When Carlyle's forces linked up with the defenders on the ridge, only two 'Mechs remained operable enough to greet them. Having been wounded early in the fight, Paul Casey had bled to death in the cockpit of his LocustTracy Kent was unconscious, a victim of heat prostration.

The victory at Mifune Pass promised to become yet another spectacular victory in the annals of the Gray Death Legion. Carlyle had managed to deploy his forces in such a way as to split his more numerous opponents into three groups among the broken ridges and hillsides west of the factory complex, and his deployment of a small force of 'Mech trainees in a fixed defensive position had been nothing short of brilliant. If the regimental historians neglected to point out that the deployment had been accidental, that Carlyle's sudden turn-and-march to the east had been made to rescue Arrow Detachment, that Arrow Detachment's position on the ridgetop where it played anvil to Carlyle's hammer was all the result of luck, pure and simple, they could, perhaps, be forgiven. Grayson Carlyle did not object to being known as a lucky MechForce commander, but he hated it to look as though he relied on luck to carry off his victories.

Tracy regained consciousness in a field hospital set up at Kaigun. The city had surrendered after the Kurita disaster at Mifune Pass, but Carlyle did not yet have enough men on site to secure the city against saboteurs and assassins. A formal occupation would have to wait until House Steiner Drop-Ships could arrive with Lyran troops and reinforcements, in any case, the bulk of the Dieron Regulars remained intact, somewhere north of the city. Meanwhile, the Gray Death was maintaining a defensive position that would allow them to retreat and maneuver, if necessary.

‘How are you feeling?’

Tracy opened her eyes and saw Grayson Carlyle seated beside her cot. ‘Like a 'Mech stepped on me.’

‘That's to be expected. The Doc tells me you'll be up and around in no time.’ -

‘And my people?’

‘Foster and Casey are dead. The rest are fine. Vic Dolby smashed his head against his control panel when his 'Mech was knocked over, but he's already back on duty. We even recovered his Stingerintact.’

'That's good.’ She started to say something more, then bit back the words.

‘What is it?’

‘I...I...’ She tried to order spinning thoughts. ‘I guess I didn't do so well, huh?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘First you had to chew me out about not following orders the night before...and then I went and blew it completely. We never got near the factory complex. And you told me to keep the youngsters out of a fight. I didn't... and now two of them are dead.’

Carlyle leaned back for a moment, thinking. ‘I don't see that you had much choice, Tracy. According to the people with you, you were cut off and surrounded before you even knew there were Kurita 'Mechs in the area.’ He frowned. ‘Bad intelligence, that. But it couldn't be helped.’

‘But...’

‘You lost two of the kids. Again, no choice. You saved four, and yourself. From the way Carolyn Lannetti is talking, you were the hero of the hour, holding the line together, firming the kids up when they needed it, deploying them to meet new threats. It sounds like it was quite a fight.’

‘It was that.’

‘By holding on when I told you to, you scared hell out of the bunch I was chasing-just when they needed scaring. We'd slammed into them ten klicks from your ridge, and it took us over an hour to win through. By the time we broke through, they were pulling back toward Mifune, but they were still in fighting shape. I gather from one prisoner we took that they figured they were completely surrounded when they retreated smack into your bunch perched up on the ridge. Must've been a rude surprise for 'em. They hit your fire and scattered, and then we mopped up.’

‘Then...we won?’

‘Oh, indeed, we did.’ Tracy was startled by the grin on the Colonel's face and puzzled by his emphasis on the word ‘we.’

Then she realized what he was getting at, that the victory had been won through her holding the training cadre together and in place. Had she left the recruits and pursued her own plan, they would have lost it all. Instead, she had pulled her team together, dug in, and they'd slugged it out together.

Together.A victorious team. She grinned back. ‘Yes, sir. I guess wedid.’

WHERE LIES THE HONOR

-William H. Keith, Jr.

The Prefect's hand came down on the shoulder ot the street hawkling's shoulder, and I thought the little man was going to climb right out ot his robes. 'So. little man,' Prefect Hassan roared. ‘You defy me, ne?’

'No, Lord!' The hawkling's voice rose to a falsetto squeak, his eyes bulging with terror. 'Please, Lord Prefect...I was just leaving! As you yourself commanded!’

The Prefect hauled back on the man's arm, pulling the flap of his traveling cloak open. The inside was lined with bottles, flasks, containers, and a small purse bulging with crumpled Company chits.

Holding the squirming man in the grip of his right hand. Hassan motioned with his baton of office, and Okabi and I stepped forward to do our duty.

‘Your name?* I said. Somehow I managed to keep the tremor out of my voice, to assume the aura of authority which went with my uniform. A crowd was already gathering, natural enough in a city accustomed to the usual orderliness of the Combine's rule. Kawabe's sun was only halfway to the zenith, but already the streets were baked dry, the dust heavy in the stifling air. The heat bore with it an oppressiveness that lay over the watching crowd. Was it the heat that maintained the crowd's silence, or something more?

'Name!' I commanded again. I was nervous with so many of Marakani's citizens watching, my temper raw with heat and fear. I shoved the man as I pulled him from the Prefect's grip.

He twisted away from me. anger flushing his face. ‘Aw, fer...You know who I am!’

The barrel of my shotgun caught him in the solar plexus, doubling him over. He gasped, clutched himself, and gasped again, fighting for air.

'Answer!'

‘Gu...Gunnar Holmes,' the little man said. Any fight had been driven from him by the blow. 'I was leaving town, really I was! I had affairs I needed to see to...'

‘I’d say your affairs are about to be settled for you.' I said. I nodded to Okabi, who shifted the combat shotgun in his arms to cover the prisoner. I slung my own weapon, twisted Holmes about, pulled his arms behind his back, and linked them together with wrist restraints.

'You'll have time to explain your crimes later.’ I told him. ‘At your trial.’

For a horrible moment, I thought Holmes was going to faint. There are few things less dignified than the sight of a pair of troopers from the Civilian Guidance Corps dragging an unconscious prisoner off to the holding cage, especially when the troopers are as large as Okabi and me. and the prisoner is as small as Holmes. I could have slung him over my shoulder like a sack of grain and carried him myself, but it is far more respectable to be seen marchinga prisoner to detainment. It proves to watching civilians that your authority is sufficient to force the miscreant to submit to you of his own free will, proves that it is useless to resist the lawful orders of the CGC. It says so in the Guidance Corps Manual.

'Please!' Holmes wailed. ‘You don't understand! My wife and children, they're starving!'

Hassan grinned broadly at that. Then you should have had the honor to starve yourself to death. Holmes. That would have spared your family your disgrace! As it is now...’ The grin broadened, calculation brightening the Prefect's eye. 'Perhaps they can help pay your debt to me.'

‘No. Lord, please!’

'Silence.' I growled. I brought the shotgun on its shoulder sling back to my hip and nudged him in the side with it. 'Behave with honor in this, and it will be easier for all of us. Let's move.'