"And I have. You placed us here to guard Old Connaught. I have made certain they will not reach the city."

"I wanted you to prevent the Red Corsair from reaching her DropShip, Conal! Quickly, get there before she does."

"We cannot, we are north of the river. We cannot cross it."

"Why would you blow it before you had crossed?"

"She has access to a DropShip. She could have gotten to Old Connaught had we crossed before blowing the bridge."

I know you are not so obtuse, Conal. Did you suffer brain-fade, or are you out to tarnish my victory here?Phelan's hands tightened into fists. "Pull back to Old Connaught at full speed, Conal. If the Red Corsair doesreach her DropShip and gets behind you, I will meet you in a Circle of Equals and rip your heart out with my bare hands, do you understand?"

"Aff, my Khan. It will be as you desire."

Phelan stabbed the commlink button to Tac Two. "Eagle Leader, can you get at the Red Corsair's DropShip and stop it?"

"Negative, Wolf One." Carew's voice carried a note of caution. "The Tigressapparently carried with it a Point of Stukas,a Point of Transgressors,and a Point of Corsairs.They are flying CAP for the DropShip and we are all running light on ammo. They seem content to let us strafe stragglers, but I am not confident we can get through. If it is what you desire, I will try."

Phelan knew that he had only to give the order and Carew would give his life trying to accomplish the task. "Stand by, Eagle Leader." Phelan switched to Tac Four. "Star Captain Fetladral, report on the Sidhe."

"Less than a Star running. The Red Corsair is one of those in retreat. They are within a kilometer of the Tigress.Alpha Battalion has the rest of them under control or dead."

"Roger, Star Captain. Wolf One out." Phelan reestablished the link with Carew. "Eagle One, initiate ground-support operations. Let the DropShip go . . . mop up. No reason for more of us to die today."

Bates again broke the darkness of Nelson's improvised planetarium, but that was fine with him. "The battle is over, Kommandant. The good guys won."

Nelson smiled unconsciously. "She escaped, didn't she?"

Bates hesitated, then nodded. "How did you know?"

The maimed MechWarrior curled his half-hand into a misshapen fist. "There are times, Mr. Bates, when God doesanswer prayers."

37

Tharkad

Federated Commonwealth

12 September 3055

Victor Davion looked up with relief from the crop reports as Galen Cox entered his office. The smile on Galen's face raised a cousin on Victor's lips despite the late hour and his fatigue. "You have heard some good news?"

Galen nodded and a laugh escaped him. "Report from Arc-Royal. The Corsair's raiding days are finished."

"Yes!" Victor slapped the top of his desk and gave Galen a thumb's-up. "That's the best news I've had in months. Did they get her? Will we have a trial?"

"No, she escaped with a half-dozen or so fighters and two other 'Mechs." Galen frowned slightly. "The rest of the bandits were killed, to a man. The Hounds are hedging their estimates of salvage. ..."

"Who cares? They can have it all." Victor allowed himself a half-smile. "The Hounds were created with money my grandfather gave Morgan and Patrick Kell, and doubled in size with a bequest from my grandmother's will. Given their success rate and their loyalty to the Steiners, I should pay them enough to establish two more regiments."

Galen shook his head slightly. "I believe your mother would applaud that decision, but I do not think it is a good public relations move. It reinforces your image as a cold militarist."

"We wouldn't want that, now, would we?" Victor sighed and glanced at the agricultural printouts stacked on his desk. "On some worlds we have to protect the price of grains because they are so abundant and on others we have to discount the grain we import so people can afford to buy bread. And I thought the logistics of running a military unit were bad."

"I shall leave you to your work, then."

"No, not so fast. You're not getting off that easily." Victor stood up and stretched. "What did today's briefing from Curaitis say?"

Victor saw a spark of annoyance in Galen's eyes, but his aide acquiesced and sat down heavily in a wingback chair. Galen had offered to filter reports on the investigation to Victor, and the Prince had taken him up on it. It freed Victor for the important business of running the Federated Commonwealth, but sentenced Galen to informal daily briefings.

"Curaitis says that they have completed the third round of narco-interrogation of the assassin. It was, by far, the most satisfactory of the rounds because they are no longer giving him medication for the fat embolis."

"The assassin will live, then?" Initially the doctors had feared that the assassin would not survive because the fractures to his leg had released bone marrow into the bloodstream. The fat from the marrow had clogged the man's coronary arteries, resulting in a massive and very unexpected heart attack. The fat embolis had come very close to killing the assassin and had delayed his interrogation for what, to Victor, was an intolerable amount of time.

"Yes, the angioplasty cleared up the problem with his heart, and the doctors do not expect a brain embolis. His death won't become part of your conspiracy to hide your involvement in your mother's death." Galen smiled sardonically. "In this interrogation Curaitis learned about the assassin's connections and how he was given assignments. It seems fairly clear that the man was not working for House Liao or Kurita."

Victor frowned. "That leaves someone from the Free Worlds League or the Federated Commonwealth as his employer. And I know which one I'd wish to be the correct one."

"It is possible that someone did strike at your mother because of the perception that Joshua Marik is being held 'hostage' at the New Avalon Institute of Science, but Thomas Marik cannot deny that the leukemia treatments are keeping the boy's disease in check. Chances are, however, that any strike from that quarter would have been carried out by an agent of the ComStar splinter group now based in the Free Worlds League."

"And this guy had no ComStar or Word of Blake ties," Victor said. "That means it's someone here, someone from the Federated Commonwealth. But who?"

Galen shook his head. "If I knew that, you would have his head on a platter desk."

"What about that list of people who purchased tickets to the banquet? Have they all checked out?"

"The list is still being compiled. The assassin's capture shifted some of our assets in that direction." Galen frowned. "I'll make sure it gets finished."

"Good. When it's done, I want to see it." Victor leaned forward in the red chair opposite the one where Galen sat. "Any improvement in public opinion?"

The slender blond man nodded. "You're no longer the demon they were painting you three months ago. The interviews you've given have been drawing bigger audiences as they move from world to world. Your approval rating has climbed a bit—and the end of the Red Corsair should help that even more."

Victor nodded. "I was thinking I might attend Salome Kell's funeral on Arc-Royal."