"No, Morgan, you're wrong." Victor's hands knotted into fists. "This plan can work, and it will. Just give us the chance to pull it off."
"War is not about chances, Victor. War is about dead certainties, and the certainty that people will end up dead because of the war." Morgan's eyes spat fire. "You're sending a reinforced battalion into a world that, at best, has incomplete intelligence concerning the enemy. You do not know the location of your objective, but you've narrowed his possible location to a dozen different sites on the north continent. You're hoping that Hohiro will be able to direct your troops to the landing zone closest to his position as you come inbound. But you haven't a clue as to whether or not security on the planet has been breached or whether Hohiro has been captured and broken—or if he's even alive. You could be dropping straight into an ambush."
"That would be true, cousin, if we were going in hostile. You read the plan. They won't know we're an enemy force coming in."
"Oh, yes," Morgan scoffed, "coming into the system in disguised DropShips. What a brilliant, foolproof plan that is."
"It worked for you on Sian," Victor shot back.
"True, but the differences between Sian and Teniente are legion." Morgan started to tick them off on his fingers. "Maximilian Liao was both stupid and desperate; the Clans are neither. We came in using Liao's own DropShips; you are using DropShips with new paint jobs. We owned two of the top three individuals on Liao's intelligence staff; you have no such inside support. Need I go on?"
Victor felt hot and wanted to punch the bulkhead. In frustration, he tore at the collar of his shirt, accidentally touching the Stone Monkey pendant he wore under it. Kai Allard had given him the pendant, and Victor remembered with an electric jolt Kai telling him that Sun Hou-Tzu would keep him safe. "This totem is meant to remind you to be yourself, no matter what," Kai told me. What I am being now, what Morgan is driving me to be, is a petulant child. No more.
The Prince forced his hands to unknot. "Your points are well taken, but I have Shin Yodama's solemn assurances that the deception will work perfectly. I have to assume that Theodore Kurita himself has approved the information we're working with."
Morgan looked hard at Victor. "That does not mean it is not in error."
"But it does mean that the Kanrei is willing to stake his son's life on it being correct." Victor injected a calmer tone into his voice and willfully sought to slow his breathing and heartbeat. "Morgan, you can see as clearly as I can that this plan is very important. You yourself told me there would be other Alyinas and other lives to avenge besides that of Kai Allard."
Victor again caressed the jade pendant. "This is a chance to do more than avenge Kai's death. After Kai died, Galen reminded me that his death would only be a waste if the Clans destroyed us. To do that, the Clans have to destroy our way of life and our governments. Until then, we will always oppose them.
"You've seen the reports concerning the Free Rasalhague Republic." Victor pointed at the holovid viewer on the corner of Morgan's desk. "The loss of Prince Ragnar has hurt their morale. The people had believed, up until that point, that they were fighting to preserve their dream of self-determination. Now, with Ragnar captured by the Clans and his father's heart nearly broken, the Free Rasalhague forces just go through the motions of fighting. Even that bastard Tor Miraborg has become one of the Wolves' lap dogs, and there was never even a fight for Gunzburg."
"Morgan leaned back against the edge of his desk. "What are you telling me, Victor?"
The Prince knew from his cousin's tone that he'd better make his next shot his best. "I'm telling you nothing, Morgan. I'm asking you to look at the greater importance of this mission to the Successor States. When we bring Hohiro back, the people can rejoice in our having whisked him out from under the noses of the Nova Cats. The people will also see how important it is for us to work with the Draconis Combine. It will let them know that Hohiro and I are capable of coexisting without killing each other, and that will give them hope for the future beyond the Clans. For our military personnel, it will prove the Clans can be had. It will show that the military doctrines we've been preaching do work. It will prove we can beat the Clans."
"And if it fails, Victor? What then?"
The small man shrugged. "For the Combine, it will make little difference in the short term. They still face vastly superior Clan forces. While the victory might boost their morale, Hohiro's death, if it becomes known at all, will only make them more determined to defend their holdings against the Clans. As for what the rule of Minora Kurita might bring, quite frankly, I don't think he'll ever take the throne and I certainly will not be around to worry about it."
Morgan nodded. "And what will your death mean to the Federated Commonwealth?"
"Little or nothing." Victor met Morgan's surprised look calmly. "Face it, Morgan. Everyone has been doubting my ability to sustain the Davion legend you and my father have created. I've always been seen as the Little-Prince-Who-Tried, not the Little-Prince-Who-Could. Besides, more than one government official would welcome my sister Katherine or my brother Peter as my replacement on the throne."
The Marshal walked around his desk and dropped into the chair behind it. "So, then, you want to do this mission to prove all the naysayers wrong?"
"No, Morgan, that game won't work anymore." Victor pulled himself up to his full height. "You won't get me to rant and rave because that will only prove I don't have the objectivity to make this operation a go. Yes, I still have my temper, but I also have a brake on it. I've worked out every angle on this mission, but I'm prepared to scrap it if the situation changes or you order me to abandon it. Still, I know this plan is solid and I suspect you do, too."
Morgan Hasek-Davion steepled his fingers. His long copper hair obscured the Marshal's epaulets on his black uniform jacket. "You have come a long way, Victor. I can still recall your objection to being assigned to Trellwan. You appealed to me to sympathize with you then, and you have done the same thing several times since. Always I opposed you or made you accept full responsibility for your actions." . He spread his hands apart. "Now you come to me with a plan for which you accept the responsibility. I sense this is in part because Kai Allard used to shoulder it for you. I regret his passing, but I am pleased that it has forced you to mature.
"You are very special, Victor. You are one of those people who burns very, very bright, determined to live up to your name. I have always known you were destined for greatness."
The Prince's eyes narrowed. "If that is true, why have you made things so difficult for me?"
"Because, my Prince, those who burn so very bright tend to burn out just as fast. I will never risk the lives of men and women in my command on a feeling. War is a crucible in which men discover their true mettle. I did not want others to suffer if you proved lacking."
Victor glanced down and swallowed hard. "I understand. Have you reached a verdict on me?"
Morgan paused before answering. "I am forwarding a copy of your briefing, along with my comments, to your father. Pending his approval or disapproval of the plan, I am authorizing the Tenth Lyran Guards' First Reinforced Battalion to head out for link with the Combine JumpShips waiting insystem. I expect full reports sent from each jump point and updates on intelligence estimates. You father has final approval, of course, but I think this is a mission that must become a reality."
Victor's heart buoyed up again in his breast. "Thank you, Morgan."
"Don't thank me, Victor. Save that energy for making sure this plan will work." The Marshal's eyes narrowed. "Be yourself and be honest with yourself. You don't have Kai Allard there to help you out in that department. If this mission can't fly, kill it. Kill it before it kills you."
26
Alyina
Jade Falcon Occupation Zone
12 April 3052
Kai traced his finger along the map he'd spread out on the ground. "It looks, by this, that we won't come any closer than two hundred kilometers to the Mahler farm."
&n
bsp; Deirdre squatted on his left, hugging her knees to her chest with both arms. "I suppose that is just as well. Any closer and I'd be tempted to visit, and that would surely bring the Clans down on them." She reached out a finger and tapped at the map. "You said our destinadon has a radio-telescope facility on it, but I don't see any notation for an observatory on Mount Sera."
"It's a secret facility, more or less." He gave her hand a squeeze. "The Intelligence Secretariat maintains any number of research projects throughout the Federated Commonwealth. They all differ in the level of security and knowledge about them. For example, weapons-research project facilities run by the NAIS on New Avalon are considered top-secret, but folks know they exist and where they are. It's more that getting to them is inconvenient and very littie is known about any particular project they might be working on."
Kai rocked back on his heels and stood, brushing twigs and leaves from the knees of his jumpsuit. "Remember all the UAP sightings on New Avalon ten years ago?"
"Unexplained Aerial Phenomena?" Her blue eyes nearly shut as she concentrated. "I never went in for much of that outer-space alien stuff, but I think I remember hearing something about it. What of the sightings?"
"Well, the Federated Commonwealth, at the Hudson Gulf Aerospace Center, was testing Hammerhead prototypes built from plans recovered in a Star League-era computer memory core. The project was very secret, so the flights were made only at night and UAP buffs kept calling in sightings of aircraft doing impossible things. The AFFC refused to comment on the sightings and stonewalled the whole thing. That, of course, just made it worse and UAP 'investigators' said the government's silence proved the existence of aliens and that the government was in secret negotiations with them."
Deirdre folded up the map. "I think I saw a holovid about that. I thought it was a real laugher. It said that a crashed ship and alien bodies were on the Hudson Gulf base, in area 51, hangar 18b."
"I remember that, and I remember the crash." Kai shrugged his bullet-proof vest on, being careful not to crunch his ribs. "One of the prototype Hammerheads went down on a farm just outside Moore's Folly in the Roswell district. The AFFC folks quarantined the place and picked up every bit of material that had been on the plane, including ferro-fibrous armor.
"It turned out they missed a scrap or two, a piece of which was turned over to UAPologists, who immediately proclaimed it something mankind was incapable of producing. They claimed the government had bodies of aliens stashed away. Mostly the UAP folks were paranoid conspiracy-theorists running amok and all they did was cause trouble for clerks having to process requests for information."
"So you don't believe in 'flying saucers,' Kai Allard?"
The MechWarrior shrugged. "It's not to believe or disbelieve. I don't know if they are out there, and I really don't care. If one of them wanted to come along and give us a ride home, I'd accept it."
"And that's why we're going to the radio telescope facility, is it?"
Kai said nothing as he zipped up his jumpsuit. He had told Deirdre he hoped the radio telescope could be used to send a coded message out into space. He knew, and was pretty sure she knew, any message sent in that fashion would take centuries to reach New Avalon, and at least two decades to hit the nearest Federated Commonwealth world. They both knew it would be a long shot to hope some JumpShip was still lurking in the system and capable of carrying their message away, but they deemed it worth a chance.
What Kai had not told her was that he knew of the secret communication devices the Federated Commonwealth had developed to supplant ComStar's monopoly on interstellar communication. The black boxes sent messages at a rate much slower than ComStar's hyperpulse generators, but it would get a message to the Federated Commonwealth before either one of them had grown too old to appreciate being rescued.
He did not know if that facility had one of the fax machines or not, but the possibility was one he could not pass up investigating. Kai regretted withholding that information from her, but he only knew about it himself because of his father and things he had picked up as a child. To share that information, even with the woman he loved, would violate his father's trust and put her in needless jeopardy.
"Best bet for getting us a galactic-taxi off this rock, I think." Kai shouldered his pack. "I think it will take us another couple of weeks to get up into the mountains. We zip through Tedesco Pass and we're at Mount Sera. We send the message and wait."
Despite his seeming casualness, Kai knew it would not be that simple. The hike would take them through the Vorrei National Forest, around a city and two villages, and up into the foothills. The old-growth forest would be picturesque, with its tall pines and golden meadows, but it still meant a lot of wear and tear on their bodies. When they reached their goal, they would be ragged and tired.
Deirdre stuffed the map into her pack. "And you're sure the facility is there?"
"Very sure, in fact." Kai scattered the ashes from their little fire with his right foot. "At the New Avalon Military Academy, I attended a talk by Professor Todor Meir. He talked about research he had been doing, scrupulously avoiding any mention of where he had been. Later, at a reception, he noticed I was wearing a diver's watch and we started to talk scuba diving. He mentioned the Mar Negro on Alyina. A minimal amount of detective work put the puzzle together for me, and my father confirmed the accuracy of my deductions."
Deirdre smiled as she fell into step beside him. "Like father, like son, I guess."
Kai glanced at her, looking for any hint of her old hatred, but her beautiful face showed none. "I'd like to think so."
She stepped over a fallen tree. "Oh, I think you do well in that regard. I know your parents are very proud of you."
"Really?" The jolt of pride shooting through his chest surprised Kai. "What makes you say that?"
Deirdre silently paced a few steps further through the shadow-laced forest before answering. "When I had to testify on Outreach about your actions on Twycross, I could read it in their eyes. Though I wanted to hurt your father, I could only tell the truth. I don't think they could be more proud of you, Kai. Your background has made you the kind of person I'd like to be."
"Don't say that. You've done wonderful things, and you'll do more."
She shrugged. "I'm trying to atone for the things my father did. My background hasn't been much of a help in anything I've tried to do."
Kai shook his head and worked his way up a hill using a lattice of roots as steps. "You dwell too much on what you think are the sins of your father. Peter Armstrong might not have been the greatest father in the universe, but I don't think you're his daughter, really."
"What?"
"Look, you say you wanted to make up for your father and what he did to the Federated Commonwealth. You could have chosen a million different ways to do it." Kai reached back and helped her top the little hill. "You chose medicine as the avenue through which you contribute to the Federated Commonwealth. I think that's because your real father, Roy Lear, was a doctor. I think, in choosing what you would do with the rest of your life, you built from your real background."
Kai shrugged. "Of course, what do I know? I should leave all this psychology to the professionals."
Deirdre tucked strands of dark hair behind her left. ear. "I never looked at it that way. I always thought of my stepfather as a mentor, not a father. I loved him, but not in the normal way."
"But who is to say what is normal?" Kai chuckled lightly as he thought about his family. "My parents were forever heading off for this or that reason. State dinners, meetings on other worlds, wars to plan and fight—the list had no end. Even so, they made sure we each knew we were loved. They had confidence in us and wanted us to become whatever we desired. Despite not seeing them for months at a time, it may have been better than having a parent who was always around but never loved you enough. The way I grew up might not be classed as normal by an outsider, but it was normal for me."
She slipped her left hand into his right. "You're pretty s
mart for a soldier, you know."
Kai smiled. "Think so?"
"Well, except for two things that I wonder about."
"Yes?"
"Isn't our projected path to Mount Sera going to bring us awfully close to Dove Costoso?" She wrinkled her nose. "I don't really want to be on the same continent with that ComStar demi-Precentor."
"There go our plans for visiting him for tea, I guess." Kai gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "We'll skirt the city by a wide enough margin to avoid detection and capture. We'll be close, but not that close. Next?"
"Tell me again why we didn't keep the hovertruck."
The Mech Warrior grimaced. "The truck wouldn't have been suited to the trip we're making. We'd have been forced to stick to the roads or less broken terrain.
"Besides, by programming the hovertruck to run all over the search sectors, we should have confused anyone following us. They won't know when or where we got off the hovertruck, and sending them their Elemental back in it is bound to cause them some problems. It nothing else, we bought time by forcing them to bid out a new hunter to send after us."
"Somehow, Kai, that is not a fact in which I would care to delight."
Kai nodded and felt the hairs at the back of his neck begin to rise. He looked over at Deirdre and let her smile infect him.
He even let himself believe the sense of dread festering in his mind was nothing more than a cold breeze playing over the jumpsuit's collar.
* * *
"And I bid no rocket pack for my armor!" roared one Elemental.
"I will not use my laser!" shouted another.
Taman Malthus vaulted the railing surrounding the small amphitheater in which the members of his command bid for the right to pursue Dave Jewell. He landed solidly, planting both feet on the ground as if driving pilings down to the bedrock below. Clad in nothing more than a pair of shorts and sandals, he balled his fists and stared hard at the last two men in the arena.