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June 18th, 3054
Offices of the First Prince Emeritus
Castle Davion
New Avalon
Federated Commonwealth

Spring had finally come to New Avalon, and the day had been nothing short of gorgeous. Hanse had asked the palace staff to leave the windows open while he was awake, as the breeze had simply been refreshing, reminiscent of such breezes from his youth when New Avalon entered spring. Who knew how many springs I still have? Hell, after I drop this little bomb on my guest, his answer may save or doom us, but we need him..dammit. But I hate putting the potential future of the Commonwealth in the hands of someone like him.

The wargames to test the plan had begun in earnest, and there had been a few flaws found in the plan. The main one was one that Hanse had expected would be found- transportation. There just wasn't enough transport assets to move the forces required, let alone keep them supplied for when everything kicked off. But there wasn't any source to get Jumpships from…or at least there was..until an offer came from left field..one Hanse had certainly not been expecting.

Quintus had been approached by someone purporting to be a personal representative of the Precentor Martial himself. Hanse did not know what to make of it, but figured why not meet with the Precentor, the worst he could say was no. Yeah, I know, Victor SHOULD be doing this, but my unique position allows him to disavow me as a "crazy old man". If things go wrong...

There was a sharp rap at the door, it was a series of staccato bangs, like rifle fire. I guess the sound is appropriate. "Enter!" Hanse bellowed.

The door opened to reveal a withered figure cloaked in a white robe marked with the golden sigil of ComStar. His bespectacled eyes burned with a warrior's fire, and his visage was unmistakable as the victor of Tukayyid. "Victor of the Clans", Anastasius Focht.

Hanse smiled a seemingly genuine smile, one he knew was not going to fool his guest, but certain social graces had to be maintained. "Precentor Martial, I am sorry for the short time allowed to answer my request for a visit, but circumstances did not allow for more warning."

"Spare me your pleasantries, Hanse Davion. Did you know there is a saying in the Capellan Confederation? 'Beware of smiling Davions.' So, Prince Davion, it seems you have a little plan to take the war to the Clans, one that is at the least, quite ambitious." Focht's tone and smile betrayed more mirth than the statement suggested.

Dammit, how in the hell did he know that? I see ROM has its usual impeccable sources...time to go on the offensive I suppose.

"Precentor Marital, I will not deny there is the planning for such an operation. Where you found out, has me at a loss. I suppose ROM is as good as ever." Hanse smiled.

Focht straightened his robes. "Prince Davion, I know you know who I really am, and I appreciate your family's discretion. You do understand this is exactly the kind of thing that is going to make the truce a dead letter?"

Hanse Davion looked Focht in the eye. "Do you trust all the Clans to keep the truce forever?"

Focht shrugged. "If it were simply up to Ulric Kerensky, yes. But it isn't. Somebody on the Clan side will break the truce sooner rather than later, and you are correct to hit first. As much as it pains me to say it."

Hanse knew that all this had done was put Focht on the defensive. But he was a warrior, and if Hanse did not act quickly, he would act to retake the initiative in this argument. Best to end this quickly. Hanse reached into a non-descript AFFS mapcase, it had been his own for many, many years during his time with the 3rd Guards. He deftly produced two blue manila folders. One had the words "Clover Spear- Target List" stamped on it and the other had "Clover Spear- Transport Requirements" stamped on it. Both were also stamped "Most Secret" with a sticker reminding everyone what the penalties for revealing the contents to anyone not cleared to know them were.

Focht took one folder and read through it, then the other...he grunted as he read, and smiled at parts of what he read, lines of mirth creasing his craggy face. He then put down the folder and smiled "Hanse Davion, if you ever want to get the hell out of this gilded cage, I have a job offer waiting."

"I would...except my wife would track me down...and put me in a real cage...and we both know it."

Both men shared a laugh that lasted until Hanse had a minor coughing fit.

Hanse Davion began "I require the use of ComStar's transportation network for a year, as much of it as you can spare, without shorting your other obligations. Or more correctly, the Federated Commonwealth does."

"And why am I not meeting with Victor, why instead do I meet with you? Are you telling me you don't trust your own son and heir?"

"On the contrary, I do. But he plays by the new rules, I don't, and neither did you. I wanted to get the measure of you, Frederick Steiner, have you turned over a new leaf? Are you a new man?" Hanse asked, with a cocked eyebrow.

Focht shook his head, "None has called me by that name in 25 years. I hope you know I no longer covet the throne. I had that burned out of me on Dromini VI, Your mother in law left me to die. I assured her I wasn't coming back, I was not going to be a party to craven murder. But as it was, I was fortunate that I got off as lucky as I did. I vowed never to get into politics again. As you can see, it almost killed me. But I see even though I leave politics, it does not leave me. You will get my cooperation, and the Primus's, for your jumpships. I just hope it is enough. All I ask are two things."

"They are?" Hanse queried

"First, you allow me to send limited numbers of ComStar personnel with the invasion forces to get the HPGs up and running again. I promise, no ROM, and no 'Mechs. Second, you finish the damn job." Focht said with an edge.

Hanse smiled a dangerous smile "Agreed to the first point, as for the second, we must win, Precentor Martial, or we are all done for, all of us, for the Clans do not strike me as a merciful people, Precentor Martial. And with that," as Hanse rose and motioned towards the door "have a nice trip back to Terra. May I suggest you try Kepperings while on New Avalon before you go? They have an excellent surf and turf meal."

Focht made as to leave, but turned and looked at Hanse Davion, his eyes bored into him "You are going to die like you lived, Hanse Davion. Your death will be as the result of politics. It would be a shame for you to end up like that..but retirement, she doesn't suit you. Ask Victor to give you a damn job, you old fool!"

"No, Focht, no, I cannot do that and you know why. I made a promise to Melissa. Whatever happens after this, I hang up the spurs." Hanse said evenly.

Focht shook his head angrily. "Hanse Adrian Davion. Your one true destiny is that of a soldier. Your son is one as well. Politics only suits you insofar as you had to use it. I look forward to your humbling of the Jade Falcons."

Focht left with a twirl of his robes and a martial stomp in his step. He still stomps off like Frederick did..hasn't changed a damn bit.

Hanse sat down on the couch in his office with a thump. That little exchange had been pleasant, but tiring. But it was necessary. He was not going to leave the Clans to be his son's problem. I am sure Victor could handle it, of that I have no doubt, he has matured a lot since becoming First Prince, but he has a blind spot when it comes to the Capellans, filial piety will be my son's undoing.

His reverie was interrupted by another knock at the door "Your highness, you daughter Katherine is here, she isn't on the calendar, but-"

"My daughter needs to be on some calendar? Are you mad, let her in."

Sometimes, I wonder about my staff, I think they edit my visitation requests so as not to 'upset' me. Hanse exhaled in mild frustration. At this rate, it was probably likely they would give him a heart attack through the sheer minor frustrations they were putting him through.

"Let her in, for god's sake she is my daughter! And never bar family members again!"

"Yes, your highness!"

Katherine entered Hanse's office with a quizzical look on her porcelain face. She took after he mother, with fine, Germanic features topped with long blond hair she kept medium length, though, unlike her mother and father, her hair was curly, she may get that from her uncle Ian. Hanse mused. She had the blond eyes of both the Davions and the Steiners, but unlike most of them, hers had pronounced gold flecks. Her red, white and blue sundress, inspired by the colors of the Davion Guards, whom she had just returned from visiting (and had turned down more than a few ribald marriage proposals from), billowed in the evening breeze.

"Father, I amost got run down by Anastasius Focht and his entourage, and he looked like Aunt Yvonne when she has a plan on her mind, are we going to be interdicted again?"

Hanse laughed, "No Katherine, my dear, it seems the Precentor Martial and I had a meeting and came to understand a great many things…all of them good."

Katherine shook her head "Dad, your heart, you can't keep acting like you're First Prince, or a 'Mechwarrior anymore. I worry about you, and this may sound selfish, but I need my dad to give me away at my wedding." Katherine stated with mock forcefulness, she wasn't really angry at her father, as she had always been a bit of a "daddy's girl".

It had been her father that had noticed the early signs of Dombrowski A in his daughter, and the road had been hard, and long, with many long hours of treatment at NAIS, but it had left Katherine a bit shy and unable to relate to people easily. She was now coming out of her shell, but it was a painful process. Her "time" in the AFFC was working in a PIO shop here on New Avalon, and she had done well, even giving a few briefings, where a beaming Hanse had proclaimed "that's my girl" to a crowd of slightly bemused members of the media. Hanse loved all of his children fiercely, but he was closest to his two oldest.

"Dammit Katherine, this is a guilded cage, I know it's well meant, but now that I have something to do, it feels wonderful."

"If it doesn't kill you? And incidentally, shouldn't you have left this to Victor? You did give him the keys to the kingdom a while ago?" Katherine intoned, her tone expressing not a little bit of concern.

Hanse chuckled "I hear you, and obey, my daughter, but I had my reasons, now, what is this I hear about walking you down the aisle and marriage? Is there a young man I need to have DMI scare the hell out of? Not like I can do that sort of thing anymore."

Katherine groaned "Um, dad, that dance at NAIS, it was real fun you making a show of showing my date your Battlemaster…and what it did to unarmored infantrymen…"

"Noone breaks my little girl's heart…whatever happened to him, anyhow? I liked him."

"He enlisted, we broke up, he's on the Clan front somewhere as an Aerospace pilot."

"So…back to the question, my daughter..who has got you talking to me in hypotheticals about your nuptuals…it isn't like your dear brother is in a hurry." Hanse shook his head at that last thought, Victor must marry once I do pass on, and the Commonwealth cannot be without a secure future, not for a moment!

"Well, I noticed him…not sure he notices me…his initials are…G and C." Katherine's smile was electric, and could melt hearts at 100 meters. The trouble was, the after effects of the treatment had left her not smiling very often. Hence the small talk. Hanse had made it a point to always get Katherine to loosen up around him, and everyone else. Formality may have its uses, but social lubricant is not one of them.

"Katherine, first, sit down, you make me nervous when you stand and talk to me, and any minute now, I think you're going to begin to pace again."

Katherine sat down in a very precise and lady-like manner. She smiled at her father and took his hand in hers as they sat across from her, him on the couch, and her in an overstuffed settee, "Dad, you know I'm probably going to get married before Victor ever will. First, he is married to his job…and second? He is pining after the one girl he can't have. "

Omi Kurita…Jesus, can it ever be more of a cosmic joke that my firstborn son falls in love with the daughter of the mortal enemy of the Commonwealth…though with the Clans, the Combine has taken more than a few steps back in that department..Still…

"Dare I ask, but have you tried fixing your brother up?"

Katherine rolled her eyes "Mom has, I have, Galen has, Kai has..It's been a bit of a fiasco. And now, now with that plan of yours, he has been putting 10-12 hour days because he wants to validate the plan."

Hanse smiled a thin smile of pride warring with concern. "Katherine, sadly, he gets that from me. I agree with the idea, but do me a favor? Make sure he eats and takes care of himself. That kind of thing is what had my ticker give out."

"Received and understood, Dad, I have got half the palace working for me keeping Victor human…or human-ish... Dad, not to switch the subject, but you know we still haven't found a way around the jumpship issue? The troop movements across the Commonwealth and supporting logistics are well, ruinous to the economy with the Jumpship numbers. We'll be in a full-blown depression inside of a year."

Hanse produced a device from his pocket, and smiled as he thumbed it on, and placed it on a nearby coffee table. "Katherine, what I am about to tell you, does not leave this room. It has to do with my meeting with the Precentor Martial, and why I met with him instead of Victor. And why I need you to tell your brother."

Katherine looked on quizzically. "Um, Dad, does this have anything to do with the Precentor Martial storming out of here like an Atlas on fire?"

Hanse nodded "It does, we have secured the use of some of ComStar's Jumpship fleet for a year. Focht is probably in a hurry to cut the appropriate orders at the New Avalon HPG."

Katherine's face lit up. "Dad, they will be just enough to keep the economy running, but why am I the one to tell Victor?"

Hanse tapped Katherine's knee, "Because sweetheart, Victor never really knew firsthand what it is like to deal with the old ComStar. I did. Yes, what I did can be seen as undercutting his authority. It will not occur again. I just wanted to make sure I got the measure of the man- "

"-and make sure he didn't take big brother for a ride." Katherine finished.

"Precisely, I am sure of Focht now, and I think he and Mori will turn ComStar around. Will certain parties give him the time? I doubt it. But you need to do something. You know my favorite mapcase?"

Katherine nodded.

"There is a folder there with a list of our remaining intelligence assets in the Free Worlds League, if things begin to go south for ComStar, I want Victor to have a list of those assets at his fingertips and not have to ask the Intelligence Secretariat to pull the information. It will take valuable time he will not have. I am sure Victor will know what orders to give..but I want you to hold on to that folder. Just in case."

Katherine smiled "Just in case we have to start potting Blakists from rooftops?"

Hanse nodded.

"Consider it done, Daddy. He always protected me when we were younger, even when I did not deserve it…especially when I didn't. I can have his back for this.

Hanse's heart broke at that last statement, Katherine, my beloved daughter. You always deserved better. The illness, it was not your fault. You paid a high price for your mental health. The occasional crying fits that surface today, the insomnia, and the two years of seizures. And above all, the painful shyness. Oh my daughter, I do hope the cure was worth it. Now, now I start another war to make sure you have a future better than the one I had. Maybe a peaceful one, dare I hope.

_
..Whatever my differences between my brother and I, I always loved him for being that big brother who protected me growing up, and was there during the worst of the Dombrowski A treatment. I remember after one bad day at NAIS when I had passed out during the electroshock, Mom was screaming at Dad, and Dad sat and took it..they both loved me, and both were angry, in their own way at what fate had thrown at their eldest daughter. Mom lost her temper, in one of the few times I have ever seen her do it..Dad, dad, was stoic, and was a statue when Mom began to pound him with her fists…and that's when I heard Victor come into the room, and say to both of them "Stop it, Katherine can hear, and she needs us." I was never more proud of my big brother.

So, when Dad and I had that talk that fateful day of June, 3054, I realized I had to be the little sister he deserved. I had to be strong…

It's Not All Fairy Tales – The Life and Times of a Cracked Princess, by Katherine Cox-Steiner Davion, Tharkad Press, Tharkad, 3084

Taken from "Falcon and Viper meet the Anvil: An Anatomy of the '56 War" (Victory Press, Robinson, 3081) by Prof. Richard Kingman (Kommandant, AFFC Ret.)

"..Contrary to popular belief at the time, Hanse Davion did understand his enemy far better than anyone had given him credit. Many who knew him knew two things about him. One, that he was a man who studied his enemies thoroughly, and the Clans were no exception, and two, he was a man who knew how to take a calculated risk and push it to the limit.

But what made the Clans so vulnerable, was something they had done to themselves, they had become hidebound in the name of ideological purity. Even the "Warden" political faction was to a measure, hidebound in its military doctrine and as such, was unable to cope with what the AFFC had brought to bear, especially as the AFFC invested a lot of money and time over the intervening two years to train multiple RCTs along the Clan front in a variety of firepower intensive doctrines, especially those utilizing artillery on a scale not seen before in the Inner Sphere.

There was an expansion in the number of gun tubes in the average RCT, with those along the frontier being converted to a artillery brigade of two gun regiments each, along with a battalion of Arrow IV equipped 'Mechs. More of these Brigades were created as independent units designed to support collections of Free Regiments, as well as mercenary units. These Artillery Brigades worked hand in hand with the scouting elements of the RCT, be it LRRPs, Light 'Mechs, or reconnisance vehicle elements. In short, the light elements, along with an increased use of RPVs were there to find targets, for these new concentrations of guns.

Moreover, a new family of semi-automatic mortars were installed the battalion level in platoon strength (4 tubes) in Armored and Mechanized Infantry units, There was some talk of installing them in 'Mech units as well, as it was felt the mortars could neither a) keep up with the 'Mechs in the unit, and b) the maintenance and logistical concerns of having vehicles and 'Mechs in the same battalion, however, it was decided to have a battery of the weapons installed at the Regimental Level in all arms, and 'Mech unit commanders began to value having the "hip pocket artillery", especially for the way it could speedily lay down the new thermal smoke rounds that were promised to even interfere with the vaunted Clan-tech thermal imaging systems.

New doctrinal changes came about, where AFFC commanders were encouraged to use recon assets aggressively to find enemy unit boundaries, or weakly held parts of the enemy line in any kind of terrain. The idea was to smash these parts of the Clan line with sheer numbers, and then encircle the Clan units, and forcing them to fight an attritional battle of annihilation. AFFC units were told to expect fierce Clan counterattacks at every level, as it was expected that the Falcons and Vipers, once they realized they had been sucked into just such a fight, would seek to either a) break out to resume the kind of long range mobile battle that suited them, or b) would throw themselves at the obviously numerically superior FC forces in an "death ride" to achieve as honorable a death as possible. Furthermore, AFFC units were trained to use night, and close terrain to their advantage, so as to seek a close-range assault that would negate the Clan range advantage.

Taking and holding the initiative was paramount, and the AFFC pounded the idea into their commanders, one that had been stressed in the AFFC for a long time- "Get the initiative and never let go of it." Airmobile tactics were stressed as well, as it was thought that due to the low speed of Elementals, putting infantry units with heavy weapons into the Clan rear in battalion strength was a means to disrupt the ability of the Clans to form a coherent defense. (This last idea, as we will see, was more miss than hit during the '56 War, and it needed massive refinement, but it did become a coherent part of AFFC tactical and operational doctrine that survives today)."

From "Deception Operations in the Capellan and Sarna Marches during the Buildup to Clover Spear" – written by Hauptmann-General Arnold Haugen, for the Military Intelligence Review, Fall '71 issue, Published by the AFFC Department of Information, New Avalon)

"..I was a young Kommandant when we briefed the plan to move a number of RCTs and Free Regiments from the Capellan and Sarna 'Marches in early '54. Memory doesn't serve the exact time and date, but I know it was still winter on Monhegan where the meeting took place. We knew the deception would not last forever, especially with the Maskirovka keeping pretty close tabs along the border, but we had to get those troops to the Clan front.

Simply put, we were going to take a page from RAT, and make the deployments sound like routine rotations to the Clan front. MIIO and DMI had put together some really great deception packages for the media, and we banned the press from covering most of the troop movements, but not all. We knew things would get especially dicey when the dependents for most of the units were asking why they had not rotated to the Lyran Commonwealth along with their loved ones, telling them the Clan front was no place for families was one way we got around that, but again, it only worked until mid-'55. We had our hands full making it look like less units had left than actually had.

We had small radio-technical units ranging the border with the Capellans and Mariks imitating the units that, had in fact, departed. We found out later, we did fool SAFE, but not the Maskriovka, at least, not forever. We don't know how the leak happened, but by late 3054, sources inside MIIO had stated that the Capellans knew we had moved at least part of the forces slated for Clover Spear into the Lyran State Command. We could only pray the Dragoons could keep up their end of the deception, making the Capellans think that three of their regiments were still on Outreach, instead of all of them heading for the border of the Jade Falcon OZ.

Naturally, when the Capellans found out the truth? All hell broke loose."

The Private Memoirs of Shao Lao-Tse, Senior Colonel, CCAF (Ret)

"..EAST SEA was to be fair to the Chancellor, a tricky endeavor from the start. The Davion presence along the border had always been strong, and even with the Clans, they had covered our lost territories very well indeed. Thus, East Sea has remained firmly a contingency plan, with the barest of effort put into it, not to mention, we at the Ministry of Defense realized. The CCAF hadn't launched a sustained offensive against anyone since 2412. To say there was no institutional memory on how to do such a thing..was…an understatement."

"Most of our offensive plans at the time consisted of us going into the rebel province [the then official Capellan name of the St. Ives Compact] in case their government collapsed, or the AFFC pulled out, but neither was seen as very likely, we had several variants of plans for that, all under the name of LONG MARCH. So, it was rather shocking when I was at the weekly meeting with the sovereign during the usual weekly state of the CCAF briefing, that the Chancellor asked the now, well known question:

"Ruhe Zhumbei Shi Wo De Mao?" – How ready are my spears?

We were all struck dumb. Even with Marik help, we didn't think we had a ghost of a chance to pull anything like EAST SEA off. But then, those sorcerers at the Military Intelligence section had gotten to the Chancellor..we all thought they had talked him into an ill-advised war…and there were some, I am sure, who were worried we had another Maximillian on our hands..but then, that Shang woman of his. I never liked her..she was too ambitious for her own good. But she had good information this time…it seems Wolf's Dragoons had left Outreach.

I never forgot the terrible smile of that Shang woman, it didn't last. Not after Sarna."

"Blood of a Partisan- The Story of a Partisan against the Clans" (Franks, John, Albermale Press, Koniz, 3077)

"..I will never forget when the first Rabid Foxes showed up on Winfield. We had had a lonely war, and it was getting harder to bring people over to our side. We'd had a couple of raids go bad, and that traitor: That so-called "Star Colonel" Mark..he was making weekly statements on the Planetary medianet, telling us to accept the "New Tomorrow", like he had. Bastard.

We did our best to kill him…twice, and missed both times. We did get his sister when she visited on a "goodwill tour". Hey, it sent a message, right? The trouble was, the ones the Falcons sent was worse. They wiped out a small mining town in the mountains by the name of Happy Days..killed everyone, even the kids. They called it "the price of resisting our betters." You can imagine what we thought of that. Two weeks later, we put a LAW rocket into one of the "Falcon Friendship Centers" in downtown Winfield City, and killed half a dozen of the tanker bastards…especially when we paid the fire department a visit, and told them in no uncertain terms…not to show up.

But that didn't deter the Falcons, no, they murdered one hundred hostages..and did it in full view of the cameras. We felt low by then. There was maybe a half dozen of us left, we had little food, little ammunition, and no real hope. The last time we had seen the FedCom was when a 'Merc outfit had tried to raid one of the outlying Falcon detachments…and walked into an ambush. Many of us were ready to fade back into the woodwork, and make the best of it..when fate intervened.

We had heard a dropship pass over our camp, low, from east to west, and were wondering what it was all about. We were worried that the Falcons had found us, and were hot dropping Toads on us to finish us off, but when we looked up, we saw tiny black parachutes against the inky twilight sky. We realized one thing: Toads didn't use parachutes.

The old man quickly established a marching order, and we briefed a quick hasty ambush at a site we knew well, one we had ambushed some of the collabo (collaborationist) militia a couple times before, before the Falcons disbanded them due to their (I think in some cases, deliberate) incompetence.

We set out for the ambush site at a near run. We had learned to move quietly, like holes in the oncoming night, One thing the Falcons did admit about us, and it spooked the hell out of them..We were not usually seen unless we wanted to be seen. And that night, we definitely were not seen.

It took us about half an hour for us to reach the ambush site, and for us to set up, I remember quietly chambering a round into my cone rifle, and praying the click of the selector lever being moved to FIRE didn't give me away. As it was, we needn't have bothered.

I will say one thing about the Rabid Foxes, they are some really sneaky bastards. Before I knew it, I had been tased, disarmed, and trussed up like many a deer I had taken from these hills. And what were these Davions doing…Grinning. That's right..not even a peep of laughter. Not a speck of light..We could tell only by their grins where they were. They were the whitest thing around.

They dragged the Old Man into a nearby tent, and they had him for a while. He told us later that they knew everything about him, and had grilled him hard to make sure he was whom he said he was. Meanwhile, they kept us tied up for what seemed like an hour.

They were wiry men and women, you could tell that even under all the gear and uniform. Their eyes, though, the eyes were like sharks. Everything they looked at was a look of "How do I destroy this?" Once they were satisfied we were who we said we were, they untied us, but kept us disarmed. They sent out a man who spoke pretty flawless Steiner German. I will never forget what he said:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, playtime is over, It is time for Falcon and Viper season."

I will be damned if before long, we all weren't aping their grins. Their quiet confidence was pretty infectious, and they were right..the next year was very, very interesting indeed."

Welcome aboard PanzerFaust150!!

February 6th, 3055

Clan Jade Falcon Watch Office

Hamarr

Sudeten

Jade Falcon Occupation Zone

Star Captain Horatio gripped his stylus tightly in frustration as he read yet another report put together by a stravag technician who had been hastily trained in the art of intelligence analysis by a mixture of unwilling Federated Commonwealth bondsmen and available manuals. Neither had done much, in Horatio's opinion, to make their reports anything approaching coherent.

Or even worth reading, it was all jumping at shadows, maybes, could be, possibly, how does anyone make a decision based on this information? Freebirth! Horatio's mind raged.

The trouble was that the information gathering flow was, as one bondsman put it, "like trying to drink water from a firehose." Horatio winced at such a wasteful concept, but it was an apt analogy, he had to concede. Our ability to collect all kinds of signals intelligence is incredible, and a testament to the watchfulness of the Clan. But, our ability to analyze the information…as well as to make use of it, is doubtful.

The Jade Falcon Watch was like most Clan intelligence agencies, their human intelligence skills were abysmal, but their SIGINT collection was very, very good. But none of it mattered if the ability to analyze the information was as bad as it was, and the fact was, the Watch simply did not have the tools, nor the skills to build a competent intelligence picture for the Clan Council, let along the Khan and saKhan.

Take the current tasking, Horatio had been charged by the Khan himself to find out what had spurred the current uptick in guerilla activities throughout the Occupation Zone, and why now, even the most trustworthy of bondsmen had been found in sympathy with the guerillas.

One egregious example was a Inner Sphere bondsman acting as a technician placing a bomb right in the ejection seat of a trinary commander in the 124th Striker Cluster on Malibu…the explosion, while small, was enough to blow the aforementioned Star Captain to small pieces.

The Clan only found out the bondsman had done it after walking into the technician quarters, and killing his Clan-born factor with his bare hands, then hanging himself. Chemical interrogation of his friends and comrades had yielded little, if any useful information. Few subjects had survived the sessions and Horatio suspected that the Elemental who headed up the counter-intelligence section of the Clan Watch was little more than a sadist.

The usual Clan Jade Falcon means of defeating an insurgency was to conduct a number of indoctrination sweeps with 'Mechs and Elementals and grab hostages to be held against the good behavior of the planet in question, but it appeared just about every world in the Occupation Zone had some sort of guerrilla activity. It was forcing the clan to scatter units across the Occupation Zone in an effort to keep the guerrilla problem under control. And it was not working.

Horatio read the dry account of the latest freebirth bandit act, several unidentified individuals in a non-descript black (some witnesses said green) ground car had performed a "drive by" with what appeared to be a belt-fed machine gun fired from the rear of said moving car. They had driven quickly by the outdoor seating area of a restaurant where a Star Commander of the 2nd Falcon Jagers was celebrating his selection for the upcoming Bloodname contest in the Malthus bloodhouse. The machinegun had, according to the report, cut down and killed three members of the Star, as well as 8 other local citizens whom had seen the wisdom of cooperating with the Clan. 18 more, including the aforementioned Star Commander, had been wounded. The car had disappeared, found two hours later having been set aflame with a nearby wall spray painted "Sic Semper Tyrannus –Thus Ever to Tyrants".

It seemed every act of punishment by the Clan's warriors had done little more than enrage the locals and encourage more resistance. And now, now it was worse than ever. There had been assassination attempts on at least two Star Colonels on Sudeten, one was an aide to the Khan himself.

What made it all a lot more ominous was the movement of FedCom troops all across the ersatz Star League creation known as the Federated Commonwealth. It seemed that the FedCom has been busy moving troops around, to the border of the occupation zone, as well as other conflicting reports of other troop movements along the Combine, Capellan, and Marik borders. All of it was simply a massive tidal wave of information that did little but overtax Horatio's staff of ill-trained analysts and barely loyal bondsmen whom he did not trust

Stravag, the pain. His head was pounding again. It was a souvenir of Tukkayid, when his Summoner had had a massive freak ammunition explosion that produced a tidal wave of neurofeedback. According to one of the doctors back in the Cluster aid station, he had been lucky to live through it, but the damage was such that he would never pilot a 'Mech again and he was soon forced out in a Trial of Position…reduced to an ordinary Warrior, who would soon be relegated to solahma status. Horatio downed a couple of pain pills, and then held the desk like a life preserver. The room has not begun moving yet, thank the Founder.

But Kael Pershaw needed someone who could "think outside the box", and of all the likely candidates, Horatio seemed to fit the bill the best. After an unagumented Trial of Position for the job, it was his…and here he had stayed for the last three years. Barely considered a warrior, let alone an officer of the Clan, there had been whispers of Horatio being little more than the Loremaster's pet, and were Pershaw not around, it would not be long before someone used the cover of a trial to remove a "stain on the Clan's honor".

As the throbbing began to slowly subside, it was still muddy inside Horatio's mind, he could barely think through the implications of the fact that the AFFC had formed 8 new regiments in the last 2 years. Or, at least that is what it seemed like. The pain was rather bad this time..perhaps it was time to call an early end to the work day.

Horatio levered himself upward gingerly, the protuberances of his uniform catching on the battered old desk in the small office, which had been converted from a broom closet in the old City Hall. The Watch had not even been granted offices in the Clan Headquarters, as the Clan Council wanted the stench of "Inner Sphere methods" far from the center of Clan Jade Falcon.

As he made his way to his quarters, little more than ten steps away and through a small door, he thought about when he would get an honorable release from the purgatory he now found himself in. The medication was now taking an effect, slowly luring him into the soporific paradise of sleep on his Clan issue cot, dreams of past glories dancing through his head.

Within minutes, he was dead to the world, and the door slowly opened, a bondsman by the name of Abagail made her way into the Star Captain's office, she wore a dark green jumpsuit, with no adornment as bondsmen were not allowed to wear the sigil of the clan. Her stringy blond hair framed her hollow, sunken hazel eyes that were devoid of any real life. Abagail tidied up and swept a little, being sure to keep the noise down, her failure to do so had once earned her a savage beating from the Star Captain. She always kept her eyes down, and never looked up, in short, she was the perfect bondsman, unnoticed, like part of the furniture, only to be noticed when a task was to be done.

But Star Captain Horatio was a poor spymaster, and in the Inner Sphere, would never have been given the job of head of the analysis section for such an organization. It was his mixture of distaste for his job, shame over his current predicament, and contempt for his bondsmen that made what happened next possible.

Star Captain Horatio had left his passcode for his desk terminal written down on a piece of Clan Watch stationary on his desk for all to see. Before long, it was in Abagail's pocket as she wiped down the desk. She also managed to photograph the monthly SOI pad, as well as three reports from the Watch analysts on how they were tracking the FC buildup along the border, as well as dealing with the increasingly effective insurgency throughout the Occupation Zone.

Leftenant Abagail Hearns, LIC smiled. God, the Clanners make this so damned easy. The Elementals at the door don't even search me, except for weapons or explosives, and this idiot of a Star Captain is too busy being drugged out of his mind. I could lead a dozen Loki into this place and kill everyone here and be gone before the dumb bastards knew we were here..with just about every scrap of intelligence in the building. They don't even have a burn bag for god's sake.

Hearns had been inserted two years ago to replace a previous agent-in-place who had died when he had inadvertently blown his cover. Sadly, while their ability to gather, analyze, and compile intelligence for decision makers was decidedly suspect, as well as their ability to secure such data from other intelligence agencies, there was nothing wrong with Clan interrogation methods. The Clan systems of torture and mechanical interrogation worked all too well, as her predecessor had found out. LIC lost 4 good people when Haputmann Frederich was made to talk. Hearns intended to not get sloppy.

Hearns quickly packed up her cleaning supplies, and returned them to the labor caste storage area that had formerly been an old office, the local Factor, a preening-Clan born individual by the name of Rudnik, with greasy hands and wild hair, was only too happy to lord over the 4 bondsmen that had been assigned to him from the general populace. Abagail's cover was that of a former infantryman from the Sudeten Militia, now POW with no technical skills, and thus, relegated to the laborer caste. It suited Hearns just fine.

It was at that moment Rudnik looked on in her direction. "Abagail, a moment?"

Abagail froze. Could Rudnik have seen her toss Horatio's office? She hoped not, but so far, he had proven rather oblivious to a lot of things. He simply seemed interested in getting into Abagail's jumpsuit, his hot, rancid breath having made sure Abagail remembered if she did give in to his "charms", that it would simply be for the job, and little else. Not that I think I ever would. Best to lead him around by his little Clanner beak….

"Abagail, you have not been efficient in your cleaning tasks. You linger too long in the Star Captain's office, and I cannot have that. Your lack of efficiency has been noticed and if it continues, I will refer you to the Star Captain for discipline-" Rudnk stepped forward, invading Hearn's personal space. –"-unless you are willing to provide me with a personal bit of surkai?"

Ugh, the good thing about Clan criminal justice, is that, were an unfortunate accident to befall him, the tankers would not care very much. Abagail's mind fumed. She tensed her fists, preparing to fight him if she had to, she already have a cover story prepared, where she would say he attempted to force her to couple and she fought him off. The warriors would have a good laugh, and then beat him for losing to a bondsman.

But I do not want it to get to that point…"What did you have in mind, Rudnik?" Hearns said coyly, making sure to keep the tone inviting, but tired, letting him know she might not be up to giving him a good time in any case.

"Use your imagination, bondsman. You are property of the Clan, and as a member of the Clan, I do as I like!" He then grabbed a fistful of her jumpsuit and kissed her forcefully, his technique was sloppy, and stomach churning. Hearns wasn't in the mood for this. Time to dissuade him.

Hearns stamped down hard on his left foot with her heavy workboots, catching him in the instep. His boots, unlike hers, were steel-toed, but were cheaply made, and did not have the instep protection most warrior issue boots did. Hearns was rewarded with a shriek, as a small bone in his foot snapped like a tree branch. Rudnik collapsed and Hearns grabbed one fist into another, reared back with her right elbow, and drove it with all of her force into Rudnik's right eye socket. Rudnik went down screaming, and grabbed his bruised eye. Hearns then followed up with a vicious kick to the back of the head, but as she was prepared to deliver a finishing blow, she was picked effortlessly off the battered wooden floor by an unseen force, her feet being 10 centimeters off the ground by the time it was all said and done.

Hearns turned her head to see whom had lifted her off the floor, it was one of the security Elementals, a woman by the name of Azrel. She was a decent sort for a Clanner, having a kind face for a muscular woman who was almost three meters in height. She had warned Hearns her first day about Rudnik, and his proclivities.

"Ahem-" Azrel cleared her throat for emphasis "What do I have here? A Bondsman giving a laborer factor, her superior a beating. Some would consider this a punishable offense, Bondsman? What is your story?"

"Warrior Azrel, I seek surkai for having beaten the factor, but he attempted to couple with me without my consent. Perhaps this does not have weight in Clan society, but in the Inner Sphere, it is a grave crime." Hearns said, with just the right amount of supplication in her voice.

Azrel turned to Rudnik, "is this true, Rudnik. Do not attempt to lie. You know I can and will have you interrogated to discern the truth. Bondsmen have been taken in honorable battle. You cannot even make that claim."

Rudnik moaned "She is correct, Warrior Azrel, I did as she described. I beg for surkai."

Azrel smled cruelly at Rudnik, and gingerly released Hearns. "And surkai you will perform. And I will speak with the senior Labor caste factor. I will have you sent back to the homeworlds in disgrace afterwards."

Rudnik simply moaned in acceptance of his fate.

Azrel turned to Hearns. "Some advice, the Clan can well survive the loss of this factor. If he accosts you again, kill him. I will speak to the Star Captain when he awakens about cutting the prowess strand of your bondcord. You have impressed me today."

Azrel then turned and lumbered from the room.

Hearns leaned over and whispered into Rudnik's ear. "I own you now, Rudnik. Cross me again, and you die, get it? Fail to do as I tell you, and I will kill you, and no one will stop me."

Rudnik sat up slowly, his eye purple and black with rapidly forming bruises, and unable to open as it swelled shut. "What do you require?" he said through gritted teeth.

"I will be in touch Rudnik, I will be in touch."
 

Excerpt from "Liberating the Tamar March on 5 C-Bills a day", Kommandant Sara Bennigan, AFFC (Ret), McMillan-New Avalon Press, New Avalon, 3069

"I remember the first time I found out about Clover Spear. It was late in the summer of 3055 on Koniz..which was known for bestial summers. Nothing like back home on Chesterton, it's like Koniz only had two seasons, winter and summer, and they both sucked. There was about 100-150 of us in a rented warehouse on Koniz..and my god it was hot. The locals didn't like anybody much, except themselves..and I won't even mention the fact that all life was left handed amino acid based, so we couldn't eat it..and vice versa, yet it did not prevent it from trying.

So, there we were, being briefed on an operation that was probably going to change the damn face of the Inner Sphere, and they could not spare something for some portable A/C! God I hated Koniz..not much to recommend that place. The idea we were finally doing something..and getting off of Koniz made a lot of folks in my company happy, including myself.

So there we were, standing at attention, waiting for the briefer to come in..in no less than personage than Marshal Poulin himself. The command of "take seats" bellowed out, and we screamed the Argyle Lancers motto. "For God, Argyle, and Davion!" and took our now scalding hot metal seats (of which I still have the scars on my arse to prove it. Thank god we were not wearing Mechwarrior togs that day.)

After a moment of trying to find the most comfortable position of which to endure this small indignity, we were treated to some short remarks about how important an operation this was that we were about to embark on and how we will be able to tell our grandkids that we spearheaded the operation that would drive the Clans back from whence they came. Now, I will admit, I was droning off, but when I heard that comment..the first thought that came to my mind was. Christ, Hanse got divorced and no one told us. He only started major wars on his wedding day, don't you know!

In any case, Colonel Bannock soon took over and I was beginning to nod off again, I can read the damn briefing notes and the oporder. It was becoming death by Powerpoint 3050 I suppose…when he said.."..and as always, our irrepressible Hauptmann Bennigan will lead off, and find and fix the clanners in place so the rest of us can smash them!"

Memory does not serve to recall the look on my face at that moment…but a friend assured me it was something between daggers at Colonel Bannock for again volunteering my boys and girls to play pop up targets for the Tankers, and wondering if I could hire a couple of Tong hitmen from back home to wack the Colonel?...I do remember my response "Colonel darling, we are so delighted to be in the lead again!" The hell I was. And don't think, dear reader, that my Medal Excalibur says otherwise. I'd rather have my favorite left leg back."

Page 199, "Heavy Wears the Crown", by Victor Steiner-Davion, Davion Palace Press, New Avalon, 3071

As 3055 became 3056, the movement of forces began to accelerate, the logistical demands just for the buildup became nothing short of titanic. How we managed to surprise the Clans at all is beyond me, especially when the Marik/Capellan Alliance got off that nasty little surprise in September. We did notice their movements to an extent, but it is hard getting good intelligence out of a closed society like the Capellan Confederation. In short, they hoodwinked us to a good extent. Not completely, as we knew we would get hit..the size of the hit..that shocked us.

That, and the depths the Capellans were willing to go to paralyze us. But more on that later, especially since my stump is itching like crazy right now as I write this.

As I said, it was incredible the logistical effort that was required just to sustain the AFFC units massing in Tamar. Every projection we sent to my father..he said "double it". Panapour was working three shifts just to produce enough autocannon ammunition…

I will never forget the night of August 1st, 3056. It was our last conference before Clover Spear kicked off. We'd been doing 18 hour days and we were dead on our feet..some staff flak was presenting the final projected enemy prisoner of war figures and what we'd need to care for them..and all of a sudden…I hear this infernal snoring…well, I am just mad as hell. Somebody's fallen asleep here at the damn last conference before this mighty endeavor kicks off.. I just lost it. "Who the hell is snoring?" I roared.

God bless Ardan Sortek. He leaned over with an impish smile and looked me right in the eye with his smartphone facing me. And there was a lovely, MP10 quality image of me, the very First Prince of the Federated Suns..sawing wood like a lumberjack.

If that does not teach you any damn form of humility…nothing will."

Page 166, "Blood of a Partisan"

…they say you never know a guy till you fight him. I can thus, safely say. I know Jade Falcons very well..especially how to kill them in a variety of un-amusing ways. With the arrival of the Rabid Foxes, we went on nothing less than a rampage.

We hit numerous small targets of opportunity, anywhere those Green Pidgeon bastards hung out, we hit, hard. Drive bys, IEDs, truck bombs, hell once, we flew an traffic drone into one of their dropships filled with munitions..that made a very nice bang, I do tell you. Explosives though, became our stock and trade. But our piece de resistance, well, that was the Clawfell job.

The Clawfell job was a demolition of the James Clawfell Memorial Bridge. Mr. Clawfell was a local boy who had made good during the Star League. Won the Star League Medal of Honor for some brave fool thing back during the Aramis revolt. They'd named a bridge after him when he and his family had left along with Kerensky. Guess we saved the planetary nobility the trouble of renaming the bridge later on, right?

The Clawfell Bridge was a large, modern structure, and like most bridges in Tamar, was pre-chambered for demolition. The only reason it wasn't blown when the Tankers came was because well, things fell apart too fast for it to matter. But now, our FC benefactors wanted the bridge out of the picture, for reasons of which they did not deign to tell us. But it obviously was of some importance, that was for sure.

So, we briefed, rehearsed and then briefed again. We were getting rather good at this sort of thing. Yes, there was a point of Elementals, backed up by a couple of 2nd line 'Mechs..and yes, there was all kinds of other issues..but our recon had found one chink in the Clanner security plan. They'd forgotten about the damn river. Simply put, they didn't pay it any mind because they thought we would simply come at them head on and try to take it from them. After all the mayhem and chaos we were inflicting? You would think the Tankers would have learned something?

The plan as it was, was genius. We wired up several charges of C-9 explosive on a command detonator…with a backup contact fuze. All of the charges were designed as shaped charges designed to vent all of their force against the bridge pylons. Add in a preprogrammed route into an R/C boat brain (Trying to control the boats might have prematurely set off the explosive.), and you have a fairly sneaky way to take down a bridge. We had a total of six charges...1 for each of the pylons..and two backups, just in case.

The good thing about the Clawfell Bridge, was that it, like most bridges, would not survive the loss of two of its four pylons..so long as the pylons that were destroyed were on the same side. So, as it was, the mission was relatively simple..relatively.

After a two day trek through the Great Wetlands, we came to the Balduri River, crossed by the Clawfell Bridge. Security had not changed at all..and they still were not paying a bit of mind to the water. You're going to regret that in a few moments..Mr. Tanker was all I could think. While our heavy weapons and snipers set up (They were there to occupy the Clan Elementals long enough for the bombs to reach their targets…if that's what it took.)

I looked over the device. It was a simple, circular thing..with a mix of foliage and mud stuck to the top so as to make our infernal device look like simple junk drifting along with the river. The firing circuit, the guidance system, and the wiring, all looked good. I reattached the cover, then inspected the remaining five submersibles, amazingly, they all were good to go.

I placed the first submersible into the water..it was about 10 kilos in weight..about 3 meters long..and filled to the brims with C-9. It took to the water quickly…and the motor kicked in with a start..leaving a trail of bubbles in its wake as it slowly made its way towards the bridge, some three kilometers downstream. We placed three more subs into the water right behind it and quickly made our way back to our earlier vantage point..with one of us running a stopwatch, with our calculations having been that at a speed of 2 knots, it would take half an hour for the charges to reach their target.

After a good twenty minute climb up the sheer face of the rock walls lining the river (Winfield has a lot of mountains, so we are somewhat used to this), we took up a vantage point overlooking the bridge some five kilometers away, we waited patiently as the time counted down.

..FIVE..

..FOUR..

..THREE..

..TWO..

..ONE..

And there was nothing..but silence. It was frustrating..+10 seconds, +20 seconds, still nothing. Minutes passed by. Dammit, we missed. But how? Did it matter? We had to set the backup charges up..and get out of here.

We were about to make our way back down the cliff face when a momentary bright flash, centered on the bridge, lit up the darkness. Another flash soon followed, and then a third. The BAWUMP of a muffled explosion soon followed. The bridge was aflame..and wobbling, a enemy 'Mech that had been standing guard in the middle of the bridge down across the traffic lanes atop the bridge, with a large support pylon from the upper works having been driven into the back of the 'Mech, with a sheen of escaping waste heat shimmering and distorting the sky around it.

The bridge began to groan under the weight of the weakened pylons..and we heard the pops of multiple welds and rivets give way, and with a crash, a pylon collapsed into the river, taking the left hand side of the bridge with it, this then collapsed the other two pylons..and before long, the entire bridge crashed in a cacophony of protesting metal and splashing water as the entire wrecked mess crashed some 100 meters into the river below.

We all slapped each other on the back for that. For less than 1000 pounds worth of C-9, we had dropped the major route in and out of the planetary capitol. We hadn't counted on the reaction by the Tankers, however.

The next day, Star Colonel Mark (the traitorous swine was there on an inspection tour!) led an "indoctrination sweep" into several suburban neighborhoods of the planetary capitol. He turned OmniMechs armed with machineguns and autocannons on innocent civilians. And the sick bastard considered it his duty. Some 850 people died and another 1100 were injured. The Falcons considered it a mercy. That's not what the people of Winfield thought it was.

As for Star Colonel Mark, well, he soon found out what the wages of treason were, two weeks later. We delivered it through the window of his Avanti Sports Car one night..via Light Anti-Tank Weapon. I am happy to say this time, the message was successfully delivered.
 

Inbound to Planetfall, 18 hours out

Bone-Norman

Jade Falcon Occupation Zone

August 24th, 3056

Aboard the Union Class Dropship “Luck of the Draw”


The sounds of a dropship in the final stages of a drop were not a new one to anyone who had been in any military in the Inner Sphere for any length of time. The sounds of tools making last minute repairs to ‘Mechs, the clatter of footsteps resounding throughout the ship, the murmur of conversations, pre-battle briefs, and prayers with fellow warriors. All of this was a low key cacophony that any experienced warrior was used to.

But something was different, the men and women of the 26th Lyran Guards knew that. It was the electricity, the feeling of being a coiled spring..all the training, all the lectures, all the feeling of finally, we’re going to hit back at the bastards. The sting of Kobe, Thun, and Tamar was deep in the unit. And while they realized this was the Falcons, and not the Wolves, to the men and women of the 26th who had survived the invasion, any Clanner was a decent stand in to expunge the shame and anger of those days in blood.

Leftenant-General Green-Davion had reorganized the RCT, the new “Steiner’s Boots” was more mobile, and with the new artillery brigades attached to the RCT, hit harder than the old 26th. Morale was high, and some unofficial sigils began to appear, one being the unit insignia of a boot smear, but across a bad caricature of a dead Jade Falcon. Another was chalked throughout the unit on ‘Mechs, armor, even on the sides of dropships. It read simply “For Joy”. Joy Corelli had been a beloved commander of the 26th. Green-Davion had done his best not to replace her, but to put his own stamp on the 26th, but across the unit, it was found the best means of discipline was to say, “Do you want to let Marshal Corelli down?” The 26th was a unit possessed, and out for blood.

So, it was remarkable that a single voice could cut through it all. But, it did. It was a voice all of them had known, known for most of their lives. He was the guiding architect of what was about to come, and it was this time to encourage those about to carry out the plans and preparations that had been the lion’s share of their lives for the past 18 months. His father, unbeknownst to them, stood at his son's side as he recorded this fateful speech six months before. Today was the culmination of all the plans, all the wargames, all the sweat and tears.

“Men and Women of the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth. Today is a day, long in coming. Today, we return to the Tamar March, and we set it free of the Clans. We restore the rightful law and order, and more importantly, justice that the peaceful people of the Tamar March have every right to expect to live under.

"The way forward will be hard, the Falcons and Vipers are formidable, but they are not the unknown boogyman they were some six years ago. We have beaten the Falcons before, on Morges, and we can and will, beat them again. Brave citizens of the worlds you are about to land on have been harrying them at every step for the last six years, and it’s time for us to ensure that the sacrifices they have made were not in vain. I trust, my fellow soldiers, that you will ensure that happens.

"I wish I could be with you today. The hardest thing for any leader is to say 'go there, and risk your lives' instead of 'follow me'. I could not be prouder of all of you. You are our best. And you go forward with the hopes and dreams of billons of people behind you. I know you may scoff at that. You may say 'Easy for them, they aren’t here.' But they are hopeful. Your families and loved ones pray for your safety and your success. And those below, pray for their deliverance. Let’s let them all know, ETA on that is 18 hours from now.

"My father stands here with me. His hand on my shoulder as I speak to you know. I can only guess what he was thinking as he ordered our nation into war some twenty years ago. I only know this. I do this with a heavy heart, but one that says, ‘we are in the right’. We cannot fail, we shall not fail, and we shall meet the Falcons and Vipers wherever, and whenever we find them, and show them what steel lies in the constitution of our people’s souls.

"I won’t recount the many crimes the Falcons and Vipers are guilty of. But I will say this. Nothing less than the future of humanity is at stake here. We are faced with a people who believes in the concept of a ‘master race’. Such an idea should never be allowed to flourish. Though many accuse our Davion subjects about being ‘might making right’. I can assure you, that concept is on full display amongst the Clans. We are, and always have been about, ‘might for right’. It’s time to demonstrate the difference.

"Remember your training, remember that you are members of the AFFC, and no matter what the Falcons and Vipers might do, we come not for money, or power, or any of the other things we have seen armies fight for throughout history. We come to deliver our people. But do not sully that with reprisals or massacres. Let the courts figure that out. Defeat the enemy, accept his surrenders, and free our people. I know many of you hunger for revenge. I implore you, temper that with mercy.

"Good luck, my warriors, I know you will do the realm proud.”

Green-Davion’s taciturn, schoolmaster-like voice then crackled through the speakers. “I know you all heard the First Prince, and he believes in us. I believe in us. We have trained for this, sweated for this. And this day will be ours. Chance favors the prepared. And we are very prepared indeed. I have a dagger here. It’s one I got off a Kuritan ‘Mechwarrior earlier in my career. I make you a promise, my fellow ‘Boots. By the end of the first day..this knife will be buried to the hilt in the darkest tanker heart to be found on Bone-Norman!”

“Now let’s go get the bastards.”

The dropship, like many in the fleet erupted in cheers.

Clover Spear was underway.
 

IlKhan’s Office

Tamar City

Tamar

Wolf Clan Occupation Zone

August 30th, 3056


The Jade Falcons have met the Falconer…and he is taming them badly, mused Ulric Kerensky, ilKhan of the Clans, as he poured over the Wolf Watch reports from the Jade Falcon/Steel Viper OZ. He’d been reading the estimates generated by Star Captain Kerensky’s people, and he was impressed with her insight. I was right to sponsor her bloodright, with Conal Ward gone, Clan Wolf will need a new Loremaster, and I can think of none better. I will discuss this with Natasha when I get the chance. But not tonight. Tonight, is for far heavier things. Things I did not ever believe I would discuss.

His reverie was interrupted by a sharp tap at the door. “My Khan,” a voice known to him as a member of his personal guard “Khan Kerensky and saKhan Ward of Clan Wolf are here to see you? Do I allow them entry?”

Ulric exhaled. Time to as Phelan is often fond of saying “face the music”. “Yes, allow them entry, Star Commander, then make sure we are not disturbed, I have a feeling this will be a long meeting.”

“Aff, ovKhan, as you wish.”

The door opened to reveal an older woman and a younger man, both in Clan Wolf leathers, the woman, though she had dyed her hair red, and her face was lined by the ravages of time, still walked with a regal bearing that signified her status among the Wolves, and Inner Sphere. She was the Black Widow herself, Natasha Kerensky, Khan of Clan Wolf, and all that came with it. She was death, personified. And yet, with all that, intimates knew her as both a “pain in the ass” and a “someone with an authority problem”, which to Ulric, made her elevation to Khan both a way to honor her..and the best damn joke he had known in years. I had always said, ‘Tasha, that you would be Khan one day. And you told me “Over my dead body.” Funny how that worked out. It seems all the dead bodies belong to everyone who stood in your way. But considering the nature of our little meeting, why is she wearing a smile?

The young man on the other hand, was in a broad grin, and carrying a six pack of Timbiqui Dark. And Phelan, like the Greek, bearing gifts. Uh-oh. Those two have a plan that will bring the Wolf Clan martial glory, and me a lot of headaches in the Grand Council. Perhaps they have not had a chance to read the intelligence estimates I just did?

“Dammit Ulric, why so glum? We’re seeing the humbling of the Falcons?” Natasha bellowed, her nature was always boisterous and loud, except in combat, which clearly, this was not. She made herself at home leaning against Ulric’s work table in the far corner of the room. Phelan, on the other hand, took a seat on the maroon couch in the middle of the room.


“I would say that this has the potential to undermine all of Clan society, you two. This basically makes Zellbrigen dead as horse cavalry.” muttered Ulric.

“I dunno, Ulric. Perhaps this is the wakeup call the Clans needed. We didn’t belong here. We still don’t. And now, now little Victor, with no doubt help from Daddy is doing what we haven’t, ripping the damn guts out the Crusaders once and for all?” Natasha mused.

Phelan’s features pinched a little. He didn’t agree completely with Natasha, and Phelan was a bit more forward thinking that she was. Not that she made a bad Khan by any means, but Phelan was often the one doing the leg work on the more “administrative” matters, like peacefully resolving the unrest on Tamar last year during the worst of the food shortages. That had the potential to get nasty, Vlad, damn him, wanted to take ‘Mechs and Elementals in and slaughter the protestors. He really doesn’t have what it takes to be Khan, that one.

“You disagree, Phelan, quiaff?” Ulric queried

“Aff, Ulric. The Falcons and Vipers are being hit by massive levels of force and firepower. The FedCom’s new “Artillery Brigades” are basically smothering them in fire..and then the FedCom mops up with combined arms. Sure, it’s not a perfect solution. But Ulric, unless the Falcons and Vipers can goad the FedCom into a mobile engagement with at least some sort of parity in the numbers department, then all we are going to see is the defeat in detail of both Clans. The issues are, what comes after?”

“Phelan, what comes after? We do as we always have done. We win the right to absorb both clans and then we fight, I don’t see a down side here. I never liked either clan particularly.” Natasha smiled

“’Tasha, with respect, that’s what is blinding you here. The Home Clans are going to see this as an excuse to turn on both Clans, and hell, maybe even us and the Bears, and maybe even kick us out of the homeworlds? I would not be surprised if abjuration or absorption motions would be on the table.”

“They’d be nuts to try? I mean, ok, against the Falcons and the Vipers once Victor has stomped them into the ground. But really? All of us? The only Khan that is insane enough to try is Asa Taney of the Hellions, and what would he accomplish? The rest of the Clans would step aside and watch him fail. It would be amusing to watch him try, however.” Natasha replied.

Ulric rose his hands in a gesture meant to bring some peace to the conversation. “’Tasha, Phelan, you are both right, and both wrong. I ken much chaos for the Clans if this offensive succeeds. And from the looks of it. It seems that it will. The FedCom has unleashed a concept the Clans have forgotten: Total War. We know the cost of it. The Great Founder knew it. That is why he made the Clans the way he did. But it seems, as much as we seek to avoid it, we are vulnerable to it. What I am afraid of, is how the rest of the Clans will react? And how in the world do I guide them through the rough seas to come?” Ulric then exhaled in a mixture of frustration and disgust.

Natasha shook her head. “We already do know, as we have said, they will go bonkers. The Vipers and Falcons will be absorbed..by someone, and good riddance, as for the rest of the Clans? The Jags will probably jump the Drac border. Probably manage to take Luthien this time, if we’re lucky, the Jags and Dracs kill each other off and we get a better universe out of the bargain. As for the rest of the Clans? It pains me to say this Ulric, but back home will become a shooting gallery. Trials and counter-trials, and many of them might not bother to wait for you to weigh in?”

“You really think things would go to hell like that, ‘Tasha?” Phelan opined.

“Yeah, kid, I do. We may see ourselves as the pinnacle of human development, guided benevolently by warriors bred and born, but the truth is? A lot of us act like ADD addled teenagers given the keys to dad’s Battlemech, myself included at times. Vlad is the pinnacle of that, if you want an even better example. Say what you want about the Inner Sphere, but they just remembered that professional soldiers beat warriors every time. And they are demonstrating it to the Falcons and Vipers rather harshly.

But here comes the part that makes me convinced it’s all going to hell in a handbasket, and fast once it becomes clear that a third of the invading clans just got their collective asses kicked? Clan society just had the rules changed, and for all our talk about “might makes right” and “making room for the future”, we are a very conservative society. Our rules have not significantly changed since the Founder returned to the Pentagon worlds. The Clans have had a nasty habit of killing people who proposed those rules change, and unless you are a warrior..you’re not likely to survive long.”

Phelan looked forlornly at Ulric, who nodded sadly.

“Phelan, the Wardens were always the more pragmatic faction of the Clans. We knew the Inner Sphere and our own society had diverged greatly in the intervening centuries. Once the Dragoons began to report in, we realized just how much. The Crusaders however, could not bring themselves to the intellectual honesty required to realize the “barbarians” really had a lot more guns than we did..and the willingness, it seems to use them.

But shocks me, and will shock the other Clans the most? Seeing mass surrenders by Jade Falcon and Steel Viper warriors! We have already seen it on Bone-Norman! ‘Tasha? You and I have fought the Falcons many times, had you ever known the Falcons to surrender in such numbers?”

“Neg, Ulric, I haven’t, but we never made the damn sky fall in on them.” ‘Tasha mused.

Phelan swore softly. “So what in the hell do we do? Surrender? Make a deal? Turtle up and hope that Victor doesn’t drive on Tamar while he’s at it stomping the hell out of two Clans?”

“I don’t know Phelan, you actually know the Steiner-Davions better than anyone in this room. What sort of deal might they accept? What would it take to let us stay here in the Inner Sphere, and not be made into a dead part of history by FedCom arms. The people of the Inner Sphere have many reasons to be angry with us. We came without warning. We took what we wanted, we killed many, took many more as bondsmen never to be seen again. We may say it was all because we had the right to. And part of me still believes that, but according to our rules, as much as the FedCom has violated every martial tenet the Clans believe in, they still have applied the core of our beliefs: might makes right. And right now, their might makes them right. But they believe in something different. To them, we are the Nazis, the Huns, the Mongols, we are the faceless evil from beyond the Periphery to be destroyed. We are the people arrogant enough to think we are the master race.”

“We never were, Ulric, you know that!” Natasha shouted.

“I do, ‘Tasha, which is why I am a Warden. But this is going to damage irreparably the worldviews of a lot of Crusaders, who will be looking for someone to blame. They will default to their usual program, as it were, get in their ‘Mechs and strike at us, or at any other likely target. It will be war on a scale not seen in the homeworlds for some time. And it will be seen as glorious…at first.”

“I think I could use that beer, Ulric.”

“As do I, Phelan. As do I, I think the lucky ones from all this may be the bondsmen the Federated Commonwealth take. At least they will have a future. The rest of us may not. In fact, I expect to receive notice that there will be a Trial of Grievance against me for the way I have handled things.”

“Ulric, the Grand Council would at least allow you a trial?” Natasha’s voice dropped to almost a whisper.

“No, they would not. They are angry. They see the burning Falcon and Viper ‘Mechs, the proud standards of Falcon and Viper clusters brought low by nothing better than freebirths, no offense, Phelan?”

“None taken, Ulric.” Phelan smiled.

“And they see this, and they do not care one whit what the truth is, that we must evolve or die. They would see this as our social Armageddon, our Ragnorok, our Gotterdammerung. And they would act accordingly, with all the rules being off.”

“Jesus, Ulric. If that is true…?” Natasha looked on in horror, her thoughts seeing the potential end of Clan society by its own fratricidal hand.

“Then we must take steps to survive it, as a clan, and as a society, and we must purge those elements who would bring this about..and do it quickly, before we all fall.” Ulric’s voice was like gravel, it rumbled softly and with an authority given to very few men. He looked at the other individuals in the room, and held their eyes.

“Till we all fall, my friends, we must do this, because Clan Wolf, heir of the Kerenskys, must survive the coming storm.”

“Seyla” responded Natasha

“Seyla” added Phelan

“Seyla” as Ulric completed the ritual. “It is decided, whatever happens, the survival of our Clan is paramount, what happens to any of us is secondary. Phelan..let’s break out that beer. I have a feeling we are going to need some as we figure out how in the hell we survive this mess.”

Private Chambers of the Chancellor

Forbidden Palace

Sian

Capellan Confederation

September 1st, 3056

Sun Tsu Liao smiled thinly as he read over the readiness reports for his military. The CCAF has reached a standard no one has seen since 2412, which incidentally, was the last time we actually launched an offensive. EAST SEA is a risky thing, but when will we ever get another opportunity? The Federated Commonwealth is feeling arrogant, and has it’s back turned. We will never get another chance. If Shang is correct, another two weeks, and we will see their second wave kick off, which should allow us to strike against the lesser formations Davion has left behind. Delicious indeed.

He turned to his left, as a figure stirred beneath the sheets of his silk lined bed, her powerful frame a contrast from the delicate features of his wife. And so much more alluring as it turns out. Neither he, nor Alexa Shang had sought out some sort of relationship, but one had developed none the less. He liked her honesty, her patriotism, her bravery, and above all, her competence. Perhaps, when this is all over, I shall elevate her to the position of concubine? She is far more appealing to spend my nights with than that flighty Marik woman.

As the form slowly woke up and stretched, her naked form was there for all to see, her almond skin shimmered in the morning light. Sun Tsu smiled hungrily “Alexa, my dear, did you sleep well?”

“Yes Celestial Wisdom, I did not expect-“

“No need for all that formality here. In these chambers, call me Sun-Tsu. I am happy you slept well, and frankly, I need you in top form. The time for EAST SEA nears.” Sun-Tsu walked over to the night table, and fetched a comb, which he began to use to comb his hair back.

“I wished to speak to you about some parts of the plan, Cel-I mean Sun-Tsu?”

“Oh?”

“I am unsure about the special operation meant to introduce command paralysis amongst the Davions? My concern is of two parts. The first, is the nature of the operation. I may not be an intelligence professional, but might it be better to use our own people? These fanatics…unnerve me.”

Sun-Tsu gave Alexa a dismissive wave “Alexa, calm yourself, we do not have enough assets to accomplish all we would like to prep the battlefield for EAST SEA. Sadly, I am forced to rely on these fanatics. At least, they are not my sister’s fanatics. These people will get the job done..and we can remove them later from the table. Believe me Alexa, if we had a choice, I would not have dealt with them at all. But Marik demands I deal with them as part of his price. And they want Kittery for some reason. No matter to me, it was never really a Capellan world.”

Alexa nodded, then continued. “And then there is the nature of the attack, Sun-Tsu, might we be opening ourselves open for some sort of blowback? Might they try to kill you in response?”

Sun-Tsu smiled “By the time they get around to that, their minor houses will have torn their grand alliance apart because the Steiner-Davion brood will be wiped from the Inner Sphere. No, Alexa, this is the blow my father and mother both were not audacious enough to strike, but I am. And now that we know the Dragoons are gone from Outreach, and that much of the troop strength the Davions were making us see was fiction, no, now is the time to strike. Who knows, perhaps these could be the last days of Davion? I doubt it. But a man, even a Chancellor can hope.”

Alexa Shang felt a chill go through her. Her Chancellor, her lover had done the one thing she had hoped he wouldn’t and that was launch an attack on the Federated Commonwealth based on hope of a potential outcome. Such a thing was bound to end badly, and there might not wind up being a Capellan Confederation when it was all said and done? But she owed her Chancellor and her State her loyalty. She was a good Capellan citizen, what else could she do?

“Oh, and Alexa, I intend to go with the Autumn Wind-4 option, We will attack from barracks. I say deny the Davions any intelligence until the last possible minute. And make sure we give a false set of timetables to the Mariks. I do not want them to leak a damn thing until we go.”

“But Sun-Tsu? We are depending on many of those Marik units for some key first wave objectives.”

“Do not worry Alexa, what we lack in numbers, we will make up for in shock, and surprise, and of course, the indomitable will of the Capellan fighting man.”

This development chilled Alexa even more. Has the legendary madness of the Liao line infected Sun-Tsu as well? Not at this critical hour for the Capellan state. No!

But the questions continued to come unbidden for Alexa Shang as she slowly got dressed.

Sun-Tsu turned, and his almond colored eyes burned with an intense fire of both anger, and disappointment. "You failed, Alexa."

Alexa looked on surprised. "I failed? What was the test?"

"The only test that matters, Alexa, what is more important? Me, or the state?" Sun-Tsu sighed.

"I don't understand?"

"The failure is not completely yours, Alexa. You are a product of our training, where we expect absolute loyalty to the state as personified by the Chancellor. But by now, you should realize, the state is more important than any one chancellor. I cannot afford any mistakes in what is to come, Alexa. The madness on my part, was faked. The Capellan state must have sane, responsible, and canny leadership in the days to come. I will allow you this one misstep. If I act this way again, you are to shoot me...and then my sister. In a lockbox under the throne, there are specific instructions on what to do when I die. I entrust you to follow them to the letter."

"When you die, Sun-Tsu?"

"Alexa, I do not expect to survive this war. What I am about to unleash on the Davions, their family, all to gain even a momentary military advantage, is going to have them baying for my blood, but my life is worth it to save the Confederation a lifetime of supplication to the Federated Commonwealth. Our people must have their spine back. If it costs me my life, so be it."

"But Sun-Tsu, surely there is another way? Perhaps LONG MARCH is a better option..."

"No, Alexa. The people want to see our arms defeat the Davions, not their surrogates, who are Capellans as well. We need victory, and I will make any deal and pay any price to get it. If we can get to Sarna and Liao, I will fall down on my knees and thank my ancestors for us to be so lucky. I know the state of the CCAF. I know we rely a little too much on our benefactors, and my treacherous father in law, but what choice do we have?"

"None that I can see, Sun-Tsu."

"Then understanding has dawned in the student. I expect you to both learn and teach much in the coming days. Do not worry about the fanatics. I expect whatever they have planned, they do not expect to survive it. And as for us getting all the Davions? That was pure theater on my part. If we can get one or two, and have them chasing their tails when we cross the frontier for a week? I will be happy with that. I am finding military operations are like politics, all about the art of the possible."

"They are, Sun-Tsu."

Sun-Tsu nodded, She will not make the same mistake again. Good, I need at least one confidant I can rely on when the time comes, and when the person I expect to come, comes for me. Especially when I remove his mother from the table....