FSRB Chpt 120

==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 120==
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March 3069General Update
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===Inner Sphere Responds to creation of the League March===
The announcement of the St Ives Compact joining the Federated Suns and forming the core of a new League March was met with joy across the rest of the Federated Suns as a sign of the realms growing strength and influence, and dread across a number of other realms. The various factions of the Free Worlds League for instance, having seen the swift destruction of the Capellan Confederation were under no illusions that their shattered realm could resist the Davion juggernaut - indeed Oriente sent out feelers to the other splinter factions to see if some sort of compromise could be reached to restore the Leagues shattered unity. While they received some positive feedback from the neutral Parliament on Stewart, they Regulans, and "Legitimate" Parliament on Atreus responded with demands Oriente accept their own legitimacy. The less said about the Draconis Combine's general response to the news that the FedSuns was forming a new large and potentially powerful March out of the majority of the Confederation the better... 
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===Naval Developments in AFFS===
The High Command were tempted to retain the Fox Class corvette that finished at Filtvelt's shipyards for Comstar, however after some discussion it was agreed that the Fox I block would indeed be sold to Comstar. Not only would they have to upgrade the vessel if they kept it, but they didn't want to further erode their relationship with the communications order at the present time. On top of which the FedSuns could use the cash from the purchase given the war.
Also at Filtvelt the new Avalon yard came online and began construction of the first of these now combat tested cruisers at the yard there. This was in line with the First Prince's directive that no single facility be the only source for vital equipment for the AFFS. While the bulk of Avalon class cruisers under construction remained at Kathil, there were now Avalon yards at Filtvelt and Galax - meaning that even if Kathil was destroyed not only production but also support of these vital ships would continue elsewhere.
At Galax itself, the FSS Dothan, FSS Molino, FSS Evansville, FSS Sonia, and FSS Elbar all completed construction. The FSS Dothan, FSS Molino, FSS Evansville, and FSS Sonia were all assigned to the 2nd Corvette Flotilla which was based in the New Avalon Combat Region to bring that Flotilla up to reinforced status. The FSS Elbar was assigned to the nascent 7th Corvette Flotilla as it's proposed flagship. The new ships that were laid down at Galax - the FSS St. Ives, FSS Warlock, FSS Sarna, FSS Corey, FSS Nanking - sent a clear message to anyone wondering as to how committed the AFFS was to integrating the new League March into the Federated Suns. With the formation of a 3rd Division for the 2nd Corvette the Flotilla's 2nd Division slipped away to be refitted at Verde and Novaya Zemlya - 2 corvettes being refitted at each repair slip, with the ships expected to return to service by September.
The destroyer FSS Divine also finished at Galax and was immedietly dispatched to join the 2nd Destroyer Squadron. Indeed the FSS Divine would for the time being be the only combat capable ship in that squadron, given the damage inflicted upon the FSS Daring and FSS Dryad during the recent combat. The FSS Dauphin was laid down in the vacant slip.
Kathil also finished the FSS Dastardly which was dispatched to join the 3rd Destroyer Squadron over Robinson to add additional protection to the March capital. The FSS Davidson was laid down in her place. The 3rd Destroyer Squadron was also joined by the FSS Dragon from the shipyards at New Syrtis bringing the 3rd Destroyer Squadron to full strength. The irony of assigning the FSS Dragon to oppose the "Dragon" was not lost on the Federated Suns Navy. The empty slip was filled with a fresh destroyer - although this one was destined for the Clan Wolf-in-Exile as per previous treaties. The yards at New Syrtis also saw a new slip go online to build the planet's namesake carrier.
The final ship completed in March was the FSS Courageous, the third of the Congress-D II class frigates to be completed. As such it was immediately assigned to the 1st Patrol Squadron. The Congress-D IIs with their new heavy fighter component and decent weapons and armor had impressed many in the recent battles with the Capellan Confederation and some thought was being to given to expanding producing of them as almost "light carriers" while also having them available for their intended roles of long range patrols in the Outback. As such 2 further slips for this versatile design were ordered - the first at June and the second at Panpour.
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===Protecting former St. Ives===
Military officers and civilian government officials poured into the new League March from the rest of the Federated Suns, attempting to begin setting up the required governmental and defensive infrastructure, while Davion companies did likewise economically. Princess Isis Davion influenced her husband to make attempts to prevent the wholesale economic takeover by existing Davion companies with some success. Although in the area of the military industrial complex this was less successful...
For instance on both St .Ives and Menke the StarCorp executives were presented with compulsory purchase orders. StarCorp had made itself an enemy of House Davion and their continued activity within the realm would not be tolerated. Their facilities would be subsumed into SunCorp and StarCorp paid a "fair" sum for the production lines. The sum was in fact generous when considered that it was not an optional offer, although was still far from what the facilities were considered worth by StarCorp. They were invited to take it up with the courts, but were assured they would be wasting their time. 
Similarly Ceres Metals Industries found itself renamed, reforming as St. Ives Metals Industries with it's facilities on St. Ives itself as well as Indicass, Warlock, Tikonov and presumably Capella itself when that world was finally conquered ending up in the new company. The companies flagship facility on St. Ives however was heavily damaged and wouldn't be repaired until December. 
Naval officers also rushed to the Capellan, Sarna, and Necromo shipyards and began inspecting not only the shipyards themselves but also the ships in them to see what could be salvaged and whether it was better to scrap the existing ships or complete them. One major announcement regarding these that the Ares Memorial Shipyards over Necromo would be renamed the Kai Allard-Liao Shipyards. 
Other renaming going on was the Yu Huang & Ti Ts'ang class BattleMechs and Kuan-Ti Class dropship. All 3 would be continued in production for the AFFS but renamed - the Yu Huang would be renamed the Kai, with the Ti Ts'ang renamed the Halberd, and the Kuan-Ti renamed the Cassandra class. All 3 designs would also receive a change in armor moldings more in keeping with the AFFS than CCAF. In the same vein the huge battle armor complex on Capella in what would become that worlds St. Ives Metals Industries plant was earmarked to switch over to producing Cavalier and Infiltrator II class battle armors. 
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===Reorganization of AFFS Forces===
The AFFS also began to properly organize the garrison forces for the new March this month, although the process would take until the end of the year to properly finalize. Examples of this were when the 1st Tikonov Cossacks were ordered to return to Styk to garrison that world, the 1st Federated Suns Armored Cavalry dispatched to Corey, the 39th Avalon Hussars RCT take station on Gan Singh, 8th Deneb Light Cavalry is sent to Second Try, the 1st Kestrel Grenadiers were sent to Elnath. The Grenadiers were ordered to prepare for immediate redeployment, as well the 1st FedSuns Dragoons being given similar orders when they were moved to Yunnah. 
Alongside these redeployment came the beginnings of the integration of the St. Ives Compact Military into the AFFS. Provisionally the 1st & 2nd St Ives Lancers were assigned to the new St. Ives Armored Cavalry Brigade was were the 1st St Ives Cheveau-Legers, although the Cheveau-Legers were being considered for an independent command. Some thought was also being given to disbanding the 2nd St Ives Lancers or folding them into the Cheveau-Legers given the horrendous casualties they had suffered recently. However, it was felt that disbanding such a prestigious command as the first order of the new integration would be taken badly by the Lancers. One piece of good news was that the mercenary command Rubinsky's Light Horse, given their commanding officers romantic relationship with the new Duchess of St. Ives had agreed to join the St. Ives Armored Cavalry Brigade as their 3rd St. Ives Lancers, while their sister regiment Khorsakov's Cossacks also with strong links to the new League and Duchess had agreed to join the Tikonov Cossacks as the 3rd Tikonov Cossacks. Given the shattered nature of the former St. Ives commands these 2 additions were more than welcome to help reinforce the League March. It also led to a major upswing in popularity for the transfer to the League March on Tikonov itself given the return of their mercenary brethren and the fact that the Khorsakov's Cossacks had been folded into the Cossack Brigade and not the St. Ives Lancers. Alongside these announcements came the news that the Duchess intended to marry Colonel Marco Rubinsky in the new year. 
One area where this was not however evident was Roman's Mounted Fusiliers. The unit was now effectively refusing all orders and while not in open rebellion was point blank refusing to acknowledge the integration of the St. Ives Compact into the League March. While Duchess Cassandra Allard-Liao was sending repeated messages to the command attempting to defuse the situation she was also getting closer and closer to having to send in military formations to bring order to the rebellious unit. She had even attempted to offer them a personal mercenary contract with her rather than service with the Federated Suns, but none of her messages had been returned. 
A final major announcement in March was also that Duchess Isis Davion was returning to New Avalon, where she was expected to give birth to her and First Prince Victor's son sometime in September. If the people of the Federated Suns had been delighted with the news of the new March, the announcement that the First Prince would soon have an heir was met with almost riotious celebrations across the Capellan, Draconis, and Crucis Marches. Even within the League March a number of celebrations were held - for instance on Tikonov and Achernar. 
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===Developments in Industry===
On Bristol, the second production line for the Fury Command Tank came online at the Julassa-Kumbold plant. The demand for these tanks following the few battles they had taken part in during the recent fighting was far outstripping the production. Already the High Command were considering not only an expansion but a second production facility! 
SunCorp as well as it's new facilities on Menke and St. Ives also saw it's Crofton plant expand with the new Warhammer line coming operational. This brought the Warhammer production facilities on Crofton up to 3 lines. 
The New Damascus based plant for the Federated Suns Defense Industry saw it's final line be assembled. The Thunderbird Heavy Aerospace Fighter line had finally been rebuild on the planet and also upgraded with new technology. There were no current plans to expand production of this fighter given the lukewarm demand for it from the AFFS. Still several mercenary commands were eager to add almost any fighters they could and could be counted on to keep sales coming in. 
On Clovis the Sandoval Refit Center goes operational. Elements of the Kentares DMM begin cycling through the facility to have their Battlemechs not only refitted but also rebuilt. The Fighting Urukhai and Northwind Highlander units are also promised access to it as soon as the Kentares DMM is finished. 
The Norse Battlemech Works complete their Shadow Hawk line on Mayetta. The company begin considering what OmniMechs to begin construction and start discussions with leasing either the Javelin-O, Dervish-O, Argus-O, or Templar-O for production at the sight. 
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===Luthien Blackout===
On Luthien the entire system goes into a blackout, with the HPG going offline in the last week of March... Warships at the main jump points turn back all attempts to contact the planet "On order of the Coordinator"...
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