Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, not to be sold or otherwise circulated for profit. The Battletech and Mechwarrior franchise is owned by Topps Toys and their respective licensees.

A/N: Six-score and eighteen months ago I started writing Star Adder Symphony and broke off part way through. It was a good effort by the writer I was at the time… but that wasn't a very high bar. Looking back… it's not great. And there's more than a decade of new material we have access to. So rather than picking up where I left off… here we go.

This story, although set in the 31st century's familiar setting of armoured combat, is an Alternate Universe which diverges in the last year of the 30th Century. Please strap in, read safely (wash your hands, etc.) and enjoy the ride.

Star Adder Symphony

A Battletech AU fanfic

Book 1: Hidden Hope

Return to the Inner Sphere is impossible for us. Our heritage and our convictions are different from those we left behind. The greed of the five Great Houses and the Council Lords is a disease that can only be burned away by the passing of decades, even centuries. And though the fighting may seem to slow, or even cease, it will erupt again as long as there are powerful men to covet one another's wealth. We shall live apart, conserving all the good of the Star League and ridding ourselves of the bad, so that when we return - and return we shall - our shining moral character will be as much our shield as our BattleMechs and fighters.

- Aleksandr Kerensky, General Order 137, 5 October 2785

Prologue

Hall of Khans, Katayusha City

Strana Mechty, Clan Homeworlds

15 March 3000

Kerlin Ward didn't seem phased by the glares of some of the more fervent members of the Crusader movement as he stood. The Khan of the Wolf Clan had made no secret that he opposed them, and his own faction - those called the Wardens - stood behind him on the matter.

Gerrick N'Buta didn't take his eyes off the young Khan but he leant slightly across the aisle between his own bench and that of the Cloud Cobras to hear their Khan's murmur: "Ironic that one of his own Wolves is the Crusader's spokesman."

"I do not think any clan is unanimous on the matter," he replied in just as low a voice.

There was a low laugh from Terrel N'Buta as the other Khan straightened and they both gave Kerlin their full attention. The two men were as alike in appearance as brothers, unsurprising since they were from the same sibko. For many years Gerrick had suspected that he and Terrel would someday fight - perhaps to the death - for the right to lead Clan Star Adder. Fortunately for them both, the Cloud Cobras had captured Terrel - at no small cost to themselves - and after he rose from bondsman to warrior, it was only a matter of time before the former Star Adder had risen to one of his new Clan's leaders.

All the more glory for Bloodhouse N'Buta, and a furthering of the alliance between their Clans, Gerrick thought.

"My comrades." Kerlin spread his hands. "We have debated in private whether or not we should return to the Inner Sphere and many of these arguments have been repeated here already. I will not waste your time by repeating what many among you have already said."
Gerrick arched an eyebrow but didn't voice the obvious question.

Yvonne Hazen was not quite so restrained. "You are not in the habit of wasting our time, Khan Ward. But you have risen to speak so I imagine you have something to say, quiaff?"

"Aff." The Wolf nodded to the Jade Falcon. "Instead I will point out that we know next to nothing of the Inner Sphere."

Eyes narrowed around the room.

"What would you call someone who bids a battle without seeing what the defenses are?" he asked rhetorically, raking the room with his own glare. "Or who picks a battleground they know nothing of? I doubt I will convince any one of you who yearns to restore the Star League by force of arms to turn from that goal... but I ask you this: what forces do we face? What worlds are held by what House? With what forces? What are their tactics, their strategies? What worlds are of value, demanding our best, and which are minor enclaves that can be left for cubs to take?" Kerlin paused and drew breath: "We do not know."

"Ouch," mouthed Terrel, Gerrick barely hearing the breath. It was a fair hit.

"We do not know," the Wolf repeated. "And many of the arguments that I myself have expressed as to whether or not we should return are, I admit, based on a similar ignorance: while I do not believe conditions in the Inner Sphere demand our intervention or protection of those who our ancestors once defended... I could, perhaps, be wrong."

"So!" He slapped his hands together. "I propose, Khan Winson, to table your proposal... for now," Kerlin added as a growl of discontent came from the bench occupied by Clan Smoke Jaguar's Khans. Those two, along with Hazen and her fellow Jade Falcon, were the heart of the Crusaders. "Instead, let us find out the facts that we lack and answer the questions that I have posed. And then, only then, can we make an informed choice."

Once more, Kerlin Ward looked around the chamber and then, with cool dignity, he returned to his seat, leaving the floor to others.

Hazen looked about to speak, but Gordon Moon was faster off the mark. "Neg!" the man snarled. "We should not hesitate. This matter has waited long enough. The Great Founder waited twenty years to retake the Pentagon from the rebels who torn those worlds apart - but it is more than two hundred since we left the Inner Sphere. To wait longer is a shame upon us. Let us return in force, and take what answers we need with the same hands that take back the worlds the Scavenger Lords fight over."

Gerrick cleared his throat. "The great Kerensky waited until his forces were ready, but also until he was fully informed as to his opponents' strengths and weaknesses. Absalom Truscott - my own Clan's founder - was sent to gather that intelligence. Both were wise, and that wisdom is worthy of emulation."

"I had not thought that the Star Adders were so... cautious," Moon grated. His eyes flicked to Terrel and back again. "Which of you is abtakha again?"

"You know so little of both of our Clans," Terrel observed coolly, "That were we to switch uniforms and seats, I doubt you would be able to tell my sibkin and I apart. But we have a closer eye for such details... and such details are useful to know, Gordon Moon."

"Let us return to the issue at hand." Nadia Winson had more of the look of a Wolf than of a Ghost Bear - the latter clan favoured slightly heavier builds and lighter hair in their bloodlines - but that was hardly surprising - she, like Terrel, had risen to lead a Clan other than that she was born to. "Khan Ward's point is not without merit, but how would such details be gathered?"
Kerlin rested his elbows on the desk in front of him. "I propose a reconnaissance force be sent to the Inner Sphere. For our own security, they will adopt a false identity, one that will not betray their origins. This force - sufficiently strong to defend themselves - will be charged to circle the Inner Sphere, fighting for and against each of the Great Houses, and report to us their strengths and weaknesses."

Gerrick lowered his eyebrows. "Would the Lords allow that?" he wondered. "What sort of force could shift between them in turn - we can hardly anticipate that they would be so conveniently be able to join and then leave the services of the Houses."

That got a smile - almost a smirk - from the Wolf Khan. "On the contrary. We know of a group among the Inner Sphere who do exactly that."

"Who?" asked Terrel sceptically.

Ren Posavatz leant forwards. His Goliath Scorpions were practically clients to the Wolves. It was no surprise, Gerrick thought in some disgust, that he would be in Ward's confidence. "I believe Khan Ward suggests that our recon forces present themselves as mercenaries."

"Mercenaries?" asked Hazen in obvious bemusement. "What in Kerensky's name are they?"

"Contract warriors." Gerrick made a face. "Amaris used them - hirelings who were granted payment for their service, not loyal and honourable soldiers."

"They were not only used by Amaris," Posavatz corrected him. "The SLDF was not unaccustomed to them - and more than a few of those who chose not to follow the Father into the Exodus chose to serve in that capacity rather than pledge to one of House Lords."

"That says nothing for their virtues," observed Hazen tartly.

The Goliath Scorpion shrugged. "Nonetheless, what little we have heard of the Inner Sphere through deep periphery traders makes it clear that they still exist and in great numbers. One more such force would be unlikely to cause much alarm and they could easily take contracts that would allow them to fight with and against each House, given some time."

"Who would do such a thing?" protested Terrel. "I understand the need for information, but can you ask it of your warriors - to behave so dishonourably, and then to hide it behind a further shame by having a hidden purpose behind it?"
Kerlin Ward gave Terrel a dry look. "I can ask it of them, yes. To serve one's Clan - to serve all our Clans - is no dishonour, Khan N'Buta. But to ensure that they are not shamed for such a sacrifice, I would have to offer a suitable reward. That is a Khan's duty, quiaff? To reward the loyal and dutiful, even when those duties are less than glorious?"
Hazen glanced at Winson. "Do you really think that this is needful, Nadia?"

"Aff," the woman said thoughtfully. "Perhaps not this way, but Kerlin is not wrong to say we know little of the Inner Sphere. An invasion without such knowledge would be ill-prepared."

The Jade Falcon shook her head in disgust. "And how would you reward those bringing back such information?"
It was Ward who spoke up. "I would recruit from the freeborn and those with little chance of sponsorship for a bloodname, Khan Hazen. And if their report opens the opportunity of realizing your precious crusade, then could you deny them the greatest honour we have to bestow on them?"

"You cannot be serious!?" exclaimed Niamh Sukhanov from her seat. The aged Khan of the Snow Ravens was probably not long for her post, Gerrick thought. Her hair was beginning to show traces of grey. "You would offer a bloodname, quineg?"

"Aff."

That simple reply brought chaos to the room, Moon and other Khans to their feet.

The two N'Butas didn't join the outcry, instead exchanging looks again. Terrel made a face. "If they are willing to do... that..."

Gerrick shrugged. He found the idea less distasteful. "If it means the Crusaders having their way down the road... it is the Wolves who will have to accept such a bloodhouse among them, after all."

"Order!" the Loremaster shouted. "Order!" When order did not resume, the woman drew her sidearm and fired it into the air. (Part of the roof was specially reinforced to accommodate this.) That at least drew a moment's silence and she lowered the still smoking weapon. "This is a Kurultai, not a lacrosse match," she reminded them, not pointing the gun at any one Khan. "We will act under the martial code... or must I remove a Khan from the chamber?"

"No Khan may be dismissed from the Council!" protested Sukhanov.

The loremaster's smile was as shark-like as her Clan's totem (a Clan with little fondness for the Snow Ravens) "Not while alive."

"Let us vote," proposed Nadine Winson. "Khan Ward's proposal has merit in my eyes."

After a quick glance around - Terrel and Gerrick both nodded as she looked at them - the Loremaster pressed a control at her console. "The motion is before the Grand Council. A vote of aye is to approve Khan Kerlin Ward's proposed reconnaissance force. A vote of nay will dismiss the plan."

By tradition the votes were by voice. By the time the Loremaster called on the Cloud Cobras, a dozen votes had been cast for Kerlin's plan and only eight against it. Gerrick heard his sibkin vote and without prompting added his own "Aye," followed by his saKhan.

Sixteen votes out of a possible thirty-four... and Kerlin himself had yet to vote.

In the end, a total of twenty-three votes (the Fire Mandrills as usual disagreeing) favoured the plan.

Gordon Moon gave the Loremaster a sour look but refrained from dramatics. "Clan Smoke Jaguar calls for a Trial of Refusal," he declared.

"No surprise there," Terrel muttered and Gerrick smirked.

"Nor there," he agreed, as Kerlin rose and bid the 328th Assault Cluster to defend the decision - and at the balance of votes, the Smoke Jaguars would be pitting barely half as many forces against one of Clan Wolf's premiere units. It wasn't a foregone conclusion that they would fail... but it would be a distinct surprise if they didn't try.

S A S

Hall of Khans, Katayusha City

Strana Mechty, Clan Homeworlds

18 March 3000

The Hall had been built with many small nooks for private meetings. Some were used for political scheming - more Grand Council decisions had been quietly settled in quiet conversations in them than Trials of Refusal had overturned them, or so Gerrick N'Buta would have guessed. And of course, it was convenient for warriors to have somewhere quiet if they were simply coupling. There weren't all that many places to meet across Clan lines after all.

Gerrick had invited Kerlin Ward for the former, although he wouldn't have passed up the second. The House of Ward sired comely warriors and vigorous, after all.

He had reserved the room with its fine view down over the streets of the city outside - nearer the sprawling parks and bloodchapels that were the heart of the Clans, beyond them the quarters where hundreds of thousands worked for their Clans or the Free Guilds, a constant struggle against inertia, entropy... and each other.

"A drink?" he offered the Wolf Khan, lifting a bottle from the table where he'd left it.

"Oh, you're trying to cloud my wits already?" But Kerlin nodded as he settled into one of the lightly padded seats and looked out over at the city for a moment.

Gerrick laughed and poured into the waiting glasses. "If this much is going to be detrimental, I shall have it served to you before we next bid on something of issue between our clans." It was a fairly mild cider, actually. A minor export from the Star Adders' capital world of Sheridan, and one he knew was often purchased by the Wolf enclave here on Strana Mechty, where they still kept their own capital - unlike many other Clans who had moved their centres away from their world of origin.

Kerlin accepted the glass. "Do you expect such an issue in the near future, Khan N'Buta? Although if we do find ourselves at odds, by all means do your best to soften me up with this. It is rather decent."

"Your plans for a reconnaissance force interest me," Gerrick told him candidly and took a sip from his own glass. "May I offer a bid for our forces to assist in providing the unit? Sending hundreds of warriors will take something of a bite from your Clan's touman, if you will excuse the pun."

"Not so much as you might think." Kerlin's eyes were alert. "Inner sphere warriors rarely retire as early as our own unblooded warriors, so many of them will be recruited from those facing a future in solahma forces, as well as trueborn who completed their warrior training but failed their trials of position. A second chance will motivate them well."

"And other troublemakers who fit in poorly with your Clan and might cause strife in the future."

The Wolf's smile tightened. "We are all brothers and sisters in the Wolf Clan, but in any pack, there can be but one Alpha."

Gerrick shrugged. "And an Alpha is wise to see that rivals are dealt with, one way or another, before they divide their pack, quiaff? I am pleased by Terrel's success, but had he remained a Star Adder - or Nadia Winson a Wolf - then our Clan Councils might have had a difficult job choosing a khan."
"See it that way if you want."

The Star Adder shrugged and let the subject drop. "Training your force will require an opposing force," he offered instead. "If you are already drawing on reserves to form them then tying up another force to shape them might be a burden. I would be honoured to provide warriors for some sharpening of your claws."
"A generous offer." Kerlin finished his glass and accepted the silence offer of a refill. "And I would gladly accept but I fear your bid has come too slowly. Khan Posavatz cornered me even before Moon's Trial of Refusal had failed."

"Ah, he is a sharp one." And had probably helped to plan the entire thing. "What was his bid?"

"The Heartvenom Cluster. He tells me that they have dug out SLDF manuals and are already poring over them to shape our Dragoons - that is the name we have chosen for them - into a Spheroid-style force."

Gerrick's eyes narrowed. A sound choice - the First Cateran Cluster were perhaps the most elite force in the Goliath Scorpions, rivaled only by the Khans' own guard force. "I believe I could equal - though perhaps not surpass - the quality of the warriors, but their historical proficiency is unmatched. Once again you have already gone ahead of my thinking."

Kerlin raised his glass in salute. "And yet, you and Ren are the only Khans to think so far ahead. Sometimes I wonder if our peers assume that the strongest Clans are that simply for combat prowess and do not recognise that we are often simply those who think before we bid."
"I cannot claim that the thought has not crossed my mind. Although the Jaguars do well and they are not what I would call the most foresightful of Clans as a rule."

"I suspect that the Falcons use them as a stalking horse. Hazen is clever enough, and with someone like Gordon Moon as a contrast, she seems more reasonable to the moderates among the Crusaders. Like Nadia... or you."

Gerrick's lips quirked. "Granted."

"If you believe the Dragoons' reports will one day persuade me that your crusade is justified, you are very likely mistaken."

"I respect your convictions, even if I disagree with them. And while I concede it would take strong evidence to the contrary to persuade me that it will not take our intervention to turn them from self-destruction, I would be pleased if such evidence was found."

He saw Kerlin's gaze sharpen. "Yes... I believe you. And that is perhaps more than I would have expected to say."

"We are not all invested in that goal for glory." Gerrick tipped back his glass and drained it dry. "And I also put together what most of the Council have not: the chances of us being the Khans to lead an invasion, should that happen, are slim. You have set us back decades."

"I'm shocked."

"That I can count? Years to prepare, a year or so of travel either way - and not less than two years with every Successor Lord, probably more. I would be shocked if this mission consumes less than two decades." And more if you instruct them - as I think you will - to take their sweet time.

Kerlin lowered his glass and shook his head slightly when Gerrick offered the bottle once more. "Does that bother you, Khan N'Buta?"

"To a degree, which suggests my interests are more personal than I would like," he said frankly. "But to invade - aff, aff, if we do indeed invade - blindly would be folly. You have guarded us from that, and I thank you."

And I think you will guard us from any intelligence gathered, too. At least any that might stir us to action. You are a canny wolf, Kerlin Ward. No, a dog. A guard dog between us and the Inner Sphere. I will accept the delay - nothing much has changed in the Inner Sphere in centuries even from the scant information we have, so a decade or two more are worth the price. But if you think I will not use this time well...

Then you are very much mistaken.

S A S

Star Adder Council Hall, Katayusha City

Strana Mechty, Clan Homeworlds

25 March 3000

"What sort of preparations do you have in mind?"

Eamon Phoushath had changed little from his time as Khan. Gerrick unseating him had only moved him a few doors down the Star Adders' capitol building since he had almost immediately been nominated to step in as the Loremaster of the Clan. Even here on Strana Mechty in the old headquarters that Absalon Truscott had used in the 2810s and 2820s, his desk was a clutter of datapads and old-fashioned paperwork. Only the contents had changed.

Gerrick leant forwards. "Firstly, we must think."

"Ah, our most constant limitation." Eamon pushed the papers he had been reading back into his in-tray and brought out a fresh notebook. "Planning for something beyond our own likely lifespans, quiaff?"

"Aff." Gerrick would be doing well to still be leading the Star Adders if they invaded in the 3020s. Ten or twenty years later he would be unlikely to still have warrior status. "But Nicholas Kerensky waited twenty years to return to the Pentagon, so there is precedent."

"And you want to know where to begin. Why are you not asking Logan?"

"He is a hothead."

"He is your saKhan."

Gerrick made a dismissive gesture. "That was the Clan Council's choice. And he votes sensibly, I will admit. But he talks often with Hazen and Winson. If outsiders learn we are preparing for an invasion, the other Clans will either try to co-opt our work if they are Crusaders or destroy it if they are Wardens. We have seen what happens to Clans that over-expose themselves, and I would not be the next to suffer as the Coyotes did." The Coyotes would probably be among the first to jump in, eager to make good their losses over past decades.

"Perhaps they should change their name to jackals," Eamon suggested drily. "There is precedent now that the Foxes are Sharks."

"It is suggestions like that which brought you down from being Khan."

"And it has been good for the Clan, I think." The older warrior folded his arms and leant back on his chair, pushing it back on the rear two legs. "Very well, preparations for an Invasion. There are generally three areas of preparation: training, logistics and intelligence. Do you intend to compete with Kerlin in the latter?"

The Khan shook his head. "I suspect that he will filter what we receive, but I could be wrong and it would be too suspicious to attempt that now. Perhaps later, if the Dragoons do not prove useful."

"Then that leaves the other two areas."

"Our largest problem," Gerrick said slowly, "Is that I suspect that Kerlin's questions before the Grand Council only scratch the surface. We do not know the questions to ask, and how can we answer them without that. No one has ever attempted to conquer the entire Inner Sphere, not even James McKenna or Ian Cameron. And we are a thousand light years away."

Eamon grunted. "That is true, but perhaps someone has at least considered it before. The SLDF had a mammoth administration in order to support operations across the Star League, perhaps that should be looked into as a starting point."

"Ah." He furrowed his brow. "There is a phrase I heard when I was a child. Or maybe read... I... yes, I remember now. I was looking for a file in the databanks and came across a file labelled 'The Art of War' in a directory labelled 'Military Science'." Gerrick snorted. "Terrel and I were confused that it had no images, given it was titled art."

"Where are you going with this?"

"Our forebears considered military activity a science and studied war. So perhaps I should set scientists to digging into the old files and see what thinking there is of the problems such an endeavour could face."

"There is some merit to that," the Loremaster agreed cautiously. "But the scientists little like being taken from their own studies. If you are to take a long view, pick younger researchers."

Gerrick shrugged. "We already send scores of the more intelligent washouts from our sibkos into the caste. Training them to research is part of the normal process, but we can simply allocate them to it once they complete their general training as scientists. We have the time."

"Aff. Be sure to impress that upon your successor, when the time comes."

Gerrick nodded a little wearily. "What else do you suggest?"

Eamon took a sheet of paper and jotted some numbers down on it. "The Star League ruled around three thousand star systems, did they not?"

"I think a little less. And some have apparently been depopulated in the Succession Wars." A prospect that was painful to contemplate given the dearth of habitable worlds in the Kerensky Cluster.

"Two thousand then. And seventeen Clans would mean that even if no worlds are divided between multiple Clans then there would need to be enough forces to secure over a hundred planets each. How large such forces would have to be, I could not tell you."

"That would likely depend on the opposition we are facing," Gerrick said slowly. "Fifty to seventy clusters if we are mostly looking at only conflicts between Clans, but to get to that point..."

"And then there is transitioning the populace to the Clan ways. We have no examples of that since the aftermath of Klondike and that was apparently so troubling as to lead to..." the Loremaster lowered his voice, perhaps unconsciously: "the Not-Named."

"I think we do have an example we can study, actually."
"Oh?" Eamon rocked his chair forwards. "But... oh, the Tanite worlds. I almost forgot they existed."

"The Cloud Cobras do not make much of them, I admit. But my sibkin served there briefly after he redeemed his warrior status. He speaks little of them, but they are a recent example of how a non-Clan society may be assimilated."

"How have they done that?"

Gerrick shrugged. "I am honestly unsure, but I can ask. If it comes to that, there are three worlds in the system and we can launch a Trial of Possession for one and see for ourselves."

The older warrior smirked. "You think large, my Khan. But the Cloud Cobras are our allies. Doing so would alienate them, quiaff?"

"Aff. And we would likely fight them and also the Burrocks, since they have a presence there." His eyes narrowed. Which suggests that a single Clan is struggling to pacify only three worlds.

"The Cobras are not the strongest of Clans, particularly in ground forces," Eamon noted judiciously, his thoughts clearly following a similar path. "But the Tanite colonies are all in a single star system."

"We Crusaders are contemplating a thousand times as many worlds, across a vastly greater region of space."

Khan and Loremaster eyed each other uneasily. "Put like that, distance alone will be our enemy."

"Yes," Gerrick agreed. "Perhaps in addition to the Dragoons we should consider establishing an enclave nearer to the Inner Sphere. Something to use as a stepping stone. It will not solve all the other challenges that are becoming apparent, but it would be a beginning..."