He sent for the ambassador from the Draconis Combine.

16

Standing on wide-braced legs, Elson surveyed the bridge of the Hammer.The DropShip was hot as large as Orion's Sword,but being an infantry assault ship, it was more suited to his preferred kind of warfare. He was also pleased to note that Captain Brandon and her crew seemed more efficient than those serving aboard Orion's Sword.At least they chattered less as they went about their duties. Perhaps his transfer here would not be so bad after all. Command anywhere was better than having to stand in the shadow of a barely competent officer like MacKenzie Wolf.

The sigh of the lift doors and then the sound of footfalls behind him announced a visitor to the bridge. Elson recognized the step as Captain Edelstein's. The man was of a Dragoon sibko, one of those stressing the size and physical skills necessary for Elementals. He reminded Elson a little of Pietr Shadd, though he lacked the insufferable man's grace. Though Edelstein had a touch of the Elemental bloodline, his lumbering walk marked him as inferior to one of pure Elemental lineage. Still, he was a passable warrior and an adequate Trinary commander, despite some lack in personal initiative.

Edelstein stopped behind Elson, just out of sight, then stood there waiting. Elson let him wait for nearly two full minutes while pretending intense interest in the DropShip's status monitors. Only when he heard the soft rustle of Edelstein shifting slightly from foot to foot, a signal that the man was losing patience, did Elson finally speak.

"You wished to speak to me, Captain Edelstein?"

"Yes, Major Elson."

The catch in Edelstein's voice told Elson that he had caught the captain off guard. Satisfactory. "What is it?"

"I wanted to make sure that you understood that I harbor no ill will toward you."

"Why should you?"

"Some might think I would resent you taking over command of the Hammer."

"I have military command in my position as Elemental leader and strategic command as a member of the Council of Officers. Operational command remains with Captain Brandon. Do not misstate the chain of command."

"The Hammeris an assault ship, sir. That makes military command the real command. Leastways that's Dragoon doctrine." Edelstein moved around so he could look Elson in the face. "That was myjob until MacKenzie Wolf had you transferred here. I wanted you to know I don't resent it. In fact, I'm pleased. I'd hoped to get a chance to serve directly with you. Wolf might think he's shuffling you off to the sidelines, but we think he's got his head screwed on wrong."

"We?"

"The troops, sir. We all think you're the best officer to hit the conventional arm since Anton Shadd."

The comparison didn't bother Elson. He actually found it flattering, making the smile he offered Edelstein quite real. AntonShadd was a hero, unlike the Elemental imitation who had won the right to bear the name. "Thank you, Captain. I appreciate the thought, but MacKenzie Wolf was within the rights granted him by his father."

"Scuttlebutt says you were also within your rights when you spoke out."

"Yet 'Mech jocks rush in where groundpounders fear to tread."

"Damn right." Edelstein nodded his head vigorously. "He had to go and dash off a message to his father as soon as the cache fleet was sighted on deep scans. Puling bloodbirth. Always looking for a parental pat on the head. What a weakling."

"I gave him my advice, but he chose to ignore caution."

"That's his right," Edelstein conceded. "But he shouldn't have embarrassed you by laughing off your concerns about the count of the ships. 'One too many?' " Edelstein whined in poor imitation of MacKenzie's voice.

" 'Just a record error.' He should have taken your advice to investigate before pumping a message back. MechWarrior's false pride, that's what it is. Power fantasies."

"Not all 'Mech jocks are seduced into believing they are gods because of the apparent power of their machines," Elson offered in a charitable tone. "Perhaps he really believes it is a record error."

Elson didn't know what MacKenzie really believed, but he thought it unreasonable to assume that a contradictory count of ships was insignificant. Too much exposure to the faulty science of the Inner Sphere, he supposed. For all that they spurned their heritage, Wolf's Dragoons was unlikely to incorrectly account for war material. That sort of accounting was burned deeply into a Clanner's genes. Edelstein wasn't to be pacified. "I just wanted you to know that there are those who think that Wolf, whether he turns out to be right or wrong about the ships, was wrong in the way he treated you."

"That is comforting."

The comm officer, calling across the bridge, ended their conversation.

"The Orion's Swordreports that she is ready to detach from the docking collar."

"Stand by stations," Captain Brandon responded. She addressed the infantrymen. "You might want to take seats, Major Elson, Captain Edelstein. The Talbot'snot the youngest JumpShip in the fleet, and her docking collar releases are not always smooth."

"I will be fine, Captain," Elson replied.

With a longing look at an empty crash couch, Edelstein said, "As will I."

Brandon shrugged. "As you wish."

The ship shuddered slightly, then pitched to port. Edelstein lost his balance and landed on his rump, but Elson remained standing. It took quite an effort to maintain his balance without shifting stance, and almost as much to keep the strain from his face. But he was rewarded by the whispers he heard all around him, admiring his skill. Let them think it was easy, that was part of the image. Image was just one of the things a successful commander needed.

"The Orion's Swordis away," the commtech reported.

"Very good, Mister Jones. All stations return to normal duties."

Elson gave Edelstein a hand. When the embarrassed captain was back on his feet, Elson took a step closer to Captain Brandon's couch.

"Captain, can we observe the flight of the Orion's Sword?"

She shrugged. "How about it, Mister Jones?"

The commtech's answer was the brightening of the main viewing screen. Stars burned in the distant night of space, but the lower-left screen was bright with the pockmarked face of the planetoid above which the cache fleet orbited. Stretching across the arc of the planetoid was the Talbot'sspine. None of the Jump-Ship's cargo of DropShips was visible because the Hammerwas docked in the collar closest to the bow.

At the end of the Talbot'slong spine was the globe of its main hull, a dark silhouette against the bright polygon of the sail that collected solar energy to recharge the ship's interstellar jump drive. The bright, irregular dots in the distance were the cache ships and the asteroidal debris among which they were hidden.

"She's coming across now," Jones reported.

The lumpy ovoid of the Orion's Swordslowly intruded from the screen's left, eclipsing the view. Flares of light erupted in irregular rhythm along her flanks as her maneuvering thrusters nudged her around the Talbot'sspine and clear of the sail. Safely distanced from the JumpShip, the Orion's Swordfired her aft thrusters and started on an arcing course that took her around behind the sail. She disappeared from view, but Elson could follow her trajectory on the orbital-path monitor. The Orion's Swordwas headed directly for the largest concentration of cache ships.