B44

I handed Katrina her drink as she entered the ballroom. She took it with a grateful nod and immediately downed the entire flute of champagne in a single gulp. That caused me to cock an eyebrow at her questioningly, to which I only got a small shake of her head in response. That wasn't great, Katrina must have taken more of a bath in her negotiations than I'd anticipated. She only acted like this when things didn't go her way in a major regard.

"Want to talk about it?" I questioned.

"It's nothing. Duchess Killa lives up to her position as CEO of Trellshire Heavy Industries is all." Huffed Katrina.

"She fleeced you, huh?" I queried.

"No, that I expected. This was worse." Grumbled Katrina.

"Worse how?" I asked.

"Apparently, somebody brought a refurbished Mako-Class Corvette to the party because they just had to show off." Scoffed Katrina.

"It's called making an entrance. And so what? What does that have to do with your negotiations?" I pressed.

"Duchess Killa has been trying to expand into dropship production in the past few years. She's been building shipyards at Butler to accommodate it, but apparently, you showing up with that monstrosity has made her rethink the pace of construction." Explained Katrina.

"Ah, I think I see what the problem is. She made your investment into the Butler Shipyards a precondition of the deal, yeah?" I questioned.

"Yeah. You know, you're lucky you're you. Any other person that made my life more difficult would've been kicked out of here so fast his head would spin." Groused Katrina.

"Ah, but then who would make your life interesting?" I grinned.

"I think we can do without another Exam Night Thirty-eighteen Incident, thank you." Scoffed Katrina.

"I maintain that was Schmitty's fault." I defended.

"And who decided that Schmitty had to drink nothing but Blackjack Moonshine that night?" Demanded Katrina.

"Hey, he lost the bet. You're not advocating that he should've welched, now are you? That's hardly proper for a future duchess." I retorted.

"Perish the thought. I'm simply pointing out how the bet shouldn't have been made in the first place." Insisted Katrina.

"What's life without a little risk? The Instructors all made such a big deal about the exams that year, saying how they expected half of us to wash out. We had to keep morale up somehow." I protested.

"Of course." Sighed Katrina, rolling her eyes.

I noticed she had a small smile on her face, even though she primarily projected annoyance. My strategy of taking her mind off the bad deal with Duchess Killa via antics seemed to be working. Of course, that was something I came by honestly, being the Dashing Periphery Rogue that I was. My father had been the same way before his death. I still couldn't believe that he'd been killed the way he had, even after six and a half years without him. It had been an assassination, but still, being impaled by a hover forklift? Not the most glamorous end to a legendary career.

"You know, I missed this." Offered Katrina, drawing me back to the present.

"Oh?" I queried.

"You have no idea the sort of distance that gets put between officers in the LCAF. As a future Duchess, everyone there saw me as either someone to ask favors from, someone above their station, or a potential rival. Even my Lancemates treated me more like a superior officer and less like a friend." Sighed Katrina.

"Politics?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. Even while we were fighting for our lives on Skokie and Moritz, trying to weather the Combine's assault long enough for reinforcements to arrive, the politics was constant. If you weren't an enlisted soldier, you were constantly expected to squabble for promotions with various other officers. Some cut deals, some backstabbed, and some tried climbing up based on merit." Nodded Katrina.

"I don't even need to guess which one you were." I grinned.

"You'd be surprised. There were times during the Battle of Skokie when I had to cut deals with various other officers I'd rather not have, just to get the support necessary to hold out. My father had sent me to be a staff officer, but Skokie was fought over for a long time. Everyone had to fight, and I was no exception." Admitted Katrina.

"Do tell." I prompted.

"The Ducal Forces I'd brought lost their field commander in the first couple weeks of fighting, so I took personal command. I had to cut a deal with General Tirpitz to fold the Ducal Troops into the LCAF before he'd allow his Aide to take the field. Then there was the time during the Third Battle of Trupelo when I had to cut a deal with Colonel Holtz of the Logistics Division to trade spare parts for ammunition to retake the City. Then there was the defense of Port Manion, where I had to cut a deal with Leutnant-General Vizzini to get the Artillery Support I needed to successfully defend the town. Vizzini was a horrid little man who thought he was more clever than he was. I don't even want to go into what I had to trade for that arty. I've had to trade away credit for victories and even deal with Officers who delayed support for attacks to try and make me look bad. Politics is rampant." Listed off Katrina.

"Sounds like the LCAF could use a good house cleaning. That level of politicking in a force actively engaged in combat is gonna get a lot of folks killed at some point." I pointed out.

"We got lucky that you sold us a bunch of high-tech equipment, otherwise a lot more troops would have died and the Combine might have even taken Skokie. As it is, I don't see the appointment of political generals and the culture of politicking that comes with having such people in command going away any time soon." Griped Katrina.

"Victory disease." I nodded.

"Exactly." Agreed Katrina.

"I can't say I don't sympathize. My own victories in the Periphery might bring the same sort of thinking in my own forces if I'm not careful." I sighed.

"Oh? Is it story time?" Questioned Katrina.

"Sure, why not? Now lemme tell you the story about how we annihilated Maria Morgraine's Valkyries." I chuckled.

Then I launched into the story of the attack on Gotterdamerung and how I'd faked out Maria Morgraine, getting her to advance through the Jotunheim Pass, leaving her Capital Undefended for Colonel Frankowski to drop into. How we bottled her Valkyries up in the pass and caught them in a textbook Kesselschlacht, as taught at Blackjack. How I engaged Maria Morgraine and her Veteran Valkyries in Mech Combat at killed them all with the help of Colonel Lindqvist, and how that wound up winning me the planet.

By the end, Katrina seemed suitably untroubled by whatever problems had been eating her up at the memories of what she had to do to pull off victories during the Skokie Campaign. In return, she swapped a story about the Battle of the Draconis Salient and how she'd led her forces to victory over a Combine Force on Volders. She'd engaged the Fourth Rasalhague Regulars and the Second Alshain Auxiliary at Volders and smashed them with a rapid advance through the Spike Forest to turn their flank near the ruins of Hopkins. She'd apparently engaged the Commander of the Fourth Rasalhague Regulars, Tai-Sa Aleksei Suvarov, in a duel during the battle and managed to kill him with an armor-piercing shell from her Rifleman Two's Ultra-Autocannon punching into his cockpit.

"And the Fourth Rasalhague Regulars surrendered?" I queried at that.

"No, they withdrew, running back to Combine Territory. The Second Alshain Auxiliary under Tai-Sa Hækkerup did, though. It made the fighting at Schloss Aschach a lot easier to deal with. Fourth Rasalhague wound up surrendering after we beat them back into Schloss Aschach and surrounded the city. What's left of them has been repatriated to the Second Principality, along with their remaining gear." Shrugged Katrina.

"Leaving you in command of Volders and securing one section of the Draconis Salient." I mused.

"I didn't get a promotion for sitting on my ass." Agreed Katrina.

"Cute as it is." I grinned, waggling my eyebrows.

"You're incorrigible!" Giggled Katrina.

"As you well know." I smirked.

"Am I interrupting something?" Came a smooth, accented, man's voice.

I turned to see Duke Selvin Kelswa of Tamar and Duchess Yvonne Killa of Trell in their black suit and green dress respectively. The Duke of Tamar was a man in his early forties, but meticulous exercise and the benefits of his position allowed him top-of-the-line cosmetic treatments. All that was to say he looked a decade younger than he actually was. Meanwhile, Duchess Yvonne Killa was a brunette in her thirties who didn't need such cosmetic enhancements. Her dress was also cut to show a maximum of cleavage, likely to get the better of any negotiations she happened to engage in with any young nobles who might be into such a thing.

"Duke Kelswa, Duchess Killa. How might I help you tonight?" I asked.

"I need to borrow you for a discussion. The Tamar Pact had a good relationship with your father and I was hoping to discuss a continuation of that very relationship and also to discuss arms purchases. The Forces of the Tamar Pact are very interested in what your factories are putting out." Answered Duke Kelswa.

"For our part, Trellshire Heavy Industries would like to negotiate licenses for some of your technology." Added Duchess Killa.

"Well, that depends on Lady Katrina. We've only just started catching up." I frowned.

"Oh go on. We can catch up later." Sighed Katrina.

"If you're sure?" I pressed.

"Just go before I change my mind." Grumbled Katrina.

"Well then, I believe you have my attention." I nodded to Duke Kelswa and Duchess Killa.

"Fantastic, shall we adjourn to an antechamber? Having such discussions in a ballroom seems a tad exposed." Offered Duke Kelswa.

And with that, the pair led me away from Katrina and out of the Ballroom. Thankfully, we made a pass by the Buffet table to pick up another champagne flute and a small plate of Hors d'oeuvres to take with us before exiting. The Duke of Tamar and Duchess of Trell led me out into a hallway, past a pair of young Nobles taking a moment to snog in an alcove, and into the Mirror Room of the Ducal Palace of Apollo. The Mirror Room was called that, naturally, because it was filled with all sorts of mirrors, a remnant of Katrina's Great-Grandmother, Duchess Elizabeth Watson, who was something of a narcissist, by all accounts.

It was here, in the Mirror Room, where the future of the LCAF and the Lyran Commonwealth as a whole would be greatly influenced by what we negotiated today. Trellshire Heavy Industries was a major manufacturer of equipment for the LCAF and the Tamar Pact was one of the primary population regions of the Lyran Commonwealth. Bulk sales of equipment to the Tamar Pact would equip vast swathes of units for the LCAF with my advanced gear, while offering Trellshire Heavy Industries a production license for equipment would also allow further production for the LCAF. The improved equipment would go a long way in ensuring the LCAF was more potent than it had been in that other timeline, which would further provide a buttress against the Clans.

If the Lyrans were equipped with advanced gear and backed me against the Clans, then the future of the Lyran Commonwealth and even the Inner Sphere as a whole would be greatly improved, at least according to what I'd seen from that other timeline. The only problem was that Trellshire Heavy Industries getting a license to produce equipment would by necessity cut into my own market share. Buccaneer Arms was just starting to make a name for itself outside the Periphery thanks to things like the Rifleman Two and Sabre Two. Giving out Licenses to produce those to Trellshire Heavy Industries would strangle that in the crib.

I'd have to be very careful in what I agreed to license out. Likely, I'd license out special ammunition, Ferro-Aluminium Armor Plates, Double Heat Sinks, Extended Range Lasers, CASE Munitions Storage, and the Improved Jump Packs and Small Arms that I'd allowed Darren Kimani, the spy for Ceres Metals and the Liaos to take back with him to the Capellan Confederation to prove his bonafide for his double agent mission. If I'd let the Liaos have the Improved Jump Packs and Small Arms, I don't see why I wouldn't let the Lyrans have them.

I would be keeping things like improved Targeting and Tracking Systems, Pulse Lasers, Ferro-Fibrous Armor, Endo-Steel, Extralight Engines, and so on back for my own production, along with any complete designs. I wanted to retain some market share, after all. I was also looking for more than just C-Bills out of this. If I could get the Duchess of Trell and the Duke of Tamar to back my play for the Throne of Rasalhague, then their vouch, plus that of Duke Watson and Melissa Steiner, should swing the Archon in favor of backing me for the Throne of Rasalhague. I wanted all my ducks in a row on that front before I tried because it was likely that the Combine would make a stink when it happened and I wanted the Lyrans backing me in case the Coordinator decided to put honor before reason and attack over the issue, even with his forces in no state to do so.

As we set down to negotiate, I had those firm goals and lines in mind. It was just unfortunate that I was up against people with much more in the way of experience and training in such negotiations than I had. While Duke Kelswa was an ally of my Fathers, that could only carry things so much, and Duchess Killa had honed her negotiating abilities in the boardrooms of Trellshire Heavy Industries and the Backrooms of Noble Politics.

"So, shall we begin?" Questioned Duke Kelswa.

"Lets." I nodded.

And with that, the attempted fleecing commenced. . .

XXXX

AN: The next chapter is already up on my Patreon, so check the link in the threadmarked post if you guys feel like throwing me a couple bucks to get chapters in advance. Everyone who does is super appreciated and I can't thank my patrons enough.

All right, so here we have a bit of catch-up between Katrina and Jozef, alongside a brief look at what the Skokie Campaign and the Draconis Salient Campaign were like from Katrina's Perspective. We also see how the appointment of political generals in the LCAF has affected the culture of the Lyran Military and get a bit of insight into what other players, namely the Tamar Pact and Trellshire Heavy Industries, might want from a deal with Jozef.

As stated, the politicking in the LCAF is bad. The LCAF's practice of appointing political generals has led to a culture amongst the officer ranks of wheeling, dealing, brown-nosing, and backstabbing. This tends to kick in at the rank of Kommandant, or Major. Hauptmanns and below just aren't worth the trouble most of the time unless they have a noble rank attached to their name, in which case you tend to get a sort of respectful sucking up from various people hoping to rise with you.

In the original timeline, efforts were made to do housecleaning on that front by Archon Katrina Steiner and then Melissa Steiner. In this timeline, though, the Lyrans are pretty heavily victorious in battle thanks to the groundwork for extra production Jozef's father laid down, and Jozef's advanced designs. Accordingly, efforts to clear out the dead wood from the LCAF haven't really gotten off the ground. After all, why change if you've been winning? This attitude and culture are probably going to lead to a military disaster in the next big Successor War if nothing changes.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the negotiations with Duke Kelswa and Duchess Killa, and some more swapping of War Stories with Katrina.

Stay tuned. . .