Tsen filled the awkward silence with a question. “What have you done about this traitor idea?”
“I’ve had Alexi double-checking some communications records, but it’s a big job for just one person. I’ve been busy delivering Michael’s body and preparing for Operation Intruders Communion.”
Maximilian Liao closed his eyes like a sunning lion. “Tsen Shang, you will take over the investigation of the possible spy in our midst. He or she will be found and taken alive. I will have Davion’s entire network on Sian.”
“Yes, Celestial Wisdom.” Shang nodded his head, then looked over at Romano as she tugged on his sleeve. The virulence in her eyes clearly shocked him. He tried to shake his head to divert her will, but she would have none of his reluctance.
Romano stared daggers at Justin. “This extravagant command circuit you have created for your personal quest is using up far too much in the way of JumpShip resources. We cannot transport troops efficiently because of it. You are costing us this war.”
Muscles bunched at the corners of Justin’s jaw. Bitch! Your games could prove very costly. He drew in a deep breath to purge himself of rage, then exhaled slowly. “Your lack of sufficient foresight again betrays you, Lady of Highspire. We all realize a JumpShip must recharge for up to two weeks at a star before it can make one of its thirty-light-year jumps. Though this mode of transport is faster than any other we know, the recharging delays make the trip from Sian to Bethel longer than two months. At the current rate of Davion advances, that would put his troops here at the same time I complete my round trip.”
Justin leaned forward over the table. “The command-circuit idea, created by Hanse Davion to facilitate the swift movement of troops, means we have a charged JumpShip waiting at a star to continue the next leg of the journey. That means the six-jump trip to Bethel can be completed inside three days.”
Romano stared at Shang. Helplessly, Justin’s partner turned to him. “No one denies the need for a command circuit to get you to Bethel, and the six JumpShips employed in it are well-used. What we have to ask”—he glanced at Romano—“is why you need eight ships to return by a different route. Those eight ships could be better spent ferrying troops to the front.”
Justin smashed his steel fist into the table, cracking the table’s black petrochem coating. “Come on, people, get with the game here.” Justin shook his head at Shang, whose face flushed with anger, then addressed himself to the Chancellor. “We have discussed the need for my speedy return by another route over and over again. Once Hanse Davion discovers we have successfully raided his secret base and have stolen the formula for the new, super-strength myomer muscles, he will stop at nothing to prevent my return to Sian. He might even order JumpShips destroyed!”
Even as he spoke the words, Justin felt an involuntary shiver run down his spine. No one talks about destroying JumpShips, not even in jest. They are the pinnacle of lostech, desperately needed to speed men between the stars. Everyone knows that they can be repaired and even manufactured, but the science of what makes them work has been lost. Destroying a JumpShip would be a sacrilege!
The horror of losing something so valuable did not deflect Romano. “Not only do you tie up extra ships, now you tell us the ones you used may be destroyed.” She looked up at her father. “This is a fool’s mission.” She stabbed a finger at Justin. “He beggars us just to exact his own revenge upon Hanse Davion.”
Justin laughed harshly. “Your mind is too small to see the true depth of my feelings toward the Prince. Do you honestly think I will consider myself revenged because of a strike into the Federated Suns? No, Lady Highspire, not in your wildest dreams. I want the myomer fiber formula so we can transform our current ’Mechs into an unbeatable force. The new fibers will triple our ’Mech strength. The new muscles will allow our ’Mechs to carry more armor and weaponry. With these new machines, we’ll be able to stop the Davion advance, crush Ridzik’s fledgling nation, and force the invaders back into their own territory.” He smiled at the Chancellor. “Deep into their own territory.”
Romano frowned suspiciously. “If these myomer fibers are so powerful, and far enough along in development for us to steal them, why doesn’t Hanse Davion equip some of his own BattleMechs with them? How do we even know they exist?”
Justin’s smile did not waver for an instant. “The myomer project was a hobby for Professor-General Sam Lewis. He used to like to talk about it with MechWarriors and even mentioned it in a commencement address at Sakhara Academy five years ago, but no one ever took him seriously. After all, the man’s known for Kearny-Fuchida drive research, not myomer fiber work. People figured he was talking about advances we might see someday, yet rumors of strange new fibers were always running through the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns during my tour with them.”
Justin looked up at the Chancellor. “One of the few positive things to come out of our January counterstrike was the discovery of information on the planet Axton. That information included the location of a secret NAIS outpost on Bethel, where Lewis was also reported present. Once the war began, Lewis was called back from Bethel to New Avalon Institute of Science to supervise some new work with the Kearny-Fuchida drive research project to help minimize ship losses in the fighting.
“After he left Bethel, Davion security at the base relaxed considerably. I activated a deep-cover agent we had in place, and he learned that one of Lewis’s assistants had continued to play around with the myomer project even though he’d shifted to other duty. He has achieved a breakthrough that strengthens the pseudo-muscle fibers, but hasn’t been able to communicate this to Lewis because of the heavy security surrounding the professor. What it means is that Hanse Davion and his people don’t yet realize what they’ve got, and that’s why we must act quickly. The time to strike is now!”
Romano started to protest, but Maximilian Liao raised his hand to silence his daughter. “We will have no more discussion of this. The plans have been made and will not be changed at this point. When do you leave?”
Justin licked his lips. “In the morning. We’ll jump a week from now and be back ten days after that. Within a fortnight, you will see the genesis of a new ’Mech race—a race of giants under your control.”
Shang looked up. “Justin, you’ll be pleased to know we finally got word concerning the force you’ll face on Bethel. It’s the Davion Light Guards First Regiment, Delta Company.”
A predatory grin spread over Justin’s face. “Still commanded by Andrew Redburn and built from those whelps in the training battalion I left behind?”
Shang nodded.
“Excellent!” Justin rubbed his right palm over the cold metallic knuckles of his left hand. “More than one debt can be repaid on this mission.”
The Chancellor, his fatigue banished, smiled like a vulture. “The pride of the Confederation goes with you, Citizen Xiang. You will not know defeat.”
Chapter 5
SIAN
SIAN COMMONALITY
CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION
20 MARCH 3029
Deep within a quiet woodland hollow, Justin Xiang mirrored Candace Liao’s series of tai chi chuan exercises. The slight breeze whispering through the venerable pines was just enough to mask the noises of civilization from the palace complex two kilometers to the south. Only a few of the dying sun’s rays stabbed through the labyrinth of tree trunks, and those that did splashed coppery highlights on the sweaty flesh.
Perspiration burned into Justin’s eyes, and weariness filled his muscles with fire, but he refused to call a halt to the exercises. It’s been only a year and a half since Candace started practicing tai chi, but it has calmed her and given her so much grace.
He glanced at her left shoulder. Several strings of white scars puckered the ruined flesh over her deltoid muscle, which Justin knew was more myomer than natural. Thirteen years ago, she’d injured that arm ejecting from a badly damaged Vindicator. She’s worked hard to repair it, and now it’s almost returned to a normal ran
ge of motion.
Candace drew her limbs together, letting her hands hang at her side, and bowed to Justin. “I can continue no more.”
Justin returned her bow somewhat less gracefully. “Forgive me. I was daydreaming, and it spoiled my concentration.”
Candace knelt on the carpet of rust-colored pine needles and pulled two white towels from a tan canvas bag. She offered one to Justin. “What were you thinking?”
Justin shrugged as he wiped the sweat from his face. “I was reminded of old folktales in which a wound would not heal unless the person who inflicted it wished it so.” He glanced at her shoulder.
She nodded thoughtfully. “And have you wished my shoulder to be whole?”
“Yes, and my wish is coming true.” Justin hung the towel around his neck and held on to each end with a hand.
Candace looked up at him. “What about your arm? Has the person who inflicted that wound wished it to be healed?”
Justin shook his head slightly. He held out the blackened steel arm for inspection. From his elbow down, its form closely matched the flesh-and-blood limb it was meant to replace, but the cold lifelessness mocked its mission. Concentrating, Justin opened the hand and rotated it around in a wrist-roll.
“I’m afraid the man who did this can no longer wish anything whole.” Justin’s metal hand snapped shut into a fist. “My metal friend exacted its own revenge when I learned who had maimed me.”
Candace shuddered slightly. “Perhaps I asked the question incorrectly. I meant to ask about the scar you carry around on the inside. There are times I think your hatred of Hanse Davion will consume you, and I do not want that to happen.”
What are you saying? Justin frowned. “Do you not want me to raid Bethel?”
Candace reached up and drew Justin down beside her. She took both his hands in hers. “We can both see the effects of unbridled hatred in my sister, Romano. It has infected her and made her malignant. I understand and share your anger at the Prince for the injustices he allowed against you. I understand your desire to embarrass and humble him.”
Justin stiffened. “Do you really understand it all, Candace? Do you know everything? Did you know that while I was on Solaris, he had my father arrange for one of his spies to become my lover? Did you know she sent reports on everything I did? Did you know Prince Hanse Davion offered a man a title, a regiment, and a world to kill me in the games on Solaris?”
Justin stood abruptly and stalked a few steps away from her. “What do I feel for the Prince? I hurt from betrayal. I did everything I could for him, just as I do everything I can now for the Capellan Confederation. He forced me away from my family. He stole my name, my dignity, my livelihood, and my self-respect.” Justin spun back. “I had always thought, foolishly perhaps, that I made a difference, that I counted for something.”
Justin shook his head. “In a split second, the Prince showed me I was nothing. I was insignificant. In a fit of pique, he destroyed me.” Justin looked at his left hand and chuckled. “At that time, I had no control over this limb. And that’s what prevented me from slitting my other wrist—I couldn’t hold a razor blade steady enough to do the job.”
He stared hard at Candace. “Do you think the Prince could ever wish that wound healed?”
Candace stood, her eyes flashing silver. “If he did, would you let it heal? If he held a hand out in friendship, would you take it?”
His face shrouded in shadow, Justin stared at her. His voice dropped to a deadly whisper. “No games, Candace. Say what you mean.”
Candace folded her arms across her chest. “For all your brave talk about how this Bethel raid will seize technology that will make our forces the masters of the battlefield, you know that’s unlikely. You want to embarrass Hanse Davion by hitting a base he believes is hidden away. I understand that, and I applaud it. A strike into his territory will bring the war home to his people. That’s good! They need to understand this is more than staged battles on Solaris. And perhaps this new myomer fiber will make our dwindling supply of ’Mechs better able to hold what we have left.”
Justin exhaled slowly. “Be wary, Duchess, for you skate along the edge of treason.”
Her laughter was harsh. “Do I? Is it treason to see the future and adapt to it? You know as well as I that we will never gain back even a tenth of what we have lost. Tikonov is gone forever, and with it, goes some of our most important ’Mech production facilities. The future’s not written in crabbed handwriting on the wall. The Prince has made his message clear in two-meter-high, glowing holographic letters: the Capellan Confederation must die!”
Justin hung his head heavily. “What you say is true. Though my anger at Hanse Davion fills my eyes with a bloody red haze, it does not make me blind. You have drawn a plan of action from your analysis?”
Candace nodded. “In the storage area beneath your ’Mech’s command couch, you will find a holodisk on which I have recorded a message for the Prince. I inquire as to what terms he would like for our surrender.”
“Surrender.” Justin spoke the word as though it were something sour in his mouth. “There are those who would consider this an act of high treason and would see you punished for it.”
Candace lifted her head. “If they want to say it is treason to desire safety for my people, I am guilty. If they want to say it is treason to preserve something of the Capellan Confederation, I am guilty. The question is, are you one of those who would see me punished for this action?”
Justin swallowed hard. “I am not as inhuman as this prosthesis might suggest, and well you know that. On an intellectual level, I know you are correct. On an emotional level, my love for you and my loathing of Hanse Davion do battle. If it is your desire, I will take Hanse Davion’s hand whenever he extends it to me. Until that time, however, he is my sworn enemy.”
Justin reached out to her, and she came to him. “I will leave your holodisk in the Bethel facility. After we’ve raped the Prince’s research base, though, I would not venture a guess about his reaction.”
He kissed her on the forehead. “As for any hint of treason, do not worry yourself. In my mind, your fate and that of the Capellan Confederation are inexorably linked. I accept as my sacred duty the safeguarding of both.” I will keep you safe from all adversaries, my love, but who will protect me?
Chapter 6
SIAN
SIAN COMMONALITY
CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION
21 MARCH 3029
Romano Liao glanced at Tsen Shang’s reflection in her vanity table mirror as he entered her bedroom. “So, did you see him off?” Her singsong voice for once seemed to carry neither challenge nor edge to it.
Tsen nodded. “I just returned from the spaceport.”
“And was my sister there as well?”
“Yes. She almost went out to be with him on the JumpShip until they left the system.”
I’ll bet she did. She’s become positively domesticated since she started sleeping with Xiang. I doubt she even knows a war is on. Romano smiled at Tsen, then dabbed gloss onto her lips with the tip of her little finger. “Why did she choose to stay planetside?”
Tsen shrugged as he dropped into a Louis XIV chair set against the pale green wall behind her. “I think Justin asked her to stay here. He said none of the others on the raid would have their paramours with them and it might cause trouble.”
Of course, she listened to Justin. He must know some special tricks with that metal hand of his… “Why is it, Tsen darling, that everyone does what this renegade from the Federated Suns tells them to do?”
Tsen frowned. “I don’t understand you.”
Romano scowled for a moment, then composed a more kindly expression as she turned to face her lover. “You and I have discussed the wastefulness of Xiang’s return command circuit. You agreed with me that those JumpShips could be employed more usefully elsewhere. You told me they could have been used to move troops up to retake Highspire. Yet you did not fight him in the meeting yesterday. What power
does he have over you?”
Tsen stiffened. “He has no power over me.”
Sarcasm set off on every syllable of Romano’s riposte. “Doesn’t he? You were upset that Justin had given orders to McCarron’s Armored Cavalry, but your protest died. You should have seen yourself. You glowed as Justin asked you questions and you answered them correctly. You performed tricks like a trained ape.”
“No!” Tsen shook his head violently. “You don’t understand. Justin’s plan is a good one. His reasons for needing the extra JumpShips are valid. His orders for McCarron’s Armored Cavalry made sense. Justin thinks his plans through—there is very little for me to protest.”
Romano gave a lilting laugh. “How foolish you are, my dearest, to believe I do not see what Justin is doing to you. You believe he keeps you around because he needs your help, and you believe you owe him because he prevented my father from having you shot after your plan led us into Hanse Davion’s trap.” She paused as Tsen’s shame burned on his face.
Romano smiled like a mother showing sympathy for a child’s scraped knee. “Lover, you must see this as well. You coordinate a massive operation—a task that is difficult in and of itself—and it meets with disaster. Justin Xiang sends a raid off to a nothing planet and claims a great victory. He also arranged the assassination attempt on Pavel Ridzik, but it failed, and he now blames Davion spies for it. You live within your shame, but he refuses to let any errors spot his record.”
Tsen stared at the carpeted floor. “What are you saying, my lady?”
“I am saying that Justin is using you to make himself look better. You must show initiative.” As his head came up, she saw the gleam of an idea in his eyes. “What? What have you got, my love?”
Warrior: Coupé (The Warrior Trilogy, Book Three): BattleTech Legends, #59 Page 5