TBntG-3 Chpt 57

=The Bull and the Genie=
==Chapter 57 - Book III - The Clan Invasion==
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==Politics, the Bane of Mankind..==
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===Wayward soldier returns Home===
In Tharkad Orbit, Federated Commonwealth
Katherine frowned, fiddling with her uniform. They'd done a fast chain from Oshika, 21 jumps, a week of misery, moving from JumpShip to JumpShip. Granted, logistics was smug about that—the logistic chain between Lyran space and the former Combine was supported by just over 120 Star Lord JumpShips, not counting the others. 
 
The UMC was still ordering Warships, but scuttlebutt—and more importantly what people dropped to Katherine when wanting favors— showed that most of those ships were low tempo builds and might even go into the ready reserve when commissioned—they just didn't want to risk the unemployment that came with shutting down a shipyard before you got it fully converted for civilian usage. 
 
From not enough war production to too much. On the other hand, even the ships they'd turned out weren't anything close to what the Star League had had. It'd be a long time before anyone had to worry about a glut in the market for civilian JumpShips.
 
<<STAND BY FOR LANDING, ALL HANDS, SECURE FROM TRANSIT POSITIONS AND REPORT READINESS.>> 
 
Katherine strapped herself in and reported, glancing at the virtual display showing the plasma starting to build up around the DropShip's hull as they entered.
 
She closed her eyes. Yes, it was probably the safest place in the Inner Sphere, but Katherine had spent years equating entering a world's atmosphere with being a great, big, target. 
 
But nobody shot at them and soon they were grounding at the Tharkad spaceport. Katherine grabbed her duffel bag (yes Colonels could have stuff shipped, but that was just begging to see your most important shit accidentally shipped to the Clan Homeworld), and headed out.
 
The cool air was nice after nearly six years away from home. The mob of civilians at the fence… 
 
"Who blabbed?" she muttered to one of the guards. 
 
"No idea, your highness." 
 
"Find out." Hopefully just someone talking in a bar… Itineraries weren't big secrets, but they were still secrets. "And it's Colonel."
 
"Yes Y—ah, Yes, Colonel." 
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===Conversation between Siblings===
And there was a big, luxurious car, only the slight sway as it turned betraying military-grade armor and suspensions. Katherine saluted the guards in uniform, nodded to the plainclothes security, and then got in.
 
This is weird. How long had it been since she'd ridden in something like this? There was a wet bar in the back. 
 
Along with Victor.
 
"How did you beat me?"
 
"Two of our ships had batteries," he said. "And I got my orders cut a day before you." He shrugged. "The privileges of royalty." He frowned. "But, short drive, and I thought you needed to see this."He handed her a paper. 
 
"A petition by the Estates General…" Katherine read it, then flipped through it. "A demand that all individuals switching to the Clans be tried as traitors… any lands confiscated be returned…" She read through the whole thing. "The Duke of Arluna demands assistance in restoring order and removing the current government after the Clan's withdraw…" She blinked. "Wasn't that the planet where they used a firing squad of Zeuses?"
 
"The very one," Victor said. "A lot of the nobility that lost their worlds are demanding they get them back—along with payback." 
 
"Victor, half the people Frederick recruited spent their time defending our former worlds from pirates and the Black Dragons." Because Frederick isn't an idiot, and only an idiot would trust them moving against fellow Lyrans. Something that the people behind this letter seemed to have forgotten. 
 
Katherine groaned. Everyone joining the Estate's General had a number of restrictions. They couldn't be higher than a Baron in noble rank, they had to put their property into a blind trust…and in all too many cases, it didn't matter. There were good nobles—she was sitting opposite of one, but it wasn't hard to turn a world into your personal piggy bank where "elections" were just a checkmark next to who you wanted in charge. 
 
Oh right, and these worlds, just by coincidence, tend to have the heaviest restrictions on public disorder and private weapons ownership. Most of which were now much more heavily armed with local security detachments set up to 'protect them from piracy'. 
 
Katherine snorted.
 
"What?"
 
"Trust Frederick to come up with something weird to make our lives hard. Most invaders would have stuck all their people on the worlds resisting them. He just blockaded them, bribed their businesses, and put most of his forces on worlds with good reason to not trust the local leaders. Why couldn't he have been born here?" She shook her head. "Why aren't Mom and Dad handling this?"
 
"Yeah, that's the other thing you're not going to like. Dad can walk. But… he's not Archon and there have been rumors that he's more disabled than he is letting on. Mom… There's some rumors circulating that she was traumatized by her time on Tharkad during the occupation and so isn't willing to push to get the property of loyal subjects back."
 
"Mom. The person who shot an Elemental point blank with an SRM and then rammed another one with a truck."
 
"Yeah, but you know as well as I do, that they can counter that with all the case studies of soldiers who did fine on the battlefield and fell apart later. And some of the rumors are well funded." Victor paused, then smiled. "And you probably know, as a Democrat, that the Estates General can cast a vote of no confidence…"
 
Oh you little… She shook her head. "We can win, but if we go in, our army is going to be shooting at our own people. I won't do that, Victor, not after the Combine."
 
"Neither will I. The problem is we have to do it in a way that won't see those worlds rising up, or the Clans dropping the treaty."
 
"Goddammit." Katherine shook her head. "We beat the Clans, beat the Black Dragon's and this deal is literally the best deal in history—I mean, yes, they get to trial for some cities that we can roll up any time we want. Meanwhile they have to leave all the factories they modernized, cooperate in the withdrawal, and now our own Goddamned nobility might sink it."
 
She shook her head. "What's the plan?"
 
"You think we have one?" Victor asked her.
 
"Mom and Dad have a plan for everything." Katherine commented.
 
"Yeah, But this one is a doozy." Victor sighed. "And I'm gonna… We don't see Eye to Eye on a lot of stuff." He held up Common Sense from his pocket. "There's a lot of stuff here that I agree with, but pure, complete democracy… it flies apart. I know we'll disagree on a lot of things, but we are both loyal to the nation, right?"
 
"Yes, Victor, I'm not going to Emulate Claudius the Cruel, and you're delaying. Victor…. What is the plan…"
 
"Mom and Dad are stepping down, and declaring me Archon-Prince." 
 
Katherine blinked. "Well. You could have led with that."
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Book 3 - 57