Warrior, coupe

  Dan looked around at those assembled at the conference table. Conn O'Bannon, the stocky commander of the Second 'Mech Battalion, looked as though he'd not slept since the Kell Hounds landed two days before. His unit had met the Third Dieron Regulars First Battalion outside St. Johns. They broke the Regulars, but could not prevent two companies from retreating in good order to DropShips and leaving the world.

  Across from him sat Salome Ward. Her command, the First 'Mech Battalion, overran the Regulars' command position near Montpelier. The enemy General, Tai-sho Sen Ti Ch'uan died in the assault, and his second in command, Tai-sa Hiro Akuta surrendered when he realized his DropShips had been cut off from his position. After being assured his men would not be mistreated, Akuta asked for and received permission to commit seppuku.

  Major Seamus Fitzpatrick sat next to Salome and watched Techs explore the two Sholagars' melted wreckage for anything of possible value. Exhaustion bent him forward like a hunchback, and there were bags under his usually bright green eyes.

  Unconsciously toying with the green sash, Dan shifted his gaze to Major Richard O'Cieran. Damn. If the rest of us looked tired, Rick looks dead. The infantry leader cradled his gray-haired head in both hands and stared down at the table. Digging down to confirm the site we found as a mass grave has taken it out of him. It's one thing to wage war on troops, but the wholesale slaughter of a town in unbelievable.

  Dan looked up as Morgan Kell entered the room, followed by Clovis and Cat Wilson. As they took up places at the table, Morgan moved to its head and leaned wearily against it. "Thank you for waiting. Tim Murphy just died from wounds he suffered here two nights ago. That puts our dead at seven, total casualties at thirty." Anger and frustration ran through Morgan's words. "Unacceptable, all of it."

  Salome looked over at Morgan. "We've secured the planet. The two DropShips that got offworld will link up with their JumpShip in three days, if they continue at their current velocity. We've really no fear of a return engagement. Popping in so close to Lyons and using the moon to cover our approach surprised them. Are we going to pack up and still try to reach Ryde in time?"

  Morgan shook his head. "We can't. On our original schedule, we had the Cucamulus waiting at Alphecca to transport us to Ryde. When we learned of the attack on Lyons and headed back, Janos Vandermeer brought the Cu insystem far enough to give us that tactical advantage. We've got ten days before the Cu can jump again, and then another ten days at Alphecca. We'll not make it in time."

  Conn O'Bannon sank fingers back through his brown hair and frowned. "Perhaps Yorinaga Kurita will wait for us."

  "No, Conn. I don't think so. He'll come insystem, perhaps land, and then will get out of there." Morgan lowered himself into a chair. "It doesn't really matter. We have to clean up this mess."

  Dan sat up. "Am I missing something? I thought the world has been secured."

  Morgan nodded. "It has. However, the whole reason for the execution of everyone in New Freedom raises new questions that have to be dealt with." Morgan looked toward Clovis. "Explain to them what you told me."

  The haggard dwarf sighed heavily and rubbed a hand over his unshaven chin. "Despite Dan's valiant effort to destroy this building by backing his Wolfhound though it, he only managed to short out the entire electrical system and collapse the corridor leading to the computer center. This prevented the Combine staff from dumping the contents of their computers, as normal security procedure would dictate. With Cat's help, I've managed to bring the system back up and I've learned why .. ." Clovis stopped abruptly, choked up with emotion.

  Morgan continued the narrative for him. "The ISF learned of New Freedom through normal channels and linked it with the group of people who had inhabited the Styx base two years ago. The ISF had always considered them a threat. Apparently, the ISF obtained information from agents in the Isle of Skye that suggested the Styx settlers were planning to have the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine assassinated. The Third Dieron Regulars were ordered to obliterate New Freedom."

  Rick O'Cieran slammed his fist onto the table. "Jesus, Morgan! They bulldozed a trench and just shot people. Men, women ... it didn't make any difference ..." He glanced toward Clovis. "If you'd not gotten those children down to the shelter, they'd have shot them as well." He looked back toward the other officers. "Not everyone was dead when they filled the trench back in. Some people died trying to dig their way out..."

  Silence filled the room. Dan swallowed hard as he remembered a young couple whose home he'd helped build. They never imagined any future but that of growing old together. As a Mech-Warrior, I accept the risks of war, but those kids never had a part in any of that.

  Dan looked up. "We know that no one in New Freedom was plotting against the Combine's Coordinator. Hell, everyone here was a member of Heimdall. With their anti-Commonwealth history, I would have thought the Combine would have welcomed them as allies."

  Morgan nodded. "That's probably one of the reasons that the ISF tolerated their presence in the Styx system. Unfortunately, the whole Silver Eagle affair changed the ISF's view. The Styx base cost them elite troops, 'Mechs, and ultimately, a chance to capture Melissa Steiner." Morgan hesitated as everyone silently acknowledged the cost of that operation to the Kell Hounds: the loss of Patrick Kell and three other friends.

  Dan shook his head. "What could make the ISF believe the Styx refugees had become assassins?"

  Cat's deep voice carried finality with it. "Not what, but who..."

  Morgan nodded. "Who, indeed. No doubt Duke Aldo Lestrade himself planted that little rumor in the ear of an ISF agent. He probably even pointed to our connection with New Freedom to suggest we were training commandos."

  Salome shook her head, which spread her coppery locks over her shoulders. "I thought we decided before that Lestrade would not invite an assault on his own holding. It still makes no sense in my mind."

  "Think of it in these terms, Salome," said Fitzpatrick. "Lestrade makes Lyons a nice target by planting this rumor. All he loses is a small settlement, whose destruction will hurt us, but costs him nothing. He knows the Combine can't hold the world, and he suspects that the Kuritans will pull their forces out the second the Commonwealth sends troops in."

  Salome chewed her lower lip for a moment, then nodded. "Lestrade has an incursion into the Isle of Skye. He can complain all the more loudly about the Commonwealth's betrayal of his people." She paused as the logical extrapolation of this line of reasoning came to her. "Lestrade can even declare his holding neutral. This will keep Kurita out of it, allowing them to devote forces to other fronts."

  Dan's mouth suddenly went dry. "The Isle of Skye going independent also cuts the Commonwealth off from the Federated Suns. Hanse will be forced to reopen the transit lanes, which means he'll be at war with a portion of his ally."

  "It's worse than that," Cat said. "Civil Wars are unpopular. Katrina loses and someone else steps in. Melissa is tainted by her marriage, so that leaves Frederick Steiner."

  Dan nodded. "Frederick is Lestrade's puppet. Fred takes over, and Lestrade returns to the fold. Fred ends the war with Kurita, and everyone is happy. Aldo pulls Fred's strings, and the Commonwealth goes to hell in a DropShip."

  Morgan smiled cruelly. "That's what Lestrade must have planned, but we messed things up for him this time. He'll try again ... I know it. I want everyone ready to move out within the week. Lestrade should be in his ancestral home on Summer. I want to bring it down around his ears. It's time to end his meddling for good."

  Only one voice dissented from the quick shouts of agreement that greeted Morgan's proposition.

  "No!" Clovis stood on his chair, raising his head above the others at the table. "No. You cannot."

  Morgan stiffened. "I appreciate your concern, Clovis, but I'm willing to risk any fallout from our strike against him."

  Clovis shook his head. "I do not doubt your ability to handle both the military operation and the political turmoil your action would stir up, Morgan Kell. But I say you can
not kill Aldo Lestrade because I claim that right." Clovis held his head up high. "I demand to be the one who kills him."

  Clovis looked around at the stunned mercenaries. "Do not think I speak purely from anger and grief at what has happened here." He swallowed past the thick lump in his throat. "It does play a part, of course. If you've ever had to tell a child his parents died for reasons he will never understand, you'll know what that does to you inside. Each time I said the words, anger and outrage were like daggers ripping at my soul. Revenge seems like just the salve to put everything right again."

  The dwarf bowed his head, his carefully chosen words coming slowly. "I know that's what you're thinking because you've lost friends and lovers in the battle here. I think back to the celebration we had less than a month ago and how I'll never see some of those faces again. I want to pay someone back for that, but vengeance is not the reason I claim Aldo Lestrade as my own. The only way those wounds will heal is to rebuild New Freedom, and that I will do before I head out after the Demon of Summer."

  Clovis paused and looked at every person in the room before continuing. "All my life I have known of his evil. My mother was once employed as a servant by Lestrade's family, and came to know Aldo Lestrade far better than she ever wished. During the same raid that killed Aldo's father and made him Duke twenty-four years ago, my mother fled Summer with the aid of a Heimdall cell. Within six months, I was born, and I've been with Heimdall ever since.

  "Children can be cruel, and they were to me. My mother comforted me with stories of my father, who she said was a bold Mech Warrior who would someday come and take us both away. I fantasized that my father would destroy all of my enemies for me, and I could endure anything while waiting for his return.

  Likewise, to make him proud, I learned all I could about lostech and drove myself to excel in things like computer programming because everyone else found it too hard."

  Clovis shook his head. "Of course, there is no father of mythic proportions waiting to come for me. Instead, as I grew older, I heard uncharitable references to my mother as 'the Duke's whore.' Slowly, the truth began to dawn. One night, I finally confronted my mother. She admitted that she'd become pregnant by Aldo Lestrade. She'd been too terrified of him to deny his advances or to report that he'd gotten her with child. From that point, she forbade me to speak of this matter. Were she here instead of up on the Bifrost, I might not have said anything."

  Clovis opened his hands. "You see. Aldo Lestrade is my father. He murdered his way to the throne of Summer, and his manipulation has destroyed my people, the people of New Freedom. In keeping with the precedent he himself set, it is my right to destroy my father, Aldo Lestrade." Clovis's handsome face hardened into a horrible mask. "Warriors kill warriors. Lestrades kill Lestrades. Leave him to me."

  16

  Sian

  Sian Commonality, Capellan Confederation

  20 May 3029

  Justin Xiang looked on as Maximilian Liao smiled for the holo-vid camera. A smile crept across the Chancellor's face, sending a shiver down Justin's spine. You'd never guess to look at him that a third of his realm has been conquered. That smile makes him look like a python studying a trapped rat.

  "Zao, citizens." Maximilian's expression softened, and his voice dropped to the calm, warm tone of a benevolent patriarch addressing his family. "It has been far too long since I last addressed you in this manner. Though piloting the ship of state is never an easy job, my people are ever in my thoughts. Indeed, these thoughts of you are what sustain me in this time of trial."

  The Chancellor narrowed his dark eyes. "I am well aware of the hardships you have endured as this savage assault has nibbled away at our nation. I know that fear and doubt must touch you in many ways, yet I would not consider that treason. By no means—worrying about your family and your lives is logical. Only succumbing to that fear is treason, especially in light of what we have just accomplished."

  Justin felt a hand at the small of his back push him forward as the Chancellor turned to face him and the camera panned to pull him into the picture. "This is my trusted and valued aide, Justin Xiang. He has just returned from an operation that took place deep within the Federated Suns. Braving untold dangers and even wounding, he managed to destroy a Davion Centurion and escape Prince Hanse Davion's wrath. More important, Justin Xiang and his team successfully stole from House Davion a sample of new technology that will turn the war around for us."

  The Chancellor stood to tower above Justin. For the benefit of the camera, Maximilian extended his right hand and showed off a baton about a third of a meter long. Carved of ivory in a braided ribbon pattern, the baton bore the Liao crest in its center, and was inlaid with coral, malachite, and onyx bands at one end. The Chancellor handled it with extreme care and honor.

  "Though an insufficient reward for the many duties you have performed for the Capellan Confederation, I present to you, Justin Xiang, the Baton of Illustrious Service." Maximilian smiled and handed the baton to Justin. "I hope your unflagging service to the land of your birth will continue forever."

  Justin's metallic left hand closed on the prize. He bowed to the Chancellor, then straightened up, his facial expression serious. "Even death itself could not end my service to my nation."

  The Chancellor bowed his head to Justin, then turned again to the camera. Justin retreated back to the wings, where Candace was waiting. He turned to watch the Chancellor continue his statement before the dozen members of the press corps in the audience would have their chance to ask questions, but Candace tugged on his right elbow. "Justin, let's leave. Your part is done." Justin frowned. "I should stay through the press conference.”

  “Why? You already know what the questions are. Didn't you help prepare them this afternoon?"

  Justin smiled. "You win." He followed as she threaded her way through the people and equipment in the Palace's holovid studio. The Baton of Illustrious Service this evening and being invested as Shonso of Teng tomorrow. There was a time when I used to imagine winning such honors, but they always came from Hanse Davion's hands. Now I get them for actions taken against the Federated Suns. How life changes things.

  Candace opened a doorway into one of the Palace's grand corridors. The exterior wall was made of glass that rose up three stories to provide a breathtaking view of the capital city below. Lights from a million houses burned like a mirror-image of the night sky above. The interior wall contained huge, framed rice-paper portraits of the royal family.

  Though he had walked here hundreds of times before, it took a moment or two for Justin to identify the changes to the pictures. The portrait of Elizabeth Liao, Maximilian's wife, had been moved from his side and been replaced by Romano's picture. In addition, white ribbons hung from the frames of both her portrait and that of Liao's son Tormana.

  Justin squeezed Candace's left hand tightly and pointed toward the paintings with his baton. "Why the mourning ribbons? Has there been some recent news about Tormana?"

  Candace shrugged as they paused beneath her stepmother's portrait. "State militia found a body in a shallow grave near Dangao Lake. The victim's throat had been cut and the romanized letter A had been carved into her forehead—the cuts running deep enough to score the bone. Dental records have matched the body to Elizabeth, though my father has ordered that her death be listed officially as accidental drowning."

  Justin nodded at the next picture in line. "And your brother?"

  Candace stiffened as she looked at Tormana Liao's portrait. "Sources report that my brother was not among the prisoners taken when Davion overran Algol's defenses. Our agents there located his 'Mech, and there was blood in the cockpit. As nearly as we can determine, he escaped into the swamps and died there."

  Justin slipped his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Candace. I know you two were close." He drew her closer. "I never met Tormana, but I'm sure I would have liked him."

  Candace turned toward Justin and rested both her hands against his chest. "I thank you for your c
oncern and your sympathy, but I doubt you would have liked Tormana. Unlike you or me, he became a MechWarrior because all the alternatives bored him even more. I think he even married his lowborn wife as much out of desire for scandal as for love."

  She smiled weakly. "He was a useful ally in tormenting Romano when we were all children. My affection for him remains from those days." She looked into Justin's eyes. "You would find little in common with him, my love, and for that I am very thankful. Despite the vicious rumors Romano has spread, Tormana is not the sort of man I would wish to know on an intimate basis." She kissed his lips lightly. "But you are."

  Justin enfolded Candace in a strong hug. "For that, my Duchess, I am most thankful." He released her. "Shall I assume, then, that I am being made Shonso of a world in your St. Ives Commonality so people will not be similarly outrage that you've bedded a lowborn citizen?"

  Candace grinned. "A tad late for that now, isn't it, Citizen Xiang? Besides, your maternal grandfather served in the Ministry of Information Standards for years and was made a Lord before he died. You are hardly an ordinary citizen, Justin." She kissed his lips again. "How well I know that."

  She patted him playfully on the right chest, then recoiled in horror when he winced. "Oh, Justin, I'm sorry."

  Justin shook his head, giving the pain time to drain away. "No problem. Everything is fairly well healed. I react more from habit than actual pain." He paused and smiled as two Development Ministry officials walked past. "Let's find a more private place to talk."

  "My sentiments exactly." Candace took his hand and led him down the passageway. "For the two days since your return, they've had you debriefed and tested by just about everyone in the Maskirovka. Tonight, I've arranged an intimate dinner for just the two of us."

  Justin smiled. "And afterward?"

  She smiled coyly. "And after that, I thought we could slip into something more comfortable, like my bed, and I could properly welcome you home."