Warrior: En Garde (The Warrior Trilogy, Book One): BattleTech Legends, #57

by Michael A. Stackpole

  Jeana opened her hands. “Now I have nothing and no one but you and the Commonwealth. What could you ask for me that I would not willingly agree to carry out?”

  The Archon’s head came up and she impaled Jeana with a harsh stare. “What I ask of you is a total sublimation of yourself. Jeana Clay will, in fact, cease to exist. You will undergo a minor amount of reconstructive surgery. You will spend the next six months in an intensive learning environment where everything you are will be broken down and discarded. You will learn to do everything differently, and you will receive neither medals nor applause for your efforts. In fact, the mark of your success will be total anonymity.”

  The Archon pointed to the folder that contained most of the details of Jeana Clay’s existence. “If you accept this mission, you will be forgotten forever.”

  In reply, Jeana simply pulled herself to attention.

  The Archon nodded slowly. “Johnson was correct. You are an excellent candidate.” She stood up and drew Jeana to her feet as well. Looking the girl directly in the eyes, Katrina Steiner said, “Jeana Clay, will you accept the role of my daughter’s double for now and all time?”

  Albert Tompkins watched the members of the Twenty-fourth Lyran Guards walk away from the gravesite and into the mist. The old man brushed tears off his cheeks, then placed a white rose on the loosely packed earth.

  “Rest well, Jeana Clay. Though your life was cut short, you made all Heimdall proud.”

  Chapter 12

  NEW AVALON

  CRUCIS MARCH

  FEDERATED SUNS

  20 JANUARY 3027

  Count Anton Vitios narrowed his brown eyes and nodded to the military tribunal. He turned so that the holovid camera in the courtroom’s corner would catch him at his best. “The prosecution calls Leftenant Andrew Redburn to the stand.”

  Redburn wiped his moist palms against his trousers as he stood up, then shuffled through the crowded aisle where he’d been seated, whispering apologies as he went. Once clear of the packed gallery, Redburn straightened his dress uniform jacket, took a deep breath, and walked toward the bailiff, who held a low wooden gate open for him.

  Though Redburn was holding himself ramrod-straight outwardly, his guts had turned to icy slush. He took his place at the mahogany witness stand while a court clerk held out a leather-bound copy of The Unfinished Book. “In the name of the freedom-loving people of the Federated Suns, this court calls you to a pledge of truth,” the clerk intoned.

  Redburn raised his right hand and placed his left firmly on the book’s brown cover. “In the name of duty, faith, and honor, I pledge this sacred oath,” Redburn declared, feeling the solemnity of the time-honored phrases. He licked his lips. “So help me God.”

  Vitios stood at the prosecution bench and conferred with the aide who had interviewed Redburn. Seated at an identical oaken table across the aisle were Major Justin Allard and his lawyer.

  Redburn shivered. Justin stares straight ahead, he thought. It’s almost as though he’s not even in the room. The sight of the black leather glove on Justin’s left hand gave Redburn a start, but fascinated him so much that he missed Vitios’s first question.

  “I asked you to state your full name and rank.” The irritation in the prosecutor’s voice had characterized his whole performance in the courtroom, and Redburn suddenly dreaded what he had hoped would be his chance to help his friend.

  “I am Leftenant Andrew Bruce Redburn.” Redburn allowed himself to linger over the r’s in his name. Though he’d struggled mightily to suppress his accent during his cadet days at the Warriors Hall on New Syrtis, he summoned it now in the defiant spirit of his Scottish ancestors, whose motto was “Die fighting!” Redburn gripped the railing of the witness stand and met the prosecutor’s black stare.

  Vitios pointed to a folder. “I have studied your deposition, Leftenant, and it has been entered into the official record.” The man’s face suddenly reminded Redburn of a hungry raptor stooping toward its helpless prey. “How did Major Allard come to be with your unit on that training exercise?”

  “I requested his participation.”

  Vitios nodded. “Did you not request his participation several times before he agreed to attend the exercise?”

  Redburn swallowed. “Yes, sir.”

  “How many times?”

  Redburn narrowed his eyes and decided to go on the offensive. “Four times, in writing. Perhaps the count does not understand that the major was busy.”

  Vitios smiled coldly. “Oh, I understand how busy your major was, Leftenant. After all, that is what this trial is about, isn’t it?” Vitios turned his attention to the deposition and flicked it open. “In fact, you did not have confirmation from Major Allard that he would join you until the day before the exercise, when you had a private meeting with him. Is that not correct?”

  Redburn nodded uneasily. “Yes, sir.”

  Vitios dramatically cupped his right elbow in his left hand and tapped his pointy chin with his right index finger. “In your deposition, you characterized the meeting as urgent. What did you speak about?”

  Redburn bit his lower lip. “I expressed to the major my concern over some unrest in the training battalion. I told him that his participation in the exercise would help morale and might regain him some of the respect due a MechWarrior of his reputation.”

  Vitios made a hissing sound as though the leftenant had said something that pained him. “This ‘unrest’ in the battalion. What was that about?”

  Redburn shrugged and tried to downplay the gravity of the question. “Recruits seldom like their CO, especially when he’s hard on them.”

  Vitios stepped forward, then spun to face the gallery. “Come now, Leftenant. You know the real reason for the dissatisfaction in the battalion, don’t you? Were there not demonstrations of support for Sergeant Philip Capet? Weren’t the troops furious because Major Allard, without provocation, had dismissed a Gold Sunburst winner?”

  “That may have been part of it, Count Vitios.”

  Redburn’s hopes that he’d parried the count’s dangerous thrust died on the count’s riposte. “And part of that unrest was due to Major Allard’s trafficking with the indigs, wasn’t it? How could these recruits trust a man who regularly traveled among, met with, and preferred the company of the enemy to what should have been his own people?”

  “Objection!” Justin’s attorney shot to his feet. His left hand struggled to shove his glasses back into place before they could fall from his face entirely, but his intense stare did not change. “The prosecution is leading the witness and has stated his question in a totally prejudicial manner.”

  The ranking tribunal officer, Major General Sheridan Courtney, turned toward Count Vitios. “Sustained. Be more careful, Your Lordship.”

  The count nodded. “Leftenant, did Major Allard visit with indigs on any sort of regular basis?”

  “I suppose he did.”

  “Indeed, Leftenant, he did. Have you forgotten the Community Relations Committee meetings each week? Have you forgotten how he liked to take his first meal in the restaurants of Shaoshan upon returning from field exercises? Have you forgotten his hiring indigs to work as personal servants in his home?”

  Redburn looked down at the polished wood-tile floor. “No, sir.”

  Vitios’s voice lost none of its edge. “Why were you stationed on Kittery, Leftenant?”

  Redburn’s head snapped back up and his anger rocketed through his answer. “To protect the world and the frontier.”

  “From whom, Leftenant?”

  Redburn spat out his answer. “From the Capellan forces of Maximilian Liao.”

  “The very people the major spent so much time with. Correct, Leftenant?” Before Redburn could answer, Vitios pressed a new question on him. “Do you know Shang Dao?”

  What the hell is he getting at now? Redburn nodded. “I was introduced to him.”

  “By Major Allard?”

  “Yes.”

  Vitios nodded.
“Isn’t Shang Dao the leader of the Yizhi tong in Shaoshan?”

  Redburn frowned. “I believe he is.”

  Vitios canted his head slightly. “I thought the CID had identified the Yizhi tong as a Capellan organization, and that contact between Federated Suns personnel and the tong was forbidden. In fact, you dismissed a cadet on a charge of trafficking with restricted personnel, didn’t you?”

  Redburn hesitated. “I…it was not like that.”

  Courtney glared down at Redburn from the bench. “Answer the question, Leftenant.”

  “Yes, sir.” Redburn held up his head. “The cadet was dismissed for his addiction to opium. We felt the problem would lapse once he left Kittery, and we did not want the charge of opium substance abuse to haunt him for the rest of his life.”

  Vitios almost smiled. “Commendable, Leftenant, but the fact remains that Major Allard regularly met with Shang Dao in violation of the CID directives, didn’t he?”

  Redburn hung his head. “Yes, sir.”

  Vitios turned back to the prosecution desk and picked up a file. “I have here, and have entered into the record, a transcript of your ’Mech’s battle-recorder. In reviewing your transcript, and the transcripts from the other ’Mechs in the battalion, I must congratulate you on your quick thinking and calm under fire. You saved your command from a savage ambush.”

  Redburn nodded. He shot a glance toward the defense table, and died inside. Leftenant Lofton, Justin’s lawyer, was urgently whispering something into his client’s ear, but the major gave no sign of hearing him. He just stared straight ahead, as though trying to burn a hole through the courtroom’s gray marble walls by force of will.

  When Vitios smiled, he might have been a python spotting a fat pig. “We know the Capellan ’Mechs were waiting for you. Why was that?”

  “We are required to file forms with the civilian government in Shaoshan detailing where we plan to travel.”

  Vitios nodded. “Shang Dao is a member of the civilian government, isn’t he?”

  Redburn shrugged. “That information is not very secret, Your Lordship. When we stopped at noon that day, food peddlers from Shaoshan came out and sold us lunch.”

  Vitios frowned, but Redburn cut off any comment. “Sir, we MechWarriors bake inside our machines. None of us want to eat anything that’s been cooked in the same oven if we can avoid it. Remember, sir, that government contracts go to the lowest bidder, which says a lot about the quality of rations, especially out on the frontier.”

  Courtney gaveled the courtroom’s laughing spectators back to order, and Redburn took heart when even Justin’s distant and harsh expression had lightened a bit.

  Vitios swallowed Redburn’s good feeling in one gulp. “What did Major Allard say to you when Private William Sonnac, whose Stinger was positioned above the Cicadas that would kill him, reported strange magscan readings?”

  Redburn frowned. “He asked me to check Sonnac’s readings. That’s standard procedure.”

  “But that’s not all he said to you, is it, Leftenant?”

  “Sir?”

  Vitios flipped through the transcript. “Let me refresh your memory, Leftenant. Major Allard said to you, ‘Andy, check Sonnac’s readings. I’ve got something over the hill I want to see.’” He turned and stared at Justin. “Doesn’t that strike you as a little odd, Leftenant? Here you are, trapped in a bowl-shaped valley, and your commanding officer leaves a junior officer in charge of green troops in a hostile area while he goes over a hill to check something whose existence no one else can verify?”

  Vitios gave Redburn no chance to reply before he waded in like a boxer to hammer home his points. “You acknowledged his command, then shouted, ‘Major Allard! Cicadas, sir! All over the place!’ His reply to you is, ‘Withdraw south, Leftenant.’” Vitios turned a page and began to drift over toward the defense table. “A private, Robert Craon, burst in there. ‘Negative, negative,’ he says. ‘I’ve got magscan readings off the scale south, east, and north. You’re clean, sir. We’ve got to head out west.’” Vitios looked up and half-turned to face Redburn. “Is that how you remember it, Leftenant?”

  Redburn nodded. “Yes.”

  Vitios’s eyes glowed fiercely, and Redburn felt as though he were suddenly plunging through deep, dark space. “A senior officer, the graduate of a superior military academy, and a Diamond Sunburst winner for his actions on Spica, has just learned that his command is surrounded. What would we expect from this sort of man? Wouldn’t such a commander return to rally his troops? He’s only half a klick over a hill. Didn’t you expect him to return, Leftenant?”

  Redburn swallowed hard and drew in a deep breath. “Yes, sir.”

  “Of course you would, Leftenant.” Vitios opened his arms to include all the officers in the gallery and the three men on the tribunal. “Anyone with military experience knows a commanding officer does not abandon his men. But what is Justin Xiang Allard’s reply to this urgent appeal by his troops? ‘No way out here, either. Do what you can, Andy. The cadre is yours.’ He abandons his command, then adds, ‘It’s a trap. All a trap. Don’t run west….’” Vitios shook his head. “He abandons them and dashes their hopes for any sort of escape.”

  Vitios smiled conspiratorially at Redburn, and dropped his voice to a malicious whisper. “You did feel betrayed, didn’t you?”

  Redburn hesitated, then nodded with resignation. “Yes.”

  “And so you were.” Vitios looked to Courtney. “I am finished with this witness.”

  The major general looked at his watch. “Given the hour, this court will adjourn.”

  Lofton shot to his feet. “Objection, Your Honor! It’s only oh three thirty hours! We cannot adjourn before I have a chance to cross-examine the witness.”

  “Leftenant Lofton, need I remind you that Prince Davion is holding a reception for Leftenant Redburn tonight. I will not have this man too badgered and exhausted to fully participate in this great honor.”

  Lofton removed his glasses and narrowed his dark eyes. “No, but you’ll retire, and a whole evening will pass before I can purge your mind of the prejudicial testimony that Count Vitios has wrung from this valuable witness.”

  Redburn looked up at Courtney. “I can go on, sir.”

  Courtney’s gavel slammed into the bench. “Enough. Court is adjourned until nine thirty tomorrow morning. As for you, Leftenant Lofton, one more statement like that and you’ll spend the night in a cell with your client because I’ll hold you in contempt.”

  Chapter 13

  NEW AVALON

  CRUCIS MARCH

  FEDERATED SUNS

  22 JANUARY 3027

  “No, Major, I won’t put you on the stand!” Leftenant David Lofton glared at his client. “Your story of what happened in the field that day is utterly unsubstantiated.”

  Justin stared into the mirror as his right hand labored to button his dress jacket. “Leftenant, you must allow me to testify on my own behalf. I read the text of General Courtney’s speech at Andy Redburn’s reception two nights ago. He already believes I’m guilty.”

  Lofton snarled in frustration. “What could you say? What could you add that would justify giving Vitios a direct shot at you?”

  Justin spun about. “Courtney is a commander of men. He’s made battle decisions before. I served under him. I can convince him of my innocence. I can touch that chord deep inside every soldier who’s ever had to make a decision that sent men out to die.”

  Lofton shook his head violently. “Are you mad? Recall, Major, that it was your unorthodox action on Spica that saved Courtney’s command. If you and Colonel William Dobson hadn’t flanked Liao’s Blackwind Lancers, Courtney would have died without having to face the shame of being trapped by those Capellan units.” Lofton cursed under his breath. “I wish Dobson hadn’t died on Galtor. We could have used his testimony to your bravery.”

  Justin nodded slowly. “And I could have used his friendship.”

  Lofton shook his head. “Redburn was�
�is…your friend, and Vitios made mincemeat of him. He’ll do the same with you, Major, and that’s the reason I won’t put you on the stand.”

  Justin tugged at the black glove on his left hand. “Absolutely?”

  Lofton shrugged and picked up his briefcase from the table. “I think I made some headway with Redburn’s cross-examination yesterday. He got a chance to use his wit, and it worked in our favor to delay until after Prince Davion awarded him the Silver Sunburst. I don’t want to give Vitios a shot at you, Justin, because he’ll hurt you badly.”

  Justin pursed his lips and nodded slowly. “This is your battlefield, David. Just remember I’m ready if you need reinforcements.”

  Leftenant David Lofton forced a smile and led his client out into the maelstrom. I hope, for your sake, Major, that this trial doesn’t get to the point where I need your help.

  “Objection, Your Honor!”

  Courtney shrugged and looked toward Lofton. “Yes, Leftenant?”

  Lofton adjusted his glasses. “If it please the court, the prosecution cannot use the holovid tapes of investigators on Kittery as testimony. To do so would violate my client’s right to face his accusers. Because I cannot cross-examine those witnesses, their testimony cannot be allowed.”

  Vitios placed the tapes back on the desk. “Your Honor, though I would never think of denying Leftenant Lofton the chance to crush my witnesses—as he has so ably done thus far—I would hasten to point out that tapes have been allowed in court before.” The titters that sprang up at Vitios’s sarcastic reference to Lofton’s inability to break witnesses died as the prosecutor’s aide typed furiously on a keyboard.

  Vitios turned to face the large viewscreen to the right of the witness stand. “As you can see, in the case of Muije versus Nebula Foods, the court allowed the plaintiff to present holovid tapes because of the prohibitive cost in time and money of bringing witnesses to the site of the trial.”