Clan Ghost Bear History

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TIME OF DECISION

The General's intent was clearly stated,
To depart and never return.
He forced none but swayed many;
This compassionate, brilliant man
Had led thousands to victory,
And he would again lead the long march.

-The Remembrance (Clan Ghost Bear), Passage 8, Verse 6, Lines 12-17

General Aleksandr Kerensky defeated Stefan Amaris's troops on Terra in 2779, thereby ending nearly a decade of tyranny by the Usurper of the Star League. Another four years passed before he finally accepted the ideological death of the Star League in the Inner Sphere and decided to do something about it. No longer willing to live in a "civilization that spurns the ideals it once professed to hold so dear," General Kerensky proposed to the loyal soldiers of the Star League Defense Force that the only way to preserve the Star League and honor those who had died in its service was for the people in whose hearts and souls the spirit of that noble body resided to leave the Inner Sphere and reject the cruel age upon which it seemed intent to embark. The general's "orders" for Operation Exodus stated that any who wished to join this brave venture would be accepted at any time until 5 November 2784, one day prior to the scheduled jump.

Under any other circumstances, the architects of Clan Ghost Bear would have remained on New Samarkand and died as loyal citizens of the Inner Sphere. Sandra Tseng and Hans Ole Jorgensson were kindred spirits united by circumstance. Born in the year that Richard Cameron came of age and took the reins of the Star League from his regent, General Aleksandr Kerensky, both grew up dreaming of becoming warriors in the SLDF. They trained hard to complete their MechWarrior training, she in Liao space and he in Kurita. Newly graduated and untried in combat, Tseng and Jorgensson joined the steady trickle of troops who, against the orders of their governments, continued to travel to General Kerensky's current theater of operations. They were blooded in the battle to retake Terra, Jorgensson in Europe and Tseng in North America, and met at a celebration held to honor the dead and welcome the liberators. They married a short time later, Tseng and Jorgensson continued to serve in the SLDF, but were forced to question the strength of their loyalty to their leader when Kerensky announced the Exodus to his troops. Though the couple agreed that the deteriorating situation in the Inner Sphere appeared unlikely to improve and that the only sure way to preserve the Star League was to remove its heart and transplant it to an uncorrupted realm, they doubted Kerensky's ability to oversee a peaceful effort such as the Exodus. In addition, both had families in the Inner Sphere that they felt reluctant to leave behind, no matter how noble the cause. They decided to stay behind and defend whatever remained of the League. Stationed on New Samarkand at the time of the Exodus, Sandra and Hans did their part in preparations for the departure. As the ships hung at the jump points waiting for the go order, a steady stream of SLDF soldiers visited the planet on their final shore leave, and many single and married soldiers tried to convince the couple to join the Exodus. Though these conversations must have eroded their confidence in their decision to stay, neither would admit to having second thoughts.

On the day before the fleet made its historic jump, General Kerensky spoke to his assembled forces, both the soldiers on the ground and in space, those joining the Exodus and those remaining behind. Hans and Sandra listened to the general's impassioned words with rapt attention. Though the words were familiar, only when they came directly from the general's mouth did they convey the hopes and dreams of a true visionary. Ghost Bear legend claims that the moment the general finished his speech, the Couple looked into each other's eves and each saw the other's desire to join the Exodus. They never said the words but immediately made arrangements to join the great adventure, boarding the WarShip Prinz Eugen that same evening. Loremasters from other Clans who wish to cast aspersions on the couple will claim that the couple initially declined to join the Exodus simply to avoid making a difficult decision. Ghost Bear Loremasters willingly accept that theory, but say that it simply proves that their Clan's founders understood the true gravity of the commitment General Kerensky was asking them to make.

EXODUS UNREST

The uncertainty and inconvenience of the months-long journey coreward eventually became too much for some people to bear. Few ships in the Exodus fleet were designed to carry passengers, and most were overcrowded. The Prinz Eugen crammed hundreds of people into makeshift barracks in the vessel's cavernous cargo holds, and the freedom for which so many lives had been sacrificed seemed a pipe dream on the WarShip's crowded decks. Though the decision to return to the Inner Sphere and make the best of that bad situation arose from more than a desperate desire for privacy, that alone might have been reason enough.

While it was the ship's officers who led the rebellion, they had the silent support of a majority of their passengers. These people willingly abandoned the familiar for the promised land only to find themselves trapped in space and denied the right to change their minds. General Kerensky's unwavering refusal to respond to numerous petitions asking him to reconsider his scheme, and his inability or unwillingness to even hint at a destination or even a timetable seemed to leave the travelers on the Eugen little choice.The passengers aboard the Eugen who argued against the mutiny, Tseng and Jorgensson among them, represented a vocal minority. Their pleas for the mutineers to trust Kerensky long enough for the general to answer their demands fell on deaf ears, and the general was forced to take swift action in order to save his dream. The general's decision to purge the officers of the Eugen shocked the entire fleet, and though General Order 137 laid to rest some of the resentment that began to build as a result of Kerensky's brutal actions, it seems clear that the Eagen incident represented the beginning of the end for unity among the Exodus fleet.

SECOND EXODUS

Tseng and Jorgensson settled on Babylon when the Exodus fleet arrived at the Pentagon worlds. By the time General Kerensky implemented his plan to decommission 75 percent of the military, Sandra was three months' pregnant. Blessed with quick intelligence, broad-based aptitudes and an eagerness to help wherever they were needed, Sandra and Hans adapted easily to life in the private sector when they tested out of the SLDF ranks. Both soldiers accepted Kerensky's plan as a solid first step on the road to lasting peace. Though still only cautiously optimistic about their brilliant military leader's ultimate plan for maintaining a productive and tranquil society, the couple worked hard and managed to live in contentment for more than ten years, as they raised their son and contributed their skills to various industries on Babylon. Records also show that both former soldiers trained regularly in simulators to maintain their fighting skills.

Soon after dissatisfied exssoldiers on Eden began violently agitating for a return to military service, Kerensky's society also began to show cracks along cultural lines. People of similar backgrounds had settled near each other, and the old political divisions offered a convenient way to decide between friend and enemy. Few people believed that the violence would spread to the remaining Pentagon worlds. Like many others, Tseng and Jorgensson went about their daily routines, trusting the general to lead them through this new test. Their confidence in Kerensky's peacetime leadership abilities was utterly destroyed when their son was killed by a stray bullet during a Lyran-Combine riot in a Babylon marketplace. With the meaning savagely torn from their lives, Tseng and Jorgensson fell with grief. Grief inevitably gave way to anger, and sooner than expected the pair petitioned Nicholas Kerensky to return to active service in his 146th Royal BattleMech Division. A cursory review of their records and a demonstration of their current level of skill on the 'Mech simulators were all Nicholas needed to draft them as MechWarriors.

When General Kerensky died while preparing a campaign plan to reunite the factions on Eden, the general populace responded by intensifying the violence, and the now-leaderless military fell into complete disarray. With strong support in the fledgling colonies of the Cluster, but none in the cities of the Pentagon worlds, Nicholas accepted the challenge of finding a way to preserve his father's dream and began to formulate his plan for a second Exodus. He enlisted the services of Tseng and Jorgensson, whom he considered reassuringly level-headed, to help him reach those who might join him in this second attempt to preserve some vestige of the Star League. For six months the couple traveled the Pentagon worlds in an effort to find followers to support their new leader. They soon discovered that the local military leaders enjoyed much stronger support than Nicholas, who was regarded as a poor successor to his poorly regarded father. (Though both Aleksandr and Nicholas Kerensky eventually gained nearly godlike status among the Clans, his disillusioned followers rejected Aleksandr in the years following his death for his failure to deliver his people to the promised land.) Despite this widespread lack of interest in Nicholas's plan, Tseng and Jorgensson found a majority of the Pentagon worlds' scientists and laborers eager to accompany Nicholas into the scarcely populated Kerensky Cluster.

A NEW BEGINNING

In order to conceive the plan of designing a completely new society, Nicholas must have recognized his father's mistake of failing to offer his followers a focus for their lives. Those who joined him in the second Exodus understood that from the moment they stepped foot on Strana Mechty as a people apart from the original Exodus fleet, their lives would be completely different. Nicholas intended to change everything about social relationships that caused division and chaos, and he needed the wholehearted support of every man, woman and child. Sandra Tseng and Hans Jorgensson were two of his most ardent advocates, turning their persuasive skills and practical arguments to convincing people of the wisdom of Nicholas's way. His trusted and valuable aides therefore took it particularly hard when they learned their assigned roles in their leader's new society: they were to help shape two different Clans. Nicholas soundly reasoned that it was better to evenly distribute one's prime assets in order to gain maximum benefit, and though Nicholas did not overestimate the couple's devotion to the Clans, he seriously underestimated their devotion to one another. Long before he chose to formally declare mating nothing more than a means to achieve a more perfect society, Nicholas asked Tseng and Jorgensson to abandon the ideal of marriage for love and subsume it to the greater good of the future.

In an eerie parallel to their deliberations concerning the original Exodus, Tseng and Jorgensson carefully weighed the Circumstances costs and consequences, and regretfully chose to reject the new life they so fervently believed in in order to remain together. Their decision made, the couple quietly packed survival kits and disappeared into Strana Mechty's southernmost continent. Though none would have questioned Nicholas's decision to wash his hands of the pair and abandon them to their fate, apparently Nicholas's wife Jennifer Winson rightly pointed out that, regardless of the circumstances, Nicholas would have never considered separating himself from his own wife. Wisely agreeing with his wife's logic, Nicholas quickly agreed to reassign the couple to the same Clan as soon as he could find them.

Sandra Tseng and Hans Jorgensson fared badly against the brutal elements of the planet's antarctic circle. Their survival kits proved inadequate for long-term operations in the bitter weather, and mishaps claimed their remaining supplies before three weeks had passed. Frostbitten and afraid, the couple crawled into a cave along the slopes of the forbidding Minsk range and comforted each other with the fact that, as they had wanted, they would die together.

What happened next more properly belongs to legend than history. According to the couple's story, the cave they chose also served as shelter for a ghost bear. When that intimidating creature returned to its den and saw the intruders it rose to its full height, gave a heart-stopping roar, then sat on its haunches and stared at Sandra Tseng and Hans Jorgensson as if waiting for a reply. Without hesitation, they struggled to their feet and together let out a bloodcurdling war cry. As they clung to each other for support, the bear padded toward them on all fours, snuffling the air as he circled the humans. Overcome by fear and exhaustion, Tseng and Jorgensson collapsed, unconscious. When they next awoke, the first thought that struck them was that they felt warm for the first time since leaving the Clan settlement. The bear was sleeping curled around its human guests.

As soon as the couple stirred, the bear woke up, stretched and left the cave, returning moments later carrying a rabbit in its mouth. The huge beast laid the freshly killed rabbit on the floor of the cave, placed one immense paw on its prey's head, and bit its meal neatly in half. The bear gulped down the rabbit's hindquarters, then moved back to the mouth of the cave, sat on its haunches and stared at the humans. Sandra and Hans shared that meal and the next three the bear provided, slowly regaining their strength. Though they believed at first that they were hallucinating, it seemed that whenever they stumbled from the cave to drink or eliminate they saw their bear, each time a different size and marked differently by scars and other marks. On the third morning with the bear, the animal sat at the mouth of the cave staring out. When Tseng and Jorgensson looked to see what was holding its interest, they found five ghost bears of varying ages and sizes, some were wrestling, some were standing nose to nose and one was just arriving carrying a steaming rabbit in its mouth, which it laid at the mouth of the cave.

With this incident, Tseng and Jorgensson became the first witnesses to the ghost bear's lifelong attachment to its mate and offspring. Though others had made detailed accounts of the bear's hunting style and other habits, no one had discovered this unusual trait. Just as inspiration had struck the pair when they listened to General Kerensky's message for the Exodus, they now felt inspired to return to Nicholas with this remarkable evidence of the importance of family and to fight for the right to serve the Clans as a team.

On their long trek back to civilization, Tseng and Jorgensson encountered another facet of ghost bear behavior that they later incorporated into their Clan's rituals. Their journey took them across the border between two ghost bears' territories, and as they watched an adolescent bear nnove across the landscape one afternoon, a second bear of similar age rose up from where it was hidden in the snow and attacked the first. The couple found the brutal beauty of this deadly territorial dispute fascinating, and they shared a vow to honor the ghost bear by testing themselves against one as soon as they recovered from their ordeal. They met the search party Nicholas had sent out when they were nearly halfway home, and the renegade couple immediately announced their intention to return and challenge Nicholas's decision. When the leader of the search party replied with Nicholas's apology and an invitation to return and help him avoid similar mistakes in the future, the couple collapsed again, this time from joy and relief.

INCEPTION OF THE BEAR

The kinship of spirits is vital; Without this connection there Can be no true understanding.

-From the Oath of Acceptance, Clan Ghost Bear

Nicholas visited Tseng and Jorgensson as soon as doctors declared the pair fit to resume their normal activities. The story of how they survived their exile had spread quickly upon their return, and Nicholas solemnly announced that he intended to assign Tseng and Jorgensson to Clan Ghost Bear. He went on to suggest that they consider working toward a leadership position that he intended to create for each Clan. First, though, they needed to test for a position in the Clan's newly reorganized military. In one of the briefest, most one-sided combat trials on record, Hans and Sandra laid waste to their opponents in an amazing display of teamwork and skill. In a matter of minutes, all six opposing 'Mechs were destroyed or disabled. When the smoke cleared, Tseng and Jorgensson were well on their way to becoming the leaders of Clan Ghost Bear.

Their adventure with the ghost bears gave the couple a certain cache among the other warriors of their Clan, who looked to them for guidance on how best to exemplify the finest traits of the Clan's namesake. With Nicholas's permission to mold the Clan in any way they saw fit as long as they honored the Clan way, Tseng and Jorgensson began by forging strong bonds of friendship and loyalty between the Ghost Bear warriors.Those early years also laid the groundwork for many of the Clan's unique practices and rituals. In an effort to make every warrior equally strong and effective in order to create an efficient, deadly fighting force, Tseng and Jorgensson encouraged the Ghost Bear warriors to practice individual and group confidence-building exercises that they developed from SLDF training exercises. In order to foster a strong sense of belonging, and with it, unparalleled loyalty, Clan Ghost Bear allowed every warrior, Bloodnamed or not, to vote on any issue that concerned the Clan as a whole. While Clan Diamond Shark also practiced an expanded voting policy, Ghost Bear warriors retained the right to vote for their lower castes. On the first anniversary of their initial encounter with the ghost bear, Tseng and Jorgensson led a hunting party into Strana Mechty's antarctic wilderness in the earliest version of what would become the Clawing Ritual.

By the time Nicholas Kerensky declared himself ilKhan and established two Khans as the leaders of each Clan, the Ghost Bear warriors were so accustomed to following Sandra Tseng's and Hans Jorgensson's lead that they unanimously elected the pair as their Khans. The Clan had smoothly incorporated its unique style into Nicholas's tenets for his society, and the fortyplus Ghost Bear warriors enjoyed a closer relationship than any other Clan could comprehend. Rumors that every member of the Clan enjoyed intimate relations with every other became rampant. When ilKhan Kerensky traveled to the Ghost Bear enclave to confront the Khans with these tales, he discovered a Clan wholly at one with itself. He found a situation reminiscent of the closely knit extended families common in preindustrial societies, and every member of the Clan offered Nicholas the respect due the patriarch of such a family. Khan Jorgensson explained to Nicholas his theory that mutual respect produced superior loyalty, and the ilKhan accepted it as obviously valid.

RETURN TO THE PENTAGON

The Ghost Bears shared the task of retaking the Pentagon world Arcadia with Clans Blood Spirit, Star Adder and Steel Viper. When it took the Bears a week longer than any other Clan to capture their objectives, the other Khans publicly doubted the Clan's methods and philosophy. Nicholas dismissed these concerns by pointing out that the Ghost Bear Khans themselves were well known for solving problems by making a thorough and considered exAmination of every situation. To their credit, they achieved the lowest fatality rate of the Clans who attacked Arcadia and swelled their ranks with bondsmen.

During the fighting on Arcadia, the Bear Khans proved their personal valor and loyalty to their warriors. Khan Tseng made a heroic effort to command her troops from the front lines of the battle, often placing her 'Mech in the way of shots meant for her soldiers Both skill and luck protected her from serious or permanent damage in these selfless acts of bravery, and Ghost Bear LoremaSterS continue to recount her actions as the ideal toward which all Clan warriors and Khans should aspire. Khan Jorgenssonls greatest contribution to the Ghost Bear fighting forces was his creation of a completely open command structure that offered each warrior almost Complete autonomy. In any other military unit such a tactic would lead to disaster, but the Ghost Bear warriors were so intimately familiar with one another as soldiers and as friends that this structure encouraged thenn to reach unexpected heights of brilliance.

When the campaign to subdue the Pentagon worlds ended, Nicholas put the finishing touches on Clan society. He also announced that the five Pentagon worlds were to be divided into Clan-ruled spheres of control, known as enclaves. The Bears redeveloped large parts of Arcadia as their enclave, setting the captured population to work rebuilding Arcadia's once glittering cities.

GOLDEN CENTURY

Khan Sandra Tseng died in 2848 defending her genetic legacy against Khan Franklin Osis of Clan Smoke Jaguar. Though the Bears carried the day, they all felt the loss of their beloved Khan as a serious blow, particularly Hans Jorgensson. Toramano Tseng assumed the Khanship in Sandra's place, and Khan Hans Jorgensson retired from his position soon after. Jorgensson died peacefully in his sleep some ten years later. \par \par \tab Beginning long before Sandra Tseng's death, the warriors of Clan Ghost Bear developed a unique ceremony to honor their dead. The original forty warriors combined elements of all their religions into a short ritual that satisfied each member's needs for honoring those who passed on before them. Over the years, the "funeral" ceremony trnsformed to accommodate changes in Clan ways and society, but the simple service held to honor Sandra Tseng became Clan Ghost Bear's standard ritual to mark the passing of a Khan. The Clan also allowed the funeral of multiple warriors killed in action to evolve into something slightly more elaborate and always longer than the service held to mark a single warrior's death, because such a ritual must comfort a larger number of mourners.

Corina Tseng filled Khan Jorgensson's position, and Frederick Jorgensson assumed the position of Loremaster, thus insuring the continued prominence of the Tseng and Jorgensson bloodlines.

Contrary to expectations, the death of Nicholas Kerensky during the 2834 Trial of Absorption won by Clan Wolf against Widowmaker did not destroy Kerensky's new society. [EDITOR'S NOTE: ComStar document number BLP-612-DTC incorrectly identified this date as 2825.] In fact, his death prompted a century of unparalleled technological and economic growth. Clan Ghost Bear entered the Golden Century with its usual deliberate stride, devoting substantial attention and energy to furthering its traditions and maintaining a true sense of family. So successful were they at achieving these goals that members of the Clan eventually became uncomfortable dealing with people outside the "family." Their inability to trust others' instincts and advice made them slow to accept ideas and technology developed outside their Clan, but the Ghost Bears' solidarity allowed them to strengthen their political position and create new ways and new technology on their own. The liberal voting policy instituted by Hans Jorgensson also allowed Ghost Bear leaders to take a wait-and-see position on political and military issues. Though the Clan's detractors label this habit as a reluctance to try anything new, those more familiar with the inner workings of the Clan understand that the Ghost Bear way lies on the path of intellectual deliberation and prudent action. While this attitude sometimes holds the Clan back when compared to other Clans, few other Clans match Ghost Bear's thoroughness in exploring the implications and repercussions of all their endeavors .

Clan Ghost Bear's approach to accepting innovation had both a negative and positive economic impact. When Clan Coyote introduced the OmniMech in 2854, the Ghost Bear leadership proved reluctant to simply adopt this major new piece of hardware without thoroughly analyzing its performance and its potential impact on established military doctrine. Many technicians who examined the OmniMech design applauded its basic concept but pointed out several minor design flaws such as poor cockpit design, serious stresses placed on certain myomer bundles, and weak connections in the ammunition-feed link between the modular pods. The Ghost Bear technicians suspected that these problems might indicate larger faults in the prototypes that could prove dangerous. While Clan Ghost Bear debated the merits and flaws of the OmniMech, other Clans chose to bring them into active duty. The Bears would be the last Clan to adopt the OmniMech, and that delay cost them several key cities and legacies, lost to OmniMech-equipped Clans.

Their traditions did not prevent Clan Ghost Bear from achieving several important discoveries. Ghost Bear was the first Clan to profit by mining rare raw materials from the asteroid belts common to many Kerensky Cluster systems. While other Clans worked for their profits by mining on the planets proper, Clan Ghost Bear developed unmatched techniques to efficiently strip-mine asteroids. They also devoted their scientific capabilities to new methods of purifying water, and are credited with producing the first strain of Shipeley wheat, a strain so resistant and hardy that it can grow in any soil and climate, including the mineral-poor ground of Strana Mechty's icy southern continent.

Kilbourne Jorgensson rose to the position of Khan during the Golden Century, an event remarkable only because Kilbourne was one of the first Elementals chosen for the post. A man of remarkable grace and tender sensibilities, he improved the general perception of Elementals, who until that time were considered by many to be second-rate compared to MechWarriors. Warriors of all Clans speak of Kilbourne with great respect to this day.

OPERATION REVIVAL

Now is the time
To prove
What we know to be true:
That we shall conquer all.

-The Remembrance (Clan Ghost Bear), Passage 155, Verse 2, Lines 45-48

When Clan Smoke Jaguar captured the ComStar Explorer Corps ship Outbound Light, Khan Leo Showers used the information gained by interrogating the ship's crew to create a stir in the Grand Council and manipulate the gathered Khans to vote for the invasion of the Inner Sphere. Only Clan Wolf voted against an immediate return, and Khan Ulric Kerensky called for a Trial of Refusal when the vote went against him. Though bidding lowered the odds against Clan Wolf to four to one, they knew they faced a losing battle, especially because both Ghost Bear Khans led their elite force in the trial. \par \par \tab In a series of brilliant hit-and-run engagements, Khan Ulric Kerensky managed to kill both the Ghost Bear Khans, taking Nornian Tseng and Ursula Jorgensson away from their Clan. Later, in a speech to the Grand Council, Khan Kerensky commented that new situations require new thinking. Though it seems unlikely that he was addressing his remarks specifically to Clan Ghost Bear, those warriors understood a veiled message in his words and responded. When they met to elect new Khans, the Bear Clan Council voted unanimously to try a change. They acknowledged the valuable leadership provided by the Jorgenssons and Tsengs over the years, but they felt the need to try someone new. With that historic decision, Clan Ghost Bear chose to elect Khans of Bloodnames other than those of its founders, even though several Jorgenssons were eligible. Karl Bourjon, undisputedly the finest warrior in the Clan, and Theresa DelVillar, an Elemental, became the Ghost Bear Khan and saKhan, respectively. Though unaware of his part in Clan Ghost Bear's choices, Clan Wolf Khan Ulric Kerensky was pleased by the Bears' new leadership, as both new Khans held far more moderate views than their predecessors. In fact, saKhan DelVillar was widely labeled as a moderate Warden.

As soon as the Clan forces defending the Grand Council's decision against Clan Wolf defeated Ulric Kerensky's troops, the Grand Council determined that four Clans represented a sufficient invasion force. A vote gave Clan Wolf one slot in the invading force by virtue of its position as descendants of Kerensky. The bidding for the right to serve as one of the three remaining invading Clans began in late 3048. The bidding process lasted for two full days and was conducted in three rounds. Those Clans who remained in the final round would participate in combat trials that would determine the final three invading Clans. Each Clan made a preliminary bid, then retired to study the other Clans' opening bids. On the second day, the Clans launched into a fierce bidding war, with each Clan mercilessly cutting away their excess troops in order to move on to the final round. Clan Ghost Bear made an initial bid of twelve full OmniMech Galaxies with appropriate Elemental and aerospace support.

Clan Smoke Jaguar emerged first from the bidding process by slashing their initial eleven-Galaxy bid to three. The Ghost Bears followed suit and exited the bidding with three mixed Galaxies. The six Clans that made it to the final round; Clans Smoke Jaguar, Jade Falcon, Ghost Bear, Nova Cat, Steel Viper and Diamond Shark met in combat to determine who would invade as the primary force and who would serve as the reserve. The Third Bear Guards earned their Clan the Draconis Combine-Free Rasalhague Republic corridor. Clans Jade Falcon and Smoke Jaguar also won positions as primary invaders, and Clan Steel Viper emerged as the reserve Clan that the Wardens insisted be included in the invasion force. Clans Nova Cat and Diamond Shark called for and won Trials of Refusal that placed them next in line to join the invasion.

Though the invading Clans crafted the basic attack plan in a Grand Kurultai, assigning each primary Clan to an invasion corridor, each Clan designed the specifics of its own invasion strategy. The Ghost Bear Khans disagreed about how best to prepare for the enemy. Khan Bourjon felt that their forces would meet minimal opposition and argued that excessive supplies would simply weigh down the fleet and place a needless burden on the Clan members remaining on the home worlds. While she agreed that the Bears would surely beat all comers, saKhan DelVillar harbored reservations about the low amount of supplies that Khan Bourjon proposed as adequate. Her counterproposals fell on deaf ears. Clan Ghost Bear took the fewest supplies and materiel of any Clan, and this lack would cost them dearly later on.

While the Khans debated strategy with their Star Colonels, the three invading Bear Galaxies gathered on Strana Mechty to spend two nights feasting and hunting and fostering general camaraderie through organized games As firm believers in the usefulness of organized play to develop teamwork and provide a healthy form of relaxation, Sandra Tseng and Hans Jorgensson had created a decathlon-style event that they organized once a year, though they encouraged the Ghost Bear warriors to use the games as exercise and celebration any time. Subsequent Khans supported these games, and they eventually became a Ghost Bear tradition. The Clan also sent out six Clawing parties that each pledged to return within a week. Four parties returned alive, and two of those found and killed ghost bears. Many Bear warriors interpreted this unprecedented rate of success as a sign of assured victory in the coming invasion.