----- 2 Years Later -----
Date: September 1-19, 2604
Location: Terra
Title: Fall From Grace
Author: Chris Hartford
Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)
Synopsis: The story opens, in media res, just seconds after Leonard Kurita fatally stabbed Tanya Kerensky in the Star League Council chambers. Rhean and Zane are frantically providing first aid.
Flashbacks give an account of Leonard Kurita’s excesses (planet-hopping debauchery followed by abductions of children that look like him, provocative military maneuvers on border worlds, drinking and drugs). To lessen tensions, he stopped attending council sessions, leaving the duty of representing the Combine to Siriwan McAllister-Kurita.
However, Leonard chose to attend the 2604 session, and arrived late and drunk, clutching a bottle of whisky and ranting at Nicholas Cameron – accusing him of trying to gut the Combine and steal his children. He concluded by tossing the empty bottle at the First Lord, missing and hitting Tanya Kerensky instead as she jumped in front of Nicholas. The impact caused her laser rifle to trigger, singing Kurita’s robe. Enraged, he leaped forward and stabbed her in the chest. His aide, Yatomo, rushed Leonard out the door and prevented any security personnel from following as the rest of the council erupted into a furor. Zane, Rhean and Nicholas Cameron worked to save Tanya, but to no avail.
In the aftermath, a still shocked Rhean wonders what will come of the Coordinator’s parting statement – tantamount to a declaration of war against the Star League. She offers FWL support in any conflict with House Kurita.
Rhean ponders the injustice of a lout like Leonard Kurita (not dissimilar to her earlier antagonist Lambert Allison) enjoying power and impunity while a good person like Tanya is dead, leaving a three year old child without a mother. Zane Davion comes to comfort her, and the emotion of the moment drives them to kiss. Zane tells her he “knows a place.”
The place turns out to be a French villa, where Rhean awakens the next day with memories of champagne, a shuttle flight, passion on the lakeshore, and … oops … where are my pants? She finds Zane putting the finishing touches on breakfast. Rhean wonders what impact this will have on their legal issues from two years previously, noting that relations at this level aren’t just about sex – it’s politics. Zane responds that he never mixes business and pleasure. Further “diplomatic negotiations” commence, as Rinalla would say.
Two weeks later, still on Terra, Rhean attends the huge public memorial service for Tanya Kerensky in Red Square, Moscow. In the weeks since the murder, all the great families of the Inner Sphere have gathered to show solidarity with the Camerons and the Star League. Rhean is joined by her four brothers. Unfortunately for Rhean’s romantic entanglement with Zane, he’s joined by his wife, Elaine Romera, and their four-month-old daughter, Sarah.
Tanya Kerensky is interred at the Novodevichiy Convent, alongside such famous Russians as Chekov, Eisenstein, Gogol, Gorbachev, and Tikonov. Rhean can’t focus on the ceremony, however, as she’s enraged and hurt by the fact of Zane’s marriage. Zane apologizes, and says that he views marriage as an open arrangement, and that he’d assumed Rhean knew he’d been married for four years. He argues that Rhean could have had her intel service do a background check, if she’d really cared about such things. Zane and Rhean share a final kiss, then she slaps him in the face and breaks off their relationship.
Notes: If Tanya’s child is three in 2604, she was probably in early pregnancy when she first met Rhean in 2600. As the Black Watch consists of fanatically loyal, highly elite troops in House Cameron’s personal service, it’s not surprising that she’d be able to return to active duty after a maternity leave.
The Star League sourcebook account’s wording implies that the badly thrown bottle hit a council chamber guard and accidentally triggered the rifle shot. This account clarifies that Tanya was there as the First Lord’s personal bodyguard, and that she jumped in front of Nicholas to protect him from Leonard’s assault. A later mention is made that Rhean’s bodyguard, Evangeline, followed her out of the chambers, while Leonard had an aide named Yatomo watching his back.
This implies that each delegation had their own bodyguards with them in the council chambers, and that the council members weren’t subject to screening before entering the chambers (letting Leonard bring in a knife, for example). It brings to mind an anecdote from the Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary, noting that as political tensions increased in the 1850s, members of Congress began carrying personal sidearms when in session. How heavily armed were Star League council delegates and their bodyguards when in the council chambers? One would think that a strict “no-weapons except for neutral guards” (like the Clans’ Ebon Keshik) rule would be a good policy.
This still predates the establishment the HPG communications network, so it would have taken somewhat more effort for Rhean to catch up on FedSuns society pages than in the 31st century. Given the mention of courier ships in “Memories of Rain,” it’s probable that each capital was linked to Terra by dedicated command circuits of JumpShips on standby, allowing news of the attack to reach the centers of power quickly, and for the ruling families to reach Terra in time for the funeral. (One day travel time each way, plus 8-15 days of in-system transit time to/from jump points.) [Author Chris Hartford confirms that each House Lord had a command circuit set up between Terra and their capital world.]
Another mention is made of a distinctive Davion accent, which is described as having ‘crisp tones.’ It’s more understandable for such an accent to be applied to Zane, since he is a Davion, after all. I can’t recall whether Hanse, Victor or any other Davions were ever noted as having an accent. If not, it may be that the accent faded with the centuries. The Star League Standard English that Rhean and the others are speaking certainly changed over time, since the Clan sourcebooks note that the Clanner use of Star League Standard English (albeit without contractions) sounds archaic to the 31st century Spheroid ear. (Horrors! It could be that Hanse’s “Davion accent” isn’t remarkable because everyone talks like that in 3025! :o)
Interesting to see Oleg Tikonov in the list of famous Russians buried at the convent. I guess they managed to find enough pieces after the bomb blast, before the USSR was torn apart by the 2nd Soviet Civil War.
Chris Hartford has revealed a number of Easter Eggs seeded into this chapter: Rhean’s bodyguard Evangeline Sukhanov (Evie for short) is a distant ancestor of Zhang Sukhanov, founder of a Snow Raven bloodline. The balcony where Zane and Rhean have breakfast is the same one seen in the MechWarrior novel “Sword of Sedition,” where Caleb Davion pitches his father over the railing to his death. All of Rhean’s dogs through the story are named after characters from the Illiad.