Ryan could hardly believe his ears. "But you tried to have her killed on Poulsbo! That's hardly a sign of support for your Heir-Apparent."

"No, Ryan. I did not send Loki operatives after her on Poulsbo. That story is a complete and utter fabrication." Alessandro's eyes focused distantly, and he chuckled to himself. "Do you know what Heimdall is?"

Ryan stiffened as a chill ran down his spine. "It's supposed to be an anti-government movement. It's very secretive, but rumors suggest many highly placed members of the government are linked with Heimdall." Ryan hesitated. "It is said that Heimdall kept Katrina safe from your assassins on Poulsbo."

Alessandro sighed heavily. "It is true: the victors write the history. What you have said about Heimdall is true. A number of nobles formed the organization to combat excesses in the government ages ago—only members of that God-cursed group know when it was actually formed. It just so happens that back in 3005,I learned the identity of a Heimdall leader. It was Arthur Luvon."

Ryan's jaw dropped open. Katrina's husband and Melissa's father.'"The Duke of Donegal?"

Alessandro nodded solemnly. "I sent Loki operatives out to kill him while he visited Poulsbo. I had no way of knowing that Katrina and Luvon's cousin, Morgan Kell, would all be at dinner on the evening selected for the termination. Somehow they escaped the trap and assumed Katrina was the target. Over the next year, this view became reinforced in Katrina's mind and in the mind of the public. When she returned from hiding, our relationship was in tatters and she had fallen completely under the influence of Arthur Luvon. How could I explain to her that I had not meant to kill her, but the man she loved? Had I told her the truth, I think her vengeance would have been swifter and less merciful."

Ryan watched Alessandro deflate as weariness caught up with him. Part of him welcomes death and even wishes Katrina had killed him after she stripped him of office. Another part of him, the part pushing me as a rival for Melissa, relishes the fact that he has lived long enough to prepare his revenge for what she did to him so many years ago.

Ryan smiled. "The lesson you spoke of earlier ... I think I have learned it. If I am to be Archon, I must learn to pit enemies against each other. I must trust no one's word unless I have some evidence that this person will keep it. And in a political bargain, I must always look for a thumb on the scales. Everyone is out for himself."

Alessandro smiled broadly. "You do see what I have been teaching you. Remember, there is nothing in the universe more desirable than being Archon. Winning that post does not so much depend upon your being able to outrun opponents. What it requires is that you cut down the competition as ruthlessly as possible."

Ryan returned Alessandro's smile. "Then let us begin with Uncle Frederick..."

10

Nashira

Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine

27 April 3029

Akira Brahe turned to study his father's strong profile in the light of Nashira's bloody moon. The face looked like it might have been chiseled from stone. How can he look out over this destruction and maintain an expression so devoid of emotion?Yorinaga Kurita narrowed his dark, almond-shaped eyes. It is as though he is trying to make sense of what the Kell Hounds has done to Nashira in their assault.

From high atop the Genyoshabase's command center, Akira followed his father's gaze over the damage left by the mercenaries. Every building in the base, save the one where they stood, had been flattened with a vengeance. Some had vanished without a trace. With the others, the debris was not scattered randomly as it would have been if a battle had raged at the base, but was concentrated at the site where each building had stood.

Akira frowned heavily, irritation and anger like sparks in his tawny eyes. He nervously ran the fingers of his left hand through his close-cropped bronze hair. "It makes no sense, sosen.Why would the mercenaries do this?"

Yorinaga turned slowly toward his son. "No sense? Explain to me what confuses you."

Akira, stung by his father's tone, stiffened. "Do you askthis as my father, or order it as the Tai-saof the GenyoshaT'

Yorinaga bowed his gray-haired head. "Sumimasen,Akira. Forgive me. I did not mean to rebuke you or seem to question your abilities." Yorinaga looked again at the pattern of destruction. "It is just that I desire to see all this with your eyes. Perhaps your eyes are less blind than mine."

Akira nodded. "I wonder about more than just what the Kell Hounds did to our base. It makes sense to me that they would destroy it. They would have expected us to be here, and we were not." Akira waved a hand to take in the full circle of ruins. "The strange thing is that their actions were inconsistent with what our Internal Security Forces tell us about the tactics of mercenary scum."

Akira licked his lips. The ISF tells us all mercenaries are without honor, but I did not see that on Northwind when fighting against Team Banzai or even the group masquerading as the Kell Hounds Third 'Mech Battalion, Bradley's Bravos. They fought for more than money. They fought like true warriors.

Yorinaga allowed himself a brief smile. "I am certain reports of this incident will cause some confusion in the court at Luthien. While we are out attacking Northwind because the ISF reported the Kell Hounds are there, the Kell Hounds have penetrated Combine security and learned of our home base. They hit it, only to find we are not here, while we discover they are not at Northwind."

Akira smiled. "Luthien will also have to puzzle over why the Kell Hounds ordered all the civilians to clear out from the base, and why they gave them five hours to move all of the Genyosha'spersonal effects from the buildings they intended to destroy." Akira looked down at the building on which they stood. "And they'll wonder why the command center was spared."

Yorinaga narrowed his eyes. "Morgan Kell ordered the civilians out and allowed them to move our possessions because he wanted it clearly understood that his war has nothing to do with the Draconis Combine, or even the Genyosha."Yorinaga looked at his son. "And the reason he left this building standing is because it was from this point that he orchestrated the base's ruin."

Yorinaga pointed toward a pile of debris. "See where the natatorium stood? Notice how the stones seem scattered randomly, but fall in a cross-shaped pattern beside that largest pile?"

Akira shrugged. "I supposed some Christians had arranged those stones in memory of a comrade they believed trapped in the building when it was destroyed."

The Genyosha'sleader smiled. "Your assumption was correct, but you attribute it to someone here on Nashira. You will recall that the ISF learned that Morgan Kell retreated to a Christian monastery on Zaniah while I was in exile on Echo. Kell ordered the stones laid in that pattern to mark the place where his brother died."

Akira frowned, trying to remember the name of the world where Patrick Kell had been slain. That happened back before I joined theGenyosha. "Styx? That system is just a collection of asteroids." Akira smacked his right palm against his forehead. "Just as the natatorium is reduced to a collection of blocks."

Yorinaga smiled, pleased with his son's perception. "This building represents Terra, and the rubble piles mark the location of worlds to a rough distance of 130 light years out."