FSRB Chpt 232

==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 232==
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December 3071Interlude: A Legacy
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Fort Lancelot - HQ of the New Avalon CrMM 
Outskits of Avalon City, Albion District 
New Avalon
New Avalon Combat Region, Crucis March
December 31st, 3071
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As he felt his career drawing to a close Leftenant General Russel Payne found himself reflecting more and more upon a single word: legacy. As the grandson of the famed Christopher Payne, hero of the Davion Brigade of Guards, who they were naming a bloody carrier after, and the Duke of Augusta he had never particularly hard to worry about that sort of thing. His rise to high rank, even within the talent based AFFS, was almost assured so long as he avoided any catastrophic missteps. Which he had done easily. Yes, he wasn't his grandfather's equal in tactical or strategic operations but he wasn't exactly a Lyran Social General. While the word that most of his peers would use to describe his abilities in command of a RCT was "fair" none at least would call them poor. He knew himself that he made up with meticulous planning for what other officers used greater tactical flair and talent for. He had commanded the New Avalon CrMM since his promotion to Leftenant General in '54 and there had been no complaints about his command at any stage, even if they had only seen brief combat in the seizure of the Katherine Steiner-Davion's escort of Lyran Royal Guards in '61. Even now he sometimes shivered at how close he had came to ruin when he had briefly considered joining her conspiracy to unseat First Prince Victor Davion! A few days, perhaps even a few hours difference, and he would have publicly endorsed her rule... With the benefit of hindsight he could see the disaster that would have caused not only to his career and reputation but also to the Federated Suns. He somehow doubted that a Katherine led regime could have accomplished a tenth of what her brother had achieved, if indeed it could have avoided a catastrophic civil war which he now doubted...
Shaking off the horrific images that sprung to mind of him having to lead his RCT against the 1st Davion Guards here on New Avalon (because he KNEW with bone deep certainty that Ardan Sortek would never have backed down) he stood and walked out from behind his desk to the small drinks cabinet he kept in his office. Carefully selecting an ice cube he placed it, not dropping it which could chip the ice and lead to it melting too fast, in his monogrammed crystal class with the emblem of his command on it and then poured two finger breadths of excellent '25 Tara Reserve over the ice. Carrying the drink back to his seat he sank into the luxury chair and swirled the golden liquid around the ice for a moment before taking a long slow slip and savoring the burning smoothness running down his throat before putting the glass down and went back to his musings on his legacy. 
No he was never going to go down as one of the great military minds of the AFFS of his generation like his grandfather, but that didn't mean he couldn't leave his name as more than just a footnote; "Leftenant General Russel Payne, Commanding Officer New Avalon CrMM 3054-3072 or maybe 3073, Duke of Augusta, grandson of Marshal Christopher Payne, see Christopher Payne.". Picking up the glass again he sipped the excellent whiskey and barely noticed it. Perhaps because there were those who faintly suspected he had been considering throwing in with Katherine he had never been promoted beyond Leftenant General, never as far as he knew even considered for Major General let alone any other more prestigious rank. Effectively his career had stalled since he was promoted in 3054 and everybody knew it. Most assumed he was just waiting to be eased out and attend to his duties within the Royal Court and as Duke of Augusta full time. Not exactly the legacy he wanted. As a placeholder. Who had done nothing of real note. 
As he took a third sip of his drink his intercom buzzed and the door to his office opened. His newly appointed personal aide of just a few months, Lieutenant Hanse Zibler saluted from the doorway. "It is nearly six, Sir, you wanted me to remind you that you are dining with the Duke and Duchess of Belladonna at eight at their pre-New Year dinner party. Your butler called an hour ago to say that he has your finest dress uniform laid out in your quarters here and the aircar will be here at half seven." 
"Ah yes, thank you, Hanse." The Duke smiled fondly at his aide. For all that Hanse was new to his role and was almost visibly itching to request a transfer to a front line combat command he had attacked his duties with the vigor and professionalism for which his House was famed. Marshal Wolfgram at NAIS hadn't been wrong to recommend the new graduate for staff duty to Payne. A consummate soldier and incredibly hard worker he just needed a little polishing if he was to reach command rank. Another man trying to live up to the legacy of his ancestors the Duke realized with a sudden insight. "And my gift?" 
"A bottle of the Duchess's favorite plum wine from Argyle sir, I have it on my desk for you. I am told by your sommelier that it is an excellent year." Zibler assured him. "Is that all, Sir?" 
"Yes Hanse, thank you. I won't be needing anything else this evening..." As the Leftenant General stood up and put his glass down his aide saluted and turned to go but suddenly Payne almost to his own surprise spoke again. "Wait, Hanse... I did want to ask you a question..."
"Of course, Sir." Hanse turned back and stood in the doorway. 
"Come in lad, come in... and pour yourself a whiskey and have a seat." Payne waved the much younger man to the bottle of Tara Reserve still lying out on the drinks cabinet. "We can consider ourselves both of duty I think..."
"Yes, Sir..." Lieutenant Zibler said nervously and pouring himself a sliver of whiskey, and dropped an ice cube into the glass alongside it with a casualness that made the connoisseur Duke almost wince at the lack of true understanding of how to drink a good whiskey. Sitting on the edge of the seat the lieutenant didn't sip his drink but sat waiting to find out what his commanding officer wanted. 
"Hanse... I have been thinking about my pending retirement. I'd like to leave something... Something to the RCT..." Payne almost sounded embarrassed as he explained. "A legacy as it were..."
"Sir! There is no need for that sort of thing, you're well regarded by the command. I can assure you...!" Zibler almost blurted. 
Waving a hand at that Payne chuckled. "Kind of you to say, Lad, kind of you to say... But no, I don't mean something on those lines, I mean... I want to do something. To make the command... Better." The older officer sighed as he fumbled to try and explain.
"You mean better equipment?" Zibler asked.
"No, well yes I suppose that could work... But anyone... well any Duke could donate the price of a company of BattleMechs or the like... No... I was thinking a way to make the command better in a more general way..." Payne laughed despite himself. "I don't really know what I am thinking, Hanse..."
Hanse paused for a second still holding the emblazoned crystal glass containing whiskey that a bottle off would cost more than his months salary and then blurted out almost against his own wish. "I do have an idea, sir..."
"What is it, Hanse?" Russel Payne asked with genuine curiosity. "I promise we're off duty, speak your mind..."
"Well... It's just an idea, Sir. I don't know how practical it would be..." Hanse put in as a caveat and then continued as his superior officer nodded for him to continue. "Sir, the biggest problem with most of the March Militias, particularly those in the internal Combat Regions and PDZs are that they rarely face combat. While they have a core of combat veterans they are mostly on their way to retirement and the rest of the command are like me, fresh graduates from the various academies. Units on the frontier have the chance to gain experience in raids and defending against enemy raids, but internal commands like ours don't really have that opportunity." 
The Leftenant General chuckled and nodded. "True, but I hardly think the First Prince would approve my request to transfer the capital's March Militia to the front lines!" 
"What if it wasn't the whole command, Sir? Or to the front lines? Perhaps form a detached command, modeled on a LCT, and offer it for either front line service or perhaps pirate hunting?" Hanse slugged back the whiskey as he leaned forward in his eagerness to share his idea with a disregard for the quality of the drink that would usually have horrified the Duke but he barely noticed as he listened. "The unit could go out, gain experience and then return, merge back into the command with it's new combat experienced veterans to help improve the quality of the whole unit...!" 
"Yes... Yes that might just work Hanse." The Duke thought sitting back as he drank most of his own whiskey down with little more regard than the lieutenant. "In fact... Why not go one further? The command is already tactically organized into three combat commands, each built around a battlemech battalion, two armor vehicle battalions, and roughly five mixed battalions of infantry... What if I expanded each of those combat commands to a full LCT?" 
"You could do that, Sir...? I mean the cost...?" Zibler had known the Duke was rich, but the idea of casually adding at least a battalion of BattleMechs, another regiment or two of tanks and probably battle armor to the command seemed to be astronomically expensive to him! 
Russel Payne chuckled despite himself. "Well I could, but no I wouldn't buy it all myself... I'd buy maybe a third of it and then use my contacts to get the rest..."
Ignoring the shocked look on his aides face the Duke punched a number into his communicator screen. A second later the white haired head of his personal butler appeared on the screen. "Niles, cancel my dinner with the Duke and Duchess of Belladonna... Tell them whatever polite lie you have too..."
{{"But your Grace..."}}His civilian butler started in horror. 
"Do it, Niles! Something's come up... Tell them I must perform my duties as a General in the AFFS, you can spin that for all it's worth... Just do it." Before the aghast butler could say another word he slapped a button and hung up on him. Turning back to the shocked Zibler. "Hanse, I think you are onto something... Go get some data pads, all the info on the LCT system you can download and be back here in ten minutes... Oh and cancel whatever plans you had and order us dinner from the officer's mess. My usual working dinner plus whatever you want. Tell them to send up a bottle of the Argyle Special as well, for this sort of thing we're not drinking my Tara!" 
As Lieutenant Zibler rushed out of the room to follow his orders Leftenant General Payne smiled and nodded finishing off the last of his whiskey down. He owed Wolfgram more than the case of whiskey he had given him for directing him to young Hanse after this. At the very least a second case. Maybe a third. And while Lieutenant Zibler didn't know it yet he was going to end up a Captain for tonight work if Payne had anything to do with it! He wasn't going to forget who had given him the idea that would secure his place in the history of the New Avalon CrMM, hell maybe even in the whole Crucis March Militia Brigade or the AFFS! The boy would get all the credit he could give him! He might be due for retirement in the next year or so by the rumors he'd heard, but he still had a lot of friends in high places and those friends would be told to help shepherd the young officers career so that he rose as far as his obvious talents could take him! Hell this idea might just stave off that retirement for another few years at least! On that happy note the Duke of Augusta began bringing up on his own terminal information on the LCT system that had recently been added to the AFFS's table of organization...
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