Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Nine: Politicking
Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Nine: Politicking
Kentares IV, June 8th, 3033
"Thank you for visiting Kentares IV, do you need a map of the area?" A receptionist asked a young blond haired woman.
"No thank you, I used to come here all of the time as a little girl, and I'm here to spend some time with my boyfriend." The blond replied.
"Well, everything checks out on our end, have a pleasant stay!" The receptionist said with a cheery smile.
"Need a lift?" A hulk of a man asked as she left the customs area of the spaceport.
"Yes Mr. Dunham, I believe I would like one." The young blond replied as she got into the armored SUV. "Does he know that I'm here?"
"No, we kept it on a need to know basis for multiple reasons, so this should be a complete surprise." Duke Hull's chief intelligence officer replied. "He is working as a staff officer in the 3rd Kentares Guard though, so I would expect him to be relatively busy."
"That's fine." The blond said in response. "I'm going to be staying here for a while after all."
New Avalon, June 10th, 3033
"You ready to go sir?" Mathis asked me. "I've got the armored vehicles prepped and the palace is aware that we're ready to head their way.
"We're ready Mathis." I responded. "Thanks for getting rid of the press for us."
"It was too open of a venue, and you know just as well as I do that it's not hard for an assassin to hide in a crowd that large." Mathis responded as he triple checked the magazines on his concealed weaponry.
"Very true Mathis." I responded as I made sure that mine and Natasha's concealed body armor was sitting properly. "Very true."
"We are ready to move." Regina Levi spoke up as she entered the room. Her and Mackenzie had taken to the bodyguard roles the best out of all of Natasha's bondswomen.
"Moving." The rest of us responded as we left the Messenger and got into the armored SUVs that made up our standard motorcade.
Natasha and I rode to the New Avalon palace in a comfortable silence, simply enjoying each other's presence before the politics ruined the rest of the day for us.
"I wish that we were home to see David's face." I said after a moment. "The element of surprise there would have made it hilarious."
Natasha just sat there and smirked at me for a minute before meeting my eyes, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "That's why I had Dunham get everything set up to record it."
"You are the best." I told my wife. "And my favorite person ever, don't you ever forget that." I pulled her in close and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
–
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After we did all of the security screenings and entered the New Avalon palace complex properly we were told to head directly to the First Prince's office, Hanse was waiting for us.
"Mark, Nat." Hanse stood up and pulled me into a bear hug while his wife Dana did the same to Natasha. "It's good to see that you both made it." He grinned as he sat down. "Before I get down to the actual reason why I had the two of you come to New Avalon, I want to hear about how the battles of Luthien and New Samarkand went, the reports just don't give the same feelings that come from someone telling the story."
"Well, after Sapphire was killed in the assassination attempt, we sat and collected intelligence…"
New Avalon, June 11th, 3033
"Did the two of you rest well?" Hanse asked Natasha and I as we walked into his office.
"Space travel wrecks your sleep schedule." I muttered as I continued to drink my coffee. " Why did you summon us, Hanse?" I asked bluntly. "I still have to get the Kentares Guard back up to full strength."
"This will tie directly into that." Hanse said from the other side of his desk. "We just have to wait for the other people to arrive." As Hanse said that, three other people entered the room.
"Duke Hull," Duke Aaron Sandoval greeted me. "Congratulations on a successful strike against the Draconis Combine."
"Thank you sir." I replied before I also greeted Morgan Hasek-Davion and Yvonne Davion when they entered behind the Draconis March Lord.
"I summoned the three of you here." Hanse looked at Morgan, Aaron and myself. "To inform you of several reforms that I am going to be instituting, and these reforms will require your input."
"Firstly," Hanse said as he brought up a holographic map of the Federated Suns as it stood currently. "I am forming the Periphery March." He pointed at the worlds of the Outback. "For far too long has this area of our nation been left bereft of armed units and forces to resist pirates or enemy nations, and I aim to rectify that by having a Periphery March established and by allocating them a specific amount of Federal Funding in order to get Periphery Guard units established and trained so as to be able to defend themselves." He showed the area that was going to be ruled over by the new Periphery Lord. "None of the three of you are going to be made the Duke of the Periphery." Hanse said bluntly. "I have already selected the Periphery March Lord to be Ran Felsner of the Davion Heavy Guard, he has served faithfully, and has been in charge of instituting many of the new developments that have happened in the Federated Suns over the last three decades, including assisting in us reforming many of the destroyed Avalon Hussars units."
"Felsner is a good choice." I said after a moment's thought. "He is a good man, and loyal to the core, he'll bring the Outback up to the standards of the rest of the Inner Sphere or die trying."
Morgan and Aaron simply nodded at my words, both of them having met the man and agreeing with me on that.
"I didn't just call you here for that though." Hanse said with his trademarked grin. "I'm recreating the Terran March, with its new Capital being Kentares IV." He looked Aaron Sandoval in the eye. Hanse and Sandoval had had many a discussion on which worlds Sandoval would be willing to part with before this day. "Duke Hull, you are going to be Lord of the reformed Terran March, you will be responsible for arming and ensuring that all of the precepts of the Federated Suns are honored there, as well as ensuring that the worlds that once belonged to the Draconis Combine and the Capellan Confederation are brought into the fold in good time and as peacefully as you can manage." Hanse's voice rang in the office as he finished elaborating on my new duties.
"Mark.exe has crashed." My brain did its own version of the blue screen of death as I zoned out entirely, my brain not handling this well.
"I am afraid we'll have to take a small break." Natasha Kerensky said with a small smile as she stepped forward and grabbed my arm. "I think Hull needs some time to process this before he is going to be able to formulate any sort of answer or response.
"We'll reconvene in three hours time." Hanse said with a small smile. "He still hasn't seen what worlds he will be ruling over now."
"We shall return in three hours time." Natasha replied. "Please excuse me while I attempt to reboot my broken husband.
"You should have known that he would react like that." Sandoval chuckled after Morgan had left the room. "Even I know that the man doesn't do well with being rewarded like that."
"I knew that something like this would happen yes." Hanse agreed as he poured the two of them a glass of whiskey each. "Thank you for being reasonable about this."
"I'm not losing all that many worlds, and I have more than enough on my plate managing the sheer amount of worlds that we seized from the Combine." Sandoval replied. "And he was instrumental in ensuring that we were able to finally reclaim the worlds we lost to the Combine."
"I am aware, the Sack of Luthien alone was worth the extra promotion, but bringing us half of the ISF's database along with bringing the Coordinator's family back, that was more than could have been expected." Hanse said as he sipped the strong whiskey.
"He's going to have his hands full anyway." Sandoval replied with a small smile. "Most of the worlds that he is going to be administrating need significant rebuilding in order for them to be made the industrial powerhouses that they once were. " Sandoval smirked. "I imagine that he's going to be pouring money into those worlds, and that it will enable me to break into some of the markets that he is currently dominating."
"You'll have some competition there." Hanse replied with a smile. "Davion-Lycomb is going to be expanding, as is Kallon from my understanding." Hanse then smiled. "Even Achernar is getting into the game again, they're reviving some of the older 'mech designs and are hiring some of the SLC and NAIS graduates in order to get the upgrades done."
"I see." Sandoval responded as he sat there in thought.
"Well, we'll just have to wait and see how things turn out." Hanse replied. "There's a storm coming, and I have a feeling that we're going to need all of the preparations we can get. So get your own industry started, and make sure to push it as far and as fast as you can. We're going to need it."