Текст книги "Riposte"

Sian Commonality Capellan Confederation

15 October 3027

Justin Xiang smiled as his subordinate, Alexi Malenkov, handed him a stack of blue files. "I appreciate this very much, Alexi," he said, setting the files on his desk and idly covering them with his left hand. A black leather glove sheathed the prosthetic limb, and Justin chose to ignore Malenkov's look of repugnance as his gaze fell on the lifeless hand.

Nodding his blond head, Malenkov quickly recovered his composure. "I assumed, Citizen Xiang, that you would be especially interested in our reports on how the Davion unit you once commanded had done in the recent military exercises. The First Kittery Training Battalion will be shifted, in a month or so, from probationary status because of their performance, and will become part of the Davion Light Guards, First Battalion."

Justin smiled easily. "Is Captain Redburn still in command, or did they provide a new commander for the unit?"

Malenkov seated himself on the edge of Justin's desk and lowered his head to just beneath the level of the gray cubicle walls. "It's all in the reports, Justin. Because of Redburn's loyalty to you during the trial, Count Vitios recommended that he be replaced. Apparently, however, the MechWarriors in the battalion protested and he was retained."

"Good." Justin raked his right hand back through his straight black hair. "When do you anticipate your analysis team will finish up with their assessment of the Moravian part of Operation Galahad '27? Lady Romano is quite concerned with the units used in that battle. She maintains that the First Bell Training Battalion was configured along the lines of Marion's Highlanders, the 'Mech regiment serving on her world of Highspire, and she was upset at the 'casualty reports' suggesting that the defenders, the Sixth Crucis Lancers Regimental Combat Team, ripped the Bell Battalion apart."

The analyst from the Tikonov Commonality of the Capellan Confederation shrugged. "Your father has his Counter-intelligence Division working overtime to give us plenty of false data about Operation Galahad '27." Malenkov smiled weakly. "The report Romano Liao is talking about has been utterly discounted."

Justin pursed his lips thoughtfully. "That's something."

Malenkov nodded, then a pained look came over his face. "Unfortunately, the real report about that exercise is almost as dismal as the fake. About the only thing the Bell Battalion did right was to capture a mining center, but that was because it had been abandoned during a hideous blizzard in the area. The Bell Battalion got lost in the same storm and stumbled upon the mine—which was never the objective of the exercise."

Justin chuckled softly to himself. "Were the Highlanders able to accomplish as much against the overwhelming forces pitched at their surrogates, we'd be more than happy."

Malenkov raised his head and looked around toward the other cubicles, then hunched down and nodded enthusiastically. "Just don't let Lady Romano hear you say that."

Justin raised an eyebrow. "My dear Alexi, remember, weare the Maskirovka. Others must fear that we will overhear them utter disloyal truth, not the other way around." Justin shot a glance at the appointment book on his desk, then looked up at Malenkov. "See if you can get a preliminary report from your people in the next two days. I..."

Justin hesitated as a slender, smiling man framed himself in the cubicle's doorway. He shared Justin's oriental features, dark hair, and brown eyes but the sharpness of his expression—while not unhandsome—gave him a calculating, cunning look. He smiled at Justin, and nodded respectfully at Malenkov.

"Excuse me, Citizen Malenkov. Justin, we have been summoned immediately." The visitor pointed toward the ceiling with his index finger as he spoke. Silhouetted against the bronze flesh of his hand and wrist, Justin saw the ten-centimeter long nails on the last three fingers of the man's right hand.

Justin stood and stretched. "Do you know what he wants, Tsen?"

Tsen Shang shook his head. "No. The message just came down from Chandra Ling's office. She told me to collect you and to report to the Chancellor without delay."

Justin nodded thoughtfully. Summoned to a meeting with Maximilian Liao by the head of the Maskirovka. I hope this is more than one of Liao's temper tantrums.Justin turned to Malenkov. "Alexi, light a fire under your analysts. I want you at your desk, or easy to reach, while I'm in conference—just in case I need you to bring me some data."

Malenkov nodded and Justin swept past him. Shang led the way from the Analysis Division to the elevators. The two Death Commandos flanking the elevator up to the Palace checked their identification papers and radioed for permission to allow the pair passage.

Justin and Tsen Shang shared a secret smile as the commander barked a tinny order that made the soldier flinch. Ashen-faced, the guard inserted a key in the lockplate and twisted. The inlaid bronze doors opened and the Maskirovka agents entered the wood-paneled box.

Once the doors had closed and the elevator was climbing up from the subterranean depths, Justin turned to his companion. "I realize you might not have wanted to speak in front of Malenkov. Have you any clue to what the Chancellor wants?"

Shang shook his head. "The Chancellor has been edgy of late..."

Justin nodded. Both Maximilian's daughters, Candace and Romano, have been fighting since they arrived on Sianfor their father’s birthday. They've trapped him in the middle of their little war, and he's been in a bad mood ever since.Justin coughed, then shook his head. "If I've been asked in, we can bet it has something to do with the Federated Suns. Do you think it's new troop strengths and deployment figures from our friend?"

"Possible ..." Tsen Shang looked at his right hand and flexed it like a claw. The overhead light glinted off the black and gold nails. "I don't like the way this whole thing feels . . ."

Justin stared at the talons and barely heard Shang's comment. He'd seen those carbon-fiber reinforced nails slash through thick leather as though it were tissue paper. He still wondered if Shang kept them coated with the poison he liked to use on Solaris VII, where he had succeeded in recruiting Justin.

The elevator slowed to a stop and the doors slid open soundlessly to admit the two men directly to the Chancellor's throne room. Normally hidden behind a wall panel, the elevator opened midway along one of the rectangular room's long side walls. The half-light cast strange shadows over the teak lattice-work that screened hidden alcoves in the upper half of the opposite wall. Though Justin saw nothing to indicate they were being watched, he did not feel totally comfortable.

Glancing at the people assembled in the room, he understood why Shang had been disturbed by the summons, and it heightened his own sense of unease. This is bad. I can feel it.

Tall and slender, Chancellor Maximilian Liao stood before his massive throne. His steel-gray eyes stared down at the sheet of paper clutched in white-knuckled fingers. The sheet trembled with the rage Justin could feel pouring off the Chancellor in unseen waves. The Chancellor's lipscurled back from his teeth in a silent snarl as he reread the words.

Standing below and to the right, Chandra Ling seemed untouched by her master's fury. Small and slight, this gray-haired, elderly woman appeared to be nothing more than a benign grandmother. Justin narrowed his almond-shaped eyes. She's the grandmother type, but no one gets to be the head of the Maskirovka by baking cookies—unless those cookies are laced with cyanide and fed to one's rivals.

Across from Chandra Ling, Maximilian's two daughters stood side by side. Romano, the younger of the two, barely concealed her irritation. With angry twists of the head, she flicked her reddish-brown hair back across her shoulders while pure rage flared in her green eyes. With her gold silk robe tied only loosely at the waist, it gaped open enough to provide a glimpse of her MechWarrior's cooling vest. As she impatiently shifted her weight from one foot to another, the robe revealed glimpses of her slender figure and long legs.

Justin noticed that her agitation lessened slightly when she saw Tsen Shang. I wonder if she was angry at having been called away from 'Mech drills, or if she couldn't understand what might have been delaying Shang ?

Candace Liao, heir-apparent to the throne, also seemed to notice the shift in her sister's attitude. Clad in tight black leather boots, slacks, and a looser leather blouse with padded shoulders, Candace raised her chin and slowly folded her arms across her chest. Her long, black hair fell to mid-back, but the thin ribbons of it falling forward of her shoulders framed her exotic face perfectly. Her eyes half-closed as she made eye contact with Justin, then she turned and watched her father.

Justin felt a thrill tingle in his belly, but quickly smothered it. No, Justin. She's got her father's cunning and quick temper, and her mother's icy soul. She’d use you up and spit you out. Were her sister less obvious in her pleasure at seeing Shang, Candace would never have even noticed you. That is as it should be, for she's a tiger and you should be a mouse.

Maximilian's head came up and he spitted Justin with a savage stare. "You, Xiang, you are Quintus Allard's son! Why did you not know of this?" He held the message up in his right hand like a torch. "Are you sent here to betray me?"

Liao's accusation ignited a jet of fear that quickly changed to anger in Justin's heart. He opened his mouth to snap a harsh denial, then hesitated. Ease off, Justin. He's not thinking rationally. How can you defend yourself when you don't even know the charge?Bowing his head, Justin replied quietly, "Forgive me, Celestial Highness, what should I have known?"

"This, dammit!" An inarticulate sound of rage squealed from the Chancellor's throat. "Hanse Davion is to marry Melissa Steiner!"

The information hit Justin like a laserblast. He hugged his arms to his midsection and swallowed back the caustic bile that bubbled to his throat. He bent forward and shivered. Slowly he straightened up and addressed Maximilian Liao in a low, cold voice. "Had I known that information, Supreme One, I would have communicated it to you the instant I was exiled from the Federated Suns. Had I even guessed at it, had I heard even the slightest hint of it. . ."

Chandra Ling's voice sliced like a razor through Justin's denial. "Had you any suspicions, Citizen Xiang, you would have died at your own father's hand before he would have permitted you to leave the Federated Suns."

Liao glanced down at the Maskirovka mistress and snorted derisively. He studied Justin again, then stiffly lowered himself onto his throne. "Of course, the Director is correct." He nodded at her, half-lowering his lids. "Your shock at hearing this news is obvious. Still, you and Shang are my top two people in the Davion section. Why have we not known before?"

Shang bowed. "I offer no excuses, Excellency, but I should point out that Davion's Ministry of Intelligence, Information, and Operations sends out much chaff, through which we must sift carefully to obtain any kernels of truth in reports we get.

True, we did not provide you the information that you now have, but we can surmise how the negotiations took place, and where the meetings were held."

Liao frowned and made to wave away Shang's explanation, but Romano straightened up and smiled at the Maskirovka analyst. "Please, explain what you mean," She turned and smiled sweetly at her father. With a nod and a sigh, he gave Shang leave to comply with her request.

"Thank you, Lady Romano." Shang cleared his throat and gestured with his right hand. "You might recall the reports we had that a Lyran ship had been hijacked into the Draconis Combine roughly four months ago."

The Chancellor nodded. "Yes, I seem to remember something about rescue by a mercenary unit." He looked up at Justin and frowned. "That unit in which you have a brother, wasn't it? The Hell Dogs or something . . ."

Justin nodded. "The Kell Hounds, Enlightened One."

Shang continued. "We received initial reports that a highly placed member of the Lyran court had been traveling in secret to the Federated Suns on that ship. Our sources reported the purpose of the trip as medical treatment at the New Avalon Institute of Science. Since then, we have determined that no such treatment ever took place, and we have confirmed schedules and firm reports of sightings for all the important members of the Lyran court. Obviously, the purpose of the visit was to seal an agreement– prompted by the success of the 3024 accords you signed with Marik and Kurita on Terra—that arranged for the marriage."

Liao leaned back in his throne and steepled his fingers. "Why did you not have this information before?"

Shang hesitated, and Justin stepped forward. "If I might, Highness, I would suggest that we did not have this information sooner because of the bureaucracy and the way it has become entrenched. Getting the reports we needed to confirm these suspicions took months . . ."

Liao shot forward. "Who denied you this vital data? Give me his name and he will be dealt with shortly. I will not have incompetents around me."

Candace glanced at Justin, then moved forward, eclipsing her sister. "Father, I do not believe Citizen Xiang is singling out one person as the cause of this problem." She turned toward Justin and nodded at him. "Please, Citizen, continue."

"As your daughter has suggested, it is not the fault of any one person, Universal Paragon. Consider that, for the longest time, the Maskirovka was concerned with the Free Worlds League. This is a valid concern, and the civil war we prompted there certainly sapped much of House Marik's vitality. Because of this attention, the Maskirovka's Marik section has grown, and much of the information from the Lyran sector now filters through it. The longer the chain, the slower the transmission and the more likely the distortion of the message."

Tsen Shang nodded cautiously. "Citizen Xiang and I have also noticed a reliance in our sector on the troop information and other intelligence coming from Michael Hasek-Davion."

"What is wrong with that?" the Chancellor roared. "It is from him that we have finally learned of this marriage."

Shang held his hands forward. "Nothing is wrong with using his information, Highness, but our other operations seem to be secondary to this one source. The information still comes in, but our analysts are so busy sorting through the Duke's data that they cannot clear as much of the other data as they should."

Liao narrowed his eyes and turned to Chandra Ling. "What are you doing about this?"

Ling smiled serenely. "In my discussions with Shang and Xiang, they have suggested creating a 'crisis team.' It would be an elite group of analysts concerned solely with solving special problems or investigating odd situations. They would operate at a level just below my office, and could command information from all the sectors, bypassing the normal bureaucratic channels."

Liao nodded curtly. "Very well." He pointed at the two analysts. "You will assemble the staff you need and will move into the Palace. I want you here and on call at all times. You will never be more than twelve hours distant from me, unless I order you away on some mission."

Shang's jaw dropped open. Justin shared a timid glance with him, then looked up at the Chancellor. "Excellency, I believe the Director might have more suitable candidates in mind for this crisis team."

Liao rocked back in his throne. "How could she disagree that the two of you are the correct choices? You are new enough in the Sian organization not to have become trapped in the bureaucracy. It is your plan, and so you will execute it. I am certain the Director sees this as the only logical choice."

Liao glanced down at the Maskirovka Director long enough to see her weary nod of agreement, then he stared off above the heads of both analysts. "Now, what shall we do about this treacherous new turn of events that Hanse Davion has engineered for us?"

Before they could answer, Liao had shot to his feet, anger darkening his expression. Justin turned just enough to see the chamber's main door opening and the helpless minister cringe beneath Liao's verbal assault. "What are you doing?" the Chancellor screamed. "I gave orders I was not to be disturbed!"

"May I die a thousand deaths if this is not important, O He-Whom-The-Universe-Envies." The pale minister looked back toward the outer chamber. "It is Lord Victor Robertson, the Federated Suns' Ambassador. He says he comes concerning a matter of great urgency!"

"Indeed!" Maximilian Liao settled back down on his throne like a cat basking on a sun-warmed window sill. "Send him in. It has been too long since I have eaten a Davion envoy alive. This I shall enjoy."

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Sian