The Opening Bid
August 20th, 3028
As the penultimate act in the reception, it is now time for the presentation of the wedding gifts; those given by the other house lords are commensurate with their rank and status. Next to last is the one from Tony Stark, who says "your highness, I completed this just before we left on the trip to Terra." Stark now opens the package he had with him; after removing the leather cover, he holds up what appears to be a circular shield and presents it to Hanse Davion and his wife.
"Your highness, Archon-Designate, my father created this shield and gave it to my good friend Steve Rogers many years ago. In my research at NAIS, I managed to create enough of the original alloy to forge this duplicate; it has all the properties of the original." Stark holds up the shield and describes it, saying "this measures 30" in diameter and weighs 12 lbs; the design recalls the flag of the old United States of America, with circular red and white stripes surrounding a field of blue with a large white star in the center.. Among the shield's properties are its extreme durability and the ability to retain 99.975% of its angular momentum; so if you were to throw it at a target, it would bounce back to you."
"Mr. Stark, on behalf of my wife Melissa, I thank you for your generous gift."
Melissa Steiner-Davion now presents her own gift by saying "my husband, in honor of our wedding, I give to you a full regiment of battlemechs, along with the means to support them in perpetuity." What follows next strikes with all the force of the proverbial bolt from the blue."
"My wife, in honor of our marriage, I give you the Capellan Confederation."
This pronounciation causes much excited discussion to run throughout the room, which discussion becomign more animated as messengers come up to the other house lords and inform them of the opening stages of Operation Rat (what future military historians will call the Fourth Succession War (which actually began just 48 hours before). Not surprisingly, the reception very quickly draws to a close. The attendees return to the quarters in Comstar's residential compound and make preparations to return to their respective realms beginning tomorrow. Once Tony Stark gets back to his suite, he readies himself for the contest to come.
8:00 PM
True to her word, Romano Liao arrives at 8:00 pm and knocks on Stark's door. When Tony opens the door, she sees Romano standing before him wearing a floor length gray cloak lined with crimson.
"Well, well, well; what do we have here?"
Romano pushes past him into the suite and closes the door behind her. Once inside, she unfastens the clasp at her throat and drops the cloak to reveal all that she's wearing is a pair of high-strapped sandals and a hungry, lascivious smile. Stark grins widely and replies "that's a very nice little nothing that you're almost wearing, Romano; I'm glad to see that you're a woman of your word. Now, to paraphrase the Immortal Bard, lay on Macduff and damned be she who first cries 'hold, enough.'"
Romano's first act when she gets Stark between the sheets is to artfully (or so she thinks) try and pump him for information. Knowing that this was Romano's intent from the very start, he skillfully fills her ears with information about projects that are under developemnt at NAIS; these non-existent projects are hyperdrive, deflector fields, artificial gravity and a new form of communications that will allow for instantaneous two-way communications in real time (no matter the distance). Half an hour later, Romano raises her finger to Stark's lips and says "enough talk; time for some action"
The several instances of nocturnal gymnastics which follow are of such vigor and intensity that Romano Liao finds herself losing consciousness by 4:00 am the next morning. Carefully disengaging himself, Stark gets dressed and says "now, exit our hero from the door, Stage Right."
August 21st, 3028
4:30 am
Tony Stark visits Justin Allard's to tell him what transpired with Romano Liao. Upon arrival, he finds Minister Allard meetin with his son Justin.
"Hiya, Q. I just wanted to stop by and let you know what transpired between me and Romano Liao"
"How did it go?"
"Rommie considers herself quite the devotee of the arts of the bedchamber but. compared to me in that regard, I had her outgunned six ways to Sunday. Just as I expected, she tried prying all kinds of information out of me regarding what's being worked on at NAIS. So, I filled her ears with a half-hour's worth of utterly inconsequential and completely false information. Rommie's sleeping now; when she wakes up and sees that I'm gone, she's going to be madder than a wet hen."
"Just what did you do, Stark"
Just then. FRIDAY speaks up through Star's earpiece and says "sir, please excuse this interruption.There are a half-dozen armed men approaching this room and they'll be here in less than one minute."
"Who are they?"
"Their equipment profile doesn't match that of Comstar's ROM security element; instead, their profile matches House Liao's SF group, the Death Commandos."
"Thank you, FRIDAY." To Quintus and his son, Stark announces "guys, we've got a problem. There are six Liao Death Commandos approaching this room, and I don't think they're coming for tea. Q, you and Justin should conceal yourselves in the back room: I'll handle this..."
"What do you mean?"
Stark's only response is to tap his glowing chest piece. Before Quintus and Justin's amazed eyes, their visitor is quickly covered from head to toe in gleaming crimson and silver armor. As the two of them retreat to the back room, Stark deploys a small holographic emitter on the table and activates it; the image thus generated is of Quintus and his son sitting there and having a discussion. Just then, the door bursts open and two men charge into the room and spray the table area with fire from their suppressed carbines. Stark's only response is a grim "my turn, ******."
The first man through the door is backhanded across the room, where he hits the wall and falls unconscious. Stark's gauntlet-mounted repulsors charge themsleves with a high-pitched whine and splatter the second man all over the wall. Of the four men remaining, two are pulled through the wall separating the room from the hallway outside; these men are tossed through the window. As Quntus Allard's room is on the fourth floor of the building, Stark has no illusions about what happened to these two. Seeing what just happened to their comrades, the remaining two Death Commandos take to their heels and attempt to escape. This is unsuccessful, as Stark smashes through the wall and kills them both with fire from his shoulder-mounted micromissile launchers. Once the attackers have bene neutralized, Stark again taps his chest piece and the armor begins to disappear from where it came.
"Alright gentlemen. You can come out now; the tangos have been neutralized."
Quintus Allard speaks up and says "Stark, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed what just happened. I read the reports on what your armor is capable of; words are one thing, seeing it in action is something else entirely..."
Just then, the lead man of a ROM security team cautyiously approaches what remains of the door and says "I am Security Adept Marcus. What happened here?" Stark snarks "better late than never; we could have used you five minutes ago, you no-good rent-a-cop.."
Quintus motions for quiet, then responds "Adept Marcus, my son and I were talking with mr. Stark when the six individuals you see lying all over the place burst through the door and opened fire on us; it was only by the intervention of Mr. Stark's bodyguard Iron Man that the three of us weren't killed. These men were armed and equipped as Liao Death Commandos, so I'd take a long hard look at the Liao delegation if I were you. I no longer have confidence in your so-called security arrangements, so I am counseling that Davion and Steiner delegations leave immediately."
The members of the First Circuit are immediately informed of what happened, and to say they they're buzzing like a kicked-over beehive would be an understatement. At the same time, the appearance of this 'Iron Man' is a topic of much discussion and interest; especially since ROM security footage from outside Minister Allard's suite clearly shows this individual in action.
Primus Julian Tiepolo announces "esteemed members of the First Circuit, I propose that we require that the Capellan Confederation be 'requested' to fund the upgrade of two dozen of the HPG 'B' stations in that realm to full 'A' status. Additionally, the Chancellor will alllow the Blessed Order to proceed with additonal recruitment efforts within the Confederation. Should Maximillian Liao refuse, then a communications interdict would be in order."
Not suprisingly, the Capellan Confederation accedes to Comstar's 'request.' On the Davion side of the equation, the Primus places the Federated Suns under a communications interdict; the justification for this action being (in his opinion) House Davion's unwarranted and unjustified attack on the territory of House Liao.
At the front
August 20th-October 7th, 3028
All across the Capellan front, the forces of the Federated Suns are experiencing unprecedented levels of success; some worlds fall in mere hours, while others require a few days to a couple of weeks. As after-action reports make their way back to Sian, Maximillian Liao becomes more unstable with each revelation of bad news; the worst news of all is Candace Liao's defection (along with the entuire St. Ives Commonality) to the side of the Federated Commonwealth; thus, at a single stroke, a full 20% of the Capellan Confederation is taken out of the war.
In the Chancellor's office, Maximillian Liao is meeting with the members of his command council, along with other principal advisers (among whom is his wife Elizabeth, President of the Council of Scions); the purpose of the meeting is to determine how best to respond to the Davion juggernaut. After listening to the discussion thus far, Dame Liao responds "my husband, it is indeed fortunate that Comstar didn't place the Confederation under a communications interdict after that regrettable incident on Terra. If they had, it would have severely compromised operations against those damnable Davion invaders. As it stands, the House of Scions stands ready to help defray the costs imposed on the Confederation by the First Circuit."
At this, Elizabeth and Romano Liao exchange poisonous looks with each other; she knows that Romano was complicit in the attack on Justin Allard back on Terra (and not being able to prove it). As for Romano Liao, she already hates Elizabeth (her stepmother) with a mad passion; she knows that Elizabeth carrying on an affair with with Colonel Pavel Ridzik from the Tikonov Commonality, and she can't prove it.
Across the room, Romano's facial expression is one of outward calm; inside her mind, however, she's fuming over the way Tony Stark so cavalierly cast her aside after she gave herself to him. She remarks silently to herself 'that miserable, self-righteous no-good playboy bastard!! How dare he abandon me like some starport hussy?? I swear to Kali that I'll make him pay for his insult to me.' In considering the role she played in the attack on Justin Allard, Romano is relieved that her complicity wasn't discovered; she's also further-angered at Tony Stark for his interference, which action causing the attack to fail spectacularly.
Romano Liao now bends the chancellor's ear and says "most-respected father, I feel it worth mentioning that a good deal of the success that the Davion invaders are having on the battlefield can be attributed to the First Prince's principal adviser Tony Stark; perhaps he should be proceeded against, if for no other reason than to show that the Confederation is not to be troubled with." The Chancellor leans forward in his chair and says "wise words, daughter; let it be as you say. In fact, it is our express wish that you take personal charge of the operation." A frosty smile crosses Romano's face as she thinks to herself 'I've got you now Stark, you arrogant two-faced bastard. You're dead; you just don't know it yet.'
"Father, I'm honored by your trust in me. Believe me when I say that Stark is as good as dead. Now that this course of action has been decided, we should look into the appearance of Iron Man. From the copies of ROM security footage, whoever this individual is, he displayed technological capabilities that the Star League (even at its height) never dreamed of."
