Book 1 - Chapter Nine

You know this is only half of 'Chapter 9', but its kicking my ass and still needs a day or two to get things lined up...

So fuckit, I'll throw a lot of the exposition out in its own chapter here and now and get back to polishing off Smith squaring off with Tweedledee and Tweedledum tomorrow to post it then.

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Chapter 9: Hell Hath no Fury...

'And so this is Christmas', as the song went.

Or just about. 

December 3026 to be specific. 

But … this wasn't Christmas.

Christmas was the Australian summer. Gloriously hot days with a family BBQ running around the backyard as a kid, followed by presents and cousins and all that fun stuff. It had been dressing in shorts and a T-shirt and spraying super soakers and hoses around if it was one of those REALLY hot days. It was about good food and a million little things from Christmas carols to various well-loved movies and TV shows that came on. 

And now I had none of that.

I had felt homesick at different times of course. But Tharkad really drove that home for me in a way it hadn't exactly hit me before. Which was ironic because if there was a place that was as unlike an 'Australian' Christmas as possible, it was Tharkad.

I mean, Elsa would have taken one look at city and handed over her title of Snow Queen to Katrina on the spot had she seen this much powder.

Most of all though, snow and temperature aside … it wasn't Christmas because I didn't have any family, didn't have anyoneto share it with.

But then, perhaps for all my secret knowledge about BattleTech, I might be somewhat blind for seeing what was in front of my face.

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***​

The meeting with the Powers that Be extended for another three hours, of which I stayed for two as we discussed the raid on Helm, its after effects and some of the more pressing issues Katrina wanted to bring up.

ComStar were a major -arguably the major - topic of conversation, which wasn't terribly surprising given that Katrina had just found out one of herworlds was in essence under ComStar de facto control. So much so the order was able to operate a naval base deep in the outer system with near impunity.

Unfortunately there were not any really good options for dealing with the 'Ruins of Gabriel' as the former SLDF base was called (seriously who the fuck named it that?). I simply didn't know enough about the structure of the Hidden Worlds at this point in time to give her solid intelligence on how they fit in with the rest of the order - especially communications lines and probable response times. I knew the Primus was ultimately in command of them and surely the current Precentor ROM had his part to play too. But how much of an active link there was with the rest of the order as opposed to the implied extreme compartmentalization the order practiced ? Well, their guess was as good as mine. I mean there was a solid chance 'Gabriel' was in mothballs with just a caretaker crew and being used as a ROM transit station with 90% of the ComGuard fleet in mothballs … or it could be a major hub of the explorer corps, who knew?

Could the LCAF chance a special forces blitz to sneak in, seize the base and loot the hell out of it without word getting out?

Possibly.

Could I offer any guarantees over it?

Hell no.

Accordingly, Katrina was convinced to let the system and its secrets be for now, as much as it clearly grated on her to leave ComStar so flagrantly violating her realm. The cold truth was that, for now, we had to just grin and bare it dealing with the toasters although Simon Johnson and Quintus Allard assured their bosses they were working on short, medium and long term answers to the ComStar conundrum, so the phone company issue was parked for now to discuss other more immediate I might be able to offer commentary on, starting with the Genyosha and re-emergence of Yorinaga Kurita … which bizarrely everyone at the table seemed to take as a grave threat.

I think I actually earned, possibly against her will, a grin from Nondi Steiner by daring to roll my eyes when asked about the threat, scoffing that one Mechwarrior was hardly an existential threat to the Federated Commonwealth nations. And that if you had to face him, there were perfectly valid workarounds to the so-called Phantom Mech ability. From the brute force approach of dedicating a headhunter lance of fast brawlers (Chargers if you could find them) to chase him down and rip his Warhammer open with their bare hands while you dealt with his support, to simply performing grid square removal with artillery and air strikes while he was inside said grid square.

I didn't bother to go into deeper options that had been speculated in far too many threads on the internet - like my favorite of turning sidecar medium lasers on Marauders into glorified targeting laser pointers a GM in an RPG had allowed me once - or finding a half competent programmer to reprogram the targeting system to do optical reference targeting. And I knew the latter was possible because Dan Allard managed to jury rig such a solution on the fly (and seemingly never bothered to tell anyone about it) but honestly, I got the feeling I was arguing uphill here against a room full of Mechwarriors who saw Yorinaga as the devil and Morgan as their savior.

So, I was unsurprised when Patrick announced he would have Salome take the Hounds back to Pacifica after the New Year but he would go to see Morgan and bring him back to lead the Hounds into this long delayed showdown.

His grave decision got the expected solemn nods from around the table.

I, meanwhile, was proud that I didn't roll my eyes at the whole air of 'You cannot escape your destiny; you must face Darth Vader again!' ... but a pointed look from Hanse -who was clearly reading my mind- kept my mouth firmly shut.

And yet … I had to admit feeling happy for the idea of Patrick being the one to go and get his brother this time. Instead of the duty falling to Dan Allard who also got to tell Morgan his brother died fighting the fight he ran away from.

Now this was a butterfly; Patrick and Morgan Kell together once again; the two Kell Hounds facing down the DCMS together and beyond into the future. Hell, perhaps Christian and Patrick could take Phelan more in hand-

Oh fuck! I had totally forgotten about Christian Kell!

Did I butterfly him - no, he was conceived at the start of this year, I think, before any butterflies from me should have hit. But glancing across at the troubled expression on Patrick's face at the thought of his brothers nemesis coming out of retirement, I decided to hold on that thought for now until I could quietly discuss it and the implications of springing an illegitimate son on Patrick, on far wiser people than I.

Shaking off the implications, I heard Katrina ask me if there were any other issues I felt needed addressing here and now and I took the opportunity to inquire about the New Dallas operation status.

Memory cores! Gotta catch'em all!

The response was both disappointing and yet satisfactory at the same time. The simple answer was that no-one expected any outcomes on that mission for at least another few months at the earliest, more likely half a year. Apparently due to my annoyingly vague memory that there was some kind of sensor tripwire and automated HPG in-system that would scream 'INTRUDER ALERT!' to Terra if someone came in obviously to the planet, the DMI team sent were taking a very covert entry method that could best be described as 'pretend to be space junk and drift your way in cold' from a nonstandard jump point. It was a technique apparently incredibly effective against the kind of passive systems they were expecting to come up against. But equally, it was incredibly slow.

Having just been trapped on a dropship for months, I really felt for the poor bastards, but was assured these people were professionals who could handle it. And they had one of the few FAX machines NAIS had painstakingly hand built that LIC and DMI were listening for if they needed help, so I suppose now we just had to wait and see what they came up with.

Anyway, by this point in time the sun had well and truly set outside the massive windows as time rolled on and so my participation in this conference was ended. The other people in the room had quite a few other things to talk about for the next hour or so until the bigass feast took place, so I was ushered downstairs to wait in a secure but comfortable room with some more light snacks. An hour later the power duo swung by to visit me on their way to get changed into uniform for the RCT feast … to tell me I wouldn't be part of it.

But not to worry, the Archon was extending me an invitation for me to stay at the Royal Palace: one of the three buildings that made up 'The 'Triad'! Or, to put it more accurately, I was going to be put on ice there until after the chaos of Christmas had passed. At which point I would be formally debriefed by a chosen LIC team.

It made me feel a bit like one of Hanse Davions toys that his friend was asking if she could play with, I must admit. Sure Katrina did technically ask me for my agreement, but it was sort of a Hobson's choice really. Like I was going to say no to her!

Okay, I admit it - the woman intimidated me! How the fuck morons like Lestrade and her cousin thought they would ever get away with crossing her after meeting her in person…

Anyway, Hanse and Katrina had remained to go celebrate with the rest of the task force that evening - after a brief face to face with all the people in the task force who knew about the memory core to, inside a shielded room, make it jointly clear (after profusely congratulating them on getting the memory core out clean and safely) that there was no memory core….

I meanwhile was shuffled off quietly onto an unmarked fusion-jet due to fly back to Tharkad City by Simon Johnson and Quintus Allard. An LIC special, the VTOL took the difficulties of trying to bug a noisy aircraft and quite deliberately increased them with passive and active countermeasures to the point that the cabin was so noisy we had to put on ear protectors - which doubled as a closed direct hard link comms system which was switched on when we reached cruising altitude.

"John, I haven't had the opportunity yet so I'd like to add my congratulations to those of the Prince and Archon for what you accomplished on Helm" Quintus started as he reached over to pull his folio folder deal out of his locked attaché case ... and begun the process of carefully unlocking it in turn.

"And my congratulations too" Simon Johnson added. "We have validated the memory cores authenticity and sheer scope of its database; suffice to say you have just casually altered the course of history and changed the balance of power in the Inner Sphere. Very, very well done".

"I wouldn't go that far" I said, gesturing with a hand quickly. "Even in the original timeline, the NAIS got a copy of the core less than five years from now. I just 'fast forwarded' things a bit really - and I had a lot of help, my presence was mostly superfluous in the raid".

"Perhaps, perhaps not" Johnson shrugged, studying me with a practiced ease that was as penetrating as it was nonchalantly friendly. "Although based on your statements on New Avalon, reports from Helm and those of the NAIS tech team; the 'original timeline' core would have taken considerable time and resources to extract data from revived 'raw' as it were. Not to mention" he added with a cold smile and gleam in his eye, "that while in that 'original timeline' all the Great Houses eventually got their hands on a copy of the core ... this time, it's ours alone and without anyone knowing we even have it".

"Precisely" Quintus agreed, sharing a sinister smile with Johnson that made the interior of the VTOL feel a tad chilly as the two spymasters engaged in some very rare and unprofessional gloating before their masks kicked back in and their expressions smoothed back out. "And we're going to run with that edge you've given us for a while. The Archon and First Prince have both decided that 3027 will be the 'year of silence'. Simon and I will be spending the time quietly scattering multiple redundant offline backups of the core across the Federated Commonwealth. Ultra-secure locations, black sites and rather more unassuming places that will make absolutely sure there can be no Holy Shroud type scenario against us. Meanwhile, NAIS will be getting to work with a focus on reproducing proof of concepts of Star League era machine tools, computers and fabrication techniques from the cores data before we even start looking at mass production or distribution scenarios".

"Crawl, walk, run?" I suggested and Quintus nodded sharply.

"Well put" he agreed with another thin smile. "Once NAIS have confirmed the proof of concepts as viable, we'll start quietly building the factories to build the tools to repair and refit production lines and factories across the Federated Suns, with a parallel but coordinated effort in the Commonwealth. We can actually do a surprising amount of work 'under the radar' to reach a breakout capacity before we move to mass manufacturing at a level that will draw notice. This will also let us do studies into the Federated Suns infrastructure and the optimal long term rebuilding strategies. MIIO has been doing preliminary identification and prioritization along those lines while you were on the way to Helm and LIC" he gestured at Simon, "is going to start in the new year. Although some of the machine tools and computer equipment you picked up on Helm have already been identified as perfectly suited to upgrading some of Coreans New Avalon plant and Defiance's production lines on Hep-"

"Kwangjong-ni!" I suddenly blurred out as I remembered.

What the hell triggered it I wasn't sure, but suddenly as they talked about production lins and lostech, that little detail from the Jihad timeframe struck like a lightning bolt from the sky.

Memory was a strange thing really. Bits and pieces of other Battletech lore had slowly come to the surface over time, most of it pretty much useless, but this…

The two spymasters meanwhile exchanged cagey glances before turning quite focused gazes on me, clearly interested in why I had just said that.

"Kwangjong-ni?" Simon asked very carefully and I nodded, screwing my eyes shut for a second and holding up a hand that silenced them as I wracked my brains to pull everything I could … which wasn't a much as I hoped.

But hopefully it was enough so I opened my eyes to find both men watching me with expectant curiosity.

"Sorry, the mention of Defiance clicked something in me" I apologized, taking a breath to get my thoughts in order before starting, facing Simon Johnson. "I just remembered that during the 3070s and 3080s, when Defiance lost Hesperus II for a few years, they relied on satellite factories to keep the company going until it was taken back. And one of them was on Kwangjong-ni!"

"There isn't a Defiance factory on Kwangjong-ni - not right now anyway" Simon noted in confusion before his eyes narrowed as he realized where I was going. "You're saying they found an old one?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying" I nodded and I could see that had gotten the attention of both men with Quintus making a notation in his noteputer silently off to the side. "It was one of the 'hidden factories' that asshole Stefan Amaris had running to help build up the Rim World forces for his secret army. The Star League had suspected it was there during their taking of the Rim Worlds but could never find it. Defiance, on the other hand, did".

"Very interesting and, potentially, very useful of course" Simon agreed, rubbing his chin in thought. "But a planet is a rather large place to search Mister Smith and it sounds like the factory is very well hidden ... unless you happen to know exactly where it is?" he suggested in hope.

"No" I shook my head, causing him to sit back, looking slightly disappointed "But" I added quickly, "I know where it's not. The primary reason the factory escaped detection was that it was built entirely under the ocean".

"Under the ocean?" the two spymasters said in perfect unison, before blinking and glancing at each other, then back at me with near identical expressions of disbelief turning into grudging admiration as the implications sunk in.

"Under the ocean" Simon repeated in a softer tone, his eyes calculating and his brain clearly working hard. "A secure production site, made up of late Star League automated production lines … yes I can think of some uses for such a facility deep inside Lyran space" he smiled coldly looking back at me and inclining his head.

"It would seem I owe you my thanks once again Mister Smith. I must admit, this makes me quite eager to get to work debriefing you".

"Yeah about that … we're … not talking Narco Interrogation are we?" I frowned at that, trying to not show too much how understandably nervous the idea made me feel. My reading up on the process back on New Avalon and recollections of how incredibly unpleasant it was for the characters going through it made me very much want to avoid such questioning, even if it seemed to give quite impressive results for pulling information out of people they had quite possibly forgotten they knew...

And seriously, that cold smile, blue eyes and German accent, was giving me, probably unfairly, major 'Zou are being very foolish! Ve 'ave vays of making you talk!' vibes right now....

But happily, said vibes vanished behind a display of professional disquiet from the man.

"Of course not" he protested with a not quite 'hurt' frown. "The Archon has made it very clear you are to be treated as an honored guest during your stay. We simply intend to see if any new 'thoughts' about 'Battletech' have shaken loose, ask some of our own questions and expand on some information you have provided. I'm certainly not handing you over to LOKI".

I gave Simon a look at that but -predictably- found absolutely nothing but a perfect poker face with a look of earnest politeness staring back at me … and as his words sunk in, I realized I had forgotten a minor little detail … until it was literally looking me in the face.

And that, was Heimdall. 

Officially 'denounced as terrorists' and unofficially the 'who watches the watchers?' arm of the Lyran Intelligence Corps; Heimdall held a somewhat unique position in the Inner Sphere. Made up of a mixture of 'sane' LIC personnel who detested LOKIs often brutal tactics, military officers, politicians and 'normal' people who saw themselves as guardians against LOKI and LIC excesses (and had often been their victims), Heimdall had a presence vertically and horizontally across all of the Commonwealth, but was very decentralized in command and control. The exact nature of the organization changed with the times too; against Katrina's moronic and brutal predecessor the organization had been openly at war with LOKI, who were engaging in state sanctioned terrorism all over the place to silence critics.

Which made the fact that Alessandro Steiner had promoted Simon Johnson, secretly a key Heimdall agent, into the position of LIC head with orders to crush Heimdall one of those glorious historical ironies.

The organization had been critical to Katrina Steiner first surviving the attentions of and then deposing her Uncle. Katrina in turn upon assuming power had rapaid their faith in her by yanking on LOKI's choke-chain until they understood they did not wag her and their previous tactics would no longer be tolerated under her reign.

Heimdall had become somewhat inactive as a result. Had even, in some places, formed cells that were almost an open secret among the locals. In the current time period, the biggest impact they had made was one cell trying to be too clever investigating why someone wanted to sour the growing relationship between the Commonwealth and Suns, stumbling right onto Melissa Steiner traveling incognito to meet Hanse Davion and unknowingly putting her in terrible danger (and showing themselves as flawed humans in their cheerful willingness to sacrifice one unwilling innocent life for hundreds if need be), playing politics games they really had no business playing.

Of course, all of that mess with the Silver Eagle shouldn't happen this time, as I'm sure Hanse and Melissa would be -probably already were - spending time together now. And that in turn would save Patrick Kell's life … probably. 

Unless he gets killed another way, hardly unlikely for a Mechwarrior after all. Oh how the butterflies started to flap…

Presently, I took a breath and noted the others were clearly waiting for my reaction, but even as I opened my mouth to speak, Quintus read my mind (it got really annoying when all these people kept doing) and pre-empted me.

"Only you, Simon, Prince Davion and myself have read the complete copy of Warrior: Coup" the Minister said quietly, drawing my attention back immediately. "The copy that was 'officially' given to the Archon was almost the same, but with six key lines carefully changed and removed after the Prince and I discussed the implications, a decision Simon here backed".

Oh fucking joy, now I was apparently keeping secrets from Katrina Steiner? And just so happened to be the only one of said quartet she could probably shoot if she got miffed about that and wanted to vent? Great! Just great!

"I'm guessing you're talking about where Morgan Kell exposes that Simon here is a key member of Heimdall?" I suggested, pushing the 'bad thoughts' to the side as both men nodded -clearing watching my reaction closely- so I took a deep breath in and out before nodding grudgingly. "It's understandable and I'll keep the secret too" I said, choosing my words carefully but honestly. "I can certainly understand why; I'm sure that you don't want to put the Archon in a difficult position Minister Johnson … and the long term security and effectiveness of Heimdall is clearly linked to it being loyal to, but outside the direct control of Katrina and her Heirs".

"I'm pleased to hear you see it that way" Simon thanked me, his eyes seeming to bore into mine in a way that I tried to tell myself wasn't him saying 'Forget this promise and you will not like the consequences'. "LOKI, despite what I can see you might think of them from your debriefing on New Avalon, are often a necessary evil for the Commonwealth … but I'm also aware of just how easy it is to abuse their capabilities and that a counterweight is needed outside official control, but vetted and loyal".

I simply nodded my acceptance of that, hardly convinced but keeping my mouth shut on the subject. LOKI had been, with the 'Germans in Space!' theme of Battletechs Lyran Commonwealth, something disturbingly akin to the Waffen SS or Gestapo in a lot of ways. Beholden only to the Archon and trusted delegates, ruthless and with very little in the way of checks and balances. Heimdall did not exist in a vacuum but was a direct reaction to that reality.

On the other hand, the Rabid Foxes didn't get their name because they limited their actions to leaving flaming bags on the front porch of various enemies of the Federated Suns...

My train of thought was cut off as the aircraft jolted under me, banking and starting to descend. I glanced at bulkhead mounted map readout and was surprised to see we were already over the greater Tharkad City region, descending quickly towards our destination. One of the perks of hanging out with these kinds of people, I generally only touched the best stuff, like supersonic personal private transports on priority clearances, which sure as hell beat flying wedged into a seat on a 737.

"Is there anything else you'd like to talk about before we land?" Simon asked at that point, looking at me expectantly and I considered the question carefully. Most of what I might have wanted to ask or check about had been touched on in the meeting with the Prince and Archon, but...

"Yes. Christian Kell".

"Christian Kell?" Simon echoed after a glance to Quintus who only shrugged.

"Patrick Kell's Son" I clarified and that earned me a surprised reaction from both men who clearly did not know of this. "He would have been born at some time this year to a woman named Takara? I think that's it. Anyway, they had a liaison nine months ago and Takara should have given birth to his son by now. She in the original timeline kept it a secret, so…"

"Patrick Kell died defending Melissa Steiner - without knowing he had a son?" Simon Johnson queried and I nodded, continuing the story.

"Christian would later seek out Morgan after finding a letter from his mother explaining things. After confirming his identity, Morgan called in a favour from Jamie Wolf to have him trained personally by the Dragoons, the man earning his place - even serving under Kerensky for a time - and later joining the Kell Hounds and becoming one of their best officers".

"Impressive - but irrespective of what he becomes, I'd certainly agree that Patrick Kell has a right to know about his Son" Simon noted, pausing to consider the situation for a few moments in thought before coming to a decision with a small smile.

"I'll have Heimdall contacted to look into it. The Styx cell can quietly make contact, extract her and her son to Arc Royal and let Patrick know through those channels - I need to take the Holsteins in hand anyway".

"Thank you" I said gratefully, feeling I had actually accomplished something worthwhile today with that one action, but Simon just shook his head, dismissing my thanks.

"The man has more than earned such consideration - and the Archon would be … displeased if she found out I knew about this and didn't do whatever it took to reunite father and Son. Especially given Melissa's lack of a Father..." he trailed off with something of a wince in his expression and defining whole new level of subtext in the word 'disappointed'...

Well, good to know I'm not the only one terrified of earning Katrina's disappointment.

The final thing was talked about as we dropped altitude and airspeed was confirming my suspicions of what the Fox's Teeth had been doing playing with Alpha Regiment of the Wolf's Dragoons on Barrows End, which hadn't come up back with the leadership. It seemed that Hanse and Quintus, having known exactly where and when a Dragoon raid was going to hit thanks to 'Wolves on the Border', had decided to go Christmas shopping early.

I wasn't sure if Jamie Wolf would be pleased with the news that McKinnon's boys had helped themselves (with the help of an expanded Rabid Fox team and the Eridani Light Horse) to 'three Badgers looted, two salvaged Bandits and a partridge in a pear tree' … but he'd probably have liked Blackwells facilities on New Valencia getting seized and shut down by MIIO even less. Which, in all seriousness, was apparently the next option on the table, given that they exclusively supplied the Dragoons alone (who were in full service to the Draconis Combine right now) and House Davion had a whole slew of legal solutions to use when a company didn't 'correctly' hedge its bets by supplying its host nation and allied merc units too.

Anyway, we landed at the palace and it was there I parted ways with the two spymasters who were off to Simon's office to put a late night of work in while I was escorted swiftly to my room after declining the offer of dinner. With every step I took into the palace following some servant, my final emotional and physical energy reserves seemed to rapidly dry up, finding myself barely even taking note of the spectacular building I was walking through which seemed to go on forever.

Hell, the only thing I really remembered was the glorious queen sized bed in my room a servant showed me before hastily exiting as I started to undress, barely remembering my manners to thank him for his help.

And so I dumped my clothes on a convenient chair, dragged myself into the nest of blankets and was fast asleep for the first time in months in a real fucking bed in a real fucking gravity well.

***

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***​

Ten hours later I woke up slowly. And it was glorious to do so.

For months, living with Ardan Sortek late nights and early starts had been the order of the day. Sleeping in was just not something that was going to happen on a military dropship of the Davion Guards - let alone in a room with him dictating rising and sleeping. Complaints had fallen on deaf ears as I was dragged off to morning calisthenics to fight off Zero-G muscle wasting with the rest of the sickeningly fit guards who looked like their muscles were made out of liquid metal for how rock solid their abbs looked. Apparently with all members of the brigade 'encouraged' to pump iron in their off hours until they only vaguely looked human when in gym clothes.

But today?

Today I could just kick back in bed and slowly wake up, enjoying the paradoxically soft yet firm mattress and silky smooth yet warm sheets and thick blankets as opposed to zero-g wrappings brought from the lowest bidder for the AFFS.

Eventually however I got myself up, washed and dressed (my clothes and a whole wardrobe in my size had been delivered into a walk in closet from an outside door in it at some point during the night it seemed) and with a little searching, I found the room's phone to call and see exactly where one went to get food around here. My stomach impatiently reminding me I hadn't really eaten much in about eighteen hours.

The exceedingly helpful man on the other end of the phone however almost sounded amused when he told me that there was no need for a menu; simply to ask what I wanted and it would be delivered. Part of my mind immediately declared 'Challenge accepted!' and I placed an order for far too much food that was far too rich, having grown thoroughly sick of dropship rations since leaving New Avalon.

I regretted that decision an hour later as my body made its displeasure known at me shoveling incredible food down my throat like some Season One Homer Simpson in front of an All You Can Eat sign.

Decadence. Noun.

Moral or cultural decline as characterized by excessive indulgence in pleasure or luxury.The lives of Neo-feudal nobility in the Lyran Commonwealth.Still a few hours after that and my stomach had finished its protests, more or less, and I migrated to the sort of living room/office next to the bedroom. Turning on the vid I worked my way to the news channels - of which Tharkad had plenty - and unsurprisingly found them either all talking about or had bright news banners announcing that Katrina Steiner had called a 1PM press conference for this afternoon.

As that was still an hour or so away, I moved past them looking for something else to watch and found the ComStar News Network. Unable to help myself, I turned up the volume, morbidly curious about what the toaster worshipers were saying, but it wasn't a live feed. Instead, some show called 'Around the Rim' was starting. Apparently, a weekly show summing up the 'going ons' in the Periphery … and it seemed this week they were leading off with a news report on the … Rimward Frontier?

Huh. Never heard of that…

Helpfully the map zoomed in and defined it as the region of space between the Taurian Concordat and Magistracy of Canopus and I leaned forward in curiosity. I had never seen anything on Battletechs maps in that region of space … but in hindsight, that was probably just because the writers hadn't bothered to write anything about it. After all, with two Periphery powers glaring at each other across it plus the Confederation and Free Worlds League forming a 'Northern' border of that region, it made sense that there would be something there.

Muting the TV -and switching it back to Tharkad City News from the ComStar rep evangelising about how much good the order was doing in the Illyrian Palatinate - I walked over to the desk against the wall and powered the terminal there with only a little grumbling at its clunky interface.

Gods, who thought I'd so dearly miss Microsoft a thousand years of the future? Have pity on me, oh Great God Gates and provide me a GUI worthy of the 1990s!

There was no answer from the multiverse, so I sighed and carried on with what I had.

The mainframe in the Triad this terminal was connected to was unsurprisingly massive; with data from across the Inner Sphere. Say what you will about Battletech computers, storage space was not something they had any issue with and were light years ahead in, meaning the Triad had masses of captured data on anything and everything. Quickly enough I had isolated a number of public and Government fact sheets, briefings and historical texts on the region and went to work digging into them.

My first impression was that I had discovered the Chaos March thirty years early given the number of factions, major powers backing said factions and independent and micro-states with rapidly changing allegiances, alliances, back stabbings and mercenaries of less than reputable rating working for the highest bidder on a day to day basis...

Of course, unlike the Chaos March which had been formed around some of the most productive, populated and valuable worlds in the Inner Sphere. Most of the worlds were barely a step away from being a failed periphery colony with their only value being Jumpship recharge points where help would eventually come by if you blew a helium seal. The planets often only held tiny populations of peoples with no other option but 'survive or die'.

This was figuratively the ass end of the Inner Sphere … that everyone crapped on.

One exception seemed to stand out though. The 'Aurigan Reach' region which seemed to be a large microstate, but one in the middle of a civil war … damn it, why did that sound so familiar?

But even as I started to dig deeper into it, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the vid had switched to what seemed to be a shot of the Throne room and after a glance at the clock showed it was almost twelve fifty, I closed down the terminal and reached for the phone. Guest services were as efficient as before and at twelve fifty five a bottle of champagne and a very generous bowl of popcorn had arrived. And now properly equipped, I kicked the sound back on to listen to the talking heads as they speculated wildly for the remaining minutes until the Archon was due to appear.

Unsurprisingly given the lack of any 'official leaks' (Katrina was clearly holding her cards close they noted), most of the attention was on the two Griffins standing on either side of the Archons Throne and the message they were sending. Which was that instead of wearing the normal gold and blue of the Royal Guards Regiment, they had been repainted into the distinctive dress colours of the Kell Hounds and Davion Guards.

As the experts pointed out, it was far from unprecedented for the Griffins in question to be temporarily painted in the colours of another Commonwealth unit or even Merc unit under contract. It was considered one of the greatest tributes that could be paid by the Archon of the Commonwealth to a unit that had distinguished itself on the field of battle...

But for one of them to be repainted in the colours of the bodyguard unit of the First Prince of the Federated Suns?

One of the talking heads, an older one and apparently the appointed 'Conservative/Traditionalist' strawman was sputtering in shock and disapproval at such a 'sacrilege'. Ranting about the tradition and horror of the Throne, bla bla bla.

One of the other talking heads though, who actually seemed to have his head screwed on straight and had the moral authority of being a former NCO in the Royal Guards, pointed out the obvious. Saying flatly that Katrina Steiner was a Mechwarrior who would never insult the LCAF and a politician of great skill - which meant she had a very good reason for this choice of paint.

That shut the old fart up and I toasted the old soldier with a tip of my champagne flute.

The shows host smoothly stepped into the slightly tense moment to take note another thing; pointing out that there were two podiums sitting in front of the Archons throne. Meaning she was going to share the stage with someone. Opinion quickly seemed split between the CO of the Davion Guards regiment or Patrick Kell and I couldn't help but chuckle in a slightly sinister fashion as they went back and forth about which of the 'two' it was going to be.

Boy were they going to get a surprise … right about … now!

A deep bell, almost so deep it sounded like a gong, rang and shimmered through the air of the throne room at exactly 1PM. Vibrating through the air of the Throne Room, it silenced the general hub hub into a respectful yet tension filled air of anticipation as everyone turned to face the Throne as a man in full court regalia whom subtitles helpfully identified as Franklin Hecht, Minister of Protocol (that was a thing apparently) moved to stand in front of the throne.

"The Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth!" he called loudly, his words captured by some microphone to come across cleanly. And with that the crowd of thousands of people stood and bowed as Katrina Steiner emerged from behind the throne to curve past it … then a collective choked gasp come from the crowd as they came back up and saw that a precise half second later, coming around the other side of the Throne, was a man they had not expected.

And judging from the sudden jerked zoom in on him that wasn't exactly smooth, neither was the cameraman or his producer.

Surprise right up until the last moment, it seemed, had been achieved and I grabbed a handful of popcorn with a grin as a non-G rated profanity slipped out on someone's hot mic.

"The First Prince of the Federated Suns!" Hecht added to drive the point home to the stunned Royal Court as the two rulers reformed and walked the last few steps side by side to the lectern looking exactly as grand, powerful and confident as you would expect.

House Lords Twin Powers Activate! Form of; A Press Conference!

Katrina welcomed everyone, then without further ado asked (commanded and obeyed) them to sit as she announced that she and Hanse would now brief them on the recent events leading up to his surprise presence on Tharkad, the audience looking absolutely rapt in attention with the press in the front rows frantically writing notes on notepads and noteputers as Hanse gave his famous smile and started to talk.

This had all started, according to The Fox, with MIIO coming into some startling intelligence from 'A Few Good Men'™ in the Combine. Specifically, reports that a highly ranked noble was planning to raid the Free Worlds League world of Helm. Somehow this noble (and I had no doubt MIIO and DMI were busy laying a trail for the ISF to follow right to the Red Dukes front door) had found clues to suggest the legendary SLDF depot had not been taken by Kerensky as thought, simply moved, hidden and then lost in the chaos of the Succession Wars. A frantic exchange of messages with LIC had turned up twist; LIC had also just heard some nobles on Irian of all places were also looking into Helm and the ancient cache with their own clues.

Katrina then took a moment to hang a lantern on the obvious; it was highly suspicious that both powers had suddenly came onto this information at the same time, even if the Suns and Commonwealth had not yet discovered a connection between the two. She left it at that, but I was sure even that would be enough to have A) the Kapteyn powers glaring suspiciously at each other and B) ComStar looking suspiciously at itself.

Hopefully involving Precentor Rachan finding himself in a dark room with his balls hooked up to jumper cables as ROM vented ComStars fury that he might have caused this disaster.

Couldn't happen to a more deserving bastard really.

I could also live rather easily with the heat no doubt about to come down on Duke Ricol. As I recalled, his little operation had been run without the knowledge or approval of either Takashi or Theodore or his Warlord, which meant he had sinned. Twice. 

Firstly, he had been preparing for a raid into an allied state. The Concord of Kapteyn might be a bit of a joke, but it was still Kurita policy and would have been a huge loss of face for House Kurita if, as Hanse and Katrina were insinuating, the Red Duke was preparing to invade their ally and seize a priceless storehouse.

Yet, far worse as far as House Kurita was concerned, there was the question of exactly what he was planning to do with a massive storehouse of Star League military gear he wasn't telling his Liege, Lieges Heir or Warlord he was going to get. And in that situation, House Kurita would 8 times out of 10 conclude that he had been planning to use it against them - and hardly without precedent.

Accordingly, I gave it 50/50 odds that the Red Duke would be invited to 'use the garden' within the next six months, if the ISF followed the trail back to him and jumped to the 'correct' conclusions. And good riddance to Black Dragon rubbish.

Amusing, that the Kurita's would owe MIIO and LIC one for getting rid of a long term threat for them...

Anyway, Hanse continued the story that after LIC and MIIO had put their heads together, they realized they each had pieces of the puzzle and putting it all together, had very good information on the possible location of the cache. Adding, with that famous grin, that while it would have been amusing to see the Concord of Kapteyn fighting it out over the cache, he had forgotten to do his Christmas shopping, so...

That earned an actual ripple of laughter from the crowd and I too raised a salute with my wine glass, shaking my head with a smile. It was amazing really, the two of them were laying out a perfectly viable story that I actually believed watching it, even if I know it was complete bullshit. If anything it came off as them simply wanting to gloat and rub it into the other nations that they had given up the cache and the FedCom powers had then swiped it out from under them!

And the best part? There was more than enough truth in the key parts that when the ISF, SAFE and ROM did their digging into it, they would hit the paydirt and 'prove' it! Really the only thing more that was needed for this to - ah there we go; Katrina just casually dropped a reminder of the Minoru Kurita's original blasting of Helm for no other reason than being a giant crybaby because he couldn't find the cache, where as 'our' people got in and out and donated a brand new hospital in their wake, with her and Hanse Davion's complements!

I mean, everyone in the Succession Wars unleashed hell on each other of course, but most of the time it was at least nominally hell targeted at military and industrial targets, with civilians simply collateral damage. Not blasting an entire planet into a smoking cinder because you looked like an idiot in front of your troops for going on a wild goose chase!

Well, most of the time anyway.

And as for the Free Worlds Leagues internal fun? Katrina yesterday had hinted that LIC was already planting suggestions to point SAFE right to Lord Garth, Duke of Irian who wanted the cache to build an army to overthrow the Captain General.

Which was of course, absolutely true. And true 9.99 times out of 10 in the FWL.

And if that knowledge just so happened to cause a spat between Irian, Stewart and Atreus...well, that would just cap off this little operation, wouldn't it..

The dynamic duo gave limited details about the actual mission to Helm. Noting mostly that it had been all done in haste with the Davion Guards and Kell Hounds sent purely due to being in the strategic neighborhood as it were, adding not quite smugly that it was an excellent sign of how well the Suns and Commonwealth could work together 'on the fly' as it were. A military briefing would be following this one and so they would leave such questions to the officers following, but they did round out their conference by Hanse noting that the Archon had very graciously invited him and a few close friends to spend Christmas day with her family - which he had of course accepted.

And with that done the Archon had asked the still furiously writing press in the front rows if there were any questions before they turned the stage over to the military briefing team, who would go into more details about the operation on Helm and covering raids on the border?

A forest of arms shot into the sky so fast I expected sprained shoulder blades to be a thing among the press corps tomorrow.

***

******

***​

Knock Knock Knock.

The knock on the door came just after seven thirty PM and I glanced up from the book I was reading in no small amount of surprise. There was one hell of a shindig going on across in the Royal Court right now and anyone who might have any interest in me was down there tonight while I brooded in my room, reading an unclassified intelligence briefing about the Arano Restoration the palace had arranged for me at my request.

Seriously, I could really get used to having a hoard of people on hand ready to do your bidding on demand.

The report had finally clicked with me that this region of the Inner Sphere had been the setting for the Battletech video game Kickstarter back home. Even if I could barely remember anything about it beyond the cool concept art and how awesome the backer jacket was … that I would never get.

On the other hand I was, you know, staying in Katrina Steiners palace on Tharkad … so I don't think the people I had left behind who had jackets were really getting more than I was.

Still, it was a bit weird the more I thought about it. A video game still under development when I departed … was playing out in front of me in the Periphery. I mean fuck, was one of these people I was reading about supposed to, from a meta 'player character' point, me?!

Mind. Blown. Hey, new thought; I wonder if I could meet Jason Youngblood at some point...

Such mental conundrums were excellent distraction for me, keeping me from thinking too much about what day it was. Christmas Eve celebrations were in full force across the capitol, having reached a peak in a massive carols by candlelight extravaganza in the Triad District. That would last for a few hours, with a 'who's who' of the Commonwealths singers lining up to sing songs, broadcast around the planet. The Archon had made a brief appearance at the start to set things off, but otherwise left it to the celebrities to carry this celebration from evening into night. All very touching ... and all hitting me where I really didn't want to be hit.

It didn't help that everywhere I had looked outside my room it was Christmas Christmas Christmas and so rather than explore the palace or anything I had, after Katrina and Hanse's conference wound up, found as many things as possible to distract me. Distantly hoping perhaps that I could chain enough things together through the night to forget.

It had proven a little harder than I thought, as crazy as it sounded for me to distract myself being in the Battletech universe, a room (even a luxurious one like this) was still somewhat limited in what you could do with it.

And after the Carrols finished and darkness started to fall, the commoners had moved onward to enjoy the final night of Christmas displays through the District before they were taken down for the New Year's Eve work to start. The nobility however, were otherwise occupied as Katrina was hosting the annual Christmas Eve soiree in the Royal Court; an event considered much more 'casual' and 'informal' than the massive New Years Eve ball scheduled for a week from now. It also held a focus on the local nobility and invited VIPs from Tharkad itself rather than the power-players from across the Commonwealth - at least in theory.

The presence of Hanse Davion as the Guest of Honor had, unsurprisingly, thrown that ideal out the airlock with anyone who was anyone desperately gate crashing to rub shoulders with two House Lords, something that didn't exactly often since the Star League had crashed and burned.

And yet, it was still all wrapped up in Christmas. Thus, I just didn't want anything to do with it. Locked up in this room, I could just pretend it wasn't Christmas Eve. And pretend that somewhere in the multiverse, the 'real' me and all my family were not gathering for the now traditional 'watch the next generation go hyperactive as they leapt for the presents and ripped them open' ceremonies...

But back to the here and now, with Ardan Sortek, Patrick Kell, Marshal Felnser, Dan Allard and his Father all down at the Archons shindig … it kinda begged the question of who the hell was knocking on my door?

Knock Knock Knock! 

Shrugging and deciding that the knocks implied they wouldn't accept me ignoring them, I rolled off the bed and made my way to the door, having a very brief look in a mirror next to it to make sure I was at least presentable before opening the door.

And doing a double take as I found a teenager, dressed impeccably in what I had come to know as 'Formal Event Court Dress', standing outside my door with a quartet of suits who screamed 'bodyguards' behind her-

"May I come in Mister Smith?" she asked and, without waiting for an answer, she swished past me into the room with a rustle of her long dress, followed by two of her bodyguards, leaving me standing there staring into the corridor beyond like an idiot.

Okay ... so now this is happening.

"Sure, come right in …" I muttered to the empty corridor before shaking it off and turning to follow my unexpected guest as she moved into the lounge room, making herself at home as her bodyguards did a perfunctory sweep before nodding to her and heading back out. Leaving me alone with her as I very slowly sat down on the chair next to her trying to get my bearings at this unexpected guest.

Melissa Arthur Steiner.

The only child of Katrina Steiner and Arthur Luvon. Archon Designate of the Lyran Commonwealth and, known only to a very select group, the fiancé of Hanse Davion … was sitting in my room across from me.

Okay, what the fuck?

"Shouldn't you be across in the Royal Court, Lady Steiner?" I asked aloud, carefully, as the silence became deafening after five or six seconds.

"I did my work on the receiving line earlier" she shrugged easily, kicking off her heels and sighing -in full view of me- as she wiggled her stocking covered toes, making a content noise … and completely ignoring my incredulous stare at her incredibly casual behavior.

I had never met her - never seen her before in fact - and here she was, bounding into my room and acting like this? 

… once again. The fuck?!

"People are used to me dodging in and out of these events and, frankly, Hanse is drawing by far most of the attention this evening so it was surprisingly easy to slip out for a while" she continued as she put her feet back down, smoothing out her dress carefully, yet I got the impression her casual air was just that, a act she was putting on for my benefit.

Okay Princess, you want nonchalant snark? Lets do nonchalant snark I thought as I managed to regain some sense of balance and decided to lightly test the waters.

"So … you're on a first name basis with Prince Davion now?" I returned fire and was pleased to see it knock her back slightly, a flush passing across her face for a moment.

After all, I had no idea if she was 'in' on the-

"Jordan Weisman"

And boom, headshot! There is still something fourth wall mind breaking about Melissa fucking Steiner saying that name...

"Well, that's direct enough" I muttered, abandoning my snark as I both relaxed and tensed up, while Melissa's expression became almost impish. That name was the current codeword for the compartment about me, meaning perhaps unsurprisingly, she had been briefed by Hanse and Quintus and her use of it meant I was free to talk. "I hope both your mother and fiancé are aware you are here with me, My Lady?"

"Call me Melissa" she insisted as she tilted her head slightly. "And of course, but why do you ask?"

"Call me John" I returned the gesture before glancing down at the table we were sitting around and stuff all over it. "And it's just a question of context. If, for example, either of them were to hear that you had walked into some mans room alone, unchaperoned with alcohol present and left your bodyguards left behind, well..." I shrugged, extending my glance to the outer wall of the room with only slightly exaggerated suspicion. "Then the only question would be if the fist about to break through that wall is going to be attached to a Battlemaster or a Zeus".

The younger (as in near half my age) woman actually giggled lightly at that one as I continued to patiently watch the far wall … with some part of me not entirely joking here...

"Relax John" she shook her head with a smile. "They know I came here specifically to talk to you".

"Okay…" I blinked, leaning back into the chair and trying to relax as I asked the obvious. "Um, why?"

She seemed to consider that for a few moments before seeming to sigh and not quite slump forward.

"You know, don't you John, that until Hanse turned up here last week I had only ever met him once before?"

Well duh, it was kinda a huge plot point driving much of 'Warrior: En-Garde'. Involving you indirectly putting a large number of people at risk and getting a chunk of others killed pulling your ass out of the fire I thought silently.

"Yes, on Terra, during the FedCom treaty signing" was all I said out loud, chiding myself after a moment for judging Melissa that harshly. Frankly, more blame needed to rest on her mother for not taking a hell of a lot more care organizing the trip with appropriate precautions.

"When I was only twelve" she confirmed. "He was very nice to me, didn't talk down to me and the whole thing was all sort of fairy tale and romantic" she said with a distant sort of smile on her face as she seemed to drift back to that momentous meeting. "I don't think I really understood the sphere shattering consequences of that agreement then - not sure I even really understand it now. I was going to marry a man I had barely met and start an entire new dynasty that was going to change the history of the Inner Sphere. All these expectations on both of us and I had so little to go on about him, how we would make this actually work…"

I didn't offer any response as none seemed called for, simply waiting silently as she took a breath and continued, bringing her attention back.

"We sent messages back and forth and Ardan, bless him, told me so much about him when he was on Tharkad. All the private and secret things about a person you never find in the vids. And Mother did what she could … but this was still a man I was going to marry; a man I felt I barely even knew. Worse, only a handful of people actually knew it, meaning I had to deal with all the young men trying to court me and win my hand without giving the truth away".

"For what it's worth..." I said slowly as I tried to frame my thoughts in a way that wouldn't sound insulting or condescending, "your marriage to Hanse Davion, from 'my' side of the fence', noted those difficulties. The role you had to play, what was expected of you" I said causing Melissa to look up to me with an expression I couldn't place, wordlessly encouraging me to continue. "I mean, Hanse Davion was the designated hero of the setting and the only House Lord to not talk about marriage with you as a prerequisite for any kind of peace ... yet he and your mother decided to try for it. Which left you, well …"

"Being sold off to a man two and a half times my age with enormous peer pressure -for the best of intentions of course - to make it work regardless of my own wishes on the matter?" Melissa asked with a sort of sad smile that struck my heart.

"Essentially? Yes" I replied with a sympathetic smile back … and instantly found out that was the wrong answer.

Oww!

What the… did … did she just kick-

Ouch!

Yes she did - damnit! She just did it again!

"So you're why Hanse was going out of his way to tell me that I didn't have to go through with the marriage" she accused me darkly as I rapidly slid down the lounge out of range, her glare tracking me and instantly making me regret said lounge wasn't longer as I crashed into the armrest while she stood up, the goofy teenager nowhere to be seen and in her place nothing less than her mother's daughter.

Heimdall! Save me! Crazy Archon at twelve o'clock!

"We spent quite a bit of time together over the last few days, the first two or three hours of which I had to spend convincing he and my Mother that I really did want to get married to him. Hanse seems to have gotten the impression from someone" she grated with a look that could have critted a Dire Wolf, "that I might not want to get married to him!"

Her glare seemed to double in intensity.

"You seemed determined to ruin my wedding plans Mister Smith..." she said, her tone deepening ominously.

Fucknuts!

"For the record" I defended myself, words spilling out quickly as the clearly pissed off young woman stepped around the table to glare down at me, fighting to keep some composure as I found a way to return her gaze, "it all just came out of a conversation with Ardan Sortek noting that hypothetically if you trusted Morgan Hasek-Davion's loyalty, a match between the two formal heirs, you and he, would purely from a public sense make sense if …" and I let my rambling trail off as I saw her face was twitching.

Then the moment shattered

The cold Steiner winter promising death by frostbite vanished in an instant as she burst out laughing, covering her mouth with her hands as she was wracked with mirth. I stared dumbfounded as she flopped back down to the lounge next to me … and I realized she had just trolled the hell out of me.

Melissa Steiner had just trolled the hell out of me.

Okay, I admit it, did not see that one coming.

"You're screwing with me" I deadpanned and her ear to ear grin answered that question as I leaned back into the soft leather, closing my eyes and feeling my heart pounding in my chest. I gave thanks for the fact that my cardiovascular system was apparently in excellent shape according to the geeks at NAIS because honestly, I felt my stress levels were ramping blood pressure right up every time a Steiner decided to talk to me here.

I opened my eyes again with some of my composure back, Melissa also having calmed down to be regarding me in a composed manner, if with a bit of a smile on her face.

"I was. Mostly. But I … well …" she trailed off before taking a deep breath and meeting my gaze squarely. "I'm heremostly because I wanted to thank you, John. It meant a lot to me that you were willing to challenge Hanse on my agency in Federated Commonwealth accords" she explained as she gathered her impressive and no doubt incredibly expensive dress to sit down carefully next to me - and I'll admit I felt my face flush slightly at the sheer sincerity in her bearing before her expression shifted once again as she turned away to look off into the distance, her body language turning almost …vulnerable?

If nothing else it was the first time since she barged in that she actually looked to to be sixteen going on seventeen as she brought her hands together, clasping them tightly as if to steady herself. "Thanks to your little trip to Helm, Hanse and I had the opportunity to get together and talk. A lot" she mused with a bit of a faint smile. "But only after he gave me the copies of your 'Battletech' books to read and a day to take it all in".

"That must have been … something" I noted with sympathy and hidden shame - marveling that she was able to face me like this knowing full well that I had, after a fashion, invaded her most personal and private thoughts. "When Ardan Sortek, Quintus Allard and Prince Davion read just the first book I sent them as my, for lack of a better word, bonafides … well, Ardan told me later he went for the nearest bottle without even bothering to read the label".

"Mother had a similar sort of reaction" she agreed, her smile turning somewhat wry as her gaze came back to me. "Hanse insisted I read them -and some of your notes- before we talked. Saying that as they had let him see inside so much of my mind, I damn well deserved to see inside his before we talked about the future. And after that, well, looking into the face of a person who had seen deeper into me than I would ever let alone … and looking into his eyes and seeing behind 'The Fox' to the man I had read behind the legend? I don't think I can quite describe what that was like. But then, just like that, we started talking. And talking and talking more and more about anything and everything. All of my masks, denials and excuses gone until suddenly it just hit me …" she trailed off, her gaze elevating to the roof for a moment … then back down to me … and I felt I would be lucky to get off with third degree burns from the fire blazing in her eyes now.

"It hit me right then, right there that Iwanted to take Hanse Davion's hand, seize history by the throat and face down all the problems you warned us about and take up the challenge in front of me. To make things turn out better for everyone this time around" she said in a tone that left not even a Heisenberg Uncertainty worth of doubt that she meant what she said.

Then she paused and her expression took on more than a tinge of exasperation.

"And then, in that moment as everything was so clear, Hanse told me he would never force me into anything I didn't want and he would absolutely and fully support me and Morgan-Hasek Davion if I wanted to look towards a union of the Realms in that manner" she deadpanned before expelling air in a huff that said 'Men!' without needing to actually say it.

"I take it you, uh, let him know how that proposal made you feel?" I felt very carefully, trying to avoid the glower being redirected at me.

Instead, at my question it faded away back to a smile. A happy, girly almost giddy smile as she shook her head, her eyes dancing.

"That's the thing John … I didn't need to" she said in wonder. "I didn't need to say a thing. I just stared into his eyes and he stared into mine. It must have been good, I don't know, twenty seconds? Maybe a minute? We didn't say a word, not oneword - even my Mother kept absolutely silent, just watching us. But I knew that I wanted this … and I knew that he knew I did. And then" she said, her smile growing and the young woman seeming to almost want to burst, "he kept looking straight as me as he slid the chair back, came around the side of the table, got down on one knee in front of me and, well …" she trailed off as her hands untangled and she lifted her left hand up to show off -

"Jesus H Christ, look at the size of that rock!" I spluttered in unabashed awe at the diamond sitting in pride of place on a golden band on her left ring finger.

I mean holy crap it was huge, a diamond worthy of a Lyran Princess I suppose. Somehow capturing the rooms light, sucking it in and expelling it in a rainbow halo around her hand in an refraction effect I had never seen before ...

Clearly, the Neo-Feudal nobility of the Inner Sphere had not let advanced jewelry fabrication technology fall into Lostech if they could make that!

"So, uh, did you say yes?"

Kick.

I'm totally gonna have a bruise there tomorrow for sure. But even so, this time the kick was more playful, the sheer happiness on Melissa's face … well, it just seemed to burn away my 'Bah Humbug!' attitude of the night with a terrifying ease, speaking casually to the adoration this woman had earned across the Federated Commonwealth over her life in the Battletech universe.

And very clearly, one who was more than capable of standing up for herself and determined enough to get what she wanted.

"Melissa, I'm happy for you - both of you. Congratulations" I said after I found my voice, knowing that sure the marriage was already long arranged, but technically Hanse had only just proposed and she had only just accepted ... so it felt appropriate to say as much.

It was confirmed as the right choice second later as she beamed at me with a smile that I reckoned had a fifty-fifty chance of bringing a dead puppy back to life.

"Thank you John" she said simply before her smile turned slightly mischievous. "And thus, you join the conspiracy".

"... Which one? I seem to have become entangled in several since I materialized in this universe" I pointed out with a confused blink and she rolled her eyes as if it was obvious.

"My Fiance and I are having a very exclusive engagement party tonight!" she explained. "And you're invited!"

"Uh, aren't you both at the whole Christmas shindig thing tonight?" I noted. "And isn't the engagement an absolute state secret of the same order as me?

"Yupppp!" she agreed with a grin and hard 'P'. "But what only I, Mother, Ardan, Patrick, Hanse and now you know is that, in reality, this Christmas party is actually a celebration for our engagement cunningly disguised as a Christmas party to avoid attention!".

The claim was so absurdly crazy and delivered with such a straight face that I couldn't help but laugh and reach up to facepalm, shaking my head.

"And besides" she added, her voice softening and lowering in volume, "no-oneshould be alone on Christmas Eve if they have people who want them around, no matter how much they might think they want to be alone" she said in a tone that caused me to sharply glance up in a reflexive defensiveness … that smashed straight into the full force of that 'Melissa Steiner 8D6+10 charisma gaze' and promptly put up the white flag.

"Didn't take you that long to psychoanalyze me down to the core" I muttered in what tried to be a miffed tone but honestly, came out as more embarrassed than anything, feeling like I was a child sulking in my room … being called out on it.

By a teenager. Half my age.

"Actually it was Ardan Sortek" she corrected me, as she carefully but with a distantly regretful expression carefully removed her incredible engagement ring and placed it into a velvet pouch. "He was, frankly, worried about you being alone this Christmas and, well, so was everyone else who knows you're here".

"I don't think exposing me to the Royal Court is exactly a subtle-"

"John" her exasperation cut me off like a switch had been thrown, her eyes rolling in a gloriously dramatic way, "there are thousands of people packed into the court and about half of them are assorted -if you'll please forgive me such a horrible word- 'commoners'. You'll be perfectly anonymous. Besides" she said, her smile turning into a smirk, "my Mother is expecting you in" she checked a watch on her wrist that probably cost as much as a Locust from all the bling I could see on it - "twenty minutes at my extremely exclusive celebration of my engagement and if you don't show up..."

Melissa Steiner Rolls Intimidation Check; 6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6 + 10 = 58, against John; 1, 1, 1 + 2 = 5;

Melissa Steiner critical success!

"Okay, okay!" I held up my hands in surrender, finding myself on my feet without even realizing I had stood.

Man, was the thought of Katrina Steiner getting pissed at me that much of a intimidating threat?

…

Yes. Yes it was.

But at the same time, deep down where I would deny it, there was something that made me almost want to start crying for the fact that some of the most powerful people in the Inner Sphere … well; they cared enough to want to drag me out of my sulking room to celebrate Christmas Eve with them under this silly pretense of an engagement party.

I had to turn for a second, hastily clearly my throat until I controlled my composure that had started to slip at that, Melissa in turn very tactfully busying herself in carefully putting her engagement ring away into a cunningly hidden pocket in her dress, charmingly right over her heart.

"Good" she said when I turned back and with that, the Archon designate carefully slipped her elegant heels back on and swished back to her feet, striding confidently across the room to the walk in closet as I slowly gathered myself and followed.

She dove inside without hesitation, emerging scant seconds later with what seemed to be the 31st century equivalent of a tuxedo, placing it onto several convenient hooks before turning to give me a pointedly commanding look.

"Nineteen minutes, ten seconds - don't be late" she said with a charming yet commanding superior smile before turning to vanish down the hall with a smile.

I heard the door open, close, then I was alone.

Brat I dared to think in my head as I took a breath, centered myself and started to get dressed