Galen glanced down at the floor, then met Victor's eyes again. "Given his rank, we'd have to bump one of our own lance commanders to find a place for him."

Victor chewed his lower lip. "Renny pulled me through the last two years at the Nagelring. I owe him. How would you rate his personal performance?"

Hauptmann Cox's expression eased. "He's game, no doubt about that. I had the feeling he was afraid his people would think he would fail them. He hesitated, but then fought hard and shot pretty well when we had his lance jumped."

"Hesitation can get someone killed out there." The Prince scratched his head. "I guess I'll have a talk with him. I'll offer him a position, but it will be at the cost of rank, provided General Kaulkas approves. Murphy's lance is still shy some people, right?"

Galen nodded. "If we take the eleven I mentioned, and Sanderlin, that will bring us up to 90 percent of our authorized strength. Two more DropShips of volunteers are inbound, so I think we can find the rest of our pilots in that lot."

"Good."

Cox rose to leave, then hesitated. "Kommandant, do I file my report on Sanderlin, or do I leave it out of his dossier?"

Victor swallowed past the knot in his throat. "What have you been doing with the others?"

"I file the test evaluation."

If Renny has a negative evaluation in his file, it could hurt his career later on.Victor drew a deep breath, then let it out in a sigh. "You really think he would endanger the other warriors in a lance he commanded?"

"Some people are not cut out for field commands, especially commands in an irregular unit like this one."

Victor nodded. "File it. If you believe what you just said, you might add that to your evaluation."

"Yes, Kommandant." Galen smiled. "Do you want me to send Sanderlin in? He's waiting outside."

The Prince stood. "By all means."

Galen crossed to the door and opened it. "Leftenant Sanderlin, the Kommandant will see you now."

Renny Sanderlin turned sideways to squeeze past Galen, then drew himself up to attention and snapped a salute at Victor. "Leftenant Renard Sanderlin reporting for duty, sir."

Pride swelling in his chest, Victor returned the salute, then grabbed his friend's hand to shake it heartily. "Damn, Renny, it's been far too long."

"Not since Sudaten and planning for the assault on Twycross." The tall blond man smiled broadly. "I heard you were recruiting, so I decided to volunteer."

Galen started out the door, pulling it shut behind him, but Victor stopped him. "Galen, can you get me the figures on how our refitting is going?"

Cox nodded. "How fast?"

"Fifteen minutes. Include projections to end of this week."

"Done."

As Galen closed the door, Victor steered Renny to a chair, then returned to his desk. As he seated himself, he saw Renny was still standing. "What is it, Renny?"

"Sir, I want to be frank with you. Permission to speak freely?"

Victor nodded slowly. "Granted."

"Kommandant, I ran into some trouble in my fight with the Uhlans." Renny blushed. "I'm better now. I won't let you down."

"Thank you, Leftenant." Victor pointed him to the chair. "Because we're friends, I'll give it to you straight. Galen liked what he saw of your fighting ability. He said you were really willing to get in there and mix it up, which is good. We need people who are game and are willing to push the 'Mechs to their maximums."

"Thank you, sir."

Victor met Renny's blue-eyed gaze. "Unfortunately, your leadership skills are not suited to this type of unit. That means that, if you choose to stay with us, you'll not command a lance."

Renny looked down. "I'll lose my rank?"

"As it is right now, I've got some excellent lance commanders. I can't bump one of them just because you're an old friend." The Prince opened his hands. "And Galen thinks it will take some time for you to be at ease working within our system. I cannot give you a lance until you are ready to lead."

Renny shook his head. "You haven't changed at all, have you, sir? You hated favoritism when it was show to you at the Academy and it's the same thing here."

Victor's gray eyes narrowed. "Does that surprise you?"

The MechWarrior smiled. "No, it's just what I expected, so it's kind of a relief. If you are willing to have me in the trenches, I'll take the step down to do it. You know me and you know how to use me. More than fearing death or failure, I fear never getting the chance to try."

The Prince smiled. "Well, if General Kaulkas approves your selection, the Revenants will be glad to have you aboard."

"And I will be honored to serve in the Revenants."

Victor smiled. "Now let's drop this formal 'sir' stuff. Tell me, are you still seeing Rebecca Waldeck?"

The large man nodded and held up his left hand. "We got married last year while I was ... away from the Uhlans." He blushed and spun a gold band around his finger with his thumb. "She's already expecting. Due some time in May."

"That's fantastic, Renny." For a moment, Victor envied his friend's ability to meet and marry a woman without having it become an issue of national security. The only woman I would consider marrying is light years away and as inaccessible as the Clans' homeworld, wherever that is.

A red light on top of Victor's visiphone burned to life. The Prince hit the answer button and a very nervous commtech appeared on the screen. "Highness, forgive the intrusion, but General Kaulkas wants to see you immediately in her office."

"On my way." He glanced over at Renny. "I'm afraid that's it for now, Renny. Do me a favor and find Galen. Tell him to meet me at the General's office, please."

"Yes, sir."

Victor returned Renny's salute, then bolted from his office. Around the corner, he took the stairs two at a time, then slowed just before he entered the General's outer office. There he saw the commtech who served as Kaulkas' aide and was waved straight through into the General's office. Victor passed through the interior door without a moment's notice, and saw the reason for the nervousness in the commtech's voice.

General Kaulkas stood behind her desk watching the monitor mounted in the far wall. On it Victor saw a graphic representation of the Port Moseby system. In space he saw the symbol representing a JumpShip, and a smaller icon moving away from it and toward the planet where he now stood.

"Here I am, General." Victor frowned. "Incoming?"

Andrea Kaulkas's head jerked down in a nod, the stark economy of motion characteristic of her personality and command style. "It's a Combine JumpShip. It just appeared in the system. It released a LeopardClass DropShip, the Fukakaina.Our records show that ship in service to the Royal Family. ETA twelve hours."

"The Fukakaina?"Victor took a step closer to the screen. "Why would they be sending it here?"

Kaulkas shrugged. "Don't know, but will find out."

The commtech appeared in the doorway. "General, I have Orbital Defense Command. They want to know what you want to do."

"Scramble an aerospace fighter lance to escort it in."

The commtech looked puzzled. "Escort, sir?"

Kaulkas nodded. "Escort. You don't think the Kuritans are going to attack this planet with the four 'Mechs that Leopardcould be carrying, do you?"