FSRB Chpt 83

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==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 83==
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December 3067Expansions and Exchanges
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===Urgency to Grow===
December as ever started with the Davion High Command frantically putting in place the orders for the setting up of new units, diverting of replacement and reinforcement personnel to the various units who needed them and managing the host of other issues that always arose from this. Although this process was planned and arranged throughout the year there was always a number of issues that arose that needed to be quickly resolved. The Department of Military Education, Department of the Quartermaster and Department of Military Administration always found themselves massively overworked in December and found themselves longing for the "peace" of just having to run a major interstellar military.
As per what was now considered almost tradition the 6th Dragonlords RCT formed up on New Avalon, with the 5th heading to Novaya Zemlya and displacing the 4th which was then released to active combat deployment. In this case the 4th Dragonlords RCT was dispatched to reinforce Valexa on the Capellan border. Slightly more surprising is when the 15th Avalon Hussars RCT is ordered to be formed on the world of Robinson rather than a more traditional training world. However it is soon engaged in a series of war games and training exercises at the Robinson Combat Training Center with the 6th Robinson Rangers RCT. The well established unit has been training extensively against the Robinson DMM and 1st Robinson Rangers but this new opponent gives them much needed additional experience against a foe that they aren't used to.
The next unit which is raised is the 3rd Federated Suns Armored Cavalry. Instead of being formed from raw recruits this unit draws its personnel from the various elite units of the AFFS - for instance a full battalion of it's new mechwarriors were originally Davion Guardsmen (from the Light, 1st, and 5th Guards), while the Deneb Light Cavalry's 8th and 10th RCTs provide a company each of MechWarriors. To ensure a continuity in the command a company each from the 1st & 2nd FSAC are also included in this "draft". This results in a veteran formation being created, although it will fight at regular status until it can come together properly as a unit. This won't take as long as usual however due to the excellent command staff assembled for the unit. The units who have donated the personnel for the new 3rd FSAC are prioritized for the very best replacement troops that can be found either from the wider AFFS or the cream of the graduating cadets from the Cadres. In such a way they remain at full strength and will have time to integrate the replacements while still creating a viable combat unit in the 3rd which is stationed on Daniels.
A similar approach is taken with the newly reforming 1st Kathil Uhlans. Formed as a full reinforced RCT it's new command staff is given the pick of the new recruits as well as the right to assemble a cadre drawn from the finest soldiers in the AFFS. The Davion Assault Guards, Davion Heavy Guards, 1st Ceti Hussars, 5th & 6th Syrtis Fusiliers, and the 3rd & 7th Crucis Lancers are all tapped to provide a company or so of troops for the new formation's Battlemech regiment. The rest of the unit is drawn in smaller numbers from other units and from the finest graduating cadets who are hand picked for their skills. The emphasis is placed on forming a mobile and hard hitting heavy weighted unit and the Quartermaster's department spares no expense in the new RCTs equipment. Clantech OmniMechs, although always in short supply, are diverted to give the new unit a full battalion's worth, while more common but still high end Inner Sphere OmniMechs such as the Templar-O, Thanatos-O, Argus-O, and Javelin-Os are dispatched in large numbers, with even a handful of prototype Dervish-Os being found for the unit. What conventional battlemechs are assigned to the unit are all amongst the finest machines the entire Federated Suns can produce. The unit is of course formed on Kathil itself to widespread acclamation from the local population and indeed the wider Capellan March and Federated Suns.
Almost unnoticed in the news due to the hype behind the 1st Kathil Uhlans return to the active rolls is the reformation of the Tancredi Loyalist Brigade. Based on their namesake world the brigade is formed around the existing independent command of the 1st Tancredi Loyalists and the newly founded 2nd Tancredi Loyalists. Which the later is draws the bulk of it's forces from the graduating cadets of the 1st Tancredi War College LCT along with a handful of suitable graduates from the Kilbourne and Sakhara academies. The new LCT would be formed up on Kesai IV where it would train with the 3rd NAIS Cadre.
Likewise, the 1st Galtor Borderers would also be added to the rolls during December, although only as a Cadre. Similar to the Bell, Brockton, and Conroe Borderer regiments the 1st Galtor would be retained purely as a training command until it had reached a viable size to be considered ready for active duty. Plans put that at 4-5 companies of battlemechs and proportionate supporting forces for these units.
The graduating MechWarriors and supporting conventional troops from the 1st New Aragon, 1st Kittery, and 1st Mitchel Reinforced Training Battalions as well as the over strength company from the 1st Mitchel Borderers are used to create the 1st Avalon Borderers LCT. Formed up as a heavy weight defensive unit, the new LCT is intended to provide rear area security to vital interior worlds while also being available to deploy to reinforce a faltering offensive or shore up a collapsing defensive line on the border. As such it is deployed to Edwards within the Crucis March, which is not only a growing industrial hub but also right on the border of both the Draconis and Capellan Marches. If this unit worked out additional Avalon Borderers LCT would be formed in a similar line.
The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, and 27th Avalon Hussars would between them receive slightly more than 5 battalions of graduating Mechwarriors to attempt to bring them up to combat ready formations. While usually such large scale influx of newly graduating mechwarriors were avoided in case it reduce skill levels and destroy unit cohesion all of the above units are still rated as green troops and are all units which have only formed relatively recently and so this is not thought to be a concern. However to help reduce any potential risk of this the new battalions for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 27th Avalon Hussars are kept as separate almost training battalions within the formation, while the 2 companies sent to each of the 5th & 9th will be spread between the 4 battalions of the regiments.
This level of expanding the AFFS is only possible due to the increased number of graduates coming from the expanded training units and academies which are keeping pace with the AFFS's expansions and allowing them to continue to add new units. In addition to the manpower the massive expansion of the military industrial might of the Federated Suns is allowing these new units to be equipped with cutting edge technology.
One area of concern however within the High Command and for Marshal Waters of the Avalon Hussars is the huge increase in units that the Avalon Hussars Brigade has seen. While massively increasing the strength of not only the Hussars Brigade, but also the AFFS there is a growing awareness that the Brigade has somewhat lost it's elite status within the AFFS. On the 31st of December 3060 the Avalon Hussar's had had only 7 active commands and they were all rated as regular or veteran units. Now the Brigade has 24 active commands - a full third of which are rated as green. While the units continue to be in receipt of the finest equipment a number of officers are becoming worried that they are in danger of becoming the "regular" brigade for the AFFS - like the Marik Militia is for the FWLM. As a way to counter this a marked increase in training is ordered across the entire Brigade and some pressure is placed upon members of the High Command to perhaps allow a pause in new Avalon Hussars RCTs to allow the formation to catch it's breath. An expansion of the FedSuns Dragoons Brigade in line with designating them the "regular" units of the AFFS while allowing the Hussars to retain their pride of place as one of the premier units of the FedSuns is considered by some to be a route to take. Not a single Avalon Hussar officer is unhappy with the huge increase in strength they have received under the First Prince, but such an increase means little if they lose what makes them the Avalon Hussars they rationalize. 
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===First Prince on Tharkad===
The First Prince and his escorts stay on Tharkad for a number of days to finalize plans with the Lyran Alliance and Comstar about the coming hostilities with the Word of Blake. These talks are all confined to the highest levels and are in strictest secrecy. However the First Prince takes his leave of his brother on the 8th of December and is soon rushing back through the Lyran Alliance towards home. He makes a brief stop at Thorin to assure the sister of Lt. Colonel Archer Christifori that her brother is doing well at the NAIS and will be returning soon.
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===Salvaging from Taurian Campaign===
Hansen's Roughriders sell much of their salvage from the Taurian Campaign to the AFFS (much of it will be stored for using to form the 1st Bromhead Borderers when enough soldiers graduate from the Bromhead Reinforced Training Battalion to make it a viable unit). With the funds that the unit gains from selling over 5 companies of battlemechs along with 2 more companies of their own unit's equipment they reequip with the latest battlemech designs and hardware that the AFFS will sell them - which given their strong showing in the Taurian Campaign is to a very high standard - while also recruiting 2 additional companies of elite mercenary mechwarriors to refill their ranks. This will allow the regiment to form up as 2 battalions and a command company with cutting edge weaponry.
The Illician Lancers take a different route with their own salvaged Taurian equipment and loot. Taking the nearly 4 companies of Taurian salvage they were gifted by a grateful AFFS they reform their 1st Rangers regiment on their landhold of Lackland. Initially the reborn 1st would remain at Lackland and act as a training command for the rest of the Lancers until it reached full strength which might take years unfortunately. 
===Developments in Industry===
During December, the AFFS also announced they would be building the Sandoval Refit Center on Clovis. This would be a mirror of the Hasek Refit Center on Bell but to provide the same services for units stationed in the Draconis March. Given the large scale of the project it isn't expected to be completed until March 3069 - although limited repairs will be possible before that. 
The NAIS also released their Thunderbolt-NAIS refit for license to the various military industrial companies of the Federated Suns. Earthwerks on Tikonov immediately snapped up the license and rushed to put the new design into production at their existing Thunderbolt line. This conversion over would be completed in March 3068. However both Johnston Industries and Kallon Industries also bought a license to produce the new variant of the Thunderbolt. Johnston would begin construction of a line at each of their New Syrtis and Torrence factories while Kallon would begin work to produce the battlemech on Kirklin. 
The Davion-Com company on Defiance which is jointly owned by House Davion and Comstar also begins work on adding a Warhammer line at the current time. Again the production of this will be split between the FedSuns and ComGuards. 
Universal Air has now doubled Tramp Class production at their facility at Delavan and even this isn't keeping up with the demand for the LF equipped JumpShip from the AFFS. They are also producing the Ares Attack Craft now for the AFFS and in particular the Federated Suns Navy. Both the huge JumpShips and small craft designs are wildly popular to the point that Universal Air is having to look at how to expand production even faster. They are loathe to license the Ares in particular. 
At El Dorado, the Davion-GM-Kallon Cooperative plant has it's second Templar-O line go operational. With the growing production of various factories the AFFS is now able to stockpile spare battlemechs at a number of key locations, but the demand for Templars is still so high that as fast as one is finished it is rushed off to the regiments calling out for them! 
With the increased demand for OmniMechs to upgrade the equipment levels of the various AFFS regiments Arc Royal MechWorks is approached for increasing production of their Arctic Fox light OmniMech. While the Javelin-O is more popular at least on nationalist grounds there is still a large demand for the Lyran design. 
At Markesan, the New Earth Trading Companies second engineering vehicle line finishes construction. They start work on a second Gabriel line and a fourth Karnov VTOL line which will finish in June and October 3068 respectively. 
On New Damascus, the Federated Suns Defense Industries plant finishes rebuilding the 2 BullBull lines which they had received from Taurian salvage. These civilian trucks are soon selling widely to many small concerns throughout the Outback in particular. Demand is so high that the company (which after all is primarily formed to provide military produces) licenses the truck design to Veridan Dynamics who begin constructing 3 lines to produce the vehicle on Torrence with the support of the Duke of that world. 
The first production line on Vandalia for the company Blackstone Industries enters operations near the end of December and begins producing Talons for the AFFS. The other 2 lines are due to enter production in the first quarter of 3068. Blackstone is finally beginning to slowly reduce the backlog of orders it has from the AFFS. Although most analysts the company employed are suggesting that they will need at least 2 lines of each mech to keep pace and reduce the backlog in any meaningful way. 
GM decides in December to begin expanding their new Victoria plant which provides battlemechs for the AFFS and ComGuards. These new lines are largely to be aimed at expanding sales to the ComGuards in particular - as most of the new production will be duplication of battlemechs the AFFS already has sufficient lines for. 
The Ozawa based factory for General Dynamics completes it's Ostsol line. From a company which was producing a handful of outdated Kintaro battlemechs only a short time ago, it now has 3 battlemech designs being produced by 4 lines. Whereas the Ostsols produced on Robinson are mostly going to units within the Draconis March, the half produced for the AFFS from this line are dispatched more widely into the Crucis and Capellan Marches. 
The first of the new Michaelson Heavy Industries factories goes online on the world of Sun Prairie. The plant begins producing Yellow Jacket and Hawk Moth gunship VTOLs, with each design having 2 production lines. The initial production runs are diverted to the 1st and 2nd Ceti Hussars and the Tancredi Loyalist brigade. 
The 2 large repair slips for warships complete at Edwards and immedietly go to work on the 3 damaged Fox corvettes. The first of these slips will begin work on the lightly damaged FSS Bryceland and FSS Ridgebrook. The second slip will begin work exclusively on the much more heavily damaged FSS Edwards. The 2 lightly damaged corvettes would normally have returned to service by March or April 3068, and the more damaged FSS Edwards probably May. However all 3 ships will also be upgraded to the new Fox II standard while undergoing repairs. All 3 ships will return to service in June 3068. Alongside the FSS Edwards in the large second repair slip will be the FSS Dahar which is just undergoing a refit. These 4 ships will be the first to be upgraded. All new corvettes laid down from this point all will be built to the Fox II standard. 
Given the fact that the repair yards at Edwards are likely to be busy refitting the large number of Fox corvettes plans are put to create 2 additional repair facilities - although smaller than the one at Edwards with just a single repair slip at each location. The Capellan Match's facility will be built at Novaya Zemlya and in the Draconis Marchs on Verde. Both these facilities will be finished by December 3068. 
Admiral Buchwald also enters into talks with Challenge Systems about increasing the facilities for the Congress-D IIs production. He suggests to them not just to expand the Panpour slips, but also to create a new yard facility within the Outback. Part of his plan is also to use the funding and industrial shipping to cover adding a third battleship yard in secret. Or at least semi-secrecy. 
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===Lyran Regiments Upgraded===
Archon Peter Steiner announces the upgrading of the 15th & 19th Arcturan Guards to RCTs. He also declares the formation of the 6th Alliance Guards RCT and the 16th Lyran Regulars. He also continues the rebuilding of the 2nd & 4th Royals RCT who took such heavy losses in the Jade Falcon Campaign. His General of Armies, Adam Steiner, begins reinforcing the worlds between Pandora and Fort Loudon, due to a Clan Wolf buildup in the worlds they took at the bottom of the Clan Jade Falcon Occupation Zone. The newly reformed 10th Lyran Guards RCT is assigned to garrison the important factory world of Pandora alongside the 3rd Donegal Guards RCT. 
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===Rise of the new Captain-General===
Within the Free Worlds League, the Prince of Regulus, with some loss of prestige following his losses over Clipperton. He launches a swift diplomatic military strong arm campaign and convinces the Regulan Free States to join his faction as well as annexing the world of Drusibacken on the border of the Marik Commonwealth. He also manages to get at least 4 worlds around the Regulan Free States and his own periphery side border to sign mutual defensive pacts with him which give him control of their militias and resources. 
The Atreus loyal government formally announce that Corrine Marik has been appointed Captain-Generalof the Free Worlds League and call upon all loyal sons and daughters of the League to obey her government. Perhaps anticipating a less than resounding response they also send troops to ensure that the vitally important industrial worlds of Irian, Savannah and Connaught. The Duchy of Graham-Marik also renews it's pledges of loyalty to Atreus. Similar diplomatic moves are made to win over the Stewart Commonwealth, but the old Duke of Stewart is less than keen to declare for one side of another at this time. 
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===Events elsewhere in the Inner Sphere===
In a totally overlooked development the 1st & 2nd Magistracy Highlanders deployed to Aspropirgos and Thurrock respectively. Officially at the request of the local governments. A small team from the Ebon Magistrate go with them to ensure that if anyone asks they will be able to provide such "requests" existed prior to the landing of troops. 
At the same time, the CCAF is frantically searching for units with which to meet their many commitments, particularly with the total withdrawal of the Taurian Defense Force from the Trinity Alliance. They are beginning to be stretched thin with little possibility of relief. Using new cadets from the various academies the CCAF forms the 9th Sian Dragoons and 3rd Capellan Chargers, however these units are badly under strength. They do manage to flesh out a number of existing Sian Dragoons regiments. Still to call these troops "green" would be a generous designation. Nonetheless the 7th & 8th Sian Dragoons and the 2nd Chargers are sent to the new Grand Duchy of Andurian's border. The 2 Sian Dragoons are moved to Sigma Mare and the 2nd Chargers to Shiba. The 2nd Chargers are joined by Warrior House Lu-Sann and the 3rd Sian Dragoons. This gives the CCAF a decent sized force facing the Grand Duchy's reborn Defenders. Although the units are almost entirely green except for Warrior House Lu-Sann which is rated as regular. 
It is with the Capellan Confederation facing this challenge, that the Chancellor is approached by Precentor Martial Cameron St. Jamais of the WOB with an offer of an exchange...
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