InaG Chpt 9

==It's not a Gundam - Chapter 9 - As Rome Burns==
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HPG Station
Alphard, Marian Hegemony
May 3025
Comstar was not truly neutral. Just neutral enough.
 
As much as it galled them the HPG Stations were a service necessary for civilization even in the pits of barbarity that was a mockery of Rome. No bleeding hearts called the Alphard station home. Only ROM agents and Adepts who learned to work with monsters like the Marians before.
 
When the Junkers gathered the coalition the Blake's Blessed Order sat on the fence. On one hand the 'Exarch' clearly had advance technology never before seen ... On the other he was removing a blight upon this Galaxy.
 
Messages passed between Alphard and Terra daily. As the Coalition advanced. As the 'Empire' collapsed. As the noose tightened.
 
In the HPG Station, ROM Agent Wells watched the recording of Exarch's newest trick. He seemed to have an endless fountain of them.
 
THAT was a Naval Gauss. By Blake it might even be a Mass Driver. Mounted on a HUNCHBACK of all things. His strickened face was likely shared by the First Circuit. He couldn't tell. The strain of live HPG Service meant he only saw icons telling him that Blake's Cardinals were watching ... and just as likely disturbed as he was.
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ComStar HQ - Hilton's Head IslandTerra, Sol (ComStar Space)May 3025
"O'Reilly will fail." Precentor Tharkad spoke.
 
New Avalon bitterly snorted, "A forgone conclusion. My sources in the NAIS tell me how outclassed the Davion's are."
 
And how outclassed the order was. Wells knew was said unspoken.
 
The battle in space went as well as expected. Panic set in among the Marian fleet. Forcefully conscripted merchantman broke first, their ships were ignored by the Coalition while the Marian troops that were supposed to watch them were too busy trying to steer clear of the Ptolemaios.
 
What little resistance that remained were set upon by Junker forces and their allies. The 'loyal' Marian Marine, if they could be called that, fled to the surface.
 
"These are glorified pirates." Precentor Atreus spat, "Whatever antiques you gift them Primus it will do nothing against a serious force. Enemy Lostech or not."
 
"That remains to be seen." Julien Tiepolo spoke, "The loss of so many ASFs and Battlemechs matters little when we can replace them easier."
 
"Easy!?" Dieren exclaimed.
 
"Easy." Julien doubled down, "We have the factories. The Scavenger Lords do not."
 
Being so close to the Free Worlds League the Marian Hegemony had launched many raids against FWL members and so Wells was to ensure that it appeared that way.
 
Refurbished semi-slapdash Battlemechs of mostly FWL origins, some with the Marik Eagle and FWLM intentionally worn to better make it convincing. It would not past muster. Even the idiots in SAFE could cross reference records. But the public, the press, and the politicians would see the absence of alternate theories as confirmation; and if there was any Achilles Heel that the league had it was politics.
 
Dieron snarled, "It is a waste regardless."
 
By now the coalition was landing in force.
 
Lostech Battlemechs and armor clashed against improvised monkey models. Across Alphard, across a world of high-rises and Greco-Roman arches, the fighting raged. AA guns barked. Lasers hissed. Missiles screeched. PPCs cracked.
 
The Junkers and Knights of St. Cameron were the first into the breach. Their Shrike units allowed them to fall right upon the Marian Legions with the fury of a reborn Kerensky.
 
Bug Mechs fought Bug Mechs. Tanks fought tanks. Air breathing Jets and VTOLs joined ASFs in the midst of knifefights.
 
"Demi-Precentor." An Adept whispered into his ear, "The Imperator is demanding we release the supplies to him."
 
Hanging in a large holo-tank at the heart of the HPG station was a map of Alphard IV. Coalition and Marik-funded PMCs overwhelmed isolated Marian forces. Some surrendering without firing a shot. Dry and arid Alphard led more than one machine to shut down with heat, seemingly plentiful DHS or not. The raging infernos helped little. Of the continents southern Ostia was written off, only northern Gaul and Alba were of value.
 
In the middle of it all was the confrontation in the Capitol: Nova Roma. Credit where it was due the Marians fought fiercely to hold the city. Alphard was a planet that numbered in the billions. Slaves or not, Marius could gather a large enough militia from a culture already aping the warlike Romans. Conventional planes, tanks, and sometimes just trucks with bolted on guns joined J. Edgar Hovertanks and whatever else that the titular late Alphard Trading Company had in it's boneyards. Fighting street to street were the best Battlemechs that the Marians had, the elite of the loyal, the loyal of the elite. O'Reilly's nascent 'Praetorian Guard'.
 
Wells frowned. Marius' obsession with Rome meant that he INSISTED that he had a large allotment of Centurions despite ROM offering of a larger number of other, more easy to attain military equipment. Hubris came calling.
 
"It is not." Precentor Sian spoke up, "The combat data we have from this conflict is ... immense..."
 
"Data?" Dieron sneered, "You see our plans threatened by some masked lunatic and you care only about data?"
 
"It is BECAUSE of this 'Masked Lunatic' that we are doings this." Sian justified, "This ... Exarch ... Has shaken the status quo in a way that is unprecedented. We will and MUST learn and adapt or we will be swept aside by whatever this man heralds. Unlike the Scavenger Lords we possess intact industry and knowledge bases from the Star League. What this Exarch has shown exceeds in fields that the Camerons barely touched and in the name of Blake we must ensure our advantage."
 
"Ours ... Or yours?"
 
"Call me disloyal again and-"
 
"Enough." The Primus growled, "ROM agent Wells. Continue observing. Ensure the Blessed Order has it's voice in The Exarch's court.... And tie up any loose ends."
 
"My Primus." He spoke to Julien, "What will we do about the other Marian Hegemony worlds?"
 
"They are of no consequence. Either they dissolve into warlords or are absorbed into another backwater state."
 
"Then what stops them from joining the 'Exarch'?" Precentor Atreus questioned.
 
"Nothing, but our target is the Exarch." Sian reasoned, "His petty kingdom will collapse without him."
 
"And when will that be?" New Avalon questioned, "His mere existence seeds issues. The First Prince is actively pursuing avenues that they, that WE, had not taken."
 
As the fight continued they would see video on the ground. Sourced from Battlemech live feeds, street cameras, and concealed drones the First Circuit witnessed glimpses of the bloody streetfights.
 
A Jenner LAM (or was it Jenner VTOL?) ventured too far in alone as pair of anti-aircraft guns dug into the sides of buildings swiveled and spat flak shells into the Light Mech's back. The Shrike system was hit and the Mechwarrior slammed, cockpit first, into the hard earth.
 
The Rose Knight tangled with a Fake-Ex-Marik Spider over the rooftops. Both featherweight machines circled each other as lasers and bullets flew.
 
A Mercenary Hunchback crashed into the ground, mobbed by a trio of Marian Urbanmechs. Since the display in orbit the Marians had been skittish at the sight of any Hunchbacks.
 
It went on and on as blood was spilled in the name of freedom or an empire.
 
"Agreed." Tharkad continued, "The Exarch did not come out of a vacuum. His actual supporters are unknown."
 
"We will get to the bottom of this!" Atreus declared, "But this masked fool needs to be brought to heel sooner rather than later."
 
"Then do it." Dieron challenged, "Unless you are more a coward-"
 
"Waterly." Tiepolo said her name, "We are the Prophet's chosen. Not Neo-Barbs. Agent Wells. Do as I have ordered. Do what is necessary. That will be all."
 
The connection was cut. By now the First Circuit was likely bickering as always.
 
Wells sighed. No matter. Politics never suited him.
 
The ROM Agent turned to the Adept, "Release the supplies. Drag this battle out. Feed Marius what intel you deem actionable. I will see how far this Exarch can bend."
 
The adept nodded and set to work. Caches of ammunition, parts, and weapons were to be 'recovered' by the Marians.
 
More than enough to replenish exhausted troops. More than enough that the worn out invasion forces would soon crash into refreshed Roman Legions by the time night came.
 
With a gesture of his hand the displays around him switched to half a dozen constantly updating maps. Junker, Marik, Marian, ... ComGuard. Well's brows furrowed as he scrutinized the ever changing battlefield.
 
"Time to tip the scales."
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Chapter 9