Grave Covenant

by Michael A. Stackpole

  "Ah, she would unleash a reign of terror to avenge you?"

  "The trouble with her and her Thugee cultists is the difficulty of controlling them. When you let them loose, they are damnably effective and annoying." Sun-Tzu gave her a brief smile. "Not that you should consider yourself threatened."

  "Of course not." Katrina returned the smile. "I'll just remember that if I want to kill you, what I must do is have you destroyed and evidence planted that points to another of my enemies."

  "Crude but effective. Perhaps I'll have to fake my own death and employ that methodology."

  "Feel free, as long as I am not implicated." Katrina flicked her thumbnail against the index finger nail. "What is it you would have of me, Sun-Tzu?"

  "If not your hand in marriage, then your support in the political councils." Sun-Tzu pulled himself up to his full height. "I wish to be First Lord of the Star League."

  Katrina kept her face an impassive mask. "As I recall from the discussions we've been having, we already have an agreement for a rotating leadership position. The terms will be for three years. Your turn will come quickly enough."

  "I wish to be the initial First Lord." Sun-Tzu frowned. "I know the position is largely ceremonial as we have defined it, but the prestige is what I seek. It will be a tonic to my people—what I need to make the Capellan Confederation strong again. You don't know what it did for my nation to conquer worlds in the Chaos March. My people again feel strong and capable, not the defeated wretches that your father broke and my mother punished for breaking."

  "When you say this will make your nation strong again, how do you envision projecting this strength?" Katrina's blue eyes became slits. "The Federated Commonwealth is mine, Sun-Tzu. If you were to even think of expanding across the 3025 border, I would have to destroy you."

  "The 3025 border?" Sun-Tzu hesitated, then nodded. "This would seem to leave the St. Ives Compact outside your protective umbrella."

  "I do not care about the Confederation's internal political problems. If you can subdue a rebellious part of your realm, so be it. I don't care."

  "Then I can count on your support?"

  Katrina thought for a moment. If I support Sun-Tzu, I know Victor will oppose the suggestion with every fiber of his being. Theodore and Thomas will likely back Victor, meaning Sun-Tzu loses. I can make a speech about how their action is hardly appropriate, given the spirit of unity that recreating the Star League is supposed to engender. All of them will feel ashamed, leaving me as the only logical choice for First Lord.

  "I definitely could vote for you, Sun-Tzu. I would even be glad to nominate you."

  "You are most kind."

  "I am, Sun-Tzu. Do not forget that." Katrina smiled. "There will come a time when I ask for this kindness to be returned, or you will find yourself with your mask torn off, your eyes torn out, and your nation nothing but a memory."

  17

  Royal Court, The Triad

  Tharkad City, Tharkad

  District of Donegal, Lyran Alliance

  14 November 3058

  Victor Davion found it slightly disturbing that the Precentor Martial had yet to arrive for the afternoon review session of the planned assault on the Smoke Jaguars. Every member of the strategic planning committee had, at various times, been called away on official business, but Victor would have thought that finalizing the plan for the assault would have ranked as a number one priority. I have a hard time imagining what he could find more important than this.

  Victor stood as a map of the Combine/Smoke Jaguar border glowed to life in the center of the room. "This is our last chance to review the plan and make certain it's airtight before it goes to the political session for ratification. If anyone has any objections at all, make them here and now because we won't have another chance for correction. You have to understand that."

  Around the room the various other military leaders nodded their heads.

  "Good. I also want to thank all of you and your staffs for working so hard and well on all this. The Inner Sphere hasn't seen an assault requiring this level of cooperation since Aleksandr Kerensky led the Star League Defense Force in overthrowing Stefan Amaris on Terra. This operation has to work, and it will work, but only because of the effort we've all put into it—and the effort our people will put into it in the field."

  He moved from behind his desk and approached the floating hologram. "As we discussed, our operation is set up for five phases of attacks. The first wave rolls out with all the units bearing SLDF and Combine markings. The initial targets are five Jaguar worlds: Hyner, Port Arthur, Asgard, Tazared, and Kiamba. Additional units will move into Nova Cat worlds and take them, staging for the second wave. Yes, Senior-Colonel Wu, your question?"

  Wu Kang Kuo pointed toward the map. "What assurances have we that the troops we move onto Nova Cat worlds will not be challenged and destroyed?"

  Hohiro stood. "Our people are still in discussion with the Nova Cats, but they have issued preemptive batchalls that give us a clear picture of the number and quality of defenders they will use to keep us off those worlds. For all intents and purposes we will not be opposed."

  Wu frowned. "But we still will be fighting?"

  Phelan leaned forward over his desk. "After a manner of speaking, yes. In the past, when a deal for the exchange of technology or worlds has been negotiated between Khans, a preemptive batchall is issued. It results in a largely ceremonial fight—not that one is rigged, but one in which the outcome is fairly predictable. It is considered a way of preserving honor and respecting tradition while avoiding combat over things that really matter little."

  Marshal Byran shook her head. "And what if they decide to betray us?"

  "We'll know before planetfall whether or not they will be honoring their batchall." Phelan smiled. "We can decide to engage at that point or bring in reinforcements."

  "What if they decide to ambush us?" Morgan Hasek-Davion's quick question preempted Marshal Byran's riposte to Phelan's remark. "What if they suck us in and take us down?"

  Phelan greeted the question with a nod. "You realize that I cannot guarantee the Nova Cats will not betray us. The fact is, however, that for them to engage in such treachery they would have to act absolutely and completely against type. I'd sooner believe we might designate hospitals, churches, schools, and orphanages as military targets than that the Nova Cats will strike from hiding against us.

  "The reasons go specifically to their very essence as Clan units. For them to strike from ambush that way, to deploy more troops than they offer in their batchall, would make them dezgra—disgraced. Treachery on the scale we're talking would result in sanctions against them and the possibility of absorption by another Clan. The Nova Cats are not strong enough to fend off a take-over, so this would be counterproductive for them."

  Wu sat back. "Won't entering an alliance with the Inner Sphere also make them dezgra?"

  "They won't really be entering into an alliance because we'll be taking control of their worlds through conquest. They will not lose honor in that sense, so they will not be dezgra. This is a very good thing because the possibility of disgrace is one of the things that will set off a negative reaction by them. Whatever we are asked to do to take these worlds, we must do it sincerely, or we could turn the Nova Cats against us." Phelan opened his hands. "Regardless of how we take these planets, the Nova Cats won't be loved by the rest of the Clans for how the campaign against them will go. It can only be that someone highly respected among them has had visions that are pushing them to do this—it's really the only logical explanation for their actions."

  Morgan nodded. "You trust them?"

  The Wolf Clan Khan nodded. "You're welcome to run my troops in on their worlds, if you want, though we'd prefer tangling with the Jaguars."

  Victor looked around. "Other questions?" When he saw none he gave Doc Trevena a nod and the image shifted. "Our second phase has a wave jumping way out, leapfrogging the next logical line of worlds to hit those worlds further from ou
r front. We should be pouncing on worlds the Jaguars leave either undefended or garrisoned only with second-line troops, while their first-line Clusters are digging in on our next logical targets. We'll be staging from some Nova Cat worlds, as well as Wolcott and Brocchi's Cluster, so we'll have support and strike deeper than they could have expected us to strike."

  The image shifted in response to another nod from Victor. "The third phase will strike deeper into the occupation zone and bring up our reserves to pound the worlds we've bypassed. Sir Paul Masters, you have a question?"

  The commander of the Knights of the Inner Sphere pointed at the map. "I understand how, within this entropy-based warfare doctrine, our plan forces the Clans to move around, and I certainly applaud it. I am, as yet, uncertain how we will get them to move where we want them to move. Were I a Smoke Jaguar commander, I would look to the strategy Scipio Africanus used against Hannibal and would strike deeper into the Inner Sphere. That would force us to react and blunt our advance."

  "Agreed, which is why our strategic reserve will be in place to land where they land and attack them. We will be severing their supply lines, and the Combine has stepped up efforts to modernize defenses and make the worlds they might take very dangerous to hold. Recall that the Clans won't have ComStar to administer their worlds, so they'll have trouble holding what they take."

  Hohiro nodded. "The Combine is well aware of the burden that might be thrust upon our people given that this strategy might be employed against us. We hope it will not be, of course, but it will be the duty of every citizen to resist and endure. They know this and will accept it, for the good of the Combine and the Inner Sphere."

  "They may well have to endure more than we expected." The Precentor Martial's voice came low and solemn as he entered the chamber. "Forgive me for being late, but I was delayed by a matter of great importance." He adjusted the eye patch over his right eye as he came around toward the Federated Commonwealth's table. He handed Doc Trevena a holodisk.

  "Please call up file XR1."

  Victor turned to face the Precentor Martial. "What is it?"

  "Our salvation or damnation, depending upon what we choose to believe about it." The Precentor Martial gestured at the new map burning in the center of the hall. "Ladies and Lords, I offer you the Exodus Road."

  Victor looked at the map and at the bottom recognized the edge of the Inner Sphere where the Clans had conquered a wedge of worlds. A chain of golden stars rose from it like a lightning bolt, arcing toward the ceiling. It led off to a far distant star that coruscated brightly.

  The Prince of the Federated Commonwealth blinked. They come from so far away, and are so different from us in their mannerisms and culture. To save themselves from destruction they fashioned their own traditions and mythology, drawing their names from animals on the worlds they conquered and their symbolism from the stars they relied on for life. They remade themselves into the ultimate warriors and now we have a route to one of the worlds that has given them life.

  With his hands clasped at the small of his back, Anastasius Focht looked up at the star map. "I have people working to match these stars to actual stars noted by astronomers so we can determine the true locations of the way stations and final destination, but this is a rough map of the route to the Smoke Jaguar homeworld of Huntress. This is the wellspring of the Smoke Jaguars' power. It is our ultimate goal."

  "Good." Sharon Byran pounded a fist on her table. "Let's forget all this piecemeal stuff and go straight for this Huntress."

  "Impossible." Victor shook his head. "There's too much here we don't know about. We don't know how reliable this information is."

  Focht nodded. "I consider it ninety-nine percent reliable. Any errors I would expect to be unintentional and easily correctable. As you may or may not know, ComStar began an infiltration process of the Clans sometime back, and it resulted in this information being delivered to us. In addition to the Exodus Road, I also have updated files on the disposition of Smoke Jaguar troops in the Inner Sphere, including tables of organization and equipment, supply inventories, and the like. We have been handed the Smoke Jaguars on a silver platter."

  Victor folded his arms across his chest. "Is it one of your people who is bringing us this information, or someone else?"

  "It is a Clansman, one turned by my agent, who is the source of this data."

  "Why would he betray his Clan?"

  "It is trite to suggest that everyone has his price, but the fact is that our warrior had progressed within his Clan as far as he could go. He was thirty and soon to be on the downhill side of Clan life." Focht sighed. "He determined that the leadership of the Smoke Jaguars was wrong about many things and had betrayed the true intent of Nicholas Kerensky, the founder of the Clans. He believes the evil represented by the Smoke Jaguars must be destroyed."

  Victor winced. "He is to the Smoke Jaguars what the Word of Blake is to ComStar."

  "An unfortunate analogy, but one that is apt."

  Wu Kang Kuo looked up at the Precentor Martial. "What was the traitor's price?"

  "He asked to be given a command so he could lead people into battle. I have offered him the command of my bodyguard unit."

  "That's not possible." Marshal Byran shook her head with disgust. "If we're going to run up that chain and destroy the Smoke Jaguars, we can't have someone with us who might change his mind and betray us. That strike has to come as a total surprise."

  "I did not ask for your counsel before I made Trent the offer," the Precentor Martial said coldly, "nor do I regret that decision. The offer has been made and accepted. It was the condition of obtaining this information."

  Victor scowled at Byran. "And don't be getting it into your head that we're going to launch some long-range knock-out punch on the Smoke Jaguars. We have our strategy and we'll stick to it. Knowing where they lair is useful and provides us with a goal, but hitting Huntress isn't going to do the job we need to do. No raid."

  Morgan Hasek-Davion stood. "You're wrong, Victor."

  "What?"

  "You're wrong about the raid." Morgan gestured toward the hologram. "All of our planning doesn't change because we now have this, and the missions we've laid out should go forward, but there has always been one aspect of this whole thing that's bothered me. It goes back to entropy-based warfare and the presentation Dr. Pondsmith gave on that first day. He noted that we have to 'shock' the other side before they will collapse."

  "We will shock them. We're going to hit them hard, with full Regimental Combat Teams." Victor tried to keep the feeling of betrayal out of his voice, but did not wholly succeed. "We're going to hit them very hard."

  "But will it be hard enough?" Morgan leaned forward, posting his arms on the table. "When you analyze Clan warfare at its most basic level, the underlying doctrine is always one of minimizing damage."

  Sharon Byran laughed aloud. "You've lost it, Morgan. How can you say that?"

  "I can say that because I've looked at what we're dealing with, thank you. Through the bidding process the Clans limit damage. They commit only the troops they want to commit. They play by rules that work fine when others play by them too, but those rules insulate the Clans from the true horror of war. This is not to say they aren't vicious and ruthless in war, but that they have found a way to compartmentalize the tragedy of it."

  "Yes, exactly." Victor clapped his hands. "That's why we're taking the war to them and putting them on the defensive."

  "Agreed, Victor, but if we play by their rules, all we do is legitimize their rules. We encourage them to see warfare as a game or contest. We may win a round, but they will always be there for the next round."

  Focht narrowed his eye. "I thought, Marshal Hasek-Davion, that this was the reason we were planning to eliminate one whole Clan."

  "True, Precentor Martial, but I don't think we've given adequate thought to what eliminate means. Paul Masters' allusion to Hannibal and the Punic Wars brought this fully to my mind. What I think we need is a strike at Huntre
ss that is designed to raze it, much as Scipio Africanus razed Carthage. We would remind the Clans of the savagery of war and let them know we don't consider it a game."

  Morgan bowed his head wearily for a moment, then looked up again. "I'll admit that, over the last thirty years, I've seen a lot of warfare, and I've hated every minute of it, but there are times when unleashing the full maelstrom is the only way to convince a foe that you aren't going to lie down and die. I think the Clans need that sort of lesson, and a strike at Huntress is the perfect opportunity to teach it to them."

  Phelan Kell nodded in agreement. "Until you phrased it that way, Morgan, I had not really taken to heart the safety-zone aspects of the Clan doctrine of warfare. Even when a Clan is absorbed, its identity is preserved because of the breeding program. Natasha Kerensky carried in her a strain of Widowmaker blood—a Clan the Wolves had long ago absorbed."

  "Fine, Phelan, but what about Morgan's other point?" Victor scowled heavily. "Is it going to take the razing of Huntress to shock the Smoke Jaguars?"

  Phelan shrugged uneasily. "I think it is true that our assault could shock them and precipitate a collapse, but that will be on a world-by-world basis, not a Clan-wide basis. I do know that the one time a Clan was wiped out, as I mentioned before, the Clans still refuse to speak its name. I know that is supposed to be because of the offense that started the campaign against them. I also believe it is because of the sheer savagery of that pursuit. The unnamed Clan was slaughtered, man, woman, and child. I do not think anyone has pleasant memories of that war."

  "Nor should they." Paul Masters shot to his feet. "I cannot believe you're even contemplating the slaughter of innocents."

  Morgan straightened up. "I do not think that is necessary, Sir Paul. What I do believe we must do is raze the martial aspects of Huntress. We can turn it into an agrarian world that will support the people, but all traces of the warrior caste will be effaced. We will destroy their bases—replacing them with great smoking craters on the face of the planet. The only reminders of war will be the blackened ruins of anything military."