Kingdom Building (Carving Out a Nation During the Age of War) A Battletech AU

[MarkWarrior]

Date: February 5, 2475
Location: Mallory's World, Federated Suns

"Thank you for being willing to come and meet with me," Duke Mallory nodded at the other two planetary rulers. "I know what risks you must have taken, so I will ensure that it is worth the price that must have been paid."

"Speak," Duchess Alexandra David glared. "We have given the Coordinator's usual eyes something else to see, but we do not possess the time in which to dally."

"Agreed," Duke Roger Mara nodded, his thin frame at odds with his deep voice.

"For too long have we been victims of either the Federated Suns or the Draconis Combine's strikes across the borders," Duke Alton Mallory began. "I know that in the past decade alone, I have dealt with strikes that brought serious harm to my world and people from the Draconis Combine, with no reprisal or even a word of support from New Avalon. I know the same has happened to you and yours. But with the Coordinator ignoring even the most basic of requests to sustain further strikes into the Lyran Commonwealth."

"You are correct that we have not been given support by the coordinator much of late," Duke Mara crossed his arms defensively. "But we are loyal to the Draconis Combine."

"Why would we declare for you?" Duchess David glared. "What benefit would it be to us to abandon our loyalties? And why would you choose to trust us afterwards if we did? Knowing that we can be bought, should it be valuable enough?"

"I am tired of being taxed and seeing no benefit," Duke Mallory replied. "My people suffer, but see no relief. Our food goes out, but we are paid little in return. I do not offer this out of spite, but out of what I believe is necessity. We are neighbors, regardless of what side we have been on in the past; we know how we are treated. First, we are taken by one nation, and then, in the next few years, we are taken by another. Again and again, this cycle repeats itself. I say enough!" The Federated Suns duke slammed his clenched fist on the table. "I do not say we should abandon our nations, but declare our independence. We must forge our own path into the future. You ask what benefits you would gain?" Mallory locked eyes with Duchess David. "You would gain your liberty. You would gain the ability to do as you wish with your fuel industry. I know you have long sought to establish your own factories for war machines; you could do as you wish. You would no longer have to answer to New Samarkand. As for you, Duke Mara. Long, have your harvests been seized by wandering Samurai pretending at honor as they strike further into the Federated Suns. Often leaving your people starving and barely able to feed themselves. For the short term, I know that you have suffered a lack of harvest. So, I will personally see to it that as many tons of food as I can provide now will go with you to your home. Regardless of whether you accept or not, I will hold to that."

"And what about for the long term?" the other Duke asked. "What will we do when the First Prince and Coordinator have had enough of our rebellion and come to crush us beneath the First Sword of Light or Davion Heavy Guards? I do not possess the forces to repel them. What shall you do?"

"I paid a visit to Jerricho Industries five years ago," Duke Mallory smirked. "There are times when corruption benefits the righteous. I was able to procure the plans and aid to begin construction of battlemech factories. Since then, Fortner Industries, as well as several other industrialmech producers, have converted portions of their factories to produce war material. With heavy investment from my personal coffers, we began seeing results from that last year."

"And you think a quaint few battlemech factories will allow you to stand against the might of the Combine and the Federated Suns?" Duchess David laughed. "You are mad."

"I may be mad," Duke Mallory replied. "But I desire more than to simply be a pawn in this game that is played among the nations. Regardless of whether the two of you join in alliance with me, I am set on this course."

"I will enjoy the day that your people find out what you have done," Duke Mara shook his head. "You will face rebellion by the end of the week."

"You think I was the one who first set us along this course?" Mallory chuckled. "No, my people had made up their minds long before I had. They were simply waiting for me to arrive at the same conclusion as them. The people have spoken, and I will lead them as they desire. Whether it is to folly or greatness, History will tell."

The room was silent for what felt like an eternity before the Duke of Mara finally spoke again.

"My world thanks you for your assistance," He inclined his head. "But I cannot in good conscience put my people in danger with this endeavor. But we will remember those who came to us in our time of need, and will be available to assist when this comes crashing down around you."

With that, the duke stood and left the room. Leaving Duchess David and Duke Mallory alone.

Where she had once had a fully skeptical face, the leader of the other world had a look of intensity on her face.
"Do you truly believe that you will be able to survive on your own?" She asked.

"There are never any guarantees in life," Mallory replied, taking a seat across from her. "But sometimes, a course of action must be taken regardless of whether it is the wise or safe option. Our worlds lie on the borders, and as such, we change hands like the wind. While I long for the days of peace, my world still suffers from the time before the Ares Conventions. Oregon was nothing but irradiated ash and craters in my Grandfather's time. Instead of offering aid, the First Prince turned and began another offensive into the Capellan Confederation. Leaving my Grandfather to make inroads to the Terran Hegemony for assistance. We have rebuilt on our own, and while this path is risky, it is what has been decided."

"If you will help me build my military industry, you can count me in," the Duchess said. "I have long possessed a prototype of the Archer that the Hegemony uses. My engineers and scientists figured out how to manufacture the 'mech. But the Coordinator and the ISF have not granted permission to build more factories along the border. When I petitioned directly, I was told that there would be no factories built along the border. That the 'risks' were too great. If you will share your technology and trust me, I will do the same with you."

"We have battlemechs, and we have the combat vehicles," Duke Mallory replied. "What we lack to be truly secure is aerospace defenses. I have begun talks with Jalastar Aerospace to obtain the designs for the Centurion and have begun breaking ground on the factories that will be necessary."

"I will have my agents look for what we can obtain," the other planetary ruler nodded and extended her hand. "Duke Alton Mallory, I look forward to this partnership. May we live long enough to regret our decisions."

"I'll drink to that," the duke said, standing to pull open a glass cabinet with a bottle of aged whiskey.

"No toast?" the duchess smirked.

"I feel enough words have been said," Duke Mallory replied. "Now is the time for action."

 

[redred45]

woot new battletech story from my favorite battletech author

 

[Baldrick the Wise]

Bold plans that will require lot of dancing on the razor edge to see any chance of success. Colour me intrigued.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 1 Plans, logistics, and back alley deals

Date: March 6, 2475
Location: Savo City, Mallory's World

"Thank you for getting that new prototype that Jerricho Industries had," James Fortner grinned and shook Duke Alton's hand. "I know that they discarded this idea as too impractical, but I think we have a really great shot at pulling it off."

"What changes are being made?" Alton asked. "I still use the Orion that my father bought."

"Well, the direction that Jerricho seems to be heading is towards using a 160 rated fusion engine to push the Swordsman's top speed to 64 kilometers an hour," Fortner replied. "But this prototype you managed to acquire uses a 200 rated engine to get that even higher to a top speed of 86. The problem is that this means we can't use the autocannon. It weighs too much. Even with the new armor samples we've gotten from your contacts in the Hegemony, we're overweight. But, we've got some ideas about how to handle that, and once we get them finalized, we can retrofit all of the old Swordsman to the new model. We won't have range on the older 'mechs, but we'll have more flexibility and can use them in more roles."

"As long as we can afford to maintain the new facilities, then do what you see fit," Alton said. "New Avalon and New Samarkand haven't had a response yet, but that's because the news likely hasn't reached them that we've separated."

"Do you need anything specific from me or my people?" James asked.

"Just for you to be made aware of what the future holds," Alton replied. "I appreciate what you've done so far. Hopefully we'll be ready when the hammer falls down on us."

"We'll be ready if anyone manages to make landfall," Fortner shrugged. "My company and all th eothers have been stockpiling spare parts for years, you know that. I'm more concerned about how you plan on preventing them from making landfall in the first place. There ain't a lot a 'mech can do against a nuke shot at it from orbit."
"I've got some stuff in the works," the Duke said after a minute. "I'm still waiting on Bernice to come back from negotiations with Jalastar, but recent correspondence from Duchess David seems to be bearing fruit. She's leveraging some of her contacts to get the plans for the older model of the Hammerhead. She already has the people ready to build and man factories, but the Combine had been holding her leash too tightly. So, she's beginning production on the Archer and the Hammerhead by the end of the year."

"We may not have a year," Fortner sighed.

"That's why this is all so important," Alton turned and looked around at the factory complex. "No one knows what we have built here, they believe that we merely manufacture spare parts and maintain the battalion that was stationed here as militia. When they come, they will find a wall of steel that will stop them in their tracks. We will drive them off our worlds, and then we'll continue to build. By the time we're done, every citizen of Mallory's world and David will have their choice of battlemech, aerospace fighter, or tank to maintain."

"That's some dream there," Fortner smirked. "Let's see if I can help make it a reality."

"I know it's years if not decades away," the Duke replied. "But every dream has to start somewhere. Mine started with our people. It just took me this long to realize it."

---

Date: March 10, 2475
Location: David

"Ma'am, the representatives from the Hegemony and Earthwerks are here to see you," Duchess Alexandra David's aid said, knocking on her office door.

"Send them in," She replied, straightening her business-like outift and standing up as the man and woman walked in.

"Duchess David," Major Francesca Yveny of the Hegemony Armed forces greeted the woman. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

"The pleasure is all mine, Major," the Duchess smiled politely. "I understand you've returned after bringing what we discussed to your superiors."

"Yes I have," the Major replied. "But first, allow me to introduce Samuel Moses Brown of Earthwerks Incorporated. He's going to be a very important part of this discussion."

"The Major has explained your situation, and I believe that we have an opportunity to do business together," the man grinned.

"But first, we have to discuss the petition you made to the Hegemony, and why we turned to Earthwerks," Major Francesca said, pulling out the chair as directed and sitting across from the planetary ruler. "While the Terran Hegemony is at war with both the Federated Suns and the Draconis Combine, in the last ten years, things have somewhat settled into an uneasy truce, you might say. So, we will not be willing to offer overt support to either you, or to Duke Mallory of Mallory's world. However, we recognize that you will be a valuable distraction for both parties, and as such are willing to deal with some supplies falling off of the back of our dropships as it were. Nothing new, of course. But the Merkeva is a serviceable platform, and should be easy enough for you to use as we retire them to 'training' sites across the Hegemony."

"This is also where we come into play," the Earthwerks rep leaned forward. "I understand that you are among group of nobles that obtained the leaked plans for the ARC-1A Archer several years ago but were unable to make use of them because of the Coordinator's staunch resistance to such measures. Well, I have a proposal to make, and it's one that I believe you're going to find hard to turn down."

"I'm listening," Duchess Alexandra raised an eyebrow.

"Seeing as you're likely going to be seeing intense combat in the next few years, we're willing to license and provide engineers to assist you with getting an ARC-2R modern battlemech manufacturing facility running as well as a few things that the Major here has been given permission to share."

"And what would you expect in return?" Alexandra asked.

"All of your combat data for the next three decades. Regardless of whether you win or lose this struggle for independence, you're going to be on the frontlines. We're going to give you free reign to alter the design as you wish and prototype to your hearts content. But we retain the rights and abilities to manufacture and sell any new models that you test and develop without legal recourse for the next one hundred years. After that, we'll have to renegotiate."

It was an astronomically huge short term gain for her world, but there could possibly be long-term ramifications for how this worked out. The question was. What was more important for their survival in the here and now?

"How soon can your engineers be ready to examine what we already have?" Alexandra asked. "And may I have my lawyers go over this contract as well?"

"Today," Samuel replied. "And I'd be disappointed if you didn't have anyone go over it. Please, examine it. I believe you'll find it will greatly benefit both Earthwerks and David."

With that, Alexandra called in her lawyers and they began to argue over the little details and fine print of the contract. Leaving the Duchess to consider whether it would truly be worth the cost of being somewhat beholden to the Terran Hegemony and Earthwerks for the long-term in exchange for their independence.

In the end though, Alexandra and her staff judged the price worth it. So, the contract was signed, and the Earthwerks employees got to work.

 

[Rolen von Keng]

I assume these are original characters? I'm not really that deep into Battletech lore to pinpoint specific minor characters.

 

[Baldrick the Wise]

I don't think rulers of these worlds were ever named (just like 95% of planetary rulers in BT). It's quite likely that before Sucession Wars Mallory's world was ruled by Mallory dynasty, the grateful people of world named after the doctor that discovered the cures for several diseases that were decimating the population, if they liked the guy so much they named the world after him, I reckon he or his descendants could easily be made the ruling dynasty.