Текст книги "Warrior: En Garde"

Автор книги: Michael A. Stackpole

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 27 страниц)

23

Solaris VII (The Game World)

Rahneshire, Lyran Commonwealth

20 March 3027

 

Noton tossed Justin a towel as he came out of the cleaner. "Risky business substituting the Pontiac 100 for the Luxor," he said, seating himself on the narrow wooden bench beside Justin's locker. "Doubles your firepower, but severely cuts your range. Especially because you sacrificed your LRMs of it. Yen-lo-wangis a fine infighter, and the surprise worked well in the Factory, but anyone else will kill you with LRMs and PPC fire."

Justin finished drying off and wrapped the towel around his waist. He pressed it to himself with his inert left hand while he tucked it in with his right. "Calculated risk, Gray. That's something you understand, isn't it?"

Noton leaned back against the wall. "I don't know that I follow you ..."

Justin smiled and swung open his locker door. He reached in and pulled a plastic comb from the top shelf, then pressed it into his left hand and painstakingly sculpted the fingers to hold the comb securely. Watching himself in the fly-blown mirror, he used it to slick down his hair.

"Gray, I've only been here a month, but I know your type."

Noton raised an eyebrow. "My type?"

Justin nodded. "You know that fighting in the Arenas is a dead end. You've not fought in a while—or so the record of public fights shows—but you've got a Typhoon and powerful friends. You're shrewd." Justin looked over at the information broker. "I'd like to think I'm shrewd, too."

A third voice broke in on the conversation. "It wasn't too shrewd, Xiang, to ignore our advice to you about the fight."

Justin turned and lowered his hand. Three men—two large men flanking a smaller, slightly older man—stood just inside the door. The smaller man chomped on a cigar and pointed a thick finger at Justin. "You cost me money tonight."

Justin shook his head. "Youcost you money tonight. I told you I'd not throw the fight. You should have listened."

"No, Xiang, youshould have listened." The little man snapped his fingers. Balling their fists, his twin goons stepped forward. "Rock, Jeff, tear his arm off and break his legs with it."

Justin dropped into a crouch and swept in toward the two thugs. Leaping up, he snapped a kick to Rock's face. With his jaw shattered and his nose leaking blood, Rock toppled backward. Collapsing like a rag doll, he smacked his head hard on the ferrocrete floor.

When Jeff swung a fist at Justin, the MechWarrior grabbed the thug's wrist with his right hand and lifted it up and over his own head. Without relinquishing his grip, Justin pivoted beneath the hoodlum's arm and brought the wrist twisting back with him. Justin locked the arm, then snapped his own left forearm down on Jeff's elbow. The joint cracked audibly as it broke, but the thug's scream of pain swallowed the sound.

Justin released the goon and vaulted over the other incapacitated hood. He grabbed the small man by the throat and drove him back to the wall. Twisting his own hip so that the man could not kick or knee him, he waited until his foe's labored breath was the only sound either of them could hear.

Justin stared mercilessly into the smaller man's eyes. "Listen to me now, because I will not tell you again. If you ever try to fix one of my fights, I will ruin you financially, then I'll kill you in degrees." Justin raised his left hand and wished, for a moment, that the comb had dropped away during the fight. "I've picked up soldiers in a 'Mech's hand, and I know how delicate those devices can be. I also know how rough they can get. I assure you that you don't want to have personal knowledge of their roughness, ni you dong!"

The bookie shook his head fervently. "I understand, wo dong."

Justin smiled coldly and relaxed his grip. "Hao. Zou kai yi-jing!"He released the man and jerked a thumb at the two goons.

"And take them with you. I never want to see you again. If I do, I'll kill you."

Noton refrained from laughing as Jeff and the bookie dragged the unconscious thug from the room. He sputtered a chuckle when the door finally shut behind them, then shook his head. "I thought you said you were shrewd. Now, how was that shrewd?"

Justin pulled on a blue and black silken coat, which hung to just below the waistband of his black trousers. He carefully adjusted the cuff of the left sleeve over the glove covering his metal hand, then tied the blue sash around his waist and let the long ends dangle down at his left hip. Pulling on his boots, he looked over at Noton.

"That will make the Federats here on Solaris more angry. It guarantees me more fights and larger purses. You and I both know that fights here are not combats as much as they are theatrical spectacles. If I'm to fight battles with high purses, I have to be someone that the spectators can either love or hate. Doing things to make the Federats' blood boil is money in the bank."

Noton stood. "Is that why you've taken up with Kym?"

Justin smiled and nodded acknowledgment of Noton's perception. "You mean, has the idea of a Capellan lying with a Davion woman—and the anger it must arouse in men like Capet—ever occurred to me? I'd be lying if I said no." Justin looked up. "You realize, of course, that she sought me out for the same reason, don't you?"

Noton nodded. "I saw that from the first."

"I'm sure you did." Justin swung his rusty locker shut and spun the combination. "We both started out using each other to get back at the people in the Federated Suns." Justin smiled sheepishly. "But, as exiles, we share a bond that seems to knit us together tightly. Back in the Federated Suns, I'd never have gotten to know her, but now I believe I may actually be in love with her."

"I envy you," Noton said with a smile. Then he opened the locker room door for Justin. "Kym's bringing my Typhoon around. Next stop, Valhalla!"

* * *

The darkened glass door opened onto a silent Valhalla as Noton, Justin, and Kym approached. MechWarriors were seated up and down the length of the tables running through the center of the long hall. Each had his head bent forward, as though in prayer. Up on the dais, sandwiched between Billy Wolfson and Philip Capet, a chair sat hidden beneath a shroud of black satin.

"What is this?" Noton shouted laughingly. "Is this Valhalla, or is it a funeral home?"

Capet's head snapped up as if on a spring. He glared at Noton, then flushed as his gaze fell upon Justin. "You have gone too far, Noton, bringing that quisling scum in here!" Capet thrust an accusing finger at Justin Xiang. "There!" he shouted. "There is the Capellan traitor who killed Peter Armstrong. Look on him and see the face of a coward!"

"Coward!" Justin's denial exploded from him. He released Kym's hand and stalked forward. "Coward? No one in this room can call me that, least of all you, Capet." Justin laughed and looked around as the curtains over many alcoves fell back. "I see you have not shared the secrets of your past with those here."

Capet narrowed his eyes. "We have all seen the kind of liar and coward you are, Xiang. Vids of your trial played long and well here on Solaris. We heard how you abandoned your men to a Capellan ambush. Even your father admitted you were a spy. Why should anyone here believe anything you say?"

Justin nodded slowly. "Actions speak louder than words, Philip. When will you come after me?"

Capet hesitated, but no one noticed because Billy Wolfson shot to his feet. "He'll not get the chance, slant. You defeated me because you took Fuh Teng's place . . ."

"You mean, I put up a fight!" Justin spat out the words at Wolfson, who colored visibly. Both shared the knowledge of the fix, and Wolfson burned with the shame of having been so careless.

Wolfson slammed a fist into the table. "I will kill you, Xiang! Rig up your 'Mech any way you can. It makes no difference to me. I'll destroy you, no matter what!"

Justin nodded eagerly. "Done. Just don't be as stupid as Armstrong."

Wolfson glowered at Justin. "What?"

"Don't believe what Capet tells you is the mark of a man." Justin reached back and slipped his arm around Kym's waist as she came forward. Off to his left, Noton pulled aside the curtain of his alcove, and waved the MechWarrior and his lady into the private booth.

Kym slid onto the bench and moved toward the center of the lable. Gray took his place at the head of the table while Justin seated himself beside Kym. Noton touched a button and the wooden panel concealing the holovision screen slid up into the wall.

Noton waved at the screen. "Would you like to see a replay of your fight?"

Justin shook his head. "I've never enjoyed reviewing my performance. That goes double for those training tapes they loved to make at the Sakhara Academy."

Noton nodded understandingly. "I agree, though I maintain a complete library of battles here. If you ever want to review the fights of an upcoming foe, please feel free to use this booth."

That could be very useful.Justin nodded to his host. "Thank you, Gray."

The three of them looked up as the curtain slid back slowly. A servant smiled sheepishly, saying, "Just a second, folks, and I'll be gone." He turned away, then swung a silver wine caddy into the booth. Condensed moisture ran down the shining exterior, and ice brimmed up over the top. Protruding from the ice pack was the neck of a wine bottle.

The servant produced three glasses and set them on the table. He also handed Noton a small envelope. Noton slid a thumbnail beneath the flap and withdrew the card. He turned it over, then handed it to Justin. "It's in Capellan, which I can't read."

Justin accepted it wordlessly. When he had read it, he looked up with a smile. "It says, 'The honor of the House of Xiang rises like the sun. My compliments. Signed, Tsen Shang.' " Justin glanced over at Noton. "A friend of yours?"

Noton nodded. "One of my shrewder friends, Justin. I'll have to introduce you." He looked over at the server and nodded for him to pour.

The young man smiled. "I hope you realize this is from Palos. Not only is it the best Capella has to offer, it's the best in the Successor States. Mr. Shang had to ship this stuff in himself because we can't get it here." He stripped the lead foil from the cork and freed it of the wire cage. Carefully, he worked the cork loose, then covered the bottle with a cloth as he freed the cork with a muffled pop. The server poured for all three, then retreated silently.

Gray raised his glass. "To your skill and intelligence, Justin. May you live long here on Solaris, and get all that you desire."

Justin, abstaining from drinking to a toast in his honor, waited for his friends to lower their glasses. "To my two friends," he said, in turn raising his own glass. "May they help me to stay alive here on Solaris, and to get all that I desire." Justin drank, very much enjoying the piquant sweetness of the wine.

He looked up at Noton. "This Tsen Shang must be well connected. I recall someone on Spica offering three bottles of this vintage to ransom his damaged Valkyrie."

Noton smiled and set his empty glass down. "He's well connected, indeed. He even owns two heavy 'Mechs, though he lacks a pilot."

"Then we two should meet, don't you think?" Justin drained his glass. "After all, I'll be needing a heavy 'Mech if I'm to kill Philip Capet."

24

Solaris VII (The Game World)

Rahneshire, Lyran Commonwealth

20 March 3027

 

Darkness cloaked Kym Sorenson as she slipped out from under the thick coverlet. Rearranging the bedcovers, she bent down and drew the quilt up around Justin's shoulders, then knelt to kiss him lightly on the forehead. "Sleep well, lover. I'll be back soon." A quick glance at the empty glass on his bedside table told her he'd not notice her absence.

Despite her confidence in the depth of Justin's drugged sleep, Kym gathered up her clothing and carried it outside their room to dress. Over the garments she'd worn to the fight and to Valhalla, she pulled on a heavy coat and then tucked her golden hair up into a wide-brimmed hat.

Kym flipped up the collar of her coat against the wet, rainy wind as she left the villa and crossed to the Hurricane. At a touch, the door swung up and Kym slipped into the driver's seat. The door descended and locked tight as she tapped the ignition code out onto the dashboard's number pad. The engine hummed to life, and the Hurricane rose up on a cushion of air.

The lights of Solaris City sparkled like raindrops on a spider-web of streets as Kym guided the Hurricane down from the hills of the Davion sector, known locally as the Black Hills. She steered the vehicle onto Bunyan Road, then brought it to a halt before a moderately well-kept apartment tower.

She hurried from her aircar to the glassed-in vestibule, where she pressed one particular button twice, waited for a three-count, and then pressed it four more times. While waiting for the tenant to open the door, she looked around anxiously but saw no one else in the outer darkness. With a rasp like that of an angry beast, a buzzer sounded, but stopped abruptly as Kym yanked open the door. She darted inside the building, but went no further until she was sure the door had clicked shut behind her.

Instead of going to the lobby elevator, Kym turned to the fire door on her right. She opened it and stepped cautiously into a long, dimly lit corridor. Passing quickly through it, she reached the apartment building's rear exit. From there, she slipped out into the dark alley behind the building.

Kym hurried on through the night until she reached an avenue named Twain Street. Stepping out from the alley onto the street, she resumed a relaxed pace. Strolling past a restaurant, she paused as if making an impulsive decision, glanced at the holovid menu display, then went in.

Once inside, Kym removed her hat and shook out her hair, which cascaded over her shoulders as she moved toward a rear booth. When a smiling server handed her a menu, Kym leaned back to study it in leisurely fashion.

A deep male voice whispered from the speaker hidden in the cushions just behind her head. "Report."

Kym yawned. "Contact with Shang. Noton is interested in Xiang, and Xiang is susceptible to Nasodithol. He did not notice it in a drink, and was highly suggestible under its influence."

Kym stopped speaking as the server returned to her table. "Coffee, please. Nothing else."

When the server was again out of earshot, the voice hissed in Kym's ear like a snake. "Satisfactory. Continue to encourage Xiang's entry into Noton's service. He will be most useful there. Be aware that Fuh Teng is Maskirovka. Take care." The flat, emotionless voice paused. "The Minister would hate for you to find it expedient to kill his son."

* * *

Gray Noton sank back into the shadows across Bunyan Street when he saw Kym reenter her Hurricane. Pressing his hand over his right ear, he listened carefully to the agent reporting to him over a radio. Noton smiled and watched the aircar rise and disappear down the street.

Come all the way down here for a cup of coffee, Kym? I don't think so. Especially not after you cajoled half a kilo of that special Atocongo blend from Enrico Lestrade a week ago! There's nothing at that restaurant that you'd want, at least not to eat or drink.Remembering Lestrade's assurances that Contessa Sorenson was nothing more than a bored rich girl, Noton laughed. You fooled him, Kym, but that's no great feat. You didn't fool me. And that will cost you more than you want to know.

25

Tharkad

District of Donegal, Lyran Commonwealth

10 April 3027

 

The DropShip's retrorockets blasted snow from the landing pad. The howling wind whirled in at the spherical UnionClass craft, but the billowing clouds of snow broke the wind's fury. The Cougarlanded heavily on its four steel feet. The second the Captain cut the ship's engines, the raging blizzard smothered the DropShip in a blanket of snow.

Moving at a snail's pace, a square patch of snow detached itself from the landing pad and rose skyward. As wind blasted the snow from its roof, the gantry grew upward. It stopped opposite the Cougar'ssmallest hatchway and secured a canopy to the craft's hull.

Ardan Sortek stood back as an Ensign cracked the Cougar'shatch. She smiled and waved Sortek forward into the room at the top of the gantry. Ardan moved quickly and shivered as the frigid winter wind of Tharkad nipped at him despite the canopy. Leftenant Redburn followed closely behind.

Why is Tharkad always so cold when I visit?Ardan crossed to the elevator in the rear of the gantry. He pushed the black button on the wall, then turned to Redburn, who was tugging nervously at his dark green dress jacket. Ardan laughed, thinking that Andrew looked as nervous as a MechWarrior dropping naked into a combat zone. "Easy, Leftenant. You look fine."

Redburn's face flushed scarlet and his eyes nearly bugged out.

"Easy? This is the Archon we're going to meet." He followed Ardan into the elevator as its doors yawned open for them.

Ardan nodded and pressed a button to shut the door. "And the Archon-Designate, and the whole of the Lyran Commonwealth court."

Redburn wilted before his eyes. "Oh thanks, Colonel, that makes me feel much better." The elevator, independent of any command, sank faster than Redburn's self-confidence.

Ardan laughed again, then straightened himself up and arranged his own dress tunic as the elevator slowed. He wore a blue uniform with gold trim because, unlike Redburn, he was not attached to a combat unit in the Capellan March. Despite the color differences, their uniforms looked similar and distinctive. The sunburst design, which started at the left shoulder and shot four rays extending out and down to the middle of the jacket, created a brilliant, asymmetrical double-breast. Tight-fitting trousers tucked snugly into cavalry boots. Completing the uniform were rowel-less spurs, remnants of ages-old cavalry traditions and the mark of a MechWarrior in the Federated Suns.

Ardan reached out and adjusted the Silver Sunburst on Redburn's chest. With a certain satisfaction, he noted that the medal matched the uniform's silver trim. Redburn looked down nervously, but smiled as Ardan winked. They both turned to face the heavy elevator doors as they opened.

Ardan Sortek grinned at the sight that greeted them. Standing in the small receiving room, Katrina Steiner and her daughter, Melissa Arthur Steiner, returned his smile warmly. Stepping from the elevator, he took the Archon's extended hand. "I am honored, Archon."

"And I am very glad to see you, Ardan Sortek." Katrina turned to her right. "You remember my daughter?"

Ardan laughed heartily and swept Melissa into a bear hug. "The best nurse an ailing MechWarrior ever had." He hugged her tightly, then held her out at arm's length. "Let me look at you."

Melissa Arthur Steiner shared her mother's height and steely gray eyes, but her blond hair was a shade darker, a legacy from her dead father. More lithesome than her mother, she nevertheless showed strength in her regal bearing and in the sharp fire of her eyes. In keeping with Lyran custom, Melissa's light-blue eye shadow extended in a feathery pattern from the corners of her eyes and curled down onto her high cheekbones.

"You have become lovelier than ever in the two years since we last met, Melissa!" Ardan hugged her again, stepped back, but still held her right hand in his left. Ah, she will make Hanse Davion very happy.

Melissa smiled brilliantly. "I miss the time we spent together while you recuperated here, Ardan, but I'm glad you have not again needed my ministrations." She gave his hand a squeeze, then reluctantly released it.

"You're not alone in either thought," Ardan admitted quietly. He turned toward Redburn, inviting him forward with a wave of the hand. "I should like to present my traveling companion and friend, Leftenant Andrew Redburn. Archon Katrina Steiner, Duchess of Tharkad, and her daughter, Melissa Arthur Steiner, Archon-Designate and Landgrave von Bremen."

Redburn snapped to attention and saluted. Katrina Steiner returned the salute and glanced reprovingly as Melissa raised a hand to her mouth to smother a giggle. The Archon stepped forward and offered Redburn her hand. "I am pleased to meet you, Leftenant. News of your brave deeds has preceded your arrival in Tharkad."

Redburn nodded. "The honor is mine, Archon."

Melissa took Redburn's hand in both of hers. "Forgive me, Leftenant. I'm afraid I cannot understand how a man so courageous on the battlefield can be so baffled in a social situation."

Ardan started to answer, but Redburn decided to speak for himself. "I think, Archon-Designate, the difference is that, on a battlefield, if I don't know what else to do, I can always shoot." Redburn smiled sheepishly. "That could get very messy in social situations." The four of them laughed at Andrew's witticism, which help to relieve his anxiety.

"I'm afraid, Leftenant, that you and the Colonel will be thrown to the social wolves tonight at the reception," the Archon said, leading the quartet out through a small door and into a large, underground maintenance facility beneath the spaceport. She pulled back the wrist of her quilted parka to glance at her chronome-ter. "Because the weather delayed your landing, things have already begun."

The Archon guided them toward a hovercraft and stood back as the door slid upward and melting snow dripped from it to the ground. Melissa preceded the others into the craft's dark interior. She seated herself with her back to the hovercraft's pilot and Leftenant Redburn sat down in the jump seat beside her. Ardan Sortek took the seat opposite Melissa and the Archon sat facing Redburn.

The Archon pressed a hidden pair of buttons. The hovercraft's door slid shut and the clear partition between the driver's compartment and the back slid open. At a nod from the Archon, Melissa stood up and said something in a low voice to the hovercraft pilot. The driver rose, too, and moved to the seat Melissa had vacated while Melissa made her way to the driver's seat.

When the whole exchange was complete, Katrina Steiner smiled. "Ardan," she said as the hovercraft pilot removed a woolen cap to let free a rain of golden hair around her shoulders, "I would like you to meet my daughter, Melissa."

* * *

Ardan Sortek, standing in the Archon's offices, turned to Simon Johnson and shook his head. "Even seeing them stand side by side, I cannot tell them apart. You have done a superior job." Ardan had suppressed a shiver, however, as he thought, This reminds me too much of what Max Liao almost accomplished with his duplicate of Hanse.

Johnson smiled. "I did nothing." He pointed to the Melissa on the right. "Jeana has worked long and furiously to become the Archon-Designate's double. Because she has voluntarily adopted the role, we believe she will be superior in her job." Johnson glanced over to where Redburn stood talking to the Archon and raised an eyebrow.

Ardan shook his head only slightly, as if to say, Redburn knows nothing of the double, or of his true purpose here.

Johnson took his cue from Ardan's curt shake of the head. "Thank you, Jeana. You may withdraw."

Jeana nodded and retreated from the room through one of the private and secure corridors built into the palace for the royal family's protection in even wilder times. Melissa crossed to a bookshelf and pressed a switch. The whole bookcase swung out to reveal a hidden bathroom and vanity. She glanced in the mirror. "I always feel an urge to make sure I'm still me after Jeana and I spend time together." She smiled and turned back toward the room. "Sometimes she seems more me than I do."

Ardan caught the tremor in Melissa's voice. He nodded to Johnson, then walked over to the girl. "What do you mean, Melissa?"

The Archon-Designate shrugged her bare shoulders, then tugged at the top of her gray gown. "Jeana is eight years my senior. She's a MechWarrior and she's so much more mature than I am. It's scary the amount of discipline she has and how com-, manding is her presence."

Ardan reached out and placed his hands on Melissa's shoulders. "You seem to forget how commanding is your own presence, Melissa, and how you've grown into your duty. I can see it." Remember, Ardan, though she is a woman in form, she is only seventeen years old. Melissa may have matured since last you saw her, but she has a way to go before she's ready for the responsibilities that await her.

Melissa frowned and bit her lower lip. "When I look at her, I see the person I could be. Perhaps I should just let her rule in my place when the time comes."

Ardan rocked back on his heels. "What's this? Why is she more worthy to rule than you?"

Melissa looked down at her feet. "She's a MechWarrior, just as my mother was—and as all the Archons have been."

Ardan gave Melissa's shoulders a squeeze. "As I recall, you did not study to become a MechWarrior."

"I was too skinny. They trained me for infantry." The dejection in her voice slowed her words to a dirge.

Ardan reached out with his right hand and tilted the girl's head up so that he could look her in the eye. "I seem to recall that you did well in that training. Didn't you once tell me to tell Hanse that he'd be getting a wife who could command the household infantry while he ordered his 'Mechs about?"

Melissa shook her head. "Those were games, Ardan. Jeana has had the will and discipline to become a MechWarrior and a champion triathlete. And she gave it all up to help protect me. That's the sort of sacrifice I could never make, and I don't think I'm worthy of someone else making such a one."

Ardan noticed Leftenant Redburn hovering by his shoulder. "Yes, Leftenant?"

Redburn swallowed hard and looked down at his feet. "Begging your pardon, sir, and your Highness, but I overheard that last remark." He looked up, embarrassed, and his brown eyes searched their faces for understanding. "I'd not intended to, you understand, but the Archon wants a word with you, Colonel. What I wanted to say, though, is that I think I understand some of what the Archon-Designate is saying."

Ardan narrowed his eyes, but found only pained innocence on Redburn's face. Just saying what you have, Leftenant, has taken more courage than anything you've done on a battlefield. I respect you for it.Ardan dropped his hand from Melissa's shoulder. "Please, Leftenant, share your thoughts." Ardan smiled at Melissa. "I'll be right back."

Melissa composed herself, then looked up at Andrew. "Yes, Leftenant Redburn?" Feeling on the defensive, her voice and manner grew icy, but her obvious vulnerability kept the tone from wounding him.

Redburn hesitated, then bobbed his head and spoke. "I know what you're afraid of, because I've been there. I've looked into the faces of raw recruits in a training battalion. I know that some of them, no matter how well I work with them, will die in their (irst battle. I know they'll go to their graves wondering why I wasn't there to save them. I know that just by trying to give them the skills they need to pilot a 'Mech, I'm probably teaching them just enough to kill them." Redburn looked down at his balled fists. "It's a hell of a responsibility."

Melissa nodded unconsciously. "How do you handle it? How can you accept it?"

Redburn shrugged and looked into Melissa's gray eyes. "I do the best I can because I know others would do worse. I hope my men's faith in me will make them believe in what I tell them. I pray that the training will give them something—anything—that will save them in a tight spot."

Redburn smiled wistfully. "The trick of it is, your Highness, that people just want someone to tell them everything is fine, or they want someone to blame when things go wrong. They want someone else to shoulder the responsibility so that they can get on with whatever else they need to do. I accept the responsibility for my men, just as you accept the responsibility for your people."

"Yes, but how do I know I can stand up under the pressure?"

Melissa's plea bored through Redburn like a PPC blast. He forced a smile to his lips, but his voice remained grim. "I don't know the answer to that question. I don't think anyone ever does until the time comes and they either stand or fall." Redburn's head came up and he winked at Melissa. "I do believe, however, that the only folks who even think about the question are the ones who have what it takes."