"Does it?" Moran's eyes narrowed. "There are times I wonder."

Phelan took a moment to read the group. Michelle Moran and her people seemed more relaxed toward him and Ragnar than they did Victor and Galen. That only made sense if their heated discussion had traveled entirely out of the realm of the morning's exercise, or even the conduct of the war against the Clans. Phelan smelled politics and wondered what was really going on. When he noticed it, a second later, he could have kicked himself for missing something so obvious.

Victor and Galen—both members of the Tenth Lyran Guards' elite Revenants—had abandoned their uniform jackets and instead wore exquisite green silken robes with black trim at the cuffs and hem. The crest embroidered in red on the sleeves and breasts of the robes looked like the Revenants' insignia, but the border around it showed little Kurita dragons chasing each other.

The robes Shin wore were identical in design, though the crests on his kimono were appropriate, for the Dragon's Claws. It did not strike Phelan as remarkable that Shin Yodama was a member of the Combine Coordinator's bodyguard unit—by all accounts of the war, Shin had served the Kurita family faithfully and well. What did surprise Phelan was that Victor would wear a garment that so clearly resembled a Kurita uniform.

Phelan sensed instantly that Victor's choice of clothing was not what had angered Michelle Moran, but what his wearing it meant. He had no doubt that many of the Kell Hounds had shared a smile when Victor rescued Hohiro from Teniente in the same way that the Hounds had helped save Luthien. That would have struck them as justice. Somehow, though, things went deeper.

Watching Victor chafe beneath Moran's anger made Phelan uneasy. It was true that Michelle might have had a beer or two more than wise, but Victor was hung on the tree of politics. If he agreed with her and word of it got out, certain forces in the Federated Suns section of the Commonwealth would immediately pounce on him for leaving them open to predation by the Capellan Confederation.

Just as the Crusaders have been hounding the ilKhan to repudiate the truce.Hearing the echoes of Ranna's words in his head, Phelan laughed lightly. "I assure you, Captain Moran, that from my point of view, Prince Victor acted, as did the rest of you, exactly the way I expected Steiner troops to act. After all you had done to harass the Smoke Jaguars and the Nova Cats, I had expected better."

Moran, her eyes flashing, turned on him in a quiet rage. "You died quickly enough."

"And because of it, Captain Moran, your company took only marginally more time to die. I set a bondsman and my nephew, a youth who has still not even been accepted into one of your military academies, to the task of drawing you off and leading you on a wild goose chase. You took the bait and your troops were scattered."

Phelan brought his hands up to chest-height and deliberately pressed them fingertip to fingertip in a sign of superiority. "We let them pick off stragglers while we crushed those you hunted. And though I did die in that exchange, I died at the hands of the only member of your company—save Chu-saYodama—who had the least claim to Steiner blood or training."

Moran raised her head. "It was Star Captain Ranna who killed most of us. It took a realClanner to do that."

Phelan's nostrils flared. "Very good, Captain Moran, but hardly a killing shot. I have been ridiculed for my extra-Clan origins by the best in the Wolf Clan, hell, by the best of allthe Clans. They hate me for what I am, and probably for the same reason you do. They hate me because they're afraid of me. They hate the fact that I, a freebirthfrom outside the Clans, could rise to the top of one of the most powerful Clans. They fear me more completely and totally than they know."

"I'm not afraid of you," Moran scoffed.

"Oh, but you are, Captain Moran." Phelan looked around the group, touching each of them with his frank stare. "You all are. You are all afraid you couldn't do what I did. You're afraid that when the Clans come again I will use what I know to guarantee that no force, no matter how huge, will ever stop us."

Phelan smiled a predator's smile. "When I see you bickering like this, I marvel that anyone in the Inner Sphere was even able to slow us.

"Next time?" He shook his head. "Next time you'll be lucky to even see us coming."

9

Arc-Royal

Federated Commonwealth

16 April 3055

You arrogant son of a . . .Victor's hands balled into fists as he glared at Phelan. The adrenalin jolt he felt as his cousin returned the stare deflected him from immediately snapping out a furious reply. I am not afraid of him!

"I can see your time with the Clans has not changed you at all, Phelan."

Victor turned around as he recognized the gentle voice that mildly rebuked the Clan Khan. Standing eight centimeters taller than him, but sharing the golden blond hair they had both inherited from their mother, his sister Katherine leaned down and gave Victor a peck on the cheek. "Are you surprised, Victor? I hope so."

"Katherine? I thought you were on Tharkad with Mother. No one told me. ..." Victor felt himself whip-sawed as his anger shattered against the anvil of surprise, then melted away into happiness at seeing his sister again. "When did you arrive?"

Katherine ignored the question and extended her left hand to Shin Yodama. "Komban-wa, Chu-sa.Thank you again for letting me hitch a ride aboard your DropShip." She squeezed his hand, then let it drop.

"And you for permitting me the use of your shuttle to get here ahead of the Taizai,Duchess Katrina."

"You came in on the Combine DropShip?" Victor blinked in surprise. "Duchess Katrina?"

Katherine glanced down at her brother, then laughed lightly. "Yes, Victor, I came in on the Taizai.I was on the Jadbalja,hoping to transfer to another ship as it headed from Tharkad to Morges. We ran across Chu-saYodama—Shin—at Hamilton and I invited myself aboard. He was polite despite the utter breach of protocol. I begged him not to tell you I was on my way, and use of the shuttle sealed the deal."

Victor raised an eyebrow at Shin. "You could have told me.

The yakuza from the Draconis Combine shook his head. "Once sworn to a secret, I keep my word, no matter the consequences."

Katherine's cool blue eyes glittered mischievously. "And it is a good thing for you that he does, Victor. But to answer your question, we got in this morning while you and your friends were engaged in that combat exercise." She pulled her hands up and wiggled her fingers as if the wargame had been a long-dead creature left to molder and rot. "You were preoccupied, so we decided to plan a surprise for you. Morgan agreed, so our operation remained covert."

The lilt in her voice made Victor grin. "But Duchess Katrina?"Victor voiced the question in a tone he knew would get her attention. "When did this happen?"

Katherine knitted her brows with concentration and Victor sensed the urge on the part of the males in the circle to offer her any help they could. Because she was his sister, he had some difficulty understanding their reaction. If pressed, however, he'd have been forced to admit that the teal blue jacket and skirt complimented her slender figure. With its cleric collar, shoulder pads, and diagonally cut double-breast, the gold-buttoned jacket looked to him to be state-of-design for the current fashion season.