Malthus pulled himself up to his feet and fought against the convulsions shaking him. "Forgive me, Leftenant, but we are not laughing at you. We are laughing at ourselves." Another wave of amusement swept over him. Tears streaming down from his eyes, he choked down a giggle and met Kai's quizzical gaze. "TheKai Allard-Liao."

"I don't understand."

"You do not? Twycross. Our Prince trap?" Malthus shook his head. "Had I known we were chasing you, I would have used a full Star in the hunt."

A full Star of Elementals? After me? That is lunacy!"I thought you Clansmen preferred evenly matched battles."

'True. Two Stars, then."

One of Malthus' men nodded enthusiastically.

"You're crazy."

"Are we?" Malthus straightened up. "On Twycross you destroyed the Falcon Guards. On Alyina you hold open the jaws of a trap that should have gobbled up the heir to the throne of the Federated Commonwealth. After that you manage to survive for four months behind enemy lines. You have eluded us while claiming the reward for our own death and you—a MechWarrior—defeated an Elemental in single combat. You fall from a plateau, get battered by a tree and hit the ground, yet you are able to hike to Dove Costoso and engineer a jail break."

Kai shook his head vehemently. "No, no, you're making it much more than it seems, really."

"Kai, stop it." Deirdre frowned sharply. "What would you say if Victor had done all those things? Would you say it was nothing?"

He looked at her as if she were mad. "Don't be silly. Of course not."

"Then why is it different for you?" She reached up and caressed the left side of his face. "You have, for so long, held yourself to such high standards that you truly do not know how special you are. What you do is miraculous. Colonel Wolf said as much when you defeated five 'Mechs in the testing on Outreach."

"Five 'Mechs?" Malthus groaned.

"Three Stars," one of the other two mumbled.

"But, but, but ...," Kai sputtered until Deirdre pressed her fingers against his lips. Is what they are saying true? Am I really that good, or are they misinterpreting what has been only a tremendous run of luck?He smiled as he recalled one MechWarrior instructor telling him, "It's better to be lucky than good." Have I really been too hard on myself all these years?

He waited for that dark voice to tell him arrogance would be his downfall, but it did not come. Maybe I am good, or maybe I am lucky. Neither of those is an excuse to be cocky or sloppy, but perhaps I'm not as bad as I imagine.Kai smiled as he felt the weight on his shoulders lighten for the first time in active memory.

Deirdre kissed him.

"Keep up that sort of reinforcement, Doctor, and I could come to believe almost anything you tell me." He looked up at Malthus. "It seems like we're on the same side, at least for the short run. If you're serious about getting us off this rock, I'll let you out. But only on the proviso we do not have to finish our fight."

"Why would I fight with an allied warrior?" Malthus shook his head. "Before I can get you off Alyina, I must free my people and avenge the deaths that have occurred. I believe my men have been sent to the ComStar compound at Valigia."

Deirdre stiffened. "The ComStar facility at Valigia is a fortress built by the CEO of a corp who ran this world like his own personal fiefdom. Armored Elementals might do fine on the inside, but cracking open that gate would be something else."

"We have our armor cached in the mountains where we waited for you, but we have no rocket packs. We'd need something big to open that place up. ComStar has disarmed the population over the past four months, and cleaned up all the 'Mech wreckage left on the surface of the planet."

Kai let a low laugh rumble from his throat. "I know where we can find a Gauss rifle. It'll open a hole." He plucked the keys from the lock of Deirdre's cell and tossed them to Malthus. "It's about time someone gave ComStar a message, and if you're willing to work together, I'm sure we can make it a very special delivery."

34

Skupo, Tukayyid

ComStar Intervention District, Free Rasalhague Republic

6 May 3052 (Day 6 of Operation Scorpion)

Strapped into the command couch of his modified Wolfhound,Phelan surveyed the ocean of golden triticale stalks undulating in the wind. It extended for kilometers in all directions, with an occasional tree poking out of it like a weed in a carefully tended garden. Aside from the swaths he and his 'Mechs had cut through as they marched forward, and some small pathways shooting ahead from his position, the field lay unblemished and serene.

It gave Phelan the creeps. Not only did he not see any sign of the enemy, but the sun was slowly rising over the crest of the long, sloping hill at whose base he now stood. The grade looked steep enough to take the edge off any speed they might be able to generate and he felt dead certain the enemy waited for him just beyond the crest.

"Armorer, this is Ax Star."

"Go ahead, Ax Star."

"We are through sectors 3021 and 3022. We have met no resistance. Either the fish are not biting or we're walking into a huge trap. Request air recon of 3023 and 3024 before we proceed."

"Standby, Ax Star."

Phelan frowned. "Roger, Armorer." He flipped his radio over to his Star's command frequency. "We wait here for a second. Let's hype our sensors and see what we can find out about whatever reception ComStar has waiting for us."

* * *

At Wolf Clan Headquarters, Ulric Kerensky paced through the middle of the holotank. On his right, the OmniMechs of the Fourth Wolf Guards set themselves for a counterstrike by a ComStar force. In fierce fighting that had lasted through most of the morning, Clan Wolf had failed to close a loop around Brzo to trap ComStar's Tenth Army. The swift arrival of this new force, ComStar's Ninth Army, meant the conquest of Brzo would take far longer than expected.

He allowed himself a grim smile. You are very good, Anastasius Focht. I had hoped that when we did not land in the first five days, you would divert your best troops to oppose some of my fellow Clans, but you did not. You've tied up the Diamond Sharks in the Kozice Valley and crushed the Forty-fourth Nova Cat Cavaliers at Joje. Now, here, at Brzo, you slow me.

The ilKhan's head came up as an aide entered the holotank. "Yes?"

"Reports are in from the Wolf Spiders, my Khan. Ax Star is their Point Star and they want a flyover into Sectors 3023 and 3024." The aide's hand remained poised over a keypad attachment on his clipboard. Ulric nodded and the man punched a number into the device. The holotank's image shifted to a tactical map of the Skupo area. "The Eleventh Wolf Guards have just met the advanced position of the 278th Division and the rest of the Thirteenth Guards are skirmishing with the 166th Division along this broad front to the south of Skupo."

The tactical map left the whole western flank of the ComStar position open. Ulric knew it had to be defended, but by how much and what level of troops he had no way of knowing for certain. Detaching one Cluster from Alpha Galaxy to perform an end run was a tricky proposition at best. According to the map, either they were free and clear, or—if Focht had defended Skupo the way he defended everything else—they were walking into an ambush.