D. R. T.

by James D. Long

  "Honor."

  "Ah, yes. You know about Clan honor."

  "I know about Devereaux honor and Clan Nova Cat."

  "I agree to the terms. You may exit your 'Mech as soon as you are ready."

  Rose killed the connection and toggled to the Black Thorns' company channel. He filled in the conscious warriors on the change in plans, and ordered the Black Thorns to power down their 'Mechs while awaiting the outcome. The surviving mercenaries were unanimously opposed to the plan, but that was hardly a shock to Rose. In their place, he'd doubtless have felt the same way. They had trusted him before and they'd have to do so again.

  The garrison binary joined the Black Thorns, but they stopped short and began to power down. Just as Rose had prayed, Devereaux was going to approach the duel fairly. One OmniMech walked around the DropShip, scratching a rough circle around the vessel, telling Rose that Denard was serious about the term "circle" in the phrase Circle of Equals. One of the access doors to the Tracy K popped open, and Elementals began to leave the craft. They were quickly followed by Clan MechWarriors who crossed the short distance to stand with the debarking garrison pilots.

  Rose tapped out commands on the Masakari's computer and slapped the system locks. He then ordered his people out of their 'Mechs. Removing his neurohelmet, he unfastened the couch restraints and left the BattleMech. The other Clan 'Mechs had arrived by the time he was on the ground, but Rose paid them no attention. He had already begun to focus his ki as he descended the ramp. Breathing deeply, he crossed the short distance to the Tracy K, feeling himself in perfect harmony by the time he stood before the service door. He was not surprised to discover it was already open.

  Rose climbed the short ladder and passed through the doorway to the cargo bay beyond. A final deep breath and he closed the door behind him. Looking around the room he saw that the Clan technicians had been very busy since the DropShip's crash. The bay, which had previously held only Hawg's Battlemaster, now held two Fenris OmniMechs. As he crossed the bay, Rose ran a hand along the giant foot of the nearest BattleMech.

  Rose moved to the bay's work bench and selected several tools from the rack. Going back through the bay, he went to the side door on the main level and jammed the lock into place. Using a hammer as a wedge, he locked the door shut. Now the only way into the cargo bay was through the access door on the gantry level, halfway up the bay. He returned to the workbench and selected a second hammer and a battered screwdriver. Examining the point of the latter, he smiled and continued working.

  Thirty minutes later he heard the door on the gantry level slowly open. Rose shifted his weight and moved behind the protection of the Fenris' leg. From his vantage point on the 'Mech's foot he could see Denard step swiftly through the opening and fully onto the gantry. For a moment Rose envied the man's grace and strength. When Denard stepped fully into view, Rose could see that both of the man's hands were empty.

  "I guess you took me literally," Rose called from below.

  Nerves on edge, Denard spun on the catwalk before he fully realized the distance to Rose. When he saw how far away was his opponent, Denard wanted to laugh. This was the Black Thorn warrior? This was the man who had destroyed his command?

  "You should not have called out, Captain Rose. An ambush was your only hope of success. Now you will die." Denard moved along the catwalk at a casual pace.

  "And you should have made a weapon, Star Colonel. That was my only real worry. Now you'll die."

  Denard laughed, a harsh, forced sound. "Your audacity is amazing. Under different circumstances ..."

  "We could have been friends?" asked Rose.

  Denard shook his head. "You could have been my bondsman."

  Rose watched as Denard walked forward along the gantry. Near the head of the steps he paused and extended a foot down onto the gantry floor, which prompdy fell away. Denard looked down the hole to the array of screwdrivers and picks below. Had he fallen, he would surely have been impaled on the devices Rose had set up below. "Very clever, Captain Rose, but you failed to conceal your trap." Rose flashed a nervous smile and glanced around the room. Denard laughed and stepped over the gap. He paused at the top of the steps. "You can't beat me, Captain Rose."

  "That's exactly what Ajax said," Rose replied.

  "You're about to die, MechWarrior."

  "And that's what Hawg said."

  Denard began walking slowly down to the main level lightly balanced on the balls of his feet. "I should thank you before you die, Captain Rose. You taught me a valuable lesson. Or retaught me a lesson." Rose arced an eyebrow, but did not respond. He concentrated on his breathing and refocusing his ki. It should have been much easier this time because he had focused himself only moments before, but the presence of an enemy so lethal made it more difficult.

  "You caught me unaware. Nobody has ever done that before. I was still several minutes away from being able to release the OmniMechs in the hold, but your call arrived just as I was about to release two points of Elementals out of the west cargo door." Denard shook his head. "I got lazy and failed to have my men ready." The Star Captain looked coldly at Rose. "It will not happen again."

  He continued to ease down the steps, still moving casually. "Tell me, Captain Rose, do you really have two tons of explosives beneath this ship? Not that it matters now, but I would like to know."

  Rose simply nodded.

  "I thought as much." Denard stepped off the stairs and onto the wet floor of the cargo bay. The floors of most repair facilities were notoriously dirty, but if the Clansman thought anything of the puddle of water, he didn't show it. Rose reached into a back pocket as Denard stepped forward. With Rose still on the foot of the BattleMech and Denard down on the bay floor, Rose was a significant height advantage, but the Elemental didn't seem to mind. He continued to walk confidently forward as Rose brandished his weapon.

  Denard stopped in mid-stride. "A gun?" he asked, staring at the weapon.

  Rose shook his head and dropped the device into the water near Denard's feet. "Electric torch."

  The small device was little more than two metal prongs, an insulated handle, and a high-capacity lithium battery. When turned on, the electric current passed between the two prongs. The device was powerful enough to cut through ferro-fibrous armor as fast as a man could pull the torch across the armor's surface.

  The torch hit the water as Denard realized what was happening. He tried to jump clear of the water, but it was too late. The lithium battery burned out after only six seconds of life, but that was more than enough to reduce Denard to a quivering mass of flesh.

  Rose jumped down from the Fenris' foot and pulled the battered screwdriver from his back pocket. Every muscle in Denard's body twitched and jerked as it suffered the aftereffects of the electrocution. Rose reversed the grip of the screwdriver and grabbed a handful of Denard's hair. Setting his jaw and tightening his grip, he thrust the screwdriver into the Elemental's right eye.

  As he stepped away from the body, Rose could no longer think of it as anything living or as something with a name. He dragged the Elemental's heavy form across the floor to the exterior door, and threw the door open. Pausing for an instant, he scanned the dawn sky, then dumped Denard's body out of the open door. After making sure none of the Elementals had reached for a weapon, he jumped the short distance to the ground below.

  Without a word to the assembled Nova Cat MechWarriors, Rose walked to the Masakari and began the climb to the cockpit. Once inside the head of the massive 'Mech, he snapped off three toggles and killed the chronometer. The countdown timer to the explosives winked off with just under five minutes to spare.

  32

  DropShip Tracy K

  Courcheval System, Nova Cat Occupation Zone

  4 August 3057

  Rose sat in the mess room of the Tracy K and slowly swirled the dregs of his coffee in the bottom of the cup. The DropShip was five hours out of Courcheval and closing on the Kurita JumpShip at top speed. Rose downed the last of the coffee
and stretched across the table for the decanter. Savoring the aroma, he poured another cup and reflected upon the silence. With the ship under full acceleration, there was no need to use the dispenser bulbs.

  After Danes had given the all-clear signal several hours earlier, Rose had come to the mess room, which he'd found empty. After checking several of the crew cabins and discovering that they too were empty, he was sure he knew where everybody was headed—the cargo bays.

  Part of him wanted to be surprised that the Nova Cats at the DropShip site were honoring their dead commander's arrangement, but deep down he'd known exactly how they would react. They were warriors raised to live by a code of honor. Even though they would likely never attain their society's highest goal, they tried to live up to the ideal in all ways.

  While two Elementals were carrying away the body of their commander, the garrison binary turned away. Led by Star Captain Thrace, they began the long march back to their-base, leaving the Black Thorns with a clear path to leave.

  While Rose sat drinking his coffee, Bell sat down across the table and also poured himself a cup. Rose wiped his mouth on his sleeve while Bell reached across to top off Rose's half-empty cup. "Everybody in the cargo bays?" Rose asked between sips. Bell nodded and smiled at his commander. There was a full binary of OmniMechs in the cargo bays below and enough repair and replacement equipment to keep a raiding force in the field for months.

  "I thought I'd head to the med bay and check on our patients," said Rose. "Want to come along?"

  "Sure."

  Rose picked up his cup and led the way through the twisting corridors of the DropShip until they came to a set of double doors with the symbol for the ship's medical service. He slapped the entrance switch and stepped through.

  On the other side of the door, the DropShip seemed transformed. There were still telltale indications that this was the Tracy K, but the Clansmen had updated some of the medical equipment in preparation for their planned raid. There was nothing here that didn't exist in a well-stocked field hospital, though the Tracy K could hardly be considered fully equipped by Clan standards. The room contained four beds and one critical care unit. Happily, the enclosed care unit was empty.

  Three of the four beds were occupied, but only one of the patients was awake. Rose looked around for the cargomaster, who was also serving as the impromptu medical technician, but he was nowhere in sight. Rose crossed to his sister's bed and took her hand, receiving a reassuring smile in return.

  "Glad to see you're finally feeling better, sis," he said, giving her his warmest smile. Ria tried to sit up in bed, but then slumped back down.

  "I'm not sure this is what I'd call better, but it's nice to be awake. On second thought, scratch that." Rose began to rub her cheek with one hand. "It's nice to know I'm still alive, but I could do without the awake part."

  Bell stepped up to the bed and smiled. "It's good to have you back." Ria tried to smile and nod in return, but even that simple effort turned her pale.

  "Is there an echo in here?" she asked in a whisper. Rose and Bell shook their heads in unison.

  "That's your inner ear," explained Rose. "It sometimes goes haywire after an ammo explosion. It will be normal again in a day or two. Till then you'll think you're listening under water."

  "So that wasn't a dream," she said after several moments. Rose gave Bell an anxious look and turned back to his sister. She had closed her eyes, but Rose knew she was still awake.

  "No dream, sis," he replied.

  "Then it's gone." Rose didn't have to wonder what "it" was. "Yes, it's gone."

  "I'm dispossessed," she said as tears slipped from the corners of her eyes.

  Rose gave her hand another gentle squeeze. "Not exactly. We, that is, the Black Thorns, still have the Marauder II and the Shadow Hawk on Outreach. You might like one of those."

  Tears flowed freely now. "Jeremiah, those 'Mechs are up for sale. We need the money for McCloud and the OmniMech maintenance."

  "Well, maybe not," said Rose. "Besides, while you were asleep, we had a slight reversal in fortune." Riannon opened one eye to see whether her brother was lying, but her eyes were too tear-filled to tell. She blinked away the tears and silently cursed the pain in her head.

  "He's serious," offered Bell, as if independent confirmation of Rose's news would settle the matter for Riannon.

  Rose squeezed her hand tighter. "Get some rest, and make it peaceful." Behind him Rose heard the door to the lab open. 'There will be time enough for explanations later." Ria didn't respond, but Rose was sure she'd heard. The cargomaster tapped him on the back and motioned Rose and Bell to the other side of the room. Rose released his sister's hand reluctantly.

  "You have to leave," the man said in a harsh whisper. "They all need rest." Rose nodded and placed his hand on the man's shoulder. All three men wanted what was best for the patients.

  "Just tell me how they're doing and we're gone." The cargomaster paused, as if even a small delay was unacceptable, but he couldn't ignore the look Rose gave him.

  "Your sister will be fine. I expect she'll be out of here by this time tomorrow." Rose's heart leapt with joy to know that Ria was going to be all right.

  "MechWarrior Hawg has a broken hip and femur, assorted lacerations, and second-degree burns along the arms and face. The scanners indicate some corneal damage to the right eye, but we won't know more for a couple of hours at least. The machines are keeping him sedated because of the hip, but that should end in another twelve or fourteen hours."

  "And Rippiticue?" asked Rose.

  "Her left foot has been severed just above the ankle," the cargo master said calmly. Rose looked over at he sleeping MechWarrior in the amazement. She looked so peaceful. "I've got a preserving sleeve on it, but ..."

  "Does she know?" asked Bell.

  The cargomaster nodded. "I've always heard you Mech Warriors were tough, but that lady there might take the prize. She just laughed like it was no big deal when that other woman told her the news. Now she's sleeping peaceful as a baby. Not a care in the world." The man continued shaking his head.

  "I'll tell them you were in," the cargomaster said as he opened the door. "And one more thing, ask the others to stay away for another few hours. These people need their rest."

  "We'll tell them," Rose assured him as he and Bell left the room.

  The two men walked back the way they'd come from the mess hall, neither speaking as they reflected on the sights in the medical bay. Rose couldn't help also thinking about Esmeralda and Badicus, who, unlike Ria and Leeza, would never rejoin their comrades. He suddenly felt their loss very deeply and painfully.

  "Leeza can still pilot a 'Mech," Bell offered as they reached the mess hall. Rose grunted agreement, unsure whether she would want to or if he should even let her.

  "Captain Rose, there you are," said a voice. Rose turned and smiled at the woman who'd spoken. Her left arm was in a sling and she moved with a slight limp, but Rose knew the wounds were not serious and she would be as good as new in a matter of days.

  "Chu-i Myoto, it's good to see you up and around," said Rose with forced cheerfulness.

  "Thank you, Captain Rose." If Myoto caught his mood, she gave no indication.

  "Sit down, Chu-i," he said.

  "Please, call me Reiza." Bell poured a third cup of coffee as the woman slid carefully into the bench. The three sat sipping their coffee in silence, listening to the odd sounds of the DropShip. Rose allowed his mood to darken with no attempt to stop the emotions he felt. He looked across the table at Myoto, who was watching him intently.

  "I'm sorry about your 'Mech," said Rose finally.

  Myoto shrugged, then winced in pain from her wounds. "There is no need for apologies, Captain. The 'Mech was destroyed in the performance of its duties." Rose nodded.

  "You fought well," offered Bell. Myoto looked across at him, searching for any traces of mockery. Then she glanced at Rose, who nodded agreement.

  "I'm not given to idle praise, but
your contribution to our escape will be duly noted in my report," said Rose earnestly. Myoto smiled and blushed at the compliment. "You've come a long way from the warrior I first met on Wolcott."

  "Thank you, Captain, but there is no need to include me in your report. I have all the praise I need."

  Rose saluted her with his cup as he recalled one of their previous conversations. "So you proved something to yourself, did you?"

  "Hai."

  "And what did you discover?" asked Rose.

  "Perspective, Captain. I discovered that everything must be viewed in its proper perspective to be accurately judged. I have, at last, gained the first glimpse of that perspective which I had sought for so long." The three lapsed into silence as Rose considered Myoto's revelation.

  "Excellent point, Reiza. Perspective is the key to viewing any situation." Rose rapped his hand on the table and suddenly stood. His dark mood began to evaporate as he, too, began to alter his own perspective of the situation. He still felt the losses of his comrades keenly, but the sadness was slowly being replaced with a new sense of purpose. Esmeralda and Badicus had not died in vain. Rose would make sure of that.

  Without a look backward, Rose stood and headed toward his cabin. The Black Thorns had been mauled on Courcheval and he had lost near and dear companions, but Jeremiah Rose knew the Black Thorns could rise from that beating stronger than before. The veterans would be missed, but there was new blood ready to take their place. The Black Thorns were coming back, and everybody from the Kuritas to the Clans had better be ready.

  Epilogue

  Mercenary Garrison District

  Wolcott, Draconis Combine

  6 November 3057

  Rose sat in the hospital room with a small bundle in each arm. It was well past visiting hours, but hospital security was laughable, especially to someone with the money, skills, and determination to get inside. Rose had all three.

  Across the room Rachel Rose began to stir. Glancing up at the monitor, Rose saw by her vital signs that she was awake.