Grave Covenant

by Michael A. Stackpole

  Phelan kept the Gladiator moving and managed to keep it upright despite the pounding it had taken. Heat still swirled through the cockpit, but he brought the 'Mech's left arm around to point at the Daishi anyway. Only can fire two. This better do it.

  The paired bursts of laser fire again raked their way across the Daishi's chest. One savaged the unblemished armor on its right breast, but the other ripped through the gaping hole in the middle. Green flashes sped through smoke as glowing metal rods and globules poured out like vomit. The Daishi's head dipped lower as the whole center torso-support evaporated, leaving the pilot staring down at the ground while the glowing maelstrom that had once been the engine, gyro, and central skeleton of his 'Mech silhouetted the cockpit. Unbalanced, the 'Mech sagged to the right, then collapsed in a tangle of angular limbs.

  Ragnar's Fenris again fired all four of its pulse lasers at the Shadow Cat. The streaming scarlet energy bolts gobbled up the whole of the 'Mech's left arm, disintegrating the 'Mech's other large laser. More laser fire melted armor on the 'Mech's left breast and leg, then the final laser's fury spent itself denuding the Shadow Cat's right flank of armor.

  Yet even as Ragnar's assault thoroughly ravaged the Shadow Cat, the Smoke Jaguar shot back with the large laser. The green beam lashed armor from the Fenris's left leg. The shot would have hit higher, but the melting arm had begun to droop, lowering the aim point to where weapon proved relatively harmless. As if ashamed of itself, that arm vanished in a cloud of molten rain spattering the ground.

  Limbless and unable to strike at the Fenris, the Shadow Cat started to rush straight at its tormentor. The damage resulting from the collision could have hurt the Fenris, though Phelan thought it unlikely it would have crippled Ragnar's 'Mech. Avoiding even the remotest possibility of that happening, Ragnar cut his 'Mech to the left and fired back through the gaping hole that had once been the armor on the right side of the 'Mech's chest. A typhoon of red energy darts swept through, devouring internal structures. They boiled on through the right side of the chest, then vaporized the gyro keeping the 'Mech erect.

  The Shadow Cat sprawled forward, gouging a brown scar through the valley's vegetation. Smoke rose from its arm holes and mingled with the smoke from the Turkina's snuffed engine to darken the sky.

  Phelan marched his Gladiator down to where the Daishi lay. He flicked on his external speakers, unable to determine if Moon lived or had radio communications in his cockpit. He patched the radio into the speaker line. "It is over, Logan Moon. Your Cluster and your world are mine. You have been defeated in the name of the Star League, but you fought well and I would honor you in the way of the Clans. I make you all bondsmen, and will allow you to resume your roles as warriors at the earliest convenience."

  Weary and clearly in pain, Logan Moon replied through the radio. "Explain to me one thing, Kell."

  "If I am able."

  "Why the fiction of the Star League?"

  "What fiction?" Phelan waited a second, knowing the other Jaguars would be paying close attention to his reply. "The invasion of the Inner Sphere was launched by Leo Showers to reestablish the Star League. The invasion accomplished this end—not in the way any of us expected, for no Clan conquered Terra and won the right to rule the Inner Sphere. Despite that, the Star League has been reformed, under a charter which is virtually the same as the original charter, and the signatories to it are many of the same states."

  "But this Star League, this newly formed Star League is a charade."

  "Is it? If the Star League had reformed five years after the Amaris Usurpation, could ilKhan Leo Showers have justified his invasion, quineg?"

  Moon hesitated. "Neg."

  "So we agree that the reestablishment of the Star League is enough to obviate the invasion, but we argue over the number of years. I maintain the number does not matter, just the act of its reestablishment." Phelan shrugged. "You can argue a number, but you can no more justify one than another, so I can argue you into accepting five minutes or five centuries. You have lost. The invasion is wrong, and continuing it is not only a crime, but a violation of all the Clans hold sacred."

  More pain underscored Moon's reply. "I do not know what to say."

  "Admit you were wrong, and embrace the chance to make things right." Phelan kept his voice cold and razor sharp. "You and your people will be allowed to communicate with your sibkin to advise them of your change in status. After that we will leave this place and you will put your skills to use doing what Nicholas Kerensky intended when he created the Clans. You will defend the Inner Sphere from predacious enemies and you will find it the grandest duty you have ever known."

  34

  Bjarred

  Nova Cat Occupation Zone

  1 July 3059

  The pale gray silk of Tai-sa Katherine Oltion's kimono allowed some of Bjarred's cool evening air to reach her flesh, though she knew it only found goose bumps there, it did not create them. Though she had complete trust in her superiors—and even respected the Precentor Martial and Victor Davion—she had serious doubts about the bid she had been ordered to give when the Nova Cats had inquired about the forces she intended to use to take Bjarred. If my suicide was desired, the Coordinator should have just invited me onward, not ordered me to bid myself alone to take this world. Why make the Nova Cats complicit in my death?

  The leader of First Battalion of the Combine's Sixth Ghost Regiment descended the gangway from the Leopard Class DropShip and slowly walked toward the waiting knot of Nova Cats. The DropShip was the smallest available to her unit, and had enough firepower to wipe out the reception committee in and of itself. What made Katherine feel particularly vulnerable was that she'd not even been allowed to put her BattleMech aboard the DropShip. While orders had not forbidden her to carry her swords—the very mark of her being a warrior—any weapon of more recent heritage had not been allowed.

  The Nova Cats appeared to be representatives from the various parts of the warrior caste. Huge, hulking Elementals towered over the tiny, macrocephalic pilots. More normal in size and appearance was the MechWarrior who, by dint of her position at the head of the group, appeared to be its leader. The streak of white amid her long black tresses would have struck Katherine as a sign of the woman's age, but given the agist leanings of the Clans, she doubted that was the case. Instead she saw the white forelock as a genetic trait that was prized among the Nova Cats, since it made her hair match the Clanner's black leathers and the white, supernova-like blaze over the left shoulder and breast.

  Katherine stopped a short distance from the Clan warriors and bowed. Straightening up, she introduced herself, following the precise formula given in her orders. "I am Tai-sa Katherine Oltion of the Sixth Ghost Regiment, currently attached to and in service of the Star League Expeditionary Force. I have come to contest the possession of this world."

  The Nova Cat MechWarrior returned her bow. As she straightened up, the woman's eyes gave no evidence of amusement, anger, or fear—all of which Katherine would have expected to see. Instead the other warrior seemed reverent as if the proceedings were all but sacred to her.

  "I am Star Colonel Olivia Drummond of the 189th Striker Cluster of the Nova Cats. Your arrival has been foreseen. I am here to answer your challenge. Your bid of one person to take this world is impressive."

  "In ordering me to make that bid, my superiors wished me to assure you that no disrespect was intended."

  "None was taken." Drummond gave her an open, brown-eyed stare that felt almost electric in its intensity. "It was assumed with this bid that you are a skilled warrior. I offer myself as your opponent and trust that you will find me your equal."

  She's following the formula as scripted. Unfortunately, the script runs out soon. "I have no doubt you are my equal and probably my superior. Between us, however, we shall stipulate equality, quiaff?"

  "Aff."

  Katherine's mouth began to dry out. "A warrior like you knows that in combat there are only two elements: skill and chance, quiaff?"<
br />
  "Aff." The woman's voice did not waver, nor did her eyes betray reluctance to play her part.

  Here we go into the unknown. "Since we have eliminated skill, all that is left is chance." Katherine freed a large gold coin from a small pocket sewn into the hem of her kimono. On the face it had the profile of Sun-Tzu Liao, current First Lord of the Star League, and on the back was the Star League Defense Force crest. The date of the Whitting Conference was rendered in Roman numerals around the edge. She held it up and rotated it slowly so the Nova Cats could see that the front and back were different. "I propose we flip this coin to decide who wins the world. I will flip it and you will call it in the air. Chance will decide who wins."

  She had tried to keep a tremolo from her voice, but she failed. I have been assured I need fear for nothing, but standing alone on a Clan-conquered world makes believing that difficult.

  If Star Colonel Drummond noticed the wavering of her voice, she gave no indication of it. "This is acceptable. Proceed."

  Katherine hooked her thumb beneath the edge of the coin, dropped her hand a bit, then brought it back up quickly and flicked her thumb hard. The coin rose quickly in the evening air, lights from the spaceport flashing from its sides. The coin rang with a pure tone that faded slightly as the coin reached the apex of its arc and built as it began to descend again.

  The Nova Cat warrior smiled. "Edge."

  Katherine's jaw dropped as the coin hit the ground. It bounced up off the ferrocrete, rotating faster, then landed again. It flipped back and forth a few times, then spun rapidly around the coin's edge and eventually came to rest with the Star League Defense Force crest uppermost.

  Katherine closed her mouth and nodded. "It has been decided."

  Drummond nodded and extended her right hand toward Katherine. "We have been defeated and are yours to command. We hope you will accept us as your bondspeople and allow us to prove ourselves worthy of becoming warriors again."

  Katherine unknotted her kimono's obi and looped the gray sash around the Nova Cat's right wrist. She then drew her wakazashi and sliced the improvised bondcord in half. The gray silk pieces fell to the ferrocrete and slowly twisted up as a slight breeze began to rise.

  "You are warriors again, all of you, with the full rights, privileges, and responsibilities of the warrior class." Katherine gave each one of those assembled a nod and smile. "As it is, I cannot afford to devote troops to garrisoning this world. You are charged with the duty of keeping it safe, in the name of the Star League. As you may know, other Nova Cat worlds have been lost to the Star League. You are free to communicate with those worlds and their personnel to make decisions about your future. It is my duty and pleasure to welcome you to the Star League."

  "Thank you very much, Tai-sa Oltion." Star Colonel Olivia Drummond smiled broadly. "It feels very good to be home again."

  * * *

  "So the question really is, ilKhan Osis, how long had you intended to keep this Inner Sphere offensive secret from us?" Vlad, standing in the rear of the Hall of the Khans, opened his arms wide to take in the rest of the Khans gathered in Grand Council. "According to the rather sketchy information I have been able to accumulate, there were multiple strikes against targets in your occupation zone and your forces have been roundly defeated in a series of pitched battles. There is even evidence of a second round of attacks."

  Osis' face contorted itself into a mask of fury. "I did not withhold information from this body for the purposes of deceiving it."

  "Then what was your purpose, ilKhan?" Vlad kept his voice light, but fed into it enough of a mocking tone that the worlds still skewered Osis. Vlad's information had come purely from intelligence missions into the Inner Sphere. Small DropShips were sent through the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone to inhabited systems in the Lyran Alliance. The ships popped in, soaked up as much as they could of popular news-media broadcasts from the world, and jumped out again before the planet's garrison forces could attack. In some cases that meant they pulled in a dozen or more hours of news, including interesting holographic footage of the battles against the Smoke Jaguars.

  "I believed it was necessary to determine the full extent and nature of this action against us before doing something that might have raised alarm needlessly." Had Osis' eyes been lasers, Vlad knew he'd have been flash-fried in a second. "This is a complex situation which, among other things, points to treason by members of this body."

  A hushed rumbling of voices began to fill the chamber, but Khan Marthe Pryde stood and her clear voice cut through it. "Perhaps, ilKhan, you would tell us what is going on."

  The anger on the ilKhan's face slackened for a second into pain. "At the end of May and beginning of June, Inner Sphere forces—largely from the Combine, but with elements from throughout the Inner Sphere—hit five worlds we had occupied. On Kiamba, Asgard, Port Arthur, Tarazed, and Hyner, our Clusters were pitted against six times their number of 'Mechs and were forced to surrender possession of the worlds. Reports have come back piecemeal, but we were facing some of the elite units of the Inner Sphere, many of whom were using technology salvaged from our units or newly developed in the last seven years."

  Vlad smiled. "Forgive me for interrupting you, ilKhan, but your description of the reports you have gotten begs a question: were your people able to withdraw or were they wiped out?"

  Osis began to quiver and his voice tightened. "There were considerable losses. I will admit that preparedness was not as high as it should have been, but these were troops in garrison."

  "Again, forgive me, ilKhan, but four of those worlds were garrisoned by frontline units, including your Fourth and Seventh Jaguar Hussars." Vlad knitted his brows with concern. "If they were wiped out, this is a serious threat indeed."

  "If you would refrain from interrupting me, Khan Ward, I could provide you with more details on the assaults." Osis wiped spittle from the corners of his mouth. "In addition to these attacks, the Inner Sphere inserted guerrilla units onto other worlds to distract and harry our troops, giving us a false picture of the nature of the assaults. A second wave of attacks began within the week, and we are still sorting Out details from them, but one thing is very clear: these attacks are being accomplished with the help of the Nova Cats!"

  Severen Leroux rose at his place as the other Khans turned to look at him and his fellow Khan, Lucien Cams. Leroux calmly removed his enameled helmet and placed it on the table in front of him. "I anticipated that you would attempt to foist blame for your disaster on me, Lincoln Osis. This accusation is false, of course." He turned and looked up at Marthe Pryde. "Tell me, Khan Jade Falcon, did the ilKhan inquire of you whether or not your garrison forces had been attacked, quineg?"

  "Neg."

  Leroux shifted his gaze to Perigard Zalman. "And, Khan Steel Viper, did he ask you if your worlds had been attacked, quineg?"

  "Neg."

  Leroux nodded. "Nor did he ask the Nova Cats if we had been attacked. Had he inquired—conducting an investigation into the matter as he should have as ilKhan—he would have learned that while he lost five worlds, we lost all or part of nine worlds to Inner Sphere assaults. When this happened and no inquiry came from the ilKhan, I was forced to draw one of the following conclusions: either the ilKhan was unaware of the attacks or he had chosen to treat them as an internal problem that my Clan was to deal with on its own.

  "Since two of the worlds we lost were Avon and Caripare— worlds we garrison in unison with the Smoke Jaguars—I knew my first conclusion was in error. There could be no way the Smoke Jaguars on those worlds did not report to him that we had been attacked. I had to assume, then, that we were to deal with these attacks by ourselves."

  Leroux's eyes sharpened. "That being said, the ilKhan will acknowledge that I provided him with a report on our losses, but he chose not to reply to it."

  "That report was inaccurate."

  "Was it?" Leroux's voice crackled gruffly, betraying his advanced age. "Did you ask for clarification of it, quineg? Did you expect me
to have more details on the worlds I lost than you did on yours, quineg?"

  "Your report suggested things that were wrong." Osis' eyes narrowed until Vlad was certain the man could see only silhouettes before him. "On Avon and Caripare your troops joined with those of the Inner Sphere to attack and destroy Smoke Jaguar troops."

  Leroux shook his head. "I believe, ilKhan, that even the fragmentary reports you have gotten about those actions will indicate that the First Nova Cat Guards and our First and Third Garrison Clusters are now designated the First Star League Nova Cat Guards and First and Third Star League Garrison Clusters. They were won by the Star League when our portions of those worlds were taken."

  As Leroux's mention of the Star League started new chatter among the Khans, Vlad's smile slowly grew. The news reports he had gotten from the Inner Sphere talked about a reestablishment of the Star League, but he had considered it merely another Inner Sphere trick to try and hold off the Clans politically. After all, the Clans saw themselves as destined to restore the Star League. Perhaps the leaders of the Inner Sphere were foolish enough to think this ploy would be enough to tame the Clans. Vlad knew that none of the Khans would acknowledge the Inner Sphere leadership— especially that of a non-warrior like Sun-Tzu Liao—but the ploy did reveal how much the Inner Sphere had learned about the Clans.

  The defection of the Nova Cats could have been anticipated, but only after attacks had begun. They were the least warrior-like of the Clans because of their mystical beliefs about the nature of man and the universe. While Vlad could respect their embracing ancient warrior traditions and their reverence for courage and valor, the whole spiritual overlay bothered him. It gives them a belief in a higher authority to which they must answer, when the truth is that we judge the Clans, not some unseen spirits or silent deity. Perhaps their spirits or ghosts or whatever they were had told them to embrace the Star League fiction.