CYTM104

=Chapter 104=
==Can you tell me where can we start over?==
Royal Palace
Tharkad System
Lyran Commonwealth
3077
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[... hours later]
"She's brutal, Peter." Victor accepted a glass of whiskey from his brother.  "Got a story for you, I met your 'advisor' when she was eighteen, there are ways to describe messed up and she filled every one of them."
"You're saying that like it's past-tense."  The younger Steiner-Davion commented.  "Let me guess, you made the mistake of pitying her, didn't you?"
Victor sighed and nodded.  "I did." he said, "Being healthy didn't sand the sharp edges off..."
"Nope, it didn't. The cure was, so I'm told, agonizing and prolonged. It didn't sand her sharp edges off.  You're going to ask me to override."
"Can't help being that transparent. We're planning an offensive to finish the Blakists off, I would rather not be shooting at potential allies on the way in, but if you're not on board for the op, well..." said Victor
''
"She didn't counsel against joint military ops, Vic, she just counseled against the treaty Stone's man Lear laid out." Peter stated.
"SO...if I offered to include you in Operation:SCOUR, you'd be alright up to a point." Victor hazarded.
"Yeah." Peter said, "You'll need to make separate arrangements with the Falcons. However in general, The Commonwealth hasn't got objections to helping allied forces destroy the Blakists, it's the 'what comes after' that is going to be the big questions and issues."
"What's the price tag?" Victor asked.
"We retain our territorial gains, the Isle of Skye especially. We don't get stuck garrisoning Terra or other territory outside that when it's done, and LCAF forces get to come home." Peter explained,  "We aren't going to buy into any disarmament pacts, and we aren't going to accept responsibility for defending Terra when, not if, the Clans take their shot."
''
"You're going to write off the birthplace of mankind?" Victor asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, I am." Peter said.  "We'll help liberate it, but we're not staying. We're not going to stand in the way of ultra-competitive ****** who want it for some totem value it doesn't really have.  If the Jade Falcons want it, we won't stop them, or delay them, or fight over it-they can have it if they can take it."
"Jesus Christ, Peter!? What the hell?" Victor was shocked.
"I gave the same deal to the Falcons as I gave the Wolves." Peter told him, "We're not going to serve as the proxy battleground or buffer state for Old Terra anymore.  This is the thing you don't get, Victor.  The Commonwealth's been plunged into Civil War twice because of manipulations from that world. There's a reason our ancestors left...so we'll help you knock the Word of Blake out, but we're not staying there, and we're not taking it, and we're not going to help defend it from others."
"You'd better get explaining that, little brother." Victor growled, "What the ******, man?"
"Alarion." Peter eyes blazed in rage, "The bioweapons unleashed on Alarion came from Terra in containers of goods from there. Courtesy of the Word of Blake but it was on Terran shipping brought by Terran corporations" his tone dripped anger.  "To Lyran worlds and lyran lungs and it's lyran bodies that we can't even bury.  My pity for the Terrans is gone, because they murdered billions of my people.  We'll help free them from the Word, but that's where our help stops."
"But you'll aid us in overthrowing the Word." Victor asked
"Yes, because that will be it, Victor.  The last time, the last step. The Commonwealth's future is outward, not inward. We'll keep stable borders wherever we can with other states, but we're going to be growing away from the rest of the Inner Sphere. and Old Terra has no place in that future. If your man Stone can turn something stable and hold it. Then we'll trade with you, but not on special terms. Never again will the Commonwealth accept a foreign monopoly on key infrastructures like communications or shipping. So we're not going to stay, and we're not going to let Terran-based Comstar manage our HPG networks. We have no reason to prop up whatever takes over there. this will be a war of revenge, and once it's done, we're done."
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