Major Kong Li of the Capellan Maskirovka was nervous. An operation like this had never been tried before. Not in the heart of the Enemy's power like this. Fortunately, his team were professionals, veterans of dozens of undercover operations. Even if they were internally nervous, externally none of them dared to show it. Thankfully, their papers held up perfectly to scrutiny at the Avalon City Spaceport. They were to infiltrate the First Prince's Townhouse near the High Council Hall posing as the delegation from newly conquered Tikonov. While in the First Prince's study, they were to abduct Hanse Davion so that he might be replaced by the Chancellor's carefully prepared Doppelganger.
The Doppelganger himself would pass all but the most invasive of tests. A perfect copy of the First Prince, created with the help of ComStar. The man even believed himself to be Hanse Davion. In fact, the only way for the Federated Suns to even tell the difference would be with an in-depth genetic study, and that would require a genetic sample that the Doppelganger would flat out refuse to give. After all, there was not a single medical scanner in the Inner Sphere capable of telling DNA apart from the genuine article without genetic samples for complete analysis. Maybe in the days of the Star League, but if so, that technology had long since been lost.
Once in place, the Doppelganger had been programmed carefully to respond to certain code phrases that would trigger obedience to directives issued within the following few minutes. What precisely those code phrases were was a secret known only to the Chancellor and a select few of his most loyal servants. Major Kong didn't know, nor did he need to know. Suffice to say that it would give the Confederation a stranglehold over the Federated Suns and that would be enough for him.
It was more than enough, even, as the Chancellor had seen fit to order poison teeth be issued to Major Kong's entire team. If neccesary, all of them would die for the Chancellor and Confederation. There could be no chance for them to be captured. Even the strongest man might break under torture, after all. It was a fact everyone who worked in the Maskirovka knew well. Major Kong and his team were all willing to lay down their lives should capture be imminent. Even Captain Yuri Orlikov, the fat Analyst that had been pressed into acting as the face of their fake delegation due to Tikonov being his homeworld and the general lack of fitness needed to play the part of a Civilian Bureaucrat was willing to die in the event of capture.
"We all know the plan, yes?" Questioned Major Kong.
"Da, Major. We've run through it daily since we departed." Nodded Captain Orlikov.
"Let's go over it one last time, just to be sure. Ramirez, how do we make our entry?" Demanded Major Kong.
"We're the delegation from Tikonov. Administrator Orlov of the Tikonov Planetary Government, Captain Cho and Lieutenant Ziegler of the Tikonov Gendarmerie, and I'm Undersecretary Chavez. We're here to formally do homage to the First Prince on behalf of Duke Aaron Ryan-Teng, who is still just a child and can't leave Tikonov at this time." Responded Sergeant Dominic Ramirez, a Tybalt Native.
"Right. Schmidt, what happens when we get in to the First Prince's office?" Pressed Major Kong.
"Captain Orlikov stuns the First Prince during the part where he kisses the ring while I and Sergeant Ramirez deal with the Prince's Bodyguards and you hack any cameras. Concealed tranquilizers loaded with compound A3. The Amnestic should allow us time to make the switch." Nodded Lieutenant Elisa Schmidt, a New Hessen Native.
"And how do we make the switch, Yuri?" Questioned Major Kong.
"We signal Major Kaminov who has been inserted as one of the First Prince's drivers for the past year. He pulls the First Prince's hovercar into the office with the Doppelganger already on board. With the First Prince's bodyguards neutralized temporarily and the cameras in our control, we simply make the switch inside the garage. Then we exfiltrate once we have covered our tracks." Answered Captain Orlikov.
"Perfect. I don't have to remind you of the consequences of failure, do I?" Queried Major Kong. In response, he simply received shaking heads. They all knew what was at stake and what was expected of them.
Now all that remained was to carry it all out. . .
XXXX
Hanse Davion had a busy day so far. He had just been to the High Council Hall to speak about the recent Treaty of Terra and to get them to ratify it. He had little doubt that they would. The High Council was little more than a rubber stamp for the First Prince and had been for several centuries. Formalities still had to be observed, though, even for him. Now he was waiting on the delegation from the Duchy of Tikonov to arrive to pay him formal homage and make their annexation official. The current Duke, Aaron Ryan-Teng was, of course, only eleven years old, so a proxy had been sent in his place. It was a shame, but everyone more senior had died in the fighting.
"Such is the nature of war to be so terrible. If it weren't, men would grow too fond of it." Mused Hanse to himself.
"More ancient history, Highness?" Asked Captain Marius Alaimo.
Captain Alaimo was a cousin of the Baron of Minette Three and one of the quartet of bodyguards currently on-duty. The other three were Lieutenant Johan Bruder, standing outside the door to the office, Sergeant Aeson Kostas on duty in the Garage, and Lieutenant Giovanni DiMarco at the front entrance. All of them were highly trained infantrymen, but Hanse preferred speaking to Alaimo most. The man shared his penchant for history, though not to the same extent.
"Just thinking out loud, Captain. Pay it no mind." Responded Hanse.
Just then, there was a knock on the door, two beats in succession, then a pause, followed by a third. The pre-arranged signal from Lieutenant Bruder that the Delegation from Tikonov had arrived. Straightening his suit, Hanse stood from behind the marble desk that formed his secondary work station and nodded to Captain Alaimo. The Captain moved over to the oak-panelled door and opened it. In stepped a quartet of people. One Portly, Bald, Man in a buisiness suit flanked by a Taller Blonde Woman and a Shorter Asian Man in the blue dress uniforms of the Tikonov Gendarmerie, and one Younger, Latino, Man in a less expensive buisiness suit. They were followed inside by Lieutenant Bruder.
"Administrator Orlov, yes? I am Hanse Davion, First Prince of the Federated Suns, pleased to make your acquaintance." Greeted Hanse, giving a dashing smile.
"And I yours, Highness. Unfortunately, my Lord is not old enough to Travel here in person." Nodded Administrator Orlov.
"Yes, a terrible tragedy his family suffered. A great uncle slain on New Aragon, an Uncle dead at Tybalt, and a father killed at Bithinia. To lose so many so young. I would not demand he travel in person. He has suffered enough of late." Replied Hanse.
"Da. The war was not kind to many families." Agreed Administrator Orlov.
"Indeed. So, shall we get down to it, then? I'm sure you're busy people. I certainly know my schedule is quite full. I need to return to the Palace shortly after this meeting to attend to a different matter of state." Offered Hanse.
"Da, please." Concurred Administrator Orlov.
"Very well, please kneel." Intoned Hanse.
Administrator Orlov ambled over and dropped to one knee. As Hanse began to go through the speech. Asking who stood for the Duke of Tikonov, whether he swore to uphold the Six Liberties and the Constitution of the Federated Suns, whether he swore to obey the edicts of the First Prince, High Council, and so on. Charging him to raise forces in defense of the Federated Suns, Mete out Justice, and administer territories. All proceeded according to the script that had played out hundreds of times before right up until the part where he was to seal the oath of fealty by having Administrator Orlov kiss his ring.
As Adminstrator Orlov leaned in to do so, he grabbef hold of Hanse's hand to steady himself. Hanse didn't think that unusual in and of itself, the Administrator clearly wasn't as spry as he used to be and was quite out of shape to boot. Unfortunately, that was when he felt the pinprick on his wrist and a sudden feeling of numbness began to spread through his body. He'd been drugged! As Hanse tried and failed to remain upright, the other members of the delegation pulled holdout pistols made of materials that weren't picked up by the security scanners.
The last thing Hanse Davion saw before darkness took him was his bodyguards collapsing as well to the surprise attack. . .
XXXX
Morgan Hasek-Davion was anxious. His uncle was running late to a meeting with him, which was rare. It never happened outside wartime, in fact. His mind was racing as he imagined what could have happened. There must have been some kind of emergency for it to happen like this. The problem was that there really shouldn't be anything the High Council could do to qualify as an emergency and the only other item on his Uncle's agenda for the morning was securing the official fealty of the Duchy of Tikonov. Had his uncle been attacked on the way back by assassins? Surely not? Not in the heart of Avalon City? Even if that had happened, Morgan would have heard something by now, if only because he'd be ushered into a safe zone by the Guards as his Uncle's designated heir.
Morgan still was worried, however. Enough to visit the main security room of the Palace to watch the scanners in case of trouble. The Guards were all veterans, there wasn't much a cadet like Morgan could add to things that they couldn't do themselves. Still, Colonel Morrison let him man the new scanners that had been purchased from the Poniatowskis using Lyran Middlemen. It was a cutting edge, but ultimately harmless way to indulge Morgan, who was still half a year away from graduating from the New Avalon Military Academy. After all, there was hardly anything a medical scanner could tell him that couldn't be seen by the more experienced officers at other stations.
"The First Prince's car is approaching the gates." Intoned a Scar-faced Captain at one of the exterior camera stations.
"See, Highness? Your uncle is fine. He just ran late meeting with the Tikonov delegation is all." Placated Colonel Morrison.
"I suppose so." Sighed Morgan.
His relief was short-lived, however, as his Uncle got out of the aircar only for the medical scanner to throw up a red flag. It was telling him that this wasn't his uncle, that there had been extensive surgical procedures to make him look like his uncle, but that it was picking up the minute signs left behind by said procedures. Morgan's eyes widened fractionally as he took in the readouts and he called out for Colonel Morrison.
"Wait! That isn't my uncle! The medical scanner is throwing up red flags!" Exclaimed Morgan.
"What? The bloody thing must be broken. Figures you can't trust some backwards Periphery sweatshop to make a quality product. Pay it no mind, Highness." Scoffed Colonel Morrison.
"Check it again." Intoned a weathered voice.
Morgan turned to see his Uncle's close friend and advisor Ardan Sortek striding up to the station. Ardan was a Field Marshal and a Knight of the realm, if he said to check it again, that's what they would do. As Morgan did that, Ardan ordered the Communications Officer to call over to the HPG and to have them patch through a call to Tikonov to confirm their delegation's arrival. A flurry of activity ensued while the man wearing his Uncle's face was stalled by sudden, simultaneous, equipment failures in the various elevators. If this proved to be nothing, then they would chalk it up to due dilligence. If the medical scanner was right, however, then that meant that there was a problem.
Five minutes later, they were able to confirm that the Tikonov Delegation was currently recharging their K-F Drives over Markesan after some sort of equipment failure that saw them lose time to emergency repairs or be forced into a misjump. Whoever had just met with his Uncle had been imposters. With that and the medical scanner data, it was enough for Morgan and Ardan to order the man wearing Hanse Davion's Face detained. Ardan then took a company of Elite Jump Infantry to the Spaceport to confront the Tikonov Imposters while Colonel Morrison and the Palace Guards detained the Fake Hanse. Morgan didn't really have much to do beyond the initial discovery and confirmation.
By the end of the day, his Uncle had been retrieved and was currently detoxing from the rather strong dose of knockout serum that he'd been injected with. Unfortunately, with this strong a dose injected in such a way, there were side effects even with proper medical care. Hanse Davion would never be able to use a Neurohelmet again. That was a small proce to pay, though. After all, if not for the Poniatowski Medical Scanner, Morgan's quick thinking, and the actions of Ardan Sortek, a foreign agent may very well have taken control of the Federated Suns today. Unfortunately, they had no clue who was behind the attempt.
The entire cadre of Tikonov Imposters had comitted suicide via poison teeth as soon as their Dropship had been breached. . .
XXXX
AN: The next chapter is already up on my Patreon, so check the link in the threadmarked post if you guys feel like throwing me a couple bucks to get chapters in advance. Everyone who does is super appreciated and I can't thank my patrons enough.
Here we see the outcome of the alternate Operation: Doppelganger. Thanks to the same sort of medical scanner that Jozef sold the Lyrans to catch Katrina Steiner's Cancer early, and thanks to Morgan Hasek-Davion's quick thinking, the Doppelganger was sniffed out with a lot less hassle than in canon. No need for Lyran Ambassadors to get involved at all.
Unfortunately, Mad Max's paranoia and Maskirovka fanaticism means that anyone who could confirm Capellan involvement comitted suicide instead of being captured. Also unfortunately, side-effects from Hanse's sudden drugging mean he's no longer neurohelmet compatible. The First Prince really shouldn't be leading from the front anyway, though. Even if Hanse liked doing that.
At any rate, the next chapter will be Star's End and the assault there.
Stay tuned. . .