FSRB Chpt 164

==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 164==
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June 3070Interlude - Fate of the SLDF
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The big news at the beginning of June was the formal dissolution of the Star League Defense Force, although many had been predicting it for some time. Since the failure to pick a new First Lord at the 3067 Whitting Conference the SLDF has limped along with a small supply of recruits and funding from a handful of the member states. When the WOB-Comstar fighting began in earnest this already limited support had been curtailed further - particularly when the ComGuards stopped offering places at the Focht War College to SLDF applicants in preference to training soldiers for their own forces in 3068. Similar moves were made from those nations which had permitted SLDF cadets to be trained within their own national academies until the only real source of recruits for the struggling SLDF had been the Hasek-Davion Martial Academy, which had continued to reserve fully half of it's places for the SLDF. Due to it's location in the Federated Suns the majority of the students attending even for those slots reserved for the SLDF had largely went to FedSuns born cadets. This supply of graduating cadets however had allowed the SLDF forces to remain at full strength and even expand slightly - again drawing on logistical support primarily from the Federated Suns, Lyran Alliance, and some limited support from the Free Rasalhague Republic.
However with war engulfing the entire Inner Sphere even the most committed of the SLDF's officers were finally forced to accept that the dream that had been the Second Star League was dead. The fact that it was now almost universally named the "Zombie Star League" and hadn't had a leader elected in almost 3 years was just more evidence that it was now time to quit.
The SLDF officially disbanded on the 10th of June 3070 in a small ceremony on Tukayyid. This was attended almost exclusively by senior SLDF officers, along with the "last" First Lord of the Second Star League Christian Mansdottir, Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht, and the Davion ambassador to the Free Rasalhague Republic Major General (ret) Duncan Cunningham. As the SLDF flag was taken down it left the various units of the former SLDF orphaned and left to their own devices. These included the 4 regiments of the Eridani Light Horse, the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Royal Battlemech Regiments and the Royal Black Watch Regiment.
It was no nobodies surprise when the vast majority of the 1st Royal Battlemech Regiment "Morgan's Lions" announced that they would be requesting to join (or in the vast majority of the soldiers cases rejoin) the AFFS. Colonel Andrew Redburn who had been in attendance at the disbandment ceremony had right up until the end attempted to save the SLDF. but when it was now dead & buried. He then immediately contacted Ambassador Cunningham and offered his services along with those of his regiment who chose to follow him. These were immediately accepted. The only real surprise was the sheer number of the Lion's who chose to enter AFFS service. The unit had been built around a core of the old Kathil Uhlans, yet a number of non-Uhlan veteran's also chose to follow Colonel Redburn including the vast majority of Lyran and St. Ives born personnel and a surprising number of League and Capellan born troops. The only nationality of the Lions who didn't join their colonel were unsurprisingly the Combine born warriors. Roughly 80% of the unit elected to follow their leader. Colonel Redburn was immediately informed that he would be returning to service within the AFFS as a full Major General.
The 2nd Royal Battlemech Regiment "Winston's Warriors" had no such large scale preference. A sizeable minority (30%) chose to offer to join the Eridani Light Horse in honor of General Winston and were promptly accepted. A similar proportion of the unit opted to offer their services to the AFFS following the lead of their more senior regiment. Mostly consisting of men and women who had been born in the FedSuns and had been trained on Defiance. The remainder of the unit, roughly 4 companies of Mechwarriors split mostly along national lines. The largest single remaining contingent (roughly a company) opted to join the ComGuards.
The 3rd Royal Battlemech Regiment "Master's Knights" despite their name was almost exclusively newly graduated warriors from the Hasek-Davion Martial Academy and so it was no surprise when almost two thirds of the unit opted to join the AFFS. The remainder again largely split according to national lines, although a surprising number of the League born personnel refused requests to head home and instead joined their FedSuns comrades in offering their services specifically to Isis "Marik"-Davion.
By the end of the month, the AFFS had announced that the 3 groups of troops that would be joining from the 1st, 2nd & 3rd Royal Battlemech Regiments would be used to form the following units: The 1st Royal Battlemech Regiment would be renamed the 1st Davion Lions and be organized as a "free" battlemech regiment - although plans were already in place to expand it to include 3 wings of aerospace fighters. The 2nd & 3rd Royal Battlemech contingents would be used to form the core of a newly reborn Arcadian Cuirassiers Brigade within the AFFS, to be based on Demeter just as their previous incarnation had been. The 1st Arcadian Cuirassiers were to be organized from the Demeter Planetary Guard and the local Ducal Guard to round out the brigade to a full 3 Battlemech regiments - again with plans to add at least aerospace supporting forces. Although the 1st & 2nd Cuirassiers were expected to be massively under strength for some time.
The Eridani Light Horse which now consisted of 4 regiments (and an ad-hoc battalion drawn from the 2nd Royal Battlemech Regiment) unsurprisingly announced on the 12th of June, that they would be returning to mercenary service. They were immediately inundated with offers from every major and most minor powers. However, just as another former SLDF unit had done in the past they made a condition to considering any offer - the state that employed them must guarantee the withdrawal of their 21st Striker Regiment from Huntress in the Clan Homeworlds. The 21st Striker had been left stranded since the 3068 and with the situation in the Clan Homeworlds escalating to full out civil war it needed evacuated as soon as possible. Given that such evacuation might require either warship support or the support of a friendly Clan this promptly stumped most of the leaders wishing to recruit the Light Horse. However on the 25th, First Prince Davion offered to either negotiate with a Clan within the Homeworlds to help evacuate the 21st Strikers or if need be send a convoy with no less than four Fox corvettes for protection to extract them if this was unsuccessful. Just as with the 4th Deneb Light Cavalry, the Federated Suns was prepared to meet the demands of the Eridani Light Horse in order to obtain their loyalty.
The final regiment of the SLDF, the Royal Black Watch Regiment (which despite some efforts to expand to a full regiment has only managed to reach reinforced battalion level strength) announced immediately that they would be returning to Northwind. There they would take up guard duties on their ancestral homeworld until such time as "the leaders of the Inner Sphere grew up and were worthy of their services". Colonel Campbell made a firm point that he and his troops would not be operating as mercenaries or formally part of their brother formation the Northwind Highlanders but would only fight to defend Northwind. It is a mark of the unique nature of the Black Watch that not a single Mechwarrior breaks with the regiment to go their own way. Even those not drawn from the Northwind Highlanders will follow their colonel to Northwind and remain within the regiment - including Captain Takashi Inega of the 3rd Company, formerly a member of the 2nd Legion of Vega within the DCMS.
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