Our Duke, Michael George Hasek-Davion, was a man larger than life. As with others made in this heroic mold, Duke Michael was contradictory, even self-contradictory. Duke Michael in an informal moment, Saso Historians Guild Meeting, November 3028 He was a man of pride who died humbly. He was a man of war who died suing for peace. He was a man who loved his family, yet spent the last decade apart from his only son. He was a man who liked simple statements of fact, yet he died leaving behind him an enormous question... Michael George Hasek was born on April 2, 2976 in the University city of Saso on New Syrtis. His father, George, Duke of New Syrtis, was the staunch friend and ally of Prince Andrew Davion. This threw his young son into the company of the two Davion princelings, Prince Ian and Prince Hanse, as he was growing up. It is natural that a warm friendship sprang up between Prince Ian and the young duke-to-be. They were men who were much of a kind, men of war, and proud of it. Each had a distrust of the negotiator's table and the territory often lost there to cleverer tongues. Young Michael had as quick an intelligence as either of the princes, but the premium placed on hearty masculinity by Duke George and Prince Andrew made him determined to hide his ready wits. It is not the least tragedy of our times that the younger of his royal schoolfellows recognized the intelligence and the concealment, but did not find the reasons for either in his own troubled psyche. In plain language, the heir to the proud tradition of the Haseks and the younger son of House Davion never got along. Prince Hanse as a younger man seemed jealous of Michael Hasek. This jealousy was to lead him to unworthy suspicion. When in 3003 Michael fell under the spell of Marie Laura Sinclair-Davion, Prince Hanse's half sister, and courted her for his wife, Prince Hanse suspected him of seeking not the lady but a link to the throne. Duke Michael and his bride left New Avalon for the Capellan Marches. The Duchess never saw her father again. It shows the depth of his love for the mother of his son that Duke Michael, after all these insults, joined her name to his own, and styled himself "Hasek-Davion". The people of the Capellan Marches understood the imperialist ambitions of the Capellan Confederation much earlier than the rest of the Federated Suns could have; afterall, we're their neighbors. It's hard to hide your flaws from people who can look over the back fence. We saw our people shot down in "accidental misunderstandings". We saw "survey parties" inadequately disguised as they licked hungry lips mentally dividing our home systems for their future colonies. As a serious historian of the Marches (Action & Reaction; The Purge of the Syrtis Fusiliers, Vintage Press, Halcon, 3002; Pleides to Pirates' Haven, the Marches' Relations with the Periphery, University of Saso Press, 3007; The Indian Peoples of the Marches, University of Saso Press, 3010). Duke Michael spoke out early in Prince Ian's reign against the incursions of Confederation forces. The Davion monomania against House Kurita caused his warnings to go unheard. As the two Davion princes ravaged the Draconis March to pursue their preferred foe, Duke Michael in his post as Minister of Intelligence, Investigation, and Operations kept up a constant struggle to keep information and supplies moving to the shifting front. He and his wife moved in the top circles of Federated Suns government; these were the golden years, as part of the trusted elite. With Prince Ian's death, the story changed. Prince Hanse's policy toward Duke Michael can only be described as a "freeze-out". There was an assassination attempt on Prince Hanse even before his coronation. The new First Prince blamed the Ministry for not preventing the attempt; the Minister, Duke Michael, was dismissed from his post in 3015. Prince Hanse's surprising decision to court the Capellans, repudiating old alliances, further weakened the relationship between the two heads of state. Duke Michael withdrew to New Syrtis, ably shepherding affairs as Minister of the CapelIan March, a position he retained until his death. Despite repeated demonstrations both of his loyalty and his ability, Duke Michael would never hold central government off ice again. Nor would his efforts be recognized or supported by the government; supplies to troops in the Marches have arrived later and later; some have never arrived at all. Duke Michael dealt with the shortages and quietly reaffirmed his loyalty. Prince Hanse demanded - suavely - the presence of Baron Morgan Hasek-Davion, the ducal couple's only son, at court as a permanent guest. As the young MechWarrior grew from a gawky young man to an heir to be proud of, he found himself far from a father's love. The most recent visit the two men had was at the famous wedding, where Captain Morgan Hasek-Davion acted as best man. It is an irony that if Prince Hanse has no children, Duke Morgan will be his successor. Over the last several years, Prince Hanse has at last come to understand the danger posed by the insane ambitions of Chancellor Liao. One would think that the war now declared and raging between the two Houses would demand the fuller use of Duke Michael's talents, but they were not called upon. Duke Michael remained in his civilian post during the entirety of Operation Galahad and the events which stemmed from it. Duke Michael was an able fighting man, a noted historian, and a shrewd judge of character. Yet the facts are these. On, February 13, 3029, Duke Michael secretly boarded a DropShip and was smuggled outsystem to Sian, capital world of the Capellan Confederation. There he sought an interview with Chancellor Maximilian Liao, his lifelong enemy. During that interview, he was shot and killed. It seems that he had taken this desperate despairing chance to sue for peace in our behalf; he felt that the March could not survive. How could he have so distrusted us, his loyal people? We have fight in us we have not begun to show! How could this shrewd and able statesman have possibly thought he could trust the word of Chancellor Liao, should he obtain a peace agreement? Last week we received his body for burial, with an escort of traitors to mock him. Today we bury our Duke. The mistakes he made - let them be buried with him; the good that he did will long live after him. So will the questions. Lee Preston studied journalism here on New Syrtis before joining the staff of J'Accuse on Robinson. He wrote for six years for this well-known compendium of counterculture and music before joining the staff of the Saso Clarion. This article is reprinted from the Clarion's special memorial to Duke Michael. Duke Michael's son, our Duke Morgan Hasek-Davion, is en route to his father's funeral. The editors and staff of the Clarion wish to extend our sympathy to Duke Morgan in his grievous loss. We mourn with you. Back to BattleTechnology 8 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1989 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