Lord Anatol is known to be uneasy about the amount of spying and skulduggery that goes on, but for now the official position is "no broken crockery": the various intelligence services are permitted to do pretty much what they like so long as it is all kept quiet and out of the public eye. This policy, an extension of the traditional attitude of "keeping the game running smoothly," has been generally respected by the great powers. Five years ago, a high official of the Draconis Combine was assassinated while on a pleasure trip to Galaina. The assassin, a dispossessed MechWarrior, was himself shot a few moments later by an unknown hand. Takashi Kurita proclaimed that he would take "any steps necessary" to avenge the death. On Galaina, near panic ensued. Visitors, terrified by visions of another Kentares Massacre, struggled to get off the planet, and on the black market, DropShip seats were running as high as Cb 1,000 apiece. Then, three days after the crisis began, the Galaina Friendship Committee suddenly announced that the case had been solved. Four men, one of them a lieutenant colonel attached to a hitherto unknown branch of the Free World League's diplomatic corps, were handed over to the Draconian authorities together with a mass of documentation. The evidence, which was broadcast widely to all worlds, unequivocally proved the men's guilt. Kurita grumbled but eventually declared himself satisfied. Janos Marik disavowed any knowledge of the plot, but for some time thereafter, relations between House Kurita and House Marik were decidedly chilly. Galaina heaved a collective sigh of relief and returned to business as usual. Within a week the game was running as smoothly as ever. It was only much later that some of the facts began to leak out. Even now not all of the story is known, but in outline it seems to have gone like this: For the three days following the assassination, the Palace was a center of furious activity. Galainan banking officials made use of all their intelligence contacts, and fantastic bribes were offered for information. "They were bribing everybody," one source told me privately, "even the Draconis people. Hell, for all anybody knew, the whole thing might have been something Kurita fixed up as an excuse to invade the Commonwealth." The efforts paid off, and within a day, the identity of the conspirators was known. Details remain uncertain, but it is rumored that the bribes offered by the Galainan banking houses induced the defection of an extremely high-ranking Marik general, one privy to a Marik plot to incite an escalation of the war between Steiner and Kurita. The General disappeared, reportedly with a large enough fortune that he was able to retire into wealthy and hedonistic obscurity on some world unknown. And documentation of the plot was made available for inspection by Draconis agents. It was a convincing display of Galaina's economic influence but one that left the planet's leaders badly shaken. Since then, security has intensified, and it is not unknown for the Galaina Friendship Committee to keep certain offworlders under 24-hour surveillance and to haul in suspicious characters for extensive interrogation, sometimes keeping them in protective custody for weeks at a time. The hotel and casino owners are violently unhappy about this and claim that the new restrictions disturb the tourists and spread the idea that Galaina is not safe. They have won some concessions, which in turn have infuriated the security forces who warn of the dire consequences of such weakmindedness. Who's In Charge Here? Caught in the middle with the unenviable task of balancing these competing claims is Lord Anatol, Duke of Galaina. An amiable, soft-faced man in his late 50s, the Duke has a patient, long-suffering demeanor which shows that he is accustomed to being the middle of the storm. He is at the top of all the governing hierarchies on the planet: Chief of State, Temporal Leader of the Church of the True Faith, First Minister of the Galainan Assembly, and Chairman of the Board of both Kredit Galaina and the House of Webber. He rules with the help of his brother Lord Hugo Webber (managing director of Kredit Galaina) and his older son and heir apparent Lord Max, Margrave of Schilde, a corpulent young man of 33 with a round face and tiny moustache. A fourth member of the inner circle, theoretically subordinate to the others but in fact their equal in influence, is Graf Otto von Haupt, head of the Galaina Friendship Committee. This group meets regularly to hammer out policy for all of Galaina's political and financial affairs. Right now, Lord Max and Lord Hugo are at oddsoverhowthe planetshould reacttothe alliance between House Steiner and House Davion. Lord Max is an enthusiastic supporter of the alliance and a frequent advocate of favorable loan terms and credits for the Federated Suns. Lord Hugo, on the other hand, has an intense mistrust of Hanse Davion and has at times become almost incoherent with fury at Lord Max's plans. The Duke favors strict neutrality, which makes him a target for both his brother and his son. Meanwhile, Graf Otto has been working on the Duke to approve some of his more controversial security measures, and a recent incident in which GFC agents accidentally detained the Minister of Trade and Communications for the Federated Suns for over 24 hours led to a furious shouting match in Council that nearly ended in blows. As if this weren't enough, Lord Anatol also has his hands full with other members of his family. The scandalous behavior of his younger son, the notorious Lord Rupert, is a constant cause of dismay. The Duke has more than once had to hush up the youth's more outrageous escapades. Meanwhile, the Duke's mother, the Grand Duchess Gutrune, and his second wife, the beautiful and headstrong Lady Elsa, are not on speaking terms. The Duchess, who considers herself the arbiter of good society on Galaina, has for years presided over rather stiff functions at her private club the Alcazar. Shortly after her marriage Lady Elsa rebelled, stopped attending the Alcazar and instead formed her own rival set which quickly developed a reputation for extremes of wildness. No personal scandal has ever touched Lady Elsa herself. On the contrary, she seems to be a loyal wife and stepmother with nothing to her discredit but a sharp tongue, a love of wit, and a hearty intolerance for bores. Still, the Grand Duchess frequently harangues her son for "not controlling that slut," and Lady Dorcas and Lady Roxanne, his sister- and daughter-in law, continually shake their heads in pity over "poor Anatol." All this adds to the strain on the Duke as he attempts to chart a course for Galaina into the murky and perilous future. Pleasure Planet Galaina Introduction A Room at the Inn A Day in the Country Lord Anatol, Duke of Galaina Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Lee B. Barton Back to BattleTechnology 3 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1988 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com