Rage Before Diplomacy[]
December 3152
Chapter 2
Danai sits in her command chair and console on the bridge, taking some time to reflect on the past couple months. The ship was currently recharging above the world of Kathil, now rightfully in the hands of the Capellan Confederation. The Two Front War had been raging for months, a simple name but one of drastic retribution for the loss of Sian.
With the ilClan hiding behind the Republic’s Fortress Wall, there was no way to try to reach Terra, so it is better to keep the CCAF forces sharp fighting the Confederation’s enemies they can reach. Who knows what tricks the Clans would play now that they control humanity’s homeworld. It was an easy choice to reroute the Capellan military into invading both the Federated Suns and the Free World’s League. Her campaign had been devastating. The image of the asteroid was on every screen in the Confederation numerous times per day.
Enlistments were the highest they had ever been in the Capellan Confederation. In just a few months, the entirely of their mothballed arsenal was being rolled out. New Mechwarriors were abundant. Stone’s military disarmament only put millions of tons of equipment into storage, the only gear that was dismantled and destroyed was already unusable and slated for scrapping, on top of putting on a show for Stone’s inspectors.
Over the months, she and her Black Knight, Julian, found their home onboard the Aleisha Kris. A fitting place for the Chancellor to be aboard the final warship the nation owned, publicly of course, she grinned at the thought. She found herself daydreaming about her fleets leaving the Federated Suns fleets in ruins when her newest ships arrive. The campaign for Kathil, while challenging, did not take long. Most of the Capellan forces found unexpectedly reduced ground and naval assets as they carved worlds out of the Federated Suns.
Chancellor Danai Liao
However, given the forces needed to retake New Avalon, it made sense after the Palmyran Massacre… where that bastard died. Many times when the fleet entered a system to conquer it, she found Davion ships jumping out, falling back in the face of such terrible odds. On a handful of worlds the Federated Suns and the Free Worlds League were able to hold against them but, they would be worn down soon enough.
A most shocking revelation came a few months back, with a scout vessel into Magistracy space. The Confederation was the first to learn of it. Soon though, news broke and began spreading through the Inner Sphere. There would be no allied reinforcements or economic aid, the Magistracy of Canopus was gone. What worlds had been encountered were poisoned with a plague. Early research showed that it looked like chemical weapons from the Blakist Jihad, which was eerie. Now deemed “The Plaguelands”, there was little to no reason to even venture there.
This also meant that Danai’s mother was dead as well. A handful of Maskirovka teams were trying to piece together what happened and all that they could find were endless Magistracy corpses. Some survivors from Canopus wound up in the Free Worlds League but, if that’s where they sought aid, they are no allies to the Capellans or House Liao.
After taking Kathil and the accompanying shipyards, it was a pleasant surprise to find they were far more operational that expected. Even the Davions began violating the Republic’s disarmament rules long before the Republic lost Terra. It had crossed her mind… She was tempted… It would only take a couple weeks to reach New Avalon…
In the end though, she decided upon consolidating her forces. It was important not to create their own “Capellan’s Tongue” for it to be ripped out like the Draconis Combine suffered. Kathil would be where she would wait a bit longer before making her next strike into the Federated Suns. While the Federated Suns military was in dire straits, she had to remember she was waging war against two neighboring nations, with the possibility of suddenly fighting some of the ‘ilClan’ always looming.
Interrupting her silent concentration, scrolling through readouts and charts, the ship’s Captain gets her attention from his Captain’s chair. “Chancellor Liao, we have multiple IFFs emerging from jumps! Federated Suns and Snow Ravens!”
“Ah, so they think the Snow Ravens will save them from us now, after letting them die on Palmyra? Open fire for Sian!” Her voice grows from contempt to rage as she speaks, opening direct lines to her fleet, “All ship Captains fire at will!”
All across the holopanel next to her she can see the fleet adjusting position as the enemy ships continue emerging. Extreme range weapons fire begins, early impacts hit the ships jumping in. Fighters begin to pour out of the Capellan ships and multiple formations begin organizing, preparing to strike out. Danai grins devilishly, ready to kill more of her sworn enemies.
“Chancellor, they are hailing us!” calls the Captain.
“Ignore it, must be the Ravens calling the shots and wanting a batchall.” She responds spitefully.