Scavenged Restoration
Chapter 90
-VB-
News arrived from the Corridor Region, and it was the thing that every general, admiral, would-be strategists, and armchair officers were talking about in Sian.
The Corridor Region, which was a distinct Capellan designation for the region, was the part of the coreward Periphery and the Deep Periphery beyond it that most of the Clans moved through to reach the Inner Sphere. It firmly sat trapezoidal region in what used to be the Elysian Fields, the Oberon Confederation, the Morgraine’s Valkyrate, and the Chainelane Isles in the Periphery and a collection of seven star systems in the Deep Periphery directly adjacent to the the coreward Periphery.
There was an interstellagraphic reason for this.
Directly spinward of the Corridor Region were two nebulas: the Coalsack Nebula and the Chameleon Nebula. Nebulas, by their very nature, limited the fidelity and range of sensors. It’s easy for sensors to look out into the void and calculate where they would be jumping to when there was nothing between it and the target. Nebulas were, by their nature, a giant, thick fog that blinded sensors beyond a certain intrastellar range.
This meant jumping into or out of nebulae was difficult at best and a suicide at worst, which meant interstellar travelers had to go around the nebulae, and thus either increased the distance traveled to go around the nebulae if it was small enough or outright prevented travel through that region if the nebula was too big.
This was the same reason why the Federated Suns stopped growing in the spinward and spinward-rimward Periphery; their expansion was also blocked by two nebulae: the Aurigan Commonality-sized Barnard’s Loop (which also contained the Pirates Haven Cluster) and the Fedsun-sized Orion Rift. The rest of the space not blocked by those two nebulae was blocked off by other nations.
The two nebulae in question, unfortunately, were small enough that there was an eighty lightyear gap between the two of them. Big enough that jumpships should be able to travel through… but fortunately, there were no stars in that “small” area that were suitable to set up a minor logistics base on.
So travel was possible but difficult, risky, and logistically straining.
Which, again, had to be one of the reasons why, despite the fact that they got reinforcement and more Clans joining the fight, no Clan tried to take charge of the Smoke Jaguar’s previous invasion corridor in full. Except for one.
Tormano Liao, the Minister of Foreign Relations, looked at the only Clan force deviating from the known invasion corridors, instead charting their own way through the spinward-coreward Periphery toward the Outworlds Alliance.
This new Clan, the Clan Snow Raven, apparently did not behave like the other Clans that the Inner Sphere encountered. In fact, there were nervous murmurs in the palace halls about the Snow Ravens possibly circumventing the current conflict zone specifically to come after the Capellan Confederation.
After all, would it not make sense for these martially inclined and foremost naval experts of the Clans to come and fight the confederation, the most navally competent Inner Sphere nation? The question was whether or not they would behave like the Clans and try to conquer the Outworlds Alliance while on the move.
If they did, then Tormano wanted them to succeed. It would open up a second front for the Federated Suns to fight, which would further weaken them because these Snow Ravens would undoubtedly be challenged by the fearful Fedrats.
“Uncle?”
He looked up and saw Anastasia.
“Ah, princess! What brings you to my office?” he asked her as he set the datapad down.
“Just … had a question I was wondering about,” the crown princess of the confederation said almost hesitantly while still standing in the doorway of his office. “It may be a serious and heavy topic.”
“Please, come in. We can talk over tea,” he replied. Then he glanced over to his secretary, who nodded and left the room but not before setting up the tea cabinet. Good man.
Anastasia accepted his secretary's bow as he left, and once he was gone, closed the door behind her. Once there were only two of them in the room, she walked over and sat down on the couch by the long tea table in the center of his office.
“Flavor?”
“Go-chai, please. No sugar.”
“Very well.”
Go-chai was a strong tea flavor, one that was more likely to keep one awake with its bitter and slightly sweet flavor than through its natural caffeinated properties. It was not a tea favored by normal noble ladies of the court… but then again, his niece was anything but a regular noble.
He too poured himself a Go-chai, considering her warning, and brought both cups to the table.
“Thank you,” his niece said as she took her cup but waited for him to drink first.
He smiled. Despite her obvious turmoil and exhaustion, she kept to the proper courtly Capellan etiquettes. Good. He took a sip and only then did she do so as well. “You definitely need to drink less Go-chai, princess,” he chided playfully. “The light frown you make every time you drink it might get stuck there before you even get yourself a husband.”
Her frown deepened even further before she smoothed it out with a glare. Though she may be extremely martially inclined compared to other noble ladies, no lady wanted to be told they were getting wrinkles.
“I’m only nineteen.”
“Mhm.”
“Uncle, I’m not getting wrinkles.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“But you did!”
“No, I said you might if you keep frowning.”
She huffed. “... Done with the pleasantries?”
“Yes, very much so,” he grinned.
She rolled her eyes before she became stoic. “Uncle, I have to ask you something very personal. If you don’t want to answer, then I’ll understand and not push it.”
“I will listen, at the very least.”
She nodded. “When my father … was removed from being a heir, did you ever … not want to become the chancellor?” she asked hesitantly.
And she had a right to ask that.
After all, he was known as the most ambitious out of all of his siblings. On top of that, he might have a small inferiority complex because of how big his big brother was and what his sisters were like. He was not a great mechwarrior, not a great leader, or even a visionary. He was a good politician and orator but those can be found everywhere on every planet.
“Why do you bring this up?” he asked curiously and a little calmly.
She fidgeted. “Zhuge doesn’t want to be the chancellor, even if something were to happen to me.”
He hummed. That was serious. “And this is something he asked?”
“Kind of? Maybe?” she frowned before quickly undoing it. “He said it after seeing me working even while walking.”
“Ah. He fears the responsibility.”
“Yes.”
He nodded. To be honest, he didn’t understand that particular problem that his brother’s side of the family seemed to suffer from.
He knew that his brother was once fearful of his duty because he feared that he would make a mistake and have the confederation and its people suffer for it. He knew that Anastasia feared it partly because it would limit her - bind her to the throne and leave her confined - and also for sharing a similar fear as her father: of failure. He suspected that, however, Zhuge did not share those fears. The boy was too young to think about that kind of stuff. No, what was more likely was a more childish fear: work. No child wanted to work, and all he ever saw of his father and eldest sister was them working themselves to the bone.
Honestly, after watching his brother become a working machine, Tormano had tempered his own ambition. After all, if that was what was needed to keep the confederation going strong, then it was better that someone else had the job.
He would rather travel across the Inner Sphere as the confederation's foremost ambassador, drinking fine wine and craft beer, and exchanging gifts with other dignitaries. Oh, and getting souvenirs for his family from all over the Inner Sphere. That too was the perk of the job.
But if he somehow ended up being the Chancellor…?
No.
Just no.
“You don’t need to do anything.” She looked surprised and he chuckled. “Don’t be surprised. Children change all of the time, assuming you aren’t my brother. Your brother, on the other hand, is more like your mother than my brother, which means he will change as time goes on as all children do. Your mother and father will be there to guide him, and if not them, then the rest of the family is here. Simply understanding his current struggles alone makes you a good sister.”
She huffed. “So your advice is for me to do nothing.”
“Yes, because trying to get him to feel and behave in a certain way right now when he should be trying to develop that on his own will only make him resentful of you. Show him what makes a good person, a good leader, and a good family. Correct him when he shows problematic behavior by giving him guidance and encouraging the right behavior. While some serious actions demand an equally serious punishment, but constant punishments only encourage him to hide better.”
“... This sounds like something my parents should be doing.”
“It is! And they are. Did you think they took random chances experimenting with raising you? When you matter a lot more than his daily work?” he asked with a snort.
She stared at him before she looked like she reached enlightenment.
Tormano chuckled. “This is something you should talk to your father after leaving,” he told her, and she nodded numbly. “Anything else you want to talk about?”
“... Maybe? Am I working too much?”
Why was that even a question? Shouldn’t she know?
She looked abashed by his expression. “Right. I do work a lot.”
He snorted. “If that is all, princess?”
“It is.”
“Good. Then take a day off. One day won’t change your workload too much. I hope.”
She definitely thought about it.
And then shook her head. “Maybe when I’m done with this current project I’ll take a break. I’ll definitely
“... That’s what my brother always says before a new project or crisis comes along,” he sighed. “You definitely are your father’s daughter.”
She faux-glared at him. “I’m not going to keep working forever like dad.”
Poor girl. Born to be a workaholic and in complete denial about it.