crater Cobras if they want to join in on the fun."
"Oh. They are a SLDF-derived mercenary unit too aren't they?" Hanse tapped on a console in the roomy and office-like Urbanmech cockpit. The search on Poni> where are the crater cobras returned to him "They are on Deneb Kaitos holding fort while the Deneb Light Cavalry are on the border. Interesting. They are not near enough to cycle into the fight unless there is a line of traders conveniently present to act like a command circuit towards Harrow's Sun. If you are looking for other SLDF daughter units, the Blue Star Irregulars are only a jump away on Ozawa. Both of them are guarding against Kurita actions from the Dieron Prefecture. Unfortunately, as we are waiting on the Combine timetable here, you would have to do this mostly on your own if you want to represent the SLDF. And the Deneb Light Cavalry, of course, if that counts."
Armstrong nodded. "Also, Gauss Rifle field guns."
Phffft. Hanse spat out the pre-dawn hot chocolate he was drinking through a straw, splattering the main screen. Fortunately, everything was also waterproof.
"Damnation, why do these Urbies tempt you to use their cup holders?!" he groused. He opened a panel for some cleaning cloth.
Ardan chuckled lightly. Once inside an Urbanmech, Hanse was so much more a cheery and childish sort. A far cry from the affable but cooly calculating impression he had to wear in public. It might still be a false face he put on to make others relax in his presence, but there was more truth in it than he would care to admit. You are already judged heavily for using an Urbanmech, once inside there would be no condemnation.
As this was clearly a whim by the First Prince, might as well follow through. None but Armstrong seemed to treat Hanse with such sheer disrespect.
This pair of hopeless comedians, Ardan Sortek sighed. May they quit their jobs and find the unimpressed audience they deserve.
"By the way, Hanse Davion," Armstrong continued blithely "are you still planning on baiting the DCMS into wrecking themselves on the rumors of an intact SLDF facility on Galtor?"
"Mm," Hanse mumbled, pleased. "It should not surprise me that Wandering Horse knows about that. Do you have any objections or additional information on this?"
"We do. There *is* an intact SLDF facility on Galtor."
"What."
"Three thousand kilometers south of the fake site, just some distance south of the Middle Way pass. Defending two sites would split your forces too much and risk defeat."
"Why did you not say this earlier?" asked Ardan.
"We only learned of it just recently."
Hanse rubbed at his chin. That sounded like an excuse, but at least a plausible one. And the Eridani Light Horse would not be telling them this if they had the intent to harm. "The false site has already been prepared. You are correct, it would be dangerous to start digging now - but letting Kurita get their hands on real SLDF technology would also be dangerous. Do you recommend protection through indifference?"
"You have us, Hanse Davion. Lostech treasures are… less relevant now. Destroying House Kurita's ability to wage war is the more important objective, your commanders would have been just distracted by… uh, what is that word? The shinies. We in the Inner Sphere are all far too conditioned to grub for lostech."
"Distracted by the shiny. Nice. Do you desire to participate in the Galtor campaign or will the Light Horse focus entirely on countering the Dragoons?"
"We are also… interested… in doing something about the 11th Benjamin Regulars on Tripoli."
-.
-.