FSRB Chpt 245

==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 245==
----
 <<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
----
February 3072Interlude: Creating a Legacy
----
Fox's Den
Grand Avalon Mountain Range
New Avalon Combat Region
Coreward Combat Theater (Markessan Operations Area)
New Avalon, Crucis March 
Federated Suns 
----
Colonel Fraser Lovat picked up the intercom and nodded. "Yes sir. I'll send the General in now." Placing the receiver down he looked up to where Leftenant General Russel Payne and his aide Lieutenant Hanse Zibler sat waiting. "Marshal Davion will see you now. Just you for now Leftenant General Payne."
"Of course. Wait here, Hanse." Payne stood up with a nod, checking his dress uniform was perfect and taking the small folder from his aide before striding towards the door into the Marshal of the Armies private office. Marching across the large office he came to attention in front of the desk and saluted. "Leftenant General Payne reporting as ordered, sir."
Standing and matching the salute Jackson Davion couldn't help but smile slightly. "Always the stickler for protocol, Russel, but fine... Have a seat. It's a little early in the day and we're both on duty for a drink but if you want a coffee...? No... fine..."
As both men sat the Marshal looked over his subordinate and took a few seconds to let the man settle and then tapped a leather bound folder in front of him. "I have your write up, Russel. It's as meticulous and detailed as I have come to expect from you and I don't doubt it's accurate to the decimal point in costings either." 
"Thank you, Sir." Payne inclined his head. "I have made every effort to cover every detail possible and include all the relevant information. With the help of the co-author of the report, Lieutenant Zibler."
Despite himself the Marshal of the Armies chuckled. "It's not every day a General has a co-author on a report with a Lieutenant... Or that a report with an academy fresh Lieutenant comes over my desk... You didn't strike me as the type to share credit Payne either if I'm frank."
"As my report indicated the original idea was Zibler's sir. I thought it only fair to include him as a full co-author considering that fact and the work he has put into it." Russel Payne said neutrally. 
Jackson Davion nodded at that. "Which is to your credit, Payne, I didn't mean what I said as an insult I assure you. It's not often ANY general ranked officer will share credit on something like this with their aide. So, now we've got that out of the way and before we go into the details of your actual proposal I have one final question. Why?"
Leftenant General Payne didn't pretend not to understand what the Marshal of Armies meant. He paused for a second before answering however. He had suspected he would be asked and had a half dozen different answers thought out. He finally went with the most blunt of them and the one that was the most truthful. "Because I know I'm coming up for retirement Marshal and reflecting on my career... I was disappointed. I realized that looking back I was likely to go down as a footnote or a placeholder in the history of the New Avalon CrMM and the AFFS in general and that... that bothered me sir. More than I suspected it would. I wanted to do something, something that in the future others might point to as my work." 
The Marshal of the Armies was genuinely surprised by the openness of that answer and sat back for a second to consider it. Steepling his fingers he looked over them at the General. "Vanity can be a dangerous thing in excess for an officer Russel. However for all your pride I've never found you to be a vain man. Meticulous. Something of a fop even on occasion, but not vain. Some might consider what you've just said as vanity, but I think perhaps it isn't. I can see where you are coming from..."
The senior officer considered Payne for a long minute more and then nodded. "Very well, Russel. We'll get the young Zibler in here of course and I've sent for Marshal Watson as well... I can however confirm that I am looking at your suggestions favorably. I'm prepared, subject to any reservations from Marshal Watson, to move forward with your plan to upgrade the New Avalon CrMM from a regiment of BattleMechs, an aerospace wing, two armor regiments and five infantry regiments too a reinforced regiment of BattleMechs, three aerospace wings, three armor regiments, one battle armored regiment and four regiments of mechanized infantry along with commensurate support units, all of which are to be organized into three LCT style formations. Said formations, again subject to Marshal Watson's input to be drawn from the various sources that you have outlined in your proposal. One that reorganization, as laid out in your report is finished and the troops trained in the new formation I will approve the dispatching of one of the three LCT style commands of the New Avalon CrMM to undertake anti-piracy operations within the Outback... With said anti-piracy deployment to rotate between all three LCTs so that they each gain valuable combat experience while not weakening the garrison of New Avalon... Your LCTs will be a bit short on battle armor compared to a full front line LCT if I'm honest, but given their second line nature I don't foresee it being a major issue."
Marshal of the Armies Jackson Davion stood up and reached across the desk to shake hands with the beaming Duke of Augusta. "Congratulations Major General Payne... Now get Captain Zibler in here so I can congratulate him too!" 
----
;Note from Author: A front line Light Combat Team in this universe has 4 companies of BattleMechs, 2 heavy battalions of armor, 2 cavalry battalions of armor, an artillery battalion, engineering battalion, VTOL battalion and a battle armor regiment with an attached aerospace wing. So when you divide the New Avalon CrMM into 3 LCTs (plus command unit) you get each one having 4 BattleMech companies, a regiment of armor, a battalion of battle armor (fourth battalion will probably be directly attached to the regimental command unit in rotation), a mechanized infantry regiment (fourth regiment again staying on New Avalon in rotation), an aerospace wing and supporting units (artillery, engineering, VTOL, etc). So swapping out 3 battalions of battle armor for a mechanized infantry regiment and short roughly 2 companies of armor compared to a front line LCT when you include the command company in the full regiment. 
----
 <<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
0245, Chapter