Warrior: Riposte (The Warrior Trilogy, Book Two): BattleTech Legends, #58 Page 12

  Katrina reached out and gave his shoulders a squeeze. “You miss her as much as I miss Arthur, don’t you?”

  “Tempest?” His head came up and he forced a weak smile on his lips. “Perhaps, had things not ended so abruptly, my answer to your question would be ‘Yes.’ As it is, I just don’t know.”

  The Archon let her hand fall from his shoulder. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

  “Don’t be. It’s ground I’ve traveled often in the past eleven years.” Morgan winked at her and brandished the holocube, his sadness banished. “Think I should go back to just a mustache?”

  Katrina shook her head. “No, Morgan, the full beard is more becoming.” A mischievous light flashed in her eyes. “However, if ComStar decides to hold a masquerade as part of Melissa’s wedding celebration, perhaps we can reprise the Red Corsair and some of her court.”

  Morgan slapped his forehead with his open right palm. “What a dolt I’ve been! Here I see Melissa for the first time in ages and I haven’t yet congratulated her on her engagement.”

  Katrina held a hand up. “Don’t worry, Morgan, you’ve scored points with her for that omission. Everyone in the receiving line commented on what a pretty bride she’d be and how much they regretted not being able to be there.” Katrina rolled her eyes.

  “Trolling for invitations—a time honored tradition at epic events.” Morgan smiled wryly, but a look of concern had settled over his handsome features. “On Zaniah, when we heard of the engagement, we were happy, of course, but Brother Giles and I both worried that this might become a rallying point for dissidents and rivals in the Commonwealth. Brother Giles even had a visitor from Solaris—an Enrico Lestrade, I think—who inquired if he wanted to come out of retirement in light of the engagement.”

  Damn that Aldo Lestrade! How dare he send his nephew to disturb my uncle in his retreat. And bless you, Morgan, for actually caring. “There has, indeed, been some resistance among the nobility. Aldo Lestrade pulls Frederick Steiner’s strings, so that’s trouble. Aldo’s engineered at least two failed assassination attempts against me, and I think he was behind the Silver Eagle’s diversion. The hard evidence may be tantalizingly elusive, but I know he’s the author of many of my troubles.”

  Something flickered in Morgan’s dark eyes, and Katrina felt a coldness slice through her. Well, Aldo, you don’t know what you have unleashed with your actions, do you? You killed Patrick Kell, and that’s not a sin that either Morgan or Heimdall are likely to soon forget. “Aldo keeps trumpeting his complaint that we leave the Isle of Skye vulnerable to attack, but even the raid Kurita pulled on Chara to exterminate the Kell Hounds failed to excite many people.”

  Katrina smiled. “However, with you back to lead the Kell Hounds, I don’t think Kurita is going to try anything as foolish as that last raid… But Morgan, what is it?”

  Morgan frowned. “Katrina, I have a special favor to ask of you.”

  The Archon opened her hands. “Ask and it will be done.”

  Morgan smiled briefly, then let the smile die. “I appreciate the vote of confidence. Dan has told me of a clause in the Kell Hound contract that allows me to dissolve any agreement that Patrick made.”

  Katrina nodded. “The contract expires in 3031. Do you want to break it or renegotiate? I can probably pull some extra money out of the budget for you…” What are you up to, Morgan?

  Morgan shook his head. “I appreciate the thought, but no. And don’t worry, I’m not taking the Hounds off to another House. I, ah, I’m taking them myself. I have some business to complete.”

  Katrina’s eyes became like sharp steel slivers. “What, Colonel Kell, have you in mind?”

  Morgan sighed and replied in an uneasy voice. “I’m not sure, Katrina, and it scares me. Dan tells me Yorinaga Kurita is back and that he killed Patrick.”

  Katrina shook her head in disbelief. “Morgan, you aren’t going off on a vendetta, are you? That’s for recruits just out of Nagelring. You know as well as I that personal conflicts have no place in warfare.” She stared at him.

  Morgan raised his hands in surrender. “Easy, Katrina, I’m not a green leutnant in your battalion.” He opened his mouth to continue, but couldn’t find the words.

  Katrina watched Morgan Kell as he wrestled with the demons in his mind. This is very important to you, isn’t it, Morgan? I’ve not seen you like this before—except, perhaps, when you first went to Zaniah. All those years at St. Marinus and you’ve still not got control of it? My heart aches for you, old friend.

  Morgan looked up and sighed heavily. “Believe me, Katrina, when I tell you Yorinaga’s return to duty—it’s palpable. I knew he was back months before Dan came to Zaniah.” Morgan faltered. “I just never imagined Patrick would get caught in the crossfire.

  “Years ago, on Mallory’s World, Yorinaga Kurita and I started something. It began in 3013 when tattered remnants of the Davion Fourth Guards and two companies of the Kell Hounds held off the Second Sword of Light while other Davion troops evacuated Ian Davion and pried his body out of his broken ’Mech. Yorinaga had killed Ian, but we prevented him from taking home any trophy.

  “Three years later, again on Mallory’s World, Yorinaga and I met.” Morgan paused and stared off into space. “We fought and I learned a lot about myself in that fight. I fear what I learned, to be very honest, and I felt the seeds of the same terrible thing in Yorinaga. While both of us remained in exile, nothing could happen. Now we’ll be drawn together, inexorably, and our fight must eventually take place.” Morgan shrugged. “There’s no other way.”

  Katrina smiled warmly. “Can I convince you to wait until after the wedding before you head off on this quest of yours?”

  Morgan started to answer, then paused and slowly nodded his head. “I believe we have the time. I will pull the Kell Hounds from active duty, however. They’re already on their way to Arc-Royal.”

  “I have no difficulty with that,” the Archon said. “But do you think it wise to have a light battalion going up against what’s likely to be a Kurita regiment?”

  “No,” replied Morgan Kell as he poured himself another whiskey. “Not wise at all.” Smiling, he raised his glass in a salute. “That’s why the word went out from Zaniah. The Kell Hound unit I’m assembling at Arc-Royal will be, once again, a full regiment. Let the Dragon beware…”

  Chapter 15

  THARKAD

  DISTRICT OF DONEGAL

  LYRAN COMMONWEALTH

  31 DECEMBER 3027

  At the Minister of Protocol’s insistence, the string quartet immediately began a waltz. As the first soft notes filled the room, Dan disengaged his arm from Melissa’s grasp, then turned and bowed to the Archon-Designate. “It would be my distinct honor if you would accompany me in the dance.”

  Melissa smiled and bowed her head. “And it would be my pleasure, Captain Allard.” She took his extended right hand and allowed him to lead her to the floor. The other guests parted to let them pass, then some of the more adventurous followed until soon the dance floor was full.

  “You realize, don’t you,” Dan whispered, “that there are dozens of your citizens who would kill to be in my position.”

  “That may well be, Captain, but I would prefer not to deal with them. None of them would be as light on their feet or as agile as you are.” She smiled impishly. “Does the Federated Suns teach dancing in their military academies?”

  Dan shook his head and whirled the Archon-Designate through a series of steps. “Only at the New Avalon Military Academy, Highness. Albion and Warrior’s Hall frown on dance, though they do have excellent anti-armor classes.” Dan blushed as Melissa giggled. “Actually, my mother insisted that all her children learn ‘how to behave in polite company,’ and in my opinion, company comes no more polite.”

  “Thank you, Captain. I shall write your mother to say that all the training was not in vain.” Melissa let her voice drop to the barest trace of a whisper. “And again I thank you for your efforts on my behalf last sprin
g. If the Kell Hounds had not come along…” Melissa shuddered.

  “We did, Highness, and that is all that matters.” Dan looked over at the quartet, which was playing the final strains of the song. Releasing Melissa, he bowed. “Thank you, Highness.”

  “Thank you, Captain.” Melissa’s smile froze on her face, whose expression became one of fury as she glanced over his shoulder. “Captain Allard,” she said. “Do you know Baron Sefnes?”

  Sefnes… He’s Duke Michael’s ambassador to the Commonwealth Court. Dan turned formally and appraised the small, dark-haired man who had come up behind him. Looks like another human rat from New Syrtis, and he’s drunk. When he spoke, Dan’s voice had became cold and formal. “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure, though the baron’s reputation precedes him.”

  Dan’s chilly tone was not lost on the Capellan March lord, but the glazed look in his dark eyes hid whether or not the remark had actually registered. “So, Captain, is it an Allard family trait to abandon the Federated Suns?”

  Melissa stiffened instantly, and Dan heard the hushed intake of breath as other guests overheard Sefnes’s question. What’s your game, viper? Dan thought. “Forgive me, Baron, but I do not understand your inquiry.”

  Sefnes let a sloppy, drunken grin splash across his pinched features. He hissed his words and a feral hatred showed in his eyes. “Simply asked, Captain, and easily answered. You jumped ship first by having your daddy beg Hanse Davion to assign you to the Kell Hounds. The Prince even gave you a Valkyrie as a going-away present. Then your brother left us after betraying the March and nearly getting his command killed in the process.” The baron smiled like a hyena. “I just want to know which Allard is next.”

  Muscles bunched at Dan’s jaw as he ground his teeth. You insolent idiot. You hated my father because he replaced Michael Hasek-Davion in the Prince’s inner circle, and you loathe my brother for his mixed blood. Now you seek to embarrass me, but you only embarrass yourself and the man you serve.

  Melissa started to speak, but Dan laid his left hand on her arm. As outrage flashed in his eyes, the tension began to spread through the room, with Lyran nobles and MechWarriors gathering near them. “Get to it, Sefnes. Get to the real question you want to ask.”

  Sefnes looked at Dan with a sneer. “And what do you, Captain, suppose that question to be?”

  Dan licked his lips. “I think you want to know what it feels like to be Justin Allard’s brother—the brother of a traitor…”

  Sefnes smiled and laid his right hand on the captain’s left shoulder. “Exactly!”

  Dan took a half-step back and swung his left shoulder from beneath the baron’s hand. The mercenary’s left hand snapped up and wrapped itself over the back of the baron’s right hand. Pushing down, Dan locked the baron’s wrist forward, then twisted the hand out to lock the baron’s elbow.

  The young Kell Hound reached over with his right and maintained the pressure on the baron’s wrist. “I’ve always been proud of my brother Justin, Baron. I envied him his entry into Sakhara, and there’s not a MechWarrior in this room who would deny that the Sakhara Academy is anything but first class.” Dan looked away from Sefnes and saw many MechWarriors nodding agreement. “There, at Sakhara, where the Allard name held no importance, Justin excelled, and I exulted in his success.”

  The MechWarrior rotated the baron’s wrist a bit more and elevated the trapped arm. Sefnes winced and bent slightly forward at the waist to relieve some of the pressure. “I rejoiced even more when Justin earned an AFFS commission and was assigned to the Capellan March. You can’t begin to dream or imagine, Baron, my unadulterated joy when I heard of his performance on Spica. No, Baron, you couldn’t understand what I felt then, because such emotions have no place in your barren, twisted life.”

  The mercenary from the Federated Suns smiled cruelly and applied more pressure. “You can ask any MechWarrior here what he or she thought of the plan Justin conceived and helped execute to rescue General Courtney’s command on Spica.” Dan saw many MechWarriors in the crowd nodding their agreement. “Reckless, perhaps, and desperate certainly—but the situation called for extraordinary measures and it worked. Justin truly deserved the Diamond Sunburst award for that campaign, and my heart swelled with pride when I heard he’d received it.”

  Dan snarled and twisted the man’s wrist even further. He stepped forward and harshly drove Sefnes to his knees. “You say my brother is a traitor, but who among us would not have left the Federated Suns under similar circumstances? Only in your sick mind could that travesty of a trial be considered fair or impartial.”

  The mercenary captain paused and looked around the room. He met the gaze of every MechWarrior in attendance. “What you cannot understand, Baron, is that Justin is a MechWarrior. After learning that he would never again be given the chance to lead men into battle, that he would never again pilot a ’Mech, Justin left. On Solaris, he proved himself every bit a MechWarrior, despite the maiming of his injuries. And he proved his worth against the best Solaris had to offer.” Dan stared down at Sefnes. “He even won when his opponents cheated.”

  Dan released the baron’s arm and Sefnes collapsed, clutching his painful limb to his chest. “There’s not a MechWarrior here, Baron, who wouldn’t sooner die than give up piloting. Justin remained true to himself—to his training and his life. He never abandoned the Federated Suns. Rather, it spat him out!”

  The Kell Hound officer turned and bowed his head to Melissa. “Forgive me, Highness, for being so rude.” Dan indicated the French doors leading out to the gardens with a nod of his head. “If you will permit me, I feel the need for some air.”

  Sefnes rose to one knee. “You’ll pay for this, Allard. I swear it. You’ll pay!”

  The mercenary spun and kicked the baron’s leg from beneath him. “’Ware, viper! I may just cut the coin from your hide.” Then he whirled and stalked off as the crowd stared after him in stunned silence.

  Dan leaned forward heavily on the garden terrace’s stone railing. You idiot! What the hell were you doing in there? He stared out through the darkness at the lights winking atop the distant towers of Fortress Asgard. Because of the thick, gray cloud cover, those strobing lights faced no competition from stars and planets. My actions just now would have been better suited to a brawl in the Asgardian barracks than to an official ball at the palace.

  “You care very much for your brother, don’t you?”

  The woman’s strong yet gentle voice sent a shock through his system, and Dan spun about instantly. Silhouetted against the bright lights of the palace, her face was barely visible but he thought he recognized her anyway. “Melissa?”

  The woman shook her head and drifted closer. As she reached the railing, the light revealed her hair to be brown and her gown a deep green. Her eyes, like the sequins on her dress, flashed with a green light. “No, I’m not Melissa,” she said with a throaty laugh. “Though you’re not the first person to make that mistake.”

  Dan smiled weakly. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” She glanced down hesitantly, then brought her gaze up to meet his. “What you said in there touched me…I thought that perhaps you might like to talk with someone.”

  As her eyes met his, Dan felt something like an electric jolt shoot through his body. She smiled and gathered his left hand into her right. “Come. Let us walk in the garden.” She led him down one of the carefully manicured pathways where well-trimmed shrub walls soon eclipsed the palace lights and muffled the music. “You idolized your brother, didn’t you?”

  Dan nodded. “From the time we were kids.” He laughed in remembrance. “He was my older brother, by seven years, but I soon caught up to him in the height department. That’s when he started calling me his big brother. He’s actually my half-brother… My father’s first marriage ended in divorce after he was recalled from the Federated Suns embassy on Sian.”

  She smiled and stared out at the lights of Asgard. “You’re lucky, having a brother. I was an only chil
d.”

  The mercenary captain forced himself to smile. “Believe me, ah…”

  She hesitated. “Jeana.”

  “Jeana, there were times when I wished to be an only child. I also have a sister and two cousins—twins—who lived with us. It was a full household.”

  Jeana squeezed his hand. “You had someone to share secrets with and someone who was there when you needed help.”

  Dan nodded and fought the lump rising in his throat. That was you, Justin. Always there when I needed you. “Despite the difference in our ages, Justin was very much my best friend.” Recollection broadened the smile on Dan’s face. “Justin learned that I was graduating from the New Avalon Military Academy early. He was on Spica at the time, and he wrote me in a spare moment while his company was preparing for a Liao assault. He created a little checklist with a half-dozen ’Mech types contained on it. At the top, he’d written: ‘Graduation Present.’ His note told me to pick one. Justin said he’d shoot it, but I had to clean it and fix it up.”

  Dan balled his right fist and slammed it against his thigh. “Justin was always there for me.” Biting back angry tears, he turned to Jeana. “I failed him,” he said, the words shot through with pain. “I wasn’t there when he needed me. If I had been, none of this would have happened.”

  Jeana stepped closer, bringing him to the spicy sweetness of her perfume. Hugging him fiercely, she whispered, “Don’t torture yourself this way. You’ve leaped to too many conclusions and allowed them to build upon themselves. That’s madness…”

  Dan welcomed her comfort and concern, and he closed his eyes, feeling suddenly tired. Wrapping his own arms around Jeana, he drank in her physical warmth. Her hair fell against his face, and as he breathed in the sweetness of her perfume, he felt a deep sense of peace. “But why did Justin go to Solaris? Why didn’t he come to me and join the Kell Hounds?”