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  He sighed. "Let's just hope there doesn't come a time when I have to find out if what they've learned is enough."

  17

  DropShip Barbarossa

  Outbound from New Avalon

  Crucis March, Federated Commonwealth

  10 February 3058

  Victor Ian Steiner-Davion looked back at the diminishing ball that was New Avalon. Though not the world of his birth, it seemed far more a home to him than distant, cold Tharkad. He had been born and raised on Tharkad, but he could no longer think of it as anything but the world that had murdered his mother.

  Killed her, and now harbors her murderer.

  He shivered, then forced his fists to unclench. Behind the Barbarossa he saw the ovoid forms of the Tancred, Locrin, and Palamedes, the DropShips bringing the Davion Heavy Guards Regimental Combat Team to Tukayyid with him. He I knew them to be the finest combat unit in the Inner Sphere, yet even with a dozen units exactly like them he couldn't avenge his mother's death.

  Were I to attack Tharkad in an attempt to bring my sister to justice, I would be seen as mad. He smiled weakly. If I attacked Tharkad I would be mad.

  Not because he would lose-—he wouldn't. As much as he respected Nondi Steiner and her abilities, he'd studied her during his time at the Nagelring Academy. She was good at set-piece battles, but her temperament wasn't well suited to the continually changing nature of warfare necessary to defeat the Clans. She sought decisive battles and seemed to have little patience for the long-haul attrition style of fighting that had permitted ComStar, to finally stop the Clans after twenty-one days of grinding combat on Tukayyid.

  While he knew he could beat Steiner, he couldn't say the same for the man who would be his host on Tukayyid. Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht was the commander who'd defeated the Clans—a total of seven of them—in the brutal battle on Tukayyid six years before. Victor had reviewed holovids and all manner of written analyses of the epic conflict, but some element of it all eluded him. What Focht had done amazed him in the same way as had a chessmaster he'd once seen taken on a dozen opponents while blindfolded. Each could do something he found incomprehensible.

  Right now.

  The desire to understand what Focht had done was the reason Victor had accepted the Precentor Martial's invitation to train of Tukayyid. The month's delay in getting the operation started had been regrettable, but it had given Kai Allard-Liao time to join Victor and Hohiro Kurita on Tukayyid in command of the First St. Ives Lancers Regiment. Hohiro would be commanding the First Genyosha Regiment, and Victor wondered if his two friends had accepted Focht's invitation for the same reason he had.

  To answer the question of why Focht wants us there? It wasn't that long ago that ComStar had been obsessive about cloaking itself in mystery and mysticism. While Focht had stripped away much of the psuedo-theology surrounding the organization—thereby creating the splinter Word of Blake group as haven for fanatics—the organization still remained secretive about much of its activity. Reports from the Free Rasalhague Republic, which might as well have been a ComStar protectorate, contained a few details about Com-Star's military strength and make-up, but the information was not always reliable.

  Even now, with the resources of the greatest star empire known to man at his disposal, Victor could not pierce the mystery of Focht's true identity. That lack didn't bother him terribly, but the reasons why Focht would suddenly invite outsiders to see what ComStar could do did get under his skin. The sudden openness made no sense, really, except in one case.

  The recent war between the Wolves and Jade Falcons must have Focht worried. The invitation had been issued before the extent of the split was known, and at first it was only for command staff to "observe" operations. After a portion of the Wolves fled Clan-occupied space and found haven on Arc-Royal, the invitation had been modified to include units and their participation in the exercises.

  A chill ran up Victor's spine. He couldn't help feeling he was being brought to Tukayyid not so much to learn how to fight the Clans but to audition as Focht's successor. Obviously, neither Focht nor ComStar were going to name him Precentor Martial, but someone had to be ready to accept the mantle of Defender of the Inner Sphere from Focht. Jerry Cranston had put estimates of Focht's age as between seventy and ninety years. Though the average citizen on a civilized world lived to be a hundred years or more, seldom was their last decade spent under the constant stress of the Clan truce collapsing and war beginning anew.

  If Focht is testing for an heir, how will I fare? The competition was stiff. Hohiro Kurita was a valiant and skilled warrior. He'd learned from his father to adopt the elements of the warrior tradition that made the Draconis Combine strong, and to adapt the weak parts so they would do no harm. Hohiro had fought hard against the Clans, at one point managing to keep his command alive behind enemy lines far longer than even the most optimistic of his kin had dared hope.

  And Kai Allard-Liao was all that and more. The worst anyone could say about Kai was that he'd gone down and been trapped behind enemy lines during the Clan invasion. But even that had only been because Kai was stranded on Alyina after saving Victor's life and the F-C forces evacuated the planet. Left alone on Alyina, Kai had first eluded, then joined with Clan troops to defeat a ComStar attempt to take over the world. After that he'd gone to Solaris and in short order become the reigning Champion on the Game World.

  As good as his two friends were, Victor knew he wasn't so bad himself. He'd fought the Clans too, and participated in two of the rare victories over them. Kai's contribution to the first, at Twycross, couldn't be discounted, but the second was a long-range relief mission to rescue Hohiro off the planet where he'd been trapped. The Tenth Lyran Guards, rebuilt and reconfigured to be the kind of unit best suited to fighting the Clans, had acquitted itself spectacularly.

  It was also true he'd lost his first command to the Clans, but that was in one of their earliest assaults on the Inner Sphere. We didn't know then what they were or what they could do. In the eight years since, the Inner Sphere had made huge technological leaps, narrowing the gap that had made the Clans an almost unbeatable enemy. When tactical improvements were factored into the equation, a rough parity could be reached.

  Very rough, though it seemed to work for Focht on Tukayyid.

  A light knock on the bulkhead of his cabin brought Victor around. "Yes, Jerry?"

  Cranston came in, closing the hatch behind him. "Two bits of news. First, ComStar relayed a message from St. Ives that Kai and the Lancers will rendezvous with us in the Raman system, just before we enter Combine space."

  "That means they'll be with us for six weeks as we head to Tukayyid." The Prince gave Cranston a short nod. "It'll be good to see Kai again and to spend some time with him. He can fill me in on how married life is suiting him. Was there any indication his wife would be accompanying him?"

  "None, though I tend to doubt it. She's pretty active in trying to restructure the delivery of medical services in the St. Ives Compact." Cranston grinned mischievously. "We also have sources that suggest Doctor Lear may be pregnant again."

  "That's fantastic." Victor clapped his hands. "Do they know if it's a boy or girl?"

  The Intelligence Secretary laughed. "Their doctor knows, but both parents have requested that information be kept from them."

  Victor arched an eyebrow. "You know."

  "You pay me to know things, Highness."

  "Well, don't tell me. I don't want to spoil it for Kai." The Prince's eyes sharpened. "He does know his wife is pregnant again, yes?"

  "That he does know. His delay in accepting the invitation to Tukayyid was because he didn't wish to leave his wife alone while pregnant. Apparently he began to get on Deirdre's nerves, so she sent him away."

  "Remind me to send her a note of thanks. What else have you got for me?"

  Jerry sighed. "Reports about the fighting on Engadine are conflicting. All we know right now is that the Jade Falcons hit the world and severely drubbed the Twenty-s
econd Skye Rangers. The Falcons pulled out as the Ninth Lyran Regulars were coming in."

  Victor frowned. "Sounds like a border raid."

  "Agreed, but given the response time for the Ninth Regs to get to Engadine from Main Street, the initial assault must have taken place on or about the first of the month. It's taken us over a week to get the barest of reports. The only reason we learned anything is because some of the Rangers were from the Federated Commonwealth, and ComStar transmitted a Next of Kin message after one of them died."

  "We expected to have problems with our intelligence when Katrina walked away with the Lyran Alliance."

  "True, but a report about a raid on Engadine should have been sent immediately to Nondi Steiner on Tharkad. It's true our spies in the LAAF have been compromised, but we still have plenty of agents on Tharkad. We should have known more than we do now by the fifth of the month, at the very least." Cranston shook his head. "More important, the newsvids and disczines coming out of that whole area are being censored. Based on the problems with getting solid intel, I have to assume the Jade Falcons raided the Periphery area in force. They've gotten as far as Bucklands and perhaps even Australia."

  Victor's mouth went dry. "Australia? That's only about four jumps in from the border."

  "It is, sir."

  "But there's no evidence they're holding the worlds they take. I mean, could this be another Red Corsair series of raids?"

  Cranston shook his head. "I've got too little data to make any sort of a determination like that, Highness. The force that hit Engadine was bigger than any force the Red Corsair used, and this group is making no pretense at being anything other than Jade Falcons. Still, they're not holding worlds. In fact, they could have withdrawn already for all we know."

  Victor looked up at Cranston. "But you don't believe that, do you?"

  "Belief has little to do with this job, Highness. Knowing is the essence of it and I have to admit I don't know what's going on in this situation."

  "Well, I hope, for Katherine's sake, someone does." Victor glanced back at the viewport, thinking he'd never give his sister the satisfaction of being called Katrina. "At least we're heading in the right direction."

  "You can't be thinking of intervening in this."

  Victor shook his head. "I'm not, at least, not on Engadine. But you and I both know that if the Falcons are still raiding the Lyran Alliance by the time we get to Tukayyid, we might be in for more than training exercises."

  18

  JumpShip Boadicea

  Nadir Recharge Point, MGC14239287

  Uninhabited Star System, Wolf Clan Occupation Zone

  12 February 3058

  Katrina Steiner brought herself to the most dignified stop she could manage in the zero gravity environment of the JumpShip. Holding tightly to the edge of the hatchway leading to the bridge with her one hand, she reached back with the other to twist her hair into a queue she could tuck down the neck of her light blue jumpsuit. Glancing around, she saw that no one had noticed her unheralded arrival.

  After a moment of pique, she decided that was a good thing. The dozen people in the spherical bridge all had serious duties to perform in preparing for the next set of jumps between this star and their destination. Using railings and handholds, they were able to twist this way and that to read the circular array of monitors surrounding them.

  In the center of the bridge a slender pipe formed a base for a thick disk of a table at which three people floated. The surface of the disk contained a number of liquid crystal displays, and the core of it housed a holographic projection unit. Starfields floated above the table, and little red lines linked glowing dots as different course plottings were projected and reviewed.

  When she cleared her throat to speak, a shock of surprise ran through the bridge crew. "Is there a problem, Captain Church?"

  The portly man at the central disk brought his head up so quickly that his toupee strained against the tape fixing it to his bald head. "No, Highness, we have the course plotted. We were just checking to see if waiting here could bring us in closer to the third planet of the system."

  A petite woman with closely cropped kinky black hair let her body slowly rotate until she faced Katrina. "Archon, I have a problem with this last leg of the journey."

  Katrina nodded. "I imagined you would, Agent Jotto. You have had a problem with this whole journey, have you not?"

  "Only in my capacity as mission security specialist, Highness." Like the rest of the crew, Agent Jotto had been sworn to secrecy concerning this mission Katrina had described as being of "vital importance to the future of the Inner Sphere." But Jotto was far too practical to let her devotion to Katrina and the Lyran Alliance blind her to the dangerous realities of the trip.

  The Archon sighed, but didn't vent her ire. At least Jotto's still with us and knows the value of discretion. "Please, Agent Jotto, speak freely."

  "Thank you, Highness., If we use the charge in the lithium-fusion batteries to carry us from here, across Ghost Bear territory, to Kiamba, we'll be forced to recharge at our destination. The Kiamba system is centered around a Class G4 star, which means it will take us one hundred eighty-five hours to recharge our Kearny-Fuchida jump drives. Add the transit time to reach a recharge point from where we come in and we'll have to spend two weeks in that system at the minimum."

  Katrina planted her feet solidly at the lower corners of the hatchway, then folded her arms. "You would prefer to wait at an interim point and bring up a double-charge on the drive, so we can jump back out at the first sign of trouble?"

  "I would."

  Captain Church wiped beads of sweat from his upper lip. "The problem with that strategy is that if we wait to jump, we won't be able to get close to the third planet. We'd have a week's transit to the world, and then another week getting back to the Boadicea before we could leave. With recharge time at another star, we're adding a month to the trip."

  "Unacceptable."

  The security woman paled. "But, Archon, the risks here are considerable."

  "I'm a Steiner, Agent Jotto. I was raised to thrive on risk." Katrina smiled slowly. "But I appreciate your caution, and I do bear it in mind as decisions are being made. In this case, however, the important thing is that we arrive at Kiamba as soon as possible."

  Katrina pointed toward the rectangular viewing port. "We're now within the Wolf Clan Occupation Zone. From here we could jump to safety in the Combine, but that would reveal our plans to our enemies. If we're going to risk discovery, it would be best to do it in the Smoke Jaguar Zone."

  The third man at the central table maneuvered his body to face her. As he turned, his long, silvery hair floated out from his head, giving him the appearance of being quite surprised. The droll, even disinterested tone of his voice belied that impression and drained tension from the room. "Highness, your thinking strikes me as correct. We're not likely to be safe anywhere on this trip, so we might as well put ourselves where our hosts will have the most to gain by dealing with us."

  Katrina felt a trace of fear. Baron Erhardt Wichmann's analysis defined the problem very well. If they jumped into Combine space she had no doubt they'd be taken to Luthien and Victor would be consulted as to what her disposition would be. The Wolves had interests in the Lyran Alliance, so her capture in their space would give them a great advantage over the Alliance. Only the Smoke Jaguars, who could not conveniently get at the Lyrans, could benefit from a liaison with her, so everything possible had to be done to bring her journey to fruition.

  "Your point is well taken, Baron Wichmann." Katrina graced him with a smile that might have inflamed the passions of someone who didn't share the Baron's sexual preference. Behind her ambassador, she saw Captain Church already beginning to puff up. "A decision has been made, then?"

  Church nodded solemnly. "Helm, lay in course option KIA023."

  Jotto shivered. "KIA—killed in action."

  Wichmann smiled sweetly at her. "Not superstitious, are you, little Hodari?"
/>   Jotto's face hardened. "This may be a pleasure jaunt to you, Baron, and your last great voyage into the unknown, Captain, but to me it's a nightmare. This ship is unarmed and I have an insufficient number of security personnel present to guarantee the Archon's safety." She shook her head. "And to think I told Curaitis he was a fool for accepting the assignment to safeguard Prince Victor."

  He was, Agent Jotto. "When do we jump, Captain?"

  "On my mark, Highness."

  Two warning tones sounded throughout the ship. The floaters grabbed hold of the edge of the table, and Katrina used her hands to brace herself in the hatchway.

  "Mark."

  The energy pouring through the Kearny-Fuchida jump drives ripped a hole in the fabric of reality and allowed the Boadicea to slip through it to a point thirty light years from where the ship had been an instant before. Katrina watched as the JumpShip seemed to shrink around her, or she expanded to burst through the hull. She felt herself growing larger and larger—not bloating like some disease-ridden creature—but becoming so vast that she encompassed the universe. Every star system became but one amino acid in one gene of one chromosome of the cells of her body, and all that could be known about them flooded her brain with an infinite amount of data.

  Just as she was beginning to coalesce back into herself, the second jump hit. Her consciousness swelled beyond what it had been before and pierced the bubble of what was known and knowable. On the other side of that barrier she saw her mother floating there, a titan to her dwarf, with arms spread to welcome her. Then those arms became pythons that coiled around her and crushed her while the flesh on her mother's face exploded, leaving in its wake a fanged skull with flaming eyes. As the snakes flung her broken body in toward the black maw, needle-sharp teeth pierced her every cell, filling her with pain.

  Katrina didn't think she'd screamed, but her throat felt raw as she opened her eyes. Hodari Jotto had firm hold of her shoulder and thigh, anchoring her against weightlessness. The woman pulled her back to the passageway wall outside the bridge and pressed her solidly against it.