Shin dropped onto his right flank, and paid for it with a grinding pain in the left side of his chest. He stabbed the assault rifle forward and jerked the shotgun trigger twice before the recoil twisted the weapon out of his grasp. One of the shots hit the Elemental in his right knee, bringing him down, but also swinging the launch tube on the short-range missile launcher in line with the doorway.

If a missile goes off in here, we're all dead!

Hohiro popped up from behind the desk, machine pistol in hand. Roaring with each shot, the weapon lipped flame more than thirty centimeters long. Hohiro held the trigger down, in two seconds pumping out the full ten shots in the clip. Though Shin knew Hohiro's gun had been loaded with shells similar to those in his shotgun, the lighter-weight pistol cartridges would have less effect than his shots.

Then a nova exploded outside the door.

Seeing the fireball blossom in the launch tube, Shin thought it must be an SRM starting on the path that would obliterate the bunker. Fire streaked out the back of the launch pack as he had always seen it do, but flaming tendrils also curled out the front and sides of the pack. In a second the top corner of the launcher evaporated in a white-gold flash, then a series of thunderous detonations ripped the Elemental apart.

The explosion boosted the bodies of the dead Elementals into the room and drove debris back in a narrow cone starting at the door. One Elemental bounced into a set of data-relay banks, scattering them like ten-pins while the other cartwheeled straight back like a zombie acrobat, hitting the wall beside Hohiro's shelter.

Shin tried to scramble out of the way as the data relay banks fell, but his whole chest felt as though it was collapsing as he clawed at the floor for traction. One cabinet dropped across his legs, pinning him in place in time for a second to slam into his ribcage. Shin screamed as lightning ripped its way through his body, then stopped fighting the darkness and fell unconscious.

* * *

A throbbing sound he couldn't identify greeted Shin's return to awareness. Opening his eyes, he saw himself strapped to a stretcher about to be hoisted into a helicopter. As confusing as that was, seeing Hohiro standing at the foot of the stretcher made even less sense. "Shosa,what has happened? Where am I?"

Hohiro smiled at him. "I'm having you medivacced to the DropShip. You're heading back to Luthien."

"You're not coming?"

The Warlord's son shook his head. "I relieved Tojiro and Kwi-Nam of their commands. I've scattered our troops and am sending them to ground. We will fight the sort of war we should have been fighting all along. I want to stretch things out and make the Clans earn their pay."

Shin tried to get up, but the tightness in his chest stopped him. "Shosa,do not send me away. These broken ribs are nothing. Let me stay here with you. Let me help you."

Hohiro smiled gratefully. "You have to go. I need you to act as my personal envoy." He lifted his end of Shin's stretcher and helped deposit it on the deck of the helicopter. Sitting chained to a bench with scowls on their faces were Tojiro and Kwi-Nam. Both were drenched in blood, but Shin instinctively knew it was not their own.

Hohiro crouched down and shouted into Shin's ear over the competition of the helicopter's rotor. "Those two are under arrest and are in your charge. The DropShip and JumpShip captains are yourpeople. These two will not be able to subvert them. I would have shot them here, but they demanded the right to see my grandfather."

"They will make trouble for you, Shosa."

"They will try, Shin. You must see to it that they do not." Hohiro rested his right hand on Shin's right shoulder. "It'll take you a month to get back to Luthien. Tell my father I will need another regiment and a half to take this world or to evacuate it in good order. I can hold out for the time it takes for your total round trip, but be quick. Anything much over four months is going to put me in a bad way. As I said before, we will go to ground and just harass the Clans until reinforcements show up."

"I will do as you ask, Shosa."Shin forced a smile. "And I will be back with reinforcements as soon as possible." He glanced at the two men Hohiro had deposed. "I will bring you help even if I have to strike a bargain with all the demons in the Christian hell to do so."

Hohiro nodded solemnly. "I know you will, my friend. I am counting on it."

The rotor's pitch increased as Hohiro stepped away from the helicopter. Shin tried to turn his head to watch Hohiro until he vanished in the distance, but his restraints prevented him from doing so. He thought he heard Hohiro shout a final "Sayonara," but he could not be sure.

Somehow, deep down, Shin felt a dread that no matter how swiftly he returned, he would never see Hohiro Kurita alive again.

5

Alyina

Trellshire, Jade Falcon Occupation Zone

19 January 3052

 

Lean and hungry, Kai Allard crouched beside the roadway. He waited until the truck's taillights vanished around the curve through the forest, then sprinted to the other side. Clutching the ragged swath of camouflage sheeting around him like a cloak, he knew anyone near enough to see him break from cover would probably think him a terrifying ghost.

The fortnight since his stranding on Alyina had not been kind to Kai. He had moved as far as possible from the battlefield where he'd looted Dave Jewell's 'Mech on the first night, pausing only to rest or when he heard people moving. As he headed inland from the peninsula, the amount of destruction decreased. He had not thought himself following any specific course, yet eventually he came to the place where his lance of 'Mechs had waited for the Clans to make landfall.

The tattered piece of camouflage he carried with him had initially hidden Yen-lo-wangfrom infrared and magnetic resolution scans, but now did little more than keep him warm at night. That was no small grace, however, because the monsoon rains soaked him to the bone every afternoon and morning. The camouflage did help keep some of the rain off, but Kai found it too bulky to wear all the time, especially if he wanted to move at all quietly through the rain forest.

Initially he regretted having stressed to his men the necessity for maintaining a tidy camp because now he found little or nothing to salvage beside the 'Mech camo from the Icestorm lance area. Moving a bit north along the line established for the Tenth Lyran Guards, he had more success plundering Frostfire lance's garbage midden, but he was careful in his scavenging to leave no clue of his passing.

From the first, his caution was rewarded. Several Clan patrols swept through the area, picking up stragglers who had not been as lucky as Kai. The Elementals, both in their armor and out, impressed Kai with their size and strength. He breathed a silent vow to avoid tangling with them if at all possible. By taking refuge high up in trees during the day, he frustrated the searchers. After ten days, the patrols dwindled.

His rations lasted for the first week, and then hunger forced him to expand his foraging range. The Clans, he discovered to his dismay, pressed captive warriors into service as clean-up crews. They salvaged their own 'Mechs, but left the enemy machines behind where they fell. They also cleaned up any deposits of material that fugitives might find useful. When small supply caches began to show up in places Kai had never seen them before, he knew they were bait for a trap. No matter how tempting they looked, he avoided them.