I could not help but wonder whether the Wolf was planning to return to Outreach.

Two days later, my fears were only enhanced as I watched the emotional farewell between Colonel Wolf and his family. They all came to see us off. Even Alpin showed up, though he stood to one side with a band of bondsmen with whom he'd been keeping company. James and Lydia were there to bid me goodbye, and I discovered I was not as ready to part with their company as I had thought. Difficult as the leave-taking was, we did not make a public display of it. We had said our real goodbyes the night before. For all his public show, I thought Jaime Wolf must have done the same with Marisha Dandridge last night.

I envied Jaime Wolf's blood family. Theirs was a closeness different from the family of the sibko. It might not be better, but I thought it must be, if only because it was the form of affection and closeness that the Wolf chose. I found myself scanning the assembled crowd for a face that could not possibly be there. The adopted Clanners would deride me for it, but I searched for one warrior in particular, a short, raven-haired Mech Warrior named Maeve.

How often had Jaime Wolf felt the pain of separation?

I watched the small man who had led the Dragoons for so long give his wife a last kiss, then stride away up the ramp. He was an old man, older perhaps than any other living Dragoon, but though the gray had conquered his once-jet black hair and beard, he was unbowed by the years. He had seen it all and done it all. Freeborn, he had won his way into the Wolf Clan's warrior caste and been given a greater command than any ever entrusted to a freeborn warrior. Years later, he had abandoned his mission in the belief that the way of the Clans was flawed, possibly wrong. He was a man of unyielding principle. Now he was on his way to a duel with the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine. Whatever the outcome, it would be sung in a new verse of the Dragoon Remembrance,another chapter in the legend of Jaime Wolf.

The boarding klaxon sounded and I hurried up the ramp.

20

"Fire two levels down. Second and Fifth Points down the core lift shaft. Third Point hold in engineering. Fourth with me," Edelstein ordered. As the Elemental Points deployed, Elson followed their movements by their tactical chatter. Occasional sounds of combat interrupted, but he was pleased. His Elementals were performing with precision to clear the Alexanderefficiently. From the echoes of fire occasionally overlaying the communications, he judged that his troopers were showing proper restraint and using minimum force. It would not do to destroy what they had come after.

But something about what he was hearing began to nag at him until he realized what it was: Edelstein was dispersing his team wider than was either necessary or prudent. The boarding party from Orion's Sword,except for the group with MacKenzie Wolf, was gradually moving further away from the core sweep team of the Hammer'sElementals. Elson had thought Edelstein a better tactical commander than that.

Returning to the shuttle, he recalled his Point. Battle armor cleared and ready for duty, Trooper Hanson welcomed him aboard. Elson ordered the man back into his restraint harness, then pulled himself up to the cockpit. After scanning the datascreens, he spoke to the pilot.

"Estimated time to Alexander.Direct course."

"It'll take me a minute to calculate."

"In that case, launch." Elson turned to head back for the passenger bay. "You can figure it out on the way."

He ignored the mumbled acknowledgement. The Point was strapping in when he climbed back into the bay. He took his own seat as the pilot cut power to the grapples and fired thrusters to adjust the shuttle's attitude. The main engines fired and the shuttle began its trip to the Alexander.

As they made their final approach, the tac channel between Edelstein and the Hammererupted in bursts of static and the sound of small-arms fire. Elson urged the pilot to make the landing quickly. As he started to undo his harness, the pilot complied. Jolted by the hard contact, Elson was thrown free from his seat and slammed into a bulkhead. Only the protection of his battle suit prevented him from being harmed in all but dignity. Grabbing a grip iron near the hatch, he reoriented himself. As soon as the docking confirmation light lit, he slammed his suit's fist into the airlock hatch release. The panel arched up and he slid through, leaving the rest of the Point to follow as they would.

He had been aboard ships of the Alexander'sclass before and had a good idea where Edelstein was. He launched himself across the deck, bounced off the far wall, and darted down a supply shaft toward the lower levels. Unfamiliar with the ship design, his Point was slower. He left them behind.

Edelstein's channel was silent.

Elson found Fourth Point exactly where he expected them to be. There had been a battle and the Point had obviously come out on top. Bodies and spheres of spattered blood were floating everywhere in the zero-gee environment. Most of the bodies wore Dragoon uniforms. Elementals were dragging looter bodies out of the path of the corridor and securing them against convenient surfaces. Edelstein was bent over another corpse, and it wasn't until the Elemental captain straightened up that Elson saw that the man had been bending over the lifeless body of MacKenzie Wolf. "What happened?"

Edelstein's suit went rigid. "The looters ambushed us, sir. I warned Colonel Wolf that we shouldn't advance too quickly through this stretch, but he insisted. I asked to lead, figuring the battle armor would provide cover for the troops behind us. The looters figured it out, too. They let us pass, then opened fire. We scoured them out, but it was too late. They killed MacKenzie Wolf and his men in their crossfire."

Edelstein made his speech so quickly and smoothly that it almost sounded rehearsed. Elson would have liked to look the man in the eye, but Edelstein was sealed in his battle suit, his face invisible behind the dark, vee-shaped viewport. Elson looked around the corridor, assessing the damage. It might have been as Edelstein said; it might not.

Nova Cats had no love for Wolves, trueborn or free-born. He wouldn't mourn Wolf; mourning was reserved for the death of true warriors. MacKenzie was merely a true Dragoon, a traitor to the heritage of the Clans. If the looters had shot him down, it seemed like cosmic justice that an attempt to profit from the Clans' heritage had been the death of the man.

But if MacKenzie's death had been contrived, it could not have been the act of a single man. Elson found that fact significant. These Elementals might be more loyal to him than he had suspected. The possibility was important because one must always adapt to the circumstances that battle brings.

"Hammer,this is Elson. Medical teams to this location." He switched frequencies. "Talbot,Elson for Colonel Atwyl."

"Atwyl here. What's going on, Major Elson? We've been getting a lot of breakup in transmissions."

"Nothing good, Colonel. I believe we need to call a meeting of the officer's council. Colonel Wolf has been killed."

After a moment Atwyl said, "Acknowledged," and no more.

No orders, just an acknowledgement. Elson unclenched his teeth. Someone had to take control. "I suggest we meet aboard the Talbotone hour after the Alexanderis declared secure. I also suggest that we keep the deaths quiet at least until then."

"Acknowledged."

Elson cut the channel. He was irked by Atwyl's ineffective response, but satisfied in other ways. There were opportunities here. And there was work to be done before the meeting on the Talbotif he was to take advantage of those opportunities. Meanwhile, other matters were even more pressing.