DVH Chpt 10

<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
==Davion Heir (BattleTech CYOA)Chapter 10==
----
===Joint Talks between Nations===
Solaris City, Solaris VII
Federation of Skye, Lyran Commonwealth
8th May, 3014
----
he peace talks take place at the Solaris Hilton, the best hotel in the neutral part of the city. A couple of other places could compete with the Solaris Hilton for the title of being the premier hotel on Solaris, but neither of them are located on neutral ground and therefore unsuitable for the peace talks.
 
While only three Successor States are involved in the peace talks, there are four different parties at the round table where the participants have gathered. Captain-General Janos Marik and the delegation from the League, Archon Katrina Steiner and the delegation from the Commonwealth, First Prince Victoria Davion and the delegation from the Suns and finally, Julian Tiepolo, Primus of ComStar and the neutral arbitrator of the peace talks.
 
The talks are taking place in a conference room that is guarded by a mixture of the 1st Royal Guards, the 1st Davion Guards, and the 1st Free Worlds Guards. Their assigned duties mean protecting from assassins and spies, the latter of which has extended to include the media. While all three states involved support some measure of free speech, the peace talks will be difficult enough without adding the need to play to the public on top of that.
 
“Now that we are all gathered here, I propose that we begin.” says Primus Tiepolo, “As First Prince Davion has been the driving factor behind these talks, I also propose that she be allowed to speak first unless there are any objections.”
 
“I have none.” says the Archon.
 
“Neither do I.” adds the Captain-General.
 
“In that case, I would like to state that I am willing to provide a mostly complete copy of the Halstead Station library to both the Lyran Commonwealth and the Free Worlds League if they agree to five year truce,” says Victoria, ignoring the shocked gasps that her words bring about, “While I will be keeping the more sensitive and strategically vital portions of it for the Federated Suns alone, I am willing to share most of it as a gesture of goodwill and proof that I am serious about this. I even brought said copies with me in the hope of coming to such an agreement. As for the time limit of the truce, I am not foolish enough to believe in an indefinite peace right now so I will settle for a temporary truce and then see where we stand in a few years.”
 
“That is a very generous offer,” says Katrina as she leans forward, looking between Victoria and Janos, “If the Captain-General is willing, I would happily accept it.”
 
“I am also open to your offer, First Prince Victoria, but for the sake of being responsible, I would like to verify the data first,” says Janos, glancing at Katrina for a moment before refocusing on Victoria, “As you say you have brought the copies with you, I would like to request that I have a trusted subordinate look at said copy to see if it is truly what you claim it to be.”
 
“Of course, I am not offended by you making sure that you aren’t being tricked,” replies Victoria to the Captain-General before turning to the Archon, “I would be happy to accept someone of your choosing coming to look at your copy to verify it.”
“While I trust you to be truthful, I will take you up on that,” replies Katrina, “Not because I feel you may be deceiving me, but because checking will help satisfy the concerns of the naysayers and skeptics.”
 
“Excellent,” says Victoria, “You can contact my staff and arrange the visitation. While the truce will need to wait until you have verified my offer, I would like to continue these negotiations with the assumption that it is genuine and the truce will be signed.”
 
“I would be happy to do so.” says Katrina, “As I said, I trust your offer to be authentic.”
 
“I am likewise happy.” agrees Janos, “While I do need to check, I have no real expectation of being deceived.”
 
“In that case, I would like to raise the issue of military cooperation.” says Victoria, “While I don’t expect the League and the Commonwealth to engage in military cooperation nor do I expect us to come to an agreement today, I do hold hopes that the AFFS will be able to work with the LCAF against the DCMS and the FWLM against the CCAF.”
-----
=== Tired Out and Hungry ===
-----
As the first day of talks comes to an end, Victoria feels both that they went well and that she is thoroughly exhausted. Spending the better part of a day in game-changing negotiations has been an entirely new experience for the First Prince and it has been extremely tiring to the point that upon returning to her hotel room, the woman threw herself face down on her bed. 
 
“Tired out?” asks Tahmina as she walks into the room, Victoria’s bodyguards having become accustomed to her presence.
 
“I don’t think I’ve been more exhausted in my life.” answers Victoria without looking up from where she is sprawled out across her bed, “Only boot camp comes close to competing.”
 
“Have things really been that bad?” asks Tahmina nervously, “I thought they went pretty well.”
 
“Oh, they did.” Victoria reassures her, “I made as much progress as I dared hope, but I am exhausted by it all.”
 
They certainly made progress today. While neither the FWLM nor the LCAF were willing to work together, the Archon and the Captain-General were willing to accept mutual cooperation with the AFFS and the three Successor Lords even sorted out the basics of a plan. Said plan consisted of the League and Suns launching a strike against the Cappies that the CCAF would be unable to properly resist and then once the Confederation had been dealt a crippling strike, the Commonwealth and Suns would focus on the Combine.
 
Said strike would take place in 3015, both to give time to get the forces into position and to wait out the remainder of the Wolf’s Dragoons’ contract with House Liao. While the exact targets had yet to be determined, invasions would form the bulk of it and the list of potential targets would be the Capellan military industry located on their borders, which included all of them with the exceptions of Capellan, Sarna, and arguably Nanking.
 
The downsides of said plan is that the Capellans would have enough forewarning that they could muster up enough forces to put up a decent defense ahead of time and for the Federated Suns, they would have to worry about raids or even invasions from the Combine. Ultimately, it wasn’t that much of a concern as the Suns could handle the damage done by the DCMS and in one of her most cynical decisions to date, Victoria is willing to endure such damage as an acceptable price for crippling the Confederation. After all, with the Cappies out of the big picture for the foreseeable future, she could just devote the majority of the AFFS to the Combine border while Katrina did the same with the LCAF.
It wouldn’t be so easy to cripple the Dracs like it would be with the Cappies, but with a competent Archon in charge. Victoria is confident that plenty of worlds lost to the Dragon could be reclaimed.
 
Now she just needs to get the truce formally in place, spend a few more days hammering out the details of the military cooperation and then spend an even longer amount of time sorting out trade and other civilian stuff. If things continue to go as they have been, Victoria should walk away with an uneasy truce between the Lyrans and Leaguers whilst having separate military alliances with both.
Hopefully she can unload some of the work to her subordinates, but with the Archon and Captain-General in attendance, Victoria doesn’t think things will be that easy.
 
“Want me to order some room service for you?” asks Tahmina after a few moments of silence, “I assume from how you are just lying there, you aren’t in the mood to go out for dinner.”
 
“Food that comes to me sounds good,” answers Victoria as she rolls over to look at her friend, “Anything happened whilst I was busy?”
 
“Duke Sandoval reports that the Third Davion Guards are raiding Proserpina and while the raid isn’t concluded yet, the latest reports have been quite positive so far.” replies Tahmina, “Also the Ministry of Education reports that there has been a disaster with one of the Vagabond Schools.”
 
“Damn it, how bad?” asks Victoria as she sits up due to the apparent seriousness of the situation.
 
“The investigation into what happened and why is still ongoing, but the Kennedy has vanished with everyone onboard.” answers Tahmina, “It jumped, but never arrived at its destination. As for what happened to the JumpShip, I don’t know as the investigation is still ongoing.”
 
“That is a disaster.” says Victoria as she puts her face in her hands, “Okay, I don’t know how badly this will impact the reputation and effectiveness of the Vagabond Schools or if it is the first of many incidents, but I want Minister Patel to start looking into alternatives and safer measures of education for the Outback. Perhaps something local or at least planet-based. Maybe boarding schools on select worlds?”
“I’ll write up a message for the Minister of Education,” says Tahmina, “Now, do you want me to fetch you a menu for dinner, Vicky?”
 
“That would be great, Tahmina,” replies Victoria as she gives her best friend a grateful look, “You’re the best.”
-----
=== Unexpected company ===
10th May, 3014
-----
When the talks got called off for the afternoon so that the parties involved could review some of their own information before resuming the talks the following morning, Victoria decided it would be a good time to blow off some steam. And what better way to relax and reduce her stress levels than to take her new ‘Mech for a ride?
 
So with a pair of ‘Mechs from the 1st Davion Guards and Tahmina in her Shadow Hawk as a set of bodyguards, Victoria was stomping her new Highlander through the streets of Solaris when the attacks began.
 
“Report!” orders Victoria as the First Prince hears the sounds of fighting in the distance.
“Unknown, my Prince,” comes the swift response, “We are investigating the source of it now.”
 
Frustrating, but a lack of instantly available information is just an unfortunate aspect of life. Nonetheless, Victoria begins to move towards the fighting as whatever is going on, she doesn’t want it ruining the peace talks and a Highlander is a safe enough place for a MechWarrior of Victoria’s caliber.
 
<<“Victoria!”>> calls a voice over a private channel and Victoria instantly recognizes it as belonging to her old friend Loretta Milano, one of Janos’ trusted advisors and a key player in arranging the peace talks, <<“Are you there?”>>
 
“I am here,” replies Victoria, “Do you know what is going on?”
 
<< “Death Commandos are attacking the Captain-General!”>> answers Loretta, sounding semi-panicked, <<“The Free Worlds Guards are holding for now, but are you able to send assistance?”>>
“I am already heading towards the fighting with my Highlander and the rest of my lance.” replies Victoria.
“That swiftly?” exclaims Loretta.
 
“I decided to take my new ride out for a spin to distress,” explains Victoria, “I’ll see you soon!”
 
As the call ends, Victoria decides that time is of the essence and she ignites her jump jets, intending to hop across the rooftops to avoid the crowded streets. Her ‘Mech should be able to identify which ones are capable of supporting her weight and if she guesses wrong, then her Highlander is built to take rough landings.
 
“Victoria, what are you doing?” demands Tahmina as she begins to follow Victoria in her Shadow Hawk.
“You heard Loretta, Tahmina,” replies the First Prince, “The Death Commandos are attacking the Marik delegation and I’m not going to hang our allies out to dry.”
 
It doesn’t take that long to cross the city, but each second feels painfully long, especially after the sounds of fighting get increasingly louder. It doesn’t help matters that once Victoria is approaching the battle between the Death Commandos and the 1st Free Worlds Guards, another battle apparently breaks out in the Silesia region.
Despite being the first to move, Victoria isn’t the first to make contact with the Death Commandos as one of her bodyguards in their speedier Quickdraw is the first to gain line of sight with the Capellans. Yet the mid-ranged weapons of the QKD-5A mean that of the Davion reinforcements, Victoria is still the first to strike the enemy as she unloads her LRM/20 into a black-clad Thunderbolt.
 
A full half of her missiles miss, but the remainder pepper the Capellan ‘Mech with holes in its armor plating. Victoria follows it up by jumping on top of a nearby building to get a proper angle on the lance of Death Commandos.
The Cappies have brought a Crusader, a Centurion, a Spider and the Thunderbolt she took a shot at to the field. Meanwhile, the Leaguers have a pair of Ostrocs and a Shadow Hawk in the field with a couple of Bug ‘Mechs on the ground. Victoria snaps a shot with her heavy autocannon into the rear of the enemy Centurion, her autocannon shell ripping into the weaker rear armor before the Capellan pilot can react to her presence.
Her attack is more effective than she expected as not only does Victoria busts open the rear torso armor, but the Centurion’s remaining autocannon ammo is ignited as the right torso explodes into flames and shrapnel. As the autocannon-equipped arm of the hostile ‘Mech goes flying, Victoria fires a volley of LRMs into the wounded Centurion the moment that her LRM launcher finishes recycling.
 
Then as her Quickdraw bodyguard and the Leaguer Shadow Hawk pounce upon the damaged Centurion, the Death Commandos switch targets. While the Thunderbolt continues to duel with the Ostrocs, the Crusader and the Spider both shift their attention to Victoria as they jump towards her.
Having her back as always, Tahmina leaps into the way of the Spider, distracting the Death Commando with a full Alpha Strike, leaving Victoria to handle the Crusader. Its jumping capabilities are explained away by her battle computer having identified the ‘Mech as the CRD-3L variant, which means that the Crusader has a reduced number of missiles compared to the standard version.
 
As the Crusader opens fire upon reaching the range where both its LRMs and SRMs are in optimal firing distance, Victoria ignites her jump jets to put some distance between her and the other Capellan ‘Mechs. Between her new Highlander and Tahmina, Victoria is confident in her ability to take the Crusader and the Spider. The Leaguers and her bodyguard can handle slaying the Thunderbolt and dealing a death blow to the Centurion.
Missiles splatter across the frontal armor of Victoria’s Highlander while a laser sears some of its armor with a glancing blow. Victoria unloads her own weapons into the Capellan ‘Mech, but the Death Commando is a skilled and nimble pilot, who jumps just at the right movement to avoid the majority of her shots, including her autocannon.
 
“Tahmina, handle that Spider,” orders Victoria over the radio as she jumps behind a building, “I’ll take care of this Crusader.”
 
“Understood, Vicky,” replies Tahmina as Victoria watches the sensor contact of the enemy Crusader run around the building she is behind.
 
Just as her opponent is about to come around the corner, Victoria ignites her jump jets so that when the Crusader comes around to lay into her, it finds itself facing ninety tons of descending metal. To the credit of the Death Commando, they attempt to dodge backwards and even fire one last volley of SRMs at her, but it is too little too late. The feet of the First Prince’s Highlander come down hard on the Liao Crusader, one denting its chest armor hard, but the other foot slams into the cockpit, caving it in under its weight.
 
Having slain her foe, Victoria lets out a victory whoop in the privacy of her cockpit and then lets out a second one as she realizes that she has just performed her first ‘Highlander burial’. The momentary celebration lasts for just that, a moment, before Victoria gets her head back into the game. Seeing that Tahmina is still dueling the Spider, Victoria decides to lend her best friend a hand especially since it doesn’t look like her friend is winning.
 
Armed with a PPC and an LRM/5 in her SHD-2K, Tahmina is attempting to put some distance between her and the Death Commando, but the Spider is leveraging its superior speed and jumping ability to keep Tahmina off-foot. Whittling away at Tahmina’s Shadow Hawk with its medium lasers, it isn’t a fast strategy, but it is an effective one.
Using her feet rather than her jump jets to let her heat go down a bit, Victoria unleashes an indirect barrage of LRMs at the Spider. Less than a quarter of them actually hit between the Death Commando’s piloting skill and the speed at which they are moving, but it is enough to let the Capellan know there is another player in the game now.
 
Then again, perhaps that wasn’t the best move as the Spider seems to take it as a sign to withdraw. By the time that Victoria is coming around the corner, the Death Commando is already jumping away from both her and Tahmina. Tahmina opens fire on its fleeing form, blasting off an arm with her PPC, but by the time that Victoria’s Highlander is ready for another LRM volley, the Spider is already out of sight.
 
<<“First Prince Victoria,”>> calls someone over the comms, <<“We are receiving reports that the Archon is under attack and there are mixed reports on who is responsible.”>>
 
“Understood,” says Victoria as she takes a moment to analyses the current situation.
 
The Crusader and Centurion are both down, the Thunderbolt is about to die while the Spider is fleeing too fast for Victoria to pursue. Her Highlander has taken damage across the board, but the vast majority of her armor is still there. Just as she can’t afford to let anything happen to the Captain-General, Victoria cannot afford to let anything bad befall the Archon.
 
“Tahmina,” says Victoria as she gets moving once again, “We’re going to help the Steiners now.”
“Of course, we are.” comes the reply as her best friend follows her as always.
-----
==Author's Chapter Notes==
;Word from the Author: Halfway into the NaNoWriMo word count and we have our first Mech fight of the story. For the Solaris arc, I’m going to cover the attack on the Steiners and then I’ll probably time-skip again to the next plot, mainly because the key parts of the negotiations are done and I don’t want to drag out this arc too long as I have a couple more that I want to get done before the story is over and they aren’t going to be short arcs.
----
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
10, Chapter