Eckhart Stein has been something more than a blip on my
radar for some time now. It's only recently, however, that I've begun to realize
just how big a blip he actually is.
He's done a good job of playing the part of a mercenary
broker and business manager; the sort of pencil-pushing administrator that no
sensible merc command can live without lest they quickly find themselves
drowning in a sea of red tape and unpaid debts. I'm not entirely sure how long
he'd been using the Royals as a front for his business but it's clear that he
had integrated himself well into the unit and gotten to a point where he was
calling the shots.
I have no illusions that their decision to switch sides on
Kamenez was not made by Lucas Royale. True, he may have thought he made that
decision, but Stein was definitely behind it and would have doubtless done a
good job of selling Royale on the benefits of it while making Royale think it
was his idea all along. It wouldn't have been that hard either. Royale was a
simple greedy and stupid man who had a talent for violence that managed to
translate well into being a MechWarrior, but he was never more than a petty
gang leader elevated to a position well beyond his ability.
Rather, Stein was calling the shots all along. It's how he
operates, doing a good job of convincing the target that it's in their best
interests, one way or another, to play along with his plan. Speaking to Lee
Zhen served to confirm many of my suspicions, showing that he was clearly
trying to add the man to the Royal’s ranks. It's not a bad deal; the man is
clearly skilled and resourceful and the modern Clantech OmniMech that he
operated would have been a valuable asset. Or, at the very least, he could have
kept him out of the way, removing those same assets from Magyari's forces.
It's obvious what Stein had on Zhen. He knew of Zhen's past
and specifically who he worked for. He might have even known the details of
what the man had done while in their employ, which would definitely be the sort
of hurtful material that one would rather not be publicly known. The fact that
Stein had also worked for the same employer provided a circumstantial benefit,
allowing him to use that information to his advantage.
I have to wonder what he had on Carrie Bull that made him
think he could say her as well. Logic would suggest that its related to her sudden
dropping out of Solaris competition last year midway through the season. Given
that she was a Solaris gladiator, I have no doubt that it was related to
match-fixing, gambling, vice, drugs or combinations thereof. It could be worth
investigating. Or it could end up like the powdered dessert scandal that nearly
bought down Crimson Voodoo
Either way, neither Zhen nor Bull were swayed, which meant
that either the pair of them were willing to eat whatever he had on them and
ride it out, or that they were both simply too stupid to be aware of how much
damage he could do. After conversing with Zhen, I'm inclined to day that it was
actually the former (at least in his case). During our meeting he showed that he
was anything but an inarticulate thug, and showed a fair disagree of resourcefulness
and planning in the way he handled our meeting. I likely wouldn’t have spotted
his lookout if I didn't recognize them from my own recon, although Oda does do
a good job of impersonating a Combine businessman regardless.
Of course, the question remains of what Stein was actually
trying to achieve. Based off what I know of him, my own theory would be that he
was trying to get in good with Pelzer and set himself up as a major player
within whatever emerged from his power grab. An independent world or small
collection of worlds would be perfect for a man like him, especially if he
could play behind the scenes and, if needs be, get out if things turned bad. By
turning on the Lyrans, he was clearly aiming to throw them into a situation
where they would need to consider if retaking an independent Kamenez was worth
throwing even more of their already stretched resources at. Likely he didn't
expect Magyari’s men to be as resourceful as they were, or, for that matter,
that Carson would fold so fast.
Given some of the rumblings that I've been hearing out of
Buena, Pelzer's biggest flaw might not have been what he tried to do but rather
that he moved too quickly.
I should look into the Royals botched raid on Tybalt. Stein
was almost certainly calling the shots on that one, and I suspect that the
whole thing might have been a cover for him to get something from his former
employer. There's a lot of questions that I'd like answered and he may yet
prove to be the one to do it, which puts me in that annoying situation where
the most direct solution to a problem might not be the best one.
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