FSRB Chpt 176

==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 176==
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September 3070Preparing
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===Conference with the Kuritan Prince===
With the confirmation that Minoru Kurita has arrived at the Davion lines in order to negotiate, First Prince Victor rushes forward to Robinson in order to meet him there along with a large contingent from the 3rd Davion Guards to bolster his small bodyguard detail from the 1st Davion Guards whom are still on Umjiri. Meeting hurriedly with the Duke of Robinson he and the old Duke make preparations for the negotiation of a new border with the Combine. While Victor is eager to avoid terms which are so harsh that the Combine will refuse and continue the fight. Victor is very much swayed by the arguments of Duke Sandoval that this is an opportunity to hold House Kurita to account. With a District Capital world and no less than six Prefecture capital worlds either conquered or with Davion troops poised to seize them and with two more Military District capitals in range of follow on waves, the Kuritan position is the weakest it has ever been. If House Kurita wishes to stop further losses then they will be forced to make painful concessions. Duke Sandoval argues that Victor had tried to be reasonable in the past and this had only led to Irredentism from the Kuritas. Force was the only thing they seemed to respect or be able to learn from. Given the history of the two realms it's a hard argument to counter.
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===Troop Adjustments===
As well as preparing for the summit with Minoru , the AFFS is also busy preparing for further combat operations against the WOB. Operation Nightfire has been a major victory, but at heavy loss. Of the ground troops committed to the fighting on Hesperus, only the two Borderer regiments are combat effective. Although a generous assessment would also include the 5th FedSuns Dragoons in the list of units which can still conduct military operations. The 1st St Ives Cheveau-Legers, 1st Arcadians RCT, and 2nd New Avalon Cavaliers are all effectively reduced to cadres and are ordered to ship back to the Federated Suns as soon as possible to take up interior garrison postings where they can be rebuilt. Given the policy of gradual rebuilding to maintain combat effectiveness and experience this might be the work of years. While the 5th Fedsuns Dragoons are ordered to remain to bolster the shattered LAAF garrison on Hesperus itself. Field Marshal Sortek is promised that his losses will be replaced with fresh commands as soon as practical so that he can continue to conduct operations within the Lyran Alliance, both against the WOB and also against Clan Wolf and "any other enemies that he and General of the Armies Steiner agree upon". These reinforcements would be much easier to scrape together if active combat operations ends on the Combine Front.
For now however the 1st Capellan Dragoons, 3rd Ceti Hussars RCT, and 26th Avalon Hussars RCT all stationed in the League March are ordered to prepare for rapid redeployment if necessary. The 1st & 6th Syrtis Fusiliers are also being considered for redeployment. While the High Command would prefer the elite 6th to the green 1st they are aware that New Syrtis might object to losing one of it's finest units when it is still integrating the two new PDZs and had committed two Fusilier RCTs to the Draconis Front both of which were heavily mauled. The Robinson Rangers Brigade is also under consideration as a source of troops - but again Robinson would no doubt be reluctant to commit these troops with ongoing combat on their doorstep.
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===Nova Cat Convoy resume it's trek===
The first large scale convoys of Clan Nova Cat leave Cussar. The convoy heads for Verde under escort from their warships. Most of those being sent are technicians and laborers who are to help prepare the way for the rest of the Clan. Although due to the eagerness of the Clan's leadership to preserve their future a number of sibkos are also dispatched with the first wave. 
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===Developments in Industry===
On Menke, the upgrade of the former armor production facility now being operated by GM see's the Stealth Medium BattleMech enter production. Menke for all it's recent addition to the Federated Suns is already proving a key industrial world and GM is already considering adding either another BattleMech line or a battle armour producing facility. 
Kestrel see the vast New Independence Weaponry plant grow even further with another assault weighted design marching of the production lines. In this case it is a Battlemaster Assault 'Mech production line. This brings the total of assault production lines at the plant to eight with another two heavy lines. Further expansions are put on hold as the company continues to pour funding into rebuilding and upgrading Quentin.
Davion-Com see's it's Marlette facility add a Griffin BattleMech line in September. Three further BattleMech lines are still under construction but the addition of the Griffin to the plant is a welcome one, with the ComGuards in particular hungry for every BattleMech they can buy. The AFFS diverts many of it's "share" of the production to rebuilding the FedSuns Dragoons Brigade. 
New Avalon itself witness it's factory production expanding when Corean opens it's Legionnaire production line. Back orders for the medium class BattleMech are already tying up production for at least five years and so Corean take the opportunity of the opening ceremony for the new line to announce they intend to triple Legionnaire production on New Avalon in the next year.
The Andoran Industries plant on Shawnee has it's Mercury plant go online in September. At the current time the company doesn't have any plans to expand this facility - although the ComGuards would be happy to buy more Clints, Hussars, and now Mercurys from the facility. 
On Wei the new Jalastar Aerospace facility sees it's first production line start up. Although plagued with some technical difficulties and requiring some finishing work to avoid quality control issues becoming a problem the first Javelin-O marches of the lines and enters service with the 2nd Tikonov Cossacks. Planned production is set to increase massively as other lines for the Javelin OmniMech, Centurion BattleMech, and Sparrowhawk aerospace fighter finish construction.
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===Troubles in the Lyran Alliance===
Within the Lyran Alliance, the LAAF continue to rapidly reinforce Arcturus in anticipation of a Clan Wolf attack on this vital world. Swiftly the LAAF learns not to route any supply convoys through Odessa as any that do so are immediately seized by the Odessa Regulars to expand and refit their own troops, rather than continuing onto Arcturus. Orders to stop these practices go entirely ignored. In the meantime, the two regiments of the Odessa Regulars manage to expand by a full battalion of Assault weighted BattleMechs between them. 
The 20th & 23rd Arcturus Guards are reinforced by the 4th Donegal Guards and 6th Lyran Guards on Arcturus itself. All four units are RCTs and a number of independent infantry and armor formations are also rushed to reinforce them. While other units could be sent, the LAAF High Command is loathe to strip the rest of the border entirely bare. 
On the FWL-Lyran front, the LAAF continues to hurriedly redeploy. General of the Armies Adam Steiner publicly continues to support retaking Bolan, however in private he knows that unless he can secure the orbitals any counter attack is doomed. Even with their shipyards shattered behind them, the various FWLN elements are still too strong for him to retake Bolan without unacceptable risks. With the LAS Yggdrasil destroyed and the LAS Fylgja still damaged, the only heavy ship he has left is the LAS Mjolnir. The battlecruiser is needs that to secure Tharkad. In the meanwhile, the destroyer LAS Peter Steiner is available he has it guarding Alarions vital shipyards for now. With reports that at least one Thera is perhaps in system filtering in he cannot risk the attack.
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===Comstar makes its own Preparations===
Interim-Primus Dow summons the Precentor Martial to a top secret meeting on the 30th of September regarding the ComGuards launching a major offensive against the WOB. Dow has had enough of waiting on the Davions to live up to their promises and wishes to show the rest of the Inner Sphere that Comstar is still capable of acting independently of the Federated Suns...
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