Chappy's Howling Siegers--battles based off of MekHQ/MegaMek

[cklammer]

Not really a cliffhanger but more like having to scramble down a steep wooded hill side. At dusk.

[mchapman1970]

Chapter Nine
Draconis Combine
Capital Luthien
Coordinator Chambers
Jinjiro Kurita
January 3, 2807

Coordinator Kurita was in his chambers getting ready for today's events when his servant knocked on the door.
Coordinator, a message was received from Adept Morris.”
The Coordinator went to his servant and ripped the message out of his hand, it has been three months since he had seen or heard anything from the COMSTAR agent, this had better be great news.  The Coordinator read it and then crumbled it and cursed at the same time. “I am going to send a message to the COMSTAR headquarters, inform the HPG that I will be arriving soon and be prepared.”

Office of General Hayes
Hilton Head Island
South Carolina, Terra
ComStar Headquarters
January 3, 2807

Hayes was reading over the readiness reports of what was left of her army.  At the time she joined COMSTAR she saw it as the right thing to do, but with Blake slowly taking her units away and using them elsewhere she was unsure what her role was anymore.  The door slammed open and there was Jerome Blake he slammed the door shut like he open it, with anger and stalked right up to Hayes, she stood up.
“Sir, how can I help you?”
“Normally I ignore your Black Ops until this one, evidently, I should have kept ignoring this mission. After I put a hold on it, I had expected you to recall the unit. But when the Draconis Combine Coordinator sends a message about it I must get involved yet again.  Tell me what is going on with the Revengeful Angels and why do you want the merc unit Chappy’s Howling Siegers destroyed.”
Forty-five minutes later Blake stood up after Hayes completed her report.
“Look, I know it has not been easy having some of your units reassigned to protect asset throughout the universe.  There is a plan that I am working on, it will be called the ROM initiative. In which we will move all Black Ops over to that organization along with any regular operational combat actions, all intelligence and counter-intelligence operations this will ensure the security of COMSTAR, you need to end this black op action now no matter the cost.  Your service in OPERATION SILVER SHIELD along with all the actions you have taken so far after that operation is why I will tap you for command of ROM.”

Revengeful Angels Command Dropship
January 10, 2807

The commander finally got her orders to attack, she informed all her field commanders to be ready to leave the dropships in two hours.  She then got in touch with her fleet hiding out behind the fifth planet to attack the Siegers fleet.  Finally, she will have her revenge.

Siegers FOB
1100 GST

The alerts sounded, meaning only one thing, the enemy was finally making their move.  With all the walls except for a small portion of the south section completely finish General Chapman was sure they could hold out. Until Charlie Regiment got there.  He decided to call Admiral Phung to give her an update, when she called him first.
“General there is a large enemy fleet that was hiding behind the 5th planet of the solar system. They are on an intercept course to us. We will not be able to support you, will you be, ok?”
“Admiral we will be fine the walls are up and fortified.  If the battle is turning against you retreat save your ship and your personnel.  Charlie Regiment should be in system soon.”
“General….Matthew, we will not retreat I am not leaving you worse case I will lead them away from the planet by moving closer to the jump point.”
“Understood and good luck.”  With that communication was cut.
Admiral Phung ordered the fleet to break orbit and when they got closer to the enemy, she would order all fighters to launch.

Milligan’s World
Paschike Continent
Plains of Forever
Battle ground

The Revengeful Angels made their way toward the river, the terrain was rough with trees scatter throughout the area.  On top of that there was a large river that ran through the plains and almost around the base that the Siegers had set up. The river was almost 90 meters wide, but south of the main road where the river bend from north to east the river was only 40 meters wide. The main road lead into the base using two bridges.  Charlie Battalion was all jump capable, so the Colonel sent them to the south bend to try and penetrate the base.  Alpha and Beta Battalions were to make haste across the bridge before the Siegers decided to blow it. She decided to set her company of Thumpers up in the south, their goal was to destroy the gun turrets. Her regiment of mechs and several companies of armor along with the artillery moved out.  That’s when she realized that the Siegers had Arrow IV gun turrets from the trajectory they were located on the inner wall, devastation of trees and fire was in front of her unit now, the first salvo missed everyone, out of range she doubted that why they missed she was unsure.  Just then she saw what came through the fumes of fire and clouds of smoke. Several squadrons of fighters and they were all dive bombing her men.
“Angels open fire at the fighters and break formation looks like they are setting up for bombing runs.”
Her troops moved as fast they could to avoid the bombs but not everyone did, in the first pass of thirty-six fighters five mechs were destroyed the pilots dead, two fighters were shot down though.  With the fire of the forest still in full inferno the Colonel order her unit through the flames.  Another round of Artillery hit the Angels causing them to slow down and try to find some cover among the trees that were not on fire.  The colonel’s Warhammer was starting to run hot, they had to push through the flames.

Solar System
Between the fifth and fourth planet

Admiral Phung took stock of her assets.  The Scopolamine was running in front, with her being a Battleship she will take the brunt of the initial fire from the enemy.  The Scopolamine also could hold four squadrons but only has two squadrons assigned to it for this battle with the enemy getting in range all the fighters from the fleet are launching now.  The Beast of Terra was the main carrier and had its full complement of fighters twelve squadrons.  The two corvettes the Belial and Iblis both had a squadron of fighters putting the Siegers fleet at four capital ships and 96 fighters.  The enemy consisted of three Lola III destroyers each with a squadron of fighters, two Congress Frigates with a squadron each, and three Dante Frigates each with two squadrons so eight capital ships and 66 fighters.  Admiral Phung saw that the enemy was launching all their fighters too. She called the CAG with orders to take care of the fighters before messing with the ships.  She just hoped the battleship was enough.  She ordered all ships to focus on the closest Congress Frigate.  The Angels fired as well but all their shots missed.  The Siegers though were mostly elite warriors, and most of the weapon fire hit the frigate.  The Angels frigate started listing to the right you could see that the CIC was damage but somehow the crew kept the ship in combat and returned fire but missed again. One of the Dante Frigates got a solid hit on the Scopolamine and the ammo for the NAC/10 was destroyed. The Scopolamine scored another massive hit on the Congress Frigate, but the Frigate stayed engaged.  The two fleets passed by each other the Siegers flipped on end and tried to use this to their advantage.  Both Dante Frigate turned their attention to the Iblis and fired most of their weapons at the Vigilant Corvette the NAC/30 hit the nose and destroyed all armor in that section with other weapons hitting that same spot the structural Integrity collapse and the ship was lost. Because of the end over end maneuver the Scopolamine found herself right behind a Lola III destroyer pumping as many weapons as possible into her backside that had a firing solution the destroyer was destroyed.  The Angels fleet moved past the Siegers and kept going what remained of their fighter Squadrons retreated to the Capital ships.  Admiral Phung ordered the fighters to RTB so they could refuel and rearmed.  Having to maneuver the fleet into being able to chase the Angels fleet would take a several hours so they got onto repairing what they could until the enemy was in range again.

[DOC_Agren]

I rarely ask but could we have a TOE of the forces?  :thumbsup:

[mchapman1970]

I have one for the Siegers for the 2780 period, but not the 2807 battle. I don't have one for the opfor..

[DOC_Agren]

I had to ask..

[mchapman1970]

do you want a pic of the TO&E  or the campaign file 

[Taron Storm]

Yes please

[mchapman1970]

Chapter Ten
Milligan’s World
Paschike Continent
Plains of Forever
Battle ground
January 11, 2807

A day of battle and nowhere close to her objective, her main force was stopped in their tracks every time by artillery.  She sent her artillery south, but they decided to move like a snail pace in hopes of not being detected by the air force of the Siegers, so far it had worked, a few more hours and they will be in position to hit the Siegers artillery sites.  Her aid came into her makeshift office.
“Colonel the Precentor of the fleet is online and wishes to talk to you.”  Finally, she thought some good news.
“Thanks put him through to here.”
“Precentor, tell me you have some good news.”
The man in the all-white COMSTAR uniform closed his dark eyes and said.
“No Colonel I do not.  My fleet is moving to the fourth planet as we speak about four hours ahead of the Siegers.  We did engage they lost a corvette and several fighters, but we lost a Frigate and most of our fighters.”
Furious the Colonel took a few seconds to breath and calm down before she spoke.
“Precentor, I don’t need you to play cat and mouse with the Siegers, I need you to engage and destroy them, without their ships they will be stuck here, and you can come back and bombard them.”
“Colonel the only ship that is recognizable is the Carrier the other…”  The Colonel raised her hand to cut him off
“I don’t care for your excuses I need you to take care of them is that understood.”  With that she severed the line and screamed.

Solar System
High orbit around the fourth planet

Precentor Shafer looked at the screen and just shook his head.  These true believers just never look at the bigger picture.  If the Colonel knew that it was him that was able to delay the attack by pulling favors back on Terra, she would kill him.  There was something not right with this whole adventure.  The Siegers was very active a decade ago and yes, they had several warships back then, but the last 8 years sightings or contracts taken by the Chappy’s Howling Siegers was few, where have they been? What have they been doing? Now COMSTAR lays a trap and they come out of hiding? With a token force and three ships not previous known to be part of their fleet?  He raised this to the Colonel, but she refused to listen. That why he got the mission cancel or at least he thought he did until Blake changed his mind and ignore his deal, he made with him.  He turned to his system specialist.
“Report how is the fleet, is the Montpellier and Divine Wisdom repaired enough for combat?”
“The Montpellier is still in a rough situation, but Divine Wisdom is repaired they are combat capable.”
“Ok tell the fleet to break orbit and lay in an intercept course for the Siegers.”

Milligan’s World
Paschike Continent
Plains of Forever
Battle ground
January 12, 2807

Day two of the battle to end the Siegers and the Colonel was frustrated she kept pushing her troops towards the main gate only to be pushed back, but every time they did push the artillery moved closer to the spot, they needed to be, to hit the Siegers hard. Also, Charlie Battalion was almost ready to make their first push “jump” over the river and onto the wall. Not knowing what to expect once on the wall the first mechs to make it there was almost guaranteed to be a suicide run.  First thing in the morning right as the sun rises, they will attack.

Solar System
Fourth planet
January 13, 2807

The Siegers finally caught up with Angels fleet, or one could say the Angels stopped running.  In either case during the fourteen hours chase several key repairs had been made on both sides.  Admiral Phung noted that several armor plates had been replaced on all ships but there were still some vulnerabilities, and the vigilant Corvette Belial main guns on the port side was operational now.  For Precentor Shafer with the loss of the Ranger, his two Congress Frigates the Cleansing Fire and Holling’s York were still badly damage. The sister ships of the Ranger, Blake Vision and Divine Wisdom had no or little damage and the three Dante Frigates the Montpellier, Bordeaux and Warbonne just damage issues.  The two fleets moved within range and all the Siegers focus fire on the Montpellier which was the lead ship for the Angels only a few shots missed from the three Siegers ships but the Naval PPCs weapons from the battleship was what broke amidship of the Montpellier as the Frigate broke in half.  The two enemy fleet passed by each other again and the Bordeaux fired all its front and most of the port side weapons into the Siegers corvette the Belial destroying the CIC and hitting the ammo for the missile destroying the ship completely all hands were lost.  At the same time the Beast of Terra was able to destroy the ship Blake Vision in a close-range Capital PPC hit.  With only two warships left, it was the Siegers turn to make a high burn out of the conflict zone Admiral Phung made way toward the Zenith Point.  Precentor Shafer gave chased and hoped he would catch them before they could jump.

Milligan’s World
Paschike Continent
Plains of Forever
Battle ground
January 14, 2807

The Colonel of the Angels was hopeful today.  She got news earlier that the Siegers fleet was running, hard to believe that Admiral Phung would leave General Chapman, but everyone has a breaking point.  Soon she will have bombardment support from orbit, and this will come to an end.  Her artillery just started to the bombardment of the Siegers base, her main body of troops was making another push toward the main gate and the first lance just jumped onto the wall.
General Chapman felt the artillery hit behind him they are targeting the gun turrets.  He was starting to get worried about their situation, he had not heard from his son’s regiment, and he had not heard from Admiral Phung in a few days.  The Angels seem to be making a big push today, so he sent four lances up near the gate. One of the P(al) sentry stations on the wall came across the radio.
“General Chapman enemy mechs jumping over the wall south sector need assistance.”
Chapman was afraid of this he knew that the south wall was the weakest link, the commander of the Angels was not dumb that’s for sure.
“Fox and India lance move to the south wall my lance will be there soon.”
Initially the first two lances of the Angels Charlie battalion went up and over the wall with ease they took out the two PPC quad gun turrets and the P(al) platoon. That’s when it started to go bad, the two lances consisted of light and medium mechs, they had just jump down to the ground level when the Siegers Fox and India lance (heavy lances) came around the corner to intercept them, lasers and missiles firing, taking care of the light mechs within an hour, the Angel mechs only lasted that long because of their speed but in the end they were all destroyed, with two mechs inop and several damage from the Siegers lances.  The Angels made it to the main gate also but was pushed back once more, both sides retired for the night.

Milligan’s World System
Nadir Point
January 22, 2807

A fleet of six warships emerged from the jump. A young colonel turned to the fleet commander and said.
“Looks like we made it, no one here to greet us though.  Scan the system where are our people?”
The fleet commander moved over to the radar technician and then announced. “Looks like they are in battle operations around the second planet.”
“Very good, make an incept course in case they need us keep radio and all electronic operations running silent.”

Milligan’s World System
Second Planet
January 22, 2807

Precentor Shafer finally caught up with the Siegers by making a wild guess of where they were going, and it paid off.  He still had five capital ships the Siegers only had two, but he wondered where the reinforcements that he requested were, they should have been here by now.
Admiral Phung made an error she thought or was just outsmarted.  She was taking the long way to the Nadir point in hopes that Charlie Regiment was there, but the commander of the Angels fleet had successful cut her off now it was five against two she did not like her odds.  Her fighters were still too shot up to fight in space but at least all the enemies’ fighters were destroyed. The fleets exchanged fire first volley was nothing big just some scratches on the paint but every second the warships move at incredible speeds and within seconds all weapons were in range the Scopolamine open fired a third time on the Lola Destroyer called Blake Vision destroying the CIC and the KR Drive cracking the ship in half.  Precentor on board the Congress Frigate named Cleansing Fire was getting worried every time he engages this fleet, he would lose a warship and they would run but this time they were not running.  The two fleets passed each other rotating end over end all ships firing. The Bordeaux fired everything that had a firing solution into the Scopolamine the KF Drive helium tank was destroyed causing massive fire in the engine room, the point defense system failed all the missiles were able to hit the battleship causing mass explosions from ammo to engine breaking the great battleship up.  Admiral Phung now alone against three capital ships knew her time was short, with the Dante Frigate showing more significant damage she ordered the Beast of Terra to roll and show her better side and fire all available weapons.  The radar tech interrupted. “Sir six capital ships barring 240 coming in full burn from the Nadir looks like they are running silent not sure who they are.”
Precentor Shafer was notified that there were six warships on intercept course, finally his reinforcements although now he doubted he needed them with only one Sieger ship left. 
The young colonel on the fleet moving in to intercept the battle looked at the captain in charge of the fleet.  “Let’s identify ourselves full IFF and identifications, turn on all lights and target the enemy.”

Milligan’s World
Paschike Continent
Plains of Forever
Battle ground
January 23, 2807

General Chapman battalion was down a company of mechs and most of the turrets have been destroyed, there was a significant force that penetrated the south wall but both sides are in a standstill and not advancing.  The Siegers fighters successfully took out all the Angel’s artillery but most of the fighters were down for repair or destroyed. The three lances at the main gate were in bad shape some immobile but still functional for weapon fire.  One of Chapman’s lance mates was down and there was no communication hopefully he had just blacked out Chapman thought.  General Chapman looked out toward the enemy and notice that their dropships just took off but the enemy was still there on the other side of the river.
The Colonel of the Revengeful Angels decided enough was enough and order her dropships to move and crash into the walls and the Siegers mechs.  With all the dropships’ captains being fanatical they obeyed without question.
General Chapman saw that the dropships were coming at first, he thought they were going to strife his units but then saw that they were dropping altitude, those crazy bastards are going to crash on purpose into what remained of the wall and his unit.  He ordered his unit to pull back and for those that could not move, abandoned their mech no matter what.
The last of the turrets and the MechWarriors that was out of the path of destruction starting firing on the first dropship, enough damage was done that the dropship fell into the river the second dropship broke up in the air but the third fourth and fifth dropship dropped and destroyed the wall, the gate, the six immobile mechs and three pilots that were trying to run away from the crash.  The colonel of the Angels decided to wait tell the fires died down before moving into the now open base.

Milligan’s World System
Second Planet

Admiral Phung looked out toward the last two Angels warship and knew the time had come she was about to order ramming operations as the act of a desperate and defeated Admiral.  Then the unknown fleet showed up and both sides stop firing at each other, Admiral Phung wander if it was the Angels reinforcements with the way their two ships was coming about to launch their final assault on her.  Then all sensors lit up the unknown fleet turned on everything even the lights that would show any artwork that identify what faction they were.  Admiral Phung eyes started to water, she could not believe that her emotions were showing trying to be stronger than any man she concentrated on the symbol on the lead ship, the sister ship of the Beast of Terra, the Dakota the symbol of a half man half wolf.  “Sir the lead ship is contacting both fleets.  They are also firing all weapons toward the Angels.” Put it on the view screen.
“This is Colonel Frank Chapman commander of Chappy’s Howling Siegers Charlie Regiment with the 2nd Sieger Fleet to the fleet that is attacking the Supplemental Sieger Fleet come to terms to the god you pray to because you will die today.”
Precentor Shafer was shocked this was not his reinforcements, a 2nd fleet? He has been fighting a supplemental fleet? That means there is another fleet out there at least.  Who are these people.  This was his last thought as lasers and missiles rip into his ships.
“Admiral Phung, it’s a honor to see you again, although from sensors it looks like you have had a pretty rough time.”
“Yes Colonel Chapman the Siegers lost three ships but the enemy lost eight ships thank you for getting here.  Your father is in a bad way there was a reinforce regiment against his command battalion you need to make haste and get planet side.”
“We are in route I will leave the Lelou and the Akiak here for your protection and to rescue anyone from the Scopolamine.”
“We lost the Belial and Iblis around the fourth and fifth planet.” Admiral Phung informed Frank.
“Understood Admiral, Captain Bexar will send a rescue team”

Milligan’s World
Paschike Continent
Plains of Forever
Battle ground
January 27, 2807

Once the fires went out after burning everything in the crash zone the Angels moved into the outer layer of the base General Chapman ordered the Siegers to retreat back to the inner part of the base.  Those walls weren’t as tall or thick, but they would give some cover fire for the few lances that are left under his command.  Three other Angels dropships did not crash into the wall instead they rammed and destroyed or damaged all the Siegers dropships.  General Chapman and his troops were trapped there.  Fight to the last man was General Chapman’s message along with having them back up further in the base.  On top of that, most of the expendable ammo was near depletion, down to lasers in most the mechs Chapman order to conserve the ammo until it could be used as a kill shot. 
The Angels Colonel knew that the end was near.  Chapman was retreating into the base soon he will be trapped and will not be able to evade.  She was surprised that over sixty percent of her unit was destroyed but she did not care Chapman will be dead soon.

Milligan’s World
High orbit
February 2, 2807

Four dropships detached from the Dakota and moved down the gravity well.  All MechWarriors including all three kids of General Chapman were in their mechs ready for a combat drop.  None of them were talking, they all saw the satellite images and heard the reports from Admiral Phung things did not look good for their father.

Milligan’s World
Paschike Continent
Plains of Forever
Battle ground

The Siegers moved from building to building slowly backing up General Chapman’s left leg was barely able to hold him up and his right arm was gone most of his armor was destroyed in his torso so using buildings was essential to his survival.  He then noticed IFF hits in the atmosphere coming down fast first it was four blips then a few moments later 120 blips filled the screen Charlie Regiment finally made it.
“Siegers help has arrived stay in cover, stay safe Charlie Regiment will be here soon.
The Angels commander was moving up through her troops she knew Chapman was finish, it was time for her to announced who was about to kill him.  Then what she least expected more Siegers combat dropping how was this possible Chapman did not bring all his troops?  Furious she push through her ranks and open a hailing frequency.
“Chapman, hear me Chapman I will kill you….I…WILL…..KILL……YOU….”
General Chapman even after all these years knew that voice and could not believe it.  The Siegers that was combat dropping heard the message too only one remembered that voice, Frank Chapman. “Mom what are you doing?” he whispered under his voice.
General Chapman said “Diana, what are you doing?”
“Ever since you banished me and wiped me out of our children existence I planned for this day, the day of vengeance, you will die, and I will take my kids back to Terra.

[snakespinner]

Now that was an amazing turn of events. :thumbsup:

[mchapman1970]

Chapter Eleven
Milligan’s World
Paschike Continent
Plains of Forever
Siegers FOB
February 4, 2807

With Charlie Regiment landing behind the Angels, it stopped the advancement toward General Chapman, only the Command lance of the Angels were engaged with what was left of the Command Battalion.  The Angels were doom though, they had been taken out both through the Siegers superior warriors and Colonel Diana Ravat (Chapman) blood lust with the Angels fanatical ideology. Charlie Regiment slowly systemically destroyed every Angel mech and tank they came across. 

General Chapman had the last working mech in his command battalion and he was backed into a corner moving as fast as he could with the damage legs, him and his ex-wife exchanging fire and throwing punches along the way until Diana made the kill shot, fortunately the ejection system saved the General, he landed about hundred meters away from the battle near one of the only original buildings in the area, which was now partially burned down, a farmhouse that General Chapman did not destroy when they choose this site months ago.  General Chapman scrambled out of the escape pod and was in immediate pain looking down he saw that he was bleeding and bleeding bad.  He moved to a post that was still standing from the burnt building and slid down to the ground.  He could see his mech both arms were gone and a big hole in the torso.  Still with his wits about him he made a tourniquet to stop the bleeding in his left leg.

Colonel Ravat saw that her ex mech was about to explode so she tried to take cover, but the NightStar safety equipment kicked in and prevented the engine from completely explode with her moving away she lost where the injection seat went but her mech was overheating and of no use to her now.  She had to make sure Matthew was dead and if not, she would kill him with her hands if she needed to.  Diana opened her cockpit of her Warhammer and took her laser rifle with her.  Climbing down her mech she could hear the battle still going on and the Siegers reinforcements moving closer to her location, she had to find him before they did.  Moving slowly in fear of being ambush she took her time and looked at everyplace she could think of.

Colonel Frank Chapman lost signal from his father’s mech worried he called his siblings on a private line.
“Cheyenne, Corolin I lost signal of father’s NightStar we need to get to the back of the base where his mech was as fast as we can form up on me leave the other Angels to our guys.” Cheyenne pipped up. “I bet mother is there too we need to stop her.”
“Why is she doing this, why is she calling for vengeance, I was too young to remember but from official records it was her fault she banished, father never would talk about it either.” Corolin said.
“I don’t know all I remember is there was a lot of tension between our parents before she left, and father told me why.” Frank replied, he then said.  “We need to find both of them before it was too late.”

Matthew was going in and out of consciousness knowing he was going to die if help did not arrive soon more than likely he will lose his leg it’s been to long in a tourniquet he tired to move and couldn’t.  He heard movement to his left or was it to his right unsure he looked both ways, he saw the last person he expected, his ex-wife standing there with a laser rifle pointed to his head.
“This, this is all your fault, you and your god like complex if you had just said no to your so called friends we could of stayed on earth and enjoyed life and not play god as a merc commander.” Diana yelled.
“Play god what are you talking about, I was just a son trying to fulfill a father wish.” Matthew replied
“A father you hated stop with the BS I could just let you die slowly but I think I will end it now.”
She raised her rifle slowly and took aim.
“Mother stop” screamed Corolin.
Taking by surprise Diana spined around to see who just screamed mother.  What she saw shocked her all three of her children grown up, adults, and MechWarriors.
“What are you doing why are you here I had no intel that you guys were mechjocks you could have been killed.”
This time Frank answered. “Really mother put that weapon down, I am the commander of Charlie Regiment and I Colonel Chapman am placing you under arrest.”
Diana swung back around and pointed the rifle toward Matthew again. “No, you won’t son you know this needs to happen I have to kill this man.”
Meanwhile Matthew was slipping he knew there was screaming and people arguing.
“Mother put the gun down or so help me…” Frank was saying when Diana interrupted.  “Or what son you will shoot me no you won’t.”
A laser shot could be heard and then there was silence with the battle in the background done and no one talking it was and eerie silence, no one moved then you could hear the laser gun being placed back into the holster.  Diana turned slightly and looked at the child who had shot her, Corolin made sure her gun was secure and then looked at her mom.  “You are a traitor.”  She then started walking toward her father and pushed the mom to the ground, where Diana died.  The other two children rushed to their father forgetting that their mom was just killed.

All three surrounded their father he was able to focus one last time and smiled. “Children don’t hate your mom forgive her she did not have a choice on her indoctrination, please continue the Chapman legacy teach your children so that they can teach their children, one day we will see the dream come true.  I am so proud of all three of you, I couldn’t be prouder of you guys.” With that Matthew passed away.

The End

Epilogue

Frank Chapman now in charge ordered all equipment, salvageable and non-salvageable removed from the planet and pulled all assets from all theaters so that all could mourn his father.  The governor of Milligan’s World reported that both units completely destroyed each other with no survivors, in behest of Frank and the memory of his father.  He then removed the name Chappy’s Howling Siegers off the Mercernary Review board register.

Office of General Hayes
Hilton Head Island
South Carolina, Terra
ComStar Headquarters
March 3, 2807

Hayes put the report down, her long-time asset was gone, but so was her thorn in her side.  She still never found out what was really in that Helm vault but at least Matthew Chapman was dead.  She could now focus on the new initiative that Blake was tasking her with.

Draconis Combine
Capital Luthien
Coordinator Chambers
Jinjiro Kurita

Coordinator Jinjiro Kurita was thrilled he saw that the Chappy’s Howling Siegers was removed from the mercenary register.  They had caused him nothing but grief on the border.  The Federated Suns were now ripe for the taking.

Devil’s Breath
Operations Building
General Chapman Office
April 8, 2807
Frank Chapman saw nothing but conflict in the universe he knew that the Chapman Legacy was not ready for the inner sphere so he mothballed most of the asset keeping only a small merc unit that rotated personnel on a regular basis.


Next Book

The New Beginning

This story is based on my imagination, what happens in MegaMek and MekHQ, and input from others. Any names are based on fiction, and any location is based on MegaMek and Cannon information. The timeline is different and is based on my Alternate Plan timeline, therefore in the cannon articles for any personalities or units may or may not be alter slightly or completely as the story evolves with time.  The start of this Alternate Universe timeline was when I incorporated the Chappy’s Howling Siegers in the late 2700s, but most of the change is not until Hanse Davion was a child and had direct contact with the Chapman Legacy. This will spotlight how one relationship could change the future for the good or for the bad. This contact eventually will lead and cause the Fourth Succession War to last longer effectively changing the history of the BattleTech Universe creating an Alternate Timeline.. Farthing distancing itself from the cannon timeline. Plans within plans this story is one such plan and how it unfolded, as with all stories, there will be passion, intrigue, deception, and war.

[mchapman1970]

here is what the force looked like prior to the last book

[DOC_Agren]

Look forward to more

[mchapman1970]

Book Four
Chapman Legacy The Begining


Prologue
Devil’s Breath
Chapman Estate
July 3, 2961

Fred Chapman received a communication from the new First Prince of the Federation Suns Andrew Davion.  Asking for assistance in destroying those that had killed his father.  Fred accepted and took the 1st Regiment defense force under the merc name Chappy’s DragonSlayers, during the months of fighting the First Prince and Fred bonded.  Fred became a good friend and advisor to the First Prince in which he started funneling equipment from the Chapman Corporation to Davion forces for a profit of course.

Devil’s Breath
Hospital of Eternal Hope
Nursey
March 17, 2985

Fred Chapman looked through the glass where the newborn babies were kept.  His first born after years of trying to conceive with his wife Sherry finally succeeded.  Fred in the recent years felt the shift in inner sphere and knew that the time was ripe for the Chapman Legacy to be fulfilled, hence the reason they named their first-born son Matthew  Chapman after the ancestor that started it all.

Devil’s Breath
Chapman Estate
July 3, 2992

Fred Chapman received a communication from the First Prince Andrew Davion.  Surprisingly it was an invitation to move to the palace to not only help the First Prince in some business matters but also to have their sons become playmates and hopefully bond.  Knowing that the First Prince was envious of the Chapman financial and industrial empire Fred was leery at first, but his wife Sherry talked him into it, for the good of their son.

Albion Military Academy
New Avalon
3rd Year Cadets Barracks
July 7, 2999

Matthew Chapman and Hanse Davion just rolled into the barracks to clean up from beating the 4th Year Cadets in a 2v4 Mech Sim in which they were the two against four that was set to graduate next month.  No one could beat the Hanse and Matt dual in a fair fight and sometimes even in a not so fair fight.  Both stopped in their tracks when they notice ten men dressed up in Royal Guard uniforms with Hanse brother in the middle the look on his face said it all.
“Hanse, father died in his sleep last night the cancer finally took him.”

New Argon
Third Davion Guards RCT
Head Quarters
Commander Davion Office
April 24, 3013

Hanse Davion received communique that his brother the First Prince was killed in his Atlas during battle.  Hanse was ordered back to New Avalon to be named the First Prince of the Federated Suns.  Captain Matthew Chapman commander of the 10th company in the Third Davion Guards left his position and went with Hanse back to New Avalon as head of the security detail.








****************************************************
News Alert
22 June 3020
Tharkad
Archon Katrina Steiner just announced in a speech to her people that she has issued a statement offering peace proposal to all successor states in hopes that there will be no more wars between all nations.

                                      Tharkad Broadcast Company (TBC)
*********************************************************

Chapter One
Tharkad
Capital of Lyran Commonwealth
Conference Room 1034
Government Center Building
5 August 3020

A figure was sitting quietly along the wall of the outer walkway in the building.  Everyone that passed him did not give him the time of day, did not notice him, did not think twice of the figure sitting in a chair reading the local news on his pad, seeing that there was heavy security to even enter the building no one saw him as a threat.  The man just sat there pretending to read the news waiting to be seen by the leader of the Lyran Commonwealth.  Only a select few knew that she was in this conference room holding meetings of various issues, including the leader of the Federated Suns, the man pretending to be reading the news.  He was there early on purpose always vigilant with his personal guard only steps away pretending to do the same thing, he was surveying the comings and goings of people, people always tell a story even if they try not to.

Conference Room 1034

Katrina Steiner the Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth looked at the two gentlemen in front of her.  “Ok gentlemen, I understand your position and if you can achieve your goal with the Draconis Combine then I am willing to do my part.  After all, once it is established there will only be a small corridor that the combine will be able to reach the planets of the Commonwealth so even though the Commonwealth will lose some planets to this undertaking I will be agreeable to your plans.”  She stood up shook the hands of the two men and said, “now I must receive my next guest, I will see you to the door.”
The man just outside the conference room took scans of the two men that just left room 1034, looking at his screen it identifies the men as one Haakon Magnussom from Rasalhague and Myndo Waterly a Primus from COMSTAR.  Very interesting combo, the fox thought very interesting indeed.
As the Hanse entered the room, he shed his disguise to reveal that he’s the First Prince of the Federated Sun, taking the Archon’s hand gently and says, “Thank you my Lady, I am glad that we can continue our talks in person for this momentous occasion that could lead to ever lasting peace for both nations.”

After all the meetings were finished and the Archon was alone a small figure of a girl stepped out of the darkness on the far wall and went up to Katrina, “mother while I appreciate the gravity of the situation are you willing to go that far to achieve peace?  Do you think I can learn to love Hanse Davion?”

The Archon stared at her daughter for a few moments then said, “yes my loving daughter you will learn to love him, and give him children.  Once both nations are joined by one heir no one will dare to attack us.  If COMSTAR can broker a deal with the Draconis Combine and a free Rasalhague region is formed, then we as Lyrans will not have to worry about any raids from that side of our nation and the FWL will be too weak to even think about attacking the FedCom.”  She paused for a second as if trying to gather the right words, “two things that still bothers me is Hanse need to destroy the Capellans, and this plan to start a new nation, I need to have a meeting with this person of interest that Hanse has so much faith in.”
First Prince Davion made it back to his hotel room all, but one bodyguard stayed out in the hallway.  Hanse and the bodyguard sat down at the table and as the bodyguard poured him and Hanse a drink the happenings of that day was talked about.  At the end, Hanse just sat there waiting for all the information to sink in his bodyguard and close friend’s brain.

“My lord, when I learned of the true nature of my family and its holdings telling you only seemed natural.  I am unsure if it is wise to be planning a future using this information specially since as of right now, I am not the head of the organization.”
The Prince looked at him and said, “Matthew eventually you will be, and although I will be sad to see you leave me, the plans that I have for you and your organization will fulfill my needs and also your families longtime dream.”  With that the Prince got up and moved to his quarters to turn in for the night, leaving Matthew to contemplate the world wind of events.

When Matthew was younger his father instilled in him core values of duty, honor, service before self.  Life with father, uncles, and older bothers always seem complicated.  Everyone was busy doing something somewhere else when Matthew was child.  Just before he entered the academy to become a MechWarrior officer in the AFFS his father told him of some of the holdings that the family had, also about the merc unit that was funded by the family and that his father’s uncles and all, but one bother died in service of that merc unit.  He was so stunned he ran to Hanse and told him the news, now several years later he might just have regretted telling his best friend about that day.







***************************************************
News Alert
3022
Terra
The Federated-Commonwealth Alliance Document was just signed between the Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth and the First Prince of the Federated Suns.  No one truly knows how this will affect the balance of power or what the future holds now for the Inner Sphere.
                                               Interstellar News Network (INN)
****************************************************
As the reception for the peace treaty was in full swing a message came for Major Matthew Chapman, Matthew read the communique with hands shaking and looked up to see Hanse eyeing him.
“What’s wrong Major, I hope it is not bad news.”
“My lord, my father and mother have been killed, and while the investigation is ongoing initial intel say it was the work of Draconis Combine.”
“Major… Matthew I am so sorry” with that the Prince motioned another bodyguard over.  “Graig, I need transport for the Major and book the fastest passage to whatever system that the Major needs to go.”
Matthew looked at his friend, his comrade in arms, his Prince, they hugged, and Matthew left, seeing himself in the mirror he knew that this was last time he was going to be in that uniform.

[Taron Storm]

Good start. Need to recheck the dates please.

[mchapman1970]

which dates are u referring to I pulled from source books and sarna.net   a lot of dates only had the year listed.  sooo let me know

[Taron Storm]

Albion Military Academy
New Avalon
3rd Year Cadets Barracks
July 7, 2099

New Argon
Third Davion Guards RCT
Head Quarters
Commander Davion Office
April 24, 2013

Just typos

[mchapman1970]

Fudge nuggets.  Thanks so much  i will fix.

[snakespinner]

Just time travel. ^-^

[mchapman1970]

fixed  thanks  appreciate it

[Wrangler]

Sorry bring up, but Chapter 1 has Lyran Alliance instead of Lyran Commonwealth, (before it's time)

[mchapman1970]

i will fix it sorry   

[mchapman1970]

Chapter Two
Terra Earth
ComStar HQ
Hilton Head
Primus private office
November 3022

Primus Tiepolo sat at his desk thinking that his plan to create more war and more conflict was working.  With the announcement of the Steiner witch, then the pact between the Fox and the Witch, and now the pact between the other great houses will surely lead to a war of two sides.  One in which his organization can control was truly exciting.  There were only two things that bother him.  First one was the Concord of Kapteyn will it hold given the hostilities remaining between Liao and Marik.  Second was a troublesome report of a large merc unit with the same qualities as the Wolf Dragoons showing up in full strength with warships and four full regiments not only that but its leader was a former officer of the AFFS and friend to Hanse Davion.  Troubling indeed, Jamie Wolf and Matthew Chapman have not had any communications as far as ComStar has seen but similarities in the way they showed up are the same.  He must keep an eye on all these items, so he turned to his computer and started a message for his ROM ordering them to find out what was going on.

******************************************************
FSNS nightly news cast
1 December 3022

With continuing peace talks on the way between the houses, war is almost virtually over.  During this time, the First Prince has decided to go on a ‘Victory’ tour on the outer realm, while his next stop is unknown due to security, we have seen a pattern of navigation and have determined that next planet will be somewhere along the border of Outworlds Alliance.  Excuse me one second.
This just in breaking news there has been an outbreak of the Andromindon Flu which is very deadly if not treated and contagious on-board Suns First the JumpShip that has our First Prince on board.  The ship has been quarantined, news is none of the men and women on board have died, all are in good spirits and getting the best treatment.  With this the Prince’s news office has released a statement.  It says that the First Prince is fine, but the Quarantine could last up to two months, so the ‘Victory’ tour is on hold.

******************************************************

Capital City
Planet Devils Breath
Location Secret
Somewhere deep in Outworld Alliance territory
17 December 3022

As the First Prince and General Matthew Chapman took in the sites while strolling down the Riverwalk Hanse looked at Matthew and saw a significant change in the man not only in the uniform but in his demeaner and he could not be prouder of his friend.
“Matthew, I have so many questions, a year ago I tasked a merc unit to do pirate protection and it was one of your units the commander’s name was Nichole Chapman she had a son that was a lance commander with your name and another one that was her aid were they fake names, or do you have family I don’t know about.  Also, what is this place I know your organization is big, but this is like a small nation.  I knew you had some JumpShips, but we just made 8 jumps using 7 different ships some of them were warships that most people have not seen in decades.  Where are we, my people are very upset using a pirate jump point on the last one also, when we jumped and was right in-between the moon and the planet my security guard went berserk for putting us in danger like that.”

Matthew looked at his friend, “here let’s sit down and I will tell you what I can”
They both sat on a bench that overlooked a small man-made rapids in the river that showcased people kayaking through.  Matthew turned to his friend, “There is a lot I cannot tell you not only for your security but for those here evidently, we are all descendants of a unit that was part of the original star league, for whatever reason the support unit did not go with Kerensky but stayed here on planet which was a research facility and also off of all star maps including COMSTAR.  With that, these guys have been building, researching, living in peace, when my ancestor, who I am named after finally showed up with his merc unit he was welcome with open arms and met some of his family that he thought went with his dad in the great exodus.  That was around 2800 so it makes this place virtually untouched by all the wars for well over 200 years. The organization kept a low profile for whatever reason until my father expanded the merc mission, and the Chapman Corporation after he served your father.  Most of the rest of history you already know.  The commander is my wife I have been married for a very long time, since before your father’s death.  Those are my sons and I have another son and daughter, all of them have trained as mech warriors since the age of ten. The reason why we came in at the pirate point is because the regular jump points are guarded by an automated system that fires at everything that jumps into the system no matter who or what the ship is the defense system engages and destroys them the moment they have emerged.”

Hanse looked at his friend, “Married?  You never told me.”  He fully turned to his friend and said. “I never heard of such weapon the possibilities are endless, if planets were defended with that system invasion of those planets would be a thing of the past.”
Matthew sighed, “and so would commerce, space travel, and a nation since this defense system does not recognize the difference between friend and foe.  So, no for now this system is one of a kind.”

They sat there for a few moments looking at the families that were in the river playing, rafting, fishing when Hanse sighed and then said.
“I asked for this one-on-one time to ask a favor of you, I am now not sure if you will want to do it given this place of paradise, but it would allow you to start working on your family’s dream of self-rule.”
Curious Matthew shifted to give full attention to Hanse, “please go ahead and ask, it could never hurt to talk about it.”
Hanse looked at him, “Instead of just using your merc unit like we discussed all those years ago I want to give you a planet put whatever government in place but when war starts again, I want to use your forces and whatever other Mercs you can gather, plus the mechs I am going to give you, and the money the Archon is willing to give you. So that you can invade the Draconis Combine.  Whatever planets you successful invade and win you keep.”
“What about the Outworld Alliance” Matthew said
“I have no hate or love for them if you can invade both then by all means do it as long as you invade Kurita, take revenge for your parents’ death, and relieve some pressure on me while I takeover Capellan.  Why do you want to invade the Outworlds Alliance” Hanse asked.
“Because this secret place is within the Outworlds Alliance borders it would be nice if I am to build a nation to have this planet inside the new nation.  It will be a few years before I could do this.” Matthew said.
Hanse looked at him, “how much time will you need?”
“I would have to talk to my war council, but I think around 6 years after we get the planet until our forces will be strong enough.”
“mmmm,” Hanse rubbed his 17-day hair growth on his face, “ok well then you will be part of my second stage then, let me tell you about all my stages. Starting with the wedding day between me and Melissa.”

*****************************************************
New Avalon Capital of Federated Suns
Nightly news
FSNS station
December 1, 3024
20:00 GS
In a most shocking and bizarre move First Prince Davion announced today that due to his prior and faithful service that one Matthew Chapman formerly a Major in the AFFS has been given the planet Niles on the Kurita/OutWorlds border to run as he sees fits.
****************************************************** 




******************************************************
New Avalon Capital of Federated Suns
Nightly news
FSNS station
January 9, 3026
20:00 GS
The AAFS announced today that they will be having joint operations exercises called OPERATION GALAHAD for the AAFS and OPERATION THOR for the LCAF both operations are to help with the binding of the two countries military force.  Draconis Combine and the Capellan Confederation both condemn these operations.
********************************************************

New Avalon Capital of Federated Suns
Nightly news
FSNS station
January 9, 3027
20:00 GST

Almost a year ago the AAFS announced two training operations between them and the LCAF.  The rest of the Inner Sphere watched and waited for an attack, but none came.  Today the AAFS with the LCAF announce another training operations codename the same as last years.  This time they sent out the list of every unit that was deploying and a list of those units that will be doing joint war games.  There has been no official statement from the Draconis Combine or the Capellan Confederation this time.

*********************************************************



New Avalon Capital of Federated Suns
Operation Rat
Mission Planning
AFFS HQ deep underground
January 1, 3028
07:00GST

The Command Section of the AAFS HQ was massive, this was the place that wars were planned, designed, and acted out on throughout the years. So, it was an honor for an outsider to be invited into the heart of the most powerful nation in the known galaxy let alone three individuals not currently part of the AAFS or its civilian command structure. As one of the guest Matthew Chapman gazed at the 20 by 40-foot wall full of monitors of live and recorded feeds from military bases across the expanse of the nation he noticed on the right side of the room a door opening, the First Prince Hanse Davion walked through it along with two special surprise guest Archon Katrina Steiner. With the peace treaty between the two greatest powers in the known galaxy the surprise was not too big, the main surprise was who was behind the Archon, her daughter Melissa. Matthew thought about the last time he saw her, it had to of been on Terra 3022 when First Prince Davion signed the peace treaty with Archon Steiner, at the time Matthew was there as an unofficial bodyguard for his lifelong friend Hanse Davion. That was also when his parents were killed, and he left AFFS and the Prince. Three years later the Prince gave the planet Niles to Matthew to have a base for his powerful mercenary group with the understanding never to take a contract with Draconis Combine, at least that was leaked to the public.  A year later Niles became independent from all the Houses and Merc warriors starting flocking to the planet in hopes of a new beginning.  So, two months ago when the Prince summoned him, Matthew knew that Hanse first stage of a unified nation was about to start.  Matthew was still surprised through to receive the invitation to be here, he supposed that the First Prince was going to make known what some of his plans were where the Freedom Federation was concerned. Specially since the other two guests were Duncan Bovet and Stacey Wrixon, which happen to be childhood friends, and Merc commanders like him and also acquaintances with the Prince. As the leaders took their seats the whole room quieted to where you could hear a pin drop.

Prince Davion stood up and went to the podium “Thank you all for showing up, today’s brief is of the highest security, everyone in uniform has been sworn in and now the rest of you guys must. We…meaning the Archon and myself have come up with a plan that involves both love and devious intentions. First off, you all know of my intentions to marry the Archon’s daughter Melissa in which will signify a bond between two great houses in August. During these last two years the OPERATIONS GALAHAD and THOR were a tremendous success not only showing that integration is possible but also for those units that moved and was able to stay in their new position without alerting the enemy of a build up at the border. So now at the same time as the wedding, we are going to attack the Capellan Confederation in force to completely wipe out that corrupt government and liberate its people. This will be the beginning of stage one. In stage one we will be targeting around 100 systems of the Capellan Confederation and about 70 systems between the LCAF and AFFS units against the Draconis Combine. We are going to use a couple of units and the Wolf’s Dragoons to attack Kurita in order to keep them at bay while most of our units are in Capellan space.  The Lyran Commonwealth will do some moderate attacks along the Kurita and Free Worlds borders of their choosing.  What is going to be crazy is what I am going to suggest next.” At that moment the First Prince stopped looking around at the people in the room and focus on Matthew, Duncan and Stacey which were sitting together at the end of the mahogany brief desk. “Stage two will include You three and with your mech units will attack Kurita and the Outwards Alliance. I succeeded the planet Niles to you a while ago and I know you started to form a government loosely based on an ancient government known as the United States of America. I want you to attack the before mention enemies, thereby causing pressure on those houses keeping the Federated Suns border safe while we destroy Capellan Confederation. The Archon has generosity offer to fund this adventure for the next three years until your planet production and nation growth has taken hold. Not only that but I have a stockpile of parts and Mechs that I am going to give you to help your efforts. So, we are to make Mercs into a new standing army for a new nation one that will always be loyal and faithful to me and my family.”  As the Prince was talking about his plans a colonel leaned over and asked the Field Marshal next to him, “how come this guy got a planet and free reign to do what he wants I don’t understand it” The Field Marshal in turn whispered to the Colonel, “Matthew’s father was Fredrick Dale Chapman, and he was one of the young Hanse Tutors during secondary school period. Fredrick was a diplomat at one time for Hanse father Andrew to the Lyran Commonwealth. During one of his many diplomatic missions to the Lyran Commonwealth Fredrick met and eventually married a distant cousin of the Steiner Royal family a one Sherry McClain. With that connection some say paved the way for the alliance and now maybe even the marriage of our First Prince. Since the Prince and Matthew were friends during their life and Duncan and Stacey are primary Matthew’s friends, they are the perfect combination to be the trusted people for this action.

                                                     

*******************************************************
New Avalon Capital of Federated Suns
Nightly news
FNN station
January 1, 3028
20:00 GST

Today the offices of First Prince Hanse and Archon Katrina Steiner announced in a joint news conference of impending Marriage of First Prince Hanse and the daughter of the Archon, Melissa is schedule for 20 August 3028, all representatives from all governments have been invited for this glorious occasion.

*******************************************************
New Avalon Capital of Federated Suns
Nightly news
FNN station
June 1, 3028
20:00 GST

If you remember a few years ago First Prince Davion granted a planet to Matthew Chapman. Today a now General Chapman announced plans for a new formation of a government on the planet Niles, which in four years there will be elections for the position President, and other government officials, Matthew said he was taking a page out of old Earth’s history mainly a government called the United States in which they had a Constitutional Republic. Every ten years there will be new elections for the President of the nation he is now calling Freedom Federation.
*********************************************************

*********************************************************
New Avalon Capital of Federated Suns
Nightly news
FNN station
August 20, 3028
12:00 GST

The First Prince Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner were wed today, at the reception Hanse announced that he was giving the Capellan Confederation to Melissa as a wedding gift, we now confirm a massive invasion of Capellan is happening and some planets have already fallen.
*********************************************************

New Avalon Capital of Federated Suns
Operation Rat Stage 2
Deployment Brief
AFFS HQ deep underground
June 1, 3029
07:00GST

General Chapman was sitting in the brief of the Field Marshal for the AFFS and their battle plans of the fifteen planets on the Kurita boarder and the twenty-five planets they had picked to target in the Capellan Confederation in the first 6 months of 3030 for the next stage. Yes, hostilities have slowed, people have assumed that with half of the original Confederation gone that the “Fox” would stop.  The Wolf Dragoons have been pretty amazing on the Kurita border, Matthew has met Jamie Wolf, there was something that bothered Matthew though because it was the way Jamie acted around him, he could not place a finger on it, but it did bother him. Matthew focused back on the brief, plans further out for the AFFS was not possible until results from the first targets are in. Several Generals erupted at the end to interject their opinions about better targets or how they need to strike deeper into Capellan space.  Then Field Marshal James Sandoval stood up and demanded that the AFFS refocus on the Kurita problem, that the Capellans had been dealt a devastating blow and would not be a threat ever again, but the Combine is a threat. Even with the Wolf’s Dragoons eventually the Dragon will awake. Back and forth they went for several minutes until the First Prince slammed his fist down “enough! The plan has been made and vetted by the Archon and I.” More eruptions happen asking if the First Prince and Archon already made plans why were the generals and Field Marshals there, it continued for yet another few minutes then Hanse stood up and went to the front of the room. “The LCAF will be attacking selected planets along the border of Kurita space to make sure the Terra corridor is secure and then redeploying forces to the Free Worlds to encourage them not to invade. We will still only be using the Dragoons and the four AFFS units in Kurita space no new units will deploy into the warzone, I am moving some asset closer though to defend if a counterattack happens.” Half the room erupted again with Sandoval calling the plan outrageous. Hanse raised his hands for silence and started talking again.  While I am not commenting more AFFS forces to the Kurita front I have not forgotten Field Marshal Sandoval the significant threat they present.  Therefore, I have tasked another entity to help with this problem I told you that in phase two we will be using General Chapman’s merc unit.”  Eruptions happen again calling it outrageous that one merc unit will not matter they needed to invade Draconis like they did the Capellans. Again, the First Prince spoke up. “As I was saying if all of you will be quiet for a few more minutes. General Chapman I would like to know what battle plan the AFFF has for Kurita.” All eyes shifted to General Chapman, as he stood up he slid his info into the dataport so that it will show up within the holomap in the center of the table. Calmly he walked slowly to the front of the room, at this moment the new standard for the Freedom Federation shone brightly in a 3D image slowly spinning on its axis. “I know many of you have concerns and doubts about me and this one planet nation.  I wanted to say that this nation has been in the works for many generations.” Murmurings started and Matthew raised his hand, and everyone quieted which shocked Hanse in how easily Matthew controlled the masses. “I wanted to show you the country’s standard and tell you what it symbolizes so that you can get a sense of who we are, then I will talk about the battle plans. The light on top represents the beacon of light for freedom that every law-abiding citizen has. The big green leaf represents the Civilian branch of government that has as its mandate to uphold the protection and freedom of all citizens of the Federation thereby, the leaf is shown as holding the Federation. Without it holding up the Federation the rest would fall apart. Civilian branch includes
President of the Federation
Congress of the Federation
Judicial Court of the Federation
Social Departments of the Federation

The twenty smaller Leafs will represent the 20 core planets of the Federation that will form the nucleus of the Freedom and Central
March with the four gold leaf's representing the first four members of the Federation. The main sword in the background represents the thrust of the military might to ensure that people are liberated from corrupt governments and tyrants. The Sword is called Excalibur. The blue symbol with the crosshairs represents the Civilians that work for and support the military in their effort to rid the universe of evil and tyranny. The eight missiles on top of the Standard represent the eight departments of the military.

Department of the Army, Navy and AeroSpace
Department of Mercenary Relations
Department of military Administration
Department of Military Communications and Research
Department of the Quartermaster
Department of Military Education
Department of Military Intelligence, Strategy and Tactics
Department of Military Justice.”

Matthew let that sink in for a few seconds then continued.

“Now let’s get to the battleplan I have developed, first off, I wanted to show you my order of battle.”


"Motherland" March                                     Gen Matthew Chapman
Chappy's Revenge Command Regiment      Gen Matthew Chapman
Chappy's Revenge 1st Regiment                  Col. Sarina Scragg
Chappy's Revenge 2nd Regiment                 Col. Elin Klevstad
Chappy's Revenge 3rd Regiment                  Col Molloy McVicar
Death Regulators Elite Strike Force             Maj Matthew Chapman II
Death Stalker Elite Strike Force                   Maj Dustin Chapman
Death Dogs Elite Strike Force
Not operational projected                             (Maj Seth Chapman)
Death Stallions Elite Strike Force
Not Operational projected                            (Maj Cheyenne Chapman)
Duncan Renegades CCM                             Gen Duncan Bovet
Duncan Renegades 1st Group                      Col. Balbina Dziedelonis
Duncan Renegades 2nd Group                     Col. Vika Smith
Duncan Renegades 3rd Group                      Col. John Spradbrow
Duncan Renegades 4th Group                      Col. William Kiley
Duncan Renegades 5th Group                      Col Johnny Cutter
Zombie Killers                                              Major Stacey Wrixon

Militia March
1st Federation Army Col Felix Johnson
2nd Federation Army Not Operational yet
3rd Federation Army Not Operational yet
4th Federation Army Not Operational yet
5th Federation Army Not Operational yet
6th Federation Army Not Operational yet
7th Federation Army Not Operational yet
8th Federation Army Not Operational yet
                                                           *****

As you can tell recruiting in both Lyran and Federated space has helped and we have plans for more armies to stand up as progress is being made.” Matthew swiped his tablet again

“This is our battle plan for the first six months it is as aggressive as I can make it without overextending my units and supply line. My first wave will be a total of twelve Planets, five along the Draconis border and the other seven into the Outworlds alliance.”
Those planets lit up red on the map.
“We have already projected the next six months after that since we are confident that most of these planets in the first wave will be ours by July 3030 those planets targeted for the second phase are these seven in Draconis and seven in the Outworlds Alliance.”
Those planets lit up in blue on the map.
“We do have more planets in mind if we exceed our expectation and three more Armies will be operational by then, but 95 percent of them will be green so training has been accelerated and toughen up to help them survive. I do have operatives on these and many more worlds and some of the worlds are just waiting to be free and under a strong military that will prevent raids from pirates and other nations.  All the Revenge Regiments are comprised of one mech regiment, Battalion or more of Armor and Infantry, a wing or more of Aerospace and a navy. They are classified as Elite.  The Renegades are classified as Veteran.  The Zombies are a black ops unit that will be way behind the Kurita front disrupting the supply lines. Conservative estimate is ten Kurita planets, and fifteen Alliance planets will be part of the Federation by years end, aggressive estimate is fifteen Kurita planets and twenty-five planets of the Alliance will be Federation at the end of the year.”


As General Chapman sat down after the rest of the brief detailing which units was attacking which planet. The rest of the Generals and Marshals were stun, because how could this one planet be able to field that big of force and on top of that have such a plan. As silence swallowed all noise First Prince Davion smiled, because he knew how Matthew could do it and why he is doing it. Then he stood up “ok I think this meeting is over good luck with all our plans. The attack starts the first day of the new year,” with that the First Prince left, and the meeting ended.

[mchapman1970]

Chapter Three
New Glasgow
Capital of Skye
45th Floor of Skye Rangers HQ
Office of the 4th Skye Ranger Commander
11 October 3029
03:00GST

A man in full dress uniform of the 4th Skye Ranger leaned against the railing of the patio looking out at the famous Bannockburn Bogs in which Skye defense forces defeated Kuritan forces in 2895.  At this height the officer could see the monument marking the success of that defensive and all the men and women that lost their lives defending the planet.  The sky was changing color as both suns were leaving the sky in a rare double sunset.  He was contemplating what had happened the last few years especially on the planet Marfik, and then what happen today when a light breeze brought the smells of the city’s restaurants to the officer’s nose.  The officer was absently rubbing his fingers on the medal that was given to him a few hours ago as he took his eyes off of the monument, he looked at the golden medallion it was the Order of Tamar Tigers for his actions in the last war, without him the Archon had said the 4th would have been lost.  He highly doubted that but unfortunately, his last commander General Kathleen Heany made mistakes, too many mistakes and the commander of the 13th Assault Regiment made sure she paid for it, by causing her to lose her command today.  That’s why he was in full class A uniform with shiny new rank on it.  He was now the Commander of the 4th Skye Rangers and in four months he will be leading the unit into battle according to the mission data he just received.  Hauptmann General Ryan Hawkins had a mission which was to rebuild the 4th into his own image, a rough, tough, elite fighting force.  This time next year because of the pending war the 4th Skye Rangers will be the premier fighting force, songs in the CommonWealth will be written about them and fear will be instilled into the Free Worlds League.  Most people will know him by his callsign “The Zipper” and he was fine with that.  The first planet for conquest was called Shiloh.  Zipper had fought high command for his unit to attack Alphecca or Skondia since they were just a jump away from Skye, but High Command had other units assigned on those planets and they would not change their mind.  Now that he was in charge of a reinforced regiment, he had privy to all the battle plans and was able to look at the big picture of both his beloved Lyran CommonWealth, and their new friends by treaty and marriage the Federated Suns, and he was not happy.  The Federation of Freedom and the Federated Suns were making big pushes into Kurita space, so why was the Archon just making a small push and putting a lot of energy up around the Rasalhague area in Kurita space trying to get them to break away from Kurita.  This alliance could crush Kurita within an year if it sent at least 70% of their forces into its space, then they could turn to the Free World League and what was left of Liao.  Sometimes he just did not understand leadership, “shit I am one of those in leadership now” Zipper said out loud to himself.
Intelligence reports showed that the 1st Sirian Lancers were currently stationed on Shiloh so a game plan had to be formed, first though he would need to pick his new Battalion Commanders Zipper left the balcony and went back to his desk, the command had taken the old BCOMs and six of the CCOM to fill other positions within the Ranger organization so Zipper needed to fill those positions.
After four hours of looking over the stats, the MechWarriors bio, and sorting out the men he knew he could trust, he finalized the command structure of his unit.  His most trusted friends also happen to be the most qualified personnel for BCOMs;
1st Battalion Colonel Ulin Batten callsign MechWrecher
2nd Battalion Colonel Johannes Ripon callsign Thunden
3rd Battalion Colonel Chet Snidle callsign WamX
Zipper’s 9 Company Commanders are as follows;
1st Company Hauptmann Anders Trydal callsign Chapster
2nd Company Hauptmann Joe Bugti    callsign MechLoud
3rd Company Kommandant Dan Onishi callsign CAK
4th Company Kommandant Ahearn Dahl callsign Jennings
5th Company Hauptman Josef Brackmann callsign RoperBand
6th Company Hauptman Stan Hernandez callsign Assault One
7th Company Kommandant Kezban Ihsanoglu callsign Kristee
8th Company Kommandant Jeff Fried callsign windemere
9th Company Hauptmann Ricard Garberg callsign LordSkippy
Zipper was about to call his new command staff when he noticed the time it was almost two in the morning, they will have to wait in the morning, hopefully Zipper thought the true commander was asleep, as he snuck into the bedroom. 
“About time you come to bed Ryan, just because you are the commander doesn’t mean you can ignore your wife.”  Zipper looked at his redhead beauty and wonder not for the first time how this angel stayed with him, as he took his uniform off all he could say is, “you’re the boss I hear and obey.”
The next morning the alarm sounded at 7am, Zipper tried to get out of bed but forgot his wife handcuffed him to the bed post.  “um honey please unlock me I have several appointments today.  His wife looked at him with a twinkle in her eye, “not until I am done with you.”
12 October 3029
10:00 GST
Zipper was looking over his new command staff, “we will leave Skye end of February for Shiloh I want some preliminary invasion plans so let’s get to it.  The 1st Sirian Lancers will be our opposition in securing the planet for the Lyran CommonWealth.  They boast a Regiment of mechs but are considered Green, their Fighter wings are all light fighters, the main concern with matching us up against them is their troops, they have a division of infantry men of various equipment, so we need to watch out for them”

12 October 3029
23:50 GST

Zipper’s back was hurting from all the bending over he did today, but they were down to three battle plans.  First one was to take over the extreme southern city with its DropPort by landing just outside of the city and storming in.  The second plan was to land in the western part of the continent and battle their way through whatever the Lancers thrown at them.  The third plan was much more radical than the other two, could cause serious damage to dropships and mechs but if done right would be the fastest to securing the planet.  It was simply to Assault drop and land the DropShips right on top of the Capital City.  If the Intel was correct the Lancers were spread out except for their infantry which was stationed around the Capital.  Of course the attack was not for another four months so Intel could change.  Each of the Commanders that came up with their plans presented their case as to why theirs was the best.  MechWrecher had the Western plan, WamX had the southern plan, and Kristee had the Capital plan.  After they all finished Chapster piped up, “can we play the pudding song on the loudspeakers as we assault their ass?”  Zipper looked at Hauptmann Anders Trydal ‘Chapster’ and wondered why he made him a company commander, “no” was all Zipper said.
After a few more minutes Zipper finally made his mind up.
“I am going to choose the Capital plan with the southern plan as backup incase the Intel changes.  That means we train for both outcomes, got it?  This will be the only time that we will be able to practice for a battle after Shiloh we will be moving on to the next planet without much break in-between.”
“Sir, yes SIR” was the command staff reply.
“Good now go get some sleep we start training tomorrow.” Zipper announced.
As all his staff left Zipper said to himself, “I am not going to be indecisive like my predecessor, dropping on the capital is bold but if we do it right, stay focus, and blitzkrieg the capital, it will be ours and maybe the Lancers will retreat when the local government capitulate after their Capital is fallen.  This will work, this has to work.”

[mchapman1970]

Chapter Four
War Council Room
Niles
Operation Liberate/Enduring Freedom
Freedom Federation
November 1st 3029
09:00 GST

Excitement, revenge, dread, horror, and sadness was all coursing through Matthew’s body.  Finally, after all these years he will be able to avenge the death of his father and mother from Kurita.  The excitement and revenge stems from being able to obtain justice, on the flip side the dread, horror, and sadness stemmed from knowing that a lot of lives will be lost and most of them did not have anything to do with the murders they just happen to work for those that were responsible.  As Matthew was looking over the documents both paper and electronic about the projected war that was about to take place his aid Captain Patricia Pak walked into the room.  “General, your family is here for lunch, they are waiting in the DFAC.” (Dinning facility) “Thanks Captain I will be there in a minute.”  During the ten-minute walk from the Council Room the DFAC Matthew wonder if he had done the right thing by pulling his family into this war since most of them had not known his mom and dad.  His wife Colonel Nichole Chapman was the commander of 1st Battalion, all his children were captains in command of their respected lances.  Matthew Jr., Dustin, Seth, and Cheyenne were all set to be outstanding commanders of their own units.  Of course, Matthew also had three other regiments that needed his attention too but having lunch with his four favorite people in the universe was more important today.  During lunch the General decided to lay out his future plans for his wife and kids. 
“Hey guys” Matthew said, “what’s good for lunch?”
“Well, the same dad, the same slop as always” Dustin said. 
“Mmmm you would think we could do better in the 31st century” the General said. 
“I heard the General in charge is a cheap ass” with a smirk on her face Cheyenne looked at her father and also said, “oh wait, that is you, that explains it all.”
At that the whole family laughed and started eating the food that they just called slop.  As they settle down and slowly became aware of their father looking at them his kids looked back at him and all said at once, “Mission a Go?”  Matthew shook his head yes and then said, 1 January will be the first day of operation, all armies are primed, and we are ready.  The thing that I have not told you about is my plans for y’all.  This plan will be based on how much damage our mechs take and how much salvage, meaning enemy mechs we can place back on the field.  The first stage will be to give Matthew and Dustin your own companies, break them off from the regiment and grow your Company into regiments.  Second stage is the same for Seth and Cheyenne, give them companies and split off.  Then lastly third stage will be to give you a new regiment free of my constant nick picking, Nichole.”  The family sat there in shock so much so that Cheyenne’s mouth dropped open with food still inside.  Nichole as always took the military tone that only an elite Colonel could with a General even if they were married.  “Matthew, your main battle plan is already bold, and I know you are doing this for revenge of your parents and your desire to help your friend the Prince, but are you sure about this?  I mean, we are better and stronger when the Chapmans stick together.”  This was all going through the minds of the rest, even though they would never say it, because by fulfilling this plan would mean the separation of this close net family.  A family that has always had each other backs due to their military upbringing.  “Yes, I am very sure this needs to be done, the ultimate goal is much bigger than anyone really knows.”

Chapter Five
Draconis Combine Palace
Luthien
November 28, 3029

Tai-sa Decker was sitting in a waiting room and was not to thrilled with it either.  The reason being, he was trying to inform the Coordinator of a possible plot based on some facts, but mostly gut feelings which is not something anyone should do, so why was he here?  If he was wrong, he would be forced out of the only life he had known, intel.  If he was right and the Coordinator did not believe him then his nation will be caught with their pants down, but if he was right, he envision himself a great leader in a war.  He was dreaming of what he would do as the first Draconis leader to conquer New Avalon when he was startled by the Coordinator’s aid.
“Tai-sa Decker, Tai-sa Decker the Coordinator is ready for you please follow me.”
As Decker followed the man into the chamber that was the Coordinator’s private office, he was more intimidated as he walked in, it was the first time he was in the Coordinator’s office, he had met and had meetings with the Coordinator but never in his office.
“Sir, Tai-sa Decker reporting.”
“At ease Decker” Coordinator Takashi Kurita said.  “Have a seat and please start briefing me about the boarder of the Federated Suns.”
“Coordinator, there are a series of concerns I have the main one is the new nation called the Freedom Federation.”  The Coordinator lifted his left hand up showing his long traditional fingernails.
“Please, this is not going to go well for you, it is one planet in control of a merc unit.  Why the ‘fox’ gave them a planet is beyond me, in fact since Niles used to be under the Combine I was thinking of sending the 5th Sword of Light to take it back.”
Decker started to sweat but he had to inform the Coordinator what he thought he knew; it was his duty.
“Coordinator, that would be a mistake” Decker said as he licked his lips, “The Freedom Federation I believe has six regiments and I think they are about to mobilize in an offensive move coordinated in cahoots with the Federated Suns, I believe that they are not slowing down with their invasion of Capellan like most analysts believe and I think they are going to step up attacks on our border, to me about fourteen planets are vulnerable.”  Decker gripped the arm rest a little harder “you have to listen to me Coordinator, if we don’t prepare, we could lose a dozen planets within the next 3 months.”  He then released his grip on the arms of his chair realizing now the pain shooting up his arms from squeezing too hard.
Coordinator Kurita just stared at him for a second and then slowly but more loudly started laughing.  “You cannot be serious, there is no way Davion and Steiner could launch an attack right now, their militaries are in shambles most are in Capellan space, in fact I am planning a counterattack.  My spies are saying even now they are having a hard time getting organized.  Let me see your data that conflicts with all other experts.”
Now Decker realized his mistake, the mistake was that other experts besides him would be talking to the Coordinator.
“Sir, most of my presentation is based on my gut feeling, something just feels different this time.”
“Well Tai-sa Decker, that is not good enough, but I will let you investigate this by sending you to the 8th Sword of Light as their intel officer on the border planet, Delacruz, now be gone before I decided to do something else to you for wasting my time.”  With that he waived Decker off.
As Decker walked out of the office, he thought to himself well the wife will be happy, I will be a long way from home because of my big mouth, she always said that my mouth would get me into trouble and/or killed.

[mchapman1970]

Chapter Six
Niles
Operation Liberate
Freedom Federation
War Council Room Outer Chamber
1 December 3029   
09:00GST

Bharat Sanzgiri sat on a bench against the outer wall of the old capital building.  At one time this was only the seat of power for the planet, now it was also the capital for a new faction.  Of course, it was a faction of one planet, so he was not quite sure why he was here.  Well, he knew why he was drunk and answered a net call, the prerecorded message asked him to verify his trip to Niles to discuss his future and the dime was on them.  As he looked out the window to the courtyard and the downtown beyond, he notices the architecture was a mix of Davion and Kurita, simply because ownership of this planet would change every few years.  He continues to wonder why he was there.  Two years ago, his wife of 32 years died, a year later he married his only daughter to a man he loathed simply because he was a merc.  He wanted better for his daughter; he wanted her to marry a doctor not a mercenary scum.  That is when he decided to retire from the Syritis Fusiliers, then a week before his retirement and two weeks before the prerecorded message he received an communique.  He reached into his pocket and pulled out the folded communique, carefully he unfolded the paper and read it yet again.



****************************************************
Date: 30 October 3029
From: General Matthew Chapman Commander of AFFF
To: Colonel Bharat Sanzgiri, AFFS
Unit: 10th Syritis Fusiliers
Status: Retirement
Colonel upon your retirement from your glorious carrier from the Federated Suns Armed Forces, please make haste to the planet Niles, which is currently the capital of the Freedom Federation, for an important discussion about your future plans; not only for you, but also your family and the rest of the universe.  We have a great opportunity here for you. You come highly recommended. Be here no later than 1 December 3029.
****************************************************
Bharat looked at the communique and ran his fingers over the two crests at the bottom of the paper.  When he first saw those, he had no idea whose crest they were, but now he knew the left one was of the crest of the new nation Freedom Federation and he assumed that the right one was some kind of crest for this General Chapman, he also assumed that this AFFF organization is this planet’s form of a military.  When coming into the solar system all view ports on the DropShip were covered so he had no idea what the capital looked like he was not a fan of mysteries, so he was very uneasy.  At that moment, a Captain looking completely crisp and fresh walked up and told him they were ready for him.
As the retired Colonel walked into the inner chamber he was taken by surprise and stop short at the door jam.  He recognized the three gentlemen in the room, the first one he knew personally, he was Duncan Bovet the lowlife that took his daughter from him.  The person on far right he recognized from recent news vids, he was the new Intern President for this planet Malik Henry….so that means the tall and muscular man in the middle must be General Chapman the one that requested his presence. 
“Colonel Sanzgiri so glad you could make it, I am General Chapman let me introduce you to the Intern President Henry, and of course you know Colonel Bovet.” Chapman said.  As the handshakes were finish General Chapman motioned him to sit down and proceeded to talk.  “I am not sure if you are aware of what is going on Colonel…. Sanzgiri raised his hand and interrupted General Chapman “please call me Sanzi, I am retired now.”  General Chapman looked at him and continued to speak.  “Well… I am hoping that you will come and join our forces you come very highly recommended from you son-in-law and I have always found that family usually have each other’s back during hard times.”  The general raised his hand as Sanzgiri was about to say something else to quite him.  “I have a unit in need of a good commander it has mechs, tanks, and infantry each a battalion size with a wing of fighters, dropships and a JumpShip assign to it, all would be under your control.  Before you say anything though know that within a month time you will see combat, are you interested?”  Sanzgiri sat there stunned.  The general continued, “of course I cannot give you any details about the combat until you sign on and pledge alliance to the Federation, but do know this it will be groundbreaking, it will change the shape of the universe, and more importantly it is with the full blessing of the First Prince of Davion.  Sanzgiri sat there and thought it out in his head, he has always been loyal to the Prince it was ingrained into him since a child, he knew from stories on the net that the General was childhood friends with the Prince, more importantly he has never been higher than a Battalion Commander, this would be his opportunity to show his worth, to show that he can lead troops to victory.  “Yes, General and Mr. President I will join and take control of this unit.”  General Chapman stood took Sanzgiri hand and said. “Welcome to command of the Duncan Renegades 3rd Group.”  As he shook his son in law hand, he knew that this was a mistake, even if he was in command of his own unit, it was still under the umbrella of his son in law the one man that he wanted to kill.  On the flip side if Bovet is here maybe his baby girl was here to.

36th Avalon Hussars
Location unknown
Operation Dragons Tail
Federated Suns
1 December 3029
09:00 GST

Leftenant General Valeria Skidmore the youngest general (that was not of noble blood) in AFFS history threw her flimsy down on her new desk, and rubbed her blue eyes, and then ran her fingers through her curly black hair.  She knew that the First Prince Hanse Davion had a nick name ‘the fox’ but until now she did not fully comprehend how much trickery and deceit this one man could do.  Of course, he had help, but no one really knew the extent of it until the orders came down.  Somehow the First Prince had hidden a secret army and by the looks of it, ten regiments unknown to the world will be involved in next month’s surprise attack.  He had also orchestrated a new faction into life on the Kurita borders to relieve some of the pressure off of the Draconis March.  He also got married to the Steiner Princes last year which will mean that one day a Davion/Steiner would rule over both great houses.
Her unit was one of those unknown entities and no one in Kurita space will understand and realize what unit landed on Huan until months later.  Intel reports, that there is only the local militia, the 36th Avalon Hussars boast a two battalion, and one company of mechs with a company of artillery a battalion of armor and an aerospace wing.  Seems like a piece of cake, there are concerns for her now that she has read the mission packet.   They are three things, what if the Intel that they get from AFFS command is wrong and the enemy force size is larger, second concern is the goals of this mission, first goal is to take control of a small town called Keyoon just outside of the town there is a water plant that makes clean water for the entire sector of space.  Then because of the shortage of DropShips and JumpShips for this operation they will have to leave to carry out another mission. Which leaves the whole unit having to march 8600 miles to the capital.  The third item of concern is the weather, more importantly the rain in the plains and also the snow covered mountains that will have to be transverse to get to the capital that sits nestle to a large mountain range.
As she was still mulling over the complexity of moving an entire regiment 8600 miles there was a knock at her door.  “Ma’am? You got a second?” said Leftenant Colonel Grose.   Leftenant Colonel Danny Grose is her right hand man, her XO he is a strong, tall man of African descent and had an air around him that said I am a stud and know it.  “Yes Colonel, please have a seat what can I do for you?”  “General rumor at the comm suite is that orders have come in, no worries they would not tell me anymore than that.” “Danny, why in the heck would there be orders?” Skidmore said, then a twinkle showed up in her steal blue eyes and she sighed.  “Ok, Ok, yes there are orders, the mission is a go we are to muster and be ready by December 31st.”  She then proceeded to hand him the orders so that he could read the goals, and Intel. 
As he looked over the mission packet, the General got up from her desk to get some coffee.  “Danny you want some coffee?”  “Yes please, general.”
“How do you like it?”
“Ma’am I like my coffee like I like my women, black..”
“Ok Colonel, I will remember that one.” the general said and then chuckled. 
Leftenant Grose looked up after some time and a few cups of coffee, “what was high command thinking?”  “Moving 8600 miles through plains, forest, and mountains will not be fun and it won’t be quick.” “Yup, I know Danny, not fun at all but it has to get done, I want you to coordinate with the section chiefs about this plan.  We still need to keep it on the down low but when the transports show up on 26 December and the whole unit packs in people are going to know something is up.  Let’s just make sure they don’t have a clue where we are going to.

Planet Skye, Skye Province
Fire Base Freedom
Command Bunker
December 3, 3029
03:00 GST

Colonel Devlin was waiting in his office for the call to come in. The call that he had expected months ago after he kicked Holstein to the curb. All had been silent until the notification earlier that he was supposed to wait for a call from his benefactor.  While waiting he started to remember how he got here.
Almost ten years ago…

Planet Summer, Skye Province
Lestrade Palace overlooking a valley
on Lestrade Continent
Main office of Duke Aldo Lestrade IV
March 1, 3020
07:00GST

As Duke Lestrade sat in his chair behind the expensive wood desk, he went over the current events of the Inner Sphere. He hated what the Archon was doing, he hated Draconis Combine, he hated his father, and he hated the Free World’s League. He was full of hate, but he did love power, and he saw a glimpse opportunity at this moment. There was a movement that was gaining momentum, a movement that could lead the Skye Province free from the Lyran Commonwealth and Federated Suns, and with the right actions could lead him in power of the province. The trick will be to make sure he was there when it happens, and to make sure he had enough loyal followers both in civilian government jobs and the military to ensure he was the first ruler of the future free Skye Province. He was, after all, the leader of the Federation of Skye, so it would only make sense to be the new leader of a free Federation. He had plans within plans to achieve his goal. From influencing some of the Archon’s closest family members, to even a plan to kidnap her daughter when the time was right, Aldo had plans. The first one that he was going to enact upon was about to start any moment. Right then a knock on the door and a servant entered. “My lordship, Hauptmann Devlin is here to see you.” “Let him enter, and bring us some tea.” The Duke said, and went to sit at his desk again.

As the Duke watched this young man of average height and weight walk to his desk, he thought this kid bearing was strong yet unassuming, perfect person for the job as one of his puppets.

With a stiff and sharp salute, Hauptmann Devlin said, “Sir Hauptmann Edward Devlin reporting as order!” then continued to stand there at attention. “Excellent soldier, very good now have a seat.”
“I am sure that you are wondering why and or how I was able to call you from your post with the 3rd Skye Rangers.” The Duke continued. “I am in need of your unique services and qualifications to stand up a new army, one based solely for the purpose of defending Skye and when it is needed to defend our beliefs.”
 “Our beliefs?” the Hauptmann said, “what beliefs is that, you lordship?”
“Come now soldier, I have been following you like a hawk for three years now.” The Duke revealed, “we all know of your desire to have Skye free from the poor decision-making that is going on right now.”

“Hauptmann Devlin, I want you to be the new commander of the new unit 4th Skye Guards, this unit will answer only to me, I don’t care about how you do it but within 10 years I want a full regiment, and the command team loyal to Skye, which means me, is that understood Colonel Devlin?” The realization of what just happen to him was like a fog that lifted out of the valley, as the Duke got up from his desk and handed Edward a box in which held two pins showing Colonel. “Sir, yes Sir I will get right on it sir” Devlin said, “Good, you and your unit will be stationed on Skye, in the north, at a base called Firebase Freedom, after you have successfully gathered enough men and trained them to field a company let me know and I will start tapping you so that your unit can gain experience. There are already 30 mechs, 20 tanks, 10 fighters in mothball there and I will have more units moved to your location in the future. Now get going” the Duke said as he opens the door to the outside.
A woman stepped out of the shadows and asked the Duke, “Do we trust him?”
The Duke looked at the tall lanky woman, “As far as I can throw him, he has made several statements and taken action that lends me to believe that he will be on our side, but just in case I need you to be there to make sure everything stays on track.”

As the sky car took Colonel Devlin to the Space Port, he made a list of what to do. First, once he got to his hotel room, he would have to make a secure call to his mentor, then to the one person that he wanted as his XO this man always thought outside the box. Although he was not part of the Rangers or the Lyran Commonwealth military, the soldier had been fighting against tyranny for a long time, since his background was with the Outworlds Alliance the new XO, if he accepted, would oversee training the fighters and all air operations. Edward had the pleasure of meeting and fighting with him in a rare joint mission. “This is Colonel Devlin get ahold of Nicholas Robel, his callsign is Xenon have him contact me through this channel tell him it is urgent.

Present time…
Colonel Devin shook his head and notice that five minutes had passed the call had not come through yet, he started to think about the past again.

Two years ago…
As the Colonel was waiting for the connection, he looked over the readiness report of his fully operational Regiment, as of this moment due to some of the men sick, and a few pieces of equipment in for maintenance they were 98% Combat effective, not bad considering 8 years ago him and his Atlas was the only thing on the roster.

“Edward, pleasure to see you, I take it this call is about the most recent news?” the person on the other line said. “Yes, is there any other info that you can share?” Edward said, “Sending you a file, its top secret but even then some of the document has been redacted” person x said. Edward then asked, “Thanks, do I need to prepare the men is it time yet?”

“No, not yet, but soon real soon,” the person said on the monitor as the person cut the transmission causing the monitor to go to the standard symbol of the 4th Skye Guards.

Colonel Devlin was looking at the document that was sent by his benefactor just a few moments ago when the Sergeant on duty knocked on his door, Sir Duke Lestrade is on channel 5 for you” “Thanks, I will take it in here” Devlin said

“Duke Lestrade, what can I do you for?”

“Colonel Devlin, how long is it going to take to get my Regiment up and running you have had eight years” the Duke said angrily. “Events are moving faster than I imagine we need to move soon and fast."

“Duke Lestrade, you gave 10 years it’s only been 8, but I might run over the 10 years also. I have to make sure that the people I hire will do what I say therefore I take my time on every hire to make sure I know their loyalties lay in line with what the 4th Skye Guards are going to be.”

Duke sighs and seems to calm himself. “Ok, Colonel then what is your strength size as it stands right now?”

Colonel looks at his Readiness Report and gathers himself up, this is the part of command he hates, deception. “Sir, we have a Battalion and a half that are combat ready of those two companies are out in the field, 3rd Company are on Baxter and 1st Company are on Moore both doing training with the local militia.”

“Ok Colonel, we need to get to full strength hurry up the process, I did give you 10 years but I need the unit now because of what is happening. Remember I put you in charge I can demote you in an instance” with that the Duke cut the transmission.

Skye
Nightly news
FNN station
April 22, 3029
07:00 GST

Sad news coming out of Summer, Duke Lestrade died early today, details are not forthcoming as officials are tight lip, but we can confirm that there is an on-going investigation into his death. He had no known children so the title and such will be in escrow until a suitable person or organization can assume operations of his corporations and any other affairs he may have been working on.

October 8 3029

Col Devlin was relieved in a way no longer will he have to hide the true strength of his forces since the Duke is dead. “Sir, a call from the commander of the 10th Lyran Guard on line 2 he requests a private and secure line.” “Ok sergeant I will take it in my office” Colonel Devlin replied.

“Yes, Field Marshall Steiner? What can I do you for?” Colonel Devlin said

“Colonel, call me Fredrick. No doubt you have heard about our Duke? He and I were great friends and supporters if you know what I mean. I have been following your progress, and I am concern however about your numbers. So I am sending an attaché to look over your forces. His name is Clovis Holstein.”

“With all due respect sir, while I know who you are, I did not know you as a friend of the Dukes and so I am doubtful of everything you have said.”

“Colonel, you will do this or I will have you demoted and thrown out of the service!!”

Field Marshall Steiner, I have been threatened before, and I am still here. Send your emissary but I cannot guarantee his safety or hospitality.” With that, Colonel Devlin cut the line. Colonel looked up at the crew manning the command bunker all working hard not knowing that things are about to change.

Three weeks later

He was dreaming, he was dreaming of a time that was simple when was that, ah yes his wedding day peaceful, full of energy, the bride was stunning, the perfect day. As his bride was walking down the aisle, a sudden loud and angry beeping noise came from the heaven, it scared him awake. Then he heard the beeping noise again; it was his bloody communicator. “Devlin here.” “Sir, sorry to bother you at this hour but a person by the name of Clovis Holstein said he is here to look at the merchandise.” Leutnant Mark Duncan said. “Thanks watch tower, hold him beyond the gate until I get there” “Sir, Yes Sir “then the line went dead.

The Colonel went outside the wall and met up at the checkpoint where the intruder was being held. The wall was not much to look at but it was a miraculous thing to behold anyway, 50 feet high 20 feet thick and circle a square mile of a tournament style stadium, where the units of the 4th Skye Guard drilled. The building that showed could house two companies of mechs at any given time so that spying eyes would only see that. The beauty of this base was that everything else was underground or inset into the wall. Underground there was room for 4 battalions of mech, armor, aerospace, and soldiers each. If people like the Field Marshall or his lack dog Clovis found out it would be bad for business.

“Mr. Holstein, I am Colonel Devlin I am sorry you wasted your time, but you are not welcome, I don’t recognize your authority so go.” As Devlin turned around and started to walk away, he could hear Holstein yelling.

“You will not get away with this!!! Soldier I am under direct orders from Field Marshall Steiner to inspect this facility!!! Colonel Devlin is in direct violation I am ordering you to arrest him.”

Leutnant Duncan did not give it a second thought when he said “Mr. Holstein remove your ass from my station, or I will shoot it off for trespassing.”

Present day
December 3, 3029

On his monitor the 4th Skye Guards symbol when to the Comstar symbol showing that a message was coming in.

“Colonel Devlin I heard a few months ago you had some fun, I took care of that, personally I would rather be there face to face to accomplish this next task but duties prevent me from it Colonel Devlin it is my great honor that for your sacrifice and dedication you have stood up a fully qualified fully combat regiment therefore I am promoting you to Leutnant General” Nondi Steiner said. “All those years have paid off for you Kreedo, from the spying and being a mole in Duke Lestrade camp. Now the time has come even though I don’t like it to prepare…..
The next day at the weekly Commanders meeting, everyone was looking at the new shiny Leutnant General Badges on Devlin uniform. Devlin stood up and started the meeting. “Ok guys, yes I have been promoted, we are also listed officially as a full regiment in the Lyran CommonWealth, no more hiding. I know some of you have been concerned and wondered what I was doing, and I just wanted to say that I appreciated your trust, and I am honored that all of you are with me. Now there is another matter to attend with we need to muster every part of this regiment, dropships are coming in 4 days we are loading up and will be on route for about 31 days. We are attacking Kessel, where if Intel is correct, is the current station of the 12th Sun Zang Regiment.

Draconis Combine
Delacruz
SpacePort
27 December 3029

Tai-sa Decker exit the dropship and notice that there was nothing but brown, brown everywhere, he picked up his pro-gear and went to the bay doors to retrieve his Marauder.  As the tech was transferring his mech from the bay to the cargo truck a Sho-ko came up to him. 
“Sir, I am here to deliver you to the barracks and get you settle in.”
“Lead the way Sho-ko, hey what is the day now I always lose my timing during space travel.”
“Sir, in three hours it will be 28 December.”
Decker thought to himself as they got into the hover craft, not much time now, I am either right or wrong in a few days I will know.

[Wrangler]

Chapter Six is Five Correct?

[DOC_Agren]

so shocking that Duke Aldo Lestrade IV, might have tried to hide an "off the book" Regiment loyal in theory to himself and Skye

[Wrangler]

That's interesting twist.

[mchapman1970]

Chapter Seven
DropShip
Bounty of Blood
Spaceport Niles
Operation Enduring Freedom
Freedom Federation
28 December 3029
04:00 GST

A month has passed since he agreed to be the commander of the 3rd Combat Group, a month to meet all his company commanders and DropShip commanders, all of which were very intelligent and bright men.  They are all merc though, even now when the new nation enveloped most of the mercs into house units they were still mercs in his eyes, something he needed to get over.  He looked at the half empty bottle of whiskey and realized that he might need another bottle before the Bounty lift off.  Since his wife died, he had slowly up his game when it came to drinking and now, he was a functioning drunk that could not do anything without alcohol in his system. Even though he wanted more than anything to prove that he could lead the 3rd Group to victory.  He just could not get over the fact that she was gone even after being married for all those years it still does not get easier when you mate dies, and in truth it is probably harder to get over.  It has been two years since her death, yet he is still in pain, this war will be a good thing since his mind will be on winning instead of his dead wife.  Even in his state, he still considered himself the best commander that the Renegades had, everything about the invasion of Alegro had been planned, thought out, investigated, plans on top of plans.  The only unknown left was the transport. General Chapman was very tight lip about how his unit was going to get there.  The one thing that Bharat was sure of, surprise was Chapman’s middle name.   Somehow this one planet nation had 11 reinforce regiments ready to invade 11 planets in the next month, having all these regiments was awesome having DropShips for all these units was amazing, but having transports to move these troops all at once when most major houses would struggle with this feat is amazing, so how was Chapman going to pull this off Bharat was unsure.  As far as his unit was concern the biggest obstacle was the small space station that orbited the planet.  He only had 6 dropships, 12 assault ships and 10 DropShuttles, with 6 Heavy Aerospace fighters.  Intel showed that along with the space station there was 28 light/medium Aerospace fighters guarding it.  Taking over the Station would be key, if that was accomplished then he could oversee combat operations from there, which rumor had it, that there was a good stock of whiskey on the station. The warning light and alarm went on stating that takeoff was in 15 seconds, he downed his whiskey and waited for the exit out of the atmosphere and to the unknown transportation.

DropShip
Bounty of Blood
Low orbit Niles
Operation Liberate
Freedom Federation
28 December 3029
04:30 GST

After entering low orbit Bharat was allowed up to the bridge of the Excalibur Dropship Bounty of Blood as she angled her way up to the approaching fleet of JumpShips the Colonel did not give it one thought, at this moment he was getting into the honor chair on the flight deck, this console only purpose was to give the ground commander a Birdseye view of what the navy was doing.  He could suggest to the actual commander of the Dropship what to do but the final call about the safety of this ship always ended up with ship’s commander.  With how this unit and all other units were stood up the Colonel was nervous of what kind of junk JumpShip that the General was able to come up with.  Especially considering that 11 other Regimental units were leaving at the same time to different planets and required transport he was very worried indeed.  He supposed it would be just civilian transports, from the distance he still could not tell what type of ships they were, when he recalled the ground units like new equipment and even some of the equipment he had never seen before he wondered how this was going down.  As Bharat looked at the commander of the DropShip all he saw was a very young looking 31-year-old of Asian descent.  Once the dropship connected and was sealed the Colonel would make his way to the JumpShip’ s flight deck to meet its commander, Commander Silerio which he was told was very young too. 
As the Bounty of Blood rolled into the view of the Jump fleet there were actual gasp from the younger generation, although the Colonel had to admit it was a site to behold.  Several dozen ships from every size and make were floating up here as if it was just going to be a stroll in the park on a sunny afternoon, there was evidence that other ships were floating out there to, but the orbital shipyard was blocking the view. 
Then the communication officer yelled out, “Sir incoming transmission from the Vengeance of Sherry.”
 “Ok put it on screen comm” Lieutenant Douglas said.  Right then a young blond woman of Anglo-Saxon descent came into view. “Welcome to the Vengeance I am Commander Silerio dock 2 has been assigned to you’” she then turned to the colonel “Colonel I look forward to meeting with you to discuss your plans for the invasion.”  With that the screen went blank.  “How dare she” the colonel said under his voice “she is just a JumpShip commander,” at that moment he realized that his whispering to himself was not and that most of the flight deck heard him.  “Sir, coordinates and docking info has been received.”   “Roger that navigator, proceed with docking procedure,” Lieutenant Douglas said.  A few seconds later and there was more gasp. “Huh Colonel you better look at this” Douglas said
“Your JumpShip commander is actually a battleship commander.” With that the colonel look up at the viewpoint and the lieutenant was right, in front of him was a McKenna Battleship receiving the other five dropships of his unit.  How in the Hell did the General get his hand on a Battleship the colonel thought?  But as the dropship rotated around to get a good seal and lock he notice something else…. there were other Battleships and Battlecruisers Destroyers and escorts to the left of the Vengeance of Sherry he counted 15 warships and 10 JumpShips along with smaller craft floating in and out of view.  A fleet this size, how, why, he was shell shock for once he had no words to formulate, no words at all.

[mchapman1970]

Chapter Eight
Command Center
Delacruz
January 1st 3030
09:00 GST

Tai-sa Decker ran into the command center still buttoning up his uniform and looked at the reports coming in from around the nation.  His first thought was that he was vindicated, then he almost felt guilty when he saw the magnitude.  How could the Coordinator not see the signs he saw, now the Combine was under attack and in trouble, the total planets on the Draconis border that were reporting of an invasion from the enemy on the same day and almost the same time from was fifteen planets.  Rumor was that not only did the new faction Freedom Federation attack his Combine they attacked Outworlds Alliance.  How in the heck did they pull that off?  Federated Suns looked like they attack Capellan early in the day. Decker was thinking about all this when all of a sudden, the room became instantly busy with panic and excitement.  Decker looked up at the radar feed from the planet’s most distant satellite and saw several targets.  The radio cracked to life and a voice came across, “attention Delacruz government please come in, attention Delacruz government, we are the 6th Federated Suns Armor Cavalry we have come to claim this planet as a Federated Suns asset please vacate the planet or prepare to fight we will be there in 6 hours. 

New Sagan
January 1st 3030
Command Section
15th Dracon

Colonel Jean Rosenberg, the Commander of the 15th Dracon, was addressing her troops on safety for the upcoming holiday.  When her aid went to the podium and pulled her aside with news of a pending attack from Davion Guards DropShips, and the news that around fifteen other systems were also being invaded that day.

Nadir Point La Blon
JumpShip Adjutant Command Ship
Command Bridge – Invader Class
January 1, 3030
06:00 GST

Kaptain Miyashita sat in her command chair twisting her long blonde hair with her fingers, a nervous twitch that she hated, every time she caught herself doing it, she would shake her head and stop. Damn it, things were going so well and now this, how is she going to tell the General about this.
Leftenant General Edward Devlin slipped into the command bridge of the Adjutant and looked at the view screen at the other three JumpShips floating at the Nadir point.

“What’s up Kaptain your summons sounded urgent,” Devlin said. At that very moment, he notices the smoke coming out of the Kearny-Fuchida Drive section of the Star Lord JumpShip Agir and his heart sunk since that one JumpShip held a third of his regiment. Devlin turned finally to the Kaptain “What’s wrong with the Agir?”

“General looks like sabotage, the FTL drive itself was not damaged, but the Agir will not be able to make the next scheduled jump. So, I need to know what your orders are. Do the Adjutant, Ahren, and Glory of Skye jump to the next point? The other option is to wait until the Agir makes repairs and fall behind in the schedule, we have 20 hours of recharging before the decision needs to be made. Oh, and more thing Intel for Kessel just came down the pipe.”

Push it to my quarters Kaptain, I want to look at the Intel before I decide to stay together or break the unit up.” Devlin said as he turned around to leave, he also said, “And send all data on the sabotage to my quarters too. Have they caught the traitor yet?”

“Yes sir, they are transferring her over to us as we speak.”

“Kaptain, send her to my quarters when she arrives.” With that Devlin exit the command bridge.

Two Hours later

A knock on the General’s door shook him out of his trance…how long had he been looking at the Intel reports? Devlin looked at his watch mmmm about two hours, “Enter” Devlin announced.

“Sir, Leftenant Kim reporting with the prisoner as order.”

“Thank you, Leftenant, unshackle her now and wait outside.” “Yes, sir."

“So, Cadet Neha tell me why you sabotaged the Agir."
 
The Cadet just stood there…

“Cadet, you will answer me or so help me I will end your life right now.”

The Cadet just stood there, but now the sweat was starting to drip down her face from her hair.
Devlin slowly rose from his behind his desk and gently placed the recon photos down.

“Cadet, you will answer me, look into my eyes and know this to be true, I am not a fan of traitors so tell me or suffer.”

The Cadet just stood there but looked into Devlin’s piercing eyes and her lip started to whimper.

“Caadeeet” Devlin moved closer to Neha “ok, ok sir,” the Cadet said. “I am part of the Free Skye Movement my benefactor placed me here, but he is dead now.  However, Frederick Steiner has taken the lead as you well know, he heard about the 4th Skye Guards was being fully activated for the war against Kurita and wanted to stop or delay your unit. The 4th Skye Guards were meant to be the backbone of the Free Skye Movement. So, you sir, are the traitor to the Skye movement.”

Devlin infuriated now, just walked up to the cadet. They both were of the same stature, so Devlin was nose to nose to the cadet and just inches away. Devlin put his hands on the cadet’s shoulders and ripped off the epaulets and said, “You are no longer a cadet you are not worthy to wear any uniform except for prison orange. In fact, you really should not live” Devlin pulled out his antique but fully operational colt 45 from old Earth. He placed it at the temple of the cadet, “I am not a traitor, prisoner I follow orders, my orders never came from the Duke nor Fredrick Steiner. I want a free Skye too, believe me, but I don’t think violence against other Lyrans will be the way to do it. There would be no way Skye could stand its ground against all the LCAF. You have been found guilty of treason. Leftenant come in here and take this trash to the brig before I blow her head off!!”

Devlin went back to his desk and stared at the maps and strength of enemy notes from the Intel.
“Kaptain, Devlin here has there been any word on how long it will take to fix the Agir.”

“Sir, yes we have, I did not want to interrupt you while you were with the prisoner, estimate time to repair is two more days.”

“Thanks, Kaptain, for the update, please inform the other ships that a conference call for all unit commanders will happen in an hour, so at 1000.”

“Roger General I will notify all."

The screen went black, time to finish the new battle plan, one that will only include two aerospace squadrons, and six companies of mechs. The rest of the fleet will stay with the Agir for protection until she is repaired.

General Devlin stood up after all the commanders linked in. “Thanks for joining commanders, as you are aware the Agir has suffered a blow due to sabotage. The saboteur has been dealt with, and the Agir needs two days to repair the damage, but the invasion will stay on schedule.” General Devlin let that fact sink in as the commanders confer with their aids.

“The only JumpShip making the schedule jump will be the one I am on currently the Adjutant will jump at the allotted time and the three DropShips that are with her right now,” Devlin said. “We will be the initial invasion and will establish a beachhead for the rest of 4th Skye Rangers. Hauptmann-Kommandant Ricardo Stedstrom will be in command of the attack force staying here. I look forward to seeing all of us on the planet.Stedstrom has all the battle plan details and will continue the brief with y’all right now, the commanders that will be part of the Beachhead attack switch to channel 34 with me now.”

The link then separated the two forces with Hauptmann-Kommandant Ricardo Stedstrom continuing to brief everyone on what he wants to protect the fleet while repairs were being made. The other link Devlin continued to brief the battle plan for the invasion.

“Ok I have just sent all the Intel to y’all, please look over it. The Thunder of Skye will have to land to disembark the 1st armor Company (Hauptmann Rudyard), 1st Mech Company (Hauptmann Ring aka TinyTwo) and 4th Mech Company (Hauptmann Weir aka Deagin). The rest of us will assault drop from Gedania so my command lance. 5th Mech Company (Hauptmann Greymane aka Whiskey), 8th Mech Company (Hauptmann Broadberry aka Wolflord) and of course XO Hauptmann-Kommandant Robel aka Xenon will be with us. 1st and 2nd squadron will provide air support.” Devlin went silent to let all that info sink in.

Devlin continued, “The reason I decided to split up to maintain the timeline is this, we are going up against a local militia that is about battalion strong all regular skill. The 12th Sun Zhang Cadre also is on the planet and is a full regiment complete with support units. With the exception of the commanders, everyone is green and according to the Intel report in front of you most of the cadre are first and second-year students.” “So even though I don’t want to be overconfident because they have more in numbers and home field advantage, but I think victory should be ours. We will establish a beachhead and start building a secure base while waiting for the rest of the unit to arrive, any questions?” “Ok let’s get to work.”

New Avalon Capital of Federated Suns
Operation Overlord
AFFS HQ deep underground
January 1, 3030

Hanse Davion was overseeing both operations simultaneously by using three pieces of technology, first the use of HPGs, second a much slower way the use of JumpShips, and lastly the use of the K-1 series transmitter (Black_Box) a tech that was given to him by his newest and strongest ally Archon Steiner.  These transmitters are faster than light and did not rely on ComStar. 
Hanse caught himself thinking about what the other house rulers were thinking right now, about this attack from all angles.  Of course, the plan did not go off perfectly, it never does, the plan was to have all the units show up in system at around the same time.  Several units had transport issues, and some in the Lyran Commonwealth had saboteur on board mainly the 4th Skye Guard that will delay them.  Overall, though most Operation Dragon’s Tail against the Draconis Combine and General Chapman’s faction Operation Enduring Freedom went off without a hitch.  Operation St. Ives Thumb was having most of those transportation issues.

Sian Capital of Capellan Confederation
Palace
Bed chamber of Maximilian Liao
January 1, 3030

He was dreaming of an inner sphere under his complete control, in his dream Operation Doppelganger worked and the Federated Suns was gone.  He was dreaming of beating Hanse Davion hitting him over and over in the head bang, bang, bang all the sudden he realized that the noise coming from smashing Hanse face did not match what he expected, it sounded like wood.  Bang, bang, bang   Maximilian woke up with a jolt out the bed then his personal guard open the door. “Sir, sorry to wake you, but the Federated Suns has attacked more planets.”  Maximilian just stared at the datapad and looked at the planets Davion was attacking and a crack in his mind’s sanity occurred.

Atreus Capital of the Free World League
Palace
Command Center
January 1, 3030

Janos Marik sat there with a smirk on his face.  The Steiners and Davions have attacked Kurita and Liao, perfect.  This could be the opening he needs to move against the Lyran Commonwealth and take a few key planets from them.