The Prince smiled. "Well, if General Kaulkas approves your selection, the Revenants will be glad to have you aboard."
"And I will be honored to serve in the Revenants."
Victor smiled. "Now let's drop this formal 'sir' stuff. Tell me, are you still seeing Rebecca Waldeck?"
The large man nodded and held up his left hand. "We got married last year while I was ... away from the Uhlans." He blushed and spun a gold band around his finger with his thumb. "She's already expecting. Due some time in May."
"That's fantastic, Renny." For a moment, Victor envied his friend's ability to meet and marry a woman without having it become an issue of national security. The only woman I would consider marrying is light years away and as inaccessible as the Clans' homeworld, wherever that is.
A red light on top of Victor's visiphone burned to life. The Prince hit the answer button and a very nervous commtech appeared on the screen. "Highness, forgive the intrusion, but General Kaulkas wants to see you immediately in her office."
"On my way." He glanced over at Renny. "I'm afraid that's it for now, Renny. Do me a favor and find Galen. Tell him to meet me at the General's office, please."
"Yes, sir."
Victor returned Renny's salute, then bolted from his office. Around the corner, he took the stairs two at a time, then slowed just before he entered the General's outer office. There he saw the commtech who served as Kaulkas' aide and was waved straight through into the General's office. Victor passed through the interior door without a moment's notice, and saw the reason for the nervousness in the commtech's voice.
General Kaulkas stood behind her desk watching the monitor mounted in the far wall. On it Victor saw a graphic representation of the Port Moseby system. In space he saw the symbol representing a JumpShip, and a smaller icon moving away from it and toward the planet where he now stood.
"Here I am, General." Victor frowned. "Incoming?"
Andrea Kaulkas's head jerked down in a nod, the stark economy of motion characteristic of her personality and command style. "It's a Combine JumpShip. It just appeared in the system. It released a Leopard Class DropShip, the Fukakaina. Our records show that ship in service to the Royal Family. ETA twelve hours."
"The Fukakaina?" Victor took a step closer to the screen. "Why would they be sending it here?"
Kaulkas shrugged. "Don't know, but will find out."
The commtech appeared in the doorway. "General, I have Orbital Defense Command. They want to know what you want to do."
"Scramble an aerospace fighter lance to escort it in."
The commtech looked puzzled. "Escort, sir?"
Kaulkas nodded. "Escort. You don't think the Kuritans are going to attack this planet with the four 'Mechs that Leopard could be carrying, do you?"
"No, sir." The commtech pressed a hand to the earpiece in his left ear. "Highness, the ship is requesting a clear, secure channel to communicate with you."
Victor glanced at the wall screen and the General nodded. "Put the message through here." Victor fought to keep his curiosity and surprise from his voice. He locked his attention on the screen as the picture shifted. Instead of the system display, Victor saw a young Oriental man whose face he easily recognized. "Komban-wa, Yodama Shin-san."
"And greetings to you, Prince Victor Davion." Shin's face remained impassive, but Victor thought he heard some joy in the man's voice. "I have come on a mission of great import to the Combine. I hope you and your commanding officer will see this in whatever inadequate explanation I offer. First, however, I have been asked to play a holodisk for you. May I?"
Victor nodded, his stomach knotting up. "This line is secure."
"Good. Beginning transmission now."
The image on the screen blew apart like a house of straw hit by a tornado. It reformed itself into the picture of beauty and serenity Victor had come to expect in communications from Omi Kurita. Yet neither the robe of white silk embroidered with pink cherry blossoms nor the smile on her face could deceive him with their sweet calm. Victor knew something was very wrong.
"Victor, this message fills me with hope and despair. I know the great burden on you as you rebuild your command, so I had resolved to only present pleasant moments of diversion in my messages. In return, from you, I have received messages I cherish because of your openness in expressing your feelings concerning us, the war, and the loss of your friend. You said in your last that you felt your communications were unworthy of me, but, in truth, the reverse has been true.
"I fear this message will continue this trend, because I must prevail upon you, ask you for help in something that is not your concern. You have your duties and responsibilities to the Federated Commonwealth, and I have mine to the Draconis Combine. These responsibilities are what make our relationship so difficult, yet I know neither of us would truly abandon them. We, you and I and our siblings, are symbols that make our people take heart and believe victory against our enemies is possible. We may have inherited these roles by the accident of birth, but we both hold them sacred, even to the point of honoring them to our own personal discomfiture."
Victor clenched his jaw against the emotions her words stirred in him. Though they had resolved to be just friends when they had parted on Outreach, and knowing they probably would never see each other again, their messages back and forth had deepened their feelings immeasurably. Victor knew, deep down, that he loved the woman on the screen before him, and it frightened him that he might consider never marrying if she could not be his bride.
The camera recording the holovid slowly zoomed in on her angelic face. "On 18 January the Nova Cats overran Teniente. My brother Hohiro and Shin Yodama were both present as observers during that assault. Things went badly for our forces and the command post was hit hard. As a result, my brother assumed command of the forces on the planet, and Shin, who had been wounded, was sent to Luthien to obtain a rescue force. Hohiro assumed he could hold out for two or three months, and has the supplies to do just that. Without a rescue force, he will never be able to safely pull his men out.
"Shin reached Luthien a month after the disaster, but my father pointed out that we had no troops to send to rescue Hohiro. As much as it pained him, my father had to abandon his son to preserve the realm Hohiro will someday guide."
Omi looked away from the camera for a moment and brushed a tear away. "I asked my father to allow me to send troops to rescue Hohiro, if I could find them. He gave me permission to do so. Thus, do I turn to you.
"Victor, I am asking whether you can send your unit to save my brother. Shin Yodama and the other men with him have all our intelligence on the world with them, and reports will arrive as soon as we have more information to send you. Word has been sent to Hohiro for his people to go to ground because we know it will take time to prepare and mount the operation. His salvation is in your hands."
Omi held up one hand. "Before you agree, and I pray you will, you must know one other thing. To win permission to make this request of you, I had to bargain with my father. In return for permission to give my brother this one chance at life, I agreed never to communicate with you again. As much as that hurts me personally, I know Hohiro's death would hurt the Combine more. Like you, I am trapped by who I am. Forgive me."
Victor sat back in his chair, stunned by Omi's words. Part of him instantly evaluated and gloated over the disruption Hohiro's loss would cause the Combine. House Kurita was not likely to let Omi accede to the throne for she was being so carefully groomed to become Keeper of the House Honor. That meant leadership would pass to Minora, the youngest of Theodore's children. What little Victor knew of Minora indicated the young man was more a mystic than a warrior, and that did not bode well for the Combine's militaristic future.
The Prince immediately killed any pleasure he got from imagining the Combine's collapse. He acknowledged the Combine had long been a thorn in the Fox's side, but now it formed a buffer between the Clans and half of the Federated Commonwealth. Furthermore, the training and agreements on Outreach
had all been directed at creating a united front to oppose the Clans. Though there had been no combined operations with the Kurita forces, the redeployment of forces along their mutual borders bespoke a trust between the two nations unprecedented in the history of the Inner Sphere.
He could not deny Omi's anguished plea for help, but he felt punished by the deal her father had forced upon her. He started to tell himself his father would never have done that, but then he stopped to consider what he truly knew about his father. Hanse Davion would have struck the same bargain in an instant, and I would have been lucky to get off as lightly as she did.
As she said, we are trapped by who we are.
Galena knocked once and entered the room. "General, Kommandant, Sanderlin said you wanted me?"
Victor nodded once and saw Shin had reappeared on the screen. "Unless the General objects to it, I believe we need guest billets for some Kurita officers."
Galen raised a blond eyebrow. "Kurita officers?"
The General nodded solemnly. "You better step up training and refitting. You have an assault to plan."
16
Alyina
Trellshire, Jade Falcon Occupation Zone
1 March 3052
Kai remained crouched on one knee, watchful, as Deirdre drank from the stream. He studied the surrounding grassland, his gaze deliberately not lingering on her slender form or lovely face. No matter how much he was growing to like her, they were running for their lives and the least distraction could turn fatal. Once or twice during the insanity that defined their fugitive existence, Kai almost thought tempting fate would be worth it, but he always managed to keep a hold on his heart and his hormones.
Luckily he had an ally in Dr. Lear herself. In the three weeks since their escape from ComStar, her manner toward him had eased, but she could still be distant and restrained. Whenever he tried to steer the conversation around to probing her hatred of his father, she immediately sidestepped the maneuver and pulled back into her shell.
With her usual efficiency, she had tended his broken ribs, insisting on finding a place to hole up until it was easier for Kai to travel. Though he wanted to keep moving, they finally reached a compromise: they would get out of the immediate area before stopping for a bit. A small cave became the camp where they would settle until Kai could persuade her that his ribs hurt much less than they really did.
Having drunk her fill, Deirdre's head came up, water dripping from the ends of her hair, as a dragonfly skittered across the top of the water. She half laughed, then refilled a bottle they'd been using as a canteen. Staying low, she crawled to where Kai crouched hidden in the brush of the treeline. "Your turn."
"Thanks." Kai reached out and brushed away a droplet of water hanging from the tip of her pert nose. "Ever wonder what your medical school buddies would say if they saw you now?"
She smiled. "Well, given how long we've survived, I don't think many would argue with my score on the evasion test."
"True enough."
"Of course, you're a better instructor than any I had in my training."
Kai grinned as he set the autorifle down. "I'll take that in the spirit intended, ignoring the fact that you avoided as much military training as you could manage." He crawled over to the stream, then went flat on his belly at the bank. Ignoring the dragonfly, he plunged his head into the water.
The cold water felt good to him, soaking through his hair and washing away the oppressive heat of the day. It got into his thin beard, tickling the flesh that had, till now, itched with the new growth. Like a magical elixir, the water revitalized him and even the minor aches in his body seemed temporarily dulled.
He pulled his head back out and shook like a dog might, the water spraying everywhere. He wanted to shout aloud, but that would be needlessly foolish. For the first time since realizing his unit had left him on Alyina, Kai actually believed he might succeed in eluding the Clans.
Then he felt the gun barrel poking his back.
"Easy now, fella. Just you turn over slowly so we can get a look at you."
Kai rolled over onto his back even slower than his captor had drawled out the order. The man closest to him, the one who had poked him with the hunting rifle, was fat enough that his belly, from Kai's point of view, eclipsed the lower half of his face. His soiled clothing looked to be of native manufacture, with the only brightly colored bit the Jade Falcon patch newly sewn on his shoulder.
Back beyond him, bracketed by Kai's feet like a target in a sight, another, more muscular man stood with rifle at the ready. He looked meaner and even nastier than his boss, but held himself more aloof as if sensing Kai was not alone.
"Oh, Jocko, we got us a good one here. His black hair's a bit long, and the beard ain't there in the picture, but this is Dave Jewell sure as I'm Harry Truper." Truper jabbed Kai's belly with his rifle. "Don't know what you did, boyo, but the Clans and ComStar want you bad."
Kai stared up into Truper's face. "You're going to turn me over to them?"
"They pay, we play," Jocko growled. " 'Bout time we score a big one."
Truper nodded in agreement. "You're the first contract case we've actually found. This'll take care of our rep and rent for a long time."
"But I'm like you, I'm from the Federated Commonwealth. You should be helping me, not betraying me."
Truper spit into the stream. "You ain't the same as me, boy. I've got a gun on you and you're wanted by ComStar and the Clans. Besides, I can tell from your accent where you're from. Your Hanse Davion ain't done squat for us since he took ole Melissa as his bride, 'cept drain our economy and get us into a war with the Dragons. I come from Tamar originally and he's ignored our claims for Pact worlds in the Free Rasalhague Republic. Given all that, I think you'd best not be pushing this FedCom brotherhood stuff too much."
"Harry, stop jawing and get it over with."
Kai stiffened at the implication of Jocko's statement. He knew Truper's rifle, at that range, would rip through his bulletproof vest in an instant. "Wait, don't shoot. I'll go with you quietiy."
"Sorry, sport," Truper drawled as he worked the bolt on his rifle. "Dead prisoners don't escape."
A bullet punched straight through Truper's cruel sneer, blowing most of it out the back of his head. His rifle flew from limp fingers as his body turned head over heels and splashed down into the stream. The explosion echoing over the meadow swallowed all sound of the stream sucking Truper's body down.
Kai clawed for the needle pistol on his right hip. It cleared the holster as Jocko completed his spin toward the thicket from which Deirdre had fired. Kai tightened down on the pistol's trigger as Jocko swung his rifle around on target His first cloud of needle made a hash of Jocko's left knee. As he let recoil track the pistol upward, the subsequent shots shredded Jocko's hip, flank, and shoulder.
Despite his shots, Jocko still jerked his trigger. A jet of flame shot from the rifle's muzzle, stabbing straight toward Deirdre's hiding place. Then, as Kai pumped round after round into him, Jocko's body whirled in a lazy pirouette. The barrel of his gun scythed through long, golden summer grasses, but never fired again. His body a bloody ruin, Jocko fell from sight.
Kai rolled to his feet and bolted for Deirdre. He tore through the brush and stopped short when he found her slumped over the smoking autorifle. Dropping to his knees, he reached out to gently turn her over, but he met resistance. His mind flashed to images of corpses locked in rigid poses by rigor mortis, but the trembling of her body told him she was not dead.
"Are you hurt, Deirdre? Did he get you?"
She tried weakly to push him away. When she failed at that, she pulled the autorifle from beneath her and cast it aside. "Get away," she breathed in a harsh whisper.
Anger filled Kai. He jerked her roughly around. "Are you hurt?"
She twisted up into a sitting position and showed no sign of having been hit. She thumped his chest with fists. "Get away, dammit." A grimace snapped up all the beauty Kai had ever seen in her face. "I don't take l
ife. I save it. You've tainted me. You've made me over into your image!"
"What are you talking about?" The vehemence of her attack surprised him, but he recognized a thread of pure terror in her voice. "You saved my life!"
"But I killed to do it. The thing I swore never to do. I became what I am so I would never have to do that!" Tears streamed from her blue eyes. "Because of you, I killed a man. I never even looked him in the eye, I struck like a coward, from hiding. I executed him, and it's your fault!"
She slapped Kai hard, snapping his head around to the left. Kai tasted blood in his mouth. She tried to slap him again, but he blocked the blow and pushed her down with a none-top-gentle shove to the shoulder. "No, Doctor, it is not my fault. If you want to blame anyone, blame the man who gave you no choice. Truper forced your hand. You know that. You do!"
Kai slowly stood. "I've not tainted you. Reality has. You made a decision a long time ago to save lives. That was good, no matter who or what your motivation was. The only mistake was believing you might never find yourself in a situation where you had to kill someone. Perhaps being a general practitioner on some backwater world near the Periphery would have granted you that luxury, but life in the military does not."
Deirdre slowly rolled to her side and pulled her legs up toward her chest. Kai refused to give in to his desire to hug her until she gave in and saw reality. "I cannot say I am sorry you had to pull the trigger, Doctor. You saved my life, and for that I am grateful. The culture in which my mother was raised has a tradition: if you save someone's life, you are responsible for it."
"I don't want to be responsible for you. You have inherited other traditions of which I want no part."
"That could well be." Kai swallowed hard. "One thing I do know, however, is that I am heir to a tradition of honesty that allows me to look at and evaluate situations for what they are. Despite what you might like to believe of me, I find killing no easier than you do. I regret being forced to kill Clansmen and I regret having to shoot Jocko."