ComStar Compound, Hilton Head Island
North America, Terra
19 October 3049The Precentor-Martial of ComStar was decades older than the Primus but he looked infinitely more vigorous than she felt. A decade and a half of transforming the ComGuards from a mix of mercenaries and inexperienced acolytes into a professional army had only empowered him while Myndo Waterly felt that the same time struggling against the ever-rising menace of the Federated Commonwealth had sapped away at her.
Anastasius Focht bowed deeply and kissed the Primus’ hand respectfully. “My apologies that I could not be here sooner, Primus. I’ve only made a preliminary study of the data you sent me but I concur that it’s very disturbing.”
“Since I contacted you, the matter has grown more pressing.” Myndo Waterly turned from Focht and gestured towards the holographic projector in the middle of the room. Reactivated, the projector brought up a complete map of the Inner Sphere. Trails of light were expanding across those parts marked in the gold of the Federated Commonwealth.
“Hanse Davion has issued a formal war warning to all units of the AFFC, paying for maximum priority communication to units in the Tamar and Draconis Marches. In addition, the war games currently taking place in the Capellan March and St Ives Compact have been cancelled, although word hasn’t reached them yet.”
“Interesting.” Focht examined the projectors display for a moment. “It seems that Hanse Davion has more information than he has shared. However remarkable the clash here,” he gestured at the cluster of pirate kingdoms core-ward of the Tamar March and Free Rasalhague Republic, “That wouldn’t usually indicate concerns here.” He moved his hand down to indicate the Draconis March. “And if his concern was the Combine then why not alert the Terran March.”
“Indeed.” Waterly returned to her desk. “I know my own reasons for concern at both the initial reports and this new development, but I’d prefer to hear your own thoughts before I influence them.”
“Of course. With your permission?” Focht inserted a data disc into the projector. “Captain Camacho had close range footage of two of the enemy BattleMechs, in one case with considerable torso damage that let us see the internals – admittedly not in working order, but very useful nonetheless.”
The projector lit up with two views of the blocky ‘Mech sporting the missile pod and offset cockpit. One view show it intact, the other with the savaged left torso caused by the ammunition explosion.
“Despite the resemblance, this isn’t a Thunderbolt. It’s taller and heavier, the armour protection is at least as good and rather than the secondary weapon systems usually fitted, it adds a third heavy weapon system. Both the size and the heavier armament would generally make it difficult to maintain the same speed but this ‘Mech isn’t merely faster, it also fits jump jets and does so with no noticeable reduction in armour protection.”
“Are you saying that this ‘Mech is more advanced than those deployed by the AFFC or by the ComGuards?” enquired Waterly sharply.
“At least marginally superior to our own forces. The full capacity of the AFFC has been frustratingly hard to pin down, as we’ve discussed. Some aspects of the machine would certainly be within their capacity – the autocannon is a multi-munitions type which the SLDF perfected and we’ve retained with the ComGuards. It’s been confirmed that such autocannon are being fitted to ‘Mechs in the AFFC. However, the key to the impressive performance of this ‘Mech are the internal structures.”
Focht reached into the hologram and indicated each component. “Those structural members are broader than those used in most ‘Mechs because they’re a variation on SLDF endo-steel structures. The same materials are used in advanced heatsinks and given the infra-red signature of this ‘Mech it almost certainly has them. Also the reactor shielding extends much further to the sides than normal – again, bulkier but lighter than the commonly used hardware of used by the Successor States. We have all of these technologies although the preliminary figures suggest that whoever built this may have a marginal advantage. The Federated Commonwealth is definitely working on them – their latest armour refits are effectively equal to our own – but how far they’ve been able to deploy them and exactly how effective their internals are has been very hard to pin down.”
“You’re telling me that we can’t build this, that someone has new and more advanced technology than ComStar.”
“We could build something similar, although it would take time and possibly be slightly inferior – the numbers are still being reviewed. But yes, we have to assume that whoever they are, they’re at least as advanced scientifically as ComStar.” Focht folded his hands behind his back. “It doesn’t surprise me that Hanse Davion feels that this may be a major threat. Five of these ‘Mechs decisively defeated more than twice their numbers. While the Seventeenth Recon Regiment aren’t a first-class regiment, they’re no pushovers either. There was an entire battalion of Ryan’s pirates on Gotterdammerung as of our last reports from the area – given the boastful nature of pirates, if they were responsible for defeating the mercenaries they’d have made it known quickly. In fact there’s no news of them, suggesting that this is a third party who took out Ryan’s forces quickly and easily.”
“That leads us rather quickly to the most important question then: who are these people? Your thoughts have thus far been largely in accord with my own. Judging from what we have seen, do you think that these could be Kerensky’s forces returning?”
“The possibility has been raised by my staff,” Focht admitted. “However, when General Kerensky left the Inner Sphere with the bulk of the Star League Defence Force, they were last seen at New Samarkand. While it’s possible they moved core-wards after they entered the periphery, there’s no reason to expect that they did so, and returning via Tamar would be a rather indirect route.”
“Certainly the SLDF technology would have given them a starting point comparable to our own capabilities, but what departed were an army and their support personnel, not scientists with research and manufacturing facilities. It’s been questioned over the years how viable the Star League’s armies could have been as colonists, in fact.”
“Given the immense destruction of the Amaris Crisis and the First Succession War, it’s entirely possible that entire groups and facilities we think were destroyed actually left with Kerensky,” Waterly riposted. “You say that they could have travelled core-wards such that Tamar is a sensible route back to us. They could have had scientists with them that we’re unaware of. Surely it’s premature to rule out the possibility.”
“We’ve ruled nothing out at this stage, Primus. Not even the possibility that these are non-humans, far-fetched as that might seem. If it is Kerensky’s heirs, or some other colonial group we’re unaware of, they could have had centuries to build up the research and manufacturing facilities to produce these ‘Mechs. Despite the efforts of the Explorer Corps over the last century, we really know appallingly little about the deep periphery.”
“The same thoughts must have crossed Hanse Davion’s mind. If Kerensky’s forces are returning, the Draconis March would be the closest worlds of the Federated Commonwealth to the point of departure, while the Tamar March is the closest area to this new event. That may explain the prioritisation of alerting these areas.”
Waterly nodded and walked to the window. “And what if this is a cover for preparations to launch a new war of aggression? The source of this information is, after all, a mercenary regiment in the service to the Federated Commonwealth. It’s a convenient excuse for him to move forces adjacent to the borders of the Draconis Combine.”
“I believe we can be confident, from the nature of Colonel Camacho’s report, that his daughter is indeed dead. It’s not impossible that the unit responsible were AFFC troops in disguise, but I don’t see that this would be of significant benefit to him. Takashi Kurita and his son Theodore may give reports of unknown ‘Mechs in the Periphery some credence, but the heightened alert on their borders with the Federated Commonwealth will have them look towards that, not towards the periphery. That being the case, it’s highly probable that we are dealing with a genuine outside group.”
“Then we need to find out their scope and their intentions. If this is a small group and they have limited forces, so much the better, but the SLDF army was far larger than all the regiments of all the Successor States combined. If they have anything approaching that scale of forces…”
“It isn’t very likely that we’re dealing with numbers on that scale, Primus. The SLDF was supported by thousands of inhabited systems and trillions of Star League citizens. Still, even a force the size of, say, the Taurian Defence Force or the Kungsarme, could cause impressive losses to the House Militaries as they stand.”
Myndo Waterly nodded. “Not necessarily a bad thing if they were to cut the Fox down to size, but there would be other repercussions. I’ll order the Explorer Corps to make this their first priority. We must make contact with these people and learn more about them.”
“With your permission, I’d like to head out myself. The ComGuards are deployed in the area and if this does lead to fighting it’s not clear if they’ll respect the neutrality of our HPG stations. If I’m on the scene then…”
“You’re too valuable where you are, Precentor-Martial.”
“If I was irreplaceable, I would be serving you poorly Primus. There are many fine young officers who can be promoted if need be. Meanwhile, my experience makes me the best choice to assess the capabilities of these intruders first hand. Not to mention that if we do have to fight against them to defend our HPGs, I’ve the rank to deal with the high command of the Kungsarme and AFFC where a more junior Precentor might be forced into a subordinate position.”
The Primus frowned and then nodded. “Very well, but only as far as Rasalhague. If first contact is made by the Explorer Corps and all goes well, you can meet with these people after that. But I don’t want to send them the man with the greatest extent of knowledge of our military preparations until we have a better idea who they are.”
Focht bowed his head. “Blake’s will be done, Primus.”
“Yes,” she agreed. Blake’s will. And mine!
.o0o.
Frankfurt Drop-Port, Maxie’s Planet
Tamar March, Lyran Commonwealth
23 October 3049Kai Allard-Liao blinked as the early morning sunlight stabbed at eyes accustomed to the carefully regulated lights aboard the dropship. They’d arrived only shortly after sunrise.
“We’ll have your ‘Mech out in just a few minutes, Leutenant,” the loadmaster assured him. “There’s a heavy cargo mover on its way from the terminal as we speak and they’ll deliver it to the military loading zone just over there.” The hirsute man pointed over to a line of heavily reinforced warehouses, all spaced such that an accidental detonation within was unlikely to affect the others.
“Thanks.”
“Nothing to it. We do this run every month or so, there’s almost always something or someone military coming to or from Maxie’s Planet. Price of having a Regimental Combat Team here, I guess.”
“I’d imagine so.” Kai glanced around. “Looks like they’re having a busy day. Three other dropships loading?”
The man shrugged. “They look like they’re loading people not freight so it shouldn’t affect us. Not sure why so many people would be getting off-planet though.” He paused and looked at Kai questioningly.
“I’m not sure either.” Maxie’s Planet was only a jump away from the Free Rasalhague Republic but it didn’t seem likely that the Kungsarme would try to raid the planet while the Eleventh Lyran Guards were posted here – more than a hundred BattleMechs, three regiments of armour and five of infantry should handle almost anything short of an outright invasion. “I should call in and see if there’s anyone waiting for me.”
“Sure, we’re patched into the planetary commlines now.” The loadmaster ushered Kai into a cramped alcove that evidently served as an impromptu office for him. “Here.” He offered a handset. “Just dial nine and it’ll put you through to the terminal’s administration centre.”
“Thanks.” Kai dialled immediately and asked the clerk on the other end if there was anyone from the Lyran Guards here to pick him up,
“Pick you up? Hang on a moment.” The hold music didn’t last long. “There’s supposed to be a Feldwebel here, I’ll see if I can find him and call you back.”
Kai thanked the woman and hung up. “They’ll ring me back,” he told the loadmaster.
“They’re not too bad about that here. The cargo hauler’s almost here, I’ll go ahead and get the crane going.”
The newly graduated Leutenant watched with fascination tinged with apprehension as his ‘Mech was lifted carefully off the ground using the dropship’s overhead crane and slowly moved out onto the top of the powerful flatbed. More than sixty tons of equipment wasn’t something to move casually, even in this day and age. If this was a military transport he could have simply walked the ‘Mech off but the relatively low ceiling of the cargo hold here would have made that impractical.
The phone rang and he lifted it. “Leutenant Allard.”
“Ah, Leutenant. Feldwebel Jewell says he’ll meet you at Building B-3 in the military loading zone. Our drivers will know where that is. Is that okay?”
She hung up almost before he gave her an affirmative, but she was right and the driver didn’t have any difficulty finding Building B-3 for him, which proved to be a small ‘Mech hanger.
“It’s pretty standard – any time we’ve a civilian shipper bringing in something for the Guards, it comes to row B,” the driver explained. “Not so many ‘Mechs but tanks, crates of supplies – pretty big ones too sometimes. Wouldn’t say your Mech’s even the biggest thing we’ve ever brought in.”
“I’d be surprised if it was,” Kai replied absently and then straightened as he saw a small cluster of people by the entrance. “Are those… children?”
“Either that or they started recruiting real young,” the driver said with a cackle and slowed to a halt so Kai could jump down.
To Kai’s relief, one of the four was wearing AFFC uniform, a Feldwebel’s rank pin on the same white-horsehead-on-blue epaulettes that marked Kai’s own shoulders, the emblem of the Lyran Guards. The other three, though, were a civilian woman and two children.
The Feldwebel saluted. “Leutenant Allard, I’m David Jewell. Sorry for…” he gestured to the civilians, “but my family are shipping out today and I wanted as much family time as possible before that.”
“Shipping out?”
“Yes, sir. You hadn’t heard?”
“I’ve been on dropships for the last two months.” Kai looked back at the truck. “Look, let me get my ‘Mech squared away and we can get your family somewhere a little more… child friendly, okay?” He didn’t want to imagine the consequences if the little boy decided to wander in front of the heavy truck at the wrong moment.
“Thanks, sir.” Jewell coloured.
Twenty minutes later, Kai found himself squeezed against the truck door with Jewell’s wife Katherine next to him and Jewell between her and the driver as they rode back to the terminal. The children were in theory in their parent’s laps but the boy, David Junior, was at least half in Kai’s as he peered eagerly out of the window.
“So what’s the story, Feldwebel?”
“We got a war-warning, sir. Just two days ago, along with advice to evacuate military dependents back to our home worlds or at least somewhere deeper inside the Commonwealth.”
“War warning with who?”
“Didn’t say, but it’s gotta be the Combine. Who else is there? Rasalhague isn’t crazy enough to start anything unless the snakes were backing them, and probably not even then.”
“I wouldn’t have thought so. But why evacuate dependents from here? We’re the far side of the Republic from the Combine.”
“That’s what I said,” Kathrine asserted. “But worryguts here insists on not taking the chance.”
“I figure it’s more like we’re gonna get reassigned in a hurry.” Jewell glanced over at the driver. “No offense to Maxie’s Planet but if the balloon goes up, I’d prefer to have my family somewhere we’ve got roots. We’re from Coventry and Katrina and the kids are guaranteed free military housing there, plus having both our parents there… you know, just in case. Coventry’s even further from the Combine than Tharkad is.”
“It’ll be a long trip won’t it?”
“Not so bad.” Jewell looked over at him. “The dropships out there are chartered to go to Sudeten – that’s the hub for all military dependents. There’s pretty regular shipping from there, military and civilian, all the way back to Tharkad and then Coventry. Couple of weeks to get to Sudeten and about the same to reach Coventry, I guess.”
Kai frowned. “I suppose it depends on the jumpships. There’ll probably be command circuits being formed up to move troops – no reason they can’t move families in the other direction.”
“This wouldn’t have happened if Katrina Steiner was still in charge,” grumbled Katherine. “I bet it’s that Hanse Davion, wanting worlds back from the Combine after he lost so many in the last war.”
David Jewell Senior shot an embarrassed look at Kai past his wife. “Now hon’…”
Kai smiled and waved off the remark. Hopefully the whole thing would blow over and the Jewells would be reunited soon. The Sandovals might want another war with the Draconis Combine, but they were just about the only people in the Federated Commonwealth who did. Probably Haakon Magnusson had said something provocative and the whole war warning was just to try to remind him to tone down the rhetoric about worlds he wanted to claim for the Republic.
.o0o.
The Triad, Tharkad
Donegal March, Lyran Commonwealth
13 November 3049“Phase one redeployments of the AFFC are underway,” Ardan Sortek reported, using a pointer to illuminate locations on the map of the Inner Sphere in the centre of the table. “By the end of the year we’ll have four Ceti Hussar, five Deneb Light Cavalry and ten of the Federated Commonwealth Regimental Combat Teams in the Tamar March, supported by the Federated Suns Armored Cavalry and four regiments of the Wolf Dragoons.”
He lifted his pointer and looked up at Hanse and Melissa. “We’ve reached the point where we need to decide on our defensive line and whether phase two redeployments go to Tamar or if we need to reinforce the outer end of the Draconis March.”
“Thank you, Ardan.” Hanse looked at the map and then over at Justin. “I think the second question takes priority here. Justin, what information do we have?”
“Very little at this point.” The Minister of Intelligence tapped controls and two stars lit up on the map. “There’s been no pirate activity, or communication of any kind from the Valkyrate, the Oberon Confederation or even the Elysian Fields. Two exploratory parties are on their way to drop by on Von Strang’s World and Star’s End. Unfortunately, the likelihood of their managing to return data is fairly slim if the Clans really are present. Both parties have been fully briefed on Clan traditions and hopefully if they do make contact they can… bargain for favourable terms of combat.”
“So the only actual evidence we have of the Clans is one set of recordings from a mercenary regiment?” asked Nondi Steiner.
“That and the atypical silence out of the bandit kingdoms.”
“And we’re sure this isn’t faked somehow?”
“Colonel Camacho’s people had absolutely no idea what they encountered. They only shared the data in the hope of salvaging something from what was otherwise a pretty bad defeat. They wouldn’t have the information to construct such a fraud.” Justin shook his head. “It’s possible, of course, that reasons for the Clans presence of Gotterdammerung isn’t what we believe, but they were definitely present.”
“Most probably they’re waiting for their frontline forces.”
Heads turned to where Natasha Kerensky was sitting, chair propped back and boot heels on the side of her workstation.
“Could you expand on that?” asked Ardan mildly.
She swung her feet down and leant forwards. “They’re dealing with bandits. That isn’t prestigious enough for the Clans to deploy their best troops. In their view there’s no honour to securing forward bases and getting rid of vermin like Morgaine or Ryan. So they probably sent second tier units ahead to clear the way for them. I’m surprised we’re even seeing OmniMechs in use, at a guess they wanted to blood some of their newer warriors on something easy so they could see what they were made of before giving them a place at joining the invasion force.”
“You’re saying that these are their equivalent of a training cadre?”
“Something like that. Probably they’ve got solahma units to do the infantry work, but most of them are probably right out of the sibkos.”
Nondi shook her head. “Those… kids… tore up two to one odds pretty handily.”
“They got into a city fight they had no business trying for and got at least one warrior killed and two ‘Mechs badly damaged. Granted that the Jade Falcons have never been the sharpest tools in the box, but if they’d more experience they’d have fanned out to control the perimeter and called in either air strikes or some Elementals.”
“Thank you, Natasha. However, to get back on point, is there anything similar happening near the Outworlds Alliance. Justin?”
“Not that we’ve been able to determine.” Justin lit up the portion of the map where the border between the Federated Suns and the Draconis Combine met the Outworlds Alliance. “We’ve contacted the Outworlds government per the anti-piracy treaty we arranged back in 3042 and they haven’t had any unusual activity. We shared the data from Gotterdammerung just in case anything turns up.”
“In that case I think that for now we have to work on the basis that the major threat is going to be to the Tamar March,” Melissa observed. “What would the phase two redeployments involve?”
“It’s primarily made up of large mercenary units. The 12 Star Guards from Tamarind March, the Dioscuri from the Terran March, the Dismal Disinherited from Draconis March and the Screaming Eagles from the Crucis March. Also the Kell Hounds, two of the Royal Guards RCTs and three Lyran Regular regiments.”
“Most of them aren’t refitted but if we’re going to stop the Clans we need to defend in depth and numbers are going to count there.” Hanse nodded. “Approved, Ardan. Get them on the move as soon as possible. The next decision is where exactly we draw the line. Nondi?”
The Lyran Commonwealth Marshal of Armies focused the map in on her command area. “I think we’ve already discarded Defensive Line Alpha, right at the edge of the Inner Sphere,” she concluded.
“Correct. We can retake those worlds if we stop the Clans but we can’t stop them there. We’ve too little information to concentrate our forces in the right places and with our current force strengths we need to bleed them before we slam the door.”
“Line Beta writes off all of Wotan PDZ and draws the line from Kolovraty in the Donegal March through Blackjack and to Planting, on the border with the Free Rasalhague Republic.” Nondi hesitated and then shook her head. “If we could be sure Rasalhague would also hold them, I’d recommend this line but that isn’t my take on their situation.”
“I agree.” Melissa looked regretful. “Even if we gave them full access to our information there’s simply no way that they could upgrade to the point they were ready for this in less than five years.”
“We did consider it,” her husband reminded her. “At the time, the chance of it becoming public knowledge and triggering an invasion seemed too much of a risk. Let’s not get bogged down by hindsight.”
“That takes us to Defensive Line Gamma.” Nondi lit them up. “It’s a longer line, right into the Radstadt salient, but it covers the factories on Sudeten and there’s also the political cost if we had to write off Tamar itself. I’m not going to deny we’ll be stretched if they push further into the Donegal March but I think this is the best choice. If absolutely necessary, we can hold reserves at Defensive Line Delta, the Benfled line, and either fall back on it or move them forward to plug gaps.”
“What’s built on Sudeten?” Hanse asked, checking his notes.
“It’s one of our major factories for upgraded tanks. Sturmfeur and Demolishers as well as J. Edgar hover tanks.”
Ardan and Hanse exchanged looks. “Well we don’t want to lose those factories. Do we have contingencies?”
“We have alternative component manufacture set up under Project Mulberry. The main assembly unit is another matter, we’d be looking at weeks to take it apart and months to set it up again.”
“I think we can all agree on Defensive Line Gamma,” Melissa said firmly.
“And warships?” asked Nondi.
“I’m sorry, we’re sticking with the existing plans there. I’ll authorise tactical nuclear strikes if need be but unless the situation changes we’ll be keeping those in reserve to keep Marik and Kurita honest while we’re focused on the Clans.”
“Not Liao?” asked Nondi snidely.
“That’s still under discussion,” Hanse said quietly. “Depending on the outcome, you may have some additional units to deploy along Line Gamma.”
“There is one more decision to make, your highnesses.” Ardan looked over at Nondi. “Meaning no offense, Marshal, but under the circumstances I feel…”
“If you’re referring to the Court, Ardan, I believe we’re on the same page. It’s entirely possible the Clans might decide to launch a deep strike at our command centre her on Tharkad. Under the circumstances, I recommend moving as many Court functions as possible to New Avalon.” Marshal Steiner turned to Hanse and Melissa. “That includes both of you and your children.”
“That puts us a long and expensive HPG connection away from the frontlines.”
“It’ll be far less expensive than switching to a regency until Victor’s old enough to inherit, particularly with an ongoing war.” Ardan looked at Hanse appealingly. “Trust us to do our jobs, Hanse. That little bit of extra security could mean all the difference.”