OPREF Chpt 7

=Chapter 7 - Dealer’s Choice=
==Opalescent Reflections==
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===The Wolves discuss outcomes of the Trials===
Katyusha, Strana Mechty
Kerensky Cluster, Clan Homeworlds
3 January 3049
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Lincoln Osis had been knocked unconscious and half-buried when the side of canyon collapsed on the Sixth Jaguar Dragoons. After he'd been dug out, the medical staff had advised him to avoid stress for at least forty-eight hours.
 
SaKhan Sarah Weaver could only assume the medic in question had never met the Khan before. The hulking Elemental had just slammed his fist against the wall so hard that the plaster had broken to reveal the brick-work behind it. She could see blood on his knuckles, but she doubted be cared.
 
"What do you mean, they are getting away with it? We cannot let them think that they can use such dezgra tactics to win victories they do not deserve!"
 
The anger radiating off her immediate superior suggested that one wrong move would turn the conversation into a Trial of Grievance and Sarah started considering how to handle that. If she set him off and he got his hands on her then it wouldn't end well - she'd have to cripple him quickly.
 
Of course, several tons of sandstone landing on Osis had not been enough to stop him, so that was easier said than done.
 
IlKhan Leo Showers either had no fear or was completely confident he could disable his successor as the leader of Clan Smoke Jaguar. "We will not complain about their tactics," he replied stoically, "Because that would be the loser -" He dismissed Osis' glare with an arched eyebrow. "Whining about being beaten. We will thank the Goliath Scorpions for delivering a textbook example of the filthy, dezgra tactics that the soldiers of the Scavenger Lords may use against us."
 
Sarah frowned. "You think that that is likely? I have fought bandits who showed more honor than the Goliath Scorpions' First Cateran Cluster did."
 
The strategic implications of the loss were concerning, but she wasn't as upset about it as Lincoln Osis. She hadn't been part of the force so she had no reason to be embarrassed at the way they had been handled.
 
The canyon side collapsing due to charges left by Scorpion elementals had only been the first in a series of traps and ambushes that had bled the trinary out over the course of several hours. Two 'mechs had dropped into pitfalls lined with explosives and were probably unsalvageable. Four mechwarriors were dead after Scorpions baited them into alpha strikes and then opened fire with inferno SRMs - something Sarah had had to look up. Filling a warhead with napalm rather than explosives, who thought of things like that?
 
It had been death by a thousand poisonous cuts and the only solution Sarah had thought of so far was to decline to be drawn into the traps. But that meant yielding the initiative, something that rarely went well.
 
The ilKhan looked at her. "Which invasion corridor are we fighting for?" he asked simply.
 
Sarah felt the scar across one side of her scalp tighten. "The Alpha Corridor is the most honorable," she answered. "Facing the Federated Commonwealth. Although… ah."
 
"We cannot win that corridor unless both the Jade Falcons and the Diamond Sharks cede it to us," Lincoln admitted, looking a bit sick. Possibly due to a concussion.
 
"Correct. Both of them have thirteen points now, and only two points are won by the victors in the last round of the Placement Trials," Leo Showers reminded them. "Since we and the Ghost Bears both lost our rounds, the two of them are unassailable in terms of winning a place in the invasion. Whichever of them wins their upcoming trial will take Alpha corridor and the other will take Delta, facing the Draconis Combine. Since the Wolves were assigned Beta corridor as the bearers of the Founder's legacy, that leaves only Gamma corridor to be claimed."
 
"How does that relate to the dezgra tactics used by the Goliath Scorpions?" Sarah asked him.
 
Showers shook his head. "This is why you were never able to displace me, or even to take my seat once I was elected ilKhan," he told her condescendingly.
 
Sarah's fists clenched. "Enlighten me," she requested.
 
"The data from the Outbound Light tells us that a realm named the Free Rasalhague Republic has been formed within the region we will be invading," Showers told them both. "They broke away from the Lyran Commonwealth and Draconis Combine by means of a terrorist organization named Tyr. Since that same organization contributed heavily to the Rasalhague touman, we cannot expect their warriors to fight honorably. You may very well find yourselves facing similar tactics. So we will thank the Scorpions for the lesson." He paused. "I will stress that now that the lesson has been delivered, that no repeat is required. And later, once more important matters are resolved, then the Jaguars' fury will be unleashed."
 
"So their next opponents, the Star Adders, do not face the same cowardly tactics and they benefit -"
 
"Lincoln, think!" Leo Showers rose sharply to his face, his anger focused like a knife. Even though she wasn't the target, Sarah recoiled from the aura of menace. "We want the Scorpions to lose. We need them to lose. They have as many points as ourselves and the Ghost Bears. That makes this a three-way race for Gamma Corridor, and the runner up will only be the reserve Clan."
 
"We will face the Ghost Bears in the next round," Sarah observed. "The two points from that… even if we win. Which we must," she added hastily.
 
"Aff," Showers agreed. "If the Bears and the Scorpions both win then our Clan will not even be a reserve for the invasion. If that happens, I will be humiliated in front of the Grand Council and I assure you that the Clan Council will remove both of you."
 
The peril of rising to Khanship in a Clan was that there were always those eager to bring you down. Clan Smoke Jaguar were leaders among the Crusader faction, their Khan had successfully driven through the vote to invade and won himself the ilKhanship. If the Jaguars faltered now then the wrath would be ferocious. It would likely go beyond a loss of office, Sarah thought. It was entirely possible her bloodright would be reaved and the sibkos created with her genetics eradicated, to remind all future khans of the consequences of failure.
 
"Whether the Scorpions win or not is out of our hands," she said out loud. "But if we and they both win…"
 
"Then we will fight a tiebreaker," Lincoln Osis hissed. "And I will crush them." He clenched his fists, as if already imagining the rematch."
 
"Neg. If there is a draw in points and the two clans have already fought during the Trial, then the winner of that match is judged the better. Do you understand the magnitude of your failure, Lincoln Osis?" The ilKhan turned his back on the two of them and marched to the window looking out over the city of Katyusha, the city established by Nicholas Kerensky. The Founder might have looked down on his capital from this very office once. The ilKhan's office had most likely never been moved from this room in all the history of the Clans.
 
"A trial of refusal could be fought," Sarah said slowly, "But the odds would be based on the vote to adopt the Trial structure in the first place. And most Khans accepted them. Only a few Khans, mostly those not participating, opposed it. Six to one at least."
 
"Aff," Leo shook his head. "I would let you try, Lincoln Osis. But most likely you would fail. That is why it is just as important that Star Adders must defeat the Goliath Scorpions as it is that you bring the Bears down."
 
"That we can do," Sarah allowed. "Lincoln, I can lead the Sixth Jaguar Dragoons if you are not recovered, quiaff."
 
"Neg! I will be fit. I am fit now, whatever the medic says." The hulking Khan folded his arms defiantly.
 
Sarah shrugged. "You are Khan." I made the offer, she thought. If you lose then I will heap all the blame on you and resign. That might save my bloodname and my legacy. Let all the rage burn out on you and I can rebuild my reputation before retaking my Khanship.
 
"Yes," Osis agreed, not privy to her thoughts. "Remember that."
 
"The Ghost Bears defeated the Goliath Scorpions in the preliminaries," Shower continued as if the conversation had not happened. "When both Clans fail - when, not if - the Ghost Bears will become reserves unless the Goliath Scorpions can win their own Trial of Refusal. Defeat the Bears, Lincoln, and you can bid for the right to take revenge on them then."
 
"And if you do not win the bid, we can launch Trials of Possession for supplies," Sarah pointed out. "We will need considerable supplies for the invasion. I see no reason that we cannot acquire them from the Goliath Scorpions, to remind them of their place."
 
Shower turned around and returned to his desk. "I will not deny you revenge, whichever of those paths is taken. Or take both. But first things first. Clan Smoke Jaguar must win the Gamma Corridor. Everything comes second to that."
 
"Seyla," the two Khans agreed.
 
"And once you have secured that, both of you read the data from the jumpship we captured. It is not just a spur to convince the Wardens to stop blocking our return to the Inner Sphere. It is also the most accurate information we have received on the situation in the Inner Sphere since the Wolf's Dragoons stopped sending reports." Showers shook his head. "There will be bidding for the right to conquer the worlds and if you do not set an example of knowing what resistance is likely, how can you expect your subordinates to do so?"
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===Struggle to hunt the sabotagers===
Hilton Head, North America
Terra, Sol System
5 January 3049
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The cast on Wei Rong's arm would have blended nicely with the white robes of the Primus, and the sleeves were probably wide enough for her to work her arm through them. Unfortunately, right at the first point that the heavy robes would have suited her, they were too obvious an indicator of who she was.
 
And so, Wei was smuggling herself back onto Hilton head wearing most of a ComGuards infantry kit, including a rain poncho that covered up the cast nicely. So long as no one noticed she was a little on the short-side for the requirements, she thought she'd get away with it.
 
"As long as Norris and Murphy don't spot you, it should be fine," Precentor Martial Focht told her as they walked through the entrance to the underground storehouses. "Most Precentors treat the ComGuards security like decorations."
 
"I'm sorry to hear that."
 
He gave her a slight smile. "It works out well in the end. The best security is often that which is overlooked." Then the smile dropped off his face. "I regret that our security failed you. Whoever planted the bombs on the bridge got past all the measures we've taken against such threats."
 
"Against that," Wei told him, "I have to balance the superb reaction time of the rescue team. They had me out of the water and into safety as fast as was humanly possible. And it was already too late for poor Jose."
 
The limousine had been found by divers and efforts were underway to recover it from the strait. Unfortunately, her driver hadn't made it out of the vehicle - after the initial drop into the water, the modest fusion reactor had been breached. While it wasn't running as hot as a military grade equivalent, it was hot enough and the influx of salt water had sent scalding steam through every crevice - including cracks that the impact had created between the engine compartment and the driver's. Only the fact that the rear seat and the front were completely separated had saved Wei from being scalded to death in the same way.
 
"Nonetheless," Focht told her. "After what happened in 3046, I wanted to assure that there would be no repeat. If, once this is over, you would like my resignation -"
 
"You're not getting out of this so easily." Wei shook her head. "If I'm trapped in this madhouse then you don't get to escape either."
 
Elswick Cameron (who had plausible evidence that he wasn't related to the former ruling dynasty of the Terran Hegemony) and Dahlia Erin were waiting for the two of them in van filled with a quite implausible amount of electronics. Precentor Cameron, the head of Mu Division, looked quite at home in the van but his colleague looked eager to leave.
 
There was just enough room for two more people in the van, which left Wei pressed up against the powerfully built soldier.
 
"Primus." Cameron bowed his head. "For someone reportedly on death's door, you seem to be in quite good health."
 
"With a bit of luck, the conspirators will be similarly surprised," she told him. "Dahlia, stop fidgeting and report please."
 
"I don't know who planted the explosives," the woman admitted. "But there was an attempt to replace the forensic samples taken to identify the bombs. We carried our own substitution just barely in time, so as far as they know we should be following a rabbit hole that leads back to Solaris VII and then to a Lyran C-34 shipment that 'went missing' six months ago."
 
"And actually?" Focht asked, leaning forwards.
 
"It's C-34 alright, but it came from Dieron," Dahlia said flatly. "The shipment is one we bought legitimately because Terran manufacture doesn't quite keep up with the ComGuards' needs."
 
Wei rubbed her face. "An inside job?"
 
"It seems likely. The shipment is in a warehouse on Dieron as far as the paperwork goes, and I suspect most of it is. Just that enough was removed and brought on to Terra for this purpose." She looked over at Cameron.
 
"Precentor Dieron is on Terra," he confirmed. "And he brought enough baggage to have smuggled it here. Once I started digging, he's part of Waterly's group by way of Sharilar Mori."
 
Wei made a 'carry on' gesture. Tim Satou had been quite happy to accept Dieron station without the usual appointment to serve as Precentor-Advocate. She'd rather liked him during her brief visit to Dieron.
 
"I think we're dealing with a mole," he said unhappily. "Or rather a ring of them. I've never been with Omicron myself, but I think someone high up on that side of the Dieron station was compromised and had been…" he looked for a word… "Carefully influencing the assessments of recruits out of the Combine. Not often, but enough to slip some ringers through the security checks. Some of the reports being sent don't quite match and Omicron's own reports don't quite match those on the rest of our databases."
 
"How long has it been going on?" asked Focht seriously.
 
"Hard to say until we've done a wider check, but Tim Satou joined the Order in 3027, so at least twenty years." Cameron frowned. "Once I have a list of suspects, I can cross-reference for personnel who were there and in a position to influence things."
 
Wei's eyes narrowed. "Sharilar Mori was Omicron-Nu at Dieron before Waterly tapped her as her assistant. That isn't a smoking gun yet, but it suggests there was a security breach right at the heart of the Dieron-Toyamist faction."
 
"You think she was ISF?" asked Cameron.
 
"Or Order of Five Pillars," Focht offered. "They lean more towards Theodore Kurita and as Mori was an intermediary for negotiations between he and Waterly…"
 
"What's the Order of Five Pillars?" Wei asked, confused.
 
"A religious order focused on the philosophies that underlie the Draconis Combine," Dahlia advised. "They aren't a fully fledged intelligence service, but they do have some agents. Not a major player, but since they have to play against the ISF, they're very good."
 
"Interesting," she admitted. "But either way, our response is the same. This is Upsilon division's first real test. We need the entire Dieron station locked down for investigation, without alerting anyone outside of the Order. Ideally, with as little information getting out to the rest of ComStar as can be arranged - at least until Cameron's people can identify them. Precentor Upsilon, are your people ready for this."
 
Erin, who had been transferred over polite protest to head the new division, dipped her head. "Without knowing how far security is compromised, alerting security staff on Dieron isn't viable. That means sending a new core staff to take over operations, and getting them in before Precentor Satou realizes what's happening."
 
"The ComGuard presence on Dieron isn't high," Focht added. "A single Level-II of mechanized infantry for the HPG itself. Secondary facilities like the warehouses use local hires. Rotating one of the infantry Level-Is out for active service shouldn't draw attention, but even if we jumped someone in system right now, it would take them nine days to arrive. Using a pirate point would be too suspicious."
 
"You have ten days," Wei decided. "The First Circuit are already on their way to Terra to deal with my reported incapacity, but there was no time to set up command circuits. Cameron, I need as much evidence as you can gather before then. There's been enough time for them to have second thoughts about DRUM - and about Upsilon in particular. I want to hit them with Omicron's failure and Upsilon's success."
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===Price of Victory===
Ironhold City, Ironhold
Kerensky Cluster, Clan Homeworlds
6 January 3049
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The tavern was crowded tonight. It shouldn't have been a surprise - they had the best holotank of any tavern in the district and tonight's footage was hotly anticipated.
 
Still, there weren't many seats open for Aidan Pryde and Horse as they arrived.
 
"I told you we should have gotten here sooner, quiaff?" the freeborn warrior reminded his superior.
 
"Aff," Aidan agreed. "And we would have been here sooner, if someone hadn't taken a shortcut that took us longer than the usual route."
 
"I knew there were roadworks, that was why I wanted to leave sooner. I just did not know that that particular road was cut off," Horse replied with an air of offended dignity. "So, who gets the drinks and who finds us seats?"
 
"I will get the table." Aidan raised one fist. "Or do you challenge that?"
 
His companion matched him. "I like my chance against your batchall more than I like the scrum at the bar."
 
All around them, warriors scrambled back, getting their drinks clear of the impending brawl.
 
"Three, two, one," the two Jade Falcons chanted, pumping their hands back and forth. On the third repetition, Aidan's open hand was facing Horse's fist.
 
"I was sure you'd go elemental this time." Horse bitched.
 
Aidan smirked. "That is why I bid aero. Get us drinks."
 
The tension of the room as those around them realized no actual fists were going to be thrown. Some looked disappointed, others just confused at the bizarre trial.
 
There were the occasional spare seats up on the ground floor, but no pairs and Aidan wasn't in the mood to fight for one. Instead he went up the stairs to check the prospects and saw one table, at the edge of the balcony, was occupied by a lone woman with a Star Captain's rank tags on the collar. She looked familiar, but that wasn't unusual. Certain genotypes were common with each clan and she could have been any of a dozen different women he had met, when looked at from behind.
 
Two free seats with a good view, though? It was too good to pass up. Aidan approached the table and then tapped the two open chairs. "I claim these seats for the… Nega… Garrison Cluster."
 
"Oh not you!" his old Falconer snarled. "Frag off."
 
Aidan glanced around. No wonder the chairs were free. He didn't know anyone who liked Joanna. But he was not spoiled for choice. "No," he said and dropped into one of the seats.
 
"I could fight you."
 
"And get thrown out before the Trial begins?" Aidan asked her. "You want to miss the last match of the placement finals?"
 
Joanna visibly weighed both options. "Fine. I will put up with you and the freebirth you keep dragging around, but only until the Trial is over."
 
"Aidan, you found chairs!" Horse exclaimed, walking over with two glasses. Then he saw who was already at the table. "And trouble. Chairs and trouble."
 
"I know it is hard for you, but shut your mouth." Joanna punctuated the order by slapping the table with the flat of her hand.
 
Horse gave Aidan a look that clearly expressed 'could you not have found another table? Any other table?' but he still handed over one of the beer glasses.
 
"I thought you would get yourselves thrown out a moment ago," Joanna continued. "Do I want to know what you were doing?"
 
"It is a simple contest," Aidan explained. "Each gesture represents elementals, battlemechs or aerospace. Each wins out over one of the others. A simple trial we use."
 
"Two Star Captains playing a child's game," the older warrior snorted.
 
Horse chuckled.
 
"What?!"
 
"Aidan, show her your rank pins."
 
Obediently, he adjusted his jacket and watched his former teacher's reaction as she realized that he now outranked her. Once her initial horror had faded, Joanna picked up her glass and drained it. "Clearly, the Clan has reached the nadir of its fortunes. What cluster?"
 
"Nega Garrison," Aidan told her. "Who are you with these days?"
 
"The Falcon Guards," she told him.
 
"Ah, so you will be traveling to the Inner Sphere. It's a long voyage."
 
Joanne nodded. "And I feel much better about the ideas since you will be a thousand light years away from me. We did not bid any Garrison Clusters."
 
"We will see how long that lasts. There are thousands of worlds there, worlds we know almost nothing about," Horse pointed out. "How many garrison units do we need to rule just our current enclaves."
 
For a moment, Aidan thought he saw some doubt in Joanna's eyes, but perhaps he was mistaken. "That is the Khan's concern." she replied dismissively. But she didn't tell Horse to shut up.
 
Aidan leant back and tasted his beer. Well, he was here for the holotank, not the beer. It was… adequate. "So, are you hoping to fight the Lyrans or the Draconians?" He gestured to where the holotank displayed a trinary of the Gyrfalcon Guards moving out to enter the trial area. "That is what this will decide."
 
"I do not care," the old warrior said. "Who do we fight if we beat the Diamond Sharks?"
 
"It is up to the Khan, but most likely the Lyrans."
 
"Them then. I hate losing." She studied the empty glass in her hand. "And there is a Diamond Shark who ought to die."
 
Aidan leant back in his chair. "What did they do to you?"
 
"Nothing. I have never met him." Joanna slammed the glass down on the table. "He reminds me of you."
 
"There are two of him?" Horse asked, leaning forwards.
 
"Worse," she told him. "He is freeborn."
 
The freeborn warrior nodded. "Shameful," he said ironically.
 
"You are." She shook her head. "And he won a [bloodname]]."
 
Horse blinked. "Is that allowed?"
 
"That is what I mean. The stravag does not care what is right. He killed his own bloodhouse leader. Made a mockery of the entire bloodname trial." The old warrior gestured with her glass. "When I saw the Steel Vipers hunting him, I wished them to win. Steel Vipers! It is not right."
 
"You hate Steel Vipers?"
 
"I hate everyone who is not a Jade Falcon," Joanna reminded them. "And some of them."
 
Aidan rubbed his chin. "Well, perhaps you will get lucky and one of Mar Helmer's warriors will kill him."
 
"Eh, Gyrfalcon Guards."
 
"Ah." There was no clear best galaxy among the forces of Clan Jade Falcon. Gamma Galaxy, sometimes known as the Jade Falcon Galaxy, claimed that right and their premier cluster was Joanna's Falcon Guards. But Delta, the Gyrfalcon Galaxy, was also a claimant to be predominant and the Gyrfalcon Guards cluster were their own banner bearers. It was a rivalry believed to bring out the best in each of the two.
 
The holotank cut to the Diamond Shark forces marching out onto the battlefield. The two force were near mirrors of each other, Aidan noted. A single star of Omnimechs, carrying a star of Elementals, and a star of aerospace fighters flying above them. The only difference was a sixth 'mech in the Sharks' ranks - and a few less Elementals.
 
"That is him." Joanna told them, pointing.
 
It was by far the smallest of the Diamond Shark 'mechs, a Stormcrow. And it was visibly battered, paint not concealing armor that had been recently patched. It had been days since their last battle, and it had been repaired, but that was not the standard that Aidan would expect from the techs of a Clan as wealthy as the Diamond Sharks.
 
"Are they not repairing their 'mechs?" he asked.
 
Joanna made disgusted noise. "I am amazed he even has a 'mech. Nomad said he thought it was fit for scrap." Nomad was the Star Captain's technician - he had been Aidan's superior once, during his brief period as a washout and a comrade of sorts when Aidan fought on Glory Station. His opinion was not to be disregarded.
 
"The rules say that 'mechs cannot be replaced," Horse recalled. "Perhaps they needed it to make up the numbers. I heard that the Diamond Sharks lost much of the forces bid against the Star Adders and the Steel Vipers."
 
"Yes. But never him," Joanna grumbled.
 
The countdown that had been quietly running in the corner of the display reached zero and a silence fell across the tavern as the Trial began. This was the conclusion of the Placement Trials, the grand finale.
 
Of course, Aidan thought, it probably mattered less than any of the others. Clan Jade Falcon had guaranteed their place in the invasion, the right to have one of the two most challenging corridors, the places of greatest honor. The other two trials in this final round would decide the third invading clan, and the reserve, with another Clan likely eliminated. But those trials did not include Clan Jade Falcon, and thus this one was the one that mattered.
 
Aidan smiled to himself. Then again, I feel the same way. So perhaps it is not so strange.
 
And then, though they were clearly nowhere near the Jade Falcons, the Diamond Sharks opened up with a full fusillade.
 
"What are they doing?" Horse exclaimed.
 
Aidan frowned. "I do not know."
 
"It is probably his fault." Joanna said resignedly.
 
As abruptly as they had begun, the Diamond Sharks ceased fire and led by a Warhawk at one end of the line, the 'mechs turned sharply around and marched backwards and out of the proving ground, the aerospace fighters above them still providing cover.
 
The holodisplay switched to a head and shoulders view of Edmund Hoyt, the Smoke Jaguar Loremaster. Aidan recalled that he had been appointed arbiter of this particular Trial. He was not doing a good job of hiding bemusement. <<"I have received a transmission,">> he declared, <<"From Star Colonel Angus Labov, the leader of the Diamond Shark force. He declares that his Clan is satisfied with second place and cedes the first choice of invasion corridor to the honorable Clan Jade Falcon. I am therefore awarding the victory, and the two points, to the Jade Falcons.">>
 
Voices immediately raised within the tavern, both those excited at the victory and those outraged at winning the first place in such a way. Had the Diamond Sharks been fairly defeated… or had they sold victory to the Jade Falcons. At what price?
 
"Riot?" Horse asked Aidan.
 
He nodded. "Time to go."
 
Joanna raised her glass to throw it over the balcony at one loudmouth who was declaring admiration for Mar Helmer's bargaining. Aidan caught her hand. "If you throw the first blow, you may lose your place in the Falcon Guards." he reminded her. "Let's get out of here."
 
"I hate you even more when you are right." she told him. But she did join the two men - and they made it to the stairs before the first fist was thrown.
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===Reform and Voting===
Hilton Head, North America
Terra, Sol System
15 January 3049
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"There is a clear precedent," Andrew Norris observed, a warning in his voice. "After Julian Tiepolo's stroke, the First Circuit agreed that he would not be replaced due to what might be temporary incapacity."
 
"Maybe so, but Buckley's right - we need a leader." Joe Murphy's counterpoint as the First Circuit bickered was as good an opening as Wei Rong expected to get.
 
"Fortunately, you have one," she announced, pushing the side-door she'd been sitting behind open. However tight the electronic security around the meeting chamber was (now that the various surveillance devices had been removed), an open door was still an effective way to eavesdrop. "I apologize for being delayed."
 
"Primus!" Tiger Lily exclaimed. "We heard that you were unable to communicate. Precentor Kappa even said that you could not receive visitors."
 
"I came close to death," Wei admitted, moving up to the podium. Her arm was still in a cast, although a slightly less restrictive one than she had worn a week ago. "And until there was some assurance that there would be no follow-up attempts, it was too dangerous to approach the other senior leadership directly."
 
"I noticed tighter security around Hilton Head," Murphy agreed. "Seems like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted."
 
"If it were not for the guards we had, I might not have survived." she told him. "Which does not assuage the Precentor-Martial's concerns."
 
"I saw the bridge that was destroyed," Buckley observed tersely. The New Avalon Precentor folded his arms. "For him to let outsiders penetrate our security to the point they could do that, the Precentor-Martial is right to be concerned, for his position as well as our safety."
 
"Interesting that you say outsiders," Wei observed. Although Buckley had served at Dieron, she was assured by Cameron that his records had none of the adjustments that had been identified in others. Sometimes a fervent Toyamist was exactly what he seemed to be and nothing more. "Unfortunately, we are dealing with something more insidious than commandos from one of the Successor States."
 
The information gathered on Dieron did not suggest that the attack had been ordered by Theodore Kurita, or his father. For now, that would save the Draconis Combine a punitive Interdiction. Given that doing so would likely destroy the delicate balance of power, triggering opportunistic attacks on the state, Wei hoped that no new developments would point the finger at House Kurita.
 
"The bombs that dropped the bridge while I was crossing it were a response to our reforms and the restructuring of our intelligence service," she advised them. "Not led by those directly affected by the changes - although it was former members of Omicron division who did the dirty work - but those who realized that the reorganization would reveal their own subversion of elements of ROM."
 
"I was afraid that our actions might spark this," warned Gwyn Thorne.
 
"Yes, you did tell us so," Wei agreed. "But I doubt that you, or any of us, realized how far Primus Waterly and Precentor Seneca had allowed ROM to rot. We have always been challenged to ensure that those who join our Order set aside loyalty to their birth nation. And it only took one patriot," she emphasized the world, "In the right place, to compromise our security."
 
Norris shook his head. "If this is an House's agent, then how can you say that this isn't the work of an outsider?"
 
"Because it was not the ISF, the Maskirova, the MIIO, LIC or any other intelligence agency." She was stretching the truth as far as she could right now, and it would likely not be applauded if it came out. "One of acolytes managed to hide the fact that she felt that ComStar should support her home nation - either for the nation's sake out of sincere belief that this was the best way to serve Blake's will. Perhaps both. This acolyte became an adept, within Omicron-Tau, and she was able to arrange that those who shared her views were admitted without the stringent re-education or barriers that should have been applied to them." Wei paused. "And then that adept, under the sponsorship of those who should have seen the truth, elevated her further. Implicitly accepting and endorsing her views."
 
"Who is this traitor?" Buckley demanded. "Is she in custody and if not, why not?"
 
"Your former superior, Precentor Sharilar Mori," Wei replied quietly. "And it is hard to detain a corpse."
 
"Wh-what? Preposterous! Impossible!" The Precentor's face paled. "Mori was handpicked by Waterly, she was her most faithful follower!"
 
"Yes. During a period that ComStar was indeed providing considerable support to the Draconis Combine. I doubt very much that Primus Waterly realized that she was validating Mori's beliefs, letting her serve both our Order and the nation of their birth. A belief that violates our neutrality, and one that outlived Mori in the form of her own proteges."
 
"I have never seen any sign of this." Buckley exploded.
 
"And yet you did serve in Dieron, under both Mori and Waterly." Tiger Lily pointed out.
 
Wei raised her one good arm for silence. "There is no evidence Precentor Buckley is or was ever within the group. Mu division, working in conjunction with Upsilon division, have been able to identify the records altered by Mori and her supporters. While that list is longer than any of us should like, Joe Buckley's record is not among them. No one in this room is under the slightest suspicion." She paused. "Alas, that cannot be said for all of the First Circuit. Some hours ago, Precentor Timothy Satou and the other senior staff of Dieron HPG station were detained and replacements have taken the helm. Coded orders have gone out to detain other personnel - including four other Precentors within the Draconis Combine, but the core of what may be called a conspiracy were on Dieron."
 
"If they had not struck at you, Primus, how long would it have taken to uncover this?" Precentor Atreus asked.
 
"The review that uncovered the alterations was already underway," Wei answered. "It was only a matter of time - thus their sudden action to remove me, presumably hoping to hide the evidence or even abort the review in the confusion. Instead it only drew attention to them sooner that it might have."
 
"All of this within your area of responsibility, Andrew," Gwyn challenged. "How did you miss this?"
 
"How did Waterly? Or Buckley, who must have worked alongside them." the former teacher pointed out.
 
"Enough." Wei kept her voice from rising, but she spoke sharply enough that the word cut across the chamber. She gripped the podium with one hand. "It was missed because the administration of ComStar has become too concentrated. Sharilar Mori could not have hidden her actions if not for the fact that one Precentor was trying to oversee actions across an entire Successor State and doing so with insufficient oversight. The decision to bring the five Precentor-Advocates - as were," she added with a nod to Thorne. "Was wise, but the subsequent shift of administrative authority to them has backfired. Combined with your diplomatic responsibilities, I doubt any of you can truly keep up - relying on a staff of trusted aides and staffers. And as with Waterly and Mori, if one of those adepts does not fully support you, it has the potential for catastrophe."
 
"What are you suggesting, Primus?" Tiger Lily asked suspiciously.
 
Producing a data-disk from her pocket, Wei inserted it into her podium. A holographic map of the Inner Sphere popped up into the air between the First Circuit. Each state was outlined in its national colors. "The first measure I propose is to bring the original twelve seats back. Precentor Satou excluded, there have been no security concerns with them and his replacement has been seated. In addition, I intend to add four other Precentor-Advocates to the First Circuit: St Ives, Alpheratz, Taurus and Canopus."
 
Each of the four named systems lit up.
 
"The latter will remove some regions from the administrative demands currently imposed on you, while the former will provide a pool of senior Precentors who can support ComStar's central administration, meaning that Precentor-Advocates are under less pressure to split their time between their own HPG stations and Terra. A larger First Circuit also allows more granular representation of different views within the Order."
 
"Some of those realms are trivial in size compared to the Successor States," complained Buckley.
 
Wei tilted her head. "We do not discount the votes of Sian or Rasalhague, which are also the capitals of states very much smaller than the Federated Suns." Then she gestured at the spacious hall. "And I believe there is more than enough room here for additional members of the First Circuit."
 
"I support these measures," Gwyn Thorne asserted. "I propose an immediate vote."
 
"Immediate?" Wei asked. "That's…" Why was she being so sudden?
 
"They are self-evidently well founded," Precentor Rasalhague told her. "Only a selfish desire to concentrate power in our hands - which in some cases is clearly more control than we can effectively wield - would say otherwise."
 
Tiger Lily nodded. "I agree. And while you are alive, Primus, it's plain that you have been injured seriously. Prolonging the meeting beyond what is required seems unwise."
 
"Very well," Wei said cautiously. "As two members have asked for a vote, let us proceed. As they are my own proposals, naturally they have my support."
 
Both Tiger Lily and Gwyn Thorne raised their hands.
 
Andrew Norris shrugged. "I don't see that it helps much, but I don't see any reason not to do this."
 
"As long as this isn't going to lead to the addition of Precentors from Circinus or Oberon," Murphy grumbled. "We don't need those pirates represented."
 
"Enemies of all mankind," Wei assured him, "are not welcome." And let's not mention that ComStar had spent a small fortune propping up pirates back around the turn of the century. If she had the least say in it, ComStar would devote its excessive military resources to crush piracy in the future. "Perhaps if they show that they have reformed, but I would need to be convinced. I'm certainly not going to be adding representation of the Marian's HPGs in the foreseeable future."
 
Precentor Orchard of Sian, raised her hand quietly and all eyes turned to Buckley.
 
The man huffed. "In the interests of unity," he said pompously, "Let us make the decision unanimous."
 
"Then the motion passes," Wei confirmed. "Very well. The second part of my proposal…"
 
There was a ripple of concern. "The second part?" asked Norris.
 
"Yes, thus my surprise when I was asked for an immediate vote. I suppose that now we will need the expanded membership." she concluded.
 
Buckley shook his head. "What exactly are you suggesting?"
 
Wei tapped a control and lines carved across the Inner Sphere. "Based on the original twelve sector model, I propose dividing the HPG network into seventy-two distinct regions, each centered upon a significant HPG station - those of the First Circuit members being included - which will take over logistics and training roles from the current state-wide administration. This would free the Precentor Advocates to focus more upon the political and social -"
 
The looks on the faces of the six Precentor-Advocates made it clear that this was a much less welcome idea. It was Buckley who interrupted her though. "Excuse me, Primus." The Toyamist Precentor didn't seem at all apologetic. "Before considering such a measure, which as you say would require our full membership, I have another matter that I think requires a vote."
 
"Go on?" Wei invited.
 
"While we all understand there were unavoidable circumstances when you took office as Primus," he declared, "That emergency has now passed. I am therefore calling for a proper election of a new Primus."
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Chapter 7