Sibling Rivalry: Echoes of Amaris Part 1

by Ultraman1973

In the late 30th century, a dark time starts to eclipse the euphoria that followed the Great Refusal. The elimination of Clan Smoke Jaguar and the existence of the new Star League did nothing to prevent open warfare between the five Great Houses of the Inner Sphere. The horrors of the FedCom Civil War preclude an even darker time to come...

2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Bueller, Robinson
Draconis March
Federated Commonwealth
5 December, 3063

Tancred Sandoval rushed out of the protective viewing box reserved for the ruling family of the Draconis March, determined to learn whether the man he served alongside and admired, Arthur Steiner-Davion, was alive or dead. The bedlam and carnage of the bomb ruined stadium proved to be an almost impossible barrier between him and the shattered stage on the field. When Tancred finally got to his destination, he thought he saw another person through the smoke and blinked. When his eyes cleared, he saw nobody there. Stumbling and searching through the smoldering rubble as much as possible, Tancred hoped against logic that his friend was still alive.

Off in a secluded corner and secluded by columns of smoke from the explosion, a mysterious ageless man in nondescript robes wearing a kasa knelt over the prone, wounded and unconscious form of Arthur Steiner-Davion. Motioning to some guards and medical personnel, he ordered them to take the injured man to get medical treatment and then motioned over a technician wearing darker grey colored robes.

The man wrote down a message, gave it to the tech and told him, "Send along this message, give that wounded man false ID papers and forget you ever saw him."

"But sir, that's…."

"Enough, do as I say. I realize how important he is but someone just tried to kill him. Pretending he has died would place needless blame on people we need as allies, however something much worse could happen if that someone succeeds in killing him."

With a silent nod, the other man left and minutes later, another came with a random charred corpse.

"You did insert the proper materials to fool investigators," the kasa wearing man asked the man, apparently a forensics specialist.

"Yes sir, the jaw and remaining DNA has been tampered, nobody will know this isn't Arthur."

"Perfect. Now leave me, everything needs to be positioned just so."

The man positioned the corpse as if it was tossed from behind the podium and stood, looked around checking for any onlookers and saw someone coming and quickly fled.