OPREF-4 Chpt 20

=Book 4, Chapter 20 - Full House=
==Opalescent Reflections==
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===Star League Challenges===
Unity City, North America
Terra, Sol System
27 August 3059
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“Archon, is this a joke?” asked Jeffrey Calderon incredulously.
Melissa Steiner-Davion shook her head. “I am reluctant, but sincere, Protector Calderon.”
Wei rested her hands in her face. “I assume that you are in a broadly similar situation to myself.” When she looked up, she saw all eyes on her.
“Would you expand on that, Primus?” Emma Centrella asked forcefully.
She ran her hands through her hair. “Clan Wolf was willing to negotiate the release of captured ComGuards who had not been willing to become their warriors. Since the Star League has refused to release captured Clan warriors, and lifting the interdiction would be strategically problematic. In the end, they agreed to return our soldiers if ComStar nominated them for membership of the Star League. I did not expect someone else to do so first.”
“Did they ask you to vote for other’s nomination of them?” asked Sun-Tzu. “You could vote down hers,” he nodded at Archon, “And then put your own vote forwards.”
“Technically, I could. But would anyone trust my word afterwards?”
“I admit that I had not considered that someone else would have agreed to vote for them,” admitted the Archon. “I can at least blame Ryan for this, although if I had known someone else was in this position, I might have ordered that he be relieved and replaced for the fighting on Orkney.”
“That might have been wiser,” Candace Liao agreed. “At least you only have one vote to cast now.”
Extended negotiations had finally come to terms over the Federated Commonwealth’s two votes, and in exchange for the Star League taking on the war debts of all three realms bordering the Clans, House Steiner-Davion would now cast only a single vote. Of course, as the single largest member state, the Federated Commonwealth would still be paying most of the debts, but the difference was still a large amount of money in absolute terms.
“That is some consolation,” the blonde co-ruler of close to half of humanity agreed calmly. “I take it that you second my motion, Primus.”
“I do,” Wei confirmed. “A little reluctantly, although I confess the prospect of ending another part of this war has its appeal.”
“Strong words from the woman who condemned the Clans to interdiction.” murmured Sun-Tzu.
The Magestrix gave the Chancellor a sour look. “You are out of order, Chancellor. Given the enormous expense of the war, in lives as well as money, if we can co-exist with the Clans then there is something to be said for it.”
“With respect, Madam Chair, your realm is a long way from the Clans,” Thomas Marik observed crisply. “I think that Lord Kurita would have a different view.”
“Which one?” asked Sun-Tzu.
“Either, I think.”
The Chancellor chuckled. “Perhaps so.”
“I, on the other hand, have a direct border,” said Mitchell Avellar quietly. “As much as the people of Rasalhague would blame me for it, there is advantage to my own realm in this proposal.”
“This is getting a bit out of hand.” Wei told them and looked at Emma.
“Does anyone wish to put the matter to debate,” the Magestrix asked. “Or shall we vote on the matter?”
“I call for an immediate vote.” Candace Liao shook her head. “This is a farce, let us dismiss the motion.”
Emma waited a moment and then nodded. “I hear no disagreement, so the vote is called. On the matter of offering Clan Wolf the opportunity to sign the Star League accords and receive full membership, who votes aye?”
Melissa raised her hand and Wei did the same. For a moment, the Primus thought that this was it but then she saw Mitchell Avellar’s hand in the air. Without anyone to vote for the Draconis Combine, there were only eight votes and three was…
“With my own vote,” the Magestrix said clearly, “That is four votes in favor.”
“What?” exclaimed Jeffrey Calderon.
“We are not discussing the Steel Vipers or Smoke Jaguars,” Emma told him. “If the Federated Commonwealth can offer Clan Nova Cat worlds within their borders, why not extend Star League membership to another Clan.”
“It still deadlocks the council,” Wei pointed out. “Under the accords, a new member’s admission requires a majority.”
“True, but a point we may wish to return to if the Clans prove too well entrenched to drive off,” the Magestrix pointed out.
Sun-Tzu cleared his throat. “Would you care to count the nay votes?”
Wei eyed him suspiciously, and she was not the only one.
“It is the proper formula that we all agreed on.”
“Nay votes, if you please,” Emma requested in her role as Council Chair.
Three hands went up: Thomas Marik’s, Jeffrey Calderon’s and Candace Liao’s. Sun-Tzu’s carefully manicured hands remained firmly on his desk though.
“Chancellor?” Emma asked.
“I abstain,” the man said with almost offensive cheer. “Both sides make good points, so I really cannot decide… I suppose four to three does decide the matter though. Hmm.”
Melissa’s hands were clenched so tightly that Wei thought she might draw blood. “That…”
“That is correct,” Emma agreed seriously. “By four votes to three, the motion passes. I will draft a document to that effect for signature.”
“I think,” Wei said quietly, “This will have a profound effect upon the war plans. Should we call on the Commanding General before we go further?”
“That might be premature, Primus.” Mitchell Avellar looked apologetic. “I imagine that this waives your wish to submit a motion.”
“It does.”
“And that means that you are the next on the schedule, Mitchell,” Emma agreed. “But Wei makes a good point that we should consider the military implications of our vote here.”
“I’m afraid my vote will also affect that,” he said apologetically. “I have received a message from the Diamond Sea Dominion requesting that I endorse them as a member of the Star League. And I therefore propose that we extend them the same invitation that we are sending to Clan Wolf.”
“Don’t you mean the Diamond Shark Dominion?” Wei asked as everyone else paused to process that.
The young president of the Outworlds Alliance shrugged his shoulders. “Apparently they changed the name to reflect that Clan Diamond Shark has formed a new Clan - Sea Fox.”
“They were holding a vote on whether to change their name,” she said in bemusement, “I do not recall any discussion of the Clan being divided.”
“I make no claims to understand their politics,” Mitchell admitted. “But this Dominion is apparently jointly ruled by both Clans. Something like the Federated Commonwealth, I suppose.”
“It sounds like almost the reverse,” Emma observed. “I will second Mitchell’s motion.”
“This would effectively end the fighting against the Clans,” Thomas Marik reminded them cautiously. “I do not think either branch of House Kurita would approve.”
“That is a terrible shame.” Melissa almost managed to sound sincere.
“The only Clans we would be open to attack are Clan Ghost Bear and whatever remains of Clan Smoke Jaguar,” agreed Jeffrey Calderon. “And the latter are relatively inaccessible.”
“Our last information suggests that the Clans that were fighting the Diamond Sharks are fighting for a share of what remains of the Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone,” Wei told him. “No doubt they are depleted, but we would be fighting three Clans for that region of space and there is no knowing what they have in terms of reinforcements.”
“And our supply lines would go past the Ghost Bears anyway,” the scarred Marik observed. “So for any push there, we would have to fight the Ghost Bears anyway.” He shook his head. “And they were problematic to fight in the first place, that is why Task Force Ruby refocused towards Clan Smoke Jaguar. Of course, this assumes that the Sharks are admitted, which I oppose.”
“I also oppose the idea,” agreed Sun-Tzu urbanely. “The Shin Legion were committed to support our allies in the Draconis Combine, I would not betray Coordinator Kurita’s interests in such a way.”
There was a certain two-facedness to that, Wei thought. The younger of the two Liaos at the table had undoubtedly finessed Clan Wolf’s admission in order to leave the Federated Commonwealth deprived of their worlds and facing a dangerous border if relations within the Star League fell apart. He needed the Combine as a potential ally though.
“Does anyone wish further debate?” Emma asked.
No one spoke up.
“On the matter of offering the Diamond Sea Dominion the opportunity to sign the Star League accords and receive full membership, who votes aye?” Emma’s own hand was in the air.
Wei considered her encounter with Ellison Enders, when she visited the Outworlds Alliance. The man who had, when he withdrew, bargained for the infrastructure of worlds they had lost to be completed. Thought of the wounded soldiers of both sides that she had met on Camlann. And then she raised her own hand. “Let it end.”
Sun-Tzu’s eyes narrowed sharply as his aunt raised her hand in support of the motion. “Petty of you,” he told her.
“I do not owe you an explanation,” she said, “But it occurred to me just as the vote was called, that this prevents the Diamond Sharks and these Sea Foxes from attacking the Combine while it is engulfed in civil war. Franklin Kurita will not be happy, but he would be less so if they decided that they were free to retake Galedon, or perhaps advance further.”
“That is a good point,” Melissa agreed. And then the Archon raised her own hand. “The Draconis March would be exposed to attack if this happened. I will second the Primus’ words: let it end.”
With five votes, that was a clear majority. Jeffrey Calderon, Thomas Marik and Sun-Tzu Liao’s votes were counted for the record, but the matter was closed.
“And I do now insist on a recess,” Emma said firmly. “We can reconvene when Commanding-General Hasek-Davion is available to discuss our options going forwards, and I will have the invitations for both… nations ready to sign. I remind you that regardless of your votes, we all agreed that once a matter passes we are all bound by it.”
Calderon and Marik nodded with some grace but it was a long moment before the Chancellor acquiesced as well. “None of them border me, I suppose,” he declared, getting the last word.
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===Rough Waters to Navigate===
Canube, Pesht
Diamond Sea Dominion
30 September 3059
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The Grand Council Chamber was marble, slate and granite, with the only color coming from the white streaks in the marble desks, the red velvet of each khan’s throne and the banners suspended from the ceiling. There were forty thrones facing the dais that held the larger but empty seat of the ilKhan, the desk and seat of the loremaster - currently occupied by Dagmar Lahiri of the Star Adders - and a podium for outsiders called as witnesses.
Only sixteen banners hung from the rafters, Clan Sea Fox was not yet represented. When Ace’s image was projected, his viewpoint placed him in the rear row, on the bench that had once belonged to Clan Burrock, behind Bikendi Vewas who was the only physically present Khan of the Diamond Sea Dominion. Khan Sennet’s image sprang to life a moment later, beside her saKhan.
Angus Labov glanced to the side and indicated one of the empty desks on the back rows. “That used to be the Widowmaker’s place - and then that of Clan Zeerga.”
“I doubt any Clan will accept being assigned those seats unless there are nineteen Clans to seat,” Ace observed. “The only one more ill-omened would be that one.” He indicated the empty desk on the second row that had belonged once to the Not-Named.
By tradition, the allocation of the positions was based on the order in which the Pentagon worlds had been liberated - the four Clans sent to Eden had finished first and therefore were placed on the front row. Dagda, which had been an objective of the Burrocks, had been the last of the five worlds to be secured by the Clans.
Loremaster Lahiri struck his gavel against his desk, calling the meeting to order. “My khans,” the Star Adder called. “We are assumed under the martial code, in a time of war. Let us behave accordingly.” The choice of a Star Adder to serve as the Grand Council’s loremaster said much about who was seen as strongest among the Clans, at least within the homeworlds.
Perigard Zalman rose to his feet, the Steel Viper Khan’s image occasionally drifting out of clarity. He was being projected from somewhere in the deep periphery, not yet having returned to the homeworlds from his Clan’s defeat at the hands of the Federated Commonwealth. “We are at war, so I must therefore ask: why are there traitors amongst us?” He pointed an accusing finger at the two Nova Cats sat in the rank ahead of him. “Clan Nova Cat have turned their coats to serve one of the Scavenger Lords, and I move that they be annihilated for such treason!”
It seemed that every other Khan seemed to have something to say about that, so much that Angus Labov’s “Idiot,” was probably lost in the hubbub - the Steel Vipers were well across the hall from Clan Sea Fox’s back corner. Ace refrained from comment, instead touching one of the controls available to him from the terminal in front of his actual body, on Pesht.
“Order!” the Loremaster called out. “Order!” He waited until the Khans were silent and then consulted his desk. “Khan Enders has made the first request to speak on this issue.”
Labov chuckled. “Quick off the mark as usual?”
Ace stood and saw heads turn towards him. Natasha was one of the few faces he had encountered before although he recognized some of the others from his preparations. (Who the Smoke Jaguar Khans were, he had no idea.) “Setting aside for the moment whether or not Annihilation is a suitable course of action, who do you propose should carry it out? Your touman is in a fit state for such a Trial, quineg?”
Zalman looked as if he were about to grind his teeth flat. “We are not, but other Clans may wish to have the honor of purging the traitors?”
“Who?” asked Natasha Kerensky bluntly. “Clan Jade Falcon and my own Clan are nearest, but both are honorbound not to attack the Federated Commonwealth, so we cannot. The same for the Diamond Sharks and their new daughter Clan, so that leaves who? The other Clans in the Inner Sphere have no forces to spare for such a campaign. Do any of the homeworld Clans want to undertake it?”
“As rare as it is for our Clans to agree,” Khan Pryde added from his desk on the front row, “Khan Kerensky is correct. I have met - and fought - Victor Steiner-Davion. Whatever his ancestry’s flaws, he is an honorable warrior and would not abandon an ally. Whoever accepts such a charge would have to fight the Nova Cats and the Federated Commonwealth. Anyone seeking to annihilate or absorb the Nova Cats will have earned great glory if they succeed, but I would not commit my Clan to something so reckless even without the ceasefire.”
“A ceasefire with the honorless,” sneered Zalman. “You lack the courage, Pryde.” Then he looked at the Nova Cats again. “And you are very silent on the matter.”
“We speak when it matters,” Thadeus Nostra replied evenly. “Does any Clan second Khan Zalman’s proposal?”
There was a resounding silence and the Nova Cat spread his hands to indicate no more need be said.
“Without a second, the motion of annihilation is struck down without a vote,” Lahiri declared, sounding relieved. Ace could not blame him - only one Clan had ever been annihilated and so far as he knew, no one had even suggested it be done again in the over two centuries since. “Khan N’Buta, you have requested the floor next.”
Cassius N’Buta of Clan Star Adder rose to his feet from where he sat next to the Steel Viper bench. “When a Clan disgraces itself repeatedly, when it proves unable to stand for its leader’s words, when a Clan opens all of us to accusations of dishonor, it is my belief that that Clans should face absorption, so that those of it who can be salvaged can continue to contribute and those who cannot are no longer a burden upon future generations,” he said solemnly. “For these reasons, I call for the absorption of Clan Steel Viper.”
“What!” screamed Zalman. His saKhan, another unfamiliar face, simply bent over and rested his elbows on the table, burying his head beneath his forearms. That proved prescient as the senior Steel Viper leapt up and pointed an accusing finger at N’Buta. The arm was curiously doubled as it appeared in the display of the saKhan’s image, showing that had he not ducked the man would have been struck on the head by his superior. “How can you insult the Steel Vipers with such accusations?!”
N’Buta snorted. “Shall we start with your poor performance on Camlann? Your opportunist attack on the fringe worlds of the Federated Commonwealth is hardly credible given you were fighting garrisons barely adequate to deal with bandits. After that, your cowardly flight from Coventry where you abandoned Jade Falcon and Nova Cat warriors…” He paused and nodded towards Pryde, “The Nova Cats at least fought there and Clan Jade Falcon had the honor to support their brother Clan in the evacuation.” His gaze went back to Zalman, “Unlike you, Perigard. Shall we then consider your ill-conceived provocation of ComStar that left every other Clan in the Inner Sphere dealing with an interdiction.” The Star Adder leant forwards. “And then the debacle of being driven from the Inner Sphere in mere months, leaving more than half your touman killed or captured. Clan Steel Viper does not impress me!”
“So much for the serpent alliance,” Angus Labov murmured.
Ace nodded in understanding. The three clans with snake totems were traditionally allies, conveniently seated on one side of the hall and with few conflicts. That usually left them free to support each other, but Clan Star Adder’s overtures had already made it clear that they no longer found the Steel Vipers useful as a partner.
The khan of the Cloud Cobras met Zalman’s rage with cold indifference. “You appear to have forgotten my bloodhouse,” the gaunt Din Steiner said grimly. “If my distant kin were unworthy to repel you, that would be one thing, but House Steiner has proven themselves stronger than your Clan. When your weakness endangers all of us, it is time for it to be stamped out.”
“I take it that you second the motion, Khan Steiner?” asked Lahiri. This could not have come as a surprise to the Loremaster, given his Clan.
The Cloud Cobra nodded. “I second the motion to absorb Clan Steel Viper.”
Lahiri manipulated his controls. “A vote of aye approves the absorption, a vote of nay is against. I remind you that a vote over Absorption requires the unanimous support of every single Khan save those of the affected Clan.”
Zalman cast his vote against, followed by the other Steel Viper Khan, two icons of their Clan appearing in the nay column projected above the stage. But as he looked around, Khan after Khan voted in favor of absorption. Ace cast his own vote with Labov and two Sea Fox emblems appeared in the aye column, the first time that Clan Sea Fox’s iconography had been used since the Diamond Shark name had been adopted decades before.
At last, Lahiri confirmed what they could all see. “The vote stands at thirty-two in favor, two opposed. You may call for a Trial of Refusal…”
“Of course, I do!” shouted Zalman.
“...with bidding beginning at sixteen times your defensive strength,” the loremaster continued evenly. “Based on the last reports of your strength, that would be sixty-four galaxies but no Clan can commit such strength.”
“I bid eight galaxies for the right to represent the Clan’s decision,” Karianna Schmitt called out from in front of Barbara Sennet.
Ace said nothing, only senior Khans could make bids here, and neither Labov nor Sennet was going to offer a bid when the fighting would mostly take place in the homeworlds. The invading Clans also refrained, save for Theresa Delvillar bidding five galaxies and as many warships, to counter a bid of Clan Fire Mandrill’s full strength in both.
“Four galaxies and four warships,” Schmitt undercut the Ghost Bears with what was effectively numerical parity with the Steel Viper’s rumored strength.
N’Buta offered his own Clan’s bid, the first time he had offered one. “Three frontline and one garrison galaxy - not secondline, garrison,” he offered, looking across the room at Schmitt. “And four of our own warships.”
The tall blonde considered that and then shook her head reluctantly, “I believe that you have found cutdown,” she said at last. “I resign from the bidding.”
Labov nodded in agreement. “It should be enough to deal with the Steel Viper’s garrisons,” he told Ace. “But who knows where they will deploy their remaining forces from the Inner Sphere. If they have reached New Kent then this will be challenging for the Star Adders.”
He eyed the Star Adders and then shrugged. “I imagine that they planned for that.”
There were no further bids and Lahiri banished the voting totals. “Khan Zalman, Khan Mercer, your rights to attend the Grand Council are hereby suspended until the conclusion of your Trial of Refusal. Should you succeed then you will be reinstated with all associated rights and privileges.”
Zalman opened his mouth to protest but a moment later, the two Khans vanished as Lahiri cut off the signals to and from their location. Or more probably, from the Steel Viper offices in the Hall or wherever else they had been having their signals relayed through.
“Our first regular order of business, setting aside the priorities requested by Khan Zalman and Khan N’Buta, are the welcoming of Clan Sea Fox to our ranks,” the loremaster said drily. “It will also be necessary to discuss establishing a suitable enclave for them on Strana Mechty.”
There were groans all around the room.
“If Khan Labov and Khan Enders are willing, I suggest that we defer such allocations,” offered the young woman next to Natasha Kerensky.
“That would depend why and for how long you wish to defer it, Khan Kerensky,” Labov said cautiously.
Ace knew little of the woman save that she was one of Ulric Kerensky’s bloodname and that her personal name was Katya. She stood to address the room. “Given the problems caused by establishing enclaves for Clan Zeerga, we may have a more elegant solution. If Clan Steel Viper is absorbed, their enclaves will be available.”
“The point may indeed be moot,” agreed Khan Schmitt.
“Or, we could simply give them the Zeerga’s enclaves suggested,” Aletha Kabrinski cheerfully. “That would be simple.”
Natasha Kerensky snorted. “Those are a mess anyway. I propose that we repeal all the reassignment of enclaves to the Zeerga and if the Steel Vipers survive, we can roll back the division of the old Burrock enclaves and give them to the Sea Foxes. It would save us all a lot of trouble.”
Angus looked over at Ace, “That seems fair to me.”
Ace nodded to the Wolves. “Clan Sea Fox accepts the premise that we will receive the Strana Mechty enclave of the next Clan to lose their claim to one, or if none takes place before the end of the year, that Clan Burrock’s former enclaves will be assigned to us.”
“Do I hear any objection?” asked Lahiri. “Or shall we accept this by acclamation?”
There was a ripple of comments from the other Khans, which amounted to: ‘anything but another year of bickering over enclaves’.
“Motion passes,” the loremaster declared, striking the gavel. “Next we have…” He paused. “Khan Carrol, you request a priority matter?”
The khan in question sat next to Ace, separated by a narrow aisle. “Aff,” she confirmed.
“Rather sudden,” Lahiri grumbled. “You have the floor.”
“When a Clan fails repeatedly, opening us all to the consequences of their ineptitude,” the Fire Mandrill said, obviously aping N’Buta’s earlier remarks, “The time has come to remove them from our roster, salvage what can be made use of and remove the rest before it causes more problems. I name Clan Smoke Jaguar as cause for many of our recent problems and call for their absorption.”
One of the Smoke Jaguars rose to her feet. “If I was on Strana Mechty you would not dare utter those words!”
“You are a jumped up Star Captain, Jez Howell,” Carol replied scornfully. “Leo Showers was a disaster, Lincoln Osis a brute and Sarah Weaver blinded by her anger… but who even are you? You hold the khanship because the turmoil of the last year has killed everyone else elected to lead your Clan - more of them by infighting than by outside foes.”
“Cite your reasons,” Lahiri ordered, before the argument could go on.
“Operation Revival,” Carrol started, gesturing towards Ace. “So ill-planned that a freeborn warrior half the age of the then-ilKhan - had a better plan to present to his Khan before we even reached the Inner Sphere. The uttery stupidity on Rasalhague, a city ruined and the world rendered ungovernable by a refusal to read! Camlann - where the ilKhan offered no leadership and Clan Smoke Jaguar fell not even to the ComGuards but to the ragged remains of Rasalhague’s armed forces. And in the time we had to regroup from all this, Clan Smoke Jaguar was less interested in preparing to resume the invasion and more in gathering allies to turn on their fellow Clans - thus Leo Showers dying in an attempt to loot Diamond Shark factories, a man this Grand Council elected as ilKhan reduced to little more than a bandit. And to cap all that, it is their capital that the Inner Sphere found to attack, which makes it very clear whose security allowed us to be found.”
Carrol paused and shook her head. “Clan Steel Viper’s failures have already led to a vote to absorb them. How can we let the Smoke Jaguars, who have been even more of a disaster, escape the consequences.”
“Do I hear a second?” Lahiri asked once it was clear the Fire Mandrill Khan was done.
No less than four khans tried to speak as one. Natasha Kerensky began to laugh. The loremaster had to strike the gavel repeatedly to restore order. “As before,” he said at last. “The vote is called, if any Clan at all stands with the Smoke Jaguars then the motion will fail.”
“We may have a choice of enclaves,” Ace murmured to Angus as he voted for absorption. His khan started to laugh as well, needing two attempts to find the control to cast his own vote.
In a predictable repeat of the previous vote, the Smoke Jaguars were the only Clan to oppose their fate. Every other Clan was just done with them.
Carrol stood. “Let me cut the bidding for this short. Clan Fire Mandrill offers seven clusters, one from each of our Kindraa, and four of our warships. Does anyone believe they can win with less?”
Ace blinked. “That is ambitious,” he warned her. Given the Fire Mandrill’s reputation for poor cohesion, that was not a strong force - perhaps enough to clear the remaining forces in the Jaguars’ occupation zone but what about their remaining enclaves in the homeworlds?
“From you, that is a compliment, Khan Enders,” Carrol said with a pleased smile.
On the front row, Malavai Fletcher stared past the Jade Falcons at the Smoke Jaguars and then shook his head. “My Clan might be best placed to win this, but with such a small force…” He looked up the ranks of desks at Carrol. “I will not bid so low, lest I be the first to fail to enforce the Grand Council’s vote on Absorption.”
“Did you make a deal?” Aidan Pryde asked Jez Howell curiously.
“Do you think I am a damned Diamond Shark?” she spat.
He nodded and then looked back at the corner of the room where the Diamond Sharks and Sea Foxes sat. “My apologies to my esteemed fellow khans who may have felt maligned.”
No one seemed inclined to speak up and Lahiri formally awarded the right of absorption to Clan Fire Mandrill and dismissed the Smoke Jaguar khans. “The campaign may be prolonged,” he advised, “Given their presence in the Inner Sphere.”
“Five of the clusters are already on their way,” Carrol announced blandly. “I will not spoil the surprise of their expected arrival though.”
“When did you send them?” asked Ace.
“As soon as it was clear their Occupation Zone was vulnerable,” she admitted merrily. “If they had behaved well, we would have been reinforcements.”
“You expect to take their homeworld enclaves with just two clusters?” exclaimed Malavai Fletcher.
Carrol gave him an amused look. “Khan Fletcher, they have very little left in the way of enclaves. There have been a rush of Trials of Possession since Weaver got their remaining forces gutted over Huntress. We currently control their main genetic repository, even if we have no legal rights to the samples there.”
“...I should have made a bid,” the Hell’s Horses khan grumbled.
“What is left of their touman in the occupation force?” Khan Schmitt looked bemused. “There were eight galaxies of troops there before the Inner Sphere’s interdiction made gathering news difficult.”
“Much less than that,” Natasha said with a laugh. “How many of them did you tear apart, Enders?”
“I can only claim credit for a few of them personally… but at least two galaxies were defeated on Irece.”
“Plus the forces on Rasalhague, and then the bulk of a Galaxy on Alshain, courtesy of Khan Kabrinski.”
The Ghost Bear saKhan beamed at the compliment from Natasha Kerensky. “Communications are so poor in that region I doubt even Khan Howell is sure what forces are left,” she claimed.
Fletcher rubbed his face. “Mistakes have been made.”
“How did you not know how weak they were in the homeworlds?” asked Schmitt.
“How did you not know their occupation zone was wide open?” the Hell’s Horses khan riposted.
“The matter is closed,” Lahiri declared. “Now we… yes, Khan Lienet, you may have another priority. Shall I just push all regular business back to our next gathering?”
“Who are you trying to absorb?” Khan Kabrinski asked the Ice Hellion’s senior Khan. Given their weak showing against the Diamond Sharks, Ace thought that the Hellions were more likely to be absorbed than absorb another Clan.
Lienet gave her a dour look. “I make no proposal of absorption, nor annihilation, but Khan Zalman did have a valid point about the loyalties of Clan Nova Cat… and to that I must add Clan Wolf, Clan Diamond Shark and Clan Sea Fox. All four Clans now stand among our enemies and I move that they be abjured.”
“You’ve got a lot of nerve,” Natasha Kerensky said warningly.
“You have joined the false Star League, Khan Kerensky,” Lienet replied. “I do not doubt your martial skill, but you have broken the unity and that cannot be allowed.”
“She is not wrong,” admitted Lynn McKenna. “I second the call for abjuration.”
Khan Nostra rose solemnly to his feet. “Loremaster, my Clan’s decisions are not those of the other Clans named by Khan Lienet. I request that any vote on our fate be separated from theirs.”
“What is he up to?” Labov muttered.
Ace shrugged slightly, he knew little of the Nova Cats. He doubted they would have a better chance of winning it alone. “I am more concerned with our own vote.”
Lahiri struck the gavel for silence. “Khan Nostra’s request is in order and I grant it. Abjuration does not require a unanimous decision, only a simple majority. Vote aye to abjure or nay to oppose.”
In contrast to the previous votes, this time the issue was divisive. Not only were votes stacking up on both sides, some clans saw division with one Khan voting each way. In the end, the vote came as close as it could have with an even number of Khans: the majority was a razor sharp two votes.
If Khan Nostra was disappointed, he gave no sign of this. “There is no dishonor in serving the Star League,” he said calmly. “Nor in following a leader such as Victor Steiner-Davion. If you do not see that, then that is your failing. We do not challenge this outcome and will depart in peace. If - or when - you see your errors, perhaps we will meet once more.”
Both Khans bowed deeply towards the empty ilKhan’s throne and then vanished, cutting the channels relaying their holographic presence from their end.
Angus leant over. “If we lose, we can get you to the homeworlds in a month.”
Ace nodded. He wasn’t sure how long it would take for attacks to reach the Sea Fox’s holdings, but probably not that long. On the other hand, the Smoke Jaguars, Steel Vipers and the holdings of the other Clans would be a substantial distraction.
Lahiri stared at the bare desk for a moment. “Does anyone object to a single vote on the proposal to abjure Clan Wolf, Clan Diamond Shark and Clan Sea Fox?”
“Clan Sea Fox is willing to accept a single vote.” Angus declared.
“As is Clan Diamond Shark.”
Natasha looked back at them. “Alright, but if there is a trial of refusal, you stand with us as well?”
Ace leant forwards. “I fought against you once, Khan Kerensky. Fighting alongside you would be a welcome change.”
She laughed. “Alright, call the vote then.”
Lahiri cleared the votes and gestured wordlessly for the votes to be cast.
Without Clan Nova Cat, there were only twenty-eight Khans left in the room - the gaps in the seating evident. Some of the votes cast were the same - the Ice Hellions, Blood Spirits and Snow Ravens leading their way with votes to abjure the three Clans. The Fire Mandrills split again, although Ace heard Carrol and her saKhan turn to whispers that revealed that the two had switched positions, with Carrol preferring not to abjure the three Clans as she had the Nova Cats.
Naturally, the affected Clans formed a solid phalanx of six votes against, with the Goliath Scorpions backing Clan Wolf. The Coyote Khans also opposed the abjuration, though one had voted to send away the Nova Cats.
Whether or not that was the tipping point, the Ghost Bears also voted together after splitting on the previous vote. And as the final votes came in, the result was an exact balance with fourteen votes either way.
Lahiri stared at the results and then over at his Khans. N’Buta, for his part, glanced over at the Wolves and then up towards Ace. He grimaced and then shook his head.
“My khans,” the loremaster said slowly. “As loremaster, in the absence of an ilkhan, it is my duty to break ties. In this case, I vote nay.”
Lienet struck her desk. “Why?”
“I have just seen six khans depart this Council!” the Star Adder shouted back. “Six! If you want a Trial of Refusal, step forwards! You know Enders will kill another Khan without hesitation, and Kerensky is worse! Do you dare?!”
Lienet turned and looked at Ace.
“Do you dare?” he repeated the loremaster’s question.
“Neg,” she admitted heavily. “Neg.”
“Since Clan Nova Cat stands abjured, their enclaves on Strana Mechty are lost,” Lahiri said heavily. “As agreed earlier, these enclaves will be assigned to Clan Sea Fox. We have done enough injury to the Clans today, I hereby -”
Cassius N’Buta stood and made a gesture of dismissal towards his loremaster. “My trothkin,” he said, turning to address the bulk of the room. “I move that all regular business be deferred until tomorrow. However, I have one question to put to you - something to think of and perhaps to debate in our next meeting.”
The Star Adder khan spread his hands theatrically, “This Grand Council voted, more than ten years ago, to invade the Inner Sphere. That vote still stands, but three out of what may be only fourteen Clans in the near future will stand with the Inner Sphere in the future. How do you suggest that we address that?”
Ace rose to face N’Buta. “When the Grand Council voted to invade, what was its goal? What was the purpose, the victory that we sought?”
“We sought to restore the Star League,” the man told him.
He nodded. “Under the leadership of the Clans.”
“Of course.”
“I have had the time,” Ace told him, “To speak with Seekers sent by Clan Goliath Scorpion into the Inner Sphere. The Star League our ancestors fought for was very different from the Clans, so it was less to restore the old Star League and more to establish a new one?”
“...aff?”
“Rejoice,” Ace said sardonically. “We have succeeded. There is a new Star League - not as it was, but in a new form under the old ideals. How we interact with it is a new decision, but I suggest we announce this as a triumph. The warden’s cause ended in defeat, the crusader’s in victory and now both are equally obsolete. We have a new beginning and will have to develop new ideas.”
Everyone was staring at him.
“You see what we had to deal with.” Sennet observed in the silence.
“No wonder your clan split.” muttered Carrol. Which seemed entirely unfair, coming from a Fire Mandrill.
----
===Fate of Fallen Clans===
Clan Zeerga
The Battle of Wolf's Den spelled the end of Clan Zeerga. The majority of their leadership were on the ground, and with the death of saKhan Vladimir Ward (to Galaxy Commander Phelan Ward) and capture of Khan Marialle Radick (by Star Captain Evantha Fetladral), command cohesion collapsed. Faced by an equal number of Clan Wolf warships and hampered by three large transports loaded predominantly by civilian castes, the Zeerga fleet surrendered twenty-four hours after Radick's execution. The first and last Khan of Clan Zeerga did not die alone. Clan Wolf was ruthless in purging the Zeerga's officers, executing every officer above the rank of Star Commander.
 
Junior personnel were treated somewhat more generously and granted bondsman status, although it was understood that bloodnamed warriors who had been expelled from Clan Wolf to form the Zeerga would never be granted warrior status again, with a sizable minority choosing bondsref. Even those warriors given the chance to regain warrior status would find themselves serving as unarmored infantry in garrison posts with no chance at future glory.
 
There were two exceptions to the above treatment of junior warriors. A significant number of Clan Wolf's Sigma Galaxy - over-run by the Zeerga as they reached the edge of the Inner Sphere - had been taken as isorla and accepted warrior status in their new Clan. These survivors were rehabilitated and assigned to garrison posts on Rasalhague, where two years of service was considered sufficient penance.
 
In addition, Clan Wolf offered the Clans who had lost warriors to Clan Zeerga's 'harvest' period information on surviving warriors, doing everything short of inviting Trials of Possession for those still alive. While most homeworld Clans considered association with the Zeerga an irredeemable taint, other Clans were more open. Khan Malavai Fletcher's unaugmented trial on Rasalhague to reclaim the former Hell's Horses was the most open of the trials fought, but Clan Ice Hellion and Clan Jade Falcon were also eager to claim warriors to replace their losses, while the Coyotes and Goliath Scorpions fought proxy combats for their own lost warriors.
The three warships claimed from Lum were a point of contention. In 3060, Clan Wolf presented the Conqueror-class CWS Reunion to ilKhan Lynn McKenna in token of her election to restrain the fighting over homeworld enclaves that followed the abjuration of Clan Nova Cat, absorption of the Steel Vipers, Smoke Jaguars and (effectively) the Zeerga, along with Clan Wolf's gradual retreat from the homeworlds to focus on the Inner Sphere.
 
The Revenge and the Retribution were another matter and after refitting them to better fit the purpose, Clan Wolf assigned them to transport critical personnel and supplies from the homeworlds. Clan Ghost Bear attempted a trial of possession when the transports - renamed CWS Tamar and CWS Rasalhague - visited the Dagda system in 3061, but were unsuccessful in their attempt. It is believed that Clan Wolf's opposition to any attempts by the Star League to drive Clan Ghost Bear from the Inner Sphere may be as much a gesture of reconciliation towards the Clan, as it is the Ghost Bears dangling the option that they may join the Draconis Combine or Diamond Sea Dominion to play their neighbors off against each other.
---- 
Clan Steel Viper
 
The shattered remains of Clan Steel Viper's forces did everything they could to reach the Clan homeworlds before Clan Star Adder could carry out their absorption, losing several jumpships and the troops aboard them to accidents caused by hot-charging the drives. The result was too late, as the Star Adders first seized New Kent before moving on to secure every other Viper enclave in the Kerensky Cluster long before Khan Zalman's fleet could arrive.
 
On learning of this, the Steel Vipers amassed their full remaining forces including all their warships, over Arcadia. This only emphasized their weakness as between the Star Adder onslaught and losses in the Inner Sphere only two Galaxies and seven warships - more than half of them in poor condition due to battle damage - remained of the once mighty Steel Viper touman. Against this, the Star Adders pointedly dispatched fifteen warships (the bulk of their navy) and brought the forces in their own Arcadian enclave five galaxies. After six days of probing attacks by second line warriors intended to exhaust the defenders, the Star Adders closed in with all four frontline galaxies, a force that crushed the remaining Steel Vipers in two days of fighting even as the Viper fleet was smashed above them.
 
In the aftermath of this, the Star Adders made a point of treating civilians and low-ranking warriors well. The majority of the surviving Steel Viper warriors would enter the Star Adder touman within six months, allowing a quick recovery by the touman. For the most part, the Star Adders preferred to focus on their own genetic legacies rather than incorporate those of the Vipers, Bloodhouses exclusive to the Vipers continue to exist , although only the bloodrights of warriors who have joined the touman will be open to be claimed in the future.
 
When it came to non-exclusive bloodhouses, the Star Adders made offers via ilKhan McKenna to other Clans who had a claim on the genetic legacies. Clans willing to stake resources needed by the enlarged Clan Star Adder were encouraged to fight Trials of Possession for these legacies. Clan Diamond Shark and Clan Cloud Cobra were the most active in these trials, but every remaining Clan is believed to have acquired some material.
 
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Clan Smoke Jaguar
 
Clan Fire Mandrill's Trial of Absorption for the Smoke Jaguars was fought on Huntress, where they landed two cluster sized forces including elements of all six Kindraa east of the Lootera Mountains and fought a six week campaign against the remaining Smoke Jaguar forces on the planet, which had been driven back to this part of the planet by a series of Trials of Possession by Clan Star Adder and Clan Jade Falcon. With the main genetic repository under their control, the Kindraa then divided their efforts to sweep up the remaining outlying holdings - already depleted by Clan Star Adder (on Tranquil) and Clan Diamond Shark (on Vinton). The fall of the Smoke Jaguar enclaves on Dagda and Eden ended this phase of the Absorption.
 
This left the remaining Smoke Jaguar forces in the Inner Sphere, who had been saved from near certain annihilation by Clan Ghost Bear's seizure of Alshain and the Draconis Combine Civil War, both of which made it problematic for the SLDF to reach the remains of the Smoke Jaguar corridor. The Fire Mandrills had proactively sent five clusters towards the Inner Sphere several months prior to the Absorption vote, pragmatically concluding that someone was likely to need reinforcements enough to offer concessions in exchange.
 
In the meantime there was the issue of absorbing a large population (by Clan standards) whose pride in having been one of the strongest Clans made it difficult to cope with being absorbed into the various kindraa, who already had strong identities. This problem was solved when Star Captain Trent, formerly of Clan Smoke Jaguar, petitioned the Clan Council to create a new Kindraa to absorb warriors who were for various reasons not being recruited into the existing Kindraa. Although the measure was defeated in the voting, Trent won a Trial of Refusal and then a hastily organized Trial of Bloodright to claim the bloodright of the late Jez Howell. Appointed as Kindraa leader, Trent Howell was allowed to form four Clusters, although the new Kindraa was not granted any warships.
 
Drawing primarily from the Osis and Howell bloodhouses (stained by Khan Lincoln Osis and Khan Jez Howell), as well as hundreds of other Smoke Jaguars and scores of low-ranking Fire Mandrills from minor bloodlines, Kindraa Osis-Howell would embark for the Inner Sphere to take over protecting the remaining Inner Sphere holdings of their former Clan. Along the way they swept up a number of Smoke Jaguar waystations and supply bases, most of which were stripped of their personnel and supplies.
 
Although unsuccessful in their secondary mission of displacing Clan Ice Hellion or Clan Hell's Horses from the region, the existing expeditionary force had managed to defeat the remaining Smoke Jaguars. The bulk of these survivors were taken in by the newly arrived kindraa, who were now able to form a fifth cluster.
 
Some small groups have escaped and raids suggest that a few Smoke Jaguars maintain their identity while surviving functionally as pirates. Reinforced by a waning flow of homeworld civilians who fail to adapt to their new Clan, the Osis-Howell kindraa continues to hold several enclaves in the Cockpit, though subject to continued conflicts with the five other Clans present in the area - as well as raids by the DCMS. Such token presence in the area as was maintained by the rest of Clan Fire Mandrill eventually collapsed under these pressures as their homeworld enclaves were deemed more important.
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