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Chapter 8 - Best Served Cold[]
Troop Commander's Quarters
Fortress Class DropShip Great Hope
Zenith Jump Point, Cabanatuan System
November 2nd, 3050
Lilly sat in her quarters, reviewing an old holodisc. This was her favorite of Sarah McEvedy's speeches, though there were few to choose from. The injuries she'd sustained leading up to the Annihilation had left her lungs damaged, her voice weak. Most of the Second Founding had been run by Khan Trish Ebon. The holodisc contained all the material available on Sarah McEvedy; it was Lilly's most treasured possession.
She knew this speech by heart, she could hear it in her mind, watch it play out just by closing her eyes. But seeing it again always left her with new things to think about.
It took place two years after the Wolverines had established themselves on Homeworld, an unknown planet in the Periphery near the Combine and FedSuns borders. With a colony established and growing into self-sufficiency and the first (and last) "trueborn" creches being incubated, a government representing all the survivors of the Wolverines had been established, and debates had begun over what they should now call themselves. They'd had many names in their brief history. Before and during the Exodus, they'd been the 331st Royal BattleMech Division, The North American Division. Then they'd been reorganized into Clan Wolverine by Nicholas Kerensky. Upon fleeing the Clans, some had taken to calling themselves "The Star League In Exile," and in their first tour of the Inner Sphere they'd gone back to using the uniforms and emblems of the 331st, to throw any pursuing Clan forces off their scent. That had earned them the moniker of "the Minnesota Tribe." Now that they had settled, safe and far from the Clans, the question was becoming more important, its discussion more volatile.
On the surface, perhaps, it seemed such a silly thing to have such heated arguments about, delegates shouting and screaming at each other. But it was an important question, Lilly knew, perhaps the most important question humans had ever asked themselves, individually or collectively.
Who am I? Lilly thought
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Fortress Class Combined Arms DropShip, CWVS Great Hope
<<//The debate raged in the holodisc, growing ever more vehement, promising imminent violence. Then it was suddenly hushed.//>>
Sarah McEvedy had stood up.
<<//Her injuries meant that while she could walk, it was difficult and painful, as well as taxing for her damaged lungs, so she typically remained in her wheelchair. Standing had made a statement: she had something to say, and everyone else had best shut up and listen.//>>
<<//"We are better than this," she said, her voice quiet and raspy. It would never have carried if not for the complete silence that had descended on the chamber. "Strife and discord are ravaging the Successor States, they ravaged the Pentagon Worlds and Clans, they all but destroyed us. It will not happen here. I will not allow it. Am I understood?" No one spoke, everyone nodded. "Whatever we are, we are a family. We disagree, we argue, but we always look out for each other. Whatever we decide will be done with dignity and civility." Sarah McEvedy sat.//>>
<<//"What do you think we should be?" one of the Scientist delegates asked.//>>
<<//"I do not know." Sarah replied. She considered for a moment, then spoke again. "The Clans tried to wipe us from history as Clan Wolverine, yet we are still here. There is power in that, I think. I feel. . . disquiet at the idea of finishing what they started."//>>
After that, the debate was quickly settled. Though no longer beholden to the vision of Nicholas Kerensky, they would remain Clan Wolverine.
Because "clan" is just another word for "family."