Avalon City, New Avalon

Crucis March, Federated Suns

19 December 2763

"I don't fault you for the decision, sire." Thomas Green-Davion shook his head as he and John watched the sun setting over the mountains from one of the castle balconies. "Colonel Perez was clearly in the wrong, but the Avalon Hussars are rallying around him and they're the backbone of our Battlemech corps."

"I agree. Moving Jones to a staff position should hopefully keep him out of line of sight until tempers cool." John sighed. "Losing a battalion of the First was a blow, I admit. And the damned thing is, other than pissing off the Navy, Perez did a good job on Tortuga. He's an excellent ground commander and I could use him in a brigade slot, but right now he's unpromotable."

"I take it we couldn't put him in a diplomatic post, let him pick up some polish?"

"He didn't exactly show a sign of being diplomatic to begin with." John picked an apple out of the dish between them and took a bite. "Besides, he knows more about Tortuga than I like – I'd rather he wasn't outside the Suns."

"Good point." Green-Davion tapped his fingers on the side of his chair. "With Heather taking over MacDonald's op-area, perhaps he could be shuffled into her staff. It'd keep him out of view for a little while and I could ask her to take him in hand."

The prince nodded in approval. "Thank you, Thomas. That's one problem out of the way. And speaking of Green-Davions taking people in hand…"

The older man gave him a quizzical look. "Who do you want me to keep an eye on?"

"As you said earlier, the Avalon Hussars are the backbone of our Mechwarriors. We need to get them on-board with the new combined arms tactics if they're to get widespread acceptance, not to mention cooling off this budding feud with the navy."

"I don't disagree but they're scattered across the Suns and under the command of every Combat Region Marshal we have. Reaching them all at once with anything but official memorandums isn't all that straightforward."

"I'm thinking a two-pronged approach. Firstly, I'm going to blanket attach a battalion of artillery to each regiment of the Hussars. The added firepower should be popular and it moves them half-way towards the new demi-brigade model the Crucis Dragoons and Ceti Hussars have developed. Johnston Industries are confident they can adapt their gun carrier chassis into a self-propelled gun for the artillery, so breaking loose light artillery battalions for that shouldn't affect our general deployments too much."

"Ah, the Carronade proposal. I heard about it from the Count. I understood he was looking at the SLDF as a market though?"

"They're being very non-committal and Elias knows a confirmed contract from us is better for him than a maybe from Kerensky's staff."

"Hmm. Having first call on artillery should appeal to the Hussars, I agree. But where do I come into this?"

"That's the other thing. It's been largely honorific, but there's the tradition of having Colonels-in-Chief for the major troop formations. Alexander Davion stripped away most of the practical power from the position when he reunited the Principalities, but he didn't abolish them outright."

Green-Davion nodded. "I recall Rita Hasek carrying out some visits to the Fusiliers as their Colonel-in-Chief while I was her regent on New Syrtis. I'm not sure if Vasily does the same for the Chevaliers."

John chuckled. "He's actually Colonel-in-Chief for the Tancredi Loyalists, not the Robinson Chevaliers. Not quite so demanding a position given there are only four regiments."

"I take it you want to appoint me as the Colonel-in-Chief for the Avalon Hussars then?"

"Yes, it's been in abeyance since my cousin Joseph died – Uncle Richard never appointed a replacement."

"That should say everything about how influential it is."

"It's one of those things that's what you make of it. It gives you unquestioned access to all their social events, for example, so whenever you're on world with one of their regiments you can touch base with them and see how the mood is without it ruffling any feathers."

"And how often is that going to happen?" Thomas gave him a sceptical look. "I had the impression I'd be spending more time on New Avalon now that the Galahad exercises were over."

"Think of a working vacation, Baron Green-Davion." John took one last bite of the apple and dropped the core in a waste bin. "The High Council approved of it and you have a nice little estate on Damerang, conveniently garrisoned by a regiment of the Hussars within three others within a one jump radius. It would be terribly insensitive of you not to visit them, since you're their new Colonel-in-Chief."

He received a suspicious look. "How many excuses do you have to send me running around the Federated Suns?"

"I've got two more lined up to send you to the Capellan March next year," John told him. "Starting with an inspection of the Demeter salient now they've had a time to settle down from the fighting and then Rita has some sort of honour she wants to hang on you, which means visiting New Syrtis."

"It had better be a very nice estate," Thomas told him. "Alright, you've a willing horse, sire. What's one more mile?"

.o0O0o.

Avalon City, New Avalon

Crucis March, Federated Suns

22 December 2763

"I've found a place for Commodore Jones," John told Hanse as he watched another Italian opera. Talking to his descendant was cutting into his personal time more than he liked but there wasn't much alternative if he didn't want some suspicions raised about his sanity.

Edwina wasn't at all fond of the operas, which was a mark of her good taste in John's view. It meant she left him to watch them alone, more or less once a week. He'd rather have spent the time with her, but at least she didn't think he was sneaking off to see another woman, which some of the other cover ideas would have allowed for.

"Good, you want the man safe. He turns into our best admiral twenty years from now," Hanse replied absently as he watched the screen.

"Well he won't come to harm on the Navy's procurement board. In a year or so I should be able to bump him up to Commodore and give him one of the heavier ships. From the way he handled the fighting over Tortuga, he's more than ready for the responsibility."

"What's he going to be handling? The new transport dropships or the capital ship board?"

"The latter. I'm not an idiot, Hanse. We don't have many warship commanders who've engaged hostile warships – for a given value of warships, at least. Besides, if he was looking at the new battalion-transports then he'd have to work with the Army on the design requirements – too much chance he'd run into someone who bought into Perez' version of events."

"At least you're not starting with almost two hundred years of not even having warships. The RX-78 was enough headaches."

John nodded and flipped through the documents he'd brought with him. "Even if we wind up pushing a new arms limit through the Council, taking the chance to replace and refit some of our older hulls should be worth it. The ex-Hegemony ships are taking up more of the maintenance budget than I'd realised. Mothballing them would save us millions."

"The time may come when you need expendable ships," Hanse warned. "And you'd be surprised what can be put back into service. The Lyrans considered their last Tharkad as a wreck too broken to be worth fixing by 2821, but they managed to drag it back into action for the fighting around Hesperus thirty years later."

"Yes, you've made a point of how much hardware survived the centuries with only patchwork repairs. With how durable 'Mechs and ships are, I'm surprised things fell apart as far as you described."

"The factories weren't as durable," Hanse told him. "And someone kept assassinating the people with the skills to repair them."

"Now, you see, this is why I don't want to start assassinating people. You never know where when we might need them – you said yourself that this Blake character was vital in rebuilding the HPG networks after the coup. If we can't manage to avoid that then he's going to be needed. Killing him would be disruptive."

"And I yield the point, but his successor didn't do anything like that."

"I'm not having someone arrange a traffic accident for a ten year old, Hanse."

"He'd be eleven now. Alright, not the point, I know. But ComStar's scheming killed tens of thousands directly and probably millions indirectly. I spent years rooting their spies out. Trust me, you don't want to get them entrenched again."

"It won't be a factor unless the League fails," John said heavily. "If it comes to that, I promise I'll take steps to make sure they can't do what you describe."

"I'll hold you to that."

John relaxed. There were some points that he wished Hanse would stop pressing him on, but just as the other man couldn't make him do anything, there was nothing John could do to shut him up. "There's been at least a little progress – Richard hasn't stopped the Star League Council from meeting the way you described, and Francesca tells me we're compiling a good case to show that the Periphery are receiving shipments of military hardware from sources deep inside the Hegemony. Nothing's pointing at Amaris yet but at least we can show that as many are going to the Rim Worlds Republic as they are to the other territorial states."

"That could useful," the redhead agreed. "It might be enough to persuade Richard that the SLDF should send troops back to the Republic. Even if Amaris claims to be a loyal, the Reunification War is evidence that the Rim can be a nest of anti-League sentiment whatever House Amaris has to say."

"I'm not sure the Commanding General would thank us for adding another battle-front to his operations, but better to be aware of the threat. If MIIO can add it all together than I'll see if I can make the case then."

Hanse rubbed his hands across his face. "You're right that things are changing. Barbara Liao never appointed Marshals in my history, so maybe things might not go the way they did in my history. I'm not confident that we can avert the fall of the Star League, but at least there might be a chance."

.o0O0o.

Avalon City, New Avalon

Crucis March, Federated Suns

5 January 2764

"Where did this information come from?" Green-Davion asked, looking at the data on the command centre's main display. It was the last meeting before the Chief of Operations departed for the extended vacation on his new estate in the Draconis March and while this wasn't exactly a crisis, it was probably another headache he didn't need.

"The Ministry of Intelligence put it together based on information from several sources," Pond explained. "Without going into detail about where some of our people have managed to penetrate DCMS security I can't say more, but I'm confident that the data is genuine."

"It's good to know that we're not the only ones finding it hard to fill officer command slots," said Eis Moscoe. "This seems a little radical though."

John snuck a look at Hanse who shook his head. "They didn't do this in my history."

"It could also be a response to our decision to improve the coordination of our forces above the regimental level," he pointed out.

"Or just taking their obsession with the number five to new heights." Moscoe rubbed his chin. "This will play hell with their transport arrangements."

Whatever the reason behind it, the DCMS had decided to reorganise their forces across the board. Where they'd previously operated more or less along the same general pattern as the SLDF, with lances, companies and battalions the 'new model' that Minoru Kurita had apparently approved on behalf of his father cut the number of command slots, and thus the number of officers needed for a regiment.

Previously a regiment would require three battalion commanders, nine company commanders and eighteen additional lance commanders. In the future, the regiments would be divided into five companies of twenty-five 'Mechs, vehicles or infantry platoons. That cut the demand for officers by sixteen percent, particularly in the field-grade ranks. Academies could increase the number of lance commanders comparatively rapidly, even if AFFS policy was to give graduates at least a few months experience in the field before actually promoting them to officers. Company and battalion commanders were harder to come by though.

"It's going to cut into the rate of advancement for their junior officers though," observed Manabe. "In the long run that could cause some dissatisfaction."

"House Kurita have never been afraid to pit their officers against each other." Pond folded his arms. "Rather than blaming their leaders for removing the middling command slots, the junior officers will turn on each other to compete for promotion. And they'll be highly motivated to make names for themselves in order to receive promotions."

Green-Davion swiped through the data. "I'm more concerned about the fact they're forming permanent Divisions. The changes we've been making to improve our coordination was to prepare us to face conflicts with the other house armies. Particularly the DCMS. We have to face the facts that they're working to retain the edge they had over us thirty years ago."

"It'll still be a lot smaller than an SLDF division or our equivalents. Really it's more of a reinforced brigade."

John leant on the desk table. "It'll depend to some extent on how the commanders handle them. If they're planning to make heavier use of their infantry, with three of the five regiments in a division as foot soldiers that won't necessarily make a huge difference if they're focusing on manoeuvre warfare the way most conflicts were handled after the Ares Conventions were imposed. But if they're instead looking at controlling territory, the way the SLDF has to operate in the Periphery then a heavy infantry presence could be very useful for them."

The high command exchanged looked at each other.

"You think they could be gearing up for a long term offensive?" enquired Green-Davion.

The prince tilted his hand back and forth. "It's one possibility. We'll have to see how they develop the units in practise. They might simply feel that it takes a brigade of infantry to equal the effectiveness of the 'Mech regiment and the tank regiment."

"Another factor is that the Combine hasn't previously brought their armoured units together operationally. It's more common for them to use tanks as battalions rather than complete regiments. The new organisation won't really allow for that, so the DCMS armoured forces will have to develop new approaches." Eis ran his fingers back though his hair. "It's a very large step for them to take and it's going to draw a lot of attention."

"It's certainly going to be interesting to see if this means that the Lyrans and Free World will also be looking at reviewing their own command arrangements above regimental level," Pond agreed. "We haven't see that so far and the Capellans are being very cautious about exploring the idea but this raises the game considerably."

"Should we move faster with integrating our forces into divisions?" asked John. "Opinions?"

There was an uneasy silence. "As much as I think it's the right direction, we're doing well already by building up from the bottom," Green-Davion said at last. "Bringing troops together is only the first step and we need to train up the commanders and staffs to handle brigades and divisions. By the time the Combine has worked out the basic issues for this reorganisation – a year or two from now – we'll have a solid core of combined arms brigades and demi-brigades that we can begin forming divisions from with much less friction."

John nodded. "Does anyone disagree?"

"With all respect, sire, the Field Marshal is right that we're already moving ahead fairly fast. Slow and steady wins the race."

"I'm not going to bite your head off, Eis. Actually, I agree. As important as our reforms are, having the DCMS push the pace would be a mistake. Pass on a request to the Ministry of Intelligence to watch for any further information on this and any similar actions by other member-states, so we can learn from any problems that they encounter. But there's no need to change our plans at this time."

.o0O0o.

Avalon City, New Avalon

Crucis March, Federated Suns

25 April 2764

Holographic warships hung in the air in front of John's desk. "This looks like something of a budget challenge," he said thoughtfully. "You've got a very well developed plan for the cruisers, scaling up from the Congress-class frigates, but these Protector-class battleships would be larger than anything our yards have built before."

"We probably would need to rely on the new yard at Galax for this, given their experience building larger ships for the SLDF." Admiral Richardson looked apologetic. "Smaller hulls were considered, but given the Soyal and Du Shi Wang classes in service in the CCN, we simply couldn't meet the goals for a battleship that can contend within the battlecruiser weight ranges."

"I take it the drafts for battlecruisers are in the alternative proposals?"

Rike Moore, the Rear Admiral from the Navy's Design Bureau nodded. "The preliminary studies are in the appendices, sire, however…"

"However?

"However," Richardson picked up with barely a pause, "The plan we've presented is the consensus of the full board. Eight new cruisers and four battleships are what we need to keep the Navy competitive through until the end of the century."

"I see." The prince rested his fingers on the very edge of his desk. After a brief moment of thought, he shook his head. "I realise that I don't have first-hand naval experience, but I asked the board to outline options for moving forwards. If this proposal – as detailed as it may be, as solidly as you all seem to favour it – is the only one presented then the board hasn't completed the work asked of it."

He closed down the display. "What other plans were rejected in favour of this one?"

Vice Admiral Yusuke Goto stepped forwards. "If I may?" Although he'd not served aboard a ship in years, the grey-haired officer's last command had been a dropship on the frontlines of the War of Davion Succession. Thirty-one years at naval headquarters had honed his skill in the tactics and strategy of the halls of power rather than the blackness of space, but at least he'd seen action – something that many of his compatriots had not.

"Go ahead."

"Besides the proposal we have here, there was a consideration of upgrading the Congress-class ships and expanding them to provide a backbone of frigates to support our Robinson-class transports. However, we don't have the number of slips available to build them in the numbers to deal with heavy Capellan ships or to match the existing numbers of destroyers and light carriers fielded by the Combine. Once we began looking at improving the Congress-class, scaling it up to a cruiser was initially explored as the single design – for the same costs as the current proposal we calculate that fifteen cruisers could be built. However, this still wouldn't be enough for the Capellans. Finally we reviewed building a large number of corvettes on the hull of the Robinson, using civilian yards for the basic hulls so that military yards could save time only installing the armour and weapons. Commodore Jones made the excellent point that his ship took serious damage against converted merchantmen in recent operations, though, which suggests such a force would be of questionable value."

"There was…" Moore hesitated. "I don't wish to expose the Commodore to criticism."

"Well now that you've started, Admiral?"

Richardson cleared his throat. "I believe that Rike is hesitant in light of the army's suggestions that Commodore Jones is lacking in moral fibre. His recommendation was that we focus on delivering dropships and aerospace fighters to the battlespace. His view as that we should build destroyers for those warship clashes that can't be avoided and otherwise use carriers to avoid direct action."

"That… could work." Hanse moved up and perched on the desk, arms folded and eyes narrowed in thought. "Given the use of nuclear warheads for fighters… how many fighters could be carried aboard a warship?"

"Interesting." John rose. "I will defer judgement until the high command can review your position, Admirals. You've two weeks to put together presentations for all of those options, including Commodore Jones'. Since the options will be issued under the names of the entire board there's no need to worry about any blame falling upon him specifically."

"Two weeks isn't a great deal of time."

"Admiral this has been under discussion for three months. I appreciate your preference in this matter and the prospect of being able to match the Capellan battleships is very appealing but this is my decision, not yours. Since I have to justify it to the High Council, I want to be able to show them alternatives and why they've been rejected."

Goto saluted. "I understand, sire. We'll have the information for you." The old veteran knew when it was best to retreat and regroup.

"What's the bet that they canvas the High Council for support before the next meeting?" Hanse chuckled, "Appealing to their patronage and 'we have insufficient manhood' without big ships as substitutes for shiny sports cars."

John didn't think that that even deserved a response. Whatever he chose, he'd need to make sure his allies within the Council were primed. The decision made was going to cost billions of dollars either way, which made the attempt to railroad him all the more irritating.

Moore and Richardson followed Goto's example. As they left, Moore paused. "I'm sorry we misunderstood your instructions, sire. I just wanted to say… I appreciate what you're doing, fighting to get us the budget to turn the navy into a real fighting force and standing up for Jones against Perez."

"I'm glad to hear that, Rike. But give some thought to why I'm doing that. It's not for the navy, it's for what the Navy can do for the Federated Suns."

The admiral paused and then nodded. "I'll do that."

John stretched as the door closed. "What happened at Tortuga showed we need to do some things differently. We didn't expect to be facing warships, but even converted merchantmen armed with conventional weapons hurt the Markesan badly."

"It's not an area I can give a lot of advice on, other than historical records and naval history wasn't a huge priority when I was in the academy. The Clans used their warships mostly as mobile supply bases and command centres, but they didn't have any real opposition. The closest we came was one suicidal ramming by a fighter – which didn't even mission-kill the ship."

Hanse jumped off the desk. "The SLDF does about the same, right now, but they're not fighting a comparable fleet. No one's attempted unrestricted fleet actions since before the Ares Conventions were drafted early in the Age of War and the technology back then simply wasn't comparable."

"So we're going to have to write our own book," John decided. "At least we have some idea that we could have to fight, that's more than the other fleets do."

"Which way are you leaning?"

"The first plan is the best prepared," the prince told him. "And since the navy likes it, I could take advantage of their appealing to the High Council and get it approved more easily than the alternatives." He hesitated and then added: "But from what you said about the attrition warships suffered in the Succession Wars, something that relies more on fighter wings for damage might survive longer if it comes to war."

.o0O0o.

Avalon City, New Avalon

Crucis March, Federated Suns

11 May 2764

"I appreciate your position, Admiral Richardson, but while the majority of the naval board may favour building battleships, you're the only member of the High Command who feels that way."

"Respectfully, sire, I'm also the only naval officer on the High Command."

"That's true, but you've also failed to persuade the finance committee. You provided a very detailed proposal for paying for the twelve warships in your plan, but Commodore Jones managed to compete with a proposal to not only build six fleet carriers and six new destroyers in the next ten years, but also to refit twenty-six of our existing warships to the same standard… and still came in at only ninety percent of the cost."

"Your highness, do I have permission to speak freely."

John looked at him and then nodded. "I don't record private meetings, Admiral. Whatever you say is off the record and between the two of us."

"Sir, the Jones plan will leave the navy with a capital force whose only solution to a battle will be to run away and hope that their aerospace wings can save the day. The Soyal-class can smash a New Syrtis-class carrier with two square hits of its spinal gun. Maybe three, allowing for the improved protection Jones has called for."

"And how many shots could your battleship have taken? Five, six?" John leant back in his chair. "What decided me, Admiral – and the argument that I'll take to the High Council – is that while we'd need to replace a defeated ship in either case, a victorious battleship would need dockyard work because it would still have taken damage. A carrier that's avoided taking direct fire would simply need a replacement aerospace wing and it could be back in action without time for repairs, or even to return to a shipyard."

"If it wins, sire. If it wins." Richardson gathered himself. "I recommend against this in the strongest possible terms. If you go with Jones' plan… I don't feel I can be responsible for naval operations in that case."

"That's a very strong statement to make, Admiral. You would be difficult to replace."

"I know sir, but if we're to be a fighting navy then I firmly believe this isn't the path we should be taking."

"I see." The prince rose and walked to the window. "I appreciate your forthrightness. I'm not a naval officer myself but I have looked at the history of our service. You'll recall that of the two classes of capital ship the FSN has fielded in the past, the Defender-class of battlecruiser wasn't particularly successful while the New Syrtis-class have performed superbly."

Richardson set his jaw. "The New Syrtis fills its role, sir. As an escort for transports. I thought you wanted a fighting navy."

"Alright. If that's your final word, Admiral then I've no choice to accept it."

The admiral paused. "Sire?"

"I'll advise Field Marshal Green-Davion to expect your resignation when he returns from New Syrtis. I hope you'll remain until then so we can find a replacement."

In the window's reflection, John could see Richardson's face pale.

"You've given many years of service, Admiral. If, as you say, you don't feel that you can continue to operate in naval operations while we follow this course of action, then all I can do is to offer my sincere thanks for everything you've done to bring us this far."

"I…"

"I don't think there's anything more to say." Not to say, at least but John let his face show for a moment his anger at the Admiral's attempt to bully him into changing his decision. "Goodbye, Admiral Richardson."

He walked the man to the door and closed it firmly behind his guest. "Dammit, Hanse. Did you ever have to deal with someone trying that sort of trick on you?"

"Once or twice when I was younger. You did a pretty good job of shutting him down. Once word gets around, they'll be more cautious."

"It's a new experience for me. The closest was Eric Bond, when I set up the Ministry of Intelligence, but he genuinely thought he was in the wrong and being punished."

"There's always pushback when major changes are being made." Hanse reached into the fruit bowl and scowled as he failed to pick one up.

"Do you even get hungry?"

"That's not the point. He might not have been so reckless if he knew that the delegates from Delavan and Layover had agreed to support the Jones plan rather than voting for the battleships, but it's better to move him out now and set an example."

"Well that was simple logic. Building warships is a great profit per unit, but aerospace fighters are a more sustainable source of income. It's fortunate that we optioned licenses from Wangker Aerospace back during the Reunification War even if we never utilised them at the time. I doubt Barbara Liao would have agreed to them now."

"She'll likely challenge the arrangement now," warned Hanse. "If she takes it to the courts, Richard Cameron could take her side."

"You're the one who said we needed those fighter designs. With Dynamico, Sacrado and Salvatore all adding aerospace manufacture to their dropship lines we'll be in a much stronger position."

The redheaded man looked at John and then smiled. "You have something in mind, don't you?"

"We might not be able to pin the arms purchases to Amaris but Reznick has been able to identify some of his cut-outs. Each of the three firms has approached one of those agents as possibly customers for the fighters. If Amaris wants to use those factories' output for his plan, he'll keep Richard from interfering."

Hanse's laughter filled the room.

.o0O0o.

Sidebar: The Age of War

"Let he who desires peace, prepare for war."

Although military conflicts on some levels had been ongoing since the Outer Reaches Rebellion of 2236, the First Andurien War of 2398-2404 is generally held to be the start of a new era of interstellar conflicts. Eight of the ten states that would later make up the Star League had come into being by the mid-twenty-fourth century, with the six great Houses of the Inner Sphere gobbling up smaller rivals until their borders were now pressed against each other.

Smaller states continued to exist along the periphery but their conquest was no longer the focus of attention. Starting from 2398 all six Great Houses shifted to a new mode of strategic thinking. It was no longer possible to consider conquering their rivals outright – all six were of sufficient size and power that this was logistically untenable given the economics of the time. Since each state bordered at least three rivals, it was unfeasible to divert enough resources to one front to attain ultimate victory without exposing yourself on two more.

Instead wars were fought cautiously and for limited goals felt to be attainable. Only through a succession of such campaigns could great progress be made, but the breaks between campaigns to consolidate would inevitably allow the defender to regroup. Exacerbating this were the Ares Conventions, which succeeded brilliantly in preserving the infrastructure of still fledgling economies and populations but legitimised war as a method of addressing conflicts of interest. Borders fluctuated rapidly but even internal turmoil such as the Dark Years of the Commonwealth (2467-2504) and Davion Civil War (2525-2540) didn't inflict long-term harm upon the states, any more than military advances such as the BattleMech provided long-term domination.

The Age of War was therefore an age of deadlock, a 'golden age of chivalry' that Ian Cameron decried as pointless and futile bloodshed as he worked to establish the Star League as a viable alternative. He was right that warfare had accomplished very little during the previous century and a half – all three Andurien Wars had ended with more or less identical disposition of the worlds in question, and the only realms to vanish from the maps during this era were the result of diplomacy, with Rasalhague formally throwing its support behind the revived Kurita dynasty in 2510 and the United Hindu Collective allying with the triumphant Alexander Davion in 2540.

While the border worlds were shaken and dissidents from these regions were directly responsible for the creation of the last two major states within the Periphery (the Magistracy of Canopus founded by a renegade Andurien Mechwarrior and the Outworlds Alliance by a retired Federated Suns admiral respectively), the core worlds of each major state had settled into recognisable and cohesive national identities.

As the Star League was formed, economies struggled to adapt and discharged soldiers looked for places to turn. It was as much a nostalgia for the old certainties of conflict as Periphery recalcitrance that led to Cameron's new Age of Peace sparking war on a scale never before seen in human history.