Scavenged Restoration 30 (Patreon)

Commissioned by RoyalTwinFangs

Scavenged Restoration

Chapter 30

-VB-

There was no celebration party for the end of the war.

Terra didn’t host us any longer than they wanted to; all of us left as quickly as we could after settling our business because one half of us couldn’t stand the other half. 

Even as we were burning across the Inner Sphere with a new tenuous peace that had settled over our realms, ComStar’s ComStar News Network broadcasted loudly from every HPG station that the Fourth Succession War had come to an end. It should have been a happy occasion.

And it was! 

But within the Federated Suns, people shook their heads and grumbled when the details of the treaty were delivered. 

It was the FedSun sons and daughters who bled to take the confederation’s Tikonov Commonality… but it was being handed off to the Lyrans? After all of the blood they spilled and territories they lost? Even the Davion hardliners felt uncomfortable with the outcome of the war. 

Capellans were similar in that regard but also aiming their ire at the Davions. How dare those bastards take the fatherland’s worlds? How dare they slaughter innocent civilians who’d done nothing? For the average Capellan, the Davions had become the Enemy of their generation. Previous raids from the League were ignored and smoothed over in light of their cooperation, and there was even an uptick in trade between their two realms. At the same time, the sheer patriotic fervor that swept across the nation came around to invigorate the Liao supporters. Who else but Chancellor William Liao could have saved their people from what could have shattered them totally? The loss of the majority of Tikonov Commonality was a setback, yes, but just as he’d defended the realm once, he will do so again.

The Lyrans were … ambivalent. Sure, their alliance with the Federated Suns netted them an entire province from the Capellan Confederation, but it was now more land they had to defend not just from the Free Worlds League and the Draconis Combine, Lyran’s traditional enemies, but also a revanchist Capellan Confederation who will come back for the Tikonov Commonality, which the Lyrans renamed as the Tikonov March. 

The Draconis Combine was similar. Sure, they lost a few worlds but they gained more than they lost. The crown prince and the Coordinator seemed(?) to be working together, though there was still some tension between them that kept the dragon from working at full efficiency. Though there were worries among Kuritan subjects  about Coordinator Takashi Kurita’s sudden step back from direct administration, many of its people and warlords felt calm and soothed when they learned that the crown prince would step up to fill some of the roles of the dragon in light of his accomplishment at negotiating a share of Lostech blueprints and engineering from the surprisingly resurgent Capellans. 

The League was also ambivalent. Sure, they lost a few worlds closest to Terra, but they also gained their traditional holdings along the border close to what was once the Bolam Thumb. Sure, they didn’t take all of the Bolan Thumb because they didn’t focus only on those star systems, but it was the accomplishment of it that mattered. And once they learned about their capitan-general’s “cunning” move to “extract” technology for their part of the war, they would be even more rejuvenated. 

Alas… that was where the League’s prosperity ended. 

Because three weeks after the signing of the truce agreement, Captain-General Janos Marik suffered a stroke on the way back to Atreus. 

Then the Duchy of Andurien declared independence from the Free Worlds League.

And finally, the Canopians and Anduriens ruined Capellan Confederation’s celebratory mood by declaring war. 

.. Or rather, they would have if the Capellans didn’t see it coming. 

-VB-

Director Chandra Ling was starting to truly believe that her unofficial nephew and official godson was some sort of a genius or a similarly blessed with divine foresight. 

First, he rediscovered the Lostech cache of all Lostech caches.

Second, he pierced through Davion and Steiner schemes.

And now, he saw an attack by Canopian and Andurien forces and had already moved enough forces to defend the rimward border while getting even more force moving to crush the periphery whores.

What was he going to do next? Somehow raise a heir that was better than him? 

That one might not be possible because he seemed to have a reasonable aversion to getting married and producing heir. It wasn’t that he didn’t like women; in his very young days, he was very much into women. It’s just that …

Things had happened. Things that she found it harder and harder as time went on for not being able to prevent. 

It was why she arranged to meet one of the few unattached women she knew her godson had interacted with. 

The Canopian woman looked spooked. Why wouldn’t she? The soldier across from her knew exactly who she was.

No soldier wanted to “meet” the director of the Inner Sphere’s most brutal intelligence agency (and lately, the best intelligence agency). 

“... Considering that you are currently hired by the Capellan Confederation, how do you feel about your current situation?” Chandra asked Junior Lieutenant Anne Renessa. 

The recently promoted mercenary woman looked pale. 

And why wouldn’t she?

The Magistracy of Canopus, her home, had declared war on the Capellan Confederation. And unlike her Canopian cousins across the border, she knew full well what kind of a force the Capellans were right now. 

To Chandra’s surprise, the woman spoke up with honesty. “I am terrified out of my mind right now, director.”

“Hmm. Why?”

“I did not expect to be in this position.”

“Yes… Normally,  a letter you sent to your cousin would have earned you a summary execution as it would have been a betrayal had we not looked at the contents.”

Renessa froze. 

Chandra took this chance to open the folder in front of her and pulled out a copy of the letter. “I believe you wrote in your letter that ‘the Capellan Confederation only looks weak from the outside. Everyone involved in the war knows that the Capellans are strong now. There is no way that the Magistracy has enough firepower to defeat the Capellans.’” A pause as she set the copy down and looked at the junior lieutenant. “No mention of anything strategic or even rough numbers. Just a warning.”

“Yes,” Renessa gulped. “I tried to be as discreet as possible.”

“Possibly a little stupid considering who you were trying to be discreet around, though.”

“So what happens?” she asked, her voice lightly trembling. 

Chandra crossed her legs and leaned forward. Renessa didn’t even so much as twitch when she showed her legs. “How do you feel about my permission to pursue my godson?”

“... I’m sorry?” 

“The Capellan Confederation has a need of heirs, junior lieutenant,” she replied with ease. “Unfortunately, the chancellor has been avoiding women specifically seeking him for attention. You are one of the few who he hasn’t turned away from.”

She watched the terrified woman gain another trait: flabbergasted confusion. 

“I… don’t understand.”

Chandra sighed. “For a Canopian, you are very slow on the uptake, aren’t you? But then again, that might be why you’re a mercenary and not in your home court.”

Anna didn’t quite bite her lips but it was close. 

“How do you feel about becoming someone of importance?” Chandra asked, trying this another way. “Do you want to live and die as a mercenary? Do you not have any other ambition?”

“... I don’t,” she replied. 

“Truly?” she asked with a hum. “If that really was the case, then you wouldn’t have been seeking promotion within your little mercenary company.”

The Canopian looked away. 

“Though the state can never acknowledge our chancellor marrying a lowborn like yourself… it would be another thing for a bastard to be acknowledged.”

“... You’re asking me to seduce the chancellor?”

“He did seem much more comfortable with you. Even had you as a trainer briefly, but cameras catch what human eyes might miss. He certainly liked how you looked in your gym attire.”

This time, the Canopian blushed! 

How cute. 

“Would it be so bad to have a lover like the chancellor? A powerful man who can back you in anything you want?” A pause. “Perhaps even ask for leniency for your cousin on her behalf when the CCAF inevitably lands there?” 

Anna froze before slowly looking forward to meet her eyes. 

Ah. 

Chandra realized she might have crossed a line. 

“Are you threatening my family?”

She leaned back. “Of course not,” Chandra replied. “If I was, then you would be in a dark room with a picture of your ducal cousin, tied up, beaten, and ready to be … used.”

For some women, not having control of their own body was some of the worst things that could happen to them. Not all, however. 

She would know. There were things much more important than her body.

Anna’s hands curled up into fists. 

Chandra rolled her eyes. “Do relax, junior lieutenant. Like I said, if I wanted you for something other than this, then I wouldn’t be here and you would be thinking something else. That said, if you don’t feel up to my recommendation, then that’s the end of this conversation. But do tell me if you want to try.”

With that, she stood up and left the office. 

Of course, the point of the conversation wasn’t just to imply many things to the mercenary. It was to take a gauge of the girl. 

And Chandra knew that there wouldn’t be anything there. 

Anna Renessa was just one more mercenary among many. Not without ambition but the ambition was one inherently contradictory to a sedentary lifestyle. She also didn’t feel much attraction to William. If she did, then Chandra would have seen hesitation and slight willing to allow herself to be dragged into this “mission.” 

But alas…

Chandra Ling, the Director of the Maskirovka, will have to look for more women to get her godson laid. 

He really did need some of that with how hard he’s been working. 

Chandra sighed. “At this rate, little Kai really will become the heir,” she muttered to herself. And as much as she loved little Candace, she wasn’t about to have anyone with even an iota of Fedrat blood on the Celestial Throne. 

As she entered her office, one of her agents stepped up with a report. She took it wordlessly after sitting down in her chair and opened the folder up. 

Though the Maskirovka was not as powerful nor deeply infiltrated as her godson had made it out to be, it didn’t mean that her agency was not worth its salt. In fact, she had plenty of agents with the Duchy of Andurien and the Magistracy of Canopus.

She looked at the report that had been compiled by said agents and she let out a surprised laugh.

This was it? 

They declared war and invaded the Capellan Confederation with just this much troops? 

She smirked. “Oh, this is going to be an interesting time for the Canopians,” she crooned. 

Because, according to the reports, the Magistracy and Andurien had gathered twenty-four regiments in total.

Unfortunately for them, their forces were split in their respective borders.

“Agent Hei.”

“Yes, director?”

“Which one do you think our dear chancellor will strike first: the Duchy or the Magistracy?”

There was a pause as one of the oldest agents active within the Maskirovka took his time to answer her. 

“Duchy, ma’am.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Everyone likes punching the no-man.”