Court of the Star League, Unity City
Terra, Terran Hegemony
19 February 2762
The First Lord had arrived before anyone for this session – anyone but Amaris who once again sat at his side. On seeing them, Takiro Kurita paused and eyed them with inscrutable old eyes before moving to where Janina Centralla had sat herself. "Be as good as to exchange seats with me, Magestrix," he half-requested and half-directed. "It hurts my neck to have to turn to see the First Lord."
Centralla eyed him and then shrugged. "Fine." She moved to sit between Amaris and Calderon, completing a new division of the Council. Now the six voting Lords formed an arc along one wing of the table – Cameron, Liao, Steiner, Davion, Marik and finally Kurita – while the four Periphery lords occupied the other, facing them.
Richard signalled for the doors to be closed. "Our first item of business is the matter of Federated Suns troops on three Capellan worlds. Lord Davion has requested arbitration and Lady Liao has requested SLDF support in removing those forces. Does anyone else wish to have a say?"
"If Liao can't look after her own worlds I don't see that it's my problem." Unsurprisingly, that came from Ewan Marik.
Takiro shook his head. "Being on the Council makes it your problem. However," he added smoothly, "I note that the Chancellor declined arbitration and only asked for the SLDF support after Prince Davion and his famous Colonel Stopec had begun to make real progress in taking control of two of the contested worlds."
"Noted," Richard said tersely. He looked at Robert Steiner who simply shook his head. "Very well. I call for a vote on whether the Star League should mobilise for war against the Federated Suns, as the aggressor in this matter."
John blinked and Hanse, who had been shamelessly spying over Barbara Liao's shoulder, straightened sharply.
"Aye," the chancellor declared quickly. Silence fell and she looked around for support, finding none.
"Nay," John said and turned to look at Richard.
"I will assume silence as abstention," the teenager said haughtily. "With two votes cast and a tie, the motion fails. Are there any motions for war against the Capellan Confederation?"
John shook his head.
"Aye!" called Ewan. "Good plan!" He even broken into vigorous applause that echoed around the room even though everyone else was looking at him in disgust.
"You can't possibly be serious," Liao protested. "We are the victims."
"You didn't object when I raised the possibility of declaring war on the Suns," Richard said cheerfully. "Do you wish to cast a vote?"
"Nay!"
"Also nay," added John.
"Very forbearing of the First Prince," murmured Amaris. Perhaps it was John's imagination but the rotund Rim Worlder seemed to be eyeing him suspiciously.
"Two nays, one aye. Motion fails." Richard shrugged. "Now do correct me if I'm wrong, but as First Lord I can authorise defensive actions by the SLDF without a declaration of war."
"That is correct." Nicoletta Calderon gave the other side of the table a snide look. "Will you be separating them like naughty children?"
"More or less." Richard stabbed his finger down on his controls. The holographic display popped up, revealing General Kerensky's head, magnified to fill the space. "General, I hope you have contingencies for sending peacekeepers to Valexa and the other contested worlds?"
"I do, sir. LV Corps has three infantry divisions and supporting elements ready to move in and separate the combatants, should the command be given."
"Do it then. And since they are Capellan worlds, do encourage the AFFS to return to their proper place." Richard cut the channel. "So, that settles that. Next on the agenda?"
.o0O0o.
Avalon City, New Avalon
Crucis March, Federated Suns
3 April 2762
John's return from Terra coincided with the arrival of some of the forces from the war. More than seventy individual regiments had participated in some way and many had been rotated to new garrison positions rather than returning to their original homeworlds. The Crucis Dragoons in particular were replacing well-entrenched regiments that hadn't moved postings in years – but all four had detached twelve Mechwarriors chosen from those being decorated or promoted to join ten carefully chosen battalions and one of the Ceti Hussars' combat commands for the triumphant return to New Avalon.
The day had been declared a public holiday and as the units solemnly marched from the space port to Mount Davion the streets were lined with cheering visitors from all over New Avalon and from many other worlds besides.
"You'd not think that there were so many people out there who missed that we didn't accomplish a thing," Stopec grumbled from one of the open-topped cars carrying John and his senior officers.
"We accomplished more than you might think," John told him. "And keep smiling – we're on display."
"It was a political victory," Hanse said from the only free seat, next to the driver. "Worthwhile but a lot less than you were hoping for."
"We hadn't seen war since the '30s," the dark-haired prince reminded his Champion. "This was our first test of the reforms Uncle Richard and I have been pushing. And at least we know now that we've not made as much progress as we'd hoped. And what you managed with the Dragoons shows us the right direction to go."
"And where we stand with Cameron."
"We were never going to be able to keep those worlds. The only person who ever put that out as a goal was Dixon. Now the Capellans know that we can be pushed to the point of crossing the border they'll have to tread more carefully and so will the Combine."
"It'd had better be worth it."
John nodded and waved to a little cluster of school children, who'd apparently been organised as a visit for the occasion. "You saw how much damage was done on Angelsey, just as collateral to the fighting. Imagine that all along the borders – and not just for a year and change, but for decades or a century. That's what a full scale war would mean. You tell me, is avoiding it worth what our men paid for it?"
Stopec turned his head and forced a smile out of the window to where flags included not only the sword and sunburst but also wolves, bears, jaguars and falcons – the badges of the four Crucis Dragoon regiments. "The League would have to fall first."
"The League could fall. There have been fractures growing for years and no one seems to be trying to mend them. I don't mind Richard claiming to be the peacemaker if that gives the League a little more stability."
The parade reached the edge of the Royal Court, no less crowded but more by government workers or noble families. John spotted a dozen members of the High Council he'd thought would be on their home worlds as the limousine reached one of the formal entrances.
The parade divided with the heavy combat vehicles following a side-road towards the hangers and infantry – riding floats rather than expected to march – instead taking a path towards the barracks. The limousine pulled up before the high neo-classical front of the Chancellery of the Exchequer building. The high pillared Chancellery had become iconic for some reason and thus John made a habit of returning to Castle Davion through it even when he had no particular grounds to call upon this branch of Ways and Means.
Stepping down from the car, John and Stopec waited for the generals in the next car to join them. Paxson and Simons would be available for reassignment now that the campaign was over and Hanse had made excellent recommendations for how they could be employed.
"Are you going to make a speech?" asked Stopec, jerking his jaw to indicate a small group of holovid reporters waiting eagerly near the foot of the stairs.
"Not today. Better to give the soldiers the spotlight today," John decided. "We'll touch base with the High Command and then call it a day. Sufficient unto the day is -"
"Down!" Stopec shouted and shoved John violently to the side.
Landing heavily, John rolled down the steps they'd just begun to climb. Almost instantly two of the security men from the next car had dived across him, covering him with their bodies but also pressing him against granite stairs.
"Sniper!" Hanse hissed from somewhere outside his – currently restricted field of vision. "Top of one of the tower blocks – shouldn't there be police counter-snipers up there."
"What's going on?" he demanded from under his guards.
"Michael's down, doesn't look serious," the redhead told him. "Simons and Paxson dragged him down behind the car. Just stay down, a helicopter's going after that rooftop – should be clear to get inside shortly."
.o0O0o.
Avalon City, New Avalon
Crucis March, Federated Suns
4 April 2762
Footage of the incident was playing on one of the background monitors in the AFFS command centre, one of the media channels that was kept live at all times so John couldn't get away from it.
"For those concerned," he announced, "Colonel Stopec only took a glancing hit to the side. Avalon City police and Military Intelligence are continuing their investigation but considering the sniper decided to jump rather than be captured, chances of getting a definite answer to who was behind the incident are slim. Anything else you get from the media is pure speculation.
"Which still leaves the Maskirova as the most likely culprits," Erik Pond pointed out.
"Most likely, but not confirmed." John shook his head. "Further inflaming the matter isn't in the Suns' best interests so we're not going to indulge in accusations we can't back up."
He took his seat and saw Hanse slip into Stopec's place on his right. "Alright, what's first on our agenda today?"
"Jerricho Industries have sent an update on their progress with the Swordsman project." Heather Green-Davion, Thomas' niece and head of Supply's Procurement Department brought up a diagram. "The SWD-3 has completed prototype testing and they estimate that they can have it back in production by the end of the year if funding is approved."
"Good. What do the test pilots say?"
She checked her diagram. "They're not effusive, sire. It works, but really it's not much more than a cut-rate Shadow Hawk – or maybe Andoran's Clint would be a better comparison."
"Given that that's what the goal is, I don't have a problem with that. And are the technical teams happy that it'll be reliable in the field?"
"That's more favourable." Heather shifted the display to show maintenance reports following each test cycle. "Of course, other than the switch to use modern parts where the originals are no longer available, the Swordsman is a proven design."
"Rostov's design."
John shrugged. "It may have served with General Rostov's Terran March troops during the Civil War but I'm prepared to give the design a second chance. We've stripped our planetary and March militia units of a lot of personnel and equipment in order to build up more line regiments. Something cheap and reasonably capable is exactly what we need to rebuild secondline forces. Unless anyone has strong objections…?"
No further objections were raised and John signed off on payment for the first production run of the Swordsman. "If the first run meets standards then we'll look at activating the clause to license a second manufacturer," he instructed Heather. "We don't want all our eggs in one basket."
"I'll make a note of that." She cleared the display. "Next is Personnel, I believe."
Eis Moscoe stood. "Training numbers are ramping up on schedule, more or less," he advised. "The fighting has set back expansion plans but with wounded personnel returning from hospital, we should be able to man two additional BattleMech regiments and three armoured regiments next year, rather than four of each as previously expected. Infantry losses were heavier and had a higher percentage of killed in action, so it'll be eighteen months before I expect to have brought existing regiments and reserves up to the point we can raise new regiments."
"You mentioned an interesting point there – concerning might be another word," John noted. "But we'll come back to that in a moment. Given their excellent performance in the training exercises on Gambier and then in action on Valexa, the new regiments are to be raised under the colours of the Ceti Hussars. More specifically, General Paxson - who will be taking charge of the Hussars overall – has been instructed to use their existing personnel as cadre to expand up to three times their current numbers. New academy and training school graduates are more likely to be replacing volunteers for the Hussars than to be directly transferred – although top ten percenters may request the assignment, as usual."
"I hadn't understood them to be heavily engaged on Valexa." The question came from Vasily Sandoval who wasn't a regular attendee.
"They weren't, but they still kept the Capellans hopping – not an easy balance to strike."
"Ah, interesting." The duke brightened at that – he'd risen through his excellent grasp of terrain and tactics rather than direct combat experience. "I'd be glad to have them on the Draconian border then, once Paxson's worked the rough edges off their new regiments."
"It's a little early to commit to anything for that," John told him. "But I'm sure the vote of confidence will be well received. Now, the point I was referring to earlier was the casualty rates among infantry. I realise that they're not protected by several tons of armour, but that doesn't mean there's nothing that we can do to keep losses down. I'll be ordering a full review of where we could have done better, pulling a panel together from the major academies but two things have stood out even from the overviews and my limited time on Valexa."
"Firstly, there was a lot of unnecessary administration tied up in handling the wounded. I'm not saying that any medical personnel were less than diligent, but they were also spending too much time handling paperwork because casualties came from outside their particular arm."
"Secondly, some regiments saw disproportionately heavy head wounds among their wounded and killed. Unsurprisingly, those regiments are the ones who customarily issue caps rather than helmets in the field. Now I'm not a great believer in trampling on traditions unless there's good reason, but I believe that the lives of our soldiers are damn good reasons to look at traditions and see if they're becoming a liability."
There were nods around the table. "The solution about headgear is obvious, sire. Withdraw caps for combat duty and make helmets mandatory for all units. I can have a new uniform regulation drafted and ready for review by next week," Moscoe offered.
"Make it very clear, Eis. I don't want any wriggle room. If any regimental commanders feel they can't live with the changes, there's plenty of room for them as battalion commanders – or as riflemen."
"That, I can do."
"Good man. The second step is to reform our medical arms. What I'm looking at is pulling all medical services out from under the administration of the combat corps and navy, organising a specific medical corps that'll handle all medical needs across the entire AFFS." John paused and then cupped one hand behind his ear. "Is that outraged screaming I hear from your department, Van?"
"Not so funny, sire." The head of Military Administration, Vanessa Manabe raked her greying hair back. "Given the amount of paperwork we already trade for those services, I can probably free up a lot of desks, so there will be screaming."
"Just give me the names and I can ship them out to the far corners of the realm," offered Moscoe with a grin. "I can always use more field grade officers and sergeants for staff slots."
John chuckled. "It'll only get worse, Eis. But I'm not married to the idea yet – if anyone has alternative solutions then I'm open to recommendations. I'd like to have a decision by September, in time for the next budgetary discussions so we've got time to put proposals together."
"Speaking of staff positions…"
"Something you forgot for the agenda?" asked Pond. "Or sneaking it in?"
"Nothing hugely important." Moscoe fiddled with a stylus. "We've been considering inserting a new rank between the current Major General and Colonel ranks with the number of multi-regiment commands that we're having to deploy with the expanded force numbers."
"Yes, Leftenant General isn't it?" asked John.
"Well NAMA threw a fit – apparently we used to have the rank but it sat between Major General and General, not where we want the new rank."
"I see…" John said slowly, broadly hinting that he didn't.
"How is a leftenant more important than a major," asked Manabe in confusion. "Besides, don't the SLDF have Leftenant Generals with the basic position you're talking about?"
Moscoe chuckled. "Yes, but apparently they're wrong. You really don't need the headache - or at least I don't. Ask Professor Quinn if you're really interested. Anyway, to keep them happy we've changed the name and picked something historically appropriate and easy to remember. Since the new rank is for brigade command, it'll be Brigadier General."
Hanse shook his head. "Leftenant General worked perfectly well in my AFFS," he complained.
"Whatever keeps the historians happy," John decided. "That'll be fine, Eis. You can start shortlisting promising Colonels for me, just make sure we're not restricting our selection to Mechwarriors. There's a lot of talent in the other arms and we can't afford to waste good soldiers with any kind of glass ceiling."
.o0O0o.
Summer Palace, Sian
Sian Commonality, Capellan Confederation
9 August 2762
Among the Chancellor's many interests was art. Long before she took office, she'd begun the process of redecorating the Summer Palace and acquiring objects d' art to fill its rooms. Several recent acquisitions stood in her office, giving her time to consider where they might be placed for maximum effect.
Since his mistress repositioned her acquisitions on whim – or as she put it, to compare the light – and moved items in and out, Tai Yang Gwak found there was always a certain challenge in threading your way past them to the desk. Younger and healthier men might have found it easier, but his next birthday would be his ninetieth.
"You summoned me, your Excellency."
Barbara Liao looked up from the document she was studying. "I have been known to do that, Director."
"It's always my pleasure to attend to your desires."
"I'm glad you enjoy your work, Tai Yang." She pointed to one of the stands. "Look at that picture, then the one next to it."
Obediently, the old man compared the two.
"What's your first thought," asked the Chancellor.
He considered. "Should there be a third one, between the two perhaps?"
"Exactly!" She closed down her computer. "They're part of a series of landscapes by the 22nd century artist Frankie Lam and I'm missing one. Well, two, but the other one was inferior and these two would be perfect for the green suite if I had the one that belongs between them as well."
"I shall see what I can do for you, your Excellency. I assume that the owner is not one of your patriotic subjects."
Barbara Liao gave him a sour look. "The Duke of Bolan. I made him a very decent offer."
Tsk. That always complicated matters. "Something may be feasible, your Excellency."
"And while you're here," she folded her hands in her lap. "I'm concerned by some of the recent recommendations I've received from the Strategic Military Director."
Ah, the real issue, Tai Yang thought. "The analysis of the recent unpleasantness on Valexa and Angelsey."
"Precisely. It appears that the Command Council are not in favour of the theory that the sudden inability of the deployed forces to resist the AFFS during the last months of the campaign was not due to any great excess of tactical or strategic skill on the part of Prince Davion or of his Champion."
"While it is pleasing to believe that the enemies of the realm are paragons of ineptitude, this may breed a degree of overconfidence."
"To clarify, they concede that the Prince is marginally more able than General Dixon, who they were able to constrain adequately. However, they believe that the defensive positions held by our forces were sufficient that neither inspired leadership nor the increase in troop numbers by the AFFS were decisive factors."
"These being factors that the officers in command of Sarna Commonality lack, it is pleasing to think that they are held in low regard."
"Would it surprise you to learn that they feel the key advantage posed by the AFFS was that Prince John organised his forces into a series of hierarchical brigades and divisions with a chain of command that permitted officers to operate with improved coordination and discretion rather than directing all operations through a single planetary headquarters?"
"That is a very interesting position for them to suggestion, your excellency. One might almost think that a similar degree of organisation is being advocated as an innovation by the Strategic Military Director."
"Quite. I take it I don't have to remind the director of why my ancestor abolished all military ranks above that of Colonel in 2455?"
"While I'm not quite so old as to have first-hand knowledge of the event, the sad death of Chancellor Stephan Liao and the quite reasonable measures taken by his successor are familiar to me in general."
The Chancellor nodded. "Tai Yang, please ensure that the Strategic Military Director is acquainted with the reasons that his position is unacceptable."
"The virtuous actions of one's ancestors are always to be emulated, Excellency." Tai Yang bowed deeply. "One must enquire if there is any other way in which I may serve you?"
"Perhaps. Is there more news regarding Prince Davion's near encounter with mortality in April?"
"Nothing convincing, alas. Certain evidence pointed towards the Terran Hegemony but my understanding is that the evidence was felt to be a fabrication. Without any further leads, it seems likely that the official response will be that it was a lone madman."
"I would be exceptionally displeased if it were to be associated with us, Tai Yang."
"There are two unquestionable points of evidence that prove that the Maskirova were uninvolved, Excellency," the Director of that agency replied calmly. "Firstly, that you have never ordered such an operation and we would never presume to make a move of such strategic weight without your express approval."
"And second?"
"He missed, your excellency."
The chancellor was laughing merrily as Tai Yang made his way back towards the door, already considering who he might assign to the assassination and the acquisition that he'd been charged to arrange.
.o0O0o.
Avalon City, New Avalon
Crucis March, Federated Suns
21 September 2762
"That's it!" Hanse exclaimed loudly, right as John was taking his shot. While it didn't entirely ruin his shot, the laser hit the target on the 8 ring rather than dead centre, which he felt he could reasonably have expected given his last four shots had been perfect.
"Aha," General Manabe said cheerfully as the prince valiantly fought not to shoot a death glare in the direction of the abashed ghost. Given the head of Military Administration had only been one point behind her commander-in-chief, she had cause to be gleeful. "A little distracted, were you, sire?"
"I don't make excuses."
She lined up her shot carefully… and penetrated the nine-rang. "Ah, deuce it!"
"A draw's a draw." John picked up the two ten dollar bills between their shooting positions and handed one back to Manabe. "Better luck next time we're requalifying."
"There's no way it's a draw. The computer's going to percentage score us on how close we were in each ring." Manabe waved the money in front of John. "Just wait for it to keep processing."
John sighed and stripped the power pack out of his rifle, safing it as they went back to the range master. "Sign us off for the re-qual?" he asked.
"Pair of forty-eights is well in the zone, sire." The sergeant accepted the rifles to return to storage in the arms locker.
"Full scoring please," Manabe requested. "There's money riding on it."
"Oh?" Poking at the computer, the range master printed off two result cards. "Here you go, forty-eight point six-two and point six-one."
Manabe stared at the second printout and made a pained noise. The prince held out his hand and she grudgingly handed over the ten dollars. "I was so close!"
"Yes, but you need to learn when to quit," he advised and dropped the notes into the Widows and Orphans collection box on the desk. It wasn't as if the AFFS didn't have pensions and other insurance for the families of their dead, but sometimes the fund managed a more personal touch.
The two parted ways and John opened the door to the emergency stairwell to go back upstairs rather than the lift. The exercise was a good excuse and no one else really used them. "So what was that about?" he asked once they were a flight of stairs up from the range.
"We've been looking for somewhere to hide orbital factories," Hanse reminded him.
"Ah, and you have an answer?" Several of the more advanced military technologies required manufacture in micro-gravity, which certainly wasn't unaffordable but as Hanse's hindsight pointed out, left the factories vulnerable to warship raids or even fighter strikes, unlike more conventional facilities that could be dug into the ground beneath mountains or any number of other planetary locations. In the First Succession War he'd told John about, virtually all factories producing vital materials such as endo-steel – very useful in 'Mech chassis and heatsinks – had been destroyed by strategic raids.
"Tortuga!"
John frowned. "Where?"
Hanse groaned. "It's a pirate stronghold between the Outworlds Alliance and the Taurian Concordat," he lectured. "Tortuga's a fairly nice world, actually, but the pirates just stripped what they could easily get at. We tracked it down in 3042 and finally wiped the pirates out. Even if the Tortuga Pirates are known, no one knows it's there – it isn't even on Star League maps."
John paused on a landing. "So you're suggesting we move orbital factories out to somewhere in the periphery? That doesn't exactly sound secure."
"The star has quite a deep gravity well and some massive asteroid belts that are well above the orbital plane of Tortuga itself. Short of a star cluster like the Hyades, it's as secure as it could be – low emissions factories could work there with no one the wiser even if they did happen to jump in."
"That does sound promising," he agreed thoughtfully. "But we'd need to get some troops out there to secure the place first – the pirates would be an immediate threat – and then ship a lot of tooling at a minimum." Starting up the stairs he stretched out his hands.
"We have the perfect cover just waiting to be used," Hanse explained teasingly. "Think about it."
"I'm not really in a mood for games, Hanse."
"The solution is the military exercises scheduled for next year. Almost two hundred regiments drilling in the Crucis March – with all those ships moving, it would be simple to detach a few regiments without mentioning it and send them out with sealed orders. Since all troop movements are intended to move under wartime security, no one will be surprised if they can't identify all the units – in fact, changing markings for some units so the assigned regiments can be sighted a couple of times should cover for it even within the AFFS."
"Until they get back at least," John conceded. "But I suppose that most of the soldiers wouldn't need to know where they are or that they were doing more than eliminating a pirate stronghold. The sensitive data would be in the hands of the ship crews."
"If you can't find two or three reliable jumpship crews, then you have bigger problems than I realised."
John shook his head and began climbing the stairs again. "So, out of interest, how precise is your information about Tortuga – from what you're saying it's not a good system to jump into and I don't recall your myriad skills including being a jumpship navigator."
"That's true," Hanse admitted thoughtfully. "I can probably narrow it down to within about… a thirty light year sphere, say?"
"That's the better part of twenty seven thousand square light years," he calculated. "I can see why it took you hundreds of years to find them."
"Turn the Ministry of Information loose on the problem. Discreet investigation and analysis is what they exist for. Some of the pirate raids over the last few hundred years might have clues."
John shook his head. "What can you tell me about them?"
"Well the original settlers were a tank regiment from the Reunification War. They went rogue after a mission went wrong and settled on Tortuga to nurse a grudge."
"Are you telling me they're a rogue Taurian colony? Because that's not the sort of people I want near a secure factory."
"Rogue AFFS, actually. The 237th Light Cavalry regiment I think – it's not something I kept close tabs on."
"I see." He reached the landing for the residence wing and paused at the door. "Are there any other little surprises lurking out in the Periphery I should know about?"
"Last time I told you about someone, you decided to give the Crucis Dragoons badges for the Invading Clans. I'm thinking a lot more carefully about what I tell you."
.o0O0o.
Sidebar: History of the Capellan Confederation
"I swear I will run my husband through should he ever dare to threaten your freedoms."
The last of the six major states of the Inner Sphere to coalesce, the Confederation was the result of political instability on the part of the Capellan Commonality, one of several smaller states occupying the densely colonised region between the expanding Free Worlds League and Federated Suns. The Commonality's constitution gave their neighbours a problematic degree of access to their elections, to the point that candidates were less known for their domestic positions than which foreign sovereignty backed them.
In 2365, Prime Minister Tucas of the Commonality was assassinated and the election of his successor deadlocked between three candidates before descending into a fiasco that paralyzed the Commonality for more than a year. President Reynard Davion of the Federated Suns' announcement that he would be sending peacekeepers to occupy Capella was the final straw. A convention of all the states in the region gathered to seek a solution to their problems, among them Tucas' son-in-law, Duke Franco Liao who represented independent worlds such as his own vest-pocket duchy who espoused a message of Pan-Capellan Unity.
After a dramatic promise from Franco's wife that she would personally ensure their liberties would be protected, the Duke was granted emergency powers for 400 days by the governments of Tikonov, Sarna, Sian and St Ives. The outvoted Capellan Commonality representative was arrested after he declined an offered place as Franco's deputy and House Liao's ascendancy was complete. Less than a year later, Davion regiments entered the Capellan's capital city only to be isolated by newly combined Confederation Navy and given the chance to surrender. Believing the Capellans would never bombard their own city cost Reynard Davion three crack regiments.
While House Liao's position as Chancellor is not guaranteed, they have provided almost every Chancellor of the Confederation since Franco, as well as maintaining strong positions in the Prefectorate Council and House of Scions that make up the legislative body of the Confederation. Commanding the weakest military of the Inner Sphere, House Liao has produced several key figures in diplomacy. In 2412 Chancellor Aleisha Liao was able to persuade seven other major states to join her in formalising the Ares Conventions, a code of war that drastically reduced the civilian casualties and collateral damage of the pre-Star League conflicts. A century and a half later, Terrence Liao was among the first rulers to throw his support behind Ian Cameron's Star League.
Four hundred years after Franco Liao was granted as many days to save the Confederation that salvation remains very much in doubt. The loss of many of the liberties that his wife had promised to guard is not.
