"So they're trying to force a strictly planetary struggle," Garcia said.

"You weren't listening," Martel said. "Nothing was said about anything sitting on the ground or anything that might come in. Specifically, there was no mention of action at atmospheric interface, am I right, Colonel Wolf?"

"You are. We can still expect DropShips and aerospace fighters operating on transorbital trajectories."

"But no bombardments from the warships?" Garcia asked.

"It is possible that if the Fleet Captain sees an advantage tilting to one side, she might drop her neutrality in favor of ending up on the winning side," Wolf said. "But that is a problem for the future. We have more pressing ones at present. There are most of three regiments on Outreach. All units of Beta and Gamma are present, and from the performance of their commanders, I think we can be sure that Beta and Gamma regiments will be solidly behind Alpin."

"What about Epsilon?" Grazier asked. Her hangdog look showed she expected an unpleasant answer.

"Only about half onplanet," I replied, "but Colonel Nichole's absence from the Trial meeting implies that she and her command favor Wolf."

"That's officers, Cameron," Grazier said. "What about the troops?"

"Dragoons are trained as a group and brigaded according to compatibility. It gives the regiments their character. Leaders promoted from within naturally have the group's personality. An officer posted to a regiment from another will strive to reflect his new regiment's character, that is, if he wants to keep the loyalty and respect of his troops. As a result, the troops tend to follow the leader's opinions as well as their orders." I thought I sounded like an academy lecturer, and Grazier's sour look confirmed it.

"I think we know where Epsilon's infantry stands, since they're Elson's boys and girls. You think the rest of Epsilon'll fight for you, Colonel?" she asked.

"If they can." No one thought it necessary to point out that Epsilon, like Beta and Gamma, was still in the World. It would be difficult for a single loyal regiment to take on two.

"If Elson doesn't have Nichole eliminated the way he tried to do with the Colonel," Garcia said.

"I don't think that's likely," said the Colonel. "Assassination is a tool of the dark, and this is in the light now. He wouldn't be able to disavow the action very easily, and he can't afford the dishonor."

"Then we need to establish contact with Nichole," Grazier said.

"As soon as we can," the Wolf agreed. "There are no other BattleMech units onplanet except for a few training units among the Home Guard. As Brian said, the combat units are pretty homogeneous, but the Home Guard is more of a mixture. Joe, what's your best evaluation of the Guard's leanings?"

Garcia looked a little uncomfortable when everyone focused on him. He ran his hand through his hair and ended the pass massaging his neck. "Mixture's a good way of putting it. I'd say the Guard is split. We're not getting a lot of info out of the World, but it looks like most of the units that didn't get sent out here are holding for Alpin as the legitimate head of the Dragoons. If Alpin and his cronies shipped the rest of the Guard out here to get your partisans out of the way, they've shown themselves to be fallible. We had a number of desertions when I broadcast your arrival. Tenth and Twelfth brigades, Viking Company, and three or four of the sibkos have pulled out of bivouac and are headed toward the Fortress complex. They're not talking, but we can assume they hold for the other side. That's a quarter of the Guard BattleMechs going out there."

"The Fortress complex," I said, letting a question into my tone. I'd seen the designation on the map, but I'd never been there."

"A war-game area," Grazier said. "It's for assault scenarios. If they get in there, it'll cost the devil to winkle them out."

"Have we still got command linkage to the Fortress, Brian?" Colonel Wolf asked.

I checked. "The computer is still accepting our pass-codes."

"Good. Order the computer locked down, priority alpha-omega-omega-three. That'll keep them from the arsenal and shut down the simulated defenses. If they want to hold it, they'll have to do it themselves."

"Still a tough nut," Grazier observed.

"With any luck, they'll just sit tight. If Elson didn't trust them enough to keep them in Harlech, he may not trust them to fight for him."

"He may not need them," Garcia said. "Colonel, is there going to be any help from outside?"

At the Wolf's nod, I answered. "At last report, Delta Regiment and Zeta Battalion were heavily engaged. They'd have to pull out, breaking contract, to get involved. Colonel Paxon has always been a strong supporter of the Colonel, as has Jamison. However, Paxon's record suggests that he won't voluntarily break contract, so we can forget about Delta. Jamison's anybody's guess. He'd be living up to Zeta tradition if he headed home."

"That would be a blessing; we could use Zeta's firepower. A battalion of assault 'Mechs is something the bad guys couldn't ignore. And if Zeta pulled out of the contract, Paxon'd be hanging with too few forces to complete the ticket. Maybe he'd break contract then," Grazier said. "On the other hand, FedCom might just let them all go if you asked, Jaime. We'd owe them, but with Delta and Zeta, we'd have enough to force the rebels down."

The Wolf shook his head. "We can't afford to owe the Federated Commonwealth at this point. They're already implying we owe them a lot. If we accepted help from them, we'd end up like the Horsemen."

Mention of the Eridani Light Horse touched all the oldsters present. The Horsemen were fine soldiers and believers in the ancient Star League virtues, who had slowly been absorbed into House Davion's military. Officially, they were still mercs, but their contract was so long-term that it left them little leeway to move around or pick assignments. Colonel Wolf had fought hard to keep the Dragoons independent, to keep them from that kind of domination. It seemed he'd rather face dissolution than have the Dragoons become a House-controlled mercenary unit like the Eridani Light Horse.

"All right," Grazier said. "So we can't count on them. What about Spider's Web Battalion? They were Mac's guys. Won't they side with us?"

"There's been no reliable contact with them for days," I said. "Every report for the last week or so has come through Captain Svados. MacKenzie's second was John Clavell; he's a strong antiClanner, but he was injured last month. Gremmer was next in line; he's a Nova Cat adoptee. The battalion's loyalty and cohesiveness are unclear. Remember, Alpin is Mac's son; loyalty to the family could go either way. The only thing we know for sure is that we don't know where they are."

"Maybe Elson had them taken out," Grazier suggested.

"Stanford Blake would know," Martel said.

I gave her a hard look. I knew that I wasn't Stan, but I wasn't an intelligence officer either. "Stan gave us everything he could before we left Harlech. Svados has been hamstringing his operation for months. If he were here, he'd tell you the same thing."

'And where is he?"

"I wish we knew," the Colonel said. "He insisted on staying in the capital. He said he could be more valuable there."

"A spy in the enemy camp? Not when he's so well known as your man, Jaime. He won't get anything but shot." Grazier sighed. "Too bad. I liked him."