McKenna Shipyards of Kathil
High Orbit, Kathil
Capellan March, Federated Suns
21st September 3070 The McKenna Shipyards of Kathil had been around for centuries upon centuries they had survived the Succession Wars damaged but still operational and since the discovery of the Helm Memory Core they had been fully rebuilt to their former glory. With main power beamed up to the shipyards from Microwave Generators placed all across the planet below the shipyards were able to concentrate on building WarShips. Crew Chief/Engineer Harold Kim had been working at the Kathil Shipyards for eighteen years he’d seen the first keel of the first Avalon-class Cruiser laid down and had been present at every single Avalon launch to date he’d even been called out and done some structural work on the FSS Robert Davion before the Capellans had destroyed it a couple of years previously during the Battle of Ares.
Inside the Federated Suns outside the design team of the Avalon-class Cruisers Harold Kim considered himself to be one of the foremost minds on the Cruiser. This made today a special day and a little bit of a bittersweet one because today Harold retired at the age of sixty-two soon he and his wife would move away from Kathil and he would never see the shipyards or any of the Avalons again. Thinking about it almost brought a tear to his eye but he fought it back he knew to loose concentration on the Shipyards could, and probably would, mean your death. Thoughts about today and the memories of his time here would be for another day.
“What do you mean I’m with a damned trainee! This is my ****** last damn day!” Harold screamed at the Dock Officer for the day Cynthia Graham his immediate boss. “I was scheduled for some EVA on the Melissa Steiner-Davion!” He said mentioning the vessel being built to honour the wife of Hanse Davion and the mother of the current First Prince, Victor Steiner-Davion.
“Well we’re cutting the entire EVA operation for today, budget cuts. So I have a dozen spare bodies and what better for you to do on your last day than to show around the man who will replace you.” Cynthia said smiling Harold could feel his blood boil he’d wanted to touch one of the Avalon’s before his retirement but he’d been robbed from it by a penny pusher office monkey and there was nothing he could do to fight it either.
“Who the hell am I showing about?” He said resigned to his fate.
“A new body to the company Jamie Kingston, they are waiting for you in the recreation room, have a fun last day old timer.” Cynthia said as Harold stalked out of the office and headed for the shift recreation room down the corridor. As he’d expected it was abandoned except for a single person sitting on the chair, it wasn’t who he’d expected. Sitting on the chair with her feet up on the table was a young woman, she was in her late twenties maybe early thirties, with short blond hair, shapely legs and large round breasts barely held back by her work jacket. Harold ignored her and scanned the room no-one else here ‘damnit’ he thought.
“Looking for someone honey?” The young woman asked looking up at him.
“The new body on the line Jamie Kingston.” He said gruffly, what the hell would she know she was new herself from the look of her uniform.
“That’s me.” She said leaping to her feet her breasts jumping as she moved quickly.
“This has gotta be a joke” Harold said before he could think of what to say “where the hell is the damned camera? I’m not falling for this guys!” he called out waiting for the crew gang to appear from their hidden places, no-one appeared.
“This isn’t a joke.” She said “I’m ready to start when you are.” She said looking at him picking up her hard hat.
“And you’d know where to start on a shipyard dock?” he asked looking her over she smiled as she watched him look at her body.
“I spent three years at the Galax Shipyards before coming here including structural work on three Fox-class Corvettes and one of the new Hound-class vessels. I think I can handle whatever you want to throw at me.” She said.
“Well Galax is a lot different from here trust me, so don’t expect to instantly make the grade come on we’ll soon see if you match up” Harold said without another word he turned and headed out. For most of the morning he was pointing out the dangerous points around and what she should keep her eye out for Harold noticed Jamie took note of everything she saw, ‘maybe she would cut it’ he’d thought more than once. As they walked around Jamie pointed out something in the corner of one of the orbital warehouses inside of the largest Gravity Decks in the entire station.
“What’s that?” She asked inquisitively Harold didn’t have a clue but whoever had left it there would get trouble no-one left anything near a wall in the warehouse it was a fire hazard for a start.
“Don’t know, let’s have a look.” He said wondering over he noticed a wire sticking out of the zipper on the top it was a carry bag less than half a metre across. As he unzipped it to his horror Harold realised what it was reaching for his radio “Control, Sierra Nine, Code Omega Warehouse six-three-seven, evacuating immediate area close all doors behind us” he said into his the microphone moving back from the bag “we need to go” he said to Jamie his voice quivering slightly he could see in her facial expressions that she was scared she’d read her safety manual a ‘Code Omega’ was a bomb alert. Together they ran in the low gravity environment of the gravity deck it was difficult and soon Harold could feel a rumbling then hear an explosion “Hell!” he screamed grabbing Jamie around the waist catapulting her into one of the escape pod hatches they were not getting out of here on foot.
Once inside the pod Harold felt at least six more explosions rock the station just before he pulled the release rocketing the pod away from the facility. Out the emergency windows he could see explosions ripple through the gravity decks decompressing every single warehouse on the ring and the adjoining ring fire wrapping the facility “hell of a way to end my career” he said quietly.
“Yeah it is” Jamie said Harold heard a clicking behind him turning he was face-to-face with a Sternsnatch Pistol.
“Jesus H. Christ!” He cursed “you have gotta be joking me!” He shouted as he saw her lips blossom into a smile.
“Not a bad way to end, you get branded a traitor, a terrorist and kill yourself unable to live with what you did.” She said smiling.
“You fire that in here and we’re both dead.” He warned her out of the corner of his eye he saw more trouble heading their way hopefully she wouldn’t notice and be unable to change the pod’s trajectory. “So your five years at Galax? A cover.” He’d known she was no-way an engineer.
“One you saw through quite quickly I think?” She asked Harold nodded “I thought so, you are a smart man Harold Kim, I would happily give you the time of your life before you die.” She offered unzipping her top showing off her body, a distraction if there ever was one.
“I’ll pass” he said quietly “I’m very happy with my Mary” he said thinking of his wife planet side.
“As you wish” she said cocking the pistol just then the trouble Harold had seen before hit the pod hundreds of tons of wreckage and equipment from the decompressing cargo bays. The seven ton escape pod was buffeted from left to right by the debris and the pod was carried along Harold made a grab for the pistol quickly ejecting the round from the chamber then the magazine he saw from Jamie’s shocked expression she hadn’t expected him to be able to do that so quickly. Moments late he saw she was still looking past him a shocked, scared look on her face.
Glancing over his shoulder he noticed a growing red wall in front of them he smiled then looked back at Jamie‘s still shocked expression “you know looks like I’ll get my wish after all.” he said quietly ‘he’d get to touch an Avalon again and the WarShip would help him get sweet revenge on this little terrorist’ as the pod slammed into the Avalon’s port side along with dozens of containers, although the pod was designed to survive such an impact it wasn’t designed to survive being crushed between a seven hundred thousand ton WarShip and a moving hundred ton container it was crushed into a million pieces by the impact killing Harold Kim and his would be assassin/terrorist.
Following the attack both Harold and Jamie were both listed as missing-in-action, believed dead, Jamie’s cover was blown soon after during the following investigation her true identity was never uncovered although DMI and MIIO investigators did find a link between the explosives and the Capellan Confederation leading to the deployment of half a dozen Rabid Fox teams to the Confederation for retaliation strikes. The damage caused to the Kathil yards would delay construction efforts by up to five years on all vessels being built.
Nova Cat Construction/Upgrade Station
Varnay System, Nova Cat’s Den
Periphery
30th September 3070 As the Federated Suns was cursing their bad luck following the terrorist attack/sabotage on the McKenna Shipyards in the Kathil system the Nova Cat Clan celebrate the re-launching of the captured Jade Falcon vessel Gauntlet, Liberator-class Cruiser, as their brand-new Anna Rosse-class Battle-cruiser. The Gauntlet renamed the Santin West in honour of the Nova Cat’s fallen-Khan is the fourth Anna Rosse-class vessel to come online for the Nova Cat Clan Touman and the sixth vessel in the class to exist, the two others being in service with Clan Wolf the Victoria Ward and Jerome Winston respectfully.
The Santin West is unique in the Anna Rosse-class however as it is the first vessel to feature the newly developed Clan Hell’s Horses designed 20-rated Heavy Assault Gauss Rifle systems that replace the LB-class Heavy Autocannons on standard models. Following several successful tests of these new weapons and the far increased effectiveness of anti-fighter defence, because of the weapons, Khan Canin Rosse orders that all Nova Cat Anna Rosse-class vessels be upgraded to this new configuration.
First Filtvelt Guardians Firebase, Filtvelt
Filtvelt Coalition, Periphery
4th October 3070 Citizens of the Outback Unite. This phrase, or one like it, has been used countless times to inspire people to join forces against a common threat, people who do not realise they have as much in common as they truly do. People unaware of the strengths too focused on their individualism and isolationism. But that is who we are.
For centuries now we have all suffered under the neglect of our ‘sovereign.’ They constantly war with neighbours, often hundred of light-years from us. They come to take our children, our resources and our precious few riches with empty promises in return. We receive empty gestures, under-funded projects and education, hallmarked by incompetence and lack of commitment.
We ask ourselves, when will it be our turn? We pay our taxes and contribute to ‘our’ nation everyday, we pull our weight and then some for the team, an alliance wrought centuries ago, and still for all our hardships we receive nothing.
Although our hardships, the pirates that plague our worlds, have disappeared recently to just a trickle from the ‘Lady Death’ Trevaline’s Pirate Cluster continuing we still need protection we need protection. The AFFS have promised us defences, the formation of more training battalions and a better equipped militia we have received nothing. Today we received orders to move the Filtvelt Training Battalion, the largest AFFS BattleMech force in the area, to the Raven Alliance Border to reinforce the AFFS forces there in case of a push from Clan Snow Raven.
We are all tired of waiting for House Davion to send us alms, band-aids and crackers to deal with our problems. We can no longer afford to give while receiving nothing in return.
If the AFFS is so eager to abandon us, we no longer owe them enough to follow these orders. Thus effective immediately the First Filtvelt Training Battalion will form the core of the First Filtvelt Guardians, a force dedicated to the protection of our neighbours, and the destruction of the pirates we face. It is being joined by the Filtvelt Militia and local forces of the Skepptana and Marielund. Together we will forge a military coalition to oppose any and all invaders including any AFFS forces that choose to try and bring us under the heel of House Davion once more.
We ask all of you to join us, for our mutual defence. It is time we provide for ourselves. Together we can face any threat and defeat it.
Respectfully
Colonel Erich LeBeau
Official communiqué issued from the office of the Kommandant, Filtvelt Training Academy, to “all military, paramilitary and mercenary forces in the Broken Wheel PDZ, Federated Suns.”
This letter sent shockwaves through the Federated Suns Outback region within hours of its official release many were calling for their worlds to join the newly formed Filtvelt Coalition while others were calling for the AFFS to land on Filtvelt and impose martial law over the world and arrest Colonel LeBeau and Marquees Helen Trempealeau the leader of a well known Filtvelt Independence Movement.
Through the storm of this infighting in the Royal Court and High Command on New Avalon First Prince Victor Steiner-Davion makes a decision. Ordering the Third NAIS Cadre Regiment to Broken Wheel itself he orders the FSS Filtvelt, Hound-class Corvette, to rendezvous with the FSS New Avalon, Whirlwind Block II-class Destroyer, and escort him to Filtvelt. The First Prince himself will travel to Filtvelt and hear the people’s thoughts and troubles. With Victor travels the First Davion Guards RCT which leaves a single Battalion to defend the Royal Palace as is tradition. Word that Victor Steiner-Davion is travelling to Filtvelt with two WarShips and an entire Regimental Combat Team quickly circulates the Federated Suns, fear spreads that Victor will pound the break-away Filtvelt worlds into nothing with his hammer, the First Davion Guards. In the background on New Avalon the Varnay family and their ally Field Marshal Roger William Waters move quietly against the First Prince continuing efforts to undermine Victor and the AFFS High Command.
Zi-jin Cheng (Forbidden City), Sian
Sian Commonality, Capellan Confederation
10th October 3070 With the First Prince busy dealing with Periphery worlds breaking from the Federated Suns Field Marshal George Hasek goes behind Victor Steiner-Davion’s back and orders his Capellan Assassin codenamed Agent Tamroy to kill Naomi Centrella-Liao, Sun-Tzu Liao and Dao-Shen Liao decapitating the Capellan nation, so the Capellan March forces under the command of George himself can trundle in and capture the nation. George even has plans to turn on the St Ives Compact once he has crushed the Capellan Confederation resistance and has the Chancellor’s head on a platter. Only the quick actions of Tamroy’s controllers within the DMI on Sian are able to stop him/her before the attack saving the Federated Suns from sparking a new Succession War.
Following this incident Tamroy is recalled to Federated Suns to ensure he/she cannot be used again by someone wanting to spark a war between the Succession States. The DMI also report this incident and the loss of their highest placed Capellan Agent to the First Prince and the High Command pointing the finger for the troubles solely at the doorstep of Field Marshal George Hasek and the Capellan March.
