Chapter 15

The Triad, Tharkad

Donegal March, Federated Commonwealth

31 July 3055

The Archon's office hadn't changed substantially since his grandmother's day, with the long drapes and furnishings that almost but did not quite match the craftsmanship of the huge wooden desk that Victor's maternal grandfather had made for his wife. While the Archon-Prince had never met his grandfather (in fact, nor had his mother, since Arthur Luvon had passed away while Katrina Steiner was carrying their only child), one of his fondest memories of his grandmother was of being allowed to sit on her lap and listen to her stories after she had finished work for the evenings.

This was where she had issued her Peace Proposal, where she had governed through the Fourth Succession War and there were still marks on the wall (if you knew where to look) that were the result of a barely foiled assassination attempt by Free Skye shortly before Victor was born.

And now it was where he was receiving reports from the frontlines. "They got her?" he demanded as Galen Cox handed over a data chip.

"They did," Galen agreed. "It seems that Arc-Royal was too tempting a target once we leaked out that the Kell Hounds would have both regiments away hunting for her."

Victor punched the air triumphantly and thrust the data chip into the console resting on his desk. Files sprang on the screen - full after action reports, along with analysis. More than he could take time to read now, but he would find the time soon. "Do we have any idea who was behind her?"

Galen perched on the side of the desk. "Not yet. We had to lie to everyone about the Kell Hounds to pull this off, so we're no nearer to finding out the source of the leak that was feeding her data. But it's clear that there was someone, and there was something interesting in the interview of one of her prisoners. Nelson Geist - an ex-AFFC Kommandant she was treating more like a bondsman than anything else."

Victor's eyebrows went up. "Really?"

"To the point of having him in the cockpit of her Battlemaster for some of the raids," the Kommandant confirmed. "Twisted." He shook his head. "Anyway, he believes that at least some of her equipment was given to her by one of the Clans, not the result of raiding."

"We suspected that." The Archon-Prince leant back in his chair and contemplated the idea for a moment. "And Phelan's opinion?" His cousin had lost his mother to the same blast that had slain Melissa Steiner-Davion, and his father had lost his right arm in the same moment.

Clan medical technology might be able to make good the loss, and Victor suspected that besides attending Salome Ward's funeral, Phelan might plan to convince his father to see if Clan Wolf could offer better reconstruction than the Commonwealth could. As their Khan it would be within his power to order that, but the politics would be complicated.

At the end of the day, it was something Victor would be happy to live with.

Galen folded his arms. "He wondered if this might be action by the Diamond Sharks or even the Clans' own criminal element. Of course, it's news to me that they even have one."

"The more I learn about the Clans, the more they seem like us but at right angles," Victor observed. "Clan Diamond Shark though… I didn't think they had any presence in the Inner Sphere after Tukayyid. They don't occupy any worlds I'm aware of?" he added questioningly.

"They had a world in the near Periphery according to Phelan but the Ghost Bears took it from them after Tukayyid. There were suspicions they had traded supplies to insurgents. He admits that may just be mud-slinging, it was before he had joined the Wolves fully."

"It certainly muddies the water." A chime from the clock told Victor that time for discussing this was over. His next appointment would be arriving soon. "I have to get ready, but I did have an offer for you, Galen."

Galen rose to his feet. "If this is your sister's hand in marriage," he joked, "I will have to recuse myself."

"Yvonne is too young for you anyway," Victor deadpanned. "No, but I do have to choose someone to take over from me with the Tenth Lyran Guards. I'm already head of the Royal Guards on paper. I can't justify keeping the Tenth with me as well. How do you feel about having your own regiment?"

"Now that's a sudden offer," the kommandant said in surprise. "I'm not even the senior battalion commander."

"No, but you're the one who I have the most confidence in."

"In honesty, I have probably also been neglecting the role to serve as your aide," Galen told him seriously. "I figured I'd have to choose whether to stay with you or with the regiment sooner or later."

"It's a tough choice," Victor admitted sympathetically.

"Not really. Keeping you from doing anything stupid is clearly my duty. I followed you into the Tenth Guards, remember. I never really expected a posting with such a prestigious unit to begin with." The older man drew himself up. "Respectfully, your highness, I would prefer to remain as your aide over taking command of the Tenth."

Trying to hide the warm feeling he felt at those words, Victor toyed with a stylus. "I suppose that I will need to find another battalion commander too, before I hand them off."

"I thought Sabine was coming along well," his friend offered. "She's about ready for a battalion."

"Yes, but she has one. Didn't you hear?" He'd thought that Galen and his cousin were getting on quite well.

Galen spread his hands. "I've been a bit too busy to socialize lately."

"Ah. Well, she got offered a transfer over to the Twenty-Fourth Lyran Guards to command one of their battalions," Victor explained. "We're getting another distant cousin of mine to replace her in Baker Company - Caesar Steiner's son Reinhart. He was in the same class as Peter."

That got a grimace. "And he has a company already? I can't see that being welcome news with your brother."

Victor said nothing. Peter had been quite unhappy to find his petitions to be sent somewhere more active than Tharkad met with a transfer to the March Militia on Skye. It was a politically sensitive area, and if Ryan Steiner ever made a move then Peter would find himself on the frontlines of an insurrection. Of course, from that perspective, it also warned Free Skye that if they went beyond mere talk, Victor would have every reason to hammer them unmercifully.

"Do you want me to draw up a list of candidates?" asked Galen.

"That would be helpful," he agreed. "I won't ask you to sit in on the next meeting. I'm sure you've met Sabine's grandmother already."

"Field Marshal Steiner is a legend in the service," the kommandant said stiffly, before adding: "And I'm as scared of her as everyone else is."

"Well if you and Sabine keeping hitting it off, you might be her in-law one day."

"Stop trying to meddle in my love life, Victor. I can't tell if you're trying to help or hinder."

Victor chuckled and waved him out before contacting his current secretary. "If Field Marshal Steiner hasn't arrived yet, send her right in when she gets here."

"I've been waiting," his great-aunt said gruffly, pushing in through the door before Galen could exit. She gave the man a nod when he held the door. "Kommandant Cox."

"Field Marshal." He let her pass and closed the door behind himself.

Nondi Steiner took a seat facing Victor without asking. "Good man there."

"Yes," he agreed. "I offered him the Tenth, but he turned it down to stay my aide."

That got an approving nod. "Sabine speaks well of him. You would have won either way, but you should get him a promotion. You know the social-generals will look down on him for being a mere field officer."

"It's in the works." The bureaucracy of the AFFC could sometimes run slowly, even for the man who was its supreme commander. Victor closed down the console and dropped the datachip on the Red Corsair's final battle into a desk drawer. "I'm more than happy to see you, but you didn't say why you wanted a meeting."

His great-aunt opened the valise case she was carrying and produced an envelope, placing it on the desk. "I offered this to your mother… and before that, to my sister."

Victor gave her a startled look and then lifted the envelope, which wasn't sealed. The contents were not unexpected, but not something he'd hoped to see. "Resignation."

"The Clans are my fourth war," she reminded him. "Realistically, the only way for me to move up would be to replace Morgan Hasek-Davion as Marshal of Armies, and he's younger than I am." Then she looked down at the desk surface. "And I'm tired, Victor."

"You've never done less than your duty," he acknowledged and slid the letter of resignation back into its envelope. "If that's your intention, all I can ask is that you wait until I have my feet under me and find a suitable officer to step in."

"Of course," she told him matter-of-factly. "I hadn't meant I would leave today."

Victor rose from behind the desk and offered her his hand. The old general took it and pulled him into a rough hug. "You're so damn young to be behind that desk," she said. "Melissa and Katrina had at least time to grow up."

"I'm twenty-five," he reminded her, not refusing the embrace.

"Practically an infant," Nondi said with a sniff.

Chapter 16

Castle Davion, New Avalon

Crucis March, Federated Commonwealth

10 September 3055

Jackson Davion had come to her office this time. Kate could have used the mono-rail to go down to the Fox's Den, her new post as viceroy did come with some perks. But she'd have had to return for her next meeting so this time she had elected to impose upon him.

The Field Marshal looked around as he entered. "A change from when I was last here."

The curtains framing the two large windows were now Davion bottle-green, with the fist-and-sunburst embroidered into them in gold. Kate had moved her father's decorations such as the glass sculpture of his first love Dana Stephenson into storage and replaced them with a cabinet of models. A scale model of her Guillotine she'd made as part of her NAIS coursework stood in pride of place, flanked by Galax's concept model for the new corvettes and a lovingly painted Atlas kit that someone had once gifted to her uncle Ian.

"It's a working office, not a museum," Kate told him. "Tea? Coffee?"

"Coffee, please. Your staff should know how I take it?"

Sure enough, it was moments before one of Kate's assistants entered with two coffee cups on a silver tray, setting them down before them both. Kate's had some cream while Jackson's was black as pitch.

"You wanted to talk about the March Militias?" he asked, after tasting the coffee and smiling appreciatively.

Kate nodded. "I sent a proposal to your office for review."
"The volunteer repair program?" he asked. "Yes, I saw it. I believe it was forwarded for further investigation. It does seem promising, but I'd want to see the numbers on how many volunteers we can find before going further."

"That's reasonable," she agreed. "So I sent out queries to gauge interest. Assuming that half of those that responded actually follow through, I think we'd be looking at between two or three companies of additional battlemechs coming available in every defense zone and combat region within your purview, if we can get the repairs done."

Jackson paused and set his cup down. "That is very promising."

Her proposal had gone back to the roots of the March Militia, with the selection of the best of the planetary militias in each combat region to form up the brigades that had become the backbone of the AFFS' defensive strategies. Kate had proposed contacting old mechwarrior families whose 'mechs were no longer fit for service and offering them full refits that they couldn't otherwise afford. In exchange, each family was required to place a 'mech and mechwarrior at the service of their local March Militia for no less than ten years.

"Can we carry out the repairs?" he asked. "I have some concerns about finding enough technical staff?"

"The Bell Repair yards have availability to make a start," she told him. "I've also felt out NAIS, Point Barrow and the Tikonov academies about assigning cadets to carry out some of the work. It won't cover all the needs, but coupled with the Militias themselves, we can make a start."

"That will free up more soldiers for other postings," Jackson observed. "I know Victor will be pleased if we have more replacements to keep the regiments facing the Clans at strength." Then he narrowed his eyes. "I imagine you have some ideas as well?"

"I said every defense zone and combat region," Kate repeated. "That includes Kathil, Point Barrow and Broken Wheel. None of which currently have March Militias."

"Ah…" the graying officer said in understanding. "I take it that you wish to change that."

The princess offered him a datachip she'd prepared earlier. "Infantry and armor regiments in those regions' planetary guards that may be suitable for nationalization to re-establish the march militias."
"It would take more than a few companies per combat region to build up battlemech regiments though," warned Jackson. "Ten years isn't a huge amount of time for that."

"Duke Sandoval has agreed to set aside a number of Watchman and Clint battlemechs from Robinson Standard BattleWorks as a contribution, although he will still want most of them for the Draconis March. My intention is to start them off with training forces built along the lines of the training battalions we already operate," Kate explained. "Transfers from the other March Militias would provide some cadre for two battalions each - one of trainees and one of family-owned mechs. The remainder of their strength would be made up of mercenaries hired on long term commitments."

Jackson nodded in agreement. "It's innovative, but most of that could work. We can filter in officers who are nearing retirement age as well, particularly those who have served against the Clans and who can pass on that experience. I'm concerned about the mercenaries though, you're talking about low activity postings for a decade, at least. Most battalion units would be concerned about making ends meet over that time."

"My thinking is that it would appeal to units not willing to take contracts that put them up against the Clans." Kate ran one hand through her hair. "A number of units have been taking Capellan and League contracts because they feel those are less likely to see them thrown up against foes they aren't confident of taking on. If we can offer at least some contracts that don't include those risks, we're a little less like to see Sun-Tzu Liao and Thomas Marik bolstering their forces at our expense."

Two gray eyebrows rose. "A very cogent point, your highness. You understand that I would want my staff to review these ideas before we take them any further."

Kate sat back, relieved not to be dismissed. Even as viceroy, her authority over the military was tenuous. It would be easy for an appeal to Morgan Hasek-Davion or even her brother to be made if Jackson really didn't wish to follow her direction. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

"I told you some time ago that I'd be delighted to free up forces to respond more easily to problems before they develop into crises." Jackson pocketed the datachip. "This offers some chance of doing just that. I will make sure they know that I would prefer any criticisms be constructive, with a view to making this work. Do you have any other proposals you'd like us to consider?"

"Just one, although I know it would be a harder sell."

"Oh?" he sipped on his coffee. "You have more credibility than you may expect."

"There are a number of battlemech designs we don't manufacture in the Suns half of the Federated Commonwealth," she told him. "Just in the New Avalon CMM, we've three Panthers and a Hermes II for example." The former were a standby of the DCMS and the latter was the backbone of medium scout lances in the Free Worlds League.

"That sort of thing is fairly typical."

"They also impose a disproportionate strain on logistics," Kate advised. "Where they are owned by the AFFC, I want to systematically concentrate them into individual units. If we have them all in one place, then only one regiment will be in need of the parts."

Jackson rubbed his chin. "You're right that that won't be popular. Mechwarriors do get attached. Perhaps we could soften the blow by suggesting that the units receiving them will be forming dedicated forces to simulate foreign force compositions for training purposes. If the New Avalon CMM had a battalion full of Capellan designs it might look odd on ceremonial occasions, but a company or so that was available for training against the cadets at Albion and NAIS would be arguable."

"As well as other academies," Kate said in excitement. "Filtvet and Kilbourne don't have readily available opposition forces other than their instructors."

"It's not worth doing for that reason," the Marshal pointed out. "But the Department of Military Education supporting the measure could be enough to sway the issue. I suggest you talk to Toni Reynolds about it. You need to sell people on the idea, try and find some reason that will convince every member of the high command you can get hold of. Reynolds in Mil Ed, your aunt Lisa in the Quartermasters and Gris Miller in Mercenary Relations are the most involved. If they all see benefits then that will give you the most impact, but every other senior Field Marshal won over will tip the balance. If enough of them back it, then you could get it pushed through past anything short of your brother's clearly stated objection. Not that I think he'd oppose the idea."

She nodded wearily, "I hoped that talking to you would be enough to get the ball rolling - for consideration, not to actually start the work."

He smiled at the naivety. "Start rolling, yes. But not to get it to where you need to. I'm sorry, Katie, the AFFC is as political as any other bureaucracy."

They finished their coffee while Kate asked about Jackson's family and made notes on his advice. She'd have to schedule appointments to meet with other members of the high command. Possibly she could take some time to drop in on those based out of New Avalon, but Lisa Steiner was on Tharkad so that would require correspondence.

Jackson made his exit and the blonde had a couple of moments to freshen up before her next guest arrived.

"Your grace," she greeted the well-dressed man who was ushered in.

"Your highness." He bowed and kissed the back of her hand when she extended it.

The Duke of El Dorado was the head of one of the most influential branches of the sprawling Davion dynasty; the Sanromea-Davions had ruled one of the Golden Five worlds at the heart of the Crucis March since the early Star League. While the economy had suffered over the decades, their influence over the financial sector and the High Council was considerable.

Kate gestured to the seats and the coffee table. "Would you mind joining me for a working lunch? My schedule is a little chaotic."

"That isn't for the best," Duke Roger said seriously. "Eating on a regular schedule is important for one's health."

"I hope to have the chance at that someday."

Several platters of food were carried in for them and both filled their plates before sitting back. "I was hoping to discuss some economic matters," Kate began. "It would be dangerous for me to only receive advice from within the government bureaucracy, I feel I should follow my parents' example and be open to ideas outside of the Ministries."

"There is a lot to be said for diversifying your sources of information," he agreed. "I imagine you have some projects in mind that I might be able to help with."

Kate swallowed the slices of cucumber she'd eaten as he spoke. "I'm aware of your work with finance groups looking for investments," she said and wiped the corner of her lips with a napkin. "Marquessa Helen Trempeleau has been talking to me about enterprises in the Outback that are looking for financial support to take advantage of new military contracts."

The duke frowned. "I confess that military affairs are somewhat outside my area of expertise. El Dorado has avoided having military production and it's been successful as a means of avoiding direct attack during the Succession Wars."

"Quite so, but there's a difference between building those factories on El Dorado and helping companies on, for example, June to develop the facilities to build components for Lycomb-Davion Introtech's prospective new complex there."

Her distant cousin looked thoughtful. "The risks of such investments do center around the lamentable chances of such facilities being targeted for raiding," he concluded. "Just how secure would June be?"

He hadn't rejected the idea outright, Kate thought. Even if he didn't go for it right now, any objections he raised and how he reacted to her counter-arguments might help her convince other sources of funds to help build up the infrastructure needed to replace the factories lost to the Clans…

Chapter 17

Mount Asgard, Tharkad

Donegal March, Federated Commonwealth

25 October 3055

Taking a day at Mount Asgard had been supposed to be about addressing the troop strengths observed on Steel Viper worlds, Victor thought as the conference derailed into another debate about what to do with a surge in their own 'mech numbers that hadn't even happened.

He was happy in the abstract that the paper Jackson Davion had forwarded would potentially free up the equivalent of another regiment from the Suns, but then Nondi had pointed out that the same plan could be applied to March Militias in Lyran Command and that raised the possibility of not even keeping the forces on the frontline up to strength but re-raising another command.

"The Tamar Tigers would have a great deal of support from the members of the Estates-General who have lost their homeworlds to the Clans," Claudius Taylor-Kelswa argued.

Victor drummed his fingers on the table impatiently. Claudius was a blowhard, but his father was Duke of Fort Loudon, which was right on the border. And his ties to Morasha Kelswa, wife of Victor's cousin Ryan, made him politically suspect. Was there anywhere he could be sent that he might cause less of a headache?

Richard Steiner cleared his throat. "That's true, but many of the Tamar-based families likely to provide 'mechs have withdrawn to Skye," he pointed out. "They will be joining Skye March Militias so there may be more logic in using the 'mechs freed up to create a new regiment of Skye Rangers. Something to counter Free Skye's influence."

"Or drops a fresh regiment into his sticky fingers," Nondi Steiner pointed out and the Marshal of the Skye March deflated under his mother's withering gaze.

The Archon-Prince was saved from another round of pitches by the sight of Galen Cox entering the room. That had to mean news important enough that he could excuse himself. "It seems I must leave this matter to you," he declared to the officers around the table, pushing his chair back. "I would prefer that if a new regiment is formed that it resurrect the honors of one of the units lost fighting the Clans."

Some of the generals nodded, though it was hard to tell which were sincere and which were sycophants.

"The Twelfth Donegal Guards did very well under the circumstances," Richard declared, flipping his position now that Victor had spoken.

"If you feel it the best choice," Victor replied dismissively and stepped away. He and Galen were among the very few members of the Twelfth Donegal Guard RCT to escape the first wave of Clan Jade Falcon's offensive. After their dropship got away, the Guards had fought on for months, pinning down garrison forces. It hadn't stopped the onslaught but it had certainly helped.

The Archon-Prince would have agreed with Richard for that reason, if it wasn't for the obvious currying of favor. Instead, as he went past Nondi Steiner he paused and in a low voice suggested: "Form a committee to debate that so the rest of you can get back to the original purpose of this meeting?"

Nondi snorted and nodded. As Victor exited, he heard her barking names that included her son and Taylor-Kelswa - perhaps something would get done without them.

"Good news?" he asked Galen once the door closed behind them.

"Good and bad," the newly minted Leftenant General told him. "Which would you like first?"

"Hit me with whichever we can deal with quickest," Victor decided. It wasn't far to the private office he used here. Mount Asgard was functionally headquarters of the entire AFFC (technically an honor shared with the Fox's Den on New Avalon) so he visited often enough to need the room.

Once inside, Galen hit the switches that not only locked the door but activated a considerable number of anti-eavesdropping measures. "The Kell Hounds report that the computer systems at their base on Arc-Royal were compromised."

"Dammit!" Victor threw himself into the chair behind his desk. "Don't tell me that they were the leak that let the Red Corsair stay ahead of us so long."

"Given that that was one of the few places that she could have found out that they were lying in wait for her, they doubt that," his aide pointed out. "No, the evidence seems to suggest that the tampering took place around the time of Salome Ward's funeral."

Victor's eyes narrowed. Morgan Kell's wife had been buried after the defeat of the bandit, the ceremony deferred until the Kell Hounds could gather openly and their founder was sufficiently recovered. "Then who did it? And what were they after?"

"In reverse order? They had downloaded the entire databases captured from the Red Corsair's dropships for analysis and someone pulled out a number of files. It was only uncovered because some of the data was corrupted and they had to go back to the source to crosscheck. They found an entire communications cache had been deleted from their copies."

"Son of a bitch!" The Archon-Prince slammed his fist into his desk. "Phelan?"

"He was there," Galen confirmed. "And he knows their system almost as well as the technicians that run it."

"He was kicked out of the Nagelring for cracking military databases he had no business looking at. It seems like he hasn't learned a thing." He shook his head. "It has to be him. What did they find out?"

"The missing communications were between Nekane Hazen and Conal Ward," his aide told him, sitting down opposite the desk. "A Jade Falcon bloodname and a Wolf one."

"Conal Ward used to command one of the Wolves' frontline Galaxies." The younger man thought back to conversations with Phelan while they'd raced to Tharkad for his mother's funeral. There'd been little to do except exchange stories. "He got pushed out to bandit hunting duties after Tukayyid - there was a scandal involving Phelan's bloodname trials and he took the demotion rather than be openly disgraced."

"Yes, it seems he commands the Thirty-First Wolf Solahma Cluster - a unit that Clan Wolf had loaned to the Steel Vipers to help them hunt for the Red Corsair." Galen paused for emphasis. "He would have had access to all the data we shared about her movements and what we were doing to catch her."

Victor nodded. "He was our leak?"

"It isn't proof, but it's incriminating," the tall officer agreed. "And Phelan deleting it would make sense. Clan Wolf being behind the Red Corsair would be explosive. It could bring down the ilKhan."

IlKhan Ulric Kerensky was one of the pillars holding the truce together. As much as Victor hated it, he couldn't entirely fault Phelan for wanting to cover this up. "And Nekane Hazen?"

"We have no file there, but Nelson Geist confirmed the voice print sounded just like the Red Corsair." Galen shrugged. "How a Jade Falcon and a Wolf got entangled to create her force I have no idea, we may never know."

Leaning back, Victor studied the ceiling contemplatively. "It tells us two things. Firstly, whatever Phelan says about the Clans hating deception doesn't hold up in practice. They're just as hypocritical as our own 'loyal opposition'."

"Either that or they are learning quickly."

"It amounts to the same," he dismissed the qualification. "And secondly, at least some of Clan Wolf are siding with the Crusaders. That means Phelan's hints that Clan Wolf might side with us if the truce collapses are worthless."

"I hate to say it, but you're right. Some of them might - I think he's sincere." Galen met Victor's gaze. "But your cousin has only lived among the Clans for a few years. It's probable he doesn't have the whole picture. Their politics are probably just as complicated as our own."

"Some would be better than none, but we can't count on it." Victor straightened. "I take it that that was the bad news? Brighten my day."

The other man leant forwards. "LIC have captured the man who planted the bomb."

Victor burst to his feet. "They have? Why didn't you… no, that was my fault." He leant over the desk. "How did they catch him?! And who is he working for?"

"They got sneaky," Galen explained. "They used Kai Allard-Liao's people on Solaris to reach out into the underworld and expressed interest in hiring someone for a job 'as difficult as assassinating the Archon'."

"And they believed that?"

"The idea they floated was that one of Kai's most trusted associates was skimming from Cenotaph Stables and wanted Kai to go home to St Ives. Killing Candace Liao would force him to do that. Sordid, but that sort of thing does happen on Solaris."

Victor exhaled. "And they're sure it's the real assassin, not some poser?"

"Under chemical interrogation, he knew far too much about how the bombing was arranged. Either he had complete access to our own investigation into your mother's death, or he was the one that did it." Galen exhaled. "As to who hired him, that we're still working on. They used multiple cut-outs and at least some of them are dead. But we do have a lead."

"Tell me."

"The assassin didn't exactly trust his employer so he'd checked the money trail of how he got paid. That gave LIC investigators a lead and the team on Solaris sent that ahead by HPG. We have the best forensic accountants in the Inner Sphere and it didn't take them long to chase that through the banks."

"And?" Victor demanded. "We don't know yet who it was, but they must have something."

Galen hesitated. "The money originated in the sale of lands held by the Steiner Family Trust," he admitted. "Who ordered it, we don't know… but a senior member of House Steiner used your mother's own funds to finance her assassination."

The Archon-Prince stared at him in disbelief. "One of my own family."

"It's not a long list of suspects," Galen admitted, then licked his lips. "And if this gets out… your name will be on the list."

"Who benefits?" Victor whispered thickly.

A nod.

Victor had become Archon-Prince upon his mother's death. The fact he had asked her to take over as First Prince, that she had offered to abdicate both thrones… he hadn't even told his siblings about that. Only he and his mother had been privy to that conversation.

To the public, if this came out he would be painted as an usurper and a matricide. The Steiner Family Trust was deliberately set up so that trustees could draw on it without being subject to too much scrutiny - a safeguard to keep them from using it against each other. It would be very easy for one of them to mask exactly who had ordered a given transaction.

"Ryan fucking Steiner," he cursed. "He's a trustee and this would be just like him."

"Plausible, but hard to prove."

"Where is the assassin?" Victor asked.

"On ice. He can be put on trial if you want, but that would raise questions of his employer, which is most likely the trap that is intended by paying him like that. Agent Curaitis suggested he could be killed while resisting arrest, but warned that in that case it would suggest he was being silenced."

"Pointing suspicions back at me." The Archon-Prince shook his head. "Tell them to keep interrogating him. Look for anything else at all we can use. There is no such thing as a perfect crime!" He tried to ignore his sister's voice, the way Kathy had once told him that an engineering solution didn't need to be perfect… just good enough.