Pain and confusion fought for control of the Chancellor's countenance. "Leave her out of this. She will come back."

Romano twisted around. "Father, divorce her. Sentence her to Brazen Heart. You always forgive her when she deserts you, only to return penitent. Wash your hands of the slut!"

Maximilian Liao stiffened with anger, which seemed to infuse his body with life again. "I will not be lectured to by a spoiled whelp, Romano. I am the Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation! I have proved my worth to my nation over and over again! What I wish to forgive and forget concerning the woman I married after your mother died is my business. It is not a subject I choose to discuss with a petulant, landless noblewoman!"

Most others would have withered under Liao's harsh rebuke, but not Romano. She calmly blinked her green eyes at him, catlike as ever. She lowered herself to her place at his feet, but refrained from leaning against him.

Justin looked up at Liao's angry face. If the Chancellor's wife has taken off again, we must find her. Prince Hanse Davion would have a field day with her defection.He narrowed his eyes. It will have to be suggested, but not here and not at this time. I'll put Alexi on it quietly.

Tsen filled the awkward silence with a question. "What have you done about this traitor idea?"

"I've had Alexi double-checking some communications records, but it's a big job for just one person. I've been busy delivering Michael's body and preparing for Operation Intruders Communion."

Maximilian Liao closed his eyes like a sunning lion. "Tsen Shang, you will take over the investigation of the possible spy in our midst. He or she will be found and taken alive. I will have Davion's entire network on Sian."

"Yes, Celestial Wisdom." Shang nodded his head, then looked over at Romano as she tugged on his sleeve. The virulence in her eyes clearly shocked him. He tried to shake his head to divert her will, but she would have none of his reluctance.

Romano stared daggers at Justin. "This extravagant 'command circuit' you have created for your personal quest is using up far too much in the way of JumpShip resources. We cannot transport troops efficiently because of it. You are costing us this war."

Muscles bunched at the corners of Justin's jaw. Bitch! Your games could prove very costly.He drew in a deep breath to purge himself of rage, then exhaled slowly. "Your lack of sufficient foresight again betrays you, Lady of Highspire. We all realize a JumpShip must recharge for up to two weeks at a star before it can make one of its thirty-light-year jumps. Though this mode of transport is faster than any other we know, the recharging delays make the trip from Sian to Bethel longer than two months. At the current rate of Davion advances, that would put his troops here at the same time I completed my round trip."

Justin leaned forward over the table. "The command-circuit idea, created by Hanse Davion to facilitate the swift movement of troops, means we have a charged JumpShip waiting at a star to continue the next leg of the journey. That means the six-jump trip to Bethel can be completed inside three days."

Romano stared at Shang. Helplessly, Justin's partner turned to him. "No one denies the need for a command circuit to get you to Bethel, and the six JumpShips employed in it are well-used. What we have to ask"—he glanced at Romano—"is why you need eight ships to return by a different route. Those eight ships could be better spent ferrying troops to the front."

Justin smashed his steel fist into the table, cracking the table's black petrochem coating. "Come on people, get with the game here." Justin shook his head at Shang, whose face flushed with anger, then addressed himself to the Chancellor. "We have discussed the need for my speedy return by another route over and over again. Once Hanse Davion discovers we have successfully raided his secret base and have stolen the formula for the new, superstrength myomer muscles, he will stop at nothing to prevent my return to Sian. He might even order JumpShips destroyed!"

Even as he spoke the words, Justin felt an involuntary shiver run down his spine. No one talks about destroying JumpShips, not even in jest. They are the pinnacle of lostech, desperately needed to speed men between the stars. Everyone knows that they can be repaired and even manufactured, but the science of what makes them work has been lost. Destroying a JumpShip would be a sacrilege!

The horror of losing something that could not be replaced did not deflect Romano. "Not only do you tie up extra ships, now you tell us the ones you used may be destroyed." She looked up at her father. "This is a fool's mission." She stabbed a finger at Justin. "He beggars us just to exact his own revenge upon Hanse Davion."

Justin laughed harshly. "Your mind is too small to see the true depth of my feelings toward the Prince. Do you honestly think I will consider myself revenged because of a strike into the Federated Suns? No, Lady Highspire, not in your wildest dreams. I want the myomer fiber formula so we can transform our current 'Mechs into an unbeatable force. The new fibers will triple our 'Mech strength. The new muscles will allow our 'Mechs to carry more armor and weaponry. With these new machines, we'll be able to stop the Davion advance, crush Ridzik's fledgling nation, and force the invaders back into their own territory." He smiled at the Chancellor. "Deep into their own territory."

Romano frowned suspiciously. "If these myomer fibers are so powerful, and far enough along in development for us to steal them, why doesn't Hanse Davion equip some of his own Battle-Mechs with them? How do we even know they exist?"

Justin's smile did not waver for an instant. "The myomer project was a hobby for Professor-General Sam Lewis. He used to like to talk about it with MechWarriors and even mentioned it in a commencement address at Sakhara Academy five years ago, but no one ever took him seriously. After all, the man's known for Kearny-Fuchida drive research, not myomer fiber work. People figured he was talking about advances we might see someday, yet rumors of strange new fibers were always running through the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns during my tour with them."

Justin looked up at the Chancellor. "One of the few positive things to come out of our January counterstrike was the discovery of information on the planet Axton. That information included the location of a secret NAIS outpost on Bethel, where Lewis was also reported present. Once the war began, Lewis was called back from Bethel to New Avalon Institute of Science to supervise some new work with the Kearny-Fuchida drive research project to help minimize ship losses in the fighting.

"After he left Bethel, Davion security at the base relaxed considerably. I activated a deep-cover agent we had in place, and he learned that one of Lewis's assistants had continued to play around with the myomer project even though he'd shifted to other duty. He has achieved a breakthrough that strengthens the pseudo-muscle fibers, but hasn't been able to communicate this to Lewis because of the heavy security surrounding the Professor. What it means is that Hanse Davion and his people don't yet realize what they've got, and that's why we must act quickly. The time to strike is now!"

Romano started to protest, but Maximilian Liao raised his hand to silence his daughter. "We will have no more discussion of this. The plans have been made and will not be changed at this point. When do you leave?"

Justin licked his lips. "In the morning. We'll jump a week from now and be back ten days after that. Within a fortnight, you will see the genesis of a new 'Mech race—a race of giants under your control."