Battletech An SI in the Concordat - GhostRider's Revenants (Battletech CYOA)Rev.2

[paulobrito]

Between 3042 and 3046 much changed in the Aurigan Reach.
The reconstruction following the damages caused by the civil war and the later Capellan attack was finally completed. Many new industries started their activity, even though the vast majority of them was not even close to state of the art technology, but they provided the necessary services and products for the local economy.
While the big (relatively) industrial centers were Mechdur and Detroit, I had done my best to put as much state of the art technology, both civil and military, on the industries on Coromodir V, which were directly managed by my family, after the civil war and the end of the House Espinosa. For that, after a lot of meetings and a mix of pressure and fiscal incentives, VMI had created a filial in Coromodir V, but not for old products but for top-of-the-line ones.
Thus, the small (compared to New Vandenberg) local production of Freezers and Endo-Steel was made there, as well as the most advanced state-of-the-art electrical components.
A part of the Griffins produced in Mechdur were then modified, with their 12 Heat Sinks being replaced by 10 Double ones and 2 Medium Lasers. It was not much but at the moment we still did not have a local production for the ER PPC, which was initially planned for 3049, due to delays caused by the HPG crisis. Until that date, they had to be imported from the Concordat, for a few upgraded ’Mechs, mostly for the Royal Guards.
In Detroit, we had started the production of the Vali, which was a cheap option to increase the artillery component for various forces and therefore a good option for export, even if the buyer could not buy the Arrow IV guided version, since for now Detroit could only produce the simplest version, leaving the most advanced one to other firms like VMI.
At the other end of the scale, VMI in New Vandenberg began production of the Pantsir, the 50-tons version of the Vali, with fusion engine, network capabilities (like an early version of the C3 tech) and using the SAM version of Arrow IV. Although it was not cheap, it added for those able to pay a much needed defensive capacity against ASFs.
The news that other nations had WarShips and that at least two of them, Earth and the Federated Commonwealth, had built or were beginning to build new WarShips, led the Concordat to review its plans.
Thus, the shipyard in Taurus, instead of increasing the production of Invaders, began a much more ambitious expansion, which in 3052 would allow the Concordat to produce WarShips. In New Vandenberg, after years of studies, the second phase of expansion of the shipyard began. Instead of producing Invaders, the new program (that should be ready by 3055) would be able to produce a modernized version of the Leviathan JumpShip. With the experience gained in the maintenance of the Leviathans belonging to my companies and with the gathered data on the latest versions of the old JumpShips, which had already solved many of the problems of the old lady, a modernized and updated version, would be built in this shipyard. The first batch would be for the service of the Taurian Armed Forces, adding a much needed transport capacity. The only increase in the production of Invaders would therefore be from the shipyard in Mechdur.
These years were also good for the Revenants which expanded during this period while going through an important reorganization. All the elements that were not Taurian or Aurigan had their contracts not renewed, making the force 100% native. Kaneda Arisa, had meanwhile married one of her colleagues and obtained the Aurigan nationality. She was the commander of one of the ’Mechs companies, and continued to be by a wide margin, the best ’MechWarriors of the Revenants. At the moment she was using one of the few Toro II that the RCT had. Yes, a Regimental Combat Team. The unit had grown in number and even though it was from the beginning a combined arms unit, not only the fact that the Taurians were great supporters also of combined forces, but I particularly was a great supporter of that concept, led me to prefer the RCT format used by the Federated Commonwealth instead of following the traditional Taurian model, even if at the moment two of the ’Mech battalions were under-strength, as well as the ASF component. That also gave us the added benefit to help training the TDF against RCTs, in the hypothetical case of a war against the Federated Commonwealth. In the transportation area, unfortunately, they only had the capacity to move about one third of the forces unless they resorted to external JumpShips and DropShips. They had also changed in another area - they had discreetly dropped their mercenary classification to 1st Aurigan Guards RCT, nicknamed the Revenants. With the future JumpShips production in Mechdur and the expansion in DropShips production all around the Concordat, I was sure that in a few years the transport limitation would be over.

 

[paulobrito]

Factory by factory, world by world, the Concordat had been upgrading and expanding their industrial capability in the last decades.


That was helped by the continuous production of Snowden and Snowden-L mine stations, which provided said factories with raw materials and were by mid 40s present in almost all the systems in the Concordat and Reach that had a rich asteroid belt. Some ere even start to appear in Oort Clouds in the Taurus and New Vandenberg systems.


That also led to the expansion of the internal market and the overall growth of the Taurian economy.


While many of the other nations had followed a similar path, the Concordat was still ahead thanks to its early start and having access to almost every blueprints of every factory and products (civil and military) of the Star League, Very few outside the Concordat knew its real economic power, they knew that the Concordat can produce advanced tech since it was selling them on the open market but not the volumes it can produce.


One area in special started to benefit from that – big, advanced DropShips.


While before the Concordat Navy only used standard Union models to reduce costs and improve the availability of spare parts, now after a nasty “war” for securing the defense budget, the Lee was selected as the new standard DropShips for the TDF / Navy. It was an incredibly expensive DropShip (hence the “war”), and very high-tech, but the benefits were also great, mostly because of the different variants available


When compared to the Overlord, the mainstay of almost all other States, the ‘Mech Transport variant could carry 4 extra ’Mechs, about 900 tons more of cargo, had better armor and weapons, all this with a better acceleration.


The ordered variants were ‘Mech Transport, Aerospace Carrier, Vehicle Transport, Cargo Transport and Pocket Warship. Except for the latest one, all others were late SLDF models, and the blueprints are already available.


The Pocket Warship configuration replaced the cargo space that normally carried 40 ’Mechs and 6 ASFs with 6 AR10 tubes in the nose and 78 Killer Whale and 12 Barracuda in the standard load-out but could be any mix of Barracuda (30t), White Shark (40t) and/or Killer Whale (50t) up to 4.260 tons.


The Navy was a deciding factor in selecting the Lee over less expensive solutions in the budget wars as what a Concordat Frigate could do with a pair of PW and another of CV (or any combination of the two types) was a wet dream for all the admirals and all that at for less money and faster production time than any traditional bigger WarShips, something they were eager to explain over and over.


With these expensive DropShips starting production for the TDF / Navy, the production of Unions and Overlords switched to being sold only to foreign powers or to mercenary. With the increasing tension all over the Inner Sphere and the Periphery, the demand was there.


In the civilian market, the long time pet project of Dr. Murad also entered in production in late 3046. The Starlifter, heavily inspired by the massive Mammoth DropShips, had all its components produced by VMI in Illiushin, where the assembly was also done. Like the Lee for the military and the Union before, it was to be produced in several variants, Standard cargo, Heavy cargo, Liquid transport;, Liquid gas transport, Passenger transport and Troop transport (which a more streamlined sub-variant of the Passenger transport one). While each taken individually was expensive , the fact was that with them entering in service the number of needed collars was reduced dramatically.


That the Concordat could start both projects in the mid to late 40s, was a demonstration of both the advanced technology it had mastered as well as power and capability of its industry.


In January 3045 a representative of the Wolf’s Dragoons visited VMI Headquarters in New Vandenberg. His purpose was simple, Jaime Wolf wanted to start the production of the Shogun Assault ‘Mech and proposed this business to VMI. If on the one hand the company was very interested in producing the model, on the other hand the intransigence of the Wolf’s Dragoons that it would be produced exclusively for them killed the deal. Even at best, with 5 regiments and two independent battalions, the number of ’Mechs produced would not be enough to offset the expense. Too bad as I was interested in deepening relations with the Wolf’s Dragoons, but not at the expense of a bad business that would also affect my CEO position.
Between 3045 and 3047, I was involved in two other VMI matters.


The first was related to the prototype of the second assault ’Mech model to be produced by the company and the first totally original of the company. Continuing the 'zombie' ’Mech line that was the signature of the latest VMI original product series, the Hellfire was going to be a scary machine for anyone facing it and a wonder of technology.




HEL-TC2 Hellfire


Technical specifications
Weight: 85 tons
Cost: 8,454,685 C-bills
Movement: 3/5
Engine: 255
Heat Sinks: 20 DHS / Freezers
Armor: 16 tons
Weapons: 2 ER PPC (LT and RT), 2 LPL (LA and RA), 1 TAG (Head), 1 Guardian ECM (CT) and 2 SL (RL and LL).



As usual,it was only proposed to the TDF, which accepted it with open arms after thoroughly testing the prototype.


The following subject had to do with the Tornado PA(L) wreckage captured in the VMI attack in 3041. The Stealth / Adaptative Camo System was very advanced and out of VMI production capabilities. , even though research continued. The models were clearly tailored to the users personally, something that was also considered inefficient if reasonable production and non-astronomical cost were to be desired. In the end, after 5 years of research and testing, a similar model (without advanced camouflage), and slightly less capable in other areas but that could be mass-produced entered testing. Of course, both the TDF and the TMI were very interested in this project.


How did the TC achieve these capabilities ?

For starters, they were the only nation to get the Helm AND New Dallas data cores.

The others got access to the Helm one but would need about 10 years to decrypt it while the TC got it fully decrypt from the start.

The New Dallas Core not only had a lot of Royal / late SLDF blueprints / designs but more importantly (in this universe) was a repository of industrial espionage, with an immense collection of data, blueprints on all kinds of industrial goodies - from factories to tools to final products - military and civilian, from the time of the Terran Hegemony to the late SL days - just before the Amaris Crisis.

Another factor was that like the Terran Hegemony, it invested a lot in space extraction industries - Snowden and alike.

In this universe, Thomas was not that maniac against the Federated Suns and because Edward survived, the relations with FS / FC were much better.

The result was that in the second half of the 40s that they were very advanced and that these advanced industries could produce a lot of shinny things.

It took them about 20 years, but they did it years before other nations.

 

[paulobrito]

January 4th, 3048
Coromodir System
Overlord DropShip Chieftain


On route to Coromodir VI, capital of the Arano Province of Taurian Concordat (three months after the unification)


'Jaime, explain me again why we have to satisfy this little prince's desire and come to a meeting with him in person, for something that could be handled by an administrative official?' asked Natasha Kerensky with a bored look.
'Natasha' Jaime responded with a patient air of long years of experience dealing with the infamous redhead 'first, the proposed business includes several items that are of interest to us, including the production of Assaults that Jamison so badly wants, and which Blackwell cannot supply because they have dedicated a big part of they resources, first to upgrade the factories in Outreach to Clan specs, and later using said factories to produce Omnis, at a very slow rate. While we / Blackwell continue to produce ‘standard’ ’Mechs and equipment, our resources are finite, and the Omnis lines take a big chunk of these. Omnis that we cannot put into service as you well know.' After Natasha acquiesced Jaime continued 'The prince's companies, as you call them, not only do the maintenance to our JumpShips and DropShips but are already one of our largest suppliers of equipment, principally of advanced technology, outside of Blackwell. If he also wants to negotiate a contract for training his forces and asks for our presence, we might as well satisfy the request, don't you think so? So, please don’t accuse him of been a Wolverine, ok? Wolfnet has concluded that the hardware he got was obtained from the Baumann’s cache.’
‘That is why you were chosen to lead our small gang, I do not have the patience for political or palatial games.’ Natasha answered ‘Ok, ok, I promise to behave’.
Upon entering orbit, the Chieftain passed near TCS Zarantha Calderon.
'The Taurians showing their newest toys?' commented Natasha.
‘Considering that this is the first WarShip built in hundreds of years, it is natural that they want to show it, in the capital of their new province’ answered Jaime.
The Chieftain was directed to a military spaceport, landing next to a similar looking, but much bigger DropShip.
‘Why do I get the impression that someone is trying to give us a not very subtle message?' asked Natasha with an ironic look.
‘Or someone important, like one of the Calderons came to pay a visit, which would explain both the WarShips and that one' replied Jaime calmly, looking with an envious look at the huge Lee class DropShip next to his Overlord DropShip. 'I wouldn't mind having some of these in our TO&E.’
A luxurious and discreetly armored limousine was waiting for the pair and took them immediately to the palace.
The protection of the palace was impressive, with several heavy defensive towers, several ’Mechs patrolling the area and battle-armor and PA(L)s at the entrances.
‘Now this is definitely showing off the new toys - that I know nobody outside the Concordat and Comstar uses battle-armor or PA(L)s' exclaimed Natasha.
'Comstar and by association the new Earth government have PA(L)s too, but you are right, ' replied Jaime looking at the defenses, 'and if I am not mistaken some of these ‘Mechs are Royals. There is definitely something going on,' he said.
Without making them wait, they were immediately brought to a large and comfortable office, very well-equipped, but without ostentation with two PA(L) outside of the door . At the desk was a tall man, in his fifties, without a white or gray hair over in his blond mane, and with a military air that the civilian suit he wore, with a comfortable yet good cut, couldn’t disguise, who stood up to welcome them.
'Colonel, Colonel, welcome to Cordia City, the capital of our province. I apologize for the excessive security you saw, but because Edward Calderon is currently in conference with my wife, the security had to be increased. Please sit down, and we have a lot to take care of'.
'It has been a while since we met, your Highness.’ said Natasha ’17 years, if I am not mistaken. That time it was in 'my office', so to speak'.
‘Mantharaka, 3031, good memory Colonel, or should I say Star Colonel Natasha Kerensky of Clan Wolf ? We have a lot to talk about the weather in Strana Mechty and what the Crusader Clans are planning to do, and your position on that, don't you think?’

 

[paulobrito]

Boy, I had been dreaming for so long to say this to their faces...
The silence then the silent denial, followed by the understanding was going on like I had foreseen it. And I had everything recorded from various angles and in high resolution... unfortunately not in 3D/holographic as the equipment for that was too big to hide well.


A few minutes latter


‘How?' asked Jaime, keeping a calm air, but his eyes and tone of voice indicated that the time for joking was over.
‘It is a damn Wolverine, it has to be with the ’Mech and equipment that he showed more than a decade ago,' Natasha almost screamed with a very dangerous look, forgotten the Wolfnet information that debunked that theory, and almost jumping out of the chair.


‘First, thanks to confirm that information’ I said in a calm voice with a small, tense, smile. ‘How? It is quite simple, after all – after you stopped communicating home in early 3020s, the Smoke Jaguars sent a ship to investigate. Fortunately for us, said ship suffered a misjump and ended stranded deep in the Periphery, with almost all the electronics fried, and all people dead. About two years ago, one of my teams, searching for hidden SLDF bases, found it. Like I said, both the JumpShip and DropShip electronics were fried and all aboard were dead, but the personal data crystals are another story. And in the captain’s cabin we found several heavily encrypted crystals, with a variant of late SLDF codes. A few months ago, the decoded files arrived to my hands, and they told me a very interesting story about your little group. Your mission, your TO&E, including several WarShips that you never showed, a lot about the political and history of the Clans – interesting stuff, Trueborns and Freeborns, Bloodnames, Wardens and Crusaders, and a not-named Clan, that I believe is the Wolverines, by your reaction, - and their mission, finding you to discover why you stopped sending them intel. So, I will ask you one more time, why did you stop send information back, and what are your intentions these days?’


‘And what do you intend to do with that information?' asked Jaime after a long exchange of glances with Natasha without answering my question.


'Good question - in reality what is really of interest to me is what you intend to do, when as I predict, either the Crusaders – that I infer just want to invade - win the majority, and decide to mount a campaign to ‘free’ us, or the Terran Explorer Corps come face to face with one of the worlds of the Clans? From what I know, and from what I got from the Wolverines data, I have a good idea of the location of the Clans worlds and the TEC is getting close. From what I know, the Clans have equipment superior to the best that even the Royals had. So I ask you again, when the Crusaders invade, what do you plan to do, and in case it's helping us, when do you plan to start?’
This was followed by a prolonged silence with several exchanges of glances between the two.
Since they didn't decide to talk, I added 'as far as I know the last time you carried out a resupply mission and received more Clan personnel was almost 30 years ago, so, what happened? You decided to stay, or you received secret orders from your Clan to stop all contact?’
‘Eliminating you will not solve this issue, will it?’ asked Natasha, but her posture and stance made it clear that she didn't intend to do something stupid.


‘Apart from these PA(L)s just outside that door, there is also a WarShip in orbit. Let’s say that if you try something violent, you won't leave this system alive, so spare me the useless menaces, ok?’ after a moment, Natasha acquiesced, and I continued ‘If I understand what I read about the society that the Clans have created - you don't have a future there in case you want to come back, right?’
Again, a prolonged silence with the respective exchange of glances. Finally, Jaime looked at me.
'We have a lot to think about, before making a decision that affects the totality of the Dragoons, can we have a few hours?’
'A reasonable time, yes but not a single minute more.’ was my answer.


‘We will come back to you, before the end of the day’ say Jaime Wolf, and with that they both departed for their DropShip.

 

[paulobrito]

The integration of the Aurigan Reach in the Taurian Concordat was finally concluded on October 4, 3047, eleven and half years after the Agreement in March 3036.


The changes to the Aurigan side were fewer than one would have expected, mostly because the Aurigan legislation was loosely based on the Taurian one and because we were already partly economically integrated..






However, some problems needed to be addressed. For starters, the fact that there wasn’t a ‘Province’ in the whole Taurian Concordat or anything close to that. After that, that said Province was to be governed hereditary by the Arano-Bassot family also needed to be included into the Taurian law. And many other big or small details, all vital for the good and pacific integration of both realms. Thomas took advantages of the need for so many changes in the Taurian laws to add a few of his owns with some of them being discarded after later review by the Concordat Courts. One of the big problems caused by the integration was that the Arano-Bassot were at the top of the power families, just under the Calderons, something the other families didn’t like very much for obvious reasons. A lot of political soft power and a few behind the scenes negotiations were needed to get the legislation to pass, and even then with a closer margin than Thomas liked or would have thought (which probably meant more troubles ahead of us) Thankfully, for Thomas, the status of the rest of the Reach nobles, already left without much power by Kamea, was not touched upon by the new legislation, and they were considered as the equals of the Concordat ones. On the negative side, all these nobles were a group of unhappy people with some power, that sooner or later would need to be dealt with.


While many problems still existed, the decision to advance with the integration was made from both sides and from history, it was known that wanting all the problems to be fixed would mean running the risk of the unification never happening. After all, the Federated Commonwealth merge occurred with plenty of problems to be fixed.


During these eleven years a subtle campaign to win the hearts and minds of the Aurigans (and the Taurians) to the new future was run, with a remarkable success, aided, no doubt by the Aurigan royal family doing everything they could to ease the transaction – they would be governing the province after the unification, had signed the accords, and were not interested in troubles, after all.


The fact that during the past twenty years, first the Bassot companies and in the last decade the Concordat, had invested heavily inside the Reach, also helped. For example the shipyard in Mechdur, that before could barely repair a JumpShip at once, turned before the unification in a full shipyard, starting producing Invaders, while at same time being able to provide maintenance to six JumpShips at the same time. In reality, it had been planed that the first JumpShip should be built before the integration, but the Comstar / HPG Crisis had delayed that. And even if the population of the Reaches might still be lacking the skills to work there, they benefited from all these investments.


With so many things that still needed to be done, it was going to take several decades for the worlds to be fully integrated in the Concordat, but the process that had started eleven years ago, was coming to a new phase.


The ceremony held for this unification was festive in Taurus, and dignified in Coromodir – understandably, the ruling house had less to celebrate as they adjust changed from the supreme rulers of a nation to rulers – with a superior – of a province.


Soon after, the TDF forces and the Taurian diplomats started to ‘visit’ the free / independent worlds in the area that existed near Detroit and Herotitus. These worlds that the Aurigan Reach had in the past considered too poor to annex and that had mostly been abandoned by the Concordat, the Capellan Confederation or the Magistracy of Canopus long ago, were now from a security point of view, to be absorbed.


After all, it wasn’t a good idea to have independent world inside the Concordat, and unlike the Reach or the investment program going on, they could be taken and brought to better standards without crippling the finances.

 

[paulobrito]

As agreed, Jaime and Natasha returned to my office at the end of the day. By the serious, closed expressions, I got the idea that it wasn't going to be an easy conversation, and that it was better to be extremely careful with what I was going to say.
After the usual banalities, I went straight to the point - 'I assume you made a decision, can I know what it is?’
'What the Dragoons are and do, only concern them' answered Natasha with clenched teeth and a bellicose look. This is not starting well was my immediate thought.
'We are not confirming anything, Your Highness but Natasha is right and the Concordat has nothing to do with the internal affairs of the Dragoons.' replied Jaime in a calmer tone, but looking me straight in the eye and with a posture and tone of voice that left no room for doubt that I was on the road to big troubles if I kept on this path.
'Understood' was my immediate response as I processed the position of both.
‘With that, I think it is time for us to leave.' asked Natasha standing up with a challenging look.
'Of course, there is no conflict between the two parties' was my answer to Natasha 'but I think that the initial reason for your coming here could still be discussed, don't you think?' I continued, trying to get something out of this mess.
‘I must say you are not lacking...' replied Kerensky with a laugh, starting to get up in order to leave, but was interrupted by Jaime.
‘He's right, Natasha,' Jaime answered without getting up and with a thoughtful air, 'after all, we came here to discuss contracts and options of equipment production, not politics or loyalties.’
‘You've got to be kidding me,' murmured the famous Black Widow as she sat down again.
'For my part, I'm interested in hiring for six months, Natasha's forces for advanced training' I was interrupted by a short laugh and a funny look from the red hair legend 'and as for the construction of Assault ’Mechs, I see no problem in creating a production line for the Shogun, if the sale is authorized for the TDF, which will make production profitable. For other customers, subject to your permission, of course'.
After an exchange of glances between Jaime and Natasha, Jaime replied 'Unfortunately Colonel Kerensky's forces are unavailable for the foreseeable future' to train the Dragoons in Clan tactics, it was my thought 'however I could give you Zeta or Epsilon for that job.' Jaime replied 'As for the Shogun, I think we can come to an agreement.’
‘Zeta? Please, Colonel, Zeta is the kind of blunt instrument that you aim at a target and say “Zeta, smash”' Natasha laughed at this ' but it is not the kind of unit that is useful in training other forces, Epsilon is acceptable. As for the Shogun, I was thinking of producing an updated version, like the -2H'.
‘The initial SLDF model?' asked Jaime, after I agreed, he continued, 'if the first production run is for us we have an agreement.’
‘I think that access to advanced technology is out of the question?' I asked without much hope 'In your dreams', was the answer in an ironic tone from Natasha, while Jaime more diplomatically shook his head.
‘’And regarding your “findings”, I think you will keep them for yourself? After all, I think I read this sort of crap by dozens by now.’ said Jaime.


‘Why not? After all, we are business partners and it is not as if we were on the verge of being invaded’ was my conclusion.
As I watched the Chieftain heading into space, I thought that I hadn't achieved much with this meeting, this is what you get when you underestimate your opponents. At least I didn't have to give complicated explanations to anyone.




Still thinking about it and even if I had been at first confused by the refusal of Jaime and Natasha to help the Inner Sphere so far, it was not that surprising.

Jaime was a very bitter man at this time as I saw it. He was founded to hate three of the four Houses of the Inner Sphere and this might explain his “refusal” to carry out his orders:
Kurita - for their breach of honor and backstab of both troops and dependents.
Marik - for the death of his brother and maybe his children as well as of innocent civilians, even if it was repaid in blood and fire, the bitterness could still be here.
Liao for hiring the Dragoons off to Marik as shock troops for the rebellion and using them as tools in their little games.


Or he could have had a problem of foreseeing how to do it alone without real proof of the Clans and without the possibility to harm innocent ones back “home” if he told everyone about it.

 

[paulobrito]

In 3049 and knowing that all the IS nations - including Terra - had and were building WarShips, and in the case of Terra and of the FWL - thanks to the now Word of Blake - larger and more powerful ones than those owned by the TDF, a new construction plan was decided for the Navy.
The admirals wanted Battleships or at least Battle Cruisers and a substantial modernization of the Concordat Frigates, that were still under construction.
The realities of the budget quickly put an end to these dreams of greatness.
Ships larger than the Concordat were out of the question, not only because they were prohibitively expensive, but they took too long to build, which would lead to very few ships available.
After several heated discussions, a construction plan was decided that would allow a (relatively) versatile Navy with a reasonable number of ships without breaking the Concordat budget.



The Concordat Frigate would be improved to mod.III, even if it was not as much as the Navy wanted.
The armor would be replaced by improved ferrous-aluminum and not by lamelor ferro-carbide - too expensive - and it would not receive a mobile HPG. However, it would receive 24 AMS, 6 Arrow IV SAM, the LRM get Artemis IV, the Large and Medium lasers were upgraded to pulse models, 12 ASF were added and the 7 Naval Lasers would be all of the NL55 model. They also received 2 AR-10 launchers, and the Taurians being the Taurians, every ship would carry some ‘special’ warheads for the capital missiles.


All these upgrades came at the cost of reducing the cargo capacity, the cargo could ‘only’ carry 30k tons, instead of the just over 50k tons on the standard model.


Using the same base design - to save on costs, research, and construction speed - a carrier version would be built. Removing the NAC/20 and the respective ammo allowed it to receive a total of 36 internal Fighters. The modifications also included CAG installations, flagship installations, advanced communications and sensors, and a mobile HPG while armor, naval lasers and defensive systems equaled those of the Mod.III. The fuel capacity was doubled, and spares, ammo and fuel reserves for the ASF greatly increased.
The complement of DropShips would be 4 Lee-CV, which together with the internal ASF would give this carrier a staggering 196 ASF, more than enough to dominate any adversary force. And if that was not enough, you could always add the 36 extra ASF from the three escorting Concordat Frigates. And any ASF that the DropShips loaded in said frigates could carry.





To complement these ships, it was decided that a modernized version of the Pinto class Corvette - with the 80 MG replaced by 24 AMS and the 800 SHS by 600 DHS - would be produced in large quantities.
The main purpose of this ship would be to patrol Concordat systems as it was more than capable of dealing with any pirate or any force not accompanied by WarShips, which would free the other ships for other duties.


The result of Dr. Murad's team ingenuity (in reality heavily based on a design from Nebfer at SB), the Mriya was a fast armed military transport. Incredibly expensive, it was to be only for use by the TDF and took two years to be completed, the first to be delivered in 3052. Because of the price, only a few were ordered, enough to move a quick reaction team the size of a reinforced combined arms brigade.


Mriya JumpShip – Fast Military Transport
Weight: 400,000 tons
Cost: 2,274,159,434 C-bills


Heat Sinks: 142 DHS [284]
Fuel Points: 742 (297.0 tons)
Armor: 100 (Capital Scale) (Improved Ferrous-Aluminum) – 167 tons.


Equipped with lithium-fusion battery system.


Armed with 12 ER LL,8 ERPPC,12 MPL and 12 AMS


Carrying Capacity
Aerospace Fighter (2 doors) - 2 units (2 recovery open)
Small Craft (2 doors) - 4 units (2 recovery open)
Cargo Space (2 doors) - 724 tons


Dropship Capacity: 4
Grav Decks: 1 (100 m)
Escape Pods: 0
Life Boats: 19






With all the changes and alterations needed on the shipyards, none of these new ships – the Concordat Mod.III, the Concordat Carrier, the Pinto and the Mriya – was planned to start construction before mid 3051 at least.


At 200 tons, the Flanker was a replacement for the Tigress, an enlarged, much more advanced one. Using the latest technologies available, it was armed with 3 ERPPC in the nose, 1 Gauss Rifle on each wing, with 2 tons of ammo each, 2 rear facing Medium Lasers and 1 AMS with 2 tons of ammo. It was also equipped with a Beagle Active Probe and a Guardian ECM while being protected by 20.5 tons of Ferro-Aluminum, and using 18 DHS. It could also carry externally, under the wings, 6 Arrow IV AShM/AAM or 2 Alamos.
Its production would start in mid 3049. This TDF only unit would be deployed at the zenith and nadir jump points.

The integration in the Concordat led to the production of Griffins in Mechdur and Jenners in Detroit being modernized.
The Griffin -1N production line was upgraded to the -2N model (Royal) and the Jenner was redesigned with an Endo-Steel chassis, Ferro-Fibrous armor, 10 DHS, its SRM-4 being replaced by 2 Streak-2 and CASE to protect the ammo.
The Leclerc series of vehicles received a new variant. In the fusion engine ones, the AC/5 and LRM15 were replaced by a Gauss Rifle with 4 tons of ammo.



In 3049, although the full production of the PA(L) specializing in infiltration / stealth had not started, some had been built. Like those from Comstar / Terra / WoB, they were extremely expensive and had to be produced manually by specialized technicians, however ours were extensive modifications of the standard models and not personally customized. The main utility of the two built was to be used as OpFor for sensor tests capable of defeating their advanced stealth systems, or for counter infiltration training by organizations that had this technology. At first TMI was very interested in some stealth PA(L), but they balked at the price and maintenance hours. This was a very maintenance intensive ‘toy’, after all. After some complains, they managed to get their hands on some of them, as they were ideally suited for their black ops.
An interesting side of PA(L)s production was that it greatly helped solving several problems affecting other battle armor models. The new Jack-II included several improvements and corrections and it was superior in all aspects to the previous models. Unlike the old one, the Jack-II could to use the new Light TAG that was coming into service on the TDF in 3049.

 

[paulobrito]

Outreach


Harlech City


Early 3051


Office of Colonel Natasha Kerensky






Natasha Kerensky and Elizabeth Nichole were in a comfortable looking sofa, sampling the contents of the well equipped whiskey stock of Natasha.


‘So, Nichole, how is it to train the Reachers?’


‘That depends, Natasha. The former Royal Guards, now the Reach Guards, are a standard battalion of moderately competent fanatics, but lacking in imagination and with standard equipment. They take the punishment and might one day improve’.


‘And the little Prince’s pet troops? Are they a decent adversary?’


‘The Revenants? God, they are a nightmare. They have hardware you don’t find in other forces, Battle Armor, almost a battalion of these buggers, Fighters armed with AAM and AShM variants of Arrow IV missiles, a lot of EW equipment and other things that nobody has. And they are starting to know how to use them.’


‘Well, everyone is starting to produce these new toys, it is just a matter of time before we also get some. I’m confident that you will find a way to overcome these toys.’


‘Well, while everybody is indeed starting production of these, and the key word is starting, the Revenants have already plenty of them and are developing a doctrine to use them and they have used us to test it and train their personnel. They also have another variant of the Arrow IV, the FASCAM one, that deploy minefields on demand. Real nasty, until now I have see that one at ‘home’. On top of that, they also have a new arty smoke shell. This one also messes with IR, Radar and Lidar. Some of my techs think they use a mix of hot, persistent particles, magnetic ones and a new type of aerosol with a real impact on Lidar systems. They successfully mixed all these in a single warhead and when fired in numbers, they turn your forces almost blind. They like to use them just before launching an ambush or to stop a rush.


‘I see I need to arrange some exercises against them, I always liked a challenge. Something more to report?’


‘The troubles begin in space, with these heavy Fighters loaded with their special missiles, they can defeat many invaders there. After that, they have these armed satellites and SDS lite forts with Naval Lasers. I’m telling you, only a force with WarShip support could invade a world like that. And that is just the beginning.’


‘Oh? Tell me more.’ said Natasha refilling the cups.


‘The Revenants have a bigger than normal Aerospace Fighter component. All, even the light ones are armed with these dammed missiles. On top of that, in the atmosphere, they use some modified old cargo planes, with DropShips like sensors and comms, that give them better sensor range and allow for better coordination of the Fighters. Normally they are very fragile, but you can’t get to them. If you try, you end in a trap against Heavy ASF with plenty of these triple dammed missiles. I only was able to win against them a few times.’


‘New toys and new doctrine. I see the Little Prince has been busy.’ commented Natasha.


‘Don’t tell me. As soon as they achieve air domination, they deploy high altitude – out of the range of ground weapons – high endurance drones, with passive sensors, IR and neutrino detectors my techs speculate so that they can detect our forces anywhere.’


‘Have you tried scenarios without them having air domination?’ asked Natasha after a bit.


‘Yes, they are eager to try these also. No good. It is slightly better, because they don’t deploy these radars, but our own aerospace forces couldn’t do much as they deploy a lot of Leclercs in the flak configuration supported by Valis with SAMs. My aerospace forces hates the Revenants by now. They are trounced most of the time.’ said Nichole with a melancholic air.


‘And other than the these bad news, what new surprises do they have in stock?’ asked Natasha, after emptying the cup and with an interested look.


‘Let me see… They love arty. Between these smoke shells and minefields on demand, they can stop any assault very fast. Trying to destroy it is complicated as it is very mobile and always protected by strong forces. They like to use the new Leclerc variants for that, one that is equipped with a Gauss Rifle and can do nasty things to the Light ‘Mechs sent against the Arty. Somehow, they also have a new heavy camo net, that can help conceal the tanks way better than the normal ones.’ said Nichole, taking the bottle and refilling her cup.


‘And on the ’Mechs side? Also bad news?’


‘Apart from the fact that they have a lot of them equipped with Beagle or Guardian ECM units, and that they most of the time refuse decisive battles, not so much. The Prince as you like to call him, prefer to send fast units to deal with our depots and kill us with a thousand cuts strategy. He has modified some of the Maultier hovers to fast carry battle-armor, using them to execute said raids to destroy our depots. The silver lining is that they are just starting using that new doctrine and toys, so, we got them several times because of failed coordination, wrong sense of timing everything that happens when you are not yet proficient in a job.’


‘Ouch.’ said Natasha with a sympathetic look ‘and how did the Arano-Bassot behave on the battlefield?’


‘Only the daughter fought. Kamea is busy ruling the Province, and Jean-Luc is more in the HQ, coordinating his brainchild. But I have seen both in the range and they are good, very good in fact. The young one is not bad for her age and experience, piloting one of these new Toro ’Mechs they started to deploy which is basically an advanced Wolfhound with jump-jets. By the way, my ’MechWarriors want to get some of these.’


‘What I think is strange, is that they are showing you, well us, so much new hardware and their new doctrines. Normally these are state secrets, not show in front of mercenaries, much less ones that are resident in another nation.’


‘Oh, the Prince, wants us to know his ideas, he calls them Air-Land Battle 3050 and he want your and Jaime’s input. In fact, he asked to know what you both think about the results if they were to be used against forces from Home.’ looking intensely at Natasha, Nichole continued ‘I think that the Prince considers a serious possibility that an invasion will take place in the near future.’


‘So, he knows something and is preparing. That makes sense in a way. The Revenants are gearing to a very different kind of warfare and we need to adapt or be left behind.’ Said Natasha refilling her cup again. ‘Any bright-side on that depressing report, Nichole?’


‘Some. For starters, we are a better unit than the Revenants, if you remove the fancy toys and novel doctrine. They are still adjusting / learning to implement it and several times it failed. It is also very expensive to implement and much of that demand that they obtain early air supremacy. My suggestion is that we invest in EW and enlarge our aerospace arm. We also need to advance with our Battle Armor program faster.’

Wolfnet analysis and conclusions – no recommendations at this time





Technologies that started to be produced by several nations.

Battle-armor
AAM Arrow IV
SAM Arrow IV

Technology / designs used by Comstar / Terra / WoB / Taurian Concordat

PA(L)

Technology / designs only used by the TDF / Revenants - The Revenants because of their close association with VMI get almost all the Concordat tech early on


AWACS - cargo plane with DropShips class sensors and comms suit. It is not a factory made conversion, more a field modification, probably made by the V4RU VMI department. Only one observed.
Drones - long endurance not manned drones that fly at altitudes higher than any ’Mech weapon can reach with IR and Neutrino passive sensors. Factory made, only 3 observed. Probably prototypes / first production run for field test. Numbers show not enough for a continuous field survey.
Heavy / advanced camo net - similar to late SLDF Royal models, but apparently a bit more advanced.
FASCAM - minefields deployed by arty / Arrow IV.


Advanced 'smoke' shells - smoke shells with hot particles + magnetic particles and a mix of improved aerosol that do a mess to any laser system (Lidar, rangefinder, or other)
Maultier BA - modified Maultier hover transport modified to move Battle Armours Factory made models.
AShM Arrow IV - very good to destroy DropShips, outside the range of said DropShips weapons.



While other nations use passive deployed sensors, the Revenants use more and more advanced ones.


Note – While the Revenants are integrated in the TDF after the merging of the Aurigan Reach with the Taurian Concordat, they still have a considerable margin of independence.


Wolfnet considers unusual that the Revenants show so much new hardware and doctrine to the Wolf’s Dragoons. It seems that for unknown reason, the decision makers from the Taurian side or the Arano-Bassot regents want this knowledge and their capabilities to be known and understood by us.

 

[paulobrito]

Note: In this chapter, several of the shipyards and WarShips being built have nothing to do with OTL / Lore. The differences are significant. Note that it is the initial phase of construction, of new designs, with the exception of some cases pointed out, which means that the first ones produced are still many years away from being considered operational.


TMI Report regarding the construction of WarShips by other nations.

Federated Commonwealth
New Corvette design in Port Simon Naval Shipyards (Galax) and Ioto Galactic Enterprises (Gibbs).
New Heavy Cruiser or Battlecruiser design in Port Sydney Naval Shipyards (Alarion)
New Heavy Cruiser or Battlecruiser design in Kathil Shipworks (Kathil) - different design from the one under construction in Alarion.

Capellan Confederation
New Heavy or Light Cruiser design in Saroyan Shipyards (Sian).

Free Worlds League
New Corvette design in Illium Shpyards (Atreus).
New Heavy Cruiser design in Illium Shipyards (Atreus and Ionus).

Draconis Combine
New Corvette design in Midway Shipyards (Midway) and Terada Warship Yard (Dieron).
New Frigate design in Midway Shipyards (Midway).
Narukami class Destroyer (Block II / modernized?) in Luthien Naval Yard (Luthien).
Samarkand class Carrier (Block II / modernized?) in Luthien Naval Yard (Luthien).

Earth
New Destroyer design on Titan Yards (Sol).
Dante class Frigate in Titan Yards (Sol).

Apart from the Frigate produced in the Sol system and the Destroyer and Carrier under construction in Luthien, all these are new models, all in the initial construction phase of the first model of their class and it is most likely that they will suffer from delays as well as problems before real production can begin.


TMI estimates that none of theses new designs could be operational earlier than in five years.


In the case of the FWL, the considerable fleet of ex-SLDF WarShips is maintained by a new dockyard in orbit of Gibson, the system gifted to the WoB by Thomas Marik. That said ships are all still crewed by WoB operatives and that none were transferred to the FWLN is a source of tension between both groups.






The race-to-arms in the dark navy explains mostly why we don’t see many new ’Mech designs, the other nations military are content with upgrading the current models with refit kits , or upgrading the lines to include the new technologies for the next production runs.

Addendum – The mystery of the new JumpShips deployed by the Magistracy of Canopus





While not WarShip related, it came to our attention that during the last decade the MoC has deployed several more JumpShips than it is supposed to have. The first ones were old ones, but their origin is still today unknown. In the last two years the MoC started to deploy more brand new Invaders than their only shipyard in the Canopus system can produce. We couldn’t find any link with other nations making a purchase unlikely . TMI postulate that the MoC has a hidden shipyard, somewhere. So far, none of our ships that routinely visit the MoC to deliver goods, has found anything. If you add to it, the six months disappearance of the Second Canopian Fusiliers eleven years ago, it is probable that the MoC has found a lost colony in the Deep Periphery, one with a functional shipyard, and managed to conquer it.

 

[paulobrito]

The Federated Commonwealth, sick of the pirate attacks launched from the Tortuga Dominions, finally decided to settle the matter once and for all.
The Lexington Combat Group brigade was sent, with extensive support from CV DropShips, assault DropShips, the first Pocket WarShips built in the FC - Overlord A-3 - and the two Mako Corvettes, that fortunately had just undergone a complete refit.
A large group of space marines, special forces, and several tug-class DropShips were also sent.
A force perhaps excessive to eliminate pirates, even considering the size of the groups that operated from Tortuga, but the AFFC Navy took advantage of the occasion and the fact that it was a relatively low intensity operation, far from the usual opponents eyes, to test new doctrines and gain much needed combat experience.

Note: Because in this AU the collaboration between the FC and the DC don't exist (no Clan invasion so far) the Overlord A-3 has 2 AR-10 tubes instead of 1 AR-10 and 1 Kraken-T.

The operations started with almost simultaneous emergence at both Nadir and Zenith jump-points of Tortuga Prime. At each site, one Mako Corvette accompanied by an Invader JumpShip carrying 1 Overlord A-3, 1 Avenger and 1 Leopard CV exited hyperspace and quickly took control of the present JumpShips and the few forces that the pirates had locally.
Two hours later, the rest of the invading force emerged at the Nadir jump-point, and immediately headed for Tortuga Prime III.
Even though the operations at the jump-points was very favorably to the Federated Commonwealth, at least one pirate JumpShip was stationed at a pirate jump-point, very close to the planet and because they detected the invasion in time, managed to escape.


The rest, even if they fought viciously and with the energy of despair, knowing well what was waiting for them, had no chance. The mercenary unit in charge of this operation had recently modernized their equipment, and easily won total space and air superiority. Paula Trevaline's body was taken from the wreckage of her Banshee, Lady Death.
This situation was repeated in the other five systems of Tortuga Dominions - Morgan's Holdfast, New Port Royal, Fletcher's Feast, New Hati and New Gascony. For some obvious reasons, the few pirates that escaped each time did not alert their fellow groups in the other systems of the Dominion, preferring to depart to distant and safer places at full speed, rather than facing once more the Federated forces (I guess this is what you get when you use a hammer to smash a nut with a sinking morale). In the end, only 3 JumpShips carrying half a dozen DropShips escaped destination unknown. Several thousands of slaves were liberated, about a dozen JumpShips and two dozen DropShips were captured in diverse state, some needed parts and a tender ship with skilled technicians to be operational again, but that could be arranged.


Note: In this AU, there was no 'clean-up' operation in 3042, executed by 9th FedCom RCT – at that time the FC was distracted with the HPG Crisis. And as such, Paula Trevaline is the leader of the pirates in 3051, when this operation is executed.






Following up, several regiments of militia / second rate units took home on the just conquered planets, and a half supported program of colonizing the 6 systems started with some terraforming and water purification systems being delivered.






How does the Taurian Concordat know about this ?


During the last decade the ex-agents of MIM that moved to the Reach had started a school in seduction, compromising and infiltration, to be attended by selected members of the Reach Intelligence – very beautiful woman with the right mentality. This school was later expanded to the full Taurian Concordat, and a full collaboration with TMI started.


One of the best results was the seduction and subsequent compromising of a high level clerk with very high classified clearance in New Avalon. The information of said source was transmitted back to the Concordat via selected JumpShips of the growing Taurian commercial fleet, that routinely visit the Federated Commonwealth.

 

[paulobrito]

Note.: ships designs courtesy of Adventwolf.






The TMI report on other nations shipbuilding plans as well as the report on the AFFC starting using WarShips in combat operations, caused a major shake-up in the TDF leadership.
Two nations - Earth and the FWL (although in this case more precisely the WoB) already had not only larger navies, but also bigger ships. Worse, all the large neighboring nations, the FWL, the FC and the CC, were building Cruisers, a type of WarShip that the TDF had decided not so long ago, it would not need.
The need for a proper navy in a few years was made evident and the construction plans had to be changed accordingly, following the wishes of the Admiralty that like all good naval officers always aimed at the biggest machines possibles
Two new types of WarShips were added. One was the very modernized and extended version of the old Taurian Cruiser class Winchester, the other was a completely new design.


Class: Winchester II / Cruiser
Mass: 770,000 tones
Armor Type: Improved Ferro-aluminum
Armament (Capital): 11 NL55, 2 NAC/30, 8 NAC/20, 1 NAC/10, 6 AR-10 Launchers.
Armament (Secondary): 10 ER Large Lasers, 20 LB 10-X AC, 16 ER Medium Lasers
12 ASF and 6 small crafts
3 DropShips
LF Battery

Class: Ajax / Fast Destroyer
Mass: 390,000 tones
Armor Type: Improved Ferro-aluminum
Armament (Capital): 3 NAC/20, 10 NAC/10, 9 NL55, 2 NL35
Armament (Secondary): 16 AMS, 20 LB 10-X AC, 22 ER Large Lasers, 6 LRM 20+ArtIV
18 ASF
2 DropShips
LF Battery

While the construction of the Winchester class, was not a major problem from a technical point of view, the Ajax suffered from all the problems that a new design had - delays, cost overruns, glitches on the first ship, etc.
As the budget was not unlimited, even after the information of the construction plans of the neighboring nations, the number of Concordat (Frigates and Carriers) had to be reduced in order to provide means for the construction of the new ships.

The two Concordat variants (Frigates and Carriers), the Cruiser, and the new Destroyer, were all LF battery equipped, allowing task forces equipped with these WarShips to have great mobility, unlike the Pintos, already relegated to patrol and anti-piracy operations.
To accompany / refuel the task forces, a fleet train equipped with Mriyas, each carrying three Starlifter DropShips (50k+ monsters), was planned, as they were the only type of JumpShips equipped with LF battery, and thus able to cope with the speed and range of these task forces.


Although the TDF had a clear preference towards using their new standard Lee class DropShips, these were tremendously expensive, and with most of the available funds allocated for the construction of WarShips, the use of more economical DropShips had to be accepted in some areas.
Thus, a new variant of Union (Union-BA) was accepted, with a capacity to carry 72 battle-armor troops, and to rearm, repair and maintain the BAs.
Another was a (relatively) cheap version of Leopard. Eliminating the cargo capacity, it was equipped with a NL35 spinal mounted, thus creating the cheapest (and not ammo dependent) pocket WarShip in service on the TDF Navy.


Meanwhile, the shipyards at New Vandenberg and Mechdur were in the middle of the upgrading / expansion to be capable to also build Pintos. The bigger WarShips for now, could only be produced in the shipyards at Bolthole and Taurus. In Badlands and Pinard, two new dockyards were in the early phase of construction.

 

[paulobrito]

Several studies and simulations showed that although the Taurian WarShips were better defended than the SLDF ones against Aerospace Fighters (including those carrying Alamos), they still needed increase defenses to stand a chance to survive against a determined adversary.


While having a lower range and power than the capital missiles and without the capability of being armed with nukes, the Arrow IV SAMs were still very effective against ASFs. They were also much cheaper and took a lot less of volume and mass compared to the more conventional options. And until the heavy AMS systems reached production phase (which was still a long way to go), they were the best defense option available.


ABRD (Arano-Bassot Research and Development), based on Coromodir, was working on adapting the tracking and targeting systems of the AMS to be used with Pulse and ER Lasers. The difficult part was to let the weapons switch from AMS mode to the ‘normal’ one and vice-versa. If / when successful, these systems could be used in WarShips and DropShips, to defend them against all kind of missiles from SRMs and LRMs, to Arrow IV anti-ship, or even capital missiles, greatly improving the defenses of said Ships. While very promising, the program still had several problems to resolve.
Because of this, a change in the configuration of the new Winchester II Heavy Cruiser was submitted just before it entered production, changing the layout of the weaponry.



Winchester II - final weapon configuration
Capital Weapons - 11 NL55, 4 NAC/30, 8 NAC/20, 2 NAC/10, 6 AR10 Launcher
Secondary Weapons - 16 ER Medium Laser, 22 ER Large Laser, 20 LB 10-X AC, 12 Arrow IV SAM


At the same time, all WarShips models, including the ones already in service (except the low-cost Pinto) also received 12 Arrow IV SAM, to substantially increase their defenses against ASFs.
This change was not well received by the shipyards as it would create delays in the construction of the first WarShips with all the needed changes in planning and logistics, without forgetting increases in the costs.




Meanwhile, things were moving ahead on the political front too. The immense power that the Arano-Bassot family had in the Concordat was not seen with good eyes by the other groups, with the exception, of course, of the ruling family. This led to continued protests, and in order to calm down the situation, Thomas ended up withdrawing the New Vandenberg government from Jean-Luc and hand it over to one of his most influential supporters groups that was against the situation.
Jean-Luc and Kamea, who had been waiting a long time for this to happen, were neither surprised nor offended by the position Thomas had to take, viewing it as a necessary measure to maintain power. Just as it was clear that it did not affect Jean-Luc's position in the various companies in which he had a stake, this being much more important for the family.


The exception being the Arano-Bassot shares in the New Vandenberg shipyard, that they are also ‘forced’ to sell to a conglomerate controlled by the politicians that had forced the relinquish of the government of the same system. The Arano-Bassot family, instead of fighting that in the tribunals, accepted the deal pacifically and immediately invested the received funds in the shipyard in the Mechdur system. That group also wanted to buy the Arano-Bassot shares in VMI, but they didn’t have enough funds for that after having to buy the shares of the family in the shipyards. For now. They had a lot of political pull and financial might, but not enough money to pay for it. Their goal was to keep the Arano-Bassot within the Reach province.


However, their plan would lead them to nothing as in the last decade, Jean-Luc had used his influence and Kamea tax incentives and in some cases subsidies, to attract several Taurian companies in the Reach to create branches, if possible in Coromodir V, the former planet of the Espinosa family now fully controlled by the Arano-Bassot family.




The TMI was also getting better at finding info about the other powers even in the Inner Sphere.


For example, in recent years the intensity and severity of attacks by pro-Capellan guerrilla groups on the worlds that the Concordat had captured in the war in the 3030s, had increased substantially.
Unfortunately for the Concordat, their security forces had little experience in counterinsurgency operations (COIN). Only in Ward, which had been captured by the Reach, was the situation slightly better. This was due to the fact that due to years of having to deal with pro-Espinosa fanatics, Reach security forces had more experience in COIN operations.
During their regular exchanges with the MIIO, the TMI discovered that the same thing was happening in the Sarna March, Romano Liao had clearly adopted a different strategy this time, one that made raids in retaliation unlikely.


On November the 2nd, of 3051, Hanse Davion suffered a mild heart attack. Although he recovered almost completely, he was forced to reduce his work rate substantially, with Melissa Steiner-Davion taking over many of her husband's duties. At that time, Victor Steiner-Davion who was on active duty in the 12th Donegal Guards RCT, had been called back to New Avalon, but it was apparently decided that he would not take the throne before gaining more experience.
Curiously, around the same time, Katherine Steiner-Davion also entered NAIS for prolonged medical treatment, but it was not specified for which illness.


Rumors were that the AFFC had started to field ’Mechs equipped with more variants of Ultra and LBX cannons – LBX-2, 5, and 20 and Ultra 2, 10 and 20. So far none had been confirmed, but if one took in consideration the ‘love’ the Davions have for ballistic weapons, it has to be expected.






The TMI confirmed that all nations had initiated searching programs where there had been ancient naval battles, apparently looking for wrecks of WarShips that were possible to recover. At the moment, they had no information on the results, only that the ongoing searches were extensive.

 

[paulobrito]

From the very beginning of her reign, Kamea had decided that Coromodir V, the old Espinosa home-world, not touched by the civil war, and now directly controlled world by her family, would have its already impressive (impressive for the Reaches that is) industrial infrastructure expanded, while Coromodir VI, the capital world, was going to be restored to a non industrially-polluted world.


At first, progress was very slow, in no small part because of the lack of funds. But bit by bit and after a while with my help, when I located as many of my companies as possible in Coromodir V, the world evolved to a very respectable industrial powerhouse. At first, in the civilian side, but bit by bit, the infrastructure and support industries for a military-industrial complex were created. Now, in the early 50s, the results were evident.


Thanks to the investments of the Arano-Bassot family in Coromodir V, the production line of the Shogun SHG-2H started in February 3052 instead of in New Vandenberg.
Coromodir V in 3052 also had operational production lines for the Karnov VTOL, the production license had been secured in 3028, the Cobra VTOL in its Command and MASH variants and the Vector VTOL in its Scout, EW and Attack variants. Two production lines of industrial ’Mechs also went operational in February 3052.


While the Cobra being an old and common design was no problem with its license, the Vector was a General Motors one. Luckily for Arano-Bassot, they had a very good relation with GM, so negotiating the license of production was relatively easy.
The fact that, except for the Shogun, which was produced by the local VMI branch, all these designs were VTOLs produced by a new industrial group, Coromodir Heavy Industries, Ltd (totally controlled by the Arano-Bassot family).
In Coromodir V, industries capable of supporting the production of 'Mechs, ASFs and other diverse military equipment had been built, with only the assembly lines missing, since only the one for the Shogun was available.
Thanks to the big investments in the shipyard in Mechdur, it was foreseen that in 3055, it would be able to produce 3 Pintos and 4 Invaders per year, keeping 6 other slips available for maintenance.


To solve the problems with the terrorist groups of the Maskirovka / Death Commandos units, the TDF resorted to hire several groups of mercenaries specialized in counter-insurgency operations (COIN). Less known and discreet than the large units that used '’Mechs, these mercenary forces like all specialized forces had their use. Fortunately, several groups were available in early 3052, and although they had to pay a (relatively) higher price because some didn't want to go to Periphery, all the available units were hired by the Taurian Concordat.


By this time a new wave of pirates had started to target the Concordat JumpShips. Every tentative of protecting them with military DropShips and / or armored marines failed. The pirates apparently had too good information and didn’t target the protected ships. Since no one from crew returned or no member of these pirate groups was captured, no information on them was available, but the TMI suspected because of their efficiency that they were Capellan sponsored.


In retaliation for these operations and the insurgence groups, both suspected of being Capellan sponsored, Thomas authorized TTI to help HildCo Interplanetary in St Ives to (re)build the production lines of the Pillager PLG-3Z, something that the Federated Commonwealth has not helped the small nation with. The price of said help was the production rights of the advanced Assault ‘Mech for TTI, turning them into the second company to produce Assault ‘Mechs in the Concordat.


VMI was Thomas’ first choice but the political in-fight inside the Concordat forced him to select TTI, that not only was based on Taurus, but also was not controlled by the Arano-Bassot.


Due to the implosion of Comstar and by association of the MRB, MRBC succeeded it with a base in Outreach, basically the same as Jean-Luc remembered.


The second generation of ground defenses i the Concordat was a bigger fortress with a pair or two of Heavy NPPCs, greatly improving the capability of defending the word they were installed in against light WarShips. Ground based batteries of Killer Whale capital missiles started to be installed at the same time, even if for now they were in small numbers and only in strategic worlds, providing an extra capability against any orbital menace.



News of a new civil war in the FWL began to circulate in March 3052.
From what was known, in early March 3052, units from Regulus had tried to capture WoB WarShips in the Gibson system. Tried and failed. In retaliation, WoB WarShips had executed an orbital bombing of Regulus shortly after, showing to everyone what the Word of Blake really was, that is a group of trigger-happy bastards. The escalation, as well as the number of deaths caused, led many to rise up against such action, and against the WoB, in the Parliament in Atreus. Shortly after, the FWL was again involved in a civil war, with the forces loyal to Thomas and supported by the WoB being the only ones with WarShips.


But not everything was going well for the loyalists and the WoB. One of their WarShips, the WoBS Herald of Retribution, an Aegis class Heavy Cruiser, was destroyed by a violent attack executed by several squadrons of ASFs in retaliation for Regulus and if rumors were to be believed with the use of several Alamos.

 

[paulobrito]

TTI (Taurus Territorial Industries), a long time adversary of VMI, now had a solid support in the political group that opposed the Arano-Bassot family inside the Concordat, heavily lobbying for selling their own production to the TDF and the militia.






The principal focus of the company had been in the last decades the aerospace and vehicles divisions, with their ‘Mech department being neglected. However, in the last years of the 40s they had upgraded their production and assembling lines and by now, they were able to produce not only the brand new and advanced Assault ‘Mech, having got the contract for the Pillager -PLG-3Z but also Locust (1V) and Wasp (3A), while still producing older designs. Thanks to their investments, they were able to produce about 10 new ’Mechs per month, on each line.


But their true jewel was the new Wolverine WVR-7TC, replacing the old 6R line. A brand new variant, the result of the in-house research team and a very capable medium even if a bit too ammo dependent.


The engine had been replaced by a XL model and the armor upgraded to FF, while both torso sides received CASE. For weapons the SRM-6 was kept, while the Medium Laser was replaced by a Pulse one and the AC/5 by a Gauss Rifle. The Heat Sins were also upgraded to 10 Freezers, turning the ’Mech in an oversinked one, capable of pushing its limits even in the most demanding grounds. The only limitation was that both the SRM-6 and the Gauss Rifle only had one ton of ammo each.


After evaluating the first prototype, the TDF ordered two changes before it would buy some. They wanted the Laser to become an ER one and the Gauss Rifle ammo to be increased to two tons. The changes were easy to implement and once done, the TDF immediately bought the entire first year of production.


The cheap Wasp and Locust were bought in bulk by the TDF to fill the quotas of Light ‘Mechs in several units and the rest was sold to Militia units or exported, for cash strapped mercenaries that needed ’Mechs but didn’t have the money for the most expensive ones.


Pinard Protectorates Limited (PPL), that already produced the Toro II under license, started the production of several variants of the Phoenix Hawk. The budget one was the standard PXH-1, the other two were the PXH-TC1, that removes both machine guns and respective ammo, upgrading the Heat Sinks with Freezers, while upgrading the Laser to an ER one while adding a Small Laser and a Beagle Active Probe. The TC2 only differed from the TC1 by exchanging the BAP for a Guardian ECM Suite.


Continuing their long policy of cross-licensing with VMI, PPL traded the licenses of these ’Mechs in exchange for the rights to produce the Jack II and the Colibri (the PA(L) produced by VMI), also with Coromodir Heavy Industries, even if for now VMI and CHI didn’t have the budget to start the production of new lines.


Several mercenary units with long-term contracts with the TDF like Gordon’s Armored Cavalry were also offered to become house units, meaning that by early 3052 the number of mercenary formations inside the Concordat was at an all-time low, none bigger than a battalion.






At the same time, Jean-Luc found evidences in the files from the Taurian R&D that decades ago a team had found out a leak towards making sub-capital weapons and even produced some workable models. After the mandatory cursing, he began working on securing the funds needed to produce these weapons while passing the information to the teams working on WarShips and Pocket WarShips.








Note.: ‘Mech production in the Taurian Concordat in mid 3052


Light - Jenner (DHS), Toro II (Wolfhound F-2 with FF, ES and JJ), Stinger (3R), Locust (1V), Wasp (3A)
Medium - Shadow Hawk (DHS), Griffin TC (ERPPC, LRM10, 2ML, DHS), Talos II (2ERLL, 4ML, DHS), Phoenix Hawk (-1, TC1, TC2)
Heavy – Archer (4M), Marauder (2R), Warhammer (7A), Penetrator TC (2 more DHS and ECM), Thunderbolt (5Sb)
Assault - Marauder II TC (2ERPPC, 2ML, 2LRM10, JJ), Hellfire (2ERPPC, 2LPL), Shogun (2H), Pillager (3Z)

 

[paulobrito]

‘Emma must have access to an advanced equipment source somewhere in the Deep Periphery' concluded Anne-Marie at the end of her report on the Magistracy of Canopus. 'Otherwise how did she get about two regiments of ’Mechs, all late SLDF or unknown designs, as well as the dozen Dictator DropShips that appeared at the same time?’

'And your sources couldn't find out their origin?' asked Kamea leaning forward with an interested look.
‘Not yet. The first series of JumpShips and DropShips, we now know about, came from the Alexandrian Covenant, Emma captured an intact shipyard there, as well as several operational Ships. Letting this information leak out is an indication that the Magistracy is probably done with the place, as they do hope that other intel agencies will waste time and resources looking in the place. SOP for the MIM. We still don't know exactly where the installation has been bought but it likely to be in an uninhabited one near Canopus' replied Anne-Marie consulting her notes 'Regarding these new forces, my sources are adamant that this new equipment comes from another place. Apparently, they got several civilian DropShips, about a dozen JumpShips, Star Lords and Monoliths, a dozen Dictators, and I think an operational WarShip'.

‘An operational WarShip?' I asked, astonished 'what are you basing this on?’

‘Well, Emma, in recent years, has been very insistent in negotiations to get some WarShips from Thomas' answered Anne-Marie putting down the documents and looking at us 'more recently, she basically no longer press on this issue, and I’m reasonably sure that no other nation is even willing to sell WarShips. My conclusion is that along the rest, they probably also found at least one operational or in a state that Emma thinks she can repair without help'.

‘Aunt Anne-Marie, couldn’t Emma just have changed priorities or simply have no money to buy one?’ asked Sara, that had just recently started to participate in these reunions.

‘Yes, in both cases, Dear’ replied Kamea ‘but with all her neighbors getting WarShips or already having some, and that nasty civil war on her border, it is difficult to believe that Emma don’t want one or two also.’

‘But, how can we be certain Emma got one WarShips?’ asked Sara again.

‘There are at least two ways’ answered Kamea ‘ TMI can get that info’ as these words were pronounced we could hear a snort from Anne-Marie’s side, ‘yes, Dear I know MIM is still way better than TMI even if TMI has improved a lot but I am sure they could do it.’ and without a pause, Kamea continued in stride ‘The other option is sending a ship to look for us in all these uninhabited systems near Canopus, the most probable location of the hidden shipyard and logically said WarShip.’

‘But Mother, if a WarShip is in one of these systems, don’t we risk losing the searching JumpShip?’

‘No, if it is a Mriya as they have LF battery, and could escape before interception, Dear. But, it is both a time-consuming and expensive operation and I don’t know if Thomas would authorize that. Anyway, we don’t have any Mriya or any orders to give to the TMI, so it is not up to us.’ finalized Kamea.

‘As for the origin of this supposed WarShip, I've never heard of a colony in this area with that kind of equipment and the SLDF list of bases doesn't include anything either' I replied thoughtfully, looking at my notes in my personal noteputer. ‘That leaves us with some options, none of them good. First, a base or a colony created after the Amaris Crisis, and that for this reason is out of the Argo database. Not impossible but unlikely because at that time, the Star League lacked the resources for new colonies, and new bases would have been in areas closer to the conflict, not in a remote area. Second, it may be related to the SLS Dobrev, which was more or less lost in this area'.

‘The SLS Dobrev? I've never heard of it, Jean-Luc' replied Anne-Marie with a curious look, while Kamea and Sara also leaned towards me with an interested look 'what are you talking about?’

'Do you remember when the Revenants captured that Assault Mech, the Bull Shark? At the same time we fought pirates having advanced weapons.' They all agreed, and I continued, after looking again at my notes 'Good, when we captured the base of the smuggler who was behind those weapons, a Notker Baumann, we also found the records of a JumpShip that belonged to SLDF, the SLS Dobrev. This JumpShip was totally wrecked, had supposedly left with Kerensky in the SLDF Exodus, but was found for some reason, by Baumann South of our border with the Deep Periphery. Now, we know that Kerensky went North, so something must have happened. Stranger is that the shipping records, even if damaged, recorded part of a voyage coming from a location far in the North. It could be a second Exodus, from part of Kerensky's forces, that went wrong, somewhere South of the Aurigan Reach'.

Kamea and Anne-Marie looked at each other with a thoughtful air.


‘It may be, but it seems a bit far-fetched,’ Kamea said, then turning to Anne-Marie, 'See if your connections can find out more about this equipment. An increase in the Magistracy power, even if at the moment, a friendly nation, is always to be looked at with caution.’

 

[paulobrito]

On August 27, 3052, Thomas Calderon abdicated the throne of the Taurian Concordat and Edward Calderon took over. The official line was 'health reasons', but only a small group knew that Thomas had been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease, for which there was no cure, only palliative care.

The civil war in the FWL continued, with the rebels, i.e. the anti-Thomas Marik / WoB faction, even though they had no WarShips, confronting this “über” weapon with a high number of Aerospace Fighters, much more than they were supposed to have. Those who paid close attention could notice that many of these extra Fighters were models that could easily be found in the nations bordering the FWL, even if they were not the most advanced variants.

Even if it was at the costs of great loses, this threat and its efficiency were enough to cause sufficient damage to the Word of Blake Warships and to force them to be more cautious.

In September, 3052, news started to circulate that Thomas was not the real Thomas Marik, but a substitute, certainly inserted by a shadow organization, be it the Word of Blake or more probably the extinct Comstar.

Although few believed at first such a rumor,Thomas Marik’s supporters denied everything, calling that a desperate attempt to undermine his position. But the fact that no one was able to get access to the original tests of Joshua and Isis Marik, tests said to come from the Atreus Central Hospital and that no further test was made to deny the accusations, gave credits to it with more and more people starting to believe them



An unofficial / non factory produced version of Dragonfly MM-3, was created specifically for the Revenants. The Large Laser on the nose was replaced by an extended-range one and the armor by Ferro-Aluminum, making the MM-3R (Reach / Revenants) considerably more lethal than the already deadly MM-3. And also turning a very expensive Light Fighter into a even more expensive one.

In November 3052, Andrea Stirling (CO of Sterling Fusiliers) and Tony Rubensky (CEO of Cosara Weaponries in Northwind) visited Coromodir VI.
Both of them and the Elders of Northwind (which Andrea represented), were dissatisfied with the level of support the Federated Commonwealth provided to Northwind. On one hand, Cosara Weaponries wanted technical support to modernize the factories in Northwind, so that they would be able to produce the most advanced variants of Crab and King Crab and increase their production capacity without forgetting the creation of a HGN-732b production line that the company had bought the rights for and that the Northwind Highlanders regiments wanted in large quantities. On the other hand, both the Northwind Highlanders and the Elders wanted to build a dockyard in the system to support at the same time, the various JumpShips that the regiments had and the commercial ones that various companies in the system controlled.
In both cases, the FC had provided little more than vague promises. Knowing the good relations of Coromodir with the Wolf’s Dragoons and the solution that the St. Ives Compact had obtained from the Taurian Concordat for the modernization of their production lines, both planned to obtain similar conditions for Northwind.

While several championed the idea to go directly to Taurus and Edward Calderon, to negotiate, other rightfully pointed that, while Northwind was a semi-independent world, it was not a fully independent one, with connections and obligations to the Federated Commonwealth. Having these kind of negotiations with a foreign power, even if it was one at the moment friendly with the Commonwealth would probably cast a shadow on the relationships with the Federated Commonwealth. On the other side, Jean-Luc Bassot was known to have made several deals with the Wolf’s Dragoons without repercussions while Outreach was a world with a status close to the one of Northwind, . And everybody knew that his companies had the necessary expertise. In the end, the council decided to go to Coromodir and negotiate with the Arano-Bassot family.


After several days of tough negotiations, an agreement was reached that benefited both sides.
Coromodir Heavy Industries was awarded the production rights of the Crab, King Crab and Highlander, and for the next ten years a Northwind Highlanders regiment would serve in the Reach, rotating home each year to be replaced by another. In return, CHI would provide technical support, training, the high-tech components needed to upgrade the Cosara production lines in Northwind as well as helping to build a dockyard in the system. None of the help from the Aurigan partners was financial.

On January 13, 3053, the first Pinto class Corvette was launched by the shipyard at Mechdur. After a few political maneuvers, it had been decided to name the ship TCS Keona Arano after the first High Lady of the Aurigan Coalition.

 

[paulobrito]

As soon as she heard of the deal between Northwind and the Arano-Bassot, Melissa Steiner-Davion always the consummate diplomat, made a “counter” proposal by which the FedCom would pay half the upgrade costs of the Cosara lines in exchange for a preferred status for 25% of its production and 50% of the dockyard against preferential rates for using it.






That proposal was very well accepted by the council of Elders in Northwind and by the administration of Cosara Weaponeries.


After all, why should Melissa and Hanse be preoccupied by the Arano-Bassot deals? They had helped rebuild the Wolf Dragoons, improved the production for St. Ives – a client state at best – and now they were upgrading the factories in Northwind and providing tech support for the construction of a dockyard in a world that belongs to the Federated Commonwealth – at a time that the FedCom had its tech capability fully used on other projects. For the Steiner-Davion this sounded like a good deal.


At least that was the official version but who really knows what is going on behind the scenes?






After a long and tortuous investigation, TMI was reasonably sure that it had discovered who communicated the targets to the 'pirates'.
After providing them with an interesting target - a Leviathan carrying an extremely valuable cargo - the trap was set, and all we had to do was to wait for them to show up.
This time, everything went as TMI had predicted - the pirates, disguised as civilians in one of the DropShips carried by said JumpShip, tried to capture the JumpShip, but instead of a valuable cargo, they found a force of marines equipped with battle armor and PA(L)s. Once the signal was given, the suspected location in Taurus was also stormed by special forces. Said special forces also used in large quantity PA(L)s and some VTOL transported battle-armor that dropped through the roof at the same time. So fast and brutal was the operation that some 'pirates' were captured alive, but unfortunately, their unknown equipment was destroyed, even if some state-of-the-art code-breaking and listening tools from obvious Capellan origin was found. After a 'robust' interrogation (including narco-interrogation), nothing of interest was revealed, except for that it was a classic cell system well compartmentalized, that communicated with others only via coded transmissions, dead drops and other similar means, making it impossible to identify the final destination.
The 'pirates' captured on the JumpShip had with them another prize in their logs, the coordinates of destination, an uninhabited system near the border with the Capellan Confederation.
The coordinates were immediately sent to a task force that was waiting on standby, and that on February 12th, 3053 entered the system simultaneously at the nadir and zenith jump-points.
At the nadir jump point, the TCS Samantha Calderon a Congress class Frigate, carrying 2 Lee-CV arrived accompanied by 1 Mriya, while at the zenith jump-point, the TCS Cyrton, a Pinto class Corvette, carrying 1 Lee-CV arrived accompanied by 1 Mriya. In both locations, the TDF quickly took control of the JumpShips waiting there , while the DropShips were launched in the direction of the 'pirate' base location.


Unfortunately, a Scout JumpShip was near the base at a pirate point, and before the Taurian DropShips arrive, a DropShip departed from the pirate base and soon after a series of explosions destroyed it. That DropShip successfully docked the Scout JumpShip and departed the system under the impotent but furious Taurian sights.
Their only consolation was that the base had been put out of service. Analysis of the base debris didn’t give any usable information.
Only three JumpShips and five DropShips were recovered, the rest according to the surviving “pirates” having been sold or sent away.

 

[paulobrito]

During 3052, the Marian Hegemony launched several raids on Lothian planets. With her defending forces losing power, Dame Lorelei Logan asked in January of 3053 the Taurian Concordat for help, fearing that a full invasion would be soon taking place as the Civil War in the FWL allowed the Marian Hegemony some liberty on that border.






Edward Calderon decided to help in two ways. First, the Taurian Concordat contracted several small mercenary units, company and lance size, in the name of the Lothian League. These were to delay the Marian forces long enough for the Taurian forces to arrive. Secondly, he sent an expeditionary force, composed of two ’Mechs battalions from the 3rd Taurian Guards Brigade, with their combined arms support, escorted by the TCS Zarantha Calderon, the first Concordat Frigate to go through the latest refit program. That the Zarantha Calderon could easily carry 2 Lee CV with 80 modern ASFs, and 2 Lee PW for this particular mission, to provide aerospace support was also taken into account. The TDF didn’t want to lose any WarShip like the WoB, because of a lack of support.


The equipment of the expeditionary force was obviously up-to-date with the latest Concordat.






With the expeditionary force went also one Leviathan JumpShip carrying 7 Starlifter DropShips, loaded with enough supplies, spares and ammo for an extended campaign, and one loaded with two-way HPG satellites, to create a direct link between the Concordat and the Lothian League. Said satellites, were a relatively recent product of the Concordat HPG research, to supplement the planet based HPG stations and to replace the older Comstar DRUM network in the Concordat area of interest.


The need to don’t cross the Capellan Confederation and Free Worlds League territory, added about ten weeks to the voyage, but even so, the Taurian force arrived on Lothario by the end of 3053, a few weeks before the Marion Hegemony started the invasion.





Meanwhile, in the FWL the Civil War had changed drastically, Oriente, until now a reluctant supporter of Thomas, changed sides in a spectacular way.


A fleet of several JumpShips suddenly appeared at a pirate point in the Gibson system, near the dockyard. Not wasting time, they launched several Assault DropShips, while many CV ones started to launch waves of ASFs.


The dockyard wasn’t left without protection, with several squadrons of ASFs and a lone WarShip, WoBS Blake’s Redemption, a Vincent Mk.39. The defenders did what they could, but the raiders were superior in number and had Assault DropShips supporting them. The Vincent, like most designs of SLDF origin, was not good at fighting Aerospace Fighters and the attackers were heavily loaded with Alamos. While the more agile fighters dealt with the defending ASFs the heavies attacked the lone WarShip. Hit by several nukes, the Vincent was quickly destroyed but it didn’t go alone having taken dozen of Heavy ASFs with him. Soon, Alamos started to rain on the dockyard, on the docked WarShips, and on the infrastructure that was being built to expand the dockyard to a full shipyard.


But, the ASFs, Pocket WarShips and Assault DropShips that were based on Gibson managed to intercept the waiting JumpShips before they could jump again, and they did so with a vengeance, letting the Oriente forces trapped in the system. Now, without a place to flee or refuel-and rearm they were easy targets and none escaped alive.






In exchange for seven JumpShips , 4 Star Lords and three Invaders, ten Vengeance DropShips and an unknown number of Assault DropShips and Pocket Warships and a bit over four hundred ASFs, four WarShips had been destroyed – Blake’s Redemption (Vincent), Deliverance (Essex), Divine Command (Naga) and Immortal Spirit (Aegis). The dockyard and all the infrastructure under construction to upgrade it to a full shipyard had been also destroyed. This blow executed by the full space force of the Fusiliers of Oriente had reduced the active Word of Blake Navy to only four WarShips. Without a home base, they were now dependent upon the few shipyards controlled by Thomas Marik, as the order has none left.

 

[paulobrito]

Lothian League


Lothario System


February 23, 3054


Zenith Jump-Point





Eight JumpShips suddenly emerged, transporting the I Legio of the Mario Hegemony. Caesar Sean O’Reilly believed in going for the jugular, so he had decided to start the invasion of the Lothian League by directly invading the capital world, thinking that after securing Lothario, conquering the rest of the League would be little more than mopping up.


After a year and half of constant raiding, he was confident that the enemy forces were exhausted, even if the number of mercenary units under Lothian colors had been superior to what was expected.


However, less than half an hour of the emergence, just as the DropShips had formed and started to move itowards the distant capital planet, the alarms sounded – an emergence jump-point was detected almost on top of his forces.


What emerged was a WarShip, one that immediately launched four big spheroid DropShips, easily bigger than the only Overlord of the I Legio, and a continuous number of ASFs.


On all frequencies the same message was heard – ‘This is Space Master Adam Ostergaard of the Taurian Navy. The Lothian League is under our protection. Surrender (pause) or be destroyed.’





TCS Zarantha Calderon Bridge


‘Don’t be stupid, power down…’


‘You said something Ensign?’


‘No Sir. Sir, they are accelerating in our direction!’


‘So, you chose Death. So be it. All ships, open fire.’


The first ship hit was the Overlord Maximus, flagship of the Marion Hegemony Expeditionary Force. Stricken by 3 Naval Lasers 55, it lost power immediately, venting atmosphere from several places. It was quickly followed by two Unions, hit by several NAC/30 shells, while two Triumphs and another Union were hit by several Killer Whale, fired by the two Lee PW.






During this time, the 32 ASFs from the I Legio were targeted by 52 Heavy ASFs, a mix of Hell Duck, Vulcan 6N and Thunderbird D36b, all loaded with AAM. Even before they got in range, the Marian Fighters were all killed, each hit by two or more Arrow IV missiles, while the lighter ASFs, Sabre 27b and Dragonfly MM-3 stayed behind guarding the Taurian Fleet.





‘This is not a battle, it is a massacre.’


‘You are right, Ensign, but it was their choice, I asked then to surrender. They decided to attack.’


‘Sir, the radio. They are asking to surrender.’


‘Put me on.’


...


‘Reduce the relative speed to zero and shutdown your engines. Prepare to be boarded. Any resistance will be dealt with deadly force.’


‘Well, I see that our ground-ponders friends are going to be disappointed.’


‘Navy Rules, Sir.’


‘Navy Rules, indeed.’

 

[paulobrito]

Note.: This chapter is chronologically before chapter 79, this is what happens during the time the Taurian task-force is moving into the Lothian League.

In August 3053, a high-level Canopian delegation arrived in Taurus for negotiations following the evolution of the situation in the Free Worlds League, the Marian Hegemony with the aim of dealing with these peculiar situation and with the territory between both nations.
The fact that the Magistracy and the Concordat had an excellent relationship since before the beginning of Emma Centrella's reign, and had complementary objectives and very few conflicts of interest, eased the negotiations considerably.

By the end of September they had agreed on the following, the systems West of a line Liu's Memory - Fronc (including both) would fall under the sphere of influence of the Magistracy, while those East of said line would be for the Taurian Concordat.
Regarding the Marian Hegemony, it was decided that as soon as the Marian Armed Forces invaded the Lothian League (something that both nations took for granted), the MAF would invade the systems of Islington, Algenib, Mariu's Tears, Horatius and Ballalaba, while the remaining systems - Bacallieu, Pompey, Suetonius, Stafford, Alphard (the capital), Addhara and New Venice would be occupied by the TDF. As soon as the MAF had available forces, it would also clean Astrokaszy from the pirates present there.

The goal of the Concordat was to either add ”its” worlds to the Lothian League while at the same time turning it into a client state or to create a Concordat enclave if negotiations with Lothian League were not to its liking, while all the Magistracy wanted was to eliminate a troublesome neighbor (and win several systems), taking advantage of the fact that the Free Worlds League was busy with a nasty civil war and couldn’t do anything.

To allow for this decisive strike,, the Magistracy had to authorize the movement of a considerable number of Concordat forces through its territory, in order for them to arrive on time. This was taken into account in the new military alliance between both nations, which considerably expanded the treaty in force since the end of Andurien Crisis / Periphery Wars of the 3030s.
Among the forces sent by the Concordat were the 1st Battalion of the Revenants and the Reach Guards (the former Aurigan Royal Guards) as well as 3 other battalions of ‘’Mechs, all with combined arms support. Sending so many of the core Arano-Bassot forces was a move from they political enemies, hoping that they would suffer grave losses, and at same time let Coromodir with weak protection. That was swiftly counter-balanced by Kamea, contracting the St. Cyr Heavy Assault Group, that had just ended its contract with the Federated Commonwealth. An expensive move, no doubt, but in the end the defense of Coromodir was even increased.
Part of the agreements included the Concordat providing equipment and training to Magistracy technicians to develop, implement, and maintain a native HPG network.
The biggest surprise, however, was the Magistracy informing the Concordat that it had acquired two WarShips, the MCS Coranna and the MCS Kossandra. While the first was a Whirlwind class Destroyer the second was a Texas class Battleship. The problem was that although the MAF was able, at the limit, to maintain the MCS Coranna, the repair of the MCS Kossandra because of serious problems to the keel was far beyond the capabilities of Magistracy. Due to these problems, the Magistracy proposed to exchange the ship for two Concordat class Frigates and two Pinto class Corvettes as well as training personnel to maintain and crew them.
After deliberations ,the TDF Navy, always eager to get its hands on a bigger WarShip, agreed on the idea but only after a close inspection by Taurian technicians to know if they could do something out of it.
Of course, the Concordat was also very curious to know how the Magistracy managed to get its hands on such WarShips or the advanced ’Mechs they had recently deployed.


The answer was a fascinating story, that the Magistracy didn’t share right now but the truth emerged years later. Some years ago, an exploration ship in Deep Periphery South of Magistracy, had found a system with a dead colony. In orbit, there were several JumpShips and two WarShips, while on the ground, nothing indicated that there had been a conflict. Taking the maximal protection (use of advanced Hazmat suits for everyone stepping on the planet), the exploration ship found out after investigation that all these were the remains of a ghost colony, clearly in the middle of expansion phase by the look of the infrastructure. Only after a hospital had been found, they were able to get a picture of what had happened. According to the records that were found, a native virus spread in the colony 5 years after they had landed. By the time they noticed the problem, it was already widespread and people were dying at a very high rate. The records ended with no indication of a cure or of any survivors.
As for the origin of the colonists, they seemed to be the survivors of a Second Exodus, calling themselves SLDF in Exile / Wolverines. The WarShips in orbit were the SLS Yukon (destroyer), now the MCS Coranna and the SLS Bismark (battleship), now the MCS Kossandra.
Due to the care needed to prevent the people involved in the removing of the hardware, to catch the lethal virus that had killed the colony, it took years to transfer the equipment and ships back to the Magistracy, something that at this moment, mid 3053, was in the final phase. Not only did they have about a regiment of advanced ’Mechs, including several models never seen before (among them the Bull Shark), but also a fully automated ’Mech factory, that had been transferred to the Magistracy and was currently working at full capacity.



What the Magistracy got from the dead Wolverine colony apart the hardware, was a treasure trove of information. The stories of the Exodus, the Pentagon Civil War, Operation Klondike, the creation of the Clans, the Trial of Annihilation of Clan Wolverine, and their Second Exodus to the doomed colony near the Magistracy, where the last ones had died. Also several technical datacores with information on iron wombs, advanced weapons like the Enhanced ER PPC and ER Medium Laser that until now were only produced by the Concordat and several advanced designs like the already mentioned Bull Shark, or the Pulverizer, Stag I and II, Mercury II and Wolverine II. But the most important information was the location of the Clans Homeworlds and the full maps of the Exodus Road, the original one and the reverse one taken by the Wolverines during they return to the Inner Sphere and beyond. That information was shared with the Concordat, in exchange for support in several projects, including terraforming and help in building/upgrading strategic (civil and military) industrial complexes. It was decided between both nations that this information would not to be shared with other, at least not for the time being.

Jean-Luc also wanted access to that information and to more designs. While thanks to being part of the Concordat elite, he was granted access to much of it, he couldn’t get access to others as the Canopian protected their advanced automated factory, that apparently was even more advanced than the late SL ones that the VMI and CHI had. Even after negotiating with Emma Centrella and in exchange for sending technicians to help creating a battle-amour factory in Canopus and providing production rights of the Dragonfly MM-3 and 3R, Jean-Luc only got the blueprints and production rights for the Mercury II, but no data on the automated advanced factory . On the plus side, the Canopians also shared the full specs of the Nighthawk Mk.XXII (not the XXI or XXX, the ones with stealth armor, if they had access to it, these were MIM only) in exchange for helping building a factory to produce them.