AUTHOR'S NOTES: Chapter 5. This one's talky, but we'll have some action in the next chapter. I really had some writer's block with this thing, until I realized that the best way to overcome that is to start writing and let the characters resolve it. Sometimes these things do write themselves.
This story more or less introduces Max's mother Mira in it. She's been mentioned before, but never "seen." This actually sets up what I'm hoping to be a rather poignant reunion between Max and his estranged father later on.
I'm not really sure if Simon Johnson, the head of the Lyran Intelligence Corps, would be still alive in 3051. I assumed that he wasn't as old as he seemed in Warrior: En Garde, and went with that. I also assumed that Loki and Lohengrin remained nominally independent of the Davion MIIO after unification of the Federated Commonwealth. For those of you unfamiliar with that time of history, Lavrenti Beria was the former head of the NKVD, what became the KGB, and was known for his ruthlessness and willingness to kill anyone who got in his, or namely Stalin's, way. And I couldn't resist a little foreshadowing when it comes to Melissa Steiner-Davion…
REVIEWER'S CORNER: FraserMage: sorry, you'll have to wait a few chapters before I reveal what 'Mech Senefa will have.
Rouge: Sorry. At least in this story nobody's running around naked. I might have to write a Circle of Equals between you and GreenKnight for the hand of Maysa Bari…
4477: I don't know who Malvina Hazen is (I assume she's a MWDA character), but Senefa probably wouldn't have much time for Diana Pryde. Senefa still has a bit of prejudice towards Clan freebirths as warriors, and Diana is far too much of a fanatic.
Mosin: Thanks. I'm not sure if you're referring to "touchy" subjects such as torture or "TOUCHY!" subjects such as sex. But I try.
Kat: Good to see you again. (I really need to get on your new story and R&R it.) Hope both of you liked it. I would've included Sigurd, but I'm not sure what he's doing at this point in history.
Sulli: I'm glad you like Senefa and I hope I'm not moving Sheila forward too fast. And if you want someone included in this, I'm okay with that. The Snowbirds need new cannon fodder...er...recruits anyway. ;)
Wolf's Dragoons General Headquarters
Outreach, Sarna March, Federated Commonwealth
3 August 3051
"Incredible," Hanse Davion said, shaking his head. "Simply incredible." He let the papers fall to the table and took off his reading glasses. "I'm glad Calla didn't entrust this to ComStar, Commander Canis-Vlata."
Mira Canis-Vlata still stood at parade rest, her hands behind her back. Unlike her cousin Calla, Mira's hair was auburn showing no hint of gray, and she was rail-thin. She looked much younger than her 47 years. Hanse noted in passing that she had feathered her makeup around her left eye, in exactly the same manner as Melissa Steiner-Davion still did. Other than that, her military bearing was as crisp as a new recruit. "Thank you, sir. We felt it was just too explosive to set to paper or ComStar." She paused. "I apologize for the somewhat unorthodox means of getting here."
Hanse chuckled and waved it away. "No apologies necessary, Commander." Mira had claimed a national emergency to use the command circuit between Outreach and Sudeten. Somehow, she had wangled a priority from Morgan Hasek-Davion, which cleared the way. Instead of the month it would normally take to get between Sudeten and Outreach, it had only taken a little over a week.
Justin Allard set the papers down on his desk as well. "Commander, who else knows about this?"
"Only the people in the room—Commander Bighorn-Vlata, Master Tech Caii-Senla, Majors Rhialla and Brownoak, and MechWarrior Maysa Bari. Plus myself and General Hasek-Davion." She didn't mention that her own husband Todd and Calla's wife Arla also knew.
"Can your people keep a secret?"
"Yes, Minister Allard. Absolutely."
"Good. See that they do so." Mira heard the threat in his voice.
"It's vital that we keep this quiet," Melissa Steiner-Davion said, to take the edge off Allard's words. "If this were to get out…"
"I understand, Archon. Will there be anything else?"
"Not for now." Hanse folded his hands on top of the papers. "I'd like you to stay on Outreach for 24 hours. Will that be all right?"
"Certainly, sir." Mira knew Davion was playing the politician; he could simply order her to stay.
"Thank you, Commander. How's your husband?"
"Doing well, sir. He's on Tharkad, visiting my son and daughter-in-law. It's Sheila's birthday today," she added.
"Oh? That's wonderful. After we're done here, you can take the command circuit to Tharkad. You'll be late, but I think Sheila will appreciate it. She's a remarkable girl." Hanse smiled. "That's all for now, Commander."
"Thank you, sir." Mira snapped to attention, saluted, spun on one heel, and left the room. She had not expected to stay in any case, and knew that whatever the trio in the room came up with, she was to be used as a courier. Command circuits were hideously expensive, and the Prince of the Federated Commonwealth was not going to use one for a lowly mercenary.
Once the door had slid shut, Hanse turned to Justin. "Well, what do you think?"
Justin tapped his metal hand on the table in thought. "Highness, it's certainly genuine, and Calla did exactly the right thing in sending his cousin with the information. We can't even transmit this by fax." Justin leaned forward and thumbed through the reports. "Calla didn't even put it on a disk. This looks like it was printed from his own computer."
"I wish he had come by the information in another fashion," Melissa sighed, "but desperate times call for desperate measures."
"The spy's lucky Calla didn't have him shot out of an autocannon," Hanse said.
"Certainly, husband…but to build a fire under his head?"
"I agree the methods were a bit on the brutal side," Justin told her, "but they're less than he would've gotten in Romano's prisons. Besides, from what it looks like, he talked before any permanent damage was done." Hanse supposed that depended on what permanent damage meant. Watanabe—whose real name was Ke Yi—had suffered second-degree burns to his head and his hair had been badly singed. The final straw had been when Tessya Blackthorn had held a skinning knife to Yi's genitals. Hanse wondered if Blackthorn would've carried out her threat. Yi had broken completely at that point.
What he had said was earthshaking. While he had no idea of Everson's mission to the Clans, he had been the one who had smuggled the Liao ambassador onto a Sentinel DropShip on Sudeten, then smuggled him off on Vantaa. From there, Everson had been handed off to Liao agents already on Vantaa, who had gotten Everson to the Clan lines. However, that had not been Yi's primary objective. He had been assigned to join the Sentinels, who were desperate for techs after Planting, to get close to Marion Rhialla, and then kill her. Before he did that, however, he was also supposed to murder Maysa Bari, to make Rhialla suffer even more. It bore all the marks of a Romano Liao vendetta—the same reason she had assigned a Maskirovka assassin to kill the children of Daniel Allard, Justin's half-brother, merely to hurt Justin. The assassin had gotten the wrong house and attacked Phelan Kell instead, only to be killed by Phelan's dog, who had also died in the attack. Hanse understood Tessya Blackthorn's cruelty: most mercenary units, the Sentinels more than most, were like families. For some, it was the only family they ever had. Attacking one of them was an attack on all of them; attacking their children—and it was clear most of the Sentinels and the Snowbirds saw Maysa as a kid sister—was tantamount to a declaration of war.
"The report didn't say that they killed him," Melissa put in.
"No. He's being held incommunicado for now. We might be able to turn him," Justin said, "make him into a double agent for us." He didn't have to say what the alternative was. A spy could expect no mercy. He rubbed his eyes with his right hand, the one that was still flesh and blood. "We can't do much about Romano, short of invading Capellan space, other than leaking that her assassin failed. As much as I respect Marion Rhialla, in the great scheme of things, she's small beer. What's really disturbing is that now we have independent confirmation that Duke Samuel Bonner is working with Romano Liao to undermine the Clan front. We can have no doubt that he had every intention of working with the Clans as well."
"We can't arrest him," Melissa said. "He and Ryan would try to spin it as suppressing dissent."
"Worse," Hanse added. "He might plead guilty as charged. There's enough people who don't see much of a problem with trying to appease the Clans. This would give them a martyr."
"Then we have only one option." Melissa's voice was cold. "Bonner has to die."
Hanse looked over at his wife and the mother of his children. He admitted that he was a bit old-fashioned: while Hanse certainly had no trouble with female warriors, it didn't seem right that a woman of such gentleness as Melissa could be so ruthless as to order political assassination. Yet she was right. Bonner would not stop. He would try again, and if the Jade Falcons were not willing to listen to him, eventually he would find someone in the Clans who would. And if he did, the Clan front would collapse, and they would be staring not just defeat in the face, but disaster. All three of them in the room knew from Senefa Malthus' testimony that the Clans' eventual objective was Terra, but none of them believed that they would stop there. So, it was really that simple.
"I have to agree," Justin said after a period of silence. "I'm just not sure how we do it. Normally, if we had to remove someone in another realm, we'd send the Black Foxes of MIIO, or Loki intel, or even Lohengrin. This is different. If Bonner suddenly dies of a 7.62 millimeter heart attack, then it's going to be suspected that it was ordered by us—specifically you, Your Highness." He nodded in Hanse's direction, then gave a gallows laugh. "Of course, they'd be right in this case, which makes it worse. We have to make it look like we didn't do it."
"Maskirovka," Hanse said. "Romano Liao kills him."
"I like it, Highness, but the tabloids are going to have a field day as it is. Romano has no motive."
"Then we publicize his dealings with Liao," Melissa snapped. She looked away. "I'm sorry, Justin. It's just that I can't believe one of our—one of my noble subjects, a Steiner—is acting like this. I didn't mean to yell at you; it's not your fault."
"No offense taken, Archon. And it's not a bad idea. Unfortunately, what we can publicize—Everson and Yi—we can't prove. Ryan Steiner will ask very pointed questions. The only way we would get lucky is if Romano brags about it, but I know Tsen Shang—" he referred to Romano's husband, the head of the Maskirovka secret police, and formerly Justin's friend "—he'll make sure that the Capellan Confederation denies everything. I can gather more evidence that will definitely tie Bonner to Romano, given time…but we really don't have the time. We don't know how many other emissaries Bonner and Romano have out there, or when the Clans will renew a general offensive."
"Not to mention it would expose many of our agents inside Sian, which we cannot do." Hanse shook his head. "So Liao's out. Marik has no motive at all, and Thomas Marik will deny it even more than Romano would; he might also delay the arms shipments we need to refurbish our units. Kurita is out, of course. That leaves the Clans." Hanse snapped his fingers. "Of course. We publicize Bonner's dealings with the Jade Falcons and make it look as if they killed him in revenge."
"Actually," Justin corrected, "I don't think we'd even need to. We've just now convinced the populace that the Clans aren't some sort of alien species. They're capable of anything. We don't even need to publicize anything at all."
"'Truth is so precious she must be protected by a bodyguard of lies,'" Melissa quoted. "We say that Bonner had offered peace to the Clans and they killed him for it. He dies a martyr...for the cause of the nation, not of himself or Free Skye." She looked down again, this time at the papers in front of her. Is this what I have come to? the Archon asked herself. Planning the murder of a man? How many have to die for this nation? Is this how I will die, my death plotted by others who believe they're doing the right thing for the good of the Federated Commonwealth? Hanse's fingers gripped her shoulder, and she took strength from it.
"How do we do it?" Justin repeated. "We need more information about the Jade Falcons. We certainly can't send OmniMechs to Furillo, even if we had them to spare. It has to be done by a small wetworks squad." He used the common intelligence euphemism for an assassination unit. "The Black Foxes can do it, but they have to be able to act as Clanners. The best unit for this would actually be Wolf's Seventh Kommando, but I doubt he'd be a party to a political hit. There's also too much potential for a leak. So how do we get the Foxes to act like Clanners?"
"Put Clanners among them," Hanse answered. "And it just so happens we have one on Tharkad."
"Senefa Malthus?" Justin thought about it a moment. "That's a good idea, Highness, but I doubt she'd do it. From what we've learned from her and Jaime Wolf, the Clans look down on political assassinations. They'd simply call Bonner out to a duel. We can't do that--unfortunately."
"What if she had a motive?" Hanse asked.
"Maybe. But what motive would she have?"
"Not her, specifically…but Sheila Arla-Vlata will have one. And where Sheila goes, Senefa tends to follow." Hanse nodded, both to Justin and himself. "And I don't think we'll have much trouble convincing Sheila that Bonner has to die."
The Triad
Tharkad, Donegal March, Federated Commonwealth
10 August 3051
Sheila Arla-Vlata did her best to remain seated and not start pacing the small, drab, windowless room deep in the bowels of the titanic complex known as the Triad. It was the nerve center, headquarters, and ruling palace of House Steiner and the Lyran Commonwealth. She envied Senefa, sitting next to her, who merely stared into space, as unmoving as a statue. Only a slight twitch of her hands betrayed that the ex-Clanswoman was still as nervous as Sheila.
Sheila noticed that a change had come over her new friend, and was glad to see it. Senefa seemed to be feeling better, and though there had been little time to talk as the Lohengrin agents bundled them into a hoverlimo, Sheila sensed that whatever decision Senefa had made, it was the correct one. There had been time to exchange small talk in the limo, but with two frowning, sunglassed agents sitting across from them, it didn't seem appopriate.
Nor could Sheila figure out why they had been brought here. Senefa was one thing—Sheila was under no illusion that the Lyran Commonwealth's secret service, Loki, would be every bit as willing to engage in torture as Athena Henderson had been—but Sheila had done nothing wrong. She'd heard horror stories of Loki going wild when her father had been a boy, during the rule of Alessandro Steiner, Melissa's grandfather, but the service had long since been purged and brought under control. Neither was bound, though neither had been allowed to bring a weapon, and Senefa had been searched thoroughly; still, whatever this was, it couldn't be good.
A door neither had noticed slid open and a man of average height walked in, carrying a folder. In fact, Sheila thought, everything about this man could be classified as average for a man probably approaching or past seventy. His hair was white and he was dressed in a simple business suit that one could buy off the racks in a mall. Only his eyes stood out: Sheila had never met anyone whose eyes looked to be coal black. He came to a stop in front of them, looked at them briefly, then put out a hand, to Sheila first, then Senefa. "Hello," he said in a friendly voice, "my name is Simon Johnson."
Sheila felt herself involuntarily swallow. She'd heard of Johnson; few people hadn't, though fewer had actually seen him. This nondescript man in front of her was the shadowy head of the Lyran Intelligence Corps, the overseer of the various Lyran intelligence agencies such as Loki and Lohengrin, though nominally under the command of the Davion-based MIIO. Depending on whom one believed, Johnson had either benevolently overseen the transformation of LIC from Alessandro's secret police to one of the most efficient intelligence services in the Inner Sphere, or he was the second coming of Lavrenti Beria. He quickly noticed Sheila going pale, and smiled. "Ah, not to worry, Commander. Neither one of you is in any sort of trouble. Besides, given both of you ladies' reputation for martial achievements, I doubt I could exactly clap you in irons." Sheila doubted that: she had a feeling Johnson, despite being older than both of them put together, could probably beat hell out of herself and Senefa. He took a seat behind a desk that was the room's only furnishing.
"So what are we here for, sir?" Sheila asked.
"No reason to beat around the bush," Johnson admitted. "Have you heard of Duke Samuel Bonner?" His eyes flicked to Senefa. "I see you have, Senefa."
At Sheila's questioning glance, Senefa told her, "Bonner is the man who arranged the Liao agent Everson to contact the Jade Falcons regarding a peace deal." Seeing the confusion on Sheila's face, Senefa explained Everson's vain attempt to conclude a nonaggression pact with the Clans, at the expense of the Federated Commonwealth, which Everson had paid for with his life. "I thought perhaps Athena had spoken of it."
That brought the nightmares of the cell crawling back, but Sheila, with visible effort, shut those thoughts off. "She was a little busy making me bawl, crawl, and climb the walls."
"I've read your report, Senefa," Johnson said. "I'm surprised Everson would name Bonner."
"He was trying to impress me," Senefa replied. "He thought that by ingratiating himself, he would make a better impression."
"He didn't know you very well," Sheila smiled.
"Indeed."
Johnson leaned forward. "Commander Arla-Vlata, it might interest you to know that it was Bonner who supplied Everson with his information."
"And therefore was the man who led to me being tortured." Sheila shook her head. "Figures. How did he know about the JOSG?"
"He had sat in on a meeting when it was discussed, as a representative of Ryan Steiner. We didn't want the loyal opposition not knowing what we were up to." Johnson's emphasis on 'loyal' told them how much he really considered Steiner or Bonner's loyalty. "Now it's one thing to be against the war, or against the Federated Commonwealth, or even against Houses Steiner and Davion. It's quite another to commit sedition."
"If you want me to testify against him, I'm more than happy to," Sheila said in a half-growl. Senefa's nod indicated her willingness to testify as well.
"Unfortunately, the evidence we have does not hold up in court, and Bonner would turn it into a media circus. We don't want that." Sheila shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She had a bad feeling she knew what Johnson was going to suggest. "You've guessed it, Commander," he said, instantly noticing the movement.
"Bonner must die," Senefa spoke flatly. "Sensible. He would have already been challenged in the Clans."
"Sadly, we don't have that luxury here," Johnson sighed, then looked at them with fiery intensity. "What I am about to say will not leave this room. If you even breathe a whisper of it—even to your husband, Commander, or your lover, Senefa—I will be forced to arrange several fatal accidents. I don't want to do that, so don't force me to. What is said here stays here, understood? Quiaff?" he added for Senefa's benefit.
Sheila swallowed nervously again. Johnson was certainly capable of carrying out his threat. Had he railed at her or snarled at her, Sheila wouldn't have taken it seriously, but Johnson had said it almost conversationally. "Yes, sir," Sheila answered quietly. "Aff," Senefa replied, equally subdued.
"Good. The fact remains that we need Bonner to be eliminated. Not only has he betrayed his country and trafficked with agents of House Liao, he's party to a conspiracy to destroy us from within. The problem remains that he can't simply disappear. He's a public figure, known, even popular in his own circles, namely Free Skye. He has no known political enemies, besides the ruling families of the Federated Commonwealth, and certainly no one would have a motive to murder him…except the Clans." Senefa started at that. "So tell me, Senefa…how would the Clans go about eliminating someone who has betrayed them?"
Senefa shot out of her seat. Sheila got up, not as quickly, and put her hands out, afraid Senefa was going to attack Johnson. "Senefa, don't do anything—"
The Clanswoman regained control of herself, and stared daggers at Johnson. "We would challenge him to a Trial of Refusal, a Circle of Equals," she said through clenched teeth. "We would not stoop to assassination!"
"And if he refused?"
"He would not!"
Johnson tapped a finger against his chin. "Clan Wolverine did." Senefa's mouth dropped open in complete surprise. "Senefa, you are aware that Jaime Wolf is a Clansman himself, quiaff?" She dumbly nodded. "He's given us a fairly complete rundown on Clan history. In that history, he mentioned a Clan Wolverine, whom you know simply as the Not-Named Clan. Apparently they did something very terrible."
"Aff," Senefa replied slowly. "They used nuclear weapons."
"And they also refused to fight according to Clan tradition—thereby refusing a Circle of Equals." Johnson motioned towards her seat, and both women sat down. "Senefa, what Bonner is doing is just as bad as using a nuclear weapon. In fact, it's worse. At least the use of a nuclear weapon against an enemy would make sense, in certain situations. What Bonner is doing is betraying everyone on the front lines right now. If he had his way, that line would be swept aside to allow the Clans to reach Terra unopposed." He held up a hand to forestall her protests. "Yes, your saKhan Cavell Malthus refused. But who is to say that Bonner won't find a more willing ear later on? Can you honestly tell me, Senefa, that there are none in the Clans who would listen?"
Senefa stared back defiantly, then faltered, and looked at her boots. "No," she answered quietly. "There are…those who would listen."
Johnson raised his hands in a 'there you are' gesture. "Then you see that I have no choice, Senefa. And unfortunately, to prevent a civil war, Bonner has to be killed in such a fashion that the Clans are held responsible for it. I'm sorry, I truly am, but again I have no choice."
"It…is not…correct," Senefa said. The words didn't seem to be enough.
"No, Senefa, it isn't," Johnson answered gently. "In my position sometimes, I have to be as incorrect as a man can be. I may burn in hell for it, but I won't watch my country be taken apart by a traitor."
"Monsters we are, lest monsters we become," Sheila said. Johnson nodded.
Senefa sighed. "How do you plan on doing this thing?"
"We will use the Black Foxes—MIIO's special forces team. These men and women are selected for their skill and their unwavering loyalty to the Federated Commonwealth. There will be no leaks." That was as much a threat as a statement of fact. "Where I need you, Senefa, is to tell us how they would act if they were Clanpeople—uniforms, military usage, that sort of thing."
Senefa took a deep breath, glanced at Sheila, then leaned forward. "You need Elementals, which you do not have."
"Senefa, the Clans use unarmored infantry," Sheila said.
"Yes, but only as second-line garrison troops."
"So? The people back home, like around here, don't know that! We don't know half of what the Clans have. I've overheard Clanners talking about tanks and helicopters, but I've never seen any."
"The Jade Falcons do not use them…Clans such as Hell's Horses do, of course—"
"Right! And no one in the Inner Sphere's ever seen Hell's Horses! For all they know, the Clans have a spec-ops unit no one's ever seen. Hell, maybe they do, Senefa, but you've never seen them!"
Senefa gave something between a shrug and a nod. "I suppose so."
Johnson chuckled. "Perhaps I should give you a job, Sheila." He opened the folder and spread out photographs and floorplans of a mansion. "Duke Bonner's house on Furillo. I can show you some holos later, but we don't have a projector in here. How would the Clans assault this?"
Senefa leaned forward. She stared at the plans for a long time in silence, occasionally picking up photos and looking at them. She turned the map around, studying it from all angles. "Strength of garrison?" she suddenly spoke.
"Bonner's a little paranoid," Johnson explained, "so he doesn't rely on the Furillo March Militia units—which are green and untested in battle. He uses mercenaries…I'd say company strength."
"Anybody I know?" Sheila asked.
"Doubtful; they don't operate on frontline worlds. Military Assistance Special Security."
"Their skill?" This from Senefa.
"I would equate them to a regular line infantry unit. They're not the equal of special forces and wouldn't do well against a unit like the Snowbirds or the Falcon Fusiliers, but they're more than adequate to handle terrorist attacks and freelance assassins."
"Hmm." Senefa looked over the maps for a moment longer, then pushed them away. "I would need to show the unit exactly how to move through a simulator. Failing that, I should be included in the mission itself."
Johnson scratched the back of his head, actually taken aback. According to the instructions hand-delivered by Mira Canis-Vlata—something her daughter-in-law Sheila was unaware of—Justin Allard had anticipated that convincing Senefa would require the inclusion of Sheila in the assault team. Now he had Senefa not only volunteering to go, but indirectly asking for command of the mission. "I, ah, suppose that could be arranged." He paused. "Senefa…I thought you would find this dishonorable."
"I do. Yet if the mission is to succeed, you will need me along."
"Me too," Sheila said.
Johnson put up his hands. "Now hold on, Commander." The original idea was to have Sheila included as an observer to the mission, to convince Senefa to go along—not the other way around. "There's no reason for you to go."
"Yes there is." Sheila let her artificial arm fall on the desk with a thump. "Exhibit A, sir. He did this to me, directly or indirectly. Exhibit B is the Liao agents he helped place tried to kill my friends. Mira Canis-Vlata told me what almost happened to Marion Rhialla and Maysa Bari. I can't pay back Romano Liao for that, but I can damn sure get Bonner."
"You're too personally involved," Johnson told her. "This isn't for revenge, Sheila. This is for justice."
"Sometimes there is no difference. I assume I am a volunteer, Director?" Senefa asked. At his hesitant nod, Senefa put a hand on Sheila's shoulder. "Either she goes or I do not."
Johnson looked to both of them, then gave a short, angry nod. "Very well. You can go along, Sheila, but I can tell you right now: you'll wish you hadn't."