An American Tanker in Prince Davion's Court

[Dreadpool]

This is an excellent start so far, looking forwards to seeing more of this.  :thumbsup:

I will endeavor to persevere.

[shadowdancer]

More Please!!!!

[idea weenie]

Looks like good fun so far.  In this case the SI has a lot more knowledge and reference material than John Smith, and he is putting it to good use.

I wonder how long before the stabilized tanks are ready for deployment?

[Dreadpool]

After-Action Report
The Fox’ Den, Mount Davion
March 16th, 3029, late afternoon

One the last of the Liao attackers has been defeated, Hanse Davion calls for a staff meeting at the Fox’ Den.

When his officers and staff are assembled, the First Prince says “Field Marshal Davion, your report, please.”

“Yes, your highness. The attack’s main objective was to destroy NAIS; in furtherance of this objective, the Liao dedicated five full battalions of battlemechs; 180 machines in total. The two battalions of ‘mechs sent against Avalon City were nothing more than a diversion. It is plain to me that word of our recovery of the Helm and New Dallas caches leaked out.”

“Casualties?”

“Sir, the Crucis March Militia lost eight machines, four of whom are constructive total losses; the remaining four can and will be repaired. As for the Hong Kong Cavaliers, Dr. Banzai tells me that 13 of his battlemechs were destroyed; of these, eight are constructive total losses. He also said that General Hodges’ new technology was of critical importance in the successful conclusion of the engagement; the rangefinders and stabilization systems gave an advantage in accuracy that the Liao simply couldn’t overcome.”

Just then, General Hodges receives a call on his personal communicator; he steps away from the conference table and answers “Yes?”

“James, this is Kym. I just wanted to let you know that I’m safe. The bad guys sent a whole platoon of infantry against the house, supported by two wheeled transports and two battlemechs (a Stinger and a Locust). I caught those Liao idiots by surprise when I used that old cannon of yours to wipe out half the attacking infantry with a single blast; a whiff of triple canister and grape, so to speak.”

“How about survivors?”

“I have eight prisoners in hand; you know one of them. He’s Tsen Shang, Romano Liao’s husband, injured but alive.”

“Kym, from the tone in your voice, there’s something you’re not telling me. Spill it…”

“I regret to tell you that he house was wrecked; I’m sorry I couldn’t save it.”

“THEY DID WHAT??”

Hodges’ exclamation is almost a shout, so much so that Hanse Davion and the other officers at the conference table look over at him. The First Prince says “General Hodges, is there something amiss?”

“Yes sir, there is. Kym Sorenson tells me that she successfully defended my property and took several prisoners in so doing. Among them is Romano Liao’s husband Tsen Shang….”

“Oh, really? That is welcome news indeed.” To Quintus Allard, the First Price says “send a squad of agents to General Hodges’ house and take custody of the prisoners. As the general says, there’s no way that Romano Liao could have pulled this off without Comstar’s direct involvement. Tsen Shang would have all of the relevant details, so I want him interrogated.”

“Yes, your highness.”

Hanse Davion turns his attention back to General Hodges and says “what else?” A look of sublime, almost tranquil fury descends on Hodges’ face as he replies “your highness, those miserable shits destroyed my house; I courted my wife there, my children were conceived there and my youngest was born in the living room. You want to know how angry I am? Well, ask yourself how you would feel if someone dug up one of your ancestors, cut off his head and kicked it around like a soccer ball? Then, you’ll understand…” By a supreme act of will. General Hodges recovers his composure. A moment thereafter, he says “Your highness, those people task me; they task me and I mean to have them. I will chase them ‘round the moons of Nibia and ‘round the Antares Maelstrom and ‘round Perdition’s flames before I give them up.”

“Err, yes. Recommendations?”

“Your highness, capturing Tsen Shang alive is an intelligence coup of unparalleled magnitude. I am reminded of the situation on September 13th, 1862, when a copy of General Robert E. Lee’s Special Order No. 191 (to General D.H Hill for the coming engagement at Antietam) was discovered by a pair of Union cavalry troopers and forwarded up the chain of command; it was only General George McClellan’s slow, cautious response that kept the Army of the Potomac from wiping out Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.”

“Indeed. You may rest assured that I will fully avail myself of the opportunity presented here.”

“Yes, sir. When Myndo Waterly gets word of how the raid failed, she’s going to be livid. MY assessment of her personality is that, instead of accepting the failure and moving forward, Waterly will look for someone to blame. I suggest that you fan the flames of her paranoia and and send a message saying that you had advance knowledge of the attack and that you know of Comstar’s involvement. Say also that the price of not exposing Comstar’s perfidy will be the immediate lifting of the communications interdict. Then, later on at a time of your choosing, release the information anyway. With your permission, I’d like to send a personal message of my own to Romano Liao.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Your highness, Romano hates me with a mad passion for what previously passed between us. The angrier she gets, the better I like it because anger is a poor servant and an even worse master. So, I want to fan her flames by saying that, if she wants Tsen Shang back, she is to present herself to me in person.”

“I very much doubt she’d do that, General; if Romano were to do so, what would be your intention?”

“Why nothing more than taking Romano over my knee and giving her a good spanking. After all, if she wants to behave like a spoiled, petulant child, she should expect to be treated as such.”
Top

[Dreadpool]

Settling affairs and planning for the future
September 10th, 3029

In the aftermath of the failed attack on New Avalon, First Prince Hanse Davion sent a message ‘sub rosa’ to Comstar. The substance of the message was that the Order’s participation in the attack is known to the Federated Commonwealth and that, if the communications interdict wasn’t lifted immediately, Comstar’s perfidy would be made known to the Inner Sphere at large. Primus Myndo Waterly raged at this turn of events, but she eventually realized that Comstar’s position was extremely precarious; accordingly, she agreed to the First Prince’s terms. Also attached to the message was a brief video file from General Hodges. In the file, he taunted Waterly by saying “I win, you lose; better luck next time.”

A second, personal message was sent by General Hodges directly to Chancellor Romano Liao in which he said that “If you want your husband back, you are to present yourself to me on New Avalon in the same outfit that you were wearing when we first met on Terra; should you fail to respond, Tsen Shang’s interview will continue until the First Prince and I know everything that he does. If you agree, the interview will cease and I will personally guarantee your safe conduct on both legs of the journey.” When Romano receives the message back on Sian, she flew into an absolute rage; even going to far as to summarily execute two of her councilors for having given her bad advice in regards to the attack on New Avalon. Eventually, the leader of the House of Scions gets Romano to calm down.

“Celestial Wisdom, I share your disdain and outrage towards that bastard interloper Hodges; to think that such an uncultured periphery barbarian should rise so high and so quickly in the First Prince’s service is unheard of. However, it is undeniable that the Confederation faces the gravest crisis in its entire history. During the recently-concluded war, the Federated Commonwealth seized half of the Confederation’s worlds and three-quarters of its industrial capacity. If we are to avoid any further encroachments on the Confederation’s territory, it is my counsel that you agree to Hodges’ terms.”

Romano Liao’s face flushes with anger; she manages to control her feelings and says “honored one, though I am minded to defy the First Prince’s lackey, it is plain to see that there is no other choice; send word to General Hodges that his terms are accepted. However, I will not accept his previous insults to our person without an appropriate response.”

Among the officials in attendance upon the chancellor is Lady Chandra Ling, director of the Maskirovka. The Chancellor looks to her and says “Director, you are to employ your contacts in certain areas and seek out the one known as the Bounty Hunter. Tell him that I wish to commission an action against General Hodges and that if he agrees, he’ll be paid an appropriate amount for his services.”

“It will be as you say, Celestial Wisdom. Perhaps, I might recommend an additional course of action…”

“What might that be?”

“There is another individual whose services would be of use in this situation; I am referring to the one known as the Dancing Joker. If the Bounty Hunter isn’t successful, it would be wise to have a backup plan.”

“Honored Director, there is wisdom in your words; you have the Chancellor’s authorization to proceed. However, you are to make no move until I return from New Avalon; is that perfectly clear?”

“I understand, Celestial Wisdom.”

Back on New Avalon, General Hodges is unaware of these developments. The past several months have been occupied with rebuilding his house and preparing to move to Bristol. Three days later, he receives a private message from Roman Liao accepting his terms for the return of Tsen Shang; the message also says that she’ll be arriving on New Avalon in three weeks.

An enormous, self-satisfied grin crosses General Hodges’ face; seeing this, Kym Sorensen says “something amuses you, my dear?”

”It certainly does, Kym. You remember how I got the First Prince to allow me to send a message to Romano Liao saying that, if she wanted Tsen Shang back, she was to present herself to me right here?”

“Yes; are you saying that she accepted?”

“She most certainly did.”

“Well, I’ll be damned; I never thought that she’d do it. That just goes to show you how desperate that the Liao really are. Do please be careful, Jim. I would put it past Romano to try something untoward.”

“Understood, my dear. Please believe me when I say that I have plans within plans to deal with such a possibility.”

September 17th, 3029
New Avalon
2:00 pm local time

One week after the exchange of messages between General Hodges and Romano Liao, Colonel Jaime Wolf and a group of his command staff arrive on New Avalon to confer with the First Prince; also present is Captain Natasha Kerensky. Upon arrival, General Hodges invites Colonel Wolf and Captain Kerensky to his house for dinner pending their meeting with Hanse Davion.

The motorcade pulls up in front of the house at 2:00 pm, and General Hodges greets them on his front steps.

“Colonel Wolf, Captain Kerensky, welcome to my humble abode; it’s a pleasure to see you here.”

“The pleasure is all mine, sir. I’ve heard rumors that your house came under direct assault when House Liao staged their ill-advised attack on New Avalon; is that true?”

“it certainly is, Colonel. I was away fighting with the First Prince when my house was attacked, and it fell to my good lady Kym Sorensen to defend it. The fixed defenses took care of the vehicles and their battlemech support, while Kym saw off the infantry. Do you see that antique bronze cannon just over there?”

“Yes, I do”

“I’ll have you know that it saw service on June 3rd, 1863 on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg. The Liao attackers saw it as nothing other than a display piece, so imagine their surprise when Kym fired it by remote control and wiped out half of the attacking force in one shot…”

“Impressive. What did she use for ammunition?”

“2 ½ lbs of black powder, a stand of grapeshot and a round of canister. Let’s just say that the results would not have been pleasant for those with full stomachs to look upon. It is of interest to know that Roman Liao’s husband Tsen Shang was captured afterwards. Now, why don’t the both of you step inside and make yourselves comfortable? I’ve got some appetizers and a salad laid on, and Kym’s got some steaks on the grill out back.”

“Thank you, General.”

Colonel Wolf and Captain Kerensky come inside and seat themselves on the couch, taking time to notice the impressive collection of antique weaponry displayed on the walls. Wolf remarks “you certainly have good taste, sir. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a collection outside of a museum.”

"Thank you, Colonel. The piece that means the most to me is the Model 1913 Cavalry saber; this weapon was gifted to my ancestor LtGen Courtney Hodges by General George Patton when my ancestor turned over command of 3rd Army to him on January 26th, 1944. It so happens that this sword was the very weapon carried by then-Lieutenant Patton when he participated in the Punitive Expedition of 1916, where the United States sent troops into Mexico in response to cross-border raids by Mexican bandits. Ever since 1944, the saber has been an heirloom of my House.”

Just then, Kym Sorensen calls out “dinner is served.” The party seats itself around the dining room table and the meal begins with a toast; after the toast, General Hodges serves his guests with his own hand. During the course of the meal, Hodges says “Captain Kerensky, when we last met, I got the distinct impression that you didn’t have a very high opinion of tanks and tankers. I also said that perhaps we might have a contest between us, to determine which of us is the superior combatant.”

Kerensky exchanges glances with Colonel Wolf, then responds “I do recall that, General; however, I never thought I’d have an opportunity to decide the issue.”

“Well madam, that opportunity is upon you now. When I heard that you were coming to New Avalon, I called in a favor from the First Prince and secured the use of the entire NAIS test & training range; all 100 square kilometers of it. Tomorrow morning, we’ll decide the issue.”

“How do you wish to proceed, sir?”

“I’m minded that we should do things in the way of the Clans, with a Batchall…”

Colonel Wolf joins the conversation and says “General Hodges, your knowledge of the ways of the Clans is remarkable.”

“Indeed, sir; you’ll recall how I demonstrated that by asking about the weather on Strana Mechty.”

“Err, yes you did.”

General Hodges looks to Kerensky and says “Captain, I’ll be on the range at 0830 tomorrow morning. As I will be in the role of the defender, I’ll await the arrival of you and your Warhammer.”

Judgment Day
September 18th, 3029
NAIS testing & training range
8:30 am

As promised, General Hodges ad his tank & tank crew are on hand awaiting the arrival of Natasha Kerensky and her War Hammer. The wait isn’t long, as the Black Widow comes striding up in her machine just 15 minutes later; present as witnesses are First Prince Hanse Davion, AFFC Marshal Yvonne Davion, Dr. Benjamin Banzai and several staff officers from the New Avalon contingent of the AFFC military hierarchy.

As Kerensky’s War Hammer approaches, Hodges is nonchalantly sitting on the front glacis of his tank and smoking a cigar. After Kerensky dismounts her machine, Hodges calls out and says “hail and well-met, Captain; I’m glad to see that you’re on time.”

“Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”

A pause, then “I am Captain Natasha Kerensky, the commanding officer of Wolf Company and I claim this ground. What tame dogs dare to defend it? Speak now and identify yourselves.”

“I am Lieutenant-General Hodges, Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth. The ground you seek to claim is mine; I, my tank and crew will defend it to the last.”

“Very well; I bid my War Hammer for this effort.”

“Accepted. Now, as to the stakes for this contest. Your disregard for tanks is known to me, so I propose to teach you a lesson. When I win, I’ll not take your War Hammer or make you my bondswoman. Instead, you will accompany me to the Doll House out by New Avalon Spaceport; it's a ‘gentlemen’s club’ with which I have some familiarity. Once there, you will perform three routines for me on one of the stripper poles…”

Of all the possibilities that Kerensky expected, what General Hodges just said was never among them. Her face flushes slightly as she replies “When you win? You’re certainly full of confidence, General. What do you offer in return?”

”If you win, I’ll strip down to my skivvies in front of NAIS headquarters at noon today and sing “Am I blue?” in front of you and all these witnesses.”

A slight, knowing smile crosses Kerensky’s face as she replies “bargained well and done.”

As the two combatants walk to their machines, General Hodges says “Captain Kerensky, before we begin, there are two words that I’d like you to remember.”

“What are they?”

“Paradigm Shift…”

General Hodges climbs the front of his tank and takes his position in the commander's hatch. As the fusion reactor throttles up and the tank starts to move, Hodges begins to sing loudly:

Ob's stürmt oder schneit,
Ob die Sonne uns lacht,
Der Tag glühend heiß,
Oder eiskalt die Nacht,
Bestaubt sind die Gesichter,
Doch froh ist unser Sinn,
Ist unser Sinn;
Es braust unser Panzer,
Im Sturmwind dahin...

[Dreadpool]

Judgment Day, Part 2
September 18th, 3029
NAIS testing & training range

Shortly after leaving the assembly area, General Hodges descends into his tank, closes the hatch behind him and says "alright, people; let's do this by the numbers. Status check on all systems."

The responses come quickly...

"Weapons, fire control and ammunition storage is green"

"Reactor and transmission are green"

"Communications, sensors and ECM are green"

"Environmental systems are green"

Sgt. Phil Masterson speaks up and asks "what's the plan, skipper? Are we going to let Kerensky come to us or are we going to go out and look for her?"

A grim smile crosses Hodges' face as he replies "Guns, we're going to take up a position in the northeast corner of the range. Kerensky and her Warhammer will be opposite to us in the southwest corner; this is just over 14 kilometers in a straight-line distance. Given the lay of the land, there are few places where our line of sight will extend to more than 2,000 meters. Kerensky has a bad habit of sneaking up on her opponents and attacking from where it is least expected. So, we'll prevent this by assuming the offense. When we arrive on station, we'll mount a standard patrol pattern until we make contact. For now, load SABOT..."

"Yes. sir"

Sgt. Masterson taps the assistant gunner on the shoulder who, in turn, toggles his controls. The breech of the tank's main gun opens and the autoloader selects a round of 150-mm APFSDSDU and slides it into the breech. Automatically, the breech closes and Masterson calls out "SABOT UP"; next, the assistant gunner engages the tank's stealth systems.

14.1 kilometers away, Natasha Kerensky is alone in her jet-black Warhammer. Function checks for her 'mech take but a few seconds, then she considers how best to meet the challenge from General Hodges. Inwardly, she thinks "I've been doing this for almost 30 years. This Hodges looks like a competent sort, but anyone with sense knows that taking on a heavy 'mech with just one tank is a losing proposition; I'm looking forward to seeing him dance..."

Presently, Kerensky's Warhammer is standing among a cluster of buildings that have been made to look as if they are a ruined industrial complex. In order to begin using the 'mech's sensor suite to detect her opponent, Kerensky moves out of the complex and halts, so that she can use her passive seismometer; though it has the longest range of all battlemech sensors, a seismometer isn't specific enough to provide targeting information. All it can do is to give a bearing and approximate range to target, along with the approximate weight class and type of target. Kerensky attempts to cross-feed the sensor input from her MAD, but gets no reading because of all the scattered metal wreckage in the area; over in his corner of the range, General Hodges' tank begins to move. If there were anyone nearby, they'd remark with amazement that a 70-ton machine like this has no business moving so quietly.

Hodges' next order of business is to release six small surveillance drones from a storage compartment in back of the tank's turret. These machines are fully-autonomous and are about the size of a pigeon; during flight operations, their small rotors sound very much like a hornet or wasp buzzing through the air.

In the cockpit of the Warhammer, Kerensky is piloting her machine forward while scenarios of how she’s going to engage General Hodges run through her mind. Just then, a light on the control panel flashes red; there is a verbal prompt:

‘WARNING, TARGET DETECTED BEARING 045 RELATIVE; RANGE 10,000 YARDS AND CLOSING. SPEED OF ADVANCE IS 43.2 KPH AND WEIGHT CLASS IS 70 TONS.’

Kerensky’s speed matches her opponent; with their combined speed, both machines will be upon each other in just under seven minutes. As she moves forward, Kerensky sees that her other sensory scans of the target are strangely indistinct.

Back in his tank, General Hodges examines the feed from his surveillance drones and remarks to himself ‘Kerensky is driving a standard WHM-6R; that model is armed with a pair of particle projection cannons, a 6-tube short-range missile rack, a pair of medium lasers, a pair of small lasers and a pair of machineguns; none of the small stuff is a threat to me. The only way I’d be concerned about the PPCs is if I let Kerensky get into my rear arc. She’s driving a nice machine; it’ll be unfortunate if something bad happens to it…’

General Hodges’ tactical screen presents an overhead view of the training range, laid out as if it were a wire-frame model; his position and that of Kerensky’s War Hammer are indicated by icons. The two machines continue to make their approach towards each other; four minutes later, Hodges’ tactical screen indicates he has a firing solution.

“GUNNER, TARGET, RANGE 2,100 METERS, BEARING 225 DEGREES RELATIVE, FIRE!!”

Sgt. Masterson squeezes the trigger and the tank’s main gun fires, “ON THE WAY!!”

The 150-mm APFSDSDU round comes thundering out of the muzzle at a velocity of 1,740 meters per second, with the tracer element burning brilliantly as it flies towards the target. All of 1.2 seconds later, it strikes Kerensky’s War Hammer on the right arm; the impact is such that all of the armor on the right arm is destroyed and the arm is severed at the elbow joint. In her cockpit, Kerensky exclaims “what the hell was that?” as her internal sensors report on the damage her machine just took. She thinks ‘Hodges just nailed me from 2,100 meters..how was that even possible? He’s got to be using some kind of artillery piece against me…’
Kerensky steps on the accelerator, bringing her forward speed up to 86.4 kph. She hopes to close the range and engage Hodges’ tank before he has a chance to reload. Unfortunately for her, it is not to be.

Ten seconds later, General Hodges calls out “GUNNER, TARGET, RANGE 1,860 METERS, SAME BEARING, LOAD HESH.” The gunner replies “UP”

“FIRE!!”

“ON THE WAY…”

The HESH projectile functions exactly as designed and strikes the War Hammer on the right leg just below the hip. The explosive payload flattens out and detonates, with the shockwave travelling through the armor and causing large fragments to spall off from the interior surface; one of these fragments destroys the hip actuator and nearly causes Kerensky’s machine to fall over. However, she’s a good enough pilot to recover her balance.

Kerensky swears obscenely, then targets Hodges’ tank with the PPC in her ‘mech’s left arm. Amazingly, she manages to make a hit on the front glacis of the tank’s turret; the beam carves off a quarter-ton of armor. Inside his tank, General Hodges’ sensors report that his armor is holding and that all other systems are nominal.

“GUNNER, TARGET, RANGE 1,620 METERS, LOAD HESH AND…FIRE!!”

“ON THE WAY”

This third round strikes the War Hammer dead-center on the torso. The fragments that spall off from the interior surface strike the bin holding the ammunition for Kerensky’s machineguns and causes it to explode. The resulting damage destroys the War Hammer’s gyroscope and hits the shield protecting the fusion reactor; but doesn’t penetrate. Once confident of victory, Kerensky is now bitterly disappointed as her machine falls over and lands on its back. All told, the engagement lasted just 30 seconds…

A few minutes later, Hodges’ tank drives up and parks next to the fallen ‘mech. Hodges’ swivels his turret and gently taps on the cockpit canopy with the muzzle end of his cannon.

Hodges open his hatch, climbs out of his machine and up onto Kerensky’s ‘mech. A moment or two later, and Kerensky raises her canopy. She climbs out of the pilot’s chair and angrily exclaims “Hodges, are you going to tell me how in the hell you pulled that off??

“I’d be delighted to, Captain. On old Terra, one of the guiding principles of the United States Army was ‘Peace through Superior Firepower. I designed my tank’s gun, the systems that control it and the ammunition that it fires; the gun succeeded rather well, don’t you think?”

“Err, yes.”

“Since your ride is rather indisposed, I’m going to do the gentlemanly thing and give you a ride back to the reviewing stand. Why don’t you hop on?”

Ruefully, Kerensky climbs on Hodges’ tank and sits with her legs in one of the turret’s hatches. As they drive. Hodges says “Captain, there is the little matter of the wager standing between you and me.”

“Don’t remind me; I gave my word to you and I’ll pay up.”

“Of course. As I have laid you low, so too will I raise you up. When we get back to the reviewing stand, I’ll make arrangements to have your War Hammer taken back to the shop at NAIS; I’ll have it repaired at my own expense and refitted with some of the goodies that I used to defeat you.”

“Oh, do tell me more…”

[Dreadpool]

Settling accounts
September 18th, 3029
NAIS test range and elsewhere

General Hodges' tank moves out of the training area and back towards the reviewing stand where the First Prince and the other observers are waiting. Hodges is standing tall in the commander's hatch, while Captain Kerensky is sitting in front of the turret with her right arm draped over the barrel of the main gun. The vehicle comes to a stop, whereupon Hodges dismounts and comes over to where the official party is standing. He salutes the First Prince and says "your highness, I hope you and Field Marshal Davion found my little demonstration interesting?"

"General, I I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed that such a thing was possible; it was the best gunnery I've ever seen."

"Indeed, your highness. As impressive as the range of that engagement was to you, I could have done for Captain Kerensky at 3,000 meters or more." At this, Kerensky and Colonel Wolf exchange glances (as if to indicate that everything they thought they knew about combat got tossed out the window).

"You'll notice that I deliberately avoided targeting the head of Captain Kerensky's 'mech; had I not done so, she would have painted the insides of her cockpit a nice shade of arterial red. As for why I closed the range as I did, i simply wanted my worthy opponent to think that she had a chance of defeating me..."

"Very impressive, General. You'll be pleased to know that, in light of how your tech performed in the recent war, I have spoken to Archon Katrina; together, we have decided to issue orders that your equipment goes into general production for use by the AFFC. What I just saw only further-reinforces this decision in my mind."

"Thank you, sir."

To Jaime Wolf, General Hodges turns and says "colonel, if you don't mind, I'd like to borrow Captain Kerensky for a while. You see, there is the little matter of that wager standing between us, and it is time for her to pay up. "

"Very well, General. I have no objections..."

"Of course, Colonel. After the wager has been settled, I'd like to invite you and Captain Kerensky to my house for dinner. I cook a pretty mean steak, and Kym Sorensen makes a great salad. Ahh, Kym, there you are. Thanks for bringing 'Captain America'...."

A slight smile crosses Colonel Wolf's face as he replies "I'll be pleased to accept your gracious invitation, sir."

Nearby, the tank's gunner Sgt. Phil Masterson is standing up in his hatch. General Hodges calls over and says "Guns, I want you and the boys to take 'Wargasm' back to the repair bay and fix up that little divot in the turret glacis. Also, have Captain Kerensky's War Hammer brought in; tell the techs I want them to give it the business."

"Sir, yes sir."

Lastly, General Hodges bestrides his motorcycle. He gestures to Captain Kerensky, grins widely and says "hop on, Natasha. I'm taking you for a ride." Hodges throttles his machine up, then he and his passenger ride off in a cloud of dust. 15 minutes later, he pulls up and parks in front of the Doll House (a 'gentleman's club' located near the NAIS spaceport), with which he has some familiarity.

"Well, here we are, Captain. You ready to pay up?"

"Of course I am; never let it be said that the Black Widow doesn't keep her word..."

"Excellent. Please follow me; I sent word beforehand and the proprietor of this excellent establishment is expecting us."

Inside the Doll House, the lights in certain locations are turned down low. One on side of the main room, there is a full-length bar with people bellied up to it while ordering their drinks and watching the latest matches from Solaris VII on several video screens; on the other side, there is a low platform on which a multi-Genre band called 'The Marauders' is performing such tunes as 'The Cantina Band', 'Through Being Cool', 'Radar Rider', 'Heavy Metal', 'The Pink Panther', 'Peter Gunn', ‘Police Squad’ and 'Smuggler's Blues'.

Elsewhere, there is a large center stage upon which two girls are performing a joint routine involving a certain amount of acrobatics and the removal of pieces of their outfits (which resemble much-abbreviated version of the robes worn by Comstar acolytes) to the cheers of the audience sitting around it; the enthusiasm of the crowd can be judged by the pound notes of various denominations scattered all over the stage.

On either side of the main stage are several smaller platforms with centrally-placed floor-to ceiling bars of polished brass; these are populated with performers engaging in their routines; it is a measure of the Doll House's popularity that the floor is tiled in marble while the stages and platforms have floors of polished walnut. All around the edges of the main floor are a number of private suites, the entrances to which are ,made to resemble smaller versions of a dropship's cargo bay doors; the suites themselves are built to resemble the inside of various 'mech cockpits.

Upon seeing General Hodges and his guest entering the room, the floor boss comes over and says "hiya, Jim; long time, no see."

"Eddie, my main man. What do you know? What do you say?"

The two men shake hands and Eddie says "the manager told me you were coming; got one of the suites in back all set up for you. The DJ wants to know what tunes you want him to play.."

"Hmm, how about 'Unskinny Bop' for the first routine, 'Cherry Pie' for the second and 'Pour Some Sugar on Me' for the third?"

"You got it, boss. Anything else?"

"Yeah. I rather like the outfits the girls on center stage aren't wearing; anyone from the ******-Up Phone Company been by to complain?"

Eddie snorts with derisive laughter as he says "not hardly, Jim, especially since a couple of demi-precentors and members of the staff from Avalon City's HPG station come by every so often to take in the sights; however, a couple of the acolytes griped about the mis-use of the Phone Company's 'sacred' robes until I shut the whole bunch up by extending them the 'courtesies' of the house..."

"That was a smart play, Eddie. Now, if you would be good enough to have one of the waitresses bring back a couple of tall cold ones to the Atlas Room. What's on tap for today?"

"We've got Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob and Pabst.."

"Alright; make it a couple of Bud Lights." Following this, Hodges tips Eddie with a 500-Pound note.

The suite selected for General Hodges' use is the largest one in the entire establishment; appropriately enough, it is named the 'Atlas'. The room is roughly-hemispherical, measuring 18' across and 12' in height; the structural members in the walls and ceiling resemble those which hold the armor panels protecting an Atlas' cockpit, while the video screens in the back are patterned after the viewports in the canopy.

Before Kerensky climbs up onto the platform to begin her first routine (fully-clothed), Hodges shares a beer with her and says in his best Faux Bogart voice "of all the gin joints in all the towns on all the worlds of the Inner Sphere, you walked into this one; here's looking at you, Kid." Following this, Hodges settles back into the room's 'command couch', lights up a cigar and takes a few appreciative puffs. Following a long pull on his beer, he signals he DJ to start playing 'Unskinny Bop'.

The song ends 3:48 later, and Kerensky takes a short break before 'Cherry Pie' begins to play. This tune lasts 3:18 and ends with Natasha bare to the waist; the final tune is "Pour Some Sugar on Me', which lasts 4:24. Her third routine is the most acrobatic and energetic of all, with the remaining pieces of Kerensky's outfit flying off as if they were leaves in a gale. It concludes with an acrobatic flourish as Kerensky drapes herself on the central pole. General Hodges rolls his eyes over Kerensky’s finely-chiseled form and responds with enthusiastic applause.

“Bravissimo, madam; that was a magnificent performance.”

“You’re welcome, General.”

Hodges grins and replies “Natasha, when we’re off the clock, please call me James.”

After Kerensky gets dressed, she and Hodges drive back to his house on his motorcycle; already waiting on their arrival is Colonel Wolf and Kym Sorensen. By previous invitation, Dr. Banzai is also there.

Sorensen’s first comment is “I assume everything went well, Jim.”

“It did indeed, my dear. The wager between Captain Kerensky and me has been paid in full.”

“Great. I’ve got the salad ready and the steaks have been marinating in red wine.”

“Alright. Natasha, why don’t you, Colonel Wolf and Dr. Banzai come inside and make yourself comfortable? I’ll get the steaks going…”

Once inside, Colonel Wolf asks “General, is what I heard true about your house getting attacked during the raid on New Avalon?”

“Every word of it. Romano Liao got bent out of shape after I showed her up for the chump she is back on Terra. So, she got backing from Comstar to carry out the attack; the objectives were two-fold. The first was to destroy NAIS and the second was to kill me; while I was away fighting with the First Prince, Kym Sorensen saw off the attack here. Her activities and my defenses resulted in the destruction of two light ‘mechs, two armored personnel carriers and the wipeout of almost an entire platoon of infantry. The best thing was that Kym captured Romano’s husband Tsen Shang with her own hand.”

“Simply amazing…”

“Colonel, the icing on the cake is that Romano will do anything to get her husband back. So, I made a deal with the First Prince to have Tsen Shang released if Romano comes here to make amends in person.”

“Do you mean to say that the head of one of the Inner Sphere’s Great Houses is actually coming here??”

“You are correct, sir. She’s travelling under a safecon that I granted her, and will be here tomorrow.”

“What do you intend to do?”

“The details are private; let’s just say that the interview I’ll be having with her will be without the benefit of tea & biscuits…”

Hodges now gestures towards the couch and says “please have a seat, everybody. I’ll put the steaks on the grill, then we’ll watch one of my movies as they cook.”

“What do you have in mind, General?”

“It’s an old Terran film called ‘Zulu’; movie critics of the late 20th and early 21st centuries called it one of the finest war films ever made.”

Hodges leaves the room to ste the steaks on the grill, then comes back and starts the movie. Very soon thereafter, the opening sequence begins to play; one that shows the aftermath of the disaster at Isandlwana. Periodically, Hodges leaves to attend to the steaks and, after about 15 minutes or so, they’re done. The movie is paused, then the guests take their places at the dinner table.

Hodges pours everyone present a glass of wine with his own hand, then offers a toast.

“Here’s to hot lead, cold steel and good fellowship.”

The toast is returned, and during the meal, topics of various interest are discussed.

“Dr, Banzai, Colonel Wolf, there’s a thought experiment that I’d like to perform.” Curious at this turn of phrase, Banzai responds “what do you have in mind, General?”

“Well, let us suppose that there are two factions (much like the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere) that have been bitterly opposed to each other for centuries; the first faction, I’ll call the Halfwits and the second, the Dimwits. Desiring to end the conflict with their enemies, the Halfwits decide to remove the Dimwits’ homeworld from the playing field..”

Colonel Wolf asks “how is that to be accomplished, General?”

“Well, the Halfwits take a fully-fueled Mammoth-class dropship and position it at a distance equal to 30 days maximum burn from the Dimwits’ capital world. Furthermore, the dropship’s cargo bays are loaded to their maximum capacity with anything that’s available; even dried cat shit; what’s important is the mass. When the Mammoth reaches its target, it will be travelling at .35c and have a KE load 50% greater that the Chicxulub impactor; the one that wiped out the dinosaurs on Terra 65 million years ago. What do you think is going to happen next?’

Dr. Banzai responds “nothing good, I’ll wager.”

“You’re more correct than you know, Doctor. Upon hitting the targeted planet, the dropship will blow all the way through the planet’s crust and into the upper mantle; the resulting crater will measure 120 miles in diameter and 18 miles deep (if there was anyone alive to measure it which, of course, there won’t be. Everyone within 1,000 miles of the impact will be instantly killed and the resulting ecological devastation will result in the death of every living thing on the planet weighing more than ten kilograms. Afterwards, it will take the planet upwards of ten million years to recover…”

“General, how could you conceive of such a horrible thing?”

“Dr. Banzai, it’s called ‘thinking outside the box’. I have learned through long experience that, if someone can think of something, it is possible to do it. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not advocating such an attack. It would be a war crime to surpass anything the human race has ever committed by an enormous margin. Rather, my purpose for this thought experiment is to demonstrate that such things are possible and that they should be guarded against.”

[Dreadpool]

A Job Offer
September 18th, 3029
The Hodges’ Residence, New Avalon

General Hodges’ revelation about the possibility of RKKV attacks is, in a word, sobering. Colonel Wolf lightens the mood by changing the subject and saying “General, I couldn’t help but notice that strange battlemech standing nearby; is that your machine? I’m familiar with just about every model of ‘mech in existence, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anything like it before…”

“It’s my machine, sir; a bracket fighter; with an extended range PPC in each arm and a large pulse laser in the center, right and left torso sections. As to where it came from, that would be the Star League cache on Helm. You see, I provided the First Prince information that was instrumental in allowing successful raids on the Helm facility and the one on New Dallas. As a reward, the First Prince gave that machine to me. In regards to the ‘mech itself, back during the days of the Star League, there were three grades of equipment available; the first was the materiel issued to the regular army and the second was issued to House Cameron’s Royal Regiments. Best of all was the materiel reserved for the personal use of House Cameron itself. That battlemech is a Cameron-grade machine which I modified with the tech that I used to defeat Captain Kerensky; in short, it surpasses anything the Star League ever had.”

“Indeed; I would have thought that tanks were more your style.”

“They are, Colonel. However, to paraphrase the words of a certain Mr. Matthew Quigley, I never had much use for battlemechs; never said I couldn’t use them. When the Liao recently attacked New Avalon, their main objective was the destruction of the New Avalon Institute of Science. Understandible, because the raid couldn’t have been carried out with the support of Comstar. During that action, I piloted that ‘mech while fighting alongside the First Prince; in so doing, I accounted for six Cappie ‘mechs. There were an assault, two heavies and three mediums.”

A pause, then “while we’re discussing battlemechs, there’s a subject that I’d like to raise with you.”

“What is that, sir?”

“For my continuing services to the Federated Commonwealth, the First Prince has settled the Bristol System on me as a landhold. As I take possession of the system, I’ll be raising six combined-arms units I call ‘Division Combat Teams’ to defend it. Among other vehicles, each of these DCTs has six battalions of ‘mechs; for a total of 216 machines in each DCT and 1,296 in all. I need someone to serve as the CO of my battlemech contingents. Therefore, I’d like to offer Captain Kerensky the job. What say you, Natasha?”

For once in her life, the Black Widow is absolutely flabbergasted; it takes Kerensky a short time to collect her thoughts. While she’s doing so, General Hodges says “A Division Combat Team is a combined arms unit, with tanks, battlemechs, artillery, battlesuits and aerospace fighters all working together; the strengths of one element compensating for the weaknesses of another and thereby making the formation that much more lethal. In concept, this unit is modeled after the Federated Sun’s conception of a Regimental Combat Team; the obvious exceptions being that a DCT is much larger and far more powerful. As my battlemech commander, your authority within the DCT structure would be second only to my own and, as such, you would have the rank of Brigadier-General.”

Colonel Wolf respectfully interjects and says “General, did I hear you correctly when you say you have batttlesuits?”

“Yes you did, sir. The suits I’ll be using are an un-built design called the ‘Legionary’, whose plans and specifications were found in the Helm cache; the Legionary also incorporates certain design features from the Star League’s Mark XXI Nighthawk power armor.”

“You never cease to amaze me, sir.”

While Colonel Wolf is reflecting on what he just heard, General Hodges asks once again “what do you say to my job offer, Captain Kerensky?”

“Wow, just wow. I thank you for the offer, sir; but I’ll need some time to think on it.”

“Very well. Your War Hammer will be in the shop for the next two weeks while it undergoes repairs and modifications; you can give me your answer anytime before then. Now that dinner is finished, how about we watch the rest of the movie?

Two weeks later, the work on Kerensky’s War Hammer is finished. General Hodges accompanies her to the NAIS repair facility and, upon arrival, tells her what was installed in her machine.

“Captain, the weapons in your battlemech have all been fitted with stabilization systems; this means that no matter how fast you or your targets are moving, you’ll be able to fire on them as accurately as if you had been standing still. Next, there is a multi-spectral rangefinder incorporated into your ‘mech’s fire-control system; this device increases accuracy at all ranges, without the extra bulk of a targeting computer. As for the weapons themselves, the PPCs and lasers have been fitted with improved cooling jackets; the mech’s heat dispersal system has been re-worked to that each of your energy weapons has a dedicated heat sink and that your battle computer has had its software and subroutines upgraded so that your heat load is more-efficiently managed. Why don’t you take your machine for a spin on the testing range and see how you like the new systems?”

As Kerensky climbs up the ladder, Hodges says “one more thing, Captain. Why don’t you put these on your forward viewscreen?”

A quizzical look crosses Kerensky’s face, which curiosity is satisfied as Hodges tosses her a pair of fuzzy dice.” She grins and says “see you in thirty minutes…”

Half an hour later, the War Hammer comes back up to the range’s staging area. Kerensky climbs down out of her cockpit and says “I’ve got to hand it to you, Sir. Those modifications you added to my ‘mech are unlike anything I have ever experienced before; I found myself able to accurately engage targets in circumstances and at ranges that I previously though were impossible.”

“Does that mean you like your new ride?”

“Hell, yes I do.”

“Glad to know that, Captain. Now, how about an answer to my job offer? If you accept, I’ll prevail upon Colonel Wolf to cut your whole company lose so they can come along for the ride; once they’re on board, I’ll spring for the same modifications as I had installed on your machine.”

“General, you’re one hell of a salesman; I accept.”

“Excellent; I rather thought that you would. I’ll give you the next ten days to settle your personal affairs, after that, you’ll begin your new duties.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Squaring Accounts
October 2nd, 3029
The Hodges Residence, New Avalon

As agreed upon, Romano Liao (daughter of Maximillian Liao and now Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation) travels to New Avalon under an assumed name in order to secure the release of her husband Tsen Shang; Romano decided to make the trip despite the many objections from her closest advisers (among whom is Chandra Ling, acting Director of the Maskirovka).

Travelling under the protection of a safe conduct pass granted by First Prince Hanse Davion and personally-guaranteed by General Hodges, Romano travels to New Avalon with four of her personal attendants. Upon arrival, she is conducted to the Hodges residence while her attendants are compelled to wait elsewhere. To maintain the fiction that Romano Liao isn't here, she's driven to General Hodges' house while wearing a hooded, ankle-length cloak of neutral gray and a mask that covers her whole face (except for her chin and her mouth).

Steadying herself for what she thinks is coming, Romano steps out of the ground car, walks up to Hodges' front door and knocks. Shortly thereafter, he answers.

"Welcome to my humble abode, Rommie. I'm so glad you were able to accept my invitation." Romano removes her mask and, with a look on her face as if she wished she were somewhere else right now, she responds "I'm here to secure the release of my husband, and I'll do anything I must to bring him back."

"A compliant attitude is one of my favorite character traits. Do please come inside; the interview you're about to have with me is best conducted in private."

Once the front door closes behind the two of them, Romano tosses aside her cloak to reveal that she's wearing the same dress of shimmering green silk that she had on the first time that she and General Hodges met on Terra. Hodges rolls his eyes all over Romano and says "that's the same little nothing you were almost wearing back on Terra when you tried to seduce me. It looks like you cut the neckline down some; if it gets any lower, it will bottom out around your ankles. Now that we've got the preliminaries out of the way, how about a glass of wine?"

Hodges turns his back on his guest to go and bring a bottle and two glasses. When he turns around, his eyes are greeted by the sight of Romano Liao standing there half-nude with her dress bunched around her waist.

"Hodges, I know what you want and I'm here to give it to you. Why don't we cut to the chase and get down to it?"

Two glasses of wine are filled, and one of them is handed over; Hodges downs his in three gulps, then fixes Romano with a glare that would cold-start a 'mech's fusion reactor.

"If I weren't already pledged to another, and if I were down for some tawdry, meaningless sex, I'd scoop the loop out by the spaceport and pick up a couple of lot lizards; I certainly wouldn't abase myself by caressing the likes of you. If I had any regard for your well-being (which I don't, of course), I'd toast your health. Now, Do you remember how I called you out for the spoiled, petulant child you are after our first meeting on Terra? Well, I certainly do. I have decided that, in order to teach you a lesson in the humility that you are sorely lacking, you're going to be punished in the same way that children like you have always been punished, with a good spanking..."

"WHAT?? I'll do no such thing..."

"Rommie, you're under the mistaken impression that you have any choice in the matter. I already know that you sent Tsen Shang here with a bunch of goons from the CCAF to kill me; you're also behind the attack on the New Avalon Institute of Science. Since the Confederation was so badly bashed by the Federated Commonwealth during the recent conflict, the only way you could have pulled off the hit was with the connivance of that bunch of no-good, toga-wearing, toaster-worshipping ****** in Comstar; don't bother to deny it!! Now, if you don't want Tsen Shang to get sweated for everything he knows, you will come to me and assume the position. As I deliver each smack to your hindquarters, you will respond with 'Thank you sir, may I have another?' If you fail to respond as I have directed, the spanking will continue until your attitude improves."

Hesitantly, Romano approaches until she's grabbed by the left hand and thrown across General Hodges' left knee. As he raises his right hand to deliver the first blow, Hodges says "This will not be pleasant, it will not be over quickly and you will not enjoy this..."

'Smack..'

'Smack...'

'SMACK..."

At the third blow, Romano's defiance wilts and she says "THANK YOU SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER??"

Twelve more blows are delivered, equally-divided between both halves of Romano's hindquarters. Humiliated, Romano reaches for her dress and pulls it up to her shoulders. She turns to leave and picks up the cloak from where she dropped it by the front door; before she gets there, Hodges comes up, grabs her by the throat with his left hand and pushes her up against the wall until she's standing on her tiptoes.

Hodges' voice descends so low in pitch and tone that it sounds like boulders grinding together. Calmly, he says "Rommie, should you be so unwise as to cross my path again at any time in the future, you'll find out that I won't be so kindly disposed towards you as I was today. In short, there will be no world in the Inner Sphere, no forgotten space station, no barren moon, no crack, crevice or cave where you can hide from me; this goes double for the people you've sent to try and kill me. For these guys, I'll send their heads back to you packed in dry ice. Do you understand??"

For the first time in her existence, Romano Liao feels fear. Not an ordinary dread, but a primal, unreasoning fear that reaches up from the deepest, darkest parts of her subconscious mind and starts to squeeze her soul with fingers that are colder than liquid nitrogen.

Trembling visibly, Romano stammers out "I, I, I...understand."

General Hodges gestures expansively, smiles benignly then delivers a surprise kiss on the tip of Romano's nose. He releases her from his grip and says "alright, we're done. One more thing before you go; do you remember that term I used to describe you at the reception on Hilton Head?”

“Hetaira? Yes, I do; what does it mean?”

“It’s the ancient Greek word for a high-class prostitute; if you had behaved like a proper married woman, we wouldn’t be having this discussion now. Good day, madam…”

Romano’s ears burn with sham and indignation as she leaves; this is further-compounded by General Hodges, who begins to sing:

Vengeance is as vengeance does –
Sweet the taste when eaten cold
Sweeter still to send thy ill
Back into thy face threefold….


After Romano is gone, Hodges removes a small data disk from the server of his home security system and makes two duplicates. The original and one of the copies is stored in a safe built into the floor of the magazine underneath the garage, while he pockets the second copy. Next, he places a call to the Fox’ Den at Mount Davion and says "This is Lancer Six-Actual and I am inbound with CRITIC Traffic for the boss; ETA is one-five minutes..."

"Received and understood; Sword-One will be so informed."

[Dreadpool]

Owning Up
October 2nd, 3029
The Fox' Den, Mount Davion
Early afternoon

General Hodges arrives at Mount Davion and is subsequently conducted to the office of the First Prince. Other than Hanse Davion and Minister Justin Allard, those present are a number of the First Prince's staff officers; the matter under discussion was how to better-integrate the territories won from the Capellan Confederation. As Hodges enters, one on the staff officers is concluding his summation by saying "in total, the AFFC took half of the Capellan Confederation's territory and half of it's industrial capacity; the Federated Commonwealth now has the largest industrial base in the Inner Sphere."

Just then, Hanse Davion looks up from his desk and says "good afternoon, General. Operations told me you were coming, and that you had 'CRITIC' information to present to me..."

"Yes, sir; I do. Before I present it, I must ask that only you and Minister Allard be present to receive it; also, I ask that the room be sealed and that all recording devices be turned off."

A look of curiosity crosses Hanse Davion's face as he replies "very well; you've piqued my curiosity." To is staff officers, he says "that will be all for today, gentlemen." After the men leave, Minister Allard locks the doors form the inside and turns off the office's surveillance systems.

"Alright, General; I have done as you asked. What could be so important that you felt these precautions are necessary?"

With an enormous, self-satisfied grin on his face, General Hodges replies "your highness, I am pleased to report that my campaign of psychological warfare against Romano Liao has been successfully completed."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Only this, your highness"

Hodges hands Minister Allard the data disk; he slots it into a player built into the First Prince's desk and hits the start button. As the video starts to play, their eyes go wide and their jaws drop wide-open with amazement. Very soon thereafter, the room echoes with great thundering bellows of laughter; in particular, Hanse Davion is laughing so hard that his sides are beginning to ache.

"So that's what you had in mind when you asked me to give Romano Liao safe conduct to New Avalon and back again? I don't know what's more unbelievable; Romano Liao submitting to you, or you getting away with what you did..."

"Your highness, do you recall those tow instances back on Terra where Rommie and I had our little 'tete-a-tetes', as it were? I told her that she was acting like a spoiled, petulant child, and that she should be punished as such; well, that's just what I did. By giving her what she deserved, I wormed my way into her mind so deeply that she'll never, EVER be rid of me; from now on, regardless of whether she's asleep or awake, her thoughts will be consumed with the image of my happy, smiling face and my hand coming down on her hindquarters."

"Indeed."

A pause, then "may I suggest that you show the disk to your good lady wife and make further arrangements to show it to Archon Katrina as soon as possible? I think they'll find the subject matter to be of interest.."

"I'll show the disk to Melissa tonight. As for Archon Katrina, I don't know when I'll be able to show it to her. As you said, the video is of great importance; if it were to be sent to Tharkad via HPG, it would be in Myndo Waterly's hands before the transmission was completed..."

"Your highness, I have a feeling that the Archon will be coming here sooner than you think?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Sir, now that the business between Romano Liao and I has been concluded, I'll be asking Kym Sorensen 'The Question'. I would ask you for the honor of standing as my best man, and that Minister Allard be one of my groomsmen. Furthermore, as Archon Katrina will be invited, I think it only appropriate that she and your wife act as bridesmaids."

"General, for all that you have done for the Federated Commonwealth, I would be honored to do so, and Melissa would be delighted to accept; I don't think that Archon Katrina will hesitate at all in accepting the invitation."

"Thank you, sir. I do have one more request to make before I go."

"What's that, General?"

"I'll be sending an invitation to Luthien, asking that the Coordinator come to my wedding and that he also be one of my groomsmen. Given the honorable dealings that I have had with Kurita-sama, I think he'll be pleased to accept."

The First Prince grins and says "that can certainly be arranged. I'll say one thing, General; you certainly don't do things by halves, do you?"

A return grin, then "no, your highness; I don't?"

"Do you have a day in mind for your happy occasion?"

"April 2nd, 3030 sounds about right; there's a great dal to be accomplished before then."

[Dreadpool]

Passing the Buck
October 5th, 3029
Comstar First Circuit Compound
Hilton Head Island, Terra

While matters are proceeding apace on New Avalon, such is not the case on Terra. Seeking to deflect blame for the failure of the campaign against the New Avalon Institute of Science, Primus Myndo Waterly calls an emergency meeting of the First Circuit and has Demona Aziz (Precentor Atreus) arrested on trumped-up charges of treason (for allegedly conspiring to make the raid on New Avalon fail). After a strictly pro-forma trial before the First Circuit, Aziz was convicted and sentenced to death; immediately thereafter, she was taken out and executed by a ROM firing squad.

Waterly's next orders of business are to nominate Nicholas Cassnew (currently Precentor ROM) for the post of Precentor Martial (head of Comstar's military forces), and to split off the Com Guards from ROM and make them a separate branch of service. Cassnew will be succeeded as Precentor ROM by Precentor Charles Seneca (ROM's Deputy Chief of Operations); Seneca's deputy is Demi-Precentor Arabella Bradford. She was given the task of ROM's Explorer Corps in an attempt to locate the descendants of Alexandr Kerensky's Exodus Fleet and to enlist their aid in fulfilling the word of the Blessed Blake by helping Comstar take control of the Inner Sphere.

To accomplish this mission, Bradford was given command of the Merchant-class jumpship 'Outbound Light'; this vessel carries two dropships, a Union-class (the 'Knox') and a Buccaneer-class (the 'Golden Hind'). Bradford and her crew departed from the planet Bone-Norman in the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth and commenced with their mission on November 12th, 3029.

No fate but what we make
March 25th, 3030
General Hodges’ residence, NAIS Campus, Avalon City
10:00 AM

Previously, General Hodges bent the knee and popped The Question to Kym Sorensen; she accepted his proposal enthusiastically and together, they set the date of the wedding as April 2nd. Invitations were sent out, and one of the first to accept was Takashi Kurita, Coordinator of the Draconis Combine. Once Hodges received confirmation that the Coordinator would be attending his wedding, Hodges requested permission to host Kurita for a private meeting to discuss certain topics of interest (including the export of weapons and vehicles incorporating Hodges’ new technology). After some discussion with Minister Quintus Allard and Field Marshal Yvonne Davion, permission was granted.

Kym Sorensen’s parents arrived from New Syrtis on March 24th; Kurita arrived on New Avalon on March 25th, with Archon Katrina Steiner scheduled to arrive on March 26th. Kym’s parents will be staying at Davion Palace, as will Archon Katrina when she arrives.

Always punctual, the Coordinator and his personal retinue arrived on New Avalon at 9:00 AM on the morning of March 25th. Kurita was greeted at NAIS Spaceport by Quintus Allard, and then conducted to General Hodges’ house; as the meeting between the Coordinator and Hodges is private, the Kurita retinue will be hosted in NAIS’ guest quarters.

In due course, Takashi Kurita arrives at General Hodges' house at 10:00 AM; formal greetings are then exchanged.

"Komban-Wa, Kurita-sama; welcome to my humble abode. I am honored that you accepted my wedding invitation."

"Hodges-san, for one who has done so much for the Combine, I could have done no less."

A pause, then "as I was being driven up to your house, I couldn't help but notice that assault-class 'mech standing nearby; it is a most-unusual design. This is one of your machines, so desu ka neh?

"Hai, Coordinator; I'll tell you all about it over an early dinner. There are also certain topics of interest that I'd like to discuss with you. So, if you would please follow me..."

Hodges holds the door open for his guest and together, the two of them enter the house. The Coordinator takes a moment to look around, and says "Hodges-san, once again, you surprise me. I half-expected that a man of your exalted rank would have had more elaborate accommodations."

"Indeed, Coordinator. When I received word that you had accepted my wedding invitation, I took great pains to secure the proper ingredients for a traditional Kaiseki meal. I have prepared dishes of Yakitori, Tempura and steamed rice; for the soup, there is Butajiro. Afterwards, of course, there is Sake."

"Hodges-san, for an outsider, you are exceptionally well-cultured; I didn't know you had a taste for Sake."

"Hai; I particularly-enjoy that drink when it is served at the correct temperature of 98.4 degrees Fahrenheit."

The meal is served and, towards the end, Hodges pours two servings of Sake with his own hand; the first is given to the Coordinator and he takes the second for himself.

"To your very good health, Tono."

"And to yours also, Hodges-san. You did promise to tell me of that battlemech outside.."

'So I did, Kurita-sama. That machine is a custom-built design, built using information from the New Dallas memory core; I trust that House Kurita is making good use of their own copy of the core? You see, I provided the First Prince information as to the core's contents, location and security measures. After that, it was a simple matter to steal it out from under Captain-General Marik's nose. Rather than hoard the knowledge all to himself, as the Captain-General would certainly have done, the First Prince accepted my suggestion that copies of the data be provided to all of the other House, both great and small. You see, it is his belief (and my own) that the more widely knowledge is dispersed, the less-likely it is that the it will be lost (either to the vicissitudes of history or the actions of Comstar)."

"Hodges-san, you seem to have no regard for that organization..."

"Coordinator, there are no curse words in any of the languages of mankind that are foul enough to describe how I feel that bunch of Yarôii. If you knew them as I know them; you'd have even less regard for them than I do."

"What do you mean, Hodges-san?"

"Coordinator, rather than being a neutral third party that seeks to preserve and maintain human knowledge, Comstar has actively worked to preserve its technological superiority by making prominent research scientists go away; either by murder, 'accidents' or just plain disappearing. Let us consider the history of your own house, for example. In the mid- to late-29th century, Comstar instituted a program called 'Operation Holy Shroud. Between 2838 and 2843, more than one hundred of the Inner Sphere's best and brightest scientists and researchers were 'removed'; by my count, some two dozen of these were in the employ of House Kurita..."

As General Hodges continues to speak, Takashi Kurita feels a titanic fury beginning to build inside his mind; the only visible sign of this is a slight nervous twitch in the corner of his right eye.

"Coordinator, aside from what I just told you, much of my dislike for Comstar and its minions come from the fact that they actively-conspired with Romano Liao to kill me."

"When did that happen, Hodges-san?"

"Quite recently, Kurita-sama. After the First Prince tore the guts out of the Capellan Confederation during the recent conflict, Romano Liao didn't have the moxie to put out a hit on me. Then, Primus Myndo Waterly made Rommie an offer she couldn't refuse; Comstar would offer logistical support to House Liao for the attack on New Avalon in exchange for the destruction of the New Avalon Institute of Science; Rommie was so short-sighted that she didn't hesitate to accept the offer and so, the attack was carried out."

"I see. What happened?"

"House Liao dropped on New Avalon in regimental strength; that battlemech you saw outside was what I used to fight alongside the first prince. In the action which followed, I accounted for one assault mech, four heavies and three mediums. In the meantime, a secondary force under the command of Romano Liao's husband Tsen Shang came here to kill me (not knowing I was elsewhere). My soon-to-be good lady wife was waiting for them, however. In the combat which followed, she used a prototype battlesuit and the house defenses to wipe the attackers out; two light mechs, two wheeled APCs and a platoon of infantry. Some prisoners were taken, Tsen Shang among them."

"I'm beginning to see why Romano Liao hates you so."

"Kurita-sama, she now hates me even more for what I made her do to get her husband back. You remember who I humiliated her back on Terra at the First Prince's wedding reception? Well, afterwards, I called her a spoiled, petulant child and that she should be punished as such. When Tsen Shang was captured, that gave me the perfect opportunity to do the following..."

Without a further word, Hodges slides the duplicate video disk and presses the 'start' button. Takashi Kurita watches what takes place with a good deal of interest, then bellows with outrageous laughter when sees his host take the head of House Liao over his knee; it is some little time before the Coordinator recovers his composure...

"Hodges-san, that was unbelievable; to think that you bent the head of one of the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere over your knee and spanked her like she was a disobedient child. "

"Precisely, Coordinator. Now, to business. I think, perhaps that Subhash Indrahar has informed you of a test duel which took place here on New Avalon between the infamous Black Widow Natasha Kerensky and myself."

"I did hear something of that. Hodges-san. What was the outcome?"

"Coordinator, when I first met Natasha Kerensky, she had no regard for my profession as a tank officer. I couldn't let this slide, so I challenged her to a test match on the NAIS proving grounds; her War Hammer against my tank. Rather than defeating me, it was I who defeated her; just three shots is all that it took."

"How was than even possible, Hodges-san? The Black Widow is one of the deadliest mechwarriors who ever lived."

"Kurita-sama, the simple fact is that she didn't take me seriously. I had absolute technological superiority, in that I had invented a new kind of tank gun along with other pieces of equipment (such as a multi-spectral rangefinder, a stabilization system, better tank armor and a more robust tank chassis; if it was General Kerensky himself who stood against me, I could have smashed him as easily as a Sake cup thrown against a brick wall. It is this technology that I want to provide to you..."

Ordinarily, Takashi Kurita is completely unflappable. This development, however causes a look of surprise and amazement to appear on his face.

"Hodges-san, do I understand you to say that you want to provide me with examples of the technology you used to defeat the Black Widow? Surely, the First Prince would not approve of this..."
"Kurita-sama, it was the First Prince himself who gave me permission to do so. If our relations were not so cordial as they are, it seems to me that your man Subhash Indrahar would move a system's worth of asteroids to steal my tech (in very much the same way that the Lyran Commonwealth stole the technology of the Battlemech from the Terran Hegemony back in 2455); needless to say, I'd be very angry if that had happened."

"I understand, Hodges-san. How do you wish to proceed?"

"Coordinator, I will provide Luthien Armor Works the plans and specifications of my new tank gun, the ammunition and the other items I spoke of; I will also issue that company and such others of House Kurita's companies a production license. All that I ask is one service of House Kurita, to be granted by your honorable self or anyone who succeeds you as Coordinator; the service will be decided by me or the First Prince, and will not be something that House Kurita is incapable of. Now, what says the Coordinator of Worlds?"

"HAI, Hodges-san; I agree to your terms. Were you not sworn to the service of the First Prince and were you not soon to be married, I'd grant you one of my most prosperous planets as a landhold; I'd also give you the hand of one of my single female relatives in marriage."

"My thanks, Coordinator; I rather thought that you’d say something like that. Now that the business between us has been completed, what say you to some entertainment? In my media library, I have a number of videos that exist nowhere else in the inner Sphere; one of these is the original Japanese-language version of a movie called 'Godzilla'."

Just over 90 minutes later, 'Godzilla's' end credits roll. The Coordinator thinks silently for a moment, then says "Hodges-san, that film was most interesting. I wonder if I might have a copy for my own library."

"Hai, Kurita-sama; I will make arrangements to get you a copy before you leave New Avalon. In addition to 'Godzilla', I have certain other films that I will have copies made of. These are 'Seven Samurai', 'Throne of Blood', 'Rashomon', 'The Hidden Fortress' and 'Yojimbo'; lastly, there is a late 20th-century video drama series called 'Shogun'. "

"Many thanks, Hodges-san. I look forward to seeing them; time-permitting, of course."

"But of course, Coordinator. I'm sure that there are other demands on your time today; before you go, I have one final gift for you. Call it a mark of respect from one fighting man to another." This statement gets one of the Coordinator's eyebrows raised in curiosity.

General Hodges goes to his desk and takes out a cylindrical leather scroll case. He hands it to the Coordinator, who opens it so the contents can be examined. What is contained therein is a Kakemono scroll, made from the finest rice paper. On it are drawn the kanji for 'Wa-kei-jaku'; meaning 'harmony, 'respect' and 'tranquility'."

"Where did you get this, Hodges-san?"

"I drew it with my own hand, Kurita-sama. There was no rice paper available, so I had to have it specially-made for this purpose; drawing the scroll took me a month to get it just right. I'm giving it to you because I thought it might look good on the wall of the Imperial Palace's Tea House, back on Luthien."

"So it shall be. Now, as you have invited me to be a member of the groom’s party, it is incumbent upon me to provide you with a suitable token of my esteem. Accordingly, I have decided to gift you with a ‘Dragon’ battlemech, one of House Kurita’s most favored designs.”

“Ahh, the Coordinator is generous beyond my worth. When I take delivery, I’ll hand the machine off to my tech people. They’ll refit it with all of the items I previously mentioned, and then some. Afterwards, I’ll provide you with a copy of the plans and specifications of what was done.”

Mending Fences
Castle Davion Conference Room
1:00 PM

After leaving General Hodges' house, Takashi Kurita meets with the members of his personal retinue. While doing so, a message is delivered from the First Prince requesting an immediate audience at the Royal Palace. Curious once again, Kurita sends a reply granting the request. Transportation is arranged, the Coordinator arrives for his meeting with Hanse Davion at 1:00 PM; the two men are of equal status, and the formal greetings are a mark of that status.

"Kurita-sama, thank you for agreeing to see me on such short notice."

"Hanse-sama, I hadn't anticipated seeing you before the wedding ceremony; given my presence here, I think certain of our revered ancestors must be turning over in their graves." Hanse Davion gives a slight chuckle as Takashi continues.

"I really must commend your man General Hodges to your attention; aside from his obvious military talents, he's an excellent host, cultured, well-mannered and well-spoken; I hope you realize how fortunate you are to have him."

"Indeed I do. For General Hodges' service to the Federated Commonwealth, I have settled the world of Bristol upon him as his landhold."

"Such recognition is well-deserved, Hanse-sama. Now, as to the matter of why you asked to see me..."

"Kurita-sama, I'll be blunt. Ever since the founding of our two houses all those centuries ago, the relationship between the Federated Suns and the Draconis Combine has been fraught with contention. To start mending the breach, I propose to make amends for what happened on Halstead Station in January, 3014."

"Hanse-sama, how could I forget what you did that day? The DCMS set up that facility in order to better provide my front line units in that area with logistical support. In the course of the Combine's operations on that planet, an intact Star League library was discovered. You resolved to seize the library for yourself and so, despite the best efforts of the DCMS garrison, your men blasted their way into the library's vault and made off the about 75% of the contents; what they couldn't carry off, they destroyed.; I never stopped resenting you for what you did that day.."

"Kurita-sama, the order to destroy what couldn't be taken was never given by me or any of my command staff; if it is of interest for you to know, one of my regimental commanders did it without my authorization. When I heard what happened, I relieved him of his command."

"Hanse-sama, that still doesn't change the fact that those books were the rightful property of House Kurita. Ho do you propose to make up for that?"

"How about by telling you of an even larger Star League supply cache? One that is located entirely within your territory.."

"I'm listening."

"Kurita-sama, the information was given to me by General Hodges, and I have satisfied myself as to its veracity; the same as with the New Dallas memory core in the Free Worlds League. Hodges refused to tell me how he came by the information, except to say that he's got intelligence sources so deep and so black that they make space itself seem as bright as a supernova."

"Very well; I'll not press you further on that part. What I want to know are specifics; where's the depot located, what does it hold and what are the security measures in place to defend it?"

"There isn't just one deport, there are three of them; all located on Holloway V. From the information General Hodges provided to me, each of them was designed to function as a logistics base for a force of 1-3 regiments; for your information, the material is all Royal-grade. I make no claim on the contents of the depots; they are yours to recover as circumstances permit. I’ll also give you a data disk listing what each of the three depots contains, as well as the security measures that are in place"

"Hanse-sama, that will certainly help."

"I am pleased to hear that, Kurita-sama. Please accept some words of advice from me.."

"What are those?"

"Just this. When you grab the materiel on Holloway V, I urge you in the strongest terms to give your operation the tightest-possible security you are capable of providing. If Comstar (or, as General Hodges calls them 'that ******, no-good bunch of toga-wearing, toaster-worshipping ******') were to get word of the recovery, they'd move heaven and earth to destroy it."
"Consider it done, Hanse-sama; I believe it would be appropriate for the recovery project to be called 'Operation Fox'.

"Excellent, Kurita-sama. I believe that we've made a good start here today; our next step should be an exchange of ambassadors."

"Agreed."

The Wedding
Davion Palace, Avalon City
April 2nd, 3020
3:00 PM

The night before the wedding, General Hodges hosted a bachelor's party at his house; those in attendance included First Prince Hanse Davion and Coordinator Takashi Kurita; musical entertainment was provided by Dr. Benjamin Banzai and his band, the Cavaliers. The following morning, Kym Sorensen and her bridesmaids (headed by Archon Katrina Steiner and Archon-Princess Melissa Steiner assisted the bride-to-be with her preparations.

The wedding of General James Hodges and Kym Sorensen is the highest-profile social event since the wedding of Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner on Terra last year. To keep the number of guests manageable, only 500 invitations were sent out. The wedding mass was celebrated in Avalon City's Catholic Cathedral by Cardinal Francis Flynn of the New Avalon Catholic Church; afterwards, the reception was held in the Grand Ballroom of Castle Davion.

Dinner was served, and the newly-married couple had the traditional first dance. Then, General Hodges cut the cake with his sword and served his bride the first piece; afterwards, gifts were given. From Coordinator Takashi Kurita, the couple received a matching pair of kimonos (each embroidered with the symbol of the 3rd Corps on the back); for General Hodges, there is a pair (daisho) of swords forged by the best swordsmith in the Draconis Combine; for Kym Hodges, there is an antique Japanese tea set. Archon Katrina Steiner bestowed a full battalion of battlemechs; last but most certainly not least, First Prince Hanse Davion bestowed the world of Beecher. Thereafter, the festivities continued long into the night.

When it was time to depart, the Hodges’ personally shook hands with everyone who attended; first, it was the First Prince and his wife. Then, it was Archon Katrina Steiner; thirdly came Coordinator Takashi Kurita. When he advanced, Kurita said “congratulations to you and your good lady wife, Hodges-san. Perhaps you would do me the honor of visiting Luthien; time permitting, of course.”

“I would be delighted to accept your offer, Kurita-sama.”

Some little time later, the couple are driven back home in a limousine. During the brief ride, General Hodges turns to his new wife and says “dear, we’ve got a great deal of work to do.”

[Dreadpool]

A New Theater of Operations
May 3rd, 3030

The time has finally come for General Hodges to leave New Avalon and take up residence on Bristol. Ever since the wedding, he and Kym Hodges have been making preparations for the journey; some of the many tasks were to pack up Hodges’ collections, to disassemble the Hodges residence and to catalog/pack up the pieces for later assembly and to arrange transport for his tanks and ‘mechs. Having previously accepted General Hodges’ offer of employment, Natasha Kerensky and the personnel of Widow Company have been occupied in developing a training syllabus for III Corps’ future battlemech contingent; as part of this, Kerensky has been promoted to the rank of Colonel.

Before departing for New Avalon Spaceport, General Hodges has one last meeting with the First Prince, Field Marshal Yvonne Davion and Minister Justin Allard, held in Hanse Davion’s private office at the Fox Den.

“Your highness, Marshal Davion, Minister Allard, before I leave for Bristol, I wanted to apprise you of certain other supply caches that should be visited as soon as possible.” A look of intense curiosity crosses the faces of the three men as Hanse Davion says “General, you now have my undivided attention; please proceed.”

“Yes, sir. Here in the Federated Suns, there are the depots on Grauss, Galtor III and Epsilon Eridani; there is also the mothballed battlemech factory in the Versailles system (located in the Markesan Operational area of the Crucis March; the toaster-worshippers in Comstar have only nominal control over the system so, if the Federated Commonwealth moves smartly, you’ll be able to grab Versailles before Myndo Waterly can react.”

“General Hodges, you have my assurance that that the AFFC will move on these targets as soon as humanly possible. Do I presume correctly that there are other locations that have to be attended to?”

“Yes, sir. In the Lyran half of the Commonwealth, there is the shipyard complex on Odessa IV and a regimental-level depot in the Dijonne system; it's rimward of Swartklip on the Lyran frontier. I think that the Archon will be delighted it taking control of it.”

“She most certainly will.”

“Indeed, your highness. Better yet, grabbing Versailles and Odessa IV will punch Comstar right where it hurts the most. As far as other depots are concerned, I’ll be accepting Takashi Kurita’s invitation to visit Luthien. While there, I’ll tell him of the abandoned Colony on Buffalo Meadows.”

“Abandoned Colony, you say?”

“Yes, sir. When General Kerensky committed his act of barratry writ large in 2784, a part of the Exodus Fleet comprised the SLDF’s 295th Division. While en-route to the fleet rendezvous at New Samarkand, the 295th’s Potemkin-class troop transport SLS Ulithi suffered a major drive failure and couldn’t proceed any further; the Ulithi was accompanied by a pair of destroyers (SLS Cape Bon, SLS Protecteur; an Essex-class and Lola III-class, respectively). Aboard these vessels were a total of 18 Overlord-class dropships carrying six regiments of battlemechs and six squadrons of aerospace fighters. Having missed the rendezvous at New Samarkand, the 295th elected to settle on the planet of Buffalo Meadows and found a colony of their own. Unfortunately for them the population base was far too small to be viable so, after some 80 years, the colony died out.”

“You mean to tell me that there are operational warships in that system?”

“Yes, your highness. I will point out that the SLS Ulithi’s jump drive is completely non-recoverable; the SLS Cape Bon and the SLS Protecteur are fully-operational; SLS Ulithi is still worth going after, if for no other reason than all that lovely germanium in the drive core. ”

“Indeed. I can only imagine how the Coordinator reacted when you told him about the three depots on Holloway V; when he hears about Buffalo Meadows, he’s going to be positively ecstatic.” A pause, then “General Hodges, the expression on your face tells me that you’ve got something else up your sleeve..”

“Indeed I do, sir; I’ve been saving the best and greatest for last, so to speak. I am referring to none other than the POMCUS site for the SLDF’s II Corps, located in the Antares System.”

“POMCUS? I’m not familiar with the term..”

“Your highness, POMCUS is a term that the United States military used to describe material that had been forward-staged so that units could speed up their deployments and get into action faster; the term stands for ‘Prepositioning Of Materiel Configured in Unit Sets’. In short, the equipment stored at Antares Base comprises an entire duplicate equipment set for the SLDF’s Second Corps. II Corps consisted of two battlemech divisions, two mechanized heavy infantry divisions, an armored division and a light horse regiment; there’s also a regiment of battlemechs and two battalions of tanks from the Black Watch (plus the Corps Headquarters reserve of 3 ‘mech regiments; two of heavies and one of assaults). There are also the supporting ships; SLS William Halsey (a Texas-class battleship), a Newgrange-class yardship, a Mercy-class hospital ship and two Bug Eye surveillance ships (SLS Donovan, SLS Casey).”

“Can you be more specific about what else Antares Base holds?”

“Aside from the Army-level data core and the automated maintenance depot (which has more manufacturing capacity than all but a few planets), the sheer amount of material there (to include five division-level modular field bases, five division-level field hospitals and five division-level water purification systems) makes what was recovered from Helm seem like the contents of a country hardware store; we’re talking millions of tons….”

Field Marshal Davion joins the discussion and says “General Hodges, if Antares Base is as massive and as well-stocked as you say it is, recovering all that material will take up a significant fraction of the Federated Commonwealth’s shipping capacity.”

“Very true, Field Marshal; I’ll point out that the maintenance depot, the field hospitals, the water purification systems, the field bases and all of the munitions and spare parts are palletized. By this, I mean they’re boxed up and ready to go.”

The First Prince tents his fingers above his desk, listens for a moment or two, then says “General, you have presented the Federated Commonwealth with an opportunity that is of such magnitude that it makes all that has come before seem like the merest fumbling of a child with his toys. There are discussions still to be had between the Archon and myself; know that you’ll find Archon Katrina and I suitably grateful.”

“Thank you, your highness.”

Upon the conclusion of the meeting, General Hodges takes his leave of the First Prince and returns to the spaceport. Kym Hodges greets him (as does Colonel Kerensky).

“How did the meeting go, Jim?”

“Well enough, my dear. Outwardly, the First Prince’s reaction was muted; inwardly, I could tell that he felt like a kid that had been given the keys to the world’s largest candy store. Are we ready to go?”

“Yes. Everything’s packed and loaded for transport; the dropship captains are just awaiting your word to take off.”

“Well, to quote Shakespeare’s play Henry V, ‘now sits the wind fair and we will aboard’. I’m sending you, Colonel Kerensky and the others on ahead; I’m entrusting you with the task of getting things up and running on Bristol.”

“Wait, you mean you’re not coming with us?”

“No, not directly. You’ll recall that, at the wedding, Takashi Kurita extended me an invitation to visit Luthien. I accepted Kurita-sama’s offer, and it would be ungentlemanly of me to say that I have changed my mind.”

“Jim, are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I’m convinced that Takashi Kurita’s intentions towards me are honorable. Besides, having House Kurita as an ally (rather than as an enemy) will be of immense importance in the future…”

“Alright; just so long as you’ll be in no danger.”

Now that everything is in readiness, the Hodges party boards their dropship for the trip to New Avalon’s jump point; the expedition takes off and, just over 7 ½ days later, meets up with its jumpships Here, General Hodges and his wife go their separate ways; he to Luthien via an Executive-class transport carried by a command circuit of jumpships; the jumsphips carrying Kym Hodges and the other dropships head to Bristol via a network of recharge stations.

One week later on May 10th, General Hodges’ dropship arrives at Luthien’s jump point; 10 ½ days after that, he’s in orbit over the planet.

“Luthien Traffic Control, this is Bristol One requesting landing clearance.”

“Bristol One, Traffic Control; we copy you on that, Clearance is granted. Proceed to Imperial City’s spaceport on Hokkaido; coordinates to follow. Be advised that an official party will be waiting to greet Hodges-sama upon his arrival.”

“Traffic Control, Bristol One copies that last; out.”

In his quarters aboard Bristol One, General Hodges spends the remaining time before planetfall making sure his dress blues are in immaculate condition and that his decorations are in their proper place. His Pattern 1940 cavalry boots are spit-shined to a mirror finish; afterwards, he dons his shaved black beret. The beret’s flash is sky-blue, with 13 white stars around the perimeter; on the field, there is a badge with the insignia of the U.S Army’s III Corps (with a cavalry tab sewed on above). Lastly, Hodges belts on his great grandfather’s sidearm (a Colt Commercial Model 1911a1 finished in Royal Blue) in a rig of polished buff-white leather; as a sign of respect, the weapon itself is unloaded (while the magazines in the three-cell pouch are loaded). Opposite the holster, the katana and wakizashi gifted to him by Takashi Kurita are thrust through the belt.

30 minutes later, Bristol One lands at Imperial City’s spaceport; an official delegation headed by Theodore Kurita (who was recently appointed to the position of Gunji-no-Kanrei by his father.

“Komban-wa, Hodges-san; welcome to Luthien. I am Theodore Kurita, and I have the honor to serve the Coordinator as Deputy of Military Affairs.”

“Komban-wa, Kurita-san; your reputation has preceded you.”

“Just so. I see that you honor the Coordinator by wearing the swords he gifted to you; if you will please accompany me, my father waits to receive you at Unity Palace.”

“At your convenience, sir.”

[Dreadpool]

Dragon's Lair
May 20th, 3030
Unity Palace, Luthien

Theodore Kurita and his security detail escort General Hodges to Unity Palace on the outskirts of Imperial City, there to be received by the Coordinator. During the drive, Kurita asks "Hodges-san, what do you think of our fair capital city?"

"A pleasing sight, to be sure, Kurita-san. I dare say that I'm the first Davion officer to set foot here since before the First Succession War; is this not so?"

"You have the truth of it, Hodges-san. I must confess that I have been looking forward to meeting you ever since my honorable father returned home from attending the First Prince's wedding on Terra (and, later on, your own wedding on New Avalon) and told me of how you showed up Romano Liao for the kusogaki she is."

"It was a small thing, Kurita-san. I wasn't so much offended by her antics as i was by the amateurish way in which she carried them out. My feelings towards her hardened considerably when House Liao attacked New Avalon with the stated purpose of destroying the New Avalon Institute of Science; it was during that operation that she tried to have a detachment of her Death Commandos kill me. While I was fighting alongside the First Prince, my good lady wife saw off the attack on my house; during this action, she destroyed two light mechs, two wheeled APCs and most of a platoon of infantry; it is of interest to know that Romano Liao's husband Tsen Shang lead the attack and was captured afterwards."

"What happened to him?"

"After the engagement was concluded, I prevailed on the First Prince to allow Romano Liao to travel to New Avalon for the purpose of effecting her husband's release. All that she had to do was to come to my house and present herself before me..."

"It couldn't have been that simple, Hodges-san."

"No, it wasn't, Kurita-san. You see, when Rommie came to my house, she tried to give herself to me as the price for Tsen Shang's release; as before, I refused. Then, I called her out for behaving like a woman whose physical affections are subject to commercial negotiation; also called her a few more than choice names and that, as she was acting like a spoiled, petulant child, she would be treated like one."

"Just what did you do, Hodges-san?"

Grinning wickedly, Hodges replies "Ohh, nothing more than bending her over my knee and giving her what she deserved; a good spanking; to make matters even better, I have the entire interlude on video disk."

"Do you mean to tell me that you bent the Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation over your knee and spanked her like a disobedient child?"

"Hai, Kurita-san. When the Coordinator attended my wedding and had a private meeting with me afterwards, I told him what had transpired; I also showed him the video recording. To say that your honorable father was most amused would be an understatement."

"Truly, a most remarkable achievement, Hodges-san. Do I presume correctly that you had some other purpose in mind; something beyond mere vengeance?."

"Hai, Kurita-san. What I did was simply the conclusion of my campaign of psychological warfare against Romano Liao. I wanted to demonstrate that, in a battle of wits, I had her outgunned six ways to Sunday; furthermore, I wanted to destroy her self-confidence and implant what happened so deeply into her mind that she'll never, ever be rid of me. In the future, when Rommie staggers through whatever remains of her failed and useless life, I want her to be continually tortured by the memory of my hand coming down on her hindquarters (and by the vision of my happy, smiling face mocking her from out of the darkness.)"

Theodore Kurita responds with great bellows of laughter which echo through the hallway leading to Unity Palace's audience hall. In that room, Takashi Kuriat hears the laughter and says "my worthy son and our guest approach." Standing nearby are several officers and officials of the Imperial Court, the most prominent among them are ISF Director Subhash Indrahar and Constance Kurita (Keeper of the House Honor).

Director Indrahar requests permission to speak and says "Kurita-sama, after you told us of what Hodges-san is like, I am minded to test him so that we can gain a better understanding of his character."

"Indrahar-san, you are aware that Hodges-san is travelling here by my personal invitation, are you not?"

"Hai, Tono. I don't propose that he be injured in any way, shape or form; what I have in mind is to have one of my comeliest and most seductive female agents to attend him this night and offer herself to him. If he declines the offer, all well and good; if he accepts, then perhaps you should reassess Hodges-san's character.."

"A cogent point, Indrahar-san; you have my authorization to proceed.."

Just then, there is a knock on the door; the Coordinator calls out formally "Enter" then gestures for a palace attendant to open it. His son and General Hodges enter the door and both make formal bows from the waist; Hodges formally greets the Coordinator with "Komban-Wa, Kurita -sama; it is a pleasure to see you again."

"Komban-Wa, Hodges-san. I am pleased to see that you accepted my invitation." By Theodore's posture, the Corodinator sees that his son wishes permission to speak; this is immediately granted.
"Greetings, Father; I have brought General Hodges here as you directed."

"Thank you, my worthy son. I couldn't help but hear your laughter in the hallway; something amused you?"

"Hai, father. Hodges-san told me what transpired between him and Romano Liao, and I found it just as amusing as you did (especially when he told me that he had a video recording of it."

"Indeed." The Coordinator gestures at the table and says "take your seat opposite me, Hodges-san; you and my worthy son will sit beside me. Now, to the business at hand. I wish to present to you my cousin Constance (keeper of the House Honor) and my chief adviser Subhash Indrahar." Hodges replies "greetings, my lady Constance; greetings, Minister." The mutual looks exchanged between the two men are those of two professionals sizing each other up.

Takashi Kurita now raps his knuckles on the table and says "Hodges-san, you have something for me?"

"Hai, Kurita-sama. As I promised you when we last met, I have with me the plans, specifications and technical schematics for the modifications that my engineers made to the Dragon battlemech which you gifted to me; also included are plans for my multi-spectral rangefinder and stabilization system, which mechanisms forming the heart of the Dragon's fire-control system. As your honorable self will recall, these devices are a significant part of how I was able to defeat the Black Widow in just 30 seconds."

"Yes, I remember that; continue."

At the Coordinator's gesture, Hodges continues with "the next set of plans are for my caseless electrothermal-chemical cannon. It is the main armament of my new tank design and its advantages are three-fold. First, the weapon's magazine holds twice as much ammunition as a conventional gun of the same bore size; second, it does more damage and third; the gun's effective range is twice at long."

Subhash Indrahar speaks up and says "Hodges-san, the information you are giving to the Coordinator is the equivalent of state secrets in the Combine. Yet, here you are giving them to us."

"Respected Minister, it is with the specific authorization of the First Prince that I am doing so. I believe that Kurita-sama has told you of the three supply depots on Holloway V; depots which you were previously unaware of.."

"Err, yes."

General Hodges nods, then asks "Kurita-sama, do I assume correctly that the Combine has taken steps to recover the materiel from Holloway V?'

"You would be correct, Hodges-san. It will, however, be some little time before all of the materiel is in hand. Those supply depots were just as large and well-stocked as you said they were."

A businesslike grin crosses General Hodges face as he replies "Kurita-sama, then I must apologize for further-burdening the Combine's transportation infrastructure; there is yet another SLDF supply cache within the Combine's territory that needs to be attended to..." Takashi Kurita affects to raise an eyebrow in acknowledgement of this information and chuckles."

"Another treasure house, Hodges-san? Your wonders never cease to amaze me..."

"The Coordinator's praise is gratefully received. I am speaking of the depot on Buffalo Meadows; to tell you how it came to be, I must tell you all a story from the latter days of the Star League. After that rat bastard Amaris the Usurper was overthrown, General Kerensky was irked that the High Council chose to relieve him of his position of Commanding General of the SLDF. Accordingly, he chose to take the vast bulk of the League's remaining military forces and leave the Inner Sphere for parts unknown; in so doing, he and his officers committed an act of Grand Barratry."

"All of us here are familiar with the Great Exodus, Hodges -san."

"Hai, Kurita-sama. What you don't know is that one of the units tasked to go with General Kerensky was the SLDF's 295th Division. Back in 2784, part of the Exodus Fleet comprised that unit; while on the way to the fleet rendezvous at New Samarkand, the 295th's Potemkin-class troop transport SLS Ulithi suffered a major drive failure after materializing in the Buffalo Meadows system and couldn’t proceed any further. As an escort, the Ulithi was accompanied by a pair of destroyers (the Essex-class SLS Cape Bon and the Lola III-class SLS Protecteur; aboard these three vessels were a total of 18 Overlord-class dropships carrying six full regiments of battlemechs and six squadrons of aerospace fighters. Having missed their rendezvous at New Samarkand, the personnel of the 295th chose to settle on Buffalo Meadows and set up a colony of their own; the dropships were landed on the planet and the colony was set up. Afterwards, the SLS Ulithi was towed to the system's asteroid belt by the two destroyers and placed in a parking orbit. Then, the Protecteur and the Cape Bon were put into the same orbit and all three ships were then completely-concealed with small asteroids. Unfortunately for the 295th, the population base was far too small to be viable so, after some 80 years, the colony died out.”

"Do you mean to tell me that there are intact and functional warships in that system?"

"Hai, Kurita-sama. I will point of that SLS Ulithi's drive core is completely non-functional; her spaceframe, armor, weapons and other systems are intact, however."

"Hodges-san, you are sworn to the service of the First Prince and you are a married man. Therefore, I can't give you one of my developed planets as a landhold; neither can I give you the hand of one of my female relatives in marriage. The question that must now be asked it what you want in return for this information..."

"Kurita-sama, I seek nothing beyond what I have already asked for; one service from the Draconis Combine, to be asked for by myself or the First Prince at some time in the future.”

"Then, by my word as Coordinator, you shall have it. So let it be written, so let it be done."

Now that the present business is concluded, the party proceeds to Unity Palace's Chashitsu or Tea House. The structure is located in one of the palace's formal Japanese gardens, and is one of House Kurita's great treasures. The building is the actual Zangetsu-tei (Morning Moon Arbor) which formerly belonged to the Omotesenke school in Kyoto on Old Terra, and was brought by to New Samakand in 2265 by Kamaro Kurita. Subsequently, the house passed down through Shiro Kurita to future generations of House Kurita until the present day.

The ceremony to be conducted is an informal tea gathering (or chakai), instead of the formal chaji; as there will be a formal dinner later on. The chakai involves the preparation and presentation of powdered green tea, along with small confections and a light meal; after due preparations, the party takes their seats around a low table. As Hodges sits, he notices the kakemono scroll he painted for the Coordinator displayed in the house's tokonoma alcove.

"Kurita-sama, I am honored to see that you have displayed my humble gift in so prominent location."

“Indeed, Hodges-san. For such a gift, I could do no less.”

With the preliminaries out of the way, the following chakai lasts the better part of an hour. The matcha (powdered green tea) is served and admired, as are artfully-prepared small confections and a light meal (more an appetizer than anything else). Next comes the kaiseki (formal meal) served in one of Unity Palace’s dining rooms; this takes four hours from start to finish and by the end, it is just past10:00 pm local time.

The Coordinator rises from his seat and says “Hodges-san, you are my guest for the next two weeks. As the Combine has no pressing military needs at the moment, I will assign my worthy son to act as your guide while you are here.”

“Domo arigato, Kurita-sama; your kind gesture is much-apprieciated. Might I ask to visit Luthien Armor Works tomorrow? I’m setting up manufacturing plants on the two planets of my landhold, and I’d like to see how the Combine does things; the better to serve as an example…”

“Granted. See to Hodges-san’s request, my son.”

“Yes, father.”

As the Coordinator and the other members of his party go their separate ways, General Hodges is escorted to a suite in the palace’s guest wing; by now, it’s 10:30 pm. Hodges prepares for sleep by belting on a short kimono, placing his sidearm under the pillow and arranging his daisho on a rack at the head of the tatami.

Hours later at just past 1:00 am in the morning, General Hodges’ instincts cause him to wake up; there are the sounds of soft scratching at the door as of someone trying to be quiet while opening the lock. Fully awake now, Hodges pulls on his shorts and a T-shirt; thne he draws his katana and places himself so as to be able to surprise whoever comes in.

Outside the room, Agent Sakura of the ISF opens the door, advances quietly into the room and closes the door behind her into the; pausing only to let the neck of her all-too-short kimono slip from her shoulders. Advancing towards the sleeping platform, Sakura demurely crosses her hands in front of her chest to keep the kimono from falling open; to her very great surprise, Sakura sees that the tatami is empty. Suddenly and without any warning, Sakura feels the hard steel edge of a katana pressed against her throat.

General Hodges chuckles softly and says “well, well, well; what have we got here? You move like a cat, young lady. Perhaps I should call you Neko-chan? Come into the light where I can see you…” Agent Sakura swallows nervously as she does so; then says “Hodges-sama, the august personage who I serve thought that you might want some companionship after your long journey..”

Wordlessly, Hodges rolls his eyes up and down Sakura’s half-dressed from. He chuckles, then replies “I hardly think that Kurita-sama would have directed you to come here. Say rather, Minister Indrahar. You’re not one of the Sons of the Dragon, because the membership of that organization is exclusively male; this means that you’re ISF, and not just some palace servant or other. Please return to Uncle Chandy and give him my compliments; thank him for the offer of entertainment that I must decline. I am a married man and I would be unworthy of my good lady wife’s affections if I were to be unfaithful to her.”

Five hours later, Agent Sakura reports to Subhash Indrahar; he asks “how did it go with Hodges-san?”

“Indarhar-sama, this unworthy servant begs leave to report that Hodges-san didn’t accept my offer of companionship; I didn’t even have time to make the offer as he took me by surprise.”

“What happened?”

“He held the edge of his katana against my throat and said that Kurita-sama wouldn’t have sent me to him, and that is was you who did. He said that I wasn’t one of the Sons of the Dragon, and that I had to be ISF. Hodges-san said that I moved like a cat and that I should be called Neko-chan.”

“Is that all, Agent Sakura?”

“No, Indrahar-sama. Hodges-san is unlike anyone I have ever seen. I never thought tha a gaijin could move like a ninja, but he did; may Susanoo no Mikoto strike me down and carry me off to Jigoku if I lie…”

“You have done well, Agent Sakura; dismissed.”

[Dreadpool]

Out and About
May 21st, 3030
Unity Palace, Luthien
6:00 am

In keeping with his daily routine, General Hodges rises at 0600 and prepares to go out on a morning run. Mindful of his personal safety, Hodges puts on a shoulder holster with his M1911a1 under the left arm and a pouch with three extra magazines under the right arm; lastly, his scabbarded katana is carried in the left hand. Just as Hodges leaves his room in the palace's guest quarters, he's met by none other than Subhash Indrahar (with the Director's security detail standing down the hall at a discreet distance).

""A fair good morning to you, Hodges-San. I trust that you passed a pleasant-enough night."

"Indeed I did, Indrahar-san. I must say that the, ahh, 'entertainment' you provided me last was mildly-diverting; I certainly hope that you’ll not hold it against your agent for not being able to get me between the sheets..."

"You need have no concern in that regard, General; my sole purpose in effecting the introduction was to test your character. Sakura is one of my best and most-experienced agents; she told me that you quite took her by surprise with how quietly you moved. Anything which impresses her, impresses me."

"High praise indeed, Director."

"Just so, Hodges-san. Might I ask where you're going?"

"Out for a five-mile run; I had to give those up on the trip to Luthien because it's rather hard to do them on a Jumpship's gravity deck."

A look of concern crosses the ISF Director's face as he replies "General, I must insist that an ISF security detail accompany you. There are those here on Luthien who resent that a gaijin has come to have such influence with the Coordinator, and that they aren't so well-disposed towards you as the Coordinator and I are..."

Hodges grins like a great white shark sizing up his next meal and says "Indrahar-san, you must be referring to those ****** in the Black Dragon Society."

"Err, yes I am."

"Let me give you a piece of advice. You and Kurita-sama really should settle their hash, because that bunch is going to cause the Combine no end of trouble..."

"The Coordinator and I will take that under advisement, Hodges-san. Before you go, I wanted to let you know that Agent Sakura told me you mentioned the Sons of The Dragon. No one outside of my closest advisers knows of them; not even Kurita-sama. How is it that you do?"
"Director, you are I are professionals, are we not? As a matter of courtesy from one professional to another, ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies. As I previously told the Coordinator (and the Primus of Comstar), I have intelligence sources that are so deep and so black that they make the darkness of space itself seem as bright as the noonday sun; beyond this, I will say nothing more."

"Very well; I'll not press you further. As for your trip to Luthien Armor Works this morning, Kurita-san will be coming by at 0900 to pick you up."

"Thank you, Indrahar-san; I'll be ready."

General Hodges exits the palace's guest quarters and walks out to the garden where he begins a few warm-up exercises. Just then, he notices four very serious and competent-looking individuals approaching him.

"Good morning, gentlemen; you must be that ISF detail that the Director said should accompany me."

The team leader politely bows and replies "we are, Hodges-sama."

"Well, I hope you boys can keep up; I run an 8-minute mile."

One last stretch, and Hodges is off.

"QUICK TIME, MARCH" Then "DOUBLE-TIME...MARCH"

Once Hodges is up to speed, he keeps time by singing a rather off-color cadence modeled on one that was popular among his troops back when he was still at Fort Hood. This version is full of obscene, scurrilous references to the Capellan Confederation, Comstar, Romano Liao and Myndo Waterly, as well as where they can go (along with what they can do with, for and to themselves and each other when they get there).

30 minutes later, the run is complete. Hodges cools off, then heads back to his suite to get ready for the day's activities. A short time later, a pair of palace staffers knock on the door.

"Yes?"

"Indrahar-sama thought you might like to refresh yourself with breakfast."

"My thanks. Put it on the table; I'll be available directly."

"Hai, Hodges-san."

After putting on a fresh uniform, Hodges comes out of his room to see that a traditional Japanese breakfast has been laid out on the table for him. The meal consists of steamed rice, a bowl of steaming-hot Miso soup, grilled fish and various side dishes such as pickled vegetables, dried & seasoned seaweed and a fresh salad; there is also a pot of hot green tea. The breakfast takes the better part of half an hour, after which Hodges steps out on the suite's veranda to admire the formal Japanese garden laid out in the yard below.

9:00 am

There is another knock on the door; Hodges answers and sees Theodore Kurita waiting there. Greetings are exchanged and Kurita says “General, I have a transport standing by, waiting to take us to Luthien Armor Works.”

“At your convenience, sir.”

As the two walk through the palace complex out to where the transport is waiting, Theodore asks “how are you liking your stay here on Luthien, General?”

“The Coordinator’s hospitality is all that I’ve heard and more, Kurita-san.”

The vehicle in which Theodore Kurita and General Hodges will ride is driven by a member of the Otomo (the Coordinator's bodyguard unit); a second Otomo member is riding shotgun next to the driver; the vehicle is being escorted by lead and chase cars, with six men in each. As the small convoy exits the palace complex, Theodore Kurita turns to General Hodges and asks "what do you know of Luthien Armor Works?"

"Kurita-san, admittedly, my knowledge isn't as complete as I would like it to be. The company now known as Luthien Armor Works (LAW) was founded on New Samarkand by the order of Kozo von Rohrs in 2461. Originally a secret division of New Samarkand Metals (titled New Samarkand Armor Works, or NSAW); the company's first major project was the design and construction of the GLD-1R Gladiator, which entered service in 2468. When the capital of the Draconis Combine was moved to Luthien, the company came along and assumed its present name. LAW is headquartered in an immense industrial complex which sprawls over nearly 28,000,000 square feet on the outskirts of Imperial City; the company also has divisions on Abiy Adi, Hyner, Irece, New Samarkand, Nykvarn, Savinsville and Dieron. The LAW Complex has its own security force; a square battalion consisting of four reinforced companies with four lances each. These lances are composed of one AS7-D Atlas, one BLR-1G Battlemaster and two DRG-1N Dragons; if necessary, LAW can call upon the 1st and 7th Swords of Light for assistance if necessary..."

Hearing the von Rohrs name fills Theodore Kurita's mind with disgust as he says to himself "may the demons of Izanagi forever torment the shades of that accursed family by gnawing their guts in the fires of Yomi..."

"Hodges-san, though you say your knowledge is incomplete, it is remarkable in its depth. However, I will point out a slight inaccuracy; the heavy mechs assigned to each company in LAW's guard force are not the DRG1-N; they are prototypes of the DRG-1G Grand Dragon."

The drive continues and, half an hour later, the convoy passes through the LAW complex' main gate; General Hodges can't help but notice that there is a lance of 'mechs guarding the entrance. He comments "very impressive, Kurita-san; that AS7-D is an old design, but it's still intimidating as hell."

"Indeed it is, Hodges-san. If you will please follow me, Site Manager Richard Sadafuji is waiting for us so the tour can begin."

In passing through the gate, General Hodges takes note of its design and that of the outer walls. By his estimation, the first wall is 7 meters tall, 6 meters thick at the base and tapering towards the top; at regular intervals, there are angled bastions positioned so that there are no dead spaces in their fields of fire. The second wall is taller, at 12 meters in height; on top of the bastions and along the top of the walls, there are various turrets with an assortment of weapons for anti-aircraft and ground defense.

Inside the perimeter, the layout is wide open. There are numbers of very large assembly buildings, with smaller warehouses for the storage of parts, subassemblies and raw materials. The streets between the buildings and warehouses are 20 meters wide, allowing for the passage of a high level of traffic.

"Sadafuji, Richard; eldest son of and heir-apparent to your father Charles Sadafuji. One brother and two sisters. You received the post of Manager of Luthien Armor Works in recognition of your business acumen and your talents as an engineer. Managing LAW is seen as preparation for your assumption of the Marquisate when your father passes away."

Sadafuji replies unflappably "General Hodges, you are very well-informed for an outsider." Seeing the look on the manager's face, Theodore Kurita interjects "Sadafuji-san, our guest has demonstrated his knowledge before the Coordinator and myself; he has Kurita-sama's confidence and my own. Is that understood?"

"Hai, Kurita-san. If you and your guest will please board the transport, we can begin the tour."

As the tour begins, General Hodges comments " Sadafuji-san, I really must compliment your landscape architect; nowhere have I field works more cleverly-disguised as ordinary landscaping. Any vehicle or 'mech which approaches the complex by any route except the main road will find their forward progress quite significantly slowed. As for the road itself, I presume that it's mined at various locations, and that the entire length is dialed in for tube artillery and mortar fire. I wouldn't want to be commanding the force assigned to take this place, because I've got a feeling that it would be very expensive in terms of men and materiel."

"Just so, Hodges-san. In other matters, I and my engineering staff have been reviewing the plans and specifications for your weapon stabilization system, your multi-spectral rangefinder and your electrothermal-caseless gun system; it is our assessment that they are masterpieces of design and simplicity." Hodges grins slightly and replies "of course they are, Sadafuji-san; I invented them, you know."

"So you did; it's hard to believe that First Prince Hanse Davion let you give the Combine the plans and specifications for those systems." Another slight grin, then General Hodges says "it was with his express permission that I did so."

In driving through the outer areas of the LAW complex, Hodges notices a good deal of ground traffic but not much in the way of people on foot (except between buildings which are close to each other).

"Sadafuji-san, I have a number of questions relating to the workforce."

"Ask what you will, General. I have been instructed to keep nothing from you."

"The number of employees here must be very large. How do you maintain the productivity of such a large force?"

"Hodges-san, our staff are well-paid and their families are looked after; there are schools for the children of our employees, plus hospitals and recreation centers. I also have a policy of rewarding innovation among the workers; the crews on the various assembly lines are encouraged to compete among themselves to see who can be the most efficient. You'll understand that in such a vital and dangerous enterprise as this, safety is of paramount concern."

"I understand. Are your assembly lines automated?"

"Only for the smaller components; in the early years, LAW still had Star League-era automated production lines. In the chaos of the Succession wars, these have all broken down due to the loss of technology (to include specialized computer control & monitoring systems) and a lack of spare parts."

"Well, perhaps that situation might be alleviated with all the new equipment that the Combine has recovered (or will recover) from Star League depots that I have told the Coordinator about."

"Hodges-san, if such a thing happens, I'll be very pleased. If those Star League-era automated assembly lines were to be brought back into service, we could double or triple our rate of production."

Theodore Kurita joins the discussion and says "Sadafuji-san, what General Hodges says is the truth. Only recently, he told the Coordinator of a Star League-era depot on Buffalo Meadows that contained a considerable amount of vehicles, battlemechs, spare parts, supplies and equipment. More importantly, the depot contained a high-level data core. Just as important as the supplies and the data core is the presence of intact and operational warships."

"WHAT?? Please forgive my outburst, Kurita-san. May I ask what that depot contained?"

"Six full regiments of Royal-grade battlemechs; 108 units each and six squadrons of aerospace fighters; 18 units each. There are also enough spare parts to keep them going for years. Hodges-san tells me that the depot was founded by the SLDF's 295th Division, who had responded to Kerensky's call to leave the Inner Sphere. The 295th didn't make the rendezvous and so, decided to set down on the planet and found a colony of their own; after about 80 years or so, the colony died out from a lack of numbers."

"Kurita-san, what of the warships?"

'The mechs and fighters were carried aboard 18 Overlord-class dropships carried aboard the SLS Ulithi (a Potemkin-class troop transport) and a pair of destroyers (the SLS Cape Bon and the SLS Protecteur). The SLS Ulithi's drive core suffered a catastrophic failure when the ship materialized at Buffalo Meadows' jump point. She and the two DDs made orbit around the planet by using their fusion drives, then the mechs, vehicles and supplies were landed. Afterwards, the warships were hidden in the system's asteroid belt and hidden with debris."

"Kurita-san, that is the most remarkable tale I have ever heard; having those warships will prove to a be a great boon for the Admiralty, not to mention those 'mechs and fighters..."

"just so, Sadafuji-san; just so."

While this conversation is going on, the transport carrying the group next enters one of the large assembly buildings and Sadafuji begins to explains the manufacturing processes in detail. First, the 'mech's skeleton is assembled and various components such as the cockpit, fusion reactor, gyroscope, heat sinks, torso weapon mounts and ammunition bays are installed. Then, the extremities are wrapped with myomer muscle fibers and any arm-mounted weapons are installed; lastly, the armor plate is installed.

When Sadafuji finishes his description, he asks "Hodges-san, what do you think of our manufacturing processes?"

"Admirable, if somewhat inefficient."

"How so?"

"Well, Luthien Armor Works and other manufacturing concerns throughout the Inner Sphere build 'mechs like they were ships on Ancient Terra, in that the keel is laid down first, then the frame is installed followed by the hull plating and other internal components. Why not use modular construction? It's an old process, pioneered by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Corporation on Old Terra during the Second World War."

"Please tell me more, Hodges-san"

"Instead of building ships from the keel on up (as LAW and others do with battlemechs), what Kaiser did was to divide a ship up into a series of modules; these modules would be completely finished and then assembled. As an illustration of what I mean, let's say that there is a production order for a run of 70-ton War Hammers. Applying the principles of modular construction means that the sub-assemblies are fully completed with all internal systems and then put together to make a complete machine; cockpits, arms legs, etc. Part and parcel of this would be to use common components to speed up the pace of construction; one model of particle-projection cannon, one model of medium laser, one model of autocannon, one model of machinegun, etc. I estimate that a manufacturer such as LAW could double their rate of construction, even without the use of automated assembly lines. It follows that using this system would speed up unit maintenance and simplify logistical requirements."

"Hodges-san, that's a fascinating concept. With Kurita-san's permission, I'll bring it up to LAW's Board of Directors." Theodore Kurita nods his head by way of giving permission the comments "Hodges-san, you are a man of many talents; there's more to you than meets the eye."

"Thank you, sir. Your comments are gratefully accepted."

As General Hodges finishes speaking, Theodore Kurita says "Sadafuji-san, we've taken up far too much of your valuable time; my honored guest and I must return to Imperial Palace as the Coordinator is expecting us."

"Domo arigato, Kurita-san; the honor was mine."

Kurita and Hodges are driven back to the parking area, where they board the ground car for the trip back to the Imperial Palace. It is an old principle that, when things are going right, they quite often go wrong very soon thereafter. So it is with Theodore Kurita and his guest. While driving through the outskirts of Imperial City towards the Palace, Theodore Kurita and General Hodges are discussing of interest; suddenly, they are surprised when the lead vehicle goes up in a huge explosion; Kurita and Hodges barely have time to react when their vehicle is struck in the engine compartment by a roadside IED. The vehicle slews sideways and Kurita is thrown against the interior of the vehicle, lacerating his scalp and knocking him out; at this same time, the chase vehicle is taken out with an anti-tank rocket.

General Hodges has his .45 in hand as the door on his side of the car springs open from the force of the impact. He spills out on the ground, apparently unconscious. To the front of the vehicle, the driver and the agent in the front seat are preparing to engage the assailants when they are machinegunned through the windshield and killed.

Coming around the wrecked car to finish off their target, one of the assassins pauses to take a photograph out of his pocket, while the other approaches with a weapon in hand. This delay is all that General Hodges needs; he curses "SURPRISE, MOTHERF**KER!!" and double-taps the first assassin in the chest; this is followed up with a further aimed shot to the head. Not having his weapon in hand, the second assassin is delayed slightly as he reaches for his sidearm.

As with the first man, the second is drilled twice in the chest and once in the head. General Hodges locks and clears his weapon, sets it on the ground beside him and mockingly says to the corpses of the two men he just killed "when you shoot someone, don't go near them until you're sure they're dead."

Then, the shakes begin...

By an act of will, General Hodges collects himself. and now that all the hostiles have been neutralized, he turns his attention to Theodore Kurita. A quick check shows that Kurita is still lying unconscious inside the ground car, so Hodges elects to remove him from the car to emergency first aid can be administered.

Once Kurita is lying on the ground, General Hodges makes him more comfortable by removing his own uniform top and rolling it up to use as a pillow. Next, Kurita's clothing is loosened and his feet are raised using seat cushion from the car. There are the sounds of sirens approaching and, when the first responders are close by, Hodges waves his arms and shouts "MEDIC!! I'VE GOT A MAN DOWN HERE!!"

In what seems like mere moments, an entire company of troops from the Otomo surrounds the site and sets up a security perimeter. As a team of paramedics comes up to the wrecked ground car, the OIC of the Otomo detail makes a short bow to General Hodges and says "Hodges-san, I am Chu-Sa Date Hayamoto. Please tell me what happened."

"Chu-Sa, Kurita-san and I were on our way back to Unity Palace after a tour of Luthien Armor Works. The Gunji no-Kanrei and I were discussing various matters when the convoy was suddenly ambushed. Simultaneously, the lead vehicle was destroyed by a large bomb, the rear vehicle by an anti-tank rocket; the vehicle in which we were travelling was taken out by a remotely triggered IED emplaced at the side of the road. Kurita-san was thrown against the interior of the vehicle and knocked unconscious; while the ground car was slewing sideways because of the impact, the door on my side was thrown open and I found myself on the ground just as I had just begun the reach for my sidearm. The two assailants approached and machinegunned the driver and bodyguard in the front seat of the car, then came around to do for Kurita-san and myself; to make a long story short, I got the drop on them and dropped both with pistol fire."

"Ahh, so. Hodges-san, you have done the Combine a service of inestimable value. If you will please come with me, Kurita-sama wants to hear what happened." General Hodges pauses to retrieve his sidearm, then he and Chu-Sa Hayamoto drive off under very heavy escort; just 15 minutes later, he arrives back at Unity Palace.

Chu-Sa Hayamoto escorts Hodges to the Throne Room of Unity Palace, there to find the Coordinator seated on the throne; also present are Subhash Indrahar, Tai-Sa Marcus Kurita (commanding officer of the Otomo and Takashi Kurita's cousin), Constance Kurita (keeper of the House Honor) and the Abbess of the Order of the Five Pillars. Outwardly, the Coordinator presents a picture of serenity; inwardly however, he's seething with rage. The only indication of this is the Coordinator drumming his fingers on the arms of the throne.

"Hodges-san, you must forgive the unseemly haste with which you were brought here..."

"Kurita-sama, there's nothing to forgive; the circumstances dictated that I come here as soon as possible to tell you what happened."
"Speak. then"

"Hai. Kurita-san and I were on the way back to the palace after touring the Luthien Armor Works complex. He and I were discussing various topics of interest when the convoy was suddenly ambushed. Almost simultaneously, the lead vehicle was destroyed by a large bomb buried under the road and the trail vehicle was taken out by an anti-tank rocket. at the same time, the vehicle in which we were riding was disabled by a IED strike to the passenger side of the engine compartment (most likely a platter charge).The impact slewed the car around and caused Kurita-san to be thrown against the side of the passenger compartment, where he was knocked unconscious. For my part, the door on my side of the car was sprung open as I reached for my sidearm; thereafter, I found myself on the ground next to the car."

"What happened next?"

"Kurita-sama, the two assailants approached the car and machinegunned the driver and bodyguard through the front windshield; then, they came around the side to finish us off. I managed to get the drop on them and finished both of them off with pistol fire to the chest and head. Afterwards, I got the Kanrei out of the car, assessed his injuries and provided emergency first aid."

The Coordinator asks "Minister Indrahar; my son's injuries. Are they slight or heavy?"

"My lord, thanks to Hodges-san's quick thinking, they are less severe than they otherwise might have been. Kurita-san has a lacerated scalp and a concussion. Thankfully, he didn't suffer a skull fracture or a epidural hematoma."

"This is good. Hodges-san, you are un-injured"

"I am unhurt; wouldn't be the first time someone's tried to kill me. I must regret to inform you that the sword which you gifted me at my wedding was broken in the attack."

"We will address that later. For now, can you venture an opinion as to who's responsible for this outrage?"

"Yes, sir. I will preface my remarks by asking 'Cui Bonuo' (to whom the good)? Who stands to gain the most if this attack had been successful? One obvious suspect is Comstar; you'll recall that they've tried to kill me once before. However, as much as I would like to hang this albatross around the necks of that bunch of toga-wearing toaster-worshipping idiots, I don't think that Myndo Waterly wants to provoke a blood feud with the Combine at this time."

"Who, then? Tell me, I say..."

"Kurita-sama, if I were you, I'd take a long hard look at the Black Dragon Society. To use an old Terran expression, that bunch is 'More Catholic than the Pope'; their vision of the Combine's purity doesn't allow for an outsider like me to rise in your confidence as I have done."
"Indeed. Minister Indrahar, begin your investigation immediately. I want the guilty parties brought before me alive so they can face the Justice of the Dragon."

"Hai, Tono; it will be as you say."

A few moments pass, then the Coordinator surprises everyone in the room by rising from the throne, standing in front of General Hodges and carrying out a Saikerei (the most formal type of Ojigi or bow).

"Hodges-san, by acting as you did, you saved my son's life. The Combine owes you a debt of honor that makes all that has passed before pale into insiginificance. Takashi repeats the Saikerei, and is joined in the gesture by everyone else in the room. He resumes his seat on the throne, withdraws his katana & scabbard from his sash and presents it to General Hodges.

"Please accept this katana as a replacement for the one which was broken in the attack. It is called 'Breeze of Evening' and has been the Sword of the Coordinator for the past 300 years." General Hodges accepts the weapon with both hands, raises it to his forehead as a sign of respect then makes his own Saikerei to the Coordinator.

"Kurita-sama, this weapon will be an heirloom of my house and all that will hereafter follow in my line will inherit it."

"Very well. As a further mark of recognition for saving the life of my son, I hereby grant you an honorary commission in the Otomo; Tai-Sa Marcus, see to this immediately."

"Hai, Tono."

"Hodges-san, is there anything else you would have of the Coordinator while you are still here on Luthien?"

"Only this. I ask that messages of the highest priority be sent to the First Prince on New Avalon, the Archon on Tharkad and my good lady wife on Bristol. I want those messages to be received six hours from now; I don't care who gets bumped in the message que, and cost is no object. You see, the assassination attempt will be on the front page of every newspaper and lead the news broadcasts on every planet in the Inner Sphere inside of two weeks; I'd rather they hear about it from me and not get the news second-hand."

Eight hours later, First Prince Hanse Davion, Melissa Steiner-Davion, Field Marshal Yvonne Davion and Quintus Allard are in the Fox’ Den reviewing the progress that has been made thus far in recovering the material from Antares Base.

“Field Marshal, your report if you please.”

“Yes, your highness. One week ago, elements of the Davion Brigade of Guards and the 10th Lyran Guards made planetfall on Antares. Per the information given to us by General Hodges, advance units of the Brigade and the 10th were able to quickly locate the base and gain entry. Additionally, a dropship was dispatched to the system’s asteroid belt in order to locate the warships hidden there.”

“What did they find?”

“Sir, the first words of the people on the ground and aboard that dropship were ‘Oh God, the shinies!!’ The scale of Antares base is simply unbelievable, with multiple underground levels going down 700’ below the surface; each of the levels is many hectares in size. The tech staff was able to access the base’s computer system and see just what it had in storage. Just as General Hodges said, there is an entire gear set for the SLDF’s II Corps; multiple regiments of mechs and tanks, brigades of armor, squadrons of aerospace fighters and enough supplies, spare parts and equipment to keep the whole bunch going for at least a year of heavy, sustained combat, a room with enough spare artillery tubes to form the pipe network for a small city plus a regiment of mechs and two battalions of tanks from the Black Watch.”

“Unbelievable. What of the ships in the system’s asteroid belt?”

“They were there, hidden with debris to make them seem as if there were more asteroids drifting in the belt. The ships are a Texas-class battleship, the SLS William Halsey, a Newgrange-class yardship, a Mercy-class hospital ship and two Bugeye-class surveillance ships (SLS Donovan and SLS Casey). The thing is, when the away team put boots on deck aboard the SLS Halsey and made their way inside, the ship’s computer came to life and welcomed our guys aboard…”

“What??”

“Your highness, SLS William Halsey has a fully-aware AI computer system; it is of a unique type, referred to as a combat intelligence. The ship’s holographic avatar told the away team that she had been monitoring the state of affairs in the Inner Sphere ever since she and her sister ships had been cached in the Antares system’s asteroid belt. You’ll be interested to know that the Halsey and the yardship are fully-stocked with small craft, dropships, battlemechs and vehicles…”

Just then, a communications tech bursts into the room and says “Your highness, please excuse this interruption, but we just received a Sword One priority message from General Hodges on Luthien; I’ve never seen a message transmitted with such speed before.”

“What do you mean, lieutenant?”

“Sir, the message was transmitted from the HPG station on Luthien only eight hours ago..”

The message is handed over and Hanse Davion begins to read:

‘To: Sword One
From: Lancer Six

Assassination attempt made against me and Theodore Kurita

Kurita injured, assassins dead at my hands

I am unhurt

Further details to follow.

Hodges sends’

Hanse Davion looks to Field Marshal Davion and orders “Recall General Hodges immediately and get him here as soon as humanly possible.”

“Yes, your highness.”
Last edited by Garrity on Sun Sep 19, 2021 12:14 am, edited 3 ti

[Dreadpool]

Looks like good fun so far.  In this case the SI has a lot more knowledge and reference material than John Smith, and he is putting it to good use.

I wonder how long before the stabilized tanks are ready for deployment?

Hodges has everything ever written about Battletech in his personal library, from the time the game was created up until 2019.

Of course, his information will gradually become less-valuable as time goes on and history diverges from its original course...

[Dreadpool]

June 4th, 3030
The Fox' Den
Mount Davion
Avalon City

After an abrupt but respectful departure (during which General Hodges receives a custom-made set of O-Yoroi armor from the Coordinator as a further sign of his gratitude and respect), Hodges returns to New Avalon via a command circuit of jumpships. Upon his arrival, he is escorted to the Fox' Den, where he makes his report to the First Prince.

"Alright, General. I want you to tell me what happened. The assassination attempt has been the lead story on every news broadcast in the Inner Sphere for the last week; leave nothing out; understand?"

"Yes, sir. Theodore Kurita and I had just completed a tour of Luthien Armor Works and were on the way back to Unity Palace; we were discussing topics of mutual interest when the convoy was ambushed. The lead vehicle was destroyed by a huge roadside bomb; the trail vehicle was taken out with an anti-tank rocket and the vehicle in which the Gunji no-kanrei and I were riding was disabled by the impact of a platter charge to the engine compartment. Kurita himself was thrown against the side of the passenger and knocked unconscious; the door on my side of the car sprung open from the force of the impact, I had just begun to draw my sidearm when I found myself on the ground."

"Who were the assailants?"

"Your highness, this wasn't the work of Comstar or that crazy bitch Romano Liao. Instead, I believe that the attack was carried out by a secret society called the Black Dragons; this bunch holds the belief that they know better than the Coordinator how to direct the future of the Combine. The thing is, they weren't after Theodore Kurita, they were after me..."

"What?? Are you quite sure?"

"Yes, sir. It seems that the Black Dragons are bitterly-resentful that a barbarian outsider like myself has come to have such influence with the coordinator so, they decided to punch my ticket. Theodore Kurita was just a target of opportunity."

"I see. Please continue."

"Yes, sir; there were two assailants. These individuals approached the car and for whatever reason, one of them paused. I got the drop on the first guy and put three rounds into him with my .45 (two in the chest and one in the head). The second guy didn't have his weapon in hand, so I gave him the same business; start to finish, the engagement lasted perhaps three-quarters of a second. Afterwards, I administered first aid to Theodore Kurita until help arrived; he had a mild concussion and a lacerated scalp, but no lasting injuries."

"I can only imagine how grateful Takashi Kurita must have been for saving the life of his son."
"Indeed he was, your highness. When the Coordinator heard that the sword he gave me as a wedding present was broken during the attack, he drew his own personal sword from his sash and gave it to me while making a full, formal bow; in this, he was joined by the entire Imperial Court."

"Indeed. Perhaps something can be made of the good will that Takashi Kurita has for you..."

"Very possibly, sir. Having House Kurita on our side would be of immense benefit when the Clans come calling some years down the road; after that, reforming the Star League would be nice..." General Hodges' statement catches everyone in the room completely off-guard; normally unflappable, the First Prince responds with "err, yes. I can see the benefits of that outcome. Tell me, General. Have you heard of the name Marcus Kurita?"

"Yes I have, Your Highness. He's the father of Constance Kurita; she holds the post of Keeper of the House Honor. Marcus is also the Coordinator's cousin. May I ask the reason for your question?"

"General, Takashi Kurita has gone after the Black Dragons with a mad passion."

"That's quite understandible, sir. If it was my son that had been the target of such an attack, I'd have a giant case of the ass at whoever was responsible."

"Just so. It will interest you to know that my contacts have relayed to me that Marcus Kurita was publicly-beheaded for his complicity in the attack."

"Is that so? Well, it wouldn't be the first time that Marcus tried to have the Coordinator whacked. Back in 3019, Theodore Kurta was getting married to Anastasi Sjovold (daughter of Jarl Ottar Sjovold, governor of the Rasalhague Military District). Jarl Ottar was one of a group of conspirators who tried to kill Takashi Kurita during his son's wedding; among these was none other than Marcus Kurita. When the plot was foiled, the conspirators and their families were executed; for one reason or another, Marcus wasn't. Instead, he was recalled to Luthien and promoted to be the commanding officer of the Otomo, Kurita's bodyguard force; I think this was done so that the Coordinator could keep an eye on him."

"A cogent analysis. General; I'm sure that Justin Allard and his staff at MIIO are going to have a fine old time puzzling out what happens next in the Combine. Now, as to other matters, you'll be pleased to know that Antares Base is in our hands and that the material is being removed as we speak; it will take months to get it all, because the stockpiles there are even more extensive than you said they were; we're talking millions of tons of supplies and equipment, hundreds of battlemechs and aerospace fighters, plus thousand of tanks and support vehicles. The warships in the system's asteroid belt were just as you said they were; the jewel in that particular crown is the SLS Halsey, a Texas-class battleship. To make matters even better, the Halsey has an Artificial General Intelligence computer system; apparently, the ship's AGI is the only one of its kind. I have consulted with Archon Katrina on this matter, and we are both minded that you can ask for whatever it is that you want from the haul."
“Thank you Your Highness; I'll be pleased to take you and the Archon up on that offer. After I get to Bristol, I'll be meeting with representatives of the planetary government; then, I'll be doing the same thing on Beecher. Once I'm up to speed on things, my main mission will be to build up my force structure; my share of the materiel from Antares Base will give me quite a leg up in the process."

"Very well, sir; so let it be written, so let it be done. Now that you have made your report to me, it's high time that you headed home; I'm quite sure your good lady wife will be quite happy to see you, so the transportation costs are on me."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Another command circuit of jumpships is made available for General Hodges' use; nine days later, he's on Bristol. After a reunion with Kym Hodges, it's off to work. The next thirty days is spent with meeting with everybody who's anybody in the planetary government; foremost among these are the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his staff. General Hodges also tours Bristol's major industrial centers and meets with representatives of management To his very great surprise while he's touring Jolassa Armored Weapons, a bunker dating from just before the fall of the Star League is discovered under JAW's main complex; this bunker contains eight full regiments of Fury tanks, some 864 machines in all.

July 13th, 3030
Beecher

After completing his rounds of meeting & greeting on Bristol, General Hodges travels to Beecher where he repeats the process over the next month. Then, he returns to Bristol and begins to make plans for the future development of his industrial capacity and military forces; an overview of the economy and population base on both planets shows what he has to work with.

Among General Hodges' several objectives will be to expand the manufacturing capacity of Jolassa Armored Weapons so that he can build his own tanks, setting up factories for battlemechs and aerospace fighters, plus shipyards for the construction of surface vessels and submarines; there are also secure military bases to be constructed, along with the fortifications needed to protect them.

As of the present day, Bristol has a population of 2,201,973,000 and yearly government revenue of 25,322,689,500,000 D-bills (based on an average individual tax bill of 11,500 D-bills). Of this amount, 22% (or 5,600,000,000,000 D-bills) is the defense budget, For Beecher, the population numbers 3,689,000,000; yearly government revenue is 42,423,500,000,000 D-Bills and the defense budget is 8,484,700,000,000 D-bills. Also added to the revenues on both planets is the income from General Hodges’ investments; 10,000,000,000,000 D-bills each invested in the Davion and Steiner stock markets, 1,000,000,000,000 D-bills each invested in Johnson Industries and New Syrtis Shipyards, plus 3,500,000,000,000 D-bills each invested in Port Simon Naval Shipyards and Ioto Galactic Enterprises; General Hodges’ personal reserves amount to 10,048,862,426,241 D-bills.

What follows next is the beginning of a military buildup, the likes of which hasn’t been seen in the Inner Sphere since before the fall of the Star League.

Coming to Pieces
August, 3030
Atreus, Free Worlds League and elsewhere

Based upon rapidly-improving relations that the Draconis Combine has with the Federated Commonwealth, Takashi Kurita withdraws his realm from the Concord of Kapetyn (previously signed between House Kurita, House Marik and House Liao in October, 3022); the Coordinator likewise urges Janos Marik to do the same. Incensed at this slap in the face (and realizing that the Draconis Combine is far too powerful to confront openly), Romano Liao (with secret backing from Comstar) reached out to Dame Katherine Humphreys (ruler of the Duchy of Andurien) and persuaded her to revolt against the Captain-General and take the Duchy out of the Free Worlds League.

Knowing that Duncan Marik (the Captain-General’s nephew) is bitterly-opposed to his uncle’s policies, that he seeks to depose him and furthermore, that he wants to ensure that Duggan Marik (Janos’ third son) doesn’t succeed to the Captain-Generalship, Humphreys reaches out to Duncan and offers him her support. In furtherance of her plans, Humphreys reaches out to Majestrix Kyalla Centrella (ruler of the Magistracy of Canopus).

The opening move in the Marik Civil War comes on the afternoon of August 25th, 3030. On that day, Janos Marik is meeting with his top officers and advisers in order to determine how best to respond to Andurien’s attempted secession. The Captain-General is just then conferring with his two sons Thomas and Duggan when a bomb planted by Duncan Marik’s agents goes off. The placement of the bomb under the conference room’s table is such that Thomas Marik is killed instantly; however, Janos and Duggan Marik are only slightly injured.

Not knowing that his uncle survived the bombing, Duncan Marik issues a public proclamation in which he assumes the post of Captain-General; his triumph is dashed almost immediately when Janos Marik broadcasts his survival on all of Atreus’ news channels. Thereafter, he orders the arrest of his traitorous nephew and anyone else who aided him in carrying out the plot; the investigation of the attack will be carried out personally by Wilson Cherenkov (Director of SAFE) and his most trusted subordinates.

August 29th, 3030
Atreus
Free Worlds League

While attending to matters involving the rebellious Duchy of Andurien and the attempted assassination against him, Janos Marik is in his private office when a message envelope is delivered to him bearing the Seal of the Federated Commonwealth. Curious, he opens the envelope and begins to read the Verigraph document contained therein.

‘Sir:

I wish to begin by extending my deepest and most profound sympathies at the death of your son Thomas; no parent should have to bury one of their children.

As regards the current civil conflict in the Free Worlds League, I have come into the possession of certain information that directly implicates Comstar in the attempt on your life and in the secession of the Duchy of Andurien; copies of all relevant files are attached to this letter.

As evidence of his good will in this matter, First Prince Hanse Davion has authorized me to disclose to you the locations of certain Star League supply depots within the Free Worlds League. Furthermore, he invites you to send a designated representative to meet with him on New Avalon and discuss how best to respond to Comstar’s perfidy.”

James Hodges, LtGen
Governor of Bristol and Beecher’

September 10th, 3030
The Fox’ Den
Mount Davion, New Avalon

Hanse Davion is receiving his daily briefing about the goings on in the Federated Commonwealth and elsewhere in the Inner Sphere; in particular, the civil war now engulfing the Free Worlds League. He remarks “Quintus, the Captain General is going after those involved in the plot against him with a vengeance; his nephew Duncan was among the first to be arrested, and he was recently executed.”

“Of course, your highness. I dare say that you’d react in much the same way if someone tried to take you out of the picture and killed your son instead.”

Just then, one of the First Prince’s staff officers knocks on the door, enters and says “your highness, please pardon the interruption; there is an officer from the Free Worlds League here to see you. He’s masked and will not disclose his identity.”

Hanse Davion’s instincts are immediately raised at this development and so he replies “very well, admit him immediately.”

“Yes, sir.”

A minute or two later, an individual wearing a battalion-level officer’s uniform enters the room. Curiously enough, his appearance is obscured by a knee-length cloak and a traveling mask. When the man speaks, the First Prince and Quintus Allard take note of the fact that the sounds of his voice are disguised by a voice changer.

Allard moves to stand by Hanse Davion’s right hand as the individual says “your highness, the august personage whom I serve has detailed me to come here so that important matters can be discussed.”

“Welcome to New Avalon, sir; it would help if I could see your face.”

“But of course.”

The individual removes his voice changer and takes off his mask; the person so revealed is none other than Janos Marik, Captain-General of the Free Worlds League. Hanse Davion is so shocked as this turn of events that he momentarily falls silent. When he recovers his composure, he says “What? How did you come to be here??”

“Hello, Hanse. Of all the people who have ever come here, I am probably the last one that you’d ever expect..”

“You’ve got that right, Janos. Do please have a seat.”

Quintus Allard moves one of the chairs, then withdraws off to the side of the office.

A pause, then “I received a letter from your officer General Hodges on August 29th and so, I am here. I take it that you had no indication that I was coming.”

“No, I didn’t.”

Janos Marik grins and replies “Hanse, SAFE might not be so accomplished as MIIO. However, they’re still capable of springing a surprise or two; are they not?”

“Indeed. I presume you’re going to tell me the reason for your visit..”

“Of course. There are certain highly-important matters we must discuss.”

[Dreadpool]

September 10th, 3030
The Fox’ Den

Janos Marik pauses to gather his thoughts, then says “Hanse, in August of this year, Takashi Kurita urged that I withdraw the Free Worlds League from the Concord of Capetyn; his recommendation was based on the much-improved relations between the Draconis Combine and the Federated Comonwealth. After some consideration, I did just that. Romano Liao took this as a personal insult, reached out to Dame Katherine Humphreys (ruler of the Duchy of Andurien) and suborned her into revolting against the League; all this was done with the secret backing of Comstar.”

Hanse Davion steeples his fingers and replies “what happened next, Janos? I can only imagine that certain parties weren’t pleased at this turn of events…”

“Indeed. As part of the rebellion, Humphreys approached my nephew Duncan and persuaded him to make an attempt on my life. Agents in his employ planted a bomb in my office and timed it to go off on the afternoon of August 30th; it so happened that I was meeting with my top officers and my two sons Thomas and Duggan in order to determine what steps to next take against Dame Humphrey’s rebellion.”

“I see that you survived the blast unhurt…”

“Not quite; I only suffered a few minor injuries. However, my son Thomas was killed instantly and; my other son Duggan was wounded.”

“Janos, my friend, please allow me to express my deepest and most sincere condolences at your loss. Tell me what I can do to help.”

“Your kind words and your offer of assistance are greatly appreciated, Hanse. In the aftermath of the bombing, Duncan attempted to take the Captain-Generalcy for himself; only to see his efforts foiled when I made a public address confirming that I was alive and unharmed. Thereafter, I ordered Duncan’s arrest and for SAFE to conduct a thorough investigation. As to what I want, Comstar’s mask of neutrality has fallen. Their meddling in the internal affairs of the Free World League is bad enough but, when they aided in the assassination attempt on me, they went too far. Myndo Waterly and her gang of cutthroats must be made to pay.”

“Janos, you and I are of like mind on this subject. When I went to war with the Capellan Confederation, Comstar (or that bunch of toga-wearing, toaster-worshipping ****** as my man General James Hodges refers to them) attempted to interfere by placing the Federated Commonwealth under a communications interdict. Unbeknownst to them, I had certain means of working around the interdict; we’ll discuss this shortly. In the meantime, I trust that you’ve made good use of your copy of the data core from New Dallas.”

“I certainly have; the information was duplicated many times over, with copies going to the best research institutions in the Free World League. I have to ask, whatever possessed you to pass a copy of the New Dallas core to me? I’m not sure that I would have had the presence of mind to do so, had I first come into its possession; it’s a sure thing that neither Takashi Kurita or Romano Liao would have done so….”

“Janos, I gave you a copy of the New Dallas core at General Hodges’ suggestion; it was he that told me of its existence and where it was located. I didn’t hesitate a moment in issuing the order, especially after General Hodges told me of certain operations by Comstar (Holy Shroud and Holy Shroud II), whereby they sought to maintain their technological dominance by sabotaging research projects all across the Inner Sphere and assassinating key scientific personnel; no realm was safe from their perfidy.”

“Indeed; all the more reason why Comstar has to pay for what they did.”

“Agreed. I propose a joint operation with Takashi Kurita, where our three realms would move against Comstar. First, they will not be allowed to deploy their so-called ‘Com Guards’ and second, we seize their hyperpulse generators.”

“What? Are you sure that’s a good idea, Hanse? I mean, what’s to keep the personnel at each station from sabotaging the hyperpulse generator? No one knows how to repair or use those damned things anymore.”

“You’re incorrect in that, Janos. For quite some time now, my people at the New Avalon Institute of Science have been researching the secrets of HPG technology; the information from the New Dallas data core proved to be of vital importance in the project. Now, my scientists and technicians will be able to repair and operate HPGs. Earlier, I said that I had a means of circumventing a communications blackout; I will offer it to you and Takashi Kurita.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Janos, my communications people call them fax machines. The original technology was discovered in 3005 by Katrina Steiner in a bunker formerly belonging to the SLDF’s 17th Royal Division on Taran’s World. At its most basic, a fax machine uses the same hyperspace medium as do jump drives and hyperpulse generators. It has nine channels, a range of 1,200 light years and a propagation speed of 180 light years per day. Voice and video communications aren’t possible with this device, only transmission of text (up to 50 pages) and still pictures.”

“Hanse, you realize that Comstar would do anything to obtain this technology? They’d murder entire planets to get it.”

“Exactly. This is why you must do whatever it takes to keep this information in-house. Our whole success depends on Comstar not knowing what we’re up to. While we’re on the subject of cooperating with each other, there’s certain information that I’d like to give you.”

“What’s that?”

“My officer General Hodges developed information that shows where certain ex-SLDF warships and equipment caches can be found. I satisfied myself that his information was correct and acted on his suggestion to seize them; I also passed word to Takashi Kurita where such depots could be found in the Draconis Combine. I now do the same for you.”

“What? Do you mean to tell me that there are Star League warships located in the Free Worlds League??”

“You heard me correctly, Janos. There are the SLS Port Hope (a Black Lion-class battlecruiser), SLS Richmond (a Vincent-class corvette), the SLS Schrack and the SLS Deliverance (both of these are Essex-class destroyers) and the SLS Olympic (an Aegis-class heavy cruiser); these ships are located in the Oort cloud of the Tanis Borealis System. Undoubtedly, these ships are going to need maintenance; if you would like the support of the Federated Commonwealth in getting them operational, you’ll have it.”

“Agreed. What’s our next step?”

“You, I and Takashi have to meet in person to discuss the details; scheduling operations against Comstar will be of critical importance, as we’ll have to hit every HPG station more-or-less simultaneously. I suggest we meet in the city of Cardiff on Bristol; it’s one of the two planets I settled upon General Hodges for his services to the Federated Commonwealth. I’ll have a courier sent to Luthien with a message telling Takashi Kurita of our plans, and I’ll send a message to Bristol informing General Hodges of our planned arrival.”

“Very well. As Shakespeare once said in one of his plays: ‘Lay on Macduff and damn’d be he who first cries hold, enough.”

Later that day, General Hodges receives a message from the Fox’ Den via fax machine telling him of the impending conference and requesting that he make the necessary preparations. The message is responded to immediately, with a request that the Taurian Concordat be asked to send a high-level representative.

November 15th, 3030

Over the next 60 days, the command staff of the Federated Commonwealth, the Draconis Combine and the Free Worlds League begin planning their joint operation against Comstar. On November 15th, jumpships carrying the First Prince, The Archon, the Coordinator and the Captain-General arrive at the Bristol system’s jump point under the strictest security measures possible. In the time that it takes for the dropships to reach Bristol, Hanse Davion and Katrina Steiner have a number of private meetings in which they discuss what's to be done with the recovered warships. The last meeting takes place on November 19th just before planetfal;in it, the First Prince says "Katrina, in order to make the plan against Comstar workable, we're going to need to speed up communications with the other houses; using command circuits of jumpships can only do so much."

"What do you propose, Hanse?"

"I've given the idea a good deal of thought, and the only way I see to carry out this mission would be to give Kurita, Marik and the Taurians a set of black boxes."

"Are you serious? Those devices are one of the biggest advantages we have; don't forget it was the boxes that enabled you to get around Comstar's communications interdict.."

"I'm quite serious; we have to show the others just how important the mission is and how serious we are about making it work. Since it would be unjust for me to just give the boxes away, how about we do some horse-trading, so to speak?"

"What do you have in mind, you old fox?"

"General Hodges' information places most of the warships to be recovered in the Federated Suns, to include the LCS invincible. I know you'll be wanting that ship back, so it's yours. To further sweeten the deal, how about I include half of the rest and half of the materiel from Antares Base? Aside from the mechs, tanks, aerospace fighters, artillery, battlesuits and rolling stock, House Steiner's share would amount to half a million tons of spare parts and associated equipment. What say you?"

"Hanse, in the years that we have worked together, I've grown to trust your judgment. If you think this is the way to go, then I'll accept your offer."

After making planetfall, the dignitaries arrive at Bristol’s main spaceport and are driven to meet with General Hodges at Government House. Due to domestic concerns, Protector Thomas Calderon of the Taurian Concordat was unable to attend the conference; however, he did send his son and heir Edward as his personal representative (who arrived on November 14th). The conference takes place in Government House’s most secure conference room; the customary pleasantries are exchanged and the attendees get down to business. As host, General Hodges speaks first.

“Coordinator, Captain-General, thank you for coming here on such short notice. The First Prince’s message of September 10th impressed on me the need for security of communications operations and intelligence; with me is Subaltern Edward Calderon from the Taurian Concordat, who arrived only yesterday.”

Subaltern Calderon speaks up and says “greetings. My father the Protector could not attend, so he sent me to speak for him.”

The meeting is called to order and General Hodges says “let's begin by reviewing the status of your ongoing lostech recovery operations. Kurita-sama, how stand the affairs of the Dragon in this regard?”

“Hodges-san, I am pleased to report that the entire contents of the three depots on Holloway V have been recovered by the Combine. Efforts on Buffalo Meadows and Mannedorf were similarly successful. Aside from the dozens of dropships, hundreds of battlemechs, aerospace fighters, tanks and mountains of supplies, spare parts and munitions, there were the ex-SLDF warships SLS Ulithi (a Potemkin-class troop transport), SLS Cape Bon (an Essex-class destroyer) and the SLS Protecteur (a Lola-class destroyer); the SLS Ulithi’s drive core is non-functional. However, her spaceframe, weapons, engines and other systems are fully-operational.”

“Excellent. My compliments on the successful conclusion of your operations, Kurita-sama. Captain-General?”

“General Hodges, despite some misgivings on my part, I immediately ordered a joint operation between SAFE and units of the FWLM to recover the ships the First Prince told me about. The SLS Port Hope, SLS Richmond, SLS Schrack, SLS Deliverance and SLS Olympic were found drifting in the Oort Cloud of the Tania Borealis system, just as the information you gave the First Prince said they were.”

A nod of the head, then General Hodges says “your highness?”

Hanse Davion exchanges a glance with Archon Katrina, then spends a minute or two referring to the documents he brought along for this meeting. After closing the file folder, he says “gentlemen, it so happened that due to the size of the Federated Commonwealth, there are more supply depots and ex-SLDF warships stashed here than anywhere else. The largest prize was Antares Base, which held an entire equipment set for the SLDFs II Corps; along with this were the SLS William Halsey (a Texas-class battleship), a Newgrange-class yardship, a Mercy-class hospital ship, plus a pair of Bugeye-class surveillance ships (SLS Donovan and SLS Casey). Elsewhere, there is the SLS Nelson (a Black Lion-class battlecruiser) in the Castor system and the SLS Oslo (an Essex-class destroyer in the Elgin system. As part of the operations against Comstar, we in the Federated Commonwealth intend to move against the shipyard complex in the Odessa System. Comstar has been keeping the place under wraps, so they only have a token force guarding it.”

“Hanse-san, might we know what’s there?”

“Of course, Kurita-san. General Hodges’ information is that there are a pair of Newgrange-class yardships, a McKenna-class battleship (the SLS Zughoffer Weir), a Farragut-class battleship (the SLS Ryu), a Potemkin-class troopship (the LCS Nightwind) plus 3 Aegis-class heavy cruisers, 2 Sovetskii Souyz heavy cruisers, 2 Quixote-class missile cruisers, 2 Congress-class frigates and 2 Riga-class frigates; the names of these ships remain as yet unknown. Lastly, I believe that the Tharkad-class battlecruiser LCS Invincible is there also.”

Subaltern Carderon feelings become rather downcast as he listens to the roster of ships that are now available to the other great houses. Seeing the expression on his face, General Hodges says “don’t think that I’ve forgotten about the Taurian Concordat. I asked to have you here because I wanted to disclose the presence of a substantial number of warships in your house’s territory. Centuries ago, the Star League Navy sent a task force to Flannagan’s Nebula for the express purpose of searching for and destroying a fleet of TCN warships which they believed to be hidden there. After years of searching, the SLN task force departed without ever finding anything.”

“General Hodges, family lore in House Calderon says that those ships were hidden away to keep them out of the hands of the Star League during the Reunification War. However, over the passage of time, the information regarding their location has become lost. Are you saying that you know where they are?”

“I am indeed, Subaltern. The reason why the Star League was never able to finds those ships was that they were never in Flannagan’s Nebula in the first place. Instead, they’re in floating in the Oort Cloud in the Renfield System; the ships are completely powered down, they’re in vacuum storage and disguised as floating chunks of cometary debris.”

“What’s there?”

“How about three Calderon-class battleships, a pair of Winchester-class cruisers, a Wagon Wheel-class frigate, three Concordat-class frigates, three Resolution-class destroyers, a pair of Wildcat-class destroyer escorts and an Antares-class fleet tender. There’s also a good chance that the Calderon-class battleship TCS Samantha Calderon is there.”

“Anything else I need to know about?”

“There’s a depot in the Pleiades Cluster, deep in the asteroid belt surrounding the star Merope. Subaltern, before you state the obvious, I am aware of the history that has passed between House Davion and the Taurian Concordat.”

“I appreciate the history lesson, but do please get to the point. What’s there and how did you find out about it?”

“Well, it so happened that a certain document came into my possession some years ago. This document was the diary of one Admiral William Carrison, TCN. In those days, the Concordat was in the late stages of its conflict with the Star League. Admiral Carrison’s superiors ordered him to set up a depot, with an eye towards supporting a revolution against the Star League and, to this end, he deployed a Bessemer-class yardship in the Merope star system. Along with the yardship, several damaged TCN vessels were cached nearby in anticipation of being returned to service after repairs; these comprise a pair of Winchester-class cruisers, a pair of Dart-class transport cruisers and a pair Wagon Wheel-class frigates. The ships are damaged in one form or another, and they would have to be restocked with munitions, fuel, food and other consumables.”

A pause, then “Subaltern, they reason why those ships never returned to the service of the Concordat is that your nation surrendered to the Star League. Admiral Carrison realized that if the existence of the cache were ever to be revealed, the SLDF wouldn’t hesitate to confiscate or destroy it. His decision to conceal the cache from everyone made even more sense because of a certain shipment that was received shortly before the surrender.”

“What was in that shipment?”

“How about a very large percentage of the Taurian Government’s stockpile of precious metals and germanium? Specifically, the equivalent of 5,000,000,000,000 C-bills in gold, platinum, palladium and another 10,000,000,000,000 C-bills in germanium…”

Hanse Davion gestures for General Hodges to resume his seat and says “Subaltern Calderon, in the interest of the development of peaceful relations between the Federated Commonwealth and the Taurian Concordat, I am willing to return those ships and that entire metals stockpile to your government. Furthermore, I invite the Concordat to help recover them. All I ask in return is your government’s assistance in our combined effort to remove Comstar; surely you realize by now that organization is a threat to us all.”

“Your highness, I must return to Taurus at the earliest possible opportunity and communicate this information to my father. Should it prove to be accurate, I don’t doubt that the Protector will agree to your request.”

General Hodges speaks up and says “your highness, as I have already provided examples of my electrothermal-caseless cannon technology, weapon stabilization system and multi-spectral rangefinder to the Draconis Combine, I think this nascent alliance would benefit if I were to do the same for the Free Worlds League and the Taurian Concordat. What say you?” Without the slightest hesitation, the First Prince replies “approved.”

A pause, then Hanse Davion says "gentlemen, in order to make the operation against Comstar work, we'll need a secure means of communication with each other. I have discussed the matter with Archon Katrina at length, and we have decided to give each of you a set of black boxes."

A curious look comes from Takashi Kurita, who says "what are these black boxes you speak of?"

"Kurita-san, black boxes are a means of FTL communication, one that Comstar doesn't know exists. They were discovered by Archon Katrina back in 3005, when she was voyaging in the Periphery. It so happened that she and her companions were exploring a bombed-out bunker on Taran's World, which bunker formerly belonging to the SLDF's 17th Royal Division. In the 25 years since then, my scientists and those in the Lyran Commonwealth have made significant improvements in the technology; these devices are why I was able to circumvent Comstar's communications interdict in the conflict with the Capellans."

Janos Marik asks "Hanse, what are the performance of these black boxes as you call them?"

"The latest models have a range of 1,200 light years; they have nine channels and propagate their messages at the speed of 180 light years per day. They can send up to fifty pages of text (as well as still images), but aren't capable of sending audio or video files. Captain-General, Coordinator, Subaltern Calderon, that I have disclosed to you the most highly-classified technology that the Federated Commonwealth posses should be an indication of just how seriously Katrina and I are taking the situation."

Takashi Kurita exchanges a glance with Janos Marik and Subaltern Calderon; he says "Hanse-san, I believe that I speak for the others when I say that we accept your offer."

[snakespinner]

An excellent read so far, looking forward to the rest. :beer:

[Dreadpool]

An excellent read so far, looking forward to the rest. :beer:

I'm glad you and others have liked it.

When I wrote the ahh, 'interview' with Romano Liao, the first draft had Hodges wearing a Faber College T-shirt and using a paddle painted with ΔΤΧ in very large letters; eventually, I decided that would be silly.

[Dreadpool]

Ye next update followeth hereafter, wherein the F**ked-up Phone Company gets what's coming to them and things get interesting) n the Chinese sense of the word) elsewhere in the Inner Sphere.

 The Fall of Comstar
December 3030- November 8th, 3031

The fall of Comstar began in December, 3030 when the Federated Commonwealth, The Draconis Combine, the Free Worlds League and the Taurian Concordat united to remove what they considered to be an existential threat posed by Primus Myndo Waterly and her criminal clique.

On November 8th, 3031, the Alliance seized every HPG station aside from those in the Capellan Confederation and turned them to their own use. (despite Comstar's best efforts at sabotaging the network); simultaneously, the Order's warship fleets (hidden in the Ross 248 and Luyten 68-28 systems) were seized. On the afternoon of November 8th, 3031, Primus Myndo Waterly and the members of the First Circuit are meeting at Comstar’s compound on Hilton Head Island when their deliberations are suddenly interrupted by messages being simultaneously received from the HPG ‘A’ stations on New Avalon, Tharkad, Luthien, Atreus and Taurus. To the First Circuit’s great annoyance, the transmissions continue unabated for the next hour (despite the best efforts of the on-site tech staff to cut them off). The messages consist of a continual stream of classical and late 20th-century rock music; unbeknownst to Waterly and the other listeners, the selections were made to subconsciously relay that something was terribly wrong

Five minute after the last song ended, another transmission from New Avalon comes through. Strangely enough, it is live; a format almost never used (except in the most critical circumstances) because of the incredible energy costs.

Angrily, the Primus snaps ‘Put the message on the main screen NOW!!”

The message begins with a tune that neither the Primus or the members of the First Circuit have ever heard before:

Our World's about to break
Tormented and Attacked
Lost from when we wake
With no way to go back
I'm Standing on my own
But now I'm not alone
(Avengers Assemble)

Always we will fight as one
Till the battle's won
With evil on the run
We never come undone

Assemble, we are strong
Forever fight as one
Assembled we are strong
Forever fight as one

A moment or two later, the looks on the faces of Myndo Waterly and the other members of the First Circuit change from confusion to equal parts alarm and rage when the image of General James Hodges comes up on the screen.

“What? How is this possible?”

With a look on his face that could cold-start a ‘mech’s fusion reactor, Hodges replies “the previous program of musical enlightenment comes direct to you from the Third Corps School of Applied Asskicking”.

A pause, then “hello there, Mindy. I’ll bet that you never expected to see my happy smiling face again; especially after you tried to have me killed not once, but twice.” Sputtering with incandescent rage, Waterly almost screams “how dare you defile the Blessed Blake’s technology with your profane presence?? I swear by all that’s holy that you’ll pay for this outrage…”

Smiling malignantly, General Hodges responds “the question on your mind and those of the rest of your bunch of toga-wearing, toaster worshipping assclowns is just how did I manage to crack the HPG network and send you those songs and this broadcast? The simple answer is that, as of this morning, those parts of the HPG network in the Federated Commonwealth, the Draconis Combine, the Free World League and the Taurian Concordat are under new management. You see, my pals have gotten quite tired with your non-neutral ‘neutrality’ and your constant interference in their internal affairs; so, we decided that a change of ownership was in order. You and the First Circuit are wondering how we managed to crack the encryption on the HPG network’s operating system; to answer this question calls for a brief history lesson.”

“Well we’re waiting, blasphemer…”

“During the Second World War on Old Terra, the Nazis protected their communications with a device called ‘Enigma’. Their faith in the system was absolute, as they considered Enigma to be uncrackable; too bad for them, because that’s just what happened. As for what happened earlier today, that what I and my associates did to you. Our efforts were eased by the cooperation of the technical support staff at each and every one of the HPG stations in the Federated Commonwealth, the Draconis Combine, the Free World League and the Taurian Concordat; you’d be amazed at how cooperative they were when we prevented the security personnel at each station from implementing your Omega Protocol and killing them all out of hand. Now, you might be thinking of calling up the warships in the Ross 248 and Luyten 68-28 systems. I regret to inform you that’s no longer possible, as those vessels are all under new ownership. It so happened that you people neglected to remove the Star League Naval anti-hijacking protocols which were hard-wired into those ships’ operating system at the time of construction; so, it was a simple matter for me to activate those protocols and space everyone aboard. If I were you, I’d be looking for someplace to hide right now…”

The transmission cuts off suddenly as a sensor tech comes up running breathlessly as says “Primus, Primus; forgive the interruption. Our screens are showing several massive jump signatures at several Pirate points around the Solar System; they are warships!!!”

“Call up the Com Guard and activate the planet’s SDS. As of now, Comstar is on a war footing…”

One of General Hodges’ first moves is to order his warships to take up station around Terra at such a distance that they’re out of range of the SDS’ weapons; so begins the blockade of Terra. Over the next 18th months, a number of attempts are made by Comstar to escape the planet and none of them succeed; some are captured and others are destroyed.

Below on Terra, Primus Myndo Waterly’s actions are becoming increasingly deranged. She harangues the First Circuit on an almost continual basis with demands “the Will of Blake demands this bastard heretic be thrown back in disgrace. Why does he still trouble the Blessed Order?” The situation continues until July 4th, 3032, when Precentor ROM Charles Seneca and Precentor Martial Nicholas Cassnew realize that Waterly is perfectly willing to drag all of what remains of Comstar down to destruction. Accordingly, they stage a coup where the Primus and all those on the First Circuit who are aligned with her policies are assassinated; General Hodges has no idea that the coup has taken place until he receives a transmission from Hilton Head Island. The substance of the transmission is as follows:

“Attention, this is Primus Charles Seneca; Myndo Waterly and her cohorts on the First Circuit have been removed and I wish to open negotiations regarding the lifting of the blockade.”

General Hodges’ response is succinct and to the point “No terms but immediate and unconditional surrender will be accepted; I propose to move immediately upon your works.” Primus Seneca replies “what do you want?”

Hodges replies “I’ve got control of the space around Terra and none of Comstar’s escape attempts have succeeded. Order the Space Defense System to stand down, lay down your weapons and you can leave; if there are any attempts to sabotage what remains behind on Terra, I’ll order my warships to open fire on Hilton Head Island and blast it into the next quadrant. Do you understand?”

“I understand, General; orders to deactivate the SDS are going out as we speak.”

“Very well; Hodges out.”

48 hours later, General Hodges and his command staff arrive on Terra. The evacuation of what remains of Comstar’s personnel begins under the watchful eyes of Hodges’ warships and is completed three weeks later. Primus Seneca and his people find themselves in the Capellan Confederation, where Romano Liao had previously offered them sanctuary.

Of the Com Guard’s 144 battlemech regiments on Terra, 30 had already been deployed to the Capellan Confederation in order to safeguard the HPG stations in that realm; thus, 114 regiments were confiscated by the Alliance. These ‘mechs were subsequently distributed to the several realms based on the sizes of their populations. In the aftermath of Comstar’s fall and the retaking of Terra, General Hodges was raised to the rank of Field Marshal in the armed forces of the Federated Commonwealth

Reaching Out
Northwind, Federated Commonwealth
August 12th, 3032

In 3028 at the start of the Fourth Succession War, Ardan Sortek acted on behalf of First Prince Hanse Davion and made an offer to the four regiments of the Northwind Highlanders to the effect that, if they were to leave the service of the Capellan Confederation and join the Federated Commonwealth, they would be allowed to garrison their home planet of Northwind; since the planet's independence wasn't guaranteed, Clan Jaffray chose to stay with the Confederation.

Previously on June 10th, 3032, Field Marshal Hodges sent back-channel messages to Loren Jaffray (Chief of Clan Jaffray) and the heads of the other Highlander Martial families requesting that they come to meet with him on Bristol. The Highlander delegation arrived in Bristol in due course on August 12th and was conducted to Field Marshal Hodges' home on the outskirts of Cardiff; the customary greetings were exchanged and Hodges opened by saying "welcome to Bristol, gentlemen; it's a pleasure to see you here." Colonel Jaffray responds "sir, pardon me for being so blunt, but I risked a great deal by coming here."

"You did indeed, Colonel; so I'll get right to the point. I ma completely-familiar with the history of the Highlanders, going back to when your people constituted the majority of the Royal Black Watch; serving as bodyguards to the First Lord of the Star League from 2572 until 2766. Passing over the tragic destruction of the regiment by the Usurper during the coup on December 27th of that year, I will refer to the secret reformation of the Regiment in 2835..."

This pronouncement causes considerable excited discussion among the Highlander officers , when Colonel Jaffray responds "Field Marshal, just how the hell do you know about the regiment? No one else outside the several family heads and the members of the unit are supposed to be aware of its existence."

"Gentlemen, please don't be alarmed as I am very well-informed about a great many subjects; I also mean the Highlanders no harm. Now, as to why I called you here, I have bene authorized by the First Prince to offer the Northwind Highlanders the independence of your home planet; all that the First Prince asks for is that the Clan Jaffray return to the Highlanders. Colonel, Romano Liao is a raging psychopath who is completely -unworthy of your continued loyalty. I'll have you know that she's made three separate attempts to have me killed; the most recent attempt involving the assassin known as the Dancing Joker. As to what happened, suffice it to say that he failed."

Jaffray responds "Sir, I seem to recall hearing that the Dancing Joker's luck had run out. Are you saying that you're the one responsible?"

"Yes, I am. When the hit failed, I killed him with my bare hands, cut off his head and sent it back to Romano packed in dry ice along with my compliments. As backup, Rommie had engaged the services of the Bounty Hunter; when he heard what happened to the Dancing Joker, he declined the contract."

"Indeed. What might you be offering? Romano Liao isn't the kind of person to be crossed lightly, you know."

"Along with making the First Prince's offer of independence for Northwind, I am prepared to refit the Highlanders with new-build HGN-32s; these machines are faster and better-armed than the originals, and will be fitted with certain new technologies that I have developed. I conservatively estimate that these refits will double the combat-effectiveness of the Highlanders as a unit. If this isn't enough, I provided certain information to the First Prince, information that enabled him to make a full recovery of a very large Star League supply depot on the planet of Antares; the equipment stored there comprised an entire duplicate gear set for the SLDF's II Corps. Among the equipment stored in the depot is a duplicate set of battlemechs and tanks for the original Royal Black Watch Regiment..."

With looks of sheer amazement writ large on the faces of his companions, Colonel Jaffray responds "just what kind of mechs and tanks are you talking about?"

"How about two full battalions of heavies (72 units), one battalion of assaults (36 units) and two battalions of Manticore heavy tanks (36 units)? These are all top-of-the-line Royal-grade machines..."

Without the slightest hesitation, the response is "sir, I accept. Is there perhaps something that you want for yourself?"

"Only this, Colonel. At some time in the future (and that day may never come), I will ask only one service of the Highlanders. If that day does come, the Highlanders must respond with all the forces at your command."

"Agreed."

Field Marshal Hodges shakes hands with Colonel Jaffray and says "gentlemen, as tokens of my esteem, I wish to give the Clan Council of the Highlanders certain items from my personal collection of arms and armor."

"And these are?"

"The first item is a basket-hilted claidheamh mòr carried by a member of Clan Cameron at the Battle of Culloden in 1745, a Cameron-pattern spiked targe (also from Culloden), a claidheamh dà làimh used at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, a pair of Murdoch-pattern 'rams-horn' flintlock pistols (with stocks of gilt copper alloy, blued barrels chased with gold and an engraved lock) and an officers-grade snaphaunce carbine with chiseled iron mounts. Now what say you; do you accept?"

"AYE!!""

One month later in September 3032, Field Marshal Hodges finds himself on Colchester, home of the famed Eridani Light Horse. In meetings with Brevet General Nathan Armstrong and his command staff, Hodges offers to refit the ELH with advanced mechs, vehicles and equipment. Not surprisingly, General Armstrong accepts the offer as Hodges’ reputation had preceded him.

Reaching Out, Part II
June 6th, 3033
Terra

Over the previous nine months, Field Marshal Hodges spent much of his time re-integrating Terra back into the Inner Sphere. Upon advice from Coordinator Takashi Kurita (which advice being confirmed by First Prince Hanse Davion and Archon Katria Steiner), the status of Terra is now one of neutrality, with the planet being held in trust until such time as the Star League (or a legitimate successor government) can assume control.

A delegation from the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere (consisting of First Prince Hanse Davion, Archon Katrina Steiner, Coordinator Takashi Kurita, Duchess Candace Liao and Thomas Calderon from the Taurian Condordat) arrives on Terra to survey the planet’s state of affairs. Field Marshal Hodges meets them at the Capitol Building in Washington D.C and says “welcome to Terra; I think you’ll find everything in order.”

The First Prince exchanges looks with the other members of the delegation and says “Field Marshal, my presence here and that of my fellow house lords is an indication that affairs in the Inner Sphere have taken a turn for the better. I don’t think that I’m exaggerating when I say that the Great Houses are now more united than at any time since before the fall of the Star League.”

“Indeed, your highness.”

From Takashi Kurita comes the question “Hodges-san, what are you going to do next?”

“Kurita-sama, perhaps a tour of several historical buildings and location in what used to be the United States of America is in order. We’ll begin here at the Capitol Building, then to the White House and after that, Arlington National Cemetery and finally, the battlefield of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania When I took control of Terra, I was amazed to find Washington D.C in such a state of preservation; apparently, Comstar regarded the city and its environs as a historic site and acted to preserve it over the centuries. Even more amazing is the fact that the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is still being guarded by the 3rd Infantry Regiment. In days of old, the 3rd was an active formation of the United States Army and was charged with the duty of guarding the tomb. When the United States was subsumed into the Terran Alliance, the Old Guard was maintained as a ceremonial unit and continued their guard duties; which status continuing through the time of the Star League. When the Star League fell and Comstar took control of Terra, the Old Guard was disestablished as a formal organization and its duties were taken up by the families of the 3rd’s last active members; they are still guarding the tomb even today.”

Following the meeting, the next order of business for the Alliance is to see to the restoration of Unity City on Puget Sound, and to the retrieval of the bodies of First Lord Richard Cameron and his family from the throne room so they can be given a proper burial. Six months later, Field Marshal Hodges turns Terra over to an administrative council chosen by the Alliance Council; before leaving for Bristol, he sends coded messages to the heads of the Great Houses saying “It’s time to go to work.”

Reaching Out, Part III
February 2nd, 3034
McEvedy’s Folly

The Periphery, near the borders of the Marian Hegemony and the Magistracy of Canopus

While engaged in his own part of the general military buildup taking place across the Inner Sphere, Field Marshal Hodges makes arrangements for a visit to McEvedy’s Folly in the Periphery; known to him as a refuge for the descendants of Clan Wolverine. Upon arriving at the system’s jump point, Hodges boards his personal dropship and makes his way towards the planet. After taking up a standard orbit, Hodges sends a message saying “this is Field Marshal James Hodges, AFFC aboard Bristol One. I am requesting landing clearance and a meeting with your leadership.”

From Traffic Control, the response is swift “Roger that, Bristol One; be advised that your message was received and that you have been expected. Landing clearance is granted, coordinates to follow.”

“Copy that, Traffic Control, Hodges out.”

After making planetfall, Field Marshal Hodges is conducted to the planet’s largest city Minneapolis (named for the capitol city of the old North American state of Minnesota) where the leadership of the no-longer lost tribe waist to meet him. First to speak is Richard McEvedy, who says “welcome to McEvedy’s Folly, Field Marshal. Your reputation has preceded you, particularly with respect to the destruction of Comstar.”

“Just so, Mr. McEvedy or, should I say ‘Khan?’”

“WHAT??”

“From the looks of surprise on your face and those of your companions, you’re wonder just how I know that term. To speak plainly, I know who you people are, where you came from and the circumstances under which you came to be here. The main reason why I decided to reach out to you is my sense of justice and fair play; there’s almost nothing that offends my sensibilities more than what happened to your clan’s annihilation. Rather than being an ‘enlightened’ leader, Nicholas Kerensky demonstrated that he was nothing more than an arrogant, egotistical, jumped-up, swaggering little tinpot dictator with delusions of godhood; he got all bunched up because your clan opposed his policies and, rather than doing the reasonable thing and negotiating an acceptable solution, he decided to remove you from the equation. It started with Clan Widowmaker ratting you out not the Grand Council about your wanting to secede and return to the Inner Sphere by yourselves. Then, Clan Diamond Shark framed you for the destruction of Clan Snow Raven’s genetic repository, using a nuclear weapon that had been stolen from the recently-discovered Brian Cache on Circe by Khan Jason Karigge of Clan Widowmaker; Clan Wolf is an accessory after the fact because they knew the truth of what happened (from their possession of Nicholas Kerensky’s diaries), yet made no attempt to correct the historical record.”

“Field Marshal, even after all this time, not a day goes by when we Wolverines don’t remember how cruelly we were used by the other clans; all we wanted to do was to go our own way in peace. Instead, their lies and treachery made us monsters; in return, we’ll be perfectly happy in visiting that nightmare back upon them. Yet, two questions occur to me; how is it that you (an outsider) know so much about us? What is it that you want?”

“As for how I gained my familiarity with your tragic history, suffice it to say that I have intelligence sources that are so deep and so black that they make space itself seem as bright as the noonday sun. In regards to your second question, what I want is for the Minnesota Tribe to come in out of the cold and reform the 331st Royal Battlemech Division. I have the complete backing of First Prince Hanse Davion and Archon Katrina Steiner in this, and you’ll have my complete logistical and financial support…”

“To what end, Field Marshal?”

“My intelligence sources tell me that the Grand Council is preparing to undertake Operation: Revival sometime within the next 14 years or so. I’ll be the first to wager that you’d like another crack at the bunch that rode you out of town on a rail. The original 331st Division had two mech brigades with 324 units each and one brigade of mechanized infantry with 3,024 troops. If you agree with my proposal, I’ll refit you with all-new equipment (plus a few new goodies of my own invention). Now, what say you all?”

“AYE!!”

Invasion
March 27th, 3048

Even though ROM Precentor Arabella Bradford previously received a coded communication telling of Comstar’s situation, she and her crew (being true devotees of the Blessed Order’s cause) decided to continue with their mission. Their forays into the Periphery continued until August 7th, 3047 when the Outbound Light jumped into (what was to them) an unknown G7V system. Unfortunately for them, the planet they encountered was Huntress; the capitol world of Clan Smoke Jaguar.

The expedition was captured by Smoke Jaguar omnifighters before Bradford and her people could escape; thereafter, they were interrogated by a number of different techniques (including mind-altering drugs and sensory deprivation). The interrogation revealed a great deal of information regarding the state of affairs in the Inner Sphere, to include the Federated Commonwealth’s technological renaissance. Armed with this information, Khan Leo Showers went before the Grand Council and presented only the most damning pieces in an effort to portray the Spheroid barbarians (as he called them) as posing an imminent threat. Not surprisingly, the Grand Council voted in favor of invasion. After leaving the Conclave, Khan Showers issued orders that the captured Comstar personnel were to be quietly eliminated and their ships destroyed so that no information could possibly leak out about the true state of affairs.

Operation Revival began on March 27th 3048, when IlKhan Leo Showers declared all of the region to be open territory (meaning that any clan could attack any planet they chose) with the four invading clans (Jade Falcon, Smoke Jaguar, Wolf, Ghost Bear) striking all across the Periphery. Clan Steel Viper was designated the reserve clan, while the Nova Cats and Diamond Sharks earned the right (via Trials of Refusal) to be called upon if additional clans were needed.

Through additional bidding, the Jade Falcons won the right to go after the Federated Commonwealth, while the Smoke Jaguars did the same for the Draconis Combine. All throughout the Periphery, things began to go wrong for Operation Revival almost immediately. The Clans quickly overcame resistance in the several pirate strongholds, but were much-less successful with regards to the Greater Valkyrate, the Oberon Confederation, the Elysian Fields and the Outworlds Alliance. Here, the governing authorities of those dominions had previously received an advance warning of what was to come, plus advanced sensor and weapons technology from Field Marshal Hodges; with this information and materiel in hand, they were able to mount a much more effective resistance than would have been previously possible. This was by Hodges’ design, goading the Clans to commit all of their front-line galaxies and reserves in order to sustain the advance (when they should have had some of their forces left in reserve).

As luck would have it, first contact between the military forces of the Clans and those of the Inner Sphere came on April 5th, 3048 on a planet known as ‘The Rock’; which system being located in a region of the Periphery known as the Barrens. On that day, Phelan Kell and his fellow mechwarriors in the 2nd Regiment of the Kell Hounds mercenary group were on the Rock as they had been contracted by the system’s government to engage the pirates infesting the area. While engaged in this task, the 2nd Regiment was encountered by a Wolf Clan strike force led by Vladimir Ward; in the battle which followed, the regiment was overwhelmed and Phelan Kell was killed..

Though quite small by later standards, the Battle of the Rock was significant in that the after-action reports provided the Crusaders what they thought was actionable intelligence on the state of the Inner Sphere’s military forces; time would go on to prove they were quite wrong.

Somerset
April 5th, 3048

Another significant action against the Clans also took place on April 5th, 3048, when the Jade Falcons landed the 94th Strike Cluster of their Peregrine Galaxy on Somerset. Commanded by Star Colonel Nikolai Malthus, this force consisted of three omnimech trinaries, one Elemental trinary and one ominifghter trinary. The standard batchall was issued, and Malthus found himself opposed by a mixed group consisting of the Somerset Academy training battalion (led by Kommandant Brooks Campi with Andrew Steiner as his XO) and the remnants of the 8th Arcturan Guards and the 2nd New Ivaarsen Chasseurs, which units were heavily-damaged elsewhere in the Periphery and had evacuated to Somerset..

The 94th Strike Cluster made planetfall at Somerset’s main spaceport outside the city of Hollyfield and were initially opposed by the Somerset battalion and elements of the 2nd New Ivaarsen Chasseurs. Fighting lasted the better part of two days and concluded on the grounds of the Somerset Military Academy; in a stand which later became famous throughout the Inner Sphere, Kommandant Brooks Campi and his command lance fought a delaying action which allowed his XO Andrew Steiner to evacuate the cadets to the wilds elsewhere on the continent of Bath. The most famous part of the engagement came when Campi ejected from his destroyed mech; Star Colonel Mathus made an attempt to capture him, but was killed when Campi fired on Malthus’ mech with his personal sidearm. Campi died from his wounds and amazingly, his shot found a flaw in the armor on the mech’s center torso. It managed to penetrate through to the fusion reactor and cause damage which set in motion a cascade failure that resulted in the explosion of the reactor and the total destruction of Malthus’ mech.

Elsewhere on Somerset’s Grady Plateau, the 8th Arcturan Guards fought for a total of four days, during which time they managed to destroy one of the 94th Strike Cluster’s omnimech trinaries, 40% of the Elemental trinary and half of their omnifighter trinary. By the time they were able to go to ground and join the remnants of the Somerset Battalion and the 2nd New Ivaarsen Chasseurs, the 8th Arcuran Guards had lost two of their three remaining mech companies, two companies of tanks, one regiment of infantry, two batteries of artillery and half of their Shilone aerospace fighters.

As ranking officer among the surviving military assets on Somerset, Andrew Steiner assumed command and is now leading them in a series of guerilla actions against the Clam occupying force; Steiner’s last action before evacuating was to send a message to his brother Adam on Tharkad informing him of what happened and requesting support.

In order to annoy the Jade Falcons even further, Andrew Steiner’s partisans took to spray-painting the caption ‘WOLVERINES’ on the vehicles, buildings and mechs they destroyed. Elsewhere throughout the Clan occupation zone, other resistance groups have taken up this practice, along with shouting the word as a defiant battlecry.

Wolcott
October 2nd, 3049

The Battle of Wolcott took place on October 2nd, 3049 after Gunji No-Kanrei Theodore Kurita decided to draw Clan Smoke Jaguar into an engagement whose purpose was to further demonstrate that the Clans weren’t invincible. Acting on his father’s orders, Hohiro Kurita answered the batchall issued when Galaxy Commander Dietr Osis and Beta Galaxy arrived in orbit over Wolcott.

As defender, Hohiro Kurita was entitled to decide the ground on which the battle will take place; his choice were the marshes and swamps that covered much of Wolcott’s eastern continent. His reasons for making this choice were that the trees and brush would provide cover for his forces, while forcing the Smoke Jaguars to fight at close range.

While Dietr Osis was preparing to land his forces, Hohiro Kurita endeavored to make things difficult for the Clanners by digging tiger pits all throughout the likely avenues of approach and sewing them with vibrabombs. Additionally, strips of aluminum were tied to the branches of trees all throughout the area in order to confuse enemy sensor scans.

The troops commanded by Hohiro Kurita weren’t the green Yuutsu regiments that Dietr Osis had been led to believe; instead, there were two veteran regiments of the Genyosha. These regiments had their identities concealed behind false unit records and had been secretly transferred to Wolcott by order of the Gunji No-Kanrei.

The landings began at Swamp Valley, with Osis’ dropships hoveriung a few meters above the ground while discharging their omnimechs and Elementals to form a perimeter. The presence of Hohiro Kurita’s mechs were disguised by their coats of camouflage paints, the artificial chaff, plus the fact that only those heat sinks located below the waterline were operating (principally those located in the legs of the mechs). Suddenly, the Clan mechs were taken by surprise when they were attacked by Savannah Master hovercraft which sprang from concealment and attacked with their medium lasers.

Follow-up attacks were made by heavy Drillson and Saracen hovertanks under cover of LRM barrages fired by Hohiro Kurita’s heavy mechs. Dietr Osis’ forces found themselves pinned down and unable to move effectively, which made them vulnerable to further hit-and-run attacks by the Combine’s Savannah Master hovercraft and light mechs. After some eight or nine hours of fighting, Dietr Osis surrendered. Under the terms of the batchall, the Smoke Jaguars gave up two stars of omnimechs, along with a star’s worth of Elemental battle armor. Upon the conclusion of the surrender, one of Dietr Osis’ Elementals tried to kill him for his perceived weakness; the attempt was unsuccessful as Hohiro Kurita saw what was about to happen and put a bullet through the Elemental’s visor.

[Dreadpool]

Operation Dragonslayer
January 4th, 3050

After Clan Smoke Jaguar was defeated on Wolcott by the Draconis Combine, the new ilKhan Ulric Kerensky (appointed after the death of his predecessor Leo Showers over Radstadt) resolved that the Kuritans had behaved dishonorably and would no longer be given the benefit of a Batchall. Instead, they would be attacked without warning. Upon returning to Luthien after their victory on Wolcott, Gunji-no-kanrei Theodore Kurita, Tai-sa Hohiro Kurita and Shin Yodama began to plan for the next Clan attack.

On January 4th, 3050, the ISF developed actionable intelligence that the Smoke Jaguars and the Nova Cats intended to attack Luthien directly. In a strategy meeting, it was suggested that units of the Ryuken be recalled from their border posted to assist in the defense of the planet. However, this was overruled as it was decided that the Ryuken forces were more valuable where they were. Accordingly, Luthien would be defended with those forces on the planet (plus those that could be raised and equipped in the time available). Theodore Kurita realized that the correlation of forces likely to face him would be highly-adverse, so he sent a message to First Prince Hanse Davion requesting assistance. In turn, this message was passed to Field Marshal Hodges on Bristol.

Hodges responded immediately and arrived in the Luthien system on January 28th. Upon making planetfall, a strategy meeting was held where Theodore Kurita said "hail and well-met, Hodges-san; my call for assistance has been answered beyond all expectations. Among the troops I have at my disposal are the 1st and 2nd Sword of Light regiments, the 1st and 2nd Genyosha, the Otomo and the 2nd Legion of Vega. What forces have you brought?"

"Kanrei-sama, I have five of my Division Combat Teams and three of my Air Cavalry Divisions. In total, the DCTs comprise 30 battalions of mechs, 5 heavy tank brigades, 30 battalions of battlesuits, 5 artillery brigades, 5 air-defense artillery brigades, 310 aerospace fighters and 900 logistics vehicles; the three air-cavalry divisions are composed of 9 combat aviation brigades, 3 battalions of light artillery, 3 brigades of medium tanks and 45 companies of battlesuits.”

"That is simply amazing, Hodges-san; where did all that force come from?”

“Kurita-sama, believe me when I tell you that I’ve been getting ready for a day like this for the last twenty years. What’ve I listed is only one-third of what I’ve got available…”

“That’s a very considerable force, Hodges-san; one that could defend several planets by itself. Did I hear you correctly when you say that you have battlesuits?"

"You did indeed; they're a nasty little surprise that my tech people started working on back in 3031. My suits are based on the SLDF Nighthawk Mk XXI PAL; and, to use a poker analogy, they're the ace up my sleeve. Something that will come as an unpleasant surprise to our opponents.,"

"Indeed; now let us look to our deployments."

In view of the importance of Luthien Armor Works and Imperial City, Field Marshal Hodges posted one of his DCTs and one of his air cavalry divisions in such a position that they could reinforce the defenders of these locations whenever and wherever needed. Elsewhere, Hodges posted himself, two of his DCTs and one of his air cavalry divisions alongside Takashi Kurita and the Dragon's Claws at the head of the Kado-Guchi valley; the remaining two DCTs and the final air cavalry division took up station on the Tairakana Plains near the shores of Basin Lake (where they reinforced the Otomo, the 1st Sword of Light regiment and the 2nd Legion of Vega).

The Battle of Luthien
February 9th, 3050

The attack on Luthien began on February 9th, 3050 at 0530 hours local time when jumpships belonging to Clan Smoke Jaguar and Clan Nova Cat arrived at the system's jump points and began their run towards the planet. The 3rd and 7th Aerospace wings of the DCMS continued to engage Clan forces until they passed out of their range; these engagements lasted the better part of an hour and resulting in the loss of 15 Clan aerospace fighters and two dropships. In orbit above Luthien, the Black Dragons Aerospace Wing and numbers of Field Marshal Hodges' aerospace fighters engaged the remainder of the Nova Cats' 3rd Aerospace Wing as they attempted to make planetfall on the Tairakana Plains. This aerial engagement proved very costly, as another Clan dropship was destroyed and two more heavily damaged; enough of the 3rd Wing's aerospace fighters were shot down that it became combat-ineffective.

February 10th, 3050
0500 hours

Clan Smoke Jaguar's landings commenced at 0500 hours and, as there was no batchall issued, Theodore Kurita dispatched joint reconnaissance patrols from Field Marshal Hodges' 1st Air Cavalry Division and the troops commanded by Shin Yodama in order to ascertain the disposition of Clan forces. It so happened that Yodama's patrol encountered and were engaged by Elementals from the Smoke Jaguars' Delta Galaxy. Yodama called for assistance from 1 AIRCAV's attack helicopter regiment and the Elementals were driven off with heavy casualties; the intelligence thus gained was passed to higher headquarters for further analysis.

Just over two hours later at 0715, the ground battle commenced with an attack by the 1st Jaguar Guards. In opposition, there were three regiments of the Otomo supported by two of Field Marshal Hodges' DCTs. The engagement began with long-range missile and autocannon fire; the Guards charged to close the range with the Otomo, but encountered a vibrabomb minefield in front of the position held by the Otomo; to their very great surprise, the Jaguars found that the mechs in front of them were remotely-controlled drones loaded with explosives. As they reeled from losses inflicted by the exploding mines, the Guards were attacked from the front by the real Otomo mechs and by the DCTs on their flanks; their advance eventually bogged down and ground to a halt.

0715-0915 hours
The 1st Jaguar Guards were augmented by the 5th Jaguar Regulars and further-reinforced by clusters from Clan Nova Cat; together, they counter-attacked the center of the Allied line. Further reinforcements arrived from the Otomo and the 2nd Sword of Light; in turn, the Clans called in a series of airstrikes; these were seen off by a combination of Kurita and DCT aerospace fighters (with assistance from the two DCTs integral ADA regiments). After an hour or so, the Smoke Jaguar and Nova Cat contingents were forced to retreat in the face of massed tube artillery and rocket fire; in so doing, they were continually-harassed by 1 AIR CAV's medium tanks and divisional artillery.

0930-1130 hours

As the Clan forces attempted to move towards Imperial City, a massive air engagement was fought in the city’s air defense zone; on one side were the aerospace fighters of the 5th DCT and those of the 3rd and 7th Aerospace wings of the DCMS and the several Luthien defense regiments, while the Clans threw several entire aerospace clusters into the battle. Over the course of two hours, the defenders’ superior numbers drove the Clan aerospace clusters from the skies and gave tem total air superiority.

1350 hours

Elsewhere on Luthien, the Clans attempted to destroy the Arisaka Munitions Complex located in the Shaidan Basin of the Amori Military District. The forces assigned to the task were the Smoke Jaguars’ 22nd Freebirth Cluster; these were opposed by the Amori Militia (along with four surface combat vessels from the 33rd Coastal Patrol Squadron. The militia demonstrated as if they meant to stand and fight; then, they feigned a disorderly retreat in order to goad the 22nd Cluster into following them. When the Cluster crossed the two bridges over the Amori River, Tai-I Velk ordered demolition charges to be set off; the bridges were dropped, thus trapping the Clan troops against the river. Thereafter, the Coastal patrol vessels came out of hiding and attacked the 22nd Cluster, supported by militia tank units. Seeing that there was no safe way out and that the 22nd would have been destroyed if they resisted further, Star Captain Edna (the Cluster’s senior surviving officer) surrendered her troops.

1400 hours

While the action in the Shaidan basin was concluding, a squad of Field Marshal Hodges’ battlesuit troops managed to infiltrate Clan Nova Cat’s secondary landing zone and capture the Clan dropship Broadsword. There was a brief firefight in the dropship’s main mech bay, during which the Broadsword’s crew was captured; several stars of Clan Elementals arrived to relieve the vessel’s defenders, but were too late to prevent it from taking off. The Elementals were driven off by concentrated fire from the Broadsword’s guns and the ship was flown to Imperial City’s main military spaceport.

Also at 1400 hours, a Clan cluster made its way towards Luthien Armor Works with the intention of destroying as much of the complex as possible; they were met by LAW’s security force, plus Field Marshal Hodges’ 3rd DCT and 2nd Air Cav Division. Clan operations were seriously-hampered by the complex’ machinery, plus the steel-reinforced buildings (which prevented almost all of their sensor feeds and communications from getting through; their targeting sensors also had difficulties in getting locks for the same reason). So encumbered, the Cluster found itself attacked through the air, from all directions on the ground and was virtually wiped out.

2130 hours

The stated objective of the Clan assault on Luthien wasn't just the capture of imperial city; other secondary objectives were the destruction of Luthien Armor works, plus the destruction of the Arisaka Munitions Complex on the southern continent of Sakura and the facilities of the Nijunen Iron Mine 25 kilometers south of Takaoguchi (which deposit having a total of 600 billion tons of titaniferous magnetite ore grading out between 70-80% iron oxide). In regards to Nijunen, the Smoke Jaguars' 225th Battle Cluster made a night drop at 2130 hours on the outskirts of the mine, but found it defended by the 143rd Luthien Defense Regiment (commanded by Tai-Sa Alexi Nagumo). The troops of the 143rd skillfully used the mine complex' terrain to their advantage and fought the 225th to a standstill; this delay allowed for airstrikes to be called in that forced the 225th Cluster to retreat with very heavy losses.

Small-scale engagements continue all throughout the theater of battle throughout the rest of the night and into the morning of February 11th. At 1600 that afternoon, the largest single engagement of the Luthien Campaign took place in the Kado-Guchi Valley. The defenders consisted of seven DCMS regiments personally-commanded by Takashi Kurita, plus two DCTs and an Air Cavalry division led in person by Field Marshal Hodges; The Smoke Jaguars and the Nova Cats realized that this was to be an all-or-nothing engagement, so they committed all of their remaining forces and their reserves.

30 minutes before the battle began, the Coordinator met with Field Marshal Hodges to plan their final deployments. Takashi Kurita grins and says “hail and well-met, Hodges-san; I am honored beyond measure to have you fighting at my side.”

“The honor is all mine, Kurita-sama; it’s now up to us to show these barbarian interlopers the unwisdom of their course of action.”

“Well-said; the vengeance of the Dragon will fall upon them as surely as the rains of Spring and Summer. I for one am looking forward to the coming battle; have you any suggestions as to how to deploy our forces?”

“Hai, Kurta-sama. The Smoke Jaguars and the Nova Cats are looking to take control of Luthien and in so doing, deal the Combine a serious (perhaps even fatal) blow. You’re target #1 on their hit parade, so why not turn this to our advantage?”

“How so, Hodges-san?”

“Coordinator, in the fight that’s coming, you should have your bodyguard units and other attached troops demonstrate as if they mean to make a stand and fight it out. Then, when you deem that they have made enough resistance, you and they should feign a panicked and disorderly retreat (just as green troops would do in a similar situation). When the Clanners give chase, that’s when we’ll have them. My tanks and mechs will be dug in hull-down on the reverse slope, while my artillery will be ready and waiting to fire at my command; there isn’t a single square meter of ground between here and where I’m dug in that hasn’t been registered for attention by tube artillery and rocket fire. When they’re heavily engaged with us, that’s when my Air Cav guys will strike them from behind and the flanks; in short, we’ll draw them into a fire sack, tire the sack off and then beat it with an ugly stick.”

“Hodges-san, you speak like a veteran of many campaigns; this is an inspired piece of strategy. Whatever gave you the idea?”

“Coordinator, it comes from my study of Terran military history. You see, back during the days of Feudal Japan, the samurai of that era were not above using various forms of deception to gain victory in battle; I thought it only proper to use the idea in a modern context..”

“Indeed. Now, let’s look to this day; unless I am mistaken, the Clans will be on us before much longer.”

“Wise words, Coordinator. I say ‘spurs to horse and death to fools…”

February 11th, 3050

Clan Nova Cat units managed to overcome DCMS resistance in the Waseda Hills and make their way toward the mouth of the Kado-Guchi Valley. As planned, Takashi Kurita and the Dragon's Claws moved down to the valley's mid-point and took up positions for intercept. First to be engaged was Clan Nova Cat' 32nd Assault Cluster, which lost a total of eight mechs in the opening volley. Stunned at this unexpected turn of events, Khan Severen Leroux swallowed his pride and called for assistance from the Smoke Jaguars; the 145th Jaguar Regulars, the 315th Jaguar Battle Cluster and the 22nd Jaguar Regulars responded. Together with the remaining Nova Cat forces, started pushing the Dragon's Claws backwards.(thus causing attention to fall upon Takashi Kurita's position).

Seeing an opportunity to end the battle by capturing the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine, the Smoke Jaguars and the Nova Cats surged forward , thus causing the Kuritas to seemingly break and run. In reality, this was only a clever ruse designed to lure the Clans into a trap. When Takashi Kurita and the Dragon's Claws passed through where Field Marshal Hodges and his two DCTs were concealed, they continued onwards for another kilometer before turning to face their pursuers in an apparent last stand.

Unfortunately for the Clans, this was not to be, Just when the Smoke Jaguars and the Nova Cats thought they had the Kuritas in their sights, Hodges' two DCTs opened up from their hull-down positions and destroyed a dozen Clan mechs in the opening volley. Suddenly and without warning, the Clan forces were struck on the flanks by Hodges' battlesuit troops, in the middle by intense artillery and rocket fire and from behind by attack helicopters from the 3rd Air Cavalry Division. Then, Takashi Kurita and the Dragon's Claws rose up, charged and rejoined the battle.

The engagement lasted the better part of the next two hours, during which time Field Marshal Hodges and his tank accounted for a total of seven enemy mechs; four from the Nova Cats (including Khan Severen Leroux' Daishi (taken out with a through-armor shot to the gyro) and three from the Smoke Jaguars. Captain Richard Hodges piloted his father's Green Lantern and accounted for six enemy mech. When added to the losses inflicted by Field Marshal Hodges' troops and those of Takashi Kurita, this convinced Severen Leroux (who had been rescued by his bodyguards from the wreck of his Daishi) and Lincoln Osis to order a withdrawl.

During the retreat, SaKhan Sarah Weaver was killed by a shot to the cockpit from one of Field Marshal Hodges' tanks. By the time that the Nova Cats and the Smoke Jaguars made it back to their landing zones, the two Nova Cat Galaxies lost 75% of their remaining forces, while just 15% of the Smoke Jaguars boarded their dropship and evacuated.

The Battle of Luthien ended with hundreds of damaged mechs, tanks and downed aircraft scattered all over several battlefields. As the last Clan dropship lifts off, Field Marshal Hodges stands tall in the commander's hatch of his tank and shouts at the retreating enemy 'WHO'S YOUR DADDY??' Afterwards, he waits to meet with Takashi Kurita to discuss matters relating to battlefield salvage and what's to be done with enemy prisoners of war.

"Hail and well-met, Coordinator; the fortunes of war have certainly smiled upon us today..."

"They certainly have, Hodges-san; it will be many-a-day before those Clan interlopers forget how roughly they were handled here."

"Well-said. I trust that you and yours are well?"

"My son and grandson acquitted themselves well on the battlefield, just as any son of House Kurita would. How goes it with you?"

"I am unharmed, if a little tired. I gave those damned nipple-necks cause to remember my name, as did my son Richard; between the two of use, we accounted for 13 enemy mechs..."

"Sugo-ine, Hodges-san"; the tone of Takashi's voice indicating both respect and amazement for such an achievement.

"Coordinator, your compliment is gratefully received. As victory is ours, there are two issues to be decided; the first of these concerns battlefield salvage and the second involves what to do with the prisoners of war we took. The Overlord-C my guys grabbed is intact and is therefore considered a prize of war; I've got enough dropships of my own and I don't need another one.
So, I'd like you to consider it a gift."

"My thanks, Hodges-san; you are indeed a worthy ally. "

"Thanks really aren't necessary, Kurita-sama; think of it as a gesture of respect from one fighting man to another. Now, as to the Clan machines that will be salvaged from various battlefields; Luthien is your planet and by rights, the majority of the salvage belongs to you."

"True enough. However, it would be ungrateful of me not to recognize your contribution to our victory. Therefore, by the authority vested in me as Coordinator of the Draconis Combine, I hereby award you a full one-third of all material recovered from the battlefield."

"Ahh. The Coordinator is generous beyond my worth."

"Hodges-san, this modest humility of yours is worthy of a true samurai. What are you going to do with your material?"

"Kurita-sama, I'll be establishing something I call the 'National Training Center' (or NTC); I'll use my portion of the salvage to equip NTC's training cadre with Clan mechs and vehicles and have them trained in Clan strategy and tactics. I'll run my own units through NTC on a rotating basis so, If my guys happen to encounter the clans again, they'll be familiar with how the nipple-necks think and fight."

"An excellent idea, Hodges-san. In other matters, there are now the enemy prisoners to be considered."

"Coordinator, when the Clans take prisoners of war, those individuals are taken into the Clan and made bondsmen. These people wear a small woven cord around their right wrists as a sign of their status. Those who show promise are given an opportunity to test out and become a mechwarrior/aerospace pilot and join the Clan. Assuming the candidate succeeds, the bondcord is cut and the individual is no longer a bondsman. A bondsman might also be released by their bondholder after a set period of time or, they might never be released at all."

"A strange system, Hodges-San, to be sure."

"Indeed, Kurita-sama. If the captured individual's honor wouldn't permit him to submit to becoming a bondsman, he'll refuse the bond (bondsref) and commit ritual suicide.:

"The honor part I can understand."

Field Marshal Hodges this statement with a nod of the head, then responds "civilians can be made bondsmen; in which case, they are adopted into the same caste (merchant, scientist, etc) as in their original clan."

"How do the Clans treat their captives?"

"Coordinator, in general, most clans treat their captives with decency. The one exception is Clan Smoke Jaguar, who are infamous for their cruelty to their bondmen; this bunch only accepts trueborns into their ranks."

"What are 'trueborns', as you call them?"

"As difficult as it is to believe, the majority of Clan children aren't conceived and born naturally, as the rest of us are. Instead, conception takes place in a petri dish or test tube (hence the term ‘test tube babies’). Then, the fetus is transferred to a fluid-filled vat of chemicals where it grows to term; this is why I and others refer to trueborn clanners as 'Tanks'. The umbilical cord attaches near the base of the neck, which is why I call them 'nipple-necks'. The Clan term for someone conceived and born in the natural way is 'freebirth'. To them, the term is both perjorative and a deadly insult."

Takashi Kurita shakes his head in disgust and clears his throat, as if to remove a bad taste in his mouth.

"That's no way for people to live, Hodges-san. Having children and seeing them grow up is part of what makes us human; is this not so?"

"You speak the truth, Coordinator. Now, as to what should be done with the prisoners, I propose that the Smoke Jaguars be released immediately, without making them our bondsmen; I'll tell them to their faces that they're more trouble than they're worth and that they're unworthy of being accorded the honor of serving the Combine or the Federated Commonwealth. The Jaguars will consider such treatment to be highly-shameful and a terrible insult."

"What of the others?"

"Though they lost, the Nova Cats fought well against us. Therefore, I'd recommend that they be taken in as our own version of bondsmen Those who refuse the bond will not be allowed to commit suicide; instead, they will be released. For those that accept the bond, you can give them a place to settle. If nothing else, they'd be a valuable source of intelligence..."

"An excellent suggestion, Hodges-san. Upon my authority as Coordinator, it will be as you say."

[Dreadpool]

Instruments of Destruction
May 12th, 3050

Iron birds of fortune
Adrift above the skies
Cloudy revelations
Unseen by naked eyes

Flying tools of torment
Will penetrate the sphere
Erupt the rock of ages
Bringing final fear

Instruments of destruction
Tools of foul play
It's a vile interruption
Existence drifts away

Does it really matter
When nothing really does
Grave eternal darkness
When you're, drained of every ounce

And when the nightmare's over
The final from the storm
Dust of all creation
To ashes we transform

Instruments of destruction
Tools of foul play
It's a vile interruption
Existence drifts away*

*: N.R.G; ‘Instruments of Destruction’. Transformers, the Movie (1986)

Ever since the Clan Invasion of the Inner Sphere (or 'Operation Revival', as the nipple-necks call it) began in 3048, the Crusaders (led by Khan Ulric Kerensky) haven't had a very easy time of it. Rather than facing a disunited Inner Sphere rife with conflict over resources and technology, the Wolves, Smoke Jaguars, Nova Cats, Steel Vipers, Diamond Sharks, Ghost Bears and Jade Falcons have faced the five Great Houses and the major Periphery states with losses in men and materiel that have run significantly in excess of even their best pre-war estimates (mainly due to the Great Houses and the Periphery states having sensor grids defending their major planets; grids that are the equal of and in some ways superior to anything the Star League ever had). Other factors in the Inner Sphere's favor are the provision of new weapons and technology by Field Marshal Hodges, that Comstar is now extinct and that the Capellan Confederation was retaken by Candace Liao in 3045.

Previously in 3042, the Federated Commonwealth allowed its territory to be used as a base for Duchess Candace Liao to retake the Capellan Confederation; with House Davion and House Steiner providing material support for her efforts. Knowing the bad blood that had passed between the Capellans and the Concordat, Hanse Davion gave the Taurians the lead in hitting certain targets; they also had an important supporting role elsewhere in the Confederation. The joint campaign lasted until mid 3045, when the Confederation's last bastion on their capital world of Sian fell to the Duchess' troops.

On April 10th, 3050 Field Marshall Hodges (feeling that the time was right to throw back the advance of the Crusader Clans) sent an HPG message to Khan Ulric Kerensky challenging him to a trial of possession for what they have gained thus far. In due course, the challenge was accepted. The meeting to determine the conditions of the batchall is scheduled to take place on Harvest. On May 12th, the Crusader Clan fleet arrives at the system’s jump point and later on, is approaching Harvest with Clan Wolf's flagship Dire Wolf in the lead.

Just then, one of Kerensky's bridge staff approaches and says "my khan, I have disturbing news."

"What do your screens show, Sensor Technician Evantha?"

"My khan, I am grieved to report that there are numbers of warships in high orbit over Harvest."

"What?? Transfer your sensor feeds to the main screen."

"Yes, my khan."

To Kerensky’s amazement and discomfiture, the readouts on the bridge’s main screen show that there are indeed warships in orbit over Harvest; specifically two McKenna-class battleships, one Farragut-class battleship, one Texas-class battleship, two Cameron-class battlecruisers, two Black Lion-class battlecruisers, six Aegis-class heavy cruisers, two Sovetskii Soyuz-class heavy cruisers, four Congress-class frigates, four Vincent-class corvettes, seven Essex-class destroyers, three Lola III-class destroyers and dozens of Potemkin-class troopships

Just then, the Dire Wolf’s communications officer exclaims “My khan, we are being hailed from the Spheroids’ flagship.”

“Open a channel.”

“Yes, my khan.”

The view on the main screen changes to reveal a strangely-dressed officer who says “I am Field Marshal James Hodges, Commander-in-Chief Allied Expeditionary Force; I am speaking to you from the bridge of my flagship SLS Admiral Halsey. Do I have the honor of addressing the enemy commanding officer?”

Kerensky leans forward in his command chair and replies “I am Khan Ulric Kerensky, leader of Clan Wolf and commander of the forces sent to liberate the Inner Sphere from the rule of the Scavenger Lords.”

“Khan Kerensky, you and your fellow ‘Crusaders’ have been having rather a rough time of it since your invasion began in 3048, haven’t you? My intelligence staffers have told me that your losses in men and materiel are running well in excess of even your most conservative pre-war estimates; your boys have had a good run, now it’s time for you to leave and head back home. Speaking of Home, how’s the weather on Strana Mechty? I hear it’s rather nice this time of year…”

“What?? How could you possibly know that?”

“Kerensky, I know who you people are, where you come from and why you’re here. I am also completely familiar with the history of the Clans, going all the way back to the act of Grand Barratry that General Aleksander Kerensky committed when he took the remains of the Star League Defense and left the Inner Sphere.”

“How dare you speak so of the Great Father? We are here to fulfill his vision of reuniting humanity under one government..”

“Be that as it may, there is business to be conducted between us; namely, the batchall as you people call it. Be planetside in 24 hours; I and representatives of the Allied Expeditionary Force will be waiting to meet you on the plains outside the city of Rookhaven.”

“Agreed.”

May 13th, 3050
Rookhaven, Harvest

A few hundred yards inward of the beach on the outskirts of the city of Rookhaven, an open pavilion has been set up to serve as the location of the bidding process. There are two long tables set directly across from each other, with chairs to accommodate the members of the delegations from the Inner Sphere and the Clans.

For the Inner Sphere, there are already present Thomas Calderon from the Taurian Concordat, Hohiro Kurita from the Draconis Combine, Field Marshal Ardan Sortek from the Federated Commonwealth, Kai Allard-Liao from the Capellan Confederation and Duggan Marik from the Free Worlds League; behind these principals are a number of staff officers and junior aides (including Field Marshal Hodges’ son Richard, who is serving as his father’s aide-de-camp) and Victor Steiner-Davion (Hodges’ Chief-of-Staff).

The Clan delegation isn’t long in arriving; Khan Ulric Kerensky of Clan Wolf, Khan Lincoln Osis of Clan Smoke Jaguar, Khan Karl Bourjon of Clan Ghost Bear, Khan Elias Crichell of Clan Jade Falcon, Khan Severen Leroux of Clan Nova Cat and Khan Ian Hawker of Clan Diamond Shark. Seeing that Field Marshal Hodges isn’t present, Ulric Kerensky steps forward and asks “where is the leader of the forces of the Inner Sphere? The protocol of the bidding process requires the presence of the enemy commander.” Kerensky is answered by the Field Marshal’s son Richard (all of 20 years old and a recent graduate from the NAIS College of Military Sciences), who says “Khan Kerensky, my father sends his greetings and regrets that he was unavoidably delayed. I ask your indulgence, as he’ll be arriving here shortly.”

“Granted”

A mile offshore, Field Marshal Hodges is on final approach with a hand-picked crew aboard a hand-built replica of an ancient UH-1 ‘Huey’ helicopter; the nose of the chopper is decorated with the insignia of the U.S Army’s 1st Cavalry Division; a Shield Or, bordered sable with a Stripe sable party per bend and a horses’ head sable quartered upper right.

In the helicopter’s cabin, Hodges calls over the intercom and says to one of his fellow crewmembers “put on Psy-war Op; make it loud. Romeo Foxtrot, shall we dance?”

Immediately, Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ begins to play over loudspeakers mounted on the helicopter’s skids; the volume is so loud that those on the ground could hear it at the distance of three-quarters of a mile. A short time later, those at the meeting site begin to hear the strains of ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ rolling in over the waves; the music gets louder as Hodges’ helicopter cross the beach, circles the field and comes in for a landing just as the music finishes. As the chopper touches down, Field Marshal Hodges exits the aircraft and resolutely walks towards the pavilion.

Instead of his BDUs, Field Marshal Hodges is wearing a dress-blue cavalry officer’s uniform (with the coat cut in the style of a 19th-century cavalry shell jacket). The uniform is complemented with his great-grandfather’s Model 1913 Cavalry sword, a yellow cavalry scarf, a pair of thigh-high boots polished to mirror-brightness and a cavalry Stetson with a yellow hat cord and the insignia of the 1st Cavalry Division on the front; other than the preceding, Hodges’ only affectation to fashion is a pair of mirrored sunglasses. As he approaches the pavilion, Hodges pauses briefly to light up a cigar and take a few appreciative puffs before moving forward.

Somewhat impatiently, the leader of Clan Wolf announces “I am Khan Ulric Kerensky. The Clans of Kerensky claim this world for their own. What tame dogs defend it? I have the following forces to support the claim.”

Clan Order of Battle

Clan Number of Galaxies Number of Clusters
Smoke Jaguar 4 20
Nova Cat 6 24
Ghost Bear 6 24
Jade Falcon 6 24
Diamond Shark 4 16
Steel Viper 6 24
Wolf 8 40

Cluster Composition
2 Omnimech trinaries (30 units)
1 Elemental binary (50 units)
1 Omnifighter binary (20 units)
1 mixed trinary (5 omnimechs, 10 omnifighters, 25 Elementals)
1 armor trinary (15 tanks)
1 artillery trinary (15 pieces)
Total strength: 35 omnimechs, 30 omnifighters, 75 Elementals, 15 tanks, 15 artillery pieces

Unit Totals
Smoke Jaguar: 700 omnimechs, 600 omnifighters, 1,500 Elementals, 300 tanks, 300 artillery pieces
Nova Cat: 840 omnimechs, 720 omnifighters, 1,800 Elementals, 360 tanks, 360 artillery pieces
Ghost Bear: 840 omnimechs, 720 omnifighters, 1,800 Elementals, 360 tanks, 360 artillery pieces
Jade Falcon: 840 omnimechs, 720 omnifighters, 1,800 Elementals, 360 tanks, 360 artillery pieces
Diamond Shark: 560 omnimechs, 480 onminfighters, 1,200 Elementals, 240 tanks, 240 artillery pieces
Steel Viper: 840 omnimechs, 720 omnifighters, 1,800 Elementals, 360 tanks, 360 artillery pieces
Wolf: 1,400 omnimechs, 1,200 omnifighters, 3,000 Elementals, 600 tanks, 600 artillery pieces

Note: the armor and artillery trinaries are staffed by solahma troops

Hodges listens to Kerensky as he identifies the forces that have come with him to Harvest, while he draws deeply on his cigar and contemptuously blows clouds of smoke towards the Clanners. When Kerensky finishes, Hodges draws himself up to his full height and responds “I am Field Marshal James Hodges, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Force, Champion of Luthien and warbound to First Prince Hanse Davion and Archon Katrina Steiner of the Federated Commonwealth. Hear me well that you may know the truth of who I am.” What follows is a description of who the Field Marshal is, where he comes from and how he came to be here (the same narration he delivered to Myndo Waterly on Terra years ago).

A pause, then Hodges says “My son will handle the initial bidding for me.” Richard Hodges steps forward and says “Khan Kerensky, the Alliance has ten division combat teams, five air cavalry divisions, the Eridani Light Horse, the Northwind Highlanders, the Royal Black Watch, Wolf’s Dragoons, the 331st Royal Battlemech Division, the Davion Brigade of Guards, the Lyran Guards, the 1st and 2nd Sword of Light regiments, the 1st Genyosha Regiment plus 113 battlemech regiments to oppose you.”

“Freebirth whelp!! How dare you lay claim to having the 331st Division with you? Those people were annihilated centuries ago. As for you, Hodges; you say that you were at Luthien?”

Field Marshal Hodges motions for his son to stand down and responds “Indeed, I was. Kerensky; I’d go so far as to say that I was instrumental in the ahh, rather warm reception the Smoke Jaguars and the Nova Cats got there; you know, there’s an old motto from Terra that goes ‘who dares wins’: I dared and I won. Before you and the others get all bunched up about my mentioning Clan Wolverine, I’ll say that I am fully-aware how the Clans handed those people a raw deal. In the words of the Duke of Exeter in Shakespeare’s play Henry V, I have nothing but scorn, contempt and slight regard for the responsible parties. First, Clan Widowmaker squealed to the Grand Council about the Wolverines’ plan to secede and return to the Inner Sphere because they were dissatisfied with Nicholas Kerensky’s plans for Clan Society; they also stole a nuclear weapon from the Brian Cache on Circe and gave it to the Diamond Sharks (who then used it to frame Clan Wolverine for destroying Clan Snow Raven’s genetic repository). Lastly, Clan Wolf for knowing the truth of what actually happened (from having Nicholas Kerensky’s diaries and doing nothing to correct the historical record).”

A pause, then “you’re probably wondering why I have Wolf’s Dragoons listed on the table of forces I have to oppose you, and why you haven’t heard from Jaime Wolf and Natasha Kerensky in more than a few years; well, the plain and simple answer is that I told them what I told you about what really happened to Clan Wolverine. They were so disgusted when they heard the truth that they came over to my side and have been there for years.”

Field Marshal Hodges cuts off the gasps of the assembled khans with a sharp gesture, then says “Now that your dirty laundry has been aired out for all to see, let’s get to the bidding, shall we? Before we begin, I’d like to suggest a number of alternatives to fighting each other.”

“Speak then, barbarian…”

“I don’t suppose you people still play poker? If you do, how about a game of ‘No-Limit Texas Hold-‘em’ to decide the issue? The initial buy-in will be ten billion FC Bills, with one additional buy-in of five billion bills permitted; if you people don’t use money, I’ll front you the cash in exchange for an equivalent value in Omnimechs and battle armor. If such a game isn’t to your liking, then perhaps single combat is in order.”

“What would you have in mind for such a combat, Field Marshal?”

“The first option would be a circle of equals between myself and one of your mechwarriors; unaugmented, so to speak. The second choice would be the same, but with knives, axes or swords; lastly would be my tank and crew against one of your battlemechs of equivalent weight; 70 tons. Now, what say you?”

“Field Marshal, the honor of the Clans demands that our forces oppose yours on the field of battle. Therefore, I must decline your offer.”

“So be it. To begin with, I’ll bid away all of my warships because I don’t think you’ll want to lose any more of your own vessels; I’m speaking of what almost happened over Turtle Bay.” At the mention of the name, Khan Elias Critchell winces as he’s still smarting over the loss of not one but four warships in that engagement. Seeing the expression of disgust on Critchell’s face, Hodges responds “I thought that would get your attention. Your Galaxy Commander Cordera Perez (after his troops defeated the 14th Legion of Vega) captured and imprisoned the survivors. It was only after the prisoners escaped that Perez realized one of the escapees was none other than Hohiro Kurita, heir-apparent to the throne of the Draconis Combine. Thereafter, the population of Turtle Bay rose up to defend their homes and this (plus the escape) so incensed Perez that he ordered CSJ Saber Cat and its three supporting vessels to bombard the city of Edo; a cowardly, barbaric act that would have resulted in the deaths of nearly 12,000,000 people. I couldn’t let this happen, so my flagship SLS William Halsey and its supporting pocket warships engaged your vessels and destroyed them all.”

Ulric Kerensky exchanges a harsh glance with Elias Critchell and replies “Field Marshal, Galaxy Commander Perez’ action (though it wasn’t completed) was an affront to Clan honor. For this reason, I bid away all of my warships also.”

“Done; as for my other forces, I’ll defend the planet with everything I’ve got. Therefore, my part of the bidding is closed.”

The assembled Khans now begin to bid among themselves over what forces to employ in the coming engagement, where (and how close to their objective) to land them, and in what order the attackers will land. Clan Smoke Jaguar and Clan Jade Falcon were so incensed over what Field Marshal Hodges said earlier about Clan Wolverine that they bid amongst themselves for the right to fight him; the Jade Falcons won the right to engage Field Marshal Hodges’ troops (who are posted to defend the city of Rookhaven); while the Smoke Jaguars’ bid secured them the right to engage the next-nearest city, anticipating that the Jade Falcons might need support to accomplish their objective.

At the conclusion of the bidding process, Ulric Kerensky announces “well-bargained and done. Now as to the stakes…”

A look crosses Field Marshal Hodges’ face, one that resembles a great white shark considering its next meal. He grins malignantly and replies “Kerensky, the stakes are very simple. If you win, you and yours get to keep the planet of Harvest and continue with the invasion; when I win, I get all of the materiel you landed on the planet. The Clans will also withdraw from the Inner Sphere and never, EVER return. This, if anything, will teach you people a lesson in humility…”

The sheer gall of Hodges’ proposal catches the khans by surprise and, after much discussion, it is agreed to. Before Khan Kerensky and the others withdraw to begin the landings, he says “When you win? You are certainly full of your own self-confidence, quiaff?”

“Affirmative, Kerensky; that I most certainly am.”

“Well, do you have anything else to say, Field Marshal?”

“Only this. To paraphrase William Shakespeare, all the Inner Sphere’s a stage and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts.” A brief pause, then “so too have I played many parts in opposing your ill-conceived invasion. Very soon, you’ll stand before me once again and look into my eyes; then, you’ll know, YOU’LL know that it was I who encompassed your doom.”

Just then, the crew aboard Hodges’ helicopter begins to play Psy-war Op Two, an ancient Mexican ballad called the ‘Deguello…’

[ckosacranoid]

Holy crap Batman. Talk about a dragging power trip and then some. I have to say that your so really is up to Gary Stu levels. But still funny as he'll though with what he did to Tommy with treating as a lot lizard and spanking her and letting everyone see the video.....that if nothing else in this fic was the high light. The other highlight was making the black widow do a stripper act after beating her....
This story is fun though, a he'll of a lot more power wanting then the other day SI insert on here that everyone has talked about.

[Dreadpool]

Holy crap Batman. Talk about a dragging power trip and then some. I have to say that your so really is up to Gary Stu levels. But still funny as he'll though with what he did to Tommy with treating as a lot lizard and spanking her and letting everyone see the video.....that if nothing else in this fic was the high light. The other highlight was making the black widow do a stripper act after beating her....
This story is fun though, a he'll of a lot more power wanting then the other day SI insert on here that everyone has talked about.

To be fair, Hodges did have 20+ years to build his infrastructure, make nice with the other Great Houses and get ready for the Nipple-Necks...

[warhammer74]

Awesome read.  Any stats On the Cameron Class mechs just curious.

[Dreadpool]

Awesome read.  Any stats On the Cameron Class mechs just curious.

Cameron-class mechs are a literary device of my own. Their weapons and equipment are the equivalent of Clan-spec, and they have the following quirks as standard-issue:

Dedicated heat sinks (-2 heat per weapon)
Improved cooling jackets (-1 heat per weapon)
Battle computers (-4 heat)
PPC capacitors (for those mechs that have PPCs)
Accurate weapons (-1 targeting bonus)

[Dreadpool]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9QTSyLwd4w
Field Marshal Hodges going after the nipple-necks....

[Blackhorse 6]

U.S. ARMY TOTAL ARMY PERSONNEL COMMAND (TAPC), ATTN: OMPS-GO, ALEXANDRIA, VA 22331

TO: Military Personnel Directorate - Fort Hood and III Corps, ATTN: Officer Records, Copeland Soldier Service Center, 18010 Legends Way, Fort Hood, TX  76544

FROM:  COL Melvin Kaminski, TAPC Alexandria, Quality Assurance and Integration Cell

SUBJECT: Erroneous records errors (eMILPO/IPPS-A Beta test transfer)


This is the LAST time I’m going to send you an email over this.  If you don’t fix LTG Hodges file before IPPS-A goes live it’s not going to be on me, no Sir, not me.  For chrissakes he’s your CG! What more urgency is needed past that?!?  This is it, pull your heads out and get that lazy General Staff G-1 moving on the corrections or else it’s your rears and careers.

1.  His NDSM should be 1 BSS, not 2. 

2.  He is missing his Campaign Stars on both his ICM and ACM.

3.  How did you not see his Combat Action Badge is missing?

Go check his iPERMS if you don’t believe me and just fix it already you lazy ****** - Mel

Bonus points for recognizing who the Colonel is….  :)

[Kujo]

"Yogurt the magnificent", "Yogurt the mighty", "Yogurt the Powerful"

"Please, Please I am Just Plain Yogurt!!!"-Melvin Kaminski?

[Blackhorse 6]

That’s the right Yogurt!  Guess it was too easy… 😆

P

[Luciora]

Goliath Scorpion khan???