OBT Forum

Sure, but those training sessions were probably live-fire, just like ALL Clan field exercises.  Here, they are actually using simulators and the Scorpions are pretending to act in a manner different from Clan tradition.

MA

The Fox’s Den, Palace of the First Prince, Avalon City
New Avalon, Federated Suns
October 28, 3037

Hanse and Melissa stood as members of the 1st Royal Guards and the 1st Davion Guards ushered Jamie Wolf and Natasha Kerensky into the opulent office buried deep beneath the New Avalon palace.  “Colonel Wolf,” the First Prince said as he extended his hand.  “I understand that you made the journey from Outreach to here in just eleven days over my command circuit to Tikonov.”  He smiled.  “Some of my officers resent you commandeering an asset of the AFFS without any explanation—I trust that you had a good reason, however.”

“I do, Your Highness,” Jamie said with bow.  “Madame, you are as lovely today as you were on your wedding day,” he continued to Melissa, who just smiled and extended her hand towards a pair of seats—the guards did not leave the room, but the armed Guards remained at the door.  Jamie frowned, then he extended his hand to the remaining two men in the room.  “Quintus, Morgan.  Your Highness, I will need the guards to exit.”

Hanse cocked one eyebrow in surprise, and he glanced over at Morgan Hasek-Davion, the Marshall of the Federated Suns who shrugged in turn.  “If they meant to kill you, the guards would only manage to avenge you, Hanse.  And I doubt that is the reason Jamie Wolf has journeyed here.”

“Out,” Hanse ordered, and the two guards bowed and exited the office, closing the door behind them.

“Now what exactly is this about, Colonel Wolf?”

“On April 11th, 3005, the Wolf’s Dragoons jumped into the Delos system of the Federated Suns.  At the time, rumors were rife that we were not from the Inner Sphere.  People claimed that my boys and girls were the remnants of the SLDF, or were an expedition from a Periphery power, and those rumors persisted for years.  Over time, they gradually became less hysterical and today only a few people even remember the consternation the appearance of my five Regiments caused.”

Jamie paused and then he looked Hanse Davion directly in the eyes.  “Those rumors were true, Your Highness.”

Melissa leaned forward, eager to hear more about this mystery that had always intrigued her, but Hanse, Quintus, and Morgan had faces which were all but unreadable.  “Go on,” Hanse finally said.

“Far beyond the borders of the most distant known Periphery state, General Kerensky led the SLDF into exile.  At long last, he found a group of worlds which were marginally habitable and he founded the Star League in Exile.  I won’t bore you with the comprehensive history of my people,” and Melissa frowned, which caused Jamie to chuckle.  “I will provide Her Highness with a full download of that history, however.”

Hanse smiled as he lifted Melissa’s hand and cradled it within his own grip.

“The Star League in Exile did not last long—the same pressures that caused your Succession Wars ripped through Kerensky’s exiles.  General DeChavilier was killed in an uprising by former soldiers discharged from the SLDF, and soon thereafter General Kerensky died of a heart attack.”

Jamie’s eyes misted and grew distant.  “The Pentagon Civil War was fought with such a ferocity that its makes the First Succession War pale in comparison; my people only survived because General Kerensky’s son Nicholas—oh, yes, he had a wife and two children that he kept hidden—took the forces loyal to him on a Second Exodus to a nearby cluster of worlds not involved in the fighting.  And there, while the old SLDF burnt itself out, Nicholas Kerensky forged a new society.”

“He reordered our culture and he instituted a meritocracy based upon skill and knowledge, and on Strana Mechty he founded the Clans.  Twenty strong we once were, although two have been absorbed by other more powerful Clans, and one was Annihilated, its name stricken from our histories for treason.  After years of making preparations, the Clans returned to the Pentagon worlds and we conquered what was left of the Star League in Exile.  In general, the people were so happy that someone was ending the wars that they followed Nicholas without question.  And the Clans began to change.  The society of merit originally envisioned became one of castes—oh, it was possible to change the caste based on trials and tests, but as time passed it became more and more difficult.  Our scientists and engineers developed weapons technology that makes the Star League equipment you are rediscovering from the Helm Core look like children’s play-toys.  And we engineered our own genes.”

At this, Morgan jumped.  “Genetic engineering?  You have altered DNA?”

“Aff,” replied Jamie Wolf, before he grimaced.  “That is, affirmative, Marshall Hasek-Davion.  We also developed technology that allowed for embryos to be . . . grown . . . in artificial wombs.  Such individuals, like Colonel Kerensky here, are known as True-born.  I am a free-birth, born of woman, although my genes have been improved as well.”

“Our society has divorced so much that is important—there is no love, no marriage, only duty to the Clan.  Everything is oriented to supporting the Warriors who are the highest of castes.  It is a society that has no use for the weak, no use for those who cannot produce.  We euthanize those who are too sick, to infirm, who cannot contribute.  The lowest castes live on rations, permitted no literature, no art, no history.”

“Our society is an abomination, Your Highness.”

“You and your men fled then?” Hanse asked.

“No,” Jamie answered as he shook his head sadly.  “You see, my people believe that the Great Father promised us that when we grew strong, we—the Clans—the chosen people of Aleksandyr Kerensky and his son Nicholas, would return here.  And we would reform the Star League and rule forever over those who cast us out.  My Dragoon’s were sent here to conduct reconnaissance.”

“I see,” whispered the First Prince of the Federated Suns, and Jamie shook his head.

“We stopped sending reports back in 3020, on our second so-called ‘supply run’, Your Highness.  My Khan—as the head of a Clan is known—at the time ordered that we stand ready to defend the Inner Sphere against a future invasion.  We have had no further contact with the Clans, until less than three weeks ago.”

Quintus sat up.  “Are you saying that we can expect an invasion in the Outback, Colonel Wolf?”

“Neg-, ah, no, Minister Allard.  The Dragoon’s took a circuitous route to disguise our point of origin.  When the Invasion comes, there will be no such duplicity.  They will strike directly at the shortest distance between our worlds; they will strike the Lyran Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine.”

The antique clock on the mantle slowly ticked and tocked as the seconds passed with no one saying a word.  “Why are you telling me this?” asked the Fox.

“The time has come for me to get skin in the game, Your Highness.  I will not allow the Clans to conquer the Inner Sphere and establish their hegemony over all its peoples.  Therefore, I am offering you access to our technological databases and our historical knowledge of the Clans, how they form their units, how they fight, how they conduct themselves.  On one condition.”

“Which is?”

“You must abort your planned offensive against the Draconis Combine,” Jamie answered quietly.

“You have helped plan this operation, Jamie!” Hanse thundered.  “Now, you demand we just stop?  We have a chance to eliminate the Kuritas once and for all, and then with the resources at our disposal, the Federated Commonwealth can defend the Inner Sphere!”

“Your Highness, the Invasion is coming.  It might happen in two short years; it might not occur for another decade.  What if they launch their attack when you and Takashi are bleeding each other white?  Who then will defend the Inner Sphere?”

Morgan shook his head.  “You have seventeen of these Clans, Colonel Wolf.  How much military force can they really project—operating at the end of a supply line a year or more in length?”

“Marshall Hasek-Davion, as of 1 January of this year, the seventeen Clans of Kerensky, according to the transmission I received, can field in excess of four hundred Clusters—a unit smaller than your Regiments, but with the firepower to defeat an entire RCT or two by themselves.  And the Clans never lost WarShip technology, Morgan.  There are at least two hundred on active duty in the Clans, with perhaps another hundred in mothball reserves.”

Hanse’s jaw dropped, and Morgan sat back, while Quintus slowly nodded.  “But they cannot deploy all of that, can they Colonel Wolf?”

“Do they need to, Minister Allard?” Jamie asked, then he shook his head.  “But Quintus is right, Your Highness.  They will commit four-to-six Clans on a broad front.  Perhaps seventy-to-one hundred Clusters in total.  And you will need two hundred Regiments and RCTs to stop them.”

“I see your point, Colonel Wolf,” Hanse answered.  “What exactly can you provide us with—technically speaking?”

“I can solve your current problems with replicating Star League technology, Hanse.  There are . . . certain manufacturing techniques that remain beyond you, but my people can help the NAIS develop their prototypes into working components for field units very quickly.  And I have six WarShips of my own.”

Morgan’s eyes bulged.  “You . . . have . . . SIX WARSHIPS?”

“They are en route to Outreach as we speak.  But Hanse Davion, for this to work, we must pool our efforts.  And that means we must speak with not only Katrina Steiner, but . . .” and Jamie winced as he considered what he was about to say, “but we must also include Takashi Kurita and Thomas Marik.  And Candace Liao.”

“Candace?  I love my daughter-in-law, Colonel Wolf,” said Quintus, “but she rules only the St. Ives Compact.  Don’t you mean Romano?”

“No.  Romano will never help you, Hanse.  NEVER.  It is time to end her rule once and for all—and allow Candace to reform a friendly Capellan Confederation that can send troops to defend humanity.”

The Fox slowly nodded.  “I would ask you to remain my guest, Colonel Wolf, for a few days while we discuss this.  It is safe to say that you have turned our worlds completely upside down, after all.”

Natasha Kerensky laughed.  “Hanse Davion, this is far less upsetting than seeing your wife’s realm; well, your mother-in-law’s realm, lose a hundred worlds and three dozen RCTs and THEN finding out we knew what was coming all along.  Why just think, your sons and daughter might have been old enough to be posted to some detachment that got overrun.  Think about how unnerving THAT might have been.”

Very small minor recommendation. Ditch the hand patting. It seems to come a little less as fondness for a life partner and more as something one would show to a pet. A simple small, a caress, whatever. I know it seems really specific, but it seems to mark Melissa as secondary status to Hanse, which is a trend that has always annoyed me. It reads well other than that.

Also, I assume that you are putting the "no art/no literature" vibe out there to differentiate your Clans from canon? Because this is definitely not true in canon material. If so, then by all means, continue. I'm just trying to get it clarified.

For shear shock value I like Jamie over simplifying the Clans by turning them into alien boogeymen. After all, he only has one shot. Maybe, a ten minute face-to-face meeting to convince the Prince, his wife and his top advisers of the threat the Clans pose.

The gravity of the situation and what Jamie is ultimately asking the Prince to do meant cutting some "corners" for effect. All things considered, saying the Clans abhor art is appropriate for the situation.

You don't cry wolf and then pause to explain in detail every fiber of its coat. That part comes later, after the wolf becomes a nice pelt blanket. 

Well it seems like jaime started something but if Clans strike fast we can win. Seyla

Look how quickly the traitorous wolves help the tainted

Why would Natasha agree so easily to go with the Inner Sphere? In cannon, she left for the Clans.

And regarding the training regimen, I didn't find any evidence saying the Wol's Dragoons were trained in a different way.