The Kanrei smiled. "Then I hope you have better luck with it. The laser didn't prevent an assassin from getting Lestrade."

Justin laughed lightly. "I'll practice until I get faster."

The Rangemaster, ruddy-faced and nearly breathless from his run, drew to a halt. "Are you all right?"

The Prince answered for everyone. "No problem. But I never expected to become a target outside the range."

The Rangemaster pulled off his cap, wiped his forehead on his sleeve, then smoothed the cap back down over his blond hair. "No, I don't suppose you would." He shot a glance at Justin. "Must have been a malfunction that triggered a dummy. We only use it in special cases ..."

Hanse exchanged a glance with Theodore and knew instantly that their thoughts ran parallel. The Dragoons came from the Clans. Perhaps this is the lesson they want us to take away from this exercise: Expect only the unexpected. Maybe they want us to realize that it's our only chance to survive.

4

Wolf's Dragoons General Headquarters, Outreach

Sarna March, Federated Commonwealth

5 February 3051

Victor Davion accepted the cup of water from Kai Allard-Liao with a mute nod of thanks. Glancing around the large, rectangular conference room, he saw the others looking almost as bored as he felt. Padded, ladder-backed wooden chairs lined the briefing room walls and surrounded the conference table at its heart. Hohiro Kurita and Shin Yodama, his aide, had seated themselves in chairs at the far corner Of the windowless chamber. With his back to the wall, Sun-Tzu Liao sat opposite Victor and the others in the Davion contingent, leaving Ragnar Magnusson the only person who had opted to sit at the massive oaken table that dominated the cathedral-ceilinged chamber. Despite the bright yellow of the walls and the warm gold of the carpet, the room's atmosphere remained cold and full of suspicion.

Galen Cox, at Victor's left hand, leaned his chair back against the wall. "What do you make of my counterpart in the Kurita camp?"

Victor shrugged. "I don't know." He let a smile creep onto his face. "I mean, he can't be as good as you are, Galen, but he must be of some use. Theodore doesn't tolerate sycophants, so I don't imagine his son does either."

"He's more than useful, Highness." Kai subtly pointed at the man as he raised his cup to his lips. "He's wearing his Dragoon-issue jumpsuit half unzipped, just like us, which means he's probably a MechWarrior. And if you look quickly when he turns this way, you can see that he's got tattoos."

Victor took a second, harder look at Hohiro's dark-haired aide. As the Kurita officer adjusted his chair slightly more toward Hohiro, Victor did see a flash of black and gold from the left side of the man's chest. "That's more than just an 'I-love-Mom' tattoo there, isn't it?"

Cassandra leaned forward. "I think my brother means that Yodama appears to be a member of the yakuza."

"Can't be." Galen held out his left hand, then curled his little finger in toward his palm. "He's got all the joints on his fingers."

Kai smiled warily. "That just means he's good."

Just then, the room's double doors opened to admit Mac-Kenzie Wolf and Christian Kell. Like their young charges, the two men wore black jumpsuits with red trim. Though both were MechWarriors, they did not concede to current fashion by wearing the garment half-unzipped. Chris, clasping his hands at the small of his back, took up a position to the left of the doors while MacKenzie Wolf stood at the head of the table.

"If the rest of you would care to join Prince Magnusson and me, we can begin," Mac said. He nodded at Ragnar, who smiled in spite of himself, then opened his hands to indicate all the vacant chairs around the table.

As Victor shot a covert glance at Hohiro, he found the heir to the Draconis Combine returning his look. At the same moment, Sun-Tzu Liao stood and took the seat that placed him at Wolf's right hand. Realizing that both he and Hohiro had been bested in this initial exchange, Victor stood and offered Cassandra his hand as she rose from her seat. "Apris vous."

Though she stood taller than the Prince, Cassandra accepted his hand, giving Victor a look that said she understood the game and her part in it. She also let him know, with gentle pressure on his hand, that he owed her. "Merci,my Prince."

Victor pulled her chair out from the table and seated her, then moved down to the empty chair between Galen and Kai. This put him opposite Ragnar—who, after Victor, was the shortest person in the room. It also put Victor in a position of power that Hohiro tried to trump by seating himself at the far end of the table. Unfortunately, because he placed himself so far from Wolf and the others, he appeared to be snubbing them.

Wolf looked over his shoulder and exchanged an amused glance with Chris Kell. Turning back, Mac shook his head slightly, then addressed them. "As you know, I am MacKenzie Wolf. The man standing behind me is Christian Kell. Chris is one of the finest Mech Warriors in the Inner Sphere, and I should know." Wolf's smile broadened. "I taught him everything he knows."

Placing his palms flat on the desk, Wolf leaned forward. "Now the two of us will become your instructors. Some of you have already seen battle, but even with that, the total sum of experience of those seated at this table would not equal what the average Clan warrior goes through in his training. Furthermore, he has superior equipment and knows how to use it. We must attempt to narrow the gulf between you and the average Clansman."

His smile drained away. "Whether or not we can close it is another matter entirely."

Wolf's words took Victor back to the battles with the Clans on Trellwan and Twycross. It is true that those Clan warriors fight like the devil himself. Even if their machinery wasn't better than ours, we'd still have a hell of a fight on our hands. We outnumbered the Clans on Twycross, and still took far more damage in beating them than we have suffered in similar battles within the Inner Sphere.

"Preparing you to fight against the Clans will not be easy," Wolf went on. "I suspect you know this, but some lessons have to be learned because they can't simply be taught. Forget everything you already know about war or even life. From this point on, you are not who you were. Now you are ours to shape and mold as we see fit. And be assured, this is not a game like picking power spots at a conference table. This is real, and if you fail, you probably will die. If not here, then out there somewhere."

Wolf straightened up. "Your training will commence immediately. Chris and I have to attend to a couple of details, but we'll be back. Until then, get to know one another, because you'll be working together for a long time."

MacKenzie and Chris withdrew through the doors, which shut silently behind them. With a big smile on his face, the blond, blue-eyed heir to the throne of the Free Rasalhague Republic leaned forward and extended his hand toward Victor. "Hello, I am Ragnar Magnusson. I have seen your picture before ..."

Victor, surprised by the open-faced innocence of Ragnar's gesture, hesitated long enough to leave the boy's hand hanging in mid-air for a moment before he responded. In those milliseconds, he saw something like pain or fear flash through Ragnar's bright eyes, but pride came back as Victor accepted Ragnar's hand. "I am Victor Davion. Angenämt,Ragnar."