Besides the lance of BattleMechs hidden beneath the parking lot, there were a pairof Condors, a Demon, and a hoverbike squad hidden in the hollowed out shell masquerading as a hotel. A few blocks away, a parking garage hid a short battalion of light vehicles. And the IndustrialMechs working the golf course were all armed and armored beneath their bright yellow paint jobs.
Clanners sneered at hedonistic pursuits and overlooked the frivolous. If the Wolves came to Amity, Jasek was counting on them overlooking this resort.
The faux hotel was eighty klicks south of Imstar Aerospace and fifty-three kilometers south-southwest of a ferrocrete pad built for emergency DropShip landings. If the Wolves turned on the Commonwealth, they would attack Amity. And if they attacked Amity, they would land here. They would drive for the planetary militia protecting Imstar. And once they'd taken the bait, the Stormhammers would hit them from behind.
A look of dark determination flickered across his face. If the Wolves came to Amity, Jasek would crush them. He had already lost one world to Clanners.
He wasn't about to lose another.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Strategic Command Bunker, Atreus City
Atreus
Free Worlds League
19 May 3140
Deep beneath the surface of the world, the Captain-General of the Free Worlds League waited for the Wolves to come.
The command center lay a good three hundred meters beyond the touch of the sun's light. It was encased in a reinforced ferrocrete shell that was hardened against nuclear attack, its dedicated comms lines shielded from EMP. Aside from the Captain-General's secret exit, the only way in or out of the command center was a two-meter-thick steel door.
That door had been shut and locked.
A platoon of infantry in Purifier armor guarded that door in the hopes their deaths would allow their Captain-General a few extra minutes to escape.
Jessica thought of them and had trouble swallowing past the tightness in her throat. Maybe it will not come to that. And then: Don't lie to yourself Jessica. There is no room for self- delusion.
She wore a white uniform tunic with the Marik crest in gold over her heart. The tunic was trimmed in gold with flared purple sleeves and was paired with a matching skirt. She wore a sword at her hip. This was a day of war and she had dressed for it.
She drew a deep breath and tucked a wayward strand of gray hair behind her ear. She stood in the center of the immense room, stood at attention.
Waiting.
Jessica had no illusions as to how this day would end. The Wolves would have Atreus. Neither she nor her advisors could see any way to stop that. But she would bloody their noses so badly they could go no further.
The Wolf assault would end here.
"Distant Howl has achieved low orbit," called out one of the many officers hunched over consoles that were arranged in rows behind her. "Your Grace," said the man. "She is positioned directly overhead."
"Very well," said Jessica calmly. She allowed herself a small backward glance. Philip stood behind her, leaning against the wall, out of the way. He flashed her a smile that was somehow both sad and encouraging at the same time. Jessica had ordered him to go to Oriente. Philip had refused.
And here, at the end of things, she just didn't have the heart to arrest him.
"Your Grace," said her Aerospace Commander, "the Eagle's Wings request permission to—"
"Denied," snapped Jessica. "Stand by your guns."
"Yes, Your Grace," said the admiral, his voice tight.
Jessica hadn't contested the Wolf armada's transit in-sys- tem. She refused to throw her aerospace forces away in a fruitless battle against that WarShip and her retinue.
No, she'd spend her aerospace forces targeting the DropShips that would fall from the sky like leaves in autumn. (And to fight her way into orbit, of course.) She would give her ground forces every chance she could.
Even if she already knew it wouldn't be enough.
"Incoming message," said a force commander at communications. She looked up. "From the Congress."
Jessica swallowed and took a defiant step toward the giant screen that covered the wall she faced. "Go ahead."
There was a moment of static and then a man appeared. He looked like a giant on the huge screen. He wore a simple gray jumpsuit without rank or ornament. He was thin, his face pale, the deep-set eyes burning with intensity.
Khan Seth Ward of Clan Wolf.
The Khan's dark eyes glittered as he looked down on her. There was the slightest twitch at the corner of his lips, as if he were amused by some private joke. He inclined his head.
This was a key moment. If the League were to survive the fall of Atreus, it would have to be a mythic fight. They were planning a desperate, bloody battle in which the Captain-General was lost, and then—miraculously—found.
But for now, she had had to strike a defiant tone.
Jessica took another step toward the screen, squared her shoulders. "I am Captain-General Jessica Halas-Hughes Marik of the Free Worlds League. As I stand here on Atreus, I stand on lonus and Aitutaki, on Manihiki and Escobas. I stand on Loyalty. Across these six worlds I have sent orders. No mercy shall be given to Wolves, nor shall any be asked for. The hand of every man, woman, and child in the Free Worlds League is raised against the Wolves. Blood will be met with blood, savagery will be met with savagery."
Her voice rose to a roar. "I am Captain-General Jessica Halas-Hughes Marik and this is my vow." Jessica looked up, a snarl pulled across her face, her hands balled into fists.
Khan Ward looked down at her gravely for a long moment, his dark eyes meeting her gaze and then he threw his head back and laughed.
Jessica blinked.
"It is a most impressive bid, Captain-General," said Khan Ward, a smile curling across his pale face. "But before you choose to die, perhaps you should hear my bid."
Clearwater Nature Center
Outside Atreus City
Samuel Bone lay on his stomach, hidden in the grass, looking up at the sky. A new star had appeared, a diamond pinprick against heaven's blue bowl. Bone knew what it was even before he raised the binoculars to his face.
His powerful binos resolved the tiny jewel into a vessel, no bigger than a child's toy in his glasses, but unmistakable for all that. The vessel's engines held her in orbit over this precise spot. A row of tiny spheres ran along the vessel's spine, seeds, they looked like seed. Seeds of the League's destruction.
Bone smiled to himself, he just couldn't help it.
Now that the Wolves were here, it was finally and completely over. Oh, there might be the ridiculous bidding process if the Wolves hadn't gotten that over with on the run in. Hi, I'm the Halas bitch and I'm defending this world with blah, blah, blah. Hi, I am Khan Ward and defend with whatever you want, because I am going to destroy you. Sure. Great. But once that formality was over, there was nothing, nothing Jessica could do to save herself.
So Bone watched the sky. Any moment now, the Wolves would launch their armada, aerospace fighters plunging into the atmosphere, their sleek bodies limned in fire, DropShips riding down on pillars of golden plasma, BattleMechs with jump packs falling like giant paratroopers in a classic vertical envelopment.
Any moment now.
Bone stared into the beautiful blue sky at that beautiful Warship until his wrists ached from the weight of the binoculars.
What's taking them so long?
He kept his eyes trained on the heavens for another five minutes before he glanced at his watch.
It was only then that he felt the first stirrings of alarm.
ComStar Secret Research Facility Omega One
Luyten 68-28, Exact Coordinates Unknown
Prefecture X
Tucker worked on one of the relics his guards had brought him, this one a little noteputer that had been badly weathered by sand and time. The radiac clicked noisily to itself, so Tucker took the doubtful precaution of wearing rubber gloves as he worked. At least the g
loves would stop alpha radiation, if not gamma or neutron. His own 'puter registered nothing, of course. The old noteputer was probably fried, but from time to time he'd found things on these old devices, so he kept working.
He grabbed a Phillips head with his trembling hand. It took him three tries to line up the screwdriver with the screw. He bit his lip, sweat sheening his face, concentrating. After what seemed like forever he managed to pop the 'puter's case.
He tested the power supply and found that it was dead. So maybe the chip was still good. He reached for the device. His traitor hand spasmed, spilling parts everywhere, screws and plastic keys scattering across the bench and bouncing off the floor.
Tucker took a deep shuddery breath, fighting down the urge to sob.
He bent down to pick up the fallen parts, a maddening task with his damaged fine motor skills. He was down on his hands and knees when he found the chip. It was a black plastic wafer attached to a bright green circuit board, the whole thing the size of his thumb down to the first knuckle. It was dusty and at least slightly radioactive.
But it might be good.
Tucker stared at it for a long moment. Without thinking, he snatched it up and popped it in his mouth.
It tasted bitter and metallic. Tucker imagined he could feel the radiation sheeting through his jaw, irradiating the calcium in his teeth, spawning horrific cancers in the soft tissue beneath his tongue.
He heaved himself to his feet and dumped the parts he'd collected into the disposal bin. He was breathing hard, sweating
freely. His heart was racing. He shuffled toward the bathroom. As soon as the door was shut behind him, he spat the board out.
He peered at it. It might work. It might really work. It would take months. He'd have to build his computer from parts salvaged from the debris the ROM adepts brought him and carefully hide it from the people behind the one-way glass, but with patience and luck it might work. He might build a device on which he could hack the network, a device with no signature that could be tied back to him.
Tucker knelt down and hid the board with its precious chip behind the toilet's base and as he did he realized a strange and wondrous thing.
His hands weren't shaking.
Indvader-class JumpShip Lope
Zenith Jump Point
Helm, Wolf Occupation
Zone 21 May 3140
Verena was intensely aware of Jacob's maleness, the way he smelled, like soap and light aftershave and something more primal underneath. He was tall with ash blond hair cut short, but long enough on top for a stray lock to fall playfully into his cerulean eyes. Whenever he looked at her, he flashed her a lopsided smile.
They stood at the rear of the Lope's bridge, on a narrow catwalk a meter above the main bridge, their feet tucked beneath a low rail, their hands resting on a waist-high railing, awaiting the jump to Bainsville.
Tension was thick on the bridge as naval personnel ran through intricate jump calculations. Alaric stood next to the vessel's captain near the holotank in the bridge's center discussing something in a hushed tone. Like the naval techs, Alaric was worried about something, she could see it in the hunch of his shoulders.
Jacob was the only relaxed person on the bridge. He had drifted just a little too close, his body brushing against her right shoulder. Verena edged a few centimeters left.
As a former Exile herself, she had been assigned to escort the Exile exchange officer, Star Colonel Jacob Cams. It was important for her to work effectively with him to support Clan Wolf's goal of reunification with their estranged cousins.
What made the situation even more complicated was that she and Jacob had grown up in the same creche. They were sibkin, that strange Clan relationship that was part sibling, part competitor, and part lover.
"Jump detection," called out a technician. Alaric turned to the holotank, a scowl on his face, his blue eyes locked on the icon that hovered there. His helmet of golden hair bowed as he listened to something the JumpShip's captain was saying.
Alaric was not making it any easier. Over the last few months he had grown distant. Secretive. He was keeping something from her.
She tried to tell herself that he was just unhappy Beta Galaxy had not been selected to lead the attack on the Free Worlds League. After Alaric's brilliant assault on world after world in Marik space, it was a strange and bitter decision. A shameful decision.
But in her darker moments she wondered if he had decided to take Katrina Steiner's advice and abandon her. Perhaps he had seen their relationship was a political liability he could no longer afford. Yes, that sounded exactly like Katrina. Was this how it would begin? Had he already been with another woman? Was his ... love, be honest with yourself she thought, the word was love—was his love for her a shallow thing he could afford to discard?
These were all very unnatural thoughts, unc/anthoughts, and yet when she thought such things, her heart throbbed painfully in her chest and she tasted bitterness on her tongue.
What have I become?
"JumpShip confirmed as Wolf vessel," called out the tactical officer.
"Batteries are charged," reported the deck engineer.
"Incoming message for Galaxy Commander Alaric," sang out the tech on communications. Alaric drifted over to her station.
Jacob's shoulder bumped against Verena's and she looked up at him. He smiled at her, that beautiful lopsided smile. "It is most pleasant to see you again, Verena."
"And you, Jacob," she said, edging another few centimeters to her left.
Somewhere in the background she heard the boatswain mate pass the word, "Ready Force, lay to the bridge."
He reached out and touched her face. "Would you like to couple after the jump?"
She looked up at him and then she turned away, breaking his touch. "Jacob, I—" There were no words for a Clanner to explain what she was feeling. To not couple with an old friend, a man who was sibkin, it was like a Spheroid refusing to come to a family dinner. She could not explain, so she just looked up at him and said, "A/eg."
He did not look hurt, only puzzled. He stared at her for a long moment and then a knowing smile curled across his face. "Verena," he whispered. "You are in love."
She recoiled as if slapped.
"Who is the man?"
Without meaning to, her eyes flickered to Alaric.
Jacob saw her glance and smiled. "Alaric?"
"H-howdid you-"
"Station-keeping drive engaged," one of the techs called and Verena felt weight return. Terrible, terrible weight.
"How did I know? The Exiles live and work among the Steiners. You are not the first Clanner to fall in love. Though it is surprising you had to come all the way to Clan Wolf for it to happen."
"Excuse me," suddenly Alaric was standing on the other side of the railing. His eyes were on Jacob and his face was stiff. Was he ... jealous?Verena did not believe it was possible, but Alaric's face was cold, hard.
The space tight hatch behind her opened and a pair of Elementals stepped onto the bridge. The genetically engineered soldiers were huge, pushing three meters tall.
Alaric met Jacob's eyes. "Star Colonel Jacob Cams, I take you prisoner."
Jacob's eyes went wide with surprise. His body tensed, but before he could move the Elementals tackled him from behind. They hauled him to his feet.
"You stravag dog," Jacob snarled. "I challenge you to a Trial of Refusal." "
Alaric shook his head. "There will be no trial. But I offer you a choice. You can choose to become my bondsman. Or Clan Wolf will grant you the Right of Return and turn you over to the Exiles."
Jacob struggled against his captors, but the massive Elementals held him fast. "You are mad, Alaric." He glanced at Verena. "Is this because—"
Alaric chuckled. "No."
"Then why? What are you doing?"
"We are not jumping to Bainsville, Jacob. We are preparing to attack the Lyran Commonwealth."
"What?" Jacob gasped.
Verena found her mout
h was hanging slackly open.
Alaric smiled faintly and nodded. "It is true."
"But—" Jacob shook his head. "Wait. Is this about your civilians? Why do you not negotiate with the Archon for more lift capacity to speed the migration?"
"We tried," said Alaric flatly. "For two months. We asked her to provide additional JumpShips from other military provinces, but she refused." He raised his voice. "The Archon enjoys holding our leash too much to ever let it go."
"And that s worth turning on the Lyrans, quineg?"
"Aff," said Alaric. "That and the Archon blocks our thrust into the Republic toward Terra. But there is even a greater reason for fighting the Archon: you."
"Us?" Jacob rasped.
Alaric nodded. "You Exiles have grown accustomed to the collar. Melissa brought us to her realm thinking she was getting another obedient pack of dogs. But we, we will never grow accustomed to the collar." Alaric's voice rang out. "We are wolves."
"Seyla," shouted the Wolves on his bridge as one.
Jacob swallowed.
"Bondsman or Exile," said Alaric. "Think on it well, Jacob. You could slink backto Arc-Royal. Or you could become a true Wolf." He nodded and the Elementals dragged Jacob away.
Alaric raised his voice. "Captain Paul, Secure station-keeping drive and recalculate jump for Amity."
"As ordered, Galaxy Commander," answered Lope's captain.
Alaric pulled himself up the short ladder that led up to the catwalk. He took up station next to Verena, where Jacob had stood a few moments before.
"I do not understand," she said softly. "How can we launch attacks against two great houses at once?"
Alaric shook his head. "We cannot. The attack against the Free Worlds League was a feint. The JumpShips we sent into their systems carried few troops. Instead our forces have been massing on the coreward side of our occupation zone."
"A trick to fool House Steiner."
"And House Marik. We showed Captain-General Jessica a glimpse of what we could do: annihilate her nation, annihilate her line. When faced with that, is it not obvious she would agree to anything to stave off those horrors?"
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