GblaRCS Chpt 47

==Guided by the light of a (Red) Cameron Star - Chapter 47 -==
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"We are not as brothers, the Widowmakers and the Ghost Bears, we are brothers."Joint Declaration of saKhan Hans Jorgensson of Clan Ghost Bear and saKhan Cal Jorgensson of Clan Widowmaker - 2842CE
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===Clans' Reflect on intelligence from Inner Sphere===
Hall of Khans – Strana Mechty, Clan Homeworlds – 2840
"While our reconnaissance team should be commended for carrying out their mission in an exemplary manner" Khan Kesar Jerricho of Clan Coyote spoke up, "about the only good thing I can say regarding the intelligence they have brought back is that at least the deployment of nuclear ordnance by the Traitor Lords seems to have been scaled back somewhat" he observed.
"If I was more certain that was because they were starting to regain their sanity, rather than simply running out of targets actually worth expending thermonuclear weapons on, I would view that knowledge in a more positive light." Sandra Tseng of the Ghost Bears responded wryly.
"I would have to concur with Khan Tseng." ilKhan Nicholas Kerensky added for himself. "This so-called Second Succession War that has now raged in the Inner Sphere for a decade, and which shows no sign of ending anytime soon, is no less horrifying to me than the mindless slaughter of the First Succession War was when we learned of it five years ago" he said. "That fewer continents are routinely scorched by thermonuclear fire, fewer worlds are poisoned with chemical and biological weapons and fewer cities are devastated by orbital bombardment than before is likely due as much, if not more, from a lack of capability as it is a sudden recognition of basic morality" he opined, the assembled khans nodding their agreement.
"As regards orbital bombardment capability in particular," James McKenna of the Snow Ravens interjected, "judging by the intelligence data our operatives collected it is logical, indeed undeniable, that the navies of the Great Houses are incapable of fielding anything close to the number of warships they used to." he suggested. "During the First Succession War fleet actions were seemingly commonplace, certainly in the early decades of that conflict at least, now however for even a single warship to be deployed into combat seems to be a noteworthy event much spoken of."
Rafe Kardaan of the Cloud Cobras nodded. "They threw too many of them away attaining pyrrhic victories that proffered only short-term advantage and now cannot replace their losses because their shipyards are evidently just debris in decaying orbit for the most part" he concurred. After the Snow Ravens the Cloud Cobras were the clan that most concentrated their focus on the arena of aerospace warfare rather than ground combat and viewed the universe through a similar prism. Holding the high ground was the best way to achieve dominance.
"Their merchant fleets have suffered less but are still demonstrably only a shadow of what they were" the khan of Clan Sea Fox, Karen Nagasawa, chipped in. "Based on admittedly limited data my analysts conclude that their economies have most likely been as devastated by the precipitous drop in interstellar trade resulting from losses to JumpShips as they were destruction of industrial facilities. Planets that were once economically vibrant and productive wither on the vine for the lack of shipping needed to transport raw materials and finished products." 
"Given that this economic strife has not resulted in a noticeable slackening of their constant warfare against each other, my assumption is that they heavily priorities their remaining resources towards their military at the expense of the standard of living of their civilians" Kerensky said then paused for a moment looking thoughtful. "It could be said that we do the same, I am sure many a malcontent would contend so, but our people are not starving to death by the millions amidst cratered radioactive hellscapes, nor are they dying of thirst in droves for the lack of basic water-purification technology" he stated, looking suitably appalled by the reality of life across much of the Inner Sphere these days. "The society we created is one of warriors, based upon martial competition, but with the goal of creating a military able protect civilization from any threat, not to war mindlessly with itself while civilisation collapses around us" he continued, now looking to khan of the Coyotes. "Your clans innovation zellbrigen, Khan Jerricho, which I embraced after Klondike and the needless death of my brother, seeks to limit losses of lives and resources so that we do not spiral into the kind of apocalyptic madness and mindless slaughter that has befallen the Inner Sphere, and we need only look to the current state of what was once the glory that was the Star League to see what happens if war is practiced without restraint" he said, casting his eyes towards the holographic projection of the colonized star-systems within a thousand light-years of Terra that currently dominated the hall.
As well as the stars themselves the projection showed the route that the reconnaissance mission had taken. Two Tramp JumpShips belonging to the clans, both armed and equipped with lithium-fusion batteries though disguised as mere periphery traders, had followed the Exodus Road back towards the Inner Sphere together, only separating as they neared the Draconis Combine.
One of the two vessels had started at Knutstad and then skirted the Inner Sphere in an anti-clockwise as far as Icar and Steelton, systems that once been part of the fallen Rim Worlds Republic but now belonged to the Lyran Commonwealth. Meanwhile the other Jumpship began at Farstar and travelled clockwise, eventually passing through the territory of the Outworlds Alliance as far as Haynesville in the Federated Suns.
The intelligence they had brought back was considerable, far more than the previous mission had obtained five years before. Although they had deliberately not penetrated more than a jump or two into any of the Successor States at any point, mostly for fear of encountering naval forces and being potentially unmasked, they had gathered data relating to the current situation in the Inner Sphere as far away as the Magistracy of Canopus which seemed to be coping better than most.
As for the rest of the near periphery most of the former Rim Worlds Republic had fallen to brigandage and piracy, with only those systems annexed by the Lyran Commonwealth retaining some semblance of order. The Outworlds Alliance was falling apart, with Wynn's Roost seceding and most the Trader's Domain region following them and the Taurian Concordat was apparently stuck in an inward-looking decline and still somehow convinced that Davion was going to invade them any second despite the Federated Suns being far too busy already fighting the Draconis Combine and the Capellan Confederation. 
Meanwhile, the so-called Pirate Kingdoms such as the Tortuga Dominions were enjoying a Golden Age, raiding with near impunity as the exploited the military weakness of the Great Houses in their periphery regions. According to the pirates the clan scouts had captured, interrogated and subsequently executed near Star's End, the only exception to that situation was apparently in the region between the Magistracy and the Illyrian Palatinate. That area was reputedly the Bermuda Triangle of space if you were of a buccaneer persuasion, pirate bands that went in had a nasty habit of never being seen again and as word of that had spread few still chanced it.
As regards intelligence on the Great Houses themselves simply the opportunity to collect newspapers in Steiner and Davion controlled space had proved extremely fruitful, certainly more so than it had before on worlds belonging to House Kurita where public access to information was much more tightly controlled. Stories concerning the HPG Interdiction that ComStar, the former SLCOMNET had placed on the Free Worlds League recently and its effects were of particular interest to the clans since it demonstrated that ComStar was no mere observer but an active participant in the affairs of the Inner Sphere.
Nicholas Kerensky looked away from the starmap. "Based on what we have learned my opinion remains unchanged that the clans have a moral obligation to return to the Inner Sphere on day, end this destructive Second Age of War, impose order and restore the Star League." he declared before sighing. "Unfortunately however, it is my belief that the combined militaries of the so-called Successor States still outweigh our own forces by too much to believe that we are in any position to attempt such an undertaking with any realistic chance of success" he added. "Quantity has a quality all its own, and what they lack in weapons technology and skill they more than make up for in sheer numbers" he said, feigning regret. "Are there any among you that disagree, quineg?"
The assembled khans chorused 'neg' is response, all of a like mind, although many of them were looking at Ellie Kinnison of the Steel Vipers as they did so, thinking that if anyone there was crazy enough to think that they could actually conquer the Inner Sphere it would be her.
"On a more positive note, the precipitous reduction in their naval strength and their apparent inability to replace their losses does provide some hope" Nicholas Kerensky told the Grand Council. "Not only does it mean our naval strength is unmatched, the fact that they threw away their warships in foolhardy frontal attacks, heedless of the loss of capability that resulted from doing so, leads me to believe that they may do the same for other increasingly irreplaceable assets."
"From what we have learned they certainly do not shy away from squandering their Battlemech regiments in unfavorable terrain" Elizabeth Hazen of the Jade Falcons observed, checking her notes. "At some point you might expect the Combine to realise that the mountains and dense jungles of Hesperus heavily favor defense, but they just keep flinging themselves against the Lyran Commonwealth there over and over" she said, rolling her eyes. "The Steiner forces can literally replace their own losses straight out of the factory and their casualties are always lower in every engagement because Kurita has to come to them."
"Their supposed sense of honor and an unwillingness to ever retreat even when it is foolish not to blinds them" the khan of Clan Blood Spirit, Colleen Schmitt, noted. "As you all know I am not exactly one to downplay the importance of honor and duty," she continued to polite laughter, "but our tradition of hegira, allowing retreat without dishonor, exists for a reason. There are times when everyone sane must recognize that enough is enough and accept that the sunk cost fallacy is an actual thing."
"Do the Traitor Lords strike you as sane, Khan Schmitt, quineg?" Ellie Kinnison asked sarcastically.
"Aff" Schmitt replied, choosing to disagree with the woman on principle. "Self-serving, immoral verging on malevolent and seemingly incapable of seeing the big picture, but not necessarily insane, not most of them anyway. If they were truly mad I would not harbor such hatred towards them because I would assume them incapable of understanding the gravity of their crimes" she said. "On that note may I suggest that the ilKhan has much of what we have now learned declassified and distributed to all of our people, regardless of clan or caste, so that all are aware of why we are calling upon them to continue to sacrifice for the greater good of humanity."
"I agree" Sandra Tseng concurred. "Given how many of our people, or at least their parents and grandparents, hail from one of the worlds that the Traitor Lords have burned to ashes in their constant struggle to try and come out on top it would likely drive them to greater effort for their clan, and the clans as a whole, if they were as cognizant of the facts as we are."
ilKhan Kerensky frowned. "While I believe that our people should obey lawful orders without question or hesitation, should already strive to do all they can as best they could in undertaking whatever task they are assigned, I concede your proposal has merits" he seemed to concede reluctantly while inwardly smiling. Kerensky believed that the clans needed a goal to unify around, the people themselves an enemy to direct their hatred towards so that hatred might not be directed towards him one day instead, and if the absent Wolverines were proving to be an elusive bogyman then the Successor States would do very nicely instead. 
The fact was that a disproportionate percentage of the SLDF that had followed his father on the Exodus were from the Terran Hegemony worlds, few of the units that had decided to remain behind being from the Star League Navy or the Royal Divisions of the army. As such they, and their descendants, looked upon what had befallen their former homeworlds with a mixture of horror and rage and for Nicholas Kerensky in particular the whole situation was a blessing because even the most heinous things he had ever ordered done himself paled in comparison to what had been going on back in the Inner Sphere at the same time.
Over the last few years Nicholas Kerensky himself had even on occasion openly, if mildly, criticized some of his own orders given while seeking to pacify the Pentagon Worlds after Operation Klondike, referring to them as necessary evils that he regretted before comparing them with the truly unforgivable and unjustified actions of others such as the Kentares Massacre. A limited application of brutality to restore order and compel obedience in dire, chaotic circumstances was one thing, but to order millions of unarmed civilians to be literally put to the sword because you were angry about the death of a close relative was quite another. As he put it himself in an address that was broadcast by HPG to every world under clan rule, he had been personally devastated by the death of his younger brother during Operation Klondike but having everyone on Eden put to death because of it, even the ones living on the other side of the planet from where it happened, did not cross his mind for an instant because unlike those that held sway in the Inner Sphere these days he was neither evil nor mad. The clans had of course slain those directly responsible for the death of Andery Kerensky, but only those directly responsible because to do more than that was insane and unjust.
All things considered Nicholas Kerensky had weathered the storm of the Wolverine Secession and their successful escape better than he had hoped for at the time, albeit more by luck than judgement because the news from the Inner Sphere had been so appalling it eclipsed everything else in people's minds.
If there was one thing about the current situation however that did annoy Nicholas Kerensky somewhat it was that if anything clan society seemed to be operating considerably more smoothly and efficiently now that the other castes were happier to go along with things by choice, than it had when they were coerced into compliance. To give one example productivity in munitions factories was up by a statistically significant amount in nearly every clan as the laborer and technician castes were no longer grudgingly doing the minimum they could get away with but saw themselves as contributing to a higher purpose that they actually agreed with.
You can force someone to work at bayonet point but getting them to do they best they can is another matter entirely. Part of the reason why production was up was that some of the workers themselves had made suggestions on how to improve it, something that happened rarely before because so many of them were unhappy about their lot.
The change was actually so stark that even Jerome Wilson, the khan of the clan Kerensky had chosen to join himself, had been heard to remark that they were probably seeing why the damnable Chalcas Clan had been able to outperform the others economically and scientifically. Their laborer, technician and scientist castes had not just doing the minimum required to stop them getting put up against a wall and shot.
The truth was that even now only a small minority of the population had actually been born and raised within clan society, most of the workforce being from the Pentagon Worlds, and many of them had bristled against the shackles, usually metaphorical but occasionally literal, being placed upon them under clan rule. The seething criminal underbelly of clan society, the so-called 'Dark Caste' of rebels and malcontents, had been ever expanding until news started to arrive as to the state of the Inner Sphere but these days dissent was noticeably more muted.
Sarah McEvedy had loosened those shackles and it had paid off because her workforce had looked at how their opposite numbers faired in other clans and it made her look good, much as the bloody Succession Wars were now making Nicholas Kerensky look good, or at least not nearly as bad.
Nearly everyone that had followed Aleksandr Kerensky on the Exodus had expected the Inner Sphere to collapse into war once the SLDF was no longer present to act as a constraint on military adventurism, but few had predicted just how bad it was going to get. Most had assumed that the scale of destruction and death toll would be similar to that of the Age of War before the formation of the Star League, the more pessimistic arguing it would be like the Amaris War, or even the Age of War was itself before the signing of the Ares Accords put some constraint on how the factions behaved.
In reality the Succession Wars had proven orders of magnitude worse than almost anyone had predicted. So bad in fact that it forced clan society, all castes of clan society, to reassess their place in the universe and consider what they were going to do about it.
Majority opinion was that the SLDF should have stayed and fought and would have if it had known what was going to happen. Given that they couldn't wind the clock back and do it all again they should at the very least go back, save the Inner Sphere from continued strife and give the murderous scum ruling over the Great Houses a much-deserved shellacking.
As Nicholas Kerensky had declared in a fiery speech, billions, tens of billions of dead cried out for vengeance, and it was their duty as the Star League in Exile to answer that call. 
With any luck however, Kerensky had thought to himself, he would be dead long before they were remotely in a position to do so. If not then the Successor States would surely come to their senses, scaling back on the war-crimes and lessening the clamor for the clans to intervene, but for now having the khans grumbling less about his rule and the lower castes mollified somewhat was a undeserved win he happily embraced.
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===What about that Niops Association?===
"I do not know if any of the rest of you have noticed", John Fletcher of the Hell's Horses spoke up. "But it appears that the various armies of the Great Houses seem to have forgotten how to properly conduct combined-arms warfare." he observed professionally. "It is certainly possible that I am extrapolating too far based upon limited data, but the only time we see mention of tank and infantry formations being used is when there are not enough battlemech regiments available to undertake a particular task." 
"Much of what we know comes from open-source intelligence, newspapers, rumor and the like." Raymond Sainze of the Fire Mandrills noted. "Battlemechs are 'sexy' in media terms, mention of them is likely to attract more interest so they are likely to be disproportionately featured in accounts of battles."
Fletcher shrugged. "You may be right" he conceded, "however I took note of a mention of the mercenary brigade known as the Crater Cobras, an appellation they seemingly earned because they were deemed mere 'crater makers' by a critic due to their heavy employment of artillery during combat operations" he continued. "The fact that their heavy use of artillery was itself seemingly so noteworthy makes me wonder how rarely it must be encountered."
"Mercenaries are cowards, hungry for profit and loathe to risk their lives." Ellie Kinnison said dismissively. "To criticize them for bombarding their foe from tens of kilometers away rather than facing them honorably makes perfect sense to me" she said. Her Steel Vipers actually paid more attention to the effective employment of ground forces other than Battlemechs than any clan other than the Hell's Horses themselves, the Viper infantry arm in particular being unusually large and chock full of those that had failed to make the grade in a clan where the standards for qualification as a mechwarrior was unusually high, but even they regarded artillery with distaste. 
John Fletcher looked at Kinnison askance. Whether artillery gave you the warm fuzzies or not, failing to give the great killer of the battlefield its due respect was foolhardy. The clans might 'play fair' in trials but the Great Houses most certainly would not. "The Crater Cobras are our lost brethren, formed from several former SLDF units that chose to stay behind rather than join the Exodus" he pointed out. "Their original commanding officer was Lieutenant-General Alexander Baldwin who, unlike certain people, earned his spurs fighting Amaris in an actual full-scale war where combined-arms-operations were the norm." he replied, the dig at Kinnison having been too young to fight Amaris like he had obvious to all. "It is more than possible that the reason why they earned their nickname is because Baldwin still followed SLDF doctrine while commanding his brigade, employing his artillery to support his infantry, tank and battlemech units as he was trained to do" Fletcher continued. "The point I am making, which should be obvious, is that the armed forces of the Inner Sphere have forgotten the lesson."
"Which is a good thing." Elizabeth Hazen realized. Like Fletcher she was old-school SLDF by background, both of them were fast approaching their hundredth birthday and were starting to look it despite the anti-agathic treatments of their youth, living hard lives had aged them.
"Which is a good thing." Fletcher confirmed. "Battles where artillery is used less frequently greatly favor the clan way of war, it plays to our strengths. The skill of our warriors and the greater effective ranges of our new autocannon and direct-energy-weapons." he noted. "Incoming high explosive fired from beyond the horizon cares little for your skill or courage, it only cares if you are present in the grid square it was aimed at when it arrives" he said, expression very much one of a man who had been stuck in a trench while a battery of howitzers showed great interest in shuffling him away from both the location itself and his mortal coil. 
"Coincidentally, while reading the reports I too made note of that particular mercenary command, admittedly at first because I could not help but approve of their choice of name, crater-making notwithstanding" Rafe Kardaan of the Cloud Cobras spoke up smiling, his choice of words triggering some polite laughter from the other khans. "It is worth consideration that these 'Crater Cobras' as well as being former SLDF include the Cameron Star on their unit insignia which indicates to me that despite choosing not to join the Exodus they still bear some admirable allegiance to the Star League" he said. "Although they chose to become mercenaries I have to wonder if that was only because they did not believe that any of the Great Houses were deserving of their fealty?" he added.
"The Eridani Light Horse continue to fly the Cameron Star also, I believe." Colleen Schmidt said, pursing her lips as she considered what the Khan of the Cloud Cobras had said.
"Indeed." Kardaan responded, nodding. "I realize that my clan is slightly unusual in paying as much attention to base political considerations as we do, but given that there does still seem to be a degree of loyalty to the Star League remaining in the Inner Sphere, a number of those loyalists being under arms, might we not consider reaching out to them when the time comes to launch our crusade, quiaff?"
"Aff" Schmidt concurred. "I would not wish to slay those that still fight under the banner of the Cameron Star unless I had to."
"Me neither, but I was actually thinking more in terms of swaying them to our cause" Kardaan explained his thinking on the matter.
James McKenna scratched his chin looking thoughtful. "Although it ended badly, and I confess I am not sure how much of the blame for that rests with me, my Snow Ravens would not have so easily dealt with the Empire of Hidalgo as we did on Circe during Operation Klondike if the forces of the Kerensky Dominion, who still professed loyalty to their former commander, had not fought by our side" he said. "Even if we were only able to get the likes of the Crater Cobras and the Eridani Light Horse to stand aside it would be of help in our campaign, even more so if they joined our cause to reestablish the Star League" he suggested. 
"Given our gross numerical advantage I can only agree." ilKhan Kerensky interjected. "We should find time to discuss this further and I would also suggest that when we send our next intelligence-gathering mission to the Inner Sphere we instruct our operatives to gather as much information of former SLDF units that did not formally sign up with one of the House armies as possible without them risking being captured and identified. If there is one thing that we do not need it is the Traitor Lords being given the opportunity to prepare for our crusade. Even with the element of surprise the scale of the undertaking is daunting to contemplate" he said, frowning for a moment before suddenly smiling. "On a somewhat related matter, learning the fate of the 295th Division came as something of a pleasant surprise, and I would personally hope that we could avoid crossing swords with them also. They were one of the units that fought in the Battle of Moscow in 2777, an event that I think you can all understand is dear to my heart" he said honestly. He vaguely recalled his mother mentioning once that she had been introduced to a 'General Romanova' by his father after the battle, the officer's family name being something that had caught her attention for obvious reasons. Apparently the officer was unable to speak Russian, something which had disappointed Katyusha Kerensky somewhat, but still for a direct descendant of the Tsar's themselves to command a division involved in the liberation of Moscow was portentous she thought.
"The 295th fought their way from Apollo all the way to Terra, it was a shame they were left behind during the Exodus, though in their particular case it seems to have been largely by accident not choice" Colleen Schmitt commented. "I was also pleased to hear that, finding themselves stranded in the Inner Sphere, instead of abandoning their duty they decided to establish themselves on a Star League colony to protect it from the predations of others" she said. "Incidentally, do we know much more of this 'Niops Association' than is mentioned in the report, quiaff?" she asked hopefully. 
"Aff' Nicholas Kerensky confirmed. "As well as being a self-sufficient colony of the Terran Hegemony established for astronomical research, a study of old files in the SLDF databases indicated some connection between the Niops Association and the XXXIV Corps which had been stationed in the periphery bordering region of the Free Worlds League before the Amaris War." he said. "Niops provided logistical support to the XXXIV Corps, supplying technologically advanced spare parts that would have otherwise had to come all the way from the Hegemony itself." the ilKhan continued. "It seems that a manufacturing base sophisticated enough to maintain cutting-edge Hegemony astronomical sensors and the like was also up to the task of producing short production runs of late Star League military equipment including that only in the possession of Royal formations at the time."
"Which explains nicely how they were able to keep the war machines of the 295th operational in the years since" Elizabeth Hazen remarked. "I was wondering about that. In fact it even vaguely crossed my mind that the Chalcas Clan might somehow be involved, what with the rumours of Niops still operating equipment regarded as 'lostech' elsewhere in the Inner Sphere" she added.
"It seems more the case that Niops never lost the ability to manufacture Star League equipment, rather than having it reintroduced thanks to someone like the cursed Calchas arrive at their doorstep a few decades after the 295th did." Kerensky replied. "Being able to manufacture and maintain your own HPG network might seem like some kind of dark sorcery to those living in the technologically regressed Successor States, but before the Traitor Lords burned much of the rest of the Hegemony in nuclear fire knowing how an ERPPC works would not incur accusations of witchcraft' he said sardonically. "I also doubt that the Chalcas Clan would like the Niops Association flag, to my eye their Red Cameron Star resembles the Clan Daggerstar a little too much for them to embrace it" he joked.
Stephen McKenna chuckled for a moment before becoming more serious and professional again "The 295th did have warships assigned to them, which included the destroyers mentioned in the report as being operated by Niops, although I have seen no mention of the Potemkin class cruiser that we know General Romanov had at her command at the time of the Exodus." he said. "I wonder if Niops has been keeping her existence a secret, something to surprise the Free Worlds League with if House Marik casts envious eyes in their direction?" he suggested.
"It would be sensible to keep an ace up their sleeve given what the loathsome Mariks did to Brownsville and New Dallas" Kerensky agreed with the theory. "The mention of Niops boasting of the size of their nuclear deterrent indicates they are aware of the threat they are under."
"We should not be surprised perhaps that a planet full of astrophysicists and SLDF military personnel who served against Amaris is somewhat knowledgeable regarding both the theory of nuclear fusion and its practical application to warfare." Raymond Sainze wryly observed. "Given that we know the 295th are on Niops and still apparently a cohesive unit I wonder if the SLDF divisions that aligned with Jerome Blake and took control of Terra are still mobilized and battle-ready as well?"
"Our intelligence regarding the current situation on Terra and Comstar generally is sparse unfortunately." the ilKhan replied regretfully. "Airing on the side of caution we must assume that the eight divisions that my father left under the command of General Lauren Hayes, those that joined the cause of Jerome Blake, are still capable of taking the field, even if by now they lack a strong core of veterans to stiffen their ranks" he said. "Given what was happening to the other worlds of the Terran Hegemony I have to assume that ComStar is not stupid enough to have demobilised."
"It is possible they have warships too" Stephen McKenna warned. "The Titan Shipyards survived the Amaris War after all, and if it suits this Niops Association to keep a secret capital ship in reserve just in case then the same would be true for ComStar" he said. "They might conceivably have even begun to rebuild the SDS system" he added with an involuntary grimace. As a naval officer who had commanded warships during the liberation of the Terran Hegemony during the Amaris War his nightmares were haunted by M-5 Caspar warships and M-3 Pentagon drones.
Since talking up the potential difficulty of the task of 'liberating' the Inner Sphere very much suited Nicholas Kerensky he was only too happy to entertain such a notion and he steered the conversation over the next few minutes along those lines. Even without warships and murderous artificial intelligences opposing the clans, he then warned, their achieving uncontested dominance of the high ground of space was still in doubt because of the sheer number of aerospace fighters and armed dropships that could be thrown at them, many loaded down with nuclear-tipped ordnance.
With broad agreement from the Grand Council that the time was not yet right to contemplate launching their crusade to save the Inner Sphere from itself and restore the Star League the ilKhan proposed two votes. The first vote was whether or not they should send another reconnaissance mission to the Inner Sphere in five years or leave it for a full decade, with Kerensky advocating the latter arguing that the clan's ongoing military buildup would not bear fruit for at least a decade anyway, the so-called Second Succession War was highly unlikely to end anytime soon, and that every time they sent people back they unnecessarily risked exposure.
Nicholas Kerensky won the first vote by a comfortable margin, with only the lunatic fringe, which included his lover unfortunately, dissenting.
The second vote was on whether the Grand Council should in future once again have the saKhan of each clan attend as well as the khan, as had been the norm before the Wolverine Secession. After Franklin Hallis had blown the original Great Hall to rubble via orbital bombardment a concern that the man might well come back one day and do it again had led to a decision that having all the Khans and saKhans in one place was a bad idea in terms of ensuring continuity of government after a decapitation strike.
The second vote was tighter, but seeing as how they had heard nothing of the Chalcas Clan in a decade and a half and Strana Mechty was much better protected now anyway the majority voted to go back to the old way of doing things.
Kerensky took note of the fact that Jason Karrige of the Widowmakers, who had spoken little throughout the rest of the proceedings, had become quite animated when the name of Franklin Hallis was said aloud in the context of the vote. Nicholas Kerensky could not help but conclude from the man's demeanor that he still lay awake at night fretting that Hallis was going to sneak into his room just before dawn, cut his balls off and then gut him like a fish.
That was certainly how Kerensky himself daydreamed about getting rid of the man at least. If not for Karrige's scheming the whole business with Sarah McEvedy might have turned out very much differently. The death toll would have certainly been much lower, the ilKhan wanted to break the Wolverines, make an example of them to encourage the others, not nuke their capital city in a massively excessive false-flag operation.
As the years went by Nicholas Kerensky occasionally wished he could turn back the clock and pick Clan Widowmaker to be the one he made an example of, citing their underhanded back-stabbing and plotting as being even more in opposition to the basic principles of clan society than McEvedy and her loosening of the caste system.
Karrige was definitely up to something, Kerensky knew, using his saKhan's ties to his own brother who served as the saKhan of the Ghost Bears to weave together an alliance to rival the one Clan Wolf had with the Coyotes.
The prospect was almost as disconcerting as the way Clan Mongoose and the Snow Ravens were seemingly falling into each other's arms, with the Cloud Cobras and Burrocks also starting to align themselves into that new power-block.
If the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere were not such monsters providing a unifying foe to rally against the clans might have even been facing a major schism, and his position as ilKhan itself beemn under threat. As it was Nicholas Kerensky could only breathe a sigh of relief and offer thanks for the likes of Jinjiro Kurita for making him look so damn good by comparison.
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==Chapter Notes==
*;Notes from the Author : Clan society is not developing as it did in canon. Power-blocks are forming and becoming deeper (the Mongoose/Snow Raven axis being the one which is most suspicious of Nicholas Kerensky with the politically adept Clan Cloud Cobra moving their way) and if not for the horrible news still reaching them from the Inner Sphere the clans would not be near as unified as they still are. Kerensky does not have the untrammeled power and authority he had before the successful Wolverine Secession, but had gained some figurehead status as someone to rally behind when contemplating a crusade to 'restore civilization' in the Inner Sphere.In cannon the supposedly annihilated Clan Wolverine were referred to by the clans as the 'Not-Named' with saying their actual name out loud a strong taboo which would cause great offence. Here saying 'Wolverine' will not get you physically assaulted, but a clanner in the vicinity might spit on the ground when they hear the name and it is considered more polite, or politically correct, to call them the 'Chalcas Clan', with 'chalcas', or challenging the caste system, being greatly frowned upon in clan culture.The clans are far weaker militarily here than the were in the 31st Century when they launched their campaign against the Inner Sphere in canon, simultaneously the Successor States are stronger in 2840 than they were in 3040 and there are still plenty of veterans around that fought in the Amaris War that they understand logistics and strategic depth. Most of them would like to go back and paste the 'Traitor Lords', being rather angry about all the billions of deaths back home, and its not just those of the Warrior Caste who support military action, but they know fulll-well that they'd lose if they did.Clan Cloud Cobra having a particular soft spot for the Crater Cobras mercenary brigade seems appropriate (the clans do like their totem animals), the fact that the Crater Cobras are made up of former SLDF units and still feature the Cameron Star on their insignia makes that easier to justify. On the subject of insignia the Clan's Daggerstar really isn't that far removed from the Red Cameron star being used by Niops.
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Chapter 47