In a melodramatic pose, Candace pressed the back of her right hand to her forehead and sighed, "Oh my, seduced by the Champion of Solaris ..."

Justin shook his head. "I've not been Solaris' Champion for a long time."

"What is it they say—once a champion, always a champion?"

"And for that, you will always have my heart." He pulled her to her feet and kissed her then held her tightly. "Trust me, my love. Kai will be back with us soon."

Releasing her, he glanced at his chronometer. "Damn, we're already running late." Justin turned to where he had tossed his black jacket on the bed. "I hate charity functions. Were it not for your company, I'd much prefer spending the evening in the war room reviewing reports."

Until the laser bolt hit Candace Liao on the left side of her chest and spun her to the floor, Justin had believed them alone in their suite. Mercifully, his wife fell on the other side of the bed, leaving only the sight of the hem of her evening gown and the black leather heels she'd chosen for the reception. The puff of white smoke curling up like a vaporous mushroom and the acrid scent of burned wool scoured away the scent of her perfume that he so loved.

Laser pistol in hand, the assassin stepped from the closet where he'd been hiding. He looked at Candace, then up at Justin and smiled. "Romano wanted her to die first, to be sure you knew you'd failed to save her."

As the black-clad murderer swung the pistol in line with Justin, the Intelligence Secretary dodged to the right. His black metal left hand snapped back as far as it would go. Something tugged at the underside of the wrist, popping the cufflink free of the white shirt. With a fluidity born of years of practice, Justin thrust his left arm toward the assassin and willed its machinery to work.

The wrist-laser's green beam struck the assassin full in the chest. It cored a hole through him and flashed-burned a dark circle on the mirrored panel behind. The light reflected up to strike the crystal chandelier, but the forest of rainbows it unraveled were harmless. Yet fast as Justin's strike was, the assassin managed to tighten his finger on the trigger of his laser pistol before he fell.

Searing agony grabbed Justin by the throat as the ruby beam burned into his neck. He staggered forward a few steps, then dropped to his knees beside his wife. His right hand clutched at his neck and found it slippery with warm fluid. He glanced down and watched blood drench his white sleeve. Despite the pain radiating out from the wound, Justin forced his right hand harder against it, fighting to stop the precious fluid from leaking out between his slicked fingers.

With the clarity of mind that only imminent death could bring, Justin knew he had to sound an alarm. Yet the visiphone on the bedside table might as well have been two light years away from where he knelt. The consulate's soundproof walls made screaming futile.

A wave of nausea passed over him, then spots began to form before his eyes. Knowing he had no time to spare, Justin raised his left arm and pointed it upward. He triggered the wrist laser and slashed a black scar across the ceiling. He kept it moving for the three seconds until the beam died, then he slumped over, exhausted.

Until he felt the cool water spraying down onto his face from the fire sprinklers, Justin did not know whether his desperate attempt to summon help had succeeded. He never heard the alarm that had to be blaring, for it was not his own welfare that concerned him. He reached out to Candace to give her hand a reassuring squeeze, then the room, and the whole world with it, vanished from his sight.

42

Tairakana Plains, Luthien

Pesht Military District, Draconis Combine

5 January 3052

Shin's stomach lurched as the pilot jerked the helicopter up and over in a hard turn. Before Shin could demand the reason for that sudden, sharp maneuver, a pair of SRMs exploded on the ground.

The pilot yanked up on the pitch control and cranked the throttle wide open. "Clans fighter. He figures us as a spotter."

"Can you evade him?"

"If not, we'll die trying."

"What can I do?"

The pilot jerked his thumb back toward the crew compartment. "Man the twelve-five. I'll give you a shot if I can."

Shin tossed the headset back to the co-pilot and pulled on a gunnery harness. Snapping it into the restraining straps near the aircraft's left door, he slid the gun and mount from their stowed position. Locking it into place and laying the first part of the ammo chain through its chamber, he readied the gatling cannon for use. Ashai pulled the compartment door open, giving Shin a 170-degree arc of fire.

Shin pulled the gunner's helmet onto his head and adjusted the microphone. He flipped the eyeshades down and switched the gun's targeting laser to the On position. Immediately, a crosshair appeared on the eyeshade over his right eye. He knew that when he had the gun on target, a dot would pulse in the center of the cross, just as in a 'Mech. Unlike piloting his Phoenix Hawk,however, he had to aim the gun manually.

"I'm in and ready, Anjin-san."

"Hai, Sho-sa.Brace yourself."

The pilot stood the copter on its tail, then let it sidle over in a maneuver that pitched Shin forward. Despite the warning, if not for his firm hold on the twin grips of the 12.5 millimeter machine gun and the restraining straps of his harness, he would have followed Ashai's cap on the long drop to the battlefield below. As it was, he barely got his feet under him in time for the pilot to level off and give Shin a quick shot at an approaching Clan aerofighter.

Shin's thumb stabbed the firing button. The cannon's whine drowned out the flutter of the helicopter's prop. Bits and pieces of ammo chain rattled around the crew compartment as the six barrels spun their way through 100 rounds in two seconds. Shin fought the weapon's recoil, but having lost the target dot a half-second after acquiring it, he was fairly certain he'd not managed to keep the weapon on target.

Then the aerospace fighter exploded.

Black on red and red on black, Kell Hound and Wolf's Dragoon aerospace fighters swept through the air like fire-hearted thunder-heads. A flight of LRMs from one of the approaching fighters blasted the Clan fighter from the sky. Trailing thick smoke, its wreckage spiraled toward the ground and the helicopter pilot brought the copter back on its express vector for Imperial City.

From his vantage point, Shin had a stunning view of the battlefield. The Smoke Jaguars still held off their opponents, but more by happenstance, Shin thought, than by strategy. Because the Combine forces on both sides of the line outnumbered their foes, the Kurita warriors had fewer targets and fewer opportunities to shoot. Anxious warriors in the back ranks crowded their comrades, driving them in closer than they wanted to get to the Clan lines. Already it looked as though the Kurita leadership was issuing orders to combat the problem, but the damage already done had won the Clans time to deploy the Nova Cats.

The Nova Cats had run head-on into the Dragoons and Kell Hounds. Airborne, Shin saw how the mercenaries had arranged their lines to stop the advancing Clans. One regiment of Dragoons held the roadway toward the capital, with the two Kell Hound regiments deployed in the hills on either side. Behind that trio of regiments, three Dragoon regiments repeated the formation. The Dragoons had held their last regiment in reserve, but it, too, now started to move forward to bolster the Kell Hounds' First Battalion.