The Bull and the Genie: Book II, The Ninety-five Theses

[Korzon77]

The Princess, the Protector, and the Chancellor



Getting down to Taurus had been difficult. Three decoy dropships, and then her dropship, with a detail of bodyguards— including the first serving Davion soldiers who had been on Taurus since the end of the Star League. They had been zipped through an underground tunnel as the videos were showing the demonstrations raging around the downport where the “Davion Princess” (or whore, depending on how high-class the show was), was “landing.”

“I suppose I should be happy these demonstrations are smaller than the ones demanding Max be hung from the nearest lightpole.”

“Well, his sins are nearer.” Captain Jerak Timmis was her bodyguard, vetted by MIIO and LIC, and was a member of the Diplomatic Protective Services division…

And not happy to be in charge of the heir to the Lyran Commonwealth and wife of  Hanse Davion on a planet full of people who didn’t like them.

“Don’t worry, Jerak,” Melissa said. “I doubt Edward wants war with us.”

“Probably not, but then a few months ago, I’d doubt that Edward would have invaded the capital of a house lord to serve an arrest warrant.”

Melissa smiled. “Point. But unlike Max, we’re not going out of our way to make such an arrest warrant a requirement.”

A few moments later, they were stopped in an underground garage, and the door opened. There were the Davion, Lyran, and Taurian flags and a row of officers standing to each side of a red carpet. Interposed with the humans were the hulking figures of the powered armored guards, each gleaming in the light.

As Melissa got out she stared at them. Standing was easy enough. Even walking, but… one swayed lightly, like a soldier adjusting his pose.

Her eyes widened slightly. That kind of feedback… It must really be like they’re wearing a second skin. That is… impressive.

Melissa wasn’t a great infantry soldier, but she’d trained in infantry, and she had a momentary feeling of sympathy for the unprepared Liao soldiers who had come up against an enemy wearing their own weight in armor and weapons—and yet able to move like an unencumbered human.

At the end was a Taurian general and diplomat.

“Senior Secretary of State Jacobsin at your service,” he said, bowing. “The Protector is waiting for you and Chancellor Liao in the reception room.”

Ah, that’s how it goes. The first sign of what the Concordat’s desires were had been made plain. Seeing them both meant they saw them as equals rather than potential allies to be courted.

“Thank you for your reception, Mr. Secretary,” Melissa said. “This is my assistant, Captain Timmis, of the Lyran Commonwealth. His sister is part of the Masterson Conglomerate.”

“Ah, I hope our water purifiers have been earning their keep.”

“That and more, and we value our long-term relationship with the Concordat.”

“Of course,” he said. More small talk was made, until they reached the main office levels. A functionary checked his watch, and Melissa nodded as the doors were opened at precisely the same time, allowing her and Candace Liao to enter the room at the same time. 

“Greetings,” Protector Edward Calderon said. “Pardon our adhoc way of doing things, but it’s been some time since a head of state has visited us, let alone under such… odd conditions.”

“I thank you for your hospitality,” Candace said. “And the assistance of the Public Defender’s office. My father, however, has informed them that he is immune to prosecution from his lessors and therefore needs present no defense other than his station.”

“A station he no longer occupies?” Melissa asked.

“Yes.” Candace shrugged. “This is the most recent, but far from the only error he has made.”

“And yet, not the largest issue we are confronting. Protector Calderon,” Melissa said as Edward gestured her and Candace to sit down, “The Federated Suns agrees to the proposal that Taurus shall take over security for the worlds that currently cannot protect themselves. But I do wonder how you see the Taurian interest playing out there. I ask this because some members of those populations may be hostile to the Federated Suns, and while we will not attack, we would respond to attacks.”

“A planetary population needs jumpships to attack. Our protective forces shall monitor ship movements. I’ve summoned General Cheng—she’s done well where she is, but this is the kind of thing she’s suited at, since she more or less wrote the book on wide-scale policing and anti-piracy operations. Beyond that, we see no reason to become directly involved in the law or policing of the planets, unless we see a complete breakdown in public order. It is not our intention to use occupation as an excuse for annexation.”

“How long?” Melissa asked.

“Ten years would seem to be long enough,” Candace said. “Especially if trade is uninterrupted.”

Oh, that’s what you’re playing at. Not simply defense from the Federated Suns, but not having to pay for their defense while rebuilding their own military. Well, two could play at that game.

“Given their losses in this war, losses that were due to a madman’s decision, I believe we could relax the trade restrictions between the Federated Suns and the Confederation. However, would that trigger the trade restrictions currently codified into Taurian law?”

Edward thought about it for a time, then shook his head. “As I said, those worlds are not Taurian, nor under our occupation, if they chose to be trade intermediaries…”

 Melissa didn’t smile, and she didn’t leap for glee. There was a huge market in Taurus, to say nothing of the Confederation worlds. And Edward knows it as well.  He didn’t have the political capital to normalize relations, at least not right now, but this was a good start.

“And at the end of the decade?” Candace asked. “What then?”

“In order to ensure that nobody, ah, takes them for granted I suggest a planetary referendum on each world to express their desire for the future going forward.”

“Would that include annexation by the Concordat?”  Melissa asked.

“No. At most it would open us to discussion of some future unification,” Edward said. “But annexation is such a fraught decision, that it could not be made by a single vote. This, I think, would simply be a vote on if they wish to go back to the Confederation, seek some other path, or keep things as they are.”

Candace and Melissa shared a glance. And so we are all in the position of a bidding war for their future friendship, which means money flowing in, and trade, trade that will benefit the Concordat, in addition to whatever political and social ties it forges.  Well, nobody had ever said Edward Calderon was ignorant about economics, and only a fool would discount him politically, after recent events.

“That is acceptable. But what of the current actions of the Free Worlds League?”

“They, ah, declined my invitation to discuss this matter personally,” Edward said. “And while as a matter of principle, we would prefer to see this conflict end, we cannot violate our neutrality.”

“I agree, and the Federated Suns will respect your neutrality.” Melissa said. “As a Lyran, I can say that you have our eternal gratitude for the services of your soldiers, laying down your lives for our own civilians. That is a debt that will not be forgotten. Politically, of course, it was impossible for my husband to come to Taurus at this point.”

“Ah, the death in your family.”

“We were all shocked and saddened by Michael’s unexpected heart attack. For such a fit individual to die to that…” She shook her head. “And yet it must be said that Michael often misjudged his friends, and created enemies where none needed to be.”

Candace’s smile was so fleeting that you might miss it.

“And yet, as a way to reduce future tensions, Hanse and I decided that it might be wise to establish a arrangement with Comstar for fast communication both with New Avalon and New Syrtis, so that some of the unfortunate errors of the past will not be repeated.” Before Edward could speak, Melissa continued. “This is not formal diplomatic relations. It is premature for that, but perhaps a way to ensure that both sides can be notified if ah…pirates attempt to stir up hostilities.”

Edward leaned back. “I will take that under advisement, Your Majesty, but it’s not a decision I can make immediately.”

“Of course.” You just became Protector, and here you are, in the deep end. Melissa sympathized.

But that wouldn't keep her from getting the best deal possible for her homes, both birth and adopted.

[Daryk]

I think Edward is well aware he's in the deep end, and he's doing just fine so far... ;)

[EAGLE 7]

…. Bravo, great twist and turns, and built to be plausible. Thanks for sharing.

[Wrangler]

*Gets into the roller coaster ride, pull the safe bar down firmly*

Well here I go!

[Korzon77]

“And it is with great pleasure that I am cutting this ribbon!” Mary said, cutting the ceremonial ribbon to the Grimm Memorial Hospital.” Next to her Hendrik, looking every inch the bandit king, applauded wildly, joined with everyone else.

It didn’t take much convincing. The hospital had six hundred beds, fifty ICU beds, and five operating theaters, and if they were mostly staffed by NGO’s and Taurian doctors, there were more natives who were going to be taking their place.

A third-rank local hospital on Taurus, and here it was the shining beacon of Grimm’s new renaissance.

And for once I’m not involved in some political mess. The outcome of the “First Taurian Process Server Campaign” was still playing out. The defense team had managed to stop proceedings, arguing that refusing to speak to anyone who did not address him as Celestial Wisdom, and informing guards that Candace was to be assassinated was a sign of mental illness, and everything had come shuddering to a halt while the Defense and Prosecution debated who would examine him.

If he is sane, he’s not very smart. Because being a loon might not be something you got called out on when you had an army… but Liao didn’t have an army anymore, his daughter did, and she was busy negotiating with the Federated Suns and battling her former “allies.”

“So, thinking about Max?” Hendrick asked.

“I—how did you guess?”

“The expression. Every Taurian has it. It’s the expression that says: I can’t just toss him out of airlock, but I wish I could.”

Mary shook her head. “It’d probably save some trouble, but we must remember that he has not been found guilty in a court of law.”

“Your people should be careful. One day, kings and princes will worry about the law when they make decisions, and where will we be then? I’ll tell you! Far too many of us will be dying in bed!”

“And you fear dying in bed?”

“It depends. How many women were in it at the time?”

Mary rolled her eyes. Hendrick was… okay, rough around the edges. But he couldn’t disguise the pride he’d had in the hospital, bouncing like a kid at a birthday party.

“I couldn’t comment. The only thing that ends up in my bed is paperwork and I—“

“General?” the messenger was from the political legation.

“Yes?”

“We have a message from the Protector.”

“Are you certain you don’t want to just die in bed? With some cute soldiers?”

“No, because I’d have to fill the paperwork out!” she called, as the press advanced on her. Well, the Protector would have to wait a while, there wasn’t any way she was getting through that mob without smiling and talking for the camera.


“We’re having to recall you. I know your XO and he can handle things, but you have a reputation,” Edward’s recorded message sounded in the room. “And you are trusted by a lot of foreign nations and this is important. Melissa did a very good job convincing people that the Lyran side of the new alliance is not about to throw us to the wolves, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t tense. We’re actually now in charge of policing and protecting a region not much smaller than the Concordat, with a larger population and industrial base, and you can bet the pirates that are left are slavering, and I’ve already got information from TMI and LIC that the Free World’s League is going to keep pressing. Under the table, MIIO sent of some information that indicates that they may be about to enter into one of their semi-regular civil wars, especially given how unpopular Janos is, which could see either less or more crossborder activity, depending on how the tea leaves are read.

“I know this doesn’t sound very good. You’ve got McCarron's Armored Cavalry for ground pounders, but you may have to keep a tight leash on them. Both I and Candace have let them know that, in this case, ROE’s are not suggestions. Still, the FWL should probably think twice before engaging them. We also have a few battalions of Capellan troops, who remained home to defend their lands, and who will now assist us. Yeah, if you’re saying they’re Candace’s way of keeping some leverage you’re right. Use them, but they may have their own agenda. The rest of the material is in your briefing packet, and you’ll have command over the fourth RCT(M), Third Fleet, and the local forces we’ll be working with. Good luck.”

Mary rubbed the bridge of her nose. When I joined the military, this wasn’t what I had in mind. On the other hand, at least I’m not under arrest.

[/hr][/i]

“Well,” Thomas said. “I wish I could give you a better going away present.” He gestured at the immaculate laser pistol. “We got it off a trader, the gentleman was very quiet about where he got it from.”

“Star League vintage,” Mary said.

“You’d think, but no,” Thomas told her. “One of the armory sergeants is a collector and he sort of… appropriated them. Then he came to me.”

“And?”

“It looks freshly made. No wear, no signs of long-term storage. So we got curious and took one apart.” Thomas gestured at the big screen, showing a close up of the internal capacitors. “First thing, Sergeant Gully is convinced those capacitors represent an improvement over any known Star League design. Not great, but it’s there. So then we checked the micro-engravings for inspector’s marks and we found this.”

The screen flashed and then there was a little engraving, one that normally would be nearly too small for human eyes to see. Mary blinked.

INSPECTED 3/12/3005

Okay…

“So we tore some others apart, and checked the area where the external mark would be, and they had all been ground off. But we were able to get a partial read off of one, and, well, see here.”

The image was only partial, but…

“It’s a bird, holding a sword.”

“Yep. An animal insignia of some kind. Sound familiar?”

“Friends of the Wolverines?”

“I don’t know, the trader was gone by the time we got this information.”

Mary frowned. “We need to send some expeditions—or you do. Because there’e one thing you may have missed.”

“What?”

“A pistol is a crappy gun for the battlefield. It’s the last thing you make. So if they’re able to, whoever they are, make pistols with advanced components…”

“They already had a lot of industry.”

“Not for certain, but more likely than I am happy with. I’ve got a few days to get things in order, and let’s try to set up some deep recon. They may not be close but people who talked to them might be closer. But keep it quiet. I don’t want to read that the Children of Kerenksy are returning on the evening news…” She paused. “And if they are out there, I don’t want them reading it.” Whoever has the tech to do this, could have been talking—hell they could have been making a mint with the Inner Sphere. So they might not be thrilled to hear we’re poking, or that we have hard evidence. Put everything else in a data packet, and I’ll have it hand-delivered.”

“Understood.”

It could be nothing. Mary thought. But that was the problem. Sometimes the only way you found out that there was smoke under that fire was when your house burned down…

[Korzon77]

The entire TDF wouldn’t be enough to successfully occupy more than a fraction of the Police Zone.

And pirates knew this.

But just as the Capellans had found out, it didn’t matter how many soldiers you had if you didn’t control the ocean.

While Mary finished up and prepared to return home, plans and counter plans made their way to fleet HQ on Taurus.

Four fast response detachments. Six dropships, based on either two Invaders, or one Star Lord. Or rather, based on several jumpships. It would be expensive, but it leveraged the great advantage of dropships—so long as there were jumpships available, a dropship had unmatched strategic maneuverability. Three sets of jumpships gave a fast response detachment a range of ninety light years. Another detachment, based on individual Merchant Class dropships would serve as a secondary response force, being placed in dangerous sectors, where its single jump range would not be a disadvantage. Meanwhile, a set of contracts were drawn up with Comstar to make use of the Class B and A HPG stations to quickly transmit information. It took days to realign a class B HPG, so a system of “priority calls” were set up, moving along their regular network, until they hit a Class A HPG.

Not instant, but more than enough time to respond to pirates, or force them to use a pirate point, which would create its own form of attrition—and even there, TCN astrogators were very good. Each task force was heavy on small craft, fighters, and assault dropships. Their goal was not to destroy any forces on the ground, but to take their transport.

On the ground, small groups of liaison officers were assigned to work with the still somewhat shell-shocked Capellans. Proud and prickly, the last thing Protector Edward wanted to do was lend credence to the rumors of secret annexation agreements. Despite the mismanagement that they’d suffered due to their ruler’s impossible ambitions, there was nothing wrong with the Capellan fighting spirit, patriotism, or training, so they would handle the majority of ground combat, were it to become necessary. Beyond that, save for commercial and humanitarian assistance, the Taurians were hands off.

Well, except for the Taurian businessmen, some working alone, some working with Lyran businesses and investors.

Not all victories came with the sound of guns, after all.


“Explain it to me,” Kyalla Centralla said. “How is it that we missed dropships armed with capital ship missiles, powered armor, and a sudden alliance with Hanse Davion!” the shout echoed through her chambers.

“We do not believe that—“

Kyalla cut the agent off. “The Federated Suns has signed off on the Concordat’s protectorate, and warned the Free Worlds League against invasion. And then, by your own evidence, Ardan Sortek and Morgan Hasek-Davion privately visited Michael Hasek-Davion, after which he suffered his heart attack. Which is accurate, because when a man commits suicide with a laser pistol, his heart shuts down. Michael wasn’t just a pain in Hanse Davion’s backside, he was the most aggressive proponent of continued hostilities with the Concordat. That was clearly a quid pro quo for better relations with the Concordat.”

“This could present us with problems,” Marie Scrivener said. “Our negotiations with Andurien.”

“Yes, the part about invading the Confederation worlds that are currently under the protection of the Concordat, with the support of the victors of the latest succession war.”

“It’s not just that,” the Minister of Education said. “The Concordat is rapidly becoming one of our biggest customers for medical treatments and assistance.” Nobody needed to have a diagram drawn for that. The Magistracy was still a cutting edge power in medical science, even if the income wasn’t enough to rebuild the rest of the economy. The Concordat was paying both in C-bills and in kind, electronics, heavy machine tools… All of which could end if they got into a shooting war with people Edward had promised his protection to.

At the very least. The last person who had killed people under Edward’s protection was sitting in a cell in Samantha City.

“Not just that. If Hanse is serious about incorporating the worlds he’s conquered, he won’t be attacking anyone else, at least not for a while, which means…”

That the Free Worlds League could concentrate on us—and Humphries. And they had been so close, until that damnable fool Liao had brought it all crashing down on his head. For that matter, even if the Taurians refrained, the Capellans had saved far more of their military than anyone had expected, due to Candace’s quick decision to negotiate.

“We’ll keep talking with Dame Humphreys. But as much as she’ll hate the idea, this is not the time to rock the boat. On the other hand…”

“My Lady?”

“Janos isn’t going to stay quiet forever. He’s already burned his reputation with the Capellans, the Taurians don’t care for them, and neither do the Lyrans or Davions. We can’t throw the first punch, but…if Janos were to launch a treacherous attack, the Duchy, with our support, might withdraw from a League that has proven to be unworthy of its allegiance. And we might even get help from the Taurians, or Lyrans…” Kyalla nodded. “I’ll be making contact with Edward. We need to prepare the ground for this, and it’s as good as time as any to broach the need for development in the regions that separate our two nations. After all, you can never have too many friends…”

[Korzon77]

Mary and her small staff weren’t being summoned back at emergency speed, so this time… they traveled in civilian dropships. Monarchs to be precise.

Mary couldn’t remember the last time she had quarters this luxurious. The ship even had a spa, and screw the legends that Taurian soldiers enjoyed sleeping on rocks, she had indulged herself.

The fact that the dropship detached, even if it didn’t have a jumpship to dock with immediately, just so the captain could keep swanning around at .5 G for the comfort of the passengers was a little overdone, she thought.

On the other hand, having a desk big enough to spread out the paperwork was a nice change from normal troop quarters, and Mary had a ton of paperwork.

Did anyone bother to ask us before they told Edward to take this on?  Not even thirty and she was being handed an AO larger than any Taurian officer since the Reunification War. She couldn’t do  the planning work in public, hell, they’d installed their own safe for the documentation, but some idiot news reporter had dropped her reassignment, and that meant that every time she was eating, someone tried to get her to tell the real scoop. Mostly politely. The Lyrans seemed to have declared that she was one of them, largely because of the fact that she’d been in overall command when they’d taken down the Warship, though Thomas was going to be surprised if he came through—it seemed like he was the long lost twin of Jaime Wolf for his ground victory.

Her intercom beeped.

“Yes?” Please don’t be another invitation to a party. The ship’s purser was supposed to screen those calls.

“We’ve received an urgent message for you. From, ah, the Protector, but we can’t decode it. Do I have permission to send it to your terminal?”

“Yes, please.”

Edward? What the hell?  She pulled out her decoder unit, then entered her cipher. A few minutes later, Edward’s image appeared, along with indicators confirming that it was using the right ciphers to tell her unit it really did come from Edward.

Mary had an unpleasant feeling in her belly. It was less than three weeks before she got home to accept her posting, so something had blown up.

“General Cheng, I’m sorry to hit you with this, but we have a serious situation. About one week ago, there was a Free World’s League raid on Sirius VII, which as you know is part of the Federated Suns, albeit a autonomous part.”

Right. Ridzik’s little fief. He’d been enroute when the TDF had hit Sian and had wasted no time in washing his hands of his insane master’s war. And if you believe that…  Still, I guess knowing which way the wind is blowing is a vital part of any Inner Sphere noble’s survival set. But why the hell…

“The raid was carried out by the Grey Death Legion, and in the aftermath of taking the capital of  Tiantan, they evidently set charges in the environmental domes. Nobody can be certain of the death toll, as yet, but it’s higher than 15 million civilians. As far as anyone can tell, they have returned to their land hold on Helm.”

Mary stared in disbelief. There hadn’t been a single event casualty toll like that since the Second Succession War. But Edward was continuing.

“We’re talking over a fourth of the total deaths from Kentares and that took over five months to carry out.”  Edward leaned forward. “Why does this concern you? Because of a minor little bit. The Tikonov Free  Republic may be autonomous, but it’s sworn to the Federated Suns, and Hanse Davion, which means that he just got the message that fifteen million people he had sworn to defend were just murdered by a crazed merc unit, for no damned reason anyone can find. Said unit just headed back to the FWL, and the FWL informed him they’d handle it. He’s not taking it well, and over the last two days, words like “Genocidal attack” “weapons of mass destruction” and “Right of retaliation” have been moving back and forth between the two states. The Free Worlds League has sent some messages implying that this was done by a rogue unit working for Hanse, to give him a reason to keep the war going, and you can imagine how that went over.”

Fine, but what the hell does it have to do with me?

“You’ve got a rep, and I have a request on my table, from Katrina Steiner, along with Melissa Steiner’s agreement, and Hanse Davion’s acceptance, that when captured, the leadership of the Gray Death Legion will be transported to a neutral site, specifically Samantha, where a board of inquiry, representing all the impacted states, will meet to determine what happened, and who is at fault. For some reason, Hanse ruled out Terra for this. Of course, to do that, we need to ensure that they show up here alive, and since all concerned might have  a reason to kill them…”

Don’t say it… don’t say it…

“I have offered your services and that of a small security team, to take them into custody, ensure their safety, and make certain nobody uses this as an excuse to escalate this even more than it has been. Good news, I think Katrina understands the spot this put us in, and I just got notice that our collaboration on the Rommel and Patton tanks are going through, for which armor commanders are likely to thank you.

Oh, lovely.

“The last bit, well… there’s not enough time to move a full unit to you. And we don’t have any to spare, not with the Police Zone eating up everything. You know as well as I do just how bare the cupboard is. I’ve managed to cut loose the powered armor company that led the Sian arrest operation, they’re good, and if they’re not mechs, hopefully you won’t have to use them. But the mech unit that will be going in with you, hopefully just to land and look imposing is…” He shook his head. “Ardan Sortak and the First Regiment of the Davion Heavy Guards, and you can bet that’s a message. But he has orders to turn the Gray Death Legion’s officers over to you.”

And if he… Mary shook her head. The price of betrayal would be damaging the relationship between the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth.

“Just one last thing. We’ve gotten some input from MIM, which looks legitimate but could be an attempt to manipulate us.”

Mary nodded. MIM was good and sneaky. She had a feeling the intelligence was both legitimate and an attempt to manipulate them.

“There’s some information that a Lord Garth of Irian has been on Helm, but MIM claims they don’t know why. But if the League is entering one of their civil wars, the people on the world may not have heard the message that this is supposed to be a quiet arrest with enough firepower to convince Carlyle to back down.”

Mary wasn’t certain he would back down. There was only one punishment for a crime like this, and the Duke might be there to just try and arrest them and get the glory, and if they died in the process…

“I wish I could send more people with you, but I can’t. I tagged you, because to be blunt, you have a good record working in politically fraught situations, and you’re from Brannis and haven’t had an entire childhood being told how the Davions secretly drain the blood of Taurians to make their skin soft and wrinkle free. More seriously, as difficult as this is, it’s important. Not just for our relationships. If they live, to go to a trial—not a jumped up, lynch mob, but a real trial, well… It might change things for the better. Thank you General.”

Lovely. Mary stared at the information scrolling down. Estimates on the numbers and firepower of the Gray Death Legion, information about Ardan Sortek, along with promises that this wasn’t going to turn into an invasion of the Free Worlds League…

But… Janos normally wouldn’t do this. Letting the Suns into the FWL like this will hurt him.  Which meant that he possibly didn’t have any idea what had happened, and was worried enough that Hanse really wasn’t kidding with his threats…

But if there was one truism about the Free Worlds League it was that the people supposedly in charge often weren’t. And more than a few Leaguers might want to take a shot at them for any one of a dozen reasons.

“Don’t forget the Davion’s who are coming to get someone who murdered fifteen million people, and you’re the one ordered to keep him safe and comfortable…”

Mary leaned back and checked the schedule. Nodded. She would put this back into the safe and think about it in three hours.

But given what she knew was about to happen, she ****** well deserved a spa treatment.

[idea weenie]

Ah, the fun third-party side of Price of Glory.

Since Hanse doesn't want the trial held on Terra, do you suppose Hanse suspects Comstar and wants to make sure Comstar doesn't disappear the GDL (after vacuuming and inserting fake data into all the GDL computers just to make sure).

But relations between a Taurian powered armor unit and a desperate mercenary group that honestly didn't commit a crime will be interesting for all the fun reasons.

[Daryk]

Mary needs to be a Marshal sooner than later... ::)

[Sir Chaos]

Ah, the fun third-party side of Price of Glory.

Since Hanse doesn't want the trial held on Terra, do you suppose Hanse suspects Comstar and wants to make sure Comstar doesn't disappear the GDL (after vacuuming and inserting fake data into all the GDL computers just to make sure).

Of course Hanse suspects Comstar. Every successor lord with a functioning brain does.

But relations between a Taurian powered armor unit and a desperate mercenary group that honestly didn't commit a crime will be interesting for all the fun reasons.

The GDL stands a far better chance of surviving than they did canonically once Mary and Ardan are involved. Those two are going to be truly neutral parties, in that they don´t have a private agenda, and don´t really care who the guilty party turns out to be, as long as they get hold of them.

[Korzon77]

“Why would they do it?” Hanse asked. He stared at the documents, the best MIIO had been able to find about the Gray Death Legion. They were a new unit, that had distinguished themselves… and had thrown it all away in a terrorist attack that would see every nation in human space hunting them down. Not even the Combine would give them shelter.

Hanse wasn’t a fool. He himself had done things that most people would see as terrible, but this wasn’t just terrible, it made no sense.

On the other hand, if people just did things that made sense, Jinjiro wouldn’t have thrown all of his father’s achievements away to slaughter millions. Hell, for all we know it could be some drunk trooper and Grayson is covering for them. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing…

But then why go back to their land grant?  When the first eruption of rage had ended, Hanse had found himself expecting that they’d head right for the periphery, to become just another pirate band. But MIIO agreed—they had headed back to their home. With a Free World’s League duke and military detachment waiting for them.

Communications were…  confused. They had been captured, they hadn’t been, they were dead, they were alive, and MIIO also agreed that Janos looked to be just as in the dark as anyone else was. Which was probably one reason he was letting Ardan and the Heavy Guards in. Well, that and one regiment was better than every regiment Hanse had storming over the border.

Still, if it wasn’t for Melissa’s idea… the TDF weren’t the friends of the Free Worlds League, especially now that they were starting to compete in the same market, but nobody would believe that the TDF was in bed with the Federated Suns. Right now relations were as good as they ever had been, which equaled out to “hostile neutrality.”

Well, without Michael stirring the pot, maybe we can do better. Not to mention that Maximilian had given them abundant reasons to hate the Capellans, while allowing the Taurians to demonstrate why it would be bad to attack them in a way that convinced even the densest local nobility of the Federated Suns.

But technically, it wasn’t a Federated Suns invasion. The Federated Suns was just, officially, providing a bit of assistance to the Taurians, in case Grayson attempted to resist arrest or anyone else attempted to kill him before he could face trial.

And if the implication was that Janos was so hapless he couldn’t even keep his own people in line, and yet couldn’t risk a confrontation with the Suns, that might keep the FWL quietly focused on its internal politics, while the Lyran Commonwealth and Federated Suns rebuilt and prepared for their showdown with the Draconis Combine.


I wonder if anyone is really fooled by this, Edward thought. They were in a small cottage, safely away from the press… with a four-mile exclusion zone, and a one mile “lethal force” zone, complete with aerospace fighters orbiting over head, and powered armor units serving as close security. Still, the point wasn’t to conceal that he was having a meeting, but who with and what was being discussed.

“Magistrix,” he said, extending his hand.

“Protector,” Kyalla replied. “I had not expected such a prompt response to my feelers.”

“Time is moving quickly,” Edward said. “I am not my father, but I am not a fool. The Inner Sphere has stopped mass fighting—for now. But sooner or later, they will start again, and we need to be ready for it.”

“We.”  She raised her eyebrows. “The Concordat seems fairly ready.”

“We were lucky. Not that we didn’t prepare but… even today the Inner Sphere is vastly larger than we are.”

“And yet you are the face of more cooperation,” Kyalla said, taking some of the treats Edward had set out and nibbling one.

“I am. In the long run, unless we wish to simply exist in a never ending cycle of destruction, cooperation is the best way—the only way to go, although not all of my people agree.”

“The supporters of the late Grover Shraplen.”

“Yes, among others.” And it’s difficult fighting against them, not just politically. Whatever their differences, Grover had given his life saving Edward’s little sister.  He shook his head. “Centuries of distrust are not eliminated over night.”

“And that includes you, it would seem.”

““Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.”  If you want peace, prepare for war.” Edward shook his head. “I don’t agree with it, not entirely, but equally, yes, there will be those in the Inner Sphere who look to our prosperous worlds with greed, and the best way to avoid war is to ensure that they see no easy targets, and we can do that by unity.”

“And your proposal to avoid that?”

Edward handed her a folder. Kyalla stared at it, and then started reading. Her eyes widened once or twice. Then after about ten minutes, she put it down. “Who else knows about this?”

“My closest advisers. That’s why there’s so much handwriting in it. I’m not willing to trust to computers, not yet.”

“Renunciation of the right to change of borders by violence, declaration of our mutual security guarantees for the worlds between us. Promise of the free movement between our states… Creation of a mutually supported colony and scouting  organization, focused on extending our borders… A joint promise that any nation attacking one of the parties shall be treated as an aggression against both parties…” She flipped through the rest. “It’s impressive. But you have the larger economy, so I can’t help but assume this would benefit you more than us.”

“That assumes things are the same between us in ten years, when the last of the provisions would take effect.” Edward shrugged. “We don’t have the same degree of mistrust the Inner Sphere does, but it does exist. Either side can back out, of course.”

“And what are your material enticements?” Kyalla asked.

“At the minor level?  We can provide your Pike Support vehicle with fuel cell engines, which will improve it radically. My engineers have been looking at it as a good multi-use militia vehicle. That would mean you could use TTI’s marketing networks.”

“That’s something that is negotiated between undersecretaries. You have something else to sweeten the pot.”

“I do. The Canopian shipyards haven’t been able to produce jumpships in useful numbers since the pirate strike of 2940.” Edward paused. “We’re fitting up the tooling for two new production lines. We can help you rebuild your shipyards to produce merchant class jumpships.”

Kyalla tensed slightly. “Two new lines, what’s the other one for?”

“Monoliths. Those will take longer, but if you’ll look at this…”  he handed her another sheet. “Taurus and Canopus will cooperate, sharing costs and training, to establish two shipyards for Monolith class jumpships, one at Canopus and one at Taurus.” He paused. “Lastly, once we get our new production line ready, we can also start selling you powered armor.”

“Well, it sounds nice, but…” Kyalla smiled. “You know, the Capellans love our circuses and shows, but it seems that the state feels we’re dangerous to the Capellan spirit. Now that you’re handling police duties for the bordering regions, maybe you could suggest to Chancellor Liao that people need to have fun when not slaving away for the glory of the Capellan nation.”

Edward leaned back. Now they were to the bargaining stage, and he could handle that.

And convincing Kyalla that her fortunes were better served by working with the Taurians rather than looking to the Inner Sphere would go a long way to achieving his ambitions.

After all, why be obsessed with the Inner Sphere when we sit on the borders to the rest of the universe.

[Korzon77]

“It’s the first time since the Star League that this has happened,” Ardan Sortek told his executive officer. The dropships of the Heavy Guards were attached, while the Taurian troops attached their Union.

They seem to use that hull for everything. Granted, everyone had variants of Unions but intelligence indicated the Taurian’s were planning on replacing all of their mid-ranged dropship designs with it, even in  a few cases, where a specialized hull might be more useful.   On the other hand…

Give them ten years, and literally every one of their mid-ranged droppers will use the same parts, need the same style of training. That was one thing they’d gotten via back channels from the Lyrans—the Taurians took logistics seriously.

“Sir?”

“A Taurian general officer boarding a Federated Suns ship when they weren’t surrendering or accepting a surrender. The men briefed?”

“Yes, sir. There won’t be any problems.”

“Air locks secured,” the deck officer announced. “Boarding commencing.”

The hatch opened, and a small form drifted in with a few companions.

COMMANDER, FIRST REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM, ARRIVING!

The side party saluted her, the same formality they’d use for a Federated Suns RCT commander, and she saluted them with the same formality.  The petite figure of the Taurian commander touched down, knees flexing slightly so that she wouldn’t accidentally jump up and overpower the magnetic patches in her shoes. Like most Taurian soldiers, Ardan had seen, even her dress uniform was drab, rank insignia dark gunmetal, only a few decorations visible, all of them combat related, including two Lyran badges, a campaign ribbon and a unit citation.

Well, I suppose taking down a warship counts as a campaign. Granted, I wonder what she’d say if she knew that MIIO had managed to grab some of her reports and were using them for our own operational training. Probably best not to mention that. Might be taken in the wrong way.

“General Cheng,” he said. “Thank you for your assistance.”

The woman looked up at him and nodded. “Thank you. This is Force Sergeant Judith Chen—you’ll pardon her nerves, but as the leader of the unit that arrested the former Chancellor, we decided she deserved some more responsibility. Her platoon, once we’ve gotten Carlyle and his officers into custody, will be tasked with their security.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea.” Because you were able to handle the man who murdered fifty thousand of your own citizens and keep him safe, which implies a good deal of self control. Which would be needed to protect the men and women who had murdered fifteen million civilians.

“Do you have any up to date information?” General Cheng  asked. “There’s no good time for something like this, but it caught me on the way back to take command of the Police zone, and in the middle of a major rotation of troops back from the anti-piracy units. The only other unit we could have cut loose was an infantry battalion and honestly, they wouldn’t be that helpful.”

“Well, MIIO claims that there is currently a large amount of confusion. Janos claims he never gave the order for that specific raid, and to be blunt—Hanse believes him. All their other raids were intended to lay claim to lightly defended worlds. Sirius was deeper than any other raid.”

“Who did give the order?”  Mary asked.

“Right now? We have no idea.”

The petite woman shook her head. “Lovely. Still, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to get into a war with the Federated Suns, not with the Lyran Commonwealth on the other side, and for that matter, the Capellans.”

“No. But the issue remains. If the order was given by someone else, was Carlyle in on it, or was he a patsy?”

“And he could be both. It wouldn't be the first time a mercenary unit carried out an illegal order only to find out their employers oddly seemed to have forgotten giving it.”

“Correct. First Prince Davion wants to find out who gave that order, however high it goes. Beyond the moral issue, anyone willing to murder that many civilians is not someone we want walking around.”

“Agreed,” General Cheng said. “Before we jump, we should get together and discuss how my teams will interface with yours.” A smile flickered on her face. “If any of my people seem to have difficulty talking, well, they didn’t expect to be discussing power armor doctrine with the Davions.”

“I understand.” Ardan said.


“The Davions! Coming here!” Lord Garth was shouting, his chins wobbling. “This proves how unfit Janos is for his position!”

“I agree,” Precentor Rachan said. Not that you would be any better. Fool. “But this means we must move quickly.”

“With the contents of the Cache!”

“Id—“ Rachan controlled himself. “The Cache will not benefit us. It would take time to bring the systems online, time to prepare. If the Davions have any hint of that cache they will not leave. Colonel Langsdorf must secure Carlyle, alive or dead so we can turn him over to his pursuers, so that they will leave us be.”

“And the Taurians?”

“Irrelevant, they are merely here to give Hanse Davion a legal cover.”

Garth snorted. “Barbarians. I expect not a single noble among them and they feel they have the right to try a ruler of the Inner Sphere. Liao is right to refuse to play their game.”

Liao is a mad fool who will end his days in a cage. The Taurians were an obstacle that would have to be removed, eventually, but Rachan had come up the hard way, as did any in ROM, and the inbred fools like the one in front of him set his teeth on edge. He’d work with them, but…

I will not cry when Lord Garth’s attempt to claim the throne ends as it most probably will.

“Come, we will be grounding soon, and we must prepare to discuss our plans with the good Colonel, well, at least those plans he is privy to. Remember, when the Davions arrive, we will have Carlyle, or his body, and will turn him over to them, in order to let them exact revenge for the dead.”

“Pity they won’t have the right man.”

Can anyone be so stupid? “Do not say that again. Do not ever say that again, so long as you live. Some secrets should never be spoken, even if you think there are none to listen.”  And maybe I should consider removing you myself. Your tongue wags far too much for my comfort.

But that would come later.


“Lord Garth, I am Ardan Sortek, and the Captain General himself has authorized me to assist in taking the suspects in the Sirius atrocity into custody. I have General Cheng with me!”

Next to him, Mary waited until the light speed delay let Lord Garth get back to them.

“No!” his voice was a little tinny. “If you attempt to land the heavy guards, I will take it as an act of war against the Free World’s League.”

He’s using a dropship link to a sat system. Mary frowned.

“What kind of forces does he have?” She muttered.

“Not the kind that can stand off a regiment,” Ardan said.

“And he knows it, unless he’s a complete idiot.” So unless he’s an idiot, he wants to delay us. Why? Pride? Trying to capture them first? Or trying to kill them first?

“The League can be difficult at the best of times,” Sortek said in a musing voice. “And Grayson would have been taking orders from Lord Garth.”

“You think he gave the orders?” Mary shook her head. “But there was nothing on the world worth it.”

“Unless he can claim Janos issued the order.” Ardan shook his head. “But no, he has to know in that case, Hanse wouldn’t stop with Janos.”

“If we arrive when he wants…” Mary frowned. “General Sortek, how are you for high-G burns?”

“They’ll be prepared for it.”

“We jumped in as close as we could risk.” Granted more to keep Grayson from escaping. “And my infantry union… It has some additions. WE didn’t just use the saved weight from the mech bays for spas, after all.”

“What kind of additions?”

“Four G max.”

Sortek frowned. “I couldn’t justify my people—four gs isn’t going to leave most mech warriors good for much. But I could go—it’s not what the mech can do, but what it represents, especially with the rest following.”

“Well, let’s get you checked out by our doctor.” Mary nodded. “And let’s drop in al little early on Lord Garth.”




Not all the fruits of the core had come in the form of guns. The SASF had long worked on high-G maneuvering systems and the tools needed to keep you alive. But the last of their long-ranged craft had died long before the current era and the Concordat had not had the money, nor the ability, to rebuild them.

Until now.

Baby Carriage (it had another name, but nobody used it), was easily twice as expensive as most Unions. It carried few weapons, but heavy armor, along with drop chutes for powered armor, two small craft bays to both recover the troops and bring along extra firepower, and a single lance of mechs.

One of only three existing combat infantry transports, it was a sign of just how important Edward regarded this operation.

Mary lay back, naked, in her acceleration couch. At a long term acceleration of four Gs, even a misfolded shirt could do damage, to say nothing of buttons, so nothing would come between her and the gel designed to minimize the stress of maneuver on her body. A few scanners were attached, to let the command know if any of his crew and passengers were in danger. A facemask was attached to her, and the medic gave her a thumbs up as the hatch was closed.

“Com check.”

“Com check Aye,” Mary said. “General, how are you?”

“Would it offend your dignity if I said I felt like I was about to star in a Canopan porn holo?”

Mary snorted at the older man’s comment. “You can’t be, we didn’t charge your bank account first.”

ALL HANDS, ALL HANDS, STAND BY FOR ACCELERATION. We WILL START AT 1G, INCREASING TO FOUR GS OVER THE NEXT TEN MINUTES.

Well, here we go. Four G’s is going to strain the engines to hell and gone, and logistics is going to want my ass.

Hopefully, they’ll let me get dressed first.

And then Mary felt the pressure start to increase. It’d be like this for quite some time, other than the mandated periods where they’d have to back off to keep their people combat capable.

/hr]

Sneaking up on a planet ran into one major issue.

The mechanics of space, meant that if someone saw your dropship and knew its vector, they knew what course you’d have to take to get to any given destination.

And looking at a dropship spewing a kilometers long plume of superheated matter made finding it quite easy.

But Helm wasn’t a front line planet, and its sensors were, to put it mildly, not up to the capabilities of a modern world. Better, the dropship could “Jink” at the last moment, ensuring that the actual landing point of the ship would remain unknown until the last few moments.

Granted, that didn’t account for fighters, but Mary was hoping that Garth wouldn’t be insane enough to declare war on the Concordat and Suns, and if he was, that was another reason for the heavy armor—and all they would have to do would be to ground and wait for an elite regiment of extremely angry Federated Suns troops at that point.


Sometime later, Mary was heartily regretting everything that had led to her ever leaving her world. The only good news was the laxitives and purge that were part of the preparations for this kind of high-G burn meant she hadn’t soiled herself. But…

“General,” the captain’s voice was strained. “We’ve got confirmations of combat on the surface.”

“Can you localize where the Gray Death Legion is?”

“Not closely. They’re apparently retreating to a mountain range, not terribly far from the old capital city.”

“Beam this message to them.” Mary tried not to sound like an invalid. “To the Gray Death Legion. I am General Mary Cheng, here with the Prince’s Champion, Ardan Sortek. You are currently wanted for crimes against humanity. However, you have not been tried, and as per the agreement between Hanse Davion and Protector Edward Calderon, I will transport you to Samantha to face a tribunal to determine what occurred. I give you my personal word that no harm will befall any individual I take into custody, and that any individuals, including your dependents, who were not aware of the events on Sirius, will be released unharmed, regardless of the findings of the Tribunal.”

“This is Ardan Sortek. I confirm General Cheng’s promise, in the name of the Federated Commonwealth.”

Mary waited. C’mon, be smart. Carlyle had nowhere else to go—

“Forgive me, General Cheng,” the voice was smooth, not at all what Carlyle had sounded like in her intelligence recordings. “Grayson is currently occupied. I am Duke Hassid Ricol, I believe you may be functioning at a disadvantage, as Grayson Carlyle is an honorable man, and I have evidence that he was not involved in the atrocity. I would like to discuss this, and other matters, as your arrival has changed the situation.”

“Who—“ Mary’s mouth snapped shut at Sortek’s curse.

“Duke Hassaid Ricol is from the Draconis Combine.”

Mary blinked. Then said the first thing that came to her mind. “Well, that wasn’t in the briefing.”


“Someone doesn’t want us to land, General,” the captain’s voice was clipped as Mary got herself ensconced in Baby II.  The Dragon mech was starting up, the crew going over it in the thirty minutes of blessed single G. 

A pity that wasn’t enough time to get the goo out of all the personal places, but Mary was more interested in ensuring that nothing had busted loose on her mech. Sortek’s mech was a Victor, heavier than her three Dragons, and that meant that they’d have to watch getting spread out.

God, when did you think having me fight next to a Davion was funny.

“Give me the bad news.”

“A lance of aero fighters. Light, but if they get good hits in…”

“I want us down to talk to Ricol.” Mary said. “Can you do it?”

“We’ll launch the small craft—they’ll keep the fighters off of us, and do a hot drop for the mechs and armor, then we’ll follow you down.” The captain paused. “I can get you down, but no certainties if the ship will be able to take you back up. We’re armored, not invulnerable.”

“Understood.”

ALL HANDS, ALL HANDS, STAND BY FOR HIGH G AND IRREGULAR VECTOR CHANGES.

Mary buckled herself into the cockpit as the last of the techs secured themselves. I really hope nobody got lazy in stowing their gear.


“Right! Cakemix, you’ll be in the lead, try not to bust any more parties. Small craft and the dropship are supporting us. Ricol gave us a fix, but we can’t be certain it’s a trap, so we need to secure the perimeter, and let the big mechs look pretty. Got it?”

“Got it. Can I go back to Superman?”

“Nah, Cakemix is more amusing.”

Willis groaned in his little coffin. Equipping the suits with jump boosters had worked for the Liaos, but then the mad scientists back home had come up with little descent pods that had their own jets, and even better, several of them were carrying cargo—ammo and power packs.

And they, of course looked like coffins, which just made him so happy.

“I-mother—“ suddenly a big fist squeezed him, only unlike the way in, it was going every-which way.


The Free Worlds League lance was the only fighter lance Duke Garth had brought. Carlyle had little support and those fighters were best left at Irian according to the Duke, ignoring the fact that none of his military advisers agreed. And four fighters engaging a Union class dropship, one moving faster than it should be, along with two small craft, was not a correlation of forces designed to make the pilots confident, especially after rumors of Star League weapons on some Taurian ships started to circulate. So the lance went for a conservative attack, a fast pass by that would minimize the danger, but also their ability to do damage.

The two formations inter-penetrated, and suddenly one fighter was  a mass of fragments, while one of the small craft was leaking fuel and showing damage to its hull.

“Lander two, break for high orbit and wait for the main force.”

“Confirmed.”

But long before the fighters could return, if they wanted to, Baby Carriage would have launched its payload.


“Deploying infantry,” Mary heard, and her readouts showed the small pods being fired out of the ship. The first few exercises had been a disaster—mechs and infantry pods didn’t mix. So they’d go last.

“Bay one, prepare for launch.”

“Bay one, confirmed,” Mary said. She tensed herself, as the mech was moved to the exit door and then…

BAM!

The mech shuddered as the launch charges catapulted it away from the dropship, the gyro keeping her from tumbling. She looked at the sensors. The other two dragons and Sortek’s victor were both deployed. Mary checked, and nodded, nobody was playing games with AA. The Free Worlds Militia, at least from what they’d seen, were playing tag with the Legion in some passes, and Ricol’s forces were grounded on the far side, which made no sense, because why was Grayson fighting so hard? He should be running.

But now we’re here. Mary watched as the boosters blew free from Baby, and the mech’s on-board jump jets took over.

Below them was a plain, and on it, eight dropships. Most civilian models, but Mary didn’t like the odds if Grayson was a mad dog. Sortek’s Victor was coming in next to her, while the PAL troops were grounding at the edge of the plain, where there was cover, some of the payload coffins being torn open for the support weapons that their heavy weapons squads would set up.

Eight vs. Four, plus those dropships. I hope you want to talk, Duke Ricol.

[Korzon77]

Grayson Death Carlyle stood, staring at the four mechs. They’d landed like experts, and…

What is a Davion mech doing with four Taurian mechs?

Duke Ricol smiled. “In the trouble, I forgot to inform you that the Prince’s Champion, Ardan Sortek, along with the Davion Heavy Guards have been sent to arrest you, along with the Taurians to ensure your safety.”

“You forgot?” Lori asked.

“If they were just here to kill you, they wouldn’t have come ahead of their forces, or dropped under our guns. Perhaps we should talk to them? And you can tell your side of the story?”

Grayson stared at the mechs and beyond them, the edge of the plain where you could see the larger than human forms of the Taurian Powered Armor.

The suits that took down a House Lord.

But the mechs weren’t pointing their weapons, not directly, at his own forces, and moments later, the Victor and one of the modified dragons opened their hatches. A large man, and a… petite woman emerged from them, walking up to the small group standing in the shadow of Ricol’s ship.

“Grayson Death Carlyle.” The woman said. “I am General Cheng, and my duty is to take you and your command staff into custody, to be brought to Samantha where an impartial,” she glanced at the Prince’s Champion, “tribunal will determine what happened on Sirus VII.”

“It wasn’t us.” Grayson said. “It was Duke Garth—and Comstar.”

The two facing him blinked. “That seems rather… far fetched,” General Cheng said. “I can think of many things Comstar does, but engage in slaughters isn’t one of them. Do you have any proof?”

Grayson looked at her. If I can convince them… His people couldn't fight the League, but a regiment of Davion Guards? And it wasn’t as if the Taurian’s didn’t have a reputation. “Some. An agent in our ranks confessed to it,  but since he’s dead that probably won’t convince you.”

“No…” Sortek said.

“But the fact that we found a Star League Cache might.” Ricol twitched, but Grayson forged on. “Maybe as many as five regiments. Vehicles, mechs, supplies. More than enough to support a try for the Free World’s League.” The two were looking interested, and Grayson followed it up. “And a Star League library—a data core. One of my techs is making as many copies as he can. But that was what I think brought comstar here. It’s the only thing that makes sense—the only thing worth twelve million dead!”

And now Ricol and Sortek were looking at each other.

Yes, something that could change the balance of power. What would happen now, what would the Taurians do?

“A moment, commander,” Sortek said. “General?”


“Do you think he’s innocent?” Mary asked as they stood apart from the group.

“I don’t know. But if he’s telling the truth—MIIO knows that Duke Garth has ambitions and five regiments of Star League mechs and vehicles…”

“Would go a long way to fulfilling those ambitions.”  Mary nodded. Even compared to the best the TDF had, the Star League was impressive. And now here I am with an infantry company, and the Davions have a regiment, and of course, a Kuritan Duke. Joy.

“But that’s not…” Sortek frowned. “This is classified, highest levels. Over the years, especially after Halstead Station, there have been… incidents.”

“Espionage?”

“No. Attempts at destruction. Not just that, but…” He sighed, and spoke with the voice of a man deeply unhappy to be telling something that might not be his to tell. “When compared to comstar information, there were differences in design. Differences that would see drastically increased failure rates for KF cores, for example.”

“And I’m just finding out about this now?”

“It was classified. Comstar is one of the most powerful organizations around, and one does not go accusing them, especially when the evidence is circumstantial.”

“But a core…”

“A core would see an explosion of knowledge. One that could help the Concordat and Suns alike.”

“It could. But there’s one problem,” Mary said. “I’m not here for the core, I’m here for Grayson, and most importantly, by law… A Star League Core would belong to all member states, as well as anyone finding one as salvage.”

Sortek blinked. “You’re going to give it to Ricol?”

“We don’t yet have our forces here, and…” She sighed. “I’ll point out that this drastically increase the number of suspects for Sirius VII. The Draconis Combine, Suns, Concordat—if anyone solely benefits from the core, it’ll be in the interest of everyone else to argue that they were behind the atrocity to get the excuse to come here.”

“What is your suggestion?”

“Maximum dispersal. If Grayson is right and someone is trying to suppress this data, spreading it beats them. It also shows that nobody benefited from it to the expense of anyone else, so none of us can be accused of setting this up.”

“Good point. And the rest of the Cache?”

Mary sighed and looked out across the plain. “Hold a garage sale?”


A few minutes later, the General and Sortek returned.

“Commander,” Cheng said. “If you hope to be let go, I don’t have that authority. But I can promise you safety, and a fair trial… which will include every bit of evidence. Because of that, understanding that nothing you can give me will change that—so what are your intentions regarding the core?”

“I’m making as many copies as I can. I’ll give them to anyone who wants them,” Grayson said.

“Very well. I and Champion Sortek agree. We’ll take our own copies, and allow Duke Ricol to remove his.” Mary nodded. “As for the Cache, well, it’s salvage and since we don’t have enough forces to do anything about it, you and Duke Ricol can load your shares, so long as you and your officers who were on Sirus VII come with me.”

“I expect I will leave before the bulk of your forces arrive,” Duke Ricol said. “To keep ideas from rising.”

“That might be a good idea,” Sortek said, looking quite unhappy.

“Very well,” Mary said. “Get me a link with the Free Worlds’ forces.”

But when the link was established, they only heard the high-pitched scream of full jamming. Long range coms were out.

“Someone,” Sortek murmured, “doesn’t want us talking.”

“Yes.” Mary muttered. “Because we’re down here and can’t talk to anyone up there. It’d be a shame if we all died at the hands of the mad Grayson.”

“Suspicious.” Lori looked at the shorter woman.

“My first command was dealing with Arugian politics. This has the marks of the same kind of smart-stupid plan all over it.” Mary nodded. “Well, Champion Sortek, it appears that we’re on our own.”

“Agreed, where were you planning on holding them, Carlyle?” he asked.

“At the river. I’ve got twelve mechs, in varying conditions.”

“Sixteen,” Mary said. She opened her short range coms. “Judith, this is Cheng. Get one of your platoons into the Cache. You need to babysit a library.” She turned to Grayson. “Do I have your parole?”

“If you can save my people, we’ll all come with you,” Grayson said.

“Well, then let’s try to convince the Free Worlds League to let us engage in a peaceful withdrawal.”

Grayson shook his head. Well that sounds unconvincing.


Standing in front of Grayson’s forces, Mary felt a distinctly uncomfortable sensation as the Marik forces advanced. Over twenty mechs, armor, infantry, and they had twelve battered mechs, and a single lance of intact mechs.

And the Dragon was at the low end of the heavy class, while Sortek’s Victor was oriented around close range fights.

I really do not want to explain to the Protector how I got the Prince’s Champion killed.

It would help if was certain that she believed Grayson. Oh, it made sense, a horrible kind of sense. Sortek seemed to think Grayson might be telling the truth, although even he couldn’t be certain if it was a renegade or Comstar as a whole.

And they had two more days until the rest of their forces grounded, which on the one hand, might make this lot think twice about trying to kill them—but if they didn’t think twice, they were on a timer.

“Attention Marik forces,” Mary said over the short range coms. “I am General Cheng. We have taken Grayson Carlyle into custody, and will leave with him, but you must stand down. Furthermore, I request and require any prisoners and bodies from the attack on his headquarters to be turned over to us.”


“You see, Colonel?  Carlyle wasn’t just a murderer, he’s in league with the Federated Suns!” Garth shouted through the com “Destroy them.”

“And what about the incoming regiment!”

“By the time they are here, we will have secured the Cache. That’s what they want, and once we’ve taken it, fortified it, even a regiment couldn’t take us. Not before reinforcements arrive!”

Langsdorf shook his head. He had the advantage, slightly, but a fresh lance, fresh troops… his forces would be savaged, unable to do more than flee. And yet…

If we can secure the cache, we can destroy the cache before the Federated Suns can get it.  The stories about their hostility with the Concordat must have been over stated, because it was clear they’d not just come for Grayson, but the cache.

Which Garth knew about. Before any of this happened.  

But Langsdorf had his duty, and maybe they could put the invading force back on it’s heels if they destroyed the scout group. “All units, advance and engage.”


Dammit! Mary started firing, the rest of the lance following along. They couldn’t coordinate with the mercs, they hadn’t had any time, and for that matter, she’d never expected to be fighting with a Federated Suns mech.

“All units, small fry first. Destroy or disable, then shift. Designating.” Mary said. Big mechs had lots of armor, and yet a medium laser was a medium laser, no matter who had it. Which meant it was a lot more effective to kill the small fry first. Also, if they had to withdraw, small mechs were faster than the big boys. She targeted a stinger, her large laser slicing into its armor, even as her missile rack launched. The temperature only went up a little bit, the advanced heat sinks doing their job. Her two lance mates followed her lead and the Stinger was caught in a cauldron of fire, before one beam found its gyro and the little mech started weaving drunkenly before it fell over.

Huh. This is the first time in my career that I’ve actually fought against an honest to god military. They were definitely moving and fighting better than most of the pirates she’d fought.  Baby II staggered as a Thunderbolt unloaded on it, several weapons missing but missiles hitting and battering her armor—and even advanced armor wasn’t immune to damage.

One of the merc mechs went down, and Grayson’s Marauder was swaying, as some rounds found their way through gaps in his armor.

They had a lot of firepower, but not a lot of endurance.

And then Sortek made his move, jumping with his victor and slamming down on the ground behind a Griffin and unloading his AC-20 into its back at point blank range. The Griffin just seemed to fly forward, hitting the ground, smoke and flames covering it.

And now Mary had her own problems. The Mariks knew the danger of letting someone concentrate on individual battlemechs at their leisure, and so now they were moving forward, individual mechs peeling off to keep Mary and her compatriots busy.

Wonderful, Mary thought, opening fire on the Thunderbolt, as she turned, along with one of her lancemates, to deal with a pair of medium mechs trying to flank their line. Another one of the Gray Death Mechs went down, and a little hover car zipped into their midst, a pair of infantry getting out and helping the pilot to safety.

Disciplined, Mary thought. Not every unit had that kind of SAR.


Langsdorf pulled his Warhammer to the side, just as one of those damnable Dragons opened fire on him, the laser missing but the missiles peeling his armor off. He fired back, one PPC hitting it and digging deeply into its armor—but not deeply enough.

Capital missiles weren’t the only thing they’d developed, he thought. The mechs were firing off missiles and lasers, using their jump jets in a way that should have their pilots barely able to function, cooling suits or no, and yet they seemed to be as fresh as when they’d come onto the battlefield.

And everyone knew that modern heatsinks weren’t nearly as good as old—or in this case, new models. The Davion Victor was fighting more conventionally, spacing out movement and firing to keep its heat under control.

Garth you fool, even if we win here, we lose if we push the Davion’s and Taurians into an alliance that sees that tech spreading across the Suns!

And yet giving the Davions regiments of Star League mechs—whatever the long term damage, he had his duty.


King had a moment of dread when he heard the sound of the transporters behidn them. Had the Mariks found another way in?  Then he heard the sign and counter sign and relaxed as he came out of the library. Except…

Those aren’t from the Legion or the Duke’s forcs.

A towering form stood in front of him, dressed in armor, carrying a machine gun you usually only saw on combat vehicles.

King had seen videos of them once before: taking the Chancellor’s palace.

“So, we’re here to babysit your library. Who’s in charge here?”

“That’d be me,” Janice Taylor said. The Special Ops corporal looked more than a little nervous as more of those looming forms advanced out of the gloom, a full platoons worth, machine guns and other weapons festooning them.

“Yeah. We were here to arrest your boss, but the Marik’s didn’t get the memo. Now the Davion Guards are gonna land in about two days, but until then we’re on your own, and my general wants that library protected.”

Janice stared. “Wait. You’re Taurians.”

“Yeah?”

“Working with the Davion Guards.”

“Not the weirdest damned thing that’s happened to us.”

“Okay, we know that people are on the other side of that wall, they may be setting explosives.”

The armored woman looked at the wall. “You can open the door, right?”

“Yes, but why?”

“Because if we open the door for them, we funnel them in and they probably won’t wanna risk collapsing the entire wall down on them, and now we have a bit more firepower than they expected. Heavy weapons! Get your people set up.”

“Not a lot of cover, Ma’am.”

“We’ll have to deal.” From the transport vehicles, King saw several… Wait, are those medium lasers? They were, being hooked up to portable power packs.

“So, I’m assuming you’re not going to shoot me in the back.”

And just piss you off? “No.”

“Good. Your people need to stick to cover, since they’ll be focusing on our people. How long until that core is ready?”

“A while. It’s a lot of information.”

“Well, then… Cakemix! Get your squad, you’re on babysitting duty for the tech.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Cakemix?” King asked, staring at the suit.

“Crashed a birthday party on my first mission. The name stuck.” There was a long suffering sigh from the suit. “Let’s get ready.”

[Korzon77]

Mary’s mech shuddered, and suddenly there were red lights all over her large laser status display. The fight had become an absolute scrimmage, when Carlyle had decided to charge the line, along with everyone else.

But the other side wasn’t looking much better.

And we have a regiment inbound. They have to know this fight… She keyed her mike to the Marik frequency. “Colonel, you know you can’t beat the Guards, so why are you throwing your forces away!”

“If you get your hands on the Cache, if the Davions do, more of my fellow soldiers will die. If we cannot have the cache, defeating you gives us time to destroy it.”

Right, traditional Inner Sphere thinking… A string of autocannon shells marched across Baby II’s right leg, and now the computer was making all kinds of annoyed sounds.

What to do, what to do… they won’t believe you’re here just for the suspect but he has to know this ends with him dead when the Heavy Guard lands, and patriot or not, nobody likes that—wait a minute. We aren’t here for the cache.

“Colonel, call a five-minute truce! Just five minutes!”

“So you can regroup?”

“We’ll stay—all units, this is Cheng, do not fire unless fired upon!” Not that we have a lot. They had about eight mechs left, counting her, Sortek, and the one Dragon that hadn’t been forced to punch out. Carlyle’s people had recovered that pilot as well. But the firing trailed away and then the mechs were staring at each other, while the observers on the Ridge, some high-ranking Marik’s, were looking confused.

“You have your five minutes.”

“Carlyle,” Mary snapped. “This is still officially your land stake, right?”

The voice that responded to her was of a man halfway out of it. “What?” But then his voice firmed up. “Yes. For all that it matters.”

“It matters. You traded part of the cache to Ricol, have loaded your own dropships, but there were what, five regiments of mechs plus what ever else is down there. That leaves a lot, even if Sortek takes all he can cram into his dropships.”

“And?”

“And there’s your bribe Colonel. Since we can’t take it, Grayson, as the rightful possessor of this land, would you mind granting the good Colonel anything we can’t take? No boobytraps or tricks? Should be, oh, at least two regiments worth.”

There was a pause, and then Grayson spoke. “I can give you something else. There’s a Star League Library in there. All of their knowledge. I gave a core to Duke Ricol, and I was planning on giving it to General Cheng and the Prince’s Champion. I’ll give you one as well.”

Ignoring the “WHAT!” from Sortek, Mary waited to hear what the Colonel would say.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because the core isn’t mine,” Grayson said. “It’s all mankind’s, and fifteen million people died to keep it from them. Just promise that you’ll spread this knowledge.”


“Hurry!” Precentor Rachen snarled. The message coming over the comnet was like a thunderbolt. “The colonel is a fool and Grayson is deceiving him!”

But even without the core, they would know. He would have to be careful now, to play the deceived priest when Garth’s part in this catastrophe became clear. Comstar would punish him, but if he could destroy the core, they would see his wisdom. Keeping that knowledge from the Inner Sphere would… excuse much.

Now it was no longer about securing his place in the Order, it was about surviving.

“Precentor—the door, it’s opening!” Rachan spun to see the Marik troops pointing at the door.

“Prepare!” he ordered. “This is a lie, and the mercenaries and Davions have boobytrapped the core! We must take it immediately!”

The first wave of troops moved forward. The mercenaries were exhausted, and the Taurian mechs were on the other side of the mountain. He had mechs, they did not. They could do this.

They would have to do this.


Janice Taylor was kneeling behind some sand bags they’d put up, an impromptu barricade, next to one of the hulking powered armor suits.

She’d seen exoskeletons, but these suits didn’t move with the clumsy gait of those suits. They moved like… people.

“Gate is opening,” Judith said. The Taurian commander spoke, her voice amplified and going out over all radio frequencies. “Attention Marik forces. As you have no doubt heard, there is a truce. I am here to convey the suspects to a safe location, and to protect the Star League library. A copy will be granted to your forces and you may verify that it is intact. I—Son of a bitch!”

A hurricane of fire stitched into the chamber, as everyone dove for cover, and on its heels came Marik infantry.

The stories of what had happened on Sian had spread—but it took time for training to catch up with them, especially as most militaries were not yet fully acquainted with the Taurian powered armor.

Not all the suits were in position to fire. Some, like Willis, were with King, protecting the core, others were standing by the heavy weapons squad.

But enough were there so that the wave of Marik infantry were met by 12 machine gun toting troopers, and two with grenade launchers.

Compared to that torrent Janice’s rifle was barely even an after thought. Marik troopers were torn to shreds, body armor useless against the kind of rounds usually fired from mechs.


The survivors tumbled back from the door.

“Set the charges,” Rachan said. “We can bring down the cave on them.”

“But Precentor! The library!” an adept protested.

“You heard what those fools are doing! Before the library can be spread to unsanctified hands, it must be destroyed! Detonate!”

The troops started to move back from the wall.


“Major, I don’t care—we have a truce…” Langsdorf snarled and then called the other side. “Duke Garth has refused my request for a truce, and has ordered the units to continue firing on your troops.”

“And?” the Taurian general’s voice was calm.

“And your information leads me to believe that Duke Garth is not working in the best interests of the Free Worlds League. A data core alone would be worth more than every mech in that cache. But I cannot control the troops at the wall.”

The battered Dragon shifted. “Would you consider it a violation of our truce if I sent aid to them?”

“No, General.”

“Good, because we still have some troops in reserve.”




Baby Bottle #2.



The undamaged small craft from Baby Carriage had been on the ground, ready to take off to support the general when the call came.

“Understood, General, we’ll get there.” David Gonzalez was the lead pilot, and he started warming up the engines on the 200 ton aerodyne small craft as second platoon jogged aboard. They could carry more, but there was such a thing as putting too many eggs into a basket.

Baby Bottle #2 (a nickname based on the dropship that carried it), was heavily armored, with weapons designed to get a unit to their destination, and provide some support, although the Book said support was supposed to come from dedicated CAS craft.

He glanced over at the Dracs who were loading their bounty.

Lots of cameras over there. Guess he wants some videos to show the folks at home.

And then they were in the air.


When the wall exploded, Janice was flung back, before she was covered by a Taurian trooper. The wall collapsed, and this time, the Marik soldiers weren’t alone—there was an Archer coming with them.

Not what I’d choose for close quarters, Janice thought. The pilot opened fire, and a laser seared into the room, missing everyone, but then another shot sliced a trooper in half, his powered armor doing nothing to protect him.

But now the mech was covered with gunfire, the machine guns of the platoon spalling armor from its form, and on the heels of that, four sun-bright lasers seared into the mech’s body.

“Cakemix, what is the hold up!” Judith’s voice was aggrieved.

“It’s done!” another voice sounded. “But we’re pinned down.”

One of the lasers and its team was wiped from the earth by the battlemech’s attack, but now one of its arms was falling limp, the armor no longer protecting the myomer muscles.

“Ground units, be advised, support inbound in forty five seconds. That’s four five seconds. Over.”

Janice blinked. That’d come over her radio as well.

“Hang on, everyone, help’s coming,” Judith shouted. But the fact that she’d had to prioritize the mech meant that more Marik troops were in the chamber, hiding behind the rubble.

Even with the suits, this is going to be tight.


[/i]It was Lord Garth’s fault.

Rachan had wanted to bring an effective fighter cover, but Lord Garth hadn’t, and the light fighters he had brought were currently being held “in reserve” for when the main force arrived.

What less than a lance of light fighters could do against an entire regiment was not something that had been considered. So they were away from where they could have helped.

Baby Bottle #2 skimmed the surface as close as a 200 ton Aerodyne could, while it’s weapons were prepared.

No bombs. They were too close to the friendlies.

“Stand by for jump into a hot zone,” David called back to the loadmaster.

God if they have AA, we are so utterly ******…  Then they rose over the last hill and there was the wall, with the door open, and some mechs around it.

“Fire!” he shouted, and a mix of large lasers and missiles stabbed down, sending a Locust tumbling in ruin.

Well, the lasers, the long range missiles, nearly 100, were all  smoke missiles. 

And into the smoke came 24 armored forms, second platoon of the first company.

One moment, the Marik troops were preparing to move forward to support their archer, two other mechs standing by, and the next moment one of those mechs was tumbled in fire, there was smoke everywhere, and out of the smoke…

Nightmares. A close range engagement between unprepared infantry and powered armor had been wargamed extensively—and it never went well for the infantry.

Buzzing machineguns cut soldiers in half, while a few found themselves, very shortly, in hand to hand combat.

Most of those survived, albeit with broken bones.

Rachan choked and ran forward. “The library!” He shouted to the pilot. “Destroy the library, fool!”

“Precentor!” one of the adepts called. “We must withdraw!”

“No!” he shouted. The Archer was staggering back, the pilot distracted by the fighting going on behind him. One of the other mechs, a Stinger went down as a trooper slapped a forty pound satchel charge behind a knee and detonated it, while other troops were now fleeing, broken by seeing their rifles ricochet off the armor of their enemies.

Rachan dodged forward, avoiding the vast bulk of the mech, pulling his pistol. “The library, destroy it—“

And then he saw a figure, protected by those damnable Tuarians, holding a data core. He lined up to shoot—

And screamed as a hand gripped his wrist, and effortlessly crushed it.

Standing over him was one of those daemonic suits, its scanners emotionlessly considering him.

“Comstar will destroy you for this,” he said.

The figure paused, glanced to the side. The sounds of fighting were dying down, and the Archer was backing up. Someone else had betrayed him.

“Well, I don’t know why, since we’ll be returning their Precentor to them.” The figure said. “Of course, Cakemix had a long conversation with the Gray Death Guy—tell me, why would Comstar kill 12 million people?”

Perhaps it was the agony of his shattered wrist, but Rachan snarled. “Their deaths were unimportant—they were expendable—“ Then his mouth snapped shut. The armored figure stared at him, then looked up behind him, and Rachan turned around to see the adepts.

“Precentor… That cannot be true, is it?” Larabee said, sounding like he could not believe his ears.

Rachan said nothing, clenching his teeth at the agony from his shattered bones.

“Right.” The figure turned to some others and nodded. “Right, we’ve got a truce going on, evidently they agreed with the Colonel. I want medical assistance for everyone we injured and…” it looked back down at Rachan. “I want medics and guards for our Precentor here. After all, we wouldn’t want anything to happen to him before he gets to Terra.”

Even through his clenched teeth, Rachan’s scream filled the room.


“Garth and his general just took off,” Mary told Colonel Langsdorf. “I don’t think they trust us.”

“Should I?” he asked. He, Mary, Carlyle and Sortek were in a small tent, spaced so that all the bodyguards could ensure that nobody was planning anything dastardly.

“Well you have thirty data cores,” Mary pointed out. “And we’ve finished cataloging the cache. You’re going to come out quite well.” And I’m gonna have to explain this to the protector. The Kuritans walked off with a regiment and data cores, as did the Gray Death Legion, the Davions, by throwing everything else out they could, were going to get about two regiments of Star League mechs, the core, and a selection of fighters and other equipment Sortek had brought, especially once he’d sent his message via the HPG to the Suns and NAIS had dropped a Christmas list. 

Langsdorf was going to get three regiments of mechs, not to mention the vehicles and cores, as well as a dandy club house, especially since they’d figured out and shut down the self-destruct. Last but not least, he’d be getting some of the Federated Suns mechs, because he’d negotiated for them to not be destroyed when they were left behind to make room for the Star League mechs. Apparently, there were rumors of an unexpected opening for a new Duke of Irian that he might be asked to fill. Lord Garth, the last message said, might have to retire for reasons of ill health.

Especially when he landed, Mary thought. The Adepts had been very helpful, and they’d found information implicating several associates of Rachan along with the Precentor himself in the Atrocity.

And isn’t that going to be a mess, Mary shook her head. You didn’t just say ‘oops, I guess our employee screwed up’ for something that was up there with Kentares. She’d had to post some guards to the HPG due to pissed off locals.

“Attacking would start another war, and neither the First Prince nor the Archon want another war,” Ardan said.

“And we’re neutral,” Mary said. “And with our limited transport capability, the only thing we’re taking home are… A selection of infantry weapons, the core, and…” She sighed.  “Several containers of preserved wine from Terra, including some 1982 vintages.”  Infantry. An entire mountain complex full of miracles and leave it to them to find out where someone stashed the booze. On the other hand… Mary had handled one of those bottles and wondered if the long-dead Vintner who had bottled it would dream that one day it would be found on a world far from Earth.

Well, Baby II had been damaged badly enough that she was leaving her with Langsdorf, along with the other two Dragons, and in return they had three shiny new Royal Mechs.

Which you may be allowed to look at once or twice, once the techs back home get a look at them. That’s why Mary had chosen a Cyclops with the original tactical computer.

“And us?” Grayson asked.

“Well, you’re pretty obviously no longer under suspicion. So it’s no longer you’re under arrest, but…” Mary paused. “I have a request from the Protector that you come to the inquiry to assist in producing a report that will be distributed sphere-wide. Also…” She gestured at Langsdorf. “Your fault or not…”

“It would be difficult to work with us, yes,” The colonel said.

“I don’t hold it against you,” Grayson said. “Given what you knew.”

“The soldiers who killed your dependents in the assault will be punished,” Langsdorf said.

Not to mention Rachan, Mary thought. Right now, from what they were getting from the HPG, Hanse and the First Circuit were in a yelling match over who got him, but rumors indicated that they were both getting ready to accept Solomon’s solution with the baby.

Not her problem. Mary had her job, and she’d done it, if not as neatly as she’d prefer.

Story of my life, Mary thought.


It’s anticlimactic, Grayson thought. Their dropships had been joined by the Davion dropships and right now Davion officers and Marik militia were going over the list of what each would take, the military forces separated by the mountains. They’d been allowed to return to Helmsfast, and all the prisoners had been released into their custody—as had the bodies of the dead.

Too many.

He patted the data core  Will this help us move beyond, or will it just let us make bigger guns? It had been the lost arts of the Star League that had ended the Star League. Even with this knowledge, can we be better than they are?


“We must assume that Rachan will tell all he knows,” Tiepolo said to the First Circuit. There is no way to minimize this disaster.  “While it is true that we have convinced Davion to let one of our adept’s accompany him, we must assume, that even if they accept that Rachan went far beyond his remit, they will know that Comstar has been active in ****** technological progress.”

“The number of cores are limited.” Myndo Waterly steepled her hands. “Another Holy Shroud can—“

“Bullocks,” Precentor Taurus said. “We don’t know how many cores there are total, but if they used the cores on their dropships, we could be talking about over a hundred—and now that everyone knows about our side hobby, you can bet that ‘oops, what bad luck that someone just happened to blow up that building where you had a core’ isn’t going to fly.”

“Really, what is your wisdom?” Myndo asked. “Since it was your failure to restrain the Taurians that started this?”

“I’m sorry, I rather thought it was a ROM agent emulating ****** JINJIRO KURITA!” The older man bellowed. “We have had to close every one of our public outreaches from the petting zoo to the convention annex, because we have continual demonstrations going on outside.”  The others nodded. Comstar might have disowned Rachan, but not everyone believed them.

“And what is your suggestion?” Tiepolo asked. Because I have no idea how to recover this disaster.

“The horse is out of the barn, hell the barn has burned to the ground. We need to accept that. Technological improvement is going to accelerate. What we have to do is use our moral authority to ensure that some things remain socially off limits, even if they can achieve them technologically.”

“That is not what Blake wanted,” Precentor New Avalon said.

“Sinners in hell want ice water, but they don’t get it, either.” Precentor Taurus shook his head. “Hell, those of you who studied your Blake know that his original plan was to reform the Hegemony by taking worlds close to Terra. He had to scrap that plan when he saw how nuts things were getting. We need to be flexible.”

“And that means?” Tiepolo asked, in part to distract from the anger he saw from some of the other’s regarding the implication they might not have read the histories of the Blessed Blake.

“That means we act like a cat that just fell off the shelf and tell everyone this was our plan all along.  Rachan was a fool and a monster, who doesn’t represent what Comstar stands for—the ethical use of technology.  And we remind everyone that during the First Succession war, Sirius VII wouldn’t even be fifth-page news.” He sighed. “And maybe the horse will learn to sing.”

I understand. The House Lords weren’t interested in ethics. They wanted Unity City and the Star League. But on the other hand… It’s not like you left us with a strong hand, Rachan. Tiepolo was looking forward to his execution, one of the few that you could say was merited from every viewpoint.

“We will provide full funding for the new Domes, and compensation for those who died. We will also hold sphere-wide services and remind our fellows that there are some limits we may not transgress, no matter our justifications.”

“But what about my B stations’ maintenance budget!”

And now we go from debating the future of the order, to debating who is going to pay for this. 


The lights were going down over Samantha. Edward had always loved that, the darkness rising, but then the city lights coming on, beating it back, reminding all that mankind no longer hid in caves in fear from the dark.

“A metaphor for civilization” his tutor had called it.

And now… Twelve million, maybe fifteen million, dead at the hands of a man who could put us back in that cave.  They were getting the cores, which meant that they were no longer going to have to pretend they found a maintenance depot. That excuse was getting thin, and it’d be much easier to hide the Prometheus core data.

And that’s what everyone else is going to do. Take the cores, hide them, put them in bases so that their enemies won’t find them. Conduct their research behind walls and gates and guards. And sooner or later, someone will decide to destroy their enemies’ research, and we’ll be right back where we are.

And what do I do? I never wanted this post, I knew one day I would take it, but I wanted to explore. Go places nobody had ever fought over, where growing meant finding new things, not stealing them.

A hundred cores could be destroyed. A hundred secret research installations would be targets. The Star League had kept their cores, usually locked behind code walls, with what people were allowed to get carefully curated. That was why so many cores had been so easy to destroy.

But what about a thousand? What about ten thousand? His staff would call him mad. But a no-account mercenary commander had put everything at risk, gave away the one thing that for all he knew could save him, for free. Because he thought that humanity deserved this knowledge.

“Humanity.”  Edward nodded, and touched his intercom.

“Denise?”

“Sir?”

“I want the heads of the educational and Science ministries in here tomorrow. Clear my schedule.”

“Yes sir. What for?”

“To see if we can emulate Prometheus without the Gods getting angry at us.”

“Sir?”

“Never mind, just an educational opportunity I want to explore.”

“Yes, sir.”

And then Edward turned back to look at the blazing city, every light beating the darkness back.

[Korzon77]

Michael was bored. The George Washington High School, (named, his friend Tanya said, because everyone was in a fight over what Concordat hero deserved the name, and the Superintendent had lost his temper and opened a history book at random to get the  name), was having an assembly, to announce the opening of their new library.

Big deal. So it had some new printers. The principle was going to go up there and talk, and talk, and he’d be bored, and try not to get caught staring at his friend Tanya (who was also really cute and curvy in all the right ways), while wondering why everyone had brought their parents. Not only that, but they’d set up metal detectors, which was weird, because nothing ever happened here.

“Your attention please.” There was Principle Michaels. But he looked a little surprised. “I would like, ah, to present… Protector Edward Calderon.”

Everyone went dead silent.

He’s joking. He has to be— and then Protector Calderon strode out.

Michael blinked, and he wasn’t bored any more. He’d never seen the Protector in person. Never.

“Hello everyone,” Edward said. “I know how much you hate school assemblies, because I had to sit through them, so I’ll keep this speech short and succinct.” He looked at them. “You all know that four months ago, over 15 million people died.”

Michael knew. They’d actually had a fund raiser, and Comstar had matched them.

“They died because an evil man believed that knowledge should be restricted. That only the “worthy” should hold it.” He paused. “And I do not hold to that view. That is why I’m here to inaugurate your new library—which at its core, has a Star League data core.”

“Omigod,omigod,omigod…” Tanya was repeating until Jennifer hushed her. “But, but… Core!” Michael’s friend and history geek said.

“Now, I will disappoint you and reassure some of your parents. This core doesn’t include everything. It doesn’t include the files of the SLDF biological warfare center or the blueprints for decaton nuclear hand grenades. All things that your insurance probably wouldn’t cover for a school project. But it includes all of our science, from Newton to Kearny and Fuchida. It includes all the non-military technology of the Star League. Want to build an HPG? The blueprints are in there, though… you’ll be running through a lot of bake sales.  All the movies, all the novels, the images of the pyramids, and the first paintings mankind made.” He paused. “Our birthright, a birthright no man has the right to deny us. And also a challenge. Fifteen million people died to keep this from us. Now that we have it—how will we honor their sacrifice?”

He paused. “I can see that your parents are a little worried, and why not? If someone was willing to kill fifteen million people… But that won’t work. The reason we delayed this was because we needed to distribute the rest of the educational cores. Over five thousand, and they aren’t just here on Taurus, because I meant it when I said this is our birthright and no man has the right to deny it. They are being sent all over the Inner Sphere and Periphery and beyond that, every embassy will have a copy, and will be authorized to make copies at cost. As for the unredacted cores, those are also being sent out to businesses and governments. How they handle disseminating possibly harmful information will be up to them.”

He shook his head. “I know some will wonder why. Why give what could be an advantage to our enemies? Remember, the Star League did that. Keeping the best for the Hegemony, destroying businesses here in the Periphery so that when the League fell, so did our economies, forcing us to go to schools that were more about indoctrination than a true education.”

“I do not think we should emulate the Star League. We are well rid of them, after all.”

Michael knew one thing.

Tonight’s not a date with Tanya would not be watching the newest adventure movie. She was bouncing up and down in her seat. “Everything is gonna change!” she kept repeating, and for once, nobody shushed her.


Hesperus II



Duke Greydon Brewer stared at the package that had been delivered to him. From the Taurians. At first he hadn’t thought that much about it. They were working with the Taurians. But then he’d opened it.

A data core. An unredacted data core. Brewer knew about them, but they were still being handled by LIC, various groups fighting over who would get access.

A neatly written message was the only other thing in the box.

With the compliments of the Protector. 

By the time he started sending messages, he’d be getting messages from nearly every other major company they had relations with. Because they also had been sent a core, with the same message.






El Dorado:

El Dorado Central Libary, Oro, (Los Angeles Continent).



Judy Davion, a very distant relative of the First Prince, stared at the box. “A curated data core?” Everyone had heard about the other data cores, but they were classified! And now she had…

Not just here. A half-dozen other libraries had called.

“With the compliments of the Protector,” Jesus muttered. “I thought they hated us.”

“A core…” Judy had plugged it  in. “Oh my god, there’s more data here than in this entire library, and it’s… it’s cross-indexed!” Not like half the other information we have, where it’s so disorganized we can barely use it. God, this is ready to go! I could put it on the net right now!”




And so it went, to every Successor State, even to the Periphery states, timed, as much as possible, to arrive simultaneously. Timed so that nobody could get ahead of it. The reactions were…

“There’s no way to control this,” Hanse said. “I could send out troops to get the cores, and for what? Someone has made a copy, and the only justifiable reason we might have, the presence of dangerous technologies, has already been handled by the Concordat—the only ones getting those particular cores are the people we already trust.”

“I don’t think protesting would go over very well—“how dare you give us the thing we’ve been looking for all of our lives,” Melissa said. “And it neatly takes Taurus out of anyone’s crosshairs. The secret’s so open that it doesn’t matter what they found.”

“Agreed. What is this going to do, Dr. Banzai?”

The doctor paused, and shook his head. “I can’t predict it, sire. This has never happened before, literally never. From the Alliance to the Star League, a lot of data was regulated and controlled, and even the curated data cores have material that you’d need a good reason to access in the old days. Now, anyone can. I just got off the phone with Achernar BattleMechs chief engineer, and he was nearly incoherent. He’d gone through the data core and just on first glance found what looks like a better way to construct conventional fusion engines. Cheaper, faster, or better, all of those are things we can do and…” Banzai glanced at the window. “All that data just out there, means that there’s an immensely higher chance in the long run of a breakthrough in kind, not just degree. Something that utterly changes the playing board. Look at all that Earth did with just eight billion people, and imagine scaling it up by a few trillion. This… Your Highness, this may be the single most important event since the Cameron’s Christmas Day Celebration or the Exodus.”

“And they’re sticking to their neutrality. Both the Combine and Free Worlds League got the data,” Melissa said. “Though I expect the Free Worlds League will make better use of it.”

“And they…” Hanse leaned back. “I’ll have to speak to Katrina, but maybe we can offer a long-term truce for them. The Kuritans probably will never accept it, but even so, if we secure the Free Worlds League border, it will give us time to take advantage of this windfall.” He shook his head. “I never would have dreamed of doing this. Edward’s just one surprise after another.”


Detroit



Grayson Carlyle watched as the new recruits drilled below their base. The Concordat and the Magistracy were paying them to provide security to the world, as they found the troops and training time to incorporate their windfall.

The techs were going over the files, and a few of them, including King had ideas regarding a new variant of the Taurian’s suits—they didn’t have plans for those, even the Star League not having developed battlearmor, but King had a way around that, though he told Grayson it might take years.

But we can rest and rebuild here.  The unit was flush with money, not least the blood price both Comstar and the Mariks had paid, and he was going to use it to invest in some of Detroit’s industries, since there was an expanding demand in the region, even as plans were being made for a joint Magistracy-Concordat jumpship yard in system.

“So, we survived,” Lori said.

“Yes,” Grayson said. “Maybe we’ll get some rest.”

“Not forever,” Lori replied. “You think this isn’t going to have ripples?”

“Oh, it will, but it’s too far to stop now,” Grayson shook his head. “All of our people, the people on Sirius VII… I don’t know if any of them can see, but I hope this makes their deaths mean something.”

“It will.” Lori said. “And you did that for them, Grayson Carlyle.”

“Well, we did it for them,” he replied.


The last ripple.

On far away Terra, the Primus of Comstar was found, slumped over his desk, unconscious.

A bit of a lot of story, but I figured to give you a gift to see 2023 off. Happy New Year, and see you next year!

[Daryk]

Bravo!  The only thing I'd like to see added is a scene with Lorelai Logan receiving her copy with an "It's about time!" reaction... :D

[Daryk]

Also... Kyalla mentioned 2940 as something getting broken in the Magistracy... that's just 3 years after the Lothians saw off the raiders that broke 300 years of industrial development...

[Daryk]

ALSO also: are you going to post what the improved Pike does with the extra 5 and a half tons? :)

[idea weenie]

Not bad for 3028, now what for 3029?

Will the HPG on Sarna be destroyed and Davion framed?


3030 has the title to Outreach being granted to Wolf Dragoons, perhaps someone will do a text search on the core before handing the planet over?  Or double-checking after letting Cranston Snord says there is nothing to worry about?

[Korzon77]

Right now, Comstar has a bit much o its plate, mainly screaming hysteria.

There are over 5,000 cores. And because they didn't have to rip them out of the reader before it was done--these are all properly indexed cores. The curated cores don't have some of the nasty stuff--military hardware, etc,  but tehy have everything else, and it's nicely indexed and ready to go.

The Non-curated cores, which were sent to government sand businesses, have the same thing, only for military stuff. Wanna know how a mobile HPG is built? It's there. Ditto for a NAC, XL fusion drive, pretty much anything other thatn the stuff that was only in a prometheus core (IE, what the Taurian's have). But beyond that (which is mostly the bluesky stuff and the super classified stuff like Casper tech), the knowledge of the Star League is now so widely proliferated that nobody can stuff it back into the Box. Not comstar, not the house lords.

This is going to have a big impact.

[Daryk]

"Big impact" is quite the understatement! :D

[Korzon77]

3030, Victoria.



Mary sat down in her office. Even if most of the Concordat forces were spaceborne, it had been decided the CO needed to be ground based, to avoid giving any hint that bombardments from above were on the table. They only had a few hundred people on Victoria, mostly administrative, since the world hadn’t faced much disorder.

Chancellor Candace’s speech had helped, especially the parts about how Taurus also knew of the Davion menace.

 Which counts for everyone but all the start ups getting ready to ship Davion goods to our worlds and Taurian goods to the Davions. Mary remembered an editorial proclaiming that “soon it will be raining C-bills.”

 Which isn’t my problem. I’m thirty-one. I shouldn’t be doing this. Who thought I was a good idea for this? Mary closed her eyes, took a deep, calming breath, and turned back around to her personal trial.

A member of the Taurus Multi-Faith Civil Rights association, standing in a banged up suit, flanked by a pair of Capellan cops, since the Concordat wasn’t handling local law enforcement.

“Explain this to me again,” General Cheng said.

“Our organization was founded to liberate the slaves of the Confederation, those groups called Servitors!”

“And you told this to a group of servitors?”

“Yes.”

“And that was when they tried to lynch you.”

“Clearly, they are bound up by chains of dogm—“

“Stop,” Mary took her “you idiot trainee” voice. “You recall the terms of this arrangement. We are not conquerers. We are not here to change their society. We are here to prevent these parts of the Confederation from being Annexed or invaded. You are in my office, not because the governor has to let me decide about your fate, since imposing our own rules for civilians in someone else's house is a  Star League stunt, but because Governor Xiang felt that it would be better if I dealt with it.”  Well, sort of. More than a few officials had treated Mary like this was actually an informal occupation, which forced her to step  really lightly.

“You tolerate this?”

“I accept it is not our place to change it, and if you had bothered to check, you would have noticed that Candace Liao has already issued a number of reforms that are taking place right now.”

 Because there are many in the upper strata who might be sympathetic to the old Chancellor, and helping those he hurt is both the morally and pragmatically smart thing to do.

“The delays are—“

“Housing, jobs, support. Did you think of that? Even under the old Chancellor, the children of servitors weren’t servitors, and so you threatened their  parents with losing everything, once again, ignoring the fact that we are  not occupiers.”

 Especially since one of your guards is a former servitor. Good relations or no, any Capellan coming into HQ was fully vetted. Mary didn’t agree with the system, but it made a terrible kind of sense under Max. The kind of servitor who could climb out and become a citizen was the kind of person who might otherwise become a rebel, so how better to co-opt them than reward them? Intelligence said there was some grumbling, as far as they could tell, minor, among some of the ex-servitors about how this generation would become soft because they had it so easy.

Mary had seen how all levels of the Confederation lived. They might be many things, but  soft wasn’t one of them.

“Congratulations,” she finally said. “As commander of the Police Zone AO, I am declaring you and your organization a threat to public safety. Enjoy your trip back to Taurus.”

“The Protector will hear of this!”

“I’m certain he will,” Mary said. “Have a nice day.”

When the protesting minister was marched out of her office, Mary pushed her intercom. “Michael?”

“Yes, General?”

“See if you can book a scenic route for our missionaries.”

“How scenic?”

“I wouldn’t be upset if they returned to Taurus via, oh… Tharkad.”

“Understood, General.”

With that Mary leaned back, closed her eyes, and after two minutes rest got to everything else that had to be done right that minute. Readiness reports regarding the newest relay charge station set up by a nameless Red Dwarf (the Navy: Everything is fine, ground pounder, so shut up and let us do our jobs) reports from Big Mac on several accidental border intrusions by the League, all repelled with enthusiasm, and yet another annotated plan on how the Big Mac could take a “tour” of League worlds to discourage future incursions. Mary paused on the Denied button and then changed it to “Forwarded to the Protector.”  Edward may not like it, but if we don’t hit back, Janos may decide he can go for us with a little more effort, especially to distract from his domestic problems.

The last was a report on how the Bic Mac, specifically Barton’s Regiment, was working as an Opfor, which was mostly a tale of proud Taurian regiments marching in confidently and straggling out with a much more humble attitude. Barton had already come out with ways conventional troops could repel power armor, as well as several organized methods to keep them off mechs, to the point where the protector had authorized the loan of PAL units to Barton to help develop new tactics for their use and counters when other people used them.

Some Tuarians weren’t happy.

 Screw ‘em, better to lose in training than on the battlefield.

Last but not least, the report on the Canopean Pleasure Circuses that were making their way around the world. A request for support in case of a riot by the local morality league or a riot by everyone enjoying the party.

 You know, on the one hand it’s nice that they’re the worst thing I’m having to deal with. On the other hand, we still haven’t found Private Simmonds after he decided to investigate the “hall of famous drinks” exhibit. She shook her head. Nobody was shooting at each other in a big way. Right now. They might start up again tomorrow, but she’d take today.



“We must act to take back our position!” Waterly was ranting. She should be, by all rights, out, but right now, rocking the boat wasn’t in anyone’s interest. Not with Tiepolo barely functional after his stroke. The only thing keeping him in was a desire on some parts to keep Waterly  out.

“Really,” Will said. “You know, I’d like to show you something.” He held up a paper, a sticker on it reading John Williamson High School. “Do you know what this is?”

“Enlighten us, Will,” Waterly said, her voice venomous.

“A discussion on how we got HPG technology wrong, and that you should be able to build a station for a tenth our cost.” He tossed it onto the floor. “It’s wrong of course, my people went over it, and there’s some higher level stuff they didn’t understand—which is why this was done by a HIGH SCHOOL. But they still had enough data to make the attempt and understand the basic principle and by the time they’re in college, yeah, they could make one, and not from rote—and again, this is a high school. Maintaining our position as it was is done, over, the horse has left the barn. But that gives us an opportunity, Ladies and Gentlemen.” He leaned forward. “The Inner Sphere is at peace, more or less. Kurita is outnumbered, the Free Worlds League are too unstable, the Capellans are neutralized and the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth are busy digesting their conquests—but one are businessmen and the other one won’t move without their allies. The Taurians are busy with their economic efforts in the periphery.”

“Opportunity is a strange way of saying disaster,” Precentor Atreus muttered.

“Is it? Blake’s will was to guide humanity to a better future, and he believed that it would only come after mankind was completely smashed, that we had purged our desire for conflict. I submit to you that that time may be now. We have just come out of one of the greatest conflicts since the Second Succession War, but no nukes were used. No bioweapons. The only true atrocity was one of our own making. Win or lose, the House Lords didn’t go that far.”

“And now, we can see prosperity returning. One day, the House Lords may be confident enough to go down the old route to ruin—unless we throw our weight, our full weight, behind peace initiatives, behind financial and cultural integration, use the Com Guards when we reveal them, to provide an impartial force of peacekeepers. Now, while people are occupied with rebuilding, and yet aren’t so far distant from the consequences of war that they will casually decide to throw it all away. We’re preserved the legacy of Terra—now maybe the time has come to stop preserving and start leading.”

“You are denying the Will of Blake!” Myndo shouted.

 The will you never believed in? Will leaned back. “Did he come to you as an apparition or speak from a burning bush? Besides, I don’t recall Comstar having a doctrine of statements being made  ex Cathedra. We’re facing the sand eroding from under our feet, and we can either sit and do nothing about it until the tides come, or we can be like Blake and take destiny in our hands.”

“I move that Precentor Taurus be removed for blasphemy and insubordination!”

“That is this body’s right,” Will said. “Though I must admit I haven’t accidentally let my office be used by a House Lord to order the assassination of someone.” He paused. “Amusing isn’t it. You do realize that everything—the fall of Liao, the end of the war, the finding of the Helm Core, its distribution… They all stem from that unfortunate error. So many coincidences. If I were superstitious, I’d say it was the  Will of Blake.”

Myndo’s snarl had no words in it.

The motion failed.



Outreach



The battlesuit seemed clumsier than Jaime remembered, likely because it was using less advanced components, those that could be fabricated by the refurbished factories on Outreach.

 Prepare the Inner Sphere. His orders. But the problem was, there was no timetable. No easy way to see if the Clans would ever invade—and just handing their technology over would have seen the Inner Sphere turn on each other. Tell Takashi or Hanse about the Clans, and their first words would have been, “they must prepare,  after they used the new technology to destroy their enemies.”

 And you preferred that excuse. Jaime wondered if he’d been too taken with the Inner Sphere, because he’d started to consider that maybe the Clans had changed their minds, the Crusaders discredited, the Wardens uninterested, and so they and the Sphere could just go their own ways.

But now…

 No. The Taurian anti-piracy patrols keep moving towards the Homeworlds, and everyone had unauthorized expeditions and bases, and the moment they hear about the Wolverines…

The fact that the ship had been found by pirates wouldn’t help, because the Ghost Bears had reported that ship  destroyed to the Council. And if they had failed there, who knew where else they failed.

Jaime could hear it in the voice of the Smoke Jaguars, offering another reason for invasion to verify that the Not-named Clan was gone, and he bet the Ghost Bears would throw their weight behind them.

 And so now it’s a when, not an if. And so he had to prepare. Jaime just hoped that his name wouldn’t go down next to Amaris, if the House Lords once again took the tools of the Star League and used them to destroy themselves.

 On the other hand, at least battle armor won’t be a complete surprise. There wasn’t a single House that wasn’t trying to prototype the Taurian armor, with varying degrees of success, while every unit was putting together their own doctrines for dealing with battlearmor. They might be surprised, but Jaime doubted they’d be panicked…

And that was no small thing.

[Korzon77]

3031



Su Lee was sitting on the fence when her friend joined her.

“They doing it?” Maria asked.

“Uh-huh!” Su said. She gestured down to the plain. It was just outside of their town on  Skepptana. If you could call it a town and not a jumped up village.

But the dropships hadn’t used the port. They’d grounded here.

“What’s that?” Maria asked.

“Plasma formers,” Su said. “I read about them. The Star League used ‘em, for everything.” The two friends watched as the big treaded machines advanced, feeding soil and rocks into their maws, and then, men and protective gear carefully watching, extruded slaps of swiftly cooling ceramics.

“Looks better than bricks,” Maria said.

“Da said that when he was serving with the Prince, sometimes they went over roads that had been built before the Star League even, but they were made of that stuff and it was still good,” Su said.

They watched through the day, along with others. The surface was finished, and then the central building, a low, pyramidal structure was made of the same ceramic, forged from the bones of their world. It cooled, and then men and women were putting the first internal systems in place.

Now big wigs were starting to show up. The Mayor, even the Governor was there, and Su and Maria hopped off the fence, and ran down to join the crowd.

“Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!” The governor said. “By the act of our First Prince, and with the assistance of our new Regional Development Corporation, it is time to take back the future of our youth. It’s not ready yet, but it’ll be ready in time for school to start!”

With that, he reached into a briefcase held by two soldiers, and revealed the gleaming form of a data core, before he and the press turned to walk into the structure to install the core.

“Mama told me that when she was growing up, you couldn’t take books out of the library,” Maria said. “Besides, it was a waste, you know? Didn’t help with the farm.” She turned. “Oh! Did I tell you? Papa and the village, they bought some electrical engines to replace our old ICE tractors and got a charger station! They’re  so quiet!”

“Yeah,” Su said. Maria had always been satisfied, Su knew. She loved the fields and hills of Skepptana, but Su… She’d begged and pled and her parents had agreed, and she’d be going to school, full time!  She’d seen the artists conceptions, of the five class wings for the school extending out from the core, every thing from classrooms for the little ones, to kids her age and even college classes, well sort of college classes. Two years didn’t sound like what you got from NAIS, but if you graduated with good grades Mr. Tims had told her that NAIS would look at her grades…

On  New Avalon. 

She’d never dared dream of even leaving her village. Like her family said: Big dreams lead to big heartbreak.

But now… Now they weren’t dreams, Su knew as she watched the ceremony conclude and workers start up again, putting up the frames, and running the cables that would extend to the core, providing data for classroom terminals and screens, as well as the highspeed printers that could make a book in thirty seconds…

And it was here. Right outside of her town.

And it wasn’t the only one on their world. There were more, some bigger, some smaller, but…

 But this is ours. I can go in and… Learn anything I want to.

Su Lee stayed until it was dark, and her mother came and got her, taking her back for dinner.

But she kept looking back at the flashing lights of the welders, fireflies against the bulk of the dropships, set safely far away from her future.



“Gentlemen, the Liberty,” Doctor Tims gestured to the holo image of the jumpship in the Federated Boeing conference room. “Our newest project.”

“That’s ancient,” Cassandara muttered.

“It is, but the last models were updated. Most importantly, it  is old,” Doctor Tims said. “Our directive was to start production of new jumpships as soon as possible, and we’ll be working with the Lyrans. Military jumpships are one thing, but if we are to take advantage of our new partnership, we need civilian jumpships. A lot of them. The Liberty design is old enough that many of our factories can be refitted to build components without extensive rebuilds and to be blunt—it was designed to be rugged.”

“One shipyard here,” Michael Garcia said. “As a training facility?”

“The First Prince and Archon want production spread out. Once we get the kinks worked out here, the directive is to built the facilities needed for new production on other worlds, then move parts of our trained workforce to them, using this facility as a training facility.”

Everyone leaned forward. “So the Bulls still aren’t selling?”  Cassandara asked.

“No, and to be honest, from our reports, even with their expansion, every jumpship for the next five years is already spoken for.” He chuckled. “C’mon, ladies and gentlemen, Edward gave us those nice, shiny cores; we can’t expect him to do everything for us.”

With that, they started getting to the nuts and bolts of the project.



Takashi closed his eyes, letting the pain of the headache roll over him. Theoretically, these issues were beneath him. A Samurai did not concern himself with the issues of businessmen.

Such Samurai, however mighty they were on the battlefield, made for singularly poor generals, let alone leaders.

Theodore was building five more regiments, based on the lessons taught by the Wolfs Dragoons and his own work. His son wanted to officially offer ways that Unproductives could become warriors, not just at need, but honored by the Dragon, their families also honored, but there was opposition among the upper classes.

 Why can they not see?  Takashi shook his head. They could see. If a Yakuza, a dreg from the unproductives, could pilot a battlemech, could serve the Combine, what did it say about their place?  He knew what the Warlords were whispering.

 A force devoted to Theodore. Perhaps his father has grown soft. Perhaps he does not see the viper he now holds to his chest.

Idiots. He stared at the readouts, graphs showing the projected increase of the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth’s economies, and then the projected increase of the Federated Commonwealth.

And beneath them, far beneath them, even given everything they were planning, the Combines’s economy. Especially given the payments they’d made to the Taurians to keep mechs flowing to rebuild their units, and not even the bravest courtier would whisper the truth—they bought those mechs because those factories were safe from raids—unlike those in the Combine.

Well there was one other thing he could do, as much as he would prefer to avoid it. He touched his pad and issued his orders.

“Inform Chandrasekhar Kurita that he is to return to Court. Immediately. The Dragon has need of his services.”

[Daryk]

THAT's not ominous... (and ::) if they ever go back to the old (better) emojis...)

[EAGLE 7]

  House of steel has beginning to rust?
Sounds like even the Dragon has to notice the rust stains running down the walls of the palace.

[Korzon77]

3034, Sian.



Edward looked over the city, most of the admittedly minor scars from their attack removed. There were banners and bands, and people carefully weren’t mentioning the former Chancellor, still in prison, his court case working its way through because the judge had agreed with the defense that Max was in no way able to assist in his own defense.

Which didn’t get him out of prison, it just meant that he was now talking to nice men in white coats until they declared that he was capable of aiding in his own defense.

I bet Candace is happy. An unjustly imprisoned Chancellor? That’s one thing. A bugnuts crazy one? Much less likely to become the core of a movement.

Edward hadn’t tried to influence the trial, although he had, out of humanitarian concerns, arranged that Liao should have “windows” actually big screens (in an era of lasers, leaving a window for someone a lot of people wanted dead was a bad idea), connected to a variety of Cameras. Including the one overlooking Memorial Park, where the dropship had crashed—and showed the growing and prosperous city around it.

After all, it would be inhumane to force him to just look at pastoral scenes.

“Protector Calderon,” the voice came from his side.

“First Prince Davion,” Edward nodded. “I take it your trip was tolerable.”

“I’m looking forward to the destination,” Hanse said, glancing down at the stage, surrounded by cameras and protected by every device known to man. “I had dreamed of one day conquering Sian but I find this to be… Pleasant.”

“Peace always is, I believe. Though I heard that some of your people aren’t so happy.”

“We’ve been at war with the Confederation, on and off, for centuries. It’s natural some want to drive it home, but…” Hanse shook his head. “All that does is sow grounds for another war. Candace removed herself from contention for the First Lordship and that was the reason for the war in the first place, and everything that came after.”

“Perhaps if everyone removed themselves…”

“Katrina has considered it, and between you, me, and whatever bugs went past security, we’ve put out feelers. Janos… might. But he wants a price for it. Takashi…” Hanse shook his head. “Didn’t even dignify it with a reply, and I don’t think he’d survive the attempt, in any case.” Then he glanced and smiled. “But if we’re talking about taking the first step, the offer of an embassy…”

“And I wouldn’t survive it,” Edward said. He shook his head. “And even if I could, it’d force me to be less flexible on other issues. I’m afraid we’ll have to stick with the New Avalon Business Association for now.” The association that served as the de facto embassy between the two powers, established in 3032. And they only have a demonstration every other week. Progress!

“Perception is important,” Candace said as she entered the room. Hanse and Edward nodded to her. “I see your younger sister couldn’t make it.”

“Janice is focused on her school,” Edward said. He didn’t elaborate. Janice was popular, but she’d never quite recovered from the trauma of her father and her Uncle Shraplen dying to save her. She’d discovered a passion for theoretical physics, a passion backed up by her skill. “It’s a rare fourteen year old who looks to be graduating from college this year, after all,” he said. Thomas you’re not here, so I’m going to play the proud family member.

“Impressive,” Hanse said. “Are we prepared?”

“Quite. I thank you for having the ceremony here.”

“It is my honor,” Hanse said.

Honor, hell. Edward reminded himself to count his fingers. Hanse could have forced Candace to come to New Avalon, but that would have weakened her. And he didn’t need the public victory, because all you had to do was look at a map. The Federated Suns had everything it needed, including a buffer against the Free Worlds League.

Which was why Edward was here, because part of the treaty permanently terminating hostilities, included formalizing the Police Zone for a period of 10 years, until 3044 when the worlds would have votes on their future. Until then, any force entering with hostile intent against the TDF peacekeeping forces would be at war with the Concordat, Confederation, and Federated Suns, and since there was only one power that might consider that…

Without even uttering the word “alliance”, Hanse had created a defacto tripartite pack against the Free Worlds League, and it made sense for the Concordat and Confederation to play along. Especially since it nails down our own border.

And with that thought, Edward joined his fellows to sign the treaty ending the conflict, the first treaty, every news show felt the need to mention, that would include a Periphery state as an equal partner, alongside two great houses.


“And what does this weapon do?” the woman asked.

“It’s a biological weapon, developed by the Star League,” her researcher said. “It’s easily transmittable by air or  droplets, and can remain transmittable for up to six hours.”

“And its symptomatic stage?”

“That’s the late stage. The disease takes as much as a week before it shows symptoms, and the victim will be contagious for at least two to three days before symptoms start. They also at first appear to be like a normal flu or cold. Fatigue, cough, congestion, but once a certain threshold is reached the victim undergoes what is termed a cytokine storm. Even better, this type of reaction tends to strike the young and healthy, which means it would be more effective against emergency and military personnel.”

“Total death toll?”

“Probably about twenty percent. Patients who recover are likely to be immune to later contact, although they might suffer long-term side effects. But given that it’s roughly as contagious as the common cold…”

“Only twenty percent?”

“Ah, forgive me Precentor, but twenty percent is far above the level at which most infrastructure services would be overwhelmed.” He paused. “And it eliminates a fear of the SLDF biowarfare center, that the enemy might simply write off the infected population. This is low enough that they would continue to waste resources on relief efforts.”

“I see. Continue your work,” Myndo said.

She walked out of the complex, the adepts nodding as they passed her. Most of them didn’t know about the project. Those that did would assume it was part of Comstar’s work in preparing for a possible release of a bioweapon.

Only a very few knew it was preparing to unleash a vaccine against a far more pernicious enemy.

Tiepolo was going to die, likely in the next few months, and if many of the Order didn’t trust Precentor Taurus, not entirely, they were willing to listen to him, especially since Myndo’s star was not in the ascendancy. The thing that had saved her was Will’s unwillingness to parlay his momentary good fortune into power. The fool had the soul of some B station clerk.  But that wouldn’t save her when the First Circuit had to decide.

But he’d tied himself to this insanity that would see Comstar, the mighty order in all its glory, reduced to a glorified phone service. He’d backed the spread of technology, fighting against any attempt to stop it, because it’d be useless.

And he was right. The sheep wanted their toys and tools, instead of following the guidance of the order.

So perhaps it was time for the sheep to be reminded that Aladdin’s Cave didn’t just contain treasures…

[Korzon77]

On June 1st. 3035, Julian Tiepolo slipped into a coma and died just before midnight. Comstar directed thirty days of mourning to be observed at all stations.

Beyond the speeches, cracks in the facade were showing. Precentor Taurus argued for a quiet policy, leveraging Comstar’s impressive economic and social strength. He did not officially proclaim his intentions, but many believed he was either angling to become Primus or control who did. His support was found in many of the B and more rural A Class HPG stations and their leaders. But his position on Taurus put him at a disadvantage, leaving it seeming like Will was at the periphery of the Order.

Myndo Waterly was not a perfect candidate, even to her supporters, but she maintained support from much of the Sol System order, as well as some of the Hidden Worlds, populations established from refugees taken from New Dallas, Lonestar, and the other murdered worlds of the Hegemony. To her supporters, Myndo argued that the  Order was in danger and it was time to secure their leadership.

“The House Lords have been given the treasures of knowledge that the Blessed Blake granted us to preserve, and they will, as they have in the past, destroy it, unless our Order takes action.” Her private speeches to the ROM factions that adhered to her were even more extreme, arguing that the time had come for Comstar to take an active role.

She had also asked the ComGuards to remember their role in Blake’s Will.

Will had done the same, suggesting that they wait to see who the new Primus would be.

For the rest of the Inner Sphere it was just another change of power.

After all, Comstar was important, but it wasn’t like a house lord had died.

Something had to give.


Will got into the limo and frowned. It had been a typical speech at one of the new colleges that were springing up like weeds or flowers, depending on your position. He’d given his normal speech, talking about the days he’d spent training at the hostile environment center on New Dallas (which was publicly known, unlike the ROM annex) and audibly wondered how the last families, the ones to miss the dropships felt as the world died around them.

Then he’d finished it up with reminding the students that no engineer could get away with “I just built them, I didn’t use them” not when they died and the time came to stand before eternity. That had been a question Blake had to answer, after all, when every house lord was offering him the world to shut down the HPG network in their enemy’s nation.

I did not use to ache this much.   Will would prefer some compromise candidate come to the fore, but everyone else was staying quiet. The same went for most of Comstar. For every adept loudly talking about the new era, where were five who developed sudden speaking problems when asked about political issues.

Which says how ugly this can be. You didn’t refuse to share an opinion if you were confident the other side was going to be gracious in victory.

“In fact—“ 

Will fell silent. The limo had just turned down another street paralleling one of the streams that ran through Samantha. The wrong street. He glanced at the partition. The person up there was indistinct, just driving.

People who didn’t know the city didn’t get to drive the precentor around.

Well, hell.

It had been nearly thirty years since Will had been active ROM, but the old rules came back. If someone was kidnapping you covertly, don’t let them know you knew. Not at least until you were ready to do something about it.

Will leaned back, consulting his notes, while he dropped his hand to his robes pulling the little hold out piece.

Problem. This limo is armored to stop a bomb. Shooting the doors is an exercise in “I watch too much holodramas.”

Will smirked. Solution. The doors aren’t what I have to shoot.

The limo was armored, but there was only so much you could do with armor, unless you wanted to destroy the road. So it was armored against threats from outside, and that armor was also wrapped around the drive train.

Will stretched and checked his com.

No signal. And that was very much not what was supposed to happen.

Will checked the pistols load. It was Star League tech and packed quite a wallop for its size. Some precentors didn’t carry, but well, ROM had a word for people who assumed nobody would ever get to them.

Dead.

But he didn’t point it at the door or the driver, but down.

Because the armored shell of the limo was external, protecting both the occupants and the battery powered drive, which meant the that battery wasn’t protected.

But one chance. Will took several deep breaths, then spoke on the intercom. “Driver, is this an assassination or kidnapping?”

No answer but a his.

Someone had read his ROM manuals. Probably not something that worked by skin contact—contrary to every holodrama ever, that kind of toxin tended to kill a bit more than was comfortable if you wanted a prisoner, and you didn’t go to these lengths for a corpse. So Will closed his mouth and fired down into the bottom of the floor.

By the third shot there were bright flashes and a smell of ozone as the superconductor systems shorted and arced over. Will pulled his feet to the side as the driver lost control of the vehicle, whether from losing power or noticing the small lightning storm behind him.

It was getting hard to hold his breath, but Will slammed against the door, and the emergency locks that the driver had secured came loose, because “There’s a fire” trumped the driver’s locking controls, at least not without the kind of work that the motor pool would notice.

Will went tumbling out onto the ground, and something gave.

Dammit! He bit his lip, rolling into the brush as the car went over the ornamental fence and into the stream, sinking underneath it. His broken arm was screaming, but at least he could breathe now. Will stayed to the little line of trees, most of the lovers and late evening joggers running over to the place where the car had gone in. There was a siren now, several of them, and all getting closer. Will waited a few moments, but there was no sign his driver/kidnapper was coming up for air.

Good. That makes things simpler.

Will turned and walked away, taking advantage that the people weren’t paying any attention to him, doffing the ornate cowl and outerwear, leaving him in the nicely comfortable undersuit that looked a bit like a jogging suit. Better hurry, this arm hurts like a bastard.

He had to get to a phone.


Edward was working late when his phone rang. The private one.

He blinked. Who could that be?

He picked it up, and blinked at the voice.

“Hello, Edward.”

“Precentor… Taurus. I was not aware you had this number.”

“I should hope not. I spent enough money on the intelligence boys getting it. I’m going to ask for a favor.”

“And that would be?”

“Someone just tried to kidnap or kill me, and it didn’t work, but I’d take it as a personal favor if you’d talk about my unfortunate death and send someone… reliable to get me. Have ‘em bring a medikit. My arm’s busted all to hell.”

“Why not go to the HPG station?”

“I think you know. I wouldn’t be doing this if it was just a normal situation. Don’t send or talk to Jacob Green.”

“Are you saying my Chief of Staff is corrupt?”

“No, I’m saying his daughter wanted to keep her messages to her current boyfriend secret, so she used his secure terminal to call to an unsecure terminal. His office is compromised all to hell.” 

“I see.”  Jacob, I’m going to have a talk with you about your overprotective father stunts.

“And if you should want to talk to me…” The man paused, evidently thinking hard. “My opposite number does not have much friendship for what you’ve done. We should talk about that, and to whet your appetite, have you ever heard about Operation Holy Shroud?”

“No.”

“Well, then, we’ll have a lot to talk about, won’t we?”

[Daryk]

That was a bit less effective than someone planned... ;D

[PeripheryExplorer]

I really hope this story continues! I've really enjoyed the whole thing!

[Korzon77]

Edward was used to unpleasant surprises.

But this… he stared at the Precentor of Comstar, the man sitting in his highly secured setting room, sipping tea like someone just hadn’t tried to murder or kidnap him.

The man who had casually revealed…

“You’re either insane or incredibly confident,” Edward finally said.

“I can back up the information.” Will said. “All you have to do is look at the records you have when we blew that battlecruiser to hell. You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Welcome? Welcome?!” Edward took a deep breath. “You know some of my people died.”

“And if you’d reactivated it, it would have been a matter of when, not if, the Inner Sphere found out. ROM analysts estimated a seventy percent chance that the Federated Suns or Capellan Confederation would have tried to destroy or seize it, and 10 percent chance it’d go to the use of WMD’s—possibly including strikes on infrastructure.”

“And that excuses it?”

“Depends on what you want to do, Protector.” Will had come in and then asked to check some things, and when Edward had given him permission, he’d shaken his head. “Two priority messages to the First Circuit. One speaking of my unfortunate death, in a Comstar Code. One in a one-time pad format, know idea who that went to, but it confirmed my suspicions.”

“Which were?”

“Rush job. Normally, you wouldn’t send anything unusual like that, but I expect Myndo is planning on securing her power base, so she needs to move fast. She’ll succeed, at least on Terra.”

Edward got up, and started pacing in the room. “And why should I care? You just told me about how Comstar had been murdering scientists. How the Sirius Atrocity was an atrocity in scale, but if you could have—“

“Arranged an unfortunate accident for Carlyle, or hell, just bribed him to let us check the obviously defective core? We wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“Do you realize how many people died for that?”

“Well, I don’t know about Holy Shroud. Most of our operations were handling scientists who were working on CASPER or biotech.” Will shook his head. “The rest? That was all the house lords. You have yearly observations of the day the first confirmed case of the Brisbane Virus was detected. Why is it so important?”

Edward didn’t roll his eyes. “Because it was the first example of biological warfare during the Reunification War.”

“We don’t remember the first day a bioweapon was dropped on Inglesmond because there was nobody left to remember it. The citizens of New Dallas, Lone Star, hell, a dozen different worlds don’t have ceremonies, because there’s nobody on those worlds today.” Will glanced at Edward and for a moment Edward thought he saw something terribly old in the man’s eyes. “People wonder what kind of Brainwashing keeps ROM agents dedicated. The Answer’s simple. ROM keeps its academies on the dead worlds, and part of every agent’s education is burying the dead. ”

“What?”

“You kill a planet, and you leave a lot of dead behind. Every new trainee goes to a service, either for Comstar or whatever his or her faith is, then they go out to a section that’s been demined and cleared of danger, with a shovel, headstone and laser scriber. We find the dead and we inter them, and then say words over them, since they have nobody else to speak for them.” Will paused. “You don’t have to worry about us running out of bodies, men, women and children, a lot of them didn’t get out when the House Lords decided that if they couldn’t have those worlds, nobody would. Every one wants the shiny and they forget that the first thing Hanse Davion did with his industrial recovery was to start a war of conquest at his wedding.”

“So why are you here?” Edward finally asked. “You don’t sound very remorseful.”

“Because you blew the status quo up. I don’t know if you’ll be praised as a saint or dammed as a madman by future historians, but there’s no going back. And I’m not a hypocrite—I’ve killed people. But killing people for no purpose, that puts a bad taste in my mouth and Waterly is likely to try and kill people in job lots to stuff the genie back in its bottle. She likes power and she’s panicking which is never a good combination.”

“Panicking?”

“Sure. This kind of wild stunt? Panic. Now maybe it’s someone else, and if you believe that, I have a bridge on Terra to sell you. But Comstar on Terra has been out of touch long enough that they both can see the danger and don’t really understand it’s not something they can stop.”

“And that you can?”

Will paused, shook his head. “Stop? No. Maybe try to keep us from going down the same damned route the old Star League went down. You have contact, neutral or friendly contact with every House Lord but Janos, and this is going to need a unified front.”

“And then what? We go back to normal?”

“Would you like to pay for all of your HPG stations?” Will asked. “You know we run half of them at a loss. I can see a role for Comstar, but it’s not the old role and it’s not what Myndo wants.”

Edward nodded. “With what you’ve told me, why shouldn’t I just lock you up, talk to the House Lords and invade Terra with them? This is more than enough cause.”

“Do you really want to be at the table when they try to decide who gets the goodies?” Will asked. He took another sip of tea. “Oh, and then there’s Comstar’s warship fleet.”

The room silent for a moment before Edward said a single word.

“What?”