Saturday, July 25, 2009
The Star League Part 8
THE DECADENT CAMERONS
When Director-General Jacob died of a stroke in 2461, he left behind a regime that was the strongest military power in the Inner Sphere. This was due especially to the newest weapon in the Hegemony arsenal, the fearsome BattleMech. Yet Jacob had almost brought the economy to a grinding halt to build his ‘Mech force because so many industrial forces had to be siphoned away from the civilian economy. As a result, the public now faced shortages of basic goods, a situation that had not occurred since the time of the old Alliance. At the time of Jacob’s death, additional woes such as inflation and extended work days had stirred up the people’s anger toward the government.
Jacob’s son Theodore was his father’s chosen successor. Because of his experience as a HAF officer, the uneasy public elected him as their ninth Director-General, hoping the new leader would prove more responsive to their needs. However, more than 25 percent of the Hegemony’s voting population showed their distrust of the Camerons by voting against Theodore.
Instead, Theodore Cameron proved to be a half-hearted ruler. On certain issues, such as the passage of a restructured tax bill and the continuation of the HAF’s buildup, he was very decisive. On other pressing issues, he waffled and wavered.
Lord Theodore also had a taste for extravagance and high living. He revived ancient customs such as lavish balls, horse races, grand banquets, and richly ornamented finery. Though it has never been proved, many of Theodore’s wild parties were said to rival famous debauches of myth and legend.
What most outraged the public was Theodore’s blatant use of Hegemony funds to build or restore palaces. He spent billions of dollars renovating Louis XIV’s palace at Versailles for his own use. He also built Castle-by-the-Columbia, the Chicago Palaces, and 20 more on Terra and nearby Hegemony worlds.
By July 2470, the public was fed up enough to stage the first general strike in the history of the Hegemony. It began in the small Terran city of San Antonio, on the North American continent, where Lord Theodore had demolished a local landmark to build a “small Texas ranch” for his use. Incensed, San Antonians organized a complete work stoppage the next day and took to the streets. It did not take long for the demonstration to become a riot. Within hours, similar strikes and demonstrations erupted in neighboring cities. By the next day, the entire continent had shut down. By the end of the third day, Terra was at a total standstill while her people were shouting the slogan, “Remember the Alamo!” in dozens of languages.
Realizing that this could turn into a full-fledged assault on the government, the High Councilors apparently took Theodore aside and persuaded him to apologize to the people of Terra and to promise to rebuild the Alamo. Within six days, things had returned to normal. Though Theodore never reformed completely, he became more prudent after the Alamo incident.
It was also during Lord Theodore’s reign that relations between the Terran Hegemony and the Free Worlds League began to sour. The Marik family, particularly Carlos Marik, believed that the Hegemony’s military build-up was only a prelude to an invasion of their state. Thus did the Free Worlds League embark on an expansion of its own military, focusing on a large and modern fleet of warships.
Lord Theodore knew that under the right command, the Free Worlds’ new warships could pose a serious threat to the Hegemony worlds near their shared border. Taking personal command of the Hegemony battlecruiser Kiev, Lord Theodore led a massive naval assault against the Free Worlds fleet anchored at the Oriente star system. In the largest fleet action yet taken, more than 20 major Free Worlds warships were destroyed, while the Hegemony lost only two.
This created a political crisis within the Free Worlds League, resulting in a bloodless coup by Brion Marik against his older brother, the paranoiac Carlos. In 2478, Theodore Cameron offered to negotiate a peace treaty with the new Captain-General, which was signed in that year.
Theodore’s fast lifestyle finally caught up with him in 2479, when he died of pneumonia after a three-day party during the wet season of the Thorin Monsoons. Succeeding him as tenth Director-General, though by an even smaller margin of popular support, was his daughter, Elizabeth Cameron.
Though Elizabeth Cameron was another lover of extravagance, she was not as wild as her father. She showed little interest in the fate of either the military or the economy, and it was only the intervention of her High Councilors that prevented a total collapse of the Terran Hegemony.
During Elizabeth’s time, the HAF fought few battles. Instead, it continued to improve on its weapons, including lighter BattleMech frames, better computer systems, and AeroSpace Fighters. By the time Elizabeth died of New Earth Pox in 2501, the Hegemony was politically unstable, with the idea of dissolving the government being openly discussed.
DEBORAH CAMERON
It’s not Peace through Strength but Strength through Peace that will be our motto.
-Director-General Deborah Cameron to assembled nobles and political leaders, April 2509
Lady Deborah Cameron, daughter of Elizabeth Cameron and Alexander Rimes, almost missed becoming the eleventh Director-General of the Hegemony. Because the public had been so unhappy with the reigns of Elizabeth and Theodore Cameron, a shocking 46 percent voted against Deborah on election day. Though illegal, political parties had sprung up on many worlds, all of them with a definite anti-Cameron, anti-Hegemony slant. The leaders of these managed to occupy many public posts, which led to a number of confrontations with the more traditional bureaucrats. Many nobles felt especially threatened by this anti-Hegemony sentiment, but Lady Deborah simply allowed the political storm to swirl around her. She took no action against even the most blatantly anti-Cameron agitators.
Lady Deborah finally assumed the Director-Generalship after much of the initial furor died away. She further calmed the realm by immediately proving that she would not be another wasteful, ineffective leader like her mother. The public greeted a series of measures aimed at repairing the damage caused by the wasteful spending of her predecessors with cautious approval.
The new Director-General was a scholar whose intelligence and seriousness soon led to comparisons with Michael Cameron. After many years of study at prestigious universities such as Oxford, the University of Washington, and Olympic College, she had become Professor of Interstellar Politics and Diplomatic History at the Military Academy of Mars in 2499.
With all her knowledge of history, Lady Deborah understood that the Age of War was seriously weakening the other states of Inner Sphere. As Director-General, she decided that the Hegemony would be wisest to use its superior military for defensive purposes only. Instead, she intended to increase the Hegemony’s stability and stature through the peaceful means of trade and interstellar politics.
The Terran Hegemony had gradually been taking on the role of mediator even before Deborah’s time. Seven times before her accession, other realms had looked to Terra to settle their disputes. Though the parties did not always follow the Hegemony’s recommendations, no one had yet accused the Terrans of favoring one side or the other.
Lady Deborah hoped to expand this mediator role. In 2502, she delivered a series of speeches and papers outlining what she called her “Strategy of Aggressive Peacemaking.” This strategy called for a policy of superior intelligence and diplomacy that would contribute to the well-being of other realms. Instead of waiting for other states to come to the Hegemony with their disputes, Lady Deborah would begin to offer mediating services to the other Houses, asking for only a nominal fee and unrestricted travel between enemy realms.
This emphasis on diplomacy and intelligence meant a complete overhaul and substantial expansion of the Hegemony’s Central Intelligence Bureau (HCIB) and Department of Foreign Relations (DFR). Until then, the HCIB had concentrated on protecting and preventing technology from leaking to other realms. Now, under the Strategy of Aggressive Peacemaking, the agency would be responsible for learning all it could about every foreign realm. Though idealistic, Lady Deborah was realist enough to understand the value of secret information when attempting to settle a dispute, and she expected the HCIB to dig deep for dirty laundry.
There was plenty of work for the DFR and the HCIB under the new diplomatic doctrine. Though the Ares Conventions saved lives and property, these rules of war also made it easier for combatants to fight to an inconclusive draw. Disagreements over who had won or lost a planet were often more violent than the actual combat. As a result, dozens of worlds were in a kind of limbo because two states claimed its ownership. Neither side would allow any activity, not even farming, to take place until the question was settled, which could leave the local population seriously endangered. Due to Lady Deborah’s diplomatic strategy, contested worlds began to welcome the sight of a Hegemony vessel approaching.
Lady Deborah’s policy of Aggressive Peacemaking was not without some notable failures, but its many successes outweighed them. As news spread of the Commonwealth-Combine Ceasefire on Alrakis and the Phact Peace of 2538, it encouraged other realms to seek out Hegemony mediation. By 2540, Lady Deborah and her people considered the Strategy of Aggressive Peacemaking a resounding success.
For the Terran Hegemony, the benefits were twofold. First, every dispute settled between nearby realms made it less likely that the Hegemony would become involved in a war. Second, Director Deborah, by proving the reliability and worth of her diplomats, soon had strong political ties with other realms. This, as the Director had hoped, gave Terra some influence over its neighbors in the Draconis Combine and the Federated Suns, who had been aggressive toward the Hegemony in the past.
The general public was equally pleased. Though the Hegemony had managed to stay clear of a major war, there was always the fear of one in this era. The people of the border worlds felt the strain most strongly and were relieved by a policy that reduced the threat of war.
It was the military that objected to Director Deborah’s strategy. A small minority within the HAF feared that her policies would starve and whittle away the military. Though most officers and troops were loyal, many career officers questioned what would become of their already meager role in Hegemony politics. Though they kept under wraps their resentment at being downgraded in importance during Deborah’s reign, the seeds of discontent had been planted and would one day sprout and bear fruit.
HEGEMONY IN CRISIS
When Lady Deborah Cameron retired in 2542 after 41 years in office, she chose her son Joseph as successor. Though not the brightest of Lady Deborah’s three children, Lord Joseph was the eldest and most experienced in the ways of the government. He had spent his military career as a combat officer in the Marine Corps, which had cost him his right eye in a training accident. When forced to transfer to a desk job in the Department of Foreign Relations, he distinguished himself as a skilled negotiator. At the time of his mother’s retirement, Lord Joseph was the Hegemony ambassador to the Lyran Commonwealth.
Upon taking office as Director-General, the 35-year-old Joseph Cameron promised to continue his mother’s policies of funding diplomatic efforts at the expense of the military. Indeed, he publicly lionized diplomats as being worthier than soldiers. With this declaration of support for the hated Aggressive Peacemaking, the resentment simmering in the HAF began to boil. Secret warrior societies, or cabals, formed among the various branches of service. These groups vowed to force the new Director to reassert the military’s supremacy over the diplomats.
Some have claimed that the HCIB failed to alert the Director to this growing movement because the Intelligence Bureau was in collusion with the cabals. This seems unlikely, because the HCIB did not share any of the military’s grievances. The agency was, in fact, suffering from overwork rather than lack of work. Another possible explanation for the HCIB’s lapse was that in 2549 they were deeply involved in efforts to reinfiltrate the Capellan Confederation’s Maskirovka, which had purged all HCIB agents 20 years earlier.
Whatever the reason, the HCIB failed to recognize Marine Captain Henry Green’s growing influence as an opponent of Lord Joseph and his policies. After a few months in a cabal, Green became disenchanted with the group’s cautiousness. He broke with them, vowing to take direct action.
Though Captain Green was little more than a bureaucratic clerk in uniform, he still remembered how to use his laser rifle. On the night of September 19, he climbed a tree outside the Director-General’s palace on Terra and patiently waited his chance. For 27 hours, he remained there, watching as the sun rose and then set. Just as Green must have been wondering if fate had cheated him of his chance, a string of limousines drove through the palace gates. When they stopped in front of the palace’s ornate doors, Lord Joseph stepped out.
Captain Green’s first shot missed, but his second caught the Director-General before he could duck back into his limo. It is ironic that he had only just removed a specially treated overcoat that would have stopped any weapons fire. The twelfth Director-General of the Terran Hegemony died six days later, on September 26, 2549.
SEPTEMBER REVOLT
If push comes to shove, I’ll push harder than you could ever dream of shoving.
-Lord Ian Cameron’s warning to units participating in the September Revolt, quoted in The Cameron Dynasty, Volume X, by Duke Brian Dekerny, 2899
News of the assassination of Joseph Cameron generated various reactions. The general public expressed almost universal sadness, while the leaders of other states sent condolences to the Hegemony but asked that Lord Joseph’s death not interfere with Terran diplomatic efforts. Shocked and shamed, the HCIB felt responsible for Lord Joseph’s death and began a vigorous campaign to find and punish disloyal military personnel.
The military was rocked by the assassination. None of the cabals had expected that one of their number would resort to such a measure. With public support for the HAF at an all-time low, cabal members tried to conceal their activities even more. This did not prevent the HCIB from discovering two of the largest cabals a week after the assassination.
While all this was happening, Ian Cameron, Joseph’s younger brother, came forward on September 28, 2549 to declare himself the thirteenth Director-General without waiting for the courtesy of a public confirmation vote. Though some democrats worried that the Hegemony had finally gone monarchist, most understood that the seriousness of recent events probably justified Lord Ian’s actions.
The disgruntled soldiers within the HAF used this political irregularity as a pretext for a desperate plan to seize control of the government. On the night of September 29, elements of the Fifty-First Dragoon Regiment-“The Green Devils”-seized control of the Hegemony Congress, the Palace of the Director-General, and key government buildings in and around the capital city of Geneva on Terra.
Though the members of these units, all loyal to various cabals, were only a small fraction of the HAF, they were now in control of the government’s nerve center. The new Director was at his private residence in Mexico City at the time of the uprising. When the news reached him, Ian Cameron ordered a regiment of his Household Guard to seal off the capital city with as little violence as possible.
Lord Ian then ordered that everyone in the military take an oath of loyalty to the Cameron family and the Hegemony. During the week, he ordered all loyal units to seize control of as much of Geneva as possible. He then cut off all power, water, and food from the rebellious soldiers, while making sure that the rebel demands were made public. He assumed that it was better not to generate curiosity and possibly even support for them.
After ten days, the resolve of the rebels broke and they began to fight among themselves. When loyal forces moved in to protect some of the many citizens held hostage, a full-scale battle erupted. For most of that day, downtown Geneva became a ‘Mech battlefield. Forces loyal to the Hegemony tried to restrain their fire so that stray shots would not damage the city, possibly harming innocent civilians. The rebels, under no such restrictions, began to take advantage of their opponents’ hesitation. By nightfall, however, the loyalists’ superior numbers finally overcame the rebels, and the battle ended. Surrounded and without hope, a battalion of rebels surrendered.
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AN UNWELCOME TRIP
I’ve always believed in the romance and mystique of the military. My father was a Ship’s Officer and my mother was a Marine Sergeant, so you might say that the military was more or less born into me.
When I was old enough, I chose the Army and spent most of my life following other people’s orders. And I was pretty good at it. I received a commendation in 2540 for the way I handled my ‘Mech in the Caph Incident. I was pretty certain that the military would be my home for the rest of my life. I’d be one of those grumbling old vets in the NCO Club, bitching with the rest of the gray-hairs about the stupidity of the young officers and the general cruelty of fate that was slowing down our bodies just when our minds were getting a clue as to what life was all about.
Then, about a year ago, a couple of stern-faced officers approached me with whispered stories of how the government was going pacifist. As I listened to them, I was tempted for a moment to join the “Royal Defenders of the Hegemony,” as they called their cabal. I was no more a fan of Lady Deborah’s and Lord Joseph’s plan than any other soldier. As I said before, I was born and bred in the military and anything that diminished its value raised my ire.
In the end, though, I turned down their offer to join their secret society. For one thing, I didn’t think my folks would have held these two in very high esteem. My father would have called them “know-nothings,” while my mother would have warned me to keep track of my wallet whenever they were around.
A year later, I found myself sweating buckets, with my right arm twitching and bleeding uncontrollably in the rags of my uniform while my computer screamed in my ear. My ‘Mech, a Phoenix Hawk Special, was in no better shape, as the breeze coming through a ragged laser hole in the cockpit wall told me. When I closed my eyes, I could tell that the ‘Mech’s left leg was mostly scrap metal and that somewhere deep in its gut, in among the bundles of trunk myomers and control wires, a fire was burning out of control.
I had always dreamed of visiting Geneva, the way most of us born on colony worlds do. Never in my wildest nightmares had I dreamed that I would be sitting here in my battle-wasted ‘Mech while the sun set blood-red behind the ruins of the Senate Building and one of the traitor ‘Mechs burned almost as fiery red nearby. I was sorry I had come to Geneva and I was so glad when I left it, and the military, forever.
-From Tales of the September Revolt, edited by Nicholas Trenny, Bronski Books, 2555
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The Star League Part 7
CIVILIZED WARFARE
Civilian deaths estimated at about a hundred thousand. Civilian casualties estimated about three times that. The number of dead is only a rough estimate because the threat of disease from the decomposing bodies forces us to bury the dead as quickly as humanly possible.
-Transmission by a member of the Interstellar Relief Force concerning genocide in the Tintavel system in November, 2412
News of the incomprehensible butchery that occurred on the planet Tintavel spread like a shock wave throughout the Inner Sphere. Even those responsible for the atrocities would later express regret and remorse for their actions. Despite this, everyone knew that the atrocities on Tintavel had begun as just another battle. Though it was like the battles being fought on countless worlds at that very moment, this one had been carries to extremes.
The revulsion that Chancellor Aleisha Liao, leader of the Capellan Confederation, felt for this episode transformed her from being just another trigger-happy leader into a person deeply committed to preventing future atrocities. Aleisha also had her realm’s best interests at heart. At that time, the Capellan Confederation had only a tenuous industrial base, which was another good reason for finding a way to protect her realm’s resources, industries, and trained personnel from the destruction of war.
After months of reflection and counsel with the best minds of her realm, Chancellor Aleisha drew up an 80-page document describing conditions for “civilized warfare.” The plan encouraged battles based more on maneuvering and less on the use of destructive force-battles in a planet’s more desolate sections and away from population centers. These provisions would also make warfare less expensive, which would be a relief to all the parties, for every state’s supply situation was beginning to degenerate.
Chancellor Aleisha dispatched copies of her work to the leaders of all the warring realms, but expected only a lukewarm response. Instead, most rulers immediately communicated their wholehearted agreement. Only the twin despots of the Federated Suns, Edmund and Edward Davion, scorned the plan. So encouraged was Aleisha Liao that she immediately suggested a summit meeting on the Capellan world of Ares to further discuss and officially sign the Ares Convention.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Many books place the signing of the Ares Convention on the planet New Olympia. This is incorrect. The Ares Convention was signed in the Grand Hall in the city of New Olympia on Ares. The planet New Olympia is in the Free Worlds League and not the Capellan Confederation.]
Many leaders balked at this latter proposal. Though all wished to discuss Aleisha’s ideas, few were bold enough to venture so far into a rival state without adequate protection. Threatened with the collapse of her initiative, Chancellor Aleisha turned to Director-General Judith Cameron for help. She asked the leader of the Hegemony to provide naval escort and troops to safeguard the lived of the visiting dignitaries. The Chancellor believed that guards from the Hegemony, the cradle of mankind, would be the perfect symbol of the work the summit was called to do.
The people of the Hegemony were split in their views. Many still deeply resented the Capellans’ attempt to take the Hegemony world of Terra Firma and wanted little to do with Chancellor Aleisha. Director Judith agreed to Chancellor Aleisha’s request, however, believing that Aleisha’s war proposals would be to the Hegemony’s advantage and that to provide escorts and guards for the dignitaries would bolster the Hegemony’s image. Thus were ten separate flotillas of Hegemony warships, hastily cleaned and painted white for the occasion, dispatched to transport the leaders of the great states to Ares. Members of the Hegemony’s Marine Corps protected these heads of state.
Once the Ares meeting was underway, the leaders of the six Inner Sphere realms dominated the negotiations, which dashed any hope for unanimous agreement. Because the six Inner Sphere states were doing most of the fighting and most of the suffering in the wars, they thought they should do most of the talking. Unfortunately, they could not agree. Chancellor Aleisha had the support of Director-General Judith Cameron and Archon Katherine Steiner of the Lyran Commonwealth. On the other side were Combine Coordinator Robert Kurita and Captain-General Peter Marik of the Free Worlds League, who both believed that the Ares rules “would transform warfare into a kind of pavane better suited to ballerinas than to soldiers.” Simon Davion, representing the Federated Suns for his cousin Edmund, was undecided.
Everyone was surprised when the Periphery outworlds also came out against the Ares Conventions, calling them a shabby Inner Sphere trick to force their proud people to lay down their arms. Despite the fact that the Conventions did not technically need majority approval, Chancellor Aleisha realized that if one major leader refused to sign, the others would to do the same.
Both Simon Davion and Director Judith had remained relatively quiet during the debate, voicing only occasional comments. Now the Chancellor of the Confederation focused her attention on them. It is a testament to her skill that she managed to win Simon Davion’s support after he had privately decided to vote against the Conventions. With the announcement of the Federated Suns’ support, the Free Worlds League and the Draconis Combine also agreed to sign the new rules of war. They realized that if they did not, the other three Inner Sphere realms could unite against them.
Only two of the Periphery realms would sign the accords. For the other two, the Age of War would be business as usual. On June 13, 2412, the leaders of the eight signing states appeared on the balcony of the Grand Hall before a throng of cheering citizens. None was more pleased than Aleisha Liao, who accomplished what no one had thought possible.
Though hailed as an act of peace, the Ares Conventions made war legal. It was not long before every state had embarked on even more campaigns, adhering to the letter of the Conventions but totally missing the intention.
RICHARD CAMERON
Richard Cameron, the illicit child of Lord Brian and Lady Katherine McQuiston, came to rule the Hegemony when Judith Cameron stepped down in 2419. At the time of his aunt’s retirement, Richard was a naval officer in command of the Lola Class destroyer Beatrice. His nomination by the High Council and election by the Hegemony public took place without difficulty.
Lord Richard is best remembered for his seizure of the Kentares system from the Federated Suns in 2431. Two decades earlier, relations between the two realms began to deteriorate when the Hegemony claimed that the Federated Suns had violated their joint-ownership agreement for the planet Cartago. In response, citizens of the planet, most loyal to the Federated Suns, alleged that the oxygen-generating factories were stripping oxygen from the air instead of adding to it in retaliation for recent economic sanctions taken by the planet’s government. Lives were lost in the clashes between the two groups, and the Hegemony used this incident to take the planet permanently under its control. The Federated Suns attempted to retake Cartago a month later, but the HAF was too strong. After that, House Davion made several more military and political attempts to win back Cartago, and the tensions increased with each action.
Director-General Richard Cameron considered Kentares to be an ideal site for a spearpoint thrust into the Federated Suns, and so decided to take that world. Though this was against the counsel of his advisors, he ordered the HAF to take that world in early 2431. The fighting lasted for six months, a long series of feints and maneuvering typical of warfare under the Ares Conventions. Though the HAF had less combat experience than the Federated Suns forces, its troops proved to be skilled at this near bloodless sport and finally pushed the Davion forces off Kentares.
After the boost this victory gave to the Director-General’s popularity, he profited from the situation by revising the nomination laws in 2432. The law not stated that the Director-General had the right to choose his or her successors without consulting anyone. This further weakened the semi-democracy envisioned by James McKenna and moved the Hegemony toward constitutional monarchy. Though other states had long since adopted the idea of a ruling nobility, there was still opposition within the Hegemony.
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CASTLE BRIAN FORTRESSES
"Well, cadets, the topic for today's discussion is defensive fortifications, namely the Hegemony's Castles Brian. First, who can tell me how many there are? Cadet Jackson?"
"As of last year, there were more than 120 Castle Brians. The six on the world of Lambrecht represent the most on any single planet."
"Very good, Cadet Jackson. Now, who can tell me the average firepower and unit strength of a Castle Brian. Cadet Ivey?"
"Each Castle Brian has a minimum of 20 heavily armed turrets carrying an assortment of weapons and missiles. In addition to these active fortifications is the passive strength of the fortress itself, which is usually built deep inside a mountain and is virtually impregnable to anything but a full-scale nuclear blast."
"Excellent. Now for the big question. What is the purpose of a Castle Brian? Cadet Green?"
"To prevent the invasion and takeover of a Hegemony planet?"
"Absolutely incorrect. It has always been a failing of strategists to believe that a fortress protects and prevents the surrounding land from being taken over by an enemy. A fortress could only do that if it was built completely around the countryside it was to protect. Just look at what a mess the Maginot Line caused the French. They thought that building a huge network of fortresses would keep the Germans out. Trouble was, they were so confident of their Line that they didn't even bother to see it finished to the Atlantic coast. When the Germans wanted to invade France, all they had to do was run around the northern end of the Maginot Line into France. The French were so sure of their fortifications that they hadn't even bothered to design Maginot Line turrets to swivel around and fire into France. No, Castles Brian aren't meant to protect anything but themselves. Cadet Guilliam?"
"A Castle Brian is meant to be a permanent hindrance against an enemy taking the planet."
"Can you expand on that thought?"
"Castles Brian, with their stockpile of weapons, food, and men, represent a permanent threat to any enemy attempting to seize control of the planet. Because more than one Castle Brian is on most border worlds, they represent a major hidden force than can attack the enemy almost at will. If an enemy really wanted to take a Hegemony world protected by Castles Brian, it would have to do so with a huge force of men and equipment and would have to remain on that planet for a very long time. It is a price most enemies are not willing to pay."
"Excellent, Cadet Guilliam. It's good to see that someone studied the material."
-Mars Military Academy, 2423
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JACOB CAMERON
Jacob Cameron became the eighth Director-General after his father died of a massive heart attack while visiting a HRAD facility deep in the Canadian Rocky Mountains on Terra. Like James before him, Jacob was a Navy Captain, in command of a Vincent Class corvette, the Crowned Lion.
Jacob’s doting father had spoiled him as a child, while his mother, the class-conscious Duchess of Northwind, taught the boy that he was socially and morally superior to others. Jacob grew up to be a pompous, arrogant man who alienated all but the most devoted sycophants.
It was pure ego on Jacob’s part that he ordered the HAF to embark on a campaign against both the Federated Suns and the Capellan Confederation that culminated in the Battle of Tybalt in 2435. In that battle, Major Theodore Cameron distinguished himself by assuming command of the 132nd Heavy Armor Regiment after its commanding officer was mortally wounded. Though he led the unit to victory, the HAF offensive was a minor success at best, paid for with many Hegemony lives.
This campaign did not endear Lord Jacob to his public, whom he daily harangued for their supposed laziness. Several anti-establishment movements sprang up during this time to fight Jacob and his growing army of posturing minions. Some of these underground movements were no more than groups of disgruntled youths out for a night of rioting; others were bands of nobles and politicians determined to remove Jacob from power.
In February 2448, an unknown assassin slipped poison into Lord Jacob’s champagne. Though he became deathly ill, Jacob had not ingested enough poison to kill him. Upon recovering, the Director ordered a blackout on news of the assassination attempt. Meanwhile, agents from the Hegemony Central Intelligence Department undertook the largest manhunt in the realm’s history. In charge of the investigation was the young and ambitious High Councilor, Lady Terens Amaris.
After the attempt on his life, Lord Jacob tended to be less strident and aggressive. He even relented in his attitude toward the lower classes with humanitarian acts such as the establishment of the Cameron Mercy Hospitals and Cameron Shelters for the Poor.
Though his personality was not the most winning, Director Jacob would be fondly remembered by the HAF for presiding at the birth of the BattleMech. Though research had been going on for decades, it was Lord Jacob who realized that the ‘Mech could become the dominant weapons of war. After the first successful combat test of a prototype in February 2439, he made sure that production of BattleMechs became the government’s number-one priority. For several years running, he devoted a significant portion of the realm’s budget to construction of BattleMech factories on Hegemony and jointly owned worlds.
In 2443, a lance of BattleMechs from the 801st Heavy Armored Regiment met a company of Kurita tanks on Styx. Lord Kurita, seeking to exploit any weakness in the Hegemony’s defenses, sent a heavily armed force to “test the Hegemony’s resolve.” The four ‘Mechs easily trampled the entire company of Kurita tanks, leaving one to scurry back to its DropShip. It was not long before Lord Kurita received news of this fearsome new weapon in the Hegemony’s arsenal.
In 2461, Combine commandos stole BattleMech plans from the Lyrans (who had themselves stolen plans from the Hegemony in 2455). In reaction, Lord Jacob accelerated plans to maintain and widen his military’s technological edge. To accomplish this, the Hegemony sacrificed other programs, including those for naval warships. Those ships, which had once been the pride of the military, went a whole year without regular maintenance.
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FIRST COMBAT RUN
[Editor's note: On February 5, 2439, the first BattleMech received its baptism of fire on a desolate series of steppes near the North American city of Yakima. The BattleMech, a joint effort by more than 20 of the best weapons manufacturers in the Hegemony, was tested against four ancient Merkava heavy tanks specially fitted with remote control devices. The commander of the BattleMech and the first MechWarrior was Colonel Charles Kincaid.
The few people allowed to witness the first combat run of the BattleMech were debriefed. What follows is a transcript of a verbal report filed by Professor Htov Gbarleman, chief research scientist for Karena's Fiber Optics Interstellar, manufacturer of the BattleMech's sensor systems.]
Colonel Kincaid, with his usual impatience, rushed through the pre-test warmup and nearly ripped apart one of his umbilical connections trying to get the test started. As I began to monitor the sensor output, I noticed that the BattleMech's myomer-neural feedback circuits were faithfully echoing Colonel Kincaid's brain wave patterns. It was eerie - almost as though the 'Mech were technically alive and Kincaid was its spark of divinity. The Colonel's howl of sheer pleasure quickly cleared my head of that notion. He pushed the Mackie forward in a trot straight into the test range where four tanks waited among low, rolling hills.
One of the tanks opened fire. Its shot was true and hit the 'Mech just above the right hip. Everyone in the brightly lit bunker seemed to hold his breath as all the readouts fuzzed into snow at the blast interference. No damage! A piece of steel no thicker than my finger, strengthened by radiation casting techniques and impregnated with a sheet of woven diamond fibers, had stopped cold an armor-piercing shell. That same shell would have gone straight through a third of a meter of normal steel.
The tracking cameras watched as the Colonel swiveled his chest to bring his weapons to bear. Twenty years of my life seemed to focus into a single action that would take no more than five seconds. I watched as Colonel Kincaid used his sensors-my sensor-to pick out the tank hidden behind a group of small trees and bushes. He fired both his PPC and autocannon. Both shots were direct hits and the tank erupted into a ball of flame.
A thunderous cheer swept the bunker, while everyone present began to slap me on the back. Instead of feeling pleased at the 'Mech's performance, I felt increasingly sad.
I didn't realize why until Kincaid began to track down the last tank. The tank operator was sitting at his remote control panel next to me. I'll never forget the expression on the young man's face.
Outside, Kincaid had disabled the last tank. As he stood over it, he raised the 'Mech's right foot and brought it crashing down onto the tank. Before the hunk had a chance to explode, Kincaid twisted the 'Mech's foot deeper into the tank's carcass. Next to me, the operator of the tank was trying so hard not to show his fear that tears were streaming down his cheeks.
It hit me than that my colleagues and I had just turned loose one of the most powerful weapons ever conceived by man, but we were celebrating like giddy children. While my companions jumped up and down with glee, that poor boy was trying to hide the fact that in the instant his screens went black, he had wet his pants.
-From Terran Hegemony Document 0324610.04, Hegemony Research and Development Department, Military Weapon Systems Division, ComStar Archives, Terra.
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The Star League Part 6
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MILITARY ODDITIES OF THE HAF
Corncob Cruisers
The Potemkin Class cruiser, designed and built by Riga Interstellar Shipyards, may have been the oddest ship ever to appear in the Hegemony Navy. The basic hull was a thick cylinder with major weapon systems on its nose and around the retractable sails and the nozzles of the interplanetary engines; along the sides of the cruiser were 25 DropShip docking rings. Potemkin cruisers went into battle carrying 25 DropShips, though the type carried depended upon the particular mission. The old Dictator Class vessel, the forerunner of the Overlord, was used most frequently.
Potemkin Class cruisers performed well, but the enormous fuel requirements of 25 DropShips made it necessary for at least two fuel tankers to accompany each cruiser into battle, defeating the Cameron doctrine of highly self-reliant vessels. After participating in the liberation of Terra, the last Potemkin Class cruiser, the Riga, was decommissioned by the Star League Defense Forces in 2781. The Riga was recommissioned by General Kerensky in 2784, and eventually participated in the Exodus of the Regular Army.
Goony-Bird
In 2390, Johnson-Aldis Weaponries announced the production of a combat vehicle that would revolutionize the battlefield. Dubbed the Thorizer, after the Thorin flying predator, it was a cross between a large hovercraft and a jet fighter. The Thorizer spent most of its time on its hovercraft skirts, but hidden wings as well as concealed nozzles to provide jet propulsion would emerge if necessary. The Thorizer would then speed along the ground, gradually forcing more and more of its engine exhaust through the jet nozzles and away from its hovercraft skirts as the wings lifted it off the ground.
As with most hybrid weapons, the Thorizer could not perform up to the standards of either of its parents. It was a poor hovercraft because it had no armor, and it was a poor fighter that could fly at only half the speed of its slowest airborne rival. The Thorizer, quickly dubbed the “Goony Bird” by its crews, lasted only 20 years, mostly in militia units.
The Wrong-Way Pack
The Starbird EVCMP (Extra-Vehicular Combat Maneuvering Pack), manufactured by the Park-Nieldson Propulsion Systems company of Altair, tested far beyond the expectations of all observers. The Starbird Flight Pack was to be worn by marine infantrymen for maneuvering between spaceships during boarding and search-and-seizure operations. That meant it had to be lightweight, tough, reliable, and equipped with advanced computer and navigation equipment. Because the Starbird met all these requirements, it is not surprising that, in 2399, the Marine Corps ordered more than a hundred thousand.
A few months later, the Hegemony Marine Corps began to receive numerous reports of soldiers directing that the flight pack go one way and having it suddenly accelerate in the other direction. At first, the Marine Corps ignored the reports, blaming the flight pack’s erratic performance on inexperienced soldiers. As the number of incidents increased with time, reports reached the ears of the civilian government, which began to investigate. After much public pressure, the Marine Corps finally grounded all Starbird Flight Packs and began its own investigation.
The root of the problem was that the computer chips in the command maneuver center were poorly designed and constructed, leaving them extremely sensitive to overheating. Instead of completely failing, however, the chips would create what computer experts call “a heat-induced command flip-flop.” The chips would interpret any command entered by the operator in its exact opposite form. It took trillions of dollars and nine months of redesign effort to get the Starbird Flight Packs back into active service in the Hegemony Marine Corps.
-From ComStar Research Bulletin No. 61283217, “Weapons Research in the Star League Era”
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THE AGE OF WAR
RAYMOND CAMERON
In February 2380, Margaret Cameron was diagnosed as having cervical cancer. Though the disease went into remission two years later, she remained too feeble to properly rule the Hegemony government. In March 2382, she announced her retirement, suggesting her son Raymond Cameron as a replacement.
Though only 34 years old, Lord Raymond Cameron was not in particularly good health, either. A decade earlier, as a young pilot, he had been in a jet fighter accident that almost killed him. The accident left his face horribly scarred and he also suffered other injuries that continued to affect his health. Raymond was also sterile, but the High Council nevertheless nominated him and the public elected him as the fourth Director-General.
Raymond Cameron’s wife was Katherine McQuiston, whose family had formed the Federation of Skye and were among the founders of the Lyran Commonwealth. Up till now, relations between the Hegemony and the heavily industrial Federation of Skye had been cool because of the Mother Doctrine restricting the Hegemony from sharing technology. Businessmen on both sides of the issue hoped that Lord Raymond’s accession would herald more profitable relations between the two realms.
It was not to be. Director-General Raymond was even more protective and attentive of Hegemony trade secrets than of his wife. Feeling neglected, Katherine began a romantic liaison with Raymond’s brother, Lord Brian. Meanwhile, Raymond was further tightening restrictions on the list of secret technology.
In 2385, the planet Bryant voted that Director Raymond should rescind or modify the laws requiring the induction of every able-bodied man and woman into the HAF. In reply, Raymond cut off all government funds to Bryant and threatened military action if the people did not withdraw their demand. The Bryants had no choice but to reverse their previous request.
Heavy-handed actions such as this earned Director Raymond the animosity of the entire Hegemony. For the next two years, both the Congress and the public became increasingly hostile. No longer able to pass the laws he wanted, Raymond Cameron began issuing “Emergency” and “Temporary” Directives.
In late 2387, Katherine McQuiston became pregnant, creating a monumental scandal and sending Director Raymond into a rage. Brian Cameron was arrested. The entire realm braced itself for a political crisis as Raymond publicly charged his brother with treason, an offense punishable by death.
In an emergency meeting two days before the trial, the High Council attempted to change the Director’s mind. They were unsuccessful. Shortly afterward, Raymond Cameron was found dead in the cloakroom of the Halls of Justice.
BRIAN CAMERON
The coroner’s reports showed conclusively that Raymond Cameron had died of a coronary, brought on by medication he was taking. Yet rumors of assassination spread throughout the Hegemony, creating a split among the people. Many wanted all charged dropped against Lord Brian so that he could accede to the Director-Generalship. Others argued that even if Brian were innocent of murder, he was an adulterer and therefore unfit for the office of Director-General. When Katherine McQuiston gave birth to Brian’s son, whom she named Richard, the scandal and debate rose to an even higher pitch.
It was up to the High Council to restore sanity. As there were no other Cameron relatives of sufficient skill to nominate, the Council decided to swear in Mitchell DuKirl, President of the Terran Congress and nephew of the late Sonya DuKirl, as Director-General Pro Tem. With someone at the helm of state, the High Councilors were free to prosecute the trial of Brian Cameron. This controversial action was the only way the Councilors could imagine ending the situation without giving the impression of a coverup. For two months, they attempted to piece together a case against Lord Brian from the rambling diaries of the late Director. Then they presented their evidence to the Supreme Court. As expected, the Court threw out the case, and the High Councilors proceeded to publish everything they had found.
Their scheme was successful. When confronted with the insanely jealous words of Raymond Cameron, even the most suspicious person had to admit that Brian Cameron’s greatest crime was indiscretion. In September 2388, the High Councilors nominated Brian as Director-General of the Terran Hegemony. Though he won by only a slim majority, Brian Cameron became the new leader.
During his 15 years in office, Director-General Brian Cameron made two important contributions to the Hegemony, the first immediately after his accession. During his mother’s reign, he had served as Ambassador to the Draconis Combine. Even though the Kurita realm was in a relatively peaceful period under the lukewarm rule of Nihongi Kurita, Brian could not abide their martial philosophy. He knew that once the gentle Nihongi was gone, the belligerent Kurita blood would reassert itself. In preparation for renewed future tensions between the Hegemony and the Combine, Director Brian announced a major boost in military revenues in 2391.
Much of the new money would go toward the creation of huge military complexes on all worlds bordering the Draconis Combine. These complexes, which became known as Castles Brian, were built not to prevent an enemy from landing on a world, but from actually controlling it. Many of the Castles Brian were constructed in mountains, underground, and even beneath seas. Most had tunnels radiating from a central complex so that enemy attacks could be launched from various locations. The expense was enormous, but no one even questioned Director Brian’s decision. Events in the Inner Sphere made it all too obvious that the backbreaking effort was prudent.
Lord Brian’s second major contribution was the introduction of the Succession Bill of 2392. This bill set forth regulations by which the High Council could choose “the correct candidate for the Directorship,” should a Director die without naming a successor. Though couched in legal finery, the bill in effect introduced hereditary succession. The bill’s working technically allowed for election of a candidate from outside the Cameron family, but the rest of the provisions made that almost impossible.
In 2399, Brian Cameron married Katherine McQuiston and legally claimed Richard Cameron, then eleven years old, as his son.
JUDITH CAMERON
In 2403, Lord Brian Cameron went to Elbar, a world that the Hegemony had recently acquired through a joint-ownership arrangement with the Federated Suns. The planet was once an arid and inhospitable wasteland that the Federated Suns could do little to transform. When the Hegemony provided assistance in the form of a water purification plant the Elbarians were able to build a small city surrounded by farms and ranches. Lord Brian had spent some of the best years of his life on a relative’s farm on Elbar. During most of his visit in 2403, he rekindled fond memories by touring the new farms and ranches.
Just before he arrived at a small cattle ranch, some bored young men had begun teasing the ranch’s prize bull. By the time the Director-General’s entourage of cars and hovercraft arrived, the bull was enraged. As Cameron and his staff passed, the animal smashed through the wooden bars of its corral as though they were twigs. Before the Director-General’s guards could react, the bull charged directly for Lord Brian, slamming into him with incredible force, and goring him severely. One of the guards shot the bull, but it was too late.
While everyone crowded around, Lord Brian, who was conscious and in pain, called the ranch owner to him. Fearful of being blamed for the Director-General’s injuries, the man timorously approached. When Lord Brian asked if the bull had been important, the rancher admitted that it was his only bull and that his fortunes depended on the animal. Though Lord Brian was obviously in pain, he told his staff pay the rancher for the bull. When they asked why, the Director said that an animal cannot be blamed for its nature, nor should a rancher be punished for a bull with remarkable aim. He wanted both himself and the bull to be remembered. Brian Cameron died before he could be moved to a place of care.
The ranch owner took Lord Brian’s remark to heart. He had the bull’s head mounted and the horns, still smeared with the blood of Lord Brian, coated with plastic resin. By way of apology, he sent the mounted head to the Camerons on Terra. The family accepted the gesture and had the bull’s head placed high on a wall in the main ballroom of Cameron Castle, just outside Glasgow, Scotland.
Lady Judith Cameron, younger sister to Brian, wasted little time in informing the High Council that she was the only rightful candidate for the Director-Generalship. Dismayed by such eagerness so soon after her brother’s death, the High Councilors resisted passing her name on to the public.
Lady Judith was the youngest of Margaret Cameron’s three children. Because Margaret had assumed that one of her sons would continue the Cameron dynasty, Judith had not been trained and molded to be a future ruler of the Hegemony. During a brief career in the HAF, she had shown a remarkable lack of Cameron brilliance and an almost violent disregard for authority.
Based on her record, the High Council decided to search for another candidate. When no other likely prospect emerged, they reluctantly nominated Lady Judith as the next Director-General two months after her brother’s death. The public showed their faith in Judith Cameron by confirming her appointment as the sixth Director-General.
Judith surprised many in government by continuing her brother’s policy of military build-up. She even requested that the Castles Brian, the series of fortresses built on Hegemony worlds facing the Draconis Combine, be built on worlds bordering the Free Worlds League and the Capellan Confederation.
The Age of War had just begun when Lady Judith assumed control over the Terran Hegemony. Beginning with the clash of forces of House Marik and Liao over control of the Andurien star system in 2398, that era was one of almost unrelenting violence, with every major realm fighting for control of key border worlds. For the Terran Hegemony, located smack in the middle of all the fighting, this was a period of considerable tension. The HAF might be able to defend itself against one enemy, but it would not stand a chance against two or more realms.
It was for this reason that Judith Cameron was so keen on expanding the construction of Castles Brian to border worlds along the Free Worlds League and Capellan Confederation. She felt that those two states, along with the ever-threatening Draconis Combine, were most likely to turn their avaricious sights on the Hegemony.
Director Judith did not fear House Marsden (which would become House Steiner upon the death of Alstair Marsden and the accession of his wife in 2408). The ties between the Hegemony and the Lyran Commandwealth had always been close, and her brother’s marriage to one of the Commonwealth’s famous McQuistons had made the bond even stronger. Relations were so good that the Hegemony and the Commonwealth, through the system of the joint-ownership of worlds, were carrying out extensive economic and industrial development of many marginal worlds in one another’s realms.
Relations between the Terran Hegemony and the Federated Suns were also good, with similar joint-ownership agreements for several worlds, most recently Cartago. The Federated Suns had by now come under the tyranny of Etien, Edward, and Edmund Davion, whose ineptitude and callousness were threatening to tear apart the Federated Suns. Judith, who wanted to maintain peaceful relations with House Davion, consoled herself with the thought that if the Federated Suns should suddenly turn on the Hegemony, it would be a short-term war. The people of House Davion were already showing signs of rebellion against the tyrants.
The HAF saw considerable military action during the Age of War. The Draconis Combine, the Free Worlds League, and the Capellan Confederation continually tested the Hegemony’s strength with “accidental” raids and “unintentional” strikes, but it was not until 2407 that the HAF saw major action. In that year, the Draconis Combine launched a full-scale offensive against the Commonwealth. Though the Combine forces appeared to be heading for the Commonwealth capital of Arcturus, the offensive suddenly veered away and began to force its way through the Federation of Skye.
When the Combine’s intentions became clear, Alstair Marsden, Archon of the Commonwealth, asked Lady Judith for help, but she refused to commit her troops to a Commonwealth offensive against the Combine. Instead, she agreed to send HAF forces to worlds jointly owned by the Commonwealth and the Hegemony to assume complete defensive duties on those worlds. Her decision, which meant the shipping of a dozen divisions to such worlds as Blue Diamond, Lyons, and Nusakan, freed Commonwealth units to participate in offensive actions against the Draconis Combine.
The Hegemony Armed Forces faced the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery in only one major battle during this time. In 2408, the Third Assault Armored Division faced an equivalent number of Kurita regiments on the planet Lyons. In this battle, the Hegemony used its superior warships in a coordinated space-ground defense to achieve a major victory. The battle was very costly in terms of casualties, however.
On the opposite side of the Hegemony, the HAF turned back the forces of the Capellan Confederation, who attempted to take Terra Firma in 2409. In that battle, Hegemony ground forces, led by the famed Black Charger Tank Division, stood their ground against a superior number of Capellans and despite the presence of enemy naval support. The Black Chargers held the planet for two months before being forced to withdraw. It was not long before a major Hegemony relief force, complete with warships, arrived to retake the planet, however. The Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation, Aleisha Liao, eventually offered to make reparations for the invasion, but the bitterness and violence of this costly battle had created a deep rift between the two governments.
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JOINT-OWNERSHIP OF WORLDS
Late in the 24th century, the Camerons realized that the limited number of worlds in the Terran Hegemony would eventually mean shortages of raw materials, the breakdown of industry, and collapse of the economy. Going to war to obtain new resources was ruled out almost immediately, however. Surrounded as it was, the Hegemony was not sufficiently strong to embark on conquest. Nor could it simply enter into a treaty agreement with one of the surrounding realms, for any such pact would most certainly require the Hegemony to share its superior technology. The Camerons had to find another way besides war to preserve their realm’s technological lead and to obtain raw resources.
The answer came from David Ocrassa, a young planetary engineer assigned by Director-General Margaret Cameron to study the problem. He proposed that the Hegemony negotiate agreements with neighboring Houses to make previously uninhabitable worlds habitable. In return, the Hegemony would own half of the planet's mineral resources and have some representation in the planet’s government. Though this arrangement would result in the loss of some closely guarded technology, the benefits outweighed the disadvantages.
When Hegemony leaders proposed joint-ownership ventures to the Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns, they eagerly accepted. By the beginning of the 25th century, the Hegemony had transformed 20 such marginal worlds. As relations between realms improved over time, the Draconis Combine, the Free Worlds League, and the Capellan Confederation eventually made similar arrangements with the Hegemony. By the next century, the Hegemony was joint owner of more than 100 planets in the Inner Sphere.
-From Resource Management and Exploitation in the Terran Hegemony, by Precentor Nicholas Ferhill, ComStar Press, 2899
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MILITARY ODDITIES OF THE HAF
Corncob Cruisers
The Potemkin Class cruiser, designed and built by Riga Interstellar Shipyards, may have been the oddest ship ever to appear in the Hegemony Navy. The basic hull was a thick cylinder with major weapon systems on its nose and around the retractable sails and the nozzles of the interplanetary engines; along the sides of the cruiser were 25 DropShip docking rings. Potemkin cruisers went into battle carrying 25 DropShips, though the type carried depended upon the particular mission. The old Dictator Class vessel, the forerunner of the Overlord, was used most frequently.
Potemkin Class cruisers performed well, but the enormous fuel requirements of 25 DropShips made it necessary for at least two fuel tankers to accompany each cruiser into battle, defeating the Cameron doctrine of highly self-reliant vessels. After participating in the liberation of Terra, the last Potemkin Class cruiser, the Riga, was decommissioned by the Star League Defense Forces in 2781. The Riga was recommissioned by General Kerensky in 2784, and eventually participated in the Exodus of the Regular Army.
Goony-Bird
In 2390, Johnson-Aldis Weaponries announced the production of a combat vehicle that would revolutionize the battlefield. Dubbed the Thorizer, after the Thorin flying predator, it was a cross between a large hovercraft and a jet fighter. The Thorizer spent most of its time on its hovercraft skirts, but hidden wings as well as concealed nozzles to provide jet propulsion would emerge if necessary. The Thorizer would then speed along the ground, gradually forcing more and more of its engine exhaust through the jet nozzles and away from its hovercraft skirts as the wings lifted it off the ground.
As with most hybrid weapons, the Thorizer could not perform up to the standards of either of its parents. It was a poor hovercraft because it had no armor, and it was a poor fighter that could fly at only half the speed of its slowest airborne rival. The Thorizer, quickly dubbed the “Goony Bird” by its crews, lasted only 20 years, mostly in militia units.
The Wrong-Way Pack
The Starbird EVCMP (Extra-Vehicular Combat Maneuvering Pack), manufactured by the Park-Nieldson Propulsion Systems company of Altair, tested far beyond the expectations of all observers. The Starbird Flight Pack was to be worn by marine infantrymen for maneuvering between spaceships during boarding and search-and-seizure operations. That meant it had to be lightweight, tough, reliable, and equipped with advanced computer and navigation equipment. Because the Starbird met all these requirements, it is not surprising that, in 2399, the Marine Corps ordered more than a hundred thousand.
A few months later, the Hegemony Marine Corps began to receive numerous reports of soldiers directing that the flight pack go one way and having it suddenly accelerate in the other direction. At first, the Marine Corps ignored the reports, blaming the flight pack’s erratic performance on inexperienced soldiers. As the number of incidents increased with time, reports reached the ears of the civilian government, which began to investigate. After much public pressure, the Marine Corps finally grounded all Starbird Flight Packs and began its own investigation.
The root of the problem was that the computer chips in the command maneuver center were poorly designed and constructed, leaving them extremely sensitive to overheating. Instead of completely failing, however, the chips would create what computer experts call “a heat-induced command flip-flop.” The chips would interpret any command entered by the operator in its exact opposite form. It took trillions of dollars and nine months of redesign effort to get the Starbird Flight Packs back into active service in the Hegemony Marine Corps.
-From ComStar Research Bulletin No. 61283217, “Weapons Research in the Star League Era”
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THE AGE OF WAR
RAYMOND CAMERON
In February 2380, Margaret Cameron was diagnosed as having cervical cancer. Though the disease went into remission two years later, she remained too feeble to properly rule the Hegemony government. In March 2382, she announced her retirement, suggesting her son Raymond Cameron as a replacement.
Though only 34 years old, Lord Raymond Cameron was not in particularly good health, either. A decade earlier, as a young pilot, he had been in a jet fighter accident that almost killed him. The accident left his face horribly scarred and he also suffered other injuries that continued to affect his health. Raymond was also sterile, but the High Council nevertheless nominated him and the public elected him as the fourth Director-General.
Raymond Cameron’s wife was Katherine McQuiston, whose family had formed the Federation of Skye and were among the founders of the Lyran Commonwealth. Up till now, relations between the Hegemony and the heavily industrial Federation of Skye had been cool because of the Mother Doctrine restricting the Hegemony from sharing technology. Businessmen on both sides of the issue hoped that Lord Raymond’s accession would herald more profitable relations between the two realms.
It was not to be. Director-General Raymond was even more protective and attentive of Hegemony trade secrets than of his wife. Feeling neglected, Katherine began a romantic liaison with Raymond’s brother, Lord Brian. Meanwhile, Raymond was further tightening restrictions on the list of secret technology.
In 2385, the planet Bryant voted that Director Raymond should rescind or modify the laws requiring the induction of every able-bodied man and woman into the HAF. In reply, Raymond cut off all government funds to Bryant and threatened military action if the people did not withdraw their demand. The Bryants had no choice but to reverse their previous request.
Heavy-handed actions such as this earned Director Raymond the animosity of the entire Hegemony. For the next two years, both the Congress and the public became increasingly hostile. No longer able to pass the laws he wanted, Raymond Cameron began issuing “Emergency” and “Temporary” Directives.
In late 2387, Katherine McQuiston became pregnant, creating a monumental scandal and sending Director Raymond into a rage. Brian Cameron was arrested. The entire realm braced itself for a political crisis as Raymond publicly charged his brother with treason, an offense punishable by death.
In an emergency meeting two days before the trial, the High Council attempted to change the Director’s mind. They were unsuccessful. Shortly afterward, Raymond Cameron was found dead in the cloakroom of the Halls of Justice.
BRIAN CAMERON
The coroner’s reports showed conclusively that Raymond Cameron had died of a coronary, brought on by medication he was taking. Yet rumors of assassination spread throughout the Hegemony, creating a split among the people. Many wanted all charged dropped against Lord Brian so that he could accede to the Director-Generalship. Others argued that even if Brian were innocent of murder, he was an adulterer and therefore unfit for the office of Director-General. When Katherine McQuiston gave birth to Brian’s son, whom she named Richard, the scandal and debate rose to an even higher pitch.
It was up to the High Council to restore sanity. As there were no other Cameron relatives of sufficient skill to nominate, the Council decided to swear in Mitchell DuKirl, President of the Terran Congress and nephew of the late Sonya DuKirl, as Director-General Pro Tem. With someone at the helm of state, the High Councilors were free to prosecute the trial of Brian Cameron. This controversial action was the only way the Councilors could imagine ending the situation without giving the impression of a coverup. For two months, they attempted to piece together a case against Lord Brian from the rambling diaries of the late Director. Then they presented their evidence to the Supreme Court. As expected, the Court threw out the case, and the High Councilors proceeded to publish everything they had found.
Their scheme was successful. When confronted with the insanely jealous words of Raymond Cameron, even the most suspicious person had to admit that Brian Cameron’s greatest crime was indiscretion. In September 2388, the High Councilors nominated Brian as Director-General of the Terran Hegemony. Though he won by only a slim majority, Brian Cameron became the new leader.
During his 15 years in office, Director-General Brian Cameron made two important contributions to the Hegemony, the first immediately after his accession. During his mother’s reign, he had served as Ambassador to the Draconis Combine. Even though the Kurita realm was in a relatively peaceful period under the lukewarm rule of Nihongi Kurita, Brian could not abide their martial philosophy. He knew that once the gentle Nihongi was gone, the belligerent Kurita blood would reassert itself. In preparation for renewed future tensions between the Hegemony and the Combine, Director Brian announced a major boost in military revenues in 2391.
Much of the new money would go toward the creation of huge military complexes on all worlds bordering the Draconis Combine. These complexes, which became known as Castles Brian, were built not to prevent an enemy from landing on a world, but from actually controlling it. Many of the Castles Brian were constructed in mountains, underground, and even beneath seas. Most had tunnels radiating from a central complex so that enemy attacks could be launched from various locations. The expense was enormous, but no one even questioned Director Brian’s decision. Events in the Inner Sphere made it all too obvious that the backbreaking effort was prudent.
Lord Brian’s second major contribution was the introduction of the Succession Bill of 2392. This bill set forth regulations by which the High Council could choose “the correct candidate for the Directorship,” should a Director die without naming a successor. Though couched in legal finery, the bill in effect introduced hereditary succession. The bill’s working technically allowed for election of a candidate from outside the Cameron family, but the rest of the provisions made that almost impossible.
In 2399, Brian Cameron married Katherine McQuiston and legally claimed Richard Cameron, then eleven years old, as his son.
JUDITH CAMERON
In 2403, Lord Brian Cameron went to Elbar, a world that the Hegemony had recently acquired through a joint-ownership arrangement with the Federated Suns. The planet was once an arid and inhospitable wasteland that the Federated Suns could do little to transform. When the Hegemony provided assistance in the form of a water purification plant the Elbarians were able to build a small city surrounded by farms and ranches. Lord Brian had spent some of the best years of his life on a relative’s farm on Elbar. During most of his visit in 2403, he rekindled fond memories by touring the new farms and ranches.
Just before he arrived at a small cattle ranch, some bored young men had begun teasing the ranch’s prize bull. By the time the Director-General’s entourage of cars and hovercraft arrived, the bull was enraged. As Cameron and his staff passed, the animal smashed through the wooden bars of its corral as though they were twigs. Before the Director-General’s guards could react, the bull charged directly for Lord Brian, slamming into him with incredible force, and goring him severely. One of the guards shot the bull, but it was too late.
While everyone crowded around, Lord Brian, who was conscious and in pain, called the ranch owner to him. Fearful of being blamed for the Director-General’s injuries, the man timorously approached. When Lord Brian asked if the bull had been important, the rancher admitted that it was his only bull and that his fortunes depended on the animal. Though Lord Brian was obviously in pain, he told his staff pay the rancher for the bull. When they asked why, the Director said that an animal cannot be blamed for its nature, nor should a rancher be punished for a bull with remarkable aim. He wanted both himself and the bull to be remembered. Brian Cameron died before he could be moved to a place of care.
The ranch owner took Lord Brian’s remark to heart. He had the bull’s head mounted and the horns, still smeared with the blood of Lord Brian, coated with plastic resin. By way of apology, he sent the mounted head to the Camerons on Terra. The family accepted the gesture and had the bull’s head placed high on a wall in the main ballroom of Cameron Castle, just outside Glasgow, Scotland.
Lady Judith Cameron, younger sister to Brian, wasted little time in informing the High Council that she was the only rightful candidate for the Director-Generalship. Dismayed by such eagerness so soon after her brother’s death, the High Councilors resisted passing her name on to the public.
Lady Judith was the youngest of Margaret Cameron’s three children. Because Margaret had assumed that one of her sons would continue the Cameron dynasty, Judith had not been trained and molded to be a future ruler of the Hegemony. During a brief career in the HAF, she had shown a remarkable lack of Cameron brilliance and an almost violent disregard for authority.
Based on her record, the High Council decided to search for another candidate. When no other likely prospect emerged, they reluctantly nominated Lady Judith as the next Director-General two months after her brother’s death. The public showed their faith in Judith Cameron by confirming her appointment as the sixth Director-General.
Judith surprised many in government by continuing her brother’s policy of military build-up. She even requested that the Castles Brian, the series of fortresses built on Hegemony worlds facing the Draconis Combine, be built on worlds bordering the Free Worlds League and the Capellan Confederation.
The Age of War had just begun when Lady Judith assumed control over the Terran Hegemony. Beginning with the clash of forces of House Marik and Liao over control of the Andurien star system in 2398, that era was one of almost unrelenting violence, with every major realm fighting for control of key border worlds. For the Terran Hegemony, located smack in the middle of all the fighting, this was a period of considerable tension. The HAF might be able to defend itself against one enemy, but it would not stand a chance against two or more realms.
It was for this reason that Judith Cameron was so keen on expanding the construction of Castles Brian to border worlds along the Free Worlds League and Capellan Confederation. She felt that those two states, along with the ever-threatening Draconis Combine, were most likely to turn their avaricious sights on the Hegemony.
Director Judith did not fear House Marsden (which would become House Steiner upon the death of Alstair Marsden and the accession of his wife in 2408). The ties between the Hegemony and the Lyran Commandwealth had always been close, and her brother’s marriage to one of the Commonwealth’s famous McQuistons had made the bond even stronger. Relations were so good that the Hegemony and the Commonwealth, through the system of the joint-ownership of worlds, were carrying out extensive economic and industrial development of many marginal worlds in one another’s realms.
Relations between the Terran Hegemony and the Federated Suns were also good, with similar joint-ownership agreements for several worlds, most recently Cartago. The Federated Suns had by now come under the tyranny of Etien, Edward, and Edmund Davion, whose ineptitude and callousness were threatening to tear apart the Federated Suns. Judith, who wanted to maintain peaceful relations with House Davion, consoled herself with the thought that if the Federated Suns should suddenly turn on the Hegemony, it would be a short-term war. The people of House Davion were already showing signs of rebellion against the tyrants.
The HAF saw considerable military action during the Age of War. The Draconis Combine, the Free Worlds League, and the Capellan Confederation continually tested the Hegemony’s strength with “accidental” raids and “unintentional” strikes, but it was not until 2407 that the HAF saw major action. In that year, the Draconis Combine launched a full-scale offensive against the Commonwealth. Though the Combine forces appeared to be heading for the Commonwealth capital of Arcturus, the offensive suddenly veered away and began to force its way through the Federation of Skye.
When the Combine’s intentions became clear, Alstair Marsden, Archon of the Commonwealth, asked Lady Judith for help, but she refused to commit her troops to a Commonwealth offensive against the Combine. Instead, she agreed to send HAF forces to worlds jointly owned by the Commonwealth and the Hegemony to assume complete defensive duties on those worlds. Her decision, which meant the shipping of a dozen divisions to such worlds as Blue Diamond, Lyons, and Nusakan, freed Commonwealth units to participate in offensive actions against the Draconis Combine.
The Hegemony Armed Forces faced the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery in only one major battle during this time. In 2408, the Third Assault Armored Division faced an equivalent number of Kurita regiments on the planet Lyons. In this battle, the Hegemony used its superior warships in a coordinated space-ground defense to achieve a major victory. The battle was very costly in terms of casualties, however.
On the opposite side of the Hegemony, the HAF turned back the forces of the Capellan Confederation, who attempted to take Terra Firma in 2409. In that battle, Hegemony ground forces, led by the famed Black Charger Tank Division, stood their ground against a superior number of Capellans and despite the presence of enemy naval support. The Black Chargers held the planet for two months before being forced to withdraw. It was not long before a major Hegemony relief force, complete with warships, arrived to retake the planet, however. The Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation, Aleisha Liao, eventually offered to make reparations for the invasion, but the bitterness and violence of this costly battle had created a deep rift between the two governments.
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JOINT-OWNERSHIP OF WORLDS
Late in the 24th century, the Camerons realized that the limited number of worlds in the Terran Hegemony would eventually mean shortages of raw materials, the breakdown of industry, and collapse of the economy. Going to war to obtain new resources was ruled out almost immediately, however. Surrounded as it was, the Hegemony was not sufficiently strong to embark on conquest. Nor could it simply enter into a treaty agreement with one of the surrounding realms, for any such pact would most certainly require the Hegemony to share its superior technology. The Camerons had to find another way besides war to preserve their realm’s technological lead and to obtain raw resources.
The answer came from David Ocrassa, a young planetary engineer assigned by Director-General Margaret Cameron to study the problem. He proposed that the Hegemony negotiate agreements with neighboring Houses to make previously uninhabitable worlds habitable. In return, the Hegemony would own half of the planet's mineral resources and have some representation in the planet’s government. Though this arrangement would result in the loss of some closely guarded technology, the benefits outweighed the disadvantages.
When Hegemony leaders proposed joint-ownership ventures to the Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns, they eagerly accepted. By the beginning of the 25th century, the Hegemony had transformed 20 such marginal worlds. As relations between realms improved over time, the Draconis Combine, the Free Worlds League, and the Capellan Confederation eventually made similar arrangements with the Hegemony. By the next century, the Hegemony was joint owner of more than 100 planets in the Inner Sphere.
-From Resource Management and Exploitation in the Terran Hegemony, by Precentor Nicholas Ferhill, ComStar Press, 2899
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The Star League Part 5
GOVERNMENT AND SCIENCE
Michael Cameron spent his first few years as Director-General becoming acquainted with the Hegemony government. He also had to become accustomed to being in the spotlight, with which he was uncomfortable. Nevertheless, he poured fearsome concentration into his new job.
One of Cameron’s first actions was to create the Hegemony Research Alliance Department, so that all government research projects, except military, could be centralized. Once this efficient management system was in place, the number of research projects funded by the Hegemony government quickly doubled. As the new director earmarked more and more money for scientific research, other members of the government began to grumble. Though many protested to funding for studies of whether prophylactics could be made from paper, few could object to research that led to invention of a portable fusion generator small enough to be carried in a suitcase or to the discovery of cures for nasty alien diseases.
Aside from creating the influential HRAD, Michael Cameron initiated several more subtle governmental changes. Because of his genius and love of knowledge, many government officials, particularly those who reported directly to him, were stimulated to redouble their efforts. With this new emphasis on intelligence filtering throughout the bureaucracy, the government became unbelievably efficient.
In the business arena, the Director-General was adamant about upholding morality. He insisted on strengthening government agencies that policed business and economic activity. He also encouraged the development of nontraditional economic systems on some worlds. Though this upset a few economic neanderthals, alternative economic systems such as socialism proved more appropriate than cutthroat capitalism on certain of the Hegemony’s poorer planets.
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FAMOUS CAMERONS
Sir Ewen Cameron (1426-1511)-The Cameron family can confidently trace its origins to 15th-century Scotland and a Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel. Before that, Camerons are mentioned in ancient Scottish writings, with most references relating to metal-working Camerons of the Scottish Highlands. Sir Ewen Cameron received his title from James Stuart IV, King of Scotland, in 1505. It was a reward for Ewen’s participation in the battle of New Dryl Ford, a minor skirmish between forces of Clan Stuart and brigands attempting to steal food from the coastal town of New Dryl.
Richard Cameron (1648-1680)-A descendant of Sir Ewen and a founder of the Reformed Presbyterian movement, Richard Cameron objected to the alliance of Church and State under King Charles II. He and his followers seceded from the official Kirk to form their own. When they refused to take the official Oath of Allegiance in 1674, the group lost many of its rights and were viewed with deep suspicion by the government. After Richard Cameron died in the Battle at Aird's Moss, King Charles persecuted his followers severely in 1680.
Simon Cameron (1799-1889)-Simon Cameron was an American who served as U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s first Secretary of War. His early life was spent in Pennsylvania, where he made a fortune in railroads, banking, and newspapers. In 1824, he entered politics as a supporter of John C. Calhoun. In 1845, he was elected to Congress, and in 1860, was a presidential candidate. President Lincoln was persuaded to appoint him as Secretary of War, but within two years, Cameron’s inefficiency compelled the President to ask for his resignation. Simon Cameron went on to serve as an Ambassador and a Senator until his retirement in 1877.
Simon Cameron is regarded by many American historians as the first state boss in American politics. During his political life, he faced numerous charges of corruption, but his widespread influence kept him from prosecution. Cameron became involved in a national scandal when he mishandled funds entrusted to him as a Commissioner for the Winnebago Indians.
Sir David Young Cameron (1865-1945)-A Scottish painter and etcher who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, David Cameron abruptly changed from the study of accounting to the study of art during his years as a university student in Glasgow. He later devoted his life to painting and etching in a style that emphasized austere line over emotional expression.
Kevin Cameron (1921-1945)-Kevin Cameron was a Scottish pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Before the war, he was a promising pianist, studying with several famous teachers in Europe. He joined the RAF in late 1938. He flew a Hawker Hurricane fighter in the Battle of Britain, shooting down five enemy fighters. He himself was shot down over France in 1944 and died in a German prisoner-of-war camp in early 1945.
Jessica Cameron (1960-2012)-An Australian biochemist, Jessica Cameron won the Nobel Prize in 2002 for her research into various vaccinations against retroviruses. She was also an ardent crusader for nuclear disarmament and pressed her government into declaring itself a neutral nation in 2010. She died in an automobile accident in 2012.
Timothy Cameron (2204-2238)-The Cameron family’s only convicted murderer was born in St. Vincel, Scotland, and studied to become a colonial planetary engineer at the University of Glasgow. He left Terra in 2227 and settled down on Beta Colony, Murphrid, where he was in charge of managing the colony’s meager plant and water resources.
In 2229, his wife, Bonnie DeKirk, gave birth to Mitchell Cameron. A year later, Timothy Cameron found out that the child’s real father was Lymond Du Nong, a close family friend. Lymond Du Nong was found dead of pistol wounds on March 5, 2230. Timothy Cameron was tried and found guilty for the murder of Du Nong and spent the rest of his life in the Beta Colony Corrections Center. While in prison, he published a series of papers that would later lead to a revolutionary approach to planetary resource management.
-From Cameron Family Tree, by Duke Richard Frenser, Caph Genealogical Press, 2567
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THE NEW NOBILITY
The reason I have created the Peers List is not to reward people who I feel are somehow “superior” to the rest. Nor will I grant titles to people who follow some sort of approved religion, or who are of a “proper” race or lifestyle, or who blindly support my rule. To do so would surely spell ruin for the Hegemony. No, the reason I have reintroduced the concept of nobility is to reward people who have done more than what was expected of them, and have thus advanced all mankind’s fortunes. It is a reward for action, not attributes.
-From a speech by Director-General Michael Cameron before the Terran Congress, January 1, 2351
In his speech before the assembled houses of the Terran Congress on New Year’s Day, 2351, the Lord Protector of the Terran Hegemony dropped a cultural bombshell by announcing the resurrection of the medieval nobility system. The system would include six orders of titles patterned after the old English ranking. They were, in descending order of importance, Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, Baron, and Knight. Each title would allow the holder certain privileges and respect as well as a parcel of land and money as a token of the Hegemony’s gratitude. The Director-General announced that the first Peer List would appear in six months.
Why Michael Cameron chose to revive this particular class system is too large a question to resolve here, but a few comments are in order. First, it is important to note that Michael Cameron did not intend these titles to be passed on through inheritance. Right to the title died with the owner. At that time, the family of the deceased nobleman reverted to its former status, keeping only their land and money. Though Michael Cameron’s notes later revealed that he had been tempted to allow the transfer of titles to the nearest kin, he decided that it would only “create a new class of snobs, instead of encouraging the worthy to aim high.”
Second, one must remember that though titles were not used before the reign of Michael Cameron, a kind of noble class did exist in the Terran Hegemony. Most were rich industrialists, some were people with brilliant minds, and others were popular entertainers. Michael Cameron established a formal code of nobility that recognized the special accomplishments of others.
Some people were instantly opposed to the new nobility, claiming that Michael Cameron wanted to entrench his own family into the Director-Generalship. Others felt that the nobility system would reintroduce all the medieval evils, no matter what were Michael Cameron’s high ideals. Still others believed that the system would lead to distortions in social development, and that the Hegemony should be moving toward a classless society, not a hierarchical one. Most just decided to wait and see who became the first noble.
Government officials were just as noncommittal, though upper-level bureaucrats secretly rubbed their hands together in anticipation of the money, land, and prestige they hopes to acquire. Each, of course, was certain that he was a candidate for peerage, as did the upper-level members of the HAF.
When Cameron announced his Peer List, the upper-echelons were disappointed, but the common citizens were pleased. The Director-General read the names of the 31 men and women he considered worthy of titles. Eighteen had no involvement with either the government or the military, and not one was related to the Director-General.
Some of the first nobles are worth mentioning. Yumiko Sakuma was a famed novelist from an obscure village on Thorin and was Michael Cameron’s favorite author. She had spent much of her life writing about frontier life and collecting stories about the various Exoduses. Besides the title of “Countess of the Arts,” the Director-General offered her a major island on Thorin and a luxurious mansion. Sakuma refused graciously but regretfully.
Another of the first nobles was Professor Gregory Atlas, the team leader of a top-secret HRAD research project at the University of Zimbabwe. Though the nature of Atlas’s work was not revealed when he received his title, it was later learned that he was responsible for refining and redesigning the technology of myomer bundles. He would eventually design one of the first WorkMechs, and his work became the basis for BattleMechs.
LADY MARGARET CAMERON
Lord Michael Cameron served as Director-General for 27 years before retiring in 2367. By the end of his reign, the Hegemony had enjoyed 15 years of unparalleled economic prosperity and political stability and regained its importance as the center of Humanity. The new nobility was a success, for many of the new nobles had gone on to accomplish even greater deeds after becoming titled.
Few will argue that Michael Cameron was a far-seeing and competent leader. It is not surprising that he would seek to strengthen the position of his heirs, which he did in the same year that the nobility system was created. Because of his popularity, there was little opposition to Cameron’s Edict of 2351. In one stroke, he created the foundations of a ruling dynasty by making it legal for his daughters to retain the Cameron name after marriage. This meant that a female successor would come to power as a Cameron and also that her offspring would legally bear the name of the maternal line instead of the father’s surname.
When Michael Cameron decided to retire in his later years, Lady Margaret Cameron, Michael’s daughter, was the obvious choice to carry on his policies. Forty-two years old and a ten-year veteran of the HAF Navy, Margaret was almost as brilliant as her father. She was equally industrious and as intense, but more outgoing. Though Michael Cameron had been admired and respected, his seriousness always made him seem somewhat aloof. Lady Margaret, on the other hand, had grown up in the spotlight and enjoyed it.
In 2347, Lady Margaret married Alexander Ellis, a wealthy industrialist. They had three children: Raymond, Brian, and Judith. Though she retired from the Navy to raise her children, she remained active in the Hegemony government. It took only one hour for the High Councilors to agree to submit her name to the public. A month later, Lady Margaret Cameron was sworn in as the Hegemony’s third Director-General.
Within the first year of her rule, Margaret presented a controversial bill to the government. The Military Recruitment and Preparedness Bill called for every adult to be drafted into the HAF as a member of his or her homeworld’s militia. Every citizen would serve one month a year in military maneuvers until the age of 55. On worlds bordering other realms, each citizen would be issued a rifle to keep at home. This system would not only triple the size of the HAF, but also free professional soldiers for extra-potent units.
Oddly enough, the loudest protests against the bill were from high-ranking military and business leaders. The HAF complained that this new system would dilute, rather than strengthen, the military. They feared that the new militia units would be weak and thus a liability in battle. The business sector complained about losing a month’s work from their employees, nor did they like the implication that they must support the inevitable massive buildup in equipment.
As for the public, those who objected morally could serve in nonviolent ways, or even be excused entirely if their soul demanded it. Most average citizens, though a bit fearful about the future, accepted their military duty to the state and appreciated the chance to earn extra money.
Director Margaret threatened to bypass the Terran Congress and go directly to the people to pass her military reforms. Fearing defeat and a political rift, the Congress relented and passed the Military Recruitment and Preparedness Bill.
The HAF, meanwhile, continued to push the limits of military technology. A new series of warships, the Aegis Class cruisers, were built during Director Margaret’s reign. These ships were small, yet packed more firepower than previous cruisers and battlecruisers. The HAF also began to experiment with what it called “Drop Pallets,” bowl-shaped heat shields in which the tank sat while a computer within the pallet performed delicate maneuvering procedures with a series of jets. Though the first few attempts, using deadweights, were rousing failures, the HAF continued.
Lady Margaret Cameron also continued her father’s interest in the sciences. The first commercial WorkMechs were produced during her administration, as well as the development of cheaper refinery technology for efficiently extracting metals from rock. This continued technological boom stimulated the economy and raised the standard of living in the Hegemony.
In fact, this technological acceleration forced the government to consider limiting the spread of new inventions to other realms. In her heart, the Director believed that sharing the Hegemony's superior technology would honor her father’s and James McKenna’s desire to see the Hegemony shine as a beacon of Human civilization. As the years passed, however, increasing tensions between the other interstellar governments and the Hegemony forced Director Margaret to agree, in 2380, to military and HRAD demands for legal restrictions on the export of sensitive technology. This policy became known as the Mother Doctrine, and sensitive and secret technologies were specified on an official list.
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OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT OF OPERATION MUSCLEBOUND, EXPERIMENT 45-B, DECEMBER 21, 2350
Experiment Summary: Professor Atlas and Team Musclebound-consisting of five section leaders and 14 assistants-are testing a new type of myomer bundle, smaller and requiring less motivating energy than previous models. The new myomer bundle, dubbed "The Schwarzenegger Bicep," was a collection of myomer strings interwoven with a new, electrically soluble nerve circuitry. The team hoped this would solve a problem that had plagued them for the past ten months: the uncoordinated contraction of individual myomer fibers, resulting in uncontrollable and useless twitching.
The myomer bundle, about two meters long and ten centimeters thick, was attached to the test harness, which was little more than a universal gym system using lead weights from a local health spa. The myomer bundle was attached with one end anchored to the concrete floor and the other to the pulley system of the test harness so that, if the contraction succeeded, the strength of the bundle could be measured by how much the bundle could lift.
ATLAS: Is everything all set? Unauthorized personnel out?...Everyone behind the safety barriers?...All right. Good luck, everyone. O.K. Devers, charge the myomer bundle.
DEVERS: Myomer bundle charge at 100 percent.
ATLAS: Trethers, measuring instruments ready?
TRETHERS: Yes, sir.
ATLAS: Fine. Iona, turn on the cameras. Countdown from five, four, three, two, one, discharge.
[Professor Atlas pushed the discharge switch. Immediately, all the potential energy stored in the myomer bundle became one swift and powerful contraction as the electric current traveled through it. The new myomer bundle composition of "Schwarzenegger's Bicep" contracted into a mass one-tenth its original size. It ripped the thick metal tubing of the test harness to shreds, causing ten-kilogram lead weights to be tossed into the air like confetti. Some of the scientists had to run for their lives to avoid the falling weights.]
ATLAS: My God. Am I hallucinating?
TRETHERS: Professor, the contraction was off the scale of my instruments!
ATLAS: Which means what?
TRETHERS: A pull of over one metric ton!
ATLAS: I think it's time to get rip-snorting drunk, don't you?
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Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The Star League Part 4
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VICIOUSNESS ON INGRESS
I’ve been a Sergeant in the Colonial Marines for over 20 malfing years. I served in the Alliance Global Militia and then in the Hegemony Armed Forces. I’m one of the best damn combat sergeants they’ve ever seen, which is why the brass came to me and offered me a transfer into the first CAAN regiment (Combined Armor, Air, and Naval Regiment). Prestige and extra pay are two things I’ve never turned down, a willing man being a third.
For the next year, I participated in the formation of the regiment. Being a grunt Marine, most of my duties were centered on helping create effective tactics and procedures to mesh with all the tanks, hovercraft, and fighters the regiment would have.
In 2316, the regiment was all set for action and it wasn’t too long before we got the word to mobilize for a new task force setting out to take Ingress. Briefings described the world as rich, with many natural resources and thriving industrial development. What made the planet a perfect target for a CAAN Regiment was that most of the planet’s important cities were clustered around one large, deep sea.
I’ve never been a fan of JumpShips and travel through nether-dimensions. It always makes my sick, no matter how many barf-pills I swallow. Getting to Ingress put me into a pretty foul mood, which didn’t get much better when I could feel our ship suddenly accelerate and shudder. Apparently the rebels at Ingress were better armed than what Intelligence had led us to believe.
As it turned out, the First CAAN was among the first regiments to make it onto the planet. Our DropShips landed in their assigned zones near the Ingress Sea, which had been semi-secured by Marine Jump Troops dropped earlier. Some of our DropShips landed directly in the shallow waters and began unloading hovercraft and gunboats, while other DropShips landed the fighters in the large, flat valley that was to be our fighter base.
My troops and I strapped ourselves into our hovercraft and set off for our first combat mission. Grand Port was a major city down the coast. Our assignment was to attack the sloping beach and seize certain key points along the waterfront so that the dogfaces could land in their DropShips and take the rest of the city.
After we had sped along for an hour, our target became visible. It was infantry with anti-tank grenades and missiles. One white line of missile smoke became two, then three, then a whole thicket of white smoke streams all aimed directly at us. Most of the missiles were small heat-seekers, easily avoided with our flares and heat suppressors. Still, a few got through. One hit the engine compartment and control surfaces of the hovercraft next to us. The craft gave a shudder, then suddenly twirled to port as the engine detonated.
After the fight, we discovered that the enemy on Ingress somehow had access to ancient blueprints of missile weapons. These things were really antiques-some of the plans were for a missile used by the military of the old Unites States of America. All the enemy had to do was retool a few factories and they could start churning out weapons like cheap toys. Though the weapons were outdated, they were capable of causing considerable damage, especially when used in combination with sneaky guerrilla tactics.
The fight for Ingress was far from the peaceful persuasion the folks back home were led to believe. It was a war, pure and simple. Our weaponry, for all its high-tech glory, was sh*t, considering all it took was some country bumpkin with a handheld missile launcher to turn it into a pile of scrap metal.
-From The High-Tech Toy Army, by Randi Fahner (HAF retired), Terra Military Press, 2322
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INTERREALM RELATIONS
The poor performance of HAF technology forced Director-General McKenna to reconsider his priorities. He saw that his dream of uniting all mankind under one flag would require a force vastly larger and more powerful than the HAF. Yet, James McKenna still devoutly believed that Terra should become the center of all Humanity.
Meanwhile, worlds outside the Hegemony had found it necessary or profitable to band together. The Marik Commonwealth, the Federation of Oriente, The Dominion of Regulus, the Federation of Skye, the Protectorate of Donegal, the Tamar Pact, the Crucis Pact, the Ozawa Mercantile Association, and the Capellan Republic were just a few of the alliances created at this time. Many had banded together for economic reasons; others hoped to protect one another from bands of marauding brigands. A few of the associations consisted of worlds conquered by a particular family bent on acquiring wealth and power.
By the 2330s, these associations had become large and vigorous independent domains, each with its own private military. Having already encountered a few of these militaries, McKenna knew he could not conquer them all. Privately, he doubted he could conquer even one without straining the Hegemony’s resources.
Diplomacy suddenly became McKenna’s most potent weapon. He began to tone down the rhetoric of his speeches. No longer did he speak of one realm uniting all Humanity, but instead described the Hegemony as the repository of all mankind’s knowledge and compassion. Within the Hegemony government, McKenna also began to completely revamp the government’s Foreign Affairs Department. In this era, many important diplomatic delegations traveled from the Hegemony to the worlds beyond its borders to exchange ambassadors and establish full diplomatic relations.
THE SYRMA AMBUSH
Despite improved relations between the Hegemony and the various pacts and confederations around it, there were still quite a few unaffiliated worlds that Director-General McKenna considered fair game. In 2335, he launched his third, and last, major offensive to seize certain worlds that he considered vital to the Hegemony’s continued growth.
Most of these planets lay toward the Federation of Skye in what would one day be the Lyran Commonwealth. Two worlds, Syrma and Galatea, became the focus of McKenna’s plans. Though both planets were technically within the boundaries claimed by the Federation of Skye, they were populated by an anti-technology religious sect that had no wish to join any interplanetary realm. The Federation had tolerated the inhabitants’ wishes, but these resource and water-rich planets were too much of a temptation for Director-General McKenna.
The Terran Hegemony was initially successful. Drawing on lessons from its two earlier offensives, the better-trained and equipped HAF easily took Denebola, Milton, Alioth, Mizar, and Lyons. Morale was high in the various strike forces. Though technically in command, the Director-General had turned over most of his authority to his son, Admiral Konrad McKenna, who had his father’s charisma and intelligence.
Since 2333, Konrad McKenna had commanded the HAF’s Navy, over 300 warships strong, with skill and panache. Though he had yet to command in a heavy combat zone, everyone expected Konrad to perform like a McKenna. Most also expected that he would succeed his father as Director-General. When James McKenna announced that duties and poor health were forcing him to leave the strike force and return to Terra, Admiral Konrad McKenna took over.
Approaching Galatea, one of the main objectives of the entire offensive, Konrad McKenna broke with standard procedures by striking at the world without the usual Naughty Picture Runs. He claimed that there would be little resistance from the peaceful and technologically backward inhabitants, who were unlikely to have advanced weapons. Though the people of Galatea were indeed believers in low technology, they were more than willing to arm themselves with slug-throwing weapons. They used their superior knowledge of the planet to harass the HAF forces, many of whom died in the effort to subdue the people of Galatea.
After this serious error, the rest of the Hegemony strike force commanders were doubtful about accepting McKenna’s judgments. Sensing this, McKenna began to blame them publicly for the problems, which his father would never have done. The Navy High Command still believed in Konrad McKenna, however, and stayed out of the feud brewing between the Admiral and the army.
After a difficult, year-long battle, Galatea was finally won. The Navy was assembled at the system jump points for the leap over to Syrma, when Admiral McKenna announced another, more serious break with standard campaign procedures. He believed that it was a waste of time for only the major warships to fight for the jump points so that the troopships could safely make their jumps. Instead, he wanted the cargo vessels and troopships to make the first jump simultaneously with the warships. The Admiral reasoned that because Syrma was populated by the same sort of anti-tech colonists as Galatea, there would be no need to fight for the jump points. It would be more efficient for the troopships to jump insystem and immediately accelerate toward their target.
The other commanders violently disagreed, with even the Naval officers wary of such a risky move. When General Rebecca Danforth publicly branded the Admiral a fool, she was arrested and sent to the brig. The invasion of Syrma, as planned by Admiral Konrad McKenna, began on July 23, 2338.
What Admiral McKenna did not know, and his military intelligence had failed to uncover, was that the inhabitants of Syrma had struck a secret deal with the Federation of Skye after receiving news of Galatea. Though the Federation had no wish to ruin good relations with the Hegemony by actively defending Syrma, they did not take kindly to the McKennas seizing worlds so close to Skye, capital of the Federation. Thus did the Federation of Skye take the extraordinary and expensive step of building and spreading countless mines and Sleeper missiles at Syrma’s main jump points.
Many of the mines exploded the instant the HAF ships fully materialized. There were even reports of some JumpShips actually materializing around mines. The heat and force of the explosions activated the dormant Sleeper missiles, which fired up their engines and sought out the survivors after the debris had floated by.
The folly of Admiral McKenna’s plan quickly became apparent. The larger warships could withstand hits from many mines and missiles, but the less massive troopships and cargo vessels could not. Of the 29 troopships that jumped into the Syrma system with the first wave of the HAF, only two survived. Not only was this a tremendous loss of life, but it also effectively stripped the strike force’s ability to invade and seize a planet.
Things were going to get even worse, however. Admiral McKenna’s plan was for the second wave of ships to make the jump without waiting for word from the first wave. This meant that the survivors of the first wave now had to pick their way through the remaining mines and the floating hulks of destroyed vessels as the ships of the second wave started to materialize around them. Most managed to limp out of the way, but some could not, and another six vessels were lost.
Unfortunately for all concerned, Admiral McKenna’s battleship came through the jump without a scratch. Instead of seeing the flaw in his planning, he blamed everything on the commander of the first wave, Vice-Admiral Harris Cather. So incensed was Admiral McKenna by the Vice-Admiral’s supposed treasonous neglect that he held a court-martial right there amid the hulks of the many destroyed Hegemony ships.
The court-martial was a farce in which Admiral McKenna, acting as prosecutor as well as judge, laid all blame at the feet of Vice-Admiral Cather. As the trial dragged into its third week, the survivors of the disaster began to shake off the numbness of shock. At least ten crews privately vowed to mutiny if the Vice-Admiral were found guilty for Admiral McKenna’s ineptness.
A day before the trial was finally to end, the Black Lion appeared alongside Admiral Konrad McKenna’s flagship. The Director-General had left Terra as soon as news of the Syrma Ambush reached him. Deeply ashamed of his son’s behavior, James McKenna apologized to the survivors and announced that he was stripping his son of all ranks and privileges. Assuming command of the remaining vessels, he ordered everyone back to Terra.
The Black Lion paused in the Syrma system for three hours after the departure of other Hegemony vessels. There has never been any official explanation for why James McKenna remained for so long among the twisted hulks of those lost Hegemony troopships.
DEATH OF JAMES MCKENNA
When details of the disaster at Syrma reached the Hegemony public, they reacted with shock and outrage. Public demonstrations and riots became widespread.
Die-hard supporters of the old Alliance and other critics of the Director-General used the Syrma Ambush to their advantage, blaming the disaster on the McKennas and the government they had created. This inflamed passions even further, as street demonstrations escalated to dissatisfaction with the Hegemony government itself.
Within the HAF, the Syrma disaster created a deep rift between the Army and the Navy. The Army, having lost two divisions of men and equipment, blamed the Navy for not realizing earlier that Vice-Admiral McKenna was incompetent. Navy commanders pointed out that the Army may have lost more in the disaster, but that the Navy had losses of 34 trained crews and as many ships of its own. If anyone was to blame for not seeing Konrad McKenna as a fool, the Admirals said to the Generals, it was the man’s own father.
Public and military tensions increased as the Director-General refused to allow his son to be prosecuted for incompetence. This was further fuel for opponents of the Hegemony, and the bravest among them called for the Director’s impeachment. Though technically impossible, the call to depose him almost immediately divided the Hegemony into two camps, with the state threatening to plunge into a chaos as destructive as that which had brought down the Alliance.
It was at that moment that the Director-General made a realm-wide broadcast to his people. With touching candor, he explained that he knew his office demanded that he punish Vice-Admiral Konrad McKenna for the Syrma fiasco, but he could not forget that Konrad was his son. Torn between his sense of duty and his desire to protect his son, the Director-General had decided that it was time for him to retire.
The announcement caught the entire Hegemony by surprise. Because of his truthfulness and humility, McKenna had once more won the people’s support. Within ten days, however, he was beyond politics. James McKenna died of cancer at age 64.
RISE OF THE CAMERONS
I’ve spent much of my life in the military. I’m used to being forced to volunteer.
-Michael Cameron, as quoted in The Life of Michael Cameron, by Henrietta Vela, New Earth Books, 2399
The Hegemony, specifically the High Council, now faced the task of finding someone to replace the irreplaceable James McKenna. There was still enough public and political discord in the Hegemony over the Syrma Ambush to give the High Councilors a sense of urgency. Yet, they agreed that the next candidate for Director-General would need at least some of James McKenna’s qualities, if not his name.
James McKenna’s only offspring, Konrad, was out of the question. Disgraced and drummed out of the HAF, he had retreated to his London home, where he was quietly going mad among a jungle of house plants and 50 cats. Other close relatives, such as McKenna’s sister Katherine McKenna or cousin Uston McKenna, were either too young, too uninterested, or too eager for the job.
Expanding their search to include more distant relations of the late Director-General, the Councilors eventually settled on two candidates. Graham Nellas, a nephew of James McKenna, represented the Pacific Northwest States of North America in the Terran Congress. Forty-five years old, he had served in the HAF as a Marine officer, winning a medal of valor for his actions in the conquest of Addicks. The handsome Graham was politically conservative and an excellent orator.
Michael Cameron, a third cousin to McKenna, was the other candidate, though some Councilors believed he was less qualified than Senator Graham Nellas. Only thirty, Michael was currently an officer in the Army Reserves. A scholarly man, all his life he had shown a marked distaste for politics or religion of any sort, believing instead in what he called “heart’s honor.”
One of the reasons the High Councilors were considering Michael Cameron was his learning and interest in serious research. He could discuss almost any topic with a knowledge equaled to or even greater than that of some experts. This led to his later becoming known as the first true Renaissance Man in centuries, which Michael considered the highest of praise.
The other quality that attracted the High Councilors to Michael Cameron was the passion he brought to everything he did. Someone once said that when he was deeply involved in a project, Michael “got a strange air of doom about him, almost as though you could hear the thunder of his mind and see the flashes of lightning behind his eyes.” Other stories described Michael spending whole days and nights working on research projects or trying to solve various problems relating to his reserve unit.
Though some admired this quality of dogged determination, others called it obsessive behavior, perhaps even a sign of mental imbalance. In person, though, Cameron deeply impressed the Councilors with his honesty and intelligence.
MICHAEL VICTORIOUS
As the day for a decision drew nearer, the Councilors remained split over whom to recommend as the next Director-General, and the debate became more heated and tense. On the day before the announcement must be made, the Councilors were still hanging fire. Because of their inability to choose, they decided to submit the names of Graham Nellas and Michael Cameron to the people for consideration. Privately, many Councilors expected the public to choose the more personable Graham Nellas, while others hoped that they would appreciate Michael Cameron’s genius, despite his unassuming demeanor.
According to political election rules laid down by Director-General James McKenna, the two candidates had to run strictly controlled political campaigns. The number and type of public appearances they could make was severely limited, and advertisements in the public media were banned. The late Director had wanted to make sure that the days of the people electing a photogenic person with a winning smile and vacuum between the ears were gone forever.
In place of a media blitz, the public witnessed frequent debates between Michael Cameron and Graham Nellas, before the holocameras as well as in the various print media. In the public debates, Graham Nellas came across as suave and self-assured, but perhaps too glib in expressing himself. Nellas also had actual experience in the Terran Congress, a fact he mentioned as often as possible. The public nevertheless voted for the serious and brilliant Michael Cameron by a large margin, reassured by his air of quiet competence. Incredible as was this upset, a total of three official recounts requested by the High Councilors turned up no evidence of vote tampering or changes in the results.
On January 17, 2340, Michael Cameron was sworn in as the second Director-General and Lord Protector of the Terran Hegemony.
VICIOUSNESS ON INGRESS
I’ve been a Sergeant in the Colonial Marines for over 20 malfing years. I served in the Alliance Global Militia and then in the Hegemony Armed Forces. I’m one of the best damn combat sergeants they’ve ever seen, which is why the brass came to me and offered me a transfer into the first CAAN regiment (Combined Armor, Air, and Naval Regiment). Prestige and extra pay are two things I’ve never turned down, a willing man being a third.
For the next year, I participated in the formation of the regiment. Being a grunt Marine, most of my duties were centered on helping create effective tactics and procedures to mesh with all the tanks, hovercraft, and fighters the regiment would have.
In 2316, the regiment was all set for action and it wasn’t too long before we got the word to mobilize for a new task force setting out to take Ingress. Briefings described the world as rich, with many natural resources and thriving industrial development. What made the planet a perfect target for a CAAN Regiment was that most of the planet’s important cities were clustered around one large, deep sea.
I’ve never been a fan of JumpShips and travel through nether-dimensions. It always makes my sick, no matter how many barf-pills I swallow. Getting to Ingress put me into a pretty foul mood, which didn’t get much better when I could feel our ship suddenly accelerate and shudder. Apparently the rebels at Ingress were better armed than what Intelligence had led us to believe.
As it turned out, the First CAAN was among the first regiments to make it onto the planet. Our DropShips landed in their assigned zones near the Ingress Sea, which had been semi-secured by Marine Jump Troops dropped earlier. Some of our DropShips landed directly in the shallow waters and began unloading hovercraft and gunboats, while other DropShips landed the fighters in the large, flat valley that was to be our fighter base.
My troops and I strapped ourselves into our hovercraft and set off for our first combat mission. Grand Port was a major city down the coast. Our assignment was to attack the sloping beach and seize certain key points along the waterfront so that the dogfaces could land in their DropShips and take the rest of the city.
After we had sped along for an hour, our target became visible. It was infantry with anti-tank grenades and missiles. One white line of missile smoke became two, then three, then a whole thicket of white smoke streams all aimed directly at us. Most of the missiles were small heat-seekers, easily avoided with our flares and heat suppressors. Still, a few got through. One hit the engine compartment and control surfaces of the hovercraft next to us. The craft gave a shudder, then suddenly twirled to port as the engine detonated.
After the fight, we discovered that the enemy on Ingress somehow had access to ancient blueprints of missile weapons. These things were really antiques-some of the plans were for a missile used by the military of the old Unites States of America. All the enemy had to do was retool a few factories and they could start churning out weapons like cheap toys. Though the weapons were outdated, they were capable of causing considerable damage, especially when used in combination with sneaky guerrilla tactics.
The fight for Ingress was far from the peaceful persuasion the folks back home were led to believe. It was a war, pure and simple. Our weaponry, for all its high-tech glory, was sh*t, considering all it took was some country bumpkin with a handheld missile launcher to turn it into a pile of scrap metal.
-From The High-Tech Toy Army, by Randi Fahner (HAF retired), Terra Military Press, 2322
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INTERREALM RELATIONS
The poor performance of HAF technology forced Director-General McKenna to reconsider his priorities. He saw that his dream of uniting all mankind under one flag would require a force vastly larger and more powerful than the HAF. Yet, James McKenna still devoutly believed that Terra should become the center of all Humanity.
Meanwhile, worlds outside the Hegemony had found it necessary or profitable to band together. The Marik Commonwealth, the Federation of Oriente, The Dominion of Regulus, the Federation of Skye, the Protectorate of Donegal, the Tamar Pact, the Crucis Pact, the Ozawa Mercantile Association, and the Capellan Republic were just a few of the alliances created at this time. Many had banded together for economic reasons; others hoped to protect one another from bands of marauding brigands. A few of the associations consisted of worlds conquered by a particular family bent on acquiring wealth and power.
By the 2330s, these associations had become large and vigorous independent domains, each with its own private military. Having already encountered a few of these militaries, McKenna knew he could not conquer them all. Privately, he doubted he could conquer even one without straining the Hegemony’s resources.
Diplomacy suddenly became McKenna’s most potent weapon. He began to tone down the rhetoric of his speeches. No longer did he speak of one realm uniting all Humanity, but instead described the Hegemony as the repository of all mankind’s knowledge and compassion. Within the Hegemony government, McKenna also began to completely revamp the government’s Foreign Affairs Department. In this era, many important diplomatic delegations traveled from the Hegemony to the worlds beyond its borders to exchange ambassadors and establish full diplomatic relations.
THE SYRMA AMBUSH
Despite improved relations between the Hegemony and the various pacts and confederations around it, there were still quite a few unaffiliated worlds that Director-General McKenna considered fair game. In 2335, he launched his third, and last, major offensive to seize certain worlds that he considered vital to the Hegemony’s continued growth.
Most of these planets lay toward the Federation of Skye in what would one day be the Lyran Commonwealth. Two worlds, Syrma and Galatea, became the focus of McKenna’s plans. Though both planets were technically within the boundaries claimed by the Federation of Skye, they were populated by an anti-technology religious sect that had no wish to join any interplanetary realm. The Federation had tolerated the inhabitants’ wishes, but these resource and water-rich planets were too much of a temptation for Director-General McKenna.
The Terran Hegemony was initially successful. Drawing on lessons from its two earlier offensives, the better-trained and equipped HAF easily took Denebola, Milton, Alioth, Mizar, and Lyons. Morale was high in the various strike forces. Though technically in command, the Director-General had turned over most of his authority to his son, Admiral Konrad McKenna, who had his father’s charisma and intelligence.
Since 2333, Konrad McKenna had commanded the HAF’s Navy, over 300 warships strong, with skill and panache. Though he had yet to command in a heavy combat zone, everyone expected Konrad to perform like a McKenna. Most also expected that he would succeed his father as Director-General. When James McKenna announced that duties and poor health were forcing him to leave the strike force and return to Terra, Admiral Konrad McKenna took over.
Approaching Galatea, one of the main objectives of the entire offensive, Konrad McKenna broke with standard procedures by striking at the world without the usual Naughty Picture Runs. He claimed that there would be little resistance from the peaceful and technologically backward inhabitants, who were unlikely to have advanced weapons. Though the people of Galatea were indeed believers in low technology, they were more than willing to arm themselves with slug-throwing weapons. They used their superior knowledge of the planet to harass the HAF forces, many of whom died in the effort to subdue the people of Galatea.
After this serious error, the rest of the Hegemony strike force commanders were doubtful about accepting McKenna’s judgments. Sensing this, McKenna began to blame them publicly for the problems, which his father would never have done. The Navy High Command still believed in Konrad McKenna, however, and stayed out of the feud brewing between the Admiral and the army.
After a difficult, year-long battle, Galatea was finally won. The Navy was assembled at the system jump points for the leap over to Syrma, when Admiral McKenna announced another, more serious break with standard campaign procedures. He believed that it was a waste of time for only the major warships to fight for the jump points so that the troopships could safely make their jumps. Instead, he wanted the cargo vessels and troopships to make the first jump simultaneously with the warships. The Admiral reasoned that because Syrma was populated by the same sort of anti-tech colonists as Galatea, there would be no need to fight for the jump points. It would be more efficient for the troopships to jump insystem and immediately accelerate toward their target.
The other commanders violently disagreed, with even the Naval officers wary of such a risky move. When General Rebecca Danforth publicly branded the Admiral a fool, she was arrested and sent to the brig. The invasion of Syrma, as planned by Admiral Konrad McKenna, began on July 23, 2338.
What Admiral McKenna did not know, and his military intelligence had failed to uncover, was that the inhabitants of Syrma had struck a secret deal with the Federation of Skye after receiving news of Galatea. Though the Federation had no wish to ruin good relations with the Hegemony by actively defending Syrma, they did not take kindly to the McKennas seizing worlds so close to Skye, capital of the Federation. Thus did the Federation of Skye take the extraordinary and expensive step of building and spreading countless mines and Sleeper missiles at Syrma’s main jump points.
Many of the mines exploded the instant the HAF ships fully materialized. There were even reports of some JumpShips actually materializing around mines. The heat and force of the explosions activated the dormant Sleeper missiles, which fired up their engines and sought out the survivors after the debris had floated by.
The folly of Admiral McKenna’s plan quickly became apparent. The larger warships could withstand hits from many mines and missiles, but the less massive troopships and cargo vessels could not. Of the 29 troopships that jumped into the Syrma system with the first wave of the HAF, only two survived. Not only was this a tremendous loss of life, but it also effectively stripped the strike force’s ability to invade and seize a planet.
Things were going to get even worse, however. Admiral McKenna’s plan was for the second wave of ships to make the jump without waiting for word from the first wave. This meant that the survivors of the first wave now had to pick their way through the remaining mines and the floating hulks of destroyed vessels as the ships of the second wave started to materialize around them. Most managed to limp out of the way, but some could not, and another six vessels were lost.
Unfortunately for all concerned, Admiral McKenna’s battleship came through the jump without a scratch. Instead of seeing the flaw in his planning, he blamed everything on the commander of the first wave, Vice-Admiral Harris Cather. So incensed was Admiral McKenna by the Vice-Admiral’s supposed treasonous neglect that he held a court-martial right there amid the hulks of the many destroyed Hegemony ships.
The court-martial was a farce in which Admiral McKenna, acting as prosecutor as well as judge, laid all blame at the feet of Vice-Admiral Cather. As the trial dragged into its third week, the survivors of the disaster began to shake off the numbness of shock. At least ten crews privately vowed to mutiny if the Vice-Admiral were found guilty for Admiral McKenna’s ineptness.
A day before the trial was finally to end, the Black Lion appeared alongside Admiral Konrad McKenna’s flagship. The Director-General had left Terra as soon as news of the Syrma Ambush reached him. Deeply ashamed of his son’s behavior, James McKenna apologized to the survivors and announced that he was stripping his son of all ranks and privileges. Assuming command of the remaining vessels, he ordered everyone back to Terra.
The Black Lion paused in the Syrma system for three hours after the departure of other Hegemony vessels. There has never been any official explanation for why James McKenna remained for so long among the twisted hulks of those lost Hegemony troopships.
DEATH OF JAMES MCKENNA
When details of the disaster at Syrma reached the Hegemony public, they reacted with shock and outrage. Public demonstrations and riots became widespread.
Die-hard supporters of the old Alliance and other critics of the Director-General used the Syrma Ambush to their advantage, blaming the disaster on the McKennas and the government they had created. This inflamed passions even further, as street demonstrations escalated to dissatisfaction with the Hegemony government itself.
Within the HAF, the Syrma disaster created a deep rift between the Army and the Navy. The Army, having lost two divisions of men and equipment, blamed the Navy for not realizing earlier that Vice-Admiral McKenna was incompetent. Navy commanders pointed out that the Army may have lost more in the disaster, but that the Navy had losses of 34 trained crews and as many ships of its own. If anyone was to blame for not seeing Konrad McKenna as a fool, the Admirals said to the Generals, it was the man’s own father.
Public and military tensions increased as the Director-General refused to allow his son to be prosecuted for incompetence. This was further fuel for opponents of the Hegemony, and the bravest among them called for the Director’s impeachment. Though technically impossible, the call to depose him almost immediately divided the Hegemony into two camps, with the state threatening to plunge into a chaos as destructive as that which had brought down the Alliance.
It was at that moment that the Director-General made a realm-wide broadcast to his people. With touching candor, he explained that he knew his office demanded that he punish Vice-Admiral Konrad McKenna for the Syrma fiasco, but he could not forget that Konrad was his son. Torn between his sense of duty and his desire to protect his son, the Director-General had decided that it was time for him to retire.
The announcement caught the entire Hegemony by surprise. Because of his truthfulness and humility, McKenna had once more won the people’s support. Within ten days, however, he was beyond politics. James McKenna died of cancer at age 64.
RISE OF THE CAMERONS
I’ve spent much of my life in the military. I’m used to being forced to volunteer.
-Michael Cameron, as quoted in The Life of Michael Cameron, by Henrietta Vela, New Earth Books, 2399
The Hegemony, specifically the High Council, now faced the task of finding someone to replace the irreplaceable James McKenna. There was still enough public and political discord in the Hegemony over the Syrma Ambush to give the High Councilors a sense of urgency. Yet, they agreed that the next candidate for Director-General would need at least some of James McKenna’s qualities, if not his name.
James McKenna’s only offspring, Konrad, was out of the question. Disgraced and drummed out of the HAF, he had retreated to his London home, where he was quietly going mad among a jungle of house plants and 50 cats. Other close relatives, such as McKenna’s sister Katherine McKenna or cousin Uston McKenna, were either too young, too uninterested, or too eager for the job.
Expanding their search to include more distant relations of the late Director-General, the Councilors eventually settled on two candidates. Graham Nellas, a nephew of James McKenna, represented the Pacific Northwest States of North America in the Terran Congress. Forty-five years old, he had served in the HAF as a Marine officer, winning a medal of valor for his actions in the conquest of Addicks. The handsome Graham was politically conservative and an excellent orator.
Michael Cameron, a third cousin to McKenna, was the other candidate, though some Councilors believed he was less qualified than Senator Graham Nellas. Only thirty, Michael was currently an officer in the Army Reserves. A scholarly man, all his life he had shown a marked distaste for politics or religion of any sort, believing instead in what he called “heart’s honor.”
One of the reasons the High Councilors were considering Michael Cameron was his learning and interest in serious research. He could discuss almost any topic with a knowledge equaled to or even greater than that of some experts. This led to his later becoming known as the first true Renaissance Man in centuries, which Michael considered the highest of praise.
The other quality that attracted the High Councilors to Michael Cameron was the passion he brought to everything he did. Someone once said that when he was deeply involved in a project, Michael “got a strange air of doom about him, almost as though you could hear the thunder of his mind and see the flashes of lightning behind his eyes.” Other stories described Michael spending whole days and nights working on research projects or trying to solve various problems relating to his reserve unit.
Though some admired this quality of dogged determination, others called it obsessive behavior, perhaps even a sign of mental imbalance. In person, though, Cameron deeply impressed the Councilors with his honesty and intelligence.
MICHAEL VICTORIOUS
As the day for a decision drew nearer, the Councilors remained split over whom to recommend as the next Director-General, and the debate became more heated and tense. On the day before the announcement must be made, the Councilors were still hanging fire. Because of their inability to choose, they decided to submit the names of Graham Nellas and Michael Cameron to the people for consideration. Privately, many Councilors expected the public to choose the more personable Graham Nellas, while others hoped that they would appreciate Michael Cameron’s genius, despite his unassuming demeanor.
According to political election rules laid down by Director-General James McKenna, the two candidates had to run strictly controlled political campaigns. The number and type of public appearances they could make was severely limited, and advertisements in the public media were banned. The late Director had wanted to make sure that the days of the people electing a photogenic person with a winning smile and vacuum between the ears were gone forever.
In place of a media blitz, the public witnessed frequent debates between Michael Cameron and Graham Nellas, before the holocameras as well as in the various print media. In the public debates, Graham Nellas came across as suave and self-assured, but perhaps too glib in expressing himself. Nellas also had actual experience in the Terran Congress, a fact he mentioned as often as possible. The public nevertheless voted for the serious and brilliant Michael Cameron by a large margin, reassured by his air of quiet competence. Incredible as was this upset, a total of three official recounts requested by the High Councilors turned up no evidence of vote tampering or changes in the results.
On January 17, 2340, Michael Cameron was sworn in as the second Director-General and Lord Protector of the Terran Hegemony.
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