Chapter 18
Castle Davion, New Avalon
Crucis March, Federated Commonwealth
6 December 3055
Helen Trempeleau had eyes that Kate recognised, the eyes of someone who was driven. Almost fanatical.
The younger woman had chosen to meet her on one of the balconies overlooking the mountains behind Castle Davion rather than her office. It was cold today, but the weather was crisp rather than damp, and Kate wasn't short of warm clothing.
"Your highness," the Marquessa of Filtvet said stiffly.
Kate smiled warmly, hoping to melt some of the ice. "Your grace. Welcome back to New Avalon."
"It's a beautiful world." Trempeleau walked to the edge of the balcony and indicated the view. "There are many views like this on worlds along the Outback. But if we were looking south…"
"Not so many cities to rival Avalon City."
"No." The older woman rested her hands on the rail. "Once, New Avalon was no richer than Filtvet, but it has grown into a rival for Terra itself… something fuelled by the Federated Suns. I've spent my life trying to get return on that investment for my people."
Kate nodded. "My father recognised that, granting you the title of Marquessa provisionally." She pulled an archaic scroll from one pocket, a red ribbon securing it. "He always planned to make that permanent and my brother has asked me to confirm it on his behalf. Your title to Filtvet is hereby entailed to you and your heirs, in token of the herculean efforts you have made, and are continuing to make, on behalf of the people of the Federated Commonwealth."
"I am not ungrateful." Trempeleau accepted the scroll. "But this is not my reason for doing what I do."
"Of course not. I've had cause to learn the difference between those seeking power for their own aggrandization and those who want the tools to serve our people. I know what side of that line you stand."
The marquessa bowed her head slightly. "And I believe I can say the same of you. But if this," she waved the scroll lightly, "was all that you wished to deliver then it could have been done in one of your open court sessions. I surmise that you have more in mind?"
Kate nodded. "Jeffrey Calderon's ascension to lead the Taurian Concordat raises the possibility of lower tensions in that part of the border regions. Together with the industrial developments on June, systems in that area are at least showing some fledgling signs of progress."
"I can't deny that, although you understand that I hope for much more."
"It's twelve months since the attack on Bryceland," the Archon-Prince's sister said quietly.
Trempeleau tilted her head at the change of subject. "Yes, I remember the attack there."
"We have had reports now that Fuchida's Fusiliers have set up base on Tortuga," Kate continued. "That leaves them in striking distance of much of our border, particularly the Broken Wheel combat region." Which was home to, among other things, Trempeleau's homeworld of Filtvet.
She saw the older woman's knuckles whiten around the scroll. "You know what that means."
"Raids that steal the resources and the people needed to build the prosperity that you've been working towards."
"Your father should never have pulled the garrison from Tortuga."
"He had few good choices," Kate pointed out. "Trevaline remains imprisoned and as disgusting as the pirates there are, they are not an existential threat to the entire Commonwealth." Unlike the Clans. "But I am a firm believer in the principle of putting out fires before they become conflagrations."
"Trevaline should have been hung. Would have been, if she had faced trial on one of the worlds she preyed upon."
Kate shrugged. "Probably, yes. But tampering with the courts' decisions is something that should never be done lightly. Tyranny has begun with smaller steps than that. She remains imprisoned, and now we have the Fusiliers to deal with. Marshal Davion has agreed that under the circumstances we should prioritize re-establishing the Broken Wheel Crucis March Militia but that will still take at least another year."
"In that time… two raids at least, maybe more. There were already pirates on Tortuga, they have been moving back since the AFFC left," Trempeleau reminded her. "The Fusiliers will be the largest and best organized, but that is all." Then she shook her head. "I think you have another plan in mind."
"And you are correct, but I cannot do this alone." Kate folded her arms. "I have agreements in place that would provide us a small task force that should be enough to invade Tortuga and burn out the pirates there again - ideally catching the Fusiliers or at least destroying their support base."
"That would be wonderful. I suppose holding it would be too much."
The princess nodded in agreement. "Unfortunately, yes. Many of those sent will be cadets, backed up by mercenaries and a mixed brigade drawn from New Avalon's own garrison. There is a relatively short interval before they are needed elsewhere - mercenaries will be supplementing the Broken Wheel CMM until its own 'mech regiment is ready to be deployed, for example."
"Who are you hiring?" asked Trempeleau.
"Wolverton's Highlanders."
"I've never heard of them,."
"They are a relatively recently formed unit." And one of the reasons they were interested in the contract Kate had offered was that it gave them the chance to get their forces used to working together against pirates rather than being thrown up against the Clans. "Some of their officers have clashed with the Fusiliers previously, so it is unlikely that they can be convinced to defect in the same way."
"That was my main concern," Trempeleau agreed honestly. "It would be a disaster if they turned their coats and the cadets found themselves caught between two forces. I assume from your earlier remarks that you intend to send the First Albion Training Cadre?"
"Yes. They and the Highlanders are fairly lightly equipped, but the Fusiliers will be badly outnumbered. We'll be relying on armor for heavy firepower… assuming we can reach Tortuga in the first place."
"Is that where I come in?"
Kate nodded. "The AFFC can free up the combat units… but jumpships are another matter and we'll need more than a dozen dropships for this operation. I understand that you have extensive contacts with free traders across the outback. Do you think you can assemble enough vessels to transport them to Tortuga and back?"
The marquessa frowned in thought. "It would be costly. Not just in paying them, many of them are handling important cargo routes that sustain the local economies. I can see that preventing raids would offset that, but it will take more than throwing C-bills at the problem."
She said nothing, watching as the older woman considered the problem.
"How many dropships are we talking exactly?" Trempeleau said at last.
"Fifteen." The Highlanders had five, and she had arranged a pair of Excaliburs to carry elements of the New Avalon CMM. Unfortunately there were few large dropships available for the Albion cadets, so they would need a total of eight dropships for all their equipment.
The marquessa shook her head. "I can manage a dozen, at most. I know five captains who would be willing to take this on, but that's only enough for twelve dropships. Can you not find even one?"
Kate had been afraid of that. "There's really only one option - Challenger Systems are working up an Invader-class jumpship that will be ready for its trials early next year. We can get it crewed for this, but it means this will be its shakedown voyage."
"A new vessel?"
"Salvaged," Kate admitted. The risks of using a restored Kearny-Fuchida drive were very real, but the realm needed every jumpship and breaking it down to be reforged from the start would take years. "If it's not fit then we can go in short by one battalion of cadets. It could be worse."
It would also mean one squadron less of aerospace fighters, which might be worse if the jumpships needed to be defended. One could not expect pirates to respect the treaties that protected jumpships against direct attack.
"It could always be worse," Trempeleau told her in the tone of long experience. "Alright, I will send messages. Let's scotch those bastards on Tortuga before they set the Outback on fire with their raids."
Chapter 19
The Triad, Tharkad
Donegal March, Federated Commonwealth
14 December 3055
The numbers on display looked formidable, representing battlemechs being shipped from the Suns' three Marches to supply the forces facing the Clans. The Crucis March produced the most, principally from New Avalon itself although there were outlying sites like StarCorps' factory on Crofton or the new Lycomb-Davion production from June. After that, the Capellan March's output from Kathil and Talon came a close second. The Draconis March, devastated by multiple invasions by the Combine, was a distant third - most of their factories had been wrecked and others were now ruled by House Kurita.
Enough war material to fight a small war was being shipped through the Terran corridor every year. It was unfortunate that the Clan Invasion was not a small war. Even though the truce had held so far, raiding by both sides was causing mounting losses and replacing those was using up a great deal of the new production.
Even more unfortunately, higher bars stood next to each column that represented a factory's output. Those marked what was expected to arrive. As a percentage, they weren't huge, but in aggregate there were close to two regiments of 'mechs missing.
"It's adding up to trouble," Galen agreed, looking at the display.
"Tell me something I don't know." Victor banished the holo display. "Someone is costing us equipment we need."
"What does Lisa Steiner say?" his aide asked reasonably. This was a problem for Quartermaster Command, after all.
The Archon-Prince shook his head. "Her numbers back up what we are receiving. Someone is dirty, the only reason I know there's a gap is because James Sandoval was boasting about how many 'mechs were coming out of the new Clint production lines and it doesn't match what I was hearing from my cousin."
Galen nodded. "And the reason you're not putting the military police onto this?"
"It's their job to find this in the first place," snapped Victor. "They didn't find this to begin with, which means someone has compromised them as well. Right now I'm tempted to unleash the Intelligence Secretariat, but that would be almost as damaging as this is to begin with."
He took his friend's rueful look as agreement. Bringing in the intelligence services to dig into military affairs would be impossible to keep quiet. The AFFC would be demoralized, recruitment numbers would drop and that was before the Estates General reacted. Over-reacted was more likely - Victor had only had to deal with the Lyran legislature for six months now and he didn't think 'proportionate response' was in their vocabulary.
"There's basically three possibilities," Galen told him, holding up that many fingers. "They're being taken at the distribution side at this end, they're being diverted at some point in transit or finally the problem is at the factory end."
"If they're getting to this end, what would be the point of not sending them on to the units?" Victor asked what he felt was a reasonable question.
"There is a lot of demand from mercenary units for upgrade kits and new 'mech designs," Galen pointed out. "A supply officer could make enough to retire off just selling a few 'mechs. A couple of hundred 'mechs…"
"It would be noticeable if a mercenary regiments was fielding entire companies of advanced 'mechs."
"One or two would be less obvious. And then there are foreign purchasers."
The Archon-Prince grimaced. "That would be treason and I'd have no choice but to open an official investigation into Quartermaster Command."
"Unfortunately that's just as likely for any point in the supply chain," Galen admitted. "Being honest, the Draconis Combine is desperate enough for more 'mechs that they probably wouldn't look too closely at the origins. And then there are the Capellans…"
"And then there are internal buyers," Victor said, thinking of Ryan Steiner. "There are too many candidates. For that matter, with Kathy standing up additional March Militia units I can't entirely rule out the chance that someone in that program is shuffling production."
Galen chuckled. "I think new 'mechs would stand out even more in the March Militias than… actually, no. The rationalization she's pushed for is shuffling a lot of 'mechs. Frontline units in the Capellan March would be delighted to trade older designs to the Militia in exchange for more than a token share of what's being sent to the Tamar March at the moment."
Victor stood and paced across his office. "We're not going to solve this here," he admitted. "But there are too many places where this has to be going on. Finding the destination of these 'mechs might be a better way."
"I don't think you should cut across the chain of command," his friend warned.
"Nondi is already asking to resign. She has nothing to lose by going public if she thinks I'm targeting her children," he explained. "She's loyal to her family and if I put her in the position of choosing between me and Lisa…" He crossed the office again. "If the 'mechs are ending up on the Capellan March then Morgan should be able to find out - if nothing else, his son George is on the Capellan March's command staff at the moment." Morgan Hasek-Davion himself was Duke of the March but he hadn't had a direct hand in its affairs for over a decade now.
The Leftenant General nodded. "Alright, if we're making back-channel checks then the Tenth Lyran Guards are on the frontlines. We can ask them and the Kell Hounds to check for any mercenaries with an unusual amount of advanced 'mechs. That still leaves a few possibilities though."
"Checking for foreign militaries possessing our newest designs would be something I can ask the Intelligence Secretariat to prioritize without raising suspicion." Victor felt better now that he at least had a plan that might help. "That leaves Skye…"
"At the risk of the obvious, have you considered asking Peter?"
He laughed. "Have you seen Peter trying to be subtle?" His brother seemed to have settled in reasonably well with the March Militia, once he had got over his sulk at not getting to face the Clans.
"I can't say that I have," admitted Galen.
"Nor have I."
The older man snorted. "Alright. Fair point. But we already have reason to believe Ryan is behind your mother's death. There's no reason to think he'd stop at diverting military equipment to his own purposes."
"I know," Victor agreed. "Unfortunately, even if he isn't involved then he has every reason to be watching for any investigations into his affairs." There was already suspicion that some of the Lyran intelligence assets in Skye had been subverted. It was almost twenty years since the last Skye Rebellion and both sides had learned lessons about what had and hadn't worked. If Free Skye made a second attempt, it was unlikely to end as easily.
"Do we assume that if the 'mechs aren't found somewhere else that Ryan has them? That would indicate he's both willing and ready to pull the trigger on another revolt."
He sighed. "I think so. I'll have to turn down Kathy's request that I visit New Avalon now that Tharkad is settling down. If there's rebellion in Skye then I'd have to deal with it from the Suns side of the Commonwealth and that almost ended in disaster last time."
Chapter 20
Marius, June
Crucis March, Federated Commonwealth
9 January 3056
Kate took her time greeting the crowd that was waiting for her at the space port. A line of infantry from the New Avalon CMM formed a cordon, blocking the citizens from crossing a defined line, but Katherine was able to walk along that line and shake hands that were extended past the soldiers.
By the end of it, her fingers felt like they'd been through a mangle, but she was hopeful that the event and footage from it would help to bolster loyalties. To her amusement, James Sandoval had joined her at the impromptu reception and he was massaging his hand as they entered the terminal.
"Do you ever get used to that sort of thing?" she asked.
The duke shook his hand again. "I never have, but it isn't usually an issue for me. I spend most of my time on military affairs."
"I'm sure Victor would love to do that," Kate observed and then they reached the 'real' reception party, led by Marquessa Trempeleau and the planetary governor.
"I see you travel in style," the latter greeted Kate after bowing over her much abused hand. He indicated the massive Excalibur dropships behind her. "Those might be the largest dropships we've seen in years."
"I expect that will change as industry develops here," she told him, before exchanging kisses on the cheek with Helen Trempeleau. The two Excaliburs carried the contribution of the Crucis March Militia to the upcoming operations. Once they took off from June the assumption would be that they were accompanying Kate back to New Avalon, but actually they would slip into carefully arranged free dropship collars along a trade spur to Filtvet - the rendezvous with Wolverton's Highlanders, the First Albion Training Cadre and the promised jumpships.
Sandoval drew the governor's attention - a Davion arriving on a world of the Crucis March wasn't unprecedented, although this far from New Avalon it was certainly newsworthy. A Sandoval, on the other hand, was exotic with his distinctive topknot.
"What brings you all this way?" Governor Phule asked, without prevarication.
"The princess made a good point about the vulnerability of depending on a single factory," the duke told him. "Robinson Standard Battleworks could be eradicated if the Combine made one successful raid on my homeworld. Having a secondary source of parts to support the designs we build would provide a measure of financial security for the firm - and if June is good enough for Lycomb-Davion then it may well be a good choice for my family's investments."
"I'm flattered to hear that." Phule seemed overwhelmed. "I confess, the firms that are providing components for Lycomb-Davion are already competing fiercely for skilled workers. It will take a while for us to train up enough to let them work on everything that is currently projected."
Sandoval chuckled. "It would be several years from now. We are faced with similar issues on Robinson and I would need enough staff to serve as a cadre for the workforce here."
"And that," Kate said in a quiet voice, indicating the conversation to the marquessa, "will justify increased investment from the Ministry of Education."
"Military production isn't the ideal backbone for industrial production," she replied, "But it's a start and once there is a workforce here, it will draw in other firms. Will Lycomb-Davion be continuing to expand here?"
"I hope so. The factory on New Avalon kept them afloat when their main manufacturing plant on Demeter was destroyed in the First Succession War," Kate pointed out. "It's very unlikely that anything would go wrong on New Avalon, but redundancy is always worthwhile. The design for the factory allows space for additional battlemech production and even mirroring production of the Stuka here."
"You are ambitious," Trempeleau admitted. "Then again, this is a design you developed yourself?"
"An adaptation of an existing design. There are a number of components that aren't available any more, but Lycomb-Davion used to build the Guillotine for the SLDF. Replacing the weapons with available models was relatively straightforward, but the structural members are built out of endosteel which is the big breakthrough. IMBU is the only company that still built the 'mech through the Succession Wars but we don't know if they even have the design data on the original chassis. For that matter, we found no record of a cooling system using double-heatsinks even though it must have been within their capability…" She broke off. "Sorry, I'm getting off topic."
"No, I admire your enthusiasm. Do you think you'll work on designing something from scratch?"
"I really don't have the time," Kate admitted. "I'll be serving with the AFFC through to 3058, but even after that I could be called on for visits like this as Victor's viceroy. That would be more than a little disruptive to working with a design team. And that sort of thing is a team effort, if I'd been trying to design the Guillotine's modifications myself I'd still be working on it."
The doors ahead of them parted and a small group of security men conferred with Kate's own detail before their charge entered the terminal.
"Katherine." Marie Hasek-Davion marched up and hugged her. "And Helen, it has been so long."
"Aunt Marie?" the princess exclaimed. "What…"
"I wanted to surprise you," the octogenarian Davion informed her. "I missed your birthday, but this is nearer than New Avalon."
"Seeing you is the best gift," Kate assured her.
"Well, I would have been here with the reception committee, but I don't get moving as easily as I used to."
The marquessa moved back a little but Marie pulled her close and blatantly leant upon her. "And you haven't written to me in six months, Helen."
"I sent you a letter for Christmas."
"That doesn't count." Kate's aunt leant over conspiratorially. "I used to bother Helen all the time for advice on working with the worlds along the rimward end of the Capellan March after my husband died."
"It certainly hasn't been six months, even so. And you last wrote to me in August," Trempeleau accused mildly. "Anyway, today is Princess Katherine's day."
"Well, we agree about that, anyway."
Kate took her aunt's free arm and the three women headed towards the limousines waiting for them. It would be a drive of at least an hour to the site where she was scheduled dig the first shovelful of excavations for Lycomb's main facility. Up until now, they had been working on offices and the infrastructure to support the factory but the intention was that the principal assembly for the Guillotines would be underground, in imitation of their facilities on New Avalon - both for security reasons and because it would have less impact upon the landscape of June.
Enough worlds had seen their environments laid waste by short-term industrialization to fuel the Succession Wars. One of the terms insisted on by June's government before they agreed to the purchase of the site by Lycomb-Davion that they would not be cleaning up after the firm for centuries to come.
It was a bright and sunny day. Looking back on it, Kate would mark it as the highest point of her time as viceroy.