Malicious intent

by Michael A. Stackpole

  "How could it be better for me if the Jade Falcons on Morges lose?"

  "Khan Vandervahn Chistu sent the troops that are fighting the exiles there. He sent them over your protest, or so I have learned since my resurrection. If they win, you appear to be a fool. Chistu, having slain Ulric Kerensky, having destroyed the renegades, will win all the glory. He was the one who proclaimed the Absorption of the Wolves into the Jade Falcons, therefore he is seen as the one who subdued the most haughty and arrogant of the Clans. He will have the gratitude of other Khans for this."

  Crichell felt the hairs rise at the nape of his neck. He had seen Chistu's maneuverings and knew their import, but he had viewed them as isolated events, not as stages of a single process. With the death of Ulric at Chistu's hands the true extent of his subordinate's planning had crashed in on him. Chistu had obviously gained momentum. It was a foregone conclusion that the next Grand Council would choose an ilKhan from the Jade Falcon Clan. Elias Crichell had assumed he would be the one chosen to lead the Clans in the conquest of the Inner Sphere, but now it looked as if Chistu was more certain to win that honor.

  "This is nothing I did not know, and I do not find your insights particularly valuable."

  Vlad shrugged. "I did not mean that to be valuable. If you had found it valuable you would be too stupid to see the value of what I can offer you."

  "And, aside from insolence, that would be ... ?"

  The Wolf's smile broadened evenly, and Crichell did not find it any more pleasant than before. "I will give you the means to destroy Khan Vandervahn Chistu. Utterly and completely. From this moment forward, he is no longer your rival. Your path to the position of ilKhan is clear."

  Vlad's words came so coldly and precisely that Crichell almost let the spark of joy in his heart show, but he restrained himself. "The only way you could do that is to kill him."

  "No, there is another way, but I do prefer the more lethal alternative." The Wolf tapped himself on the chest with his right hand. "I will eliminate Khan Chistu for you, and do it in a manner that will raise no questions of impropriety. In return you will give me two things."

  "And those are?"

  "The first one is this: I ask of you the right to challenge Khan Vandervahn Chistu to a Trial of Refusal. Because I do not have a bloodname, my challenge to do combat with a bloodnamed warrior of a Clan must have the sanction of a Clan Khan." Vlad balled his right hand into a fist. "You see, I was there when Ulric was slain, and I dispute Khan Chistu's account of the circumstances surrounding his death."

  Elias Crichell leaned forward, barely able to believe his ears. "You are saying that Vandervahn Chistu lied about killing Kerensky?"

  "I am, and I have proof of my accusation. I recorded the battle—the ambush, the murder. That proof has been hidden well away and will be made available to you if I do not succeed in slaying him in single combat." Vlad's eyes glittered coldly. "You must understand why I make this request. I was there to ward Ulric and I failed in that duty. I should have anticipated treachery and I did not. The only way I can remove this blot on my honor is to kill the man who put it there."

  Elias Crichell sat back and gave Vlad the hint of a smile. Aside from the obligatory formality of an annual Trial of Position in a 'Mech that qualified him as a warrior and allowed him to maintain his rank within the Clan, he had long since forsaken combat. Even so, he was not so old that he could not remember when the passion for vengeance had burned in his veins. This request by a Wolf to redeem his honor surprised Elias, for he had long believed that no Wolf clung to the true ways of the Clans—the way exemplified by the Jade Falcons and their strict code of conduct and warfare.

  "You speak more like a Falcon than a Wolf, Star Captain Vlad."

  "Is that not what all Wolves have become?" Vlad opened his arms. "This last act by a Wolf should be one based on honor, quiaff?"

  "Aff." Crichell nodded. "I grant you permission to challenge Chistu, but beware. Because you do not have a bloodname and he is a Khan, he is within his rights to name a surrogate to fight you in his place."

  "I understand the rules governing this sort of challenge and will abide by them."

  "Good." The Jade Falcon Khan shifted in his seat. "And the second thing you will want from me?"

  "If I succeed, you will know what it is."

  "And if you fail?"

  "Then you get what you want at only half the cost." The Wolf had let his arms drop, but he stood tall. "You will be meeting with Khan Chistu here, later today?"

  "I will."

  "Good, I will challenge him at that time." Vlad gave Crichell a salute. "I will see you then." The Jade Falcon Khan raised a hand. "Wait."

  "Sir?"

  "Once you have slain Khan Chistu, what reason have I to uphold the other half of the bargain we have struck—the half I know nothing about?"

  The lopsided grin returned. "You will uphold it, sir. You will see the wisdom in doing so."

  "How can you be so certain?"

  "Khan Crichell, I am willing to kill a man to avenge a dead leader from a dead Clan whose policies I found repugnant and opposed with every fiber of my being." Fire burned deep in Vlad's eyes. "Deny me what I want and you will discover how truly dangerous I can be."

  * * *

  Vlad found it curious that upon his return to Khan Crichell's headquarters he felt less like a bleeding man diving into a shark tank than he did an executioner come to dispatch a wretched prisoner. Two towering Elementals opened the doors for him. Vlad entered the room, setting his feet on the strip of red carpet leading to Crichell's throne, then waited for the doors to close behind him.

  He executed a sharp turn to the left—turning away from the empty throne—and offered a salute to Elias Crichell and the other three people seated around the Khan's desk. Though he had never met any of the trio, he recognized them all. Kael Pershaw, head of the Jade Falcon arm of the Watch, was the misshapen humanoid thing sitting at Crichell's left hand. More machine than man, Pershaw had been a legend among the Falcons for as long as Vlad had been aware that Clans other than the Wolves existed. That the Falcons had repaired and replaced so much of him suggested that Pershaw had value, but Vlad believed that if the man had truly been legend material, he'd have no need for all the cybernetics keeping him alive.

  The woman, who had been seated with her back to the door, turned and stood. Marthe Pryde's high forehead and sharp chin gave her face a triangular shape softened somewhat by the fullness of her lips. As tall as he was but decidedly more slender, she had the greyhound physique the Jade Falcons favored in breeding their MechWarriors. The youngest of the Falcons at the table, she also had the most promise. And her eyes promise the most danger.

  The final member of the quartet was regarding him curiously. Khan Vandervahn Chistu's steel-gray hair and matching goatee bracketed a broad-featured face with a nose that spread out from numerous breaks. His cold eyes looked dead, which struck Vlad as a positive omen. Shorter than Marthe Pryde and thicker of limb, he sat back, seemingly without a care in the world. He already believes himself to be ilKhan.

  Chistu smiled casually. "So this is the last Wolf?"

  "It is good to meet you again, saKhan Chistu."

  The Falcon's junior Khan slowly straightened up in his chair. "We have not met before."

  "Face to face, no, but on Government Hill here in Boreal-town, we did. I was there. I survived. I know what you did." Vlad nodded toward Khan Crichell. "This morning I asked Khan Crichell for permission to challenge you to personal combat to settle our differences."

  "Our differences?"

  Crichell laid a hand on Chistu's shoulder. "This last of the Wolves disputes your telling of how Ulric Kerensky met his death."

  Blood drained from Chistu's face.

  Vlad nodded slowly. "That is the least of the differences I have with you, Khan Chistu. I demand a Trial of Refusal."

  "Disputing Ulric's death?"

  Vlad watched the fear in Chistu's eyes, thinking the man was probably plum
bing the depths of his predicament right now. In ambushing Ulric Kerensky he had broken any number of the strict mores that defined honor for the Jade Falcons. The ambush in and of itself was a gross violation of their code of conduct. Added to that was a transgression that only the Falcons recognized: he had used an entire unit to destroy one foe. While Vlad and the Wolves might view the tactic as a suitable use of military resources, the reactionary Falcons thought one-on-one combat the soul of military dignity.

  Disclosure of these sins threatened to do more than prevent Chistu from becoming ilKhan. The Jade Falcons would, very likely, strip him of Clan and military rank. The House of Chistu might even undertake a Ritual of Abjuration and expel him from it. Worse yet, his genetic heritage would end with him.

  Vlad slowly nodded. The problem with grasping for a prize placed so highly, Khan Chistu, is that the fall that results from failure is that much more tragic. Fighting Vlad for his honor in this matter would be taken as an admission that there had been, in some way, irregularities in the Khan's report of Ulric's death. Chistu had to know that Vlad would only have been granted permission to fight him because he had been able to substantiate his claim, so he already found himself poised and teetering on the brink of oblivion.

  Chistu looked up. "You said that was the least of our differences."

  "I did."

  "And the greatest of them is?"

  Vlad smiled slowly. "You made a Trial of Refusal into a Trial of Absorption." Chistu's eyes sharpened. "And you dispute this as well?"

  "I do."

  Vandervahn Chistu stood. "Then you shall have your Trial of Refusal. We shall fight to settle the issue of the Absorption."

  "No!" Crichell pounded a fist on his desk. "I granted permission for this battle based on the accusation concerning Ulric's death. I revoke that permission and without it you cannot challenge a Khan."

  Chistu smiled all teeth at his superior. "But, Elias, you forget, I am a Khan as well. I grant his request to challenge me—to challenge me over the issue of the Absorption." The junior Khan looked at Vlad. "Is this acceptable to you?"

  "Bargained well and done, Khan Chistu." By fighting Vlad in dispute of Absorption, Chistu was admitting to a much lesser offense, one involving interpretations of Grand Council regulations, not the customs that defined the Jade Falcons. His shifting the trial to the Absorption also made conspiratorial confederates of all the other Falcons who had welcomed the co-opting of the Wolves, shifting the blame from Chistu alone to the Clan as a whole.

  "Well bargained and done, Vlad of the Wolves." Chistu clasped his hands at the small of his back. "I am the challenged party, so I choose to fight you from a BattleMech. And I even waive the right to have a second represent me."

  The Wolf smiled. "You waived that right by accepting my challenge yourself, Khan Chistu."

  "So I did. Where will you have us fight?"

  "Government Hill suited your purposes before." Vlad opened his arms. "I will await you there."

  "Done."

  Vlad nodded, then looked at Crichell. The outrage in the man's eyes almost prompted a laugh from Vlad. Yes, now you know what the second half of our bargain is—I rid you of your rival and you give me back my Clan. You sought to use my ambition as a means to further your ambition, and now you will pay a price for your arrogance.

  Admiration and loathing mixed in Marthe Pryde's eyes, making her that much more interesting to him. She had apparently pieced together how Vlad had successfully played one Khan off against the other. This impressed her. The hatred in her expression, though, he could not so easily fathom. Is it me she has no use for, or the political jostling that left her Clan's leaders open to a challenge by the last Wolf? The latter, I hope, for she will be an implacable enemy.

  Vlad spun on his heel and marched toward the doors. An implacable enemy, but still no more than a Falcon. One of their Khans shall die for getting in my way. More Falcons can follow as easily as not, and I will be pleased if many more do.

  6

  Borealtown

  Wotan

  Jade Falcon Occupation Zone

  14 December 3057

  Vlad shifted on the command couch of the Warhawk he had borrowed from a former Wolf. He felt uneasy in the cockpit, though not because of the cast on his arm. He had broken away the plaster around his palm so he could grasp the port-side targeting joystick in his left hand. He felt occasional twinges of pain when moving the hand—and he knew his arm would have to be rebroken and reset after the fight—but he anticipated no difficulty in fighting Khan Vandervahn Chistu.

  His discomfort came at seeing how quickly all traces of Clan Wolf had been erased from Wotan and, presumably, the rest of Clan territory. The Warhawk had seen action on the tenth, yet four days later was already repaired and repainted with Jade Falcon colors. His own neurohelmet had been cracked in the fighting, so now he wore one painted green. He knew it was identical to the gray one he'd left in the carcass of his Timber Wolf, but somehow it didn't feel right.

  He forced such thoughts from his mind as Chistu marched his Gladiator to the top of Government Hill. The Battle-Mech looked exactly as it had the moment Vlad first saw it on the night Ulric died. Pristine and daunting, the humanoid 'Mech had a blockiness to it that reminded Vlad of Chistu himself. Its left arm ended in the muzzle of its most powerful weapon, an Ultra autocannon capable of spitting out enough ordnance at close range to rip any of his Warhawk's limbs clean off. The right arm carried the extended-range particle projection cannon that provided the 'Mech's longer-range punch. The extended-range small laser completed its weapons inventory. The small laser was virtually useless in combat—at least to cause serious damage. In the battle against Ulric it had been converted to provide targeting data used by other Falcons to launch multiple missiles at the ilKhan.

  The Warhawk, by contrast, did not even begin to approximate humanoid in appearance. The legs bent backward at the knees and the torso thrust forward over the heavy, clawlike feet. Slender, short arms supported weapons' pods that hung parallel to the 'Mech's prominent torso. The pilot rode in the 'Mech's head, set more toward the center of the torso, taking a position that put him closer to his enemy than his weapons. The inhuman form of the 'Mech left no question that this was anything but a machine created to thrive in the inhumanity of warfare.

  Vlad had chosen his 'Mech carefully. It carried more armament than Chistu's Gladiator and had a somewhat tighter targeting profile. Its twin extended-range PPCs gave it double the Gladiator's long range power. It also carried two large pulse lasers, which again increased the 'Mech's ability to strike from a distance. If Vlad could keep the fight outside the range where the autocannon could devastate his 'Mech, and manage to disable the extended-range PPC on the Gladiator's right arm, Chistu could do nothing serious to hurt him.

  And I have a targeting computer. The targeting computer would let him concentrate the damage done by his weapons, if the program came up with a correct firing solution. In the heat of battle, with both 'Mechs moving and reacting to a legion of inputs, getting a successful firing solution was not a sure thing. But if the computer kicked in at the right time, the fight would end quickly.

  If not, it will just take me longer to kill him. Vlad keyed his radio. "I am Star Captain Vlad, of the Wolves. I am here to challenge Khan Vandervahn Chistu to refuse the Absorption of my Clan into the Jade Falcons."

  "And I am Khan Vandervahn Chistu of the Jade Falcons, here to answer this challenge. Let the outcome of this battle establish the truth in this matter."

  "Seyla!" Vlad hit a switch and his targeting system reduced a 360-degree view of the area surrounding his 'Mech to a 160-degree holographic arc hanging in the cockpit before him. Red bars defined the edges of his forward firing arc. Golden cross hairs hung in the middle of the hologram, then drifted down to cover Chistu's Gladiator.

  Chistu's voice crackled through the speakers in the neuro-helmet. "Somehow it is fitting we fight here." The previous fighting had blackened the entire hilltop and ha
d leveled the various government buildings surrounding what had once been a circular park. When Vlad had first seen it, the Hellenistic architecture had made the area look like an Olympian paradise.

  And the ambush that killed Ulric reduced it to a charnel field. Vlad smiled as a red dot pulsed in the middle of his cross hairs and a tone sounded in the cockpit. "Indeed, Vahn Chistu, for this is a place already anointed with the blood of a Khan."

  As the Gladiator took a step forward, Vlad hit his triggers. The PPCs' azure lightning stabbed into the right side of the Gladiator's chest and played along its right arm. Molten ferro-ceramic armor bubbled up and dripped off the 'Mech, gushing down its side. The Warhawk's twin large pulse lasers shot volleys of green energy darts at the distant target. They lanced through the armor froth on the Gladiator's right arm, stripping away the last of the armor. Their energy unspent, they began frying both the ferrotitanium bones and myomer fibers that made the arm useful.

  A wave of heat flooded the Warhawk's cockpit. In firing all of his weapons Vlad had strained the 'Mech's capacity to shunt away excess thermal energy. The stink of hot plastic filled his nose. He knew his choice of tactics was risky, and that it could do as much damage to him as to his foe, but the harder he hit Chistu initially, the shorter the fight would be overall. And the less chance Chistu would have of hurting him.

  The Jade Falcon Khan somehow managed to keep his 'Mech upright, despite the gross balance shift caused by losing nearly three tons of armor. The PPC in the Gladiator's right arm flashed back at the Warhawk. The blue beam devil-danced up the right arm, flensing off nearly a ton of ferrofibrous armor. That reduced the armor on that part of Vlad's 'Mech by more than fifty percent, but still left it protected against another onslaught.

  Taking care to manage the heat in his 'Mech, Vlad shot at the Gladiator with only his PPCs while pulling his 'Mech back to keep it at his optimum range. Both beams slashed through armor on the Gladiator's chest. One peeled layers of armor from over the 'Mech's heart, while the other cerulean lance pierced the 'Mech's right flank. Hideous flashes of light lit the interior of the torso and a puff of smoke surrounded the ER small laser mounted on the 'Mech's right side.