THE SNOWBIRD AND THE DRAGON

A Story of the Snowbird Saga

By Benjamin "Sentinel 28A" Donnelly

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE: It is the year 3056. Four years have passed since the end of the Clan War. The Tukayyid ceasefire has held thus far, but no one knows how long it will truly last. Meanwhile, factions in the Inner Sphere—factions that were held in check by the Clan War—have begun to resurface.

The Sentinels Regimental Combined Arms Team (RCAT) have rebuilt from their near destruction on Sudeten, under the command of Sheila Arla-Vlata. Not only have they rebuilt, they have grown: due to the popularity of the regiment, disaffected House warriors, marooned mercenaries, and even Clan expatriates have flocked to the Sentinels banner, attracted by the reputation of its commander and its reputation. By late 3053, the rebuilding was complete, and Arla-Vlata inaugurated the new Sentinels by sending it on an epic raid—Operation Cutter—across Clan-held territory. It was a success, and only added to the Sentinel legend.

However, the Sentinels' welcome home was not an entirely happy one. Having relocated their home base from Grunwald to Thorin, the Sentinels found themselves in the middle of old rivalries between the Federation of Skye and the Federated Commonwealth of House Steiner-Davion, who the Sentinels were contracted to. Those rivalries erupted into open war in 3056, as Skye revolted against Archon Prince Victor Steiner-Davion. The Sentinels refused to surrender, and the latest battle began…

Imperial City

Luthien, Draconis Combine

31 August 3056

Chu-sa Isoroku Ishida was thankful that the room was dark enough that the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine could not see his face. Ishida was nervous, and he knew it showed. It was not so much the presence of the Coordinator: Ishida had briefed him for the past nine months, and found Theodore Kurita a thoroughly likeable man. No, Ishida reflected, it was the fact that the information presented today was so momentous, so controversial, that it could lead to glory for the Draconis Combine—or accelerate its demise.

The dozen or so men in the room stood as one as Coordinator Theodore Kurita entered. All bowed deeply to their lord and held the bow until Kurita took his position at the head of the table. He returned the bow—though not as deeply, as befitting a daimyo to his samurai. He then took his seat and bade the rest do the same.

"Fellow warriors," he began without preamble, "our purpose today is to finish our previous discussion of the Explorer Corps. I am not here just as the Coordinator, but also as a fellow citizen of the Combine and warrior." Kurita looked around the room. "Some of you have had difficulty with the idea of the Corps. I wish to hear those difficulties. Anything you say here will not be held against you. There are no invitations to seppuku waiting in my pockets." With that, he leaned back in his seat.

After a stretch of silence that lasted about a minute, Tai-sa Hohiro Tatsuma stood. Ishida sat up even straighter than before. Tatsuma was the much decorated commander of the 5th Sword of Light; his word carried a great deal of clout. He was also the greatest opponent of the Explorer Corps. Tatsuma faced Kurita, bowed, and began to speak. "Tono, I hold you in the highest regard; that you know. I have always supported your policies and served you to the best of my abilities. However, while I may agree in spirit to the idea of the Explorer Corps—" Ishida resisted the impulse to roll his eyes at that; Tatsuma made it clear many times that he hated the Corps "—we simply do not have the resources to mount such an ambitious undertaking."

Tai-sa Kiyomori Minamoto shot to his feet. As commander of the 7th Sword of Light, one of Luthien's garrison units, his word held as much weight at Tatsuma's. "Then we make the resources, Tai-sa Tatsuma. Is it not one of Sun-Tzu's tenets to concentrate everything at the focal point? The Clans' homeworlds are the focal point! We must strike for the throat of the beast!"

Tatsuma kept his voice even. "I agree with you, Minamoto-san. That said, the question remains: can we afford this? We are still rebuilding from the first Clan War. Are we ready for a second?"

"Afford it?" Minamoto looked aghast. "We must be like the great Tokugawa at Sekigahara—we stake everything on one throw of the dice!" Ishida smiled at the analogy. Minamoto's invocation of Ieyasu Tokugawa, the legendary ruler of feudal Japan, was guaranteed to get people on his side. Few of the Combine could resist such a call to the realm's ancient roots.

Tatsuma, however, stood his ground. "Iye, Tai-sa. Invoking Tokugawa will not shake me from my position. If he had been destroyed at Sekigahara, Japan would have survived—not the Japan we know from history, perhaps, but Japan nonetheless. If the Coordinator's plan is flawed, then the Combine may not survive in any form."

He reached out and touched a button on the table. A holotank sprang to life. It shifted, then steadied into a two-dimensional, clear map of the Draconis Combine and its neighbors, the Federated Commonwealth of House Steiner-Davion, and the Clans: Ghost Bear, Smoke Jaguar, and Nova Cat. Gold dots sparkled on Combine planets with BattleMech units present. A solid line of gold bordered the frontier of Clan occupied space. Beyond that, the Draconis Combine's Mustered Soldiery was spread painfully thin. A mass of gray, light blue, and dark blue dots indicated planets with Clan 'Mech units present. Ishida saw what Tatsuma would argue: the Combine had no strategic depth.

"Before the Clans arrived, we had 99 BattleMech regiments," Tatsuma stated flatly. "At the close of that war, we had 60. Though we have been rebuilding, the DCMS will likely never reach its prewar figure before the Tukayyid Truce ends in 3067. That is only eleven years away—assuming we accept the Clans' word that they will not break the truce. I do not. If we shift DCMS units from the frontier to search for the Clan homeworlds, even any of the Ghost Regiments, we will not have enough units to handle any new Clan offensive. This is to say nothing of if the political unrest of the Federated Commonwealth does not spill over our own borders."

Kurita himself now rose, which compelled Tatsuma and Minamoto to resume their seats quickly. "Both of you are entirely correct," he said. "The Arm of the Dragon cannot embark on a worthwhile search for the Clan homeworlds and defend the Combine simutaneously. Clearly, the latter is more important—but do we sit and wait for the Clans to hit us again? No, of course not. We did so against Steiner and Davion in 3028, and lost. We attacked in 3039 and won. Therefore, we must find a different strategem." He turned towards Ishida. "Chu-sa Ishida?"

Ishida swallowed nervously and stood, and tried not to shake. He bowed to Kurita, then began to speak. "The plan that the Coordinator proposes is codenamed Operation Polar Bear. Like all material pertaining to the Explorer Corps, it is classified most secret. As many of you know, a number of small, independent mercenary units have been disappearing from other Houses as of late. They have not disintegrated or disbanded, however. The Combine has been hiring them."

Ishida expected some resistance to that, though it was a tribute to Kurita's strength as a ruler that there were only murmurs. No one in the room could forget Theodore's father and previous Coordinator, Takashi Kurita, and his infamous "Death to Mercenaries" order—a result of Takashi's vendetta against Wolf's Dragoons. Even without the vendetta, mercenaries were never liked in the Combine, where they were derisively referred to as hireswords and worse. When every mercenary unit in the employ of House Kurita were summarily ordered out of the realm in 3027 on pain of death, few mourned the loss, even though some of the units were quite good.

Yet if these men did not forget Takashi's order, neither could they forget the heroic defense of Luthien, of which a good portion belonged to Wolf's Dragoons and the equally famous, and hated, Kell Hounds. Of the mercenary units across the Inner Sphere, the Dragoons and the Hounds had cause to hate the Combine more than most…and yet they had come to defend their old enemy's capital against the Clans. Since then, mercenaries were yet to be employed by House Kurita, but respect for them had increased.

Old hatreds died hard, however. "What for?" The voice's identity was lost in the darkness, but the incredulity in the voice was unmistakeable.

"The Explorer Corps," Ishida explained. "House Kurita will use them to scout for the Clan homeworlds, in return for a generous contract—" Ishida's voice was lost in an increasing roar of disapproval.

Once more, Tatsuma stood. "Using hireswords in what might be the most important mission in Inner Sphere history? The dishonor!"

Kurita's voice was full of humor. "Tai-sa, you contradict yourself. If this is mission is so important, why are you so opposed to it?"

Caught, Tatsuma stammered. "I-ah, not in principle, Tono. But…mercenaries?"

"Would you rather have them replace your regiment along the Clan frontier, Tai-sa?"

Tatsuma stared at his boots. "Well, no, Tono—"

"Then you have no argument."

Embarrassed, Tatsuma sat. Ishida tried to smooth things over. "Tai-sa Tatsuma-sama, with respect. The use of mercenaries has many advantages. One, they tend to be more flexible than many of our units. Two, they are rarely made up of the same kind of 'Mechs as our House units, whereas ours are mostly known qualities to the Clans. Third, mercenaries are more, well, expendable."

A new figure stood. Ishida recognized her as Tai-sa Elizabeth Venga of the 32nd Galedon Regulars. The 32nd had no great style as a unit, perhaps, but Venga's reputation was solid. "I have read that these mercenaries we speak of are not large units. I have also read that many of them left the Federated Commonwealth rather than face the Clans. How can small units with low morale be expected to be much more than target practice for whatever Clan they stumble upon?"

Ishida resisted a smile; he was ready for that question. "Large units, such as Wolf's Dragoons or the 12th Vegan Rangers, for instance, would be unsuitable to the quick raids and scouting that is part of the Corps' mission. As for these mercenaries who fear the Clans, that has a silver lining: only those units which hate the Clans or are adventurous enough to risk fighting them will accept a contract—much less one that will take them to the home ground of the invaders."

"And you have found such units?" Venga asked. "Small, bite-sized mercenaries?" There were some chuckles around the room at that.

"Not exactly bite-sized," Ishida replied. "We do want some depth. Even Tokugawa had reserves."

"Do you have an example?"

"Certainly." Ishida leaned over to the holotank controls and typed in some commands. The map dissolved and reformed as a circle surmounted by a knight's helmet. A sword bisected by twin arrows filled the circle, against a field of blue and white. Inscribed on the base was the word Resurgens, Latin for Resurgent.

"This is the crest of the Sentinels Regimental Combined Arms Team. I'm sure all of you have heard of them. Their Operation Cutter was very successful, and of course they are best known for their defense of Kagoshima during the Clan War. They have recovered from the Clan War and represent the largest unit on our list. They are as nearly as large as the Kell Hounds, without the emotional baggage Morgan Kell brings. In fact, their commander, Sheila Arla-Vlata, has a good reputation in the Combine, especially among our more youthful warriors."

"Not just among the youth," Venga said, with a smile in Ishida's direction, to let him know she was not offended by the accidental jab at her age. "But Arla-Vlata is under contract to the Federated Commonwealth. I doubt the legendary Snowbird will break contract to help the Dragon."

Ishida nodded. "Normally, you would be correct, but the Skye Rebellion may have changed Arla-Vlata's mind."

"And if not?"

This time it was Kurita who spoke. "In that case, Tai-sa Venga, to quote an old holovid: we will make the Snowbird an offer she can't refuse."