Grave Covenant

by Michael A. Stackpole

  The Precentor Martial nodded. "Prince Victor's point is very well taken. The Clans respect power. We all agree that by pushing them back, we will show ourselves to be powerful. Choosing one Clan to attack and defeat will certainly send them a message."

  Katrina frowned. "But attacking only one Clan will leave the rest of them free to attack us."

  Victor shook his head. "The Clans are no more united than we are. If we go after one Clan, its enemies won't come after us. It's also important to reiterate a point Phelan made in our first strategy meeting: the Clans are divided along philosophical lines. The Crusaders populate the Clans that wanted and plotted the invasion. If we destroy a Crusader Clan, not only do we reduce the Crusader power block in the Clan Councils, but we cast serious doubts about the philosophy underlying the Crusader invasion."

  "So, then, Prince Victor, what are our choices?" Theodore Kurita glanced at his aide, and a map of the Clan invasion zone replaced the one of the Combine. "The Nova Cats are benign and the Ghost Bears are not Crusaders. The Jade Falcons, the Wolves, and the Smoke Jaguars are Crusaders."

  "That certainly narrows our choices down." Victor nodded toward the map. "The obvious choices would be the Wolves or Jade Falcons. Both were weakened by their recent war with each other, and there are reports that some worlds in the Jade Falcon zone have not yet been pacified after the Wolves liberated them."

  The podium creaked as the Precentor Martial leaned forward on it. "The only difficulty I see with attacking the Jade Falcons is that the Wolves would likely snap up worlds, contributing to our victory, but lessening the impact we want to make. This move would, in effect, strengthen the Wolves and their standing in the Clans. Enhancing Vladimir Ward's position is nothing I would recommend."

  Before Victor could offer his opinion on that point, Katrina stood. "It strikes me that our only choice is to attack the Smoke Jaguars. As my brother has indicated, both the Jade Falcons and the Wolves are weak, so attacking them might seem to be taking undue advantage. The fact that the major gains made during the invasion were made through the new Free Rasalhague Republic—no disrespect intended, Prince Magnusson—means the Clans attacked through the weakest member of the Inner Sphere. If we take on a more worthy opponent, then we will be morally superior to the Clans."

  Candace Liao glanced past Morgan Kell and at Katrina. "You realize, Archon, that your endorsement of the Smoke Jaguars as a target is, in essence, a complete reversal of your earlier position. This would mean that your realm would not be the site of the assault."

  "I do realize that, Duchess Liao, and you do not know how much it pains me to see my people subjected to tyranny and be unable to liberate them."

  "You would be surprised, Archon, how much I do know about that."

  Victor saw Sun-Tzu blanche at the ice-edged words from his aunt. "I would have to concur with my sister. The Smoke Jaguars seem to be the logical choice as our target. If we are fortunate, the animosity between the Falcons and Wolves will prevent either from becoming adventurous. Since neither is known to have much love for the Jaguars, presumably they will remain neutral during our attacks."

  The Precentor Martial nodded. "I would also point out that the ilKhan at the time the invasion began was Leo Showers, a Smoke Jaguar. It is fitting that his Clan bear the brunt of the Inner Sphere's retribution."

  Theodore Kurita looked around the room. "Is it decided? Are we all agreed that the destruction of one whole Clan is the price of our future, and that the Clan we will attack is the Smoke Jaguars?"

  Katrina laughed lightly. "Your people will benefit from our wisdom, Theodore. It is decided."

  Victor's eyes became slits. "Understand his questions, Katherine, because the Coordinator does not ask them lightly. Yes, we can agree on the Smoke Jaguars as our target, but do we all agree on their complete and utter destruction? When we are done, they will be driven from our worlds. Their symbols will be destroyed, their buildings razed. There will be nothing left of them."

  Thomas Marik frowned. "You're not talking genocide, are you? Prisoners will not be slaughtered, will they?"

  Victor shook his head. "No, we won't kill prisoners, we won't murder innocents, but we will murder the Smoke Jaguars. Their culture and that which makes them unique within the Clans will be erased. We'll absorb and reeducate what we can, but their original creations—and their home-world, if we can find it—will be nothing but a memory."

  Haakon Magnusson smiled coldly. "The Clans have all but managed to do that with my Rasalhague Republic. I have no reservations about paying them in kind."

  "This is not revenge, Prince Magnusson." Theodore Kurita posted himself up on his arms as he leaned forward. "The Clans were once part of us. They have rebelled and must be punished. We will punish them, but we must all agree to abide by this decision. Some people may consider our plan to be barbaric, but their opinions matter not at all because the Clans are the ones we must impress. If you cannot accept this responsibility, speak now or remain silent."

  Victor looked around at the other delegates. Sun-Tzu fidgeted ever so slightly and Katrina seemed bored, but everyone else wore solemn expressions. Morgan Kell, Candace Liao, and Theodore Kurita—MechWarriors of note all—understood what was being asked of them. Haakon Magnusson had also been a warrior and accepted the burden placed on him almost too eagerly, as far as Victor was concerned.

  Thomas Marik appeared to be wrestling with the most demons, but that didn't surprise Victor. Though the man was not truly a Marik—his imposture was known only to a handful of Victor's advisors and, presumably, by the double himself—he had been a member of the ComStar sect before taking the throne. He was an idealistic leader who had made a number of changes intended to soothe the infighting and constant hostilities among the people of the Free Worlds League. He had also formed the Knights of the Inner Sphere—some called it a private army but Marik claimed it was a new military order based on a noble view of combat. The strategy being advocated here directly conflicted with the aims he had for his nation and his dreams for the Inner Sphere. And yet he has to see that this is the only way.

  Thomas slowly rose at his place, his scarred visage made all the more terrible by the sadness written on it. "What we are choosing to do is evil. There is no question about that, but it would be a greater evil to fail to oppose the Clans. I consider it a major personal failure that I cannot see another way to convince the Clans to leave us alone. They cannot be appeased, therefore they must be destroyed. With great reluctance I agree to this course of action."

  One by one the leaders of the Inner Sphere nodded in assent. The Precentor Martial waited until the last of them voted, then he, too, agreed. "It is done. We will oppose the Clans with one massive campaign to be launched from the Draconis Combine. Its objective is simple: the Smoke Jaguar Clan will die."

  12

  Royal Palace, The Triad

  Tharkad City, Tharkad

  District of Donegal, Lyran Alliance

  9 October 3058

  With each step that took Phelan Kell and his father into Katrina Steiner's office, Phelan wished he'd accepted Victor's invitation to fence instead. I'm sure we'll be doing fencing enough here as well, but I much prefer the sport when I can see the foils and know when a point had been scored. Had Katrina's invitation for a meeting been for him alone, he would have refused, but he'd been included in an invitation to his father. Morgan had asked him to overlook the slight.

  Phelan found the room blindingly white. He'd heard the office described by Katrina's loyalists as virginal and pure, but to him it seemed cold and sterile. Less hospitable than the ice fields of Morges. He smiled slightly at the thought. That was the last time I saw combat, and I think I would rather be there than here.

  Katrina, clad in cashmere sweater and trim trousers as white as the decor of her office, waved the two men to a sofa and took a seat on the one facing them across a low glass table. Lying on the table were magazine disks of a half-dozen journals published on Arc-Royal or within the defense
cordon. He didn't try to look closely at them to discern date and volume numbers, but he assumed they contained pieces on him, his father, and the Wolves. Not all of them favorable, either, I imagine.

  "I wish to thank you both for joining me on such short notice. Can I offer you anything?" Katrina waved a hand toward the sideboard. "I even have some of the Irish whiskey from Connor Distillery on Arc-Royal that you used to send my grandmother."

  Morgan shook his head. "Thank you, no." He looked around the room, a wistful expression softening his face. "The last time I drank Irish whiskey in here, this office was much different. Your grandmother was still alive and you were dressed in braces and bows. You were not much here in those days, since you were raised mostly on New Avalon."

  "It is rather ironic, isn't it, that Victor rules a world where he did not grow up, and the same with me." Her blue eyes flashed at Phelan. "And even Phelan here had to leave the womb of the Inner Sphere before he could fulfill his destiny. Doubtless we could chat for a good long time about the chains of events that led to all this, but I have urgent matters I wish to discuss with you both."

  Phelan got up from the couch and crossed to the sideboard. "What would those matters be?"

  "I have misjudged you, both of you, and I wish to make amends." As Phelan filled a tumbler with cold water, Katrina leaned forward to his father. "What you said yesterday in the session made me see that I had been wrong about you. A year ago, when you refused my request for help, then created the Arc-Royal Defense Cordon, I thought it was an act of defiance. I realize now, of course, that it was no such thing."

  Morgan nodded slowly. "At that time you, Thomas Marik, Sun-Tzu Liao, and your brother were all engaged in a conflict that was deflecting us from the primary threat to the Inner Sphere. If not for ilKhan Ulric Kerensky tearing through the Jade Falcons, the Clans would have roared through the Lyran Alliance. Your nation would have been destroyed and you would have been made a bondswoman of the Clans. Ask Phelan—being a bondsman is not a pleasant thing."

  Phelan looked at Katrina over the lip of his glass. "I doubt you would like it very much at all, Katrina. You have no warrior or scientific training, so, at best, you would be relegated to the merchant caste."

  Katrina toyed with the gold bracelet on her right wrist and shuddered. "I have no doubt it would be horrible. You were right to refuse to support me, Morgan, and you were right to draw everyone's attention back to the Clans. Until yesterday, however, I did not see this, which was why I did not invite you to this conference. I am pleased that Victor, for once, displayed some foresight and corrected what would have been a grave error."

  "What is important, Katrina, is that Phelan and I are here."

  "Yes, Morgan, that is what is supremely important." Katrina sat back and shifted around so she could see Morgan and Phelan both. "And that is why I've called you here. I have some matters of great concern on my mind and wanted to take advantage of your counsel."

  Phelan snorted a laugh. "I thought Tormano Liao and Nondi Steiner were your advisors."

  "They do advise me but, between us, they have their blind spots. Tormano sees Sun-Tzu as a greater threat than the Clans. Nondi, dear that she is, harbors a great deal of ill will toward you, Morgan, and I have no doubt she sees you, Phelan, and your people, as a Clan taskforce just waiting to explode out of Arc-Royal and consume us." Katrina smiled carefully. "Because of your comments yesterday I know there are things that must be done to prepare the Lyran Alliance for this war with the Clans and I don't think Nondi and Tormano will see that."

  Morgan sat forward, resting his arms on his knees. The black steel of his mechanical right hand gleamed dully in the afternoon light from one of the room's large windows. "I am very interested in knowing your plans, Katrina."

  "Good." Katrina sighed and settled back on her couch, drawing her legs up onto the cushions beside her. "I wholly agree with the aims of the taskforce we will send. The idea of taking the war to one Clan and destroying it utterly seems like just the right plan. I will support this effort, but I fear that the Precentor Martial and my brother are missing some important factors in all this. I am uncomfortable bringing this up because I know the importance of maintaining a united front, but the fact is that it is all very well to plan an offensive strategy, but it seems they aren't taking into consideration the domestic front."

  Morgan frowned. "I'm not certain I follow you."

  "Victor talks about a campaign that will take years to prosecute. It is entirely possible that the Clans—and Phelan, you would know this better than anypne—could fracture and the Crusaders could suddenly renew their effort to conquer the Inner Sphere. While we are trying to push the Smoke Jaguars out of the Inner Sphere, the Jade Falcons and the Wolves could burst forth and ravage the Lyran Alliance."

  Phelan nodded. "It it possible. Vlad is in charge of the Wolves and might do anything. Marthe Pryde, the Jade Falcon Khan, would surely love to take Terra. I don't think you'd like being a bondswoman to either of them."

  "No, not at all. Nor would any of my people." Katrina glanced down at her hands. "This is why I want you to keep your Arc-Royal Defense Cordon in place. I want the Kell Hounds and the Wolves to remain in the Lyran Alliance while the war against the Smoke Jaguars goes off. I want you here to be able to protect the Lyran Alliance."

  Morgan closed his eyes for a moment, then slowly shook his head. "I think you missed the point of what I said yesterday and why I refused to help you before."

  "No, I understand you perfectly. I'm agreeing with you!" Katrina sat up straight. "You're the only one I can trust to keep my realm safe."

  Morgan smiled indulgently. "Ah, but you see, I am disinclined to trust you, Katrina."

  "What?"

  "You heard me."

  "Why wouldn't you see me as trustworthy?"

  Morgan's voice dropped to a low growl. "I have seldom had reason to find murderers trustworthy."

  Outrage and shock rimmed Katrina's eyes with white and dropped her jaw. "Murderer, me? I'm no murderer."

  "Your protestations of innocence mean nothing to me, Katrina." Morgan Kell stood abruptly, and Katrina shied back away from him. "I know, I know, Victor did not murder your mother. Just before her death Melissa confided to me that she had offered to abdicate in his favor. He refused to let her do so. She was not an impediment to his taking power, but Victor is an impediment to your taking power. Your mother had to be removed, and shifting blame for her death to him allowed you to usurp his position here"

  Katrina covered her face with her hands and her shoulders shook with sobs. "How can you say that, Morgan? I loved my mother. I was present when she died. And I saw to it that you had the best care possible here during your recovery. While you lay sick, I visited you every day. How could I have done that, why would I do that, if I were the person responsible for your injuries?"

  "Guilt?" Morgan looked down at her. "In all the times you visited me you expressed regret at the death of my wife and at the loss of my arm, but never regret about your mother's death. You were more concerned that I couldn't attend the funeral than you were about her being dead."

  "No! I was just being strong, trying to comfort you in your tragedy. If you hadn't been so gravely hurt and doped up, you would have seen the pain in my heart. Just because you didn't see it doesn't mean it wasn't there."

  "Oh, Katrina, you played the role of grieving daughter very well—too well. You bore up under the pressure like a champion, and you were certain to let all the media in the Inner Sphere know how brave you were." Morgan's flesh and blood hand curled into a fist. "I especially loved how you protested against those who would have blamed your brother, which only seemed to persuade people that he must have killed Melissa if you were so bent on defending him."

  Morgan reached down and grabbed her jaw, tipping her face up so she could see him. "I did not realize all this at first because, yes, the grief of losing my wife and my arm and your mother blinded me. That blindness was temporary, so now I see things very clea
rly."

  Katrina slapped Morgan's hand away, then stood and backed away from him. "Never lay a hand on me again! Never! I am the Archon!"

  "The office I can respect, Katrina, but I have long been a man willing to oppose the person in the office. Your namesake knew that. You should as well. And you should fear it."

  "Fear? You?" Katrina threw back her head and laughed aloud. "If you had any proof that what you say is true, you'd have used it already. You have nothing and, therefore, cannot threaten me."

  Morgan stared at her for a moment, then shook his head. "You're the worst kind of fool, Katrina—one who does not listen. If I used my evidence to depose you right now, I would weaken the Inner Sphere. I won't do that. But after the Clans are defeated, I will not feel so constrained."

  "If you survive the fight against the Clans."

  The cold fury in Katrina's voice jolted adrenaline through Phelan. He hurled his tumbler against the far wall, where it exploded into a wet stain. Before Katrina's gasp had fully escaped her throat, Phelan took a long stride forward and locked his right hand around her neck. He hoisted her up, hearing only the gurgle in her throat and the scrape of her tiptoes against the carpet.

  "You murdered my mother and now you threaten my father? You actually dare to threaten my father?" He pressed up with his thumb, hooking it in directly beneath the corner of her jaw. He wanted nothing more than to tighten his grip and crush the life from her, but somehow he resisted that desire. "Understand this: if he dies, you die. If I die, you die."