Adept Stevens was troubled. ComStar was not, had not ever, and to his certain knowledge, was not capable of, the results displayed upon his terminal. He blinked, hoping that he had misread the query results, but the words remained, floating in midair in direct contradiction of all the laws of Blake and man.
Memphis System, Crucis March, Federated Suns
Solar body: Ra
Planets in System: 5, 1 major asteroid belt
HPG Facilities: Class A Hyperpulse Generator
Comments: Memphis was founded by religious zealots of the Baptist faith."ComStar does NOT misplace a Class A HPG Station. I refuse to accept this."
Adept Stevens slammed down the terminal panel, and went in search of a better answer.
The Adept had been mistaken — ComStar can, and has, forgotten a great number of things in its history — but in this case, it was not a thing forgotten, but rather a situation that ComStar was never fully aware of.
Memphis was founded before the Star League, by a group of Baptists who had outstayed their welcome on about every world they landed upon. Their particular denomination — records suggest they called themselves the "Primitive Baptists of the Seventh Revelation" — held theological views that most of their co-religionists found eccentric and most planetary governments found irritating.
They were given colonization rights to the Memphis system and sent on their way. This was a common solution in the early colonization era: groups that did not fit were given ships and coordinates and encouraged to build their own utopias far from everyone else.
The first years of a colony world are always harsh, triply so without outside support. The Primitive Baptists discovered that religious fervor does not purify water, that prayer does not fix agricultural equipment, and that divine providence does not reliably deliver supply ships on schedule.
Eventually, the survivors were taken off-world by a trader who had been in-system trying to sell agricultural equipment. His name was Alexander Starr. According to family records, he had originally stopped at Memphis to collect payment on a gambling debt from one of the colony's founders — a debt that proved uncollectable, given the debtor's death from dysentery three months prior.
Starr found the colonists desperate, starving, and willing to trade their land claims for passage to "anywhere with running water and plentiful restaurants."
He took the deal.
Alexander Starr was not a philanthropist. He was a trader with a keen eye for opportunity and a JumpShip he called the FarStrider that had seen better decades. The Memphis land claims cost him nothing but fuel and time. He assumed he was acquiring worthless paper.
He was wrong.
Starr spent the next decade building toward what he described, in personal correspondence, as his retirement plan: "to live out my days on the world with the rainbow deserts, surrounded by as many nubile young things as I can con into going with me."
This plan required money. Starr found it in the Memphis system's asteroid belt, which turned out to be rich in germanium — a critical component in JumpShip construction. A single germanium strike transformed Starr from a marginal trader into a wealthy man.
The second colonization attempt on Memphis fared much better than the first. Starr selected colonists carefully, prioritizing practical skills over ideological purity. He used his new wealth to purchase proper equipment, establish supply contracts, and ensure that his investment would not die of dysentery.
The colony survived. Then it prospered. And Alexander Starr, somewhat to his own surprise, discovered that building something lasting was more satisfying than the retirement he had originally planned.
He never did acquire those nubile young things. He married a terraforming engineer named Delilah Chen, raised three children, and died on Memphis at age 94, surrounded by grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The Starr family has led Memphis ever since. Not as hereditary monarchs — Memphis maintained democratic institutions throughout its history — but as the founding family whose wealth, connections, and genuine public service made them natural leaders.
By the golden years of the Star League, the Memphis system's resources had attracted attention far beyond the Periphery. Germanium, iron, aluminum — the system had everything a growing interstellar economy needed.
The Star League Development Board designated Memphis as a priority investment zone. Money flowed in. Infrastructure followed.
In two decades, Memphis transformed from a prosperous colony world into a boom town:
• A permanent mining station within the asteroid belt
• A surface base on Sekhmet, the iron-rich inner world
• A Class A HPG communications station on remote Set, the system's outer planet
• Expanded aluminum processing facilities
• A new spaceport capable of handling heavy traffic
• Plans for a university campus and residential arcology
The construction employed thousands. Ships crowded the jump points. Young people across the Periphery heard about Memphis and came seeking opportunity.
And then the Star League began to crumble.
The Cameron dynasty's collapse did not happen all at once. First came budget cuts. Then came delays. Then came "temporary suspensions" of approved projects. Then came silence.
On Memphis, workers showed up to construction sites and found no materials. Administrators sent inquiries to Star League Development Board offices and received no responses. Ships scheduled to deliver equipment never arrived.
The HPG station on Set was completed but left unstaffed. The zenith-point refitting station was finished but sat empty except for JumpShips whose owners had no idea where to send them. The great residential arcology stood half-built, wind whistling through unfinished hallways.
Melissa Starr, Alexander's great-granddaughter and the current CEO of Starr Traders, Inc., surveyed the wreckage of the Star League's promises and made a decision.
"My great-great-grandmother used to say that one of the few useful things about a crisis is how it clarifies priorities. The Star League wanted to strip-mine our future. Now they're gone, and we get to decide what to do with what they left behind."
The First Succession War was not kind to anyone. For the Federated Suns, it meant invasion, devastation, and the Kentares Massacre. For the worlds near Memphis, it meant something almost worse: forgetting.
The AFFS High Command requisitioned every military asset it could find. Starr Traders lost three registered JumpShips to conscription, leaving them with only the vessels they managed to hide: two Invaders, two Tramps, and one Merchant-class ship that Melissa had acquired from fleeing SLDF personnel in exchange for "passage to anywhere the Combine isn't."
Five ships. It wasn't much. But it was enough.
While the Great Houses burned each other's worlds, Starr Traders kept the Periphery fed. They ran to pirate points, used smuggler routes, and developed an institutional expertise in avoiding attention.
"We learned a lesson in those years. New Avalon will take everything you have if you let them see it. We stopped letting them see."
— Theodore Starr, Starr Family History
By the end of the First Succession War, the worlds of the Davion Periphery border had developed a new understanding of their relationship with the national government. They had been abandoned when the crisis came. They had survived because of local resources, local initiative, and local leaders who cared more about their neighbors than about distant politics.
They never forgot.
Three worlds emerged from the First Succession War as the natural leaders of the Periphery region: Memphis, Sherwood, and Lackland.
Memphis provided transport, metals, processed goods, and grain. The Starr family's shipping network connected dozens of worlds that New Avalon had written off as economically irrelevant.
Sherwood provided lumber, cattle, small arms, and a tradition of fierce independence that made its population natural allies for anyone suspicious of central authority. The foresters and ranchers of Sherwood had never much liked being told what to do by distant nobles, and the war had not improved their attitude.
Lackland was a water world, rich in aquaculture and rare minerals that could only be extracted from its unique ocean chemistry. Its small population was scattered across floating cities and submarine habitats, developing a culture of practical cooperation that made them ideal trading partners.
Together, the three worlds formed the core of what came to be called, quietly and never in official documents, the "shadow government" of the Periphery March.
There was no formal declaration. No constitution was written. The alliance emerged organically from trade relationships, mutual defense arrangements, and a shared understanding that no one else was going to help them.
New Avalon didn't notice. New Avalon was busy.
In 2830, Starr Traders merged with several smaller shipping and trading companies to form TriStar Interstellar. The name referenced the three founding worlds, but also served as a quiet announcement: this was no longer a family business. This was something larger.
TriStar grew rapidly. By the end of the Second Succession War, it was the most powerful corporation in the region. By the middle of the Third, it was the second-largest shipping company in the entire Federated Suns.
More importantly, TriStar became the third-largest media buyer and reseller in the nation.
"We're not trying to rule anything. We're trying to make sure we never get surprised again. When New Avalon decides to abandon us next time — and there will be a next time — we want to see it coming."
— Margaret Starr, TriStar CEO
TriStar's media and shipping operations created an intelligence network that rivaled ROM's coverage of the region. They knew which nobles were in financial trouble, which military units were being transferred, which policies were being debated in the Privy Council. They knew when supply shortages were coming and positioned inventory accordingly.
This knowledge allowed them to serve their communities. It also allowed them to protect themselves.
We have already confessed to Operation BURNING BRIDGE. Here we provide additional context.
ComStar became aware of TriStar's growing influence in the late 2990s. HPG traffic analysis revealed anomalies: messages that should have gone through official channels were being carried by courier instead, commercial communications that bypassed ComStar stations entirely, a growing zone of "shadow" information flow.
ROM investigated. What they found alarmed them.
TriStar had developed a primitive but functional alternative to HPG communication. Using their shipping network as a backbone, they had created a system of courier packets, dead drops, and relay stations that could move information across dozens of light-years without ever touching a ComStar facility.
It was slow — weeks or months instead of hours. It was limited — only text and small data files, nothing like real-time communication. But it worked. And it meant that the Periphery March was no longer entirely dependent on ComStar's good graces.
This could not be allowed.
The details of Operation BURNING BRIDGE are in Section I. Here we note only the outcome: Belasarius and Marlene Starr died in 3010, murdered by ROM agents who made it look like an accident. Their son Tennessee, 17 years old, inherited a fortune, a corporation, and a hatred of ComStar that would shape the rest of his life.
ROM considered the operation a success. In retrospect, it was the beginning of their failure.
Tennessee Starr — he eventually changed the spelling of his surname, a small act of rebellion against the family that had been taken from him — spent the years after his parents' death being groomed for corporate leadership by TriStar's board of directors. They expected him to become a businessman.
He became a soldier instead.
In 3015, Tennessee used a portion of his personal fortune to establish a small mercenary company. He called it the Terran Revengers — a name that puzzled most observers, who assumed it was some obscure historical reference. In fact, it was a promise. Tennessee knew, though he could not prove, that ComStar had killed his parents. Terra was ComStar's seat of power. The Revengers would have their revenge, eventually, somehow.
The company was small: a reinforced company of BattleMechs, two companies of infantry, and a lance of aerospace fighters. They were green, underequipped, and led by a young man whose primary qualification was being rich.
They should have died on their first contract.
Instead, they survived. Tennessee learned quickly, recruited well, and had access to something most mercenary commanders lacked: TriStar's intelligence network. He knew which contracts were traps, which employers would actually pay, and which battlefields offered advantages that weren't obvious from the official briefings.
In 3023, the TriStar board informed Tennessee that his sabbatical was over. The Periphery March needed him.
"The board wants me to build an army. I told them I'd need at least three regiments to do what they're asking. They said fine. I think they would have said yes to ten."
— Tennessee Star, 3023
By the time the Fourth Succession War began, the Tennessee Star Guards comprised three combined-arms regiments:
The 1st Memphis Militia drew its traditions from the original colony defense forces, emphasizing steadiness and defensive operations. Its soldiers were recruited primarily from Memphis and the immediately surrounding systems, giving it deep roots in the communities it defended.
The 3rd Lackland Regulars emphasized mobility and flexibility, reflecting Lackland's naval traditions. They specialized in rapid deployment and amphibious operations, useful skills in a region with many water-rich worlds.
The 7th Sherwood Cavaliers were the most aggressive of the three regiments, inheriting Sherwood's frontier spirit. They favored offensive operations, reconnaissance in force, and making life unpleasant for anyone who threatened their homes.
The numerical designations were deliberate. By implying that there were also 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th regiments somewhere, Tennessee hoped to confuse intelligence analysts about the true size of his force.
SIDELINE: Lucky Amateurs or Skilled PSYOPS?The early TSG was thrown together in a manner that caused most onlookers to dismiss them as what, in truth, they were — a vanity project run by leaders who possessed little practical experience. Much of the early flamboyancy was intended to reinforce those claims, both to reduce concerns that the Guards were intended as a means of self-defense against FedSuns units but also to dissuade serious inquiry into the unit.
What began as camouflage did change over time, into a tradition that makes it difficult for outsiders to understand exactly what is serious, and what is just amusing window dressing — which is still used as a low-level screen for intrusions, with in-jokes and inferred humor remaining the hardest items to translate effectively.
Hanse Davion's war began on August 20, 3028, announced at his wedding reception in a moment of theater that delighted propagandists and appalled diplomats in equal measure.
For the Tennessee Star Guards, the war was a test. Their first engagement, during the second Operation Galahad exercises that preceded the war, had been embarrassing — a green unit making green mistakes against experienced AFFS opposition. They had reorganized frantically, integrating lessons learned and adjusting command structures that had looked good on paper but failed in practice.
The 1st Memphis Militia and 3rd Lackland Regulars deployed as part of the second wave of Operation RAT, the invasion of the Capellan Confederation. Their assignment was garrison duty on recently conquered worlds — not glamorous, but necessary, and a good way to gain experience without facing front-line opposition.
The TSG adapted. Their C3 integration — cobbled together from civilian equipment in ways that made AFFS logistics officers wince — proved surprisingly effective. Their intelligence support from TriStar provided context that regular units lacked. Their soldiers, recruited from frontier worlds, understood something about dealing with hostile populations that parade-ground troops from New Avalon did not.
They survived. They learned. And when the war ended, they returned home as veterans.
SIDELINE: Improvised C3 SystemsOne of the first problems that the TSG faced was the lack of adequate command facilities and communication networks — such luxuries as Cyclops command 'Mechs being unobtainable on the open market. TSG techs, most of whom were from either TriStar dropship crews or retired military, and led by Solaris VII crew chiefs, developed an innovative quick-fix that became standard practice.
Techs would utilize civilian tri-vid remote broadcast gear, hooked into commercially available scrambler equipment. Although their transmissions could be broken into after some time, the gear allowed real-time communications at a much lower cost than mil-spec equipment. In addition, the gear provided a very useful psyops and public service role with its ability to interface with civilian transmitters.
This early reliance on and use of C3 integration is a TSG hallmark, and was a major factor in their selection of the MON-80 as the first new-tech BattleMech to be produced by Memphis Motive Works.
The Fourth Succession War's most important legacy for the Periphery March had nothing to do with combat.
When Hanse Davion announced the formation of the Federated Commonwealth, trade barriers between the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth began to fall. Capital flowed. Markets opened. And Defiance Industries of Hesperus announced that they would build a new manufacturing facility somewhere in the Federated Suns.
Every March lord in the nation wanted that facility. A fusion engine plant meant jobs, investment, strategic importance, and the kind of economic development that transforms a region.
TriStar wanted it more.
The campaign to bring Defiance to Memphis was coordinated across every asset TriStar controlled. Media coverage emphasized the region's stability, workforce quality, and resource availability. Political connections were leveraged. Economic incentives were offered. And when all else failed, TriStar simply offered to finance the facility themselves, taking on costs that would normally be covered by government subsidies.
Defiance accepted. The Memphis Motive Works facility broke ground in 3030, with TriStar providing nearly 80% of the construction costs in exchange for favorable terms that New Avalon bean-counters failed to fully appreciate.
Within five years, TriStar had accumulated enough voting shares and board positions to effectively control the facility. In 3035, they completed a quiet acquisition that transferred ownership entirely to Memphis Motive Works, a TriStar subsidiary.
Defiance Industries discovered that they had built a factory for someone else. Their protests to the FedSuns Trade Commission went nowhere — all paperwork was in order, all transactions legal. The Lyran merchants had been beaten at their own game, and the Periphery March now had the industrial capacity to build its own fusion engines.
The Clan Invasion changed everything — and nothing.
When the Clans struck at the Inner Sphere in 3049, the Periphery March was too far from the invasion corridors to face direct attack. But Tennessee Star watched the holovids like everyone else. He saw Wolf's Dragoons and the Kell Hounds answer Hanse Davion's call to defend Luthien, capital of the Draconis Combine. He saw mercenaries — Federated Suns mercenaries — preparing to die for the Dragon.
He volunteered the Tennessee Star Guards without being asked.
The decision was controversial. The Draconis Combine had been the Federated Suns' primary enemy for centuries. Duke James Sandoval of Robinson, whose family had bled against the Combine for generations, was apoplectic.
"Davion subjects fighting to protect those damn Dracs. Tennessee Star has forgotten which nation he serves."
— Duke James Sandoval of Robinson
Tennessee Star had not forgotten. He simply understood something the Duke did not: the Clans were everyone's enemy, and mercenaries who abandoned allies — even former enemies — in their hour of need would find no allies when their own hour came.
The TSG arrived at Luthien in early January 3052, just as the Smoke Jaguars and Nova Cats began their assault. The fighting was apocalyptic. Twelve Inner Sphere regiments faced five Clan Galaxies in the Kado-guchi Valley. When it was over, hundreds of burning 'Mechs streaked the sky with smoke. The Kell Hounds lost over half their strength. Wolf's Dragoons went from five regiments to two and a half.
Tennessee Star died covering the withdrawal of the 7th Sherwood Cavaliers and the Dragoons' Beta Regiment. He led an Extraction Company — a TSG tactical innovation, a combined-arms formation specifically designed to break friendly units out of encirclement — into the teeth of Clan Nova Cat's retreating fury. His 'Mech was found surrounded by destroyed Clan machines. The ejection system had been disabled by battle damage. He never had a chance to use it.
SIDELINE: The Extraction CompanyThe Extraction Company is a Tennessee Star Guards innovation that emerged from their defensive doctrine. Where most military forces train to attack or defend, the TSG recognized that their most likely combat scenario involved covering retreats — their own or their allies'.
An Extraction Company is a combined-arms formation built around speed, firepower, and expendability. Fast hover vehicles and jump-capable 'Mechs provide screening and harassment. Heavy assault elements create a "hard point" that the retreating force can rally behind. Infantry with portable weapons secure chokepoints and delay pursuit.
The doctrine is simple: the Extraction Company goes in, takes the hits that would otherwise fall on the retreating force, and buys time for withdrawal. Casualties are expected to be severe. Volunteers are required.
Tennessee Star led the first Extraction Company deployment at Luthien. He did not survive it. The doctrine worked exactly as designed.
The political fallout was immediate and lasting. Duke Sandoval demanded that the Federated Commonwealth government censure TriStar Interstellar for "unauthorized military action in support of enemy powers." The demand went nowhere — the Davion government could hardly punish units that had helped save Luthien from the Clans — but it established a pattern of hostility between the Draconis March and the Periphery March that continues to this day.
On Memphis, Tennessee Star became a martyr. The man who had founded the TSG, who had built TriStar into a regional power, who had carried the weight of his parents' murder for decades, had died as he lived: protecting people who needed protection, regardless of what New Avalon thought about it.
Tennessee Star's children — Phillip Caesar Starr and Elizabeth Marlene Starr — were too young to assume command immediately. The TriStar board appointed an interim commander from among senior TSG officers while the Starr heirs completed their training. By the time of the Jihad, both had assumed prominent roles: Phillip on the board, Elizabeth in command of Memphis Battalion.
By the early 3050s, the Periphery March had achieved something remarkable: functional autonomy within a nation that did not officially recognize its existence.
TriStar controlled shipping, manufacturing, and media throughout the region. The Tennessee Star Guards provided military capability independent of the AFFS chain of command. Memphis, Sherwood, and Lackland maintained coordinated policies through informal channels that left no paper trail for New Avalon analysts to follow.
It was not independence. The Periphery March paid taxes, followed federal law, and maintained theoretical allegiance to the First Prince. Local nobles held their titles from the Davion crown and could, in theory, be removed by Davion decree.
In practice, the region governed itself.
The Clan invasion barely touched the Periphery March directly. The FedCom Civil War was observed from a distance, with TriStar shipping carefully avoiding both sides. The Jihad burned hot elsewhere while the Periphery March kept its head down and its economy running.
When Princess-Regent Yvonne Steiner-Davion formally created the Periphery March in 3079, granting Duke Raymond-Roger Marsin authority over the region, she was not creating something new. She was recognizing something that had existed for centuries.
The official histories credit Yvonne with administrative innovation. The people of the Periphery March know better. They built their home themselves, while New Avalon wasn't watching. The Davions merely, eventually, noticed.
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