Chapter 27 – Base Trading
10 November 3015
Zenith Jump Point, New Aragon System
Federated Suns
Rear Admiral Lucile Hasek was a member of House Hasek, albeit of a minor cadet branch with zero hope of inheriting anything of true import. She was of course a loyal member of the AFFS, albeit one whose early career had been sponsored by her head of House, George Hasek, the then Duke of New Syrtis and father of the current Duke Michael Hasek.
As such, when Lucile had received her deployment orders from the Prince Heir Hanse Davion, Michael Hasek had raged and complained that the Prince Heir was usurping Michael's role as Field Marshal of the Capellan March. On the flip side, Prince Hanse had been given command of the defense forces of the more coreward systems - "coreward" as in core of the Inner Sphere - in the Capellan March's Corward Combat Theater.
Duke Michael had tried to get get from Lucile the reasons for why Prince Hanse had issued the orders he had, but Lucile had refused to tell him. First of all, Duke Michael wasn't his father. Secondly and more pertinent, Lucile's Dropship task force wasn't attached to Duke Michael's command, but directly to Prince Hanse's. If Prince Hanse wanted to tell Duke Michael what he was doing and why, he would have told Duke Michael directly. For all Lucile knew, he had already done just that by now when the two met up on Terra for the wedding.
For now though, Lucile and her task force were waiting at New Aragon's Zenith Jump Point for a Capellan attack that Prince Hanse had only guessed was coming. In numerous other strategically important systems, other AFFS Dropship task forces were doing the exact same thing. And while they waited, Lucile was watching a live, Inner Sphere wide Comstar broadcast of Duncan Marik's and Candace Liao's wedding. Or at least as "live" as forty four minutes of light lag from New Aragon's HPG station allowed.
The ceremony had barely started on Lucile's news feed when the alarms sounded.
"Emergence signature! Many emergence signatures! Counting twenty two, no, twenty three jumpships, two of them Big Ones."
Lucile glanced at the clock, and nodded. Almost right when Prince Hanse said they would appear. And civilian Jumpships didn't make that kind of simultaneous jump unless they were supporting military operations.
"Ma'am, they're definitely Capellan."
"Detach all Dropships and start plotting an intercept course for the nearest intruder," Lucile ordered, studying the tactical display with satisfaction.
If the Capellans had shown up at the opposing Jump Point, Lucile would have had to jump across the system once she had gotten word that they had arrived. But the Capellans had arrived where Lucile's task force had been waiting for them, and that gave them the advantage.
Standard Jump Points were pure navigational convention. They were easily defined as the intersection of two very simple navigatinal references: the first being that they were outside the jump denial limit created by the local star's gravity well, and the second was that they were directly above said star's rotational poles. On an interplanetary scale, they were tiny. But that "tiny" space was still several millions of kilometers wide, and small navigational errors tended to result in jumpships appearing randomly inside that "tiny" space.
Which basically mean the Capellan Jumpships and the Dropships riding them arrived scattered all over the place, well outside of mutual support range of each other. Meanwhile, Lucile's task force had been waiting here for almost a full day and was already all concentrated together. Given that Capellan Dropship numbers only slightly outnumbered Lucille's task force, and likely a good percentage of the Capellan Dropships were troop carriers instead of assaults and monitors, Lucile's task force had a very good shot of defeating the entire Capellan force in detail with only light damage to her own task force.
If Lucile hadn't been pressed into her acceleration couch by the high gee forces of her charging Monitor, she'd be rubbing her hands together in glee as the curb stomping her people were about to hand out."
Hilton Head, Terra
Sol System
"Do you, Duncan Marik," Primus Tiepolo said, invoking a litany that was arguably as old as human civilization if not older, "take this woman Candace Liao to be your wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health from this day forward until death do you part?"
"I do," Duncan Marik pledged with all his heart as he looked into his beloved's eyes.
"And do you," Tiepolo continued "Candace Liao, take this man Duncan Marik to be your wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health from this day forward until death do you part?"
"I do," Candace Liao pledged just as sincerely, looking back at Duncan with equally intense love.
"Then by the powers vested in me by the Blessed Blakes and every god that humanity has ever worshipped," Tiepolo said, "I pronounce you husband and wife."
Zenith Jump Point, Mallory's World System
Federated Suns
"Jump complete. Jumpships and Dropships checking in. It looks like we have all of them."
"Excellent!" Cho-Sho Hohiro MaAdams of the DCMS exulted. "All Dropships detach from Jumpships and prepare for system transit."
"Cho-Sho, I am showing many more non-Combine Jumpships in the Jump Point than the expected merchant traffic!"
"All ships, battle stations!" McAdams ordered almost as a curse. It was just his bad luck that the AFFS would have a task force here waiting for him. But if he had to fight through them to...
"Cho-Sho, those other Jumpships and Dropships aren't Federated Suns! They're Capellan!"
"What?" McAdams said, surprised.
"Combine insects, go home!" a female voice ordered over the open frequency. "I am Senior Captain Amber Chin of the CCAF and we claim this system for the glory of the Capellan Confederation and the Celestial Throne!"
"The hell you will," McAdams snarled in reply over the open frequency, betraying a Christian upbringing that the DCMS High Command officially disapproved of but usually ignored. Switching back to the fleet command channel, McAdams ordered, "Dropships of the Combine, show these Liao lapdogs what true warriors are made of. ATTACK!"
Unnoticed by both sides, the rear admiral in charge of the AFFS task force that Hanse Davion had placed here noticed what was going on and halted their charge. The rear admiral then gave orders to intercept any enemy Dropship that tried to make a run for Mallory's World and then sat back to watch the show.
Zenith Jump Point, Benjamin System
Draconis Combine
The last defending Combine Dropship was blown out of space by the joint Suns and Lyran space forces that had invaded the system. AFFS space marines in power armor sent aboard the local charging station reported it captured and secured. The AFFS and LCAF forces had divided between them the other systems where the Combine's "Great Army" was massing, but Benjamin was special. It was both a district and and prefecture capital of the Draconis Combine, so theAFFS and LCAF commanders had agreed to attack it jointly despite the two forces never having worked together before.
And they arrived with far more overwhelming power than they had expected.
"Something's wrong," Kommodore Allen Dekkerson told his AFFS counterpart. He had been personally appointed by the Archon to command this mission because he knew his stuff. "This was too easy. Do you think the Dracs have already shipped out and gone on the offensive?"
"Seems likely," Admiral Wilson Sortek replied. "It'll take us weeks to get to wherever they ran off too. But the planet Benjamin is only three days away, so if there's no Great Army there to stop us, we might as well go in and break some furniture."
"And it'll be eight days before our Jumpships finishing recharging their KF Drives," Dekkerson said thoughtfully. "Hell, if Benjamin is as underdefended as I think they might be, we could be back before our Jumpships are done recharging!"
New Glasgow, Skye
Lyran Commonwealth
"What is it?" demanded Grethar Lestrade, Duke of Skye. Like everyone else in the Inner Sphere, he had been watching the live broadcast of the Liao/Marik wedding, and he didn't appreciate being interrupted by the Archon's LCAF thugs. Oh sure, Katrina was a very different Archon from Alessandro, seemingly much more competent than her uncle.
But for Lestrade's ambitions that was a bad thing. Even worse, Katrina had been stationing extra LCAF forces in the Isle of Skye, "in case the Draconis Combine attacked." That was all poppycock of course. Katrina just didn't want Lestrade to get any ideas about openly rebelling or thinking his dream of a new, independent Federation of Skye would ever be a possibility.
And now Katrina's toady, the local LCAF garrison commander and one of the Archon's handpicked favorites, was calling Lestrade despite knowing it was Lestrade's day off. Such arrogance. But Lestrade only had to put up with it only a little while longer. With all the stockpiled arms – courtesy of many prayers and charity donations to the spirit of Jerome Blake of course - and private army that he had been secretly building up under the LCAF's nose, soon he would have everything he needed to make his dream of a new independent Federation of Skye a reality.
But first, he had to put up with the Archon's toady.
"Your Grace, Jump Point Watch reports that Draconis Combine forces have seized the Zenith Jump Point and are now heading in system towards Skye. They'll be landing in a little over four days."
"Can hold them off?" Lestrade asked, all thoughts of Skye independence flying from his mind.
"Maybe for a little while, your Grace," the toady... LCAF commander replied. "We'll try our best, but it looks like the Dracs knew how many of us there are here and deployed enough forces to completely outnumber us. I'm looking at three to one odds against us at the very least. And I don't think we're going to get reinforcements soon because I'm already getting messages from other major systems in the Isle of Skye that the Dracs are hitting them too."
Three to one was the commonly accepted force ratio to guarantee a victory, and the Dracs had apparently brought that much force. As the Duke of Skye, Lestrade and his family would be among the number one targets that the Dracs were going to hunt down and eliminate in order to secure their claim on not just the planet, but the entire province. Lestrade's thoughts flashed back to his secret army and weapons stockpile, thinking that he was going to have to use them sooner than he thought he would.
Hilton Head, Terra
Sol System
The post ceremony dinner party was going well. The heads of the Successor States and their immediate families were all seated at the same table, although Candace Liao-Marik had decided to forgo using her own chair in favor of her new husband's lap. The newlyweds then took turns feeding each other morsels form their respective plates while the others at the table made polite – and sometimes barely polite – conversation with each other.
Hanse Davion made surrepticiously studied what everyone was doing and took special note of the more unusual activities. Takashi's wife, Jasmine was practically cooing over the newlyweds, making conversation with them whenever their attention drifted off each other for a moment. Little Melissa Steiner was taking in everything with wide eyed wonder and an intelligence behind her eyes that belied her youth. His brother Ian was chatting up Melissa's mother Katrina. And Romano Liao was glaring at her older sister, Candace, with ill disguised venom even as she tried to cheer her father up out of whatever funk he had fallen into.
Out of the corner of Hanse's eyes, he saw a Comstar Acolyte approach the First Circuit's table and whisper something to Primus Tiepolo. Tiepolo gave an agitated surprised start, said something to the other First Circuit members who all began to act agitated themselves. Then the entire First Circuit all stood up from their tables at once, and tried to exit the dining room in a hurry without trying to look like they were in a hurry. Or alarmed.
Well, Hanse thought. That was his cue.
"So, Max," Hanse said casually, turning to the Capellan Chancellor. "Which systems exactly did you send your troops to?"
All conversation at the table stopped dead as everyone turned to look at Hanse in surprise. He ignored them, staying focused on Maximilian Liao.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Maximilian said, surprised. His daughter Romano just glared daggers at Hanse for being so inappropriately familiar. "I mean, what ever are you talking about, Prince Hanse?"
"Oh, I just wanted to know which Federated Suns systems you were invading today, Max," Hanse said, his voice still casual as if he were discussing the latest entertainment vids or sports scores. "I wanted to see if I had guessed right in deploying my forces beforehand, and I just didn't want to wait for the first reports to come in."
Maximilian didn't say anything, but he made a really interesting facial expression, as if Hanse had just staked him through the heart.
"Hanse, you think the Capellan Confederation is launching their invasion right now?" Ian asked slowly.
"Of course I did, Ian," Hanse replied, turning to his brother. "It was all in the report I handed you the night I arrived on Terra. Didn't you read it?"
"No. I've been... busy," Ian said sheepishly. "You just said it was the defensive deployment details you ordered before coming to Terra. I thought if there had been anything of immediate importance, you would have brought it up with me in conversation."
"Well I didn't because I thought I had the situation well in hand," Hanse replied. "I deployed my forces to stop any Capellan offensive cold, and if I guessed wrong which system they were attacking, those forces were well placed to provide assistance to the systems he did attack."
"Ooh, like Mallory's World?" little Melissa Steiner popped up. Everyone turned to look at her, and the five year old girl fidgeted in her seat. "Mallory's World has been fought over by the Capellan Confederation as well as the Federated Suns, and the Draconis Combine," Melissa explained self consciously. "If the Capellans are attacking the Suns in lots of places, Mallory's World looks like a logical place for them to go."
"Why, yes, Your Highness," Hanse replied impressed. "I did think the Capellans would attack there and I did place a blocking force there."
"Excuse me," Takashi Kurita said suddenly as he stood up to leave. "I must go check my messages."
"Wait wait wait," Katrina broke in, as Takashi turned and walked expeditiously for the exit. "You think the Capellan Confederation is attacking right now using the wedding as a distraction?"
"Well, of course, Archon Katrina," Hanse said confidently. "Attack while your entire enemy leadership is distracted by the wedding? It's the most obvious move in the galaxy to pull." He looked around the table and noticed the expressions that all of the heads of states were making and came to a realization. "You all did the same thing too, didn't you?"
"I think I need to check my messages too," Katrina said quickly, standing up as well. "Melissa, enjoy your dinner. I'll be right back." Katrina hurried for the exit.
"Dammit," Ian said, getting up. He placed a hand on Hanse's shoulder as he turned to go. "Sorry about that. I really should have read your report." And then Ian too was gone.
"Children, come!" Maximilian barked as he got to his feet. "We must save our people!" Obediently Romano and Tormano got up as well. Candace tried to, but Duncan retained his arm around her and refused to let her rise.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Chancellor," Duncan apologized, not sounding sorry at all. "But if you'll recall, Candace will be unavailable to you for the next week or so." He put his other arm around Candace and hugged her closer. "I believe that she has new duties that need more immediate attention, shall we say?"
Candace just looked helplessly back at her father.
Maximilian just stared back for a moment, his face so filled with fury that for a moment, Hanse thought he was going to have a stroke then and there. Instead, Maximilian just nodded with a snarl of wordless acceptance and stormed off, his other two children following in his wake.
The people remaining at the table were silent for a long moment before little Melissa turned to Duncan.
"Don't you have messages to check too?" Melissa asked Duncan innocently.
"Nope," Duncan replied. "I didn't tell anyone to attack anyone on my wedding day." He gently kissed his now dejected wife on the cheek. "And I am so thankful that my wife saw fit not to place any of my people in the line of fire today."
"Don't thank me, Duncan," Candace sighed sadly as she rested her head on his shoulder. "All of our planners and operational commanders wanted the glory of conquest to themselves and didn't want to share even with your Jumpship crews. Father concurred with them. That complicated the planning sooo much."
"Then I'm glad you're such a dutiful daughter to your father," Duncan told her with a reassuring kiss.
Another awkward silence descended upon the table as the remaining people at the table resumed eating their dinners in silence.
"So," Jasmine Kurita said suddenly to the newlyweds. "Have you two picked out possible names for your children yet?"
Fort Freezerburn, Kobe
Lyran Commonwealth
"Heads up, everyone," Major Joshua Wolf announced to the Dragoons' senior leadership. "The Athena reports a Draconis Combine task force inbound. They estimate it to be at about six regiments' worth of strength."
"Is that before or after accounting for their 'training cadres'?" asked Colonel Jeremy Ellman, commander of Beta Regiment.
"After," Joshua replied.
"Ugh, another penny ante raid?" Natasha complained. If Beta and Delta Regiments hadn't just returned to Kobe, this might have been an interesting fight. As it was, only Epsilon Regiment was still out. The only thing that would even make this fight vaguely interesting was that most of the heavy Lyran units had been pulled out a few months ago and deployed elsewhere, leaving only a few light companies to assist the Dragoons in holding Kobe. "When are we going to see some real action?"