Debauchery Worlds 62 (Patreon)

Commissioned by michael stitcher

Debauchery Worlds

Chapter 62

-VB-

Andrew Davion

New Avalon, Federated Suns

2983.05.08

There was … a certain tension in the air. 

How could there not be? A mere week ago, a new player - no matter how technologically superior to the rest of the Inner Sphere - had landed on Luthien, smashed the defenders to a pulp, killed the the Coordinator, destroyed the seat of power of the Draconis Combine, and left without so much as being challenged by the defenders. Probably because there was no one left to do it. 

It sparked a sense of jealousy and suspicion among many of his advisors. If the Coreward Principality can strike at the heart of the most martially inclined Successor State, then couldn’t they do the same to the Federated Suns? 

Andrew was tempted to follow along with this narrative… if he didn’t know for a fact that doing so would result in disaster and tragedy. 

Because warships meant that nothing they could amass could be used to attack the Coreward Principality; they were just too heavily defended. The new Faster-Than-Light travel technology they displayed meant that they were not bound by the same laws of logistics that the rest of the Inner Sphere was bound by. The power armors and energy shields meant that there was a doctrinal gap in their military strategies and tactics that would leave devastating consequences should they attempt to attack them.

No.

The best course of action was to continue to remain friendly with the Coreward Principality as they have been so far. He needed to leverage that friendship to purchase new technologies to outfit his mechwarriors and soldiers. 

“My Prince…”

He looked up and saw the commanding officer of the Royal Brigade and his cousin, Matilda Davion. 

“Yes, colonel?” he asked her while making sure to keep his stressed frown off of his face. 

“It is my opinion that we need to quickly secure as much of the Draconis Combine as we can,” she spoke up.

Finally, a fresh opinion.

“Explain yourself, please.”

She nodded. “Right now, the Draconis Combine is missing both its leadership and its logistics network thanks to the Prince Marris and his Coreward Principality.”

He nodded along. 

“Even if a ceasefire gets declared right this minute or Marris considers his devastation of Luthien to be damaging enough to stop his attacks on Combine jumpships, it will take time for the Combine to muster up their defenses. Right now, they are at their weakest because they are a state that depends too heavily upon the guiding hands of their top leadership. Without knowing if the heirs of the Combine are alive, they will be scrambling, if not thinking about sedition for their own benefit to distance themselves from the Draconis Combine and the potential cessation of jumpship attacks that independence might bring.”

Andrew blinked. 

He did think about wanting to push deeper into the Combine but he hadn’t thought about how Marris might react to the Combine warlords breaking their territories away from the Draconis Combine proper.

As powerful as Marris was, he lacked the manpower to cover the entirety of the Draconis Combine. It was why he went after the jumpships (probably). 

“What are you suggesting then?” he asked her.

“We have at least two dozen regiments in reserve. We should commit half of that to conquering the Galedon Military District.”

“What about Dieron Military District?” someone asked. 

Colonel Matilda shook her head. “It is infeasible. Aside from the fact that we have intelligence of the Principality moving in to secure worlds in that direction, each world in the Dieron Military District are too heavily defended for lightning conquest. In contrast, we can conquer more of the Galedon Military District with the same number of regiments in the same period of time, if not shorter period of time.”

“The colonel speaks the truth, My Prince,” the current DMI director Samuel Sharp hummed. The “Old Man of the New Avalon Range” stroked his short beard. “Even if we disregard the defensiveness of each world in the military districts, the Principality and their warships will make short work of anything in their path. Even a single warship will ensure he will carve out more worlds then we can without a warship of our own, simply because many worlds, in their fear and hunger, will surrender.”

“You truly think that Dieron worlds will surrender to the man who caused their national crisis?” Andrew asked. 

“My Prince, take it from this old man who grew up in the Outback,” Director Sharp smiled ruefully. “Hunger will drive people to do many things.”

He sat on that thought. 

“What units do we have to spare for the invasion? We are already stretched thin, having conquered far more than we expected.”

“We should bring up all of the Crucis March regiments we can spare…” someone new interjected.

The discussion would continue into the night but their objective was clear. 

They would partition the Draconis Combine in its hour of weakness.

-VB-

Ronanine Avellar

Alpheratz, Outworlds Alliance

2983.05.11

The Parliament was in an uproar. 

For as long as they could remember, they have been bordered by the Federated Suns and the Draconis Combine.

For as long as they have existed, those two giants kept their boots on the Outworlds Alliance in one way or another. It left them stifled, weak, and poor. 

And now…

There was now a chance for them to finally get back at the more aggressive and oppressive of the two.

The Devastation of Luthien, as ComStar News Network was calling it, as well as the constant attacks on the Combine jumpships meant that the Draconis Combine was at its weakest point, assuming that they did not grow weaker. 

And the Parliament was now divided on how they should act. This was perhaps the first and only chance to expand into the Inner Sphere and put an end to the oppression the Draconis Combine put on them. To put an end to the random raids their warlords conducted on their border worlds. 

‘This was it!’ they shouted. 

‘No, we must keep to our peace!’ others retorted. 

And stuck in the middle as the final arbiter was her, Ronanine Avellar. 

She hated it. 

She picked up the gavel and banged it down. “ORDER!” she shouted with her cold-ridden hoarse voice behind her face mask. It took them over a minute to settle down. Once she had everyone’s attention, she spoke up. “Are you prepared to fight the Federated Suns?” she demanded out of them.