A run? Joanna thought. Simple? The one event in which Evlan—and, for that matter, most of the others—had a clear advantage over her. This sounded like some kind of savashri strategy from Ravill Pryde, yet there seemed no way he could manipulate the match-ups, not with Diana drawing. It must be fate.
Ravill Pryde came forward. "Let me remind you both that there is no route to follow for your race. Any route will do. Further, there are no strict rules to the contest. As in all Jade Falcon competitions—whether combat, honor duel, or game—the emphasis is on winning. Any way you can find to win, it is—"
Joanna did not wait for Ravill Pryde to finish his sentence. Instead she elbowed Star Captain Evlan in the stomach, brought her fists down on the back of her neck when she doubled over, and kicked her to the ground. Before Evlan felt the dirt in her mouth, Joanna had broken into a run toward the shore of Sudeten Lake.
* * *
In her cockpit now, staring at the ice that was forming over her viewport, forming faster than the heaters that bordered it could melt it, Joanna smiled as she recalled that race. As she reached the lakeshore and was dipping in the toe of her boot as a defiant sign that she had completed that lap, she could hear the steps of Evlan in pursuit. Joanna pivoted and ran toward her opponent, whose speed was impressive, especially considering how hard Joanna had hit her. As the two, running in opposite directions, were about to pass, Evlan sending a fierce glance Joanna's way, Joanna suddenly veered toward Evlan and brought up her forearm. With as much power as she could muster on the run, and with her body slightly tilted, she slammed her forearm into Elvan's neck. The Echo Trinary leader flipped backward, landing on her back, choking.
Even with that edge, Joanna had to put on speed to nose out Evlan at the finish line.
She sat on the other side of the line, out of breath but feeling positively defiant. "Good strategy, Joanna, you filthy stravag" Evlan whispered to her while passing by. Joanna smiled.
A few moments later Ravill Pryde easily pinned his opponent from Trinary Bravo Eye, the strong and determined warrior Bish. Perhaps emulating Joanna, Ravill Pryde kneed Bish in the back to make his frontside pin more effective. Joanna's next opponent had been the grizzled, and not easily deceived, MechWarrior Boz from Trinary Charlie Eye. The event drawn was with combat knives, with each participant wearing protective padding and headgear. Boz, a veteran, was an expert with the thirty-centimeter-long, serrated blades. Joanna regretted that she had too often disdained combat knives as inferior and decadent weapons. The Medusa whip or her glove-encased hands were her preferred hand-to-hand weapon. But she was not really daunted by Boz's skills. She felt inspired, and inspired people did not worry about trivial details like an opponent's superior expertise.
Boz waded in, thrust and parried with quickness and certainty. After a few clanging exchanges and Boz's first score on her shoulder, Joanna said to herself that she was not patient enough to work her way through such a polite match. Diving in under Boz's next knife thrust, she flung away her own knife and grabbed him around the legs, sending him stumbling backward and off his feet. Whacking his knife arm against the ground, she made him release it.
Standing up quickly, she watched him scrabble toward the weapon. She walked beside him for a couple of steps, then brought her boot down on his wrist. Boz yelled in pain, but even before he could grab at the wrist, Joanna brought her boot down again. She listened with satisfaction to the sound of the bone cracking in his wrist. Then she told him to pick up the knife and fight her, to finish off the match.
He got up, holding onto his wrist and looked at her in disgust. She picked up her combat knife, then his. Offering him the knife, she smiled. He took the weapon in his other hand and tried to wield it. His moves were almost comical at first, then he lunged forward and tapped Joanna on her face mask with the tip of the blade. Two hits, in Boz's favor.
Growling, Joanna knocked Boz's knife away and scored her first point. Two others came with similar maneuvers. After her third hit, Boz angrily flung away his knife and managed a desultory nod of congratulation as he walked slowly away, holding onto his injured wrist.
Ravill Pryde was furious at Joanna's tactics. "As you said," she remarked as she walked by him, "anything goes."
Ravill Pryde and his next opponent drew a swim in Sudeten Lake, fifty meters out and fifty back. He was matched with MechWarrior Castilla of Trinary Alpha Beak Two. With Castilla as the opponent, Joanna found herself cheering the Falcon Guards commander on. It gave her great pleasure to see Ravill Pryde climb onto an ice floe fifty yards out and dive over Castilla's head to swim back to shore with smooth, even strokes. Both swimmers came out of the cold lake with their skins tinged blue but exhilarated by the close contest. Castilla had swum with impressive strength toward the end, but her prowess had urged Ravill Pryde on to victory.
* * *
How would you like to go swimming now, Ravill Pryde? Joanna thought as she maneuvered her Mad Dog through the intense blizzard. This section of ice had not been frozen for long. All I have to do is blast through three meters of ice, and you can see how well your skill and tricks serve you in a 'Mech sinking to the bottom of this arctic ocean.
The blip flickering in and out on her scanner screen had to be his Timber Wolf. She was zeroing in on him, ready to launch a long-range missile from her 'Mech's left torso. It would be exploratory, a definite risk, but it might goose the Falcon Guard commander into some kind of action. Or did he intend to merely hide in this blizzard and perhaps declare the match a draw when the day ended? The weather might just hide his cowardice effectively for the others.
For a moment she again got a sudden image of the strange look Ravill Pryde had given her after she defeated Boz. The round of eight had by men dwindled to four surviving competitors. He had drawn the formidable Star Commander Rhayna from Trinary Bravo Beak, while Joanna had to face the equally tough Star Commander Zabet, the leader of Boz's Star. Ravill Pryde and Rhayna had to climb opposite sides of a standing 'Mech, using freestyle mountain-climbing techniques. As he later explained, he had scaled several peaks on one of his assignments, and so was undoubtly too experienced for Rhayna. He reached the 'Mech's head well ahead of her, then terminated his descent with a most graceful jump from the 'Mech's hip.
Joanna fought Zabet in a whip duel. As a former falconer, Joanna had vast experience with whips, and she managed to entangle Zabet's arm in her thong and pull him to the ground even before he could land a strike on her. She pulled the thong roughly away and lashed it at his face, drawing blood very near Zabet's left eye. Another flick and Joanna created another line of blood, this time beside his right eye.
She could have continued toying with Zabet, but Ravill Pryde intervened, saying Zabet would not be allowed to continue. Zabet protested, but the Falcon Guard commander could not be swayed. Zabet's glare at Joanna as he capitulated and withdrew was filled with enmity. Well, I have never won many friends around here, anyway. But I could apologize to him, to all my opponents, for my unorthodox tactics. I could apologize. I could. No.
Joanna walked straight up to Ravill Pryde and said, "We are the finalists in your little competitions, Star Colonel, quiaff?"
"Aff. You have done well for an old warrior, Star Commander Joanna."
"So then, why not allow me to remain here on duty instead of shipping me off to the nursery?"
He frowned. "Neg. The will of the Khan and the Falcon Clan cannot be so easily disregarded. Your assignment is the best use of your skills."
"Best use? But I have here shown my prowess as a warrior. How does that—"
"The fact that you have reached the finals of these games does not mean that you should remain a warrior. Perhaps it displays your skills and that only confirms how great will be your use to the Clan in supervising a genetics station."
Joanna had expected to be turned down, but had wanted to give Ravill Pryde his fair chance.
He turned to the dais to hear the nature of the final event from Diana. Joanna nudged his shou
lder.
"A private word with you, Star Colonel."
"Now? When the last event is—"
"What I have to say concerns the last event."
He waved away spectators as he led her over to one side of the dais.
* * *
Searching for the illustrious Star Colonel now, realizing that she had again lost the blip that she had been sure was his location, Joanna savored that conversation with him.
"You lead us under false pretenses, Star Colonel Ravill Pryde, quiaff?"
"I do not know what you mean, Joanna."
"I mean this. I have seen your personal file. It is strange, I must say that. You see, I have read with great interest the parts about your genetic legacy."
He seemed alarmed. "Joanna—"
"No, let me speak my piece. I read that your sibko was created as part of a secret project, a series of genetic experiments that, as its outcome, mixed DNA from the Pryde line, a Jade Falcon line, with DNA from another line. Apparently such experimentation has been going on for some time and—"
"Joanna, I would suggest to you that you terminate this conversation immediately. What you are delving into is a clandestine operation that is highly secret. There are—"
"I am sure I am not supposed to know about it. It is so miserable, so revolting, that—"
"No, wait. I mean it is dangerous for you to know. The trouble it would cause you is immeasurable. If you think you are being sent to a wasteful assignment now, you would be sent to the remotest place possible, the absolute end of the universe, if you pursue the matter beyond this conversation."
"I do not even care to do that. It is between you and me, as far as I am concerned. But Jade Falcons are honorable, and would not resort to extreme measures if I spoke out."
"Yes, if you deal with warriors and leaders of warriors, with Khans and ilKhans, but this project, as you call it, is the domain of the scientist caste."
"I know that. I know they are involved, but—"
"No, I am saying that none of the Clan's warrior castes knows about this. Not the Khans or the Loremasters or any of the bloodnamed. Nobody knows that I know my origins. It must be kept secret. The scientist caste is more powerful than you think. It is composed of freeborns, and the way of honor that guides the warrior caste is unknown to them. You see—"
"I do not see, and it does not matter. I am only concerned with you, Ravill Pryde, and the lie that you live. If what I read had not concerned you, I would ordinarily have found the information thrilling and even a source of pride that our scientists were so devoted to breeding us as the best warriors possible. I am for genetic progress, who would not be? But the shock, as you must realize, came when I identified the sources of the genetic mixture."
"Forget you ever heard about this, Joanna. There is no reason to go on. We must finish the games and then I will try to discuss this with you."
"No, I will speak now. I am not patient, even you know that. When I perceived that the mixture was not of one Jade Falcon line with another Jade Falcon line but a 'mating,' if you will accept such an ugly word, of a Jade Falcon line with that of another Clan, I was angered. How could you improve our lines in any way with genetic materials from any other Clan? We are the best bred of all warriors. But I was sickened when I saw that, for your sibko, the Jade Falcon materials were combined with those from Clan Wolf. That is an experiment so ugly that I cannot believe that our scientist caste even considered it. It is diluting our genes, not enhancing them. It is—"
"Joanna, it goes beyond just our scientist caste. I am not sure how. I have not found out. But the plans come from elsewhere, and not from the Jade Falcon leadership either. We must end this conversation. It is too potentially dangerous. I vow to you that—"
"I will not hear your vows. I am only using this information to get what I want, a revocation of the nursery assignment."
"But—"
"I do not wish to go to Ironhold.”
“You wish to blackmail me into allowing you to stay here?"
"Neg, although that is tempting. No, I wish only what I deserve. A chance. A chance to prove I should remain with the Falcon Guards. I wish, for our games event, to fight you in our 'Mechs. An honor duel, if you wish to call it that. If I defeat you, you must revoke my travel orders. If you win, I will go quietly, and keep this information about you to myself. No, no, we will not even do it that way. Let us make this all simpler and ensure that the winner is properly rewarded. Let us make this a fight to the death. You leave orders for the revocation of my new assignment, and I—I will be dead, so I will no longer be a problem for you."
"A problem. No. A dilemma perhaps, but not a problem."
"Whatever. What do you say?"
Ravill Pryde paused and looked over his shoulder, where the assembled warriors watched the two of them with apparent curiosity and fascination. He turned back to Joanna, saying, "Bargained well and done. We will announce this honor duel as the new final event of the games."
"Agreed."
He started to walk away.
"Ravill Pryde!" she called out, deliberately leaving off his rank.
He turned. She walked up to him and whispered, "I despise every Wolf trait in your genetic legacy." Joanna then turned and walked away. She had made the final insult for psychological reasons. After all, with a man who had qualified as Star Captain in his cadet Trial of Position, a bit of psychology could be useful.
There was a lull in the storm. For a moment Joanna saw Ravill Pryde's Timber Wolf just a few hundred meters from her Mad Dog. In the swirling snow it was a mere outline walking away from her. Maybe he was not aware of her presence nearby. Maybe his scanners were off, too, and he did not know where she was. Maybe it was a good time for an ambush. Reacting quickly, she triggered a salvo of SRMs and found out how aware of her presence he was. The Timber Wolf's antimissile system transformed her SRMs into fireworks—brief and colorful fireworks but ineffective. The snow became heavier again. Her last sight of the Timber Wolf showed that it continued out onto the field of ice. She had no choice but to pursue him, piloting blind since her detection systems had now chosen to display for her images that very much resembled the snow outside.
14
Southern Pole
Sudeten
Jade Falcon Occupation Zone
24 July 3057
The next few minutes were dreamlike. The Mad Dog's footing seemed wildly insecure, as if the 'Mech were too light and likely to fall. Joanna kept telling herself that its weight would keep it upright. Yet, as the 'Mech progressed through the storm, systems disoriented by weather, Joanna felt disoriented, too. She had been in battles with poor visibility many times, but had always been able to see at least some shapes or reflections in front of her. Her guidance and scanning systems had usually shown minimal function. But this—this was like swimming in foam. Oddly, the effort required for the Mad Dog to move through the storm seemed to demand extra heat from its operating systems. In addition to the sounds of the storm, Joanna kept hearing a strange sizzle where the frigid snow struck the hot 'Mech surface.
Why do I need this fight? What drives me on, keeps me at it? Maybe this storm is some kind of sign, telling me to accept the humiliating assignment and go tell soothing stories to sibko brats fresh out of their canisters. Maybe Jade Falcon command, in its wisdom, is making the right decision for me. I'm supposed to believe that, I know. I am not supposed to defy what is ordained for me by them. My kind of defiance is Clanlike enough in battle, but outside of combat it becomes—what?—antisocial behavior? To be antisocial among Jade Falcon warriors is something of a distinguishing mark. Still, most warriors would accept these orders without complaint, no matter how angry they might feel about them. Only I would go to elaborate lengths to battle the commanding officer for the right to change orders. I know that, and in a strange way I am proud of it. If Aidan were here, he'd tell me, you're at it again, Joanna.
Yet, in no way do I feel disloyal. I don't know why. All I know is that all
my life, all my warrior life, I've dreaded surviving to an age where all I could hope for was some degrading assignment like this one. I used to think that the worst that could happen was that I would become cannon fodder in some solahma detail, joining some little gang of ancient warriors no longer useful to their units who gratefully do their duty by going forward to certain death just to buy time for the real warriors. Damn it, I am one of the real warriors, still one of the real warriors. To go down in flames, be a casualty of a battle that means something—that is the kind of fate I always hoped for. To die with weapons firing, like Aidan Pryde. Freebirth, all those battles I've been in—and always won, or at least survived.
I could grow very old. There could be years of nursery duty. Years! I cannot even think in terms of years. It is disgusting, living to be old. How can the older warriors, Kael Pershaw, Natasha Kerensky, and the rest consider growing old? They have duty, yes, but what good is duty when your bones hurt and being in a 'Mech is just a memory? Pershaw's a wreck, but he goes on. Why?
It might be better for me to lose this little fracas with Ravill Pryde. Everyone knows he is a ristar, three in one blow, bloodname a gift, Cluster command before he has even seen real combat. It would even be a heroic and honorable death, to lose in an honor duel with a hero-to-be. Might become an important part of his epic sections in The Remembrance. I can see him dragging my body back to his little prydelings. It all fits. Except I cannot die that way either. Something keeps me going. Something keeps me fighting. I am Jade Falcon. That may be it. I am Jade Falcon.
The last idea pleased her. Just being Jade Falcon was sufficient. It had made a hero out of Aidan Pryde—who, after all, was no ordinary warrior either. In his way he was just as defiant as she was.
I am Jade Falcon Page 12
