"Good, then I will not be alone in treason, for I think the Grand Council would not approve my communicating with the enemy." The ilKhan's blue eyes narrowed. "These are dangerous times, Anastasius. What we do here will be wondrous and terrible, and the greatest tragedy is that politicians may render it all for naught."
"I share your fear, Ulric. Between us, there can be trust I will not betray you."
"Nor I you."
Focht smiled. "What our diplomats cannot divide, we must battle over. For the record, I would not have chosen to go to war with you, ilKhan. I have watched you enough to know better than to relish battling a foe of your abilities."
The ilKhan laughed lightly. "I am not immune to flattery, Anastasius. In our bargaining that may earn you a Cluster."
"Just so long as it is in the Thirteenth Wolf Guards."
"Interesting choice, my friend, but do you wish to be the one to tell Natasha Kerensky or Phelan Wolf they cannot fight against you?"
"Touché, my Khan. There are some missions not meant for mere warriors." Focht glanced back at one of the Clan computer consoles where an aide was working with a Clanner. "I have brought with me data that will help us bargain out this battle properly."
The starfield in the holotank flickered for a second, then re-drew itself. "I believe your data has been incorporated into my database here. Shall we proceed?"
"Yes." Focht pulled himself up to his full height. "I am Anastasius Focht, Precentor Martial of ComStar and Supreme Commander of all Com Guard troops. Myndo Waterly, Primus of ComStar and Keeper of Blake's Sacred Word has assigned me the duty of negotiating this battle. What I offer, I warrant is true and free of deception."
Ulric nodded, then also straightened to attention. "I am Ulric Kerensky, ilKhan of the Clans and Khan of the Wolf Clan. It is by my own authority, in action for the Grand Council of Khans, that I enter negotiations with you. What I offer I warrant is true and free of deception."
He waved a hand through a thousand stars. "As you are the defender, I ask if you have chosen a venue for our confrontation."
"I have, ilKhan." Focht reached out and touched the label attached to the planet Tukayyid. "In the fourth planet, I believe I have found us a battlefield."
The window opened and the ilKhan's left hand strayed to his goatee as the blue and gold world rotated through space.
As they watched, the holotank brought their viewpoint down through the atmosphere and sent it skimming across vast fields of ripening wheat. They flew like eagles over the flat plains, then climbed into the dark Pozoristu Mountains. From those cloud-shrouded heights, they swooped down river valleys, through swamps and deltas, then across the dark Crucible Sea.
"Hardly an exhaustive survey, but the geography appears well-suited to any number of battles." The ilKhan frowned. "The population is small and centered in very specific areas?"
"Most of those people will be evacuated from the world," Focht said. "As we bring our troops onto the world, the DropShips will take people away. The only civilian personnel left on the planet will be those essential to running factories that cannot be shut down. We will take all potentially hazardous industries offline, and we are prepared to designate some religious communities as non-combat zones, if you agree. In addition, ComStar accepts half the costs of damage repair if the Clans will agree to cover the other half."
"ComStar bears the cost of evacuation and repatriation?"
Focht nodded. "If you take the world, we will repatriate the population back onto Tukayyid, or onto any other world you or they choose. We will consider the people your subjects for this purpose, so you have first choice on where they end up."
"Acceptable," Ulric said, but his smile made Focht's hackles rise. "No reason to clutter the chessboard with impotent pieces, quiaff,Anastasius?"
In an instant Focht's mind flashed to the image of a chessboard. He saw the Primus as his queen and Natasha Kerensky taking up her position beside Ulric. It was not a comforting thought. Strangely, what worried him was not what Natasha would do to oppose him, but what the Primus would do to aid him.
"I would liken it to clearing a sports field of fans before a match. You know as well as I that characterizing our battle as a chess game devalues the lives of the men and women who will die on Tukayyid."
Ulric held up his hands. "Far be it from me to do that, Anastasius. But you must admit that our preparations resemble those that precede a chess match. I have conceded to you the choice of battlefield, allowing you the choice of color, as it were. Now we both must decide who should spot whom pieces, what are their value, and how we can exploit that advantage over our enemy."
Ulric's expression deadened. "I, after all, value a force more than some politico who might throw away a crack unit like a rook sacrificed in a gambit."
Focht felt suddenly as if someone were walking on his grave. Oh, you play this game well, Ulric. Have you pierced the secret of my identity? Was it Phelan who did it for you and is that why he is not here?
"I would expect that of you, ilKhan, because you are a military man of great insight. Still, that does not mean you would not expend a force in a suicidal maneuver if you deemed the gain worth the risk."
"The point is well-taken, Precentor Martial." Ulric again stroked his goatee, seeming more at ease than Focht would have desired. "And so, then, what force will you use to defend this planet?"
Focht touched one of the icons below the image of Tukayyid. It opened yet another window and this one remained black within the neon green border defining it. The Precentor Martial then reached up to a world firmly in the Wolf Clan Occupation Zone. "From Rasalhague I bring the 278th Division, under the command of Precentor IV Byron Koselka." As the Rasalhague window opened, Focht plucked from it the icon representing that Com Guard unit and threw it down toward Tukayyid.
It streaked like a comet through the artificial universe, then appeared in the empty window. Another icon followed it and another as Focht stripped all the troops from Com-Star's Asta Theatre. From there he worked into the Federated Commonwealth and pulled troops from the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone. Continuing counterclockwise, the Precentor Martial sent every Com Guard Division spiraling in toward Tukayyid.
When he had finished, he studied the seventy-two unit designators he had consigned to Tukayyid. "The data I have given you details the units selected, giving you a breakdown of their histories and the records of the men who make them up."
"Save your own record, Precentor Martial?"
Focht's head came up at the ilKhan's question. "The reason I provide you the records for my men is because our units have seen no real combat, yet to treat them as green troops would be a mistake. In the interest of clarity, I will provide you the record of my service since becoming the Precentor Martial. For you to infer anything from my earlier career would be a mistake."
"Would it?" Ulric turned away and slowly walked around to the other side of the Tukayyid windows. "Can an old soldier learn new strategies?"
"Is a caterpillar a butterfly? I chose the name Anastasius Focht for a most specific reason. I am not the man I once was. Deprived of an eye, I see more clearly now than ever before." Focht clasped his hands at the small of his back. "We will be defending Tukayyid with approximately fifty BattleMech regiments and appropriate air, artillery, armor, and infantry support. We have chosen not to use naval units because Tukayyid's surface water is limited and naval engagements would unnecessarily endanger the underwater city in the Crucible Sea."
Ulric appeared momentarily stunned by the declaration of ComStar's strength. "Fifty regiments?"