General Winston frowned. "Given their improved technology in a number of areas, how can we know these decoys would fool their 'Mechs?"

"Good question, General." Victor smiled easily. "A report from Barcelona described the Jade Falcons ripping the local militia training course to pieces. Someone had left it up and running as they evacuated the base—more by mistake than because of any plan."

Chris Kell smiled wolfishly. "How'd they do?"

Victor sobered immediately. "Good enough that I'd prefer they shoot at decoys than at me."

Morgan leaned back in his chair. "Interesting. By equipping our own 'Mechs with override programs, the decoys wouldn't distract us.Also, by having some decoys functioning only on IR or magscan levels, we could create even more confusion." He grasped the arms of his chair and leaned back with a satisfied expression. "Thank you for your analysis, Leftenant. It gives us good material to work with. It would definitely require some preparation, though, which brings us to the biggest problem identified by the Senior Officers' Group. We have to know where the invaders will strike before we can go into action against them."

Kai, halfway into his seat, straightened up again. "Forgive me, sir, but that is not wholly true."

Morgan hesitated, then nodded quickly. "I see your point. All of these things could be deployed by air before we actually meet their forces. I stand corrected. Still, finding the enemy and learning where they will strike is a major problem."

Kai opened his mouth, then looked back at Victor. "Go ahead, Kai," Victor encouraged him. "It's your idea and one I support fully."

Kai swallowed hard. Why you believe in me I'll never know, but it means more than you can imagine."Forgive me again, Marshal, for speaking out of turn."

"No, go ahead, Leftenant. This is why we have these meetings. Perhaps our ossified brains missed something."

"Well, sir, we identified the same problem—that is, of having no way to anticipate when and where the invaders will strike. The action in the rimward area of the Commonwealth has provided us no pattern for attacks. The first wave hit twelve planets, then the next reduced itself to four. It's hard to say what the logic of that is, so we decided notto try to anticipate."

That admission brought startled looks from all the senior officers and mercenaries, but Kai plunged on. "We all know that the concept of a 'front' in interstellar war is really a myth. Supply lines do trace themselves through various systems, but because of the vast number of stars never deemed worthy of colonization, there are countless other recharging stations for Kearny-Fuchida drives all over."

Kai looked to his uncle. "Colonel Allard will recall, I believe, that the Kell Hounds used an uncolonized star as a recharge point twenty-three years ago in the rescue of the Silver Eagle.Marshal, you and General Redburn will also recall using uncolonized stars during the First Kathil Uhlans' invasion of the Capellan homeworld. Because of the threat of a drive failure, most transit routes are planned through inhabited systems so help can be obtained in emergencies, but we all know that's not the only way to get around."

"This has already been stated, Leftenant," General Winston broke in impatiently. "It's because of such systems that we have no way of knowing where the invaders will strike."

Kai nodded enthusiastically. "Agreed. The invaders hit us on inhabited worlds because they know that's where they'll find us. Conversely, the only places we know to find the invaders are on the worlds they've already taken. Because there is no front, we can ignore the worlds they've targeted in their current push, and hit the worlds they took most recently. We have to hit them where they are, and if we start to cut them off from wherever their supply bases are, their offensive will have to turn back on itself because they'll be losing ground every time they take a new world."

"It stands to reason that they'd use their best troops as their vanguard," Victor chimed in. "Their elite troops are conquering worlds, not garrisoning worlds already taken. We have to assume that their garrison troops are not as good as the conquerors. If we pit our elite units against their chaff, and avoid getting our good units ripped up by their elites, we can slow down their juggernaut."

Dan Allard winced. "What if their garrison troops are as good as their elite troops?"

"Then all the planning we do is for nothing." Kai shrugged helplessly. "They'll just rip us up, no matter what."

Morgan steepled his fingers and watched the two junior officers at the end of the table. "Your analysis and strategy are interesting, and at the very least, unusual. Not bad for just over a month of study and work. By the end of our time here, I expect a working proposal concerning this strategy, including likely units to be used and a suitable target."

Before he could issue any more instructions, a knock at the door interrupted him. A staff aide entered the room and handed the flame-haired Marshal a small yellow slip of paper. Morgan read it, then dismissed the aide with a brusque nod. He waited for the door to close before speaking. "Our time to plan has been cut down, my friends."

Kai felt a cold set of talons rake up through his middle. What has happened? What have the invaders done now?

Morgan pressed the paper flat against the tabletop. "I need your final reports in fourteen days. No less. The invaders have just hit Rasalhague."

28

1st Rasalhague Drakøns Briefing Room,

Reykjavik North Rasalhague, Rasalhague Province, Free Rasalhague Republic

12 July 3050

Tyra Miraborg shook her head. I couldn't have heard him right.Raising her hand, she stood as Overste Siggurson acknowledged her. "I'm not sure I understand what you just said, Overste."

The hawk-nosed leader of the Drakøns moved from the glare of the overhead projector at the center of the amphitheatre. "What don't you understand, Kapten? I thought I explained it all quite clearly." The irritation in his voice ridiculed his question.

Tyra lifted her head proudly, and glared down at him. "I fully understand the desperate situation of our forces, Overste. I understand how devastating is this attack on the Republic's capital. What I do not understand is why you're ordering the aerowing to stay out of the battle." She looked at the other aeropilots in the room. "You've already given your Mech Warriors their assignments and sent them out. But then you call us in to say that we're to stay out of the fight! That, sir, makes no sense!"

Siggurson laughed coldly. "Spoken just like the daughter of the Iron Jarl. Don't worry, Kapten. You'll get plenty of opportunities to win yourself medals in the future."

Fury shook Tyra. "Sir, that is notmy concern at all." She spread her arms to take in all of the pilots in the room. "We're warriors, dammit, and it's our right and our duty to be attacking this enemy. We deserve the right to make sure that our comrades, earth-bound though they might be, do not fight alone."

Siggurson let the other pilots murmur their agreement with Tyra's sentiments, then cut off all discussion by slapping his wooden pointer against a front-row chair. The pointer splintered with a sharp crack that produced immediate silence. "Let me answer your unspoken question, Kapten: Did I send out my troops with the mistaken impression that they would get air support? The answer is that those troops know you will not be there to cover them. In short, the other half of the Drakøns know I'm sending them out to die. It wasn't any easier telling them that than it is to tell you that I need you alive."