50

On December 4, 3035 Kamea Arano gave birth to two twins, Paul and Peter Arano-Bassot. A special holiday was decreeted in all the Reach.

The delicate, and very secret (no one trusting ComStar for its good services on these matters) negotiations between the Taurian Concordat and the Aurigan Reach, concerning the merger of both nations finally reached an agreement on March 12, 3036.

At first Kamea had little interest in negotiating anything but the fact that she had absorbed two independent systems making her realm an enemy of the Capellan Confederation, the fate of Andurien, who had just been reabsorbed into the League, the Magistracy, which without Thomas's help, would have been invaded by the Capellan Confederation and even the fate of this later, which after suffering defeat at the hands of the Federated Suns, had been attacked from all sides, had changed her way of thinking. Even if she didn't forget that she had been 'forced' into this war by Thomas Calderon, she tried to stay objective and realistic. To be honest, we also had long discussions on this matter and reality was that our nation was too poor and weak to have a great future alone, if any. So, reluctantly at first, she agreed to come to the negotiation table to discuss what was in the end, the integration of the Reach into a richer and more powerful realm. 

Surprisingly, the conditions negotiated with Thomas were quite generous, both in terms of autonomy and in financial terms. Without the guts to surrender the independence of the nation the fought so hard to take control of, she managed to delay the absorption to the next generation. After all, the myriad of small but vital details was going to take some time to be dealt with. When the next generation would come to power, the Aurigan Reach would become a province, albeit with great autonomy, of the Taurian Concordat, governed in perpetuity by the Arano-Bassot family. In return, the Concordat committed itself to invest heavily in the Reach infrastructure starting today. It was obviously not a relationship of equals like the integration of the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth as in this case the Aurigan Reach was clearly the secondary member, with everything it implied.

Part of the agreements was that the facilities in Mechdur would be upgraded to become the third - fourth counting the "secret" base of the Concordat Navy in Bolthole (a system that did not exist in the official charts, although it was already known to some nations, Liao for example, and Comstar)- shipyard with the capacity to build JumpShips in the Taurian Concordat. The military-industrial complex in Detroit would also receive the necessary means and funds to be able to build 'Mechs, even if the forecast was not before 3045 for Mechdur and 3042 for Detroit. While these investments were very big and almost impossible to do if undertaken by the Reach alone, with the help of the Concordat and the time we had, it would be manageable.

Why was the Concordat so interested in the fusion with the Aurigan Reach is a question that was often asked when the news broke out. The industrial output of the New Vandenberg system alone, granted one of the richest systems in the Concordat, was superior to all the production of the Reach combined. Also the only dockyard in Mechdur needed considerable investments from the Taurian to be converted to a shipyard and the limited military complexes in Mechdur and Detroit also needed considerable investments to be useful for the TDF.

But, few people are more nationalist and prideful than the citizens of the Taurian Concordat.and since more than half of the systems of the Reach were ex-Taurian colonies, recovering them peacefully was a mater of national pride for the Concordat when the opportunity presented itself. 

In the Magistracy of Canopus, the situation was worse as the end of the war with House Liao had left the armed forces exhausted, the coffers empty, with only one system captured and with a great debt to the Concordat. But, with both the Capellan Confederacy and the Free Worlds League as a not friendly neighbors, it was necessary to rebuild the MAF one way or another. With many people in positions of power unhappy, it was without great surprise that on the 7th​ of July 3036 a coup put Emma Centrella in power, dethroning her mother.

Apparently, Kyalla jealous of the crescent popularity of her daughter, lauded as a hero of the Magistracy, while she was being accused of disastrous decisions, tried to frame Emma for an espionage conspiracy, only to discover that even her personal guard preferred Emma to her.

By this time Andurien had been completely reabsorbed into the Free Worlds League.

Meanwhile the Fighters development went well with several projects going forward.

The first prototype of the HDK (Hell Duck Heavy ASF) flew on October 21st, 3036. With 90 tons, 16.5 tons of Ferrous-aluminum armor, 270XL engine, 20 Freezers, 1 ER PPC on the nose, 1 ER Large Laser and 1 LBX-10 A/C with two tons of ammo on each wing and 2 Medium Lasers facing the rear, it was a killing machine. A Guardian ECM and a Beagle Active Probe completed the equipment. Besides the usual hardpoints for bombs and rocket pods, it also had two internal bays with capacity to carry 4x Arrow IV AAM. In the CAS configuration, these were replaced by 4x 'normal' guided Arrow IV, if there was a unit equipped with TAG in the area, or non-guided if none was available. The immense concentration of advanced technology had greatly delayed the development of the ASF, and the cost was 14.350 million of C-Bills. But simulations against other Fighters in interception or ground support missions showed that it was money well-spent , being the most capable Figher in service in the Concordat by a large margin. 

The Hell Duck, although more capable than any other Fighter was a bit a Big Toy and because of his price and high technology he was only produced in small numbers – at least until the Clan Invasion – and only delivered to units loyal and with excellent technician support., more specifically, the Taurian Guards, the Revenants and the Wolf Dragoons.

At the opposite range of the Aerospace Fighter range, the Canopian model that VMI had obtained license to produce, the Dragonfly, was produced in great numbers and was an instant sales winner. For the cash strapped customers, like the MAF for a time, the MM1 was a decent Ligh Aerospace Fighter with an all energy weaponry and for the ones that could pay extra, the MM2 was an excellent choice. For those with more money, the VMI top model was the Dragonfly MM3, an in-house upgrade, unlike the MM1 and the MM2 that were Canopian designs. With an upgrade to a 160XL Engine, the addition of an extra Freezer and improved electronics, providing the already good MM2 with improved performance in combat and better heat management.