22.2
Chapter 22.2 Operation Shiroyama Part 2.
3029
Tharkad
A different perspective
Katrina Steiner
Katrina's finger tapped away. Her generals bickered. Her sister argued, but more and more events were happening all at once.
The Fourth succession war.
The ISDF surprise.
Frederick a traitor… Having worked with Aldo Lestrade in an assassination attempt on herself.
Frederick she knew had been wanting to depose her. To take her place, but this had been a step too far.
If not for the Nighthawks deployed into her personal guard her daughters body double would be dead. Jeana had managed to put herself into a Nighthawk suit before using a secret path into Katrina's own office, where she had been meeting with a couple of supposed AFFS soldiers here to discuss the war.
They hadn't been at all. Instead they were hired by Aldo Lestrade to come and assassinate both herself and her daughter Melissa.
Thankfully Jeana was a crack shot, and in armor had been more than capable of killing one, and subduing the other man without taking too serious an injury.
Which is why Katrina now knew that Frederick, was at least partially involved in plotting the assasination.
So much to think on. So many problems, and issues. She had already summoned Frederick, and was simply waiting for his arrival.
Katrina wished she could have Aldo brought in as well, but the man was too wily. If she made any motion at the moment, she would have a full blown rebellion on her hands. And if she weighed the cost of finally removing the Combine, or getting revenge on Aldo, it was an easy choice.
Not that she wouldn't get her justice.
It would just have to wait.
"Archon? We have news. Tinaca has fallen. The Kell Hounds confirm the system is under their control."
"Ha! Three jumps! We are three jumps from Luthien!" One of Katrinas generals nearly jumped from his seat at the news cheering with a cigar in one hand waving. Creating a fog like banner above him.
"Only from the Tamar offensive. The others are still lagging behind." Another pointed out.
"Only for now. The focus has turned from us. The Dragon still sees the ISDF as the bigger threat…"
"They are the bigger threat! Their numbers are still increasing, They sent out another three regiments in the last month. They are replacing their numbers as soon as they drop. Something we can not hope to do!"
"Thank you Gentlemen." Katrina interrupted, earning instant silence from the room. "I am glad to hear that another world has fallen. General Troka. Who do we have that can garrison the system so the Hounds can continue moving?"
"A few options Archon. I will provide a list shortly with my recommendations."
"Good. Nondi, how long would it take to reinforce Tinaca for a push to Luthien?" She asked looking over the map herself, but as much as she planned, Nondi was the one in charge of the minutiae.
"A few months, Yes Archon. We are spread thin garrisoning worlds. Unless you are willing to relax the garrisons. It will take a few months to reposition enough regiments to push to… Mualang."
"Alright. If it will take that long… How many more lostech regiments can we supply in that time?" Katrina asked.
Nondi frowned grabbing a note pad to search the data. "The difficulty isn't supplying them directly Archon, it will be moving it logistically to the front. Most of our current logistics run is being used for resupply already."
"Do we have any additional jumpships we can commandeer?" Another general in the room asked, with a shrug. "Surely there are some more merchants out there we can grab."
"We have already requisitioned more than is safe for our economy. Any more and we risk damaging our own nation." Nondi denied instantly. "That is including the jumpships that the ISDF are currently supplying." Nondi added, giving a side eye to Katrina.
Katrina almost laughed, Nondi had been adamant about needing to know how the ISDF had pulled a fleet of Jumpships apparently out of thin air.
Katrina had firmly squashed any request so far to 'ferret' out the secret. It wasn't that she didn't want to know, and it wasn't that she fully trusted where they came from.
More and more Katrina suspected, that Victoria really was a Cameron, One that had powerful hidden backers.
But then she had to ask, why send her with almost no equipment? Why have her live in an orphanage for over a decade? The whole situation made no sense. But Katrina was sure of one thing.
She could at least trust that Victoria wasn't going to stab her in the back as soon as this was over. Which is more than she could hope from most of the Inner Sphere.
So she would allow the girl her secrets for now. Until the peace was built, and then she would be sitting down Victoria, and having a long conversation about who she really was.
"Most of the current additional Jumpships the ISDF are supplying, are heading into the Federated Suns to keep their economy from collapsing. And the rest are resupplying their own push into the Combine." Katrina reminded the room and her sister. "They are unlikely to be able to help us here. More than they already have." She reminded the room about the increase in jumpships that had gone into the Commonwealth.
"Then perhaps they can send even more regiments? They did assign two of their regiments to us already."
"After one of my generals, who had my trust, attempted to trick them into accepting full LCAF command." Katrina spoke softly quieting the room. "Commander Eisen-Blume was kind enough to not hold that offer against me. And even still agreed to supply us with two regiments. Let's not prod them for more after attempting to stab them in the back."
The room was quiet for a moment, because Katrina had made sure to hint at her displeasure at what she reminded the room about.
It had been close enough to treason in her eyes when the attempt was made. Anyone attempting to disrupt the Combine assault was a traitor in her eyes.
And potentially damaging the ISDF LCAF relations at this stage was definitely trying to damage the war effort.
There was a reason the General in question was no longer in this room.
"Then we go slow. New equipment will still be needed. Nondi, send the requests out, but if any company causes a disruption inform me. I will happily have a private conversation or two to remind them of the seriousness of the current situation." She received a firm nod. A few of the Companies in the Commonwealth had caused disruptions, but Katrina had been firmer than ever before.
Any company that refused to fall in line, would not get, or lose access to the Memory Core data that had surged the Lostech renaissance currently happening in the Commonwealth. Twice she had to completely remove a company from the approved list. Once for failure to achieve any level of product distribution.
The second for espionage.
Katrina sighed. In the end, greed was always one of her biggest enemies.
Before anything else could be said a loud knock rang out. And the door was opened. The man in full uniform offered a salute with one arm, the other carrying a folder. "Apologies for the interruption, but we have a priority message for the Archon."
Katrina nodded, taking the folder from the Colonel as she opened it. Her interest increased when she noticed it was from New Avalon.
It took only a few moments before she realized what she was seeing. "Everyone clear the room. Not you Nondi." She demanded instantly. Which considering the seriousness of her tone sent the Generals to quickly gather their things and leave the smoke laden room.
"Sister?"
"Just a moment." She spoke, trying to keep her voice level. Her eyes never leaving the message in her hands. Only when they were alone did she look up, revealing her eyes had begun to water over. "Look Nondi… Their little toes!" Katrina was practically crying as she offered the ultrasound image to her sister.
The ultrasound of Katrina's first grandchild. Melissa was pregnant.
—--
"Unscheduled jump!"
The blare of the alarm jerked me from my nap as I nearly fell out of my chair. It was my table, I could put my feet up on it if I wanted!
I rushed over to the interior comm unit and hit the command access. Letting whoever was in charge know I was here.
"Commander. Unscheduled jumpship. One Dropship. Not one of ours."
I nodded, I had come up with a sinister plan while building everything up. All dropships and jumpships had a small tiny miniscule piece of their Fusion Reactor made up of an alloy with an Eisen-Blume. It would allow the sensors to quickly determine if any Jumpship, Dropship ect, were one of ours or not.
"I am reaching out to the jumpship. Please hold." I sighed. Yeah I hated not being the one doing things, but my kids were doing fine. I pushed my back against the wall breathing in an out as I tried to calm my heart, while waking myself up. It had been a nice nap.
"Commander They are the Northwind Highlanders. They are looking for an audience."
"It's just a discussion. I'm not royalty." I grumble. Hitting the comm. "Ask them directly if they have accepted any mercenary contracts against the ISDF. If they haven't. Invite them in." I wasn't sure why they were here, but the Highlanders weren't likely to lie. Hopefully they weren't here to try and kill me.
"They assured us they haven't Commander. Their dropship is on its way. ETA, 12 hours."
"Alright… Just enough time to finish my nap I guess." I muttered, ending it off with a long yawn. Days were either boring, or incredibly busy here on Green base, depending on how much equipment we were sending out. The Jumpships alone took forever to load up and get crewed. It didn't help that Lockdale was still a lost system. Most people couldn't jump here even if they wanted to.
Their computers simply wouldn't have the data to make the jump. It was one of the reasons I had picked Lockdale. Lost worlds like this were often stripped out of computer systems after they were lost.
No point storing data for a system with nothing but corpses after all.
So it took forever to get crews on board.
"Duncan? Anything else going on?" I asked hitting the comm again.
"No Commander. We are dark until 0700 tomorrow. Everything is quiet."
"Good. Have someone keep an eye on our guests. But otherwise take a rest."
I would be doing the same. But maybe somewhere other than my desk.
—--
Just a bit over 12 hours later I was sitting in my office. The Northwind Highlanders had landed, and were making their way up. They had been quiet about what this was all about, but they had at least given assurances, they weren't here to cause trouble.
It was good enough for me. The Highlanders weren't really known for backstabbing. I mean if this was the McCarrons Armored Cav, I wouldn't have agreed to this.
Then again I probably would have just fired on them with the naval gauss…
Details!
The office was ready, the large holo table was currently showing my NightStar spinning around in a 3d image. It would cycle through a few things. An Eisen-Blume, A Colossus. A Locust.
Listen, it was my first mech! I still loved those derpy things.
The door to my office opened, and Eris led the small group of Highlanders inside. How do you know when you are dealing with Highlanders?
Well the kilt is usually a good clue!
I smiled at my own little joke as I stood. "Welcome to Green Base." I offer to the small party "please come in, drinks? Snacks? We are well supplied here." I offered, but received only a few interested looks at the snack table.
"Thank you Commander Eisen-Blume. I know our arrival was odd. I am Captain William Campbell Northwind Highlanders."
"Just a bit. Captain, but we are neighbors now. So I can guess why you would want to reach out… How are things on Northwind? I heard about what the 5th Sword did. Do you need any medicine. Or anything?" I asked in honest concern.
Fuckin Bio weapons.
William looked surprised, but he offered me a real smile. "No, thank you. The Weapon has been isolated and is being handled. The worst is already past, and those sick that are still alive, are already being treated."
I could feel my teeth grinding at that. The death toll had been horrible, and it wasn't just military. Civilians had suffered as well.
"Pardon me for being blunt, Commander. The Northwind Highlanders have had our eye on you for some time." He offered looking me over. "At first it was interest in your equipment, as you can guess, finding equipment to keep our Highlander mechs operating is a constant battle with attrition."
"Yes. I can understand that very well. I don't think there would be any problems with setting up trade. I do have plenty of Royal Highlanders remaining." I offer with a smile.
William actually smiled at that, and I could see a few of the men behind sharing happy looks.
"I would be happy to enter into a deal with you Commander. In fact that is why we are here in the first place. We heard a rumor, and we would like to have it verified." He reached into his Sporran, the bag at the front of his kilt, and pulled out a small device. "This is something we have kept within the Highlanders for a long time. It's… only once been used before. About a hundred years ago when a young man came to us and tried to demand we serve him."
I blinked. That was a bit of a non-sequitur. "Did you throw him off a cliff?" I couldn't help but ask the audacity of going to a merc company and demanding they serve you. "And what made him think that would work?"
"Because the man was calling himself Jacob Cameron. The heir to Starleague." He answered simply.
I couldn't help but whistle. "That's a damned dangerous con to try and pull. Considering I never heard of the Highlanders suddenly working to reform Star League. I am guessing you had proof he was a fraud?" I asked, pointedly looking at the device.
"Exactly so. We didn't throw him off a cliff… We threw him out an airlock." He offered simply which had my lips twitching. Dry humor was a weakness of mine.
"Okay. So I can sort of guess what's going on, but I'll be frank. My name is Eisen-Blume. And definitely not Cameron. So I think you came a long way to waste your time if that is what you are thinking… Well other than the trade deal."
William nodded. "True. And this isn't something we are going to require, but we did come a long way to find out. An answer to a mystery if you will. This is a bio-encoder. It was something that was in possession of the Royal Blackwatch. We were there to guard the First Lord and his family after all, so we needed a way to ensure we weren't dealing with a body double, and so any… Unfortunate additions to the family were verified and kept quiet."
"Ah. Young women coming to the palace saying they have the child of the First Lord was common I suppose?"
"More than you would expect from the records." He offered holding up the device. "If you want to prove to the Inner Sphere, you aren't a Cameron, here is your chance. We would be happy to spread the information as far as possible."
I snort. "Sure. Why not?"
"Commander! We don't know what that is. This could still be a chance to-"
"Eris. I get it. I really doubt this is an assasination attempt. But how about we verify it real quick. William? Will you use the checker first?"
The large man laughed a booming chortle "Of course!" He flipped the device, and simply stuck his finger into it. After a few moments it beeped once. On the small screen display he read it off. "No matching Genome. Funnily enough we actually have a member of the Highlanders that still has some Cameron DNA. One of Theodore Cameron's cousins joined the Highlanders early on. But that's another story."
I snickered at that, as I pulled off my armored glove. Sticking my finger into the device when it was offered. Despite Eris's continued scowl. I winced as it pricked me, but it only took a moment. Then it beeped.
Then it beeped again, and again. And again.
I blinked a little surprised. But the smile on Williams' face was gone. As was the calm atmosphere of his men.
Every one of them was looking at the device with an absurd focus.
"If it says I'm related to Amaris don't tell me, I don't think I could handle that." I offered after a moment when no response was coming through.
My voice startled the man who had been staring at the device like it owed him money. He jerked his eyes up and met mine.
Blue on blue.
"You are the Granddaughter of Amanda Cameron. Daughter of Richard Cameron, final First Lord of the Star League."
The room was silent. "Did Romano Liao put you up to this?" I couldn't help but ask. "If you paid you something… I mean I can't blame you but-"
The device was offered and I read through the display. Multiple checks were done. Going down the list. DNA Genome checks. Even a Nanite check because of course the First Lord would have nanomachines son.
So apparently I had them to.
And apparently I was a great grandaughter of the last First Lord.
"Fuck."
I blinked. That hadn't been me. I glanced at Eris who was white as a ghost.
"Fuck." I agreed with her. Between the two of us a silent conversation happened, where the only words spoken were 'fuck.' It was a good talk. Very relaxing.
Before anything else could be said a warning tone rang out over the intercom.
"Unscheduled Jump activity!"
I sighed. Rubbing my nose, great. Just great.
But then before anything else could be said. The tone went out again.
"Unscheduled Jump activity!"
"Unscheduled Jump activity!"
"Unscheduled Jump activity!"
"Unscheduled Jump activity!"
Over and over.
I blanked. Rushing to the wall comm after pushing the device back into Williams, hands. "REPORT!"
"Commander! We are definitely under attack! Scans recognize Overlord Dropship as belonging to the Genyosha!"
"Fuck. Yorinaga and Theodore." I realized instantly. They had disappeared after the battle of Ashio. They were coming to cut the head off the drag- No wait that was them. Cut the head off the flower?
"Red alert."
"Yes Commander!" The lights didn't dim, but red lights ran along the top of the entire room. As it would in every hall and every room.
"Apologies William. This… Whatever this is will have to wait."
"Of course… We will fight. Put us in a mech and we will stand."
I blinked. That worked. "I have some Royal Highlanders with your name on it. Fight and they are yours to keep. Eris. Suit them up."
"Y-yes Commander."
"Fuck." I grumble as they are pulled out of the room, and I move to my table. Time to coordinate an assault on Green Base.
Ignore the bombshell Vicky. Do what needs to be done. Set aside the nonsense until after.
Ugh I was never going to get people to stop calling me Cameron now!
—--
A different perspective
Theodore Kurita
It was time. As many Jumpships as he had been able to gather. Including the ones ComStar had delivered. Dropships on every boom available. And enough men gathered from worlds passed over to man every piece of equipment brought along.
This was it.
The turning point in the war.
He toggled the comm system. His voice reaching out to every jumpship and every dropship. To every mech, and tech, to every man in an ASF. To every infantryman.
"The enemy we face today, will be ferocious. This is their home. Their base. They will be ready. But that does not matter. Because they are without honor. They are not Samurai."
"Today we will destroy the ability for the ISDF to continue supplying their people. We will kill or take their Commander hostage. And from this post we will cut off their retreat. They will die in our space. On our worlds. And we will gather their lostech and use it to drive a spear into our enemies."
"The Coordinator is watching. I too am watching."
"Fight. For the future of our people!"
The ships jumped. And Theo knew this was it. The battle would determine the fate of his family.Last edited: 23/5/20221013