Part 300: Political Vote 12 Results and Combat Theater Vote 11
Combat Theater Vote 12“We will not.”
A stunned, hostile silence fell across the Council of Khans. ilKhan Natasha Kerensky, the Khan of Khans, stood slowly. Her palms pressed flat against a heavy steel table as she loomed over it with the same menace as a thunderhead looming over an awakening volcano. Her lips curled into a thin, contemptuous frown. Her jaw worked furiously back and forth, like a constrictor snake trying to re-hinge its bones after a large meal. When she finally spoke, her voice was filled with incredulity.
“What did you say?”
Khan Nikoli Djerassi returned her hot-eyed stare with one of his own. His craggy features seemed carved from the dark stone of Roche, the homeworld the Goliath Scorpions shared with the Widowmakers. Their rivalry, the fury with which the two Clans fought each other, had grown to legendary proportions after the Widowmakers killed Nicholas Kerensky. It was whispered among other Clans that the Goliath Scorpions blamed themselves for the first ilKhan’s death, that their Loremaster Ethan Moreau had been in a position to prevent it had Clan Law not forbidden him from acting.
Whether this, or simple politics, was the greatest source of the Goliath Scorpion’s famed defiance was an open debate. In truth, it hardly mattered: the killing intent was plain to see in Khan Djerassi’s eyes. Like any other Elemental, that murderous intensity was never far from the surface.
“We will not turn over our supplies to Clan Widowmaker.”
Natasha’s pistol seemed to fly into her hand, she leveled the thick-barreled weapon at the recalcitrant Khan. Khan Djerassi’s eyes glistened, flicking back and forth as though trying to gauge whether he could cross the distance between them before he bled out. Natasha was an excellent shot, but Djerassi was an Elemental. His lips curled into a grim, humorless smile as if to say: the advantage remains mine.
Djerassi continued, staring down the barrel of Natasha’s pistol as though no weapon had been drawn. “The failure of Clan Widowmaker to plan for this invasion is not the responsibility of Clan Goliath Scorpion to rectify. You are correct: We do have more arms and ammunition stockpiled for this invasion than we need, and are in position to dispense with up to a quarter of it without hindering our own campaign. This is reasonable, and this we are willing to do.”
Natasha glowered, settling her pistol back on her podium. She left it out and visible, a silent reminder of the violence that had nearly happened. Violence that was never allowed in this sacred conclave. The very threat of which gave Khan Djerassi the right of challenge, though he did not seem ready to press his claim. “They shall be a gift,” he finished with a cruel smile, “to the Clan that proves most worthy.”
“Very well,” Natasha replied with a disgusted sigh. “With what forces do you—”
“No forces,” Djerassi interrupted. “We would not throw away the lives of our warriors to slake your appetites. Instead, we offer our surplus to the Clan—any Clan—who can best the others in a trial of my choosing.”
Natasha glared in silence, waiting for Djerassi to elaborate. The two stared at each other in silence, and minutes crawled by with neither willing to be the first to accede.
“Khan Djerassi,” Steel Viper Khan Natalie Breen’s voice was smoother than the rising hum of a charging PPC and nearly as electrifying. “What sort of trial do you have in mind?”
“Nothing taxing. Nothing that puts anyone’s warriors at undue risk. We shall conduct a race on one of our recently captured worlds—say,” he paused for a moment before naming a planet that the Goliath Scorpions had won the bidding for to spite the Widowmakers, “Tukayyid? Any Clan who can land a `Mech or,” he turned pointedly to Khan Siedman of the Hell’s Horses, “even a tank on Tukayyid before the month is out shall be named an eligible competitor.”
Djerassi turned again to regard Natasha Kerensky, “I trust our magnanimity pleases you, ilKhan?”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Tor Miraborg rubbed his ruined eye. The headaches had been growing steadily worse since his visit to the periphery. He blamed it on stress, but in private moments he felt compelled to admit that the deep gnawing hatred he felt for the Clans was growing distracting. They were a blight, having devoured nearly every trace of his precious Rasalhague. He longed to drive them from the Inner Sphere, back to whatever hell-worlds they’d settled on.
His fingers trailed down his left cheek, massaging the ancient scar there. It had been so long ago he’d lost his eye. Tor would’ve liked to believe he’d gained wisdom in the intervening time, but the heat of his anger was undiminished in its intensity. His fingers brushed the noteputer’s screen as he read the words contained within for the thousandth time.
Tor Miraborg, Precentor New Avalon.
The scanned document even bore the stylized emblem of Julien Tiepolo: The position a reward for Miraborg’s astounding success in the periphery. Nevermind that Villius Tejh was now Primus, the dead Tiepolo’s will was still the superior. Miraborg laughed, drawing concerned looks from the demiprecentors that now served as his aides. He waved them off. Just an old joke, he explained. Nothing to be concerned about. He hadn’t lost his mind.
Miraborg silently wondered if that were really true.
Combat Theater Vote 12:
5 December 3033
A) The Battle of Tukayyid (PvP Scenario)
At the request of Clan Goliath Scorpion, Clans Widowmaker, Steel Viper, Hell’s Horses, Jade Falcon, Burrock, Star Adder, and Ice Hellion have assembled on the recently-conquered world of Tukayyid with one goal in mind: to prove which is the most worthy to receive several thousand tons of arms and equipment from the Goliath Scorpions’ vast stockpiles by competing against their rivals in a race where death is more likely than victory.
B) Hogarth’s Heroes (1 lance)
General Thomas Hogarth and his band of
C) Guerilla War (1 lance, choice to play for either House Hasek or House Liao)
With the Duchy of New Syrtis’s campaign on Larsha bogged down by intractable locals, the New Syrtis Fusiliers find themselves faced with an unenviable prospect: put down the Guerillas by any means necessary to seize the world before the Capellan Confederation can call relief troops from the Marik border. Unfortunately for the New Syrtis Fusiliers, it may already be too late.
D) The Eagle Soars (1 lance)
With Capellan troops withdrawing from many worlds along their border with House Marik, Major Carlos Marik of the 25th Marik Militia has defied orders to seize an unprecedented opportunity not only to avenge the 25th’s second battalion but to reclaim a conquered world in the process.
E) Operation Flint (Mixed Forces)
With Hanse Davion’s attention far from his spinward border, the Taurian Concordat has initiated a campaign of heavy raiding to test the local troops and to steal much-desired supplies or perhaps even to seize whole worlds from their hated neighbor…
F) Queen of the Pirates (Mixed Forces)
Facing fierce reprisals from the Draconis Suns for their daring raid on the NAIS, the Tortuga Dominions have been left bloodied and angry whilst the Lady Death revels in her stolen bounty. Discontent continues to fester among the worlds of Tortuga, and even among Paula Trevaline’s own Death’s Consorts. Under the command of a rising young pirate, a mutiny is no longer a possibility but an inevitability…
A) The Battle of Tukayyid (PvP Scenario, 1 `Mech or Vehicle each from Clan Widowmaker, Steel Viper, Hell’s Horses, Jade Falcon, Burrock, Star Adder, and Ice Hellion)
B) Hogarth’s Heroes (1 lance, Hogarth’s Heroes)
C) Guerilla War (1 lance, 7th Syrtis Fusiliers or 1st St. Ives Lancers)
D) The Eagle Soars (1 lance, 25th Marik Militia)
E) Operation: Flint (Mixed Forces, 1st Concordat Velites)
F) Queen of the Pirates (Mixed Forces, Pirate Mutineers)