Transmitting his current orders to the onplanet forces, Theodore wiped the main screen and brought up a display of overall strategic situation. He reviewed the planets involved in his counterthrust against the Davion invasion. Those on the Kurita side of the border, such as Fellanin II, Sadalbari, and Matar, had fallen easily at the start, their Davion occupiers confused and shocked by the sudden onslaught. Theodore had caught them as they prepared for their own attack; many had been hit while in transports.

More shocking to the Davion defenders, and to their High Command as well, was the sudden appearance of Kurita forces deep within their own space. Planets such as Cartago, Doneval II, and Clovis had not been expecting to be attacked while Davion was making its own push into the Combine. The DCMS intercept division, the ISF, the O5P, and the wary but still helpful ComStar people were for once in complete agreement. Hanse Davion—the Fox—had been caught off-guard.

So far, everything had gone like a finely choreographed program. Even the mercenary strikes at Le Blanc, New Ivaarsen, and Dobson had yielded suitable repayment for the investment. The Kurita counterattack, Operation Orochi, had proceeded with pleasing efficiency and success. On every world the Combine forces attacked, they had come down hard, formation after formation. Or so it had appeared. Every buso-senshiwas doing the work of a 'Mech lance. Each unit was doing its best to look like more than they were, battalions acting like regiments. Theodore knew that Hanse Davion must suspect, at least, that the Combine had been rearming far faster than could have been predicted. He hoped to fool the Fox by appearing to have more units than actually existed.

The apparent scale of Theodore's counterattack was designed to give the appearance that the Combine had enough resources and enough confidence in its defenses to launch a major offensive in the middle of an enemy invasion. His goal was to make Hanse Davion worry. To make him suspect that his intelligence apparatus had completely failed him. To make him fear for his own state's survival. It was that fear that would save the Dragon.

Theodore was gambling with the life of the Dragon, but he had no choice. The Combine's resources had been stretched dangerously thin. If Operation Orochi failed, the Combine would fall. But if he had been content just to defend the worlds of the Combine, the Draconis military would eventually have crumbled under the pressure of the mighty Davion-Steiner war machine. He was staking everything on this audacious operation.

The arrival of the Fourth Guards was the sign Theodore had been waiting for—the Fox had fallen for the bait. Theodore had been right in his assessment of Hanse Davion as a man who took few chances when playing for such high stakes. The Fox had chosen to protect his own instead of going for the Dragon's throat. Davion was no coward, but he was not foolishly blind, either.

Theodore checked the deep-space feed. The Davion Guards' DropShips were still on course for Exeter. The Guard would want Kurita blood. They would want to stop the Dragon before he took Robinson or thrust any deeper into their state. Theodore had succeeded in arousing Davion's fear.

Smiling with satisfaction, he fed course instructions through to Fuhito's screen.

* * *

Fuhito ran the BattleMasterup the hill, seeking a clear field for his sensors. At the crest, he halted and oriented the massive torso toward the distant Samuelson Military Reservation. The Kuritans had cracked the Davion defense. 'Mechs stalked through the outer reaches of the reservation, headed for the laboratory and testing compounds.

A pair of missiles smashed into the hillside at his right. Only one explosion geysered dirt, rocks, and vegetation against the BattleMaster's leg. He gauged the origin point and snapped off a shot from the 'Mech's paired rear-defense lasers. The ruby pulses caught a deadfall, exploding it to flinders in a cloud of flash-heated steam. As the debris fell and the smoke cleared, he watched an infantryman stagger away, the flesh of his hands welded to the plastic of the launcher he had used. The man had survived firing on the Kurita 'Mech. Without thought, Fuhito triggered a single pulse that vaporized the stumbling figure.

Downslope, the Dragon, Sentinel,and Crabthat made up the rest of the lance were prowling through the remains of the First NAIS Cadet Cadre. There would be no counterattack against the Samuelson Military Reservation.

The BattleMaster'sinternal comm screen lit with a map, a projected course highlighted in red. Fuhito tapped an acknowledgement, satisfied that Theodore would read it on his screen when he could spare attention from his strategic concerns. He radioed the movement order to the lance. The expeditionary force had performed this smash-and-run routine across Exeter's northern continent, just as they had done on each planet they had hit between here and the Combine's border. Now it was time to withdraw. The Kanrei must have decided that they had done enough damage here.

Perhaps not quite enough,he thought, as the BattleMastercame on a staging area for Davion infantry. Fuhito charged his 'Mech forward, lasers flaring from its chest. At his right, the hunched, alien shape of Barnaby's Crabstrutted, blasting with its heavy laser forearms. The Fedrat troops, surprised and demoralized by the sudden appearance of the Kurita 'Mechs, panicked to scatter in all directions. The Kuritans continued on, unscathed by the encounter.

Theodore's face appeared on the internal comm screen. "Everything in order, Fuhito- kun?"

"All clear, Tono."

"Good."

"What's next, Tono?"

"Next we leave Exeter, Fuhito- kun. The Fox has taken the bait."

66

Breed System

Raman PDZ, Draconis March, Federated Suns

31 October 3039

Marshal James Sandoval took the crumpled fax out of his pocket. Straightening it, he stared again at the bitter order. Recall.

All the forces under his command that had been tagged for the second wave were assigned new targets. His own First Robinson Rangers were to lead the attack to recover Breed. The second wave was indefinitely postponed, with all assigned resources being diverted to meet the threat from the Kurita counterattack. Postponed? More likely canceled. The chance had slipped by.

Only six months ago, they had struck the Combine, catching the Snakes unaware. Initial progress had been good. The lack of BattleMech support and counterattacks had only confirmed his belief that the Kuritans had not had time to rebuild those very expensive forces. What they did have was tied up in Dieron resisting the combined attacks that threatened to cut the Combine off from Terra.

It had all looked so good.

Then the Combine's resistance had stiffened. Even though the Davion forces were facing armies light on 'Mechs, the Kuritans held. Planets didn't fall when they were supposed to. The timetable of the invasion had begun to slip. Even then, Sandoval had not been especially worried. The Snakes might have been unprepared, but no one in his right mind would expect them to give up as easily as the Capellans had in the last war.

Then had come the assassinations against the officers of the Steiner front. It had thrown the Lyran thrust into turmoil. The Steiner advances had stopped almost instantly. The no-guts cowards had even gotten themselves kicked off Vega. He had heard a rumor that Katrina Steiner had panicked when she found an origami cat in the Royal Throne Room on Tharkad. James shook his head. An army had to be bigger than its leadership, stronger than its machines. While the Steiner troops had lots of heavy equipment, they seemed lightly equipped with determination. James felt betrayed. He knew that his father would be feeling even more so after all he had done to foster the alliance with those faint-hearted Lyran fancy-dressers.