"Answering a question with a question. You've been hanging around with Stan Blake too long. By the way, is he with the Wolf?"

"Colonel Blake stayed in the World."

"Spy stuff?"

Her tone was conversational, and the restraint shown by the warriors in the black 'Mechs was in itself a statement. I decided to take a chance. "We don't know what happened to him."

"Sounds like things are pretty grim."

I didn't need to be told that. "Have you come to fight for the Colonel?"

"Could be."

"Now you'rebeing cautious."

"With good reason. We got the notice of Mac's death over the net, but there was nothing from the Wolf. That's not his style. Then we got the word that Alpin was the new boss of the Dragoons and styling himself Khan. That got a few people suspicious, but we got no good answers to our queries, nothing quite clear enough to tell us there really was a problem. When we heard Elson and Fancher were running a lot of the show and that Kelly Yukinov wasn't even on Outreach, a few people got excited. We had a ... a false start, but we got that straightened out and headed in. We hadn't been insystem for thirty seconds before we had Fleet Captain Chandra on the horn, telling us that we'd better stay clear of the planet. She tried to talk us into linking with her ships in orbit, waiting till matters were settled, but that's not the way we do things in this battalion. We made our drop out here because I knew this is where the Wolf would go if he made it out of Harlech."

"But you dropped in like you were coming to battle."

"I didn't know that we weren't."

"You could have transmitted your intentions. Or at least your questions. We could have told you what was going on and had you land at the ops center."

"Sure we could have," she said sarcastically. "In case you hadn't noticed, not everybody involved in this thing has been telling the truth. If we came in broadcasting who we favored, and the Wolf hadn't made it here, we wouldn't have been real popular with the people in charge. Dropping in like this, we could always claim caution and not reveal favoritism for any side."

I wanted to hear her say it. "Then you arehere to fight for him."

"You're fighting for him, aren't you?"

I could imagine the smile that went with that question. I was grinning myself when I answered, "We are."

"Hah! I knew he'd make a challenge to the Trial." There was exultation in her voice. Faintly, I heard other voices, leakage coming through her microphone from the channels to the other black 'Mechs. "I guess we are, too."

I can't tell you how relieved I was. There are no words to express it. It was all for the Colonel's sake, though. The Spider's Web Battalion was a significant addition to our fighting capabilities. Personally, I was a bit befuddled. Maeve was back in my life and I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it.

"Hadn't you better give Hans the word, before he comes charging in here, guns blazing?" she suggested.

I did. Within the hour we had linked up and were heading back toward the ops center. As soon as we got within line-of-sight of one of our relay stations, I beamed the good news in.

43

Elson stalked into the command center, already angry. He had not cared for the peremptory tone of the summons from Alpin. He cared even less for the fact that the boy seemed to think he was really in command.

All of the command council loyal to the Dragoon organization was there. Neil Parella and Alicia Fancher were sitting on opposite sides of the table, eyeing each other with ill-concealed hostility. Their rivalry made it easy to play them off against each other. Elizabeth Nichole, the other combat regiment commander, was working at a console near the door to one of the offices lining the ops center. For all his initial fears about her, Nichole had turned out to be a supporter of the new regime. Sean Kevin of Seventh Kommando sat in one corner. He was a quiet and competent officer who had no interest in the strategic positioning of the Dragoons; he only wanted someone to point him in the right direction so that he could use his skills. Elson found him very valuable. Rebecca Ardevauer of the Fire Support Group was less tractable, but she was valuable, too. She was well-liked and vocal about the necessity of avoiding conflict and holding with the outcome of the Trial of Position. Douglas Piper of the Support Battalion was more of an enigma. He said little except to voice his votes, and those had always been what Elson wanted.

Though not of the council, Noketsuna was there, too, talking quietly with Svados. The Kuritan was proving valuable for his insights concerning the reaction of the local populace, gleaned through the exercise of his somewhat dubious investigative skills. He was working well with Svados, recently promoted to head Wolfnet in the absence of Stanford Blake.

Of course, Alpin Wolf was also present. He stood leaning against the main table, intent on the images flickering through the holotank. His Mech Warrior's jacket, with its motley collection of unit-recognition patches, was tossed over a chair.

Elson ignored him and stepped up to Nichole. "Things quiet enough at Epsilon, Nichole?"

Alpin looked up when he heard Elson's voice. His face was pinched into a frown that deepened when he saw who Elson addressed. He slapped his hand on the table.

"My grandfather is gathering troops in the Outback. I am convinced that he means to make a strike against the capital. He will assume that he can unseat me and retake command."

Parella snorted. "He can't best three regiments of BattleMechs with full support, when the best he can field is a bunch of old men and kids."

"There's no proof he's actually doing anything," Nichole pointed out.

Alpin stabbed a finger at the holotank. "Then explain the drop by the Spider's Web Battalion. There was no fighting when they landed.".

"That's the report, but we don't have positive confirmation," Svados said.

"There doesn't have to be," Alpin snapped. "The Spider's Web flushed out anyone who supported the legitimate succession before they left Wing. Of course they came to support my grandfather's rebellion."

"Chandra says Captain Maeve is in command of the battalion," Svados said.

"Maeve? She's a good jock, but she's just a pup."

Fancher chuckled. "She's not ready for command. If that's the best Wolf can rally, we've nothing to worry about."

"She is in my ageframe," Alpin said. He tried to make his tone a warning, but it came off as more of a whine.

Fancher looked disgusted and about to say something, so Elson spoke up. "There are many battalion commanders of her age among the Clans. In the current circumstances, her age is not the issue, but her politics are. The lack of fighting between Wolf's loyalists and the battalion is a strong sign that the Spider's Web will side with Jaime Wolf."

"If he has a side," Nichole said. She might have accepted Alpin as leader of the Dragoons, but she was still struggling with the concept of having to send troops against Jaime Wolf.

Parella shook his head. "Liz, if Wolf were simply going to give it up, he would have left the system."

Folding her arms across her chest, Elizabeth Nichole chewed her lip. "Maybe. Maybe not."

"Jaime Wolf has demonstrated his rebellion by running," Alpin said loudly. "I propose a first strike, before we lose any more sympathizers."