Palace Gardens, Sian
Sian Communality, Capellan Confederation
5. January 3027
It was a beautiful, if too warm day for the season on Sian, when Duchess Candace Liao, heir-apparent of the Confederation, and Lyran Ambassador McKendrik walked leisurely the spacious lanes. After some small-talk and minor political topics they got to the heart of the visit.
The ambassador, clothed in actual Sian fashion and able to converse in a slightly accented, but upper-class Mandarin did not in the least stuck out of the scenery.
"Your Grace, with what can I be of help?"
Candace Liao, a very comely East-Asian, was dressed courtly as well, but with a bit more private note. The Duchess of St. Ives had a fable for leather and it showed decently.
"Ambassador, roughly seven years ago, your Archon sent out a peace proposal, which was not handled properly by our government, I regret to say. Before you speak, I know that is water under the bridge, but I want to ascertain if the Archon would be willing to negotiate about that again in the future."
If McKendrik was surprised by the candidness of the Duchess statement, he hid it well.
"The Archon and our people are in favour of ending the hostilities which brought humanity down from the heights of the Star League into the messed up state we are in now. So Archon Steiner is willing to at least hear out the positions of the other Great Houses. More I cannot commit to, but since you obviously want an open answer to your open question, your Grace... May I say, that I have been to the Confederation for quite some time and I know that there has to be more to your question.
Might it be, that someday in the future, when you are the chancellor, Capella would try for more than just the end of warfare between our nations?"
"As you know as well, Ambassador, your peace treaty with the Combine led to the alliance of the Capellan arch-enemies and it is just the possibility of your and the Dragon´s forces knocking on their coreward doors, that keeps Atreus and New Avalon from attacking us. For now! Some in our government, any expert on the Confederation can see that so it is not a really well-kept secret, have problems to see the situation as it is.
They still believe in the automatisms of the last centuries, which as you stated, brought all of the Inner Sphere into the current situation, but kept some sort of stalemate on all fronts. Your nations´ treaty with the Dragon has changed things. Willingly or not, you raised the threat level for the Confederation."
McKendrik started to say something, but Candace Liao raised a hand.
"Let me finish first, Ambassador. I don´t pretend that the Lyran Commonwealth at large does give 'a Damn' about us, we seldom fight each other, are culturally different and live in different regions of the Sphere, so we have few contact. The End of the Confederation would inconvenience your merchants and industry for a time, but not much more.
What would be very inconvenient is our industries in the hand of Janos Marik and Hanse Davion. At the moment, even if Commonwealth and Combine are not allied, you two out produce the League and Suns. To be blunt, should we fall, you would need to ally, if you are able to considering the history between your nations, since with our industry added, the Fox and Janos could reach production parity or a slight plus.
Or we could ally with our enemies. It would be messy, but the Mariks hate you more than us and the Davions might hate us more than the Dracs, but they fear their potential. It would work somehow and 'you would look into the oven', if I´m correct on that German saying.
But before you think I try to blackmail you, I realise some basic facts about the current situation and what can and cannot be done.
So, Ambassador, what would the Archon think about sending some substantial Mercenary troops to St. Ives and the Confederation on her expense? In exchange for not allying with your enemies? And the goodwill of the future Chancellor?
My father and my sister play with the thought to ally with at least one of your less favoured neighbours. I? I want the Confederation to live, even if all other Houses would not lose sleep, if we were no more."
160 km outside of Maria´s Elegy, Hesperus II
Rahneshire, Lyran Commonwealth
11. January 3027
"Lieutenant, time is of essence, so 'floor the speed pedal' and go to the landing zone of the Chasseurs, there is a last dropship waiting for us. If we are not there in 2 hours, they have to start or the air defence will surely get them. My Mech is still combat worthy, so you go first, I will hold them off."
"But, Sir-"
"No buts, our BattleROMs are more important than us. With my fused hip I cannot run fast enough and the Elsies are too near. New Avalon has to get the information we found. Go now!"
"Sir, Good Luck and kick those damn Elsie butts hard. Sir!" Then Lieutenant Peter Collins´ Assassin broke off into a run. Both men knew that the remaining Battlemaster and it´s pilot would not leave Hesperus. It was either POW or death for Field Marshal Ran Felsner.
After looking at his sensors, Felsner knew he had 1 or two minutes for himself, before his Lyran pursuers would reach him.
This damn planet! The damn Elsies! Where had they erred in planning? It had begun positive, this attack on Hesperus. Coming out the L1 Lagrange Point and splitting the Dropships of in 4 vectors to confuse the air defence had functioned as imagined. Having spent much time in planning, 3 Dropship groups converged again short before the landing, while his personal group would land, where no attacker had landed before. For some unknown reason, no forces before had used the vicinity of Doering Electronics as a staging ground. Maybe it was because of Defiance Industries overshadowing everything else on the planet.
Spy reports stated, that there was a small detachment of the 6. Lyran Guards and normally 1 military and several civilian Dropships, bringing or loading goods or freshly finished Mechs there. During their approach, Ran Felsner was kept informed about the main group. The 17. Skye Rangers confused the defenders with a story about playing a Davion attack force to find and mark or weed out good landing areas for a surprise attack so defending would become easier, "well knowing that even an alarm start would not contest the landing" and that the Sixth could get more information by contacting the Duke of Summer or Colonel Enders, the proxy of the Generals Byas and Welden.
In the military headquarter of Hesperus II, Leutnant-General Daniel Voss-Steiner of the Sixth Lyran Guards had a niggling feeling. On the surface, the story of the Skye Rangers looked good and Colonel Enders had answered his priority call. The Duke had the power to order an operation like this, especially since the Combine border did not have to be watched much and so more units were available for other things.
Maybe it was just his personal dislike of the, in his opinion, barely loyal Skye Rangers and Duke Lestrade, why there was still a seed of doubt in his brain. As fast as the tensions with the Dracs had been easing, the seditious agitations in the Skye Federation had risen.
Voss-Steiner trusted his feelings, they had saved him more than once in the field, but to be sure he was not getting paranoid, he consulted the other commanders present. Beside himself with his "Saucy Sixth", there was Colonel Rafferty-Jefferson from the 15. Guards, the other stationed Mechregiment here. As were the 3. Lyran Guards under now Leutnant-General Koch (he had been persuaded to stay in the LCAF for 3 more years), on Hesperus once again for help with the "Helm Library" research. As the principal finders they knew a bit more.
The last unit here was the one Daniel still had some problems with. Despite the relations becoming more amiable with each passing month of peace, it was still a weird feeling to have
the 5. Sword of Light on Hesperus without blowing each other to bits.
The "Sword" could be an ace unknown to the attackers. The Kuritas had made planet-fall 2 days earlier to take over some new Mechs, repair and maintenance of their old machines (relishing the chance to use the biggest Mechfactory in the Sphere for it) and bringing some Combine experts on the Helm Library research for a brainstorming only possible on site.
Daniel Voss-Steiner allowed himself a grin, he doubted that General Palmer Conti would "waste" the chance to join the fight against the Feddies, if his gut feeling was right. Unfortunately for his peace of mind, Koch, Rafferty and Conti thought the same. While it still could be true, all 4 doubted the story given. Later the four officers would state that if there would not have been so much agitation in Skye since 3023, they might have bought it.
Alarm had been given. Since secrecy had to be maintained, Daniel decided on the spot that the 6. and the "Gold Dragon" would hunt down the traitorous Skye Rangers. Any reports and stories from them would be dismissed as fictional after the battle.
All looked well, until Field Marshal Felsner´s Drop group came into range of Doering. The landing was supposed to be made a bit outside the corporate-owned spaceport, due to the estimated defence onsite. During the landing they saw 5 military Dropships and 6 civilian ones.
"Five! This has to be a chance encounter, since the Dropships stand too close to each other for a combat preparation and the defenders still believe the story the Skye Rangers fabricated, all runs well with the other group. We have to overrun this spaceport soon and fast."
Ran Felsner first thought about the mission becoming a failure was when he and his RCT advanced on the Doering Spaceport. He couldn´t believe his eyes when he saw several red Mechs, some ready to be loaded and others given the final OK from maintenance workers, being there. As a veteran Mechwarrior he knew the colours and heraldry by heart. Sword of Light Mechs!
The implications of this were staggering. Not the fact they were here and would fight against him, no, the political dimensions of this. For years now in public Combine and Commonwealth seemed simply at peace, with most factions taking this as a sign of exhaustion. There were rumours, but nothing substantial that there was more going on in the realms under the mailed Fist and the Dragon. This here was proof that the rumours were true. The relations between Tharkad and Luthien had to be a lot better than thought, if a DCMS unit could get maintenance on a Lyran world!
One point during the planning of the invasion of Hesperus which the AFFS commanders had spent a lot time on to come to terms with was the nature of the planet. It had been clear from the onset, that both attack groups would only have sporadic contact until meeting close to the Defiance factory, the landscape interdicting long and medium range radio often.
Not that both commanders wanted to talk to each other often outside military context. Stephen Davion made no mystery of his opinion concerning Ran Felsner. He couldn´t stand the other Field Marshal, but their professionalism kept it in check most times. Still, radio contact was important and for now, Felsner and his RCT could not contact neither his Dropships nor Davion´s force, Doering´s surrounding nature prohibited it. The Field Marshal did not doubt that the Lyrans had found a way to stay in contact with each other on wider spaces of the planet, but he had not that luxury.
For a moment, Felsner returned into the present, when the scanners beeped, informing him on movement in his rear arc. He tried to find more cover, the longer his Mech stayed active, the more time Collins had to reach the Dropships. Ran´s thoughts drifted again, since the Lyrans would take a bit longer to reach combat range now.
Felsner was no coward, but he could not stop some stray thoughts about his fate. Even if he survived and would be ransomed later, what would await him home with such a loss? He had last contact with Davion 16 hours before and his tale was nearly as grim as his. In the beginning al went well, the RCT tactic showing it´s highlights once again. Davion had thought that it would be cakewalk, since surprise had been theirs it seemed.
But then the Lyrans counterattacked with more forces than thought to be on planet and used the damnable nature of Hesperus to great effect. Davion had retreated after two days with heavy losses, which would have been greater if not for his decision to sacrifice the Skye Rangers. The Lyrans were fuming because of the treason and had concentrated on the Rangers.
"What shall I say? My Prince, Colonel Stephenson from the 2. New Ivaarsen is dead, our units, while giving out large amounts of damage, incurred between 20-58% losses due to the enemy and the inhospitable nature and by the way, could you inform Spymaster Allard that his son is either dead or POW? Yes, this would function so well..."
The Field Marshal had come to the conclusion after the days there, that Hesperus was nearly the perfect fortress for Defiance Industries. The plan had been sound, the additional troops present was bad luck, but now he knew since the FedSuns had had few fights with the Lyrans for centuries, they had underestimated the added bonus of the natural defences the mountainous planet and his climate gave, too self-assuredly disregarding Duke Lestrade´s hints into that direction.
Stephen Davion´s units paid for it. The prime example was the 1. Guards RCT´s loss of nearly a full Mechbattalion and the whole infantry when they tried to use a mistake of the 3. Lyran Guards by encircling them by passing through one of the lowland forests. Davion found out too late, that the "mistake" had been a trap laid by the Eversworded Third. Hesperus´ climate showed severe differences based on locality. The forest part the First went through was known on the Lyran side as one of the most treacherous pieces of Hesperus despite appearance and no Steiner would make the mistake to go in there willingly. The last exploration group into that forest was "overdue" for 90 years.
While Ran doubted he would have made the same mistake there as the reckless Stephen Davion did, he was sure that Hesperus could only be taken by a very large force, the Steiners were too entrenched otherwise.
But that would be for another Mechwarrior to do, since his last deed for House Davion for a long time or ever would be ensuring the proof for a Steiner-Kurita Cooperation got to New Avalon. His last thoughts before firing his PPC the first time in his last battle as Field Marshal of the Brigade of Guards were about if Collins would reach the Dropship and escape and his hope to see Lady Cordelia Spencer one day again.
Franchelco, Dromini VI
Draconis Combine, Kessel Prefecture
18. January 3027
The men and the few women present in the luxurious flat at the city border of Dromini´s capital were masked and called each other only by codenames. The so-called "Council of Gems" formed the leadership of the Kokuryu-kai, the Black Dragon Society.
The group formed 3023 as the self-proclaimed saviours of the "real" Combine after seeing the step-by-step reforms of Kuritan society and the growing cooperation with the Lyrans. Or potential cooperation with any other Great House.
Especially in the beginning year of the society there had been a major influx of like-minded people from all ways of life in the Combine, but mainly upper class citizen fearful of the imagined loss of status and power. But 4 years later the Black Dragon had trouble to get out of the hatchling state. Neither Luthien nor Tharkad would ever find out that one of the greatest problems they would encounter more than once, could have been worse had it not for the deft approach on societal changes, careful cooperation and a string of events, which were a setback for the Kokuryu-kai.
"Where is Ruby?"
"I do not think we will see him again in-"
"What by the scales of the Dragon do you mean, Sapphire?"
"He was never in our group out of idealism, just for prestige, power and riches. Ever since the pale imitation of a Coordinator opened the gates for the Elsie merchants, his possessions had been in the thick of trading with them. Sitting close to the border, he is in a good position and his Behemoth dropship is on trade and delivery runs round the clock.
Ricol, 'Ruby', wanted Takashi gone because he saw him as a hindrance to a more influential position, now that the Coordinator unknowingly gave him that, Ruby is back in line with the regime on Luthien. We should 'put him away' as a security measure and reorganise before he sends the ISF on us."
"Agreed. Not that it will be easy to take him out and we already feel the loss of members and minor recruitment. Those damn Elsies! These insidious bastards have steadily gaining standing for years. Why do the people ignore the Dictum Honorium now, even the Coordinator, when it comes to these lowly traders? I doubt the Lyrans know how lucky they are. Their victory on Hesperus earlier this month seems to have convinced our 'leaders' that the Commonwealth has something resembling Samurai. Idiots! Why does the Combine not see that we are in danger of being sucked out by the greedy Lyrans? Of losing all our traditions?"
"Well, that one is easy to answer, Crystal. Because the Lyrans saved our economy. They-"
"Don´t Emerald! They just did it to bring about our downfall from the inside. Beside our Pillar of Jade was stron-"
"I do not like being of the same opinion as the Traitor on the throne on Luthien, who sells out the soul of the Dragon, but your statement about the Pillar of Jade is just wishful thinking. In my duties for the Dragon, I have access to a lot of data. Jade was falling through decades of mismanagement by earlier Coordinators."
"This cannot be, Emerald, Hohiro was -"
"Hohiro was what Claudius was to the Steiners, an incompetent sadist. I´m a patriot, I would not be here if not, but I see that fact and had to work with the consequences of Hohiro´s wrong decisions.
The years since Lyrans were allowed to trade and transport freely in the Combine have been the best in more than 7 decades for my District. Logistics flow smoothly, settled planets are fed, we get goods which have been in extremely short supply for a long time.
We even trade rather heavily with the Elsies. While they consider many of our consumer goods of debatable quality, they sell since the Lyrans see them as exotica. Corporations and private persons from the LC invest into our firms. Prefect Ichinoto, an expert for economy questions, stated to me that it functions so well because we are neighbouring nations and a general complementing nature of our economies, we have strong points where they are 'weak', they have strong points where we are weak." Emerald grinned. "Mostly the Elsies have the majority of strong points, but more important is, that they turned the direction of the Combine´s economy from going down the drain to back up towards a facsimile of the Star League times."
There where more than one raised eyebrow in the assembled group after that statement.
"Yes, it is still under wraps and I cannot say too much, least I might become recognisable to the ISF, but the Steiners shared a found SLDF cache with us roughly two years ago. Our techs and engineers are totally round the bend with the potential of that Lostech gift. So you see why the Coordinator, his policy change in regard to the Lyrans and the Elsies themselves are getting more and more popular? The people know who feeds them. So we won´t get support by challenging that bit of Takashi´s reign and we would be dumb to wish for the old times in that case."
"WHAT? You mean we should do nothing!? You are -"
"I´m a patriot, as we all are! I want a strong, divine Combine. We will not get it by destroying the Pillars of State, which would be fighting that change. As long as the Steiner do not meddle more in out realm, as much as it disgusts me, we might even have to let them be, if it strengthens the Combine. But we will not let Takashi Kurita kill the soul of the Dragon. We will wait, prepare and when he makes a mistake, we will be there to end his reign and bring about the rebirth of the Dragon."
The Captain-General´s office, Atreus
Marik Commonwealth, Free Worlds League
20. January 3027
As on many Mondays before, Janos Marik, Captain-General of the League, met with his inner circle of friends, the few really trusted persons in his life, to talk about the situation of the League and the Inner Sphere.
"I have to admit, I did not foresee such a reaction among the populace about the FedSuns attack on Hesperus."
"What do you mean, Christopher?"
"Many of us thought the failure of the Davions on Hesperus, despite inciting an uprising in the Federation of Skye, would lead to more negative feelings about the alliance with the Suns. But all sources tell us that the people of our beloved League are even more in favour of it now."
"How come?"
"As best as we know, our people would like it best, if our troops are the ones to conquer Hesperus. They know the reputation of the AFFS as the supposed premier army in the Sphere and while they like the fact that we can count on their help, it would have been a blow to their pride, if the Davions would have succeeded where all others failed before.
Now with that defeat, New Avalon will see that to bring down our foes, League and Suns have to cooperate as two equal partners in their opinion."
"Not bad, this gives us the chance to bring further initiatives about our alliance through the Parliament. This sounds better and better. I have reports on the "giddiness" of Irian, Technicron, Brigadier and other important firms. They eagerly await more raw materials from the FedSun worlds and cooperation with Davion industries like Federated-Boeing. What hampers us is the lack of a true common border, most of the deliveries from Davion Space have to come through Terra, limiting the amount. An additional hindrance is the Jumpship fleet of the Suns. It is to small to do what should be done.
Sometimes I wonder if this topic was the reason the Lyrans stopped the talks with New Avalon about peace and more trade, not the things the Davion ministry of Information spread. The Elsies would have had even longer routes with the same problems we encounter. But unlike them, we have even more construction capacity for Jumpships, so this is a temporary problem."
"Yes, but the 'common border problem' should be solved as soon as possible. I think."
"Absolutely! And I think our chances for combined attack on the bloody Cappis will still be good. The Lyrans are busy with the uprising in Skye and the aftermath, when they put it down finally."
"You don´t think the Seperatists will win? Considering that during the last offensives of the Elsies it looked like Tamarind and Stewart would soon fall and they just stopped, the Steiners look a bit exhausted, don´t you think?"
"If the Suns would have bagged Hesperus, the chances would have been good. So, I don´t think so. From what SAFE tells me, even some circles close to the separatists' cause are appalled that Lestrade made common cause with an enemy nation. This Free Skye movement will not die, the Steiners are too humane to really kill all of them, but it will get a serious setback and more negative reputation. We should give some of their leaders asylum, they might come in handy later on."
"So the Elsies are busy, but the Davions got themselves a bloody nose, how will this play in?"
"New Avalon will not jump into action right now, yes. But when we see the less than enthusiastic warfare the LC and DC exhibit at the moment, it seems not too necessary. Maybe they are really exhausted, since if we are honest, all Houses are far from their prime.
What I know from talks with Hanse, they will first hit the Combine to make them busy as well, recover some losses, then we crush the Caps together."
Honor of Skye, Skye
Isle of Skye, Lyran Commonwealth
30. March 3027
The ducal palace of Skye had been spared any damage during the "Lestrade uprising", even if some parts of the capital had suffered quite much. Margaret Aten, the duchess was a supporter of Katrina Steiner, so she had been able to gather support from the German minority on Skye and some nobles, while a majority of the nobility and British descended Skyeans had been on the separatists side. Duchess Aten had enough people on her side to dig in at the capital New Glasgow.
The first days had been the hardest, when Aldo Lestrade declared an independent Skye under his leadership. The LC loyalists had been under strong pressure in the whole of the Isle of Skye and parts of the Virginiashire. The fights which broke out, were especially fierce in systems with near parity in allegiance. Rebellious Skye Rangers and planetary militia took to the field and turned several stand-offs into victories for "Free Skye".
For a time it really looked as if Lestrade would win, especially with the help from the FedSuns and the knowledge the Loyalists could not hit too hard due to the danger of collaterals. The loyalist forces had been surprised by the violent attack. It was common knowledge that a lot of Skyeans were for an independent Skye, how unreasonable that might be considering the status of the Inner Sphere, but such a well-planed uprising was new.
The tide turned with the ejection of the invaders off Hesperus. Units earmarked for reinforcing the defence of the extremely important Mechfactory were rerouted. Added with the fact that the peace with the Combine had allowed Tharkad to concentrate more troops than was usual before the treaty at the Marik border, Steiner-loyal forces were already plentiful in the region, but with Hesperus save, they were free to stamp out the rebellion.
And these troops were truly furious. Even their hardest enemy, the Draconis Combine, had seen the light, that the endless wars could not go on any longer and made peace with the Lyran Commonwealth and now Free Skye did not only rebel, but allied themselves with House Davion. There was no doubt about the involvement of the Suns. Not only were they the main forces attacking Hesperus, but on more than one planet in the Isle of Skye, a lance here, a small battalion there, AFFS units helped Free Skye units.
But it was a double-edged sword for Lestrade. It helped him win the fights on Rigil Kentaurus for example, still there were pro-secessionist groups which saw Lestrade´s alliance with the Davions as nothing more than exchanging one unloved overlord for another and did nothing. And when the machinations of Hanse Davion in this uprising came to light, it galvanised the resistance of those who fought for remaining in the Commonwealth.
It became one of the bloodiest smash downs in the history of the Lyran Commonwealth. Fearing a negative impact on the alliance with the Kuritas and the obvious high treason of Free Skye, local LCAF commanders counterattacked with a boiling rage.
On Summer, Lestrade´s home planet, it was the worst. Castle Curitiba was razed in the fight, only the keep was left standing. On 24. February 3027 finally the last hold-outs of Aldo Lestrade´s Free Skye Federation gave up. He himself was not found anywhere and it was assumed that he fled to his "friends" Janos Marik and Hanse Davion.
Now, roughly one month later, judgement was to be brought on those rebels caught. The damages done were substantial, nothing threatening, but painful. Still the worst wound were the dead and the loss of trust. People from the Isle of Skye in special were now looked at with different eyes. There had been uprisings before, but none was on the side of an enemy House like this one was seen.
Most of the Skye Rangers were disgraced by their cooperation with Aldo Lestrade. That the Lestrade Uprising as it was now called, had been a watershed, was clear for everyone. As was the shocking verdict. All involved Skye Rangers were to be disbanded, only the men and women who stayed loyal would rebuild the Rangers in two units. One would be the 10. Skye Rangers, saved by their long history and the re-erected 2. Skye Rangers. All other existing Skye Rangers Mechregiments were permanently stricken for their dishonourable role in the uprising.
Aldo Lestrade´s line was banned from leading the Isle of Skye for two generations, turned over to Margaret Aten´s line. Lestrade himself was sentenced to death for High Treason, even if he had still to be found.
But the most important result was not anything like that. For the first time in the history of the Federation of Skye there was an internal rift opening. While in the past Skye always stood rather united and a special breed in the Commonwealth, now the Rahneshire and many worlds of the Virginiashire began to drift closer to their Lyran compatriots, seeing themselves as the real manifestation of Skye.
From the "History of the Federation of Skye - The Watershed Years 3027-3042", Commonwealth Press 3091
