24

Scavenged Restoration

Chapter 24

-VB-

Within Terra's vaunted halls and deep underground, seven individuals gathered for a meeting that was becoming all too frequent. 

Seated at the head of the round table was Primus Myndo Waterly, the most militant primus to have come out from the Draconis Combine worlds. 

In a clockwise run of the table, the participants were Precentor Sian Vilius Tejh, Precentor Atreus Pedrigot Aliz, Precentor Tharkad Seujan Johnson, Precentor Dieron Jennifer M. Torina, Precentor Avalon Bhavi de Cantella, and Precentor ROM Nicholas Cassnew. Of these seven individuals, none of the planetary Precentors were here in person: they were all present via live HPG connection and with their upper torso and face shown on holograms. 

Nevertheless, this meeting of the First Circuit was … tense. 

"Cassnew?" the Primus spoke up. "Any leads into the Capellan situation?" 

Having become the Primus in the middle of the Fourth Succession War, Myndo Waterly went to work removing many of the neutrality measures put into place by her predecessor, Julian Tiepolo. However, even she was not bold enough to push for extreme measures in the middle of this intense war. As much as she probably wanted to, she didn't send any spies to Capellan Confederation to kill people. Not yet. 

But the war was winding down, and so she began exactly that. 

"None," Precentor ROM Nicholas Cassnew replied without giving any of what he felt away. "The Capellans are keeping things close to their chest, and unless we want to go the extra mile in replacing someone, their most secure data sites will remain out of our reach."

"Then the experimental factories and production lines?"

"We have a dozen agents in place, but even then, they are limited to observation because security for at least half of those sites require butt-naked inspection before entering. The other half require a strict live-on-site policy, and has killed people for trying to leave without permission."

"So no advancements since our last meeting."

"No."

It's only been a week since they last met.

But in that week, calls for peace had gone out from the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth. 

"How serious are the First Prince and the Archon?" the Primus asked, looking to both Precentor New Avalon and Precentor Tharkad. 

"As far as we can tell, they are serious about this. Even if they mauled the Capellan Confederation, the Kuritan and Marik advances have cut out too many of their border worlds for them and their inner core to feel comfortable," Precentor New Avalon replied. "Eleven FedSuns border worlds have fallen to the Combine."

"And six Lyrans worlds to the Combine as well," Precentor Tharkad added. 

"Establishing the bridge between their two realms have been devastating, more for the Davions than the Steiners," Precentor New Avalon hummed. "Last frontline communications I've managed to intercept and decipher told me that the AFFS completely lost on Styk and Ardan Sortek, the First Prince's right hand man himself, was caught and imprisoned. They also lost former St. Ives Commonality worlds back to the SIC."

"Hanse must be smarting about that," Cassnew chuckled. "The salients into St. Ives Commonality gave them a lot of options to work with, especially since most of those weren't important aside from their strategic position, so losing them now and thus limiting which worlds they could easily raid or invade… they lost to the Capellans on that front."

"Let's focus," the Primus interjected. "Territorial gains are nearly irrelevant. What is most important are the connection and strengthening of the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth and the Capellan Confederation being in possession of the memory core."

"A memory core that has most likely been copied and distributed to prevent sabotage," Precentor Sian noted. "Unless we are willing to declare a casus belli-less war and interdiction, that is out of our hands."

Primus Waterly pinched the bridge of her nose. "We should still find out where all of those cores might be. Just in case. We don't know when we'll have to act."

"And what will we be acting on, Primus?" Precentor Atreus asked. 

Primus glanced over the wily precentor. Precenter Atreus Aliz was a firm supporter of Tiepolo and his neutrality, and despite her predecessor's passing, he continued to carry the doomed movement's torch. 

It helped him that many precentors of the League followed him there, having been infected by the Leaguer mindset. 

Because of this, she had to be careful about how she handled him. If she moved too quickly to remove him, then the backlash might see her removed. Her "people" were still the minority not in just the First Circuit but in the wider order. 

'But then again, the wider order means next to nothing,' the twenty-nine year old Primus thought. 'Most of them are ignorant of the order's true purpose in the Inner Sphere and its eventual ascendance.'

"... Personally, I believe that the Capellan Confederation holding the memory core is a good thing for the order," Precenter Dieron spoke up. 

"Why?" Cassnew asked with a frown, and being the only other person in the room with her, she could see every outline of his face crinkling as he frowned. 

"If we take our dear Chancellor's penchant for historical references, then the Capellan Confederation is the Sick Man of the Inner Sphere," Precenter Torina continued. "Its fall from grace as one of the five Scavenger Lords would mean that we would be left with the combined might of the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth with a divided and barely cooperating Draconis Combine and the Free Worlds League. If allowed to continue and they last more than two generations, the League will fall first followed by the Draconis Combine. The Capellans will be swallowed up eventually, and we will be left holding the bag, so to speak. Hell, if the Capellan Confederation falls in totality, then we might just see a nation in the Inner Sphere who has the power and the will to subjugate our order if only to use us against the Draconis Combine and the Free Worlds League."

Yes, she did think that was a possibility, Myndo thought. But the Fourth Succession War had gone so out of control that such a possibility was low chance of occurring.

But that it was possible that irked her.

"If the Capellans can continue to hold on even in their reduced space and use their now advanced technology to keep the Steiners and Davions in check…"

"Yes, I can see how their memory core is a blessing in disguise for us," Myndo replied. "But they might also lose one of their cores to the Federated Suns or the Lyran Commonwealth, who are in better position to take advantage of the lostech knowledge."

And that was the chief reason why she wanted all memory core storage sites known so that when they needed to - not IF but WHEN - they could move in and eliminate the cores before they become a problem.

She's thought that much ahead, at least, unlike half of these "precenters" who can't see beyond the immediate problems in their face. 

It was why she needed to find a better head for ROM sooner or later because Cassnew was one of those. He couldn't see beyond the immediate, even if he was good at his job in the now. 

"Well then," Cassnew spoke up. "We'll just have to make sure that the Capellans don't think it's a good idea to keep them close to the border and to make sure this call for peace goes through, no? If ComStar advocates for peace, then surely, we'll get some positive response."

Like she said to herself. Cassnew needed to be replaced sooner or later if this was the level of advice he was giving. He was the head of ROM, for Blake's sake! He should be planning on manipulating the media in each of the five successor states, not making public calls for peace!

"Then we are in agreement that we should bring all heads of state to the table?" she asked, and she got her answer. 

The Fourth Succession War would end soon. 

-VB-

Janos Marik stared at the map of the Inner Sphere and at how the latest intel changed the borders. 

He had to say…

Regaining half of the Bolan Thumb back under the League's control would do much for his popularity and support, and it also completed the minimum required of him to gain access to the memory core held by Chancellor Liao. 

And he knew he would gain access to it. Even if William Liao was a copy of his father, reneging on that deal would see his weak antispinward borders getting hit by him and his, so either way, he would get something out of this war. 

And the parliament couldn't even argue about it because he had urged them to contribute to the war but they told him no, leaving him with only his house troops to take part in the attack. And because he had taken those worlds back with only his house troops, there was only so much parliament members could argue against his full possession of those worlds. 

Oh, sure, the Displaced might get upset… but then again, they were Displaced and powerless for a reason. They were relics of a bygone era, hawking without any say in the matters of the state. 

No, if anything, he had to careful about those who would use them against him.

Like Duchess Catherine Humphreys. 

Ultimately, though, almost everything paled in comparison to what he could now get his hands on: a Star League memory core. Sure, it would be limited to civilian applications, but even those could leverage against his political opponents. After all, he made this deal, not the League. He didn't accept it as the Captain-General but as Janos Marik.

That meant that if the Chancellor followed through, the core would belong to him and him alone. 

Just as he was about to send a message through the HPG to the chancellor about their deal, he got a different message. 

A message that brought a grim smile to his face. 

Tharkad and New Avalon were calling for peace. 

-VB-

Theodore Kurita wanted to scream. 

Chancellor Liao's perceptive insight into his father's own health had helped but it also validated his father's paranoia about enemies within court. At the same time, he wouldn't give up on punishing the Wolf's Dragoons. 

Combined with warlords vying for father's favor, he had been given just a few regiments to do his work and try to fulfill the chancellor's challenge. 

But the call for peace had gone out. Father had his momentary fill of smashing the Dragoons and Davions. And he hadn't conquered enough worlds.

He wanted to scream.

-VB-

Kyalla Centrella heard the news and the calls for peace. 

She glanced to her left at the other woman in the room, and said woman, Catherine Humphreys, glanced back at her. 

Time was rapidly approaching for them to make their own move. 

The Capellans were busy with the rest of the Inner Sphere. They wouldn't expect an attack from the periphery in their weakened state. If their intel was right, then they had less than thirty-five operational regiments for their entire state while they, the Duchy of Andurien and Magistracy of Canopus, had twenty-five regiments between them.

This was very much doable. 

-VB-

Melissa Steiner let out a sigh of relief when she and Hanse started to receive word back from all across the Inner Sphere. 

The Chancellor, Coordinator, and the Captain-General were willing to talk peace. 

She looked to her husband and saw his personal failures weighing down on him.

She reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, and he looked up from the messages to look at her with his tired, baggy eyes. 

"It's okay," she smiled. "We'll get through this, love."

He tried to smile back but … the exhaustion and relief had combined to leave him almost lethargic. 

"Thank you."