OBT Forum

Bravo.

Guarantee that blade had poison on it. Kirov is a dead man.

Treachery from the wolves. How the mighty have fallen

“Clan Burrock?”

“Both Clans vote Aye.  And we will bid for the right of Absorption as well.”

You probably mean both Khans

And you managed to surprise me. 

Chapter Two

“The greatest failure of the Clans is also our greater strength, my brother Scorpions.  We wage Trials, not Wars.  We fight with limited forces for limited objectives that are defined well in advance of any conflict.  Because of our traditions laid down by Nicolas Kerensky, we waste precious little in resources and preserve our industry and civilian castes to serve the whole of the Clans, no matter which Clan reigns over them.  This is something that has been before been achieved by any military arm of any branch of humanity—but achieve it we have.”

“It is our greatest weakness, our greatest failure, however, in that many of our brothers and sisters do not seem to remember that War is Hell.  And when we return to the Inner Sphere, my Scorpions, we must be prepared for they will not fight Trials against us.  Their response to the Invasion will be total War.  And we will be fighting in Hell.”

—Khan Mikhail Kirov, addressing the Goliath Scorpion Council of the Bloodnamed, August 6 3035


Watch Headquarters, Katyusha City
Strana Mechty, Clan Homeworlds
December 4, 3040

The bustling movements of the free-birth and true-born Warriors, Scientists, Merchants, and Technicians did not slow when the Khans entered; in fact, none of those engaged in the work here even seemed to take notice.  That fact did not escape any of Nikolai’s guests, judging by the crimson flushing of Yvonne Hazen’s cheeks, or the pinched lips of Marion Truscott, or the exasperated sigh of Jake Fletcher, and the clenched fist of Amanda Tseng.  Only Ulric Kerensky seemed unfazed.  Nikolai Djerassi smiled.

“They are under strict orders, my Khans, not to pause their work when a higher ranking officer—not even a Khan—enters this chamber,” he said.  “Otherwise, their efforts would grind to a halt every single time a Star Colonel or Galaxy Commander comes in here and demands to know when they will be finished!  And that is something which occurs at least twice a day, on average.”

“Yes, I can see where that might slow things down,” Yvonne said at last.  She leaned against the railing on the third story level where the doors had led the Khans.  The massive chamber was the size of two adjacent football fields, with the ceilings stretching close to twenty-meters.  From their lofty perch, the Khans could see row after row of desks, with analysts hard at work—but it was the thirty-six meter wide and eighteen meter tall screen on one wall that caught their attention.

On that screen was projected a map of the Northern Quadrant of the Inner Sphere.  At the top of the screen were Manaringaine and Von Strang's World in the Periphery; at the bottom was Terra.  To the left, the Lyran world of Viborg sat on the edge of map (although several Periphery micro-states were also included), while to the right the map extended to the pirate haven of Antallos, beyond the borders of the Draconis Combine.  The worlds of the periphery we given a light grey back drop, but those of belonging to the House of Steiner were drenched in royal blue; those of Kurita in crimson; while the Free Rasalhague Republic that separated the two giants was a sky-blue.  Only at the bottom of the screen was the bright sand yellow of House Davion represented, with a just a hint of Marik purple showing the borders of the Free Worlds League.  But the world at the very bottom, Terra, the space around it was adorned with no color save white.

Every claimed system—and many more that the Star League had known well—was represented on the screen by either a green dot, a black dot, or a grey skull.

“The culmination of four years work, my Khans,” Nikolai said as he waved a hand towards the map screen.  “It took a year to mobilize the Trackers, gather enough Scouts and Hunters, convince the Clans to work together and contribute their Fredasas, and send them all into the Inner Sphere with orders to gather information, but not to engage.  But for three years now, we have collected data on our targets in quantities undreamed of.  My Khans, Silver Sable II has achieved far more than we ever thought possible.”

“What do the symbols represent?” asked Ulric.  “The ones on the individual systems?”

“Systems marked with a skull have been abandoned or otherwise been rendered lifeless by the Succession Wars—there are far too many of those, as you can see, my Khans,” Nikolai answered bleakly.  “The ones that remain black we have not yet been able to gather enough information on to make a tactical and strategic analysis, whereas the ones in green have a complete and up-to-date report on military targets and defenses, civilian infrastructure and industry, weather patterns, socio-economic and cultural differences from our own, and other pertinent information.”

“Can you overlay the current Invasion routes?” asked Yvonne.

Nikolai nodded and he whistled down to the floor and made four signs with his hands to an alert supervisor, who began to key in commands to his workstation.  Eight golden lines dots strobed at the northern edge of the map, and then long lines began to form, angling their way towards a convergence point at Terra herself.  The background of the space in each of these invasion zones shifted to match the colors of one of the Clans of Kerensky.

“From west-to-east—Lyran Commonwealth to Draconis Combine—my Khans, the invading Clans will be, according to the latest version of Revival, Jade Falcon, Hell’s Horse, Wolf, Ghost Bear, Steel Viper, Star Adder, and Smoke Jaguar, with my Scorpions and a Raven Naval Force in reserve.  It is, of course, subject to change as the Khans continue to debate our exact plans for carrying out Revival.”  Nikolai frowned; already the plan had changed eleven times—and each time the number of participating Clans had been reduced.  Each reduction had forced Trials of Refusal which had either confirmed the new orders or forced a change back to the previous ones.  Needless to say, the Clans which had not been chosen—and which had lost their Refusal Trials—were furious.

The Scorpion Khan sighed.  And these plans would be revised again, he thought to himself as he brought his mind back to the real reason he had asked these five Khans here today.  Nikolai led the Khans down the stairs and across the floor to a guarded door.  The Scorpions standing watch came to attention and saluted, and Nikolai held it open for his guests.

The noise level immediately abated as the Scorpion Khan closed and sealed the door behind him, and he crossed around the round briefing table to stand beside a chair.  “I believe, my Khans, that you all know my saKhan, Randall Posavatz.  saKhan Posavatz has had full operational control of the Watch and is responsible for many of our successes.”

The Khans greeted the younger man and each slowly found a seat; Nikolai joined them.  “As you are all aware,” he began, “when the Grand Council approved the plan for Silver Sable II, the Watch was merely a shell organization.  Each Clan had its own Watch, and only seldom were those intelligence assets and the information that they gathered shared.  However, with Revival now on the horizon, the Grand Council directed that I reorganize our assets to gather information on our target worlds.”

Amanda Tseng chuckled.  “You were the only Khan who volunteered for the task, Nikolai.  Most see this task as beneath a true Warrior.”

“Aff, Khan Tseng,” Nikolai replied with a smile.  “But it is a task that I think I can take pride in.  Excepting only a few, the Watch has taken elements from every Clan and forged them into a whole far greater than the sum of their parts; they are now operating in a manner that ALL of us can be proud of.  However,” and Nikolai’s smile faded, “the sheer distances involved meant that not all of our assets could be focused on Revival.  Over ninety percent of our resources are concentrating on that task, but for the remaining ten percent, I have increased intelligence operations here in the Homeworlds.”

“That was not within your purview!” Yvonne Hazen barked, as the rest of the Khans glared at Nikolai.  “You exceeded the authority granted by the Grand Council—this is the entire reason that many Khans did not want the Watch consolidated in the first place!”

Nikolai held up a placating hand.  “I realize that, Khan Hazen.  These operations were not directed at the Clans—but against the Dark Caste bandits who continue to plague us.  Three months ago, we achieved a major intelligence coup against them . . . one that has serious implications for the Clans as a whole.”

The Scorpion nodded at Randall who stood and unlock a case; he extracted seven bound reports and he gave a copy to each of the Khans seated at a table before he sat once again, the final copy before him.

“If you read what I have prepared, my Khans, I think you will understand why I asked each of you here today.   This entire matter will have to be presented to the Grand Council, but the consequences, my Khans, this could derail Revival.  Or postpone it indefinitely.”

Five very uneasy Khans broke the seal on the report and opened it; each slowly began to read.  And as they flipped through page after page, the blood drained from their faces.  Amanda looked up in shock at Nikolai, but the Scorpion only nodded yes.  It is the truth, Ghost Bear.  And she turned her gaze back to the report and kept reading.

One-by-one, each Khan reached the last page.  Marion Truscott turned back and the Adder reread sections, while Yvonne Hazen and Ulric Kerensky only sat there waiting.  Jake Fletcher slammed his fist into the table.  “How dare they?  They are Clan!  How could they?”

And Amanda Tseng looked as if she was about to be physically ill.

“We have since concentrated our assets here in the Homeworlds on confirming this information, confirming that the Burrocks are working hand-in-glove with the Dark Caste.  It has been confirmed that Clan Burrock is arming them and supplying them and receiving a share of the loot from them.  The interrogations of the bandits we have captured—and their contacts among our civilian castes—show clearly that they know what is happening on our enclaves.”

“It would be folly to presume that the Burrocks are their only source of information, but so far we have identified no other Clan involved with the Dark Caste.  There are indications, however, that members of the civilian castes—of several Clans—are conspiring against us, my Khans.”

“Unconfirmed indications, Khan Djerassi,” Ulric pointed out.

Nikolai nodded.  “As of this moment, yes.”

“Why did you ask us here, Scorpion?” Jake Fletcher asked.  “Why not surprise us along with the rest of the Grand Council?”

“I do not like you, Horse, and I do not care for the Wolf either.  But I trust each of you to a far greater degree than I trust the other Khans.  None of you would have anything to do with this . . . treason.  I could have presented it to the Grand Council and let it simply play out, but the consequences for getting this wrong; my Khans, they are staggering.  And that is not even considering the ongoing feud between the Burrocks and the Spirits.”

“Oh, by the Great Father,” Marion said as he laid his face down in his open palms.  “They will demand the right to Annihilate the Burrocks.  Do they have the ability?”

“They and the Burrocks are evenly matched,” Nikolai answered.  “But consider this:  if the Burrocks manage to defeat the Spirits, then they cannot be held guilty under Nicholas Kerensky’s own laws—despite the evidence, they will have cleared their name and retain a seat on the Grand Council.”

No one said a word around the table.  “On the bright side, I have managed to uncover three distant systems where the Dark Caste base their operations in the Homeworlds.  Now, if forces from our Clans were to suddenly arrive there and take those facilities by storm, we might well uncover additional information.  Unfortunately, I must inform the Council at our next session—in ten days time.  If we launch this strike against the Dark Caste, it must be done immediately, otherwise it become part of the Trial against the Burrocks.”

“There is another facet to this,” Yvonne said firmly.  “You are speaking of a Crusader Clan—and eliminating their vote might well put a halt to Revival.  There are some Crusaders who will accuse you personally, Nikolai, of engineering this simply to stop the Invasion.”  She smiled.  “And having Ulric Kerensky sit at this table, will only add to their conspiracy theories on that regard.”

“That is one of the reasons, other than impeccable sense of honor and devotion to her duty, I requested Amanda Tseng to join us today.  The Ghost Bears originally voted against the Invasion, Khan Tseng.  But your Clan has been selected as one of the key components of Revival.  If the Burrocks fall, and their vote is eliminated, will the Bears shift their position and allow the Invasion to proceed?”

“We will.  The problem arises in that you might well lose other votes—the Spirits at the least will threaten to withdraw their support if they do not receive the right to act against the Burrocks.”

Ulric Kerensky raised an eyebrow, but Nikolai laughed.  “Do not worry yourself, Wolf.  I know better than to even ask you.”

There was mild laughter around the table, and Nikolai continued.  “We will cross that bridge when it becomes necessary.  In the meantime, do I have your support to commit troops against these Dark Caste bandits, my Khans?”

“AFF!” all five answered in unison.

Clan Central Spaceport, Katyusha City
Strana Mechty, Clan Homeworlds
December 5, 3040

Nikolai shielded his eyes as he watched the last of the DropShips lift off in a glare that nearly blinded him.  Oh, how he wanted to be leading them, his Scorpions, on this strike against the Dark Caste, but he dare not leave Strana Mechty, not while the Burrock treachery remained unrevealed.  He had not doubt that Randall Posavatz would deal with the bandits; and that appraisal did not even include the Jade Falcon Cluster assigned to the same target.

Yvonne Hazen as well had chosen to remain behind—but she had not dispatched her saKhan from his assigned post of Ironhold.  Instead, she had a chosen a ristar—Star Colonel Timur Malthus—to lead her Turkina Keshik into battle.  The Wolves and the Horses were departing for the second target, as were the Bears and Adders for the third.  His fellow Khans, agreeing that time was of the essence, had dispatched their own command units and sundry other formations directly from Strana Mechty—none had wasted time to divert their normal combat Clusters into the action.

Nikolai looked at Yvonne, and he wondered if the rumors were true that relations between her and Elias Crichell were growing strained.  The Falcon saKhan was closely aligned with the Jaguars, and he was a vocal opponent of Yvonne’s growing alliance with the Scorpions.  He smiled as he thought of the saKhan challenging Yvonne—the upstart was good, but he was no match for Hazen in her prime.  Still that haughty Falcon pride was surely pushing Elias into a confrontation that he must know he could not win—and that worried Nikolai.  He worried because Elias struck him as too . . . Machiavellian and convoluted for the powerful Jade Falcons.  He wasn’t a hunting raptor who soared through the sky, King of all that surveyed; no, Elias Crichell was a weasel who harassed around the edges and gnawed away at his opponents before moving in for the kill.

Yvonne finally turned away her eyes from the now vanished DropShips, as the exhaust of their engines evaporated into the cloudy sky.  And she raised an eyebrow as she saw Nikolai staring at her.

“Something attract your attention, Khan Djerassi?” she asked in amusement.

“My dear Yvonne; you always attract my attention,” Nikolai replied with a slight bow and a smile.

She laughed, and then her laugh turned into a sigh and she looked skyward again.  “I do not care for dispatching my Warriors when I cannot accompany them, Nikolai.  I do not care for it one whit.  I shudder to think of what the Great Father felt seeing his legions thrown against Terra and knowing that he could not be there to share in their hardships.”

“He wrote many passages, Yvonne, about just that.  How he watched the youth of the Star League throw themselves selfishly against Amaris; how they would not allow him to hazard himself until the final moments of the campaign when he led the assault against Unity City and the Usurper.  He spoke thus to General DeChevilier:  ‘General, soldiering has one great trap:  to be a good soldier you must love the army.  To be a good commander, you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love.  We do not fear our own death you and I.  But there comes a time . . . We are never quite prepared for so many to die.  Oh, we do expect the occasional empty chair.  A salute to fallen comrades.  But this war goes on and on and the men die and the price gets ever higher.  We are prepared to lose some of us, but we are never prepared to lose all of us.  And there is the great trap, General.  When you attack, you must hold nothing back.  You must commit yourself totally.  We are adrift in a sea of blood and I want it to end.  I want this to be the final battle.’  Of course, he was quoting a leader of a war nine centuries before his time, but it held true for Him, and it holds true for us, Yvonne.”

“You Scorpions continue to surprise me, Nikolai.  How do you remember such?”

“It is important to remember who and what we are, Yvonne.  Without knowing ourselves, we are not Warriors, we are simply killers.”

The Falcon nodded and she turned on her heel and headed back towards the ground car waiting for the two Khans.  Nikolai followed her.

When the two were seated and the car began to slowly carry them back to their respective halls, Nikolai finally nodded to himself.  “Khan Hazen,” he said, “can you attend a small event at the Trial Grounds this evening?  A believe that I have a gift for you and your gallant Falcons.”

“A Gift, Nikolai?  I adore gifts,” she said as she battered her eyebrows at him, and both Khans chuckled.  “Seriously, I would be honored to attend.”

“Eighteen hundred hours, then?”

“I shall be there.”

“And Yvonne?  Bring your Chief Scientist and your personal Technician.”


Kerensky Trial Ground, Katyusha City
Strana Mechty, Clan Homeworlds
December 5, 3040

‘There, my Khan,” Nikolai said as he extended his arm.  “There is our gift to you—what do you see, Khan Yvonne Hazen?”

The Falcon snorted.  “It is a Hellbringer, Khan Djerassi.  I have seen . . . a few . . . in my lifetime.”

“Ah,” the Scorpion answered.  “This is no ordinary Hellbringer, Khan Hazen.  What is the greatest weakness of the design?”

She shook her head.  “The armor is too weak.  But to add more armor will reduce the available pod space—and what is an OmniMech with no weapons, Nikolai.”

The Scientist at her side nodded.  “The Hellbringer, Khan Djerassi is a perfect blend of speed and firepower.  There is simply no room to add anything else without raising the cost considerably.”

Nikolai snorted.  “Khan Hazen, your scientist is an idiot.  That Hellbringer carries the exact same pod space as the Hellbringers currently fielded by the Jade Falcons today; yet it also has increased armor protection by 64.8%; a feat that has been accomplished by raising the construction cost by less than 1.9%.  My scientists developed this prototype when they were researching our new Scorpion OmniMechs—to date I have shared it with the Adders and Horse’s.  The Wolves turned us down, without even looking at the improvements.”

Yvonne frowned.  “What have you done?”

“We replaced the original internal skeletal structure with endo-steel, Yvonne.  That saved enough weight to thicken the armor protection to eleven full tons of ferro-fibrous, instead of the eight tons of standard armor the design normally carries.  Although the bulk of the components caused some initial problems, we managed to shift most of that bulk to the left side of our new Hellbringer, allowing for all existing configurations to be replicated exactly.”

The Falcon scientist shook his head.  “He admits it consumes more resources, my Khan.  The Hellbringer is a delicate design that has been tested and tried throughout these past years—Warriors do not realize what compromises must be made in order to provide the finest equipment for the Clans!  It is unbalanced!  It cannot be effective.”

“You are wrong again, Scientist,” Nikolai replied solemnly.  “It was a simple matter to adjust the gyro control program to accommodate the off-center weight.  The OmniMech control computers themselves house a similar adjustment program that compensates for weight changes—it was a matter of simply calibrating the new weight distribution.  This Hellbringer is my gift to you, Khan Hazen; to your Clan I give the schematics so that you might produce more.”

“Why are doing this, Nikolai,” the Falcon asked.

“When we Invade, Yvonne, we must not fight with one hand tied behind our backs.   The Hellbringer brings tremendous firepower to the battlefield—but that matters not if it is disabled or destroyed in the first engagement when you have to fight four or five or six or seven to complete the conquest of a world.  Yes, it consumes more resources:  1.88% more resources.  But answer me this, Khan Hazen:  is it worth this pittance to increase your Clan’s chances of winning a trial?  Is it worth this pittance to avoid having to replace a damaged or destroyed engine?  Or leg?  Or arm?  Or gyro?  Because of the thin armor plating more appropriate for a 40-ton Viper, not a 65-ton heavy line-of-battle OmniMech?”

Nikolai chuckled.  "To put the matter in perspective, Khan Hazen:  that Hellbringer standing on the Trial Grounds moves as fast your own, it has the same engine, the same gyroscope, the same communications systems, and the same fire control systems.  It has identical pod space, and can mount every existing weapons configuration currently available to Clans, with the exact heat dissipation and cooling systems.  The only difference is that instead of carrying the armor of an SLDF Phoenix Hawk it now carries more armor than an SLDF Thunderbolt.   Is that increase in capabilities worth a cost increase of less than 200,000 Kerensky's per unit, Khan Hazen?"

“Vincent, your thoughts?” the Falcon Khan asked her Tech, who shrugged in answer.

“I have pleaded with the Scientists for years to do just this modification, my Khan.  It is always the same answer—keep to my place; they design and I repair . . . and the Warriors fight.”

Yvonne turned her cold blue eyes to the Scientist.  “You still object, Gunthar?”

“The design must be studied, my Khan.  We cannot trust what this Scorpion says without extensive field tests!  Such changes in traditional armaments cannot be simply dictated.”

Yvonne Hazen nodded and she unbuttoned the flap on her holster, pulled out her pistol and fired a single round through the forehead of her Clan’s (former) Chief Scientist.  She turned to his assistant.  “Chief Scientist Maria, can you approve of this change in the Hellbringer chassis for immediate production?” She asked, the smoking pistol pointed at the ground.

“Aff, my Khan,” the terrified Scientist answered.  “We can convert the factories in less than a month’s time.”

“Good.”  She holstered the weapon and turned back to face Nikolai.  “The Falcons thank the Scorpions for their gift—it will be put to good use.  Now, I believe I will take that OmniMech for a test drive.  Vincent, would you fetch my cooling suit?"

Very well done and the former chief scientist was probably one of the society.

Oh Very well done