D. R. T.

by James D. Long

  Danes laughed and reached for his glass, downing the contents in a single swallow. "Oh no, Captain Rose, you're standing on what may pass for the worst excuse for a DropShip this side of the Tukayyid line, and I don't speak those words lightly. I am quite a judge of a ship's caliber."

  Rose cringed and drained his glass. He waited until he was sure his breath was back before trying to speak. "That bad?"

  Danes nodded. "Most of the armor is shot away, and there are significant power distribution problems to several of the components. The engine is solid, but it could stand an overhaul. Some of the systems are currently running on backup, but I hope to have all the mains back on-line by the end of the week."

  "Can she even fly?"

  Danes considered the question before answering. "If she had to, yes, but I'd like to have thirty or forty days on the ground before I take her back up. If I had my wish, I'd take another month to run tests and calibrations before she takes passengers."

  "That doesn't leave me much time to train," replied Rose.

  Danes pulled on his thin mustache and nodded. "No. Of course I'll push the schedule as much as possible, but I'll need the first month just to put the ship back within safety limits." Rose was frustrated and it showed. Danes shrugged. "Sorry, but that's the best I can do on short notice."

  "Short notice? I've known about this mission for two weeks."

  Danes stroked his chin and stared at his black boots. "I didn't find out until yesterday when we landed."

  Rose sighed and rubbed his eyes. This was not working out the way he expected. "I thought you spacers were supposed to take pride in your ships, like MechWarriors and their BattleMechs. I'd never let my 'Mech ..."

  "Sir!" Danes snapped, cutting Rose short. "This abomination is not my ship. No, let me rephrase that. This was not my ship until very recently. I would never allow a vessel under my care to fall into such a state of disrepair."

  Rose realized he'd overstepped himself. Danes had shown too much style for this to be his ship, but Rose had missed the obvious. Apologies were definitely in order, but Rose wasn't sure they'd be accepted.

  "I'm sorry, Captain Danes. I spoke without thinking. You're right, of course. This ship could not possibly have been under your command for long. I regret my hasty words."

  "Apology accepted, Captain. Let's say no more about it. Truth to tell, I'm overly touchy about the subject myself." Danes smiled and Rose responded in kind. He wanted to know what had happened to Danes' original ship and how he'd come into possession of another so soon, but to ask that in their current situation would be out of the question. Rose decided to stick to the mission.

  "Have you seen the contract?" asked Rose, to which Dane nodded assent. "The contract is for only four months, which gives us a very tight schedule."

  "I agree," said Danes. "The mission is scheduled for two weeks, including system travel at the target. With another two weeks for travel to the jump point here at Wolcott, that leaves us three months."

  "Right, but we'll probably want a two-week cushion—and two weeks are already gone. That puts us right in the middle of your testing period."

  "Damn," muttered Danes, and Rose had to agree with the sentiment. "I'll just have to see what I can do, that's all. We can cut some corners, but not many. If I can have the ship ready in six weeks, will that give you enough time?"

  "Not really, but I'll take it and smile. I'd like to give the company one combat drop before the mission and some training on loading and fire support if the take-off is hot."

  "I'll do my best, then," Danes told him. "Six weeks. Sooner if I can manage it." Danes headed for the red light, flicking it back off as he went to the door.

  "By the way," said Rose, "does the ship have a name? My people will want to know."

  Danes paused and slowly nodded. "She's called the Tracy K" he said.

  "Nice name. Does it mean anything special?" Rose asked.

  Danes' eyes began to mist slightly as he stared at Rose. "Not a thing," he replied in a tight voice. "Why do you ask?"

  15

  Mercenary Garrison District,

  Wolcott, Draconis Combine

  29 March 3057

  Rose returned from the daily training session one afternoon and discovered McCloud waiting for him in the communications center. He didn't have to be told why she was there. Her presence was enough. They talked about the Black Thorns in general and the prospects for the upcoming mission, both of them trying to postpone coming to the obvious purpose of her visit.

  McCloud knew Danes, but by reputation only. He was something of a drifter, even more ill at ease on the ground than she was, which spoke volumes to Rose about Danes' character. Rumors hinted that Danes was a pirate, but no one had ever been able to prove it. He was still wanted in Steiner space for questioning about several raids, but McCloud doubted Danes would ever return to Steiner space, warrants or not.

  "His wife was also a DropShip captain," said McCloud as Rose slipped into his uniform for dinner. "They operated as a team, working for several Lyran regiments until the arrival of the Clans. From what I gather, Danes decided that hauling for the army was too dangerous, but his wife continued short-haul work for one of the Lyran Guard units. I'm not sure which one."

  Rose stuffed a foot into his boot and looked over at McCloud. "Her name wouldn't have been Tracy, would it?"

  "I don't think so," McCloud said after a moment's thought. "I think it was Kelly, or Kimmie, or something like that." Rose stopped in mid-pull of his other boot. McCloud was sure he was about to say something, but he stared off into space. "Well?"

  "Well, what?" asked Rose as he finished putting on his boot.

  "Why did you ask?"

  Rose sighed, then started to shrug, stopping in mid-gesture. "Danes has a new ship. Or rather he's the new captain of an ancient ship. He's calling it the Tracy K."

  McCloud chewed her lip at the new information. "I asked if the name meant anything, and he said no, but that was obviously a lie. I guess he's too polite to say bum off."

  "If he named the ship after his dead wife ..."

  "His wife is dead?" asked Rose in shock. "You didn't mention that."

  "I was about to, but you interrupted."

  "What happened?"

  McCloud rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "If you'll let me finish, I'll tell you what I know. Or should I say, I'll tell you what I've heard." Rose started to speak, but choked back his reply. He felt like he'd just taken a scolding, but baiting Rachel would only delay getting the information he wanted. She was trying not to look smug and nearly succeeded.

  "So, she was hauling for one of the Guard units during the Clan War. As was typical during that phase of the war, the Lyrans were on the run. Whichever Clan they were fighting was overrunning the base and had the Guards backed up to their DropShips. A few of the DropShips made good their escape, but several others were captured while still on the ground. Two of the ships were destroyed. One belonged to Captain Danes."

  Rose sat on the end of his bed and contemplated this new information. If McCloud's information was accurate, Danes might be looking to even the score with the Clans, or he might be looking to settle with the Federated Commonwealth, or he might just want to be getting on with his life. Rose had no way of knowing.

  "How did he take the news?" he asked.

  McCloud shrugged. "I don't know. As I said, I know him by reputation only." Rose tried not to be frustrated, but it wasn't easy. He was about to trust his life, and the lives of his company, to Sinclair Danes. If there were problems, he wanted to know about them now.

  "Didn't Bell fight with one of the Lyran Guard units?" asked McCloud, almost as an afterthought.

  Rose slapped his forehead. "The Twenty-sixth." He rolled over on the bed and reached for the comm unit on the night-stand. "Ria, could you ask Antioch to come see me for a moment? Thanks." He set the handset back down and stood up.

  "Do you have any idea what happened to his last ship?" asked Rose. McCloud shook
her head, but had no time to answer before a knock sounded at the door.

  "In," said Rose.

  Antioch Bell poked his head inside the door and smiled. "You wanted to see me, Captain?"

  Rose waved him inside. "Come in and shut the door behind you, Antioch." Bell looked concerned for a moment, but the look quickly vanished as he closed the door. Rose looked preoccupied but not distressed. In Bell's mind that meant the problem couldn't be too serious.

  "Hi, Rachel," Bell said cheerfully. "Ria had another place set tonight. You'll stay to chow with us, won't you?"

  McCloud smiled. "Of course, Antioch. Your commander hasn't invited me yet, but I thought I'd hang around for a while."

  Rose seemed to miss the implied message in the exchange. "We're looking for information, Antioch," he said to Bell, who nodded and leaned against the door. There wasn't much space in the small room, and the presence of the three full-sized bodies didn't offer the luxury of getting comfortable. Although Bell would never have been so casual in the presence of his former commanding officer, he knew Rose would take the relaxed posture for granted.

  "Have you ever heard of a DropShip captain named Danes?" McCloud asked.

  Bell frowned. "Like our new DropShip captain?" he asked.

  "Like our new DropShip captain's late wife," said Rose. Bell's eyes went wide as he looked from Rose to McCloud and back again. "Her ship was probably either captured or destroyed during fighting with the Clans along the Steiner border. Rachel thinks that she might have been working with one of the Lyran Guard units." Rose paused to let Bell speak, but the fair-haired man remained silent. "Any ideas?" he finally prompted.

  Bell slowly shook his head as he stared at the floor between his boots. "Sorry, sir. I don't know anybody like that with the Twenty-sixth. She might have been with one of the other units, but I just don't know." Bell looked up to McCloud. "Any other details?"

  McCloud tried to dredge up other facts from her memory, but her mind was blank. "Sorry, but that's all I know." She shrugged. "There are too many DropShips out there to remember the names of every captain, especially one who's been dead for almost five years."

  Bell pulled himself off the door and started to leave. "I'll check it out with some of the other Thorns. Maybe one of them knows something."

  "Hold on, Antioch," said Rose. "Let's keep this quiet for the time being." Bell scowled. "Danes might be a great guy," continued Rose, "or he might be a loose cannon."

  "Do you think we're going to have problems?" asked Bell, suddenly concerned.

  Rose shook his head, but the look Rachel gave him told Bell the situation might be otherwise. "He seemed fine when I met him a couple of days ago," said Rose. "The problem is he's flying a new DropShip. A piece of junk, I might add. His first mate walked out on him ..."

  "You didn't tell me that/' said McCloud.

  "... and I think he just named his new ship after his dead wife," finished Rose with a stare at McCloud.

  "You think he's a pirate," concluded Bell, leaning back against the door. Rose shrugged, but McCloud nodded. The nod took Rose by surprise.

  "Really?" he asked,

  "Jeremiah, of course he's a pirate."

  "But he's here at the request of the Combine government. They don't take acts of piracy lightly," Rose countered.

  "Officially, no," she conceded. "But consider where we're standing. If there is any location in the Inner Sphere that is more unusual than this, we've never heard of it. We're in the middle of Smoke Jaguar territory, for God's sake. You've accepted a second contract. One that runs concurrently with your present contract, you'll remember. That is not, as I understand it, common practice. Even before the Clans invaded, independent DropShips worked both sides of the border between Successor States. Even if Dane has raided several F-C bases for parts, the Kuritas are likely to look the other way."

  "As long as he's somewhere the Federated Commonwealth can't see him," continued Bell. "Teddy isn't supporting the piracy. He's just using all his available assets."

  Rose nodded. It made good sense. With the tight control on Wolcott, it was unlikely that any of the other Inner Sphere leaders knew who, or what, was here. As long as Danes, or any Other captain or Mech Warrior, for that matter, stayed on the good side of the Kuritas, he could always find a job on Wolcott.

  "You know," Rose said, "this assumes the worst about the man. There are other explanations for the evidence we've seen."

  "You're right," said McCloud. "Nobody has ever accused him of anything. If the Kuritas were upset, they'd never have brought him to Wolcott."

  "You said he was a pirate, Rachel. How do you know?" asked Bell.

  "It's the only explanation," she said, but Rose and Bell still looked baffled. "Look, I'm not saying he spends all his time preying on passenger liners, but he's a pirate. He probably spends part of the time 'outside the law' and part of the time hauling high-risk cargo to questionable locations."

  Her two companions didn't look convinced. "I can tell you ground-pounders are having trouble figuring the situation. But think about it for a minute," McCloud went on.

  "Jeremiah, have you ever wondered why I hate the idea of combat? Well, it's not just because of the obvious danger, but because the financial burden would ground my ship faster than any lasers. Yes, it takes thousands of C-bills to repair a BattleMech, so imagine how much more expensive it is to repair a DropShip. Not only are parts harder to find, but they cost more.

  "If you're an independent, like me or Danes, one good battle can cost you hundreds of thousands of C-bills, and that assumes you're not assessed for damages to the cargo. That's a burden most captains can never recover from. If they want to keep flying, they have to either join up with one of the Houses of the Inner Sphere or look for some easy money."

  "Sounds like a risky line of business you're in," commented Bell with a sad shake of his head.

  "For some of us, yes. Of course, not everybody is in the same situation. Some ships are owned by giant merchant companies; those captains work for the company. Maybe they call the ship their own, but it belongs to the company. Those captains don't set their own course; they go where the company orders. Military captains are in the same situation.

  "The question is one of independence. I could eliminate all my worries by simply signing on with a House or mercenary unit. Then it would be their problem if the Bristol ever got damaged. The price is my freedom. If the stories about Danes are true, he decided to run from the Commonwealth bankers. It could have happened when his wife died or it could have happened following an attack."

  "Or, it might never have happened at all," continued Rose.

  "I admire your unflinching trust in your fellow man," said McCloud sarcastically. "But if he's an honest trader, how did he acquire an Inner Sphere, DropShip? One riddled with weapons fire and so badly damaged it almost collapsed on landing."

  "How did you know about that?" asked Rose.

  McCloud snorted. "I've been living at the spaceport, remember? Danes' landing sent the crash crews scrambling. He didn't think the leg would support the weight of the landing. He was damn near right."

  Rose nodded, letting the room fill with silence. McCloud might be right, but he hoped not. He had to be able to trust Danes, and the idea of working with a pirate unnerved him. The Clans were the biggest threat humanity had ever faced, and the thought of someone preying on the misfortunes of the Inner Sphere during the Clan invasion was infuriating. Still, Rose knew that such things happened every day. He didn't want to believe it, but he had to prepare the Thorns for the possibility.

  "Thanks for stopping by, Antioch. Let's keep this between the three of us until I decide how we should handle it." Bell grinned slightly and threw a half-salute at Rose. "Rachel and I will be going down to dinner in just a minute. Better have Riannon round up the troops." Bell nodded and winked a goodbye to McCloud as he left the room and closed the door behind him. Rose sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache coming on.
<
br />   "This never should have happened," said McCloud as she sat down on the bed. Rose released his nose and sat down next to her.

  "Done is done, Rachel. I think we can survive working with Danes. In truth, he doesn't seem like such a bad guy. He's just got a shady past." Rose smiled and put an arm around McCloud's shoulders. "Some people would say the same thing about me, remember? After all, the Com Guards aren't one of your more reputable units, at least not to the rest of the Inner Sphere."

  McCloud relaxed and Rose could feel her body lean against his for a moment before she pulled away. He knew that she was about to give him the bad news.

  "I'm leaving," she said simply.

  "I know. Will it be soon?"

  McCloud looked at him, her eyes starting to fill. She stood suddenly and stepped away from the bed. With her back to Rose, she brushed the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath. She turned back to him, but kept her distance as she regained control of her emotions. She took another deep breath and looked at her chronometer.

  "Thirty-eight hours and twelve minutes till lift-off."

  Rose whistled and tried to lighten the mood with a smile. "That's pretty precise timing. Must be an important mission."

  McCloud laughed and tears started to well again. "Hardly. We just have to follow a precise pattern to reach the JumpShip at the proper time. Too early or too late ..." McCloud let the sentence drift off to silence. They both knew what would happen if the Bristol was too early or too late.

  Rose sat on the bed in silence, knowing he should say something, but unsure what. "Rachel," he started slowly, "you know ..."

  "Wait, Jeremiah. I don't want a goodbye confession. I know how you feel, even if you don't. I just wanted to say goodbye. If all goes well, I'll be back in thirty days. Maybe we can talk then. Will you still be here?"

  Rose nodded. "The launch date hasn't been assigned yet, but we should be here for that long and a little more. We're scheduled for training and a couple of practice runs before the real thing, so you should get back long before the Thorns leave."