By Temptations and by War
Page 31
Jenna nodded. “I know.” It wasn’t the first time he’d spoken of it aloud, as if trying to convince himself.
She remained deferential and distant, still waiting for Evan to come back to her after their victory on the Suriwong Floods. Since being pried out of the cockpit of the broken Ti Ts’ang, however, Evan had maintained a careful attitude. Even the news of Jenna’s surviving the death of her unit hadn’t chipped much of his resolve free. They were brother and sister now as well as lovers. Warriors of House Ijori. He needed time to come to terms with the first before again considering the second. She knew this.
She was being kept fairly busy herself. Jen was currently working on recruitment and indoctrination for the resurrected Warrior House. Finding the right disciple-cadets and learning how to groom them into the next generation of warrior-philosophers would be a daunting task.
Mai Uhn Wa played each person to his or her strengths.
“Did you discover anyone today?” he asked.
Jenna smiled, glorious and proud. “You would not believe it. Two sixteen-year-old twins who had already been tagged by The Republic as problem children. Their problem, as it turned out, was fighting back against hazing for being too Capellan in their ways. Well, now they can bask in a little hero worship before coming here to live.”
Twins? Interesting. “And the younger brackets?” Evan opened up new files.
The age groups ranged to as young as eight. Eventually, such precocious children with the right qualifications would be invited to attend summer schools for philosophy. The best and brightest would be wedded to House Ijori at age twelve. And in only one decade Ijori would have a program that matched other Warrior Houses.
“A few,” Jenna said. “It’s harder, but we’ll be ready.” She paused. “Have you thought about this? What it will be like to divorce such young children from their families?”
He had. But not in the way she meant. Evan was one of those children, cast adrift into a surrogate life. These new children would have what he had never been given. A choice. “Only those who decide for themselves,” he promised her. “That is the only way it can work. Shiao Mai knows what he is doing.” As did Evan. Now.
“All right. Keep it between you for now. But Evan, let me in on one thing, will you?” An echo of ’copter blades rolled over the small plateau. “Why are we blasting tunnels into the cliff face?”
She sounded eager. Enthusiastic. And eventually, Mai Uhn Wa or Evan would let several of their key people in on House Ijori’s secret charge. But Jen Lynn Tang had waited too long to ask this day. The thunder of military rotors grew louder. Evan turned and found the Sprint VTOL, growing larger as it flew in from the northwest. “The Master returns,” he said simply. “We should go welcome him home.”
He hadn’t planned on it, but Evan reached out as he went by to snag her hand and pull Jenna along at his side. It seemed such a little gesture, but one he needed to make, for her as well as for him. After so long, Evan finally had found what The Republic had taken from him.
A family. A House.
A home.
EPILOG
Noble Victory
Lord Governor Golan of Prefecture VI has traded away the worlds of Yunnah and Second Try to the Capellan Confederation. In return, Chancellor Liao pressured the Oriente Protectorate to end hostilities. Prefect Tao demands that strict measures be taken against the Lord Governor for his policy of appeasement, as the gift of worlds circumvents his strategy of a military blockade against Palos and Wei.
—ComStar Interstellar Associated, Liao, 2 September 3134
Celestial Palace
Zi-jin Chéng (Forbidden City), Sian
Sian Commonality, Capellan Confederation
23 September 3134
Jacob Bannson stewed outside of Daoshen Liao’s ceremonial temple, waiting for the Chancellor’s return, sweating through an imported suit that cost him several thousand Liao-bills. From one of the finest tailors on Highspire, influenced by the Mao jacket but cut for a modern man of business, it did nothing for him in Sian’s summer heat. He and his entourage were quietly miserable. The temple’s white oak siding reflected most of the sun’s strength back into their faces. The air shimmered. There was not one lick of shade on this side of the temple, a fact certainly not lost on the inscrutable leader of the Capellan Confederation.
Daoshen Liao. The Great Soul. Soon to be Jacob Bannson’s liege lord and master.
Well, his liege lord, anyway.
Retainers fetched him iced water, talcum and towels, whatever he commanded at a snap of his fingers. His own people, brought with him from The Republic, were also decked out in the finest clothes as befitting the court of a traveling lord. The corporate leader had taken to heart Daoshen’s suggestion that he arrive in style, and so he had. And for the indifferent reception he’d received so far, was glad of it. His people, at least, were well practiced in calling him sire.
Most of them. The rest would learn. Di Jones, for instance, bent and scraped for no one. Though even she might have to bend to the necessity once Daoshen Liao made it official. The flame-haired raider had chosen to remain on his DropShip rather than spend another moment in Daoshen’s company, but she had her assurances of inviolate status. She’d come around.
So what would it be, a simple Lordship? Daoshen promised a reward “commensurate with services rendered to the Capellan Confederation.” Well, Liao had fallen even as Bannson began to think it wasn’t in the cards. Mandrinn? Was Duke too much to hope for?
If not now, then some day. Once Bannson opened up a new opportunity, he never let it go. Nobility had been the one thing closed off to him. Now he had earned that as well.
The temple’s heavy doors swung open, bringing a temporary breeze of refreshing coolness as the interior chill bled out and died under the summer sun. Temple priests stepped into the golden heat, holding back the doors. Not one drop of sweat appeared on their shaven pates, Bannson noticed. His eyes searched the gloomy interior, and found an Asian woman decked out in a slender dress of Asian style. An imperial cheongsam. Brocaded silk of dark, dark ruby red with a detailed design of phoenix and dragon, Mandarin collar closed over a keyhole slit that plunged into a deep neckline.
She looked Bannson over carefully with dark, veiled eyes that gave away nothing. Her gaze had a tangible presence, penetrating. A flush gathered at the back of his neck, but the CEO gave away nothing as he stared back, matching his will against hers. Finally, she nodded once. “He will suffice.”
Not the most glowing endorsement. Bannson bristled, then forced a calm on himself as Daoshen Liao stepped up beside the beauty. The Chancellor could not have been waiting much farther into the temple. Once again, Bannson marveled at the Chancellor’s ability to remain cloaked.
“Chancellor.” Bannson hesitated, unsure of the protocol here, and submitted himself to bowing from the waist. His people, well-schooled to follow their master’s lead, dropped into deeper bows and formal curtsies. “I am honored to stand in your presence again.”
Daoshen folded his hands into the voluminous sleeves of his ceremonial robes. He wore black silk, trimmed in gold. No patterns decorated the fabric. Very understated for the Chancellor. “It is we who are honored, zhàng-fu-xiàng-Ki-linn. It is a joyous ceremony that awaits us.”
Ceremony? Daoshen was prepared to be more gracious than Bannson had hoped. He untangled his title with great care, not wanting to miss one nuance. He didn’t.
. . . husband . . . to. . . .
The CEO glanced quickly to the waiting woman, her formal dress and back to the Daoshen. “Chancellor! You do not mean. . . .” For the first time in years, Bannson found himself at a loss for words.
“Our cousin.” Daoshen nodded to the beauty who remained watchful behind her passive mask. “Twice removed, but a blood descendant of our father’s sister. Ki-linn is a Mandrissa of our court, given new landholds on Wei as well as hereditary estates on Highspire. We expect you will be very happy.”
Ki-linn . . .
Liao! One of Daoshen’s blood, considered divine among the Capellan people. The Chancellor proposed marriage!
“This is how you keep our bargain?” he asked, outrage boiling just below the surface.
The leader’s eye narrowed into dangerous slits. “How else would you become a noble of our realm?”
Bannson dialed back his anger, knowing it could only serve Daoshen’s plans to let the dark emotion rule him. “By appointment. By fiat through service.” Marrying into nobility, he would forever be tied to his wife’s status. His accomplishments would be rewarded to her.
“And we have offered you a greater reward. As promised.” Daoshen stared ahead stoically. No hint of mocking, of condescension, touched his voice or his expression. “We do not recall you setting restrictions on how we granted your wish.”
Trapped. Bannson had left one fatal flaw in his plans. He had assumed. But when would he ever have considered the idea of Daoshen Liao, God Incarnate of Sian, arranging a marriage into his family? Masterful, he had to admit. Bannson’s personal holdings held inviolate status, even after his death, but by Confederation and Republic law, a spouse held many entitlements that could undermine the safeguards put into place.
And to turn down such an offer? That was likely to be more immediately hazardous to his health.
Bannson had trained himself over his entire life to make the tough calls. “The Chancellor is indeed a generous soul,” Bannson said formally, without warmth. He bowed again to Daoshen Liao, and then deeper to his expectant bride. She nodded back curtly and disappeared back into the temple. Bannson blotted sweat from his brow, and joined the Chancellor in the shade of the temple’s interior.
“We still sense a lack of enthusiasm,” Daoshen said. Not as a rebuke, though. A feeler? Something new being offered?
“Understand, Illustrious One, that I am quite surprised by your . . . solution. I have lived my life earning my own way. Marrying into such a great reward runs contrary to my nature.” He smiled weakly. “I’m certain I will get over it.” If Daoshen did not help him over it first with a Maskirovka assassin in the night.
“You worry too much about such things, Jacob Bannson.” It seemed that Daoshen answered what was left unspoken as well. Now the ghost of a smile did trace the Chancellor’s lips. “But as our wedding gift, there may yet be something we can arrange. If earning your nobility by fiat means so much to you.”
Bannson smiled thinly. “At the Chancellor’s pleasure,” he agreed. His mind raced, picking over every word with great care. He did not make the same mistake twice.
“That is well,” the Chancellor said, smiling fully now as they moved into the temple, and the waiting ceremony.
“We have another task for you.”
About the Author
Loren L. Coleman began writing fiction in high school, but it was during his enlistment in the US Navy that he began to work seriously at the craft. In the last ten years he has built up a personal bibliography that includes (around the time of this printing) thirteen published novels, a great deal of shorter fiction work, and involvement with several computer games. Endgame was his ninth Battle Tech novel and the finale to the original Battle Tech series. By Temptations and By War is his second Mech Warrior: Dark Age novel. He is also the author of Into the Maelstrom, the first novel of the Vor series, and Rogue Flyer in the fascinating universe of Crimson Skies.
Loren Coleman currently resides in Washington State. He has a personal Web site at www.rasqal.com.
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PROLOG A Dark Night on Liao
PART ONE The Politics of Destruction
1 Path Toward Redemption
2 The Campus Cabals
3 The Guardian
4 CEO
5 Dark Descent
6 Joy Ride
7 Old Wounds
8 School Daze
9 Sifu
10 Eye of the Storm
11 Monsters in the Dark
12 On Deadly Terms
13 A Blow Struck For Freedom
14 Loyal Son
PART TWO The Marches of Chaos
15 Council of Fear
16 The Bitter Taste of Diplomacy
17 Convergence
18 Suiting Up
19 Paths Into Future Glory
20 Vanguard
21 Light of Ijori
22 New Orders
23 The Dynasty Guard
24 Dropped Ship
25 New Year Resolution
PART THREE The Spoils of Treachery
26 The Cult of Liao
27 Truths Be Told
28 A Divided House
29 Growing Pains
30 Blowing Taps
31 Friends and Family
32 The Treasure of Daoshen
33 Sons of Liao
34 A Time For Change
35 Both Sides of the Line
36 Burning Cold
37 Homecoming
EPILOG Noble Victory
About the Author