The youngest of the royals smiled radiantly. "You speak Swedish?"

Before Ragnar could launch into his native tongue, Victor held up a hand. "I'm afraid that 'I'm very pleased to meet you' just about exhausted my knowledge of your native tongue."

"Oh." Ragnar looked a bit crestfallen, but reinforced his smile quickly enough. "I understand."

Hohiro came around the table and offered Ragnar his hand. "Roligt att lära känna Er. Mitt namm är Kurita Hohiro. "The Prince of the Draconis Combine turned and indicated Shin with his left hand. "Får jag presentera Chu-saYodama Shin."

Ragnar bowed to Shin. "Konnichi-wa, Chu-saYodama."

Having seized upon the language gambit to recover the face he'd lost by being shocked at Ragnar's friendliness, Victor now saw Hohiro using it to leave him in the dust. Before he could think of a way to recover the initiative and the ground he'd lost to Hohiro, Kai rose from his chair.

"Forgive me, please, for interrupting, but I fear neither my Swedish nor my Japanese is sufficient to offer proper introductions." Kai placed his right hand on the back of his sister's chair. "May I introduce Cassandra Allard-Liao, my sister. I am Kai."

As Cassandra stood, Galen also rose from his chair. A moment later, Victor realized what was happening and also leaped to his feet. As Hohiro broke his polite grip on Cassandra's hand, Victor thrust his own hand forward. "Victor Davion."

Hohiro straightened up to full height and swallowed Victor's hand in his own. "I am Hohiro. I look forward to our training together."

If you're as good a MechWarrior as you are a liar, you won't need much training."And I as well, Hohiro."

With the seven of them exchanging greetings, San-Tzu's stony silence stood out in relief. As all eyes turned toward him, and Ragnar took a step to welcome him into the group, Sun-Tzu stood. He regarded them with hooded eyes, then folded his hands into the sleeves of his jumpsuit. "I am Sun-Tzu Liao, the heir to the Celestial Throne of the Capellan Confederation and all its worlds."

Victor saw Kai stiffen and watched Cassandra's hands curl into fists. Hohiro lowered his eyes and Shin's features became an inscrutable mask. Even Ragnar's eagerness faded at the vehemence in Sun-Tzu's voice.

Galen cleared his throat and brushed a lock of blond hair from his forehead. "With all due respect to all of you inheritors of power, I'd really appreciate it if we could avoid titles." He glanced over at Shin and received a mute nod of agreement. "First off, we've got at least five people who will answer to the title 'Prince.' And second, if I have to announce full titles every time I go to talk with one of you, how will I have time to warn you to get your head down in a firelight?"

"I believe Victor and I will agree that titles are superfluous in this context." Hohiro rested a hand on Ragnar's shoulder. "If the Princes of Rasalhague, the Capellan Confederation, and the St. Ives Compact concur, we will dispense with titles."

"Certainly," chirped Ragnar, followed a half-second later by Kai's "Agreed," which tossed the ball firmly into Sun-Tzu's lap. Venom in his eyes, Sun-Tzu stared at both his cousins, then stiffly nodded his assent. Victor suspected that had Hohiro placed the St. Ives Compact before the Capellan Confederation in his request, Sun-Tzu would sooner have died than agree to it.

Ragnar looked over at Cassandra and started to blush. "By the way, not meaning to be forward, but the perfume you are wearing is very pleasing."

Cassandra frowned. "But I'm not wearing any ..."

Victor sniffed the air and immediately caught the flowery scent. He looked at Kai. "That's C-34, isn't it?"

In an instant, Kai swept his chair back against the wall and dropped to the floor. Flipping over onto his back, he eased himself in under the table, where he found the gray packet of material stuck to the underside. "It looks like three kilos of the stuff to me. The digital timer shows ten minutes until detonation."

Crawling down beside him, Victor nodded. "Someone from the Clans has gotten here and planted this bomb." The Prince sat upright, his hair just barely brushing the underside of the table as he grabbed the edge and pulled himself upright. "We've got a bomb. We'd best clear out and call a Dragoon detail to get rid of it. Zandra"—Victor pointed to the door—"go. Everyone, let's get out of here."

Cassandra headed for the door, but before she could point out that it was locked, Sun-Tzu's mocking laughter rang out. "Don't bother trying to leave. We are not meant to." His voice dropped to an icy whisper. "Alive, that is."

"What are you talking about?" Victor watched Sun-Tzu warily. Was I wrong about you, or are you as mad as your mother?"There's a bomb here."

Sun-Tzu's eyes became jade slits. "I am not a Davion puppet to be ordered about, Victor!"

"Answer his question, Liao!" Hohiro demanded.

"Nor am I a vassal of yours, my Lord Kurita!" Sun-Tzu's right hand came free of his sleeve and with a wave he took in everyone in the room. "Are you all fools? Can you not see that Wolf's Dragoons are playing with you? Jaime Wolf's admitting that his orders came from the Khan of the Clans was to test us. This is most certainly another test. Perhaps it is one that will end in the destruction of the new generation of leaders of the Successor States."

Like his father before him, Sun-Tzu wore the nails on the last three fingers of each hand fashionably long. Reinforced with carbon fibers, they were painted with intricate designs in black lacquer and gold leaf. Light flashed from the gold and shone dully from the razored edge worked onto each nail. "The door is locked and there is no other egress from this room. Even the air conditioning vent is too small for Ragnar," Sun-Tzu sneered. "Or even you, Little Prince Victor. And if the estimate of three kilograms of C-34 is half-right, this whole level of Dragoon Headquarters will be destroyed."

Victor choked down his rage at Sun-Tzu's comment on his height. "So, give us the conclusion you draw from your observation, Celestial Wisdom, if you please."

Sun-Tzu sat down and folded his arms across his chest. "It is obvious. If we have no escape, we are not meant to escape. We should do nothing."

A mild thump from beneath the table made everyone jump, then Kai appeared from below, rubbing his forehead. "Sorry." He glanced over at his cousin, then turned back to the others. "Look, all I can tell you is that the C-34 looks real to me. We've got all of nine minutes to do something."

Hohiro smiled confidently. "Look, this table is built in three sections and is fairly stout. Let's take the two end sections and use them as blast shields." He casually waved the others away from the center part of the table. "Braced diagonally in the corners of the room, each little alcove should provide shelter for three of you. Shin and I will work on disarming the bomb."

Sun-Tzu chuckled mildly. "Brilliant. Cower in the corners. I love it."

"Wait. It's a good idea." Galen pointed to himself and Shin. "The trick is that you royals ought to be the ones taking cover. Shin and I can monkey around with the C-34 until the deadline is up."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Galen, are you demolitions qualified?"

Galen hedged on his answer. "I took the course offered at the War College on Tamar."