ASO Chpt I3

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==Interlude: Hanse Davion - Aurigan Sentinels (BattleTech CYOA)==
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===Word of Urgency to the Prince's Ear===
Avalon City, New Avalon
Crucis March, Federated Suns
20th August, 3020
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“My apologies for the intrusion, my prince, but we have a situation,” says Nicholas Truston as the Director of MIIO walks in on the First Prince’s dinner, “I must confess that it isn’t truly pressing, but the severity of the situation is such that I decided to err on the side of urgency.”
Hanse frowns at that. If Nicholas is taking the matter this seriously, then it must really be a big deal. As annoying as it is, having to deal with unwanted surprises is just part of his responsibilities as First Prince.
 
“How bad is it?” inquires Hanse as he finishes a mouthful.
 
“Someone found a working WarShip,” says Nicholas and the First Prince freezes, “A McKenna-class Battleship called the SLS Tomb-Maker. This is just the initial report, but it jumped into the rimward Periphery system of Ryan’s Fate and then later jumped out of the system. There were other ships accompanying it with a total of four JumpShips and eleven DropShips, one of which is an unknown design that is comparable in size to a Behemoth.”
 
“I see.” says Hanse as he processes this new information, “What else do we know about this?”
 
“I’m still waiting for further reports.” admits Nicholas, “So far I have only received the initial message from our agents in the area. Between the Canopus Run and the region’s proximity to both the Taurians and the Capellans, we do have some presence over there, but even that is limited. The distance means that it takes time for reports to arrive, as many of the regional HPGs were never rebuilt after their destruction in the earlier Succession Wars.”
 
“Unfortunate, but a good leader knows how to accept the limitations of reality,” replies Hanse as he has no doubt that the Director of MIIO is giving an explanation not an excuse, “I trust that I don’t need to tell you how important it is that we get on top of this?”
 
“Not at all, my Prince,” replies Nicholas, “I have already assigned a high priority to this matter and I am arranging additional agents to the region.”
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===Intelligence Briefing===
Avalon City, New Avalon
Crucis March, Federated Suns
24th August, 3020
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“Alright, Nicholas, what have you got for me?” says Hanse as he waits for the latest update from MIIO on the Tomb-Maker affair.
 
“A more comprehensive picture of the situation,” replies Nicholas, “The SLS Tomb-Maker has been retrieved by a LosTech hunting expedition led by a regional local by the name of Elizabeth Nora. She went to the Fable system, an abandoned system in the Capellan March, where she found an abandoned SLDF asteroid base and looted everything from crates of spare ammo to the WarShip itself.”
 
“She found it in the Capellan March?” says Hanse incredulously, “How did she manage to sneak that out to the Periphery?”
 
“It would appear that she used a bunch of abandoned star systems,” answers Nicholas, “A normally highly risky move, but it seems that Miss Nora deemed those risks to be acceptable. I can't say that I disagree with her assessment as it has paid off for her and in my opinion, it was safer for her than trying to openly return with such a grandiose haul.”
 
Neither of them feels the need to mention that if the expedition had moved publicly on their way home, that the Federated Suns wouldn’t have let such a prize slip through their hands. Hanse would have tried the soft approach first, but he wouldn’t have hesitated to be more forceful to retain a functioning WarShip for the Federation.
 
“What do we know of this Elizabeth Nora?” inquires Hanse instead.
 
“We have been quite lucky in that regard,” answers Nicholas, “We already had her on record as a potential hire for the NAIS so while this turn of events was not expected, MIIO has already had someone look into her past. She is an illegitimate child to a Leaguer Duke and a Lyran mother, the latter of whom married a minor noble of Elizabeth Nora’s home nation. While she has been in touch with her father’s family, Miss Nora has grown up with her mother and stepfather along with their children.
 
 “Beyond her intellect, there is nothing special about her and even then, her genius is average rather than ground-breaking. She does have a strong degree of loyalty to her local leadership that was noted as being a red flag. It was ultimately deemed that if she was willing to leave her home behind to work for the NAIS, then that loyalty wasn’t great enough to be a major concern.”
 
“Judging from how things have played out, it seems that loyalty was greater than expected.” muses Hanse.
 
“Indeed, my Prince,” says Nicholas, “It is unfortunate that Miss Nora is a citizen of the Aurigan Coalition rather than the Suns.”
 
“This Aurigan Coalition, tell me about it.” says Hanse, “I did some basic research of my own and as far as I can tell, they are less a real nation and more a trade group formed from some abandoned colonies.”
 
“That is a fairly accurate if basic analysis.” agrees Nicholas, “Their High Lord is very much a first amongst equals and their military is effectively several smaller independent militarizes. They don’t have any domestic fusion engine production and the Ministry of Foreign Relations doesn’t even recognize their legitimacy as an independent state. Only the Canopians do as far as I can tell. If it wasn’t for the battleship, they would be irrelevant.”
 
“But they do have the battleship so we need to consider them. says Hanse as he thinks this over.
 
He’ll start with formally recognizing them and setting up an embassy. These Aurigans won’t be worth much, but if they have a working battleship, then they will be a consideration to both the Suns and their other neighbours. The First Prince can work with that. He can use the Aurigan Coalition, perhaps offer them formal support or even an alliance. They wouldn’t be worth much, but their positioning would keep the Bulls honest and force the Capellans to keep an eye on their Periphery border. 
 
“Nicholas, I want you to see how willing the Aurigan Coalition is to work with us.” says Hanse, “I’ll be speaking with Olivia too. With that battleship of theirs, they can’t just be dismissed out of hand by ourselves or their other neighbors and I would rather have the Aurigans friendly rather than hostile.”
 
“Given they may struggle to keep that WarShip running.” warns Nicholas.
 
“Then we can offer them some help with that,” replies Hanse, “As much as I would rather have that battleship directly, I’ll settle for an ally having it and getting access to non-theoretical knowledge when it comes to WarShips.”
 
“I’ll look into it, my prince.”
 
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===Marching Orders===
 Avalon City, New Avalon
 Crucis March, Federated Suns
 6th September 3020
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“Well, this is excellent news,” says Hanse as he reads the latest report to reach his desk, smiling at the good fortune.
“Cappies, Dracs or Hasek-Davion?” inquires Ardan, his right-hand being the only other person in the room.
“None, this is to do with the Tomb-Maker situation"?” replies Hanses.
“That’s the battleship down in the Periphery, right?” asks Ardan.
“It is,” answers Hanse, “Though this good news is more to do with what was found alongside the Tomb-Maker rather than the WarShip itself. It seems that while Miss Nora is remaining loyal to her people, she is willing to sell some of her LosTech.”
 
“How much and what for?” asks Ardan.
 
“Almost a battalion’s worth of LosTech combat vehicles and some LosTech components,” says Hanse, “As for the price, nothing has been decided yet, but it will be expensive, I can tell you that much.”
 
“Well, it is LosTech.” points out Ardan.
 
“Oh I know.” says Hanse, “It will be worth every C-Bill to get what Miss Nora is selling into the NAIS. Especially with what her bosses are offering.”
 
“I’m guessing it isn’t the battleship?” guesses Ardan and Hanse chuckles.
 
“No, it isn’t perfect news,” says the First Prince, “Though what they are selling is arguably more valuable.”
 
“More valuable than a working WarShip?” says Ardan disbelievingly and Hanse can understand his friend’s confusion, “Aerospace isn’t my forte, but I know just how dangerous any warship is, let alone a battleship like the Aurigans have.”
 
“Just a Star League-era data core,” answers Hanse and the First Prince grins at the stunned look on Ardan’s face, “The Aurigans are claiming that they found an engineering and industrial data core, all civilian with no military secrets in it. Obviously, we will check it ourselves once we’ve brought a copy, but I doubt the Aurigans will lie about what they are selling. Worse case, they just aren’t selling the military data they found.”
“If what they are saying is true, it would be a massive boon for the NAIS,” says Ardan, “Do we have the money for it all?”
 
“It will hurt the national budget in the short term and have the Ministry of Ways and Means up in arms, but we both know that I can’t afford to pass up this opportunity,” replies Hanse, “Best case, we pay Miss Nora for her LosTech samples and Katrina buys the data core and shares a copy with us. Talks have been going well enough that it should be on the table.”
 
“Wait, they are offering to sell the data to the Lyrans too?” asks Ardan.
“They’re selling it to everyone,” explains Hanse, “Can’t say that I blame them given I would do the same in their position.”
 
“Truly?” inquires Ardan, “Wouldn’t you have just keep it for yourself like you did with the Halstead Station cache?”
 
“If I found the memory core as the First Prince of the Federated Suns, certainly,” replies Hanse, “In this case, I’m talking about what I would do in the place of the Coalition’s High Lord. I have no chance of keeping the bigger powers from just taking it so I offer it to them in exchange for something. And since I don’t want to play favourites with nations that could crush my own, I offer it to everyone. It isn’t ideal for the Suns, but I can’t afford to pass this up as the Cappies or the Dracs won’t.”
 
“I take it that a raid is off the table?” asks Ardan, grimacing at his own suggestion, “Not that I want to attack a neutral power, but if this data core is that valuable…”
 
“I’m considering it, but the Aurigans aren’t pushovers and they know the value of what they’ve got,” says Hanse, “We would need to put together a strong enough raiding party and send them over there, which would cut into our reserves and take time. Even if the raid was successful, we would still get it later than other powers who decided to just pay for it. And with that battleship lurking about, I’m not going to bet on any raid being successful.”
 
“So you’re going to pay.” concludes Ardan.
 
“I’m going to pay.” confirms the First Prince, “And I’ll continue the diplomatic outreach. The Aurigans are small enough that it doesn’t cost us much and the battleship means the potential rewards are worth the expense. Especially if the Aurigans take advantage of this to become a rising star.”
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==Author's Chapter Commentary==
; A Word from the Author: This is the last of the interludes that I have planned. I feel I’ve done a good job of capturing Hanse Davion as while he is one of the good guys, he is still a cunning and pragmatic Successor Lord who looks after the interests of his own people. He has nothing against Elizabeth or the Aurigan Coalition, but he only cares about them in relation to the Federated Suns and how useful they are to it.Also, Elizabeth will be selling a bunch of her LosTech to the NAIS because as mentioned previously, she has a severe shortage of C-Bills for her future endeavours.
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