Author Topic: The Federated Sun's Reborn  (Read 254398 times)

cawest

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #90 on: 18 May 2019, 18:27:43 »
The Congress-D was simply because challenge owns the rights to produce them. And there are multiple references to "secret" yards there. You are right they are undergunned and underarmoured for the modern era, but I do foresee a use for them. Particularly due to their "cheap" cost.

As for the Davion II - expect to see a Davion III being built.

what if they cut down some of the cargo space and added armor or counter fighter weapons?

kelgar04

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #91 on: 18 May 2019, 19:06:32 »
Congress-D's are only recon and convoy escort they could be up-gunned if needed though they would be a handy ship for the rear area and out back security as well as maybe victor launching his own survey missions.

Failing that add in so triple A and some extra armour by striping out some of the cargo.

Tyler Jorgensson

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #92 on: 18 May 2019, 21:17:42 »
Following: excellent work!

EAGLE 7

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #93 on: 18 May 2019, 22:31:04 »
Congress D convert to aerospace carrier might be easiest conversion.
170k of cargo leaves a lot of room for aero, small craft marines, etc.....
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Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #94 on: 19 May 2019, 04:14:47 »
My idea for the Congress-D is for them to get a refit to add a LOT of anti-aircraft, some more fighters (probably in the 20-60 fighter range) and become a patrol craft for the Outback/Rear areas/convoy escort.

They'll never be put into mass production of dozens of ships, but a few being built for that mission works I think.

Sir Chaos

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #95 on: 19 May 2019, 07:23:10 »
My idea for the Congress-D is for them to get a refit to add a LOT of anti-aircraft, some more fighters (probably in the 20-60 fighter range) and become a patrol craft for the Outback/Rear areas/convoy escort.

They'll never be put into mass production of dozens of ships, but a few being built for that mission works I think.

Something that can steamroll anyone who doesn´t have their own warships (real or pocket), i.e. pretty much any self-styled pirate king out there? Sounds like a good idea.
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Dave Talley

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #96 on: 19 May 2019, 11:34:18 »
or refit older jumpships in a way like the cappellan quetzalwhatsits, old ships with a permanently attached dropships usually converted for Aero groups and small craft for marines
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Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #97 on: 20 May 2019, 17:31:22 »
April 3063 - Negotiations

The month of April opened with all eyes on the news from what was now merely being referred to as The Trial. Following Katherine Steiner-Davion's faux pas with claiming a dead man had warned her about her brothers murderous and wicked ways - who then proceeded to come back from the dead and state he said no such thing - her case was in tatters and she had not had long to regroup. Nor had she hired new legal council. Even her most fervent supporters were beginning to admit that the evidence was not looking good for her, although most were still maintaining that it was forged. A growing minority however were turning away from her. Particularly within the LAAF and Skye Regions.

When Katherine finally retook the stand she had clearly chosen a new tactic. Now all she would do is denounce the illegality of this trial, the lack of jurisdiction that the judges had over her as a ruling Archon, the forged nature of the evidence and demand her immediate release upon pain of horrific consequences. She would no longer answer questions nor would she cross examine witnesses. All she would do would be to repeat the same demands and denouncements. When the court proceeded despite this she became even more shrill in her loud cries to be freed, until at least it was put to her that if she did not at least stay silent during evidence she would be restrained and forced to leave the court. So she merely contented herself with sitting in martyred silence.

This lasted for 3 days... Until at the Nadir Jump Point a large and unexpected signature was detected. The defending warship's of the ComGuards Fleet rushed to battle stations as multiple enemy warships and jumpships arrived in a simultaneous jump.

Leading the armada came the WCS Nicholas Kerensky, along with WCS Stealthy Kill, WCS Blood Drinker, WCS Jerome Winson, WCS Victoria Ward and the WCS Dire Wolf. Accompanying the warships came the might of the entire Wolf Clan Alpha Galaxy led by no lesser personage than their Khan himself. It was also instantly noticeable that along with the Wolf Clan forces had come the 5th Alliance Guards RCT and the LAS Katrina Steiner which had supposed to be hunting them. Given their positioning within the prospective invasion force they were clearly part of it.

Hurried challenges rushed out to the newly arrived fleet, demanding to know what their intentions were. Khan Ward merely responded by announcing that he had come to launch a Trial of Refusal against the right of the Star League Courts to trial his ally the Archon of the Lyran Alliance. He bid his entire Alpha Galaxy and the 5th Alliance Guards against whichever curs would dare to face him. If they refused his trial... He would consider it a breach of honour and summon his entire Clan to fight against the forces shamefully holding his ally.

On Tukayyid it was wildly believed that the Khan was bluffing. He wouldn't risk the entire peace and his clan's future for a single woman. Even if she was his supposed ally. Yet there was the small issue that to call his bluff would mean risking all out war with the Clans. After hurried debate between the Precentor Martial, First Lord and most of the other Successor States rulers it was agreed that the forces of the SLDF would meet the trial. The 1st Royal Battlemech Regiment would face the 5th Alliance Guards RCT and the Invader Galaxy would fight the Alpha Galaxy. The Trial was scheduled to take place on t he 21st April 3063.

The next 18 days were almost lost across the entire sphere. Even on the FedSuns-Draconis Combine border the various units, leaders and peoples held their breath and watched the news not for word on any counter attacks or revived fighting but for the Trial. Only on the Draconis Combine's frontier with the Ghost Bears did the battles still rage. What did the Ghost Bears care for a Wolf Khan after all?

During those 18 days however Prince Victor is back on New Avalon and retaking the reigns of government. He also visits his sister and meets with CEO Judith Hotchkiss to discuss a new primarily assault based factory. Although he attempts to suggest an Outback world she points out the highly technical nature of the assault mechs she brought the specs for and suggests instead Kestrel. He reluctantly agrees with the provision that the fabulously wealthy Cunningham ducal family help with the funding.

The First Prince also takes time out to meet with his sister who is undergoing treatment, along with other wounded both civilian and military brought to NAIS for specialist treatment. The injuries inflicted upon his sister and the other civilians in particular deeply move him and he orders a large investment in hospitals to be made across the realm, setting up a number of "Princess Yvonne Hospitals" on worlds scattered throughout the FedSuns over the next few years. Eventually each PDZ and Combat Region will have at least one and preferably more of these hospitals, the personnel for them mostly trained to a high standard at Golden World Universities.

He also takes the opportunity to train with the forming 1st Dragonlords and even joins with the unit with his 1st Davion Guards contingent in a hard fought battle against the New Avalon CrMM where both sides fight the other to a bloody draw. The New Avalon CrMM's Marshal Payne of course attributes this to the leadership of the First Prince and the Davion Guards members, but has to admit that the Dragonlords are getting better.

Baron Sandoval and Warlord Kurita also arrive on Northwind and begin preliminary negotiations - mostly about how the talks will be conducted. Even at this early stage there are deep divisions and arguments. Even being able to agree who should speak first takes 5 days, with Warlord Kurita being given the honour in return for limiting his introduction to a half hour.

The 1st Chisholm Raiders RCT is withdrawn during this time period from the front lines and is sent for its much needed refit on Bell. Their place is taken by the elite 1st Argyle Lancers which has the Chisholm Raiders feeling honoured that they were considered the equal of that prestigious unit in defensive worth, even if they are a full RCT. That and the promised refit will do wonders for the morale of the unit.

On Axton the first new production line of Corsairs enters production. It will take until the end of the year for the full production increases to kick in. Dagger-O production on New Syrtis will also increase from 2 lines to 3 over April. While on Filtvelt the first Union and Mule dropships will be laid down. With the increased fighter production it is vital for more aerospace pilots and other naval training facilities to come online and by the end of the year a massive expansion of the Armstrong Flight Academy will be starting to take new cadets, although the increases will be in a rolling fashion with constant expansions planned for the time being to keep up with demand.

At 0900 on the 21st of April 3063 a second Trial will start on Tukayyid. Much smaller than the first it will however be fought with equal ferocity. The Alpha Galaxy smashes into the Invader Galaxy of the ComGuards while the 5th Alliance Guards attempts to do the same to the 1st Royal Battlemech Regiment. All through the Sphere and even in the Clan OZ's the battles are transmitted.

Just outside of the former Wolf target city of Skupo the Alpha Galaxy fought a brutal and aggressive battle against the Invader Galaxy. The 1st and 2nd Assault Clusters of the Invader Galaxy made up the main line with the 1st Recon Cluster acting as a screen and the 1st Battle Cluster in reserve. In a suprise move the Elemental Trinaries from all 4 Wolf Clusters dropped directly onto the 1st Recon Cluster and attacked them in an almost suicidal drop assault. Even as the Recon Cluster was struggling to free itself the main Wolf force disembarked and led by the Golden Keshik smashed into them. The 1st and 2nd Assault Clusters moved up to support the faltering 1st Recon Cluster and found themselves facing almost 2:1 odds. The 3rd Wolf Guards Battle Cluster, eager to prove their worth plunged forward and managed to split the ComGuards line in two, albeit with crippling losses, which allowed Khan Ward to use the 4th Striker Cluster to pin the 2nd Assault Cluster in place while he smashed the remainder of the 1st Recon and the 1st Assault Cluster with the 1st Wolf Assault Cluster and 5th Wolf Guards Battle Cluster and his own Keshik.

By the time the 2nd Assault Cluster and the 1st Battle Cluster could fight their way through to their beleaguered comrades barely a trinary of both the 1st Recon and 1st Assault were able to withdraw into their lines. With three mauled Clusters the Khan then moved forward and began battering at the damaged 2nd Assault and still fresh 1st Battle Cluster. The ComGuards units would hold out for the rest of the day but when a repaired Trinary of the 3rd Wolf Guards Battle Cluster reentered the fray they were forced to concede defeat. The ComGuards units had been reduced to just under a single cluster of functional machines all of them damaged, while the Wolf Alpha Galaxy could muster barely a cluster and a half of operable machines, and their Elemental Trinaries were particularly devastated. Still they had taken a win.

In front of Brzo the 1st Royal Battlemech Regiment engaged the 5th Alliance Guards. The elite battlemech regiment wasted no time and even as the 5th was deploying into their Landing Zone's that jump capable mechs and jump infantry had seized the 1st Royals were charging forward. With aimed fire that would have done credit to targeting computer assisted shots the survivors of Task Force Serpent inflicted terrible losses on the perimeter assigned battalion of the 5th Alliance and overran them to plunge into the disembarking troops. In a 3 hour battle the 5th Alliance was almost entirely wiped out, many of it's dropships reduced to burning wrecks with their occupants dead inside them. The 1st Royals were reduced a reinforced battalion but had taken the honours.

Faced with this draw Khan Ward suggested that he would form a composite Cluster to face the remainder of the 1st Royals if that was agreeable to the Precentor Martial. Despite General Redburn being in favour of this suggestion the Precentor Martial declined. Even the freshest of the 1st Royal Battlemech Regiment's soldiers were exhausted and many wounded. While they might win the fight he wasn't prepared to see them wiped out in the effort. He consulted briefly with the First Lord and with First Prince Victor and both reluctantly agreed with his decision.

As such at dawn of the 22nd April Katherine Steiner-Davion was handed over to the waiting Khan Vlad Ward. Along with her went the remainder of the 5th Alliance Guard, who were barely able to form a reinforced combined arms battalion. Transporting up to the Wolf flagship she ordered the LAS Katrina Steiner and the 5th Alliance Guards to follow her into exile...

Throughout the Sphere the ramifications of this "rescue" would take months to settle. In the FedSuns this was seen as a total vindication of their First Prince and his officers who had arrested the "traitor". Katherine Steiner-Davion had sided with the clans against her own people and this had damned her in the eyes of the vast majority of the FedSuns, even those who had been moderate towards her before. Within the Lyran Alliance the reaction was no less hostile. Possibly even worse amongst those who had sworn her allegiance and offered her their swords. The few Tamar worlds left and worlds of the Clan Border had anti-Katherine riots which burned for weeks. Officers who had considered or even conducted pro-Katrina Steiner mutinies were keen to distance themselves from the "traitor Katherine Steiner-Davion" suddenly. The CO of the Donegal Jaegers even offered to take his unit into the Wolf Clan Occupation Zone and hunt her down. A purge of naval officers who might owe their allegiance to the former Archon was also ordered given the LAS Katrina's switch in allegiances.

In all the excitement the 1st and 3rd McCarron's Armoured Cavalry lifted off their garrison worlds and disappeared unnoticed during the last week of April. Along with them went the 2nd Battalion Death Heads Commandos.

cawest

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #98 on: 20 May 2019, 19:38:22 »
one thing with those new factories.  even if they are not in full production, the spare parts hitting the market would increase the number of unit in operations even with out new built machines.  do you think that they will drop some of those dropship collars to cut the cost and make the Fox a "real" warship and not an medium gun, very expensive, dropship carrier. 
« Last Edit: 20 May 2019, 21:42:46 by cawest »

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #99 on: 21 May 2019, 02:54:51 »
one thing with those new factories.  even if they are not in full production, the spare parts hitting the market would increase the number of unit in operations even with out new built machines.  do you think that they will drop some of those dropship collars to cut the cost and make the Fox a "real" warship and not an medium gun, very expensive, dropship carrier.

Exactly - hence why many of the factories even before they officially open start producing parts, a "soft" opening. That lets them a) build up a stockpile for when they enter production and b) sell those parts to the AFFS/Mercenaries who are needing them to keep their battlemechs at full operational level.

A fox refit is in my long term plans.

kelgar04

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #100 on: 21 May 2019, 03:54:34 »
Looks like the CCAF is on the move wonder where they are going to hit and if victor will take the gloves off and actually beat down sunny or have the Guards and fusiliers deliver a pointed message to him in person?

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #101 on: 21 May 2019, 07:52:32 »
3063 May - Fallout

As May began the recriminations began. Various Generals, Dukes and even Rulers began to heavily criticise not only the ComGuards but also the SLDF for it's handling of protecting the Star League Courts and the accused Katherine Steiner-Davion. Nobody had any idea what Khan Ward wanted with her, but few assumed it would be something good for the rest of the Sphere. Adam Steiner on Tharkad was particularly vocal in his criticisms of the Precentor Martial's handling of the security and strongly suggested that the ComGuards fleet should have merely attacked the Wolf ships and destroyed them. This was countered by points that it had been a Lyran unit and Lyran corvette supporting the Wolves.

On Northwind the peace talks were not going well. At least twice Warlord Kurita had threatened to storm out when Baron Sandoval had made it very clear that his demands for the return of the captured planet and the extradition of the CEO Judith Hotchkiss were not going to happen. Tancred had bluntly pointed out to him that he was not exactly in a position to make those demands. The AFFS had forces on those worlds and controlled them. Short of the DCMS invading to take them back there was little chance of any of those worlds being returned to Kurita control, and if that was the intent then the peace talks might as well end now and the fighting resume. A point Tancred made forcibly and pointed out that before his own dropship left Northwind a dozen RCT's could be in space heading for more ill defended Combine worlds if that was what the Warlord wished to report back to Luthien. Just how many more worlds did House Kurita wish to lose before it was prepared to make peace?

Faced with that unpalatable statement the Warlord of Deiron had little choice but to return to the talks. Under protest of course. It was soon abundantly clear that the Combine knew it had lost the worlds and had little chance of getting the renegade CEO back but was desperately seeking some sort of face saving concession. The Warlord even at one stage tried to claim that the AFFS should evacuate Skat and Cylene and allow them to return to Kurita control as they had been before the War of '39. However given the precarious positions the DCMS had on those worlds it wasn't like he could claim they were under effective Combine control.

By the end of May the Warlord Isoroku Kurita had managed to get a number of very minimal concessions from Baron Tacred Sandoval. Namely that the 11th and 12th Ghost regiments would be allowed to salvage their equipment before they withdrew into Combine space. That all prisoners taken in all of the fighting would be returned at the cost of the Davions. The Davions would also agree NOT to produce the Combine specific designs of the Shugenja, Ninja-To and Tai-Sho that they had acquired from CEO Hotchkiss. However he had been unable to get a similar agreement not to produce any of the other designs or to not put equipment such as the Improved C3 into production within the FedSuns. The jumpships of the 3rd Benjamin Regulars would also be returned to the Combine along with the bodies of the troops. The dropships and any salvageable equipment however would be retained by the AFFS.

Warlord Kurita had to admit in his message to the Coordinator that the concessions were on the face of it pro-forma and of little real value. Probably the most valuable of them were the return of the jumpships and the return of the various prisoners. However even these were frankly of limited value. But with the Ghost Bear's smashing regiment after regiment along the Clan Front they DCMS couldn't afford the dozens of regiments and major war it would require to retake their lost systems. Worse there was every likelihood that in the event of the combat resuming then the AFFS would be in a position to seize more worlds.

Forced to face this unpleasant truth the Coordinator agreed to the terms. However he would already begin to place the blame upon is cousin the Warlord of Deiron for the failure in the negotiations amongst many of the nobles. Warlords were after all expendable. Coordinators weren't.

The peace treaty would be signed on the 31st of May. Many within the Second Star League spoke of how the First Lord had managed to bring the two sides to the peace table, however many others would point out that this had been a conflict between two of the main powers within the Second Star League and that it didn't bode well for the future.

In mid May the 1st Chisholm Raiders would arrive on Bell. A full battalion of mechs and 2 battalions of tanks would begin refitting in the expanded Hasek Refit Centre. By the end of the year the entire RCT would have been refitted up to a modern standard with the worst of their equipment merely stripped for parts and replaced by new factory fresh machines. The next unit to be sent to be refitted would be the Valexa CMM.

During May, while keeping an eye on the daily reports from Northwind, First Prince Victor also met with Nathaniel Hasek who was now almost the Capellan March's official ambassador to the First Prince on New Avalon. During this time it was formally agreed that the 1st Syrtis Fusiliers would be formed up on New Syrtis with much of the equipment for the new unit coming from the Capellan March itself but many excellent designs being routed from the other areas of the FedSuns. At Duke Hasek's request the unit would be formed up as an assault-heavy weighted RCT. During this time First Prince Victor also promised to help support the formation of a light weighted 7th Syrtis Fusiliers unit in the future although was unable to commit to a time. He also promised that as soon as the 1st Dragonlords was at full strength it would be deployed to the Capellan-FedSuns-Taurian border.

He also met with Marshal Jon Davion and heard his suggestions for a lighter form of the famed Davion Regimental Combat Teams based around the old Tancredi Loyalist units. He proposed a fast moving unit consisting of 4 battlemech companies, an aerospace wing, 4 battalions of armour and 4 battalions of battle armour supported by an auxiliary unit including artillery, engineers, etc... These units would be ideal of pirate hunting, raiding and garrisoning less vital planets. The First Prince intrigued agreed that such a unit would add a potential flexible weapon to the AFFS's arsenal. He agreed that he would form a trial unit and if it was successful would fund a rebirth of the Tancredi Loyalists and Tancredi War College to give them a source of recruits. The Davion Heavy Guards would deploy to the region and the 3rd Davion Guards RCT would replace them here on New Avalon while they rebuilt up to full strength. Once on Tancredi Jon Davion's Heavy Guards would begin training the trial unit.

With the possible creation of this unit in mind the First Prince also communicated with the Duke of Sandoval to discuss adding a Sentry line on the newly building plant on Woodbine which was due to being producing Watchmen in July. In return for this support for the expansion and potential new unit he agreed to add the Battle Hawk and Phoenix Hawk designs to Robinson BattleWork's portfolio, at least one of them put into production at Woodbine. The Duke also pushed for additional aerospace production within his March and the Prince agreed to consider it and look at various options.

Within the NAIS's medical centres the Princess Yvonne Steiner-Davion was informed that much of the thigh muscle for her damaged leg would have to be rebuilt with myomer fibres. This was a crushing blow to her spirit and although she agreed she settled into a deep depression. Seeing this her brother immedietly cut orders for Baron Tancred to make his way to New Avalon at the greatest possible speed upon the signing of the peace treaty.

A small cadre of NAIS scientists from their aerospace division also left New Avalon and took the short jump to Galax. Rather unusually they were transported by a Fox class warship, the FSS Indomitable. The ship took them deep into the huge sprawling megaplex of shipyards and facilities to a small but highly specialised research centre. There they would begin on upgrading previous warship designs for the modern era. At least as far as most of those within the know were concerned they would be concentrating on the Congress-D. First Prince Victor and Fleet Admiral Buchwald however knew that those priorities were not entirely accurate.

During May, StarCorp's FedSuns subsidiary began lobbying the AFFS and Government for increased contracts. They had been somewhat frozen out of the massive support for increased production within the FedSuns and their Crofton plant while still extremely profitable was seeing none of the Davion supported expansions of other industrial facilities. They would begin by offering a range of new mechs to be produced at the Crofton plant such as the Emperor, Highlander and King Crab. They also informed the AFFS that they were working on a new heavy omnivehicle design that they thought might interest the Davion military. In support of this lobbying they began to grease the palms of a number of procurement officers.

On Galtor, realising that with the damage to the Robinson Battle Academy during the Kurita's attack it might be some time before a steady supply of graduates would be available to flesh out his new 3rd Robinson Rangers, Duke Arthur Davion began forming a number of conventional units from the pro-Davion communities on the planet. He ordered the construction of a large training facility for armour crews and infantry near New Derry. He did consider forming a training battalion of battlemechs but frankly didn't have the mech's to do so. He did send however to his friend and mentor Duke James Sandoval and request a number of Watchmen and Sentry class battlemechs to help support his militia and potentially form a temporary training battalion with as well as a supply of conventional vehicles. He also began to take steps to put the Galtor Naval Yards back into production and petitioned his brother for the design for the Rapier destroyer.

The 5th McCarron's Armoured Cavalry also slipped away from it's base on a routine patrol during May, however this was noticed by the Davion intelligence service. At which point flags started to be raised about where the hell the other units of that brigade were... It was eventually discovered that they had lost track of the 1st, 3rd and 5th!

During May Cassandra Allard-Liao officially resigned her commission and took up a posting with the Rubinsky's Light Horse mercenary regiment.

Within the Taurian Concordant the Protector Shraplen began considering forming new Taurian Lancer regiments to safeguard his border from the inevitable FedSuns invasion. He also began forming at this time a new unit the 1st MacLeod's Regiment based on his own home planet. A heavy weight defensive unit he hoped it would be able to protect the MacLeod's land from the ravages of the Davion's who would target it as his homeworld.

cawest

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #102 on: 21 May 2019, 22:00:55 »
how about instead of so many Training mechs you sub in Industrial mech.  that could cover the first and maybe some of the second year classes and they could be used to built or rebuild public works. 

David CGB

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #103 on: 21 May 2019, 23:30:47 »
how about instead of so many Training mechs you sub in Industrial mech.  that could cover the first and maybe some of the second year classes and they could be used to built or rebuild public works. 
agreed, it would also help out on a number of fronts.
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Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #104 on: 22 May 2019, 12:40:26 »
3063 - June - New beginnings

On the 2nd of June Judith Hotchkiss announces to the Trans-Federation Stock and Commodities Exchange headquarter on Torrance that New Independence Weaponry will be forming up within the Federated Suns as of the 1st of July with an initial stock option of 40% of the company being sold to investors. The remaining 60% will be split into 20% for herself, 20% for House Davion and 20% for House Cunningham. As soon as the company is offered up for investments on the Exchange the ground will be cut on a new battlemech production facility on Kestrel. Three lines are initially planned, namely an Atlas, Gunslinger and Victor designs. Further expansions to add a Marauder II, Marauder and Jagermech III line will be considered after the initial construction is completed. The new facility will she admits specialise in producing high end, high quality assault machines for the AFFS and associated mercenary commands. She hints that a more lightweight production facility may be considered later on a different planet.

As expected in the patriotic fervor of the reborn Federated Sun's the announcement of an entirely new (or as some traditionalists claim reborn) Davion battlemech producing company is met with a great deal of favour. The number of notes of interest and unofficial pre-release options being bought on the companies stocks is a heavy indication of a positive result to the stock floating on the 1st of July. In fact the early signs are so good that Judith Hotchkiss in consultation with her two main partners agree to a further stock release on the 1st of August 3063 which if it is fully taken up will be used to fund at the very least the Jagermech line and potentially both of the other 2nd wave expansion plans. She also takes this opportunity to petition Victor Davion to release the Battlemaster design to New Independence Weaponry, although this wasn't granted.

On the 11th of June the First Prince invited Marquess Helen Trempeleau to New Avalon to discuss his ongoing work to integrate and revitalise the Outback's economy with the rest of the Federated Suns. An invitation she accepts, although she doesn't travel alone but instead gathers a large group of her activist friends and advisers to bring with her. The Marquess has been pleasantly surprised by the First Princes's investments within the Outback, but wishes to address the fact that they have largely been expansions of the military industrial complex rather than the civilian economy. She is particularly concerned to get further increases in education spending for the Outback.

With the peace treaty signed Baron Tancred rushes through the Draconis and Crucis March via jumship relays and arrives on New Avalon on the 25th of June. After briefly meeting with the First Prince he then spends most of his time at the NAIS medical centre that Yvonne Steiner-Davion is being treated in. This begins to break through the depression which had set into the young princess.

With the knowledge that 3 regiments of the famed McCarron's Armoured Cavalry are loose somewhere the First Prince, Marshal of Armies and Minister of the Capellan March begin ordering alerts and patrols stepped up. The last thing they need right now is a major attack. The Field Marshal in charge of the Department of Military Intelligence Stephanie Day also alerts the First Prince and the rest of the High Command that shipping has increased around Highspire and her officers believe large military shipments have taken place. Many wonder whether the 3 missing Capellan mercenary units have relocated there to use it as a base for raiding. Just in case the FSS Murmansk is ordered to the area.

The FSS Kathil and FSS Bryceland, both Fox corvettes finish construction at the Galax shipyards at this time. Assigned together they are ordered to begin a shakedown cruise in the Outback and ordered to support the newly formed Avalon Hussar RCT's in that region in their pirate hunting. The next two ships to begin construction will be named the FSS Marduk and FSS Filvelt. The FSS Galtor and FSS Kentares are already under construction. Initially there had been plans to name the later two ships after famous Davion Admirals, however it is felt that continuing to name them for worlds will best motivate the people behind the naval building program. A fifth corvette slip is being built and Fleet Admiral Buchwald pushes for funding for a sixth slip to begin construction.

The FSS Robert Davion, an Avalon class cruiser, also slips loose from the shipyard during this time. It will move down towards the Capellan-FedSuns-Taurian border and be home ported at New Syrtis. With the new ship being laid down in the newly vacated slip that birthed the FSS Robert Davion the FedSuns has 3 Avalon cruisers under construction and a fourth slip being built. While the FSS Melissa Davion during June arrives at New Syrtis to begin repairs to the light battle damage she has suffered. She will have finished this repair by January 3064 at which time her place will be taken be the FSS Lucien Davion which was rushed into commission and is requiring a refit. When it is finished the similarly afflicted FSS Simon Davion will be due a refit.

At Firgrove the first Excalibur class dropship is approaching completion. It and it's 2 sister ships have been suffering numerous delays and teething problems and the AFFS's Naval Transport Division is more than aware that the 3 ships will no doubt have a number of "bugs" when they do enter service. Given the new nature of construction at Firgrove they are prepared to work with the shipyard to fix these and in fact are relying on Clyde Shipyards to be extremely proficient at this due to their long history of refits and repairs for the AFFS.

Challenge System's second warship slip is just about completed and will begin construction of a Congress-D by the end of the month. The shipyard has already been informed to expect a few design changes and refits of the design, but given the very early stage of construction and the famed ease of maintenance of the design the shipyards see little problem with this but do note any changes may delay construction.

On 22nd of June First Prince Victor invites Precentor Martial Focht to New Avalon to "discuss the situation regarding the accused Traitor's escape". Many expect that the First Prince is effectively calling the Precentor Martial to New Avalon to properly express his extreme displeasure. While that is of course true, Victor has several other matters he wishes to discuss with the Precentor Martial in private.

On Broken Wheel the first new Clint walks of the production line and is immedietly assigned to the Filtvel Academy Training Battalion. While on Point Barrow the new GM plant begins construction.

First Prince Victor also meets with the CEO of Lycomb-Davion during June to discuss further expansions. While he is more than happy with the prospect of the influx of new Stuka aerospace fighters he asks them to consider whether or not the company would be prepared to restart production of their former battlemech products the Awesome and Guillotine. Neither design is currently constructed within the Federated Suns and the First Prince in particular is looking at the mobility of the Guillotine and the impressive firepower of the Aweseome to add to his regiments.

Within the Lyran Alliance the Kell Hounds arrive on Tharkad with Peter Steiner-Davion. Duke Morgan Kell, Acting General of the Armies Adam Steiner and Peter Steiner-Davion along with various members of the Estates General and some key Dukes are soon engaged in lengthy discussions as to how to move forward with the "escape" of the former Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion.

On Tamar the Khan of the Wolf Clan and the Archon-in-Exile Katrina Steiner have a long and by all accounts fractious discussion of her position moving forward. Officially she is made his bondswoman but in practise becomes a key adviser and ally for him. She also begins military training under his personal supervision. A new Galaxy is formed, the Tamar Galaxy, with two Clusters consisting entirely of Spheroid freebirths. The 1st and 5th Alliance Guard Clusters are built around survivors of the 5th Alliance Guards RCT and a number of bondsmen taking during raids and some even from back in the Clan Invasion along with a handful of Lyran officers and men "escaping" to the Wolf Occupation Zone. A very limited "trial of position" confirms their status as warriors and they begin to be outfitted with clan second line mechs and captured inner sphere equipment. Plans are put in place to add a 1st Tamar Marines Cluster and a 1st Steiner Battle Cluster as soon as enough warriors are sourced and pass their trials.

Within the Free World League Parliament the newest delegation from the Free Tikonov province petitions the Captain-General to approve funds to begin expanding Sitwell Corporation on Saiph to produce battlemechs - stressing that a local supplier would greatly support the continued maintenance of the 4 Free Tikonov Republican Guard units. Given their position on the border this is a hard sell but it doesn't escape Thomas Marik's notice that many of those MP's supporting them are those strongly aligned with the WOB. He agrees to look at the proposal but makes no strong commitment.

cawest

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #105 on: 22 May 2019, 19:26:27 »
you might want to start looking at a Battle armor carrier or maybe a WD mod Lion. 

PsihoKekec

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #106 on: 23 May 2019, 02:57:24 »
Dedicated VTOL BA carrier? And maybe a good solid 40-50 ton tank like Regulator. How long would it take to loot production line?
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kelgar04

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #107 on: 23 May 2019, 05:39:32 »
I get the feeling if Kat tries to claim the title of Archon or tries to make a triumphant return she will end up being violently resisted on almost all of the world in the LA.

Tyler Jorgensson

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #108 on: 23 May 2019, 11:57:31 »
The only thing I would question is the allowance of Clan Wolf to form a Galaxy of troops based upon Lyran units. It seems a bit too close to the Wolves in Exile schism to believe. In the 3070s maybe (and yes I know it's an AU) because they dropped a Galaxy off to the Horses for Warden sentiments, they might replace it with rabid spheroids bent on conquering the Lyran Commonwealth. Also the very limited trial to confirm them as warriors: kinda a Diamond Shark thing to do.

IDK just two cents. Still want to see how that line finishes: also go Bears :)

Sir Chaos

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #109 on: 23 May 2019, 12:01:07 »
The only thing I would question is the allowance of Clan Wolf to form a Galaxy of troops based upon Lyran units. It seems a bit too close to the Wolves in Exile schism to believe. In the 3070s maybe (and yes I know it's an AU) because they dropped a Galaxy off to the Horses for Warden sentiments, they might replace it with rabid spheroids bent on conquering the Lyran Commonwealth. Also the very limited trial to confirm them as warriors: kinda a Diamond Shark thing to do.

IDK just two cents. Still want to see how that line finishes: also go Bears :)

I think it´s a win-win for Vlad.

If it works out, it´s a justification for him to tap the enormeous manpower of the occupation zone for warriors.

If it doesn´t work out, it confirms the supremacy of trueborn warriors and cements their position at the top of the food chain.
"Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl."
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"Ultima Ratio Regis" ("The Last Resort of the King")
- Inscription on cannon barrel, 18th century

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #110 on: 23 May 2019, 16:39:36 »
Vlad basically sees them as potential canon fodder/garrison troops which will help keep the natives quite and compliant. Plus worse case scenario if they don't work out he can disband/crush them.

He's also seen the recent creation of the 1st Rasalhague Bears in the Ghost Bear Clan and figures that what works for them might work for him plus he has an even better leader than Ragnar. The former Archon who has a claim to a real bloodname!

PsihoKekec

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #111 on: 24 May 2019, 00:46:18 »
I would love to see the ammount of weaseling that would go into making Kat the Galaxy commander by Clan rules.
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Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #112 on: 26 May 2019, 07:03:27 »
3063 - July - Unexpected Visitors

July begins with the official stock options becoming available for New Independence Weaponry. As expected the demand is high and the price of the shares quickly goes up. By the time the last of the stocks have been snapped up there is more than enough funds to begin construction of the new battlemech facility on Kestrel and by the end of the month the ground which the Duke of Kestrel had identified as suitable has seen the first work start. All three of the main stockholders and the wide range of smaller stockholders are eager to begin work and start to see battlemechs being built and profits returned on their investment. Priority is given to getting the Atlas line up and running first, but the other two lines are not far behind.


With the Robinson Battle Academy heavily damaged both the First Prince and the Duke of Robinson agree that as it is rebuilt it will also be enlarged. By the end of the year the Academy is expected to be ready to take in more students, the existing students will continue to be trained on a nearby military base for the time being. When the expansions are included the cadet numbers will triple. When the graduating class of 3064 graduate in 3066 the Robinson Battle Academy Training Cadre will be renamed the Training Regiment. Of course given the political sensitivities the Warrior's Hall on New Syrtis will also see a similar expansion in consultation with the Duke of New Syrtis. After all the AFFS can always use more mechwarriors.


A similar expansion is underway at Filtvelt, but without the loud declarations of the two March capital academies. Indeed the expansion at Filtvelt is larger as it is two fold. The existing Filtvelt Academy is to be doubled in size so that it is of comparable size to the Robinson Battle Academy and Warrior's Hall with a full regiment as it's cadet force. However side by side with the expanded Filtvelt will be the Filtvelt Flight School. It will be a smaller specialised school that will be affiliated with the Academy but will concentrate on producing fighter pilots drawn from the Outback. With an initial intake of a full wing of 20 cadets it will be expanded until it is graduating around 60 cadets a year with a training time of 3 years. Expansions to include training for air crews and other support staff for the fighter wings have also been included in the plans. Long term plans include adding jumpship and dropship crew courses.


All three of the mainstream academies will also be encouraged to add courses for tank officers, infantry officers and special forces and battle armour troopers. While Robinson Battle Academy and the Warrior's Halls will also add aerospace fighter training courses and to include these cadets within their training cadres in a similar manner to the existing NAIS Cadres. Filtvelt's fighter pilots for the training unit will be drawn from those cadets at the Flight School who will be joining fighter wings attached to battlemech regiments.

If these expansions go ahead and are successful then further plans are being put in place to expand Point Barrow, Kilbourne and even Tikonov's academies. There was some debate about Tikonov being expanded but given the huge worth of the world the First Prince himself insisted that every effort be made to integrate Tikonov into the FedSuns in any way possible. A large number of intelligence assets will be deployed to the world and particularly it's factories and the academy in order to being pushing a pro-Davion message to the population in preparation for the investments.

On the 17th of July First Prince Victor arranges to meet with Marquess Trempeleau and her "advisers". He himself comes alone except for his elemental bodyguard Tiaret Nevversan, not even bringing any of his ministers or Prince's Champion. This initially throws what amounts to the delegation from the Broken Wheel and surrounded Combat Regions. However they soon recover and begin to list their extensive grievances with the central government of the Federated Suns and House Davion. At least a few of the "advisers" are spouting almost anti-Davion and separatist views.

After some heated initial exchanges in which it is obvious that the First Prince is controlling his temper with a great deal of will power the meeting finally calms down with the Prince and Marquess agreeing that for the initial discussions perhaps the others could merely advise her rather than give the Prince speeches which are tantamount to rants. Marquess Helen agrees that the increased defences, anti-piracy patrols and industrial development and investments are welcome in the Outback they aren't going far enough and doing enough to help the areas anaemic infrastructure and education shortfalls.

The First Prince while pointing out that the large dropship and jumpship manufacturing complex being built at Filtvelt for civilian designs are likely to help the areas infrastructure in the long term does concede the point. He asks what would help the most, although makes the point that the central government doesn't have unlimited funds and resources - a point that causes a stir of irritation amongst Marquess Trempeleau's supporters.

The Marquess answers with a simple word: Education. If the population can have greater educational opportunities then further investments will flow into the area as firms see the opportunities of a well educated, well motivated community with expansive resource rich worlds. As more and more companies invest in the region then others will follow suit and the funds will become available to expand the infrastructure - where the corporations haven't already done so. Which will draw in more and more jumpships and merchants.

After some further discussions the First Prince agrees to revitalise the Vagabond School Program as well as expand the Regional Finishing School Initiative. The Regional Finishing Schools currently stand at 19 establishments, but he will attempt to ensure that numbers doubles over the next 3 years and consider an expansion of the project further with a number of Advanced Finishing Schools/Universities to be built at key locations. While a number of the military academies in the region will see civilian counterparts either created or expanded upon. A number of scholarships will also be created, although that number of left vague. These discussions go on for almost 2 weeks and various ministers are brought into the debate.

Before the agreement can be formally reached however there is a system wide alert on the as an unknown and potentially hostile jumpship has entered the New Avalon System at a small and almost never used jump point. The FSS Lucien Davion in orbit over New Avalon rushes to battle stations, while the FSS Indomitable at the Nadir Jump Point and the FSS Intrepid at the Zenith also prepare to inter-system jump if required. Large numbers of fighter wings and dropship squadrons are also rushed to readiness. A single jumpship is unlikely to be able to carry a large invasion force, but even a small number of missile armed dropships could do untold devastation using nuclear tipped warheads.

This alert is heightened when it becomes obvious that the ship in question is an Odyssey class vessel. A Clan jumpship here in the New Avalon system. Immediately the FSS Indomitable and FSS Intrepid are ordered to inter-system jump to closer to New Avalon and to then use maximum thrust to reach the planet to aid in it's defence, while an initial probing attack is launched by a full aerospace regiment of 60 fighters.

As all of this is done the jumpship detaches two dropships which make a slow burn at 1G for New Avalon. Scans from the extensive and hideously expensive system wide detection grid indicate that one of them is a Union-C and the other is a Sassanid class vessel. The confusion within Mount Davion grows, as combined those two dropships could carry 15 Omnimechs and 75 Elemental's. Hardly an invasion force and an insanely small raiding one for a target like New Avalon.

As the by now obviously overwhelming aerospace fighter brigade approaches the dropships the ships immedietly begin sending out hails that they wish to speak with the "Conqueror of the Ilkhan Victor Steiner-Davion, Vanquisher of Clan Smoke Jaguar"... The commanding officer of the aero regiment also messages back that the dropships are obviously showing signs of war damage, poor repair and have Clan Smoke Jaguar markings. The two dropships are ordered to land at a small military dropship spaceport and aerospace base in the New Hebrides archipelagos and are escorted there by a full aerospace regiment at all times, while the FSS Intrepid diverts to stand watch over their jumpship.

The two Clan dropships will land on New Avalon on the 4th August 3063.

Given the huge demand for Dagger-O fighters throughout the AFFS Admiral Buchwald and Marshal of the Armies Jackson begin discussing further expansions of the design and attempts to have a facility built within the Crucis March for added security. While they are confident that expansions will be well regarded they are not so sure that George Hasek will wish to see the fighter produced in the central Crucis March. Particularly as they know he has been resisting the building of the Templar-O within the Crucis March as well.

On Novaya Zemyla the huge new industrial plant for Kallon Industries begins construction. While nearby the Dagger-O plant is rapidly approaching finishing and is even now starting to manufacture a few spare parts.

Robinson BattleWork's new plant on Woodbine enters full production of the Watchman class battlemech during July. The first production run will be used to form a corporate security battalion for the plant along with some donations or cost priced machines to the local planetary defence forces and to the local Milligan DMM. Once this has been done and with future expansions already under construction the sales of these war machines to the AFFS will be primarily directed to rebuilding the Mayetta DMM and Bryceland DMM and then other units in the area, particularly the 1st Conroe Training Battalion and the Kilbourne Academy Training Battalion. At least a full company of mixed Watchman and Sentry are being planned for each of the newly liberated worlds of Niles, Groveld and Delacruz to form the core of their planetary defence forces.

On Robinson itself Duke James Sandoval receives the request from his new vassal and protege Duke Arthur Davion of Galtor. The Duke of Robinson has a huge number of demands on his resources but he can see the vital strategic worth of Galtor and also in keeping such a well connected new Duke on "his side". Therefore he orders the diversion of a number of battlemechs from his factories to help reinforce and expand the newly formed 3rd Robinson Rangers. Attaching a "Galtor Training Battalion" to the 3rd Robinson Rangers as a 2nd battalion. Although not an official training battalion in the way the more permanent ones are, they will provide a welcome boost in numbers and firepower to the defence of Galtor and include the newly liberated world's population in their defence. Most of the new machines are Watchmen and Sentries but a handful of more advanced battlemechs are included.

While this is all going on a military operation begins planning within Mount Davion under the personal order of Marshal of the Armies Jackson Davion. Operation Tripoli begins planning and a number of commands are ordered to increase training and receive extra ammunition and spare parts to build up a reserve. Two warships are also ordered to prepare and update their naval maps for the target systems.

Within the Draconis Combine the Coordinator is not standing still. Furious at the outcome of the aborted war with the Davion's he continues to throw more and more troops into the battles along his border with the Ghost Bear Clan. Indeed he forms a large task force based around 1st, 5th, 7th and 8th Sword of Light regiments and both Genyosha regiments and orders them to hit the Ghost Bears hard in a series of bloody and hard fought engagements. With 6 of his finest regiments hitting the front between Turtle Bay and Luzerne he intends to show the Bears that the Dragon still has fangs! Leading this task force is no lesser personage than his son. Their victories will be broadcast nationwide to raise morale and support for the war.

He also orders that an 8th Amphigean Assault Group, 7th Arkab Legion, 4th Night Stalkers (consisting of mostly elderly warriors and medically discharged warriors), 10th Prosperina Hussars and 45th Galedon Regulars formed along the Davion border. All of these units will be massively under strength, but he wants them formed and training at least as cadres and to give a show of strength. This is in addition to the 4 new Ghost regiments he has mustered. The scientists and technicians working on the DCS Togura are also sent pointed messages that their work is "vital to the security of the Dragon" and must be "pursued with all vigour!".

On Sian the 5th Sian Dragoons are announced with a parade of their command company. Various intelligence point out privately that this is because that is all the 5th Currently consists of and is likely to remain on that level while 3 of the 4 Sian Dragoons previously mustered are still under strength. Some discussions are also going on about expanding the Warrior Houses to 2 battalions each and adding a third battalion to the Ambermarle's Highlanders, Mashigama's Legionnaires and St Cyr's Armoured Hussars. Just as soon as they can find the battlemechs and mechwarriors.

The Estates General of the Lyran Alliance are formally requested to allow Acting General of the Armies and Grand Duke Morgan Kell to address them on the 1st of August and agree. Most assume correctly that it is about nominating Peter Steiner-Davion for the post of Archon left vacant by the "rescue" of the former Archon by the Wolf Clan. While a few dissenters would prefer a more "pure" Steiner for the throne, given his support from Adam Steiner, the Duke of Arc Royal and a large chunk of the LAAF who are prepared to follow these two men it is felt that acclaiming him is the only way to avoid civil war.

kelgar04

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #113 on: 26 May 2019, 10:33:59 »
Wonder if they are surviving Smoke Jaguars or Dark Cast Members?

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #114 on: 27 May 2019, 09:22:18 »
3063 August - Important Meetings

On Panpour Jalastar Aerospace announce on the 1st of August the opening of a new Sparrowhawk fighter line and a Centurion battlemech line will be coming online this month. An additional line for each design as well as a line each for Javelin and Grasshopper battlemechs and sabre fighters are also under construction. The first of the new battlemechs and fighters will be routed to the garrison force for the planet the 2nd Avalon Hussars and then to the Islamabad CrMM which New Avalon is hoping to get up to full strength.

This announcement coincides with the second stock option release for New Independence Weaponry. While the response is not quite so overwhelming as the first release it is still more than healthy and results in a large influx of funds for the companies construction projects. These funds are used to speed up construction and to add a Jagermech III line to the facility as well as an extensive ammunition and MRM production plant.

On the 4th of August 3063 the two clan dropships land at the isolated Lockhart Spaceport within the New Hebrides archipelago. A full Combat Command of the 3rd Davion Guard's RCT consisting of a battlemech battalion, 2 armour regiments and a full infantry regiment awaited them deployed in defensive positions around the drop-port. Backing them up was two battalions of the 1st Dragonlords deployed further out as a perimeter, although between them they only numbered around 5 companies of assault mechs. While overhead the FSS Lucien Davion takes up a low orbit while an entire Aerospace regiment maintains a CAP.

While this might seem excessive for a single trinary of battlemechs and another of elemental's it is perhaps understandable given that the First Prince has insisted on attending the spaceport himself in person. Although he does concede to attending in the cockpit of his Daishi Prometheus along with his command company from the 1st Davion Guards at the insistence of the Princes Champion and Marshal of the Armies. Two other rare Daishi omnimechs have also been deployed with their own command companies from the 3rd Davion but in 1st Davion colours. Just to confuse the Clan warriors if they are planning treachery.

However when the ramp's of the heavily damaged and battered dropships come down the Smoke Jaguar warriors march out peacefully. Or as peacefully as they can given that they are striding out in a mix of heavily armed war machines or battle armour. However as soon as they march out and form ranks the mechwarriors open the hatches of their omnimechs which although obviously repaired are in excellent condition and newly repainted, while the elemental's crack their battle armour and step out. In total 15 mechwarriors and 50 elemental's walk forward without armour or weapons and bow deeply to the waiting Davion First Prince.

After a brief and frankly heated discussion First Prince Victor climbs down from his omnimech and walks forward to the waiting Smoke Jaguars. Although he is accompanied by 2 squads of 1st Davion Cavalier battle armour led by the single Clan Elemental armoured Captain Tiaret Nevversan. In a brief conversation with the Star Colonel Showers who is leading the Smoke Jaguars he learns that they have came to swear themselves to his service and ask his permission to seek refuge not only for themselves but for all remaining Smoke Jaguars within the Federated Suns. Their once great clan is shattered and fractured reduced to bandit caste and refugees and they wish to save what they can.

Victor Davion's first instinct is to refuse this request. He after all had been the one to lead the attack to destroy the Smoke Jaguar clan, but he decides not to make any rash decisions and instead informs them that he will listen to their petition and consult with his advisers. He pointed glances at the silent armoured form of his bodyguard Tiaret behind him before telling them that they can stay on their dropship or in the nearby barracks while he consults with his commanders and perhaps discusses the matter further with them. They accept his term and as a sign of good faith agree to stay in the barracks and to leave their mechs and battle armour at the dropships.

Star Colonel Showers meets with not only Victor Davion and various military officers such as Arden Sortek over the course of August but also spends hours sitting discussing his plans and motivations with Tiaret Nevversan who relays her impressions back to her commanding officer. She informs the Star Colonel she will do this at the start of their discussions and he agrees that is the honourable thing to do.

One of the two of the main hold ups for Victor and his advisers are that firstly the entire Great Refusal was based on the Annihilation of Clan Smoke Jaguar. To now allow it to be reborn might jeopardise that peace. The second major problem is the Clan's horrendous record of how they treat civilian castes and that it is unlikely that any Federated Sun's world would accept a clan enclave.

Tiaret Nevversan suggests a solution to the first and indirectly the second. She suggests initially that a new Clan be founded from the remnants of the Smoke Jaguars. She proposes the name the Sun Jaguars to declare their new loyalties and also as a tribute to the warrior spirit of the original Smoke Jaguars. Whether the current remnants of the Smoke Jaguars would agree to this name change she suggests might be a barometer of their true preparedness to change. As for the second option she suggests consulting with Marquess Trempeleau who she has watched discuss matters with Victor the preceding month.

The Marquess is flown to the spaceport as a matter of urgency and the is informed of the situation. While her initial thoughts are that the First Prince should deny the refugee Smoke Jaguars request the more she thinks about it the more she see's the benefits not only for the Federated Sun's but also for her own Outback constituency. She suggests after considering the matter for a number of days that the "Sun Jaguars" could be settled on abandoned worlds along the periphery border. Of the cuff she suggests Fugeres, Frankson or Valois within the Broken Wheel Combat Region. All three worlds were abandoned due to population losses, losses in technology and pirate raids during the Succession Wars. Settling the "Sun Jaguars" on these planets wouldn't offend any of the existing worlds populations and with suitable support these worlds could be reclaimed for the Federated Suns and the "Sun Jaguars" could provide a valuable anti-piracy force in the region. If they were suitably aligned.

First Prince Victor Davion and Prince's Champion Arden Sortek both like this suggestion and the Prince starts to bring in more civilian members of his Government. Almost all recoil in horror initially but it isn't long before most of them can see the benefits. However the main stumbling block is that the Smoke Jaguars treatment of their civilian castes is simply unacceptable. If they are to settle within the Federated Suns then this must change.

On the 29th August the First Prince calls Star Colonel Showers and his warriors together in the mess hall of the military base. On his left sits Captain Tiaret Nevversan and on his right sits Marquess Helen Trempeleau. The fact he is sitting with a warrior and an obvious civilian is not lost upon the Clan warriors as they file in and take the seats arranged for them. Victor Davion doesn't waste any time or effort attempting to sugar coat his decision. He lays out his terms and conditions without any frills or political phrasing, speaking to the Clan warriors in their own language as it were.

He informs them that he will consider their petition to join the Federated Suns as his vassals. With certain conditions. The Smoke Jaguar Clan is not to be reformed or rebuilt, instead a new Clan Sun Jaguar will be formed from it's remnants. This clan will be granted the rights to 3 abandoned worlds upon the Periphery border of the Crucis March's Broken Wheel Combat Region to settle and colonise. The Federated Sun's will help the Sun Jaguars in settling these worlds with their civilians and remnant military forces and in setting up industrial and agricultural facilities. In return the Sun Jaguars military will join the AFFS as an separate brigade under Jaguar officers but will take direction from the Davion High Command. They will be granted a higher level of autonomy than most units and worlds within the Federated Suns but will not be an independent power in the same way as the Nova Cat and Wolf-in-Exile Clans. They will be subordinate to the FedSuns and to the First Prince. Their treatment of their civilian castes (who will be full Federated Sun's citizens) will also be subject to oversight. Any violations of the Federated Sun's laws will be dealt with harshly. The Clan's leadership will be for them to nominate themselves but said nomination will have to be approved by the First Prince. A whole host of other minor conditions are also listed but these are the main ones - many of them relating to any military industrial production they are able to create on their fiefs. These terms however are not open to negotiation. The Smoke Jaguar remnants have to either accept them in full or refuse them. If they refuse them then the First Prince will order his troops to fire on them on sight.

The Star Colonel honestly informs the First Prince that he is not sure if the other Smoke Jaguars will accept these terms, but that he will put them to them. The First Prince agrees to this and offers to send Captain Nevversan as his personal emissary to the other Smoke Jaguar remnants. He will give them until the end of 3063 to get back to him on his terms. He does offer one final concession to the warriors. He promises that if they do take his offer up he will do everything within his power to bring together the remaining civilians and warriors of the Clan and help them to settle within the Federated Suns, using his influence within the Star League to have any remaining Smoke Jaguar POW and populations released to his care.

The two Smoke Jaguar dropships leave on the 30th August 3063 to link up with their jumpship and with permission to travel openly within the Federated Suns and to use the realms recharge stations to reach their rendezvous with other splinter factions of their Clan to discuss the terms offered. They are also authorised to use the HPG network to send messages to some small groups of their Clan who have been known to arrive on Solaris and other mercenary/gaming worlds.

While all of this is ongoing Marshal of the Armies Jackson Davion continues to run the AFFS largely without supervision. While the martially inclined First Prince has a direct hand in the planning for the AFFS he knows enough to listen to and defer to the expert and experienced officers such as Jackson Davion. Operation Tripoli's planning is stepped up with a provisional date set in the first quarter of 3064. The units which are flagged to take part are prioritised to be brought up to strength as quickly as possible.

Some discussions also take place within the High Command for the potential within the New Yer for forming of additional units. The 1st Dragonlords is prioritised for expanding to it's full strength and provisional plans are put in place to form a 2nd Dragonlords to return those units to brigade strength. Other discussions relate to what other units might be formed. At the current time the general consensus is that a new Avalon Hussars unit should be formed and one additional unknown unit be formed. Suggestions for this third regiment range from a Broken Wheel CrMM to a new Ceti Hussars unit and everything in between. With a new Dragonlords unit almost certainly listed for the future additional orders for battle armour are placed with every plant that makes the suits.

Near the end of August Precentor Martial Focht arrives on New Avalon. First Prince Victor makes a point of leaving the negotiations with the Smoke Jaguars and meeting him personally before apologising and explaining the emergency that has called him away before returning to New Hebrides. As soon as the Smoke Jaguars leave the First Prince rushes back to Mount Davion to begin meeting with the Precentor Martial although it wont be until early September that the two men can really sit down and discuss things.

Within the NAIS Tancred Sandoval continues to help care for Yvonne Steiner-Davion and the two privately are engaged. At the current time only the First Prince and the Duke of Robinson are informed of this much speculated upon engagement taking place. Yvonne is undergoing a series of surgeries and recovery treatments alongside a large number of other patients who she has soon won over by her bravery and charm alongside the handsome baron who obviously dotes on her. The holo-news on Robinson although not aware of the engagement is soon filled with speculative stories and warming pieces on the relationship between the heir of the Draconis March and the Princess.

Within the Lyran Alliance the Estates General are addressed by Peter Steiner-Davion with Adam Steiner and Morgan Kell at his side. The Prince announces that he wishes to claim the position of Archon due to it being abandoned by his sister and abdicated by his brother. He announces however that he will only claim the throne if the Estates General vote to endorse his claims as the rightful Archon in the circumstances and as is their right by law. He makes a number of pledges to help steer the realm through these difficult times and promises to work alongside not only the military high command but also the Estates General and the planetary Dukes and governments to better protect the Lyran Alliance. The vote takes place on the 7th of August and by a 55%-45% majority votes to confirm the new Archon. The rest of the month is spent with the new Archon Peter Steiner taking stock of the realms position and meeting with various officers and ministers, particularly Adam Steiner who he officially appoints as General of the Armies.

On the Ghost Bear front Task Force Hohiro begins to reverse the Ghost Bears early gains although the cost is high. The 1st Amphigean Light Assault Group, 4th Arkab Legion and 2nd Night Stalkers are summoned to the front to be added to the fighting to attempt to push through and retake several border worlds that have fallen to the Ghost Bears. The three light units are deployed in battalion sized forces and dropped behind enemy lines in a staggeringly audacious operation while escorted by the DCS Draconis Rift, DCS Deiron Star and DCS Galedon Explorer. All three Kyushu frigates take damage during this operation but manage to drop off the troops and pull back to Midway for repairs. With light battalions dropped behind the lines causing havoc and a large scale task force grinding their assault to a halt and now threatening to reserve it many within Clan Ghost Bear consider suing for peace, however many instead suggest an overwhelming drive on Luthien to end the war with a stunning victory and dictate terms in the Imperial Palace.

Coordinator Theodore Kurita orders LAW to form a new military industrial complex upon Pesht, specifically designed to produce omnimechs and battle armour. The facility is to be a huge and state of the art factory to replace the lost industrial complex on Marduk. In the meantime he also wishes the repair plant on Benjamin to be expanded to produce Jenner and Panther battlemechs.

The three missing regiments of the MAC at this time move into position for their target and send in a handful of recon flights which are missed by the Davion patrols. They will launch their "raid in force" in September.

Shadow_Wraith

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #115 on: 27 May 2019, 11:02:21 »
Thank you for the update!   That is a nice idea on what to do with the remaining Jaguars, since they did approach the First Prince Victor.    I wonder who will be the MAC target?   Keep it up!!

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #116 on: 27 May 2019, 15:48:20 »
3063 - September - MAC Attack

The month of September starts with the First Prince finally having time to finalise his agreement with Marquess Helen Trempeleau. As a thank you for her help with the Smoke Jaguar issue he not only "promotes" her title to that of Duchess and names her his "Ministerial Adviser for the Outback" but he also promises that the first Advanced Finishing School will be the Filtvelt Technical College which will be expanded upon in the future into a full on University. The first Union class dropships built in the orbiting dropship yard will also be sent to the Filtvelt Academy Training Battalion.

As soon as he has formally signed the newly revitalised education program into law and arranged for the funds to be allocated he then proceeds to meet with Precentor Martial Focht. While the two men are friends and have enormous respect for each other professionally the meeting descends into an argument almost immedietly. First Prince Victor is furious that while in the custody of the ComGuards and Star League Defence forces his sister has escaped and is once again a threat to his realm. He makes the point with a great deal of anger and Focht responds in kind, feeling that Victor offloaded his problem onto the Star League Courts and to him and this has backfired badly. Focht is also furious at the recent invasion of the Draconis Combine which he feels has damaged the credibility of the Second Star League. The two men finally calm down and both accept the other had a point but tempers remain hot.

As a small concession to the losses incurred by the 1st Royal Battlemech Regiment Victor offers to replace their lost equipment from his expanded industrial base and promises they will be omnimechs. Anastasius has the good grace not to comment that the equipment will almost certainly be drawn from Marduk. Both men also agree to continue jointly funding the new Hasek-Davion Martial Academy and to provide it's instructors and staff. The academy will open it's doors in 3064 and graduate it's first class at the end of 3066. A combined arms Academy it is expected to graduate the equivalent of a mini-RCT when it's fully up and running. Victor also promises in the meantime to support and help fund not only the rebuilding of the 1st Royal Battlemech Regiment but also the expansion of the SLDF to include a 2nd Royals. While he wont donate the equipment he will make battlemechs available for sale for at least a battalion of troops in 3064. He also makes the offer to the Precentor Martial that if Comstar wishes they can move their Faslane class yardships deep within the FedSuns for safety and that he would even be open to them building fixed yards for the Star League and ComGuards ships over Defiance - probably to build Dante Frigates and Suffren Destroyers. He even offers to sell the ComGuards and SLDF a number of the highly sought after Dagger-O at a very reasonable price on long term contracts.

Anastasius Focht is too old a warhorse to not know that Victor wants something in return and asks what that is. The First Prince explains that he wishes a number of designs to be made available for sale to the AFFS and that he would prefer for those designs to be built within the Federated Suns for security. In return for Comstar helping provide these designs he guarantees them a supply of battlemechs and vehicles for sale equal to half of whatever is produced. The other half will be open for sale to the AFFS.

Focht immedietly wants to know what designs are that Victor wants. Firstly Victor explains he wants Comstar to use it's influence over the New Earth Trading Company to build a new facility within the Federated Suns. If they were to agree to build Engineering vehicles, Alacorn Mk IV tanks and Karnov UR Transports he will offer long term contracts, tax breaks and Government help in setting the plants up. Any plant's production could be split 50/50 between the Comguards/SLDF and AFFS. He would also want the ComGuards to help the new facility to produce the Von Luckner Heavy Tank to the old SLDF's Royal specifications. With a similar agreement as to purchasing ratios.

First Prince Victor also wishes to discuss contacting Bergan Industries to begin construction of an updated Wayland Mobile Base under an exclusive contract for the AFFS and ComGuards/SLDF. But he wishes the initial discussion to be undertaken by the Precentor Martial to avoid issues with Bergan notifying the Kurita's or Liao's.

As a final request he wishes to lease a Faslane class yardship from the ComGuards Navy. He is willing to pay a rather substantial price for this concession.

The older man is shocked by the sheer scale of the First Prince's suggestions. He had of course known that the First Prince was investing massively in upgrading his realms infrastructure and military industrial capacities but any one of these requests would be a major trade/industrial deal let alone all of them! He has to be honest that he isn't sure that he is able to deliver upon these sorts of deals without checking with the Primus Sharilar Mori and First Lord Kai Allard-Liao. Although Victor has heard reports that Mori might be loyal to the Combine he agrees to this but insists that the deals must be done quietly and without being announced until they are signed.

These discussions went on for a number of weeks but were finished by the 21st. At which time Focht took his leave of New Avalon and began heading back to Tukayyid to discuss the matter with the Primus. Once he has got her views he will contact the First Lord.

Near the end of September a huge initial order for the Manteuffel omnivehicle is signed. Not only is a massive initial order signed for but the FedSuns Government also agrees to a huge investment in expanding the lines producing the vehicle to keep up with demand. StarCorp is also able to license construction of the vehicle at their Lyran Loburg plant. Along with these purchases and expansions StarCorp is also approved to create a line for Emperor, Highlander and King Crab battlemechs at Crofton with an increase in Warhammer and Longbow production as well. In a linked series of deals StarCorp has the largest single boost to it's contracts within the FedSuns in it's history. However these deals are done via a high level of corruption which even as the deal is being signed is under investigation.

Arc Royal MechWorks also enters into formal discussions with the Federated Sun's Government to being construction of a satellite facility within FedSuns space to produce at least initially the Wolfhound class battlemech for the AFFS. When this comes out voices within the Estates General and LAAF respond in fury, but both the Kell's and the Davion's will point to the agreement between Victor Davion and the former General of Armies Nondi Steiner as to the AFFS being allowed to purchase Wolfhounds from Arc Royal MechWorks, but without specifications of where they will be built. This will be investigated by both the LAAF and Estates General's legal representatives but eventually the new Archon will declare that he will approve the deal, however it does cause a strain in Peter Steiner's relationship with not only his brother but also Morgan Kell. These legal investigations will delay the actual signing of the agreement to build a new facility to January 3064, but both Morgan Kell and Victor Davion begin preparing for the construction and assembling materials and construction teams in late 3063 and identify the world of Killarney. Victor does discuss potentially a license for the Arctic Fox omnimech and is told under no uncertain terms "no" by his brother the Archon.

During September Victor Davion and his Marshal of Armies and Princes Champion along with Field Marshal Angela Kouranth of the Department of Military Education discuss breaking of the Academy Training Battalions and Cadres from the non-academy Training Battalions. With the large scale expansions of the various academies it is no longer felt that the non-academy units are best served under the same formation, although of course they will remain within the remit of the Department of Military Education. They will be brigaded as a separate force as of the end of the year. Field Marshal Kouranth also suggests that the 4 existing battalions be expanded to reinforced battalions of 4 companies each and combined with training units of armour and infantry, namely a regiment of armour and 2 regiments of infantry. These forces will all be formed from new graduates of the various training facilities for conventional forces and will graduate and move onto line regiments over time. Given the huge demand for not only mechwarriors but more seasoned armour and infantry forces which have experience working with battlemech forces the First Prince and the other two officers agree to these changes provisionally and suggest trying them out on the 1st Sheraton Training Battalion as it already has an attached armour regiment. Field Marshal Kouranth is also instructed to look towards establishing 2 more Training Battalions in the coming year.

On the 21st of September the 1st, 3rd and 5th McCarron's Armoured Cavalry jump into the Wernke/Talon system and begin a combat burn for the planet. Accompanying them is a large force of assault dropships and fighter wings from the CCN, along with enough cargo dropships to contain supplies for a prolonged siege. Totally ignoring the heavily populated world of Wernke they head straight for the vital industrial moon of Talon and on the 28th September stage a combat drop directly on the spaceport while their attached fighters and dropships attempt to suppress the defenders.

The Capellan fighter and dropships are only partially successful. Despite being able to obtain local air superiority over the spaceport from the defending aerospace wings of the local defence forces and the 7th FedSun's Dragoons they are unable to fully beat down the murderous anti-aircraft fire from the defensive emplacements studded around the spaceport. As such the initial wave of the of the 3rd McCarron's Armoured Cavalry take heavy losses as they attempt to land and see at least 2 dropships shot down. Still they do manage to carve out a landing zone for their following sister regiments.

The local militia and industrial security forces back up the 7th FedSun's Dragoons in the defensive battles around the spaceport but the 7th is hamstrung by having to hold back a substantial forces within the Kulmen, Horgrave and Restbech Mountains to block access to the vital Kallon plant particularly in the vital O'Herron Valley. As such after a brutal fight that lasts until the 1st of October the 3 regiments of McCarron's Armoured Cavalry manage to seize control of the spaceport.

The 7th FedSun's Dragoons already under strength from the St Ives War has been reduced to 5 companies of battlemechs and a similar proportion of their supporting conventional forces, while the security battalion from Kallon Industries has suffered nearly a third losses and the 2 militia armoured regiments and 4 infantry supporting it are running at around 50%. The MAC units have suffered heavier losses, particularly the 3rd, but still retain an overwhelming superiority in mech forces, outnumbering the defenders nearly 3:1. The 7th and the other defending units although mauled are still intact and prepare to fight off any drive on the plant while awaiting relief which is already on it's way...
« Last Edit: 27 May 2019, 17:07:01 by Billy Boy Mark II »

cawest

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #117 on: 27 May 2019, 17:12:22 »
well now the DC can rent a Yardship.  this would help both DC and ComStar.  that would be a lot of income from the "Rent" that can be used in other areas and the DC can repair ships or maybe support facilities. 

mikecj

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #118 on: 27 May 2019, 21:31:12 »
And the Big Mac does it again
There are no fish in my pond.
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PsihoKekec

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #119 on: 28 May 2019, 01:18:04 »
Keep in mind that a battalion of Death Commandos are also with them, they might do a sneaky thing to breach the defenses or even destroy the factory Blackwind Lancers style.
Shoot first, laugh later.