FSRB Chpt 9

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==The Federated Suns RebornChapter 9==
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===3062 - First Quarter - A new First Lord===
3062 started with most of the successor states leadership returning to their worlds and evaluating the state of affairs of the Inner Sphere. A resurgent and reborn Federated Suns was clearly on most of their minds. As was the impending trial of Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion. Over the first quarter the various states chose a representative for the Star League Court and made preparations to send them to Tukayyid. ComStar and particularly the ComGuards also rushed to begin building a facility to house the Court and inevitably a secure jail to guard any high ranking accused. It was agreed that the complex would be guarded by a mix of ComGuards and Clan Nova Cat warriors.
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====January 3062====
irst Prince Victor Davion started the new year on Terra Firma, but didn't stay long. As soon as the planet was reasonably secured he left the 39th Avalon Hussars RCT to continue the pacification and integration of the planet into the Federated Suns and moved on. He was eager to get back to New Avalon as quickly as he could, but had a number of stops to make upon the way. 
Three of these were extremely close by to Terra Firma. He firstly jumped to the world of Sheraton where he addressed the survivors of the loyal Sheraton Knights as well as Leftenant General Terleki III. He firstly complimented them all upon their loyalty and dedication to the ideals of not only the Federated Suns but also the now disbanded Federated Commonwealth, suggesting to them that had more people including some within his own family showed their loyalty then the Federated Commonwealth would not have fallen. He then went on to inform them that such loyalty would be rewarded, that the Leftenant General had recommended that the Sheraton Knights should be rebuilt as the garrison for the planet. He agreed entirely, but didn't want to just limit them to a militia garrison. During the recent fighting with the Capellan Confederation a large amount of salvage had been taken, and he was going to use some of this to form a Sheraton Training Battalion upon the world as well as providing a number of scholarships to various academies to men and women of proven loyalty - particularly to the nearby Tikonov Martial Academy. It was his intent to form a new BattleMech regiment upon the world on the pattern of the two Borderer regiments of New Aragon and Kittery, but going by the name of the 1st Sheraton Knights. 
Fresh from the rousing response of his stated goal of creating a new regiment the First Prince had a quite word with Leftenant General Terleki III and sounded him out to a proposal to reform the 5th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT. He proposed to draw a few of the survivors of the regiment from the other Deneb Light Cavalry regiments and combine them with cadets who had been held back from the lightweight 1st Albion and 1st NAIS Cadres. The First Prince wanted the Generals feel on the project and what he thought his father might think on it. Marshal Terleki Jr was the former commanding officer of the 5th Deneb Light Cavalry and also now commanded the entire brigade. After some discussions General Terleki informed the Prince that he thought that the brigade itself as well as his father would be strongly in favor of the rebirth of the 5th - as long as it was done with an eye to continuation the traditions of the Deneb Light Cavalry unit and not as a gimmick. 
With this advice in mind the First Prince's next stop was Deneb Kaitos where he met with Marshal Andrew Terleki Jr. on Deneb Kaitos where he kept his command post. He carefully discussed the resurrection of the Marshal's old command and offered to leave the matter entirely within the remit of Terleki as commander of the brigade. He would be allowed to pick from the assembled cadets and draw experienced officers and troops from the other Light Cavalry units as he saw fit. Similarly he would be given first pick of any and all BattleMech's, fighters and tanks currently being produced and would be able to assemble the 5th Deneb Light Cavalry with only very limited oversight. 
Marshal Andrew Terleki Jr agreed to the reformation of the 5th Deneb Kaitos and requested that the unit be formed up on Deneb Kaitos itself. A request the First Prince was happy to grant. The Marshal suggested that he might draw a battalion of the best cadets from the graduating class and perhaps another 2 companies worth of officers and troops from the existing regiments for seasoning, replacing those with other cadets. Given the reason for the loss of the original 5th the Marshal also requested that the full 6 fighter wings be assigned to the RCT. This was a more difficult proposition, but reflecting upon the success of the 2nd Davion Guards RCT over Necromo with a similar over strength fighter brigade the First Prince agreed. Having considered that he also promised to try and assign more aerospace units to the other Deneb Light Cavalry units to bring them all up to this standard, but had to admit this might not be possible in the short to medium term. 
With the Marshal's agreement in hand the First Prince then headed for Tikonov, although he wouldn't reach that planet until February, given the lengthy nature of his meetings on Deneb Kaitos. He did however detach the FSS Alexander Davion to return to New Avalon to take up duties there. 
On Robinson the First Princes' sister had finalized the agreement to create a new BattleMech production facility upon Woodbine, but she remained on Robinson. Officially to spend time with her younger brother Arthur who was attending the Robinson Battle Academy, but many noticed that she was spending a great deal of time with Tancred Sandoval even after their negotiations were complete. 
The withdrawal of Capellan forces from the St. Ives continued and by the end of January most of the regular formations had withdrawn. They did in a number of cases leave behind irregular infantry and local partisans who would "continue the fight in the name of the Chancellor". While mostly pro-Capellan St. Ives citizens it was noticed almost immediately that many of the groups and bands had CCAF advisers and or training. Rooting them out was made more difficult for the St. Ives Compact as now that the active fight was over the AFFS began a staged withdrawal from their worlds. 
This had been agreed by Jackson Davion, Victor Davion, Candace Liao-Allard and Kai Allard-Liao even as the war had started. Neither side wished to give the impression that the St. Ives Compact was a mere Davion puppet or protectorate. A small number of mercenary units would remain as would the 5th FedSun's Dragoons RCT (chosen as it was largely intact, compared to the other units). The remaining units would be withdrawn back into the FedSuns although of course would be available to return if Sian didn't keep the peace. 
Within the Terran System the Titan shipyards are seized by the WOB. Driving Comstar totally from the home system.
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====February 3062====
Having secured Fletcher for the Federated Suns and having now been relieved of garrison duties by follow on conventional brigades the 4th Davion Guards RCT opened February with a move to the world of Epsilon Indi. The limited defenders found themselves in a similar situation to those of the world of Fletcher, facing an elite and battle hardened RCT. Still they attempted to hold out with the hope that their neighbors on Epsilon Eridani would move to their aid. However the Eridani Guards, the former Epsilon Eridani SMM made no efforts to move to help them. Indeed the self proclaimed Duke Benton instead took the time to enter into a defensive pact with the Word of Blake on Terra. He was soon joined in this by the worlds of Keid, New Home, and Bryant. The worlds of Liberty and Caph remained a battleground. 
The nearby 4th Davion Guards RCT and 6th FedSun's Dragoons RCT would begin to support the pro-Davion forces on Caph with limited supplies and ammunition. A few older BattleMechs were "lost" and would turn up on Caph in the hands of the supporters of the Davion loyal Duke.
From Deneb Kaitos the First Prince headed to Tikonov, where he landed amidst tight security. The Davion Assault Guards RCT took personal responsibility for their First Princes' safety, backing up his existing command force. It was no surprise that the new 1st Tikonov Cossacks were not included in the security arrangements. The protests, both pro-Tikonov and pro-Capellan were handled as gently as possible but there were still some riots at the arrival of the First Prince. After a long meeting with the planetary duke and officers of the Davion Assault Guards the First Prince was unfortunately convinced of the necessity of a strong garrison remaining on planet for the long term future. He did take the opportunity to announce some investments and expansions for the planet, including looking into expanding the Earthwerk's Incorporated factories in Tikograd with new designs. Although he left it vague as to what those designs would be. 
Leaving Tikonov, the First Prince then raced back to New Avalon. He was eager to get back and reassure people that he was still at the helm of government. After all Katherine his sister was still locked up on New Avalon and it would only take a handful of fools to destroy all the progress made so far in stabilizing the realm. 
In the Outback the first work began on the new Andoran Industries Ltd plant on Broken Wheel, while engineers began arriving at Filtvelt i preparation for beginning work there as well. Panpour's Challenge Systems began to begin assembling materials for a major expansion, while teams from New Sytris arrived at nearby Firgrove to begin upgrading the yards. 
Back on Sian Chancellor Sun-Tzu began to set his affairs in order. Officers who had failed him were investigated and a number of them disappeared, including the few remaining officers of the 2nd Confederation Reserve Cavalry. It was borderline whether the entire unit would be purged, but a shortage of trained soldiers saved the rank and file. Another casualty was the captain of the CCS Zhejiang which would now require extensive repairs. In preparation for this and to avoid a similar disaster as the FedSun's seizing Necromo again the yards above Capella itself were ordered expanded and upgraded to support not only warship refits and repairs but also potentially construction. 
The Sian Dragoons regiments were also ordered to be reorganized into augmented regiments. Each BattleMech lance was to be reinforced with two combat vehicles in support. The shattered Warrior House Hiritsu was ordered to reform on this basis as a test subject. The Chancellor also began to look into reforming other historical brigades to bolster his position. During this time his sister Kali moved to Highspire permanently. While he would now no longer have full control as to her whereabouts Sun-Tzu was at least relieved to no longer have her mad ramblings constantly in his councils. 
Sun-Tzu Liao also ordered that the legal fiction of the independence of the Sarna worlds was to be ended. Both Sarna and Sakhalin's brief independence was to be brought to an end. Immediately. To make the point he sent a battalion of his own Death Commandos to back up the Dynasty Guard. The reorganization of the Victoria Commonality and Liao Commonality was also sped up. 
In the Free Worlds League, Light Cruiser the FWLS Venturer was finally laid down. Expansions of the shipyards were already in the works to begin building more. 
Coordinator Theodore Kurita also announced that his cousin Miyako Kurita was expecting a child any day. A week of festivities was called for the impending birth. He also began looking into expanding his naval production in response to hints from his agents that the Federated Suns were doing likewise. As well as this he authorized the creation of a 4th Night Stalker regiment, to be filled with retiring officers and troops. He also enters into a contract with Clan Diamond Shark to purchase a large number of Ha Otoko BattleMechs for his regiments.
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====March 3062====
With his arrival back on New Avalon First Prince Victor wasted no time. His first order of business was to begin organizing the transfer of his sister to her trial venue. The FSS Alexander Davion with a picked crew of officers and men was chosen as the transport, along with a small guard drawn from the 1st Davion Guards RCT. As far as the Draconis Combine border the ship would also be escorted by a large flotilla of combat dropships and floating aerospace wings. 
thumb|Avalon Class Cruiser, FSS Alexander Davion
He then formally announces the restoration of the 5th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT to the active rolls as per his agreement with Marshal Terleki Jr. During the same release he notifies the people of the Federated Suns that the Clyde Shipyards will be granted permission to begin construction of the Excalibur class dropship, while he will be tendering bids from the various BattleMech producing firms within the Federated Suns for a new BattleMech factory sited on June. The winner of the bid will be rewarded with a BattleMech contract to produce either Battlemasters, Flashmen, or Battle Hawks for the AFFS. 
In meetings with Jackson Davion the First Prince also asks that the Marshal of Armies gather a group of officers together to expand upon and improve the military educational facilities and training establishment of the AFFS. Three officers that the First Prince asks be on it are Fleet Admiral Buchwald, Admiral William Kossacks, and Marshal Jon Davion. He also does suggest that Marshal's Terlerki jr, Venger and Talles be included along with the heads of the various academies, but leaves those choices to Marshal of the Armies Davion. They are to consider not only expansions but also ways to better educate the future generations of soldiers, naval personnel and officers. 
Victor Davion also begins to negotiate with his cousin George Hasek for a proposed upgrade to the New Sytris shipyards. While they were previously only upgraded to be able to repair warships, the two men enter into a somewhat tense and protracted discussion about potentially expanding warship production to include these yards. At the very least there is initial agreement that jumpship production could be accommodated in the yards. Two designs are mooted, the Star Lord and Invader classes, with agreement reached eventually that New Sytris will begin preparing to build Star Lord class jumpships in the near future. If this goes well then the issue of warship production will be revisited. 
During this month the last AFFS unit within the Lyran Alliance, the 4th Crucis Lancers RCT begins the long trek home. 
Any thought's the various AFFS units had of attacking the worlds of the newly formed WOB Protectorate within the Chaos March are rudely interrupted when the WarShips, WoBS Deliverance and Hidden Meaning began patrolling these worlds. Seeing the resurgent Federated Suns moving closer to Terra the WOB also begins a crash program of refitting any and all warship hulks they have within the Terran System. They also begin construction of 3 Dante class Frigates at Titan as well as entering into discussions with the FWL to build a number of Zechetinu II class Corvettes. Unbeknown to the FWLN the WOB has also acquired the plans for the corvette themselves and has the Titan shipyards begin to prepare to build a number of Zecetinu II in secret. They also have managed to acquire from agents within Comstar the specifications for the Suffren class Destroyers and are considering whether to put them into production as well. 
On St Ives, Kai Allard-Liao is adjusting to being the new First Lord and also to being guarded by the Royal Black Watch Regiment. He deploys a number of SLDF flagged units such as the Eridani Light Horse to the Chaos March's borders... And even goes so far as to warn his friend First Prince Davion that further aggression might result in destabilizing the Second Star League. The two didn't exactly have an argument, but they do disagree. The 1st Royal BattleMech Regiment is formally enrolled within the SLDF and takes up official garrison duties on Tukayyid. He also begins to look into seeing if it might be possible to form a new Star League Navy. The problem is that ever single major power is already building it's own warships as frantically as it can, making it unlikely they will release space for Star League ships to be built. This is a matter which will continue to prey upon the First Lord's mind. 
The First Lord is not the only one with warship's preying upon his mind. The Acting Protector of the Realm of the Taurian Concordat, Grover Shraplen, had been reading the reports of the aborted St. Ives-Capellan War. The impact that the FSS Melissa Davion and her escorts had had by seizing Necromo had not been lost upon him. He resolved to quietly begin looking into a Taurian warship program, perhaps with aid from their new Capellan friends. In the meantime he ordered Chippewa, Shilone, Slayer, Sabre, Seydlitz, Lightning, and Thunderbird production increased across the Concordat. As well as corresponding investments in pilot training.
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