The Davion BattleMechs scattered, but the surprise barrage had its effect. All of them took hits. The Stingerwent down with a crippled leg.

"I don't think these things are Chargers"Cantrell said slowly.

"I think you're right," Sortek agreed. "The head's different."

"This is going to be a fight," Cantrell returned. "Well, Marshal," Ling quipped, "your schedule just took another hit."

Sortek found the Jocks' easy banter reminiscent of his old command, but he hoped that they were not minimizing the problem. These 'Mechs, which he had tagged into his computer as Charger-H,were a rude surprise. And the appearance of enemy 'Mechs this far behind their lines was bad news. The Kuritans were on the move. He wondered how many more surprises the Dragon had in store.

64

West Cerant County, An Ting

Galedon Military District, Draconis Combine

11 August 3039

 

From the command lance's position in the hills west of the city, Dechan Fraser could look down on the city of Cerant. Eleven years ago, he had fought for his life and the continued existence of Wolf's Dragoons in that city. It didn't look that much different today. A shiver ran down his spine that had nothing to do with the cool breeze slipping down intermittently from the mountains.

Jenette reached over to place a gentle hand against his cheek. She tucked an errant strand of his blond hair behind his ear and away from the sleek pink skin at the side of his head, freshly shaven for better contact with the sensors in his neurohelmet. "You all right?"

"Yeah."

"It's the city, isn't it?”

“Yeah."

"Quite a conversationalist today."

He quirked the side of his mouth up in irritation.

"I feel it, too," she said, oblivious to his expression. One look at her face made him instantly contrite. "The ghosts are down there. All those lost Dragoons, asking why we're doing this."

"It does seem strange. The last time we were here, we were fighting the Ryuken. Akuma's Ryuken-ichi,to be exact."

"I'm glad Theodore ordered the name struck from the rolls," she said with sudden venom.

"Michi's idea," Dechan pointed out.

Jenette frowned. "Always Michi. He got us into this. He seems to be running our lives."

"We're not just paying back a debt," he reminded her. "You know there's more to it than that. We can't leave till the job's done. That's our mercenary honor. Even the Dragoon ghosts understand that."

She seemed unconvinced. "So why doesn't Michi answer our letters? Friends shouldn't abandon each other."

"He's still our friend, I think, and I know that he needs our help. We promised we wouldn't abandon him. That's why wedon't leave." He reached for her hand, but she pulled it away and wrapped her arms around herself as though she were cold. "Isn't it?"

"I'm tired, Dechan. I want to go home."

Dechan understood her frustration and loneliness. Home. As if they had one. Their home had been the Dragoons, until they'd left to follow Michi Noketsuna on his quest for vengeance.The travails the three had shared made them friends, then led him and Jenette to agree to do all they could to help Michi see his goal through to the end. That promise had trapped them here among the Kuritans, fighting to save the realm of Takashi Kurita, the man against whom Colonel Jaime Wolf had sworn a blood feud. He wondered how the old Iron Man Tetsuhara would have resolved such a conflict of duties. Would Minobu have a better solution to Dechan's quandary than he'd had for his own?

The receiver in Dechan's ear buzzed, calling him to duty. He tapped it to life, and Tai-shuKester Hsiun Chi's voice whispered to him.

"All is in readiness, Fraser -san."

Snapping into his new role as a commander, Dechan asked, "The Davion air?"

"Quite busy. They were not ready for our reserves. They seem especially surprised by the numbers of our Sparrowhawks.After all, it is their design. Response to our ComStar-supplied Hellcatflights is encouraging as well. I think the professors at the New Avalon Institute of Science will be making some adjustments to Davion tactical doctrine."

"Then we will have a clear field for maneuver?"

"As much as I have been able to arrange. The Federated Suns troops do seem a little uncooperative, though. They have not yet surrendered," Chi said with a chuckle. His voice vacated Dechan's ear, leaving a sibilant, rushing sound that indicated the line was still active. In a moment, the gravelly tones resumed. "Please man your machines. I will need you to lead your Ryuken detachment into the attack soon."

"We'll be ready, Chi-sama."

"I am sure you will. Good hunting, Fraser -san."

The channel went dead with a click.

He stepped up to Jenette and put his arms around her from behind. "Time to saddle up."

She nodded as she turned in his embrace. "After this, we leave?"

"When we've finished our job."

Jenette hugged him tightly, face buried in the padded shoulders of his cooling vest. She pushed back and ran her soft gray eyes over his features. "Be safe." She kissed him lightly and slipped from his arms.

"Unity enfold you," he called softly as she trotted off to her Hatamoto-kazeBattleMech.

* * *

"Marshal Sortek! The Kuritans have breached the perimeter!"

The wail of the warning siren rose over the headquarters, as Sortek ordered the security lance scrambled. Directed chaos engulfed the room as men and women hurried to perform the tasks they had dreaded. The headquarters was to be abandoned. The door clattered open as an orderly carried the first armload of datadisks into the night.

Sortek turned to his adjutant. "Where and with how much, Jeanne?"

"North quadrant. Looks like two or three BattleMech regiments. We've got reports of their new heavies up and down the line. At least thirty of them."

"So many?" Sortek and Link's lance had barely escaped from a single lance of those machines two days ago. He shook his head. "Where'd they get all that stuff?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Well, intel doesn't seem to, either. If we make it out of this, it'll be their heads that roll, not yours." He massaged his red-rimmed eyes with both hands. "You oversee the evac. I'm going out to make sure our rear guard holds. See you at the DropShips."

She saluted his back as he ran for his 'Mech.

*  * *

Dechan Fraser was tired, but his fatigue seemed to vanish when the battered and battle-scarred Hatamoto-kazelimped into the Ryuken camp. The eighty-ton 'Mech looked like it had been through a war. Which, of course, it had. Unlike his own Hatamoto-ku,the H-kazeshowed heavy damage. The only area lightly affected was the chest plate, whose surface was blackened from missile exhaust and pitted by shrapnel marks. The 'Mech's radiator fin and one of the shoulder baffles were gone. The broad, flat sheaths that protected the antennae, and gave the 'Mech's head assembly the look of an ancient samurai helmet, dangled across its faceplate. The heavy armor on its left leg had been shredded and melted away. Tendrils of myomer pseudo-muscle floated through the gaps that revealed the cracked and pitted alloy structural members. No wonder the machine limped. Could the pilot have endured such destruction intact?