Helmer dismissed them with barely a nod.

“Wake him. He walks to the garrison post from here. I accept his surkai if he makes it without passing out.” Fifteen kilometers with a broken arm. Was that enough to salve the man’s honor? Lysle raised an eyebrow. “He will have it reset without pain meds.” The large woman nodded imperceptibly.

With everyone’s honor intact, Noritomo headed for the nearby city hall, which the Jade Falcons had commandeered. Lysle fell in next to him.

“A good choice. The man is stupid, but not necessarily untrainable.”

“We will have a hard time reconstituting a new cluster if I keep killing off warriors,” he agreed. “If I had seen one ounce of the same arrogance I measured in Malvina Hazen…” He let the thought trail off, not wishing to step over the line, even in front of his longtime friend.

“Galaxy Commander Hazen is a strong leader.” Lysle grabbed the door for him, held it open, and then ducked beneath the header to follow him inside. “She will bring the Jade Falcons much glory.”

Armed guards secured the corridor, and the two lapsed into a determined silence until they reached Noritomo’s commandeered office. It was on the second floor of the two-story building. A fully suited Elemental stood watch in the upper lobby. The armored infantryman traded nods with Lysle Clees. It had taken Lysle only one Trial after their arrival to establish dominance over the battlesuit soldiers. Noritomo envied her calm acceptance.

Safe behind his office door, he shoved aside a collection of data crystals and laid his hands atop the smooth, polished metal surface of his desk.

“If she can accomplish our goals quickly enough,” he reopened their conversation, “perhaps. But look at Ryde and Glengarry. Look at what we have had to deal with here. Nonstop aggravation from the populace. They are afraid of us, yes. No one wants to provoke another blistering-agent attack like Malvina used to ‘soften up’ Chaffee before our first assault. But neither do they respect our rule or work for the betterment of the Clan. They will turn on us the instant they see an opening.”

There was no chair into which Lysle Clees comfortably fit. She remained standing. “Relations have settled down in the last week since your arrival,” she noted.

“Because I do not occupy their capital or pretend to be a replacement for their world governor. I appoint a new governor whom the people can respect, and who now owes his position to me and relies on my force of arms to keep his newfound power. It is an imperfect solution, but long term it will work.”

“You have been reviewing the reports off Alkaid and Summer.” She flicked a large finger at the pile of crystals, scattering them.

Noritomo nodded. “Aleksandr Hazen had the right of it,” he said, speaking of Malvina’s twin. Such a tragic loss to the Clan, that he was the one who fell on Skye. Rescuing his sister, no less. “He took those worlds with hardly any losses, following Clan custom of bidding the lowest amount of force needed and then honoring the local government so long as they abide the Falcon occupation. Over time, they will grow dependent on us.”

“Or they will appease us only so long as they can find no opportunity to assassinate us in our sleep.” Her tone told him how little she thought of Inner Sphere honor. “Star Colonel, you know you have my loyalty, but what do you hope to accomplish here that even Aleksandr Hazen was unable to do? He fell on Skye. By Clan ways, he is proved wrong. You will fight the Way as well as the Eye?”

The Eye of the Falcon. Meaning Malvina. If ever there was an argument against allowing a cult of personality to grow up around a Clan warrior, even one so accomplished as her, this was it.

“Was Aleks proven wrong?” he asked. “Galaxy Commander Malthus has laid several of our failures at his feet, his and Khan Pryde’s. But we were not there, Lysle.” He glanced down at his desk, and chose a dark blue data crystal from the scattered pile. “These are interviews I have conducted on Glengarry and here on Chaffee. As it turns out, we have several warriors who served with Aleksandr Hazen, fought with him on Skye. While careful not to call Beckett Malthus a liar, they have some interesting tales to relate.”

He pushed the crystal toward her. “Take it. See what you think.”

She picked it up, the small crystal looking lost in her large hand. “I do not need recounts of the battle to know that Aleksandr Hazen fought bravely and died with honor.” She closed her massive fist. “But I will use this to form an opinion on the warriors who survived and are currently with us. We need to work this motley group into a coherent unit, Star Colonel, and we need to do it quickly.”

He agreed. Malvina Hazen would not be delayed long on Glengarry. When she moved against Skye again, they had to be ready to follow. Somehow he would redeem his honor, lost on Kimball II. Somehow he would be in place when, not if, Malvina stumbled.

“Find me four good warriors,” he instructed his friend and adviser. “The best we have. We will build them into the core of a new cluster, and we will show Malvina Hazen and Beckett Malthus that the pride of the Jade Falcons does not extinguish so easily.”

A ghost of a smile turned up the corners of Lysle’s mouth. “The last man who tried to teach our distinguished leaders anything wound up a martyr to their cause,” she reminded him.

All too true. And if there was an immortal life beyond that granted by the Clan breeding programs, Aleksandr Hazen must be livid with fury. “Review the data, Star Captain. If you believe I am wrong, that this is not a cause worth fighting for, I will temper my approach.” But he would not abandon it.

Noritomo Helmer would live as a true Clan warrior, or die trying.

He doubted that Malvina Hazen would give him a third alternative.

16

DropShip Himmelstor

Venite DropPort, Seginus

23 October 3134

Jasek watched as the Shandra scout vehicle sped up the Himmelstor’s main ramp with little regard for caution. Anastasia Kerensky stood in the front passenger seat, hands braced on the windshield’s upper edge, riding tank commander style, her dark red hair streaming behind her. The vehicle’s front end bounced as it hit the deck of the DropShip’s main bay, working the suspension to its limit. A sharp jag to avoid a pallet of munitions, tires grinding against the deck’s nonskid surface, and another as the driver swerved around a disassembled Gnome battlesuit being serviced inside an area roped off with yellow tape. Then the vehicle powered to a short, abrupt stop.

He did not think it an accident that the missile rack atop the Shandra ended up pointing directly at him and Paladin McKinnon.

“Cocksure little bitch,” McKinnon growled.

With good reason, Jasek knew. Despite serious battlefield losses in the last year, Kerensky had kept a firm grip on the Steel Wolves. Not an easy task for an outsider, come to The Republic from Clan Wolf to challenge for the faction’s leadership. Having watched Alexia struggle with her peers in the Tharkan Strikers, Jasek knew how accomplished this woman had to be. Even her position here on Seginus, trading her services as planetary defender for local support, argued in her favor.

Of course, she had some serious history behind her name to help back her play.

“Find me a descendant of Aleksandr Kerensky and the Black Widow who can’t hold her own,” Jasek said, “and I’ll be impressed.”

“Find another one who is even half as predictable as the weather,” McKinnon cut right back. “It’s a large gamble for risking half of your strategy.”

More and more Jasek regretted being saddled with Sire McKinnon. The man was an incredibly strong personality. He had the damnable habit of being right far too often, and self-righteous whenever the facts were open to debate. Already he had rewritten half of Jasek’s battle plans for Glengarry. Though not for Chaffee—any mistakes Jasek wanted to make outside of The Republic seemed all right by the venerable Paladin.