"You need not reward me for performing my duty, Primus."

"But I shall, my friend."

Those words, coming from her, sounded more like a threat than a promise. "I am honored," Focht said.

"You shall be more than that," Myndo told him. "You shall be exalted. If you defeat the Clans, I shall return to you your birthright." The Primus of ComStar held her head up high. "I will restore you to your former glory and I will make you, Frederick Steiner, Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth."

32

Teniente

Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone

4 May 3052 (Day 4 of Operation Scorpion)

Victor Davion looked directly into the viewscreen. He purposely set his face in the grimly satisfied smile he would have expected from Morgan Hasek-Davion addressing the troops. Clad in a cooling vest, he let Kai's pendant rest against the vest's outer kevlar surface. Punching a button with a gloved finger, he opened a line to each communications monitor in the three-ship armada racing toward the planet.

"In two days you will begin final preparations for our invasion of Teniente. We are only forty-four hours out from atmospheric entry and everything is proceeding according to plan." With those words, his grin expanded, but he trimmed it back before continuing. "This mission is a go and nothing is going to change that."

His gray eyes flicked down, then back up. "The last time a force from the Federated Commonwealth tried something like this, we were the Federated Suns and many of us could only have played at being MechWarriors. At that time, my cousin, Morgan Hasek-Davion, told his men that history would wonder at how they had accomplished so much with so little. He showed complete confidence in their ability.

"Well, I know how they managed to succeed in the face of incredible odds. I learned the solution over the last year working with all of you. We survived Alyina because of your guts and your determination to make the Clans pay for any centimeter of ground they got. We worked hard and came together as a unit because of your resiliency. We have mastered new tactics and strategies and machines because of your heart and your desire to carry the battle back to the Clans."

Victor's eyes glinted hard and cold. "This is our chance to prove to the Clans and everyone else that the Inner Sphere will not roll over and die. Our best case, our greatest victory is one in which no one fires a shot. We get in, we get our target and we get out, simple as that. If we have to fight, well, I have no doubt you'll give far better than you get. But we're not here to retake Teniente. We're on a rescue mission. We can collect scalps another time.

"This is the Revenants' first battle. It will not be our last. Take the time while we are inbound to get to your machines and strap in. Double- and triple-check everything. When we go in, we go in hot. Kid gloves are off. When we go, we go to start a legend that will haunt the Clans forever."

Victor flicked a button, closing the commlink, and looked up at Shin. "Well?"

The yakuza nodded solemnly. "Your assurances of confidence will make them do everything they can to justify that confidence. I do not envy any forces we face on the ground."

Galen gave Victor a thumb's-up. "After this, if you suggested staging a raid on Sian, they'd go for it."

Behind Galen a red light flickered atop a communications monitor. Victor and Shin both pulled out of line-of-sight of the screen. Galen slipped the cowl up on his robe, then touched a button to open communications. "This is ComStar DropShip Serene Foresight."

Serene Foresight,this is ComStar Ground Control, Kunkai sector."

"Go ahead, Kunkai."

The ground operator's voice lost its edge. "Foresight,we have no orders concerning you, Ecstasy of Reason,or Valiant Wisdom.Things are a bit screwed up here. Can you give me confirmation of your mission?"

Galen leaned back in his seat, but did not let the edge of the cowl reveal his eyes. "Kunkai sector, I have no authorization to say more than that we are on a mission with Beta Predeir clearance. The orders were filed as Lima Zebra 0945."

"Understood, Foresight.Stand by."

Galen flicked the monitor into standby mode. "Shin, I hope I got that right."

The Combine MechWarrior nodded. "Perfect, Galen. That clearance is supposed to get us in and out with a minimum of trouble."

Victor found himself crossing his fingers. He uncrossed them and clutched them behind his back. As the three men waited in the dim, narrow confines of the newly christened Foresight'scommunication center, Victor wished for a place to plug in his cooling vest. He noticed a bead of sweat roll down Shin's face and smiled.

Galen's monitor beeped again. "Go ahead, Kunkai."

"Roger, Foresight.Because of Operation Scorpion, the demi-Precentor is exercising an Alpha priority override of your mission. Your orders say you've got troops on board and we want them delivered at 45.33 north, 2.10 west. We could really use the help. We have you ETA forty-eight hours, correct?"

In the background Victor heard some muffled explosions. He looked over at Galen and shrugged his shoulders. I wonder ... ?

Galen let his voice drop an octave into a growl. "Have problems with Kurita insurgents, Kunkai?"

"Kurita? I wish." The man's voice became strained as an explosion sounded louder. "Some damned Clan commander had his people out on surprise maneuvers earlier this week. When we went to round them up, they were gone." Another explosion resonated through the cabin. "Now they're mad."

"Roger, Kunkai. We're on our way. Peace of Blake be with you. Foresightout."

Victor's mind reeled. ComStar isfighting the Clans? Just our luck to be using "ComStar" ships to pull off this rescue.

Galen draped his arms over the top of the console. "What's the call, Victor? If we don't go to those coordinates, ground control will know we're not ComStar."

"And if we do," Shin added, "the Clan commander will be waiting for us."

"True. We have to assume the Clans have enough Elint capabilities to have monitored that exchange." Victor chewed on his lower lip for a second. "Now that we've been identified as a target, the Clans will respond to us no matter where we go."

Shin's face closed over. "Do we scrub this mission?"

"Go home empty-handed?" Victor shook his head. "No way. I know the plan was to wait until the last moment to try to pinpoint Hohiro's position, but now we've got to go early. Find out where he is and find out what kind of fighting strength he can deliver by the time we get there."

"Hai."

Galen winced. "You gonna help ComStar?"

Victor's face showed diabolical glee. "If we were caught with our tails in a vise, what would ComStar do?"

"Charge double to send messages out?"

"You got it." Victor pointed at the monitor. "You tell Kunkai we're coming down right on top of them, so they should hold at all costs. Make sure the broadcast beam is wide enough that the Clans can pick it up, too. That will make them push harder and the both of them will grind each other down."

Galen straightened up again. "Roger. Then what will we do?"

"Hey, we're strictly here on a smash and grab," Victor said with a shrug. "We're not looking for a fight, but if someone gets in our way, well, we'll give the Clans more than they bargained for."