Justin shrugged his way out of his equipment harness, letting it clank to the ground. He pointed it out to one of the men returning from extinguishing the fire on the remotely controlled Locust. He considered freeing himself of the exoskeleton’s grip, but decided there was not time. Unless someone shot him with a down-powered laser blast, the suit would not stiffen up to simulate a wound—thereby causing a problem.
The downturn in Tsen Shang’s attitude rubbed at Justin’s consciousness like an ill-fitting boot against the heel. He had expected Shang to be glad Justin had persuaded the Chancellor not to execute him or exile him to Brazen Heart. Instead, it only seemed to make Shang more sullen. Justin knew it, too. Romano Liao had something to do with the other man’s mood swings. He shook his head. She’s definitely a candidate for retroactive birth control.
Justin had first met Tsen Shang two years before on the Game World, Solaris VII. Tsen, a Maskirovka agent, had posed as a wealthy Capellan noble sponsoring a team of heavy ’Mechs in the gladiatorial combats on Solaris. Justin, newly exiled from the Federated Suns, had fought well and changed the fortunes of the Capellan Confederation in the games. Based on some of Justin’s actions, Tsen Shang quickly realized that the son of Davion’s intelligence minister could be a valuable asset to the Capellan Confederation. Shang abducted Justin, and Maximilian Liao himself recruited Justin into the Maskirovka.
Justin and Tsen worked closely together and developed a plan for streamlining the Maskirovka to make it more efficient. Maximilian Liao accepted the plan, put it into place, then appointed Justin and Tsen to head up the omnibus “Crisis Team.” That saddled both men with great responsibility and brought them into close contact with the Capellan royal family.
Justin smiled as he walked from the simulation range toward the Spring Palace. Very close contact, indeed. Romano went after Tsen like a vampire after a Spican bloodfish. She wanted him as her own pet Maskirovka agent, and she got him. I suspected she would eventually direct him against me to solidify her powerbase, but my involvement with her older sister made Romano hate me so much she stepped up her efforts. Shang is caught between our friendship and her manipulation. Unfortunately, Romano is winning…
Justin forced himself to pause for a moment. He drew in a deep breath, letting the clean, fresh scent of spring wash away the last vestiges of inferno stink. He glanced beyond the boxy palace to the distant line of tall pines. The darkness of the woods looked so inviting that he momentarily considered bolting for its sanctuary.
Reluctantly, he rejected that plan. A split between Tsen and me is probably inevitable. And his discovery that my aide Alexi Malenkov was spying on Romano did nothing to put me back in his good graces. He probably told Romano about the surveillance, but she hasn’t tried to have me killed. It must be that my anger at her attempted assassination of my father frightened her. She’s not gotten Tsen to oppose me outright yet, but his sour attitude about Operation Intruders Communion probably means his resistance is weakening.
“Justin, wait!”
The sound of Candace Liao’s voice brought a smile to Justin’s face. As tall as he, she quickly closed the distance between them with long-legged strides. Her gray eyes flashed mischievously as she took Justin’s right hand, and her long black hair fell forward of her shoulders to frame her lovely face.
Justin squeezed her hand, then kissed her on the lips. “Good morning.” Justin squinted up at the sun like a mariner measuring its arc. “What are you doing up this early?”
Candace gave him a mock-pout. “You should have awakened me. I told you I wanted to watch the rehearsal of your operation.”
Justin smiled teasingly. “That is not what you mumbled this morning when I crawled out of bed.”
Candace raised an eyebrow. “You never tried to wake me up.”
Justin laughed. “I did so. You, my duchess, had ordered me to do just that, and I made a valiant attempt at fulfilling my duty. This morning, however, you countermanded that order.”
“What did I say?”
Justin slipped his arms around her. “It was either ‘good luck’ or ‘gimmee covers.’” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I translated that into your desire to sleep in.”
Tension tightened the corners of her eyes. “I appreciate it, lover, but you should not have done it. There are things I should have accomplished already today.”
Justin shook his head. “Ease off, Candace. I know you’re worried about what Hanse Davion is going to do in the area of your St. Ives Commonality, but we’ve absolutely no indication that he’s planning a strike against your holding.”
Candace disengaged herself from Justin’s arms. “That’s hardly reassuring, Citizen Xiang. As I recall, Hanse Davion’s invasion came as a complete surprise.”
Justin bowed his head. “Touché, Duchess. I would point out, however, that we had ample clues of buildups along the border. Our error was in assuming Davion meant only to conduct another one of his Galahad exercises. That’s what communications from Michael Hasek-Davion were telling us. We only expected Hanse to flex his muscles, but he struck out at us instead.”
Candace’s anxiety ignited anger. “Because of my father’s ineffectual attempts at a counterstrike, the St. Ives Commonality has been stripped of JumpShips. We couldn’t get reinforcements into it even if Davion did attack.”
Justin sighed heavily. “That’s all right. We don’t have any reinforcements. Your father’s already issued orders calling up all reserve units on all planets, and for the training of the citizenry to fight the invaders. That may slow Davion down, but it’s not going to turn the tide.”
Justin’s steel hand curled into a fist like a flower wilting in time-lapse photography. “My assault will make the difference. Once we hit Bethel and the secret New Avalon Institute of Science facility there, we’ll be able to meet and defeat Davion’s forces.” He met her chilly stare. “The JumpShips from St. Ives are being stretched into a command circuit that will deliver my forces to Bethel and bring them back quickly.”
Candace nodded stiffly. “I understand the importance of the command circuit and the raid, but I wonder if it will be in time to save the Capellan Confederation.”
Justin shook his head slowly. “I cannot answer that, but I do know you need not fear for your St. Ives Commonality. Alexi showed me a report that indicated the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers were pulled from Kittery. They were aching to avenge Michael Hasek-Davion’s death. If Hanse has moved them from Kittery, he’s planning to use them elsewhere. As long as you have no JumpShips in St. Ives, Hanse knows you won’t be hitting him. He will wait.”
“I hope, for the sake of my people, that you are correct.”
Justin smiled cruelly. “I hope so, too. I want Hanse Davion looking ahead, so far ahead that he’ll not see what I’m going to do to him. Once Operation Intruders Communion is complete, we will use his own technology against him. It will be glorious.”
Candace stepped close, caressing Justin up over the chest and shoulders as she slipped her hands around his neck. “I believe you, my love, and I dearly wish to share your victory, but I urge you to be cautious. There are those who will mark you as a target. Pavel Ridzik was once my father’s trusted advisor, much as you are now. Do not let your personal desire for revenge make you blind to those who might wish to eliminate you.”
Justin looked into her quicksilver eyes as his arms enfolded her. “I’ll be careful.”
Candace smiled happily. “I have ways to insulate you from some things, and your position in the Maskirovka will shield you as well. We both realize who your biggest threat is, and we also know she has great access to my father.” She kissed his lips lightly. “As long as we are together, Justin Xiang, she will be unable to hurt either one of us.”
Justin nodded quietly. That’s the game then, isn’t it? Candace and Romano both sense their father’s weakness, yet each realizes that only he can eliminate the other as a rival for power. This is a dangerous place to be, Justin, but it is the place where your d
uty has placed you. Make the best of it, because second-best in this arena ends up in a box.
He smiled at Candace and gave her a squeeze. “Together, we’re invincible.”
Chapter 4
SIAN
SIAN COMMONALITY
CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION
20 MARCH 3029
Justin followed Candace Liao through the black-lacquered doors into the cool, dark briefing room. The doors closed behind them with the whispered hiss of vapor jets, then locked with a loud click. Justin stepped forward to the nearest end of the black lozenge table. He drew a chair out for Candace, then bowed to Chancellor Maximilian Liao.
The Chancellor, seated in a high-backed black marble chair, nodded his head wearily. The wisps of gray and white imperfections in the throne mirrored the light streaks threading Liao’s unruly hair and long, slender mustache. The only color on the Chancellor’s drawn face was in the purple shadows beneath his eyes.
Justin shivered. When I first saw him, I thought of a spider, all gangling arms and legs, sitting in the middle of a cosmic web. Now he looks like a scarecrow in some barren, wind-scourged field. Hell, wearing that black uniform, he looks ready to die this instant.
Seated at the table’s far end, Tsen Shang nervously shuffled some papers. Tall and dark, he looked much like the Chancellor must have in his younger years. At Romano’s urging, he’d grown a moustache just like Liao’s. In a fit of independence, however, he’d refused to pare back his fingernails. In keeping with the current fashion, Shang wore the fingernails on the last three fingers of each hand at a length of ten centimeters. Black polish hid the carbon fibers reinforcing the nails, but Justin remembered well the time Tsen had slashed through a leather jacket with the razored edges of the fingernails. Candace is right. I must be cautious. When Romano breaks down Tsen’s last feelings of friendship toward me, he will become a most dangerous enemy.
Seated at her father’s feet, Romano glared at Justin like a feral cat. Her green eyes dripped unholy menace and the sneer on her face only deepened when she looked at her sister. Her reddish-brown hair framed a face that would have been beautiful if not for the malevolence that distorted it.
Justin looked up at the Chancellor. “You have summoned me, Celestial Wonder?”
Liao nodded curtly, folding his hands together agitatedly instead of steepling them confidently, as was his habit. “Disturbing things, Citizen Xiang. Most disturbing things.”
Justin glanced at Tsen. “What have we got?”
Tsen laid his papers down on the table’s shadowy surface. “Davion forces have not advanced yet, but they are building up all along the Second Try-Highspire line.”
At the mention of her old holding of Highspire, Romano bristled angrily. Maximilian reached down and stroked her red-brown hair with a bony hand. Like a child being comforted, Romano leaned the side of her face against her father’s leg.
Justin nodded. “We have no idea when they will strike?”
Tsen shook his head. “We’ve issued orders calling up all reserves. The militia is being reinforced with older MechWarriors, and we’ve told everyone that we have troops on the way to bolster the defenses. We’ve initiated the creation of Youth Squads and are training them with inferno and SRM launchers. We expect them to use the city terrain to good effect to harass the invaders. Davion’s people will find it far more costly to take our worlds than during the first wave of assaults.”
Justin smiled. “Good. What’s the problem?”
The Chancellor frowned darkly as he pulled a folded sheet of paper from his tunic. “This message arrived today from Colonel Archibald McCarron! He says he’s moving his remaining four regiments from their garrison worlds to Palos! I gave no such order!” Color flooded Liao’s face as his fist crumpled the message. “At my request, Tsen Shang checked and found that the order went out over your signature.”
Despite the Chancellor’s wrath, Justin sat back in his chair. “Good. Very good.”
“What?” Shang shook his head in disbelief. “Palos is a hideous place to deploy a crack mercenary unit like McCarron’s Armored Cavalry. Are you mad? Stripping them from the Capellan March border leaves us open to an assault on Sian.”
Justin pressed his hands to the tabletop as he stood. “No, gentlemen and ladies, I am not mad. I have merely averted a catastrophe.” He glanced at Shang. “What happened to McCarron’s first regiment?”
The distrust in Shang’s eyes dropped away as he thought about Justin’s question. “Davion forces destroyed it utterly in battles on Arboris and Basal.”
Justin nodded, the hint of a wry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “No quarter asked or given because of McCarron’s raid into the Federated Suns six, seven years ago. McCarron’s Armored Cavalry severely embarrassed the Federated Suns then, and Hanse Davion returned the favor in the first part of his attack. How do you think that makes McCarron feel?”
Shang allowed himself a smile. “He’s anxious to prove he’s top dog again, and he wants revenge.”
Justin lightly tapped the table with his metal fist. “Exactly.” He glanced up at the Chancellor. “McCarron’s always been a loose cannon. We’ve granted him duty on worlds that don’t need protecting because it puts him in striking distance of worlds that do. Inefficient perhaps, but it works to keep a top-flight merc unit fighting for us at reduced rates.
“Well, this little action of McCarron’s is on his own tab. He wanted to hurt the Federated Suns, and he was going to do something whether we gave him permission or not. I recognized this and cut him some marching orders.”
The Chancellor’s dark eyes half shut, then he nodded slowly. “I see the wisdom in your action. You guided a flood you knew you could not stop. Still, I would debate the wisdom of posting them on Palos. That world may produce the finest champagne in the Successor States, but it is not a military target worth defending.”
“I agree, Universal Master. McCarron’s Armored Cavalry is really on Sarna.”
Justin’s words shocked everyone in the room. The Maskirovka analyst slowly nodded his head in response to the unspoken question. “Yes, McCarron and I worked out a code. He is on Sarna, but his message says he is on Palos. That is where Hanse Davion’s people will believe him to be. From Sarna, McCarron can hit any world Davion is likely to attack in his next wave.”
Candace swiveled her chair around. “Do you believe there is a spy in our midst?”
Justin pursed his lips and thought for a moment before answering. “I don’t know for certain, but I feel we are dealing with a traitor.”
Shang’s head came up. “Why?” His question, voiced without hostility, told Justin the same idea had been nibbling at the edges of his mind.
Justin straightened up. “The first thing that made me suspicious was how easily Pavel Ridzik seems to have eluded the assassin we sent to deal with him. She was perfect. She played to his libido and he stopped thinking. The bomb she used leveled half a block, but he’d already managed to escape the restaurant and the immediate vicinity. He had to have been warned, and his quick alliance with Hanse Davion suggests repayment of a debt.”
Shang nodded in agreement. “The problem is that we had a long chain of agents working on that case. Any of them could have let the word slip.”
Justin wavered. “Perhaps, but I think the leak comes from here in Sian. Davion might have learned Ridzik was to be hit by someone in a chain, but only a leak at the beginning would have given him the time to arrange for Ridzik’s evacuation.”
“Point taken.” Shang looked up the Chancellor, and Maximilian nodded.
Justin continued. “In addition to that incident, I got to thinking about what Michael Hasek-Davion claimed before he died. He said Hanse had been giving him false data. We discounted that idea because we knew Michael had given us less than one hundred percent–reliable information. But what if he was telling the truth for once? Hanse would need someone inside the Maskirovka to make certain any good data we got was diverted while our reliance
on Michael’s information crippled us.”
Romano sat forward like a cat readying to pounce. “Who? Who could it be?”
“It is easier, my lady of Highspire, to tell you who I do not suspect.” He glanced around the room. “I trust everyone here, and Alexi Malenkov, but no one else.”
Candace stiffened. “Not even the Chancellor’s wife?”
Justin hesitated. Tsen, Alexi, and I know that Elizabeth Liao had an affair with Pavel Ridzik, but that information was to have gone no further. A glance at Romano shook his confidence, but the expression on the Chancellor’s face quickly drew all his attention. What is going on?
Pain and confusion fought for control of the Chancellor’s countenance. “Leave her out of this. She will come back.”
Romano twisted around. “Father, divorce her. Sentence her to Brazen Heart. You always forgive her when she deserts you, only to return penitent. Wash your hands of the slut once and for all!”
Maximilian Liao stiffened with anger, which seemed to infuse his body with life again. “I will not be lectured to by a spoiled whelp, Romano. I am the Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation! I have proved my worth to my nation over and over again! What I wish to forgive and forget concerning the woman I married after your mother died is my business. It is not a subject I choose to discuss with a petulant, landless noblewoman!”
Most others would have withered under Liao’s harsh rebuke, but not Romano. She calmly blinked her green eyes at him, catlike as ever. She lowered herself to her place at his feet, but refrained from leaning against him.
Justin looked up at Liao’s angry face. If the Chancellor’s wife has taken off again, we must find her. Prince Hanse Davion would have a field day with her defection. He narrowed his eyes. It will have to be suggested, but not here and not at this time. I’ll put Alexi on it quietly.
Warrior: Coupé (The Warrior Trilogy, Book Three): BattleTech Legends, #59 Page 4