"No, sir." The commtech pressed a hand to the earpiece in his left ear. "Highness, the ship is requesting a clear, secure channel to communicate with you."

Victor glanced at the wall screen and the General nodded. "Put the message through here." Victor fought to keep his curiosity and surprise from his voice. He locked his attention on the screen as the picture shifted. Instead of the system display, Victor saw a young Oriental man whose face he easily recognized. "Komban-wa,Yodama Shin-san."

"And greetings to you, Prince Victor Davion." Shin's face remained impassive, but Victor thought he heard some joy in the man's voice. "I have come on a mission of great import to the Combine. I hope you and your commanding officer will see this in whatever inadequate explanation I offer. First, however, I have been asked to play a holodisk for you. May I?"

Victor nodded, his stomach knotting up. "This line is secure."

"Good. Beginning transmission now."

The image on the screen blew apart like a house of straw hit by a tornado. It reformed itself into the picture of beauty and serenity Victor had come to expect in communications from Omi Kurita. Yet neither the robe of white silk embroidered with pink cherry blossoms nor the smile on her face could deceive him with their sweet calm. Victor knew something was very wrong.

"Victor, this message fills me with hope and despair. I know the great burden on you as you rebuild your command, so I had resolved to only present pleasant moments of diversion in my messages. In return, from you, I have received messages I cherish because of your openness in expressing your feelings concerning us, the war, and the loss of your friend. You said in your last that you felt your communications were unworthy of me, but, in truth, the reverse has been true.

"I fear this message will continue this trend, because I must prevail upon you, ask you for help in something that is not your concern. You have your duties and responsibilities to the Federated Commonwealth, and I have mine to the Draconis Combine. These responsibilities are what make our relationship so difficult, yet I know neither of us would truly abandon them. We, you and I and our siblings, are symbols that make our people take heart and believe victory against our enemies is possible. We may have inherited these roles by the accident of birth, but we both hold them sacred, even to the point of honoring them to our own personal discomfiture."

Victor clenched his jaw against the emotions her words stirred in him. Though they had resolved to be just friends when they had parted on Outreach, and knowing they probably would never see each other again, their messages back and forth had deepened their feelings immeasurably. Victor knew, deep down, that he loved the woman on the screen before him, and it frightened him that he might consider never marrying if she could not be his bride.

The camera recording the holovid slowly zoomed in on her angelic face. "On 18 January the Nova Cats overran Teniente. My brother Hohiro and Shin Yodama were both present as observers during that assault. Things went badly for our forces and the command post was hit hard. As a result, my brother assumed command of the forces on the planet, and Shin, who had been wounded, was sent to Luthien to obtain a rescue force. Hohiro assumed he could hold out for two or three months, and has the supplies to do just that. Without a rescue force, he will never be able to safely pull his men out.

"Shin reached Luthien a month after the disaster, but my father pointed out that we had no troops to send to rescue Hohiro. As much as it pained him, my father had to abandon his son to preserve the realm Hohiro will someday guide."

Omi looked away from the camera for a moment and brushed a tear away. "I asked my father to allow me to send troops to rescue Hohiro, if I could find them. He gave me permission to do so. Thus, do I turn to you.

"Victor, I am asking whether you can send your unit to save my brother. Shin Yodama and the other men with him have all our intelligence on the world with them, and reports will arrive as soon as we have more information to send you. Word has been sent to Hohiro for his people to go to ground because we know it will take time to prepare and mount the operation. His salvation is in your hands."

Omi held up one hand. "Before you agree, and I pray you will, you must know one other thing. To win permission to make this request of you, I had to bargain with my father. In return for permission to give my brother this one chance at life, I agreed never to communicate with you again. As much as that hurts me personally, I know Hohiro's death would hurt the Combine more. Like you, I am trapped by who I am. Forgive me."

Victor sat back in his chair, stunned by Omi's words. Part of him instantly evaluated and gloated over the disruption Hohiro's loss would cause the Combine. House Kurita was not likely to let Omi accede to the throne for she was being so carefully groomed to become Keeper of the House Honor. That meant leadership would pass to Minora, the youngest of Theodore's children. What little Victor knew of Minora indicated the young man was more a mystic than a warrior, and that did not bode well for the Combine's militaristic future.

The Prince immediately killed any pleasure he got from imagining the Combine's collapse. He acknowledged the Combine had long been a thorn in the Fox's side, but now it formed a buffer between the Clans and half of the Federated Commonwealth. Furthermore, the training and agreements on Outreach had all been directed at creating a united front to oppose the Clans. Though there had been no combined operations with the Kurita forces, the redeployment of forces along their mutual borders bespoke a trust between the two nations unprecedented in the history of the Inner Sphere.

He could not deny Omi's anguished plea for help, but he felt punished by the deal her father had forced upon her. He started to tell himself his father would never have done that, but then he stopped to consider what he truly knew about his father. Hanse Davion would have struck the same bargain in an instant, and I would have been lucky to get off as lightly as she did.

As she said, we are trapped by who we are.

Galena knocked once and entered the room. "General, Kommandant, Sanderlin said you wanted me?"

Victor nodded once and saw Shin had reappeared on the screen. "Unless the General objects to it, I believe we need guest billets for some Kurita officers."

Galen raised a blond eyebrow. "Kurita officers?"

The General nodded solemnly. "You better step up training and refitting. You have an assault to plan."

16

Alyina

Trellshire, Jade Falcon Occupation Zone

1 March 3052

Kai remained crouched on one knee, watchful, as Deirdre drank from the stream. He studied the surrounding grassland, his gaze deliberately not lingering on her slender form or lovely face. No matter how much he was growing to like her, they were running for their lives and the least distraction could turn fatal. Once or twice during the insanity that defined their fugitive existence, Kai almost thought tempting fate would be worth it, but he always managed to keep a hold on his heart and his hormones.

Luckily he had an ally in Dr. Lear herself. In the three weeks since their escape from ComStar, her manner toward him had eased, but she could still be distant and restrained. Whenever he tried to steer the conversation around to probing her hatred of his father, she immediately sidestepped the maneuver and pulled back into her shell.