Surprised, Elson turned to him. "What do you mean any more?"

Alpin smiled, apparently pleased that he was ahead of Elson on something. "Graham took the Special Recon Group out last night. They left Camp Dorrety just after midnight."

Elson turned to Svados. "Is that true?"

She nodded and Noketsuna reported. "All contact with them has been lost. Some vehicles were noted moving toward the strait at Jormenai, suggesting they're headed for the other side of the mountain. However, that could be a feint. Some or all of the group might remain on this continent to form a harassing force. In either case, I think it is clear that their sympathies lie with Jaime Wolf."

"Like your damned Kurita friends," Alpin snapped.

"Then they've gone over, too?" Nichole looked unhappy.

Shoving her chair back so that it screeched across the floor, Fancher stood. "Once Elson called off the attack, they loaded their people onto the DropShips and lifted. They never even made a pretense of going anywhere else. They lifted and made straight for the Outback. They only touched down long enough to unload their 'Mechs, then their DropShips lifted again and took up a geosynchronous orbit over Green Sector, becoming high cover for the training ops complex."

Elson ignored Fancher's venomous stare. "It is a negligible shift in the dynamic."

"And we can make it less," Alpin said, tapping on the holotank's control board. The imaged globe shrank and orbital paths burned into neon existence around it. A formation of four DropShips over the Outback blinked on and off. Vector arrows leapt out from various orbital assets, showing how the position could be approached. "Only the 'Mechs got off, which means that the families of the MechWarriors stayed on the DropShips. There are no port facilities to worry about in orbit. If we blast the ships out of the sky, we will teach those Snakes a lesson they well deserve. We can make their families pay for the MechWarriors' foolishness."

Elson walked around the table and backhanded Alpin without a word. The boy flew across the room to land sprawling over a desk. Alpin stared up at Elson with sheer hatred. All Elson felt was his own contempt.

"I gave you position, I can take it away!" Alpin snarled.

Icily calm, Elson responded, "Not by the laws of the Khanship."

"I can make the council do it!"

"Go ahead."

Alpin stood, smearing blood from his cut lip across his cheek as he rubbed the jaw that was already angrily red. He looked around the assembled group. The only unreadable face was that of Noketsuna. The Dragoons looked stern, offering no sympathy. That was as Elson had expected. The families, blood or sibkin, were sacred; they were not objects of war. Only the debased warriors of the Inner Sphere made war on civilians.

Alpin screamed, "You are all dismissed!"

When no one moved, he stared at them a moment longer, then stalked into his office. The door slammed.

Elson turned at once to the holotank's console, returning the image to a depiction of the Outback. "Do we have any information about where the Kuritans will be deployed?"

"None, sir," Svados said.

"They are not a coherent unit," Noketsuna said. "They have no specialties or organization."

"Are you saying that they will not fight well?"

"They will fight. They have given their loyalty and will die for Wolf. Do not discount them, but do not expect to divine how they will be used either."

"Sounds like they're about as stable as Little Al," Parella put in.

"Yeah," Fancher agreed. "When are you going to dump that collection of bad genes?"

Elson looked through the holotank and met her gaze. "When the time comes."

"We need a real commander if we're going after Wolf."

"Jaime Wolf is exactly the issue, Colonel Fancher." Elson stepped around the tank to Fancher's side. "How strong do you think your claim to legitimate leadership would be while he is still alive?"

"Stronger than yours," she replied. "I could challenge Little Al to a Trial of Position."

"The Dragoons can't take another Trial right now," Nichole said.

"She is right, Fancher. There is talk in some quarters that Jaime Wolf is challenging the results of the Trial."

Fancher snorted. "He'll lose the challenge like he lost the Trial. We're better equipped and there are a lot more of us. Even the Spider's Web and the Kuritans won't shift the balance in his favor. There'll just be more blood. It won't matter in the end."

Elson had known that Fancher lacked the foresight for command and now she was damning herself with her own words. "If you think that the amount of Dragoon blood shed will not matter in the end, I would not care to serve under you as Khan."

He noted with satisfaction that Piper, Ardevauer, and Nichole nodded in open agreement. He was not surprised when Parella said, "Nor I." Elson had hinted to Fancher that she might be the best person to replace Alpin once things had settled. He had done the same with Parella. They could not both have the top slot. From observing Parella, Elson guessed that the Mech Warrior had divined that Elson had been offering the same carrot to Fancher. Parella was working to undermine his rival colonel before she could become a threat. The man was clearly a more subtle player than Fancher and would have to be watched. Elson had no intention of backing either of them. Jaime Wolf had proved that one of his innovations had merit: a single Khan was a powerful Khan. Elson intended to be a powerful Khan.

"For the moment Alpin is necessary to the elimination of Jaime Wolf," he said. "A problem to which we must put our minds, warriors."

44

At first Dechan thought that the struggle for control of the Dragoons would erupt in open warfare immediately, but days passed and there were no large-scale confrontations. Beta, Gamma, and Epsilon Regiments remained in their quarters on the public continent. If it was a public relations ploy designed to convince outsiders that nothing was happening, it met with only limited success. The news of Wolf's departure and rumors of impending conflict circulated widely in Harlech.

Dechan was questioned about the brewing trouble by every interviewer with whom he talked. Telling them all the same thing—nothing—wasn't a difficult feat: he knew little more than that. When Jenette packed up and headed for Camp Dorrety the night the Special Recon Group slipped away, his inside line to the Dragoons went with her. He didn't miss the information, but he missed her. His refusal to join her and her refusal to stay might have been their final disagreement. A conflict was coming and it was very possible she would not survive to return from it.

Dechan knew the lull was coming to an end when Elson started visiting the Hiring Hall. Alpin had put out a call for Dragoon auxiliaries, promising that good performance would mean a permanent slot with the Dragoons. A lot of the mercs thought they were being offered a free ride down easy street. Dechan watched the boards in the Hall and noted the names of those who signed on. Some of them he'd never heard of, but others he recognized by reputation. They weren't the sort of troops the old Dragoons would have hired. The big-name freelancers were conspicuous by their absence, and so were less well-known but effective units like the Black Brigade. Scuttlebutt said it was price, but Dechan suspected other, more important reasons.

Dechan was heading up the steps to the Hall when Elson and a covey of mercs came through the door. The big Elemental noticed him almost at once and said a few words to his companions. With a flurry of nods and jovial remarks, Elson left the mercs and headed directly toward Dechan.