EMCOTS-2 14

=Emergence (Concertverse) Book 2 - Chapter 14=
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==The Shifting Tides of War==
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===Prisoner Exchange===
Royal Palace, The Triad
Bremen Continent
Tharkad, Donegal Province
Lyran Commonwealth
24th June, 3143
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The monitors in the war room were all tuned to the same set of images. A host of imagers from holocams to armorcams recorded the scene of the line of gray-clad Wolf warriors marching through paired phalanxes of battle armor and BattleMechs. A second line came towards the camera, passing the gray line. The great majority of them were in some variety of blue or light colors, with a few reds and greens amongst the suits.
Seated near the central holotank, Matthew Proctor-Steiner-Davion kept glancing towards the image array suspended in holo-light over the tank. He was, for the moment, the only senior commander in the chamber. Jasek's Stormhammers were handling the allied part of the exchange so he was at their CHQ directing things, Roderick was in the field with his Steiner Strikers just in case Alaric did something unexpected. Nathaniel was off visiting the wounded of the Third Proctor Guards with the Bridger brothers. Lady Trillian was with General Maurer, Grand Duke Martin, and Khan Patrik meeting several leading legislators of the Estates-General.
I should be with the Third Guards' wounded too, Matthew thought to himself. They're my responsibility now. But he had the seniority over DeMarcus Bridger as a full general, making him the strongest candidate to stay in the Triad to direct the planetary defense. His eyes passed back over the prisoner exchange. Most were walking, if gingerly in some cases. "Status on the wounded exchange?" he asked.
One of the ]]Lyran]] CommTechs dutifully called up an extra image. A few hundred meters from the main exchange, another party of armored infantry from both sides oversaw their medical personnel directing the exchange of those bound to chairs or beds due to their injuries. He watched one pair of personnel, a Wolf warrior and a woman in the red cooling suit of an Arcadian MechWarrior, passing by each other. Neither seemed to notice the other. That was no wonder as both were missing a leg and were still clearly focused upon that problem.
Clanners have limb regrowth tech, I hear. That stuff's expensive. Time-consuming. But I'll be damned if one of ours gives up a leg in service and doesn't get it back however they want it. He couldn't quite make out the woman's face, but she looked young, and her rank insignia's lonely silver bar was that of a second lieutenant. Might even be fresh out of an academy. Not much older than…
Without thinking he found his hand in his pocket, pulling out his noteputer. A tap brought the screen alive, and a few more finger swipes and another tap brought up an image. A smiling young woman in AFRF ceremonial reds sat framed before a Royal Federation flag. She looked smart and capable in her uniform and bore the ribbon of an AMSA graduate along with the double-looped silver aiguillettes of a MechWarrior.
A finger swipe changed to another image. The same young woman in the same ceremonial uniform standing between Matthew in his own, Matthew's wife Joanna, and their daughter Maria, who shared the girl's red hair and brown eyes. Matthew lingered on the image for a moment before swiping to another, taken a few moments later. A taller man with Steiner blond hair and blue eyes, but the same facial structure, now stood with them, clad in ceremonial uniform.
"Family?"
Matthew looked up in time for Julian Davion to settle into a seat beside him. Julian was back in AFFS duty camo and was fresh from a staff meeting with his senior officers. "It is," Matthew answered. "Taken last summer, just after I received the appointment to the Household Guards. We were at the AMSA graduation ceremonies in Ayrshire. I'd been invited to give the graduation address, but I would have been there anyway." He grinned. "My wife, Joanna, our eldest son Victor, and our only daughter Maria, with her daughter Guinevere. Gwennie's my first grandchild."
Julian nodded. "New graduate?"
"Tenth in her class at AMSA," Matthew said proudly. "She's joined Victor in the Arcadian Guards as a second lieutenant. A good unit with a proud history, she'll do well with them." Matthew handed Julian the noteputer so the other man could get a better look. "My mother gave us all those Davion cheekbones, and half of us get the red hair she got from Ian. Mix of Steiner and Proctor shows up elsewhere. Works out real well."
Julian examined the happy family, or at least the happy-seeming family. There was something in Maria's grin that made her seem almost out of place, and it was noteworthy to him that she was the only figure not wearing a uniform. And there'd been no mention of the father of her daughter. It's not my business, he decided, handing the device back. "You're all close?"
"As close as you get for military nobility, I imagine," Matthew admitted. "Well, except Maria. She took a different direction. But she loves Gwennie in her own way." His gentle grin turned somber. It reminded Julian of Harrison whenever Caleb had done something to disappoint him. "You have anyone yet? Family, I mean?"
"Not yet, no," Julian admitted, rubbing absently at the plain silver ring he wore. “As much as it’s bothered a lot of people.”
"Ah. My advice is, don't wait too long."
"War does have that way of putting a hand on your shoulder and saying ‘Hurry on’,” Julian agreed. “But, well, it’s never been that easy; I’ve been in and out of disgrace since my teens. Just ask General Falkenhorst over at the Nagelring.” He chuckled ruefully. “It hasn’t exactly made marriage a viable option, for all Aunt Amanda’s importunings. Though, speaking of chances not realised,” Julian’s voice turned somber, “I've not yet had the chance to thank you for the Narrows."
Matthew waved him off. "That was work. You owe more to that daredevil in the hovertank toting that big heavy autocannon. I've seen some top-notch hover drivers and she made them all look like first year cadets."
"Callandre’ll enjoy hearing that," Julian said. “She always loves to make an entrance.”
"I also owe you a bigger thanks for stepping in when you did," Matthew added. "Nathaniel's alive in part because your lance got there in time." The older man shook his head while before them the prisoner lines started to thin. The transfer was nearly complete. "What did you think of him? As a MechWarrior?"
"King Nathaniel?" Julian considered it. "He’s good. Solid reflexes, steady on his feet and doesn’t flinch. Some hesitation, but that’s normal for everyone’s first taste of combat; the difference between shooting targets and people. I’ve known some MechWarriors who never made the distinction, of course. Good soldiers, some of them, but not people you’d like to know socially. And he’s got a gift for up-close work; I wouldn’t want to try my luck against him blade to blade, that’s for sure. In a lot of ways, he’s better than he needs to be; fighting as a line MechWarrior isn’t his job."
"It isn't," Matthew agreed. "I'd love to pack him up and ship him back to Arcadia right now. He had his fight from the front and he can leave the rest to us. But he won't go. He feels personally responsible for this and thinks he needs to lead it to the end. That he owes it to everyone fighting this war. Just like his great-grandfather. Uncle Ethan was always going to the front." An old grief showed in his blue eyes. "Until the Cappies finally got him back in '10, on Nova Roma. Only good thing is they didn't kill him right there and we got him home before he died from the wounds."
"I think that’s a fairly common way of internalizing our responsibilities," Julian said. "Reminds me of something Ian Davion, our Ian Davion, wrote; that, ‘What else is a Prince, but he who stands between his people and harm’. Words he lived by - and died by, in the end."
"Ethan would've loved that." Matthew nodded. "So the way I see it is I need to keep my little cousin alive through all this, whatever I think of the need to have him in the field."
"He's got the right stuff to do a lot of the work there himself. And he's got a lot of the right attitude, in anyone else. Quick-thinking, resourceful, willing to gamble his life if he thinks that's what's needed to get the job done." Just like a certain foolhardy young captain of Amanda's Own on Taygeta in '29, some imp of the perverse whispered at the back of his mind. "A natural talent for piloting as well."
"Talented? Hell." Fondness now showed in the grin that formed on Matthew's face. "I've watched that battleROM of him putting down Khan Ward half a dozen times. He reminds me of his grandmother. Jackie piloted a heavy 'Mech and made it move like a light. She could make her 'Mech dance. Put her in melee range and she'd have a sword in each of Gram's hands, cutting up an enemy in a storm of sparks and sliced myomer. And she was fearless, hell, she was reckless. She once called an artillery strike right on her head to take out an Azami company threatening her position, all while in melee range of the Azami company CO. And that wasn't the one she didn't walk away from!" The smile turned bittersweet. "It was hard to see her after the war. All that fire turned inward, burning her out on the inside in frustration and rage over the Peace of Dieron. She did her duty. That's one thing people never got. MORNING STAR was a mistake, but she did her duty in the end, she put the Federation ahead of her own feelings. It probably destroyed her, but her parents would have been damned proud. So would her son." Matthew drew in a breath and glanced towards Julian. "Sorry. I've been carrying that around for a while."
"I've read the briefing documents enough to get an idea," Julian said. "And I've seen that kind of bitterness before. My aunt - well, mother in everything but blood - Amanda Hasek, has her moments." And God knows, I'm starting to think she's been right all these years.
"Deserved, I'm sure. And against the same targets too." Matthew took the moment to check the images again. The wounded exchange was done and it looked like the prisoner lines were at their end. "Well. Looks like it went off without a hitch. Alaric got what he wanted and he kept his people under control."
"He's going to make a fight of it," Julian warned. "I've fought him, remember; up close enough to know there isnt any quit in him. If he's retreating, it means he's got an idea of how to fight us more effectively somewhere else; one that he's been able to sell to the rest of the Wolves, at that. And I don't think we have any idea what Alaric's likely to do when his back's well and truly against the wall. Lord knows, from what I’ve read that’s when his genefather was at his worst."
"I don't doubt it. We can worry about that later. For now, well, I do feel bad for whatever CommTechs have to answer to him." Fittingly, Matthew's smile took on something of a wolfish smirk. "He's not going to enjoy what's waiting for him at Tetersen, that's for damn sure."
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===Wolves discuss the next course action===
Beta Galaxy Command DropShip, CWS Blood Fang
Zenith Jump Point
Tharkad System, Donegal Province
Lyran Commonwealth
3th July, 3143
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A solid "thunk" vibrated through the deckplates of the Blood Fang, informing Alaric that his ship had made its connection to the collar on the Victoria Ward. The WarShip was due to pay host to a command conference among all the Wolf commanders following their impending jump to Tetersen and was attaching their command vessels for that purpose. Alaric readied himself mentally for the trial that was to come. The death of the Khan left a power vacuum among the Wolf leadership with the saKhan still back at Gienah, but waiting until he returned there would only play into the hands of his foes. He needed to convince his fellow galaxy commanders of the strategy he'd spent the last week conceiving if the Wolf Empire was to rally from this stinging disappointment.
Verena Wolf kept her eyes locked on his. She knew his heart and his worries, but believed in him. Anastasia Kerensky, still wearing the bondcord, was almost inscrutable in her quietness. Alaric wasn't sure he liked that; she was not the quiet type. And his mother…. she was uncharacteristically quiet as well, standing with the aid of the footholds to keep her from drifting from the floor in their weightlessness. He did not know if that was a blessing or a curse. Her advice often served well, but her outburst on Tharkad had been unwelcome, and his reaction, in the end, foolhardy. Just drawing near to her made Katherine flinch instinctively, as if he might strike or throttle her again at whim.
I cannot, I must not, lose control like that. Never again. My position is precarious and if we are to triumph I must keep my head. A light came up on the monitors. The jump counter was set.
"Well. That sucked."
Anastasia's words brought a snarl to Verena's face. Alaric glanced towards them both. "You make light of our defeat, bondswoman?"
"No. I said it sucked, I didn't laugh at it." Anastasia answered. Her contraction was not the usual carelessness, no. It was deliberate. "I was looking forward to being a warrior of a victorious Clan that had smashed the Lyran Commonwealth to pieces."
"Perhaps you will see to that in the end," Alaric said. It was mostly bravado, though he imagined not utterly impossible of an outcome if their enemies gave them the opening. "But I have greater concerns. The Arcadians are stronger foes than we anticipated, and the Lyrans will have space to recover. The Clan must prepare to meet their counterattack."
"You have other concerns, Alaric." Katherine Steiner spoke with some of her old haughtiness, but Alaric thought he detected some caution in her now. "Liam Ward hates you and will pin this defeat on you. He will use your acceptance of hegira as proof of cowardice and refusal to press on to victory."
"And I will use our information on the incoming Arcadian forces to show I acted to save our Clan from utter ruin," Alaric retorted. Before she could protest he held a hand up, the other still holding him to the central holotank. "Though you are right. He will try regardless, and I will need a strong defense to throw him off."
"You're a Clan warrior, Alaric," Anastasia said, as if he need be reminded. "You have countless victories on your codex. Thaddeus Marik, me, now both the Arcadian king and Julian Davion. In the end, warriors who win get respect, and Liam Ward's only a Loremaster for a reason. He's not been any good in a 'Mech for over a decade and the other Bloodnamed know it."
"You could challenge him," Verena suggested. "If he demeans you in Council, declare a Trial of Grievance."
"I will, if the timing is right," Alaric vowed. "But politics, even among the Clans, is rarely so easy, or the lives of the Bloodnamed would be even shorter." He stopped speaking as a voice cut over their speech, giving a one minute jump warning. Everyone on the bridge fastened themselves to footholds, handholds, or armholds in readiness.
The jump was like any other. That infuriating sense of dislocation, the sickness in the stomach and the head and that peculiar feeling of a full-body sneeze that came with being propelled across light years in an instant. The holotank displayed dissolved into static and snow for several moments even after the jump cleared and precious reality reasserted itself. Alaric glanced over the display as it finished resolving.
As he'd expected, Epsilon Galaxy's JumpShips and DropShips were waiting for him. Yet he frowned. There were too many waiting for him and they bore battle damage.
"Signal from Galaxy Commander Niel Carns," a CommTech announced. "Requesting conference."
"Put him on." The commander of Epsilon Galaxy appeared, as did the other leading officers. Zeta Galaxy's Cooper was available once more, bearing the scars of his injuries at the Arcadians' hands, and Liam Ward represented Alpha Galaxy and the Golden Keshik. "Galaxy Commander Carns, what news do you have for us?"
<<"My forces inflicted damage on the Lyrans at Gibbs, but the enemy's defenses proved too strong to destroy the yards,">> Carns answered. <<"They had been reinforced by these 'Arcadians' in significant number, including naval support. Your diversion wasted my warriors and clearly cost us Tharkad!">>
"An enemy you could not vanquish at Gibbs would have instead fought you at Tharkad," Alaric noted. "As the matter stands, Galaxy Commander, you did your duty to the Clan well, and your codex will not record failure."
Carns looked thoughtful, even surprised. I have given him the means to preserve his own record. His gratitude, if it comes, will be useful. <<"Unfortunately I cannot report success on Tetersen either. A strong force of what we presume were Arcadians landed and struck at our invading clusters from the air. The casualties were significant and our foes more experienced and capable than anticipated. With their growing numbers we were compelled to withdraw.">>
Alaric narrowed his eyes. The Thirty-First Wolf Guard Assault and Thirty-Fifth Wolf Battle clusters are skilled formations, they should have crushed a Spheroid force that did not enjoy significant numerical edge.
"How were some of our best overcome in this way?!" Cooper demanded. "Whom did you fight?"
<<"They bore the orange hawk of those who crushed Malvina Hazen's Golden Ordun,">> Carns informed them.
So that is where the Eighth Strikers were instead of Tharkad. The Arcadians must have been confident of holding. Or were willing to gamble. A possibility came to his mind.
Carns resumed speaking. <<"That is not all. Our JumpShips include the relay vessels from Smolnik and Thuban. Enemy forces were burning in toward both systems, in major strength. The Iota Galaxy clusters we left will not be able to hold them.">>
"Then we must rush forces to Thuban," Cooper said. "We must crush them!"
"And if we do not succeed in smashing them immediately, the next wave of Arcadians will crush us in turn," Alaric said. "We must choose a stronger defensive position for our next great battle. Let the clusters on those worlds resist as long as possible and die or withdraw having served the Clan by buying time. Chukchi is a better choice for our next defensive stand."
"You would give up Gallery as well?" Elisa Ward asked. Her voice was not hostile. Alaric knew she would be the one to see what he was considering.
"Aff. The Lyrans tried to make it a defensive point, and look how easily we ruined them. Nor can we easily maintain a defense on that world when the surviving Lyran forces continued to hide in the underground. Chukchi is more defensible. The solahma can sell their lives dearly and die for the honor of the Clan so we have time to prepare."
"The saKhan should be deciding this before you, Alaric." Liam Ward insisted.
"The saKhan is not here. We are. Nor is this my choice alone. We, the commanders of the Wolf Clan's strongest galaxies, must make this decision together. But be certain that we must act as the pack, in unity, or the Arcadians and Lyrans will take slay us separately." Alaric told them
"And those who break faith with unity will die in darkness," Yvonne Vickers of Kappa added. "Until the saKhan and the Clan Council can decide, I believe Alaric Wolf's proposal is sound and the right course for the Clan."
Liam Ward snarled, but said nothing while Elise Ward concurred. After moments of tense silence, Rand Connors and Carns did as well. Cooper, ever the fire-eater, was the last to concede. Now alone, and not even the proper commander of Alpha Galaxy, Liam Ward grumbled "Seyla" and affirmed his agreement. "Until saKhan Kerensky rules otherwise."
I know Garner Kerensky well enough to know he is no fool. He is a proud warrior, in fact. Though I will not let him become Khan before me. "Until then."
"Given the circumstances our meeting will be held another day, as we have little else to discuss," Liam said. "I will have a new conference arranged by tomorrow." The communication ended.
Alaric wordlessly left the bridge, pulling himself along via the rails and holds until he reached his office. He floated across to the chair and settled into it. The door slid open again and Verena stepped in. "I have sent the bondswoman and the old solahma away," she said. "Tell me, what will you do? We did not take Tharkad and the enemy is pressing us back even now."
"I will do whatever I must, as always," Alaric insisted. "Wars are uncertain, and those with greater will can yet win. The Arcadian ruler is not a warrior at heart, that much is plain. He and his forces can be defeated. If we do so decisively, we will still have a great enough empire to compete for Terra whenever the Republic's Wall falls."
He focused his eyes on her. They held no secrets, could not, given what they shared, physically and emotionally. Verena did not speak what was clear in her eyes. She did not need to. His battles were hers. Her battles were his. For the glory of the Wolf Clan and their own glory, their own ambitions, they would fight on.
Let the Arcadians come. I will best them yet.
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===Commonwealth's Allies discuss next Push===
Royal Palace, The Triad
Bremen Continent
Tharkad, Donegal Province
Lyran Commonwealth
4th July, 3143
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Trillian arrived last to the War Council. Maurer, Jasek, Patrik and Roderick sat with her and Nathaniel with his generals, Julian at a seat roughly between them around the round table. The holotank in the war room displayed the latest tidings from the Arcadians' fax machines. Smolnik and Thuban both blinked colors, contrasting between Lyran blue and Wolf amber, and Tetersen and Gibbs were back to solid Lyran blue. Over Smolnik she recognized the lyre and crossed swords insignia of the Brotherhood of Cincinnatus and suppressed a habitual shudder. The Cisglass mercenaries were not the same as the nationalist terrorists who'd tried to murder her cousin and her father and had helped the Blakists kill her grandfather. She'd personally negotiated their contract with the Lyran Commonwealth, after all.
Thuban had a pair of other marks marking different mercenaries from the Cisglass she'd also hired. One was a black bird head over a golden disc, representing the Blackhawk Aerospace Group, while the other was a skull on a red field. From history she knew it was the Gray Death Legion, destroyed during the FedCom Civil War in her Inner Sphere but one of the strongest mercenary forces of the other Inner Sphere. Founded just as the Kell Hounds were. It is strange how many ways our timelines seem to have mirrored one another. She glanced to Nathaniel and felt gratitude. I could never have afforded them without Nathaniel's grant from the House Proctor Trust.
But even more important were the icons now at Tharkad, Tetersen, and Gibbs. Multiple crowned hawks represented the arrival of the next wave of Arcadian formations. Yet more remained at Westerstede and would be coming up shortly. We have survived the storm, now we can take the offensive.
"Brigadier Laguna's latest report confirms the Wolves aren't moving to land on Tetersen again," Bridger said to the assembled. "They've probably done the math on the jump figures and know they don't have time."
"Do we have the naval resources to push?" Julian asked. "Between my contingent and yours, including your big cruiser, we could take a lot of them out in space."
"They've got three ships near or at the Sara Proctor's weight class, and our other ships are just a destroyer and corvettes," the older General Bridger replied. "Admiral Abdul-Jabbar thinks he can win but says it'd carry a butcher's bill. Given the state of your yards at Gibbs, we'd be out of offensive action for months, easy. And that's assuming we did win."
"We'll have to face them in space eventually," Nathaniel said. "But every week brings us closer to having more ships for the effort. Taking a risk now isn't necessary, I think?"
"It is not," Maurer concurred.
"Still, we don't want to sit on our rears," Roderick said. "The Strikers and Stormhammers are intact enough to head out. We still have some folks behind on Gallery who hunkered down in the caves, we get that planet back and we take out the Wolves' forward supply base and get those troops back fully."
Maurer nodded to Trillian. "Consolidating Thuban and taking Gallery would make an acceptable push until we have the Gibbs yards repaired."
"I will move on to Thuban, then," said Nathaniel. The others turned their heads to face him. "I'll establish a new headquarters there and prepare for our advance."
"The Arcadian Rangers are always ready," Brigadier Fraser assured him. "But I'm not sure the other units are ready."
"My people need time to get replacements and finish healing some wounded," the younger General Bridger said, referencing his Third Proctor Guards.
Nathaniel's distant cousin Allen Proctor nodded. "The Second's got some repair work to do too, but we can follow after you."
"Until then, you both can assist in the defense of Tharkad. Besides, my old unit is almost here, and the Proctor Heavy Guards are already at the jump point. That will give me a solid core of forces to meet any unexpected enemy strikes."
"I'll move ahead with you," said Julian. "I brought a solid reserve with me to fill in losses in the ranks, so the First Davion Guards will be combat ready by the time we're at Thuban, whatever happens."
"What are the odds the Wolves try to attack again, given what they've seen?" Allen Proctor asked bluntly. "We handled them roughly."
"We did, but they're going to start feeling desperate, and Alaric especially is going to be casting around for a way to secure his power," Julian said. "He already knows a lot about how we think. We can't underestimate him or assume we know what he'll do."
"Only going to get more true the more we win, I'd imagine," Matthew said. "Scariest wolves are always the ones backed into a corner."
"Your choices make sense," Trillian said. "Though for form's sake, King Nathaniel, I must hold a proper departure reception for you. The Court will expect it." She noted the way his lips stiffened. "Not that I look forward to it. But we must maintain what normalcy we can for morale reasons."
"I will, again, consider it just another duty I must perform for my ally," Nathaniel said with evident resignation.
"It will also make for more footage to send out," Maurer added. "The Commonwealth's morale will be greatly improved."
"It'll get home too, though maybe we should be careful how it's shown there," Nathaniel said. "I don't want the people think I'm just celebrating while the troops fight and die."
"Oh, the press officers will see to it, Majesty." Matthew grinned. "Besides, by the time that gets there, I'm sure everyone back home will have already seen you in action."
"Ah, right." Nathaniel grinned weakly. "They will want to show my fighting in the Narrows." Trillian noted the color seep from his cheeks. "Oh no, good God, Mother will see it."
"Hopefully an edited copy," Matthew said knowingly.
Probably not, Trillian imagined. Either way, she knows her son is risking his life, and it will hurt. I wonder how I would feel if I ever had a child doing this line of work. Though that is probably inevitable. She pushed the thought away to focus on the business at hand. "There are, of course, financial considerations," she began. "The Sea Foxes have presented their first invoice for transport of military supplies…"
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*Chapter Note: Scenes of Dark Age characters interacting with each other, the only exception being Alaric and Liam Ward have written by Templar87. 
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EMCOTS-2 14
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