Shin felt his heart sink. "I know that, Hohiro, but the reason we were forced to come here was because Tojiro is such a long-time favorite of your grandfather." He nodded toward the taller of the military leaders in the room. "The same goes for Tai-saKim Kwi-Nam, the Eleventh Pesht Regulars' commander. We have no authority to depose either one of these madmen."

Hohiro's hand fell to the hilt of the machine pistol he wore. 'This is all the authority I need."

Shin's dark gaze flicked from one armed guard to another stationed all around the bunker. "We would be slain in an instant, and our deaths would be accounted to the Clans.

Tojiro demanded observers so he could prove his old ways were enough to destroy the Clans."

Hohiro ground his teeth with frustration. "But they are not! His people are getting picked apart! The Clan leader grossly underbid in his attempt to take this world, and Tojiro is handing him a victory." The flash and fireball of a 'Mech dying on a datascreen bleached all the color from Hohiro's profile. "I cannot simply stand idle and let our people die."

"I know." Shin exhaled slowly. "Be careful."

Hohiro gave Shin a grateful smile. "I will."

The son of the Draconis Combine's Warlord threaded his way through the commtechs and took up a position opposite the small, wizened man commanding Teniente's defenses. Shin drifted in behind Hohiro, but stood far enough back to keep an eye on all the guards in the room. With practiced ease, he shifted his personal assault weapon around, letting the laser rifle with an underslung shotgun-barrel hang by its pistol-grip from his right hand. The yakuza quickly assessed the guards for threat level and determined which, if it came down to it, he would shoot first.

"Tai-saTojiro, forgive my presumption," Hohiro began slowly, "but you are ordering the destruction of your Third Battalion."

Tojiro's head snapped up as if springloaded, and Shin instantly realized Tojiro would not mince words or abide by the courtesies demanded by polite culture. "Am I? I seem to recall your command was destroyed on Turtle Bay, Hohiro Kurita. But I have never lost a command. How do you presume to lecture me?"

From the hunch of Hohiro's shoulders, Shin knew he was about to explode. "I learned from my error, Tojiro! You have read all the briefing papers, I assume? You are an idiot if you push your Third Battalion forward."

The slender commander of the Eleventh Pesht Regulars pressed his hands together, fingertip to fingertip. "And I would assume his Highness is equally critical of my troop deployment?"

Hohiro stiffened at the man's patronizing tone. "Tojiro is just an idiot, as his strategy indicates. Your folly defines new depths for negligence and malfeasance. If you both continue your conduct of this battle, I will relieve you of your responsibilities!"

"By what authority? I command here." Tojiro jammed his fists onto his hips. "I care not what rank your father presumes to hold. My authority comes to me by your grandfather. I will command until he relieves me of it."

Hohiro pounded the table with one fist. "Listen to me, you chimpera.This whole operation has been run counter to everything we have learned about the Clans. You have let them choose the battlefields. You have not employed your air forces against their 'Mechs. You encourage single combat against a foe that has every advantage against you in that department. About the only thing you've done right is to scatter your supply depots so your troops can resupply themselves on the run, but you're not putting them into a position where they can utilize those supplies or that strategy!"

"I would expect such talk of a man with a yakuza for an aide." Kwi-Nam snarled angrily. "True warriors do not run and hide like bandits. We meet the enemy on the field of honor and kill him or die in the attempt! There is no life without honor. I will not order my troops to dishonor themselves!"

"Then you are surely mad!" At that, one of the guards began to move in, but Hohiro stared him back to his post. Then he returned his steady gaze to Kwi-Nam. "You should be out there in a 'Mech with your troops."

Tojiro began to pale. "I can better direct them from here, away from the confusion of battle."

Hohiro's cry of frustration filled the comcenter. "No, fool, not to fight! Have you read none of the reports about the Clans?" Hohiro's hands opened wide to encompass the whole cylindrical bunker. "Trapping yourself here is suicide. One strike and they wipe out the brains of this operation. In this case, though, it might help."

"Impossible. There's not a Clan 'Mech within fifty kilometers of here."

" 'Mechs, no, but Elementals, yes."

As if summoned by Hohiro's words, a series of clumps sounded from the roof of the bunker. Reacting reflexively, Shin seized Hohiro's right arm and spun him away toward the wall. Hohiro flew out of the way and across a desk, which toppled over on him. A moment later, Shin turned and dove for similar cover, but never made it.

The explosive charge set on the bunker's door blasted it from its hinges and sent it whirling like a blade through the bunker. It passed over Tojiro, missed Kwi-Nam, then sliced through one commtech. Like a giant axe-blade, it bit into a communication's relay, destroying it in a shower of sparks.

The force of the explosion propelled Shin further and faster than he had ever intended. He few into a desk and felt an agonizing jolt accompany the sound of ribs breaking on his left side. He slid to the ground with a bump, which sent another wave of pain washing over him. He grabbed the pain and held onto it to block the blackness nibbling at the edges of his sight. I must not faint!

The first Clan Elemental turned sideways to squeeze through the doorway. Over two meters tall, the humanoid figure wore bulky black armor with a blue blaze in the center of the chest. The Nova Cat Elemental raised its left arm—the one that ended in a three-fingered mechanical claw—and raked the room with fire from the machine gun mated to the underside of his forearm. Screaming as the slugs ripped scarlet holes through them, Techs fell thrashing to the bunker floor.

Shin brought his gun up and rested the barrel on the top of his right knee. Aiming more by instinct than design, he hit the firing stud on the laser. The ruby spears traced a flaming line up the front of the Elemental, then punctured the V-shaped viewport. The Elemental jerked back, his shoulders hitting either side of the door, then fell forward as smoke poured from his faceplate.

Another Elemental filled the doorway and Shin jerked the trigger on the shotgun. He barely felt the pain as the automatic cocking mechanism cut parallel lines across the top of his knee. The slug hit the Elemental just beneath the right breast and staggered him. The specially designed ammunition consisted of an extra-long lead bullet on top of a magnum load. No one expected this stuff to kill an Elemental, just to hurt them.

One of the guards stepped forward and stabbed the muzzle of his assault rifle into the dent Shin's shell had created in the armor. As the guard burned the clip from his rifle, the Elemental grabbed the man's chest in his claw and cut him in two with the underslung machine gun. A wave-of blood washed back over the briefing table, shorting it out in a flash of green flame. The Elemental, dropping the torso of the soldier, fell back into a sitting position, half-blocking the doorway.

A third Elemental stood beyond the doorway, his entrance into the room prevented by the large missile-launcher assembly mated to the back of his armored suit. He raised his right arm and let the anti-'Mech laser mounted there sweep the room. Everything and everyone the beam touched burst into flame.