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The last few months had been interesting for Galaxy Commander Julian Kirov.

After the conquest of Antallos and Rezak's Hole, the Goliath Scorpions had finally turned their attention to the Outworlds Alliance.

The three systems captured so far had not offered much resistance. On Risin and Dneiper, the HPG messages transmitted prior to their capture had reported that they were under pirate attack, and on Prinis Prime, only raiders had been reported. Unlike the initial attacks by the other Clans, the Goliath Scorpions had neither proclaimed their identity nor launched batchalls when they jumped into the systems. In the first two systems, the defenses had been second or third rate militia units, that didn't even have 'Mechs, just a few tanks and mostly support vehicles. Prinis had a little more with a Lance of old 'Mechs and a company of tanks defending the system.

So far, everything was going according to Kirov's plans. The longer it took to identify that it was a Clan invasion, the longer it would take for the Outworlds Alliance or anyone else to notice them, the longer it would be before any serious reaction could happen. This was a lesson Kirov had learned by studying the reports from his Clan Watch section.

The downside of focusing on the Outworlds was that all the systems were sparsely populated, with almost no industry and that the population was composed of Ommiss - pacifists and anti-tech.

Not having the strength not the time to try to impose the ideals of the Clans, and deciding that this task was for those who came after him even if that was going to be more than two years in the future, Julian Kirov did not try to change the way of thinking and acting of the new subjects of the Clan. His priority was to gain a sufficient number of systems so that the Clan could prosper. To do this, he needed all his forces, leaving other matters for when the rest of the Clan arrived.

With five systems already captured, a JumpShip had been sent back to inform of the success of the operation, and for the second phase to be initiated - moving the Clan into the new territories.

One more system, and he would stop the offensive operations.

However, Rushaven did not go as smoothly as the previous worlds.

For starters, the locals correctly identified the invading force, to be a Clan one, even identifying correctly the Goliath Scorpion Clan, and the local HPG sent a message in time, ending the secrecy of the operation.

And this time, the defenses were more capable. For the first time they encountered ASFs from the Alliance Military Corps, the Outworlds Alliance military and they proved to be at least as capable as those of the Clan.

The mercenaries defending the capital, had 'Mechs with some advanced weapons - SLDF level - which made combat more difficult.

However, the final outcome, had never been in doubt, only the cost of capturing the system had been a bit higher than planned.

The battle ended with Kirov's Highlander IIC taking out the Marauder-5D of the leader of the mercenaries defending the planet.

What was curious from Kirov's point of view was that of all the systems captured, only Antallos, a pirate nest, had any advanced industry and was the most populated, while all the other systems from the Outworlds Alliance only had raw resources.