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While the purely military part of the campaign had gone better than expected for both the TDF and the MAF, including the important yet often overlooked transportation and logistics component, the intelligence part had been a disaster.

The only good news was that the mistakes had all lead to an overestimation of the capabilities of the MHAF. An in-depth analysis in both the TMI and the MIM showed that because none of them considered the Marian Hegemony a serious danger , the offices in charge of this nation were either composed of second choice operatives and analysts, or the dumping place for the most incompetent agents. Curious that both nations suffered from the same bias and had used the same place to deposit the trouble cases.

Following the invasion, the Magistracy of Canopus sent both civil and military personnel to ensure a smooth transition from pure military occupation to being a part of the Magistracy.

For the Taurian Concordat, the next step was to negotiate with the Lothian League the 'offer' of the systems that the TDF had won

While Dame Lorelei Logan was satisfied that the invasion of her Realm had failed and that a troublesome neighbor was no more, the truth was that she did not have the needed resources to absorb the systems that the Concordat 'offered' her.

To do so, she would have to hire more mercenaries (something her exhausted treasure did not allow) or accept the Concordat proposal that the TDF forces could be used for that, keeping those systems de facto under the military control by the Concordat, even though they nominally belonged to the Lothian League.

Of course, if she did not accept the Concordat proposal, the risk was to have the Concordat indefinitely as her neighbor, a nation much more powerful than the now defunct Marian Hegemony, and which had justly demonstrated the ability and willingness to invade and conquer small nations.

On the other hand, even if the Concordat had absorbed, peacefully and apparently in agreement with the local rulers, the Aurigan Reach, it also had invested heavily in the new territory, and the old rulers were still in power locally, which was a sign that the Concordat was an honest partner even if bigger nations had no morale when it comes with dealing with smaller ones.

But, in the present situation, Lorelei knew that she herself had asked the Concordat to intervene, begged was a more precise term, because the alternative was to have her kingdom conquered by the much more aggressive Marian Hegemony. The presence of the Concordat in this region of space was entirely her fault. And to be honest, the terms were not bad at all when compared to the alternatives : to replace the HPG network with one controlled by the Concordat, to have a military base in Alphard and preferential trade agreements. In return, they would provide help in defending the nation and fighting local pirates. The Concordat also planned to build a dockyard in Alphard, which would be of vital importance to local JumpShips, as none existed nearby.

However, Dame Lorelei Logan knew that this was the first step into becoming a Taurian protectorate and that she might have exchanged an obvious danger for a more pernicious one.

In August 3054 the Federated Commonwealth executed the Galahad 3054 exercises. The bulk of the maneuvers were, as expected, on the border with the Draconis Combine, although the other borders were not left without demonstrations of force. These large scale operations involved more troops than all those available in the combined TDF and MAF. Of particular importance was the number of WarShips involved, including for the first time some of their new models. At least one of the new ones, a big one, probably a Battle Cruiser or a Heavy Cruiser, got some problems, and needed assistance. 4 Mako class Corvettes were also detected, which indicated that either the Federated Commonwealth had recovered two more, or more likely that they had a shipyard producing them (be it an unknown one or an existing one).

Obviously, getting that information became another one of the top priorities of the TMI, a TMI that was becoming overextended.

In the FWL civil war, with both sides exhausted, the tempo of the operations slowed, but the number of sabotages and assassinate attempts grew.

While starting later and while not considered a strategic program like in the Concordat, the Federated Commonwealth also had a program to revisit abandoned or dead worlds inside their frontiers. For that, they had bought, at discount prices, several Magellan JumpShips from the Earth government, that having severely reduced the explorer missions, had a surplus of these. These were obviously sold without the HPG system (promptly replaced by one of FC manufacture) but with the LF battery still present.

So far, the results were three worlds rediscovered, two worlds that had their residual population that has regressed to primitive levels.

But in a system relatively near New Avalon, they found a world, very much alive and with advanced technology. The only problem being that the local population was aligned with the Word of Blake. The explorer ship, one of the Magellan JumpShips, barely escaped from capture, thanks to the use of the LF battery, and spread the word , which gave way to a quickly organized invasion by the AFFC. Thanks to the relatively proximity to New Avalon, first class units, like the Davion Assault Guards RCT, were available.

Supported by several lesser regiments and at least four Pocket WarShips, the invading force landed in September 4, 3054, after dealing with the ASFs defending the system. Luckily for the invading forces, the Word of Blake already facing the needs of the civil war in the Free Worlds League wasn't able to help Versailles with real WarShips or Pocket ones and the forces in place were also minimal, mostly a cadre of trainees and the respective instructors.

What the FC found after securing the world, in mid October, was that they had captured a severely damaged Star League Royal grade massive 'Mech factory with everything needed on world to supply it.