Melissa Steiner (31st c.)

Later Melissa Steiner-Davion.

Daughter of Katrina Steiner and wife of Hanse Davion, Melissa Arthur Steiner-Davion became Archon of the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth. She was nearly universally beloved by friends, allies, and even enemies. The Lyran people in particular loved her dearly, which is partially why at 7:21PM, on the 19th of June, 3055, on Tharkad during a banquet she was attending, her assassination, broadcast live across the Inner Sphere, shocked all. The broadcast reached into Clan space, where Phelan Ward learned of Melissa's death, along with the death of his own mother and the maiming of his father via the same bombs.

The actual bombs used for the assassination were constructed from four flower pots housing flowering Mycosia pseudoflora plants (genetically-engineered versions of the Mycosia blossoms which Hanse Davion had shipped to Terra for his and Melissa's wedding, years before). After their surprise appearance at Melissa's wedding, she adopted them as her favorite, seldom appearing in public without some token reminder of the blossoms. The pots themselves were made of clay explosives, activated remotely and detonated by a water absorption timer: the timer was activated by the plants being watered and set to go off during her speech.