Sakhara 2.4
Sakhara 2.4Alexandria looked down at the graded paper. They had eked out a win She should have been happy about that. They had defeated the OpFor which was in exercises something few classes managed in exercises... but she was still looking down at a lot of red ink.
"Hey, how's it going?" She didn't immediately respond to the inquiry, and the seat beside her slid out, and Clay sat down. "I was hoping to talk."
"What happened now?" She looked up.
He shook his head, but didn't deny that anything had or hadn't happened. It was no secret that he had been frequently in animated discussions with the Rangers, and the recent suggestion of the Vice Chancellor among other things left her concerned. "how are you on scheduling?"
"What do you mean?"
He shook his head holding up his hands, "I'm going to New Avalon with Field Marshal Davion," The director of MI2 under whom she would be serving out her compulsory service period... and presumably the branch of service she would serve in until she one day ascended to the rank of duchess in her own right.
She started to reply but there a commotion as more people started to filter into the cafeteria... a mass of her class mates were already talking with some of the others of their year about the exercise... and "We should stop them before a fight breaks out." She said suddenly standing up. Not that she was sure that was what was going to happen but given who all she could see in the crowd an argument was already brewing.
... that and she knew she could lean on her position as student council president and the responsibility to dodge the question until she had time to think. There was no surprise Justin was in the throng of noisy students. If anything their approach made the crowd get louder.
"As I've mentioned this is unlikely to effect students slated to graduate in the spring," The Rabid Fox replied with an attempt at a placating grin, "But there will be changes to the incoming cadet orientation program, and some of that will be based on reviving Star League era course programs." That was news to her, but she wasn't surprised it hadn't been mentioned, or that the academy would want to reintroduce anything that the SLDF would have done. "Admittedly for some of the students moving on to the cadre program after graduation you will see some of this on your assignments there, and there will be additions to the OPFOR course work with Robinson."
Historically these would eventually pass into becoming the basis for the eventual 'Sakhara reforms', even though in truth they were instituted at the RBA on Robinson at the same time, and Northwind followed suit the following year so really the program of adoption of training changes at military academies might well have been better referred to as the Draconis March Reforms, but the history books would call them the Sakhara Reforms.
That was still worlds better in Henry's opinions than the 'Rabid Fox's lessons' or something stupid like that.
His class was still pretty rowdy by that after noon as they ran through how they could have done things different or to identify where there had been opportunities and mistakes on both sides. They weren't going to immediately go into another exercise with the Robinson Rangers, but there was going to be a cooperative exercise alongside the rangers later in the month that they needed to prepare for.
There were a couple of rangers hanging around as the slower of the two cataphracts, what was canon's 4X was used for live fire gunnery practice by the cadets.
"You said something about New Avalon?" Alexandria questioned while most of the mass of cadets' attention was elsewhere.
He nodded. "Haakon has already departed for Mountain Wolf, but there are matters for New Avalon that require a personal meeting with Ian to address properly."
The reigning first prince was exceedingly informal among his friends and it wasn't the first time she'd heard the First Prince be called by his first name whether or not he was present or not. Indeed... it had been a little awkward at the time at the wedding of the first prince's brother, and the current heir, Hanse where the reigning monarch had been visibly drunk and dragging his most recent vassal around to introduce him to everyone... including her.
Henry's position at Sakhara stemmed from his ability, his abilities as a brutally capable mechwarrior... from the battles of Mallory's world and Hallstead station who's resolution had culminated in the destruction of the unit which celebrated its role in the Kentares massacre. To that end as a direct vassal of New Avalon there were probably an innumerable number of things that could require the direct involvement of the First Prince.
Henry Clay shuffled his feet, then tilted his head. "Well, I can't tell you unless you're coming,"
--
Justin looked at the mech cubicles and down to his hands. He was jittery from all the coffee... he'd had a lot today... and he'd really switched to tea mostly to rehydrate but all the caffeine was getting to him.
There was a lot that went into having a new mech to pilot. There were a lot of questions to fill out, trying to make sure everything on the mech worked right. That was without even thinking about whether or not he ended up changing anything.
A part of him wanted to come back after he graduated. A part of him was pissed off he wouldn't be able to move on to the cadre after graduation. The Academy training cadre wasn't an RCT, but it was a combined arms unit ... the battalion was really more based on the early SLDF from what he'd read than the more modern formations.
Sakhara to Spica was going to be almost four months stuck on a jumpship assuming they didn't stop anywhere to let them stretch their legs. Then he'd be processed into his first duty station on Spica with the Guards RCT and he certainly didn't want to have his mech break down on the frontier. The most practical answer would be to replace the LRM 5 which really didn't do anything for him with medium lasers... he didn't want to be stuck in a situation where all he had was his torso mounted large laser once he ran out of ammo for his guns.
... and from the sound of it the Haseks were bad about supply issues or something. Scuttlebutt going around as people tried to ferret out where they and their classmates were going was starting to circle around. Not that everyone was going to a front line command or combat posting despite being mech warriors ... the truth was unless Henry volunteered and insisted on being put on the front he'd probably just be brevetted to captain on graduation and put into an instructor's role full time. His cousin Alexandria had been set up to go to the Department of Military Intelligence which he wasn't supposed to know. Juan had made no secret he was going to the 7th Crucis Lancers as soon as he'd gotten the confirmation. If Henry had volunteered for anywhere the popular speculation among the student body was it'd be with them since he'd fought with them on Halstead and Mallory's world... but it was because of those battles that his father expected there was little need for further proof.
"These are the documents you asked for on the Merlin." A tech remarked. The stack of papers were a mix of official, Mountain Wolf, literature and industrial periodicals as well as probably in house within Clay's own staff looking over the battlemech. It was a heavy battlemech, but that much he had already known, though lighter than the cataphract at only sixty tons. It ran off a 240 rated Fusion Engine and had weapons for every range bracket.
No autocannons either.... just a dinky machine gun. It was however advertised as rugged and easy to maintain utilizing readily available commercial parts. At a price tag of just under five million c-bills it probably did have potential as a training mech or for filling troop formations. He could see its potential, it was just that he wasn't going to be on Sakhara to see it be used.
--
Note: I do want to point out that while it is possibly a case of space feudalism the idea that your Political head of the agency and its executive is an American thing. The british system, the minister responsible for the intelligence apparatus and the Chief would be two separate individuals. Director Central Intelligence Agency is an appointee and thus requires senatorial consent but he's not a member of the senate.
Also canonically Quintus isn't the minister yet, which had slipped my mind. Since we're on the subjects of Quintus, he seems to have remarried when Justin was probably five or six given his younger brother is born in '97... interestingly Daniel would go on to attend New Avalon... which runs into the problem of him getting posted to the Kell Hounds in 3015 (per sarna) but again possible space feudalism. So I assume Quintus is already high up in the MIIO apparatus and may actually be in the parliament of the fed suns... because space britain... so yeah. [and part of it is probably stackpoole was writing in the late eighties with the novels coming out basically back to back]