Lost destiny

by Michael A. Stackpole

  "You are pathetic. You are all pathetic." Malthus let his harsh gaze sweep over the men and women of his entire Star. "This is a man you hunt, not a BattleMech."

  "But Star Captain, you saw what he did to Corbin."

  "I saw. He cut him, beat him, and broke his back, then trussed him up like an animal bound for market. He tied him to that hovertruck and sent it on a crazy chase through the search sectors. That complicates things, but does not tell us if Jewell is good or Corbin was just stupid."

  Malthus pointed back toward the Star's administration building. "The labs analyzed Corbin's dagger and have found blood reside on it. Jewell has been cut and could be in bad shape. Sending the truck out may have been a desperate move to utterly throw us off the track."

  "I bid," began one woman.

  Malthus waved her bid off. "Your bid is worth nothing because my own bid is nothing." He raised clenched fists to shoulder height. "I will get him with my bare hands."

  "How?" shouted another Elemental. "We have not a clue as to where he is."

  "Yes we do. He is hurt and must realize he cannot hope to elude us in the wilderness for much longer. That means he has to head back to a place large enough for him to lose himself and, quite possibly, make contact with partisans."

  The Elemental leader folded his arms across his heavily muscled chest. "We will concentrate our search in and around Dove Costoso. We will cut across his trail and find him. He has killed a man in my command, which makes him more than a nuisance for Demi-Precentor Khalsa. Yes, we will find this Dave Jewell and then, when he thinks himself most safe, his life will be mine."

  27

  Lothan

  Wolf Clan Occupation Zone

  17 April 3052

  Phelan snarled as yet another glowing mark on the outline of his 'Mech showed him where the Elemental had nibbled away another bit of armor. "You little bastard. If you came out where I could see you, I'd kill you, but I can't find you."

  Edick's actions surprised Phelan. During the ritual, the Clansman had boasted proudly of his previous victories in the Bloodright contest, giving a long account of all his deeds. Cowering and sniping were not what Phelan would have expected in this fight.

  He had been happy when Natasha pulled the top coin from the cup, saying, "You, Phelan are the hunter. How will you hunt?"

  He turned to Edick and smiled broadly. "I will hunt augmented."

  He had expected that to give the Elemental trouble, but the huge man shrugged it off as if Phelan had demanded water-pistols at twenty paces. Phelan knew Edick had won all his previous Bloodrights and had opted to fight barehanded against his foes. He'd killed an aerospace pilot in his first fight, and put the two Mech Warriors he faced since then in the hospital. Instead of becoming nervous about the first fight where he would be at a severe disadvantage, Edick smiled calmly. "We will fight in the Camelot Industrial Park on Lothan."

  The instant Phelan saw the site Edick had selected for the battle, he knew the man had some good advisors. Buildings both large and small made up the modern industrial center, all fabricated from similar building materials that turned the park into a glittering world of steel and mirrors. At the ilKhan's command, the whole facility was evacuated in preparation for the battle. Somewhere inside that looking-glass labyrinth an Elemental waited for Phelan.

  The dying sun filled all the mirror faces with blood.

  Phelan switched his scanner from vislight to infrared, then immediately popped it back before it burned his eyes out. The heat reflected by the mirrors made using IR useless. As nearly as Phelan could figure, Edick had taken up residence in the big building to his left. By running from floor to floor, or possibly just bashing his way through interior walls, the Elemental was managing to shoot his small laser at Phelan from the safety of cover.

  Another Mech Warrior might have burrowed straight into the building, but Phelan was not of a mind to do that. He knew Edick was counting on his reluctance to do wholesale property, damage while defending himself. For Phelan, however, his reluctance to wade into a building came from its being the only obvious solution to the problem and because he was not entirely comfortable with the 'Mech he piloted.

  Though the free selection of venue was supposed to make up for any advantage gained by the winner of the coin selection, the Clans took other steps to ensure that the Bloodright battles were approximately fair. Thus Phelan was issued a Mercury for his fight with Edick, rather than being able to use his Wolfhound. The light 'Mech was well-known for its reconnaissance ability, but its weaponry was only slightly better than what an Elemental had. None of the 'Mech's weapons could put Edick down with one shot, which was precisely why they had assigned him this BattleMech.

  "All I have are lasers, which aren't useful against these damned mirrored buildings! I'd give my right arm for a simple machine gun so I could shoot out these windows." When he balled his fists reflexively, the Mercury's mechanical hands aped the movement.

  The buildings surrounding him rose up to a full ten stories, or three times his height. Their metal content, both in building materials and equipment, made magscan useless. Sunlight made IR scanning equally impotent. Phelan concentrated on vislight, but he knew the chances of his spotting whatever little openings Edick was using to shoot at him were impossible. As long as the man remained in the building, he had Phelan at a disadvantage.

  Phelan flipped a switch on his command console to shunt his microphone to the 'Mech's external speakers. "Come out and play, Edick."

  "Come in and get me, Phelan," a voice echoed back out through the glass canyon.

  The gloating in Edick's voice kept Phelan from pounding a fist through the building's wall and following it with the Mercury's bulk. "If I could just ...," he started to mumble, then stopped as he caught the echo of the words from outside. In a millisecond, fear he'd betrayed himself washed over him, then an idea hit him and he laughed.

  "Yeah, might just work."

  He opened his mike and flipped his external speakers on again. He increased the gain of the mike and boosted the output on the external speakers. Feedback built into a shrieking crescendo that set his teeth buzzing. He snapped his helmet's speakers off and pushed the external volume control all the way to maximum.

  All around him, accompanied by the feedback's banshee wail, the buildings' mirrored walls shivered and buckled. In a diamond rain, the whole wall fragmented and fell to the ground. The deadly hail poured over his Mercury, but Phelan ignored it and concentrated on the building hiding Edick. What had only been a silver reflection seconds before became offices and hallways, with the telltale signs of an Elemental's haphazard progress through the building. It reminded Phelan of an exterminator's cutaway view of a house infested by rats. It was as though his surprise tactic had caught a big rat smack dab in the middle of the fifth floor.

  The Mercury's right arm came up and the medium laser built into its forearm flashed to life. It hit Edick dead-center while the Elemental seemed to be trying to wave him off. Phelan wondered at the man's audacity and prepared for a second shot. "It's over, Edick."

  Suddenly the world exploded. A boiling, vaporous sheet of yellow flame instantly engulfed the whole building. Edick's form remained visible for a second as a black silhouette, then it vanished in the inferno. The Shockwave hit the Mercury, knocking it back into the building behind it. The 'Mech stumbled, driving its head and shoulders down through the lower three floors of the building.

  Phelan braced for the impact with the ground by pressing his neurohelmeted head back into the command couch's headrest. He hit hard, momentarily stunned, then found himself looking up the shaft of an atrium extending up the center of the building. He rotated the Mercury's, chin down, giving him a view back through the hole he'd made.

  The burning building sagged toward him.

  The Mercury's heels slammed down, buckling the ferrocrete foundation. The legs extended to their full length, ramming the Mercury's upper body through the other side of the building that trapped it. I
ts arms reached up and back in a clawing motion that dragged the BattleMech half-clear of its prison. Another powerful shove from its legs kicked it all the way clear of the building.

  Flipping his 'Mech prone, Phelan gathered its hands and feet beneath it and stood. He steadied the 'Mech as another explosion shook the area. Spinning about, he saw the burning building smash down into the one that had trapped him. Heavily damaged by his coring of the lower section, that building shuddered, then slowly flopped over to bury its blazing companion.

  Off in the distance Phelan saw the strobing red and blue lights of a civilian fire company coming to prevent the fire from spreading. Phelan dropped the Mercury to one knee and used the 'Mech's right hand to scrape away debris clogging the roadway. He stared deep into the flames of Edick's pyre and shook his head.

  "You died for a Bloodname, Edick. We, the Clans, pride ourselves on being superior to the citizens of the Inner Sphere, but I wonder if a people that could cause all this destruction in the name of vanity can ever be considered civilized."

  * * *

  Phelan hit the freeze-frame button on the holovid viewer. "See, right there on his small laser?" The MechWarrior pointed to a blurry black cone surrounding the muzzle of Edick's small laser. "That looks like a rubber gasket of some sort. He poked a small hole in one of the windows, pressed the laser and gasket to it, and was able to shoot at me."

  Natasha smiled coldly. "Edick shatters the gas main in the building and lets it fill with natural gas. He's already cut power to the building so a random spark won't set his trap off. The gasket lets him use the laser without starting the fire."

  Ranna, standing behind Phelan's position on the couch, rested her hands on his shoulders. "He expected, with the little shots, to goad you into attacking the building. You crash into it, he jumps clear, then uses his laser ..."

  "... or his SRM launcher to start the whole thing off." Phelan shuddered, then looked up with a smile as Ranna gave his shoulders a squeeze.

  "That explosion would have been more than enough to severely damage your Mercury" she said. "Dropping the rest of the building on top of you would have ensured your death."

  "You would have been baked alive." Natasha's voice rang with horror. "Normally an Elemental would not dare even enter the melee for a Bloodright on a non-Elemental Bloodname. Still, the name for which you fight is so valued that everyone wants to try. Besides, Edick did well in the early going."

  Phelan agreed. "He defeated as many as I had."

  'True, Phelan, but the luck of the Bloodright had a big part in that, I think. The damnable thing is that Elementals cannot allow themselves to fight fairly. Inferno rockets and exploding buildings are hardly the way to battle for a Bloodname."

  Phelan frowned. "Edick had to do something. If he had fought me out in the open, I would have splattered him."

  "Agreed, which is why he should have waited for an Elemental Bloodright to become available. He gambled big and lost bigger."

  The sudden opening of the door to Phelan's room brought an abrupt end to Natasha's comments. Phelan jerked to his feet as ilKhan Ulric entered. All three of the room's occupants remained at attention until Ulric closed the door behind him. "At ease," he said, giving them a smile.

  Phelan and Ranna brought their hands around to the small of their backs, while Natasha dropped into a chair and reached for the beer she'd been drinking. "Forgive me for saying so, ilKhan, but you look like a man who's been through a battle."

  "Battle? Try campaign." The ilKhan leaned forward, letting his hands rest on the back of the chair beside Natasha. "The Jade Falcons are doing their best to make up for Twycross, while the Nova Cats and Smoke Jaguars are trying to recoup their losses from the siege of Luthien. The Ghost Bears, Steel Vipers, and Diamond Sharks just want to reach parity with the rest of us-, and everyone wants to tear their advantages out of Clan Wolf."

  "Diamond Sharks? I did not know they were with the invasion force."

  Ulric shrugged. "The Council decided that the battle was significant enough to warrant the activation of additional Clan forces." He waved a hand toward the couch. "Please, sit." He glanced at the bottle Natasha was holding. "Phelan, would you happen to have another of those?"

  Phelan smiled and knelt beside the small refrigerator on which the holovid viewer sat. "It's Timbiqui dark. Ragnar scrounged it planetside while I was raising arson to a new height on Lothan. It is an import from over near the Free Worlds League border." He shrugged sheepishly. "It was the beer of choice at the Nagelring."

  "Anything that will cut the sour taste in my mouth will be most welcome." Ulric accepted the bottle and twisted the cap off. He drank, then closed his eyes and relaxed. "This is good. Remind me to take this world."

  Natasha leaned over on the right arm of her chair. The chair's white leather padding set off the black of her jumpsuit as she drew her legs up. "So did you manage to hash out the troop assignments for the battle with ComStar?"

  Ulric's head came forward and his eyes opened with a flash of blue. "I told them that I believed twenty-five Galaxies would be an appropriate response to ComStar's pledge of fifty regiments. That would be three Galaxies apiece, with the extra four going to the Wolf Clan by rights."

  Natasha nodded in agreement. "Of course."

  "That started a firestorm. I immediately bid away two of those extra Galaxies, but the others pressed for more concessions. Quite correctly, they perceived my desire to win the battle and they moved to blunt it. I have been forced to hold all Wolf Clan troops in reserve for the first five days of battle." Ulric's grim smile sent a chill down Phelan's spine. "They Wanted us out for two weeks, but I managed to whittle it down to five days."

  "As if the battle for Tukayyid would last two weeks,"

  Natasha scoffed. "Though I would relish the landing, I think being able to pick out fights after the battle lines have solidified is not a bad thing."

  Ulric shook his head. "The problem is that those idiots then started bidding among themselves for the right to be the first to land. The Smoke Jaguars won that right, but I believe they sacrificed too much to do so. The others have nothing but contempt for ComStar because of its pacifistic message and they believe they will roll over Focht's forces with ease. They have discounted the dangers of the ComStar air, armor, and artillery assets. I am fairly certain, in fact, that Star Colonels and Star Captains will bid among themselves and further dilute their strength."

  Phelan did not like the implication of the ilKhan's words or weary tone. "We will defeat ComStar, quiaff? I mean I have heard, all my life, strange stories about ComStar and their hidden 'Mech assets, but I have never seen anything to prove they have fifty regiments. What are the chances Focht was bluffing?"

  "I have no way of knowing, which should serve as an answer to both of your questions." Ulric took another pull on the beer. "You created the briefing report on Focht and you know the way other battles have gone with the opposition we face. If Focht does have fifty regiments to oppose us, that is almost four thousand 'Mechs. If we start with the twenty-five Galaxies we are committing, less the five Galaxies of Wolves, we'll be giving them a thousand-'Mechs advantage on the first day. If we assume air, armor, and artillery units on each side balance out, our force is still only 71 percent of their force."

  Planting elbows on knees, Ranna leaned forward. "Each one of our 'Mechs will have to kill 1.3 ComStar 'Mechs just to keep us even. Of course, this is predicated on full deployment, but we know the other Clans will bargain down some of their strength. The Smoke Jaguars and Nova Cats never even approached that kill ratio on Luthien."

  Natasha chuckled slowly. "I don't see why you are all worried. Let the others make fools of themselves on the first day. I have hated ComStar since the first time I dealt with one of those sycophant Acolytes in negotiating a contract for the Dragoons. That is enough to sustain me and make sure the Guards destroy whatever they face."

  She shot a quick glance at Ulric. "The Guards are going to fight, quiaff?"


  "Aff, Natasha, aff." Ulric held his hands up in a sign of surrender. "I am not mad. I know that if I did not include the Guards, you would bargain your way into the invasion force. I would much rather have you with me than against me."

  The ilKhan looked over at Phelan. "Enough of this talk, however, for I did not come here to discuss this news. I came to congratulate Phelan on winning his fourth battle to claim his Bloodright."

  "Thank you, my Khan." Phelan had something even more important on his mind, however. "If we are to fight on Tukayyid in two weeks, will the final battle be held before or after the fight with ComStar?"

  "After, I am afraid."

  "Afraid? I do not understand."

  The ilKhan's voice dropped almost to a whisper. "It is possible that you or your foe in the finals might be killed in the fighting. I urge you to be careful and watch your back."

  "You are not suggesting Vlad or Conal would try anything on Tukayyid, are you?"

  Ulric nodded solemnly. "After the decision on Tukayyid, you will face Vlad in the final battle for Cyrilla Ward's Bloodname. If you are in trouble and the Eleventh Wolf Guards are the force nearest you, I would not expect succor all that quickly. No one would deliberately kill you, but they just might let ComStar pick the winner in this Bloodright."

  28

  DropShip Dao, Hexare

  Sian Commonality, Capellan Commonwealth

  20 April 3052

  House Master Ion Rush leaned back in his chair as the cloaked figure sat across from him. "You look weary."

  His visitor laughed lightly. "Weary yes, but that is not so bad for someone who is dead, is it?"

  Rush smiled and even managed to bring up the corner of his mouth, where a scar traced back across his cheek to his earlobe. "When I heard Romano's assassin had gotten you, I could not believe it. When I got the message you sent, I thought it was a trick. Even seeing you here and now, I have a hard time believing we have set ourselves on this course."