Act 2 - Bargaining[]
With A Bared Sword[]
Chapter 23[]
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The Triad, Tharkad
Donegal March, Federated Commonwealth
16 March 3056
“Morgan, could you wait a moment?” Victor asked as the rest of the Commonwealth Council left the meeting room.
“Certainly Victor,” his cousin agreed amiably, remaining seated as the gathering of ministers left the room. Only the Archon-Prince and his aide remained at the table with the Marshal of Armies.
“Have you or George found anything to shed light on the missing battlemech shipments?” the youngest of the three asked bluntly.
His reply was a shake of the head that left the Field Marshal’s long red hair brushing both epaulets. “Unfortunately not. I contacted Ardan Sortek and he confirmed your numbers for production are accurate, and he is quite sure that that those ‘mechs aren’t going to any of the March Militias or training commands.”
Victor sighed. “I didn’t think that someone was sneaking that past my sister, but it’s good to be sure. And George found nothing in the forces along the Capellan border?”
“Not even the units in St Ives, which leaves only a few possibilities,” Morgan told him grimly. “I take it that your investigations have been similarly fruitless.”
Galen shook his head. “Nothing has turned up. We do know that a few ‘mechs have fallen into Capellan hands under cover of the Zhanzeng de Guang, but that’s a separate matter and we managed to get a good account of what’s in mercenary hands along the Tamar March.”
“I don’t think you have much choice other than to call in a full audit of the Quartermaster Command’s shipping,” the redhead said bluntly. “You’re not wrong about the possible consequences, but this has to be stopped - the numbers are continuing to rise.”
“Are we ready for a potential Skye Revolt then?” Victor asked challengingly. “Because if it is Ryan who is behind this, the moment he thinks we’re onto him he’ll go for that with all the forces available to him.”
“You’re right, and we’re not in an ideal position,” his cousin confirmed. “But at this rate whoever is taking them will have closer to three regiments than two - at least by number of ‘mechs - by the end of the year. And that’s time they can use to train people to use them. The situation with the Clans seems to be more or less stable, so there’s not going to be a better time.”
Victor rose from his seat and looked at Galen. “Do you agree?”
“It’s not a great situation,” he said reluctantly, “But I don’t see any other way.”
“Alright,” the prince agreed. “That was my own thinking, but I was hoping that I was wrong. We can’t pull the trigger just yet anyway - we should try and get some forces into position first, logistically and politically. The Gray Death Legion are on Glengarry, which gives us one solid foothold in Skye.”
Galen cleared his throat. “Colonel Carlyle is on his way to Tharkad,” he reminded Victor. “You were planning to grant him title to the planet as a Baron.”
“Right. We can fill him in and time this to take place once he’s back on Glengarry,” he agreed. “How are we looking on Hesperus II?”
“The Fifteenth Lyran Guards are reliable,” Morgan told him. “And the Third Davion Guards were your father’s old command. Given that we are not seeing the same losses of ‘mechs leaving Hesperus II, I think we’re solid there. The main concern is that we can’t reasonably pull anything out of the Sarna March or the Federated Suns Command. They’re far too stretched. It was the worst possible time for Katherine to have sent troops out into the Periphery, but she couldn’t have known that.”
“Pull the Second Royal Guards off Tharkad,” suggested Galen. “They are the Pride of Skye, that might have some symbolic effect.”
“Not unless Victor goes personally, which I do not recommend,” Morgan warned. “But the Third Royal Guards are at Port Moseby and we can probably spare them. That would provide an elite strike force to back up the auditors. Have them move in, secure shipping passing through Skye itself and carry out inspections to see if what’s on the dropships matches what was being sent. If it isn’t then we know that the problem is Skye or further back. If that triggers an uprising, the Third Royals are one of the best RCTs to hold out until relieved.”
“And if they find that the shipments are all in order?” Victor asked. It would be a public relations coup for Ryan, who was clearly looking for one with the trick that he’d played on Peter.
Morgan and Galen exchanged looks and shrugged. “All you can do at that point is declare that someone has been diverting shipments from the Federated Suns State Command and starting the search at the Terran Corridor makes sense as it’s both our most vulnerable region and the choke point in logistics. If RIchard isn’t involved then he should be glad to help look into it since it’s a chance to prove his sister is also innocent.”
“At least we have contingencies for responding to a revolt.” Victor wasn’t sure why Ryan thought it was the right move - the man wanted the Archon’s throne, the last thing he would want was a successful secession by one of the Commonwealth’s richest regions. If he thought Victor would react with crushing oppression, the handling of the Zhanzeng de Guang should have told him otherwise. “I’ll need you to review both of those.”
“I’m surprised you don’t want to have your hands on that.” Morgan pushed himself to his feet. “Are you sure you’re feeling yourself, Victor?”
“There are times when even I delegate easy jobs to my underlings,” the Archon-Prince joked. “Of course, if you’d rather carry out the preparations I was planning to then I would be more than happy to trade.”
“And what would that be?” the Marshal of Armies asked?
“Breaking this to Nondi Steiner,” he said flatly. “And keep her from telling her children about this until we’re ready to go. Assuming I survive that, all I have to do is get Duchess Aten on board and given that she detests Ryan, it will take my best efforts to keep her from starting things off preemptively.”
Galen coughed. “Rather you than me.”
“Remember,” Morgan said solemnly. “If you die in the attempt then this becomes Katherine’s problem.”
Victor chuckled darkly. “Thank you for your sincere and loyal support, both of you. No, this is my job. Maybe she’ll believe me if I say I think Ryan’s trying to drag Lisa and Richard into this by pinning the blame for the thefts on them.”
“It’s worth a try,” Morgan agreed. “Just remember to duck if she throws anything at you.”