FSRB Chpt 92

==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 92==
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July 3068Bad News
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===Shorten Honeymoon===
The First Prince had spent most of the end of July on "honeymoon" albeit a honeymoon that involved daily updates from various military officers and government officials about the escalating situation across the entire Inner Sphere. However as of the 1st of August he was officially back at work, although with one major change. Whereas before Duchess Isis Marik had been a semi-constant adviser who attended meetings at which the First Prince wished her to be at, now Duchess Isis Davion was an almost semi-permanent presence within most meetings with the First Prince. The only real exception was military briefings at which the Duchess herself would point out she could rarely have any real input. She did however prove to have a number of extremely useful insights on the inner workings of the Capellan Confederation not only on the civilian side but often on who the military advisers were that Sun-Tzu Liao actually listens to. 
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===Repositioning on the Capellan Border===
In the meantime the First Prince and his military advisers in the High Command continued to build up troops in the Achernar and Nanking PDZs. The 39th Avalon Hussars RCT moved from Kentares to the border world of Algol, while the 17th Avalon Hussars RCT moved to Bharat. The 4th Davion Guards RCT also shifted from Galtor to Sheraton. To almost all those watching this was a clear buildup that the First Prince could unleash as his own version of his father's Operation Rat. Worse from the point of view of the Capellan Confederation there was little they could do to counter it. The entire Liao Commonality was in chaos, with the resistance movements now almost at the point of open rebellions, while their own troops were either already committed to trying to keep a lid on the situation or diverted to pursue the conquest of Andurien. A handful of worlds such as Liao continued to show stalwart support for the government on Sian and seemed immune to the efforts of the Davions to cause chaos, but these worlds were few and far between. 
The fact that these movements of troops to the Capellan border were largely a cover to get them into position for the strike against the Word of Blake was lost on almost everyone. After all it made perfect sense for the AFFS to begin preparing to invade the Confederation to almost everyone who knew even the most basic history of not only the realms but also the two rulers... Certainly the Chancellor was firmly of the view that the First Prince was preparing to invade his realm and called out to the SLDF and the First Lord Mansdottir to support his realm. The only reply he got was Christian Mansdottir informing him he was no longer First Lord and the SLDF informing him that they would not move unless the First Lord told them too...
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===New Worlds join the Federated Suns===
Near the end of August the First Prince himself left New Avalon and headed for his forward command post for the coming fighting of Tikonov. With him went the 1st Davion Guards RCT as his personal unit. A small detachment of the 1st Guards would remain on New Avalon with Duchess Isis. 
Thus it was left to Duchess Isis Davion to announce on the 31st August that the Federated Suns had formally grown by 3 further worlds. The worlds of Resurgence and Fox's Den had formally received their first colonists and were now being admitted to the Federated Suns as full member worlds alongside the nearby periphery world of Cooperland. For the time being these worlds would be grouped within the rather ill defined "Periphery Combat Region", however she informed the listening media that in time it was likely that this would be formally split and recognized as 2 further Combat Regions of the Crucis March, the first centered on Tortuga and the second probably on Cooperland. One point she was happy to make was that these would be the first worlds added to any Successor State by colonization rather than war since the fall of the First Star League.
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===Developments in Industry===
On Firgrove, the Firgrove Consortuim's aerospace fighter line to produce the updated heavy Vulcan Heavy Fighter begins producing it's first fighters. These are snapped up by both the ComGuards and AFFS who begin evaluating them to see whether or not they are a viable and useful design. 
At Kirklin, the Kallon plant see's the new Enforcer III line enter full production. While Kirklin has long been a major supplier of vehicles for the AFFS the new Battlemech lines are adding to it's value. It now produces not only the Enforcer III but also the Crusader & Penetrator Heavy Battlemech's for the AFFS. 
The Jalastar Aerospace factory on Palmyra finishes it's construction during August. It now has 4 dedicated production lines for constructing Javelin-O OmniMechs and is one of the most modern and efficient factories within the entire Federated Suns. Alongside the production lines for full battlemech's is a large scale spare parts facility which provides the AFFS with ample kits to not only maintain the Javelin-O's that it buys but also refit and repair them even in the face of almost total destruction. 
Johnston Industries see's it's new Thunderbolt NAIS line go operational in August as well. This if the first of the new factory lines to go operational (although the existing Thunderbolt line at Tikonov has already been upgraded to the NAIS specifications) and the orders are soon coming thick and fast. 
GM see the Cestus Heavy 'Mech line at Victoria go online at the same time. This line has been part of the redundancy plan that the High Command and Federated Suns Government has been pushing most of the major industrial companies to follow. With the memories of the Succession Wars, nobody is keen to see a vital design lost to a single strike.
The prolonged negotiations between New Independence Weaponry and DefHes finally complete. For a large cash transfer and a license to produce the Victor Assault Battlemech, DefHes agree's to allow New Independence Weaponry to produce the Zeus Assault Battlemech at 2 locations within the Federated Suns but only for domestic sale. Immediately work begins at the companies Kestrel and Tikonov factories to put this design into production. 
 
Ranger Battlemechs of Verde who are producing the Shadow Hawk medium Battlemech mostly for the mercenary community announce that they have obtained a license to produce the Warhammer class battlemech from the Federated Sun's Government and will begin work on a facility to produce the new battlemech and hope to have it in production by December 3069.
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===Capellan Invasion of Grand Duchy===
====Cutting deals for Victory====
With the movements of more and more AFFS troops to his borders Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao is feeling apprehensive. Worse with the fighting on the Andurien front beginning to see-saw back and forth he can't draw his troops down on that front. In fact he frankly needs more troops to push onward to victory. This results in him personally going to the world of Menke in August to meet with the officers of McCarron's Armored Cavalry and Lord Marcus Baxter. Repeated attempts to redeploy the Cavalry from Menke had met with stonewalling by the brigade who seemed to have no intent to actually leave Menke on the orders of Sian. Only the 4th McCarron's Armored Cavalry regiment was currently off world, posted to Ares as it had been for some years. The other rebuilding regiments were all still garrisoning their homeworld. 
Faced with such intransigence, the Chancellor would usually dispatch his Death Commandos or MASK agents, but with his current shortage of troops. The huge prestige of the unit he feels obligated to go to Menke to resolve the issues personally. In a 6 hour long meeting with Lord Baxter and his officers he is forced to make concessions. These concessions that leave him furious, but regain him control over the semi-rebellious unit. Not only does the Chancellor have to make economic concession's to help rebuild the world of Menke from the damage inflicted during the recent FedSun's invasion, he is also forced to promise them a replacement for lost Mitchel. No lesser world than Andurien itself is to be granted to Lord Baxter as his new fief. Along with ruler ship over a reinstated Andurien Commonality as it's overall leader. To say this is more than Sun-Tzu was willing to pay is a massive understatement, but in return Lord Baxter promises to lead his own command battalion as well as the 1st & 3rd McCarron's Armored Cavalry to Andurien and to secure it in Sun-Tzu's name. A heavy price for 2 regiments worth of troops, but one Sun-Tzu feels he needs to pay. As an insurance the Chancellor orders the 2nd Sian Dragoons to leave Menke and accompany Lord Baxter. 
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====Battle for Andurien continues====
Within the Grand Duchy itself, the 2nd Defenders of Andurien are forced to leave their hard held positions on Lopez and head for Andurien. While Lopez is a vital world, it will mean nothing to hold onto it if Andurien herself falls to the invaders. They quickly move to Andurien and find themselves used to fight a mobile campaign against the 1st & 2nd Magistracy Highlanders to prevent them seizing even more of the world. 
Meanwhile on Andurien in the City of Baroda, the 1st Capellan Chargers launch a full scale assault into the mercenary formations who are holding the siege lines of the planet. Jaffray's Own meet them head on and in a horrendously bloody fight manage to throw them back into the city badly mauled. The mercenary commands battalion is reduced to a single company of battlemechs while their attached company of Andurien natives is effectively wiped out. Worse from the point of view of the command structure is Colonel Jaffray's own battlemech is destroyed and he is left at death's door and is medically evacuated to city of Jojoken. The remainder of the battalion folds into the 1st Kearny Highlanders. While some thought was given to returning them to the Northwind Hussars there is still a great deal of bad feeling between the former comrades. The Chargers who had been at half strength before their breakout attempt are reduced to 2 damaged companies of battlemechs in this fight. 
The 2nd Liao Guard & 7th Sian Dragoons, having taken lessons from the brutal break out attempt of the Chargers' began a series of probes, stretching the Highlander's lines thin. Using their interior lines they begin a slow and gradual erosion of the Highlanders ability to hold the entire perimeter. On several occasions they have the opportunity to break the siege, but don't do so deliberately. They know such a breakout will end in a bloody battle and are content to merely keep the Highlanders pressed while awaiting reinforcements... 
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====Other actions of note in Duchy Invasion====
The 4th Tau Ceti Rangers, swiftly pacifying Wallacia largely due to their reputation of honorable treatment of defeated foes, move on from Wallacia and strike out at Mosiro. The 4th Defenders of Andurien, who are still forming up, along with the planetary militia attempt to defend their world but are soon crushed by the veteran Rangers. Worse from the point of view of the rest of the Grand Duchy the other two worlds of the former Mosiro Archiplegos immediately surrender to the Capellan Confederation rather than face invasion... 
On Conquista, the 3rd Defenders of Andurien and their local allies continue to hunt the 3rd Liao Guard. While the Defenders have a slight numerical edge and are of a higher skill level the 3rd Liao Guard manages to stay just one step ahead for now. 
The only bright news coming to the embattled defenders of the Grand Duchy are reports that Korsakov's Cossacks have struck again. This time they have crossed the border into the Confederation and smashed into the staging world of Shiba. Hitting the planet before the few defenders can properly mobilize they Cossacks seize huge stocks of equipment and ammunition before sending it back into the Grand Duchy to help supply their allies. What they cant use themselves or send back they destroy before leaving the world one step ahead of the Shin Legion. Even with them unable to hold the world in the face of Capellan reprisals, the Cossacks have in a single action cut the flow of supplies for the invading troops in half until a new supply depot can be built up. 
With the Capellan Confederation picking off isolated worlds near Andurien, the world of Ipswich formally petitions to join the Duchy of Oriente and which is accepted. The 6th Oriente Hussars is dispatched to garrison the world to prevent any attacks. 
Chancellor Sun-Tzu receives one final piece of bad news as August comes to a close... The CCS Edmund Salindar the latest Feng Huang class cruiser was missing. During it's trial's the ship had jumped out of the Capellan system where it had been built... And not returned.
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