FSRB Chpt 29

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==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 29==
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January 3064Preparing for the Special Session
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The New Year started with the formal addition of the 2nd Dragonlords RCT, 33rd Avalon Hussars RCT, and Broken Wheel CrMM to the rolls of active AFFS regiments. With the 2nd Dragonlords forming on New Avalon with factory fresh equipment the 1st Dragonlords headed to take up station on Novoya Zemyla to continue their training regime their against the 5th Davion Guards RCT. This would follow the pattern of the Dragonlords Brigade being paired with the Davion Guards Brigade. In fact the 1st Dragonlords were almost officially "twinned" with the Davion Assault Guards, while the 2nd were slated to have a similar arrangement with the Davion Heavy Guards. Commentators who were aware of this twinning process have begun to speculate openly that this meant that the High Command was intending to form eight Dragonlord regiments instead of the original five. 
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Within the Outback the citizens had two huge causes for celebration. Not only was the Broken Wheel CrMM being returned to active service but also on the 1st of January the huge brand new factory complex on Filtvelt for industrialMechs went online. No doubt with many of it's new employees slightly hungover from the New Year celebrations the sprawling industrial site roared into full scale production and began churning out over half a dozen industrial mech designs. Almost all of these are destined for small and medium sized firms throughout the Outback. Soon construction mechs produced on Filtvelt by Achernar will be helping to build homes, offices and factories all over the Outback while mining production will increase as more and more purpose built brand new mining mech's become available for use. This plant alone will over the next 10 years do more to increase productivity and resources in the Outback of the Federated Suns than any other single project. Due to it's vital nature the Broken Wheel CrMM will decide in mid-3064 to station a full Combat Command to guard it. 
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Also in January, actual warship construction begins to take place at the newly upgraded shipyards at New Syrtis. Two of the repair slips have been upgraded to support the construction of Fox corvettes. Both Fleet Admiral Buchwald and First Prince Victor are aware that while they have used warships to their advantage they lack the numbers of capital ships to be able to exert more than a local superiority on one front. Increasing Fox production is a way to expand the options available to make sure that this superiority can be used again as well as for defensive deployments and make sure that the more valuable warships such as the Avalon cruiser are available for key engagements.
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On Novoya Zemlya, the second Dagger OmniFighter line began full scale production of entire fighters. This now means that the FedSun's have 8 fully functional Dagger lines on 4 seperate worlds. However given that all of them are in the two frontier Marches this isn't satisfying New Avalon. Using the announcement that the new line is coming into service to raise the issue again. In return for supporting the expansion of the New Syrtis by another line George Hasek did agree to support the building of a Dagger-O plant in the Crucis March, while James Sandoval's support was ensured by the promise of a DropShip shipyard over the Draconis March system of Verde. Given that planets garrison was mostly former Vegan Rangers it was felt to be a secure location. To ensure the total safety of the new Dagger-O plant it is to be located on Torrence deep within the heart of the Federated Sus. Using a Golden Five world would speed up construction due to the high levels of technology and automation on such an advanced world the factory would be built quickly with both lines coming online in November 3064. This quick and relatively painless expansion would make the High Command in particular favor expansions of this facility over others. 
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In the Outback the 1st, 12th, 34th, 36th, and 42nd Avalon Hussars RCTs begin preparing for Operation Tripoli. They are joined in this by both Blue Star Irregular regiments and the Wild Geese. Along with these BattleMech formations and RCTs the AFFS also assigned a surprising number of conventional army brigades to the Operation. Strangely for an official army operation New Avalon nominates the overall commander as Brigadier General Alisande Faulkner. Although a mercenary she is a decorated former AFFS officer who served with the 1st FSAC and is considered out of the various officers being sent to be the best fit for the job. Colonel Alexander Duff-Gordon of the Blue Star Irregulars and Leftenant-General Edwin May of the 42nd Avalon Hussars are nominated as her deputies. While usually appointing a mercenary officer above regular officers would cause a major incident in this case the High Command (and in particular Marshal Water's himself) has sent an explanation to all of the officers concerned. Brigadier General Faulkner is acting upon strict orders from the First Prince himself and with her heavily decorated AFFS career is the best candidate. The next in line, Leftenant-General May who is famed within the AFFS for his diplomatic skills is not chosen randomly either. He quickly moves to quite any suggestion that he should be in charge and publicly goes on record welcoming such an experienced commander and privately suggests to the newly promoted commanding officers of the 1st, 12th, 34th and 36th Hussars that they take every opportunity to learn from the experienced Brigadier General. 
Attached to this Operation are no less than 3 warships. The FSS Kathil and FSS Bryceland are joined by the Kerensky's Blues. The three corvettes are felt to be more than sufficient naval firepower for the Operation but just in case a number of free aerospace wings and dropship squadrons are attached. More firepower is rarely wasted after all. 
The combined forces are ordered to leave their bases and gather at Malarn. They will be assembled by early February and launch the Operation. Small holding garrisons are left at the home bases of the 1st, 12th, 34th, 36th, and 42nd Avalon Hussars RCTs, roughly forming a combined arms battalion holding force. 
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Even as Operation Tripoli begins to gather, the First Prince begins preparing to head to St. Ives for the special session. Along with him he takes the entire 1st Davion Guards RCT and arranges to meet the FSS Robert Davion before jumping into St. Ives. Subtly is not called for in this case. 
As well as preparing for this Victor also announces that after the council meeting he will be making a tour of the Capellan March and a number of Draconis March PDZ. He will take this opportunity to visit New Syrtis and the newly upgraded yards there for example. He will be visiting various military bases, industrial plants, military commands and training facilities. The timescale and schedule for these visits are not formally announced but a number of units are contacted to be told they are included in the tour. The inclusion of the 1st Arcadians, 1st Federated Freemen, Illician Lancers, and Vanguard Legion amongst others. Combined with his nomination of Brigadier General Faulkner as commanding officer of Operation Tripoli the First Princes's standing with the various mercenary formations which was already high rises even further. 
As the New Year starts a number of officers and troops from various commands are detached and are sent towards Tancredi. These men and women who are largely drawn from the population of Tancredi will form the core of the new formation Marshal Jon Davion has in mind. The recruits from the new War College on the planet will be used to fully form and expand this formation to include new units as they graduate. For now this provisional unit remains off the official rolls and instead is merely listed as a combat auxiliary attached to the Davion Heavy Guards. This unit is to consist of 4 companies of BattleMechs, 2 heavy battalions of armor, 2 cavalry battalions of armor, an artillery battalion, VTOL battalion and a battle armor regiment with an attached aerospace wing. For now the formation is operating at around half strength. A small trickle of troops will continue to bolster the unit - including a full lance of Tancredi born mechwarriors graduating from the 1st Conroe Training Battalion - over the course of the year. 
Some discussions begin in expanding Precision Weaponry at this time to include BattleMech or vehicle production and not just high end lasers during this month. As a preliminary suggestion the famed laser producers are provided with the specifications for ER lasers and invited to begin production of them and not just the pulse lasers they are famed for. Further support was provided to restart their industrial and medical laser production with a rising technological level in the whole Federated Suns to support them. Opening an entirely new BattleMech or vehicle production facility will take further planning however and the High Command would be looking to have an established firm come in with the new facility in partnership with Precision. 
After the last 3 years of limited combat trials of the new PAB-27 personal body armour system the High Command are fully on board with ordering full scale production. In fact with the recent combat reports being glowing endorsements of the body armour production is ordered to be ramped up with the full support of the First Prince. He set a target for every front line command to be fully equipped with the new unit within 5 years and every conventional brigade and March Militia within 10. This would require massive numbers of the suits to be produced and shipped and the logistical requirements were huge. Still given the massive advantages the suit gave in combat almost every officer (outwith those who worked in the accountancy divisions) was fully behind the goal. 
At the First Princes's orders the AFFS releases Mick's Blue Skye Ranger Company from their contracts on the condition they take up a new contract with Peter Steiner's new government in the Lyran Alliance. An agreement that the pro-Steiner unit is happy to accept. 
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Within the Lyran Alliance things are settling down. Although there are a number of resignations from the military in protest at the new Archon. Just in case those who do resign are watched in case they head for the Wolf Clan Occupation Zone. A number of agents also "defect" and head for Tamar to swear allegiance to the "True" Archon. 
Archon Peter Steiner however is deeply unhappy at having to head for St. Ives. His government is still new and riven with divisions. He really can't afford the time to travel to St. Ives but at the same time can't afford to look weak by not going. As such he arranges the ruinous expense of a command chain of JumpShips to take him to St Ives and back again. Due to having to travel longer he leaves in late January. 
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The Coordinator Theodore Kurita also has a long way to go and it's made worse that given the recent hostilities he had to detour to avoid entering the Federated Suns. He travels down via the Deiron District before crossing over into the Free World League and then into the Capellan March. 
At least he no longer has to deal with the Ghost Bears as he leaves Luthien. The combat on Courcheval is a brutal affair. At the end of it only 3 mech's are left standing but they are Ghost Bear mechs. As such they claim the world of Courcheval and the Essex class destroyer the DCS Sabre Cat (which was being refitted to join the DCN) as isorla. Had the DCMS won the battle they would have received back all of the worlds taken. The Ghost Bears had insisted on the Sabre Cat being added to the pot given their own need for lighter warships and frankly the fact they were in possession of multiple Combine worlds. 
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Sun-Tzu Liao also prepares to go to St Ives with a battalion of his elite Guards, the Red Lancers who are augmented by a company of Death Commandos who are listed as Red Lancers. He also brings with him a series of petitions and letters from citizens of the worlds struck and even a handful from the 3 worlds under "Davion occupation". to present to the session in support of his views. Along with him comes representatives from Canopus and from the Concordat. 
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Captain-General Thomas Marik before he heads for St. Ives puts before parliament an additional naval bill calling in particular for a battleship to be built based upon the old Atreus class battleships. He is initially asking for four of these ships to be built.
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