FSRB Chpt 59

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==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 59==
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May 3066A deal reached
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===Lyran Alliance Negotiations===
The discussions began in April between the Prince's Champion and the Archon and his various advisers continued into May. Khan Kell himself arrived on Tharkad along with his father the Grand Duke of Arc Royal and joined the negotiations. By the 6th of May Ardan Sortek was confident that the tide had turned and that the Lyran's and their Wolf allies were going to approve the transfer of the CJF Falcon's Nest to the Federated Sun's. What remained in doubt however was the cost. The Archon was clearly eager to get the largest return for the sale of the shattered battleship as possible, while Khan Kell was proving that perhaps that Wolf Clan had erred in making him a warrior - they perhaps should have placed him within the Merchant Caste! Either that or his initial upbringing as the son of a famed mercenary leader was showing through, although Sortek suspected that he might be getting clandestine support from his father at the very least. Some of the points he was making seemed a little to subtle for the famously blunt warrior. 
However despite the difficulties and tempers flaring on occasion a deal was finally worked out on the 16th of May. The Lyran Alliance and Clan Wolf-in-Exile would transfer ownership of the CJF Falcon's Nest to the Federated Suns. In return the Federated Suns would lay down 5 Fox Class corvettes in the coming year - 3 of them to be delivered to the Lyran Alliance and 2 too the Wolves. Each Fox would be outfitted with a full compliment of dropships and fighters as well as full ammunition lockers and spare parts. An additional Monolith Jumpship would also be gifted to the Lyran Alliance carrying a full compliment of Mule class Cargo Ddropships with additional spare parts - to be divided between the Lyran's and Wolves at a 3:2 ratio. The Federated Suns would also license to the Arc Royal MechWorks the Dagger-O OmniFighter design to be produced on Arc Royal - no more than 2 lines could be constructed and the production could only be used by the Kell Hounds (which also included any Arc Royal based Home Defense Squadrons) and Wolves-in-Exile and not sold on to third parties, which was to include the Lyran Alliance. In return Arc Royal MechWork's would construct an annex to their Federated Suns plant on Killarney which would make the Arctic Fox OmniMech, with 2 construction lines being constructed and only to be sold to the AFFS. The Clan Wolf-in-Exile Implacable will also be repaired and refitted at Panpour in return for the CJF Falcon's Nest. 
Ardan Sortek also had to agree to offer for sale to both the Lyran Alliance and Wolves-in-Exile at least 2 further Fox corvettes (each) within the next 3 years. The Prince's Champion agreed that the new yard building at Filtvelt which was due to be finished in the coming January would lay down 2 Fox corvettes that would be offered for sale to the Lyran Alliance and Clan Wolf-in-Exile. These however would not be gifts, but would have to be purchased at full market price. Privately Ardan Sortek had promised both Archon Steiner and Khan Kell that he would suggest to the First Prince that these yards continue to sell warships to them as away not only of strengthening allies but also a source of funds. 
With regards the fate of the 6th Wolf Guards Cluster the Khan is less than thrilled with the deal on offer. However he currently has a major shortage of warships and while he can potentially form new clusters of troops from either freebirth warriors or graduating trueborn and the production of his factories on Arc Royal he has no realistic prospect of new warships except from either the Lyrans or Davions. As such he agrees to allow the transfer of the former 6th Jaguar Dragoons to the new Clan Sun Jaguar in return for the refit of the Implacable and no less than a full cluster of military equipment from the Federated Suns. The 45 battlemechs and 30 fighters are all to be omnis and he intends to use them to form a new 2nd line cluster. 
Ardan Sortek also takes this opportunity to return to the Lyran Alliance the colors and insignia of the 10th Lyran Guards RCT. The former 10th Lyran Guards, now the 1st Revenant Guards had asked him to carry with him their former colors in order to return them to their former parent realm in the hope of healing any lingering resentment for their decision to remain within the Federated Suns. These are gratefully accepted by the Archon who instructs his General of Armies to begin preparations to reform this storied unit. 
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===Intelligence Reports on Highspire===
Within the Federated Sun's the Department of Military Intelligence receives some disturbing and at the current time totally unsubstantiated reports from agents left behind on Highspire to keep an eye on Kali's lunatic cult. Near the site of the former underground temples which were destroyed in the 1st and 2nd FSAC's raid in 3065 the Thugees are conducting major excavations. That was to be expected, however one report in particular is immediately flagged up for concern. It would seem that a large number of the workers at one of the dig sites all mysteriously died within a few minutes in late April. Further work has been continued but the workers have been seen to be wearing hazmat suits and using specialist equipment. Confirmation is immediately sought. 
While sitting and reading the FWLM after action report from the Free World's Guards attack on their treacherous 3rd Guards First Prince Victor has an idea. The next day he invites his Marshal of Armies Jackson Davion to a "working lunch" within the newly completed Highspire Room at the palace. There he lays out his proposal to his most senior officer and asks what he thinks about it. Jackson Davion after some consideration agrees that the idea very well might work and asks permission to run it by a number of officers - such as Marshal Bishop Sortek, Marshal Stephen Cooper and Marshal Jon Davion. If they like the idea then it would almost certainly be a success. Victor agrees and having been reminded of the fact that the head of his Brigade of Guard's is still a "mere" Marshal informs the Marshal of Armies to rectify this in the next promotions list. While he knows the increased rank is unlikely to actually matter that much to Bishop, he is keen to honour the man who is the very embodiment of the Davion Guards. 
The First Prince also instructs Fleet Admiral Buchwald on the matter of ranks within the Federated Suns Navy. The current top heavy nature of the rank structure is to be redone, the First Prince finds it somewhat ridiculous that an individual Fox corvette has within it's command staff no fewer than 2 flag officers. Particularly with the growing size of the warship fleet this is unsustainable and he requests that the Fleet Admiral look into restructuring it into a more practical set up by the end of the year and have a proposal for him within the month. 
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===Developments in Industry===
The former StarCorp plant on Crofton is re-branded as the SunCorp Industries company. Some licenses fees are exchanged between the new company and it's former StarCorp associates but for all intents and purposes the new company is entirely independent of StarCorp. StarCorp is still sueing the FedSun's Government and the First Prince in the hopes of getting the plant returned to them, but given the huge weight of evidence of corporate malfeasance, corruption and aiding foreign powers this case is going nowhere fast. The factory currently has 2 Warhammer lines, a Thanatos line, a Longbow line and Emperor line as well as having 3 additional lines producing the Black Hawk-KU, Avatar, and Sunder Omnimechs under license. With the new formation of SunCorp there is an announcement that the Thanatos battlemech is to be upgraded to it's original Omnimech specifications by December 3066. A second line for this new Omnimech is to be constructed as well. The AFFS is also considering putting the Highlander and King Crab Battlemech's into production here. 
On Outreach Colonel Maeve Wolf instructs the teams who built the Falcon IIC line out of salvage to begin laying the groundwork for an expansion of the very limited production. She wishes them to look at the Gallowglas WD, Imp C, and Marauder II C designs to see which would be the easiest for them to put into production. Although the technicians point out that a non-Clantech design would be much easier to restart production off the Colonel insists on quality above quantity. It will be years, perhaps decades before the Wolf's Dragoons can regrow their ranks to their former size, but when they do she wishes them to continue to be equipped with the best weapons available. Which means Clantech. Also given their new status within the FedSuns Clantech battlemechs are almost certainly going to be much in demand from the AFFS which will provide funds to continue rebuilding. 
The ComGuards receive another boost to their aerospace numbers when the Sabre Aerospace Fighter line on Batavia goes online. The light fighter is now being produced by 2 separate plants for Comstar and is being bought up as quickly as it can be produced. Although not a famous and historically significant fighter the well regarded fighter's speed and maneuverability make it a welcome addition to the ComGuards fighter wings. 
On the capital world of New Avalon Corean Industries activated a new Centurion Medium Battlemech line. As ever with this incredibly popular "Davion" battlemech the line's full production capacity is bought out for several years in advance by the AFFS. So much so that Corean is considering further expansions. 
New Independence Weaponry, knowing that the Duke of Robinson is interested in adding Gunslinger Assault 'Mech production within the Draconis March steal a march upon the Duke's own Robinson Standard BattleWorks and announces they will be adding a Gunslinger line to their plant on Alta Vista. While mildly irritated by this Duke James Sandoval decides to see this as an opportunity to simply matters. With Gunslinger Battlemechs soon to be in production within his March at Alta Vista he petitions the First Prince to grant Robinson Standard BattleWorks a license to produce the BattleMaster Battlemech design. This will be granted in June.
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===Plotting with Fanatics===
In the Free Worlds League, the Supreme Leader of the Tikonov Province begins to plot and involves a number of WOB sympathizing SAFE agents in his plans along with a handful of his own people. The 2nd and 3rd Tikonov Republican Guards begins preparations in case the plot comes to fruition.
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