11

The new factories for Firebees, the development of another militia-focused mech made with Vindicator chassis, the Cataphract factory's move from Tikonov to Capella even if it cost the entire confederation at least a fifty new heavy mechs that could have been produced in the meantime, recruiting Candace and forming the Ministry of Citizens, and focus on armored vehicles and tanks for militia …

I did all I could.

Which meant that nothing I did right now could help anyone else.

So… I think I should take this time to relax. It'll take three months at a minimum to reach Terra, and that was because I was taking the shortest path and not the scenic path that would allow me to visit important Capellan worlds along the way.

I really did push this as far back as I could.

… But what was I supposed to do?

Even if the Princess-class dropships were the most luxurious dropships, it meant jackshit when it was attached to the jumpship. Even when the jumpship my dropship was attached to maintained its 0.1 G thrust to keep itself from falling towards the star, that was barely enough gravity to do anything.

That's less than the Moon's gravity!

It was why … for the first time in a long time … I was pumping iron. Kind of.

"Urk…! AGH!"

"Chancellor, give me just another mile!" the sergeant brave enough to become my temporary instructor yelled from my right as he pumped his own legs.

Instead of gravity-reliant exercises and machines, I was doing my goddamn best against a mechanical device: a stationary exercise bike.

Sweat dribbled down from my face, neck, arms, and back. My thighs screamed at me to stop but I didn't.

I didn't pay attention to the other soldiers who were in the gym. I didn't even look at the other feeble nobles who decided to join me in hopes that that would somehow earn them my favor.

No, I paid attention to the pain. Paid attention to the weakness leaving my body. I gritted my teeth as I pushed down on the pedal again and again. At some point, the pain just leveled out but I started to have less strength to push.

"Okay, and we can stop here!"

I fell face-first onto the handle. "Fuck…" I groaned.

The sergeant had the audacity to laugh.

I gave him the middle finger.

Now, a member of the CCAF laughing at the Chancellor would have been "re-educated" by their peers. Then it was a good thing that my current temporary instructor was not a member of the CCAF but a Canopian mercenary.

Master Sergeant Anne Renessa was what one expected from a mercenary mechwarrior. Fit, trained, and barely wearing anything.

She was also what most expected from a Canopia: beautiful, voluptuous, and playful. With tits that had to measure in the upper J-cups, a nuclear ass, and bouncy, feathered curly hair tied into a ponytail, she was utterly sexy.

But right now, she was my coach who I loathed.

"Let me rest…" I moaned pitifully but quietly. I still had an image to uphold, and definitely couldn't make myself look like a moaning puddle of sweat and pain.

No, no, no. The Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation could not be that.

But a grumbling pile of moody suffering? Ladies loved that.

Of course, my mercenary instructor knew this, so she didn't laugh out loud at me.

No, she just grinned as she kept pumping her thicc watermelon bursting thighs.

Damn.

I really was cooped up for too long in the palace if this was how I reacted to one half-naked sexy woman next to me. Like I was ignoring how emasculated I felt compared to her because of how strong she was compared to me.

Then I flinched as the memories came back.

… Perhaps later. Maybe I'll enjoy thinking about women in the future.

"Come on, chancellor! Can't rest when all of your men are hard at work!" she said and gestured to the soldiers who just realized that they were being used as a measuring stick.

I gritted my teeth and pushed myself up, ignoring the way my sweat-ladened face had smeared the digital screen of the high-end stationary bike, and pushed back down on the pedals.

Because if there was something worth doing, then it was worth putting my all in.

---

"So how did you end up in my service?" I asked MS Renesa.

She looked up from where she was resting herself and met my eyes.

"... Well, if you don't mind knowing… Celestial Wisdom?" she said unfamiliarly.

I nodded. I was taking my five minute break before moving to my next exercise.

"Officially speaking, I joined the Mary's Light Cavalry when I became eighteen. Unofficially, I was always part of the company since birth."

"Ah. Family business."

"In a way," she hummed. "My mother became a noble through her service to the Magistracy of Canopus, and because of this, she was able to better supply her mercenary company and expected her children to follow in her step."

"And you did."

"And I did," she nodded. "I was the eldest daughter in Magistracy, and I also liked mechs."

It was a standard enough story as far as many noble mechwarrior stories went.

"Then how did the company come under the confederation's payroll?"

"Oh, that was simple. You paid better than the League."

I snorted. "Yeah, I guess that settles it."

She chuckled.

"Alright. Back at it, Chancellor. Can't let those muscles rest for to long."

I grunted. Instead of the bike, I got on a resistance pulley. Or something.

"Alright. Here's how we're gonna go. We're gonna do ten at the start, twelve after, fourteen, back to twelve, and finish with a ten. Ready?"

"Yeah."

"And start!"

-VB-

After nearly three months of traveling, we jumped into Terra.

I blinked the spots out of my eyes as the jump came to an end and looked around.

The first thought I've had after the jump was how lovely it would be to have clothes that fit me better, because after three months of eating well, exercising intensely and properly, and resting well?

I grew bigger. Like I put on at least two kilos of muscle and lost the bit of fat I've had. It also made me less like a bureaucrat and more like someone deserving of my seat. That felt good.

I wanted to undo the straps, stand up from my seat, and stretch, but I opted to remain seated until the Princess dropship was moving.

It would be nasty if I fell through an elevator shaft or something like that.

So I waited.

And not too long afterward, I heard the dropship captain alert the crew with the PA system.

"{We have now entered the Terran System. The Chancellor's Chariot will soon detach from the Confederate Stars and fly towards Terra. Estimated time of arrival is October 11.}"

Today was October 1, late in the evening (for Terran standard time). So it would be a little over nine days.

I wondered how I will react to … everything.

Earth! It's been … it's been another life since I last saw it, even if it wasn't my past life's Earth. Would it have the same monuments, the same people, and the same cultures? Would it be an alien landscape for my past life's memories?

What about the other Great Houses? Would I be genuinely be able to think of peace when I meet them? Will I be able to react properly? Would my reactions be genuine?

Would I be sad if i find Hanse, Katrina, Janos, and Melissa to be respectable if not likable people? That I had enemies who I didn't want to kill or fight in the first place?

Could I even broach the topic of peace when they were set on butchering my people? When I knew they already had twice my total mech regiments lined up at my border?

That, in truth, they would have begun invading mere days before the actual wedding itself?

I suspected that all of it would be … new.

And new experience was a very rare commodity for someone like me.

At least I will be able to claim that I tried.

-VB-

When the Chancellor's Chariot landed on Terra near Hilton Head Island in what used to be South Carolina of the United States of America in the Savannah Spaceport.

And, just like how I remembered the American South…

"Humid and hot," I grumbled.

It was October for Christ's sake! Did global warming get that bad in this timeline? That it was still hot during October in South Carolina's swamp-ridden coastline?!

I fanned myself as I walked down the dropship's ramp. Thank God I wasn't wearing anything particularly long like many Chinese-inspired Capellan attires were.

"Chancellor."

I looked down and saw several ComStar members waiting for me.

I leaned slightly toward my chief bodyguard. "Come with me," I told him as I finished walking down the stairs and met with the ComStar members. I recognized the front three to be Precentors from the different robes they had from the adepts behind them.

The three precentors bowed very slightly. A show of respect.

"Greetings, Chancellor Liao, and welcome to Terra."

"Yes," I hummed. "It is my first time here. It's … good to be here on humanity's birthplace."

That made the precentor at the front smile.

"I am Charles Wu, Precentor Asia. It gladdens my heart to hear that someone of your status has made your way to Terra."

I didn't say anything to that, merely looking around.

Right now, other dropships that had come with me had already disgorged their mechs and troops. It was far less than what my late father and sister would have brought with them to "show" the other Great Houses. In fact, bringing only a single mech company could be considered foolish when I knew that the bride and groom wanted my nation dead.

But considering that my bodyguards were better used to train and lead the troops out in the field, it was a decision I had made long ago.

"Tell me, precentor," I hummed. "I do not see any of the dropships belonging to the other Great Houses here. Why is that?"

"We did so to … minimize conflict, Your Grace. Please excuse us if our actions have insulted you in any way."

And it was an insult. By deliberately moving me away from the other four Great Houses and letting my dropships land on a smaller (but no less grand) spaceport, they were telling me indirectly that they did not believe me capable of defending myself.

And it was also a message about ComStar's own irritation at my refusal to work with them in whatever scheme they had for disrupting the FedCom alliance.

Whatever.

If this had happened on any other world, then even I might have to show my displeasure publicly.

But this was Terra.

"I supposed that Terran borns are prone to insulting others then," I shrugged. "Like Rome of old. Weak, religious, and powerless to even stop us barbarians from fighting each other in its own halls." I turned to my guards before the shocked precentor could respond. "Come! It seems that ComStar's organization and security measures are so bad that distance is the only thing they have at their disposal. Let's distance ourselves from them just in case then."

With that last insult thrown their way, I ignored their protests and moved on

VB-

The day of the wedding.

October 25, 3028.

I walked into the wedding reception with my head held high, because I was the Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation and needed to show the other states that even if we were the smallest of the Successor States, we were not bowed by the pressure they forced upon us.

The wedding hall was … it was suitably rich beyond the reach of the common people. Ice sculptures, exotic foods, and ridiculously expensive dresses costing around battlemech prices galore and the norm among the people who attended the wedding. The flags of House Steiner and House Davion hung from multiple walls and ceilings along with aesthetically pleasing Terran silk curtains in the colors of those two houses hung along with them. The marble floor shined with such luster that I could see an almost perfection reflection of myself on the floor.

The slowly rising late morning sun and sunlight shining through the wedding hall's long and large windows almost seemed like a symbol of the new heights that the FedCom alliance would reach.

Oh, and let's not forget the mix of ComStar, Steiner, and Davion soldiers standing guard all around the place, though for obvious reasons, ComStar's ComGuard made up the majority of these guards.

While the herald in the background went on and on with my oh so long titles, I looked around and spotted a few people of notice.

The first person I noticed was Katrina Steiner.

And damn, she was definitely the MILF of the House Lords. Full lips, a great pair of breasts she flaunted (to the envy of many ladies from all over the Inner Sphere), both laterally and frontally pleasing curves, and a full and bouncy blonde locks cascading down her shoulders. The only sign of her age was just a single laugh line on either side of her lips. If she was masking any wrinkles, then hell, I couldn't see them underneath her make-up.

The second person I noticed was Hanse Davion.

He, too, was handsome in a way I could never be. It certainly made sense why Melissa fell in love with him rather quickly. Though the beauty of a man might not be the only factor why a smart woman like Melissa might fall in love but it probably definitely helped. He was … I supposed that he was the epitome of a mechwarrior: skilled, muscular, tall, and gallant. Actually, that's just what made a man attractive.

Of course, I wasn't dismissing the ladies who preferred their men to have some softness to them.

The third person I noticed wasn't Melissa Steiner.

It was Janos Marik. How could I not? As the oldest of the House Lords and the only one with a facial tattoo, he was very recognizable.

In a way, I noticed these people because they were the ones I wanted to talk to before the Fourth Succession War broke out.

And to my surprise, it was Hanse himself who approached me first. That got everyone in the hall whispering and muttering. Expectedly, both of us ignored the rest of

"First Prince Davion," I greeted him with a smile I wasn't feeling.

"Chancellor Liao," he returned the greeting with a nod and a smile he also probably wasn't feeling.

It was just politeness, after all.

"Thank you for coming to my wedding. I wasn't sure if you would come."

I shrugged. "My peers are getting married and sent an invitation. At best, it would be rude to not show up. At worst, I'm sabotaging myself when I have been sending messages to the Archon about wanting to make peace."

"I see," he replied noncommittally. "Thank you for coming, and I do hope you enjoy the rest of the wedding."

And it was finally time to talk with Melissa Steiner, who has been waiting quietly by Hanse's side. Now that our brief conversation was over, she spoke up. "Greetings, Chancellor Liao."

"Greetings, Heir Steiner," I greeted her. She smiled and lifted a hand for me. I did the kiss on knuckle, as was proper for the situation, and that seemed to make Hanse less tense. He certainly appreciated how I didn't linger or hold her hand for too long. "And congratulations on the wedding. There's not many men out there in the Inner Sphere like your husband here."

"Thank you," she smiled genuinely. "And … please forgive me, I am surprised that you came today, chancellor."

"Ah! If it was old pops, then he might not have," I replied casually. "But then again, I'm not my insane father, am I? I have nothing against you two. Part of the reason why I stopped the CCAF from launching raids into the Federated Suns."

Of course, I didn't mention that I did that to conserve my mechwarriors and mechs.

My words made both of them stiffen just a little. They were good at being politicians to show any overt and even minor expressions that give their thoughts away. They had probably already hardened their hearts against me and my people.

Too bad for them, I had no intention of letting them maul the confederation so easily.

"Well, I do hope you enjoy my wedding gift when I make the announcement," I told them.

Hanse nodded and Melissa curtsied. I gave them a nod and walked away but not before I noticed Hanse's near blank face.

'I think he really wanted to hint at the surprise he had in store,' I thought to myself as I walked away, leaving the couple to greet other wedding guests as they came.

And now, I waited.

Like in all things political, the waiting game was both paradoxically the most and least important aspect of it. After all, I couldn't just walk up to Archon Steiner and ask her about the prospect of peace between her and my nation. No, no, no. It needed to occur at the right time and place, and right now when Hanse and Melissa greeted wedding guest was not the time.

-VB-

But the time eventually came.

After all of the guests checked in, people began to mingle.

That's when I met with Katrina.

"Archon Steiner," I greeted her after approaching her almost too casually at the edge of the party.

"Chancellor Liao," she greeted me with a nod. "Thank you for showing up at my daughter's wedding."

"Oh, that's not a problem at all," I grinned.

"Even if it meant that you might have to contend with the combined might of the two states?"

There it was.

I shrugged. "Hasn't that always been the case?" I asked her. "The five Successor States are bordered by two others. Until very recently, my people had to fight the Federated Suns and the Free Worlds League, and it was only your alliance that forced the rest of us to form the Kapteyn Accord. So if the Lyran Commonwealth to join the Federated Suns … it would just be a return to the status quo."

She hummed.

"So what did you think about my offer?" I asked her. "A peace between the Lyran Commonwealth and the Capellan Confederation?"

While her previous question could have been her answer, I still wanted to ask for a definite answer.

Archon Katrina Steiner looked at me in the eyes directly. She seemed to be searching.

"Do you genuinely want peace?" she asked me.

"... Yes," I told her. "I simply do not have an interest in the domination of the Inner Sphere," I continued. "There's nothing to gain by constantly fighting each other, and the living standard of our people continue to fall without stopping. Sooner or later, and perhaps in the next generation or the one after, we will be ruling over people who will treat dropship captains as gods and mechwarriors as demi-gods." I paused. "And you? Do you truly want peace? Was your offer to my father one you made to buy yourself time against the League and the Combine or a genuine desire for peace?" I asked her.

She stared at me a bit longer before closing her eyes and nodding. "I do want peace," she said quietly.

"Then can we have peace? Our two states that have nothing against each other who aren't even connected by border?" Then I paused before smiling. "Hell, I'll even give it up."

She opened her eyes and raised her eyebrow. "Give up what?"

"The title of the First Lord of the Star League."

Her eyes widened.

"... Truly?"

"Truly truly."

My response seemed to genuinely hurt her not because I was hurting her … but because she was about to do something that went against what she also wanted.

Because she was no longer in a state to accept peace.

"... Perhaps I will need more time to think about it. As you said, our two people have nothing against each other right now."

I gave her a brilliant smile of relief just to twist in that knife a little bit more.

"Wonderful! I really do hope you agree to peace, Archon Steiner. Hell, I'll even be happy to exchange a few worlds with the Federated Suns to help your two realms connect if you agree to peace."

I saw her eyes flinching.

Just a little.

-VB-

And then… it was time for the exchange of vows.

I watched from where I sat at the head of the Capellan Confederation delegates.

I watched as Hanse said his part of the vow. And then Melissa did his part of her vow.

Then they kissed.

I gave them a heartfelt clapping and made sure they saw it.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm the guy smiling and clapping for you on your wedding. And you're gonna attack me.

Hanse Davion finally turned to the rest of the wedding guests.

Finally… he was going to say it.

"My dear…"

This was the start.

"I give you…"

Of the most intense war our generation will encounter.

"The Capellan Confederation."

Right then and there, I stopped clapping but didn't drop my smile.

Hanse and Melissa and I stared at each other.

Both of us knew this had been coming.

Everyone around us broke out into whispers and murmurs. Many of them even looked at the Capellan guests with trepidation. My Capellan nobles almost began to shout and scream at the First Prince for the declaration.

"Well," I said as I stood up, silencing my people with a single word. "I guess my wedding gift isn't needed then," I said.

Hanse stared at me, not saying anything.

"This is about what my father did to you, isn't it, Hanse?" I asked, forgoing his title. "About Operation DOPPELGANGER?"

And then his teeth gritted.

"I'm sorry that you are haunted by his actions… but you need not attack us for it. I am not my father. You've realized this, haven't you?" I asked him.

He didn't say anything.

"Is it impossible for us to have peace?"

He still didn't say anything.

I finally allowed myself to show some emotion.

"So you draw your sword against someone who has done you no wrong, who has pulled his own armies back to stop the generations of warfare we have engaged in, and then came to your own wedding with peace in mind," I snarked. "What a great man!" I laughed as I clapped my hands. "Come on, people! Clap for the man who would attack a son for the sins of his father!"

My people were quick to follow… but it surprised me when the League and the Combine's delegates also clapped with me.

"Bravo, First Prince. Bravo, Archon. You wanted peace… but your peace was just a ruse," I snarled at Katrina. The "iron lady" of the Inner Sphere did not look away.

I stopped clapping and dropped my hands. "You know," I said as I reached in and pulled out a small box. "This was supposed to be my wedding gift to you and your wife. A memory core from the days of the Star League."

His eyes widened. Some people stood up as I held what was in their eyes the closest thing to a sacred treasure from the golden bygone days.

"An offer of peace. An offer of better days to come! It might not have any military technology in it, but water purifiers, advanced desalination technology, agricultural technology, and medical technology for cancer screening … this has it all."

I raised the core… and allowed it to drop.

And then I crushed it underneath my feet.

Everyone not part of the Capellan Confederation rose up in horror. Some of them even shouted in protest at the sacrilege I've committed.

Hanse didn't say anything… because there was nothing he could say right now that would be in his favor.

"You want to kill my people and take my worlds, Hanse?! Then come and get it! I will turn my worlds into Vietnam!"

VB-

It took me three months to return to Sian, and by the time I landed on its soil, bad news greeted me.

The Federated Suns had launched a deep strike into Tikonov Commonality. Their lightning attacks on Liao, Algol, Aldebaran, New Hessen, Pleione, and Poznan fractured the commonality in ways it could not recover. With New Hessen taken, Tikonov only had Alrescha for a friendly jump point. The fall of Poznan, Aldebaran, Pleione, and Liao completely cut the commonality from the rest of the confederation.

Most of those worlds had already fallen by the time I came back to the capital, and their attackers had moved on to strike deeper into Tikonov Commonality's worlds while their greener reinforcements came in to garrison the worlds that had fallen into the Suns' hands and their more regular and elite regiments jumped into Sarna Commonality to further their invasion.

Tikonov hadn't fallen yet, but the situation looked grim.

And people here in Sian and the Chancellor's Halls praised me for my foresight.

For the first time I've returned, I met with the Prefectorate in an emergency meeting to strategize for the war at our doorstep. There, it wasn't just the colonels but also ministers of various departments, including my sister as both a powerful Liao and a minister in her own right.

"Colonels, I need a sitrep of the situation," I ordered, and they were quick to tell me.

And to my surprise… we were holding on through the worst blitzkrieg-style attack the Suns have ever launched upon the Capellan Confederation.

The Federated Suns launched 22 regiments from the start, and struck all across the Tikonov Commonality, and there were only 13 regiments (give or take one) across the worlds they struck. My people were outnumbered two-to-one in most places, but there were others where they were outnumbered five-to-one.

Tikonov Commonality got the bad end of the deal of being part of the Capellan Confederation during this time, but all other commonalities held on. St. Ives Commonality, the region that would have broken away from the Capellan Confederation, fiercely fought back against the Suns trying to raid and invade their worlds. Sian Commonality held their ground with ease. Capella Commonality had the least number of worlds affected by the war. Sarna Commonality, though, was taking the second most brunt of the war.

But even through the litany of bad news coming from Sarna Commonality, there were hopeful good news.

Far back when I was courting the mercenary commands, one of the mercenary leaders I showed favoritism to was Colonel Timothy Senn of the Northwind Highlanders. When the Fourth Succession War was declared, he declared for me while his brethren across the Capellan Confederation went to the Suns in exchange for Northwind. What would have been just some of the Highlanders staying loyal to me ended up being half of them instead, and they fought fiercely for the lord who supported them more than their brethren ever did.

Highspire, in the Sarna Commonality where the Colonel Senn and his Highlanders were stationed, became a meat grinder for the Federated Suns.

But the world that concerned me the most was not Highspire but Styk, one of the most heavily industrialized worlds in the entire Sarna Commonality. One could argue that it was the second most important industrial world in the commonality.

"How goes the battle on Styk?" I asked the Colonel of Sarna Commonality.

He looked scared but braved through my attention with the professionalism of his chosen career.

"Styk holds on, chancellor," he reported after only a moment. "However, MIIO spies managed to sabotage its aerospace assets, and so the Federated Suns have orbital and aerial control. Thankfully, the enemy strength seems to match ours on the ground. However, the Suns regiments striking at Styk include the Davion Heavy Guards."

I closed my eyes. That wasn't a good news.

"How long until reinforcements can be sent there?"

"... More than two months, Celestial Wisdom."

Two months. Two months for the defenders there to hold out and keep the third largest battlemech manufacturer of the confederation out of Davion hands.

"And if I were to order all of the Red Lancers to jump to Styk to protect it?"

Immediately, previously quiet and stoic men and women of the Prefectorate nearly shot up in alarm and objections.

I had already sent out a third of them to help train everyone in Sarna Commonality. To send out the rest would mean that Sian would be bereft of one of the most elite fighting force in the entire Inner Sphere.

And the leader of said storied regiment was in the room with me.

I opened my eyes, found her, and met her awaiting gaze with mine.

"Colonel Abermarle," I called upon her, and everyone else simmered down.

"Yes, chancellor?" she said as she stepped up.

"If I were to send you with a additional mercenary battalion and a battalion of the Death Commandos, will you be able to hold the Styk? Or take it back if the Suns have already managed to take it while you were in transit?"

She looked at me.

"I will succeed, even if it kills me, chancellor."

"I do not give you permission to die, colonel," I told her immediately, making her stiffen up. "You will live, even if it is to teach the future generation how to fight the Davions."

She held on firm before her lips wobbled a little. And then she saluted.

"Your will be done, chancellor."

I nodded. "Then go with my blessing. Bring death to the Suns."

-VB-

Styk, Sarna Commonality

A single Veteran Battalion and a single Green Regiment of the CCAF against two Elite RCT regiments of the AFFS.

Such a situation had played out before, and it almost always led to a victory for the AFFS. More than that, the CCAF regiment in question, the 4th Confederate Reserve Cavalry, was a near nameless regiment with inexperienced officers.

Compared to them, AFFS's invading force were some of the most well known. The Davion Heavy Guards and the 20th Avalon Hussars were heavy weights. In fact, the 20th had a lot of experience fighting the CCAF and causing havoc on Capellan worlds. One could even go so far as to say that it was their bread and butter.

It only made sense to send the two regiments to take over Styk, a world known for heavy and assault mech production. Taking this world out meant that the Capellan Confederation would lose their source of Crusader and Victor mechs, rendering their already light and medium-mech focused regiments into focusing even harder into those weight classes and thus reduce their firepower.

At least that's what she's been told as part of the operation.

They even entered Styk's orbit after MIIO handily sabotaged their anti-orbital and anti-air defenses.

So why…

Why were they having trouble here?

Major Sarah Montefeurth hissed as her Dervish shook something fierce as she got flanked again!

"I need some help here! This is the ninth time I've got flanked!" she shouted into the comms, but almost no word of help came through. It wasn't just her that was having trouble, even though she wasn't in the frontlines. It was everyone having trouble.

She and her company from the 20th Avalon Hussars landed just outside of the Hegemony Bay, which was Styk's major mech production site. Her company - and really, the entire regiment - had one purpose: to secure Hegemony Bay. The Davion Heavy Guards would rout and kick out the one and a half regiment that had been in garrison.

But instead of securing the bay within a month like they expected, it's been three months now!

She brought her Dervish around to try to fire its medium lasers at the fucking bugs annoying her, but they dove into the jungles around them.

"Get back here, you sons of bitches!" she shouted into her comms as she watched not mechs but armored vehicles and tanks disappearing into the jungle.

And one of the gunners on top of the tank pulled out a megaphone and shouted back at her in mandarin.

She didn't chase them. She knew better than that. Plenty of other mechwarriors chased the militia into the jungles. They never returned after explosions erupted deep in the jungle.

Instead, she cautiously backed away from the jungle, and then got herself proven right when SRMs poured out of the woods from four different directions!

She turned her Dervish to the left to prevent her already damaged and structure exposed right from taking hits.

Her entire mech shook away while her gyros tried to compensate for the rain of SRMs and LRMs she's been taking all morning.

"Jay, May, Clay?! Where are you?! I can't take this much longer!"

"{We're also getting hammered, Slay! They have these new franken heavy mechs!}" Clay's gruff baritone snapped back at her.

"You have an assault!"

"{And this shit's kicking my ass! Oh shi-!}

And then his comm cut off just as a distant explosion rung out behind her.

She didn't need her computer to show her Clay's mech highlighted in red for her to know what happened to him.

Franken mech? What the hell was he talking about?! Even if the Capellans were desperate, there was no way they would actually field any suicide mechs!

She backpedaled more as the SRM waves finally stopped.

Then she saw May's Wasp turn red.

"Fuck!" she hissed as she turned around. She knew that turning her back to the jungle was a bad idea, especially when she couldn't see where their SRM crews and tanks were, but she didn't have a choice. Her lance was dying out there!

She sprinted her unstable Dervish across the thinner line of jungle woods and into a clearing.

And there, she saw something that horrified her.

Her mech identifier fizzled out as it locked onto the largest of the six mechs in the green and white colors of the 4th Capellan Reserve Cavalry. The computer kept switching between Marauder, Shadow Hawk, and Phoenix Hawk before finally coming to a conclusion.

NEW MECH. HEAVY.

PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

This was the frankenmech Clay was screaming about before he got cored.

It definitely looked like a Marauder from the hip and below. But it also looked like a Shadow Hawk that had its shoulders enlarged. And carried weapons like a Phoenix Hawk.

But there were two of them.

They weren't frakenmechs.

One of them stomped forward towards Jay's downed Wolverine. It came to a stop, looked down, and fired its large laser and AC/10 at the same time. Those attacks punched right through the Wolverine's chest, and ammo explosions quickly followed.

But then she realized that large lasers don't glow like that.

Large lasers…

"Oh shit," she muttered to herself.

That wasn't a large laser.

That was a PPC.

Then both of the heavy mechs, guarded by what her computer was calling "Firebees," turned to her.

And they wasted no time firing their AC/10's and PPC's right at her already damaged front.

The first pair of attacks punched right through her mech's left chest, severing it and the arm from the rest of her mech. The second pair struck right at her center torso and sent her reeling over.

"Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck-!" she whimpered before the back of her head smashed into her chair when her mech landed. She groaned as stars blinked on and off in her vision. But knocked in the head as she was, she still reflexively tried to get her mech back up.

But she didn't need to.

"Shut down your mech and come out with your hands in the air! We have you surrounded!"

She looked up and saw exactly that. The tanks, armored vehicles, and the infantry squads that she had been fighting off for the entire morning had come out of the wood the moment she entered the clearing, and they had surrounded her.

If she tried to get up, then she would be shot back down with whatever many lasers, autocannons, PPCs, and SRMs until either she surrendered or died.

And there was no help coming.

"Fuck," she whimpered but reached out with her shaking hand and shut down her mech.

-VB-

Elsewhere around the Hegemony Bay, Tormano Liao personally led a company of mechs and a regiment of local militia against the invaders.

His brother prioritized his requests, and it was for that reason and that reason alone that he and his soldiers have been able to hold onto the Hegemony Bay.

When he first arrived on this world no more than a month ago, he had been aghast at the state of the militia. The local garrison wasn't that bad; the 4th Capellan Reserve Cavalry merely had been focused on having fast light and medium mechs. However, this left both without adequate firepower.

So he made sure to send a "request" to his sister to get the defenders of Styk two specific mechs: the new Cataphract heavy mechs and Watchman medium militia medium mechs. '

Both gave him edges he would have otherwise not have had.

The Watchman repairs proved far easier than any other mechs or tanks in his command. With Vindicator chassis available all throughout the mech factories of the Hegemony Bay, he could resupply directly from the factories, which ran even while they were under siege.

And the Cataphracts…

"Sir, they're here."

He looked up from his computers and saw that, yes, the Davion convoy they had been stalking for the past week was here.

He watched as another Davion convoy rolled through the valley to reach the frontlines. This convoy had to be stopped, or otherwise, all of the bloody fighting he and his men have been doing so far would have been for naught.

The convoy itself was composed of twelve vehicles, most of which were transports for both soldiers and materials, and a company of mostly medium mechs, the most numerous of which was Phoenix Hawk PHX-1's. Those were the perfect mech guards for convoys. They were fast enough to keep up with most vehicles, possessed enough firepower to scare off any would-be ambushing light mechs, and tanky enough to survive any ambush by heavier mechs or mechs that outgunned them like the Vindicators.

The perfect "counter" to CCAF's usual mechs.

But he had more than the light bug mechs and Vindicators.

"Now."

Wasps that had been at the top of the valleys pushed the boulders down on his command, and he watched the giant rocks rolling down the hills.

The Davion mechs immediately moved to intercept, shooting at the rolling boulders with their autocannons. As the canyon roared with the cacophony of two dozen autocannons firing off, the convoy sped up to avoid the boulders.

And at the end of that valley… was where Tormano was.

Tormano urged his heavy mech forward, and the Cataphract CTF-1X stomped forward obediently. Its bulky frame almost covered a good fourth of the valley's width. He opened up immediately with his Cataphract's PPC and AC/10.

The Phoenix Hawk at the head of the Davion convoy took the hit directly to its left torso and spun from the impact.

"Engage them, now!" he roared.

Firebees then jumped over the top edges of the canyon peaks. They opened fire with their Large Lasers but as soon as they got within half a click in range, each Firebee opened up all four of their SRM-2's. If the previous cacophony of autocannons had roared throughout the valley, then the explosion of forty SRM rockets going off at the same time was a deafening boom. The boulders that the Davion dogs failed to destroy also slammed into mechs and vehicles alike, adding to the explosion of noises.

Tormano didn't let up on his assault. While his PPC and AC/10 reloaded, he opened up with his four medium lasers.

The Phoenix Hawk he'd hit earlier stumbled as it got up, taking a full alpha strike, and returned fire.

A single Watchman attached to his company popped up from behind him and opened fire with its dual AC/5's. The slugs punched straight through that PHX-1's center torso. As it keeled over, pops and crackles of ammo cooking could be seen from the sparks coming out of the shell holes.

The Davion convoy's sole heavy mech, a Marauder, stepped forward to strike him down. Its double PPCs flared. One slammed into him while the other missed. The Cataphract's armor held on easily, and Tormano shot back at it along with the rest of his company.

Mechs blew up. Some fell down and didn't get up.

The battle raged on for just five minutes, but by the end of it, all of the enemy mechs and vehicles laid destroyed or disabled while only three Firebees laid disabled or destroyed on his side.

… It was a good battle.

He ordered his soldiers and mechwarriors to grab what they could, and they left soon after that.

By the time Davion reinforcements came to assist, they found a valley filled with their dead and scrap metals. On their sad return back to their base, they were ambushed constantly by armored vehicles, specifically Galleons and Harassers.

These ambushes with seemingly overwhelming firepower that couldn't be hunted down stunted the invasion of Styk… to a stand still.

-VB-

Director Scott Wilson of the Department of Military Intelligence really wanted to take a shot of whiskey right now.

He shuffled through the documents in front of him as he tried his goddamn best to piece together the puzzle that was the Capellan Confederation intelligence agency, the Maskirovka.

They were a puzzle because he didn't know how they saw through Operation RAT so quickly or how they even found out about the invasion in the first place!

"Nothing yet?"

He looked up and saw Hanse at the head of the table.

"No," he grunted out. "It's … either the Maskirovka got extremely better at blending in and bribing or someone else helped them."

His prince hummed as did others in the Privy Council.

It was more or less an unspoken agreement in the Privy Council that it had to be ComStar who was behind the intelligence leak. There was no one else who could have done it. The way the Capellan Confederation moved their entire military to defend their worlds almost a full year before the war was declared was …

It had to be ComStar.

No one else could gather enough information in such a short amount of time, not even MIIO and DMI.

So what was ComStar's goal, then? They obviously did not want the FedCom alliance to continue. That's why they helped create the Kapteyn Accords.

But why only send the information to the Capellans? Why not to the Draconis Combine? The DCMS would have used the information much better than the Capellans would have. And for that matter, why didn't the Capellans share the information of the impending invasion with their allies?

Scott sat there, looking over the reports, before he finally gave up.

Whatever the reason and motive, the Capellans got the information well ahead of the operation, and used it to their advantage. He actually would have congratulated them on their defense if it didn't frustrate him this much!

Because the chancellor's words on Terra proved right. Vietnam. A small country on the largest continent on Terra. It took him far longer than he liked to find out what the chancellor had meant, and it was only after he learned about the US-Vietnam War that he understood the reference.

On each world they struck, there were far more and better armed militia than they last received reports on. Each planet they took cost them more casualties than they projected, and occupation itself was slowly becoming a hell for the garrison units because the Capellans, for their militia, had forgone mechs.

Instead, they gave them lots and lots of armored vehicles.

It was far cheaper to produce, and while not as flexible as a mech for transport, they were perfect when they didn't need to be moved.

Exactly for the militia.

A prime example of this was the Harasser and Galleon pairs. They outran even Locusts, struck quickly, and retreated just as quickly. It didn't matter if they didn't strike kills. Each hit meant less armor. Each hit meant irritated mechwarriors. Each hit meant repair time. Each hit meant they couldn't afford to engage Capellan mechs without overwhelming numbers because their armors were too thin if not outright absent from constant barrages they had to take.

And because they were so fast, most mechs couldn't even hit them.

Their only saving grace was their aerospace fighters.

But even those were at risk because the Capellans had an answer to ASF: the Partisan Heavy Tanks. And because those heavy tanks didn't need to be in the frontlines, taking down them was a danger.

It was why Styk, a world central to Operation RAT, held on for so long; that blasted world possessed an ungodly number of armored vehicles, tanks, and cheap mechs that the Davion Heavy Guard was drowning in number and the aerospace fighters couldn't even begin to help.

And then his eyes ran over the latest monstrosity the desperate fuckers in CCAF thought of.

DMI analysts were quick to identify parts from multiple mechs in this new heavy mech that the Capellans fielded, and as ugly and fat as it looked (some of their soldiers were starting to call it "the Fat Man"), it was an armored monster that could tank assault mechs and definitely outdamage most heavy mechs while almost never going hot.

Ridiculous?

Very much so.

But it was the mech that came out of nowhere in small numbers along with many other mechs thought to have been lost and utterly stonewalled the Styk Invasion.

And if Styk and its mech factories stood, then the entire operation would slowly grind to a halt.

If the military situation looked off, then the civilian situation was even worse.

They were fanatical.

There have been reports from all Capellan worlds they occupied of Capellan citizens jumping into the fray if given a chance to slit a AFFS soldier's throat.

And why?

Candace Liao, the current Capellan chancellor's sister and the Minister of Citizen's Ascension.

Service to the state was a core part of the Capellan Confederation. It was such a big part that a resident could not gain citizenship without service to the state in one form or another. This made the civilians feel like they earned their citizenship and made them jealously guard it. While her ministry was in the process of pulling up the servitors out of their now removed caste, it was an effort that should have taken decades if not over a century.

Then Minister Candace came in and offered a chance to all servitors, people who were essentially slaves and thus without most rights.

For each Suns mechwarrior they killed, the state will grant a citizenship to them or their loved ones.

Those slaves took up arms with fervor. They ran face first into light mechs with suicide vests. They drove bomb cars into barracks. They poisoned the water supply, even if that meant they would drink the same water and die.

Because their death meant their children could have everything they lacked.

It was a desperate gamble, but it was a gamble that worked because most servitors had nothing to lose, especially because Hanse refused to give citizenship to former Capellans. And that was for a good reason. There had been … instances in the past where that resulted in major Maskirovka infiltration of the Federated Suns across all walks and sectors of life.

But the result of the Federated Suns' refusal was the zealous suicidal insurgent warfare across all occupied Capellan worlds.

"Styk."

Everyone in the Privy Council looked up to stare at Hanse, who'd spoken up suddenly.

"Yes, my prince?" Yvonne Davion, the Champion, asked.

"Styk must fall. Direct any and all nearby forces that can be spared."

The First Prince demanded Styk be taken.

So it will be taken.

Because the First Prince demanded so