Blood legacy

by Michael A. Stackpole

  Galen started out through the hatch, but Victor called him back. "Wait, Galen. Stay for this."

  The blond MechWarrior shook his head. "It's 'Eyes Only' and I don't have that sort of clearance. I must go."

  "I want you to stay."

  "I don't have that clearance level, Kommandant."

  "You do now!" Victor knew from the sour look on Galen's face that his protest was a facade over the real reason he wanted to leave. "Stay. That's an order, Hauptmann."

  "As you command, Kommandant!"

  Victor reached out and punched the Play button on the viewer. The screen opened with a burst of gray-white static, then dissolved into a close-up shot of Hanse Davion looking very small against his throne. Seeing how old and tired his father looked shocked Victor halfway out of his lethargy.

  Hanse Davion tried to put on a brave smile, but the effort seemed to die for lack of energy. "Greetings, Victor. I wish this message could be more pleasant, but it cannot. I regret having to make this request of you, but to do less would be a gross injustice."

  Victor saw his father swallow hard, and he felt a sympathetic lump rising in his own throat.

  His lower lip trembling, Hanse continued. "On the fifth of January, an assassin succeeded in slaying Duchess Candace Liao and Minister Justin Allard. He slipped into the St. Ives Consulate and awaited his chance there. First he shot and killed Candace, then mortally wounded Justin. Despite his injuries, Justin managed to kill the assassin and summon help, but it was too late."

  Victor's jaw dropped open. "No, that's impossible! Not yesterday. No!" He glanced over at Galen, whose face wore the same look of blanched surprise that Victor felt. "God, no."

  Hanse Davion balled his hands into fists. "We know the assassin was an agent in the employ of Romano Liao. He lived in the Sarna March on Shipka, but in 3042 moved to New Avalon. He became a full citizen in 3048. We had no way of knowing he was a sleeper agent

  "Tormana Liao has been appointed regent of the St. Ives Compact, though Kai's sister Kuan Yin attends to the actual running of the government. I have sent several reserve units to the Compact to discourage adventurism on Romano's part. Kai is, of course, the Duke of St. Ives and will be released from immediate duty so that he may assume the throne, or if he chooses, to head up the troops Candace lent to the war against the Clans."

  Hanse's eyes narrowed. "We have undertaken an operation to avenge Justin and his wife, but it will not bear fruit for some months. If Kai wants to engage in a military solution to this situation, I would counsel him against it, but I would support any decision he makes. His parents will lie in state for two days here in the capital, then their bodies will be sent to Kestrel to be interred in the Allard family tomb. Cassandra and Quintus Daniel have been given the temporary duty of heading the honor guard taking the bodies to Kestrel.

  "I know that it will not be easy, Victor, for you to break this news to Kai. Again, I apologize for asking you to do this, but I would not have him hear of his parents' death from anyone but a friend. Were it possible for me to be there, I would do it myself."

  Victor tasted bitter tears on his lips. He wanted to shut the message off, but he also wanted to hear his father out.

  "Victor, tell Kai that the loss of his parents hurts us all, as a nation and as a people. My relationship with his father and his grandfather was very special. If not for them, history would be very much different in the Inner Sphere. Your mother and I both take pride in your friendship with Kai because we know he can offer you the same support and wisdom his forebears have given us."

  The screen darkened, and reading the end of message code, the machine shut off. Still staring at the black screen, Victor slammed his right fist down on his thigh again and again. "Damn, damn, damn, damn! Why did he have to die, Galen? Why was his life wasted?"

  "How dare you!?"

  The naked anger in Galen's voice snapped Victor's head around like a punch. "Wh-what?"

  "How dare you say Kai's life was wasted!"

  The furious spark in Galen's eyes and the rage in his voice kindled a reaction in Victor. "It was, dammit. Fifteen minutes after Kai died, we deserted Alyina, or have you forgotten? Kai died for nothing!"

  Galen stood and looked down at the Prince. "Is that your judgement or a prophecy you want to fulfill? We may have lost Alyina, but Kai didn't die to save Alyina. You were there, you heard his men. He ordered them to get you out, and he knew he was buying time that only he, with those new myomers, could. The Clanners on the cliff, or the Clanners in the forest, it didn't matter. He never hesitated because he knew he was dead. He wanted to get you out of there, and damn you, he fulfilled his mission."

  Galen grabbed the blanket and tore it away from Victor. "Look at you. You're still in your cooling vest and shorts. You've been curled up here like a child ever since we got on this ship. If Kai wasted his life, it's only because you're sitting here sulking."

  "I'm mourning! I'm mourning a very close friend—my best friend." Victor's right hand caressed the jade monkey pendant at his throat. "Maybe you can't understand that."

  "Victor, if you think I don't also mourn Kai and the others we lost on Alyina, then I hope your father never leaves the throne." Galen snarled, then closed his eyes and let tension bleed away. "Welcome to life, Highness. Welcome to the knowledge that war is more than toy soldiers and grand plans."

  "You don't understand!" Victor smeared tears across his cheeks. "I keep remembering how Kai and I promised to meet again in twenty years. We had an agreement and I feel that somehow I failed him." Victor stabbed a thumb into his own chest. "Kai died because of me."

  Galen squatted down on his haunches. "Kai died because he believed your life was more important to the Commonwealth than his. You didn't fail him. You'll only fail him if you make his sacrifice worthless. You won't be able to meet him face to face in twenty years, but if you make the best of your life, you can look in the mirror and know he'd be proud of you. He believed in you enough to die to give you that chance. You owe it to him to justify that sacrifice."

  As Galen spoke, he heard the words echo through his mind in Kai's voice. So many memories of Kai, from their one-year overlap at the New Avalon Military Academy and time spent on Outreach to Christmas and that last glimpse of him going over the cliff, played through Victor's mind. His right hand closed again on the jade monkey and he recalled what Kai had said when presenting the gift to him. I got you this totem to remind you to continue to be yourself, no matter what.

  Victor gritted his teeth to keep back the tears, then turned to Galen. "You're right. Kai was right." He stood up and began to unsnap his cooling vest. "I'm going to get cleaned up and changed. Meet me with some coffee in the briefing room and bring all the reports we've got. We're going to do a post mortem on this battle. We're going to learn how and why they beat us. We're going to know them better than they know themselves."

  Galen stood and smiled. "Roger that, sir."

  Victor looked beyond him and nodded to the phantom of Kai he saw in the porthole's view of the world they were leaving. "I'm going to do it. I'm going to be myself. I'm going to live up to my name. Next time, no matter what, I'm going to hand the Clanners their heads."

  46

  Sian

  Sian Commonality, Capellan Confederation

  6 January 3052

  The draft slipping through the open door drove a wispy dust spectre across the floor of the office as Sun-Tzu Liao entered. He carefully pressed the door shut behind him, releasing the doorknob slowly so that the latch made no sound. With his back to the doors, his slender fingers turned the deadbolt, once again sealing the chamber. With a satisfied grin, he saw from the single set of footprints in the dust that no one had been in the room since his last visit.

  Of course no one else dared trespass because my mother, the omnipotent Romano Liao, Madam Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation, ordered this room shut twenty years ago. He looked around at the cobweb-festooned furnishings lit by the small bit of sun that penetrate
d the ivy-covered french doors leading to the garden. The room had not changed since Justin Xiang Allard had betrayed Maximilian Liao and left Sian with Candace at his side.

  It had taken years for Sun-Tzu's curiosity and courage to overcome his terror of angering his mother. At the same time that he learned he could control her, he'd decided she was utterly insane. To prove his independence to himself and to escape one of her rages, he had opened Justin's old office one day.

  Even now I cannot believe he is dead. What have you done, mother? Sun-Tzu crossed to the desk and stood staring at Justin's chair. "You had a metal hand replacing the one taken in combat, yet the layout of your desk does not reflect a right-handed bias. You worked with your handicap until it became an asset. This whole office is like that. It's no wonder you were able to bring the Confederation to its knees. It's only a wonder they ever found you out."

  Sun-Tzu shook his head and cautioned himself against speaking to ghosts. Leave it to Mother and Kali to speak to the unseen. He shuddered. "How could you do this to me, Mother?"

  Assassinating Candace and Justin was sheer lunacy. Yes, he knew it settled old scores for his mother. In her eyes, it avenged the death of her father and helped to restore the Confederation's honor. Bit it did nothing to weaken the Confederation's enemies, and Sun-Tzu dreaded the form Hanse Davion's retribution might take. There was a chance that the Prince of the Federated Commonwealth would find himself too busy with the Clans to strike back immediately, but Sun-Tzu had not the slightest doubt that Hanse Davion would make Romano pay for the killings.

  But Sun-Tzu was not afraid of Hanse Davion. Not even the Fox suspected the game he had played on Outreach. It was true he'd failed in his plan to humiliate Kai in the final testing on Outreach, having grossly underestimated his cousin. But in the end it would all work in Sun's own favor, for everyone would underestimate him even more.

  He'd played his role to the hilt on Outreach. He knew none of his enemies would dare trust him after his strange behavior, but they would not guess his true intentions, either. They believed him to be as mad as his mother, and would never suspect him capable of the bold moves he must soon make. Yes, things are falling into place.

  Sun-Tzu's one wish was that he'd had more time to study his cousin and search out his weaknesses, as he had done with his uncle Tormana. For all his bluster, Tormana was more a holovid revolutionary than anything else. By his loud posturing, Tormana managed to keep donations flowing into his coffers from paranoid Feds from the Sarna and Capellan Marches. Some of that money did go to revolutionary cells within the Combine itself, but most of it went straight to Tormana's own Brazen Heart Cavaliers Regiment.

  "Tormana is easy to control because the fighting of twenty years ago took the heart out of him. He has no real desire to rule the Capellan Confederation. Yet he is shrewd enough to know he must make some display of interest to earn the respect of his peers in the Federated Commonwealth. If conquest becomes difficult, if he feels himself vulnerable, he will do nothing to jeopardize himself. Come to think of it, Candace's death will be such a constant reminder of his own danger that it may yet serve a good purpose."

  Sun-Tzu turned to look at Justin's chair once more. "But Kai is another matter. As long as he is fighting the Clans, he will not come after me. I am fortunate that he believes the Clans are a greater threat than the Capellan Confederation. Kai certainly is not a coward. I know now his bloodlines serve him well. When he is finally able to turn his attention this way, things will, indeed, get interesting. I must gather as much power as I can to oppose him. With Victor and Hanse behind him, Kai may well be invincible."

  Sun-Tzu mentally played through a number of options and political scenarios as he decided what he must do to ensure his survival and that of the Capellan Confederation. Suddenly, a course of action presented itself to him in clear form. With a nod, he committed himself to a plan that would take at least five years to complete. The risk was great, but all he could lose was his life, and death seemed distinctly more desirable than life as he'd known it over the past two decades.

  The sound of hollow laughter brought him out of his ruminations, but when he looked around, he saw only a shaft of sunlight impaling Justin's old chair. Sun-Tzu nodded in agreement with the room's phantoms. "It must be something in this room that nurtures thoughts of treason."

  He smiled to himself and started for the door. "When the throne is mine, I will have this place destroyed."

  47

  Imperial City, Luthien

  Pesht Military District, Draconis Combine

  6 January 3052

  Shin Yodama winced as the Kell Hound MechWarrior dabbed at the cut on his leg with a whiskey-soaked rag.

  "Sorry about that." The silvery-haired warrior smiled. "It's better when ingested internally rather than applied topically. Still, we make what sacrifices we must in the name of medicine." He deftly cleaned away the dirt and dried blood, then smiled and adjusted his glasses. "Not very deep 'cept at the top. Couple of butterflies and you won't even have a scar."

  Shin frowned and glanced at the name stenciled on the breast of the man's cooling vest. "Sumimasen, Murray Jack-san. Butterflies?"

  The mercenary produced two small bandages from the pouch at his left hip. They looked like barbells to Shin. Jack pressed one square end above the cut and stretched the little center elastic piece, then fixed the other end below the wound. The elastic contracted, pulling the deepest part of the wound shut. The second butterfly went lower than the first and closed the wound even tighter.

  "We call those bandages butterflies because they have two wings. For cuts like this, they're more useful than stitches." He looked around at all the bandage-swathed warriors milling around the ruins on the edge of Imperial City. "Besides, I'm out of thread."

  Shin nodded in grim agreement. A couple of the Nova Cats had actually made it into the city and wrecked some outlying buildings, but a Dragoons airstrike had slapped them down. The Kado-guchi Valley had become a massive killing zone and the smoke still rising from burning 'Mechs streaked the sky with dozens of inky ribbons. The few Clanners who had survived the battle had been rounded up and held in a makeshift prison. Their DropShips had left before the battle ended, and Shin had heard a rumor that their commanders ordered them up out of disgust for their comrades' unsuccessful effort.

  Shin helped Jack wrap gauze around his thigh. "For a MechWarrior, you are skilled in the ways of healing."

  "Well, I was a doctor in a past life." Jack threw Shin a wink. "Morgan Kell encourages all of us to keep up on first aid techniques and the like. Given the occupational hazards of our work, it seems a wise thing to do."

  "Hai!" Shin stood and tested his leg. "Thank you very much."

  Jack shrugged. "My pleasure. I owed you anyway. If you'd not potshotted that MadCat, he would have roasted me in my Rifleman. Fighting from a legless 'Mech." He shook his head. "Damn glad you were on our side."

  "As we were happy you were here to aid us." Hohiro Kurita patted Shin on the shoulder. "You are not badly injured, I hope?"

  "Barely a scratch. I can walk, can't I?"

  Jack nodded. "Just no running around. Keep it clean and you'll do fine."

  "Domo arigato, Murray Jack-san." Shin shook the man's hand, then caught up with Hohiro. "Highness, I heard a rumor that you accounted for five kills."

  Hohiro shrugged distractedly. "Really? I did not keep count. There were too many targets to worry about that."

  Shin nodded. Reports had placed the size of the invading force at over eight hundred BattleMechs. The Combine had opposed them with just over thirteen hundred 'Mechs. If not for the added air support from the mercenaries, all the 'Mechs in the Combine would not have been enough to defeat the Clans. The battle for Luthien had been even closer than in Shin's worst nightmares.

  With Shin in tow, Hohiro met up with his sister Omi, and the three headed toward the general headquarters. Throughout the journey, the Kanrei's children continually greeted and thanked the Mech Warriors in
the area. They made no distinction between citizen and mercenary, and as nearly as Shin could tell, neither did the warriors. Battling side by side had forged an alliance of spirit that made all their previous differences trivial.

  Down in the valley, Shin saw where the MechWarrior units were stationed. Of the two Kell Hound Regiments that came to Luthien, just over two battalions remained operational. Wolf's Dragoons had started with five full regiments and been reduced to two and a half. The Combine's six regiments had suffered similar grievous damage, with the Genyosha and the Second Legion of Vega faring the best, with only fifty-percent casualties. The Reserve regiment had been hurt most, with only three 'Mechs remaining operational at battle's end.

  As they neared the makeshift tent headquarters, Shin saw a tableau that gave him a shudder. Theodore Kurita stood with the two mercenary commanders, Morgan Kell and Jaime Wolf, while Takashi Kurita remained well in the background. Nearby he saw MacKenzie Wolf with his foot in an aircast and Dan Allard with his right arm in a sling. Captain Jason Youngblood of the Kell Hounds' Crescent Hawk Company was also there, among the other mercenary officers who looked as though they had survived the fighting without too much wear and tear.

  Theodore glanced at the trio as they approached, but made no effort to keep his conversation confidential. "There is no way I can adequately repay you for what you have done."

  Morgan Kell smiled broadly. "Payment is not a problem, Kanrei. You will recall that we're on Hanse Davion's payroll. Your offer to let us be first out to salvage is more than gracious."

  "Hell, your not shooting us out of the sky when we arrived insystem was more than I expected," Jaime Wolf chimed in. "And a chance to fight the Nova Cats again was the fulfillment of an old dream. Battling them to keep Luthien free makes it that much better."