Several 'Mechs on both sides had been lost in the confused fighting that sparked and flashed through the night, with BattleMechs hunting one another with infrared and headlights. In the end, it had been Alex who'd suggested the ceasefire. The Davion commander, Marshal James Seymour, had been only too happy to accept, for by now he'd lost nearly half his force and most of his supplies. Under the terms of the agreement they'd hammered out early on the morning of the seventeenth, the Third Guard's survivors would be permitted to withdraw to their DropShips, then lift offworld, leaving the Gray Death victorious, in possession of the planet. Less than twenty hours ago, they'd rendezvoused with their newly recharged JumpShip at one of the so-called pirate jump points, and, shortly after, vanished into hyper-space.
This still left Caledonia's political future somewhat up in the air. General McBee was now the world's provisional military governor, and he would remain in charge until the general election when the people of Caledonia could vote on a new government, one of their own choosing this time. But the fact remained that the legitimate governor had been deposed by force of arms. Neither Wilmarth nor Folker had been found after the battle, and it was assumed that Seymour had taken both back to Hesperus II. McBee's provisional government had already drawn up a report of their version of events and beamed it by HPG transmission to Tharkad, essentially claiming that Wilmarth's rule had been illegal and that the people had had no other resource but to redress their grievances themselves. No one could guess how Tharkad or New Avalon would react. It might well be the Federated Commonwealth courts on Tharkad that would determine Caledonia's ultimate political fate, and whether or not the revolution had succeeded.
In any case, the Gray Death could do nothing more on Caledonia except, possibly, prejudice those courts against the people. Davis McCall, now in command of the Gray Death with its leader seriously wounded, had given orders to boost as soon as possible, leaving his homeworld to its new government and its uncertain future. The Legion's future, it turned out, was even more uncertain than Caledon's, for an HPG broadcast that morning from Legion HQ on Glengarry had told of FedCom ships arriving in-system in great numbers.
Field Marshal Gareth, in the name of the Federated Commonwealth, was demanding the surrender of Glengarry and of the Gray Death Legion's landhold there.
Alex's mother, Caitlin's parents, everyone else who meant anything to them besides the people here with them now, were in terrible danger back there. It would be weeks, at least, before they could reach Glengarry, and when they did it might well be too late to do anything to help.
But they had to try.
"Come on," Alex told Caitlin. "We'd better board ship. It's a long way back to Glengarry."
Caitlin drew closer to him, and he put an arm around her shoulders. "Alex," she said, her voice tight. "What's going to happen? To the Legion?"
"Happen?" He managed a grin, one with fire behind it. "The Gray Death Legion is a lot bigger and a lot tougher than any one of us," he told her. "The Legion will do what it's always done.
"The Legion will survive."
Tactics of Duty Page 34
