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December 13, 2999

Federated Suns

Crucis March

Cholis

Brinestorm Spaceport

Stephan stood on the tarmac as the dropship carrying the new Duke Nevil Alliz and his family set down. Soon to be ex-Duke Thorsen was standing further ahead of him, adamant that he carry through the last of his duties as was expected of him. He stood with several of his staff and bodyguards at the end of a phalanx of militia troops belonging to the Duchy, at the head of which were two Urbanmechs standing facing each other, both trailing banners from their outside arms that moved gently in the wind, displaying the flags of the Federated Suns and the planetary Duchy of Cholis.

The First Lord had his own security with him…far more than Thorsen had…which amounted to a small army of plain clothes guards, all of which were keeping a respectful distance from the ceremony about to take place.

When the dropship finally settled in and got around to lowering one of its ramps, a phalanx of well-dressed people walked out in good order following a single individual wearing a military style uniform, but not one from the Federated Suns Armed Forces.

Duke Thorsen wore something similar, but of a different make, reflecting his military service as there was no official uniform for a Duke, so he'd made one for himself. Apparently Duke Alliz had done so as well, for he'd previously been a Colonel in the military and only pulled off active duty to be made Duke of Cholis.

Meaning he was a rookie as ever much there was one with regards to planetary management.

Crowds were gathered as well, but held back a considerable distance with roped off areas. Stephan's people were allowed inside though, as were several other notables, including Carroll Davion with her own small posse standing even further back than Stephan's.

Alliz came up the length of red carpet laid out starting where the mechs stood and extending all through the honor guard to a small octagon of equally red carpet where Thorsen waited, standing straight and proper as always on one half of that octagon with a flagpole on the edges where the carpet met the bare ferrocrete of the tarmac. So he was surrounded by banners of the Federated Suns that he had given so many years of his life to, and which had just deposed him, as he waited to officially turn over control of the planet to his successor.

There was also a camera crew there, made as innocuous as possible on the outskirts of the proceedings, that had a good line of sight as Alliz walked up and took his place opposite Thorsen.

"Welcome to Cholis," the current Duke said amicably.

"Good to finally meet you, General," Alliz said, already having dismissed Thorsen's Duchy title. "Thank you for staying for an official handover."

"I know my duty, Colonel," Thorsen said, likewise using their former military titles. "Per the orders of the First Prince of the Federated Suns, Ian Davion, I hereby turn control of the Duchy of Cholis over to House Alliz," he said, standing even straighter and unnecessarily saluting.

"I acknowledge the transfer," Alliz said, returning the salute. "You are relieved."

"I stand relieved," Thorsen said, lowering his hand and extending it to the new Duke, with Alliz shaking it amicably.

Once they got plenty of camera shots in and the two men began to chit chat about various things, Stephan began walking up towards the pair, drawing a glare from Alliz.

"What is he doing here?"

"Don't be rude," Thorsen said, suddenly using his military voice as he would had the former Colonel been his subordinate. "He's here to welcome you."

"He has no official standing here."

"Out here on the edge of the Periphery, the number of mechs you have is all the standing that truly matters. And his have been scaring off the raiders. We haven't had a single incident in years."

"That's irrelevant," Alliz said as Stephan finally walked up onto the octagon as if he was meant to be a part of the ceremony.

"Greetings, Duke," Stephan said.

"Mr. Morten," Alliz said stiffly. "Henceforth you and your people are no longer allowed to leave your embassy grounds without prior permission, and any dropship wishing to leave or arrive on the planet must coordinate with my spaceport control tower. Is that clear?"

"Ridiculous," Thorsen said, but Alliz simply held a hand towards him as if he was no longer involved in the conversation.

"Nice to meet you too," Stephan deflected casually. "But as to your order, I'm going to assume you haven't been briefed on the situation here."

"I was briefed by Ian Davion himself."

"Then you're aware of the treaty?"

Duke Alliz hesitated a moment. "I was told of no treaty. The First Prince believes you've overstepped the gracious amount of latitude allowed your House, and I have been ordered to rein you in. From now on, everything that happens outside your embassy will be routed through my office, is that clear?"

"No," Stephan said flatly, then remained silent.

"No what? Are you refusing to comply with my orders?"

"I'm going to cut you a break, Duke, because you are new here, and I doubt the First Prince had enough time in his schedule to fully bring you up to speed. I know how much of a work load a Head of State has," he said, obviously referring to himself, "and I can imagine how much heavier it is for the First Prince. So let me inform you of the fact that a decade ago there was a secret treaty signed between my House and First Prince Andrew Davion. It guaranteed freedom of trade and freedom of movement for myself and my people equivalent as if we were citizens of the Federated Suns…which we are not. I do not answer to the First Prince. My House was given independence, sanctioned by the treaty, and such independence is not revokable. Furthermore, I have a direct liaison with the First Prince in the form of his cousin, Ambassador-at-Large Carroll Davion, whom I suggest you consult with concerning treaty matters and anything else involving the Davions. If there were a change in the treaty status, she would be the one telling me, not you. Hence, you do not have the authority to confine us to the embassy or tell my dropships they have to wait in line. You control this spaceport, of course, but not mine."

"I'm aware of no treaty," Alliz said, though is facial gestures indicated he no longer felt on solid ground. "And my authority on this planet comes directly from the First Prince."

"And only the First Prince can repudiate a treaty. A Duke cannot," Stephan lectured. "You are new to this line of work, and it is quite complicated, so I'll just assume you came here unprepared. If you're going to 'rein me in,' you're going to have to do it in a way that doesn't step on the treaty terms."

"Does the treaty allow you to involve yourself in official Duchy ceremonies?"

"No, it does not."

"Then kindly leave, or stand behind the ropes like the rest of the crowd."

Stephen sighed. "We don't have to be enemies, Duke Alliz."

"I will not share control of my Duchy with anyone, Mr. Morten."

"It's First Lord, actually. And you're addressing the Head of State of a Periphery realm that has the resources to squash you like a bug if ever need be. I know your appointment is straight out of the military, but for your sake I'd recommend some political training. There are other people in the Federated Suns who don't take well to such blatant speech. I for one, however, welcome it, and you've made it abundantly clear you intend for us to be, at the minimum, adversaries. If you change your mind about that, you'll find I make friends quite easily."

"Do I have to order the guards to remove you?"

Stephan stared at him a moment longer. "As I said, I'm cutting you a break right now. But from a former Colonel, I would have hoped for better situational awareness."

"Duke," Thorsen said, forcing himself back into the conversation. "His number of security personnel outnumber yours three to one."

Alliz looked around for the first time, taking in the situation. He'd assumed all those men were his own.

"Never the less, you are not welcome here. Withdraw your men and yourself from the ceremony."

"I can't do that unless you're finished with Duke Thorsen," Stephen said, intentionally using his former title.

"I said leave, man, how is that not clear?" Alliz said, clearly losing his temper.

"You said to remove my people. And as of now, since Duke Thorsen no longer is in command of this Duchy, he has a new job and works for me. So he is officially now one of my people."

Alliz turned his head to Thorsen, and the look of 'traitor' was clearly spelled out on it as, like a ghost behind them all, Carroll Davion had slowly been creeping forward unnoticed.

"If you will allow me a moment," Thorsen said, unbuttoning his military-style jacket and pulling it off. He neatly folded it, then handed it to one of his staff behind him, taking in turn the new gold/green jacket and pulling it on. The clothing was, in a fashion sense, a considerable upgrade, bringing him on par, if not better than Alliz's own jacket, while still maintaining the military sensibility of it with a lot more ornamental 'bling' added with intricate scrolling down the sleeves flowing from shoulder boards polished to an almost-reflective sheen, but somehow they defied physics and didn't become mirrors in the heavy sunlight coming from the bright blue sky overhead.

When finished, Thorsen turned away from Alliz, now ignoring him entirely, and saluted Stephan.

"Earl Thorsen, reporting for duty, sir."

Stephan returned the salute properly, also ignoring the new Duke. "The Federated Suns' loss is our gain. Welcome to the Morten Protectorate, Earl. Your dropship is waiting at your convenience."

"Earl of what?" Alliz asked, but Thorsen stepped towards Stephan with his staff trailing him closely as the two men left the red octagon and headed back to the bulk of his security detachment.

Duke Alliz, now fully red in the face realizing that the cameras were still rolling through all of that, was about to bellow something out as a firm hand grasped his arm from behind. He turned to look into the face of the blonde woman there that was staring daggers at him.

"Do not say anything else to them," she all but whispered, making sure her head was turned away from the camera, "or about them until I have a chance to fully brief you on the situation."

"I have my orders from the First Prince," he said stiffly, but she drove her fingers into his arm hard enough to get his attention.

"You are a Duke of a minor world stepping into matters you have not been briefed on. I am a Davion, and you will not make this ceremony any more of a disaster than it already is. The handover is complete, now address the crowd as expected and begin moving in, but do not mention the Mortens or Thorsen in any way. Is that clear?" she whispered icily.

"As you wish," he whispered back, and she released his arm as he moved towards the nearby podium at the far end of the octagon opposite the mechs that allowed him to look out across the tarmac. As he began to speak what was clearly a rehearsed statement, Carroll stood off to the side out of view as she watched Stephan and Thorsen move off, with their security phalanx wrapping around them as they cleared the area, heading back to a series of vehicles that would take them to the Estate.

And part of her ached to be going with them and starting to work through this mess rather than standing beside this idiot. At least she wouldn't be in any of the holocom replays of the speech as a backdrop, for she made sure to stand off to the side behind several other people.

Why did Ian have to send someone this politically incompetent?

She knew the reason was he didn't understand anything outside the military, and to him a Colonel was to be more trustworthy than a seasoned politician. He did want the Mortens reined in, but he had not canceled the treaty between them, and this oaf of a Colonel had almost started an incident if he was going to do what she thought he was when she grabbed him.

Thankfully Stephan had handled the situation perfectly, but she knew there was only so far he would allow himself to be pushed around before he laid down the law. And out here, battlemechs were the law, no matter what New Avalon thought. And the few that the Cholis militia had were pathetic in comparison to the well-armed and equipped two Regiments that House Morten had on planet at the moment, though those numbers were always shifting as she politely tried to snoop and keep track of their visible assets.

This deal was in the best interest of both the Federated Suns and House Morten, and she hoped she could use this idiot's foot in the mouth first moment here to wake some of Ian's advisors up, for she no longer had a direct line of communication with him. That had been quietly nixed after he had been installed as First Prince. Now, all her communication had to go through intermediaries, but even those should see how poorly handled this was.

But the part about Thorsen becoming an Earl in the Protectorate had been a shock to her…and on a personal level it was a pleasant one…but to New Avalon it would be seen as a thumb in the eye to Ian, which it was, after all.

Carroll silently cursed. This job was getting messier by the day, and even if she could pull this idiot Duke back into line, she didn't know how long it would be before someone convinced Ian to nullify the deal entirely. She had to make sure that didn't happen, and maybe…just maybe…the political clusterfuck that had just went down would be of use to her within her own House, for they'd completely went over her head with regards to replacing Thorsen. She hadn't been consulted at all, only informed after the fact, and she hadn't even been in contact with Alliz prior to her grabbing his arm. She'd been cut out of the process entirely. Maybe now they'll wake up to the fact that that had been a horrible idea given the 'accident that was waiting to happen' new Duke of Cholis.

"I didn't expect it to go down like that," Thorsen said, sitting beside Stephan in the armored car that the two of them shared with Roger and five other security guards, though the three of them were alone in the rear compartment. "But I will admit, it felt good cutting ties publicly and doing it right in front of his face after what he pulled. I can't believe a Colonel would ever be that disrespectful to the head of a noble House."

"Unless he was told to be," Stephan said, leaning back in the deep cushions and realizing he was going to have a handful with this guy more so than he had originally expected.

"Even so, there's standing protocol to follow, and the entire planet was probably watching. And any news involving you makes its way further into the Federated Suns. I can't believe what just happened. Trying to ground your dropships! The absurdity is unprofessional. How exactly did he plan on enforcing that order? Does he not know what military assets he has here? How can he not?"

"He's just a barking dog, Harris. If Carroll doesn't rein him in, I will eventually. Don't concern yourself with it…but do remember it. I keep wanting to hope the Davions will come around and eventually end up as real allies, but every time I let myself hope for a change I get smacked in the face. I thought this guy would at least be neutral given his family's status, but it looks like Ian just chose him out of the army to cause me trouble."

"That's my take as well," Thorsen said, troubled. "Somehow I can't believe I faithfully devoted so many years to these people."

"No more," Stephan said, placing a hand on his arm. "But things are going to get worse."

"I'm with you to the end, no matter what, Stephan. Yours, at last, is a cause I can support without reservations. Did you hear from the other Dukes?"

"Yes. They all turned down the landholds for their own reasons," the First Lord said, having offered them estates of their own rather than Earldoms. "They either don't want to piss off Ian any further, or they have other assets in the Inner Sphere to go to. Duke Meirne is returning to Solaris, and his love for the Davions is now at less than zero. I'm actually glad they all turned down the offer."

"Too bad, you could have used his family's assets in recruiting for the new battlemech school."

"I considered that, but we can establish our own street cred. We already did, somehow, with the Highlanders. But you're out of military affairs now, Earl. You've got another mountain of responsibility on your shoulders with long term implications. Focus on that and leave Comstar to me unless they show up on your front porch," he said, referencing the fact that Thorsen was bringing his Atlas with him to Coden, along with intending to purchase other mechs later out of his new House's future profits to form a House-protection lance for his new estate that was already under construction. But the Atlas itself was worth a lance of medium mechs, so they'd have a guard dog there already, assuming he'd have a pilot for it standing by."

"Not much on Coden other than farms for them to hit. It's your mech factory that they'll be after, along with any other sources of income. I'm well familiar with the kind of terroristic raids you're likely to suffer. They're hard to intercept, Stephan."

"I know. We're already planning contingencies. Hopefully we've got another few months before Comstar even realizes their pirate captain is no longer available."

"It boggles the mind to think what they're capable of. At least I'll be where the action is rather than rotting away in some retirement community in the Federated Suns."

"The sooner I can get you working the better. Are all your people ready to move?"

"All 26 members of House Thorsen, including myself, are ready to board immediately. Our gear has already been transferred, yes?" he said, glancing at Roger, who'd had it clear security checks first.

"You're good to go," he confirmed.

"Then, unfortunately, this may be the last time we see each other again," Stephan said, looking at the unexpected friend and colleague he had found out here. "I don't think I'll be visiting Coden for business, and…"

"…you'll be too busy fighting a war for any social calls. I fully understand, Stephan, and I not only accept it but embrace it. I'm deploying on a mission. This is not unfamiliar to me," he said with a smirk.

"Treat it as such. Our new realm has so many holes in it that a well-equipped enemy could exploit, the faster we can plug even the smallest of them the better, and more than half our population is on Coden. They're not much of an asset at this point. Start changing that for me."

"If you can hold the military line, we'll make sure to secure and grow the breadbasket. Just remember, whatever comes out here to hit you, you'll still have the shorter supply lines, and they won't have the Comstar net to use. Both are opportunities I'd love to exploit in your situation. I envy you the challenges ahead, but I'm content with the non-military ones you've left to me. They're a suitable retirement," he joked, "while at the same time being critical to support your armies down the road. Work worthy of an old General like myself. I thank you again for doing this."

"It's not just generosity, you know."

"That's why I'm grateful for it. You're not pandering to me, you're actually putting me to work, and it's more important than anything I was able to do here on Cholis. Plus, you've given Mena and me a House of our own, with 'family' that actually likes and respects us. I can't explain how important that is."

"Just make sure to keep the Atlas in House Thorsen. Let your granddaughter earn her own way."

"Unless she chooses to come out here, she'll have to. I'm done with the Inner Sphere, effective immediately. While there are a great many people there who need help, the powers that be are getting in the way of doing that. I always suspected it, but it's become quite clear as of today. I'm embarrassed that man was ever in the armed forces."

"I've had a long time to think over this," Stephan said as Roger listened into an earpiece for any sign of movement around the small convoy of vehicles that could signal a threat, "and I've come to the conclusion that the Inner Sphere is a trap. The only way to fix everything there would require a powerbase larger than the Federated Suns, because as soon as you rise to prominence the jackals start to come for you. The higher you rise, the more they try to take you down. It's like a baited trap, and the only way to beat it is to not engage. The problem is, that means leaving people you could help without that help, and that's not something I can do."

"So what's your solution?"

"Make a lifeboat out in the Periphery that those people at least have a small chance of making it to. We're going to hold our ground here and fortify it, and if another dark age comes we'll be in a position to go in and do things right. But short of that, we have to stay out of the Inner Sphere, as much as I hate it. And both you and I are now responsible for making that lifeboat as big as possible. Jumpships can only carry so many people, but we need to always be able to accommodate refugees."

"You're thinking rather far ahead, past the immediate problems with Comstar."

"That's part of the job of a leader, Earl. You've gotta be thinking 20 years into the future at all times."

"That's a new skill I'll have to develop. Normally it's months down the road, though Cholis gave me a bit of practice with years. Decades is another matter entirely."

"We can't let what we've claimed as our own fail because we're reaching for too much in the Inner Sphere. There will always be 'one more planet' to save, and if we pursue that moving target we'll wear ourselves thin. That's why I'm making the decision to annex nothing beyond Cholis. We can help in other ways, but even if worlds abandon the Federated Suns and ask to join, we won't take them. We'll take them under our wing and help them remain independent, but we won't annex them. It's a decision I hate, but one I need to make now rather than later when we might have a bunch of needy hands reaching out."

"You really think we're close to another dark age?"

"Technically we're not out of the current one, and if Comstar has its way, I think they want us to backslide to the point they appear as our benevolent gods."

"That's an infuriating and horrific prospect. That they'd actually cause populations to suffer in order to push an agenda."

"Welcome to Inner Sphere Politics 101, where the rulers rarely do what's best for those they rule. And those of us who do get booted out of the club."

"I'd rather be part of your club, thank you. Have any currently independent worlds approached you about joining?"

"There's been a little nibbling, but no formal offers. Quite a few worlds in the Taurian Concordat within a couple jumps of here have been in contact. They don't get any real support from their capitol, and a lot of their colonies out here from a hundred years ago have gone extinct. I've had my scouts check out some of those systems, and the settlements are there, but falling apart and without a single survivor. Frankly, my opinion of House Calderon is lower than the Davions. I think Ian would at least have enough pride not to let dots on his map just wink out."

"The Taurians are beyond Cholis. Would you accept them?"

"It doesn't break my rule, but right now we're spread out too much as it is. We need as many mechs per planet as possible, and adding new planets stretches that out."

"What about your warlord hunt?"

"Temporarily suspended until we see what Comstar does."

"A pity. There's a great many people out there that already owe you their livelihoods, and probably a lot more that need your help. But I understand the strategic quagmire you're in. How many mechs do you have available?"

"Line units…668 at last count. Actually mechs, 762, with a few more coming off the assembly lines every month devoted to us rather than our customers. We've bought up as many from the Inner Sphere as we could over the past few months."

"More than six Regiments," Thorsen said with a satisfied nod. "There won't be very many mercenary units that can stand up to that kind of strength. Their only hope would be to whittle you down with continuous assaults, but as long as you have your mech factory, you can replace everything you lose."

"That's the plan, as well as getting a few more full battlemech lines going rather than just replacement parts. Vander and I have agreed we need 7 base models for our military, and anything beyond that is superfluous."

"May I ask which ones?"

"Phoenix Hawk, Enforcer, Centurion, Rifleman, Warhammer, Victor, and Awesome."

"No JagerMech?"

"The Rifleman is a better platform. Unlike your former employer, we're not autocannon fanatics. And with so many widespread worlds, the less autocannon and missile rounds we have to resupply the better we're outfitted for long, grueling holds. We're predominantly a laser-based military structure."

"I didn't realize you had made a conscious decision to do that, but it makes perfect sense. Though, since you do have the facilities to produce ammunition, I thought you'd make more use of it."

"Situational use, yes. But we're not going to fall into the trap of relying on it. We also don't make all types of rounds, at present, though we're working to change that."

"Your forces are going to take an inordinate pounding in just about every exchange in the beginning," Harris warned.

"That's why we're running heavy and assault mechs mostly," he said as they finally got outside of the city limits and were humming down the soon to be dirt road out to the Estate.

"The cost of that has to be enormous."

"It is," Stephan admitted, "but the more inhouse services we can do ourself the price comes down. Replacement parts are rather cheap when we're making them for ourselves rather than having to buy them. The same goes for pretty much everything else. Remember that when you're setting up your business ventures. The more they overlap the cheaper they'll be."

"Quite right," he said as a random thought suddenly came to mind. "Are you still doing the fireworks?"

"Damn, I don't think the Duke will let me now. It'll just have to be at the Estate."

"That's a shame," Thorsen said, having looked forward to every New Years when House Morten would foot the bill for a large fireworks show over Brinestorm.

"Do you want to hang around for it? Your ETA is entirely up to you."

The new Earl shook his head. "I'll miss it, but I know my duty, and I'll not be wasting any of the days I have left in me. My place is on Coden now, but don't let him give you any guff about airspace issues."

"You really think I would?"

"No," Harris said with a laugh. "But I think he'll try every trick in the book to harass you."

"Hopefully Carroll can pull him into line. If not, he'll learn one way or another that I don't take orders from him."

"Hopefully for his sake, he learns soon," Harris said with a sign. "I also don't want to have to watch as he makes changes to my former Duchy…possibly for the worse."

"I'll make sure people have an out if they want to leave," Stephan promised.

"But you couldn't do that for Neubenn, could you?"

"No. I couldn't."