TBntG-3 Chpt 26

=The Bull and the Genie=
==Chapter 26 - Book III - The Clan Invasion==
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==Interlude: Reactions==
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Nearly every children's book about the Black Dragon Society (BDS) paints the use of WMDs as another sign of their insanity.
 
That is not true. Monstrous, yes. Ultimately self-defeating, yes. But the BDS needed time, time to purge the loyal elements. Time to prepare themselves. 
 
And with their raids, they purchased time. The cores they'd received contained miracles, and nightmares born of the SLDF biological warfare programs, and the use of WMDs against worlds, using First Succession War tactics led to every other faction calling their forces home. The Ghost Bears and Wolves were chained to the major worlds in the former Free Rasalhague Republic, while their civilian services were stretched to the limit by the New Oslo and Kirchbach atrocities. The rest of the Clan forces were examining the forces needed to protect against a mass launch of WMDs against worlds, and found their forces wanting, putting the Entire Clan offensive on the Defensive.
 
The units that had finally been freed up for OPERATION REDEMPTION, the invasion of Terra, were once again diverted—for the last time, the 'postponed' operation in fact being permanently called off. Later in the year, the invading forces of both New Avalon and Tharkad would withdraw under Hegira, providing badly needed security forces, and leaving the Clans with nothing to show for their invasion of two capital worlds than casualty lists. 
 
"Khan" Frederick would once again find himself tasked with making a plan, and he and the Diamond Shark and Snow Raven Khans would do the heavy lifting for the plans to put the Clan defenses in order while preparing to execute the Trial of Annihilation declared against the BDS. But that would take time.
 
For the UMC, the issue was worse. Every member unit from the DCMS had to be checked for BDS infiltrators, and the attack on Hohiro Kurita left the eldest heir in serious condition, ironically being saved by Victor Steiner-Davion. Many units claimed to be loyal to the old order, but the coup had come as a dreadful surprise and General Cheng was not going to be surprised a second time. 
 
In addition, the Federated Commonwealth feared similar attacks, and the forces built up for a final resolution of the Clan Invasion found themselves being deployed to nodal positions to ensure that no attacks would be launched on Federated Commonwealth worlds. Mary Cheng had to watch as her entire plan came completely unglued, and the fact that similar convulsions were afflicting the Clan OZ, where Frederick's forces were pulling out of entire regions of space was hardly comforting. 
 
This led to some very odd events, such as the TCN taking over security responsibilities for a number of worlds, and Task Force 22 of the TCN actually providing security for New Avalon during the Clan Withdrawal from that world, a point of some bemusement to Taurian and Davion patriots alike. 
 
But all of this took time, and Time was what the BDS needed as they declared the date of the Murder of Theodore Kurita to be "Year Zero," the date of the reforging of the Dragon (and mandated that all Calendars be changed to the new Calendar). The full, nightmarish extent of the BDS's goals would not become apparent until the first ground invasions, but the civilian death toll of the invasion was dwarfed by the death toll forged by the BDS's intent to build a "pure" Combine.
 
Some hoped that this was simply an internal affair, but when the BDS issued a demand that the Star League High Council meet to pledge allegiance to the "new and rightful First Lord" it became apparent that this problem was not going to stay limited to the Combine's Borders. In addition, the slaughters of Clan POWs made it plain that the Dictum Honorium would now be followed in the strictest sense. 
 
But this conflict would be different from the Clan Invasion. For all the savagery of the battles, for all the fact that some commanders launched atrocities, the Clan Invasion had been marked by all sides accepting that Civilians were more or less off limits. To the new rulers of the Combine, "civilians" were simply another tool to achieve the Victory of the Dragon, and if they could or would not achieve it in Life, they would do so in Death. 
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From: Hell on A Hundred Worlds: The Black Dragon Society War and the Making of the Modern Republic - Luthien Republic Press, 3140
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