BeyHop Chpt 64

==Beyond Hope- Chapter 64 - Prelude to the Storm==
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===Rudely Awaken===
Royal PalaceTharkad System, Federated Commonwealth (Lyran States)3065
Katherine Steiner-Davion was awake in an instant.
Thump!
"Sorry Mum, you can go back to sleep. These lads won't be botherin' you tonight," a voice whispered. She sat up in her bed.
In the light of Tharkad's moon at full, she could see four bodies on the floor, and one standing.
"It's all right, Mum." 
"Who-LIGHTS!!"
The bedroom lights lit, and Admiral Katherine Steiner-Davion found her private quarters contained four strange men on the floor, and one very distressed looking Marine Private.
"What the hell is the meaning of this?" she demanded.
"Um… they were… not supposed to be here, Ma'am?" The kid had an Arlunan accent, the harsh undertone of Hillfolk barely contained by what had to be years of elocution lessons. "We're getting them sorted now, shouldn't be a bother once the drug they used on the Security team wears off."
“Intruders? How many?”
"Ayeh, Mum. Caught four in here, four in the parkin' area an' four near the barracks, Mum. We tried t'keep it quiet, let you sleep an' all," he said apologetically.
Katherine scrunched up her face in frustration. “It’s hard to be mad at someone who just stopped something terrible from happening to me, but I also feel I should have been woken up anyway.”
"Yes, Mum," he said. "So you're awake now, ayeh? An' I'm tellen ye 'bout et…?" 
“Yes, Private. I want a briefing on this incident within the hour.”
"Ayeh, Mum. Well, Corry thought som'a the Royal Guards was actin' offs, an' he told Corporal McAllister, who woke up ever'on in the barracks what wasn't on pass on the town, an' we came to have us a look, bein' as Corry's got a coupla… friends in Loki. After thet, we ran a security drill, quietish, just they wasn't playin, so we hadda git serious, Mum. Whole thing started half a hour ago, an' it's just us Cuerpos an' a few of th' guys what from Able Company's infantry squad, Mum."
Cuerpos…Arlunan Marines then. "Who are they?" she asked.
"Dunno Mum, but given th' number of staffies they eighty-sixed, they ain't Lyrans," he said apologetically. "Gonna need twenty or so cookstaff new hires. We didn't get here fast enough to stop thet."
“Okay. Unless there’s something more, I’m getting a shower and coffee while I can. Because it sounds like it’s going to be a day.”
The Private's comm unit vibrated. "Ayeh?" Then he paused. "Wait one, then repeat." He put it on speaker.
"Archon Regent Peter's been recovered. He's alive but he's hurt. Give me an update on the Admiral, Private Caul. You got to her in time?"
"Yes Sergeant, she's right here. Mum?" he extended the comm unit to her.
“Sergeant. What do we know so far?”
"These ****** don't know how to fight. The op looks like a two-pronged snatch and confine job. I got hits on the AFFC database showing the two who had your brother an' his wife were ex AFFC, Lyrans for christ's sake. Admin officers removed during the Clean-Up in the fifties, but allowed to resign rather than being tried. We'll know more when we get someone with interrogation training, but I'm going to offer the possible that it's domestic. They got inside too damn easy for how shit the rest of their work is."
She recognized Sgt. Gomez from the Marine complement of her last warship command. The guy was without filters and barely managed to sound military at all, but he was a devoted killer.
“Okay. We’re going full alert and full martial law until we get this sorted out, or Victor overrules me. Pass the word. Leaves and passes are canceled system-wide.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Silently, Katherine noted that treating her subordinates like people had, after all, paid it forward in the longer term. "Private, thank you." 
"All in the service, Mum,” he said. "I'll be turnin' around so's you can get dressed now. I'll be out front o' th' door, Mum."
“So much for a shower…” Katherine grumbled as she dressed.
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===Urgent Recall===
"How is he?" Admiral Steiner-Davion demanded.
"He took a couple hits during the rescue. He'll likely recover, no hits to the head, Ma'am," Corpsman Lisa Ang reported, stripping off her surgical gloves and gown. "Some blood loss, but his is banked, so there's that. We're going to need to look up tissue types for some of the organ damage, but none of the needler flechettes nailed him in the spine. And I was able to set up a bypass for the intestinal damage and sealed the bleeders in his left lung."
“Which means, best case scenario he’s not going to be able to do his job for a couple months3” Katherine silently cursed.
It wasn’t long ago I would have jumped on an opportunity like this, but now…
"Ayeh Ma'am. When Prince Victor gets here, you'll have to be the one in charge. He's still four jumps out."
“Command Circuit," Katherine said. "I'll have to order a command circuit to expedite my brother's arrival… Christ."
Katherine straightened up and fixed her uniform tunic.
“Also arrange HPG contact with New Avalon. Messages will suffice as long as they are expedited. Yvonne should also be informed. And maybe it’s paranoia, but we should also make sure everything is in order there while we’re at it,” Katherine said to the small group of aides now following her around. “Next stop, throne room.”
===Ethical Issues===
New AvalonFederated Commonwealth (FedSuns State)3065
Tancred Sandoval rolled across the floor, coming up with his pistol ready, the first 'Davion Guards' officer through the doorway took it in his face.
Yvonne was still trying to get dressed behind the bed, as the second and third men met their fates in the doorway.
"You okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine! Get behind cover!!"
"Moving."
In the corridors, the sound of gunfire echoed, along with shouts.
A deep, bullfrog roar outside the bedroom was accompanied by the sight of Davion-orange tracers going both ways.
“We can’t stay here much longer,” Tancred judged.
The windows burst inward, powderizing instead of sending shards, and, "Your highness, Stay low!!" The voice belonged to a girl in NAIS Cadet uniform, the name tag said Gilmour.
Tancred huddled with Yvonne, using his body to shield her, as Cadets came in through the broken windows, along with some guys in reserve uniforms. These formed a cordon and cover, to cover Yvonne and Tancred's escape.
“Where are we even going to go?” Yvonne asked.
"General Davion said get you to The Fox's Den, Majesty!"
"Which General Davion?"
"Jackson, Ma'am!" The cadet was somehow stiff as hell even under fire.
“Let’s go,” Yvonne nodded.
Yvonne took a look before she followed. Smoke billowed in Avalon City. "Who did this?" she muttered.
“Picture is still fuzzy as all hell, Majesty. Right now our mission is to get you to safety,” Cadet Gilmour answered.
“The cadet’s right. The time for questions is later. Transportation?”
“We have something less glamorous than her Majesty is probably used to, but it’s got nice thick armor plating while still being reasonably fast. And some escorts,” Cadet Gilmour nodded.
“Might I suggest her majesty change into something less conspicuous first? I had to guess at the size.” Cadet Thatcher said as he pulled an AFFC uniform from her pack.
"Thank you!" Yvonne accepted it as offered.
The group waited a few moments for Yvonne to change but once she was done they began to move out, from cover to cover and in pairs to not make themselves too easy as targets.
Battlemechs thundered in the streets, and engaged one another.
"This is chaotic," Yvonne complained.
“War usually is. Civil War in particular,” Tancred tried to reassure Yvonne.
Bullets started hitting the cement flower box they were using for cover at the moment.
The cadets and reservists started returning fire.
“Get ready,” Cadet Gilmour said. “You two go to Leftenant Fitzpatrick’s position there. Now.”
Gilmour started laying down suppressing fire as Tancred and Yvonne moved to the next piece of cover as he added a few pistol shots of his own on the move.
The ground 'rumbled' as a Sagittaire stepped out from behind two buildings, and leveled its scrawny looking arms.
"Oh shit."
Then, something hit it, the supersonic boom knocking everyone to the broken asphalt.
"Whathehellwasthat?!?" The building it was slammed into burst into flames.
"I don't know!!" Tancred sounded… dim.
An Axman came up behind the Sagittare with smoke coming from its autocannon housing, quickly followed by beams of energy from its lasers.
“One of our escorts is here,” Fitzpatrick said.
"Thank god…"
“Air support is here too. I hope everyone has ear protection,” Fitzpatrick warned.
Thundershocks in the distance announced more of them.
Something exploded a street over, and a flash of shadow.
"This way, Majesty," Fitzpatrick led them to an APC with the ramp down.
The Saggitare tried to rise from the building it had stumbled into between the bombs and the lasers of the Axman knocking it off its feet.
"TAG signal!!"
"SHIT!! Get them inside!!"
The infantrymen were not gentle or courteous as they shoved Yvonne in and closed the ramp.
The vehicle rocked.
The roar of the AC-20 of the Axman joined in the orgy of destruction as things started exploding around the mechs, APC, and elsewhere.
There was a boom that lifted the tracked vehicle up on its suspension, letting it fall again with a boneshaking crash.
“I’m okay,” Yvonne reported.
"Hang on!!" the driver shouted, engaging the transmission and pulling forward as hard as the tracked vehicle could go.
"What was that!?"
"One'a the ******' Navy pilots rammed that Saggie!!"
The vehicle lurched and bounded.
“Our escorts are with us now. Moving out.”
The Axman was in trailing position while a pair of Centurions flanked with a pair of Wolfhounds up front.
The group moved towards the Fox’s Den as fast as the slowest member of the party could go flat out.
Yvonne crawled up to the driver's cabin, and looked out the armored ferroglass.
Periodically, they passed something burning, or shattered and burning, or about to be burning.
Shadows flashed as Aerofighters either ran strike missions, or tangled in the skies.
As they got away from the palace and towards the edge of the city a Templar came into view, blocking the easy path.
The APC diverted, as well as all the escorts, but the Axman…
“What is that pilot doing…?” Yvonne wondered.
“Making sure they don’t come up behind us and cause problems,” the driver answered.
“The rest are staying with us because this smells of funneling us into an ambush,” Fitzpatrick said from behind her.
As expected a pair of Dervishes came from behind a building towards the outskirts of the city.
Weapons fire erupted.
The mechs jockeyed for position as the range closed.
Flights of LRMs passed between the two forces followed by exchanges of flashes of light.
A flight came down near the APC rocking it.
“We’re not stopping or slowing down,” the driver warned. “Not now.”
The Autocannons of the Centurions began adding their fire too.
The Dervishes were out matched and clearly knew it, so they started backing off.
“They’re gone,” Yvonne noted.
“They’ll hunt and peck at us the whole way there until they get more friends,” Fitzpatrick commented. “But we got more, and they’re here first. Look. Those fighters are from Cambiano. You can tell, because they’re the only other bastards crazy enough to fly approaches like that other than the ‘Loonies.”
The ripple of bombs shattered the leg of one Dervish and made the other’s entire right side disappear in a conflagration of fire,shrapnel, and smoke.
A lance of Patton tanks were the last line of resistance between them and the Fox’s Den.
“This is it.”
Their LRMs reached out.
The Cambiano fighters were already on their way back around and dropping ordinance as the LRMs from the Centurions reached back out.
The tanks proved tough enough to take it but one seemed to be at a complete stop.
More LRMs and now Autocannon fire and laser fire filled the air. One of the Wolfhounds staggered under a combined barrage but was able to keep standing despite most of its left side now being scrap on the field of battle rather than attached to the ‘mech.
The two sides advanced toward each other. More weapons fire traded between them.
A Patton brewed up, but in exchange the combined fire tore one of the Centurions apart. There was no sign of an ejection.
The Cambiano fighters were around making yet another run.
More bombs landed directly on top of the two remaining Pattons.
Combined fire from the two Wolfhounds and Centurion destroyed one more as well as finished off the immobilized Patton.
The one remaining tank leveled everything at the remaining Centurion. It rocked back, but was still in the fight. The return fire dispatched the last tank.
There were no more enemies between them and the Fox’s Den.
Yvonne insisted on thanking the MechWarriors, cadets, reservists, and pilots that had come to her aid personally and individually.
It was only as she was about to be escorted to Jackson Davion that the Axman came into the hangar. It was barely recognizable as the one that came to their aid. But somehow despite all the battle damage, it still had a distinctive crest on what remained of the left torso.
Calling what was left of it a mech was being generous but it was still mobile.
It stumbled into a gantry. The legs kept moving for several minutes, even after it fell.
Response teams went over to the mech.
Yvonne followed them.
Carefully and gently they pulled the MechWarrior from the cockpit.
“Hauptman MacIntyre at your service, Majesty. I’d stand and bow but my back is broken,” Sean said weakly.
“Thank you, Hauptman.” Yvonne teared up slightly.
“I’ll be fine, Majesty. I’m not actually paralyzed. I can still feel my toes. A year, maybe two and I’ll be right back in the cockpit again,” Sean grimaced as they loaded her onto a stretcher. “I’d hate to think how much this would hurt if I wasn’t on some real good pain killers right now.”
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===Managing Mass Assassination Attempts===
Star League OfficesIa Drang, KowloonFederated Commonwealth (Lyran State)3065
Helena glared at the screen of her computer.
“We’re still trying to confirm but we believe Theodore Kurita is safe and alive. HPG nets are alive with reports of Black Dragon Society attacks across the Combine. Skye separatists are launching attacks against garrison forces on Glengarry, New Kyoto, and Skondia. Uprisings are also taking place on several worlds across the Sarna March. The Free Worlds League and the Capellan Confederation have issued offers of support and aid,” Samantha briefed.
"This timing is too suspicious," Evelynn Mosovich noted. "We knew there would be disruption sooner or later, but these events, the attacks on the Steiner-Davions, now word of the Combine? Too coordinated. Too much distance between points."
“Yeah. Somebody’s rigged this. They want us fighting among ourselves, sapping our strength on internal problems,” Jane nodded.
"Weakened. Weakened and sluggish," Evelynn mused. "It's too clever for the Clans. They don't have the resources to turn a couple RCT's of Davion troops into live-fire OPFOR against their own guys. Nor to get Theo's domestic opposition where they think they're strong enough to make for the big chair, and maybe a few of our domestic idiots would… but not all at once, not across multiple realms kicking off in the same 24 hour period."
“So someone big, organized, and knows all the players,” Helena mused. “******.”
“The Communications Ministry. Focht’s little tell all basically confirms they were doing this sort of thing for centuries. No reason their little schism would make them any less capable,” Samantha offered.
"Win conditions, as Lizzie would term it," Evelynn shook her head. "They don't have them as long as the Clans can threaten Terra and their A-station network. But someone with access to the Communications Ministry's top levels, maybe."
“I think that was part of what they were trying to do at the University through the Clan students there. They were trying to create an incident that would force the Clans to act and use us as bullet sponges and speed bumps,” Majery spoke up. “Think about it. If they had succeeded in stopping the research, even if it is only for a day or two, they could spin media stories about how a local controlled disease mutated in response to the Clanners, creating a deadly plague. And the Clans would see it as a failure of Inner Sphere medicine and our promises about guaranteeing their safety as meaningless if something drastic happened.”
“Sad part is people would fall for it and probably would have attacked or even killed a Clan student if we didn’t respond so quickly and figure out a cure,” Helena nodded.
“Really, it’s a distraction. Not the main event I think. Merely something to tie us up with problems until they’re ready for the main event,” Samantha looked at the map.
“Possibly. We’ll know for sure once we start shuffling forces around. That will be when we’re most vulnerable to them convincing a unit to jump the border and attack a Clan or someone sneaking in a false flag,” Jane nodded.
"Win condition," Evelynn mused aloud. "If you know who stands to win, you know who's playing the game."
“Hmmm… I also can’t help but notice the Free Worlds League and CapCon are not being troubled,” Samantha looked at the dispatches again.
"The Cappies stand to win locally. Or would, if it weren't for who decided to kick the futbol in Davion space." The door hissed closed as Liz came in with a tray full of coffee cups and a box of fried pastries.
"Of course, that's the Cappies in general. This kind of thing could Sink Sun Tzu's reforms," she continued, placing the refreshments on a cleared desk.
“Yes. I’m more pointing out the CapCon doesn’t seem to be suffering from any sort of insurrections or civil wars that we can confirm at this time,” Samantha nodded.
"They're not exactly open about that, any word from the Saint Ives Compact? Like, at all?"
“That could be their play. Merging the realms back together while that half of the realm is too busy infighting to help their ally.”
"Victor offered to broker talks," Liz said. "So a merger movement would actually lose in this chaos. But I bet there's a few Hasek-Davions who thought Mike had the right idea."
“That’s another sign we’re dealing with the Communications Ministry. I’m pretty sure stuff is being withheld at certain stations,” Jane nodded. “We do know even the Word of Blake has several subfactions. So maybe it’s one of them and not the Word overall.”
"Someone they don't take seriously," Liz mused. "Inside the Word, or Comstar maybe. Some faction the others don't think is useful or powerful enough to pay attention to. Someone radicalized but quiet about it."
“Except they would need to have power and influence to do something so widespread.”
"Good information is power, knowing who's on the blackmail list, who's open to a bribe, who's got an ax to grind. The Ministry has been dealing in information for centuries. So it only takes someone with the right combination of access and who can fake the authorizations. Bureaus are bureaus. I spent that summer as Melissa's Auditor seeing that kind of thing in action: a pissed middle-level bureaucrat can wreak all kinds of havoc."
“Hmmm… We’ve identified The Shunners, Expatriates, Toyama, True Believers, and the Sixth of June movements in the Word of Blake,” Jane reported.
"Mid-level…"
"Mid-level, there you're high enough to treasure the status quo, and low enough to get really upset when someone disrupts it," Liz confirmed. "Here's your nightmare scenario, Helena: all these groups are acting in coordination, but they're not the same group. They only NEED a middle level backchannel to coordinate. Heads would be unaware until they're too deep into it to risk backing out."
“Yes. The Expatriates from what we know are the most vocal in their anti-Clan sentiment and discontent at Focht’s attempts to reform the order. They were not even on the Conclave until after the incident on Venus that severely weakened the Shunners as a political block. So they’re the useful patsies, I think,” Jane nodded.
"Now, all the groups 'rising' are dissident groups spread across multiple worlds, or dissatisfied Nobility," Liz observed. "The kidnap attempt on Peter and Katherine was run by the Order of Cincinnatus, a Lyran Veteran's group with lots of Noble and business ties and not a small amount of influence in the Estates General. And the guys who kicked off the killing on New Avalon included both Crucis March forces and mercenaries, but that one, too, was as much a kidnap as a kill. They could've killed Yvonne at range… they wanted her alive."
Elizabeth reached over and brought up the Combine map. "The Black Dragon society?" Evelynn asked.
Liz bit her lip, then turned an eye to Jane. "Domestic power-brokers in the Combine, unhappy with Theodore's open policies, unhappy about the Nova Cat Resettlement at Irece, unhappy that the Keeper of the Honor is Victor's ex-girlfriend. And maybe they want to 'effect a change' in the realm, put a Shogun in place with a weak Coordinator. So that one was a kill move, that failed so far as we know."
“Some of Theodore’s relatives are more like his father too. So it may be possible one of them is looking to take the throne for themselves and has all the necessary ties.”
"So, continuing my outline… we ****** up Free Skye and Danny stopped his buddy the General from starting a civil war in the middle of an invasion. But Free Skye is still there, and so are Skye separatists. They've licked their wounds. Imagine all these groups. Now, some nice man, or woman, from Comstar shows up and they're all seething but this nice guy agrees with them, nods, buys 'em drinks, maybe. Maybe turns up with a loan to get them out of hock… and this nice person tells them there's a chance to make their dreams come true." Liz shot another glance at Jane, "Isn't that how it actually works? Not briefcases and midnight pacts, just someone telling them they're right and offering useful suggestions? Maybe a little intel they couldn't get as easily?"
“Pretty much. Though I suspect there were a few deliveries of heavy industrial equipment thrown in for good measure, too.”
"The market's been awash in weapons for centuries. It's part of why Great-Great-Grandmama Sophie insisted we stay out of the arms trade: ‘It's saturated and dangerous’."
“Yes. More meaning they had a little extra help getting the deliveries past customs without notice. Because something like this takes time to prepare and organize.”
"They also didn't need it on New Avalon. Those troops went to their 'mech hangars and arms rooms," Liz observed.
“Indeed. Where I think goods were supplied is with Free Skye and the Sarna March insurrections. Everything else looks like it was the right people pushed in the right directions,” Jane clarified.
“Right, now, let's really break probability. What if the Word didn't notice or know either?" Liz asked, "They're benefitting right now. Some move like Scorpion two-point-oh works against their goals and power structure… But it fits perfectly with how Comstar ROM plays, and SLIC before them. We're not looking at 'leaders' we're looking at Mandarins, and they're panicked."
“Yes. Their Precentor ROM we have identified as a member of the Toyama faction, but we think he may also be answering to another faction given the evidence.”
"Mandarins? I thought those were Capellan…" Evelynn began.
"No, the term is applicable anywhere you have an entrenched bureaucracy that largely runs itself generation after generation," Liz told her. "Nearly every major world has a few, along with every major State. They're career, they're specialized, and too much tech disruption or too many political changes, and they come out biting."
“And that’s basically everything that we’ve been doing for the last few years. Driving political and technological change. Reactionaries could be another term for them,” Helena nodded.
"Reactionaries emboldened because the guys who are supposed to keep them in check, prefer them to seeing things change," Liz clarified. "I saw it in the Auditor's office when I started trying to push certain cases forward. The case officers had worked for years, sometimes decades, on those cases. They'd become so specialized in it that they reacted like I was setting their HOMES on fire." She opened a cup of coffee and poured something powdered into it. "See, Skye isn't rising because they've got more guns than before, but because they're pretty sure their Lohengrin Case Officers are going to look the other way, to keep the game that they've built their whole career on going."
“And we have been at peace for a few years now. That helps breed antsy soldiers with certain ideologies, and troublemakers with nothing else to do. So some start thinking about going home and throwing off the yoke.”
"There's always some damned fool who thinks if things were just run his way, they'd all be perfect," Evelynn agreed. "So, we're looking for who lit the fuse?"
"We lit the fuse," Liz said. "This was inevitable. Somebody decided to make it a controlled burn. The Win Condition is the Radicals get their shit pushed in." She sipped her coffee, and put it on a console. "The moves are relatively weak. Jackson had New Avalon stabilized inside forty eight hours, and the uprising didn't last much past seventy two in the rest of the Suns. But there are Haseks in prisoner holding awaiting trial. Not all of 'em, but the loudest mouths. Kate's had Tharkad under Martial Law, and they're purging the Ground Forces the way you cleaned up the Navy, Helena. That we're hearing anything from the Combine means the action's done, so bet on Theodore or his chosen heir is in charge there. Free Skye will run out of juice shortly, they don't have the popular support… Which leaves the Sarna March, who are very sincere about wanting 'independence' and that's not just from Davion or Steiner control, but from each other too." Liz fiddled with the controls, and an outline superimposed, "Which happens to correspond to who?" The outline of the Terran Hegemony's pre-Amaris border lit.
“******.” Helena groaned.
“I think somebody wants you back on Terra bad if they’re going through all of this.” Samantha looked at the map.
Liz gave Samantha a sphinx stare, and said, "Johnny would be just as acceptable to them, I would wager. Maybe even MORE palatable."
“Definitely more. He’s on the spectrum. He’d be a cakewalk to puppetmaster.” Helena clenched her fists.
"That said, I suspect that region would settle right the ****** down if 'First Lord' Helena asked them to," Liz said. "Publicly, of course, that would mean you taking formal control. And you wouldn't have much control at all outside the holovee studio."
“I know. But if I don’t make an announcement, calling for order and stability it’s just as bad.” Helena scrunched up her face in anger.
Elizabeth's expression showed she was thinking... "How do we ****** it up for them? Oooh…"
"What are you thinking of, Lizzie?"
"Peacekeepers," Liz said. "Since it won't be an attack, you have options," she said with a grim nastiness.
“Maybe. The CapCon and Leaguers did offer aid…” Samantha nodded.
"Oh god, Liz you're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?" Jane spat.
"I am," Elizabeth stated. "See, here's how I see it... The Clans have been pussy-footing at the table. Marthe wants to flip, but she doesn't have a 'clan acceptable' pretext. The Scorpions want back into the Star League, some of the others too. The Crusaders also still want to restore the Star League by force of arms and see Terra as a holy objective they really would like very much to get closer to, and everyone's on tenterhooks over the Truce,which ends in two years."
Elizabeth brought up an outline and snapped it into place. "Now, they pledged not to invade past the Truce Line, but that didn't stop the Coventry campaign, did it? Or Wolf's raids on Arc Royal… so… You're the First Lord, this is an Emergency. You can order peacekeepers…and you've got a whole mess of warriors that won't be in position to invade anyone if they're busy trying to stabilize a couple hundred planets in the throes of insurgency."
“This could all go so horribly very quickly,” Helena picked up a pen and her stationary pad and started writing up an order.
"Yah, but it's the move I don't think the Foreigners who started this expected, or planned for," Liz said. "Chaos brings opportunity."
“Silver lining, I get to make the deserters finally make good on their oaths or prove themselves to be undeniable frauds.” Helena’s contempt for the Clans dripped from her voice.
"There is that. You'll want to bounce that past Victor, Theodore, and the rest, but it frees up their domestic troops and we'll know where the Clanners are."
Liz agreed, "Yeah, we'll know, because we'll have to be part of their supply line. They can't manage this job if we just leave them unsupported."
“All right. I’ll run it past the council then we’ll make a call to the Clan Embassy on world. Then we’ll see just how terrible this can go.” Helena signed the order she had been writing up.
"We know how horribly this can go wrong," Liz said cryptically. "The question is how do we do this without it ending up a worst case scenario?"
“Same way we do everything else. One day at a time, and make it up as we go because this is all new territory.”
"Well, Ladies, I've offered my advice and brought you pastries and coffee. I have to get to the doctor's office." Liz picked up her purse. "I'll be taking my leave now."
“Thanks Liz. I’m praying for good news.” Helena smiled at her friend.
"So am I." She left the office.
"She's using the cane again." Samantha observed.
"So she is." Helena agreed.
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===You Did What??===
Ia Drang, KowloonFederated Commonwealth (Lyran State)3065
"Let me see if I understand this correctly, you are offering to invite the Clans, the people we've been fighting for more than a decade, to garrison the Sarna March area to stabilize the region. Is that right?" Victor Steiner-Davion's image on HPG was shocked.
“We need an option that isn’t just trading one problem for another. They can do it and since they’ll have to abide by Star League regulations they should even be able to get along with the locals.” Helena still wasn’t sure how she was really going to sell this to the others.
"I'm imagining all the ways this can go completely batshit wrong, Helena." Victor said. "Which Clans?"
“At least we’ll know where they’re stationed. Right down to the grid squares of their garrisons. Since we’ll have to incorporate them into our logistics network. Which means we’ll also know how many.” Helena drew in a breath. “I’m thinking Falcon, Wolf, Ghost Bear, Nova Cat, and Scorpion all get the invite.”
She steadied herself for Victor’s response.
"Hmm," he seemed to be considering it. "The Clans who either joined us already, or are teasing us with talks."
“Yes. And since we’re inviting them in it doesn’t upset the truce. So this will throw one hell of a monkey wrench into the plans of whoever orchestrated recent events.”
"You might push them into moving openly."
"Which plays to OUR strengths," Helena pointed out. “Right now, we don’t have enough solid evidence to even think about a casus belli. Or even a target to direct one at despite all of us having a pretty solid idea of who’s behind it.”
Victor didn't wince, he just looked resigned. "I'll approve it," he said. "That's your vote and mine. The others, I'll work who I can to push this through."
“Thanks, Vic. Take care. If things settle down, I’ll come for another visit, Christmas 3066.” Helena smiled.
After Victor signed off, Helena got up and looked over at the Comstar Adept monitoring the call. "I know you have your view." she said.
"Madame, Our Order…the Communications Ministry must be neutral," he said, reciting the boilerplate. But it was clear he had something to say about this.
“You’re free to speak your mind Adept,” Helena prompted. “You’re a person, not an automaton, and I don’t hold your order responsible for your individual views.”
"This is dangerous," he said. "What is your actual game here? The Clans are the descendants of Kerensky's army-"
"Deserters." Helena nodded.
"Are you trying to bring them home?"
“That will happen with or without me. The shape of the invitation and what happens after are what I hope to have some measure of control over.”
"You truly are the First Lord, then," he said. She caught the element of awe in his voice, along with a faint Martian accent. "Some of us had doubts, Your Majesty. But you're the real deal, come back to us."
“Where I am in space does not matter. What solar system I call home, that is not the important part.”
"My mother's going to be amazed," he told her. "But it would be better for… Well, for us, if you came back to Sol… I guess that's just an old dream. Peace be with you, Madame First Lord."
“I get it. Sol is the birthplace of humanity. For some of us that is a powerful draw. And maybe before this is over, I will return there, but no promises.”
"I would love to live to see that day, Majesty… sign here?" he held out the data pad with the receipt.
“Sure, Adept.” Helena studied the data pad for a brief moment before signing it.
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