----- 1 Day Later -----
Date: May 18, 3018
Location: Kagoshima
Title: Heir to the Dragon
Author: Robert N. Charrette
Type: Novel Chapter (Heir to the Dragon)
Synopsis: Constance Kurita, a novice in the Order of the Five Pillars, awakens to an urgent summons from her great aunt, Florimel Kurita – Keeper of the House Honor. She proceeds to a small shrine, where a small carved box sits on a pedestal of ivory, surrounded by five candle stands of gold, ivory, steel, teak, and jade – symbolizing the five pillars of the Combine. As the Lord of the Pillars, Shudocho Oda, lights the candles, they are joined by Florimel, who congratulates her and recognizes her as having attained the rank of Adept in the Order of the Five Pillars.
Before Constance can recover from her shock at having been so unexpectedly promoted, she is informed that she is also being dismissed from the Order, so that she can begin training as Florimel’s designated successor as Keeper of the House Honor. Constance accepts, and moves to kneel beside Florimel as a new figure enters the shrine.
Escorted by high-ranking Adepts, the new arrival is a woman wearing an ISF sneaksuit. She presents Florimel with Theodore Kurita’s belt pouch, which she’d sliced off him when they fought the previous evening. She admits failure – having cut Theodore in the process of taking his bag – and asks Florimel to dismiss her from the Order. Florimel rejects the request, saying that it was worth a small cut to learn that the Coordinator’s heir is a strong warrior. Florimel asks one of the escorting Adepts, named Sharilar, to help the sneaksuited woman prepare for her next mission.
Later that day, over at the Wisdom of the Dragon campus, Theodore Kurita is the first called at the graduation ceremony, indicating that he is at the top of his class. Tai-sho Zangi, the school’s commandant, hands him his katana and wakizashi, as well as orders promoting him to Sho-sa, but reproaches him for not having done his best. He is thrilled to have done better than his father, Takashi, who failed to graduate first in his class. However, his jubilation fades when he realizes that Takashi has chosen not to attend the graduation ceremony.
Once the ceremony concludes, Theodore is approached by fellow student Tomoe Sakade, who invites him to join her in a celebration at the House of Tawamure. Theodore is taken aback, having found Tomoe to be icy during their time together as students. Before he can accept, he is summoned to attend his father at the Agate Pavilion.
There, Takashi berates Theodore for having slacked off during his training, and not worked to the best of his ability. Theodore retorts that he is first in his class, but Takashi dismisses it as an unearned sign of favoritism from Tai-sho Zangi, and has decided to banish the commandant to the outpost world of Brihuega. He adds that Theodore’s mother Jasmine is also disappointed, then dismisses his son. On his way out, Theodore is greeted by Subhash Indrahar, but Theodore’s feelings of betrayal prompt him to shake off his mentor and disappear into the crowd.
Later, Constance and Florimel find Theodore alone on a bench in a quiet garden. Florimel asks about Theodore’s orders, which lie crumpled at his feet. He ashamedly responses that he’s unhappy with having been assigned a DRG-1N Dragon by his father. She responds that it is a noble symbol of House Kurita, but that he doesn’t have to fight in it, since he has another option. She presents him with a technical manual for an ON1-K Orion – the very one piloted by Aleksandr Kerensky – found in an Exodus Fleet junk deposit. She has had it refitted with imported Marik parts, and now presents it to Theodore as a graduation gift.
To further cheer Theodore up, Constance notes that he will be posted near his future fiancée, and Florimel reminds him that it is his duty to provide heirs for the ruling family. Theodore responds that he’s had an offer in that department already, and sets off to find Tomoe.
Notes: Constance’s immediate superior in the Order is Shudocho Devlin Oda. That’s right…Devlin. Let the conspiracy theorists tremble! As long as we’re dropping randomly suggestive names, the name “Sharilar” should be familiar. This scene is the first appearance of Sharilar Mori – currently an O5P Adept, but soon to be a Kuritan mole within ComStar, and eventually its Primus. The woman in the sneaksuit is, of course, Tomoe Sakade – Theodore’s future wife. The “next mission” set upon her by Florimel is to get close to Theodore following his graduation from the academy.
Manipulation is the order of the day in the Kuritan court. Takashi seeks to humble his son and shame him for perceived lack of effort. Florimel tries to buck him up by giving him a ‘Mech and an undercover O5P bodyguard (with benefits) at the same time. About her other gift, it’s intriguing as to how the ‘Mech ended up stripped and in a junk heap out in the Periphery. Perhaps Aleks had given up on being a MechWarrior and decided to focus on command issues. However, since the Exodus Fleet ships weren’t thrusting – they just hung at the jump point and recharged in microgravity, so an extra ‘Mech or two wouldn’t have made any difference in terms of fuel consumption. Florimel refers to it having been jettisoned before the Exodus Fleet left the Inner Sphere, so perhaps it was dumped during the staging process, to make room for more food. That would be consistent with Aleks at that stage – willing to sacrifice his personal ‘Mech in order to provide more room for food for the crew. We know from “Betrayal of Ideals” that the Exodus Fleet took the time to camouflage their trash deposits, so it is plausible that it remained undiscovered all this time.
Chris Hartford said that the modeled the structure of “Fall from Grace” on “Heir to the Dragon.” In that case, the academy graduation scenes stand in stark contrast. While Rhean Marik’s graduation at the top of her class was a triumph presided over by her father, who revealed her true identity as she received her diploma, Theodore’s top ranking graduation is spat upon by his father.
This scene shows people using optical discs to transfer information. That was, of course, cutting edge technology in 1988. More recent BattleTech fiction has shown chip-based data storage.