105

Having driven the Jade Falcons out of the Inner Sphere, or at least, out of the occupied Federated Commonwealth territories, the AFFC offensive stopped because it had run out of steam. Most of the WarShips involved were in need of repairs, large ones for most units. The squadrons of ASFs that had supported said WarShips had suffered heavy losses and needed to be replenished. Even though about half of the RCTs involved were still at over 90% capacity, Hanse Davion and Michael Hasek-Davion, were not prepared to begin operations against another Clan without clear superiority in all combat compartments.

While the Steel Vipers had wasted no time in occupying the systems left empty by the Jade Falcons, that the Federated Commonwealth had not liberated, the Wolves and Nova Cats, who also had territory in the Federated Commonwealth occupation zone, had instead withdrawn from some systems, letting most of the systems in direct contact with the AFFC to be owned by the Steel Vipers.

On the Draconis Combine front, the Ghost Bears had followed a similar path, with the Hell Horses taking over several former Smoke Jaguar systems and abandoned Ghost Bear systems, letting them in contact on most of the 'border' with the Combine.

It was clear that some Clans were creating buffer zones with the Inner Sphere to give them enough time to react should further offensives be launched. That other Clans were being used as cannon-fodder was just another proof of their survival of the fittest mentality.

On the other hand, scout missions indicated that several systems in what had been the Oberon Confederacy, the Elysian Fields and the Great Valkyrate were receiving considerable amounts of Clan ships, apparently consolidating their position and according to some analysts, they could be creating a industrial base closer to the current operation zones, making them independent of their more than 1000LY long supply/support line.

On the other side of the Inner Sphere, the Taurian Concordat benefited from contracts to supply both the Draconis Combine and (to a lesser extent) the Federated Commonwealth with military hardware. While from the FC side it didn't receive any Clan equipment, on the Draconis Combine side, not only due to the TDF forces operating in the area (including the Orca raiders), but also because of the agreements with the ruling family, large amounts of Clan material were sent to the Concordat laboratories for analysis.

Although with limited access to Clan material, due to the current cabal against our family, we still received some, but the real gold price was getting access to the blueprints for the first generation of Combine OmniMechs with a direct contract with the two first years of production already bought by the DCMS.

In January 3060, Capellan forces supported by two WarShips CCS Aleisha Kris and CCS Elias Jung, both Feng Huang Class Cruisers, accompanied by Pocket WarShips, Assault DropShips and extra squadrons of ASFs took control of the Andurien worlds of Conquista and Lugartan. The defenders while fighting viciously, had no chance against the more numerous and better equipped Capellan forces. Of interest was that Capellans, used their WarShips to rain heavy orbital fire onto the heavier defenses, a practice more and more common these days, demonstrating that any side lacking WarShips, after losing its ASF component, had very little chance of surviving, much less of winning against even a single WarShip.

It was later discovered that a shipyard was operational in the Capella system, apparently they had rebuilt the old Delhi Warships Shipyard, without anyone discovering it until now, providing House Liao with two shipyards, both capable of building WarShips and JumpShips.

MIM spies inside the Duchy of Andurien reported that the CCAF has deployed native designed battle-armor, and that the organization of the Capellan Hussars had changed, moving into something akin but not like the Taurian Brigades and the Federated Commonwealth RCTs.

While the other ex-FWL provinces, noted with apprehension that the Capellans had started to invade bit by bit the Duchy of Andurien, that wasn't enough for them to try to re-unite against a common foe or to send forces to help against the Capellans, they still considered their neighbors and former friends to be more dangerous. On the other hand, the Canopians had started to very discretely provide the Anduriens with some ASFs and Alamos, models that couldn't be tracked back to the Magistracy, of course. The Concordat, while observing the situation with a growing preoccupation, hadn't yet moved to support the Duchy, but plans were prepared, and forces were moving openly to the area as a not so subtle reminder to the Capellan Confederation that there were lines not to be crossed. Just in case.