5 April 3029

Captain Daniel Allard gratefully accepted the actuator wrench from the dwarf standing just inside the 'Mech bay. "Thanks, Clovis. The only time I need one of these things is when I can't find one." Dan used his forearm to wipe away the sweat pasting light brown curls to his forehead, then used the crescent-shaped tool to hook a myomer muscle into a BattleMech's finger joint. "Yeah, that fixes it. Better making repairs now than in combat."

Clovis's brown eyes twinkled as he lifted himself onto a crate and sat eye to eye with the Mech Warrior. From behind his back, he produced a cold bottle of beer and handed it to Allard. "This is just one of the ways I can think of to repay the Kell Hounds for helping us out." Clovis looked out across an open field of ochre grasses toward where the Kell Hound Mech Warriors were working. "Styx was the first time I'd seen 'Mechs in action. Somehow, here, the machines don't seem the same."

Dan nodded. MechWarriors are trained to think of their machines as destroyers. "Ten meters tall and full of nasty" is how I remember one instructor describing them. It takes someone with Morgan Kelt's vision to see this use for a 'Mech.

Out across the field, the humanoid war machines worked amid a boxy lattice of steel girders. In the distance, they almost looked like robot children laboring to build a secret clubhouse, yet Dan knew the structure rose two full stories above the plain. Lasers normally used to pierce and destroy other BattleMechs had been powered down so they could be used to weld the metal beams in place. After what we just did to theGenyosha base on Nashira, watching the 'Mechs build the town of New Freedom for the Styx refugees seems ironic.

Clovis raked a stubby-fingered hand back through his long black hair. "Getting all these buildings constructed would have taken us many months and would have cost lots of ComStar bills. This is amazing."

Dan nodded, then gulped down some more beer. "You and your mother drove a hard bargain, Clovis. We get access to the Bifrostso it can jump us around, and you get a city."

Clovis raised an eyebrow. "You know as well as I do that Morgan might have argued for more if Duke Aldo Lestrade hadn't tried to throw us off this planet. He gave us two months to try to improve the site, but I doubt he expected much. And here we are, almost finished, and it's two weeks ahead of his deadline."

Dan nodded. "You're right—Morgan would do just about anything to irk Lestrade." Aldo Lestrade's meddling in Lyran Commonwealth politics had caused plenty of trouble. His attempted assassinations of Archon Katrina Steiner had failed, but his last attempt to ruin the alliance between the Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns nearly killed Melissa Steiner. It also cost Morgan his brother Patrick.

Dan took another long drink. The cool liquid vanquished his thirst and reminded him of things more sociable than Lyran politics. Lowering the bottle, he fixed Clovis with a mischievous stare. "Clovis, have you asked Karla Bremen to the dance next weekend?"

The little man stiffened, then shook his head. "No."

Dan frowned. "Blake's Blood! You've done nothing but moon over her ever since you heard she'd broken up with that guy . . . what was his name?"

Clovis picked up the actuator wrench and turned it over in his small hands. "Thor. His name was Thor."

The image of a huge man flashed through Dan's mind as Clovis spoke. "Yeah, that was it. Well, why don't you ask her?"

The dwarf looked down. "She'd not go with me. She doesn't even know I exist."

Dan drank more beer, then set the half-empty bottle down on the crate beside Clovis. "That's not true, and you know it. I saw you talking with her the other day. She was smiling and laughing."

Clovis's face darkened. He carelessly drummed the steel wrench against the wooden crate, splintering off little pieces of it. "Yeah, we spoke. She wants me to show the children in her classes how to work computers. Show-and-tell-computer time. Nothing big or special."

Dan scowled. Something's going on here. I've never seen Clovis so morose."I don't know, Clovis. If I were you, I'd capitalize on that opportunity..."

The dwarf's long black hair fell forward as he nodded his head. "I have. I agreed to teach the kids ..."

Dan shook his head. "You don't understand. I mean you should ask her to the dance." He cocked his head at his friend. "If you don't, I just might. Maybe I'll even act like a jerk and let you rescue her..."

Clovis's brown eyes blazed with anger. "You don't get it, do you? I could no more rescue her from you than I could fly without wings. She'd prefer you, even being a jerk—which I don't think you could manage—to a half-man."

"Clovis, I'm sorry," Dan said. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I just hate to see you feeling low. The worst she could do is say no."

Muscles bunched at the corners of Clovis's jaw. "I know you meant well, Dan, but I just don't want to talk about it. It's not so bad for you because you know someone special like your Jeana will say 'yes' someday." He glanced down at the hole he'd chopped into the crate. "I don't know that."

At Clovis's mention of her name, Dan's hand strayed to the meter-long strip of green silk tucked into his belt. "Jeana is special to me, Clovis, but she might not be to someone else. More women have been special to me than I ever was to them, and you'll be special to someone, too. But you'll never find out who she is until you open up and take a chance."

Clovis shot Dan a sidelong glance. "Bet you wouldn't set me up with your sister Riva, would you?"

Dan grinned broadly. "Got a couple of ComStar bills? I'll send a message out to her now to come get you." Both men chuckled over the idea of Riva Allard traveling for months to reach Lyons for a date, but their laughter died as two of the Kell Hound infantrymen approached them with a visitor in tow.

"Captain Allard?"

"Yes, Sullivan, what is it?" Dan looked at the yellow-robed visitor and narrowed his eyes. What is a ComStar Acolyte doing here?

Sullivan's expression did not hide his irritation. "Sir, I explained to the Acolyte that he could just leave his holodisk with us and we'd see it would get to Colonel Kell, but he insisted . .."

Dan nodded understanding. "You and Murphy can return to your posts. I'll take care of our guest." He turned to the Acolyte. "What can I do for you?"

The pinch-faced man narrowed his eyes. "I must see Colonel Kell. I have a message for him."

"Indeed." Dan glanced at Clovis and admired his manly effort to keep from laughing out loud. "Corporal Sullivan said you had a holodisk."

The Acolyte scowled. "Whatever it is, it is for Colonel Kell, and for him alone. Those are my orders. Such were the wishes of the person sending ..."

"And paying for ..." quipped Clovis.

"... the message." The Acolyte glowered at Clovis, who merely ignored him.

Dan frowned. "If you insist, I can call the Colonel in."

The Acolyte nodded curtly, so Dan picked up Clovis's radio from a crate and keyed in to Morgan Kell's 'Mech. "Dan here. Sorry to interrupt, Colonel, but we've a messenger from ComStar. He's got a holodisk for you and refuses to release it to anyone else."

Static hissed through the radio's speakers for half a second before Morgan Kell's deep voice replaced it. "What's your read, Dan?"