DS Santiago de Cuba (Stork-class DropShip)
Uncharted system near Reese Station
Alarion Province, Lyran Commonwealth
8th May 3116 For more than thirty years there had been rumours of an uncharted but habited system near Reese Station deep inside the Lyran Commonwealth but despite a search there had never been a sign of a habitable planet or moon in the area, “never that is until now.” Dr Thomas Mazzarelli thought as he stood on the command bridge of the Stork-class DropShip Santiago de Cuba he had spent a decade of his life working within his scientific fellowship searching for worlds lost off of Lyran maps during the Age of Wars and Succession Wars. Two months ago, when he was based on Reese Station the powerful telescopes there spotted what he believed to be indications of a spacer colony in this system and then only one month before scientists in the Tiruppir system looking at the same thing he had been spotted the same thing. With two pieces of evidence to back his claims his belief up Mazzarelli had been authorized to take one of his fellowships two exploration DropShips to this system. The JumpShip merchant they had hired to take them here had already continued its delivery mission and had left the system for the next month and a half the Santiago de Cuba was on its own which suited Mazzarelli just fine they could take a slow one gravity burn around the system and discover what it had hidden.
Now ten days into their forty-eight-day mission Mazzarelli was buzzing with excitement. “We have something!” One of the bridge officers shouted out he was a young man in an unmarked coverall which had been kept clean, and he was clean shaven another bonus on a civilian ship far from any oversight.
“What is it?” He called out moving towards the front of the small DropShip’s bridge past the Captain’s console “my apologies, Captain.” Mazzarelli said sheepishly nodding and backing off the Doctor was not a small man; he was not afraid to admit he enjoyed the sweeter things in life probably too much. His balding head and greying hair did little to dis-way this idea. He didn’t need to get on the wrong side of a ship’s captain this early into a trip.
“It’s your mission Doc, just turn to me when things hit the fan.” Captain Symonds said quietly he was a lot more like Mazzarelli than he’d like to admit he liked an easy life, exploration missions like this generally caused little in the way of problems he could put up with an excitable scientist or thirteen as this little trip had brought.
“Thank you, Captain,” Mazzarelli said stepping forward once again “what do you have watchman?” He asked not knowing the you man’s rank or position.
“It’s rubbish, sir, a garbage drop by the looks of it from a passing ship.” Mazzarelli beamed the biggest smile he could at the young man.
“If I were twenty years younger, I would kiss you!” He said turning back to Captain Symonds “Captain we’re on the right track you don’t get rubbish without traffic I’d like permission to bring it onboard.”
“Other people’s rubbish” Symonds repeated so he was absolutely sure. “Doctor you know that could include their… left over… bio-matter?” He asked just to make sure that the Doctor understood.
“Their shit, you can say it Captain it doesn’t hurt we’re all big boys and girls here, yes I understand Captain. We will be careful around what we find. If we can study what we have found then perhaps we can figure out how long it has been here, who left it and what kind of people they are. I might be able to tell you what they had for dinner before dumping the rubbish.”
“Ok Doc, it’s you that gets to clean the mess.” Roughly three tons of rubbish, including the expected faces, were brought onboard the DropShip giving the scientists a mini-treasure trove to fall back on.
---
Nearly a week passed and still nothing further had been found in the system Symonds was ready to give up on their search of this area and move on into their secondary search area but Mazzarelli had persevered they had entered what could only be described as a dense area of rogue planetoids and large asteroids. While none of them had atmospheres many had deep canyons and cave networks any of which could have what he wanted. Laying in his bunk Mazzarelli was convinced he was on the right trail for a find in this system so their search would continue. “Mazzarelli report to the bridge, we have something you won’t believe” it was Symonds on the ship announcer.
Mazzarelli hadn’t in his fifty-two years ever dressed so quickly moving through the small four deck Stork-class DropShip. As an aerodyne DropShip the Stork was built like a massive cargo aeroplane with the top two decks dedicated to command and the crew quarters the third deck which carried passengers while the fourth deck was twice as tall as the others and was purely a cargo bay. When in space the ship flew on its belly so the deck remained as the deck for the crew and passengers making it easier to move around without needing to rearrange things.
Entering the Stork’s bridge, he found Symonds leaning forward looking at his screens, Mazzarelli read some of the displays but mostly it didn’t make much sense to him “Captain” he said announcing his arrival.
“Doctor” Symonds said smiling turning to face him “well you said we’d find something here. Take a look.” He said inviting him to look at the screens.
“I’m looking Captain, I just don’t completely understand what I am seeing, can you direct me?”
“Right there!” He pointed up at one of the roof mounted flat screens Mazzarelli stared at it for a moment and began to understand what he was seeing. “That Doctor is a drive plume of a small vessel, probably one hundred tons or so.”
“A fighter, a patrol or scout?”
“More likely a small cargo ship of some sort given its movement profile, they are moving a little under 2G nothing fancy just avoiding the rocks, like us” the same sensor operator who had answered his query before. “It probably can go faster than it currently is but they are in no hurry to go where they are going.”
“Can we talk to them?”
“We wanted you to be here before we did.” Symonds said “Doctor, if you please, you’re on.” Mazzarelli stood up straighter at that, as straight as one could in the cramped bridge before he spoke.
“I am Doctor Thomas Mazzarelli of the Alarion Fellowship of Associated Scientists; we have come to this system on a mission of peaceful exploration and we would welcome the chance to open peaceful relations with you.” He began intending on explaining who they were and their intentions
“That got a reaction! Engine spike they are accelerating.”
“Doctor, they go much past that we’ll lose them. But in this type of belt, they are risking losing something more than just us…”
“This is the captain, everyone buckle in and prepare for reorientation” Symonds announced over the ship wide intercom “doctor, take your seat, you have one more chance to calm this down.”
“To the pilots of the small ship we are not hostile we are purely here to open peaceful relations you don’t need to run from us.” He said pleading with them to slow down and listen to his words. As he spoke Mazzarelli was climbing into his chair as the Stork re-orientated into its normal flight mode with the ship’s main engines driving the vessel forwards. If the DropShip was going to be expected to make any special manoeuvre, they couldn’t do that in the transit mode.
“They are disappearing behind that rogue planet!” The pilot said a rogue planet was a planet which didn’t have a regular orbit of its own, it was a remnant from the system’s formation and now it drifted through the asteroid belt as one of its largest contacts. Part of their next search pattern would have been to explore the planet but this new contact had brought that search forwards.
“Bring us in close and begin scans. Weapons have them ready” Symonds said catching Mazzarelli’s eye “just in case Doctor, this is still your game, I just want to be ready we’re out here on our own.” The Santiago de Cuba spun slowly around one of the small asteroids as it did the ship rolled gracefully onto its back and down towards the planet.
“We have him! He’s gone into that canyon” the dark-skinned sensor operator said tagging the region on her console. On the other consoles of the Santiago’s bridge the canyon was lit up by the vessel’s sensors.
“Helm, slow engines to station keeping keep us in orbit of this rock and in range of that canyon but no need to waste fuel.” He ordered reaching over to other controls as the helm station began to change the orientation of the ship and the power being delivered to the engines. “All hands this is the captain prepare for zero thrust operations; all crewmen not comfortable with zero-g wear your slippers we don’t know when we’ll need to use the engines in a bit.” Symonds ordered his crew into action in rapid succession the ship went from being under trust to spinning in space and breaking to nearly no velocity at all. Now the ship was flying “backwards” but at a fraction of the speed that it had been previously using minimal trust to remain above the canyon the crew may feel the occasional jolt but for the most part they would not have the benefit of thrust delivered gravity for a bit. “What have we got Sujitra?”
“Lots of rocks” the young woman said catching Symonds look out of the corner of her eye “yup, lots of rocks…” she repeated “and some metal, some high concentrations of metal about three hundred metres inside. It could be natural but at that level of concentration I’d say we’re seeing some sort of landing bay.”
“Too small for us to fit in there. If we want to drive them out, we’ll need to bring some sort of landing craft from outside the system.” Symonds said “unless you can talk them out Doctor, we’re at an impasse.”
“To the people on the colony below this is Doctor Mazzarelli, you may not be aware of this but your world is in the heart of a nation known as the Lyran Commonwealth. This nation is ruled by the Steiner family and is known in the Inner Sphere as one of the Succession States…”
“Oh boy, we’re going to be at this for a bit.” Symonds noted hearing the doctor begin his history lesson.
“Maybe not we have movement from the canyon!” Sujitra called out from her station “two small craft similar but not the same as the previous models.”
“Doctor, have you had anything from them?” Symonds asked as the two craft rose out of the canyon. His DropShip was not heavily armed and against two modern aerospace fighters they’d have not chance, but he highly doubted that these craft were modern.
“No, captain”
“Fine, my turn” Symonds said flicking a switch on his control console shutting off Mazzarelli “this is Captain Wayne Symonds of the DropShip Santiago de Cube. My DropShip is not a craft built for an invasion but we can and we will defend ourselves if we are threatened.” He said watching as the two craft continued to approach. “Final warning, identify yourselves or be subject to defence fire.”
“This is Leutenant Julie Mertens of Vendrell to DropShip we welcome you to the home space of Vendrell and the last bastion of the Protectorate of Donegal.” The heavily German accented voice said coming through the radio system. “You are intruders into our space, identify the reason you are here.”
“Protectorate of Donegal?” Symonds said looking at Mazzarelli “Doctor?”
“A precursor nation to the Lyran Commonwealth. One of House Steiner’s founding members, the richest of them, where leaders of our nation were originally born. It hasn’t existed for nearly eight hundred years…” He began to explain but Symonds raised a hand to silence him.
“Leutenant Mertens the nation you claim to represent became a founding member of the Lyran Commonwealth almost eight hundred years ago. You have been cut off for a very long time.”
“We are aware, our colony and Rijeka are happy with our isolation. We do not need to be subjugated by your Commonwealth like the Donegal was, our ancestors close to create a life for themselves in the stars away from the bigger national government which was being created.”
“The people of Donegal led the Lyran Commonwealth. Archon Robert Marsden became the Commonwealth’s first Archon, his brother Alistair the second!” Mazzarelli blurted out cutting over Symonds before the captain could speak.
“The traitor led the new Commonwealth?” Martens asked back over the open channel “Santiago hold position.” The woman said and the comm channel went silent for several minutes. Symonds looked at Mazzarelli annoyed he had broken through.
“Sorry Captain, but these people descend from ancestors who thought their nation which was rich and prosperous was going to be subjugated and broken up by the other nations of the new Commonwealth. They left based on a lie and have been cut off from the rest of us for more than seven hundred years!”
“I was getting to that point Doctor, this is going to be a lot for them to take in.”
“Third contact rising from the surface!”
“Communication from lead ship.”
“This is Leutenant Martens we are sending a small ship as there is not space for your vessel within our landing bay. You are invited to send a delegation to Vendrell to speak to our leadership.”
“Doctor, looks like we’re going for a trip.” Symonds said to the excited looking doctor.
---
An hour later the small craft carrying Dr Mazzarelli and Captain Symonds arrived on the asteroid colony of Vendrell. The small craft had been of the same design as the other two craft and had docked with the Santiago’s external docking port they had been escorted into the rear of the craft which was little more than a converted cargo space. The trip had been short the ship had landed on a landing pad which had retracted into a hanger below. They had felt the ship be pulled along the hanger floor by something as the hanger pressurized outside after several minutes their pilots entered the rear cabin through a small slide door and then the side doors of the small craft opened and a ramp extended allowing the four people to exit.
Mazzarelli and Symonds were greeted by the sight anyone would encounter if they entered a hanger of a military vessel or underground installation all of the walls were made of heavily worn metal and the area was a hive of activity. While they didn’t know if this was their only hanger Symonds could count seven of the craft similar to the three ship’s they had already encountered.
From deeper within the hanger a man wearing a grime covered black and grey coverall approached them he had a full head of greying hair and a greying beard he was easily in his early fifties and looked well for his age if a bit pale, probably due to the lack of natural exposure of sunlight. I am Administrator Daniel de Oliveira of the Vendrell Colony, welcome to our colony and the soil of the Protectorate of Donegal.” He said raising his hands openly to his side “my apologies for my appearance we had a maintenance issue which needed the hands of a trained operator.”
“Thank you for the welcome Administrator, I am Captain Wayne Symonds of the DropShip Santiago de Cuba and this is Doctor Thomas Mazzarelli of the Alarion Fellowship of Associated Scientists.”
“And you are from the Lyran Commonwealth?”
“Well less” Symonds answered the question simply.
“Our ancestors knew that one day the Commonwealth would expand to our shores. What is it the Commonwealth wants with us today?” Oliveira asked Symonds glanced at Mazzarelli who stepped forward.
“Mr Administrator, I do not know how far you think your ancestors travelled for the Commonwealth to finally reach your shores?” He asked carefully seeing a small crowd of about thirty people so far had gathered to see the visitors.
“Our ancestors travelled for approximately eighty years settling in this system in early 2420 after a critical part of their colony ship failed during transit stranding them here. They travelled far from the reach of the newly born Commonwealth and the external wars it was bringing to our lands.” He said loudly enough for the crowd to hear and be proud of their accomplishments. “While Vendrell and Rijeka are not the paradise worlds they hoped to find we have made them home.”
“I understand that and your Colony ship travelled through the Interstellar space between worlds?” He asked trying to establish exactly how they had arrived to live here.
“Yes, their ship accelerated for years and then when they ran into difficulties, they made a heroic effort to slow to a stop in this system.” Oliveira explained “our colony and Rijeka are the results of their efforts.”
“I don’t know how much you know of Interstellar travel Administrator?” Captain Symonds asked not waiting for a response “travel in normal space is significantly slower than using Jump technology and it does not travel nearly as far.”
“Yes, we are aware but our ancestors did not have the funds to move such a large population by JumpShip and they wished to move all of their supporters at once before other elements got to them. Their colony ship was the only option.”
“I can understand the issues they faced.” Symonds said “but because they used normal space travel instead of jump technology. Your people have moved a little under seven light years from Reese Station. While you have been independent and your accomplishments are your own, you are still within the heart of the nation known as Lyran Commonwealth.” He explained he could see the shock on the faces around them “now the Lyran nation is not coming here to enslave you. My ship is one of science and exploration, but what you all need to know is that you are as Lyran as anyone else even if it’s something you haven’t been able to be part of until now. And you could be in line for support from the nation’s leadership.”
“Something we can explore.” Oliveira suggested “talking of which would you like to see more of our home?” He offered and he began leading them of a tour of the facility which laid below. The top level was exclusively the hanger facility but below that there were twelve additional floors which sprawled out several kilometres in every direction housing a population of nearly twenty-five thousand. There were schools, hospitals and accommodation for all with many of the people who lived on the colony working in the maintenance of their home or on one of their satellite mining facilities.
While they were travelling Oliveira explained that Rijeka was similar to Vendrell but was nearly three days away through the asteroids and because of the size of the small craft it required several refuelling stops. The two colonies essentially operated entirely independently of each other but traded regularly for supplies and parts with members of the population occasionally choosing to settle on the other colony keeping their gene pools diverse. The news that outsiders from the Lyran Commonwealth had made contact swept through the two colonies quickly with many afraid of what the nation would do to their tiny “Protectorate” while others embraced the idea of being part of a grander nation and looked forwards to learning more about the nation their ancestors had run from.
Within weeks of the Santiago de Cuba’s arrival in the system and the return of their JumpShip a Lyran contact team is sent to the system with several cargo DropShips carrying additional supplies opening up the two colonies to the rest of the Commonwealth. The people on the DropShips brought stories into the colonies as well as resources opening up opportunities for their population elsewhere. The integration of the two colonies to the Lyran Commonwealth also brings taxes to the systems however because of their long isolation the Lyran government ensure they are introduced slowly. For Symonds and Mazzarelli their mission in the system is done initially Mazzarelli’s scientists were allowed to explore the two colonies learning a little about their culture before the Lyran contact team took over leading to their presence being addition to the needs of the project.
Border skirmish
Ziliang, Ziliang PDZ
Capellan March, Federated Suns
14th May 3116 It was near the hour of midnight when the people of Ziliang realized something was wrong but things were far more advanced than they realized. Under the cover of night, the Capellan Confederation had arrived on the world with a reinforced battalion of troops which had one goal, eliminate the leadership of the world and sow chaos. The assault on Ziliang was part of a larger goal to unsettle the entire region as the Capellans made a play against their neighbouring succession state.
Their first goal on Ziliang was to target the Duke of Ziliang Marlin Alexander for death for years he had the First Federated Suns Armoured Cavalry on world to protect him but that elite unit was currently based off world with only the local militia unit to protect the duke. The so-called Chancellor’s Chosen Augmented Battalions were made up of mostly Stealth equipped BattleMechs and they had moved quickly breaking through defence lines to deposit numerous Battle Armoured assassins into the duke’s private residence. Having delivered his four Battle Armoured troopers to their target Sang-wei Lee Ji-sung sat in his Yamal BattleMech waiting for their return, this was a simple hit and escape mission and his sixty-ton Yamal, or Kangaroo, as the Battle Armour troopers nicknamed the design had been sent with a single mission to transport them in and get them back out.
The Yamal (Kangaroo) was a new BattleMech in the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces built at sixty tons it was capable of over eighty kilometres per hour and it was clad in thick stealth armour. The Mech had four medium lasers and a flame thrower as armament but its true asset was its armour, speed and jump jets. The Mech was designed with this sort of mission to get in unseen and to get back out before a defender could react. For this mission his unit had sent six of the Kangaroos each carrying four Battle Armoured troopers to target the duke.
Now that the Battle Armoured troopers were inside Sang-wei Lee Ji-sung sat and waited for their return the night sky on Ziliang was nice tonight there was a faint green colour coming through the clouds Ji-sung had no idea why that would be the case but he took it as a good sign. In his ten years serving with the CCAF he had served in many units but this was his first time leading an assault into the Federated Suns, his first of many. Suddenly there was signal from in front of the Mech and Ji-sung could see a Fa Shih suited trooper with an unconscious figure over their shoulder indicating for his attention.
The Kangaroo was designed to serve as a command Mech but that same facility could be locked out essentially as a cell and be used as a transport for those captured in combat. Ji-sung folded the BattleMech’s legs carefully under itself lowering the Mech’s profile to a near prone position he then flicked the toggle for the front hatch and the forward cockpit on the Mech opened. Unlike many BattleMechs with a Command Console feature the Kangaroo’s was located at the front of the Mech allowing for a prisoner to be loaded quickly into the Mech. The Battle Armoured trooper did not wait long and moved forward buckling his new passenger in place. From what Ji-sung could see she was a young woman in her early twenties still dressed in her bed clothing and wrapped in a robe. As the trooper buckled her in the pilot locked out the controls in the front compartment, he didn’t need her waking during the trip, he didn’t know who she was, the plan had not been to capture anyone. Once his passenger was buckled in the trooper withdrew from the front of his Mech and Ji-sung toggled the cockpit closed before bringing the BattleMech back to a standing position. On his main communication screen at the front of his cockpit Ji-sung could see a simple unspoken command “Go!”
Accelerating quickly Ji-sung ducked his thin BattleMech through the night streets of Ziliang while the Kangaroo weighed in at sixty tons it was not a wide BattleMechs both “arms” were more like shoulder stumps and the rest of the Mech was longer than wider with the forward mounted second cockpit and rear torso mounted jump jets. The guardian electronic counter measures suite and stealth armour combined to hide the black painted Mech from sensors but nothing could hide an eight-metre tall BattleMech charging through the city. The first patrol to see him were a pair of Sortek Mechanized Combat Vehicles which were most likely responding to the attack on the duke’s residence, their response at encountering an enemy Mech was typical and they filled the air with particle cannon fire trying to tag his Mech one blast of man-made lighting slammed into his Mech’s left torso while the other slammed into the building beside him Ji-sung took evasive action and turned his Mech to the right avoiding further fire heading down another street.
Whether it was the impact of the particle cannon or his evasive manoeuvre Lee Ji-sung’s passenger woke following the encounter with the two vehicles and she began to scream out of a mix of fear and anger. Lee quickly muted the intercom between the two cockpits, he didn’t need the distraction as they ran through the city streets. His sensors flashed up with another target a fast-moving BattleMech, he twisted his BattleMech’s torso to see if he could get a look of any targets first on his left and then on his right but nothing appeared before his Mech was hit by four tightly packed pulse laser blasts. Twisting his Mech back around he noticed it was a Gunsmith which weighed less than half the tonnage of his heavier Mech unfortunately its laser reflective armour would make his lasers far less effective against the target. Firing all four medium lasers into the target he saw that three hit their target but even with his successes due to the enemy Mech’s specialized armour he hadn’t even penetrated the Mech’s armour. He lunged the Kangaroo forwards trying to kick out at the lighter Mech, hoping to land a crippling blow, but missed the Gunsmith ran off firing its pulse lasers back at him. Lee Ji-sung wasn’t interested in trying to catch a faster light Mech instead he jumped the Kangaroo away from the lighter target more green pulse lasers filled the air but missed the flying Capellan Mech. His passenger continued to scream angrily at him as his Mech reached the top of its jump, she then continued to scream as they began to fall again. Ji-sung cut in the jump jets at the last moment softening the landing and the Kangaroo continued to run.
Unfortunately, the encounter with the Sorteks and then the Gunsmith had put him behind schedule at reaching his rendezvous point with their DropShips and now time could not be wasted. Landing Ji-Sung plotted a course for outside the city while keeping a look out for additional enemy targets his concentration on piloting the heavy Mech at speed resulted in Ji-sung missing the two Maten Scout VTOLs pass by his position fortunately the automated anti-missile system was ready and immediately engaged the incoming missiles from the two aircraft. Unlike the Gunsmith which Lee Ji-sung knew he could scare away with his Mech’s size the two VTOLs could pick away at his armour and report his Mech’s position to other enemy units meaning he had to do something about them. Stopping his progress rapidly he changed direction heading the opposite way from originally intended trying to throw off the two VTOLs. His passenger had quietened down and was not crying he wondered if she was resigned to her fate or if the heat in the cockpit had finally begun to get to her. Unfortunately, Ji-sung had no intentions of letting up launching the Mech into the air once more he triggered the four medium lasers on hitting one target with two of them, fortunately two medium lasers against a small VTOL were plenty and the small aircraft exploded, his anti-missile system engaged the incoming missiles cutting down several as fragments of the aircraft rained down on the streets below. The Kangaroo came down heavily and Lee Ji-rung ran the sixty-ton Mech back in the opposite direction. His sensors showed several enemy Mechs were combing the area looking for him, word must have been out, dodging further combat Ji-sung piloted his Kangaroo into the city river and waded towards the deepest part. From there he made slow but steady progress out of the Unfortunately, city limits his passenger had fallen unconscious during the engagement with the VTOLs so she was mercifully silent.
Once out of the city Lee Ji-sung piloted the Kamal back up onto the banks of the river. Behind him he could see the city was on fire as other members of his Chosen unit continued to harass Davion defenders. The battle for Ziliang was not over after tonight, it had just begun. He thoughts as he piloted his Mech the several kilometres south of the city back towards their DropShips. His Mech was waved directly towards their command DropShip a low to the ground Assault Triumph he was directed to lower his Mech to the ground position and open the front cockpit then his passenger was unloaded and he was directed to move again this time to the Mechbay for repairs before his next mission.
The battle for Ziliang was not over nor were the battles for eight other systems as the Capellan Confederation launched a mini-invasion of the Federated Suns testing out their new augmented battalion forces flooding the Ziliang PDZ with forces. For weeks the worlds would be contested between the Federated Suns and Capellan Confederation with four of the nine worlds Uravan, Weatogue, Ikast and Manapire falling into Capellan control and the others being contested.
News breaks a couple of days later that Duke Alexander of Ziliang had survived an attempt on his life but his daughter had been kidnapped by the invaders and that they were trying to use her as leverage over the duke as they continued to contest the world. With the news of his daughter’s abduction made public Duke Marlin Alexander has little option but to remove himself from the defence of the world hurting the AFFS defenders but maintaining their integrity. With the Duke out of the world’s defence structure the Capellans have little need for his daughter, a body of a young woman matching her description is found in the river three weeks after the battle for Ziliang once Capellan forces have been forced off the world. The cause of death is confirmed to be drowning and DNA records confirm that it was Duke Marlin Alexander’s daughter.
