Editing Jeana Clay

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| name                = Jeana Clay
| birthdate           = [[3002]]{{cn}}
| died                = [[3029]]{{cn}}
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[Lyran Commonwealth]]
| rank                = [[Sergeant]]
| title               = 
| position            = 
| profession          = 
| parents             = 
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = 
| children            = 
}}
'''Jeana Clay''' was the ''nom de guerre'' of a [[thirty-first century]] [[Lyran Commonwealth]] [[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarrior]] and member of [[Heimdall (organization)|Heimdall]].  She agreed to play the role of body-double for [[Archon-Designate]] [[Melissa Steiner (31st c.)|Melissa Steiner]] as part of a plot to keep secret Melissa's betrothal to [[First Prince]] [[Hanse Davion]] of the [[Federated Suns]].  During the course of the [[Fourth Succession War]], Jeana Clay gave her life to defend [[Archon]] [[Katrina Steiner]] from assassins sent by [[Aldo Lestrade IV]] as part of a [[Free Skye]] secessionist plot.

==History==
====Early Years====
Jeana was born in 3002 on the world of [[Poulsbo]], the child of a couple who worked for the local Heimdall cell.  In [[3005]] Katrina Steiner, as part of a tour of military facilities, was on Poulsbo having dinner with [[Morgan Kell]] and [[Arthur Luvon]] when they were attacked by [[Loki (Intelligence agency)|Loki]] agents sent by Archon [[Alessandro Steiner]].  Escaping the attack, the trio ran into Jeana's father (known only as Grison), who allowed them to hide out in his home.  There Katrina first met Jeana and helped keep her calm by singing to her while Loki agents searched the house and questioned her father.  Grison would later helped the trio escape off of Poulsbo at the cost of his life.<ref name=WEG11>''Warrior: En Garde'', ch. 11</ref>

As thanks for their help, Arthur Luvon later created new identities and trust funds for all of the Heimdall members on Poulsbo once his wife Katrina became Archon.  In this way Jeana "Clay" received a scholarship to attend the [[Sanglamore Academy]], from which she graduated and entered the [[LCAF]] as a MechWarrior, and created in her a fierce loyalty to House Steiner as her benefactor.  By October [[3026]], [[Sergeant]] Jeana Clay was living on [[Tharkad]] and a member of the [[Twenty-fourth Lyran Guards]].  She had been living with her mother until just recently when she died during a break-in of their home; still coming to terms with her death, Jeana was still unwilling to enter her mother's room in the months since then.  Jeana had also participated in a number of Tharkad Triathlons and was currently training for the next one.<ref name=WEG11/><ref>''Warrior: En Garde'', ch. 10</ref>

==== Life as Bodyguard and Body Double ====
Jeana Clay was selected by [[Simon Johnson]], head of the [[Lyran Intelligence Corps]], to be Melissa Steiner's body double.  She was ambushed in her home by Loki agents after a training season, and while knocking out one agent she was rendered unconscious via [[Dart Gun]], her body removed from the scene by "paramedics" due to a supposed heart attack.  In January [[3027]], Jeana was interviewed by Katrina Steiner in a LIC holding cell regarding her participation in an important mission for House Steiner.  However it was during this interview where Jeana revealed that she was the child on Poulsbo the Archon had comforted some two decades ago and that it was her father who died to save the Archon's life.  Unaware of this, Katrina expressed regret for the way LIC had brought her in and did not wish to burden her with the task since her family had given up so much.  However, Jeana insisted on taking the mission, arguing she owed everything to House Steiner and would be willing to do anything to repay it.  Satisfied, Katrina informed Jeana of the plan to create a body double for her daughter, during which Jeana would undergo minor surgery and six months of intensive learning to break down everything she knew and remold her to think like the Archon-Designate.  Knowing what lay ahead and that her future service would be one of total anonymity, she agreed to take the mission.  Jeana Clay was officially pronounced dead of a heart attack to the rest of the galaxy while the new Jeana began her training.<ref name=WEG11/>

Jeana's "neighbor", Albert Tompkins, visited what he believed to be her grave in the Twenty-fourth Lyran Guards section of the Tharkad Cemetery to offer his condolences, and privately bless her work as a member of Heimdall. 

Jeana Clay was first put to the test on 10 April 3027, when [[Colonel]] [[Ardan Sortek]] and [[Leftenant]] [[Andrew Redburn]] arrived on Tharkad as military envoys from the [[Federated Suns]].  Ardan Sortek, who had spent time with the real Melissa Steiner [[The Sword and the Dagger|a few years ago]], was totally fooled by Jeana's disguise and could not even tell them apart when the two stood side by side.  Andrew Redburn was thus informed of his role in escorting the real Melissa to [[New Avalon]] while Jeana would stay behind in her place.<ref>''Warrior: En Garde'', ch. 25</ref>  The ruse was nearly revealed during a series of events which would become known as the [[Silver Eagle Incident]], but in the end Melissa safely arrived in the Federated Suns for her meeting with Hanse and would return to the Lyran Commonwealth in secret.

On 31 December 3027, Jeana was present during the Archon's New Year's Eve celebration, held in the Grand Ballroom of the Archon's Palace at the Triad on Tharkad.  There she witnessed the [[Kell Hounds]] mercenary [[Captain]] [[Daniel Allard]]'s encounter with the Federated Suns' [[Capellan March]] envoy Baron Sefnes.  The drunken Baron had tried to shame him for being the brother of the traitorous [[Justin Allard]] but Daniel, using both physical and verbal persuasion, turned the tables on him and professed his continued pride in his brother.  After the encounter, Jeana sought Dan out as he exited the ballroom, touched by Daniel's devotion to his brother despite consequences.  Daniel initially confused Jenna for Melissa, who was still in the ballroom, but without her gray contact lenses and other subtle differences Jeana was able to brush it off as a common lookalike occurrence.  The two walked together in the gardens and talked more about Dan's brother, and while Jeana remained elusive about herself or her role at court, she have Dan assurances that Justin would return to him some day.<ref>''Warrior: Repiste'', ch. 15</ref>

The two met again on 17 August [[3028]], at the reception hall of [[ComStar]]'s [[Hilton Head]] island compound on [[Terra]], for the wedding of Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner.  Jeana "rescued" Dan Allard from being courted by his longtime admirer, Baroness [[Felicity de Gambier]], though her use of MechWarrior jargon was noted by Dan.  They agreed to spend the next day together, where they walked along the beach talking mostly about Dan.  When finally pressed to disclose something about herself, Jeana finally admitted that her role involved serving Melissa, and while she had no present duties during the wedding she would have to return to work afterwards.  She also revealed that the perfume she wore was a gift from Melissa called "Nocturne" given to her because the Archon-Designate hated it.  Expressing their love for each other, the two spent the night together and all of the next day touring more of the island and its small civilian village.<ref>''Warrior: Riposte'', Ch. 17-18</ref>

Just before the wedding on 20 August, Jeana was with Melissa in her dressing room when Melissa gave her a "[[Albion Military Academy#Special Notes|'Mech charm]]" given to her by Hanse, noting that she won't need it since she'll be within him.  Initially refusing this gesture, Jeana eventually tearfully accepted the honor.<ref>''Warrior: Riposte'', Ch. 36</ref>

The wedding itself was one of the momentous events of the [[thirty-first century]] as it also served as the start of the Fourth Succession War.  Officially, Melissa Steiner spent her wedding night with Hanse before returning to the Lyran Commonwealth due to the war.  In truth, Jeana was going back in her place so that Melissa could stay with Hanse to produce an heir for the newly founded [[Federated Commonwealth]].  On 21 August, as "Melissa" was leaving Terra, she met with Dan to express "Jeana's" regret that she could not see him off, but gave him her Sanglamore sash as a gesture of her feelings.  However, Dan could smell the Nocturne perfume on "Melissa" and realized that she was actually Jeana.  When he confronted Morgan Kell with this information, Dan's suspicions that Jeana was serving as Melissa's body double were confirmed, but was reassured by Morgan that the gift of her sash meant her feelings for him were not fake.<ref>''Warrior: Riposte'', Ch. 42</ref>

Back on Tharkad, Jeana and the Archon grew closer as mother and daughter would as the war proceeded.  Jeana shared her feelings and worries for Dan Allard with Katrina, who in turn told Jeana of her worries for Morgan Kell and his seemingly inevitable confrontation with [[Yorinaga Kurita]].<ref>''Warrior: Coupé'', Ch. 8</ref>

==== Saving the Archon and Her Death ====
On 20 June [[3029]], Jeana Clay was watching reports from the front with Melissa's friend [[Misha Auburn]] when envoys from the Federated Suns arrived to meet with the Archon.  One of them, a Captain [[John Bailey]] of the [[Davion Light Guards]], asked for an audience with the Archon-Designate and was received in the parlor.  Jeana sensed something strange about the man, but it wasn't until Misha asked why he wasn't wearing the campaign ribbon from the Light Guard's [[St. Andre]] strike that she realized he was an impostor.  Before the Captain could respond Jeana immediately knocked him unconscious and searched his body.  Finding a [[Mauser and Gray Firearms|Mauser and Gray]] M-27 [[needle pistol]] and a Sanglamore sash on him, she recalled it was his formal heel-click salute and lack of [[Uniforms of the AFFS#MechWarriors|cavalry spurs]], which all Davion Mechwarriors wear, that had made her initially suspicious.<ref name=WC21>''Warrior: Coupé'', Ch. 21</ref>

Jeana quickly discerned that the other envoys were probably also assassins, and that if they hadn't killed the Archon already they were waiting for Simon Johnson to join them before striking; however they were guaranteed to attack if a general warning went out.  As she planned the best way to get into the Archon's office without alerting the assassins, a recovered Misha confronted her with why she wouldn't know about the secret passage to her mother's office.  Unfortunately that knowledge had been missed in Jeana's training, and with time of the essence she admitted the truth to Misha.  Shocked at the deception, Misha eventually recovered and agreed to help Jeana navigate the passageway into the Archon's office.<ref name=WC21/>

With Misha's help, Jeana navigated through the Palace's secret corridors and emerged into the Archon's private office from behind the bookcase, surprising the Archon and the two "Davion" officers sitting across from her desk.  Holding the two men at gunpoint, she recited Sanglamore's unofficial motto, ''Exitus acta probat,''  whereupon they immediately jumped up and split in two directions.  Jeana shot and killed the first assassin before he could finish pulling his gun, but both she and the second assassin fired simultaneously at each other.  She was hit clean in the chest and fell to the floor while the assassin was similarly disabled by her shot.  As she bled out on the floor, Jeana Clay wondered why she couldn't feel any more pain before finally dying.<ref name=WC21/>

Sitting next to Jeana Clay's dead body, Archon Katrina Steiner grieved for her and expressed guilt that the daughter of the man who saved her was now dead as well.  Swearing Misha to secrecy, the Archon set in motion plans to cover for Jeana's death until Melissa could return to Tharkad.<ref name=WC21/>  She also recorded a message to be delivered to Dan Allard, telling her of Jeana's death and her true love for him.  She also told him for secrecy's sake that Jeana would be cremated and her remains interned in the Steiner's family crypt, which he was welcomed to visit any time.<ref>''Warrior: Coupé'', Ch. 38</ref>  

Katherine (Katrina) Steiner-Davion learned the story of Jeana Clay, along with the potential for creating a double, in 3045 when a moody and troubled Melissa Steiner ventured out into the cold to visit the empty grave of Jeana Clay in the Twenty-fourth Lyran Guards cemetery on Tharkad. <ref> ''Warrior: En Garde'', p. 92</ref> <ref>''Bred for War'', p. 49-50</ref>

==Notes==
*As a sergeant in the Twenty-fourth Lyran Guards, Jeana Clay's serial number was 090-453-2234-12.<ref name=WEG11/>

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Bred for War]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Warrior: Coupé]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Warrior: En Garde]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Warrior: Riposte]]'' (novel)


[[Category: Lyran Commonwealth Characters|Clay, Jeana]]