The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth - Frozen/Battletech

[Chris OFarrell]

*insert sound that sounds suspiciously like a PPC capacitor linked to a Heavy PPC charging to full power*

[Trace Coburn]

*insert sound that sounds suspiciously like a PPC capacitor linked to a Heavy PPC charging to full power*

  FWIW, I’ve always imagined that as sounding like a Proton Pack energising.  ;)

[Chris OFarrell]

Phew. Know its been a while, but on with the show and all that!

Again going to split this over several posts due to my tendency to waffle on.

Its a bit of a pain that this board doesn't parse stuff like italics or bold text automatically, so I'm not going to go through and hit all the italics - its just a silly amount of work given how much I overuse it :p

---

The last remaining holdout of a late Star League era colonization drive into star Cluster J-25, the Southern Isles is in most respects your typical outback system in the Federated Suns. One of four systems settled in 2750, it was the most ‘rimward’ of the four star systems, hence the rather grandiose name given to it by the Inner Sphere Cartography Society.

The three other worlds settled as part of this attempt, the ‘Northern’ ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ isles were abandoned with the eventual breakdown of their terraforming systems during the First Succession War. Alone among them, the Southern Isles had not required ongoing terraforming to remain viable- but even so, it had been heavily co-dependent on the other three systems for worthwhile trade links to be a stable colony. This was of course a state of affairs that would be duplicated across much of the Periphery as Terran imposed dependency links collapsed in the chaos of the Star League's dissolution.

But through sheer grit and determination its population has, if not thrived, then at least survived well enough to the present day. Such an accomplishment may not sound like much to a denizen of the Inner Sphere, but if you were to take a good look at the sheer number of abandoned worlds marked on star maps today across the Periphery....

3052 Update

The initial wave of economic investment into the Periphery March has mostly bypassed this world, meaning you are unlikely to find your hotel booked out with hordes of Lyran businessmen waving around briefcases full of C-Bills. However, the refurbishment and reopening of its Zenith recharge station completed last year as part of a new direct shipping route between New Avalon and Filtvet has resulted in an over 2000% increase in Jumpship traffic through the system over the first six months of 3052 alone. Taking full advantage of the new trade routes, representatives from the Southern Isles can often be found on worlds up and down the shipping chain, in search of new opportunities…

-Lonny Sphere’s Pocket Guide to The Periphery; ‘The Southern Isles’. 3053 edition, New Avalon Press.


Grand Arendelle Hotel
Arendelle City, Arendelle
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 09 3053

“I’m so sorry! Are you hurt?”

It took a lot to render Anna Jorgensson speechless.
In fact up until this point in history's inexorable march forward, it was mostly a theoretical concept as no-one had ever actually succeeded in leaving her speechless, per se. Indeed, most people who knew her well could have been forgiven for thinking that short of being rendered unconscious, there was no force in the universe that could leave Anna in such a state. Even if occasionally she had the good sense to keep her mouth shut rather than blurt out what came to mind, she nevertheless always had something to say.

But sprawled on the hard, polished marble floor of the Grand Arendelle Hotel looking up into the emerald eyes of the man who had just knocked her over, Anna was indeed speechless for a long, loooooong moment.

“Heeeey…” she finally repeated the exclamation she had given when knocked onto her backside now more or less on autopilot as her brain reeled from the devastating impact of those glorious eyes. “Uh, y- no no I’m okay!” she got out as she pulled herself up into a sitting position, the pains in her arms and backside seeming to vanish in a moment as she absently brushed her hair out of her face. “I just wasn’t looking, well, looking where I was going and uh” GET IT TOGETHER GIRL! –“but I’m … great … actually” she finished, finding herself unable to break eye contact as the other man knelt down next to her.

“My fault entirely” the other waved her blubbered apology away magnanimously, offering her his hand with a smile that could have brought a dead puppy back to life. “Thank Goodness you’re alright”.
Anna shyly reached out to take the offered hand, feeling a sudden leap in her chest as he ever so gently took her hand in his own and carefully helped her back to her feet.
“Oh, forgive me” the other suddenly said, letting her hand go and taking a half step back to let him offer her a formal half bow as he apparently mistook her dopey grin for the stare of an unasked question. “Hans Westerguard of the Southern Isles”.

The voice inside Annas head squeeed at the perfection of the gesture.

Shut up, let me handle this! Anna silently yelled at herself, not pausing for a moment to consider the mild insanity implied in doing so as she tried to focus through the fluttering swarm of butterflies in her chest.

“Lady Anna Jorgensson of Arendelle” she replied instead, performing an abbreviated curtsey in exchange that would have left her old dancing instructor facepalming, but it was the best she could do in her semi-casual skirt as for the first time in her life she found herself unhappy with the fact she had no Noble title of her own other than ‘Lady’.
He would probably just dismiss her as a nobody and-

“Anna Jorgensson?” he repeated her name, with an unusual emphasis on the first as if trying to remember something before suddenly his eyes went wide in shock and quicker than she could follow, the man dropped to his knee in front of her. “My Lady! My apologies, I should have recognized you”.

He-knows-who-I-am-oh-my-God-he-knows-who-I-am-and-he's-kneeling-

She fought past the sudden tightness in her chest at the sight of this man, this incredibly handsome man, kneeling before her, impulsively reaching down to take his hand and urge him to his feet…

Unfortunately, once again, Anna did not entirely take account of the freshly waxed floors friction coefficient - and her slightly shaky legs - as she leaned down and tried to urge him back to his feet.
And so with a yelp, she felt her feet slide forward across the floor sharply, sending her falling backwards, her head snapping around to see the floor rapidly coming up to meet her, yet in that moment feeling that it wouldn’t hurt as much as the humiliation of falling onto her back like this-

“-Woah woah woah-”

-and she stopped. Just short of the floor she jerked to a halt, cradled in strong, broad arms...

Anna had had the wind knocked out of her on several occasions in her life … well, several hundred occasions probably - it was an occupational hazard when someone was as active as she was.
But she had never had the wind knocked out of her this way before as she blinked and gazed up into the -very close- face of the man who had caught her, an expression of alarm and shock fading away rapidly to something more along the lines of mild embarrassment at their predicament … along with something else.

“Umm…” he seemed to freeze in place, trying to figure out what to do next as she cradled her in a way that sent her already rapidly beating heart towards cardiac arrhythmia.

“Uh, hi! Again!” she managed to get out, the words seeming to snap him out of his frozen state as he quickly pulled her back to her feet.

“Um … hi!”

“This is awkward” she laughed hyper-nervously as she pushed back to get a little distance, absently pulling her blouse back into place as she did so, before freaking as she realized what she had just said. “I mean, not you're awkward” she hastily clarified, before deciding it needed to be made clear. “I’m awkward – you’re gorgeous” her mouth promptly ran away just one sentence too far, before the surge of panic followed as she belatedly realized what she had just let pass out of her mouth. “Wait, what-“

“I’d like to formally apologize for running into you, My Lady” the other said in his smooth, rich voice, his face neither scolding nor angry. If anything … he actually looked bashful, or even blushing at her embarrassing rambling! “And for knocking you onto your back because I wasn’t watching where I was going … and every moment after”.

The gallantry was almost enough to make her faint, but by an act of iron will she managed to get a grip on herself and suck in a deep breath full of precious, precious oxygen, deciding to just get out of there before she managed to do anything else to humiliate herself. Blindly, she reached behind her for the wall until she found the lift call button thankfully exactly where she thought it would be, stabbing it several times frantically.

“No, no it’s fine, my fault, I wasn’t paying any attention either!” she tried to wave away the others apology as she took half a step backwards from the other towards the lift doors, checking her clothes absently for a moment. “I mean, if I had been you know, Elsa, then yeash, you know … but luckily, it’s just me.

“Just you?” Hans questioned with an almost arch look that started at his eyes and ended in the slightest uptick of his lip as he stared into her eyes, seemingly cutting straight through her.

Anna found herself feeling almost helpless at that look. It was somehow both mildly reproving of her choice of words to describe herself, while at the same time conveying …

She didn’t know what.

Just that ‘it’ was … intense.

Anna dared to take a slow breath in and out, sighing as she unconsciously let her mind wander places she really shouldn’t let it, until the entirely satisfactory moment was shattered by the soft ‘Ding!’ of the elevator she had called arriving.

“Uh … um … I should go!” she managed to get out, blinking rapidly as she backed up towards the doors opening. “I have to go – I should go, I'd better go!” she rambled as she shuffled towards the lift, wanting to leave before she said or did anything else that made her look like … herself.

“Of course – I … I hope I’ll see you tomorrow at your Sisters Invest-”

“Yes!” she near yelled back, before clearing her throat and moderating her tone. “I mean, I hope so too!” she agreed as she half walked - half fell into the thankfully empty elevator and let the doors slide shut behind her, cutting her off from the man and letting her collapse against the polished wooden banister that circled the lift, taking a moment to take some deep breaths to try and calm her thundering heart, reaching into her blouse pocket with a shaky hand.

It took three tries to fish the access card out of her pocket.
Then two tries to slot it into the reader built into the elevator car.
But, it only took one attempt to enter the five digit pin code into the security pad that sent the elevator ascending up to the 20th floor. And she found herself bizarrely proud of that fact.

Time seemed to pass in a blur from that point, Anna finding herself seemingly between blinks back in her enormous hotel suite. Staggering into the master bedroom, she managed to kick off her shoes and waddle to the bed, all but collapsing into its soft, welcoming arms as the events of the day and lack of sleep beforehand finally drained the last of her energy. Somehow she found enough strength to raise an arm and vaguely slap for the bedside control panel from behind closed eyes, eventually managing to hit the right switch and plunge the room into darkness, humming agreeably as she burrowed into the thick blankets.
Moments later the last of her energy fled and Anna fell into a deep, long sleep.

And dreamed of a very particular shade of green with a rather goofy smile on her face.

[Chris OFarrell]

Grand Arendelle Hotel
Arendelle City, Arendelle
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 10 3053

Victor had known that when he took on the role of a March Lord, there would be paperwork.

He wasn’t exactly a stranger to paperwork mind you. As a Battalion, and then a Regimental level Command officer, most of his duties when he wasn’t stomping around in his Omnimech revolved around feeding the insatiable appetite of the AFFCs bureaucracy for reports, status updates and logistical orders.

The big difference now was that as a Colonel in the 10th Lyran Guards he had been generating reports, but as a March Lord he was the terminus of them. He was now the ‘boss’ on whose desk landed all the major issues that couldn’t be solved by multiple layers of people under him, save those few issues he could in turn forward to New Avalon or Tharkad.
Thankfully, he'd had very few ‘March Lord’ issues to deal with so far. Most of his nominal workload was still being directed to and processed by Joshua Davion on Argyle, although some encrypted documents had been forwarded to him through ComStar. Coming back from a light lunch with the heads of local charities dedicated to the care of orphans whom the local Royal Family was patron of, he had dedicated his ‘free time’ before the Investment Ceremony to sorting through the new paperwork in case anything urgent was present.

The March Updates he put aside for later review - and resisted the urge to just outright delete the latest Skye situation report; everything concerning Ryan Steiner always seemed to give him a headache. Instead, he eagerly devoured an Eyes-Only file direct from Jackson Davion to him, finding past the pages of security warnings, there were frag and movement orders for Operation Keypunch; a counter offensive being prepared against the Jade Falcon and Steel Viper occupation zones. He’d had a vague idea from discussions with his Father and his advisers while on New Avalon that a massive counter-offensive had been years in the works, but only with his ascension to March Lord had he been apparently given a ‘need to know’ on the basis that multiple AFFC units supposedly stationed in the Crucis March … weren't.

Some of the most elite AFFC, allied and Mercenary units available had been mustered under the direct supervision of Morgan Hasek-Davion just behind the rump Tamar March. Over fifty regiments of Battlemechs, with attached Infantry, Armor, Artillery and Aerospace support were quietly 'drifting' into the region in staggered movements, waiting for the signal to be unleashed. He could see his father's fingerprints all over this document in both the meticulous logistical preparation ... and the fact that the launch date, the 20th of August, would be his parents 25th wedding anniversary.
Rolling his eyes once at his father's overly-developed sense of the dramatic, he flipped back and forth through the pages, astonished at just how advanced the operational preparation was given how little even he had heard of it. The rotation of his (former) unit back to the Clan Front alongside the FedSuns Armored Cavalry would, in fact, be two of the final shell-game style reshuffles that had been underway for most of a year, with few people apparently catching wind of the ‘big picture’.

Three months from now, the biggest military offensive since the 3039 war would be launched by the AFFC...while he would be busy on the other side of the Inner Sphere. Driving a desk.
Victor suppressed the almost automatic sigh that came to his mind at the realization he wouldn’t be a part of the next chapter of the Clan War. It wasn’t as if he liked war; he had seen far too many friends die to ever really enjoy all that came with war …  but he also couldn’t deny the burning desire to pay back the Clanners for all they had done still burned strongly in him.

Perhaps he did indeed have just a little bit too much of his namesake uncles DNA in his blood after all...

Still, the past was in the past. He had to look to the future now, and so he reluctantly closed the file and got started on the real work that actually needed his attention.

Most of what work had been forwarded to him was routine. But then there were also one or two requests that needed his ‘ok’ … because the attached dollar values rivaled the GDPs of entire planets.

Thus prepared, his eyes did not entirely bulge out of their sockets when he opened the file from Ways and Means marked ‘Star-Sword’ and skimmed through the cover sheet summary. Attached were the final costings for this financial year for the RX-79 program, the first hulls of which were scheduled to be laid down starting 1st July. All his plans to rebuild some many units, raise others and refurbish local AFFC infrastructure seemed to vanish into a whirlpool of red ink as he looked over the figures … and part of him cried out in protest at the massive diversions away from the core ground combat arm of the AFFC.

Of course, he knew that was just the Mechwarrior in him.

For centuries since warships had vanished from the Inner Sphere and jumpships had been strictly ruled off limits, the Successor State militaries had tended to mostly view their Navy as a glorified taxi service. Then again, he had also had the unpleasant experience at Alyena of his RCT barely dodging a Jade Falcon warship gunning for them on their retreat from the planet - without any defensive option other than running really fast and praying they couldn’t keep up - so not building a new war fleet wasn’t really an option, expensive as it was going to be.

Indeed, ‘Starsword’ was one of the primary reasons he was here. Arendelle, with its newfound Germanium reserves had jumped from being a well developed but otherwise quiet Crucis March world into a strategically critical one for the Federated Commonwealth - given that said reserves were conservatively calculated to be enough to support expanding jumpship production across the entire Inner Sphere for the rest of the century. Which made this world a target for the enemies of the Federated Commonwealth - and a dangerously under protected one at that.
According to the files he had reviewed, Arendelles Milita only had a single unit rated as capable of conducting major combat operations. Specifically, a company of ‘bugmechs’ backed up with a short battalion of mixed combat vehicles, a few mechanized infantry companies and a single aerospace squadron. Enough to take on your average pirate company perhaps, but certainly not any protection against a serious attack. All of their heavy equipment was Third Succession war vintage, but excepting a handful of semi-retired veterans, none of them had ever seen combat.
So the question was if he would spent the money to expand and build up this militia, or, if he would be better off bringing in a line unit - or hiring Mercenaries - to become the main planetary defense force.

In a quick and dirty attempt to take the measure of the locals skill, Kai had ‘gone for a walk’ last night with his famous Battlemech on the Militia training grounds. While most of the local troops and their guests from the 10th Guards had watched from the bases various command centers and rec rooms (with moderately priced champagne in the officers mess and local beer in the enlisted rooms) Kai had in a ‘friendly’ exercise taken on two of the Militias three Mech Lances in a simulated engagement.

All at the same time.

Apparently, several members of the 10th who had been burned betting against Kai on the way to Arendelle had more than made up for their losses by the time the last Stinger had ‘died’ to the white faced shock of the locals who had also clearly thought ‘Kai the Monster’ was more AFFC propaganda than truth. Still, Kai’s report had been of the opinion that there was certainly more than enough raw potential to build from if he decided to expand the Militia, using what was present as a cadre. Which had led into the next issue that Galen would be checking.

If their table of organization and equipment in any way reflected reality.

Private militias commanded by the local ruling family but funded by the AFFC were rather infamous (if more on the Lyran side of the Commonwealth) for having a ‘reality’ that didn’t quite match up with the paperwork sent to Tharkad or New Avalon. With the status of their equipment, number of troops collecting pay versus actual troops raised and so on often not matching up, and the difference going to line pockets or even worse, raise private armies on the Federal governments kroner. Galen accordingly would be tied up for most of the rest of the week inspecting the local records, personnel and hardware and comparing them to New Avalons files.

All of which would keep him busy just long enough to avoid having to take part in anything even remotely ceremonial after tonight's reception and dinner.
Sometimes … okay, most times; he really envied his aide...

“Highness?” a voice broke into his thoughts and Victor glanced up from his noteputer to take in the face of Mavis Williams, his personal assistant from New Avalon standing at the door to his office. “Lord Liao has requested to come up and see you, if you are available?”

“By all means” Victor agreed with a smile, stretching in his chair.

The other didn’t return the smile or shift even slightly from her dour gaze.

“Very well Highness” the other simply nodded in reply, quickly tapping in an entry on a small hand held noteputer. “We’re due to leave for the Great Hall in fifty minutes” she reminded him, her eyes roaming disapprovingly over his rather casual looking AFFC field fatigues he had changed into after returning from lunch...
Victor really tried -and probably failed- not to cringe under the gaze of the woman who had served first his Uncle, then his Father and been enticed out of retirement (just for a year) just to help him get settled into his new role after a personal request from Ardan Sortek, whom she had always apparently had a soft spot for. His Father had told him she had been the single finest and most valuable assistant he had ever had … and then very bluntly advised him to never cross her; explaining that she had the bullying power of an artillery regiment when it came to keeping people on schedule and managing access.

Even Quintus Allard had only ever tried once to do an end-run around her.

“So noted’ Victor offered, getting a nod in response before she silently glided out of the room to let him finish his work, Victor shivering slightly after she closed the door behind her. Quickly, he dotted the last I’s and crossed the last T’s before detaching the secure data core and placing it into the safe his staff had installed in his temporary office. At some point this afternoon a DMI messenger team would retrieve the data module and courier it to the Barbarossa for encryption, then take the resulting holodisk down to the local ComStar HPG. At that point the paperwork would bounce back up the chain of HPG stations to New Avalon and Argyle with the next batch of transmissions from Arendelle, completing the glorious cycle of bureaucracy.

And like any cycle, then it would start all over again.

He was left with that mildly depressing thought only for a moment before a knock on the door heralded Kais arrival.

“Afternoon Vic” Kai cheerfully greeted him as Curatis closed the door, his friend setting down a cardboard drinks tray and plastic container on the desk as Victor closed the system down. “Thought you could use some coffee before we hit the road, so I got Renny to make a run on his way through”.

“Remind me to nominate him for a FedCom Medal of Honour” Victor joked as he thankfully reached for his take-away cup, having no problems it from the scrawled order written on the side. Sanderlin knew quite well what he needed in a mid-afternoon coffee thanks to those long, painful afternoons his roommate had spent walking him through basic of cryophysics and astronavigation back at the Nagelring. Victor also selected a small but delicious looking pastry from the half dozen on offer there as Kai retrieved his own cup. “I’ve gotten so used to Galen bringing the coffee I probably wouldn’t even realize I was waiting for him before I started to go through caffeine withdrawal”.

“Where is he anyway? I didn’t see him anywhere in the crowd outside”.

“Oh, he’s still at Fort Akershus” Victor said, taking a sip of his coffee - and raising an eyebrow in appreciation of the rich taste. He had grown up on Tharkad, a world which prided itself on their hot drinks and this coffee was easily as good as anything he had been served there. He glanced at the logo on the side and smiled slightly as he saw it was in fact from ‘Death by Chocolate’, which was just around the corner from the hotel. He pondered for a moment if he could convince Rita to move to Argyle, before dismissing it as a fantasy; he suspected there was no way Anna would let her leave the solar system if her behavior yesterday was any guide. “Jackson Davion sent him a verigraphed order giving him a command authority level of O7 - and he’s been waving it around happily all morning playing Inspector General”.

“Well that's what he has it for, I suppose” Kai reflected. “Hell of a sign of trust by the brass though, to give a Kommondant that kind of authority and autonomy. Even if he is your aide”.

“Well there are some constraints” Victor explained after taking another sip and savoring the taste. “It's not a Morgan Kell note; really it was given to him to ensure that none of the locals can try to play games with his inspection team by pulling rank … because he now nominally outranks everyone on this planet”.

“So does this mean Galen technically outranks you, Colonel?” Kai teased with a smile.

“Sort of a grey area” Victor smiled in amusement at that idea with a shake of his head. The thought that Galen needed rank to tell him what to do? The man been giving him orders politely phrased as ‘suggestions’ ever since he had walked into his office and appointed himself his aide on Trell-I. “The paperwork to formally confirm my promotion to Marshal is still looping its way through the Department of the Army somewhere. Technically I have the rank, but not the pay, staff or office - or something like that” he paused to offer a shrug as he tried to remember the highly confusing message from the Department of the Army explaining his limbo status. “That being said, Galens still far too happy playing Battalion Commander to want a promotion. Frankly, he needs a good kick in the backside. If it wasn’t for the fact that my parents all but glued him to me after Trell, he probably would have been a Regimental XO by now and probably on the shortlist for an RCT command slot in a few years with all the fighting he's done in the Clan War".

“Well that’ll change shortly, he’s going to have to get used to higher level work and rank if you’re keeping him on as your aide” Kai pointed out.

“He’s still in denial” Victor explained wave a vague handwave as he took a bite out of a pastry.

“And you’re not?” Kai chuckled.

“No, I’ve moved up to bargaining” Victor swallowed down the treat before tilting his head in a slightly in sudden interest at the other. “Do you want to rule the Crucis March?”

“Sure, if you’ll take Sian in exchange” Kai parried with a snort, taking another sip of his coffee.

“Pass” Victor shuddered slightly. The worst he would generally have to deal with as a March Lord was listening to the talking heads on morning shows complaining about this or that issue that he needed to solve with a snap of his magical fingers because a Duke or Count or Baron was dragging their feet.
To hold Sian, you needed to be willing to take the heads of those who complained.
Although to be fair, at least by Capellan standards, ever since Kai’s mother had taken the Celestial Throne the level of backstabbing had apparently fallen to the lowest level in decades. By all accounts, most of the senior nobility inside the Forbidden City who had survived Romanos last minute temper tantrum seemed to be quickly warming up to the rather more inclusive, collaborative and downright sane style of decision making Chancellor Cadence embodied as she pushed the reforms she had already made in Saint Ives through the rest of the Confederation...

“So, anything interesting in the Big-News you can tell me about?” Kai nodded to the noteputer on Victors desk, snapping his attention back to the here and now as he considered the question, siping on his coffee for a moment. He’d frankly love nothing more than to tell Kai about Operation ‘Take out the Trash(borns)’, but he took his security clearance seriously enough to know that ‘March Lord Eyes Only’ meant exactly that ... even if Kais mother was clearly in the loop and would no doubt fill him in.
Heck, she might even let Kai out to play, perhaps leading the 1st Saint Ives Lancers who she had committed as a gesture of solidarity alongside two of the Big Macs regiments.
Yup, he was still definitely not convinced about this whole March Lord to Archon-Prince thing.

“A few things” he confirmed after a moment, reaching for another pastry. “Remember the rumint that Ciro Ramirez had been sighted during the asskicking the 24th Guards delivered the birdbrains on Antares?”

“Unfortunately” Kai nodded. “It's a real shame; I had been looking forward to dancing on his grave. With Yen-Lo-Wang”.

“Turns out it was true - looks like Adam didn’t knock him off on Somerset like we hoped. A LIC deep cover team on Butler faxed a confirmed sighting - several confirmed sightings in fact. It seems the birdbrains are trotting him out around their ‘capital’ as a ‘fine example’ of an Inner Sphere Freeborn making a valuable contribution to his Clan” Victor scoffed, his expression saying clearly how he felt about his traitorous classmate. “It doesn’t seem to be terribly impressing the locals, although their attached LOKI cell tried to request permission to break cover and terminate him as an example to the local population of what happens to traitors”.

“LOKI” Kai rolled his eyes, saying all that needed to be said about the almost childish delight they took in blowing things up. And they’d probably still manage to miss the target anyway - Victor was sure that Kai’s late Father had probably come home more than once bemoaning these facts. “Still, it's annoying that all the bad Rumint gets confirmed but the good Rumint gets disproved” he complained. “I mean why couldn’t the vampire one have been real or something?”

Victor grinned at that. One of the more silly -yet oddly persistent- stories that had come out of the chaos of the initial Clan Invasion was that old Stepan Von Strang, ruler of one of the first worlds taken in the Clans invasion of the Inner Sphere, had risen from the dead as a Vampire that stalked Clan Jade Falcon through their OZ. Slaying Bloodnamed Clan Warriors and feasting on their blood in the middle of the night.
The actual truth had turned out to be rather more prosaic ... but Juliette von Strang and her bunch of her slightly oddball Mercs were doing vastly more damage to the Falcons with their Battlemechs than any undead creature of the night could have. Something he wholeheartedly approved of.

“Speaking of Rumnit ... did you hear the local one regarding you and Anna?”

“Anna ... Jorgerson?” he clarified, getting a nod to which he shook his head, lifting his cup to finish the last dregs of coffee before they went cold.

“Oh apparently you’re both madly in love and we can expect wedding bells within the next year” Kai grinned, timing it just perfectly to cause Victor to choke on his coffee.

“We’re what?” he managed a few seconds later after he managed to get past choking on the hot liquid.

“It's all over the breakfast shows this morning, with captures of you and Anna laughing and smiling at each other. Mysteriously, Galen and I never show in the pictures for some reason, so it looks like you had Anna personally take you on a tour all around Arendelle city”.

“Thats … absurd!” Victor protested. “You can’t fall in love with someone you just met!”

Kai gave him a long, meaningful look.

“What?”

“Victor, I was on Outreach” the other reminded him and Victor flushed slightly at the rebuke, instant images of Omi Kurita exploding into his mind as sharp and vivid as the day he had first seen her.

“We were on Outreach for five months” he retorted - although even to his ears it sounded just a tiny bit defensive. “For most of the first two months after I first spoke to Omi, I was busy trying to avoid giving Hohiro an excuse to put a sword through my eye socket if I so much as looked at his sister again”.

“Perhaps. But can you deny that there was definitely at least a bit of ‘love at first sight?’ mixed in there?”

Victor privately admitted the other might have some kind of point, remembering the jolt he had felt the first time their eyes had met across the packed conference room. But-

“Vic, look. I know you and Anna were just having a fun yesterday - we all were. She’s a great person, friendly and incredibly energetic, open and almost impossibly cheerful. God knows the Inner Sphere could use a lot more people like her around. All I’m saying is that you need to be more … careful in the future around these things”.

“Anna managed to walk right through a Grade-1 CID security perimeter without anyone noticing until she crashed into me. I don’t think I could have been more careful” Victor pointed out with a slight grin.

Kai rolled his eyes to the ceiling for a moment, his expression momentarily taking on an aspect suggesting he was asking for some kind of divine help before he sighed and returned his gaze.

“I’m not talking security risks. Victor, you’re such a genuinely nice guy who disdains all the pomp and ceremony that circles around you that you probably don’t understand how you're perceived on the average persons level - and what it means to them when you directly interact with them. Do you remember those people having coffee in Death by Chocolate yesterday when our convoy crashed the place?”

“Vaguely” Victor confirmed after a moment's thought. He had signed several autographs, even had a picture taken with one group who had happened to have a camera to hand, before they had left with their purchases.

“Most of them were guests on the news shows last night” Kai said. “Especially those who managed to get a group photo with you. They are local celebrities right now, apparently they’ve had a non stop procession of friends and family coming over just to look at that picture taken with you”.

“...you are joking, right?” Victor asked carefully after a moment. Surely he was joking...

“Not at all” Kai sighed as he leaned back in his chair, picking at a small pastry. “Think about it. You’ll never visit every planet in the FedCom, probably not even close to a majority of them given travel times and your workload. It’s unlikely you’ll ever visit Arendelle again in fact, even just as a March Lord. House Lords and their immediate family don’t exactly show up often to your average planet. Which means that any time you visit a world, it’ll probably be the first and last time you will … and so there will be a hell of an intense spotlight on you from every angle. The average person the street won’t ever lay eyes on their local Baron or Countess in person - the odds of them ever meeting you, let alone getting a photo with you, are, well, on the same order as winning the New Avalon lottery-”

“Kai...are you actually trying to get to a point across here, or just stumbling about until you find the Vibra-Bomb? Because I’ve got zero read on your active probe...

“You’re not in the AFFC anymore Victor” the other continued patiently. “The media had a quiet agreement with your parents that while you were serving, you were off limits, even when off base or on leave. Fair enough. The price of that agreement was that all bets were off when you got out of the AFFC. And I don’t just mean the scandlevid idiots; any time you land on a planet like Arendelle the local media are going to be hyper focused on you. And more specifically to the current situation, anything you say or do will be thus blown all out of proportion where your love life is concerned”.

“Now you’re starting to sound like Katherine” he muttered. His sister had over the last few months on New Avalon been dropping more than one hint that he needed to start thinking about learning to properly deal with the media. He hadn’t really given much thought to it, busy as he had been with his RCT - and having whole teams of people whose job it was to do ‘that stuff’ in the palace … but perhaps it was past time that he did start thinking more seriously about it.

“You could actually do a lot worse for media advisors then your sister” Kai agreed with a shrug. “Look, I’m just saying that it’s something you need to seriously start thinking about. Everyone who knows you - the real you- knows that you’re not going to do anything improper or impulsive. But the local print sheets, vid news and offworld networks will happily take anything you say or do, no matter how small and double jump sixty light years past the mark given the chance. If you’re so much as seen with anyone whose female, good looking and is clinically alive, they’ll burn out HPGs to get the word out. You’re the heir to two dynasties stretching back six hundred years, destined to rule the greatest nation since the Star League - and single. To say your the hottest salvage on the bachelor battlefield is putting it mildly. You can, you should expect a lot of women to throw themselves into your general vicinity if they get the chance. Most of this you can just ignore, eventually people will build up a tolerance to the rubbish and just ignore it, but right now as you’re the centre of all news in high society, it’ll be what dominates it. And if that's the case, do you really want this to be the news that, say, gets out to nations outside the FedCom about you?”

Victor winced slightly at that, the not-terribly subtle hint of the first news Omi had of him not being a message from him … but a news clip of him with other women and commentators speculating on his love life..
He didn’t think she would buy into that kind of commentary, but...

“Message received and decoded” Victor held up his hands in surrender. “I’ll be careful - and when I put my staff together I’ll be sure to get some good media people to run that side, I promise. Now, to entirely turn the focus of this conversation around” he unashamedly switched the direction of the conversation, “as I’m rather sick of talking about my love life, what about your love life then? You must be looking forward to the reception tonight?”

“Uh, why would I be looking forward to it exactly?” Kai asked with a slightly confused expression on his face.

“Well … you know...” Victor shot him an amused look … which seemed to stick on his face as Kai returned his gaze looking downright confused … and it suddenly hit Victor like a bolt of lighting that Kari hadn’t read the guest list yet.

He wasn’t by nature a vindictive or petty person, not at all.
But he did have a slightly twisted sense of humor.
And this could be pretty funny...

“...lots of young, stunning women? And you, the dashing hero of the Federated Commonwealth, bane of the Jade Falcons, pilot of the most famous Battlemech in the Inner Sphere?” he continued without missing a beat. “We are in the Federated Suns where the average person worships the ground Mechwarriors walk on you know”.

“A very sensible policy that one” Kai smiled, but somewhat halfheartedly as he stood up, pointedly avoiding the question. “You should get ready, we leave in about thirty minutes”.

“Copy that” Victor tossed him a casual two fingered salute as the other left, Victor following him after double checking his desk had been sanitized of any classified materials and the safe was secure, before turning back to his room to change into the suit that had been put out for him.

Yes, today was going to probably be a long, dull bore … but he had a feeling the reception with the newest Duchess in the Federated Commonwealth would be highly entertaining indeed…

[Chris OFarrell]

Grand Arendelle Hotel
Arendelle City, Arendelle
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 10 3053

It was an inscent buzzing sound that slowly, unwillingly, dragged Anna back to the land of the living.

A notorious late sleeper even in the best of times, Anna had not moved from her bed for over fourteen hours and counting. It wasn’t quite a personal best for sleep ins, but it was close. First class travel on a dropship … was still first class travel on a dropship, no matter how much you dressed it up, so Anna hadn’t been getting much sleep. And combined with the dramatic events of yesterday, it probably wasn’t terribly surprising that by the time she reached this bed, she had been running on fumes.
This room however on solid ground, with its soft, Empress sized bed had seemingly welcomed her like a lovers arms, Anna blissfully sinking into the embrace and happily snoring away the hours even as the city around her had woken in excitement to the event of a lifetime, with tens of thousands of people pouring in to fill Unity Plaza to capacity, tickets having been raffled off weeks ago to strictly control numbers, with countless other public areas across the planet also being prepared for the celebration of the start of a new chapter in the history of Arendelle.

Anna however, happily asleep with a smile on her face, didn’t notice.
Luckily, this had been anticipated by Kai Brevik, well in advance.

The buzzing continued, slowly getting louder and, eventually, there was movement. A vaguely discontented noise came from deep in the down filled blankets and after a good ten seconds or so a hand seemed to snake its way upwards from the nest of coverings, rising up on top of a long, slender arm. It seemed to look around almost like a sensor mast for a moment to determine what was going on before it vanished, replaced by a gorgon nightmare of tangled red snarls that rose from the depths of the blankets and pillows like a monster of ancient legend.
Pillows cascaded in every direction as Anna slowly struggled up to a sitting position, looking vaguely around the darkened room for whatever it was that had dragged her out of a perfectly pleasant dream.

“Yessss?” she slurred, stuck in that halfway point between dreams and reality as she idly wondered why that candelabra and clock at the end of her bed were arguing so loudly...

Fortunately, the voice-recognition technology inside her suite correctly translated her speech and intent, accepting her reply and opening a two way channel up with a soft beep.

“My Lady Anna” a voice suddenly entered the room from nowhere.

“Huh?” Anna shook her head sluggishly. “Yeah!”

“Sorry to wake you My Lady” the distant yet somehow familiar voice apologized to her.

“Oh no no no no” she slurred out as she finally reached a sitting position, vaguely pulling a strand of hair out of her mouth which she had apparently been chewing on at some point last night. “I’ve been up for hours!” she asserted, placing her elbow on her knees and using it to support her head as she struggled to wake up.

Within two seconds, the far too comfortable position crashed her progress towards consciousness and she started to backslide, a light snore breaking from her lips as her muscles relaxed … just until her elbow gave way and her head started to fall to the bed.
A purely reflexive surge of adrenaline through her body jolted it back up, the sudden expenditure of energy jumpstarting her body just enough to fully force her eyes blearily open and air back into her lungs.

“Who is it!” she suddenly and loudly demanded the empty room, looking around in sluggish confusion.

“It’s still me, Ma’am, Kai” the distant voice replied. Anna was far too asleep to be able to pick up on any real subtitles in the voice, such as the barely contained laughter as the man on the other end in the Duchy Palace pictured exactly what she looked like right now.  “Time marches on today, it's time to get ready”.

“Of course!” she agreed happily as she slowly tilted her head left and right, finding a childish delight as her brain insisted that the world was in fact tilting left, then right around her, only vaguely involved in the conversation as she slowly rubbed her eyes clear of sleep. “Ready for … what?”

“Your sister's investment? The coronation ceremony, Ma’am” the distant voice slowly explained to her.

“My sister's … corimation” Anna mangled as she yawned, taking in the room, the strange room that was not her bedroom in her uncle's palace on Corona.

Or the dropship … but a hotel room … on Arendelle? Which she had returned to for-

Anna gasped and an explosion of epinephrine blasted through her system, burning away any traces of sleep like inferno gel as she threw the covers off her bed with a mighty heave.

“Its coronation day!” she breathed, flying out of bed to the window and flinging back the blinds.

Painful, bright light flooded into the room, almost blinding her as she squinted out into a perfect summer's day, the one way glass ensuring that no scandlevids would get a horrific picture of her in her previous days clothes with her hair looking like some kind of disaster involving superglue and an EF-5 tornado. Outside, far below, she could see crowds of people moving excitedly through the streets behind temporary security fencing that had been put up to help secure the building, many carrying tiny flags or even wearing the colours of Arendelle, the Federated Suns and the Federated Commonwealth!

“Yes it is Ma’am” the voice on the phone replied, still sounding amused - but Anna was suddenly so hit with emotion at the fact that the day she had been so looking forward to - yet also fearing - for so long, was finally upon her that she didn't notice. “Your dressmaker will be up in thirty minutes”.

“Oh!” Anna gasped, as she spun back to look at the bedside control, the clock on it stubbornly reading 14:01 PM to her mild alarm. “Uh, right, of course! I’ll be right there!”

“Very good Ma’am” the distant voice agreed before a low beep tone signaled the disconnection. Anna clenched her fists to her chest for a moment as the storm of emotions in her chest threatened to explode out of any control, taking a shuddering breath to force some kind of calm before she half walked and half ran across the room -giggling at the feeling of the lush carpet on her bare feet- to the bathroom.

Ten minutes later she had taken a very quick shower, enough to wash away the sleep from last night and vigorously get her hair into a rather more tame state, energy seething through every move she made as she all but threw on a clean shirt, skirt and pair of sandals before leaving the bedroom, entering the giant sitting room next to her room. She skidded to a halt with a gasp as she found that some incredibly kind soul had laid out a collection of finger food sandwiches on a sealed tray there, with several chilled drinks alongside. Seeing the food almost at once made her realize just how hungry she was as her stomach promptly protested loudly.
To her disappointment there didn’t appear to be any chocolate on offer, but she broke the plastic seal anyway, feeling slightly light headed as the wave of nitrogen that had kept the food fresh flooded up past her. She quite happily wolfed down the food, but it didn’t quite feed her hunger, more just taking the edge off it. She decided against raiding the minibar and finished up by gulping down a glass of icy water to wash it all down, finishing her breakfast/lunch/snack just as a knock came from the door.

It had to be the dressmaker her Aunt had told her was making her a dress to be delivered today.

She hastily wiped her hands and mouth down with the towel on the tray before squaring herself and walking towards the door, firmly telling herself to calm down and compose herself on this day of all days, with the grace and dignity her parents would have expected of her-

And then the door exploded.
A loud eep! escaped from her lips as she jumped backwards in shock.

The door didn’t actually explode of course. But the way the door slammed open and a team of people stormed in like SWAT team, exploded was probably the best word she could use to describe it.

“Dahhhhling!” the distinctive, almost nasal voice of a Tharkad native preceded a woman as she strode boldly through the doors as if she owned the place. She was short to the point that Anna did a double take, the woman's head probably only coming up to her shoulders … but she carried herself with all the force and presence of a Battlemech and despite the physical difference, Anna suddenly felt tiny as the other turned her gaze sharpened behind a pair of thick framed glasses onto her as she boldly strode across the room.
She resisted the strong urge to back away as the woman came to a halt in front of her, other women behind silently entering to set down a number of boxes and lay them out over the tables in the spacious room.
“So you are the one I dropped everything and jumped halfway across the Sphere for yes?”

“Uh ...yes?” Anna tentatively answered, too stunned to say anything else as she finally recognized the woman - what girl wouldn’t? Edna Mode in the flesh, the single most sought after, most famous, most incredible fashion designer in three Successor States! Notoriously picky in what jobs she took on these days, near impossible to get a hold of and even more difficult to hire, being both fabulously wealthy and entirely selective.

What was she doing here?

“Well clearly you can’t be anyone else dahling - I would not be here otherwise, ja?” she observed as she started to circle around to her left. Anna started to turn to follow, but a hiss and a blurred thwack of the others hand against her hip froze her in place as the other paced around her like a tiger. “I needed to get away from Tharkad. Supermodels? Pah!” she snorted as she circled back around to Annas other side, her gaze taking in everything like a hawk as yet more people entered the room, passing through the sitting room towards her bathroom or the dressing room on the other side carrying yet more bags. “Even if the Archon hadn’t asked me to do this as a personal favor, I would have happily taken this on. Spoiled poofy lipped stick figures who only think of themselves and waste my time - you can only take so much of them, yes?”

“The … the Archon sent you to make my dress?” Anna asked, her voice squeaking at the implication. It was clear the Archon clearly had apparently been keeping an eye on her even all the way from Tharkad for reasons she still didn’t quite understand, but come on-

"Well obviously Annah dahling” the other rolled her eyes with a sigh before she suddenly spun back in a blur. “And I can see why” she murmured with an almost evil intensity in her gaze for a moment before she carried on. “Designing an investment outfit for you without even meeting you - well, that was a challenge, yes. Even with the exact measurements your aunts people sent forward. But I love a challenge. And you and Prince Victor make quite a couple” she observed, either missing or ignoring the way Annas bulged at that assertion. “That Archon, always planning four moves ahead, yes, always such a fabulous game of chess with her, the only person in the universe even the Fox can’t out scheme. And a women with the most spectacular sense of fashion. Always leading, never following...”

“I … I really don’t think-” Anna started to protest but the other didn’t even slow down as she tutted and waved her down.

“Of course of course I’m sure I’m sure” the other sniffed indifferently as she spun and started to stalk back to the pile of boxes on the bed, her perfectly cut shoulder length hair swirling for a moment before once again magically falling into laser perfect straightness. “You have the eyes of your world upon you - after today they will never look away! Even by my standards I have exceeded myself with my latest creation!” she boasted, flinging her arms wide to take in the array of boxes on the table and Anna felt her eyes widen even further as she took in the sheer number of boxes that were covering it, several lounges and the floor, with a dozen women lined up silently against the far wall.

There was about three seconds of perfect silence as the other seemed to freeze in place studying the overwhelming collection of boxes. It was just long enough for Anna to tentatively start to think about saying something when suddenly Edna Mode slapped her hand down on top of one of the boxes, causing Anna to jump.

“Now, to work!” she snarled and spun, closing the distance between them yet again in blinks with a second woman who came from nowhere, placing an odd step-ladder/stool combination directly in front of her with such exquisite timing that Edna ascended without breaking step to suddenly be almost eye to eye with her, Anna almost flinching back at the sudden invasion of her personal space, but again freezing with a mere look from the other.

“Such potential” she muttered as she reached out casually to take a lock of her hair that was freely hanging, just brushed into submission from its chaotic sleep state to study it closely. “Such raw potential I have not seen in years! You wear your innocence like a cloak, yes? It’s wunderbar! And there are models who would sell their souls for hair this colour - or eyes as expressive as yours” she observed, before shifting her gaze to the side was a frown. “That would be of course if they had not mortgaged them at least three times already” she added turning back to poke at the white lock of hair that had been her bane all of her life. “Was ist das?”

“Its … I’ve had that in my hair since I was five” she stuttered, suddenly feeling incredibly self conscious about it and having to fight the urge to turn away. “I … dreamed I was kissed by a troll one night, and the next morning-”

“Spectacular!” the other declared loudly, cutting her off in a voice that brooked no objection. “Oh yes dahling, this will be your signature, your statement; your you!” she decreed, spinning away and flowing down the stairs. Snapping her fingers several times as she trotted across the room. “You you, get her hair washed, straightened and done in style sixteen-four-two. You and you, nails. You, my scissors! We have too much work and too little time for my creation to be prepared” she declared before waving her hand in a general direction to get to work.

Everything seemed to pass in a confusing blur for Anna from that point on as she found herself all but grabbed by a dozen hands and yanked into a makeup and dressing room next to the sitting room. It was almost suffocating as she was passed from person to person almost like a doll, her hair washed, straightened and then braided and tied up into some kind of bun, a pair of shimmering ribbons worked into it. Simultaneously her nails were worked on, cleaned, filled and then polished until they gleamed, even as another team went to work plucking out some of her eyebrows, ignoring her squeeks of protest as her head was yanked this way and that way. It took long enough that her stomach, not entirely satiated from the taste of food earlier started to complain again-

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.

The crowd of women with identical haircuts, dresses and makeup who had been manhandling her were walking out the door without a word and slowly, she got to her feet. Looking around she saw no mirrors or other surfaces and so followed the people out shyly into the main room where Edna was sitting on a chair, her hands steepled in front of her as she intently studied the end result of the work.

“Mag-nificent” she drawled in a far too smug and satisfied way.

“Can … can I see a mirror?” Anna asked tentatively, only to be tutted as the other stood and ambled over.

“Mirrors always lie dahling - before you get the full picture. Remember that! Now, my latest masterpiece” she announced and her arm snapped up to point off to the side, but didn’t turn to look. Anna did-

And felt the breath being stolen from her lungs.

It was a green dress, shimmering on a mannequin that had been brought in, but the word ‘dress’ didn’t seem to do it justice and she found herself agreeing on the spot with the rather grandiose label of ‘creation’ that Edna had insisted upon using. It was strapless, with delicately tasseled aqua wraps curving around the upper arms, but otherwise leaving her sleeveless. The sweetheart neckline would curve around her torso, which was coloured a black so perfectly dark it seemed almost like space, embroidered with a cunning flower pattern in red, blue and greens. A green metallic binding that seemed to become golden as the light played across it bordered the bodice, separating it from the segmented floor length dress, which green, shimmering and embroidered with yet more designs also seemed seemed to change in tone as light played across it.

“Oh…” she breathed, feeling almost light headed as she stepped closer. She had worn plenty of dresses over the years of course for this or that event, but nothing had ever captured her attention like this one, as she dared to step closer to it. “Its … its incredible…”

“That? That is just a dress Dahling. Is frosting incredible before it is put on a cake? No! Is paint incredible for it is expertly applied to a canvas? No, no no! You will be incredible when you put it on. Go go, hurry now and put it on. I demand it".

Anna nodded dumbly and stepped up to the mannequin as two helpers carefully removed it and unzipped an almost invisible zipper on the back, before carefully placing the dress on hooks behind a convenient screen, before withdrawing to give her a little privacy. Anna shakingly removed her clothes and got into the dress, cringing as she put it on, desperate to not damage it in any way, feeling at a touch that this fabric was something special. With it loosely hanging off her, she stepped out from behind the screen and the two women at once helped her fit it and zip it up. It felt incredibly snug, yet incredibly free at the same time. So perfectly smooth, yet not loose…

Finally the two women helping her finished the last adjustments and stepped back, one making a discrete coughing noise. Edna who had been sitting with her back turned finally swiveled around to take her in … and gasped.

“Oh I knew it - some of my finest work, no question at all - no-one would dare” she almost snarled, her eyes alight with something that made Anna wonder if she was not entirely sane. “Dahling, you will destroy everyone. Even your sister in that horrific traditional nightmare they are forcing on her” she sniffed, shaking her head almost sadly. “It does not suit her, not at all. So constraining so constricting so rigid, uch! And those colors with that cape? Still, we are all slaves to tradition are we not? The answer is no!” she slammed her hand on the chairs armrest yet again -had that chair even been in the room before?- and hopped down, ignoring Annas startled jump. "Now, these and this” she demanded, pointing to boxes and in a whirlwind of motion the two women rapidly had a pair of black low heels on her feet and a silken choker with a small golden pendant hanging from it wrapped around her neck. Finally, a tiny amount of makeup was applied, just a brief dusting of blush and a quick hit of lipstick and-

“Peeeeerrrrfection” Edna hissed from point blank range, Anna feeling almost like her glasses were microscopes as she seemed to study every inch of her before stalking away, looking smug. “Once again I have surpassed even my own impossible expectations. It's all up to you now!” she said, snapped her fingers several times. Almost at once the door opened again and the hoard of people who had clearly been waiting outside returned, gathering up the unopened boxes which Anna guessed had other unused accessories or something and leaving in haste.

“Wait, whats up to me?” she asked in more than a little confusion, feeling thoroughly off balance  as Edna started to stalk out of the room after her staff.

“It, Dahling” she replied almost with a sigh. “It!”

And with that, the door ‘imploded’ closed behind her with a slam that caused Anna to jump one last time,leaving her alone in her room that was suddenly, blessedly, silent and still.

Anna granted herself a full thirty seconds to stop and try to regain her equilibrium from the whirlwind of activity. Then because she couldn’t help herself, she started swishing her long dress around. It made a fascinating rustling sound as she twirled backwards and forwards, a giggle escaping her mouth as she felt the incredibly light dress swirl as it moved flawlessly around her…

She had to see it!

She hurried back into her bedroom with a grin on her face to where there was a floor to ceiling mirror … and stopped dead in front of it in shock.

The woman in the mirror gaping back stupidly at her was a stranger. A striking, unique, grand even woman of the highest nobility. The white streak she had always had a love-hate relationship with had been somehow wound down through her braid to give her a highly exotic look, the braid itself curling around to form into a large bun on her head, with just a vestigial tail dripping off the back of it, with ribbons tied into it. Her freckles that she had always hated, envying her cousin (and Sisters) fair flawless skin seemed to somehow fill in her bare shoulders and neck and work with the exotic look rather than against it.

And the dress … it was just incredible, breathtaking. She was hardly the most vain person, but she just couldn’t stop staring at her reflection, daring to strike a pose, trying for a pose of sophisticated grace.

Imaging herself at the ball tonight.

In the mirror she saw herself, regal, stunning and even just a little hot, dare she think it, trying to affect just the right level of mystery in her reflection as she concentrated. And there he was, tall and regal, his glorious green eyes shimmering in the dim reflected light of the ballroom as he approached. And then the awkward, cute yet charming icebreaker as they started to talk, finding so much in common as the rest of the ballroom seemed to fade away. The two of them dancing to the swirling music, lost in each others faces, held by his broad, strong arms. Laughing at each others jokes until finally in a dark corner of the room he raised her hand to his lips, never breaking eye contact as then he gently pulled her hand - and her -closer -

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Anna squealed, bouncing a full meter in the air and clutching her chest in a panic as she looked around wildly as if somehow someone would know what she had been fantasizing about, before taking a deep breath and getting herself back under control as the illusion shattered.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

“Yes?” she asked the room when she was sure that her voice was back under control even as her heart hammered in her chest.

There was a soft click, then a smooth, aristocratic voice broke in.

“My Lady, this is the concierge” the voice said. “Your scheduled transport to the investment ceremony has been confirmed to arrive in half an hour. It will be waiting for you immediately outside the main VIP entrance” the voice explained.

“Uh right!” she replied. “Thankyou!”

“Certainly Ma’am” the voice confirmed, then with the two toned beep, the channel was closed.

And with that, suddenly the ball and reception and her hopes for something different in her life this evening seemed infinitely far away as she slowly sat down on the edge of her bed. The chaos of getting dressed and ready had kept her utterly off balance since waking up, distracted and focused entirely on other things … but now with nothing to do but wait, she realized that she was only an hour or two away from meeting her sister for the first time in over a decade.

Suddenly, she was no longer feeling hungry.

--

So yeah, The Incredibles may have been on TV with me half watching this when I wrote part of this chapter. Disney shout outs everywhere for everyone!

I know this was a little fluffy and wordy on background events that don't really have MUCH to worry about, but will sort of at least provide context for some later stuff to a small degree ... but it may have gotten away with me. So sorry about that.

The NEXT chapter (which is already written and will be posted after the next FMOTO fanfic chapter is next week) will march things through the coronation and, of course, be Elsas grand entrance into the story as well as more mixing of the two universes characters directly and all that jazz. See you there!

[Sigil]

You said, "Thank you for reading."  I say, "Thank you for writing!"  Looking forward to the next update.

[Trace Coburn]

  Awesome to see more of this, Chris OFarrell.  O0

  And as a tip, since I know you also post on SB.com?  If you want to get back the italic- and bold-text: copy-paste your formatted original text into an SB posting/edit window, hit the ‘Use BBCode Editor’ button, then copy the resulting text.  ;)  It’s a chore, yes, but far faster and easier than redoing every single instance of formatting by hand.  #P

[Chris OFarrell]

Ohhh never thought of that.
I was seriously considering writing a VB script for word or something that would parse BB code around italics and bold text and stuff.
That ... is much easier.

Ta!

[gladius]

  Awesome to see more of this, Chris OFarrell.  O0

  And as a tip, since I know you also post on SB.com?  If you want to get back the italic- and bold-text: copy-paste your formatted original text into an SB posting/edit window, hit the ‘Use BBCode Editor’ button, then copy the resulting text.  ;)  It’s a chore, yes, but far faster and easier than redoing every single instance of formatting by hand.  #P

Ohhh never thought of that.
I was seriously considering writing a VB script for word or something that would parse BB code around italics and bold text and stuff.
That ... is much easier.

Ta!

I echo Chris: thanks, that'll make my life much easier ...

[Sharpnel]

And Anna is back. Thanks for writing this.

[ckosacranoid]

i have to say, wow..its back and the comments that vic and kia make are funny. but the shout out to the vampire storys with von strang are really, really out of this world. both are great storis. thanks for sharing this can not wait to see what type of mess you have instore for everyone since we know mech combat is coming soone though...

[DOC_Agren]

 O0

love it

??  Stepan Von Strang, a Vampire????   Did I miss a story??

[ckosacranoid]

O0

love it

??  Stepan Von Strang, a Vampire????   Did I miss a story??

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=19230.0

this story called rage of the vampire by gadius. very cool story and a good look at someone from out side the IS or clan units.

[DOC_Agren]

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=19230.0

this story called rage of the vampire by gadius. very cool story and a good look at someone from out side the IS or clan units.

Thank You

[gladius]

Chris was kind enough to give my character a cameo reference, because my posting on SB amused him enough to post his next chapter of Ice Princess.

[Chris OFarrell]

Ice Duchess. Katherine won't get an appearance until the second last chapter  :))

[gladius]

Ice Duchess. Katherine won't get an appearance until the second last chapter  :))

Whoops. Sorry, got confused. Likely distracted by the possibility of redeeming dear Kathy through the power of Disney.:D

[gladius]

Omake: Operation Keypunch

Camelot Command, Dark Nebula,
Jade Falcon Occupation Zone,
May 9, 3053

  Colonel the Baroness Juliette von Strang kept an idle eye on her men while peddling on the exercise bike, while simultaneously listening to music on her ear buds. The rather extensive exercise facilities on Camelot Command were rarely unused, largely due to the low gravity of the former Star League planetoid, and despite advances in modern medicine, avoiding muscular and skeletal deterioration in such conditions required a great deal of mind-numbing exercise. Therefore, the units based on Camelot Command for the upcoming anti-Clan offensive spent a lot of time working out.

  With so many House and mercenary units in a single location, friction was inevitable, especially due to her own unit's ... history. Multiple fights had broken out, especially between her personnel and those of the Eridani Light Horse and the Screaming Eagles, units that took their Star League heritage a little too seriously, in Juliette's considered opinion. Seventeen soldiers on all sides had been hospitalised, and it was extremely lucky than thus far no one had been killed. Of course, it wasn't completely one-sided: her Legionnaires were proud and aggressive in their own right. She wanted them that way, but occasionally the downsides outweighed the benefits, and she had quietly but firmly ordered her people to avoid unnecessary conflict ... hence her warriors using the exercise facilities during times that the other unit's avoided.

  It's getting to the point that people are saying that the only reason Hassek-Davion assigned those FedCom RCTs to Camelot Command is to stop us from killing one-another. The thought that they believed that it would take thirty regiments to accomplish that gave Juliette a mildly nasty thrill.

  So it was a little surprising when Lieutenant Winters, her aide and good friend, waved from where he was doing resistance leg work and pointed to the nearest hatch. She looked over, and her eyebrows lifted as a tall, red-haired woman entered. Despite being nearly eighty, she manoeuvred her fit body easily through the low-gravity of the base, the wolfs-head-and-spider insignia on her exercise clothes contrasting with the featureless black worn by the Legion's own.

  Ignoring the stares of Juliette's people, who largely stopped their own exercise to see what was going on, the woman strode over to the ranks of bikes, plonked herself down on the unit next to Juliette, and strapped her feet in to get sweating. After a few moments, the incredulous Legionnaires started to go back to their own routines.

  Juliette studied her new neighbour out of the corner of her eye, refusing to give the other woman the satisfaction of speaking first. Even in the Periphery, Wolf's Dragoons were legendary. As a child, Juliette had, more than once, played at being Natasha Kerensky, effortlessly batting aside House 'Mechs and entire units with a combination of brute force and witty remarks. So it had been more than a little painful to learn that the Sphere's most famous mercenary command was actually a long-range scouting force for the very Clans her own unit was formed to fight.

  Okay, they went rogue, deciding to throw their lot in with the Spheroids, and most of them are 'freeborn', but the fact remains that they're a bunch of damned Tankers, she thought harshly.

  Kerensky finally turned her head, and tossed her a wink. "Gonna take a pic, kiddo? It'll last a lot longer," she said, her tone light.

  Her legs still pumping, Juliette glanced over. "Simply curious: outside of Colonel Snord's ... entertaining briefings, I don't believe I've been this close to you before," she responded, making the Dragoon officer snort.

  "Like you're the most approachable 'Warrior this side of Solaris VII?" retorted Kerensky, picking up her water bottle and taking a swig. "Anyway, I thought it was about time you and me had a bit of a chat."

  The Baroness watched the older woman peddle for a few moments, then nodded. "Alright, then. What's on your mind?"

  The Dragoon officer snickered. "Hell, you do have a chip on your shoulder, don't you? No wonder we've been scraping our troopers off the decks after hours, with that sort of example for your people."

  "More of mine have been hurt than anyone else's," shot back Juliette, "And we don't start fights, but we sure as hell finish them!"

  "Hold on, girl, pull your fangs," Kerensky said, lifting her hand in a calming gesture. "Didn't mean anything by it. Fact is, I agree that things are getting a little out of hand: we're supposed to be working together, am I right?"

  Juliette let out a harsh breath, almost a sigh. "I agree that the proper target of this task force is the Falcons, rather than each other," she agreed, grudgingly.

  "As it should be: hells, girl, I've hated 'em since before you were born ... before your father was born, for that matter. But there's gotta be more to life than fighting Falcons, am I right?" Juliette didn't say anything for a moment, making Kerensky shoot her another glance. "Kiddo?"

  "Hold on, Colonel, I'm thinking," she snarked, and the older redhead snorted again.

  "Funny. Look, I've read about your unit, going all the way back to the invasion of Here, and you've got a good head on your shoulders: you're smart, determined, you adapt well on the fly and you don't know the meaning of 'quit'. You speak up in briefings when you've got something to say, and you aren't shy of making your point, but you listen, too. You don't puff your unit up, either: you're honest about their strengths and weakness'."

  Juliette shrugged. She was under no illusion that her Legion was the best unit in the Inner Sphere. Her two 'Mech battalions, double-strength fighter wing and company of mechanised infantry were good at what they did, and all her people were combat veterans who trained hard in anti-Clan tactics, but even with a fair quantity of Clantech salvage, they were still hardly up to the quality of units like the Kell Hounds or even the Grey Death Legion. Additionally, despite doing quite well at the Barony military academy before the Falcons invaded and her experience since, she knew quite well that she was not the next coming of Katrina Steiner or Jaime Wolf.

  No, the Legion's strength was in aggressive, heavy combat, smashing into Falcon units under heavy aero support, using their now-standard TAG units to guide air-mounted artillery missiles down on their enemies, or luring the enemy into prepared positions, usually with air-dropped minefields, where they could negate the Clan's range and manoeuvrability advantages. Juliette was all too aware of their limitations: relying on air-recon, their lack of fast units, and the flimsiness of their APCs. If I had another three years ... but she shoved that thought aside.

  "But this operation is going to require a lot more coordination between our units," continued Kerensky, "So we can't afford this kind of surat-shit. In that vein, you're invited to dinner tonight with me, Rhonda and Kirsten," she named Colonels Snord and Marik, the other two unit commanders assigned to Combat Command Tamar-Alpha. "Rank, uniforms and attitudes left at the door, lots of alcohol, and we can argue over who's prettier, Adam Steiner or Johnny Tchang. What's important is that at least our four units see us getting along."

  Juliette considered a moment, her feet slowing down on the pedals. Then she nodded. "Okay," she said, stopping her feet and slipping her shoes out of the straps. Standing up, she picked up her water bottle and towel. "Twenty-one hundred Command time?" she asked, and Kerensky nodded. "I'll see you then." She turned to go, but paused, and shot back over her shoulder, "And that was a trick question: the answer is clearly Katherine Steiner-Davion."

  She left the Black Widow laughing behind her as she left the gym.

***  ***  ***

  Trading her uniform for a less formal outfit (black slacks, t-shirt and boots), Juliette walked the halls of Camelot Command with only Lieutenant Winters and his Blazer pistol at her back. This drew a few looks from passersby as they penetrated deeper into Irregular country, as it was almost unheard of for The Vampire or any of her people to be seen out of uniform outside of their own quarters, but she breezed past them without a glance.

  She did pause, however, when she turned a corner and came face to visual-sensor with what could only be described as a robot. Just over four feet from treads to binocular-shaped head, it extended it's spindly, telescopic neck to get a better look at her as it withdrew it's three-clawed manipulators from the wall panel it was working on. Acting instantly, Andre snatched his oversized, double-barrelled laser pistol from his thigh holster, but the drone chittered in an alarmed fashion and cowered, covering it's 'face' with both hands. Still startled, Juliette raised a hand, signalling for Andre to stop, which he did reluctantly, although keeping a two-handed grip on his weapon.

  Not taking her eyes off the robot, Juliette and her aide stepped carefully around it, even as it whined and beeped, peeking at them through it's 'fingers' in an almost childlike fashion. Once they turned a corner, and were out of sight, Andre finally returned his weapon to its holster and Juliette released her grip on the vibrodagger she held sheathed at the small of her back.

***  ***  ***

  "Oh, that's WALL-E," explained Colonel 'Call me Rhonda' Snord as she poured a glass of wine for Juliette as the various commanders reclined in her den, watching a fairly mindless tri-vid as they relaxed after a plesant dinner. Their various aides and bodyguards had been dismissed, and it was just the four women left to, as Natasha put it, 'get sozzled'. All comms, rank insignia and weapons (including numerous holdout blades like Juliette's) were piled into a large bowl near the door. "We found him here when we took over the place, just puttering about, fixing things. Turns out he's part of the Base's maintenance and self-repair system. Well, closer to say that he is the Base's maintenance and self-repair system. Poor guy's been keeping Camelot Command basically operational since the fall of the League all by himself: base maintenance, repairing and rearming Voidseekers after they get deployed, fixing up any damage  or deterioration as it occurs. There were dozens of them originally, but after all this time he's the only one left."

  Juliette sipped at her drink, a very nice Robinson merlot. "In all honesty, I've never seen a drone so ... expressive."

  Rhonda smiled. "We think it's due to him being active for so long without having his systems wiped: little errors and issues kept piling up over the centuries, and now our techs can't make heads-nor-tails of his programming. Still, he works, and he's friendly, and doesn't make any trouble, so the boys and girls have taken him on as something of a Base mascot."

  "Heh. Well, I think he's cute," said Kristen Marik, draining her glass and holding it up for a refill. After Rhonda provided, the sister of the Captain General of the Free World's League raised her glass in salute. "To WALL-E: may his bolts never rust."

  After the toast, Juliette swirled her glass, watching the wine move in that peculiar low-gee fashion. "I can't believe I almost had Andre shoot the damned thing," she sighed, feeling rather silly.

  "Hell, I would have," added Natasha, ignoring the wine and drinking from a large bottle of Timbiqui Dark. "We've never trusted AIs all that much: too many horror stories about the automated Caspar WarShips during the Liberation of Terra," she admitted.

  And thank you for another reminder about your Clan heritage, thought Juliette darkly. She also suppressed an urge to compare Clan warriors, grown in labs, programmed in sibkos and deployed in the field, to artificially intelligent weapon systems. See? I can be diplomatic ...

  "So the Falcons aren't likely to be installing automated defences on the worlds they've conquered?" she asked instead, and Natasha snorted.

  "Not likely. Most Falcons don't even like the idea of using WarShips, preferring one-on-one fights. Sure, they've got their fleet, but it's strictly secondary to their ground and aerospace forces. The thought of Falcons fighting from fixed defences and behind computer consoles, letting AIs do the hard work? Not going to happen."

  "Good," Juliette rolled her glass between her palms. I don't want to kill computers: I want to kill Jade Falcons.

  "Speaking as the only person in this room who hasn't actually fought the Clans yet," said Kristen, "is it alright for me to say that I'm bloody terrified? I mean, my regiment has damned good tech, thanks to my brother's influence, and my people are good, but -"

  "The Clans can be fought, and they can be killed," said Juliette with finality. "They have advantages, but with intelligence and foresight, they can be countered. Most importantly, you cannot allow them to draw you into the kind of fight that they excel at: short, brutal duels. They will dance about you at long range, using their superior speed and mobility to pick you apart from distances that you simply cannot match. Your new equipment approaches that of the old SLDF: the Clan's weapons technology is better, cooler running, longer ranged, harder hitting. Their engines are more compact, their armour is more resistant to damage, they manage heat better. More, their pilots have genetically engineered reflexes, and are trained from birth in a brutal school that weeds out the incompetent and the weak. If you let them play to their strengths, they will kill you ... or worse." At Kristen's raised eyebrow, the younger Colonel explained. "They're slavers. They take captured warriors, brainwash them, and turn them against their own people. Look at Ciro Ramirez, or Phelan Kell: living propaganda and weapons to be used against the Commonwealth by the Clans."

  "Hey, that's not fair," said Natasha, sitting up in her chair. "A bondsman isn't a slave, they're a tradition of -"

  "Are they free to leave if they choose?" Natasha didn't respond. "Are they forced to do menial tasks? Are they returned to their homes after the conflict is over? Are they not encouraged to start identifying with their captors rather than their home nations? Is a bondholder restricted in the way they 'discipline' their bondsmen?" Her eyes narrowed. "Are they permitted to refuse their masters if they choose to 'couple' with them?"

  The room was silent, and Juliette sipped again at her glass. "Sounds like slavery to me. I've liberated more than a few former bondsmen from the Falcons: some of my most ... enthusiastic warriors once had green cords wrapped around their wrists. Believe me, any one of us, myself included, would choose death before servitude to Tankers."

  After a few moments, Kristen spoke up. "Alright then, good tip: don't be captured. Got it. Anything else?"

  "Aerospace supremacy is key," Juliette said, and here the other women nodded. "You can't let them control the air. Between us, we have, what, seventy eight fighters? That's plenty to swamp all but the heaviest aerospace units the Falcons deploy, and most of their second-line units don't have much in the way of fighters anyway, usually not more than ten or twenty. Once we own the skies, my Fallen provide close air support and air-recon. We've come to enjoy air-deployed Arrow IV missiles, so much so that we're adding TAG equipment to as many of our 'Mechs as we can: it's nice to be able to deploy heavy artillery accurately from outside their range for once."

  "Careful: Clansmen don't appreciate artillery. They see it as dishonourable," warned Rhonda, scooping up some salsa with a corn-chip and popping it into her mouth.

  "See me weep for them," said Juliette with a deadpan look. "They regularly, happily use weapons that outrange anything either Inner Sphere or Periphery can match, but when we outrange them, they cry foul?" She shrugged. "Tanker temper tantrums do not impress me. In any case, our tactic is usually to get in close, to cancel out their range advantage, and hammer them. Hit them hard, point blank, with everything we have. We normally have each lance pick a target and crush it before moving on to another, use physical attacks if you can, don't give them a chance to think, to do anything but react. Grab the initiative, and squeeze it until it screams." She drained the last of her glass and put it aside. "It's not easy, and is expensive in terms of 'Mechs and men. But it can be done." She picked up one of the bottles, and started to pour herself another glass. "And then you set about looting the enemy's 'Mechs, grabbing any souvenirs you want and then move on."

  Kristen leant forward in her seat. "And what about the Falcon survivors?"

  Juliette blinked, her glass halfway up to her lips, as though trying to understand a foreign concept. "Survivors?"

***  ***  ***

  Komandant Adam Steiner, commander of the 1st Somerset Strikers, knocked on the door to Colonel Snord's living room. The brown-haired 'MechWarrior had survived the gauntlet of aides and offiers who stood guard outside in the hall, including a young man in the eye-eating black of von Strang's Legion, and really just wanted to talk to Rhonda before heading back to his own quarters aboard the Kwaidan.

  There were muffled sounds inside, including music and the snap of weapons-fire, and he presumed that the occupoants were watching an Immortal Warrior vid or something. Then the door slid open, and an unsteady Rhonda Snord stood in front of him, swaying more than a little. "Major Adam Steiner," she said with enthusiasm, and a sinking feeling in Adam's gut only intensified as he heard the vid in the background proclaim, 'Information is ammunition!' Sweet mother of mercy, will I never be rid of that blasted cartoon?

  Three other women, equally drunk, looked up from where they sat on comfortable couches, and they cheered. "Come on, pretty boy, we had a vote!" proclaimed Natasha Kerensky, the legendary Dragoon seemingly the most coherent, despite her age. "I mean, you lost, but you came second, alright, and you're the only one in the system!"

  "Yeah, sorry," added a very drunk Juliette von Strang, and somehow the way the younger redhead was looking at him with hungry eyes was even scarier than the almost dead gaze she leveled at people during briefings. "Like, I'm sorry, bu' your cousin Kat-Kat-Karine? Totally hotter - but yer real close, I swear," she raised a hand, before falling back in a fit of giggles.

  "An' you don't have a pole up yer ass, which is a major point, amiright?" threw in Kristen Marik, throwing her arm around Juliette's shoulders - which did not result in the Periphery exile stabbing the Leage noblewoman in the throat, which was in itself shocking. More shocking was the way von Strang snuggled up against the older woman!

  "Look, I'm just here to give you this update: last cargo DropShips just arrived, we'll be stocked up on ammo and equipment, so now we're just waiting on the final go-order from the First Prince."

  "Ooh, Hanse-boy, now there's a tasty treat: almost snagged him on his wedding day, but that bastard Quintus Allard's ****** security stopped me," groused Kerensky, raising her hands in a gripping motion. "Real, real tight ass, makes you wanna just -"

  "Okay, on that note," Adam thrust the noteputer into a blinking Rhonda Snord's hands, before skedaddling, hoping to find some way to scour the image of the Black Widow lusting after his favourite cousin's husband out of his mind. Maybe if I pour 'Mech coolant into my ears ...

A/N: This omake was written with the permission and consultation of Chris O'Farrell. Two changes from canon. Firstly, Kristen Marik's Krushers didn't renew their contract with the FWL after '52, and instead signed on with the Commonwealth, hoping to make their fame and fortune by fighting the Clans. Secondly, in this universe, Jaime Wolf was able to convince Natasha that she could do more for the cause by fighting against the Clans, rather than by retuirning to them and trying to subvert them from the inside. One of the knock on effects of this is that Phelan 'Ward' is still a relatively low ranking officer in Clan Wolf, rather than their saKhan, and the Wolves suffered far more losses during their battles through the Commonwealth, FRR and on Tukkayyid.

[ckosacranoid]

that omake is very funny to say the least.....i think we know which way julie swings since she comments on kathy being hot twice in this....but very funny to say the least and the catoon at the end....great.

[Chris OFarrell]

Yes I know I promised this like 2 weeks ago, concurrent with the new First Movement of the Odyssey.
Sorry :p

So here it is a little late.

Also, if no-one reading this as yet has read drakensis's 'Along Came a Spider'

1. *gibs slap*
2. Read it!

Also as a minor amusing aside, that 'Field Manual: Federated Commonwealth Navy' draft I posted back here when I happened to look at it a week or two ago was actually a 50% completed first draft instead of the 75% completed first draft I actually did before realizing I had taken this whole 'exercise in Microsoft Publisher a tad too far. Its mostly the same, but includes the Warships and Parasite warships - if anyone is interested!

Anyway.

This chapter may be a little Elsa heavy, but that might be a reaction to some people who kept PMing me essentially saying 'Moar Elsa plz!'
So I've hived off the Ball fun that comes next into its own chapter. So if the ending feels a little abrupt or odd, there was kind of an amputation that took place...

But, enjoy!


*****


“Give me the thunder of a thousand guns rather than the fanfare of one trumpet!”
- Comment attributed to Victor Steiner-Davion


Great Hall of Arendelle
Arendelle City, Arendelle
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 10 3053


Victor Ian Steiner-Davion had come to the conclusion early on in his life that Thrones … were overrated.
Especially as unlike his preferred seat of power, they didn’t come with ‘Mech grade weapons.

Not that they didn’t look impressive; that was sort of the point after all. Your average throne room was designed for the express purpose of directing all attention to the throne (or more specifically the person sitting on it); to intimidate the hell out of anyone approaching it & them. The Throne Room in the Triad for instance took that logic to typically Lyran extremes by having a pair of Battlemechs -generally Griffins- stationed inside the room, manned by some of the finest pilots in the 1st Royal Guard. Cunningly decorated almost like glorified statues and symbolically positioned directly behind the throne, it was far too easy to mentally put them into the background and forget they were, in fact, fully operational weapons of war. More than one angry petitioner had been reminded of that fact over the centuries when their body language got just a tad too threatening; having a Donal PPC suddenly swing up to point directly at your face could do remarkable things in terms of reminding people of the due level of respect and deference that should be maintained at all times towards their ruler.

The Great Hall of Arendelle wasn’t technically Duchy Throne Room at all mind, that being back at the Palace and used for smaller more intimate events - although very few of those since the untimely deaths of the rulers of Arendelle several years ago. And while it technically would have been a more appropriate and traditional venue for such a solemn event to take place, it could barely hold five hundred people - a tiny fraction of the VIPs who simply had to be present at this event (according to them anyway). And as the Great Hall had been constructed specifically to provide a large enough secure venue for the Duke or Duchess to hold a rare ‘full court’ audience of the Royal Court, it had been the natural choice for the location of the investment, no matter the grumbles of some more conservative commentators who really had their hearts set on a classical throne room ceremony.
The throne sitting at the centre of the vast chamber was the real deal however. It had been shipped across from the Palace under the careful eye of Kai Brevik by a specialist team of movers, said movers rapidly made aware that the phrase ‘worth its weight in gold’ was not exactly hyperbole for this particular piece of furniture as they had grunted and hauled it into position. Now, polished until it probably qualified as laser-reflective armor, the impressive throne rested on a raised marble dais in the middle of the Great Hall, sitting on a broad marble stage. Two lines of chairs flanked it on either side - but all were empty as the clock slowly counted down to the start of the ceremony.

They were probably the only seats in the Great Hall that were unoccupied however.

The upper and lower galleries of the hall were covered in people, the chamber packed to absolute capacity by those lucky enough to have scored one of the coveted invitations issued in the name of Hanse Davion on behalf of the people of Arendelle. Most prominent of those seated was the ‘People's Council’, the grandiose and not entirely accurate name given to the mixture of senior regional nobility and elected representatives of the people who effectively ran the world on a day to day basis.  Filling out the rest of the seats was an eclectic mix of lesser nobility and VIPs who through birthright, position, influence or just plain old luck had managed to score one of the coveted golden tickets, the allocation of which and seating arrangements of which had involved the brisk trading of favors, promises and probably no small amount of cash between various groups.
In truth, despite the fact that this event was technically all about the Duchess, a large chunk of attendees couldn’t care less about this formal ceremony to install her, seeing it as a foregone conclusion and highly inefficient way of ultimately just saying ‘she’s the boss now’. Instead, they saw far more value in using the rare gathering of most of the planet's richest and most powerful people in one place to advance their own agendas.

This was very much a working coronation thank you very much, not a holiday!

Mere money however couldn’t buy the best seats in the house. The lower stalls that came right up to the edge of the stage itself had charmingly been reserved for several thousand school children selected from across the planet, to allow the next generation a chance to witness this once in a generation even up close; to see history in the making and hopefully be inspired by it. Cynical keen observers may well have noticed that a substantial majority of the ‘random’ children excitedly bouncing up and down in their seats were in fact the scions of the planets senior nobility … although if any did, they had the exquisite tact to not make a mention of it on the live feeds going out to hundreds of millions of people watching. Lest they (correctly) hint that favouritism may have played some small part in the selection of the cross section of youth picked to have a front row seat to history.

Standing outside the main doors as the time wound down to the start of the events, Victor Steiner-Davion in a somewhat more cynical frame of mind couldn’t help but wonder if MIIO had quietly arranged the presence of the Children, on the grounds that a mass of people with an average age of twelve would be unlikely to have any trained assassins hiding among them. And more to the point, that any of their parents who might have wanted to do harm to him or the Duchess would probably hesitate if they found out that their child was going to be in the line of fire...

Still, any chance for further reflections on the paranoia and/or ruthlessness of his security teams were lost when at exactly 15:00 local, a lone trumpeter started to play. The chamber lights fell quickly, plunging the room into darkness, silencing even the restless children as the notes hauntingly rang out across the chamber and the world beyond. Then a second trumpet joined the first - and then a third, the three harmonizing perfectly up and down for several minutes before merging into a final crescendo and note … and then there was light.

Under the sudden glare of a spotlight, a quintet of men and women could now be seen marching down the red carpet that linked the main entrance to the stage and Throne. In the lead was the Sergeant at Arms of the Royal Court, a retired NCO who had served in both the 4th Succession and 3039 Wars; finding to his pleasant surprise that herding politicians was really little different than herding junior officers. Behind him marched a quartet of local militiamen, each one carrying a flag of the highest quality, all five in perfect lockstep. Together, they climbed the broad steps to the stage, the chamber filled with the sound of their feet marching across the marble until they snapped to a halt directly in front of the Throne. The Sergeant then with great care came to full attention and saluted it, the flag carriers stepping forth to place their flags into cunning hidden points in the floor flanking the gleaming seat. Their task accomplished, the quartet reformed, spun on their heels and marched off to the side of the stage to vanish into the darkness.
The sergeant remained behind, holding the salute. Only when they had vanished and the sound of their footsteps ceased did his arm snap back down, the man spinning around to march alone to the very edge of the stage, just off the stairs and red carpet. He waited for a moment until absolute silence hung in the air ...

Then he spoke.

“HIS HIGHNESS, PRINCE VICTOR IAN STEINER-DAVION. LORD OF ARENDELLE, LORD OF THE CRUCIS MARCH, PRINCE IMPERIAL OF THE FEDERATED SUNS, ARCHON DESIGNATE OF THE LYRAN COMMONWEALTH, ARCHON-PRINCE DESIGNATE OF THE FEDERATED COMMONWEALTH!” the man roared in a voice that may not have needed the broadcast team to be heard on the other side of the planet.

If I didn’t already know the man was an NCO … Victor grinned tightly to himself for a moment, before schooling his expression into a slightly more solemn one as the main doors were opened in front of him and at a nod from the event manager, he stepped forward into the lights and sound as the orchestra struck up ‘Hail to the Prince’ - he had a feeling he’d be hearing that a lot more now in his life...

Victor kept his pace measured against the beat of the music, but he did his best to not just march in like a soldier. Instead, he forced himself to pause and meet the eyes of as many children as possible as he passed them, taking in their awed faces with a smile while ignoring the discrete presence of the two close protection bodyguards silently shadowing his movements down the broad red carpeted path, their eyes scanning like targeting scanners - and trying not to think about the number of ‘friendly’ snipers in the rafters doing the same. Both of them clearly extremely worried that one of the children might make a spitwad assassination attempt on him ...
Mentally rolling his eyes at their paranoia -while acknowledging that it was their job to be paranoid- he reached the stage without incident and climbed the steps alone as the bodyguards sheared off to skulk in the shadows around the base of it. He stopped momentarily to return the salute of the Sergeant-At-Arms crisply with the respect due of one soldier to another before he finally crossed the rest of the white marble stage to reach the Thrones dias, climbing it halfway before turning to watch the entry of the most ‘VIP of VIPs’ as they were announced one by one by the Sergeant at Arms.

Kai, as the heir to another Successor States throne was first of course, striding down towards him looking far too cheerful - and rather natty in a striking neo-Hanfu business suit. It was all the latest rage on Sian, part of his mother's ‘Xin Sheng’ movement launched to give the Confederation a new sense of unity, purpose and hope as she moved it from the dark days of Romano, remodeling it much as she had Saint Ives - drawing on Terran Chinese history for much of her inspiration...
But he knew Kai hated the clothes as much as Victor hated his suit.
Both men put smiles on their faces however, pretending they liked wearing their clothes even if they would vastly prefer the hard and rough kevlar of a cooling vest...

Immediately after Kai followed the closest family of the apparent Duchess; her relatives from Corona. Then came some of her household staff led by Kai Brevik, her chief of staff and a few other VIPs from her staff whom the Duchess had chosen to sit in the places of honor on the stage.

Next came the High Council; the rather grandiose name given to the personal advisors and counselors of the planetary ruler, who would sit on his left. Most of them had served the former Duchess and then the Regent Landers. Some had taken the change to Elsa as a chance to gracefully bow out as their age had caught up with them and so their chairs were for now empty; he would in fact be swearing in their replacements as part of the preliminaries to the investment itself.

But he couldn’t help but wish more of them had taken the chance to resign rather than cling to their positions.

Because some of them moved slower than an Annihilator with shattered knee joints...

“HAIL VICTOR!” the Sergeant at Arms barked into the silence when the last of them reached their seat. Eventually.

“Hail Victor!” the assembled masses chanted back.

“LONG MAY HE REIGN!”the ex-NCO politely screamed.

“Long may he reign!” the rest of the locals agreed quickly, clearly not daring to disagree with the man.

With that out of the way, Victor stood to attention, swiveling on his heel to face Kai and the line of VIP’s behind him to offer a formal half bow. Straightening, they returned the gesture much deeper - Kai exchanging the briefest glance with him that spoke volumes of their mutual dislike of this kind of excessive veneration- before he repeated the gesture with the councillors flanking to his left. And then finally he repeated the gesture straight ahead to the assembled masses gaining a mass bow in return … except for one cute young schoolgirl in the front row who offered an impeccable curtsy by mistake. A wave of laughter and snickers erupted from the other children around her until rapid hissed commands from a number of teachers silenced the mockery, but the poor girl none the less looked like she wanted to melt through the floor right now and vanish as the focus of the entire room briefly oriented on her mistake.

Victor could sympathise with her quite a bit in that moment.

Settling himself, he switched on the tiny headset/microphone he was wearing with a touch of a control cunningly worked into a watch on his wrist.

“Please, be seated” he said, and waited for everyone to settle themselves before continuing in a clear, steady voice. “In the name of First Prince Hanse Davion on this day, May the Tenth in the year Three Thousand and Fifty Three I, Archduke Victor Steiner-Davion acting as Duke of Arendelle in this matter hereby declare this special sitting of the Royal Court of Arendell, open. Per standing order one-three, I now assume the chairmanship - the Scribe of the Court will note these events accordingly”.

“So noted, My Prince” a voice confirmed formally from somewhere off stage and he nodded, letting his formal expression softened to a much more friendly one. So far, so good.

“First, I would like to welcome, on behalf of the people of Arendelle, all those who have also traveled a great distance to be here with us today. Most especially Kai Allard-Liao” he gestured to his right. His friend stood briefly to offer a half bow in thanks of the polite applause that generated before he sat back down. “And a very warm welcome indeed” Victor continued gesturing past Kai to the trio next to him, “to the Duke and Duchess of Corona and their daughter, the Countess of Pomerelia. They did Arendelle the enormous honour of providing a loving home to their niece and cousin, the Lady Anna Jorgensson, after the tragic death of her parents. And for that, we thank them, deeply”.

A second wave of applause accompanied by a wave of ‘Here Here!” comments thundered through the room as the locals showed their appreciation for the two sisters distant family helping out during a difficult time. The two elder nobles rose with a great dignity to offer a bow and a curtsy to the applauding locals, while the younger Rapunzel shyly offered more of a brief dip ... with the dimples in her smile more devastating than a Black-Hawks Alpha Strike.

Of course, why Elsa had sent Anna away for the last few years was still a great mystery and source of confusion for Victor. From what little he ‘knew’ of her from Ardans comments and his chat with Roger Landers yesterday …
Although he would be the first to admit he barely knew Anna and hadn’t even met Elsa yet, something in the reluctant part of his mind that had been trained in the polite vipers nest of court politics was nagging him about the disconnection between the two young women, insisting he was missing, well, something...

Still, it really wasn’t any of his business. Even as Elsa's boss, how she related to her sister was up to her and no-one else. But at the least, he could thank their relatives for looking after Anna; he had caught enough from Anna yesterday to guess shrewdly that they may well have helped her through a rather bad place after her parents death.

Finishing up the introduction of the necessary people who merited a personal acknowledgement from him, Victor then turned to glance at the Sergeant at Arms, who had remained standing rigidly at attention in a way that would have had drill instructors all over the AFFC nodding in approval.

“Sergeant at Arms; stand easy and proceed with the agenda of the day” he ordered as he settled onto the throne. It was surprisingly comfortable compared to either of his Parents thrones that he had tried out at one time or another, with more cushions and not quite as much beaten Gold over marble.

He still thought it could use at least a few Pulse Lasers, but suppressed the thought -and his grin- as the Sergeant-At-Arms saluted, then turned to demand with a roar for the Bishop of Arendelle City to come forth and proceed with the opening prayer- seeming to almost give the poor man a heart attack.

[Chris OFarrell]

Hire Car NBV-112
Arendelle City, Arendelle
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 10 3053

It was probably to be expected that despite the best efforts of the local constabulary, there was a great deal of traffic chaos in the central business district of Arendelle City today, but if so then the eye of the storm was undeniably Unity Plaza.

Sitting in the core of the Government district, Unity Plaza was roughly two thirds well maintained parkland and lawns and one third open paved area. Named after (and in honor) of Unity City on Terra, the plaza had originally been paved in various shades of native stone to form a giant Cameron Star; the symbol of the Star League and its ruling house. Nominally in celebration of the union of humanity across all known space.

More than one local historian had suggested over the years however that the Plaza had been dedicated less to the ideals of universal brotherhood and more towards reminding everyone exactly who ruled their world; ‘like a tramp stamp right in the middle of the Government district’ as the late Professor Baron Eric Kindler had put it rather bluntly in 3024. Given that the plaza had been built using funds from the Bureau of Star League Affairs directly on the order of First Lord Richard Cameron, it was a common -if slightly controversial- contemporary view, against those who tended to view the Star League as an unparalleled golden age for mankind.

Especially compared to what had come next.

As the centuries of Succession Wars had rolled on, arguments had waxed and waned on what to do with the square - and more specifically, the rather outdated fresco. It had only been in 3028 with the wedding of Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner that momentum had truly built to update it as a new age dawned for the Inner Sphere. Now, the still aptly named Unity Plaza sported the Fist and Sunburst of the Federated Commonwealth Alliance and such was the quality of the masons work that even at ground level, it was quite a sight to behold and a major tourist attraction for the city.
Today however, the giant fresco was almost invisible at any level, covered as it was by a large chunk of the hundred thousand people who had scored tickets to ‘ground zero’ as the plaza event had been dubbed. A six meter wall made out of the same material as Battlemech faceplates had sealed the entire plaza off from the road that ringed it, with all access in and out of the plaza via underground shopping strips, leaving the streets empty. From deep underground chambers where remote sensors kept watch all the way to rooftops, where Infiltrator suits carrying massive anti-material rifles sulked in the shadows; security was everywhere as one might expect for a city that the Archon-Prince designate was visiting. With only some authorized vehicles allowed onto the streets under police escort.

Anna Jorgensson didn’t notice any of this. Despite looking out the window her whole trip between the Hotel and Great Hall in the hire car flanked by a motorcycle escort, her mind was very busy elsewhere doing absolutely nothing. A Locust could have started racing them in the overtaking lane while loudly playing Taurian polka music on a giant accordion and she probably wouldn't have even noticed - such was the level of distraction she was under right now.

Indeed, it wasn’t until the third time he had tried to get her attention, that Anna realized she was being addressed by her Driver.

“Yes?” she asked uncertainly as she turned back to face the other, who was smiling kindly at her.

“We’re here”.

“Oh. Ohh!” she gasped, glancing at the clock beyond him on the dashboard -the spare here with twenty minutes to spare!- and looked outside her window. All she could see past the tinted one way glass however was that they had stopped inside what looked like a security checkpoint of some kind. “Um, thanks!”

The other smiled as she undid her seatbelt and slid over to the door, Anna so caught up in the moment that she didn’t even really notice the nice man wishing her good luck. She hesitated for a second, trying to calm her nerves as she gripped the door handle, telling herself that she was here and she had been worrying about nothing in terms of being late...

It didn’t really work of course. Her treasonous mind promptly switched tracks, going from frantic worries about not turning up on time to frantic worries about now doing something incredibly embarrassing and wishing she had stayed away. She was a klutz; she knew it, everyone knew it. And if there was going to be someone who screwed up the day for everyone and humiliated her family and planet...

A distraction was thankfully provided as her door was opened by a protocol officer outside. The distant roaring noise she had noticed earlier now came into full force as she alighted from the car. Immediately next to the car door was the door to what looked like a demountable building of some kind that blocked the entire road off, a large tent-like canopy stretching out from it to provide privacy (and sniper protection) from the public. But she had little time to examine the structure, as she was quickly hustled through the door as her car moved off, the man closing the door behind her and cutting most of the noise off.

“Please just step through the tunnel Ma’am” a voice came over a hidden speaker as she glanced around, blinking as her eyes adjusted. A few seconds later she realized she was inside a broad tunnel perhaps five meters long. More or less featureless, she recognized it from past experience as a security scanner of sorts, one that would poke her with all manner of (more or less) harmless radiation to ensure she wasn’t carrying any explosives, poisons, guns, laser eyes, mono-edged fingernail knives or other possible weapons on (or even inside) her person.
Trying to put as confident an air as possible on, she walked under the giant microscope, emerging into a much larger processing room of sorts, with a door on the far end and a half a dozen MIIO agents. Clearly set up to sort through a dozen people at a time (and probably only one of several such screening rooms in this access control building) she was the only guest present - unsurprising given that she was arriving towards the end of the extensive ceremonies. Unlike the somewhat excitable police, these people looked both utterly calm and looked deadly serious, so she mentally told herself to not make any sudden moves. One agent stepped forward gently into her path as she exited the tunnel and offered her a slight bow and smile - although his eyes didn’t leave her face for a moment - in fact everyone seemed to be looking at her with almost excessive wariness for some reason…

“My Lady, your name and invitation please?”

Anna's lightning fast wit just couldn’t resist the opening, a mildly confused look coming across her face in the certain knowledge that some of the nobility would have probably hauntedly sneered at these poor people just doing their jobs; insulted at the very idea that they were not at once recognized. With Anna delaying just long enough to make them think that she was about to berate them for not recognizing the sister of the Duchess Apparent...

“Didn’t you get Agent Curatis’s ‘priority threat’ handout this morning?” she asked with as much innocence as she could muster.

A wave of noises that sounded suspiciously like strangled snickering and barely contained laughter came from the hard looking men and women, shattering the icy-professional mood in a moment - although all of them discreetly but hastily raised their hands to cover a sudden outbreak of coughing as the lead agent turned slightly with a raised eyebrow to not quite glare at them.

“Presuming, my Lady, that I did not?” the older man calmly asked as he turned back … although Anna could see the side of his impassive face twitching furiously as he fought for control of his blank expression.

“Oh. Well, in that case” she replied as she reached into the cunningly concealed pocket in her dress to withdraw and unfold her invitation (that she was proud to say she had only checked to make sure it was in her pocket three times during the whole car trip). Made of the very finest ComStar letterhead, she pressed her thumb into the holographic plate woven into the plaspaper, causing an embedded thumbprint mirroring hers to light up and glow green as the verigraph sampled her thumbprint and DNA to confirm she was indeed the authorized holder of the message. Simultaneously, a second string of previously invisible numbers and letters illuminated along the top of the page and without prompting, she turned the invitation over the man who gratefully took it from her.

“I am Anna Jorgensson” she formally identified herself with a shy look under his stern gaze.

“Very good My Lady” he bowed to her before glancing down to the paper to inspect the verigraph seal to make sure it was intact and not tampered with. He then lifted some kind of portable sensor and waved it over the string of numbers and barcodes now visible, a light on the side of the small box flashing yellow for a moment before turning green. At that, the group of agents seemed to relax ever so slightly as the code in the paper was apparently confirmed by some computer and he carefully re-folded the paper up as her thumbprint started to fade away from the paper. “Thank you, Lady Jorgensson” he said professionally, handing her back the invitation with a bow and stepping out of her way to gesture to one of the doors in the far wall. Anna in turn offered the cutest smile she could muster back and, finally, the man's stoic facade cracked ever so slightly as almost against his will he offered a smile back before Anna stepped past him to the doors, which slid open and closed behind her.

Unheard behind her, the lead agent then wheeled on his people and started to demand answers on who exactly had told Anna Jorgensson about Agent Curatis’s briefing this morning.

Anna meanwhile found herself in little more than a small anteroom that faced a pair of elegant looking frosted glass doors, with a red carpet on the surface of the road leading outside. Clearly this was the main ‘red carpet’ entrance as opposed to the more discreet direct-into-building side entrance most people would use. The roaring noise from outside was again much louder here and except for her, there was just a single elderly man waiting inside grasping a clipboard. Clearly he was not part of the security team, not unless MIIO were so strapped for good people they were hiring seventy year olds anyway. And something about his moustached face vaguely tickled the back of her mind as he offered her a formal bow …

“My Lady Anna” the other greeted her with a deep bow and slightly raspy voice. “It is the greatest pleasure to see you home once again”.

“Uh … and good to see you as well…” she desperately racked her brains before it suddenly clicked in her mind and belatedly added “Mister Cogsworth”. One of the stuffy protocol officers of her parents, whose primary job had seemed to be forcing her to stand perfectly still for excessive amounts of time as a child, before being announced and allowed into incredibly boring receptions with her parents.

The irony that right now, at this time, she sort of felt that she would be entirely happy to stand still in this room for as long as necessary rather than walk outside was not entirely lost on her.

“You look quite marvelous, My Lady” the man continued, seemingly chuffed that she had remembered his name. “The Coronation Ceremony is due to begin soon, right now the hall is in a recess break until then. So the networks will be covering your arrival, live”.

“Oh...good” she managed, trying to force down the sudden surge of panic at the idea of a good chunk of the planet's population focused entirely on her every move. Everything that had been theoretical before was starting to become just a tad too ... real … for her.

“Quite” the other nodded, clearly utterly misunderstanding her terse response. “Now, you will have the press to your left behind a rope line, you can feel free to just smile and wave and ignore them no matter if they shout questions at you. The armor barrier is immediately to your right with the public. Just walk down the red carpet between them until it turns up the stairs into the front doors. At that point you will be expected to say a few words-”

“No-one ever said anything about that!” she protested, her eyes widening and feeling a sudden urge to start sweating. She had never exactly been a good public speaker…

“It's just a few words” the other sniffed, his mustache twitching over her objections. “No-one is expecting you to make a speech. Just say how happy you are to be here, thank everyone for coming and that will be quite sufficient thank you!”

“Okay … I guess I can handle that” she agreed hesitatingly, anxiety starting to slowly edge up from under her control as she mentally tried to fumble together a few words in her mind and came up with nothing...

“Excellent!” the other smiled thinly. “Now” he gestured to the door. “I’ll announce you, then remember is just straight out and down the red carpet until you get to the protocol officer who will hand you a microphone. Say a brief greeting, wave, then inside you go. Easy and simple”.

She managed an almost mechanical nod to the other, who in turn nodded back and then touched a button on the wall, the frosted glass door sliding opening and the roar of noise from outside increasing markedly as he stepped out. A repeater vid screen on the wall showing the live TV feed suddenly switched from a pan shot of the massive crowd to a close up zoom of Davis from just outside as he stepped out from under the slick looking canopy to a lectern and smiled proudly.

“Presenting...” his voice boomed across the area that immediately forced a lull in the general chatter. Say what you will about the man, but he certainly had a voice fit for introducing people.  “Presenting” he tried again when he had their attention, “the Lady Anna Jorgensson of Arendelle!”

The thunderous roar from outside in response was surely intended be both welcoming and supportive, but Anna felt her legs wobble slightly and her stomach twist as it really started to hit her just how many people were out there. Thinking about all the people who would be looking at her, watching her, ready to about freeze up in place as bad, dark memories came back of the last time she’d had the entire focus of this planet on her. The day she had buried-

-and with that, she felt a pulse of shame slap her across her self-absorbed face.

She didn’t have the right to feel anxious. Not today.

Because in an hour or so, a woman only a few years older than her who had also lost her parents … their parents ... would be given the singular burden of being responsible for every man, woman and child on the planet, while she could go to sleep tonight with no more a burden on her shoulders than choosing which clothes she would wear tomorrow.

Today wasn’t about her. Not in any way, shape or form.

Today was about her sister. And about helping her … however she could.

If she couldn’t find the confidence in herself to face these crowds on her own … all she had to do was think about her sister, about doing this for her … and just as suddenly as that, her back straightened and her chin lifted and without even thinking, Anna strode out of the tent with a broad smile on her face, with all the confidence and determination of an Assault Mech.

[Chris OFarrell]

Great Hall of Arendelle - Royal Suite
Arendelle City, Arendelle
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 10 3053

At ten stories tall the Great Hall of Arendelle was far from the tallest building in the immediate vicinity of Unity Plaza. That particular honor belonged to the Ministry of Finances (better known as the Tower of Taxes by the locals); an angular flat structure that had been all the rage of style in the 2900s when constructed, but to most people looked more like a giant guillotine hanging over the entire district. Even so, the Great Hall would be hard to miss, having the pride of place directly opposite the massive FedCom muriel set into the Plaza.

But the hall itself was not the totality of the building.

While the massive chamber certainly dominated the lower part of the building, two dozen stories of offices, conference rooms and smaller council chambers rose above it. This was where the real day-to-day work of the planet was performed; scaling from small local Government working groups ran by professional politicians all the way to inter-regional ‘dispute resolution committees’, who had the thankless task of trying to deal with friction between senior Nobles before the Duke or Duchess would be forced to personally step in. But it meant the building was, in normal times, a madhouse of activity and constantly changing personnel from all over the solar system.

Indeed, the only permanently assigned office space in the building was levels four through ten, used by the local Government authority of Arendelle City. And as part of that, a suite of offices on the fourth floor were set aside as the official chambers of the Count/Countess of Arendelle City. It was a title held by the planets Duke in fact, but was traditionally invested into their spouse or another trusted family member to manage on their behalf, allowing them to serve as a sort of de-facto First among Equals in the People's Council. But since the untimely death of Adgar Jorgensson who had last held the title, the offices had been empty, vacant and silent.

Nethertheless, the suite was kept secured, ready and tidy on the expectation that soon enough they would be used again. And that diligent work by the housekeeping staff was rewarded when, at midday, the executive elevator directly linking the private office to the rooftop helipad pinged open unheralded to deposit a security detail. They made a quick but thorough sweep of the suite of rooms before calling in the main ‘party’, withdrawing to cover the entrances and leave the rooms alone to the single young woman who they were sworn to protect.
The vast majority of nobility across both halves of the Federated Commonwealth, mere hours away from such a life changing event, would typically be surrounded by a hoard of close family, friends, retainers, vassals, mentors and media advisors as they prepared to accept the enormity of the change in their lives.

The Duchess Apparent of the planet of Arendelle however waited alone.

The dictionary definition of grace, Elsa Jorgensson cut a most striking figure as she glided silently around the room; an avatar of classical beauty that would have grabbed undivided attention across the Inner Sphere - even withoutthe royal blood flowing through her veins. Her dress was a deep teal in colour with black highlights and hugged hugged her body from its high collar down to her waist like a second skin, making the most of her perfect physique to leave only her neck and face exposed. Completing the outfit, a pair of aqua colored silk gloves covered up the last of any skin that might have shown … which, as she slowly strode over to the far wall from the window and large oil painting there, she ever so slowly started to strip off.

Reaching the painting and clutching her gloves in her hands, she stared up at the image of her parents. Feeling as always the un-muted pang of loss, she put it aside behind the mask she wore as she studied the image. Her mother stood in it, dressed in almost identical robes, holding the scepter and orb that symbolized their families right to rule this world in the name of the First Prince of the Federated Suns next to her Father.

Rulers. Nobility. Leaders.

The painting all but blazed with the confidence, wisdom and leadership demanded by House Davion of the people who ruled worlds in their name, beloved by their people ...

And then there was her. The girl who wanted more than anything else to keep away from her people.

“Don’t let them in” Elsa said softly as she wringed the gloves in her naked hands. “Don’t let them see … be the good girl you always have to be. Conceal … don’t feel …”

The words were recited with the absent intensity of someone who knew them by route. Someone who had repeated them to herself over and over and over again yet perhaps, deep down, didn’t quite believe them … but desperately wanted to.

Hesitantly, Elsa lay her gloves down the on the top of a long sideboard. Then with controlled, deliberate movements, reached out to gently take hold of a large candlestick with one hand and a small decorative ornament with the other; vaguely similar in shape and size to the scepter and orb in the painting. Holding both in her hands for a moment and cringing slightly at the feel of the cool metal and ceramics against her naked skin, she took a deep breath and turned to face the window on the far wall - and distant public beyond them.

“Put on a show” she whispered as her back straightened, raising her arms as she set herself, as if this was the ceremony. Her eyes set with the most intense focus, mirroring the stance and look of the former Duchess on the painting above her.

And despite the fact that it was only a candle and decorative ornament being held in her hand, for those long moments, Elsa looked as majestic as any House Lord in history.

The mask of perfect regality fell away from her face as a soft crackle broke the silence. Elsa's gaze shifted almost unwillingly down to her hands, looking on in almost resigned desperation as from around her fingers frost impossibly started to hungrily spread along the surface of the metal and ceramics. Hurriedly, she turned to rid herself of the two objects, placing them with a thud on the side table and snatching her gloves back, encasing her hands swiftly into the soft, protective fabric as she mentally commanded her suddenly racing heart to still.

“One wrong move…and everyone will know” she whispered in a low tone that was not exactly anxiety, not exactly dread and not exactly fear … but somehow seemed to take a bit from each emotion as she stared at the two partially ice covered objects, glittering in the low light as if in silent prophecy of what was to come today.

Turning away sharply from the table, Elsa marshaled her emotions, feeling the cool power racing under her skin once again receding with the return of the gloves. She could drive herself into a panic over what had just happened, but she knew from experience that would get her nowhere and simply waste energy she would need today. Instead she enforced the glacial calm onto herself with a slow deep breath, before turning to walk to the window. Outside, the world seethed with activity, the tens of thousands of people in the square opposite throninging and cheering, even as she was as always, hidden from their view behind the one - way mirror glass. Directly under her window was the main entrance - and on the road that crossed in front of it were a pair of her childhood nightmares.

Specifically, a pair of Battlemechs.

Part of Prince Victor's escort, the Warhammer and Marauder were a sight unseen to the people of Arendelle for a very long time. Their world had been at peace for centuries and while increasing numbers of units used the planet as a staging depot too and from the Periphery March, it was rare that their Battlemechs were ever shown off to the public. The population were as Battlemech crazy on the whole as the rest of the Federated Suns however, and unsurprisingly the news feeds following his convoy had focused in probably more on the two Battlemechs escorting it than the Archon-Prince designate himself. Retired AFFS talking heads on Vid shows had spent most of his trip excitedly pointed out various Star League grade upgrades to the classic designs and bringing up old war stories before the convoy had reached Unity Plaza. And while Victors convoy had vanished to a secure underground car park at that point, the two Battlemechs had continued forth, strolling almost casually once around the Plaza to the wild cheers of the crowds to take up position flanking the main entrance. Standing there ‘on guard’ as it were, like two giant sentries.

But while the crowd had waved and taken countless pictures as the two titans stomped their way around the plaza, looking down at the heavily armed war machines standing like titans in front of the ant like crowd Elsa just felt her skin crawling.

As a young girl, in the months after the … accident … she had overheard her parents talking about what more they could do to help her and weighing the risks of if they dared seek help from New Avalon. And while silently listening at their door, she had heard them speculating on what might happen if they had gone to New Avalon for help, after their limited resources had been exhausted with more clue than Elsa as to how her powers worked or how she could control them. Clearly, against the backdrop of the failure of the failed 3039 war they had been terrified over the possibility that she would be shipped off to New Avalon if they went public. Not to get help, but to get studied like a curiosity of nature, taken away from them forever.

Or worse, instead of helping her, they feared she would be moulded into the perfect weapon for the Federated Commonwealth. To kill and destroy on a level far beyond anything the Inner Sphere had seen since the early Succession Wars as their ace in the hole.

The discussion, unknowingly overheard by the young Elsa, had unsurprisingly terrified the already fragile eight year old girl and Elsa had fled back to her room - not needing to hear any more of their talk; hiding under her bed's sheets, shivering as for once, she felt the cold. Wild nightmares had flooded her mind that night; of being sealed away from all human contact inside a Battlemech. Fuzed inside the iron monster for all eternity to serve as a weapon of death and destruction as she brought death to millions of people ... all wearing the face of Anna ...

That night had also made her driven from that day to do whatever was necessary to control her powers, to suppress them. Doing anything and everything to avoid being sent away, to show that she could be a good girl and keep the secret safe and keep everyone else safe too!

She was no longer that girl of course ... but no matter how many times she told herself that she was being irrational, no matter how many times she told herself that she was doing a great disservice to the volunteer soldiers of the AFFS and then AFFC the nightmares of children were no small thing to disavow when she had to but lose focus of her powers for even a second ...

Sighing, she let the emotions wash out of her, closing her eyes and letting the late afternoon sun just still barely visible over the tops of the buildings warm her. The distant voice of Elias Cogsworth could be heard outside, getting the attention of the crowd to announce yet another VIP, her faintly amused mind noting that they were running very late indeed if they had only just gotten here ahead of her entrance which would be the culmination of the three hour long court session...

“... Lady Anna Jorgensson of Arendelle!”

Startled, Elsa’s eyes flew open and her head snapped around to stare at the VIP entrance a hundred or so meters up the road in a flash, leaning down against the glass for a better view without the slightest concern for irony as, without even realizing it, she adopted the exact same posture she had often taken when inside her bedroom so long ago. As she had looked out to watch Anna rampage fearlessly around the castle grounds while she stayed out of sight during those long months before she had moved out of her home. Her curse that had been so well controlled until that night wildly throbbing and swirling inside her...

Yet she had often found a rare sense of peace in watching her sister play, almost able to imagine herself down there with her, that everything was back to normal. At least until, inevitably, she’d catch a glimpse of the white lock in her sister's hair and it would all come crashing back. And with that surge of fear, frost would start to spread across the windowsill...then the wall...

But as the crowd roared in approval, Elsa, for once in her life, didn’t even think about that night at all.

Instead she felt her throat constrict as she tried to swallow past the lump that had formed, watching as her sister emerged from the checkpoint to an explosion of camera flashes from the media pack on her left and public crowds to the right, her gaze rapidly switching back and forth from the distant figure standing there to one of the high-definition holoscreens in the plaza providing a much closer picture.

Gone was the impatient young child from her memories, who had jumped on her bed in the middle of the night far too often, demanding that she play with her. Or who’d conspired with her to sneak into the kitchen to smuggle out chocolate while Elsa ran a diversion on the other side of the room. Gone too was the gangly girl she had seen in vids and photos her parents brought her, racing everywhere because she clearly had no time to walk!

No; in the place of those memories was a young woman looking every inch the true treasure of the Jorgensson family. Wearing a spectacular dress that took her breath away, Elsa found herself slapped in the face by the unavoidable reality that her sister had grown up into a beautiful young woman who looked every inch the noble she was.

And yet … it was still Anna. So undeniably Anna.

Everything, in every part of her, at the briefest glance, told Elsa that whatever had changed over the years … this was still absolutely her sister from the smile on her face to the enthusiasm with which she greeted the crowds cheering her forward.

A frown marked her face however, as her attention was reluctantly drawn from her sibling to the dozens of reporters in the press area, who she could see even from this distance were clearly shoving microphones in her direction with a frantic energy that made them look like a pack of straining hyenas held back only by the presence of the police in front of them. Her gloved hands curled unconsciously into fists -a rare indeed breakdown in her self control- as she saw them jostle to try and get at her sister to probably yell questions over the roar of the crowd. She recognized a few of the worst local scandlevid types among them, who she knew would do anything to try and get a reaction, darkly anticipating the kind of questions they may be throwing her sisters way…

But Anna, to her relief, simply ignored them. Instead, she focused all her attention on the throngs of cheering crowds, acknowledging as many of them as possible as she strode down the line until she reached the two massive Battlemechs standing on either side of the main stairs and paused between them, looking up at the two Battlemechs.

Elsa couldn’t help but let out a very undignified not-quite-giggle as Anna stared up at the highly polished Battlemechs … and waved at the pilots inside.

And after a moment of what had to be confused surprise, both Battlemechs stirred and waved their weapons pods back at her. Gaining an immediate cheer and round of applause from the crowd.

And just like that, any specter of the Battlemechs from her nightmares had been vanished as if they never were.

Turning away, Anna then climbed the stairs, reaching the main entrance - that just so happened to be directly under her window. And then after a microphone was given her to … she spoke. And her voice, a voice Elsa had not heard in person for years seemed to resonate through the air, a jumble of a million-million memories flaring to life in her mind as she watched and listened to her sister from a distant window, once again.

“Thank … thank you all so much” Anna started, pausing for a few seconds as her head turned to take in the massive crowd hanging on her every word from corner to corner of the Plaza as they rapidly quieted down, straining to hear her. Standing up on the top of the steps meant she was visible to just about all of them and Elsa could see that she had all of their attention as she continued. “I know a lot of you here waited all night for today and I want to let you all know that it means a lot to me that you’re all here. And I know it’ll mean a lot to my sister as well that you’ve all come out to support her like this” Anna said, gaining an immediate cheer from the crowd - and a pang in Elsa’s heart. “I also know there are a lot of people around the planet who are watching this live - and I want to thank every single one of them for their support. Oh, and all those kids staying up past their bedtimes to watch this? You guys rock!”

There was another cheer and wave of applause from the crowd at that, and Elsa couldn’t help but feel awe at the sheer exuberance her sister raised so effortlessly from the people. Elsa was quietly terrified of large crowds of people, finding it so hard to even just stand there and wave, let alone speak. But Anna? Effortlessly ... casually ... easily; Anna had them all cheering louder for her then for any other person to date who had arrived.

“I’d probably better get going before someone has to come out and drag me inside” her sister continued, getting a laugh from her captive audience and drawing her attention back to the here and now, “but I just wanted to say that it makes me so proud to come home and see you all so welcoming to everyone visiting this place. Party on Arendelle!”

Roaring cheers and flag waving from a hundred thousand people thundered through even the armoured window and Elsa could only shake her her slightly in bemused wonder. No other noble had been so casual, let alone told the people to ‘party on’ - no-one would dare!

But Anna had.

There was a warm feeling of affection flowing through her as she watched her sister wave one last time before turning to head inside, like nothing she had felt since her parents had died and left them both alone. The intensity of it was actually almost a little intimidating … but she greedily embraced it anyway. The warmth of the feelings at least temporarily burning away the deep guilt and regret that had been swirling in her head since her sister had arrived on-planet.

Moments later as Anna vanished under her window into the building, there was a discreet knock at the office door.

“Yes?”

The door opened just a crack, enough to give her privacy, but to allow communication.

“My Lady? It’s time” Gredas voice came solemnly and Elsa straightened herself, turning away from the window to cross the office. She made the briefest of final checks in a convenient mirror as she crossed the room, mostly using the moment to re-focus her thoughts on the business of the day, but marveled -and indeed, even clung to- the odd warmth flowing through her that had seemed to come with Annas mere presence again in her life.

Time indeed she thought as she arrived at the door, Greda promptly opening it the rest of the way. The older woman clucked and fussed, making a quick check of her attire to ensure it was still perfect before she stepped back, Elsa determinedly not meeting her eyes she noticed they looked suspiciously teary. Greda could get emotional even at the best of times - but as much as the woman meant to her - Kai and Greda being the nearest thing to her parents after she had lost her own - she dared not indulge her in own emotions. Not now. Not today.

Leaving the room behind her, Elsa didn’t spare the slightest glance for the candlestick and ornament, having put them out of her mind in the knowledge that no-one would enter the office anytime soon and the ice would melt sooner rather than later.

It was perhaps a shame that she did not though. Because if she had, she might have found it rather astonishing to note that there was not the slightest trace of ice upon either of them.

[Chris OFarrell]

Great Hall of Arendelle
Arendelle City, Arendelle
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 10 3053

As the cheers of the crowd outside faded behind the thick stone walls of the Great Halls main entranceway, Anna allowed herself to start fretting again.

Rock on? Party on? Seriously Anna, your first real public ‘here is a microphone say a few words’ and you chose to say that? Oh please God, don’t let Elsa have seen that!

Somehow, she managed not to openly cringe at the idea of her sister having seen her make an idiot out of herself and embarrass their family ... but only just.

“Lady Jorgensson?" Yet another formally dressed protocol officer with a headset/microphone and a noteputer seemed to materialize out of nowhere as the main doors were closed behind her. “If you will come with me?”

Without waiting for a reply the other spun on a heel and started to walk away, the sudden action spurring her own legs into motion as she followed the other woman on autopilot.

The great hall was a spectacular structure, polished sandstone and marble all around, the finest wood finishing and so on. On a normal day, she could have lost herself exploring the countless chambers, waiting rooms and so on around the place. But she simply didn’t notice anything as she followed; her entire focus locked entirely on the stark fact that she was taking the last steps in a very very long journey...

“-ady Jorgensson?”

She snapped out of her daze as she belatedly realized that they had come to a stop, with the woman in front of her trying to get her attention. Glancing around in mild embarrassment, Anna found they had stopped in a small but luxuriously appointed waiting room, a couple of older women busy inspecting her dress to ensure it was sitting properly while another poked at her hair, but all seemed satisfied her appearance was correct.

She had been so out of it she hadn’t even noticed people touching her…

Get with it Anna! she snapped at herself.

“Yes?” she managed to reply, trying not to look too red in the face. She had to be doing wonders for her reputation for being absent minded today...

“As I was saying … My Lady...” the other explained, managing not to roll her eyes despite sounding very much like she wanted to, “are you ready?”

No she very firmly declared in her mind.

“Yes” she agreed quietly.

“Excellent” she nodded, turning to the doors, before reaching out and twisting both handles to push them open, leading her through and down a short hallway to turn onto  a long hallway she also recognized from memory as the one leading to the main entrance of the Great Hall itself, with the broad polished doors at the far end. Dozens of people were running around in that fashion best described as organized chaos, as they tried to get the last second tasks needed to be done...

But Anna didn’t really notice.

Because as she was hustled down the hallway and turned to face the doors that would lead into the Great Hall, Anna found herself halted directly behind a young woman in a teal and black dress standing in front of and facing said polished brass doors. A woman with pale skin and long platinum blond hair swept up into an elegant bun standing in the middle of the chaos like the eye of the storm; a bubble of seeming perfect serenity.

Time … stopped.

For a moment, if felt like she was back on the ship that had brought her here from Corona as its K/F drive engaged; the moment seeming to stretch out to infinity as her eyes - as her very being - became hyper-aware of the presence of her sister directly in front of her and everything else faded to background white noise.

So many times, so many times she had imagined -dreamed- of this moment over twelve years. Thousands of scenarios, of possibilities for how it might come to pass. Of what she would say, what her sister would say. Of what she would do, what her sister would do. Hopes and dreams waring with fear and terror. Expectations set by her cousin, her aunt and uncle, even Victor, Kai and Galen yesterday being shouted down by wild swings of emotion as they wared for dominance in her mind.

She wanted to leap forward and engulf her sister in a hug and never let go.

She wanted to hold in place like a tiny mouse hoping against hope to not be noticed.

She wanted to call out.

She never wanted to say anything again.

Her legs wanted to throw her forward.

Her legs locked up and refused to move.

She wanted to hyperventilate.

Her breath froze in her lungs.

And all through her explosion of emotion and feeling ... her sister didn’t so much as spare her a glance.
Didn’t so much as shift slightly.
Not until she turned slightly to acknowledge some minion who walked up to her with a printout of something, exchanging a few short words before he nodded and moved off before she turned to once again simply look straight ahead.

And that tiny action, that in no way acknowledged her, somehow seemed to shatter the extreme emotion in the moment. Slowly deflating as the bustle of noise around her once again returned to replace the dull roar of blood rushing through her ears.

Two meters away and suddenly it still somehow felt as distant as the sixteen light years it had been a week ago.

Desperately, then firmly, Anna started to pull herself together, one piece at a time, telling herself for once, not to overreact and read too much into five seconds of ‘contact’ that amounted to staring at her sister's back, forcing her gaze to the side and off Elsa. This was just the start and...and...

...annnnnd then the Galaxy flipped off its rotational axis.

Left and right of the doors into the Great Hall were two polished mirrors at offset angles. It was a common design for grand entrances used in formal venues, allowing the nobles and their retainers to make one final check of their appearance before the door was opened and they were announced. But when Anna had forced her gaze away from the back of her sisters head, it had settled onto the mirror to one side … and in doing so, she found herself looking directly at her sister's face.

She looked … incredible. Regal. A true Royal in a way she could never possibly be, so like their parents in every way she wasn’t. Someone who wouldn’t look even slightly out of place next to the First Prince and Archon, or Victor and his Siblings. Her complexion was utterly flawless, the slightest hints of lipstick, blush and a deep purple eyeshadow only drawing attention in the perfection of her face framed by her platinum-blonde fringe and deep blue eyes, yet somehow affecting an almost mysterious air to her that suited her perfectly.

Yet, no matter how striking, all those things Anna only noticed them vaguely. Because as she stared at the reflection of her sister, she realized her sister had, in turn, been staring at her all this time through the mirror.

Hyper-aware of every small detail, Anna saw Elsas eyes widen imperceptibly as their gazes met - but her sister did not turn away or flinch as Anna had dreaded she might. Instead, Anna felt almost naked as the icy blue eyes of her sister seemed to study her, knowing that the anxiousness, fear, longing and loneliness of twelve years apart from her sister were entirely on display; she could not have concealed her emotions even if she had wanted to do so.

Emotions seemed to flash across her sister's face too, far deeper and greater than anything she could hope to comprehend, like the tip of an iceberg that merely hinted at far more under the surface …

She swallowed thickly as the other blinked, her sister's mouth opening slightly for a moment as they silently looked at each other, an almost shy and awkwardair coming across between them as they both found themselves in this perfect stasis.

And then it happened.

Hi Elsa mouthed silently at her through the mirror. A nervous, tentative and shy smile accompanied the mouthed word, like a shaky hand uncertainly extended towards her, not knowing -and perhaps even fearing- what her response would be, but taking the risk of extending it nonetheless …

Through all the years deprived of contact with her Sister, Anna had been aware of a ‘diminishing’ of her own self that she had never really been able to explain. To anyone. Not her parents, not her Aunt and Uncle, not to Kai or Greda. Her parents had listened to her, but not really listened to her as they continually told her that her sister was simply too busy to visit or vice versa. Instead, they tried to keep her active, to distract her with countless other people her own age as the years had passed. Anna still didn’t know if they had just thought she was lonely and needed to be swamped with people, or, if they thought that with time she would slowly come to forget her sister behind a patchwork of ‘someone else's’.

Absurd as that idea was.

She had survived, slowly learning how to go on despite feeling almost like she had woken up one morning missing a limb that no-one else could see or understand was missing. In every photo, seeing the ghost of her sister standing next to her, always finding herself turning to share a joke or comment with her, only finding empty air standing there, fighting back the feelings and putting on a brave face, never able to understand, but trying her very best to be a good girl for her parents.

Until they had left her as well.

For all Punz had done to drag her out of the dark hole she had fallen down, reality had only thrown into sharp relief the ongoing absence of her sister. And the never ending silence to her trickle of HPG messages from Corona year by year had crystallized into a deep, almost primal fear. A terror that the reason her sister had cut her off had been … because Elsa hated her.
That she had done something so horrible that she didn’t even remember, but had hurt Elsa so much that the only possible response had been for her sister to simply cut her out of her life. To determine that as far as Elsa was concerned; she had no sister.
The logical part of her mind she (sometimes) listened to had always objected to such an idea, poking rational holes through the theory all over the place … but while the head could be convinced easily in such things, the heart was much harder.

And so, finally ‘face to face’ with her sister, the five year old child that had watched her sisters dropship rise into the sky could not help but jump to the forefront and with the most intense focus, look for even the slightest, most subtle hint to validate her fears.

And found … nothing.

She saw nervousness and uncertainty to be sure. And there were snatches of regret and even perhaps sadness on display, mixed with loneliness, or … longing?

But not hate.

Or anger.

Or rage or disgust or loathing. Or the slightest trace of any of the dark emotions she had been terrified she would see on that face that had been absent for so much of her life.

Hi Anna mouthed shyly back at her sister.

Elsas face seemed to light up at her response, the nervous and uncertain aspects melting away to be replaced with affection. The emotion seemed to resonate through the air, Anna feeling her own face helplessly forming a small, shy but raw smile; like a flower instinctively lifting towards the radiance of a star cresting the horizon at dawn as time, stopped for so many years, started to move forward again.

The shared moment - a mere six seconds of time that seemed to last from Big Bang to Big Crunch- went unnoticed by everyone but the sisters, but ended abruptly as Elsa suddenly turned away from the mirror, a man approaching her with some kind of report or some such, a polite ‘business’ face rapidly falling into place as she turned away to deal with the interruption. Anna rocked back as the moment was broken, finding herself inhaling sharply - apparently she had forgotten to breathe, again- yet feeling lightheaded in a way that simply could not be explained by oxygen deprivation.

No.

She didn’t feel lightheaded, she felt light.

Working to regain her thoroughly razzled composure Anna surreptitiously reached up to wipe away the water that had threatened to push out from her eyes as she blinked, forcing herself to take a slow, deep breath, mechanically forcing her lungs to move as she sternly ordered her heart to slow back down-

“My Lady?” that annoyingly pushy protocol officer reappeared as if by magic, but Anna could have kissed her for the distraction as she turned to face her, latching onto the business at hand to try and ground herself.

“Yes?” she said, then paused as she saw that the woman (followed by a pair of beefy looking security types) was carrying a velvet purple cushion. And sitting on said cushion, clearly the reason for the security guards ... was a tiara.

Her Mother's tiara.

“It's time" the other said and with great formality, she presented her the velvet cushion to her.

Just as carefully, Anna reached out to accept it, mildly surprised given everything that had just happened that her hands were so steady as she took the soft cushion, entranced by the beautiful crown with its gorgeous blue emerald and shimmering diamonds set into flawless gold. Memories of her Mother wearing it on the most formal occasions flew by her eyes as she stared at it and, for the first time today, she felt a distinct pang of loss as she recalled why this ceremony was taking place.
I miss you both so much she silently cast the thought out, remembering for once not the day she had buried them, but the last moment she had seen them; the hugs exchanged and goodbyes said without knowing it would be the last time, focusing on the laughter and love in their final parting. But I promise, I promise, I’ll do you -and Elsa- proud. Setting herself, she turned back to see her sister move forward to the door which was being opened in front of her. Distantly but clearly, she now heard Victors voice, laced with great formality and authority. So much so he sounded far more like his father then the person she had met yesterday.

“I call Elsa Jorgensson. Daughter of Idun and Adgar and rightful heir to the Dutchy of Arendelle. In the name of House Davion, come forth and accept your right to rule”.

A new fanfare exploded moments later with a thunder of timpanis and Elsa seemed to straighten herself in response. Hesitating for only a moment, perhaps considering the final moments of her life as the heir apparent, or perhaps even the future now ahead of her, she then started forward. Anna glanced at the woman with the headset who held her gaze a couple of seconds, clearly listening intently before she sharply nodded and gestured her forward.

Drawing herself up just as her sister had, Anna took a deep breath and started to follow her sister into the Great Hall. A half dozen paces behind at the same steady walk, holding her sisters crown out in front of her for all to see as spotlights and the attention of a Solar System, focused on the two sisters.

[Chris OFarrell]

Great Hall of Arendelle
Arendelle City, Arendelle
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 10 3053

As Elsa stepped into the vast room accompanied by the thunder of two dozen timpanis, trumpets blazed. String instruments simultaneously resonated as other percussion cut in and a not half bad choir raised their voices to add to the noise as the soon to be Duchess strode down past the thrilled schoolchildren towards the March Lord sitting on the throne at the centre of all of this, her sister following exactly six steps behind carrying the crown that he would place on her head. The voices singing out the glory of the Federated Commonwealth loudly and proudly for all to hear sent a surge of energy through the vast room as the vast crowds stood.

The FedCom March had been a surprise smash hit with the crowds on New Avalon when first played in 3048 at FedCom day celebrations, to celebrate the martial might of both nations. It had spread like wildfire across the armed forces to become almost a de-facto anthem for the AFFC almost overnight. Bombastic and triumphant; it had unofficially and then officially been adopted by both states as an official piece of acceptable music for top level formal occasions - such as the investment of a planetary ruler.

Elsa personally would have prefered something a little less over the top for her ‘grand entrance’. But she was more than enough of a politician to both understand the value of playing a song that Prince Victor would appreciate was selected to honor his presence … and would also appeal to the deep reverence most Federated Suns Citizens held for their armed forces.

She kept her pace steady, her manner calm and composed as she slowly walked down the nave, smiling gently at the awed faces of the schoolchildren watching her as the music thundered. Her face was otherwise serene, but inside she was trying to master emotions that were raging. If seeing her sister outside had been enough to take her aback, staring at her even indirectly through the mirror, had been almost overwhelming.

And then it had become overwhelming when her sister had shifted her gaze slightly and noticed her reflection, their gazes locking through the mirror for the first time in so very very long.

Anna had always been an open book to her, mostly because her sister had always worn her heart on her sleeve. And despite how many years it had been, Elsa had found herself almost effortlessly able to see that heart and understand it at a glance … and been struck to the core with that glance.

For thirteen years she had pushed Anna away. For her protection. No matter how hard it had hurt Elsa to do so. So much that she had run away to another continent after a year of soft knocking at her door had almost broken her resolve to do what was needed to keep Anna safe.
For thirteen years she had cut her sister off, yet she had remained confident despite her parents pleas that Anna would be fine. Even as a child, her sister had pulled people into her orbit as effortlessly as a star pulled planets; it was just who she was. She could - and would- simply fade out of her sister's life until such time as she learned to control her powers. As hard as it would be for a planet to break away from the stars pull, she had forced herself to do so.
Of course Anna would miss her, at least at first. But she was young and vibrant. She would get on with her life, make new friends and new experiences while Elsa became a distant presence who could no longer hurt her. Until she mastered her powers and could return to be the big sister Anna deserved, once again.

It … had not worked out quite the way she had hoped.

It had taken her thirteen long years of painful work and terrible expenditures of effort to get to the marginally controlled state she was at now. Her father had given her the gloves when she turned nine, her ‘magic gloves’ she recalled fondly, which seemed to help. But even so, with every year that passed, her powers had only seemed to double in strength testing any progress she made with far more dire consequences should her control slip. She had slowly discovered that when she was focused on other things, her powers seemed to at least be held in check. So she threw herself into her studies, pouring her time and effort into her education. And she hadn’t stopped with her top level grades; she spoke five languages perfectly, could play a half dozen musical instruments at near professional orchestra level and was physically in superb shape, having also found that sometimes simply running to exhaustion was also one of the few ways she could banish the powers raging through her veins whenever she got agitated … but she had never truly gained the kind of control she needed to be confident that her sister was safe from her.

And so, despite her parents plees, she had refused to come home or allow any contact with her sister. Far better that she stay out of sight until she finally did, no matter if it took another ten years then she risk a repeat of that night.

And then … their parents had died.

All her hard, exhausting work over the years had seem meaningless after she had been told the news. She had barely been in control of herself during that black week - and even calling her state ‘in control’ was pushing it, even alone locked in a room. So tenuous had her ‘control’ been that she had forced her sister to bury their mother and father alone … and then sent her off on a jumpship. Convinced that history would repeat itself if she didn’t get her to safety; if she didn’t get Anna away from her.

For that alone, Elsa fully expected Anna to hate her. Would have deserved for Anna to hate her - all she ever did in her presence was bring misery. And she had been dreading the moment they would come face to face again she she had landed. Braced herself as best she could for the inevitably of looking her sister in the face and seeing the righteous loathing and contempt for her in those eyes spear her like an icy shard through her heart.

But all that had been in that mirror when their gazes finally met, was Anna. Anna, looking at her with a nervous, yearning, almost pleading expression...
Sisterly instincts Elsa had long thought dead had surged to life at the almost overwhelming need in Annas gaze for her to acknowledge her. Her little sister was hurting. And on pure reflex without realizing she was doing it, Elsas lips had moved, mouthing a single word to her sister. A single word, that came with a feeling pushed down at Anna, that told her that she was here.

That she saw her. That she was here. And that everything would be alright -somehow.

The answering smile and mouthed reply from Anna had been almost overwhelming as Elsa realized what she had done entirely on instinct. Almost as overwhelming as the electrical surge of shock racing through her as she started to understand that despite having every reason to do so...

Anna didn’t hate her.

It was a scenario her sometimes cynical mind had not even considered, let alone hoped for. She could never have comprehended it being even a theoretical possibility after so many years coldly closing down anything but a brief sort-of-message between their parents, pushing her away even to the point of forcing her sister to bury their parents alone. Indeed, some hidden part of her still drowning in guilt may have even hoped she would hate her, that it would let her go on and live a wonderful life, using the hate to move on and live her life without her....

With some effort, Elsa mentally composed and centered herself. She had been trained all her life to place duty before everything and, accordingly, she compartmentalized the tempest of emotion in the back of her mind as she stepped up the marble steps to the stage, ensuring the placid mask she wore in public was locked down into place.

Left and right of the throne, the VIPs rose from their ornate chairs respectfully as she stepped onto the stage proper. She timed her approach with calculated precision to reach her mark as the music approached its thundering end. Aware of all the eyes focused on her, she took hold of her dress and offered a curtsy, carefully dipping low while bowing her head. She held the respectful position for a full second before slowly allowing herself to rise back up and finally dare to glance up at the man who had come over a hundred light years to invest her with the authority to rule.

The personification of the Federated Commonwealth sat on the throne with the ease of one born to rule far more than one planet. His eyes locked with hers and she held herself rigidly still as his gaze seemed to press in on her, seeking something. There was a brief, irrational surge of fear that he could see right through her to her frozen power and was about to expose her, but the moment passed as he seemed to find whatever he was looking for, offering her a sharp nod of respect in return for her gesture as he leaned forward slightly, the subtle signal a gesture for her to get this to get underway as he waved everyone else to sit back down.

“Summoned, I have arrived” she announced clearly, the tiny microphone clipped onto her collar picking up her words and amplifying them to echo around the vast room. “I am Elsa Jorgensson. Daughter of Idun and Adgar Jorgensson. Rightful heir to the Dutchy of Arendelle”.

“And how may We know this?” Victor challenged her, the formal worlds easily rolling off his tongue.

“By these, you may know her” a voice spoke up from her on cue as the kindly old Bishop of Arendelle City -local head of the New Avalon Catholic Church- moved up beside her holding an ornate wooden case that he now opened and presented to the Prince. Inside, gleaming softly under the spotlights, were an ancient golden scepter and orb. “Placed into the hand of Michael Jorgensson by Lucien Davion - these tokens show her claim is just and true. By God and Davion”.

Prince Victor made a show of looking over the items from his position - as if he could somehow tell at a glance that the jewel encrusted objects were in fact the real deal. Confirming her identity had actually been done earlier today with a DNA test against her parents samples brought from New Avalon, then cross checked with her relatives and local archives using independent systems. The quadruple-checks a legacy of the fascinating -if terrifying- attempt by ‘Mad Max’ Liao to replace Hanse Davion with a double that had come far too close to success for any ruler to ever take such issues lightly again.

“Truly, this is Elsa Jorgensson” Victor agreed, turning his gaze out beyond the stage to take in the assembled masses. “All other measures having been determined to be satisfactory, are there any among you who would dispute the wisdom of this choice?” he asked, his gaze slowly sweeping around the room and assembled nobility, politicians, VIPs and schoolchildren assembled before him.

Elsa couldn’t help but hold her breath slightly at that. One of the five core rights of all citizens of the Federated Suns was the right of ordinary citizens to appeal to a higher authority - all the way to the highest authority on New Avalon in fact - to remove highly unpopular or ineffective members of the nobility from their posts. Victors question was really ceremonial - but it was also absolutely serious. If someone did formally ask him to reconsider he would be obligated to question them and make a decision on if their claim had merit.

And there would never be a better time for someone to stand up and denounce her as a freak.

A mutant.

A monster.

But there was nothing but absolute silence in response to his question.

“So be it” Victor intoned and Elsa felt a slight chill pass down her spine that, for once, had nothing to do with her powers as Victor stood.

Two militiamen met him at the base of the dais, each carrying one of the flags that had been brought in at the start of the ceremony, pivoting on their heels to fall in as Victor approached her, solemnly lowering the two spearpoint like tips of the banner poles to touch at the midpoint between Victor and herself. Unbidden, she reached out with only the slightest hesitation to lay a hand on each flag, before Victor in turn lay his hands on top of hers - Elsa fighting to keep calm, focusing only on the feeling of the gloves snugly fitting over her hands.

If Victor thought her hands were cold or abnormally cool, he gave no sign.

“Do you, Elsa Jorgensson, of your own free will swear true loyalty, fealty and obedience to your Prince Hanse Davion, his Heirs and those he appoints over you?” Victor asked her with great formality.

“I swear it” she agreed with equal gravity in her voice.

“And do you, Elsa Jorgensson, understand the duties, responsibilities and powers being invested into you on this day - and accept your responsibility to perform them to the best of your abilities until either your death, abdication or investment of these powers into another by the First Prince?”

“I do understand” she confirmed solemnly and with the utmost seriousness as she accepted her burden. Elsa had in fact thought very long and very hard about -privately before the ceremony- simply confessing everything to Victor, begging him to find someone else to rule their world.
But even more pressing than her fears about what would happen if she revealed her secrets to Victor, her parents had taught her from a very young age that this was her duty. And after all the sacrifices they had made protecting her, helping her, it would be nothing less then spitting on their graves to take such an … easy ... way out of her responsibilities.

She was capable of doing this job - she knew she was. So she would do it. No matter how hard it would be, or how much stress she may suffer from hiding her affliction.

She owed her parents and her world nothing less.

They continued back and forth in this fashion for several minutes, Elsa promising several mundane things then several important things in a odd process that mixed something together of ancient royal traditions and a modern employment contract. Slowly she started to relax into the moment as everything went like clockwork, having mentally practiced this hundreds of times, the two of them spending a good ten minutes slowly going through the extended oaths to her Prince, her Planet and her People.

Finally Victor reached the end of the various oaths and released her hands, Elsa also letting go of the banners of the Federated Suns and Arendelle, fighting the urge to reflexively close her hands into fists nervously as the flag carriers retired, Victor turning now to face her Cousin, Rapunzel, as she stepped up with a cushion, upon which was a folded purple cloak. Victor nodded silently in salute and together, the two of them drapped a royal purple cloak onto her shoulders, Elsa reaching up to help secure the clasp at her throat before Victor reappeared in front of her, now holding her crown, no doubt having picked it up from Anna off to the side somewhere - but Elsa dared not turn to find out, not knowing what would happen to her poise and control if she happened to look her sister directly in the face right now at point blank range.

Without a word, Elsa bowed her head towards him and she shivered ever so slightly; a wave of goosebumps flaring down her spine at the feeling of the almost delicate looking tiara settling on her head.

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” Victor intoned as he placed it on her head, the line from one of William Shakespeare's plays, still so very valid well over a thousand years after his death. “Remember well this weight Elsa Jorgenson and that for all its beauty, the burden of this crown now rests on your shoulders, and your shoulders alone”. Finally getting the tiara set just right into her hairstyle, Victor now stepped to the side as Elsa raised her head again, finding the Bishop of Arendelle City had stepped forward.

Holding the open wooden case and the scepter and orb sitting inside.

Elsa started to reach for the two items - only for the Bishop to cough very softly, too low for her microphone to trigger.

“Your Grace” he whispered in a sotto voice. “Your Gloves…”

Elsa froze in the action of starting to reach for the two objects as, despite her attempts to keep calm, a sudden lead ball of dread settled in her stomach. She hesitated for at least a second or two, before with almost robotic motions, she stripped the gloves off and placed them in one side of the box.

Conceal … DON’T feel she mentally told herself as, feeling the eyes of the Bishop, Victor Steiner-Davion, her sister, her people on her as she reached in and took the two heirlooms of her house, forcing herself to get a firm grip and pleading to God, just this once as she devoted herself to his service, to have pity on her as she turned around; holding the two items up, the blinding spotlights seeming to isolate her so completely on this stage...

There was a distant rumble she could barely hear over the thunder of her heartbeat in her ears as the assembled masses got to their feet, the Bishop calling down Gods blessing on her and her reign,

Conceal don’t feel … conceal don’t feel …

She almost lost her composure as she started to feel the stirring of her power, rippling under her skin and building on itself. Desperately, she mentally yelled for the Bishop to hurry up, bending all of her willpower to trying to control herself as she continued to chant the mantra in her head faster and faster as her heart started to beat faster and faster with it. But it was like trying to grasp at a bar of wet soap, the harder and more intensely you tried, the faster it started to slip away...

...Conceal don’t feel conceal don’t feel don’t feel...

Her panic only seemed to fuel the surge of power however and  to her horror, she felt a cool tingle of pressure start to almost ooze out from her perspiring hands. She risked the briefest glance down and saw the telltale signs of white frost starting to spread from under her hands - and she could not wait.

Turning suddenly as she dared, she placed the orb and scepter back into their case - just as the Bishop finished with “...be known as Elsa Jorgenson the First, Duchess of Arendelle!”

She caught for a split second the slightly amused look from the Bishop at her slightly jumping the gun to put the objects back. But he said nothing as she didn’t quite snatch the gloves back before closing the box - before anyone caught the unnatural shimmer on the golden leaf. Composing herself in a moment as her hands dove back into the safety of her gloves, she turned around fully as the assembled masses thundered their response.

“Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!...”

And then she realized that she had made it.

No-one had seen.

No one knew.

It was a more pure wave of relief then she had ever felt in her life, all consuming in a way like nothing before. Elsa only barely sensed Victor stepping up on her right to offer his arm as the crowd continued to chant. Taking it without thinking, the reassuring warmth of her gloves protecting both of them as her power faded again, she allowed herself to be led almost in a daze towards the edge of the stage where he released her as the crowd fell silent.

“Hail Elsa, Duchess of Arendelle!” Victor stridently thundered into the silence suddenly, snapping her back to reality with the sheer authority in his voice.

“Hail Elsa, Duchess of Arendelle!” the masses roared back in front of her.

“Long may she reign!” he declared.

“Long may she reign!” the crowd affirmed and with that, led by Victor, the crowd broke into thunderous applause and for the first time since entering the vast hall, a smile appeared on Elsas face.

The applause, and more than a few cheers and whistles went on for some time, so much so that Elsa felt slightly taken aback by the unconditional support she saw in so many faces. So many people who didn’t know her, so many people who now answered directly to her were smiling and approving of her despite knowing nothing about her. Were expecting her to lead them and this world into a new golden age.

It should have been a crushing weight, a dreadful realisation as she tried not to look down, lest she realize just how far she could fall.

Instead she felt almost giddy as the tension drained away.

Clearing her head and refocusing her attention, she turned to glance at the shorter Prince next to her (who seemed to grow to twice the stature in her mind every time she looked away) as he ceased his applause and once again offered her his arm. Smiling slightly she took it lightly as a massed choir somewhere in the room began singing. An ancient Terran hymn known as the Heimr Àrnadalr, a song only sung on Arendelle when a new Duke or Duchess was invested.

As the applause died down in the face of the choirs soft haunting voices joined by a few more of the more knowledgeable crowd, Victor led her forward, off the stage and down the stairs. The assembled crowd of VIPs behind them started to slowly shuffle after them as she and Victor descended the stairs, leaving a generous gap of course. Reaching the bottom, the children in the front rows started to bow - but then, without warning, Victor squeezed her arm slightly to get her attention as he halted.

Keeping her poise as she also came to a halt, she felt Victor gently pull away and watched in curiosity as he turned to face a young girl on the edge of the front row, probably only eight or so years old who was, like all the children in the immediate vicinity, seemingly frozen into silence and immobility by the sudden direct attention of their rulers. Waving his bodyguards aside with a brief gesture as the rest of the procession also came to a halt behind them in response to their stopping, Victor stepped forward and eased down to face the starstruck looking young girl with a smile on his face.

“Hello there” Victor greeted her gravely.

To Elsa's silent approval, the young looking brunette girl swallowed and set herself remarkably quickly. Elsa tilted her head ever so slightly, thinking she had seen this girl somewhere before. Not in person of course, having been isolated from most human contact for some time, but she had kept up to date with her ‘who’s who’ of people on Arendelle, with the occasional video conference thrown in when needed. And she knew that the children were in fact seated by some calculation of their social rank, with the front ranks being made up of the immediate scions of some of the planet's most senior nobility - so this was probably the child of a very high ranking noble...

“Uh … hello?” the child wondered tentatively before hurriedly correcting herself at a hissed rebuke from a shocked teacher nearby. “I mean, how can I help you Your Highness?”

“May I have your name, my Lady?” Victor asked gently, a hidden microphone on him picking up and carrying both conversations to the packed hall and beyond who were watching in fascination, trying to figure out why Victor had suddenly stopped.

“Uh, it's Sofia, your Highness” the girl quickly supplied, rallying remarkable composure for someone coming unexpectedly face to face with Victor Steiner-Davion and become the centre of worldwide attention.

With a click in the back of her mind, Elsa mentally matched the face and name to the nobility charts she had studied for years. Sofia, the First child of Count Roland Winters and his second wife Miranda from the Southern city of Fortryllet. Good people from what she had read, competent and loyal with high approval ratings from their people. And clearly they had raised their daughter well if her remarkable poise at suddenly being confronted by the Archon-Prince designate was any indication.

“I believe you were the one who decided to curtsey when everyone else bowed?” Victor asked.

Elsa kept her face poised but mentally frowned at Victor stopping to chide a child for making a mistake like that - but was silently impressed again that despite a slight blushing of her face and despite the snickers she heard from the children around her, Sofia kept her poise.

“Yes, that was me” she admitted, working her hands together for a second before she forced them away. “I’m really, really sorry!” she apologized.

“Actually my Lady Sofia, the reason I stopped was to complement you” Victor smiled at her, causing the other to blink in confusion for a moment. “Yes, I was extremely impressed; that was one of the most well done, most graceful curtsies I had seen in a long time. Even if some of the children around you” he added, his tone turning if not annoyed, then certainly as least filled with a mild rebuke as his gaze swept past her to focus pointedly on a few clusters of other children -who gulped cringed and otherwise did their very best to not wilt under his gaze like he was some kind of Über principal calling them onto the carpet- “didn’t seem to appreciate your skill”.

“Th...thank you, your Highness” the other exclaimed, looking insufferably bashfully cute. “I’ve practiced a lot”.

“I could tell” Victor assured her with another grin, the ridiculousness of the Archon-Prince designate pausing in a major event to chat with a child in this way clearly pleasing him. “So let me tell you a secret” he continued, his voice adopting an almost conspiratorial tone, despite the fact it was being repeated across the entire room (and planet). “I’m going to to be going to a lot of ceremonies like this. And eventually most of them will probably blur in my mind into one vague memory with tens of thousands of people across hundreds of planets - but I can promise you that for the rest of my reign, I will always remember that at my very first investment, I was lucky enough to be the first member of the Steiner and Davion families to witness the most perfect curtsey from you Sofia”.

The murmured awwww from the assembled masses in the Great Hall was appropriately heartfelt - and Elsa was herself touched by the gesture, perhaps even a little envious of how easily, how casually Victor could reach out to people and make such a connection. Clearly he had his mother's touch as much as his father's skill in a Battlemech. She knew that Sofia would never forget this day.

Nor, she thought silently, would any of those who had dared to mock her mistake ever do so again.

“Thank … you, your Highness” Sofia blinked rapidly, clearly slightly overwhelmed and, for lack of any more perfect response, she lifted her skirt and gave a curtsey. Which Elsa indeed noted, was pretty much textbook in its execution and grace.

Victor in turn grinned as he stood, offering a shallow bow from the waist in return before turning back to Elsa and offering his arm, which she took, pausing only to offer a smile to Sofia before they walked up the nave, the procession once again getting into motion as the choir continued their song. Exiting the great hall soon enough through the same door she had entered they took a quick series of turns as they gently let each others arms go, walking smoothly in a comfortable silence through the quick zig-zag of passages to the access lift the security teams were holding for them. Up five stories, just above her private office in face, was the balcony upon which Victor would present her to the seething throng outside. Mentally, Elsa mentally running through the same checklist she had run down a million times already as she recalled exactly what she needed to do...

“Well, that didn’t turn out to be the disaster I was fearing it might be” Victor suddenly broke the silence with a sigh as they approached the elevator. “I admit I was worried for a bit there during the actual investment itself that things were going to fall to pieces, but I’m sure you’d agree all seemed to work out in the end”.

Elsa felt her heart rate start to accelerate again as the meaning of Victors words hit home.

Did he know? Did he see!

“Disaster, your Highness?” she managed to ask him in a level tone (somehow), mentally having to fight the sudden urge of her legs to stop moving as the lift doors opened in front of them. She had always had a slight tendency towards feeling claustrophobic - a legacy of the long year she had tried to stay locked up in her room with her sister trying to get through the door- but it had rarely been an issue for her. Right now though, as the polished steel doors of the elevator car closed shut with the bodyguards packed around them, the dull thud sounded like a cell door slamming shut and ever so slowly, the lift began to crawl its way up the shaft, Elsa trying not to feel like a ticking time bomb in the enclosed area...

“Well that might be overstating it a little” Victor smiled at her. “But this was my first time doing this kind of work - and I had to admit I was rather nervous that I would stumble. Have you promise to rule with great concern for use of the colour yellow or something”. Victor gave her a wry smile. “Perhaps I spent a little too much time around your sister yesterday”.

The statement was so absurd, so completely out of line with what Elsa was both expecting and dreading, so utterly out of step with what she would have expected from the son of Melissia and Hanse Davion … that she couldn’t help herself as the doors opened and all the tension that had seemed to compress the enclosed space exploded out.

It wasn’t even that funny, but Elsa giggled in an incredibly un-regal manner in a way she had not done in public for a very long time.

And for the first time in forever, dared to hope that, somehow, everything would turn out alright in the end.

[Chris OFarrell]

Annnnnd finally the last chunk. Damn character limit!

Great Hall of Arendelle
Arendelle City, Arendelle
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 10 3053

People flooded out of the Great Hall as the procession ended. Many -indeed most- headed out the ‘back’ to where a conga line of hover limos waited to pick them up and fight through the chaotic traffic ballet caused by the security checkpoints. A great many men were hurried along mercilessly by their wives and partners who knew the ball at the Arendelle Castle started in two hours giving them precious little time to get ready for the social event of this decade; to get back to ‘Royal Ridge’ and get ready - and tardiness was not an option. And of course, thousands of schoolkids made for a crowd control problem that gave their limited number of teaches instant headaches as they tried to herd their specific charges to painstakingly planned assembly areas with mixed results.

Often quite literally.

Other adults also hurried away to get ready for the ball - although they were not particularly interested in the fine music, food, drink and dancing that awaited them there. Or even the public relations boon of finding themselves on the news sheets society page standing next to the new Duchess or Archon-Prince designate.

Or better yet, both.

No, they were preparing for the other type of dancing scheduled to take place tonight where clusters of offworld Mega-Corp representatives (who had not been invited to the Great Hall) and their associated local reps and nobility would spin around each other across the Castle grounds, jockeying for position with the Duchess and her senior advisors while seeing to block out their competitors. The simple fact was that for these people, this coronation wasn’t about celebrating the elevation of a new Duchess to the ruling nobility, but about the rocks in the ground that had put this world on many maps in many offices across civilised human space. By comparison, a smaller amount of Germanium had once let Marius O'Reilly turn the Marian Hegemony from a laughing stock of a bandit kingdom into a genuine Periphery power - and Arendelle's reserves were calculated to be at least a third greater than the Hegemonies - using the most conservative +95% probability data. And when you added the Clan-grade materials on top of that...

Accordingly, it wasn’t terribly surprising that the ‘dance card’ for Elsa tonight was more than a little overbooked, figuratively speaking.  And literally too for that matter - although no-one was sure if she would dance. Or even could - such was the scarcity of information on her.

Still, a number of very powerful people were very determined to get in and make their first impression count with her before their competitors. Although any more adventurous plans had been derailed by the unexpected arrival of the chaperone from hell in the form of Victor Steiner-Davion, that simply meant they had to be more subtle … if not necessarily less ruthless.

Some might have even gone so far as to try and charm the pants off her, but that was more a Plan-C given again the lack of details such as sexual preferences, relationship status and so on. The risks of such an attempt causing immense blowback ruled out any seduction angle … at least for tonight anyway.
And suffice to say more coarse actions were right out the window. Even without Victors presence, this wasn't the Periphery where friction and jockeying could very well escalate into ‘Pirate’ raids against a competitor's operations. No, this was the Crucis March. There was a level of civility expected this deep in the Inner Sphere when engaged in cutthroat business work with competing agendas.

And so tonight it would be smiles, handshakes and laughter from behind glasses of wine, looking on the surface for all the world like a joyous celebration in honor of the newest Duchess in the Federated Commonwealth … but with oh so much going on behind the gaiety, as people worked to try and ensnarl Elsa in their web while fighting off the other spiders - yet doing it all without annoying Victor Steiner-Davion to the point that the soon-to-be most powerful man in the Inner Sphere marked them as a personal enemy.
To the old hands at this game, there was most definitely a sense of electricity in the air - a sense that this would indeed be a night to remember with very high stakes. Success here could fuel massive expansion for any company through the steadily expanding Federated Commonwealth economy for the next 50 years, easily.
Failure on the other hand …

Still, while many of the adults exiting the hall were focused on the coming evening of ‘fun’, the more numerous children pouring out were far more enthusiastically yelling to each other about the incredible pageantry of the Investment.

The biggest child of them all, the loudest of all.

The younger sister of the family Jorgensson was even now bouncing down a cross corridor while her extended family followed after her. Closest behind the woman moving like an out-of-control jump infantry pack was her cousin, who was focused less on the rapid non stop stream of words coming out of Anna's mouth and more on trying to steer Anna away from the valuable glass, porcelain and stone sculptures lining this corridor that she was continually coming terrifyingly close to in her wild gestures and movements. All of them looking terribly fragile, terribly valuable and oh so ripe targets for Anna to destroy her in exuberant movements...

Cursing her somewhat constricting purple dress, then her parents for not being any help but just walking slowly after them with amused expressions, Rapunzel did her best to try and help Anna avoid disaster, having given up on trying to tell her to slow down after the first five attempts failed to get through. It was as if a switch had been thrown; Anna had been astonishingly placid and dignified in the ceremony itself as if the mere presence of her sister could somehow calm her or encourage her to be on her best behavior … but the moment she had been out of sight ...
Praise be to whatever high power was looking down on them this day; they managed to arrive at the bank of elevators without destroying any Star-League era sculptures - a few close shaves notwithstanding! Rapunzel stabbed the call button frantically as Anna was forced to come to a halt through the sheer fact of the corridor running out at this point, although she started pacing in circles without so much as a half second delay, zipping back and forth as she continued to chatter away making wild gestures with her hands. The guards on duty at this access point behind a wall of bulletproof glass monitoring the security systems stoically did their very best to not crack a smile or grin at the behavior of the sister of the new Duchess - who was busy acting like a crazy person.

They didn’t really do too good a job of it though and Rapunzel doubled her stabbing at the lift call button accordingly, cursing the thing as it slowly came down from upstairs.

“...and then I waved to the Battlemechs and they totally waved back, it was awesome…”

Rapunzel wondered if Elsa would mind if she slipped a mild sedative into a drink for Anna?

“...crown was so incredible, I mean like wow, the size of those diamonds was just…”

Nothing major mind you, just a little something to bring her back to human norms?

“...really impressive, Victor is just such a nice guy but he really nailed the attitude I think…”

Then as the lifts arrival chime pinged, she banished such thoughts with an amused snort.
As if mere sedatives could calm down Anna now...

Ever since they had hit the Zenith point a tension had been building inside Anna like a fusion reactor building towards overload until by the time they had made planetfall, she had needed to start keeping a close eye on the other. She had found it mildly amusing that it took personal intervention by the Archon-Prince designate himself to keep Anna stable and distracted yesterday, but had feared for what might happen on this day.
And so this morning, she had crept into her Cousin's bedroom fully prepared to be walking on eggshells the entire day, expecting Anna to be wound up tighter than a stowed jump sail. Ready to do what was necessary to keep her calm until the investment and her first meeting with her sister in so many years...

Instead, she had found the other snoring.

Never much of a morning person, Anna could be notoriously difficult to wake up and after a quick giggling conference with her parents outside, they had agreed to let her sleep in. It was going to be a long day after all and she had nothing on her official schedule until the Investment itself. A quick call had ensured that Kai Brevak at the Palace would keep an eye on Anna and make sure she did get woken and dressed at an appropriate time, but without Anna tagging along (who no doubt would have been mobbed - in a good way - by the public), she and her family had elected to change into casual clothes and go exploring the city, dodging the press easily, as most of them seemed to be frantically trying to follow Prince Victor around on his unexpected visit to this planet.

For nobility in the Inner Sphere, going to a different planet and going ‘casual’ was one of the rare times they could hang up their titles and ranks and just be themselves -  if they so wished of course. Rapunzel had (more or less) gotten over her parent issues and treasured these kinds of moments when she was able to just be with them casually. It had horrified their security of course - the fact that they had flatly insisted on only two bodyguards coming along. But with so many other Nobles running around the city this day, often with a handful of hulking bodyguards present, they were hardly going to stand out. They had visited dozens of shops and stalls, arcades and malls and picked up no small amount of charming little souvenirs, Rapunzel buying a delightful ‘bobblehead’ of Anna that she was just dying to show her cousin...

Of course eventually the time had come for the investment which, unlike Anna, she had to sit through as a guest of honor of the Arendelle family from start to finish. The preliminaries had been both boring and entertaining in various measures - and even touching as Victor had handed out bravery and community service awards - but long practice at her family's court back home had ensured she had kept a calm and polite facade up at all times, while trying not to worry about Anna out there on her own. Knowing that she and her sister would probably have at least a few minutes together before they entered together and hoping that it didn’t go bad with some kind of explosion...

But from the way that Anna was happily blowing out all the stress that had been building up for months right now as she bounced around like a maniac with a smile on her face… well as much as she was driving her nuts trying to stabilize sculpture after sculpture, she was happy for her that apparently her first meeting with her sister hadn’t gone terribly bad.

She was still going to tease the hell out of her about this though, as Anna without breaking a step spun into the opening elevator door saying something about the ‘first time in forever-’

And then there was a loud oomph! that sounded entirely masculine as Annas voice cut off with a sudden squeak.

Oh for the love of … Rapunzel rolled her eyes to the ceiling momentarily in supplication, before sighing and turning...

Woah.

Anna had crashed into a man.

No, not a man. At least an eight, possibly even a nine.

She did a double take.

No, definitely a nine and she fought the urge to drool.

He was gorgeous. Tall and handsome, rocking a suit with a distinct military cut like so much of the male fashion in the Federated Suns but actually tasteful rather than the gaudy styles in vogue among men this year with excessive braid and decoration.
Even the sideburns that would have looked silly on most men looked … wow!

And Anna had slammed into him hard enough to drive him into the back wall of the elevator and was now half wrapped around him like an idiot.

Oh she was going to get lots of mileage out of this.

Punz would not let her live this one down and as the Elevator dinged impatiently, clearly annoyed at her standing in the doorway, she stepped in, starting to reach for the ‘Door Open’ button to keep it there for her parents to catch up, just because this was just too precious a moment for them to miss-

“Anna … we need to stop running into each other like this” the man grinned - causing Anna to giggle - and without the slightest hesitation, her hand changed path to firmly hit the ‘Door Close button as she stepped inside, shifting at once into ‘fly on the wall mode’ as the doors slid shut behind her, fascinated suddenly by the first name basis of these two people...

*******

So sue me, I watched several hours of Sofia the First with my niece just before writing part of this chapter :p

[Sigil]

Loving it!  I have five kids, and now when I'm forced to watch Frozen it's like a totally different movie!  Griffins in the Throne Room!  How could Disney have missed that little detail?!  O0

[ckosacranoid]

not a big fan of froaen, but this is just to funny though to say the least. can not wait to see the wreak that becomes the combat section of the story or what else happens to everyone.

[The Colonel]

Okay now that I have actually read everything posted...
THIS IS AMAZING!!!
And the fact you have included a number of other Disney nods is great.  The one that made me smile about the most was the appearance of Sofia considering I have two daughters and that is a staple show that they watch every day.
Although my eldest, she is 6, pointed out that Sofia is not the oldest but the youngest. 
And won't stop poking me until I point that out.  Now she has stopped.   ;)

I can't wait to see more chapters!
Keep up the amazing work!

[Chris OFarrell]

So its been over a year, my apologies for that.

This will fingers crossed be the FINAL 'big' chapter and from here on in as everything is finally in place, we'll go to much smaller chapters released much quicker!
So on with the show!

No one goes to an investment ball expecting to see a defining moment in human history.
Let that be a lesson for you. History rarely announces itself before it punches you in the face.

- Extract from ‘Elsa’ by Misha Auburn. Tharkad Printing House, 3059

Duchy Palace / Jorgensson Family Residence
Arendelle
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 10 3053

“Attention all staff; the gates will open in thirty minutes. Frontline personnel to first positions”.

The PA announcement across the palace and its grounds was neither surprising nor unexpected given that it was, in fact, exactly thirty minutes until the gates were due to open for the first time in a very long time. Well, outside of brief monthly tests to meet fire code regulations that was.

But it nonetheless set into motion an explosion of anxious and frantic activity.

In the kitchens of the great castle, dozens of chefs and their staffs accelerated their preparations, the best catering team the planet could muster preparing the finest meals fit for a First Prince (or his son) and their new Lady of the Castle. Musicians inside the grand ballroom started to tune their instruments as final checks of the sound systems were made, while dozens of other people started to scramble in every which direction to finalize those hundred last minute details that needed to be attended to.

Kai Brevik, Master of the Jorgensson Household, was in his element as he circled through the orchestrated chaos. He gave direction where it was needed, calmed down people who might have been a little too close to panic for his mind, but otherwise just kept everything on track to make sure that there would be no last minute surprises. But even he could not help but feel a slowly growing excitement (that he hid absolutely behind his professional mask) as as time slowly approached when the great gates into the castle courtyard would be flung open.

Truly, it was almost as if a giant reset button had been pressed on the planet. Elsa was now formally invested as ruler, ready to lead her people. Anna was once again home where she belonged, by her sister's side. All was as it should be, with time ready to start moving once again after being seemingly frozen after the tragic death of the girls parents. Once again the Castle would ring with the sounds of laughter and celebration, with a confident ‘best foot forward’ presentation to the planet to mark the start of this new era.

He looked around the activity and nodded once. Yes. All was finally as it should be once more.

“Mister Brevik” a young staffer hurriedly walked up to him, breaking him out of his train of thought as he raised an eyebrow at the flustered page. “Sir, Mistress Greda is ...well, she is insisting that you come upstairs to get changed at once”.

“And behold the doom on those who dare cross her” Kai chortled slightly before waving the other away … but moments later, as fast as his dignity would allow, he was in motion across the courtyard heading for the palace. Technically he was Gredas boss … but that hadn’t stopped her for one minute from ordering him around for a decade.
Or Elsa and Anna.
Or their parents too, come to think of it…

Shaking his head once in amusement at the thought, he crossed the courtyard towards the Castle, making a final pass over things as he did. This area, directly behind the still closed gates, would be where most of the guests would celebrate with only the most VIP of VIPs allowed into the Castle proper. Tables sufficient to seat near a thousand people were scattered through the courtyard, with hundreds of Coronan lanterns crisscrossing the sky colourfully above them and all of it set around a large dance floor laid over the cobblestones. The tall halls defining the edge of the square had all been opened up into an inside-outside style, with pop-up bars and various entertainment inside. The front of the Castle itself was now illuminated with soft blue floodlights and Kai took a moment to appreciate its beauty as he approached, the building almost looking as if it could have been lifted from a fairy tail.

Of course, Kai thought squinting up momentarily at the dark spires looming above, fairy tales generally don’t have men in stealth capable power armor lurking around the Queen's Castle…

Although he couldn't see them, Kai knew a number of Infiltrator Battle Suits were discreetly stationed on the ‘high ground’ of the Castle's turrets, there to keep an eye out for any trouble this evening. Invisible in the darkness, they were backed up on the grounds by the normal palace security teams, plus a number of MIIO security teams Prince Victor had brought with him. It struck Kai as a little excessive, but Agent Curatis had made it clear that while he would very much work with him rather than against him, his responsibility to the Prince Victor meant this was the minimum level of force he would accept.

Shaking his head slightly as he stepped into the castle, exchanging nods with the guards on station at the main entrance, he couldn’t help but be mildly bemused by the sheer paranoia of Curatis and his merry men. The man seemed to see threats around every corner and in every shadow - even to the point of requesting to reactivate the seldom used (if perfectly functional) ‘Mech Hanger on the estate grounds to stash two lances of Battlemechs from the Princes escort, to have them close to hand should they be required ‘in an emergency situation’.

Kai was frankly at a loss as to what possible emergency on Arendelle would require that kind of protection. This was Arendelle, not Atreus! That Mech Hanger had been for centuries nothing more than a place for the ruling royals who happened to be Mechwarriors to stash their ‘mount’ - and even then mostly to stop Techs at the milita base taking their mechs out for joyrides in the name of ‘maintenance tests’. Technically in fact even Elsa owned a Battlemech - it was just on a long term loan to the AFFC, as she wished to have nothing to do with it.

Still, in the end he had bowed to the inevitable and accepted the request - with the provision that the damn things stay strictly out of sight unless there truly was an emergency. He knew Elsa got somewhat ‘twitchy’ around Battlemechs for whatever reason. And short of an emergency on the order of an Assault Mech piloted by some kind of tactical genius rising from the swimming pool or stepping out from behind one of the grounds many tall trees, he didn’t want the silly things seen.
This was Elsa’s celebration first and foremost. Even the Archon-Prince designate was ultimately her guest tonight. And he wasn’t going to let anything ruin it for her - or her sister.


Convoy SD-Alpha
Arendelle City, Arendelle
Crucis March
Federated Commonwealth
May 10 3053

Victor Steiner Davion couldn’t help but smile as the convoy pulled into the (long) driveway that ultimately terminated at the Duchy Palace and formal residence of the new Duchess of Arendelle.

Why he was smiling however would have probably surprised people who didn’t know him personally.

It wasn’t a public face for the throngs of well wishers just outside the main gate behind crowd control barriers; the mirror glass on his hover limo made it impossible to see him after all. Nor was it expectations of good food and good conversation tonight making him happy. If anything, Victor was mentally bracing himself for people trying to drag him into political arguments, seeing him as the political equivalent of a thermonuclear weapon they could use to advance their own agenda.

No, in truth the smile on his face was entirely down to the fact that he was back in an AFFC uniform for the first time in days.
Albeit a brand new dress uniform rather than a Mechwarrior combat vest … but he’d take what he could get at this point.

The joint AFFC Dress Uniform that had finally clawed its way out of the depths of whatever committee had been working on it since ‘41 wasn’t the horrific mishmash of a well intentioned monstrosity he had feared it would be. A fear founded when told this afternoon by his secretary that he and Galen would be the very first people to publicly wear it at an official event, yet another idea to try and draw just that much attention to his new life and his grand public unveiling of the March Lord version of Victor. Apparently his sister's idea, Katherine had decided to enforce the plan by ensuring his old uniform had gotten ‘lost’ somewhere in the shuffle from New Avalon.
He could however forgive her stage management of his fashion sense on the grounds that he knew perfectly well he didn’t have any. Thankfully, it seemed whoever had put together this uniform did.

The dress jacket was flashy without being over the top; a creme white with gold braid similar to the older AFFS style jacket, riding loose over an undershirt coloured for the division of the forces its wearer belonged to. In his case, the burgundy of a Mechwarrior. The unit patch of the 10th Lyran Guards and the Fist and Sunburst of the Federated Commonwealth rode proudly on his left and right upper arms respectively while the bars and Steiner Cross of a Marshal sat on each of his shoulders. A pair of well creased pants in Steiner blue descended to his polished boots, where he wore the spurs of an AFFS mechwarrior earned through an exchange year at NAIS during his training.

On his left breast, a -comparatively given his exalted rank- small line of five medals rode and Victor wore them with pride. Technically he could have worn a dozen more medals, badges and devices that reflected his political rank, noble lineage and position, but in this matter he took after his Grandmother. Katrina Steiner had made it a point to only wear an appropriate minimum of decorations on her dress uniform when she put it on, her somewhat sparse look doing wonders to mock most social generals brave enough to approach her ... what with the fact that some of them wore enough metal to probably qualify as light body-armor, yet hadn’t seen an infinitesimal fraction of the combat she had.
No, each of the medals he wore he had earned the hard way like a true soldier. They had not simply given to him as part of his birthright -like his automatic promotion- and idly, he let his gaze in the window trace across them.

The first two medals were campaign medals showing he had fought in the Clan War both before and after the so-called ‘year of peace’ - each with two ‘stars’ on the ribbon itself showing he had fought in four major engagements through said war. The third was a unit citation for merit, awarded after the victory on Twycross. He had apparently impressed a lot of senior officers by keeping a level head and thinking fast when the Clans had thrown all their carefully laid plans into chaos that day. Although personally, he had given full credit for his battalion's success to his company and Lance commanders they had insisted that he deserved the credit for their victory. The Unit citation had split the difference neatly and both he and Galen wore it with pride tonight.
The fourth medal was a training excellence ribbon that signified he had graduated in the top five percent of his class at The Nagelring, putting him among the elite of that year. And more than that, it told anyone who knew about such things that he had not simply been parachuted into the AFFC by ‘mom and dad’, but had damn well earned his place in the armed forces - especially given the intensity of the competition for placing in that five percent and its right to request which unit you would be posted to.
Not that he had ever had even the slightest choice of being able to choose his unit, given that his parents (unlike the rest of his classes) had both the absolute power and right to tell him where he would go … but it was the principal of the thing.

And then, finally, there was the fifth medal.

Shifting his focus, Victor's eyes locked in on the colored gem inlaid on pure gold under the blood red ribbon. The ‘Guardian of the Lair’. Highly prestigious, it was only ever awarded on the personal orders of the Warlord of the Pesht Military District, to soldiers who performed heroic deeds in the defence of that part of the Draconis Combine.
And it belonged on an AFFC Dress Uniform about as much as a Smoke Jaguar ristar belonged teaching anger management classes.

The Warlord (most likely at the ‘suggestion’ of the Coordinator or his Gunji-no-Kanrei) had awarded him the medal via the Combine Ambassador on New Avalon early this year, as a gesture of thanks and respect for his actions in rescuing Hohiro Kurita and his DCMS forces from Teniente - trashing a Nova Cat cluster that had gotten in his way in the bargain. It was a gesture clearly intended to honor his unit, but by the same token the quiet presentation of it was a message in of itself. That the Dragon appreciated his actions, but understood if for political reasons he simply could not wear the decoration.
Katherine -and no doubt his parents -  had apparently decided that he should wear it however as it had been pinned to his new uniform when he had unpacked it alongside his other medals. No doubt they had intended that it be impossible to miss by various commentators, setting a specific tone around the Federated Commonwealth's current relations with the Combine - and perhaps sending them a message in turn...

Or perhaps … he was overthinking things.

Victor sighed softly to himself as he studied the dim reflection in the armored windows. These days it seemed he was wearing more layers of messages than layers of clothes-

“You know, you’re not the only person in the FedCom to have been given that medal recently” Kai casually spoke up from the other side of the limo and Victor's head turned to gaze at the man with a raised eyebrow.
Kai as always, had the uncanny ability to read his mind. Which would have been rather annoying if he wasn’t such a good friend.
“My uncle, along with several other Hounds and Dragoons, were awarded it after Luthien. And Gods knows they all had a lot more ‘history’ with the Combine than any of us” the other pointed out.

“Fair point, but I’m betting that none of them were the heir to a Successor State or two” Victor retorted dryly. “I’m sure James Sandoval would be just delighted to see me wearing this” he fingered the medal briefly, trying not to picture the look on the face of the virulently anti-Draconis leader of the Draconis March at him wearing such an award.
Not, Victor admitted, that he didn't have a lot to be bitter about.
As much as he hoped that this strange new dente with the Combine could lead to something better for the Inner Sphere and genuinely thought of Hohiro as a friend, Victor was not so foolish as to think that centuries of Draconis aggression and cultural inertia would just vanish overnight.
Still, who knew what might happen in this strange new world of theirs where the heirs of the Capellan Confederation and Draconis Combine were good friends of the Heir to the Federated Commonwealth...

“I think the entire Inner Sphere is well aware by now that you led a strike force to rescue Hohiro from Teniente” Kai pointed out, bringing his attention back to the present. “As I recall, the Sandovals publicly accepted the necessity almost as soon as it was announced-”

“-after we just so happened to drop off all the salvaged Clantech at Robinson on our way to New Avalon” Galen interjected dryly from the other side of the limo, earning a smirk from Victor-

“-and the only real complaints he made were around the lack of public recognition from the Combine” Kai finished without missing a beat. “The medal” he nodded at him, “undercuts that claim quite neatly. And you can bet that there will be press officers on New Avalon waiting to spin this as soon as the first pictures are published leaving him no room to complain”.

“Publicly, at least” Victor shrugged stiffly, as always impressed by Kai’s handle on political matters and trying not to think too much about the Lord of the Draconis March.
Although if the Sandovals ever found out about his feelings for Omi...

“That's the spirit” Galen approved as with a slight bump, the Hoverlimo crossed through a secondary gate in the outer palace walls, then turned right to follow a service road running between said wall and the decorative but still functional moat around the edge of the castle and inner complex. They followed the road for a time before crossing a short but heavily reinforced bridge through the inner wall where an empty vehicle park awaited them.

Well empty of vehicles anyway. But filled with security personnel.

As the rest of the convoy's vehicles smoothly fell out to park in predetermined positions, the hoverlimo drifted across to where a red carpet had been laid from the Castle and came to a precise stop. The door swung open moments later as the fans spun down to silence and the trio of VIPs exited, Victor and Galen accepting their swords from staffers who magically appeared out of nowhere. The things made one look dashing, but they were an absolute pain in the neck to wear inside a vehicle.
Glancing around, he took in the usual cloud of bodyguards and aides … then smiled as he noticed a new figure also approaching from the direction of the Castle.

“Highness” the man greeted him with a deep bow. “It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the Jorgensson Family Estate. Please consider our home, your home”.

“It is our pleasure to be here Mister Brevik” Victor said to Elsa’s Chief of Staff, extending a hand which the other took for a brief but firm shake, before the older man extended similar greetings to each of his companions. “It is a magnificent building” he added then, jerking his head at the softly floodlit castle looming ahead of him. To be sure it was only a fraction the size of Mount Davion or the Triad, but those ‘castles’ were modern fortresses reinforced to no-sell a rogue Assault Mech ‘knocking on the door’, with a thin veneer of ‘ancient charm’ over the top. They were elegant enough to be sure, but to a trained eye it was blindingly clear that they were defensive buildings first and throwbacks to Terras feudal age second.

But what this Castle lacked in size, scale or 31st century military practicality; it more than made up for in authenticity. Victor had seen enough half-assed attempts by various nobles build a ‘new-old’ Castle to to be able to tell that this one had been built with a meticulous attention to detail. So much so that he half wondered if, like a few other such rare examples, it had been dismantled on Terra and reassembled brick-by-brick as one of the later vanity projects in the Star League era. Lit up with blue floodlights under the evening sky, it was almost felt like he was about to walk into a fairy tale...

“Thank you, Highness - we’re rather proud of it” Brevik brought him out of his admiration of the building as he invited them onwards with a polite gesture.
Nodding, Victor started down the carpet at a brisk but not hurried pace, his friends and bodyguards falling into line behind him. Then halfway to the door, he heard a voice call out.

“DETAIL … ATTEN...SHUN!”

Victors gaze flicked to follow the voice, noticing now the dozen men and women in Militia uniforms standing just off to the side of the carpet, carrying standard issue M42 rifles. He reasoned that given they were standing at parade rest and not on the ground in a pool of their own blood courtesy of his overprotective bodyguards, they were an expected presence. A guess confirmed a moment later as Kai Brevik cleared his throat, an expression on his face suggesting he had just remembered this little thing.

“Oh yes” he added belatedly as Victor offered him a raised eyebrow. “The local militia” Brevik nodded at the men and women, “have mounted a permanent honor guard at this castle for several centuries - and were hoping you might inspect them on your way in” he explained in an apologetic tone, as if thinking Victor was going to be annoyed having to deal with this.

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth and without further ado, Victor moved forward and caught the eye of the man in charge, giving him a slight nod.

“PRESENT … ARMS!” the detail leader barked in response and with a unified clatter the rifles were brought up from the ground to be held at present arms with envious unity. Then, the Sergeant who carried no rifle stepped out of line, spun on a heel and marched towards him down the carpet, halting a few meters away to snap a perfect salute. Traditionally, the sergeant would have pulled his sword and saluted with that, but Victor suspected his security details advance team had made it clear waving sharp objects in the face of their charge would be a very big mistake.
It was nothing personal, it was just that since the days of the Mechwarrior Cabal, armed soldiers tended to make the paramilitary security teams nervous. So they had a habit of disarming any ‘honor guards’ as a matter of routine. Well unless you happened to be a member of either the Davion or Royal Guards, who had an equally proud history of telling the spooks to bite their Battlemechs shiney metal-

“Marshal Steiner-Davion Sir!” the other barked after Victor returned the salute, dragging Victor’s attention back to where it belonged. “Honour Guard Detail ready for inspection Sir!”

“Very well - carry on” he acknowledged the other. Saluting once more, the other pivoted and moved to flank him as Victor in turn started to examine the troops one by one with a critical eye. Certainly, they looked utterly immaculate in their turn out … but that was not the measure of a soldier. More than a few militias in the Inner FedCom were little more than social clubs wearing uniforms like fancy dress to pick up people. Clubs that tended to fade away the second any serious enemy force showed its face. Unlike March Militias which were line AFFC units, planetary militias answered to the local Government and were funded, equipped, trained and organized by the same. Which meant, with a few exceptions on key worlds, they were held in some level of contempt by regular troops.
And as that thought hit him, Victor came to a stop and smiled as he took in the young soldier in front of of him, who was no doubt wondering why Victor had stopped in front of him.
And why he was smiling like that.

Still, the man held his composure, which was a good sign. “Private…”

“Walters SIR, First Class, SIR!” the other barked without hesitation.

“Weapon” Victor ordered.

Now the eyes of the man shifted to focus in on the Sergeant behind Victor. And from the way his glance jerked back to him and his face went slightly pale, Victor could almost visualize the kind of glare the Sergeant had given him for daring to look at him when he had been given an order by a Marshal of the Federated Commonwealth.
To his credit, Private Walters didn’t respond by throwing the rifle at Victor in a panic, but instead, he took the weapon back from Present Arms, correctly pulled the bolt to visually inspect that the chamber was empty, double checked the safety was activated and only then held it out for Victor to take.

VIctor had held his training companies top time in rifle drill, able to disassemble and reassemble a weapon faster than most of the Infantry trainees across the quad in fact. It hadn’t gotten him any praise from his instructors of course, just mocking comments that perhaps he should go join the Jump Infantry because he was only a so-so Mechwarrior who was an utter disgrace to his family, Katrina Steiner and Ian Davion no doubt spinning in their graves...
But he had always none the less enjoyed taking apart rifles be they slugthrowers, needlers or laser rifles and putting them back together again. The M48 was like an old friend to him and he could tell after a brief inspection of its chamber, the magazine feed and rails that while this weapon it was in excellent condition, it was also well used. Several parts were clearly replacement components for worn out pieces, with other parts showing the clear signs of being repeatedly fired...
This was a weapon regularly used and he made a note to have Galen pull the training logs for the Militia to double check that when he went back to their HQ tomorrow.

“Private Walters, this is your field weapon?” He asked without turning away from his inspection of the rifle as he worked the bolt and found to his approval it moved flawlessly.

“Sir, yes Sir!” The other confirmed instantly, so rigidly at attention the poor man's muscles looked like they were about to start spasming, no doubt just a little worried about why he was being picked on in this way. And probably starting to imagine what would happen to him if he failed his unit their inspection by the biggest VIP to visit the planet since his parents vacation decades ago...

Turning, Victor passed the weapon to Galen, glancing at the Sergeant in passing, whose face was unreadable.

“Komondant, do you concur?” Victor asked, fighting to keep the mirth off of his face as Galen inspected the weapon carefully.
Galen of course enjoyed these kind of games too, as he passed the weapon back.

“I do concur Sir” Galen agreed - without bothering to tell anyone what exactly the two of them were agreeing to. Which was nothing of course - Galen and Victor had long perfected ‘good cop / bad cop’ and taking on either role as needed.
Turning back to Private Walters, he decided to have pity on the poor man before he had a heart attack at 20 years old.

“Indeed. Private, this rifle is in excellent condition - despite clearly being well and frequently used. Outstanding work” Victor nodded at the other as he handed back the rifle. “Carry on”.

The pure sense of relief mixed with pride coming off this man was almost a physical thing.

“Sir...thank you Sir!” Walters barked before accepting the rifle Victor handed back and snapping it back to port arms. And with his hands only barely visibly shaking.

Moving on, Victor inspected the rest of the troops, pleased to find that they were equally meticulous in their appearance. This was a unit that had pride in itself, which boded well as a strong foundation for future growth. And grow it would need to, given the value of the planet would increase by at least an order of magnitude over the next five or six years. Reaching the end of the line, Victor turned to face the Sergeant who had shadowed him down the line.

“Sergeant, my compliments to you and your detail. Their presentation and equipment was correct in all aspects. Carry on” Victor instructed and the other nodded before stomping back into line and starting to bark orders to march off his men to disperse them back to their sentry posts - clearly fighting off a smile.

“That was fun” Galen smiled as Kai rejoined them. “Although for a minute there I thought that the poor bastard was going to throw up on you when you stopped and asked him for his weapon”

“Well that would have added an interesting twist to the new uniforms” Kai dryly put in as they moved into the Castle. Easy laughter accompanied them into the castle and guided by Mr Breivik their party made quick time through the corridors. The older man happily pointed out this or that point of interest along the way and Victor's first impression from outside only being reinforced by the attention to detail on the inside, with very few hints of modern technology showing through the building. Even the candles providing illumination looked absolutely real - only the complete lack of any smoke and somewhat brighter light levels giving the game away there. It was truly magnificent, a work of art as much as a place of residence and he looked forward to exploring it over his stay...

Still, despite the ample illumination, Victor made it a point to carefully check each cross corridor as they approached, a habit that the Chief of Staff noticed quickly enough.

“Is...there something wrong highness?” Brevik asked with a slightly concerned expression, clearly having noticed his actions as they approached the next cross corridor.

“No; just keeping an eye out for any energetic red-heads coming in from our blind side” Victor explained earning an immediate chuckle from both Galen and Kai and an understanding smile from Brevik.

And, Victor noted with some amusement, a sudden alertness in his bodyguards at the reminder that this was Anna’s home turf...

“Oh, Anna is here Highness, but she is out in the courtyard with the general admission guests”.

“Not in the ballroom?” Victor raised an eyebrow. It would be a slight faux pas for Elsa’s sister to not be present when her sister and guest of honor arrived after all...

“Forgive me Highness” the other said with a slight expression of unease after a pause of consideration. “She seemed to be enjoying herself, mingling through the courtyard. I ... had thought to leave her there until her presence was needed. for a time. I can of course have her brought at once to-”

“No no no” Victor stated quite firmly as they approached a small antechamber for the ballroom, inside which Victor could see a gaggle of protocol people standing ready, mentally sighing at the necessity of the formality as he forced himself into ‘on-stage’ mode and let a wry smile pass onto his face. “If Anna is able to just enjoy herself out there and not get caught up in all this” he added with a nod of his head at the waiting people and political fun he was about to walk into, “then by all means just let her enjoy herself for a while longer”.

[Chris OFarrell]

As she stared at the gaggle of smirking and laughing people in front of her, Anna distantly noted that this was probably the most miserable she had been at a social celebration in her life.

It hadn’t started that way though.

She’d arrived with her Aunt, Uncle and Cousin almost an hour ago, entering via the front gates as the last group of VIPs due before Prince Victor and her sister. At the bridge into the castle a media pack had waited like a firing line, their camera flashes almost blinding her as she stepped out of the limo and their shouted questions and comments overlapping and competing into a ridiculous mess of noise. However unlike earlier today, no-one had told her that she was expected to stop and talk or make a speech. So after a brief smile and wave she just ignored them, strolling up onto the bridge and leaving them behind to start crossing the moat towards her home, her cousin right beside her.

Anna stared wistfully as she approached the softly floodlit building, no words coming to mind but feeling a broad spread of emotion as she looked upon her home for the first time in many years. Punz had unsurprisingly sensed her mood quickly and offered no conversation, just walking with her in companionable silence studying the flags hanging along both side of the bridge. Each flag was the planetary flag of a world in the Crucis March and as they reached the end of the bridge Punz let out a delighted little squeal as she finally found the purple and gold standard of Corona. Anna smiled at her cousin's reaction, feeling a stirring of happiness as she saw that the flag of Corona had been given pride of place at the end of the bridge, just outside the castle and opposite the flag of New Avalon itself. It was a lovely, quiet nod to the links between the two world's Royal families and Anna made a mental note to find out who was responsible for that and thank them, before she set herself and stepped through the open gates with a deep breath …

… only to anticlimactically find herself stepping inside yet another temporary security station.

While there were what looked like a few MIIO types present, the staff mostly wore the grey and green of the palace guards and the leader offered her a deep bow of respect as she stepped inside, welcoming her back home and bringing a slight blush to her cheeks, before he promptly turned to offered a bow only slightly shallower to welcome her kin here for the first time. Apparently already satisfied they were who they said they were they were gestured through and Anna braced herself as Punz didn’t quite drag her forward into an explosion of light and noise.

Hundreds, perhaps a thousand or more people were crowded into the open square just inside the castle walls. Stepping quickly off to the side from one of the doors that led out from the security station, Anna subtly waved off a far-too-young protocol officer already moving to intercept her, the man thankfully just nodding and stepping away as she and her cousin edged off to the side of the gate more or less unnoticed.

Anna couldn’t have really managed more than that right now. Emotions were flowing through her thick and fast as she looked upon her home for the first time in years, filled with life in a way it had never really been since the awful day Elsa had left her-

“You okay?”

Anna’s head swiveled at the question to take in her cousin - looking annoyingly stunning in one of her favorite purple dresses - who was eying her with an expression far too knowing for her liking.

“I’m good” Anna offered her a smile, one that probably didn’t do too much to hide the emotion running through her body. “It’s just a little ... overwhelming”.

Without saying anything or any hint of self consciousness, Punz slid closer and threw one arm around her shoulder, the casual and familiar gesture doing something to ease the emotional surge running through her as she relaxed into the other.

“Take your time” she smile guilelessly before craning her neck to look at the massive castle itself that loomed above them. “I have to admit” she added “I’m totally digging the place so far”.

“Wait till you see the grounds tomorrow - there are some great riding trails up into the hills” she offered, getting an excited smile from the other. Corona was famous for its incredible horses, the animals sought across the Inner Sphere for racing and personal use and, unsurprisingly, the royal stables had been some of the best. Anna had fallen in love with the majestic animals almost from the first time Rapunzel had taken her down there and had spent a lot of time learning to ride them. Indeed her instructors had tried to convince her to compete professionally - no small compliment given how seriously Corona took such things. She had declined their offers though, a little shy about the spotlight that would be put on her. But it would be nice to take one last ride with her cousin and show her off her home … and just maybe Elsa could come with them.

Or perhaps … someone else ...

“So, uh, should we head into the ballroom now?” Punz broke into her thoughts, nodding towards the main building with a second layer of guards at the doors beyond the fountain happily bubbling away.

“You go ahead. If it’s okay I’m going to just wander … you know, through the crowd for a while. And mingle...” Anna let her voice trailed off vaguely, gesturing at the crowded square even as her eyes were casually sweeping it, searching...
Her body language caused an instant smirk to form on the face of her cousin and Anna realized, again, that she really couldn’t hide anything from her cousin.

“Ohhhh ... looking for a certain side-burn-elevator-riding guest are we?” Punz asked in a sing-song voice with an almost evil smirk on her face.

Anna’s face flushed at that and the others smile only grew as she noted the response. But before Punz could press in with her teasing, a hand landed on her shoulder from behind.

“Darling, I think we can leave Anna alone to mingle” her Aunt joined the conversation with some amusement as she and her Uncle moved up to join them in their little off-to-the-side area.

“But mom…” Rapunzel started to not exactly whine, clearly extremely eager to stalk … that is, to follow Anna through what came next. She had almost gone beserk this afternoon after Hans had left the elevator, trying to drag every bit of information she could about this incredibly cute man who-knew-her-name out of her - and had clearly been driven to distraction over the fact that Anna point blank refused to give anything away. And that he had left the elevator only a floor down before she could interrogate him.
But her Aunt was clearly not having anything about that as she started to not-quite drag her daughter off towards the Castle proper.

“Anna, Kai says he’ll see you inside when you’re ready to join us” her Uncle relayed in passing, looking terribly dashing in his old AFFS uniform, an understanding smile on his face as Anna nodded to him before he moved up to help wrangle Punz towards the Castle itself.

Anna watched them go with a smile before turning away, slipping out into the edge of the crowd alone. She was wearing a nice little cloak with a hood that Edna Mode had left in her room with a scrawled note demanding she wear it tonight. And it did surprisingly well to cover her dress and disguise her presence so long as no-one paid close attention to her.
Shielded in this anonymity she threaded her way through the party like a ghost, picking up on bits of conversation here and there, smiling to herself despite her nerves, at the casual, pleasant ambience - which she knew would contrast with an awfully formal atmosphere inside. A lot of people were sitting at their tables enjoying hors d'oeuvres or drinks and she recognized some of them as local vid celebrities or lower order nobility she knew she had met once but couldn’t remember the names of. Once or twice one met her gaze but only in passing and without any recognition - although one incredibly cute young girl sulking in her chair saw her and her eyes went wide, causing Anna to playfully raise a finger to her lips and get a cute nod back, before slipping back into the crowd as she continued her search. She suppressed a giggle or two when she noted a teenaged guy clearly trying to put (very clumsy) moves on a teenaged girl in a small alcove she passed by - then did giggle slightly when a few steps on she heard the crack of a palm meeting a face, followed by the distinct sound of high-heels stomping away from said alcove.

More people were packed inside the long hallways that marked the edge of the square at various temporary bars, vid screens and so on and Anna glided away from them, knowing the odds of remaining unspotted were low there, instead swiping an orange juice from a waiter in passing to sip on as she searched. But after spending over half an hour looking without any luck for that distinctive shade of auburn - and with the giant vid screens mounted on the castle walls facing inwards turning on now to show what could only be Prince Victor's convoy approaching, to the cheers of the crowd, she decided that perhaps it was time to head inside…
But then she stopped as she heard her name called out.
Her heart pulsed as she worked her way towards the conversation-

“...but I tell you by God Anna Jorgensson is such a social climber”.

Anna froze at that statement. She found herself standing just off to the side of a group of a dozen men and women her age, all listening raptly to a tall, lean looking young man with a not-quite-sneer seemingly ground into his face.

“I mean think about it. Prince Victor lands and barely thirty seconds later Anna is ‘falling into him’ according to the people I talked to! Then she spent most of the day with him! I mean that is fast work, you have got to hand it to the girl”.

Anna felt her heart sink in her chest as the group laughed and nodded along with the now grinning man.

“I mean I can’t blame her for looking out for number one” the man continued as Anna belatedly recognized him as James Forbes - the boy whose nose Anna had broken after he had called her Sister a freak on their first meeting many years ago.

Perhaps she had hit him too hard. Or not hard enough...

“After all, she’s just the spare - soon to be the redundant spare. Her parents - God rest their souls- didn’t even bother to give her a title you know? They just kept her hidden away here in a box somewhere, while sending Elsa to get the finest possible education and training on the other side of the planet. Then when Elsa comes back, she kicks Anna off to her relatives so she doesn’t have to deal with her … well … that says it all really doesn’t it? Clearly she can’t stand her. Hasn’t even called her since she got back home I bet!”

Anna’s growing anger spluttered and died in moments; extinguished as all her other emotions came pouring in like a tsunami. Already rather on edge tonight, the insult she would have shrugged off any other day landed squarely in the depths of her deepest fears and sent anxiety surging through her body. Even as another woman in the group started to scornfully natter about how her lack of presence in ‘their’ social group of junior nobles proved she was ‘weird’, Anna felt like she was collapsing in on herself. The fragile house of glass shattering into a heap as she was confronted with the stark question of her life.

Who was she? Especially when compared to her sister?

Elsa, the Duchess. Who seemed to blast exquisite perfection in everything she did … while she was making an idiot of herself crashing into the heir to the Federated Commonwealth?
What purpose, really, did she have in her life next to that, other than being some ‘break glass in emergency’ contingency if something horrible happened to her sister? For that matter; what worth did she have that wasn’t defined by her relationship to her sister? Forbes was an ****** … but that didn’t make him wrong.
She had no role or title beyond being the sister of the Duchess. She had no holdings or responsibilities of her own, not even a plain ordinary job.
She was just … a hanger on. An accessory.
The spare.

And now she was standing here. Inside her own home she was being shown exactly what her peers thought about her … and she suddenly wanted to find some corner to hide away in. Not because of Forbes and his rudeness -and she sure as hell wouldn’t give him the satisfaction!- but the overwhelming emotion of the day was just starting to be too much for her to deal with anymore. Anna wasn’t someone who had anxiety attacks, but the cumulative stress of the last few days had been no small thing to keep suppressing. And as the group ignorant of her presence but a few meters away continued agreeing on her lack of worth as even a person, Anna found herself rooted to the spot fighting back the tears that were trying hard to come out-

“You are an idiot, you know that don’t you?”

The voice -that voice- shattered her paralysis, cutting clean across the thunder of her heart in her ears. The tightness in her chest slackened and she took a cool cleansing breath almost on reflex, letting the panic recede as she exhaled. Recovering her poise, somewhat, she turned her attention now to the man striding into the suddenly silenced group of people in front of her and felt her eyes widen.

Not just a man. The man.

Hans Westerguard let a cool almost smirk sweep across the group as he strolled into their groups space without so much as a by-your-leave, that seemed to weigh them all and dismiss them in the same action. Standing taller than any of them in his utterly immaculate white uniform-like suit, he had them all struck speechless for a long moment until Forbes managed to work his mouth again.

“Excuse me?” Forbes offered him a sneer, puffing himself up slightly. “Do you know who-”

“No and I really don’t care either” Hans cut across the other with an indifference that caused the others eyes to go wide in shock as gasps erupted from his toadies - and Anna’s heart to skip a beat in (slightly malicious) glee from the sheer casual scorn the others eyes held, as if Forbes was something unpleasant he had found on the sole of his shoe. “The only thing I need to know is that you are clearly an idiot who decided to come into the Lady Jorgenessons home and casually insult both her and her sister with a disgraceful lack of manners or brains. Now” he continued with a slight shrug, “there is certainly no law against being either an idiot or rude in the Federated Suns, but it is a rare person who manages to accomplish both so … efficiently. So I suppose there is something praiseworthy about that…”

“I am a Baron you insolent fool. How dare-” Forbes started to splutter with his face going red, only to be cut off once again as Hanse suddenly stepped into the group, his body language seeming to somehow change in a heartbeat to become … dangerous in a way that caused most of the gaggle of people to edge away reflexively.

“Oh quite easily I assure you” Hans replied with a thin smile. “Living in the Outback means you learn how to deal with rude idiots lest they waste precious resources. And, as such-”

Anna did gasp at that point, loudly enough to give her away … if not for the fact that her gasp was mixed with dozens of others as, in a blur of motion she could barely follow, Hans’s arm flicked out and a white glove slapped into the face of Forbs sending his head jerking to the side, his eyes bulging almost out of their sockets.

“Baron … whoever” Hans shrugged indifferently as Forbes eyes gaped, the blood starting to drain from his face with impressive speed as he realized what had just happened. “You have offered grievous insult against the Lady Anna Jorgensen and, on her behalf, I demand satisfaction”.

“You...” Forbes spluttered as he fought to rally his composure. “You, some offworld riff-raff commoner from the Periphery? You think you can challenge a Baron of Arendelle?”

Anna blinked at that as his repetition of his title sunk in, realizing that with his father dead James would have inherited the title when he turned eighteen. Which probably explained the sycophancy around him come to think of it. His social group was probably made up of scions of local nobility (the worst of them she fervently hoped) but none of them had titles in of themselves yet. Making him first among equals.
But one of the rules around the issuing of challenges like this was that only a member of the nobility could challenge a member of the nobility …

Wait ... that had to mean-

“Periphery March, not the Periphery” Hans corrected the other with a single raised finger and chiding tone - even as the crowd around them grew with people whispering about what was going on in excitement (and Anna noticed to her annoyance, more than a few highly interested looks from young women towards Hans from the edge of the crowd). “And I’m actually a Knight of the Southern Isles. Now” and with that Hans’s whole tone and demeanor changed to be entirely businesslike as he carefully put his glove back on. “We surely don’t want to spoil the party for the Duchess’s family or Archon-Prince-Designate, so I’ll have my seconds call on you tomorrow to discuss the terms. Knives, swords, pistols - I am entirely flexible and ready at your earliest convenience of course” he said with a terrifyingly charming smile and brief slightly mocking bow at the increasingly white faced Forbes.

Anna couldn’t help but admit that she felt a tiny little flutter in her heart as she stared at her figurative (and quite possibly literal if he had a Battlemech back home somewhere) Knight in shining armor. A man who had unasked and unlooked for stood up to defend her honor like a tale out of a book...

Then her mind came back down to reality and she realized that she had to put a stop to this. Touching gesture or not, hurtful comments or not, did she really want blood spilled? For people to risk dying over a bunch of idiots calling her names behind her back?
This was the 31st century after all, not the 13th. And this was the Federated Suns. Not the Draconis Combine, where it was apparently considered a dull party in Luthien high society if at least two challenges had not been delivered by the end of the night...

But before she could open her mouth to interject, James Forbes opened his and made the whole issue moot.

“I … well, yes” Forbs started to say as it started to dawn on him how deep he was in it - and that a quick apology might save him an awful lot of painful physical therapy in the near future. And realizing that while it would be politically acceptable to simply apologize and move on with a small loss of face, accepting the challenge, even if he won, meant he would publicly be defending what he had said about her. And, if he lost - even if he lived ...
“I think that, given the celebration we are at, it would perhaps be better if I simply expressed my … regret? That is” he added hastily as Hans’s eyes narrowed dangerously again at the non-specific words, “to apologize to the Lady Anna for such rude and clearly untrue statements”.

“Then in that case” Hans didn’t quite hiss, “I’d suggest you turn around and do so”.

Those words hung in the air for a heartbeat, as if no-one could believe (or wanted to believe) what he had just said, but then almost as one, the faces of several dozen people snapped around and locked quickly onto her. And after only a heartbeat's hesitation to school her face into the most impassive look she could muster, Anna reached up and pulled back the hood around her face, earning a sudden gasp from the crowd as her shimmering auburn hair emerged and caught the light. Many of the crowd who had gathered looked delighted -or were grinning outright at her- as if this was a sudden twist in some play they were watching.
The cluster of people around Forbes who had been enjoying insulting her, however, almost looked they were about to be sick.

Forbes face, impossibly, seemed to somehow become even paler as he saw her step forward, the crowd almost magically parting in silence for her as she held the man's gaze.

“My … my -”

“My Lady Anna?” She replied, trying for a neutral tone but not quite able to keep the acid out of it. “Or perhaps that was My Lady Social Climber?” she added causing Forbes to flinch, the man perhaps wondering if she was about to claim satisfaction with another right hook.
But as cathartic as it might have been … she knew the scandal would only increase if she did so. Her sisters great celebration ruined by her starting a fist fight over people calling her names behind her back. Especially with the number of young people in the vicinity pointing vid cameras at them.
This was not the footage Elsa would want on the morning talk shows. Nor the example Elsa would expect her to set.

He just wasn’t worth it.
If he had talked smack about her sister again on the other hand … well, he should count himself lucky!

“I…” Forbes tried, drawing her attention back as he closed his eyes and seemingly forcing himself to take a deep breath, before he bowed his head and held it down. “My Lady, I apologize. There is no excuse for the slander I was throwing around behind your back. I think perhaps I have had one too many-”

“Baron Forbes, I accept your apology” she cut him off, suddenly just wanting this over with, getting a slightly surprised reaction from the man as he hopefully raised his head, before she let the other shoe drop. “But I think it would be best if you and your … companions” Anna glanced to her side to take in the still shocked group of toadies before turning back, “made a discreet exit from the party now”.

There was an strangled moan come gasp of shock from the group at the news that they were being kicked out of the social event of the decade, but it died stillborn as Anna turned a not-quite-glare around them - and at the same time, they noticed that several of the guards and servants had not-quite pushed their way through the crowd to the group, clearly having caught onto what was happening and moved to stand ready should things escalate. Catching the eye of one, she beckoned him over.

“My Lady?” he asked with a slight bow and click of his heals.

“Can you please escort Baron Forbes and his friends to the door? They will be retiring for the evening. Arrange transport for them safely home if they do not have any ready. Oh and find their parents if they are present to let them know they are leaving” she added, trying not to enjoy the sudden look of terror in the eyes of most of the young adults at their parents being told their children were being kicked out of the party for insulting her.

“At once My Lady” the guard saluted before turning to Forbes. “My Lord?” he gestured in a friendly, but still rather pointed way.

“Of … of course” he muttered, seemingly grateful just to be able to leave on his own two feet and not find out if the Castles authenticity extended to it having a dungeon. “Once again My Lady, I apologise unreservedly for my rudeness” he bowed to her, Anna giving him a short nod back before he let himself be led away with a guard, the rest of his group being shepherded along behind him, none of them daring to meet her eyes … and leaving Anna in the middle of the crowd.

“I apologize for all that - please, the night is still young - enjoy the party!” Anna forced a smile and the crowd started to disperse, Anna vaguely noting the words of praise offered to her for her handling of the situation, but not really absorbing it. Because her attention was on the man who stepped forward and offered her a textbook perfect deep bow with yet more heart stopping grace and power.

“My Lady Anna” Hans greeted her as he swept back up to his tall and dashing self, an apologetic look on his face. “I most humbly apologize if I overstepped when I challenged the Baron to a duel on your behalf” he stated, looking almost sheepish in an impossibly cute way that caused Anna’s heart to flutter once more … but in a good way this time. “My Brothers always tell me I keep acting before thinking. I had just intended to chastise him and tell him off  … but when I saw that you were standing right there and had heard everything those disgusting people said … I perhaps got a little … carried away”.

“My Lord Westerguard” Anna offered a curtsy in return, for once pulling it off exactly right before she let go of her skirt and felt her hands starting to wring each other before she forced them apart. “You don’t owe anyone an apology - least of all me. I mean, I don’t want people to die because they talked about me behind my back - which isn’t to say I don’t appreciate the offer … not to kill for me I mean but to challenge” she started at once to trip over her words before screaming mentally at herself to get it together. “But … well, I really appreciate the gesture is what I mean” she managed to say, starting to get lost in that deep gentle smile, ignoring the stares and whispers around her...

A cheer went up from the crowd suddenly and the moment was broken, Anna tearing her gaze away to note that the screens were showing Victor, Galen and Kai entering the grand ballroom inside the Castle.

“So uh, I think you should probably go inside My Lady” Hans noted gently, looking slightly disappointed for a moment before he covered it up behind another smile. “It was a great pleasure meeting you again” he said, offering another bow and clearly about to turn away-

“Wouldyouliketocomeinwithme?” Anna spluttered, before closing her eyes for a second and cursing herself for her tounge twisting itself into a pretzel and her brain for refusing to let her think before she talked, as Hans blinked in slight confusion.

“I mean…” she forced herself to take a breath and looked up into those devastating eyes. “My Lord Westergard … would you like to come in with me? As my … guest?” she barely managed to avoid saying ‘date’. “To the ball?”

The other was clearly taken aback and for a heart stopping moment she thought he was about to turn her down … then he offered another of his incredible smiles and a half bow.

“My Lady … it would be my pleasure and honor” he said before straightening … and extending his arm.

Clenching the muscles in her arm for a second to stop their annoying trembling, she linked her elbow through his and tried to ignore the electric thrill that shot through her arm into her body. Suddenly, she found herself mostly ignorant to the whispered smiles and smirks of the crowd as they moved through it. People gliding out of their way as word continued to spread about what had happened; Anna ignoring the looks from young women annoyed she was taking Hans away and ignorant of the looks from young men annoyed Hans was taking her away. And soon enough, they stepped through into the castle proper heading for her sister … and Anna realized that this was the best social event she had ever been to in her life.