4

Scavenged Restoration

Chapter 4

-VB-

My first unofficial act bore me a fruit greater than any other in this era, and I intended to make sure that the Capellan Confederation suckled from it as long as it could.

However, I was also not dumb as fuck as to keep it to myself completely. I knew exactly what was going to happen decades from me, and probably within my lifetime. I knew that the Clans were coming. So what was I going to do…? It was something to think about for the future.

Right now, I had some questions for my Hands.

"You have done well. You have succeeded in exactly what I asked of you," I said to the seven people kneeling in front of me.

They were members of the Chancellor's Hands, specifically the Zang Shu Jian, the covert ops agents working for the Maskirovka. Their job had been to infiltrate Helm, find the Nagoyan Mountain Castle Brian, and return, stealthily, with the SLDF Library Memory Core.

They accomplished this.

But only that.

Even though Maskirovka was known more for its cruelty and brutally than for its effectiveness, it was also an effective intelligence agency. At least, it was better than SAFE, so I found the fact that they didn't bring any other equipment to be … odd. Following only the letter of the order was not exactly what they were known.

"But I want to hear from you all what it was like and why you have brought only the core back when I know there were many other equipment there that you could have smuggled out."

It wasn't just them and me in the room but also the director of the Maskirovka, Chandra Ling, aka Auntie Ling to me and Candace.

"Celestial Wisdom," the lead Hand of the squad spoke up. "We could not. The size of our detachment, the route, the timing… we could not uphold the name of the Maskirovka."

"I care not about names. I care about details," I told him calmly. Because I was calm. As much as it hurt to not have more … I was still way too happy to have the memory core without anyone else knowing.

Because if they knew? Oh ho ho ho… if they knew, I would have invasions and assassins everywhere.

"We did not have the lift capacity nor did we want to bring attention to the cache."

"... That makes sense," I sighed. "I had hoped that you would have been able to pull something, but with the kind of order I gave, it just wan't possible, huh?" I paused. "Thank you, dear Hand. You focused on what was the most important and not on the short term gains. You've done your job well, so you and your fellow Hans should go and take a rest. I will call upon you if I have a need of you again."

All seven of them bowed and left.

"... A memory core," Auntie Ling hissed.

I tensed and then laughed nervously. After a moment, I cleared my throat. "Sorry about that. I didn't know if there was a leak anywhere. So I made sure there wouldn't be any potential leaks, period."

Director Ling didn't mention how I didn't trust her … because she knew that it wasn't her that I didn't trust but rather the agency. Even the Maskirovka had traitors and informants. This was not a possibility but a fact of reality. There was no such thing as an infiltrator-less large organization. Even charities had informants against "rival" charities back in Old Terra.

"I would have appreciated a warning still," she snipped at me before drinking her tea.

Tea was everywhere in the Capellan Confederation. Not having tea was basically the same as breaking basic etiquette.

"Next time, then."

Her hand paused on its way to drop down. "Next time?" she asked me.

"Which means now," I smiled. "Is the room secured?"

"It is."

I nodded. Then it was a good start and place to explain to her what was about to happen to the Capellan Confederation.

"Troop movements within the Federated Suns have been alarming, no?"

"It has. They must be trying for another push into the Tikonov Commonality," she hummed and then froze again. "Wait, was this why you had the Cataphract factory on Tikonov be moved?"

"It is. Aside from the fact that having a factory for our new heavy mech so close to the border unnerved me. Imagine what would have happened if we lost Tikonov. Our new line of heavy mechs would have been endangered. Worse, the time, money, and effort our people spent designing it would have been handed over to the Federated Suns at a fraction of the cost."

She narrowed her eyes. "It would have been disastrous. What else, dear nephew?"

"If it was just a push from the Federated Suns, then I have faith in the CCAF to fight them off," I told her. "But it isn't going to be just them."

"... Mariks?"

"No. The Steiners."

She blinked. "The Steiners?"

"Oh, yes. The Steiners will be involved. It seems that a certain Steiner heir will soon be marrying the Davion Prince."

There was a pause before I watched her peach face turn pale.

"A Fourth Succession War… targeting us specifically?"

"Yes," I replied solemnly. "This is why I have been constantly pushing for more resources on planetary defenses. I am not sure that we can save Tikonov Commonality, even with the memory core now in our possession. No, there is a very high chance that we will lose it, going to either the Davions or the Steiners. However, we cannot afford to lose Sarna Commonality."

"You speak as if we have already lost the war!"

"Last I have confirmed, we have 45 mech regiments at average 70% strength and green experience. The Federated Suns alone have 76* mech regiments at an average of 80% strength and of regular experience. The only reason they have not overrun our nation is because the Draconis Combine is their true rival and main enemy that forces more than half of their regiments to just hold back. With the soon-to-be revealed Steiner-Davion union and renewed succession war, they will have enough mechs to overrun us regardless of the quality of our mechwarriors and mechs while holding both the League and the Combine back. Assuming that our allies in the Kapteyn Accords even bother to help," I snarked at the end. "This is also why I was disappointed that my own orders prevented your people from getting potential war materials from our nominal ally and into our hands. My sources say that there was at least a regiment of SLDF mechs in that cache. But at least we know that they'll be there next time we go, assuming the Hands have been discrete as they claim they have been."

"You are too quick to give up the confederation worlds," she noted. "They are important worlds, some of which are founding worlds of the Capellan Confederation. Giving them up with a fight, giving up on them even before war has been declared, can be said to be a sin to the confederation, even if you are the Chancellor. A quick war will only embolden our enemies."

"Quick? No. I will simply not throw away people and metals when it will gain me nothing. The question right now is not how much we will lose but how much we can save from the impending crisis. We cannot afford to lose anything more than the bare necessities, because I have doubts that it will be the only war we will see in our lifetime."

Chandra Ling looked at me with a frown before she nodded. "Your informants provided us with a memory core. If they also say that there is a war on the horizon aimed at us…" Her shoulders drooped. "Then we must prepare however we can. What would you have me do, Chancellor?" she asked me after straightening herself.

"Distribution and safeguard of the memory core. Our enemies and allies must not get their hands on the core for at least two more decades. It will be at least that long for our nation to repair and restart our technological base. You and the Maskirovka must prevent any wholesale leak of the core and its existence. I care not for little tidbits here and there. That is inevitable. But the core and most of its military secrets? They must be hidden. Please ensure that the trusted worlds and companies have access. Can you do this for me and the confederation?"

"Of course, Chancellor," she said and then stood up. "... William. I'm proud of you."

The sudden compliment made me freeze up as she walked out.

When was the last time I heard that from my family?

… It took a moment for me to remember that I don't remember the last time I saw dad before he died. He never visited me after the first year of confinement. Never even sent word.

I held it in. I really held it in. I'm a goddamn forty year old man, goddamnit! I can hold in a bit of tears!

Of course, I failed in this like all things in my life.

-VB-

My life had gone from days of unending boredom to a life of unending meetings.

But at the very least, meetings weren't boring, even if not all of them went in my favor. My latest meeting was with one Archibald McCarron, the third and current commander of the McCarron's Armored Cavalry.

"Greetings, Celestial Wisdom," Mr. McCarron began after coming to a stop a good two yards from the foot of the raised dais where my throne sat.

"Good morning, Colonel McCarron," I began. "Thank you for answering my summons promptly."

"You are our current employer. To not answer your call, however small or large, would be against the contract."

I nodded. "And it is exactly about that contract that I have called upon you."

He stiffened.

"One of the first things I have done since assuming the Chancellorship is to review all of the military matters of the state. It is, after all, a very critical part of the confederation's survival."

He just nodded.

"And I saw that you and your mercenary regiments have been doing well under my father's employ and have been rewarded appropriately." Then I paused. "Then why is it that you found the need to use the black market to acquire your parts?"

McCarron froze.

"Has the reward from the confederation not been enough?"

"No. It was generous. However, there are some parts that we simply cannot acquire on the open market, either through the companies operating openly in the confederation or through the CCAF," he responded factually. "I apologize if our needs have caused … problems, Celestial Wisdom."

I hummed. "No. It has not caused me problem. It has, however, troubled me that the mercenaries under our employ have been forced to use the black market to acquire their parts. That reflects poorly upon me and the confederation at large."

"Again, I apologize," he said as he quickly bowed his head.

"Do not apologize. I am not done talking yet," I snapped at him and he froze. Was he wondering if today was the day his lucrative contract would come to an abrupt end? Was he wondering if he was about to be kicked out of the confederation? "I will not accept your apology … because there is not to apologize for."

He blinked and looked up at me.

"No. I called you here to provide you what you need," I said as I gestured for one of my servants to walk up and hand him a piece of paper. It wasn't just a piece of paper but an authorization permit. "That is the authorization permit for you to take anything you need from CCAF storage for up to 200 tons of materials…"

-VB-

"Colonel Timothy Senn."

The dark skinned Northwind Highlander officer stood at attention. He was not the first nor the last mercenary I was meeting, but unlike all other officer meets, this one was different because Colonel Timothy Senn of the Northwind Highlanders was not the commanding officer of the entire Northwind Highlanders but only its 1st Kearny Highlanders, a "regiment" of the Northwind Highlanders currently stationed in Highspire right at the border of the Federated Suns within the Sarna Commonality.

I.E. right in the galactic east of the Capellan Confederation's "middle" commonality.

And I remembered them.

How could I not?

He and his soldiers would abandon the Capellan Confederation when Hanse Davion came to them and offered their ancestral home. They were not the Highlanders who stayed loyal to the confederation.

But I will not punish someone for something they haven't done yet.

Punish, no.

Distance, perhaps.

Drive a wedge between them and their command?

Certainly.

"It has come to my attention that your home command has … neglected you."

I could already see the man gritting his teeth, the veins along his jaws popping up. What I said wasn't wrong. It wasn't the truth, either. The Northwind Highlanders haven't necessarily neglected them, but because the 1st Kearny Highlanders have been on garrison duty, they just haven't been given the chance to do anything.

"But I find that to be … concerning, you see," I told him. "Highspire is where your soldiers are at. It is right at the edge of our border against the Federated Suns. You and your men should have been reinforced long ago. You are a regiment yet I know that you only have two battalions. Two under strength battalions."

I knew from Maskirovka files that Colonel Senn was a very bold, blunt, and brutish man. He trained his men hard and trained himself harder. He hated anyone thinking ill of the Highlanders… unless it was himself doing the thinking and talking.

"Only we get to talk shit about ourselves" kind of man.

"It is simply the current state of the Highlanders, Chancellor," he replied diplomatically.

I raised an eyebrow. "2nd Kearny Highlanders, Macleod's Regiment, and Marion's Highlanders," I said simply. And the gritting teeth only got worse for Senn. "All of them are your sister regiments… but they haven't been … ignored. I won't say neglected out of my respect to you, colonel."

He gave me a curt nod. "Thank you."

"But that doesn't change the fact that you have been passed over despite holding the more important and combat-ridden world. Hell, Elgin is a world on the border with the Mariks! There is no combat there! But there is combat where you are. Yet you have yet to see help from your brethren."

The man looked ready to explode.

I wondered who the target of his anger will be.

"But I am not here to berate you for the actions of your commanding officers and elders. They are the ones leading you from behind the frontlines, yes?"

"Yes."

Still controlling himself. For a man known for his angry outbursts, he was also very disciplined.

"The reason why I called you here is to discuss how the confederation can help your regiment," I told him. "I've been told that the your regiment has many dispossessed mechwarriors." I leaned forward. "I have quite a number of mechs that need mechwarriors. New heavy mechs fresh out of the factory. Does that interest you?"

Colonel Senn looked up at me and finally met my eyes.

Those eyes looked hungry.

I liked those eyes.

-VB-

A/N: made that number up for FedSun mech regiment count because I can't find anything for specifically this period of time and I will not go through every single world owned by the Fed Suns at this time to individually count the regiments. I am not that much of an otaku. Yet