The Archon looked down for a moment and when her face came back up, Caitlin saw that all the hopefulness had been replaced by fear. "You no doubt wonder why I don't ask my brother for aid in this matter, as Sun-Tzu's action against me is merely an expansion of his war against Victor.
"I have not done so because I fear I can no longer trust Victor. I never believed the stories that he had our mother and father killed, but after what he did with Joshua Marik and his sanctioning of the Combine's action in the Lyons thumb, my belief in Victor is shaken. I now think he may have had something to do with my mother's death."
Katrina stopped, sniffed, and wiped a tear from her cheek. "Forgive me the loss of composure, but I feel very alone. Sun-Tzu's attack has disconcerted me to the point where I am no longer certain of my decisions. I know he must be dealt with, and I know my parents trusted you implicitiy, so I beg of you, come to the aid of the Lyran Alliance."
The picture froze there. "What do you think?" Morgan asked.
Caitlin turned her chair around to face her father. His long white hair touched the shoulders of his jacket, and only the barest hints of gray running down from the corners of his mouth darkened his white beard. His brown eyes burned with an intensity Caitlin had not seen since before his retirement.
What surprised her even more was the fact that the right sleeve of his jacket was not pinned into place at the shoulder. The bomb blast that had killed Archon Melissa Steiner and Salome Kell, Caitlin's mother, had also cost her father his right arm. Prince Victor Davion had ordered the NAIS to construct Morgan a new arm, but her father rarely wore it.
Caitlin half-closed her eyes. "Does what we think really matter, Father? The message was addressed to you."
"True, but Dan runs the unit, and you and Chris are consulted on contracts. Dan?"
Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Allard frowned. "We've never used the Hounds to suppress civil disorder. I don't think I like the idea of setting a precedent."
Caitlin turned to him. "But, Colonel, the rebellions have been fomented by Sun-Tzu Liao. This would be a military action. You've seen the holovid reports from Zurich and the other rebellion worlds. Someone has to help those people."
Chris Kell nodded in agreement. "Caitlin has a point. Normally warfare is between military units, and the populace at large is unaffected by it. If I remember my unit history correctly, the Hounds destroyed a unit that had been making war on the civilian population of Lyons during the Fourth Succession War."
"Different circumstance, Chris. The unit was the Third Dieron Regulars and they'd invaded Lyons with the specific intention of destroying one settlement on the planet. They slaughtered people wholesale." Dan Allard's blue eyes hardened. "Everyone in New Freedom died save two adults and thirty or so children. In that situation, we were fighting a military unit, not a civilian-based revolutionary movement."
Morgan thumped a black metal finger against his desktop. "Besides that, we're a 'Mech unit. We do have some very good, rapid-response infantry, but not the kind of forces needed to put down a revolution."
Caitlin frowned. "But the League has been using mercs to support Sun-Tzu's revolutions."
"Not so on these worlds." Chris leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "I've been scanning all the reports from the Sarna March area and it's a mess. Katrina called it chaotic, but I'd say even that's optimistic. The second wave of the League and the Capellan invasions are hitting now. They've taken about a quarter of the March all by themselves. Everything else is fragmenting. Tikonov and the worlds in its bulge are staying with Victor, but all the other worlds are either going independent or forming alliances between themselves and other nearby worlds."
Dan smiled. "We've gotten a half-dozen offers from some of those governments to head down there. There are so many pieces I've started logging such requests into a file marked 'Puzzle March'."
Morgan sat back in his chair, but stared straight at Caitlin. "So, you agree that we reject Katrina's offer?"
She knew her father meant that question for her alone, but she hesitated before blurting something out. Throttle back, Caitlin. He'll listen to reason. "No, I don't agree. I don't think we should abandon Katrina."
"Why not?"
Caitlin glanced at Dan and Chris. She read no support on their faces, but neither did she read dismissal. That encouraged her. "I think we should not abandon Katrina because I believe she is right: I believe that Victor did kill Melissa and, therefore, also killed my mother. By not helping Katrina, we help Victor, and that I won't do."
Morgan's eyes tightened. "So, you do not trust Victor?"
"No, I don't."
"And you base this lack of trust on what Katrina has told you?"
"Yes, father, that and the feelings and impressions I've gotten from him. He's distant and stiff. Whenever I've met him I've felt like I'm being rated and tested, evaluated and ranked from some nefarious purpose." She shivered. "I can't warm up to him."
Her father nodded slowly. "So your belief that Victor may have killed your mother comes from Katrina and your feelings about Victor?"
Though someone else might have spoken the same words sarcastically, her father's tone was sincere, letting her know he valued her feelings. She knew he might not give them as much weight as he would hard evidence of Victor's guilt, but he was fair enough not to dismiss them out of hand. "Yes, Father, her words and my feelings."
"Good. Then, if you will permit me, I'll let you know why I don't believe that Victor had anything to do with your mother's death." Morgan smoothed his beard down with his flesh and blood hand. "That distance and stiffness you see in Victor I also saw in his father a long time ago. Both men were born strategists, so they do evaluate and rank people. Victor may be a bit harsher about it because, as the heir apparent, he had to sort between true friends and those who cultivated him solely for personal advancement and advantage.
"Key in this is the fact that Victor is a warrior, as was his father. You probably don't remember that Hanse Davion had an older brother, Ian, who ruled the Federated Suns before Hanse did. We were there, Dan and I, on Mallory's World, when Ian was killed in combat. Until then, Hanse had never given a thought to the possibility of ruling a nation. He had always assumed his life would be in the field as a soldier leading his troops."
Caitlin shook her head. "But Victor was groomed to rule from birth."
"No, Cait, he wasn't. Hanse Davion and Melissa agreed to raise him the way Hanse and Katrina Steiner—the original, Melissa's mother—had grown up. Victor was destined to rule, but he was groomed to be a warrior. Remember, even after Hanse's death, Melissa ruled the Federated Commonwealth while Victor stayed with his unit. Had he wanted the throne, he could have pressed his suit, and Melissa would have abdicated in his favor."
Caitlin sank back into her chair. "You're saying Victor could have taken the throne three years before his mother's death put him there?"
Morgan nodded slowly. "Archon Melissa told your mother and I that she spoken with Victor about her desire to retire, but he'd asked her to postpone retiring until 3062. He said he wanted to wait until he was at least the age his father had been when he became head of House Davion and the Federated Suns. He also told her he would be willing to wait longer than that."
"Why haven't you told anyone this?" Caitlin asked.
Her father's left hand knotted into a fist and the mechanical one aped the gesture imperfectly. "No one would believe me. The only people who could confirm what I have told you are Melissa and Salome, and neither one of them is alive. Once upon a time my word would have been taken at face value, but now conspiracy-mongers are even tying me into their fantasy schemes, citing as proof the fact that I ducked at the precise moment the bomb went off. They even use the fact that I lost an arm to that bomb as proof I was part of the conspiracy. They say Victor bought me a new arm as part payment of some devil's pact I'd made with him."
Morgan's eyes sharpened. "Caitlin, you've known Victor and Katrina as long as I have. Which of them
is the better politician?"
Caitlin's mouth went dry. "Katrina."
"And which of them has managed to expand her holdings to well beyond any she would likely have claimed had things progressed normally?"
She nodded her head slowly. "Katrina."
"And Katrina, by declaring herself neutral, has allowed the Free Worlds League to attack her brother."
Caitlin brought her head up. "Then you're saying you believe Katrina had Melissa killed?"
Morgan nodded solemnly. "I am."
"Then why aren't we on our way to Tharkad to overthrow her?"
Her father hesitated before answering. He forced his hands open and pressed his palms flat on the desktop. "We are not heading to Tharkad for two simple reasons. The first is that while I do believe Katrina had my wife and your mother killed to advance her own career, I cannot prove it conclusively. If I could, I would immediately demand justice. Since I cannot, I am content to let her fret and stew over how to deal with Sun-Tzu."
The anger and pain she heard in her father's voice sliced like a razor through Caitlin's image of Katrina. Behind the facade of the smiling face, Caitlin now saw a monster with a huge maw and an insatiable appetite.
She looked at her father and a wordless agreement passed between them. Somehow, some way, they would find proof of Katrina's crime and make her pay for it. And Caitlin was certain her father knew that if he died first, she would see it through.
Caitlin felt a lump rise in her throat. "What's the second reason we're not going to kill Katrina?"
Morgan picked up a yellow slip of paper with his left hand. "This came at the same time ComStar brought me the holodisk. A Clan unit just jumped into the Alliance. It's up to us to deal with them."
Wotan
Jade Falcon Occupation Zone
"Yes, Elias, I will get her." Vandervahn Chistu succeeded in keeping the contempt out of his voice. "Natasha Kerensky has not survived to be her age by being stupid."
Elias Crichell's head snapped around the emphasis on the word age. "I never thought she was stupid. On Baker Three she ripped through the Nega Garrison Cluster as if it were not there. She even destroyed the buildings they were using as headquarters. Had you left the 305th Assault Cluster on Baker Three, she would not now be assaulting Devin. You know as well as I do that the Choyer Garrison Cluster will fall to her there."
Chistu clasped his hands behind his back and slowly began to pace around the interior of the holotank. "I do not doubt you are correct, Elias."
"Will you do nothing about it, Vahn?"
"I could call up real-time holovid and let you watch the fighting."
Crichell thrust a finger at him. "That is not what I meant. You said she would never get here, but you have done nothing to stop her. And now it looks as if Ulric's column will bring him here as well. You should be scrambling forces to stop them, and instead you have sent your Peregrine Galaxy off into Lyran space. Are you secretly a Wolf, quiaff?"
A jolt ran through Chistu. "No, I am not a Wolf." He stopped in the center of the tank. "Computer, project a map of the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone. Include Steel Viper worlds."
In an instant a helix of lights appeared in the center of the holotank. Green marked the worlds the Jade Falcons owned, silver the ones administered by the Steel Vipers, and red burned on the worlds the Wolves had hit. Chistu pointed to the collection of lights as if they explained everything. "I have the situation under control."
Crichell, folding his arms across his thick middle, looked unimpressed.
"Natasha Kerensky's task force hit Colmar. The 352nd Assault Cluster sustained an estimated twenty-five percent casualties. On Baker Three she used the 341st Assault Cluster. They took similar damage. Because of the poor weather on Devin, where she is using the Third Battle Cluster, we anticipate forty percent or higher casualties. Next she will hit Apolakkia or Denizli, where I have enough forces to cripple or kill her."
Annoy her, in truth, but still enough to bleed her. She did bid surprisingly well at Devin, so my casualty reports may be off a bit. Chistu looked over at Crichell. "Any questions, Elias?"
"I notice you have drawn some of your best Clusters here to Wotan instead of using them to kill her."
"I brought them here to calm your worries. I don't expect Natasha to make it to Wotan," Chistu lied. She'll be here, and this is where I will kill her.
"What of Ulric?"
"His unit took heavy damage on Evciler. I have troops setting up for him at Butler."
Crichell accepted that statement without comment, though Chistu read in his eyes that he thought the plan flawed. "Why did you send the Peregrine Galaxy into Lyran space?"
"For the same reason I have pulled the Omicron Galaxy from its garrison duties in the Periphery and also sent it into Lyran space."
"You did what?"
"I have two Galaxies operating in Lyran space." Chistu touched the star representing Baker 3, and it enlarged to ten times its previous size. He touched the star icon about which the planets in that system revolved. The computer opened a window and displayed holovid footage of a large fleet vanishing from the jump point at the apex of the solar axis. "This was Khan Phelan's half of Natasha's spearhead."
He touched one of the silver stars and it expanded to display similar images of a fleet jumping into the system and quickly jumping out again. "The Vipers gave me that little bit of intelligence and have told me that the Wolves have not appeared at any of their worlds. This leads me to the conclusion that they have jumped into Lyran space. I suspect this is an attempt at a flanking attack."
"Where are they?"
"I do not know precisely. There were only two Lyran worlds within range of a jump from Graus: Morges and Babaeski. The Peregrines are on their way to the Babaeski system since it is the one that lies closest to Wotan. The Omicon Galaxy will investigate Morges. If they do not find the Wolves there, those Galaxies will work their way toward the Periphery. We have excellent data concerning those systems from the work Nekane Hazen did on the Red Corsair mission."
Crichell's eyes grew wide. "You must never speak of her. Never."
"Don't worry, Elias, your secret is safe with me. As safe as we are right here on Wotan." Chistu waved his hands through the holographic cloud of stars. "The future ilKhan has nothing to fear."
32
You may be obliged to wage war, but you are not obliged to use poisoned arrows.
—Baltasar Gracian Y Morales, The Art of Worldly Wisdom
Avalon City, New Avalon
Cruris March, Federated Commonwealth
1 November 3057
Sweat dripping from his nose and his lungs pumping like bellows, Victor Davion rested his hands on his knees to catch his breath. His throat felt a little raw, but he had come to expect that from the gym's dry air. Taking his exercise indoors was one of the few concessions he made to Curaitis sense of caution. The indoor track, which hung suspended six meters above the gym's trio of basketball courts, was short, but was constructed from wood and covered with a rubber surface supposed to be less stressful to the knees.
And Curaitis likely ordered a layer or two of ballistic cloth run in there in case an assassin should try to shoot up through it at me. Straightening up, Victor began to walk around the one hundred-and-sixty-meter track to the southeast corner of the gym. Galen had broken off three laps earlier to use the wallphone to answer his pager.
A chill draft cut through the thin fabric of Victor's shirt and shorts, bringing goose-bumps to his flesh. Galen was just returning the phone to the receiver and turning to look at the Prince, anger and bewilderment fighting for control of his face.
"Do you want your heart rate to stay up, or shall I save the bad news for the office?" Galen said.
Victor smiled and picked his towel up from the corner platform. "It can't be that bad, Jerry, especially after the news we had this morning. Morgan Kell has refused Katherine's request for help against Sun-Tzu. We might still be slow on organizing our counterattack, but I'm g
enerally satisfied with how things are progressing. Can this news spoil that?"
"Yes. That call was from Curaitis. They've got the agent who did Joshua's DNA match."
Victor's face brightened. "Who was he?"
Galen looked down. "She. It was a female agent."
Katherine? Victor wiped his face on the towel. He looked up. "Who was she?"
"Francesca Jenkins."
Stunned, Victor sat down hard on the track. "She's the one ...
"Yes, the one who stopped Sun-Tzu's people."
"But ..." Victor frowned. He knew that everyone who worked with Joshua had been changed when the double was brought in. If Thomas had decided to put an agent of his close to Joshua, why then? Why not have one there from the start? It made no sense, unless Marik knew, somehow, that Sun-Tzu would attack the hospital.
The Prince looked up at Galen. "What did Curaitis say?"
"He said they'd double-checked anyone who came in contact with Joshua, and they all came up clean. In going over the background checks, it occurred to him and some other agents that Francesca was the only person who hadn't been double-checked.
"A forensics team went over her apartment with a fine-tooth comb." Galen smiled. "If you'd not been so generous in making certain her expenses were taken care of, the place might have been cleaned out, and we'd have gotten nothing. As it was, they found a small plastic bag with a DNA sample that matches that of our Joshua double in the back of her freezer. Curates says chemical residue in the liquid indicates she did the matching with a science kit."
Victor shook his head. "How is that possible? She—I remember reading a profile of her—she was an Avalonian. Her father was a MechWarrior."
"Who murdered her mother and killed herself."
"Granted, that's a nasty way to go, but she was counseled, she learned to handle it. How did she become a League agent?"
Galen leaned back against the inetal guard rail on the interior of the track. "According to the aunt who took her in, the girl spent three summers on Castor with her 'grandparents.' Her mother was from Castor, and her maiden name was Jirik, but her real parents died before your father took Castor from Marik. Curaitis believes League intelligence ran an operation, keyed by the embassy here at the time of the mother's death, in which they persuaded Francesca to become an agent. They recruited her, trained her, and left her here as a mole. They played off her loneliness and gave her a proud, pro-League heritage to counter the hideous one her father represented."
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