DCMS Logistics Base 19, Outside Jarlton City, Ko
Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine
30 July 3028
Theodore leaned back in his chair, savouring one of the few quiet minutes his office has had since their return.
Reports littered his desk. Updates from the Genyosha training dominated the pile, as did analyses provided by the regimental commanders on their recent actions. A few were politely worded demands to be returned to the front, all addressed to Warlord Tetsuhara. He was still believed dead, and it surprised him that very few DCMS regiments went off-mission to carry out some wanton act.
Theodore was grateful for that. He didn't want innocent blood on his hands. More innocent blood.
An island of chips dominated the middle of his desk. They were hand-delivered to his office by couriers from his father while he had been away. He had only watched the first one, and Theodore grimaced at the holo-image of his father lecturing him of his duty to produce a legitimate heir. His second child was due in a few weeks, and he had robbed his father of the relief of his first child's Hohiro's existence.
His mind wouldn't let him rest, so he focused on the silence. The quiet hum of his desk-terminal, the creaking of his leather chair, and the rustling of flexi-prints as the room's air conditioning kicked in.
The terminal beeped, betraying him and his stolen rest. He opened a bleary eye and read the subject line.
Breathing out slowly, he sat up and opened the report. It was from one of the commercial JumpShips they had seized in the Federation of Skye and he resisted a smile. He was still proud of that subterfuge, and he knew Warlord Tetsuhara disapproved of his seizing JumpShips.
Tomoe had been instrumental in deceiving the tai-shu as well as most of his allies. They had seized far less than they had claimed, not even the ISF had that many agents or DEST to spare, nor the DCA and O5P that many 'prize' crews.
Most of the ships they managed to take he kept in deep-space, as a reserve. Some were hauling cargo from recently conquered Skye worlds, but they would be where he needed them in a few month's time. The rest of his supposed pirate fleet were fabrications, courtesy of the Order of Five Pillars.
Thinking of Tomoe pained him slightly, he had much to be thankful in her, and he repaid her trust with worry and fear. He would set it right. After.
Still, the lie was enough to provoke a reaction. Complaints from the minor houses--traders, merchants, manufacturers--flooded the Combine, most of which were actual complaints. The rest were just filler noise from minor houses compromised by the O5P. Everytime a Lyran or FedSuns official brought up actual proof that most of the stolen JumpShips never existed, their media accused them of coverups and incompetence.
He had chuckled as he watched those news reports.
A few ships he replaced fully with new crews. They plied the stars as normal voiders, passing along information and spreading fear with news of attacks. That was another lie he'd have to pay for someday, but it was necessary: the DCMS did not snap to attention under his command, even when he 'lived'. Only Dieron behaved how he wanted, and that was due to his partnership with Minobu Tetsuhara. So he had to fabricate confusion, spread lies even amongst his commanders. That way, not even Davion or Steiner spies would be able to tell the truth.
'All war is deception', Theodore quoted to himself. But I don't think Sun-Tzu meant lying to your own troops.
Theodore refocused on the terminal in front of him.
The crew was commandeered by one Hauptmann-Kommandant Kathleen Heany, the 4th Skye Rangers' commanding officer. The rank piqued his interest, in other LCAF line regiments the CO rated a colonel or leutnant-colonel, if not outright generals like the DCMS used. He made a note to look into the Heany's personnel file later as he read on, curious how a low-ranked officer could be placed in charge of an elite unit.
The crew was in the Ryde system, the 4th Skye Rangers' garrison, and were pressed to carry two cargo DropShips and joined a flotilla heading to Skye. A flotilla large enough to transport the 4th Skye and enough conventional regiments for a Davion-style RCT. From the system's chatter, three Unions had landed on Ryde, leaving that border world protected by just three mercenary companies.
The report had been forwarded to the Ryuken-san and to the Wolf's Dragoons regiments who were just about now getting "pushed off" Skye, ending the Combine's "occupation".
He closed the report and updated Ryde's standing in his plans. Duke Lestrade had promised that most of the Skye Rangers wouldn't be deployed against the Combine, and he had delivered so far. Several more regiments had already pulled back to the core of Skye, and more would continue to flow from across the Commonwealth, Lestrade promised him through the slippery Hassid Ricol.
Lestrade, still sitting pretty on Summer, had pulled back every regiment loyal to him. More than half were being converted, or at least trained, as an RCT. Their FedSuns advisors had all been left behind, leaving them vulnerable for ISF teams to either kill or capture.
Theodore tapped commands into the terminal and a holo of the Federation of Skye border glowed in his dark, windowless office.
Lestrade had offered him ten worlds, and he had seized twelve. Now, those dozen worlds held nothing but tank and infantry regiments, mostly from Pesht. That had been one of the few things Vasily Cherenkoff was still sending away. The Coordinator--Takashi--had stripped inner worlds of their garrisons as well, urging them all to the front.
Theodore sent them to hold those worlds, to hold until they died. He gave them orders to dig in, prepare for a long, grueling war, but Theodore knew he was asking them to die for worlds they didn't care about. Worlds I don't care about.
Now, save for a few planets, the Dieron district's border was stripped of 'Mechs. The one common theme from the pieces the ISF has been able to gather was bypassing heavily guarded border worlds and striking command and distribution centres that were usually lightly defended. They passed it along to Warlord Rasalhague, but Theodore didn't know how Sorenson would respond.
Seems to like my plans well enough, the stone-faced codger, Theodore thought wryly.
It was all a gamble. One that Warlord Tetsuhara agreed with. And now they waited. But he had more than the coming war to plan.
The knock at his door reminded him of the meeting he had supposedly been resting for.
He stood, checked his reflection, and walked out of the office as the electronics hummed off.
==========================================
Theodore Kurita walked into the room of officers non-chalantly, greeting the assembled regimental commanders with a smile. Some he knew personally, most only through communications and reports. He meandered through the group, inquiring about recent challenges the commanders faced regarding their units.
One, he congratulated on his recent wedding. Another, on her solemn promotion after the previous CO's death.
The officers, chu-sa, sho-sho, and tai-sa from the Dieron and Benjamin districts stood stunned, their drinks and conversations forgotten as the man they believed dead minutes ago walked amongst them.
Theodore invited them to sit as he stood near the head of the meeting table. They scrambled as Theodore sat, beginning the meeting. Armed guards closed the room's doors, sealing it audibly to the shock of some. That was the protocol when the Coordinator met with his council, no one could enter or leave while the Coordinator sat in conference.
"I have asked you here today to discuss our future."
They gaped at him. Some of the more stolid samurai simply stared. One, reflexively, made the sign of the cross.
"My father," he paused slightly, "did not believe a war is coming. At first. He tasked Warlod Kester Hsiun Chi to take command of the Galedon district and probe the Draconis March. As you know, the Wolf's Dragoons and the Ryuken had stood down in the months prior, due to the Warlord Grieg Samsonov's schemes." He let those words hang in the air for a moment. "What Warlord Chi found was a skeleton defense force, and he probed deeper and found little resistance even on Robinson itself."
Nodding to the clump of Benjamin Regulars commanders, he continued. "Warlord Shotugama was then encouraged to do the same, and found garrisons missing, bases full of barely-trained militia where crack regiments were housed."
"My father... we disagreed on what this meant. He believed that the Fox was maneuvering again, re-enacting the shell games of previous years. Then," Theodore paused and nodded at the Dieron Regulars present, "we struck Skye and recovered AFFS officers training Lyran regiments. And we recovered enough fragments to piece together what the Fox had in store for the Capellan Confederation."
Many of the officers relaxed. "In his wisdom, my father ordered Warlord Sorenson to raid the Tamar Pact region. The tai-shu found built-up stores of supplies, Lyran units from the inner Commonwealth and its Periphery border, and command centres ready for an invasion of Rasalhague."
Few of the officers reacted to this. Warlord Sorenson had distributed his findings independently of the Coordinator's office.
"The Fox seeks to keep us occupied with Lyrans while he massacres the Capellans," an officer voiced.
"Hai. We have no true numbers of the Steiner invasion force, but it is massive and well-supplied." Theodore breathed in. "Which is why I'm asking all of you to ignore the orders from Luthien."
They knew that was coming, still the officers tensed.
"We have sown chaos along both borders," Theodore nodded to the Dieron commanders, "and plans to attack us will be delayed--but the Lyrans will still come. We will let them."
"Theodore-sama," a Benjamin officer began, using the safest form of address, "you are telling us to allow the Lyrans to attack?"
He nodded. "Dieron is well-defended. Benjamin is less exposed on that front. Our brother regiments can hold back the Lyrans for a while, and something tells me Skye will be too busy to worry us in the short-term. I need your forces for something else."
The officers exchanged glances. Some eyed rivals, others sought a comrade's gaze, and the rest just looked bewildered. Theodore let them speculate for a few moments, keeping them uncertain. He wished it wasn't necessary, but the officers weren't his. Not officially.
"Warlords Tetsuhara and Shotugama have approved the plan, and Warlord Chi will be acting in support of it."
He knew they were doing the math. Three of the five Warlords.
"We will strike at the capital swiftly!" The words reverberated in the room as a man stood up and shouted.
"Hai, we will, chu-sa," Theodore nodded to the outspoken man. "Tharkad will not see us coming."
