Thrusting against the current, Clan Diamond Shark opened formal military trade negotiations with the Draconis Combine in the summer of 3061. The opening offer was for none other than the Diamond Shark-built Ha Otoko, a missile-carrying BattleMech that had been the subject of so much controversy the year before.
Clan Jade Falcon, already having logged a protest against the design and the Sharks' intentions, brought an immediate challenge on Strana Mechty. The Diamond Shark defense was as simple as it was efficient. The Ha Otoko carried no special Clan equipment that could promote an Inner Sphere advantage, and even if it had, the Clans have always maintained that the warrior, not the machine, makes the difference. To prove it, Clan Diamond Shark announced its intention to fight any Trial of Refusal using only second-line machines.
Insulted at the implication that Clan Jade Falcon required a technological edge, the Falcons bargained for and won the right to a Trial. Khan Marthe Pryde would not stoop to battling "merchants-turned-warriors" with her own Keshik, and so the task fell to Sigma Galaxy's Third Battle Cluster. The Jade Falcons fought hard, but in the end lost to superior warriors in "inferior" machines.
After fighting so hard to retain significant positions on Barcella and Paxon, the Diamond Sharks' move to abandon their long-standing homeworld enclaves on Lum, New Kent, and Priori came as a surprise to many Clans. But with the opening of Inner Sphere markets and Inner Sphere worlds, the Diamond Sharks have begun to look at homeworld territories more as liabilities than assets.
In 3062, the Sharks transferred control of Priori to Clan Star Adder in a deal that included new weapon technology and a twenty-year contract for the Potemkin-class vessel Renown. In 3064, the Sharks offered their Eagle Crater manufacturing facilities to Clans Ice Hellion and Coyote. Coyote won the bid and the resulting Trial of Possession from the Ice Hellions. Where the Diamond Sharks intended to move their personnel and material remained undiscovered until later that year, after Clan Jade Falcon took control of Shark interests on Lum in exchange for their pledge to the Twycross system. Having recently lost Twycross to Inner Sphere forces, and swearing never to return to that cursed system, the Jade Falcons could only gloat at their cleverness at having finally gotten the best of a Diamond Shark bargain.
The Falcons' feeling of superiority lasted until 3065, when the Diamond Sharks drove local Inner Sphere defenders off Twycross. They settled a large colony and garrison on the world and on the near lifeless planet of Jonah's Reach, also in the Twycross system. Jonah's Reach, as it turned out, is a second source of valuable HarJel, the cornerstone of the Diamond Sharks' merchant strength. To have been so close to the means of breaking the Shark monopoly but honor-bound to leave them the Twycross system has caused endless ranting and exchanges of insults between Falcon and Shark on the Chatterweb.
Since their establishment on Twycross, the Diamond Sharks have struck several deals capitalizing on their long-term plans. They bargained for and gained additional trading worlds inside the Ghost Bear Dominion and Draconis Combine, giving the Clan garrison rights on Trondheim and Itabiana, respectively. Clan Wolf rebuffed efforts for a similar arrangement, though they have shown a willingness to deal for technology and services being brought to the Inner Sphere.
Tying the Inner Sphere into the Chatterweb is seen as a double-edged sword. Clan secrets are too easily discovered, yet the Inner Sphere Clans have missed the benefit brought by lower castes sharing information and working on joint projects. So far, the Diamond Sharks have tied only select worlds into the new Chatterweb, and it is kept separate from the Clan homeworlds web through a series of portals to which only highly-trusted officers have the virtual keys.
The discovery of HarJel, with all its military implications, on an Inner Sphere world has rocked the region around Twycross. The Jade Falcons would like nothing more than to reclaim the world, and are likely seeking a means to do so. Meanwhile, the Diamond Sharks are offering HarJel products to the Lyran Alliance (through Clan Wolf [in-Exile]) and the Draconis Combine (through the Nova Cats). The Diamond Shark "Made in the Inner Sphere" stamp has so far thwarted any formal challenges, though discussions and arguments continue.
The furor over HarJel pales next
to the outright disbelief and anger as the Diamond Sharks continue with their
plans to supply the Inner Sphere with military technology. In 3066,
they unveiled the Mad Cat MK II. Based on the popular Clan Timber
Wolf design, the Sharks kept its Inner Sphere designation, as they intend
to sell it specifically within the Inner Sphere borders. Unlike the
Ha Otoko, the Mad Cat MK II is not a stripped-down version,
but incorporates fully functional Clan technology (and a service contract
that includes Diamond Shark technicians to keep it running at peak performance).
Diamond Shark arguments that the BattleMech showcases only old Clan equipment,
nothing cutting-edge, will not forestall challenges for long.