The Stage is Set
Dateline: Dromini IV 1030 Hours Local Time, September 13, 3029
from BattleTechnology Weekly News, August 21, 3029: Assassination Attempt on Katrina Steiner
An Update
Tai-sa Kurita in the field, March 3029. We regret no recent picture of Duke Frederick was available.
August 15, 3029 - Tharkad, Lyran Commonwealth As our readers will recall, the Lyran Commonwealth owes a debt of gratitude to Misha Auburn which it can never repay. On June 20, Miss Auburn, daughter of court historian Thelos Auburn, foiled an assassination plot on the Archon's life.
Three men wearing Davion Light Guard uniforms and carrying a well-faked message packet with the seals of Prince Hanse Davion and Quintus Allard, Minister of Information to the Federated Suns, bluf fed their way past security checkpoints and into the Archon's waiting room. one of them claiming to have a personal message for Princess Melissa, wasadmitted to the Archon-Designate's rooms, where she and Miss Auburn were working the rehabilitation of war wounded. Miss Auburn is "keeping company" with Andrew Redburn, the commander of the Davion Light Guard's famous Delta Battalion. She recognized that the man was not wearing the St Andre Campaign ribbon and became suspicious. Miss Auburn managed to disable the assassin, to race to the Archon's rooms and enter calmly, to deceive, and then to disable the other two assassins. Neither the Archon nor Princess Melissa were harmed.
The paper and the wax of the packet were proved to come from the Federation of Skye. Sources loyal to Duke Aido recently uncovered evidence that linked the assassins to Duke Frederick Steiner, close relative of the Archon and long-time seeker for her throne; the night before the attempt. Duke Frederick has been invited to an audience with the Archon next Tuesday. The Duke has not granted the press an interview.
Operation Contagion
Lord Theodore Kurita, over the last year of fighting, has showed himself an inventive and courageous general. It is due to his efforts that the Draconis Combine has effectively halted the Lyran Commonwealth's offensive. Our readers will remember that the Lyrans had originally intended a diversionary wave of attacks to keep the Combine from taking territory from Steiner's ally the Federated Suns while Davion forces attacked Liao planets.
As so much of the Dragon forces have been tied up in the Galedon system fighting Wolf's Dragoons, the Lyrans were more successful than they had expected, taking a dozen or more worlds. One of those worlds was Dromini VI, an agricultural planet which seemed of low priority.
Lyran manpowerwas thick all along the Draconis border. Dromini VI was now behind the first line of that border, and in a good position to be a springboard for a careful offensive. There was still a deepfelt civilian sentiment for the Combine, though formal resistance had ceased. Early in August a squad of Nekekami attacked and killed or captured all of the planet's garrison, two infantry companies from Barret's Fusiliers. They wore the uniforms and took the places of the soldiers they had captured, using the Commonwealth codes and imitating their regular signals.
A few days later they were joined by the Genyosha, the 3rd Dieron Regulars, the 17th Benjamin Regulars, and the 2nd and 14th Legions of Vega. Guarded by these units, Tai-sa Kurita began to stockpile massive amounts of supplies for an invasion in force. By September 7, the supplies were ready, six jumpships were loading on planet, several of the regiments had left for prepared pre-invasion positions, and the Tai-sa's invasion was ready to begin. On September 12, incoming jumpships were sighted at nonstandard jjump points. As their dropships began an inbound run to the planet he held, Tai-sa Kurita ordered his troops into a series of almost unbreakable rings around the warehouse city of Kanashimi.
The Duel Begins
At his interview with the Archon, Duke Frederick was evidently offered a chance for an honorable death. At the head of his 10th Lyran Guard Regiment he led a volunteer mission to destroy the supplies for Tai-sa Kurita's invasion. He bypassed the Tai-sa's rings and left behind any chance of a safe withdrawal by dropping his 'Mechs directly onto the city. The 'Mechs worked havoc among the warehouses; when Combine 'Mechs were pulled back from the outer defenses to engage them, the Lyrans fought to destroy and disable, not to win and escape. Once the tide of this unequal battle began to turn, Duke Frederick offered an unusual surrender. He would turn himself over to Tai-sa Kurita in exchange for the permitted escape of his troops. Prince Theodore agreed.
A meeting followed between the two men, a meeting which has all the stuff of classic drama. At first Duke Frederick was treated with all due courtesy as an honorable enemy in defeat.
The two rulers sat together and drank wine while Tai-sa Kurita informed the Duke that only a few tons of supplies had been lost. Then he received word that several teams of Loki (Steiner Elite Commandos), masquerading as the Duke's jumpship crewmen, had attacked the Combine's invasion fleet, crippling the six loading jumpships. Without transport for his supplies, the Tai-sa's invasion was doomed. Enraged by this evidence of Lyran treachery, it seems that Lord Theodore shot and killed Duke Frederick. It is confirmed that a shot was fired, and the Duke's body was shortly thereafter removed on a stretcher. Funeral arrangements for the Duke were not made public.
The Duke's successor, Lord Ryan Steiner, has announced a memorial service for the date of October 5, 3029, which would have been the twenty fifth anniversary of Duke Frederick's accession to his Dukedom.
News from the Front
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