Author Topic: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]  (Read 13594 times)

Hellraiser

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #60 on: 26 June 2024, 22:46:28 »
At this point, I’d almost say Victor should be completely unsurprised upon seeing Natasha.  Victor is quicker on the uptake than Phelan, and may grow to suspect that Natasha’s surname isn’t a coincidence well before we see her again.

I'm not even sure it was "surprise" from Phelan, after all he'd been working w/ Ulric a while at that point & knew the name.
It was more, realization.
An, Oh Shit, I just realized they have really been here for going on for 50 years.
Prior to seeing her either of them is still being "reactive" & learning.

Even if she didn't show up, I'd think that either of them would eventually put it together, but, at that time, they were still dealing w/ being bondsmen & getting the crap kicked out of them by every passing clanner w/ an attitude & bouncing between KP duty to a Meeting w/ the Khan.
IE.  They were just to busy to really get to deep into it & think of the Goons as part of the equation.

I think there is even a line, like,  "it's not the Wolf's Dragoons..... it's Wolves Dragoons".
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Hellraiser

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #61 on: 26 June 2024, 22:47:55 »
It has been more than 2 decades since I read the original Clan Trilogy. Reading this, brings it ALL back...

Yeah, I just recently unboxed some of my stuff & put it up on new shelves.
I'm thinking I might need to read the Trilogy again, for the umpteenth time.
3041: General Lance Hawkins: The Equalizers
3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo

drakensis

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #62 on: 27 June 2024, 23:51:28 »
I think there is even a line, like,  "it's not the Wolf's Dragoons..... it's Wolves Dragoons".

As far as I know, that's not an in-universe quote. But it is allegedly what Michael Stackpole is reported as saying during the development of the Clans by the writers: "It's not Wolf's Dragoons, it's the Wolf Dragoons." And then the Clans were written as the secret backstory of the Dragoons.
"It's national writing month, not national writing week and a half you jerk" - Consequences, 9th November 2018

Trace Coburn

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #63 on: 29 June 2024, 04:18:11 »
As far as I know, that's not an in-universe quote. But it is allegedly what Michael Stackpole is reported as saying during the development of the Clans by the writers: "It's not Wolf's Dragoons, it's the Wolf Dragoons." And then the Clans were written as the secret backstory of the Dragoons.
  The latter may well be true, but Stackpole clearly thought it was too good a line to leave out-of-universe.  Phelan thinks that exact phrase upon seeing The First Lady of Death making an appearance at his Warrior-adoption ceremony:

Quote from: Lethal Heritage, p.385 (Roc 1989 edition)
“Oh my God.  They’re not Wolf’s Dragoons, they’re the Wolf Dragoons.  They’ve been part of the Clans all along!”

drakensis

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #64 on: 29 June 2024, 12:22:05 »
I stand corrected.
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Minchandre

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #65 on: 30 June 2024, 01:32:36 »
As part of my quest to avoid copying Stackpole line-for-line, I've chosen to render the Adoption ceremony largely off-screen (since it's very hard to make modifications to a ceremony without inventing my own, new one, which just seemed wrong. This means that we have no opportunity for that particular quote.

That said, I did write my own version of that scene, which I'll post as an alternate. And either way, Victor definitely has Opinions about Wolf's Dragoons.

I'm actually writing some of the Clan Council from Blood Legacy right now, and I think I'm doing an okay job not directly rewriting Stackpole. It's a hard line to tread, particularly the scene where Natasha gets grilled; the fact that the scene has almost no involvement by Phelan makes the entire business hard to change; I'm playing with changing circumstances a bit so that Natasha's bit plays out differently, or I might again have it happen off-screen, Victor being busy with something else when it happens.

Probably, I'll write both and decide later.

Minchandre

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #66 on: 03 July 2024, 16:06:04 »
Chapter 9
WS Dire Wolf, L5 point
Dell system, Federated Commonwealth
10 September 3050


Victor’s conversations with Katya changed. Before, the main focus had been teaching him the Way of the Clans, supplemented slightly by Victor teaching Inner Sphere history and culture in turn. But after Rasalhague, she began to ask less about the grand sweep of history and more about the lives of common people. Victor found himself struggling to describe ordinary day-to-day living that he had himself never experienced.

The Free Rasalhague Republic particularly puzzled her, or rather the unrest that had predated its formation. That people could live centuries under the control of the Combine and still refuse to accept that deeply disturbed her, and she spent several sessions explaining about the Dark Caste to Victor, a strange label that seemed to encompass everything from organized crime to rebels to pirates. An enormous amount of pressing on Victor’s part revealed the existence of communities living on the fringes of Clan society descended from residents of the Pentagon Worlds that had never accepted the Clans in the first place. It was the first sign Victor saw that the invaders might not be as invincible as they claimed.

Katya thankfully segued from the Dark Caste to the Civilian Castes, and she even introduced him to several Technicians and Merchants aboard the Dire Wolf, though Victor somehow doubted that they were at their ease after being summoned by the Khan’s pet ristar and displayed like zoo animals. But it was interesting to learn that there was more to the Clans than their toumans, even if the other castes were still dedicated to martial glory.

It’s not that different from a place like the Combine, to be honest, he found himself thinking more than once. And even though the prince of the Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns had been taught to hate the Draconis Combine almost since birth, the realization humanized the Clanners and helped him fit them into the known framework of human society.

As they talked about the lives of others, the conversation also occasionally drifted to talking about themselves. Victor described winters on Tharkad and dinner parties in Avalon City, lessons at the Nagelring and the infamous “La Mancha” scenario. Katya responded with descriptions of hunting wolves in the forests of Strana Mechty and eating street food in Katyusha City, snippets about life in the sibko that left Victor vaguely horrified and a description of her Trial of Position that explained why she hadn’t been all that impressed with “La Mancha”.

And they continued to draw closer. For months Victor had felt something developing between them, but he’d half-thought it was one-sided, and figured that it was probably just him developing an infatuation with a smart, pretty girl that he spent hours and hours with. But even though nothing had happened in that bunk in the Kempei Tai barracks (and wouldn’t that have been a wonderful place for something to happen), it felt like a door was flung open that had only been cracked…though maybe it was just that they were finally learning more about each other than odd snippets gleaned during discussions of grander things.

But while he filled his days with these conversations and with his duties as a bondsman both general and personal to his bondholder, he saw very little of Ulric. With the exception of a single bizarre episode in which he spent a day advising Lara Ward on how many reinforcements to permit Marcos Radick to call down on the world of Engadin, he no longer sat in on planning and strategy sessions. His one encounter with the Precentor Martial had been rushed, a sober-looking Focht speaking no more than three words to him.

He suspected why, but it wasn’t for over a month after Rasalhague that he knew for certain.

“It is Dell,” said Roland MacGiorgio as he came into the barracks.

It was evening, and most of the bondsmen were in the semi-prison that was their barracks: a room that locked from the outside, but from which people were regularly taken and left unattended for hours at a time. The Clans, or at least the Wolves, found strange compromises as they attempted to reconcile their mistrust of the Inner Sphere with an almost naïve sense of honor. The pirates and Lyrans had mostly resolved their hostilities, though a line still divided the room.

As he came further into the room, the Lyrans began to cluster around him. Once everyone was close, he continued in a low voice, “Technician Anna was talking about rigging temporary jetpacks for a low jump from a DropShip and let slip that it was for an assault on Cosmopolis. Apparently the Khan himself plans to participate, and so everything must be perfect.”

The room was full of sober faces.

Victor had not been the only FedCom officer to begin to fall to Stockholm syndrome, and though no other sat in on planning sessions and performed research, all had been happily repairing and maintaining OmniMechs, replacing armor panels and repairing myomer relays. It had been easy enough not to think about the causes of that damage so long as they’d all known in the backs of their minds that it was Rasalhaguian soldiers.

All eyes turned to Victor, who held up his hands defensively. “I did not know anything; they have iced me out of planning sessions.”

After a moment, he added guiltily, “But I did suspect that this was why.”

Silence held for several moments before Albert said, “So now what?”

It was Rothkopf who replied, “Was ist ‘what’?” invoking an old joke from back on Chateau, though she said it with a forced grin.

“So now what do we do?” asked Victor. “Up until now, none of us have been traitors. We sympathized with the citizens of Rasalhague, but they are not ours. Now we repair Mechs that go to shoot at FedCom soldiers. The 24th Arcturan Guards, right?”

He was answered by several grim nods. The Arcturan Guards were an excellent outfit. Experienced, with good morale, and organized as RCTs, they weren’t quite the Royal Guard but they were definitely a cut above. The 10th Donegal had put up a decent fight before falling to the Wolves; surely the 24th Arcturan could hold, right?

Except that the Drakøns had not, and while the AFFC was the best military in the Inner Sphere, it was hard for the soldiers to convince themselves that a good, solid AFFC outfit could hold better than the Elected Prince’s personal bodyguard.

Victor powered on, “The Ares Conventions allow for a power to use prisoners of war for labor so long as that labor is not directly against an enemy, though at the Nagelring they taught us that that meant building fieldworks or laying mines, not maintaining Mechs. I suspect that the framers of those conventions never imagined an enemy willing to let prisoners work on critical military hardware.”

“What are our options?” asked Luukka grimly.

Once again, they all turned to Victor, though he wished that they wouldn’t. He was the highest ranking officer present, to be sure, but any one of them was more experienced than he was, and Luukka was a Hauptmann, plenty high enough to take control of a party of prisoners of war.

Kommandant Steiner-Davion straightened himself up and spoke slowly, “We all know the punishment for a disobedient bondsman.” The pirate’s screams had been blood-chilling, and the lash-marks terrible to behold. “And we all know the alternative to the bond.” Victor had shared what he’d learned right after his conversation with Katya.

“So now, each of us must ask themself what their limit is. I am certain that we can all play the game, balancing our labor against the likely torture, justifying to ourselves that the work would get done anyway.” For it surely would, as the bondsmen’s labor was clearly more symbolic than necessary, to the point that in the beginning the Technicians had spent more time undoing what the bondsmen did than the bondsmen themselves had spent working.

Another pause, and then Rothkopf asked the question that Victor had been dreading for half a year, “What do you say, Your Highness?”

And there it was. Victor was no longer an underexperienced officer, speaking as the graduate of a prestigious academy with a few months of garrison duty in a perfectly average unit under his belt. He was now the heir to the Federated Commonwealth, the son of the Archon and the First Prince, the man who would one day unite the realms into the greatest power that the Inner Sphere had known since the fall of the Star League.

He almost buckled under the pressure. He tried to draw strength from his newly growing Clan discipline and honor, but found that quarter instructing him to die before taking any action at all against his nation. I cannot be a Wolf now, but perhaps I can try to be a Fox.

“Regardless of anyone’s actions, Dell will fall,” he said with finality. He was met with several sour faces, but none could deny it.

“I see my responsibility now as minimizing damage. On Rasalhague, I helped coordinate civilian relief efforts, and on Kirchbach I helped keep the fighting away from residential sectors. Were I currently involved in the planning for the attack on Dell, I would do my best to ensure that the main attack took place nowhere near any town or city and that the occupational government ruled with a light hand. I am most able to do this when the Wolves trust me, and the Wolves trust me best when I aid them sincerely.

“Perhaps I am deluding myself, but it is my responsibility to look to the welfare of the Lyran people, not only to support the AFFC.”

No one looked happy, but there were nods.

Then Victor faced away from the camera they knew about and kept silent, raising index and middle fingers to a V and pointed at his eyes. And in the meantime we are gathering intelligence.

This time, the nods were firmer, the faces adopting expressions of determination.

He felt dishonest, making sure to end the statement on a note that he knew would leave a sweeter aftertaste. But Victor had spoken no lie, and both of his parents had told him that sometimes a ruler must find the most palatable way to speak an unpleasant truth. His mother liked to quote an ancient children’s book, saying that “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”

The Fox, as always, had a cruder saying: “People don’t mind eating candy-coated shit.”

-------

And so the time comes.

I thought about having this be about the assault on Vulcan, which the 279th does (Dell is the 4th and the Golden Keshik), but Vulcan was just defended by militia, where Dell has a unit of the Arcturan Guard, which is a more-than-solid formation, even if not quite elite. But even if the unit that the Lyrans are ostensibly attached to isn't involved, the Golden Keshik is, and the 4th, which are both in Alpha Galaxy, and so there will be sufficient exposure.

As for the rest...this entire time, Victor (and the others) have been seen attacks on Rasalhague worlds, and have been pretending really hard that the Wolves weren't actually attacking the FedCom. If the assault on Dell had occurred the month after they were taken bondsmen, they would all definitely have rebelled, but after so long...it's complicated. We also see Victor (and probably the others) trying to reconcile their new lives with their old a little. And, of course, Victor finally being called out for being prince.

In the OG Blood of Kerensky, Stackpole never has Phelan engage in anything against the FedCom, which helps sidestep the question. But I thought that that was boring, especially since I've decided to try and make Tamar into Victor's "Gunzburg" (in terms of a planetary assault where the main character has a very large part to play).

Minchandre

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #67 on: 08 July 2024, 19:58:28 »
Interlude IV

When she’d first realized that her father was serious about her joining the military, Katherine had imagined that she might join the Department of the Quartermaster, or maybe the Public Relations Office. Learning military history during the semester had gotten her a little interested in strategy (she’d never realized how much of it was playing with people, not just little toys), but she’d had a feeling that joining the Department of Strategy and Tactics or the staff of some general officer would require at least a little time in the field getting shot at by Clanners…even if she had heard that there were wonderful parties at the Triad.

And while she knew that both sides of her family would be pressuring her to become a MechWarrior or at least a Fighter Pilot, her mother had gotten away with serving in the infantry after all.

Of course, spending all day rolling around in the mud and carrying thirty kilos on her back in the infantry would be even worse, but surely the step down from infantry to administration wasn’t that great?

The fantasy had lasted until her intake medical exam. When the neurological scan came, Katherine had discovered that despite her best hopes she had “exceptional innate potential as a MechWarrior”.

Despite a lack of early enthusiasm, she’d found when she finished Basic and began advanced training for MechWarriors that she enjoyed the simulations far more than she’d expected. And thankfully, the NAIS employed FedSuns neurohelmets that did not require the oh-so-characteristic hairstyle that Lyran MechWarriors often adopted.

Plus, heads always turned when she was wearing a cooling vest and not much else.

And now here she was, climbing the ladder to her first time piloting a Mech in real life.

When she’d asked one of her instructors if it wouldn’t make more sense to spend longer on the simulators before trying out a real Mechs (them being in such high demand), she’d been told, “You never know if a cadet has what it takes until they try. It’s better to shove kids into the cockpit as soon as you trust that they won’t hurt anyone so you can dump ‘em before you waste too much time on ‘em.”

And while that statement didn’t exactly fill Katherine with the warm fuzzies, it also didn’t stop the frisson as she ascended the rungs, picturing herself and her exceptional innate potential becoming a war hero, leading the 10th Lyran Guards in victory after victory against these “Clans”, driving them back from the Tamar Pact, receiving a chest full of medals and perhaps a handsome swain or two.

She was just imagining her mother abdicating early when she found herself climbing into the Marauder’s cockpit.

One advantage of studying at a facility like the NAIS CMS was access to the best technology: in this case, BattleMechs equipped with Command Consoles for inexperienced pilots; and so Katherine was not alone in the cockpit. She felt a little disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to experience this special moment by herself, but at least the instructor looked pretty hunky under his cooling vest (even if she couldn’t see his face through the glare off his faceplate).

She’d been told that the ride-along was only there to take control if things became too unsafe and that she should ignore him, so she only gave him a quick glance before proceeding with her checks and start up sequence.

As she felt the deep vibrations of the enormous Vlar 300 coming to wakefulness beneath her, she realized that while people and politics might be what led the great arc of history, Mao Zedong had been correct: this was real power. In an instant, she understood why Victor had liked to play soldier, why her father so highly valued the time he spent at the practice range despite not taking to the field in twenty years.

Start-up completed, she edged the 75 ton war machine forward at a crawl. Just like the simulations.

Clearing the hangar, she radioed the control tower and got permission to increase speed to 10 kilometers per hour, and then 20, and then the 30 that the Mech was limited to today. She ran the small obstacle course, taking turns just a little tighter than she’d practiced on the simulator.

All too soon, it was over, the Marauder back in its cradle, Katherine taking off her neurohelmet before opening the cockpit. She had a feeling she’d passed. Trying to gauge a reaction, she looked back at the instructor. There, an open faceplate revealed her father, a smile on his face and tears in his eyes. He reached awkwardly over the back of her seat to hug her.

“Good job, Kitty-Kat. I’m so proud of you.”

-------

Command Consoles are secondary cockpits installed in a Mech. While they were originally used to allow a commander to be in the field and concentrate on commanding instead of piloting their Mech, people very quickly learned to shoot at Mechs visibly equipped with Command Consoles, and so during the Succession Wars, they became relegated primarily to training. The New Avalon Institute of Science's College of Military Science (a.k.a. the New Avalon Military Academy) is the best-funded and -equipped academy in the FedSuns, so obviously they would have these.

Mao Zedong once said 枪杆子里面出政权 (most commonly rendered as "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun") in the late 1920s at the beginning of the Chinese Civil War, in the context of fighting both the Nationalists and the Japanese, and went on detail the importance of political control over the military and avoiding military coups., but returning to the truth that ultimately politics is enforced by the threat of violence.

It's exactly the sort of phrase that would appeal to an ambitious, narcissistic young woman being forced into the military.

As always, writing Kat is a blast; honestly, Victor is kind of boring (his main defining characteristics are being smart, hardworking, and honorable; his main faults are being too hard-working and too honorable). After I finish this story, I might revisit something with Katherine, since it's fun to write someone who's well on her way to being a sociopath but isn't quite there yet. It's somewhat challenging to write a character that's true to Katherine as she's presented later in the fiction, but also not a mother-murdering monstering who lets thousands die of starvation because their unelected feudal lord wasn't complimentary enough at the last party.

Hellraiser

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #68 on: 08 July 2024, 20:33:25 »
her mother had gotten away with serving in the infantry after all.

...................

 And thankfully, the NAIS employed FedSuns neurohelmets that did not require the oh-so-characteristic hairstyle that Lyran MechWarriors often adopted.

A couple minor things.

1.  Melissa never served in the Infantry.   Her aptitude testing showed she had talent in small unit tactics IIRC, but the comment in the LCSB is that the Archon wasn't likely to ever allow her to join the Jump Infantry.  In the end she did learn to pilot her mom's Warhammer even if she wasn't great at it.

2.  The NAIS v/s LC don't have different styles of Neuro-helmets AFAIK.
The issue is the LC has a common practice of shaving where the connections are to better feel the mech but it is in no way required or even universally done. 
The FS could do the same thing, some probably do, the LC just has a particular "cut" about it w/ the braids & all.
Sorenson's Sabres have a Warrior that shaves his entire head in the field for that reason IIRC, but doesn't have his face & then when he's in the rear area its reversed & he lets his hair grow while being clean shaven of facial hair.

3.  I totally saw it coming w/ Hanse in the back seat as soon as she got in the cockpit.  Sort of an nod to him being in the ToP opponents on Outreach.  Nicely done.
3041: General Lance Hawkins: The Equalizers
3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo

mikecj

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #69 on: 08 July 2024, 20:57:07 »
Nice touch! 
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shopsmart

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #70 on: 09 July 2024, 13:56:45 »
Just saw now that i got done writing.  Tagged.  Read that you have bunch of chapters and constantly editing.  I know the feeling.  I like this concept arc.  Just wonder what plot armor victor has.  I will concede that when was younger i liked victor alot.  Now my interests went else where.
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Minchandre

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #71 on: 09 July 2024, 14:43:17 »
Just wonder what plot armor victor has.  I will concede that when was younger i liked victor alot.  Now my interests went else where.

In what sense?

I'll say that in some senses, he has less than Phelan did - Phelan defeats Elementals in single combat a couple times, which shows exactly how familiar Stackpole is with fighting. In other senses, he probably does have some, in that he'll get better results for certain actions than others might. When Victor starts fighting again, I'm going to keep it what I think is fairly reasonable, though Mech combat has been written so many different ways over forty years and a few dozen authors that it's hard to say what "reasonable" means in that context.

I'm reminded of the Wheel of Time's ta'veren (which fans jokingly rending as protag'onist), where nothing outright impossible happens, but things tend to go their way...though Victor won't have anything nearly as drastic as Rand al'Thor's stuff occur. On the other hand, I recently finished a reread of the Assassin trilogy by Robin Hobb where things do not tend to go the protagonist's way.

A couple minor things.

1.  Melissa never served in the Infantry.   Her aptitude testing showed she had talent in small unit tactics IIRC, but the comment in the LCSB is that the Archon wasn't likely to ever allow her to join the Jump Infantry.  In the end she did learn to pilot her mom's Warhammer even if she wasn't great at it.

The Archon needs to have served in the military for several years. My interpretation is that Melissa was fully-trained as an infantry commander, but kept far away from the field. Which is unfortunate; her service would have been exactly in time for the Fourth Succession War. The House Steiner book says that Hanse Davion said he liked the idea of marrying a woman who can oversee the household guard, so I figured she probably commanded the infantry component of the Royal Guard stationed at the Triad.

Quote
2.  The NAIS v/s LC don't have different styles of Neuro-helmets AFAIK.
The issue is the LC has a common practice of shaving where the connections are to better feel the mech but it is in no way required or even universally done. 
The FS could do the same thing, some probably do, the LC just has a particular "cut" about it w/ the braids & all.
Sorenson's Sabres have a Warrior that shaves his entire head in the field for that reason IIRC, but doesn't have his face & then when he's in the rear area its reversed & he lets his hair grow while being clean shaven of facial hair.

From the House Steiner book

Quote
The battle dress of MechWarriors from House Steiner is fairly typical of that used throughout the Inner Sphere. The only noticeable difference is the neurohelmet. Constructed using superior Commonwealth technology, the LCAF version is smaller and fits more snugly to the head than those used by other States.

To reduce the helmet’s size, the Steiner version uses balance feedback transmitters instead of the low-frequency alpha transmitters of other House neurohelmets. Balance feedback transmitters are set in the rear of the helmet, and communicate the balance and position of the ‘Mech directly into the warrior’s brain. To ensure proper contact of the transmitters against the MechWarrior’s scalp, he must shave part of his head. While some balk at this and insist on wearing the old-style helmets, most comply. When off-duty, some Steiner MechWarriors wearhairpieces, while others simply leave the bald spot exposed. Some even enlarge the shaved area as a symbol of their profession. (See illustrations of Duke Brewer and ‘The Mountain’ Krankow of Hesperus Industries in Socioeconomics.)

Anyway, Katherine isn't a girl who knows much about military matters at this point. All she knows is that when she sees MechWarriors at parties and public events, some of the Lyrans have hair that is totally gross.

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #72 on: 09 July 2024, 14:45:46 »
A couple minor things.

1.  Melissa never served in the Infantry.   Her aptitude testing showed she had talent in small unit tactics IIRC, but the comment in the LCSB is that the Archon wasn't likely to ever allow her to join the Jump Infantry.  In the end she did learn to pilot her mom's Warhammer even if she wasn't great at it. 

Is it possible the author have another Fan Fic (one with a particular Mr. Smith?) That story involved Melissa being in the Infantry under a assumed named...
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AlphaMirage

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #73 on: 09 July 2024, 16:06:42 »
It is your fic Minchandre, if Melissa serving in the infantry works for you go with (I did the same in my Golden Lion AU).

Also the Archon doesn't 'have' a necessary military service period, that is the First Prince (and Coordinator because Samurai), it is simply 'recommended.' All it takes to be Archon is the Estates General making it so.

shopsmart

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #74 on: 09 July 2024, 16:59:34 »
In what sense?

I'll say that in some senses, he has less than Phelan did - Phelan defeats Elementals in single combat a couple times, which shows exactly how familiar Stackpole is with fighting. In other senses, he probably does have some, in that he'll get better results for certain actions than others might. When Victor starts fighting again, I'm going to keep it what I think is fairly reasonable, though Mech combat has been written so many different ways over forty years and a few dozen authors that it's hard to say what "reasonable" means in that context.

I'm reminded of the Wheel of Time's ta'veren (which fans jokingly rending as protag'onist), where nothing outright impossible happens, but things tend to go their way...though Victor won't have anything nearly as drastic as Rand al'Thor's stuff occur. On the other hand, I recently finished a reread of the Assassin trilogy by Robin Hobb where things do not tend to go the protagonist's way.
I went away from Victor coming back into battletech because there was 20 years of being away.  Was looking at doing RotS upon my return, but learned they were being ilclanned.  Went WoB and haven't looked back.
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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #75 on: 09 July 2024, 19:35:32 »
The Archon needs to have served in the military for several years. My interpretation is that Melissa was fully-trained as an infantry commander, but kept far away from the field. Which is unfortunate; her service would have been exactly in time for the Fourth Succession War. The House Steiner book says that Hanse Davion said he liked the idea of marrying a woman who can oversee the household guard, so I figured she probably commanded the infantry component of the Royal Guard stationed at the Triad.

From the House Steiner book


Also the Archon doesn't 'have' a necessary military service period, that is the First Prince (and Coordinator because Samurai), it is simply 'recommended.' All it takes to be Archon is the Estates General making it so.


1.  As AM noted, the LC has no military requirement for the Archon.   That is the FS.

2.  Good to know on the helmet, I had it that they shaved to improve but forgot that the helmet was actually different.
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Minchandre

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #76 on: 09 August 2024, 01:25:38 »
Chapter 10

WS Dire Wolf, high orbit, Vulcan
Vulcan system, Federated Commonwealth
25 September 3050


When the Golden Keshik and the 4th Wolf Guards returned after seizing Dell, they brought with them half-a-dozen bondsmen. The good news was that the contingent of bondsmen now exceeded the capacity of their bunkroom, which led to the pirates being moved and everyone sleeping that much easier.

The bad news was that the soldiers of the 10th Donegal now had to look hard at themselves as the new prisoners joined them. The self-examination had started a few days prior when they’d learned that the Dire Wolf was in transit to Dell, but it was only under the burning gaze of the Arcturans that they were forced to realize exactly how far they’d fallen, sleepwalking into the strangely seductive Way of the Clans.

Though none seemed to have gone quite as far as Victor, all of the Donegals had stepped well past cleaning the deck and being cuffed for speaking with contractions. They said “quiaff” and “savashri” and sometimes even cursed the freebirth laser couplings that would need to be replaced completely. They did general duty shifts and worked as personal servants to individual Warriors without complaint. They weren’t Clanners, but they weren’t not Clanners.

The Arcturans for their part were completely taken aback by how willingly the Donegals took to their status. They wandered the ship without escort and repaired Mechs and critical ship systems; and while none of them were spilling state secrets, they also were definitely not limiting themselves to name, rank, and serial number.

Not one of the newcomers had said anything, especially not to the prince they'd been shocked to find. Everything they hadn’t said had filled the room.

Victor longed to speak to them, to call a general meeting and to explain, but the fact was that he had enough difficulty explaining things to himself. The week before he’d told the other bondsmen that fighting the Wolves was pointless and the best thing he could do for his people was to ingratiate himself with them in order to influence their treatment of civilians. It had seemed thin to him at the time, but now it seemed positively flimsy. Could he really be that much of a defeatist?

True, the Wolves had not lost a single battle so far, and even with their bizarre bidding system, they could (and did) bring down reinforcements, as evidenced by Victor’s own recent experience above Engadin. Their focus on honor did not stray into idiocy as so often happened with soldiers of the Draconis Combine.

But the AFFC was the largest, best-trained, best-equipped military in the Inner Sphere. While the Clanners had advanced technology, new lostech was being recovered and reproduced at the NAIS every year, and then put into production in the grand factories of the Lyran Commonwealth. Victor knew that upgraded Marauders were already coming off the line on Kathil, and that any number of other upgraded Mechs and even new designs were nearly ready. With time, those numbers would only grow.

But he remembered the lasers on Katya’s Timber Wolf, hitting as hard as a PPC and at the range of a light autocannon. He remembered his father cursing the extra bulk that made it almost impossible to mount Endo Steel and Ferro-Fibrous armor together on all but the lightest Mechs, and yet the Clan OmniMechs all seemed to carry both.

And the OmniMechs! Victor had seen technicians swap out weapons in hours, creating an entirely new configuration overnight. Not even the Star League could have matched the ability for a Mech to be a sniper one day and a brawler the next. While he hadn’t seen it done yet, he was fairly certain that the Clanners would be able to reconfigure weapons and get a Mech back out into the field during the course of a single battle.

But even if the AFFC could gear up, would they have the opportunity? The map on Katya’s wall showed 47 worlds in the Wolf corridor alone, captured over the course of some six months. Between the Wolves and the Falcons, some 40 worlds or so had been seized from the Tamar Pact, which had effectively ceased to exist Coreward of Graus. With the bulwark of the Tamar Pact broken, the Jade Falcons were within Jump distance of core Coventry Province and even Donegal Province. Thank God they were nowhere near Tharkad…though Tamar, standing right at the border, was scheduled to fall in a few months; maybe even before year’s end. If Victor tried to oppose them, how much could he realistically delay things? A few days? A few weeks?

A few minutes was more likely.

Did that make the situation hopeless?

The Federated Commonwealth controlled nigh-on one thousand systems, so what was the loss of a few dozen, even if that loss was shockingly fast? The Invasion corridors were apparently converging on Terra, which meant that losses to the FedCom would top out at under a hundred before the Wolves and Falcons started ripping into the Combine.

Did that mean that Victor’s responsibility was to see to the welfare of the Lyran citizens under Wolf rule until the AFFC could muster a counterattack? Should he be working to undermine their defenses? Could he work to undermine their defenses?

Would he work to undermine their defense?

What's more, where would the Clans go after hitting Terra? If they kept on going from there, they’d hit the Sarna March, and cut off the connection between the two halves of the FedCom, not to mention being within spitting distance of Skye. Could they even take Terra? Victor had only vague knowledge on the topic, but he knew that Hanse Davion suspected that ComStar had turned humanity’s cradle into a fortress.

And, said a niggling voice at the back of his head, What about my responsibility to the Wolves?

It was a particularly sober Victor who arrived at Katya’s quarters. As he knocked, he fervently hoped that he wouldn’t be punished for being late, since Anastasius Focht’s little lecture had taken several minutes to impart (and Victor had been walking slowly even before that).

The voice that told him to come in was Jera Carns’, which caused him to let out a breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding: since it was the 279th assaulting Vulcan, it was unlikely that Carns would be present if he was supposed to help plan the attack.

When the door opened, Victor discovered the room mostly filled by Star Colonel Jera Carns, who stood by the table, apparently unable to fit into the seats comfortably

“Bondsman Victor,” she greeted with a smile, “It is good to see you. How are the bondsmen from Dell fairing?”

“They are doing well, I suppose, Star Colonel,” he responded. “I think that they find it disconcerting how well we ‘veteran’ bondsmen have adapted to our situation. I do not know if you recall, but we all found the bond very strange and even confusing at first.”

“Yes, I do recall. It seems strange to me, that something as fundamental as being a bondsman might seem strange; it is almost as though a Warrior might find it strange to use an autocannon recovered from an enemy. But I supposed that this is the nature of our work here, to bring the light of the Clans to people completely ignorant of it.”

Victor was not entirely certain that the Clans were a “light”, but was smart enough to simply say, “Yes, Star Colonel.”

Still smiling, the enormous woman grabbed Victor by the shoulders and gently moved him out of the doorway so she could leave. Before she went, she said to him, “The transition of power appears to have gone smoothly on Dell, but I may seek your advice later.”

After he nodded, she looked over her shoulder at Katya and said, “Think on what we have discussed. And remember that while the wolf does not strike in haste, neither does it lie in wait until it starves.” At that, it was Katya’s turn to nod.

Her piece said, the Star Colonel left the room.

Katya was sitting at the table, maps spread in front of her. She indicated that Victor should sit next to her, and as he did, he asked, “May I ask what you were discussing with Star Colonel Carns?”

“It is not your concern,” she answered with unusual sharpness. But then her face softened, and she said apologetically, “That is not quite true. What we were discussing does concern you. In fact, you were central to the conversation.”

She sighed, then continued, “You have noticed that there is an…unusual relationship between Jera Carns and the Khan?”

Victor froze, feeling that he was in dangerous territory. He had noticed that they were sleeping together of course, but he suspected that that was not the topic at hand, since stories from his fellow bondsmen had made it clear that the Clanners didn’t place much weight on sex. She couldn’t possibly mean…

He noticed that she looked distinctly uncomfortable, holding herself unusually contained and taking care not to be too close to him as she said, “It is not unknown, especially among Civilians, but it is very unusual for two trueborn Warriors to become so affectionate with each other. To think of each other constantly, to not be able to clear your mind of the other’s image, to long for his touch.”

He took a chance, “And what of a trueborn Warrior and a freebirth bondsman?”

By way of response, she reached a hand out towards him and pulled his face towards hers.

While Victor had been kissed a few times before, he had never been kissed quite like this. Within moments, he was halfway onto her chair before the two of them rose and made their way to her bed, shedding clothes on the way.

An old roommate had said that it was usual for your first time to go badly, just like your first time doing anything, and suggested that the prince do his best to laugh afterwards.

But whatever experience Victor lacked, Katya made up for in spades. She showed the same grace and skill that she had on the battlefield, and proved an excellent instructor. All systems remained nominal, there was no premature ammo cookoff, and certainly there was no difficulty completing the mission. Twice.

“It is different,” she said as they lay together, taking a moment to recover. “It is different with you, it seems more somehow. Heavier, perhaps. Deeper.”

Victor tried to suppress his enormous grin so he could give his answer the gravity that her musing deserved.

“I have been told that is the case, that the emotional intimacy enhances the physical.”

“You have not experienced this for yourself? I have understood that…affection was more common in the Inner Sphere.” It seemed that she could not quite bring herself to say the "L"-word.

With a blush, he explained, “I, uh, do not have any other data points with which to compare.”

“Is that ordinary in the Inner Sphere?!” she asked in shock. “You are 20 years old, quiaff?”

Way to make a guy feel good about himself, he thought. While he suspected that Katya would understand the loneliness of his status, he was unsure how well he could explain lines of inheritance, political marriage, the yellow press, and the importance of avoiding scandal. Instead he merely said, “The Inner Sphere is large, and its people diverse.”

“Well,” she said with a wicked grin, “I suppose we must take measures to ameliorate your inexperience.”



When Victor returned to the bondsmen’s barracks the morning after his encounter with Katya, none of the other Donegals thought anything of it: after all, every one of them had pulled all-night shifts on no notice before. One of the Arcturans, however, asked him where he had been, and the resulting blush was answer enough to the Donegals.

“Pay up!” crowed MacGiorgio. “You guys work out among yourselves who goes when, but I’m off for my next 5 hydraulics shifts!”

Still, after the barrage of thrown socks and other detritus, the other Donegals all had smiles on their faces.

“So,” MacGiorgio asked as he threw an arm over Victor’s shoulder, “You consummated your alliance with the Princess?”

This unexpected title was enough to wipe the silly grin off of Victor’s face for a moment. “What? Who?”

“Her Majesty, the Highest Star Captain Katya of House Kerensky, the first of her name.”

“First of all, she is Katya Kerensky, not Katya of House Kerensky; the second implies she does not have a bloodname. And second, she is not the first of her name; I know that at the least, Alexander Kerensky’s wife was Katya.” Completely at a loss, Victor was happy to fall back onto pedantry as an opportunity to try to regain some footing.

“Like it matters,” replied MacGiorgio with a snort, “She is still Her High Snobbiness, daughter of the Khan and heir apparent to the Most Honorable Clan of the Wolves.”

Victor’s first inclination was to say that Katya wasn’t heir apparent, but he wasn’t sure that was true: he knew that the Khan was theoretically an elected position, but Ulric certainly seemed to be grooming her for the job. So he addressed the other thing in the sentence, “Her High Snobbiness?”

“Well, yes.” said the Donegal. “You have not noticed, quiaff?”

“Err, neg.” The truth was that Victor hadn’t noticed anything of the sort. Sure, Katya seemed a little formal with her soldiers, but that was unsurprising, and was considered by many to be good in a commander. And if she often treated the other bondsmen with shouts and an occasional cuff to the head, well, so did almost all of the Warriors onboard.

“It must be your royal upbringing,” MacGiorgio said, “You spent your whole life around snobs, so you are immune.” He looked thoughtful, “Also, I suspect that they were not so snobby to you…just like the Princess. We always knew she was singling you out for special attention, so it is nice to see her also singling you out for special attention.” The lewd grin and the emphasis on these last words made their meaning clear.

This entire exchange had been accompanied by grins and giggles from the Donegals, and confusion from the Arcturans; Adams was speaking quietly to a pair of Arcturans, presumably explaining the situation.

After some more ribbing, Rothkopf stood up and told everyone to get ready for breakfast lest they catch punishment for being late, though she ruined it by saying to Victor, “I would hate to see what sort of punishment you would receive!"

The rest of the day was odd. It was difficult to gauge because the Arcturans had only been aboard for a few days before Victor had “consummated his alliance with the Princess”, but he felt that they looked at him differently. But it was limited to furtive glances and whispers…until it wasn’t.

After dinner, Kommandant Hans Sharif, ranking officer among the Arcturans, came to Victor. The once-prince had been forced by his fellows to take the most protected spot in the room (as though the bondsmen might be able to fight back against any kind of assault), and so his bunk in the corner of the room had a modicum of privacy. Combined with how often he was away with his extra duties with Katya and Ulric, it had instantly become the designated spot for semi-private conversations. And for a private conversation with Victor himself…well, it was a perfect spot.

Hans was a short, compact man, so when he sat on the bunk opposite Victor the two of them looked each other straight in the eyes. His face held a strange uneasy expression, occasionally shifting to a point near anger but always falling short before returning to forced impassivity, then looking uncomfortably to the side, and then repeating the whole business again.

Though it was taking him several moments to marshal his thoughts, Victor decided to let the other man speak first. And, at length, he did.

“Your highness,” he began, but Victor cut him off.

“I am no one’s highness right now.”

“Sir,” he essayed, but Victor cut him off again.

“You and I held the same rank, Kommandant, and I have no doubt at all that you had me on seniority. Victor, please.”

“Victor then,” said Hans, looking like he’d bitten a lemon. But he continued gamely on, “Is it true?”

Victor had a feeling that he knew what “it” was, but it seemed more than a little strange that Hans would need confirmation, considering that the other bondsmen had spoken of little else the whole day, usually accompanied by aggressive hair-tousling or back-slapping when Victor was within reach. Still, he supposed that the question was probably the starting point of a longer statement rather than a sincere question in its own right. He considered making Hans ask the question out loud, but decided that might make the other man hostile, so he gave the expected response instead, “Aff.”

Hans raised questioning eyebrows at the response and shook his head - Victor realized it was probably from using the Clanner “aff” instead of the more ordinary “yes”.

Still, the Arcturan wasn’t about to let that get in the way of his avenue of inquiry.

“I would ask you why, but I’ve seen her, and I suppose that’s reason enough for any young man. Still, young as you are, you remain an officer of the AFFC, even if you weren’t - hadn’t been - the ranking officer, you would still have been expected to set an example.”

Hans looked at Victor expectantly, but the younger man had no idea what response was expected, so he said, “My apologies, but I do not quite understand what you are trying to say.”

Hans seemed exasperated but managed to keep his voice calm as he said, “You set an example. Your…fraternization…with the enemy sets a precedent; it gives implicit permission to the rest of your troops.”

Victor looked at the man dumbfounded for a second before asking, “You think I am the first one of the bondsmen to sleep with a Clanner, quiaff?”

Hans’ face adopted a cautious expression, “Aren’t you?”

But it was clear that even as he said it, he understood that the answer was no.

Still, Victor burst out laughing. “I might be the last!” He took several deep breaths to collect himself, “God, oh god. The first!”

And now it was Hans’ turn to look dumbfounded, but Victor wasn’t sure what more he could say to elaborate on the topic.

“As far as I know,” he tried, “Aside from Albert, who is married, I am the last of us to have coupled with a Clanner.”

At Hans’ raised eyebrow, he elaborated, “Clanners are…well, calling them ‘promiscuous’ is not quite right. They…hmph.” It was proving a strangely difficult matter to discuss. After a moment, he settled on, “The Clanners have different attitudes about certain things than us. They don’t place much importance on sex; I think because of the breeding program.”

This led to Victor describing the Eugenics Program, from Iron Wombs to Bloodnames. As he spoke, he was surprised by the look of increasing horror on Hans’ face; even moreso, he was surprised by his own surprise. After all, if Victor took a moment to listen to his own voice as though he were a third party, Hans’ reaction was clearly the appropriate one to a society that had done its level best to abolish the family as an entity. It was true that they had not entirely succeeded - take Katya’s relationship with Ulric, for example - but…from what Victor understood, Ulric must have hundreds of thousands of genetic offspring by now, if not thousands; and of those, he maintained some rough approximation of a parental relationship with precisely one of them.

Did the Khan ever think of his other children? The Warriors who weren’t quite as good as Katya, the Civilians who had flunked out of their sibko. Did Ulric mourn those dead in battle or training? Did he even know their names?

For that matter, Katya had had a Bloodname for a few years now, which as far as Victor knew meant that she must have offspring of her own. But if she ever thought about them, she’d never mentioned it.

But even as he examined the ideas, Victor found it strange how unremarkable he found them.

That Warriors were raised in sibkos was a little strange, but was it that much stranger than the boarding schools some parents sent their children to from age 5? The overt Darwinism of the Eugenic Program was odd, but was it all that different from the matches that most noble houses arranged? Even the rule by a military oligarchy - it didn’t take a Drac to see how similar it was to the mostly-martial aristocracy of the Inner Sphere, and the Bloodhouses were noble houses in all but name.

It wasn’t long before Victor started to relate these introspections to Hans, but the other man’s response wasn’t the thoughtful consideration that the long-term bondsman expected. Instead, the newly-made bondsman exclaimed, “How can you even think to compare us to them!?”

It was a question that he could not easily answer.



The next morning, Victor was startled as he walked through the corridor on his way to the Khan’s chambers.

“Pfennig for your thoughts?”

He looked up to see Anastasius Focht, who had walked up as Victor strode through the corridor.

“Precentor Martial!” he said, a little too loud, “It is good to see you.”

The older man nodded, “And it is good to see you, too, Victor. May I ask what you were thinking about?” His gentle expression made it clear that it was a genuine inquiry, not an interrogation.

Victor sighed. “It is hard to say. I have been thinking about…” he trailed off, but continued quickly when Focht seemed about to speak, “Well, you know that the Fourth brought more bondsmen with them?”

Focht gave a knowing smile, “And now you are forced to look at yourself in a mirror that is straight, and not distorted by months among your ‘new home’.”

Victor gave a grateful nod, and the Precentor Martial continued.

“As you have no doubt noticed, I studied at the Nagelring. And if you’re half as smart as you seem to be, then you’ll have realized from my accent that I went to one of about two-dozen boarding schools, most of them on Tharkad.”

Victor nodded, unsure of where the other man was going with the conversation.

“Well, I did indeed go to one of those schools - I won’t say which one, you must allow an old man at least a little mystery - and I did attend the Nagelring. But I also attended Sanglamore, and afterwards spent a good amount of time in the Isle of Skye.

“The sons and daughters of Skye are Lyrans, but they are also different. On Tharkad, you are given the impression that everywhere in the Commonwealth is exactly like the life you live. When you travel, visiting worlds for short periods, perhaps on a junket, you see how similar all Lyrans are.

“People all over the nation follow Tharkan fashion, eat Tharkan food, ape Tharkan ways of speech. Holo-vid shows are set on the capital planet, or in the hearts of major cities on other worlds that were built in imitation; surely you’ve seen large eaves on the heavy roofs of places like Duran, even though it snows there about once in a lifetime?”

Victor nodded again, though he kept his mouth shut as he listened.

“When you live somewhere for longer, and see people in contexts other than carefully orchestrated press events, you see how different they are. The people of Skye are Lyrans, but are also different. They drink whiskey, hate fermented foods, and try to avoid speaking German. These may seem like small things, but it is the small things you notice over time, not the flag of the Federation of Skye flying next to every Lyran Commonwealth flag.

“You also notice some familiar things - your favorite brand of energy bar at the corner store, a well-loved soap opera on the holovid, or indeed the Commonwealth flag, but…you feel half at home, and half in a foreign land.

“It was even worse on Summer, where I spent a great deal of time. The people of Summer remember that they were part of the Terran Hegemony only a brief two-and-a-half centuries ago, and even if they were never actually a part of the Federation of Skye, that doesn’t stop them from supporting it. The Lyran Commonwealth itself comes a distant third for many, for all that the 17th Skye is one of the best regiments in the LCA - forgive me, the AFFC.

“I remember one summer it had become fashionable to have servants who spoke Italian; God only knows why. My friend Aldo was nothing if not fashionable, and so his household rapidly became one of Italian. After a series of hilarious misunderstandings,” his emphasis on the word “hilarious” made it clear exactly how funny things had been, “I learned some Italian; enough to ask the butler for a glass of cold water.” He gave a little chuckle to himself, though Victor had no idea why that might be funny and Focht didn’t explain.

What he did do, however, was keep speaking. It seemed to Victor that the Precentor Martial had been wanting to give this speech to someone for a long time, and the bondsman was happy enough to be the audience, especially as he had a feeling he was going to learn something important from the old man..

“Anyway, my time in Skye came to an end before long, and I returned home - to Tharkad, to the Lyran Regulars and then the Lyran Guards; good, German-speaking, sausage-eating outfits. And I found that I no longer fit. I missed bagpipe music; I found myself thinking of the perfect thing to say - in Italian. The world around me was the same, but I had changed. Over time I would mostly revert back to my old self, but some things remained. I still favor Skye whiskey, for example.”

Finally, Victor broke in, suddenly bitter and frustrated, “Thank you for sharing what must have been a very personal tale, but what does that have to do with me? A few Lyrans arrived, but I do not expect to return to Tharkad any time soon, and it seems both foolish and hopeless to plan for that.”

“Patience, young man, for my story does not end there,” responded Focht, seemingly not noticing Victor’s tone.

“Some years after I had ‘returned to myself’, so to speak, I again left home for a period and then joined ComStar - so things changed again. The same thing happened, and I learned to feel comfortable in robes and to enjoy whiskey from the original Isle of Skye, in Scotland on Terra. I never went back to Tharkad after that, but I did see others join the Blessed Order, and as many were Lyran as anyone else. Some were from Skye, or Finns from the edge of Timbuktu, or Urdu-speakers from the Tamar Pact. But plenty were solid Teutons from the heart of Donegal. Some even went to those schools we spoke of earlier.

“And as each one came, and came to know me, and I came to know them, I also came to know myself again, reflected in the mirror of their eyes. And I also saw how over time, that mirror changed, and soon enough I saw my own familiar reflection cast back at me, even as the eyes that cast it were themselves a reflection of myself.”

Focht sighed.

“Now, Victor, if you’ll forgive an old man his ramblings, I’ll finally get to the point. You couldn’t see your changes in front of your fellow captives from Chateau, because they changed with you. Now you see the Arcturans, and they show you how different you have become. There is no shame in changing, no betrayal, even though you might feel that way with fresh AFFC eyes burning into you. But you are still you. You remain Victor Ian Steiner-Davion. No matter what happens, you will always have been raised on Tharkad; you will always have graduated from the Nagelring and spent a year at the New Avalon Military Academy.

“Do not feel bad because someone new has come and reminded you of how much you have changed; you are not more changed today than you were last week. Remember that you are yourself, and no one else.”

-------

I'm very sorry for the long delay! Even though the "entire story" was already written, this particular chapter actually went through several rewrites, including one where I threw everything away and started from scratch. This was also originally two chapters, and is likely to remain the longest single chapter in the work. To be honest, I'm still not happy with it: too much happens, but also not enough. I wanted to have more of Victor's conversation with Sharif be dialogue instead of paragraph-formatted, but when I wrote it out it seemed strange, even compared to Focht's little monologue. Also I moved a couple weeks ago.

Focht's monologue actually began because I was further along in the story and Victor was speculating as to Focht's identity for Ulric; I realized that I needed a place for Focht to mention his time with Aldo Lestrade, which then became a clear opportunity to talk about being a stranger in a strange land. And then I needed to move Victor's discussion with Sharif to before the one with Focht. I had already written Victor's encounter with Katya, but I also had originally had Victor's talk with Sharif happen beforehand - the original order was Sharif-Focht-Katya, with the first two being one chapter and the consummation being another. I'm happier with the current order, and I feel that it flows better this way, though I'm still unhappy with it. Still, I wanted to get it out there because the perfect is the enemy of the good, and now it's done and I'm no longer "stuck". I'm sure I'll revisit this chapter, but now it's out there.
« Last Edit: 09 August 2024, 04:44:00 by Minchandre »

Hellraiser

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #77 on: 09 August 2024, 14:03:01 »
1.  Not sure what it looked like before all the changes, but, I can say I agree w/ your new Order.   Katya > Shariff > Focht.

2.  The talk w/ Shariff might have been a good time to maybe have a "bay meeting" & some of that conversation could have been more "briefing" and you could have input from some of the other bondsfolks.

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3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo

mikecj

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #78 on: 09 August 2024, 14:38:04 »
That was a good talk from Focht.
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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #79 on: 11 August 2024, 07:46:24 »
That was a good talk from Focht.
+1000!
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Minchandre

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #80 on: 11 August 2024, 17:55:25 »
2.  The talk w/ Shariff might have been a good time to maybe have a "bay meeting" & some of that conversation could have been more "briefing" and you could have input from some of the other bondsfolks.
That's a great idea, and I'll definitely try something like that in future revisits.

That was a good talk from Focht.
+1000!

Thanks! It started very innocuously, actually. As I said, I just needed for Focht to mention being with Aldo Lestrade on Summer. In Lethal Heritage, he does this when Phelan is hospitalized after seeing Ranna banging Vlad as part of a speech about foreign customs. But I liked Victor struggling with his identity more, and Focht actually did something very similar to the whole bondsman thing; Focht's story especially because his joining ComStar was less voluntary than is often the case. I'm not a fan of big lectures in books, but this one seemed to fit well enough.

Minchandre

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #81 on: 17 August 2024, 15:26:50 »
Chapter 11

WS Dire Wolf, L2 orbit, Engadin
Engadin system, Free Rasalhague Republic
31 October 3050


As Victor stepped into the viewing gallery overlooking the Dire Wolf’s bridge, he was surprised to find it empty. Remembering the bidding over Rasalhague, he’d fully expected to find the place packed to capacity as it had been then. Looking out through the windows, he found that instead the crowds were down below.

Musing to himself that he obviously still had a lot to learn about the Clans, he was startled when a voice warmly greeted him, “Good morning, Your Highness.”

Looking up, Victor saw Anastasius Focht.

“Please, Precentor Martial, I am just Victor here.”

The older man gave a smile and held up his hands as though to ward off attack, “My apologies, Victor. You must forgive an old man his habits.”

“There is nothing to apologize for,” the once-prince responded. After a moment he added, “And I do not believe that it is common to apologize to bondsmen regardless.”

Focht rubbed at his chin thoughtfully, “Yes, it is an odd status. I’m sure I’ve read about something similar elsewhere, but I cannot recall. Still, you seem to have taken to it well enough.”

“I suppose I have, though it was a hell of a learning curve.”

There followed a slightly awkward pause before Focht said, “I am happy to have found you here. I was expecting you to be down there with Ulric, but I see that you have been banished from the ilKhan’s sight as I have.”

“Y-e-e-e-s,” said Victor slowly as he remembered Katya explaining that Leo Showers had specifically instructed Ulric “not to bring that Inner Sphere whelp” with him.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed that he doesn’t much like us Inner Sphere folks.” said the Precentor Martial wryly, "Sometimes I wonder if Ulric drags me along just to aggravate him.”

Victor, who had often had the same thought, kept silent.

The older man smiled, “I see that you agree with me. Well, I suspect that you understand as much about Ulric as anyone, and probably more about these Clanners than anyone else in the Inner Sphere.”

“I am certain that you must understand them well, Precentor Martial. You have no doubt spent more time with more, different Clanners than I have, quiaff?”

“Affirmative. Though I have not become so familiar as to begin taking on their linguistics as you seem to have. I don’t know if I’ve heard you use a contraction in months either.”

“You may have noticed that there is a tendency to strike bondsmen who do not speak properly. That gives us ample motivation to learn quickly.”

Focht made a sour face. “Another example of their culture and the differences with ours.”

You and I may be Lyran, Victor thought to himself, But we live in an Inner Sphere with members of four other great nations, not to mention the Periphery powers and all the variations within each. I am certain that parents strike their children on Luthien, and probably on planets within two Jumps of Tharkad besides. But he kept his peace.

The Precentor Martial sighed. “What I wouldn’t give to understand these people better. I can’t tell what I’m just not noticing and what’s being kept from me deliberately. And I suspect that Ulric is playing games with me besides, hinting at secrets that probably don’t exist.” He sighed again and said, “I would especially like to know why they’re even here at all. What motivates them.”

Victor saw in his mind a map on the wall, hand-drawn lines converging at the heart of the Inner Sphere. But he also saw Vlad attacking the old man and Katya defending him; the ilKhan forcing Ulric to let Marcos bid on New Bergen, and Bjorn Jorgensson’s smirk. He saw images of Turtle Bay.

“I am not sure that they all share the same motivations, Precentor. If nothing else, each Clan seems bent on its own glory, and I have come to understand that there is a rivalry between the Wolves and Falcons at the least. In fact, I suspect that much of the point of launching the fourth wave of the invasion early was to humiliate the other Clans. The Jaguars were thrown back at Wolcott, and I understand that the Ghost Bears have been having trouble occupying their worlds,” At least, I have to assume that’s why there are Steel Vipers on those worlds now. “And in the meantime, Clan Wolf pushes ahead taking more worlds and faster than any other.”

“You forgot to mention the FedCom’s counter-offensive against the Falcons at Twycross.”

“I remain afraid that if I think about it too often, I will jinx it and the Falcons will win retroactively.” And while that was true, Victor had also omitted the mention to see how much information Focht was willing to tell him about the nation of his birth.

The comment brought another grin from the Precentor Martial, who was apparently in a good mood today. But his expression quickly became serious, “There is another division. One that cuts across Clan lines. I think you know what I’m talking about.”

Victor nodded without responding.

“...And what are your thoughts on the matter?” pressed Focht.

Victor was reminded of a similar conversation he'd had with Ulric not that long ago. How much do I say? How much do I know, versus what I simply suspect?

He decided to go with things he thought that the Precentor Martial would know already, perhaps supplemented slightly, “There are two camps. The ilKhan leads one, and Ulric the other. Ulric’s camp is more…open, perhaps. Flexible. I do not know precisely how to say it. Ulric’s people are kinder to the people they conquer, more likely to permit enemy forces to surrender or retreat. They take more bondsmen, and treat them better.”

“Yes,” said Focht, “I agree with your observations. In fact, Ulric invited me today because he said he thought it would be instructive for me to observe the proceedings of the Grand Council up close, but the ilKhan was affronted at the idea and quickly banished me.”

He rubbed his cheek thoughtfully as he continued, “To be honest, I don’t think that Ulric ever actually intended for me to attend the meeting, but forcing the ilKhan to oppose him somehow increased Ulric’s prestige at the cost of Showers’. In fact, he seems to have leveraged this into some major concessions in the meeting.”

“Like what?” inquired Victor.

“Like the Dire Wolf being the only flagship at the meeting, with the other Khans arriving in ordinary JumpShips like supplicants. And like the meeting taking place at Radstadt, a world at the farthest end of the Wolves’ corridor, reinforcing Ulric’s own success compared to the others.”

Victor smiled. He hadn’t been in the room when that decision was made, but he could easily imagine Ulric in his quarters, Lara and Katya sitting on his couch while the man himself paced the room. He wondered if the Wolf Khan had decided first to irk the ilKhan and then decided what concessions to demand, or first to set the location of the meeting and then determined how to make it happen.

“The Khan plays the game better than any social general,” he said, “Though he would not thank me for the comparison.”

Focht nodded, saying, “But all games must end, and one wonders what will happen then. You and I might both be considered enemies of the Clans, and yet Ulric invites us to observe at every turn. Let me tell you, neither the ilKhan nor any other Khan is nearly so generous.”

Victor shook his head in a quick denial, “Precentor, I fear that you misunderstand something fundamental. Ulric does not consider me an enemy of the Clans. A bondsman is expected to be loyal to their new Clan; in our case, Inner Sphere bondsmen are expected to be loyal to the Wolves and to the Clans as a whole, until we show otherwise. I understand that the Clanners are less trusting of the pirates they captured in the Periphery, but us FedCom soldiers have been treated with…trust is the wrong word. They take our loyalty for granted. You would not expect a salvaged PPC to betray you simply because it was salvaged. Do you understand?”

“I believe that I do, though I assure you that the other Clans are warier of their bondsmen.” After a moment, Focht continued, “But that still leaves me. I cannot imagine that Ulric is so naïve as to take ComStar’s aid for granted, even if it is offered freely and sincerely. He has an agenda.”

“To some extent,” replied Victor, “I believe that he is watching our reactions. The Khan is every bit as eager to understand the Inner Sphere as we are to understand him. He has largely ceased, but at the beginning of my bondage, I felt that he often put me into new situations in order to see which way I’d - I would - jump.”

“Yes, I agree. I feel that Ulric is watching me, but also that he is hiding things from me, though I have no idea if he is hiding them to keep them a secret, or hiding things so he can watch me ferret them out. And if the latter, is he hiding real secrets, or some meaningless bait?”

Victor held up his hands as though to ward the older man off, “Down that path lies madness, Precentor. You may end up ascribing to Ulric more savvy than he actually has, and even if you do not you will chase yourself into circles. For instance, instead of meaningless bait, maybe it is information he wishes to reveal to you, but either does not wish for you to know that he wanted you to know it, or he wants plausible deniability to the other Khans. You see? There is no end.”

Three tones sounded through the loudspeaker, indicating an upcoming jump. The two moved to nearby seats and began to strap themselves in.

As they did so, Focht smiled, saying, “You are your father’s son, if you’ll allow me to say. But please, I understand that you have been given enormous access to the Khan and his documents. Perhaps he has anticipated me asking, and has left something for me in your reach.”

“And then it is another test,” Victor said. “One that I will not fail, lest I endanger everything I have been working towards these past months.”

“And what is it that you have been working towards? Gaining the Clanners’ trust so you could gather information to help the FedCom; but how can you help them more than passing the information to me? Recent events have shown that the Clans are not invincible, but they are still an unprecedented threat. Understanding their motivations and goals will help the Inner Sphere to recover and perhaps even push them back.”

Seeing that Victor still looked uncooperative, Focht played his trump card: “If you aid me in this, I will let your family know that you’re alive.”

“No you won’t,” said the prince with a sad smile. “Even if my continued life wasn’t vital political intelligence, my father taught me better than to trust ComStar.”

“My apologies, Your Highness,” said Focht, looking sincerely chagrined. “I would not have tried that tactic, save that the Primus instructed me to. You are right in your suspicions. I suppose that you will now tell Ulric not to trust me?”

Five tones sounded over the loudspeaker, indicating imminent Jump.

“Precentor Martial, why do you assume that I have not already told him?”

------

This chapter closely parallels the similar one from Lethal Heritage, save that there Phelan does agree to spy to Focht - which I always found weird. Here we have Phelan fully drinking the Kool Aid, telling Griff that it's important to gain the Clanners' trust, explicitly not trusting ComStar, and...agreeing to endanger everything to help ComStar. WTF.

Anyway, when I first wrote this chapter, Focht had not just given Victor a big lecture about identity and stuff, so it felt less weird to have another talk similar stuff here.

Don't worry, the next chapter has some action in it! :evil:

SulliMike23

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #82 on: 17 August 2024, 16:41:15 »
I think it's obvious what happens in the next chapter. The death of Leo Showers.

lowrolling

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #83 on: 17 August 2024, 18:01:35 »
Cannot wait for Victor to get into a Warhawk instead of a Dire Wolf.
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Minchandre

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #84 on: 17 August 2024, 20:29:16 »
I think it's obvious what happens in the next chapter. The death of Leo Showers.
Just because the Dire Wolf just jumped into Radstadt doesn't mean that they're about to get rammed...

Cannot wait for Victor to get into a Warhawk instead of a Dire Wolf.

Do you mind if I ask why a Warhawk? I've been thinking about what kind of ride Victor should have (since he's obviously not gonna have a Wolfhound IIC) and haven't come to any solid conclusions.

J-H

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #85 on: 17 August 2024, 21:34:23 »
Assuming he qualifies and gets issued an Omnimech instead of a IIC, a Gargoyle is actually pretty plausible as his ride.  It's the same weight as his Victor, and although it doesn't have jumpjets, its higher speed helps it retain battlefield mobility.  The G configuration carries an LBX 20 and 4 medium lasers, and the B configuration carries a Gauss rifle + LRM 10 + SRM4.  Both are not too far off from the stock Victor configuration.

If he does get a IIC type 'Mech instead, I would consider the Highlander IIC as the closest match to the Victor.  Jumpjets, gauss, SRMs (12 instead of 4), and medium lasers (3 pulse instead of 2 standard), plus more armor.  It's a solid all-range configuration. 

I considered other options, but wanted things that would stay close to the configuration of his original Battlemech in terms of weight and being humanoid - if those are off the table, then he might just get a Timber Wolf, Summoner, or Nova.  The S-Ds were pretty bad at picking their rides, considering Victor drove a thin-skinned brawler and his little brother drove a Jaegermech...

Hellraiser

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #86 on: 18 August 2024, 00:20:22 »
Cannot wait for Victor to get into a Warhawk instead of a Dire Wolf.

But why?  We could still have him in a D-Wolf using a "Prometheus" instead of a "Lone Wolf".


Assuming he qualifies and gets issued an Omnimech instead of a IIC, a Gargoyle is actually pretty plausible as his ride.

Getting a Wolfhound-IIC was really unique because the clans were fascinated by it & the Hatchetman, 2 mechs they came across that didn't exist during the SL Era.
And Ulric wanted Phelan to remember his roots.
Victor on the other hand was using something from the SLDF Era but gets it replaced at Outreach while Phelan does use a D-Wolf in his test just like Victor.
Logically it would make sense to just leave Vic in a D-Wolf.
That said a Garg isn't a bad option for the Wolves either.
« Last Edit: 18 August 2024, 00:24:39 by Hellraiser »
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ThePW

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #87 on: 18 August 2024, 22:21:21 »
and there is nothing stopping anyone from gifting Victor a modified Gargoyle into a powerful 2nd-line 'mech. Start with a base Gargoyle C, convert it into a Battlemech, replace the chassis with endo, drop a couple heatsinks, add 4 or 5JJ, drop 2 ERML for a SRM4 rack and you got a ride that Victor would warm up to, dramatically...
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drakensis

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #88 on: 19 August 2024, 00:54:17 »
That would probably be a very major conversion.

Honestly, they could probably put Victor in a Hunchback IIC. Same movement profile as a Victor and it has two UAC/20 so he'd enjoy that. Not much armor, but he can substitute his plot armor.  :cheesy:
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Red Pins

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Re: The Wolf Prince [Victor instead of Phelan]
« Reply #89 on: 19 August 2024, 01:04:12 »
Haven't played this game for a while!

I think Vic will be given a Victor, with Clan upgrade.  I'm hoping for an Ultra/20, but would accept the bog-standard Clan Gauss Rifle with a few additions.
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