Interlude: Hendrik Grimm

Hendrik Grimm was the Third Ruler of the Oberon Confederation to bear that name and was by far the most successful. When he'd taken over in thirty-twelve from his grandfather, the Confederation was only six worlds strong. Now, there were twenty worlds under his command, stretching from the border with New Ålborg east to the former realm of Helmar Valasek on Santander's World, and North to the colony on Dirkel. His setbacks at Butte Hold and Gotterdamerung had been reversed by the Poniatowski Boy and it had only cost him Sigurd, a world that was declining in population and production. Finally, he had grown his forces thanks to recently surplussed equipment, funds, and advisors from the Draconis Combine. Yes, under his command, the Oberon Confederation was now a major periphery power. The only potential rival was New Ålborg, and he had an understanding with the Poniatowski Boy.

In fact, Hendrik Grimm had been impressed enough by the sudden rise of the Poniatowski Boy and New Ålborg, that he'd even considered him as a potential heir. It was a sad fact that his Daughter, Ella would inherit the Confederation after he died, and his vassals and captains would immediately begin plotting against her. Many of them were chauvanists, after all. It was one of the reasons for the rivalries with Maria Morgraine and Morgan Fletcher. His vassals and captains would begin plotting to install his son Johann, currently a mere boy of thirteen, on the throne the second Ella took over. A Civil war would utterly destroy everything that Hendrik Grimm had done to build the Oberon Confederation up into the current powerhouse it was. That he couldn't allow, so he'd begun looking for a suitable husband for Ella as soon as she'd come of age. He'd thought it might be Redjack Ryan until Ryan's betrayal, now he was looking at Jozef Poniatowski.

Such a match would only strengthen the Confederation, bringing another thirteen worlds and over three million people into his dominion. Several of those worlds, like Butte Hold, Gotterdamerung, and New Ålborg itself had large industrial bases as well which would only strengthen the Confederation further, to say nothing of the technical designs that Jozef Poniatowski had dug up from somewhere. That would make the Oberon Confederation thirty-three worlds strong, around the same size as the Outworlds Alliance, which would put the Confederation in the Upper Echelons for Periphery Powers. With Ella and Jozef ruling as King and Queen of the Coreward Periphery, there would be no limit to the amount of power the Confederation could wield. Hendrik Grimm's legacy would be all but assured, and they would even be able to break from the leash put on them by his submission to the Draconis Combine.

The Dracs must have realized that, however. Or maybe they just needed to save face after their embarrasing string of defeats in the latest round of the perennial Succession Wars that had rocked the Inner Sphere. Hell, they'd been beat bad enough to release Rasalhague as a buffer state between them and the Lyrans, after all. Whatever the reason, the main advisor that the Dracs had sent him, Tai-Sho Ninyu Kerai, had approached him to demand that he order an invasion of the Grand Duchy of New Ålborg this year. Apparently, it was a price for all the new equipment, funds, and volunteers. Of course, said volunteers amounted to a total of Seven Regiments, fully half of the forces he could call on to fight, along with seven wings of attached Aerospace Fighters, attached regimental Dropships, and attached Jumpships. While some of those regiments were mercenaries reorganized into larger formations, there were a number of Free-Floating and demobilized reserve DCMS Regiments mixed in there. Notably, the Seventeenth Benjamin Regulars and the Second and Third Proserpina Hussars. Those three Elite Free-Floating Regiments were supplemented by two Regular Demobilized Regiments and two Veteran Mercenary Regiments. 

Comparatively, only the First and Second Oberon Guards could be considered Elite, with only the Third Oberon Guards being Veterans. The Fourth and Fifth Oberon Guards were regulars, but the Sixth and Seventh were Green. Furthermore, he only had enough of his hidden away Rim Worlds Republic Equipment to outfit the First Oberon Guards, which meant that the rest of his units were relying on a mix of formerly mothballed DCMS Equipment and Locally-Produced Atlases, Grasshoppers, and the like. They also were lighter on Aerospace Fighters, with some Regiments only having a Group or Two instead of a Wing. Against what the Combine had in Confederation Territory, there was no contest, Hendrik Grimm wouldn't win that confrontation if push came to shove. He had no way to not agree to the Combine's Demands without losing everything he'd built up. Still, he had to try.

"You understand that I was looking at the Poniatowski Boy to marry my daughter, yes? If we destroy New Ålborg, and my Daughter doesn't have a strong husband, when I die, my captains and vassals are going to mutiny. Will the coordinator offer a replacement suitor?" Questioned Hendrik Grimm.

"You ask for much. It is not the way of the Dragon to offer such things to vassals. He commands and vassals obey." Frowned Tai-Sho Ninyu Kerai.

"Surely, Coordinator Kurita sees the value in a match? If only to further solidify his grip on the Coreward Periphery? What better way to do that than by ensuring the next ruler of the Oberon Confederation be one of his?" Tried Hendrik Grimm.

"You ask for much. However, there is sense in your request. I shall have to relay your request back to Luthien, and we will see what the Coordinator says. If he agrees, however, he will no doubt expect you to begin moving on the matter of New Ålborg within the month of his agreement." Warned Tai-Sho Ninyu Kerai.

"If he agrees, I can begin preparations for war immediately. That shouldn't be an issue." Answered Hendrik Grimm.

"Then I shall return after communicating with the Coordinator." Nodded Tai-Sho Ninyu Kerai.

With that, the Tai-Sho left Hendrik to his plotting. He didn't think that Coordinator Takashi would do more than fob off a vassal onto him, but even that would be more useful that a civil war after his death. In preparation, he began ordering the hidden stockpiles of Rim Worlds Republic Army equipment to be broken out of their caches and drilled with. Vulcan Heavy Aerospace Fighters, Rampage Assault Mechs, LTV-Four Hover Tanks and more were pulled from their caches for the First Oberon Guards. The makeup of the First Oberon Guards would be similar to that of one of the First Grand Ducal Guards of New Ålborg, at least. That was something, anyway, even if the rest of his forces would be less well-equipped. Mind you, there was enough time to drill a few more regiments to a higher level with intensive training. He'd purchased simulators from the Poniatowski Boy which would help get his forces into shape. It was one of life's little ironies, along with the purchase of specialized munitions from the Poniatowski Boy. Those were ironies that Hendrik Grimm intended to take full advantage of.

Over the course of September and part of October, Hendrik Grimm drilled the Oberon Guards hard. By the time that Tai-Sho Ninyu Kerai had returned on October Eighteenth, not only were the First Oberon Guards familiar enough with their Rim Worlds Republic Army Equipment to fight at their usual Elite level with it, but the Third Oberon Guards had been upgraded to Elite Status while the Fourth and Fifth Oberon Guards were upgraded to Veteran Status and the Sixth and Seventh attained Regular Status. Everyone had been bumped up a notch on the competency scale. The DCMS Forces hadn't been idle either, however, drilling on their bases and upgrading their own status, though Hendrik Grimm wasn't sure how many units had upgraded and to what extent. Those were the perils of being a vassal to the Combine, though. The Dracs were playing things close to the vest in case of betrayal.

When Tai-Sho Ninyu Kerai returned, however, he returned with news that Hendrik Grimm hadn't expected. Not only was Coordinator Kurita agreeing to furnish Ella with a husband, but he'd agreed to send one of his own Kin. Alexander Kurita was the Tai-Sa of the Ninth Pesht Regulars and, more importantly, the First Cousin Once Removed of Coordinator Takashi Kurita himself. He'd arrived on Oberon with his regiment alongside Tai-Sho Ninyu Kerai and immediately, hurried wedding planning began. In seven days, a wedding between Ella and Alexander Kurita was thrown together and the pair were married on the Twenty-Fifth of October, Thirty-twenty-five, officially founding House Kurita-Grimm on Oberon. The fact that he brought with him another Elite Unit was also a bonus. Unfortunately, there was little time for a honeymoon. With much of the preparations for war already underway, the Coordinator expected the attack to begin no later than the fifteenth of November.

Furious planning between Hendrik Grimm, his Captains, Alexander Kurita, and Tai-Sho Ninyu Kerai's staff began as soon as the hangovers cleared on the twenty-sixth of October. Fortunately, their preparations were aided by news on the twenty-ninth of October that New Ålborg had sent two Regiments and one of their Flotillas to Star's End and were currently waging a campaign against Morgan Fletcher and the Belt Pirates there. Somehow, they'd managed to take out Star's End's formidable Anti-Ship Defenses prior to the main invasion, though that was all the information that they had. They had no concrete information on how that had been achieved, though the two most prevalent theories were nuclear bombardment from afar and espionage. What this effectively meant, however, was that two out of fifteen of the Ducal Guards Regiments, along with one out of three Aerospace Flotillas were going to be unavailable for the Poniatowski Boy in terms of defending against their attack. That gave Hendrik Grimm and his Combine Advisors the numerical advantage in terms of forces in-theater.

Planning shifted to take advantage of that fact. Previously, the plan had been to attack Zertarum and attempt to cut the Grand Duchy in two, forcing the enemy to waste time reclaiming one of their main industrial worlds while Elite Forces moved to hit their Capital at New Ålborg. Now, however, with less forces available to the enemy, Hendrik Grimm and his Allies could move up the timetable for the attack on New Ålborg itself. The First and Second Oberon Guards, along with the Ninth Pesht Regulars and the Third Proserpina Hussars would head straight for New Ålborg instead of moving with the other Eleven Regiments to hit Zertarum first. They would grab the Poniatowski Boy by the balls at the same time they cut off his arm. It was a pretty damn good strategy, if Hendrik said so himself, and his Combine Advisors and new Son-In-Law agreed with him on that. After all, once Zertarum and New Ålborg were taken, that would essentially win most of the war for them. 

They set a D-Day for the Invasion of the Grand Duchy of New Ålborg for the Thirteenth of November. Now all that was left for the Oberon Guards and DCMS Advisors to do was finish their last-minute preparations. Final supplies had to be gathered and last-minute training wrapped up before they could start the invasion. Every one of his captains, vassals, and allies was confident that they would come out of this on-top, though. How could they not be, now that they were clearly being backed to the hilt by the Draconis Combine? Unfortunately for them, no plan ever survives contact with the enemy. The war with New Ålborg would begin a full five days before the Confederation and Combine were ready.

On the eighth of November, Thirty-twenty-five, the Ducal Guards of New Ålborg would attack Blackstone and Placida, pre-empting Hendrik Grimm's planned invasion. . .

XXXX

AN: Apologies for any spelling or grammar errors in this one. My editing software is on my still at the shop laptop. I have no clue what's taking them so long. It would have been faster just to buy a new laptop at this point. Hopefully, you all could read this OK and it wasn't too illegible.

Anyway, here we see goings on in the Oberon Confederation and what's going on with them and the DCMS. Ella Grimm is now married to Alexander Kurita, who in this timeline, isn't currently being a commander of Ronin Forces in Rasalhague, due to the altered nature of Rasalhague independence. After all, what better way to solidify his grip on the Coreward Periphery than to have family ruling on Oberon? They were planning to take out Jozef and New Ålborg as part of Takashi's demands, helped by reports of New Ålborg being busy at Star's End, only to be pre-empted by Jozef's attack on them.

Speaking of the attack on Star's End, the Combine Intelligence Service doesn't know how they managed to take out the Anti-Shipping Defense System. The Combine Intelligence Service also doesn't know about Iron Land, which is why Hendrik Grimm thinks New Ålborg only has thirteen worlds instead of fourteen. Never fear though, there will be an interlude going over Star's End.

Before that, however, we'll be on New Avalon as the events of the alternate Operation: Doppelganger get underway.

Stay tuned. . .