FuH Chapter 8

=Chapter 8 - Fighting Uphill=
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==* Aborted Triangle​ *==
15th April, 3010
Oriente
Free Worlds League
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"Ah, Colonel Wolf."said the young woman wearing the Capellan rank insignia of Senior Colonel, a rank roughly equivalent to General in most other Inner Sphere militaries. "I'm Candace Liao. Welcome to Oriente."
As a Clanner, Jaime was no stranger to warriors that had earned high ranks at a young age. But in the Clans, those young officers had earned their ranks in proper Trials of Position. Given that Candace Liao was Maximilian Liao's eldest daughter, it was far more likely that she had been given the rank and position that she now held rather than having earned it by her current age of twenty two. Given how critical the Free Worlds League was supposed to be to Capellan strategy, Maximilian must trust his daughter's strategic decision making abilities a great deal.
Or, Maximilian really was insane., Jaime thought
Candace had met Jaime and his party in Fort Duncan's Operation Center. She stood by a large holoprojection table that dominated the center of the room while men and women in CCAF and FWLM uniforms staffed the various stations that ringed the table. With a gesture over the table, Candace brought up a situation map of Free Worlds League which was color coded to show which factions controlled which systems and systems currently being contested. There were a lot of the latter.
"I'm not sure what my father has told you about how I run things around here, so let me inform you directly, Colonel." Candace continued. "I don't micromanage my commands like some leaders do, but let me make it clear that I really am in command. SOP is that I hand out mission assignments to mercenary commands such as yours, and then you decide how to best complete those missions with whatever forces you choose to use in them. My people will provide you with the best Intel we possibly can, but the situation in the League is fluid enough that such Intel will likely be obsolete by the time your people arrive at the target planet, assuming it isn't already obsolete before they even life off from Oriente. If you decide there are some assignments you can't complete for whatever reason, please inform me so that I can give them to someone else. Barring some unforeseen emergency where I need to take command of all available forces, you are pretty much free to operate however you please."
Candace dismissed the map with another gesture and pulled up a map of Fort Duncan. Several sections were highlighted.
"Unlike your Fort Jaime on New Valencia, you won't need to build your own facilities here." Candace went on. "Mercenary commands and their dependents are allocated housing here in Fort Duncan in regimental blocks. Your Dragoons will be moving into housing blocks vacated by the units they are replacing." Candace hesitated and then added apologetically, "I've attempted to shuffle units around so that all your Dragoons can be physically co-located with each other, but the best I've been able to do is assign your people three contiguous sets of blocks. I hope that's not a problem for you, and I apologize for the inconvenience."
Jaime just nodded acceptance. He still didn't know how good Candace was at strategy, but she at least appeared to have basic organizational skills down pat.
"While you're staying on Oriente, rest assured that your dependents are perfectly safe." Candance said, smiling her thanks at Jaime's understanding. "Oriente is absolutely linchpin to our strategic position in the League. In addition to basing all our forces here, Oriente has several intact Star League era automated mech and parts factories as well as the largest collection of Smithies in the League under our control, several of whom produce power armor for our special forces."
That was interesting. The Inner Sphere appeared to have no equivalent to an Elemental, apparently because the nobles of the Inner Sphere saw no need to spend so much money and resources on equipping line infantry with expensive battle armor. But they did have light power armor and battle armor for special infantry centric operations, and Jaime had his own Seventh Kommando equipped in Star League era Nighthawk battle armor since his supply run back to the Clan space.
"However." Candace continued, "despite Oriente being so valuable, it is extremely unlikely to be attacked. Between our fleet in orbit and the CCAF and FWLM forces on the ground, no one can launch even a quick in and out raid on Oriente successfully without uncovering their own vital areas and leaving them vulnerable to attack by one of the other factions.
"Since Fort Duncan is basically wrapped around Oriente's industrial complex, please feel free to..."
"Candy!" a loud male voice called out from beyond Candace. "There you are!"
"Oh, sweet Blake give me strength." Candace whispered barely loud enough for Jaime to hear as the look of a condemned criminal instantly swept across her face. "Pardon me, Colonel, while I handle this." she told Jaime. With that, she put the fakist, most plastic smile on her face that Jaime had ever seen and then executed a perfect about face on one heel. "Duncan! Done with the weapons test already?"
"Yes, I am, my love!" said a handsome young man around Candace's age as he swaggered into the operations room, several personnel scrambling to get out of his way. He was clad in mech piloting gear. "A perfect run with no malfunctions. I am finally ready to take to the field and prove my worth and personally win over the Free Worlds League!"
"Oh, you completed the entire test?" Candace asked with fake happiness but genuine surprise.
"Bah! I didn't need to do that." Duncan scoffed. "Fired two shots from each of my hyperlasers and neither of them exploded. That's all I needed to tell me that all the kinks have been finally been worked out of them."
"Duncan, you know we agreed to a full test." Candace said as if scolding a small child. "I don't feel comfortable letting you near real enemies if your weapons are going to blow up on you."
"But, Candy, I told you they worked fine." Duncan replied in a tone that sounded awfully close to a whine.
"Now, now, Duncan, listen to Candace." an older but still attractive woman in fancy civilian dress said as she followed Duncan into the Operations Center. "She knows what she's doing." She spotted Jaime and her attention zeroed in on him with all the accuracy of a Streak SRM. "And who is this?" the older woman said with a great deal of personal interest as she swept past Candace and Duncan. "Candace, you must introduce me... us. I mean you must introduce us to this... handsome example of masculinity."
"Oh, yes, of course." Candace said quickly as the older woman took hold of Jaime's arm and clung to it like she belonged there. "Sylvia, Duncan, this is Colonel Jaime Wolf of Wolf's Dragoons. He and his people have been hired by my father and they've just arrived on Oriente."
"A mercenary?" Duncan said skeptically.
"Colonel Wolf, these are our hosts." Candace continued, again sounding apologetic. "Sylvia Marik and her son Duncan Marik, the rightful Captain General of the Free Worlds League and also my..." Candace visibly struggled to get the next word out, "...betrothed."
"We are to be married as soon as we put down the pretenders and my Captain Generalship is no longer contested." Duncan declared as he protectively wrapped his arms around Candace from behind her and glared at Jaime. "I know how you mercenaries are, so don't get any ideas about trying to seduce my lovely bride-to-be!"
Candace for her part didn't look at all enthusiastic as the prospect of marrying Duncan, but neither did she try to extract herself from him embrace.
"I don't know about my son, but I am sooo pleased to meet you, Colonel." Sylvia said, practically whispering in Jaime's ear as she seemed to try to melt her body into his. "My bed had been sooooo cold since my husband died at the beginning of this war. You aren't... busy tonight, are you?"
"Mother!" Duncan cried with scandalized shock.
"I will probably be busy getting my people settled in for the next week, Lady Sylvia." Jaime told her as politely as he could manage while trying to extract his arm from her grasp without offending her. "And then no doubt I will have to start looking over the mission assignments that Lady Candace will be giving the Dragoons."
"Oh, is that a fact?" Sylvia said, disappointed. She searched Jaime's face for a moment, and then looked even more disappointed, even dejected as her death grip on Jaime's arm was released. Sylvia stepped back from Jaime and turned to Candace. "Don't even try with this one, Candace. He's already taken."
Without another word, Sylvia Marik swept out of the Operations Center the same way she had come in.
"What was that all about?" Duncan wondered aloud.
"I'm sure I don't know, Duncan." Candace answered, looking almost as disappointed as Sylvia. She finally pulled herself out of his arms and turned to address him face to face. "Now about that weapons test..."
"So, Jaime." Joshua said quietly, sounding far too amused as Candace tried to convince Duncan to go through a complete weapons test. "Should I tell Ellen that you still have that roguish charm and warrior presence that she fell in love with? I am sure she would love to hear about all the beautiful women throwing themselves at you."
"Don't you dare!" Jaime snapped back, just as quietly.
Eventually, Candace managed to talk Duncan into completing the weapons test. After Duncan left the Operations Center, Candace turned back to Jaime.
 "My apologies, Colonel." Candace said to Jaime. "Now where were we?"
"Are you really going to marry him?" Jaime asked quietly. It was perhaps not the most diplomatic thing to ask his employer, but Jaime's curiosity got the better of him.
"I am a dutiful daughter of the Capellan Confederation and House Liao." Candace told Jaime seriously. "If we truly make him Captain-General and marriage will bind the Free Worlds League to the Capellan Confederation, then." Candace shuddered slightly, "Yes. Yes, I will."
Jaime's respect for Candace Liao went up another notch.
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