[Hanse Davion - First Prince of the Federated Suns]
[Corean Enterprises Headquarters - Head Science Officer's Personal Lab Complex]
[Avalon City, New Avalon; Federated Suns]
[December 10th, 3025]
Arthur Corean had come a very long way from the boy Hanse Davion first saw so many, many years ago.
Even before he was the First Prince, Hanse had his proverbial eyes and ears on Arthur Corean- how could he not when? When he'd heard of the newest brilliant mind to step into the hallowed halls of New Avalon University, the young man who would one day replace his brother Ian kept abreast of all of the developments in the Federated Suns' newest genius. He even made sure to read the yearly petitions Arthur sent to the Office of the First Prince to be allowed to advance his learning by gaining exemptions from the university's rigid curriculum, and he was amused that every year Ian saw fit to deny it.
According to Ian, he wanted to ensure that Arthur Corean had stable grounding by sticking with his peers as they progressed naturally through the system, and to display in no uncertain terms that within the Federated Suns all students were treated equally.
Average, Above Average, or Certified Genius, the educational system of the Federated Suns would give every man or woman- and in Arthur's case, child- their due, but ultimately it was a reminder that there were limits in place for a reason.
Likely to prevent academic burnout or something along those lines, Hanse presumed. Or because society simply didn't like nails that stuck out.
So when Ian Davion passed away on Mallory's World, Hanse Davion saw fit to continue the tradition of reading and then denying Arthur Corean's requests to progress more quickly, and when he got closer, to graduate early so that he could 'focus his attentions more productively on personal projects until the start of the next academic term'.
With that in mind, it was no surprise that in 3016, when the New Avalon Institute of Science's facilities were completed, Arthur Corean jumped ship from New Avalon University to pursue the more rigorous scientific coursework available to him.
It was likely the latest and greatest in research equipment also helped him make the final decision.
By 3021 the boy had grown into a young man, his brilliant mind devouring the Masters programs for Engineering and all of the relevant Certification courses, Metallurgy, and programming for both 'modern' and 'Star League-era' coding languages.
It had blown Hanse away, if he was being honest, to see the photographs of the boy attending NAU and to see what he had grown up to become by then- he had grown tall and lanky, his flaming red hair messy and unkempt, with a paradoxically well-groomed beard that matched his hair. His wirey build was concealed by the pristine white lab coat that was worn by the Doctorate-level scientists even though he was still in the Doctorate courses himself- a silent vote of confidence and a small privilege granted to him by his Professors that it was only a matter of time and experience until he had one day joined the ranks as a respected P.h.D. in his own right.
The young man had even been granted a small personal laboratory within the Egg Carton, the nickname Hanse came up with for the secretive labs hidden well beneath the primary campus of the NAIS, and a sizeable budget to go along with it. It was where he could be found every day without fail when he wasn't aggravating his fellow Doctoral students with his blunt nature and brilliant mind; he'd read no shortage of complaints from his fellows while he worked on the Federated Sun's Double Heatsink program, and as time went on- the young man devouring more knowledge- those complaints only increased.
It was understandable, truly. In any other time and place the young men and women who attended NAIS would all have been hailed as the Standard Bearers for the next generation of scientists that would lead the Federated Suns into a new era of scientific recovery, and later advancement. However, all of their hard work, all of their efforts... all seemingly paled in comparison to the intellect of a single man many years their junior. Every person in the Doctoral program at NAIS had earnedtheir slots, but with Arthur Corean among their number, they all felt that he was a threat to their own ability to succeed and progress.
One wouldn't be wrong in believing that such an environment might foster a positive learning environment and stoke some competitive spirit, but it was more akin to watching a grown man take on a team of primary school children on the football pitch. After looking at their own growth and comparing it to Arthur Corean's, the fully grown men and women began to feel depressed and started to give up- something that could not happen, and Arthur was 'rewarded' for his efforts by being removed from the program entirely and almost exclusively confined to his personal labs.
Hanse felt that it was more of a punishment for being too brilliant, for shining so brightly that he blinded his peers and made them unable to see their own excellence... and it was for that reason the First Prince went out of his way to visit Arthur at every available opportunity.
It had been rough in the beginning.
Exceptionally rough.
To say that Hanse and Arthur had a rocky start would be an understatement.
Despite his seemingly mature attitude, one noted by his teachers even in Primary School as being well beyond his peers, it was rather clear that Arthur understood that his 'reward' was anything but. The psychiatric evaluations worked up by the internal branch of MIIO believed that Arthur had been chomping at the bit to get into the Doctoral programs so soon because he was craving the companionship and mental stimulation that someone of his caliber so desperately needed. A certain level of intellectual comradery that only something challenging like the Doctoral programs of NAIS could provide, and yet, once he finally arrived he found himself ostracized by his peers almost immediately.
His star burned so hotly, so brightly, that it incinerated any chance that he might have had to make some friends... and when Hanse came to that realization it hit him like a punch to the gut.
It dawned on him that for the many years he and his beloved brother thought they were helping the boy stay grounded and connected to his peers, it turned out that they had only done one of the brightest minds the Federated Suns had ever seen a great disservice. Arthur Corean had desperately needed the challenge, and despite having the tools to do so, Hanse Davion had failed to provide it. Because of this, Arthur failed to connect with his peers, his mere existence a great threat to their personal goals and ambitions, and that caused a great rift to form that could never be bridged; the worst excesses of Tribalism rearing its ugly head to ostracize that which was different and frightening.
After all, what sort of child crammed almost thirty years' worth of University-level schooling into just ten years? A monster, that's what. An intellectual monster that devoured any scrap of worthwhile knowledge he could get his hands on, to be sure, but a monsternonetheless. That he was also quite anti-social, even by the standards of academia, didn't help.
Despite his calm exterior and relatively polite personality, the boy only succeeded in driving people away- his innate maturity and brilliance an anathema to his peers.
So was it any surprise when Hanse Davion invaded his personal sanctum and began asking seemingly inane questions that the young man responded with vehemence?
"If you're not going to ask something useful, my Prince, then get the fuck out of my lab! I can't make all of the important shit the Federated Suns is going to need to drag us out of this bag full of assholes our progenitors left for us to deal with if you keep fucking bothering me!"
The little 'nnnyyyyaaaeeegghhhh!'sound that he made as he weakly tossed a binder filled with paper at him really was quite adorable.
Truth be told, it was something that had shocked Hanse, maybe even made him furious that he, the First Prince of the Federated Suns, had been yelled at with such vulgarity- and Ardan certainly was disgusted by the childish tantrum- but it truly drove home the fact that Arthur Corean still remembered his and Ian's transgressions.
Even after all of those years, Arthur still remembered the two men who held him back out of some misplaced sense of fairness.
They had successfully restrained him, hobbled his intellectual growth, and the young boy had ultimately been the one to pay the price for their hubris and folly.
It was at that moment, upon that dawning realization, that Hanse had made a personal vow to right the wrongs he and his brother had so thoughtlessly perpetrated on Arthur Corean.
The young man, more than anything else in the whole world, needed a friend, and Hanse Davion would bethat friend.
Even if he couldn't help everyone in the Federated Suns, the First Prince decided that he would help someone... even if it was just this single one.
So while Ardan Sortek, his ever faithful Champion and friend, was righteously offended on Hanse's behalf, Hanse calmly folded his arms over his chest and asked a simple question that would one day, he hoped, change the history of the Federated Suns for forever: "Then what would be the rightquestions to ask, Arthur?"
Arthur's face scrunched up in consternation, likely surprised that his infantile threat display hadn't drawn offense or driven him off, but the young man recovered quickly, "Well, it's a start, Hanse."
So from that day forward, Hanse Davion made it a point to visit Arthur Corean every month, to check up on him, to see how he was doing. He asked how his courses were progressing, how his family was, what he was currently researching- Arthur was somewhat notorious for picking up and putting down projects once he reached a stumbling block he couldn't immediately surmount- and how he thought the best route would be for expanding innovation and improving progress within the Federated Suns.
Most of the young man's focus had been on military technologies, unsurprising given the sheer importance military might had within the Inner Sphere during this 3rd Succession War they were embroiled in, but he had plenty to say about the terraforming and life support technologies that the Star League developed. Though he quickly dismissed them mainly because without a sufficiently strong military to safeguard those technologies, any efforts put into trying to redevelop them would be for naught as the other Successor Houses would surely destroy them when the opportunity presented itself... if capture wasn't an option, at the very least.
It also helped that Arthur's father was the CEO and owner of Corean Enterprises, one of the Federated Suns' premier war material manufacturers- if he focused on research related to military matters, then building up a program within the company to take advantage of such advancements was, in Arthur's book, a 'no brainer'.
And speaking of a 'no-brainer' it was clear to see that in Hanse's absence, Arthur Corean had been rather busy- the large underground bunker that served as his personal laboratory deep within the bowels of Corean Enterprises was positively brimmingwith activity. Over two dozen Corean scientists ran about the place in a frenzy, their white coats flapping behind them. Multiple long tables had black tarps draped over them in the fore, and surrounding the area were other much larger projects that were likewise concealed- with one of them being tall enough to conceal a Battlemech!
He... didn't manage to make a new Battlemech while Hanse was gone, did he?
"And who, pray tell, are we waiting on, Arthur?" Ardan's teeth were on edge, but whether it was because of the previous conversations or that Hanse wasn't concealing his giddy smile the First Prince didn't know.
He'd long since gotten used to the fact that Ardan Sortek and Arthur Corean would never become friends, but Hanse considered them both among his closest friends, even if Arthur was almost half his age; Arthur was 28 years old, soon to be 29 when January 2nd came around, and Hanse was already 42!
"We're waiting on my little brother," Arthur replied with an easy smile that seemed to only infuriate Hanse's Champion even further, "Seeing as he is going to become one of the driving forces behind Corean over the next 13 years I feel it is only proper that he be present for a momentous occasion such as this."
Hanse refrained from tapping his hands on his thighs as he wished to do and instead looked at Arthur, the man raising an eyebrow, "I had heard that Yuri declined the NAIS' Military Science slot for the NAU School of Business... what do you think his role will be in the company?"
The CEO and Chief Science Officer of Corean Enterprises placed his hands on his hips and inhaled slowly, his gaze far off, "I'm hoping that by his seventh year, he can sit in my stead and handle the more day-to-day operations of the company so I can focus my efforts where they'll do the most good- right here. However, I did promise him that I'd custom build for him a 'Mech so that he could attend NAIS' Mil-Sci program and become the Mechwarrior he's always wanted to be. When that time comes, however, I want to have someone else competent, someone I can trust... to handle the particulars in his stead."
The way Arthur looked directly at Hanse, his gaze deep and meaningful- not to mention the emphasis he put on 'competent' and 'trust'- led the Prince to believe that the man was going to look to him to solve that particular problem. "And... what did you have in mind for that?"
Arthur Corean gave him a rakish grin, "Later, once we're done here. It might be a bit of a tall order, but I think once you see what I've cooked up over the past few years you'll actually consider my proposal."
"I don't like the way you phrased that," Ardan muttered, "And what could you have possibly done in such a short amount of time that would warrant the direct consideration of our First Prince?"
"Well, I wouldn't expect you to know this given how you do your best to ignore my existence the moment I'm not in your direct FOV, Ardan," The red-haired man scoffed lightly as he rubbed at his beard before dragging his hand over all of the hidden goodies displayed before them, "But this? This is all the culmination of my many, many years working by myself in the Egg Carton. Unlike the rest of my peers, when I encounter a problem I cannot immediately solve I don't bash my head against a brick wall, I simply put the project down and come back to it when I have a brain wave. This has led me to have numerous projects running concurrently, all of which were in various states of completion."
The man placed his fists against his hips as he surveyed his domain, his blue eyes slipping over every item and person in his sight, "While some might consider it 'inefficient' to do so, I was working on these advancements by myself. So rather than burn out, I chose to take the path that would lead to me making progress while allowing me to enjoy my work. After all, 'if you love what you do then you'll never work a day in your life', or something to that effect."
"I agree completely," Hanse hummed, replying with a large grin of his own, "Being the First Prince is exhausting to be sure. Trying? Certainly. However, there is no other place I'd rather be! Nothing else gets me out of bed in the morning quite like taking care of the people of the Federated Suns."
"Hanse, there aren't any cameras around... and none of my people are close enough to overhear. You can bitch and moan, you know? I won't say anything."
A soft chortle made Hanse's shoulders shake, but he didn't respond- poor Ardan's noble heart wouldn't be able to bear it if he did that.
"Anyway, it wasn't until my Father made me the Chief Science Officer of Corean Enterprises that I finally had enough funding, space, and manpower to truly start buckling down on making it past the sticking points. As brilliant as I am, no man is an Island unto himself, something that I've been gaining a lot of experience in as of late," Arthur sucked at his teeth, his voice laced with melancholy, but there was a certain warmth there that managed to shine through, something that made Hanse feel like beaming, "However, with more people, I can do more things. No longer do I have to sit down and collate the results of a particular experiment, or write down all of the observations of a new formula or manufacturing technique. My people and I have a system: I crunch the numbers and come up with the cool stuff, they test the maths and the cool stuff, and we work together to come up with a better way to do more maths and refine the cool stuff. It is a simple yet elegant system- truly, a thing of beauty."
It made the First Prince wonder if this was what Ian must have felt like when he was proud of the man that Hanse had been growing up to become.
The Arthur of five years ago would have balked at the thought of having to work with someone else on a project, especially after they shunned him. Yes, it had been a very long road for Arthur Corean, the man had been opening up and coming out of his shell, and that was a thing of beauty indeed.
Out of the corner of his vision, Hanse watched Ardan roll his eyes- the Sortek equivalent to a child miming that he was trying not to vomit.
The Prince sighed lightly with a small smile on his face. These two men were almost the same age and yet both acted mature beyond their years when they weren't around each other, but the moment they were in the same space it was like Hanse had been brought back to Primary school once again! It was refreshing, mostly, though their juvenile snipes at one another did get a tad grating after a while- and thankfully, it seemed the last member of their party had arrived!
It was rather startling just how different the three Corean brothers were in looks, size, and stature. He'd met Andrew Corean, who had been at the time one of Ian's Recon Lance Commanders, and the man was so large that he barely fit inside the cockpit of the Valkiyre he piloted. To contrast this, young Yuri Corean was short and slight, the perfect size for a Mechwarrior to be sure; the teen looked as though he could fit into a Locust's cockpit and have room to spare! Then there was Arthur himself, who sat in the middle ground between them.
Three brothers who served, are serving or will serve the Federated Suns with distinction- both in the past, present, and years to come.
It was always a humbling feeling to have the love and loyalty of daring, committed men and women such as these...
"My Prince!?" The teen seemed rather shocked to see them, though much to Hanse's surprise the young man dropped to a knee before him, "My apologies, if I'd know that we'd be playing host to someone as august as yourself I would have strived to be here earlier!"
The collar around Hanse's neck felt tight, but he resisted the temptation to tug at it, "Now, now, there is no need to fall to our knee, my good man. Please, rise. You're among friends and family here this day, pageantry and fealty have their place... but this is not one of those times."
Hanse noted that Ardan looked down at the young man with a pleased expression, in the meanwhile Arthur's expression was inscrutable.
"I am afraid that I cannot, at least not yet, My Prince. Not before I apologize," Yuri Corean's tone was soft, but there was a spine of steel within it, and Hanse decided that letting the young man apologize for whatever slight he felt he'd done the Office was for the best.
"Very well then," The First Prince straightened himself and clasped his hands behind his back, "Speak your peace, Yuri Corean."
"A year ago I was offered a letter signed by your very hand, an invitation to the Academy of Military Science at the New Avalon Institute of Science. I accepted it, but only a few short months, before the Intake Term started, I decided to... reject the invitation on short notice so that I could course change to New Avalon University and attend their School of Business so that I might assist my brother in running the family business," The teen kept his head low- his words evenly measured but there was a hint of trepidation hidden deep within, "After my rejection letter arrived, I was informed by Captain Marcus Heathrow of the AMS that my refusal had come late, which resulted in the Academy being unable to fill my slot in time for the start of the term. Because of my actions, I have not only deprived another prospective Mechwarrior of their seat, but I have deprived the AFFS of a future Mechwarrior as well. Though I do feel that my actions were the correct ones to take and my cause just... I still feel as though I must apologize for my tardiness."
Hanse released one of his hands so that he could rub it along his jaw, and he glanced at Ardan out of the corner of his eye, "My Champion, if you would please, look into Captain Marcus Heathrow... if memory serves me he should be of the 17th Recruitment and Training Regiment?"
"Of course, My Prince," Ardan reached into the pouch at the small of his back and produced a miniature noteputer, likely to write down the 'good' Captain's name.
The last he had been informed, the AMS had a complete roster for this term with all billets filled. So that either meant that Colonel Maginar was fluffing his reports or Captain Heathrow was attempting to browbeat and guilt prospective cadets into second-guessing their decisions. In either case, neither could stand, not in his AFFS.
The First Prince changed mental tracks and smiled as he reached down and patted Yuri on the shoulder, bidding him to stand, "I accept your apology, Yuri Corean, though I must say that I agree with your course of action. If I remember correctly your simulator scores were exceptional, and you were in the Top Five men in your Tertiary School's graduating class. Such excellence in my opinion does deserve to be at NAIS within my Corps of Cadets, but I am thankful that even with your dreams of becoming a proud Mechwarrior of the AFFS... you have kept your heart as well as your mind."
Hanse looked over at Arthur, whose expression relaxed into something more at ease, "Your family as a whole has been placed in a rough predicament with the passing of your parents, and it gladdens my heart to know that the love between brothers in House Corean runs strong enough that you would sacrifice your coveted slot to assist Arthur with running Corean Enterprises."
He looked back to Yuri and placed both hands on the young teen's shoulders, "So rest assured, I believe wholeheartedly that you made the right decision. Besides, I'm certain that once your brother has his feet out underneath him he'll be more than happy to release you into the service of the AFFS once your dedication and intellect are no longer needed, and when that day comes you can be certain that I will see to it personally that you have a slot when the time comes."
Yuri Corean's youthful visage lit up like a 1 Million watt spotlight, and even Arthur let a warm smile slip onto his face, "Of course, My Prince! I won't let you down!"
Hanse patted the boy on his shoulders, "Good lad. Now, I do believe we had a tour to attend. My schedule today has some flexibility, but we're already just a touch behind so..."
It was rather amusing to Hanse that for all of the hundreds of millions of Pounds worth of highly specialized equipment here within this expansive personal laboratory... the true stars of this show, as far as he could tell, were all seated on flimsy plastic picnic tables with chintzy black drapes covering them. The current table they were standing in front of had two concealed lumps, one being very small, and the other the size of a large box, which notably had two rather thick power cables running from underneath the midnight drapery.
"Now, I have a great many things to show you, Hanse, but this right here is the true star of the show- this is the latchkey technological development that makes everything else I'm doing to display possible," Arthur reached down and grabbed onto and stripped it away with a flourish to reveal