Author Topic: The Federated Sun's Reborn  (Read 254383 times)

Billy Boy Mark II

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The Federated Sun's Reborn
« on: 05 May 2019, 17:54:30 »
22nd December 3060
Fox's Den
Grand Avalon Mountain Range
New Avalon
New Avalon Combat Region
Coreward Combat Theatre (Markessan Operation's Area)
Crucis March
Federated Sun's Command
Federated Commonwealth


Katherine Morgan Steiner-Davion, who considered herself Katrina Steiner-(Davion) had just finished announcing to the various Field Marshals, Marshals and General's of the AFFC that she had taken over from her younger sister Yvonne Steiner-Davion as Regent for her brother Victor Ian Steiner-Davion and sat back with a carefully crafted facade of reluctant acceptance of her duties. It was all a lie of course and everyone in the room knew that she was more than happy to take the reigns of the Federated Commonwealth from her younger siblings hands, but the forms had to be kept if she was to ensure the hidebound officers of the Federated Sun's complied with her takeover. Although if any of them thought she was going to be content to remain "Regent" until her fool brother Victor came home from his little crusade then they were frankly too stupid to hold the ranks they did. Ideally Victor would do the decent thing and get himself killed off in Clan Space, but if he did have the bad taste to survive and return then there wasn't a chance in hell she was going to let him return to New Avalon. With the credit of vanquishing the Clans and wiping out the entire Smoke Jaguar clan he would be in an insurmountable position here in the Federated Suns and might even be able to start challenging her within her own Lyran Alliance. To avoid such a future most of the men and women in this room would have to go, but for now she would play the dutiful daughter of Hanse Davion to win their compliance with her usurpation of power...

"No." A single word rang like a gunshot in the silence that had followed her speech.

Shocked Katherine stared at the man who had spoken up in almost confusion. All her intelligence reports and advisers, including her key political adviser Tormano Liao, had assured her that as long as she maintained a facade of legality to her takeover he wouldn't speak against her. It took her precious seconds to rally her thoughts and respond. "What did you say Marshal Davion?"

"I said: No, Princess Katherine. As in the opposite of yes. As in I will not allow this to happen. And it is Marshal of the Armies Davion." The grim faced Jackson Kennard Davion spoke almost softly. "I and the officers present will not allow you to usurp your brother's throne while he is off fighting to protect the entire reborn Star League from the Clan threat. While our brothers and sister's in arms may very well at this very moment be bleeding and dying under his command to protect us all. Nor will I or they betray our oaths and stand aside to allow a coup to take place in direct contradiction of the inheritance laws of the Federated Commonwealth and the Federated Suns."

Although the words were delivered softly there was an iron within them that spoke volumes of the likelihood that she would be able to win the Marshal of Armies over to her cause. Looking around the table she could see that his stand had placed steel into the spines of the other officers. Even those who had been subtly felt out by her agents about their willingness to go along with a change in regime were suddenly sitting a little taller and staring at her with hostility, their previous assumed compliance now a thing of the past. Even the Crucis March's Director of Logistic's XO Marshal Simon Gallagher was avoiding her eye and he had sworn her his loyalty secretly and was a Lyran by birth! While that smug bastard Ardan Sortek was grinning at her with undisguised satisfaction at her failure!

Rallying she nodded curtly. "Very well. If you wish to ignore the legality of my sister's abdication of the Regency in my favour then you leave me no other options but to leave you to your wretched little war games and return to Tharkad! I just hope that the people of the Federated Commonwealth will remember who attempted to help them in their hour of peril and who the cabal of officers were that refused that help!"

As she stood up and prepared to storm from the room she was stopped in her tracks again, this time by Prince's Champion Ardan Sortek's voice. "I think not..."

Stopping she wheeled on her father's oldest friend in a rage but felt her fury wither and die in the face of his cold pitiless stare as the old man stood up slowly. "Princess Katherine Morgan Steiner-Davion in my role as Prince's Champion I hereby place you under arrest for High Treason against your brother the Rightful Archon-Prince of the Federated Commonwealth. You will be held here on New Avalon in a secure location until such time as your brother returns and you will then stand trial... For that and perhaps other crimes Katherine..."

The last sentence and the sheer hate that the old man allowed to colour his voice tore the last shreds of anger from Katherine. He could only mean one thing. He knew. She had long suspected that her brother had known about her involvement with their mothers death and he had clearly confided that information in Ardan Sortek before he left for Huntress... She almost stammered out a reply. "I have no idea what you are talking about... But my bodyguards will not stand for this! I brought a combined-arm's regiment of the 1st Royal Guard's from Tharkad with me! They will not allow their Archon to be taken into custody!"

The derision on the faces of the assembled Federated Commonwealth officers spoke volumes as to how seriously they took that threat. Marshal Bishop Sortek of the 1st Davion Guard's RCT spoke for all of them when he snorted contemptuously. "My own 1st Davion Guard could handle a combat command from your parade ground toy soldier RCT with one hand tied behind their back's... Even without the assistance of the Davion Heavy Guards, New Avalon CrMM and the 1st New Avalon Cavaliers... Even the New Avalon CrMM could take them on their own frankly!"

"Enough of this. Prince's Champion Sortek please take your prisoner into custody. Her few infantry bodyguards outside will have already been seized by the resident 1st Davion Royal Guard's infantry... Marshal Sortek, Marshal Adelmana and Leftenant General Payne... If you could please co-ordinate the seizure of the detachment from the 1st Royals RCT, if at all possible without needless bloodshed but if the choice is between one of ours and one of theirs you know what to do... Please co-ordinate with the New Avalon Cavaliers, have them secure the NAIS and Albion compounds. Also deploy additional infantry and forces as you see fit to support your commands in maintaining law and order for the time being."

As Ardan Sortek advanced on her and motioned to two guards to assist him Katherine stared in horror as the three other officers mentioned nodded and quickly strode from the room. She was particularly wounded by the total lack of opposition to the order from the Duke of Augusta, Leftenant General Payne who she had counted on to be one of her supporters after she had seized power! Yet clearly the ambitious officer with long years at court had sensed which way the wind was blowing and had no intention to stand in support of a women who was facing treason charges!

Perhaps out of some residual fondness for the child he remembered or respect for her late parent's the Prince's Champion did not insist on marching her from the room in cuffs but as she passed by security post's who's soldiers had suddenly changed from ceremonial uniforms to full combat gear the Archon of the Lyran Alliance was in no doubt's as to the fact she was under arrest... This had not gone at all to plan!
« Last Edit: 18 May 2019, 07:25:14 by Billy Boy Mark II »

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1 on: 05 May 2019, 17:57:08 »
3060 - December

After the events on New Avalon on the 22nd December 3060 the Davion High Command moved quickly. Units which were off dubious loyalty were swiftly isolated.

Controlling the flow of information through formal channels the High Command swiftly ensured that the news of the traitor's failed coup did not get out. They were in no doubt's that some of the more "Lyran" units within the Federated Sun's Command had been contacted prior to Katherine Steiner Davion's arrival upon New Avalon and were likely merely awaiting a signal to help in her takeover. So they maintained a communication blackout for the rest of December and into the early days of 3061.

Meanwhile coded transmissions and jumpship carried message packets went out to those commands upon which the High Command knew they could rely implicitly. As well as to both Field Marshal's and Commanders of the Capellan and Draconis March's. Diplomatically the High Command did not send them orders, merely a list of suspect commands and suggestions that these commands be isolated and steps taken to ensure they did not rebel against the legitimate command structure of the Federated Commonwealth. They left it to the Duke's of New Sytris and Robinson themselves to make sure that no rebellions occurred within their March Commands. One area that was an exception to this was the Achernar PDZ of the Capellan March - the theory behind this was that it was a vital strategic location and had relatively recently been added to the Capellan March Command after the fall of the Sarna March in 3057 as well as being the location of a number of questionable units.

The following units and locations had been listed as being potential flash points.

Draconis March

Addicks PDZ

Although the 6th FedCom RCT had spent a considerable period of it's existence within the Lyran Command it was not considered a threat due to their refusal to join the LA in 3057 and the continuing command of Hauptmann General Isbella Rahn.

Kentares PDZ
The 5th Lyran Guard's RCT had of course been listed as a potential risk and this was included in the lists sent to Robinson. This would be countered by the forming of a task force formed around the 8th Crucis Lancers RCT and the Fighting Urukhai's 8th Striker Regiment backed up by an armoured brigade of conventional troops in early 3061.

Raman PDZ
The 5th Donegal Guards RCT would be countered by the reinforcement of the 41st Avalon Hussars on Benet III by a combined arms combat command of the Raman DMM and the Robinson's Academy Training Battalion supported by a mixed conventional brigade drawn directly from Robinson. Facing off against 5 battalions of Battlemech forces and a full RCT's worth of conventional forces the 5th Donegal Guards wisely agreed to stand down after a tense few days.

Le Blanc PDZ
As befitting the PDZ containing the capital of the Draconis March there was little if any trouble within the Le Blanc PDZ. All of the commands assigned to this PDZ were either already unquestionably loyal to Archon-Prince Victor or to the Duke of Robinson himself. Indeed a number of units from this region would be used to help contain possible flash points elsewhere, although Duke Sandoval was reluctant to leave his March capital bare even if there was a current detente with the Draconis Combine. He would additionally contact a number of FedCom RCT units who he had previously been the brigade commander off and use his influence to maintain calm.

Dahar PDZ
This was another PDZ which had few if any large Katherine loyal commands. The Sakhara Academy Training Battalion swithered on the edge of being considered a potential rebellious command, but the well known loyalties of it's staff were enough to have it bypassed as a potential rebel unit. The High Command and Robinson wisely left the teaching staff of the prestigious academy alone to deal with any issues in the cadet classes in their own way.

Bremond PDZ
With the Bremond DMM the only unit within the PDZ and it solidly behind it's March Commander no concerns were raised for this PDZ.

Bryceland PDZ
The 3rd Lyran Regulars were another unit which was considered a liability of rebellion by the High Command and upon seeing it upon the list of questionable commands James Sandoval concurred. He immediately ordered that the 1st Ceti Hussars RCT detach two of it's combat commands to support the 3rd Davion Guard RCT as well as the Conroe Training Battalion in moving to take the unit into custody. Faced with nearly twice it's numbers in Battlemech's and also facing nearly a full RCT of support forces the 3rd Lyran Regular's wisely stood down. Even then roughly a battalion from the unit attempted to breakout and make for the spaceport but were swiftly run down by Combat Command Alpha of the 1st Ceti Hussars. A few warning shots and the breakaway unit stood down.

Mayetta PDZ
A similar situation arose within this PDZ to that of the Bremond PDZ but it was complicated by a number of questionable reports about the officer corp of the Mayetta PDZ. A MIIO led investigatory team backed up by a number of personnel from the Department of Military Justice were sent out in early 3061. They were to be backed by the nearby Bremond and Milligan DMM if need be.

Milligan PDZ
The Milligan DMM found itself in the same position as the Bremond DMM in that it was solidly behind it's March Commander and no further steps were taken for units within this PDZ.

Kilbourne PDZ
The Kilbourne DMM was ordered to surround the Kilbourne Academy and it's Training Battalion and call upon the cadets to stay calm - given the well known dislike for the High Command this was considered a potential flash point. It was thought that using their "local" March Militia which had strong ties to the academy was less likely to provoke a reaction and this proved to be the case. Beyond a few demonstrations with placards denouncing a military coup the academy remained quite. This also freed up the 1st Crucis Lancers RCT to deploy from the PDZ to support more volatile spots.

Capellan March

Achernar PDZ

The Achernar PDZ was considered a special case and in this particular PDZ the response would be coordinated from New Avalon and not the local March Capital. If Duke Hasek took offence at this he kept quite about it and simply threw himself into containing other potential flash points. The Davion Assault Guards RCT was the lynchpin to the response here and was ordered immediately to move from it's posting on Tigress and take up position on Tikonov. Particularly within the capital city of Tikograd and it's key factories. It was to be reinforced by a number of known loyal conventional commands that would almost triple it's conventional forces.
Meanwhile the 1st FedCom RCT was ordered to take the command staff of the Nanking SMM into custody and promote officers who were known to be more loyal to the FedSuns as a whole rather than the Tikonov Region. Having done that they were ordered to leave a combat command upon Nanking to support the FedSun's loyalists and move the rest of their command to Achernar and do the same with the members of that world's Achernar SMM. Marshal Swanson of the 1st FedCom was authorised to leave Leftenant Fritz Tull of the Nanking SMM in place only if she was confident that he would stand by his oaths of loyalty to the FedCom - it was perhaps telling that the same authorisation was not granted in relation to the Achernar SMM.
Marshal Stromp of the 1st Kestrel Grenadiers was ordered to take full command of a task force consisting of her own unit and all 3 Vegan Ranger's mercenary units and reinforced by at least 2 infantry brigades of conventional forces. Using this sledgehammer she was to dive her forces in two and to descend upon Kansu and Algol and take disarm the 1st and 2nd Republican units after which she was to move to Yangtze and disarm the under strength 3rd.. With her own reinforced regiment of 'mechs and 3 mercenary regiments it was felt that she would easily be able to force the two under strength Tikonov Republican Guard units to stand down, particularly the 2/3rds strength 1st. Unfortunately this proved to be optimistic and both Republican units put up a fight when the Kestrel Grenadiers and Vegan Rangers attempted to force them to stand down. Although they were both swiftly crushed and forced to surrender their stubborn attempts (which lasted into late January 3061) to fight did buy enough time for Tikonov sympathisers within the PDZ to warn the 3rd Republican which managed to flee into space and disappear, going rogue. The damage to the 1st Kestrel Grenadiers was soon made up and orders cut to absorb some of the conventional troops to upgrade the unit to a full RCT while the Vegan Rangers were rewarded for their loyalty with the pick of salvage of the two destroyed Tikonov units.

Valexa PDZ
Stripped of the Alpha Regiment of the 12th Vegan Rangers to support operations against the Tikonov Republican Guard units Duke Hasek had fewer options than he might have liked within the Valexa PDZ. Judging the 3rd FedCom RCT to be the greater threat he ordered the 5th Crucis Lancers RCT, reinforced with 2/3rds of the Valexa CMM and the 1st Bell Training Battalion to reinforce the 1st Aragon Borderer's on New Aragon. He was proved right when the 3rd FedCom facing nearly 3 times their firepower stood down and accepted the situation with grudging compliance. This did however create a further rift between the 3rd FedCom RCT and it's sister RCT the 5th FedCom RCT, who had long had a "yellow" reputation within the AFFC. This reputation, at least to the members of the 3rd FedCom was now without question - as many of the unit felt that the 5th had betrayed them by not rushing to their aid. As it was the questionable 5th FedCom RCT was largely ignored both by Duke Hasek and the loyalist commands in the PDZ. For once this disregard was welcomed by the 5th. Although the assignment of 2 free armoured regiments in February 3061 to bring their RCT up to strength was considered by many within the 5th FedCom RCT as a reward for their standing down without being forced to do so.

Kathil PDZ
The 6th New Sytris Fusiliers RCT swiftly moved to support the 2nd NAIS Cadre on Kathil facing off against the 8th FedCom RCT. Even facing twice their number in 'mech's however the 8th FedCom RCT chose to fight. With the assault and heavy nature of their Battlemech forces and with a similarly weighted armour brigade to back them up the 8th FedCom RCT put up a blistering defensive fight. Even with the similarly weighted 6th Fusiliers the 8th FedCom RCT were able to inflict tremendous damage and it was only when the battered loyalist forces were joined by the bulk of the 5th New Sytris Fusiliers RCT and the assault weighted 3rd NAIS Cadre from Lee that the 8th FedCom RCT succumbed and surrendered. By which point it had been reduced to a bare third of it's operational strength. The losses amongst the 2nd NAIS Cadre were particularly severe. Thankfully the shipyards and industrial works upon the planet were spared any damage by mutual consent on the part of the fighting officers.

Alcyone PDZ
The 8th Donegal Guard's RCT was considered probably the single most powerful pro-Katherine unit within the FedSun's Command and it's neutralisation was accordingly considered a matter of high priority. Three full units of the Davion Brigade of Guards were deployed to Monhegan to convince the 8th Donegal to stand down. The 2nd, 5th and Light Guards RCT all moved as a combined task force to bring order to the system. Of particular import was the heavy aerospace presence of the 2nd's over strength air wings which combined with the deployment of the the Avalon class cruiser the FCS Melissa Davion from Kittery further strengthened the show of force. Faced with such overwhelming force the Lyran unit stood down without a fight.

New Sytris PDZ
The only movement within this PDZ was to deploy a Combat Command from the 3rd Ceti Hussars RCT to reinforce the New Sytris CMM and mercenary Vanguard Legion defensive force of the March capital.

Sirdar PDZ
With only the 4th Donegal Guards RCT within the PDZ a large force drawn from elements of the 3rd Ceti Hussars RCT (1 Combat Command), 15th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT, 2nd Ceti Hussars RCT (2 Combat Commands) and the 2nd Chisholm Raiders RCT moved to Velhas. Similarly to their sister unit on Monhegan the 4th Donegal Guard RCT when faced with the overwhelming nature of the loyalist force stood down.

Altair PDZ
With this PDZ solidly within the command of New Sytris no action was required except for the deployment of an conventional infantry brigade to deal with limited protests.

Warren PDZ
Similarly to the Altair PDZ this region was considered largely quite and of little risk. Indeed George Hasek briefly considered withdrawing the 8th New Sytris Fusiliers RCT back to New Sytris to further reinforce the capital, but eventually concluded this might give the Taurian's unwelcome ideas.

Crucis March

Archemar Combat Region

A number of conventional units were deployed to deal with riots and disturbances caused by pro-Katherine agitators within this region.

Kestrel Combat Region
Similarly to the Archemar Combat Region widespread disturbances broke out throughout this region but were swiftly dealt with by the local Kestrel CrMM and other garrison forces.

New Avalon Combat Region
A brief firefight occurred at the Avalon City Spaceport when elements of the 1st Royals RCT attempted to break out from their ships and "free" their Archon. This was however swiftly dealt with. Following which 2 Combat Commands drawn from the 1st Davion Guards and Davion Heavy Guards RCT's were dispatched to Salem to disarm the green 19th Arcturan Gurads. Although outnumbering the 2 battalions of battlemech's of the Davion Guard units Leftenant Genearl Bishop was under no illusions that her parade ground soldiers could stand against the elite of the Davion Guards. Even without the 2 regiments of armour and 4 regiments of infantry that the Davion Guard units had brought in support against her battlemech regiment. The fact that the local militia's of Salem were almost certain to side with their countrymen over her own unit was the final nail in the coffin of any thoughts she had to resist. She stood her unit down willingly and spared them what would have been a very one sided battle.

Nunivak Combat Region
The Remagen CrMM as the only unit within the Combat Region were tasked with ensuring that pro-Katherine demonstrations did not get out of hand, although initially hard pressed they soon took to using their night-fighting skills to infiltrate any group attempting to riot the night before said riot was to take place and disarm them quickly and effectively, or if that was impossible sabotage their transports. Following this a number of the infantry squads from this CrMM would be recruited into the Crucis March's special forces regiments and even reportedly MIIO's Rabid Foxes units.

Islamabad Combat Region
The local troops of the Islamabad CrMM were ordered to put down a number of pro-Katherine protests and did so with excellent and restrained tactics.

Malagrotta Combt Region
The local Malagrotta CrMM was far to concerned dealing with pirate raids to be bothered about potential coup's on New Avalon and the High Command wisely left them to it.

Point Barrow Combat Region
The Point Barrow Training Battalion was considered a potential source of pro-Katherine agitation, however the High Command felt that any move of a front line formation there would only inflame matters. They therefore sent word to the academy that it's training force had been chosen for field tests of the new Thanatos battlemech produced on nearby Crofton. They could expect the first production models to be sent within the next 3 months. Suitably distracted by this potential honour as well as new equipment the cadets of the academy barely noticed the Archon's arrest.

Tsamma Combat Region
Besides dealing with a number of pro-Katherine demonstrations the Tsamma CrMM was ordered to prepare to move towards Mayetta if it was felt to be necessary.

Anjin Muerto Combat Region
The local forces were considered entirely capable of dealing with any and all pro-Katherine protests which occurred within this combat region.

Broken Wheel Combat Region
None of the three training units within this region were considered any threat of a pro-Katherine mutiny and as such were simply ordered to continue training and pirate hunting. Some additional conventional forces were however deployed to deal with disturbances. In case the cadets and staff of the Filtvet Training Battalion felt put out by the gift of Thanatos battlemech's to their counterparts at Point Barrow a similar order was sent to them that they too would receive a company of Thanatos 'mechs for training and testing.

Lyran Alliance

The various former Federated Sun's units within the Lyran Alliance were all notified quietly by New Avalon of the arrest of the Archon and were informed to prepare to depart the LA if any move was taken against them. Units in and close to the Arc-Royal Defence Cordon were told to hold their positions their and attempt to secure the Jade Falcon border at almost any costs. Interestingly the Commanding Officers of both the 3rd and 4th Alliance Guard's were notified. Both Leftenant General Andor of the 3rd and Leftenant General Gregg of the 4th were considered to be pro-Victor and pro-FedCom/FedSuns and as such were notified in case of backlash. Both generals although not exactly pro-Victor were grateful for the warnings and it did have the effect of shifting their loyalties somewhat more in favour of New Avalon over Tharkad. Duke Morgan Kell was also notified as were a small number of pro-Davion mercenary commands such as the Blue Star Irregulars.
« Last Edit: 05 May 2019, 18:10:47 by Billy Boy Mark II »

David CGB

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #2 on: 05 May 2019, 19:30:46 »
more please
Federated Suns fan forever, Ghost Bear Fan since 1992, and as a Ghost Bear David Bekker star captain (in an Alt TL Loremaster)

gladius

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #3 on: 05 May 2019, 19:59:53 »
Yes! Yes! Someone slaps down Mary Sue Kathy and reminds her that there are consequences for treason, and there is no other word to describe her actions against her family and her nation!

Bravo! Continue, please!

DOC_Agren

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #4 on: 05 May 2019, 20:51:21 »
 :thumbsup:  MORE PLEASE
"For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed:And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!"

shadowdancer

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #5 on: 05 May 2019, 22:05:40 »
I like. More please.
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cawest

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #6 on: 05 May 2019, 22:58:11 »
I like the start of this.  looking forward to were you might take this. 

Easy

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #7 on: 06 May 2019, 00:08:38 »
These people must be working out some kind of karmic Fahrenheit 451 debt. You better continue before somebody is forced into another reincarnation. j/k  :) More, please.
« Last Edit: 06 May 2019, 00:11:29 by Easy »

drakensis

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #8 on: 06 May 2019, 01:29:00 »
Two minor nitpicks: the Davion Heavy Guards would have been away with Victor and the New Avalon Cavaliers didn't exist as such since they were formed as a new incarnation of Team Banzai after the canonical end of the FCCW.

It's easy to bring the Cavaliers together early though and they're easily elite enough to do what the Heavy Guards do. Or the well-equipped New Avalon CrMM can step up.
"It's national writing month, not national writing week and a half you jerk" - Consequences, 9th November 2018

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #9 on: 06 May 2019, 03:14:35 »
Two minor nitpicks: the Davion Heavy Guards would have been away with Victor and the New Avalon Cavaliers didn't exist as such since they were formed as a new incarnation of Team Banzai after the canonical end of the FCCW.

It's easy to bring the Cavaliers together early though and they're easily elite enough to do what the Heavy Guards do. Or the well-equipped New Avalon CrMM can step up.

The only reference to the Davion Heavy Guards was them fighting as part of Operation Bulldog after which they came back to New Avalon - which was a little bit ago. So they didn't go with Victor. As for the New Avalon Cavaliers, I've assumed that Team Banzai/Cavaliers was something of an "informal" organisation but that it can be activated as required. Which is also why I've had them activate to secure the academies - because that's where 90% of their members and mechs are based. Fair?

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #10 on: 06 May 2019, 07:15:42 »
3061 - First Quarter - Victor's Return

The year started with the FedCom in turmoil. Commands were moving to reinforce key sectors, small scale battles had broken out in a number of areas and civil disturbances were breaking out all over the FedCom's territories. Still with command and control secure from New Avalon, Robinson and New Sytris and with all of the various regional command centres firmly in the hands of the legitimate military authorities the situation was well in hand. The largest number of deployments were in fact not Battlemech equipped units but instead independent infantry brigades rushing from planet to planet to quell disturbances.

January 3061

January opened with fighting either breaking out or continuing in a number of areas, mostly within the Capellan March.

Within the Achernar PDZ fighting had broken out on Kansu and Algol. On Kansu 75% of the 1st Kestrel Grenadiers and the Vegan Ranger's Beta Regiment faced off against the 1st Republican regiment along with a number of local militia's who had sided with the pro-Tikonov command. Even with these reinforcements however the understrength 1st Republican soon found itself hard pressed to fight off the elite units arrayed against it. After holding out for 2 weeks of brutal fighting the unit broke and it's survivors joined the few remaining Kansu Militia units to attempt to flee into the wilderness. However the largely XL engines mech's of the Vegan Ranger's Beta Regiment soon ran down the vast majority of fleeing enemies. A handful survived to escape but these would be little threat and were hunted down over the next few weeks. Leaving a small force Marshal Stromp prepared to move on the 3rd Republican on Yangtze. On Algol the remainder of the Kestrel Grenadiers found themselves acting more as a support for the two veteran units of the Vegan Ranger's Alpha and Gamma Regiments. Under the command of General Stancel of the Alpha Regiment the combined AFFC-Mercenary force smashed into the 2nd Republican. Expecting to be facing an under strength unit with limited supplies General Stancel's forces were surprised to find themselves facing an almost intact regiment with ample supplies. However even this was unable to do more than prolong the inevitable. Using his own Alpha Regiment and the attached Grenadiers as a hammer and the Gamma Regiment as an anvil the general proceeded to smash the 2nd Republican over the course of January and into early February, finally accepting the surrender of the 2nd Republican's remaining battered forces on the 3rd of February.

Also within the Achernar PDZ the 1st FedCom RCT largely disarmed the Nanking SMM although left it's Command Officer Leftenant General Tull in command, although with a number of his officers facing court martial's. The 1st FedCom then moved on to Achernar itself, leaving a small combined arms regiment to ensure that the Nanking SMM remembered it's duties. During this time the Davion Assault Guards RCT also arrived upon Tikonov and took most of the staff and cadets of the Tikonov Martial Academy Training Group into custody pending investigations. At least half of the staff and nearly a third of the cadets would subsequently either be dismissed from service of face criminal charges. The remainder would be returned to their positions for the time being.

The other major area of fighting was on the industrial world of Kathil. Here the 8th FedCom loudly declared for the "Archon-Princess" and refused to stand down at what they felt was the usurpation of her rightful attempt to take the reigns from her weak sister. The 6th New Sytris Fusiliers attempted a quick and overwhelming strike on the 8th FedCom's base, but were rebuffed with heavy losses particularly in their armour support. Following this failed quick strike the war on Kathil turned into a series of sieges, feints and battles for position. Again and again the Fusiliers attempted to break through the 8th FedCom's lines with the 2nd NAIS Cadre in support. However as the 6th's losses mounted more and more cadets from the 2nd Cadre were drawn into the battle and suffered disproportionate losses. All through January the battle continued, with little change being made for the lives being lost.

On other worlds riots and minor disturbances would take place but these were easily contained.

Within the Lyran Alliance General of the Armies Nondi Steiner realised her nieces attempted takeover of the FedSuns Command had failed by the 1st of January. She had been expected regular updates from Katherine Steiner-Davion and when these totally failed to materialise after the 22nd of December she feared the worst. Hurried inquiries with various agents in place in "Davion" units within the Lyran Alliance and to operatives within the FedSuns Command itself confirmed to her on the 1st January that her niece had been taken into custody and that throughout the Lyran Alliance pro-Victor units were preparing to move. Whether to withdraw into the FedSuns or to attack her position at Tharkad she couldn't be sure. Not wishing to start a civil war she was reluctant to attack the pro-Victor units but at the same stage she had not achieved her rank solely because of her second name. She immediately began shifting supplies and troops to better positions on the event that a civil war did break out. Deliberately stripping the Jade Falcon border to the bare bones she put more pressure on Duke Morgan Kell's Arc Royal Defence Cordon and the various mercenary, Wolf-in-Exile, "traitor" Lyran and Davion units stationed within it to defend the border. This action however did have the unforeseen consequence of infuriating the commanding officer of the 14th Donegal Guards RCT, Leftenant-General Adam Steiner. Seeing the shifting forces as a blatant political manoeuvre which was stripping the world's of the border of protection he began to think long and hard on his support for the regime on Tharkad. Towards the end of the month he would begin to enter into talks not only with Duke Kell but also with other LAAF officers who had previously been either neutral or pro-Katherine to discuss his concerns.

In January within the St Ives Compacts brief skirmishes began between SLDF Peacekeepers and local St Ives units and even some FedCom units such as the 7th FedCom RCT.

February 3061

The fighting on Kansu and Algol was slowly dying down and Marshal Stromp authorised her own 1st Kestrel Grenadiers and elements of the Vegan Ranger's Alpha and Gamma Regiments to lift off and head for Yangtze. However by the time they had arrived over the world in late February the 3rd Republican was gone. The unit had fled and taken with it as many stores as it could loot, pillage and steal. As well as recruiting at least 2 regiments worth of local militia infantry to join its "Free Tikonov" cause. The 1st Kestrel Grenadiers along with attached conventional troops were then forced to begin rebuilding the military infrastructure of Yangtze that the 3rd had looted and wilfully destroyed.

On Achernar the Achernar SMM had been alerted to the impending arrival of the 1st FedCom RCT. Although the unit stood up in case they were attacked even the most fanatically pro-Tikonov members knew they had little chance of surviving an assault by the veteran RCT. Although the commanding officer Hauptmann General Flostet informed his officers he wished to defend the planet from the "Davion invaders" after Marshal Swanson made it clear that she was not here to crush the unit but to take it's commanding officers as well as a handful of separatists into custody the rest of the unit stood down after a few tense days. The arrests did have the effect of reducing the already under strength unit to 50% of it's paper strength.

The battles on Kathil only got worse as February continued and additional conventional units were dispatched by by New Sytris and New Avalon from neighbouring worlds to reinforce the loyalist New Sytris Fusiliers and NAIS Cadre. Although these added little offensive firepower to the 6th New Sytris Fusiliers RCT's forces they did allow Hauptmann General Silver to further blockade the 8th FedCom RCT's territories and limit their manoeuvrability considerably. While the 8th could easily smash a conventional armour regiment, the time it took to do so would allow the battlemech's of the 6th and their 2nd Cadre allies to rush to the area. Still with little progress being made at the end of February Duke Hasek ordered the 5th Sytris Fusiliers RCT and the 3rd NAIS Cadre to reinforce their sister units.

During February the already tense situation within the St Ives Compact escalated further and open battles began to take place between the SLDF Peacekeepers and the local and FedCom units. An open battle erupted between the 7th FedCom RCT and the 5th Lyran Regulars. The veteran battlemech force of the 5th Regulars easily held their own against the much larger but less experienced 7th FedCom, but both sides took considerable losses. These losses drew the attention of the High Command on New Avalon and they began to take steps to prepare to reinforce their allies within the St Ives. The situation was further inflamed when Denbar was annexed to the Capellan Confederation by House Hiritsu.

Within the Lyran Alliance Nondi Steiner began to hear rumours of officers discussing the apparent disappearance of the Archon and what this meant for her own position. At this stage the first whispers that perhaps Peter Steiner-Davion could be considered to take up at least a temporary regency, perhaps with her remaining as General of Armies to advise him, began to reach her ears. She briefly considered ordering the arrest of Adam Steiner who seemed to be the main focus of the unrest but rationalised this would only antagonise the officer corp of the LAAF further. She did continue to make plans and prepare for any attack on Tharkad.

March 3061

March started with active fighting dying down across the FedCom but with brief upsurges of unrest on a number of worlds. These were largely handled by the local March Militia's reinforced with conventional infantry units. The first reports from Mayetta began reaching the ears of Marshal of the Armies Jackson Davion and they were less than reassuring. Given the situation he authorised a full brigade of infantry sent to the planet to secure the investigators from any reprisals and ordered the nearby Bremond DMM, Milligan DMM and Tsamma CrMM to prepare to move into the region to pacify it if fighting broke out. The 1st Crucis Lancers RCT was also ordered to being to prepare for a move to Mayetta if the local officers attempted to fight their way out of trouble. Backed up by elements of 3 March Militia's he was confident that the experienced and well equipped 1st Crucis Lancers RCT could put down any revolt.

The fighting did however continue on Kathil, with the 8th FedCom RCT now heavily dug in and abandoning any breakout attempts. Their only hope which was becoming more and more marginal by the day was that another pro-Katherine unit would arrive or that Archon-Princess Katherine would come to power on New Avalon. Both hopes were fading fast and were crushed when it was the loyalists who were reinforced. At this stage defections began in large numbers, but the hardcore of the unit continued to resist until a bloody assault that began on the 14th March and ended on the 18th March finally overran their positions. Including those who had already defected to the loyalists a bare third of the RCT was left after the fighting and all four loyalist units had been mauled. There were loud calls from the Sytris Fusiliers and NAIS Cadre to disband the 8th FedCom RCT and strike it's colours.

On the 15th March 3061 one of the greatest fears of the those loyal to Archon-Prince Victor Ian Steiner-Davion were banished when he and his troops arrived back within the Inner Sphere. Battered, bloodied but triumphant they had returned from the Great Refusal on Strana Mechty victorious. However the various units and leaders of the Victor's own task force and the battered survivors of Task Force Serpent would have no time to relax. With the situation critical both Victor and his good friend Kai Allard-Liao took command of their own realm's forces and immediately rushed back to their respective realms. Victor Steiner-Davion was perhaps hurried on this path when he was informed curtly by the Coordinator Theodore Kurita that his daughter had died in childbirth attempting to bring Victor's son into the world. Victor was told that both mother and son had died. The brutal and abrupt nature of the news was perhaps the first sign that the alliance between the two men was beginning to fracture. As was the fact that Theodore Kurita lied to Victor about the fate of his son. In fact although Omi Kurita had indeed died in childbirth she had given birth to a healthy son who had been whisked away on the Coordinator's own orders by ISF to be raised at a remote monastery maintained by that organisation. Not even Theodore's own son Hohiro was notified of the survival of his nephew and he was privately known to blame Victor for his sister and nephews death.

Despite his now cooling relationship with Victor Steiner-Davion, Theodore Kurita did make every effort to speed his travels back to the FedCom border and a chain of Jumpships transported the Archon-Prince and his accompanying units to the Draconis March border where a similar chain had been set up linking Robinson with New Avalon on the basis that he would return safely. A less intensive jump line had been created to return Kai Allard-Liao to the St Ives. Leaving the bulk of his forces within the Draconis March the Archon Prince rushed to New Avalon with only his personal guard drawn from the 1st Davion Guards (the bulk of which had remained on New Avalon) and the 10th Lyran Guards RCT. At a number of key locations Fox class corvettes had been deployed to safeguard the returning Prince. Even with these precautions and jumpship lines the Archon Prince would not arrive on New Avalon until early April, while Kai Allard-Liao would not arrive back in the St Ives until the beginning of May.

In the St Ives Compact the word of the return of Kai caused a massive upsurge in pro-St Ives feeling, particularly on those worlds with SLDF Peacekeepers. At this time and in preparation for the upcoming Whitting Conference the First Star Lord Sun-Tzu Liao began transferring the SLDF Peacekeepers out of the St Ives and replacing them with his own House troops. This did little to calm the situation and soon the fighting was breaking out all along the border worlds. The 7th FedCom RCT fresh from "driving off" the 5th Lyran Regulars soon proceeded to attack the replacement CCAF troops in open combat. The 3rd Canopian Fusiliers in particular found the 7th FedCom's brutal attacks devastating and were only saved from being driven of the world by the interventions of Warrior House Hiritsu who had rushed from their seizure of Denbar to rescue their embattled allies. The 7th FedCom RCT's assaults were only slowed due to the heavy losses it was sustaining in maintaining them, although amongst the infantry formations these losses were often replaced by fanatical St Ives natives joining the colours. Duchess Candace Allard-Liao personally sent the unit a lance of Victor battlemech's to replace losses and to honour their sacrifices on her realms behalf.

General of the Armies Nondi Steiner had finally decided that enough was enough and she sent a threatening demand to New Avalon to Victor Steiner-Davion, the so-called-Archon-Prince, to demand the release of the Archon of the Lyran Alliance and her immediate return to the LA. This message would be awaiting Victor upon his arrival on New Avalon.
« Last Edit: 13 May 2019, 03:00:38 by Billy Boy Mark II »

gladius

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #11 on: 06 May 2019, 08:42:52 »
Honestly this part I am less happy about. Omi’s death seems to be just added in to break up the Steiner-Davion/Kurita understanding forged during the Clan war, and Theodore’s actions seem to be tailored to cause as much conflict as possible.

Recall that Omi got her father’s permission and approval to sleep with Victor. Theo liked and r3pected Victor enough to allow that, as well as loving his daughter. Now, with a freak accident (which is all I could call a death in childbirth in a Successor Lord family, unless it was really an assasination), he’s not only basically blamed Vic for the death, but outright lied to the guy about his child being alive?

This feels like cheap drama, honestly. I thought we were moving away from decisions chosen specifically to prevent ‘Peacetech’ and bring on the Fifth Succession War to drive up sourcebook sales ...

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #12 on: 06 May 2019, 08:50:30 »
Honestly this part I am less happy about. Omi’s death seems to be just added in to break up the Steiner-Davion/Kurita understanding forged during the Clan war, and Theodore’s actions seem to be tailored to cause as much conflict as possible.

Recall that Omi got her father’s permission and approval to sleep with Victor. Theo liked and r3pected Victor enough to allow that, as well as loving his daughter. Now, with a freak accident (which is all I could call a death in childbirth in a Successor Lord family, unless it was really an assasination), he’s not only basically blamed Vic for the death, but outright lied to the guy about his child being alive?

This feels like cheap drama, honestly. I thought we were moving away from decisions chosen specifically to prevent ‘Peacetech’ and bring on the Fifth Succession War to drive up sourcebook sales ...

The Omi death will be covered lately, but it wasn't a freak accident. As for Theodore lying - didn't he do that in canon as well. I mean NOBODY told victor he had a son with Omi. They certainly could have. But chose not too till the son himself told him decades later.

Also Theodore wouldn't be the first father in history to blame someone unjustly for the death of his daughter.

I have to admit I am trying to cause a break up of the Kurita-Steiner Davion alliance right now. For one thing it will cause huge problems for Victor internally within the FedSuns if his heir is a Kurita, for another if the Draconis Combine and FedSuns remain in detente then the actual sources of combat and plot development get pretty thin on the ground. I mean it's not much fun to do an entire timeline where the FedSuns main rival isn't their rival and they get along famously. 

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #13 on: 06 May 2019, 15:40:21 »
3061 Interlude - Victor's Arrival and Rebirth

As soon as Archon-Prince Victor Steiner-Davion arrived on New Avalon he was hurriedly transported to the Fox's Den. There he met with the various leaders of the Federated Commonwealth. Both March Lord's had hurried from their respective capital worlds - Duke Sandoval on the very jumpline laid down for the returning prince, and they had joined the High Command members already there. Along with the various members of the AFFC a number of Dukes and other civilian leaders were soon sent for and joined in the deliberations. Excluding routine commands sent out to deal with the remaining problem spots across the Federated Sun's Command little further was heard from the Fox's Den and the leaders it contained for almost the remainder of April. Rarely for such a conference of high ranking officials there were no leaks and almost no staff members beyond the various leaders themselves were present for almost the entirety of the discussion.

However when Archon-Prince Victor emerged from the Fox's Den on the 2nd May 3061 to address the people of the Federated Commonwealth and the rest of the Inner Sphere it was clear that much had been decided upon. Alongside Victor stood the entirety of the High Command in Federated Sun's style uniforms, his sister Yvonne Steiner-Davion, the Privy Council, the representatives of the High Council and representatives from almost every one of the various Davion family lines - although most were represented by member's who were already there due to membership of the aforementioned organisations.

The first thing that the Victor Steiner-Davion announced was a number of changes. First he was declaring the Federated Commonwealth to be disbanded and reforming his realm into the Federated Suns. Second he was renouncing the title of Archon-Prince and taking up his father's mantle of First Prince. Along with this change in title he was for the remainder of his lifetime and for all of his future descendants renouncing the second name of Steiner and would henceforth be known purely as Victor Davion, although he stressed in this particular deceleration that this only applied to himself and not to any of his siblings who were more than free to make their own decisions regarding this matter. As his first act as First Prince of the Federated Sun's he was announcing a general pardon for any and all who might have been swayed to treachery by the machinations of his sister. So long as they stood down and made no further attempts to resist the legitimate authority of himself as First Prince. He then assured the people of the newly reborn FedSun's that he had returned from the Clan War's victorious but that he would now stay within the Federated Sun's and lead it in a new renaissance of glory. He promised to expand the economic power and opportunities within the realm not only through expansions of the military industrial complex but also the civilian one also, during this part of his speech he made a point to address the people of the Outback "the Federated Sun's long forgotten children", who he would now make every effort to integrate into the realm properly. No longer would their worlds be a source only of men and material for the Federated Suns and a target for pirates, but now the government upon New Avalon would invest in their economies and in their defence. As a single example of this he announced that within the next quarter he would put before the people of the Outback a plan to build a new aerospace megaplex within the Outback to produce dropships, jumpships and perhaps even warships in time. Such a new industrial concern would require protecting and he assured them that the defences of the Outback would be strengthened accordingly. Using this as a springboard he also announced that he intended to recall all "True son's and daughter's of the Federated Suns home" from their long term garrisons within the LA while returning those Lyran units which wished to go home, although acknowledged that this transfer would take some time so as not to weaken either realm's defensive borders.

After having mentioned the Lyran Alliance he then spoke directly to it's people. He first of all apologised. For his failure to properly lead them and for allowing his sister to seize power. He went on to explain his motivations behind the decisions which he now with hindsight realised were a mistake. Although now formally ceding his claim to the throne of Tharkad and his Steiner name he wished the Lyran people and realm nothing but the best and continued to consider them family. During a long and clearly difficult part of the speech he then explained that he had come into evidence that the true culprit behind his mother's murder was none other than an assassin hired by his sister Katherine Steiner-Davion. He admitted that many would find this impossible to believe but that he had prepared evidence and would submit it to the Star League's ruling body at the next Whitting Conference in November. He would then lead it up to them to decide his sister's guilt or innocence and if guilty her punishment. He beseeched the people of the Lyran Alliance and the members of the LAAF in the meantime to remain calm, to follow the legitimate orders of authority and not to fall into panic and civil war. He went so far as to instruct any who still valued his advice to follow the legitimate orders of General of the Armies Nondi Steiner. Although he did suggest to his aunt that she might wish to consider forming a government of national unity and include individuals such as Grand Duke Morgan Kell and General Adam Steiner within it, perhaps even including his brother Peter Steiner-Davion. He promised that no units under his command would attempt to attack any unit sworn to his sister or under the command of his aunt, but asked that this be reciprocated. That the Lyran and Davion people's had been brother's in arms for decades and that he did not wish this chapter to end in needless bloodshed.

He then moved on briefly direct himself to the people's and leaders of the other Successor States and realms. He promised that he wished nothing more than to live in peace and harmony with them within the framework, yet in a pointed indication towards the current fighting in the St Ives Compact, he reminded them that the Federated Sun's although newly reborn stood strong and firm in it's determination to resist tyranny and aggression on any and all fronts, and perhaps most tellingly that it would stand by it's allies and friends until victory was secured no matter the cost. No direct threat was made, no names were mentioned, yet only a fool would have missed that this was a message aimed directly at Sian.

First Prince Victor Davion finished by promising his people that he would continue to work to protect and better their lives and that they would see many more announcements on both economic and military matters in the coming months and even years. The Federated Sun's had been reborn and it's First Prince would lead it into the future!

gladius

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #14 on: 06 May 2019, 19:05:05 »
Sorry, you’ve lost me. I’m a FedCom Forever guy, and Victor was raised in the Lyran Commonwealth, and considered them as much his people as the Federation. He also sees the FedCom as his parents great work.

True, in canon, he accepted the split, but that was after years of destructive Civil War, combined with Kathy’s relentless propaganda and her still being entrenched in power. Here, she’s in prison, he’s released the truth of her matricide, and he’s ... splitting the FedCom in half because he really prefers the Federation, honestly ... which only proves much of Kathy’s propaganda right: he’s his father’s son, while she was the true Steiner!

It just feels like ‘let’s do canon, just skip the whole messy Civil War.’

Edit: ignore me, I’m just an eternal Fix Ficer ... I want to see the FedCom rise up stronger than ever. But that’s ckearly not the point of this fic, especially from, you know, the title. I’ll be quiet now. :)
« Last Edit: 06 May 2019, 19:29:06 by gladius »

shadowdancer

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #15 on: 06 May 2019, 22:43:51 »
Victor was given the autopsy report on Omi by Theodore himself after her assassination. In the report it did say that she had given birth to a child. He never asked.
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hpackrat

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #16 on: 07 May 2019, 00:11:52 »
My question would be why is he getting this news from Theodore rather than from his own intelligence agency? Are they incompetent that they would miss the absence & death of a well-known public figure? Are his advisers incompetent that they don't ask what happened to the child? Nondi continuing to fight with Katherine in custody & Victor throwing away his parents' legacy already stretches belief.

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #17 on: 07 May 2019, 02:53:04 »
Sorry, you’ve lost me. I’m a FedCom Forever guy, and Victor was raised in the Lyran Commonwealth, and considered them as much his people as the Federation. He also sees the FedCom as his parents great work.

True, in canon, he accepted the split, but that was after years of destructive Civil War, combined with Kathy’s relentless propaganda and her still being entrenched in power. Here, she’s in prison, he’s released the truth of her matricide, and he’s ... splitting the FedCom in half because he really prefers the Federation, honestly ... which only proves much of Kathy’s propaganda right: he’s his father’s son, while she was the true Steiner!

It just feels like ‘let’s do canon, just skip the whole messy Civil War.’

Edit: ignore me, I’m just an eternal Fix Ficer ... I want to see the FedCom rise up stronger than ever. But that’s ckearly not the point of this fic, especially from, you know, the title. I’ll be quiet now. :)

As you say - this isn't about rebuilding the FedCom. Personally I'd actually prefer that, but I'd say by this stage that is pretty much impossible. Maybe Victor could do it if he played the whole "conqueror of the Clans" thing to the hilt, but it would almost certainly mean a civil war in the LA, made all the more damaging as he'd have to use FedSuns units to support him. Better to part company in my view. I also do agree with you he was very Lyran in his outlook, but the Lyran half has told him to bugger off while the FedSuns half is pretty strongly behind him. He's taking what he can get basically.

Victor was given the autopsy report on Omi by Theodore himself after her assassination. In the report it did say that she had given birth to a child. He never asked.

In all honesty I'd forgot about that entirely.

My question would be why is he getting this news from Theodore rather than from his own intelligence agency? Are they incompetent that they would miss the absence & death of a well-known public figure? Are his advisers incompetent that they don't ask what happened to the child? Nondi continuing to fight with Katherine in custody & Victor throwing away his parents' legacy already stretches belief.

He has just returned from Huntress to find his sister in custody, riots going on throughout his realm and outright battles occurring - and the thought that Omi is dead is a pretty harsh one for him so he's throwing himself into other endeavours. Those same advisors are also pretty much concentrating on the emergency at hand. Nondi hasn't fought  yet, she may or may not. As for throwing away his parents legacy the only way to preserve that intact right now is to fight a lengthly civil war and poison it forever.

hpackrat

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #18 on: 07 May 2019, 06:42:36 »
He has just returned from Huntress to find his sister in custody, riots going on throughout his realm and outright battles occurring - and the thought that Omi is dead is a pretty harsh one for him so he's throwing himself into other endeavours. Those same advisors are also pretty much concentrating on the emergency at hand. Nondi hasn't fought  yet, she may or may not. As for throwing away his parents legacy the only way to preserve that intact right now is to fight a lengthly civil war and poison it forever.
I'd say it's a fight that needs to be fought. Abraham Lincoln fought a civil war to keep a nation intact, not pander to armed nobles with more ambition than sense. Besides, this is a PR war that Katherine started. Victor was raised on the Steiner throneworld & fought to remove invaders to his realm. How the heck Nondi thought of him as being less patriotic than Katherine, who never fought on the frontlines, I'll never understand. The woman must be senile & merely sees Katherine's resemblance to her grandmother.

Dave Talley

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #19 on: 07 May 2019, 08:29:34 »
all he would need is to meet Nondi and show her and the Lyran intel guys the evidence, and she would turn
she is protective of Katherine, but she is still a Lyran loyalist, she would
get over it eventually, once her people have shown her where K had lied and manipulated her and the press,
Kell and Adam Steiner would help soothe things over in the PR department,
and the FedCom wouldn't necessarily have to be split, they would really need to spread the wealth and help industrialize areas like the Outback and Skye so the the avergae citizens see the value of the merger instead of letting populist ****** take advantage of thier ignorance
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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #20 on: 08 May 2019, 11:51:50 »
3061 - Second Quarter - The FedSuns reborn

During this quarter the ramifications of the rebirth of the FedSuns from the old FedSuns Command of the Federated Commonwealth continued throughout the realm, while the other nations of the Inner Sphere took stock of this development and began to plan accordingly. Riots on a number of worlds in support of Katherine Steiner-Davion began to die down as order was restored and active fighting ceased.


April 3061


Much of April was spent in anticipation of what was going to be declared by the returning Archon-Prince after he had met with the various authorities upon New Avalon. Various commanders and civilian leaders almost held their breath and did as little as possible to bring themselves to their superior's attentions, attempting to find out which way the wind was blowing before declaring for one side or another. Rumours abounded, everything from Victor abdicating in favour of Katherine to leading a massive crusade into the Lyran Alliance to reconquer that realm for the Federated Commonwealth. Talk show hosts and their expert guests had a field day discussing all of the various options. One particular recurring rumour particularly within the Capellan March was that Archon-Prince Victor would declare himself First Star Lord and invade the Capellan Confederation and destroy it utterly.


Within the Achernar and Valexa PDZ the hunt continued for the missing Tikonov Republican Guards. A major MIIO presence also began to grow within the Achernar PDZ in particular as it soon became apparent that a number of militia officers and even staff officers within the various command posts had been complicit in warning the 3rd Republican. Arrests began, but in many cases the culprits had already themselves disappeared. Towards the end of the month the Tikonov Martial Academy Training Group was returned to active service, although at a severely reduced strength. Barely 45% of the unit had passed muster on the background checks and interviews on loyalty and so were returned to duty. The Tikonov Martial Academy itself suffered similar losses in cadets and the Training Group and Academy's officers were even worse hit as many were arrested for treason and formally charged. Officers were drafted in initially from the Davion Assault Guards to take up teaching posts but were soon replaced by dedicated officers from the Department of Military Education. Although the fate of the Academy and it's training cadre hung in the balance the nervous cadets and remaining staff began to have some hope that their institute would not be disbanded. At the same time the remnants of the 1st and 2nd Republican units were brought to Tikonov and began the process of interviews to ascertain which of them had merely been following orders, or had not known of their leaders treachery and which were active traitors to the FedCom. More than half of them would fail these tests.


On Kathil the surrendering 8th FedCom RCT was treated with more respect and remained as a formed up unit, albeit one under heavy guard and assigned very little in the way of ammunition, spare parts or facilities to repair their damaged equipment. They were reassigned to an out of the way base and were under constant observation by the garrisoning loyalist units. When the remaining officers of the 8th requested access to the battlefields to salvage their damaged equipment and the return of equipment captured by the Sytris Fusiliers and NAIS Cadres this was denied although they did have a number of captured personnel returned to them. All in all the former RCT hovered around a single combat command built around roughly a reinforced battalion of 'mechs, although most of those were heavily damaged. With replacement equipment the 8th FedCom could have formed another 2 companies of battlemechs and fielded another regiment of tanks.


May 3061


The announcement of the rebirth of the Federated Sun's electrified not only the various military commands and planetary government's of the newly reborn nation but also it's populace. On the whole the remaining pro-Katherine protests died down almost overnight as people attempted to take in the changes. Although around the former Sarna March worlds of the Achernar PDZ this trend was reversed and many additional protests broke out, although these were a confusing mix of pro-Capellan, pro-FedCom, pro-Tikonov and even pro-FedSuns counter protests. The two SMM in the region found themselves hard pressed to contain the protests and for the first time were perhaps thankful of the large number of FedCom/FedSuns infantry brigades which had been deployed to the area. Units such as the Davion Assault Guards and 1st Kestrel Grenadiers attempted as best they could to limit their exposure to the protests to avoid further inflammation of an already volatile mix. Although the 1st FedCom RCT was publicly deployed, even as it's members privately questioned what their future might hold.


Within the Draconis and Crucis Marches the First Prince's speech drew a largely positive response, no doubt helped in the Draconis March by their beloved Duke James Sandoval standing so close and in obvious support for Victor Davion. Within the Crucis March the response was particularly favourable within the Outback, although this region spread into both of the other Marches and on the worlds of the Draconis and Capellan Outback the response was equally in favour of the First Prince's promises of investments and defence. While some more cynical commentators and in particular the cadets of various Outback military academies noted that many Davion's had made similar promises and then not delivered the general mood was one of optimistic hope. This shift was enough that the High Command shifted the loyalty ratings of the Filtvelt Academy Training Battalion and the Kilbourne Academy Training Battalion from questionable to reliable. The Point Barrow Academy Training Battalion remained with a questionable rating.


The Capellan March saw a similar upsurge in support for First Prince Victor although this was more guarded. With the loss of their beloved Duke Morgan Hasek-Davion the March was sliding back into older habits and looked more to his son George Hasek than to a New Avalon Prince. Still the rebirth of the FedSun's itself were popular and many of the Marches units were amongst the first to swiftly switch over to AFFS green uniforms - most drawn from old storage although the High Command had assured everyone that new uniforms would soon be being shipped out to all commands. The 8th FedCom and to a lesser extent the 3rd FedCom did make some protests as to the change and the disbandment of their "parent" realm.


Their sister RCT the 7th barely even noticed the change as it continued to fight heavily within the St Ives Compact against the Capellan Warrior House Hiritsu backed up by the still mauled 3rd Canopian Fusiliers and 6th Confederation Reserve Cavalry. The losses continued to mount but as May progressed the command staff of the 7th and the St Ives as a whole were assured that help was on it's way. On the 30th of May the first of these reinforcements arrived. The 15th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT arrived in system at Denbar along with the 2nd Chisholm Raiders RCT. Fresh from facing down the 8th Donegal Guard's the 2nd, 5th and Davion Light Guards RCT's all arrived at St Ives with the warship the newly renamed FSS Melissa Davion and placed themselves entirely under the command of Duchess Candance Allard-Liao and assured her that not only was her son Kai on his way home as quickly as the FedSun's could arrange additional units were to be placed under his and her command including the 1st and 2nd Cunningham Commandos mercenary regiments and other AFFS units as well. First Prince Davion had not abandoned her or her people.


Within the Lyran Alliance First Prince Victor's announcement nearly caused a civil war. On many worlds huge numbers turned out to support their beloved Archon Katherine and to deny that she could be capable of the crimes that she was accused off, yet on many of these worlds they were met with counter protests and the situation soon turned bloody. Indeed the breakdown of law and order on almost a hundred worlds and with many more teetering on the brink may have ironically saved the LAAF from tearing itself apart. Every command post and military unit was soon frantically attempting to maintain civil government and prevent outright anarchy and civil war breaking out amongst the populace that they had little time to do anything else. Most most of May things hung in the balance.


On two worlds this however broke down.


On Coventry, when Duke Bradford publically came out and supported the First Princes accusations and lamented that the actions of his sister had irredeemably damaged the shining ideal of the Federated Commonwealth the garrisoning 1st Coventry Jaeger's had had enough. Their new commanding officer Colonel Jason Walker immediately ordered his regiment to take the Duke into custody and prepare him for transport to Tharkad to face charges of treason. When the Coventry CPM stood in his way he ordered a general attack. The fighting went hard for the still green and forming Coventry CPM and they were soon driven back to the Ducal Palace and were only barely able to hold the Jaeger's off long enough for the Duke to evacuate himself and his family. The CPM would have been entirely destroyed had the mercenary unit the Kristen's Krushers not began to mobilise. Given his previous disdain for the mercenaries Colonel Walker could not be sure they weren't coming to the aid of the Coventry CPM and retreated back to better positions in case the "mercenary scum" attacked him. In fact Colonel Marik had urgently requested guidance from her employers and sought instructions from Tharkad and had mobilised purely as a "bluff". Still it had the desired of effect of stopping the fighting if only for now and preserving the Coventry CPM as a viable force.


On Blue Hole the commanding officer of the 3rd Alliance Guards RCT summoned his officers to the Officers Mess and informed them that having listened to the First Princes speech he was minded to believe it. When pro-Katherine elements of his officers loudly spoke out against the White Lion he flew into a rage and ordered them to cease or he would have them arrested. Although the officers did stop arguing that evening, the next morning a small group of them led their companies in an attempted coup against the "traitor" Leftenant-General Andor. With 4 mixed companies of mechs and the 11th Alliance HA(R) armour regiment backed up by elements of the 21st and 22nd Alliance Infantry Regiments they mutineers launched an attack on the command post. They were only halted by the actions of Colonel Fasino's 11th FedCom Jump Infantry Regiment. Colonel Fasino had long been a proponent of Prince Victor and when he saw some of his most vocal critic's units forming up he immediately summoned his own regiment to arms and moved to defend the command post. Although taking tremendous casualties holding off the much larger and heavier enemy forces his jump infantry were able to inflict considerable damage and delay the mutineers long enough for the rest of the RCT to respond. Trapped deep within the base the mutineers had little chance to retreat and were soon overwhelmed by forces loyal to Leftenant-General Andor who led the counter attacks personally. At the 3 day's of fighting the 3rd Alliance Guard's base on Blue Hole was wrecked and the unit had suffered almost 50% casualties, particularly severe within the 11th FedCom Jump Infantry Regiment. However by dawn of the 4th day the last mutineers were dead or in custody and the 3rd Alliance Guard RCT exhausted and battered loyalists had began to take up their old name of the 11th FedCom RCT - although some had even went so far as to begin calling themselves the 11th FedSuns RCT, while others began to refer to themselves as the 3rd or 11th Skye Rangers. Feelings were split as to what to do next.

The 4th Alliance Guards RCT did not suffer from the internal civil war that their sister regiment did on Blue Hole, but the unit made the pointed move of beginning to look for and fabricate AFFS style uniforms.

During this time period Nondi Steiner herself did very little, going almost totally silent. However rumours abounded that her command post at Fort Asgard within Mount Wotan had received several packages and shortly afterwards she had summoned some of the best LAAF crypto-analysts and intelligence officers to attend upon her...

Around the rest of the sphere First Prince Victor's announcement was most profoundly felt on Sian. The pointed statements had been heard and understood, yet things were going well within the St Ives. The world of Denbar was close to falling, Milos had fallen as had Indicass, while Vestallas and Brighton were on the verge of falling to the Capellan's and their allies. Sun-Tzu had committed his people and his own personal prestige to the battle and vowed to go ahead with reclaiming the St Ives Commonality for the Capellan Confederation. He did however send word to the Death Commando's he had dispatched to rescue Emma Centrella and Jeffrey Calderon to speed up their rescue attempt. He needed his allies to send more troops and this wouldn't be forthcoming with their leadership held hostage.

June 3061

June brought orders for the 3rd FedCom RCT to move from it's placement on New Aragon and make best speed to retake Indicass and it's factories for the St Ives. While the 8th FedCom RCT was finally issued new equipment, spare parts and aided in it's repairs while being ordered to prepare to join it's sister RCT the 7th FedCom on Denbar. The officers and troops of the 8th were in two minds about this, feeling that they were being thrown into a meat grinder as expendable, however many felt this was an opportunity to redeem themselves and it was certainly better than being disbanded as many within the Sytris Fusiliers had demanded. Returning to just over half strength within the month they began heading for the front. The 5th FedCom RCT was also ordered to Nashuar to join the fighting there.

In early June Duke Kai Allard-Liao arrived back on St Ives and began conferring with his mother and the assembled officers of the St Ives and FedSuns on how best to secure the St Ives Compact against further aggression.

On the 9th of June the situation on Mayetta broke down entirely. With the investigators closing in on his corruption Leftenant General Kirk Yalos ordered his son Leftenant General Jason Yalos to place them under arrest. While Jason Yalos made ever effort to follow his father's instructions he failed miserably. Over 2/3rds of his own RCT made no effort to support him and even with 4 companies of mechs, 2 battalions of armour and 2 regiments of infantry his attempt to arrest the investigators was bloodily repulsed by the conventional brigade of infantry which had been deployed to protect them. His tactical failures resulted in his mech forces losing nearly a quarter of their number and his conventional forces suffered even worse losses. At which point even his so called loyalists within the unit saw the writing on the wall and stood down. Leftenant General Yalos Sr. Immediately issued a call in favour of the imprisoned Archon-Princess Katherine Steiner-Davion and called upon all true sons and daughters of the Federated Commonwealth to stand with him. He also sent out demands for assistance to nearby CrMM and DMM forces to help him stand against the "tyranny of New Avalon". Even as the 1st Crucis Lancers RCT jumped in system to support the conventional troops already there he recieved a response. The Tsamma CrMM, Bremond DMM and Milligan DMM moved elements of their RCT's across into the Mayetta PDZ - not however to reinforced the Mayetta DMM but to support the 1st Crucis Lancers. Combat commands from all three March Militia's moved into the worlds bordering their own and secured them, taking any members of the Mayetta DMM into custody. Both Yalos's would be seized by infantry elements of the 1st Crucis Lancers by the end of June and would stand trial for a wide variety of crimes. The Mayetta DMM would be temporarily struck from the rolls and efforts made to reconstitute it as best they could with the non-Yalos aligned members of the March Militia as a core.

On the 12th June First Prince Victor Davion met with Marshal Roger William Waters, commanding officer of the Avalon Hussars Brigade. The first matter of business at their meeting was the Prince informing the Marshal that the conventional brigade of troops which had reinforced the 41st Avalon Hussars on Bennet III was to remain and permanently attach itself to the 41st. The addition of the 2 armoured regiments and 3 infantry regiment's would give the 41st a solid foundation for their expansion to a RCT and the First Prince had already earmarked an additional wing of aerospace fighters, another 2 armoured battalions and 2 more infantry regiments to bring them up to full strength. This however was merely a preliminary matter as far as Prince Victor was concerned. In a frank and open exchange of ideas and plans the First Prince outlined his plan to expand the Avalon Hussars brigade still further. He pointed out that the 11th and 20th Avalon Hussars RCT's here in the FedSuns were currently reinforced regiments, while the Marshal's own former command in the Lyran Alliance the 42nd was one of the largest RCT's in the AFFS, with not only a reinforced regiment of battlemechs but also no fewer than 12 conventional regiments attached to it, compared to the normal 8. As such he proposed to detach a battalion of volunteers from each of the 11th and 20th Avalon Hussars RCT's here in the FedSuns to form the core of 2 new Avalon Hussars RCT's. He suggested that the 11th's battalion be used to reform that regiment's lost sister regiment the 12th Avalon Hussars, while the battalion from the 20th Avalon Hussars be used to create the core for a new 1st Avalon Hussars. At this point the Marshal asked the First Prince that when the 42nd returned from Lyran space did the First Prince intend to rebuild the 34th or the 36th Avalon Hussars who had been used to recreate the 42nd. The answer was simple and unexpected. Both. Unlike the 11th and 20th the First Prince didn't merely intend to use the reinforced battalion to form new units, but intended to break the 42nd into 3 separate commands. Half of the RCT would remain as the 42nd and rebuild, while the other two battalions and half of the supporting conventional regiments would be used to form the core of the new 34th and 36th Avalon Hussars RCT. The First Prince acknowledged that this would leave 3 existing RCT's somewhat short staffed for a time, but in short order would add 4 RCT's to the brigades numbers. Marshal Waters was on the whole in support of the plans, however did note that the men and women of the 11th, 20th and 42nd might feel their strength had been sacrificed to form new units. Victor acknowledged this and offered to give assurances that all three RCT's would be expanded up to their reinforced size, a point that Marshal Waters noted would leave the door open to use them in a similar fashion again to seed off new units from them. It was hard not to notice that the First Prince didn't contradict the Marshal on that statement. The meeting ended with the First Prince and Marshal Waters in total accord on the expansions of the Avalon Hussars Brigade. On a final note the First Prince ordered the Marshal to draw up provisional plans for the future 1st, 12th, 34th and 36th Avalon Hussars, as well as the returning 42nd to be based in the Outback. The worlds there would be ideal training grounds for the new units and would allow them to expand to full strength without fear of being destroyed in a suprise attack. He indicated that this would be the future method he would be using to form new units, sending them to pirate hunting and garrison duties within the Outback, both to give them time to train and expand and to bolster the defences of the region. He also informed the Marshal that his brigade would have priority for pick of the graduating cadets from the 2nd and 3rd NAIS Cadres who had been bloodied on Kathil to help bolster the existing and new commands.

Not content with the proposed expansions of the Avalon Hussars Brigade First Prince Victor Davion also sent word to Tikonov to Marshal Stephan Cooper of the Davion Assault Guards RCT that he was to take any members of the Republicans who passed the battery of MIIO tests and use them to begin to form a new independent command, the 1st Tikonov Cossack's. The new unit was to consist eventually of a battlemech regiment and aerospace wing, and was ideally to be formed from light and medium cavalry mechs. The members of the Tikonov Martial Academy Training Group who had not been found to have seditious leanings were also to be promised that upon graduation they would be used to bolster this unit up to full strength. Once the unit was formed Marshal Cooper was to use it as a forward scouting auxiliary for his own assault class battalions.

The First Prince also at the end of June kept his promise to the people of the Outback and declared that the site for the new aerospace megaplex would be at Filtvelt. The site was to be run by Federated-Boeing Interstellar initially, with Universal Air being a junior partner as jumpship production started. The initial yards were to begin construction in 3062 and were to begin construction of primarily mule class dropships for the civilian market and union class vessels for the military. Once the yards were up and running and producing dropships an expansion was planned to begin construction of Merchant class dropships which would be earmarked for civilian use within the Outback to increase trade. Although this new shipyard would keep his initial promise the First Prince also announced that his government had begun talks with the Clyde Shipyards of Firgrove. Up until now this company had provided merely repair and maintenance facilities for dropships, but in conjunction with George Hasek the First Prince would be providing funds to have them expand and upgrade their yards to begin actual construction of dropships. The First Prince made no reference to what ships would be produced at the expanding yards however. Having granted news to both the Capellan and Crucis March elements of the Outback the First Prince also announced that he had begun preliminary talks with Duke Sandoval about a new battlemech production centre to be located somewhere within the Draconis Marches's Outback region, but that these talks were still in early stages but that they were going extremely positively, for which he gave most of the credit to the Duke of Robinson and his son Tancred who was managing the discussions here on New Avalon on his behalf.

Although several economists did question how the First Prince intended to pay for these costly projects most within the FedSuns were delighted with the news and the stock markets throughout the realm saw several large rises in response to the First Princes's promised investments, particularly the share prices of Federated-Boeing Interstellar, Universal Air, Clyde Shipyards and Robinson Standard BattleWorks - which although hadn't been mentioned everyone assumed correctly was going to be the company expanding it's production. One company which also saw a slight increase in it's share price was Challenge Systems of Panpour. With the current expansions of investments in the Federated Sun's aerospace sector many shrewd investors felt that this was another possible area in which the First Prince might begin expansions of production and were prepared to gamble accordingly. They would prove to be right.

On the St Ives's front the embattled CCAF, St Ives Military Command and AFFS troops continued a bloody stalemate. Both sides were awaiting reinforcements yet neither side was prepared to give ground. The addition of the 15th Deneb Light Cavalry and 2nd Chisholm Raiders to the bloodied 7th FedCom swung the impetuous back in favour of the St Ives and AFFS troops. Joined by the newly formed 2nd Janissary Brigade the allied forces struck back hard against the Capellan Confederation troops and their allies. The 6th Confederation Reserve Cavalry, already damaged in previous fighting was forced to withdraw off planet and the two remaining Sian loyal formations were forced back onto the defensive. While before the world of Denbar had seemed sure to fall to the CCAF in short order now Sian was frantically trying to hold onto a foothold on the planet.

On the 11th June members of the Magistracy Armed Forces and the Death Commando's stormed the compound in which Protector Calderon and Magestrix Centrella were being held captive. In a bloody gunfight the rebel Colonial Marshal's were wiped out to a man but in the fighting the Protector was tragically killed and Magestrix Cenrella badly injured. With her incapacitated leadership fell to her daughter Naomi while the Magestrix was rushed to Canopus for treatment. Naomi immediately announced that she suspected this had been a plot to kill not only her mother and the protector but also the Chancellor of the Confederation Sun-Tzu - probably with the intent of replacing him on the throne with the Davion puppet Kai Allard-Liao...

Within the Lyran Alliance the brief upsurge in violence had at least died down (although civil disturbances continued) and the General of the Armies Nondi Steiner finally spoke out. In the short month that she had been buried within Mount Wotan she seemed to have aged a decade. She immediately began speaking with the various heads of government and military formations and admitted at least privately that the evidence that Victor's people had sent was "compelling". Although she still refuted it's basic content. She wasn't however so strong in her beliefs as to throw her nation into a civil war on the basis of them. On that basis she informed the various leaders of the LA and LAAF that she would continue to act as regent until the situation was clarified following the Whitting Conference. She reminded all military formations of their oaths of loyalty and insisted that legitimate orders be followed. She refused the suggestion of forming a government of national unity but did agree to summon General Adam Steiner to Tharkad and make him her deputy in order to appease the anti-Katherine body of opinion. She ordered the Coventry Jaegers to stand down immediately and sent a number of conventional troops and ordered that Adam Steiner lead his own 14th Donegal Guards to the world to secure order before he continued on to Tharkad. While she issues similar orders to the 3rd and 4th Alliance Guards RCT they almost entirely ignored the orders. As a final action at the end of June General of the Armies Nondi Steiner contacted her counterpart, Marshal of the Armies Jackson Davion and began to propose a transfer of military commands from one state to the other, in a staged movement that would leave neither realm vulnerable. These talks although initially cordial soon became fraught with tension when Marshal Davion insisted that along with the returning AFFS troops must come former AFFS jumpships which had been illegally seized by the LA when it seceded from the Federated Commonwealth. When Nondi refused this, the Marshal pointed out that all of the various AFFS units within the LA were still under arms, at large and many had access to transport. He could simply order them to up-stake's and pull out. While her own LAAF units within the FedSuns were on the whole disarmed and in custody. He could return the personnel say to New Earth, but keep their equipment if he so chose. Faced with the grim prospect of losing multiple regiments of battlemechs and dozens of conventional regiments worth of equipment General Steiner grudgingly began to discuss the return of jumpships. It was probably a good thing that at this stage Marshal Davion did not tell his counterpart that the returning formations would not include the 10th Lyran Guards RCT, while he was intending to include at least large elements of the 3rd and 4th Alliance Guards within his own recall orders...
« Last Edit: 08 May 2019, 12:08:46 by Billy Boy Mark II »

gladius

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #21 on: 08 May 2019, 16:52:16 »
Big blocks of text, and very textbookish ... it can get hard to read. My eyes kinda blurred over a lot of that.

Who’s going to end up as Archon? One of Victors sibs, or is he abdicating in the name of his entire branch of the Steiner family?

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #22 on: 08 May 2019, 17:19:09 »
I can try and do it differently if it will help.

And he has abdicated his steiner half ONLY for himself, so technically Peter, Yvonne and Adam are all still eligible for the Archonship.

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #23 on: 09 May 2019, 12:53:29 »
3061 - Third Quarter - Expansion

During the Third Quarter of 3061 New Avalon continued on it's policy of expanding industrial production particularly within the Outback and made further steps to fully integrate this area into the FedSuns. While also concentrating on defending their allies in St Ives and making other adjustments to the FedSuns and to the AFFS in particular.

July 3061

July 3061 started with the first transfers from the LA and FS of troops from one to the other. From the LA the 4th Davion Guards RCT, 4th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT and the 2nd Robinson Rangers were the first units to begin their transfers back to the Federated Suns. While the 19th Arcturan Guards and 5th Lyran Guards RCT began to move back towards the Lyran Alliance.

At the same time the High Command issued a directive to the FedCom Corp that as off the 1st August 3061 they were to be renamed to the Federated Suns Dragoons. Some thought had been given to renaming the unit the Federated Suns Lancers, but with the existing Crucis Lancers Brigade and Argyle Lancers it was felt a different name would help to set the new unit apart.

On the whole this change was accepted without too much resistance. The 3rd and 8th FedCom RCT's which might have been expected to resist were far too busy facing combat in the St Ives Compact to worry about a name change, and on the whole along with the 7th would be amongst the last units to properly change over given that they were in active combat. The other unit which was expected to find the change objectionable, the 6th was diverted by orders being delivered to Addicks.

A number of units were transferred from garrison postings in order to strength the frontier, particularly with the Capellan Confederation in case the St Ives conflict spread. This also provided cover for Operation Phoenix which was being put into action with sealed orders to a number of units - particularly the 6th FedCom RCT, Vegan Rangers Alpha and Beta Regiments, 1st Chisholm Raiders RCT, 4th Davion Guards RCT, 2nd Robinson Rangers and 4th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT.

Yvonne Steiner-Davion also announced during this time in her role as her brother's spokesperson that the Bell Refit Yard was being purchased by the AFFS. The new facility was to be renamed the Hasek Refit Centre and to be expanded from it's existing facilities to provide a wide range of repair and refit capabilities to the units stationed within the Capellan March. The new Refit Centre would be upgraded to be able to almost totally rebuild almost any mech or tank used by the current AFFS and this was scheduled to take place by late 3062. The still rebuilding 6th Sytris Fusiliers RCT would take up garrison duties to bolster the existing Bell Training Battalion to guard this new facility.

During the same briefing Yvonne Steiner-Davion announced that using the funds from the purchase of the Bell Refit Centre, a new Andoran Industries Ltd facility was to be constructed upon the planet of Broken Wheel. This facility would be much more than a mere refit centre, but would begin construction of new Clint battlemechs by 3063. She also hinted that further designs may be considered for construction there within the light-medium range.

On the St Ives's front the battles continued unabated. With the additional FedSuns and St Ives troops arriving on Denbar and the withdrawal of the combat ineffective 6th Confederation Reserve Cavalry the remaining Capellan and Canopian troops found themselves driven back time and time again. Eventually the 3rd Canopian Fusiliers, faced with a full assault by 2 Combat Commands of the 2nd Janissary Brigade supported by the bulk of the 2nd Chisholm Raiders, was forced to withdraw to their dropships and retreat under heavy fire. This left Warrior House Hiritsu in an impossible position and they soon also had to retreat from the planet.

With the withdrawal of invading forces from Denbar the 7th FedSun's Dragoons awaited the arrival of the 8th FedSun's Dragoons while preparing for a move to retake Indicass alongside the 3rd. With the three units hitting the world at the same time the High Command was confident of victory.

At the end of the month the 1st and 2nd Cunningham's Commandos combat dropped onto Nashuar to bolster the defenders there, while Duke Kai Allard-Liao led a task force compromising of his own 1st St Ives Lancers, the remnants of the 1st St Ives Cheveau-Legers as well as the Davion Light Guards off world from St Ives with the intent of beginning a series of deep strikes within the Capellan Confederation to cut the flow of supplies to the front. At the same time the 2nd Davion Guards RCT began preparing for it's own mission independent of this task force and it's over strength air wings began training extensively with the FSS Melissa Davion.

On Mayetta the Mayetta DMM was reformed and returned to the rolls on the last day of the month, albeit with most of it's officer corp replaced and at barely half strength. The court martial's and eventual executions for treason would stretch into 3062 of those officers purged from the unit. Leaving the world the 1st Crucis Lancers RCT moved up to take up garrison on Tancredi.

August 3061

All across the Sphere the leaders of the various states began to make plans for attending the Whitting Conference.

Officially all FedCom RCT became FedSun' Dragoons RCT's.

Yvonne Steiner-Davion left New Avalon and began a journey to Robinson, however on the way she made a detour to Layover. Arriving there she quickly met with the executives and board members of Salvatore Incorporated. The message was given as diplomatically as possible by the Princess, but the intent was clear. New Avalon's patience with the faltering company had been exhausted. The offers had become an ultimatum. New Avalon was giving the board one final opportunity to take their loans and restructuring and upgrading offer or the company would be taken into the ownership of House Davion and a new board appointed in a similar manner to what had happened to Challenge Systems. The board with no other option accepted. Funds would subsequently be released in order to return the company to it's full production capacity. Huge areas of derelict industrial sites would be refitted and returned to production. Vengeance production had almost ground to a halt was now to be prioritised. The AFFS was in dire need of these dropships. Discussions were even begun about a second production site - characteristically for the time an Outback location was preferred.

In August Operation Phoenix was finally revealed.

It began with the newly rechristened 6th FedSun's Dragoons RCT arriving in system on Small World. They were soon burning for the world and committing to a full combat drop against the small local garrison troops and handful of mercenary units. After making landfall the Dragoons began to mop up any and all resistance and by the start of September Small World was fully reintegrated into the FedSuns.

On Ingress the returning 2nd Robinson Rangers stopped on their way home. While the 2nd lacked the large number of conventional troops of the Dragoon RCT, the defenders of the 2nd world within the Duchy of Small were even weaker than those on Small World itself. In a lightning campaign the 2nd soon hunted down the few defenders stupid enough to resist and soon sent word for follow on troops drawn from the Addicks PDZ to support them in finishing the pacification of the world.

The 4th Davion Guards RCT similarly both returned to the Federated Suns and returned the world of Fletcher. The small city states that this world had degenerated into were no match for one of the AFFS's premier combat units and it was a simple matter for the 4th to slowly but surely absorb the city states back into the FedSuns.

Similarly the 4th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT dropped down onto the world of Sheraton on the same day as their fellow unit landed on Fletcher. Here the Deneb Light Cavalry unit were able to find some support from the remaining members of the pro-Federated Suns Sheraton Knights, an armoured regiment. Although having only a fraction of their previous strength the Sheraton Knights had been able to hold the planetary capital and it's spaceport and so allowed the 4th Light Cavalry a secure base from which to operate. Soon columns of FedSuns mechs supported by armour and infantry and guided by surviving Knights were fanning out to overrun the petty fiefdoms that Sheraton had degenerated into. Colonel Terleki III recommended that the Sheraton Knights be reformed and expanded upon as a matter of urgency given their sterling and long missed service to the Federated Suns. He was informed his recommendations would be acted upon and in the same communication was promoted to Leftenant General.

The 1st Chisholm Raiders RCT landed on Acamar and immediately ran into trouble. The worn and battered equipment of the command was soon requiring almost constant repairs to maintain it at a barely functional level. Although many of the merchant's and mining concerns were in favour of rejoining the FedSuns various nobles were not. The Raiders were more than able to overpower the small private armies but were often hamstrung by the poor state of their equipment. The only saving grace was that most of the small petty armies equipment was in even worse repair. After finally conquering the world the 1st Chisholm Raiders RCT was assured that they would be the first unit deployed to the new Hasek Refit Centre on Bell and in the meantime their technical support and supply of spare parts was increased.

While the invasions of Small World, Ingress, Fletcher, Sheraton and Acamar had been mostly driven by planning from New Avalon, the reconquest of Arboris and Genoa was largely a a New Sytris planned affair. Not wishing to be left out, George Hasek ordered two of the mercenary Vegan Rangers units to move to retake these two worlds. The Vegan Rangers Alpha Regiment descended on Arboris and were happy to receive local aid and support from the remnants of the Arboris militia which had continued to fight on with a trickle of supplies from the neighbouring Achernar PDZ. Their sister unit the Gamma Regiment suffered no such good luck but both veteran mercenary commands were more than enough to quickly overcome the local resistance and return the two plants to the FedSuns. Follow on troops of conventional units were soon rooting out any suspected Capellan sympathisers. The Vegan Rangers were rewarded for their victory with a gift of 2 lances of Cataphract battlemechs from Tikonov. A less than popular mech with the AFFS forces it was still a welcome addition to the Rangers.

In the St Ives Compact the combined forces of the 3rd, 7th and 8th FedSun's Dragoons RCT's landed on Indicass. Or at least that was the illusion. It soon became apparant that what had landed were three separate invasion forces. Although officially outnumbered the 2nd Confederation Reserve Cavalry found itself able to fight each invading force individually and their position was only strengthened when they were rejoined on Indicass by the 5th Confederation Reserve Cavalry along with the severely under strength but now elite Warrior House Hiritsu. Again and again the larger FedSun's formations would be roughly handled by the more coordinated CCAF forces. A fact that rapidly came to the attention of the High Command.

However as welcome as the news from Indicass was, the same could not be said for the actions of Task Force St Ives. Under Duke Kai Allard-Liao the three elite units of mobile forces slashed a path through the Capella Commonality. Overton, Glasgow and Preston were hit by the Davion Light Guards, while the two combined St Ives units started off by hitting Ares and looting nearly a battalions worth of mechs to help refit the 1st St Ives Cheveau-Legers before moving on to hit Randar, Geifer and Bandora. Each time forces ranging from a full regiment to a company would land, destroy any local forces which attempted to stop them, loot any military supplies they could take and destroy the rest. Spaceports, warehouses, airfields and military bases were levelled, while over a dozen jumpships which had been transporting supplies and troops towards the St Ives front were captured and sent back with prize crews to St Ives.

Within the Lyran Alliance the former 3rd Alliance Guards split into 3. A large chunk of the unit followed it's commanding officer Leftenant General Andor and left for the Federated Suns after renaming themselves officially the 11th FedSuns Dragoons RCT. Although only taking with him around 30% of his previous full strength command he did however take a large amount of salvage from the "Lyran Loyalist" elements who had attempted to seize him. Another group which consisted of those elements loyal to Skye also left and headed to the world of Skye to offer themselves up as the core of a new Skye Ranger unit, the 3rd Skye Rangers RCT, although they would be woefully under strength at barely a fifth a full strength unit. The remainder of the unit would consist of those who Lyran Loyalists who had been taken into custody following the coup as well as a handful of officers who had stood apart. Although numbering nearly as many as Leftenant-General Andor's partisans they had almost no equipment left and were soon broken up to fill out gaps in other formations, while the 3rd Alliance Guards were struck from the rolls.

The 4th Alliance Guards RCT similarly split, although this time only into two. Nearly two thirds of the unit marched onto their dropships and began the long journey back to the Federated Suns, while the remaining third continued to hold their posts as the 4th Alliance Guards RCT. Many of the 3rds Loyalists would be routed to the 4th to replace gaps in the ranks caused by FedSun's born personnel leaving. On route to the FedSun's the returning troops took pains to repaint their mechs and equipment as the 12th FedSun's Dragoons.

September 3061

September began with the official announcement of the expansion of the Avalon Hussars brigade. Detachment's began breaking off from the existing units and began to be transported into the Outback to take up positions there. Abbeyville and June soon were garrisoned by the 1st and 12th Avalon Hussars RCT's respectively, while cantonments were being set up on Broken Wheel and Lothair for the 34th and 36th and another on Crofton for the 42nd Avalon Hussars where it would rebuild itself.

This announcement added on to the previous expansions and the seizing of a half dozen worlds within the Chaos March caused the other Successor States to sit up and begin to take notice. Even those who had previously been friendly now began to look at First Prince Victor's FedSuns warily.

The DCMS was the first to react. They swiftly announced that two new Galedon Regular regiments would be formed, the 10th and 29th Galedon Regulars were the two units being considered for reactivation. The Coordinator also informed his Warlords that he would soon raise a new unit of Ryuken to bolster the realms defences and ordered them to consider further naval expansions.

The FWL's response was muted. With Parliament debating the issue and the threat of the AFFS somewhat muted by distance there was little appetite for further military spending. Still the Captain-General did manage to begin pushing a new naval bill to expedite the production of the Venturer Light Cruiser.

Sian's response was perhaps understandably more immediate. First Star Lord Sun-Tzu Liao within a week announced that in response to unwarranted Davion aggression he was left no other option but to increase military spending. He announced that in the coming months he would be re-founding that honoured Capellan formation, the Sian Dragoons. Where the Davion's would be building 4 regiments from pieces of other regiments, the Capellan Confederation would form and equip 4 entire regiments from scratch. Left unsaid was how difficult this would be for the CCAF to manage, particularly given its embattled state in St Ives.

On Indicass the various FedSun's Dragoons were still mired in a battle in which they couldn't seem to use their strength and were often stumbling over each others feet. This was only made worse when the 7th Dragoons suffered the loss of most of their command cadre in a headhunter mission while awaiting a rare face to face conference with the leadership of the 3rd Dragoons. Blaming the 3rd's lateness for their losses liaisons between the two regimental combat teams broke down almost entirely. The 8th Dragoons however was still seen as a pariah by both of the other units. This finally led to Marshal Venger himself leaving New Avalon to travel to Indicass to resolve the issue.

The Lyran Alliance's response was even more muted than the FWL's. With no central authority and General of the Armies Nondi Steiner's position tenuous at best there was little that could be done to push for expansions within the LAAF. With the desertions from the Alliance Guards the LAAF was growing weaker not stronger. Officially the Lyran High Command refused permission for the newly renamed 3rd Skye Rangers RCT, but both the other Ranger regiments and Duke Robert Kelswa-Steiner pointedly ignored the refusal and began supplying the regiment.

The St Ives-Capellan conflict continued, with St Ives forces now counter attacking on worlds that had fallen in the initial Capellan attacks. Except on Indicass the St Ives and Davion forces didn't land troops but they began raiding the Capellan garrisons on Milos, Vestallas and Brighton heavily as well as supporting local resistance. Task Force St Ives also continued to raid deeper into the Capellan Confederation, with Duke Kai leading his forces up into the former-Sarna March, while the Davion Light Guards swung down into the Sian Commonality. In response Sian ordered the various units of the McCarron's Armoured Cavalry to mobilise to hunt down the raiders.

However if the attacks of Task Force St Ives was a problem the strike by the 2nd Davion Guards was a disaster. Accompanied by the FSS Melissa Davion as well as the FSS Antrim and FSS Brest (the two Fox corvettes jumping in from Monhegan to join the Avalon cruiser), the 2nd Davion Guards RCT jumped into the Necromo system. The defending CCS Zhejiang found itself not only facing off against 3 enemy warships but also the 120 fighters of the 2nd Davion's fighter wings. The 2nd Capellan Defence Force was entirely lacking in aerospace assets and so was unable to help the CCS Zhejiang. With no other alternative the CCS Zhejiang withdrew to the outer system with what defensive dropships it could assemble, however even that wasn't sufficient to avoid damage as it suffered from almost constant fighter attacks. With it's own fighters and accompanying dropships being whittled away the destroyer took mounting damage from every wave of fighter attacks.

Even as his aerospace fighters engaged in long range strikes on the shadowing destroyer the 2nd Davion Guards landed on the world of Necromo and proceeded to brutalise the green 2nd Capellan Defence Force. Even with the bulk of his fighters engaged attacking the CCS Zhejiang, Admiral Kossacks was able to task a wing with ground support missions. With pin point accuracy they broke up the Defence Forces lines just as the veteran 2nd Davion struck. The 2nd Capellan Defence Force was soon in full retreat. While this battle was underway and the FSS Melissa Davion kept a close eye on the CCS Zhejiang the two Fox corvettes moved to escort marine elements who were soon engaged in seizing control of the orbiting shipyards.

Facing this disaster the Strategic Military Director of the CCAF Talon Zahn was in the unfortunate position of advising the Chancellor that they did not have sufficient naval assets to reclaim Necromo to hand. The other two Impavido class destroyers were deployed to Capella and Sian and those worlds could not be risked by stripped them of naval cover. Only the CCS Elias Jung was available to reinforce the CCS Zhejiang and even this cruisers addition might not be enough to turn the tide in the Confederation's favour. It was also known that the Davion's had at least 3 more Avalon cruisers which could be rushed to join the FSS Melissa Davion at Necromo. Escalating the situation could end in disaster. Even if they didn't, the Davion's could simply destroy the yards and the 2 Feng Huang cruisers building within them and retreat.

Chancellor Sun-Tzu was "rescued" from the horns of this dilemma by a personal communication from First Prince Victor Davion. The First Prince suggested that the two sides freeze in place until the Whitting Conference, at which time himself, Dutchess Allard-Liao and the Chancellor could meet to discuss the future of the St Ives Compact. The St Ives-Davion forces would refrain from attacking the CCAF forces upon the worlds they had occupied, while the CCAF would make no further aggressive moves.

Talon Zahn was forced to admit this was the best outcome they could expect. Duke Kai was running riot through the former Sarna March, supplies to the front were drying up due to the raids and the garrisons on the already seized worlds were struggling to maintain their positions. The loss of Necromo was a crippling loss and not even the seizure of the 3 St Ives worlds they currently held could make up for it. In addition their forces on Indicass and Nashuar although still viable were facing increasing enemy forces. A cease fire in place and a diplomatic outcome might be the best they could hope for.

The decision was hastened when word came that the 2nd Capellan Defence Force which had been in full retreat had been forced to surrender in full under constant attacks from the 2nd Davion's ground forces and air attacks. With no way off planet they had finally surrendered rather than face annihilation. An additional incentive was made when the Blackwind Lancers newly reformed 2nd Battalion joined with their 1st Battalion and landed on Brighton in a full on counter attack rather than a raid. With this final blow Sun-Tzu accepted Victor Davion's proposal. Although he did immediately begin moving up supplies and troops to worlds bordering the St Ives in case the cease fire broke down. He also did smuggle a quantity of equipment and even replacement personnel to his troops on Indicass in particular, in violation of at least the spirit of the accord.

Many within the AFFS and indeed the St Ives Military Command felt that the First Prince had traded away their advantages, yet he had the full support of Duchess Allard-Liao and her son. Both rulers felt that continued fighting had the risk of escalating into a full war between the Federated Suns and the Capellan Confederation at a very vulnerable time for the reborn Federated Suns. Better to attempt to pull back from the brink and win what concessions they could before matters got entirely out of hand.

Almost unnoticed during this time the 3rd Republican's resurfaced on the world of Elgin and seized the former capital world of the Tikonov Free Republic. Swiftly linking up with their former comrades from the 4th Republican on Hall they agreed to a united pact where the "Emperor" Baranov of Hall agreed to be the Supreme Lord of the newly reborn Tikonov Free Republic, which for now constituted his own world of Hall and Elgin.
« Last Edit: 13 May 2019, 03:02:17 by Billy Boy Mark II »

kelgar04

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #24 on: 09 May 2019, 15:30:48 »
interesting so far let's see how this moves forward also please don't can St Ives

wolfcannon

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #25 on: 11 May 2019, 07:24:45 »
i agree that Victor would not abandon the FC so easily, but i can see why this universe came about as well.    :thumbsup:
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Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #26 on: 11 May 2019, 10:18:18 »
3061 - Fourth Quarter - a new First Lord

The last quarter of 3061 began with a ceasefire coming into effect on the St Ives-Capellan Front and most of the various leaders of the nations of the Second Star League preparing to head to the Whitting Conference. On Tharkad itself the time was spent preparing for the conference, which would be complicated by the fact that the Archon of the Lyran Alliance was in custody within another member state of the Second Star League! Who's leader was now coming to Tharkad. There were some who suggested seizing First Prince Victor Davion and ransoming back the Archon that way, but those voices were swiftly silenced. General of the Armies Nondi Steiner reasoned that such an act might have every other member state turn on the Lyran Alliance.

October 3061

With the ceasefire in effect the St Ives-Capellan front was largely quite, although Task Force St Ives did take this opportunity to fall back to St Ives to recuperate, rearm and resupply. As well as to drop of a not inconsiderable sum of loot in the form of CCAF mechs, tanks, fighters and equipment looted from dozens of supply depots and factories. The other troops were frozen in place, although a number of small scale flare up's occurred particularly on Brighton and Nashuar. The 2nd Davion Guards also continued to monitor the CCS Zhejiang and ran constant patrols and drills preparing to finish off the damaged destroyer if it was felt necessary or if it broke the truce.

The final act First Prince Victor made before leaving for Tharkad was to issue a direction to Fleet Admiral Buchwald, the head of the Navy. Challenge Systems in Panpour were to be given contracts and have state loans made available to massively expand their yard and increase production of Monolith class jumpships. That on the face of it was all that would be officially released. However the large contracts and loans were also to provide at least some cover for them to prepare to recommence after centuries the production of Congress-D class frigates for the Federated Suns. While keeping the project secret long term was considered impossible, every effort was to be made to keep it as secret as possible for as long as possible. Initially the Federated Suns would supply funding to build 2 slips for the construction of frigates.

On Indicass Marshal Venger finally arrived and began the process of "discussing" with his subordinate RCT commanding officers how displeased their recent actions had made him. The FedCom Corp had been under something of a cloud since 3057 and he had hoped to break free of that cloud with the new reorganisation as the FedSuns Dragoons, yet in their first real test the new brigade was failing. It was hardly an auspicious start. Although no further offensive actions could be taken, he began a series of training exercises and staff exercises intended to finally break down the mistrust and lack of cooperation between the 3rd, 7th and 8th FedSun's Dragoons RCT's. While the warriors of the 7th Dragoons did feel somewhat unfairly treated at being lumped in with the problematic 3rd and borderline treasonous 8th, they did at least have to admit they had not exactly covered themselves in glory with how badly they had coordinated with the others and settled down to train. Small scale redeployment's occurred between all 3 RCT's to aid this.

On Tharkad Precentor-Martial Focht caused some uproar when he insisted that the newly formed 1st Royal Battlemech Regiment would take up security arrangements for the Conference from the Lyran 1st Royal Guards RCT. He too had heard the rumours of seizing First Prince Victor.

Within the Draconis Combine the new Galedon Regulars regiments began to form up. Mostly drawn from various academies and other Galedon Regulars these two units were immediately deployed Groveld and Niles, although they remained woefully under strength with neither unit above 50%. This was in direct contrast to the AFFS which instead of assigning newly forming units to the borders of the other Successor States were sending them for a period of formation and training in the Outback.

The 1st and 2nd Sian Dragoons also were formed during this time, with a 3rd and 4th promised soon. More than a few commentators in other realms noticed that much of the equipment they were using was of non-Capellan origin. In fact most of it was drawn from Star League Defence Force supplies and contracts, which Sun-Tzu had used his position as First Lord to acquire. Most of the mechwarrior's would be drawn from early graduated cadets of the Sian Centre for Martial Discipline.

The newly renamed 3rd and 4th Free Tikonov Republican Guard having secured Elgin and Hall for Supreme Leader Baranov detached 2 battalions from the 3rd and another from the 4th, along with various conventional forces they had assembled and attacked Hsien, joining the confusing battle there. Even as poorly maintained as the Republican Guard's mechs were and as poorly disciplined as their ramshackle conventional forces were they were soon able to seize control of fractured Hsien, bringing the Free Tikonov State to 3 worlds. They also began to form a new 1st Free Republican Guard unit on Elgin. Supreme Leader William Baranov began to look at the Saiph Triumvirate and TerraCap Confederation hungrily. He also began to enter into secret negotiations with not only the FWL but also the Word of Blake on Terra for support for his regime. Although given the historical precedents the FWL did move the 13th Marik Militia to Menkhalinan just in case this Tikonov state also invaded the FWL during negotiations.

Passing through the Lyran Alliance First Prince Victor did cause something of a stir. Joining up with Kai Allard-Liao the two men were accompanied by elements of the 1st Davion Guards RCT, 1st St Ives Lancers and 1st Revenant Guard RCT. The 1st Revenant Guard RCT forces were a mere combined arms company, but they were also obviously the former 10th Lyran Guard's RCT. What caused even more uproar was the fact that they were further escorted by two Avalon class cruisers - the FSS Lucien Davion and the FSS Alexander Davion. Precentor-Martial Focht was not the only one who had heard rumours of kidnapping First Prince Victor.

November 3061

The Second Whitting Conference opened with a great deal of discord.

First Lord Sun-Tzu Liao's attempts to enter the Conference as the triumphant First Lord who had overseen the defeat of the Clans almost imedietly failed as the bulk of the praise was directed at First Prince Victor Davion. Sun-Tzu's attempts to portray himself as the conqueror of the clans, which had played so well in his own realm, failed miserably here and were further compounded when a number of accusations were made against him abusing his position from a variety of sources. Duke Kai of course took the lead with his loud condemnation of Sun Tzu's invasion of the St Ives Compact under the banner of "Star League Defence Forces Peacekeepers" but he was soon joined by Precentor-Martial Focht's report that the First Lord had used his position to acquire equipment for his own armed forces. Within minutes the "debate" had turned into a free for all. Strangely First Prince Victor did not join in but stood somewhat aloof from it all, many feeling that he was setting himself up for a run at being elected First Lord himself and was attempting to appear statesmanlike.

This was something that even some of Victor's own allies were set against. Coordinator Theodore Kurita's relationship with the First Prince had already began to cool and faced with the prospect of placing even more prestige in his sometime allies hands he was deeply uncomfortable. While Captain-General Thomas Marik was himself extremely reluctant to hand over such a prize to Victor-Davion.

Still this politicising had to initially be placed aside to resolve the issue of the Lyran Alliances representative. General of the Armies Nondi Steiner was there acting as Regent for the imprisoned Archon and demanded again the release of her niece. Although in a somewhat pro-forma manner. This demand was supported by Sun-Tzu Liao who was rather glad to have the attention focused away from himself for the time being. Even Thomas Marik pointed out that imprisoning head's of state was a bad precedent.

Victor Davion agreed with the Captain-General, but stated that his sister's crimes were too severe for her merely to walk away from. Instead he suggested a compromise to his aunt. Katherine Steiner-Davion would face trial. A neutral and as far as possible independent tribunal. The Second Star League would set up a panel of judges drawn from all their realms. Each realm would nominate a senior judge to sit upon the panel, who would then look at all of the evidence and pass judgement on Victor's sister. If she was innocent she could then be released to retake the reigns of the Lyran Alliance. If not then she would face a sentence agreed by the same panel of judges.

Nondi Steiner immediately had two demands. Firstly that in the event of a guilty vote that no death sentence would be returned and secondly that the trial take place upon Tharkad. While she won support for the first, the second was refused by unanimous agreement of the other Lords. At which point she loudly decried any potential trial that took place on New Avalon. A compromise was suggested jointly by Precentor Martial Focht and Elected Prince Regent Christian Mansdottir who both suggested that the trial take place on Tukayyid.

This was finally agreed by all of the representatives. At which point they began horse trading for who would be elected First Lord.

Sun-Tzu Liao, Nondi Steiner and Thomas Marik soon formed one block supporting Thomas Marik, with Victor Davion and Kai Allard-Liao within the other. Christian Mansdottir and Theodore Kurita were independent and Anastasius Focht neutral. Excluding himself and Kai, Victor could count on no other votes. Which he had come fully prepared for. Instead he suggested a compromise. Instead of himself, why not consider Kai Allard-Liao as First Lord, who his mother had appointed as Duke of the St Ives just before the conference, with herself as his Prime Minister. A proven warrior, a leader and a man known for his honour and courage. Yet without a large realm to threaten the others with. Instantly this created turmoil. Christian Mansdottir immediately threw his support behind Duke Kai, as did somewhat more reluctantly Theodore Kurita and even Nondi Steiner. Thomas Marik conceded the inevitable and gracefully supported the candidacy of Duke Kai Allard-Liao. The only one left furious was of course Sun-Tzu Liao.

With the election of a new First Lord the various leaders still however had a lot to talk about.

The most pressing issue was the matter of the St Ives-Capellan conflict. With Kai now First Lord it was obvious to all that the Capellan position was untenable. Still Sun-Tzu bargained hard to keep what he could of his gains. At first he attempted to argue that the worlds of Nashuar, Brighton, Vestallas, Milos, Denbar and Indicass should remain within his rule as the newly formed Xin Sheng Commonality. However this was clearly a ridiculous first position and he soon withdrew to merely demanding Brighton, Vestallas, Milos and Indicass. He was brought up short however when First Prince Victor suggested that he might gift Necromo to St Ives.

After several days of heated debate the best deal that Sun-Tzu was able to get was that he would withdraw his troops from the St Ives Compact and that the 2nd Davion Guards RCT would withdraw from Necromo without damaging the vital world's shipyards. He did however obtain a blanket "amnesty" for any misappropriated equipment that might have made it's way to the CCAF rather than the Star League Defence Forces in return for the concessions. Even with this concession it was an obvious defeat.

First Prince Victor was also able to meet with his aunt General Nondi Steiner on almost civil terms during this trip to Tharkad, often accompanied by Anastasius Focht as a referee for when the discussions became heated. While Nondi still refused to believe Katherine's guilt she was now prepared to discuss matters with Victor regarding the formal breaking of ties between the Lyran Alliance and FedSuns. She was furious however at the defection of the 10th Lyran Guards and elements of the 3rd and 4th Alliance Guards and this hardened her stance on returning the large number of former FedSuns Command jumpships.

Eventually a compromise was made. With his expansions of Monolith production at Panpour and planned Merchant jumpship production at Filtvelt, along with expanded spending on jumpships by the AFFC and AFFS since 3057 the loss of those jumpships was not considered so severe. He agreed to forgo large scale reparations or return of the ships and even of the large quantity of former AFFC supplies and equipment built up on the Clan Border of the then Lyran Command in return for a number of industrial and design concessions. Nondi Steiner agreed to transferring production rights to a number of mech's such as the Battle Hawk, Flashman and Battlemaster designs as well as the Excalibur class dropship. Victor had initially sought production rights to the Wolfhound mech in particular, but Nondi had stood firm on this although she had agreed to license Arc Royal Mechworks to sell mech's to the Federated Suns. Other designs which were currently produced under license in both realms from one or other would have their licenses secured.

General Steiner while unhappy about having to hand over so many licenses was content in that she had at least managed to avoid large scale reparations. She was also confident that Morgan Kell would be unable to meet the demand of the AFFS as well as his existing commitments and so was particularly pleased at that compromise. First Prince Victor while not receiving as many designs and concessions as he might have liked was content that he could return to New Avalon with a large number of military designs with which to reinforce his regiments. He immediately met with Morgan Kell who was in attendance of the Conference as an adviser and arranged for a large scale loan to expand the existing Arc Royal Mechworks, but both men also agreed to look into Arc Royal Mechworks setting up a subsidiary company within the FedSuns. General of the Armies Steiner had not specified exactly where the mech's that Arc Royal Mechworks sold had to be built.

The First Prince also, in conjunction with First Lord Kai and the Precentor-Martial also informed the assembled lords just prior to the conference breaking up that they had agreed jointly to a large scale expansion of the Defiance Combat Training centre into a full combined arms academy, the cadets of which would be split between the SLDF and the AFFS. The academy was to be known as the Hasek-Davion Martial Academy after the leader of Task Force Serpent which had trained there. Individual buildings and halls of residence would be named for the units which had made up the Task Force and for officers and men who had died to give the Inner Sphere freedom from the Clan menace. Instructors would be welcomed from any and all units which had taken part in the Task Force and from all member states of the Second Star League. As would a small number of exchange cadets.

Coordinator Theodore Kurita and First Prince Victor also meet just prior to leaving Tharkad to reassure each other that they remain allies even with Omi's death. Noticeably absent from this meeting is Hohiro Kurita. Although the mood is cool they both assure the other that they have no hostile intent towards each others border worlds. Not withstanding this meeting both rulers will continue to reinforce their respective armed forces and border defences.

December 3061

With the agreements made the various CCAF, Canopian and Taurian forces begin to withdraw from the St Ives Compact. On Indicass there is a brief flare up of violence when Warrior House Hiritsu attempts to loot the Ceres Metal Industries plant before leaving with some help from the heavily mauled 2nd Confederation Reserve Cavalry. The 7th FedSun's Dragoons instantly steps in to stop this and a firefight soon breaks out. Much to Marshal Venger's satisfaction nearby elements of both the 3rd and 8th Dragoons instantly move to support the 7th. The 8th's warriors in particular are instrumental in smashing the Warrior Houses's few mech's into pieces and reducing the Capellan warrior monks to a bare lance of mech's on planet along with a few infantry platoons. The 2nd Reserve Cavalry's 3rd battalion is also made combat ineffective in a brief but savage battle within the plant which suffers heavy damage.

Other minor flare up's occur throughout the St Ives but none are as severe. First Lord Kai Allard-Liao in an attempt to prevent further rancour has each of the incidents referred to the newly forming Star League Court on Tukayyid. In most but not all cases they will find the primary fault with the retreating invaders and give judgement of reparations to the St Ives.

On Necromo the 2nd Davion Guards RCT, the marine elements and the FSS Melissa Davion and her two Fox escorts wait until the St Ives has been fully evacuated of hostile forces before returning Necromo to it's previous owners. They make no attempt to sabotage the yards or ships within, but do take a mountain of technical data with them including not only the design for the Feng Huang cruiser but also the FWL's Thera class carrier that it was designed to counter. They also take all of the captured equipment of the 2nd Capellan Defence Force and indeed many of it's personnel who seek asylum in the Fedsun's. Most of the officers are convinced that if they were to remain on Necromo they would face severe reprisals for their perceived failure. Although few will be accepted into the AFFS a number will find their way into mercenary commands and even the St Ives Military Command to replace losses.

During this time the graduating cadets from the various training academies within the FedSun's are discharged from their Training Cadres and sent to their future placements, while new cadets take their place. Most of the bloodied cadets from the 2nd and 3rd NAIS Cadre on Kathil are sent into the Outback to make up numbers within the newly formed Avalon Hussars RCT's. Given that most of these "cadets" are now regular level of skill this results in the units not suffering a drop in their experience levels, although integration remains a problem for a time. A number of cadets from the 1st NAIS and 1st Albion were however held back for the time being and not assigned to any one particular unit.

In a prearranged meeting, First Prince Victor and his accompanying task force meet up with the troops of the returning 11th and 12th FedSun's Dragoon's RCT's near Terra. They are joined there by the Argyle Lancers and 39th Avalon Hussars RCT who are amongst the units travelling back to the FedSuns. With this powerful task force Victor Davion personally leads an attack upon the TerraCap Confederation. The few defenders of this small realm are a mix of noble's guards, planetary militia and mercenary forces. Faced with an attack led by the First Prince himself the mercenaries soon surrender on good terms, and their example is followed by all but the most fanatical of the defenders.

With these changes only the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 7th Crucis Lancers RCT and the 8th Deneb Light Cavalry remain within the Lyran Alliance. Only the 19th Arcturan Guards remain of the Lyran units within the FedSuns and all of those units are preparing to move. Also preparing to move are the Blue Star Irregulars, much to the displeasure of the General of Armies.

On Robinson Yvonne Steiner-Davion and Tancred Sandoval had been discussing the new expansion of the Robinson Standard Battleworks and the subsidiary plant on Woodbine. In return for support from New Avalon and funding to speed up development and production of Robinson's new design the Sagittaire, Tancred agreed on behalf of his father that the Sandoval family and Robinson Standard Battleworks would fund 2/3rds the cost of a new facility on Woodbine which would initially produce only Watchman class mechs but eventually would expand production into other designs. Some discussions were also made about expanding production not only at Woodbine but also Robinson to include aerospace fighters and vehicles.

Furious at the Davion invasion and annexation of the TerraCap Confederation Supreme Leader Baranov stepped up plans to invade the Saiph worlds. To do this he made a number of large and expensive purchases on credit via the Word of Blake from the FWL's nearby military suppliers to expand and reinforce his military forces rapidly. He was soon poised to launch his new 1st Republican and the veteran 3rd at the three worlds of the Triumvirate.

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #27 on: 11 May 2019, 10:19:39 »
i agree that Victor would not abandon the FC so easily, but i can see why this universe came about as well.    :thumbsup:

While yeah... I get that Victor probably wouldn't abandon the FC... It's hard to have a reborn FedSuns with a ruler committed to the FC... So I've altered things a bit. Hope it's okay! :D

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #28 on: 11 May 2019, 10:32:11 »
State of the AFFS December 3061

AFFS
December 3061
Independent Commands

1st Aragon Borderers – Veteran – 70%
1st Argyle Lancers – Elite – 90%
1st Capellan Dragoons – Regular – 100%
1st FSAC – Elite – 100% (Re)
1st Kestrel Grenadiers RCT – Elite – 90% (Re)
1st Kittery  Borderers – Regular – 100%
1st Tikonov Cossacks – Regular – 30% - Formed from remnants of Republican Guards
1st Revenant Guards RCT – Veteran – 80% (Re) – Formed from 10th Lyran Guards

Avalon Hussars
1st Avalon Hussars RCT – Regular – 60%
11th Avalon Hussars RCT – Regular – 75% (Re)
12th Avalon Hussars RCT – Regular – 50%
17th Avalon Hussars RCT – Regular – 100%
20th Avalon Hussars RCT – Veteran – 75% (Re) 
22nd Avalon Hussars RCT – Veteran – 100%
34th Avalon Hussars RCT – Regular – 50%
36th Avalon Hussars RCT – Regular – 50%
39th Avalon Hussars RCT – Regular – 100%
41st Avalon Hussars RCT – Regular – 100%
42nd Avalon Hussars RCT – Regular – 75% (Re)
New units listed as Regular due to having been drawn from Regular formations and from cadet veterans of the Battle of Kathil, however until fully integrated will fight at Green levels at anything beyond company level.

Chisholm Raiders
1st Chisholm Raiders RCT – Green – 90%
2nd Chisholm Raiders RCT – Veteran – 80% - deployed to St Ives

Ceti Hussars
1st Ceti Hussars RCT – Regular – 100%
2nd Ceti Hussars RCT – Veteran – 100%
3rd Ceti Hussars RCT – Regular – 100%

Crucis Lancers
1st Crucis Lancers RCT – Regular – 100%
2nd Crucis Lancers RCT – Veteran – 100%
3rd Crucis Lancers RCT – Elite – 100% (Re)
4th Crucis Lancers RCT – Veteran – 100% (Re)
5th Crucis Lancers RCT – Veteran – 60% - personnel – 100% mechs
6th Crucis Lancers RCT – Veteran – 100%
7th Crucis Lancers RCT – Elite – 100% (Re)
8th Crucis Lancers RCT – Regular – 100% (Re)

Davion Brigade of Guards
Davion Assault Guards RCT – Elite – 100% (Re)
Davion Heavy Guards RCT – Elite – 100% (Re)
Davion Light Guards RCT – Elite – 70% (Re) – Deployed to St Ives
1st Davion Guards RCT – Elite – 90% (Re)
2nd Davion Guards RCT – Veteran – 80% - deployed to St Ives
3rd Davion Guards RCT – Elite – 70%
4th Davion Guards RCT – Elite – 100%
5th Davion Guards RCT – Regular – 100% - Deployed to St Ives

Deneb Light Cavalry
4th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT – Regular – 100%
8th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT – Veteran – 100%
10th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT – Veteran – 100%
12th Deneb Light Cavalry – Regular – 100%
15th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT – Regular – 90% (Re) – deployed to St Ives

FedSun's Dragoons
1st FedSun’s Dragoons RCT – Veteran – 90%
3rd FedSun’s Dragoons RCT – Regular – 70% - deployed to St Ives
5th FedSun’s Dragoons RCT – Regular – 100% - deployed to St Ives
6th FedSun’s Dragoons RCT – Regular – 100%
7th FedSun’s Dragoons RCT – Veteran – 60% - deployed to St Ives
8th FedSun’s Dragoons RCT – Veteran – 50% - deployed to St Ives
11th FedSun’s Dragoons RCT – Regular – 30% - returning from LA, with double equipment
12th FedSun’s Dragoons RCT – Regular – 60% - returning from the LA

New Ivaarsen Chasseurs
1st New Ivaarsen Chasseurs – Elite – 100%
2nd New Ivaarsen Chasseurs – Regular – 100%

Robinson Rangers
1st Robinson Rangers – Veteran – 100%
2nd Robinson Rangers – Regular – 100%

Sytris Fusiliers
5th Sytris Fusiliers RCT – Veteran – 80%
6th Sytris Fusiliers RCT – Elite – 60% (Re)
8th Sytris Fusiliers RCT – Regular – 100%

Capellan March Militias
Alcyone CMM – Regular – 100%
New Sytris CMM – Regular – 100% (Re)
Ridgebrook CMM – Green – 100%
Sirdar CMM – Regular – 100%
Valexa CMM – Regular – 100%
Warren CMM – Green – 100%
Achernar SMM – Green – 50%
Nanking SMM – Green – 80%

Crucis March Militia
Anjin Muerto CrMM – Regular – 100%
Islamabad CrMM – Green – 70%
Kestrel CrMM – Regular – 100%
Malagrotta CrMM – Green – 100%
Marlette CrMM – Regular – 100% (Re)
New Avalon CrMM – Regular – 100%
Remagen CrMM – Regular – 100%
Tsamma CrMM – Regular – 100%

Draconis March Militia
Addicks DMM – Regular – 100%
Bremond DMM – Regular – 100%
Bryceland DMM – Regular – 100%
Clovis DMM – Green – 100%
Dahar DMM – Regular – 100% - lacking armour and with overstrength infantry brigade
Kilbourne DMM – Green – 100%
Mayetta DMM – Green – 50% - returned to rolls provisionally, half the unit discharged or in prison 
Milligan DMM – Green – 100%
Raman DMM – Green – 100%
Robinson DMM – Green – 100%

Albion Military Academy Training Cadre
1st Albion Training Cadre – Green – 100%
2nd Albion Training Cadre – Green – 100%

NAIS Cadet Cadre
1st NAIS Cadre – Green – 100%
2nd NAIS Cadre – Green – 100%
3rd NAIS Cadre – Green – 100%

Training Battalions
1st Bell Training Battalion – Green – 100%
1st Brockton Training Battalion - Green - 100%
1st Conroe Training Battalion – Green – 100%
Filtvelt Academy Training Battalion (5 companies) – Green – 100%
Goshen War College Training Battalion – Green – 100%
Kilbourne Academy Training Battalion – Green – 100%
1st Kittery Training Battalion – Green – 100% - Kittery based
Point Barrow Academy Training Battalion – Green – 100%
Robinson Battle Academy Training Battalion – Green – 100%
Sakhara Academy Training Battalion – Green – 100%
Tikonov Martial Academy Training Group – Green – 45% - suspended

Mercenary Forces
12th Vegan Rangers
-   Alpha Regiment – Elite – 90%
-   Beta Regiment – Veteran – 70%
-   Gamma Regiment – Veteran – 60%
Arcadians – Veteran – 100%
Cunningham Commando’s
-   1st Cunningham Commando’s – Veteran – 80%
-   2nd Cunningham Commando’s – Regular – 70%
Federated Freemen – Veteran – 100%
Fighting Urukhai
-   8th Striker – Veteran – 100%
-   Demestri’s Sluggers – Veteran – 100%
-   Roman’s Bar Hounds – currently in the LA
Hansen’s Roughriders – Veteran – 80%
Harlock’s Warriors – Green – 90%
Illician Lancers
-   59th Striker – Regular – 100%
-   4th Ranger – Veteran – 90%
-   9th Ranger – Regular – 90%
-   21st Ranger – Green – 80%
Korsakov’s Cossacks – Veteran – 100%
Lexington Combat Group
-   32nd Recon – Veteran – 100% (Re)
-   241st Battle – Regular – 100%
-   180th Dragoon – Regular – 100%
New Avalon Cavaliers – Elite – 100% (Re)
Screaming Eagles – Veteran – 100% (Re)
Vanguard Legion – Veteran – 100%
Wild Geese - Elite - 100%
Blue Star Irregulars – although on loan to the Arc Royal Defence Cordon this unit is considered FedCom/FedSuns loyal    
-   1894th Light Horse – Elite – 100%
-   21st Rim Worlds – Veteran – 90%
-   Kerensky’s Blues – Fredessa class corvette – 75% operable

Naval Forces

Fox Class Corvettes
FCS Fox
FCS Indomitable
FCS Intrepid
FCS Indefatigable
FCS Antrim
FCS Murmansk
FCS Brest
FCS New Sytris

Avalon Class Cruisers
FCS Melissa Davion – light damage
FCS Alexander Davion
FCS Lucien Davion – requiring a refit
FCS Simon Davion – requiring a refit

Covenant Class Cruisers
FCS Covenant
« Last Edit: 16 July 2019, 03:28:34 by Billy Boy Mark II »

Davion

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #29 on: 11 May 2019, 10:55:12 »
Great Story!  This is how the Civil War Should have gone, are you going to make this story into a PDF to Download??

 

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