Dan took another long drink. The cool liquid vanquished his thirst and reminded him of things more sociable than Lyran politics. Lowering the bottle, he fixed Clovis with a mischievous stare. "Clovis, have you asked Karla Bremen to the dance next weekend?"
The little man stiffened, then shook his head. "No."
Dan frowned. "Blake's Blood! You've done nothing but moon over her ever since you heard she'd broken up with that guy . . . what was his name?"
Clovis picked up the actuator wrench and turned it over in his small hands. "Thor. His name was Thor."
The image of a huge man flashed through Dan's mind as Clovis spoke. "Yeah, that was it. Well, why don't you ask her?"
The dwarf looked down. "She'd not go with me. She doesn't even know I exist."
Dan drank more beer, then set the half-empty bottle down on the crate beside Clovis. "That's not true, and you know it. I saw you talking with her the other day. She was smiling and laughing."
Clovis's face darkened. He carelessly drummed the steel wrench against the wooden crate, splintering off little pieces of it. "Yeah, we spoke. She wants me to show the children in her classes how to work computers. Show-and-tell-computer time. Nothing big or special."
Dan scowled. Something's going on here. I've never seen Clovis so morose. "I don't know, Clovis. If I were you, I'd capitalize on that opportunity..."
The dwarf's long black hair fell forward as he nodded his head. "I have. I agreed to teach the kids ..."
Dan shook his head. "You don't understand. I mean you should ask her to the dance." He cocked his head at his friend. "If you don't, I just might. Maybe I'll even act like a jerk and let you rescue her..."
Clovis's brown eyes blazed with anger. "You don't get it, do you? I could no more rescue her from you than I could fly without wings. She'd prefer you, even being a jerk—which I don't think you could manage—to a half-man."
"Clovis, I'm sorry," Dan said. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I just hate to see you feeling low. The worst she could do is say no."
Muscles bunched at the corners of Clovis's jaw. "I know you meant well, Dan, but I just don't want to talk about it. It's not so bad for you because you know someone special like your Jeana will say 'yes' someday." He glanced down at the hole he'd chopped into the crate. "I don't know that."
At Clovis's mention of her name, Dan's hand strayed to the meter-long strip of green silk tucked into his belt. "Jeana is special to me, Clovis, but she might not be to someone else. More women have been special to me than I ever was to them, and you'll be special to someone, too. But you'll never find out who she is until you open up and take a chance."
Clovis shot Dan a sidelong glance. "Bet you wouldn't set me up with your sister Riva, would you?"
Dan grinned broadly. "Got a couple of ComStar bills? I'll send a message out to her now to come get you." Both men chuckled over the idea of Riva Allard traveling for months to reach Lyons for a date, but their laughter died as two of the Kell Hound infantrymen approached them with a visitor in tow.
"Captain Allard?"
"Yes, Sullivan, what is it?" Dan looked at the yellow-robed visitor and narrowed his eyes. What is a ComStar Acolyte doing here?
Sullivan's expression did not hide his irritation. "Sir, I explained to the Acolyte that he could just leave his holodisk with us and we'd see it would get to Colonel Kell, but he insisted . .."
Dan nodded understanding. "You and Murphy can return to your posts. I'll take care of our guest." He turned to the Acolyte. "What can I do for you?"
The pinch-faced man narrowed his eyes. "I must see Colonel Kell. I have a message for him."
"Indeed." Dan glanced at Clovis and admired his manly effort to keep from laughing out loud. "Corporal Sullivan said you had a holodisk."
The Acolyte scowled. "Whatever it is, it is for Colonel Kell, and for him alone. Those are my orders. Such were the wishes of the person sending ..."
"And paying for ..." quipped Clovis.
"... the message." The Acolyte glowered at Clovis, who merely ignored him.
Dan frowned. "If you insist, I can call the Colonel in."
The Acolyte nodded curtly, so Dan picked up Clovis's radio from a crate and keyed in to Morgan Kell's 'Mech. "Dan here. Sorry to interrupt, Colonel, but we've a messenger from ComStar. He's got a holodisk for you and refuses to release it to anyone else."
Static hissed through the radio's speakers for half a second before Morgan Kell's deep voice replaced it. "What's your read, Dan?"
Dan raked the Acolyte over with an openly appraising glance. "He seems to fit, but I'm uneasy about this message. I'd bet on it being bad news instead of good."
"I'll head in. Can you round up the staff?"
Dan frowned. "Conn and Second 'Mech Battalion are still over at the quarry. It would take them two hours to get here. Salome and Cat are there in the work group with you. Scott Bradley's here in the bay."
"Good. Get them. Have Clovis join us as well."
"Roger, Colonel. Out." Dan grinned at the Acolyte and pointed toward the construction site. "If you want to walk out and meet him ..."
The Acolyte took two steps toward the bay opening, then stopped short. He shook his head, nervously stuttering through his words. "N-no, n-not necessary."
Dan laughed. Coming at a dead run across the field, the thunderous steps of Morgan's Archer sent heavy tremors through the ground. The titanic 'Mech swung its ponderous fists as a man might, but the I-beam clutched forgotten in the left hand was eloquent witness to the machine's incredible strength. The hunched shoulders and forward trusting head gave the Archer a bestial look even more threatening than its sheer size.
Dan slapped the stricken Acolyte on the shoulder. "Hope this is worth it, buckaroo, because the Colonel . .. well, he doesn't like disappointments."
Dan watched Morgan Kell slip the holodisk into the player. On a scale of 1 to 16, Morgan's anger ranks about a 32, he thought. Dan could tell Kell didn't appreciate the Acolyte's antics, especially when he learned the message was from Aldo Lestrade.
Seated against the back wall, Dan had a full view of the rectangular briefing room. A long table filled it, and twelve chairs surrounded the table. The four other people at the meeting had seated themselves near the middle of the oaken table, and all faced the far end of the room where Morgan fiddled with the holodisk viewer.
Morgan straightened up to his full height and forced his anger out with a deep breath. His cooling vest and shorts revealed a muscular body that was relatively unscarred for a MechWarrior his age. Kell's long black hair and thick beard were shot with gray, but only enough to give him an air of nobility. His dark brown eyes sparkled with a vitality that seemed to promise this man could live forever.
Morgan smiled at the officers present. "Forgive the theatrics of calling you from the field for this. The ComStar Acolyte's actions suggested it might be important. Even though the message is from Aldo Lestrade, it might have some value. In any event, I would apprise all of you of its contents in the end, so we might as well share the shock together."
Morgan hit a button on the disc player's remote control. The black screen lightened to reveal the simple rectangular crest of the world of Summer, then dissolved to a picture of a rotund little man seated behind a massive desk. His salt-and-pepper hair lay flat on his head like a bad toupee and did not move as he patted it into place with his plastic left hand. Lestrade stared intently into the camera.
"Colonel Kell, I will dispense with all pleasantries because I know you would find them fatuous. We do not like each other, and I am content to maintain our relationship at the distance this mutual hatred engenders."
Lestrade leaned back in his high-backed leather chair. "It has come to my attention that you and your mercenary unit have taken up residence on my world of Lyons. I understand that you are staying in the refugee colony the Archon encouraged me to permit on that world." His choice of words and manner of speaking left Dan no doubt that Lestrade did not like the Styx colony at
all, and only permitted it because of pressure from the Commonwealth's Archon, Katrina Steiner.
The camera pulled back to reveal more of Lestrade's office. The walls were made of unfinished gray stones that appeared to have been put together in an almost haphazard manner. Dan squinted at the image. That must be the Lestrade castle. Wasn't it moved stone by stone from Terra about five hundred years ago? I'm surprised to see it's survived the Kurita raids Lestrade is always complaining about.
Lestrade left his seat and limped around to the front of his desk. "Though I can appreciate your desire to return behind the lines after a raid deep into the Draconis Combine, I do not want you on any of my worlds. The Archon may have appropriated my troops to fight Hanse Davion's war against the Draconis Combine, but I want no part of the war. You and your Kell Hounds are a threat to the peace and well-being of the Isle of Skye. I hereby order you to leave it."
The camera moved in as Lestrade graced the viewers with a plastic smile. "I can appreciate the time it might take for you to move a mercenary unit. You have two weeks from the receipt of this message to be gone from the Isle of Skye. Have I made myself clear?"
Morgan shut off the viewer as the screen faded to black. He turned in his seat and leaned forward over the table. "Disgustingly frank for Lestrade..." he said. "Well, he says we've got to get off Lyons in two weeks. Comments? Salome."
Morgan's flame-haired second in command, Major Salome Ward, looked around at the small group. "Since all the troops have left Lyons for the attack into the Draconis Combine, our departure would leave the planet defenseless. I realize that Lyons seems far behind the lines, but just one 'Mech battalion jumping in from an uninhabited star could wreak havoc."
Major Scott Bradley, the dark-haired MechWarrior seated across the table from Salome, frowned. "Why hit Lyons?" He smiled apologetically at Clovis. "Not to run down your new home, but the object of modern warfare is to destroy the enemy's ability to wage war. Lyons, in that sense, is not a military target. Were the Combine able to spare troops for a raid, then this world's agro and water supply might make it a target, but I think the Combine has some other worries."
Morgan nodded. "I agree with you, Scott, that the Combine has other problems, especially in the Rasalhague District, but the Lyran offensive's punch down in the area came just slightly rimward of here. I would not consider the Isle of Skye's border at all secure. If the Combine wished, it could come through here, then swing out to trap troops in a pocket centered on Marfik."
Dan shook his head. "What troops does the Dragon have to perform such a maneuverer? Most of the Dieron Military District's troops, including the Genyosha, made that assault on the Terran Corridor and got pushed back."
"True, but Davion has not attacked into the Dieron District to pin down those troops. For all we know, they're massing on Yorii or Imbros III for a strike at Lyons." Morgan looked over at the black man seated between Salome and Dan. "What do you think, Cat?"
Cat Wilson knit his fingers together and rested his hands like a cap on top of his shaved head. "I think I don't trust Lestrade as far as I could throw this planet. He thinks he's got an ace up his sleeve somewhere. His wanting us out of Lyons could be a simple move to reassure Kurita that he, Lestrade, is not part of the war. As much as the man is a lying, scheming, power-hungry sycophant, we should remember that a Kurita raid cost him his left arm and left leg. I doubt that the idea of another Kurita assault on his holdings appeals to him."
"Point well taken." Morgan looked past Scott Bradley toward Clovis. "You're the mayor of New Freedom. What do you think?"
The dwarf smiled affably. "Remember, I'm only the acting mayor. Once my mother stops running you around in the Bifrost, she'll take over again." Clovis glanced at Cat. "My mother has told me stories of the raid in which Lestrade lost his arm and leg. She used to work in the castle on Summer and had to flee for her life during that raid. From what she's said, Lestrade probably murdered his father, and almost certainly arranged the accidents that killed all his siblings so he would inherit the throne. That doesn't offer much of a recommendation for his character, but I'd have to side with Cat. I don't think Lestrade would want a raid from the Combine in the Isle of Skye. And even if he did, why Lyons? It would make no sense."
Clovis looked back at Morgan. "Isn't this something of a moot point? You were going to be leaving Lyons within the month anyway. Right?"
Morgan nodded. "That's our plan. We've got a meeting scheduled for Ryde at the beginning of June. Whether or not we would have left Lyons on our own, part of me hates to appear to be following Lestrade's order. I suppose it can't be helped in this case. We cannot afford to be late arriving on Ryde."
Dan clenched his teeth. Morgan calls it a meeting, but all of us know what it really will be. Morgan and Yorinaga Kurita will once again do battle to determine who between them will live or die. While this war engulfs all the Successor States, Morgan Kell and Yorinaga Kurita are also holding their own little war. Were Morgan not preoccupied with—hell, obsessed with—his private conflict, he'd drop the Kell Hounds in on Aldo Lestrade just to deliver an answer to that madman's order.
"So, we'll get the Kell Hounds out of here on time, just to keep Lestrade happy." Morgan went on, his countenance darkening. "But if our compliance plays into one of Lestrade's schemes, I swear the Kell Hounds will make the Duke regret it for what little of his life he'll have left."
8
Tharkad
District of Donegal, Lyran Commonwealth
20 April 3029
Jeana Clay hit the pause button on the holodisk recorder as she turned toward the door. The instant the Archon entered, Jeana rose from her chair and crossed the room quickly. Before the guards had closed the door, she threw her arms around Katrina Steiner. "Hello, mother. How good to see you today."
Jeana's voice—a perfect match for that of Melissa Steiner-Davion—did not betray her unease. Why has the Archon come to my chambers? Has something happened to Melissa? Jeana pulled back from the tall, platinum-haired matriarch and gave her a respectful bow. "Forgive me, Archon, but I did not expect you."
The gray-eyed woman smiled easily and waved Jeana back toward her chair as she seated herself on the edge of the bed. "There is no emergency. Don't be alarmed. According to the holodisk I received this morning from the Federated Suns, Melissa is well."
Jeana caught a glimpse of her own reflection in the mirror on the closet door. The long golden hair and carefully sculpted features matched Melissa's face in all details. The gray eyes, given to Melissa by genetics and Jeana by contact lenses, stared back at her from the mirror. I wonder if I’ll ever get used to wearing another's face.
Jeana turned to the Archon. "Is Melissa pregnant yet?" Katrina Steiner shook her head. "No, you are not pregnant yet." They laughed together, but the Archon's smile turned pensive. "Your look, your manner, your laugh. There are times when I think you and Melissa conspired to switch places and fool all of us."
Jeana shook her head. "No, Archon. Your daughter has been with her husband since we left Terra after the wedding."
Katrina looked fondly at Jeana. "I had a message from Morgan Kell today. He says the Kell Hounds have been ordered off Lyons and will be proceeding to Ryde. If I read between the lines correctly, he thought you would be interested in this information. He also said to tell you, 'The Sanglamore Sash has kept Dan quite safe.' "
Jeana felt her heart leap. Please, God, let it continue to do so. She looked up at the Archon, then blushed. "I gave Dan Allard the sash I got when I passed my final 'Mech test at Sanglamore ..."
Katrina Steiner nodded knowingly. "I noticed you were quite taken with him during the festivities before the wedding. I know we're not really mother and daughter, but I also realize you've got no one to talk to about such matters. If you wish .. ."
Jeana smiled. My father was right to help you escape Alessandro Steiner's trap so many years ago. You actually do care about your people. "It is difficult." She pressed her lips together into a think-lin
e. "I wanted very much to tell Dan who I was and what I did, but I could not violate security like that. If people knew your daughter was in the Federated Suns, your political enemies could accuse you of selling out the Commonwealth to Hanse Davion."
Jeana looked up into the Archon's steel-gray eyes. "What makes Dan so remarkable is that he did not press me on the subject. He just wanted to know if I was happy, and if so, he said that was enough for him. I know it's crazy because we've had so little time together, but it seems like I've known him all my life."
"You love him very much, don't you?" Katrina asked softly.
Jeana nodded. "I remember the first reception on Terra. It seems like we danced forever. He was so gentle, yet so strong." Jeana covered her mouth to smother a giggle. "Archon, I don't know if you've noticed, but all Mech Warriors from the Federated Suns wear ceremonial spurs on their boots. They're just small things, with no rowls, and are said to recall the old days when cavalry troops moved quickly and hit hard—just like 'Mech regiments."
The Archon laughed. "Silly superstition. Just like a Sanglamore Sash, right?"
Jeana blushed. "Touche, Highness. Anyway, while Dan and I were dancing, the hem of my gown caught on a spur during a turn. I began to stumble, but Dan managed to lift me up and continue the dance without so much as losing a beat of the music. Then he spent the next minute or two apologizing for his clumsiness in getting his spur caught. Not often you find strength, agility, intelligence, and consideration wrapped up in so handsome a package."
The Archon nodded. "And in a Mech Warrior, even more rare." Katrina stared off over Jeana's shoulder. "It does not surprise me that Morgan selected him to join the Kell Hounds."
Jeana noticed a change in the Archon's voice. "What's wrong? Forgive my presumption, but you seem apprehensive."