Opalescent Reflections
Full House
Chapter 18
ComStar Military Hospice, Camlann
Benjamin Military District, Draconis Combine
9 May 3059
Where there had been tents and prefabs back in 3051, Wei found that the island hospital was now a permanent facility. The island had been ceded to ComStar by Minoru Kurita in token of their victory over the Clans on Camlann. Isolated in the middle of Midland Sea, surrounded by the ruined industrial cities and battlefields, the facility had lacked a purpose, until ComStar found one for it.
As Wei walked the hallways, she heard clipped and precise Star League English mixed with terms that had never been known on Terra. Her escort of ComGuards infantry watched the patients warily, conscious that every one of them had combat training that included extensive practice in unarmed combat. Men and women who had in some cases already killed with their bare hands.
All of them were broken, mostly in body but others in mind. Defeat could do strange things to the mind and Wei had authorized a budget for psychologists that was almost as high as that for reconstructive surgeons.
There had been a motion placed before the First Circuit to forbid her this trip. No vote had been called when Wei told them that she was going, whatever the outcome of the vote, and if they didn't like it they could elect a new Primus.
She had done enough at this point, been Primus for thirteen years. That was below average for the position, but she wouldn't have the shortest term of office. And it had been a very intense thirteen years.
Double doors led into a theater - not an operating theater, a performance venue. Keeping patients - and staff - entertained was important, this far from towns and cities. If history was any guide, there might be a town here in the future. ComStar meant stability for many people.
Both doors were swung open by guards and Wei walked through without touching them, down into the aisle leading to the stage. Seats on either side were occupied, sometimes replaced by wheelchairs for those who could not walk here. She heard the doors close and the guards who'd held them fell back into step at the back of her escort.
Up on the stage, the soldiers spread out in a single rank at the back - three on either side of the podium, and now Wei had no excuse not to look at those who had been gathered here.
Her first impression was the same one she'd had when meeting ComGuard wounded here during the Battle of Camlann: they are so young!
The second was also the same: the number of arms and legs isn't right!
Wei looked at over two hundred wounded warriors and told them: "Some of you know who I am. For those who do not, I am the Primus of ComStar. I am the woman who called out Lincoln Osis, Leo Showers and Perigard Zalman."
"You are no warrior," a one-legged giant at the edge of the room accused.
"No," she agreed. "But you cannot fathom how many warriors are dead because of me. I am a peaceful woman. And because of that, when I do go to war I do not pursue glory. I will seek to end the war in such a way as to avoid further wars. I will offer reconciliation, but never appeasement. My victories are not in lives lost, but in lives saved."
A woman with her head covered in bandages squinted up at Wei with her one visible eye. "Then you are at the mercy of those warriors."
"How well is that working out for your Clans?" Wei asked gently. She considered listing the Clans and their current states, but that would be gloating. "There may be enough of you here that you could storm this stage and kill me, despite what would no doubt be horrendous casualties." The primus gestured lightly to the soldiers behind her. "What would that accomplish? To convince billions of people that the Clans are so savage and barbaric that they will kill an unarmed woman who is offering them a second chance at life?"
"It would avenge my Clan," the bandaged woman hissed.
Wei tilted her head slightly in thought. "Are they still your Clan? I believe that the Clans have a custom of… bondsmen, is it? That once defeated, you are the responsibility of the victors, not of your previous Clan." She tapped her left wrist. "It is not quite our own custom, but there is a reason all of you wear a bondcord."
The giant - an elemental - laughed sourly. "You did not defeat me. That was… the FedCom, not ComStar."
"The Star League defeated you," Wei corrected him. "And by agreement among the Star League Council, warriors taken prisoner are being placed in the custody of ComStar. There is some exception for senior officers, if they are captured." She chuckled lightly. "And no one is giving up scientists or technicians, I can assure you. But warriors? I am sorry, but no one seems to want you…"
A man towards the back of the crowd pushed himself wobbly to his feet. "Then why take us as bondsmen in the first place?"
"And let you go back to your Clans?" She shook her head. "Because we are not stupid. The small size of the warrior caste is one of the Inner Sphere's advantages, we would be fools to give it up. We are unlikely to offer hegira to any Clan during this war, and if we allow anyone to return then it would only mean that they were such a disaster that their own Clan would do well to execute them as more of a threat in their ranks than against them."
Then Wei leant forwards over the low podium. "There is no way back for you. But there may be a way forward, if you have the courage."
"You assume that our Clans will not find us?" the woman asked.
Something about the way she held her head looked familiar and it took Wei a moment to place the recollection. "I very much doubt that Clan Steel Viper would come here," she said drily, not willing to gamble this was the actual woman she was thinking of and not just a relative. The Clans did have relatives, even if they didn't generally acknowledge it. "And if they did, I am fairly sure that we could reinforce the garrison quite easily."
It would also mildly impress Wei if Clan intelligence was good enough to know that captured Clan warriors were here, given the intentionally isolated location. But they were getting better at that. DRUM had recently updated reports saying that it was now very probable that Clan Diamond Shark's Epsilon Galaxy wasn't involved in the fighting around Galedon V at all and was somewhere up on the border with what remained of the Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone, meaning that Franklin Kurita would have had a good chance of pushing further if it weren't for the Black Dragon Society.
"Other Clans at least have some presence left in the Inner Sphere," she continued, "But they have been pushed back quite a way, so it would be rather more challenging for them to get here now. And given their own losses, I suspect that they would not want to return you to their original Clans, just to claim you for their own ranks… which I imagine would displease those of you not from whatever Clan stumbled across us here. That being the case, you may wish to make the best of your situation."
"What are our alternatives?" the elemental on the edge of the room asked bluntly. "You said that no one wants us."
Another of the Clanners raised his hand. "You are committing significant resources to treat us if that is so." He was missing an arm and a leg, which explained why his wheelchair was one of the powered models.
"Not as you are," Wei told them. "Not as long as you cling to your old identities and ways. Not unless you are willing to change. But if you are able to adapt, then you do have alternatives to…" She paused and then reluctantly finished. "'Bondsref'."
"You want us to abandon our customs," the bandaged woman accused harshly. "It is the right of a warrior to end themselves rather than face dishonor."
"It is more bother than it is worth to stop you if you insist," the Primus said bleakly. "I am of the personal belief that while life prevails it is worth living, but there are those who think otherwise. Each of you has the choice to refuse food - let the doctors know that is your wish and we will refrain from providing that level of care."
"Starvation?" the Steel Viper exclaimed in horror.
"I do not have these guards here as decoration. There are reasons we do not trust you with weapons. Nor am I obliged to let you die with dignity." If someone was stubborn enough to refuse food for weeks then there really was no saving them.
"So what are these alternatives?" the elemental asked skeptically. "Join the Nova Cats?"
The news of the Nova Cat's decision to join the Federated Commonwealth had been made public recently. Wei thought it was excellent news, but there were a number of people being quite vocal about their disapproval of the idea. Usually without having any say in the matter.
"You have already refused that option," Wei reminded them. A Nova Cat recruiter had visited the hospice - without being told where they were going - the previous week. There hadn't been much take up, perhaps because there were no current Nova Cat prisoners. A dozen patients had been transferred to a dropship that was currently on its way to Melissia by a circuitous route. "The Nova Cats do not plan to extend the offer again."
Before any of them could ask again, she extended her hand. "For those of you who feel fit to continue in a combat role when your treatment is over, the ComGuards are willing to take you on as acolytes. You will be required to retrain from the beginning, as the ComGuards are soldiers, not warriors, but there is precedent with those who joined our order after Camlann. Those of you not fit for war can be retrained for other roles: I believe such retirement is not entirely unheard of among the Clans."
"It is unusual outside of the Diamond Sharks," the warrior who had mentioned resources informed her. "And they have the option to return as warriors, which is not what you are offering."
Wei nodded in acceptance. "Very well, a new experience for those in that position. Your old lives are over. That is a closed matter - Clan Nova Cat was your only chance to remain a part of any Clan."
"They are traitors!" shouted the woman who Wei was increasingly certain was the previous Khan of Clan Steel Viper.
"If you say so," Wei admitted. "But that is no longer relevant to you. If you were bondsmen in another Clan, my understanding is that you would be used as laborers at first. I can offer you more prestigious positions in society, if you can earn them."
"Joining your ComGuards would at least give me a chance to die in battle," the one-legged elemental grunted thoughtfully.
All too many of them have, Wei thought sadly. And elsewhere on the island she would be meeting with the long-term wounded of the ComGuards, those who had already been deemed too badly injured to continue their service. That would probably be a harder meeting than this.
"That is a possibility. Or you may wish to start a family," she said instead. "We do not have a breeding program, so if you want to pass your genes to the next generation, you will have to do the actual work though."
Landing, Polcenigo
Diamond Shark Dominion
17 May 3059
Enough HPGs had been repaired or replaced that a quorum of the Clan Council could meet. Despite the expense, Khan Sennet had allowed time for the warriors to meet and speak with comrades that they had often not seen or spoken to for months.
"Do you have a clever solution to our vote?" Bikendi Vewas asked Ace once they finished comparing their experiences fighting Clan Smoke Jaguar. "There is genuine concern in the homeworlds that their votes count for almost nothing compared to the number of voters in the Inner Sphere."
The saKhan was one of the very few bloodnamed attending from the actual Council Chamber that they were all being projected into, the vast chamber where Ace had once made his petition to be allowed to compete for a bloodname. Many of the faces from back there were gone, but despite a year of battles there were still more bloodnamed warriors than there had been - the influx of Burrock bloodnamed had not yet evened out.
Ace looked around the room. "Khan Sennet asked me to think about the matter. And obedient to her commands…"
"Good. I hope you are not still waiting to spring the matter on her."
"We have had some time to confer between battles with the Hells Horses." Unlike the Hellions, the other Clan were still clinging to a few worlds near Polcenigo and Ace thought that Sennet was reaching the point where she would rather let those worlds go than continue to focus on them when there was the ongoing risk that the Draconis Combine might resolve its civil war. The Watch was fairly confident that Franklin Kurita would defeat Angus Kurita - the former had won victories against the Sharks and the latter had not - but how long it would take and how much it would cost was in doubt. "She dislikes my plan, but I do not know if someone else has had a better idea."
Bikendi sighed heavily. "As the one who had to calm Khan Survorv down after you claimed her Seekers, I could wish you were less disruptive, but you do produce results."
"I am not apologizing." They had needed the troops.
"There may be enough opportunities in the homeworlds to keep the Goliath Scorpions happy," the Khan observed. "Rumor has it that Clan Steel Viper may be absorbed before their remaining frontline forces can return to the homeworlds… and I am not sure Clan Smoke Jaguar is in better condition."
Ace nodded. "We live in turbulent times."
"We do indeed." Bikendi glanced up at some signal. "Time for us to begin, I am needed on the dais."
The two parted ways, the saKhan joining Barbara Sennet and Loremaster Semi Kalasa at the front of the great hall while Ace went up into the seating and joined the other officers of Epsilon Galaxy. Seeing the Khans taking their places, warriors began to find places to sit. Kevin Nagasawa and a number of warriors from Omega moved over to join Ace's group, one of the female mechwarriors giving Michel Bukannon a little wave.
Ellison Enders walked over to Ace and smacked him in the shoulder (which did nothing since both were present as holograms). "One of these days I will be there to see you kill a Khan in person."
"Perhaps, but not today," he managed to say before the Loremaster struck her gavel against the desk.
"I call the Clan Council to order!" Kalasa announced. "We meet under the martial code, in a time of war."
The room fell silent and Barbara Sennet rose from her throne to face the Diamond Sharks. "We have swum through dangerous waters for a year, my trothkin, but the Clan has emerged triumphant."
There were cheers from around the hall, proud but also anticipatory.
"I know that the vote is foremost in your minds, but there is other news that may not have reached everyone." The Khan squared her shoulders. "The Inner Sphere has struck at the homeworlds. While Clan Smoke Jaguar boasts to have beaten off an attack on Huntress, the fact is that they faced a raid not an invasion. Nonetheless, this raises concerns about the security of our own homeworlds."
Most of the room were already aware, but at least someone had fallen behind on reports from an outraged cry that died awkwardly once the speaker realized she was the exception.
"Those homeworlds now include all of Vinton," Sennet continued, "Since Khan Vewas was contesting the Smoke Jaguar enclaves at the time of the attack."
There were cautious cheers as Bikendi Vewas rose and bowed slightly. "Following this, Khan N'Buta of Clan Star Adder met with me on Strana Mechty," the saKhan reported. "He raised the matter of Absorption to me - to my surprise, the Smoke Jaguars were not his proposed target. He reports that following the loss of their Inner Sphere holdings, Clan Steel Viper's touman has been reduced to only a third of its former number and their bloodnamed have been reduced to less than a hundred."
"This is not a matter to be decided by the Khans alone," Sennet took up the threads of the matter. "My own view is that the Steel Vipers are trading partners not allies. Their conduct gave ComStar an excuse to interdict all the Clans, hampering us greatly over the last year. I do not oppose their absorption but nor are we in any position to bid for the right. However, this is not a time for disunity so I put this matter to the Clan: Khan Vewas and I will vote as this Council decides."
"Votes will be aye to support the Star Adder's motion of absorption, and nay to oppose," declared Kalasa.
Ace thought back to the clashes with the Steel Vipers back before the Invasion, and then of the equipment produced with their help for the touman. "I think ComStar would have interdicted us anyway," he murmured to those around him.
"They are still fools," pointed out Angus Labov. "Calling for genocide over one lunatic."
"You make a good point." Ace tugged on the lobe of one ear and then voted aye. The Star Adders were probably the strongest single Clan in the homeworlds at the moment: cold-bloodedly, they were a more valuable ally than the Vipers.
For whatever reasons, the majority of the Clan Council seemed to agree and the vote was closed with a mandate to back Sennet's position. No one on the dais seemed moved.
"Loremaster, present the results of the vote on our Clan's name," Sennet ordered and almost nine hundred bloodnamed warriors leant forwards in anticipation.
Kalasa touched a control and a single pie chart appeared above the dais. One wedge was marked as Diamond Shark… but it was only a wedge. Three quarters of the display bore the words Sea Fox. "Overall, the vote of the Clan comes to seventy-five point nine for Sea Fox," she announced quietly.
There was a outcry, from the far side of the hall. Ace was fairly sure that it was Annika Enders who used the word refusal.
"Enough!" Vewas shouted, voice amplified by the systems of the hall. "The loremaster has not finished her report. There will be time for debate later."
The loremaster remained unruffled, tapping another control. The pie chart shrank and others appeared, breaking down the vote by caste and location. Each caste had a smaller display next to it, representing the caste's leadership - the count was not entirely anonymous: Clan custom was that a leader was accountable for their votes.
"Oh that is interesting," Ellison whispered as he, like everyone else, examined the disposition.
Every caste had a majority favoring the name change, with the Warriors and Scientist numbers lowest… but every leadership poll was almost even between the two. And every single enclave in the Clan homeworlds had a strong swing towards the Diamond Shark name. Even the three worlds Sennet had mentioned to Ace were at most forty-percent in favor of being Sea Foxes.
"This could get ugly," Angus Labov agreed. "If the Council were all attending in person I would expect blood on the floor."
"The results are clear, but contentious," Kalasa announced once everyone had had a chance to absorb the data. "The majority who favor a change back to Clan Sea Fox - and the associated policies - is centered in the worlds of the Diamond Shark Dominion. The homeworlds, on which we depend for the great process of spreading the way of the Clan across the Dominion, oppose the change."
"I request permission to speak."
Kalasa turned towards the source of the voice and then nodded. "I recognise Galaxy Commander Seth Margyar and invite him to speak on this matter."
The commander of Delta Galaxy, a former-Burrock, stood up. "If it were not Galaxy Commander Enders, the people of the Dominions would not have had a chance to weigh the vote in favor of Inner Sphere ways. I call on him to account for causing division within the Clan."
Ace was about to push himself upright when Ellison Enders pre-empted him. "I will have you know I had no hand in that decision!" the older warrior shouted, bolting to his feet in outrage.
Margyar stared at him for a moment, mouth working, and then growled "The other Enders," in irritation.
"Well be clearer! There are two of us, you know."
"Be seated, both of you," Kalasa ordered. "Galaxy Commander Ace Enders, you may speak in your own defense."
Ellison gave him a little wink as he settled back into his seat and Ace grudgingly admitted that the little byplay had burned off a little of antagonism within the Clan Council.
"Chalcas," he said once he was sure he had everyone's attention. "Challenge caste, to use the full term. The first sin of the Not-Named, if not the one that had them annihilated. If the people of the Dominion are not part of our Clan, part of our Castes, then what are they? To rule over them without responsibility to them challenges the dictates of the Founder. When the Pentagon worlds were conquered by Nicholas Kerensky and the first warriors of the Clans, those conquered were brought into the Clans. They did not become a sixth caste, barred from participating in their new Clan's affairs. To do so would be chalcas. An easy path, because it takes us off the way of the Clans."
Ace looked around the room. "But that leaves us the hard way, the hard choices. Because you are right, Seth Margyar. There is division within our Clan." Thoman Clarke was trying not to draw notice, he saw. Probably the Star Captain was hoping no one would remember that he was the one who had first raised the idea of changing the Clan's name back to Sea Fox. "Ignore this and it will become a rot that could destroy us."
He turned to the dais and caught Barbara Sennet's eye. She hesitated uncharacteristically and then nodded, tapping a control built into the arm of her throne.
"I have a proposal to resolve this," Ace continued as the vote totals were replaced in the air by the emblem of the Diamond Sharks and the long abandoned banner of Clan Sea Fox. "A way that respects both sides of this debate. Let us replace the Diamond Shark Dominion with the Diamond Sea Dominion, a state shared between two Clans!"
"Are you mad?!" Evangeline Clarke bellowed, the galaxy commander leaping to her feet. "Did Ulric Kerensky's folly teach you nothing?!"
"Ulric was a wolf," he shot back. "He acted with speed and fury, which led to embittered exile and a lust for revenge. I do not take him as an example. My proposal is that our Clan be divided carefully and patiently, that we offer choice to every member of every caste. That, where possible, those who find themselves out of step with their home enclave will be given a chance to relocate to one held by the clan of their choice. When Khan Ulric created the Zeerga he condemned millions of his Clan to a name they never wanted. Our own division must be one where each of us takes up the banner of the Clan that they believe in!"
Murmurs spread around the hall as warriors exchanged opinions over the idea. No one was screaming, which was a good start.
Bikendi Vewas rose to his feet and gestured for Ace to sit. "I have not heard this idea before, but I believe it has merit. In the homeworlds there has been great fear that a sweeping majority from the Dominion would disempower them within the Clan. This will allow those of us who believe in our current ways to continue, while those who wish to adapt to the Inner Sphere can do so without dragging us along."
"It will cost our Clan all that we have gained in the Inner Sphere!" protested Annika Enders. "The Diamond Sharks will become just another homeworld Clan, impoverished by all that has been invested here." Ace was amused to see the former-Burrock identifying herself as a Diamond Shark.
"Neg," Khan Sennet did not stand but at her words the saKhan retreated to his own throne. "There were more votes to be Diamond Sharks here in the Dominion than all the votes cast in the Homeworlds. Clan Diamond Shark will retain enclaves in the Inner Sphere, totalling at least a fifth of the Dominion. And Clan Sea Fox will be ceded territory within the homeworlds - perhaps Priori, Vinton and Albion, whose total population is not far removed from the total votes in the homeworlds to be Sea Foxes."
"The exact disposition of how each territory is assigned would need to be debated," Semi Kalasa allowed cautiously. The loremaster had been present when Ace first suggested the idea to Sennet, but she was acting as if it was new to her. "And we cannot hold anyone to the votes they cast before, this is a new idea and not what we were voting for beforehand. I was unconvinced at first, but Ace Enders is correct. There is no requirement that the division be done in haste, we can take five or ten years - time enough for everyone to make up their minds and for those wishing to move to do so."
"Ten years is reasonable," agreed Sennet. "Clan Zeerga were tiny, too small to be viable when compared to other Clans. But by that time both the Diamond Sharks and Sea Foxes might have as many as ten galaxies, which is enough that each could hold their own."
"And together," Angus Labov offered from his seat near Ace, "Our Clans will have the strength to hold the Diamond Sea against all our shared foes. Whatever our differences, we would remain trothkin, the heirs of Karen Nagasawa and Damon Clarke."
With the united support of both Khans as well as the loremaster, conversation shifted to how such a division of the Clan might take place. Ace sat down and gave Thoman Clarke a wink. The two of them might survive this without being lynched… and Clan Diamond Shark might avoid a civil war like that tearing the Combine apart along their rimward border.
Sol City, Crimond
Liberated Territory, Federated Commonwealth
1 June 3059
There were no words to express Victor's joy at seeing two of his cousins alive and well. Mostly because with these two cousins, joy was not his first reaction.
Crimond was one of the worlds in the Nova Cat Occupation Zone that they had agreed to withdraw from in order to maintain a more defensible territory as a province of the Federated Commonwealth. That didn't mean that they were gone, there were a number of civilians to evacuate - Nova Cats from the homeworlds and locals who didn't feel entirely safe to remain without the Clan due to what could be unkindly (if accurately) be considered collaboration.
The news that Ryan was headed to Crimond with a private regiment of 'mechs had set off alarms as far away as Mount Asgard and Victor had been in motion before orders from his mother arrived. As one of the relatively few people with the social and military rank to squash the older Steiner, Victor had orders to rein the duke in. Diplomatically, if possible, but there was leeway if it was not.
The unexpected presence of a slightly more distant cousin convinced Victor that a direct confrontation would be unwise. "Phelan," he said in greeting, not touching on the delicate matter of family names for the moment. "This is a surprise. What brings you to Crimond?" The prince tried to avoid contractions that would inflame the temper of the Clanners.
His scapegrace cousin - booted from the Nagelring, captured as a mercenary and now somehow wearing the rank pins of a senior Clan officer on his gray leathers - didn't have the grace to look abashed. "Would you believe that I have diplomatic credentials, Victor?"
"I believe you," he assured his cousin, taking a seat at the end of the conference table. He had found Ryan and Phelan in the planetary governor's mansion, more recently used by the Nova Cat's administrator. That worthy had greeted Victor at the drop port, sounding more bemused than angry at being pushed out of the building earlier than expected and let him know where to find Ryan. "I would like to see it, just to find out who was desperate enough to assign you such a mission." The four stars on Phelan's collar marked him as a galaxy commander, which was more than a little surprising.
Then again, the fighting against the Zeerga - Clan Wolf's equivalent of Free Skye, perhaps? - had likely opened space in their leadership. Some reports said that as much as a quarter of the Wolves' frontline strength was lost in the fighting and after such bitterness, there had been no sign of defeated Zeerga in the Wolf touman.
One of Phelan's aides produced a folder and Victor studied the documents inside. "Natasha Kerensky herself. That explains a lot." Then he reached the part that explained Phelan's presence. "And you were even invited. That does seem in order… from your end." He turned towards Ryan whose initial surprise at Victor's presence was now under control. "I did not know you were in the diplomatic service, cousin."
"This is a matter of the Tamar Pact," the duke defended himself. "I am acting on behalf of my lady wife. Crimond is part of the Pact, after all."
"I would say her authority is rather questionable until the civilian government is reconstituted," Victor observed tersely. "But for now, I accept that she has an interest in the progress of the war. So what have I interrupted?"
"Duke Steiner was just reconsidering his initial bid for a Trial of Possession," Phelan told him with a barely restrained air of mischief.
Feeling somewhat as if he was umpiring a match of tennis, Victor looked back at the Duke of Porrima. "Oh? What were you bidding for?"
"All of the occupied worlds of the Tamar Pact." Ryan glowered at the Wolves. "I was hoping for a proxy battle, such as that fought for the Nova Cat's occupied worlds."
"I am sure you were, but you are not offering us anything worth that gamble." Phelan smirked irritatingly. "Our touman is no longer divided between threats. If you want half of our Occupation Zone, you will have to fight it."
Ryan looked frustrated. "You are not being reasonable."
"I would be inclined to say that you are the one who lacks reason." The smirk grew wider. "You declined to offer stakes worthy of your bid, Duke Ryan. And your forces are inadequate. Prince Victor has the credibility of fair dealings with the Nova Cats, but your challenge borders on the insulting."
Victor shook his head in annoyance. "Do I want to know?"
"They demanded that I offer the return of all the worlds they have lost to our counterattack!"
"Not happening," he said flatly. The border had been pushed back fifty light years, liberating eighteen worlds from the Wolves. "I will not say it is an unreasonable stake against the return of the Tamar Pact worlds, but we have no need for such a deal when we are already making good progress."
Crimond and the other worlds given up by the Nova Cats were already being readied to act as staging areas to take back the narrow tip of the remaining Jade Falcon occupation zone, that would serve as a springboard for attacks further into the Jade Falcon's holdings or to drive into the Wolves flank.
"It seems you have come here for nothing," Victor told Phelan briskly. "Perhaps you can take the opportunity to contact your family while you are here."
"First thing I tried, do you think ComStar will accept you telling them who I am? They would not authenticate me to use family funds to pay for a message." Phelan shook his head irritably. "I even quoted my social security number and they said it was invalid."
Understanding swept through Victor. "Oh."
His cousin's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean oh?"
There was a low laugh from Ryan. "Your social security number was retired, Ward." He emphasized the bloodname cruelly. "That's what happens when your citizenship is stripped."
Phelan went white. "You what?!"
Victor raised his hands. "Sit down," he ordered, voice snapping with authority.
Ryan sneered but settled back down. After a betrayed look, Phelan sank back into his own chair. More importantly, the Wolf warriors with him also relaxed.
"By agreement among the Star League Council, bondsmen recovered from the Clans are to be treated as prisoners of war," Victor explained. "But those who chose to enter the Clans' warrior caste are another matter. Anyone doing that is deemed to have given up their existing citizenship."
"You have no idea what I went through, Victor," Phelan said coldly.
He shook his head. "No, but I was part of the debrief for Tyra Miraborg."
Phelan's jaw went slack. "What are you talking about? What happened to Tyra?"
Victor exhaled slowly. "She was captured by Clan Smoke Jaguar on Camlann and spent more than four years as a bondsman."
"...how is she?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "She's with the force that we sent to the homeworlds. We haven't heard back from them yet." Victor hoped that they did soon. The Explorer Corps jumpships that had been acting as scouts for the force had made contact with an outlying base and sent their reports via HPG chain, but the attack force itself had yet to return.
"Tamar," Ryan cut in and both Victor and Phelan jerked their attention back to him. "If you can't offer a bargain for the entire pact then what about the capital - the world and transit rights?"
Victor was about to snap that this wasn't the time, but he saw he'd be wasting his breath. Ryan could tell Phelan was shaken and he was taking advantage intentionally.
Faced with a verbal attack though, Phelan came back into focus almost immediately. "As long as it is not used as a base for further attacks, that could be done," he allowed. "I will bid one galaxy of Clan Wolf in its defense - if Victor is willing we can use Orkney as a proxy battleground - if you win there then both worlds are ceded back to you."
"My Tamar Cavaliers are too few," Ryan admitted, but raised his hand. "But the Fourth Fed-Com and Eleventh Lyran Guards are here on Crimond."
Orkney was the nearest world in Wolf hands to Crimond, earmarked for Task Force Emerald's next wave. "That seems reasonable," the prince allowed cautiously. The Eleventh Lyran Guards were a crack regimental combat team, rated as equal to the Tenth Lyran Guards that he had served with - and the Fourth FedCom were a solid, reliable force. Combined with the Tamar Cavaliers, they would have rough parity with a Clan galaxy. "But what do you want if you win?"
"I want the same thing the Nova Cats asked for in their trial," Phelan told him, a wicked smirk crossing his lips. "If we win, the Federated Commonwealth will nominate Clan Wolf for equal membership of your new Star League."
Victor paused, caught off guard. There was certainly precedent, but he couldn't approve that.
"Done!" Ryan exclaimed and stood before Victor could stop him, extending his hand across the table. "Or rather, bargained well and done!"
"Exactly," Phelan agreed, shaking the older man's hand. "I will report this to my Khan. Allowing for travel time, I suggest that the Trial begins on the first of next month. I offer safcon for your bid forces to make landing unmolested."
"On what authority are you commiting the entire Federated Commonwealth?" Victor questioned the older of his cousins in a warning tone.
"On that of the Duchess of Tamar," the man declared confidently. "She sits on the Commonwealth Council with authority to negotiate on behalf of the Archon." There was a little emphasis at the start of the sentence, a reminder that Victor was not a member of that body. In fact, he wasn't sure either way if Ryan's claim was correct.
The thought of forbidding this anyway crossed Victor's mind, but the looks on the Wolf warriors convinced him that all it would do was convince them that the Federated Commonwealth was bargaining in bad faith. Dammit! However annoying Phelan was, the worst of it was that if the Nagelring hadn't kicked his cousin out then he'd have been a huge asset. He might have had a regiment in the AFFC by now. Instead he was pulling things like this for a Clan!
It is only our vote, he thought. I can't see them getting many more votes… although Sun-Tzu Liao might vote in favor just because it would be a loss for us.
I should have shut down talks when I arrived, got Ryan aside and talked to them seperately, he thought. Or I could have just punched Ryan before he shook Phelan's hand - that would have been satisfying and the Wolves wouldn't have cared! Alas, Ryan could make a lot of political points of that.
Phelan swept out, saying he would have to communicate the agreement back to Khan Kerensky - and that left Victor alone with Ryan and the older man's aides.
"You had better win this, Ryan," he warned. "The Archon will not be pleased."
"Liberating Tamar will galvanize the Commonwealth," the duke assured him smugly. "I know what I'm doing."
"If you lose, and somehow they get the votes to join the Star League, then any further attempt to reclaim Tamar would be aggression against another Star League member," Victor reminded him. "If you win, you'll be a hero. If you lose, you'll have lost your wife's patrimony."
"I was fighting wars before you were born, your highness."
"Not against the Clans." Victor pushed back his seat. "The Clans believe a battle begins with the bargaining; and you did not bargain well, at all."