NDiS Chpt 14

=New Dawn in the Sun's - Chapter 14=
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==Fighting in Shadows - Industrial Sabotage==
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Davion Summer Palace
Argyle, Federated Suns
August 27th, 3016
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"Operatively interfering with the rebuilding of Irian is turning out to be impossible. I apologize, My Prince, but SAFE is being unusually effective at maintaining security over the entire project, including the logistics.", Nicholas reported blandly. "Efforts to procure tooling at the source have also run into difficulties, the tooling which is being used is supposedly being supplied by Andurien, but we can find no evidence of any such industrial activity. Fortunately, one of my people came up with a work around that we believe can work."
 
"Duchess Humphreys isn't willing to work with us?" Hanse asked with a raised eyebrow. Catherine Humphreys was notorious for being a contrary cuss, and hating Janos Marik for his focus on the commonwealth border. If she was being recalcitrant then MIIO really needed to have another look at the situation, because something was going on there beyond the usual Free Worlds politics.
 
"She was remarkably evasive when approached." Nicholas confirmed. "Not even dangling our report on the coupe was enough to budge her from her position."
 
"She was willing to forgo vengeance for her aunt in order to protect this secret?" Hanse clarified, just to make sure he was understanding this correctly.
 
"Correct. It is most vexing. I've had to redirect most of our free world assets onto the problem, because there is something going on there and we don't know what it is." Nicholas actually sounded annoyed for a change. His normal calm demeanor clearly being tested by this latest development. "SAFE can be spotty at times, defensively they have traditionally been fairly effective especially against the provincial intelligence agencies but this jump in competence makes me nervous."
 
"Keep on that, changes like what you're talking about don't happen overnight and I can't see how we would have missed it," in the privacy of his own head Hanse was wondering if it was time for Nicholas to retire. He was missing too much these days, between Brocktons surprise moves and now SAFE's sudden competency the surprises were coming far too often. "You did mention an option earlier?"
 
"One of my proteges came up with it, would you care to hear from him yourself, or would you like me to brief you?"
 
"Do I know this protégé of yours?"
 
"I presume so, you did grant his sons request to be assigned to the Hounds for his fifth year."
 
"Quintus.." Hanse immediately recognized who was being talked about. A good man, and one whose mind could be as twisty as one would want from a spy. "Bring him in."
 
Nicholas left Hanse alone on the balcony to contemplate the sunset. Despite the truly exceptional view Hanse mind was troubled. The Inner Sphere had been stable for a long time, it was a paradigm he had meant to shatter in his own time, ending the succession wars decisively in favor of the only rightful claimant, but there were currents below the surface which threatened his plans. He knew he needed to deal with internal opposition, his brother-in-law was particularly bad at concealing his ambition, the scope of what he faced had come as a surprise. Perhaps he needed to steal a page from Janos book, his pause to rebuild had been remarkably successful. It was an attractive idea, especially as it gave his scientist time to digest the find from Hadlestad.
 
In a few years the Suns would be on the ascent, their scientific prowess unmatched except possibly on Terra. Time was the one thing that he seemed not to have. There were rumblings coming out of the Draconis March that the Combine was testing a new weapon, which if true meant that five new weapons systems had been developed in the past handful of years. The race Hanse had thought he had to himself was turning out to have a remarkably crowded field. He still had faith that his scientist would be the ones to win, to bring the Suns back to their glory days before the others managed it, but it was a lot tighter than he liked.
 
Especially when he contemplated the industrial situation that the Suns found themselves in. He had known that things were bad, supplies being inadequate at the front for even a prince of the realm, but he hadn't realized just how bad it had gotten. Almost the entirety of the suns heavy industrial base was engaged in repairing what they could, leaving him little margin for error. Hanse didn't want to admit it but finding out just how hollow the Crucis March reserves were had shaken him badly. It was why he was willing to take chances with semi friendly states, an action he never would have contemplated when he was still just the heir. Before he could continue obsessing over the problems facing him Nicholas returned leading Quintus onto the balcony.
 
"Duke Allard, it is good to see you again." Hanse shook the man's hand, slipping back into his politicians' mindset. Allard was a man he had met, but he knew of him more then he actually knew the man. "Nicholas tells me you might have a solution for our tooling problem?"
 
"I have an idea, My Prince," Quintus replied cautiously. "The working group I'm assigned to does more work on the confederation then the League, but the conflict between those two states means there is a bit of overlap. We were looking for ways to provoke the League into conflict with the confederation when the orders about machine tooling were passed down and I think we have a way to achieve both objectives."
 
"The League is looking pretty exhausted after their latest batch of civil war." Hanse said cautiously. He was all for anything that would remove the distraction of the confederation for a bit of time and allow him to focus on the real enemy, but from the reports he had read the League just wasn't in good enough shape to provide that distraction.
 
"Otherwise, Janos would have responded to the confederation backing Anton?" Quintus asked rhetorically. "That was a consideration, but we think with the right incentive we can push him over the edge. Janos, and the League as a whole, has traditionally been focused on the Commonwealth with the Confederation being a decidedly secondary theater. The current celestial wisdom has pulled a bit of interest towards his realm, but issues with the Anduriens have prevented Janos from shifting his military focus. That said, with the right pressure we think that Janos can be induced to vent his spleen on the confederation."
 
"Lots of abstracts there, walk me through your idea in detail," Hanse asked, his voice mild but his eyes sharp as he looked for a snow job. He had found that people who proposed operations in a general sense didn't have the specifics nailed down enough to execute their ideas, which made him wary.
 
"Kali Yama has been receiving extensive federal support to develop a new mech," Quintus ignored the brief flash of annoyance on Hanses face. The First Prince didn't like being reminded that his own realm was behind the Lyrans and the Leaguers. "From what our operatives could glean its supposed to be a forty-ton design to fill line units facing the Capellans, something a little heavier armed then the Hermes II."
 
"Something like our Swordsman? And why do you think its meant to face the Capellans?"
"Exactly like our Swordsman, designed with countering the Vindicator in mind. As for why we think its aimed at the Capellans? The weight. A low-end medium would have limited utility against the heavier mechs the commonwealth traditionally deploys. Now the interesting thing from our perspective is that Kali Yama needed to buy several new sets of tooling, they put the orders in before Anton kicked off, and its almost ready to begin delivery." Quintus didn't allow the intensity of the first princes gaze to put him off. "With that said, security has been unusually tight on the project, until last year when holes started appearing. Initially it was thought that SAFE was baiting a trap, but from what several of our operatives in the Maskirovka tell us MASK has gotten a few people into the project. My analysists are divided as to why, but the leading theory is that the rushed nature of the design has led to problems and the Kali Yama higher ups want to buy time to fix things. Whatever the reason we have an opportunity here. The new the tooling is going to be transported from Loyalty on a single JumpShip, with minimal security, in a security through obscurity gambit. The idea my working group has put forward is that we hijack the ship, recover the tooling, and then dump the ship in the Jasmine system for the Capellans to recover."
 
"Loyalty is very close to Atreus…" Hanse waffled a bit, buying himself time to think.
 
"That is precisely why we think this can be pulled off." Quintus said mildly. "Anton's men haven't been completely cleared out of the LCC, several that we know about were successful in keeping their heads down and cleaning up after themselves."
 
"What would we need to pull this off?" Hanse was coming around to this plan. Between the Anton loyalists, who would be vulnerable to Capellan blackmail, active Maskirovka presence in the project, and the fact that the JumpShip would end up over Sian being repaired before the Capellans put it into service, there were enough indirect indicators to point the finger squarely at the Capellans for the theft. Especially given they would be on the hunt for machine tooling to put the FireBee back into production. "And what's the risk factor here?"
"In terms of assets… a naval crewed JumpShip, Star Lord or Monolith if we can swing it, unless you want to pull one of our Mammoth Cargo Class dropships for the raid. The equipment is supposed to be transported in four mules which are going to be docked to the FWNS Ire, a tramp class. So, we need at least enough jump collars to transport four mules and a pair of assault ships for our marines." Quintus outlined the retrieval force easily. "Our risk factors would be on insertion, the operatives we put on the ships might just have to deal with competition from MASK or Death commando teams looking to do what we intend. We have assets in place who can be tasked for this mission, already cleared by SAFE, so they aren't much of a worry. With assets in place, we can abort should this prove to be a trap without contact. Again, CCN assets might become an issue, but our people will know if that's going to come up before our ships begin combat operations. Extraction will be through dead systems, so it is unlikely that the FWLN will intercept."
 
"It sounds like you were already planning an operation." Hanse was distracted as he mentally started shoving units around. He would need to get with Yvonne but if the Capellans and the League went after one another he could take advantage. The Tikonov salient was right there, and the AFFS had been dreaming of taking that world for generations. If the Capellans weren't too distracted, well widening the defensive corridor around Marduk was a worthy objective. He would just need to build a task force and stick it on Chesterton or Edwards, waiting for the results of the operation.
 
"We were going to attempt a disruption operation," Quintus put mildly. "Perhaps some sabotage."
 
"Very well, your operation is approved, start putting together the pieces you need."
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Chapter 14