Occupied Militia Base, Oro
El Dorado, New Avalon Operational Area
Crucis March, Federated Suns
7th April 3105
Warrior House Leader Imarra Sortek looked out at the regiments of BattleMechs and armoured vehicles arrayed around the militia base every single one of them without fail had the insignia of the defunct Federated Suns and wore the flag of New Avalon and a number “7” she had no idea what unit these people were claiming to be but there was no unit from the occupied New Avalon that had ever had these markings that she knew of. A single Armoured Personnel Carrier escorted by two medium BattleMechs approached the base one of the Mechs each carrying a white flag of truce. “Allow them to approach” Imarra ordered brushing her short dark hair off of her face and back behind her ear considering the numbers surrounding the fire base they couldn’t fight them with a force of arms she moved down to the ground level exiting the base.
The BattleMechs and vehicle stopped short of the base and a single figure followed by two strange extra-large Infiltrator II suits exited and approached. “That’s close enough” Imarra Sortek called “I am Warrior House Leader Imarra Sortek, what right do you have to surround our base?”
“I am Marshal Duncan Goddard, what right do you have to occupy a base of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns?” He said she looked him over he was at least ten years older than her forty-two years and he was obviously not a hand-to-hand fighter and given his build she guessed he was a tanker.
“The Federated Suns…?” Imarra repeated “the Federated Suns has been gone for eighty years despite what Kathil believes.”
“Kathil?” Goddard said quietly “lady, I don’t know what universe you think you’re in but New Avalon determines the fate of the Federated Suns.”
“New Avalon is occupied by the Combine!” Imarra said angrily Goddard visibly rocked on his feet at the words looking back at her. “My unit retreated here trying to reclaim the lost lands of the Sortek family and to release Elder Bishop Sortek from captivity. We will not surrender this fire base if anyone approaches this base we will fire on them. I want a JumpShip to take us back to Sian.”
“Sian!” Goddard exclaimed a hint of anger in his voice. He took a single step closer “listen very carefully my people will not fire on this base or anyone here I don't plan on ruining a perfectly good base because someone got a little lost so as long as you do not fire on us we won't shoot at you.” He said making his point clear “as for a JumpShip that will be up to First Prince Victor Steiner-Davion.”
“Steiner-Davion?” Imarra Sortek whispered hearing a combination of the Succession State leaders that she’d never heard before. Even in the Hegemony she didn't think that combination existed how this man though that two families on opposite sides of the Inner Sphere could be merged was beyond her. He would have been better trying to convince her that it was a Kurita-Davion or a Calderon-Davion on the throne.
“Yes, the First Prince Victor Steiner-Davion leader of the Federated Suns” he said sounding completely convinced as he climbed back into the APC the two Battle Armour troopers quickly joined him. Imarra stood and watched as the APC and two BattleMechs retreated from the fire base the other units not moving working through what he had said how could any of it be true? How could the Federated Suns still exist? What of House Liao-Davion? Where the hell had she led her Warrior House?
Border Raids
Sarna Commonality, Capellan Confederation
11th April 3105
Following the miss communication that the Capellan Confederation had seized part of El Dorado four AFFS units launch unauthorized counter-attacks against the Capellan Confederation’s Sarna Commonality striking at three Capellan worlds. These attacks are unsupported by the AFFS High Command and by the end of the month the Capellans have pushed the AFFS units off two of their worlds but fighting continues on the world of Truth. The Capellan also launch attacks against the Federated Suns held worlds of Wei, Shipka, Footfall, Bell and Axton.
While the AFFS and Capellan March Command structures try to rally their troops and hold their territory a bright note for the Federated Suns is announced with the New Syrtis WarShip Shipyards being officially brought back online after years languishing inactive. The operators of the New Syrtis Shipyard plan to build Caliburn-class Battle-cruisers for the Federated Suns at the facility while there is also talk of building a new variant of the New Syrtis-class Fleet Carrier at the rebuild facility.
Thirty-second Star League Games
Solaris VII, Isle of Skye
Lyran Commonwealth
20th April 3105
For a second year on the bounce Clan Wolf dominate at the Thirty-second Star League Games on Solaris VII. Succeeding Star Colonel Ivan Ward as champion of the Star League Games Star Commander Laurel Carns, of the Fifth Wolf Regulars Cluster, piloting a Timber Wolf OmniMech is victorious beating all others on the game world. As with the previous year riots break out in protest of the Clan Wolf domination of the games but this year it is better controlled by the SLDF forces assigned to the planet and civilian injuries are far less. For several days after the end of the games protests continue calling for an end to the Star League portion of the Solaris Gaming Circuit due to the unfair entry criteria which allows front-line warriors to enter and dominate the contest.
Deep Raid
Yeguas, Jade Falcon OZ
27th April 3105
The world of Yeguas had served since its colonization as a food bank for all of the worlds around it. It’s only product to the Inner Sphere was food, until the arrival of Clan Jade Falcon, now Yeguas was also a supply depot. For the last three months Captain Morgan Christifori of the Star League Defence Force had helped move food shipments by day helping Clan Jade Falcon and by night he had sneaked around behind the Clans back watching the Falcon’s movements looking for weaknesses.
Because he had done nothing overt against the Falcons Christifori had been able to move around barely noticed by the Clan. In the darkness of night a single man could move unnoticed in the shadows most nights all he did was take discreet pictures but tonight was a special night as he moved around the supply depots he had dropped several ultra-violet markers setting the targets. As he stepped out into the light he stopped raising his hands to his mouth concealed in the palm of his hand was a small transmitter “Charlie-Mike, the order is Chimera” he said as a Piranha BattleMech began its patrol.
“Control, confirm command”
“Charlie-Mike-Three-One-Two-Zero-Chimera” he said as the Piranha turned onto his street Morgan discarded the transmitter into the nearby grass revealing a lit cigarette in his mouth as he calmly walked down the street past the Jade Falcon BattleMech. Morgan knew that there was a good possibility that the Falcons would find his transmitter but also that it would act as another homing beacon for the raiding forces.
For months the Star League and Lyran Intelligence Agencies had been marking targets for assault. Lyran, SLDF and mercenary units had been concealed in systems waiting for the order. Morgan and his company had been dragooned by the SLIC because of a lack in manpower for this observation mission. Once on Yeguas they’d been ordered to learn as much as they could about the defences of the world. If it was ready for a raid then Morgan would call it in then his unit would go to ground waiting for the dust to clear before being extracted with the raiding force if no order came then the raiding force, in this case the mercenary command Miller’s Mailed Fist, would sit out in the asteroid belt until the Lyran JumpShip arrived outside the system and collected them.
Now that the command was in Morgan Christifori made his way back to the food plantations winding his way through the small huts that housed the workers to the one his team had used as a safe house. Stepping inside he immediately had a gauss sub-machine gun thrust in his face by his number two Calum Fraser. “No worries Cal it’s me” he said looking at the other man.
“Good to see you” he said Calum, unlike Morgan, was dressed in full SLDF night tactical gear “you are last to return.” He said showing the other four members of their team getting their equipment together.
“Did control dispatch the Mailed Fist?”
“Their battalion is on the way along with a squadron of aeros from the Eighty-seventh.” He reported naming the elite Special Operations Battalion Morgan’s unit had been officially seconded to.
“Nice of them to send at least something that actually belongs to their unit on this mission.” Morgan said chuckling as he crossed the room looking over his gear “what about team two?” He asked about the other team that were on Yeguas.
“Wrapped up their mission an hour ago they’re in ready position three and are radio silent.” Calum reported Morgan nodded he’d known that already but wanted to make sure nothing had changed. Morgan turned to the other five troopers.
“Here we go people we’re moving out tonight to ready position one” he said he knew that they knew this already but was making absolutely sure. “Miller’s Mailed Fist will hit this rock in sixteen hours assuming they got off the asteroid without a problem. Over the last three months we’ve seen not a single aerospace unit in this system and the ground defences are minimal. Yeguas has not been a problem for the Falcons, that is until today, if we’ve screwed up or the Mailed Fist screw up we’re to high tail it to secondary pick up positions. We’ll wait there until our supplies run out if still no pick up well I’ve heard Yeguas summers are fantastic.” He said bringing a could of light laughs from the other troopers each of them knew that if this mission went south and the Mailed Fist were unable to evacuate them then their only real option would be to wait for one of the Lyrans or SLDF’s Peter-class Scout vessels to arrive to pick them up. Each of them knew there would be little to no chance of them securing transport otherwise and they’d be forced to enjoy living and working on farms for a while the SLIC had made it quite clear to them that they were not to try and incite a rebellion on the world because the Falcons could turn Jaguar and flatten the planet; something the SLDF was not willing to risk.
Fortunately the Miller’s Mailed Fist did not screw up. The mercenaries had dropped according to Morgan’s “Chimera” command splitting into three reinforced units, each with roughly a reinforced company; they had struck all three of the main Jade Falcon supply bases on the continent at once while aerospace fighters from the mercenaries and from the SLDF’s Eighty-seventh Special Operations Battalion had bombed two other bases on another continent. The damage was not crippling, it wasn’t meant to be, instead they had done enough damage to the supplies to disrupt operations and caused enough damage to make the Jade Falcons think about reinforcing things on the planet which might make things easier elsewhere in the future. Before they pulled out Mailed Fist APCs collected both of Morgan’s teams returning them to the mercenary’s DropShips which quickly took off heading back towards the SLIC Asteroid base from there they would refuel and collect the support staff from the base before heading towards the system’s outer reaches where if all went to plan they would meet up with a JumpShip that would take them back to the Lyran Commonwealth.
Nearly two months later the unit and the SLDF troopers arrived back over Arcturus in the Lyran Commonwealth. For Morgan Christifori he personally hoped that after this operation he could get back to “proper soldiering” as his father would have called it. Unfortunately he had a feeling that the SLDF’s current strategy wasn’t calling for much battle-line assignments instead intelligence operations and raids were a more regular occurrence. For the Miller’s Mailed Fist this one operation had netted them enough C-Bills to clear their debts and would allow them to continue bringing their equipment up to a modern standard.
