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[dal10]

This is the first 3 chapters of one of the stories I am currently working on. It has no real title yet. Also, the names are incredibly stereotypical and in one case, rather silly. I am not that good at thinking up names for characters. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Also sorry about the wall of text, the MWO forums hate being formatted.

Chapter 1

It was dawn on Mitchell when Xan Chen, eldest son of Ran Chen and heir to the family plantation, woke up after a fitful night of sleep. Today was an eventful day on the planet, early tomorrow morning the Davion dropship fleet that was currently hurtling towards the planet would hit the atmosphere. So today was the last day of peace that any of the citizens of the Capellan Confederation would experience until the smoke had settled. Despite the fact that all military age Capellan reservists and citizens were required to report to the nearest city to be organized into a militia, Ran had forbidden Xan or any of the other workers from leaving the plantation. He knew that the Capellan garrison was extremely outnumbered and refused to send his charges to die in some hopeless counterattack to cover a regular’s retreat. If the Confederation won Ran knew there would be hell to pay, but with the Davions advancing on all fronts he didn’t think that would happen.

Xan was a young man who in the fall was supposed to be entering the final year of schooling, which was around a month away. He had lived his entire life on the plantation, except when he was at school in the capital.

Xan was still blinking away the blurriness of a night’s sleep when he heard a knock at his open door. He looked to see his childhood friend Jenna standing at the door. Jenna was a rather short red haired girl with European features. Her father had served Xan’s father and grandfather as a worker on the plantation for nearly his entire life. He had married a Russian woman who had immigrated to the Mitchel from the other side of the confederation as her mother followed her father when he was assigned to the Mitchel garrison. Xan and Jenna had grown up together since they were children, though Jenna is a year younger than Xan.

“Still asleep Xan?” Jenna said in a teasing tone.

“Not anymore… thanks to you.” Xan shot back.

“Your father asked me to come get you; he is calling together all the workers for a meeting and wants us to be there.”

“I think he has talked this subject to death already… I’ll be there in a minute just let me get dressed.”

“Alright you got one minute, and I will be counting.” Then Jenna closed the door.

Xan knew this meeting had to be about the Davion invasion fleet that was on its way. He just hoped that all of Hanse’s bluster about saving the Capellans from themselves meant that his forces would treat the planet gently. He got dressed quickly and was out the door.

“You’re about 3 seconds late mister.” Jenna pouted.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s just get going.”

They walked to the main courtyard of the house in silence. Once it came into view they noticed that nearly every worker on the plantation, nearly 200 of them counting families, was already in it. Most of them had lived their entire lives in or around the plantation. Most of their parents and grandparents had as well.
“Jenna, I think we need to split up now. Your family will be waiting for you in the courtyard, and my father will expect me to stand next to him.”

“Yeah, you’re right. See you after the meeting.”

Xan went to stand beside his father and uncle while Jenna slipped down into the courtyard to stand next to her parents. Xan’s father, Ran Chen, was a man in his 50s and nearly into his 60s. While he was old, he had aged gracefully, with his hair still nearly as black as it was in his 20s. His younger brother by about two years, Dan Chen, had not aged anywhere near as well. Since he had not inherited the plantation like his older brother, he joined the Capellan military in service of the Chancellor. He served with distinction over his 15 year career, until a training accident cost him his left eye, and severe damage to the neurons that the Neurohelmet contacted to keep a mech on its feet. With the loss of his ability to pilot a mech, his military career was halted in its track. Knowing that the once proud man would soon be released from service due to inability to continue his duty, the colonel in charge of the regiment got permission from the Strategios to offer him an early retirement, to save both his honor, and provide a good ending to the legacy of a man that many in the unit considered a war hero during the third succession war.

Once Xan had reached his position next to his father and uncle, Ran started to speak.
“As you all know, tomorrow the Davion dropships will reach Mitchel. I fully expect the Chang’an Garrison to attempt to throw them back at the spaceport. But their efforts will be futile. The Davion forces are estimated to be at nearly 2 Regimental Combat Teams. In comparison, our garrison is barely a combined arms regiment. I held back all of the young men here from the militia to make sure that they did not wind up as casualties in this hopeless fight. But when the Davions finally start spreading out from the main cities, they will eventually show up here. When that happens I want no resistance from any of you. We will treat them with respect, and hope that they show some back. We can’t hope to fight them, we would only end up as more casualties. So for your families, do not provoke them. It will only lead to sorrow and bloodshed. I am giving you today and tomorrow off to rest, but we shall continue working in two days, once the initial combat is over. You may now head back to your homes if you so wish.” With that, he turned around and walked back into the house, leaving Dan and Xan alone on the porch in front of the milling families in the courtyard.

“Uncle, what do you think of all this.” Xan asks curiously.

“I don’t think things are as simple as your father portrays it. Even if the majority of our defense forces get wiped out, the remainder will retreat into the swamps. Unless the Davions can take out all of them, there is going to be a guerilla war going on for some time.” said Dan Chen, Ran Chen’s younger brother and an ex-Captain of the Capellan military. “I know the commander of the garrison. He will try to save as many of his men as he can. If not for the need for a defense at the space port I think he would probably abandon the cities and start the war as a guerilla. But the chancellor has ordered that he defend the cities. So he will and hopefully drop as many fed-rats as he can.”

“Well that is reassuring.”

“Reassuring or not, he will do everything he can, let’s just hope that everything he can is enough.” With this Dan turned and joined his brother back inside the house.

Left on his own Xan decided to visit a rather secret area on the plantation that only him, his uncle, and Jenna knew about. It was here that a Griffin battlemech that he found while playing on a plateau farther down the mountain was stored. From its original appearance it had been sitting under a rockslide on the mountain for decades, possibly even centuries. However despite extreme damage, the mech was still moderately operational, with the reactor still working, though off at the time. With the help of his uncle, and an inquisitive little girl who had decided to help him, he got the mech mobile and moved it back to an old mining shaft on the backside of the mountain from the house. To this old cave he walked, he liked to spend his time collecting his thoughts under the shadow of the metal behemoth. While its LRM racks were empty, the particle cannon still worked, the sense of a machine which still had its own purpose calmed Xan for some unknown reason.

By the time he got to the entrance, he noticed there was another person sitting on the Griffon’s foot. Jenna had been his friend for a long time, she was even there when he had found this ancient titan of war.
“Why am I not surprised that you are here Jen?”

“Because you knew I wanted to talk to you and that I did not spend forever talking to my uncle after your father’s speech?” Jenna shot back.

“You know my uncle is the only one on this plantation with actual combat experience Jen… who else would have a better viewpoint of what is going to happen?” Xan sighed.

Jenna pulled her knees up to her chest and replied, “I honestly don’t know, I just know I have never been near a war before, and Xan, I’m scared of it.”

Xan sat down next to her and hugged her. He whispered into her ear, “Jen, we all are afraid, even Uncle Dan. Mitchel has always been so peaceful up until now. Tomorrow that will be gone. Let’s just hope that everything else that is good about this planet isn’t lost as well.”

Chapter 2

Xan woke up when his door slammed open later that evening. It was his uncle Dan.

“Xan, Jenna, the Davions arrived early, their dropships haven’t quite reached here yet, but Chang’an is engulfed in flames.” With that he left the room with the door still open.

“Xan, did your uncle just know I was here?” said the mess of red hair beside him in a concerned voice.
“I think he did…”

“We should not have done this tonight… We should have waited until we could tell your father our intentions…” Jenna said as she sat up.

“I think Uncle will not tell Father, but you may be right…”

With that they got dressed in silence and went outside.

Chang’an was in flames, the military base in particular was one giant fire-ball. The only section that seemed to be untouched was the spaceport. The nice part about being on top of a mountain is that you could see for miles. Chang’an was nearly 200 miles distant, but it still shone brightly at night. This night it shined the most brightly of all.

Ran and Dan Chen were standing on the front porch of the house, watching the city burn together. Dan made no comment about what he had saw when he opened Xan’s door. Ran seemed concerned about this already.

“The Davions much have placed some of their vaunted Rabid Foxes in the city to sabotage its defense.”
“I don’t think they caught too much of the defending personnel. Though majority of their supplies are most likely gone, as well as a massive chunk of the support men, they would have been there to get in a convoy so they could be relocated to somewhere more defensible.” Dan replied.

“Will the garrison still attempt to defend the city?” Jenna questioned.

“Sang-Shao Lin will most likely retreat her forces to the jungle at this point. With Rabid Foxes in the city, any defense will likely face large numbers of explosives hidden in the streets and alleys.”

At this point Xan looked up and saw a group of lights he was unfamiliar with. “I think that might be the Davion dropships, and it appears that 2 are breaking off from the rest of the group…”

“They must be heading for the plant on the northern end of the range and then will force march some troops to the pass in the middle of the range.” Ran suggested.

“Doesn’t that take them right past here?” Jenna realized with a touch of horror.

At this thought all three of the men on the porch jolted with shock as they realized she was right.

“Well this isn’t good… maybe the forced march means they will leave us alone.” Xan said hopefully.

“Unlikely, this mountain has an excellent view of the capitol and surrounding area, all the other ones are just jungle, they will at least leave an observation post here, with a small garrison to shut down the road.” Dan pointed out. “I am guessing by noon today the Davions will arrive here in force. We may see scouts by as early as 9 A.M.”

“Well despite the rest days I think that we will have to get everyone else up to welcome our new arrivals.” Ran said with a depressed sigh. Then with a slightly more focused look, “Jenna, you will stay in your family’s house tomorrow. A girl like you would attract far too much attention from the Davion troops. We all should get some sleep now. It will be a long day tomorrow.”

A long day indeed…

Chapter 3

Xan was in a suit that morning; he had decided that he needed to look his best to appease the invaders. His father and uncle agreed with him, and asked everyone to wear the nicest clothing they had to when the Davions showed up.

Jenna was in her bed, pretending to be sick, so she would not be out when the Davion arrived. She hoped that everyone would be fine, standing out there. She then heard the first thumps in the distance…
Major Aleksandr Hasek-Solo was riding in his Victor assault mech down a mountain road to the Shin-Sheng pass, which was the primary crossway between the two halves of the Mangor basin. His scouts had noted a plantation a mile or so ahead. He decided it would make a decent stopping point before he managed to separate the scum of a garrison from any possible retreat out of the basin. Aleksandr was a recent addition to the 6^th Syrtis Fusiliers, assigned to a command post despite being fresh out of the academy to help encourage his father to support Hanse Davion over the Duke of the Capellan March. But Alek, as he was known to most people, felt he had earned such a post by his noble blood alone. He had an well-kept exterior, but he was poisoned on the inside by a blind hate towards the Confederation, a trait he valued in his troops as well. To him, every single one had shot the bullet that had killed his mother in a raid in the 3^rd Succession War. He had fostered such hatreds in his men ever since he joined the Fusiliers nearly a year ago.

“Alright, Task Force Blockade, we have the plantation our scouts picked up coming up. First company will take the plantation to set up an Operational post. There are no easy routes up this mountain besides the road carved up along the side of the pass. So with our dropships holding the plateau on the Northern end of this mountain, and our forces holding the pass, this plantation should make an excellent base. 2^nd and 3^rd companies will proceed to the pass under Captain Darius. Expect light resistance at the pass, I doubt the spineless Cappies will be there yet.”

While most military commanders preferred to lead their units themselves, Alek knew that Darius would do a far better job than him in taking the pass. The senior captain has as much military experience as Alek had years of living. He might be new to his job, but he was anything but stupid. He figured his combined arms company would be more than adequate to take out anything the Capellans could possibly have at the plantation, though he doubted that there were any actual military forces there. Hell, his Victor alone should be enough to crush any resistance, but the Colonel would have his head if he went off alone like that.
At the trail off the road up to the plantation the first third of the column split off, leaving the rest to press on ahead to the pass. Alek noted the quiet jungle with a slight unease, even though he doubted there was anything planted here of all places, the jungle made things all too easy for an ambush. A large old style house came into view as he rounded the corner with a pair of men standing on its front steps, and a crowd of people in a semi-circle around it.

“The owners plus their workers seem to be here to greet us. I don’t see any weapons, but with the backstabbing Cappies, who knows?” said his company second, Lieutenant Markos Dephi, in his massive Von Luckner MBT at the front of the column.

Once the entire unit made it into the clearing in front of the plantation they spread out, to cover all of the workers. Then Alek’s victor stepped forward. “I am Major Aleksandr Hasek-Solo of the 8^th Syrtis Fusiliers, who is in charge here?”

One of the men on the porch stepped forward and said “I am Ran Chen, I am the owner of this plantation that has been in my family since before the rise of the Star League, Major Hasek-Solo.”

“Mr. Chen, my forces and I are setting up a base at your plantation. We expect adequate supplies from your plantation, as well as lodging.”

“There should be adequate room in my house for your troops if they go two to a guest room, which have two beds anyway. We also have enough supplies that your food requests should not be a problem. But I would ask if you would refrain from harming my people, most of them have worked and lived on this plantation for nearly their entire life, they are good people, I would not see them come to harm.”

Alek’s first reaction was, this piece of Capellan scum dares to make demands of me. “Mr. Chen, you appear to not realize how this works, I have a company of soldiers behind me, you do not get to make demands to me.”

“Major Hasek-Solo, you have to realize that my first concern must be for my people. You promise me that they will not come to harm, and we will treat your troops well. I know that I don’t have much to bargain against you, but I cannot forsake those that have placed their trust in me to keep them safe.”

“Perhaps I shall teach you the punishment for defying me then.”

Ran ran out from the steps to the courtyard yelling “Please do not har-”

The Victor’s auto cannon roared out once, and then all was silent.