"Yes, sir. I left my Victorbeside it."

"Good. Get on it." The Leftenant-General looked up past Victor. "You too, Cox. Both of you. Get the hell out of here."

"No!" Victor's shout cut through the din filling the room. "I will not go! My battalion is out there getting cut to ribbons. I won't abandon them."

The General straightened up, fire returning to his eyes. "You will do as I order, Kommandant! You and Hauptmann Cox will get aboard the Hejiranow and let it take you to the JumpShip Strongbow.You're leaving."

Victor clenched his fists, but refrained from slamming them into the tactical display table. "No. You can't send me away. If you do, we'll lose this fight."

"We'll lose it anyway." Hawksworth thrust a trembling finger at the tactical display. "We're falling back on all fronts. The circle is tightening around us like a noose. These Jade Falcons hit at incredible ranges and pick our defenses apart. I've got more casualties in the first three hours of fighting than I've had in the four years I've been on Trellwan. And they're only fighting us with three dozen 'Mechs and some crazy infantry unit in body armor."

Victor felt his heart begin to pound as Hawksworth spouted his litany of disaster. "Think, Leftenant-General! Do you want to be remembered by history as the man who lost Trell I, or do you want praise for defeating these invincibleraiders?"

Muscles bunched at Hawksworth's jaw. "I'll be known as the man who lost Trell I. There's nothing I can do about that now." He met Victor's cold gray stare without flinching. "But I will notbe known as the man who got Hanse Davion's heir killed."

"NO!" Victor stabbed a finger into the older man's chest. "Don't do that to me, General. Don't use my father against me. Don't be a fool." Victor looked down at the holographic map. "Galen and I met and blasted one of the raiders here in Thunder Rift. The terrain and obstructions bring everything down to a close range, and our people can fight that way. Pull units back into that cavern complex and into the Black Mountain foothills. We have to adopt guerrilla tactics to defeat these people, and we can do it. Dammit, man! Fight them! And let me fight them, too!"

"I'm sorry, Victor. If we had known, if we had more time, your plan might work. Hell, it might yet work, but I can't bet your life on it." The older man looked up. "You'll get your chance. And when you do, I pray you have more courage than I do. Good-bye, Highness." To Cox, Hawksworth added, "Get him out of here."

Before he could say anything, Victor felt himself spun about. Galen Cox's fist flying toward his chin formed the last vision of Trell I that Victor Steiner-Davion ever saw.

18

ComStar First Circuit Compound

Hilton Head Island, North America, Terra

15 April 3050

Myndo Waterly directed the attention of the Precentors to the center of the chamber. "We received this transmission from our facility on Balsta yesterday. I have reviewed it once and now present it for your edification. The message is relatively short, and in the Precentor Martial's style, somewhat succinct."

She clapped her hands once, sharply, and the lights in the bowl-shaped chamber dimmed. Directly above the gold-star insignia of ComStar worked into the floor, the image of the Precentor Martial flickered to holographic life. The image only showed him from the shoulders up and had been so enlarged that his eyepatch was the size of an aircar's steering wheel.

"The Peace of Blake be with you, Primus. I bring you greetings from Ulric, the Khan of the Wolf Clan. He has graciously consented to the transmission of this message, provided I release no useful military data. He does not suspect us of duplicity, but prefers not to give the appearance of breaching his own security."

Focht adjusted the patch over his right eye. "In the three months I have been here, I've been given freedom to monitor virtually all operations that are military in nature, while being kept out of harm's way on Ulric's flagship. The Wolf Clan fields a superior military force in both tactics and equipment, which has made short work of opposition. They have been inordinately fair in accepting surrenders, and the only plunder they take from conquered worlds is in the form of slaves—though they call them bondsmen. Besides becoming an involuntary workforce, these captives also play the role of hostages against the good behavior of the people of their former homeworlds."

The Precentor Martial dipped his head in a bow, then lifted his head and gazed out of the hologram at the Primus. "My attempts to discern their intent have been met with polite evasion, though some interest has been expressed in our assistance. I have heard strange references to a massive migration following the invading forces, but Ulric denies it. Still, there is a curious lack of common folk aboard the ships I have visited. This is definitely an army on the move. And on the move quickly.

"Though they attempt to hide it, there is an apparent rivalry between the different groups in the invasion force. Representatives of other clans are present on Wolf ships, and the Khan of Khans, the ilKhan, resides on Ulric's flagship even though the ilKhan is of the Smoke Jaguar clan. Despite the distance between his clan and the Wolf clan, Leo ilKhan is in daily contact with his people and apparently directs their efforts in the Draconis Combine."

Focht rubbed at his good eye, then allowed himself to smile. "The Clanspeople are an interesting lot. Many are good-natured, though all are cold and competent when in battle. Trading verbal barbs and other forms of surrogate combat are popular here, and bondsmen see their share of abuse, but the damage done is rarely serious. And even what we consider a serious injury is of little consequence to these people. I have heard of a broken spine being repaired, and one Medtech even commented that he could have restored my eye if he had been present at the time I lost it."

The Precentor Martial glanced out of the frame, then nodded. "I will be permitted to contact you from our next site. The Wolves have agreed to leave our stations operating in exchange for a promise that we kill all military intelligence being sent out by partisans. I have given such orders to the facility manager here, and he has further passed the order to the other worlds the Wolves have taken. Ulric understands, of course, that you have the final authority on that. If you choose to overrule my action, Ulric will order that the ComStar facilities be isolated, but he will respect our peaceful sovereignty."

The image vanished, plunging the room into darkness for a second or two before the lights came up. Myndo surveyed the faces of the First Circuit members and was pleased at the shocked expressions. They knew I had sent the Precentor Martial as my personal ambassador to the invaders, but they did not expect me to authorize him to offer them intelligence to further their conquests.She smiled benignly. "Comments?"

Ulthan Everson, the burly Precentor from Tharkad, lifted his hand slightly. "By touching his face during that transmission, Focht let us know he was being monitored. In light of that, I am surprised that Ulric allowed him to speak so frankly about the taking of slaves and the political divisions between the clans."

Diminutive and fragile behind her crystalline podium, the Precentor from the Capellan capital of Sian shook her head in disagreement. "Could it not be, Precentor Tharkad, that Ulric wished us to know that he is a power to be reckoned with even if he is not the ilKhan? That Ulric has this Leo in his power suggests a compromise somewhere in the past. Why else would the Khan of Khans consent to command his clan from a flagship far away from the battle?"