Author Topic: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech  (Read 39763 times)

Chris OFarrell

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #30 on: 06 October 2014, 20:08:30 »
He staggered, but kept his feet nimbly as he reacted to the surprise encounter. The other person – a young woman he determined as he refocused his gaze- came off worse, reeling away from him with a squeak and threatening to fall right over on her back. Operating on pure instinct, he reached out and grabbed her upper arm as she threatened to topple, stabilising her enough to let her get her feet planted and stagger to a halt.

After a moment of stunned shock at the completely unexpected event, Victors bodyguards started to move as one, several of them reaching into their coats including a suddenly red faced Agent Curaitis who had spun around from his point position with a needle pistol seeming to all but materialize in his hand he was bringing to bear on the sudden target. But he and all the other bodyguards halted as Victor snapped up his free palm behind the newcomers back, reinforcing the gesture with a look of pure command forged in the heat of gruelling battles at the lead agent.
Curaitis backed off, albeit grudgingly, lowering his weapon and waving the rest of the cloud of agents back to form a perimeter. But the Agents gaze didn’t waver for a second from the person who had just made his entire team look like a bunch of idiots barely five minutes after meeting up with his principal.


“Are you alrig-“


“Sorry sorry sorry!” the newcomer suddenly exploded into voice as Victor gently released his grip and stepped back to give her some room. “God I am being such a me today! I wasn’t paying attention and was thinking –well sort of thinking, I guess I wasn’t really thinking – and really wasn’t paying attention because I’m probably running late and ruining everything and I’ve only been back for like an hour and already everything is going wrong and oh God, I’m just going on and on and I really need to get going because I’ll be national news if screw all this up-“

Victor blinked at the other as words simply poured out of her like water from a high pressure hose. She was young, younger than him, probably barely an adult if he was any judge. She was taller than him –what was new there?- but only by a matter of a few centimeters, with quite striking red hair that at once reminded him of his younger sister Yvonne.

Although her rapid fire talking without the need for anything as human as taking in oxygen, reminded him far more of his younger brother, Arthur.

Her skin was mildly freckled which only added to the almost overwhelming ‘cute’ factor and her eyes were a rather soft blue that, for some reason, Victor was instantly sure he had seen before.

 
“-and so I’m really really sorry, uh, you” she suddenly finished, seeming to have finally run out of oxygen for the moment, her gaze flicking between himself, Kai and Galen, with an impossibly cute wince plastered on it as if she was expecting to be scolded.


“It’s perfectly fine” he assured her, finding something impossibly warm in her bubbly presence that seemingly burned away the brooding cloud that had been hanging over him and a slight, but genuine smile worked its way onto his face. “Are you okay though?”

 
“Oh that depends on who you ask” she laughed at herself shamelessly. “But I, uh, seem to be in one piece. I think” she added, glancing down at herself as if checking. “Although this is the third time I’ve almost crashed into someone in the last ten minutes”.


“Perhaps … you may wish to consider slowing down slightly?” Kai suggested, a smile crossing his face as he too seemed to lift in the presence of this charmingly excitable woman.


“Or you could always invest in a crash helmet” Galen helpfully suggested, drawing a mild rebuke of a look from Victor.


“Oh I don’t have time to slow down, I’m running late for this whole welcoming committee for me!” she suddenly fretted, as if remembering, whirling to glance down the passage, past the bodyguards –Victor noted Curaitis’s gun had vanished into his jacket again as quickly as it had appeared- to the frosted glass doors, beyond which the music was still cheerfully thumping out.


“To welcome you?” Victor started to question her, but then his eyes caught sight of the clip holding her hair in place as she turned her back.

He had been around more than enough jewellery over his life at Court to have a decent ability to tell the difference between real quality jewellery and cheap knockoff stuff . And even at a glance he could tell that this did not belong to the latter category, not in the slightest. The green and purple background and the green crocus flowers at once caught his eye and his mind resolved them into the national symbols of this world … and then while looking at the jewellery, he noticed the very distinctive streak of white in her hair running down through the ponytail …

And suddenly in a perfect moment of revelation he knew who this had to be, a file photo years out of date but suddenly superimposing itself on his mind flashing to the fore.


“I … don’t think you have to worry about them terribly much, my Lady Jorgensson” he said as the other turned back around, feeling without seeing, the sudden looks from Galen and Kai directed at him from the use of that name. “I have a strong feeling they’ll wait for you”.

 
“I suppose you’re right” she sighed. “Then again, I’m just the ‘other’ sister coming back home after so many years – um … sorry, have we met before?” she cut herself off as her mind caught up to Victors earlier use of her name.

 
“No, we haven’t” Victor assured her, fighting himself as his smile threatened to break out into a grin, just enjoying the moment as it was clear that she didn’t recognize him or the people around him.

Which was, frankly, a refreshing change of pace.


“I am, in fact, very pleased to finally meet you” he asserted, reaching out gently to take her hand and raising it to gently kiss the back of it as was proper for greeting a woman of her stature and rank. “My parents have told me several interesting stories about your parents - and they hold a great deal of affection for both you and your sister”.


“Oh, um, thanks, I guess!” Anna replied, blushing charmingly at his gesture with her hand. “I suppose that makes sense. So, you’re here for the investment of my sister and all that?”


“Exactly so” Victor smiled back at her as he released her hand. “It took a little rescheduling, but it just wouldn’t have been right for me to miss this ceremony – and my parents insisted that I come”.

The noise from Kai off to his right sounded suspiciously like he was desperately trying to hold a straight face together.
Anna though, just continued to smile with guileless cheerfulness.


“Well then” she said, drawing herself up almost formally, but not losing the openly friendly air as she did so. “Um, on behalf of my sister and the people of this world, welcome to Arendelle!” she smiled brightly. “I hope you’ll have a great time – we can throw a pretty terrific party when we put our minds to it. So, I’ll see you at the investment tomorrow?”


“From what I understand, yes you should” Victor grinned with a slight laugh, neatly covering the strangled snort that came this time from Galen. “And we’ll be attending the reception later that evening as well. I presume, of course, that you will be at both?”


“Uh yes, of course!” Anna nodded enthusiastically. “Hopefully I won’t make too much of an idiot of myself in front of the nobility coming in from off-world, apparently in these investments the First Prince sends a personal representative. And I really really don’t want to embarrass my sister” she continued, her smile seeming to fade slightly as her head dropped and she started fiddling with her hands absently. “It’s … well, it’s been a while since I’ve seen her. And … I don’t want embarrass her … by, well, being me”.


“Anna…” Victor hesitated as her bubbly persona seemed to vanish as if a switch had been thrown, somewhat awed by just how openly this woman wore her heart on her sleeves.

He felt a sudden pang of envy in that, in how she refused to put on a mask like he was so often forced to do and almost without thinking, he reached out to gently put his hands on her shoulders, feeling somehow that it was almost imperative that he cheer her back up.

Anna” he tried again as her head came back up with the second use of her name. “I don’t think you could possibly embarrass your sister by being yourself. In the two minutes since you crashed into me, you’ve managed to make me feel more welcome on this world than entire ticket tape parades have on others – without even trying, without even realizing it. That … is an incredibly rare gift. Please; never stop being you”.

Anna once again had the grace to blush as Victor let get and stepped back, the other glancing at him, then seeming to finally notice Kai and Galen next to him.


“Ohh I’m sorry, where are my manners!” she suddenly blurted, sidestepping Victor to offer her hand almost shyly to Galen. “Anna Jorgensson”.


“Kommandant Galen Cox” Galen introduced himself with a smile, and for once he actually raised her hand to his mouth to kiss it in a way he rarely did when faced with nobility, his sentiments not quite as skeptical as Renny, but not far off either. Clearly, he was rather charmed by her too. Victor saw Anna tilt her head for a moment, probably having heard the name before on some news piece or propaganda broadcast and trying to remember where, but in the end she just returned his smile and backed past Victor to again offer her hand, this time to Kai.


“Anna Jorgensson” she again introduced herself with a smile, and Kai again kissed her hand, somehow adding a very Capellan Bow while doing so, as Kai too returned her incredible infectious smile with one of his own.


“Kai Allard-Liao” he gave his name, following Victors lead in omitting his varied titles and honorifics –that he didn’t much care for anyway- in staying under the radar.

It was a futile gesture in Victors mind and, indeed, only a second or two later Annas eyes almost seemed to bulge out of her face. Kais name had been trumpeted from one side of the Federated Commonwealth to the other both during the Clan War and again quite recently after the major changes inside the Confederation itself. And as she let get and seemed almost to shrink back before them, Annas gaze came back around to focus on Galen, her lips soundlessly repeating his name … and then another flash of sudden recognition passed over her face as it apparently ‘clicked’.

Then her face snapped back to Victors and started to go pale as she put it all together.


“And … you …” she asked in a tiny voice with wide eyes that said she knew exactly who he was.

Victor sighed and offered her a wan smile anyway.


“Victor Steiner-Davion at your service, my lady” he said, striving as best he could for a friendly, gentle tone … because right now she looked like she might just faint right there.

Anna didn’t move for about five seconds after Victor supplied his name.
She didn’t even appear to be breathing for that matter.
Then she made some kind of strangled sound as if she was trying to talk, which seemed to unfreeze her muscles, and she started to hurriedly drop down into a curtsey.


“Please Anna, don’t” he asked her quickly, freezing her in place once again looking incredibly unsure, so he stepped forward and gently encouraged her back to her feet.

To hell with Royal Protocol he suddenly decided almost contemptuously as he cut through to the heart of the matter.

“Anna, our parents were close. So much so that my Mother considered your Mother one of her closest friends. I … would very much like for us to be friends and dispense with any silly formality. At least in private where we don’t have to play our roles, you can do away with all the annoying formality if you’ll let me do the same with you”.
The other appeared to consider this for a moment, but only a moment before a smile once again exploded onto her face. Good Lord this woman could give you whiplash from how fast she could bounce back to cheerfulness!


“Uh, right, your High … um … friendshipness” Anna offered an almost cheeky smile, and Victor couldn’t help but laugh at that, the mood once again lifting as she settled herself. “So …” she paused as if in thought, then offered her hand out again to him much more casually, clearly suggesting that they start over. “I’m Anna – and I’m pleased to meet you!”


“Victor” he took her hand and shook it with a broad smile of his own, wondering just how this woman could be so incredibly … infectious … with her emotions, as he suddenly decided that this whole March Lord business might not be quite as tediously monotonous as he thought it was going to be. “And I am very pleased to meet you”.


“Highness…” Curaitis’s voice broke into their conversation, and Victor glanced past Anna to see the agent was actually wearing a slightly apologetic expression at interrupting the moment. “The reception?”


“Ah yes, that. Well I suppose we should get going before the poor musicians have a heart attack” Victor suggested, although he knew they had only been playing for a couple of minutes, perfectly normal for these kinds of events as people waited for the VIPs to show up. Hail To the Prince had been written very specifically to be switched at almost any point in the music to the brief fanfare that announced the arrival of the VIP in question, for that express point.


“Uh … I think I was supposed to be on the other side of this door, to greet you” Anna blurted, sounding almost guilty.


“Well that sounds incredibly boring” Victor scoffed, wondering if the cheerfully irreverent disposition of this woman was somehow infectious given the sudden mischievousness that blew through him as he stepped forward and offered her his arm. “How about we just cause the scandlevids to go berserk for a few days by entering together? Then you can show me and my friends around Arendelle city for the next hour or two before we hit the hotel?”


Anna blinked, then giggled, then bounded forward to link her arm with his proffered arm.


“It would be my pleasure – do you like chocolate?” she suddenly switched topics in a way that Victor suspected would happen a lot with this woman.


“Who doesn’t?” he confirmed with a snort.


“Then I know where our first stop has to be” she grinned and Victor felt a smile resonate back onto his face as the door opened ahead of them, the quartet of old and new friends stepping out into a whirlwind of light and sound that engulfed them.

*******

Phew!
Silly character limit!

    Couple of quick things -

    1. I know that Renny technically had a GF that he married, I'm just handwaving that away to make him single (no he's not going to hook up in this story, but I found it silly that he was engaged for years to a girl he left on another world while he went through what, 4-5 years of training. Then he ran off to the Clan War.  THEN finally got around to actually marrying her).

    2. Joshua Davion is supposed to be Conrad Davions Father - its just a placeholder name because I have no idea if his real name has ever been said anywhere. If anyone DOES know it, let me know!

    3. The next chapter should bridge the story right up to the Investment (Corrination) and Banquet chapter, after which things get fun! And introduce most of the rest of the core cast - Hans, The Duke of Wesselton, Kai and Greda and one or two other people, it should end just about when Elsa makes her entrance.
     

"I, the Baron of Strang, care not for your new names. Clans? Jade Falcons? I call you by your true name: Scum of the Star League, traitors of free will, persecutors of the Periphery come back to lord it over freedom-loving people. Come ahead, you steel-eyed robots! Come ahead and taste what a million like-minded people think of you and your damn Clans!"

-Baron Stepan Von Strang

Dave Talley

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #31 on: 06 October 2014, 21:13:26 »
I still can't figure out why I love this story so much, but I do!  Great update


exactly! this is Battletech, but with more life to it than just the day to day stuff in the novels
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JA Baker

Sigil

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #32 on: 06 October 2014, 22:43:23 »
Another great update which had me in stitches.  Disney should hire you to write Anna's dialogue for the inevitable Frozen sequel.  I can see Victor and Anna colliding together right in the middle of his hyperactive security detail, all with little "O"s on their mouth!

I can't wait to see how you handle Olaf!

 


drakensis

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #33 on: 07 October 2014, 02:14:08 »
It's very nicely done.

A few minor things you may wish to correct.

1. Renny calling Victor 'Colonel'. For some absurd reason, that isn't a canonical AFFC rank - Victor is a Leutenant-General. Which is the equivalent of a Colonel in the AFFS or LCAF so why they didn't retain the rank I've no idea. I'd be 100% behind the AFFC having a more sensible rank table if you're making that part of the AU.

2. Galen winning 200 c-bills. While C-bills are commonly encountered in international trade (such as mercenaries) and when dealing with ComStar, the Federated-Commonwealth currency (in which the AFFC is paid) is the kroner-pound, which trades around 1.19 K£ to the C-bill. Galen, as a Lyran, may shorten this to Kroner.

3. Fuzzed. I think you mean fused. Merged might be a more accurate term.
"It's national writing month, not national writing week and a half you jerk" - Consequences, 9th November 2018

barbarossa

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #34 on: 07 October 2014, 03:15:31 »
@Drakensis:
The AFFC ranks from the novels are nonsense. It's better to use those from MechWarrior Second Edition which are much more sensible:

Marshal of the AFFC
Field Marshal
General
Commander General
Captain General
Leftenant General
Colonel
Leftenant Colonel
Commander
Captain
First Leftenant

Senior Sergeant Major
Staff Sergeant Major
Sergeant Major
Staff Sergeant
Sergeant
Senior Corporal
Corporal
Private First Class
Recruit

Chris OFarrell

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #35 on: 07 October 2014, 03:41:50 »
It's very nicely done.

A few minor things you may wish to correct.

1. Renny calling Victor 'Colonel'. For some absurd reason, that isn't a canonical AFFC rank - Victor is a Leutenant-General. Which is the equivalent of a Colonel in the AFFS or LCAF so why they didn't retain the rank I've no idea. I'd be 100% behind the AFFC having a more sensible rank table if you're making that part of the AU.


Uh, to be perfectly honest, I borrowed the FCAF rank table from BFV for this universe as canon - with two minor tweaks to the NCO chart. On the assumption that the Social Generals in the LCAF were pushing for more Flag ranks - but the AFFS and actually capable LCAF officers in this reality did a LOLNO in response at the idea of dumping mid ranks and handing out Stars like a mad hatter Kerensky.

So Victor was Promoted from Kommandant -> Lt Colonel after the trashing on Aiyina and rebuilding before going to rescue Hohiro, then to Colonel after a reshuffle on New Avalon later. Galen straight promoted from Hauptmann to Kommandant to replace Victor in the Battalion structure and Renny, after proving Galen wrong and kicking ass on Teniente, was promoted to Hauptmann and given a Company.

Quote

2. Galen winning 200 c-bills. While C-bills are commonly encountered in international trade (such as mercenaries) and when dealing with ComStar, the Federated-Commonwealth currency (in which the AFFC is paid) is the kroner-pound, which trades around 1.19 K£ to the C-bill. Galen, as a Lyran, may shorten this to Kroner.


Truth - I just used C-Bill for ease of expression to those who don't know all the different H-Bills. Just presume that Galen is talking somewhat colloquially  ;)

Quote

3. Fuzzed. I think you mean fused. Merged might be a more accurate term.

Will fix, thx.
« Last Edit: 07 October 2014, 03:49:11 by Chris OFarrell »
"I, the Baron of Strang, care not for your new names. Clans? Jade Falcons? I call you by your true name: Scum of the Star League, traitors of free will, persecutors of the Periphery come back to lord it over freedom-loving people. Come ahead, you steel-eyed robots! Come ahead and taste what a million like-minded people think of you and your damn Clans!"

-Baron Stepan Von Strang

drakensis

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #36 on: 07 October 2014, 14:36:27 »
Uh, to be perfectly honest, I borrowed the FCAF rank table from BFV for this universe as canon - with two minor tweaks to the NCO chart. On the assumption that the Social Generals in the LCAF were pushing for more Flag ranks - but the AFFS and actually capable LCAF officers in this reality did a LOLNO in response at the idea of dumping mid ranks and handing out Stars like a mad hatter Kerensky.

So Victor was Promoted from Kommandant -> Lt Colonel after the trashing on Aiyina and rebuilding before going to rescue Hohiro, then to Colonel after a reshuffle on New Avalon later. Galen straight promoted from Hauptmann to Kommandant to replace Victor in the Battalion structure and Renny, after proving Galen wrong and kicking ass on Teniente, was promoted to Hauptmann and given a Company.

 O0
"It's national writing month, not national writing week and a half you jerk" - Consequences, 9th November 2018

Terrace

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #37 on: 07 October 2014, 17:26:29 »
It should be fun when the Ghost Bears send a group out to Trial for Elsa's genetic material. The negotiations will probably be highly aggravating for them.

Ghost Bears: What do you mean, "We can't allow a full Cluster to traverse our territory?" ???

Hanse: We consider anything above a single Trinary to be a deliberate provocation, even if safecon is requested. Otherwise, we'll have cause to declare you in violation of the Treaty of Tukayyid. [legal]

Ghost Bears: :o

Of course, the fun (for us) probably won't end when the Ghost Bear representatives reach Arendalle.. After all, Anna's got lots of catching up to do with this previously unknown branch of the family... >:D

ckosacranoid

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #38 on: 07 October 2014, 23:35:48 »
Talk about mind bending for this story to say the least. Running into a high ranking person and blazing away not knowing till the hired gun steps forth and locking up. Thats priceless to say the least. I really wonder what everones take is going to be with a talking snowman to say the least?
Very funny comments on victor takking to hanse in may about this trip being safe? And the clans dropping in to say hello also is going to really shake things up......very funny story to say the least.

Sharpnel

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #39 on: 08 October 2014, 03:36:03 »
Let's hope that Olaf is not a talking snowman. Perhaps he could be a man from Arendelle's Lnad of Snow (aka it's arctic zone)
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gladius

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #40 on: 08 October 2014, 08:03:23 »
It should be fun when the Ghost Bears send a group out to Trial for Elsa's genetic material. The negotiations will probably be highly aggravating for them.

Ghost Bears: What do you mean, "We can't allow a full Cluster to traverse our territory?" ???

Hanse: We consider anything above a single Trinary to be a deliberate provocation, even if safecon is requested. Otherwise, we'll have cause to declare you in violation of the Treaty of Tukayyid. [legal]

Ghost Bears: :o

Of course, the fun (for us) probably won't end when the Ghost Bear representatives reach Arendalle.. After all, Anna's got lots of catching up to do with this previously unknown branch of the family... >:D
To steal a line from over on Spacebattles:

Khan: "I am Khan Jorgensen, and I am here to -"

GLOMP

Anna: "Cousin!"

Terrace

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #41 on: 08 October 2014, 08:22:04 »
To steal a line from over on Spacebattles:

Khan: "I am Khan Jorgensen, and I am here to -"

GLOMP

Anna: "Cousin!"

My line, actually. ;D

gladius

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #42 on: 08 October 2014, 17:39:05 »
My line, actually. ;D
Oops ... the perils of cross-posting. :-[

Edit: aaaand now I realise it was THIS website I saw it on ... Oops again.
« Last Edit: 09 October 2014, 01:57:23 by gladius »

Lord Harlock

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #43 on: 08 October 2014, 21:08:11 »
It's still a good setup even if it was on the previous page.

As for the story, it continues to get my approval.

ckosacranoid

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #44 on: 10 October 2014, 23:13:31 »
I dont care how much we have to bend the laws of battletech, we have to have the talking snowman dang it. Thats what made the story so funny.
I bid one urbanmech to defend this setup and to do battle......sorry, have to incude some remote sensors also for using arrow four version and pocket nuke ammo......

Chris OFarrell

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #45 on: 16 December 2014, 02:00:51 »
So this chapter got a little out of control.
Uh, yeah!

But the next chapters will be chopped back down in size and we'll speed up a little.! Promise. And we'll get to some Mech action hopefully in the chapter after that!

So sorry that this is going to be split up over a number of posts - damn character limit!




Chapter 5: Death by Chocolate

None of us had a clue what we were walking into.

As far as the 10th was concerned, 'Operation Showtime' was just the Regiment giving Colonel Steiner-Davion the send-off the man had earned before we rotated back to Lyran State Command to settle a few scores with the Trashborns. No-one thought this would be anything but some guard duty, possibly one or two dress parades and lots and lots of bar crawling to make the MPs lives as miserable as possible.

Because there was certainly nothing in the rumour mill about what we actually walked into.

And that's a little unusual. See, there is always chatter in the rumour mill when something big is about to happen. 'No-shit' stories passed on from dropship crews who heard it from some other dropship crew who heard it from someone from a jumpship they were docked with last month, that sort of thing, with a tiny bit of truth hidden in the chatter. But there wasn't really any talk at all about Duchess Jorgensson – except that she was apparently quite the looker.

Well … score one for the 10ths grapevine there I suppose. Although I'm sure even SAFE could have figured that one out.

But no. To all those idiot conspiracy nuts who keep popping up on low rating late night holovid shows I'll make it as clear as daylight. Victor didn't have a clue what he was walking into when he went to invest her icy hotness – none of us did. You can be damn sure if we had even the slightest clue about what was going on happen on the 10th of May 3053, we would have damn well remembered to pack the artic warfare gear, I can promise you that!


-Extract from 'Rise of the Revenants: A history of the 10th Lyran Guards, 3047 – 3064' by Lt Colonel Stanley Rogers, AFFC, Ret.



Arendelle City Spaceport
Arendelle
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 09 – 3053


"Ahhh, Arendelle, our most mysterious potential market partner. Open those gates so I may unlock your secrets and exploit your riches! Oh … did I say that out loud?"

His Grace in the name of Melissa Steiner, the Duke of Weselton snickered quietly to his little joke as the spaceport gate in front of him swung open, seemingly at his command. The customs service personnel who had just finished validating the visas of both himself and his party twitched ever so slightly at his rather bold statement, but kept their peace as they smiled plastically and gestured him through like the good low-level drones they were.

Smiling with his hands clasped behind his back, the Duke strode forward through the final security checkpoint and onto the main concourse terminal in the VIP section of the spaceport. Behind him, the half a dozen Mercenary bodyguards he had brought with him followed in silence, towering over his relatively short stature in a way that did little to hide both their muscle and their incredibly deadly killing skills. Lesser men may have been put off or intimidated by the bulk and size of their own bodyguards – and these men had bulk to spare.

He however, was not a lesser man. The 'Dread Legion' was by in large made up of that wonderful combination of competent soldiers who came cheaply, combined with just the right level of desperation for a stable contract that made them fanatically loyal. Knowing that, like oh so many others, their Mercenary unit was sitting right on that thin line between survival and failure tended to make you far more … appreciative of stable long term employment opportunities.

And more importantly, doing what it took to keep them.

No, these men knew exactly who signed their ComStar escrowed payment authorisations and that guaranteed absolute obedience.

His eyes missed little as he strode down the concourse, soon picking out other VIP delegations from various corporations coming to the investment ceremony, with their offworld fashions and flaunted signs of wealth standing out boldly from the crowd. Unlike them though, hehad no need for a large delegation to make him feel important, or to impress the locals.

No, among the people who actually mattered on this world, his reputation would speak for itself.

Because it was quite the reputation indeed.

His path to success had started when he took over both the Dukedom and the family business, Weselton Industries, when his Father had finally had the good sense to die in 3025. The fool of a man had done his very best to run it into the ground for the better part of a decade as his grip on reality had faded, leaving quite the mess to him to clean up.

With a firm hand, he had put his mark on the long and proud family name by making the hard but necessary decision to ruthlessly sell off what was untenable to hold onto, flogging off most of the defence side of the company to consolidate the core business into something viable.

It had been a humiliating process that he had never forgotten. Weselton Defence Industries had been a minor but persistent thorn in the side of the larger Mega-corporations of the Commonwealth for centuries, resisting all attempts to be brought out or crushed underfoot. And so Defiance, Quickscell and TharHes among others had taken great pleasure in dividing it up and absorbing the viable business units into their own operations, often for insultingly low prices compared to their true value.

Yet he had been left with little choice but to smile and accept what they had offered. Even if he vowed never to forget.

Still, stingy or not, it was working capital. And if the triage had been painful, it had also been necessary, letting him find a new direction for the company.

His first big success had been in the newly annexed worlds of the Sarna March in 3030. Shrugging off accusations of being a carpet bagger -by chagrined corporations belatedly following him in- he had snapped up and revitalized any number of failing corporations with FedCom capital and technology, turning a rapid profit by snapping up the low hanging fruit left by decades of mismanagement by the Liaos. In 3038 he had sold off most of those assets for a princely sum to various interests, just in time to avoid the recession in the aftermath of the failed 3039 war, spending the time growing his core business back to a respectable size in the Lyran Commonwealth and waiting patiently for the next opportunity he knew would come sooner or later.

The new Periphery March in the Federated Suns established in `41 had seemed to be the next big thing … but he had decided against moving that way. If only because other businesses had rushed in like bulls at a red flag as they had signed onto the major 20 year industrialization plans for the outback. Instead, he hadthreaded the market distortion to the other side of the Commonwealth, snapping up a string of corporations through the Trellshire region. All of them were struggling industrial corporations, all on the verge of failure thanks to the long decline of the Succession Wars, barely breaking even on a quarter-to-quarter basis. Much of their production capacity, electronics and technology had been stripped to keep bigger, more viable plants running on other worlds, leaving them great complexes filled with well-maintained machinery … few of which could do anything or operate beyond a tiny fraction of their true capacity.

He was hardly the first person to have attempted such ambitious rebuilding of decrepit facilities, of course. Others had held similar ambitions across the Inner Sphere in similar situations for over a hundred years, but very few attempts had ever succeeded in the long term. Sometimes the investors had run out of money, having grossly underestimated the necessary level of work and ongoing investment to actually get a return using kludged workarounds and highly inefficient alternatives to replace the automated, broken down systems no-one really understood. Other times they had appeared to succeed in triumph ... until a matter of weeks later in the middle of the first production run, everything would go haywire and the factory would mysteriously burn down or blow up; as if some great force was denying humanity the right to try and reclaim what had been lost in the folly of the 1st and 2nd Succession Wars.

Conventional wisdom therefore held that it was a folly to try and restart such facilities, most having eventually been looted for spare parts for other facilities over the years. That it was better to concentrate your eggs into as few baskets as possible and slowly expand your major facilities bit by bit, behind regiments of 'Mechs. Even right on the border in some cases, it was considered better to risk raids than risk losing their increasingly precious capacity by 'fiddling' or attempting to relocate.

Conventional wisdom in his mind however was little more than an excuse used by those who refused to take risks and followed the safe path down into irrelevance and stagnation.

Carefully cultivated friendships with a very select group of people he had developed over years as an industrialist had informed him ahead of the curve that a genuine renascence of Star League technology was indeed about to start flowing through the Federated Commonwealth in the early 3040s. It had started, unsurprisingly, with advanced Star League military technology doled out to AFFC units in dribs and drabs as NAIS had gone from laboratory proof of concepts to field-test ready units, but with the right 'donations' to the right people, he had found himself at the front of the line for the first runs of the computers, electronics and technology needed to restart his new array of factories.

Factories vastly more important to the future of the Commonwealth than the new toys Mechwarriors were making adoring gazes at.

Two years after he had accepted the delivery from NAIS of the first shipments of components, he had restored all his factories to some level of production. As he had determined when investing, his factories were surprising intact, simply missing a handful of key components that made them useless … but when said components could finally be replaced relatively cheaply…

In five years, he had recouped his investments entirely, even as the rest of the Commonwealth also started to refurbish and repair half working production lines, producing starting to cascade upon itself as geometrics had its way.

By 3049 Weselton had turned two dozen more or less worthless companies into a tightly integrated industrial chain that were headlining economic activity reports across Trellshire. His efforts had been singled out and lauded by no less a personage than the Archon and First Prince themselves, he had appeared on the cover of the most prestigious Lyran Business Weekly publication and even been made a member of the incredibly exclusive 2341 Club that catered to the elite of the Lyran realm on Thakard as a tribute to his success.

All this activity and success had, inevitably, attracted the attention of the very biggest companies. Companies like Defiance might be focused on the absurdly lucrative military hardware market, but they did none the less own -or have interests in- a substantial array of civilian and industrial concerns which were finding themselves increasingly under pressure by the resurgent Weselton industries.

This of course could not, would not be tolerated, so a conglomerate had quite quickly 'made him an offer he couldn't refuse'.

Specifically, an offer to buy out his Trellshire holdings –for admittedly a significant premium- lock stock and barrel. With the unsaid but rather clearly hinted at alternative that otherwise they would simply undercut his entire business model with their parent companies incredibly deep pockets –under the cover of generous patriotism- until he went bankrupt and they could buy him out regardless in the long term.

Hating himself for again giving them what they wanted as yet again they had worked to take away everything he had built, but at least getting some satisfaction that this time they were acting out of fear rather than opportunity. They were also paying him no small premium; he had taken the offer and turned over his shares all smiles and handshakes for the cameras of course, no matter how much he privately loathed them and proceeded to sit on his enormous pile of cash as he tried to figure out his next move.

Then, a year later, the Jade Falcons had invaded.

The calm, ordered world of Inner Sphere economics had been turned upside down and inside out as Kerensky's deranged children had smashed into Inner Sphere without warning. Beyond the immediate military casualties, the damage to the Lyran Commonwealth economy had been appalling. Playing by no-ones rules but their own, laughing at what they saw as an absurd idea of 'Merchants' being free to trade across lines on a map; the Jade Falcons had ignored centuries of well-established business rules as they had simply nationalized everything in their path! Not having any care for the catastrophic damage they were doing to major planetary and regional economies; clearly they were little more than a bunch of thugs with big guns who thought things economics were beneath their notice as they tried to simply impose their ridiculous cast system onto their captured worlds

Of course it went unsaid that such large disruptions opened up the way for new … opportunities … and he had made the most of them. Once again he had found himself in that most happy position of being cashed up as the rest of the economy had been thrown into chaos. He had taken the advantage and snapped up corporations with an almost reckless speed, exchanging his pile of cash for controlling interests across the industrial space on a scale he had never dreamed would be possible, a stark lesson to all of just how quickly economic winds could change. So much so that even Coventry Metal and Achernar treaded very cautiously around him now, waiting to see what he would do next and where he would go.

And soon they would have that answer.

And that answer would be Arendelle.

Such a quaint little world, yet suddenly finding itself the centre of a storm of interest at the highest levels of industry. Its Germanium wealth alone would have made it a prime target for any mining company looking for steady income for centuries – and even more so with ComStars re-opening of the Titan shipyards that was set to double demand for the mineral easily- but the icing on the cake was surely the Clan-grade mineral deposits. That had made him determined to secure them, to do whatever was necessary while the other major corporations were far too busy directing their capital and resources into the absurdly lucrative AFFCs rebuilding contracts designed to upgrade the largest army in the Inner Sphere with the Star League equipment needed to face down and beat back the Clans.

And when all the dust settled from that massive enterprise, when all those corporations came looking for the resources to start producing Clan grade Battlemechs and weapons perhaps five or six years from now …

Then all the Mega-Corps would have to come to him.

Come to him on their hands and knees and be forced to pay quite the premium if they didn't want to be put so far down the list that the Marian Hegemony would be ahead of them in priority for these resources!

At least until he had repaid, in full, the debt in humiliation they owned his family…

He again let his mind dwell in that happy place as he walked through the terminal, suppressing the mocking looks he wanted to give the representatives of the other companies as they hurried past – but was quite rudely brought back to reality when he came to an abrupt half as he found a wall of people in his path.

"I say, what's the meaning of this?" he demanded of no-one in particular, staring at the crowd that seemed to have halted ahead of him, distant music cheerfully playing over the muted roar of hundreds of conversations. He cursed his short stature and resisted the urge to try and stretch his height to see over the pack of humanity, glancing around to look to see if there was any way to bypass this mess. But it was clearly no good; this main concourse terminated exactly where the crowd had backed up. At a T-intersection of a glass wall that looked out into some kind of atrium with floors above and below them, probably serving different gates and classes of passengers.

None of which explained why everyone was crowding around the glass wall and busily pointing and chattering away instead of orderly moving past towards the exits.

"You there man" he demanded, stopping a lowly maintenance worker as he passed close by, "what the devil is going on here?"

"Prince Victor is arriving Sir" the man said with some small amount of disdain in his tone as he gently unlatched himself with an almost irritated look on his face that was surprising for one so lowly speaking to his betters. "At the ultra-VIP suit on the ground floor – you can see the reception party from there" he gestured at the thick glass wall, "if you can find a spot of course…"

The Duke decided not to make an issue of the thinly veiled comment about his relatively short stature.

"Ah" he replied instead, dismissing the other with a wave and letting him go back on his unimportant business, not knowing that the slightly harried 'maintenance worker' was in fact a plain clothes MIIO Counterintelligence Division agent who had just very professionally run both him and his bodyguards through an explosives and biochemical detection scan.

Finding nothing of interest besides their legal sidearms they had declared at customs -and been flagged for closer attention because of - the agent moved on to the next check he had been assigned, shadowed always by a half dozen other agents in an eclectic mix of invisible personas, all of them carrying concealed Defiance LasBlast PDWs and Rorynex submachine guns and ready to fill any threat with enough firepower to take down anything short of an armoured elemental in an instant.

Several of the members of the team would, in the coming weeks, come to regret the fact that the Duke of Weselton had done nothing warranting a summary execution for reasons of interplanetary security then and there. It would have probably made the lives of a lot of people much easier over the coming thirty six hours.

Instead, the Duke turned to address his chief bodyguard as the crowd continued to press in, now thick enough that squeezing past them somewhat difficult, glaring from behind his spectacles in irritation at the delay. "You, find me a way through this … rabble".

The scared man nodded and silently moved forward, the half a dozen men forming a very intimidating wedge around him as they pressed forward and together, they started to slice like a knife through the crowd as they worked their way forward. Dozens of people turned to glare at the people pushing past them, only for their objections to die stillborn as they took in the sheer size of the Mercenaries and the rather implacable looks on their faces that suggested it wouldn't be healthy to make an issue of their rudeness. Soon enough, they were past the bulk of people and managed to pick up the pace to his satisfaction, following the signs towards the pickup zone as they left the atrium and started moving through the various baggage claim areas. Behind them, the Duke heard a sudden cheer and surge of thunderous applause – no doubt his Highness had just appeared, a moment many of the 'sheepople' behind him would talk about for years. 'Oh I was there when Victor Steiner-Davion arrived' and all that, as if it was the greatest moment in their small lives, seeing in the flesh the great heir of the two greatest family lines in the Inner Sphere.

He personally didn't know what exactly to make of the young March Lord – except to be annoyed that his presence unnecessarily complicated what should have been a straightforward business deal. He was clearly inexperienced, this literally being his first assignment since being posted as March Lord … but it would not do the underestimate the man's presence and what it meant, especially as he could smell Victors parents fingerprints all over his unanticipated presence.

After all, it made so much sense on a multitude of levels. Give Victor some exposure on a simple but formal task that even a Mechwarrior could handle. Warn people like him that they were watching and would not look kindly on any of the back ally knife work shenanigans that were known tohappen when major corporations squabbled over a valuable strategic resource. And of course, wave the flag and get the locals excited that one of the Olympians had come down from their mountain to grace the people with their exalted presence.

Still, it wasn't anything he couldn't deal with. If New Avalon wanted Marquess of Queensberry Rules and not a back alley knife fight, then that was what they would get. He still held the best position of the various corporations jockeying for position … presuming of course that he was reading the Duchess of Arendelle correctly.

And that was his problem. And indeed, the problem of every other shark circling their prey.

Because it turned out no-one knew anything about her!

He had, as usual, paid a select group of people to build a full dossier on the woman, but to his both surprise and annoyance, they had put together a dossier barely more complete than he could have assembled from publicly available records! That she was an orphan, along with her sister. That Hanse Davion had appointed the –annoyingly canny- Landers in as her regent until she came of age - and he had been rather proficient at slapping down all attempts by various stakeholders to try and get her under their control in advanced of her taking the throne. Oh and that she was clearly a popular woman despite her youth and inexperience, with the people of her world firmly supporting her in opinion polls.

Well, that report had certainly been worth ten thousand Kronor!

There was no blackmail material. Nothing about her personal likes or dislikes to encourage or avoid. No known lovers, no secret lovers. No hidden perversions, no controversial political views. No geopolitical priorities, no pet causes she championed. No known family feuds or regional conflicts to manipulate for advantage … absolutely nothing!

There was something altogether suspicious about the black hole that was the life of the Duchess of Arendelle.

He had learned to trust his instincts on such things. And because he had trusted his instincts, he had put in place several … contingency plans to ensure that he would get what he wanted from this planet.

One way. Or the other.
"I, the Baron of Strang, care not for your new names. Clans? Jade Falcons? I call you by your true name: Scum of the Star League, traitors of free will, persecutors of the Periphery come back to lord it over freedom-loving people. Come ahead, you steel-eyed robots! Come ahead and taste what a million like-minded people think of you and your damn Clans!"

-Baron Stepan Von Strang

Chris OFarrell

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #46 on: 16 December 2014, 02:01:56 »
Arendelle City Spaceport
Arendelle
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 09 – 3053


Anna fought to keep her composure as she walked through the glass doors into a thunderstorm of noise and light. The noise was the brass band off to the side, shockingly loud as they thumped out 'Hail to the Prince' with great gusto, Anna feeling the noise and trying not to flinch from the thunder of the all too enthusiastic base drummer. The light was made up of dozens of cameras exploding into action a couple of dozen meters away backstopped by bright TV floodlights above them that almost made her wilt under their focus, until she shifted her gaze upwards over the lights to clear her eyes.

She almost wished she hadn't.

They had entered onto the ground floor of a large open atrium, with tastefully placed greenery running up and down the walls making it feel half indoors half outdoors. The bright green and purple flags of Arendelle hung vertically from the ceiling and walls with equal taste, but it was the ten or so stories of the building above her that had caused her to be taken aback. Behind thick glass walls on every floor were hundreds, perhaps thousands of ordinary people looking down at the reception committee and press pack crowding the floor here. Even through the glass and even over the thunder of the music, she could hear the distant cheers and see their waves and almost on instinct, she shyly waved back, generating yet louder cheers and more enthusiastic gesturing.

It was almost as if the people of her world were welcoming her home and the sheer impact of the sounds and lights and people almost made her freeze up and collapse upon herself..

Thankfully, Victor didn't break his stride as he moved forward, clearly a man with vastly more practice at these events than she had and Anna followed his lead as he gently led her towards the reception committee, working to keep a shy smile on her face as she returned her gaze down to try and pick out the people waiting for them through the blaze of lights, hey eyes working overtime to adjust from the dark tunnel...

Then the music stopped as if a switch had been thrown, Victor coming to a halt at the exact same moment. Anna followed suit, leaving only the distant cheering that also quickly faded until only the mechanical clattering of cameras continued unabated.

"Presenting His Highness, the Lord of the Crucis March, Prince Victor Ian Steiner-Davion" a voice bellowed into the sudden silence with authority and gusto, amplified by speakers across this part of the spaceport. "Accompanied by our Beloved Daughter of Arendelle, the Lady Anna Jorgensson, Lord Kai Allard Liao of Saint Ives and Komondant Galen Cox of the 10th Lyran Guards".

I got introduced second! Anna mentally squeed, having to really fight the urge to gleefully jump at the honour.

Granted it was probably entirely because she was on Victors arm, but she'd take what she got, given that the other members of this group were the Heir to the Capellan Confederation and Hero of the Federated Commonwealth and surely eventually someone would notice that she really didn't belong in such august company.

"My Lords, My Lady" the voice continued grandly after a moment, "in the name of Regent Sir Roger Landers and the Lady Elsa Jorgensson, I welcome you all to Arendelle".

Blinking away the spots on her eyes as some of the lights thankfully shut down so she was not half blinded, Anna finally got a good look at the man standing a few meters in front of them.

Her eyes widened as she focused in on the older man's face smiling at her–

Before she even realized what she was doing, Anna had detached herself from Victor and all but leapt across the distance to slam into the man and throw her arms around him.

"Kai!" she exclaimed –nearly squealed- in surprise and affection, feeling the others arms gently yet firmly wrap themselves around her in turn as he chuckled deeply, relishing the feeling. Kai was one of the very few adult friends she had had, the man having been in service with her parents as the head of staff of the family Palace since …forever… along with Gerda, his deputy. They were as eternal to the place as the very foundations of the place in her mind; far more a close uncle and aunt than a pair of servants.
Even disregarding the fact that Kai had generally been the one tapped to rescue her from this or that 'situation' as she had grown up.

Be it when she had gotten stuck up a tree at seven years old (trying to climb up to Elsas window) and found herself too frightened to get back down.

Or when she had a year later tried to sneak out of the palace (trying to 'walk' to her sister's new house) and gotton lost in the extensive forests their estate backed onto within half an hour.

Or when she had continually crashed her bike into predictably expensive objects at nine – until her parents had firmly told her to not ride it inside.

All the way to the days where she had simply found herself sad and lonely; he had stayed with her, taken her to sneak some chocolate from the kitchen to the eternal fury of the head cook and brightened her day back up.

Whatever the situation, he had always been there for her.

It wasn't that her parents hadn't been there of course, but they were busy people with an entire planet to run. Kai and Gerda had as much as anyone else, helped to raise her right up until the day her sister had shipped her off to Corona…

"Oh my dear Anna. It has been far, far too long. Welcome Home".

Anna felt her spirits sore yet higher at the familiar voice. It was at once instantly familiar to her and that feeling that she was home yet again grew inside her as countless memories associated with it flared inside her, taking just one more squeeze of the other before, reluctantly, letting go and stepping back shyly.

"The HPG messages your Aunt sent me were clearly not exaggerating what a beautiful young woman you have grown into" Kai continued with a gentle smile as he studied her quite closely, causing a blush to break out across her face. "I can see that if anything, she understated it".

"Oh, I'm just still the same old Anna" she demurred shyly, always slightly uncomfortable with people admiring her in such a fashion, before she beamed up at him. "I've really missed you".

"We've missed you too Princess" he smiled and Anna again blushed at the title, a pet name she had been given by Elsa. It had stuck after she had named her Sister the future Queen, back before Anna had quite understood the nuances of neo-feudal nobility and that just because her parents ruled a world, they were not a King and Queen like in all the fairy tales their mother had read them.

In fact the Federated Suns didn't have a noble rank of 'Princess' except at the very highest level of the Davion family itself. And even then the ultimate ruler of the Federated Suns regardless of sex was always known as the First Prince, a title Victor would take -

Victor!

Her eyes bulged and she whirled around in a blur to face the Archon-Prince designate, feeling her entire body cringe as she realized she had just kept arguably the most powerful –or soon to be most powerful- man in the Inner Sphere waiting while she had jumped ahead like a child to nearly tackle the welcoming party…

But as she turned to face Victor, she just saw Victor, his fist held in front of his face … trying to hide a huge grin. With Galen and Kai not even trying to hide theirs one bit.

"Uh, sorry" she apologised awkwardly, wringing her hands slightly as she stepped back a bit. "I just-"

"My Lady Jorgensson, what did I say about apologising for being you?" the Archon-Prince designate interrupted her as he stepped forward, his expression turning playfully arch.

"Um … not to?" she hazarded, feeling a blush forming on her face … as the cameras behind her cheerfully flashed away with their frantic pace.

"Indeed" he agreed with a slight smirk, reaching up to touch her upper arm lightly for a moment. "Remember that" he added in a way that said that he was neither insulted before his eyes traced past her and, taking the hint, she turned back to gesture to the older man patiently waiting next to her as she cleared her throat and at least tried for a formal sort of tone.

"Prince Victor, may I introduce the Chief of Staff to the Jorgensson family, Kai Brevik" she gestured, the older man stepping forward and offering Victor a formal bow of respect.

"A true pleasure My Lord" Kai said to the other as he straightened. "While I am sure that Anna has already welcomed you to Arendelle with her usual … enthusiasm …" he stated, glancing at her with a somehow knowing look and causing Anna's blush to deepen to the point it was starting to rival her hair colour and a distinct snicker to come from one (or both) of the men behind Victor. "It is none the less my pleasure to also welcome you to our world".

"My thanks Mister Brevik" Victor inclined his head slightly, offering his hand. "Yes Anna and I ... ran into each other in the VIP passage" Victor smiled as Kai took his hand and shook it firmly, the smile twitching furiously again as Annas eyes shot him a look, before he let go and turned to gesture forward the two men next to him. "May I present Kai Allard Liao of the Capellen Confederation?"

"My Lord, your reputation precedes you. You are most welcome; it is our great honour to have you here for this investment" Kai said to Kai, offering another short but dignified bow.

"It is my pleasure to be here. Your family clearly had impeccable taste in names Mister Brevik" the young Mechwarrior quipped with a grin as he returned the bow, shallower as their respective ranks dictated, but given with a casual ease and grace that spoke pointedly about Capellan heritage before he offered his hand.

"As do yours My Lord" the other Kai smiled as he took it briefly before Victor now gestured towards Galen.

"And finally, my aide Komondant Galen Cox of the 10th Lyran Guards".

"Komondant, a true pleasure to have the 10th visit our world" Kai nodded.

"We're pleased to be here" Galen nodded while firming shaking the others offered hand, his eyes tracking around to re-focus on her with a grin moments later. "I take it that you've known Anna for some time then?"

"All my life" the other nodded, turning to give her an almost wistful smile. "The family residence has been far too quiet since Anna moved away to Corona, but we are all looking forward to having her back now. Anna" he turned back slightly to look at her, "as I'm sure you're aware, you'll be staying in a hotel tonight before moving back in tomorrow. I presume this is still satisfactory?"

"Very much so – this whole day has been a bit … overwhelming" she admitted.

"Very good. As it so happens, you have a suit at the Grand Arendelle, the same hotel the Prince is staying at" Kai nodded at Victor, who inclined his head with a pleased look at that news. "Your sisters personal VTOL is waiting on the pad, I would be more than happy to give you a lift to-"

"My thanks for your efforts Mister Brevik" Victor cut in smoothly as he interjected himself into the conversation. "But Anna has most graciously volunteered to show us some of her city personally before we get down to business. I will, of course, make sure she is dropped off at the hotel before I head on to the meeting with the Regent this afternoon, to sign the paperwork formally terminating his regency".

Victor was clearly not asking permission of Kai – but as he distinctly outranked everyone for seventy four light years in any direction, he didn't exactly need to either.

"I … am pleased to hear that" the other said after a surprised pause, recovering quickly from the unexpected news and taking a moment to shoot her a slightly questioning expression that asked if this was indeed the case, which mutated into a respectful nod when she bashfully nodded at him. "Then indeed … I can think of no better hands to leave you in" he concluded before shooting a somewhat apologetic look at the stoic figure of Agent Curaitis hovering off to the side of the group. "My apologies Agent Curaitis; Anna has … a way, shall we say, of disrupting the most carefully laid plans on the spur of the moment that I should have warned you about".

"I have a feeling I'll get used to it" the other said dryly, his face none the less as expressionless as it had been since she had met him. "She certainly seems to be living up to her mother's legendary reputation at any rate".

Anna decided that there would probably be a better time to confess to Kai that she had almost sent the Archon-Prince designate flying onto his backside not five minutes ago.

Later.

Next week perhaps? Or next month?

No need to rush talking about such a minor issue…

So she ignored the raised eyebrow from the older man at Curaitis's cryptic statement and instead stepped forward to hug him tightly one more time. A final verbal confirmation that she would see him tomorrow at the investment and he stepped back, bowing to Victor. And with a 'by your leave' and nod from the March Lord, he was off, Anna watching him walk away and leaving them alone in the vast atrium, Kai himself seeming to have been the entirety of the reception committee...

But it meant that now she was standing alone in front of the hundred or so cameramen behind the velvet rope and police officers making sure they stayed there. She was slightly surprised that none of them were shouting questions at them like she would have expected from past experience, but she supposed there were different rules to these kind of events when dealing with the very top level of the Federated Suns - nae Commonwealth - nobility.

Anna started to turn away, but paused for a moment to look up. And on an impulse, she shyly waved again at the packed higher levels, earning an instant response of distant cheering muted by the armoured glass walls, accompanied by enthusiastic waving. Before she realized it Victor was standing next to her and waving just as cheerfully, earning yet more cheers and enthusiastic jostling from the crowds. Then Kai and Galen joined them; Anna following their lead in simply ignoring the press pack that once again exploded with camera flashes like a firing line, smiling and waving to acknowledge her people who had come out to welcome them. Hundreds of cameras in the hands on the spectators flashed too, butshe offered her best smile to them, freely.

She didn't kid herself that many –if any- of them had come to see her specifically so much as Prince Victor … but she at least hoped some of them might have.

But this was much bigger than her. This was about the people of her world putting their best foot forward by taking time out of their day to be here and welcome the Prince, who she now knew had surprised them all on such short notice with his unheralded arrival.

And on an impulse she couldn't explain, she felt a sudden need to thank them and so-

"Thank you, all of you, for coming out to welcome Prince Victor and his friends to Arendelle" she suddenly yelled out, not knowing if there was any kind of microphone or broadcasting of her words, but desperately wanting them to hear her thanks to them as she swept her gaze up and down and left to right. She had no clue if she was violating any number of protocols about these events, but found herself unable to stop herself. "It means a lot to me – and I know it'll mean a lot to my Sister as well- that you all showed him such a warm welcome! It's great to be home again!"

A half second passed and then a thunderous roar of noise rolled over her, even through the glass, as the crowd exploded with applause and approving cheers. Giving a final wave, she stepped back as Victor gave a subtle hand signal and the party collapsed in on itself, moving briskly towards the exit and pulling Anna along with them. Her face fell slightly as they were hustled out by the bodyguards double time, and she wondered if she had made some kind of fux pass with her impulsive actions.

Again.

"I'm … I'm sorry if I was out of line-"

"Anna" Victor cut her off with a look as Curaitis marched everyone forward and down the private exit to the secure VIP parking garage where their vehicles were waiting, issuing curt commands over his radio to be ready to roll in ninety seconds or answer to him personally. "Why is it that every time you do something wonderful that makes people around you genuinely happy, you want to apologise for it?"

"Uh … I would suggest Tourette syndrome, but my parents had me checked. Twice".

Victors face rippled as he fought back the explosion laughter that wanted to come out, managing to limit it to a kind of choked off snort and mostly keep his dignity.

"Oh Anna …" he shook his head in amusement. "Don't ever change".

The blush that had finally just about faded away returned in full force at the Dukes amusement and for once, she just kept her mouth shut as they approached the automatic doors that slid open to grant them entry to the private VIP garage-

And she skidded to a halt a few meters later, closing her eyes and breathing in deeply the air of Arendelle as Victor, Kai and the main body of guards walked past her.

Granted, she knew ever since the dropship doors had been opened that she had been breathing the air of her planet, but that was filtered through the climate controlled air conditioning of the spaceport.

And her face frowned and her nose crinkled as the overpowering odor of a great many ICE powered vehicles idling washed over her.

Opening her eyes again, she glanced around … and then froze as she saw what was waiting for them ten meters away that Victor and Kai were happily jumping into.

"Is that …" she managed to try and get out as she pointed, Galen halting next to her curiously before he followed her arm and chuckled.

"Ah, yes. An Excelsior Model fifty one" the taller man confirmed with a glance at the huge, yet sleek black hovercraft waiting patiently for them. Half again the length of any normal Hoverlimo, it really couldn't be anything else but one of the legendary luxury craft. Only a dozen of them had been made a few years ago on Tharkad and they were exclusively held for the use of the most senior members of the Davion and Steiner family lines. Clearly it had been flown in specifically for Victors use, it wasn't the sort of thing that would just be sitting in a warehouse on this planet.

"Bit more leg room than your normal limos" Galen smiled. "And most normal limos don't include Ferro-Fibrous armour plating, ECM suits or the best communications gear NAIS can build as standard options either".

Nodding vaguely as the Mechwarrior happily rattled off its military specs, Anna tore her gaze away from the vehicle that looked to have been so polished laser fire would likely just bounce off, taking in the flurry of activity around her in the rest of the loading dock come garage come staging point. Federal Agents and local police were hurrying about everywhere, getting into vehicles of every shape and size from police motorcycles to what she could only think of as tanks on wheels from the number of guns sticking out of them, all of which were starting to roll out and form up outside in a chaotic ballet. It again struck her, just how big the 'V' in VIP was with these people and how absurdly out of her 'proper' place she was…

"Well come on then" Galen poked her in the back, snapping her attention back and causing her muscles to unfreeze and start her legs moving again, Galen guiding her towards the Limos back door. "We've had nothing but standard AFFC jumpship ration packs the last few weeks. For some bizarre reason, Victor seems to want to have the authentic road trip experience - right down to the military rations we've been eating the last few weeks instead of the real food he could have arranged with about five seconds of waving his enormous authority around".

"I heard that!" the Princes voice came out from the cavernous interior of the Limo, causing Galen to roll his eyes.

"You were supposed to!" Galen retorted before he started to turn back to her with a grin on his face … only to yelp as he found Agent Curaitis had materialized right next to him without a sound or hint of warning, jumping back half a step on reflex and glaring at the other.

"Damnit Curaitis, don't do that!"

"My apologies Komondant" the other said with an utterly unphased look on his face before turning to face Anna. "Miss Jorgensson, I take it you know the address of where we are going on this little tour of your city?"

"Oh yes, of course" she confirmed quickly.

She did know the address of the top of her head, having spent more than a bit of time there over the years when her parents had let her out of the palace, often with Kai or Gerda – even if they had clearly disapproved of her spending too much time there…

"It's two three nine Main Street, right on the intersection of Main and Davion parade" she supplied, and the other nodded, tapping the information into a Noteputer he was holding and starting to turn away. "Oh and…" Anna added on impulse, causing the other to turn back with a slightly raised eyebrow and causing her to at once second guess herself as she was subject to the full strength glower of the ISB agent.

"Yes?"

"I, uh" she verbally fumbled, the icy gaze the other was directing her way causing her to wilt slightly before she just plunged ahead. "I just wanted to apologise. You know, for throwing all your plans into chaos with this whole detour…thing…"

The other simply stared at her for several long seconds, and Anna felt herself collapsing in under that uncompromising gaze. But then ISB Agent did something Anna thought he never would.

He smiled, if only for a moment and only barely, as he gave her another nod and walked away.

"Huh. You know, I think he likes you" Galen observed with a raised eyebrow, before shaking his head and earning a yelp from her as he throw an arm around her shoulder and pulled her towards the limo with him. "Now, back to critical issues; you were saying something about chocolate …"
"I, the Baron of Strang, care not for your new names. Clans? Jade Falcons? I call you by your true name: Scum of the Star League, traitors of free will, persecutors of the Periphery come back to lord it over freedom-loving people. Come ahead, you steel-eyed robots! Come ahead and taste what a million like-minded people think of you and your damn Clans!"

-Baron Stepan Von Strang

Chris OFarrell

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #47 on: 16 December 2014, 02:03:03 »
CB-626 VTOL Alpha Romeo Foxtrot 01
Over Arendelle City
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 09 – 3053


Kai Brevik grunted as the VTOL clawed for altitude, pressing him back into the seat as they ascended through the warm summer air. A Civilian variant of the military Ferret class VTOL, the pilots of the Royal Squadron seemed to always fly the '626 like it was a military craft, with their throttle kept wide open. Kai couldn't help but feel his age from the way his bones protested at the stress of the acceleration until they stabilized at their maximum velocity, but he banished the discomfort with a smile as he replayed the events of the last hour.

He had not truly understood just how large the Anna sized hole that had been punched in the day to day life of the palace was until she had walked through the gates today. Because watching her casually walk in, in complete ignorance of the chaos her 'vanishing act' had caused, hanging off the arm of the Prince himself having mysteriously gotten herself to exactly the right place at exactly the right time and made a new friend in the process…

If it had been anyone else, Kai would have been flabbergasted, embarrassed and disbelieving.
But Anna?
It had seemed to be nothing less than a signal that everything on Arendelle was once again back to normal.

Her unabashed and entirely unfiltered joy as she had all but tackled him had genuinely touched him, far more than he had let on in the face of the semi-formality of the occasion. He had been so terribly concerned for her mental state several years ago, in the aftermath of their parents' death. Over that week, he had seen Annas perpetually happy and cheerful face slowly fade into a dull, indifferent despair that had nearly broken his heart no matter what he had tried to do to cheer her up.

What with her parents cruelly robbed from her in a terrible accident … and her sister who she clearly loved denying her any kind of comfort or solace, instead ordering her off her world and away from her home from behind a closed door…

Of course, being sent off world did not mean that he hadn't kept an eye on Anna - from a distance. He had exchanged constant HPG messages with the girls Aunt on a regular basis, forwarding them all to Elsa in the hope that it might encourage her to at least start exchanging HPG messages with her sister, although sadly that had not come to pass. The Duke of Corona himself, brother in law to the late rulers of Arendelle, had quietly given him an open invitation to leave Arendelle and join them on Corona, if he wished to stay with Anna. And had Annas mental health situation not improved, he would not have hesitated to promote Grenda, entrusting her with Elsa while he left to help Anna as best he could. He owned the girls' parents nothing less.

Luckily, such … drastic … actions had proven unnecessary. By the Unfinished Book he was incredibly grateful for whatever higher power had placed Rapunzel in the path of Anna! He had made a firm commitment to be sure to take her aside at some point over the week she was due to stay on Arendelle; to extend his most profound gratitude for her everything she had done...

Still, over ten years of separation was not something that could be dealt with overnight … which was why in his opinion, Anna and Elsa leaving their first contact with each other in a very long time to their very public meeting tomorrow at her investment was just asking for trouble. Treating her sister as if she was just another a guest coming to her investment than her sister coming home?

That didn't sit well with him. Not at all.

The girls' parents however had left him a circuit breaker that he had been preparing to exercise today to break this stasis between the sisters that Elsa had imposed. He would have preferred to use it years ago, but it had only been delivered to him from the personal effects of the Duchess and Duke after Anna had left – and his instructions on presenting it to the girls were extremely clear; it was to be presented to both of them at the same time. His carefully calculated plan had been to smuggle Anna to a surprise meeting with Elsa now, having conspired to ensure a two hour window of free time this afternoon for Elsa to sit down with her sister -that she was equally unaware of- to let him fulfil their parent's final wishes … but rather typically, Anna had decided to spoil his carefully laid plans in a very 'Anna' way by running off to show Victor her city.

But there was nothing to be done for it now, so he simply sat back alone in the passenger compartment and tried to enjoy the ride, looking out the oversized windows at the gleaming city under him.

Already, the neatly spaced out metropolis was giving way to a line of verdant hills as they powered north at two thousand feet, the aircraft shuddering slightly as it knifed through some updrafts from the rising terrain. The top of the escarpment that separated downtown Arendelle City from uptown Arendelle City was dotted with sprawling estates in a clash of styles and colours, all connected via a network of well-maintained roads with the occasional luxury hovercraft speeding along. Neatly manicured lawns, gardens and grand houses stretched from the ocean facing edge of the hills to much further inland. There was a wide variety in sizes of the estates and houses sitting on them of course, but to have a presence here was to place you in a very select group of people.

Formally called 'Mid-Arendelle City', to the locals it was simply 'Royal Ridge', the home of most of the planets senior nobility. Kai had visited most of the estates he could see out the window over the years of his service to the family at least once, be it accompanying the late Duke or Duchess on formal visits, or occasionally being sent to deliver a message on behalf of the new Duchess presumptive as her official representative. The majority of the local nobility were good people; loyal to the planet and Federated Commonwealth, with some of the families able to trace a direct line on-planet back to before the Star League. Others had only been granted a landhold in the last few years before the tragic death of the previous rulers, but were no less loyal for that lack of history.

But no matter how smoothly a planet was run however, there were always pains in the neck who it was his job to deal with, every now and again.

He smiled in amusement as he briefly spotted one overly grand and rather tastelessly garish building in the distance, recognizing it as the Forbes estate. That family, whose patriarch had been a Colonel in the Crucis Lancers killed in the 3039 war, had been forever pestering the Jorgensson family, trying to set up a match between Elsa or Anna and their son James. An absurd brat of a boy whose mother so doted on him that he had been spoiled to a point of being a genuine menace to polite society. Kai felt his smile widen into a fully-fledged grin as he recalled the day over three years ago when the Duchess and Duke had finally granted them the honour of having Anna over for lunch to silence their never ending requests for attention, thinking that a harmless pro-forma lunch would meet their social obligations without giving any lead on that might be taken the wrong way.

The boy's mother however was rather blindly taken with her notion that her 'perfect' son and Anna would be a spectacular match. So much so that she had insisted that he show her around the gardens for a while before lunch was served, sure that it would be 'love at first sight'. And without his mother present to mediate his more … impulsive thoughts, the brat of a boy entirely convinced of his own superiority had made the mistake of trying to flatter Anna by comparing her –in a positive way to be fair- to 'that crazy sister of yours locked up on the other side of the planet'.

Luckily, the resulting broken nose and corrective plastic surgery had been hushed up quite successfully to keep it out of the public spotlight, although it had taken some creative press work to explain why Anna had suddenly vanished for a month without having to use the word 'grounded'.

Not that it had stopped her from being considered a hero in the upper circle of society who silently detested the woman and her son as entirely unworthy of the late Colonels good name.

Idly tracking the estate as it vanished out of view, Kai wondered what would happen if that idiot of a boy ran into Anna at the investment, making a mental note to make sure it didn't happen. As amusing as it would be for Anna to deck him again, it was not the image Arendelle needed to present when a large amount of the Inner Sphere was watching them.

Soon enough however the band of estates perched on top of the ridge were past and the helicopter started a shallow descent, skyscrapers reappearing under them for a time before being replaced by the gleaming shimmer of the waters of Arendelle City Harbor. The docks that serviced commercial vessels were mostly now filled with long range cruise ships that had been brought in as short term hotel accommodation. Vast numbers of people had arrived in Arendelle City from across not just the planet, but the March and beyond and space was at a premium, with most hotels booked out for over a year now, with close to a million extra people in the city to witness the event and join in the celebrations. Descending as they lost speed, he saw another double line of cruise ships anchored in the middle of the harbour, a flotilla of smaller ships ferrying people to and from the shores - many of them bringing load after load of tourists to the North side where they hovered just offshore to let them take as many photos as they wanted.

And it was not hard to see why. Because straddling a peninsula that divided the Northern edge of the harbor from the Jorgensson fjord beyond that marked the absolute limits of Arendelle City, was a Castle.

Vastly grander in scope and size than the 'Castles' some nobles had built on Royal Ridge, the Jorgensson Family Residence and Duchy Palace sat on the location the very first explorers from the Terran Alliance had set foot on the planet over eight hundred years ago – or so the legends said. Four great walls enclosed a substantial central residence and a number of lesser buildings, all modelled after those dating from the 19th century on Terra. Bright pinions in green and purple fluttered from poles along the walls and turrets on the corners of said walls, while the Flag of the Federated Suns flew proudly from a steeple that rose from the roof of the main keep. A grand courtyard sat inside the walls behind the main gate, with capacity to easily hold thousands of people. Although he could not see it from this angle as their helicopter made a long turn bleeding off speed, he knew hundreds of workers were busy there putting the final touches in place for the reception tomorrow evening after the investment that would take place there, and the ball following it.

Around the perimeter of the Castle were expansive gardens and lawns, the private 'backyard' of the Jorgensson family fronting the Ocean to the West, the Fjord to the North, Harbour to the South and hills to the East. Yet further to the East beyond the outer perimeter fence were tens of thousands of acres that also belonged to the Jorgensson family, but by tradition were maintained for and open to the public. Any number of well-maintained sporting fields, picnic areas and parklands, play areas and open air amphitheatres were scattered through the lower areas, with biking, riding and walking trails snaking their way up into the hills for those so inclined for more energetic activity. And even from this distance, Kai could see thousands of people enjoying the afternoon sun across the range, revelling in the festive atmosphere across the planet as the eve of the Investment fell upon them all…

The VTOL jerked as it pulled into a hard braking turn, jolting him out of his train of thought as the window crashed into his forehead. Kai again mentally glared through the forward bulkhead at the militia pilot as he rubbed at his head in annoyance, knowing that the pilot would never have dared flown so aggressively if either the Duchess or Regent was on board. But he kept his peace and settled himself as the nimble craft flared, drifting over the fjord briefly to align on the private helicopter pad inside the castle walls, easing down to land nary a jolt. Less than a minute later, he was out of the vehicle, walking briskly along the elevated walkway from the landing pad to the polished glass and steel doors into the palace.

"Welcome back" Gerda greeted him as the doors slid silently shut behind him, cutting off the thunder of the helicopter as it spun down. Kai nodded in return, not missing the brief look of disappointment on her face as she saw he was alone, but like he, Gerda was far too well trained to do more than that as she fell into step beside him, the two flashing their IDs at the guards who in turn nodded and opened the doors into the palace itself for them.

Polished wooden walls painted a vivid royal scarlet dominated the interior of the castle, with gold diamond patterns inlaid through it, all polished to a high sheen. Replica suits of ancient armour from the medieval ages stood like silent sentries alongside high quality oil paintings of past members of the Royal Family and Davion Family on the walls. Ancient looking swords and standards were liberally spread through the corridors, making it look as close to a genuine 19th century castle as it was possible for something constructed in the 2400s or there about.

Of course, occasional anachronisms such as the oil painting of old Duke Huffingtons Battlemaster all gunsblazing defiance during his last stand in 2930 may have greatly confused someone from the 19th century. But at least such disruptions were done tastefully.

"I see our Girl is still wearing her heart on her sleeve" Greda spoke up as soon as the doors closed behind them.

"You were watching I take it?" he smiled as they turned past the music room, where Anna had adorably spent so many years as a child talking to various paintings.

Sad, of course, when you knew the full reasons why. But adorable none the less.

"Prince Victor's arrival was carried on channels Two, Nine and Ten, live" Greda laughed lightly. "If anyone had somehow managed to forget about Anna, they won't be doing anything but talking about her for the rest of the day".

"I just wish I could have gotten Elsa to talk about her - with her" Kai sighed as they bypassed the grand –but exhausting- spiral staircase next to the main entrance, in favour of a carefully concealed elevator built into the wall next to it. "Anna, bless her soul, volunteered to take Victor on a tour on Arendelle before heading to her hotel room".

"A pity … but perhaps it's for the best".

"Oh?" he asked curiously looking at the other. Greda had been nothing if not enthusiastic for this idea of getting the girls in the same room today, well before they were due to come face to face with each other tomorrow.

"Please Kai, even from here I could see that Anna was high as a kite" Greda sighed. "I strongly suspect someone fed her chocolate on top of the stress of coming back home. I'd like to think the two of them would be able to sit down together and carefully, shyly feel each other out and take the first steps of reconnecting with each other … but with Anna in the mood she is in?" The other shook her head once. "Perhaps we were being too clever".

"You might have a point" Kai conceded as the doors opened on the first floor. Most of the Castles first floor was given over to running the planetary administration - now unoccupied and locked down. The Regent had made the choice instead to work from the central Government complex downtown for various reasons, and on his frequent 'working visits' to the Castle had taken to using a small office next to the presumptive duchesses private library - come study - on the third floor, leaving the first floor silent and more or less empty, excepting the small suite of offices the small permanent household staff used.

"Anna did say she was a little overwhelmed at the events of the day" Kai continued his response to Gredas observation as he led the way through the one corner of the floor still occupied and active, nodding at the few staff up here and not running around the grounds frantically trying to coordinate everything. "And however she ran into the Prince between disembarking her dropship and the VIP lounge, it's not terribly surprising that she could have been rather taken aback at the enormity of such an unexpected encounter".

"She's clearly her Mothers daughter" Greda laughed fondly as she followed him towards his private office. "Crashing into people and places she has no right to be and causing everyone to just fall in love with her".

"True" Kai smiled as he unlocked his office and opened the door. "I suppose in the end, what's done is done". Crossing his office, he approached the painting on the left hand wall as Greda closed the door behind them. It was a gift from the late Duchess he treasured above all others; one of the last genuine family portraits that had been commissioned of the family together, so many years ago before Elsa had left. Future portraits had of course been commissioned, but they had been discreetly done by artists piecing together two different photos, generally of one parent with one child, painted then to look like a seamless 'real' picture of them all together.

Here however, the Duchess and Duke were smiling at him in their formal robes, a five year old Elsa looking incredibly prim, proper and regal - yet happy sitting next to her Father. While little Anna grinned mischievously from her Mother's lap in a way that suggested she was plotting and scheming something – most probably to do with the Castle cookie supply.

And as always, he couldn't help but feel a pang of gentle regret at the happy group, before he reached out and carefully swung the painting away on hidden hinges.

Only five people knew about this safe behind the portrait.

And only two people the combination to it.

With practiced hands he spun the combination wheels backwards and forwards until the locks released with a dull clunk and grunting slightly at the weight, he swung the door open.

Reaching into his suits interior vest pocket, Kai pulled out a small holodisk labelled 'For Anna and Elsa', pausing for several long moments before firmly placing it back inside the safe, locking it up securely once again and restoring the picture to its rightful place.

Soon enough, surely, he would remove it once again and hand it off. But not today.

He and Greda then got down to business, going through the checklists for the rather eventful day tomorrow, following up status reports and double checking everything on the list had been accounted for and confirmed as good to go. This event had been a year in the planning – and carefully laid out plans had been thrown into minor chaos with the surprise revelation that the New Avalon representative was Victor Steiner-Davion, now Lord of the entire Crucis March. But everyone had rallied together well to deal with it and they were more or less back on schedule. Greda had to leave to go and chase up the team setting up the 'lesser' banquet in the grand courtyard, something about ten thousand salad plates causing great confusion and Kai went through the last reports on his own, pleased to see that despite Anna's dynamic changes, everything was proceeding just about as well as could be expected.

By the time he finished making the last calls he needed the sun had traced its way across the sky to be quite low on the horizon, filling the palace with a muted orange glow. He had been keeping an eye on the clock and at Five Twenty he stood and gathered the last of his folders that needed to be actioned by a higher power, walking briskly – but not hurriedly- back to the elevator to rise to the second floor.

Security was much tighter up here, with the lift opening to face a fortified guard station. He was of course recognised on site, but the guards none the less carefully checked his ID before scanning him through. Every access point to the castle was secured guards, with a quick response team set up in the security building. There were more guards on the second floor and all of them were backed up by an extensive array of security and surveillance systems. The palace was hardly fortified to the standard of Castle Avalon or The Triad of course, but even the MIIO agents who had swept the place had been grudgingly approving of the security arrangements in place.

Not that it had stopped them from insisting on bringing in two additional rapid response teams with heavy weapons, six additional roving patrols and a sniper unit for the duration of the Princes stay over the rest of the week after tomorrow evenings ball when he would move into one of the luxurious guest buildings behind the palace.

Kai had however firmly put his foot down on the idea of stationing Battlemechs at the Castle entrances backed with heavy armour – no matter how polished up to look entirely ceremonial they would be. And he had point blank refused to turn the families private estate into an RCT bivouac, no matter how well behaved they were.

It had taken more than a few arguments with Agent Curaitis but eventually he had bargained the man down to the relocation of the dropship Barbarossa to the private landing pad just outside the Castle walls, where the 10ths command lance of Battlemechs as well as its Jump Infantry and Battle Armour contingents could remain on standby, as well as providing a convenient secure command post if anything did happen.

Or fast escape off-world, should it prove absolutely necessary.

The whole exercise was both amusing and exasperating in the sheer paranoia of the ISB team overseeing the alphabet soup of agencies and units looking after the Princes safety. But all he could do was try to endure it until they left at the end of the week, knowing full well if he dug his heels in too much they could always call up New Avalon and get authority to overrule his. Something they were clearly loathe to do, as such interplanetary fights between New Avalon and the worlds of the Federated Suns only caused bigger problems down the road, but if they thought he was genuinely compromising their charges safety …

Pragmatism was a very valuable skill for someone in his position. As was picking your fights.

"Good afternoon Kai" the private secretary sitting outside the library doors greeted him as he entered the luxuriously appointed antechamber to the private library come study. The woman sitting at the desk there glance at her computer terminal only briefly, consulting whatever scheduling program was running there before looking back up to nod and gesture at the elegant oaken door next to her. "You can go right in".

"Thankyou Vanessa" he inclined his head in turn, settling himself and relaxing into his formal role as he stepped up to the doors, pausing for a moment to look at his reflection in a conveniently placed mirror and ensuring it was perfect, before stepping up and knocking twice firmly. A faint voice from the other side bid him to enter and he did so, closing the doors behind him before he turned to face the far side of the room, bowing to the figure sitting at the desk there with an ease of long practice.

"Good evening Duchess".
"I, the Baron of Strang, care not for your new names. Clans? Jade Falcons? I call you by your true name: Scum of the Star League, traitors of free will, persecutors of the Periphery come back to lord it over freedom-loving people. Come ahead, you steel-eyed robots! Come ahead and taste what a million like-minded people think of you and your damn Clans!"

-Baron Stepan Von Strang

Chris OFarrell

  • Warrant Officer
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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #48 on: 16 December 2014, 02:04:26 »
Convoy SD-Alpha
Arendelle City
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 09 – 3053

"Death by Chocolate. This has possibilities".

"How so?"

"Well … I doubt we'd find as much enjoyment at a shop named 'Death by vivisection' Galen"

Galen Cox rolled his eyes at Kais quip as he hauled himself out the door after the agile young Liao to join Anna on the pavement as Victor followed behind him in turn. Glancing around past the CID agents already in place, he saw a number of afternoon shoppers staring with a mixture of curiosity and growing excitement at the hoard of black vans, police vehicles and light tanks that had suddenly descended upon this part of the city like an invasion force. Galen had in fact half expected hundreds of agents to materialize and form a hard perimeter, sweeping the shop in question and politely kicking everyone out until they were finished – he guessed that was his military training talking- but Curaitis was surprisingly subtle, keeping only the same half a dozen agents around them and using the local police to enforce a soft perimeter a dozen meters each side of them beyond that.

Of course, it went without saying that the two relatively harmless looking transport minibuses in the convoy with the convoy were in fact packed full of MIIO commandos, ready to respond in an instant should something happen. Backed up by the Groundhog escort vehicles –now there was a monument to mission creep- and an unknown number of 'Waldos' skulking about on various nearby rooftops on overwatch, plus probably an unholy amount of sensor technology…

Victor was in fact anything but lightly protected, appearances notwithstanding.

"So, Anna" Galen commented as he glanced around through the slow build-up of curious onlookers. "Walk me through this; what do we have to work with here?"

"Well, everything you can think of" the young woman beamed with her unquenchable energy as Victor joined them. "They've got about a million different types of ice cream, chocolates, drinks, cakes, biscuits; you name it, they have it! I must have spent an hour or two here every month when I was younger, before I left for Corona…" she continued, her gaze going distant for a moment before snapping back to the here and now. "Come on, I'll show you!" she said and like that she was off, half skipping, half running, half seeming to fly across from them and vanishing into the shop, in between blinks.

"Question" Kai put as soon as Anna had vanished into the store. "What kind of threat assessment should we be running on the idea of Anna getting hit with a sugar high?"

Several worried glances were exchanged among the assembled nobility at that idea…and Galen would have taken an oath that he saw some of the CID agents in close proximity seem to ever so slightly flinch at the comments as well, no matter how much they would certainly deny it. Anna was delightfully excitable to be sure. All of them had needed to work very hard to suppress the urge to laugh at the sight of her bouncing with excitement on the limos seat during their drive into the city until she had realized what she was doing and fought to control herself. Before two minutes later she had started to play, with an almost childlike fascination, with the holographic windows that could be turned at the touch of a finger into a TV or computer display with perfect opacity; yet more Star League technology NAIS had painstakingly recreated.

She was so charmingly open and unreserved, happy and utterly fearless in presenting herself. So completely unlike the typically ultra-reserved members of the courts he had seen in his time with Victor on Tharkad, New Avalon and Outreach…

But the thought of pumping a whole load of highly refined sugar into the girl…

"Well if I had to guess" Galen posited carefully after some consideration, "given her clear love of chocolate she may have built up an immunity over the years to the point that it'll have absolutely no effect. Or…"

"Or?" Victor prodded with a raised eyebrow as he trailed off with a slight frown.

"You remember that vid from Defiance that was all the rage with the RCT about, oh, six months back?"

"…You mean the one with the Triple Strength Myomer Atlas prototype picking up a Locust and using it as a club to beat another Locust to death?"

"Yeah, that one. Worst case, we'll need a lance of those to try and hold her down. Emphasis on try".


Downtown Confectionary Solutions INC – trading as 'Death by Chocolate'
Arendelle City
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 09 – 3053


The door to 'Death by Chocolate' was somewhat old fashioned – at least when compared to most of the gleaming glass and steel shopfronts that dotted this part of the city. The entrance was a somewhat worn looking wooden frame with frosted glass that swung open not automatically, but when Anna carefully took the handle and pushed. An adorable little squeaking from the hinges mixed with a charming old fashioned bell set into the frame announced her entrance as she stepped inside into the cool air, a thousand aromas that mixed into something unique at once causing a sudden surge of memories to blossom in the back of her mind.

'Death by Chocolate' had been something she had missed on Corona. She'd admitted that she might have a chocolate problem –grudgingly- to Rapunzel, who had at once taken on the duty of glaring at her if she ever drifted too close to such treats at various state functions. But honestly, while the chocolate on Corona was quite good, it just … seemed to lack a certain something of the stuff made on Arendelle.

Or perhaps, it wasn't so much the chocolate itself she missed.

Death by Chocolate was ultimately more than an excellent purveyor of coco based products; it was really just another of the precious few things of her Sisters that she could hold onto in some small way. One of the last things she and Elsa had.

It had all started when they had visited the shop as a surprise treat. On her sisters Birthday.

It had been a huge mistake in hindsight from their parents perspective; supercharging the two girls into an explosion of uncontrollable activity for the rest of the day as they raced like hyperactive gazelles around the castle thanks to all the sugar they had consumed, utterly ignoring every command to slow down and calm down. Several hours of this had been followed by an incredible tantrum as the 'hit' had worn off, even from the normally placid Elsa ... followed by them all but dropping dead together in the playroom from exhaustion without warning.

A quiet covenant had been made between their parents and the staff who had needed to clean up the mess that night; that they would never, ever do that again.

Although they had made small orders now and again, rationing out the treats very carefully. It had in fact been this chocolate they both so loved that Anna had tried to use to lure Elsa out from her room, slipping it under the door with the letters she had managed to sneak past the staff, hoping that she would remember how much fun they had had that day…

She had never gotten any direct response … but neither had the chocolate come back. And after Elsa had moved away to the chateau on the other side of the planet, her parents had regularly taken her on more carefully supervised trips to the store. Where she had been allowed to sample some small amount … but far more critically to her; she had been actually allowed –given the duty- of picking out a box or select an offering from the wide selection, to be sent with her parents … to Elsa.

From her. Not from her parents, not from the palace, but from her.

In the end … it was one of the few things she had left. Her parents had always told her about Elsa, what she was doing, how she was going, what she was doing and so on – although Elsa herself had been extremely distant. All the letters, birthday cards, presents Anna forced into the hands of whichever one was going out to spend time with her … of all of them, the chocolate was somehow the most important. Because her parents would always tell her what Elsa had thought of this variety and strange as it was, it was one of the few ways she ever got feedback from them.

'Oh she loved it dear, she went through most of it on that first night!'

'I'm sorry Anna, but she didn't really like it that much – but she did have quite a bit of it. She just said that the flavour wasn't really her thing'

'She couldn't put it down –we had to take it away from her!'

'I don't know how you can pick them so well Anna, she loved it!'

'No, you're not sending her more of that one. She ate so much so quick she felt ill. Then she ate more!'

It sounded rather pathetic now that she thought about it … but in the end, it was almost all she had of her sister.

Well that and she didlove chocolate just as much mind you.

"Oh my Lord…" an older woman's voice breathed and Anna's head snapped up as she broke out of her introspection. There were a decent number of people inside the shop sitting down at the tables scattered around and enjoying a coffee and a treat – although a half dozen of them had noticed the activity outside and glanced up curiously at her before looking away, clearly not recognizing who she was. But that was fine with her.

One person however clearly had recognized her and yet again today, she felt her spirits lift as the somewhat heavyset but surprisingly swift dark skinned woman hurried out from behind her counter towards her.

"Hello Rita" Anna said happily, bracing herself as the much older, much bigger woman crashed into her and threw her arms around her, lifting her off the ground as she straightened. Anna coughed slightly, wondering in sudden alarm if this was how Kai had felt when she had all but tackled him, but just rolled with it with a smile as the other put her back down again and stepped back.

"I didn't expect to see you for at least a day" the other smiled.

"Well you know" she replied with a smile in her voice matching the one on her face. "We all need to keep our priorities straight".

The other laughed, unabashedly. Rita O'Connell was not just the very best chocolate cook on the entire planet, but yet another of the few people Anna had ever felt comfortable being herself with. Anna in fact strongly suspected she knew how much she missed her sister and what the chocolate purchases meant, indulging her visits with incredible patience and kindness and letting her test the various chocolates with an intense concentration other adults may have scoffed at. More than once she had even stayed open after trading hours for her to show up, when her days had been busy with various official duties, all without complaint and indeed, firmly rejecting any notion of compensation for doing so, or any of the major perks openly being associated with the royal family could offer.

She had done it just because she was a good person. And Anna again felt almost overwhelmed at the moment of reconnection.

"I take it you enjoyed the truffles at your suite in the spaceport?" the other smiled broadly.

"Oh God they were incredible – wait" she suddenly stopped as her brain caught up with the comment, looking up into the others face in slight confusion. "Those … those were yours?"

"Of course they were Child" the other laughed again. "Did you think your sister would send you anything but the best?"

The statement hit her like the fist of an Assault Mech and Anna's mouth, for once, opened and closed several times without saying anything as her mind reeled.

Elsa … ELSA … had sent those?

For her?

"She placed the order yesterday, with very specific instructions about which ones to send – called me herself" the other continued, clearly not noticing the sudden and slightly abnormal paralysis of the young woman in front of her as her attention drifted past her to the front of the store where more and more people had walked up to the windows to study the commotion outside. "It was very nice to hear from her after all these years, she sounds so much like your mother …"

Anna tried to push past the pure overwhelming shock of the revelation as Rita edged around her to get a better look out the window at the chaos outside. Taking advantage of the older womans distraction, Anna closed her eyes and took a deep breath, fighting past the sudden beating of her heart to hold it and then very slowly let it out, willing away the surge of fanatic confused emotions at the same time, a technique she had painfully learned through the darkest days on Corona when her despair had threatened to overwhelm her.

Elsa … Elsa had personally organized those chocolates. For her.

It was almost … almost like a tentative gesture from her distant sister, putting a toe into a bath to test the waters. Shy, cautious and ever so careful, cringing as if expecting the water to burn you…

Small steps Anna. One after the other.

It appeared that her sister had gotten similar advice to that her uncle had given her. And Anna couldn't help but smile, fighting back the sudden urge to sniffle at the emotion coursing through her, touched in a way she had not been touched for a very long time by the simple gesture, instead again focusing in on her breathing.

In … and out.

In … and out.

The bell set into the door rang again cheerfully as she finally mastered herself and Anna belatedly remembered exactly where she was and who she was with, whirling around. Two black suited members of the protection detail entered the shop, their eyes sweeping like targeting sensors as the moved forward. They wore friendly expressions and nodded to the customers who looked curiously at them, but took in everything as they moved in, fanning out; one raising his sleeve to his face and muttering 'Clear' as he glided across towards the far wall to watch the door into the kitchen.

"Child, what is going on outside?" Rita asked, a bewildered expression spreading across her face. Anna opened her mouth to explain – but any explanations was then rendered entirely redundant as the door that had almost swung closed again rung open … and Victor Steiner Davion walked in, followed closely by Kai Allard Liao and Galen Cox.

"Oh Good Lord" Rita whispered as a wave of gasps, choked coughs and spittakes from people eating and drinking exploded across the room.

"Don't mind us" Victor smiled and waved everyone down as half of the store started to get to their feet after the moment of shock. "We're just here to investigate what the Duchesses Sister here" and he gestured at her, which of course started a whole new wave of faces snapping around to stare in surprise at her, "insists is the that this is the greatest single chocolate store on the planet".

"Rita" Anna stated with a gentle broad smile as she looked at the stunned woman, "this is Victor Steiner-Davion" she gestured at the March Lord, who inclined his head in a friendly way, as if it was possible that she or anyone else in the room had actually didn't knowwho he was. "And Kai Allard Liao from Saint Ives" she then pointed out the man next to him who offered a friendly wave "and Galen Cox of the 10th Lyran Guards" who smiled and nodded, but said nothing as he neatly stepped around them and made for the counter, studying the menus on the with a rather keen look on his face, one additional bodyguard discreetly stepping in behind them to stand near the door as it closed.

"My word" Rita composed herself. "Welcome all! I apologise if Anna is such an addict for my work that she hijacked your convoy to get here".

Anna felt her cheeks redden at that slightly and a gentle chuckle went around the room, but she almost imperiously lifted her head up, daring the blush to even try to spread further…

"Anna has been nothing but a pleasure to be with today" Victor assured the other. "Now, she was saying something about -"

"Hey, check this out!" Galen suddenly broke in and Anna turned to see him excitedly studying a selection of things inside the glass topped counter. Victor shrugged and the group started to move over, Rita herself taking the chance to disengage and move back behind her counter to regain her composure as conversation started back up in whispers and murmurs around them.

"No. Way" Kai muttered as he stepped up next to Galen, his eyes going wide as he looked down into the display cabinet. "Chocolate Mechs?"

Indeed, inside she could see dozens of brown miniature Battlemechs packaged in neat plastic boxes, terraced to be easily visible, a miniature army of them. Anna moved up behind them with Victor, squeezing between the other two men as all three almost pressed their faces into the glass, all of the sudden looking less like living legends … and more like kids in a candy shop.

Which … was oddly appropriate come to think of it.

"Enforcer, Valkyrie, Jaggermech, Archer … Gods, look at the detail on these miniatures … edible miniatures" Kai added as he leaned in. "We've got to tell the rest of the RCT about this place. I'm definitely taking the Centurion".

"I've got the Victor" the Prince put in, explaining with slight embarrassment when she asked that no, the AFFC had not named a Mech after him, but that he had piloted one during the first year of the Clan invasion thank you very much - before Jamie Wolf had given him a Clan Mech to help fight the enemy on even terms.

"Well I guess I'll have to take the Crusader" Galen tapped on the glass after some consideration. "Hey, are those nuts in the LRM racks?"

"Hazelnut dearie" Rita confirmed as she carefully pulled the Mechs out one by one.

"Sweeeeeet" Galen grinned before turning to her. "So Anna, how about you?"

"Uh, I don't know" Anna blinked, taken slightly aback. Granted, she loved chocolate, but … she wasn't into and didn't really get the whole Cult of the Mechwarrior that seemed to be all the higher level nobility of the Federated Suns talked about some days at various banquets or balls.

"But … we can't have a Lance" and Kai gestured at the three chocolate BattleMechs standing on the counter, "with only three Mechs" Galen protested with a frown.

"It's just not done" Kai confirmed with a sage nod. "Very bad karma".

"And think of the stories you can tell, of the time you were part of the Archon-Princes command Lance…" Galen pointed out, looking down at the array of figures. "Well, until you dispossessed yourself eating your own Mech anyway".

"Oh alight" Anna sighed, not exactly needing a huge amount of convincing – they did look delicious after all as she stepped up and study the different designs, not having much of a clue …

"Um…what about that one?" she said tapping the glass over one Mech that looked … precocious.

"The Urbanmech?" Galen wondered and Rita reached in to the cabinet to tap lightly on the box, causing Anna to screw her face up slightly in a frown.

"Uch, no, that one looks like a walking trash can" she dismissed it as she leaned in closer. "I mean the one to the right of it".

"Ah, the Locust" Victor nodded as Rita retrieved it and placed it next to the other three. "A hyperactive recon 'Mech that appears and vanishes between blinks and is the devil to try and keep up with. Somehow that seems … appropriate. And now we have a Light to go with the Medium, Heavy and Assault, so that works too"

Anna couldn't help but blush slightly at the description of the 'Mech – which was clearly directed at her from the man she had almost put flat on his back earlier in the day. But she took the remark in good humour as the Mechs were carefully packed away and they quickly moved to look at other items. Rita brought out a handful of samples and to her slightly smug happiness, she saw that the three men were actually taken aback slightly at how good it was, instantly placing an order for several boxes to take with them – and promising to pick up a few more when they left the planet.

From what she understood from Galens –repeated- comments, the food aboard their military jumpship was not exactly the top of the line stuff one might have expected.

Soon enough they were ready. Galen and Kai hefted their bags full of confectionary while she carefully balanced her own … extensive … purchases on one arm, while balancing the drinks tray on the other. None of them seemed to want to touch the extensive supply of alcohol in the limo but it was rather warm outside, the men ordering Iced Coffees while she had gone with an Iced Chocolate frappe. Victor meanwhile was happily talking to the crowd under the watchful eye of his bodyguards, signing autographs for a few people and even posing for a picture with one of the groups who had been lucky enough to have a camera with them, said group earning hidden glares from all the other guests in the shop.

Finally it was time to leave. Anna freely and easily promised Rita that she would visit soon, thanking her for the chocolates at the starport before carefully easing out. Victor was gallant enough to hold open the door for her, earning a smile – that was probably caught on a TV camera she realized to her mild dismay when she stepped outside to find that the local crowd had expanded significantly with a number of TV cameras pointed at her like a firing line. Still kept safely away by the police line and less subtle threat posed by the pulse laser array on the Groundhog, but focused on the door no doubt with long range lenses fixed and filming.

Well, we wanted to give the Scandlevids something to go crazy over she giggled silently to herself as she walked to the limo and in that moment as she exchanged a look with Victor, seeing the mirth in his eyes, she knew he had had the exact same thought.

Laughing lightly with him for that second, they crossed the short walk to the door of the limo, Victor smiling and waving while Kai and Galen lugged their purchases, humorously complaining that they had been reduced to minions carrying Victors shopping before they all piled in and the miniature army got underway.
"I, the Baron of Strang, care not for your new names. Clans? Jade Falcons? I call you by your true name: Scum of the Star League, traitors of free will, persecutors of the Periphery come back to lord it over freedom-loving people. Come ahead, you steel-eyed robots! Come ahead and taste what a million like-minded people think of you and your damn Clans!"

-Baron Stepan Von Strang

Chris OFarrell

  • Warrant Officer
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  • Posts: 605
Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #49 on: 16 December 2014, 02:05:08 »
Government House
Arendelle City
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 09 – 3053


Victor checked his reflection in the polished mirror that made up the back wall of the elevator one last time as it rose towards the top floor of Government House. Fortunately, the ultra-high quality suit from the finest tailors on Tharkad was living up to its reputation, looking as fresh as it had when he put it on in the morning.

The face above it though…

Victor frowned slightly, pulling out a compact comb from his suits pocket and hastily running it through his hair, nodding at the result as he put it back. Anna … was an incredibly charming girl, but by the Gods was it work to keep up with her once she started moving!

But then again, he wouldn't have traded the time he had spent with her today for anything.

After picking up their supplies of chocolate, Anna had directed their convoy to the Arendelle City botanical gardens. Several city blocks worth of lush vegetation secured behind both a solid wall and a heavy tree line. The gardens were technically closed while city staff prepared luxury marquee tents for a number of luncheon functions scheduled to take place on the wide lawns during the Investment, but the security guards on the gate had been understandably disinclined to argue with either the absolute authority of the people in the convoy or the excessive firepower of their escorts and had opened the gates at once.

Then closed them in the face of the media pack who had tried to follow them in.

The security teams had deployed to make a quick sweep, but there was no presence or threat in the secluded corner of the gardens that Anna had directed them to. Almost before they had stopped, Anna had burst from the Limo in excitement, skipping across to a small pond in the shadow of a number of low trees, the trio of Mechwarriors following in continuing bemusement. They had found the young woman moment later kneeling and holding her hands out towards a flock of impossibly cute ducklings warded by a pair of much larger ducks. To Victor's disbelief, three of the tiny yellow birds had at once jumped up into her hand quacking happily, as the rest frolicked around her, Anna happily insisting that they were the descendants of one 'Mister Quack'; a duck she had apparently known for many many years from her early childhood in this park.

And that the duckling 'grandkids' clearly knew their 'Aunt Anna'.

Kai, equally bewildered and perhaps even slightly disbelieving had boldly moved forward and lowered his own hands carefully towards the ducklings in an attempt to duplicate her actions – only to snatch it back with a yelp as Mother Duck had rounded and lunged, trying to bite his fingers off in anger at his intrusion, quaking rather loudly in indignation. The legendary son of the legendary Justin Allard, hero of the Clan War and all around terror on the field of battle had rapidly put a considerable distance between the birds and himself, while Anna had simply frowned and asked Kai to please not be mean to the cute little ducks.

Victor had cracked up at that point; laughing alongside Galen as Kai had shot them a somewhat wounded look, complaining that the damn things had to have been talking to Jade Falcons and said Falcons had been clearly telling highly biased stories about his attitude towards birds in general.

Soon enough however, Anna had carefully returned the ducklings and the flock had carried on, all of them waddling to the pond and vanishing around the corner of the bank.

The Limo, as befitting the personal transport of a Successor State Lord or their family, was well stocked and soon enough a small rug had been found to unfold on the ground and a number of sandwiches broken out from the even better stocked refrigerator to supplement their excellent drinks and chocolate. It had been a pleasant afternoon and the group had made the most of it, Victor for one finding the fresh air, good food, sunshine and company extremely endearing after spending most of a month stuck in space breathing canned air and eating canned food in microgravity.

More than that, he had spent the time just being Victor. No Prince Victor, not Colonel Victor nor March Lord Victor. They had talked about entirely inconsequential things, Anna cheerfully swapping stories with them as all of them had 'hung up' their ranks and titles off to the side, isolated and alone under the shade of the ferns in this part of the garden. It was increasingly rare for him to be able to do so – even in the AFFC as an officer there were walls and boundaries he couldn't cross. And it wasn't as if Hohiro or Kai … or Omi … came around terribly often. So finding someone like Anna who could so casually see past the dropship sized baggage he carried around with his endless list of titles …

Well, if he gained nothing else from this visit to Arendelle that alone would make the tip worthwhile.

Soon enough however the real world had returned in full force. He had an appointment with the planetary regent to formally discharge his office which was hardly something he could put off – not with the Duchess Presumptive due to take up the powers tomorrow! And so, with some slight reluctance as the sun had slowly moved towards the horizon, he had finally declared that it was time to get moving again.

And to be fair, he wasn't the only one with plans for the afternoon

Marshal Jackson Davion had tagged a team from the Inspector General's office onto his bodyguard unit at some point without bothering to tell him, with orders to perform an inspection of the local militia under the aegis of the 10th. Apparently the bi-yearly audit of the militia was long overdue, having been put off during the sheer chaos of the Clan Invasion and subsequent restructuring and rebuilding the AFFC was still undergoing. And as far as High Command was concerned, if he was going out here anyway, surely he could do a quick spot check for the Inspector General?

Galen however had been suspiciously quick to put his hand up and take on the role as supervising officer of the audit. Frankly, Victor had more than a sneaking suspicion that he had done so only to have a clear fall-back position of 'important work' to retreat to if Victor threatened to pull him into any more luncheons or balls over the next week, other than those strictly necessary to attend.

Which really said it all about what Galen thought of these kind of social obligations; audits were the kind of thankless data shuffling most front line officers dreaded.

Still it was important work. No-one was expecting Tortuga to invade anytime soon or anything, but the strategic situation on-planet was changing quickly. Within five years Arendelle would be an exporter of some of the most sought after materials in known space – and the planet was dangerously under protected, with barely two companies of light 'Mechs, a couple of tank battalions and a few regiments of mechanized infantry on the books to cover over a billion people across the planet – far too little to cover a competent hit-hold-run raid by pirates.

There was already talk in the pipeline about substantially upgrading the Militia - perhaps by founding a Regional Training Battalion on-planet or perhaps even upgrading the Militia to a full March Militia RCT – but before any money was put on the table, High Command wanted to be sure of what they had to work with.

Paper assets looked nice on the books, but were surprisingly less than helpful in a real fight.

Kai on the other hand wasn't here for work per se; he was just eager to 'get out and stretch his legs'.

By which of course he meant Yen-Lo-Wang's.

Fort Akershus where most of the mixed battalion would be bunking down, like most such installations had a fully functional training range that mixed holographic overlay technology with dummy units and sensor ghosts to create a quite effective training ground for Mechwarriors and Tankers. The announcement that Kai was going to 'take a walk' over there in the later afternoon had naturally been forwarded to the Militia, whose members were suddenly finding any number of reasons to be on-base this afternoon.

Victor had of course realized that such an official-unofficial event would be an excellent excuse for an 'icebreaker' where the 10th could meet some of the local soldiers and mingle – and in the informal atmosphere the elite members of the 10th would be ideally placed to get an impression of the unit – determine if they were toy soldiers in it for the uniform, or genuine professionals who took their job seriously, so he had encouraged his officers to make it an 'official - unofficial' event.

A pair of staff cars from the 10th had been waiting at the Grand Arendelle hotel when the convoy had arrived and soon enough both men were on their way to entertain themselves, leaving him alone.

Because Anna too had had own plans.

Which were to have no plans.

He had extended her an invitation to dinner, noting that it was entirely appropriate for her to join him at a dinner hosted by the planets expatriate Free Rasalhague Republic community. Victor had been mildly surprised to find that there were very strong cultural links between many worlds of the FRR and Arendelle – the two sharing a common heritage dating back to Terra that had never been forgotten. The Clan invasion had generated a flood of refugees seeking a new home – and Arendelle, a long way from the Clan OZ had seemed a natural choice for hundreds of thousands of the more wealthy citizens with the resources to flee the Wolves and Ghost Bears. The dinner was yet another political event as much as anything else, letting the FedCom show its support for the rather brutalized nation that had all but been swallowed up by the Clans – and no doubt a great many of them would take the opportunity to try and feel him out for more military support for their homeland.

He really would have liked to have Anna around to run interference for him, with Galen off terrifying some poor duty officer expecting a quiet night and Kai showing the locals exactly why he had become the Jade Falcons bogyman.

Anna however had declined, saying that she already had plans to have a quiet late afternoon, followed by a quiet dinner in her room, just wanting to rest up for tomorrow. In fact she had been almost profusely apologetic, as if worried he would order her imprisoned for daring to turn down an invitation to dinner as she had insisted that of course if he really wanted her to come she of course would…

It had taken him almost ninety seconds to finally break through her machine gun like chattering to assure her that it was perfectly fine and that he was in no way insulted.

Gods that girl could talk!

Then, in probably the most amusing twist to the day thus far –and with Anna raising the bar every twenty minutes that was saying something- Anna had then walked up Agent Curatis and almost shyly handed over one of her bags, filled with a great many tiny chocolate items. She had explained that they were an apology to all the agents in the detail who had either been forced to work extra hard after she had turned their plans upside down, or, had just had heart attacks in the way she had waltzed right through their 'airtight' perimeter to smash into the Archon-Prince designate.

In Victors opinion, the ultra-cool CIB agent had come distressingly close for a split second to actually looking genuinely touched at the gesture before hurriedly 'blanking' his face again, turning over the bag to one of his minions to stash in an ancillary vehicle and politely thanking the young noble, before beating a hasty retreat back to the convoy just as they had started to pull out back towards the city.

The trip had been quick. Like many worlds, Arendelle lacked a major domestic car industry, instead importing their vehicles from offworld and relying on extensive underground public transport systems. The end result of which was far less traffic than on a world like New Avalon, letting them make excellent time, even during 'peak' hour.

Built during the Star League and named after Unity City on Terra, Unity Plaza was to be the focus of the ceremonies tomorrow. Dominating the square at the Northern edge was the Great Hall of Arendelle; a grand building scarcely smaller than the Duchy Palace itself where the investment itself would take place. Tens of thousands of people were already packed into the open air square facing it, planning to camp out overnight to ensure they had the best seats in the house and it was expected that the crowd would probably swell to over a hundred thousand by early tomorrow morning, with giant displays strategically set up to ensure the crowd would miss nothing that would happen inside.

Victor had decided not to pre-empt his formal arrival to the Great Hall tomorrow. Instead, the advanced team directed the convoy to an underground card park a few blocks away. From there he had walked through a secure and highly classified evacuation tunnel to the basement of the humble office block known as Government House off to the side of the square, where the Regent had set up his administration, wedged between the almost malevolent looking tower belonging to the Ministry of Taxation and the squat functional cube belonging to the Ministry of Customs and Border Security. Victor had actually enjoyed the brisk walk, stretching his legs and getting his blood pumping, as no matter how often you exercised on a Jumpships Grav deck, it just wasn't the same as solid ground.

He had also felt the glares from the gaggle of bureaucrats from New Avalon here to lug along the various seals of state and hardcopy paperwork needed for the formal transfer of power as they struggled to keep up through the warm tunnels, their ridiculous robes not exactly suited for the conditions.

He frankly could care less; if they insisted on wearing something that even an old-school ComStar Precentor would draw the line at as just downright silly because of some esoteric tradition, then that was their problem.

The Regents suite of offices sat on the top floor, overlooking the square. It was no coincidence of course, that his arrival happened to coincide almost to the second with the moment the systems primary dipped below the horizon. He had been assured that it was tradition for such transfer ceremonies to take place at sunset, the ceremonial symbol of the final day ending and all that.

Frankly, Victor thought it was a little over the top – but then to him this was just work. To the people of Arendelle on the other hand, this was a momentous occasion, a grand spectacle of pageantry and ceremony … and the least he could do was to play his part.

Applause broke out as the elevator doors opened on the 11th floor, Victor quickly affixing his standard 'professional but happy to be here' smile as he walked out, the corridor in front of him lined down one with dozens of excited looking senior staffers and bureaucrats, with a whole new media pack at the far end just outside what had to be the Regents office, their cameras flashes already blazing away with more light than some energy heavy Clan Omnimechs he had seen.

Setting himself, Victor started to stride down the corridor slowly, pausing every few steps to shake the many many hands of the many many people waiting for him.


Grand Arendelle Hotel
Arendelle City
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 09 – 3053


'…and with the seal of the Lord of the Crucis March now affixed to this document, we hereby terminate the regency of Sir Roger Landers and retain all associated executive powers in ourselves, until such time as we see fit to invest them in the rightful heir of the Duchy of Arendelle. Sir Landers, we offer you our most sincere and humble thanks for your service, on behalf of the people of Arendelle, of the Federated Suns and of the Federated Commonwealth...'

Victors smiling face on the vid screen froze at that point, shrinking down to a small window in the top right corner of the screen, returning the view to a TV studio where a trio of people were sitting, the camera focusing in on the smiling middle woman.

'And with those words Prince Victor closed the chapter in the highly successful regency of Sir Roger Landers, who is even now on his way to the Spaceport to catch a private Dropship off world, leaving Prince Victor in charge of Arendelle - although of course he will be investing the Lady Elsa tomorrow formally in that role. The Palace press liaison also released a statement a short time ago, formally offering the deepest thanks of the Lady Elsa not just for all his hard work on behalf of the people, but for his personal advice and guidance in the hard years after the death of her parents. Charlie, your thoughts?'

'Well we have known for quite some time that Elsa has been playing an increasingly active role in the affairs of state the man on the left with the air of an academic now nodded, leaning forward and pushing his glasses back onto his face as they threatened to slide down. In fact, from what I've heard quietly from behind the scenes, over the last four or five months she has been effectively making the decisions herself with Landers serving as more of an advisor than her Regent'.

'Which is a good thing, isn't it?'

'Oh no doubt Kristin. No doubt at all' the man nodded sagely. 'There is always the risk in a change of leadership of instability as a new leader gets their feet under them, but it seems that Landers has been very carefully grooming Elsa for the role and slipping her into it to the point that she is effectively already the Duchess in all but name. By all reports Hanse Davion personally handpicked Sir Landers, and like most choices the Fox makes, it was done with great care and deliberation. There should be minimal disruption to the planet'.

'So now we move to the investment tomorrow where the Prince will formally invest Elsa with all the powers and responsibilities of the Duchess of Arendelle. Do we have any idea if the two have even met yet? Or will meet before she arrives?'

'Tradition would say no, they have not' the other man, an older man in a very expensive looking suit put in in a gravelly voice. 'By tradition Elsa will have been in seclusion preparing today. And there is no schedule for the two to meet until she approaches him tomorrow at the Investment for the coronation ceremony. After that, they will have many meetings over the next few days where she will lay out her policies for him – he is her boss after all and bring anything needed to his attention that might need to be addressed'.

'Clearly that tradition does not apply to the Duchesses Sister' the host laughed lightly and the two men joined in with her for a moment.

'Indeed' the older man commented. 'Rumour has it that Hanse and Melissa were quite close to the former Duke and Duchess – and it is heart-warming to see the next generation also seem to be getting on very well'.

'More than getting on – Anna and Victor seemed inseparable from the point they arrived on the planet' the woman smiled. 'Could we be seeing the beginnings of something here? Dare I even suggest a courtship?'

Anna, sitting at the bar sipping on the soft drink she had been nursing for the last twenty or so minutes choked at that, coughing and drawing a few curious stares, but getting herself back under control, staring up at the vid screen over the bar on the Hotels second floor. A flush started to wash over her face for probably the tenth time today as trio on the screen started to talk about her and Victor's 'interactions' over the day.

Then they played the clip of them on each other's arms at the Spaceport.

Then the clip of the two of them laughing as he held the door open for her at Death by Chocolate and helped her to the limo.

Then the hug she had impulsively given him when he had dropped her off – conveniently editing out the same hugs she had given to both Galen and Kai!

She could feel herself trying to impersonate a turtle as her neck seemed to try and retract into her shoulders of its own accord, as if she could somehow minimise her presence in the bar. Anna felt her skin crawl as the commentators casually discussed the possibility of if Victor's parents were trying to set Victor up with her … and desperately prayed to any God

Well, they had wanted to give the scandlevids something to talk about, mission accomplished!

Gods what if her Sister saw this and thought she was trying to seduce the Archon-Prince?!

Finishing up her drink with a hurried gulp, she left a ten pound note on the bar for the bartender and slinked away, never feeling as self-conscious as this before despite seeing that no-one was actually paying her any attention, probably not even recognizing her, she felt all their eyes on her back as she slinked off to the elevator bank outside. She wasn't exactly paying a huge amount of attention to her surroundings as she rounded the corner into the lift well, fumbling for the security card to her room that doubled as her lift pass-

So it was not entirely surprising that she slammed into someone coming the other way in a hurry.

She yelped as she rebounded and pin wheeled, crashing to the floor with an oomph as the breath was stolen from her lungs.

Well nice work Anna, you finally did it!

She had almost crashed into the poor porter at the day suite, barely skidding to a halt before crashing into him.

She had almost crashed into her Uncle and Aunt, sliding along the wooden floor to come to a halt a meter short of them in a way that looked spectacular, but was really pure luck.

She had crashed into the Archon-Prince designate, but the man's lightning fast reflexes honed on the battlefields of the Clan front had been up to the task of steadying her before she fell over and he himself had held his footing well.

But finally, her luck had run out and now she had crashed to the floor.

She was just lucky there were no cameras around.

"Hey!" she protested as she got air back into her lungs, wincing slightly as she reached up and pushed the bangs out of her hair.

"I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?" a man's voice replied at once, slightly anxiously.

Sighing from her position on the cold marble floor on the ground, she half looked and half glared up … into the most incredibly handsome face she had ever seen in her life … and the deepest green eyes she had ever known.



So we'll get our first Elsa POV next chapter, which will cover the fun of Coronation Day ... and the real fun getting started in the evening!
"I, the Baron of Strang, care not for your new names. Clans? Jade Falcons? I call you by your true name: Scum of the Star League, traitors of free will, persecutors of the Periphery come back to lord it over freedom-loving people. Come ahead, you steel-eyed robots! Come ahead and taste what a million like-minded people think of you and your damn Clans!"

-Baron Stepan Von Strang

Shadow_Wraith

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #50 on: 16 December 2014, 02:38:38 »
great update!

Sigil

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #51 on: 16 December 2014, 09:09:06 »
A true pleasure to read.  I'd been waiting to see when the next chapter would appear, and it was definitely worth the wait!  In fact, it just seems to be getting better and better.  I'm hooked  O0

Don't stop or I'll have to find one of the those Triple Strength Myomers Atlases....  [drool]

Terrace

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #52 on: 16 December 2014, 11:47:07 »
Sighing from her position on the cold marble floor on the ground, she half looked and half glared up … into the most incredibly handsome face she had ever seen in her life … and the deepest green eyes she had ever known.

Why hello there future aspiring murderer!

DOC_Agren

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #53 on: 16 December 2014, 13:15:47 »
Triple Strength Myomers Atlases using 20 ton mechs as melee weapons!!!

I so wish to see that some day
"For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed:And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!"

Zureal

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #54 on: 16 December 2014, 19:06:53 »

Don't stop or I'll have to find one of the those Triple Strength Myomers Atlases....  [drool]

  Ill take 2 please :D  8)

knightowl

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #55 on: 16 December 2014, 20:26:29 »
Triple Strength Myomers Atlases using 20 ton mechs as melee weapons!!!

I so wish to see that some day

You do know that Altas almost can use Locust as Melee weapons. But for only 1 swing after the overheat because of weight.

Chris OFarrell

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #56 on: 17 December 2014, 00:04:44 »
Triple Strength Myomers Atlases using 20 ton mechs as melee weapons!!!

I so wish to see that some day

Concept came to me watching this - advance to about 18:50  :))
"I, the Baron of Strang, care not for your new names. Clans? Jade Falcons? I call you by your true name: Scum of the Star League, traitors of free will, persecutors of the Periphery come back to lord it over freedom-loving people. Come ahead, you steel-eyed robots! Come ahead and taste what a million like-minded people think of you and your damn Clans!"

-Baron Stepan Von Strang

ckosacranoid

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #57 on: 17 December 2014, 00:43:38 »
Very funny updates. Man is anne totaly out of left feild and very very amusing. Reactios to her from everyone is funny. Thank you for sharing this. If you dont finish this I have the nukes from the raid on herbs nuke locker to use with the arrowr four unbermech.

Trace Coburn

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #58 on: 18 December 2014, 00:54:05 »
  Some backstory/food for thought, from here, here and here on the SpaceBattles.com thread:

Quote from: Chris O'Farrell
Quote from: smthng
Apparently I had managed to miss several updates. Oops.

Well, now I just had to read several chapters in a row. The story continues to be awesome, except for the annoying infodumpy parts that still plague it. For example, the introduction of the Duke of Weselton was such. You could have dropped the whole scene and the story would not have suffered at all. In fact, if you ask me, it would have made it flow better, as the good duke had no part in this chapter.
Its a fair point - although mostly that was just to set up the Duke as something more than the very 1D psudo secondary villain he was in the film. We won't actually be seeing terribly much of him, but I wanted to flesh him out a little more than the film as the 'I want to exploit this Kingdom ... somehow!' guy, without having to explain it later.

But I do get carried away when thinking about Btech history and weaving him into the timeline and major economic events :p

There should be a lot less of this kind of stuff moving forward though, now that everyone is pretty well established.
The last of it will be next chapter with Victor going through the forwarded paperwork and messages which will show a little slice of the wider FedCom and Inner Sphere. Or more specifically the small butterflies from the AFFCs Army Group Sudeten not vanishing into a half year long missjump, as well as making the most of the year of peace to shuffle more forces around, resulting in a somewhat more beaten up Jade Falcon Clan with a thinner OZ.
[SNIP]
  (Emphasis added for clarity.)

Quote from: gladiusone
Sorry, Army Group Sudeten? I think I missed this part of the fluff ...

Quote from: Chris O'Farrell
Its a running joke on SB and some other boards. In the Clan Invasion, a whole slew of crack AFFC units seemed to magically vanish in between the Clan waves and then either not appear at all again for some time, or were sort of vaguely mentioned as having been hit somehow. Among the huge amount of other units that no-one bothered to shuffle around during the Year of Peace in favour of humoring Romano on Outreach.

Sudeten fell to two Clusters despite being what appears to be the primary staging ground for AFFC units coming into theater. It had multiple crack RCTs and line regiments including, IIRC, a FedCom RCT, the two Kell Hound Regiments, the 10th LG, the GDL and the ELH when Victor launched his attack on Twycross, presumably most units rotated back to there. Mostly because it was conveninet to do so, keep the Clan invasion rolling by fiat by not allowing the AFFC to concentrate forces and counter attack or anything like that.

In THIS universe at least, the AFFC remembered that said units actually existed and Morgan pulled off one of his CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED moments by suckering in the Falcons on Sudeten and then dropping the hammer on them, as well as launching a limited counter attack while the Falcons were busy grinding with the ComGuards on Tukayyid. Which also ran partially into Operation Scorpion, which helped out a rather large amount.

Essentially if you want to picture the Jade Falcon OZ in this universe, take the standard one and take away Parakoila, Antares, Graus, Sudeten, Blair Atholl, Benfled and Orkney, all firmly held by the AFFC and a big morale boost that instead of just loosing more planets, the AFFC managed to hold the line and give the Clanners a very bloody nose.

We won't really see much of this in this fic though - as its not really relevant. Perhaps the squeal if I decide to write one.

  Well, now.  Isn’t that interesting?  }:)

Vehrec

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Re: The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech
« Reply #59 on: 19 December 2014, 13:32:16 »
Why hello there future aspiring murderer!
What aspiring murderer?  I just see a Mirror.  An evil mirror to be sure, a mirror that reflects what surrounds it without beauty or goodness, a mirror that fascinates and captures souls and freezes hearts....

But it's just a mirror. ;)
*Insert support for fashionable faction of the week here*