Sooooooo
Been a while, lets dig out the Star League cache and put this back to work again, shall we?
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Book 2 Chapter 2: Northwind IIAfter Myndo had gone off to join with the VIPs inside the castle, I had managed to centre myself back to a more or less calm state.
Eventually.
It would have been helpful if I could go into a bathroom to try and remove the sweat under my uniform. Or even just sit down and try to flush the adrenaline that had flooded into my body and was still giving me the shakes...but at the same time, I knew it was critical to not seem like I had been rattled. Just in case she was keeping an eye on me.
Not that there was any question mind you, that I was
rattled as hell.
I had not gotten myself mentally and physically ready for tonight thinking I'd turn around and find myself face to face with The Devil
. And I was already dreading the contact report I was going to have to write about this evening once the shindig was over.
Still, the fifteen minutes or so it took for the crowd outside to shuffle inside after the guests of honour and take their seats gave me time to pull myself together and snap out of it, warily glancing around in case that woman had tried to sneak up on me again. Happily, I saw quickly that she was sitting down at the High table that ran across the front of the room - given her rank, there really wasn't anywhere else she could be seated. Where I was sitting in the middle of three tables that ran down the long part of the room - and about halfway down it to boot.
So at least I wouldn't have to make polite dinner conversation with her. Thank God
for that.
But I did
get to make polite dinner conversation with the most … fascinating …
group of people …
Which also meant I was at ground zero when they decided to share that fascination with the rest of the party…*
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Tara didn't host permanent
official ambassadors from any other powers. After all, Northwind wasn't a Great House capital or regional sub-capital worthy of such attention.
But for centuries before, during and after the Star League, Northwind had been something of a major trading route crossroads - and still served as a hub for a lot of cross-border activity. So, naturally, there was always a need to facilitate intra-house contacts even if just for the official - and often grey-market - business that carried on even through the long drawn out 3rd Succession War. And as lower level members of the aristocracy were often on the ground dealing with such business,
they were turned to as a matter of course to serve as sort of de-facto Ambassadors from their rulers court to the local Government as-needed.
Now, this was no formal assignment. They didn't hold diplomatic immunity, royal warrants or anything like that. But, at formal events like this, they were invited along and accorded significant respect. Considered something of an indirect channel back into their rulers Courts at the very least - and were often commissioned by their rulers to take point on this or that specific issue after a HPG back and forth. And for some reason, I had been placed this evening with these people. Who all seemed pretty chill and mostly just delighted that they happened to be in the right place at the right time to get an invite to this shindig.
With one exception however.
One of these people however was different from that crowd.
He was an honest-to-god ambassador from a foreign power; extraordinary and plenipotentiary with the credentials to prove it.
I knew this fact because I had seen him on the guest list the day before … and to my genuine surprise when I sat down, I had found myself sitting
next to him
, when by all protocol he should have been up on the High Table with the most VIP of VIPs.
I had initially suspected the placement may have been some kind of insult to the man and nation he represented. Putting him down here with the non-accredited diplomats and all that. However, he had clarified (to my delicately phrased questions along that line) that he had in fact
requested to sit down here with the other 'Ambassadors' to keep a somewhat lower profile than one might expect. And the Lady Steiner had gracefully acquiesced - and put
me in the seat right next to
him.
Initially I had added it to the (lengthening) list of things I was going to have to talk to Melissa about. But in hindsight, I had to admit that perhaps I actually
owed her one by putting me next to a man who had gotten my undivided attention.
Because The Ambassador in question
wasn't from the Inner Sphere.
He was the Emir (or Duke) of Guldra. The head of House Madeira; Lord Alexander Madeira of the Arano Coalition, representative extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Lady Kamea Arano, 'High Lady and Countess of Coromodir'.
Bit of a mouthful, but all the more interesting to me - because he
should not exist!The Arano Coalition was a small Periphery state that had only been
planned to be introduced into the Battletech universe around the time I had been sucked into this reality. In an upcoming video game, one produced by Jordan Wiseman himself with the backing of Catalyst … but it had still seemed highly unlikely to be made
canon. Especially given the problems of integrating it into the future timelines without enormous numbers of retcons given its location.
And yet? Here sat the very
Ambassador to the Aurigan Coalition. On invitation from Melissa Steiner no less.
The metaphysical implications alone were strongly suggesting that I should reach for the wine.
On the other hand, I was still shaken enough from my earlier encounter with The Devil that I wasn't
that tempted to get on the booze. More than a little afraid of the possibility of another encounter with the Honourable Precentor of Dieron where I would need my wits fully deployed and engaged.
So I just rolled with it and put bigger questions around 'me' to the side for now. And, if nothing else, his Excellency the Emir was a fine conversationalist and all too happy to chat about his nation - and on why he was here.
According to Alexander, he was on something of a mission of mercy. Specifically; he was on the way to the NAIS to get advanced medical treatment for some long term health issues inflicted upon him by a rather disagreeable woman named Victoria Espinosa, along with another two hundred former prisoners from a hellhole named the 'Icebox' on a planet named Weldry, all consequences of the short but surprisingly brutal little civil war the region had undergone a few years back. All the people chosen had medical issues that needed the kind of advanced reconstruction and rehabilitation support that could only be found at a couple of places in the Inner Sphere. And out of the goddess of his heart, Hanse Davion was throwing open the doors of the NAIS to them to provide said help to the poor people of the Periphery.
He said all of this with a perfect straight face … but I called
bullshit on that story.
Well, silently in my head anyway.
It
would have been terribly impolite and undiplomatic to do so to his face.
His story didn't make sense. For one thing, despite the recent attack, NAIS still had huge security and access controls in place. You didn't just invite foreign people in like it was hosting a garden party. And even putting security aside for the wounded; there were hard capacity limits that were already under a lot of strain. The College of Medical Sciences (and the dozen affiliate hospitals spread through the Golden Five where most wounded 'sent to the NAIS' actually ended up at for treatment) were being pushed to the limit thanks to the ongoing war with AFFS and LCAF casualties.
But even if I might have believed that cover story, the second half of it had me fighting to keep a straight face. Because according to Alexander, no less than a hundred medical personnel were coming with the patients. Personnel who were going to be retrained by the NAIS and reequipped to be able to open a new hospital on Coromodir itself, whose construction was to be financed by House Steiner. A hospital that would eventually be able to beat anything in the Periphery - even rival anything on Canopus IV - when fully operational.
Now, the man clearly had no reason to
lie to me … but that led to the obvious question. If Hanse and Katrina really
were going to this much effort …
why were they doing so?
Obvious answer; the Augrians had something they wanted. Wanted rather badly.
But what could that be? I wondered silently in the back of my head. Cursing the fact that I had missed that new video game and whatever story it had told as I suspected that the answer would have been somewhere there. I
had pointed the powers that be towards this region after realising its existence after all - and clearly they had put it under a microscope for the logical reason that something that I said shouldn't actually be present but was present was probably worth a fresh look … and I supposed they must have found … something?
Someone?
Some place?
What could this little microstate on the rim have to offer the FedCom that was so damn valuable that Hanse was willing to open up the NAIS and Katrina her chequebook like this?"...so even with the civil war ended, our position has become, shall we say, precariously balanced" the Emir continued in between clearly savouring the soup course, dragging my attention back. "Recovery has been steady, but slow. So much we had built up under Lady Aranos father was lost to her uncle's greed. And so the strategic situation has become, vexingly, both more
and less certain."
I considered that and nodded as I also finished off the truly excellent - but far too small - soup serving before carefully pushing the plate forward to the 'I am done, you may clear it' position for the swarms of servants moving through the room, before turning to more fully face Alexander, rubbing my chin a little in consideration.
"Well it sounds like the Bulls certainly got egg all over their face by backing Santiago Espinosa and his 'Directorate'" I suggested, reflecting on his words and comparing them to the few reports I had gotten from the intelligence desk back in the 'Den about their little civil war. A civil war the DMI analyst who had gotten the reports for me had scornfully labelled 'A Support-Vee War' over the fact that both sides had only a handful of serious Battlemech or heavy armour forces, with most of the engagements coming down to light vehicles or what amounted to 31st century fleets of technicals and infantry blobs.
Apparently this kind of war was depressingly common in the Periphery and quite often barely even noticed in the Inner Sphere.
"It might make them less inclined to stick their noses into the business of the Coalition after they made such fools of themselves."
Alexander shrugged in a way that suggested he found this unlikely.
"Certainly, the Perdition Massacre was something of a humiliation for them - especially given how easily they fell for a false flag" Alexander acknowledged. "And it didn't help that the task force from the Taurian Lancers sent to support Espinosa and get a quick and decisive victory proceeded to go rogue when ordered to withdraw after the truth was exposed. Going rogue in nominal support of a man who had killed ten thousand Taurians and framed the Federated Suns for the act no less, committing war crimes right up until the end. They could disavow him all they wished, but the reputation of the Concordant has suffered greatly through the Reach - and not just in the Coalition I might say."
We paused as a number of servants now arrived and in a whirlwind of activity removed our finished soup courses. I took the moment to glance carefully down the table … before relaxing as I saw that the Taurian 'ambasador' four seats down seemed far too engrossed in chatting with some rather hot young woman next to him to be trying to listen to our conversation.
"However" the Emir continued after the servants had finished their work, the Bulls getting so much egg on their face has, unfortunately, been by far the biggest and most aggravating problem for the Coalition post conflict."
"Oh?" I asked curiously. Glancing again at the Tarurian juuuuuust to make sure - yup, he was
definitely far too busy trying to glance down the very deep emerald neckline of the woman's dress opposite him (while working to look like he wasn't) to be paying attention to us.
Even so, I lowered my volume and leaned in a little closer to the Emir as he started to explain, toying with one of his forks absently.
"Our strategic position, as I hope you understand, has historically been the result of a somewhat delicate balance between the Concordant and Confederation" he explained with a slight shrug. "And with the Confederation at the very least having to focus all its energy against the Federated Suns - and indeed, possibly in the very twilight of its existence? Well, suffice to say that the balance of power in the region has shifted quite substantially since your Prince married tonight's guest of honour" he added, nodding in the general direction of Melissa and the High Table.
I acknowledged his point with a slight tilt of my own head, picking up my water and absently sipping on it as I processed that observation, thinking back on the research I had done on this region after discovering the changes that day back on Tharkad. Certainly the Confederation and Concordat had claimed many of the systems that now looked to House Arano, with both sides more or less mutually washing their hands of the region in the 2890s out of an inability to force the issue in their favour - albeit for different reasons.
And out of that vacuum, House Arano had gathered a score of worlds together into a new microstate that had proven surprisingly viable, probably to the great chagrin of the people who had walked away and still thought of those worlds as their own…
"And now the Federated Suns is ripping up the CCAF, keeping them out of the picture, with the Bulls - for once - probably halfway confident the AFFS isn't going to come storming across the border either - while your military has been very badly damaged" I muttered, thinking it through before frowning. "But they wouldn't be looking to outright
invade would they?"
"Well, that is the question. We have some … friends … on Canopus who have passed on intelligence that an invasion - although I'm
sure they would call it a liberation - of several worlds is being discussed at the very highest levels around the Protector'' he continued in a more sotto voce and I kept my expression even, sipping again from my glass of water as I listened very carefully, feeling he was watching me for a reaction.
Clearly the man knew - or at least strongly
suspected - that I was in the inner circle with the powers that be and had some influence with them.
But I had no intention of giving anything more away tonight so I simply waited politely until he continued.
"The word we are getting" he continued after a slightly long moment where I said nothing, "is that there have been a significant number of reshuffles in the Ministries of Trade and Defence. And proving perhaps that the universe has a rather twisted sense of irony, it would seem that the people who were in favour of working with the Coalition were largely behind the backing of Espinosa by the Concordat. And the egg, as you put it, has been arranged to be neatly splashed mostly on
their faces."
I winced a little at that.
So. The groups who had been pushing to ally with the Augrians over the years
had managed to make it happen - by
backing the wrong faction.And as a consequence of how badly
that had gone,
they had been left holding the bag - and taking the blame. And by extension, had been eliminated from contention in favour of those who had always wanted to reclaim 'their' lost clay with sword and fire.
I mean. The Bulls now seemingly being ready to turn on the Augrians after they had backed the wrong faction and outright committed war crimes seemed morally abhorrent … but the Periphery really
wasn't a place where nice people tended to finish first on the sheer power of a moral victory.
Of course, the Inner Sphere often wasn't any better when you really got down to it, if I was being honest with myself. And irrespective of it wasn't a very nice thing to do, if the Bulls saw that this was a once-in-a-century chance to redraw the maps in their favour …
"So the Bulls are measuring the odds of moving before the Inner Sphere is able to care too much about this region again" I muttered before a thought occurred. "But if so" I added, raising an eyebrow, "wouldn't engaging with the Federated Commonwealth publicly like this only entice them to strike as soon as-"
To my slight annoyance, there was a clear 'Ding-Ding-Ding!' from the front of the room as Duke Stuart stood and in that ancient tradition, tapped cutlery against his glass, the sound carrying remarkably well across the room and quickly silencing conversation as if a switch had been thrown - including my own. And whatever Alexander was going to say in exchange was lost as he twisted around in his chair to face the front of the room with everyone else as the Duke went through his -rather jovial- introductions, getting a lot of cheers and laughs from the crowd with surprising self-effacing humour.
I didn't really pay much attention to it though, my mind being focused much more on the information I had just been given and trying to figure out what it meant.
Katrina was
hardly going to be paying for a top level hospital in the Periphery rather than her own realm - not even
she had unlimited resources. And Hanse allowing access to the NAIS to train staff for it made little sense if the Bulls were likely to take the region for themselves. And while opening diplomatic relations like this was all well and good on paper, the thought of the Federated Suns gaining a flank ally against them really sounded like it was going to just encourage the Taurians to send in the Taurian Guards first thing in the morning to seize Coromodir.
But. If even I could see it, Hanse and Katrina couldn't possibly have missed that. Which had to mean they
already had plans in place - assuming they were looking to keep this little micro-state in play and make the Bulls think twice…probably.
But, I suppose that if I have a need to know, I'd be told at some point I mentally shrugged as I pushed the thoughts away in favour of joining the very loud applause as the Duke sat and Melissa stood in his place, beaming out to the audience. Drawing my attention back to the kid as the spotlight literally - and figuratively - fell on her as the hall went silent in anticipation…
