TBntG-3 Chpt 35

=The Bull and the Genie=
==Chapter 35 - Book III - The Clan Invasion==
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==Preparations and Anti-climactic Bombshells==
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===God's View of the Inner Sphere===
Terra, Sol System (ComStar Space)
The Big holographic tank was bigger than anything Mary had seen before she came to Terra, an actual remnant of the SLDF's general HQ. In it, the Inner sphere was mapped out, and computers kept track of where she was looking, so a whispered word could deliver information on what she wanted. An AI system, not far short of the long-lost Caspers could deliver her information or even probabilities.
Red for enemy units, blue for UMC units, Yellow for the clans in their odd state of co-belligerency. The Black Dragons use of WMDs against civilian populations had managed to square the circle and Wardens and Crusaders were now on the same page. 
 
And then there was Frederick. Green icons indicated the OZ units, moving forward with a certain fussy organization, setting up logistics bases, and establishing reserve forces, ready to either support the front ranks or leapfrog over them if it was decided the momentum of the offensive needed to be maintained. 
 
A bit timid, given the correlation of forces. But Frederick was actually not used to having material and numerical superiority. He was sticking with his old plan, demoralizing the enemy with speed and maneuver warfare. 
 
On the other hand… Mary looked down at the blue units. Sixty Divisions, not counting house units that would be standing pat on the defenses, or the independent units, such as the RCTs working with operation GUN CONTROL. Fleet icons, nearly 150 warships, mostly lighter than Clan warships but with a backbone of fast carrier groups and newly built cruisers, along with Comstar's remaining fleet. Behind that, another ten divisions working up, but given what the Dragons were doing, they couldn't wait any longer. The hammer she'd intended to roll the Clans back to the Homeworlds with. 
 
Now she's use them to liberate a member state. Blocking forces to press the dragons everywhere, and then hit them on Luthien with a corps. 
 
As for the navy, the Combine fleet was more or less gone. Their last frigate had been tracked down via the jump sensor system, and had enjoyed a glorious death against a pair of Clan battleships. They had a few merchant jump ships not accounted for, but every world within two jumps of their last recorded positions had adequate defenses. The Combine wasn't a unified nation anymore—it was a collection of isolated worlds. 
 
Will had congratulated Mary on a simple plan and had given her a gift. One which had forced Mary to look in the historical archives to figure out what the Precentor was talking about. She glanced down at the gift—a mug with General Ulysses S. Grant's pug like face on it. 
 
Well, why not? We're both fighting slavers. 
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===The Port Arthur Raid===
Star League High CouncilTerra, Sol System (ComStar Space)
The room was fairly modest, since most of the time the Council was a polite fiction, intended to let nations talk, and everyone knew it, so they used functionaries. But not today. Victor was sitting for his Mother and Father, before he shipped out, his arm finally letting him drive a 'mech. He'd had to conquer some quite unfair jealousy over Katherine, who was at least allowed to fight, and jealousy let him ignore the pang of worry in his gut. Her mission was going to be the platonic definition of risky. 
 
But now everyone was here, including a professor from Harvard acting as the chairman. Strange how traditions get started. The chairman was selected at random, and was not eligible for the next session. 
 
The meeting started with the pro-forma discussion of the First Lordship, tabling it by acclamation. 
 
Then it was time for the real meat of the meeting. Hohiro Kurita stood up, his siblings Omi and Minoru behind him. "I thank this council for meeting at this delicate time," he said. "But it is equally time to speak of the Combine's future."
"The restoration of the legitimate government of the Draconis Combine, is, of course our goal," Victor said to his friend, trying not to look at Omi. His father and mother had known, but they'd both told him to be discrete for now—for both his and Omi's sake. 
 
"But what is the legitimate government of the Combine?" Hohiro said. "The Coordinator does not rule with the consent of the people of the Combine. In fact, he consents to rule over them. Thus it has been since the very beginning. Jinjiro was a madman, and yet you will never read of the bravery of those soldiers who defied his orders in our text books—for Jinjiro was Coordinator and it was not—will never be the place of the lesser to judge the greater. That is our creed. That is our curse."
 
Hohiro took a deep breath. "I have spent time on Terra, and among the UMC, and I have made friends and companions with those that our very Dictum Honorium demands I kill even if they surrendered. And I have come to a conclusion. My father loved the Combine. He attempted to reform it. But the Combine cannot be reformed, for my father's authority to do so sprang from the same wellspring Jinjiro's authority to murder a world did." He wiped his eyes. "It is hard to learn wisdom, but I must. So I make my statement here, along with my sister and brother, that I will act to free the Combine from the Black Dragon Society, but I will not lead them. Nor will my family, for we do, before you now and forever more foreswear the position of Coordinator, or support for any who would achieve it. I love the Combine and the people of the Combine, and that love requires me to take a duty harder than death, to accept that to help them walk into a future of prosperity… I must accept that our family cannot lead them. 
 
"For that reason, I am requesting that the UMC work to assist the people of the Combine in a peaceful transition to whatever government they feel best suits their needs once the Black Dragons have been defeated."
 
He paused, and with a catch in this throat laughed. "Oh, and it goes without saying, that we also renounce any claim on the First Lordship of the Star League." 
 
Son of a… Victor stared at him. Dad's either going to kill me or cheer me for this but… "I agree. And for my part, as the leadership of the Lyran Confederation and Federated Suns have granted me authority in this matter… I withdraw my family from consideration from that position." 
 
"Very well," Edward said. "Shall we all simply abolish the position by acclamation?"
 
There was no disagreement, and Victor glanced at Hohiro. 
 
It's over. Holy shit. It was faster than deciding what we wanted for lunch, and… it's over. The whole damned thing we've been fighting for, all these years…
 
Ended.
 
But he'd have to stick with Hohiro and his family after this. It hadn't been easy, especially after they'd lost their parents, and getting prepared for the invasion wouldn't give them much time after today. 
 
But now they'd have to work to decide who got to tell Mary that liberating the Combine wasn't going to be the end of her job…
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