Her lips moved, but I couldn't hear anything she said. Her tears cut tracks through the blast grime on her face, paralleling the twin lines of blood streaming from her nostrils. I tore what was left of my shirt and wrapped it around her lacerated hands, then rolled to my feet and approached the door in a crouch.

The two ISF agents sent to investigate the blast came in standing upright, which put their heads in the layer of smoke hovering in the room. I kicked the leader in the knees, sending him careening sideways into the agent right behind him. They both crashed into the wall, then fell to the floor.

I smashed the first agent in the faceplate with my elbow. Pain seared along my arm as the vision device fragmented and sparks sizzled into the bloody ruin of his face. Before I could hit him again, however, his partner grabbed me and wrestled me onto my back. As I wrapped both my hands around his throat, he reciprocated.

Blood pounded explosively through my temples as his fingers dug into my neck. He applied pressure to my carotid artery, cutting off the blood flow to my brain. Shimmering light balls danced in my vision like fireflies as I whipped my head back and forth trying vainly to break his grip while I tightened mine.

Suddenly, I felt him convulse violently, then his grip slackened. Weak as a baby, it was all I could do to roll his body off mine. Then I noticed he didn't lie flat. The hilt of the katana—his own katana—protruded from his ribs just beneath his armpit.

Takara knelt beside him and drew his gun. Seeing it was her favorite Sternsnacht, she appropriated it for herself. When she crossed to the other agent, who still lay writhing in pain, she pressed the muzzle to his chest and stroked the trigger once.

He also wore a Sternsnacht, so Takara jacked a round into the chamber and handed the gun to me. I thought I'd heard the sound of the one gunshot and of the second pistol being armed, but an insistent noise still ringing in my ears made me unsure.

I looked up into her brown eyes. ‘Thank you for saving my life.’

She shook her head. ‘Save your thanks. We're armed with Sternsnachts and they're mobilizing their 'Mechs.’

It was then that I finally recognized the sound pulsing through my head. ‘That's a warning siren for a Mech raid!’ I grabbed her arm and dragged her to the blown-out off ice windows. I squinted and pointed at the large red semicircle formed by the dying sun. ‘There, coming in from the west to screw up this base's infrared scanners.’

She shielded her eyes with her left hand. ‘Something is moving. What is it?’

I swept her up into a hug. ‘That's my 'Mech battalion!’

The Migawari company of the 27th Dieron Regulars fought gamely to defend their post while everyone else evacuated it. Despite the best efforts of the 27th, the numerical advantage enjoyed by the Kell Hound battalion quickly turned the battle against the defenders. Had the DropShip Fukushubeen crewed. its guns might have made a difference, butthe empty ship played no part in the battle. Instead, as the Draconian MechWarriors fled, surrendered, or died, the Fukushubecame just another piece of war loot.

Most of the DropShip's crew agreed to join the Kell Hounds and even permitted me to re-christen the UnionClass DropShip the Nuada Argetlanafter the legendary Irish hero. We filled this new DropShip with all the things we'd left behind in our earlier hasty departure, except for my desk and my bed, then added the best of the 27th's captured BattleMechs. As Janos had promised, our other DropShip reached Murchison within two days of jumping into the system, and a day after that, we were ready to leave.

I'd gotten Takara treated by the Nuada'sdoctor and even managed to convince her to stay on the ship. She was reluctant, but the doctor wanted to make sure her cuts did not get infected and I gently reminded her that the Yakuzawere still angry with her. She acquiesced, but the memory of her destroyed home made her aloof and unhappy.

Even though she was living on my ship, in a cabin just down the passageway from my own, I did not see Takara again until it came time to leave. Moving everything out of our old base and keeping track of the reports that had piled up in the month and a half my battalion had spent living in the Suigin mines left me with little time. I also had the distinct impression that Takara was avoiding me.

On the last day on Murchison. an hour before our scheduled departure, I found her pacing around in what had been my office. All the furnishings had been removed, but the burn mark on the wall and the bloodstains on the carpet were reminder enough of what had happened there.

I cleared my throat, startling her from deep thought. She looked up at me, then smiled. ‘You've shaved off your mustache.’

I nodded. I wanted to ask if she liked it, or if she preferred it gone, but I knew how juvenile the questions would sound compared to what I really wanted to say to her. I chewed on my lower lip for a second, then spoke. ‘I want you to come with me. There's nothing here for you.’

She shook her head. ‘Akumashima needs the Little Dragon.’

‘What does Takara need?’

Takara breathed deeply, choosing her words carefully before answering me. ‘It doesn't matter, Colonel. Takara lived in the fantasy world of her sanctuary. She couldn't exist outside it. She died when it died.’

I held out my hand to her. ‘I'll be your sanctuary. I'll do my best to give you everything you want and need.’

She looked at me and I sensed that part of her wanted to take my hand, but another part resisted. She folded her hands across her chest. ‘It could never be. A relationship like that has to be built upon trust, but you never trusted me. I brought you into my secret place, but you didn't trust me.’

The pain in her voice nearly strangled my spirit, but I fought back. ‘That's not true.’

Her head came up and defiant tire flashed in her brown eyes. ‘You didn't tell me the Kell Hounds were still on Murchison, hidden in the Suigin mines. When ComStar sent their message out, your people were only three hours away.’

I shook my head. ‘You didn't need to know that. I didn't give you that information because I had to protect my battalion. Not against you. but against what the ISF might have made you tell them.’

Her dark eyes slitted. ‘That may be so. but I heard the anger and hatred in your voice before and after I slept with Ukita. You loathed me then, and that will plant the seed ot mistrust in your mind. Any relationship of ours would be doomed.’

Again I shook my head. ‘Yes. you heard anger and hatred in my voice, but it was really myself that I hated because, deep down, I knew you were doing something against your will for me. I was angry with myself because I couldn't do anything about it and for having brought you into this thing in the first place.’

She opened her mouth to reply, but I cut her off. ‘You say we can't have a relationship because I never trusted you. But I did. I trusted you more than I've ever trusted anyone, or ever hope to in the future.’

She frowned. ‘I don't understand.’

‘It's simple. Takara. Very simple. When you pulled your gun and captured me for the ISF, I doubled over. I held my hand to my stomach and activated the remote control for the explosives. One touch and I would have killed you.’

She looked at me distantly. ‘You would have died in the same blast. You wouldn't do that to yourself.’

I sighed. ‘You were turning me over to the ISF. Die quickly by an explosion, or slowly by torture. What's the difference, in the end?’ I hesitated. ‘Maybe, with your sanctuary gone, you wanted me to kill you. I don't know.’

Takara stiffened, letting the Little Dragon fortify her. ‘If that's what you believe. Colonel Kell, any future we'd have would be hell.’