“We’re screwed.” John said quickly.
“This isn’t any worse than the time Ivan dropped Victor on his head as a baby.” Amelia said slowly.
“Wait…” Cameron said with confusion furrowing her brow.
“What?” Aya finished her thought.
“Ivan had just taken a consulting job with the Fed Com, this was before you kids joined up. As i understand the story, he was meeting with Hanse and Melissa, and the Prince’s Champion, Ardan Sortek. Sortek has a reputation of being a bit of a prankster, and he tossed Victor, who was a baby at the time, to Ivan.”
“Who does that?” Barton said slowly.
“Ardan is an interesting character. So, imagine Ivan’s surprise as a baby comes flying across a room at him. He tipped Victor up into the air a couple of times and the boy juggled for about a minute before he slipped out of Ivan’s grasp. Ivan’s reflexes at the time were crazy fast, and he managed to catch Victor as he hit the ground. He just lightly bumped his head on the floor and then Ivan pulled him back up, bringing him up to eye level.”
“You’re making this up.” Cameron chuckled.
“Ask Melissa if you ever get the chance.”
“So Victor starts bawling as he stares into Ivan’s face, and who can blame him, he’s a baby at that point. The crying actually caught Ivan more off guard than the baby and Melissa collected her son from the two...pranksters before any serious injury occurred.”
“What?” Aya finished her thought.
“Ivan had just taken a consulting job with the Fed Com, this was before you kids joined up. As i understand the story, he was meeting with Hanse and Melissa, and the Prince’s Champion, Ardan Sortek. Sortek has a reputation of being a bit of a prankster, and he tossed Victor, who was a baby at the time, to Ivan.”
“Who does that?” Barton said slowly.
“Ardan is an interesting character. So, imagine Ivan’s surprise as a baby comes flying across a room at him. He tipped Victor up into the air a couple of times and the boy juggled for about a minute before he slipped out of Ivan’s grasp. Ivan’s reflexes at the time were crazy fast, and he managed to catch Victor as he hit the ground. He just lightly bumped his head on the floor and then Ivan pulled him back up, bringing him up to eye level.”
“You’re making this up.” Cameron chuckled.
“Ask Melissa if you ever get the chance.”
“So Victor starts bawling as he stares into Ivan’s face, and who can blame him, he’s a baby at that point. The crying actually caught Ivan more off guard than the baby and Melissa collected her son from the two...pranksters before any serious injury occurred.”
“No way.” John said with a calm he hadn’t had in days.
“Melissa even sent me a crash helmet for Vara as a birthday present. She’s a pretty good lady.” Amelia chuckled.
The Goliath Scorpions exchanged confused glances for a moment before Amelia answered them with a simple “It’s a Spheroid thing.” They nodded slowly and went back to waiting.
Inside the Mobile Command Center
Ivan was pleasantly surprised he wasn’t in restraints. His numerous interactions over the years with the Inner Sphere had landed him in a variety of jails, prisons, and military stockades. This felt more uncomfortable than any of those. Melissa Steiner-Davion and her security detachment filled the room, and Ivan was sure this was going to go one of two ways.
“Melissa even sent me a crash helmet for Vara as a birthday present. She’s a pretty good lady.” Amelia chuckled.
The Goliath Scorpions exchanged confused glances for a moment before Amelia answered them with a simple “It’s a Spheroid thing.” They nodded slowly and went back to waiting.
Inside the Mobile Command Center
Ivan was pleasantly surprised he wasn’t in restraints. His numerous interactions over the years with the Inner Sphere had landed him in a variety of jails, prisons, and military stockades. This felt more uncomfortable than any of those. Melissa Steiner-Davion and her security detachment filled the room, and Ivan was sure this was going to go one of two ways.
“What would you like to tell me about what i just witnessed?”
“Would you prefer a gentle lie or a hard truth?”
“Excuse me?”
“I can answer your questions with either gentle lies that are very close to the actual truth, or i can hit you with the brutal honesty you have come to expect from me over the years.”
“Have you ever lied to me before?”
“Twice, but they were little white lies about the outfit you were wearing. I did not think you needed to be as flashy i believe is the word, but you wanted to show off.”
“Ivan…”
“The hard truth then?”
“If you please.”
“Very well, what would you like to know?”
“Can we win this war against the Clans?”
“As the situation sits now? I do not believe you have the will or the communal spirit needed to drive the invaders out of your realms.”
“What does that mean?”
“If you really wanted to stop the clans, you would have to move every single unit in the Federated Suns half of the Commonwealth into the war zone and stack three or four regiments of battlemechs and supporting tanks on every world in a band four systems deep from their current line of attack back towards Terra. The logistical needs to do that would bankrupt the FedCom and ruin interstellar trade for years...possibly decades to come. It also invites invasion from the CapCon and the League as you would have to pull your garrisons.”
Ivan frowned slowly as he finished his thought “You would need a Second Star League to stop the Clans completely.”
“What did i just witness out there?”
"A Trial of Position for my charges...it was necessary for what i have to do next.”
“Assuming i do not put your giant rear end in jail?”
“Always assume i do not end up in jail, yes.”
“So what do you need to do?”
“My people have been exploring the Inner Sphere for nearly fifty years, looking over the ruins of the Star League and collecting that history...that legacy.”
“Why?”
“It is my Clan’s tradition, it is how we navigate the future.”
“You are a Clansman, then?”
“Yes, Melissa, I am a Clansman.”
“You don’t look like aliens.”
“Only in the way we think. That reminds me, I owe Victor a broken jaw for calling my people 'Toads,’ of all the idiotic things I have ever heard…”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have dropped him on his head as a baby.”
“Ardan dropped him, i tried to catch him.”
Melissa chuckled for a brief second and then her face hardened. “Have you been spying on us?”
“The Inner Sphere? Yes, we started as an intelligence gathering mission, and I did my job for 30 some odd years. I collected data on the relative strengths and weaknesses of all the great houses and most of the Periphery ones.”
“Did you spy on us?” she asked him again.
“No, i did not relay personal information about you or your family. Though anyone with a pair of eyes can figure out where Victor is posted, so you might want to move him off of Trellwan.”
“Ivan…”
“Would you prefer a gentle lie or a hard truth?”
“Excuse me?”
“I can answer your questions with either gentle lies that are very close to the actual truth, or i can hit you with the brutal honesty you have come to expect from me over the years.”
“Have you ever lied to me before?”
“Twice, but they were little white lies about the outfit you were wearing. I did not think you needed to be as flashy i believe is the word, but you wanted to show off.”
“Ivan…”
“The hard truth then?”
“If you please.”
“Very well, what would you like to know?”
“Can we win this war against the Clans?”
“As the situation sits now? I do not believe you have the will or the communal spirit needed to drive the invaders out of your realms.”
“What does that mean?”
“If you really wanted to stop the clans, you would have to move every single unit in the Federated Suns half of the Commonwealth into the war zone and stack three or four regiments of battlemechs and supporting tanks on every world in a band four systems deep from their current line of attack back towards Terra. The logistical needs to do that would bankrupt the FedCom and ruin interstellar trade for years...possibly decades to come. It also invites invasion from the CapCon and the League as you would have to pull your garrisons.”
Ivan frowned slowly as he finished his thought “You would need a Second Star League to stop the Clans completely.”
“What did i just witness out there?”
"A Trial of Position for my charges...it was necessary for what i have to do next.”
“Assuming i do not put your giant rear end in jail?”
“Always assume i do not end up in jail, yes.”
“So what do you need to do?”
“My people have been exploring the Inner Sphere for nearly fifty years, looking over the ruins of the Star League and collecting that history...that legacy.”
“Why?”
“It is my Clan’s tradition, it is how we navigate the future.”
“You are a Clansman, then?”
“Yes, Melissa, I am a Clansman.”
“You don’t look like aliens.”
“Only in the way we think. That reminds me, I owe Victor a broken jaw for calling my people 'Toads,’ of all the idiotic things I have ever heard…”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have dropped him on his head as a baby.”
“Ardan dropped him, i tried to catch him.”
Melissa chuckled for a brief second and then her face hardened. “Have you been spying on us?”
“The Inner Sphere? Yes, we started as an intelligence gathering mission, and I did my job for 30 some odd years. I collected data on the relative strengths and weaknesses of all the great houses and most of the Periphery ones.”
“Did you spy on us?” she asked him again.
“No, i did not relay personal information about you or your family. Though anyone with a pair of eyes can figure out where Victor is posted, so you might want to move him off of Trellwan.”
“Ivan…”
“If you were to open the computer in my office and look up a file labelled Grand History and used the password Founder, you would also find a complete breakdown of the current military disposition of the four Invading Clans as of about a month ago, complete with their expected time table and force briefings for every unit currently participating in the invasion.”
“What?”
“My people conduct warfare in a dramatically different way from your people. The only way this war ends with anything other than a cataclysm that makes Kentares look like a picnic is to get all of you to understand each other.”
“What about the technological advantage?”
"I have also provided you with briefings on all of the common military assets you’ll find in usage with them.”
“Can we strike the Homeworld...Homeworlds?”
“That would be a catastrophically poor idea.”
“Why?”
“There are currently four Clans invading the Inner Sphere, with an additional clan serving as a reserve. If you were to somehow find the homeworlds, you would have to get through our Warship fleet, and the SDS systems that guard some of our worlds. Then you would have to deal with the remaining military assets of the five invaders and the other thirteen clans that did not participate in the invasion. It would be a suicide mission of the grandest caliber, and it would provoke the homeworld clans to attack in force.”
“So we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
“You are going to lose systems in this war, but i think it will resolve in a way no one saw coming.”
“What do you mean?”
“Radstadt is where everything changes, and while i am not a religious person, God bless the Republic.”
“One of your ‘visions’?”
“Yes, one of the visions you and your people seem to think make me a quaint oddity from the Periphery." He let out a slow sigh before changing the topic, "I am going to escort the rest of my people back to our homeworlds and find my missing charges behind Falcon lines.”
“My people conduct warfare in a dramatically different way from your people. The only way this war ends with anything other than a cataclysm that makes Kentares look like a picnic is to get all of you to understand each other.”
“What about the technological advantage?”
"I have also provided you with briefings on all of the common military assets you’ll find in usage with them.”
“Can we strike the Homeworld...Homeworlds?”
“That would be a catastrophically poor idea.”
“Why?”
“There are currently four Clans invading the Inner Sphere, with an additional clan serving as a reserve. If you were to somehow find the homeworlds, you would have to get through our Warship fleet, and the SDS systems that guard some of our worlds. Then you would have to deal with the remaining military assets of the five invaders and the other thirteen clans that did not participate in the invasion. It would be a suicide mission of the grandest caliber, and it would provoke the homeworld clans to attack in force.”
“So we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
“You are going to lose systems in this war, but i think it will resolve in a way no one saw coming.”
“What do you mean?”
“Radstadt is where everything changes, and while i am not a religious person, God bless the Republic.”
“One of your ‘visions’?”
“Yes, one of the visions you and your people seem to think make me a quaint oddity from the Periphery." He let out a slow sigh before changing the topic, "I am going to escort the rest of my people back to our homeworlds and find my missing charges behind Falcon lines.”
“The Sokolov children?”
“And the Kadir boy.”
Melissa nodded. “I don’t know if i should let you go.”
“Whatever intelligence you could acquire from me is stored on my computer with notes and detailed summaries. The torture at that point would be for fun.”
“Ivan…” The sudden change of her tone caught both of her security personnel off guard.
“I made a promise...and i will not let anything get in the way of keeping that promise.”
“Then you will have to make me a promise, Ivan.”
“What would you have me do, Melissa?”
“After you have taken care of your business in the homeworlds, come back here, and teach us how to fight them.”
“I was doing that anyway.”
“Promise me, Ivan.”
“I Promise, i will return and teach all of you how to fight the clans.”
“Then go, take care of your family and i will wait for your return.”
“While you are waiting, have your husband poke Jamie...get him off his ass and into the fight.”
“Jamie...Wolf?”
“That’s the pup.”
“Why?”
“Because, he needs to get his head into the game, and if he does not, it’s going to be a much longer fight.”
“Ivan, i expect you to honor your word.”
“I have no intention of doing anything else.”
“What about your other charges?”
“Oh...i have a stop to make on my way to the front lines.”
“Where?”
“Arc-Royal, i need to see an old friend.”
“And the Kadir boy.”
Melissa nodded. “I don’t know if i should let you go.”
“Whatever intelligence you could acquire from me is stored on my computer with notes and detailed summaries. The torture at that point would be for fun.”
“Ivan…” The sudden change of her tone caught both of her security personnel off guard.
“I made a promise...and i will not let anything get in the way of keeping that promise.”
“Then you will have to make me a promise, Ivan.”
“What would you have me do, Melissa?”
“After you have taken care of your business in the homeworlds, come back here, and teach us how to fight them.”
“I was doing that anyway.”
“Promise me, Ivan.”
“I Promise, i will return and teach all of you how to fight the clans.”
“Then go, take care of your family and i will wait for your return.”
“While you are waiting, have your husband poke Jamie...get him off his ass and into the fight.”
“Jamie...Wolf?”
“That’s the pup.”
“Why?”
“Because, he needs to get his head into the game, and if he does not, it’s going to be a much longer fight.”
“Ivan, i expect you to honor your word.”
“I have no intention of doing anything else.”
“What about your other charges?”
“Oh...i have a stop to make on my way to the front lines.”
“Where?”
“Arc-Royal, i need to see an old friend.”
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