Scavenged Restoration 7 (Patreon)

Commissioned by RoyalTwinFangs

Scavenged Restoration

Chapter 7: Interlude I

-VB-

29, Maskirovka Agent

The Celestial Wisdom was the Celestial Wisdom. It was in his title. 

His father had also been the Celestial Wisdom. The people called him the Celestial Warlord, because Chancellor Maximillian Liao had been the best military mind that the Capellan Confederation had seen in generations. He was solely responsible for devising tactics and strategies that enabled the confederation to survive the onslaught of the Federated Suns and the Free Worlds League. 

And if Maximillian Liao had been the Celestial Warlord, then his son, William Liao must be the Celestial Insight, for the new chancellor knew ancient lore like no one else in the Inner Sphere. 

29 knew exactly what kind of treasure trove he had seen on Helm. All of the agents knew it. 

But the order from the chancellor had been firm: the Memory Core came before all else.

And that showed just how important the core was. He may not have been briefed on what it contained, but he could read the reports from across the confederation; seemingly innocuous factories, both civilian and military, were starting back up. Engineering schools were given chip slips that had knowledge previously lost. Science universities began to teach more. 

But the Celestial Insight was called so by him and the other Maskirovka agents because he saw into the enemies’ minds. He saw how they were preparing to attack the Tikonov and Sarna Commonality even before the Maskirovka noticed and started preparations. 

29 wasn’t sure if he agreed with some of the military doctrines, one of which was a heavy emphasis on armored combat vehicles. But 29 was neither a military planner nor a strategical overseer. He carried out the duties given to him by the Celestial Insight, and that was that. 

And in following those orders, he understood even more that Chancellor William Liao was a godsend to the Capellan Confederation as Maximillian Liao had been.

Because he beheld with his eyes another memory core.

His superior, Major Lingtao Xi, took a deep breath in, which crackled through the radio. 

“Secure the core and anything else that can be loaded up within the day. We are leaving as soon as possible.”

29 stepped up along with his partner, 11, and they started their work to safely disconnect the memory core from its resting place. 

Two memory cores in the span of a year…

Truly, Chancellor William Liao was the Celestial Insight.

For the past, the future, allies, and enemies alike could not keep him from protecting the Capellan Confederation. 

All hail the Celestial Insight! 

All hail the Chancellor!

-VB-

Janos Marik

He stared at the HPG message.

Liao was a word he hated, but even he knew that this Liao had nothing to do with the Liaos he had to deal with for the past two decade. 

Because this Liao had been under house arrest for at least half of that time.

Even SAFE, which even he considered second-tier intelligence agency, confirmed that, and that William Liao was everything Maximilian Liao was not in all things except military matters. In that, Chancellor William seemed to be doing as well as his father did. 

And military intelligence, in particular, seemed to be his thing. 

“Are any of these real?” he asked the SAFE Director, Jaime Cornejo. 

“Yes, captain-general. All of them are real and verified,” the tall and thick man replied. “The Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth are looking to utterly crush the Capellan Confederation.”

Janos grunted.

As much as he wanted to see the Capellans get their shit rocked in, he knew that if the Capellans actually fell or became a secondary power like the periphery nations, then he would have to start directly fighting the combined might of the Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns. Worse, it would be the Lyran industrial might with stellar military leadership of the Federated Suns. 

That was not something he was sure the Free Worlds League could withstand. Perhaps at the peak of its power, the League could without a doubt. 

But in its current state when it was recovering from the civil war and the loss of industrialization and military officers from both sides of said conflict? 

There was a very good chance that the FedCom Accord might bite enough chunks out of his territory along with halving the Capellans that they might not recover, especially if they took the heavily industrialized worlds towards the core. 

He was loathed to help the Capellans… but he didn’t need to. The Kapteyn Accords wasn’t enforceable. He wasn’t going to help the Capellans.

But he would attack the Lyrans while they were focused elsewhere. 

“I will need to arrange a meeting with the entire LCCC to devise a strategy to take advantage of our neighbor’s… future demise.”

Because if the Lyrans were truly that invested in securing the Tikonov and Sian Commonality, then let them. He’ll take the Lyran worlds in exchange for the “good” of the Kapteyn Accords. 

At the same time, he had a question that he wanted answered but won’t likely get one to.

The Free Worlds League was ready to fight (or take advantage of the situation, but what’s the difference?) but was the Draconis Combine ready to do the same?

-VB-

Takashi Kurita

He didn’t care. 

While the Federated Suns was the true rival of the Draconis Combine and the Lyran Commonwealth was the fat merchant who refused to die, Takashi didn’t care about them right now.

No, what he wanted was the death of the Wolf’s Dragoons. Their continued existence was an affront of him and the Draconis Combine. So what if the Davions and Steiners were looking to eat the Capellans? He doubted that they would leave their borders alongside the Combine to slacken. 

No. They would simply hire mercenaries to act as garrisons while they sent their elite units to claim the Capellan’s coreward provinces. 

Takashi objectively knew that he did not have the means to contest the action, not without damaging the Draconis Combine. 

No. He will deal with this supposed upcoming war later. If the Lyran whelps wanted to take this worlds, then let them come and try it! His DCMS was far more powerful than they were. 

He intended to deal with a certain thorn in his side first. 

The Wolf’s Dragoons must die.

-VB-

Primus Tiepolo

“They refused?” he asked in surprise. 

“Yes,” Myndo Waterly reported with an aggravated mien of an irritated bureaucrat. “Unlike his father, William Liao seems to be the most … cautious sort.”

Tiepolo stared at Waterly before sighing. “Well, I suppose that our cooperation with the Capellan Confederation is at an end, then.”

“It seems so. Perhaps if we could offer them more, then we can push them against the FedCom alliance. Surely, we can provide them with some means to keep them … occupied.”

He considered that. 

It was true that it might be necessary to a hegemony of the FedCom alliance, which would jeopardize ComStar’s mission. They might even demand that ComStar become subservient to their alliance if they grew large enough.

“... And what idea do you have in mind?” he asked her. 

“We have many unused battlemechs in store,” she began. “Even if we are not offering them a whole division of mechs, even a battalion of royal mechs would hinder the FedCom alliance. Coupled with the Capellan Confederation’s own preparations, we may be able to slow down the FedCom alliance’s advances in the next war to the absolute minimum, if not an outright stalemate.”

“You think a battalion of royal mechs will do that?” he asked sarcastically. 

“Perhaps not if they were bound to a single location. But that’s how they operate, isn’t it, primus? The Capellan Confederation is famous for its rapidly deployed regiments.”

“It’s exactly that military doctrine that killed so many of their veteran and elite mechwarriors, and is the doctrine that Chancellor William Liao is trying to change,” he countered before shaking his head. “It is not yet time for us to help the Capellan Confederation. Perhaps in the future when their position seems dire but right now when the war hasn’t even been declared? No. We will keep ourselves out of their fight. You can bring it up in the next First Circuit meeting, but I doubt you will find many supporters,” he said before looking down, an obvious dismissal.

She stewed for just a moment in front of his desk before bowing and leaving his office. 

He sighed once he was sure that she wasn’t in the office anymore.

-VB-

Melissa Steiner

Despite the fact that she felt that she wasn’t on par with Hanse on matters of state, she still attended the intelligence meeting and offered her insight. 

And her insight to the Capellan movement to secure, fortify, and reinforce their two coreward commonalities was the result of intelligence failure on their part. 

“They know,” Hanse said without a hint of emotion.

Melissa glanced at her soon-to-be husband, and knew that … yes, the Capellans knew. 

The war, which was supposed to have been a surprise, was now a known conclusion with all sides taking actions. What should have been a swift lightning war of conquest was now looking to become just another continuation of the Third Succession War’s meat grinding mire. 

And on top of that, Hanse was losing just a bit of his enthusiasm for it.

Because William Liao was not Maximillian Liao. Worse, William Liao had suffered at his father’s hands worse than Hanse had. 

Sometimes, the worst thing to happen to a person was not what was directly done to them but done to those around them instead. The reports LIC, MIIO, and DMI managed to get about William Liao’s life had been …

It was objectively worse than what had happened to Hanse. 

In a way, William was Hanse’s “comrade in arms,” having suffered under the same man and climbing out of the pit of despair to do better for their people. Because that was their duty. 

And now, Hanse and her mother was getting ready to declare on the same man. 

What did Hanse feel about it?

She looked up to her fiance and saw … determination. 

She closed her eyes. 

Of course.

Such was how rulers were. Those rulers who weren’t … their people suffered for it. 

“Do you want to try to talk to him first?” she asked him quietly. 

Hanse stiffened before shaking his head. “No. Nothing good will come out of it. It’ll only make things harder for everyone,” he whispered back. “Peace is not even an option.”

Melissa disagreed with Hanse on that. Peace was an option, which was why they were even here. If her mother didn’t offer the peace, then would they have met? 

For that reason alone, Melissa believed that peace can be achieved. 

“Why not?” 

“Because it will just be a peace that lasts a generation at best,” Hanse replied. “And give them more time to prepare. If I offered peace to the Capellans, then they would only gain more time to grow and strike back. Remember that we hold worlds they see as rightfully theirs.”

… She supposed that he was right about that. The reason why the Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns was able to come to peace in the first place was because neither held the other’s de jure territory. This was definitely not the case between Capellan Confederation and the Federated Suns. 

If she remembered correctly, then the Federated Suns held more than fifty worlds which used to be part of the Capellan Confederation. Technically more if she counted the rotten husks of ruined worlds. 

If the Lyran Commonwealth had to make peace with the Free Worlds League in exchange for all of the worlds once held? Because even if they did make peace now, those worlds would forever be a righteous casus belli of reconquest that future chancellors would claw their hands toward.

No. 

Peace was not an option. It hurt to agree with him on that point. 

“But how do you feel about it?” she asked him as she leaned her head against his shoulder. 

It took him a moment to respond. “... Feelings are often not part of decisions that moves the entire Federated Suns,” he noted.

It wasn’t convincing at all. 

“Liar.”

He chuckled. “... I guess I am.”