The edge of an I-beam stanchion caught Marcus just behind the ear—not enough to put him out but definitely making him see stars. Reaching up over his head, he grasped the I-beam and then jackknifed his body up and over. A grunt of pain and a slackening of pressure around his midriff rewarded the effort as Marcus drove his attacker face-first into the beam. With the man knocked unconscious, Marcus easily kicked him off and worked his own feet back underneath him.
Hanging from the stanchion like some gargoyle, Marcus scanned the shadows for movement. Now where's your buddy?
The blow caught Marcus in the right side of the head, rocking him to the left while the heavy sole of the boot raked down the side of his face. His vision blurred, making the shadows and dim lighting run together until the whole scene changed into a giant murky red haze. Somehow he'd managed to hold on to the stanchion, but as another kick caught him in the midsection he slipped free and tumbled across space until he slammed into the wall and then back to the walkway grating.
With one hand gripping a, chain-link railing, Marcus hung in the air and shook his head lightly to clear the pain-shrouded cobwebs that clouded his mind. He'll be coming after me, Marcus thought. Gotta move.
The shadow came in swift and silent, almost parallel to the ship's hull, with two fists balled up and thrust forward like some kind of battering ram. Marcus leaned away from the impact, one arm looping up to surround the other's arms and keep them pinned to his chest. He tried to wrestle the other man around, perhaps to drive him down onto the grating, but the blow to the head still had Marcus groggy and his assailant managed to get his own feet back under him.
Keeping the man's arms pinned in an arm lock, Marcus struggled to trip up his assailant. The two of them ended up doing a shuffling zero-G dance, each with a hand on the chain railing for support. Then Marcus heard a voice off to the far right.
"Philippe, clear. Get away."
He'd forgotten about the needler! The voice was feminine, but Marcus heard its edge of desperation and knew she was ready to pull the trigger on both friend and foe if necessary. He heard another warning for Philippe to get clear, and by his opponent's sudden, frantic motions Marcus was sure the man heard it too. As the two men struggled to disengage, Marcus was able to finally sweep his attacker's feet up, holding him parallel above the walkway for only a second before hurling him toward where he'd last heard the sound of the voice.
The all-too-familiar cough of the needler gun came from ahead, and razor-sharp flechettes filled the air. Most slammed into the body of Marcus' attacker, jerking it around as the flechettes imparted their own kinetic energy to his still-airborne body. A few made it by, though, zipping past Marcus to shatter against the metal around and behind him. Marcus felt a sharp sting in his left arm and shoulder. Then, with what felt like a bone-shattering blow against his left leg, his feet flew out from under him, cartwheeling him back against the metal hull again.
Marcus ended up adrift and heading much too slowly for the ceiling. Fire arced up his left leg, leaving him breathless and grinding his teeth. Gaining only a slight amount of stability, Marcus looked in what he thought was the general direction of his assailant. He saw her outline where she leaned out from the perch on the Wasp's shoulder, leveling the needler in his direction.
Then a blur of movement arced out from behind the woman holding the needler, an arm hooking her entire head with a violent swinging motion. A deep, dull gong, the sound of a body slamming into the side of the Wasp, reached Marcus as his pain-muddled brain pieced together what he was seeing. A large shadow swarmed over the BattleMech's shoulder to grab the falling sniper and keep her from flying off.
"You all right, Marcus?"
The voice was deep and powerful, and Marcus' body went limp in relief. "Thomas? How did you know?"
"Heard the fire station pump start up. It's next door to the workout room. So I swam over to take a look."
And if the pump had been located anywhere else . . . Marcus didn't even want to think about that. "About time," was all he had the strength left to say. Then his left leg hit the ceiling and the lance of pain that shot through him brought with it sweet oblivion.
9
DropShip Heaven Sent
Zenith Recharge Station, Andurien
Duchy of Andurien, Free Worlds League
15 April 3058
The Heaven Sent's briefing room wasn't much bigger than the polished metal table and the eight chairs bolted to the deck around it, leaving less than a meter's clearance between chair backs and the gun metal-gray walls. The overhead lights cast a harsh, almost clinical glare over the room, reflecting off the table's, dull finish except where the dark glass of a holographic projection screen was set in its center. An auxiliary climate system installed in one of the room's upper corners recycled the air and labored to maintain a comfortable temperature. Without a direct link to the DropShip's ventilation system, the air came out dry and carrying the faint, acrid scent of ozone. The machine's loud hum was easily dismissed, but every few minutes something inside it gave a sharp metallic rattle that broke Marcus' concentration.
Marcus sat at one end of the table, furthest from the door. The three most senior Angels were strapped into the seats nearest him; Charlene Boske to his right, Ki-Lynn Tanaga and Thomas Faber to his left. Jase Torgensson's seat, next to Charlene's, remained vacant. Jericho Ryan and her aide, Shannon Christienson, sat across from each other in the last two seats on either side. In the chair nearest the door sat Flag Captain Drake Montgomery, commander of the Andurien Recharge Station.
The pressure of the pneumo-cast set around Marcus' left leg between ankle and knee distracted him almost as much as the rattle in the climate system. Little more than a plastic sleeve, the device could be quickly inflated into a rigid cast and adjusted for comfort. Supposedly adjusted, Marcus thought bitterly. It currently protected a hairline fracture of his left leg, at the mid-humerus. He reached down with his left hand to rub at the cast's upper edge, trying to devote his full attention to Flag Captain Montgomery's report on the event now two days past.
A report that was beginning to raise Marcus' hackles anew.
"That much of her story checks out," Montgomery said, speaking of the female leader of the trio. Montgomery had finally admitted that the three intruders were from the recharge station, a concession he hadn't been willing to make two days before. But the admission came sugar-coated with a story that absolved Andurien of any real responsibility. "Corporal Owens received a personal communique aboard the station, which we recovered and examined. It was a coded message instructing her to take action against you, with all the proper authorizations to make it look as if it came from Andurien. We have a record of its receipt, but all the Andurien transmitting stations have been checked and found to be clean. Investigators have concluded that for reasons unknown the message either originated aboard the recharge station or, more likely, was sent from a private transmitter up to the relay satellites. Either way, the computer records aboard the station were altered to make it look like a government-sanctioned message."
"And the two men?" Marcus asked.
"Technicians. They're innocent. The corporal commandeered them from the night-shift labor pool. They weren't told what was going on until halfway over on the shuttle."
Marcus let his exasperation bleed into his voice. "I have at least two BattleMechs requiring complete electronic overhaul thanks to their meddling. Those innocents really screwed up the computers on both machines. Not to mention they tried to kill me." He winced at the memory of the needler dart that had struck bone in his left leg. "Who's going to answer for this?"
The flag captain pursed his lips and sighed heavily. "Commander GioAvanti, you have to realize that the authorization was counterfeit. Whoever set this up deceived Corporal Owens, and the rest of the operation was conducted under her authority. She had the clearance to perform such activities only because she is a member of Andurien intelligence." Marcus let that one slide by without comment, and the fla
g captain continued. "The Duchy of Andurien has issued a formal apology that their representative was used in this way, and is prepared to compensate you for the damage to your machines. If it's any consolation, the corporal's career is over even though it is certainly no fault of hers."
Marcus shook his head lightly in disbelief, though his gaze never broke from Flag Captain Montgomery's. "And that's it? After holding us up for two days, this is the best you can do?"
"Commander GioAvanti, the fact that such an attack was directed specifically at your unit tends to support that it was committed by parties outside normal Andurien channels. Probably someone you dealt with in the past, carrying a grudge. The Duchy of Andurien has no interest in your mercenary company except to bring this regrettable incident to a close." The way Montgomery clipped his words left no doubt that the issue was indeed closed as far as he was concerned.
"If there are no further questions?" Flag Captain Montgomery quickly searched the faces of those gathered around the table while unbuckling himself from his seat. "Then I will return to my recharge station." He rose and drifted from the room with the ease of a man quite used to near-zero gravity.
The dull metallic thud of the closing door suggested to Marcus the closed attitude of the bureaucratic mind. The silence hung heavy in the room, finally broken by a rattle from the climate system. "So, do we believe them?" Marcus asked, his gaze flicking from one face to the next. He could feel the flush of anger still warm on his cheeks, and decided to let the others speak first while he worked to calm himself.
Charlene shrugged. "It could be just as he says. Jase might have been able to turn up more than their investigation did, but he isn't here. Given the formal apology and recompense, we really have no grounds to pursue this matter." She shrugged again.
"If whoever came after us knows we're heading into the Periphery," Thomas Faber said, leaning forward, "it might be that they wanted us stopped. If it's the Free Worlds League supplying weapons to the Hegemony, that is."
With a heavy exhale, Marcus shook his head. "Doesn't figure. Andurien has always been a thorn in the side of the League. I can't see the Anduriens taking such strong action on behalf of Thomas Marik, especially against the Magistracy of Canopus."
"That's not as unlikely as it sounds." Jericho Ryan licked at the edge of her lips and frowned, as if trying to decide how much to tell. "Before leaving Canopus IV, I was given access to information showing a possible connection between Andurien and the Capellan Confederation. Nothing major, just some shipping schedules and exchanges of ambassadors and the latest trade agreements. Since House Liao is also suspected of supporting the Hegemony's raids against my people, it isn't inconceivable that Sun-Tzu would use the Duchy to strike at you in advance."
Charlene's voice took on a speculative edge. "Especially after the showing we made against Liao's New Home Regulars."
"Wait a minute," Marcus said, fixing Jericho with a steady gaze. "Didn't the Duchy of Andurien once ally itself with Canopus to invade the Capellan Confederation? Now you think they might have switched allegiance?"
"That was almost thirty years ago, Commander." Jericho's expression was thoughtful. "Things change. Magestrix Emma Centrella cut off ties to Andurien after the failed invasion, going so far as to formally apologize to the Marik family. She also allocated funds to help rebuild facilities on several League worlds that suffered during the war fought to bring the Duchy of Andurien back into the League." She smiled thinly. "Pure survival instinct. The Free Worlds League had to be appeased, and the Magestrix bought them off cheaply."
"And Sun-Tzu Liao?" Charlene asked. "How does he fit into this?"
"The success of the Marik-Liao invasion of the old Sarna March has created some sympathy for him. Word of Blake has capitalized on that, working to reconcile any bitterness left over from the Andurien-Canopus invasion of the Confederation and to restore good diplomatic relations. Much in the same way they're working to strengthen the alliance between Canopus and the Taurian Concordat."
Marcus nodded. "Just like they're trying to do in the Chaos March." He paused to consider. "All right, so we've got a possible connection. Now the question is, what can we do about it?"
"Nothing," Jericho said immediately. "Charlene is correct that the Duchy's apology and compensation, well-meant or not, end the matter. Aggravate the situation now, and it will look like you've got your own political agenda to push." Nods from Faber and Ki-Lynn. "The best you can hope for is to break the supply line flowing into the Marian Hegemony and then tie it back to the Anduriens. Then you might see some measure of satisfaction."
Marcus could find no fault in her logic. "Agreed," he said.
He unbuckled his restraining strap and stood. Keeping a firm grip on the seat back, he moved around behind his chair and used it to hold himself down against the floor. "Meanwhile we consider the Free Worlds League hostile territory. Charlie, order a double guard at the hatches for both the Heaven Sent and the Pinhead. Also, two roving patrols in each. Faber, find me Petrovka. Between the technicians and the Mech Warriors, we're going to go over both DropShips top to bottom. Make sure Corporal Owens left no other surprises." He paused for a deep breath and glanced with irritation at the climate system, which had begun again with its mechanical rattle. "Anything else?"
Charlene spoke up as she unbuckled her own restraint and levered herself out of her chair. "Buddy system when the JumpShip we're using is at a recharge station or expecting shuttles."
"That one may be hard to enforce," Marcus said. "But we'll make it a strong recommendation."
Jericho rose with a nod to Shannon. "I'll get back to the Adonis, then. Captain McFarlaine is ready to jump at our discretion. Shall I give her the word?"
Marcus gave her a quick nod. "The sooner the better." As an afterthought, he asked, "What's our estimated time of arrival in Canopus space?"
"ETA is April twenty-ninth," Jericho said. "That's when we cross the border. But we aren't scheduled to reach the planet Marantha until early May."
With a thin smile set on his face, Marcus drifted around the side of the table, heading for the door. "Never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait until we get into the Periphery."
10
Palace of the Magestrix
Crimson, Canopus IV
Magistracy of Canopus
The Periphery
24 April 3058
Demi-Precentor Jamie Nicholas walked down a wide hall that had obviously been decorated with an eye toward splendor. A plush carpet of dark golds and browns covered its entire length. The walls were decorated with a floral print wall covering and hung with delicately woven tapestries and occasional holograms of the Centrellas— founders and ruling family of the Magistracy of Canopus. Wall sconces of intricately cut crystal provided lighting.
Every ten steps or so a large bay window on the left gave down onto the private gardens one story below, the scene illuminated with beautiful ground-effect lighting now that evening had come to Crimson. Each window also had a window seat covered in dark velvet and cushioned with many pillows. Occasional doorways on the right opened to similarly well-furnished rooms that beckoned warmly, inviting the visitor to be at ease. The place felt more like a private home than a royal palace.
The personal quarters of the Magestrix and her family took up one entire wing of the royal palace here on Canopus IV. Despite Jamie Nicholas's position as Word of Blake representative to the court, she had never been invited here before and likely wouldn't now except for the importance of the package she held tucked under her right arm. But to be sent on without a guard or even the usual perfunctory escort . .. Ah, Cameron, you knew the Magestrix would come to trust me. Now I only await your order.
Jamie paused before a tapestry depicting victorious Canopus BattleMechs accepting the surrender of House Liao forces. This must have been early in the invasion, Jamie decided, remembering the reversal of fortune Romano Liao had set in motion as early as 3032. Still, the craftsmanship was not lost on her. The artist
had made the ten-meter-tall death machines of Canopus appear somehow more elegant and noble than any 'Mech ever could, while the Liao 'Mechs looked like prowling beasts.
House Liao.
From under her arm she brought out the package and weighed it in upturned palms as if she could divine its contents. Heavy enough, yet not so much it couldn't have been almost anything. The package had been wrapped and sealed with a hologram of the House Liao insignia—a gauntleted arm holding a katana. The hologram had been delicately woven into the fibers of the wrap, much in the same way a verigraphed message was created, making tampering difficult at best. The package also carried full diplomatic markings, putting Word of Blake and especially the Toyama in a bad spot. Is it enough that I know the contents? She had delayed its delivery for three days already, hoping for some word from demi-Precentor St. Jamais, before deciding that it could wait no longer.
Another few steps down the hallway and Jamie paused before the door she'd been instructed to look for. Fifth one along the hall, a hologram of the Magestrix' five daughters and one son hanging on the wall just past it. Jamie smiled in amusement. She could still remember the briefing she had received six years ago as a member of ComStar and before being posted to Canopus IV. ROM, ComStar's intelligence branch, had reported the Magestrix having three sons and three daughters. Jamie was four months on Canopus before discovering that ROM had erred.
Emma Centrella had concealed the identities of her two eldest daughters behind male names for several years. In the early 3040s—after deposing her mother and gaining many enemies—such caution had seemed prudent. The Magistracy of Canopus was a matriarchy, where the Magestrix could nominate the most fit of all her daughters, and Emma Centrella had wanted her potential heirs protected. By 3050 those precautions had been abandoned, but ComStar, grossly ignoring the Periphery in a characteristic lack of vision, had never corrected that mistake in their intelligence reports.
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