Many have since wondered what exactly had delayed the Word of Blake assault on the Inner Sphere in late 3067. After all, they had built up massive stockpiles of mechs, ships, and most ominously, nuclear weapons.

The answer to that question was neither simple or straightforward, but one of the key reasons was the revelation of new technology on Outreach in very early November 3067, just before the dissolution of the Star League. The Word of Blake was worried about the possibility of another faction hidden amongst the stars, which might have returned to foil their crusade.

Even after our return to Outreach in late May 3068, with the assurance that there are no little green men out there (more or less), the Blakists did not bother to go ahead with their plan, because several events and opportunities had cropped up which could be extremely beneficial to their plan in the long run if they were patient.

These events were the Black Dragon Rebellion, the Taurian Civil War, and a massive inter-clan war sparked by the Star Adders, Blood Spirits, and Fire Mandrills. It was a simple matter for Word of Blake analysts to realize that the dozens of military units that would invariably fall in these conflicts would outweigh the gains made by the battered, sundered halves of the former Federated Commonwealth, thus making their task all the easier.

By formenting yet another rebellion in the Free Worlds League, they would reduce their long list of enemies further, increasing their chances of finally bringing their maddened philosophies to the Inner Sphere.

On hindsight, they should not have waited. Patience was not always a virtue, especially in war.

-The Word of Blake Contagion, Frank Meronac

 

Richard Cameron Spaceport, Terra

Chaos March

02^nd May, 3068

 

On a hilltop of green grass, the man known to some people as Landar stared out at the mass of dropships sitting on the tarmac of the spaceport, watching as loads of cargo marked with the sign of radioactive material rolled out of the massive transports into a nearby warehouse.

“Close, eh?” Banedon, his companion and fellow conspirator of many years walked up beside him. “Good to see that our plan is working.”

“Yeah,” Landar replied. “I would hate to see innocent people die from a stupid and senseless religious war fought for an equally asinine reason.”

Banedon, a slender man with yellow hair, snorted, “If they had carried out their jihad, how many would have died before they were stopped?”

“The best estimates Falcon gave me for his psychohistory projections was about 20 billion people, with no assurance that the Houses and Clans would recover enough to counterattack back, and if they used nukes as well…” Landar’s voice trailed off.

“Things would go down the drain faster than you can blink.” Banedon sighed once. “But Falcon did say that wasn’t likely, and the end result of the jihad would be a supposedly egalitarian republic dedicated to peace, probably founded by a survivor of the jihad.”

This time it was Landar’s turn to snort. “Oh yeah, and that same republic falls apart after its founder leaves or dies from old age because they were too stupid to check the HPGs for the Wobblies’ final legacy. I never liked feudal societies anyway, and especially a feudal society masquerading as a republic only several decades old with loads of questionable policies to appease its supposedly ‘equal’ citizenry. This sort of artificial system falls apart far too easily for my liking, and the mass demobilization Falcon predicted is going to be a death warrant when the Enemy arrives.”

A Grand Crusader marched by beneath their vantage point, seemingly unaware of the two observers. Built like a walking brick, it mounted pulse lasers and two large missile racks, capable of flattening a city on its very own.

Landar stabbed his hand at the battlemech. “These are what is needed to drive back the enemy, not hastily modified agromechs and workmechs, which is just about all there would be in the future if we didn’t interfere. Better the Enemy arrives in about five years time, drawn by the events on the Qlictorio staging world, then to arrive on their scheduled sweep about 70 years later facing a humanity without communications, working battlemechs, or even a significant force of veteran, hardened soldiers.”

“You really think this could be the turning point?”

“Hell yeah. There are few other places in the whole goddamned universe where the local conditions are just right, and the clinching point are the young ones coming up. They’ll make all the difference in the long run, instead of dying in senseless wars against each other or languishing in farms unable to fulfill their destiny because they’re dying of old age. Not to mention the Ractori…”

“Who still have no idea of who they are.” Banedon reminded him.

Landar shook off the reminder with a wave of his hand. “They will find out when the time is right. Right now, our plan is going well, and everything else should fall into place when it’s time.”

“Pieces on a samor chessboard.” Banedon said wistfully. “You were never a good player of it, because you valued lives too highly.”

“And I still do. Better to coerce the enemy into moving when it’s to our advantage now, than to squander the advantage due to inaction.”

“The Illuminati?”

“In the right place at the right time. The emergence of Frank Meronac was an unexpected bonus, and he’ll be coming here soon. The lures we set back on Outreach should be dragging him here within 6 months. The Elders already have a plan to induct him…”

“But you have other ideas.” Banedon was as astute as ever.

“Correct. The potential is there, though he might be a bit old. What’s important, though, is there should be somebody with the skill and ability to unite the Inner Sphere when the Enemy arrives, and I think it should be Frank, and not Ian Dorlacen as our first choice.”

“You ran this through Falcon and Tarandis?” It was a statement, not a question.

Landar nodded, a few wisps of blond hair flying down to momentarily cover his brow. “Yup. In fact, the odds are even better with Frank as the front man.”

“You know, if I didn’t know better, I would swear somebody up there,” Banedon pointed a finger towards the sky, “is helping us this time. Nice change of pace.”

Landar replied, “We deserve it after being on the receiving end for so long. I don’t know about you, but I get the feeling that this could be the start of something greater than anything the galaxy has seen before.”

Banedon watched as the last of the vehicles moved into the warehouse. “Maybe. But I think we’ll be quite happy if they just manage to survive.” A dull hum could be heard from the field.

The two men continued to look out onto the darkening sky as the dropships lifted off on long tongues of fusion flame, the roar of their engines drowning out everything else.