Kai glanced at his chronometer, thinking that if he moved quickly, he still had a chance to reach the sick bay before the change of shift. Using an access ladder to descend two levels, he then cut through a maze of narrow corridors and bulkheads. Passing through the hatch, he tugged the sleeves of his shirt down into place and gave the orderly at the reception desk a smile.

"Is Doctor Lear in?"

The orderly glanced at the clock on his desk. "She still has a few minutes on her shift. Name?"

Kai jerked his thumb toward the interior office. "I'll announce myself."

The orderly nodded and Kai passed through the examination room to the small office for the medical watch officer. He knocked on the bulkhead and braced himself for her response.

He almost thought she was glad to see him, then the look on her face changed immediately to the dark mask of anger and hatred she reserved for him, though he'd never learned why.

"Afternoon, Leftenant Allard. Something I can do for you?"

Kai did his best to ignore her icy tone. "I have seen the assignments for the landing on Alyina. Your field hospital will be located in sector 2750."

She nodded, her blue eyes full of suspicion. "We've been assigned to take over a veterinary hospital attached to the agrocomplex at Tassa."

"I know. My company is assigned to cover that area." Kai looked down at his feet. "Tassa is close enough to what could be a front that things might get nasty. I'll do my best to keep you informed so you'll have plenty of time to ready patients for evacuation, if necessary."

"You are most kind, Leftenant." Deirdre closed the chart on her computer desktop and prepared to open another. "If there is nothing else, I have work to do."

"Actually, there is something. I want to say thank you."

"For fixing your legs on Twycross?" She waved away his thanks as trivial. "I was just doing my job, Leftenant, as were you when you kidnapped me and killed those soldiers." Anger rippled through her words, but Kai thought her usual cutting tone had lost some of its edge.

He shook his head. "No, I mean ... of course, I appreciate you for that, but it was what you did on Outreach, in the Council of Lords, that I wanted to thank." He gave her a weak smile. "Romano certainly subjected you to some badgering."

White fury flashed through Deirdre's eyes. "What makes her so hateful? She did everything to force me to say I considered you to be the worst officer imaginable."

"But you didn't."

"No mean feat. The worst officer ever to live was present in the room, and he's a Davion. Compared to him, you are a paragon of virtue." She searched Kai's face with what seemed a mixture of pity and wonderment. "As much as we have our differences, I am not blind to how much more caring you seem than most officers in this army. I've had enough of hatred in my life. I don't intend to give Romano any more fuel for her anger."

"My parents asked me to convey their gratitude, too. They wanted to meet you, but you headed off planet too quickly."

Kai noticed she stiffened slightly at the mention of his parents, then visibly fought down the reaction. If possible, her tone became even more formal and her manner more distant, but not so much as in the past. "I had to do some things before taking assignment aboard the Barbarossa,"she explained. "It was obvious how proud they are of you, and happy that someone else vindicated their belief. I require no thanks from them, however."

As Deirdre Lear turned back to her computer files, Kai understood that the interview was over. "Well, thank you again for the support," he said lamely.

As he turned to leave, her voice made him look back. "Kai ... Leftenant... thank you for offering to keep me informed on Alyina. And for organizing the evacuation of my field hospital on Twycross. We lost some men, but many more would have died if the Clans had broken through."

Kai gave her a nod, then slipped into the corridor. Out there, he leaned his head against a cold bulkhead and closed his eyes. The Clans came closer to a breakthrough on Twycross than I have come with you, Deirdre Lear.

Kai smiled and flexed his fingers. "Since sector 2750 is in my company's area of control," he said aloud, "I should familiarize myself with the background of all personnel being assigned to it. Let us see, Dr. Lear, what clues your files may offer in solving this little mystery. And I won't rest until I know why you hate my family, and what can I do about it."

29

JumpShip Dire Wolf, Assault Orbit

Memmingen, Free Rasalhague Republic

20 November 3051

Phelan Wolf watched Natasha Kerensky shake hands with Star Colonel Marcos within the confines of the bridge holotank. As she turned away, he saw the predatory grin on her face. Head held high and stride springy with pride, Natasha returned to her bidding station.

Phelan relinquished his place at the bid computer keyboard and moved over to a general access terminal. "How do you think the bidding will go?" he asked.

She threw him a wink, which prompted both Phelan and Ranna to smile. "You two pups watch this. Marcos won't know what hit him. Give me first bid because of my age, will he!"

Phelan shook his head. Having seen Cluster commanders bid away men and materials in preparation for a planetary assault a dozen times on at least a dozen previous occasions, he still could not get used to it. He knew the ground rules. A commander went in to attack with whatever he had bid, but could bring down reinforcements equal to his rival's last bid, without penalty. Ultimately, he could bring down as much as the opening bid in the contest for that planet, but his rival would have to allow him that option, which would mean concessions to the losing bidder. Though Phelan acknowledged that the bid process forced commanders to do the best they could with their troops, the idea of an artificial limit on forces used to take a planet still shocked him.

He looked across the bridge at the large wall display that would show the bids and counter-bids. If Natasha chose, she could open with a bid to include all her forces. The computer would paint an icon for the Dire Wolf,three for aerospace fighters, three for Elementals, and nine for Mech-Warriors. Phelan knew Natasha was too shrewd to make such an opening bid, but he couldn't guess how much she would give away initially.

"Phelan, what is your assessment of the Third Drak0ns?"

The young MechWarrior frowned. "They are a sharp unit, but the Precentor Martial's information places them on Skondia. All they have defending Memmingen are militia and a unit cobbled together from the Black Omen and the Outlaws mercenary units. They're tough, but there aren't many of them."

Natasha's eyes became like crescent moons. "But if they were there, they would tie up a Triple or two, Quiaff?"'

"Aff."

"Good." Tapping out a series of keys, Natasha put her bid up on the screen. Phelan was relieved to see no icon representing the Dire Wolfbecause that meant the ship's awesome firepower would not be used to raze the planet. Only one five-pointed blue star with white trim appeared to represent Natasha's aerospace element. Likewise, Natasha allowed herself only one four-pointed green daggerstar with silver trim to represent Elementals. She even sliced out three of her nine MechWarrior stars.