FSRB Chpt 55

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==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 55==
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January 3066Losses that cannot be replaced
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===Terraforming and Schooling===
Having been at his sister's wedding on Robinson and engaged in high level talks with the various military leaders who had attended the wedding - including both March Lords - Victor had returned to New Avalon just in time for the New Year and began January catching up on all the routine paperwork and administrative tasks that were the bread and butter of a First Prince. Thankfully much of the routine work had been done in his absence by the Prince's Champion and Marshal of Armies. 
One of the first things he did upon returning to New Avalon was have a meeting with his Ministerial Adviser for the Outback - Duchess Helen Trempeleau. After some discussions the First Prince makes 2 large scale policy decisions. The first is that the continuing expansion of the Vagabond School and Regional Finishing Schools programs as well as increasing the number of Advanced Finishing Schools from 5 to 9 over the next 2 years. The other large scale decision is to create a new Agency/Research Group based on the planet of Manassas, specifically tasked with researching terraforming and rediscovering the secrets of the Star League in this area as it's primary "goal". More than a few Davion worlds had been forced to be abandoned during the Succession Wars as the technology required to keep them habitable broke down and wasn't replaceable. Other worlds merely saw their habitability reduced to such an extend that the men and women living on them had seen their standards of living fall to barely subsistence level. Finding ways to reverse this downward trend was the new duty of the Federated Suns' Terraforming Agency. For obvious reasons Duchess Trempeleau was strongly supportive of this new agency as the Outback more than any other region of the Federated Suns had seen the effects of this decline. 
The First Prince also directed that on his sister's world of Tortuga a new Borderer regiment be formed to protect the new Federated Sun's worlds in the region and for anti-piracy sweeps. The material for the regiment would come from the wedding gifts of a BattleMech regiment, while the cadre would come from AFFS personnel drawn from nearby worlds with future graduates of the Tortuga Training Reinforced Battalion and Filtvelt Military Academy. He had given some thought to forming a new CrMM unit for the worlds but feels that currently a more flexible Borderer regiment would be a better choice. Initially the force would hover around a battalion of BattleMechs with supporting elements and be expanded over time. 
Alongside the Marshal of Armies the First Prince also meets with the Albion Military Academy and the NAIS's College of Martial Sciences Commandants Major General Frederick Hastings and General Ranier Wolfgram to discuss potential expansions of the two premier academies within the Federated Suns. Albion currently graduates 2 regiments worth of cadets annually while NAIS graduates 3 regiments worth. Both Victor and Jackson Davion feel that given the growth of the rest of the military educational sector the 2 largest academies are also in line for expansions. Both Commandants are somewhat hesitant about any possible expansion, taking the perfectly understandable view that "if it isn't broke don't fix it" with regard to their current output of cadets. They are concerned that any expansion might dilute the highly skilled cadets they are already producing from their academies. However both the Marshal and Prince speak at length that this is the last thing they would wish. They would make funds available to ensure that the standards of military education at both facilities would remain at their current level, but merely expanding the number of cadets who would be able to take advantage of this. After some discussions the Commandants agree to take the proposal's back to their faculties and discuss with them a potential expansion. The plan at the current time is for Albion to add a third regiment while the NAIS would expand from 3 to 5 regiments of cadets. With similar expansions in their non-mechwarrior training programs to match. 
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===Fleet Movement===
At New Syrtis the FSS Ridgebrook and FSS Woodstock are completed and enter trials. Both will engage in war games and patrols within the Pleiades Cluster as they work up to full readiness. They will be aided in this by the corvette FSS Kathil and the cruiser FSS Covenant. Such a show of warship strength within the Cluster is clearly meant as a sign to the Taurian Concordant along with the now 2 Dragonlord RCTs stationed on the border: Behave. As soon as the 2 Fox corvettes are finished 2 more are started - the FSS Tancredi and FSS Sherwood begin construction. 
The FSS Simon Davion returns from a refit and refurbishment and rejoins the ships on active service. This allows Fleet Admiral Buchwald to begin a reorganisation of the Fleet over the next year. Rather than merely assigning ships to the "Capellan", "Draconis" or "New Avalon" Squadrons or merely to Outback patrols he will now begin to form actual permanent squadrons. To begin with he limits this reorganization to forming a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Cruiser Squadron. The 1st Squadron will consist of the FSS Melissa Davion and FSS Hanse Davion and will be permanently assigned to the First Prince. The 2nd Squadron will be home ported in the Draconis March and will consist of the FSS Alexander Davion, FSS Lucien Davion and FSS Simon Davion. The 3rd Squadron will be based within the Capellan March and will consist of the FSS Robert Davion, FSS Andrew Davion, and FSS Covenant. At full strength the Admiral envisions each squadron consisting of 4 cruisers, divided into 2 divisions each of 2 ships that will be deployed in support of each other. However for the time being and for the foreseeable future the Squadrons will be running under strength although he ensures that they will all consist of at least a single division of 2 ships so that no cruiser is left isolated against an attack. A 4th Squadron is to be formed in June as 2 more Avalon cruisers become available and to be based as a reserve at New Avalon/Galax. As soon as this squadron is formed all future cruisers will be used to bring the Squadrons up to full strength. For the current time the Admiral doesn't reorganise the Fox corvettes but by now almost every deployment of the versatile workhorse corvette is now conducted in pairs for mutual support. When the first Congress-D II hulls are launched he intends for them to form the basis of a Patrol Squadron.
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===Developments in Industry===
On Axton, Filtvelt and Sun Prairie the Tomahawk Aerospace Fighter lines under construction by Wangker Aerospace all go online and begin producing this superb dog-fighter for the ComGuards and AFFS. Immediately the AFFS sends a number of these new fighters to units along the Draconis and Combine border, particularly to squadrons assigned to Fox corvettes to give them a boost in anti-fighter protection. The Comguards instead form them into full formations of Tomahawks and deploy them to Dieron to defend the ComGuards forces there from any attack. 
At the new Achernar BattleMech factory on Chesterton the first line goes online and begins producing the Wasp Light BattleMech design. The Phoenix Hawk line is also nearing production although the Dervish isn't expected to be completed until August. There is some talk about adding an Enforcer III line or an Argus-O line. 
On Belladonna the Griffin line finally goes online and joins the Hornet, Wolverine, and Shadow Hawk lines in producing BattleMechs for the AFFS and ComGuards. None of the BattleMechs produced on Belladonna are exactly cutting edge but they are all up to date variants of venerable and battle tested designs which are popular across the entire Inner Sphere and beyond. Indeed the High Command has considered that in the future the Kallon Industries plant on Belladonna might specialise in export designs of common BattleMechs. 
At their plant on Kirklin Kallon Industries also begins construction of a new Penetrator line which they expect to come online by the end of the year. With encouragement from the Davion High Command most major industrial companies within the Federated Suns are being encouraged to diversify their production so that in the event that one factory is destroyed or captured the AFFS does not loose access to vital supplies and designs. 
Lycomb-Davion's flagship facilities on New Avalon finish a second Guillotine line, the entire production of which is sold to the ComGuards. The funds from this will go into future expansions and design upgrades, while the sales taxes are a welcome source of funds to the Federated Suns Treasury. The success of this plant and the high quality BattleMechs it is producing will result in the ComGuards contacting them to potentially build more designs for them. Preliminary discussions will take place in February. 
The ComGuards and AFFS receive an additional source of fighters when the Spad Aerospace Fighter line on Panpour enters production. Although at least initially production will be much less than the projected full output. This was caused by the factory concentrating on producing enough spare parts to allow the ComGuards extensive existing stock of Spads to be returned to full service as spare parts had been in short supply. The ComGuards will pay a premium for these spare parts. 
On Alta Vista the New Independence Weaponry plant's first line goes operation. When First Prince Davion initially came back from Huntress the Federated Suns lacked even a single line for the iconic Atlas class BattleMechs. It now has 2 lines in full operation and a third building. There had been some initial talks between New Independence and Robinson BattleWorks about a license for Atlas production for the Robinson based company. However, with an Atlas line entering production within the Draconis March this isn't the priority that it had once been. Instead Robinson is now more interested in a license for either the Battlemaster or Gunslinger designs. 
The ComGuards receive a rather strange offer during January. They had initially offered various Star League era fighter designs to existing companies to produce for them, but had not managed to find a supplier for the Ahab assault weighted fighter. Now the Clyde Shipyards and a local manufacturer, Greenock Aero Manufacturing Ltd (a supplier of spare parts and refits for mercenary groups mostly) have entered into an agreement with the local private Greenock Flight Academy to attempt to begin aerospace fighter production. They would like the opportunity and support to build a new production facility to produce the Ahab fighter for Comstar and the Federated Suns. After some consideration Precentor Martial Focht agrees and authorizes technical support and specifications to be released to the new "Firgrove Consortium". 
More worryingly from the point of view of the rivals and enemies of the Federated Suns is the growing speed at which these expansions are taking place. With a well established workforce who are experienced at bringing new production lines and indeed entirely new factories online the pace at which the Federated Suns is able to expand their production is actually increasing. This is further helped by the growing number of technical educational classes being offered throughout the Outback and the growing economic output of that same region which is able to feed these new factories construction. To make matters even worse the increased JumpShip and DropShip production throughout the realm is making the costs of transportation of raw materials fall across the board. The more various companies in the FedSuns expand, the quicker and better able they are at those expansions. This hasn't been missed on Luthien or Sian. 
The ComGuards Faslane Class YardShips, CSV Dover and CSV Portsmouth, have been arrived at Novaya Zemlya and begun their work there to build up the infrastructure required for the new shipyards for the ComGuards. However unknown to almost everyone who isn't serving directly upon the CSV Dover that ship is not only building infrastructure but is also beginning work on rebuilding the long crippled and retired FSS Pleiades. This rebuild is expected to take at least 2 years.
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===Clan Falcon Conflict - The Wolves enter the Fray===
On and above Esteros, the battle between the various Allied forces and the Jade Falcons continue. The LAS Robert Kelswa takes crippling damage in a brief sortie when the Fox class corvette is caught by the CJF Emerald Tornado. However before the Jade Falcon destroyer can finish the kill she is struck by what is either a superbly lucky or incredibly well aimed volley of Naval Gauss fire from the Battlecruiser LAS Yggdrasil at what can only be described as "extreme range". The destroyer is forced to limp away and leave the injured corvette to retreat back to the cover of it's larger brethren. 
On the planet itself the Jade Falcon Guards manage a breakout and link up with the rest of Gamma Galaxy and begin falling back on the Khan's own forces. However the 1st Falcon Hussars are not so lucky and fail in their own breakout attempt and are totally overrun and destroyed by the vengeful Wolves. The rest of Gamma's retreat however doesn't go smoothly and they are soon fighting running battles with the mercenary forces of Morgan Kell and then his son the Khan's Wolves-in-Exile forces who fresh from the destruction of the Hussars have a taste for Falcon. Again and again only the borderline suicidal rear guard actions of the Jade Falcon Guards enables the Gamma to avoid being overrun. 
Worse for the Khan, word has reached her via the orbiting warships, that the Wolves have cross the border. Khan Vlad Ward and his curs have swept into her Occupation Zone and are in the process off seizing Orkney, Quarrell, Jabuka, and La Grave. Worse, probes and raids as well as reports from the Watch are that the Wolves are considering a 2nd Wave to strike upwards from these worlds towards Sudeten her capital. She needs to get off Esteros and lead her troops and ships back to dealing with the Wolves! 
A hurried request for Hegira is denied with language which she is not used to hearing from freebirths. As well as instructions to commit an act that would be anatomically impossible for her. For a brief second she hovers on the cusp of giving orders for her forces to attack to seek revenge for this insult, but common sense prevails. Instead of ordering a full scale assault, she instead orders a full scale retreat.
To cover the retreat Gamma Galaxy's Amelia Icaza is forced to order a counter attack by the 1st Falcon Swoop Cluster and the Jade Falcon Solahma Cluster to give her time to break free of the circling Hounds and Wolves. While she gave some thought to ordering the Jade Falcon Guards to lead this attack instead of the 1st Swoop, she wanted to keep this storied unit alive to be rebuilt as well as realizing that after the recent hard fighting it just didn't have the strength to actually hold the attention of the enemies long enough. Meanwhile the 12th Falcon Regulars launch a similar suicidal assault in order to give time for the rest of Rho Galaxy and the Khan to escape. All 3 clusters throw themselves in a death ride onto the enemy forces, buying time for the other commands to fall back to their dropships and head for orbit. 
Overhead the various Jade Falcon warships push forward and provide a heavy escort for the ascending dropships and then head with them for the jump point. Of the 3 diversionary clusters not a single warrior escapes the planet, although 2 trinaries worth survive and are accepted as bondsmen and women into the Wolf-in-Exile Clan. 
The Falcon retreat leaves the Lyran Alliance and Clan Wolf-in-Exile the clear victors in the fight, although at a heavy cost in men and materials. While some within the LAAF and Clan Touaman push for an immediate counterattack into the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone the Archon and Khan at the advise of Grand Duke Morgan Kell and General of Armies Adam Steiner from Tharkad agree that such an attack while it might be successful would gut the LAAF and might result in an escalation which could draw other Clans in. Instead the Archon has his most intact units lift off to retake the border worlds the Jade Falcons have seized. However in an attempt to appease the hot heads the Archon also requests/orders that the SLDF 1st Royals and the 1st Alarion Jaegers counter attack/raid the worlds of Roadside and Black Earth in order to probe the Falcon's defences and tie down any further invasion forces. Both units happily head off on this mission and attack worlds that are ill defended as the Jade Falcons frantically divert troops to the Wolf border. Both worlds are seized by the "raids" and are formally reclaimed by the Lyran Alliance on the 30th January. 
In naval terms this Falcon incursion has been a disaster for both sides. The LAN has seen the loss of a corvette but heavy damage to another corvette and similar damage to a battlecruiser and light damage to another battlecruiser. While that might not seem heavy losses for the small LAN it is crippling. Their active fleet has been reduced to a single Fox corvette - the LAS Angela Franks - unless they wish to deploy the lightly damaged LAS Yggdrasil. The losses to the Clan Wolf-in-Exile fleet have been similarly devastating. The loss of both of their corvettes and crippling damage to their 2 battlecruisers which are un-repairable without a major shipyard leaves them with only the Werewolf and Full Moon as active warships - and the Werewolf has light damage. The seizure of the CJF Falcon's Nest would be some conciliation if it wasn't a total wreck and neither of the Allies have facilities to repair it as frankly they can't even count upon repairing their own damaged ships. Likewise the Jade Falcon losses are severe and frankly irreplaceable. The loss of the Texs class CJF Falcon's Nest is their worst loss, but they have also lost 2 Aegis Class cruisers and seen heavy damage to 2 more battlecruisers and a destroyer. Even those ships which aren't crippled are all showing the signs of hard fighting and carrying light to moderate damage. Worse from the Falcon's perspective is that the Clan Wolf attack is being led by the CWS Nicholas Kerensky and 3 cruisers.
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===Trouble in Clan Space===
On Huntress in the SLDF Enclave, technicians from the Eridani Light Horse discover that there has been a large number of serious break in's at the former Smoke Jaguar Genetic Repositories. The caretaker staff of former Jaguar Scientist and Technician castes when questioned as to whether they knew the break ins had taken place respond "of course" but then refuse to explain why they have not reported it to the SLDF command staff. An investigation is launched which finds out that not only has ever single "Chapel" within the Repository been breached and samples taken, but also a number of industrial facilities on the planet under SLDF control has seen unauthorized access of their computer systems and downloads taken. The local staffs and workers at the various facilities have almost all been totally complicit in not only the break in's but also in keeping them hidden from the SLDF. This will cause a major breakdown in trust between the garrison and locals which will only get worse when it is noticed that a number of former Smoke Jaguar warriors who had been working as technicians or laborers within the enclave are gone. As are a number of key scientists and technicians themselves. Worse it appears that the remaining scientists and technicians for instance have attempted to hide these missing personnel. 
Sir Paul Masters will immediately upon receipt of the full findings on the 29th of January contact the Goliath Scorpion forces on Abysmal and accuse them of the thefts. This will be roundly denied and instead the Goliath Scorpions will inform the SLDF Liason that it wasn't them that did this, but that they know who it was and will allow him to Trial for the information, in return they will seek a Trial for a lance of Star League era mech's of the Light Horse. 
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===Votes in the Free Worlds League===
The Free Worlds League's Parliament are expecting to have another version of the Captain-General's military budget placed before them in January, but it doesn't happen. There are whispers that the Captain-General knows he wont be able to get it through and is buying more time to "buy" votes with further concessions. Amongst the people he is apparently pushing to support him is the Duchess of Andurien.
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