The weather had finally broken and the cloud cover had scattered enough for the descent of the two dropships to be visible.  One had been waiting for almost two days for a landing window.  The other had only just arrived.  They came down together, both pilots clearly eager to be on the ground.  Their descent was as carefully watched as their credentials were carefully screened.  Weapons both visible and invisible tracked their journey from orbit to ground.  Any deviation from their flight path would be met with a firestorm of munitions and energy weapons.<br/><br/>At the starport, each ship had its own very distinct welcoming committee, despite the fact that the passengers on both ships were heading for the same place.   No matter how tired or how travel weary they were, the newcomers were expected to attend a welcoming feast.  It was as much a test as a welcome, pushing the diplomatic skills of the nearly exhausted nobles to their limits while pretending to offer hospitality had long been a tradition on Siege Perilous.<br/><br/>There were other less official people waiting as well, those who rarely saw the inside of the feast halls.  The ships carried more than just fresh meat for the social grist mills, they carried much needed supplies and less important passengers.  Few nobles considered the soldiers that fought and died beside and under them but these were the backbone of the small armies that protected Siege Perilous.  As flashy and as imposing as the battlemechs were, it was flesh and bone that won battles as well as blood.  There was always blood.<br/><br/>Usually the five Houses fought against each other, rather than dining together but Siege Perilous was an exception to the rule in many ways.  For the most part it was unclaimed, except for the growing number of noble holdings that were spreading across the planet with each new influx of fresh blood.  These claims changed hands frequently as fortunes changed on the battlefield or in the conference room.  There were even tales of large tracts of land changing hands over the gaming tables.<br/><br/>For some reason Siege Perilous had been designated a 'free world', much to the annoyance of the Free Worlds League.  All five Houses were represented to a more or less equal degree.  No one House controlled the entire planet but all five defended it and their portion of it with a zeal that bordered on jealousy.  It was a fertile bed of intrigue and deception and influence was wielded less like a hammer than like a scalpel.  It was a game of chess and the pieces changed value frequently and often unpredictably.<br/><br/>Now there were newcomers, who had to learn the rules quickly before they were too far behind to ever recover.....<br/>