Major Emilia McCormack had formerly been the Captain of Second Company, Third Battalion, Second Regiment, McCormack's Fusiliers right up until her Highlander had taken critical damage at the Battle of New Avalon in thirty-oh-eight and she'd lost two fingers to shrapnel bailing out. By the time she'd gotten her prosthetics fitted and cleared for duty, McCormack's Fusiliers had been mauled thoroughly by Wolf's Dragoons from two regiments down to two Battalions. It had taken them a year to work back up to a full regiment in strength and in that time, my Father had snapped her up and provided her with another Highlander he'd salvaged from a partially destroyed Star Lord-Class JumpShip he'd found in orbit of a white dwarf somewhere southwest of Jarnfolk Territory. She'd gotten her promotion to Major as part of the deal and was set to leading the newly-formed Jomsborg Hussars Mercenary Battalion.
My Father had furnished the Jomsborg Hussars with Mechs, Combat Vehicles, Artillery, Infantry Equipment, APCs, Aerospace Fighters, Dropships, and Jumpships, and staffed them with veteran mercenaries from dozens of destroyed and gutted commands. He'd given them Logistical Support with technicians, cooks, medical staff, and the like with years and sometimes decades of experience. Then he'd sent them to take contracts throughout the Inner Sphere. They'd first been Hired by Janos Marik to help defend Chengdu against the effort to retake the planet by the First Capellan Reserve Cavalry and Dietrich's Devastators in thirty-ten. Their help allowed the Mariks to keep hold of the planet in the face of Liao Aggression until the Third Battle of Chengdu in Thirty-thirteen two years later, approximately two months after their three year Garrison Contract expired. That successful contract got them hired by Hanse Davion as part of the Battle of Mallory's World that finally saw the DCMS pushed off the Planet in thirty-fourteen.
From there, they'd bounced around garrison contracts, two years on Trondheimal in the Illyrian Palitinate, where they helped fend off a pair of raids by Pirates sponsored by the Marian Hegemony. That was followed by two years with the Taurian Concordat during a period of skirmishing with the Magistracy of Canopus over spheres of influence in the Joint Colony Region that saw them help claim Rockwellawan, Tiverton, Protland, and Independence for the Taurian Sphere after defeating a Pirate Band and Piotr's Privateers Mercenary Command who had been hired by the Canopians to claim those worlds for their own Sphere, before coming back to the Inner Sphere to take a contract with Baron Truder of Waldorff, who kept them on until they decided to not extend the Garrison Contract another year. Now they were back home.
Major McCormack herself was a lithe brunette who habitually dressed in fatigues and had a slight brogue to her voice. None of that was unusual for a former Captain of McCormack's Fusiliers, as that was a constituent component of the famed Northwind Highlanders. I was slightly surprised about her drink preferences, however. Instead of something alcoholic, she opted for a can of Trefoil Cola, a Cola that was made primarily on Anywhere in the Duchy of Apollo and was endemic in that Lyran Duchy. That wasn't what I'd been expecting, even for a non-alcoholic choice. Luckily, we had a lot of Trefoil Cola, as I'd taken a liking to the vanilla hints in it. As Major McCormack sipped her drink, she looked at me, as if sizing me up via some as-yet unknown psychic capability. Eventually, she must have found what she was looking for, though, because she nodded.
"Awright, ye seem like a good enough lad." She said, putting her drink down.
"I'm sorry?" I questioned.
"Yer auld man was a bit mental, but he knew his business, and some might say the line twixt genius and insanity's thin. We served him anyway 'cause the Big Yin never steered us wrong. We heard some radge stories come out o' the Periphery 'bout ye, and I had tae see if ye were cut from the same cloth afore I'd agree tae serve." Clarified Major McCormack.
"And? What's your assessment, Major?" I queried.
"Well, it's clear as day the tales o' ye beating doon Maria Morgraine and Redjack Ryan were true enough. Ye also seem tae be doing well with Industry and Immigration. I might've thought a man like that would be a bit o' a fuckin weapon, but ye've brought me into a private confrence, didna balk at me request for Trefoil Cola, and ye've treated me lads like people, stead o' being a bawbag aboot it. Lot o' Lairds we've run into've been like that." Shrugged Major McCormack.
"And that's good, yes?" I pressed.
"Aye, that's good. Yer canny enough and clearly back yer schemes with a bit o' muscle. Ye've treated fairly with me and mine as well. Aye, I think we'd be glad tae call ye our Laird, same as we did yer Auld Man." Nodded Major McCormack.
"Perfect, well as you've agreed to continue in my service, I have something of a surprise for you all." I grinned, sliding a data slate over to her. She took the, admittedly bulky, tablet computer and looked at the display, then back to me, with a questioning gaze.
"What's this, then?" She asked.
"Read it." I smirked.
She did so, powering on the computer before her eyes bulged in her sockets as she continued to read the manifest I'd put on the tablet. I was upgrading the Jomsborg Hussars with some of the SLDF Royal Equipment in the Iron Land Cache. From Royal Highlander Assault Battlemechs all the way down to SLDF Royal-Grade Jump Infantry Equipment. Not just mechs, but their snipers and thumpers would be replaced with Mobile Long Toms, their Aerospace Fighters upgraded with Royal Equivalents, the same as their combat vehicles, everything was getting upgraded. As she finally reached the end of the manifest, Major McCormack pinched her face as if to wake herself up from a dream.
"You're to head to Camp Magnus on Iron Land and present this data slate to Major Dvořák at requisitions. He'll get you to the Hidden Station in the Asteroid Belt where you'll be re-equipping. You'll stay at Camp Magnus for a year while you train on the new machines. Then you'll be back in business by thirty-twenty-five." I ordered.
"Me Laird, this is. . .I knew yer Auld Man had folks looking for Caches, but this?" Blinked Major McCormack.
"That's just the tip of the Iceberg, Major. We've been reverse-engineering technology as fast as we can figure it out. Minister Macszek assures me that we'll be able to start pushing the boundaries beyond what is in the caches we've uncovered by thirty-forty at the latest. As it stands, we can already reproduce a number of Star League-era technologies." I chuckled.
"And ye've kept this a secret?" Questioned Major McCormack.
"Most of it, yes. Can you imagine what would happen if the Combine realized that there's a nation filled with Rasalhague Exiles and Expatriates that has access to this kind of technology and will be able to reach local parity with them in a decade?" I queried.
"Aye, the Coordinator wouldna wait for ye to get to that level. He'd send everything he could throw at ye right now." Answered Major McCormack.
"Exactly. And that's just the Combine. No Successor State would allow some periphery upstart to get so powerful without doing something. Even the Lyrans, for all our alliance has benefitted them, might be tempted to attack us, if only to assume direct control over the flow of technology. It's best for everyone that any revelation of the extent of what we have wait until we're too entrenched to be dealt with lightly. Right now, most of the Inner Sphere believes we've discovered a few bits of technology we've been able to reproduce copies of. Most of it coming from former Rim Worlds Republic Caches we found. They believe that what we have shown so far is the majority, or even totality, of what we can produce. That is a more managable problem than a potential miniature Star League in the Coreward Periphery." I explained.
"Aye, and from what I've heard, even that's got ComStar sniffing around ye." Agreed Major McCormack.
"Indeed. They're looking to buy their way into control of our industry via loans and investments. By the time they realize their strategy won't work, we will be entrenched enough that there is little they can do about it without causing a major problem for themselves. Minister Simowitz seems to think that there's a potential schism in the making within the First Circuit. If he's right, any setback on Primus Tiepolo's part is likely to cause that schism to form as more conservative Precentors challenge his authority, which should keep ComStar good and busy for some time to come." I informed.
"So, ye've got everything well in hand, then, aye?" Asked Major McCormack.
"For the moment, yes. For now, though. Your job is to take the Hussars to Iron Land to refit with Star League Royal Equipment and to train on that equipment until you're just as capable with that as you are with your current loadout. Then, you are to show these orders to Colonel Zielinski at Camp Magnus. This will formalize the transfer of a second and third Battalion to the Jomsborg Hussars, along with attendant Aerospace Assets." I nodded, sliding over a second dataslate.
"Ye're making us a regiment? Why?" Questioned Major McCormack.
"And you the Colonel. I intend for the Jomsborg Hussars to become a Regiment of the Grand Ducal Guards. I'll be giving you Star's End as a holding and making you the Baroness." I informed.
"Star's End ain't under yer control, me Laird." Pointed out Major McCormack.
"Not yet, but it will be by the end of thirty-twenty-five." I retorted.
"If yer trying tae buy our loyalty, ye know this ain't neccesary, aye?" Queried Major McCormack.
"I know. Consider it an investment. I'm afraid there are dark clouds on the horizon, Major. I want to be prepared before they roll over us." I intoned.
"Yer Auld Man used tae say things like that. More often than not, he was right and got situated just afore shite went tae pot." Remarked Major McCormack.
"I'm aware. I'm trying to be as ready as he would be Major. That's why I'm doing all this." I answered.
"Emilia." Responded Major McCormack.
"Pardon?" I asked.
"Ye're me Laird. Ye can call me Emilia." Repeated Major McCormack.
"All right, then. Emilia." I chuckled.
"That's better. Well, me Laird, if that's all, I need tae go round up me lads and lasses and tell them we've got orders." Grinned Major McCormack.
"That's all. You may go." I dismissed.
Major McCormack nodded, stood up, gave me a salute, and then headed out of the door to the small conference room we'd been using as a meeting space. It seemed my instincts about a smaller, more informal, meeting were right. Minister Kowalski had wanted me to meet the Major in the Great Hall from my father's, now my, throne. I was definitely going to be letting him know that meeting her like that would have resulted in her leaving the service of the Grand Duchy. Not to say I told you so, exactly, but more to get him thinking about different methods of handling people. After all, ever since becoming a Grand Duke, he'd been pressing for me to act more akin to an Inner Sphere Grand Duke and less like a Periphery Ruler. It wouldn't hurt to remind him that we were still a periphery realm ever once in a while.
A glance at the clock, however, showed I had another slate of meetings, first with Minister Simowitz to discuss what he'd learned about Hendrik Grimm's newly-uncovered dealings with the Draconis Combine, then one with General Jorgensen about the state of our newest regiments, before finally meeting with Minister Kokkenen about the state of the treasury. Once all those were over with, I would finally get time to eat something. I had yet to have a meal since breakfast and had mostly subsisted on caffeine and a protein bar today. If you had told me back at Blackjack School of Combat that being the ruler of a realm would be this much work, I probably wouldn't have believed you. Alas, heavy is the head that wears the crown.
After a brief snack of another protein bar, I made my way to my meeting with Minister Simowitz, continuing on with my work. . .
XXXX
AN: So, apologies for any spelling or grammar errors in this one. I've written this on my phone, and since my editing software is on my now-dead laptop, it won't be edited until I can get my laptop fixed.
Here we finally get the Jomsborg Hussars back in the picture and see a bit of their commander and Jozef's plans for the unit. Hopefully I didn't mangle the Scots too badly. She was formerly a member of McCormack's Fusiliers, which is one of the constituent units of the Northwind Highlanders, so she's supposed to have an accent.
At any rate, the next chapter will be another time-skippy one as we go through the next year. Then we'll have another council meeting.
Stay tuned. . .