OBT Forum

Government Mansion, Samantha
Taurus, Taurian Concordat
11 July 2577 (10 July 3032 local calendar)

Just over seven hundred years before, half of a North American republic had broken away from the other half over the oppressions of the federal government. They’d then had to set up their own federal government which proved not so very different in the end and still managed not to win the resulting a war.

In the hopes of following neither example, Protector Jack Calderon had arranged the conference over how to deal with the problem of the Star League and its territorial ambitions with conscious efforts to distinguish it from its enemies. As a result it was startlingly informal.

The four men and two women were occupying comfortable armchairs around a low table. Each had notepaper and other stationary to hand, a microphone discreetly placed in the ceiling to pick up what they said for the secretaries in the next room.

Other than serving staff ready with refreshments, that was all he felt they needed. Actually it was the same set up that he used for games of Dungeons and Dragons – rounding up a group of players able to regularly attend games in the Government Mansion had been difficult, but at least he could pay his own secretary a bonus to transcribe game logs into a legible form for him.

He’d have invited Savitri, who his sources had confirmed also played the game occasionally, except they’d also revealed that she preferred a later, lesser edition.

The idea of running the meeting as a relatively informal brainstorming session rather than as an exercise in diplomatic protocol seemed to have hit the right note as rather than the usual business suits and military five of them were actually dressed like relatively normal people. The only exception was Marcus O’Reilly, who wore legionnaire uniform, but had unbent enough to loosen his collar.

In comparison, Jack and Rachel had dressed down in jeans with a workshirt and sweatshirt respectively while Callum had elected to wear slacks and an almost painfully bright Hawaiian shirt. Somewhere between the two extremes were Garrick Stark and Savitri. The former assured them that his silk shirt and snug black breeches were the height of fashion back on Tortuga, while the latter had opted for an off the shoulder dress that clung to every curve she had.

“We are here to discuss war.” Jack decided to cut to the point. “It’s more than six months since we’ve, somehow, returned to this particular chapter in history. We’ve all had some form of contact with the Inner Sphere. Some was even peaceful. Does anyone believe that we can co-exist with the Star League?”

“I don’t believe so,” Garrick replied promptly. “The Pollux Proclaimation makes it pretty clear they’re not settling for less than the whole human race under their rule.”

Savitri sighed. “For various reasons, no.” Opposite her, Rachel also shook her head.

“Thus far I think the Star League barely knows I exist.” Marcus said bluntly. “That’s going to change soon though. I’ve seen armies roar out of the Inner Sphere in search of conquest before and I don’t wish to see such an invasion succeed. I ask you all is such a war winnable?”

Jack hesitated a fraction. While he had been advised, alone of the six of them he had no military experience beyond cursory training in the use of a BattleMech and a self-defense course after he was recognised as the Calderon heir and declared Protector.

“Only quickly.” Rachel’s words were clearly ones she’d long considered. “Given time they can build armies that will crush us with sheer numbers. If we’re still at war in five years then we will be losing. Even in this era, the Inner Sphere has more worlds and more people than we do. We know that they have the will to fight for twenty years so we cannot allow them to set the pace.”

Savitri nodded reluctantly. “You’re right. If we hold back on the defensive we’ll in time be worn down just as our ancestors were. We can only win by taking the fight to them.” She held up a hand before anyone else could say anything further. “We also need to look beyond the war. So the other side of your earlier question, Jack is, can we make peace with the Inner Sphere after a war?”

“Well if we beat them...” Garrick looked confused.

“I think I see where you’re going: you mean that just because the Star League is beaten doesn’t necessarily mean that the Combine will stop invading me?” asked Callum.

“Bingo. Or to give another example, take a look at the demonstrations outside. The Taurian people, or a great number of them at least, hate the Star League and what goodwill had built up of late for the Federated Suns isn’t transferring to Alexander Davion’s realm. I don’t see any viable alternative to war, but we need to figure out a strategy to end the war. It’s not as if we can occupy them.”

“We need to break up the Star League then.” Rachel leant forwards slightly. “I’ve made contact with New Avalon and I’m trying to get a feel for Alexander. The trouble is that from his point of view I’m running a breakaway province. I don’t think he’d be willing to quit the Star League even if it meant my swearing fealty. In fact, I have a suspicion that he may be looking for them to help him to conquer me.”

“Then we should hit them first.” Jack smacked his fist against the soft cushion on one arm of his chair. “We need to hit the Hegemony.”

“That’s an awfully long way. Your Admial Cain and I are looking at hitting New Samarkand, which is a bit more reachable. And there’s Sian.”

“Not Sian,” the Protector and the Magestrix both disagreed and then looked at each other. Savitri arched an eyebrow and Jack flushed slightly.

“The Capellans didn’t directly participate in the Reunification Wars,” he pointed out, “Other than donating troops to the SLDF before it began, that is. My diplomats are working to see if we can convince Chancellor Liao to throw in with us.”

“Great minds think alike and there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” Savitri admitted. “In this case, establishing a means of exporting through Capella.”

“Exporting what. Not Prolong!”

“Garrick, if the Inner Sphere were to conclude that they could only obtain Prolong and Rejuvenation from me, which isn’t quite true of course, but you get the idea, they’ll drop everything and come after me like a pack of lusty spacers.”

“That’s disgusting.” Rachel observed, waving a finger in mock reproval.

“So is politics, my dear. If, on the other hand,” Savitri continued, “they can obtain it in the Capellan Confederation and Chancellor Liao uses the Star League’s own Technology Transfer laws to maintain a monopoly then she and I will rake in rather a lot of the Inner Sphere’s available capital. Which won’t wreck their economies, but it won’t help them finance a war either. And it does provide avenues for waging peace, once that becomes a better course of action than war.”

“Trust you to make a profit.”

“Someone has to pay the bills, Protector Calderon,” she replied a little sharply. “Unless of course I’m mistaken about you wanting to borrow money to fund this war without raising your taxes?”

Stark looked at her curiously. “Wait, are you saying that you’re going to con the Star League into funding our resistance. And I get accused of being a pirate!”

“That which your predecessor did with a fleet of ships, I do with offers of near-immortality.” A smile crossed her face. “My way seems to work better than that of the late and unlamented Paula Trevaline.”

Aurochs Grand Hotel, Samantha
Taurus, Taurian Concordat
12 July 2577 (11 July 3032 local calendar)

“Did you have a good evening?” Rachel asked drily as she poured another cup of coffee, passing it across table towards Savitri.

The Magestrix accepted the cup and sipped slightly before gave it a careful look and setting it aside with a disgusted look on her face. “Not fair giving me caffeine before I’m entirely awake,” she reproved and reached for fruit juice instead.

She certainly looked as if she hadn’t had as much sleep as she wanted. “I don’t think I’ve seen you this tired in the morning since the first time we had breakfast together.”

“Hmm, twelve years ago. Being a mother will do that for you.” Savitri smiled slightly as she drained a glass of apple juice. “And yes, it was a good night.”

“I thought so, I visited last night and was surprised not to find you.”

“Well if I’d known you were coming then I would have been there,” the other woman said with a saucy wink. For someone who hadn’t taken prolong, being too old for any version of it, Savitri still managed to seem younger than her years – not that she was even middle-aged yet, of course.

“Not like that. I am married, as you well know. Or is senility setting in early?” Rachel teased. “So who put horns on Richard’s head this time?”

“Oh now, if I was one to kiss and tell, Hanse would have tanned your hide no matter if you were a Marksman yourself.” Savitri cut the end off her boiled egg. The two of them were occupying a private dining room in the sprawling hotel complex that was accommodating the majority of the guests.

Rachel smiled nostalgically remembering the Terran Conference of 3021 and sharing accommodations in a recently-repaired luxury dropship she had found on New Dallas and just sold to Savitri. “Much as it’s good to have time to socialise, I had a topic of conversation in mind.”

“Which is?”

“I think I may have to take the throne.”

“I rather thought that you had the throne, of Filtvet at lea... ah. That throne?

“Yes. That throne.” She looked away.

“I always thought, largely because you told me, that you didn’t want to be First Prince.”

“I didn’t. I still don’t. But if it comes to that...” Rachel was slicing her toast into thinner and thinner strips, only half aware of what she was doing with the butter knife. “I don’t think that Alexander Davion will leave me alone.”

“So you’re looking at fighting family, for something you don’t really want...” Savitru paused and spooned egg into her mouth, chewing for a moment. “So why are you doing it?”

“Because if I don’t, he’s going to come here and probably tear my entire March apart. Disarm them, leave them open every damn predator that comes along.”

“Let’s assume that I’m not entirely familiar with every little detail of Davion history. I know a few things about Alexander, he’s you – how many greats? - great-grandfather, but I don’t know everything. Why do you think he’s going to do that?”

“Fourteen greats for me, fifteen for Liz Stark-Davion. He grew up surrounded by relatives and powerful nobles who had private fiefs within the Federated Suns. Not quite the same as the arch-duchies in our day, but it all looks the same from a distance. By the time he was grown up they were fighting over the throne that was supposed to be his and in the end he had to conquer each of them in turn.”

“One aunt committed suicide rather than be captured than his forces, another fled to the Confederation and died only four years ago. His first wife was assassinated on the order of one of his generals. He’s spent the rest of his life ensuring that the Federated Suns wouldn’t face another Civil War and now here I am, to all practises independent and with an army that answers to me over him.”

“He’s probably the most legendary leader in the Federated Suns has ever had and I’m his worst nightmare.”

Savitri nodded. “I can’t say I’ve got anyone in this era that I would look on like that. So you don’t think he’d accept an outcome that would leave you independent?”

“I can’t imagine that he’d give up. We’re talking about a man who didn’t surrender when he couldn’t have raised a company of infantry to his name.”

“So is this an issue of where your loyalty lies? Or apprehension over taking control the Suns?”

Rachel hesitated. “Perhaps a little of both. I swore an oath to the Federated Suns. Even if this isn’t the same nation, I don’t want to see it torn apart in a civil war.”

“Could you outlive him?”

“All things being equal, he’ll live another twenty-three years. Even if he doesn’t, there’s no telling how his immediate heirs would feel – they died young in accidents and assassinations which we can’t count on now.”

“Hmm.” Savitri wiped her lips with a napkin.  “You’ve got quite a problem. So you think you’re going to have to oust him and take over? Hanse certainly raised you with the intention you would be a possible heir, but honestly you’d be as ill-prepared for it as I was for my own throne. This isn’t the Suns of our day. You don’t know the people, you don’t know the customs... looking back I have to shudder at how unready I was.”

She stood, walked around the table and kissed Rachel’s cheek. “Win the war for Filtvet, but understand that if you go to New Avalon then you will lose Filtvet. You can’t possibly rule both.”

---

Unity City, North America
Terra, Terran Hegemony
12 July 2577

There was a shell-shocked silence in the chamber of the Star League Council as Carlos Dangmar Lee, Commanding General of the SLDF, laid out the situation that they faced.

Over the course of eight months, the Star League Defense Force had lost more than a third of its regiments and seventeen percent of its naval strength. Supporting elements from the Free Worlds League and Federated Suns had been similarly shattered: all thirty-five regiments of the AFFS Auxiliary Corps now confirmed to be in captivity and three-quarters of the Marik Auxiliary Corps simply gone, along with the Captain-General.

Added to the loss of twenty percent of the Free Worlds League Navy, including three of their powerful Atreus-class battleships, and a staggering sixty percent of the Federated Suns Navy at Estuan; it was a string of losses unparalleled in military history.

It was Ian Marik who asked the question that was going through all their minds: “Can we even go on?”

“We must.” His namesake was uncompromising. “The states of the Periphery have shown themselves to be determinedly opposed to the Star League. As Admiral McSwiggan found out on Tellman’s Mistake, we cannot expect them to leave us alone. We must anticipate that they will continue to attack neighbouring worlds.”

“What exactly are you proposing?” Hehiro Kurita asked the First Lord.

“I believe it would be best for General Lee to present our proposed strategy,” Ian Cameron said, gesturing to his old friend.

Lee cleared his throat. “There are some obvious points to address. Firstly, any offensive activity towards Taurus and Canopus is completely out of the question for years to come..”

“Secondly, the next few years will depend heavily upon our ability to deliver forces to Periphery planets and prevent them from doing the same: this will require a substantial naval build up.”

“In detail: General Wexworth will remain in command of the Taurian Front, commanding I, III and IV Corps. His orders are to see to defense of the Capellan and Federated Suns worlds along that border. V Corps and a provisional VIII Corps, formed for now out of reservists and elements of the Star Guard Corps, will take responsibility for reinforcing the CCAF and FWLM forces along the Canopian front. General Amalthia Kincaid from the Strategic Simulations Command will take command there.”

“General Forlough remains in command of the Outworlds front although he will be reinforced with the remaining elements of VI Corps. Meanwhile General Nathan Isaacson has accepted command of the new IX Corps, which will form the core of our Rim Worlds Task Force under the overall command of Archon Steiner-Dinesen.”

All eyes went to Viola Steiner-Dinesen, who nodded to confirm that she had accepted the position.

“The purpose of this force,” Lee continued, “Is to assist First Consul Gregory Amaris in restoring order and bringing his realm into the Star League.”

Alexander’s fist hit the table in front of him. “I’m not convinced by this course of action. We have a major threat in the rimwards regions and you want to send forces in completely the other direction?”

“That is correct, Prince Davion.” Ian Cameron seemed unimpressed by the bluster. “There are significant advantages to prioritising the Rim Worlds Republic. Firstly, we have significant support there, meaning that the campaign is likely to be relatively short and straightforward. Secondly, it prevents the Periphery states from being able to send their own forces there, which would place the Lyran Commonwealth on the defensive and unable to support the rimwards theatres of operation effectively. Finally, adding the industry and military forces of the Republic to the Star League will go at least a small way towards redressing our losses.”

“Essentially our intention is to bring the Republic and the Outworlds Alliance into compliance with the Star League, isolating the Taurians, the Canopians and their Marian and Tortugan allies to be dealt with once we have a better grip on their technology and have rebuilt our forces. We estimate that this could be five to ten years from now.”

“Five years from now they’ll have Sian, if not New Avalon or Atreus. I hope you have something more concrete in mind to deal with the naval side of the problem.”

“I would have no objection to sending a detachment of the DCA to support your border with the Alliance,” offered the Co-ordinator.

Alexander shook his head. He was sure the Co-ordinator would be delighted to send his warships across the border, but perhaps less accommodating about removing them later. “That’s very generous, but you have so much to concern yourself with their border in easy reach of your capital. Besides, I’m sure the Star League has something planned or the matter wouldn’t have been raised.”

Lee nodded. “How about three hundred and fifty warships between seven and eight hundred thousand tons in the next twelve years? The Periphery have shown us that they have powerful and advanced fleets with a sophisticated doctrine. In order to counter that we’ve had to reconsider our own designs.”

“This, of course, will take time and I assure you contracts for this new construction will be going to yards all across the Star League.” Which by implication meant that the technology would be shared with the other members, even though the Hegemony wasn’t required to do so under the Star League Accords.

“Rather than leave the yards inactive, it’s been decided to upgrade a hundred cruisers and two hundred and fifty frigates from the inactive reserves with advanced point defences to deal with the Taurians’ apparent fondness for missile armaments. The cruisers are already being surveyed to determine what other repairs and improvements should be made and we intend to donate the first twenty-five cruisers to the FSN and the next ten to the FWLN in make good their losses.”

It wouldn’t, of course. The loss of hulls was terrible, but what had gutted the Federated Suns’ Navy was so many crews dead or captured. They’d be able to put people aboard the cruisers, drawn from shore-establishments, new recruits and cannibalising the remaining crews, but the naval strength of the Federated Suns was going to be an illusion for years to come.

“The frigates will go towards rebuilding the forces along the Taurian and Canopian fronts. I’m not going to deny that we’ve taken a terrible beating but we have the strength to come back from this. Within twelve months, the Star League Navy will be stronger than it was at the start of this year.”

“That’s all very well assuming we have a year. We haven’t really hurt them yet,” Ian Marik objected coolly. “What do you recommend if they feel that they can keep coming?”

“Quite honestly, that will have to depend on their methods and resources.” Lee brought up a map of the border. “It isn’t possible to be strong everywhere, so the goal will be to hold onto strategic world while forcing them to expend resources pacifying others. What has been determined that the Ares Convention seems to be held in high regard, even by the Taurians.”

Ian Cameron cleared his throat. “That does appear to have been a miscalculation on my part. Alexander has requested that we should readopt the Ares Conventions.”

“Now that we’re losing, you mean,” Ursula observed sarcastically, looking over at the First Prince.

“Until recently, it was believed that any war against the Taurian Concordat would likely see the same brutality as your own state’s Rim War against them a century and a half ago. It didn’t make sense to send the SLDF in while tying their hands.” Alexander spread his hands. “Now that we aren’t facing that prospect, we can commit ourselves to civilised methods of warfare without endangering ours soldiers.”

“The motion had been raised,” Cameron said formally. “I believe a voice vote should settle the matter. Alexander, your vote is for the measure?”

“Of course.”

“Viola?”

She shook her head. “I don’t endorse such means as a regular matter but nor will I rule them out.”

Ian nodded and moved to the next voter. “Ursula?”

“In favour of reinstatement,” the Chancellor said, after a moment’s thought.

“Opposed,” Hehiro declared without waiting to be prompted.

“And Ian.”

The new Captain-General leant forwards. “Based on an offer from the Marian League to uphold ‘a civilised code of warfare’ for as long as we do, I’m with the First Prince and the Chancellor. And Director-General, it’s our three states that will bear the brunt of any retaliation. A split vote here would suggest a certain lack of common interest between those not in that position and those who are.”

“A fair point,” Ian Cameron conceded, flinching inwardly at the slightly veiled threat. He sat back in his chair considering how to cast his vote.

Government Mansion, Samantha
Taurus, Taurian Concordat
12 July 2577 (11 July 3032 local calendar)

“So we’re going to fight.” Garrick Stark wasn’t by profession a pirate. He’d commanded the mercenary regiment Garrick’s Grinders for almost a decade before seizing control of Tortuga from the pirates who were ironically descended from AFFS deserters from the Reunification War. “The question is where?”

“The Terran Hegemony,” Jack said immediately. “I said the same yesterday. We need to hit them in the heart.”

Savitri sighed. “Jack, let’s be serious. We could, at best, carry out some sort of deep raiding into the Hegemony. Which wouldn’t be a bad idea, even if only for morale reasons. But projecting a serious naval force across that distance would risk losing a forces that the rest of us can’t afford to lose. I won’t even go into the prospect of holding worlds in the Hegemony because even you couldn’t imagine that that would be possible.”

“I’m not so sure that you’re right about that, Sav.” Rachel had curled her legs up beneath her in the seat of the chair. “We need to be bold here. If we take out the Hegemony’s shipyards then we would cripple the Star League’s ability to upgrade their navy even discounting the morale impact. The political pressure to hold ships back to cover other vital worlds would make it difficult for them to concentrate another invasion force.”

The Magestrix looked around for support but only Callum seemed concerned. “I see advantages to the idea as an expansion of the possibility of striking at New Samarkand, but I’d have to prioritise operations defending the Alliance.”

“I like the idea,” Garrick stated. “It makes sense to go for the throat. It’s unfortunate that we can’t go for a full decapitation strike.”

Jack looked intrigued. “Why can’t we? A couple of shots from a naval laser could smash the Court of the Star League flat.”

Marcus leant forwards, eyes furious. “Absolutely not. That would be the worst possible thing we could do.”

“Agreed. It would be a clear breach of the Ares Conventions to bombard a facility located in proximity to a city.” Rachel looked over at Jack. “You do that and they’ll start lobbing orbital shots at your cities.”

“They’ll do that anyway,” he protested. “We know that from the history books.”

“Maybe they will, but maybe they won’t. The Mariks didn’t, historically. And I’ve sent them a message that as long as they play nicely, so will I,” declared Marcus.

“I do not wish to see another Sian,” Savitri said flatly. “You signed the Ares Conventions, Jack. I was there. If you break them without clear first action by the Star League then I will cut you and your people off without a qualm in the world.”

“It was just a thought,” he protested quickly. “I promise I won’t do anything of the kind except in retaliation.”

“I spoke merely in jest,” Garrick excused himself quickly.

“Not a very funny one. All your taste is in your mouth.”

“That’s not what you said last night.”

“So that’s where you were when I went to your room.” Rachel slapped her hands over her mouth, wishing she could take the comment back.

There was a studied silence as three of the men present tried not to look as if they were imagining what Rachel might have been visiting Savitri for (Jack had least success in maintaining that level of composure). Garrick’s smile, on the other hand, was openly smug.

“I was talking shop with Tanya and Teresa and one thing led to another.” Savitri glanced around the room and rolled her eyes. “Grow up. So, attacking the Terran Hegemony. Not the worst idea I’ve heard but probably premature.”

“Hmm... uhm, why? I’d like to do it as soon as possible.”

“Think about it, Jack. Do you want to destroy the ships they already have on the blocks now, or wait until they’ve laid down based on their experience with us? This way we can destroy the ships that will be most threat to us, and get an advance notice of what they are likely to threaten us with.”

Garrick whistled admiringly.  “You are a ruthless bitch.”

“And proud of it,” she admitted shamelessly.

Government Mansion, Samantha
Taurus, Taurian Concordat
13 July 2577 (12 July 3032 local calendar)

“You fucking traitor!” Jack Calderon’s face was pale and bloodless, his voice low and carried none of the emotion that the words suggested. “You just signed your own death warrant.”

His distant cousin’s voice was no less icy. “Hold off on calling the guards, Jack. I have some questions first and I don’t think the Caesar would have come here if he wasn’t expecting some.”

Marcus O’Reilly nodded. “Ask your questions, Arch-Duchess.”

“Do you have any idea what you have done? Not just giving them the tech built into the Harpy, but telling them out-right that we have a tactical means of faster-than-light communications? Their ignorance of that could have been a priceless tactical advantage.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

All eyes turned to Savitri, who shrugged.

“What do you mean: ‘it doesn’t matter’?” Jack demanded. “He’s just served up a hefty measure of our secrets to the Star League: lithium fusion, HPGs, modern point defense and fighters... They could leapfrog hundreds of years of development and cut away most of our technical advantage.”

He rose to his feet. “We can’t trust this man. I need to get a fleet moving to secure Marian space or your entire anti-spinwards flank will be hanging wide open.”

“Sit down. Hypocrite.”

Jack turned in surprise. Annoying as she might occasionally be, Savitri Centrella had been a reliable presence on his borders for over a decade: one he would have shed blood for. “Where did that come from?”

“Just about eleven years ago, I gave you a copy of the Illyrian Memory Core as something you could rebuild Samantha University around. You turned around and used a copy of it to buy your way into the Federated Commonwealth, which was one of the more stunning volte faces of the last hundred years. So far, fair enough. I might not be an admirer of the FedCom but I’d gifted you the core free and clear. It was your call to make.”

“Then what’s your point.”

Savitri’s blue eyes were frosty. “You also told him where you got the Core. Not to mention spilling the beans about my nuclear munitions factory.”

Jack shook his head. “That was entirely different.”

“Yes. You planned to keep your little spouting of information from me. Very realpolitik of you. Marcus, counterversely, has told us openly of what he has done and so far as I am aware did not release the Harpy as token to buy his way into the Star League or Free Worlds League.”

“Quite correct,” the Caesar agreed, nodding slightly to his unexpected defender. “Whatever the outcome of the war, I will no doubt be dealing with the Free Worlds League as a neighbour for the rest of my life – assuming that the Protector chooses to grant me a stay of execution – and if building bridges to them is a grevious sin, I must wonder at why he has sent diplomats to Sian.”

Somewhat bewildered, Jack hesitated sufficiently for Rachel to take him by the shoulder. “Let’s sit down and talk this over like adults.”

“Yes, particularly as I’d like to know why the Magistrix is so dismissive of the threat that Harpy’s technology poses.” Callum Avellar looked grave. His Outworlds Alliance was far smaller than any of the others except Garrick’s Taurian Domain, and the unlike the latter it had a long border with the Inner Sphere. Of all six of the Periphery Lords, his realm was unquestionably the most exposed.

“There are three reasons. Firstly, they already have Lithium Fusion Batteries. Contrary to popular opinion, they were developed well before the Star League. Secondly, it will take two – perhaps three – years for the Star League to put HyperPulse technology into use, at least in any useful numbers. They have samples and operational instructions, not detailed blueprints on how to construct them. That means they don’t have any effect on the strategic equation: if we haven’t established a... let’s call it ascendancy... over the Star League by that point then we will have far larger problems.”

Savitri shook her head, sending black hair flying. “I’m not saying I’d not be happier if they had to wait a bit longer to develop them, or if we could offer states breaking away from the League our aid developing them as a bargaining tool, but it was always going to happen and it’s not going to significantly impact the critical period.”

“Except that they now know what we can do.” Rachel might consider Savitri a close friend but it wouldn’t keep them from arguing fervently.

“Rache, they already know. That’s point three: I’ve already had at least one smuggler cross the border into Canopian space, no doubt some free traders from our regions entered the Inner Sphere. In particular, a good amount of the old Capellan jumpship fleet went commercial after the Third Battle of Sian. Now that their realm miraculously reappeared, it would beggar belief for none of them to try to go home and they would know that HPGs exist. Closing the barn door now isn’t going to change the fact that that horse bolted a good long time ago.”

Government Mansion, Samantha
Taurus, Taurian Concordat
14 July 2577 (13 July 3032 local calendar)

Rukia Fukuda had pretty much expected to meet the Protector some day. Learning that she was going to receive the Taurian Concordat Armed Forces highest honour had gelled that to the point that she expected to meet him soon.

She hadn’t quite expected for one of her first sights inside the Government Mansion to be a veritable pack of House Lords crossing the inside courtyard en masse. Protector Calderon was near the front and as soon as he spotted her, he beckoned her over.

“Commodore, welcome back to Samantha,” he greeted her. “I don’t think my company today needs introducing, but in the event any of them are finding their mental faculties impaired, everyone this is Commodore Fukuda, the victor of the Battle of Estuan.”

Rukai saluted – it seemed like the thing to do. Three different salutes – palm down for the President, the Protector and Lord Grimm, palm forward for the Magestrix and Arch-Duchess; and hand outstretched for Casear O’Reilly – were offered in return, even by those not in uniform.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Callum Avellar added, extending his hand to shake hers. “Hearing about the battle has done a great deal for morale in the Alliance.”

“My pleasure, sir.”

“I hope you don’t have any plans for the early evening, Commodore, because we’d like to pick your brain on a little matter after the award ceremony.” The Protector looked amused by the notion.

She did have plans, actually, but when your commander-in-chief asked... “Nothing I can’t re-arrange.”

“Splendid. Don’t worry, we’ll at least provide you with dinner. Do you like pizza?”

The leader of the entire Concordat was asking what she wanted to eat? “Depending on the topping, sir.”

“Eh, details.” Calderon waved off the matter. “Now, are you all braced and ready to face the media of the Taurian Concordat?”

“Yes sir.”

“Splendid, because the entire reputation of the Taurian Concordat Armed Forces rests on your performance this afternoon.”

What?

“Dear, stop trolling for reactions.” Lisa Steiner-Calderon swept onto the scene, her daughters and the pair of nannys necessary to keep them under control, in tow.

Jack blinked lazily. “Too much?”

“Just a little.” Lisa took his arm and nodded to Rukia. “I apologise, my husband is a little under-socialised at times. He’ll keep the media from going too far, if only because he needs you far more than you need him.”

For some reason, Rukia didn’t find that to be reassuring.

---

The pizza was superb to the point that Rukia suspected she’d been spoiled for life. She’d not have believed she could manage to eat the entire thing and was now slightly regretting having done so, given she’d need hours in a gym to work off the calories. But the regrets were a faint voice in comparison to the lure of molten cheese and tomato.

The children had finally been taken away by their carers (Elizabeth apparently had her eye on a naval career in ten years or so and had pestered Rukia as much as her mother would allow through the private dinner) when Jack Calderon called for her attention: “Admiral Fukuda.”

The distraction was enough that it took her a moment to realise what the Protector had called her.

“I’m a Commodore, sir.”

“Not as of this evening.” He wiped his hands carefully before passing over two official documents. Sure enough, the first was an Admiral’s commission, made out in her name. Rukia spared herself a moment of internal glee before looking at the other.

“Fifth Fleet?” The Taurian Concordat’s warships were organised into four fleets, to the best of her knowledge.

“Fifth Fleet,” Jack Calderon confirmed with a nod. “The navy needs to be reorganised to deal with the strategic situation we’re faced with, something rather different from our previous expectations. As part of that, the ships you commanded at Estuan will be forming the core of a new fleet. I don’t believe in breaking up a winning team, at least without good reason.”

He turned to Rachel Calderon-Davion, who had joined Rukia and the Calderon family for dinner. “You’re the military mind, cousin. Why don’t you lay out the strategy?”

Rachel, who had just put the last piece of stuffed crust from a  slice of her pizza into her mouth gave him a dirty look. She chewed and swallowed before answering.

“In case it isn’t obvious, the rulers of the various periphery nations weren’t here just to attend your receiving the Concordat Sunburst. We’ve also been working out the details of our alliance against the Star League, no small matter since we’ve had mixed histories over the last ten years or so.”

“Right at the moment, the Star League is on the back foot thanks to their losses at Estuan and Tellman’s Mistake, but we have to assume that they’ll be drawing on reserves and learning from their mistakes there. We, of course, are completing new ships and reorganising. Our hope is that the Star League is not ready to move against us while most of us don’t have the concentrated forces to withstand that.”

“Because of that, Taurian forces have had to be detached to support the Outworlds and Filtvet,” added Jack. “The Magestrix wll be similarly assisting Marcus O’Reilly.”

“Thank you Jack, I was getting to that.” Rachel gave him a withering look. “In order to keep the Star League offbalance we’re going to engage in several relatively small attacks along the border with the Federated Suns, Draconis Combine and – in the case of the Marians – the Lyran and Rim Worlds. While all these operations have some military purpose, sometimes quite important, they are also intended to divert attention from Canopus-Andurien.”

“When the time comes – a year from now, perhaps soonr, perhaps later, we’ll be using their border with the Free Worlds League as a staging area to attack deep into the Star League with a multi-national force. We want you to be part of that force.”

Rukia bit her lip. “I’m honoured, but... where would this attack be heading for? Atreus, to repeat McCarron’s success in 3024?”

“Deeper than that.”

When the Protector didn’t expand on that, Rukia folded her arms and decided to wait patiently.

“You’re such a child, Jack.” Rachel turned back to Rukia. “The primary objective of the operation is to strike at the shipyards of the Terran Hegemony. Including the Terran yards themselves. Ian Cameron thinks that by forming the Star League he’s insulated himself and his people from the rigors of war. We want you to show them how wrong Cameron is.”

“Do you mean...”

“Within the boundaries of the Ares Conventions, Admiral.”

“Then when do I start?”

---

Lisa Steiner-Calderon escorted Rukia from the dining room towards the side entrance were a limousine was waiting to escort the newly-minted Admiral from the Mansion back to the BOQ where her friends – those who had been able to make it to Taurus in time at least – would be waiting to begin a private celebration of her decoration with a night on the town.

It’s going to be hell, not being able to tell them about my promotion, she realised, much less about Fifth Fleet and our mission. The promotion would be confidential until the formal announcement of the re-organisation of Fleet deployments and the mission, of course, would be classified top secret for months.

“I have to ask you to excuse my husband,” Lisa said as they descended one of the staircases of the huge building. “He was not raised to rule, rather the reverse, and while he does very well despite this, he backslides occasionally.”

“It was nothing.”

Lisa shook her head. “Commodore – may I call you Rukia?”

She nodded in response.

“Rukia, I’m asking you to excuse my husband’s behaviour, but not to permit it. He was very much a recluse and completely unaware of his Calderon heritage until a blood-test done as part of his pre-military service unearthed the kinship. And of course, as Protector, he’s rarely corrected when he transgresses in conversation.”

“Ma’am, I’m just a naval officer.”

“Firstly, we’re on first name terms.” They reached the bottom of the stairs. “Secondly, you’re now the fifth-ranking officer in the Taurian Concordat Navy and Jack has taken a personal interest in your career. Unless you make some catastrophic errors, you’re likely to work for him for decades. If his acting out is causing you or someone else problems  then letting him know, is not only permitted, I would absolutely encourage it.”

Rukia’s mind had now been set to whirling. “Ma- uh, Lisa, do you say this to everyone?”

“Only people who I think can be trusted with that degree of license and would need a bit of prodding to speak up for themselves.” Lisa studied her companion for a moment. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the man but he has an amazing blindspot about reading people’s reactions at times and the only he’ll improve is if people he can trust correct his mistakes.”

“Oh.” Rukia was not, despite her name, raised in the traditions of Japanese culture – the ancestors of her extended family had left the Draconis Combine in the twenty-seventh century to avoid the imposition of what they viewed as restrictive and obsolete customs – and as a result the bow she offered Lisa was a sweeping western-style gesture. “Lady Calderon, I accept this dangerous mission.”

“Rise, my knight and receive my favour.” Rukia wasn’t surprised to see a smile on Lisa’s face when she looked up, but she was surprised when the first lady of the Concordat handed her a small business card. “My private number. Use it judiciously, but if you do need it, then I expect you to use it.”

And I thought I had a lot to keep to myself five minutes ago, Rukia thought as the door opened and Lisa stopped, letting her proceed alone to the limousine.

Scylla Island, Lackland
Archy-Duchy of Filtvet
2 August 2577 (3 August 3031 local calendar)

It was a tribute to the cramped quarters in which he had been held for the last previous three months that Troy Neville exited the shuttle that had carried him here from orbit with a degree of enthusiasm.

Lackland was well-named – its vast oceans were broken only by occasional chains of islands. They were also populated by some fairly aggressive sea life, which made the islands well suited to act as prison camps.

The fact that it was four jumps from the nearest Federated Suns world was another factor in its favour.

However, no facilities had existed to accommodate the prisoners and therefore they had spent much of the time not in transit from Estuan, aboard crammed transports. Neville had requested, and been permitted, to remain aboard until the last of his men had been taken to the camps: it would not have done anything for morale to have the senior surviving officer be among the first to enjoy the ‘comforts’ of their new prison.

Of course, it’s all relative, he mused as he took his first breath of the salt-laden air. Far from a tropical paradise, Scylla was a previously unpopulated rocky island in the southern temperate belt not all that far from what passed for Lackland’s antarctic circle. Upon this, concentric circles of low buildings of rough-cut limestone blocks had been erected, perhaps two hundred in number. A low wall of the same material was clearly more of a windbreak than a matter of security.

“Lovely place,” he mused. “I suppose I’d better get used to it.”

“It’s not so bad,” replied a voice from nearby and he saw George Toler, his former aide, emerge from the shadow cast by the gate in the wall. “It’s dry, the wall keeps the wind to a minimum and they assure us that the fusion reactor powering our heaters is fuelled for the next six months and we have plenty of spares for breakdowns.”

Neville sighed. “It could have been worse.”

“Beats being shot at,” George agreed laconically.

“How’s morale?”

“It’s been better. Having the units broken up didn’t help.”

Neville nodded. Shortly after their transports arrived in orbit, the guards – men and women in AFFS uniforms not so very different from theirs – had carried out a brief survey. They’d gone to some pains under the Ares Convention to make clear that there was no obligation to provide answers, but that it would assist in the provision of medical and other logistical support to the prison camps.

Neville had refused to order it to be completed, but had done so himself, leaving it to personal conscience. In retrospect it had probably been a mistake as the groups sent to each camp had obviously been picked out for commonality of origin – Capellans to one camp, Terrans to another and Lyrans to a third. Given the preponderance of AFFS soldiers, they and SLDF soldiers from the Federated Suns had been divided up by locality of origins. As a result, Neville knew that almost all the prisoners on Scylla Island originated from worlds in the rimwards regions of the Capellan March.

Why they were being divided in this fashion was unclear, but he was sure that there was a reason for it and it was probably somehow to the detriment of the Federated Suns.

“Is there any resentment about me living a life of leisure on the dropships while you came ahead?”

“Not really, sir. It’s not as if we’re doing hard labour. Per your orders we’ve got work parties making the lodges as habitable as possibly but it’s basically makework. It’s probably worse in the camps that don’t have any women.”

Neville paused. “Did I miss something?”

“Well there’s the usual gender imbalance sir – only about one in five of the troops are women. As best as we can piece together through the grapevine, sixty-percent of the prison camps are all male with the others being fairly evenly divided.”

“Hmm. How are the troops of for contraceptives?”

George blinked. “I have no idea, sir. I don’t believe we’ve had any supplied.”

“Do we have a liaison officer?”

“...yes, sir. Posted on the next island over: there’s a field telephone linked by an undersea cable.”

Neville nodded his head. “Alright. At next opportunity, request some as medical supplies. Because one way or another, George, the boys and girls are going to be spending a lot of time cooped up here and I’d rather keep the number of prison babies to a minimum.”

Land them on a deserted island, provide supplies to make a camp and leave them to own devices.


I have seen this before... I think it was one of the later Honorverse books.

Sans-supplies and you have a nice Lord of the Flies scenario.