InaG Chpt 22

==It's not a Gundam - Chapter 22 - The Exiled Prince and the Promised Prince- Book 2 -==
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===Finding the Men===
Tormano Liao's Office
Hsien, Capellan Confederation
March 3025
The 1st Ariana Fusiliers was much like the world it garrisoned: devastated through brutal war. Amaris had practiced horrific planetary-level scorched earth to stop Kerensky and during the Succession Wars it had changed hands repeatedly but generally held onto by House Liao. The Fusiliers meanwhile would see their parent commands be decimated in the war against the Davions and their own forces consistently mauled again and again; they were practically green as their luck had their veterans and best equipment be the ones to take the brunt of whatever battlefield they stepped foot in.
 
Tormano Liao was part of said unit. For the crime of loving a commoner, a dissident no less, he was exiled to Hsien. He loved her above anyone else, he already used plenty of his limited resources to smuggle Hanya no Cha to safety. He would do anything to keep her safe; but that didn't mean he would forgive his father. Tormano half-expected the Chancellor had set him to die in one meatgrinder or another.
 
Apparently that wasn't the case. At this point most of the Fusiliers were on Algol while the 3rd Confederation Reserve Cavalry was taking control of Hsien.
 
"And he expects me to just fight these Marians with what, Colonel Leiden?"
 
Leiden was an example of Capellan cultural mixing. The man was a walking mountain of Cossack Muscle with his blond hair in a Manchu Que and outside his military uniform his usual attire was best described as 'himalayan'.
 
Leiden answered coolly, "Heaven is high and the Emperor is far away. Orders are from the Chancellor to defeat the Marians and integrate our self with the Exarch. The exact details matter little."
 
"It does to me." he grumbled, "I have few supporters and what few I would call my friends have been restationed elsewhere."
 
"I am aware, Lord. This is where I come in. To have disagreements with the Celestial Wisdom is different than being an enemy of the Capellan Confederation. I will find you the men."
 
"You have enough men to fight an empire?"
 
"I have enough men willing to fight Pirates and Slavers ... and willing to confiscate contraband."
 
In a world of scavengers, there was little guilt taking from killers and thieves.
 
Tormano nodded and held his hand out to Leiden; and winced as the Commander shook it.
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===Just another man in the crowd===
CCAF Expeditionary Camp, Ballalaba City
Ballalaba, Former Marian Hegemony
July 3025
Ballalaba was just one forgotten dot in the galaxy. It was a minor world and claimed by the Marian Hegemony with little in the way of violence being shed.
 
Until the fall of Alphard.
 
The leaderless Principles and Legates turned to Warlordism. The sheer bevy of equipment they had acquired didn't end with the Imperator's death. Plenty of weapons, plenty of supplies, plenty of Mercenaries as well being paid by unknown benefactors; all of it to sew chaos and confusion and slow the work of the Junker-led Coalition.
 
Tormano had suspicions who was supplying them. JUST suspicions and a frustrating lack of proof.
 
The disgraced prince signed as his Mechtechs shook their head.
His Vindicator was a total loss.
 
"We have other Mech's in stock." Leiden spoke.
 
"It will not be the same."
 
There were many like it but this one was his. It was presented to him as a birthday gift at his coming of age. Better times. Simpler times. Not necessarily gentle.
 
"The fact that we HAVE stock is a sign to count our blessings." Yang pointed out, "Compared to other raids we have earned plenty to return home with our heads held high."
 
"Acting as mercenaries you mean." Tormano snorted.
 
They joined the Coalition on very transactional arrangements. Many of the less altruistic members did; as long as they kept their hands clean they had near-total salvage rights and paid in Lostech. Of which the 'Exarch' had plenty of.
 
Much had passed hands. Sian hungered for technology and the Junkers proved to be both a valuable direct and indirect source.
 
Much had slipped from certain fingers. Much of it to supply himself and those who supported him and who he supported back.
 
"The fact remains you will need a mech of your own. You do not want to be Dispossessed in these times."
 
He sighed. It's not like he could do anything else at the moment.
 
"Understood." He waved him off, "I'll see the motor pool."
 
The stockpile felt more like a pile of metal bodies than anything else. The Junkers were adept at stripping machines bare like meat right off the bone. Stacks of circuits boards laid on one side, used but still pliable myomer bundles on the other. At the center were empty metal frames.
 
Plenty he noticed, were partially Endo-Steel.
 
What caught his eye were the mechs; and what Mechs they were. They were as new as they were unknown. The Aries needed no introduction but he saw them hover over the work area like mother hens. They were joined by terrestrial cousins: a flightless lanky mech and a hovercraft with the upper torso of a humanoid mech that allowed them to easily load and unload their own cargo. They worked with the industriousness of any Workmech but fine precision of craftsmen.
 
Suddenly Tormano turned to see a 'Tragos' roll to a stop behind him and the face of the Ballalaba relief force stepping out.
 
"Tormano!" Biggs said, "About time your here! I need your help!"
 
"And what would you need from a Prince of Liao for?" He questioned.
 
Even in his diminished state plenty still curried favor from him. Except instead of crossing his arms he was instead using to hold a cardboard box. Admittedly Tormano didn't know WHEN that happened.
 
"I need a pair of hands handing this stuff out."
 
"...You realize who I am right?"
 
Biggs looked at him up and down and nodded, "Your Tormano?"
 
"Tormano LIAO."
 
"...and?"
 
"What do you mean and!?"
 
"Well your dad is a Chancellor but pulling privilege is kinda nepo-baby." Biggs scratched his chin, "But thats very Spheroid of you."
 
"And what is THAT supposed to mean?"
 
"...if you wanted to save the person you love would you pick the doctor with twenty years under his belt or the newbie who got his license because his dad pulled strings?"
 
"The former." He admitted, "You have a point. BUT that doesn't explain why you want me specifically to help you with this?"
 
Biggs paused, "...You didn't come here to help out?"
 
"No I came here to see about replacing my Vindicator."
 
"Okay. You want one of the OZ mechs?" Biggs gestured to the trio of mechs around them.
 
"You are giving me a mech?" He said with disbelief, "Just like that?"
 
"The Exarch pulls lostech out of his ass. Those mech out there aren't going to be special at this rate."
 
"This feels like stealing..." he grumbled.
 
Biggs shrugged, "Alright then help me hand these out: the guys here are starving."
 
He didn't mean the workers. The Ruling Class took more than they needed, the common folk had less. Biggs and other volunteers unloaded boxes of food and other supplies to men and women who had looked worn and dirty even before the Marian Legions thought to make a stand right on top their home.
 
The box in his hand was heavy. It was filled to the brim with enough food to keep a family sated for a month. What use did he have for it? Why was he holding it?
 
He sighed. It's not like he could do anything else at the moment. Tormano walked forward and joined the line unloading the boxes.
----
===Exarch relationship with his People===
Capellan Embassy, Junker City, Junkers
Junker System, Guild Space
January 3026
Truthfully they were Prefabs. Very high-quality, well-made prefabs; but Prefabs all the same.
Between the OZ mechs and the Exarch's AIs Junker City exploded with growth. With most of the pirates and warlords pacified the Junkers decided then to make the informal network of alliances between the disparate worlds into something more formal and organized. Automation, free trade, safe and expedient travel, and the seemingly endless fountain of technology the Exarch possesses awakened a giant in the periphery.
 
The Mariks had their foot in the door, possibly even in the Exarch's bedroom. Not to be outdone the Lyrans sent their industrialists to ensure that the young Cooperative would not be turned against them.
 
Tormano was here, as far away as he could be from Sian to represent their (read his) interests on Junker. The Embassy was the first one to be built. Everyone else had stuck to their diplomatic vessels and tried, and failed, to impress the Exarch. He was not wowed or cowed by their affluence.
 
Admittedly Tormano thought, I'd take the Ptolemaios over any glorified Union dropper.
 
The man was an enigma. A polite enigma.
 
He stood beside him, both watching Mashymre duel with Aries pilots drawn from both Mechwarrior and Aerojock stock. It was not just Yang Tang's men, but also personnel from various Guild members, mercenaries, and House contingents. It was an impromptu military exercise that clearly showed what a battle between LAMs could have been if they existed outside the realm of curios. Neither Battlemech nor ASF. Something inbetween.
 
"Isn't this unfair?" Tormano mused to the Exarch, "Clearly Sir Cello has more experience as a LAM pilot than the others."
 
The Exarch shook his head, "You would think that THEY would know but the Inner Sphere's bias blinds them more than they would like to believe."
 
The crowd around them watched with oohs and aahs as simulated munitions flew across the sky as the Periphery blue trim Aries engaged in dogfights against the red trimmed Inner Sphere Aries. At such high distances and with large roofs of bullet-proof glass the risk was minimal. Gathered Junkers and offworlds watched the airbattle unfold. At the center was Mashmyre himself, weaving around half a dozen rival LAMs with the speed and grace of a figure skater. The men under Cello's command could not match him but they clearly learned from him.
 
"This is a political statement." Liao realized, "You want to show to the Inner Sphere that you could face them Militarily."
 
This was not the best of the best that the Great Houses had sent to Junkers as Embassy Guards; but it was a power play all the same.
 
"Si vis pacem, para bellum" Exarch recited latin, "And should I ask why Capellan immigration is the highest at the moment?"
 
With industry came investment and immigration. Normally dissidents from the Confederation and Combine only had the districts on Solaris as refuge. Here? here they could stretch their legs. Junker, just like Alphard were the centers of a booming economy and rising nation in all but name. It was a place to build a new home. A new life. A new army.
 
"My wife helped design the gardens here." he gestured to the sea of flowers surrounding the chairs and tables. It was the first time in a long time that Hanya smiled so brightly.
 
The Exarch nodded at the non-sequitor, "For ever Amaris and O'Reilly we have Centrella, Calderon, or Arano. As far as I knew the originals wanted to just build a home for themselves and their families. I'd like to think that's what me and my friends are doing."
 
Friends. Not subordinates. Not men. He used Friends.
 
Around them the crowd clapped as an Aries adorned in flowery-patterns bowed in the air above them.
 
"I think for everyone's sake I hope you are too."
 
Tormano wasn't sure how to answer that himself.
----
===Laying down the foundation for the future===
Tormano's Estate, Junkers
Junker System, Guild Space
November 3026
The CMS-328 Desperado was an Industrialmech. Not a Battlemech. But it was HIS mech. The Safety-Yellow construction machine was utilitarian, running on a a clean Hydrogen engine and a system of hydraulics that emphasized strength over speed.
It was comically simple, it once had been slated to fill a general-purpose industrialmech role but OZ Mechs saturated the market. Even Industrialmech and Battlemech manufacturers who didn't make a single Leo had to use some OZ parts to keep themselves cost and logistically competitive.
 
No, the prototypes found their use dotted over the expanse of Junkers wilderness. Waste not, want not. Infrastructure projects were being done as far as the eye could see with the Desperados joining resurrected antiques and more modern construction vehicles to work toward a brighter future.
 
It was still hard work but it was honest work. He carved the earth around his home as he saw fit. Neat rows straight and evenly space filled the acres spread out before his estate.
 
While he worked he heard the sound of heavy footsteps and turned to see another Desperado. One piloted by Yang. From a raiding forced to bodyguard to the garrison of the 'Capellan Quarter' on Junkers they had come along away from where they were two years ago.
 
"Good morning, Lord Tormano." Leiden greeted.
 
"Commander Leiden." He answered back.
 
"I see you are laying out the foundation for the new settler housing."
 
"They are my subjects." He dismissed, "I do not like seeing disorganized shantytowns from my house."
 
Leiden's mech walked over the stacks of plumbing pipes and rolls of cables at their feet.
 
"As you say." He said skeptically. "The Exarch relayed to me to relay to you of a planned operation against a Pirate group."
 
"One of my father's proxies?"
 
"No."
 
"SAFE would not dare. LOKI is not stupid. The Coordinator is content to let Chandrasekhar exploit the new markets. The Periphery powers would not target their own so openly." He mulled, "...Comstar."
 
ComStar had skeletons in it's closet. It was an open secret and as the third in line to the throne he privy to plots that ROM and Maskirovka plotted with and against each other.
 
"Of what variety? The Zealots? The Terran-centrists? The profiteers?"
 
"THAT we have yet to determine. He has asked for our support."
 
"I fail to see how we are involved with this."
 
"He is aiming for a decapitation strike and be planned in secrecy."
 
His support has grown in the Confederation, having the Exarch's ear, his defacto support of many dissidents, and being one of the primary suppliers of Junkertech and Lostech imports to Capellan space had done wonders for his influence. As Sian's official ambassador to the guild it was through him that the Guild and the Chancellor conducted business.
 
"Granted." Tormano confirmed, "Pirates are a plague to everyone."
 
"Nothing in exchange, sir?"
 
He looked around him: Blue skies, clear rivers, sprawling forest bleeding into seas of grass, flowers, and fields of gold grain and silver barley. No billowing smokestacks choking the atmosphere, no parade of informants with eyes on everything, no constant fear of raids or terrorist attacks, no endless droll of propaganda on every media and edifice imaginable. In the distance a clean and gleaming city was rising out of an industrial park. While the Junkers grumbled about moving their workshops into something that vaguely resembled organized even they knew that the city of marble, steel, and glass was well worth the inconvenience.
 
"None." He spoke, "...I feel ... content with what I have..."
 
He could not see Yang nod in approval but it was audible, "I feel the same way."
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===Talk between Liao and Junker===
Tormano's Office, Capellan Embassy, Junker City, Junkers
Junker System, Guild Space
February 3027
A Cameron. A God-Damned Cameron. Right under his nose.
 
Tormano paced back and forth whilst his company watched him go to the left and then to the right and then left again.
 
"You knew, Wedge?"
 
"I knew." Wedge admitted, "It didn't change much for us."
 
Tormano stopped mid-stride, "I thought your husband was the odd one."
 
"Trust me. Biggs believes that the commanders of Markham's Marauders and Nik's Cavaliers are video game characters and all battles are decided by cosmic dice rolls. I love him, but even I know he has his ... quirks..."
 
The Liao pinched the ridge of his nose, "You realize that while you Junkers are ambivalent. THAT man is practically the Messiah returned again in some circles!"
 
"It's why Exarch wore the mask." Wedge spoke, "And why he decided to stay on Junkers and didn't want to go by Cameron at all."
 
"Until the Marians."
 
Wedge nodded, "Until the Marians. Things spiraled out of control from there."
 
"On that we agree." he gave a mirthless chuckle, "What now?"
 
"I pray that my friend pulls through," Wedge spoke, "Whether our Cooperative becomes a 2nd Star League or JUST stay as a Cooperative I want him to be there to see his goddaughter."
 
"You found a surrogate?" He said surprised, "I thought you and Biggs were too busy with work."
 
"No. Iron Womb technology. It's actually older than the Star League. I can imagine some madman out there would want to make an army of gene-modded killers ... but I like the idea that my daughter takes after both of her fathers."
 
"More of the Cameron's technology." Tormano threw his hands up, "He could have declared himself First Lord and I doubt few could oppose him."
 
He was half-convinced to exclude his father from that list.
 
"And what if he dies?"
 
Wedge looked at him resigned, "Then god have mercy on whoever order it. If it's not us then it will the millions strong lynch mobs. I could care less about killing them; whoever they are. I am worried about the bloodshed. And speaking of bloodshed ..."
 
The Junker Commander held out two letters. One from the Exarch himself. The other from the Captain-General. Tormano read them both. The first made his eyes widen. The second made him gape like a fish.'
 
"They can't be serious..."
 
"They are." Wedge stared at him right in the eyes, "It is just an idea."
 
"And if I refuse?" Tormano glared back.
 
"Nothing. We can't force you to be Chancellor. We'll find a way to stop the bloodshed." He sighed, "Or at least say we tried our best."
 
Wedge stood up, straightening his tie before reaching for the door.
 
"Tormano."
 
"Yes?"
 
"This is my own opinion but I personally like to think I'll leave a better world for the people I love than I left it. Just a random Periphe-Rat's opinion."
 
Then Wedge was gone. Leaving Tormano alone with his thoughts.
-----
===Echo of the Shot Heard around the Sphere===
Tormano's Office, Capellan Embassy, Junker City, Junkers
Junker System, Guild Space
March 3027
Comstar. More specifically Precentor Atreus, the late Pedrigor Aliz, was to blame. Knowing the fresh hell of his own making Pedrigor took his own life. Were it easier times it would be open-and-shut. A Corrupt Comstar member wasn't exactly rare, it was the fodder of plenty of holovid shows just the same as their 'standard' religious brethren.
 
But it was the last straw for some members of said Order.
 
The encrypted communiques he had with Sian told a story of two factions: Thomas Marik's Reformers and the First Circuit. The latter saw the Chancellor as an ally. The Chancellor saw them as an ally of convenience. Thomas had the support of Atreus and Junkers by extension. Maximilian Liao wasn't so keen on siding with Terra. Exarch Cameron was in the Marik's camp and the Old Eagle had more cunning than what others believed. To visibly side with The First Circuit was to risk facing a nascent Star League and anyone and everyone willing to die in the name of it. He was willing to be diplomatic mediator, odd as it sounded, though Tormano suspected he was hoping to gain something from playing both sides of the divide.
 
The second message? Well if had his Desperado on hand he'd be smashing something into a fine pulp.
 
"My father finally decides to speak to me in person instead of proxy." Tormano frowned, "and it's orders for me to try to somehow end the alliance between the League and Guild."
 
He ripped the paper apart, tossing it into a metal bin before Seiden absentmindedly turned it to ash with a laser, "Please remember to burn them after reading, Lord Tormano."
 
"And if THAT was not enough he expects me to ensure Lord Cameron is betrothed to one of my sisters!" He dropped into his seat. It was good seat, It was the one indulgence he had added into his old Vindicator and had it turned into his current office chair.
 
"Ms. Dote would disagree." Yang Tang pointed out.
 
"I know." Liao sighed, "And gossip in court tells me Candace and Romano are already involved in relationships."
 
More importantly the Exarch was still in a damn coma, but Maximillian Liao did not let that stop him.
 
"...I realize now why he didn't want to be First Lord. Too much work and too much idiocy!"
 
The exiled prince dropped his head into his hands. Why did he want to become Chancellor in the first place he didn't know.
 
"To be frank, Lord Tormano. You are practically disowned. What you have right now is what you have gathered yourself."
 
He shook his head, "If I knew anything living under my father's shadow for so many years it was if he wanted to he could take away everything from you ... and yet take more. Either case my friend The Chancellor is demanding the impossible...."
 
"...What do I do, Seiden?"
 
"Except his identity," the soldier conceded, "The Exarch has been very forward and direct in his motives.
 
Tell his Celestial Wisdom that Lord Cameron is still in his coma. Tell your sisters your father's intentions. Tell the Exarch's trusted circle that House Liao wishes to merge the bloodlines. I've heard rumors that some in the Lyran court are trying to push Melissa Steiner with the Exarch."
 
"I've heard." Tormano snorted, "The Archon is annoyed to say the least, but when is she NOT annoyed at those man-children.
 
"I see your point. I can not force a marriage so I won't try to."
 
His dear Hanya stood by him irregardless of tribulations. Be they from heaven or from the one with the heavenly mandate. Even if he was wedded off to some noble house he knew where his heart belonged to.
 
It all came down to choice. For the right to choose a good man would be willing to walk into hell itself. The Star League nearly collapsed before it started due to the Unification Wars and Rasalhague was never fully pacified no matter how much the Samurai tried.
 
"Perhaps." He mused, "This is why the Guild will succeed where others have failed."
-----
===The source of conflict and it's solution===
Ptolemaios, Conference Room
Free Worlds League Space
July 3027
The First Lord called to arms, and the Inner Sphere marched to war. Even if the Exarch didn't claim greatness it was thrusted upon him and once again the Inner Sphere was gathered to fight against an army of soulless killing machines.
 
Despite knowing each of them personally outside Janos, Tormano was unsure of his place in the war council. It would not be the first. It would not be the last.
 
"His approval ratings are up across the board." Leiden read a Noteputer.
 
"With a speech like that there is no doubt." Gluck said with pride, "I have petitions from my men to rename our force as the SLDF."
 
"Jumping the gun." Cid bit his cigar.
 
"...From Taurians." Stan said with some disbelief.
 
"Damn." Janos downed a shot glass, "How did that happen?"
 
"What else but our liege's nobility!" Mashymre boasted, "Good men flock to our banner. And our enemy are honorless curs!"
 
What a speech it was. Tormano had to admit that if there was anything to say that the Exarch deserved to be First Lord it was the dressing down he gave to that Reporter.
 
"He swears brotherhood with the Periphery and appeals to the will for the people to defend their homes and loved ones." Tormano listed, "This is AFTER years working for the betterment of others."
 
The Rose Knight was correct that thousands were flocking to their banner. It counted militia, mercenaries, even nobles with their personal forces. The League stood with their Captain-General as well. Just this once.
 
With the open-letter signed by both Janos and Katrina Steiner their collective forces had move away from their shared borders and reoriented against the Mobile Doll threat. Any opportunists willing to disrupt the ceasefire would risk court martial and charges of piracy. Or worse: be at the mercy of Guild-backed militias.
 
It was to no surprise then that the number of false flag drone attacks along the League-Commonwealth border had dropped ... now it was just full-on overt terrorism.
 
"Two years ago I led an understrength regiment." Stan spoke, "For the most part Cooperative troops have their own command structure and we only needed to coordinate. This force? I cannot begin to start with..."
 
"I already got my hands full with my own men." Janos spoke, "Thomas is busy trying to whip those pencil pushers he calls friends into something close to a fighting force."
 
"What about you, your Excellency?" Cello asked, "Will the CCAF join?"
 
Sian made mouth noises. Maximilian Liao seemed content to let the Thomas-faction and First Circuit rip each other apart. A few dead commoners mattered little. Tormano grimaced, just two years ago 'a few dead commoners' would have been a valid excuse for him.
 
"You mean my personal forces." Tormano corrected, "This war will not end without cutting off it's head."
 
There were strongholds to break; worlds that needed relief from MD attacks, those that needed to have the infestation be pulled root and stem. There were also automated installations, some whose whole existence was bent to produce an exponentially growing force; of them at least one was confirmed on Vega and taken after a particularly brutal fight involving the Coordinator's son and the the legendary Yorinaga.
 
But there remained the crux of the issue: Terra.
 
"If we march on Terra then we lose support." Gluck reported, "Our Lord Cameron in the flesh leading us or not."
 
"And the First Circuit might just throw a tantrum." Cid grunted.
 
"You mean deciding to just burn interstellar civilization to the ground." Janos growled, "My boy Tom may be a religious nut but he has a good head on his shoulders. Those bastards are the kind to go scorched earth just like Amaris did."
 
"You cannot possibly believe they would do that." Cello answered with subtle horror.
 
Marik raised his brow, "Speaking from experience?"
 
"Far too much of it." Cello shook his head.
 
Leiden flipped between screens on his noteputer and finally stopped at another report.
 
"What is it, Commander?" he asked his right-hand.
 
Leiden's answer was to gesture to the Conference Room displays. Near-automatically a holographic image appeared in the middle of them. It showed an airless satellite embroiled in an intense battle between the Mobile Dolls and a Spacer militia. It was not a rare occurrence. The MDs were everywhere and attacked everything.
 
No, the issue came in the form of what the militia was attacking.
 
"An old asteroid mining colony." Leiden spoke, "Fully mined out."
 
Except it still had plenty of heavy machinery that couldn't be hauled away. Except it's hollow caverns could hold plenty of mechs underneath the surface. Except it was situated in such a way that it was bathed in blinding levels of sunlight, enough to power a factory nigh-indefinitely.
 
The gathered men watched as the battle rage. On one side was force emblazoned with a old sailing ship as their symbol, on the other a faceless mass. Stan Gluck's face tightened upon seeing the sailing ship.
 
At first the fight seemed to be in the human side's favor. But then the ground broke underneath their feet. Hatches opened and lifts rose up.
To the left, right, and rear flanks of the militia Mobile Dolls of unknown make rose up; each of them identical in shape and form: a short beam cannon on one arm ... and half a Defensor system on the opposite shoulder.
What followed was a slaughter. Outnumbered and outgunned the militia was cut down. The Mechwarrior who owned said BattleROM included.
 
"Hansa." Gluck growled, "God damn the First Circuit!"
 
"You mind explaining what got you so pissed, Stan?" Janos asked, "I guess them ripping off the Vayeate and Mercurius so quickly must bother you but this sounds personal."
 
"That is because it is." Cid nursed a migraine, "The ship is the symbol of Hanseatic League. They're so far away not a single one of their worlds has an HPG station. We've traded with them before, but it's been rare."
 
"So a Periphery state?" Janos questioned.
 
"A DEEP Periphery State." The Junker mayor spoke.
 
"Oh." Marik paled, "Damn."
 
"Crude but correct." Tormano added, "The Mobile Dolls are a plague-"
 
"-And we're the cure."
 
All eyes turned to the door and the man who would be king standing in front of it. The Exarch was wearing the same mask. It was cracked but it was repaired and more importantly reinforced. The scar on his face now only added to his ferocity and mystery. Behind him a determine Secelia Dote, well, Dote-Marik, stood beside him.
 
"The Mobile Dolls are a hydra. Not a snake." The Cameron continued, "Cut off one head another replaces it. What we need to do is cut off every head at once and seal the stump."
 
"Your losing me on the metaphor, Ex." Cid spoke, "What's the plan?"
 
"Multiple attacks. Isolate the MD cells. Divide-and-conquer. After we thin the herd we can focus on getting rid of the source."
 
"You don't mean Earth do you, Lord Exarch?" Cello questioned.
 
"No. I have a plan to pull the carpet from Comstar's feet. It'll involve Thomas not starting his Holy War."
 
"A hard price to sell." Janos answered, "Him leading Comstar is the only option I know of to stop the rest of their Order going down with the First Circuit."
 
"If he starts his 'Jihad' then that is EXACTLY what will happen. And that isn't what I meant by the Source?"
 
"If not Terra then what, sir?" Leiden spoke up.
 
"Not what. Who." The Exarch spoke vaguely, "The Dragoons and a few other handpicked mercenaries are going to help with that. But before I continue ... we all need to disclose something."
 
Exarch, Secelia, Cid, Cello, Gluck, and Janos looked at each other before they all turned to Tormano. Only Leiden didn't and he was just as confused as he was.
 
"...is there something on my face?" Tormano asked
----
==Dramatis Personae==
The Current Line up of featured Characters of the Novel
*Exarch Cameron - The Protagonist. An unwilling Cameron and Char-clone.
*Secelia Dote - Secretary and Adopted Daughter of Janos Marik. Exarch's SO.
 
*;Junkers:Cid - The Mayor of Junkers. His connections to various Merchants, Spacers, and local Periphery worlds leads to the formation of the Guild and the Cooperative.Biggs - Wedge's Husband and Co-Captain of the Junkers Militia. An eccentric who lives in his own world.Wedge - Biggs' Husband and Co-Captain of the Junkers Militia. A straight-laced, serious minded Canopians Expat. Often Biggs' minder.Mack - Crazy Old Coot and proud of it.Stan Gluck - General of the Knights of St. Cameron. Proud supporter of Exarch.Mashymre Cello - The Rose Knight. Flamboyant and valiant. Proud supporter of Exarch.
 
*;Free Worlds League:Janos Marik - The Old Eagle. Captain-General of the Free Worlds League.Thomas Marik - Son of Janos. Heir to Captain-General. Devout Blakist and Leader of the Comstar Reformist Faction.Paul Marik - Quiet and unassuming member of SAFE's IT section. Bonds with Thomas over technology.Duggan Marik - Son of Janos. FWL Trade Minister. Competent and 'Properly Corrupt'.
*;Federated Commonwealth:Nina Keith - Daughter of Moira Boscht and Chuck Keith. Pilot/Handler of Gundam.
*;Capellan Confederation:Tormano Liao - Estranged third child and only son to Maximilian Liao. Current Ambassador to the Junkers and de facto leader/protector of Capellan Dissident.Yang Fang Leiden - Tormano's right hand man. Polite and unafraid to speak honestly.
 
*;Comstar:Wells - ROM Agent. Believer in Comstar's supremacy ... not it's leadership.Tubarov Bilmon - Director of the Niops Association and developer of the Mobile Dolls. A complete Asshole.
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==Chapter Notes==
*; Author's Chapter Notes :Next Chapter: The August War.While I don't accept commissions or similar at the moment. I am offering a POV interlude of choice for any one willing to stat out the OZ-series. Canonical tonnage is not an issue.
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Chapter 22