Grave Covenant

by Michael A. Stackpole

  "Why not?"

  The question brought shocked expressions to the other two men's faces. Kai blinked away his surprise. "Are you serious?"

  "I am Prince of the Federated Commonwealth—who could stop me?" Victor shrugged. "I won't die if I'm not the Prince, you know."

  Focht stared down at Victor. "The person who will stop you, Victor, is you. You are the Fox's son, and you are the man who will destroy the Clans. You have it in your power to not only guarantee the future of the Inner Sphere, but to shape it as well. The Prince is who you are, but the Prince is also what you must be. You have a great responsibility and duty to the Inner Sphere. To abdicate that duty when only you can perform it is an evil of a magnitude equal to that of Stefan Amaris destroying the original Star League."

  The vehemence in Focht's voice shocked Victor.

  Kai stared at the Precentor Martial. "Don't you think that's laying it on a bit thick?"

  "Not at all." Focht looked from one young man to the other. "For you the great evil has always been the Clans. Yes, you can remember the War of 3039, but you were children then and not capable of understanding the horror of one nation setting upon another. I do remember and I know that without someone as strong as you, Victor, at the helm of the Federated Commonwealth, the Inner Sphere will fall apart again. Can you imagine that your sister Katherine does not hunger to be First Lord of the Star League herself? Do you think Sun-Tzu will be happy while a single world that ever belonged to the Capellan Confederation has a FedCom flag flying over it? Kai, do you think Sun-Tzu does not mean to take back the St. Ives Compact into the Capellan Confederation? And Thomas Marik, will he be pulled apart by forces from without or within his realm, or will he be forced to go after Sun-Tzu or your sister?

  "I am an old man who has watched nearly a century of conflict because of leaders who lacked the moral courage and internal fortitude to resist temptation and greed. Our history, the history of humanity, is full of such weaklings and, in the fortunate cases, they are kept out of power. Those who keep them out are the strong and forward-looking leaders, much as the two of you are—and much as you will have to be. Your happiness, Victor, is something I wish for you, but you cannot let it come with an abdication of your duty. That would destroy you and Omi."

  Victor looked down at the floor for a moment, then brought his head up. "But there is no way for me, the Prince of the Federated Commonwealth, to be allowed to take Lady Omi for my wife. The people of our realms would revolt."

  "Perhaps that is true, Victor. Perhaps the Prince of the Federated Commonwealth cannot marry Lady Omi." Focht's good eye narrowed. "On the other hand, I do not think he who is the savior of the Inner Sphere could ever be denied what makes him and his love happy. By winning a future for the Inner Sphere, you win a future for yourself. And the first step toward that victory will be your first footfall on Black Luthien."

  25

  Zetsuentai Terminal, Takashi Kurita Memorial Spaceport

  Imperial City, Luthien

  Pesht Military District, Draconis Combine

  29 December 3058

  His heart firmly lodged in his throat, Prince Victor Ian Steiner-Davion waited at the doorway of the Leopard Class DropShip for the signal to proceed down the tunnel to the reception area of the Imperial City spaceport. Though Kurita officials had shuttled up to the incoming DropShip and spent two days briefing Victor and Kai on all that would be going on, Victor still felt ill-prepared for his arrival. Even encased in a 'Mech I don't think I could be ready for this.

  Everything had been orchestrated for their arrival to have the maximum impact. They had been tutored in proper conduct, provided with a suitable wardrobe, and even given aid dressing properly. Which was a good thing, actually.

  Victor looked over to where Kai stood in the mouth of the gantry-tunnel. Kai wore his kimono, the pleated, oversized trousers called hakama and the haori jacket with large sleeves, long tails, and extended shoulders as if born to them. Kai's clothes had been fashioned of black silk and trimmed with gold at hem, cuff, and sash, using the colors of the stable for which Kai fought on Solaris. The kimono and haori had been emblazoned with crests at the back, the breasts, and on the sleeves. In Kai's case the crest was a black mechanical fist grasping a supernova. The disk of the star had been replaced by a red and blue yin and yang symbol—the crest of Cenotaph Stables. That crest was famous as that of the former champion of Solaris, and often appeared on hats and shirts and jackets throughout the Inner Sphere.

  Victor's clothing had been cut from dark green silk and trimmed with black, making it a match for the uniforms of the Dragon's Claws, the Coordinator's personal bodyguard unit. The crests he wore were not those of the Dragon's Claws, however, nor were they the armored fist and sunburst symbol of the Federated Commonwealth. Instead Victor wore a crest consisting of a ghostly figure in white, ringed by red serpentine dragons chasing each other in a circle. This is the crest of the Revenants, the unit I formed to oppose the Clans and to rescue Hohiro Kuritafrom the Clans back on Teniente. The dragons were the Combine's addition to the crest, marking the important role the Revenants had played in Combine history.

  Further up the tunnel someone signaled, and their procession began to move in toward the spaceport. Victor was looking forward to seeing what it looked like, for it would be his first actual glimpse of ground details. The DropShip's descent into atmosphere had been delayed until night was falling on Imperial City. When he'd asked about this, he was told it was for the purpose of security, but Victor was sure that was not the main reason for a night landing. In a private moment Kai had speculated that the scars of the Clan assault on Luthien might still not have healed even after seven years and that the Kuritas did not want to be embarrassed by the condition of their world.

  Victor was certain Kai was closer to the mark, but his experience with Katherine made him believe there was yet another layer over everything. The darkness, this tunnel into the light, it's as if we're being reborn into Luthien. Our initial experiences will be exactly what Theodore Kurita wants them to be. We will see what he wants seen, hear what he wants heard, and feel what he wants us to feel. Centuries of mistrust on both sides must be laid to rest here, and a stunning spectacle might be enough to do it.

  And stunning the spectacle was. The red carpet leading from the DropShip along the gantry gave way to a mottle-gray pattern easily identifiable as that painted on Smoke Jaguar 'Mechs and Elemental armor suits. Woven into the carpeting were little birds, all fanciful and of differing sizes and shapes, but united by the fact that they were all canary yellow. Victor thought that a rather whimsical element for the design of the carpet, then he recalled some of the Kurita mythology he'd been taught. The yellow bird is the only dangerous enemy the Dragon has. By linking the image with the Smoke Jaguars, then having Kai and I walk over it, crushing it down, everyone will know we come to destroy the threat to the Dragon.

  Victor found it both thrilling and daunting to imagine that such symbolism would impress a people. Part of him saw the whole thing as the manipulation of a superstitious populace, but he knew his own people were equally vulnerable to manipulation. There will be plenty of fear-mongerers who will try to make my trip here into the surrender of my realm to Theodore, and some people will let the image of this visit influence them when it's the substance of it that should be important.

  Out past Kai and their escorts, Victor caught glimpses of the reception area. It rose three stories in height, with the ceiling held aloft by teak pillars. Huge silken banners hung down from the rafters, alternating green, gold, and black. A very slight breeze ruffled them, adding life and movement to what would have otherwise been a static and dead display. Moreover, the lack of symbolism on the banners meant that emphasis was placed on the people present in the waiting area.

  Stepping out of the tunnel, Victor dropped into line beside Kai and bowed to their waiting hosts. They both made their bows deep and respectful, and held them a heartbeat or two longer than instructed. Opposite them, T
heodore Kurita, Hohiro, Omi, and two other individuals waited and then returned the bows. Theodore's did not plunge as deeply as Victor's, nor was it maintained as long, but the Prince took no offense. Theodore's world, Theodore's rules.

  Victor quickly recognized the other two members of the Kurita family. The woman back with Omi clearly was her mother. Of Tomoe Kurita, Victor knew little—the file his Intelligence Secretariat had gathered was obviously full of errors and relied heavily on gossip. What he did know was that Theodore had met and married Tomoe almost ten years before their union was made public knowledge and that all three of their children had been born prior to that revelation. Takashi Kurita, the previous Coordinator, had not been pleased with his son's choice of a mate, but had warmed to her in his later years as her children proved to be loyal and intelligent.

  The other one, that has to be Minoru. Again the IS file on him was annoyingly incomplete. Slight of build and wearing glasses that seemed far too large for his face, Minoru looked much younger than his twenty-eight years, though he was only two years younger than Omi. The datafile suggested that Minoru had become something of a mystic, steeping himself in occult rituals designed to strengthen his spirit. Victor's intelligence analysts had opined that these pursuits neutralized the young man as a player in Combine politics, but Victor knew that was largely based on their disbelief that such studies could produce results. Though Victor would have welcomed empirical studies to prove the existence of chi, his experiences with martial arts and kenjitsu had suggested to him that there might be more to human beings than could be conveniently measured by science. And until a Nobel Prize is awarded for the formula that describes creativity, I'll continue to have my reservations.

  Flanked by their guides, Victor and Kai took ten steps forward, then knelt in the center of the reception area. Both of them ended up with their knees crushing the head of a yellow bird. Victor sat back on his heels and rested his hands, palm upward, on his thighs. He resisted the temptation to wipe his hands off and followed Kai's example of concentrating on his breathing.

  Theodore Kurita first approached Kai. Hohiro trailed in his father's wake, then knelt at his father's feet. In his hands he held up two swords. The longer one was a katana in a black lacquered scabbard, with a gold crossguard and pommel-cap. The hilt had been wrapped with black cords I that dangled from a loop on the pommel-cap. The wakazashi ran to a length of close to fifty centimeters, making it about two-thirds as long as the katana.

  Theodore took the katana from his son and presented it to Kai. Without saying a word, and keeping his eyes focused on the floor, Kai slid the sword home through the obi-sash over his left hip. The wakazashi followed, then Kai bowed deeply to Theodore. The Coordinator, still standing, returned the bow respectfully, then moved one step to his left as Kai straightened up.

  Omi shuffled forward to her father's side, her orange and brown kimono rustling like autumn leaves in a breeze. She knelt and lifted another two-sword set to her father. Lacquered green scabbards encased these blades. The hilts had been wrapped with green cord, and the crossguard and pommel-cap were both fashioned from fire-blackened steel. They appeared to be the same size as the weapons given to Kai, though Victor thought his katana might be a centimeter or two longer than the one Kai had received.

  Victor accepted the katana from Theodore's hands and felt time melting away. The weapon, by its weight, the smooth texture of the scabbard, and even the hypnotic swaying of the twin tassels at the end of the hilt took Victor back to a more primitive time. Duels fought with a weapon like the one in his hands did not have the distance and detachment of an engagement in the thirty-first century. We may style ourselves as knights in shining armor or samurai warriors fighting for our lords, but our forebears knew a conflict that was more savage and primal. The fact that BattleMechs are often humanoid makes us believe in the illusion of combat being equivalent to the warfare known by the ancients on Terra, but it is not. With this blade I'd engage an enemy whose eyes looked into mine, whose breath fell upon my face, and whose blood would drench me.

  Victor had heard much from Hohiro about the warrior and his weapon becoming one, and even Tancred Sandoval had spoken about a sword becoming an extension of the fighter's arm, but for the first time he had an inkling of what that union really meant. A warrior and his weapon cannot succeed if they are separate. The weapon becomes the instrument of the warrior's will, and the warrior becomes the engine that allows the weapon to fulfill the purpose for which it was created. With these weapons I can see that union taking place, I can understand it and respect it. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

  By the same token, Victor sensed danger in extending that philosophical point to warriors and 'Mechs. Because we are detached from what we are doing, because we are removed from those we kill, the union does not make us better. To become united with his machine, the warrior must surrender some of his humanity. He pays with a piece of his soul for being able to visit so much destruction on his enemies. It seemed clear to him that such a loss had been part of what had warped the Clans. We have to be careful not to let ourselves be caught in that trap even as we defeat the Clans because, from that trap, there is no redemption.

  Victor slid the katana home through his obi and paired it with the wakazashi. He bowed deeply, pressing his nose to the carpet, then straightened up. His gaze flicked toward Omi, but she kept her eyes downcast. Without looking at him, she rose and shuffled back to her position beside her mother.

  The Coordinator turned from them and walked over to where a rug with a snarling, coiled dragon had been laid out. He pressed his hands together for a moment, then looked up and out toward a gap between two of the cloth banners defining the reception area. Until the moment he did that, Victor had not noticed the lack of holovid cameras.

  All of this has been recorded and broadcast, but the cameras are hidden so as not to not spoil the ceremony. Victor cringed inwardly, imagining the vulgar display his nation's media would have made out of the ceremony. While he fully supported the idea of a free and unencumbered media, he did admit to himself that there were times when a little control would go a long way.

  Theodore opened his hands toward the gap like a father welcoming home a brood of children. "Komban-wa, citizens of the Draconis Combine. You have my sincere apologies for being compelled to watch this ceremony unfold, but this was important enough that I wished all of you to share in it. Today a Davion has come to Luthien, without arms and barefoot, crushing beneath his feet our enemies. As you have just seen, he has been given a daisho. Those twin swords define him as a warrior of the greatest repute and skill; and he shall be treated as such by all of us, for the duration of his service here, for the duration of his life, and the duration of his memory."

  Theodore paused for a moment, which allowed Kai to finish his whispered translation. "Is that really what he said?"

  Kai nodded almost imperceptibly. "Some honorifics do not translate directly—if anything he was more appreciative than I made it sound."

  The Coordinator resumed speaking. "He has brought with him a companion of great skill and greater courage. Kai Allard-Liao is the son of warriors and the progeny of noble houses. He destroyed the Jade Falcons at Twycross, saved Victor Davion's life at Alyina, and then proceeded to harass Jade Falcons to the point where they allied themselves with him and vanquished a dishonorable foe they had both come to hate. After that, to honor the memory of his father, Kai traveled to Solaris, and again an Allard was champion of the game world. This warrior has earned his daisho, and shall be revered among us until time itself is no more.

  "These two men are a vanguard of forces that are coming here to the Combine. You will see more of them welcomed here in the coming days. You will see their units on your worlds, training with our troops, working on exercises together. And you will see them all gathered beneath the banner of the Star League. We are united with them in spirit and purpose."

  The Coordinator bowed his head toward the holocams for a mom
ent, then looked up. "Seven years ago the Smoke Jaguars came to Luthien and tried to crush the Dragon's heart. They failed because the fathers of the two men kneeling behind me had the courage to send their own troops here to help us. The warriors who fought on their behalf will be here again, as will many more. Their purpose, our purpose, is to attend to the next part of the cycle of life. Seven years ago the Smoke Jaguars came to Luthien and now, almost seven years to the day later, we are going to take the war back to the Clans.

  "Among you there may be those who see this acceptance of help as dishonor, but I tell you it is not. A warrior who does not accept help when it is freely offered and he is in need is a fool. In wars, fools die and their nations die with them. The Draconis Combine is not a nation of fools. We are a nation of warriors, and a nation of victors. It is time we remind ourselves of those facts and teach them to our enemies."

  26

  Royal Palace, The Triad

  Tharkad City, Tharkad

  District of Donegal, Lyran Alliance

  3 January 3059

  Watching the holovids of her brother's reception at Luthien, Katrina Steiner decided to remain disappointed in Victor even though she knew her expectations concerning his conduct were unrealistic. As Theodore Kurita handed Victor the sword, she was hoping her brother would show some skill with a draw-cut and drop the Coordinator where he stood. She knew it wouldn't happen, but just for an instant she thought Victor might have remembered his roots and eliminated the Combine threat to the Federated Commonwealth and the Lyran Alliance.

  The rest of the transmissions concerning his first two days on Luthien were equally filled with disappointment after disappointment for her. Victor seemed to be on his best behavior. He stoically endured traditional Japanese theatre and concerts of music written on a scale she found only suitable for transcribing the howls of cats in heat. Victor had been shown sampling all sorts of delicacies, including fugu, but the chef had prepared it well and saved her brother an agonizing death.