Prologue

Three things see no end: a flower blighted 'ere it bloomed,

A message that miscarries, and a journey that is doomed.

- Threes, Mercedes Lackey

.o0o.

Avalon City, New Avalon

Crucis March, Federated Suns

16 September 3030

It had been almost a year since the end of what was now officially being called the Fourth Succession War. Hanse Davion was beginning to suspect that the aftermath of the two year conflict would take as long as the preparations had, which might mean he'd be dealing with the workload until little Victor was two years old – and possibly had a little brother or sister.

"Well at least your next appointment shouldn't be such a strain," offered Ardan Sortek from a sinfully comfortable armchair in the informal conference room that had been prepared for this particular meeting room. Rather than the usual long table, the chamber had aspirations to being a sitting room, with half a dozen chairs, each with complex electronic displays available from controls on the side-table, several hotplates in one corner that were already loaded with jugs of tea, coffee and condiments… and of course, behind the relaxing landscapes on the wall was the shielding mechanisms that should ensure what was discussed remained entirely private.

Hanse inhaled the aroma of his fresh cup of coffee. It was his third today and it wasn't even lunchtime. "Royal Court was always a circus, adding the Lyran representation, near a hundred former Capellan nobles looking for confirmation in their titles and now your delegation from the Tikonov worlds is making it a three rings affair."

The other man laughed and held out a plate of hors d'oeuvres he'd borrowed from one of the many many other functions being held in Avalon City. "Would you like some cheese to go with your whine, my Prince? From where I'm sitting you're receiving exactly the rewards you set out for – the Federated Commonwealth is well on its way towards the union that you and Katrina conceived – or should I say that you and Melissa have conceived?"

"Well I'd like to see the fruits of my loins as more than a hologram." Hanse waved off the plate and sipped on the coffee. "I didn't see him being born and I haven't had a chance, even with a command circuit, to visit Tharkad."

"I can't blame Melissa for not wanting to take Victor through that many jumps just yet. She's visited herself and once Royal Court is over for the year, you've got a two week gap in your schedule, don't you?"

"Which I had to fight for! I swear my appointments secretary puts up more of a fight than the Capellans did!"

"Wouldn't be hard." Sortek set his plate aside. "So did Kerensky give you any idea what she's up to?"

"Shouldn't I ask you that? Outreach is a Tikonov world – aren't you keeping an eye on them?"

The younger man shook his head. "Their security is as tight as ever, not to mention that turning what's left of Ridzik's so-called intelligence service loose on them might have sparked all kinds of trouble. They weren't exactly subtle and Wolf's Dragoons aren't likely to look lightly on being pried at by an intelligence agency right now."

"You're intimidated by a short battalion of 'Mechs?"

"That short battalion? Hell, yes. Wouldn't you be? Besides, I figure they have enough on their hands right now."

The door to the room opened and a slim Asian man entered, wearing a subdued suit. The only things to mark him out from any of the other functionaries of the palace were the glove covering his left hand and the emblem of the Order of Davion on one lapel. The latter marked him as one of the First Prince's intimates for the Order was limited to a maximum of twenty-three members, selected for exceptional acts of loyalty to House Davion.

The glove identified him more certainly to Sortek, who hadn't seen him in person for years. "Justin Allard!" He rose to his feet and saluted solemnly.

Justin returned the salute with crisp efficiency before turning and bowing to Hanse. "Your guest is on her way up now, your highness."

"Thank you, Justin. Do take a seat, I want your opinion on that – and it'll make security happier."

"I am your humble servant," the younger man replied drily and obediently chose an armchair so that he and Ardan flanked the First Prince of the Federated Suns.

Hanse shook his head. "I didn't give either of you the Medal Excalibur – two out of only three times I've awarded it – for humility. Although if the Dragoons were AFFC troops Jaime Wolf would have earned one for what they did defending the Draconis March during the war."

"They seem happy enough with Outreach, or at least I thought so." Ardan shrugged. "Perhaps Kerensky's going to tell us otherwise. Tell me, Justin, what faux pas of decorum has she inflicted on this visit? Turned up in nothing but MechWarrior gear?"

"Nothing that I'm aware of. She's in full dress uniform and one of father's agents checked our copy of Wolf's Dragoons' uniform regulations and confirmed she's in full compliance. Which doesn't seem in line with her reputation, I admit."

The other two men exchanged glances. "That's… uncharacteristic."

"Maybe she's turned over a new leaf now that she's a Colonel. The responsibility -" Justin cut off as he saw their faces.

"You've never met her, have you?"

"Not until today, no." He frowned. "She's bleached her hair and has it up the way your wife did for the wedding, if that makes a difference."

"Half the women here are doing that, I think it's the new fashion."

Ardan chuckled. "Better than that time a few years ago where it was one side long and the other bald. I mean, really?"

"You have a point."

There was a knock on the door. "Colonel Natasha Kerensky of Wolf's Dragoons," announced the Sergeant guarding the door.

"Send her in, George."

The woman who entered was tall and – as warned – blonde, wearing the red-trimmed black of the elite mercenary unit she now commanded. There were no new lines on her face to mark the strain of the last few years, she was as lovely and undoubtedly as lethal as she had always been.

"Your Highness, Colonel, Major." Natasha nodded to each in turn, using the last military ranks held by the two knights before their careers had taken them out of regular military service.

Hanse raised an eyebrow. "Please take a seat, Colonel." He tapped a button next to his seat. "Security, this is Hanse Davion. Upgrade palace – no, upgrade planetary security status to alert three."

There was a polite affirmative and Natasha Kerensky smirked slightly as she unbuckled her uniform's ceremonial sword so she could sit comfortably. "I didn't think you considered me quite that dangerous."

"After the attack on NAIS two years ago, an unscheduled drill won't draw much notice." The Prince narrowed his eyes. "And you being polite and properly uniformed is enough to worry me. Are you sure you're really the Black Widow?"

She laughed at him. "I never cared much about expectations."

"So the universe isn't about to end?" asked Ardan.

"I didn't say that, Colonel." She let that sink in for a minute. "How much do you know about the Wolf Dragoons?"

"We have an extensive file, which I'm sure doesn't surprise you." Hanse felt a certain electricity. There was something up. Something big. "Whatever you're here about, I suspect it won't be in our file though."

"I certainly hope not. But humour me. Who are we?"

"The obvious answer would be…"

It was Justin who cut in. "You're spies."

"What?" exclaimed Ardan.

"It's just like my own performance on Solaris VII – the Wolf's Dragoons have been acting as mercenaries to draw the attention they needed for their mission. In my case it was to arrange recruitment into the Maskirovka. I don't know what the Wolf's Dragoons mission is but it's the same principle."

"Very good." Natasha looked Justin over. "You're married, aren't you?"

He nodded.

"I hope you have lots of children and your intelligence breeds true. The Federated Commonwealth is going to need them."

"Wolf's Dragoons showed up twenty-five years ago – almost out of nowhere," Hanse recounted thoughtfully. "I was still a junior officer at the time, but I recall my brother's concern even after your first contract with us. If you're still on the same mission then whoever sent you was thinking long-term."

"Unusually so – it's not something we tend to be good at. Kerlin Ward is – or was – an exception."

"Should that name mean anything to me?" Hanse frowned. "You're not from anywhere in the Inner Sphere… except maybe ComStar."

"Hell no!" snapped Natasha. "I wouldn't piss on their robes if they were on fire. And I'd be surprised if you knew the name – Kerlin and our home worlds are a long way away. I couldn't even tell you where exactly – our navigation banks were purged except for a few rendezvous points and only one of those is any use after all these years."

Hanse looked at her for a long moment. "Well, since you're admitting to being spies, I'm guessing your mission isn't something you're averse to telling me about – unlike Jaime."

"I'm not sure when – or if – Jaime planned to tell you. He was fairly cagey about his plans. But he's dead now, and that makes it my decision."

The death of Jaime Wolf on Crossing was hardly the only loss Wolf's Dragoons had taken in recent years, reflected Ardan. When he'd negotiated their current contract they'd had to fight their way out of the Draconis Combine and lost half their strength in doing so. Regiment and battalion commanders hadn't been spared in and in battle after battle the command structure of the once mighty mercenaries had been worn away. By the time the 10th Deneb Light Cavalry relieved them on Crossing, the final battle against no less than four entire regiments of the Galedon Regulars and an elite company from the Draconis Elite Strike Teams had reduced the Dragoons to less than a tenth of their original strength.

"What do Yukinov and Ellman think about this decision of yours?" Colonel Jeremy Ellman was semi-retired But Major Kelly Yukinov had been Jaime Wolf's tactical deputy before his injuries on Glenmora put him out of action.

"What do these two think about your decisions?" shot back Natasha, indicating Justin and Ardan.

"If they think I'm going off the rails, they'll tell me to my face. Why else would I have them here?"

"Touché," she conceded. "They're not delighted about any of our options. Nor am I, but you and your wife are our best shot at completing the mission."

"And your mission?"

"Our original mission was to scout the Inner Sphere are report back so that our leaders could plan an invasion." Natasha smirked at the expressions on their faces. "Kerlin Ward suggested it as a compromise – the alternative was an immediate invasion. And twenty years ago – hell, right now – you wouldn't be able to stop that invasion. Work around it, maybe, but not stop it. In 3019 our orders were changed. Kerlin told us that there was no longer any immediate threat of invasion but that it was inevitable that sooner or later it would happen. And he told us to do whatever it took to prepare you to defend yourselves."

"That was ten years ago. What have you been doing?"

"Back then the Federated Commonwealth wasn't a factor. And while we might not know exactly where our home worlds are, we're fairly sure any invasion will hit the Draconis Combine hard. Why do you think we let them build up the Ryuken regiments to mimic our training and capabilities?"

"You were teaching them?"

"Yeah, we didn't expect them to be turned against us. Once that started there wasn't anything we could do except fight back and the mission had to be set aside for survival. Until now."

Hanse nodded. "I suppose you're offering the Federated Commonwealth the same support now?"

The Black Widow shook her head. "That was the plan when the Wolf Dragoons were a small army in our own right and Jaime Wolf to lead us. We can rebuild the regiments but I'm no Jaime Wolf. If we're going to turn the Federated Commonwealth into something that can withstand the Clans, we need a strategic genius to lead us."

She pulled her ceremonial sword free of its scabbard and reversed it, extending the hilt towards Hanse. "Your highness, I offer you the Wolf Dragoons' allegiance on one condition alone: help us to help you…"

.o0o.

Ducal Palace, St Ives

St Ives Compact

23 December 3030

"I believe I know why you're here, your highness." Candace Liao's voice was respectful but also firm as she looked at Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner-Davion over her desk. "And the answer is no."

It was slightly disconcerting for the First Prince to be sitting on the supplicant's side of this sort of conversation but it wasn't unreasonable on Candace's part – this was her realm, however small it might be. "Justin's been in the difficult position of keeping some information from you until I was able to brief Katrina in on Tharkad during my visit there," he told her. "I'm sorry I had to put him in that position and I'm here to share that information with you. Unless he's spoiled that surprise, I doubt you know why we're here."

"I'm grateful for your support, and for the regiments you've assigned to help me secure the Compact against my sister. But at the risk of being obvious, your only real concern… well, perhaps that's not fair, your principle concern, must be the Capellan Confederation. And I won't help you conquer the rest of it. If you're here to try to persuade me to support a renewed invasion, you're wasting your time."

Melissa Steiner-Davion sighed and produced a ten kroner note, which she passed to her husband. "You really need to work on your public relations," she advised him before turning to Candace. "Duchess Liao, I give you my word. While we do have contingencies in place to deal with your sister if she becomes the sort of problem we simply can't co-exist with, we've no intention of launching a second invasion of the Capellan Confederation if it's avoidable."

"I appreciate that assurance, Duchess Steiner. However, your husband is known as 'the Fox' for a reason. Given the Confederation's already under attack by both Andurien and Canopus, I can't imagine he's not seen the opportunity to finish what he started at your wedding."

"The Fourth Succession War was necessary for two reasons. Firstly, we needed to establish a secure corridor of worlds between the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth." Hanse met Candace's gaze directly. "Secondly, your father's machinations – some of which I doubt even you're aware of – made him far too dangerous to leave alone."

"If you think my sister is less mad then it may be that Justin's been keeping secrets from you as well as from me."

"Your sister is working with significantly fewer resources than your father was. The CCAF was wrecked and is struggling to hold off two rather minor powers at this time." Hanse saw Candace's lips tighten slightly. Her own realm was similarly 'minor', and it was her family's ancestral holdings that were under attack. "Justin's defection similarly gutted the Maskirovka. At the moment, Romano is far too distracted and impoverished to pose that sort of threat."

He held up his hand. "In addition, if I were to conquer the Capellan Confederation completely I'd simply be gaining a new border with the Free Worlds League. It doesn't simplify our strategic position and I'd not only be forced to heavily garrison scores of worlds, I'd be alienating someone I consider a valuable ally. It simply isn't worth it at this point."

Candace nodded thoughtfully and then smiled, although it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Such flattery, Prince Davion. But we are both married, so please desist."

"Happily married, I hope," Melissa offered.

"Very much so. Once business is done, perhaps we can send your husband away so you can show me pictures of your son and I can introduce you to Kai."

"I'd like that, but business first." Melissa looked over at Hanse and then smiled slightly. "As much as we'd both like the St Ives Compact to join the Federated Commonwealth, we realise that that's not a good idea – at least not at the moment. Your sister would almost certainly send troops to 'defend' the worlds from us and most of your population would agree whole-heartedly with her. That would force us to fight another major war with the other Great Houses moving in, and for reasons I think you'll understand once we've fully explained the situation, we don't want such a war."

"I'd also prefer to avoid having the Capellan people swallowed up by the Federated Commonwealth. No offence meant, of course."

"In ten, twenty or thirty years, the situation may change," Hanse offered Candace. "I'd like to leave the option open that we might be able to peacefully come to such an arrangement, but if we can't then our current alliance is good enough for me. We need to get our own house in order – the Federated Commonwealth is very much a work in progress. There probably will be another war, history suggests that that's probably inevitable, but I don't want to be the man to start it and the longer we can defer that, the longer we have to consolidate the union between the Suns and the Commonwealth. I'd be more than happy to let matters lie on the Capellan front until your son and mine are the ones making the decisions. We probably won't have the luxury of waiting that long, but I wouldn't object to it."

"This must be quite a secret you've been keeping."

"Oh it is. There's a lot of briefing material though, so if you don't mind giving it another hour or so for our staff to get it all laid out – it's best to give you the whole picture at once and then let you digest it before we start talking about it in earnest."

"I suppose I can be patient at least that long." Candace looked out of the window. "I'll warn you though, the only way I would bring my people into the Federated Commonwealth would be as full allies, not as conquered worlds." Or unless my back was to the wall, she admitted to herself. But hopefully it won't come to that.

"I've had reason to look back at records of the Reunification War," Hanse told her. "Katrina and Melissa were kind enough to open the Steiner archives so I could see some of their records too. You might recall that their ancestor Viola Steiner-Dinessen commanded from the front lines. Conquering the Periphery states caused many of the long-term problems that eventually destroyed the Star League and I can't help but feel it was the fault of Ian Cameron for rushing to complete the League."

"There were fifteen years between the Treaty of Geneva laying the ground work and our ancestors actually signing the Star League Accords, but only four years after that before the Periphery was facing a military ultimatum. I'd rather learn from that history than repeat it…"

"That's easy for you to say, but you have hundreds of Confederation worlds occupied as we speak."

He nodded. "You're not wrong. It was necessary though; and politically I can't simply return them. I've come to an agreement with Katrina Steiner to create a new Terran March to link both halves of the Federated Commonwealth. It'll be a mixing pot, worlds that before the war were part of all five of the Successor States and now under Melissa's rule."

"Your mother isn't giving you an easy job."

Melissa shrugged. "Nor should she. Speaking of which, one of the affected worlds will be Liao. Not just your family's ancestral home but I believe you're also the rightful Duchess of Liao under Capellan law. Since I don't intend to disenfranchise the existing nobility, I hope we can work out something mutually acceptable terms so you can retain the title without infringing on your independence here."

"And if we can't?"

"Your younger brother has indicated his readiness to swear fealty for the world."

Candace took a deep breath. "Well played, Duchess Steiner. I'm sure that as reasonable people we can come to some compromise. And the Sarna worlds?"

"At the moment we're looking at incorporating them into the Capellan March. After all, they do have a long border with the Confederation. Obviously it would be difficult for you to defend them if we simply handed them over to you and doing so would be tantamount to declaring you a rival Chancellor to Romano which…" Hanse spread his hands and smiled politely.

"Which isn't somewhere we want to go," Candace agreed. "Well, it doesn't seem like there's much you can offer then, unless you're going to hand back all the St Ives worlds your ancestors conquered during the Succession Wars."

"That's on the table."

Hanse took a great deal of satisfaction in seeing Candace Liao's composure crack, even for just a second. She recovered quickly though. "This secret of yours must be quite the earth shaker. I look forward to hearing it."

Melissa made a face. "Believe me, you don't."

.o0o.

ComStar Internal Document

ROM Report #3034-6603002/F-L-R

Classified – Confidential

The decisions of Katrina Steiner with regard to the Free Rasalhague Republic's formation has been on some levels predictable and on others highly uncharacteristic.

The Archon made use of the Free Rasalhague movement extensively through the Fourth Succession War, to the point of funding their infamous Tyr Regiment and supplying them with scores of assault-weight BattleMechs. With the victory in the Fourth Succession War to point to it wouldn't be unusual for a Successor Lord to consider that they had obtained their goals and could now dispense with supporters whose price to maintain was inconvenient.

Historically this has ample precedents, however such double-dealing is also often short sighted and would be atypical for Katrina Steiner. Her personal credibility and history of non-duplicity in diplomacy is one of the cornerstones of the Federated Commonwealth. It was therefore plausible that she would consider herself 'honour bound' to fulfil all terms of whatever agreement she'd made to receive the support of the Free Rasalhague movement, even if this caused her minor internal concerns with House Kelswa in the Tamar region.

Supporting this was the unexpected decision, only a few years previous, of Hanse Davion to cede more than twenty worlds to the St Ives Compact, something that moderated the previously high level of support he'd received from the Capellan March in the aftermath of the Fourth Succession War. Based on this it seemed reasonable to conclude that Federated Commonwealth policy was to support the formation of satellite border-states to shorten their external borders and potentially act as cats paws in future offensives.

Despite the above factors, it's unquestionable that the Free Rasalhague movement, now the principals of the Free Rasalhague Republic's government, feel that they have received considerably less than they expected from Katrina Steiner upon their declaration of independence earlier this year.

Such support can't be considered trivial in absolute terms: despite the demands of rebuilding combat losses and military stockpiles depleted in the Fourth Succession War, Archon Steiner has provided the new Kungsarme with a considerable quantity of military hardware, sufficient for at least six and possibly eight BattleMech Regiments along with supporting arms. Indications are that she intends similar shipments in the future. In addition, eleven worlds conquered during the Fourth Succession War have been transferred from the Tamar Pact to the Free Rasalhague Republic.

On the face of it, this would seem generous. However, sources on Rasalhague suggest that the Archon's interpretations of the previous agreements differs considerably from their own. As a case in point, the Radstadt salient has been thinned but House Steiner retain three worlds (Kandis, Stanzach and Radstadt itself) which almost sever the Free Rasalhague Republic in two. In fact, all ceded worlds are core-wards of this salient. The Free Rasalhague leaders appear to have been under the impression that they would receive these worlds.

Similarly, claims are being made that the Utrecht pocket of worlds should be ceded. The failure to do so – if it was in fact promised, which is difficult to confirm since the treaty between the Archon and Free Rasalhague was top secret and may in fact have been verbal (which would imply extreme gullibility on the part of the Free Rasalhague leaders, although Archon Steiner's charisma may make this possible) – has led to Theodore Kurita refraining from surrendering Lothan, Tukkayid and Dehgolan since these worlds are now separated from the rest of the Republic by the Utrecht pocket. This, admittedly, wouldn't be an issue if he had surrendered all of the Rasalhague District (witness the aforementioned willingness of Successor Lords to double-deal) since the newly named Alshain District would provide a more than adequate connection.

Overall the decision by Archon Steiner seems to have left her in the worst of both worlds. By declining to surrender the more rim-ward of her recent conquests on the grounds that they are 'historically Lyran worlds, never part of the Principality of Rasalhague' she has alienated her new neighbour at the same time she is arming them. This raises the possibility of the Draconis Combine backing Prince Haakon Magnusson if he ever decides to seek to reclaim the worlds by military force.

At the same time, since the eleven worlds she did cede are in the same category: worlds previously part of the Lyran Commonwealth that were reclaimed during the recent war and have no connection to the historic Principality of Rasalhague (for whatever legitimacy a state defunct for some five centuries may have), she has undermined her position in Tamar. It remains to be seen how Duke Selvin Kelswa will react.

This further suggests that Hanse Davion's previous generosity towards the St Ives Compact may not be indicative of a policy of encouraging border-states. If this is the case, the Prince's motives may be more obscure as the military support of Candace Liao is in no sense equivalent to the worlds he has surrendered to her. Despite efforts to establish his goals, at this point ROM can offer no theory more credible than that proposed by Captain-General Janos Marik on discovering the surprising concession: "Clearly the Liao has pictures of Davion molesting goats."