DVH Chpt 18

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==Davion Heir (BattleTech CYOA)Chapter 18==
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===Invasion of the Outworlds Alliance===
Famindas, Alpheratz
Outworlds Alliance
8th February, 3016
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The Outworlders never saw it coming until it was too late. The Wraith Legion wasn’t one of her Bows of Light, but Tai-Sho Hikari Kurita nee Yamamoto was pleased with their conduct. The most capable of the new Spirit Legions, Wraith Legion had been chosen for the sneak attack on the capital of the Outworlds Alliance and despite Hikari’s concerns, the samurai under her temporary command had proven themselves well.
 
Of the four DCMS regiments involved in the surprise invasion of the Outworlds Alliance, the 3rd Prosperina Hussars would have been the best match for the defenders of Alpheratz. Yet Hikari had assigned the elite MechWarriors to the invasion of Ramora as the daughter-in-law to the Dragon had considered more than just the immediate invasion. Holding the new conquests against the counterattack of the AFFS would be vital as the closest world to the Suns and the Alliance’s only source of ASF production, Hikari decided that Ramora would be taken and then held by the Proserpina Hussars.
 
The other two worlds in the Outworlds Alliance with military production, Michella and Lushann were also being attacked by two of the other Spirit Legions, two regiments of inexperienced MechWarriors eager to prove themselves. Unfortunately for the Ghost Legion, the Alliance Borderers on Michella would have no ‘Mechs in their ranks while the Spectre Legion on Lushann was even worse off as they faced only the local and pitiful militia.
 thumb|right|250px|Merlin Heavy 'Mech
Giving herself a metaphorical pat on the back, Hikari is pleased with just how well the surprise invasion has gone. Sneaking the ‘Mechs in on an ordinary cargo-hauler and then prepping them in the cargo bays for battle after landing had been her brainchild and it had worked like a charm. They had bypassed the ASF defenders of Alpheratz and had even landed on the outskirts of the capital.
Now Wraith Legion is fighting with the Avellar Guard in the capital with Hikari leading the charge in her Royal King Crab. The pair of assault autocannons are proving worthwhile in the urban battleground as Hikari pursues one of the Merlin, a ‘Mech she has never liked with her other live viewing it as worthless early period crap. A little more than an oversized Vindicator. Still, it was the heaviest ‘Mech produced by the Outworlders and the DCMS can always replace it with something superior in the future.
 
For now, the Dragon needs Alpheratz’s Merlin factory to repel Victoria Davion’s attempts to crush the Draconis Combine like she did with the Capellan Confederation. Hikari still worries about how that happened, especially since the main work was done before her awakening. The current First Prince was a menace and Hikari doesn’t know what her game is, only that she must be stopped. It will be the Coordinator who becomes the next Star Lord and ruler of the Inner Sphere, not some Davion floozy.
 
Of course, if Hikari was honest with herself, she would admit that Victoria Davion scares her. An aberration in this alternative universe of BattleTech, Victoria Davion is doing everything that those fix fics do. Peace between the three ‘good guy’ powers, finishing off the Crappies and then crushing the Combine. She just needs to make a miraculous peace, perhaps even another military alliance, with the Bulls, form a second Star League or equivalent, deal with the Blakists and defeat the Clans to become the perfect little Mary Sue.
 
Well, maybe not since Vicky Dee can’t seize the Helm cache and its memory core because Hikari already did and boy did it pay off for her. She just needs to get the New Dallas core and some other LosTech sites. She knows about the Castle Brain in Rigil Kentaurus and the Furies on Bristol amongst other locations, but unfortunately, few of those locations have precise details on their locations like with Helm and those that do aren’t exactly accessible to a loyal servant of the Dragon.
Pushing those thoughts to one side as she puts her target, Hikari opens fire with both of her autocannons and adds her large laser to the mix, the double-heat sinks of her ‘Mech easily able to handle the heat load. The large laser sears some armor off of the Merlin’s shoulder, but the distance is enough that both autocannon shells go wide, slamming into an unfortunate residence as they explode on impact.
Hikari knows that she should feel some guilt as the majority of the building collapses, almost certainly killing those inside, but she cannot. She has made her peace that a few innocents will die in her career, but given that they are rejecting and resisting the Dragon’s merciful rule, she can’t muster up any sympathy for the fools.
 
The Outworlds Alliance is already on the verge of falling apart on its own and the destruction of its capital will just be a deathblow to the dying nation. Which is fine by Hikari because she never liked the Periphery nations in either life and the end of the Outworlds Alliances means that it will be harder for anyone to find the secret ‘Mech production lines that her family maps led her to in the Outworlds Wastes.
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===New Crisis===
Saso, New Syrtis
Capellan March, Federated Suns
11th February, 3016
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Coming to New Syrtis is a pain for Victoria. It is necessary and in theory safe, but it is the heartland of Michael’s power and Victoria still doesn’t trust her brother-in-law Yes, Michael is unlikely to make another attempt on her life, but at the same time, he would be a shoe-in for the next First Prince if she was to die and New Syrtis is his home territory.
 
Still the visit was necessary to appease the people of the Capellan March and to avoid snubbing Michael and his supporters. Not to mention that Victoria needed to smooth over transferring the conquests of her reign from the Capellan March to the new Liao March. Well, she could not do it, but that would just cause even more ill feelings towards her from him.
 
At least she got to see Marie and Morgan. Victoria still has mixed feelings about her sister, but she is the last of her siblings and Marie is in her camp even if she continues to stand by Michael. At least Morgan is free of any politics for now as the heir apparent of Victoria and Michael, a good will concession by Victoria to Michael to lessen the soreness of his loss by giving his bloodline the chance to sit on the throne.
 
She isn’t sure that it worked.
 
“I’m just so reassured that the two of them are getting along for now,” says Marie as you have tea together, “Even if the experience disparity means that Morgan always loses, they do enjoy their chess games.”
 
“I’m glad to hear that Michael is a good father,” replies Victoria, wondering if that will be a good thing or bad thing in the long run once Morgan grows up.
 
“He is doing what he can,” says Marie with a sigh, “Not that I can hold it against him. Running the Capellan March is a full-time job and I knew that long before we had Morgan. Still, I am glad that recent events have allowed him to focus more time at home. Even if things are still far from peaceful, the lack of actively hostile borders has-”
 
Whatever else Marie is about to say is silenced as her husband bursts into the room, holding a document of some kind in hand.
 
“My deepest apologies about the interruption, but we have a crisis at hand.” says Michael Hasek-Davion as he gets his wife an apologetic look, “One that affects the whole Suns.”
 
“How bad?” demands Victoria as she decides that her brother-in-law is being forthright about the seriousness of the situation.
 
“The Outworlds Alliance has fallen to the Draconis Combine.” declares Michael solemnly, “The details are still pending, but it seems that the DCMS used civilian DropShips to sneak their forces past the ASF defenses onto key worlds. While the entirety of the Outworlds Alliances hasn’t fallen, they have lost their most important worlds, including both Alpheratz and Ramora.”
 
Damn, that is bad. The Outworlds Alliance might not have much worthwhile military production, but the entirety of its ‘Mech production is on Alpheratz while all of its ASF production is on Ramora. Not to mention that Alpheratz is the capital for what that is worth in the Outworlds Alliance.
 
“Do we know which units they used?” asks Victoria as she tries to think about how this changes things.
 
The joint LCAF-AFFS invasion has already been delayed for some time now and there is only so long that both Victoria and Katrina can afford to delay it. Yet Victoria cannot afford to ignore the Draconians taking the Outworlds Alliance even if they can’t afford to hold it long term. The Outworlds Alliance produces a disproportionate number of ASFs for its size and while its Bug ‘Mechs are nothing special, the Merlin is a decent heavy.
 
Damn it, this is going to kill her plans for getting a Merlin factory up and running the Suns.
 
“Three of their new Spirit Legions and the Third Proserpina Hussars are on Ramora,” answers Michael, “That’s the world closest to the border with the Outworlds and their source of AeroSpace Fighter production.”
 
“I remember,” replies Victoria, “Just-just thank you for letting me know, but I’m afraid I am going to need to cut this visit to New Syrtis short. It isn’t a total disaster, but I’m still going to be needed back on New Avalon to deal with this.”
“I understand,” replies Michael with grace that makes Victoria suspicious, “While I am still not entirely pleased with recent decisions, I cannot deny that you have done a great deal to handle the concerns of the Capellan March. Not for all our arguments do I wish to see the Combine push back the border. Despite what some would claim, I have never downplayed the brutality of the Combine or the suffering that our citizens undergo when conquered by House Kurita.”
 
Is this a peace offering? Victoria isn’t sure and even if it has been a couple of years now, she hasn’t forgotten how her brother-in-law tried to usurp her and have her killed. She really, really doubts that Michael has had a change of heart, but maybe he has decided to be pragmatic about things? She has rather decisively dealt with the Capellan Confederation and while Michael had his part in that, it wasn’t close to equal to the role that Victoria herself played. Playing the gracious loser might just be part of Michael’s plan to save face rather than continuing to plot her downfall.
 
Nonetheless, the First Prince will be very happy to leave New Syrtis and Michael Hasek-Davion’s powerbase behind. Silver linings and all that.
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===Gathering the Troops===
Avalon City, New Avalon
Crucis March, Federated Suns
24th February, 3016
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“Alright, we’re in private, Yvonne,” says Victoria as she and the Prince’s Champion hold a one on one meeting, “How is it?”
 
“It isn’t good, but not beyond salvaging,” replies Yvonne, “Sending those regiments to the Outworlds means that the Dracs aren’t sending them to reinforce the border, though them gaining that extra industry does hurt. Combined with the loss of Marduk, we are going to be limited on what we can do with the extra reinforcements to the Draconis front from the old Capellan front.”
 
“Speaking of the old Capellan front, I’ll see what Candace can shake loose from the former CCAF,” says Victoria, “They got torn to be pieces, but some units should be intact and we do need to integrate them into the AFFS at some point.”
 
“Thanks for dropping that on me by the way.” grumbles Yvonne, but Victoria can tell that her heart isn’t in it, “On top of everything else, you form a new march and expect us to incorporate a foreign military into our own.”
“You can expect another march in the next few years.” promises Victoria, “Of course, I’m going to wait until things have settled with the Combine, but I do intend to get around to forming a Periphery March of some kind by thirty-twenty.”
 
“At least you are saving that for later,” replies Yvonne before sighing, “The loss of Marduk hurts a lot. That world makes up almost a third of our Medium ‘Mech production and while things are fine for now, we will start to feel the loss if we don’t take Marduk soon. The Vindicator production we captured from the Cappies will help, but with you giving away the St. Ives production lines to the Leaguers, it won’t be enough to make up the difference.”
 
“The Taurians will be opening up their ‘Mech production to us,” says Victoria and the other woman gives her a half-impressed and half-disbelieving look, “We might have to use the Aurigans as middlemen and pay extra for the service, but we will get those ‘Mechs.”
 
“I’ll expect you to explain how you swung that later, but I have an idea of how to deal with the Outworld situation,” says Yvonne, “Short answer is that we toss the Eridani Light Horse at it.”
 
“Walk me through it,” replies Victoria, though the idea does sound good to her.
 
“They have their own transportation and support elements,” explains Yvonne, “Not to mention that they are an elite formation who can handle the DCMS forces currently in the region. They can handle the current invaders and if the Dracs call it quits rather than fight them then great. If the Combine sends reinforcement to the region, we can reassess what we do, but right now, the Eridani Light Horse can get the job done without being disruptive to the logistics or our plans.”
 
“If General Armstrong agrees to go along with it, I’ll sign off on it,” declares Victoria after a moment of thinking it over, “Now what about Marduk?”
“With your approval, I’m going to send the First, Fourth and Heavy Davion Guards to reclaim the world and avenge the slight upon the honor to the Davion Brigade of Guards.” answers Yvonne, “Bring the Eight Deneb Light Cavalry and the Third Davion Guards back to New Avalon to rebuild and replace the First Davion Guards and Heavy Davion Guards. It might be overkill, but we still use Marduk as a launching point for further invasions and we do need to avenge the loss of the Third Davion Guards.”
 
“Good,” says Victoria, “Now, I am going to reach out to the survivors of the AMC. The Avellar Guards might have been crushed, but the Alliance Grenadiers remain along with the majority of their aerospace forces. And I doubt they have taken kindly to surprise invasion by the Kuritans.”
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==Author's Chapter Notes==
;Word from the Author: The end of the story draws ever closer. The Outworlds Alliance has fallen with the Combine seeking its military industry and some secret production lines. Also writing Combine characters is hard. I wanted to have more of Hikari’s perspective, but all of those ritual and cultural customs of House Kurita have effectively sidelined her due to the difficulty of trying to get them all right.So this is about as far as I got in NaNoWriMo. I intend to write another three or four chapters to finish off the story.
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