Exodus road

by Blaine Lee Pardoe

  Examining his ruined face, he thought he understood what was wrong and what his charges saw when they looked at him. Their minds had been corrupted by those who trained them. They had been told the lies about what happened on Tukayyid.

  This was nothing new. He had seen this before. There was only one way to clear up the matter, one way these young warriors would not fail to understand.

  * * *

  Judith was on her way to the 'Mech bay for routine maintenance of the replacement OmniMechs the ship was bringing to the Inner Sphere when she ran into Trent apparently headed in the same direction. After all their time together, she had learned to read the expressions on his mutilated face. "Is something wrong, Star Captain?"

  "Aye," he replied. "It is a matter that has been brewing for some time."

  Judith nodded. She too had been concerned about the green troops. "Your new command?"

  "You see much, Judith."

  She smiled. "Your chess game has been off thus far on the trip, and you have added nearly two hours to your exercise routine. Something is bothering you, and it is not the data on Huntress. I have seen how the greenies act around you, and I have overheard their comments in the 'Mech bay when you leave and they remain."

  "They hate me," Trent said.

  "They do not know you."

  "Exactly. But I intend to remedy that within the next few minutes." They had reached the entrance to the 'Mech bay, and he tapped the control to open the door.

  As he entered, Trent saw his young charges standing around a portable holoviewer in the simulator area. They were reviewing a tactical map and discussing the various ways to deal with a scenario, a common training practice before a simulator run. Some warriors glanced casually in his direction as Trent approached, but none so much as acknowledged his presence.

  No, Trent thought. Not this time. He reached down and hit the control on the side of the table that shut off the holoprojector. The three-dimensional map winked off into nothingness.

  "Is there a problem, Star Captain?" one of the warriors, Kenneth, said.

  "Aff," Trent said. "The problem is with you." He pointed at Kenneth, then to another pair of them. "And you and you. In fact, the problem is with all of you."

  "Yes, there is a problem," a shorter muscular female named Alexandra said. "You have interrupted our simulation for no reason."

  "I am your ranking officer. I need no reason."

  "You have caused waste in erasing that simulation, and waste is not to be tolerated," she said.

  Trent gave her a pencil-thin smile. "Alexandra," he said, "your tone is insulting to me as your senior and as a warrior. I challenge you to a Trial of Grievance."

  "Over mere words?" she said.

  "Neg, over behavior unbecoming to a Jaguar officer. You will fight for your sibkittens," he said, using the derogatory phrase Kit Masters often favored in sibko training. "If you dare."

  The other warriors moved into a rough circle around Trent and Alexandra. Trent knew she was one of the best among them, destined one day to lead. He had seen that in her.

  She balled up her fists and lowered her stance. Trent did not. He remained almost casual, as seemingly indifferent to her as she had been to him just moments before. He looked around at the other warriors. They were watching intently as if they savored the beating she was about to hand him. Trent knew there were risks, but he had survived so many more fights than she had. Her edge was speed, but even that could be defeated by the skill that came only with experience.

  Moving into position, he glimpsed Judith, perched atop a stout Cauldron-Born in one of the nearby stalls. She gave him a thumbs-up sign. Trent also saw Star Commander Allen appear near the bay entrance, arms crossed as he watched. Somehow word had gotten to him that something was going on in the 'Mech bay.

  "You hate me, kit," Trent said as he lowered his own stance. "Why is that?"

  Alexandra's expression seemed to harden as the muscles of her face and neck tightened. "You were there. You had your chance to lead us to victory and failed. Because of the likes of you, we are not traveling to a new Star League, but to an 'occupation zone.' " She spit out the last words as if they tasted bad in her mouth.

  "You think I am weak, Alexandra?"

  "Affirmative. Weak and a pitiful excuse for a warrior. Our Kit Masters have told us how your generation of warriors failed our Clan. How failures like you led to our defeats on Luthien and Tukayyid."

  Trent saw others nodding in agreement. So much the better . . . "Let us end your torment now, kit," he said in a low tone, thrusting his artificially enhanced arm and fist at Alexandra with lightning speed. She moved almost fast enough to dodge the blow, but not quite. He hit the side of her face in a glancing shot, ripping at her ear. She swung back, hitting him hard in the side, and his ribs screamed at the blow.

  Trent pulled back as she tried to throw another punch, blocking her this time with his left arm. It was enough to slow her, enough for him to bring his powerful right arm back into play, hitting her with sledgehammer force in the stomach. The impact of the blow threw Alexandra backward and knocked her to the ground, but she skidded to a stop in zero-g and sought to regain her breath.

  He moved in close to her as she lifted herself to a squatting position and leapt at him, her face a mask of fury. She struck him with the full force of her body, wrapping her arms around him in a crushing hug. Trent's arms were pinned at his sides as she hefted him off the floor slightly. Even his myomer-enhanced muscles were unable to break her powerful grip. She squeezed tightly, as if she wanted to see the life ooze out of his body. He had the use of his legs, and kicked her in the shin with all his might, but Alexandra held on.

  Face to face she held him, gritting her teeth. Sweat ran down her brow. "Warriors like you dishonor us all," she said, squeezing him more.

  Trent too was slick with sweat. "You have so much to learn, kit," he said. His tone was as calm as he could muster, mocking her efforts to crush him.

  She lifted him up and carried him closer to the edge of the Circle of Equals. She was going for the easy way. She would toss him out of the Circle and declare victory. But it was not going to be easy for her, even wearing her magnetic shoes in the light gravity of the 'Mech bay. Trent tipped his head back slightly, then brought it forward, smashing it into her skull with incredible force.

  The head butt was made worse by the optical control circuits around his eye. The circle of ferro-titanium circuitry was surgically cemented to his skull, and dug into the skin of Alexandra's forehead like metal prongs. She let him go, staggering backward, stunned.

  Trent saw his chance. Swinging his right fist furiously, he caught her as she swayed near the edge of the Circle. The blow lifted her upward slightly, then dropped her unconscious onto the deck. Trent's lungs ached as he bent to grab her by the uniform collar. Using his enhanced muscles, he lifted her up off the floor and held her in the air with the one hand. Blood ran down from the wound on her brow, then floated as droplets in the air. He held her up like a dead animal for the others to see.

  "Look at her," Trent said coolly. "And let this be a lesson to your arrogance." He swung her limp body around in the nearly non-existent gravity so that everyone in the Circle of Equals could see her, crushed and defeated.

  "I was like you once," he said, drawing a difficult breath of air, his side aching from Alexandra's earlier blow. "I thought I and my kind were superior. But then I fought in many battles and learned what it means to be a warrior. I risked all, and lost much." He looked at his own oddly muscled arm that held Alexandra and winced in memory of what he had lost in the service of the Jaguar.

  "Yes, I fought on Tukayyid," he said, still holding her body like a limp doll. "In battle against a worthy foe, I slew many of the enemy. As proud a Smoke Jaguar warrior then as I am now."

  He tossed Alexandra directly at two of the young warriors, who stepped quickly aside as her body fell outside of the Circle. "She was your best, yet I, one who you scorn, have bested her. I, Tre
nt, Star Captain of the Jaguar, was once again victorious."

  He looked into the eyes of Kenneth, then Rupert. "Today your training begins anew. Today I will teach you what I know so that one day, you too may survive . . . survive that you too may live to tell of what you have seen and learned."

  Trent could see that they feared him now, but he saw something else in their eyes too. He had broken them by defeating Alexandra. Gone were the cockiness and arrogance. What he saw in their eyes now was respect. Trent knew that for the rest of the journey, he could lead and they would follow.

  * * *

  Judith moved her rook forward to an aggressive stance on the portable chessboard, then lifted her fingers hesitantly. She watched Trent across the small table. He was studying the board with deep concentration. A minute or so passed, and he suddenly looked up at her.

  "Is there something wrong, Judith? Why do you stare at me so?"

  "Nothing is wrong, Star Captain," Judith said. "I was just thinking about what happened earlier today. I never expected you to take much interest in these new warriors we are escorting back to the Inner Sphere. Yet you confronted them to win their respect. You did not have to do this."

  "You have read The Remembrance," he said. "In one of the most famous passages Nicholas Kerensky said, "The highest calling a warrior can have is to honor—even beyond allegiance to his Clan.' "

  "You are answering a higher calling then, quiaff?"

  Trent smiled as he moved his remaining knight, taking out her bishop. "Aff. I believe many Smoke Jaguars have lost sight of true honor as taught by Nicholas Kerensky. But I must not. No matter what I have done or will one day do, I am still a Clan warrior. I have a duty to fulfill and will carry it out to the best of my ability. It is something my superiors cannot crush out of me."

  He reached across the table and pointed to her king. "Checkmate, quiaff?"

  30

  Smoke Jaguar Planetary Command Post

  Warrenton, Hyner

  Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone

  9 August 3057

  A knocking at his door made Star Colonel Paul Moon look up from the display built into his desk. "Enter," he said, and Star Captain Oleg Nevversan came through the door.

  "Star Captain," Moon said cordially.

  "Sir," Nevversan began nervously, not even bothering to close the door all the way.

  "What is it, Star Captain?"

  "Sir, you were expecting the replacement troops to arrive this morning, quiaff?"

  "Aff," Moon said. "Two of the Stars will be used to reactivate Jez Howell's former Trinary. Has the ship been delayed?"

  "Neg," Nevversan said. "They arrived at the spaceport an hour ago, complete with the 'Mechs and supplies we were expecting."

  "Then everything is in order," Moon said.

  "Neg, sir. There is something you should know—" Nevversan was cut off by a knock at the door, a movement that made the door swing open. Seeing the face of the man who stood there, Paul Moon rose from his chair, stunned.

  Trent, garbed in his finest dress uniform, stood in the doorway and saluted as Oleg Nevversan made way, stepping to the side. Paul Moon looked as if he were seeing a specter from beyond the grave. His mouth hung slightly open for a long embarrassing moment as Trent took a formal stance in front of his commanding officer.

  "Star Captain Trent reporting for duty, Star Colonel."

  "Neg!" Moon stammered. "What are you doing here?"

  "This is what I was trying to tell you," Star Captain Nevversan said in a low tone. Moon shot him a furious look and gestured for Nevversan to leave the room. Nevversan bowed his head quickly and departed, this time closing the door tightly.

  Trent allowed himself a thin smile of satisfaction over the distress aroused by his return. "I am reporting for duty, Star Colonel Moon. Having fulfilled my obligation as Star Captain Jez's honor guard, I was assigned command of the warriors arriving here as replacements."

  Moon's face turned a bright red, and every muscle in his body seemed to tense as he glared at Trent. "I filed a formal request to have you posted to the homeworlds as a solahma warrior. You have no business here."

  Trent tipped his head slightly. "Galaxy Commander Benjamin Howell informed me that you had made such a request. Frankly, I am surprised that he has not contacted you to advise you of the status of your request. On the trip back to Huntress our ship encountered an Explorer Corps force attempting to seize one of our HPG relays along the Exodus Road. I and the other warriors you had decided were fit only for the scrap heap recaptured the relay station and, as a result, prevented the enemy from obtaining knowledge of the Exodus Road."

  "And for this he refused my request?"

  "Affirmative. He said that despite my age and lack of a bloodname, I still had much to offer my Clan."

  Moon pounded one of his massive fists against the desk top, shaking it with the force of his blow. "Your return here is a violation of our Clan traditions. You are old, and by all rights should be serving with fellow solahma warriors. You do not belong here, Trent."

  "Permission to speak freely, Star Colonel?"

  Moon stared at him in pure rage. "Aff," he said through gritted teeth.

  "I am here and there is nothing you can do about it. . . sir. Your request to transfer me has been denied. Until I prove myself unworthy of command, I am still on active duty with The Stormriders. In fact, I know from reports I downloaded during approach that you have formally announced plans to reactivate Star Captain Jez Howell's unit with the new forces I have brought with me today."

  "Aff," Moon said.

  "Then as a ranking Star Captain, I want to compete to lead this Binary."

  "Neg! Impossible!" Moon shouted. "I will not have the likes of you serving in my command."

  Trent remained calm and collected in his speech, as if he had rehearsed it numerous times. It was that which seemed to stir the blood of the Star Colonel, making him even more furious.

  "Star Colonel Moon, you do not have a choice. Having tested as a Star Captain, I qualify for command of a Binary or Trinary. Even if you attempt to thwart me and do not reform the unit, I will qualify for at least a Star to command."

  Moon grinned viciously. "You are correct. You are entitled, but I can call for a Trial of Position for any command you covet."

  "Affirmative, and I will win, Star Colonel."

  "Arrogance is unbecoming a warrior," Moon growled.

  "You would know, quiaff?" Trent snapped back.

  Moon's eyes narrowed, and he leaned across the table, his reddened face glistening with a thin film of perspiration. "Listen here, Star Captain Trent. Words are not victories. I have shown you once before what happens when you attempt to oppose me. Go down that road, and I assure you, the next time we face off in a Circle of Equals, I will kill you. I will drink your blood and urinate on your giftake before I see you serve under me again."

  Trent said nothing. He threw his superior officer a quick salute, performed a perfect about-face, and left the office.

  * * *

  "Trent!" an excited voice called from behind him. As the autumn sun beat down on him, Trent spun and saw Russou, his sibmate and comrade in arms, racing across the parade grounds toward him. Trent walked forward to meet him, and the two gave each other a firm handshake of friendship.

  Trent smiled at the sight of his old friend's name patch, which now read "Russou Howell." Much has changed since I departed.

  "I heard you had returned," Russou said with an answering big smile. "Somehow I always knew you would."

  "Much to the disappointment of our commanding officer," Trent replied. "It is good to see you, Russou."

  "As it is you," Russou said. "Huntress . .. you really traveled all the way to the homeworlds and back? Tell me, Trent, what is Huntress like?"

  Trent searched his mind for the words to describe the Smoke Jaguar homeworld. "Impressive, yet at the same time bleak. It rained most of the time we were there. Lootera's Warrior Quarter has many signs of tribute to the
Jaguar, and I have stood on the observation deck of Mount Szabo and seen the jungles beyond the city. It is beautiful, yet it seemed small to me even compared to Hyner."

  Trent clapped Russou on the back. "And you, old friend, it seems you have not been idle since my departure." He gestured to the name patch.

  "Two weeks after you left I won Jez's bloodname. It was not so easy to get a nomination, but in the end I bested the other contestants. If I had not won it, Star Colonel Moon would surely have sent me back to Huntress to join you."

  Trent stared longingly at the name tag. Jez's bloodname— my bloodname. She had cheated him out of the chance to win a bloodright, and because of that, Russou now claimed what might have been his. "Congratulations, old friend," was all he said.

  "And you, returning in time to compete for a command. That is either very good or very bad timing."

  Trent laughed softly. "Bad for both of us. The Star Colonel is reforming Beta Trinary, quiaff?"

  "Aff."

  Trent drew a deep breath as he thought of what he would say next. "There will be a Trial of Position for the command I seek. We may face each other, old friend."

  Russou nodded. "Aye, I have taken a new command recently, but I too desire Jez's former command. We will fight, and I am sure one of us will win this prize."

  Trent smiled. "Then it will be settled in the way of the Clan, in battle."

  "Just remember, Trent, you are fighting me, not our Star Colonel."

  "Were that the case, I assure you the battle would be to the death."

  "He hates you too, Trent. He has left no doubt about that since the day you left. He sees you as one of those to blame for our failure on Tukayyid. He sees me as weak simply for being your friend."

  "It is something he will have to get over—in time."

  "Affirmative," Russou added. "But in the meantime you must tread carefully, my friend. Our Star Colonel is surely brewing up some scheme to get rid of you once and for all."