Dan raked the Acolyte over with an openly appraising glance. "He seems to fit, but I'm uneasy about this message. I'd bet on it being bad news instead of good."

"I'll head in. Can you round up the staff?"

Dan frowned. "Conn and Second 'Mech Battalion are still over at the quarry. It would take them two hours to get here. Salome and Cat are there in the work group with you. Scott Bradley's here in the bay."

"Good. Get them. Have Clovis join us as well."

"Roger, Colonel. Out." Dan grinned at the Acolyte and pointed toward the construction site. "If you want to walk out and meet him ..."

The Acolyte took two steps toward the bay opening, then stopped short. He shook his head, nervously stuttering through his words. "N-no, n-not necessary."

Dan laughed. Coming at a dead run across the field, the thunderous steps of Morgan's Archersent heavy tremors through the ground. The titanic 'Mech swung its ponderous fists as a man might, but the I-beam clutched forgotten in the left hand was eloquent witness to the machine's incredible strength. The hunched shoulders and forward trusting head gave the Archera bestial look even more threatening than its sheer size.

Dan slapped the stricken Acolyte on the shoulder. "Hope this is worth it, buckaroo, because the Colonel . .. well, he doesn't like disappointments."

Dan watched Morgan Kell slip the holodisk into the player. On a scale of 1 to 16, Morgan's anger ranks about a 32,he thought. Dan could tell Kell didn't appreciate the Acolyte's antics, especially when he learned the message was from Aldo Lestrade.

Seated against the back wall, Dan had a full view of the rectangular briefing room. A long table filled it, and twelve chairs surrounded the table. The four other people at the meeting had seated themselves near the middle of the oaken table, and all faced the far end of the room where Morgan fiddled with the holodisk viewer.

Morgan straightened up to his full height and forced his anger out with a deep breath. His cooling vest and shorts revealed a muscular body that was relatively unscarred for a MechWarrior his age. Kell's long black hair and thick beard were shot with gray, but only enough to give him an air of nobility. His dark brown eyes sparkled with a vitality that seemed to promise this man could live forever.

Morgan smiled at the officers present. "Forgive the theatrics of calling you from the field for this. The ComStar Acolyte's actions suggested it might be important. Even though the message is from Aldo Lestrade, it might have some value. In any event, I would apprise all of you of its contents in the end, so we might as well share the shock together."

Morgan hit a button on the disc player's remote control. The black screen lightened to reveal the simple rectangular crest of the world of Summer, then dissolved to a picture of a rotund little man seated behind a massive desk. His salt-and-pepper hair lay flat on his head like a bad toupee and did not move as he patted it into place with his plastic left hand. Lestrade stared intently into the camera.

"Colonel Kell, I will dispense with all pleasantries because I know you would find them fatuous. We do not like each other, and I am content to maintain our relationship at the distance this mutual hatred engenders."

Lestrade leaned back in his high-backed leather chair. "It has come to my attention that you and your mercenary unit have taken up residence on my world of Lyons. I understand that you are staying in the refugee colony the Archon encouraged me to permit on that world." His choice of words and manner of speaking left Dan no doubt that Lestrade did not like the Styx colony at all, and only permitted it because of pressure from the Commonwealth's Archon, Katrina Steiner.

The camera pulled back to reveal more of Lestrade's office. The walls were made of unfinished gray stones that appeared to have been put together in an almost haphazard manner. Dan squinted at the image. That must be the Lestrade castle. Wasn't it moved stone by stone from Terra about five hundred years ago? I'm surprised to see it's survived the Kurita raids Lestrade is always complaining about.

Lestrade left his seat and limped around to the front of his desk. "Though I can appreciate your desire to return behind the lines after a raid deep into the Draconis Combine, I do not want you on any of my worlds. The Archon may have appropriated my troops to fight Hanse Davion's war against the Draconis Combine, but I want no part of the war. You and your Kell Hounds are a threat to the peace and well-being of the Isle of Skye. I hereby order you to leave it."

The camera moved in as Lestrade graced the viewers with a plastic smile. "I can appreciate the time it might take for you to move a mercenary unit. You have two weeks from the receipt of this message to be gone from the Isle of Skye. Have I made myself clear?"

Morgan shut off the viewer as the screen faded to black. He turned in his seat and leaned forward over the table. "Disgustingly frank for Lestrade..." he said. "Well, he says we've got to get off Lyons in two weeks. Comments? Salome."

Morgan's flame-haired second in command, Major Salome Ward, looked around at the small group. "Since all the troops have left Lyons for the attack into the Draconis Combine, our departure would leave the planet defenseless. I realize that Lyons seems far behind the lines, but just one 'Mech battalion jumping in from an uninhabited star could wreak havoc."

Major Scott Bradley, the dark-haired MechWarrior seated across the table from Salome, frowned. "Why hit Lyons?" He smiled apologetically at Clovis. "Not to run down your new home, but the object of modern warfare is to destroy the enemy's ability to wage war. Lyons, in that sense, is not a military target. Were the Combine able to spare troops for a raid, then this world's agro and water supply might make it a target, but I think the Combine has some other worries."

Morgan nodded. "I agree with you, Scott, that the Combine has other problems, especially in the Rasalhague District, but the Lyran offensive's punch down in the area came just slightly rimward of here. I would not consider the Isle of Skye's border at all secure. If the Combine wished, it could come through here, then swing out to trap troops in a pocket centered on Marfik."

Dan shook his head. "What troops does the Dragon have to perform such a maneuverer? Most of the Dieron Military District's troops, including the Genyosha,made that assault on the Terran Corridor and got pushed back."

"True, but Davion has not attacked into the Dieron District to pin down those troops. For all we know, they're massing on Yorii or Imbros III for a strike at Lyons." Morgan looked over at the black man seated between Salome and Dan. "What do you think, Cat?"

Cat Wilson knit his fingers together and rested his hands like a cap on top of his shaved head. "I think I don't trust Lestrade as far as I could throw this planet. He thinks he's got an ace up his sleeve somewhere. His wanting us out of Lyons could be a simple move to reassure Kurita that he, Lestrade, is not part of the war. As much as the man is a lying, scheming, power-hungry sycophant, we should remember that a Kurita raid cost him his left arm and left leg. I doubt that the idea of another Kurita assault on his holdings appeals to him."

"Point well taken." Morgan looked past Scott Bradley toward Clovis. "You're the mayor of New Freedom. What do you think?"

The dwarf smiled affably. "Remember, I'm only the acting mayor. Once my mother stops running you around in the Bifrost,she'll take over again." Clovis glanced at Cat. "My mother has told me stories of the raid in which Lestrade lost his arm and leg. She used to work in the castle on Summer and had to flee for her life during that raid. From what she's said, Lestrade probably murdered his father, and almost certainly arranged the accidents that killed all his siblings so he would inherit the throne. That doesn't offer much of a recommendation for his character, but I'd have to side with Cat. I don't think Lestrade would want a raid from the Combine in the Isle of Skye. And even if he did, why Lyons? It would make no sense."