an alternate Elizabeth... (ngoverse tangent, short.)

[Rodon]

Well, Patrick shows that he is an idiot.

*when I first read it, I thought it was Victor.

[Daryk]

To be fair the only kind of trial this Liz would be willing to negotiate is a live fire trial of whatever new weapons she's designed to kill the Clanners.

And that's why I said what I said...  ^-^

[Cannonshop]

"I can not ****** believe this shit!!"  Liz scooped up a half-finished, half remembered project from her worktable, and hurled it at teh fireplace with all the strength and fury she was feeling.

the carefully, precision engineered and machined device shattered on impact.

"I...am not a prize, to be won or lost on a bet!!"

"Um, ma'am, so...don't be."

She froze, and turned to the doorway.

a high school kid in baggy Reserve Militia fatigues was standing there.

"So don't be?" Elizabeth asked.

"No ma'am, don't be a prize, be the prize-the one they want to impress." the girl said, "I have, ah, orders to report to you, Commander Ngo, Ma'am?"

"orders...from whom?"

"Coast Guard Reserves, signature is Admiral Li, ma'am.  we're supposed to be working as your aides and assistants."

"We?"

"Four of us.  Me, Sophie Lerner, Jason Nguyen, and Karl Frenks, ma'am."

"Your name?"

"Josephina, Lerner, ma'am I...my sister is smart, but do you know sign language?"

"No, why?"

"i'll have to translate then, not you to her, but her replies-she can read lips, but no eardrums, no vocal cords."

Lerners...."You're from down near Dinh Diep?"

"Our family's place is, yah."

"I'm going to call you 'jo' is that okay?"

"Sure, everyone else does."

"What do you do besides sign language?"

"Pretty good at bending wrenches, lifting heavy stuff, and I'm okay in a fight." Jo asserted, "My sis is the only reason I'm here though-she actually passed your testing."

my testing...oh scheiss.  "It's the end of the school year, isn't it?"

"Yes ma'am."

the internship project!

"IF you're here, and these orders say you are, then you had to pass it too.  where are the other kids?"

"Out front, they were kinda...intimidated, Ma'am."

"uh, huh...you're in charge of the other interns." Elizabeth stated.

"ME??"

"you had the guts to come find me while I was having a temper tantrum, that means you're stuck being in charge of the interns now-someone always has to be in charge or nothing gets done..."

[Cannonshop]

Dinh Diep wastes...

the bargaining had not been particularly egregious, and it was clear why this site made the most sense-nothing lived in this valley anymore.

Nathan had actually spent some of the days preparing for this at the Hue Library with Morgan, reading local history books.

Dinh Diep had been Kowloon's Capital during the 'first independence', it had remained such under the first century and a half of what the local books termed "Rimworlds Occupation".

The city had been destroyed during the 2729 uprising, by the SLDF, on behalf of House Amaris.

Patrick's choice had been to rub their noses in the misdeeds of the past they revered.  Sensor pulses using the Active Probe showed how much of the valley was really just fill dumped over irradiated rubble, that there were voids and gaps in the underlayers.  it was to be a battle on a loose, gravel grave littered with hazards.

Camera drones overflew the battle-site, to record the fighting for confirmation by both sides.

His cluster approached the field as a countdown clock brought it all into perspective.  Ahead of him, the knarled, twisted skeletons of skyscrapers poked a few dozen meters out of fill dirt, a loose grid remaining yet of what had once been a city of thirty million people.

People who had resisted Amaris before anyone realized the danger.  People exterminated by orbital fire.

"advance."

in the distance, dust clouds showed the beginning of the Kowloonese advance into the Dinh Diep valley.  Ngo had bid conservatively, realistically.  Nathan resisted the urge to be so conservative, he instead chose a bid that would be considered 'glorious' by his peers, but in fact, would limit casualties while giving the native borns a chance to 'win'.  Why?

Because everything he did, win or lose, was for the Great Crusade, and he understood that his prize would kill herself rather than submit.

he didn't want that.  He was more interested in achieving victory on the strategic level, than a mere tactical win that damaged the Crusader Cause in the long term.

"Remember Trothkin, win or lose, we will restore the Star League and it will be Clan Jade Falcon that leads the way!!"

"Seyla!" his chosen warriors for this replied over the open channel.

and the battle joined.

[Daryk]

Patrick better damn win this nonsense, or Liz will NEVER forgive him...

[Cannonshop]

For those playing at home you'll need:

mapsheets laid out in ranks of 3, four deep.  the Falcon home edge is to the Northeast, the Kowloonese home edge is to the south and west.

liberally sprinkled, are sink-holes ranging from 1 level to 10 levels deep.  the East and West edges of the map are steep elevations going from L1 to L20 in a randomized, 'sawtooth' pattern.  Terrain itself is 'scrubland' with a water hazard running from the NW corner to the SE corner, with 'rolling hills'.

Forces:

Clan:
1 Trinary of Battlemechs, with 3 stars of Elemental support, no tactical air support, First Line Clan units circa 3058.   Command vehicle for the Clans is a Summoner with "Nathan Roshak" (2/3) a Clan Veteran 'mechwarrior.

Kowloonese:

2nd Battalion, 171st Kowloon Volunteers.  1 Company of 'mechs, 1 Tank company, 1 Company of IFV's carrying eight battle-suited troopers each, 1 lance of 4 Thumpers and a VTOL scouting detachment of Warrior H-7's.

Command unit for the Kowloonese is; Patrick Ngo, (2/3) Inner Sphere Elite 'mechwarrior in an ] inner sphere heavy omnimech appropriate to the period.

Special rules for Kowloonese forces; there are only 4 chassis available to the Kowloonese.  These are the 'standardized' chassis used by Kowloon's forces, lances are grouped by weight class.  Thus, if you are using a light lance, that lance will consist entirely of a single design, likewise for Medium weight class and heavy. 

Victory Conditions: Forced retreat by one side or the other at 75% losses or higher.

notes: yeah, this is a slanted battle.  the Kowloonese forces outnumber the Clan forces significantly, and no, there is no FSM involved here, this isn't Przno River, nobody here is Aiden Pryde.

[Cannonshop]

FCS Coventry, en-route to Kowloon (currently charging in the New Capetown system)

The playback was 'almost live' courtesy of Comstar, and despite himself, Victor was rivetted to the action on the screens.

which was actually pretty damned exciting, from a good distance.  The Clanners were probably watching it as well.

Ngo's use of his infantry and armor assets was well above AFFC standards, the use of so much battlearmor was just as much an indicator-the suit troops from Kowloon were keeping up with the Elementals, and even pulling out surprises despite their lack of jump-jets-the suities were leveraging their 30KPH running speed, and their long-range 'railgun' weapons to pick the Elementals apart at a distance before engaging the Clan 'mechs, and coordinating with their transport and their tanks to bring down Falcon 'mech after Falcon 'mech.

They weren't doing it without losses, but they WERE making it look easier than he knew it actually was.

by the time the 'mech forces were trading blows, however, it was clear that the battle was, for all intents and purposes, won by the home team.  Not a single Clan 'mech was undamaged by the time the command company of the 2nd Regiment of the 171st were advancing on them, and the Clan battlearmor was too deeply engaged fighting the tank and IFV supported armored infantry to supplement their 'mechwarrior primaries.

meanwhile, the infantry and armor component were not so busy fighting Elementals that they couldn't provide that support to their 'mechs.

at the end of it, things ran very close indeed, the Kowloonese 'mechwarriors weren't, after all, as good as the Clanners, and it showed.

but they were good enough, breaking the Jade Falcon advance and pushing them out of the valley, winning the trial in a very...'clanlike' manner.

right down to when Duke Patrick offered the enemy a salute of respect.

"We're not really needed." Victor noted. "But, I want to chew on Pat Ngo for that damnfool stunt anyway."

[Daryk]

I was going to ask "The 171st is home from Coventry already?", but your second post was up already...

+1 for VICTOR wanting to smack Patrick upside the head!  :thumbsup:

Maybe he can hold Pat down while Liz hits him...  >:D

[Cannonshop]

I was going to ask "The 171st is home from Coventry already?", but your second post was up already...

+1 for VICTOR wanting to smack Patrick upside the head!  :thumbsup:

Maybe he can hold Pat down while Liz hits him...  >:D

171st Volunteer Division.

1st Regiment: Deployed to Coventry

2nd Regiment: Kowloon

3rd Regiment: in training (Kowloon)

Service and Support Brigade: (Kowloon)


Service and Support is a dedicated Supply and Maintenance outfit.

the 171st Division leverages a bunch of economic factors.  Each of the "Regiments" is more like short RCT with a deeply combined combined arms structure designed to function either as an adjunct to another unit (as the 1st Regiment did while attached to the 7th Crucis Lancers) or as a fully independent command element (see: 2nd Regiment).

Structurally, the 171 is very close to the 'LCT' concept, with each battalion having 1 company of 'mechs, 1 Tank Company, 2 IFV/Battlesuit companies, and an attached service and support element focused on transportation, logistics, and maintenance.  an Aviation platoon is attached to the HHC or "Headquarters Company" (This consists primarily of scout/reconnaissance units.)

In addition to the individual Regimental commands, the Division's "Headquarters Battalion" includes the traditional G-level shops (G1, 2, 3, and 4) and a Provost unit (Military Police).

For interstellar transport and support, the 171st works with the Kowloon Coast Guard, which also owns the bulk of Kowloon's aerospace fighters and has a ground arm of their own focused on small unit and unconventional operations missions.  Pat didn't bring any Marines to the party in the valley, though technically he could have.


Kowloonese forces deployed to Coventry:

3rd Squadron, Kowloon Coast Guard (12 jump capable 'cutter' or 'sloop' type ships, with 4 'tenders', those being conventional jumpships with conventional dropships for moving cargo and maintenance, or in this case, moving the 1st of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit)

1st Regiment, 171st Volunteers Division (Elbar Liberators).

1st MEU Air Wing  (Lots of fighters, mostly SB-27s.)

The structure deviates from AFFC standards in several aspects, but was deemed acceptable by AFFC High Command given that the 171st is a unit drawn exclusively from a single world, to include their equipment as well as personnel, and the overall structure was taken mostly from the historical 171st Kowloon Volunteers (though with far, far better equipment and more formal training).

[Daryk]

Cool, thanks for the explanation!  :thumbsup:

[Nikas_Zekeval]

Ngo's use of his infantry and armor assets was well above AFFC standards, the use of so much battlearmor was just as much an indicator-the suit troops from Kowloon were keeping up with the Elementals, and even pulling out surprises despite their lack of jump-jets-the suities were leveraging their 30KPH running speed, and their long-range 'railgun' weapons to pick the Elementals apart at a distance before engaging the Clan 'mechs, and coordinating with their transport and their tanks to bring down Falcon 'mech after Falcon 'mech.

Okay, we are looking at a modified GDL style suit.  That is 255 kg for the base frame and extra ground speed.  The suit's railgun is approximately the same mass as a support laser, so about 200kg for that.  You can slap on chassis max of armor, 10 points, for 500kg if going standard armor.

And that still leaves 45kg.  I assumed this design didn't go for a modular weapon mount (10kg) or the GDL suit's advanced sensors (65kg).  Still room for manipulators better than basic, a secondary AP weapon mount, or a few other extra toys.

But then this also has a microfusion reactor, instead of battery packs, which might up the base chassis mass.

"We're not really needed." Victor noted. "But, I want to chew on Pat Ngo for that damnfool stunt anyway."

Get in line behind Elizabeth, your Highness. :smirk:

[glitterboy2098]

i actually went into MML and threw together a "best canon approximation" using a light suit (750kg), basic manipulators, medium recoilless rifle, 3 ground MP, 6 points BA standard armor, and gave it an extra power pack, 10kg of mission equipment storage (2x 5kg slots), and a cutting torch. the last two mainly because i had mass left over and those seemed like stuff that might be added for field flexibility.
i considered using a magshot (slightly less damage but better range) which would have freed up 75kg of mass for even more gear, but but aside from enhanced sensors it really wouldn't have added much benefit.

[Cannonshop]

Vin Drin Lap, a few days after the Dinh Diep Trial...

Elizabeth joined her brother at the 'after party' being held in Vin Drin Lap.  Alcohol, food, outdoor tables and a festival sense was in the air.

a festival sense not marred in the least by the Clan personnel. 

the problem being, so much of the Jade Falcon transport was destroyed, that it would require time to arrange for their rides back to the Occupation zone.  Weeks, to be honest, as Clan Merchant vessels would have to transit here with empty dropships to retrieve most of a Galaxy of troops.

With hostilities locally 'settled' (at least, until a higher authority intervened on one side or the other) Kowloon had the better part of ten thousand 'guests' to deal with. 

a problem mainly in that the Falcon warriors (and their surviving support personnel) had the right to leave, but lacked the ability.

what do you do with a demographic bump like that?

Patrick decided to throw a barbecue and covered-dish event to make up for the interrupted Independence Day events earlier this month but this time with offworlder guests.

Right now, the Command staff of the Falcon force were learning to sing 'Elbar Toothpick' while quaffing huge amounts of local beer, ijero wine, plum brandy, and racks of roasted meat.

The boys from the 171st's 2nd Regiment were teaching them, in an equally drunken fashion.

"Deep Thoughts, Miss Ngo?"  Elizabeth turned from glaring at the festivities, to face...Nathan Roshak.

"some.  You need to know, I have a boyfriend."

"I would expect nothing less." he noted, "You are not having as good a time as the soldiers in the square."

"no." she said, "I would NOT have done what Pat did."

"I am equally certain of that." Nathan told her.  "Why do you hate us?"

"oh, do you want the personal or the historical?" she asked rhetorically, "My father 'disappeared' in your first wave of attacks, it took Loki and LIC almost five years to confirm his death, we still don't have his ashes.  That triggered my mother to commit suicide.  Somewhere in your ranks, you have my brother Henry, if he is still alive, you took him from me at Blackjack.  Pat thinks he can get our brother back from you, I have my doubts that he is even still alive."  she nervously rolled a joint, and lit it.  "That's the personal.  Then, there's the historical."

"Exodus, Kerensky." he said.

"Yeah.  Do you know what Aaron DeChevalier said to my ancestors to get us to come in to the wider war?" she inquired.

"No...I am afraid not."

"He promised that the SLDF would guarantee Kowloon's independence.  how could that happen when the SLDF pulls a runner? we had to bend the knee to the Steiners to survive after that.  We shed blood in that war. a lot of it.  Three million Kowloonese fought and died in that war, look at the battle-streamers of the 2nd Regiment?  we supported your ancestors, and in return, they abandoned us. if you know history, you would know this-we remember."

she stepped in off the balcony, and he followed. She opened a cooler and pulled out a tall carafe of Ijero Wine.  "want some?"

"I will accept a glass, aff." Nathan said, "You were not finished."

"I wasn't. that's perceptive of you Star Colonel.  as I was saying, there is Exodus, and the Amaris War...and Tran Truk Ngo's last conversation with your great 'General Kerensky', on the day of Exodus."

"You have seen this?"

"I have." she nodded, passing him the glass.  "Everything my ancestor said, has come to be. he was no prophet, just a man who could look at facts, it was the last conversation he had with anyone because he died that night, in agony, like I'm going to die."

"He had the Syndrome you have, quiaff?"

"Uh, yes.  He lasted to the age of forty one, but that was with Star League era medicine to prop him up.  I probably won't make it to thirty one, I expect I will be on Neuroin by the age of twenty-five, like he was."

"Do you feel obligated to be angry for your ancestors then?" he asked.

"no. I am obligated to be angry for the millions of Lyrans your people have enslaved." she said.  "I have Read Nicholas Kerensky's book, not just the loose and sanitized overview given by Phelan Kell when he was seeking asylum with his uncle-but the documents of Nick Kerensky, I have looked at the logical outcome of his structure.  It is a slave system, where people are property to be bartered, bought, sold, or won. the ownership may be faceless, a collective, but the fact is, your Clansmen, hell, YOU, are nothing but property under your system, goods to be traded.  Slavery corrupts everything it touches, Nathan. making human beings into property is the entire basis of Chattel Slavery.  Had I known what Patrick had in mind, I would have refused.  I would never willingly condone the trading of human beings as property."

"You would prefer to die?" he asked.

"Nobody wants to die, but I at least know my expiration date...more or less.  death is preferable to slavery, Star Colonel. I'm angry with my brothers, but..." she drank her wine, "I pity you, because you have never known a day when you were free."

[Daryk]

Well played, Elizabeth... Well played...  ^-^

[mikecj]

Brilliantly written as usual.  Thanks.

[Cannonshop]

Dear Arthur;

I got your message last weekend.  to sort things out first:

We won.  We beat them.  beat them so badly they needed help to leave, and I didn't even need to use the exotic technology ideas to do it.  I broke my wrist and sprained my knee in the aftershock from shooting that Clanner warship down, but you probably already know all that by now.

Let me be perfectly clear: I'm not mad at you.  In fact, I'm overjoyed you've found someone who you can grow old together with, though I would have preferred it if you included her picture so I can tell myself lies and feel superior about it. :)

but thank you for being the good, honest man I knew you would be and thinking of my feelings-you knew I would be angrier if you lied about it or played passive-aggressive games, and I deeply appreciate that.  You are both welcome at any time at my table or in my home.

I'm just sorry I won't be able to plan her Bachelorette Hen-Party.  I have to hope Yvonne and Katherine are sufficiently devious and playful, and of course, I won't be able to attend the wedding when you finally hit that point.  (Try to get it done before I'm dead though-I want to crow arrogantly over the wedding pictures!)

News today is that your Brother is bringing a task force out to our neck of the woods and will be arriving sometime in the next six weeks.  My guess is he is going to read MY brother the riot act over that stupid gamble.  I'm still angry with Patrick over it even though he won, but for reasons that are probably NOT the reasons your Brother Victor is angry.

I never in my worst nightmares imagined anyone in my family would be willing to engage in...nevermind.  I was writing this to congratulate you on your pending engagement and wish you well.

Still your Best Friend,

Elizabeth.

[DOC_Agren]

 :thumbsup:

well done for a quick piece

[Nikas_Zekeval]

Yeah, thinking Pat was willing to risk selling her into slavery to save her life?  I get the feeling he drove a big old wedge between him and Liz with that.

[Grognard]

thermonuclear powered sonar PING!

Cannonshop,
I swear your stuff gets better with every year.
I'm extremely jealous of your talent and humbled by all your hard work.
 

[Cannonshop]

Boojum 8, an airless ice-moon orbiting a gas giant in the outer system of Kowloon...

"Science isn't about why.  Why is part of it, but the science we're going to do, is Why Not?"  Elizabeth's guests were speechless.

"What is it?" Victor asked.

"Maybe the future of energy production, or something that makes nuclear weapons look like wetted down festival 'safe' firecrackers."  Elizabeth explained, "Most of this facility's structure is a cyclotron, it's built to wrap around this moon like a wedding ring.  The outbuildings you can see through the windows? those are storage areas for what it's making."

"Making...you mean this thing is active?"  Katherine was with the Archon Prince, she looked, in Elizabeth's opinion, adorable in the dress uniform of the AFFC's Naval Branch-a supermodel playing Naval officer.

"Yeah.  Since '53." Elizabeth stated, "We have around a thousand kilograms of antihydrogen, after all, once you can start the process, starting-then-stopping is more energy intensive than just letting it keep going."

she opened a sealed barrel, and lifted out a handful of black dust.  "Don't worry, it's contained and stable."  she informed them, "Buckminster fuller, in the Twentieth Century, theorized a molecular structure ideal for making a single atom of antihydrogen stable.  what you get is an ultra-fine black powder...and I'm holding the power of a naval autocannon's warhead in my hand."

she dumped the fine powder back into the barrel, and wiped her hands with a white rag, showing how the ultralubricity of the fullerene matrix didn't leave residues.

"Does your brother know...about this?"

"He doesn't understand the science, no." Elizabeth replied, "He's seen the bills, of course, and the purchase orders.  aside from the gamma pulse problem when the microstructure's cracked? I could fit the firepower of a long tom in the casing of a nine milimeter bullet, but that's a crude application."

"what is the...refined application?"  Katherine asked, wide eyed.

"once I can figure out how to meter the energy output and actually bend it to use?  almost unlimited energy density, maybe enough to start applying high energy physics in the construction of wormholes-no more agonizing TDS, there are whole families of physics that have gone uninvestigated since the twenty first century, Katrina, because we can't generate enough energy to test the models, I'm talking about the fundamentals of how the cosmos came to be, how it really works.  a true Grand Unified theory that actually accounts for quantum variations and resolves Kearney-Fuchida with Einstein and Newton."

Victor remained speechless.  Katherine, however, was not.  "Which leads to practical applications?" she asked.

"Inevitably practical applications." Liz agreed.  "Things we don't even have words for yet-the tech to get this far was pushing envelopes in what we still remember, you're standing in a facility intended to push beyond what has been forgotten and bring new knowledge, and with new knowledge there are always practical applications in science and technology-and spin-offs."

"Railguns."

"Yeah, derived from trying to stabilize the effects of this facility." Elizabeth agreed.  "One of the principles I'm most excited about was something one of my interns found in an archive record from pre-colonization.  Kearney-Fuchida turns out to potentially NOT be the only way to exceed the speed of light in the objective universe.  Alcubierre's warp theory-with this stuff?" she pointed at the drum, "We might be able to generate enough energy to test it."

Victor clearly wasn't enthused.  Katherine had a certain gleam in her eye, and Comstar's man looked like he was about to puke and have a heart attack.  God, I wish Arthur was here! he understood!!

"Anyway, none of this was built drawing from public funds." Elizabeth interrupted whatever each of these people must have been contemplating.  "but you wanted to know, so here we are.  I think the antimatter fullerine might be useful for military weapons while we work out how to make a more practical use of the stuff-especially in smaller quantities, but I'm reluctant to finish work on a milspec detonator assembly since it does touch on some of your longer term concerns about nuclear proliferation, and there are the Ares Conventions to be concerned about."

"You're not going to release this." Victor finally said.

"Of course not." Elizabeth snapped, "Not until we have power generation licked!  I want to build that Alcubierre warp engine, and some of the equations I had to use to bridge Kearney-Fuchida into a rational solution set suggest other things that might be really exciting-even for...normal...people."

"I'm not...sure." Victor said.

"Aw, come ON your Highness, I only have like...nine, ten years left? how much damage could I possibly do in that time, huh?"  Elizabeth crossed her arms, "I'm chasing unicorns...with high energy physics projects, robots, and some materials engineering, but it's unicorns. I don't really expect to solve it myself, I expect to leave enough leads for whoever comes after me to solve it.  this is how we progress out of the Dark ages."

"but this is all one person in the end, isn't it?" Katherine asked.

"Yeah, and that is what I wanted to talk to you two about.  we need more universities, places that teach actual science, and who actually test each other's bullshit theories and actually pursue real development of mankind's knowledge base! and we need to spread that knowledge, so it can't be lost again!"

"She sounds like dad." Victor muttered.

"Because Hanse Davion was right.  we've lost so much we don't even fully understand how much is gone!" Elizabeth met the eyes of the Comstar man with the Archon Prince.  "Isn't that right, Adept?"

"ahm..yes." he said, "Much knowledge has been lost, much dangerous knowledge..."

"And how has that worked out in the long term, Adept...what's your name?"

"Stevens.  how did we miss recruiting you?" he asked.

"Lucky I'd guess." Elizabeth said, "all knowledge is dangerous, Adept Stevens.  Spend enough time out in the Black, or down in the deeps, and you begin to understand the only thing more dangerous than knowledge?" she paused for dramatic effect, "Is ignorance.  People can only make good decisions with good, reliable information.  Three centuries of scientific, economic, social and technological decay have not been good for mankind.  Editing Knowledge and forgetting the past has not done well for our Clan opponents, either."

"you didn't say 'enemies'." Victor noted, "Softening your stance?"

"Hardly.  The Clan System is evil incarnate, it is slavery without responsibility, ultimately corrupt and utterly insane...but the people trapped in that system are the victims, domesticated humans who have no grasp of how to be free, or even what freedom tastes like.  I feel sorry for the poor bastards, and I will feel sorry for them even while your armies kick them all the way back to Strana Mechty, but I can't hate the people for what was done to them.  I can only do my utmost to prevent it from being done to us."

[Cannonshop]

Two Days Later, Nha Tranh...

"...she's still not talking to you, Pat?"  Victor was sympathetic.

"That's about the size of it, Your Highness." Patrick Ngo looked older than he was...by a lot.  "She at least speaks with Evelynn or I wouldn't know anything more than what shows up in her corporate requisitions and reports.  I ****** up."

"That you did." Victor said, pouring a glass of bourbon, and passing it to his host.  "Do you get why she's mad?"

Pat shook his head, "Not really. We had it in the bag, and Roshak wanted to lose, though I can't figure out why."

"Let me make it clearer for you.  you validated the Clan's System." Victor said, "When I let Marthe Pryde take her survivors off Coventry, it was to keep things balanced while we worked on the build up to push them out-we can't have a stronger Clan move in until we can beat them...it was a compromise and both sides knew it.  I gave them an 'out' that could prevent the homeworld Clanners from moving in with fresh machines and all the tactical lessons to avoid making mistakes. it was strategic and strategically, Pat?"

"Yeah?"

"You got played."  Victor explained.  He sat down across from the Duke of Kowloon, "I can't even say I would've done it differently-except I wouldn't have let him talk me into putting my sisters up as stakes no matter how good the odds were, but I get that you were confident, just...I think your family has this trait, right?"

"Trait?"

"Taking risks the rest of us, even the rest of you think are incredibly stupid risks to take, and maybe not seeing the whole picture, which is something I'm guilty of myself...but Lizzie lived with Arthur and in my family's House for four years-she's not exactly unknown, and I imagine what has her so completely, wordlessly pissed, is that you validated the Clanners' social structure and traditions right when you had the advantage-for a good cause, but there's the road to hell."

"Paved with good intentions."

Victor nodded.  "Pat...I can't tell you how to fix this, I'm just happy as hell I don't have to do the same job with Kate, or Yvonne, or Peter, or god help us, Arthur.  a rift with my siblings would rip my heart right out, man."

"So what should I do?"

"Do what you set out to do." Victor said seriously.  "It's too late to take it back at this point, you can only go forward, but maybe sadder and wiser...and maybe she'll forgive you, or your little medical science project will work and she'll get to grow old enough to regret resenting what you did and come around with time."

then, Victor brightened, "Brought you a gift."  He said, "Something we picked up on Coventry.  I think I'm going to hold off on giving it to you until I can get the two of you in the same room, because I think you'll both appreciate it."

[Daryk]

Even two posts later, I'm STILL trying to figure out WHY Victor would bring a ComStar Adept with him to Boojum 8??  ???

[Cannonshop]

"Hi there.  Sophie said hi there too...adept..Stevens is it?"  The girl crouching in the office hadn't been there a moment ago. she was unusually large, almost looking fat in her tee-shirt and sweat pants.  "What do you think you're doing in my boss's files, anyway?"

His hand dipped into his robes as he tried to stand, and she moved fast, slamming him against the wall, pinning his arms with hands that were somehow stunningly too-strong.

"My sister worked hard on those secure algorithms and backup files, Adept." Jo said, lifting him off the floor.  "She doesn't like it when people try to tamper with her work-artistic temperament."

The door opened, and two more teenagers walked in.

"You're sure?" one of the boys asked.

"Watched him trying to break Sophie's firewalls." Jo said, "He's a slicer, and I bet his style is Terran-centric."

a third presence walked in, and Stevens could see her almost MORE clearly than the others, more clearly than the girl currently holding his arms paralyzed.

The girl made a gesture.

"It's this guy, Jo says so."

the fine-boned redhead cocked her eyebrow, and gestured again.

"I don't know, Sophie.  what are we supposed to do when we catch a spy?" the boy asked.

Adept Stevens found his perspective shifting violently, impacting the floor face first, still restrained, but now additional hands stripped away his clothing, the occasional brush of cold alloy proving that they were quite willing to cut every stitch to search him.

Then fingers wrapped in latex gloves probed every crevice of his body, including his mouth.

Nude, he was hauled to his feet while his brain tried desperately to catch up with what was happening-the efficiency was like Maskirovka or ROM, but...these are teenagers!

a sharp pain in his inner thigh, and wetness.

"Tracking device maybe?"  the other boy asked.

there was a pause that suggested the silent girl was signing.

"Sweep him with a scanner." The big girl growled.

finally he found words, "I have Immunity! I am with Comstar and the Archon Prince!!"

"Too bad we're not cops." the big girl, 'Jo' said.  "Sophie, send a text to Uriel,  give him details, and arrange a vehicle , then see how much damage whatever he was putting into the system is capable of."

then the big girl's breath was on his ear,  "you won't make me break your bones, will you, Earthie?"

[worktroll]

Victor's sending a message. It plays out something like this.

"We know, you know."

"We know you know, you know."

"When?"

 "Today. We just received word."

"So. Then..."

"Perhaps...?"

"No, we daren't," Lotto said.


"But the Primus will—"

 "What the Primus may will, I may. What I will, the Primus may or may not—depending on whether I do."

 "And if." 

A pause, stunned by this last remark. Treachery? Impossible! "What do you mean?"

A frown. "My Lord—what do you mean, what do I mean?"

 "Hold." A hand held up, commandingly. "We have conversed in feints and hints, and have got our meanings crossed. From this hour forth, for purposes of war strategy and the highest security, I suggest we speak in complete sentences."

Half of Hanse Davion's reputation as a cunning person is based on him playing word games. The guy could bluff with just the hole card, while playing darts.

[Artifex]

Well, Victor did not have to experience the doubleganger mess his father had to ... which is quite the effective lesson on doublespeak and feinting if there is any.  ::)

[Daryk]

Just waiting for Stevens to learn they're INTERNS...  ::)

[Cannonshop]

"...have you seen Adept Stevens?" 

Elizabeth looked up from her desk terminal, to see the Archon Prince standing in her doorway.

"I can say with some certainty that he's of average height, with what appears to be sandy brown-blonde hair and blue eyes, he'd be cute if he wasn't such prig." She said.

"I meant in the last few hours?" Victor asked.

she rolled her eyes, "no.  I assume he's staying at the Comstar Compound, have you asked them?"

"According to the local Comstar Operations manager, he hasn't been in, they're worried about him, and the last place he was supposed to be, is here in your Ia Drang offices."

"JO!!"

victor managed not to be bowled over by the teen intern.  "Yes Mum?"

"Jo, have Sophie check the sign in logs, the Archon Prince has mislaid his Comstar Liaison and the robes say he was supposed to be coming here to visit." Liz said distractedly.

"Um, average size guy, sandy hair, about thirty?" Jo asked.

"Sounds like him."

"we were closing up shop for the night, Mum, I told him to come back tomorrow...which is today." Jo said, "Do you think something might have happened? This is a safe area-"

"Very safe.  have Sophie check the security logs anyway-he might have had an accident trying to get into one of the workshops." Liz said dismissively, "Also, could you grab the Archon Prince a cup of coffee and bring me a Ca'phe?"

Jo turned, "Sugar or milk, Highness?"

"Sugar and milk." Victor said.

"Be right back!"  and hurried off.

"She's kind of young." he said.

"Internships.  Jo's actually my 'lead' intern." Elizabeth informed him, "She'll be in Grade Twelve at the start of the school year, and I don't know how I got along without an intern, to be honest.  I might offer her a job after she's done her five for the Crown."

"Tracking into mad science after her national service?" he asked.

"More like tracking into personnel management or security." Liz said, "Jo's fantastic at keeping the kids on task.  for Science, that's definitely Sophie, her sister-the girl is brilliant once you get past the sign language-a fantastic mind for advanced maths, I might just keep her on staff and beg her a deferral...I sometimes wish I could terminate a conversation by closing my eyes!"

Jo came back with the Coffee, and a willowy redhead with large brown eyes and almost albino skin.

Elizabeth signed to the redhead, who signed back, then looked even MORE surprised, staring at him with undisguised awe.

the girl's sign-language was better than Victor's memory of his classes.  "slow down?" he said, "I.."

she repeated her gestures, and added a small curtsy.

Victor awkwardly gave the polite response while saying "Pleased to meet you Sophie Lerner."

the deaf girl beamed, and then corrected his sign-language grammar.

she produced a datadisc, and handed it to Liz.

"Thank you Sophie." Liz's hands were more practiced.

then she played the disc.

It showed Adept Stevens at the front door, and then, it showed one of the boys speaking to him, and then, it showed him leaving.  the time-stamps were concurrent.

"He was here, and he was sent home until this morning?" Elizabeth asked.

Sophie nodded, reached over, and keyed a command on Liz's terminal, and the view showed the parking area, and a rental car arriving, and then, it showed him leaving, the timestamps lined up.

"So he was here, and in a rental...okay...well, It's a start."  Elizabeth announced.

Sophie nodded.

"Hit the Plateau's auto-safety net, Sophie, see if he took Highway one down the mountain or if he went to the airfield."

[Daryk]

IF Liz is in on it, she's playing dumb VERY well...  ^-^

[Artifex]

Jesus, why the hell would she mislead her sovereign? I mean even Victor is not too buddy buddy with C* even in the OTL ...

[Daryk]

That's why I really don't think she's in on it...