DaVinci's Devils AU[]
- Chapter 5 – Planning a Wedding; and a War -[]
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11/10/3087, Object MF2789C(arbon)b-IT-(T85) ‘Sharada’
Sharada was as Rhoda had last remembered it but not as she first had seen it. Thesis’ L4 Trojan Asteroids were the bolthole for the Saptarishi Clade and its vassals exiled from their ancestral moons. Just as the asteroids had been captured in a semi-stable state so were the Clades before The Eloi’s gifts. Now this volume was an island of stability in the celestial chaos that was the Melian Frontier where warring Clades had once fought great battles.
Her bone-white Shade fighter followed the virtual path projected through the suit’s helmet. An external pass around the Dropships and K-1 Dropshuttles attached like unnatural growths from Sharada’s carbon-rich black rocks. Each one bore the colors and constellation outline of their Clade, five in total had come of thirty-eight. “Only one outside visitor Deborah? I thought Rowan had sent emissaries and messages to the others.”
Plugged in like they were her AI could manifest itself as her own internal monologue just in her third language. Occupying the same ‘brainspace’ within the fighter through its connection between them. “The Svati are apparently displeased with their Rohini overlords. They sent a group in protest, hence the carbon scoring.”
Deborah was as much in control of the fighter as Rhoda and the Shade flew past the Svati’s Trojan dropship to examine the laser damage to its fuselage. The AI could not manipulate her arms, but it could flow from her buffered Direct Neural Interface and that was sufficient for both of DaVinci’s creations. “I don’t like it when you do that, Deborah.”
“But we haven’t been flying much lately. I need the practice.”
“You don’t forget anything and infuse this entire machine with your essence.
Admit that you just wanted to show off.”
“I can’t get new shoes or a dress and show off for a man, Rhoda.”
“Your virtual avatar is infinitely mutable. You can replicate anything we’ve seen.”
“But you never take me anywhere. Who would I show off to, Dolores and Deliliah?”
She circled the Shade back, sending it nose over before thrusting back to pass by the Svati’s damaged dropship once more. The reaction control system puffed out hydrazine as the seat harness gripped her with each acceleration. “I expect we will all get action shortly.”
“That is because Dante knows how to share. You didn’t let me look on Maia.”
“I used a blindfold because I didn’t want you tattling to my sisters on what I was doing.”
A virtual sensation trickled up her spine from the DNI, “More like who you were doing.”
“I accomplished our missions, anything extra was mine. Besides I had other senses.
You only share my eyes and ears. Even if we jointly ‘feel’ that’s only when linked.”
“Very selfish Rhoda. I suppose I will have to wait for Dante then.”
“Why is it that you are so curious as to what humans do in the dark, Deborah?”
“You selected the role of Seeker. I was created to help you seek. Then you hide from me.
Your incongruence in sharing intelligence in our partnership is well documented.”
“Some things are better left unshared. Particularly if you keep probing my silvereyes’ output. You have plenty of cameras to pay attention to already. Rowan did invite pirates and soldiers to his wedding festivities. I’m certain they will bring plenty of excitement.”
11/11/3087
Even in half gravity the weighted sleeves and skirt of the pink dress that Rhoda wore and bright light upon them made her sweat over the red henna patterns that she, her sisters Lily and Aster, and Bismala had on their arms. The oldest sister intently watched their brother as he and the bride went through all the rites of a Nepalese wedding including offerings of five elements, strong incense for air, a bowl of rice wine for water, a brazier for fire, jewelry for earth, and flowers for plants. Her purple dress and gold jewelry shone bright while her younger half-sisters were slightly behind in pink and light blue whispering to one another.
“Lily is having far to good a time Aster. You’d think she was the bride herself.”
“One day she will be, maybe a future suitor is here. I think this was just practice. I think she is the one that convinced Surya to offer Rowan Bismala and then organized everything.”
“That would be on par for her. Always telling us what to do.”
“She is truly our father’s daughter.”
“So, what does that make us sister?”
Aster kept a close eye on the festivities as their brother neared the completion of part three of a seven-part ceremony. Incense hung heavily in the air gradually dissipating as the habitat’s air circulation system thinned the smoke. “Dateless, pity you had to find a PESA officer. Otherwise, you might have options. I was stuck with her the entire time. It was nice to go shopping but I could have used some ‘exploration’ with the locals too.”
“She only needed one of us. I managed to slip away first, that’s on you. Any outsider would have been too risky to be caught up in what Rowan and Dante were planning.
Deliliah revealed the latest manifests. Bismala’s brideprice is War.”
“The Rohini are their biggest rival. If they fall the others will fall in line. It is the easiest way.”
Rhoda tensed but kept herself proper, “But we are causing it. PESA will note the change.”
“That’s a tomorrow concern. Right now, we just need to worry about being good guests and not starting an inter-Clade war with the Saptarishi and their vassals.”
Saptarishi raised broad Kukri blades above scarlet uniforms in a salute to Chief Surya. Those few Eloi soldiers serving as honor guard for their Prince did the same with their ornate ceremonial lances, used when their Mauser 1200s would be ‘inappropriate’. Raising them over brilliant white and gold uniforms. After the ceremony the reception continued into late evening hours. Course after course arrived, fish and vegetables grilled, broiled, or pickled every way, dainty fruity sweets, strong rum, and wine, so much wine.
The following morning Rhoda stirred to life within her hammock, Aster still beneath her in her own, Even intoxicated their output never wavered nor their ability to see in total darkness. “Your blood alcohol level has fallen to a minimal level, Rhoda.”
She shifted the hammock landing awkward but quiet on the asteroid habitat’s cold floor with her tabi socks. Aster shifted slightly but she was in no better condition than her sister. With a twist the metal bottle of water lifted easily before she drank her fill.
“I thought it was just regular wine, Deb. They didn’t tell me that it was fortified.
“By my interpretation, a cultural fitness assessment. Before you ask, you did well.”
“I wonder how you consider that. Even with Dante and Delilah our databases on these people are sparse. Nevertheless, that’s a relief I guess. Good thing they don’t realize we have other augmentations.” Rhoda realized her makeup hadn’t been removed while looking into the mirror reflecting her eyes’ structured light. “Today is already starting poorly.”
Aster’s voice stirred behind, a face similar to her own emerging from the sleeping bag with equally disheveled but different styled blonde hair. “Only because I’m here with you and not with one of those swarthy pirates. I’m sure they would know the right way in microgee.”
“Maybe you need to work on your approach then sister. Or get hunting earlier.”
“Like you would know.” Aster checked her watch, “Three more hours until we go again. Miserable. These weddings are so tiresome. I’m glad father got rid of them on Kauto.”
“Liar, you had fun. I was bored by the whole thing. I just want to get it all over with. Then we can stop hiding, but I’m afraid of what we might reveal about ourselves in the process.”
“You need to drink more Rhoda.” Aster tossed a firm pillow at her which hit with enough impact to hit her into the vanity. “Don’t be such a Debbie downer.” Rhoda calmly wiped away the last of her makeup then picked up the pillow and turned to her sister’s hammock, “I’m going to give you this pillow back. By putting it over your face!” “No Rhoda! My makeup!”
Although it wasn’t a nice pink dress the Eloi’s white and gold formal uniform was striking on their people. Especially Rhoda if her blonde hair was done properly and she skipped blush. Another Aerodyne Buccaneer dropship knelt beside theirs within Sharanga’s vast underground hanger deck, already stacked high with assault shuttles and fighters. The vessel was more utilitarian, light gray with black streaks of carbon from reentry burns and a simple alphanumeric code on the tail.
An Albatross Battlemechs hunched beside it, towered over a clutch of smaller Initiate Battlemechs. Lines of people and machines moved crates and containers up and down the cargo ramp into the Saptarishi’s armories and workshops. Nearly two kilotons of ordnance, spare parts, newbuilt vessels, and enough advanced weapons to equip a small army.
While Lily was planning a wedding.
Rowan was preparing for War.
One had already gone off without difficulty.
How would the other fare?
Rhoda looked down at her side to see the laser pistol holstered DCA cross-draw style on her belt, marking her and her siblings as a Phantom Pilot. She brushed off a tear and touched the Silver Shield that dated back to the first of ComStar’s defenders, an organization founded to stop exactly what had happened before and what was to come. “Blake preserve us.”
Historical – The Pleaides’ Confederation, Ruling from the Bench[]
The Rimward Periphery has always been a wild place, just far enough to be nearly beyond the reach of Terra. Pleiades’ core worlds were originally settled by Inner Sphere colonists during the Age of War, mostly among the Capellan Proto-States who established mining colonies and began the slow work of terraforming many of its marginal worlds or adapting themselves to sub-optimal environments. Far Lookers, then a loosely aligned cult of Transhumanists, found fertile ground among these early colonists. Eventually the Far Lookers became a majority on several of these worlds as they found their own ideas challenged by the Terran Alliance who refused to allow their more ‘intrusive’ experiments within their realm. This Cluster would continue to loosely align itself on the larger worlds with a growing collection of space habitats providing services to nomadic miners that began to survey the system in search of mineral resources.
Further arrivals of refugees during the Age of War saw the Pleaides’ Cluster increasingly colonized by Belters from Terra and New Earth drawn to the Far Looker cause or disaffected by the growing violence during the Demarcation Declaration and later Terran Hegemony. Their former affiliation with Terra and the Hegemony where many of their members served as part of the oppressive HAF aroused suspicion amongst the Taurian Defense Forces that an enemy faction might develop on their border.
Preempting this threat, the Taurian worlds of the Hyades’ Cluster leaned into the Pleaides’ Cluster and its near surroundings. Instead of enemies they found allies greatly expanding Taurus’ reach by entering a coalition with its neighbors against the Terran Hegemony and expanding Federated Suns and Capellan Proto-States. This newly coined Taurian Concordat became a powerhouse in the Periphery supercharged by the growing technological development despite the Mother Doctrine that restricted the export of technology beyond the Terran Hegemony. In defiance of that Doctrine the Far Lookers found many new adherents who fled from the Hegemony with their knowledge and skills.
Rich mineral resources and growing highly skilled, motivated workers allowed the Concordat to rapidly expand its cageworks and develop an independent Jumpship and Warship industry to protect itself from McKenna’s Dreadnoughts. It was not long before the Concordat was tested by another interstellar empire. In 2355 a Taurian explorer and their bodyguard ‘liberated’ 15,000 POWs from the Sarna Supremacy held by the AFFS, in pursuit of these POWs the TDF engaged the Tikonov Union and Federated Suns in battle.
President Reynard Davion’s Robsart Campaign spread throughout the Pleaides during this time causing immense panic and damaging many of the space habitats the Far Looker arcologists had spent decades building. Now that the Pleaides’ had become the front line of a war they were marshalled for war by Regent Sigur Fonn. Extensive resources were transformed into fortifications and ordnance in the impending war with House Davion rather than spent on economic growth and public works. Meanwhile the Regent was engaging the Capellan Confederation in ‘The Rim War’ that failed to force the Taurian Concordat to sign the Ares Conventions.
After the Rim War the Concordat became a Neutral Third-Party holding the Capellan Confederation to gain only three worlds at heavy cost. The Chancellor, impressed by the performance of the TDF during the attacks, offered Amanda Calderon terms for alliance which were dismissed immediately. The dismissal and bad blood was not enough for Protector Amalthia Calderon to not offer her daughter in (political) marriage to Chancellor Kalvin Liao. Her murder at his hand mobilized the TDF against the CCAF in the first instance of a Periphery state declaring war against one of the Great Houses during Ariana’s War.
Continued disputes between the Federated Suns, Taurian Concordat, Capellan Confederation, and Star League continued throughout this time ultimately resulting in the Pollux Proclamation. The First Lord’s formal declaration of the Federated Suns’ long wanted war against the Taurian Concordat on its borders.
Preparation for this War formed the foundation of the Pleaides’ Confederations’ government. Caterina Calderon was not willing to expand the military but her son Mitchell had invested vast resources in the Constabulary and Interior Ministry. This Constabulary founded the Supreme Court of Maia from which all current governmental departments fall under. The seven member body and its lesser courts administers common law and protects the constitution and borders of the Confederation with a Gendarme of Orbital Guard (The Aerospace Security Teams and Drop Troopers), County Sheriffs with their Constables, and Planetary High Judges with their Marshals and lesser courts.
The Reunification War was devastating to the Taurian Concordat but as testament to their preparations and social unity it took twenty years and hundreds of thousands to millions of casualties for the SLDF and AFFS to force a surrender out of Taurus. Reconstruction after the Reunification War found the Pleiades’ Cluster, like much of the Taurian Concordat, overwhelmed by ‘undesirables’ from the other conquered Periphery states but particularly those of the Outworlds’ Alliance forcibly relocated or made refugee after occupation.
To maintain control of the Pleaides’ the Federated Suns and Taurian Concordat (now a member of the Star League) allowed the civilian law enforcement and judiciary to continue operations within the Cluster. The Pleadies’ being fed from two budgets and its own local production avoided becoming a Pirate’s Haven, the fate of many other areas post-Reunification War. Reconstruction saw a greater spread of technology as new techniques and materials were used to rebuild what was destroyed. General welfare grew under the stimulus of Reconstruction and new Arrivals saw the Cluster remain on par or slightly higher than the greater Confederation with a higher literacy rate than the Federated Suns’ Outback worlds. Only New Syrtis paid it much heed between campaigns against the Capellan Confederation and the Protector of Taurus was often busy representing the Periphery within the Star League, much to the chagrin of the Great Houses.
Despite their representation the Star League was not done with the Concordat or the Pleaides it was so intimately bonded with. Nicoletta Calderon developed deep alliances with many other Periphery states including the ambitious Magistracy of Canopus and tattered Outworld’s Alliance. Her military buildup occurred despite the onerous taxes that the Star League had laid upon the Periphery in the 28th Century due to the Concordat’s native industry. The New Vandenburg Crisis was a catalyst for Stefan Amaris to assassinate the First Lord and Nicoletta offered no aid to Aleksandr Kerensky in his campaign against the Rim World’s League. It is upon this crisis that Nicholetta’s last acts of interstellar gamesmanship developed, her support for Jerome Blake as The Star League’s Minister of Communication ultimately leading to the birth of ComStar, then the Concordat’s departure from said Star League followed by the Great Houses and Succession Wars.
During the Succession Wars the Pleaides’ Cluster, while avoiding becoming a pirate’s haven, was no safe harbor. Deep ties with the Taurian Concordat caused friction within the population of Federated Suns’ colonizers that arrived during the Reunification War. Far Lookers and ComStar engaged in proselytizing for their faith and experimentation keeping alive technologies that were long fading into obscurity during the First and Second Succession Wars such as cybernetics, space stations and exoskeletons. Skirmishes between factions were common and the Supreme Court of Maia and its agents kept a careful balance to keep the heat down to a simmer preventing a Civil War erupting among the Cluster that might draw attention from New Syrtis, Taurus, or Terra itself.
The Pleiades’ despite being vast material resources had its own heavy industry destroyed during the Reunification War and never rebuilt. Despite being very compact there were still to few Jumpships and Dropships to move between its systems. Its’ well-read and motivated population struggled without external support and that was divided between two empires.
Unable to bridge the gap the Supreme Court on Maia found its tenuous grasp on power increasingly weak within the Confederation and reliant on ComStar for legitimacy and semi-autonomy. Gradually the renaissance of the early 31st Century and end of the Succession Wars started to reverse this decline. The birth of the Federated Commonwealth and Fourth Succession War/War of 3039 saw the withdrawal of many AFFS garrisons from the Pleiades as they were needed elsewhere. Reproachment between worlds happened shortly after bonding with their long shared history and shared culture.
Post-Clan Invasion the Pleaides Cluster was rapidly industrialized and the Federated Commonwealth and Taurian Concordat relaxed export rules allowing for a massive growth in heavy industry and mineral extraction flowing into the Federated Suns’ military industry. Its severance from the Lyran Commonwealth/Alliance following Guerrero and The St. Ives War only made it more so. Factories. still small in comparison to those of New Vandenburg or New Syrtis. were founded on Maia and Electra to locate production as close to the eager Federated Suns as they could manage. ComStar’s Explorer Corps also funded Far Looker operated maintenance facilities on or above these worlds as backups for Rimward travel.
Pleaides’ Aerospace Security Forces expanded and modernized with their production, buying Battlemechs, and other equipment from Taurian factories. It was during this time that the Courts sought to finally bring Law and Order to some of its ‘wilder frontiers’ and grow their own economy. The Melian Frontier was one such area with PESA deploying to remove the bandit Clades that had long operated autonomously from the capital.
However, this growth in ‘military-adjacent’ forces and the Trinity Alliance between the Taurian Concordat, Magistracy of Canopus, and Capellan Confederation made New Syrtis return the garrisons to occupied worlds. There were never truly enough AFFS garrisons though even at their height, merely a trigger force. When the TDF engaged in the Pleaides’ Campaign against the Federated Suns during the FedCom Civil War they swept through with assistance from the CCAF. TDF units overran the garrisons and sent the AFFS back into the Crucis March proper finally reclaiming territory lost centuries ago.
Even the Taurian loyalists were unsettled by this Campaign as they anticipated an AFFS counterattack that would devastate the Cluster. One never came and the Concordat itself was thrown in chaos during the Jihad with the WOBS Eriynes’ Scourging of Taurus. With their capital world destroyed and home realm in chaos the TDF returned to the Concordat before engaging in a fruitless Civil War that sundered an empire older than the Star League that had stood for centuries against even that empire in its prime.
With the Concordat in chaos the Courts acted quickly to declare the Pleades’ Cluster independent of both the Federated Suns and Taurian Concordat. They offered refuge to any Concordat citizens displaced by the Calderon-Shraplen Civil War or St. Ives Compact subjects displaced from their home empire into the Federated Suns decades prior. The Concordat citizens came in droves to escape the Civil War, bringing their skills and whatever meager treasures they had left from their transit fees. Some of these treasures were grand though with industrial machinery and specialized tooling from the Concordat’s factories adding greater scale and complexity to the Cluster’s native industry.
The Jihad was a time of great turmoil but also growth. None so much as the aftermath and founding of the Republic of the Sphere after the conquest of Terra and defeat of the Word of Blake. With frontiers tamed there was space to grow but not much to do. All this did was add more recruits or victims to the recently displaced bandit clans forcing a greater expenditure on security forces and increases in corruption from distributed growth funds. Unable to effectively process so many new arrivals they eventually cut the program short and refused to take on more refugees, until the following year.
With the Republic of the Sphere’s initial edicts there was suddenly a new group of refugees, former ComStar personnel that refused to leave their faith behind. Unlike the more individualistic and tempestuous Taurian Blake’s Faithful had an immediate selling point, technical competence in desperately needed fields, administrative ability, and social cohesion. With a gavel blow Supereme Judge Casey Meisner authorized many groups of Adherents to settle within the Confederation, operate its HPGs, and build new Enclaves.
Pleades’ Confederation
Population – 18,497,181 citizens
Occupied Worlds – 83 (4 >500mil, 41 >150 million, 38 <50 million)
Government – Constitutional Kritarchy (7 member Supreme Court, 3x5 High Courts, 11 member Justicar Council, House of Representatives, Planetary Senate)
The Supreme Court of Maia has the final say on everything related to the law of the land and hears grievances and issues brought to it by members of the Confederation. Each Supreme Justice must be vetted by the Justicar Council and are voted in by the Planetary Senate (along with all other judges) by supermajority. While they are not necessarily drawn from the High Courts most of them are former High Justices. This is a lifelong appointment, but a Supreme Judge can be removed from the Supreme Court for cause by either the Justicar Council or the majority vote of the 15 High Justices.
Justicar Council, like the Supreme Court, is elected by the Planetary Senate via Supermajority. It is charged with protecting and interpreting the Pleaides’ Confederations’ Constitution which was formed alongside the Taurian Concordat’s Constitution. They are also the Inspector General of the Confederations’ government responsible for oversight of all the Confederation’s Ministries to ensure they are acting properly within established law.
Three High Courts are seated on Calaeno, Electra, and Merope; which along with the Supreme Court are the most prosperous and populous worlds within the Confederation. Each of them has a series of lesser courts both roving and stationary reporting to them. This series of tributary courts ensure that individual rights are respected by the Confederate’s governments regarding common law. Their Judges help mediate or arbitrate conflicts between the Confederation’s decentralized governments. While High Courts are elected by the Senate lesser Judges are appointed or elected locally.
Each Confederation sends Representatives to the House of Representatives elected or appointed by their own governments. Senators are drawn from this pool by popular election at the planetary level regardless of how many Representatives each world possesses much to the chagrin of the four most populous worlds.
Military* - Pleaides’ Equipes de Aerospatiale
As a Confederation the Pleaides’ Confederation has always found it difficult to collect taxes and raise an army or ‘Police Force.’ However, baked into the Pleiades’ Constitution one of the five responsibilities of each Confederation to the Central Government is the raising and supporting of a ‘Revenue and Security Fleet.’ This eventually evolved into the Aerospace Security Teams of today when the Cluster declared independence. Initially only an Air and Space Defense Force the Drop Troopers and Battlemech Brigades are recent additions.
Additionally, all men of ‘fighting age’ are required ‘to hue and cry,’ and ‘maintain suitable arms or support such’ for assisting law enforcement or agents of the Courts in pursuit of fugitives, serving of warrants, arrest of bandits/pirates, or to halt myriad lawlessness. So many armed persons with anything from rifles to Battlemechs form a powerful Militia.