Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Two: New Avalon
New Avalon, February 3rd, 3035
"I'm glad that we were finally able to get a delegation from the Outworlds Alliance to come," Hanse said to Archon Steiner, Protector Thomas Calderon, and Kyalla Centrella. "They've been steadily closing off any contact for the last several years."
"It is odd," Thomas replied. "The few merchant traders we had plying that route weren't able to get proper intelligence."
"The LIC lost all of its agents in the Outworlds Alliance shortly after 3025." Katrina confided in the other national leaders that were sitting around the table. "And Mountain Wolf Battlemechs stopped shipping new manufacture to us once they had fulfilled their current contracts."
"Something is going on there, but MIIO got its teeth kicked in shortly after the duel that managed to net us a ceasefire," Hanse replied. "For now, it looks like we're stuck waiting for the diplomat to arrive."
The various leaders of the interstellar nations just nodded and agreed with Hanse. They still had a lot to discuss, but for now, they would just enjoy the temporary peace."
Kyalla Centrella, on the other hand, felt slightly out of place. She was the newcomer to this alliance, and despite the benefits, She wasn't sure if she could trust her new allies yet. So she kept her mouth shut, making sure to keep an eye out for anything suspicious or advantageous.
February 8th, 3035
"I hate this part of the job," David complained to his fiance. "Neither Dad nor I am good at the politics portion of being nobles. Mom is much more likely to challenge them to a duel and kill the other nobles than dad."
"No, Uncle Mark just tends to destroy them economically instead." Elsa smiled. "How very Lyran of him."
"I blame all of that on your mom," David replied with a grin. "If she hadn't joined the Marksman all those years ago, he wouldn't have had the business acumen to have pulled some of his ideas off."
"You have a valid point," Elsa replied. "But we should focus on what is before us." The elevator finally came to a stop.
"First Prince Davion," David gave a curt bow to his liege lord before beginning to greet everyone else. "Protector Calderon, Magestrix Centrella, Archon Steiner." He nodded at the other three leaders while Elsa did the same, starting with her mother.
"It's good to see you again." Katrina smiled at the way the two younger nobles interacted with each other and the other nobles.
"I am here representing my father," David said with authority. "He gave me what little intelligence we have been able to get from the Outworlds Alliance and asked that I present it to you."
"Well, let us hear the intelligence, boy." Kyalla Centrella said with a scoff, casually dismissing him already.
"First Prince Davion, if you could give me the authorization to access the Tri-Vid screen?" David asked.
"I never revoked your previous clearances," Hanse replied with a smug grin, "Go ahead."
"We don't have much," David replied. "We've only been able to get a few small surveillance ships into the area, and only for a fraction of the time that we hoped to get." David sighed. "There's a lot of jumpship and dropship traffic for a nation that has supposedly closed all of its borders. We're still analyzing some of the information that we received, but it looks like they're also producing enough Aerospace assets to cover every single planet they have three to four times over. Every single Dropship and Jumpship had at least twelve fighters covering them."
"Do we have any information on their ground forces?" Hanse asked curiously. "Knowing those numbers might be helpful."
"Negative," David replied with a shake of his head. "We were barely able to get what we did."
"Thank you," Hanse told the younger noble. "Even if it's not much, it can still be useful."
February 10th, 3035
The four interstellar leaders watched via slates as the Outworlds Alliance dropships and escorts began to coast in on its fusion drives for a landing.
"And now we wait for the delegation to arrive," Hanse said out loud as he watched the flare of the fusion drives die down.
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Meanwhile…
"This is New Avalon air traffic control, Mule and Danais class dropships Heart of Stone and Justified revenge, please change your course to the one provided to you." The Communications officer just shook his head at the head of the civilian air traffic control. "It's no good sir, they're not responding."
"Get the military on the horn. They should be scrambling aerospace assets to take action if we don't get a response soon."
"Sir, the dropships just exploded! There's debris coming down all over the area" The Radar specialist reported with panic in his voice.
"Sir, that's a fucking Battlemech!" A tech screamed as he pointed out the reinforced glass. "It's going to kill us!"
Those were the last words uttered as the assault mech launched its LRMs at the tower, the ordnance ensuring that there wasn't much left of the poor bloody civilians.
"David, with me," Hanse ordered the younger man. "We're going to drive those bastards off of my planet."
"Yessir," David responded as they took off at a jog. The two of them moving as quickly as they could to the underground 'mech bays. "I didn't bring my 'mech with me, sir, just my neurohelmet."
"We'll have something for you to use," Hanse replied as they finally reached the elevator. "The Heavy Guard are currently engaged and have trapped the enemy around the spaceport and we're making all of the other civilian dropships stay in space until we can confirm that they're not being controlled by potential enemy action." The elevator dropped like a rock, barely slowing down before they hit the floor they were supposed to be on.
"We've got a Von Rohrs here that we were testing out for Nais." Hanse told David, "It doesn't have an assigned pilot yet.
"How experimental is it?" David asked cautiously. "I don't want to die from something going wrong."
"Nothing explosive just yet." Hanse chuckled as he began to climb into his previously Royal and now ClantechThunderbolt. "Just try not to wreck the gyro in that thing. We've only got three compact gyro prototypes that are being tested."
Climbing into the Von Rohrs, David went through the standard checklist before plugging his neurohelmet into the heavy 'mech. Because this was a testbed that was assigned to the New Avalon Palace, there weren't many security features there, and he had the correct codes to bypass the ones that were there. Once the Fusion engine rumbled to life, David followed the mixed lance of Thunderboltsand Highlanders onto the elevator that was taking them to the surface.
"Artillery is bombarding the areas around the spaceport." The new Heavy Guards Field Marshal reported once we had reached the surface. "We've evacuated the civilians and hammered them in. But the Spaceport is Star League-era engineering and manufacture. We're going to go in and clear them out of the hangers and warehouses with metal."
"We've identified the enemy units as one of the missing Comstar units." The Field Marshal reported. "But they've got a lot of Royal grade 'mechs and some new manufacture as well."
"Looks like the radicals are at it again," Hanse sighed. "Don't bother broadcasting a surrender, they won't accept it."
Author's note: Some of this chapter is quite literally ideas stolen from "This was easier on the Tabletop". With some of my own tweaks in there.