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Parents being parents, one of the biggest problems for Jean-Luc and Kamea was that Sara was currently serving in the first battalion of the Revenants - part of the expeditionary force that was invading the Marian Hegemony. Both had taken risks on the battlefield and the 1st battalion was one of the best equipped and full of veterans but they were still worried.

Not wanting to show any preferential treatment, the solution they found was to make use of the fact that this was also the battalion where traditionally Jean-Luc's companies tested their new models.

Thus, a Lance was added, officially for testing new models that would be chosen for production, unofficially with secret instructions to stay close to Sara's unit. This experienced unit had at its disposal 2 Jenner JR9-TC3X (DHS, endo-steel, Ferro-Fibrous, 1x experimental SRM4 Streak and CASE), 2 Locust LCT-2ERX (DHS, Ferro-Fibrous, 2xERML and 2SL) as well as 2 Dragonfly MM-3R1 (equal to MM-3R, but with capacity for an Arrow IV AAM or AGM). The experimental lance had 'Mechs that could keep up with Sara's Toro II but this was obviously only mere coincidence.

Meanwhile, Jean-Luc had ordered his best technicians to analyze the Mercury II blueprints in detail, with special attention to the plug-and-play components and everything that eased replacements.

Without much surprise for Kamea and Jean-Luc, while the other forces of the TDF received Pocket WarShips support and the one that was already on its way to the Lothian League even had a WarShip, the forces of the Reach, targeting Addhara and New Venice didn't get any support. The political enemies of the family were working at full force. Even if the Marian Hegemony didn't have any kind of real navy, Kamea didn't want to take any risk and she made available two (relatively) old Union PW, which belonged to the defenses of the Reach, weakening them. 

The only advantage in a way was that the opponents of the family were burning political favors at great speed, and would force Edward to soon take a position, which could put them into a unfavorable position.

While the TDF was performing its operation against the Marian Hegemony, the entire fleet of the Concordat had planned, for reasons that would be obvious to anyone, to conduct very visible exercises near the borders