Debauchery Worlds 51 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Southmonk

Debauchery Worlds

Chapter 51

-VB-

Alan Marris

Skat

2982.07.05

Markab fell to our hands within a few months. Between the starvation, rebellion, and the looming threat of further orbital asteroid bombardment, the people of Markab beheaded their stubborn leaders - military and civilian - and gave them to me on a literal silver platter. 

And so on 2982 June 20th, Markab surrendered to us, and we put ourselves into positions of power across the planet, but mostly on the planetary capital. First, we figured out what needed to be fixed for the now damaged world needed. 

Food, of course. 

We bought food from across David II and the Federated Suns but also imported them much more quickly and at a cheaper cost from the Kingdom of Stormwind, the Ironforge, and anywhere else on Azeroth. Yes, we bought food from a different universe and brought it over to Markab’s starving population because, even if they were disgusting Combine citizens, they were also mine now.

Gold was cheaper in the Inner Sphere than it was on Azeroth. We disguised ourselves as normal traveling merchants low on food and went to every single town at the same time and bought as much normal-ish food as we could. Fish, mushrooms, bread, grain, fish, meat, and whatever else they would sell us. We spared no location. 

Anvilmar, Kharanos, Thelsamar, Ironforge, Menethil Harbor, Stormwind, Northshire, Goldshire, Sentinel Hill, Lakeshore, Booty Bay, and even Kul Tiras saw one or more of us buying up everything they willingly sold. 

They happily accepted our gold and sold us all of the food they had. 

Then we visited other universes we’ve been to. We bought as much food as we could to feed the seven hundred million plus people living on Markab. We deployed mechs planetside to help with flooded farmlands and build greenhouses. 

Because even if they hadn’t started out as our people, they were now. 

… While the feeding effort on Markab ramped up, half of our spaceborne forces and almost three-fourths of our mech, infantry, and vehicle forces moved on to Skat. 

Now, Skat was an odd world because it was primarily inhabited by two ethnocultural groups: the Japanese and Koreans. They were, supposedly, always at odds with each other. In the far past, it took the Star League to stop them from killing each other, and obviously, the Japanese were ascendent with the Draconis Combine’s Japanese-drived culture. 

But their animosity never died out. It ran so deeply that the moment we reached the system, the Koreans reached out to us. 

They offered a very simple deal. They will declare for us, and in return, wanted to have it enshrined in law that no Japanese-descent will be allowed to hold any planetary government office on Skat. 

Honestly, we were happy to not have to deal with the whole two hundred million people as potential enemies. The Koreans were just the slight majority on this planet at one-hundred thirteen million, and having even half of that number loyal to us would ease the pressure on all of the clones. 

We accepted. 

Even before we landed on the planet, fighting broke out and it was an all-out war different from Markab. 

The lead clone acting as the commander of the invasion force watched from the captain’s seat of one of the Irotryoshkas. One of the reasons why the Irotryoshkas and the militarized Crawdads did not remove themselves from the battlefield beyond staying out of anti-air guns’ reaches was because they served a secondary purpose. Each of them had the same pulse scanners found on most UEE ships from the Star Citizen-verse. 

Which meant that all of the ships provided an overlapping field of view that saw every single movement of the enemy vehicles, mechs, and even infantry. 

A certain Iron-Blooded Commander didn’t need to invest in so much equipment like we did and hers certainly had a bigger range, but limited as ours were, it still provided all of the information we needed to crush our enemies. 

What made it worse for our enemies on the ground was the fact that our mechs weren’t even manned. They weren’t being defeated by honorable warriors but machines. 

Oh, that pissed them off like nothing else, and made quite a number of them far more reckless. Some of the smarter - but still foolish - mechwarriors just committed seppaku rather than fighting a losing battle. 

The really smart ones went underground, both literally and metaphorically.

But it was too late. As we oversaw the last active resistance fall to a tidal wave of unmanned mechs, fighter drones, and even drone bombers with the local Korean infantry support, Skat was bound to fall to our total control. 

We wondered what that was like. To fight something inevitable and anathemic to their culture and way of life. To know that there was no help coming because even their help was powerless against us when we shot their jumpships down.

And if the Coordinator and his ilk tried to nuke us again…

Well, there were a few things that we’ve been researching, not just copying from other universes. Luthien will make for a great testing bed for it if the Combine gives us the reason.

-VB-

Hohiro Kurita

Luthien, Draconis Combine

2982.07.15

“Coordinator, Luthien has been lost.”

First, it was Cylene.

Then, it was Markab.

And finally, Skat fell. 

Three worlds close to each other and all of which were important border worlds. 

This “Coreward Principality” was nothing but a Davion ploy, but it made no sense if it was. ComStar showed videos of absurd technologies that he’s barely heard of before. Dropships that effortlessly hover over cities? Many of those dropships with hull configurations that would have broken them on atmospheric reentry? 

If the Federated Suns had all of those, then why were his spies within their ranks reporting a nervous military? Or that the Frist Prince didn’t have better mechs? Or why they weren’t using it against him and the Draconis Combine across their entire border? 

Things did not make sense. 

What information his people have been able to gather showed this “Alan Marris” on David II and nowhere else. There was a verifiable growth of the mercenary company, but it was the growth itself that was suspect. 

Too quickly. Too much. Too … strong. They brought out lostech from the start and didn’t stop, even though they made claims about how they made their own tech. No, ISF analysts and civilian arms engineers all rejected those claims, pointing to the streamlined designs that couldn’t have been made by a single mercenary company of all people. 

And the way that the Federated Suns avoided taking them over…

… 

…

Could it be? 

The owner of the mercenary company was Alan Marris. 

Alan Marris.

Alan Marris.

A. Marris.

Amar-.

Hohiro’s eyes widened. 

No, it couldn’t be! Their line was wiped out! But the name of his new state. The lostech! Research and development that couldn’t have been done by a few people!

If they survived out in the deep periphery, then it was not impossible.

And they came to strike at him. 

The impudence.

The gall! 

They thought him weak! 

With narrowed eyes and a flushed face, he picked up his brush to pen a haiku.

Banners must be called. 

To make a new example. 

The dragon awakes.