Act 1 - Anger[]
With A Bared Sword[]
Chapter 3[]
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Castle Davion, New Avalon
Crucis March, Federated Commonwealth
18 July 3052
The palace drop-port was dominated by a pair of massive dropships. Most of the time it served smaller ships bringing in key delegations or transshipping comparably small quantities of supplies to keep Castle Davion fed and otherwise provided for. It was relatively rare for security concerns to allow a dropship to land that was large enough that the discreet but formidable air defenses couldn't definitively destroy it before it arrived over the seat of the Federated Suns government.
The matched pair were royal exceptions - the Camelot had been Hanse Davion's preferred transport and would now take his wife and second son back to Tharkad. The demands of restructuring the Lyran government to cope with the loss of dozens of worlds to the Clans meant that Victor's mother would be needed on her own capital for months, and naturally Peter had classes to attend.
The other Overlord-class dropship would share the command circuit through the Terran corridor, before striking coreward by slower routes to deliver the Revenants to rejoin the other two battalions of the Tenth Lyran Guards. Fortunately so many were making their way back to Lyran space that multiple jumpships would be available for most links. Otherwise one of the two royal dropships would need to wait for the other. It would be far too risky to have them share a jumpship.
Victor turned away from the Barbarossa and back to his remaining siblings. Arthur was old enough to think he could get away with just a shake of hands, but Victor hugged him anyway, the teenager squawking indignantly. "Don't drive the teachers too up the wall," the older brother warned.
"I'll be good…"
"Not too good. Moderation in all things. Just… do you want to imagine how your class would behave if Kathy got called in to act as your guardian."
The redheaded boy paled. "Okay, good point."
"As long as it's just things that would make Dad grin though…" The brother's shared a grin and Victor saw hints in Arthur's face of what looked a lot like their father's face at times like this. It was still a boy's face not a man's, but he thought the youngest son might wind up looking more like Hanse than he or Peter did.
In contrast to their brother, Yvonne gave Victor a hug first, wrapping her arms around his ribs. "Do you have to go?" she asked plaintively.
"I'm afraid so."
She escaped then, going back to their mother, and swapped places with Kathy. The two girls wore almost matching dresses - mixing black with navy blue for Yvonne and black with bottle green for Kathy. The blonde gave him a pensive look. "Try not to get killed," she told him and Victor blinked at the hollow sound of her voice.
"Are you alright?"
"Missing dad," she said a little curtly and then shrugged. "Not that you don't. Just… one of those moments."
"I get that." He caught her by the shoulders. "Ardan told me that Dad was really proud of your work with Corean and Coventry."
Victor was pleased to see at least a weak smile on her face. "He was proud as punch of you too," his sister said.
"I gather you have something new this year?" he probed gently.
She nodded. "It's a bit of a mess. I'm not sure I'll get it done this year, really. I'm going to have to talk to my academic advisor about my other obligations."
"Just focus on your final year," Victor advised. "If it's anything like the Nagelring's, it'll take all your energy."
"That isn't really an option with… with Mom on Tharkad."
He patted her shoulders awkwardly. He wasn't used to Kathy being taller than him, even if it wasn't by much. "If it leaves you falling asleep at your desk, you probably do need to cut back. Don't let them drag you off campus if you need the time for your work. It'll give you some time out of the public eye if you need it - I know I'm looking forward to being behind a military perimeter after all…" He gestured to indicate the complete circus that had surrounded laying Hanse Davion to rest.
Kathy frowned at him. "I'm the senior royal on New Avalon," she said, as if to a simpleton. "I can't delegate to the kids…"
"I'm not a kid," Arthur called indignantly from where he was talking to Peter.
"Boy Scouts of New Avalon?" she shot back and Arthur flinched back from her, then ducking behind the middle brother to avoid their mother's questioning gaze. Victor saw Melissa look at Kathy and then relax at a little shake of the younger woman's head.
That sort of silent communication was something he missed. Somewhere along the way, between the academy and then time in the field he'd fallen out of sync with the rest of his family.
"What is it you want to do?" he asked, conscious that there wasn't much time before he had to board. In theory, the take off was at royal discretion, but disrupting the agreed flight plan was something not to be done without excellent reason.
"My project?" she misunderstood. "Lycomb-Davion still have a license for the Guillotine heavy 'mech. We don't have the same parts that were used on it originally, but with some alterations we're thinking we can work with modern substitutes. Maybe even make it better than the SLDF model or the ones ComStar has."
"Never settling for second best?" he asked wryly. "That sounds great."
Kathy shrugged deprecatingly. "If we have the design ready on paper this semester, we can get our hands dirty and try assembling one before finals. It's if I have the time to do that. Dad would turn in his grave if I tried to skate on class requirements."
"I think we both know you'd rather shave your hair back to boot length again than half-ass that sort of thing," he told her. He had seen pictures of her face after the haircut when she enrolled in NAIS. It had grown back out since, only freshmen needed the buzz cut, but Kathy had worn it most of the way down her back since kindergarten and her expression had been hilarious in the aftermath.
"That and class," she said. "Including the field exercises, and I'll need to spend most of my days off up here."
"No one should expect you to do public appearances until you've graduated," Victor assured her. "And once that's done, what are the odds you're stationed on New Avalon?"
"As long as you're on the frontlines? Somewhere around one hundred percent," Kathy said dismissively. "I'm the spare, remember. One of us has to stay out of harm's way. I don't mean the public stuff though. Mom may be the First Prince but someone has to head up the family here and who else is there?"
"I thought Hammond had that in hand?" Jerric Hammond Davion, the Duke of Argyle, served as Minister of the Crucis March in lieu of their mother, just as he had for Hanse Davion. In theory, it was the First Prince's role to do so but in practice there was always the need for someone to delegate the role off to. That was the reality of trying to manage a Successor State.
But she made a face - one of the 'Victor just doesn't get it' that he remembered her showing him so often when she was younger. "Officially, yes. Unofficially, someone has to turn up to remind people that he is speaking on our behalf." She shook her head again. "Maybe I should just drop out of the mechwarrior course and graduate as a technician. It would save me some of the field exercises."
"Dad really would spin in his grave," Victor told her. "Besides, it wouldn't help. Tech students need to go out on the exercises to keep the gear going."
"Another perfectly good solution shot down by reality." Kathy leaned over and gave him a hug. "I will miss you Victor," she said seriously. "Don't get your head shot off or I'll come over there and kill you."
"I think there's something wrong with your logic," he told her, returning the embrace. "If I lose my head, I'll already be dead."
"Why? It's not like you use it for anything?" she said sniffly. "Now go on, you're out of time."
She was right and Victor joined Galen at the gangway while the family split up. He watched from there as Kathy led Arthur and Yvonne into the terminal and then it was time to get into a seat as the Barbarossa prepared to set out for the far side of the Inner Sphere.
Victor felt the usual excitement at the thought. The stifling formalities of court could be set aside for the refreshing practicalities of leading his battalion. Maybe of the entire 'mech regiment, word was that the slot would be opening up shortly. His aunt Nondi Steiner had been vocally unhappy with some of the decisions made on Alyina, but there had been no time to rearrange officers at the time. Now that it looked like the Truce of Tukayyid was holding…