FSRB Chpt 17

----
 <<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
==The Federated Suns RebornChapter 17==
----
March 3063
-----
March opened with a small number of flare up's along the ceasefire line. A detached demi-company of warriors from the Prosperina Hussars brigade heading back from leave on Prosperina to their parent regiments attempted to raid Galtor in the hope of causing enough damage to make the Davion invaders decide to withdraw. Their two Leopard dropships were intercepted in space by the FSS Simon Davion and destroyed out of hand. 
Similarly on Cylene the 12th Ghost regiment attempted a surprise night time assault to reclaim at least a few of their dropships. It was broken up before it got anywhere near the dropships as fighters from the 5th Deneb Light Cavalry's aerospace brigade got practise at night time strafing runs. By this point many of the Ghost's mechs were running low on ammunition and struggled to put up a great deal of flak to drive the Deneb Light Cavalry's pilots off. They were forced to call of the attack and fade back into the hinterlands. 
On Skat however the 11th Ghost actually didn't attempt to restart the fighting and instead drew back to their own makeshift bases and concentrated on repairing as much damage as they could. While the 12th Deneb Light Cavalry did the same. After the heaving fighting Marshal Andrew Terleki Jr on Deneb Kaitos sent a request that the 12th be rebuilt as a full RCT like all the other Light Cavalry units. This was agreed by Marshal of the Armies, Jackson Davion. 
----
Victor Davion had by now left Galtor along with a strong contingent of the 1st Davion Guards RCT, although the bulk of the RCT would remain on Galtor for the time being, and headed back to New Avalon. The FSS Melissa Davion escorted him, after dropping him off at New Avalon the cruiser would head for New Syrtis to be refitted in the upgrading yards there. 
----
In the meantime the HPG's flashed message after message between St Ives, Luthien and New Avalon attempting to firm up a ceasefire into a full on truce. It was finally agreed that representatives of the two warring states would meet on Northwind, the only really suitable location near both realms. For some reason the Draconis Combine wasn't prepared to send it's emissary across FedSun's controlled space to St Ives, nor were either side prepared to meet on a world owned or occupied by the other. The Elder's of Northwind agreed to this proposal and further agreed that security would be provided by the Northwind Highlanders. 
-----
Baron Tancred Sandoval was nominated to lead the FedSun's contingent while the Warlord of Deiron Isoroku Kurita would represent the Draconis Combine. Both men were chosen for their strong links to the ruling house, military experience but also diplomatic abilities. Baron Tancred's brief was to secure Combine acceptance of the change of ownership of the 11 worlds seized during the recent offensive. Warlord Isoroku's mission was to attempt to reclaim any of those worlds he could, although the Coordinator was realistic enough to know this would be an almost impossible task. He was also to press for the return of the traitor Judith Hotchkiss to Combine justice. The meeting would begin on the 2nd April 3063. 
The four major mercenary commands which had taken part in the recent invasions, the three Fighting Urukhai and Screaming Eagles regiment, would all be gifted with a company of BattleMechs paid for by House Sandoval and House Davion, a lance of each company would be omnimechs produced on Marduk. These BattleMechs were to help them return to full strength and show the gratitude of the FedSuns for the mercenaries who had helped them defeat the Dragon. The commanders of both commands would be grateful for the gift in addition to the generous contractual terms which the FedSuns had further upgraded following the battles. Other mercenary commands both within the FedSuns and outside it would take note of the attitude of the AFFS and Government to mercenary commands who performed good service. 
----
In secret within the Panpour system the first slip began work on a new Congress-D Class Frigate. The yard had finished construction of the first of the two secret slips and had began stockpiling material to produce the warship. It was estimated that the ship would be ready for launch within 3 years. 
The repairs on FSS Antrim were also completed and the ship returned to active duty. The yard would then begin construction on a new Fox class corvette. As well as the returning FSS Antrim, FSS Kathil, and FSS Bryceland were also approaching completion at Galax as was the FSS Robert Davion at Kathil. 
On Addicks a second Dagger-O OmniFighter line came online. Already demand for this new aerospace fighter was far outstripping demand and further expansions were being considered. The expansion of the Dagger-O line's on New Syrtis at this stage were also stepped up and the third line would come online in late April instead of the projected by June. 
----
During the course of the month both sides would spend much of their time bringing up spare parts, ammunition and replacement personnel to the commands who had been fighting or expected to fight while building up large stockpiles of equipment in case the cease fire and truce talks failed. On the Davion side plans were put in place to attack core-ward from the Galtor Thumb and take the worlds of Barlow's Folly, Matar, Scheat, Homam, Sadalbari, Fellanin II, and of course... Prosperina. While the Deiron District would be attacked at Quentin and Al Na'ir and the periphery front would see attacks launched against Huan, Capra, Weisau and Valentina. The Draconis Combine's plans were mostly defensive in nature, but plans were drawn up to launch a full scale assault into the occupied worlds of the so called "Galtor Thumb" and attempt to drive the Davions back across the border. 
Recognizing that he once again faced a hostile enemy on two frontiers the Coordinator ordered a massive expansion of the Sun Zhang Mechwarrior Academy and other training establishments. He also again turned to the despised Yakuza and offered substantial rewards for loyalty to the Dragon. The underworld would begin providing recruits and at least some of the equipment for 4 new Ghost regiments. New Regulars regiments would also be formed. As soon as he could halt the Ghost Bear invasion that was... 
Theodore Kurita also began authorizing increased funds to attempt to rectify the problems with the DCS Yamato which had languished due to major issues with the project. Similar funds were made available for the technically cancelled DCS Mount Niitaka, as well as the ongoing work to refit and reproduce the ancient carrier, DCS Togura. The Dragon's Teeth must be expanded and sharpened. Luthien Armor Works was also authorized to increase production and build a new site to replace the loss of Marduk's Victory Industries. 
-----
On Hesperus II, the battle between the three Lyran Guard units finally drew to a close at the end of March when the last remnants of the 15th finally were overrun by their loyal sister regiments. All prisoners taken during the campaign would be shipped to Tharkad for trial and any officers found guilty (all of them) would be summarily shot. NCO's and serving troops would if found guilty be "merely" sentenced to 25 years in prison. 
----
At the Star League Courts the Archon had began her own defense with what amounted to a 3 hour speech on the depravities and hatred in the heart of so called First Prince Victor Davion. A man responsible for killing his own mother and attempting to kill his own sister as well as having killed his best friend Galen Cox after the man had fallen in love with her and so became a potential liability. She spoke at length on a meeting she had had with Galen in which he had confessed that he believed his friend was mentally unbalanced and capable of anything... This had been shortly before Victor had him killed and only narrowly missed out on killing her. 
This testimony was somewhat undermined when "Colonel" Jerrod Cranston, a minor but relatively well thought of aide to First Prince Victor, was officially unveiled as Leftenant General Galen Cox, returned from the dead. He testified via a ruinously expensive HPG link to the court that said conversation had never happened. In fact he had been saved from the assassins bomb by his friend Victor - while Katherine Steiner-Davion who had claimed to love him had been notified about the bombing but had made no effort to warn him. 
Throughout the Sphere and particularly within the Isle of Skye region of the Lyran Alliance this testimony totally undermined any remaining credibility that the Archon had left. The feed from the court room of her gaping shocked face as Galen Cox returned from the dead to testify against her did little to help this situation. She did quickly denounces him as a false puppet, but DNA evidence was submitted that proved he was who he said he was. At which point a visibly flustered Katherine demanded another recess to evaluate this new evidence. She asked for 3 months, but was given until the 1st of April.
----
 <<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
017, Chapter