Initiation to War

by Robert N. Charrette

  JJ meant Colonel Bua's people, the county's one-stop office that looked out for safety and security of Count Shu. They also handled matters of political and military security, including the investigation of deaths where sabotage might be involved.

  "More questions." Kelly sighed.

  "Don't think so," JJ contradicted. "These guys aren't working ferrets. They're electron wranglers fit only for herding forms across the trackless wastelands of the bureaucracy."

  "Maybe the brass has made its decision." Slug sounded hopeful.

  "They'll clear you, Tyb." Sam had been calling him that in private for a while now. Nobody else in the lance did, nor did anyone say anything about it, not even JJ. "How can they not?"

  Kelly shook his head. "I don't want to be pessimistic, but how often have you known the brass to stumble on the logical conclusion?"

  "Then don't be pessimistic," Sam chided.

  The ensuing argument over attitude, with all of its good-natured insults and occasional pokes in the ribs, came to a sudden halt with the arrival of a grumpy clerk. The desk jockey presented a summons from Veck: Kelly was to report at once. The clerk said that he didn't know what Veck wanted, but his surly attitude didn't inspire confidence. Despite the sunny encouragement of his lancemates, a gloomy Kelly headed for Veck's office, expecting to take more heat from the incident. The storm rolling across the base seemed to have a more suitable take on the proper mood than Kelly's lancemates.

  "Take a seat," Veck said as Kelly entered the office. Kelly looked for a clue as to his fate in the commander's face, but Veck's expression was as closed as ever. He barely waited until Kelly had lowered his dripping self into the seat before beginning.

  "I have just been notified that you will be declared blameless in the death of Subcommander Gunter Stiibel." Veck tossed him a chip. "I know the official word isn't the end of it, but it helps. The detail's all in there. Long and short, you are back on the active roster as of 0600 tomorrow."

  Kelly was glad he was sitting. The relief flooding through him would have dissolved his knees. "I'm cleared."

  "The investigation of the incident is over."

  "I don't know what to say."

  "You are not required to say anything. But if you must, tell me that you will be the best damned Mech Warrior you can be."

  That had always been Kelly's intention, and he didn't hesitate to say so.

  "Good. I expect no less from my lance."

  Something about Veck's attitude seemed even stiffer than usual. Kelly hadn't expected grins and slaps on the back from the commander, but Veck's distance seemed a little out of place for the good news he had delivered.

  "There's something else, isn't there?"

  Veck's eyes slid away from Kelly's.

  "I do have something else to say." He waited for a long moment. "I'm not talking to you now as your trainer or even your lance commander. We're lance-mates, Kelly, and there are times when that's more important than rank and relative experience."

  There was another long, awkward pause while Kelly wondered what was rattling the commander so.

  "I like you, kid," Veck said. "You've got a lot of potential. Keep your record clean and you might have my job someday. If you're unlucky, you might even get slapped with a higher rank. But I think you could handle it. You've managed this Stubel thing well enough, but you don't need to be setting yourself up for worse problems."

  "What sort of problems, sir?"

  "You know what I mean."

  "No, sir. I don't know what you mean."

  "Liu."

  Veck had been riding Sam hard ever since she stood up to him the day Stubel went down. Was he saying that Sam was in trouble, and that anyone associating with her was going to catch some of that same trouble?

  "What about her, sir?"

  "Forget her."

  "She's my lancemate, sir."

  "I never thought of you as stupid, Kelly. Don't be."

  Kelly bridled at the harshness in Veck's tone. He got his emotion under control before he said, "Your, er, advice, sir. Is it a suggestion or an order?"

  "It would be a stupid order."

  Kelly agreed with that. Now that he was a MechWarrior in good standing again, there wasn't anything to get in between him and Sam. Except maybe Veck, and he couldn't do that legally. So, like Veck said, ordering him to stay away from her would be stupid. No officer ought to give an order he knew wouldn't be obeyed. And Kelly had no intention of giving up his connection to Sam.

  "Anything else, sir?"

  Veck's eyes once again drilled in Kelly's. The commander just shook his head, and the interview was over.

  17

  Port Tsing

  County Shu, Epsilon Eridani

  Chaos March

  20 February 3062

  Gabriel's people were not able to get President Benton to agree to a face-to-face meeting—an annoying breech of etiquette and a not insignificant show of disrespect. The president was supposed to be available to the regional administrators, but Pierre Benton had been avoiding speaking to Gabriel for weeks now. It had gotten so bad that Gabriel had come to see the arrangement of a private teleconference as an achievement. He shushed Romano when his secretary Pierson announced that the link was up. Determined to have justice done, Gabriel jumped right in when Benton's tired face appeared on the screen.

  "Mr. President, I and my county—"

  Benton waved away Gabriel's opening as he cut him off. "This is about your dispute with Duvic, isn't it?"

  "Of course it is. As I was starting to say, I and my county have been victimized here. The Price woman is out of control. Something must be done. You must take positive action. If the Eridani Guards were to—"

  "Now, now, Gabriel. We all need to show a little considered restraint here."

  Gabriel bristled, not just at Benton's familiar use of his given name, but at the condescending tone as well. This was no childish squabble, but a deadly serious business. And besides all that, Gabriel as Count Shu deserved to be treated with respect.

  "Tell that to Price," he sputtered. "She'll back down if you send the Guards—"

  "Gabriel, you know better than that. You know the constitution prohibits direct federal interference in jurisdictional trade disputes."

  "This is serious, Mr. President. It's only going to get more serious."

  "And sovereignty issues are serious, too. You were still in school when we put together this rickety federation that we have the nerve to call a planetary government, but your father was a leader, an absolutely inspiring leader, in the process. I also have to tell you that the count was one of the. strongest advocates for jurisdictional sovereignty. Hell, he was the one who insisted we put it in place for the palatines as well as the traditional fiefdoms."

  Yes, he would have been. Gabriel's father had been a curiously democratic autocrat. "I understand that unity is important."

  "Good. That's good. Then you should understand why I have to keep out of this. I've got a dozen lords and nearly as many palatines threatening to break the federation if I put planetary troops into this. As if I had them to spare. You know as well as anyone that bandit raids are up. And we have enemies out there, Gabriel. People who would be quite happy to see the end of an independent Epsilon E. What if these so-called bandit raids are some of those enemies testing our defenses? And things are not going well on Ingress, you know. We have to support our neighbor in their attempt to secede from the Duchy of Small. If they lose their fight, we may be next on Duke Small's list of conquests. This may require that we send more troops."

  "Ingress can go to blazes. We stand at the brink of a civil war here at home on Epsilon E. Your first responsibility, Mr. President, lies here. You have to deal with what is happening, not what might happen or what some nebulous enemy might do. I believe that you must step in."

  "Don't try preaching to your elders, boy. Don't you think I know we're looking at a civil war? I have nightmares about it. And if I dispatch planetary troops to you, that
's exactly what we'll have, Gabriel. And it won't just be the Duvics and your people." Like a man shifting gears on his ground car, Benton put away his pique and put on his conciliatory face. "Look, Gabriel, there's been a lot of hot talk, and way too much saber-rattling going on. No, I am not accusing you. I am not accusing anyone. I would prefer if things are worked out peacefully. Do you understand? War would be bad for everyone."

  "War is the last thing I want."

  "Good. I'm glad to hear that. That being the case, this is what I want you to do. You, or your representative, will meet with Duvic's representative before the week is out. I have arranged a meeting place—neutral ground, of course. The Arousian Regional authorities have, ahem, volunteered and offered the Trade Council Palace in Dori. I understand Lake Arous is beautiful this time of year. Very peaceful and calming. And that's the very effect I hope it will have on this situation."

  Gabriel agreed. Benton had offered another chance to stop the madness. What else could he do but accept? If there was an avenue open that led to a peaceful solution, it had to be taken.

  "You're doing the right thing, Gabriel," Benton assured him.

  Gabriel cut off the link and slumped in his chair. "Doesn't he understand that Price will not be mollified?"

  Romano shrugged, rearranging the ice in her drink. "It could be that all the Duvic rhetoric and—what was the charming term our dear president used? Ah, yes, saber rattling—it could be that all this saber rattling is simply posturing to get a better negotiating position."

  "Do you think so?"

  "No. I think that if free trade passage won't serve, Presider Price will find some other causus belli."

  "Are you certain of that, Romano? Are we doomed to this nonsense?" Gabriel didn't want to believe that they were, but it seemed inevitable.

  "I will tell you one thing of which I am certain. I am certain that you cannot go to this meeting. It will be too tempting to certain people."

  They argued well into the night about who would go. In the end, Romano got her way. As always. In the morning, Gabriel lit candles in the family shrine and asked his ancestors to do what they could to see that she did not become Presider Price's causus belli.

  PART 2

  An End to Innocence

  18

  Mirandagol District

  County Shu, Epsilon Eridani

  Chaos March

  22 February 3062

  Rumors had circulated almost daily since the ill-omened order to arm the BattleMechs. The Duvics had hired Wolf's Dragoons or some other high powered mercenary group. The Duvics had poisoned the upper reaches of the Barr River. The Duvics had bought up all of the Lineholders that had come off the Kressily Warworks assembly lines for the past month. The Duvics were massing for an attack. The Duvics were dispersing, preparing to attack. The Duvics had demobilized.

  And even when the rumor wasn't directly about the Duvic Palatine and its intentions toward County Shu, the Duvic shadow almost always lay upon it. The unit was to activate and they were going into the Palatine. The unit was going to be disbanded, because the Duvics had made nice. Prices were up in Port Tsing, because of Duvic counter-tariffs. The unit was to activate and stand guard, against Duvic incursions. A lot of rumors hinged on the unit being activated, though as far as Kelly could see that wasn't going to happen soon, unless the Duvics really did start something or the raiders struck somewhere nearby.

  There were also lots of rumors about the bandit raiders, and those rarely included the Palatine as the puppeteers since everybody knew that the Palatine had its own bandit problem. There were lots of ideas as to who the raiders were, including the ludicrous suggestion that they were renegade Eridani Guard. Where they were going to hit next was a popular topic. Usually the target was the chief rumormonger's hometown. There was a lot of speculation on how tough they were, or not a little bit of gassing about how weak they were and how easy they would be to take out. Kelly paid more attention to raider chatter because defending County Shu and chasing down the raiders was why the County Shu Volunteer Battalion had been formed. It was only logical that the day would come that they would go out after the bandits.

  And, of course, once a week or so, the scuttlebutt said they were headed off planet to support President Benton's adventurism.

  With the Phantom Major's news black-out still in effect, the base didn't get much in the way of solid information, even family communications were censored. But the personal need to know what was going on couldn't be ordered away, and so people listened to gossip. The wild and not so wild reports swept across Veck's Vigilantes as fast as they hit the other elements of the CSVB, but most of them eddied to a stop at the breakwater of JJ, who made a practice of living up to his nickname of Ferret and having the straight skinny.

  Veck's Vigilantes were showering down from morning PT when Slug passed on what he'd heard from a tech in Acevedo's lance. Supposedly the Vigilantes were about to be given an active duty assignment. Their Mechs had been repainted last night. Kelly admitted he thought he had smelled paint thinner drifting across the tarmac. When asked what it was all about, all JJ could say was, "I don't know." Kelly and Sam exchanged raised eyebrows. If JJ didn't know anything about what was going on, it was notable.

  JJ might not have the word, but Veck did. The commander roared into the barracks, bawling for his lance to scramble into dress uniforms. Veck was already in his dress red-and-golds.

  "Dress uniforms?"

  "Questions later. Hustle NOW!" snapped Veck.

  Hustle, they did. It still took a quarter hour before they had all their collars snapped down, boots laced up, creases creased sharp and tucks tucked away. A quarter hour in which an impatient Veck's only response to questions was to urge more speed and attention to the task at hand. When they were finished, the commander nodded his approval before leading them out onto the field.

  Their 'Mechs were already out on the tarmac, moved there by the techs. Once again Kelly smelled paint thinner. Fresh paint gleamed wetly where the unit markings, identification flashes and numbers had been touched up. Selected panels had been outlined in white, just like for a parade.

  The swelling drone of an approaching Cavalry dragged everyone's eyes to the sky. The aircraft wasn't in sight yet, but its engine noise meant it was near.

  "Fall in at your 'Mechs, 'Jocks," Veck ordered.

  Kelly was halfway to his Commando when he realized that, for the first time, Veck had not referred to them as 'Mech monkeys or some other demeaning term. It could mean only one thing: the unit really was active. Kelly wanted to howl his relief and pleasure, but he guessed that to do so would, at the very least, get him a loud, embarrassing dressing down from Veck. He settled for grinning as wide as he could as he snapped to attention by the access ladder of the Commando.

  The Cavalry appeared, flying low over the badlands and headed straight for the field. It wore the red and gold livery of Count Shu. The pilot banked his craft as it reached the field, turning to line up on his chosen landing point. Dust danced across the field as the VTOL engines swung around into position for landing.

  "All right, 'Jocks." Veck's voice was barely audible over the Cavalry's hard-working turbines. "We have an assignment. It is not exactly a date with destiny, but make no mistake, your personal destiny may well be decided by how you perform. You are about to meet the individual who will have the greatest say in that evaluation. Look sharp. Be sharp. You get me?"

  "We get you, sir!"

  Veck gave a curt, satisfied nod and left them. He was standing at the aircraft's hatch when it opened. He ignored the security troopers who hustled out of the transport, but he saluted the next person to emerge.

  Kelly recognized Romano Shu the moment she stepped into the Cavalry's hatch. All the troopers had seen her gorgeous face on the newscasts many times. Some, as Kelly did, got closer looks occasionally—in their dreams. But it was a living, breathing Lady Shu who exited the aircraft and greeted Veck.

  "Good to see you again, Commander Veck
."

  "I am honored that you remember me, Lady Shu."

  "What kind of a lady would I be if I forget a gentleman like yourself? You are happy with the commission report on the tragedy, I hope."

  "My unit is ready to serve."

  "So I trust. I will meet them now."

  Veck bowed assent and began Lady Shu's tour of the line with JJ and his Javelin.

  In person, she conveyed an even more vibrant and alluring presence than she did on newscasts, and it wasn't just the way she was dressed, although that didn't hurt. She wore a sleek, form-fitting coverall of the sort flaunted by the more flamboyant 'Mech units. Though the outfit was in CSVB colors and trim, it was nothing like any Eridani military had ever issued. Had they done so, male pilots would have needed issues of extra coolant for their vests.

  The hussar jacket slung over her left shoulder wasn't Eridani issue either. Marik, Kelly thought, and judging by the unit flash and by the trim, it had once belonged to a Knight of the Inner Sphere. The absence of House Marik or Free Worlds League affiliation patches made it clear that the jacket was a gift or trophy rather than a statement of belonging. Perhaps it had belonged to one of the lady's rumored MechWarrior paramours. Or maybe not. Its gold braid flashed in the light and drew attention to Lady Shu each time she moved. That would be reason enough for her to affect it.

  Speculation stopped, as did nearly all of Kelly's higher cerebral functions as the lady approached his Commando.

  "Ah, Subcommander Kelly."

  Kelly barely noticed that she knew his name because he was too stunned that she was holding out her hand. The lady's gesture wasn't normal for cultures of Liaoist extraction, but that hadn't stopped ladies, including any number of nominally Liaoist ladies, from greeting MechWarriors on 'Mech Combat using it. Kelly slipped his hand under the delicate fingers, and bowed over her hand. He didn't dare kiss it.