Warrior: riposte Page 12

  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 he 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 child."

  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?"

  Jeana withdrew enough to look up into Dan's blue eyes. "There are a thousand possible answers to those questions and I cannot be expected to know them, but neither can you! It could have been anything that sent your brother to Solaris. He could have gone to exact revenge, just as Sefnes and his ilk suggest."

  Dan shook his head
. "Not Justin. No."

  "Then perhaps he went to Solaris to prove he was the best MechWarrior in the Successor States," Jeana said. "If he has half the pride of his younger brother, he's out there proving his enemies wrong."

  Dan looked down. "Why does he have to prove it in the Capellan Confederation?"

  Jeana slipped from his arms and turned her beautiful profile against the lights of Asgard. "Justin is two natures—half-Fed and half-Capellan. When he lost access to one half of himself, he naturally tended toward the other half." She turned and smiled at Dan. "As strange as it sounds, I believe that other half must one day resurface, and I think you should believe that, too."

  "And if it doesn't . . ." Dan stared off into the darkness. "Justin becomes a most dangerous foe."

  16

  Tharkad

  District of Donegal, Lyran Commonwealth

  31 December 3027

  The Lyran Intelligence Corps operative cleared his throat gently. "Excuse me, Captain Allard, but the Archon and Colonel Kell are returning to the party."

  Jeana gave Dan's hand a squeeze. "Go on. I'll catch up with you later."

  Dan nodded and smiled. "I'm counting on it. And thank you for listening." He turned toward the LIC agent. "Lead on."

  The agent pointed out a path, but was silent as he led the way back out of the garden. Dan nodded his thanks to the agent, then searched the crowd for the Archon. He saw her and crossed toward where she had been standing with Morgan. By the time he reached the spot, however, Katrina Steiner had vanished.

  Dan found Morgan engaged in conversation with three men. The older two look so uneasy around Morgan, Dan thought, suppressing a smile. I imagine they see him as a ghost from a past they wish would stay dead.

  Morgan smiled and made room for Dan in the small group. "Ah, Dan, I'm so glad to see you. Have you met these gentlemen?"

  The stiffness in Morgan's tone and body belied the smile on his face, yet Dan responded to the pleasant introduction as though it were genuine. He half-bowed and extended his hand toward the tallest of the trio. The elderly man's platinum hair and his gray eyes marked him as a Steiner. The thin scar running from the corner of his right eye and up into his hairline did not mar the handsomeness of his finely sculpted features, but it did drain from his stern visage some of the power that showed in his cousin Katrina Steiner's face. "I am honored to again meet you, Duke Frederick."

  Frederick Steiner inclined his head slightly. "I understand you deserve no small amount of credit in the Silver Eagle rescue."

  Dan shook his head. "I did what had to be done, Your Grace."

  The smallest of the three men, a barrel-chested noble, offered his right hand. Limping half a step forward, he smiled slyly. "Spoken like a true hero, Captain. Your modesty becomes you."

  Dan narrowed his eyes. And your words, Duke Aldo Lestrade, sound like bait for a very deadly trap. "I do not see myself as a hero, Duke Lestrade." Dan nodded toward the Duke's plastic and steel left arm. "Learning to live with your new arm or your hip replacement is far more heroic than anything I have done."

  Dan looked up at the third man in the group. Though he had the characteristic blond hair of a Steiner, as well as the perfectly chiseled nose and chin, it took Dan a moment to identify the element that did not fit. It was the man's eyes, which were darker than any Steiner that Dan had ever seen. He extended his hand toward the other man. "Daniel Allard."

  The third man took Dan's hand in a viselike grip. "I am Ryan Steiner, Captain Allard."

  Dan pumped the younger man's hand twice, then broke free. "I'm pleased to meet you."

  Morgan smiled as if he'd noticed none of what had passed between Dan and Ryan. "Ryan, more properly the Duke of Porrima, is Duke Frederick's nephew. I was telling them that I knew Ryan's mother, Donna Steiner, when she taught at Nagelring." Facing Ryan, Morgan half-shut his eyes. "Your mother got married at the Academy, and I was proud to be chosen as one of the Honor Guard for the ceremony ..."

  Morgan's words trailed off into an arctic silence as another man joined the group. Frederick Steiner and Aldo Lestrade both flinched visibly as the haggard, gray-haired man slipped between them. Ryan smiled with his eyes, and the old man acknowledged him with the faintest of nods, then turned his full attention on Morgan Kell.

  "So it is true," he said in a gravelly voice. "The dead walk among us again."

  Morgan stared hard at the newcomer, and when he finally answered, his tone was glacial. "Do you speak of yourself, Alessandro Steiner, or do you refer to me?" Morgan let a cruel smile tighten the corners of his eyes. "Ah, I forget my manners. What is the proper form of address for a deposed Archon?"

  Alessandro's lips peeled back from his teeth in a snarl as Morgan's riposte drilled home. His gray eyes flashed with anger, but he hid it with a respectful nod toward the mercenary leader. "You always were quick, Morgan Kell." The former Archon shot hooded glances at Frederick and Lestrade. "Thank God, neither of these two have your wit and intelligence. Had they but half of it, any one of their plots might have secured them the throne."

  Shock and outrage played across the faces of the two Dukes before they could cover up with looks of feigned innocence. Morgan stared into Alessandro's eyes. "I find your thesis flawed, Alessandro, for with wit and intelligence goes a fierce loyalty to the sense of justice that is the Commonwealth's strongest foundation."

  Alessandro Steiner stiffened. "I don't recall, Colonel Kell, ever giving you leave to speak to me with such familiarity."

  With his face contorted in outrage, Morgan snapped, "I earned that right, Alessandro, in a year of hell." He drew himself up to his full height. Glancing from Alessandro to Frederick to Lestrade, Morgan dropped his voice to a kind of bass growl. "In that year, I earned the right to help topple you from your throne, and I earned the right to preserve the throne for Katrina Steiner and her line."

  Morgan's face hardened and his eyes narrowed. "Do not mistake me, gentlemen, for I want this plainly understood. That is a right I hold very dear, and a right I'll exercise at any cost."

  Aldo Lestrade's brown eyes smoldered. "I do not have to tolerate such presumptuousness from a washed-up mercenary!" As he thrust a finger at Morgan's chest, light reflecting from the silver Tamar Tiger badge temporarily blinded the angry noble. "You've spent too many years on that desert world, Colonel. It must have desiccated your brain. You accuse me of disloyalty, but I merely protest the cavalier and negligent attitude of the Archon as it pertains to the welfare of my people."

  Morgan grinned wolfishly. "You forget, Duke Lestrade, that Zaniah is in your holding of the Isle of Skye. I've heard your speeches about how the Archon leaves your people naked to the ravages of Marik or Kurita forces. However, Your Grace, I find it curious that not a single 'Mech raid disturbed all my time on Zaniah."

  Lestrade snorted defiantly. "While in your meditative cocoon, Colonel, you've not seen many things. Your own company fell prey to a Kurita assault on my world of Chara. As I recall," he said, as though musing idly, "the Kell Hounds abandoned the world to the raiders. Poor troops, incompetent mercenaries, and unfulfilled promises is what I get from the Archon." Lestrade narrowed his brown eyes. "I will protest such treatment whenever I am able."

  Frederick Steiner smiled until he saw the implacable look on Morgan's face. Dan swallowed hard. I've only seen that look once before—on Mallory's World when we learned that our battalion would be hosting the Second Sword of Light Regiment, and that no support could reach us.

  Morgan's gaze flicked to Alessandro. "I am certain, Alessan-dro, that your time in exile on Furillo has given you a perspective similar to that granted me during my stay on Zaniah." Morgan turned his head enough to spear Lestrade with a hellish look. "Given enough time, Duke Lestrade, one learns to see all the subtle interconnections in this life. Each action creates echoes, much like ripples on a pond. Everything comes back to haunt or to reward a person, and often the consequence of an action is magnified many times when it returns."

  Frederick Stei
ner's brows were knit with frustration. "I'm no politician and I detest these word games. Speak plainly, Kell, but be careful. I will take exception to any threats you offer my friend."

  A smile blossomed on Morgan's face. "Amazing," he said, nodding to Aldo Lestrade. "I didn't even see your lips move."

  Frederick's face flushed red-purple, but Morgan cut off any protest with a sharp wave of the hand. "Speaking plainly enough for even you to understand, Duke Frederick, is a taxing job, but I will accommodate you. Twenty years ago, when Alessandro left office, forces rallied around your uncle Hermann as a candidate to oppose Katrina. He left public life to avoid being so used and thus did the spotlight fall upon you. You are a leader. Hence you are a good choice ..."

  Dan watched as Frederick's face returned to its normal color. The man's been so conditioned to respond to courtiers that he puffs up as Morgan speaks. Incredible!

  Morgan's eyes hardened, though his deep voice trembled with the effort to control some powerful emotions. "A leader you are, Duke Frederick, but a military leader only. The Tenth Lyran Guards have an excellent reputation, and under you, have become a feared and respected military force. But you admitted it yourself moments ago: you are no politician."

  Morgan nodded at Lestrade. "Men like Lestrade are more than willing to make you believe that you deserve to be Archon. You must be realistic to know that is not true. If you took the time to be honest with yourself, you would realize deep down that to sit on the throne would tear you apart. Once it had destroyed you, petty nobles of questionable background and motives would plunge the Commonwealth into a brutal civil war."

  Frederick chewed on his lower lip but made no reply. He distractedly fingered the scar by his right eye, opened his mouth to say something, but then seemed to think the better of it. He glanced at Aldo Lestrade.

  Jowls quivering with fury, Aldo Lestrade stared at Morgan Kell. "What do you mean by questioning my background and motives? I come from a family far more noble and notable than yours, Morgan Kell. I resent your impugning my reputation."