Michaels smiled broadly. "And I can assure you that Natasha Kerensky is definitely not in a coma."

That remark brought a grin to Natasha's face and softened her sour expression. "He had this all planned out. When I get my hands on him, I'll kill him."

"Which one, Tasha, Ulric or Gus?"

"Yes."

The camera focused back on Ulric. "That should answer any questions you have, Khan Kincaid. Though I appreciate your concern that matters be conducted properly, let me remind you that I am the ilKhan. I need not justify my decisions to you. You may unseat me, if you wish, if you are able.You chose the landing zone, now you fight from it.

"Natasha Kerensky is the new Khan of the Wolves. What say you?"

"Seyla." Though a few voices were subdued, a confidence rang through the affirmation of Ulric's choice.

Ulric stood and leaned forward on his fists. "We have already wasted too much time, my Khans. We have elected a new ilKhan and have many important matters at hand. First and foremost is the invasion. The sooner we settle our differences, the sooner we can complete our conquest of the Inner Sphere."

18

Wolf's Dragoons General Headquarters, Outreach

Sarna March, Federated Commonwealth

3 July 3051

Hanse Davion shot from his chair, outrage etched clearly on his face. "I don't give a damn what Kai Allard or my son did to Sun-Tzu yesterday, much less a month ago. Your irrelevancies and tantrums are a constant obstruction to what we have to do here. You son's inability to work with others is not a central issue in this debate."

"I believe you mistaken, Hanse Davion." Romano glared at him like a tiger. "As I have suggested before, and will maintain forever, the microcosm of the training unit involving my son is a reflection of the universe at large. Let us not even mention the gross breaches of protocol and the ridicule to which he has been subjected. Let us only consider the physical abuse he has suffered at the hands of a pretender to my throne, and the death threats from your son."

As Hanse sat down, Justin Allard stood up slowly. "With all due respect, Madam Chancellor ..."

"Sit down, Allard. Though I don't see Davion's lips moving, I hear his words coming from your mouth. You have no standing here, no legitimacy."

Hanse saw Candace Liao lay her left hand on her husband's right forearm, then rise to stand beside him. "You will not dismiss me so easily, sister dear. What Prince Davion has been trying to explain, in words you can understand, is that the problem is not with our sons, it is with yourson. Just as the problems between our troops and your troops are problems with you. We face ravening hordes from beyond known space. It is a threat to us all. We need to band together to face this danger."

Romano threw back her head and laughed hysterically. "Ha! Band together! You would know all about that, wouldn't you, dear Candace? Twenty years ago, you joined forces with our enemies. Is that how you want us to face this threat now? You would have me do as you have done? Am I to give my troops over to Hanse Davion so he can destroy them as he will your forces? How stupid do you think I am?"

Candace's gray eyes blazed. "I have long since ceased any attempt to plumb the depths of your stupidity, Romano."

"Ladies, if you please!" Thomas Marik stood at his bench to Hanse's left. "Let us not have personal enmities divide us when we face more fundamental problems in our effort to oppose these Clans."

To Hanse, Thomas Marik looked haggard. Hanse knew that young Joshua Marik was not responding to medical treatment here on Outreach and that the Dragoon physicians were doubtful of the boy's survival. Still, they say the boy's a fighter. Perhaps he will outlive us all.

Thomas looked around the room with the calm authority he'd developed as a ComStar Adept. "Lady Romano's objection to sending her troops so far from home is well-founded. Her nation, among all of ours, has suffered the most from predation by its neighbors." He inclined his head toward Prince Magnusson of Free Rasalhague. "Your holding excepted in the current crisis."

Resuming his thread, Thomas went on. "Because of history and her desire not to repeat it, she is wise to be cautious."

"Bah." Hanse waved that objection away. "I give her my word that none of my troops will set foot in her realm until twenty years after the Clans have been defeated."

Thomas smiled less than sympathetically. "I am sure you offer that assurance in the spirit of cooperation, but I think Lady Romano is not so easily calmed. Recall that the most recent battles she has fought were against my Free Worlds League."

Hanse grinned wolfishly. "Then you offer her a pledge of nonaggression and let's get on with this."

"Touché,Prince Davion." The Captain-General brought his hands together in a prayerful position. "I think, though, given my nation's reputation for instability and your willingness to launch an assault on the very day of your wedding may leave any guarantees we offer still suspect. Even the wording of your statement suggests that your troops wouldend up in her holding whenever the truce ended."

Hanse pointed at Theodore Kurita. "The Kanrei and I have concluded a non-aggression pact. If the two of us can trust one another, why cannot Lady Romano trust you and me?" Because she's mad, that's why.The second the thought hit him, Hanse saw it reflected in Thomas Marik's eyes.

"That is a question only she can answer." Marik bowed his head briefly, then brought it back up. "I did not rise to answer for her, nor to adjudicate your dispute. I am more concerned with my doubts about committing troops to this effort. From my border to the front is a distance of somewhere between 260 and 320 light years. This means nine to eleven jumps in a JumpShip. Simply stated, I do not have the resources needed to deliver troops in the numbers needed to be of any help."

"Nonsense," Hanse snarled angrily. "The rest of us are willing to do whatever it takes."

"To commit the necessary numbers of ships would gut my economy. Unlike the rest of you, I am not a dictator who rules by divine fiat." The fire-scars on the right side of Marik's face made him look yet fiercer. "If I drive the economy into the ground to help stave off an enemy threat, the Parliament will vote me out. And I'm not sure they wouldn't be right to do so."

Magnusson smashed his fist against the top of his desk. "How can you consider politics when this threat affects us all? We are not whistling in the dark while strolling through a graveyard. The danger is real. If the Clans return by fall, their rate of progress would put them on Atreus in two years. They would reach Sian even quicker if they split the Federated Commonwealth. If you don't do something, you will end up in the same grave as half my people."

Thomas shook his head. "With all due respect, Prince Magnusson ..."

"No, Captain-General, there is no need to wrap your excuses in platitudes to hide your contempt for my nation. In your eyes, I am due no respect. You are only marginally more acceptable to me than Lady Romano because you are more silent, but neither of you understand the true horror of the Clan invasion."

The white-haired Prince pointed to where Morgan Kell sat behind Melissa Steiner. "Ask Colonel Kell how it feels to lose a son to the Clans." He turned and pointed behind him to a military officer in a wheelchair. "Ask Tor Miraborg how it feels to lose his daughter to the Clans. Ask me how it feels to watch someone like Tyra Miraborg take her fighter into the hull of a clan JumpShip in a suicidal attempt to save my life. Ask any of my people what it is like to be driven from their homes, from their worlds! And if that does not tell you anything, only think back to the wars of ten years ago to recall that hollow feeling in your soul when the enemy threatens everything you hold dear.