Scavenged Restoration 65 (Patreon)

Commissioned by RoyalTwinFangs

Scavenged Restoration

Chapter 65

-VB-

Mere eight years after the end of the Fourth Succession War, a new war had broken out.

The war officially started when the Lyran Commonwealth replied back to the Draconis Combine’s demands with total rejection. Coordinator Takashi Kurita declared war on February 11th, 3040 upon the Lyran Commonwealth. 

The Federated Suns reaffirmed their alliance and joined on the side of the Lyrans in the war, and the Free Worlds League and the Capellan Confederation joined in on the side of the Draconis Combine. 

In a move that would forever cast doubt on whether or not the 8th Lyran Regulars had truly been rogue, the Lyran Commonwealth struck first.

---

The Battle of Vega began with eleven jumpships jumping into the Vega System in the Vega star’s nadir. This fleet carried the 3rd Lyran Guards, 26th Lyran Guards, 2nd Donegal Guards, and the Snord’s Irregulars, all of whom were under the command of General Marcus Blackwell of the 3rd Lyran Guards. Along with these four regiments, this fleet brought with them six pocket warships, designed specifically to counter the increasingly aerospace fighter heavy DCMS, and one aerospace wing (eighteen fighters).

The DCMS had the 2nd and 14th Legions of Vega stationed on Vega at this time, led on the ground  by Sho-sho (lieutenant general) Christine Nordica of the 14th Legion and led in the air and in space by Tai-sho (admiral) Michael Heise of the 2nd Legion. Along with these two regiments were two battalions of the 5th Amphigean Light Assault Group and the 1st Vegan Aerospace Wings, which boasted 80 fighters. 

Within an hour of jumping into the system, the entire fleet moved towards Vega VII and deployed their pocket warships, and aerospace fighters in a screen. 

Upon detecting the Lyran fleet, Admiral Heise prepared the aerospace fighters, but did not overly instigate his pilots and soldiers to move quickly; the jump point distance between Vega star and Vega VII was 51 days on average. This gave the defenders a lot of time to prepare their defenses.

But eventually, the Lyrans came close enough to Vega that he sent his aerospace fighters out to contest their landing. 

It was during this orbital battle that the Draconis Combine revealed their latest innovation: Shilone SR-17S. These Shilones had their standard aerospace armor replaced with prototype ferro-aluminum versions and the single heat sinks with double heat sinks. It carried fourteen tons of armor, twenty-four double heat sinks, one LRM-20, one Large Laser, and five Medium Lasers. The DCMS achieved this by switching out the standard fusion engine with an XL engine. 

---

Marcus was not a social general. If he was, then he would have been removed from his position as the general of the 3rd Lyran Guards. No, he got this position through effort, sweat, and blood. 

And it was also why he knew that this contested landing was not going to be easy. 

“How many?” 

“Seventy, sir.”

Seventy aerospace fighters with whatever upgrades the Combine put on versus his six pocket warships and eighteen aerospace fighters. 

On paper, it looked bad for him and his fleet. 

On paper, that was. 

“Are the Assault Unions ready?” he asked, and the communication officer quickly sent requests for confirmation. 

“Confirmed, general.”

“Good. I want all aerospace squadrons to hold back. Assault Unions will take the brunt of the initial assault.”

Outside of his Fortress-class dropship’s command bridge, the formation of dropships and aerospace fighters slowly changed to obey his orders. The pocket warship Unions pushed themselves forward while the aerospace fighters, three squadrons of them, pulled themselves back to form a thin half-shell in front of the rest of the dropship fleet. 

---

General Blackwell’s decision to place the pocket warship Unions in front, aerospace fighters behind them, and the rest of the fleet behind the fighters possibly saved him and his soldiers heavy losses, which wasn’t the case with other Lyran and FedSuns admirals and generals in future void skirmishes. 

Despite being outnumbered by the DCMS aerospace fighters which undoubtedly included medium and heavy bombers that can break dropships with their munition, this decision put forward the heavily armored pocket warships in front to take the brunt of the assaults. These Unions, with fifty tons of armor, withstood the assault from bombers and fighters alike. Bombs that have punctured holes in dropships only managed to put craters on these pocket warships while the Unions returned fire with Large Lasers and LRM-20’s a plenty, cutting down at least half a dozen fighters and bombers each. More importantly, many of the bombs that had struck the Unions had not been dropship-killers but rather aerospace fighter-killing proximity dumb bomblets that had not been picked up by the sensors because they lacked size and heat signature. Had General Blackwell pushed the aerospace fighters up to the front to shield the pocket warships, then he would have lost half if not close to all of his aerospace fighters. 

While bombers peeled off, DCMS fighters sped deeper into Lyran fleet’s formation, where they met the Lyran ASF. Here, the Shilone SR-17S proved that there was a technological disparity between the Draconis Combine and the Lyran Commonwealth. These Shilones went head to head with heavy fighters, and more often than not, they came out as the victor in most exchanges.

But with so many pocket warships firing endless waves of LRMs, even the heavily armored Shilones got shot down. 

That’s when the second wave of bombs struck. Unlike the first wave’s bomblet-heavy assault, this wave came specifically for the pocket dropships. However, with the loss of so many fighters in the first exchange while the Lyrans managed to save the majority of their aerospace fighters, DCMS fighters and bombers failed their second wave assault when too many bombs were shot out of the void or the fighters and bombers themselves were downed by the overwhelming firepower of the pocket warships. 

Once it became clear to Admiral Heise that the pocket warships were too much for the aerospace fighters, he ordered them back to the planet. 

In this skirmish, the LCAF and Commonwealth Navy lost seven fighters and one dropship to the DCMS’s combined loss of thirty-three fighters and bombers. Many of the fighters that survived this skirmish were those that had been upgraded like Shilone SR-17S. 

With the void secured, General Blackwell ordered the four regiments to land.

---

The fucking Panthers just kept firing their PPCs endlessly! 

Leutnant Victor Doth grimaced inside his Commando while he hid behind shrub-covered rocky outcrops common to this arid world. 

He didn’t want to fight the Panthers! He lost his Banshee right here on Vega, and by God, he was going to get himself a bigger mech than this light mech piece of junk! 

But the fucking Panthers were in the way.

One of the Panthers began to far-flank him to his left while the other came around to his right. Both of them kept themselves out of his Commando’s Medium Laser and SRM ranges (which was another reason why light mechs were pieces of shits not worth their tonange!) as they continued to rain down PPCs at him. They should have been overheated ages ago but they haven’t! 

Worse, if they continued to circle him like this, then he was going to be -.

The Panther attempting to flank his right side whirled around as another mech came to Doth’s rescue. 

A bipedal mech - painted in pink, blue, and white with that weird ass Terran bovine drawn on its left torso - came running at full speed down a hill while firing its Medium Lasers at the Panther. The Panther jump-jetted out of the way to safety but not without losing its left arm and getting burns across its center torso. But it was too slow compared to the speedy Cicada. The Cicada chased after it and blasted at it again and again.

The other Panther turned to shoot at the Cicada, shot, and missed. 

Doth took this as his chance to jump out of his cover while jump-jetting forward. The slower light mech backpedaled as it tried to shoot at him, but it was too late. The Commando’s feet slammed into the Panther’s shoulders and sent it crashing into the ground. He wasted no time aiming his SRM launchers right at the cockpit and fired them all. Six SRMs struck the cockpit and blew it to kingdom come. 

The radio stopped crackling, and Doth realized that he had been jammed for the entire fight. 

He quickly whirled around to help the other mech, but instead, he found the other light mech almost leisurely jogging up to him.

The short range radio crackled. 

“This is Lieutenant Thomlinson of Snord’s Irregulars, First Company Recon Lance. You good?” 

“I am. Thanks for the save. This is Leutnant Doth, Third Recon Lance of the Second Battalion of the Third Lyran Guards, over.”

“Cool. Got any intel you can share with me?”

“None except for the freaking fact that the snakes don’t seem to overheat at all, over,” Doth grumbled. 

“Yeah, I noticed that, too. If it wasn’t for my boss breaking out some cool shit, then I wouldn’t be doing this well, over.”

“... Is that what your mech is, over?”

“Yes. It’s a Mercury light mech, over.”

Damn it. Why did the fucking mercenaries get all of the good mechs while he had to settle for a piece of shit Commando? He piloted a Banshee before this! He should be piloting something like a Phoenix Hawk at least!

Before he could ask something, his radio crackled. “Leutnant Doth, respond. You have been radio silent for the past hour, over,” the voice of his lance commander, Captain Ferrows, crackled out.

Damn, had that been how long he’d been fighting the two Panthers?

“This is Leutnant Doth. I think I’ve been jammed before this. Lieutenant Thomlinson of Snord’s Irregulars and I eliminated two Combine Panthers. Captain, the snakes aren’t overheating, over.”

“Yes, I noticed. Fall back to … C22. We’ll meet you there, over.”

“Understood, over.” Then he flicked the radio back to short range. “My CO wants me in C22. And thanks for the save, over.”

“No problemo, brother!” Then the mechwarrior in the Mercury sped away. 

Doth grumbled. 

Mercenaries get all of the cool shit.

---

On the ground, the situation was only marginally better for the Draconis Combine. Their technological superiority definitely gave them an edge in small skirmishes. However, the Lyrans held aerial superiority and orbital superiority, and used this superiority to force the Combine into a defensive position. The Combine continued to win small skirmishes but lost every single major engagement. 

On Carrion Highlands close to the capital city of Neucason, her 14th Legion and 5th Amphigean Light Assault Group forced the Snord’s Irregulars into battle. With the high ground on their side and with a more numerous force, General Nordica decimated the Irregulars while aerospace fighters battled it out overhead. The battle was going her way until one of the pocket warships came roaring over and shot down Combine ASF. With victory no longer attainable, the general called for a retreat to Neucason. 

The Snord’s Irregulars and the 3rd Lyran Guards put Neucason to siege with the 14th Legion of Vega and Fifth Amphigean LAG stuck inside while their pocket warships and 26th Lyran Guards and 2nd Donegal Guards hunted down the 2nd Legion of Vega. On May 16th, the 2nd Donegal Guards and the 26th Lyran Guards cornered the 2nd Legion of Vega in the city of Halo where they were caught trying to reinforce Neucason. The legion, which hasn’t had proper repairs and resupply in weeks, held their ground and fought to the last in what would become known as the Legion’s Last Stand on Halo Hills.

Of particular note was Shujin (master sergeant) Naosuke Kim. Naosuke, the last mechwarrior of the 2nd Legion of Vega, made his last stand on the central hill that overlooked the city of Halo. With a commercial sedan held up as a shield in his Grasshopper’s left hand and with only two functioning medium lasers, he brought down eleven Lyran mechwarriors before a well placed laser shot to the center torso caused an internal explosion that blew up his cockpit, ending his life. His last words were stated with a tired voice before the explosion over open radio. “I have done my duty and have no regrets.”

With the 2nd Legion eliminated and the local militia dispersed, the Lyrans focused on the 14th Legion and the 5th Amphigean LAG. 

Seeing no way out, General Nordica offered to leave the planet, unmolested, if she and her army gave up control of it. General Blackwell allowed this.

When the 14th Legion of Vega and the 5th Amphigean LAG took off on their dropships on June 2nd, 3040, it was the first victory the Federated Commonwealth alliance had achieved in the war. 

And it would set the pace of the entire war.

-VB-

When the news of Lyran victory on Vega hit the news in the Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns, it became a morale booster. 

Despite the initial fears from tacticians, strategists, and analysts from both nations, the success of the LCAF and the Commonwealth Navy in capturing Vega showed both the public and the military that the Lyran Commonwealth would not be a burden. That they were equals. The lack of nuclear exchange also eased the concerns of many.

However, this also had the unintended side effect. 

Many who supported the Massacre of Alshain pointed to the massive victory at Vega as evidence that they should have restarted the war earlier. That they were right to have done everything in their power to restart the war before the Combine gained even more advantages! 

The AFFS, though still furious at the fact that the Lyrans had started the war, saw the victory at Vega and came to respect the LCAF a little more. In particular, they saw how adaptive General Blackwell had been in the void and how the Lyrans didn’t falter in the face of the enemy's technological edge. And how, despite the advantages the Combine had, the Lyrans managed to pull off a decisive victory. 

The BattleROM from Vega also showed the AFFS and other LCAF regiments that the technological edge the Combine possessed was not enough to overcome tactical and strategic superiority. 

And that got many AFFS officers and generals thinking. 

Surely, the Capellans weren’t that much further ahead than the snakes. 

If that was the case…

Then was it possible for them to erase the humiliation of the Fourth Succession War? 

Was it time for another full scale invasion of the Capellan Confederation?

And if so… where should they strike? 

This was the question that was brought before First Prince Hanse Davion. 

And Hanse didn’t know how to answer that question, because as far as he and those aware of the Capellan borders, attacking the Capellan Confederation - who hasn’t made any significant movement so far in the four months since the war started - was not something they could afford to do. 

“We don’t have enough assets in place in the Capellan March to initiate a full scale invasion,” Hanse stated coldly to his brother-in-law. “And the Capellans aren’t bothering to attack us. Right now, the AFFS is focused on fighting the Draconis Combine.”

Duke Michael Hasek-Davion looked frustrated by his answer. 

And of course, he would be. He was the FedSun’s version of the Lyran warmongers. He wanted to take the fight to the Capellans. 

Except … yeah, that wasn’t happening. 

The Capellans currently had the strongest border defense out of any house. The Federated Suns was not going to be able to break through that defense without throwing everything it had and then some, but such a campaign would leave them open to Combine invasion, which was unacceptable. 

Michael Hasek-Davion didn’t care. 

“And what if I used my own forces?” the duke asked over ComStar’s priority HPG channel. This conversation was costing the duke ten thousand C-Bills per minute. 

“... You think you have a big enough force to break through the Capellan’s defense?” Hanse asked incredulously.

“I don’t have to break through. I just have to do enough damage.”

“Duke Hasek. I hope you are not suggesting that you will use nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction.” He didn’t imply that Hasek had them, because he wasn’t supposed to. 

(But MIIO was pretty sure that he had at least one nuclear warhead of unknown tonnage.) 

“No. I promise you that much.”

“... If you want to throw your hard earned money and soldiers into it, I’m not going to stop you.”

The call came to an end, and Hanse left New Avalon’s HPG station. When he came back to Mount Davion and isolated in the privacy of his office, he found himself sighing. 

Katrina had sent him a message over the HPG network a week after the declaration of war. The message was a detailed transcript of what she and Chancellor William Liao had discussed without him.

But it was a discussion that Hanse was happy to have learned about. 

The Capellan Confederation didn’t want to be part of this war but couldn’t afford not to be. Because of this, they would engage in some battles and incursions, but they were unlikely to push deep into either of the Federated Commonwealth states. Chancellor Liao made that clear in his secret messages with Archon Steiner. 

He … did not appreciate the fact that Katrina had gone behind his back to communicate with William Liao of all people, but at the same time, this secret communication showed him that he could focus on the Combine. However, he also acknowledged that this kind of backdoor communication was necessary. 

Right now, his goal wasn’t to prosecute another Fourth Succession War but to limit the damages both the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth would receive from this one. 

Because, if he and his advisers were correct, then none of the Great Houses had enough logistics to prosecute another war on the same scale as the Fourth. 

Except the Capellan Confederation. 

It still irked him that the nation that supposedly lost the most was now the nation prepared to fight this war… and it was God’s blessing that William was so unwilling to fight. But if he used the AFFS to attack them right now when William was willing to play passive, then he will strike back and strike back hard with those warships of his that the AFFS and the navy didn’t have the assets to fight off. 

But if Duke Hasek-Davion wanted to use his own assets and mercenaries? That was just a duke trying to take advantage of the situation, and the First Prince couldn’t control every single noble, right? 

That’s why he let Michael have his permission. 

But that now made him wonder. 

How many regiments did Michael think he could scrap together when MIIO estimated that each Capellan border world had six regiments at a minimum? And where the hell would he strike?