Grave Covenant

by Michael A. Stackpole

  All of that could have been endured, but Victor actually looked as if he was enjoying himself. He smiled a lot, even when absent from Omi's side, and Katrina knew it wasn't his I'm-so-bored-I'm-going-to-die smile. She supposed it was actually possible he was developing a rapport with the people of the Combine—and their respect and reverence for warriors could easily have laid the foundation for such a thing. Thrust into a deadly trap, Victor not only survived but thrived.

  Katrina waved a hand at Tormano Liao, who she'd called to her office to join her for the viewing. "Please, Mandrinn, shut it off. Any more of this and my blood will crystallize. The Combine's editors must have worked for hours to put that shameful display together."

  Tormano pointed the remote at the holovid viewer and punched a button. The picture went black, then he turned back to her. "At the risk of ruining your day, our people believe all that was raw footage and of genuine events, not staged events."

  "I find that hard to believe. Victor couldn't be so spontaneous without a lot of practice," Katrina sniffed. She paced around behind her desk and sat down, forcing Tormano to twist uncomfortably on the sofa so he could still see her. "This is footage fed to our media by the Combine's state media organization?"

  "Some of it. They've actually given the rest of the Inner Sphere's media unprecedented access to their holovideo content. Aside from meetings and functions from which even we would ban recording devices, we're getting everything." Tormano shrugged. "There's enough of it that we can account for the vast majority of Victor's time. If there are rehearsals for some of these events, he's only sleeping two hours a night."

  "I don't care how much sleep he gets." Her blue eyes narrowed. "Any word on who he might be sleeping with?"

  Tormano shook his head. "No, but I doubt there's any deception on that score. The Combine's Dictum Honorium stresses the values of purity and harmony above all others. Omi Kurita has taken over as the Keeper of the House Honor, and her elevation to this position is seen as a very positive omen in the Combine. Back in 2333, the first Keeper of the House Honor was also named Omi Kurita."

  "I'm certain the Dracs all find this fascinating."

  "Indulge me, Archon, because this next bit is on point concerning your brother's sex life." Tormano interlaced his fingers and rested his hands on the top of the couch-back.

  "The first Omi Kurita began codifying matters of honor after her younger sister was executed by their father for violating the dictums of Purity and Harmony. It seems that young Shada Kurita had taken a commoner as a lover and became pregnant, violating the ideal of Purity. Her father ordered her to get rid of the fetus, but she refused, violating the ideal of Harmony. For that she paid with her life."

  "No indication what happened to Shada's lover?"

  "No, but I do not imagine he outlived the Coordinator's daughter."

  "Ah, then there is hope after all, if my brother gets frisky." Katrina rolled her eyes to heaven. "How widespread are these images?"

  The Capellan smiled. "Some of it has been used in news broadcasts, but only little snippets. I've issued a call for all the footage to be sent here first, with the promise of using it to produce a documentary. We have a preliminary script to work from, and are preparing edited versions of it for various portions of your realm. Tailoring sentences to remind the viewers of past Combine atrocities is a subtle way to reinforce the idea that Victor is really treating with the enemy."

  "Excellent." Katrina smiled slyly. "You will be preparing versions suitable for distribution in the Draconis March of the Federated Commonwealth, yes?"

  Tormano hesitated, and she read the confusion on his face rather easily. "I had not included your brother's realm in our planning, Archon."

  "I can understand the oversight, Mandrinn Liao, but I do not expect such mistakes in the future." Katrina gestured toward the holovid player. "My brother is off winning the hearts of allies so he can lead them against the Clans. He has placed my little sister on the throne in New Avalon, but you and I know she doesn't have the experience to be able to safeguard that whole nation. Just as my brother still feels proprietary about my realm, so I have concerns about his. Preparing documentaries like this for his realm will keep his people informed. An informed populace can make the right decisions concerning its future."

  "And you don't think he will see this is meddling?"

  "Of course he would, if he could pinpoint my fine hand in it. I was thinking, Mandrinn, that sales of a holovid documentary about my brother might produce handsome profits.

  Since any direct funding of your Free Capella movement would be seen as divisive war-mongering by me, I was thinking your people might undertake the production and distribution of such a product, using the profits to our mutual benefit."

  A smile slowly blossomed on Tormano's face as he took the bait. "As you probably know, Archon, my people have already undertaken a similar scheme concerning the publication of a holovid that presents Sun-Tzu as even more of a danger to the Chaos March."

  "It was your success with that project, Mandrinn, that gave me the idea for this one. I also think a streamlined version of your holovid about Sun-Tzu, with emphasis on Victor's collusion with his elevation, would have interesting effects in the Capellan March of the Federated Commonwealth."

  "When?"

  "We have six months. By then Victor will be embroiled in a war. If we do things correctly, we can destabilize the Federated Commonwealth. Because it's needed to fund and supply the war against the Clans, I want it still functional. When Victor comes home, however, he should find his hands full of unrest." Katrina sat back in her chair and propped her feet on the desk. "Besides, after driving off the Clans for good, he's likely to find the Inner Sphere boring. We wouldn't want him to come home and find he had nothing to do, now, would we?"

  JumpShip King of Monkeys

  Zenith Recharge Station, Marik

  Marik Commonwealth, Free Worlds League

  Sun-Tzu contemplated what he had seen in the holovids from the Draconis Combine. He noted, first and foremost, that the arrival ceremony had been orchestrated perfectly, with a great deal of attention paid to details. He knew that to individuals who had grown up within a culture whose origins went back to Asia and relied on a written language using symbols that represented whole words instead of just sounds, the symbolic content was as important as real content. Omens and auguries had more influence, and form could color the perception of anything. Had Kai or Victor so much as sneezed while being greeted, had the illusion Theodore sought to create been compromised in some way, that disaster would have shaded every following event with meaning.

  The fact that the greeting had been wildly successful had certainly done the same thing. Wherever they went, both Victor and Kai were received with enthusiasm—the generation of which was remarkable given the squalid and stultifying conditions of most of the people on Luthien. Prior to this I would have thought the denizens of Luthien's factories didn't even know the Federated Commonwealth existed—in most Combine school texts the union of the Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns was never even acknowledged.

  Victor's acceptance didn't bother Sun-Tzu, primarily because Victor needed to excite people if he was going to lead them into battle against the Clans. While the Precentor Martial would have overall command of the operations, Victor would be his primary fighting general. Troops would rally around Victor and pound the enemy just to earn his praise. That Victor actually knew what he was doing and always did his best to keep his troops alive certainly did not hurt force morale.

  Kai's reception on Luthien did concern Sun-Tzu, specifically because it called into question an underlying assumption he realized he'd harbored for as long as he could remember. Back at the time Hanse Davion and the other Katrina Steiner had agreed to an alliance, Maximilian Liao— Sun-Tzu's grandfather—had entered into an accord with Janos Marik and Takashi Kurita, leaders of the Free Worlds League and Draconis Combine, respectively. The Concord of Kapteyn was a mutual-defense pact and was
still in force. Sun-Tzu had always expected that if he made a move against the St. Ives Compact that the Combine would threaten the Federated Commonwealth enough that his effort would meet with no interference.

  The holovids cast this eventuality into severe doubt. While Sun-Tzu had been aware that Kai had developed a following in the Combine because of his stint as Solaris' Champion, he had not given the true meaning of that development sufficient thought. If Kai was actually that popular, then any move against his homeland might meet with a negative response in the Combine. Moreover, if Kai is seen as a key person in the defeating of the Clans and the saving of the Combine, the Dracs could be openly hostile to my takeover attempt.

  Isis Marik appeared in the hatchway of his cabin. "May I come in?"

  "Of course, beloved." Sun-Tzu punched a button on a remote and the holovid died. "What is it?"

  "I see you have been watching the holovid of the Luthien visit."

  "I have."

  "And you have seen the potential problem there?"

  Sun-Tzu nodded, then caught himself. Isis was not a stupid woman—not by a long shot—yet her sensibilities were attuned to things other than those that concerned him. "I have seen problems of various sorts. What did you see?"

  Isis hooked a hank of chestnut hair behind one ear. "Prince Victor appears to be a glowing success there. The people seem to love him."

  "As would be expected when Theodore dresses him up in the uniform of the Dragon's Claws, makes him a samurai, then all but attributes the salvation of Luthien to him and Kai." Sun-Tzu shrugged. "Of course, this is all to the good because Victor will be in the forefront of the fight against the Clans. Theodore engineered all this to guarantee Victor massive acceptance by his troops."

  "Exactly." Isis nodded solemnly. "Which is the key to the problem."

  "What problem?"

  Isis frowned at him. "You know as well as I do that twenty-five to thirty percent of Victor's worlds lie in the Draconis March region. The Sandoval family has long been wary of the Combine and has agitated against any alliance with the Combine because they believe the Combine cannot be trusted. Victor has appointed Tancred Sandoval as one of Yvonne Davion's advisors, in effect placing someone who will view Victor's actions dimly in a position of extreme power within Victor's government."

  "That was rather silly of Victor, wasn't it?"

  "Especially in light of what Katherine will undoubtedly do with the holovid gigabytes you've just viewed."

  "Indeed." Sun-Tzu looked around the sparsely furnished cabin and smiled as he imagined Katrina's reaction to Victor's reception. "She'll attempt to use his every success to poison the Draconis March against him. If successful, she could heighten tensions on the border with the Combine." The Draconis March would become an effective barrier against Combine action in St. Ives and might even demand enough attention that the Federated Commonwealth will be forced to withdraw from the St. Ives Compact and leave it to me.

  Isis nodded. "So what are you going to do about it?"

  Sun-Tzu shrugged. "If Katrina destabilizes the Federated Commonwealth, I imagine we can use the situation to our benefit."

  "What?"

  He looked at her in confusion. "I don't understand your question."

  "Clearly." She put her hands on his shoulders and gave him just the slightest angry shake. "You are the First Lord of the Star League. You have been given an opportunity to guarantee your place in the future and your place in history. You can't be thinking of minor conquests and mischiefs that will bring misery to millions of people. Your responsibilities are greater now than they have ever been before. What you do in the next three years will determine the course of the Star League's future and whether or not you ever get a chance to be First Lord again."

  Sun-Tzu frowned. "Are you suggesting I ignore a chance to benefit from the downfall of a Davion? After all they have done to my realm?"

  "I suggest nothing of the sort." She dropped her hands, but her tone still had its sharp edge. "I suggest you look at reality. The Capellan Confederation is the weakest of the five major Inner Sphere houses, yet you are accorded a political parity with the leaders of much larger nations. Why? Because the Capellan Confederation could severely hurt another Great House. Granted your realm would be no more, but the damage done would weaken the other House to the point where it would be unable to fight off opposition."

  He slowly nodded. "I see this."

  "Look further ahead, my dear. If or when Victor returns from the war with the Clans, he will return at the head of an army the like of which the Inner Sphere has never seen before. His people will be highly trained, highly skilled, and unbelievably proud of what they have accomplished. They will believe they are returning to an Inner Sphere that has not changed—at least not for the worse—while they have been gone. Anyone practicing adventurism while they are away will immediately become a focus for punishment, and I don't think you want to be in that position, do you?"

  "There is a certain wisdom to what you are saying."

  "Think about this, too, then. Katherine Steiner has risen, in three and three-quarters years, from a social butterfly to the throne of one of the five Great Houses of the Inner Sphere. She clearly meant for you to lose the election to the position of First Lord, and probably thought she could get herself elected First Lord by quelling the acrimony surrounding your nomination. It was only Victor's choosing to frustrate her that won it for you."

  "You're trying to tell me she's not to be trusted."

  "Right."

  Sun-Tzu reached out and stroked Isis' cheek. "This I already know, beloved. She relies upon my uncle, which makes her foolish as well as untrustworthy. That said, I will take to heart your words. As First Lord, I need to use power to build toward the future, not reap short-term gains for myself."

  She smiled at him then, her expression both proud and tender. "Exactly. The Star League really is the best situation for the Inner Sphere." Isis kissed his palm. "Channel your energies into it, improve and strengthen it, and you will find your rewards greater than even you could imagine."

  27

  Palace of Serene Sanctuary, Imperial City

  Luthien

  Pesht Military District, Draconis Combine

  5 January 3059

  Victor knew he should have been exhausted after all his many activities in this week on Luthien so far, but he was excited enough to be running on nervous energy. In between the planning and strategy sessions, he had been run all over Imperial City, among others. He had toured factories and battlefields, visited graves and said prayers at temples. Every experience seemed crafted to give him an insight into the ways of the Combine and its people, and to let them get to know him as well.

  Before the coming of the Clans, the tours he was getting would have been out of the question. At the Luthien Armor Works not only had he been given unprecedented access to the factory producing BattleMechs, but he'd actually been given a chance to pilot a Grand Dragon on their proving grounds. The Grand Dragon had always been a bogeyman of a 'Mech for Federated Commonwealth troops, and seated in the cockpit Victor could see why. The long-range missile rack and extended-range particle projection cannon gave the 'Mech superior long-range support capability, while the trio of medium lasers and heavily armored hide meant it could stand up to and deliver punishment in a close-up brawl.

  Victor had also been toured over the battlefields surrounding Imperial City by Shin Yodama and Hohiro Kurita. They had pointed out where the Clans had come in across the Tairakana Plains, and where they had died in the hills of the Kado-guchi Valley. In the inflections of their words Victor caught much of the tension that had reigned that day seven years ago. The Combine and FedCom mercenaries had broken the back of a joint Smoke Jaguar and Nova Cat assault. Though a few Nova Cats actually reached Imperial City, they only managed minor damage before a Wolf Dragoons air strike put them down. One of the Nova Cats 'Mechs remained frozen in place, its blasted and ruined condition speaking of one of the few times the Inne
r Sphere had handed the Clans a shocking defeat.

  Oddest of all the trips he had taken was a visit to the grave of Takashi Kurita. While he found the display to be in keeping with Kurita ideas about simplicity and circumspection, it didn't seem right to Victor. Centered in the gray granite slab was a meter-long coral panel that had been carved to show Takashi in traditional samurai armor. Coiled about his feet was a dragon, and one of Luthien's moons hung over his head like a halo. To Victor he appeared very much like a saint.

  Looking down at the modest stone memorial, Victor found himself full of mixed emotions. Takashi Kurita had always been the devil incarnate to the Davions. Hanse Davion had blamed Takashi for the death of his older brother Ian. Takashi had embodied the threat the Combine presented to the Federated Commonwealth. He had been unrepentant and unreasonable even while his son, Theodore, had been willing to make changes to allow for the defeat of the Clans.

  As much as Victor knew he should have been put off by being asked to visit Takashi's grave, he did feel he owed a debt to the man buried there. Theodore Kurita had been against Victor and Omi forming any sort of friendship. When Omi had asked Victor to take the Revenants and rescue her brother from Teniente, the price of her getting permission to stage such an operation was agreeing to sever all communication with Victor. She had agreed to this condition to save her brother.

  Victor had been prepared never to see or hear from her again, but Takashi Kurita had intervened. While Omi was bound by tradition to obey her father's prohibition on communication for the sake of harmony, so Theodore was bound to obey his father when Takashi lifted that prohibition. As much as Victor knew he should hate Takashi, the man who had been a lifelong enemy of the Davions had, toward the end, rewarded a Davion by rewarding his own granddaughter for her sacrifice.