Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Eight: Retaliation
Kentares IV, May 4th, 3035
"Alright, Colonel Senn, I need you and the 1st Kearny to move with the 1st Northwind Guard and the 1st Marksman to reinforce the Periphery March," David told the older man and the assembled officers via HPG and in person. "Other units will be following, but it'll take some time to spin up the proper supply chain."
"I'll handle logistics," Romano Senn-Liao spoke up. "We've got two regiments here on Northwind that are going to be moving anyway."
"Thanks," David responded. "I'm going to push Carter to get her RCT moving by the end of the week, I'm expecting the two of you to be a little bit behind."
"Any updates along the Outworlds Alliance border?" Carter spoke up after her name was mentioned.
"Apparently while the First Prince and I were dealing with a minor inconvenience at the spaceport the Outworlds Alliance invaded and are already taking planets that are two jumps inside of the Periphery March's borders," David answered.
"What kind of gear are they fielding?" Colonel Senn asked. "Do we have any reports on that?"
"It's a mixed bag," David shrugged. "Apparently when Amaris set everything up for the Amaris Coup he left caches and factories behind close to each periphery nation. They found those factories and caches and immediately put them to use. I would expect Late Star League Era gear on most of the 'mechs with some Royalgrade tech on a good portion of them. Expect a lot of RWR and late Reunification Wars era mechs with upgrades to modern tech."
"That's all I needed to hear," Carter said as she stood up. "I'm assuming that we're going to get further instructions from the Davion military?"
"The First Prince is going to take personal command over the theater, you'll directly report to Duke Felsner if Hanse Davion hasn't already issued commands," David replied while clapping his hands together. "We've got a lot of work to do, so let's get it done and see that our nation is properly defended."
May 5th, 3035
"You're not going to be going to the frontlines with the first wave?" Elsa asked as David sat at his father's desk and worked at getting all of the logistics and authorizations lined up for the Kentares Guard to begin moving to assist the Periphery March.
"I want to," David replied. "But this comes first, making sure that everything is set up for my people to do their jobs properly is just as important as me being there in person to assist them in fighting off the idiots that thought invading us was a good idea."
"Well, let me know if there is anything I can do to help," Elsa said as she sat beside him and watched her fiance do paperwork and other duties.
"Just sit next to me," David offered. "I'll have something for you to do in a bit."
"Here, if you'll order the files on this from most to least important that would be a big help," David passed Elsa a slate. "It'll help me get things done more quickly."
May 15th, 3035
"We've got the 1st Marksman and two other regiments from Northwind moving to assist the Periphery March," David reported via voice message to Hanse Davion via the Davion's secret HPG network. "But it'll take nearly half a year for them to arrive."
"We're shifting some Draconis March units and some of the Avalon Hussars and Davion Guards to move immediately, the Periphery March Militia is going to be on their own until we can get things moving in their direction," Hanse responded.
"We're on a time crunch here Hanse," David said after one of the techs gave him a warning. "I'm sending over the plans and will continue getting resources shifted to support the Periphery March."
"Good work," Hanse replied. "I expect we'll hear something from your parents fairly soon."
"I certainly hope so," David replied. "I'll do another update at the end of the month."
"Copy that," Hanse replied. "Godspeed David."
"Sir, we're not going to be able to do another direct audio transfer like that again anytime soon." The technician reported.
"Why not?" David asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because it strains some of the specialized components," The tech replied. "If you need to make another report at the end of the month you'll have to send it as a regular burst transmission until we can replace some of the components."
"Whatever needs to be done to maintain the HPG needs to be done." David sighed, "I can always use Comstar's if necessary."
"I'll see what I can do sir," the tech replied. "But I can't make any promises."
"That's fine, you can only do what you can do," David replied. "I don't expect perfection from people, just that they do their best."
Haynesville, Periphery March, May 3rd, 3035
"Looks like we're the last ones alive LT," A corporal said as he looked over the shattered remains of an armored battalion. "There's just too many 'mechs out there."
"I know," The LT replied as he helped some of the wounded. "We're lucky that this cave is only really known to the locals."
"Why would our own people do this to us though?" A Private spoke up. "The Outworlds Alliance isn't supposed to be brutal like that, they slaughtered the ones who surrendered. I mean, who does that?"
"Not even the Combine would have killed surrendering soldiers." A grizzled NCO spoke up. "But now, we're going to have to fight a delaying action until we get relieved by some of the AFFS regulars."
"And how are we supposed to do that Sarge?" A younger man asked with fear in his voice. "We've only got four J Edgars, two Hunters, and a mix of other vehicles."
"We don't fight them all at once," The LT spoke up from where he was packing and wrapping a leg wound on another soldier. "We lure them in and take them out one 'mech and one vehicle at a time. We sneak in and sabotage their motor pools and we make their time here so miserable that by the time our reinforcements arrive the enemy is begging to leave."
"If anyone here can use a neurohelmet then we may even be able to steal one of the enemies 'mechs." Another noncom spoke up.
"Sir, I've got an idea." One of the baby-faced younger members of the militia said. "My uncle owns an Industrialmech repair shop in a small town off the beaten path, and we know where some of the caches of Machine guns and SRMs are right?" The young man asked with an excited grin on his face. "We can somewhat up armor an industrialmech and throw some machine guns and SRMs on it, it won't be perfect, but a lumbermech or miningmech would be able to greatly help in the event of an ambush."
"I like that thinking," The LT said as he wiped the blood off of his hands after helping make sure that the captain was alive. "Outside of the box thinking like that is what will ensure that we live to see another day."