EMCOTS-2 12

=Emergence (Concertverse) Book 2 - Chapter 12=
Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter
-----
==Battle Damage==
----
===The fateful decision===
Alpha Galaxy Headquarters
Alistairberg, Bremen Continent
Tharkad, Donegal Province
Lyran Commonwealth
23rd June, 3143
----
Night was fallen by the time Alaric stormed into the new Alpha Galaxy HQ, a captured and repurposed town hall in the outer suburb of Alistairberg. Unlike the prior command post this was only half-set up, with techs feverishly working to put back the holotanks and vidscreens and other equipment they'd been packing in anticipation of transfer to the Triad after an inevitable victory.
A victory that had not come.
Outside the occasional traces of skyward fire lit up. Their enemies were testing their fallback point's aerial defenses. It would not avail them; Star Commodore Fahad's warriors still had the numbers and skill to hold the sky overhead and the orbital approach. Yet that matters little. We lost. Alaric slammed his fist into a vidscreen, cracking it down the middle. He drew the aching hand back and noted the blood trickling from his cut knuckle. He clenched the fist and punched the screen again. We lost! I lost!
The battle kept playing in his mind, taunting him with possibilities that only now seemed to have been there, though deep down he knew that was his regret speaking. Since word came from the Foxes of the Timkovichi Event, the "Looking Glass" and the Clan-less Inner Sphere that lied beyond, he'd known the campaign to Tharkad would be a gamble. But to come so close! So close and yet defeated! It would be better had we failed at Gallery…! He shook his head at that. No. No, I am wrong. We have done far more damage to the Lyrans than we suffered there. We are better off.
He heard footsteps behind him. The cluster commanders of Alpha Galaxy assembled in the room. Only three were of Star Colonel rank, with two star captains representing dead or badly wounded superiors. Chance Vickers and his Beta Galaxy commanders arrived as well. He motioned to a tech. "Get me the other Galaxy Commanders."
"Aff," the tech responded.
One by one the others appeared, minus Tyler Cooper of Delta Galaxy. In his place, a stern woman of mocha complexion and an Elemental warrior's size glowered. Alaric recalled her name as Maura Sradac, a star colonel of Zeta Galaxy. "Where is Galaxy Commander Cooper?" he asked.
"The MedTechs struggle to save his life, he led a counterattack on the Spheroids who struck at our flank and lost his 'Mech to an enemy ambush. I command Zeta Galaxy in his stead."
Of course. Cooper would be the one to stumble into an attack. "Very well," Alaric said. "Our strike into the Triad was repulsed. Alpha and Beta Galaxies have retreated in good order and inflicted losses upon our foes, but Khan Ward lies dead in the Narrows and his victory with him."
A scoffing laugh came from Elise Ward of Gamma Galaxy. "This was your proposal too, Alaric. This is also your defeat."
Alaric forced his face to deny the curling of his lips into the bitter frown that tried to form. "Our defeat, yes, for you supported this effort as well. Every one of us did. The destruction of the Commonwealth was worth the risk, and we have taken a prize in their Archon's life regardless of our failure to take the Triad."
"Archon Melissa is slain?" asked Yvonne Vickers of Kappa. "This is confirmed?"
"Several of our warriors fighting for the throne room saw her claimed under debris." Alaric said. "The BattleROMs confirm it."
"Then we have our vengeance, at least."
"Vengeance will do us little if we are defeated," Elise retorted. "It is clear the defenses of Tharkad are too strong for our forces to prevail. We must withdraw."
"Without hegira?!" Delta Galaxy's Rand Connors asked the question with fury in his voice. "You would humiliate us."
"If we have killed the Archon we have gained our vengeance and retained honor." Elisa snarled at Connors' words. "If we are to hold our conquests we must withdraw and prepare defenses. This gamble has failed."
"Galaxy Commander." One of the comm technicians approached. She was silver-haired, an older tech, one of Alpha's seniors, and the name "Lucinda" was written in stencil markings on her jumpsuit's right side. "We received a transmission from Star Admiral Nguyen. Star Commodore Fariq's scouting force jumped in and delivered a report."
She did not read it and Alaric did not ask her to. He took the noteputer she offered and looked it over himself. My suspicions are confirmed. He looked towards the main holotanks and the four faces staring at him. "Our ships have detected large numbers of JumpShips and DropShips at Westerstede and Upano," he revealed. "Most gave off Arcadian IFFs with a few Sea Fox ships amongst them. As few separations were detected, they are clearly en route to other systems."
"The rest of the Arcadian army," Elise Ward mused. "Did Fariq's scouts determine their strength?"
"Mass readings were not possible from safe ranges, so the count is uncertain, but he estimates their numbers to be multiple galaxies worth of troops. I would imagine they are the bulk of the Arcadians' commitment to the Lyrans." And hopefully not simply the second wave of a larger force.
Rand Connors' furious face twisted into a grimace. The others showed similar understanding, as did the star colonels assembled around Alaric.
"Yes," he said. "You all understand. We fought mightily, and we inflicted defeats upon our foes even at their best. The First Davion Guards bleed, Lyran units lie shattered. The Arcadian High King's best warriors were mauled in the Triad by our fallen Khan and the Archon is dead. But we did not take this world, nor can we without risking our best warriors against an approaching enemy hammer. We must pull back and prepare to defend our new den. We are Wolves, and none may enter our territory with impunity. The Arcadians will learn this lesson the same as every other foe we have repulsed over the centuries."
"Seyla," Yvonne Vickers agreed. The others soon echoed it.
"We are in agreement then. The withdrawal begins, now." Alaric waited to see if he had any opposition. None was voiced.
----
===Passion and Anger with Mother===
----
After tasking the subordinate commanders of Alpha and Beta Galaxies to their parts in the withdrawal, Alaric returned to his makeshift office. He toyed with leaving a ruin for the Lyran bureaucrat who would get it back, but such pettiness was beneath a Wolf warrior as cathartic as such a rampage might be.
He'd scarcely had time to sit before the door flew open. Katrina entered, her wizened face twisted into obvious fury. "You ordered a withdrawal," she said icily. It was an accusation, not an inquiry.
"Aff." Alaric said.
"Weakness," she spat. "Without a Bloodname, you will be destroyed for this."
"If we do not withdraw, we will be destroyed anyway when the Arcadians' reinforcements arrive." Alaric replied. His voice was blunt but cold. Do not try me! Not right now! "I will handle threats to my position as they come. But I can be nothing without my Clan."
"You have to do something!" she shouted. "Find a weak point! Throw another assault into the Triad and level it! Tharkad must fall or it must burn, or everything I worked for will be for nothing!"
Alaric glared up at her. "You? Everything you worked for? You worked for nothing!" He stood. "I am the warrior here! This is my work, you barely tested into the caste!"
"I got you your position, son." Katherine hissed. "I gave you life and I gave you the means to become what I should have been. Even if you fail me, at least be grateful for that!"
In a fit of temper Alaric's clenched fist shot forward. The blow shattered bone and teeth. Katherine fell backward, shock showing over her features as she hit the floor. Shock that turned to fear as Alaric reached down and grabbed her by the throat, forcing her up while his grip drew a pained gasp that he nearly extinguished with a tightening of his hand. "You made me as your weapon against the Inner Sphere," he said. "You made your ambitions mine and they still are mine, because I know my worth, my skill, and I know I surpass you. But know this, Mother. I am not you. I am a Clan warrior. The Wolf Clan is my clan, and I will see it and the worthy warriors within rise with me! So long as you are useful to that goal, I tolerate you, but do not delude yourself that you are worth anything beyond that. Speak on this again and I will kill you."
The fear and horror in her eyes spoke her understanding of what he said. He released her. She rubbed at her throat and her bloodied mouth. When she tried to speak she grimaced and winced.
"Your jaw may be broken. Report to a MedTech and see what they can do." Alaric clenched his fist reflexively, remembering the impact of his knuckles against the bone. "I will authorize all resources to see the bone set. Go."
With fury and fear showing in equal parts in her eyes, Katherine departed.
Foolish, he chided himself. I lost control. I must never lose control. Not now. The words helped him subdue the rage he felt within. His mind must be directed to the future. We have been defeated, but we remain strong. Another chance will come. The Arcadians are not unstoppable. We can defeat them. I must secure my place, I must have Seth Ward's Bloodname, so I must see to our successful extrication from Tharkad. He sat at the desk pondering that problem. They had the means to withdraw, but nothing to guarantee the foe would let them get away without further combat. Yet I cannot ask for hegira. It would be a disgrace, an admission of defeat that would destroy me. Nor will any of the others agree to such. No, I must make the enemy offer it on terms I can accept honorably. If only we had claimed more than that Lockheed factory, if we had managed the TharHes plants the Lyrans would be certain to offer hegira to get them back intact. He briefly considered launching an all-out strike to do just that, but as his hand reached for the comm control, he hesitated. No. That would simply cause greater losses. There has to be a better way. Something…
A memory teased him from the back of his brain. He took up his noteputer and started flipping through material. The Arcadians offered hegira to the Falcons twice, they say, but why? On Timkovichi it was a wider wager, but what of the other time? He checked the reports, primarily from their Sea Fox sources, on the Arcadians' prior battles with Falcons and Horses. Not at Morges, nor the first fight at Timkovichi. Hrm…Great X? He read the report on the battle and its outcome.
Then he read it a second time. A small smile formed on his face. There. That should work. He reached for the comm and keyed it on. "Send an order to all commands. Have those we have taken as isorla gathered and given a public counting. Then have them placed upon our DropShips."
Chance Vickers was quick with a reply. "Aff, Galaxy Commander."
Sentiment. Alaric thought of Spheroids and their sentiments. Yet we are not above it all, or my mother's corpse might very well still be cooling in the floor. It is something I will need to keep in mind.
----
===Taking Measure of Effects of the Final BattleThe Triad
24 June 3143
Nathaniel awoke the next morning, shook off his aches and pains, and performed his mourning routines with alacrity. His breakfast was appreciated more in filling his stomach than the taste and care of the Triad cooks who prepared it for him. Once he was fed and uniformed, he went straight for the War Room.
The main holotank was dominated by the map of Tharkad. The Wolves were no longer in the vicinity of Tharkad City proper, but in Bremen's south they held the Lockheed-CBM plant, and Delta Galaxy remained just outside artillery range of the TharHes plants. On the other side of the planet, it was noteworthy the fighting on Franz was reduced in intensity and mostly ceased on Heidelberg. The Second Proctor Guards are triumphant, then. Excellent, as we may need them here.
Jasek, Bridger, and Maurer were present already. As Nathaniel stepped up to them, another door opened and Julian walked in. Matthew and Roderick Steiner are presumably checking with field commanders, then. He accepted their salutes and returned them. "Any updates?"
"A reduction in skirmishing across the planet, and the Wolves are pulling back on some but not all fronts," Maurer said. "They are undoubtedly considering their position."
"It's not a good one, even if you don't count our incoming forces," Jasek added. "for all the lumps we took we've got a number of forces still combat ready. Over on Heidelberg they're in real bad straits, Zeta Galaxy's been rolled back and has lost a lot of their best in the fighting. They're on the defensive, which means we can pull the Second Proctor Guards over to Bremen. Honestly, if I were them, I'd be hoping to get offered hegira."
"That is, we would let them withdraw from the system peaceably?" Nathaniel asked.
"In this case, yes."
"What do you think?" Nathaniel asked the others.
"I want Lady Trillian's authorization, but I'm not entirely opposed," Maurer said. "The longer the Wolves fight on Tharkad, the more the Commonwealth shakes, and the more we risk a disaster. Their withdrawal will be of immense morale benefit to the populace and the LCAF. Yet it does mean we will have to meet their forces again, and this time they will be defending. Your incoming troops could, if we keep them here, ensure the Wolf Clan's collapse."
"Assuming they don't throw everything at the Triad and level it," Julian replied. "If Alaric decides it's all or nothing and commits to that, it's still an open question on if we could stop him from inflicting massive damage. It won't do any good to break the Wolves if the Commonwealth's wrecked too."
"Though it does mean a longer campaign to push them out of Lyran territory if they get away intact," Bridger said.
And the longer the campaign, the more pressure I will face from home to cut back our involvement, Nathaniel thought. He imagined the losses they'd taken here might be offset by victory in terms of popular morale, and the burning flame of outrage against the Clans would sustain support for some time, but over time the perception of the war as a drain on resources needed for the Royal Federation's defense would increase. Lord Arnold and his allies will see to that, he thought darkly.
The door opened once more. Roderick and Matthew entered, followed by Khan Patrik and Lady Trillian. Nathaniel wondered if she'd had a single wink of sleep given the bags under her eyes, no longer quite obscured by whatever makeup she'd applied for the sake of the holocams. "My position as Regent is confirmed as of this morning," she announced to the assembled. "There was a motion to name me Acting Archon but I successfully quashed it until we know more of my cousin's prognosis."
"It does seem little more than an issue of naming, Highness," Maurer said. "You are the highest political authority regardless and the named successor to Archon Melissa."
"Names, and words, have power we ignore at our peril," Trillian replied, glancing briefly to Nathaniel. Undoubtedly she remembered his coronation, or the many debates and matters that led up to that moment. "Regardless, I would hear any updates on the situation."
Maurer shook his head. "Nothing significant. The Wolves have not resumed any advance and we have some indication they may be planning to withdraw from Tharkad, though nothing is yet confirmed. We have dispatched reconnaissance flights to monitor their LZs as best as they can without triggering aerial interception."
"And our losses?"
"The First Royal Guards…" Maurer started in on the lost machine count, which he argued to be a preliminary but not absolutely final conclusion, before moving to personnel losses confirmed. Nathaniel felt sick at the numbers given. The death toll in uniformed personnel was in the thousands. Most were his age, young men and women who'd signed up to protect their nation, protect their worlds and homes, and had been burned to death, lasered, blasted, or obliterated by modern firepower. He could see Rutgers in his sickbed, half-conscious from painkillers as doctors checked the stump of what had once been his right arm before it was violently torn off by a Clan battle armor soldier. I marched out with forty-four MechWarriors, over two hundred vehicle crew, and another two hundred infantrymen. I lost ten of the MechWarriors and dozens of the other two. We held our ground but the price was just… oh Grandmother, is this what it was like for you? No wonder your heart was so hard.
He noted Julian had glanced his way. Before he could speak, Julian nodded. "'Nothing but a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.' Old wisdom I learned at NAMA."
"We're getting a flagged transmission from one of our recon flights," one of the war room techs announced, drawing the attention ot the worthies present. "The Clans appear to be loading their DropShips in at least one LZ."
"Put it on."
The image was clearly a magnified one from a suborbital aerospace craft. Occasional flashes of weapons fire made clear the Wolves were engaging these flights, and the camera image wobbled sometimes given the maneuvering needs of the craft taking the footage. For the most part the Clan OZ was what Naathaniel would expect, with the clustering of 'Mechs, vehicles, and other equipment, cargo and transport vehicles, figures milling around, and such.
Yet one thing stood out. Several rows of standing figures, bordered on all sides by battle-armored infantry. Nathaniel noted Bridger's jaw clench in fury, but the older general said nothing. The image enhanced and zoomed in enough that Nathaniel could make out the assembled were mostly in blue BDUs with a handful of greens and reds. He realized these weren't Clanners.
"They're loading POWs onto their ships," Roderick said. "What the hell for?"
"To get them out of the way and secured before loading their own troops," Maurer suggested. "It appears the Wolves have decided to retreat."
"Can we confirm this at all their LZs?" Nathaniel asked.
It took several minutes and a number of calls, during which little was said. More images came, some more or less detailed, and the number of captives fewer or greater, but always the same.
"It is odd," Patrik said. "You do not count isorla in this manner, not usually. It is done in their confines before they are distributed to the capturing warriors and units."
"So they are being made slaves?" Nathaniel asked.
Patrik grimaced. "No. It is… hard to explain to one not of the Clans. Or, perhaps, easy to explain and hard to understand," he said delicately. "To be taken as bondsman is an honourable state, according to our redes and laws as the Great Father and the Founders set them down. To take a warrior as a bondsman is recognition of their honour and skill, a declaration that you believe them to be a valued addition to your Clan. It is often the Way that the warrior who took a bondsman is made responsible for educating them in the traditions of their new Clan, and learning from them in turn, if done as it should be in guiding a bondsman to the restoration of their status as a warrior. Synthesising something new and stronger out of the best of both traditions. The exact nature has had to change somewhat since our return to the Inner Sphere, but it has worked well for many involved. Phelan Kell was a mere pup, angry at the world, when he came among us. Yet it was the making of him, as a warrior and a leader." He smiled softly, before his expression hardened. "But this seems more a mockery. The Crusaders know we are observing them. They are displaying their isorla to us to goad us into something, or taunt us."
"And if someone refuses to join the new Clan?"
"Under the Clan tradition they are allowed bondsref."
"That's what Malvina demanded," Nathaniel recalled. "She wanted us to let her kill herself."
"Yes. Refusing the bondcord requires death." Patrik turned his head to face Nathaniel. "This offends you?"
"It is slavery," Nathaniel retorted. "Offering death as an alternative to being required to serve is nothing but that."
"It is not the same for a Clan warrior," Patrik replied. "Warriors from most Clans recognize it as a gesture of honor and do not refuse the bond. They would rather regain warrior status and continue efforts to win glory and a chance for a Bloodname; even if they truly wished to return to the Clan of their birth, as a warrior there would be more options to arrange their return in honour. 'Where there is life, there is hope' is the saying, if I recall rightly. Those Clans most known for refusal were regarded as our more… unhinged brethren. The Blood Spirits, the Fire Mandrills. Formidable warriors, and honourable in their own ways, from what the Remembrance says, but too rigid to bend before they broke." Patrik gestured to the images. "But again, it is nothing like this. The Crusaders have long lost their connection to what it means to be Clan, to follow the Way of Kerensky. This is dezgra behavior."
"I wouldn't be shocked if they're hoping to browbeat some of our boys into signing onto their warrior caste," Jasek said. "They've done it before. Might be harder if it's clear we're winning now, but for a chance to get better grub, better treatment? And if it means they don't get used as forced labor? Some might just say yes."
"I can't allow this," Nathaniel said. "We must get our people back."
"If even the Falcons would accept prisoner exchanges, would these Crusader Wolves do it?" Bridger asked. "We managed it on Great X and Timkovichi."
To Nathaniel's surprise, Patrik let out a booming laugh that thundered over the room. "Chalcas son of a Blakist, I would almost congratulate your cunning if it were not sich utterly dezgra behaviour."
Trillian recovered from surprise at the man's action. "Khan Patrik?"
"I will place my armour as isorla for the bid that the Sea Foxes have sold as much information to Alaric and the Crusaders as they have to us. That would include your warriors' campaign against the Falcons," Patrik said. "They would know about the actions on Great X and Morges, and the insistence on prisoner exchanges. Alaric is doing this to goad you, High King Nathaniel. He knows you will want your people back, so he has arranged this display so you will ask him for a prisoner exchange; or possibly as a provocation to an unwise bid of single combat, but I suspect the former is his first thought." The Wolf Khan scowled. "Alaric thinks like a Liao, not a Ward, whatever ancestry he claims. All he has to do is refuse every offer until you include hegira. Then he gets his surviving warriors back as well as the honorable withdrawal he and the other Crusader commanders need to avoid dishonor."
"I see." Nathaniel nodded. "Yes, I do see. Clever of him."
"He has a reputation for it," Jasek said. "I, for one, don't like the idea of giving him what he wants."
"Nor do I. But we have a duty to our soldiers that transcends such. Getting our people back matters more."
"Alternatively, our prisoners will not be returned to Clan 'Mechs to cause us greater loss in future battles," Maurer said. "And we can always liberate captured POWs during our advance."
"Assuming these Crusader Wolves do not butcher them as the Falcons did on Great X and Morges," Nathaniel retorted. "And what would it say to our troops that we will let their comrades be carried of to keep a few dozen of our own prisoners?"
"Relief that we are not forcing them to fight such enemies again?" Maurer suggested sharply.
Nathaniel swept his eyes towards the others. "And what do you say?"
"Maurer's right that we'd be letting Alaric walk free and get a bunch of very good MechWarriors and aerospace pilots back," said Roderick. "But some of our people are pretty good too, and I'd like to get them back in action on our side. Plus it'd look good for morale."
Bridger nodded. "I'm with you, Majesty. We don't abandon our people."
Nathaniel patiently waited for the others, or Trillian, to speak. Patrik was the next to do so. "While vengeance is owed for this, honour counsels that our obligations to our warriors must come first. I believe that the offer of hegira is the best course open to us, for now. Afterwards," one slab-like fist clenched unconsciously, in a manner reminiscent of an Elemental battleclaw gripping and crushing. "Afterwards, we can settle our accounts, to the fullest measure, with the Crusaders." The expression that crossed Patrik Fetladral's features at that could only by a very loose definition be called a smile.
"I say we make him sweeten the pot, then," Matthew said. "Make them pull out of the Lockheed plant without taking a single damn thing. No loot, no salvage. They give us our people back, we return theirs, and they get the hell off Tharkad."
"Alaric may be required to demand yet more in return for that," Patrik warned.
"Then he gets nothing, we start hitting the LZs to get our people out, and we hold him here until the reinforcements come. I'm sure he knows we've got people coming and he wants out before we bring that hammer down."
"What do you think he will ask for in addition, Khan Patrik?" Nathaniel asked.
"A truce, so that he can graduate another class of warriors and gain a chance to secure a Bloodname and become Khan," Patrik replied. "He is highly regarded as a ristar and only Seth Ward's political power and the lack of a Ward Bloodright opening up has kept him from that so far."
"Hell no to that," Matthew insisted. "It'd destroy our campaign planning, he'd get to dig in."
"Agreed. I swore to liberate those worlds and I will not let him even entertain keeping them, nor would I expect Lady Trillian to agree to such."
"Indeed not," Trillian concurred. "A truce is out of the question. But if he agrees to a prisoner exchange and leaving the captured factories intact, I agree to grant hegira, and will communicate the offer."
"While it is your decision, Lady Trillian, I would suggest General Roderick, Marshal Julian, and High King Nathaniel transmit the offer," Patrik said. "It was their forces that protected the Triad, and it was Nathaniel who slew Khan Ward in battle. Their offer will be taken more seriously and as having all required honor."
"Very well," Trillian said. "I leave it to you, gentlemen."
"Any reason to delay?" Nathaniel asked the older men.
"None, Majesty," Roderick said. "Let's make the call."===
----
The Triad, Tharkad City
----
The Royal Palace Hospital was typically not so crowded. Nathaniel, now in a uniform jacket of "duty reds" over his cooling suit and in the company of his cousin Matthew and Roderick Steiner, walked through halls lined with military and civilian nurses dealing with injured and wounded soldiers. Most were quietly considering their wounds or resting, some even seemed asleep. Nathaniel sympathized with that. I feel like I should sleep a day right now. My instructors at Ayrshire were quite accurate about the "post-battle crash".
Armed bodyguards saw them through checkpoints until they arrived at the door to the hospital's Royal Suite. Khan Patrik and Jasek were waiting there, the former stone-faced and quiet and the latter frowning with uncertainty. Nathaniel saw Jasek's eyes move to the side and turned in time to see Julian Davion approach. The older man looked like he'd aged half a decade compared to when they'd last seen one another. His right arm was set into a sling. "Thank you, Marshal Davion," Nathaniel said. "My Lifeguards and I owe you."
"You don't." Julian answered in a quiet, somber tone. "Without you, the Wolves would have captured the Triad. You and your guards made the difference between victory and defeat for us all."
"Would that it had not cost us so much." Nathaniel knew that Lieutenant Rutgers was somewhere in the hospital, mutilated and half-dead from the Wolf battle armor warriors that had broken into his fallen 'Mech's cockpit to silence his weapons. Harold Grayston would be with him by now. I will have to find them when this is over. And Colonel Laughlin. He should be in one of the rooms by now given Colonel Winfield's description of his injuries. But first things first.
Jasek led them inside. Nathaniel noted Trillian and Martin Kell seated beside the bed in the center. "Good Lord," he murmured at the sight there. Archon Melissa was mercifully asleep in the bed. Most of her body was contained in a cast of plaster, with visible catheter and breathing tubes set into the hospital bed's frame. An IV line continued a steady drip of medications to circulate into Melissa's body. Her head was likewise covered in bandages, and the part that wasn't bore red and purple flesh from extensive bruising. "What happened?"
"One of the Wolf 'Mechs brought down the roof and wall behind the throne." Martin replied hoarsely. "She was hit by debris immediately. She'd be dead if not for a couple battle armor-clad guards throwing themselves over her. Their armor and bodies shielded her from the worst of it." Martin nodded to Nathaniel. "One of the soldiers was yours. I'm afraid she didn't survive."
"God rest her soul," Nathaniel sighed. "And Archon Melissa?"
"Stable," Trillian replied. Her eyes were distant. "Multiple internal injuries and fractured bones. An emergency X-ray confirmed multiple fractures in her spine as well as arms, legs, and ribs. Another scan will be done to confirm potential damage to her brain and skull from blows."
"Dammit all," Roderick swore. "She should have sought shelter."
"She did as she thought her honor demanded." Patrik replied in his customary bass rumble. "She endangered her life as surkai for her mistakes, and it would be wrong to deny her that."
"Surkai?" asked Nathaniel.
"Asking forgiveness for mistake, error, or misconduct," Martin answered. "You usually offer or accept a punishment, after which the Clan considers all to be forgiven and will not hold the matter against the offender anymore. The whole thing falls under the idea of surkairede."
"That is true as to the substance of it, aff," Patrik said. "It is a matter of balancing the scales of honor."
"The Clan idea of penance, then," Nathaniel said.
"Aff." Patrik clenched a fist. "The Crusader MechWarrior who brought the roof down did not live to claim honor for it. I claimed her life in the battle. Rest assured of that."
"Right now the important thing is to figure out what happens next," Jasek said. "Maurer and Bridger are seeing to reorganizing our defenses. All of our units took severe lumps, especially when the Wolves started their fighting retreat. It was everything we could do to keep the First Royal Guards from wrecking themselves trying to stop Alpha Galaxy's escape after word came the Archon had been hurt. If the Wolves call in their other troops and try this again we'll need to call in reinforcements from the rest of the planet."
"I'm not sure they will, not if they're smart," Matthew said. "Admiral Abdul-Jabbar radioed earlier today that the Wolves just had some extra ships jump in. He figures them for scouts and is inquiring with our incoming troops if they spotted any jumps in time with them. If they answer yes, I imagine it means the Wolves know we've got troops and ships coming up that can join the defense of Tharkad, and if they don't want to get caught burning out-system they'd better leave now."
"Which set of reinforcements?" Nathaniel asked. He broadly remembered the other units coming up, but depending on how well recharges went, he couldn't be sure who was coming first.
Matthew grinned at him. "First Royal Guards, plus three of mine; Proctor Heavy Guards, First Proctor Guards, and Proctor Light Horse. Further back, the Proctor Assault Guards and Bolan Heavy Guards are at Upano with the Second Strikers. Not to mention our little surprise that headed onward." Given their location the grin faded once the moment was past. "The Wolves had their shot and they missed. They either fall back or we're going to mulch the lot of them right here, end this war here and now."
"We have to be ready if they decide to make an all-or-nothing push here instead," Julian said. "How fast can the other formations on-planet get here?"
Jasek shook his head. "It varies. Most of the Arcadian Rangers are already in positions around Tharkad City, and we're rotating in the Second Royal Guards and a couple of our composites. But a lot of the composite units got hurt fighting the Wolves in the south of Bremen. We can use them as a final line of defense but I'm not confident putting them up against the best of Alpha and Beta Galaxies."
"Our people on Franz and Heidelberg are putting together rapid reaction forces to send our way if we need it." Matthew added.
"Do what you must," Trillian said. She stood. While she'd not been in combat, Nathaniel thought she looked as tired as he felt. "I have to speak with the Commonwealth Council and prepare the official statement to the Estates General and the populace. It will hurt morale, but it cannot be hidden, not after what happened with Vedet. I will have to assume a regency until Melissa is fit to govern."
"It might hurt us just as much as losing her would," Martin said.
"Maybe, but faith in the Commonwealth has already declined enough. And I will not claim the title of Acting Archon," Trillian insisted. "Not until I must. Vedet has poisoned that title too greatly and too recently."
"You will have my firmest support, Lady Trillian," Nathaniel assured her. Julian nodded in agreement as well.
"Thank you. Please, keep me informed of further developments." With a final nod she departed. 
One by one the others did so as well, filing out of the Royal Suite and leaving the badly-hurt occupant to her rest. Nathaniel watched them head out while waiting to see if he could find an unoccupied nurse. That seemed to prompt Julian's attention, who turned back to Nathaniel. "Waiting for something?"
"I want to visit some of my troops who are being attended to, I was waiting to speak to someone who might point me out to them," he answered. "I almost lost a lancemate, I owe it to the man to visit him at his sickbed."
"Right." Julian nodded. "I meant what I said before. Your unit made the difference here."
"They did. But perhaps they would have done yet more if I were a better leader in combat." Nathaniel took a moment to consider what he'd just said, what he'd just admitted to. "I'm not a warrior like you and my cousin Matthew. Not at heart. I never wanted war. I've hated it for so long, hated what it did to my family, to my grandmother and mother and everyone else who lost…" He stopped and lowered his head. "I don't even remember my father. I was too young to remember him when he went off to fight… to die."
"I understand more than you know," Julian replied. "I’ve spent most of my adult life fighting to keep the peace of the Suns. But, in the end, it takes two people to do that; I can’t say I know how this applies to your side of the Glass, but trying to maintain a ‘peace’ that the other side rejects rarely works for long.” A sigh. “You remind me a little of my uncle, Prince Harrison. He didn't want war either, did everything in his power to hold back the March lords. Maybe, probably, more than he should have given some of the things I’ve -" Julian stopped, shook himself. “That’s not important. I guess the point is, as a ruler, you’ve got to try and do what’s right, based on what you know, more than anything else.”
"They call me naive back home. They say I'm going to be a failure to my people," Nathaniel said. "That I won't protect them from the Dracs, or the Dowager and the Capellans. I don't want that, I don't want war but I do want to protect my people. But maybe… My first battle and I not only nearly die, I get some of my own soldiers killed trying to save my life."
"They made that choice for themselves." said Julian. "Twice, actually; the first time when they volunteered for the Lifeguards, and the second on the field at the Narrows. If you want to be worthy of that, I’d suggest starting by accepting that your guardsmen had a part in it. And you weren’t just ballast, anyway. I haven’t studied the battleROM footage in any kind of detail, but you are aware that a Donegal Broadcasting crew was covering the whole thing, yes? You brought down a Khan - the first Wolf Khan to fall in battle against our forces for almost a century. That counts for a lot, and it’s going to be making its way across the Commonwealth - and into the Clan OZs, if I know Lohengrin - as fast as the discs can be printed. It’s a shot in the arm for morale the Lyrans need, and need badly, right now."
"I hope so," Nathaniel said. "As things stand, I'm not eager to fight them again, though we must." He drew in a breath. "I can't go home until I honor my pledge. The Wolves' captive worlds have to be liberated, and their bondsmen. Otherwise I make a mockery of what I've promised to my people."
“And that’s the side of ruling that nobody who wants it ever thinks about,” Julian nodded. “Obligations weigh heavier than power. And now,” his expression shifted, becoming more somber. “I believe we both have wounded to visit.”
----
===Position of Succession and Plans going forward===
The Triad
24th June, 3143
----
Nathaniel awoke the next morning, shook off his aches and pains, and performed his mourning routines with alacrity. His breakfast was appreciated more in filling his stomach than the taste and care of the Triad cooks who prepared it for him. Once he was fed and uniformed, he went straight for the War Room.
The main holotank was dominated by the map of Tharkad. The Wolves were no longer in the vicinity of Tharkad City proper, but in Bremen's south they held the Lockheed-CBM plant, and Delta Galaxy remained just outside artillery range of the TharHes plants. On the other side of the planet, it was noteworthy the fighting on Franz was reduced in intensity and mostly ceased on Heidelberg. The Second Proctor Guards are triumphant, then. Excellent, as we may need them here.
Jasek, Bridger, and Maurer were present already. As Nathaniel stepped up to them, another door opened and Julian walked in. Matthew and Roderick Steiner are presumably checking with field commanders, then. He accepted their salutes and returned them. "Any updates?"
"A reduction in skirmishing across the planet, and the Wolves are pulling back on some but not all fronts," Maurer said. "They are undoubtedly considering their position."
"It's not a good one, even if you don't count our incoming forces," Jasek added. "For all the lumps we took we've got a number of forces still combat ready. Over on Heidelberg they're in real bad straits, Zeta Galaxy's been rolled back and has lost a lot of their best in the fighting. They're on the defensive, which means we can pull the Second Proctor Guards over to Bremen. Honestly, if I were them, I'd be hoping to get offered hegira."
"That is, we would let them withdraw from the system peaceably?" Nathaniel asked.
"In this case, yes."
"What do you think?" Nathaniel asked the others.
"I want Lady Trillian's authorization, but I'm not entirely opposed." Maurer said. "The longer the Wolves fight on Tharkad, the more the Commonwealth shakes, and the more we risk a disaster. Their withdrawal will be of immense morale benefit to the populace and the LCAF. Yet it does mean we will have to meet their forces again, and this time they will be defending. Your incoming troops could, if we keep them here, ensure the Wolf Clan's collapse."
"Assuming they don't throw everything at the Triad and level it," Julian replied. "If Alaric decides it's all or nothing and commits to that, it's still an open question on if we could stop him from inflicting massive damage. It won't do any good to break the Wolves if the Commonwealth's wrecked too."
"Though it does mean a longer campaign to push them out of Lyran territory if they get away intact." Bridger said.
And the longer the campaign, the more pressure I will face from home to cut back our involvement, Nathaniel thought. He imagined the losses they'd taken here might be offset by victory in terms of popular morale, and the burning flame of outrage against the Clans would sustain support for some time, but over time the perception of the war as a drain on resources needed for the Royal Federation's defense would increase. Lord Arnold and his allies will see to that, he thought darkly.
The door opened once more. Roderick and Matthew entered, followed by Khan Patrik and Lady Trillian. Nathaniel wondered if she'd had a single wink of sleep given the bags under her eyes, no longer quite obscured by whatever makeup she'd applied for the sake of the holocams. "My position as Regent is confirmed as of this morning," she announced to the assembled. "There was a motion to name me Acting Archon but I successfully quashed it until we know more of my cousin's prognosis."
"It does seem little more than an issue of naming, Highness," Maurer said. "You are the highest political authority regardless and the named successor to Archon Melissa."
"Names, and words, have power we ignore at our peril," Trillian replied, glancing briefly to Nathaniel. Undoubtedly she remembered his coronation, or the many debates and matters that led up to that moment. "Regardless, I would hear any updates on the situation."
Maurer shook his head. "Nothing significant. The Wolves have not resumed any advance and we have some indication they may be planning to withdraw from Tharkad, though nothing is yet confirmed. We have dispatched reconnaissance flights to monitor their LZs as best as they can without triggering aerial interception."
"And our losses?"
"The First Royal Guards…" Maurer started in on the lost machine count, which he argued to be a preliminary but not absolutely final conclusion, before moving to personnel losses confirmed. Nathaniel felt sick at the numbers given. The death toll in uniformed personnel was in the thousands. Most were his age, young men and women who'd signed up to protect their nation, protect their worlds and homes, and had been burned to death, lasered, blasted, or obliterated by modern firepower. He could see Rutgers in his sickbed, half-conscious from painkillers as doctors checked the stump of what had once been his right arm before it was violently torn off by a Clan Battle Armor soldier. I marched out with forty-four MechWarriors, over two hundred vehicle crew, and another two hundred infantrymen. I lost ten of the MechWarriors and dozens of the other two. We held our ground but the price was just… oh Grandmother, is this what it was like for you? No wonder your heart was so hard.
He noted Julian had glanced his way. Before he could speak, Julian nodded. "'Nothing but a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.' Old wisdom I learned at NAMA."
"We're getting a flagged transmission from one of our recon flights," one of the war room techs announced, drawing the attention ot the worthies present. "The Clans appear to be loading their DropShips in at least one LZ."
"Put it on."
The image was clearly a magnified one from a suborbital aerospace craft. Occasional flashes of weapons fire made clear the Wolves were engaging these flights, and the camera image wobbled sometimes given the maneuvering needs of the craft taking the footage. For the most part the Clan OZ was what Naathaniel would expect, with the clustering of 'Mechs, vehicles, and other equipment, cargo and transport vehicles, figures milling around, and such.
Yet one thing stood out. Several rows of standing figures, bordered on all sides by battle-armored infantry. Nathaniel noted Bridger's jaw clench in fury, but the older general said nothing. The image enhanced and zoomed in enough that Nathaniel could make out the assembled were mostly in blue BDUs with a handful of greens and reds. He realized these weren't Clanners.
"They're loading POWs onto their ships," Roderick said. "What the hell for?"
"To get them out of the way and secured before loading their own troops," Maurer suggested. "It appears the Wolves have decided to retreat."
"Can we confirm this at all their LZs?" Nathaniel asked.
It took several minutes and a number of calls, during which little was said. More images came, some more or less detailed, and the number of captives fewer or greater, but always the same.
"It is odd," Patrik said. "You do not count isorla in this manner, not usually. It is done in their confines before they are distributed to the capturing warriors and units."
"So they are being made slaves?" Nathaniel asked.
Patrik grimaced. "No. It is… hard to explain to one not of the Clans. Or, perhaps, easy to explain and hard to understand," he said delicately. "To be taken as bondsman is an honourable state, according to our redes and laws as the Great Father and the Founders set them down. To take a warrior as a bondsman is recognition of their honour and skill, a declaration that you believe them to be a valued addition to your Clan. It is often the Way that the warrior who took a bondsman is made responsible for educating them in the traditions of their new Clan, and learning from them in turn, if done as it should be in guiding a bondsman to the restoration of their status as a warrior. Synthesising something new and stronger out of the best of both traditions. The exact nature has had to change somewhat since our return to the Inner Sphere, but it has worked well for many involved. Phelan Kell was a mere pup, angry at the world, when he came among us. Yet it was the making of him, as a warrior and a leader." He smiled softly, before his expression hardened. "But this seems more a mockery. The Crusaders know we are observing them. They are displaying their isorla to us to goad us into something, or taunt us."
"And if someone refuses to join the new Clan?"
"Under the Clan tradition they are allowed bondsref."
"That's what Malvina demanded," Nathaniel recalled. "She wanted us to let her kill herself."
"Yes. Refusing the bondcord requires death." Patrik turned his head to face Nathaniel. "This offends you?"
"It is slavery," Nathaniel retorted. "Offering death as an alternative to being required to serve is nothing but that."
"It is not the same for a Clan warrior." Patrik replied. "Warriors from most Clans recognize it as a gesture of honor and do not refuse the bond. They would rather regain warrior status and continue efforts to win glory and a chance for a Bloodname; even if they truly wished to return to the Clan of their birth, as a warrior there would be more options to arrange their return in honour. 'Where there is life, there is hope' is the saying, if I recall rightly. Those Clans most known for refusal were regarded as our more… unhinged brethren. The Blood Spirits, the Fire Mandrills. Formidable warriors, and honourable in their own ways, from what the Remembrance says, but too rigid to bend before they broke." Patrik gestured to the images. "But again, it is nothing like this. The Crusaders have long lost their connection to what it means to be Clan, to follow the Way of Kerensky. This is dezgra behavior."
"I wouldn't be shocked if they're hoping to browbeat some of our boys into signing onto their warrior caste," Jasek said. "They've done it before. Might be harder if it's clear we're winning now, but for a chance to get better grub, better treatment? And if it means they don't get used as forced labor? Some might just say yes."
"I can't allow this," Nathaniel said. "We must get our people back."
"If even the Falcons would accept prisoner exchanges, would these Crusader Wolves do it?" Bridger asked. "We managed it on Great X and Timkovichi."
To Nathaniel's surprise, Patrik let out a booming laugh that thundered over the room. "Chalcas son of a Blakist, I would almost congratulate your cunning if it were not sich utterly dezgra behaviour."
Trillian recovered from surprise at the man's action. "Khan Patrik?"
"I will place my armour as isorla for the bid that the Sea Foxes have sold as much information to Alaric and the Crusaders as they have to us. That would include your warriors' campaign against the Falcons," Patrik said. "They would know about the actions on Great X and Morges, and the insistence on prisoner exchanges. Alaric is doing this to goad you, High King Nathaniel. He knows you will want your people back, so he has arranged this display so you will ask him for a prisoner exchange; or possibly as a provocation to an unwise bid of single combat, but I suspect the former is his first thought." The Wolf Khan scowled. "Alaric thinks like a Liao, not a Ward, whatever ancestry he claims. All he has to do is refuse every offer until you include hegira. Then he gets his surviving warriors back as well as the honorable withdrawal he and the other Crusader commanders need to avoid dishonor."
"I see." Nathaniel nodded. "Yes, I do see. Clever of him."
"He has a reputation for it," Jasek said. "I, for one, don't like the idea of giving him what he wants."
"Nor do I. But we have a duty to our soldiers that transcends such. Getting our people back matters more."
"Alternatively, our prisoners will not be returned to Clan 'Mechs to cause us greater loss in future battles," Maurer said. "And we can always liberate captured POWs during our advance."
"Assuming these Crusader Wolves do not butcher them as the Falcons did on Great X and Morges," Nathaniel retorted. "And what would it say to our troops that we will let their comrades be carried of to keep a few dozen of our own prisoners?"
"Relief that we are not forcing them to fight such enemies again?" Maurer suggested sharply.
Nathaniel swept his eyes towards the others. "And what do you say?"
"Maurer's right that we'd be letting Alaric walk free and get a bunch of very good MechWarriors and aerospace pilots back," said Roderick. "but some of our people are pretty good too, and I'd like to get them back in action on our side. Plus it'd look good for morale."
Bridger nodded. "I'm with you, Majesty. We don't abandon our people."
Nathaniel patiently waited for the others, or Trillian, to speak. Patrik was the next to do so. "While vengeance is owed for this, honour counsels that our obligations to our warriors must come first. I believe that the offer of hegira is the best course open to us, for now. Afterwards," one slab-like fist clenched unconsciously, in a manner reminiscent of an Elemental battleclaw gripping and crushing. "Afterwards, we can settle our accounts, to the fullest measure, with the Crusaders." The expression that crossed Patrik Fetladral's features at that could only by a very loose definition be called a smile.
"I say we make him sweeten the pot, then," Matthew said. "Make them pull out of the Lockheed plant without taking a single damn thing. No loot, no salvage. They give us our people back, we return theirs, and they get the hell off Tharkad."
"Alaric may be required to demand yet more in return for that." Patrik warned.
"Then he gets nothing, we start hitting the LZs to get our people out, and we hold him here until the reinforcements come. I'm sure he knows we've got people coming and he wants out before we bring that hammer down."
"What do you think he will ask for in addition, Khan Patrik?" Nathaniel asked.
"A truce, so that he can graduate another class of warriors and gain a chance to secure a Bloodname and become Khan," Patrik replied. "He is highly regarded as a ristar and only Seth Ward's political power and the lack of a Ward Bloodright opening up has kept him from that so far."
"Hell no to that," Matthew insisted. "It'd destroy our campaign planning, he'd get to dig in."
"Agreed. I swore to liberate those worlds and I will not let him even entertain keeping them, nor would I expect Lady Trillian to agree to such."
"Indeed not," Trillian concurred. "A truce is out of the question. But if he agrees to a prisoner exchange and leaving the captured factories intact, I agree to grant hegira, and will communicate the offer."
"While it is your decision, Lady Trillian, I would suggest General Roderick, Marshal Julian, and High King Nathaniel transmit the offer," Patrik said. "It was their forces that protected the Triad, and it was Nathaniel who slew Khan Ward in battle. Their offer will be taken more seriously and as having all required honor."
"Very well," Trillian said. "I leave it to you, gentlemen."
"Any reason to delay?" Nathaniel asked the older men.
"None, Majesty," Roderick said. "Let's make the call."
----
Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter
EMCOTS-2 12