Seeing that the discussion would continue to run in circles, Phelan reached out again and gathered her hands into his. "I don't want to fight with you, Ranna." He shrugged sheepishly. "Maybe I'm just homesick, after nearly a year on DropShips and JumpShips. Having solid mass under my feet and feeling real gravity again ... Even the gulls, with their red and black coloring, make me think of my unit." He turned to stare out over the water. "I feel so alone."

Grasping Phelan by the wrists, Ranna pulled him to his feet. "As long as I am here, Phelan Kell, you will never be alone. As a Star Commander, I've been given a suite at the Hotel Copenhagen. Come share it with me. Let me show you that you truly do have a home in the Wolf Clan."

BOOK IV

Head of the Beast

30

Marshdale, Kagoshima Prefecture

Pesht Military Division, Draconis Combine

21 July 3050

Shin Yodama tugged on the ends of the sash at his waist, pulling the quilted robe tighter. The sound of angry waves crashing against the cliff-face below, and winds howling around his tower deepened the sensation of cold gnawing into his bones. To think I talked myself into enduring eight weeks of JumpShip transit because I thought a tropical paradise waited at the other end of the trip.' Marshdale is certainly not that. If I'd known, I might have suggested we just continue on to Luthien, no matter what our orders said.

Eighth of ten planets in the system, Marshdale never passed close enough to either of the binary system's stars to warm up. However, the gravitational forces working on it squeezed and stretched the planet regularly. That created enough friction between tectonic plates to warm the oceans sufficiently to sustain life and create the ground-hugging clouds of fog that shrouded the planet. The earthquakes produced as a byproduct of this gravitational torture required that all buildings be massive, but tremors were so common that long-time residents ignored all but the truly violent ones.

Shin steadied himself against a heavy, oaken table as the ground shifted beneath his feet. Hell, even a DropShip bucking turbulence is more stable than this planet.Still clinging to the table as the tremor passed, he realized suddenly how tired he was. I guess getting Hohiro here and then the debriefings kept me too busy to see how close to the edge I've been. I've been pushing myself and my luck quite a bit. I also know I don't like having been kept in virtual isolation here. And I want to know what has been going on with the invasion and what has happened to Turtle Bay since we escaped.

A knock sounded at the heavy wooden door. "Enter," Shin snapped irritably. At the sight of the man who stepped through the doorway, Shin's jaw dropped open. He bowed so deeply that he almost bashed his face on the table and held it. "Excuse me, Gunji no Kanrei! I did not mean to be rude." He slowly straightened up.

Theodore Kurita returned the bow, then shut the door, which remained guarded by two of his uniformed men. "I heard no rudeness, Shin Yodama. The door stripped all emotion from the word it let pass through."

Shin's nervousness began to drain away, and he tried to smile. Had I used that tone with Takashi Kurita, I would have regretted it, but not so with Theodore."You are most kind, Highness." Shin glanced down at the floor, not wishing to compound his earlier error with ill-mannered staring. "What may this humble servant do for you?"

The heir to the Dragon smiled, looking suddenly youthful. Only the scar over his left eyebrow and the wrinkles beginning at the corners of his eyes hinted at his fifty-three years. Aside from those minute clues, the tall, slender man could have passed for a MechWarrior half his age.

The Kanrei pointed to a chair and waved Shin to it. "You have already served me more faithfully than many of the warriors in my service." He raised his left hand to the scar on his brow. "You have been with me for as long as this scar. Marfik, Najha, and now Turtle Bay. You have done enough in any one of those places to satisfy most men for a lifetime. And now you have saved my son."

The yakuza shook his head. "Forgive me, Kanrei, but I have only done my duty. I saved my commanding officer, which is what any other would have done in the same circumstances and with the same resources. Praise and thanks should go to the oyabunof the Ryugawa-gumiin Edo. Without him, both Hohiro-sama and I would be dead."

A shadow seemed to pass over Theodore's face. "I would do this thing, were it possible. Unfortunately, the city of Edo was razed by a planetary bombardment. The Smoke Jaguars decided that if they could not control the populace, they would wipe it out. Everything is gone."

In his mind's-eye, Shin saw the Old Man's castle evaporate in a wave of flame, and his stomach roiled in response. "How could they do that? How could they kill a city?"

The Kanrei closed his eyes. "I do not know. My source said the Jaguar commander was most arrogant and wished to make an example of Edo."

"I will confirm their arrogance," Shin said. "The debriefers may have told you that I witnessed the destruction of a hovel calculated to make the people turn over a terrorist to the invaders. When a Buddhist monk confessed to the crime of planting a bomb, they killed him, then left. They had seemed concerned with the unnecessary loss of life, but my judgment must have been wrong for them to have destroyed Edo."

"Apparently, the Ryugawa-gumimade life unpleasant for the garrison troops once the front line forces left for new conquests. Instead of sending elite troops back down to restore order, they used their orbital fleet to destroy Edo, and at the same time, broadcast its destruction to the other major urban centers on the planet." The Kanrei swallowed hard. "Resistance, as you might imagine, ceased overnight.

"What I have told you is, of course, strictly confidential. I have spoken of these things to you because I know that you are the most trustworthy of men. I also felt I owed it to you to tell you about the Ryugawa-gumi."

"Thank you, Kanrei. I am honored by your trust."

The Kanrei clasped his hands behind his back, and gave Shin a searching look. "Were it within my power, I would grant you any wish as a reward for rescuing my son from such danger. However, with you and Hohiro being our only sources of first-hand information on this enemy, I must ask instead for your continued service in this crisis. I ask also that you pardon the seeming ingratitude."

Shin smiled warmly. "The only reward I desire is the opportunity to serve you well. Your need and my desire are matched horses."

The Kanrei bowed his head. "Come. The others have arrived and we must discuss strategy."

Theodore and Shin moved through the dark halls of the castle, following the guards, whose heels clicked smartly against the cold stone of the arched passages. The castle, which had been built from native materials on a blueprint from an ancient structure on Terra, felt gloomy and sad to Shin.

Millennia ago, armored European knights would have marched through passages just like these, on their way to plot battles and grand strategies. Now, centuries later, we do the same, the only difference being that our armor has grown too large to tread within this structure. Did Moorish invaders seem as unstoppable to the Knights of Castille as these Clans do to us?