Victor pointed toward a porthole with his open right hand. "You cannot forget that we won on Twycross." His hand curled into a fist. "We gave the Clans their first drubbing on a Federated Commonwealth world, and the plan we used was developed by me and Kai and the other young officers ..."

"And if not for Kai's damnable luck, you would have lost the Tenth Lyran Guards on Twycross, not Alyina," Morgan snapped. His fist pounded down on the flimsy desk, scattering pens and making the computer keyboard bounce. "It appears Kai used up all his luck on Twycross, because it surely ran out on Alyina. Yes, you beat the Clans on Twycross, but only because Kai put himself in extreme danger to destroy the Falcon Guards."

"No, Marshal, with all due respect, Kai's action was not the onlyreason we won on Twycross." Both Victor's hands curled into fists with frustration. "Our plan was solid. We had already begun to react to the threat to our rear before we knew Kai had stopped the Falcon Guards. By the time the Guards could have reached us, we had rotated our position 130 degrees so the Guard would have to fight through their own allies to get at us. We might not have defeated them, but we would have been able to withdraw in good order. Our strategy was strong, Morgan, and you knew that before you approved the plan."

Victor's eyes blazed with anger. "And if I'm not incompetent to lead, the only other reason I'm being pulled back is because someone on New Avalon does not want me in the line of fire. They'd not pull another soldier from the front just because his mother or father wanted him pulled back, so why do they do it with me? As long as we're asking other people to put their sons and daughters at risk, I should be there leading them.

"Go ahead, Morgan, deny these orders transferring me to the rear came from New Avalon." And my father.

"Victor, I could tell you that the orders went out over your father's signature, but you know that is true of all orders I receive. That would tell you nothing and is meaningless." Morgan leaned forward, resting his palms flat against the aluminum desk top. "If your mother or father wants you out of danger or to take you out of the line of fire, they have chosen a particularly poor world to which to assign you. Port Moseby may be well behind the line between the Jade Falcons and our forces, but it is directly in the path of the Wolf Clan's advance. With the Free Rasalhague Republic demoralized and collapsing ever since the loss of Prince Ragnar to the Wolves on Satalice, you are going from the frying pan into the fire."

"I'd rather the frying pan now than the fire later."

A grin cracked Morgan's serious expression. "Of that I have to doubt. I think, however, your reasoning is flawed. You have overlooked a third reason for your reassignment."

Victor frowned, doubt entering his mind. "Which is?"

"Victor, you're only human. You've been involved in some of the heaviest fighting we've seen against the Clans. You've lost a close companion recently and your command has been badly hammered. Out of the forty 'Mechs in your command, thirteen are operational, and that's only in yourvery generous report of your unit's readiness. Another ten 'Mechs are salvageable, but they more closely resemble modern art than they do war machines. You lost fifteen of your pilots to death or injury and another eight will need time to heal up before they can step into a cockpit again. In short, your battalion is really just a reinforced company, and that's only your company. The rest of the Tenth Lyran Guards is in equally dismal shape."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you need a rest. You need the time to rebuild your unit." Morgan put as sympathetic an expression on his face as possible. "You need to go with your unit to Port Moseby."

"No, dammit, Morgan, I can't." Victor poked himself in the chest with his thumb. "All my life everyone has looked at me in one of two ways: either I'm the 'little Prince' who is to be humored, or I'm the Fox's heir and therefore to be feared. Everyone has supposed, because I'm so small, that I have a Napoleon complex and am a hideous warmonger. Every time I tried to do the sort of thing my father or you would do, they say I'm a tyrant throwing a tantrum. I hate that!

"The other side of it is that everyone compares me with my father. If I show any weakness at all, if I do not do everything my father has done, I am to be pitied because I cannot possibly live up to his legendary exploits. Any failure is taken as a disaster because I'm the one who is supposed to lead after my father. Yes, he's a hard act to follow, but I know I can do it. I will do it, and do it very well, but I have to be given the chance. Sure, I expect people to look at me and say, 'That's Hanse Davion's son,' but just for once I'd like to hear them say, 'The First Prince is Victor Davion's father.' "

"Which is precisely why you have to go to Port Moseby with your troops." Morgan opened his hands. "If you don't, you seem callous and indifferent to the fate of your troops. The Tenth Lyran Guards, which is a unit that has long been commanded by individuals destined to be the Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth, is very important in the Lyran psyche. The last Steiner to lead them used that unit to destroy a Kurita offensive during the Fourth Succession War. He and his people knew it was a suicide mission and it's said the commander turned himself over to Theodore Kurita in return for the safe repatriation of the Tenth Lyran Guard survivors.

"Katrina Steiner, your grandmother, rebuilt the Tenth Lyran Guards around that core of survivors, and once again they became a force to be feared. Your command of a battalion in the Guards is taken as a positive sign of stability within the Federated Commonwealth, and the victory at Twycross was doubly special because the heir to the Lyran throne helped lead the Tenth in their defeat of the Clans."

Morgan fixed Victor with a chilling stare. "If you abandon your command, the Tenth Lyran Guards will feel they've been dishonored. They'll know you consider them a failure and their morale will never recover. If you stay with them, if you show them your determination, that unit will bounce back stronger than before. If not, the only thing that will be said of the Tenth is that they were never the same after a trueSteiner led them on their last mission."

The logic of Morgan's argument hammered at Victor. As much as he wanted back into the fight against the Clans, he felt a bond with the Tenth Lyran Guards that he could not easily sunder. They did everything for me, gave everything in the fight on Alyina. Ido owe them my support.His hands knotted and unknotted, then he slowly brought them together at his back.

"As much as I hate it, you have shown me the error in my thoughts. I thank you." Victor leaned forward, gripping the back of the chair in front of him. "Dammit, Morgan, you have to remember what it was like knowing you could contribute to the war, yet having to wait for what seems like an eternity to do it."

The Marshal sat back in his chair and nodded. "I do remember, Victor, which is why I know you will survive it. During the Fourth Succession War, I wanted a command so bad I felt like I was on fire. Your father was adamant about not allowing me into combat because, until you came along, I was his heir. While I took great pride in that fact, I wanted to prove to him I could be a capable leader."

The older man smiled with satisfaction. "When he finally called me to him, he said it was a mission he could entrust to no one else. No matter what it was or how many men and 'Mechs I'd have to accomplish it, I would have said yes."