BeyHop Chpt 44

==Beyond Hope- Chapter 44 - When you see me running…==
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
----
===Shifting views of the Clans===
Hall of KhansStacha Mechy, Kerensky Cluster (Clan Space)3061
Once the Goliath Scorpions raised the point that with the existence of Helena Cameron confirmed they could no longer support Operation Revival it started something of a chain reaction among the other Clans who found themselves expressing similar opinions.
This in turn caused a series of trials among the Clans. In the end it was decided that Operation Revival was no more.
Now was the new motion on the floor of the Clan Grand Council.
“Khan Pryde, we must know what are the intentions of the Jade Falcons now that Operation Revival is no more?” Khan Sarah Ahmed of Clan Steel Viper demanded.
“Why should Clan Jade Falcon answer to your rump of a Clan? That you have not been absorbed by a more worthy Clan after your failures is beyond me.” Marthe countered.
“It is a valid question. Do not think we have not noticed that many of your enclaves are not as populated as they used to be.” Khan Sullivan Koga of Clan Coyote interjected.
"We are…expanding, seeking new resources and room for growth. I know that is something that Some Clans fail at, but with Falcon Eyes we're looking to the future now." saKhan Samantha Clees interjected, "I seem to recall there was a time when YOUR clan did the same, instead of huddling in your OWN secrecy."
“Traitors to Nicholas’ teachings are already leaving our space.” Sarah continued.
"Good riddance to them." Marthe quipped. "They are getting out of the way of progress, if they leave fast enough, I can save ammunition, time and attention for things of greater worth."
“There is concern that your Clan is also turning on Nicholas’ teachings.” Sarah nearly growled.
"Shalt we go over the list?" Marthe asked coldly, "Do we really want to have this discussion? Your Clan added a fictional book, with no supporting evidence, and claimed it was the Founder's words. Notably, when you had the chance to prove it you failed and lost a fleet of Warships, two galaxies, and a Khan against one, minor, Lyran world-a world that at the time, was considered a poor holding by nearly everyone, not a capital, not a major provincial center until AFTER. Ask Perigard if such rigidity in thought, if your 'special insights' were of any use…oh, right, you can not, he killed himself in shame."
“He had at least that much honor. Instead of coming back and spreading that taint to the rest of his Clan.”
"Given the magnitude not only of his failure, but the dishonor that preceded it, and followed it, it was the least he could do." Marthe clenched her fist, "Might…Sarah, makes right. Spittle spat accusations of a failure to deflect from that failure does not. That is our way, or have you forgotten? Clan Jade Falcon holds territory in the Inner Sphere, we stand unassailed and unworried, your clan, was driven from there in humiliation and Defeat, by stravagon Spheroid Surats."
“I have not forgotten.” Sarah locked eyes with Marthe.
"Then consider this… They have reformed their 'Star League'...and as long as WE remain a threat, it will last, and Revival's goal will be achieved, but…once the Clans are no longer a threat, what happens then? Hmm? You know and I know, and every Khan in this hall Knows what happens next. They will fall inward on one another in another orgy of genocide and madness. Without the Clans as an ongoing threat, the Inner Sphere will self destruct. Consider the true meaning of that, and the Founder's vision….if you bother to read the original work."
“So you suggest patience, give them their peace. A not unsound strategy given the rumors our Watch is hearing from the Star League personnel here in the Cluster.” The Coyote Khan spoke again.
"I suggest we give them their 'peace' and also maintain the threat. Of course, to do that, would require some form of unity, a suspension of wasteful feuds and a direction of leadership that is not bent on self destruction."
“Clan Goliath Scorpion does have a concern. We do not disagree with Clan Jade Falcon’s assessment. Our concern is that Helena Cameron be protected. After careful deliberation we have decided to back Clan Jade Falcon as this leader due to their heritage from the Royal Black Watch. We are certain this does give them the sight needed to ensure she survives this next wave of self destructive violence.”
"Clan Blood Spirit has a closer tie to the Royal Black Watch!" Karianna Schmitt interrupted. "OUR FOUNDER-"
"There are ties to the Black Watch among MANY clans!" 
“Hazen of Jade Falcon, Schmitt of Blood Spirits, but it was Hazen that gained more fame.”
“Schmitt…”
Sellen Cage spoke up. "It is Helena Cameron, she was there, maybe someone should ask her." the Ice Hellion's tone was uncharacteristically soft. 
“Clan Jade Falcon has one more reason why we support them. They already have established diplomatic relations, after a fashion, with the Inner Sphere. They have the best chance of approaching under a flag of truce and establishing an understanding. It is clear as things currently stand that we cannot win a war by force of arms, but perhaps we can win with words.” Khan Suvorov added.
"Spheroid forces occupy Clan Worlds. They occupy enclaves on Clan worlds. Their ships patrol Clan Space, they interfere in Clan business. You all are arguing the wrong fight." Sellen Cage continued, "Sarah, your feud with the Falcons is legendary, and that is what you fall back on while Marines examine your Merchant Caste's ships for Health and Welfare. Truscott, your Clan demurred from winning the Revival trials and held back when a Clan was annihilated. Khan Koga, where was Clan Coyote while the Inner Sphere was invading? I admit, MY clan was not MUCH help, but we at least tried something. So now we sit, here, arguing old feuds, while this False Star League holds the potential for an unending flow of weapons and materials to crush us on weight of numbers alone, Khan Pryde suggested growth, pursuing development, and you fools want to argue with that? Clan Ice Hellion will support any bid for ilKhan from Marthe Pryde. She sees clearly."
“Is it so false though? Some of you argued that the Star League never truly disbanded. So now the Member States are back acting as the Star League Council. Perhaps we are the ones who need to reflect on many things, not just our old petty feuds.” Khan Dinh Steiner spoke up.
"If it falls it surely will be false." Cage said, "The only way to make it real, is to make it real. we cannot pose a true threat that will hold them together, if we are tearing each other's throats out."
“Then we should resume our dive to Terra. This time actually united in purpose.” Khan Koga nodded.
"If we are united in purpose, we must also be realistically ready to fight that battle, not merely screaming and leaping and hoping our diminishing technical edge is enough to subdue billions united to oppose us. It is not enough to be Righteous, we must also be ready." The Hell's Horses Khan spoke up. "Which we were not when we kicked off Revival."
“Khan Suvorov, the Goliath Scorpions once taught the Wolf's Dragoons how to fight as the Star League of old. From what we have learned of their exploits in the Inner Sphere it would seem you have taught them quite well. Perhaps it is time for your Clan to teach us all.” Dinh Steiner spoke again.
"How long will it take to be…'Ready'?" the Steel Viper Khan sneered.
"That depends on how long it will take your Clan to rebuild from a couple of Clusters and some Solahma, into something capable of waging war-not trials, war." Marthe challenged. "Everyone here saw a little taste of that in the Smoke Jaguar annihilation. The Spheroids ticked every box to maximize their few advantages, including numbers and speed of recovery. I would suggest that in six years, with the formal expiration of the Tukayyid agreement, is a logical starting point for a deadline. Any Clan unready by that point, will be unworthy to participate and maybe should be considered for absorption into a Clan that has bothered to get ready. Their 'Crimson Shadow Road' is not a structure, it is a system, we will need to have such a system ourselves, built by us, for our use, because I already know that merely capturing the spheroids who run it will not grant the advantage, OR degrade theirs."
“With Clan Snow Raven having departed for the Inner Sphere we are also now at even greater disadvantage in space combat.”
"The thing about that disadvantage, is that we can build out of it…just as we can build out of every other disadvantage, except numbers…which we can perhaps build out of with dedicated effort."
“We may have to consider many reforms of our lower castes and the restrictions they currently operate under. Indeed we may need more time so we can expand to areas with more resources as many worlds here are inadequate to compete with the Inner Sphere’s current few advantages.” Khan Koga interjected.
"I am yet unconvinced we need to enact caste reforms." Marthe stated, "beyond, perhaps, backing things up to the original plan laid down by the Founder and some reasonable sacrifices from the Warrior Caste to allow sufficient growth in the aspects we have been shown to be weak in. Such reform must be provable, must be the sort of reforms we can see will work because they already work."
“That will have to be something each Clan decides for themselves as each has had free reign to set their own internal policies on their lower castes. But what is clear is even our most productive Clans would be challenged to economically compete with even a small fraction of the Inner Sphere.” Dinh nodded.
"Exactly." Marthe said, "Each Clan will have their way-why else would we be Clans in the plural sense? The best will rise, the weak will whither."
The Steel Viper Khan looked thoughtfully at Marthe, "Hence, your comment about rebuilding when you already hold territory inside the Inner Sphere…"
"It is what we must do to survive."
“Yes. We must prove our superiority, not just in combat, but in other ways as well. We now face something we have not in a very long time, Total War.” Khan Suvorov added.
Vladimir Ward chuckled, "I think Marthe and I may have a solution to blunt that particular blade, and buy the Clans of Kerensky time to become more than we currently are."
"What plan is this?" Karianna Schmitt, who'd been livid a moment before, asked.
"Diplomacy. Are you interested? I seem to recall that was once one of Your Clan's main focuses, after Klondike." He clasped his hands together, "are you strong enough to try it again?"
“Aff.”
----
===Handling Important Comm Traffic===
Huntress System, Kerensky Cluster (Clan Space)
Commodore Giao Pham's office wasn't 'on' Huntress. It was on the SLS Ia Drang and currently, it was positioned above the planet, safely away from the horrors of the ground.
They were restoring an orbital facility to be the Star League's military annex. Admiral Li was on her way back down the Crimson Road, leaving Giao up here essentially on her own in the occupied territories with nothing but a pair of destroyer groups and a multinational occupation force.
She was currently beating her sanity to shreds reading medical supply usage reports and trying to work out the budget annex for next quarter's requests from higher.
"Commodore, there's a message incoming addressed to you."
"Already? We're supposed to have to the end of the month-" began Commodore Pham.
"No ma'am, it's from the Deserter Leaders." Com Tech reported.
The Clan Khans? "Format?" she asked.
"Video via HPG, ma'am."
"Route it to my Day Cabin, Tia, and for god's sake don't let them hear you using that epithet, or we're going to lose all this wonderful peace and quiet and I'll be in front of the First Lord grabbing my ankles at the bottom of a goddam gravity well!" Pham stated.
“Yes, ma’am.”
The video image looked…crowded, it took her a moment to sort that it was from Strana Mechty, and included the current group of serving Khans.
All of them.
"This is Commodore Giao Pham, Star League Navy. What does the Grand Council want to talk about?" she asked politely…well, as politely as she could, given who they were. Damn you Katherine, you went back to New Avalon!!
//“I am Khan Kariana Schmitt. I am informed you are currently the senior representative of the Star League. Is this correct?”\\
"I am currently overseeing SLDF Naval operations in the former Smoke Jaguar territory that is presently under Star League control, yes. Admiral Li is reporting to the Star League's council lords at Kowloon."
//“I see. I have been empowered by the Clan Grand Council to initiate diplomatic contact with the Star League.”\\
Shit. This could go bad. It could go bad very quickly. "Khan Schmitt, I have standing orders from the First Lord to welcome such contacts." If you lot had done this in the first place, it would've saved me three years of combat operations. "Will there be an Embassy party then?"
//“Aff. As we welcome an Embassy of the Star League here on Huntress we would like to establish one at your current seat of government, which I am told is Kowloon.”\\
Giao really wished Katherine Steiner-Davion were here taking this call instead of the daughter of a Hatter mining blaster.
"I'll have to pass that up the chain, ma'am, see who the First Lord thinks is best fit for the role…which leaves us with making the arrangements for your own Embassy group to make senior contact." Dammit I'm not trained for this…
//“Understandable. We understand that there is a bargaining process to Inner Sphere diplomacy as well. As a gesture of good faith we will submit our initial bid for the size of Embassy on Kowloon. We are prepared to start with a Cluster for garrison and two hectares of land on which to establish our Embassy.”\\
Giao held up a finger, "A moment please?" she turned and dug out a publication written up by Helena Cameron on how the SLDF was supposed to handle initial diplomatic contacts in theory (rather than the practice of smashing someone's teeth in until they agree). She was doing it unself-consciously right in front of the holocam as she paged through the manual.
///"You really were not prepared, quiaff?"\\ Schmitt noted lightly.
"I was left here as a temporary while my seniors were…there. There's a flow chart! Actual Embassy establishment has a process…Oh good…" Giao relaxed, "Khan Schmitt, as you know, the Navy is not the senior service in these matters, with your permission, I'll put you in contact with General Hasek-Davion, the acting Governor of Huntress, who actually was trained in diplomacy! May I do so, Ma'am?"
//“Ah, it seems I was misinformed. Yes. I think that would be best.”\\ Khan Schmitt smirked.
Giao relaxed as the staff shifted the connection to the Emergency Red-Line and someone on the surface hunted down Michael Hasek-Davion and got him to his office.
Better you than me, mister Mikey. she silently swore. She understood the mistake-her responsibilities DID cover more area, and vastly more personnel, but for this job? THIS job belongs to the Noble-born GROUND officer!
----
===Unexpected Vote of pure Fright===
Spider's Moon - Star League Conference Room - Kowloon, Federated Commonwealth3061
"Helena, that had your fingerprints all over it. Commodore Pham expertly delegated the job of diplomacy up the chain of command." Archon-Prince commented.
“One thing I paid attention to was how often subordinates would be put into bad positions. The chain of command does exist for several reasons, and one of those is so people know where to kick the can.” Helena Cameron shrugged.
Victor Steiner-Davion laughed. "Yes, yes it does. Liz says you're close to ready to come back to work, which is the official reason I'm here."
“I am. Spending time with my family has been great and all but I am honestly starting to go a little stir crazy.”
“Liz did mention something about you getting a certification from the university program you two established in mechanical engineering.”
“I still need ones in Physics, K-F theory, and probably language studies to really understand her and Arthur.”
"I'll caution you now; It doesn't really help." Victor commiserated, "but the maths do. I'm going to now proceed to scare the shit out of you." He laid a sheet of paper on the table. "Have a look."
Thomas Marik: Yea
Sun Tzu Liao: Yea
Yvonne Steiner-Davion: Yea
Mannsdottir: Yea
Victor Ian Steiner-Davion: Present
Theodore Kurita: Yea
Santin West: Yea
Mitchell Avellar: Present
Grover Scharplen: Yea
"Do you know what that is?" Victor asked her.
“A unanimous vote. Yeah. Now I’m really glad I already used the toilet before the meeting or I’d have to excuse myself to change clothes.”
"Congratulations, Madame First Lord, you've been drafted." Victor told her. "Or would be, if that vote were formalized."
“It still scares the shit out of me, Victor.”
"Would you believe that was one of the selling points?" Victor asked her, "that you expressly don't desire the position won everyone in a quorum. Comstar and Word of Blake were busy with their internal matters. All we have to do, is enter it into the formal record and it becomes the law, Helena."
“What am I supposed to do with this Victor? I don’t want it, but I know what it means.”
"Think very carefully about what you should do if it's formalized-for the Star League." he told her, "What you might say you must do to better life for the people of it. Liz got them to stop before it was ratified and entered into the record, but you needed to know...because it scares the hell out of you, and you don't want it."
“I’m in shock, Victor. Especially since I thought it was already settled, Thomas Marik was getting the spot next.”
"So did I, but TOM pushed for the informal poll, and nominated you for the post."
“All right Victor. You're telling me because you're warning me."
Victor nodded. "We've known 'Tom Marik' has been in bed with at least one, probably more, of the Comstar and Word of Blake factions, they were both absent when he pushed this. There's a game on, one of the factions thinks you as First Lord is going to give an advantage to their goals."
“That’s disturbingly vague.” Helena commented.
"Want to know what's even more disturbingly vague? It might be the faction we'd LIKE to see win."
“******.” Helena shook her head.
"Liz stopped the ratification by pointing out that while we have a quorum for normal business, a First Lord can only be certified by an all-hands-present vote, unless emergency rules are in play, which they are not. It was a good piece of shithouse lawyering, Helena. You taught her very well."
“She’s taught me a few things too. ******. All right, Victor. If this is what you all really want I’ll do it but I’m not breaking the rules. I’ll step down at the end of my term and absolutely not accept a consecutive go.”
Victor shook his head, "This part concludes the bit I didn't want. What I want, is to invite you, your husband, and your son to visit New Avalon this Christmas, with Arthur and the kids."
“That would be lovely. I think Spider Moon is also starting to give me cabin fever. It’ll be nice to be able to go walk someplace green again that isn’t a hydroponics farm.” Helena stopped for a moment. “You didn’t specify Liz.”
"If you can convince her to come." Victor said, "her TDS makes that long on hyperspace links…problematic, she turned me down."
“I know. I’ll still make sure she knows she’s invited but everyone will understand if she declines because of her TDS. But it sounds like she already does.”
He looked serious, "Helena, pressure her into coming. Arthur's too understanding and he's gotten to where he's lost without her…she anchors him in reality. Get her to come, if you can."
“Okay. I’ll even have Majery do a deep dive into her literature to see if there’s some long forgotten treatment that will make the trip more tolerable too.”
“Thanks, Helena. Makes me feel less like a jerk that you understand.”
“Now for the War Witch to cast yet another spell…” Helena shook her head.
----
===Greetings the Returning Troops===
Nha Tranh Port - Kowloon, Federated CommonwealthMay 3061
She waited as the dropship disgorged into the new facilities. Nha Tranh port gained mobile passenger gantries that don't have to wait for the hull of the dropship to cool under sprays of water, these concourses were a design from Helena and Jane's time-frame, and she finally had them back.
First came the soldiers off the troop-ship, then the officers.
"EVELYNN!!" Elizabeth Ngo greeted her lo.ng-gone sister in law with an exuberant hug.
"Careful. You might spill your dignity." Evvie said.
"Welcome home." The 171st had finally returned.
“It is good to be home. Seems like I’ve missed quite a bit. Bring me up to speed. Start with the bad stuff then end with how much you and Helena have been enjoying being parents.”
“Let’s get inside. Then I’ll get you all caught up.”
----
===Supporting League in their own Way===
Hilton's Head - Terra, Sol System (Word of Blake Space)3061
“We call to order this first Conclave of the Word of Blake since re-taking Terra as our home and proper for the true believers in Blake’s teachings.” St. Jamais bellowed. “Let the non-believers wither on the vine.”
“Then our first order of business. Our policy going forward. A growing number of our faithful are those that are seeing the truth that Focht’s reforms are not what he promised, especially in the wake of Tukayyid…” Klaus Hettig spoke up.
“The Clans are no longer the most pressing issue facing the Word of Blake. Helena Cameron is. We Shunners ask just what the Sixth of June was thinking, taking that sort of shot at Helena Cameron?”
“Kowloon is a disruptive upstart that defiles Blake’s teachings!” St. Jamais almost yelled.
“This is not the time for internal bickering! Focht and his heretics may have abandoned Terra, but if we are truly going to carry out Blake’s Will, we need to focus and rebuild. We are now surrounded by foes. Helena Cameron is our liege lord, not an obstacle,” William Blaine proclaimed.
“What do you propose exactly, Precenter Blaine?” Klaus asked cooly.
“We support this new Star League and Helena Cameron as First Lord. We keep supporting it to show that she is the true leader and this sham of elections and term limits are exposed and they beg her to stay on. We eliminate the threat of the Clans.”
“If we do that then this Star League will fall apart again,” William Willis proclaimed.
“Perhaps, but also perhaps in that time we can educate the non-believers to the true path of salvation.”
St. Jamais suddenly stood and stormed out of the Conclave chamber.
“We may have to address St. Jamais and his Sixth of June movement sooner than anticipated,” Klaus said after St. Jamais left.
“But how, he is not entirely wrong that we may have to do something about Kowloon… the question is what. The previous attack was excessive and will only cause them to double down. We need a better approach.” Alexander Kernov spoke.
“Helena made a good point. Perhaps what she is doing at Kowloon is the fulfillment of Blake’s Prophecy and we’ve just been too arrogant to recognize that Blake meant Cameron, not us.”
"Bollocks," Kernov snapped. "St.Jamais and his faction screwed up, sure. But that isn't 'prophecy', that's a mistake. The mistake was using a sledgehammer to drive a tack in an earthquake!" The older man glared. "Think about who they are, what they want. How do you get the message of Blake's word to the masses? How else do you get the message out? Duchess Ngo practically gave it to us already."
"What?" Willis looked at Precentor ROM.
"Her precious University you sopwit! As the child is the father of the man, so the student is the father of the man. She's always hiring teachers. Blake's Blood, how hard can it be to make sure she's hiring ours? The bloody bitch doesn't even do more than a cursory background check and she's guaranteed freedom of speech on her campus!! She's got known malcontents and disruptive, even seditious elements teaching there already!"
“Do it, Kernov. As Precentor ROM this is your area of expertise. We shall start molding the next generation and it will put us in a better position to monitor what is going on inside the Kowloon system and the Star League at the same time.” Blaine saw the look on the others’ faces and knew this was the compromise.
----
===Words to Live By===
Spider's Moon - Kowloon, Federated CommonwealthMay 3061
The plaque was bronze, which is a nice way of saying 'we alloyed copper with something else and left the zinc out'.
"What's the metal?" Evelynn asked.
"Beryllium Bronze," Liz said. "What they used to call 'gunmetal' in pre-spaceflight."
Evelynn read the words, "We have lost so much that we don't even have names for what's been forgotten-this must never happen again." She turned to Liz. "Your grandfather's words."
"Yeah," Liz nodded. "I thought it was fitting to put it on the entrance to the University. When you left, we didn't even have students yet."
“It’s a good reminder. And it is good to hear it is working,” Evelynn nodded.
"I've had to hire staff constantly. We're expanding the campus outward, new buildings, new dorms, whole new departments, Evvie, everything your dad and my grandfather talked about."
“So Victor must be giving you an earful about it then, for the headache it’s causing,” Evelynn chuckled.
"No doubt he would, if he weren't super busy and very chuffed that Arthur and I… I get more flack from his supporters, honestly. 'You shouldn't teach that!'," Liz laughed. "Anyway, do you remember a promise I made?"
“I detected a tone there, and a pause. Should I be happy or worried about what’s going on with you and Arthur?”
"We're thinking of trying for children three and maybe four," Liz told her. "He wants to wait a couple more years. The complications from Simon and Hannah really spooked him."
“How about you, Liz, do you want to wait that long?”
"I am, as ever, my husband's most adoring fan." Liz told her. "It's not a point of conflict, we don't fight about it… but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy trying, and the after-argument sex is fantastic."
“Slightly jealous. I’ve had to be a good girl to set an example for the troops. But now that I’m home…”
"Now that you're home, you can start working out who you want to settle down with, or if you want to do that at all!" Liz chirped merrily. "Come on, I want to show you what we've done with the Library!"
"Where's Arthur?" Evelynn asked.
"Office Hours in the Applied Physics building, I think. We've got a good babysitter this week…"
“Jeez. I’m not sure who’s the worst workaholic. You, Arthur, or Helena.” Evelynn shook her head.
"Ask Jakob, her husband," Liz calmed right down. "Since she resumed her position as Naval Minister, anyway… come on! I have half an hour to kill before I can go fetch my husband from his office!!"
“Deal. And I’ll think about what I want. For me. I’ll admit you and Helena are giving me a lot to think about.”
"Yes, it's time for you to get what you want."
At the Library, another plaque. "It takes a fool with a matchbook seconds to destroy the work of a thousand years of Geniuses." The stylized image could've been the Library at Alexandria, or the library of any of a hundred capitals through human history-burning.
----
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
44