FSRB Chpt 127

==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 127==
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September 3069An Heir
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===A Prince is Born===
Finishing up on Islamabad, the First Prince hurriedly moved through the Crucis March towards New Avalon, arriving on the 10th via a line of command jumpships. While his staff would have preferred him to travel on board the cruiser FSS Melissa Davion during this trip. The speed at which he had to move if he was to make all of his deadlines had made this impossible, so instead he had traveled on mostly Tramp LF battery equipped jumpships with warships holding guard positions along the route. Which in itself was a testament to the strength of the growing Federated Suns Navy in that it now had sufficient warships to patrol a route stretching from New Avalon-St Ives-New Syrtis-Islamabad-New Avalon.
The First Prince arrived just in time to welcome the birth of his heir who was born somewhat ahead of schedule on the 15th of September. The pregnancy took place at the Royal Maternity Unit of the Nimue General Hospital within Avalon City and goes without complications. To the waiting press and the general public the birth is announced in the early evening of the 15th and with it the name of their future First Prince - Burton Hanse Janos Davion. Almost riotous celebrations broke out across New Avalon and spread as fast as the word did throughout the Federated Suns. The only March that didn't see major celebrations was understandably the League March where outside of the garrison postings of AFFS units (and a few worlds with more pro-Davion sentiments such as Sheraton). The news was met with little reaction from the vast bulk of the population , although a few did hope that this new heir would help transfer the FedSuns' to a more civilian footing and aid their integration. One particular world that was noted to see large scale celebrations that were unexpected was the strategic world of Tikonov where the planetary Duke announced a full 7 day celebration of the birth of Burton Davion and ordered fireworks, military parades and large scale donations of food and drink from his personal funds. He also dispatched a full company of assault weighted Battlemechs produced on Tikonov (Atlas, Battlemaster, Zeus, and Thug class war machines) to the long term garrisoning unit of Tikonov, the Davion Assault Guards. Which were now stationed on nearby Helen, as a gift to the young prince again paid for from his own accounts.
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===Meeting with Precentor Martial Focht===
Amongst the well wishers who personally attended New Avalon to wish the new baby prince well was the Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht who after meeting with the mother and baby took some time to have a "work" meeting with Victor Davion himself. Present at this meeting was the future Prince's Champion Galen Cox and an old friend of Victor who he had promoted to general rank and reassigned from the 1st Revenant Guards - Renard Sanderlin. During this meeting the eviction of the WOB from Terra was the primary topic - although both sides also discussed the alarming reports that the Kurita's were considering a shift of alignment to support the WOB. The First Prince out of respect for his former mentor explained that while he was still committed to the invasion of Sol, he and his staff both agreed that the AFFS required time to repair and refit from the recent Capellan War and could not immediately commit to another major offensive. Almost as importantly the Federated Suns Navy would be an integral part of any invasion force and he had a number of major warships coming of the slips in the near future - and he would not rush them into combat with barely trained crews. He needed time to rebuild his forces and integrate the new construction into his Navy. The FSS Ran Felsner, FSS Aaron Sandoval, and FSS Matilda Davion (all fleet carriers) were all finishing in October this year, however his advisers had informed him that they would not be ready for front line combat duties until probably mid 3070 with fully trained crews. Therefore he proposed meeting with the Precentor Martial again in March to discuss a definite date for the retaking of Terra. Focht, with orders to push for a date from Dow, made some token efforts to press for a more concrete answer, but privately and off the record agreed with the Davion position.
Thereafter the discussions turned to Kurita and what this would mean for the invasion and also for the ComGuard troops stationed within the Combine if the Kurita's joined the WOB. Victor promised the ComGuards every support in evacuating the Combine - up to the point of full scale war. While war with the Combine was growing more and more likely, he didn't want to be the one to begin what would almost certainly be a repeat of the Succession Wars. Every month, the FedSuns was getting stronger and the longer this war could be delayed the better from the Davion's perspective.
The First Prince also offered to help construct a new Davion-Com industrial facility on Marlette in the coming year to help supply and continue to rebuild the ComGuards. Focht left satisfied that the Davion's still stood with Comstar and with assurances of continued support - knowing that Gavin Dow would not see this as enough. Still he resolved to present his views to the entire First Circuit rather than merely the Primus-Pro-Term.
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===A Person Request===
Having heard of the celebrations on Tikonov, the First Prince sent word requesting that the Black Horse Squadron of the Wild Geese mercenary regiment make a short trip to Tikonov. While he refused to order the Colonel of the Squadron to meet with his grandfather while there he sent a personal message requesting he at least consider meeting with the Duke.
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===Mending Fences===
The First Prince also sent word to nearby Northwind that the losses suffered by the Highlanders in the recent fighting would be made good at cost from the AFFS's own equipment. They were to be allowed to purchase any design of battlemech, aerospace fighter or tank at their own discretion and he had passed stern orders that no attempt was to be made to implement a company store approach to the Highlanders. All equipment would be sold to them at cost and without any mark up or shipping cost. Given that the Northwind Hussars was the most damaged of the 4 regiments this offer would go a long way to mending fences between the Hussars and House Davion, as would the continued care that Colonel Jaffray was receiving on New Avalon for his injuries.
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===Developments in Industry===
On Sarna, Tengo Aerospace finished retooling 4 of their light aerospace lines to produce the upgraded Sabre variant they had purchased the license for. While at the same time their plant on St. Ives also finished retooling 3 more lines to produce the fighter. This would provide a flood of the capable light aerospace fighter for the forming League March troops. Indeed the League March would become the single March within the Federated Suns where the Sparrowhawk was not the most common light fighter design due to this large domestic source of Sabres (bolstered by 3 more production lines at Tikonov), even with the new Jalastar plant on Wei being planned to have 4 Sparrowhawk lines. Indeed Sabre production within the League March would also lead to the March exporting Sabres to the rest of the FedSuns and also to Comstar and the Lyran Alliance.
It was also during September that the High Command began preparing to draw down companies of elite and veteran troops from various full strength units (to be replaced with less experienced troops to work up to the commands original levels) to bring the 2nd & 3rd Federated Suns Armored Cavalry back up to full strength. All 3 FSAC units had proven of valuable service in the recent war and there was even some discussion about adding at least 1 more regiment of these elite troops using the same method of forming them from the best of the AFFS - although bringing the heavily damaged 3rd and moderately damaged 2nd back up to full strength took precedence. While the 1st FSAC was slightly under strength this could be fixed through more regular rebuilding.
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===Problems with the Zion Province===
Within the Free Worlds League, the various Parliaments and Captain-Generals refused to acknowledge Zion Province's secession and all of them made plans to crush this independence movement. However none dared risk sending orders to their reliable troops to suppress the revolt and as such it continued to grow in strength. The few FWLM garrison's within the province were by now almost totally isolated and almost under siege.
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===Troubled Marriage in Audurien Commonality===
On Andurien Duke Baxter had managed to round up a minor member of House Humphreys and proceeded to marry this distant scion of the ruling house to his newly designated heir - Colonel Rhamses McCarron. Colonel Faith McCarron's response to the elevation of her brother to formal heir caused a major rift in the Baxter-McCarron family. At a time when it could be least afforded. Even this effort to mollify the Andurien loyalists failed miserably and the rushed wedding of Rhamses McCarron to his new bride was marred by no less than 3 bombings and 2 attempted assassinations using rifles. By now the "Andurien Commonality" was almost entirely a police state where Capellan troops kept order through massive reprisals whenever they were attacked. Worse the drawing down of forces from the proper "Capellan" worlds of the new Commonalty had to be ceased due to threats of invasion from the Sian Republic.
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===Trouble Waters for the Blakist===
On Terra, the Word of Blake promised the heir to the Draconis Combine no fewer than 10 BattleMech regiments - when he had asked for 5. They even immediately began to ship the first of these regiments of equipment to Dieron in their own hulls as a show of good faith. Factories long dormant upon Terra were now running at full speed and had been doing so now for years. Even with the constant losses in the fighting against Comstar the WOB had managed to amass huge stockpiles and they began to empty entire warehouses to ship to the DCMS. The Confederation had went down into defeat before the Davion giant more quickly than even the worst projections. The Free Worlds League was a splintered mess that instead of providing strength for the Blakists was almost a quagmire for any troops they dispatched into the chaos. The Lyran Alliance was a non-starter and the Federated Suns was almost the devil. If any state was capable of being counter to the growing Davion threat it was the Combine. Yet the Combine was industrially coming up short - which is where the WOB was prepared to help...
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