Assumption of risk

  "No!" Kai slammed his right fist into the palm of his left hand. "I learned many things from my mother and father, but the greatest lesson was that killing must never come easily, and killing is what you are asking me to do."

  "This from a fighter on Solaris?" Tormano barked harshly. "You must think me insane!"

  "No, just obsessed." Kai felt himself back in control of his anger and he directed it at Tormano. "Look at my record, uncle, I have a string of victories, a handful of defeats and only one kill. That kill came when my opponent punched out in The Factory and hit a wall. Time and again I have refused to deliver the coup de grace to a downed foe. I do not want to be responsible for the death of another human being. I've already done enough of that as a soldier, and if I can help it, it will never happen again."

  "Death is death. On Solaris or in freeing the Confederation, it's all the same."

  "You're wrong, uncle, very wrong," Kai said calmly, despite the shock he felt at his uncle's callousness. "Here on Solaris death is a matter of choice. The lawyers have a legal term for the reason why another stable or a fighter's family cannot sue me if I kill someone in a fight: it's called assumption of risk. What would be murder in the streets is acceptable in an arena because everyone who steps into that arena has agreed to accept the consequences of his actions.

  "The same is not true in the outside world. In conquering what is left of the Capellan Confederation, we would cause the death of billions of people. Whole planets might be destroyed. Why? To salve the ego of a man who believes he know best how a people should be ruled? Perhaps you can accept such responsibility, but I cannot."

  "You must, Kai. It is your duty."

  "No, it is my duty to prevent that from happening." Kai's voice dropped to a sepulchral whisper. "I am not a political animal. I'm a warrior. You have reminded me of my duty, so now I will execute it."

  Kai rose and took a step toward the door. "I will continue to fund your humanitarian efforts, Uncle, and will even undertake to continue your pension if Victor decides the Federated Commonwealth can no longer afford it. This I promise you, both as your nephew and as a fellow Mech-Warrior. It is a deal, bargained well and done, as the Clans would say.

  "Continue your snarling. Give Sun-Tzu bad dreams. Oppose the Zhanzheng de guang with your network of spies. Give value to the lives of those who share your dreams. Do what you wish short of starting a war and I will not gainsay your efforts."

  Tormano's eyes became dark slits. "And if I defy you?"

  "I am the Champion of Solaris because I destroy my enemies." Kai bowed his head curtly at Tormano. "Have you a wish to become my enemy?"

  Tharkad

  District of Donegal, Federated Commonwealth

  "You're certain it's the Tenth Skye Rangers?" Victor stared at the holographic display of the Isle of Skye hovering above the black lozenge shape of the briefing table.

  Alex Mallory, Secretary of Intelligence, nodded solemnly. "The Tenth is away from its base, and the story is that the unit is off on an exercise. The Field Marshal's office is disclaiming any knowledge of an operation, but ComStar communications logs leaked to us through the liaison officer from the Precentor Martial's office show that Duke Richard has had communications with the JumpShips that showed up with the Rangers in the Glengarry system on the first of April."

  "I had expected Ryan to move against Glengarry, but not this quickly."

  Mallory sat stiffly back in his chair, looking very much his age, reminding Victor that the man who had also advised his father for a quarter of a century had once endured torture on Sian in service to Hanse Davion. "I can't be certain that either Ryan or Richard Steiner have authorized his activity. It looks as if Baron von Bulow might have launched the attack on his own initiative, trying to regain ownership of Glengarry. Richard Steiner is aiding and abetting the action by doing nothing, but most of the units now stationed in Skye would likely support the action, not oppose it."

  "I had just awarded Glengarry permanently to the Gray Death Legion on the day those DropShips appeared in the Glengarry system. The Rangers must have jumped into the system on the day I made the award."

  Curaitis, seated midway between the other two men, nodded. "The Baron was given advance notice of the investiture."

  "How much advance?" 'Twenty-four hours."

  Victor smiled. "Good. That means this action is hasty. With Glengarry being such a backwater world, the Rangers will have problems keeping up their supplies. The Gray Death Legion won't give up the world without a fight."

  "Only half the Legion is on the planet, my lord."

  "I know, Curaitis, but the rest will be on their way back there soon enough."

  Alex shook his head. "That might not be enough for the Gray Death to win the fight, but we can't support them any more than that, either. We have no loyal troops in Skye and to send some in will seem like Davion aggression. And that will only play further into Ryan's hands."

  "Good point, yes, but there are some things we can do." Victor leaned forward and began ticking items off on his fingers. "First, we're going to reprioritize the recharge stations so they service merchant ships first, my military transports second, and Richard's ships last—dead last. I also want to open up our strategic stores of grains, other foods, and fuels on the hottest planets. Flood those worlds with low-priced food and fuel. Tell everyone the Federated Suns is enjoying bumper crops and the people are sending this bounty along to help their Lyran cousins. Declare the anniversary of my mother's death a holiday with pay for everyone."

  Alex Mallory looked shocked. "Highness, this largess will be very expensive."

  "More so than losing Skye?"

  "No, but corporations will want to be indemnified against losses from the cheap food and fuel."

  "Fine, we'll do that. I need this massive distribution because I'm going to nationalize the local militias. I want them under my direct control. I know, I know, I can't trust all of them, which is why we'll be keeping some very busy playing Santa Claus to their worlds. We'll give them bonus pay, too. The rest of the units will keep the peace and keep an eye on Richard's units. If we can localize the conflict and keep it on Glengarry, we have a chance to shut down this rebellion before too many people die."

  Alex nodded appreciatively. "It's just the sort of plan your father would have put together. Are you going to speak with Carlyle?"

  "How can I? I'd have to make promises I couldn't keep. What I want you to do is hire two regiments of the Northwind Highlanders in Carlyle's name as Baron of Glengarry. If he tries to defend the world with just his own men, that might not be enough. We can't risk losing Skye, but we can't intervene directly with our own Federated Commonwealth troops. However, reinforcements hired by the rightful Baron of Glengarry to protect his fiefdom should help Carlyle do the job and keep my name out of it."

  "I understand, my lord." Alex set his face with an uncompromising expression. "Is there anything else?"

  "Two things. First, see what pressure we can put on ComStar to get those damned Elementals to Solaris for Kai's fight. We'll have to route them well outside the Skye March because all hell will break loose if Ryan learns they passed through his territory to get to Solaris."

  "Agreed on Ryan. I'll get on it. And the other thing?"

  Victor smiled broadly. "Talk to Kai's people and get an agreement for broadcast rights to the fight that pits him and Galen against Ryan's fighters. Let's let everyone in the Isle of Skye get a good look at Ryan's embarrassment."

  Curaitis' eyes narrowed. "What if Kai and Galen lose?"

  "The chances of their losing are about as good as Ryan's chances of making the Isle of Skye secede from the Federated Commonwealth." Then Victor's voice dropped, becoming so soft the other two men might not have made out the words. "But if it's a game of chance, may luck be on our side."

  Solaris City, Solaris VII

  Tamarind March, Federated Commonwealth

  The scowl on Tormano Liao's face failed in its attempt to become a smile desp
ite Nancy Lee's jovial expression. He still seethed with frustration over his disastrous meeting with Kai. "Yes, Nancy, what is it?"

  She handed him a holodisk, which he inserted in the viewer on one corner of his desk. She flicked the device on, then graced Tormano with a smile. "I've found Deirdre Lear."

  Lear? Tormano nodded as recognition of the name surfaced in his mind. "She was on Zurich, correct?"

  "Yes. She works in a medical clinic there."

  "And her husband? Dudley or D something or other."

  Nancy shook her head. "David." She punched a button on the viewer and a picture filled the screen. "He's not her husband, he's her son."

  Tormano's heart leaped as he saw the frozen image of mother holding child. "How old is he?"

  "Three years. Born on Odell, in the Sarna March."

  Tormano sank back in his chair. "Very good work."

  "Thank you, my lord, but it was due more to luck than anything else." Nancy tapped the screen with a long fingernail. "This is from a news story out of Zurich. Dr. Lear disarmed a Zhanzheng de guang terrorist, then operated on the man shot by the terrorist, saving his life."

  "Sounds like an extraordinary woman." Tormano's thoughts began to race at breakneck speed. Dozens and dozens of scenarios unfolded, then withered and died just as quickly in his mind. Yet at the center of it all, two things remained constant. One was the frustration he felt at Kai's spurning of his offer.

  The other came from the conversation between Kai and Wu Deng Tang on which Tormano had eavesdropped electronically. My nephew said he had no children. A quick glance at the image on his viewer confirmed what Tormano had known intuitively at first sight. The child has Kai's eyes and his chin.

  He smiled almost gleefully at his aide. "Yes, quite an extraordinary woman. I would like to meet her, reward her for her bravery. Have her brought to Solaris as a guest on my estate on Equatus."

  "As you wish, my lord."

  "And, Nancy, no word of this to Kai. I want to surprise him."

  The woman smiled. "If that is his son, he will be very happy."

  "Indeed, he will." Tormano stared at the image. But only if he does as I wish.

  19

  Solaris City, Solaris VII

  Tamarind March, Federated Commonwealth

  8 April 3056

  Duke Ryan Steiner sat back in his office and laughed aloud as David Hanau finished an anxious explanation of what Prince Victor had done within the Isle of Skye. "Brilliant, Victor, brilliant. Well played."

  Hanau looked confused. "My lord, his efforts have essentially frozen the rebellion and left only one Skye unit in mutiny. He has blunted your efforts. II Pompiere is ready to act, to intervene, but the federalization of the planetary militias means we could have citizens of Skye fighting citizens of Skye."

  Ryan held out his hands and pressed them gently downward as if he could physically lower Hanau's alarm. "II Pompiere is to do nothing at this time." They had chosen an Italian code name for Richard Steiner because of the duke's desire to honor an old Skye family's quirky insistence on using that tongue in polite company. Ryan had chosen the name "Fireman" because of Richard's ability to handle a crisis.

  "But if II Pompiere does nothing, Glengarry could fall into the wrong hands."

  Ryan shrugged. "II Fuco has overstepped his ambition. If he succeeds in wresting his planethold from Carlyle, he will need supplies to consolidate his victory. And that means he will come begging to us. If his attack on Glengarry fails, we denounce him as a dangerous and deviant force, and thereby win praise for being reasonable. If we support him now, we invite a wider conflict, which I do not want at the moment. The time is not yet right."

  "I see," Hanau said, but his face still showed confusion. "I thought you'd be worried and would want to do something."

  "Oh, I do. The level of protests going on in Skye is sufficient for my purposes. Victor's quick fix of supplying goodies for the populace plays into our hands because at some point he will no longer be able to afford this beneficence. When that moment comes and he is forced to cut the people off, the outcry will be loud and long."

  "So we wait?"

  "Some of us, yes." Ryan Steiner turned to Sven Newmark. "You will execute an Oyster Three Window immediately; severity can be subject lethal, though I would prefer it not be so."

  The ex-Rasalhagian nodded. "That would put it close to the date of the fight here. Is that what you wish?"

  "Most satisfactory." Ryan smiled as he saw Hanau's bald puzzlement. "Believe me, you don't want to know."

  Hanau held his hands up. "Greater good for the greater number."

  "Exactly." Ryan clapped his hands together. "II Pompiere does nothing, II Fuco twists in the wind, and we let Victor Davion pay for his audacity. It's a good day's work."

  Sven Newmark left the meeting to prepare the message that would initiate the Oyster Three Window. The code name had been created from three parts, two of which became obvious if one shared the same frame of reference as Ryan, Sven, and the Free Skye Militia cell coordinator who would receive it. Window as a command suffix meant that Ryan wanted visual confirmation of the results of the operation and, in this case, they were to be disseminated to the news media. Had the suffix been Keyhole, the evidence would have gone only to Ryan, whereas the absence of a suffix would have instructed that no visual record was needed. Finally, Coffin would have meant to keep any and all connection with the operation secret. A host of other suffix words could have affixed blame on a variety of other parties, but in this operation the blame would be self-evident.

  The word "three" indicated that Peter Davion was the target of the operation. Each of Hanse and Melissa's children were designated by a number corresponding to their birth order, though Ryan also used "the corporal" as a derisive name for Victor who was as small as Napoleon. The message would be directed to Lyons, which was Peter's current location, and the operation would be carried out by the local Free Skye Militia cadre.

  Oyster had a simple meaning in the scheme of things. An oyster operation was one that seemed to be routine, even boring on the outside, but contained a surprise within. Ryan had outlined a number of general ideas for Oyster operations involving Peter, all of them centering on his well-known temper and low tolerance for any threats or slights to his family. Though he had shown remarkable self-control in the bar incident, reports indicated that the school bomb had shaken him a bit.

  The designation of "subject lethal" for the operation meant that Peter Davion's death was a permissible outcome. In many ways Ryan considered Peter no more than an unsupported piece on a chessboard. He was useful to the opposition only in that he could be placed in jeopardy, forced to retreat, or be taken, any of which would hurt Victor. Most people in a similar situation could be "turned," but it would never be possible to persuade Peter to support Ryan. Given that Peter was a Davion, turning him would also blunt the anti-Davion focus of the rebellion.

  The whole of the message Sven Newmark wished to send was Oyster Three Window Subject Lethal, incomprehensible in itself, which was just as it should be for a secret message. It was also true that such enigmatic messages might attract attention for exactly the reason that they might contain important secrets. Duke Ryan did not discount the possibility that Victor Davion's Intelligence Secretariat had ways to penetrate his security, but that didn't stop him from trying to make obtaining information the most difficult of tasks—and understanding it all but impossible.

  One of the more interesting aspects of Sven Newmark's employment with Duke Ryan Steiner was his study of countless catalog disks from worlds throughout the Inner Sphere. He sought out small publishing houses, university presses, and private firms that issued limited-run information disks or special editions of classic or contemporary cutting-edge fiction. The more obscure and esoteric the work, the more Sven wanted it.

  Working through a series of cutout companies, he engineered the purchase of a hundred copies of each bookdisk in question. The Federated Commonwealth produced enou
gh of them that his purchases amounted to a dozen volumes each month. These disks were subsequently shipped to large-volume bookdisk retailers along with a description to be entered into their computer system catalogs. Sven wrote these descriptions personally, laboring to make the books sound as impenetrable as steel and as exciting as watching fingernails grow.

  Each description had a keyword, derived from a previously sent message, for which each cell leader would search the catalog on a monthly basis. When a description contained that phrase, the cell leader would immediately place an order for the bookdisk in question. Two months later the books became "live" and formed the basis for the whole code system Ryan used to communicate with his people.

  Sven fired up his computer and typed in the message to be encoded. The computer sorted through the vocabulary lists for the dozen books in use that month. Only three contained all the words, and from among them he selected a mystery anthology titled Pearls of Murder, edited by the Bonsai Writers' Club. Within an instant the computer reported back the results of the encryption: 16-2-36 223-1-45 143-0-3 45-5-32 88-6-2.

  The numbers referred to page, paragraph, and number of the appropriate word. Sven knew that if he loaded the bookdisk and looked at the sixth paragraph on page eighty-eight, he would find its second word to be "lethal." Without the correct book to facilitate decoding, the message would be gibberish.

  Sven copied the numbers down on a sheet of paper, then shut off the secure computer in his office and turned on the computer with the outside link. It was little more than a dedicated terminal, though a few of its chips had been burned with highly specialized programs. When the system came up, Sven initiated a connection into the local news service and picked his way through the menus to locate the off-planet news service.

  Once he had access, he punched in a password that got him beyond the public-access area and deep into the service itself. Hitting a function key, he triggered a rom program that took him further down into it. The screen went blank, then a single blinking square of light appeared.