The effect was perfect. When the beleaguered Nova Cat Mechwarriors on the other side of the battle heard this commanding voice, they rallied and threw all their weight against the Kuritans. At almost the same time, the beginnings of the artillery barrage began rolling along the rear lines of the enemy Mechs, tearing armor away and even destroying a couple straggling heavies caught in the center of the blast. The Kuritans, startled by the artillery at their back and hard pressed to keep the Nova Cat forces from blasting through their lines, began to pull back. Slowly they made their way off the field, and even though the Cats had an obvious mental advantage, they held their ground because the Kuritans still held a sizable numerical advantage.
As the battle wore down, the Nova Cat forces were recalled and the clean up began. Also, the struggles of Devon were just beginning. Some of his fellow Mechwarriors lauded his performance but others berated him, saying that in capturing and using the enemy’s artillery, he was becoming too much like the same enemy. These voices were the loudest, and instead of receiving praise for his actions, he was demoted to Mechwarrior and put on probation. To make matters worse for Devon, his Star was taken away from him and he was moved down to a lighter mech, a Mist Lynx. These were hard lessons learned, but he still believed he was doing the best for his Clan in using the tactics he chose. It wasn’t long before his successes came on a more favorable light. As the years wore on, the Nova Cat Khans began realizing that the true place for them and their Clan was protecting the Inner Sphere, not destroying it. When secret talks began with the Draconis Combine, talks also began with Devon.
He was summoned to the Khan’s flagship near the Combine border. There his actions on Sawyer were once again brought up. The Khan’s believed that Devon’ s use of the more flexible Inner Sphere tactics were suitable for the occasion and showed that he had room to grow beyond the mindset imposed by three hundred years of isolation. They also believed that he was punished unjustly and instead should have been praised.
To show this, they began the arrangements to get him a slot in the next Bloodname slot. The slot that turned up was the Carns name, the same name as saKhan Lucien Carns. He was sponsored for the name and the Trial of Bloodright was held on the planet Hyner. There Devon soundly defeated his opponent in his newly acquired Warhawk, in his preferred “C” configuration. After receiving his Bloodname, he was promoted to Star Captain.
He was then stationed on Hyner as part of the garrison. After a short while on the garrison, the Inner Sphere’s Operation Bulldog rolled through. At the conclusion of the operation, Clan Smoke Jaguar was destroyed and both Nova Cat Khans were dead. New Khans were elected and the Clan began to integrate into their new society, the Draconis Combine.
The forces that Devon once killed were now his allies. As the Clan continued to join the Combine, the Khans came up with a plan to help prepare their Clan more fully for life in the Inner Sphere. They would start by sending one Mechwarrior out in the Inner Sphere to join a mercenary team. That warrior would fight with them, learn from them, and if necessary, die with them. After a time, more troops would be sent to the mercenary team to bolster its strength and train the young Clan members in Inner Sphere tactics. Also, sufficient supplies of ammo and armaments would be sent along with an Invader class Jumpship, a valuable prize, for use by the mercenary team that hired the warrior.