Dragon of the Reach

Tensions

Disclaimers: I do not own Battletech.

A/N: Alright, I'm back with this story after dealing with some personal issues and such. This chapter will close out the First Arc of this story and the Second Arc will begin in the next chapter with it being more combat-oriented and such along with showcasing one of my favorite parts of the game: the events that would happen while the Argo was in transit. Sometimes if I had enough money and such, I would just go from system to system just to have an event pop-up.

Please enjoy.

Tensions.

On the planet of Canopus IV within the royal palace of House Centrella, Lady Ana Maria Centrella of the Magistracy of Canopus sat in her own personal briefing room with a single lamp being the only source of illumination for her. She was nearly alone with only one other figure in the room, though this person was mostly hidden in the shadows across the way with only the bare minimum of their outline being seen.

"So what do you have to tell me Agent....?", the Lady spoke.

"Agent is such an overused and outdated term for people of my profession. It has gain notoriety due to secret spy holo-vid and such", a masculine voice answers, "For the sake of this briefing you may simply call me... Bob, my lady."

Ana Maria raises an eyebrow at this and suppresses the grin that threatens to appear on her lips before speaking.

"Okay...Bob. Forgive me for saying this but it is extremely rare to see a man in such a position within the Magistracy Intelligence Ministry."

If Bob was offended by such a statement, Ana Maria couldn't see it through the darkness.

"MIM is in the midst of adopting a new policy of promoting people base on merits, not on gender", he replies.

"A rare thing here in the Magistracy", Lady Ana Maria points out.

"That it is. Now if it pleases my Lady, I believe I have a briefing to give you", Bob says.

"Ah yes, of course. Tell me, what have you gather on our friends in the Reach since the war ended?", Ana Maria asks as she leans back into her chair.

Bob nods at this and pushes a button on the wall next to him, bringing up a holo-map of the Aurigan Reach in the center of the room and presents a data-pad out from behind his back.

"As you already undoubtedly know, the Reach is in a resurrection phase after their civil war, seeking to rebuild the devastation brought forth by it", Bob began, "This includes restarting the economy, dealing with the massive refugees' crisis, re-establishing trade routes, and dealing with the famine in the Panzyr system, one of its key systems. Lady Kamea has shown surprisingly adaptability in dealing with all of these issues at once as well as consolidating her power base to bring the other Founding Houses in line."

Lady Ana Maria fakes a yawn and waves a dismissive hand, "Yes, yes, I am aware of all that dribble. Your division's main assignment, as I recall, was gathering intel on the Coalition's military potential."

Bob is quiet for a moment before pushing a button on his data-pad which brought up the image of a Wolverine battlemech on the holo-map

"The Aurigan military is in a state of disarray at a time where the Reach is at its most vulnerable to its more powerful neighbors. Standing military strength is around forty percent of what it was before the war and it will take a considerable amount of time to bring it back to full readiness. The only saving grace is that now they possess a remarkable number of salvageable battlemechs now thanks to the Concordat leaving a great deal of them behind in their retreat", Bob details.