"The scan shows only an empty orchard, Faulk. Unless the Com Guards are disguised as some kind of native fruit and are hanging from branches ready to spring at us, I do not think we face any special danger there."

Later she would remember her sarcasm, cursing herself for not taking Faulk more seriously.

As they approached the orchard, Diana turned her attention to the area beyond it, seeking other potential threats.

"Does it not seem strange to you, MechWarrior Diana, that we have been on the march for fully an hour and yet have still had no response from the Com Guards?"

The man's apprehension made his voice tremble on every word of more than one syllable.

"Take it easy, Faulk. And, for the sake of Kerensky, we do not need formal address in the field. MechWarrior is a mouthful of a word, quiaff?"

"You have not noticed. I always use formal address, MechWarrior Diana."

"And why in the name of all the Clans do you do that, Faulk?"

"Because—"

Diana never learned Faulk's answer, for the peaceful orchard suddenly erupted into quite another scene. Fruit trees seemed to open up and splay outward, and holes in the ground suddenly disgorged a lance of Com Guard BattleMechs. And when they came out, they came out shooting.

* * *

From the Jade Falcon command group Aidan got the news of several minor attacks all around the route of march. The command group derived its information from the surveillance provided by high-flying aerofighters, which spotted 'Mechs emerging from the ground in four areas. In each case the Com Guard units had disguised their hiding place via some manufactured but realistic topographical construction. Besides the lance of 'Mechs coming from the fake orchard, others appeared from an apparent silo, a small hillock that was completely fake, a pile of rocks. With the advantage of surprise, the enemy 'Mechs did considerable damage before retreating just as quickly into the night.

Aidan radioed Joanna for a report on the sneak attack involving her Star. "Any BattleMech damage?"

"A few hits," she said. "One BattleMech severely damaged, needs to be taken back for repair. One pilot down."

* * *

Faulk's Gargoyletook the first major hit when forty LRMs blazed from a Bombardier'storso and destroyed the Gargoyle's,left arm, amputating it messily just as Faulk fired a cluster of SRMs. The missiles landed harmlessly, gouging holes in the ground and exploding in front of the Bombardier.Meanwhile, the Com Guard 'Mech rushed onward toward Faulk's 'Mech, burning away large chunks of the Gargoyle'sferro-fibrous armor as it went.

Diana tried to cut off the Bombardier,but a Centurionblocked her path. Looking like someone wielding a thick pipe in one hand, the Centurionfired the pipe, an LB-10X, at her. Much of the fragmented submunitions fell harmlessly around her, the hits only minimal. Diana returned fire with a blast from her extended-range PPC, knocking out the Centurion'scenter-torso medium laser.

Joanna rushed her Mad Doginto the fray, wanting to go after the Centurionpersonally. Firing from a distance were the other two MechWarriors of Alpha Striker, Khastis and Leema. When Khastis' Hellbringerhit an Enforcerwith a cluster of SRMs, the enemy pilot immediately engaged his 'Mech's jump jets and leaped away from the action.

The Bombardierwas meanwhile raining more damage down on Faulk's Gargoyle.With torso bent forward, the Com Guard 'Mech ran swiftly at the Gargoyle,its short-range missiles joining the pillars of fire laid by their larger cousins. The Gargoyle,disconcerted by the speed of its foe, could not effectively return fire, especially with its left arm gone.

Faulk ejected, but he chose the wrong moment. His trajectory took him through a stream of laser fire not even aimed at him. It sliced away part of the seat and severed Faulk's right leg along with it. Even from where they sat in their cockpits, the other pilots in his Star heard his sudden, earsplitting scream.

The Com Guard 'Mechs, apparently satisfied with the outcome of their ambush, abruptly ceased their attack and withdrew into the darkness. Diana started to pursue, but Joanna ordered her back.

"I want at them," Diana protested angrily.

"It would be a waste of effort," Joanna said. "Those 'Mechs are faster than yours, and none were damaged enough to be picked off as a stray lagging behind. It was one of their hit-and-run operations. The cowards. Filthy freebirth cowards!"

To Diana the freebirth epithet seemed empty when applied to this enemy, who, after all, came from a culture where none of the births were genetically engineered. As she spent more time among the trueborns, Diana had begun to resent their casual rejection of everything freeborn. Freeborn or not, she was a good warrior. Indeed, many of the trueborns in the new Falcon Guards could not claim to have distinguished themselves in past combat.

Horse had told her many horror stories from his life as a freeborn, and she realized she was fortunate. Perhaps because of the invasion or because of her considerable skill as a warrior, Diana was not treated much different than if she were a trueborn.

She could not resolve her feelings about her dual role in this Jade Falcon unit. On one hand, she wanted to show that a freeborn was equal to any trueborn; on the other, she wanted to forget she was a freeborn and just do her job. When she expressed these feelings to Horse, he pondered a moment, then said, "Seems to me you get your armor chipped off either way. Either way you admit shame at being freeborn. Who says trueborn is better just because someone picks out their genes and stirs them up in some vat? Then again, who am I to talk? I'm just one of those lousy freebirths, you know." Diana heard the sarcasm, but the two never found time to finish the conversation.

Dismounting from her 'Mech, Diana searched the nearby field for Faulk. By the time she found him, a medic unit was already ministering to him. His face twisted in grimaces of pain, and she saw that the laser had sheared off his leg neatly just below the hip. This battle was over for Faulk almost before it had begun. He would be fitted for a prosthetic leg, however, and there would be other battles, other wars. Just not Tukayyid.

Joanna came up beside her.

"A clean hit," she said. Faulk, seeing his formidable commanding officer, managed to choke back his moans.

"Yes," Diana said. "I pity him."

"Oh? An odd reaction from a warrior. Are we not supposed to be pitiless?"

"Perhaps you are, Star Captain Joanna. I am freeborn. We are . . . peculiar."

"You certainly are. But I am glad to have you in my Star, Diana."

Joanna walked away before Diana could answer. What a queer bird Joanna was becoming, Diana thought, an even rarer kind of falcon perhaps.

When Faulk was sedated but conscious, Diana knelt down beside him. "Sorry," she said.

"For what? You did nothing, MechWarrior Diana."

"I did not heed your caution, Faulk. You were right about the orchard."

He shook his head. "No, that was coincidence. I feel the same anxiety about every dark patch I pass. Something always seems to be lurking in my mind. This time it was really there. Coincidence, MechWarrior Diana."

"If you say so. Be well, Faulk. I expect to fight beside you again some day."

Faulk seemed confused by what she said, and his lids fluttered until he could no longer hold them open. Soon he was asleep, then loaded into a med hovercraft and taken away.