Battletech: The Ghost Who Walks (Battletech Isekai)

Davion Travel time interlude
#1​

Hoff, Zenith Jump Point.
Summer 3017
Lebanon's crews were currently running a safety stand down in preparation to deploy the jump sail and begin recharge of the capacitors that allowed the K-F drive to 'Jump'. Ford's DropShip had finished separation and was, the drive fired as it reached safe distance and started its trip towards the planet. "Do you know what he's going for?"

"I don't." He replied to Pasha's question. Ford had said he'd find his own way back with his personnel at the last minute. I.E. had paid for the contract as if they were going with the whole crew, and Ford hadn't asked for a refund or anything, he was just leaving with the dig crew. "He told us to go on without him, can you find another DropShip looking to go to Robinson?"

The captain sipped his tea, "Probably so, " It was clear the old captain wasn't happy with Ford's abrupt detour with most of the IE personnel but he accepted there was nothing to do about it and especially not with Ford's dropship burning towards the planet. "I was under the impression their destination was on Bristol.."

"So was I." Gene said sitting down, they still had Abner and maybe a quarter of the other I.E. People in another civilian DropShip. The Professor still intended to go for Bristol, or so he had said, "Have there been any other developments?" He said hedging to the real matter.

He gave a heavy sigh, "but that isn't what I wanted to talk about," There was a printout from a K series Fax Machine on the table. Pasha had expressed his disappointment after he'd been debriefed... after they had all debriefed about their respective commands' adventures... not getting to see the outpost, "Our friends in Rasalhague have been apprised of the victory at Elidere."

He raised an eyebrow, and looked at the printout, "There are limits to those things, so I assume they're using the HPG network." and never mind that people probably would gossip, that meant a dispersal of the news that could increase significantly as it spread. "Leaving aside, how, what is probably the more important question to ask... What does that mean?"

"The present coordinator is a tactically astute leader, if one prone to suspicion, and mistrust, I expect we will see a wave of repression as the realization mounts." The loss of a Mech Regiment on the Davion border might have been better planned for if the Combine had been launching some sort of direct offensive, Samsonov leading his unit into destruction on what should have been a typical raid... wasn't, "The community of elders believe that we should prepare to make another exodus to the periphery, before it becomes too late."

He paused, "What about the Azami who stay behind, that paints a target on their back if Takashi," and defaulting to using the Coordinator's given name casually wasn't the best habit, or necessarily polite, "starts purging people, even if he starts in Rasalhague."

"This is known, we will exercise caution, but we hope to be ready to depart Al-Nair by the pilgrimage season."

Gene gave him a blank look, "Get me a time table, and some idea of what to expect," Al Nair wasn't exactly a Terran corridor planet but it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that the Fed Suns might attack it.

"Its precisely that, we are counting on a Federated Suns Invasion, the present coordinator's paranoia is not misplaced, many have attempted to take his life within the combine, and with the recording of his ancestor's betrayal and memories of Kentares remain strong on both side of the border." He put the tea cup down, "If we are lucky then we can convince many to uproot themselves from their homes before the storm comes... but I expect many will wish to remain. Our friends in Rasalhague have pointedly refused to abandon their worlds, still dreaming of independence... but I fear they'd end up as nothing but a buffer state between two successor states... condemned to be ablative armor between the Lyrans and the Combine."


"Its twenty jumps to the periphery from periphery easy, that's not even counting the trek out." and with a pointed pause, "I was under the impression you wanted to maintain secrecy."

"There is a point where the risk of atrocity outweighs the long term need for discretion, it is very likely that this will draw attention from others besides the Dragon. There is another matter, besides... if our families were not under threat from the dragon's servants, there are an abundance of young warriors who would then be free to fight under banner of freedom... and given Elidere the Dragon is unlikely to forget its defeat."
--
There wasn't all that much to do during JumpShip transit. Jump, wait for sail to charge, Jump, repeat until you to where you were going and could detach the DropShip from the JumpShips and then it was more waiting as it usually took a couple days to make it to the planet you were going to do, but it was still different. Right now different would have been nice, he could have done with different he really hoped that Pasha wasn't talking about ... about what? The Rasalhague, and Azami planets in the combine kicking off a full scale rebellion? It didn't sound like it, and he wasn't sure how wide spread the tape of the deal with the devil had gotten. They obviously hadn't done what Tristan wanted done, and blasted it all over public space... but if the AI had wanted to do that to maximize the disruption it caused to Combine status in the short term... how long before someone tried that without the technical systems necessary... and what would the response of that be from the other successor states.

He finished stretching and glanced sideways. "So what is ford doing?"

"He thinks he might be able to dig something up," Abner replied, "I really thought it would be better to wait, but he is bound and determined."

Dig up what was the question, Abner's response had been somewhat evasive, "I thought you were going to Bristol to dig?"

An exasperated sigh, "Yes," The doctor shook his head, "I believe Bristol is more likely to yield real results than here, but and I've told him as such... but he is bound and determined.... and he has a point Hanse Davion is a nice young man, but when he makes a decision, well he's going to want 'those stars in his hand'. So I suspect we will see a very impressive declaration, or attack if not this year, than next."

"This is about good will from the first prince?"

"That's one way of looking at it, bluntly Mr Ford should not have any trouble finding you work in the Federated Suns if we're somehow wrong about an invasion of the combine," He paused a moment, blew out a breath, "but well, I would say now would be a good time to start making big investments." Abner paused, "If I might, your reluctance to settle in, in any successor states makes sense, especially given what we know of House Kurita's behavior, and the Mariks hardly cover, none of the Great Houses covered themselves in glory after the downfall of the Star League... but a permanent base of operations in the Inner Sphere would probably be something to plan for. This is not is not the Star League, where rebuilding a Mech Regiment can simply be done by fishing out spares from some depot and furnishing newly graduated pilots."

Gene nodded to the old man's advice, "If Sandoval is willing to sign off on it, I'm going to grab whatever whoever I can hire, whatever DropShips and crew I can, and run an abbreviated SLDF MechWarrior course."

"Is that what you were doing with Tristan?"

"What, oh no," The AI had actually made him sit through, "I ran the staff officer's paper exam, and the brigade level tactical operations course." Both were like six hour two part exams, "The course work is Regular Army, Robinson will have simulators."

"Yes, House Sandoval had invested quite heavily in the battle academy, I daresay its a very Lyran thing to do," Abner replied with a shrug, "But what will you do then?"

"Run everyone at all level of skills through the same, run debriefs on who did what why, and discourse on what informed those decisions." The bigger problem was the question of how to run armor in that scenario, Robison apparently has infantry and armor schools, but I don't know how much support for non battleMech arms will be provided." The use of drones had been a key part in their victory, but drones by themselves hadn't been the exclusive. "High mobility and stand off capability is critical to a maneuver environment," It wouldn't work in an urban situation, not in built up urban fighting... and that did still happen in the succession wars. He shook his head, "It'll really depend on what it is that Robinson wants out of this."

"What do you think?"

"I think they want to know if it can be replicated, and to distribute as much experience as possible, either into local training and doctrine, or at a federal level ahead of a major offensive."

"Do you know very much about the current First Prince, about Hanse Davion?"

"I know he's the reason Bard kept making fox jokes."

"Let me tell you about Ian Davion, the Prince's brother, and his predecessor."
--
Notes: This is an interlude and basically a we're travelling across the sea SPACE, FtL hops take time in BT.
And in Whoops divergence from the timeline even though its non canon, well we'll talk about that when Yvvone shows up next chapter.

 

I Davion Part 5
(Segment A)​

July 3017
Robinson
The Sam Houston had touched down, it had been a month since they had departed Elidere IV, and he was glad to be off the JumpShip, and setting foot on Terra Firma, even if Baffins hadn't landed yet. "Good afternoon," The fifty something year old woman with the entourage remarked in a cordial if still commanding tone.

"Ma'am."

"You are Colonel Shepherd." It wasn't really a question, there was no question the woman in the tailored conservative long jacket, and pantsuit.

"I am."

She glanced once at the pinned eagles on his collar, "I am Field Marshal, Yvonne Davion," the newly identified flag officer gave a polite English smile and turned, "This," She indicated a pretty young mocha skinned woman in court finery, "Is her ladyship the countess of Kestral, Lady Alexandria will be your official liaison with the Federated Suns for as long as you're with us."

Gene got the feeling either something had happened, or that the nine week training gig Robinson had suggested was a little more than that. A feeling that mounted as the staff car, and procession left the star port of the planetary capital in silence. The ride took the better part of an hour, and did eventually bring them to the ducal palace where the duke waited. Even in a wheel chair the duke was a formidable looking man with a still largely unlined face, and whose biceps would have looked more natural on a twenty something marine non com than the ruler of a planet, and certainly not one now in his later fifties. "Welcome to Robinson, Colonel." The duke's handshake reflected the size of his muscles, firm, though not attempting to crush his.

"Thank you, your grace." Gene replied, wondering if he shouldn't have double checked to make sure that was the correct way to refer to a duke of the Federated Suns. The duke wheeled his chair around and gave them a tour through the halls, with a narrated history of his realm, and its relationship with the Combine. The Draconis March was to anyone present, from the duke's perspective the single most important front of the succession war, and protecting it against draconic predation, and the infinite avarice and wrothful pride of the gluttonous coordinators had provided them with the opportunity to strike back.

All of that rhetoric aside, and while it was clear that this wasn't just hot air from the pulpit, it was clear that the duke wasn't just saying this for them. The field marshal's presence was probably not something he'd counted on.. and if Abner hadn't explained the present royal house and significance of the Prince's Champion Gene wasn't sure he would have recognized it immediately. Sandoval must have reached some kind of agreement with the First Prince, and the broader AFFS , but whatever it was they weren't going to tell him yet.

After a good twenty minutes of walking through the ornate halls of Castle Sandoval they reached a massive hall two floors down from where they had started with guardsmen protecting the door, and inside was obviously some kind of strategic map room, and command center... probably the duke's lair on any ordinary day, or at least when he wasn't holding court.

The doors closed and locked behind them leaving them in a cavernous, if well lit, room built to seat probably hundreds of people, that felt empty with a retinue of merely twenty or so, most silent aids, or batmen waiting for fetch and carry assignments. Yvonne Davion spared a querying look to the duke, who bobbed his head.

"Well, its certainly true events on Elidere provide us an opportunity that we never considered having." She admitted, "And the First Prince does absolutely consider it necessary to capitalize on it. General Samsonov had spent the last year and a half raiding the border, and while he never had any astounding successes he won more than he lost and out performed other combine raiders. His successes against several units had already underscored an interest in study," Which was the ultimate reason why the field marshal had been 'in the neighborhood'. Units that originally the duke had wanted pulled back to learn, were being pulled back ... well to learn, but also to refit and rearm in the face of a planned Davion offensive over the border.

"its not false pretenses. The official contract will involve a teaching position," Cadre duty, "At the battle academy full lodgings and technical support will be made available at Tiberias. Completely discretion to run the course with whatever resources you need," Within reason of course went unsaid, there were always limits, but the Duke's delivery had the energy of a waterfall, excited at the prospect of what might come of it, "However its preparation for the real work."

"In September you will leave for New Avalon," Yvonne cut in, "A meeting with the first prince, the Davion Guards, and the Eridani Light Horse. The objectives will be outlined there and we will begin final prepositioning for the offensive next spring."

The duke if he objected to being interrupted didn't show it, "We intend to bleed the Combine, ideally we will be able to cut them off entirely from the Terran Corridor, in order to bring that about I am prepared to offer any assistance. Your unit will have access to the Academy's personnel, access to staff, students graduates, the industry of the entire march in order to prepare the brigade for action. Hire who you need to, purchase what needs to be purchased, make whatever preparations you need to."
--
Robinson was functionally a second earth in many ways, a lesson made all the clearer by the ride back from the Ducal Palace to meet with the rest of the unit. Significant efforts had been made by terran colonists in the early centuries to settle the planet and spread terran animals and fauna across the surface, and they had thrived. As a result Robison was a jewel of a world... and even if it had been a harsher existence it still made sense that the Duke would want to protect his home.

The official offensive was to be considered secret information. Until the brigade, as they were being called, was stood up and ready they weren't going to be told the official target even assuming that decision had been made... but they were going to attack somewhere over the border, and in Sandoval's mind they should be attack a lot of somewheres.

"So that's the situation." He finished. They were not actually getting a land hold... the duke probably wanted them to permanently settle somewhere on Robinson, but there were politics involved, well beyond the Draconis March. The Duke, and Field Marshal Davion had had some heated words over the Capellan March that Gene had only caught bits and pieces of , but on top of that the First Prince was probably at some level looking to avenge his brother and the previous First Prince by militarily crushing the combine with an offensive that he could put his name to. "this will not be like on Luxen most of these students have experience in mechs," and with that in mind he was hoping that they would be able to spend the bare minimum on basic mech operations, unless there was some egregious error. "But there is the issue of politics all the same. The Duke of Rio's son is here, and his father has insisted to Lord Aaron that junior be given the opportunity to trial for a position with the brigade." ... and to say that Gene was not thrilled about that particular missive was... well an understatement. "I haven't met him yet, but chances are we're going to get a lot of people all around trying to showoff... and I doubt Lord Castro is going to be the last noble who wants us to give their boy a shot. We are going to disperse paper work first and foremost on Mech weight, we will go to mech roles later."

"What about a DropShip?" Septim asked, "I heard something about a dropship?"

"Yes, Lord Sandoval is giving us an Overlord that has been in his family since the 1^st Succession war. It officially in recognition for services to the Draconis March," And he'd be damned if he didn't have the Maguanac tecs go over that with a fine toothed comb, "Its called the Hidalgo," which was ... could made to work with his preference for naming Ships, even if one of the duke's ancestors had literally named it after his childhood horse... "it was built by Boeing Interstellar," what was now Federated Boeing. "I'm told its been some what modified, and is in good condition. The idea is to use it punish the combine..." For Great Justice... Lord Sandoval's son was... very dramatic, more so than his father was, but it probably did run in the family. Which meant that they had one dropship slot out of their twelve... well inside Baffins, and Sam Houston... so really it was one more dropship out of their twelve filled. "The duke is going to be making a public ceremony... holiday out of it to commemorate the defeat of the Galedonians on Elidere." He glanced at the clock, "That will be Friday... which probably be a problem for like seventy percent of the company. "If you need something dress wear, that isn't a uniform, I would suggest going after we finish. It doesn't have to be bespoke, but tailors, and some hemming wouldn't be out of line. Moving back, an emphasis is going to be on Medium and Heavy Mech use, Bubbles we're rebuilding the Atlas still, and by preference I'd rather you handle any assault course operations." The Stalker they had had to leave on Elidere, which in hindsight he somewhat regretted... but maybe Lord Vandenburg would be happy.... or maybe he'd end up breaking it again if it ended up with one of Hashiba's relatives.
--
With his own MechWarriors sent off to handle their own affairs That left him to return to meet up the Field Marshal and the Lady... the duke had a march to run after all. "Just so that you understand that House Davion's concerns are for the entire Federated Sun's safety." Yvonne remarked in a clipped tone.

The Prince's Champion dominated the Davion side of the discussion, which somewhat flew in the face of the introduction at the Star port this morning. It had only been ten hours since then so maybe it was that the Field Marshal knew she had somewhere else to be.

"To start with from an operational standpoint, killing Samsonov prevented the reinforcing 3^rd battalion from coordinating with the remnants of first. Fighting 2/19," 2^nd Battalion, 19^th Galedon Regulars, "Was for the majority of the engagement fought Combine terms as individual mech duels it was only on the realization of in bound davion reinforcements that that was breached by first a lance leader and then the surviving unengaged company commander. All three battalion engagements involved combined arms of BattleMechs, Tanks, Artillery and other combat vehicles." He caught the skeptical looks from various Davion officers who's only real purpose seemed to be to sit in the chairs down the table and look stoic.

Yvonne nodded, "I've reviewed the battlefield reports. Artillery in particular was used to suppress enemy forces and disrupt the coordination between enemy mechs," Particularly in dealing with light and heavy mechs with significantly different overland speeds, "and significant effort was employed using harassing units to prevent the enemy from regaining their initiative. Most of the actual kills were conducted by a handful of MechWarriors."

"That's an accurate summation." It felt like a concession. There had been combine mechs destroyed by vehicle kills, both manned tanks, and drones, "And if you're looking for MechWarrior preparation focused on direct engagement, thats feasible. The operational art involved at Elidere was fundamentally a combined arms one, it was that combined arms which kept causalities low." He stopped himself, before he turned that into a winding justification about how low unit casualties improved sustainment in the field... there wasn't a point in trying to go into that.

"But you can replicate these kinds of operations?"

Don't exaggerate, don't elaborate... don't bore them with the details. "Yes." The explicit question had not after all been can you kill another combine regiment, it had been can you run the operation... and at a battalion level he had been since they'd come back from Alamut with the Azami in tow... so the answer was yes.

The conversation meandered from there, until it slowly, eventually wrapped around to the matter he had broached with Chang regarding the Atlas. The lack of Assault Mech drivers... and that was where Blackwell Industries of New Valencia came in.
--
Notes: This has been cut roughly in half, we are on Robinson, I'm posting this today (monday), it sets groundwork for some other material, Sunday will be the normal update and carry with Part B.

Onto some other matters: "Whoops there goes the HPG Network" will probably not get its own thread... and I'm not going to pull a With This Ring and have two main timelines running concurrent to one another, but I do want to talk about that.
Spoilers for that.

Spoiler: Whoops

So Whoops as a story idea diverges roughly speaking in about a year from present in story, the New Kyoto eatery scene and the rest occurs in mid 3018 when in what we shall call the main timeline the plan to return to the Periphery is still being prepared. This is the chapter 'Exodus'.

Now the principle difference that occurs after the broadcast in outline terms is that due to knock on effects we get the FedCom early, now what I mean by that is the Archon (Katrina Steiner) had already been considering the peace proposal that canonically she would send in a year and change (and canonically she had started considering the peace proposal in 3015, but I'd have to go back through some stuff). Regardless, the Combine bluntly goes off the deep end as a result of a combination of the footage directly, the damage to the HPG network, and then the reprisals that start that summer.

[Also the Wolfs Dragoons sign on with the Commonwealth, because the Clanner Reaction to knowledge any great house collaborated with the usurper is probably going to be significantly more magnified than even your average person in BT].

So among other things this cues up introducing Rasalhague earlier in the timeline, which as Pasha mentions gives the Commonwealth a nice buffer state in the middle, the Azami revolt en masse. Teddy ends up Coordinator but also outs ComStar as having been trying to coerce his father (back under Primus Russtein, the guy who Tiepolo replaced, andalso the guy responsible for the Jolly Roger affair). The Combine survives but looses a lot of territory (and unlike in canon BT) would never really get that back. The road is set for the FedCom here earlier than in canon (or in main timeline).

Gene and company largely swap to being full time Davion troops here. The HPG net being much more patchy means JumpShips are even more important, and eventually results in Volgadon's library being brought back from Aquagea and distributed between the two states of the FedCom, plus the Azami and Rasalhague.

 

I Davion Part 5
(Segment B)​

Gene had a shopping list that was metaphorically a mile long. Part of that diversity was more ... well was grounded in the fact that he didn't expect to be able to purchase more of the Tokugawa tanks that the Magunacs had. Then there was the matter of what the FedSuns produced normally, what was on market at present, what could be reasonably be shipped either to here, or to New Avalon. It was a lengthy list... and of course there was the matter of San Saba as a triumph-class could be modified to deploy BattleMechs or ASF if they came to that. With the way the DropShip Market was there were significant aftermarket involvement in addition to people posted what was available in catalogs through, in the case of the Draconis March, march wide.

The shopping list was also effected by another factor. The victory at Elidere by itself, not even accounting for the completion of the 19th's destruction on the sands of Ander's moon, won lots of good will, and the possibility that that sort of victory could be recreated was credit. Political capital was another good description.

Gene tapped the rotate on the projector, one hundred tons, familiar PPCs, Medium lasers, and engine. The Marauder II as had debuted on New Valencia in 3012. In a lot of ways it made sense for the hundred tonner to be a version of the Davion's Marauder version, replacing the persnickety GM Whirlwind with a Magna Mk III Large Laser. It would do. Convincing the New Valencia based corporation to produce more, and to produce an order of vehicles was not something the AFFS saw as any kind of difficulty.

The perceived obvious appeal of the Marauder II with its increase to Assault chassis was not shared by the new and perceived unproven vehicles... "If you're certain they'll help." Which got them to the nuts and bolts of the matter... the contract. There objectives that the Federated Suns as a polity hoped to achieve. All of the Successor States wanted to be top dog, no surprise there. The way you usually graded a cadre contract's success was how well its students performed after, and that usually determined whether or not you rehired the unit, or of if you changed the coursework. For Yvonne Davion that training was minutiae that wasn't her responsibility, "It'll take months in order to purchase them, I don't know if I can assure they'll be available by the time you reach New Avalon."

"I planned to go the Northwind faire," a biannual hiring and networking Convention for all conventional description, "Obviously I won't be able to make this summer, but the one at the start of the year, will I have time for that before the offensive?"

"You should yes. Prepositioning and reallocation of units will take time. We can station you on Northwind to continue training the brigade before hand." Which brought them into the matter, Field Marshal Davion continued, "His grace," The Duke of Robinson, "Is insistent that the Academy cadre participates." Not a surprise this had been talked about. Not in any detail, but Lord Aaron had made it all too clear that the honor of the Draconis March was at stake if they didn't participate in the offensive. "The form that participation will entail remains to be determined, but their success in achieving objectives, and effectiveness against the enemy will be a priority."

He took a sip of the coffee, "I understand." He put the Battle Academy embossed mug back on the faculty table with a clink, "Two months here, are they coming to new Avalon?"

"No, Colonel Cameron will take over the course work, before we begin pre positioning of forces." It would still take three months to get from New Avalon to Northwind.

Gene considered taking another drink, "What happens if the Combine comes over the border in interim. If their response to Elidere is to mount a hastily prepared offensive, will we counterattack as an ersatz force, or -?" He left the comment hang.

Yvonne Davion smiled, sparing a glance to the Countess of Kestrel, "the prospect of an immediate riposte would be dependent on where the attack was launched from. The Eridani Light Horse is presently on Colchester, if the Combine attacks in the Draconis March you will join them for a planned offensive over the border. In such an event you are to destroy whatever DCMS forces as possible, a bounty for any battlemech formations rendered ineffective paid out. Preferably we would like the salvage in order to deny it to the enemy."

--
Among the very earliest acts the Usurper had under taken was the nuclear attack on Mecca soon after his seizure of power It had been one in a litany of atrocities the Satan Amaris, and his despoilers had wreaked upon humanity.

Islam had already been behind most of the other peoples of the book, between the plagues of the 21^st century, both literal and metaphorical Yusuf had known his ancestors had had to contend that the majority of the faithful had been among the most loath to leave the earth. The advent of the Kearny-Fuchida drive had sparked some interest and novelty, but it also been an unconscionable expense. The wealthy sunni dominated emirates had invested their sovereign wealth funds to colonize worlds like Rigil Kentaurus, rights granted to them by the western government for their support of the early colonization, but those colonies had only demonstrated the hurdles of conservatives to fulfil the pillars. How exactly did one pray towards the holy city in space, never mind when one was on another planet entirely... for that matter it was much more difficult to maintain the calendar and keep track of the holy days, and travel for the Hajj if one normally lived on another planet.

... and all of those concerns had deterred most conservative Sunnis from straying too far from the bosom of Terra... and that was long before the terrors of the satan Amaris had destroyed the holy cities, and devastated wide swathes of the mother world... and of course the whole Hegemony had suffered under the tyrant's yoke.

Adherents to the doctrines of Sunni Islam remained the majority of the faithful of course, they had started with a much larger population base to begin with, and could be found across the Inner Sphere... and it was true the various sub schools that broadly comprised Shia Islam were also more fractious to begin with. Still, it could easily be said that the Shia adherents, particularly the Azami had been better suited to thrive in the post Exodus of Earth, and weather the conditions of the down fall of the Star League better than most.

"You look bothered." Colonel Shepherd's voice cut through the ward room's silence. Truthfully he had been so distracted that he hadn't even noticed the mechwarrior pad in.

"It is nothing colonel." Which was a blatant transparent lie, and the younger of the two jumpship captains was hasty in trying to change the subject. "Are you particularly religious colonel?"

"Not particularly."

Yusuf nodded, "There are disagreements," which sounded like an understatement, "there always have been there are those who do not wish to leave their homes, and those who believe the correct decision will be to join the Rasalahagians in their struggle openly against the dragon's betrayal, and greed."

Pasha was presently somewhere in the planetary capital negotiating shipping contracts as a follow on to what they had been doing before Elidere had blown up. In the modern age with jumpships being effective inviolable due to... well the first one in particular, but the second as well, that meant taking tea with other JumpShips to gossip over tea. Especially with the way the Davions were now spamming the Elidere IV battle Roms all over the media since they had got in the previous morning ahead of what was looking to be a pretty significant public holiday.

"The federated suns," and Pasha had mentioned this as well, "Have a historical distrust of our people. The long tide of the succession wars, has fueled this on both sides" Yusuf made a gesture, "Us not so much, but I would have concerns how the Suns would react to an Azami free state on their border, or even simply to our dependents, or rather the dependents fleeing the combine, while others fight."

"I wanted to ask about that."

"The unit will be fine, truthfully we have so few Mechwarriors," Bahar, but, "with us that it isn't an issue. Not being required to attend will leave those who wish to attend Friday prayers time to do so, at least aboard ship."

They were interrupted, as the senior tech came through the door, "Ah boss, we're ready to test the ammo we turned out for that auto cannon."
--
Yvonne Davion's job description as Prince's Champion was to manage affairs that the First Prince wasn't available or suited to handle. In a sense she was a gate keeper of sorts. It was her singular most important job, but it wasn't her only job. Even before becoming head of the department of military intelligence's studies section, the ASD, she had recommended combined arms.

There was a difference between making recommendations, and watching, for the umpteenth time, a smaller combined arms force basically murder an entire BattleMech Regiment over the span of a couple of weeks. Even suggesting that such a thing was possible to her professors at Albion would have been enough to have her laughed out of the hall... and yet the facts were what they were.

So she was to analyze and speculate. "In my experience, commanders who manage to accidentally win, tend to bluster about how it was all according to plan, or they're less frequently upfront about it." She replied to the question over whether the whole affair could have been an accident, "And you don't just accidentally dismember entire battalions, with only a handful of your own dead to show for it." The girl, the young woman, across the table paused, "We want to keep them close. We don't know enough to offer them what we would give one of our own, and if there is the possibility that they'll accept citizenship that's hardly something we should miss. The possibility they can inflict further damage on the combine is extraordinarily valuable, and if they can repeat that damage or even to a lesser extent we benefit immensely. If the colonel is being on the level about training troops to fight as they did on Elidere then marrying him into the aristocracy of the Federated Suns should be considered a priority of national interest."

The trivid projection showed the splash of the water as the Atlas fell. The image changed to sensor reads of magnometers from theater wide as fusion engines from the armored regiment laying in wait came on line, and the artillery began to rain. The volume, not quite muted, low allowed the beginnings of the pipes and drums to play. People who blundered their way to victory generally didn't have the time or skill to get in the enemy comm system and interrupt it by signaling their attack across all frequency with a highland march after all.

There was a knock on the door, "Field Marshal," a man in the dress uniform of a captain of the Davion Brigade of Guards' general staff remarked, "The additional ROMs from the MRB, ma'am."

"Thank you Mister Durand that will be all."
--
Note: and as a notation, this is Part B, and it follows on within basically the same twenty four hour period of touch down on Robinson as the previous section. Now what is presently in the process of happening is that I'm dividing and expanding I Davion as a chapter (~32k total present word count) probably into a separate chapter for Dieron (Tentatively titled Fortress Dieron) for the battle and its fall out, while keep Northwind and New Avalon in this, and with Interlude Bristol hopefully being finished and going up some time in April.