The Conscience of a Would-Be King
BattleTechnology is proud to have exclusive rights to the transcript of this recent holovid interview with Prince Hanse Davion. The Prince made room in his schedule for us in the end of March. Our correspondent, Brandon Corey, met the Prince at the palace and conducted the interview in the Prince's private office.
BattleTechnology: We're very glad you could find time to speak with us, Highness.
His Highness, Prince Hanse Davion: I'm always willing to speak with the press, Brandon, though my job often precludes interviews like this. In fact, that an opportunity popped up is virtually a miracle. This year, especially, is busy.
BT: Of course, with Galahad '28 and your wedding falling in August, you must have much to do. (The interviewer pauses as the Prince chuckles.) What do you see as the purpose for the Galahad exercises?
His Highness: Quite plainly, the military operations are designed to put our troops through a series of logistical nightmares. We live in an age when skirmishes have become the order of the day. Raiders hit planets and have to be driven off. Many worlds see almost constant warfare, but the borders of each nation-state do not change very much. Some pundits have suggested this is because a large-scale invasion is impossible with the current technology, but I believe the Galahad exercises contradict that assumption.
BT: Would you say that Galahads '26 and '27 were successful? If you could, would you reflect upon that question from both a military and a political standpoint?
His Highness: On either front, I would say the exercises were a success. They have pointed out that large-scale troop movements are possible with a certain amount of efficiency. The improvements from Galahad '26 to Galahad '27 proved that what we did back in '26 was not luck. Suddenly the possibility of a massed troop attack comes back into the realm of consideration.
On the political front, I will admit that I, personally, took some flak from certain pacifist groups and citizens alarmed at the cost of the exercises. Even so, I would have to classify the resistance to the exercises as minor.
BT: You would? Even in the light of Duke Michael Hasek-Davion's decision not to participate in Galahad '28? Many people see this as a very obvious rejection of your policy.
His Highness: I find the generally accepted analysis of Michael's action to be flawed. Michael is the supreme commander of the Federated Suns forces in the Capellan March. As such, he has the right to hold his troops back from participation. Michael, apparently, does not want to give Liao the opportunity to raid his holdings during the exercises. I cannot fault him on this. Furthermore, over the last two years, his units have participated in the exercises. I hardly see that as a rejection of the policy.
BT: True enough , but Duke Michael has been one of your most vocal critics when it comes to discussing military affairs. He suggests the exercises do nothing but taunt Liao or Kurita and invite them to attack.
His Highness: This is pure and utter nonsense. I cannot deny that both House Liao and House Kurita have staged raids into our territory during the exercises, but this is nothing unusual. Consider the fact that raids happen all the time. Michael is merely concerned for his citizens.
BT: Duke Michael has also been highly critical of your attitude concerning the Capellan March and its security.
His Highness: For example?
BT: Duke Michael, in a speech at his New Year's celebration, said it had been over a month since Liao had sponsored a terrorist attack on Kittery and you still had not responded militarily.
His Highness: Oh, that attack. As I recall, that involved a team of Maskirovka assassins trying to kill several officers and non-coms.
BT: Speculation had it that their target was Captain Andrew Redburn...
His Highness: Yes, I remember. (Laughs) They'd have stood a better chance attacking New Avalon. Captain Redburn and the men he was with managed to kill or wound all the assassins; and, in the process, they uncovered a Maskirovka cell headquarters. That headquarters yielded a wealth of information that my Ministry of Intelligence, Information and Operations is still sifting through. While that was an attack by Liao forces, they came away far worse off than we did. None of my advisors saw any gain in attacking the St. Ives Commonality so we did not retaliate.
BT: Then how do you explain Duke Michael's attack upon you?
His Highness: I think you overstate things when you call it an attack, Michael merely found posturing necessary to appease some of the more bloodthirsty lords in the Capellan March.
BT: Count Anton Vitios?
His Highness: Among others. It is a pity that some me .. ..... the virtue of vigilance into the vice of vigilantism. They waste far too much time and energythat could be productive in other areas.
BT: One more question about the Galahad exercises, then we can move on. Why are you holding the exercises so close to your wedding? The way Galahad '28 is scheduled you have allowed yourself virtually no time for your honeymoon.
His Highness: Just between the two of us, I arranged the schedule that way so I could have an explanation for not inviting every soldier in the Federated Suns to the wedding. (Laughs) Actually, the operations should really handle themselves. It takes a staff of thousands to coordinate these exercises--I'm just another person in the chain. Were this a real war, on the other hand...
Hanse Davion, First Prince of the Federated Suns, wearing the ceremonial uniform of the 1 11 Regiment of the Royal Guard of the Lyran Commonwealth. His Highness was recently inducted into the unit in anticipation of the formal alliance between the Commonwealth and the Federated Suns.
BT: So the Galahad operations are not a prelude to war?
His Highness: Hardly. They just show Liao and Kurita that we have a new way to deal with raids. We can deliver large numbers of troops in a coordinated fashion. No longer will raids result in a few casualties and a hasty retreat for the raiders. Imagine, if you will, what such a coordinated response would have meant to McCarron's Armored Cavalry when they raided throughout the CapelIan March in 3022 and 3023. Brave MechWarriors such as yourself would not have been hurt pursuing what was, at best, a piecemeal response to a serious threat.
BT: Indeed. Let's shift gears for a moment, if we might. You're getting married to a woman who is less than half your age and whom you've only met once. Isn't that unusual?
His Highness: Is it? It is true that purely political marriages have been uncommon, but in my position, I really have no choice. However, in direct answer to your question, I would have to admit this wedding will be unusual.
BT: How so?
His Highness: First and foremost, I believe myself most fortunate in my choice of bride. You mentioned that we've only met once, in person, but we have exchanged hundreds of holodisks. In many ways I think we know each other better than the average couple that weds. On an almost equally important point, we will have the five heads of the Successor States in one place at one time. Aside from Katrina Steiner, I've not met any of them, and I'm looking forward to this gathering.
BT: How do you take care of security with so many important people gathered together?
His Highness: That's not up to me, though I have reviewed the precautions. ComStar is hosting the wedding, and they have guaranteed the safety of all the guests. Only a fool would act rashly in that situation because ComStar's retribution would be devastating.
BT: What retribution? ComStar has no military forces.
His Highness: True, but they are capable of placing a House under complete and total interdiction. If they do that, no messages move in or out of that House's territory. When your military depends upon ComStar for the transmission of intelligence and orders, an interdiction is deadly. To risk such a sanction would be suicidal.
BT: Your friend, Colonel Ardan Sortek, has occasionally expressed his displeasure at what he sees as political decisions on your part. Because of your closeness with him, many believed Colonel Sortek would be your Best Man, but you chose, instead, Morgan Hasek-Davion, your nephew and Duke Michael's son, to stand beside you. Was that a politically motivated choice-one designed to appease forces in the Capellan March?
His Highness: I see nothing inappropriate at all in selecting Morgan to be my Best Man. Morgan has been on New Avalon for the past five years and has served with the Davion Heavy Guards for the past three. We have become quite close, and I felt it quite appropriate for the man who is my heir-at least until my wife blesses me with a child-to be the man to stand beside me at the altar.
BT: Some people have suggested you should have married Morgan to Melissa as they are much closer in age than you and Melissa. In the same vein, many have wondered why you did not marry Katrina Steiner herself--making for a stronger alliance.
His Highness: You have two questions there; I'll deal with them in reverse order. The Archon and I did not choose to marry for a number of reasons. I very much respect the love she still feels for her husband, though he is 18 years dead, and I would do nothing to intrude on what they shared.
BT: But you've pointed out this is a political marriage. Should love then have any part in it?
His Highness: More important than any emotions, since this is a political marriage, is the unification of our two realms. This means my wife will have to bear my children. The Archon, unfortunately, is no longer able to have children. Had that not been the case, who knows...
BT: Who knows indeed? Then why not marry Morgan to Melissa?
His Highness: (Laughs) I like Morgan a great deal, but not that much. More seriously, I never intended to spend my whole life without marriage and children. How strong could an alliance be when the heir to the Lyran Commonwealth is married to someone outside the direct line of inheritance? It would be unfair to Morgan and could well prove the focus for some divisiveness in the Federated Suns. I would not do that to my people.
BT: You've been on the throne for 15 years. Do you ever wish things had been different?
His Highness: Certainly. I'd give anything it my brother's death on Mallory's World could have been avoided. Moreover, like Ardan Sortek, I sometimes wish things would be less complicated, but I don't think that will happen.
BT: What about the rumors that Yorinaga Kurita, the man who murdered your brother, has returned from internal exile and now heads up a super elite Kurita MechForce?
His Highness: Pure speculation and lots of hot air. If he was the one who killed Ian, and if he is back, I'd like to see him dead--what brother wouldn't want to see his brother's death avenged? Still we have no evidence of his presence, or that of any Kurita superforce.
BT: Would you go after him in your personal 'Mech?
His Highness: (Laughs) You make it sound like some holodrama. Seriously, it would be foolish for me to even suggest I'd do something that rash. In my position I cannot allow personal concerns to override or dominate my thinking. If I do, the Federated Suns will suffer.
You know, it's curious. A moment ago, you asked if love should have anything to do with a political marriage. I think it should and very much does. Melissa and I will be wed for the love of our people and to insure them some sort of a future. If we are lucky, we will find personal love as well, but, again, we will not let personal desires destroy what we're doing for our people.
BT: Pretend a hundred years have passed. What would you like to see historians saying about you and your reign?
His Highness: (Laughs) "After a hundred years on the throne, Hanse Davion abdicated to his great-grandson..." More seriously, I think I'd like to be remembered for having turned the slide toward barbarism around. Right now I'm most proud of the New Avalon Institute of Science, and I'm pleased the other Successor States have decided to follow suit in trying to recover the technology our ancestors lost for us. Already we're seeing small factories producing unique 'Mech designs. A renaissance has begun, and if I am known for nothing else than having fostered it in its infancy, that will be enough for me.
BT: No desire to be First Lord of a new Star League?
His Highness: Remember, I came to this throne reluctantly, and I have enough trouble governing one nation. Why accept even more headaches? (Grins) But if I were offered the position--perhaps as a wedding present--who knows? It would beat honest work...
Brandon Corey graduated from the New Avalon Military Academy in 3015. Assigned to the 511 Deneb Light Cavalry Regiment, he saw much action in the battle of Valencia on Spica. Decorated for bravery, he was rotated to the Davion Heavy Guards and, while serving in that unit, first met Prince Hanse Davion. As a volunteer for the Prince's special strike force, Corey joined the attack against McCarron's Armored Cavalry on Beiten Kaitos. He suffered serious wounds that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Determined to overcome his physical challenge, Corey turned to writing about wars and warriors. The series of articles he wrote about the Major Justin Allard treason trial won him the New Avalon Press Club's coveted Journalist of the Year award for 3027.
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