"Where's Alpin?" MacKenzie asked. "He said he had maintenance duty." Katherine's usually open expression was damped down, hardening the lines of her angular face. I knew she suspected the truth that I already knew from the duty rosters: MacKenzie's son had no maintenance duty this morning. All the 'Mechs in his lance had received operational certification yesterday.

MacKenzie frowned briefly, then turned to his father with a smile. "Even in bed you keep the Dragoons hopping, Dad. Can't have operational MechWarriors without operational 'Mechs. I guess I didn't need to rush back. You've got everything under control. Maybe we should get you attacked more often."

"Not funny, Mac," Marisha said.

"Sorry."

There was quiet for a moment. Feeling uncomfortable, I tried to leave but the Wolf stopped me. "Where do you think you're going, Brian?"

"I thought ..."

"That you'd get light duty just because this hellion is back home? Unlikely."

"Nice try, though," MacKenzie added. "It sounded like the morning report."

"It was," the Colonel confirmed. "But it's also routine. I think you've got something else on your mind, Mac."

MacKenzie nodded. Sitting on the edge of the Wolf's bed, he said, "I've been reading the reports and theories, Dad. They all lack something."

"Go on."

"Well, the facts don't fit exactly."

"You're being vague."

Sighing in frustration, MacKenzie slapped his thigh. The sound was loud. "This whole thing is vague."

"Life's not all open field battles." The Colonel reached out a hand to his son. "Work it out. Start with the most obvious."

MacKenzie bowed his head. Marisha shepherded her daughter-in-law and the children from the room. I wanted to go, too, but a slight shake of the Colonel's head gave me my orders. MacKenzie seemed to find where he wanted to start.

"The soldier in that battle suit was clearly not of the Clans' Elemental genetic line."

"Implying an Inner Sphere source," Jaime Wolf prompted.

"But Hanson says the pilot could have been a free-born not of an Elemental bloodline."

"And, therefore, a good choice for a dishonorable assassination attempt."

"Dad, I was just a kid when we left the Clans, so I don't really know them. But it just doesn't feel right to me. The Dragoons are out of their culture now. The Clanners might think us bandits, but they don't go around assassinating bandits. They wouldn't think it worth the trouble."

I had even less personal knowledge of the Clans and I wasn't one of those who doted on the Dragoons' Clan heritage, but I agreed. Still, I knew others held a different view. Ominously, some of those others were the Dragoons' newly acquired bondsmen and warriors. Those former Clansmen seemed to believe that the Dragoons had sullied or even betrayed their Clan heritage. They did not believe the Dragoons to be completely divorced from Clan society. Many of them voiced support for the theory that the Elemental had been sent by one or another of the Clans.

MacKenzie shook his head. "The suit does have Clan tech."

"Good thing he didn't know how to use it all," the Wolf said.

"A very good thing."

"And?"

"And that's why I don't think he was Clan."

"I agree."

"Do you know who sent him, then?"

"No. Does it matter?"

"Unity! Yes!" MacKenzie leaped to his feet. "They need to be taught a lesson."

"In time. We need to know the student before we can hold class." The Wolf smiled slyly. "I'm in no hurry."

"I just want to do something. I don't want anybody thinking they can strike at the Dragoons, especially at you, with impunity."

"You think you can do better?"

"Oh no." MacKenzie laughed wryly. "You're not catching me that easy. I'm not ready to take over the Dragoons yet."

Father and son laughed together, but I couldn't join in. MacKenzie's last statement was the one thing many of the factions agreed on. I had heard too many voices saying exactly what Mac just had. The Wolf's son was a good field commander; few questioned his competence. But watching him struggle with the problem of this assassination attempt, and knowing that the master of the Dragoons had to deal with more than just battlefield problems, I feared that those who thought him unready were right.

Fortunately, Jaime Wolf had survived the attack and would soon be in the command chair once more.

13

"I have read your records and concede that Anton Shadd was a man worthy of renown. His actions at An Ting proved that, but it means little; Shadd is no Bloodname."

Elson Novacat was larger than the man he disdained. That in itself was no matter for pride. Size was simply his genetic heritage, a part of what made him suitable to be an Elemental. This Shadd was born of a freeborn Elemental as Elson had been, but Shadd's father had abandoned his genetic heritage to take up a Mech Warrior's hot seat. For all that this smaller man had won a Dragoon Honorname, he came from a lineage that had turned its back on its genetic calling.

"Shadd is an Honorname," the smaller man stated defiantly, his dark eyes flashing with anger. "It is better than a Bloodname."

"Your so-called Honornames are but shadows of the truth. Had I wished your namefor my own, I would have won it easily," Elson said simply. The pup needed to be put in his place. As the highest-ranking Elemental in the Dragoons, he had been one of the Trial supervisors for this infantryman's Honorname. He had seen the results and knew he could have bested this newly named Pietr Shadd's scores. Therefore, Elson's statement was no boast, but Shadd apparently, took it as bluster.

"Big boast for someone who insists on naming himself after a pussy."

Officers around the room tensed, no doubt fearing that this confrontation verged on physical violence. Elson ignored them. He and Shadd were both bigger than anyone else present. If it got physical, the damage would be done well before the gathered MechWarriors, aerospace pilots, and staff officers could interfere. If they acted quickly enough, the best they could do would be to save Shadd's life by getting him prompt medical attention. But Elson had no intention of letting matters go that far. A brawl anywhere in Wolf Hall, let alone in the conference center, would undo all he had worked for. This was a time for words, not actions.

"I earned my name in honorable combat," he said softly.

Shadd was not mollified. He raised his voice. "Some name. The Nova Pussies get whipped by Dragoons as easily as by Wolves."

"Mine is a name won in the old ways. I know The Remembranceof the Nova Cats. Theirs is an honorable lineage, invulnerable to your words. Can you say the same?"

"I haven't any interest in Nova Pussy glory songs."

Elson was becoming annoyed. Louder than he intended, he said, "I learn your history. It is expected."

"Yeah, it isexpected from losers."

"You have no concept of honor," Elson barked.

"Wake up. You ain't in the Clans anymore. We don't need their lopsided honor here. You're an adoptee now. If you don't get with the program, you'll get left behind."

Elson sneered. "As you have left your heritage?"

"I'm not a Clanner," Shadd said. He seemed to be proud of his lack. "I'm a Dragoon, born and bred."