55

Three weeks later, a military convoy arrived at Coromodir. It was carrying the 5th Taurian Guard Regiment, an extra ASF squadron and was escorted by the TCS New Vandenberg, a Vincent class warship.

Comptroller Jacob Ponce at the reception with the ruling family not only handed over his orders, which were to help defend the system until Kamea's forces are reorganized, but also a personal missive from Thomas to Kamea and Jean-Luc, of which he knew nothing (according to him)

'Kamea, Jean-Luc, I'm very disappointed with both of you. What were you thinking, when you decided to accept Hanse Davion's contract? Did you ever think about the consequences of provoking someone like Romano Liao? Or did you just look at the money, unable to see anything else? I do hope it will be a lesson For you. Hanse, without losing a single soldier, destroyed two elite Capellan units, had the CCAF occupied for months, and you paid the bill, even worse, your people paid it. Frankly, I expected more from both of you. Start thinking about the implications of your actions if you want to survive in these dangerous times.'

After reading the message, Kamea took a deep breath and turned to Jean-Luc. 'Thomas is right, your decision to accept the contract was stupid and I did not act better by agreeing with you. You'll spend a few nights on the couch to learn and I want to see you and your companies very visible helping the reconstruction of Cordia City.'

I still thought about asking why only I would be punished, but a look on Kamea's face silenced me just in time. I was glad the couch was comfortable…

What was hard to swallow was that both Thomas and Kamea were right. I had not thought beyond the contract, I had never realized that Romano could react as she did, although I knew she was vindictive to say the least. And the consequences of my mistake had been paid for by the people of Cordia City.

By December, the full-scale conflict had ended, leaving only a few systems challenged. The result had been somewhat better for the Federated Commonwealth that I remembered as they had won 11 systems and only lost 2. The incursions of the CCAF and of the FWLM had not succeeded in capturing any system, being neutralized by the use of mercenaries by the AFFC.

With the return of the Revenants and their staying for now in Coromodir and a replacement BattleSat also arriving, that needed to be moved from its defensive location, because no 'free' one is available at the moment in the Concordat, the 5th Taurian Guard and the New Vandenberg returned to the Concordat, leaving only the ASF squadron to provide support. Several Industrial 'Mechs had arrived from New Vandenberg, greatly helping with the efforts in Cordia City and as requested they bore my marks/colours.

The Revenants had suffered very few losses, mostly because the worlds they hit with few exceptions only had Home Guard units and even those with more units had no more than a company of 'Mechs, none of them upgraded or modernized. After all, the objective was to distract CCAF forces, not to engage front-line units. In that, it was a success. They had good intel on the targets, courtesy of the combined efforts of the MIIO, DMI, TMI, and MIM, and so the planets had been hit hard and fast with them quickly moving to their next target and never staying more than the minimal necessary time on each system.

The wreckage of the different units that had fought on Coromodir had allowed a company of 'Mechs to be rebuilt. Meanwhile 6 Dragonfly M2 had been 'offered' by Thomas as well as a company of 'Mechs, leftovers that had been replaced by Royal level ones, to help rebuild the defenses. From the Reach factories in Mechdur and Detroit enough Mechs arrive to help rebuild the Royal Guards to they former strength.

Repairing Kamea's 'Mech had been easy as it was a model under production on New Vandenberg, which meant easy access to plenty of parts. Mine, on the other hand, was an unique one, with the parts needed to be custom made. Because of that only in February of 3040 was it fully operational again. I took the opportunity of that repair to upgrade the ER PPC to the enhanced version we had developed.

By the end of December 3039, the modernization of the production lines in New Vandenberg had been completed, including the Marauder II line. Not only did they produce Royal class 'Mechs, but the quantity produced was equal to Star League best. The VMI facilities in New Vandenberg were probably the most modern of the Inner Sphere and Periphery - except that is for some on Earth. 

Talks with the Magistracy led to the Dragonfly M2 to be also produced in Mechdur and Detroit, in exchange for a discount price for the MAF, basically selling them at production cost plus transport. This last move finally provided the Reach with an in-house source of ASFs. The production lines were to be operational by mid 3042 at earliest.

The fact that both Kamea and I took part in the defense of Cordia City and that I was later quite visible in the reconstruction of the city as well as elements of my companies made us quite popular, cementing our rule.

With about half of Royal Guard pilots dead and most of the rest gravely wounded, it was difficult to rebuild the unit. On the one hand, as soon as the "veterans" came back from the hospital, we gave them a 'Mech (one of the only luxury of having more BattleMechs than 'MechWarriors). On the other hand, the recruitment of new elements was time-consuming, with the amount of security checks and the necessary indoctrination that an unit of this type required. It was not before mid 3040 that the unit was at full strength again.

All the embassies present in Cordia City had all reported back the use of the BattleSat, and so, they all started crash programs to replicate the design, the militaries being quick to understand the value of such a cheap unit.

The Concordat was keeping ahead with a more capable version having been studied, the BattleSat II, which was bigger at 3.500 tons with better armor and with 6 Arrow IV AAM/SAM and 12 AMS. The 'problem' was its cost, the triple of the original model, and so, only a few are ordered.

A modernized version of the Tigress started production in 3038 in the Concordat. With advanced weapons, the big advantage was that because of its bigger platform, it could carry up to 6 Arrow IV AAM or 3 Alamos, turning it into a very nasty surprise for anyone trying to invade a system defended by some of them.

After losing two elite units in the Reach and not obtaining any results in the raids against the Federated Commonwealth, the Capellan Confederation took the only road available with an ambitious plan of upgrading and expanding the CCAF, at the cost of almost everything else.