Opalescent Reflections

Dealer's Choice

Chapter 12

Unity City Recovery Zone, North America

Terra, Sol System

7 June 3050

The logistics of bringing together delegations from half a dozen worlds on Terra had gone more smoothly than Wei Rong had expected. Perhaps she shouldn't have been surprised since in most cases there had been similar arrangements to bring Precentor-Advocates to the homeworld for meetings of the First Circuit. This was much the same, even if it had to be done more than once so that advance teams could set up secure lodgings for their lords and ladies. Mysteriously none of them trusted ComStar for that.

While ComStar's own merchant fleet had provided much of the transport, the Captain-General, Gunji-no-Kanrei, Archon and First Prince had all used jumpships from their own navies to make the final jump into Terra. No doubt all were making intensive efforts to gather all the information they could about the state of Terra's defenses. Wei hoped they were close enough to see the frantic efforts being made at Terra to make operational no less than four SLDF-vintage destroyers. If they believed that was the extent of ComStar's fleet then that would be all the better.

As the air-car came into view of their destination, Wei was finishing reading a report from Delta. It seemed that having leaned on ComStar to ship officers back from the front for this meeting, House Steiner had then transferred a sealed container to the Federated Suns jumpship that had brought Hanse Davion here. Most likely samples of Clan technology being shipped to NAIS. Mu's commentary suggested the transfer was being done under everyone's eyes to show off that NAIS would be taking the lead in such research.

Wei closed down the datapad and slipped it into the secure storage built into the front of the passenger compartment. Once she was delivered, the driver would courier it back to ComStar's local offices.

As the aircar reached the gates to the estate, guards came to attention and the not-entirely-ornamental barriers retracted so that it could enter without interference. A small army of gardeners were waging war against centuries of neglect but the driveway was clear, looping past additional guard posts until finally reaching the 'small and rustic' palace that House Liao had erected on Terra in the late 26th century.

So small and rustic was it that it was another two minutes after entering the complex before the air-car came to rest outside the courtyard that was their destination. There was a light drizzle and for once, Wei was glad of the heavy robes of office.

The arch leading into the courtyard had no gate, it was instead blocked by a pair of black-clad soldiers. Wei produced the folded letter with the heavy seal of green wax, offering it to one of them. "I have been invited."

The man tapped the side of his helmet. "Please wait. Chancellor Liao will summon you shortly."

Oh, a power play. "No rush," Wei assured him. Surely Romano Liao wasn't crazy enough to attempt anything on Terra. Then she tapped her own earpiece and started dancing slowly and smoothly to the music.

The helmet visors hid the eyes of the two men. Death Commandos or simply aping their style? Not that it mattered. Their body language betrayed that dancing was not a usual response from someone being kept waiting at the pleasure of Romano Liao. A few servants (some of them lower nobility, but still servants) went past and were less reserved in their reactions to seeing the Primus of ComStar dancing outside the gate of the Chancellor's quarters.

Wei kept smiling and dancing as the time slipped away.

"My goodness, I didn't realize you were so limber," a melodic voice declared in only slightly accented Cantonese. "It reminds me of my own youth."

Completing her turn, Wei identified the speaker and went fluidly from the dance into a polite bow - respectful but not deferential. She answered in the same language, her native tongue. "The peace of Blake be upon you, Chancellor Liao. My thanks for providing some time to exercise. I'm sure your weighty responsibilities, like my own duties, sometimes make it difficult to find time for the simple pleasures."

"That is indeed true." Romano Liao was of an age with Wei's mother, although she hid it well. A few artistic touches of gray in her hair provided gravitas. The Chancellor gestured and an aircar that could have been the twin of Wei's own save for the small flags of the Capellan Confederation on the corners slid smoothly into place. "The palace, I fear, remains barely habitable, so we will take the scenic route to the conference and talk on the way."

"I regret that our offer to do preliminary clean-up work before you arrived was unacceptable," Wei agreed calmly. "But I see that your own people are making good progress."

"Had we only been allowed to retain access to Terra, proper maintenance could have been arranged. But then, ComStar has been rather neglectful of this part of the world they hold in trust," the Chancellor said as she entered the back of the aircar.

Wei followed her and was amused to be waved towards one of the folding seats facing backwards rather than the more comfortable L-shape of seats along the back and to one side. She sat and strapped herself in. After the bridge incident, she'd been much more careful about strapping in. "It's a complex legal matter. Unity City itself is the property of the Star League, these estates belong to the Great Houses… and of course, both Amaris' Coup and the later liberation did considerable damage and left the area almost unpopulated."

Romano's eyes narrowed. "One would have thought that you would have it ready for the next First Lord, as the custodians."

"Well, if Hanse Davion thinks he can use this meeting to get a vote to appoint him then I will be delighted to give him the bill for the repair and maintenance that we have done. Over two centuries of it does add up…" Wei mused, quite sure that the First Prince had no such delusions of grandeur.

That got a laugh from the older woman as the aircar pulled away from her personal quarters. "I suppose I should be glad that he did not try to have the Liao estate here granted to my sister. I am sure that would have pleased Davion and his wife."

"That would have been unthinkable. This estate is the seat of the Council Lord of the Capellan Confederation."

There were nine such estates, describing a rough arc around the bay that Unity City had been built upon, separated from each other by transport corridors and other facilities that had once served the capital of the Star League. Not quite as close as the wreck of Fort Cameron, they'd still been the site of fighting and collateral damage that marked the start and end of Stefan Amaris' rule of Terra. Clean-up had begun in the hope of a return to normalcy only to end after Kerensky's exodus.

This, like the restoration of Venus' solar shade, was something that Wei considered to be unfinished business ComStar should take care of. The excuse of hosting the majority of the Successor Lords had been enough to get funding for at least some measures.

"I am pleased to have your recognition of that," Romano said magnanimously. "And the more so not to be crammed into Hilton Head, as we were on my previous visit."

"Yes, I read the security reports on that visit," Wei answered and saw the Chancellor's eyes narrow. Romano had circumvented the security arrangements at the Steiner-Davion wedding, and she hadn't been the only one. "Hilton Head is an HPG station and an administrative center, but not really suited for diplomacy. I try to learn from the mistakes of my predecessors. It is less painful than learning from my own."

"A lesson that Theodore Kurita has not learned from his father. I doubt Takashi Kurita has fond memories of Terra."

Wei nodded. "Neither he nor your father found great pleasure in that wedding, and I cannot imagine that their earlier visit was a fond one. It does not surprise me that the Coordinator delegated this visit to his son." Prior to the wedding where Hanse Davion had so memorably started the Fourth Succession War, each of the two alliances that fought that war had formalized their treaties in person on Terra. Not at the same time, obviously. The meeting between Janos Marik, Maximilian Liao and Takashi Kurita had been by far the less cordial of the two, and now their children would be meeting again, in the company of their enemies.

Romano glanced away and out at the estate they were passing. "No work being done to clean this one up?"

"Thomas Calderon declined to attend or appoint an ambassador, so it's not being worked on at the moment," Wei explained. "We do intend to clear it up eventually but it isn't a priority."

"And yet your ComGuards are manning guard posts around it?"

The Chancellor was neither stupid nor unobservant, Wei thought. "Yes, we thought it best to leave something of a buffer between your security and that of the Federated Commonwealth." Also, it was a convenient place to hide away the center of Delta's data gathering efforts. The Lords had been careful to make sure that ComStar couldn't bug their residences, but that didn't mean they weren't trying to gather data themselves about ComStar's grip on Terra and military preparations. The great game of espionage was still ongoing and Wei could only hope to drain some of the venom from it.

"So they are there and not on the Steiner lands," mused Romano. "I would have thought that you would want him as far from the rest of us as possible."

Wei shrugged. "It is their choice. They could have used either or both." The Steiner estate, the furthest north of the nine, was currently being borrowed by the St Ives delegation but she wasn't going to mention Romano's sister unless she had to.

The chancellor leant forwards sharply. "These Clans, you think that I should care about them?"

The change of subject caught Wei slightly offguard, but it wasn't a topic that surprised her as such. "They view their ancestor's exile as one they were driven to by the Star League Council."

"No one forced Kerensky to leave."

"I know that and you know that, Chancellor. But it is easier for them to see themselves as the victims. And while House Marik and House Kurita were the most hostile towards Aleksandr Kerensky, the vote to strip the man they call the 'Great Father' of his command of the SLDF was unanimous. If the Clans do conquer the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine, I do not think they will stop there."

"If they manage that," Romano mused, relaxing slowly. "And Terra. I know they have seized one of your precious enclaves."

Susquehanna, Wei thought, with some anger. Bad news always finds an ear.

"Do you think they will spare Terra?" the Chancellor asked with a degree of glee.

"Opinion within the First Circuit is divided," she replied. "For myself, I am seeing our defenses improved."

"You cannot guard all your enclaves as you do Terra."

Wei nodded. "That is true. However, after Susquehanna, the Clan's current leader reported it as 'testing our resolve' and that he had concluded we were due some respect for our soldiers' performance." And as a remnant of the Star League that had stood up to the Great Houses for centuries, but mentioning that might be inflammatory. "So far there have been no further attacks on our enclaves or shipping. We have some time."

Romano nodded in understanding. "Let the DCMS and AFFC bleed fighting the Clans, while you look to your own interests. And yet you host this meeting?"

"Our role in sharing information and facilitating diplomacy has not changed," Wei pointed out.

"Does that include telling the Clans about whatever is agreed here?"

"They have access to the ComStar News Network," Wei conceded. "It's surprising how few of them seem to be paying attention to it though."

The Chancellor sniffed disparagingly. "So you are not on anyone's side."

"It's more a matter of no one being on our side."

Romano gave a little sigh of disappointment. The aircar was moving towards the hotel complex that ComStar's technicians had prepared for the conference. "I had expected more from the so-called 'Most Important Woman in the Sphere'."

"The… pardon?" Wei asked, baffled.

"Granted," Romano told her with a wave of her hand. The smile on her face was predatory. "You didn't know?"

She tilted her head. "I confess to having no idea what you're referring to."

"The Federated News Service publishes an annual list of who they consider to be the most important women in the Inner Sphere," the Chancellor observed. "For the last ten years, Melissa Steiner-Davion has headed the list - unsurprisingly they fawn over her." The FNS was one of the Federated Suns' most influential news outlets, although Wei didn't recall them for being particularly subservient to the federal government or House Davion. "But apparently this year, you head their list."

Wei considered this for a moment. She suspected that some of the vitriol was due to Romano not being at the head of this list. "Important to whom?"

The question got a laugh from the older woman as they pulled up outside the hotel. Romano leant forwards. "You're the biggest target," she said, as if confiding a great secret.

Then she disembarked, leaving Wei sat in the back of the air car.

After a moment, Wei also climbed out of the vehicle. Rather than joining Romano in entering through the front - fortunately the media were not camped outside to immortalize the fact that the two were arriving in one vehicle - she moved up to one of the heavily but discreetly armed vans supporting the ComGuards security personnel.

Back in the care of her own security, Wei was able to use a mobile terminal to catch up on more of her comm messages as the other lords and ambassadors made their arrivals.

"It's time to begin," one of the aides warned her after close to an hour.

Wei thanked the young man and checked her hair and robes. Satisfied, she exited the van and doors were opened that let her go from the side of the hotel to the main meeting room with the minimum of fuss.

The chamber was carpeted in a neutral beige, the walls a light blue where the banners of the states didn't cover them. A circle of desks provided for the main representatives, with seating behind them for advisors and aides - as well as family members in some cases. Wei recognised Theodore Kurita's younger children behind him, although they were dressed to fit in with the other advisors. There had been no official statement yet from the Combine to advise that the elder son was dead, most likely it was waiting on Theodore's return.

On the other side of the circle, Victor Steiner-Davion was seated right behind his parents with no such discretion. He was among those who'd been rushed back from the frontlines, and still looked to be recovering from the repeated jumps. Wei wondered how the Kuritas would take the prince's survival, when their own had not returned home to them.

Jaime Wolf concluded his opening remarks. "I will now hand over to our hostess. Primus Rong, if you please."

"Thank you, Colonel." Wei went to the podium. "Thank you for accepting my invitation, my lords and ladies."

"I'm surprised you invited us at all," Hanse Davion said bluntly. Though his hair was now white at the temples, he still showed much the same vigor he had during Wei's childhood when it seemed that he was all but unstoppable. "Is ComStar taking a stand against the Clans?"

"Not yet," she said candidly. "But diplomacy has always been one of our roles."

"And will the Clans see it that way?" asked Theodore searchingly.

Wei gripped the podium. "I have been specifically asked to convey a message to all the House Lords, so it would be strange for them to object to my addressing you."

"A message?" Thomas Marik frowned. "What message?"

"The leader of the Clans has sent the following message," Wei answered. She brought up the exact text on the podium, to avoid misspeaking. "'I, Leo Showers, ilKhan of the Clans and head of the Grand Council, address these words to the Successor Lords: We have returned and we will reestablish the Star League. We will tear down all that is corrupt, all that is shameful. The age of the Great Houses is over and the Way of the Clans will enlighten all. I offer you this one opportunity to lay down your arms and surrender. Do so and you shall have a place in this great future. Decline, and the long history of your Houses will end in the fires of war.'" She paused and shrugged slightly. "If you have a reply, we will dispatch it at our own expense."

The First Prince snorted. "He does not lack hubris." He glanced at his wife who nodded slightly. "Tell him: 'Nuts'."

"Nuts?" Wei asked. Most of the room seemed similarly baffled.

"That one word, exactly."

Thomas Marik frowned, clearly deep in thought. "Ah," he said at last. "Yes. That is… fitting."

The Gunji-no-Kanrei was one of the few who seemed to understand Davion's meaning. "Yes. The First Prince does not speak for the Draconis Combine, but I feel this conveys our position well. I endorse his reply to the Clans' ultimatum."

"I suppose that it won't be expensive for me to send as a reply then," Wei conceded. Maybe one of Focht's officers could tell her what the hell that was about? Nuts? What sort of diplomatic message was that?

Unity City Recovery Zone, North America

Terra, Sol System

9 June 3050

The wind blowing in off the Pacific and over the Olympic Pennisula was chilly and Minoru Kuirita was glad of the insulative material used in his jacket as he used a pair of binoculars to observe the remains of the city that still reared out of Puget Sound.

The Stellar Court and the formal embassies still stood, a testament to the advanced materials used for them, but at maximum magnification Minoru could see that their windows had been covered by metal plates. Less prestigious buildings hadn't been treated as carefully and their windows opened into shadowy voids, glass long since lost.

Beyond the center of the city, the scars that had once been the eastern suburbs were still visible. The legendary last stand of the Black Watch, ended by a pair of nuclear warheads that vaporized the 'mechs, set the eastern half of Unity City ablaze, and triggered mud-slides that filled the streets with an irradiated soup of soil soaked in winter floodwaters.

Minoru lowered the binoculars, wondering what was keeping Omi. She'd said she was just fetching them both coffee from a nearby van. No doubt the food vendors parked along the broad avenue that looked eastwards over Unity City had been imported by ComStar, perhaps even with acolytes and adepts staffing them, but it did give a feel of being able to get out and see Terra without actually leaving the vicinity of the ruined city.

Turning from the rail, he almost bumped into a taller man - blond and wearing an AFFC-issue overcoat. Clearly someone else had packed for the weather - it might be summer in this part of Terra but the Pacific Northwest wasn't known for being hot and dry.

"My apologies," Minoru said with a small bow. Everyone in the delegation had been reminded firmly that anyone they met from another state could be significantly more important than they appeared. While they should not allow themselves to be trampled, Minoru's parents would hold them all to a high standard of manners.

"I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have," the officer said apologetically. "You're with the Combine delegation."

"Hai - not that I am very important," he lied. "Merely a junior officer. Colonel Wolf offered to give an example of Clan military training, so I was brought along to provide a comparison against that of Sun Zhang academy."

"Ah, I was thinking you might be a veteran back from the front."

"No, Kommandant." Minoru adjusted his glasses. "Is that your role here?" Where had Omi gone?

He got a nod. "I was on the last dropship off Trellwan. Kind of figured I'd be sent to Tamar or Tharkad for a debriefing, not here…"

Minoru wondered how he could politely get away. "I was going to get some coffee."

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for mine," the man said, looking back over his shoulder, "I'm not sure what… oh for crying out loud."

The young Kurita prince wasn't sure what the reason was for the remark but when he side-stepped to look past the AFFC soldier, he saw his sister holding two cups of coffee… and engaged in conversation with a second AFFC soldier, also holding two cups. The two seemed quite engrossed in their discussion. "Your companion?" Minoru asked, looking at the man.

"Yeah, and… I saw her with your delegation, is she… uh…"

"My sister."

The soldier sighed. "Okay, that could be worse. Look…"

"I am not so bold as to tell my elder sister who she may talk to," Minoru admitted. "Although…" At that moment, his sister's conversational partner turned his head slightly and the young prince felt his blood chill as he recognised him. "Although," he repeated, "I imagine that there are those who would say that I should."

The other man rubbed his brow. "I'm guessing you know who he is?"

"His face is quite well known," replied Minoru. "And my sister is hardly so foolish as to not recognise the heir to the Federated Commonwealth's throne."

"Okay. I know you may not take this as convincing from me, but he's not a bad guy."

Minoru nodded. "I assumed when you mentioned Trellwan that you must know him. I am not concerned about my sister's ability to protect herself from what actually happens, only about what others may presume happened." He reminded himself of his father's advice. Only a fool tries to fight a war on two fronts. Keeping the Federated Commonwealth from taking advantage of their distraction was an important consideration - though they were under attack themselves, there were enough AFFC regiments to seize many of the more exposed industrial worlds and the temptation to do so in order to fuel their own war effort must be part of the First Prince's thinking. "So long as they are in public, I have no cause for concern."

"Right." The older man offered his hand. "I'm Galen."

"Minoru." He accepted and shook. "I think we might not get our coffee soon."

"You may be right." Galen looked around and indicated a second van, slightly up the hill. "Shall we get our own and then play chaperone from a safe distance?"

That sounded like a plan, so Minoru accompanied his new partner in… conspiracy? Equipped with disposable cups of coffee they made their way back to the railing that separated the boulevard from the steep slope - somewhere they could look along at Omi and Victor.

"Trellwan was invaded by the Jade Falcons," he observed quietly. "If I may ask… what was it like to fight them?"

Galen considered the question. "Terrifying," he admitted. "They moved fast and hit harder. They take risks that I wouldn't - almost to the point that I thought they weren't worried about their own survival. Not quite, but they're committed."

"Aggressive fighters," Minoru agreed. "That would agree with what I have heard about the Smoke Jaguars and the Diamond Sharks."

The other officer nodded. "We usually use the DCMS as a benchmark for aggressive tactics, but they smashed right through our center, then wheeled and took out one of our flanks without hesitating. I'd have expected some sparring, feeling us out and then a charge if your commanders found what looked like a weakness. They didn't do that, they just came at us. Not in disorder, they all picked their targets and brought them down, but they went right in from the beginning."

Minoru paused. "Yes. The Diamond Sharks…" It was alright to talk about this, he reminded himself. "Because I was coming here, I was allowed access to what information we have about my brother's battle with them."

Galen gave him a searching look. "I take it that condolences are in order?"

"My brother died bravely and with honor, but… thank you." He hesitated. "Please accept my own condolences for your comrades lost on Trellwan."

They exchanged a nod of mutual understanding.

"The Diamond Sharks also engaged quickly," Minoru continued. "Their long range firepower was higher than expected. My brother was in reserve. When the main force fell back towards denser terrain, he tried to act as an anchor to reorganize, but the Sharks shifted immediately from long-range engagement into a pursuit that prevented the regiment from ever being able to effectively fight back."

"That sounds about right. They know what they're about," Galen admitted. "Still… I'd be interested in what you find out training with the Dragoons. When we clashed with the Jade Falcons after that first battle, we found them to be… a little too predictable. They have a very good doctrine, but they don't seem to vary from it. There's a certain rigidity to their thinking. We exploited that once and it's how we manage to capture one of their 'mechs mostly intact."

"Congratulations." He saw his sister's head turn and then saw the moment that she spotted him. Her expression grew chagrined. "Ah, I believe we have been remembered."

"Looks like it," Galen agreed and finished his cup of coffee. Then he raised his voice: "Victor, don't take up waiting as a profession! Coffee is served hot!"

The Archon-Prince-designate flushed as the pair walked over. "My apologies, kommandant. I got talking to Omi in the queue and lost track of time."

"Yes, I bet you did. Don't worry about it. I'm a big boy, I can buy my own coffee if I don't have a hauptmann to send." Galen gestured to Minoru. "We're just talking shop, you two can go back to your conversation if you want."

Omi gave Minoru a cup of lukewarm coffee and a look that said 'mention this and you will pay'. He accepted the cup and gave her a gracious nod of acceptance of the terms. "Your highness," he greeted Victor.

"There's no need to call me that," the Steiner-Davion prince said with a wince. "We're fellow officers from… well, our realms may be allies soon. I'm sure that feels as strange to you as it does to me… Chu-i?"

Minoru nodded in confirmation of his rank. "For an ally to have value they must be capable," he said politely. "And only a fool doubts the Federated Commonwealth's capability."

Victor grinned. "Nicely said. And the same for the DCMS." He looked over at Galen. "No taking advantage of him, sir. I know how you are with impressionable young officers."

"Don't worry, hauptmann. I'm sure you can embarrass yourself in front of your new friend without my help."

"He dislocated my arm," Victor warned Minoru in a low voice.

Omi looked surprised. "Why?"

"He wouldn't get on the dropship," Galen explained.

The two siblings exchanged looks. "Thank you," Omi concluded. "If you hadn't, I might not have met Victor."

That seemed to surprise the prince, but before he could protest, Minoru added: "If someone had done the same with our brother, he might not have been captured."

Galen frowned. "I thought you said he was dead?"

"Our brother knew entirely too much about the inner workings of the imperial court," Omi said quietly. "And as a prisoner he would be a propaganda boon. So he arranged to commit seppuku."

Minoru nodded. "For the sake of your family, I'm glad you weren't faced with that choice. You are fortunate to have such a good friend."

"You're Minoru, this is your sister Omi… Who was your brother?" asked Galen, with an expression that suggested he'd already guessed.

"Hohiro served under a false name, so that he could gain experience without his family status getting in the way," Minoru said quietly. "He died as Sho-sa Hiro Yamada, Third Battalion, Fourteenth Legion of Vega."

Unity City Recovery Zone, North America

Terra, Sol System

14 June 3050

Where the Liao estate was styled to look as if it belonged in ancient China, the Marik counterpart had been modern for the time it was built, with a tall semi-circle rising up from the hillside, angled to catch such sunlight as reached the Puget Sound. Only the lower levels extended out of that geometric shape.

The Captain-General's suite was fairly low, opening out onto the roof of one of the lower levels, providing a large patio dotted with planters that obscured views into the rooms - a necessity for security. "I see your people have done a good job of restoring the building," Wei observed as she was ushered in.

Thomas Marik smiled ruefully. "I wouldn't want to accommodate guests on the upper floors without more time to restore them, but the lower floors are in good shape. A testament to Star League engineering." He gestured to some antique wood and leather couches, looking slightly out of place in the stylishly simple lounge.

Wei accepted the indicated seat, finding it as comfortable as any in her own office. She looked at the scarred man sitting opposite her, the man who had come back from a bomb attack to save the Free Worlds League from his cousin's incompetence, crush the long-standing secession of Andurien and finally rebuild the League from the scarring of two civil wars in his own lifetime. "It seems at times that everything we do is just an effort to reclaim things that have been lost in the past. Even centuries after the end of the Star League, we don't dare hope that we might exceed that."

The Captain-General smiled. "There's a bit of a generation gap, I suppose. You were what - eleven when the Helm Data Core was discovered by Grayson Carlyle - not even born when the Halstead Collection was fought over by Davion and Kurita. For those of us who grew up before that, even to recreate whatever was lost seemed too much to hope for. You grew up with that as a goal everyone thought would be within reach."

"Perhaps you're right. If so then I hope that the next generation can have even higher expectations." She crossed her legs. "The Clans have advanced military technology beyond that of the Star League, but from what Wolf says they haven't been so innovative in many other fields."

The Marik paused. "Excepting medical technology."

"That is another example," she agreed. "Unfortunately, that's a technology that isn't easily taken from a battlefield and repurposed."

"Would you like anything to drink?"

Wei shook her head. "No thank you. Feel free if you want."

"It would feel rude to drink when you weren't," he demurred.

"Because I'm a lady, because I'm a guest or because I'm the Primus."

"Perhaps a little bit of all of them," the Marik admitted. "I may no longer be formally a part of the Order, but as a Blakist I still hold your office in respect."

Wei smiled. "I hope you aren't too disappointed in how I've used that office."

"Surprised at times, but perhaps a steadier hand was needed after your predecessor. Myndo Waterly was brilliant, but sometimes… aggressive," the scarred man allowed.

"That's one way to put it."

The Captain-General leant back in his own seat. "I doubt she would have been so hands-off in terms of this conference. As the host, I would have expected you to play more of a role."

Wei raised one hand to cup her cheek. "If I was leading efforts to fight against the Clans, how could I claim to be neutral?"

"You're giving the Federated Commonwealth a tremendous boost in terms of access to several key military technologies that they've been working to recreate - not just in how to build them but how to build them in the sort of quantities that they need. That doesn't sound like neutrality to me."

"I am also sharing that with your own people," Wei pointed out. "On the other hand, your current stance towards the fighting could be considered neutral."

That startled the Captain-General. He frowned and leant forwards. "I'm aware that if the Clans break through the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth then the Free Worlds League is next."

She drummed her fingers against her cheekbone. "And yet, I'm seeing more co-operation between House Kurita and House Davion than I am between yourself and any of the realms being attacked. I'm aware that House Steiner and House Marik don't get along but you've even declined to engage with Rasalhague and the Draconis Combine."

"You're not talking to Romano Liao about her own attitude?"

Wei gave him a level look.

"Alright, I don't think anything could convince her to be anything more than…" He considered that for a moment. "Not a disruptive element."

"I have low expectations there," agreed Wei. "You, on the other hand…"

"As a Blakist, you feel I should follow your lead?" Marik asked, his smile twisting the scar on his face.

"No." Wei lowered her hand. "I think you should make intelligent, long term decisions. We're clearly not on the same page on what those are… so I was hoping to clear that up."

"I see. I believe that you think I should agree to provide material and even direct military aid to the other three states?"

"I'm aware that military support is a hard sell," she told him. "Certainly on any large scale. However, selling armaments to them - not giving, I don't expect miracles - is beneficial to you. You find out what works and what doesn't. You gain their intelligence data. You increase the chances of not having to fight the Clans on your own worlds." Spreading her hands. "Alright, that's my own thinking. What's yours?"

"The problem is that I'm not a dictator. The other lords are theoretically restrained by other parts of their government, but I have actual constraints in the terms of Parliament. Maybe if it was just selling material, but it's selling on credit. I understand that they can't afford to pay up front for the quantities that they're asking for, but I can't just snap my fingers and convince Parliament to commit a huge amount of our budget in ways that won't be repaid for generations? Assuming they even survive to pay it back."

"Rasalhague?"

"Rasalhague," he said with a nod.

Wei sighed. She really wished he was wrong there. The Free Republic's capital of Rasalhague was directly in the path of the Clans. It wasn't a question of if it would be attacked, it was a matter of when. Months, not years from now.

"You have considerable political capital," she told him quietly. "I understand not wanting to spend that on a cause that looks lost. That may be lost. But if you don't spend it now, it may have no value in the future."

"There is a lot of uncertainty. I would need something concrete. I am trying to find something that they can give that would let me sell this to Parliament."

"Without having to pay the cost of emptying more than a decade of favors?"

"Yes. If I expend all my resources, I may not remain in power long enough to make sure the deal endures," Marik explained. "I'm sure you deal with the same issues in your expanded First Circuit. Which was a great idea, by the way. I can see even from the outside how much it's reducing friction within the Order."

"Thank you." Wei leaned forwards. "There's something you need to consider, Thomas."

"And what that might be?"

"I lied to Wolf."

"...pardon?"

"I lied to him," Wei repeated. "I told him we learned about the Clans from refugees who fled from the Clans' conquest of the Pentagon worlds. That's not how it happened."

Marik shook his head. "I don't see where you're going with this."

"After Nicholas Kerensky unified the Pentagon, one of the Clans broke ranks. To retain control, Kerensky destroyed them and demonized them in the records. I asked Wolf about it in a roundabout way and he really buys into that. They're 'something we don't talk about'. They were 'destroyed for the good of everyone'. Their word for it is annihilated and according to the Clan law, it means genocide. No one who was part of that Clan can be allowed to exist."

"And you… learned of this from them?"

"A tiny fraction who escaped." Wei looked at the scarred face. "We hid them. Filtered them into refugee groups. And their descendants live on. If the Clans learn of this, they will drop everything else to finish the job. Whatever the cost. This was, I must stress, the one time that the Clans decided nuclear weapons were the tool. Right now they want the entire Inner Sphere. But if they learn of the Not-Named… Then those become the priority."

"And they're here, on Terra?" he asked.

"Some. And Atreus."

"What?"

"Most of them don't know about it. We didn't know about it, but once I did, tracing them was a matter of crunching the records," she pointed out. "And we're really really good at that. Congratulations, Thomas. They will come for you. For your son."

The Captain-General sat back in his chair. Looked at her. Then laughed. Dry, cold, amused laughter.

Wei arched an eyebrow.

"I wondered for a while if you knew," he said, once he was done. Once the energy had drained out of him. "And when you came here today, I really thought you did. But apparently you do not. Oh well." Marik shook his head. "A secret for a secret, Wei Rong. I am…"

"Not the real Thomas Marik," she said with a nod.

"..."

Wei stood up, looming over him. "I am not going to blackmail you. You're a good Captain-General, a good Blakist. To be honest, I think you're a better Blakist and a better Marik than the man you replaced. But I am being completely honest with you. A DNA comparison of your son Joshua and the real Thomas' daughter Isis would very quickly prove that you're an imposter. You and Joshua are the functional Judas Iscariot of the Clans' beliefs. So. Do you really think this is a time to hoard your favors and options? Or is it time to cash them in to win more of them in the future… to have a future where you and he can live on?"

She walked away from him, towards the door. When her hand was on the door handle, he spoke.

"Primus, my son has leukemia."

Wei nodded, not looking back. "I will request a combined medical effort through Kappa. NAIS has been making strides. I can call in a favor from Emma Centrella and Hanse Davion has everything to gain if this gets him the tools. I'll even try talking the Clans into sharing something… And who knows, maybe we'll have something new, something that even the Star League didn't."

"Alright." His voice was little more than a whisper. "You pull your strings and I'll cut your deal."

She turned and bowed. "Thank you, Captain-General. I appreciate your willingness to bend on this matter."

"Perhaps I was wrong. There's more of Myndo Waterly in you than I thought."

Wei felt defeated. "Thank you for the lesson in politics, Lord Marik. Let's see if we can avoid a conversation like this in the future."