"So you say, boy. Ain't got no time for nonsense—wait."

Silence fell on the line for five minutes. Obediently, Fuhito waited, but his frustration grew almost unbearable.

"Call me a purple-bottomed Marfik chickenhawk. They're pulling up." Olivares' voice was full of amused surprise. 'They must be gonna let the Samaplay his honor game. Frak! That's got to be the reason they pulled the birds off our heads."

"Then you have the time to see what I've found. The Elsies'll wait till morning."

"All right, all right," Olivares grumbled. "I'll come have a look-see."

27

Sitika County, North Galfree, Marfik

Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine

27 September 3028

 

"Itwould be cowardly to leave."

"It would be foolish to stay," Tomoe snapped.

Eyes narrowed and nostrils distended, Theodore stiffened at her harsh words. Around the chamber, men and women pretended sudden interest in other things: walls, fingernails, folds in their uniforms. Theodore and Tomoe's eyes locked, stubbornness meeting persistence.

The code of bushidodid not allow a commander to run from a hopeless battle, leaving his soldiers to die. All his life, Theodore had wanted to lead Kurita warriors in battle, and here on Marfik, it had finally come to pass. Even hamstrung by poor equipment and lack of supplies, his Legion had given a good account of itself. Now his forces faced the end, despite Theodore's best-laid plans. Bushidodemanded that he face that end with them.

Tomoe stood and stalked to the end of the table, almost out of the circle of light. She stopped there, but did not turn around. Light gleamed from the metal fittings on the bulky shoulders of her cooling jacket, but her anger still showed in the hunch of her shoulders.

"She's right, Sama,"Olivares rumbled. "You do not need to die here."

Heads nodded agreement around the table.

"The Arctic Foxis only a UnionClass DropShip," Theodore protested. "She's not even big enough for the buso-senshiand their 'Mechs. Even if we abandoned all our equipment, we could not cram in the rest of our people. Anyone left behind will be slaughtered by the Lyrans.

"Besides, we have no JumpShip. The Combine navy was chased from the system more than a month ago. We would have no way to leave the system."

"Tai-iKerai said he had a solution to that problem, Tono,"Fuhito offered.

"And where is he?"

Fuhito shrugged and helplessly spread his hands wide.

"Kerai- Kunmay be quite remarkable in some areas, but even he cannot conjure up interstellar transport from nothing."

Fuhito started to object to Theodore's dismissal of the issue, but the buzzsaw whine of a VTOL jet landing drowned out the words. The sentry threw open the door and announced the return of Tai-iNinyu Kerai. Ninyu wore a sneaksuit, the hood pulled back to reveal his tousled red hair. The circlevision visor clattered against the holstered KA-23 subgun holstered on his right hip. His smiling face was a distinct contrast to the sober expressions of the officers gathered in the room.

"What, still talking?" Ninyu asked. "I thought you'd be packed by now."

"I'm not leaving," Theodore replied. "I have a duty to the Legion."

"You're too important to die on this backwater planet."

"I'm not too important to ignore bushido.As a Kurita warrior, honor demands that I do my duty. I must fulfill my duty to my soldiers and face what they must face."

"Baka!"Tomoe shouted, spinning around. "You are a fool! You're notsome simple warrior! You are not even just the commanding officer of a regiment. You are the leader of the entire Legion of Vega, not just the Eleventh Regiment. Two more regiments of your precious buso-senshiand forty conventional units are fighting on Vega, struggling for their lives against the Lyran invaders. What is your duty to them!Will you let them die without a leader?

"You are also the Heir-Designate. If you are captured or killed here, it harms the Combine. The succession will be in dispute, and your father will be distracted from the conduct of the war. Can you believe that your death would serve the Dragon, no matter how nobly you contrive to arrange it?

"You speak of your responsibility to your troops. What of your responsibility to the Draconis Combine? Does your belief in bushidoallow you to throw your life away when you have important duties elsewhere? Will you allow the personal desire to be a noble warrior lead you away from your duty as a member of House Kurita?"

Tomoe folded her arms over her chest as she drew herself to full height. Her eyes blazed. "A samurai's road is the path of giri.It is your dutyto leave Marfik."

Theodore was stunned by her outburst, embarrassed that she would shout at him before the Legion's officers. But she seemed so sure she had the right of it. Had he been blinded by his concern for the troops here on Marfik and by his sense of personal honor? As commander of the Legion, it was the first time other Kuritans looked to him with respect for reasons other than his position by birth. They had earned his loyalty. But was Tomoe right? Did his other responsibilities, his other duties, outweigh these? It was so hard to know the right path.

"Arctic Foxis armed," he began. "Aloft, it will be easy prey for the Steiner aerospace forces. If we keep the DropShip grounded, we can adapt our defenses around it, build a firebase to gut the Lyran attack. The Steiner air power won't be able to do much against it as long as the ship stays in the cover of the forest. We can still win here on Marfik."

"Staying is a hellacious gamble," Ninyu Kerai observed. "The Rangers want your head."

"Senior Tech Kowalski's crew is already preparing the Arctic Foxfor lift-off," Fuhito Tetsuhara pointed out.

'The troops ain't changing their positions. They won't follow your plan to set up a defense around the Fox,"Esau Olivares announced. "We got volunteers already dumping what's left of our supplies onto the ship, but nobody, not even the wounded, will be riding it out unless you're onboard, Sama.My Victor's waiting there for you. It's even got its circuits tuned to your base readings. I'll jockey the 'Revenant' in the morning. That'll keep the Elsies occupied."

"The heir to the Dragon must leave Marfik," Tomoe Sakade insisted.

Theodore looked at the faces around him, their eyes hard and challenging. Not one yielded before him. His officers were resolute. With or without him, the Eleventh Legion of Vega was going to die here on Marfik in the morning. These people did not want him to die with them. How could he betray such loyalty by running away from them?

"I will take this under advisement."

* * *

Two fire lances from Wagner's Battalion moved forward on the left flank, lending their missile and energy weapon fire to the advance of the Twenty-third Armored Infantry. Kathleen Heany watched in satisfaction as her tanks and APCs drove the Snakes from their outlying defenses. It had taken all morning to get this far, and the Vegan Mech-Warriors had yet to put in an appearance.

Two Lyran AeroSpace Fighters dove out of the sun. Skimming at treetop level, the aerojocks opened the valves in their belly-slung tanks. Dense clouds billowed from the crafts' exhaust as the chemical mix ignited in smoky combustion. The long streamers of artificial fog settled on the field, screening the advance of the Lyran tanks.