Riding the Dragon (AU)

[drakensis]

Halstead Station, Ashio Prefecture
Dieron District, Draconis Combine
4 January 3014

"What was that?" Hanse Davion exclaimed in disbelief, his tone sharp as he stood in the shade of his Battlemaster.

His distant cousin Jessica nodded to confirm her previous words. "The Coordinator is here. On this very planet. The message calls for a forty-eight hour ceasefire so that the two of you can talk privately."

"It has to be a trap."

Hanse glanced around the group. Ardan Sortek's opinion wasn't one likely to rouse dissent in the group, even if the Captain was by far the most junior officer present. The new First Prince had pulled the Seventeenth Avalon Hussars regiment away from its accompanying tank and infantry forces to bolster the Second Davion Guards in this attack, expecting to have at least a two to one advantage over any likely garrison at the new supply base. But if the Coordinator was here, and expecting him... "It's possible," he agreed. "But we might have caught Kurita on the hop as well. If we've caught him by surprise then maybe he's the one who thinks we have him mouse-trapped. If not, I'd expect him to be attacking by now."

The other Marshal, Addley Verner, was in his 'Mech so that a sneak attack couldn't wipe out the entire command group but he was able to participate over an encrypted radio. "Forty-eight hours isn't long enough to bring in reinforcements unless they're already en route."

"No one's in the system that we know of, but they could be planning to use one of the pirate points that we did."

Another good point from Ardan but Hanse didn't think he'd take the advice this time. He was curious. "Where does he want to meet me?"

Jessica used a swagger stick to point at a map spread out on the Battlemaster's foot. "Right about there."

"No... I don't like that." Hanse tapped another point, this one closer to the ruins that were his primary goal here: ruins of a Star League era university that he didn't think that the Combine knew about yet. Or maybe they did. "We'll move along the river here and form up on the north bank. There's a ford here where the river bends, should be nice open ground on our side of the river. I'll meet him on the north shore at noon tomorrow. If things go wrong - well, we're two hundred kilometers closer to our objective."

"And two hundred kilometers further from our dropships," she pointed out.

"That's why he won't expect it."




Halstead Station, Ashio Prefecture
Dieron District, Draconis Combine
5 January 3014

The details had taken some planning but an hour before noon with the ground examined thoroughly by AFFS infantry, a DCMS convoy crossed the ford and with ostentatious care to ensure that they were clearly in view at all times, they set up a spacious pavilion next to the water before inviting Hanse to send an aide to ensure that no trickery had taken place. Ardan, despite his suspicions, had found nothing of note to report although he had been chagrined when all but one of the DCMS soldiers departed across the river, indicating that the exception must be the Coordinator.

However, when Hanse opened the flap of the tent, the only person present was a woman not many years his junior, wearing the heavy boots and abbreviated shorts and halter of a mechwarrior under an open-fronted robe elaborately embroidered with dragons. Having come directly from the field, the Prince wasn't wearing dress uniform himself but he was fairly sure that this was not Takashi Kurita.

"When will Takashi Kurita arrive?" he asked bluntly, not yet stepping inside. Was the woman an assassin?

She shook her head, lustrous black hair rippling. "As the Obon Festival was three days ago, my late cousin will not be present even in spirit, your highness."

What? Hanse scrambled mentally to address this situation. Takashi's son was sixteen - not an ideal age but the only other close relative he had had was his nephew Isoroku, himself only seventeen. But surely... there hadn't been a female Coordinator of the Draconis Combine in almost four hundred years.

"Please, come in and sit." The woman gestured towards the table. "There was an incident upon New Samarkand that you are perhaps unaware of. Our security is excellent, as you may be aware. Certain of House Kurita were invited onwards to explain their complicity to their ancestors and their victims. I gather that your own family is not entirely amicable with regard to your succession."

The reference to the recent assassination attempt - almost certainly Michael Hasek-Davion's doing - tightened Hanse's face but he stepped inside. "My condolences on your losses..." he offered, fishing for her name.

She bowed her head. "I offer my own, your brother was a formidable foe to my cousin but also a respected one. But I am being impolite. I am Cecilia Kurita and you, of course, are the famous Hanse Davion."

Cecilia... The prince searched his memory. Ah, the youngest grandchild of Hugai Kurita by his son Undell. That would make her Takashi's first cousin. Born around... twenty five, maybe twenty-six years ago and a graduate of the Sun Tzu School of Combat rather than the better known Sun Zhang academy. She'd hardly registered when he was last briefed on House Kurita's scions, something that he suspected he might now regret.

"Your invitation said you wanted to talk, Coordinator. In my culture, ladies go first."

"In mine the Coordinator speaks first, a pleasing convergence," she observed, crossing her legs. Hanse was uncomfortably reminded she was not the middle-aged samurai he had expected. Don't be a damn fool, he thought. She's a Kurita.

"We both know the implications of the supply centre that has been established here," Cecilia observed. "I am not surprised that you would order an attack. However, while I would have anticipated the presence of your brother at the head of his soldiers, your reputation suggests you would not unless there was something more valuable here."

She knows!

She nodded. "Yes, the university ruins and the vault discovered within them. My engineers haven't quite cracked it yet, we don't want to risk damage to the contents. For this reason I am here along with the First and Seventh Sword of Light regiments."

Hanse calculated briefly. The two regiments were the equivalent of his on Davion Guards. The Seventeenth Avalon Hussars were a good regiment, but not quite equivalent - particularly since the Sword of Light regiments were typically reinforced with a fourth battalion. While he could probably rely on a slight advantage in tanks and infantry, it was a close match and edged slightly to favour the defenders.

"Under these circumstances, I have a good chance of defeating you - perhaps even seeing you perish as your brother did," Cecilia continued calmly. "As you might imagine, such a feat would do much to elevate me in the eyes of my countrymen."

"Then why talk?"

She made a sharp gesture. "Because I am thinking larger than that." Her tongue darted along her lips, a hint of nervousness that Hanse was pleased to see. She's as new to this as I am. "You have an heir in your nephew and your realm would be intact. I might have a momentary advantage - enough to take one or even two war torn worlds away from you perhaps. In the end, what difference would that make?"

"Quite a lot for the people on those worlds."

"I grant your point, but in the long run? Two hundred and thirty years of war and our borders are no more than thirty light years from where they started, with gains and losses just about even. How much of our people's wealth and lives were spent to accomplish so little?"

Hanse nodded. "A great number. Of course, without both our efforts to that effect, one or the other of us might have won by now."

"We're evenly matched, in other words." Cecilia raised her index finger and then pointed it at Hanse like a gun. "I've heard that you're an educated man. Are you familiar with the prisoner's dilemma?"

"They both stay quiet and neither goes to jail. One gives evidence for immunity and the other takes the full blame and full punishment. Or both betray the other and they both get a slightly lesser punishment."

"Exactly." She lowered her finger. "Our nations have the strongest militaries in the Inner Sphere. If we weren't at each other's throats all the time, what could we accomplish?"

It was a good point but the corollary was obvious. "And if one of us 'gives evidence' then the other one is going to take a beating that would make John Davion flinch in sympathy," he replied, referencing the ancestor who had died fighting against a DCMS offensive that had driven almost to New Avalon precisely because the Draconis March had been stripped in favour of the Capellan March.

"Both our armies were twice the size back then and we had navies worthy of the name," she pointed out. "Which probably hasn't affected your overall capability much since back then - since we're being honest - the AFFS was less of a threat than the Lyrans and their navy was worse."

"And the DCMS was ready to carry out the Kentares Massacre."

She paused at that and looking at her face Hanse felt slightly guilty for using that particular incident against her. But not very guilty. It was the truth after all.

"Very well," Cecilia agreed after a long, empty moment. "What you say is true. But it has to end somewhere."

"What do you suggest?"

She leant forward and Hanse couldn't help but notice how much skin was bared. He was a mature adult and a mechwarrior, not unused to women dressed like this, but most of the time there was a cooling vest to provide more coverage and hide curves. Current court fashions weren't that revealing either. "Let's start here."

"What do you want, a hug?"

Cecilia gave him a long look. "Maybe later. I was thinking we could share whatever is in the cache."

"We don't even know what's in there." Is she flirting with me!? Hanse thought incredulously. Her Warlords would kill her if they found out. Aaron Sandoval would probably try to kill me if he was here.

"Then let’s find out." She gave him a challenging look. "There's always tomorrow if we decide we'd rather kill each other."

Hanse considered that. If things went badly at least his forces would be closer to their objectives. Granted, so would the Sword of Light, but it saved having to fight across hundreds of kilometers to reach the ruins. "Alright." He couldn't help but think that this might be a trap but something - hormones, possibly - told him that this wasn't a military trap. Perhaps political, but not military.




Halstead Station, Ashio Prefecture
Dieron District, Draconis Combine
6 January 3014

There was something deeply unnatural about watching combat engineers from both armies work together to open the vault that had been uncovered in constructing the depot. The soldiers could feel it as well, but under the eyes of their monarchs they simply carried out their jobs with a minimum of conversation even amongst their own contingents.

Senior officers did not seem to feel that they were under the same constraints however.

"Sire, do I really need to list the ways that this is a bad idea?"

A battalion of the Davion Guards and the Sword of Light were boxing in the site with less than a kilometer between them. Each was spearhead to battle groups that if they started a fight would level the entire site more or less incidentally. And in the middle, on foot, were two platoons of combat engineers, two platoons of body-guards and about the same number of staff officers from both sides.

"No Ardan, you don't. But the rewards are worth the risk."

"I still can't believe that she's the Coordinator." A decade younger than his prince, Ardan was no more immune to Cecilia Kurita's good looks, plainly visible even across the site from where she stood. She wore the black tunic and pants of a senior DCMS officer, but unlike those clustered around her, a red mantle hung from her shoulders, marking her as the Coordinator. Similarly, with no intention that fighting begin today, Hanse had ordered his own officers out of battledress and they wore the dark green jacket and pants of their dress uniforms although none had donned the heavy sunburst vests that usually went with them.

Hanse nodded in response. "I'm not sure all of her people believe it," he agreed as one of the officers around the young Coordinator started to express himself in a loud and angry voice. "Can anyone make that out?"

An officer with the rank and branch insignia of an infantry Captain cocked his head. "He objects to our presence and is comparing the Coordinator’s judgment unfavorably to that of her predecessor."

"No surprise there then." Hanse watched Cecilia's reaction. She appeared bored by the rant, something that was stoking the samurai to red-faced fury. Then she raised one hand, snapped her fingers and pointed at the officer with the same finger she had aimed at Hanse the previous day.

There was a gunshot.

Cecilia did not appear concerned or even particularly interested in the collapsing corpse of the man who had been haranguing her. In fact, her expression remained as bored as before, although she did start to speak.

"What is she saying?"

The captain cleared his throat. "'As the Dragon I encourage you at appropriate times and always in a respectful manner to question my logic. If you're unconvinced that a particular plan I've decided is the wisest, tell me so. I promise you here and now no subject will ever be taboo.'"

Ardan's jaw dropped. "She just had that guy shot for disagreeing with her and now she says it's okay for them to do that? What a snake!"

"Sometimes, Ardan, it's what a Drac' doesn't say that matters."

"That's correct," agreed the infantryman - actually part of the expedition’s military intelligence section. "She said it was okay for someone to query her politely and at a proper time. The implication is that she didn't execute the man for what he said, but for how or when he said it."

"It's still not going to make her popular."

"The Coordinator rarely is and as a woman she will be much less so. But it reinforces discipline and thereby strengthens her position. Remember, the Coordinator might legally be an absolute ruler but in practice her authority will depend on her ability to impose her will on those around her."

"Ah. Like you and Hasek-Davion?"

"It's a little more blatant than that, but basically," Hanse agreed. Ardan wasn't stupid, after all.

There was a boom from the vault entrance as the DCMS engineers used the holes they had been drilling to blow open part of the doorframe. "Sounds like they're making progress," he continued as an AFFS squad moved up with a jack to start forcing the door open.




Halstead Station, Ashio Prefecture
Dieron District, Draconis Combine
6 January 3014

Strictly speaking the engineers had been the first into the vault, but they had only flashed torches around briefly to check there were no signs of booby traps or an incipient collapse. Hanse was barely able to restrain himself from rushing in after them. It was worse than Christmas when he was a boy: he'd usually had some idea what his family would be giving him, but this was a genuine mystery.

The moment he received an all-clear Hanse scrambled down into the vault in an undignified fashion, taking a powerful torch from one of the engineers. Behind him he heard footsteps as others crowded after him but ignoring them he snapped on the torch and played it over the contents.

Shelves. Dozens of shelves.

And stacked on them were treasures more valuable than gold or diamonds.

There was a low whistle from Ardan at the sight of thousands of books and computer memory cubes.

"I would have to agree," Cecilia observed in a reverential tone. "This has to be the greatest find in hundred years."

"Perhaps the largest since the Dead Sea scrolls," agreed Hanse, walking forwards to examine the shelves more closely. "Except these aren't literature or history. This is technical material."

"I think there's some of the former." She flashed her own torch around, the beam casting strange shadows on the dust-covered walls. "But I don't imagine that it would have been prioritised for a secret stash like this."

"The greatest prize we could ever fight over, and I agreed to split it." Hanse couldn't help but laugh. Even half of this was beyond price.

There was only the slightest scrape of metal against leather to start Hanse turning before he heard the MilInt officer speak: "That won't be necessary, your highness."

Reflexively Hanse threw himself aside before he realised that the laser wasn't aimed at him and that his attempt to dodge had actually thrown him into the weapons path. There was a burning pain from his right forearm, which almost instantly exploded in agony as he landed on the injured limb.

The boom of Ardan's sidearm gave him something to focus on and as he rolled over he saw the treacherous gunman fall, blood fountaining from what had been his head. There was a metal ornament jutting from below the man's waist and it took Hanse a moment to focus and recognise it as the hilt of a knife.

"Medic!" snapped a sharp voice he recognised as Cecilia a moment before she moved into his field of view, catching his right arm before it flopped onto the ground. "I see your arm," she told him. "Were you hit anywhere else?"

"I don't think so." Hanse looked up as a dozen bodyguards tried to jostle their way through the limited access to the vault, DCMS and AFFS rubbing shoulders heedlessly. "One of yours?"

"I don't know," she replied, producing a small knife from her sleeve and slashing open the arm of his jacket with a smooth gesture. Contrary to popular belief, laser wounds do not self-cauterize. "But he was aiming at me so it appears I owe my life to your gallantry."

One of the soldiers almost provoked a crisis, aiming his carbine at the Coordinator. "Drop the knife!"

"Put your gun down!" Ardan snapped as Cecilia stared coolly at what had all the potential of a further bloodbath. "The Coordinator just helped me kill an assassin and she's tending the Prince's wound."

A man in the elaborate robes adopted by the mystics of the Physicians of the Dragon pushed aside the infantryman, DCMS soldiers making respectful room for him. Cecilia moved aside for him to examine the injury. Mumbling a prayer, the surgeon examined the wound. "This is not life threatening," he assured Hanse after a moment. "Bear the pain bravely and with the Blessing of the Dragon you will recover quickly."

Hanse rolled his eyes. He knew the Physicians of the Dragon were perfectly capable surgeons but had no patience with their superstitious mumblings.

"This man threw himself in the path of a shot meant for me. Clearly he lacks neither courage, nor the blessing of the Dragon." There were gasps from soldiers on both sides at Cecilia's announcement.

[drakensis]

Halstead Station, Ashio Prefecture
Dieron District, Draconis Combine
6 January 3014

Hanse had been prescribed painkillers but had left the pills in his tent. For some things, traditional remedies were best and he'd been keeping two bottles of brandy in his Mech for the next time he saw Ian. One had seen him through the night he'd heard of his brother's death. This seemed as good a time as any to finish off the other one.

"I hope you didn't take your medicine before drinking that," a newly-familiar voice chastised him as he sat on the foot of his 'Mech and poured out a second glass.

"What are you, my mother?" he asked, craning his neck around to see a cloaked figure kneeling in the shadow cast by the Battlemaster's ankle.

Cecilia laughed and held up a bottle just far enough for him to see the label describing it as plum brandy. "Hardly. I just don't like drinking alone."

Hanse stood and moved to join her, placing the glass in front of her before sitting on the grass next to her. Fishing into a pocket, he produced a thick plastic evidence bag containing the knife that had been embedded in the assassin's groin. "Yours, I think."

"Thank you." She opened the bag and stashed the weapon somewhere about her person.

"I have to wonder though - a gun would have stopped him faster."

Cecilia chuckled and picked up the glass of brandy, sipping the contents appreciatively. "I barely qualified with small arms at school but I'm quite good with a kunai."

"Oh?" He couldn't imagine that was part of the usual education of a Kurita princess.

"I was the most terrible tomboy," she admitted, brushing back her hood. "I wanted to be a ninja, or failing that, to join DEST. With a child's romanticised notion of both, of course. And since I didn't meet DEST qualifications, being one of the Coordinator’s samurai and defending the Combine that way was an achievable ambition. I'm still sneaky though, witness my presence on your side of the camp."

"Ah. What unit?"

"Tai-i Cecilia Kurita, acting commander, Fourth Battalion of the First Prosperina Hussars," she said, bowing slightly. "I might even have been confirmed as Sho-sa next year if Marcus wasn't an ambitious idiot."

Marcus was - had been, presumably - her oldest brother, the Commander of Takashi's bodyguard regiment the Otomo and a former Warlord of Rasalhague. Hanse didn't have any difficulty believing that he might have tried to murder his cousins of the Kurita principal lineage in order to elevate himself to Coordinator. The only surprise was that he had half-succeeded.

He wouldn't pretend at false sympathy, besides he'd already offered his condolences yesterday, but her admission seemed to call for something on his part. "You realise I wasn't trying to take the shot instead of you."

Cecilia nodded in reply and drained the glass. "Of course. Neither of us had the time for that - I'm impressed enough you could do anything before he shot - you must have reflexes like a cat. But my version made for a better story. I didn't hear you contradict me earlier."

Hanse refilled her glass and then drank from the bottle. "As you say, it's a good story. Very... romantic. Almost half my officers don't think I should shoot you. Drag you to New Avalon in chains perhaps..."

"Whips and chains do not excite me," she told him drily.

"... that's good to know." He cleared his throat. "So how should we divide the spoils?"

"Well the simplest way would be for one of us to divide it into two halves and the other picks who gets which half. It keeps us both relatively honest."

"Sounds fair."

"True. But lacks a certain drama."

"Drama?" The bottle had ample brandy left to refill her glass once more, so Hanse did so and then raised the bottle to his lips again. "This isn't exactly a production of Shakespeare."

Cecilia drank from the glass while he drained the bottle of all but the dregs. "And yet how did your Bard put it: 'all the world's a stage'? This is politics, dear prince. The grandest stage for theatre and if we don't put on a show then being booed off of it might have terminal consequences."

"Should we fight a duel over it?"

He was rewarded for that proposal with a dazzling smile. "I like the way you think, Hanse. Maybe if you divide the books, I divide the memory cubes and the winner of the duel gets first and third selection out of the four groups."

"Well since we're being so friendly... sure," Hanse agreed before shifting position to discard the almost empty bottle gave his right arm a chance to remind him that he wasn't entirely ready for battle at the moment. "How about next week when my arm's healed?"

"How about the day after tomorrow and I'll grant you a twenty-five ton weight advantage?" She removed the cork from her bottle of plum brandy. "It gives us a day to divide up the contents of the vault and to recover from our hangovers." She poured a good measure into her glass and handed it to him.

Hanse accepted it cautiously with his left hand. "This is strong?" he asked, sniffing at it.

"It'll put steel in your spine," she assured him. "Along with other parts of your anatomy."

"Wha-" he began and then watched in bemusement as she placed her lips around the neck of the bottle and all but sucked a healthy measure out of it. "Coordinator are you trying to seduce me?"

Although she remained on her knees, Cecilia raised herself upright. "We are the masters of hostile nations, Hanse. The last marriage between our Houses led to a war even in the age of the Star League. And we have just agreed to face each other in a duel that could easily kill one of us. To desire you as a lover under these circumstances would be madness."

Then she leant forwards, propping herself up on one hand as she met his eyes with no more than two yards between them. "Now I have a question for you, First Prince."

"Oh."

"Is it working?"

Hanse swallowed, although there was no brandy in his mouth. "Cecilia, this is a very bad idea."

"Apocalyptically so, but you are avoiding the question." She shuffled herself closer, eyes intent like those of a hunter.

A mouthful of plum brandy didn't help his mind work but it did loosen his tongue. "Why."

"Hatred has a reason for everything." She took the glass out of his hand and placed it carelessly on the grass, not caring that it tipped over and spilled the contents. "But love is unreasonable."

"I can't marry you," he protested, placing his hands on Cecilia's shoulders to halt when she leant closer to kiss him.

Cecilia took his left wrist and firmly pushed it aside, knowing that Hanse's right arm couldn't stop her in its current injured state. "Hanse, I can't promise you more than tonight," she pointed out regretfully and then closed the last distance between them.




Halstead Station, Ashio Prefecture
Dieron District, Draconis Combine
8 January 3014

Hanse cursed as he twisted his Battlemaster for what felt like the thousandth time, trying to bring his weapons to bear on his elusive adversary. As he'd guessed from her comment about 'spotting him twenty-five tons', Cecilia piloted one of the Combine's trademark Dragon heavy 'Mechs, albeit the variation known as a Grand Dragon. Little more than two-thirds the mass of his own machine and with less than two-thirds the armour that sounded like the odds favoured him, but any Mechwarrior knew that things were rarely as clean-cut as that.

The open ground decided on for the duel was allowing Cecilia to wring out every ounce of the Grand Dragon's greater speed and agility pushing it further than he had thought possible. Even worse, Hanse's Battlemaster was a D model, trading short-ranged missiles and rear-firing lasers for more armour and heatsinks. Unfortunately, that left an arc of almost sixty degrees behind his left shoulder that only the machine guns in his 'Mech's left arm could bear on and Cecilia was proving infernally good at keeping herself both in that arc and outside the reach of the machine guns.

"Hanse, you need to get around and bring your weapons to bear on her," Ardan urged him over the radio.

"Tell me something I don't already know!" He regretted taking out his frustration on his friend. "Sorry Ardan, but I can't just hop around the way your Victor does."

Breaking into a run straight forwards - and therefore directly away from his opponent - Hanse jammed one foot into the earth and pivoted the massive Battlemech to his right, hoping that he would be able to turn faster than Cecilia could circle around him.

It wasn't the first time he'd tried the tactic - sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. In this case it did bring his opponent into view but Cecilia had backed away, meaning that between them they'd opened the range past five hundred metres and his medium lasers wouldn't be any use. The big Donal PPC in his 'Mech's right fist fired a coherent beam across the distance handily though, and left a satisfactory scar in the armour over the left side of the Grand Dragon's angled chest.

Then he was rattled around in his straps as explosions blossomed around Hanse's canopy and his display fuzzed into unintelligible static. He knew what that meant - it had happened just a few minutes before - Cecilia had managed to deliver a flight of long range missiles directly into his face. He didn't think he was being dismissive to call it luck: while Cecilia had demonstrated an impressive ability to out-maneuver him, her gunnery wasn't remarkable.

Fortunately for the distraction caused by the missiles, the Coordinator had elected not to fire her own PPC. Most likely she was having to manage her heat carefully, Hanse understood that it was an issue with the Grand Dragon that many DCMS warriors had trouble with, being used to the cool-running Dragon.

When his display failed to clear, he glanced at the secondary systems monitor and snarled. The main sensors were out, and so was his radio. Worse, the armour around the cockpit was completely compromised. If Cecilia managed to land another hit on it then he'd die and while the odds were against it happening, she'd been luckier than he liked. Combined with her skill...

Okay, he was going to concede. But how? He didn't have a radio and just retreating would make the wrong impression. He couldn't believe that he was worrying about appearances when his life was on the line, clearly Cecilia's insanity was contagious.

Hmm. Maybe that would work. Punching two controls, he cleared the display, leaving himself piloting only by what he could see out of the canopy, and released the Donal PPC from the hand of his Battlemaster.

Ahead of him he could see the Grand Dragon hesitate as it raised its PPC to fire a shot into him.  Focusing on using the gyro to keep the assault Mech balanced, Hanse tilted the Battlemaster;s torso forward in a shallow bow aware that by doing so he was leaving the cockpit even more exposed.

When he looked up he saw that the Grand Dragon's arm was raised vertically in triumphant salute. Sharply it brought the arm down and then bowed towards him, exactly as far as he had done.




Halstead Station, Ashio Prefecture
Dieron District, Draconis Combine
9 January 3014

"Congratulations on winning the duel," Hanse told Cecilia. There were a hundred other things he wanted to say, but there wasn't enough privacy with which to say them. Even thought they were sitting alone at a small table at the edge of the AFFS camp, at least a hundred soldiers had them in view.

She nodded serenely. "You fought with great honour, Prince Davion. The more so because you recognised when there was nothing more to gain and chose not to fight."

"What would you have done if I'd kept fighting?"

"Cursed you for a fool, prayed to the gods and then aimed low."

"It's good to know you had a plan."

"I always have plans, your highness. They don't always work but I always have them." Cecilia glanced over to where Hanse's share of the Halstead Station library was being loaded onto a dropship. "Four days ago we agreed to share the cache and we would appear to have succeeded in that. Have you given any thought to the rest of my proposal?"

Hanse nodded his head. "I have. Let's take another step together. When I get back to the Federated Suns, I'll order an immediate ceasefire. No attacks, not even a raid, on the worlds controlled by the Draconis Combine as long as you do the same. Let's see how well that works out."

From the knowing smile on Cecilia's face she had some idea how difficult it would be to persuade Aaron Sandoval and his Marshals that they should refrain from baiting the Dragon. Then again, she'd have to convince three Warlords to do the same so perhaps that wasn't surprising.

"Thank you, your highness," she replied and then lowered her voice slightly. "Perhaps we can afford one more step."

"Another step? Are you sure the universe can survive such drastic reconciliation between our realms?"

To Hanse's surprise, Cecilia smirked at the feeble joke. "I know a few people who might not survive it," she observed. "We both have half the library, but data can be copied. Once we've had a chance to take stock of our respective information why don't we exchange copies. That way we'll both have complete copies... or at least complete except for any little secrets we might hold back."

"Are you suggesting I'd be anything less than honest?" asked Hanse, a look of offended hauteur on his face. He managed to maintain the demeanor while the corners of Cecilia's lips twitched furiously but couldn't help but chuckle as a giggle escaped her at the effrontery of the remark.

They had to quickly restore their composure as Jessica Davion approached. "Your highness, we're ready to load your 'Mech."

Looking around, Hanse saw soldiers striking camp. The tanks had been first to load and then the bulk of the battlemech regiments. Now that the infantry were packing, only the perimeter force of two Avalon Hussar companies remained on guard while the force prepared to depart.

"I suppose this is goodbye then," Hanse said, standing.

Cecilia bowed her head. "Sayonara Davion Hanse-san." Then she rose sharply and turned her back on him, returning to the staff car that waited, surrounded by a light lance of Panthers.

"She's not the average Snake, is she?" Jessica observed.

"No," the First Prince agreed thoughtfully. "She isn't."

[Dirk Bastion]

It's pretty good, as usual, but I'd be more happy about it if I knew you would actually go anywhere this time and not abandoned just after it gets interesting. :(

[snakespinner]

An interesting change from canon.
The Draconis March would have a fit.

[Shadow_Wraith]

Good reading so far!   Will it continue for some time or end?  Keep writing the storyline!   :)

[sandstorm]

Have to carry the motion that you varry this story to end, please...

That said, I had to stop and choke some coffee out of my throat several times, this one has all the hallmarks of twisted mind to it. :)

That said, I wonder when ISF and the Foxes figure out to twist the ROM together... THAT would be crazy shadow-fight.

[Eivind]

All that's missing now is for her to discover that she's pregnant.

[Ajax_Wolf]

All that's missing now is for her to discover that she's pregnant.

And Hanse having his heart attack a lot earlier, and for a whole new reason.  ;D

[sandstorm]

And Hanse having his heart attack a lot earlier, and for a whole new reason.  ;D

Exhaustion? :D

FedCom civil war would have completely different edge to it if it was Federated Combine... :D

[David CGB]

nice

[drakensis]

Radstadt, Radstadt Prefecture
Alshain District, Draconis Combine
15 June 3020

The Coordinator granted Yorinaga Kurita audience in the gardens of the palace that was maintained for her a short distance from the Prefectural government buildings. The gardens were exquisite and Yorinaga could see subtle changes that had taken place over the years since his first visit. That had been on the company of Takashi Kurita of course.

A flick of Cecilia Kurita's fingers instructed her guards to leave her alone with the the disgraced Tai-sa. The men backed away reluctantly - Yorinaga was renowned as a swordsman and although personally unarmed there was the possibility that he might attempt to seize the daisho that rested on a stand next to the sitting Coordinator.

"What am I going to do with you, Tai-sa Kurita?"

The Mechwarrior cleared his throat. "I request permission to join my ancestors, Tono."

"That would be convenient in many ways," she agreed but did not look up and made no sign to indicate she would release him to follow through on his words. "While your own loyalty has been without fault, there are many who feel that you should hold my office. You are after all, perhaps the most gifted Mechwarrior of your generation."

"The skills of a leader are not merely those of a samurai, Tono. Your conquest of Tamar was masterful and brought silence among those who had doubted you." And Cecilia's suppression of the Ronin that opposed her decision to form an autonomous prefecture of Rasalhague - granting seventeen worlds civil independence from the Combine as long as they provided three Battlemech regiments and eight other regiments for the DCMS - had ensured that she was fully in control of the DCMS. Yorinaga was among the few aware that Cecilia had not only permitted but secretly enabled Mies Kurita to gather her fiercest critics amongst the junior officers of the DCMS into the Eighth, Twentieth and Twenty-Second Rasalhague Regulars, correctly deducing that her distant cousin would lose control of the regiments and give her the opportunity to crush them in a single stroke.

"Some of them, perhaps." Now she looked up and met his eyes firmly. "Six years ago, I also fought a duel, Yorinaga-san. My adversary was not so skilled as yours, but when he conceded we both accepted that it was a concession that the issue had been decided rather than a surrender of his person. In principle, the Dictum Honorium recognises that prisoners may be taken rather than executed if it is in the greater interest of the Dragon that they be spared and therefore to permit the escape of the Kell Hounds is tolerable if it later serves the Dragon."

"If you feel that you must end your life then, then although I disagree I shall not forbid it. Send for your swords and for your son, that he may serve as your kaishaku."

Emotion flashed through Yorinaga's eyes. A master of kenjutsu he owned scores of swords but her request could only mean the ancestral swords of his house. And as he and Cecilia both knew: "Tono I no longer possess those swords."

"How unfortunate." Cecilia stood, although she still had to look upwards at the lean mechwarrior. "In that case, Yorinaga-san, I do not believe that I can grant your request. Still, if your son were to retrieve those weapons then all things may become possible. Until then, I suggest you consider visiting Echo."

"Echo?"

She nodded in confirmation. "In Bjarred Prefecture. Urizen Kurita founded a monastery there hundreds of years. The yellow bird that you warned me of has flown to such a place, far from the Combine."

"And the Kell Hounds?"

The Coordinator smiled blandly at Yorinaga until he lowered his eyes in apology for the brusque demand for information. "Scattered. His brother has maintained a combined arms battalion but most have elected to join other mercenary companies. The ISF has been advised that they are of interest to me."

"My apologies, Tono, that I shall not be able to serve you for the remainder of your campaign here."

The answer surprised him however. "This campaign is over, Yorinaga-san."

Yorinaga frowned. The attack on Tamar by the Kell Hounds and Winfield's Brigade had delayed the planned operations to seize Bessarabia and Kobe, which would have completed the Combine's grip upon the region. However now that the attack had been repelled, the regiments involved in the fighting had been readily resupplied and should be more than ready to resume operations.

"Katrina Steiner has made the most remarkable proposal," she revealed. "I have offered a six month ceasefire and the release of those prisoners that have not been disposed of so that we may meet and discuss it at a neutral location."

"There are those who would criticise you for accepting such an offer when we hold such an advantage."

"Military advantage can be fleeting, Yorinaga-san. The ISF have advised me that Katrina Steiner has paid a vast fortune for the services of Wolf's Dragoons over the next two years, with the condition that they not be required to fight against their former employers in House Marik. I imagine that the arrival of five fresh regiments on the Lyran border might rather hinder our operations in the immediate future."




Grand Canal Hotel, Hella Basin
Mars, Solar System
14 August 3020

Since its restoration in 3015 the Grand Canal Hotel had resumed its position catering to the top percentage of Mars' tourist trade. Only a handful of people knew that the principal financers had been the Order of the Five Pillars, and while some of those people were doubtless in ROM, only two people in the universe knew for certain that the Order had been acting on the request of Cecilia Kurita.

The sudden arrival of two House Lords and the impending arrival of a third had shocked even the famously blase staff of the hotel, who had rushed to make ready the upper floor of each wing for the First Prince and the soon-to-arrive Archon. Their surprise was mitigated somewhat by smugness at their Terran rivals who had been expecting to host the three Lords and been deprived of the prestige as a result of the sudden change of plans.

The hotel's penthouse housed the Coordinator and her immediate companions and it was to here that Hanse Davion was ushered within an hour of his arrival. Six and a half years had left marks on both of them, but seeing Cecilia took Hanse back to a tent on Halstead Station and it was a moment before he realised that she had her hair up and wore a formal kimono. Her smile though, that had not changed in the least.

"The Prince and I will talk in private," she instructed with noticeable emphasis on the last word, dismissing the household staff. "We are not to be disturbed, even if the building is on fire."

"Even if it is under fire," Hanse added grimly.

Cecilia gave Hanse a sidelong look once the door closed. "I promise that that means real privacy. There were about a dozen bugs and other surveillance devices when I arrived, some of which will be studied at New Samarkand when I return home." Hanse knew that the reconstruction of New Samarkand University had been one of Cecilia's major projects, a concious parallel to his own establishment of the New Avalon Institute of Science.

"I imagine there will be more in my quarters then."

"Oh absolutely, both the ISF and ComStar will have been assiduous there." Cecilia ran one finger along the moulding of a floor lamp's stand. "Hoff and Mallory's World... Hanse, I'm truly sorry."

"Marduk was as bad," he admitted. The unauthorised raid had wreaked havoc on the industrial world, probably killing more in the long run than the bloody raids upon the two Draconis March worlds. Had it not been for the very publicised executions of every officer ranked Chu-i and up in the regiments responsible he might not have been able to push through the court martial of Stephen Davion, the man behind the New Ivaarsen Chasseur's unauthorised reprisal. As it was he had had no choice but to settle for transferring more junior officers to secondary posts in lieu of actual punishment. "We both knew that this would not be easy."

"I'd tell you about An Ting but the litany of stupidity would take me all night."

"An Ting?" Hanse wracked his brain but was almost sure none of the AFFS had raided the world since he took the throne. "Don't tell me the DCMS did it to themselves?"

"Not the DCMS, no." She muttered something in Japanese that Hanse didn't catch, although he'd picked up a working vocabulary in the language over the last few years.

Hanse nodded his head in comprehension. MIIO was still piecing together exactly what had happened in Rasalhague with what was being called the Ronin War - given it had happened on the other side of the Combine and well inside the borders, the ISF had successfully clamped down on information about the incident. However, the timing would more or less coincide with An Ting University being 'closed for remodelling' which had been the explanation in the Voice of the Dragon when it had been raided back in his father's day. "So, changing the subject..."

"Actually, there's something that I need to tell you," she admitted. "Something too sensitive for even a courier."

"Why you insisted on diverting us here instead of meeting on Terra as planned?"

"No, more serious than that." Cecilia produced a small photograph from her sleeve and offered it to him.

It was Cecilia and a small girl, Hanse realised immediately. The shot was an informal one, with them both sitting on a lawn, the child - four years old, perhaps - in Cecilia's lap. They were laughing, happy. The kinship was obvious. "You have a daughter?" And a husband, perhaps? Not that he'd been celibate himself, but having a child with someone was another step entirely.

"Look again."

Huh? He checked for anything else in the picture but there was merely Cecilia, her daughter...

Who had lighter hair than her mother and blunter nose that reminded him slightly of...

Suddenly Hanse felt a sudden need to sit down. "When... how old is she?"

"Her sixth birthday is the twenty-ninth of next month," Cecilia told him and then anticipated his next question. "She's called Siriwan."

On his second attempt, Hanse managed to find one of the couchs. "And you're sure that..."

"From the timing, oh yes. There's no other possibility." She sat at the other end of the couch, angling herself so that she could see him easily. "As you can imagine, it's a well kept secret."

"Who else knows?"

Cecilia reached over and took his hand. "I'm fairly sure Subash suspects although we've never spoken of it. And I've confided in Aunt Florimel and my niece Constance."

"I imagine the Keeper of the House Honor had choice words." The octogenarian Florimel's unofficial position held responsibility for the Dictum Honorium that spelled out in extensive and sometimes obscure detail the proper behaviours of all citizens of the Draconis Combine.

She smiled, the same smile that had haunted Hanse's dreams off and on for years. "The Dictum Honorium does not require chastity of me, Hanse. Quite the contrary: it is my obligation to bear children in order to continue my family line. Similarly, bearing your child would only have been an offense against the Harmony of the Combine if I did so against my own wishes as Lord Kurita."

"I thought it prohibited citizens of the Draconis Combine from having relationships with non-citizens."

"Not absolutely, particularly when the citizen in question has the permission of their superior. In this case, I was glad to grant myself an exception to that rule. I don't think it would keep my Warlords from putting Siriwan and I to death if they found out her paternity, but it does keep the Pillarines off my back."

"I understand," Hanse said at last. "I'll never meet her then?"

Cecilia gestured helplessly with the hand that wasn't grasping his. "If things go very badly then I will try to send her to you for shelter," she promised. "And if things go very well... maybe the horse will learn to sing. My people are changing, Hanse, at least a little. I don't know what the future holds for us but there may be opportunities..."

He squeezed her hand in tacit understanding. "It's a shame we didn't have long to get to know each other back then. But being who we are..."

"If we weren't who we were, we wouldn't be the people that we... want to be with." She shied away from the word that she meant.

Diplomatically Hanse looked at the picture again while she composed herself. "Can I keep this?"

"Of course." It wasn't necessary to remind him to handle the photo with discretion.

"There is one more question I have to ask."

Cecilia felt Hanse's hand slacken around hers and then his thumb gliding up the inside of her wrist.

"How do I get you out of that kimono?"

"I thought you'd never ask..."

[drakensis]

Grand Canal Hotel, Hella Basin
Mars, Solar System
15 August 3020

Katrina Steiner had needed a few hours to settle into her rooms but by mid-day all three Successor Lords present were sat at a table in one of the Hotel's many private dining rooms with a dozen or so aides pretending not to listen in.

"I'm unclear why we're meeting here rather than at Hilton Head," the blonde observed acridly after finishing the soup that had been her choice of starter.

Cecilia had just lifted a glass to wash down her garlic bread so Hanse elected himself to answer. "I was a little surprised myself and no doubt we'll be soothing ruffled feathers with Precentors and Adepts before long, but on reflection it does make this more secure. I'd be surprised if Marik or Liao don't know we're meeting by now but their agents will have focused on where we were scheduled to meet. A change of plans like this could confound them."

"And I don't trust ComStar," Cecilia added. "Research facilities investigating interstellar communications have been entirely too reliable about suffering terrorist or foreign espionage attacks. Over a hundred students at the Imperial Insitute of Technology died two years ago in a firebombing of their High Energy Physics laboratories. I don't think it's a coincidence the Institute filed two papers on the principles of hyperpulse technology in the previous six months."

"If your theory is correct, then at least you know those papers were progress."

"Unfortunately half the people who understood the papers were in the building when it was destroyed. The other half assure me that the two papers are mutually contradictory."

The frustration Cecilia clearly felt over the matter was something Katrina could emphasise with - but she felt approximately the same way when faced by the landless representatives of Tamar in the General Estates. And the capbility of the DCMS to take one of the most politically important worlds of the Commonwealth was due in no small part to both the young Coordinator and Hanse Davion's inexplicable readiness to maintain if not actual rapprochment then at least a stony neutrality towards their respective realms.

There were three very good reasons for not gloating though. Firstly, the loss of the Kurita scientists was a warning for the LCAF's blacker-than-black study of the devices Katrina had found in the Periphery in 3004. Secondly, the attacks commanded by Cecila personally - as opposed to the fall of Port Moseby at the same time to the forces of Warlord Yoriyoshi - had by the standards of the DCMS been a relatively humane one, as witnessed by the fact that there had actually been a respectable number of living prisoners to be exchanged for those the Lyrans had taken. And finally, the Archon's hopes for a future peace rested on the younger woman being as... pragmatic... as she had been thus far in her reign. Pricking at her pride would undermine that.

"On another note, how is your daughter?" Cecilia enquired as the waiters replaced empty plates with the main courses. Again, all three had selected different meals: Hanse's lasanga, Katrina's steak and for Cecilia a noodle dish that she was spicing enthusiastically with pepper and garlic powder (Katrina hoped a breath-fresher would follow the meal). "I've heard impressive tales of her intelligence."

"Remarkably adept at getting into trouble," Katrina told her and decided at least a minor probe for information would be worth it. "How about your own?"

That caused Hanse's eyes to narrow in annoyance, to her delight: the First Prince could be just a little smug, she had found in their correspondence, although certainly an improvement over their other peers. Beating MIIO at something - and reminding him of his own lack of a direct heir - was definitely a point for the Lyrans.

"She's discovered paint," replied Cecilia mildly, although there was just enough hesitation to let Katrina know that the point had struck home. "Honesty compells me to admit that she isn't a budding Mitsunobu Tosa."

Neither of the successor lords was familiar with the name so Hanse side-stepped verbally. "No military goals as yet? I know my nephew was keen to enroll in the new College of Military Science at NAIS, but he is older and maybe it's different with girls."

"Too early to say," murmured the Co-ordinator placidly while the Archon also shook her head.

"Melissa is certainly technically minded enough, but I'm not sure she'll ever have the muscle for the job. Still, there are other arms of the military if she chooses to serve. Still, even if it's a thin hope, perhaps her generation won't be required to wage war."

Cecilia paused and refilled her glass. "That is not a promise I can make, Archon Steiner. However..." She thought for a moment. "I would be amenable to a longer term ceasefire with the Lyran Commonwealth."

There was another moment of contemplation as the other two Lords considered the ramifications of that. It would allow the Lyrans to rebuild and probably allow them to halt any further encroachment by the Free Worlds League which had by now largely recovered from the violence of the Marik Civil War. Perhaps even take back a few worlds: Hanse Davion's highly successful campaign to isolate and then seize Tikonov had proven what an advantage having one secure border could be.

Of course, the problem was that one of the most powerful and aggressive military forces in the Inner Sphere would be sitting back, gathering its strength. And sooner or later pressure make use of that army would start to be applied towards Cecilia by warlords and generals hungry for glory.

Hanse was the first to broach the matter. "If you don't my asking bluntly, how long do you think you could maintain a ceasefire on both your borders? Even with the occasional lapses, our current ceasefire might not be possible if we didn't have other conflicts to absorb the attention of our military forces."

The admission gave Katrina pause. The prevailing policy of the Lyran Commonwealth was to secure what they still had, with even campaigns to recover lost worlds being considerably harder to finance if the Estates General were worried that the defenses of their own worlds might suffer. While the Draconis Combine being far more prone to aggressive adventurism was no surprise, she had not seen the Federated Suns in the same light.

Cecilia looked thoughtful. "A few years, depending how many of them I can send off pirate hunting. And then Dieron is quite close to the Free Worlds League and Capellan Confederation really... I'm fairly sure I can prolong relative peace with both of you for a decade or so but after that it's hard to predict."

"You don't think we can stop the Succession Wars then?"

"Let's be honest, they aren't really about the empty throne in a ruined city on Terra. After two hundred years, warfare is a way of life." Cecilia's eyes were dark, almost hypnotically so, as she gazed at Katrina. "A temporary ceasefire is all I can offer in that way for now. It'll take time before we see if it's as temporary as a ComStar price hike."




ComStar First Circuit Compound
Hilton Head Island, North America, Terra
16 August 3020

"So much for arbitrating the negotiations between Kurita, Davion and Steiner," Villius Tejh observed acridly once the ROM agent had finished detailing the whereabouts of the three errant Heads of State. "This makes us a laughing stock."

"Calm yourself, Villius," Julian Tiepolo warned his junior. "Your concern is appropriate but we cannot allow frustration to overrule cool judgement."

The younger man grimaced. Whether it was admitted or not, the relative prestige of the state they represented did have some impact on the subtle manuverings for status within the First Circuit and the Capellan Confederation, already the weakest of the five Successor States, had taken significant losses through the last few years.

Somewhat surprisingly it was his main rival who rallied to Tejh's arguement. "As you admit, Precentor Sian's concerns must be addressed, Primus. The strategic advantages of the truce between Kurita and Davion were troubling enough, but added to their scientific and economic advances both states have become highly dangerous." Huthrin Vandel shook his head in apparent sorrow. "Adding House Steiner to their bloc will utterly destroy the balance of power within the Inner Sphere and their contempt for us heralds near apocalypse."

Tiepolo nodded solemnly. "What you say is quite true, Precentor New Avalon. In hindsight, the incident at Halstead Station was more serious than appreciated at the time and clearly the discovery of the lostech cache on Volders has allowed the Combine to keep pace with the better funded research carried out at NAIS." He saw Vandel's shoulders tense - while the man could not be blamed for Volders, NAIS was clearly in his area of responsibility. "As a result, the fear of a technologically advanced AFFS overwhelming the DCMS has proved an insufficient motivation for the truce to be broken."

"We should have Cecilia Kurita assassinated."

Heads turned towards Ulthan Everson. Precentor Tharkad was not prone radical suggestions.

"Your reasoning?" Tejh demanded briskly.

"The ceasefire rests heavily upon the personalities of Hanse Davion and Ceclia Kurita," the man observed. "Both pushed the policy through despite substantial opposition and they enforce it fiercely. Killing Hanse Davion would place Michael Hasek-Davion on the throne and he would be likely to continue to focus on the Capellan March: it's possible the Coordinator could convince him to continue their ceasefire. But remove her and the most likely outcome is civil war. the Draconis Combine's strength would turn on itself and the temptation to take advantage would be irresistable to both Davion and Steiner."

The room fell silent at the ruthlessness of the suggestion.

"I do not wish to contemplate the consequences if ComStar were discovered to have carried out that assassination," Precentor Dieron observed coldly. Significantly older than any of his peers, it was an open secret that Charles Osterraker was under pressure to retire in favour of Tiepolo's prize prodigy, Myndo Waterly. "They hold dearly to their code of vendetta and might even dare to break Terra's neutrality."

"That's not even considering how the other Successor Lords might react." Tejh gripped the belt of his robe firmly. "But it might be a risk we have to take." A quick glance around the First Circuit made it clear, however, that he was the only supporter of Everson's proposal. Even the representative of ROM, a non-voting member of the body, seemed reluctant. "I agree that it would be a premature given the current situation though."

The Primus cleared his throat. "In the short term, reinforcing the Capellan military would slow Hanse Davion and might lead to Janos Marik focusing his energies on the Lyran Commonwealth rather than the Capellans. I recommend a cache containing equipment from our stores here on Terra but stripped of advanced equipment be prepared somewhere in Capellan space. I've no doubt that Maximilian Liao would reward greatly anyone who led him to such a discovery."

"That would be possible," Tejh agreed. "There are a few former Hegemony worlds that are no longer viable habitats, it should be relatively straightforward to create a 'forgotten militia base' on one of them."

"Does this measure have the First Circuit's approval?" Tiepolo asked, and heads nodded around the room. "Very good. Precentor Sian, please co-ordinate this with the Precentor of the ComGuards." He turned towards the chamber's stained glass window briefly, as if seeking inspiration from the sunlight streaming through it. "In the meantime, we will cease our efforts to bolster the factionalism within the Free Worlds League and provide indirect support to the internal divisions within the other three Houses. Precentor Dieron, what likelihood is there of the 'Autonomous Prefecture of Rasalhague' seeking actual independence?"

"Very little," Osterraker told him firmly. "They're still fumbling around with the authority that they have been granted and none of their leadership is so stupid as to forget that their own forces are far weaker than those Kurita smashed four years ago."

"How disappointing. Still, it seems that if the Swedenese can have their own semi-independent domain that other factions such as the Azami may seek similar status, arousing envy in their neighbours. I am sure you know where to spread the word to best effect."

Vandel nodded. "I presume that I should also stoke Michael Hasek-Davion's ambitions. After the reversals of his recent campaign, his ego will be smarting."

"Indeed," Tiepolo nodded graciously. "Perhaps if the Captain-General can be persuaded not to pursue further attacks on the Capellan Confederation, then the Duke of New Syrtis might be persuaded that he can make alliance with Chancellor Liao." He smiled thinly. "After all, if House Liao can turn brother against brother in the Free Worlds League then brother against brother-in-law in the Federated Suns should be childsplay. Now, what do we know about the discussions taking place on Mars?"




Grand Canal Hotel, Hella Basin
Mars, Solar System
17 August 3020

"Her position is very shaky, Hanse." As head of MIIO, it was Count Nicholas Truston's job to know. "There may be precedent for female Coordinators, but it's always been as an 'interim' measure until they married or their sons were old enough to reign. She's not married and this daughter that the Steiners found out about is probably her only child. If Takashi hadn't been so efficient in setting the Warlords against each other, she'd probably be dead by now."

The Prince nodded wearily. He had spent the afternoon negotiating with Katrina over a relaxation of trade barriers between their realms (no one expected such a move from the Combine so Cecilia had excused herself) and while Katrina was enthusiastic, she'd also been feeling him out about co-operation against the Combine. He didn't want to appear reluctant - and a defensive alliance made sense - but equally, the ceasefire was delicate enough that even appearances of collusion against the Combine could undo seven years of progress. "What's your opinion of the Warlords?"

Truston pursed his lips. "Sorenson's reliable but not too competent. She used him to keep control of Pesht early in her reign and moving him into Galedon has steadied that District. Hsiun Chi's probably her closest ally now that Yorinaga Kurita has dropped out of sight: they're both graduates of the Sun Tzu School of Combat and she elevated him to control of Dieron. It's entirely possible that he's ambitious enough to want to move higher though."

"The problems are Samsonov in Rasalhague and Yoriyoshi in Benjamin. It's fortunate for the Coordinator that they loath each other because they're both militarily capable and politically astute. Samsonov's career was mostly spent in Galedon and he was promoted to replace Cherenkoff. That's probably leaves him with less local support than Yoriyoshi, but it also means he has ties to Galedon's institutions and a veneer of 'closeness' to the Coordinator due to her campaigns on that part of the border. Yoriyoshi is entrenched in Benjamin and his own glory from taking Port Moseby balances that."

"What about Pesht?"

"Hirushi Shotugama." The count spread his hands. "He keeps his own counsel and no one is quite sure how he'll move. He used to command a regiment in the Benjamin Regulars so he might be inclined towards Yoriyoshi, but then, Hsiun Chi was Cherenkoff's aide and hated the man."

Hanse chuckled. "Did anyone like Cherenkoff other than Takashi Kurita?"

Truston grinned wryly. "Three regiments of the Rasalhague Regulars liked him enough to follow him to hell."

"Right... which says something about how unpopular she is. And executing every officer in the 11th Benjamin Regulars probably didn't make Yoriyoshi a happy man. So two of her Warlords are probably plotting against her and a third's loyalties are unknown. What about the rest of the Combine?" The military was usually the decision point for the Combine, but with that divided, the other arms of the government might tip the balance.

"Well you know the traditional role of a woman in Draconian society isn't exactly barefoot, pregnant and kitchenbound, no matter what the propaganda is?"

"I'd sort of gathered. It's still household management though."

"Yes, they handle the finances, look after the children... sounds obvious but in a government role that means handling the economy and education. And while a lot of traditional women don't approve of a woman being the Coordinator, there's a general agreement that she's doing a good job there. Agricultural production is up and it's in an interesting way - more mechanisation for regions producing basic foodstuffs and subsidies to small farmers converting to low-level luxury foods. There are a lot of licences being issued for small businesses - the part of the Treasury that handles that is recruiting. However, the section that provides corporate oversight isn't. That might mean that she's relaxing oversight."

"More food would mean cheaper food," Hanse observed. "That's got to hurt farmers in some ways."

"It does. The market's got competitive and that does mean there are some losers. But it's reducing military expenditure on food for soldiers so the DCMS is happy about it. Particularly since that money's being channelled to new weapons factories."

"Ouch."

"Yes. That's how they're subsidising Alshain Weapons building their new facility on Ningxia. The Coordinator's exercised eminent domain to seize parts from derelict factories and contributed those. That site will almost double production of the Panther light 'Mech, and it gives them an alternate supply if they have more trouble with Rasalhague."

Hanse groaned and walked over to the window. "Aaron's going to be furious. What else does she have up her sleeve?"

Shuffling through a briefing document turned up an answer Truston didn't think that his Prince would like. "Apparently they're looking at a factory for fusion reactors on New Samarkand. Our sources say they're leaning on the Outworlds Alliance for some of the data they used to for the Merlin."

"Please tell me that they're only for the Panthers."

"There's also a tank project..."

Hanse started to swear in french.




Grand Canal Hotel, Hella Basin
Mars, Solar System
17 August 3020

Subash Indrahar was one of the most feared men in the Draconis Combine, despite his notoriously genial manner. The imperial court on Luthien regarded Cecilia Kurita's assiduous development of a close relationship with the Director of the ISF as one of the shrewdest moves she had made in the quiet chaos following from Takashi Kurita's assassination. Few realised that it was Indrahar who had approached Cecilia and not the other way around.

"It was wise of you to reveal Hanse Davion's daughter to him, Lord Kurita," he congratulated her and noted approvingly that there was not the least sign in her demeanor that she was disturbed by his admission that he knew of Siriwan Kurita's parentage. "His use of Morgan Hasek-Davion as a hostage against the Duke of New Syrtis suggested that he would be hardened against such tactics, but it is clear now that he would hesitate to move against the mother of his child."

"Integrity demanded that I share the information with him as soon as it was practical to do so," Cecilia replied mildly. "It continues to astonish me how often the honourable course of action proves also to have pragmatic benefits."

The spymaster's smile did not waver any more than hers had. "Still, I regret that his security were able to locate all of our listening devices in his rooms. They are regrettably proficient at their tasks. Even Archon Steiner's rooms are almost closed to our devices."

"Almost," she replied with a smile.

He bowed his head in confirmation. "There has been no indication at this time that Duke Ricol's activities have been determined."

Hassid Ricol was one of the most inventive Dukes in the aristocracy of the Combine and had amassed a considerable degree of power despite the handicap his Azami heritage posed in their japanese dominated culture. His ties to the traditionalists could have made him a focal point for resistance so Cecilia had co-opted him to begin a programme of subversion in the pirate kingdoms flanking both House Steiner and House Kurita's domanins.

Posing as smugglers, Ricol's agents had approached some of the less barbaric groups for protection of their routes (which were providing the Duke with a modest profit in fact, with the price of Kurita 'war trophies' could command in the Lyran black market). From there the goal was to bring the useful pirates into a permanent role as security for the smugglers, eliminate their rivals and begin shipping Kuritan manufactured goods to the worlds they controlled. While inferior to the Lyran equivalents, the goods would be far more available than usual in the periphery. Potentially Cecilia thought that as many as a dozen worlds might be shifted into the Kuritan sphere of influence. None of them would be very valuable worlds economically but keeping Ricol busy was more than worth it and the strategic position on the Lyran flank might be invaluable.

And if the Steiners found out? Ricol was utterly dispensable.

[sandstorm]

I wonder if Cecilia-dono and Subhash have something prepped in case Rasalhagian autonomy gets more popular in the Combine. Nothing like undermining ROM by giving the people what they are told they need...

I think the diversions from normal timeline are interesting. Pre-empting the Ronin War, no Ryuken regiments (since no Wolf Dragoon instructors there...) Probably no Ghost regiments either?

[Siden Pryde]

Interesting, very interesting.  I am enjoying this one and the others in the "Alternate Alliances" set as I call it (One Letter, The Taurian Gambit).

[drakensis]

I think the diversions from normal timeline are interesting. Pre-empting the Ronin War, no Ryuken regiments (since no Wolf Dragoon instructors there...) Probably no Ghost regiments either?

The Ryuken regiments were raised in the mid-3020s, which haven't been reached yet (the Wolf Dragoons service up to this point is effectively canonical). The Ghost Regiments were raised in the mid-3030s, again, far in the future.

[sandstorm]

Hmm... I thought they had started the Ryuken experiment earlier, but guess it all fit together rather quicker than I remembered. Okay, time to re-read Wolves on the Border, I think.

Hmm x 3.

Ghosts were partially built from Theodore's need for new troops after devastation of 4th and the freedom to move since he was somewhat sidelined by Takashi. I think we need more view into who of Cecilia's family are actually alive, besides the Pillarines and Yorinaga.

And Yorinaga reminds me that Genyosha was built by him to counter the Kell Hounds during 4th. Hmm...

[drakensis]

Blacknova has kindly worked up a map for me:

[Tokage]

Enjoyable story.  :)

I even like the map.  :)

[drakensis]

Grand Canal Hotel, Hella Basin
Mars, Solar System
21 August 3020

Privacy is something almost unobtainable to royalty, particularly when housed not in the usual palaces but in suites of even the most exclusive hotel. As a result, after the private conference five days before, Hanse and Cecilia had not managed to find any excuse to banish all aides and bodyguards so they could have some time to themselves.

It didn't even have to be enough privacy for physical intimacy, nice though that would be, a disgruntled Hanse Davion thought. Neither of them was a teenager, after all. Just having more time to talk frankly to each other would be an improvement. He could only hope that he was hiding his frustration as well as Cecilia. Of course, maybe she wasn't finding this quite as difficult as him - he sort of hoped she was, otherwise it would be markedly unfair.

The afternoon's discussions had been about releasing medical information between their respective medical establishments. Hanse thought Katrina had been surprised to find out that that was one area where the Combine had a great deal to offer the other two. He certainly had been although a query to Truston had cleared up why: the Combine was considerably more relaxed about human experimentation than either of the other two realms. It wasn't something he found easy to reconcile with his image of Cecilia, even if she hadn't started the practise she would have grown up in a culture that endorsed it.

Hmm. Maybe he should talk to Quintus Allard. The head of counterintelligence had been married to a Capellan while he was stationed at the embassy on Sian but the marriage hadn't worked out. He'd probably have some insights into relationships across cultural lines, although then he might work out the reasons...

Distracted by considering how to approach the matter, Hanse didn't spot one of Cecilia's aides brush a potted plant with his leg and stumble slightly. Trying to keep the stack of datafiles in his arms, the middle-aged man failed to spot that he was on a collision course with a junior official of the Ministry of Ways and Means. The woman gasped in shock as the hapless aide collided with her posterior and spun sharply, bringing her own attache case down on the man's head.

Matters deteriated from there as two DCMS officers jumped to the protection of their countryman and a diplomatic services official moved gallantly to the aid of the woman (although by the way she was kicking the fallen man, she seemed to have little need of any).

"Stop this immediately!" Hanse thundered, bringing the incipient brawl to a halt. "What in the world..."

Cecilia cleared her throat. "Perhaps, your highness, the children can take their games outside of this hotel." Her scathing gaze took in the aides, officials and soldiers of both nations, causing even those innocent of participation to shuffle their feet. She gestured towards the elevators behind them and Hanse nodded in understanding.

"Sort yourselves out," he directed his own party. "And do yourselves the favour of not drawing my attention again today."

Then the Coordinator and First Prince stepped into the same elevator, the doors closing behind them.

Hanse waited until the floor indicator had begun to change before letting a brief grin cross his face. "I take it that that was stage-managed then?"

"Subash-san is never that clumsy by accident, dear prince," Cecilia said with a smile that was as much for identifying the perpetrator of the ruse as it was for being able to use the endearment.

"That was...?"

"He likes to keep his hand in." She consulted her wristwatch and then nodded. "And..." The elevator smoothly came to a halt, the floor indicator halting between two floors. "...stage two. We can probably give it a couple of minutes before alerting the hotel that there seems to be a problem with the elevator. I'm assured it could be anything up to an hour before we're 'released'."

"Quite an embarassement for the hotel," Hanse observed, taking one of the modest chairs in a corner of the elevator (which was of a size that could probably accomodate a platoon of infantry in a pinch). "Or at least it would be if they were to ever admit we were here."

Cecilia took the other chair. "Fortunate for us. And with four other elevators in the lobby it's unlikely to draw attention from anyone."

"So what shall we talk about? The past, the future...? I'm still wondering how you managed to sit yourself on the Coordinator's throne."

"Oh that's simple enough," she advised him drily, rising to her feet. "I stand in front of it, like this you see, and then I bend my knees like so..." Cecelia sat down again and her smile was more of a smirk for an instant.

"I am bereft at your wit."

"And I at your sarcasm, dear prince. I will admit that my rise to the throne was something of a blunder."

"You 'blundered' your way into being the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine?"

Cecilia giggled. "You don't imagine I wanted the job, do you? I just liked being alive and it was the throne or a firing squad. Marcus is more than twenty years older than me and thought that I'd support him in his coup, so several of his cronies tried to talk me into convincing my regiment to declare loyalty to him. I was young, rebellious and never liked Marcus anyway..." Her voice grew grim. "So I set up a meeting, went up on stage... then pointed them out as traitors involved in the conspiracy to murder Takashi. They came within about an inch of being torn apart on the spot."

"I imagine that burned your bridges with Marcus fairly thoroughly."

"You could say that." Cecilia grimaced. "Sho-sho Langley had choice words for me since I'd also burned the entire regiment's bridges to him and at the time it looked like he really might manage what he was aiming for. In which case he'd certainly kill me as a traitor. And anyone else on the throne - including Takashi because we still weren't sure he was dead - would probably kill me just to be on the safe side, since by taking out Marcus' men I'd upgraded myself from simple mechwarrior to political player."

Hanse nodded his understanding. "So you had to prove your loyalty beyond any doubt, by actively taking on Marcus. And once you heard your cousin really was dead..."

"That was news that arrived in the nick of time thanks to Constance. Ivan Sorenson was probably about an inch from turning against us but with Takashi dead he had to pick someone to follow: it's just how he's wired and I was there while Marcus was still trying to cement his hold on Pesht. But I had to offer the soldiers some thing to fight for and a dead Takashi wasn't very surprising so..."

Hanse left his chair and crossed the frozen elevator to kneel in front of her, taking Cecilia's hands comfortingly. "Obviously you won."

Cecilia accepted his hands. "I had to run fast to make it happen and I've been running ever since, trying to keep ahead of my enemies. Not quite sure what I'm running towards."

"Is there any chance of it being us?" He raised one of her hands to his face, brushing his lips across her knuckles.

"I very much doubt that, Hanse." Cecilia's face was serene but her eyes betrayed how difficult it was for her to face that. "Which means, my dear prince, that you must do your duty to the Suns: take a wife and have heirs that can succeed your throne. One nephew is not enough."

"A nephew and a daughter," he reminded her.

"Maybe more than that."

Hanse's startled look at Cecilia's navel put a smile back on her lips. "Not now, no. But there are... possibilities that would be less betraying. Most of my Warlords can count to nine, after all. None of which is relevant to this however. We both know that Siriwan is even less likely to inherit your throne than she is to have mine one day." She shook her head firmly. "We're married to our realms first and foremost. You know that. Now we have to do what is right for them."




Yokohama Spaceport, Japan
Pacific Rim, Terra
29 August 3020

Practically the first person that Cecilia saw as she exited the dropship was Charles Osterraker. The elderly man bowed his head more in order to hide his face as he composed himself than out of any actual respect. "Coordinator. How delightful that you have finally managed to find time in your busy schedule for us."

"Well, you know..." she waved her hand dismissively. "After cancelling the conference at Hilton Head at the last minute, I felt a social visit was in order."

"I seems to notice that you still had the conference though," the Precentor noted acridly as he walked side by side with the Coordinator to the limousine that had been provided for her.

"Oh yes. It was the 'at Hilton Head' part that we cancelled. It occurred to me that it was disrespectful of us to assume you wouldn't have your own interests to argue that might conflict with ours. You're such a young organisation, after all, I fear we might not have been taking you entirely seriously."

Osterraker choked. "'Young organsiation'?"

"Not quite two hundred and fifty years, I believe." Cecilia favoured him with a broad smile. "I'm afraid that doesn't really count for much more than a passing fad - such as the Star League - amongst nations with true longevity such as the Combine or the other Successor States. Still, I am of the opinion that we should have more respect for you."

The condescending words were almost enough to goad the Precentor into thoughtless words. As it was, his response sounded almost plainitve. "But if you respect ComStar then why do you not trust us to aid you in these peace talks?"

"Oh Charles..." Cecilia did all but bat her eyes at the man, who was old enough to be her grandfather. "You really need to let go of that naivete."

Mentally, Osterraker started composing the announcement of his retirement. Let Tiepolo promote his precious prodigy to the job - he gave Waterly about a month of dealing with Cecilia Kurita before she'd need a presciption of anti-psychotics - he was done with the job. "Would it be forward of me to enquire your intentions in Tokyo?" he asked, opening the limousine door for her in a gentlemanly fashion.

"I've been invited for tea," Cecilia advised him and firmly closed the door to the limousine behind her.

Osterraker tapped impatiently on the limousine window until the Coordinator rolled it down. "I'm sorry, was there something else?"

"I believe the Primus would like to speak to you before you leave Terra. He was quite insistent upon it, in fact. If nothing else I'm sure "

"He knows where I'm staying, Precentor. And if coming here is too far for him, there's this wonderful invention called the telephone. I'm almost certain my hotel suite will have one."




LCS Donegal's Pride
Outer System, Terra
29 August 3020

"Gentlemen, your opinions on the Coordinator are valued but the decision has been made." Katrina Steiner had little patience with repetition of arguements she'd understood the first time they were presented to her. "The ceasefire may not last forever, but with the Federated Suns as guarantor it is highly unlikely that Coordinator Kurita will break it. She's many things but she is not a fool and the Combine cannot prosper with heavy fighting on both borders."

Of course, Hanse Davion's commitment that a break of the Commonwealth-Combine ceasefire would be treated as a break of his own ceasefire was debateable. The First Prince had a reputation for being scrupulous about keeping his word, but he was also an ambitious man and Katrina was not convinced that she understood the goals he had set himself.

"That promise is only for three years," Tyrell Gibson noted grimly. "When that time is up there will be nothing to constrain them."

"The Coordinator's admission that she may not be able to keep the peace longer than that is a positive sign though," the Archon told the representative of the Estates-General. "And in fairness to her, restraining Kelswa from another forlorn hope to reclaim his homeworld is going to be a challenge so she isn't the only one with unruly soldiers." Duke Selvin Kelswa had seen the effects of Draconian conquest on Tamar worlds as a young man and his passionate efforts to rouse support for reclaiming the capital of the Tamar Pact had led directly to the near-loss of Winfield's Brigade and the effective loss of the Kell Hounds mercenary regiment since the rump of that unit had accepted a contract to hunt pirates for the Free Worlds League. Undaunted the Duke was still pestering the government for another attack, albeit with less progress.

"That gives us three years to rebuild the damage done to the LCAF and to bolster our position against the League." katrina steepled her hands. "Preferably to convince Janos Marik that we're enough of a problem that he'll agree to a ceasefire with us and focus his efforts on the Capellans." Her gaze flicked to the military officers in the room. "I'll allow twelve months for the LCAF to restore its losses and prepare for a major offensive."

Enquiring minds promptly started spreading out maps mentally, considering the Lyran-League border from Poulsbo out on the periphery rim to Rigil Kentarus, closest Lyran world to Terra itself. However before targets could be proposed, Katrina gestured for silence. "If you have recommendations for such an operation, I suggest you develop a full plan to put forward once we return to Tharkad. For now, you may take your leave."

Katrina nodded discreetly to Harrison Bradford and to her sister Nondi, indicating that they were not included in the dismissal.

"Why Katrina, just the three of us?" the Duke of Coventry asked when the door was closed, directing a ribald wink at the Archon.

"Merely insisting on a respite from your pursuit of the secretaries, Thomas. You have to take care of your health."

Nondi ignored the byplay - Bradford was a notorious flirt but he also knew perfectly well that Nondi was happily married. The habit amused Katrina however, so for her sake it was tolerable. "I take it you've already decided where to attack?"

"I have a strong preference," admitted Katrina standing so she could pace around the cramped cabin. To accomodate the meeting earlier, furniture had been folded aside, giving her room for a few steps in each direction. "But I don't want to close my mind off if someone has a better idea."

"Well get it off that impressive chest of yours."

The Archon turned to face the Duke: "Right through the Silver Hawks Coalition to Stewart."

Bradford whistled.

"Hmm. The Nathan salient again, at least to start with. Then push for Stewart not Bordon," summarised Nondi, referring to one of the major strategic features of the border during the Second Succession War. The worlds had been lost one by one over the years, but LCAF still had detailed maps and records of the area. "Marik will have to find for the region."

"Correct. If the Silver Hawks can be counted on for anything it's to start a screaming fight in his Parliament and he has family ties to the Stewart Commonality. Throw in the Battlemech factories on Kalidasa and Stewart -"

"And the Imstar factory on Amity," pointed out Bradford.

"Yes, and that. Then Janos will have to pull his federal regiments off the Capellan front to face us, raising protests from Andurien and not scoring him many points with the Duke of Oriente. He can't rely on local forces while the region around Irian is a hotbed of opposition to him."

Nondi frowned in thought. "We'll have to redeploy as well. You're talking about seven or eight worlds - can't be done with less than ten regiments unless you want Rahneshire stripped bare."

"Wolf's Dragoons will reinforce the Combine border, but plan on having mercenary regiments pulled off the line from there and several other regions. That'll create least fuss and we can pull a few regular regiments loose for the second and third waves when surprise doesn't matter quite so much."

"It's a plan, or at least the beginnings of one," agreed Bradford with unusual seriousness. "But the question remains: will Janos talk? He wouldn't hear of negotiating with his brother when Anton raised revolt so what's to say he'll be more reasonable with us? If he commits to pushing us back then we could be stuck in heavy fighting there when the ceasefire with the Combine ends. The Capellans will be too busy fighting the Federated Suns to do anything much."

Katrina nodded. "Normally yes, but there's one difference, Harrison. Fighting us would be his duty. But Maxmilian Liao funded Anton Marik's rebellion, forcing Janos to declare war on his brother and execute his own son. For him, fighting the Capellans is personal. Janos Marik isn't going to get bogged down fighting us if there's a chance in the universe that Hanse Davion could get to Sian before him."

[drakensis]

Imperial Hotel Tokyo, Japan
Pacific Rim, Terra
1 September 3020

With Grand Canal Hotel looking to gain a lock on the upper crust visitors to Mars for the next two or three decades in the wake of their unprecendented coup in hosting three Successor Lords at once, hotels around Japan had engaged in a fierce bidding war for the honour of providing Lord Kurita and her party with accomodation for her delayed visit, knowing that the costs would be insignificant in comparison to the rewards of association with the second most prestigious royal line in the known universe (the entirely ceremonial Emperor of Japan still taking precedence of course).

A combination of tradition, price and entertainment had convinced Cecilia that the Imperial Hotel Tokyo was the best choice and two days later her only regret was that she was scheduled to leave in another two days. The Imperial Palace on Luthien might be slightly more luxurious but it was also a working building, to no small measure taken up by the government of the Draconis Combine. In contrast, the hotel was entirely devoted to pampering its guests and with a tradition stretching back over a thousand years, they were by now fairly good at it.

As a result, when Myndo Waterly approached the Hotel, the staff were discreetly obtuse as to the location of the guest that the Precentor was speaking of. Not obstructory of course, for were ComStar not the great benefactors of all Terra by protecting it from the rigors of the Succession Wars? But somehow, they didn't seem to be quite able to pin down where Cecilia was at that moment, although ROM surveillance had made it clear that she had not left since her visit to the Imperial Palace the previous day.

The pale haired Precentor was about to renew her assault, armed with unquenchable confidence (some might say arrogance) that her authority could not be side-stepped indefinitely when she was assaulted from behind.

"Awk," she managed as strong arms wrapped around her shoulders in an unexpected hug.

"Well well," a friendly voice declared from behind her. "I heard there was a Precentor looking for me, but I thought it would be that old buzzard Osterraker." Waterly was released and turned to see the Coordinator looking at her with approval. "You must be the new and improved model."

"Ah... I am Myndo Waterly, the new Precentor Dieron," she confirmed, disconcerted by the warm reception. Her briefings had indicated that Cecilia Kurita was at best tolerant towards ComStar and at worst openly discourteous. A residue of upbringing from her childhood on Kuzuu had her bow to the noblewoman, although not as deeply as she once would have.

Cecilia returned the bow, giving the younger woman a moment to assess her situation and realise that the Coordinator was wearing baggy sweats and had obviously been exercising. "Myndo Waterly... ah yes, I've heard a great deal about you. Florimel was furious that the ISF were so heavy-handed as to drive you to leave the Combine."

While Waterly had been aware before entering ComStar that she was being cultivated by both the Order of the Five Pillars and by the Internal Security Force as a possible recruit, the notion that she might have come to the attention of the now-retired Keeper of House Honour had not occurred to her. "I'm honoured to have been held in such regard," she replied diplomatically, "But I found that I was called to serve a different master."

"I understand," Cecilia assured her warmly. "Our loss is ComStar's gain and your rise simply confirms all our expectations of your potential." She took the young Precentor's arms and gently but firmly began to draw her deeper into the hotel, the usual entourage of bodyguards and aides falling in smoothly around them. "I'm just going to get cleaned up - please, join me in the spa and we can get to know each other. After all, we're likely to have a long and hopefully close working relationship."

"That is hardly usual for a Precentor and the Lord of a Successor State," Myndo observed cautiously although she did not resist the guidance. Certainly the Coordinator would not attempt to harm her: an attack upon even the least ComStar adept would be met with firm retribution and she was on Earth, seat of Blake's followers.

Cecilia smiled and nodded slightly in confirmation. "I must admit that Osterraker and I have not been on the best of terms," she confessed. "While a distinguished individual, honesty compells me to admit that he was... conservative. The Inner Sphere is changing... I am sure that you see that. Blake foresaw that no one could win the Succession Wars, did he not? That the fighting would end?"

"Uh... yes. Have you studied the Word of Blake?"

"My education touched on all the great thinkers. Being the closest to our times I admit that Jerome Blake's writing drew more of my attention although I never felt the same call that you did."

Their conversation was interrupted by entrance into the hotel's spa and staff efficiently assisting Waterly in removing her clothes for the massage that would precede entering the spa waters. Under normal circumstances the younger woman might have hesitated but she was in the company of the Coordinator and it would not be fitting for a ComStar Precentor to appear less than sophisticated, so she obediently followed the instructions and resumed her place at the side of the Coordinator, suppressing the thrill at the realisation that she was being treated almost as a peer. Of course, I am, she thought. After all, I'm a member of the First Circuit, one of the most important people in ComStar and by extension, of the entire Inner Sphere.

"You know, most of my soldiers would consider this to border upon decadence," Cecilia confided as the masseur began to work on her shoulders. "But really, it's simply civilisation, isn't it?"

Waterly mumbled something non-committal, making a note to check for any similar spas near Hilton Head.




Imperial City, Luthien
Pesht District, Draconis Combine
27 September 3020

The homecoming of their Lord and mistress was sufficient occasion for the entire service staff of the Imperial Palace to assemble in two lines either side of the steps, something of a gauntlet that Cecilia had to walk, pausing every few steps to return their bows. In the cases of a few particularly favoured individuals, she provided small gifts brought from Terra. They would be valued far more for their symbolic value than for what had been paid for them.

At the top of the steps leading to the palace was a broad porch and awaiting her there were three women and a little girl. The latter broke ranks and ran giggling to Cecilia as she reached the top steps and the Coordinator laughed, sweeping her daughter off the ground and up into a hug.

"Did you miss me, kaasan?" the six year old asked, pressing her face against the side of Cecilia's neck.

"Of course I did, Siri'." Cecilia rubbed the girl's back with her free hand. "But I'm back now and just in time. I think it might be someone's birthday soon... I just can't remember whose..."

Siriwan moved her head back to look up at her. "It's mine!"

"No! Really?" She put an expression of exagerated thought on her face. "Why I believe you're right. And you'll be six!"

"Six!"

"Yes indeed." Cecilia walked up the next few steps. "Now then, have you been a good girl while your kaasan was away?"

She received a nod and an empathic: "Uh-huh!"

"As good as can be expected," Jasmine Kurita clarified serenely, stepping forwards to add her own greetings. "Welcome home, Lord Kurita." The widow of Takashi Kurita remained at the heart of the social and artistic circles of the court, making her another of Cecilia's most useful advisors.

"It's good to be home, Jasmine-sama." Cecilia turned to her niece - though there was less than a month between their ages - Constance and gave her a warm smile. "No fresh scandals disturbing your harmony, my friend?"

"You know they save all the excitement for your presence," Constance answered solemnly, her demeanor so nearly feline it was a slight surprise that she did not purr. "The Procurement Department of the DCMS have been seeking your attention, but that's probably just business and nothing exciting."

"A little business here and there keeps the realm moving."

The last of the little group stepped forward and lifted Siriwan firmly from her mother's arms. The girl pouted slightly but accepted the rearrangement with good grace. Tomoe Sakade was a legacy - her appointment one of Florimel Kurita's last actions before handing her duties to Constance - and filled many roles, of which nanny to Siriwan was only one. Cecilia gripped her shoulder in wordless greeting, feeling muscle and sinew even through the folds of the kimono - like the Coordinator, Tomoe was a mechwarrior and it showed.

"I'd have thought that after negotiating with Steiner and Davion you'd be less enthusiastic at more paperwork?" Constance asked as they walked through the doors of the palace. "Did the Archon ask for Tamar back?"

"Of course she did. And I'd have let her have it if she'd met my price: all seventeen of the the former Terran Hegemony worlds currently under Lyran control. For some reason she didn't think that it was a good deal."

"That's a shame," the Keeper of the House Honour replied with a smirk. The victory at Tamar was one of the key demonstrations of Cecilia's military competence (official releases used the word genius) that kept the DCMS happy. Handing it back to the Lyrans would have been a major sacrifice.

"If the Procurement Department want my attention...." Cecilia shook her head in irritation. "Have the Department of Indoctrination been pestering you as well?"

"Not really. You think they're up to something?"

"They're always up to something. But if they're being a quiet about it then it's something that they think I won't approve of."

"Kaasan, who are the Min-ish-tree of In-doc-ck-..." Siriwan stumbled over the word.

"Indoctrination," Cecilia repeated slowly so that her daughter could grasp the pronounciation. "They're teachers, Siriwan."

"Teachers!" The little girl looked worried. "Are they going to make you learn silly languages, kaasan?"

The four women smiled at the comment. Like any noble child in the Combine, Siriwan was had been raised with Japanese and English from the cradle. Cecilia had ordered lessons in Arabic and Swedenese as soon as formal schooling began, having struggled with learning both herself. Unfortunately, getting a headstart hadn't made Siriwan any happier about the lessons than her mother had been at the same stage.

"I think they're keeping secrets from me, Siriwan. They're being bad people. Like in the Silly Cameron and the Shark," she explained, referring to a story she'd invented years ago to tell to the girl when Siriwan demanded stories not included in the books of children's tales that she could read for herself. That story had grown over the years and actually required a little historical research on Cecilia's part. "There may have to be spanking."

Satisfied that her mother had everything back under control, Siriwan accepted Tomoe putting her down and obediently followed her nanny off back to her own classes. Jasmine looked at their retreating backs and then to Cecilia. "You could spend more time with her, you know. Sometimes you act more like a father than a mother."

"I know. And in four years she'll be old enough for preparatory school and I'll see even less of her," the Coordinator admitted. "And it's difficult to campaign from Luthien."

"But you won't need to campaign for the next few years. Didn't you just finish agreeing a ceasefire with the Lyrans? We will be at peace, surely. At least for a few years."

Cecilia sighed and took Jasmine's arm. "Our people have not been at peace since 2866. That's beyond even institutional memory and the unfamilar makes people uncomfortable. And when the Mustered Soldiery becomes uncomfortable, it will become aggressive and start looking for a target. I would rather give them a target than become one."

"Oh."

"Not immediately, I admit. There will probably be two or even three years before I have to do that. Long enough to give them some idea of what peace is like. Who knows, maybe after that round of fighting I can stretch it out for as long as five years."

Jasmine shook her head, thinking of her own family. "I suppose wives and mothers will have to get used to having husbands and sons underfoot more often."

"An unfamiliar experience, but I hope one that those who do face it will find it welcome."




Avalon City, New Avalon
Crucis March, Federated Suns
30 September 3020

The First Prince had been distracted since his return from Terra - or Mars, at least - Countess Nelitha Green-Davion of the Gold Isles noticed. Then, because she was not only a distant cousin but also a General in the AFFS, she returned to detailing the problems being experienced with the flow of supplies from depots in the Crucis March to the units deployed along the Capellan border.

The problem was one that Hanse was not unfamiliar with - as military governor of New Aragon for two years before taking the throne, he'd seen the problem from the other end and done his best to eradicate the corruption that was hampering military operations. Now, from New Avalon he was morally certain he knew where the rot originated... but he lacked the evidence that would be needed in order to remove the source.

Impeaching the second-highest noble after himself would would require ironclad evidence and even them, the backlash could be catastrophic. Even Hanse's supporters might feel that he was more concerned by limiting the powers of a vassal than by preventing the damage done by Michael Hasek-Davion. Still, maybe he could shake matters up a bit.

"In summation then, you don't find the supplies being directed into the four worlds that Michael managed to capture two years ago to be consistent with the reported difficulties in organising their defences?" he asked.

Nelitha shook her head in denial. "No sir. The supplies are being wasted or otherwise disposed of. We just haven't been able to pin down how."

"I see. Jisosa -" Hanse turned to Nelita's immediate superior, Marshal Miller. "- can you spare Nelitha for a month or so? I have a project in mind and I want it to receive her undivided attention."

The older woman nodded in evident amusement. "I'm sure this will hurt General Green-Davion's feelings, but I imagine that the department can manage at least briefly without her. What do you have in mind?"

Hanse grinned boyishly. "It occurs to me that we haven't really done a systematic review of the boundaries of the Capellan March PDZs since Sirdar was established, and that was in my grandfather's reign. Perhaps we should consider merging the rimward region of Sirdar and Ridgebrook into a new PDZ facing the Taurian Concordat. Of course that would be a major shake up since we'd have to decide what to do with the rest of Ridgebrook - perhaps even adjust the March boundary as some parts of the Capellan March really have more than adequate defensive depth..."

An intrigued look crossed Nelitha's face. "I've always found that the best way to reorganise a drawer is to pull everything out into the open to see what's in there to begin with."

"Exactly. And having just carried out a major investigation of the area, you're the perfect choice to draw up the proposal," Hanse agreed enthusiastically. "Not to mention see what comes to light as a result. See if you can draw up a rough preliminary recommendation for..." He hesitated then called up his diary on a noteputer. "Hmm, do you have lunch plans for the seventh of next month?"

"No sir." It was astonishing how few people did have plans that would conflict with an implicit invitation from their prince.

"Then we'll make a working lunch of it at the palace," Hanse decided.

Jisosa Miller hid a smile. She had no doubt that Hanse's thought to redraw borders was, if impulsive, quite serious and that he had selected Nelitha to plan the changes because he believed she was the best person for the job. The Marshal had a suspicion though that had the 'best person for the job' not been an attractive single woman only a few years Hanse's junior, then they would not be discussing it over lunch.

And that meant that Jisosa was one step closer to winning twenty FedSuns pounds off Yvonne Davion. Both women had been concerned about Hanse's failure to marry and produce children as an alternative to Hasek-Davion taking the throne.

"It'll be a couple of years before the regiments we used against Tikonov are ready for more action," the Prince continued. "I'll need to talk it over with Aaron Sandoval but some of them could probably benefit from rotation out to quieter sections of the Draconis March, so you may be directing replacement personnel and equipment out to Dahar and Bryceland for a while, Jisosa. Don't allocate any jumpships until I've talked to him though. We'll have to decide which regiments to replace them with."

He turned his head to one of Nelitha's closer cousins, Tobias Green-Davion, who headed the Department of Mercenary Relations. "Tobias, I want you to start thinking about what to offer the Wolf Dragoons when their contract with Katrina expires in 3022. Now that she has a ceasefire with House Kurita, they won't be seeing much action and for the same reason they probably won't get much of an offer from the Coordinator. Which means it's us, Marik or Liao that they'll be looking to for future employment. I can live with Janos Marik hiring them, but the Dragoons back in Capellan employment is a problem I'd rather not have to deal with. Ian's offer to them when they left in 3010 is still on file - see what you can think of to sweeten the deal."

[Eivind]

Bad news for the Dragoons, their spy mission just got trickier, and worse news for the Capellans, they risk the Federated Suns and Free Worlds League ganging up on them.

[mikecj]

I think we just found the next First Lord of the Star League (First Lady doesn't sound right)

[drakensis]

Sakuntalem, Kalidasa
Free Worlds League
15 January 3022

Benjamin Nevis rode the impact as his Hunchback crashed to the ground but he could taste blood in his mouth once his vision cleared. Expecting the enemy Mech to follow up, he rolled the 'Mech onto its back and then propped it up, looking for the target. However, the blue-and-gold Zeus had seen the remaining pair of his lance-mates approach and decided against tangling with the three of them in close quarters.

"Lieutenant! Are you okay?" Bounding forwards, Messina Hobbes brought her Wolverine into position to screen him.

"I'm doing just fine, Messina." Nevis levered the Hunchback upright and assessed the damage. It wasn't good news, but he could still move and use all his guns, including the heavy autocannon that the medium 'Mech was best known for. "Did you spot Grissom? He had to punch out."

"We saw his 'Mech. No sign of him but there's a platoon of our PBIs up ahead so he's got a good chance of hooking up with them."

Nevis sighed and looked at his status board again. He really wanted to fall back for repairs but there probably weren't the reserves to replace his lance on the line. The 23rd Marik Militia had arrived on planet just barely in time to stop the Lyrans over-running Kalidasa's capital city and too late to keep them from capturing the KaliYama factories that were the planet's main claim to fame. They'd build his own Battlemech, for example.

"Watch my back," he ordered the other mechwarrior in the lance, Russell T. Russell. 'The Rus' as he was nicknamed, set the feet of his Trebuchet and swivelled his torso, ensuring he could bring his weapons to bear on any of the three roads that met at this junction. Heavy with long range missiles, the 'Mech was far from idea for a close quarters brawl, but like this, he could fire salvos directly down the open avenues for at least half a kilometer.

Flicking his radio over to transmit the company frequency, Nevis took a deep breath. "Bowler One, this is Bowler Nine. I've just had a close encounter with a Zeus in Royal Guard colours. Seems like he's pulled back to whistle up some friends and it would be real nice if I could do the same."

For a moment there was only a crackle of of static. "Bowler Nine, we're a little light on boots right now, but give the word and there'll be friendly wings overhead."

"Understood, Bowler One. Bowler Nine out." He made sure the transmitter was off before adding. "Friendly wings... I've heard that chestnut before." Opening up again, this time to Messina and the Rus, he warned: "Heads up, people. If we see any movement the Captain promises to kick those lazy aerojocks out of bed, which means their Lyran dance partners won't be far behind."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Rus tilting his 'Mech's torso back and extending the arm mounted missile launcher. "Sir, I think the Lyran aerojocks woke first," he warned and then started firing into the air.

With no weapons that could reach a useful altitude, Nevis would have to rely on his lancemate to ward off the fighters. Instead he side-stepped his Mech leftwards into an alleyway, hoping the building would give him at least partial shelter while he fired into the Mechs that were no doubt about to rush the position. "Messina..."

"On it, sir." The Wolverine backed up into an empty lot that would let it hit the Steiner forces in the flank if they advanced up the street.

"Bowler One, this is Bowler Nine. We're going to need that air cover the moment it’s available..."

The first enemy 'Mech to appear was a Vulcan - in the same colours as the Zeus from before - that popped into view down the street. Apparently undaunted by the fact that it was no match for either of them, the 'Mech fired its jumpjets as soon as it spotted Nevis and the Rus, bounding forward to trade shots at point-blank range.

Audacity paid off for the Lyran: although Nevis blazed away, his huge autocannon poured fire into the facade of the building next to the Vulcan rather than the Mech. The Rus broke off firing missiles at aerial targets and snapfired his medium lasers, one of them scarring the Vulcan's flank and breaking up the paint-job.

"Look out!"

Nevis glanced at the rear-view of his display and saw the Zeus again, looming over a low building, weapons pointed at his rear. Laser fire from Messina's Wolverine sliced into it, but the big 'Mech deliberately fired a volley into Nevis' rear armour. Sparks flew in the cockpit as he fought to avoid falling again. This time he managed it and even brought the Hunchback around to face the larger 'Mech - a good thing since there Hunchback's rear was now essentially unprotected. He was fortunate nothing vital had been struck.

"Where's the Vulcan?" he asked, unable to see it or the backstabbing Zeus.. The last thing he needed was for the lightly-armed city-fighter to rip into his vulnerable rear with its small guns.

"Running south-west," replied the Rus and salvoed missiles after the withdrawing Vulcan. "Missed."

Messina cut in: "I spot a Firestarter heading the same way. Can't do anything, I've got a Crusader in my face."

"Two long range heavies and a pair of light city-fighters... why aren't the lights birddogging us for their buddies." The answer came to him an instant too late as his thermals picked up heatspikes from the south-west. "Tell me that isn't where those infantry were operating."

"That was probably them," the Rus replied heavily as the two 'Mechs moved to support their lancemate. The Vulcan and Firestarter both carried heavy machineguns that could carve an infantry platoon apart in seconds - but the heatsink suggested the use of their feared flamers to root the infantry out instead.

"Operative word being 'was'."

They reached Messina easily enough and Nevis was pleased to see that the Wolverine, while battered, was more than holding its own against the larger Mech. Crusaders were designed for long range support and their close in fire was not suited to an extended firefight, which the smaller Wolverine had the agility to force it into.

He was less happy when the Zeus charged into the fray, almost slamming the Rus' Trebuchet off its feet. Pointblank was not the powerful mech's optimal range but no one seemed to have told the Lyran that and two sharp kicks shattered the leg of the Marik Milita 'Mech, dropping it to the tarmac.

"None of that," Nevis growled, centering the Zeus in his sights and jamming his thumb down on the joystick's primary TIC holding it down. The lasers fired, cycled and then fired again. And again. In the meantime the massive KaliYama BigBore roared out tongues of fire as its shells tore into the much larger Mech. The autocannon's vibration was such that it took a moment for Nevis to realise that he wasn't under fire himself - the Lyran was firing past him at Messina, apparently trying to draw fire away from the crippled Crusader.

If that was the intention, then the mechwarrior was completely successful: the badly damaged Crusader was ignored as all three lancemates poured fire into the Zeus, wrecking its left arm and and stripping bare most of its chest. More than a match for any of them individually the assault 'Mech fell to its knees and then toppled forwards.

Sparks flew off the front of the Hunchback as Nevis moved up to finish the fallen machine and he saw the Vulcan hanging back outside his own range, picking away at him with its light autocannon. The damage was little more than a nuisance but with the damage taken already and the Rus' 'Mech on the ground and likely to remain that way, it wasn't something that any of them could ignore...

Which made it the ideal diversion for the Firestarter which hopped suddenly into the gap between Nevis and Messina, having outflanked them along a parallel road. The first Nevis knew about it was when his ejection seat hurled him out and upwards from his 'Mech as the Lyran took advantage of the existing damage and fired its flamers and machineguns directly into the Hunchback's ammunition bins.

Fortunately for Nevis' life and limbs, his parachute deployed safely.

Less fortunately, he then had a perfect view of the Firestarter jamming both its muzzle-tipped arms into the face of Messina's Wolverine, reducing the cockpit to a burning wreck.

With the Vulcan's machinegun aimed in his direction within seconds of reaching the ground, Nevis was herded alongside the Rus, who had baled out rather than receive the same treatment. Both men placed their hands on top of their heads and watched as a small column of Lyran tanks moved up the street, an APC peeling off to take charge of them.

For the pair of them the war was over.




Sian, Sian Commonality
Capellan Confederation
23 January 3022

"This is excellent news," Maxmilian Liao gloated from the Celestial Throne as Chandra Long finished her report on the Lyran offensive. "With three worlds lost and a fourth in doubt, that dog Janos cannot spare supplies or transport to place pressure upon our border with him."

Standing between her siblings, Candace Liao could not help but agree. Of course, that fact would do nothing to help her own St Ives Commonality which was threated by deep Davion salients, but her other responsibility was ruling over House Liao's ancestral homeworld and that had most definitely had more to fear from the regiments of House Marik.

"This is a moment of opportunity," her father continued, pulling lightly on his long mustaches. "Marik's attention is elsewhere and Davion still licks his wounds after the fighting around Tikonov." It was very much the Chancellor's style to ignore the fact that said fighting had been a substantial defeat for the Capellan Confederation. "Meanwhile our own forces are fully recovered with the addition of the resources of Brownsville."

Brownsville, a world once part of the Terran Hegemony, had been abandoned during the early ears of the Third Succession War. Environmental damage from the use of nuclear weapons during the Amaris Coup and First Succession War, coupled with chemical weapons during the Second Succession War had destroyed it's manufacturing and agriculture, rendering it worthless to the Successor Lords and brutally inhospitable to the surviving residents.

Eighteen months before, a lostech prospector had offered to sell the CCAF directions to a large cache of military equipment, once intended for use by the Hegemony's planetary militia but now abandoned and long forgotten a subterranean warehouse. Given the value of what he described, the requested price: rule of an entire planet, might even have been merited but the Maskirova's interrogators had managed to wear him down to the less expensive price of Capellan citizenship for himself and his family.

Once stock had been taken of the hundreds of battlemechs and armoured vehicles in the cache, the Chancellor had ordered that the matter be dealt with under the greatest of security, requiring that the prospector be quietly murdered. His wife and children would be granted the privilege of continuing to serve the Confederation however, since it had been ascertained that they had never been advised of the cache's contents.

"Serene Wisdom." Tormano Liao stepped forwards slightly and bowed deeply. "The cache found on that worlds will be outweighed in time by production from the factories of Tikonov. May your humble son petition that this opportunity be used to retake that world?"

Liao shook his head dismissively. "You are young and naive, my son, but I forgive you. No doubt that miserable Fox would anticipate such an obvious strategy. You are correct, however, that Davion should be our target. But rather than Tikonov, we shall strike elsewhere. This is our opportunity to liberate the long-lost Chesterton Commonality."

Just as Spica had been 'the opportunity to close the wound in the St Ives Commonality', Candace thought privately. When she was younger, her father's pronouncements had seemed to have the force of law. Later she had felt pity that he couldn't see how doomed his schemes were.

Somewhere along the way those emotions had become contempt for his blind obsession.

She saw Victor Hargreaves shift uneasily among the senior nobility of the Confederation that were in the attendance. The Duke-in-Exile of Chesteron might have been expected to support the goal of recovering his family's long lost domain, but he was a realist and like Candace was entirely aware that there was little or no chance of accomplishing it. Temporary success might be feasible, but a salient driven almost into the Crucis March would be inevitably be destroyed by the AFFS now that they were not fighting against the Draconis Combine.

Still, while this plan might be a disaster in the making, perhaps something could be salvaged from it. "If I may recommend, father, an operation of this scope will demand great stocks of war material both on our part and Hanse Davion would require similar quantities in order to oppose it. While retaking the Chesterton worlds is of course the objective, may I propose including the command world of Valexa in the first wave of attacks. By doing so, we may both arm ourselves from the Davion armories and disrupt the cohesion of the AFFS in that sector."

"Well thought." The Chancellor smoothed out of his mustaches. "A decisive first strike will cripple the Federated Suns response. This will require our finest troops. The Chesterton Voltigeurs must participate, of course, but the core of the task forces will be drawn from the Northwind Highlanders and McCarron's Armored Cavalry." His eyes were alight with a fearsome intensity.

"Father!" Romano forgot herself, enraptured by the vision. "Permit me to lead your soldiers in battle!"

Liao shook his head firmly. "What possesses you, Romano. I require you here at my side. Candace..."

"Permit me father, to take charge of the regiments facing House Davion's rimwards defenses," she evaded swiftly. "By feigning readiness to fall upon those defenses I shall pin the Duke of New Syrtis' eyes upon me and prevent him from sending reserves to slow your victorious advance." It would also let her justify drawing supplies out of the stockpiles amassed for this operation, supplies that might be needed to defend the St Ives Compact once Hanse Davion retook the Chesteron worlds and looked for a new venue of operations.

This time the Chancellor nodded. "Tormano, my son. I will grant you a post with the Chesterton Voltigeurs so that you may represent our House in this grand campaign."

Discretion being the better part of valour, the young man bowed his head in acceptance.




Imperial City, Luthien
Pesht District, Draconis Combine
18 March 3022

"The Lyran advance mirrors the gains made by the Federated Suns during their campaigns a few years ago," Grieg Samsonov declared coldly. "They grow stronger while our own soldiers are slack and soft."

It was as close as any of the Warlords had come to outright criticism of Cecilia's policies. She steepled her hands in front of her, allowing the corner of her lips to quirk upwards in amusement. "There are also noticeably more of our soldiers, Tai-shu. And their equipment is in better condition, would you not say?"

"All of what you say is correct, Tono," the grey-haired Warlord of Alshain Military District admitted. "However, the will of the DCMS has been eroded. What use numbers or weapons if the spirit behind them is weakened?"

The spirit of the Combine's soldiers, the indoctrination to seek death in battle, had carried them onwards to victories over the more numerous and better equipped Lyran and Federal regiments on many famous occasions. The times when it had led them on to devestating defeats as a result of recklessness were less heralded.

She laughed at him. "I can promise you, Tai-shu, I have not spent all my time and energy restoring the bone and sinews of the Mustered Soldiery so that they can simply look pretty on parade. Not do I neglect their heart and soul, the battlefield."

"Then you intend war?" Yoriyoshi leant forwards intently. His own District and that of Hsiun Chi across the table from him would be heavily involved whether Cecilia elected to attack the Lyran Commonwealth or the Federated Suns, bordering both nations.

Cecilia inclined her head regally. "It is the business of a ruler to consider war at all times, Tai-shu. My agreements with Hanse Davion and Katrina Steiner have provided time to add seven regiments to our roster, more than replacing the three regiments lost to the Ronin. The Pesht Regulars have been brought to their full strength, as they have not been in generations, an unpleasent surprise for the savages in the Periphery."

That drew a smile from Warlord Shotugama. Under the cover of preperation for a punitive expedition against Port Krin, he'd managed to secretly ship the Ninth and Tenth Pesht Regulars in completely the other direction and launch a surprise assault on the pirate stronghold of Santander's World. Reinforced with additional aerospace wings, the two regiments had made a text-book assault upon the fortress of Helmar Valasek, a former AFFS officer turned pirate, and levelled the site before returning to the Combine with hundreds of pirates and thousands of their concubines, tame farmers and other support personnel in chains. The Coordinator had even authorised the use of a small nuclear warhead to ensure that the entire site was purged and prevent a second group of pirates from moving in to make use of the ruined stronghold. It was a rare moment of glory for the 'rear-area' regulars and had blooded young soldiers who might otherwise not see action for years. The booty wasn't bad either as the DCMS had been generous in allowing the soldiers to take anything not of direct military value.

"Give the word, Tono, and I will place two regiments on Colmar within the month," bragged Samsonov.

"If I intended war on House Steiner I would tell you to place them on Fatima and Meacham." Cecilia saw them draw the conclusion that she was considering an offensive towards the one-time Lyran capital of Arcturus and shook her head. "But I do not plan at this time  to move against the Lyran Commonwealth."

Sorenson did not propose a target but at the implication of fighting on the Combine's other border, Cecilia saw the Warlord of Galedon straighten. Before he could become too hopeful, she waved her hand for silence. "Director Indrahar, please share with the Warlord Council the information your agents in the Confederation have discovered."

The dapper head of the ISF rose to his feet. "It has come to our attention that Chancellor Liao intends a lightning assualt upon the Chesterton region. As yet we are uncertain how he intends to supply such an ambitious attack, but all indications are that he will obtain at least strategic surprise which suggests that the initial wave of attacks may be successful."

"Intriguing," admitted Hsiun Chi. "Were we to strike out from Ashio Prefecture, we could drive our own salient to meet with his attack, raising the possibility of severing the Davion prefecture of Addicks entirely from the rest of the Federated Suns."

With extreme effort, Cecilia refrained from verbally eviscerating the Warlord for his idiocy. He was in general her supporter and alienating him for a moment's satisfaction would not be prudent. "An interesting idea, but I have something else in mind, one that might lead to greater exploitation of such an operation in the future. Director, if you would be so good?"

"In addition," Indrahar added, "we have confirmed that the current Primus of the Sirian Concordance, the closest province of the Free Worlds League to Terra and thus to ourselves, has refused under their Home Defense Act, to make further regiments available to the Captain-General for the purposes of repelling the Lyran invasion. As a result, were the Concordance to come under attack, it is likely that Marik would wash his hands of them."

"Thank you, Subash." Cecilia gave him a conivial smile, reminding her generals that she was on close and friendly terms with the Internal Security Forces. "So the Capellans have committed their reserves against House Davion and the League is committed his own to fight against House Steiner, while haivng a disruptive province he values little upon our border."

It was Yoriyoshi who bowed his first. "Lord Kurita, your grasp of strategy casts us all into shadow. By striking past Terra and into the League and the Confederation, we will show our fangs to realms that have forgotten to fear the wrath of the Dragon. Further, the narrow corridors linking the Lyrans and the Suns to Terra will be held in a vice."

"Precisely correct. It is my intention that each District will contribute one regiment from their Regulars, in addition to several mobile and mercenary regiments to form the task forces being despatched. Thus the entire Combine shall be represented. Warlord Hsiun Chi shall act as my second in command for the operation."

"With respect, Coordinator, since the ceasefire with House Davion nine years ago, many mercenary regiments have been allowed to leave the Combine. Recruiting a substanial force of lucre-warriors will take time and may betray our intentions."

Cecilia spread her hands and gestured reassuringly. "Be at ease, my Tai-Shu. Trusted officers are already securing the necessary contracts with great discretion."

[drakensis]

Fort Jaime, Mizar
Isle of Skye, Lyran Commonwealth
3 April 3022

While the garb of a Lyran businessman was unfamiliar to him, Minobu Tetsuhara allowed no discomfort to show on his face. No doubt any agents of Lyran counter-intelligence who might be in the area would be entirely aware that he was no merchant - the bearing of a samurai was hard to disguise - but there were no laws in the Commonwealth to prohibit a visitor from adopting local garb and his identity papers made no attempt to claim that he was anything other than what he was: a DCMS soldier detached from active duty in order to serve as aide to a powerful nobleman.

"Into the wolf's lair, eh, Sho-sa?" Said nobleman seemed to not even notice the constraints of his own suit, although it must be far more uncomfortable for the portly man. Then again, very little seemed to bother the inestimatable Chandrasekhar Kurita, sometimes referred to somewhat indecently referred to as the Coordinator's Pillar of Jade, for his financial acumen and the scurrilous rumour that he was father to Cecilia Kurita's daughter.

"It is as you say, Kurita-sama," Minobu replied non-commitally and then paused to allow his superior to enter the conference room they had been guided to first. As he entered, he saw that although the room could accomodate dozens, only five officers sat on the far side of the table, each wearing the three stars that marked them as holding the rank of Colonel. Only one could be Jaime Wolf, but without ever having seen a picture or even read a description, determining which would require introduction or...

Chandrasekhar clapped his hands together briskly. "A child's game, eh? Well you've young eyes, Minobu, why don't you make a guess for me?"

...or it was a test. And irritating as the unconventional Kurita could be, Minobu didn't doubt that he had made his own judgement immediately and was now feigning laziness to further challenge his aide.

Put on the spot, the samurai scanned the table's occupants swiftly. Two women and three men, ranging in size and shape from the near-giant in the centre to the short man in the neat uniform at one end. It was to the latter that Minobu bowed, drawing back the opposite chair for Chandrasekhar to sit in. "Colonel Wolf, may I introduce you to Chandrasekhar Kurita, cousin and close advisor to the Coordinator herself."

For an instant there was no response and Minobu feared that he was somehow mistaken. Then the small man smiled slightly. "Clearly the honorable Kurita values good judgement in his companions." He stood and bowed slightly, his officers following suite. "Allow me to introduce Colonel Korsht of Gamma Regiment, Colonel Dumont of Delta Regiment, Colonel Shostokovitch of Beta Regiment and Colonel Carmody of our Aerospace Group."

Chandrasekhar smiled engagingly as he returned the bows and accepted the seat. "And this is Sho-sa Tetsuhara, late of the Dragon's Second Sword of Light Regiment, without whose guidance I am quite bereft."

"No doubt." Wolf sat back slightly in his chair. "So, what does the Draconis Combine want?"

"Your contract with the Lyran Commonwealth comes to an end in five months, Colonel Wolf. While it's been very well paid, I imagine that it hasn't quite been as active as you would have prefered. The only heavy fighting the Commonwealth has been carrying out is against the nation your contract prohibits them from using you for."

"I'd like to think the fact your Coordinator sued for peace rather than fight us means that the Archon has had her money's worth out of us."

Minobu blinked. That was certainly a very confident statement for a mercenary to make to the representative of a House Lord - bordering on insolence, in fact. He would not have expected such a petty comment - or for Chandrasekhar to break off the discussion immediately.

"In her eyes, perhaps. You would know better than I how garrison duty can be wearing on soldiers accustomed to field campaigns." The expression on Chandrasekhar's face was pure innocence although Tetsuhara knew, having studied reports, that the soldiers under Wolf's command had been restless for almost a year, much as they had been in 3013 when Maximilian Liao kept them on garrison. Of course, the Archon's daughter probably wasn't causing the Dragoons trouble in the same way Candace Liao had...

"I think your Coordinator would agree that even the best soldiers need a respite every now and then."

Gracefully Chandrasekhar conceded the point. "The Draconis Combine has rested for some time, Colonel Wolf. But now we are reinvigorated and in confidence I can tell you that my cousin intends upon a new military offensive in the near future. In deference to your longstanding custom, I can assure you that were you to take employment with the Draconis Combine that you would be offered a place in that offensive and that it would not be against your current employer."

Wolf remained non-committal, his self-control excellent, but Minobu could see signs of interest in the proposal from Colonels Dumont and Shostokovitch. "What exactly are you offering, Mr. Kurita?"

"The Coordinator proposes a five year contract on similar terms to those you have received from House Marik, House Liao and House Davion. The exact rates would be negotiable but in principle the Coordinator suggests Yance I in Al'Nair Prefecture as a landhold and offers full command rights for your regiments and full salvage rights for all independent actions, with salvage in other cases to be divided proportionate to forces involved."

"It's an interesting offer," agreed Wolf after a moment's thought. "I'd like to know a little bit more about what we're getting into though."

"I thought you Dracs had quit hiring mercenaries," observed Colonel Korsht.

Minobu shook his head. "That is not quite correct, Tai-sa... uh, Colonel. We employ quite a number of smaller mercenary units in garrison roles, but with relatively little activity over the last few years the DCMS elected not to renew contracts with most of the larger forces we had previously employed. It's likely that other regiments may be hired either for the campaign or to replace regular regiments on our other borders but for security reasons, this has not been confided to me."

"As for the details of the campaign..." Chandrasekhar shrugged. "I have told you almost all that I have been told, Colonel. I can only presume that the Coordinator would prefer her plans be kept secret until the proper time. That proper time, however, will be soon."

"Hmm. Well, I'll consider it. However, I note that you didn't mention transport arrangements or supplies..." There was a degree of curiousity in Wolf's voice and both Minobu and Chandrasekhar recognised it. The fish had taken the bait and now all they had to do was reel him in.




Avalon City, New Avalon
Crucis March, Federated Suns
3 June 3022

"Notify all involved forces that Operation Roland is cancelled, effective immediately," was Hanse Davion's first order once the reports sank in.

"The regiments moving from Kentares could still follow through," Marshal Geahart proposed. "Their supplies haven't been lost and it could draw foces away from this operation."

The First Prince shook his head. "The idea behind converging thrusts was to split the local defenses. Without the attack from Valexa to split their defenses, any attack there would bog down. We might succeed, but it would take time - and supplies that we'll need to repel this attack."

The good news was that the Capellan task forces that landed on Demeter and Valexa hadn't expected there to be additional Regimental Combat Teams present, preparing for participation in Operation Roland - the AFFS plan to slice off the New Hessen salient, due to be launched in the next four weeks. The bad news was that with the Northwind Highlanders arriving on Demeter and four regiments from McCarron's Armored Cavalry landing on Valexa, the defending Battlemech regiments had been outnumbered two to one. More than half the supply stockpiles on Valexa had been destroyed to prevent them falling into Capellan hands but at least a third had not.

It was the worst military setback of Hanse's reign.

"Duke Michael claims that he is unable to send substantial reinforcements to the area," Nelitha added, tapping a communique with her left index finger. Folded beneath her palm, her thumb touched the warm metal of the ring she now wore on that hand. Formal announcement had yet to be made, although she had seen money exchanging hands among the other senior officers when she wore it for the first time in the Fox's Den. "In addition to the inevitable blame he places on the amendments to the PDZ boundaries last year, he also claims that there are substantial troop movements in the St. Ives and Sian Commonalities, forcing him to keep regiments in Sirdar, Ridgebrook and Alcyone PDZs on high alert."

"What utter bullshit," Yvonne Davion grumbled, drawing startled looks from officers who had not heard the grandmotherly woman use such language. "With McCarron's regiments up on Valexa, there's nothing anywhere near Sirdar or Ridgebrook that would say boo to a goose, much less the number of regiments down there."

Hanse nodded. "Alright. Cut instructions to the Illician Lancers - I'm activating the emergency clauses in their contract and I want three of their regiments redeployed to Bell as soon as possible. They've got the jumpships for it, barely and even if it takes two or three months for them to get there, the Maskirova will pick up their movements and have to worry that they could be headed for a target on the border. If Liao can tie Michael up watching the border then turnabout is fair play."

"We could probably divert enough jumpships to move the Lancers faster," Nelitha suggested, pulling up data on the whereabouts of T&R Command's fleet.

"No, instead see what you can pull together for our reserves in the Crucis March. I want the Kestrel Grenadiers, the Argyle Lancers and both Davion Guards RCTs from New Avalon to be on Farwell as soon after the end of the month as you can manage. Requisition civilian shipping if you have to. And plan on me going with them."

Nelitha bit her lip rather than disagree. Hanse hadn't taken the field personally since Halstead Station, almost a decade before, balancing his duties as First Prince with those of Prime Marshal.

He smiled at her. "I won't be leading any charges, love." Looking around the room Hanse noted that there was less surprise at the 'slip of the tongue' than might have been expected. He shook his head. "For those who haven't heard the gossip yet, General Green-Davion accepted my proposal of marriage last Sunday. There will be an official announcement tomorrow so if any of you plan to make any last minute use of the advance warning then you're sneaky, deceptive souls and you have nine hours to clean up on sucker bets."

Several officers murmured quiet congratulations at the revelation. Yvonne Davion was one of them, directing a reassuring smile at Nelitha. "But that's even more reason for you to stay here," she pointed out. "I can think of three Field Marshals offhand who'd be glad of the chance to command here - myself for one. You, on the other hand... you're not replaceable."

"I'm not going there to throw myself into the fray," Hanse told her firmly. "I loved Ian, but I'm not him. I'm going there because any other marshal in that area will have to answer to Michael. He's still the Field Marshal of the Capellan March and he'd have a sound arguement that their chain of command would have to go through him. But if I'm there - in a command centre, as the field commander, then he has no recourse because I'm the one person who unquestionably outranks him in every way."

Geaheart tried to bring the discussion back to the more mundane realities of warfare. "Alright then, there are seven 'Mech regiments and Combat Teams in Valexa right now, plus a Training Battalion on Bell that I don't suppose you want to commit them against the Big MAC."

"Not hardly." The inexperienced trainees would be wheat to the scythe of McCarron's battlehardened regiments.

"Otherwise the Valexa CMM and the Davion Light Guards are being pushed back into the hills, but they'll pin down a good-sized garrison so they're where they should be. On Demeter, Redfield's Renegades managed to link up with the Second Crucis Lancers, so there's a coherent force but it's only a matter of time before they're forced to make a stand. That leaves..." The Marshal checked the map again. "The Aragon Borderers and Twentieth Avalon Hussars on New Aragon and the Sixth Crucis Lancers on Moravian."

"New Aragon is almost cut off with Demeter in Capellan hands," Hanse decided. "Liao will have a follow up force, at least four regiments. Most likely he'll try to capture the pocket, so the Borders and the Hussars are right where they should be. I'm sure the Lancers will want to rescue their brother regiment, but for now they're to hold on until we can pull some of the regiments out of Kentares."

"How many do you want? This will take them further from the Draconis border than Roland would have."

Hanse nodded. "I know. And with Kurita in secret negotiations with Wolf's Dragoons -" Dammit, Cecilia, what the hell are you planning? "- the whole Draconis March is nervous. Still... we can have the Blue Star Irregulars and Crater Cobras spread their regiments across several worlds to give us the same range of coverage and then pull the Twenty-Second Avalon Hussars and Twelth Deneb Light Cavalry out of Addicks. They were slated for the first wave of Operation Roland anyway so they should be ready to go. If they meet up with the Sixth Crucis Lancers on Moravian that will give me a force to relieve Demeter while I take the Crucis March regiments to Valexa. The Illician Lancers are insurance against whatever else Liao throws at us."

[Dirk Bastion]

Ah, 3rd succession war wave attacks, what problem exists that they can't solve?

[mikecj]

I wonder how ROM set-up that "prospector"

[snakespinner]

Massed RCT's attacking.
Now let the fun begin. }:)

[sandstorm]

I wonder how many breweries the AFFS will buy for DCMS after the Dragon puts fire through the Cappie's tailside.

[drakensis]

Altair, Al Na'ir Prefecture
Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine
15 September 3022

The command conference took place in a room that combined traditional Japanese architecture with modern appliances. Thus, although the floor was polished wood (and all slippers were provided to replace military boots) a holographic projector provided still imagery to back up the briefings.

Cecilia Kurita knelt on the room's dais with Warlords Hsien Chi and Yoriyoshi on their own knees, facing each other across the display. Facing the Coordinator were rank after rank of officers, mostly in the orange-trimmed white and black of DCMS dress unforms, each of whom had been escorted to their particular place on the floor by attendants according to a rigorously calculated order of precedence and affiliation.

To his own surprise, Jaime Wolf had been escorted to sit in the front rank, alongside other general officers, albeit at the the extreme left end of that rank. The only other 'colonel' or equivalent granted that status was the commander of the First Night Stalker regiment, who sat next to him. Colonels Korsht, Dumont and Arbuthnot were lined up in column behind him but their low rank had meant that Major Kelly Yukinov, the effective commander of Alpha Regiment, and Sho-sa Tetsuhara, who had been assigned as the principal liason officer between the Dragoons and the DCMS were much further back.

At the moment the holographic display was focusing on the Lyran-League border, not very far from the worlds the Dragoons had fought their way across during their unseuccessful campaign three years before to seize Hesperus II from the Lyrans. "As you can see, over the last twelve months the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces have occupied three border worlds and pushed deeper into the Free Worlds League. Currently, Captain-General Marik has functionally ceased to contest Amity and Kalidasa, both of which are important industrial worlds, and is focusing on repelling the Lyran regiments currently fighting on Stewart."

The ISF representative gestured with his baton, adjusting a virtual control visible to him via an electronic monocle and the internal divisions of the League flashed slightly to draw attention to them. "This is believed to be because the Stewart Commonality is one of the oldest provinces of the Free Worlds League and a long term political ally. Janos Marik's second wife was the daughter of the current Earl of Stewart and the two regiments of the Stewart Dragoons have co-operated closely with federal regiments during the fighting. The same cannot be said of the Silver Hawks Coaltion, a defense league including most of the other worlds to see fighting. They started the fighting with two regiments and what's left of those is still trying to defend the planet of Concord without any noticeable success. It's believed that their refusal to coordinate with federal forces have left them ill-supplied."

"What is the Lyran position?" The question came from Warlord Yoriyoshi.

"They have focused their most intact regiments upon the fighting in Stewart, Yoriyoshi-sama. However, there has also been a flow of conventional regiments into their other conquests. The analysis of interecepted communications strongly indicates that whatever the outcome on Stewart, the Archon will seek no further advance but only to retain the gains so far. Doing so will substantially weaken House Marik's border positions and deprive them of, at a minimum, the KaliYama Battlemech factory on Kalidasa, which is one of their largest production sites. The aerospace factories on Amity are also highly valuable and if Captain-General Marik pursues a counter-offensive then both worlds are very likely targets for him."

Cecilia Kurita tapped the floor at her side with one finger, drawing the attention of the ISF officer. "What is the current deployment of the Third Sirian Lancer regiment?"

"The regiment is currently deployed on Stewart, Tono. Reports indicate that it is fighting bravely but ineffectually. As with the Silver Hawks regiments, it is in poor supply and does not appear to represent the best of the Free Worlds League Military."

"Please continue."

The officer moved his baton again and the map was replaced with that of a different sector of the Inner Sphere. "Moving to events on the Capellan-Suns border, Chancellor Liao's Chesteron offensive has been underway for four months now. After the rapid successes on Valexa and Demeter in June, they launched a second wave of attacks, hitting three worlds with five more regiments and one of their Warrior Houses. Obviously this a major commitment and most of the regiments seem to be in better condition than was expected."

"This second wave ran into Davion reinforcements and has led to less lopsided battles through July and August. The Chancellor's son Tormano landed on Chesteron with two regiments of the Chesteron Voltigeurs with very little resistance. By the end of July Hanse Davion arrived to take personal charge with the Argyle Lancers, Kestrel Grenadiers and the First and Heavy Regimental Combat Teams of the Davion Brigade of Guards. That forced Liao to call for reinforcments from Valexa in the form of three regiments of McCarron's Armoured Cavalry from Valexa. This leaves Valexa open to attack as soon as Davion can find a sufficient force to overcome the one regiment still on world."

"The other second wave targets were Almach and Algot. In the latter case we think it was a calculated move to draw out the regiments from New Aragon - if so it worked, because the Aragon Borders regiment arrived thinking it was only dealing with Warrior House LuSann. In fact, the Second New Hessen Irregulars were also present and the Borderers were forced back offworld with losses. However there's been no follow up attack on New Aragon to take advantage, presumably because the Twentieth Avalon Hussars are also posted there."

"The AFFS regiments on Demeter had withdrawn to Almach and they retreated again once the Second Kearny Highlanders, First New Hessen Irregulars and McGregor's Armoured Scouts. However, we believe they will link up with reinforcements from the Draconis March on Mira or Mesartim, both of which are likely targets for a third wave which the Chancellor does appear to intend on. We have indications that at least two more regiments are going to be moving up, presumably to clear out the New Aragon pocket."

"Thank you for that presentation," the Coordinator told the man.

"It is my pleasure to serve," he answered with a deep bow, stepping aside to leave the holographic array to Warlord Hsien Chi who accepted the baton and monocle solemnly.

"So, all four of the other Successor States are engaged in glorious campaigns and the Dragon stands aside?" the stocky Warlord observed rhetorically as he adjust the monocle. "This will not do and therefore Lord Kurita has ordered us here upon the business of war. Sixteen regiments of Battlemechs have assembled, supported by more than one hundred other regiments, the largest force brought together by the Dragon in many years. And now we will strike!"

He gestured sharply and the map shifted to display the worlds around Terra, each system represented by a small rotating globe of its habitable planet or planets. "We are to embark upon war with the Capellan Confederation and the Free Worlds League."

Worlds in both states began to glow with fiery red outlines. "Sho-sho Langley, you are placed in command over your own First Proserpina Hussars, the Thirteenth Alshain and the Sixth Pesht Regulars along with their escorting units. Your mission is the conquest of the planet Bryant for the glory of the Draconis Combine."

"Tai-sa McGavin, you are placed in command over both of your Night Stalker regiments and also one regiment of the esteemed Wolf Dragoons with the mission to conquer the planet Keid for the glory of the Draconis Combine."

Unlike Sho-sho Langley, McGavin rose to his feet and bowed deeply to the Coordinator at this announcement. Beside him, Wolf set aside his surprise at the overall targets of the coming campaign and began to consider which regiment to send with the Night Stalkers.

"Colonel Wolf, of the Wolf Dragoons, to you the Coordinator entrusts the mission of conquering the planet New Home for the glory of the Draconis Combine. In addition to three regiments of your own force, infantry and armoured regiments will be placed under your command." The Warlord stared firmly at Wolf. "The honour of commanding any soldier of the Draconis Combine is rarely conferred upon a mercenary but your reputation speaks for itself."

"I will endeavour to be worthy of it," the mercenary replied, trying to keep irritation out of his voice.

Hsien Chi glowered at him a moment longer before looking to another man. "Tai-sho Satterthwaite, the First and Second Amphigean Light Assault Groups and also the Twenty-First Galedon Regulars are placed under your command for the purpose of conquering Procyon in the Sirian Concordance."

"And for the conquest of Sirius, the Coordinator will lead the Second Sword of Light and Eighteenth Dieron Regulars to capture Sirius VI while Warlord Yoriyoshi will be granted the honour of commanding the Eighth Sword of Light and the Sixth Benjamin Regulars onto Sirius V."

The ISF officer stepped forwards and accepted the baton and the monocle again. "Regiments in the vicinity of these operations are light," he began.



Altair, Al Na'ir Prefecture
Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine
16 September 3022

The retort of a small-caliber weapon snapped Cecilia awake. Rolling out of her futon with one hand already gripping two kunai from beneath the pillows, she was only a step away from the room's sword rack when her door burst open and two burly men in DCMS infantry gear stormed in. One saw her moving and fired a short burst ahead of her. His accuracy was commendable - not a single round struck the Coordinator but she had no choice but to back away from the weapons as the rack splintered under the impact of the bullets.

"I don't recall any visitors scheduled for this hour," she snapped, glaring at the pair. On a shelf behind the door, a small clock showed that it was not quite three o'clock in the morning.

"A thousand apologies," Warlord Yoriyoshi announced insincerely as he walked through the door. Like the two soldiers, he was armed - in his case a modest pistol in one hand and the swords of a samurai at his hip. He glanced at Cecilia measuringly, a reminder she could have lived without that the babydoll chemise she wore to bed was only thin silk. Outside of a battlemech she almost never dressed in such a revealing fashion.

Yoriyoshi lowered the pistol slightly. "I regret to advise you that there is a plot to undermine your authority, Coordinator. Warlord Hsien Chi was assassinated less than an hour ago."

"Shall I speculate as to who is behind this scheme or shall we speak bluntly, Tai-Shu?"

"By all means, Coordinator Kurita." The Warlord bowed mockingly. "You need not concern yourself: these fine soldiers and the three outside the room are my most loyal soldiers and our conversation will be in the utmost confidentiality. But please... the knives first."

Cecilia gave him a sour look and looked hard at the two soldiers before casting the kunai underarm at the damaged swordrack, embedding the sharp blades a centimetre deep in the wood. "So how is it precisely that you plan to undermine my authority?"

He did not attempt to deny the accusation. "Allow me first to express my admiration of you, Lord Kurita. Your mastery of the Pillars of Teak, Ivory and Jade are an example against which all future Coordinators will be measured. It is not and never has been any desire of mine to deprive you of the rank and office which you hold."

"The omission of two Pillars is telling. You object to my handling of government and military affairs."

"I regret that I must speak of this for I do not doubt that you have striven to your utmost in both roles," Yoriyoshi told her with feigned modesty. "But there have been lapses that I must ascribe to your gender since your heritage I must concede as without flaw. Your absurd taking prisoners on Tamar betrayed your weakness, as did your swiftness to make terms with Davion." He gestured sharply. "I have studied your duel against their Prince and it is clear you had the better: for what reason did you not slay him like the dog that he is?"

"Clearly you believe you have an answer to the question." Cecilia's voice was cool and her words tempered but there was fire in her eyes.

"Coordinator, you lack the will, the hardness to do what should be done. It is the same in your government of the Combine: your policies are well crafted, but you must rush energetically to pursue them when a true Coordinator expresses his will simply and lets others scramble to put them into practise."

"The Coordinator serves the Combine, Tai-Shu. Idleness is no virtue in a servant."

"Then I must ask of you to serve the Combine by addressing these failures." Cecilia's failure to indicate submission had begun to crack Yoriyoshi's restraint - he produced a sheaf of documents and brandished them. "By signing these, the Combine will be placed in order and Harmony restored to us all."

Cecilia caught the papers when they were flung to her and leafed swiftly through them, eyes flickering incredulously at each bold declaration. "Gunji-no-Kanrei?" she exclaimed at the second to last of them. "Do you imagine you are Urizen reborn? You're not my brother."

"But I will be your husband," the Warlord proclaimed confidently.

Her eyes narrowed, Cecilia discarded all but the last page, letting the others scatter across her bedding. This one she read in careful detail, nostrils flaring in outrage. She laughed harshly, eyes flickering dismissively past the soldiers. "What insanity leads you to imagine I would agree to this?"

Yoriyoshi stepped forwards and since Cecilia would be damned rather than back off from the challenge, this placed them nose to chin. The warlord placed his left hand almost but not quite touching her left hip. "I would hope that your devotion to the Combine would convince you to do the right thing," he murmured. "But if that is not sufficent then I will not hesitate to use force."

"Do you think I fear death? A dead coordinator is worse than nothing: my successor would use your destruction as a rallying cry, the same way I used Takashi's death against Marcus."

He leaned closer and almost whispered into her ear: "I didn't say I would use force against you." Involuntarily a shudder went through Cecilia, a mix of disgust at the feigned intimacy and horror at the implications of his words. Yoriyoshi was far too close to miss her reaction and stepped back, a satisfied smile upon his lips. "Shotugama is my man first, Coordinator Kurita. And this morning I received a coded message from him to confirm that he has removed your daughter from Luthien and to a secure location where she will be cosseted and cared for as befits a daughter of the Dragon... for exactly as long as you co-operate with me."

Any response Cecilia would have made would have been obscenities and she wasn't going to let him make her lose control like that.

"Besides which," he shook his head. "One daughter is simply not enough, you should have married and had more children long ago. You have an obligation to your dynasty, Coordinator, and who better to father a son for you than your preminent Warlord?" Yoriyoshi's eyes flickered across her scanitly-clad body again, causing her disgust to rise past her rage again. "If you would prefer not to sign those documents tonight... we could begin working on that immediately."

"Such a choice that you present me with," Cecilia told him grimly. "To procrastinate on being being your pawn at the price of being raped?"

"Given you would prostitute loyal soldiers by placing them under the command of a mere hireling, I would imagine that selling your body should be an easy step."

"It's just barely possible that you might manage that. But you'll sire no child on me this night," the Coordinator assured him.

The Warlord stepped forwards and she allowed him to grab her by the wrist. "I've obtained copies of your medical records so don't pretend you're barren."

"It's difficult to impregnate a woman who already has a child in her womb." And then she drove her knee up into his groin.

The two soldiers in the room had spaced themselves to be able to see her without Yoriyoshi being an obstacle but with him physically holding her, there was a brief window in which neither had a clear shot. The opening was enough for her to yank the Warlord's wakizashi from its scabbard with her free hand and drive the short sword sharply down into his inner thigh as he folded over her. Judging by the spurting blood, she'd managed to hit a vein and she yanked the sword free, hurling it like a dart at the soldier nearer the sword rack while she dived for it.

The thrown sword missed, but it distracted him long enough for her to reach the rack and his companion had decided that the better part of loyalty to Yoriyoshi was to drop his gun and pull out a field medical kit before the Warlord bled out. What neither of them expected was that the Coordinator didn't slow down, instead hurdling the rack and curling into a ball as she struck the wall - which gave way like the pointed balsa wood that it was.

Thirty seconds later when the three soldiers who had been left in the antechamber to Cecilia's bedroom tried to pursue the fleeing Coordinator, they found only a small, empty room hidden behind it.

[drakensis]

Altair, Al Na'ir Prefecture
Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine
16 September 3022

Cecilia was almost but not entirely sure that Shotugama was not working for Yoriyoshi. There had been a delicate exploration of the Warlord of Pesht's loyalties both before and after the contemplative man's appointment to the positon and he had never shown the any sign of sharing the opinions that the traitor had just expressed, even long before the two came into contact. It was probable that he had had some idea of what Yoriyoshi was about, but almost certainly he would not have had sufficient proof beforehand to betray his former superior.

Under those circumstances, pretending to fall in with Yoriyoshi would make sense and Siriwan was safe. Certainly she was well-protected so an abduction was unlikely to succeed anyway. The Coordinator hoped that she wasn't allowing herself to be misled by wishful thinking.

However, thinking about that right now would do nothing to help. She needed to isolate Yoriyoshi, to prevent the spread of his influence. Doing so would require a radio to communicate.

There was a muffled explosion behind her, suggesting that Yoriyoshi's men had resorted to method number one of finding a concealed door: blow up the area and see what happens. Cecilia ran faster, the concrete floor of the passage cold beneath her bare feet. She also had to escape him personally. This would require transportation, preferably transportation with a radio so that she could address her other priority.

The passage she was in exited into one of the main corridors of the palace - a risk, but a necessary one. As it turned out, she was fortunate and while there was a guard patrolling the passage, he had just walked past the concealed exit as she cracked it open. Seeing that the man was only wearing a field cap rather than a helmet, Cecilia picked up the gold plated bust of a former Planetary Chairman and smacked the soldier over the head with it.

After replacing the bust on its plinth, she picked up the unconcious soldier and dragged him into the nearest room. She didn't have much time, but even an ill-fitting DCMS jumpsuit was going to be less eye-catching than running around in blood-stained underwear. Judging by the trickling blood from under the man's cap, he wasn't going to be needing it for a while. The Rorynex submachinegun was another bonus - she wasn't the best shot in the universe but at close quarters the large-calibre assault weapon and two spare magazines would more than compensate.

A glance out of the room's window told her that the vehicle park, containing not only the palace supply vehicles but also the fleet of limousines and military staff cars that could usually be whistled up on a moment's notice was under guard with a two platoons worth of personnel carriers and even a handful of light tanks covering the entrance. So much for making an exit from there.

After a moment's thought she removed the fallen man's cap and wiped it out before drawing the bill down slightly over her face. There was one other source of transport - even better, armed transport that would have a full band of communications gear - and it was remotely possible that Yoriyoshi would have overlooked it.

Walking out of the room, she headed for one of the discreet stairwells into the facilities beneath the palace. wenty-four hours previously, the hangers had been half-full, with a company of Otomo 'Mechs that would accompany Cecilia if she entered the battlefield personally. However, the ronin Warlord would know that the battlemechs had been loaded onto their dropship the previous morning. Her hope was that he would not realise that the last minute arrival of a TOR-A Tiger prototype meant that the lucky Tai-i Yeng Sum Lee had been reassigned to that 'Mech and his own Vulcan left in the hanger.

Here her luck was not as good. While the hanger wasn't guarded as well as the vehicle park, a soldier - this one wearing helmet and body armour, sporting a powerful laser rifle - was posted at the bottom of the stairs leading into the hanger. While his position would be a grenade trap, she had no such weapon and he was probably only one of a squad so gunfire would draw attention she did not need.

For a moment she considered trying to bluff her way through, but there was no way that Yoriyoshi would have been slack enough not to make sure all his forces were able to recognise her at a glance. It wasn't as if her face wasn't well known anyway - she'd appeared in motivational art for the DCMS since 3015 when Jasmine 'discovered' an artist who had portrayed Cecilia in full dress uniform, a black dragon wrapped protectively around her. Current estimates were that ten percent of the DCMS had purchased copies for 'patriotic' purposes, or at least that was what they told officers spotting who spotted the prints on the wall of barrack rooms and other occupied spaces.

Vanity goeth before a fall, she noted soberly and considering what she knew of the hangers' other entrances. Unfortunately, this was her first visit to Altair and the only reason she'd known about the hidden exit from her room was the security briefing from the ISF before her arrival. Finding a way into the 'Mech hanger hadn't featured in that briefing and this was the closest door to the bay occupied by the Vulcan.

Okay, the hard way it would have to be. She pulled a spare clip of ammunition from the pocket of her jumpsuit and weighed it in her hand. It didn't look much like a grenade but...

"Grenade!" she snapped and flung it over the stair's rail, bouncing it off the opposite wall and towards the guard. It didn't make much sense to shout that - if she was really throwing a grenade then the last thing she'd want to do was draw attention to it - but the power of suggestion is considerable and with a fast moving metal projectile hurtling into the confined space, the soldier took the bait and curled up on himself, hoping his body armour would be sufficent to avoid being spread across walls, floor and ceiling.

It did remarkably little to stop Ceclia from putting half-a-dozen hollow point rounds into his thigh, half-severing a leg, and two more merciful rounds into his face as he reflexively relaxed from the ball he'd curled into in favour of clutching uselessly at the wounds.

There was no time to waste so she slammed the door open and charged into the hanger, leading with the SMG. Fortunately she was correct in her recollection - she only had to cross one empty 'Mech bay to reach a ladder that could take her to the cockpit level gantrys - and even better there was no one immediately present to try to stop her although. Shouts of alarm indicated that the gunfire had drawn attention and even worse there was the sound of boots from the gantries above.

Cecilia sprayed what was left of the magazine up into the air, hoping she wouldn't hit anything actively hazardous and that the soldiers would be motivated to keep their heads down for a moment or so, and then discarded the gun rather than waste time slinging properly as she ran for the ladder.

More shots were fired, fortunately none directly at her, but she could still hear the boots from above and climbing a ladder is not exactly quiet in combat boots, particularly when they're about two sizes too large. Twenty feet is further to climb than it is to walk so she settled for fifteen and then grabbed the edge of the gantry with one hand and swung by it to grab a pipe underneath it.

Her shoulders reminded her just how much she'd hated upper-body strength exercises in basic training. Who knew that one day she'd need them. So that left her dangling from the bottom of the gantry with no real cover from anyone except whoever was above her.

Another desperate swing let her latch onto the other side of the gantry just as the footsteps reached her position. "I don't see anyone!" an accented voice called out. Azami, she realised. But none of the Arkab Legions are onplanet.

There was the whine of a bullet that came entirely too close and the voice cursed. "Stop shooting at me, you dogs."

Under the cover of the noise, Cecilia grabbed the edge with her other hand and then strained upwards to reach the lower of the gantry safety-rail's rungs. Since she could at least get her hand around this it made it easier to pull herself up behind the soldier. The scrape of her boot against the top rail betrayed her presence and the man was half-turning as she jumped off, her borrowed boots crashing into the man's shoulder. The collision spilled her face-first onto the metal floor but her target was sent tumbling off the gantry with a scream that cut off twenty feet lower than it began.

Cecilia scrambled upright, clutching at her noise which felt as if it might be broken. Her hand came back with blood, supporting that diagnosis. Still, it beat being shot, since the soldiers below prudently opened up with lasers and gunfire. Scrambling, without coming fully upright, she ran for the cover of Vulcan in the next bay.

Tai-i Lee's 'Mech had been upgraded to the 5T variant when he was accepted into the Otomo as a lance commander, trading out the long-range autocannon for three additional medium lasers, more heatsinks and more armour. Normally only Lee or a trusted technican could access the 'Mech without a time-consuming override of the security systems. However, all Battlemechs used by the Otomo were fitted with an alternate set of security codes known only to the Coordinator, in case of a situation like this one. Cecilia had been working on the mnemonic she used to remember the applicable codes - with over a hundred unique codes to remember, memory tricks were a necessity - and managed to undog the hatch on her second attempt.

Once inside she slapped the main reactor switch before reaching up and securing the hatch. Now essentially immune to small arms fire, she peeled off the top of her borrowed jumpsuit - it would soon be baking inside the 'Mech and strapped the cooling vest behind the command couch on over her chemise. The frigid fluids inside raised goosepimples but she'd need it soon enough. Hastily she began strapping herself in  - not just the safety straps but the cables for her vest and for the medical sensors. The reactor's hum was rising to a rumble, almost but not quite familiar for the forty-ton Vulcan used a substantially less powerful engine than her usual Grand Dragon despite being the faster of the two 'Mechs.

Status boards were lighting up and Cecilia noted with regret that the heavy machine gun in the left arm lacked ammunition. Pulling down the 'Mech's neurohelmet she shortened the chinstraps and then shifted it back and forth on her head until she was sure it was making the proper connections. The main computer was lit up waiting for her to provide a voiceprint before it unlocked full functionality. "Don't tickle the dragon, its laugh is deadly," she instructed it, and the targeting lit up, confirming she had full access.

With a thump of giant feet against the floor, the Vulcan started to stride away from its bay. One footsoldier, braver than he was bright, continued to fire on her. Cecilia brought the right arm flamer cross-body and burned him away. The massive hanger doors yielded a moment later to fire from the four main lasers, the barrage raising the temperature inside the cockpit, and then Cecilia was striding out into the night, mobile and armed with the most deadly tactical and strategic weapons known to the armies of the Succession Wars: a BattleMech and a radio.




Altair, Al Na'ir Prefecture
Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine
16 September 3022

Minobu Tetsuhara stared stoically at Colonel Wolf, who sat on the opposite bench of the prison wagon that they were confined in. Ambushed on their way back to the Dragoon cantonment, the regiment and battalion commanders of the mercenary unit had been caught in staff cars that would certainly not be proof against the heavy weapons of the Benjamin Regular battlemechs. Even so, Minobu would have preferred to make a fight - better to die honorably than to be taken captive - but Wolf had shaken his head at the notion and by decree of the Dragon herself, the mercenary was Minobu's superior officer now.

"What do you think Yoriyoshi is up to?" Wolf asked.

Dumont shook her head. "How do you know it's the Warlord and not the Coordinator?"

"The Coordinator has nothing to gain by this treachery," asserted Minobu. "She desires your services in battle against the Capellan Confederation. Only a fool would think that this is a method that would provide that, and Cecilia Kurita is no fool. As for Yoriyoshi, who else would the Benjamin Regulars take an order from when that order places them in conflict with their Coordinator?" He looked at his manacled hands. "I can only assume that this strategm is aimed at her."

"Then she'd better deal with it fast," Dumont said bluntly. "After New Delos, a situation like this can't help but have our junior officers jumpy. I won't be surprised if Kerensky wasn't already out with her Black Widows looking for us and she won't do so in a diplomatic fashion."

"For the first time, I believe I would be glad to see Captain Kerensky."

Despite the situation, a couple of Dragoons chuckled at Minobu's solemn statement, taking it for humour.

"So, two possibilities. Either he succeeds or he fails. What happens then, Sho-sa?"

Minobu considered Wolf's enquiry. "The Warlord is considered liberal with regard to the employment of mercenary regiments. If he is successful then it is likely you will all be released swiftly with apologies that over-enthusiastic subordinates misinterpreted his request that you be placed in protective custody."

"And if he fails?"

"Then you may expect attempts to liberate us once Altair is otherwise secured."

"Ah... I note that you don't mention your own fate there?"

"Oh. Yoriyoshi will have me executed if he succeeds." Minobu glanced down at his manacles. "If we are rescued then I will petition the Coordinator for the right to seppuku in order to atone for my surrender to his forces."

Kelly Yukinov leant forwards to stare at him. "You'll what?"

"It is the height of disgrace for a Kurita samurai to permit himself to be captured. By taking the dishonour upon myself, I will spare my father and brother the shame."

"What if the samurai did so on the orders of his superior officer as  a matter of deception against an enemy of House Kurita?" Wolf asked thoughtfully.

Minobu pursed his lips in thought. "That is permissible, if frowned upon. If successful then the deception would weigh upon the karma of the superior officer in question."

"Sho-sa it seems to me that Warlord Yoriyoshi had us imprisoned to prevent us for interfering in whatever he is up to. Therefore as soldiers in the service of the Draconis Combine, it is incumbent for us to escape and foil his plan. Since capture was the only alternative to execution and being unable to stop him, you surrendered on my orders as your superior. Does that satisfy your honour?"

"Yes Colonel. As long as we succeed of course. Do you have a plan to escape?"

Wolf's response, if any, was cut off as a tremendous force crashed againt the nose of the prison wagon, sending it spinning off the road. Dragoons inside were tumbled about as the vehicle came to rest on its side.

"That wasn't me," Wolf told Minobu frankly as he wriggled out from under the larger man, who had landed on top of him. "But I'm not averse to taking advantage of the opportunity." He nodded up to where the heavy door to the wagon had come ajar. "Everyone out!"

Struggling to his own feet, the samurai joined forces with Major Fields of Epsilon Regiment's Able Battalion in hoisting the battered Dragoons to their feet and up out of the door. Within moments the group were freed, if not from their bonds, then at least from confinement.

Outside, they found the wrecks of two DCMS personnel carriers that had evidently been escorting them. However before any of the Dragoons could explore the cab of the prison wagon for keys to their manacles, the source of the destruction presented itself: a Vulcan battlemech in the black colours of the Otomo, its searchlight stabbing out to illuminate the group.

"Mechwarrior!" Minobu called out boldly. "If you are loyal to the Coordinator, you must take her a warning. The Warlord of Benjamin is engaged in a plot against her."

There was a snap of static as the Otomo mechwarrior opened the 'Mech's loudspeakers and then: "That is correct, Sho-sa. I assume from your confinement that you are not one of his ronin?"

"I am not. I had the privilege to serve under the command of Yorinaga Kurita and would never disgrace the loyalty he showed towards the Coordinator." Minobu raised his fists to point at the warmachine. "You must hasten to the palace and protect her."

He was surprised to hear the mechwarrior laugh before replying. The protection of the Coordinator was the paramount duty of the Otomo! How could this woman treat it so lightly?

Then the Vulcan bowed at the waist, reminding him of Morgan Kell's gesture to Yorinaga two years ago. "Sho-sa, I salute you. I am Cecila Kurita and your loyalty reflects well upon my esteemed cousin."